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The House of Representatives on Friday passed a historic piece of legislation , allowing members to vote by proxy and conduct hearings remotely for the next 45 days because of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Under the new rules, which passed mostly along party lines, congressmen and women can give written instructions to another member in the chamber to vote on their behalf. One representative can serve as a proxy voter for up to 10 other members at any given time. Those who choose to work remotely can still participate in open hearings and cast committee votes. Closed hearings, however, will...

Senate Judiciary Committee Member John Kennedy, R-La., channeled actor Jack Nicholson Tuesday to describe his response to the latest coronavirus stimulus bill pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "Go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here," Kennedy told "Hannity," quoting Nicholson's character Melvin Udall in the 1997 movie "As Good As It Gets."

Today, Governor John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana Department of Health outlined a plan for COVID-19 testing and tracking that would hire as many as 700 Louisianans to serve as “contact tracers,” interviewing and advising people who have tested positive to determine who in their lives could also be at risk. This week, LDH signed a contract with Accenture and Salesforce to manage Louisiana’s contact tracing process, using two Louisiana-based call centers with 100 percent Louisiana agents. The training for these contact tracers will be managed by LSU’s Stephenson Disaster Management Institute. While hiring will be statewide the initial locations...

The Senate failed Thursday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a bill that would curb his ability to take military action against Iran. The Senate came up short of the two-thirds majority, and it voted 49-44, with seven GOP senators joining Democrats. Seven Republicans broke with Trump: Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Todd Young of Indiana, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined Democrats in February to pass the bill, but he did not vote Thursday. Trump on Wednesday night,...

Opelousas – – The Opelousas Police Department was conducting a narcotics investigation when one of their unmarked units was stolen. According to reports, an unmarked Opelousas Police detective unit was stolen from the parking lot of the Motel 6 located at 4165 I-49 S. Service Road, on yesterday morning at approximately 10:20 A.M.

You knew it was a matter of time before Louisiana entered the realm of lots of other states where the government officially solicited the involvement of citizens to rat each other out. But the rats are now here. For the most part, so far there hasn’t been a plethora of examples here of police harassing or abusing people for the sin of exercising their freedom of speech or association as in places like Wisconsin, California, North Carolina or New Jersey, and thankfully Gov. John Bel Edwards hasn’t issued forth any anti-semitic threats like New York mayor Warren “Bill DeBlasio” Wilhelm...

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The intended target of an attempted armed robbery acted in self-defense during a deadly shooting Thursday night on East Smiley Avenue, according to investigators. The Baton Rouge Police Department reported Tony Falgout, 18, was killed when he and two others tried to rob a 26-year-old man around 9 p.m. in the 2200 block of E. Smiley Ave. The victim of the armed robbery is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.

A pastor in Louisiana, who was placed under house-arrest for repeatedly flouting social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus crisis, stepped out and hosted a Sunday service with a significant number of attendees.

The governor explained while there have been positive signs statewide several regions across the state, including Baton Rouge and Monroe, new cases and hospitalizations continue to increase or to plateau, according to data from the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH). “Thanks to the commitment of the people of Louisiana, our state has made progress in flattening the curve and reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus. Unfortunately, we still have a little work to do before we meet the criteria to safely move to the next phase of reopening, so I will extend the state’s Stay at Home order until...

New Orleans, LA – A medical emergency occurred at the Women’s Health Center abortion facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, yesterday, despite efforts by State Attorney General Jeff Landry to enforce an order that should have shut down Louisiana’s abortion businesses due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The emergency, which occurred on April 21, 2020, was located in the midst of an area where a major COVID-19 outbreak has occurred. In a photo provided to Operation Rescue by a local pro-life activist, an African-American woman was seen fully clothed on a gurney with arms up as if she was in distress. A...

Louisiana Right to Life sent a letter to Gov. John Bel Edwards today respectfully urging him to take decisive action to equally enforce his emergency health orders regarding postponement of elective surgeries and medical procedures on abortion facilities which, according to public record, have blatantly disregarded public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Benjamin Clapper, Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life, said, “Abortion businesses are once again putting profits over patients. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has clearly stated that Texas is justified in postponing elective abortions. Without clear and decisive action from Gov. Edwards and his administration,...

