By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief
We begin the final week of February with news about water issues in Louisiana, ranging from a small town to the big city.
Donald Wood says discolored water from the tap of his Tallulah home in 2024 stained clothes in the wash and made everyday tasks like bathing and brushing teeth nearly impossible. (Courtesy of Donald Wood)
By Elise Plunk, Lucas Dufalla & Phillip Powell
Problems with the municipal water system in Tallulah got so bad, the state declared an emergency and put a private company in charge in 2024. There’s been improvement since then, but issues remain in some parts of town. It’s a common problem for small towns that don’t have the resources to maintain their public utilities, putting their residents in a difficult spot.
Materials for lead testing water sit on the kitchen counter of Dr. Adrienne Katner’s home in New Orleans. (Christiana Botic/Verite News)
By Halle Parker, Verite
Toxic lead is common in water across New Orleans, according to previously unpublished city data obtained by Verite News. Between September 2022 and May 2025, about 70% of the households that participated in a free water testing program had lead in their water. Almost every house with lead also exceeded the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended safe limit.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled a Louisiana law requiring displays of the Ten Commandments in classrooms can be enforced and removed an injunction that had blocked enforcement in a handful of parishes where plaintiff parents had challenged the law. (Photo by Michael Smith/Getty Images)
By Greg LaRose
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared the way for displays of the Ten Commandments in every Louisiana public school classroom, removing an order that stopped state officials from enforcing a law that requires them. In a decision issued Friday from its full roster of 18 judges, the court reversed a June decision from a three-judge panel that determined the 2024 state law was “plainly unconstitutional.”
By Greg LaRose
The state had accused CVS Health of “unfair, deceptive and unlawful” business practices for using customer information to conduct a text message campaign last year against proposed legislation for pharmacy benefits managers. Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration has blamed the “middlemen” companies for high prescription drug prices and stacking the deck against small, independent pharmacies.
COMMENTARY
By Anita Raj
If higher education is to serve the public good, then universities have a responsibility to help improve the measurable conditions of the states in which they reside. Universities are nonprofit civic institutions sustained by public trust. Their teaching, research and training should return measurable benefit to the communities and states that support them.
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