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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Louisiana's tough restriction on abortion violates the Constitution, a surprising victory for abortion rights advocates from an increasingly conservative court. The 5-4 decision, in which Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court's four more liberal justices, struck down a law passed by Louisiana's legislature in 2014 that required any doctor offering abortion services to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. Its enforcement had been blocked by a protracted legal battle.

The Supreme Court has set a date, March 4, to hear oral arguments in a case over a Louisiana abortion law. The hot-button case is about a Louisiana law that would require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Critics say this is aimed at forcing abortion clinics to close. In February, the court ruled to prevent the law from taking effect while it faces a legal challenge. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberal justices in this decision, but it is unclear whether he would vote to block the law permanently. A similar law...

The Christian owner of a grocery store chain received a death threat in response to a message on his weekly ad mailer that featured a statement about Heaven, Hell and border walls. Mac’s Cash Savers, which has grocery stores in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, sent the weekly ad, which in addition to noting prices for certain products also included the statement “Heaven has a wall, a gate and a strict immigration policy. Hell has open borders. Let that sink in.” Reggy McDaniel, owner of Mac’s, told The Christian Post in an interview Monday afternoon that the chief purpose of the...

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is demanding Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) bring time sheets for work he performed at Louisiana State University to their Monday debate after allegations surfaced that he wrongly billed the school while a member of Congress. Landrieu appeared briefly on a conference call with reporters Friday to call on Cassidy to bring 63 months of records to their debate “to explain this situation and put it to rest.” A spokesman for Cassidy said LSU would have to provide those records. “Senator Landrieu is still failing to produce any evidence of her ludicrous claims,” the spokesman told The...

A Louisiana district judge removed Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal’s executive order banning Common Core testing on Tuesday. Mr. Jindal has been fighting an uphill battle since June with the state’s board of education to combat Louisiana’s participation in PARCC, a collective of states working together to develop standardizes testing based on Common Core. In a written opinion, Judge Todd Hernandez, said the injunction on testing that was granted at Mr. Jindal’s request caused anxiety within the school system. “The evidence is clear that this state of the unknown has caused anxiety and other harm to the parents, teachers, administrators and...

In a presser now underway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has announced that Louisiana is withdrawing from Common Core. Jindal was one of the first governors to sign onto Common Core but has since soured on the concept. Hopefully, more governors will follow Jindal and withdraw. Common Core, whatever its alleged virtues, is focused on training compliant workers not engaged citizens.

PJM EXCLUSIVE: Louisiana's GOP senator on how the cover-up to trump sound science in favor of political ideology keeps growing with each chapter. Here’s the book-jacket teaser: A major U.S. environmental disaster strikes. As Coast Guard and other heroes struggle to contain the unprecedented damage, a different scene unfolds in a dimly lit conference room in Washington. A small group of high-ranking political hacks and overzealous ideologues see an opportunity to manipulate the situation to advance their agenda. They doctor a key report on the disaster by experts in order to justify shutting down all exploration and new production. They...

A Louisiana man is accused of bludgeoning, decapitating and dismembering his disabled 7-year-old son and leaving the boy's head near the street so the child's mother would see it — a killing that brought seasoned police officers to tears, authorities said Monday. Jeremiah Lee Wright, 30, of Thibodaux waived his right to an attorney and confessed to killing Jori Lirette within 30 minutes of being brought to the police station Sunday, Police Chief Scott Silverii said. He said Wright was booked with first-degree murder and held in lieu of $5 million bond... ...Silverii said the motive was unclear, though Wright...

"I say this with good conscience: every year we don't do anything about the uninsured, we end up, by default, moving closer to a single-payer system," Louisiana Secretary of Health and Hospitals Alan Levine warned TAS in an interview. "Because every year, more people get enrolled in Medicare, more people get enrolled in Medicaid, and more people get enrolled in SCHIP... that by itself is having a death spiral effect on private insurance." And a single-payer system, he added, "would be a disaster." Levine is the man Governor Bobby Jindal has entrusted with the Louisiana Health First Iniative, an overhaul...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI officers raided a House of Representatives office building on Saturday night, and NBC television said it had searched the offices of Louisiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson. The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed the unusual raid at the Rayburn House Office Building on Washington's Capitol Hill but would not say whose office was searched. "Agents of the FBI's Washington field office executed a search warrant this evening at Rayburn at approximately 7:15," Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, said. Weierman said the search warrant was sealed and she could not confirm whose office...

Breaking News: FBI Raids Middle Eastern Owned Service Stations Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 12:42:35 TV 8 News has learned the FBI and local law enforcement authorities are conducting a statewide raid of service stations and businesses owned by Middle Easterners. Agents executed search warrants today at businesses from Tallulah to Ruston and in Monroe. The FBI says the raids are part of "an ongoing criminal investigation." Police sources tell TV 8 News the raids target possible money laundering and counterfeiting in connection with suspected domestic terrorist activity and homeland security. TV 8 News will have details at 5, 6,and 10.

Amid the hoopla about crime reduction in New York City, an equally impressive story has sometimes gone overlooked 1,200 miles to the south. In New Orleans, a city long known for its Big Easy lifestyle, a concerted effort at police reform and crime reduction over the past six years has achieved considerable success -- and spawned lessons for other cities. http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=119&subsecID=213&contentID=2155

US Senator Hillary Clinton vowed today to continue to fight for a "Katrina Commission" probing the Federal Government's sluggish early response to last month's massive hurricane - even after the defeat of a bill she authored to create such a panel. "I called for an independent Katrina Commission because it is simply not appropriate for Government to investigate itself," said Senator Clinton, whose bill was defeated by a party-line vote of 44 to 54. "If we are truly going to provide the people in the Gulf - and all Americans - with the answers they deserve, we need an independent...

The recent indictment of New Orleans business executive Gilbert Jackson on charges of federal tax evasion is intertwined with a much larger federal probe based in Cleveland that authorities say has produced evidence of public corruption in a handful of cities, New Orleans among them. [snip] "In one instance, a series of recordings are recounted indicating that a bribe has been requested, paid and succeeded in securing access for a contractor," the brief says. "In another recorded conversation, the very words used by the interceptees demonstrate that the corrupt official in question wants to be part of 'a long-term thing.'...

Just called Terrell headquarters and gave my meager donation. Online donations not up yet. The woman who answered the phone said a lot of out of state donations are pouring in and they really appreciate it. Number to all is 225-218-8683