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Publisher: Governor, it’s decision time on Louisiana’s ‘fiscal cliff’
After raising temporary taxes and given time to find solutions, two years later Louisiana is back to another showdown on the “fiscal cliff” with...
Learning from the past: GO Zone initiatives could again help Baton Rouge
With much of New Orleans swamped by floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina, the use of GO Zone financing helped rebuild the city. (Photo by Liz...
JR Ball: Baton Rouge property tax bills get scrooged
There’s a bounty of reasons to love the Christmas and holiday season but, for me, it’s the tradition of it all. The semi-freshly cut...
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...
Publisher: A watch list for Baton Rouge in 2018
The new year is sure to be an interesting one in Baton Rouge. Here are just a few items to keep your eye on:
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Key Issues in 2018: Is this the year Louisiana tackles fiscal reform?
A CLIFFHANGER: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has talked of the need to reform the state’s tax code since being elected in 2016; facing...
Key Issues in 2018: A smaller, quieter St. George incorporation campaign on the horizon
ANOTHER TRY: The organizers of the first St. George incorporation effort—Dustin Yates, Norman Browning and Joshua Hoffpauir—are expected to make another bid in 2018....
Sharon Weston Broome ‘looking forward’ after rocky first year as Baton Rouge mayor
SECOND VERSE: After a rocky first year in office, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome seems to have found her footing, but many of the issues...
JR Ball: Staring into the abyss of the unknown
Another year—and another Festivus airing of grievances—is almost in the books. It was a bigly year of Trump, as in President Donald J., transition...
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,...
Publisher: City-parish leaders need to do their job
Times are changing in Baton Rouge, and whether you are in business, education, nonprofits or government, we all must adapt and innovate to survive...
JR Ball: The audacity of questioning a police tax
If Baton Rouge politicians—regardless of party affiliation—have learned anything in their unending quest for more of our money it’s this: Voters have a hard...
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...
Publisher: Will ‘greater good’ prevail in future?
The day before Thanksgiving I visited the new Knock Knock Children’s Museum with my oldest grandson. He loves it. What a wonderful asset for...
JR Ball: The sound and fury of tax reform
Interested in a little foreshadowing into how political life will play out next year once Gov. John Bel Edwards and Louisiana legislators embark upon...
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...
Publisher: The elephant in the classroom
A recent front-page story on alternative schools in The Advocate referred to a state report of three-dozen schools and 139 programs that face challenges...
King Alexander: Tax reform should not come on backs of students and universities
LSU president F. King Alexander worries the tax reform measures making their way through Congress will, if not modified, increase the financial challenges facing...
Ascension business leaders pushing for new form of parish government
Business leaders Brandon Trosclair, left, and John Scanlan are leading the move to replace the elected Ascension Parish president’s job with an elected city...
JR Ball: The ‘shocking’ story of redistricting in Louisiana
A group calling itself Fair Districts Louisiana is out to pull off the impossible: Get power-addicted elected officials to give up a power that—among...
