Sunday Brunch

By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief

On this day in history in 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was launched under the Department of Treasury to combat counterfeiting.

By Greg LaRose

A state audit found that nearly half of the federal food assistance available to Louisiana’s low-income mothers and their babies last year went unredeemed. It urges officials to take steps to expand access to the benefits, noting the state’s low participation rankings and vast sums of funding returned to Washington.  

By Piper Hutchinson

State Sen. Alan Seabaugh takes credit for ousting Northwestern State University’s president in 2024 and, with the backing of Gov. Jeff Landry, replacing him with former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Genovese. Two years later, Genovese says he isn’t able to count on either of his two supporters to advance his plans for the school, which include starting the first law school in North Louisiana. 

By Wes Muller

Political hostility and public distrust are likely to blame for the recent cancellation of the massive Air Products & Chemicals Clean Energy Complex in Louisiana, according to industry analysts who see potential ripple effects for the petrochemical industry. 

An arrest warrant for Attorney General Liz Murrill for intimidation and malfeasance charges has been recalled at the direction of the Louisiana Supreme Court. The court has previously stayed a 16-count indictment against Murrill from a special prosecutor in Orleans Parish related to a letter she sent in May to seven elected officials in New Orleans. It said Gov. Jeff Landry could remove them from office for disobeying a new state law that consolidated the two local clerk of court offices into one. 

McNeese State University’s new president is being paid a $300,000 annual salary and will keep his side gig as a state senator for the time being. Unlike other Louisiana politicians who have landed jobs leading colleges and universities, state Sen. Mike Reese, R-Leesville, will remain in the legislature at the same time he holds the top job at McNeese. 

Three public education advocates who were challenging Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to pay for teacher pay stipends by cutting money from public schools’ general operations withdrew their lawsuit. In a written statement, the advocates said they thought they would have a difficult time winning the legal challenge, particularly after the Louisiana Legislature voted last week to back Landry’s stipend proposal. 

As law enforcement agencies increasingly embrace artificial intelligence, some civil liberties advocates, legal scholars and policing experts warn that the technology could amplify surveillance, introduce hidden biases into investigations and make it harder to challenge evidence in court. They also worry about a future in which AI takes on a more active role in policing and criminal investigations.

Dozens of public housing authorities, tribes, property owners and community groups have joined a new coalition organized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to promote work requirements and time limits for people who receive federal housing help. HUD is currently finalizing a rule that would allow public housing authorities and property owners who participate in federal housing voucher programs to impose work requirements and time limits on working-age adults who are not disabled.

At least nine states have passed voting laws this year that will make it more difficult for some voters to cast their ballots during the midterm elections in November. The new laws have alarmed voting rights advocates, who say they will disenfranchise eligible voters and add extra burdens for older people, people with disabilities and those, such as married women, whose last names don’t match their birth certificates due to a name change.

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