Sunday Brunch

By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief

If you’re looking for our complete recap from the U.S. Senate primaries and other state-level elections, jump right on over to our homepage. We’ve got you covered.

You can keep scrolling for our usual Sunday morning “ICYMI” greatest hits.

By Piper Hutchinson

In a party-line vote, the Louisiana Senate advanced a bill to keep only one of the state’s two majority-Black congressional district, giving Republicans another probable seat in their bid to maintain control of Congress. Debate over the new map revisited the Civil Rights Movement of six decades ago, and how Black voters say they find themselves fighting a similar battle.  

By Sofia Resnick and Kelcie Moseley-Morris

The U.S. Supreme Court has preserved telehealth access to the abortion drug mifepristone until after the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled on the merits of Louisiana’s high-stakes federal lawsuit against the Trump administration.

State lawmakers are considering a proposed law that would transfer any “historical statue or monument” owned by a government and removed from a public display to the Office of State Parks. So far, the debate over the bill has avoided mention of Confederate monuments, like the ones taken down in New Orleans nine years ago.

Louisiana lawmakers have voted to expand the list of public officials who can carry a handgun in the State Capitol. A proposal that’s cleared the legislature would allow six more statewide elected officials to take firearms in the statehouse, and each one could designate a staff member to be granted the same privilege. 

Louisiana lawmakers are on track to let voters decide whether prosecutors should have more control over when a criminal defendant can waive their right to a jury trial. The proposal in question would require a prosecutor’s consent for a defendant to have a judge decide their guilt or innocence in a felony case that doesn’t involve the death penalty.

President Donald Trump is wielding power in unprecedented ways to bring states to heel, marking a dark new chapter in the relationship between the federal government and the states. Since taking office last year, Trump has punished Democratic-led states that anger him by withholding federal funding and slow-walking assistance.

As appeals courts split on the constitutionality of mandatory detention for millions of immigrants, the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to decide the matter. A Trump administration policy threatening imprisonment without bond has been struck down by three appeals courts, which could soon be joined by a fourth, but upheld by two others.

An increasing number of conservative states are mandating that state and local social service providers verify and report the immigration status of the people they serve — in some cases threatening stiff penalties for public employees who fail to comply.

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