Tagged: politics

Democratic lawmakers claimed a small victory Sunday. But it wasn’t on the House floor, but at the first annual Truce for the Troops Bowl.

All four bills seeking to increase taxes on tobacco products in the state have been voluntarily tabled amid legislative opposition to raising taxes.

Louisiana House Speaker Chuck Kleckley last week called on the legislature to restore funding to the state program that provides breast and cervical cancer screenings to uninsured and underserved women, and Sen. Karen Carter Peterson chaired a committee focused on funding for women’s services.

Women testified about holes in funding for domestic violence shelters, pregnancy care, cancer screenings, and sexual health. Peterson called Governor Jindal’s budget proposal for next year irresponsible. According to Beth Meeks, from the Louisiana Coalition on Domestic Violence, the governor’s slashing of women’s services just doesn’t make fiscal sense.

Jim chats with state Treasurer John Kennedy about the legislative session and money matters in Louisiana.

Journalist Maxine Crump and Lisa Teer, with LA Delta Service Corps, discuss this week's Dialog On Race, with a focus on race in education.

Jim visits with legendary photographer Bob Adelman, known for visually documenting much of the American civil rights movement, and his iconic shots of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

State lawmakers are being more sensitive to how they spend money.

A bill containing minor change to the state’s Enterprise Zone program failed to pass in the House Thursday.

The Enterprise Zone is an incentive program that works to encourage businesses to expand in rural parts of the state. The bill would have changed the definition of a “multifamily residential housing”, making bigger apartment complexes eligible for a tax credit. 

Seven of eight bills to loosen restrictions on firearms passed through the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee Wednesday.

One bill seeks to circumvent federal restrictions on semi-automatic firearms, despite several members questioning how it would stand up to the Supremacy Clause, which establishes federal law as the law of the land.

A bill requiring gun owners to store firearms in locked containers died in a House committee Wednesday.

In the wake of the Connecticut shootings a bevy of firearm regulation bills were presented before the Administration of Criminal Justice committee.

Committee members who voted against the lock-up bill said accidents happen and that negligence laws are already on the books.  

Rep. Barbara Norton said her bill was aimed at curbing accidental fatalities and protecting our children.

A bill that seeks to prohibit the enforcement of federal restrictions on semi-automatic firearms in Louisiana barely advanced Wednesday in the House.