By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief
On this day in history in 1792, President George Washington issued the first veto in U.S. history, rejecting a bill on congressional redistricting.
Carter Hart uses his Eye Gaze device to navigate on an iPad at his home in Baton Rouge. His family was the only one out of 43 in the 2024-25 school year to successfully challenge a Louisiana school district for not providing adequate special education services. (Photo courtesy of Kathryne Hart)
By Marta Jewson
In Louisiana, when a family and school disagree over how a student with special needs is being taught, it falls on the family to prove the school has failed to properly serve their child. State lawmakers are considering legislation that would dramatically change that power dynamic, flipping the burden to schools to prove a child has been properly served under state and federal laws
Smart glasses have made it easier to subtly record personal conversations, so Louisiana is looking to crack down on those who use the technology to harass women. (Getty Images)
By Piper Hutchinson
Smart glasses have made it easier to subtly record personal conversations, so Louisiana is looking to crack down on those who use the technology to harass women. A proposal advancing in the legislature would require anyone recording an in-person conversation to notify those being recorded or potentially face a lawsuit with damages being awarded.
By Julie O’Donoghue
Survivors of sex crimes in Louisiana could soon be able to demand their personal information — such as their addresses, marital records, places of worship or children’s schools — be removed from websites and social media posts under threat of a lawsuit or criminal charges.
MORE LOUISIANA NEWS
U.S. Coast Guard members from Station South Padre Island, Texas, stop Mexican nationals aboard a lancha after crews in Coast Guard aircraft spotted them fishing in U.S. territorial waters May 1, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
The call often comes in the middle of the night to the U.S. Coast Guard station, rousing service members from their bunks. A lancha, typically a slim, 20- to 30-foot boat with an outboard motor, is spotted, overflowing with red snapper, 9 miles off the coast in federal waters.
Louisiana lawmakers have advanced a bill to require that state election officials send personal information on all registered voters to the federal government for further scrutiny. Republicans, noting that the data sharing already began last year, supported the measure as being necessary for election integrity, while Democrats opposed it as an infringement on privacy, saying it might lead to unintentional voter purges due to outdated or inaccurate information.
A bill to place restrictions on carbon dioxide pipelines and storage facilities in Louisiana failed in a legislative committee Tuesday, likely spelling doom for other legislation looking to limit use of the technology in the state.
IN NATIONAL NEWS
Illustration by Alex Cochran
As the United States of America marks its 250th anniversary this year, the relationship between the states and the federal government is approaching a breaking point. Led by a bellicose president, the executive branch has moved to dominate states, resulting in more than a year of escalating confrontations between the two levels of government.
States with and without abortion bans are advancing bills that would shield anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers from certain government mandates and attempts at regulation, allowing them to sue for damages if any part of the law is violated.
The U.S. Supreme Court seemed poised to reject the Trump administration’s attempt to redefine the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, and instead uphold the country’s long understanding of citizenship by birth on American soil.
COMMENTARY
East Baton Rouge: The parish that fiscal secession built | Andrea Hagan
Want equal pay, harassment protection? Put more women in leadership. | WA State Standard
Memphis misdirection and the politics of perception | TN Lookout
Thanks for reading Sunday Brunch. Did you know our daily morning newsletter is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.