Rolfe McCollister

Publisher: Stop the world, I want to get off

Facing the world each day in a mask, 6 feet away from anyone I encounter, I read and watch the national and local news and wonder, “What’s going on? When will sanity return?”

Alford: Was Monroe mayoral race an electoral wakeup call?

Earlier this month, before he was sworn into office for the very first time, Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis turned heads in a major way....

Alford: Business interests eye next moves

The past few months have been bittersweet for business interests in Louisiana, especially in politics.  Practically every corner of business and industry has been impacted...
insurance

JR Ball: What’s in a name? Power

Trust on both sides is a must if we're ever going to erase the Baton Rouge racial divide. Removing the remaining vestiges of the Lost Cause Confederacy is a good place to start. 

Riegel: Trying to make sense of the new decade

The decade opened with LSU football winning the national title but not much has gone right since then, writes Stephanie Riegel.

Tyson: A moment of racial reckoning for Baton Rouge

The racial justice activism unfolding around the world is cause for cautious optimism and sober reflection, but it's meaningless without facing the truth.

Alford: Legislative session ends as fiscal challenges persist

The Legislature concluded its first special session of the calendar year last week with a balanced budget, but that doesn’t mean the COVID-19 pandemic...
Rolfe McCollister

Publisher: I’ll never know what it’s like to be Black

Recent conversations with Black friends have made Rolfe McCollister aware of “the shoes I have never walked in.” His reponse: To listen.

Alford: What we’ve learned about the Legislature this year 

We were supposed to get to know the House and Senate as almost entirely new bodies during the regular session, but the learning curve...

Alford: Your summertime election primer

Our friends and neighbors in Louisiana started voting in person over the weekend for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak interrupted our lives...

Alford: Halfway to somewhere at the Capitol

We’re just about halfway through the calendar year and more than halfway through the first special session of 2020, which must mean we’re halfway...

Alford: So begins the 2020 election season

You may have missed it, what with the COVID-19 pandemic, business closures, record unemployment, protests, the start of hurricane season and lawmakers in session...
insurance

JR Ball: Louisiana GOP lawmakers making the most of a good crisis

JR Ball: Lawmakers on both sides of the political divide are using COVID-19 as an opportunity to make the most of a good crisis.
Stephanie Riegel CATS

Riegel: Legislature flaunts its disregard for democracy

Riegel: Lawmakers in the Louisiana Legislature have used pandemic mitigation measures as a way to shut the public out of democracy.
Rolfe McCollister

Publisher: Another lost opportunity for the Baton Rouge community

Rolfe McCollister: Selecting the next East Baton Rouge public school superintendent was one of the most critical positions to be filled for our future.

Alford: Our most competitive congressional race

Qualifying for the race to replace 5th District Congressman Ralph Abraham isn’t until July, but the campaigns are heating up. The district, which covers...

Alford: State leaders have to think outside the box  

From the COVID-19 outbreak and the dip in oil prices to climbing unemployment figures and uncertainty around every corner, this is no time to...

Alford: Special elections join special sessions at Capitol 

The end of the regular session, a conclusion slated for less than two weeks from now, will not close the door on legislative politics...

Alford: Disagreements easy to find at Capitol

Lawmakers and the administration know a lot more right now about the budget and the financial impact brought about by COVID-19 than they did...
JR Ball

JR Ball: Navigating some delicate Baton Rouge balancing acts

Baton Rouge is facing a multitude of life-altering decisions as we tiptoe closer to the end of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.