Tag Archives: Louisiana

Louisiana is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decades-old precedent that has safeguarded minority voting rights, urging the justices to strike down the central provision of the Voting Rights Act and ban any use of race in redistricting. In a legal brief filed Wednesday, Republican Attorney General Liz …

When Desoto Regional Health System took out $36 million in loans last year to renovate a rural hospital that opened in 1952, officials were banking on its main funding source remaining stable: Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for low-income people and the disabled. But those dollars are now in …

Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator A Louisiana law that will require schools to place displays of the Ten Commandments in every classroom is “coercive” and “unconstitutional,” according to the federal judge who issued an order Tuesday that stops the law taking effect Jan. 1. Nine families have sued the state, arguing …

Jimmy Williams Nine Louisiana families have filed a federal lawsuit against the state’s education department and local school boards, challenging a new law that mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. The lawsuit was filed just days after Governor Jeff Landry signed the controversial bill into …

Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator Four civil liberties groups will sue the state of Louisiana after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a law Wednesday that calls for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in school classrooms. The new rule applies to any school that accepts state money, including colleges and universities. …

Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator The Louisiana Legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that would label two drugs used to induce labor and treat miscarriages as “controlled dangerous substances,” despite opposition from a broad group of medical professionals. The proposal from state Sen. Thomas Pressly, a Shreveport Republican, targets …

Piper Hutchinson, Louisiana Illuminator Louisiana’s Republican attorney general announced Monday the state is suing the Biden administration over new Title IX rules that aim to protect LGBTQ+ students. The updates to the federal law that forbids sex-based discrimination in education have been expanded to include gender identity and sexual orientation. …

Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator In the face of Republican threats to reproductive health care, Democratic state lawmakers filed legislation Monday that would guarantee access to contraception in Louisiana. Sen. Royce Duplessis and Rep. Delisha Boyd, both New Orleans Democrats, have filed Senate Bill 225 and House Bill 395, respectively. Referred …

Piper Hutchinson, Louisiana Illuminator The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is giving the Louisiana legislature until Jan. 15 to draw new congressional maps that include two majority Black districts. Gov.-elect Jeff Landry, a Republican, says he will call a special redistricting session of the legislature once he’s sworn in …

Louisiana Illuminator, Louisiana Illuminator Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry will become Louisiana’s 57th governor, claiming the seat outright in Saturday’s primary in a field with three other GOP candidates, a conservative independent and a lone Democrat who was expected to force a runoff. “Tonight’s election was historic. …Tonight’s election says …

Piper Hutchinson, Louisiana Illuminator As promised, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, has vetoed three anti-LGBTQ+ bills the state’s Republican-majority legislature approved. In his veto messages, Edwards called out the bills as harmful for youth, discriminatory and extremist. “The effects of this bill may be to simply give legislative …

Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator The U.S. Supreme Court lifted its stay in a Louisiana redistricting case, clearing the way to add a second Black district to the state’s congressional map. The case of Ardoin v. Robinson stems from a congressional map with just one majority-Black district that Louisiana’s Republican lawmakers adopted …

Uriel J. García, The Texas Tribune The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Texas and Louisiana lacked legal standing to challenge the Biden administration’s priorities on who should be deported. In a 8-1 decision, the court found that even though the states lacked legal standing to sue in this …

Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator Republican lawmakers on a state House panel killed a measure that would have established a $10 per hour minimum wage in Louisiana and increased to $14 by 2028. House Bill 374, sponsored by Rep. Ed Larvadain, D-Alexandria, failed to pass the House Committee on Labor and …

Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator The five white law enforcement officers indicted in connection with the May 2019 beating death of Black motorist Ronald Greene pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the respective charges they face. The defendants — four Louisiana State Police troopers and one Union Parish Sheriff’s deputy — were …