Today, interim Sheriff Joe Lopinto and John Fortunato qualified for the upcoming election for Sheriff of Jefferson Parish.
According to a press release from his campaign, "Lopinto, who (by law) became sheriff when former Sheriff Newell Normand retired in the fall of 2017, is energetically campaigning, sharing his vision for a safer Jefferson Parish.
Hours after the United States President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress celebrated a humongous legislative victory with passing its tax reform package in record time without any Democratic support, back home in Louisiana, there's a different tune being sung.
First, up in DC: The US tax reform plan passed without any hearings and sworn testimony. Very few, if anyone in Congress read the legislation since none of them even saw it until an hour or so before the vote. That legislation, which passed and signed into law today, put the finishing touches upon the Trump-led US Congressional congressional agenda in which all respect for the ordinary congressional process was ignored. Earlier this year, Republicans unsuccessfully yet similarly attempted to repeal Obamacare without any hearings, or participation by the minority Democrats and yes, without legislation being available for lawmakers to debate.
In Louisiana, a number of Jefferson and St. Tammany Parish officials were aghast a few years ago over a proposal to sell the Causeway Bridge that goes to the North Shore across Lake Pontchartrain. When the state’s largest paper, the Times Picayune, mixed the idea editorially, one elected official after the other fell all over themselves running away from even any talk of such an atrocity.
Today, Southern Media and Opinion Research released its fall poll which surveyed the Louisiana population on a variety of issues.
Importantly, for specific local politicians, John Bel Edwards is very popular, although a Democrat in a Republican state. His favorable are a very respectable 63%. He is also the most popular statewide elected official followed by US Senator John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, who is below fifty percent.
On Monday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards spoke in general terms about his plans for the upcoming fiscal cliff which is anticipated to be around $1 billion for the year beginning July 1, 2018. At a luncheon today Edwards delivered remarks at an event hosted by Committee of 100, Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL), Public Affairs Research Council (PAR) and the Louisiana Budget Project.
As the Republican Congressman from the 6th Congressional District of Louisiana, Garret Graves said during his Bayoubuzz interview with earlier this week, Louisiana is a "Gold Mine". For reasons, he cited and for others that have been often mentioned, Louisiana possesses riches that few states do. We have the broad Gulf Coast. Then, there's the confluence of the Mississippi River and its Delta. We have immense natural resources, our ports, our fisheries and so much more. Yet, Louisiana is a poor state, with major infrastructure issues including the rapidly shrinking coast, competing for limited federal dollars and national attention.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has released two statements today, one concerning the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget and the second concerning the Louisiana legislative audit of former State Police Mike Edmonson.
Some Louisiana former members of Congress got together recently to whine about Congress. Analyzing past their carping, one can discern the real reasons triggering their views of increased divisiveness in the chambers and its larger meaning.
Louisiana's Coast and the Mississippi River: Such an incredible asset for the state and the nation, but due to coastal erosion and other infrastructure complications, how do we handle such an important issue on the national stage?
Grab your popcorn and coke. The Senator John Kennedy vs. Governor John Bel Edwards fight is soon to begin as speculation mounts whether the freshman US Senator is running for the Governor’s spot, come 2019.
The latest spat involves the former State Police head, Superintendent Mike Edmonson. Kennedy, who had been State Treasurer and the Secretary of Revenues before that, believes that Edmonson should pay back taxes on certain income on services and accommodations provided to him over the past years as he headed the State Police.
Like Alabama, Louisiana is a deep red state with a large majority of conservative voters. In Louisiana, all of the statewide elected officials are Republicans, except for the accidental Governor, John Bel Edwards, a Democrat.
In November of 2015, he was victorious in the Louisiana gubernatorial race against then U.S. Senator David Vitter, the Republican candidate. Vitter is a staunch conservative who had been an elected official for almost a quarter of a century. Unfortunately for Republicans, Vitter was a very flawed candidate. He was controversial within the GOP and had alienated many of the state’s party leaders.
What's in the Louisiana Biz News for the Day?
Answer:GNO Inc and the IT Everywhere in Greater New Orleans, Small Business Innovation Research Center, and the Port of New Orleans
Today, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and other officials dedicated the completion of an important step to assisting the state with its coastal erosion problems while serving to elevate applied education and spur economic development in Baton Rouge.
One more time, shocked and sorrowed.
On Sunday, we learned that Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, the state’s first female governor and matriarch of the State disclosed her bad news, once again. She was suffering with cancer of the liver, a condition that appears to be terminal.
Although it seems like forever when I first heard about Governor Kathleen Blanco’s rare eye cancer, but, looking back, it was only six. We first published an article on Wednesday, June 8, 2011 shortly after we had received word of the horrible news. She had first learned about the cancer one week before.