Down by law: A businessman charged with plotting to bribe an unidentified former New Orleans public official has pleaded guilty. Rodney Williams entered the plea today to bribery conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court. Legal documents don’t name the city official, but his tenure matches former Mayor Ray Nagin’s term in office. Along with not being officially named in any court papers, the former mayor has not been charged with a crime.
Pointing fingers: A complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission accuses Republican U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany of paying a Democratic political organization for its endorsement, but hiding the arrangement on campaign finance reports. Christian Gil, leader of the Republican Party executive committee in St. Mary Parish—and a supporter of Boustany’s opponent in Saturday’s runoff, Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry—lodged the complaint. Boustany campaign manager John Porter denies the accusations.
Grading the graders: BESE is moving ahead with plans to grade publicly funded pre-kindergarten and early childhood education programs. The board today agreed to Superintendent of Education John White’s framework for complying with a new law that calls for the development of a common assessment for the early education programs. The state Department of Education will start with pilot projects in individual districts next year to determine what type of grading scale should be used when the statewide program begins in 2015. Also today, BESE elected Chas Roemer as its new president; Jim Garvey as vice president; and Holly Boffy, secretary.
