A recent survey shows Louisiana is lagging behind in gender equality, ranking the seventh worst state in the nation. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
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A Terrytown Catholic middle school is being sued by parents of an African American child who was sent home on the first day of class because of her hair. Matt Doyle has more.
A recent survey shows Louisiana is lagging behind in gender equality, ranking the seventh worst state, specifically as relates to financial issues. Wallet Hub analyst Jill Gonzales says the state sees a huge difference in the weekly earnings between men and women.
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Gonzales says it’s an issue across the nation.
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Gonzales says Louisiana does not have many women in elected positions, and believes more females in office could move the needle on the issue.
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A family is protesting a Terrytown Catholic school’s decision to send their African American daughter home on the first day of classes for hair that the school says violates the New Orleans Archdiocese dress code. The incident has drawn national attention after a social media filmed inside Christ the King Middle School. NAACP Baton Rouge President Michael McClanahan is calling for a boycott of the school.
The family is filing a discrimination suit in response.
The family says Christ the King humiliated their child at the building, and claims the school did not mention any concerns about her hair at a meet and greet that occurred before classes kicked off. McClanahan says its part of a long standing tradition of private schools throwing up barriers aimed at stopping African Americans from attending.
But constitutional scholars say discrimination cases against private schools can be notoriously difficult, as the private institutions are not governed by the same laws as public schools. Loyola Constitutional Law Professor Dane Ciolino says there are restrictions on expression even at public schools, and even more so at a place like Christ the King.
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Ciolino says the family’s lawsuit is likely to be an uphill battle.
The Archdiocese highlighted its hair policy in its defense, and released a statement saying “The policy was communicated to all parents during the summer and again before the first day of school.” And that “school leadership worked with families as needed to ensure compliance.” The policy is available online.
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It’s been almost a year since the IRS began mailing out enforcement letters requiring businesses of a certain size to fill out mandatory information related to their compliance with Obamacare. Economist for BlueCross BlueShield Mike Bertaut says it’s been a big wakeup call to many Louisiana employers who assumed they were small enough to avoid many ACA regulations.
Many businesses assumed because they were under 50 employees, or met other criteria, that they would avoid having to provide certain healthcare options to employees. Bertaut says if you’ve been mislabeled for several years, that could add up to a lot of fine money.
To avoid many of the restrictions and limitations of smaller companies many organizations are banding together to form Association Health Plans that give the healthcare benefits of a larger company to an umbrella of smaller ones. Bertaut says they’re still waiting on Louisiana to issue a final ruling on the legality of those organizations that are drawing major interest.
___________________________________A 17-year-old Breaux Bridge man has been charged with a series of crime after authorities began an investigation into alleged improper behavior with a juvenile on July 23rd. Due to the nature of the crimes, Peter Castille will be charged as an adult in a kidnapping case involving another minor. St. Martinville Parish Sheriffs Spokesperson Major Ginny Higgins.
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Higgins says along with the one count of simple kidnapping, five counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and one count of oral sexual battery related to the initial case, he was found to have an existing set of warrants.