Free Republic

A quiet Louisiana parish is set to become home to the world's largest data center, stirring unease among residents. Tech giant Meta announced Monday it is expanding its massive Hyperion data center in Richland Parish to five gigawatts of computing power, increasing its investment in the project to $50 billion. Local leaders hailed the project, saying it has already boosted the economy and created hundreds of jobs despite still being under construction. Governor Jeff Landry said the data center construction has ignited 'economic progress' the state has never seen before. 'It's going to create 7,500 construction jobs, more than 1,000...

A local pastor has filed a lawsuit claiming Baton Rouge’s library system unlawfully fired him after he refused to use someone’s preferred gender pronouns. The Rev. Luke Ash filed the suit Thursday alleging that the East Baton Rouge Parish Library terminated his employment a year ago because of his religious beliefs, which Ash said prevented him from using a co-worker’s preferred gender pronouns. He is also the lead pastor at Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, per the church’s website. Ash is represented by Liberty Counsel, a Christian civil liberties law firm, and said the library’s inclusivity policy violated his...

Jasmine Crockett, the race-hustling Congresswoman who lost her Texas Senate bid to Democrat James Talarico, revealed the real reason she lost the race during a black culture festival over the weekend. At a panel discussion during the Essence Festival in New Orleans on the Fourth of July, Crockett appeared alongside Rep. LaMonica McIver (NJ-10) and Louisiana State Senator Royce Duplessis. At one point, Crockett went off on her own party and "racist" Republicans for ignoring black people, saying, "I believe that we need to make demands." "It is not enough just to be that you're not the racist Republican but...

An arrest warrant for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill was issued Thursday, minutes after a 16-count felony indictment was handed down in New Orleans Criminal District Court. The Republican state official’s bond totals $400,000, records show, which include $25,000 for each felony charge. Murrill is accused of eight counts of malfeasance in office and eight counts of intimidation. A New Orleans grand jury reviewed evidence this week about whether Murrill sought to intimidate local New Orleans public officials, including Mayor Helena Moreno and District Attorney Jason Williams, sources said. Murrill told the officials in May that they had imperiled their...

A band of conservative hardliners on Tuesday blocked a procedural rule that would have teed up debate and final votes on a slate of legislation, dealing a blow to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as he aimed to advance the annual defense authorization bill this week. The lower chamber voted 198-224 to reject the rule, with 14 Republicans joining Democrats in opposing the measure due to objections about the SAVE America Act, the priorities of the House, and a niche pension issue. GOP Reps. Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Eric Burlison (Mo.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Randy Fine (Fla.), Andy Harris (Md.), Anna Paulina...

US Senate race between Julia Letlow and John Fleming

President Donald Trump clashed with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy in a meeting with Republican senators on Wednesday, multiple sources told ABC News, over the war powers resolution passed Tuesday in the Senate -- a rare rebuke of Trump that saw with four Republicans voting with Democrats.Multiple sources described the clash between Trump and Cassidy as a shouting match. Senate Majority Leader John Thune tried to intervene to de-escalate the situation and other senators tried to jump in to ease tensions over the resolution, which aims to limit Trump's ability to wage war in Iran but does not have the force...

A study found that videos promoting misinformation about sunscreen got more engagement on the platform, despite making up a fraction of the most popular posts on the topic. Sunscreen videos are all over TikTok — but the ones that go the most viral are the ones that are packed with misinformation, a study published Thursday in the journal PLOS Digital Health found. Researchers from the University of Alberta in Canada analyzed TikTok videos with the highest views across the five most popular sunscreen-related hashtags. Although the vast majority — 87% of the nearly 1,000 videos — promoted sunscreen use, the...

Rapper Mystikal — best known for his 2000 hit “Shake Ya Ass” — has been sentenced to two decades behind bars over a 2022 rape case. According to ABC affiliate WBRZ, the Louisiana hitmaker was handed down a 20-year sentence on Tuesday for third-degree rape. Per the outlet, the rapper, whose given name is Michael Lawrence Tyler, responded in court Tuesday after the victim requested the maximum sentence. “If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence,” he said. The Grammy-nominated rapper pled guilty in March in an Ascension Parish, Louisiana court — though on Friday, ahead of...

A baby born at just 23 weeks gestation is in the hospital indefinitely after the infant’s grandfather allegedly slipped his teenage daughter an abortion pill that sickened her and resulted in an emergency caesarean section. The alleged perpetrator, 39 year-old Jamelle Kelly, faces two felony charges, attempted first-degree feticide and domestic abuse/battery of a pregnant victim, after the Carencro Police Department determined he poisoned his 17 year-old with abortion pills that sent her to the hospital. Louisiana prohibits both surgical and chemical abortions and classifies mifepristone, the most popular abortion pill on the market, as a controlled dangerous substance. The...

