Louisiana News

Easter passed by about a month ago, but if you still have Easter lilies hanging around, put them in the ground. They will come back and bloom year after year.

New Orleans jazz singer Phillip Manuel discusses his career and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Government watchdog and political blogger C.B. Forgotston (Forgotston.com) and Jim discuss goings on in the 2013 State Legislature.

Global thinker Dr. Keshore Mahbubani, with the University of Singapore, on his book, "The Global Convergence: Asia, The West And the Logic Of One World"

Jim talks with acclaimed food critic Michael Pollan about his book, "Cooked: A Natural History Of Transformation".

Lawmakers face an onslaught of decisions every day at the capitol: vote up or down, pass this amendment, defer that bill... A few key players in this week's Medicaid expansion debate explain why they voted the way they did.

Farmers from a certified-organic commercial farm in Alexandria will give answers Saturday to the most frequently asked questions they get from customers. The 4,000-acre Inglewood Plantation is holding workshops throughout the day that will help people learn about how to raise backyard chickens and build raised beds, among other topics.

Even consummate bibliophiles make occasional mistakes about the books they've read, and can't recall reading. But commentator Gary Borders finds that rereading a book by a favorite author is OK every now and again.

The House Education Committee has agreed to a proposal that would delay the disciplinary effects of a new teacher evaluation system for another year while school districts work out any kinks.

The legislature technically decided Wednesday to put off accepting federal funding for health care expansion, which would include more low-income individuals under Medicaid.  A series of bills were voluntarily deferred, both in the House and Senate, to be taken up next week. A bill by Rep. Barbara Norton was involuntarily deferred - that’s typically a death sentence for a bill. 

The representatives that voted to shelve Norton’s bill did so because they’re unsure of what will happen if they accept the money - despite that the Legislative Fiscal Office testifying that the program would initially save the state money.