A pair of bills which establish tougher penalties for attacking teachers and school staff are awaiting Governor Landry’s signature. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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The 2026 legislative session is over, but the fallout is not. Jeff Palermo has the story.
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The College baseball transfer window opened yesterday and five members of the 2026 LSU roster have already entered their names. Kace Kieschnick has the story…
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With hurricane season officially underway, Entergy Louisiana is preparing the Bayou State for storm season. Nyka Scott, the vice president of customer service, says the company completed conducting storm drills a few weeks ago.
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Entergy is two years into executing a 1.9-billion-dollar resilience plan to fortify structures and upgrade distribution and transmission lines across the state. Scott says the upgrades were put in place after Grand Isle was hit by Hurricane Ida.
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Scott says similar infrastructure is being built across the state.
Scott urges residents to join Entergy in preparing for storms before they arrive. If power does go out, stay away from downed lines and potentially electrified water, and have a plan in place.
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Students who attack teachers and other school employees face tougher penalties under a pair of bills awaiting Governor Landry’s signature. House Bill 283 is what New Orleans Representative Candace Newell calls the “Teacher’s Shield Act,” and it creates new mandatory penalties for students who attack teachers and puts additional protections in place for employees. Earlier in the session, Kimberly McDaniel told the House Education Committee about how her father was assaulted by a student.
Nikita Drummond-Clark taught for more than 30 years and told the committee she was forced to retire due to an injury she had suffered at the hands of a student.
Several teachers said they got little to no support from their respective school districts, and that was evident in this exchange between Newell and Rosepine Representative Charles Owen.
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A companion bill, which calls for a minimum six-month sentence in prison or juvenile detention for any student convicted of assaulting a teacher, is also awaiting Governor Landry’s signature.
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The Louisiana legislative session is over, but not before lawmakers approved a 47-billion-dollar budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1st. Legislative leaders say they have allocated money to attract private industry, improve state roads and infrastructure and they continue to invest in K-through-12 education. But Erin Bendily of the Pelican Institute questions the millions of dollars that are known as legislative pet projects.
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Bendily says she’s also disappointed that the Louisiana Senate did not approve additional dollars to expand private school vouchers and teacher pay raises.
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Governor Landry will address the teacher pay issue during a ten a-m press conference at the state capitol this morning.
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The big story of the legislative session was the redrawing of the congressional map that eliminates a majority Black district. The chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, Edmond Jordan, had this message for his Republican colleagues before they voted on a map that will give the GOP the ability to represent five of the state’s six congressional districts.
House Governmental Affairs Chairman and New Iberia Republican Beau Beaullieu says race was not a factor in the drawing of the map.
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The map approved by the Republican-led legislature is expected to be challenged in court.
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The Advocate’s political reporter, Tyler Bridges, says Democratic Congressman Cleo Fields is one of the big losers of this session, because he will likely lose his seat in the U.S. House.
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And we’ll see more proposed constitutional amendments as a result of this session, including one that prohibits governors from serving more than two terms during their lifetimes. Bridges says it only impacts three people right now.
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The Saints completed their third day of organized team activities yesterday and will return to the field tomorrow and Thursday. Second year quarterback Tyler Shough says he’s been able to take advantage of an offseason without any rookie responsibilities or an open QB battle.
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New Orleans is missing veterans Cam Jordan, Demario Davis and Tyrann Mathieu, who were all around this time last year. Shough says he’s focused on improving as the leader of the offense on and off the field, especially for a group of rookies in the same position as he was a season ago.
Cut 17 (19) “…to prepare yourself.”
Veteran wide receiver Chris Olave has been an active participant at voluntary OTAs despite ongoing contract negotiations over a possible extension. The All-Pro missed last year’s season finale with a blood clot found in his lung, but Shough says he hasn’t missed a beat.
Cut 18 (19) “…the whole year.”