Failure to launch: A group of public school teachers has failed in its efforts to recall Gov. Bobby Jindal and House Speaker Chuck Kleckley. Angie Bonvillain and Brenda Romero, the two Calcasieu Parish teachers leading the effort, tell The Associated Press today that they didn’t get enough signatures to force a recall election. The deadline to meet the benchmark was Tuesday. The hurdle to recall a governor is a minimum of 950,000 signatures, while the benchmark for forcing a new election in a House district is about 9,000 verified signatures. Bonvillain and Romero didn’t say how many signatures were collected.
Billable hours: Lawyers for Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson are seeking more than $380,000 in attorneys’ fees and expenses for work on her lawsuit over her bid to become the court’s first black chief justice. In a court filing Wednesday, Johnson’s attorneys argue the amount they are seeking from the state of Louisiana is reasonable. U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan didn’t immediately rule on the request. Morgan ruled in Johnson’s favor earlier this month, concluding she has the seniority to succeed Chief Justice Catherine “Kitty” Kimball when the latter retires early next year. Lawyers for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office have appealed. Justice Jeffrey Victory also argues he is legally entitled to succeed Kimball.
Salute: As of Wednesday morning, three weeks after Hurricane Isaac made landfall as a Category 1 storm, Louisiana still had about 437 troops mobilized for the storm, National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Kazmierzak tells The Times-Picayune. At the peak of the mobilization, about 8,000 soldiers and airmen, or almost 70% of the entire Louisiana National Guard, was called to active duty for the storm response. Just how much the storm mobilization will cost the state is not immediately known. But Gov. Bobby Jindal’s request to the Defense Department to pay for the troops—submitted before Isaac made landfall—was never approved, Kazmierzak says. The full story is here.
