Seeing it half full: Controversy continues to surround presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments painting Mexican immigrants as criminals, but the women taking part in the upcoming Miss USA pageant Trump co-owns say the show must go on. Several Hispanic candidates and one immigrant from Albania taking part in the contest sat down with The Associated Press to discuss the pageant and Trump’s comments in advance of the event taking place in Baton Rouge on Sunday. They tell The AP everyone has a right to their opinions, but distanced themselves from his comments on immigrants, said they’re proud of their roots and hoped the upcoming pageant would shed light on the contributions of immigrants. Read the full story.
Bracing for impact: U.S. Army officials are expected to announce Thursday whether Fort Polk is one of the bases that will lose personnel in the latest troop cuts. As The Town-Talk reports, the decision would not potentially close the base in Vernon Parish, as the Army is eliminating personnel at this time, not facilities. It is under a mandate to reduce its force from about 490,000 to about 450,000. Fort Polk is one of 30 bases that could lose troops and if it is targeted, the base will lose about 6,500 of its military population of more than 10,000. “There isn’t much new we can say right now. We’ll just have to wait and see what the announcement is,” says Michael Reese, chairman of Fort Polk Progress. Read the full story.
The show must go on: A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that environmental groups filed against a New Orleans-based company responsible for a decade-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The Associated Press reports U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan ruled Tuesday that a trial is necessary to determine whether several plaintiffs led by the New York-based Waterkeeper Alliance have a right to sue Taylor Energy Company. The company claims federal regulators agree nothing more can be done to stop the leak off Louisiana’s coast. But Morgan concluded there is a “genuine factual dispute” over whether Taylor can and should do more to mitigate its impacts. Since 2004, oil has been leaking at the site where a Taylor-owned platform toppled during Hurricane Ivan. Authorities estimate the leak could last a century or more if left unchecked.
