On the borderline: Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy says more “refinements” are needed to President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, The Associated Press reports. Cassidy spokesman John Cummins says that Louisiana’s senior senator believes adjustments “are needed to ensure that the order keeps our nation safe while respecting the Constitution.” Cummins says the senator wants more flexibility on travel and immigration from the countries affected by Trump’s order on a case-by-case basis. He gave the example of allowing someone who worked with Americans in Iraq as an interpreter to enter the United States. Cassidy, a medical doctor, also wrote on Facebook about health care professionals being able to enter the country legally to provide services here. Louisiana’s other Republican U.S. senator, John Kennedy, says he supports Trump’s order.
Agreement reached: Renewed efforts to desegregate three nearly all-black elementary schools and recruit a diverse faculty and staff are part of a new agreement between a south Louisiana school district and the Justice Department in a federal court case that dates back to 1965. The Associated Press reports that if all of the agreement’s requirements are met, federal supervision of the schools in St. James Parish could end in three years. The 27-page agreement was approved by a federal judge Monday and announced in a Justice Department news release today. It’s one of numerous federal desegregation cases in the South dating back to the 1960s, some of which have taken decades to resolve. The agreement requires the St. James district to implement a new assignment plan to desegregate the three elementary schools. Read the full story.
Mood swings: Americans expressed a bit less optimism about the economy this month after their confidence soared to a 15-year high in December. The Conference Board, a business research group, announced today that its consumer confidence index slipped to 111.8 in January from a December reading of 113.3, which had been the highest since August 2001. The Associated Press reports Americans overall have been in a sunny mood since the Nov. 8 election of Donald Trump ended a divisive presidential campaign and increased the odds of a tax cut. The index measures consumers’ assessment of current conditions, which improved in January, and their expectations for the future, which fell. Americans were somewhat less optimistic about the outlook over the next six months for business conditions, jobs and the prospect that their own incomes will rise. Read the full story.