An alligator was handed a joke award by a Louisiana sheriff after attacking a man suspected of driving while impaired after he tried to escape across a swamp. The unnamed reptile was given a 'deputy of the year' prize by St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office after the attack on Victor Rivas, 40, on June 7. Rivas was spotted driving a Toyota recklessly along Interstate 10, the sheriff's office said. The car had a blown tire and sustained damage from a collision with a concrete barrier. Louisiana State Troopers conducted a traffic stop on Interstate 310 and reported that Rivas, of...

Is your business "needed"? Bizarrely, in many states, if you want to start a business, you first must convince bureaucrats that your business is "needed." Four years ago, Louisiana blocked social worker Ursula Newell-Davis from helping kids with special needs. Bureaucrats said she hadn't proved her business was needed. "Why does the state of Louisiana have the right to stop me from doing what I love?" she asks in this update video. Good question. Newell-Davis has a master's degree and a social work license. For two decades, she's helped kids with special needs. One, Kamal, told us he struggled to...

The D.C. establishment is showing its true colors in their latest swampy move. Senate Republicans are considering adding eligibility restrictions to the new “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of the ongoing reconciliation bill process. As part of the settlement agreement in “President Donald J. Trump v. Internal Revenue Service,” the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the formation of “The Anti-Weaponization Fund,” funding it with approximately $1.776 billion from the federal Judgment Fund. This agreement was formed in place of Trump or his family receiving any of the $10 billion in restitution they sought through the original lawsuit. FLASH: DOJ expands...

Louisiana has passed two laws aimed at stopping people from disrupting church services, months after protesters made national headlines by disrupting a Minnesota church service in opposition to one of its pastors serving as a federal immigration enforcement agent. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed House Bill 294, which helps empower churches to remove trespassers from their property, and House Bill 68, which expands the legal definition of disturbing the peace to include disrupting worship services. HB 294 states that any religious leader, security team member "or person who is lawfully on the premises of a church or other place of...

You can’t spell “graduation” without “gator.” A graduating McNeese State University student is shocking the internet with a senior photoshoot with a 14-foot alligator named Big Al — including one shot where she’s planting a smooch right on the gator’s snout, her face mere inches from its wide-open jaws. The photo is nuts — but not quite as nuts as it might seem. Kat Daley, 22, who helps run Gator Country in Beaumont, Texas, with her fiancé Eddie said she wasn’t frightened during the shoot — and that it wasn’t her first time being face-to-face with an alligator. “I really...

In a Republican-led Congress defined by deference to President Donald Trump, there's a small but steadily growing cohort who have found themselves more willing to break with the White House. Although the president maintains a firm grip on Republican voters, the expanding club could hinder his agenda on everything from the Iran war to immigration funding at a moment when his party holds a tenuous majority on Capitol Hill. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is the newest member of the club. Just days after losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Cassidy on Tuesday reversed himself on legislation involving the...

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger became the latest enemy of President Donald Trump’s to lose a Republican primary on Tuesday. Billionaire Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones advanced to a runoff election for the GOP nomination for Georgia governor — locking out Raffensperger, who rose to prominence defending Georgia’s 2020 election results but struggled to gain traction among his party’s increasingly MAGA base. Raffensperger’s defeat is another sign of Trump’s grip on the GOP, following the president’s wins ousting state Republican senators who clashed with him over redistricting in Indiana and Sen. Bill Cassidy’s loss in Louisiana on...

ATLANTA (CN) — An 11th Circuit panel on Friday unanimously overturned an $8.2 million jury verdict in favor of former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in his defamation lawsuit against a Democratic super PAC, ruling the Republican politician failed to show the group knew there were implied falsehoods in a TV ad recounting sexual misconduct accusations against the 2017 U.S. Senate candidate. Moore claimed an advertisement created by the Senate Majority PAC (SMP) implied he solicited sex from Wendy Miller, a then-14-year-old girl who was working as a Santa’s helper at a shopping mall. The ad, which the group helped...

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy is facing a serious challenge for his seat, five years after voting to convict Donald Trump on impeachment charges following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump has endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow, but the field also includes well-known state Treasurer John Fleming. If no candidate gets majority support, the top two vote-getters will advance to a primary runoff. Whoever emerges from the Republican contest will be heavily favored in the general election.

Cassidy signaled in his concession speech, without mentioning Trump, that he could spend the final months of his term being more of a thorn in Trump’s side – or at least more openly critical of his party. “Let me just set the record straight: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans and it is about our Constitution,” Cassidy said. “And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to...