Free Republic

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Opponents of a plan to consolidate the levee boards of southeast Louisiana on Tuesday relaunched their efforts to postpone the plan, four months after the Legislature approved it in the name of ridding the New Orleans area of cronyism and patronage. The levee boards, often blamed for poor upkeep of the levees surrounding New Orleans, were the subject of scrutiny in two special legislative sessions since Hurricane Katrina, with business and community groups calling for their dissolution. The issue became the subject of bitter fights during a special legislative session in February, as Gov. Kathleen...

Democratic state Sen. Butch Gautreaux stepped on the STATE Senate floor Tuesday to deliver a rare partisan political speech blasting President Bush and the Republican Congress. Some Republican senators walked out as Gautreaux blasted their president repeatedly. Gautreaux railed against Bush for "a botched war in Iraq," tax breaks for big business and the rich at the expense of poor and middle class, and a tendency to seek revenge on those who don't go along with him. "I worry for Louisiana and I worry for this country," said Gautreaux, a Morgan City businessman. Gautreaux said he fears Louisiana's post-hurricane needs...

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Senate passed a proposal for a ``sales tax holiday'' lasting six days in December, plus a string of tax breaks aimed at helping Louisiana businesses rebuild after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The six-day tax-free proposal is the most extensive of several such bills in the Legislature. Another would create a three-day break from sales taxes; a third would waive most sales taxes on Dec. 10. A bill by Derrick Shepherd passed today would waive the 4 percent state sales taxes for items costing less than 25 thousand dollars from December 6th-11th. Items bought for...

In the two months after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana legislators received more than $100,000 in extra income for attending briefings and other meetings related to the storms. A review of legislative files revealed legislators received another $50,000-plus in travel expenses to attend the meetings. Lawmakers get so-called per-diem payments for attending committee meetings and conducting other state business between legislative sessions. Lawmakers received $113 a day for September meetings they attended. The payment went up to $115 a day in October. Records also show that the hurricanes derailed the out-of-state travel plans of some legislators. But others went anyway,...

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Levee oversight, New Orleans schools and an array of divisive matters ... on the lengthy list of hurricane recovery topics included in a special legislative session called by Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who had initially pegged it for limited emergency needs. Among the hot-button issues[:]...stronger statewide building codes, a revamp of the New Orleans school system that would take control of the city's failing schools ... and unified state oversight of the fractured system of levees that protect coastal areas, towns and New Orleans. Blanco didn't necessarily carve out a strict agenda for recovery and rebuilding...

<p>BATON ROUGE -- If the Louisiana Legislature doesn't take steps to ban gay marriages in Louisiana, God will, a number of preachers said Monday at a rally supporting proposals to preserve "the sanctity of marriage."</p> <p>Senate Bill 166 by Sen. John Hainkel, R-New Orleans, an amendment banning same-sex marriage, is set for a hearing today in the Senate Judiciary A Committee.</p>

<p>Duke released from federal prison The Associated Press April 9, 2004 BIG SPRING, Texas (AP) — Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke left a federal prison in Big Spring, Texas, on Thursday and headed to a halfway house at an undisclosed location in Louisiana.</p>

<p>BATON ROUGE - The national debate over gay marriage is headed for the Louisiana Legislature this spring.</p> <p>The religious right is gearing up for a state ban on gay marriage and an outlaw of any state or local taxpayer dollars spent on domestic partner benefits, whether they are extended to straight or gay couples.</p>