Suspended LSU Law Professor Ken Levy spoke with Talk Louisiana host Jim Engster about where he stands with his lawsuit against LSU. Sean Richardson has more.
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One New Orleans professor says the U.S. is headed towards a recession with all these tariffs. Colleen Crain reports…
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The execution of Jessie Hoffman scheduled for tomorrow is back on – for now. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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Suspended LSU law professor Ken Levy was on Talk Louisiana with Jim Engster on Friday discussing his suspension from teaching for using explicit language directed to Governor Landry and President Trump. Levy says he did nothing wrong.
Cut 4 (11) “…against profanity.”
Levy says when the dean initially approached him on the incident, she asked him to tone down the swearing, and he agreed. But Levy said if she would have asked him to apologize, then he gladly would have.
Levy filed a lawsuit, arguing that his suspension violated his academic freedom and due process rights. When asked how long he would try to fight this and if he would call it quits, Levy says he plans to fight this until the end.
Cut 6 (11) “…much bigger than me.”
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It seems that every day, there’s an announcement of a new tariff that the U.S. is imposing on a country, with that country imposing its own tariffs against the U.S. in retaliation. University of New Orleans economics and finance professor Dub Lane says if it goes on much longer, inflation will go up, the economy will suffer, and America will experience a recession.
President Trump is by no means the first president to impose tariffs on other countries. From 1897 to 1901, William McKinley imposed tariffs to produce revenue. Lane says Trump is imposing tariffs as a negotiating tool, not necessarily to produce revenue.
President Trump has said tariffs are a way to balance out the trade deficit. But Lane says trade deficits are not exactly a bad thing.
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For now, tomorrow’s execution of Jessie Hoffman is back on. On Friday, a three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick that granted Hoffman a delay in his execution. Loyola University New Orleans College of Law professor Dane Ciolino says he’s surprised that the Fifth Circuit acted as quickly as it did.
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Hoffman is scheduled to be put to death for kidnapping, raping and killing Molly Elliott in 1996. He’s not contesting his death sentence; he’s contesting being put to death by nitrogen hypoxia, calling it cruel and unusual punishment and saying it would prevent him from practicing his Buddhist faith during the execution. Hoffman’s lawyers asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to halt the execution, but the court yesterday evening decided that it was not going to intervene. Ciolino said Hoffman’s team had a valid argument to the state’s high court.
So now, Hoffman’s last hope is the U.S. Supreme Court. Ciolino says there’s also a chance that the case might not actually be over in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
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Ciolino says when all is said and done, he would expect a delay for at least a few weeks. But if the Supreme Court declines to intervene, Hoffman will be executed tomorrow.
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For the fourth time, Kim Mulkey has led the LSU women’s basketball team to the NCAA Tournament – and for the fourth time, they’re a three seed. They will take on San Diego State Saturday at the P-MAC. When asked about San Diego State, Head Coach Kim Mulkey was admittedly dumbfounded.
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You may recall that LSU was a three seed when they won it all in 2023, beating Iowa in the national championship game. Mulkey says that experience will be a huge benefit as the Lady Tigers attempt to make another deep run in the tournament.
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Under the women’s tournament format, the top four seeds host first and second round games in their home arenas. Mulkey says having the home crowd behind them will be a huge plus.
Believe it or not, the LSU-San Diego State game is not the only Baton Rouge-San Diego matchup of the tournament. On Wednesday, Southern takes on U-C San Diego in a 16-seed play-in game in Los Angeles, for the right to play the tournament’s top seed, UCLA. LSU and Southern are the only Louisiana schools in the women’s tournament.
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In the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the eyes of Louisiana will all be on McNeese. The Cowboys are the only Louisiana team to make the field of 68. They’re seeded 12th in the Midwest Regional, and they will take on Clemson Thursday afternoon in Providence, Rhode Island. Both teams enter the game with identical 27-and-6 records. Cowboys head coach Will Wade says Clemson is a tough team, especially guard Chase Hunter and forward Ian Schieffelin (SHEFF-lin).
Cut 16 (12) “…rebounds a game.”
Clemson is a school that Wade is very familiar with. He happens to be an alumnus of the school, earning his undergraduate degree from there in 2005, serving as student manager of the basketball team during his undergrad years. Wade says it will be surreal coaching against his alma mater.
Cut 17 (16) “…I’m all McNeese.”
McNeese was a 12 seed last year when they fell to Gonzaga in the first round, 86-65. McNeese is looking for their first ever NCAA tournament win in program history. But dismissing McNeese as a one-and-done might be a very unwise move. Ever since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there have been only six times in which none of the four 12 seeds beat a 5 seed. In fact, since 1985, 12 seeds have won more than one-third of all matchups against their fifth-seeded opponents.
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The top ranked LSU baseball team started SEC play with a three-game sweep over Missouri. The Tigers opened the series with a 12 to 5 on Friday, held on for a seven to six win on Saturday and then a 10 to 5 win on Sunday. Ethan Frey from Rosepine had three hits and drove in two runs…
Coach Jay Johnson was impressed the Tigers scored 29 runs to begin SEC play and only hit four home runs. He says they found other ways to score…
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Kade Anderson gave LSU a strong start on Friday night, but Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores failed to get through four innings. Shores was pulled after he gave up his third run of the day. But Johnson says he’s not down on Shores…