US: Louisiana (News/Activism)
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Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, at risk of further distancing himself from President Donald Trump as his primary election draws closer, says the administration isn’t doing enough to restrict access to abortion pills. Cassidy, one of the few remaining Republicans in Congress who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, on Tuesday accused the administration of moving too slowly in reviewing the safety of the abortion medication mifepristone. Many expect the review won’t be complete until after the midterm elections in November. The issue has renewed relevancy, though, as Louisiana is...
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Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on the landmark voting rights case of Louisiana v. Callais, while arguments were heard in the Virginia Supreme Court in Scott v. McDougle. In Callais, the Supreme Court held that Louisiana’s congressional map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered that the judgment be issued to the lower courts immediately, rather than in 32 days, allowing Louisiana to redraw its congressional maps immediately. In McDougle, the state held a referendum vote to temporarily amend the state’s constitution to allow...
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Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace named several lawmakers Monday who she claims used a congressional “slush fund” to cover up alleged sex scandals. Mace said she uncovered 1,000 pages of documents detailing how certain lawmakers allegedly evaded consequences for sexual scandals, according to a Monday post on X. Mace originally subpoenaed the House Oversight Committee in March in light of a string of sexual scandals that resulted in two resignations from Congress. (RELATED: REPORT: Two GOP Lawmakers Go Head-To-Head In Push To Expel One Another) Notably, Mace said that these documents are only from the last 22 years, claiming...
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The Supreme Court on Monday night granted a request to immediately finalize its opinion in Louisiana v. Callais, in which it struck down that state’s congressional map, to allow Louisiana to draw a new map in time for the 2026 elections. That map is expected to favor Republicans, who currently hold four of the state’s six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives but could pick up one or even two more under a revised map. The court’s decision drew sharp criticism from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the lone dissenter. Jackson argued that the court’s ruling “has spawned chaos in...
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Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is falling slightly behind his GOP challengers ahead of Louisiana’s Republican primary, according to a new poll. The incumbent senator is currently in third place among likely Republican primary voters in the state, according to an Emerson College poll released Thursday. Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming (R) received 28 percent of respondents’ support, and Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) received 27 percent while Cassidy garnered 21 percent. Twenty-two percent of the poll’s respondents said they are currently undecided on their vote in the state’s May 16 Republican primary election, which is now less than three weeks away....
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The Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in Louisiana v. Callais et al has inevitably drawn strong criticism. In ruling that electoral districts cannot be redefined along racial lines, the Court stands accused of “gutting” the Voting Rights Act, crippling civil-rights law and effectively disenfranchising minority voters. But the Court’s decision was correct on the merits. It also represents a great retrenchment that’s taking place in American politics. The rules by which our political system operates have been overdue a revision – not the rules codified in the Constitution but the thicker web of precedents and practices that have served as a...
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A New Orleans sheriff has been indicted with 30 felony offenses in connection with a jail break last May, in which 10 inmates escaped. On Wednesday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced that Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson had been indicted by a special grand jury convened to investigate the May 16 escape at the Orleans Justice Center. “While Sheriff Hutson did not personally open the doors of the jail for the escapees, her refusal to comply with basic legal requirements and to take even minimal precautions in the discharge of her duties directly contributed to and enabled the escape,”...
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The decision could touch off a scramble by Republicans to redraw majority-minority congressional districts, especially in the South, that could cost many Black Democrats their seats.The Supreme Court on Wednesday sharply weakened a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act, a ruling that limits the consideration of race in drawing voting maps and could usher in Republican gains in the House.The decision is expected to touch off a scramble by Republicans to redraw majority-minority districts, especially in the South. New districts could shift the balance of power in Congress by imperiling the reelection prospects of some Black Democrats, possibly...
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The U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 limited the use of race-based redistricting in a legal challenge to Louisiana’s congressional map. The nation’s highest court ruled 6–3 in Louisiana v. Callais that race could not be used when drawing boundaries for the state’s electoral districts. The case rests on whether a lower court-ordered creation of a second black-majority congressional district in Louisiana was constitutional. A federal district judge had ordered the state to create the second district to comply with the anti-discrimination provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act.
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An American soldier stationed at Fort Polk in Louisiana was arrested last week after he told users on the popular messaging platform Discord that he planned to conduct a mass shooting at a synagogue. Jakob Marcoulier, 22, was arrested on Thursday and charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce after the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received a tip in February that he had made threats toward synagogues, according to the US attorney’s office for the Western District of Louisiana. According to court documents, the FBI obtained audio from Discord in which Marcoulier allegedly said, “After this deployment if...
