Baton Rouge
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
NOLA tourism leaders call for Hospitality Zone legislation to be pulled
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, May 22, 2012 at 7:55 PM
As amended by Peterson, Senate Bill 767 (the former SB 573) would have made the hospitality zone board subject to the same laws that govern public meetings and would have reduced the percentage of funds allotted to some of the major backers. Under Peterson's plan, 40 percent of monies raised would have gone to the city for infrastructure improvements, while the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Board and the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Board would have each received 20 percent. The remaining 20 percent would have been split between the French Quarter Management District and the New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network.
Abandonment of the plan, which had been criticized fiercely by neighborhood associations that tagged it "The Ho Zone," was expected after the changes were made. Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who had been a fervent supporter of the original bill, made no mention of it in his annual State of the City address this afternoon.
In its statement, the Hospitality Coalition PAC referred to "unpalatable amendments" placed on the bill and called the original version a "very unselfish effort to tax ourselves and generate significant dollars." The statement also said the funds would have been paired with "a $30 million dollar allocation from the [Ernest N. Morial] Convention Center. Those components are suspended as well."
Dear Friends of Tourism,On behalf of the Chairs and Executive Committee members of the major tourism organizations, we wish to inform you that the industry leadership has asked that the hospitality zone legislation proposed in this legislative session be pulled down for this year.
This decision came after serious consideration and much discussion among a broad-based coalition of New Orleans legislators, business leaders, tourism workers, neighborhood partners and leadership of the hospitality industry.
We are extremely sad that this very unselfish effort to tax ourselves and generate significant dollars for marketing, job creation and revenue growth for our businesses and the city, has come to an end because of unpalatable amendments placed on the bill. Though the bill could likely have been passed in its new form, the amendments made it off target to the private sector coalition which originated the bill in partnership with the Mayor.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
House committee approves second amendment bill
Posted by Alex Woodward on Wed, May 2, 2012 at 4:20 PM
Louisiana has dozens of gun laws on the books. State Sen. Neil Riser filed Senate Bill 303, a constitutional amendment that aims to expand and protect the second amendment right to bear firearms. His bill would "require that any denial, infringement, or restriction on one's right to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, transfer, and use arms for defense of life and property be subject to a strict scrutiny standard by courts in determining any violation of the right."
This afternoon, Louisiana’s House committee on criminal justice voted 9-5 in favor of the bill. The bill, according to Riser, “will give Louisiana the strongest second amendment right in the nation.” The bill's opponents fear Riser’s bill would open a door for litigation to rule those 80-plus laws unconstitutional, creating a gun-toting free for all. It now enter the House for a vote and will likely end up on November ballots where its fate will ultimately be decided by voters.
State Reps. Roy Burrell, Dalton Honore, Barbara Norton, Terry Landry and Helena Moreno repeatedly asked why Louisiana needs the additional “protection.” “I’m just trying to figure out how this gun bill is going to make Louisiana better and make citizens safer,” Landry asked, adding he doesn’t want to send the state back to “the wild wild west of this country.”
Saturday, April 28, 2012
La. Demo. Party head: Leach out, Peterson in
Posted by Kevin Allman on Sat, Apr 28, 2012 at 6:29 PM
More remarkable than the election itself was a statement by Leach after the election, sent out by Louisiana Democratic Party spokesman James Hallinan under his personal email account. Most of these post-election statements tend to congratulate the victor, no matter how bitter the race, but Leach not only did not congratulate Peterson — in fact, he didn't even mention her name. The statement said, in part:
Today's changing of the guard is a reminder that I represent an older generation of Louisiana Democrats who believe that interest groups should all work together under the same Democratic tent and that campaigns should be based on factual information.
He concluded:
I will continue to support the ideals of the Democratic Party and also the reelection campaign of President Obama.
Peterson acknowledged Leach, but was hardly warm: "As Democrats, we want to take an opportunity to thank Chairman Leach for his service to and support of the Louisiana Democratic Party," she said in a statement, before going on to say she was "proud of this fresh group of engaged Louisianians."
