Columns

Fed to focus on cutting Medicaid fraud, not cutting benefits

As the federal budget moves through Congress, Democrats and their loyal media allies have done nothing but scream about Medicaid “Cuts” in funding and the harm that will do to health care.

How not to name a puppy

If you think that people are disagreeable these days about politics and culture, you can’t imagine how heated people got when I asked for suggestions on what to name my yellow Labrador puppy four years ago. Blame social media.

‘Oscar’ was created by native son of Iota

You probably didn’t think of the Acadia Parish community of Iota when you were watching the Oscar awards last week, or even take a hard look at the statuettes that carry the name. But maybe you should have.

Are psychic abilities in your future?

“If you could read my mind, love/What a tale my thoughts could tell.” — Gordon Lightfoot Apparently, my late father was ahead of his time.

Thoughts about lives that matter

I was talking to a friend the other day about another friend, who has been going through a difficult period ever since Hamas massacred peaceful Jews in Gaza a year and a half ago. Our common friend is a quiet woman, someone who keeps her sorrows to herself.

So call it the Gulf of what?

Our new president has stirred up a hornet’s nest by declaring that we no longer have a Gulf of Mexico. From now on, all government references will be to the Gulf of America. I grew up along the Gulf Coast, spending just about every summer there that I can remember.

St. Landry Parish civil cases

The following are civil cases filed in the 27th Judicial District Court. Wednesday, Feb. 19 Lee Ben vs Reginald Hutchinson et al, damages. William Rideaux vs Allstate Property Insurance Company, damages. State of Louisiana vs Jamichael K. Moreau, paternity.

Dreaming of tax simplification

I can’t help but dream this time of the year. It’s the thick of winter, you see, which means I’m spending hours huddled in my home office getting a million tax details in order for my CPA. And I’m dreaming of tax simplification.

Will eggs again be as good as money?

The children’s celebration of Mardi Gras in Church Point in the 1920s and 1930s seemed more like Halloween than the rowdy courir we know today, according to the memory of Marie Louise LaCaze. She put down her reminiscences in 1998 as part of a “life and letters” program at UL.

Would it kill you to buy some antiques?

Besides the omnipresence of cellphones (“those little machines”), my mother’s greatest frustration in her final years was the sluggishness of the antiques market.