Sunday Brunch

By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief

On this day in history, the Summer Olympics opened in Moscow but without athletes from the United States and 65 other countries that boycotted over Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

By Julie O’Donoghue

Gov. Jeff Landry’s remarks about the largest Democratic stronghold in Republican Louisiana come after almost two weeks of feuding among the city’s leaders, the governor and Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill, Landry’s closest political ally. 

By Wesley Muller

Murrill simultaneously filed motions with an Orleans Parish judge to obtain a long list of internal records that could shed light on how a grand jury decided to indict her on eight counts of malfeasance and eight counts of public intimidation. 

By Julie O’Donoghue

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is increasing its investment into a massive data center in Richland Parish from $28 billion to $50 billion, according to Gov. Jeff Landry and the company’s executives. The facility will be one of the largest data centers in the world, he said.

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, has sent a letter to the Trump administration condemning proposed federal grant rules that would give political appointees the power to decide what scientific research gets funded.

The Louisiana Legislature has watered down a state law that made it a criminal offense to publish elected officials’ personal information on the internet. The statute had been used by a former Louisiana Supreme Court justice to justify the sealing of his divorce records two years ago.

Tulane University researchers and the recycling facility Glass Half Full are using evolutionary relationships between bacteria, fungi and plants to grow cypress and other plant species in glass sand created from recycled bottles. 

As federal officials consider whether to reclassify marijuana under federal drug law, a new study has found that more American teenagers seeking treatment for cannabis use disorder, known as CUD, are facing longer wait times before receiving care.

This year, more than half a dozen states have passed new laws reshaping their juvenile legal systems. While some have adopted measures designed to divert more young people from incarceration, others have sought to impose stiffer penalties and expand prosecutors’ authority to pursue adult charges. The opposite tacks underscore an increasingly fractured approach to juvenile justice nationwide.

Following a string of special election victories, Democrats have a path to flip several Republican-held legislative chambers and break GOP supermajorities in states across the country this November. High prices and overall voter dissatisfaction with Washington have put control of the U.S. House and Senate in play this year — a dynamic that has trickled down, with heightened Democratic enthusiasm in many state contests.

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