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The Baton Rouge Police Department confirmed at least 10 people are hurt, including two in critical condition, following a shooting at the Mall of Louisiana. According to Chief TJ Morse, there is no threat to the public at this time. The shooting happened around 1:22 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, near the food court area. Morse said it is not a random act of violence, but rather two groups of people who got into an argument inside the food court and started shooting at each other. “Unfortunately, there were some innocent people that were in the area that might have...
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Authorities in Louisiana are searching for answers after a man shot and killed eight children, including seven of his own, and critically wounded two women, including his wife, in Shreveport, La., early Sunday, in the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in more than two years. “I just don’t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said at a news conference. “I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.” The gunman, identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, was killed during a police pursuit after hijacking a car, according to police.
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Eight children were killed in a mass shooting on Sunday in Shreveport, Louisiana. Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Christopher Bordelon told NBC that the victims ranged in age from 1 to 14. According to Bordelon, the suspected gunman hijacked a car after the shooting and was eliminated by police who opened fire...
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Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) reelection effort is under mounting pressure as Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary enters its final weeks, with the incumbent lashing out at GOP allies and facing the possibility of missing the runoff altogether in an increasingly volatile three-way race. Just five weeks before Louisiana Republicans vote on May 16, Cassidy finds himself squeezed between Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, the former congressman and founding member of the House Freedom Caucus…. …. In February 2021, Cassidy voted to convict Trump during the president’s second impeachment trial. He later said, “I voted to convict President...
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ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY)- A man is dead after an attempted murder-suicide in St. Landry Parish on Wednesday evening, deputies said. The St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office said the incident occurred Wednesday evening involving a man who attempted to kill his wife during a domestic dispute. The man then allegedly pursued his wife following a vehicle he believed she was in. The incident ended when the suspect turned a gun on himself. Authorities said the incident began at a campground near Highway 190. The suspect’s wife managed to escape the initial altercation after suffering a broken nose and multiple...
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As all eyes are glued to the happenings in the Middle East, this story flew under the radar for most of us. But in a lot of ways, the implications for our national security could be greater than what happens in the next few weeks in the Persian Gulf. Drone warfare has come to the United States—to the heart of our nuclear deterrent capabilities—and our defenses proved inadequate to stop sophisticated drones from interfering with wartime operations.
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ultiple recent drone incursions over U.S. bases housing strategic military assets amplify concerns The War Zone has been documenting for years about highly worrisome drone flights over these installations and critical capabilities. These incidents, as we’ve noted, present a risk to national and local security. One of the drone overflights took place earlier this month at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, home of B-52 Stratofortress bombers and nuclear weapons storage facilities, and a key part of the airborne leg of America’s nuclear triad. Another was at an unspecified installation last month, the commander of U.S. Northern Command mentioned in...
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Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles were found guilty Friday of numerous charges related to the Louisiana staged accident scam, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. According to news reports from local Louisiana media, the jury deliberated about six hours Friday after closing arguments wrapped up at the end of the day Thursday. The case was heard in the U.S. Eastern District of Louisiana. The news reports also said the pair were remanded to federal custody after the verdicts were read. Local news reporting painted a picture of post-verdict chaos. ... The Motta/Giles trial was the...
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A U.S. Air Force Base that houses B-52 bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons detected "multiple unauthorized drones" in its vicinity earlier this month, a base official confirmed to Fox News Digital. "Barksdale Air Force Base detected multiple unauthorized drones operating in our airspace during the week of March 9th," a Barksdale AFB spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Friday. The spokesperson added: "Flying a drone over a military installation is not only a safety issue, it is a criminal offense under federal law." Base officials are working closely with federal and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the drone...
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Sightings of an unmanned aerial system over Barksdale Air Force Base (BAFB) early on Monday morning resulted in a shelter-in-place order, prompting officials to temporarily raise the threat level at the facility. For a short period, the base’s Force Protection Condition level was temporarily raised to FPCON Charlie, indicating an incident potentially indicative of a form of terrorist activity targeting U.S. personnel or facilities. Text message alerts were sent out regarding the incident shortly before statements were shared on social media, directing base personnel at BAFB to take shelter. Postings on social media shortly thereafter indicated that the threat level...
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