State

Deepwater Horizon oil spill grants fund critical coastal research

Enhancing sediment retention of diversions and improving flood-risk assessment are among the 13 studies recently funded through the first round of Louisiana’s RESTORE Act Center of Excellence grant process. LSU faculty lead eight of the 13 funded projects.

Morgan City man guility in massive theft scheme

A judge found Armond Duhon guilty of 221 counts of theft, two counts of money laundering and one count of racketeering for his role in helping to steal nearly $2 million from a Morgan City company.

State budget goes into OT

The Louisiana Legislature failed to come to a compromise on the state’s $29 billion budget to fund state agencies next fiscal year, adjourned sine die (for good) at 6 p.m. amid House chaos.

Senate pours on the pressure

The Senate staged an unprecedented public conference committee on House Bill 1, the key funding bill, Wednesday night calling for the House Republicans and public stakeholders at risk of cuts to come together to better understand the effects of the House’s plan to leave money unappropriated as a...

Fighting terrorism: Hodges v. Norton

The House passed a bill, 82-8, Monday that works to prevent the state of Louisiana from funding terrorism, but not before two legislators got into an oral dustup which prompted a reprimand by the speaker of the House.

Budget funding restored

The Senate Committee on Finance unanimously moved to the Senate floor the state budget with amendments that restored funding cut from higher education, children and family services, corrections, veteran’s affairs and sheriff’s housing in the House version.

Rural hospitals face cuts

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) faces a $196.4 million cut in its fiscal year budget starting in a little more than a month.

Constitution rewrite isn’t in the air  

Efforts to call a constitutional convention to resolve the state’s “broken” budget and fiscal structure were thwarted Tuesday evening in a 50-45 House vote, considerably short of the two-thirds required for the bill to pass.

Confederate military monument legiislation defeated

XFollowing nearly six hours of testimony and six minutes of vote discussion, the Senate Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs Wednesday killed on identical 4-2 votes, a pair of bills Wednesday that would have made it more difficult to remove Confederate military monuments in Louisiana.

Governor calls special session

Gov. John Bel Edwards Wednesday served legal notice he intends to call a special session of the Legislature 30 minutes after the regular session finally adjourns at its official deadline, 6 p.m. June 8, if the lawmakers have not completed their work on three funding instruments.