Leach's and Peterson's full statements are under the jump:
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
House approves amendment to allow privatization, but not sale, of state prison
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 4:21 PM
Louisiana House Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton, the sponsor of HB 850, which would privatize Avoyelles Correctional Center, today introduced an amendment that would prohibit the sale of the facility to a private operator and limit any private management contract to ten years. The House voted 62-43 to adopt Burns' amendment but deferred, for today, any further votes on the bill.
The bill's original language — which passed the House Appropriations Committee last week in a 13-11 vote — called for a sale and a 30-year management contract.
Another amendment by Rep. Ken Havard, R-Jackson, also introduced today, would ban any management contract that requires a minimum population at Avoyelles if it's handed over to a private operator. A request for information on the sale of state-owned prisons last year called for responses to base guaranteed state per diem payment estimates to be based on a 96 percent occupancy.
A response from Nashville, Tenn.-based operator the Corrections Corporation of America went further, calling for a minimum occupancy guarantee from the state.
"Bully bill" pulled from Legislature
Posted by Alex Woodward on Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 3:08 PM
State Rep. Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge, sponsored House Bill 407, which proposed strengthening existing anti-bullying legislation for Louisiana schools. It included language meant to protect all children, with a clearer definition of bullying, and would require schools to train faculty to identify bullying in and out of the classroom.
The House Education Committee met this morning, and following the panel's major changes to the bill's language, Smith pulled the bill. “Rather than you degrade a bill that was meant for the safety of children, which is what you have just done, I am pulling the bill,” Smith said.
Smith's bill was inspired by statewide and national reports of bullying, and bullying-provoked suicides — including the recent deaths of Tesa Middlebrook of Pointe Coupee Parish, and Savannah Robinson of Slidell, among others. Last year, State Rep. Austin Badon's similar anti-bullying bill was rejected in the House, to which he remarked, "It’s a sad day in Louisiana. We have the authority and the power to address this issue. It’s a sad day when we won’t stand up and help the parents. For us to sit here and say that the conservative, religious right is going to dictate to us how we’re going to vote, I’m embarrassed by that."
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Going 'birther' in Baton Rouge?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Tired of fielding what he says are “many inquiries concerning President Barack Obama’s citizenship and requests that the Secretary of State prevent his name from being place on the ballot in Louisiana’s Nov. 6 Congressional and Presidential elections,” SOS Tom Schedler is asking state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell for an opinion on the matter. Schedler’s plan was posted on his Facebook page March 13 via a letter signed by “William E. Crawford, Attorney, Department of State.”“We have received a huge amount of letters, faxes and emails on the subject,” Brandee Patrick, Schedler’s public information officer, told The Independent this morning.
Amanda Larkins, Caldwell's communications director, said she wasn't aware of the request. Read the whole story at The Independent.
Monday, March 26, 2012
The Advocate reports on mental health bed shortage in Baton Rouge
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 12:49 PM
In our recent cover story on the mental health crisis in New Orleans, we spoke to Interim LSU Hospital's emergency director Dr. Peter DeBlieux, who said that the closure of a number of emergency beds as a result of LSU budget cuts:
"As we're having this conversation, I am down to 15 [emergency mental health beds]," DeBlieux says. "You know this is a misnomer. I've got a room with six chairs and I call them beds. So, just so that we're talking about the same thing, I have nine true beds, like you could sleep in them beds. And that's what I have right now. And that's what I will have going forward."What the cuts amount to, DeBlieux believes, is a loss of the city's safety net. ILH is the only inpatient public mental health provider in the metropolitan area, serving a population of more than 1 million people.
Today, The Advocate reports on similar problems in Baton Rouge, where the Earl K. Long Medical Center has lost 10 of its 20 emergency mental health beds :
The bed closures at the Mental Health Emergency Room Extension, or MHERE, come at a time of increased need as the number of those with behavioral health problems continue to climb, said Jan Kasofsky, executive director of the Capital Area Human Services District, called CAHSD.“We are seeing so many more people in crisis now than ever before. More people have lost insurance, are having emotional difficulties, anxiety with loss of jobs, the recession and how to handle their bills,” she said. “There’s a demand for psychiatric services.”