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough used a portion of Thursday’s show to mock Sen. John Kennedy’s Southern accent and accuse the Louisiana Republican of “playing dumb on TV,” adding the senator was "dumb as dishwater." During the segment, Scarborough dismissed Kennedy’s way of speaking as “corn-pone, made-up,” claiming the 68-year-old Mississippi native, who has served in Louisiana public life for more than two decades, “actually talks like Sherlock Holmes when he’s behind closed doors in his house – and he has an eyepatch and a top hat and smokes a pipe.” Scarborough was reacting to Kennedy’s Wednesday appearance on...

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell today said she does not expect any large events to take place in the city for the remainder of 2020. While discussion has begun about how to re-start the economy and more normal activities when the coronavirus pandemic ends, the mayor said it is likely that a certain amount of social distancing will continue for some time, and she said that will have an impact on a lot of New Orleans events. "My recommendation is absolutely no large events such as French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest, even Essence Festival, as it relates to the...

Abortion-rights groups on Tuesday asked federal courts to block statewide bans on surgical abortions in Louisiana and Tennessee during the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuits, brought by Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of abortion clinics in Tennessee and Louisiana, challenge abortion bans that state officials implemented to preserve medical resources for the coronavirus response. “All signs indicate that this crisis will not be over soon, and patients cannot wait until it is. Leading medical experts have been clear that COVID-19 responses should not ban abortion care," said Nancy Northup, president...

Louisiana abortion facilities are fighting to continue killing unborn babies during the coronavirus pandemic. New Orleans Public Radio reports the Hope Medical Group abortion facility in Shreveport filed a lawsuit this week to prevent the state from stopping abortions as part of a larger effort to restrict unnecessary medical procedures during the health crisis. The abortion facility, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, argued that abortions are essential and time sensitive – though many OB-GYNs and medical organizations say otherwise. Their lawsuit names the Louisiana Department of Health and Attorney General Jeff Landry. Landry’s office inspected abortion facilities last...

This morning we had a post talking about the letter that State Rep. Danny McCormick (R-Shreveport) released to his colleagues and the public calling for an end to the economic shutdown Gov. John Bel Edwards is imposing on the state of Louisiana as a response to the Wuhan virus. As we noted Friday, the primary justification for the shutdown was to protect the state’s health care system from being overwhelmed by virus patients, and that justification is no longer valid, if it ever was, because it’s now unmistakably clear the system will not be overwhelmed. McCormick might have been the...

Severe storms forecast for Texas, Louisiana, setting up threat of tornadoes in Southeast on Easter … A storm moving through Arizona on April 11, 2020, could bring thunderstorms to the Phoenix area. [Karen Kurtz/Arizona Republic] By Doug Stanglin, Posted Apr 11, 2020 at 3:20 PM Severe thunderstorms, fed by warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, are expected to pound Texas Saturday and begin pushing eastward, setting up the likelihood of damaging hail, winds and tornadoes for a large part of the Southeast by Easter. The storm system is then expected to push up the Atlantic coast on Monday....

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards answered pleas Thursday to close abortion facilities that still may be operating in violation of his emergency order restricting non-essential medical procedures. The News Star reports the pro-life Democrat governor and Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry announced that they are working to ensure the abortion facilities in Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans are complying during the health crisis. “[The Louisiana Department of Health] and Interim Secretary Stephen Russo have requested our assistance with enforcing their important public health orders, such as those requiring the suspension of elective, non-emergency medical procedures,” Landry said Thursday. He...

Louisiana is set to start doling out supercharged unemployment benefits of $600 more a week on Monday, providing the first wave of relief to a staggering number of residents seeking aid as the coronavirus rocks the state’s economy. But as benefits begin flowing and officials project no part of Louisiana is on track to run out of hospital beds or ventilators in the coming 10 days, Gov. John Bel Edwards warned Wednesday it will be a long time before things return to normal.

Walgreens pharmacies in seven states will soon offer drive-thru coronavirus testing stations. The nationwide retailer announced on Tuesday its partnership with Abbott Laboratories to offer rapid-result coronavirus tests for patients in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas. The COVID-19 test produced by Abbott can deliver results in 13 minutes. In total, 15 stores will offer the testing services. Walgreens has yet to announce the exact locations for the drive-thru testing centers but noted that the company had been in talks with the Department of Health and Human Services to determine the best "hot spot" location for the centers...