Standoff: Republicans in the House and Senate are at odds over Gov. John Bel Edwards’ proposal to give Louisiana’s public school districts a $39 million block grant increase. The Senate is advancing a 2019-20 school financing proposal backed by the Democratic governor that includes the funding boost. But Republicans on the House Education Committee blocked a similar proposal, opposing the $39 million increase. The disagreement threatens to create problems for passage of a separate teacher pay raise included in the financing formula. Read the full story.
At last: The Trump administration has agreed to rewrite regulations to help thousands of Louisiana homeowners with damage from the 2016 floods access federal aid, the state’s U.S. senators said Thursday. As many as 6,000 Louisiana residents who applied for loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration after the massive flooding three years ago have been unable to access the federally financed Restore Louisiana disaster grant program. Receipt of both a disaster loan and grant for the same damage was prohibited as a duplication of federal benefits. Read the full story.
Off the coast: The Trump administration moved today to ease safety regulations adopted after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon blowout, the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history that killed nearly a dozen people. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in a statement the administration was acting to eliminate “unnecessary regulatory burdens while maintaining safety and environmental protection offshore.” The oil industry has been challenging the Obama-era rules, which govern the operation of offshore wells. Officials announced the final revisions at Louisiana’s Port Fourchon, a hub of offshore drilling on the Gulf of Mexico. Read the full story.
