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Riegel: A moment of truth for the business community
About this time last year, many—though not all—of the Capital Region’s business leaders and organizations came out in support of a proposed gasoline tax...
Riegel: Realities of the Louisiana budget situation
The state’s current budget situation—as much as a $1 billion revenue shortfall come July 1—is troubling, not in the least because lawmakers have known...
Riegel: Bayou Café owner Frank Brown is making a difference in north Baton Rouge
Recently, I wrote a Daily Report story about a new social enterprise being launched by Frank Brown, the longtime owner and executive chef of...
Riegel: Building a tech ecosystem in Louisiana
Louisiana frequently finds itself at or near the bottom of lists that measure things like educational attainment, mortality rates and poverty levels.
Yet another to...
Riegel: The challenges of fighting child pornography
Literally every other week, on average, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office issues a press release announcing the arrest of someone, or several people,...
Riegel: Moving past the ‘Mad Men’ antics
I was riding a spin bike at the gym on the morning longtime NBC Today show host Matt Lauer joined the growing list of...
Riegel: Why Baton Rouge got trumped on DXC deal
It is customary for the superlatives to fly on the day a major economic development deal is unveiled. So it was, perhaps, not surprising...
Riegel: Why historic tax credits matter
The preservation and development communities often find themselves at odds over regulations that dictate what you can—and can’t—do to old buildings in historic neighborhoods.
But...
Riegel: Crumbling academic buildings? LSU has a lazy river!
A recent issue of the esteemed Chronicle of Higher Education takes LSU to task for its new lazy river, a luxury lounge pool that is...
Riegel: The final chapter in landman’s environmental crusade?
Ten years ago, Baton Rouge landman Dan Collins did a risky and politically unpopular thing, when he filed an environmental whistleblower lawsuit against the...
Riegel: Broome is making the case for St. George
When the Metro Council voted in early September not to put Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s proposed 5-mill property tax for road improvements on the...
Riegel: Running out of places to hide from Mother Nature
As Hurricane Irma barreled toward the southeast U.S. earlier this month, we in south Louisiana breathed a collective sigh of relief.
This monster, the spaghetti...
Riegel: Why the tram went off the rails
If there’s anything on which the mostly white Republicans in the southeast portion of East Baton Rouge Parish and the mostly African-American Democrats in...
Riegel: Local control over Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program makes sense
Gov. John Bel Edwards set off alarm bells in June 2016, when he issued an executive order designed to rein in the state’s Industrial Tax...
Riegel: Sidewalk spat says a lot about parochial Baton Rouge
When the board of directors of the Stanford Oaks Property Owners Association voted in June to close to the public a sidewalk through their...
Riegel: Helping the autistic transition into adulthood
Like many parents whose children were being diagnosed in the early 2000s with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Steve and Sharon Whitlow did everything they could...
Riegel: How long will Louisiana ignore fiscal reform?
It’s hard to decide which of the travesties of the recent Legislative session to be more upset about: The failure of the gasoline tax...
Riegel: The start of something good
In March 2016, Dave Treppendahl made a major bet on north Baton Rouge, when he acquired the dilapidated Hawthorne Heights Apartments at 2136 N....
Riegel: Discouraging investment in our community
Between the state’s unpredictable and ever-changing tax climate, transportation infrastructure problems, troubled schools and skilled worker shortage, it’s hard enough attracting business, industry and...
Riegel: An arcane ruling with potentially big implications for affordable housing
A recent ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans could have negative implications for the development of quality affordable housing...
