Paul Braun

Louisiana State Lawmakers passed the $38 billion operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year Thursday, concluding their work on the bills a full two weeks before the end of the legislative session.

Edwards announced Tuesday that he is extending his statewide public health emergency but lifting nearly all of his remaining coronavirus restrictions, including a statewide mask mandate in Louisiana classrooms.

A longshot bid to legalize recreational marijuana in Louisiana died on the House floor Tuesday after state representatives rejected the proposed tax system for the would-be industry.

The House voted 73-26 to approve Speaker Pro Tempore Tanner Magee’s HB 391, which would allow patients to receive up to 2.5 ounces of raw marijuana every two weeks.

A Louisiana senator abandoned his effort to limit transgender youths’ access to gender-confirming healthcare and counseling after the legislation drew a surge of opposition from LGBTQ advocates and other members of the public.

Rep. Richard Nelson, a first-term Republican from Mandeville, is the bill's unlikely sponsor. He testified that he has never smoked marijuana in his life and joked that his high school classmates would have voted him “least likely to legalize marijuana.”

Troy Carter Wins Runoff For Louisiana's Open Congressional Seat

Louisiana is one of only five states with no minimum wage of its own, so the state’s lowest earners’ wages are tied to the federal rate of $7.25 per hour.

As Louisiana lawmakers gaveled in the 2021 Legislative Session on Monday, Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards presented two vastly different agendas and two vastly different approaches to the state’s ongoing fight against COVID-19.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards relaxed state coronavirus restrictions on businesses Tuesday, lifting all capacity limits for bars, restaurants, gyms,…