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They break it, Louisiana pays to repair the damage
After a crane-mounted barge slammed into the Sunshine Bridge on Oct. 12, shutting down the Mississippi River span for nearly two months, nearby communities...
Slow housing market doesn’t have to hurt government revenues
How much home sales impact a city’s government depends largely on its property tax policies, Governing reports. Places least vulnerable to a slow housing...
Louisiana senators halt HUD nominees until flood victims helped
Senators Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, of Louisiana, today announced they’re placing holds on two U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development nominees until...
Broome administration wants two MovEBR program managers
Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s administration is seeking two separate program managers to oversee the more than $1 billion MovEBR parishwide road improvement program.
In a...
‘LaPolitics:’ Campaign finance reports offer mixed read on cycle
Here’s where Louisiana’s worth-watching politicians stand in terms of money at the beginning of this year's four-year election cycle, based on last week’s Ethics...
Library system to front $2.75M for repairs to idle downtown branch
The East Baton Rouge Parish Library System will front the nearly $2.75 million needed to resume construction on the stalled River Center Branch Library...
Louisiana business taxes grew at a rate unmatched by any other state
Over a two-fiscal-year period—from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2018—companies doing business in Louisiana saw the nation’s greatest annual increase in business taxes,...
Alford: Locals prepare for a moment in the sun
If you’re ever bumping around the Capitol, and you hear someone refer to “the locals,” they aren’t discussing Baton Rouge’s lovable flamingo fanatics or...
Alford: Locals prepare for a moment in the sun
If you’re ever bumping around the Capitol, and you hear someone refer to “the locals,” they aren’t discussing Baton Rouge’s lovable flamingo fanatics or...
Should planning department report to mayor, rather than Metro Council?
Should authority over the Planning Commission move from the Metro Council to the mayor-president’s office? It’s a question the Plan of Government committee says...
Developing Louisiana talent key to Regents’ Master Plan update
Within the next 20 years, expect college—and high school—as we know it in Louisiana to look significantly different.
Specifically, the way in which students move from...
Industry battling over state appointments and river pilot fees
Even as alleged improprieties in the selection of its at-large commissioners are hashed out in 19th Judicial District Court, industry representatives on the Louisiana Pilotage...
Mayor calls for better oversight of mosquito abatement district, other quasi-independent agencies
Mayor Sharon Weston Broome is calling for tougher oversight of the city’s Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control district, as scrutiny of the agency and...
Medical marijuana crop further delayed
Louisiana patients who have been waiting years to access the medical marijuana legalized in 2015 may have to wait longer as the LSU AgCenter...
Donna Collins-Lewis wants Bridge Center plan in 15 days
Metro Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis is frustrated that a report requested several weeks ago from the mayor’s office updating progress on the Bridge Center, the...
Metro Council members move to oust head of mosquito abatement agency
Two members of the Metro Council are calling for a hearing to fire Todd Walker, director of the Baton Rouge Mosquito Abatement and Rodent...
Stung! How a taxpayer-funded mosquito abatement facility nearly doubles in price
After years of rubber-stamping escalating spending requests, the Metro Council is now wondering how the cost of a planned $6.5 million mosquito abatement facility...
Who is Gary Beard and how does he keep landing public contracts?
In his nearly 40-year career, Gary Beard has found work as an engineer, a legislator, a failed candidate for statewide office and an inventor—according...
Insurance commissioner’s race heats up
Tim Temple is putting his money where his mouth is, announcing Tuesday he has invested $800,000 of his own to challenge incumbent Insurance Commissioner...
GreenARMY to push bill limiting aquifer use by industrial companies
Among the environmental advocacy group GreenARMY’s wishlist this legislative session is a new bill to limit industrial use of a local aquifer. It’s also...