Hospital and mental health officials report patients with acute mental health problems are being delivered by family, police and others to hospital emergency rooms because of the drawback of facilities designed to specifically address mental health emergencies. The result is much longer waits for patients who need medical care at hospital emergency rooms, known as ERs.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Charlie's way
Posted by Clancy DuBos on Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 1:23 PM
Charlie got his political start at LSU when he joined the Young Democrats, but he honed his skills when he began lobbying in the 1960s — first for the Louisiana Municipal Association and soon thereafter for one of the 800-pound gorillas of that era: the Associated General Contractors, builders of Louisiana’s highways. “I pimp for asphalt,” he once groused.
In Charlie’s early days in the game, he indulged in all the excesses of the time — booze, drugs, women. I remember him standing in the back of a committee room talking in his hallmark stage whisper about a bill he didn’t like. “This is such bullshit,” he snarled. A roomful of heads turned, but the committee’s chair and veteran members — all of whom knew it was just Charlie’s way — pretended not to hear.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
From The Independent — "LSEA repeal in the works, again"
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 1:32 PM
Organizers will once again attempt a repeal of the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA) when the state legislature convenes this spring, reports Walter Pierce of The Independent in Lafayette:
Repeal of the LSEA failed in a Senate committee last year despite the urging of more than 40 Nobel laureates in the sciences and a host of other scientific groups, but the organizer of that drive tells The Ind he’ll be back for the upcoming session in March to give it another go. Zack Kopplin was a senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High last year when the repeal effort began. He’s now a freshman at Rice University and says about 30 more Nobel laureates have signed on to his effort to end the LSEA.“We’re going to be back stronger this session,” Kopplin vows. “We’re organizing students and we’ve also received the endorsement of 72 Nobel laureate scientists.”
Gambit profiled Kopplin in March 2011 during his first bid to overturn the LSEA, which would allow theories of "intelligent design" or creationism to be taught in Louisiana public school science classes.
Former presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is a proponent of teaching "intelligent design" in public schools, and had claimed "hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel prizes, believe in intelligent design." Kopplin challenged her to name a few (he had 43 Nobel laureates on his side), and we took the question to Bachmann at a June appearance in New Orleans. Here's what she had to say.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Nungesser claims endorsements of 14 mayors; four mayors say it's not true
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 4:53 PM
• This story was reported by Leslie Turk of The Independent in Lafayette and is printed here with that paper's permission. A developing version of this story can be read on The Independent's website.
“Acadiana Area and Coastal Elected Officials Join Together to Endorse Billy Nungesser for Lt. Governor” was the title of a press release issued by Nungesser spokesperson Amy Jones yesterday — four days before Election Day. The release claimed the endorsement of 14 Cajun Country mayors who had met with Nungesser at Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge that morning.
The problem? It wasn’t true, according to four of the mayors listed as endorsers.
Carencro Mayor Glenn Brasseaux (who was misidentified as “Glenn Broussard”) says he was invited by David Carmadelle, mayor of Grand Isle, to hear what Nungesser had to say. "We went to the meeting. There was nothing about endorsements. I don’t endorse anybody," Brasseaux told The Independent in Lafayette. In a letter to Jones, Brasseaux went further: “At NO time before, during or after the meeting did the endorsement subject come up. It was not suggested or even mentioned that anyone endorse Billy to my knowledge. Regardless, I do NOT endorse anyone for any office. Since your press release, I have wasted almost a whole day responding to newspapers, radio and television not counting calls from some citizens and friends trying to clear up your misinformation.”
"I did not endorse Billy Nungesser. I attended by request of another mayor a function at Café des Amis," New Iberia Mayor Hilda Curry said, noting that she, too, does not make endorsements. "He should know better," Curry said when informed that the Nungesser campaign had issued a press release touting the endorsements. Brasseaux and Curry are president and vice president, respectively, of the Louisiana Municipal Association; the organization's bylaws prohibit its officers from making endorsements. Jack Dale Delhomme, mayor of Breaux Bridge, and St. Francisville Mayor Billy D'Aquilla also said they didn’t endorse Nungesser.
In the meantime, Camardelle sent out his own explanation, which only confused things further: “I organized this morning's breakfast with Billy Nungesser. Some of the mayors were simply there to meet Billy. These elected officials were not identified to the campaign. It was a simple misunderstanding.”
Jones — who did not attend the meeting — told The Independent she would look into the matter. In the meantime, the endorsements are still listed on Nungesser's Facebook page, more than a day after the error was reported:
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