Back home: Louisiana Oil & Gas Association president and CEO Don Briggs is back at home in Lafayette, where he is continuing outpatient rehabilitation for a serious head injury he suffered while vacationing in North Carolina last autumn, The Advertiser reports. In a statement, LOGA says Briggs most recently was being treated at an inpatient rehabilitation facility in Houston. He continues to progress in his recovery, LOGA adds. Briggs sustained a head injury after slipping in a stairway in a private residence in North Carolina on Sept. 30. He was taken first to an Asheville, North Carolina, medical facility, then later moved to Lafayette for further treatment, before going to Houston. Read more.
NOLA bound: Former U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s papers from his tenure in Congress will be preserved at Tulane University, The Associated Press reports. The university’s Louisiana Research Collection announced it will house the documents, which include materials Vitter accumulated during his time as both a member of the Senate and of the U.S. House. The files include correspondence, briefing books, constituent mail, grant and project requests, daily schedules, news clippings and photographs. Vitter, a Republican from Metairie, served in the House from 1999 to 2005 and in the Senate from from 2005 to 2017. The papers are available to researchers who want to view them.
Sounding off: Educators, parents and students gathered outside of U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s Shreveport office on Monday to protest his support of President Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos, The Shreveport Times reports. DeVos is a billionaire philanthropist and school choice advocate who is one of Trump’s more controversial cabinet picks. Some view DeVos as a reformer while others say she is unqualified for the job. Jackie Lansdale, president of the teachers union Red River United, falls into the latter group, questioning why Cassidy would support DeVos, even though she has no relevant experience. “We had to let him know that it’s not okay and that we’re aware of what he’s done,” Lansdale says. Read more.
