Taking the reins: Jan Rhorer Breen has been named the next president of St. Joseph’s Academy. Breen will assume the position when President Sister Adele Lambert retires at the end of the 2011-12 academic year. Breen, a 1969 graduate of the academy, is currently the director of communications at Catholic High School, a position she has held for 27 years. The marketing, recruitment and public relations program she developed at the school has become a model for schools around the country. “I am humbled by the opportunity to serve St. Joseph’s Academy,” Breen says in a statement. “The administration, faculty and staff are outstanding, and I want to ensure that they continue to have excellent resources to prepare young women to be responsible and unifying members of the world community.”
Beating the drum: U.S. Sen. David Vitter today urged conservative Republican lawmakers to “act boldly” and to work to keep the majority in Louisiana’s Legislature. Vitter, who spearheaded efforts in the last two election cycles to get more Republican lawmakers elected, told legislators attending a conservative policy organization’s seminar in Baton Rouge today that they weren’t guaranteed to stay in power and that they needed to “earn that leadership.” The state’s Republican U.S. senator pitched several ideas, urging lawmakers to revamp teacher tenure laws, expand voucher programs for students, prohibit the use of one-time money for ongoing expenses and move away from judicial elections to gubernatorial appointments instead. Vitter’s comments came as the right-leaning Pelican Institute for Public Policy held what it billed as an orientation session for new and returning lawmakers.
Questioning the order: Attorneys representing Occupy New Orleans and the city met with two federal judges today but were unable to work out a compromise concerning the organization’s wish to be allowed to remain camped across from city hall. Lawyers, who had also met last week for several hours, met for about one hour today, says Bill Quigley, a Loyola Law School professor who is representing Occupy New Orleans. “We weren’t even close,” Quigley says. The city had ousted protesters from Duncan Plaza before dawn Dec. 6, only to see them return after U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey issued a temporary restraining order. The order expires Tuesday night. U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk, who will decide the issue, today asked for additional briefs from both sides before he rules on whether to extend the restraining order. Africk says he will rule late today or Tuesday morning.
