Politics & Policy

The Louisiana Budget Project this week sent direct mail urging voters to oppose Amendment 2, which would trigger major changes to the state’s tax structure—changes that business interests support. 

The board of directors of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber today announced its support for the tax millage renewal of the Capital Area Transit System, which will appear on the Nov. 13 ballot. 

As the deadline for communities to apply for funding to fix their water and sewer systems approaches, lawmakers are still struggling to untangle the application process. 

With greater scrutiny around compliance of companies that receive property tax abatements under the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program, the Metro Council will be asked to weigh in on whether two local companies that fell out of compliance should be allowed to continue receiving the tax break.

The Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry opted today not to punish companies that have failed to live up to their Industrial Tax Exemption Program agreements to receive property tax breaks. 

Since complaints started mounting earlier this month about the number of burned out lights along Interstate 10 through the heart of Baton Rouge, roughly 30 of the 60 or so lights are back on, according to city-parish officials.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said today he’s largely ending Louisiana’s nearly 3-month-old indoor mask mandate because the state has emerged from its latest coronavirus spike and is seeing lower rates of COVID-19 infection.

Louisiana will receive $595 million in federal disaster block grant aid to help with housing restoration and other recovery needs from last year's back-to-back blows of Hurricanes Laura and Delta, the state's two U.S. senators announced today.

Congress is considering reviving taxes on the chemical and petroleum industries to pay for cleanup of polluted sites.

Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s administration has been making the rounds with Metro Council members and trying to answer their questions in advance of Wednesday’s council meeting, at which the mayor will present her spending plan for some $73 million in federal money.