Senator Bill Cassidy’s reversal on the question of whether it is constitutional to impeach a President who is out of office came as a surprise to many. Matt Doyle has the story.
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State, industry, parish, and Congressional leaders met today at the Capitol to discuss forming a united front to oppose the Biden Administration’s recent oil and gas policies. Jeff Palermo has more…
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ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says Senator Bill Cassidy’s vote calling the impeachment of former President Trump constitutional was a surprising move.
The vote was a reversal on the issue for the Senator and triggered a strong condemnation from the state GOP.
Cassidy defended the vote, saying the Trump legal team did a terrible job Tuesday while the House managers presenting the Democrats’ case were well prepared.
Stockley says this may be Cassidy, recently reelected to a six-year term, expressing a more independent streak that he was known for before his first term in the US Senate.
Stockley does not expect the Senator to see much of an overall dip in popularity despite voting against Trump, who is still quite popular in Louisiana.
Cassidy says his support for the constitutionality of impeaching a President who is out of office is not an indicator of how he will ultimately vote over the question of whether the former President incited an insurrection on January 6th.
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An arrest has been made in the Quawan Charles case. The St. Mary Parish 15-year-old was found in a wooded area of Iberia Parish last November. Iberia Sheriff Tommy Romero says they arrested one of the last people to see Charles alive, 37-year-old Janet Irvin
Irvin’s exact role in Charles’s death is not known. One autopsy says he might have drowned himself during a psychotic episode possibly brought on by marijuana. Romero says based on numerous interviews, forensic evidence, and their autopsy report they arrested Irvin in Lafayette Parish…
Irvin has been charged with failure to report a missing child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Attorneys for Charles’s family say Irvin picked up Charles from his home in Baldwin without parental permission. Charles was reported missing on October 30th and his body was found on November 3rd. Romero says immediately after the arrest he spoke with the parents of Charles
Irvin’s bond has been set at 400-thousand dollars.
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A Legislative committee met today hoping to build a coalition of parties interested in reversing the Biden Administration’s recent oil and gas policies.
State Department of Natural Resources Secretary Thomas Harris spoke on behalf of Governor Edwards’ Administration. He says lowering domestic oil and gas production won’t lower overall carbon emissions.
Parish Presidents, members of the Louisiana Congressional Delegation, oil and gas industry leaders, and state lawmakers all testified at the hearing against the revoking of the Keystone XL Pipeline permit and moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters.
Harris says the Edwards Administration supports lowering carbon emissions and wants to present an alternate plan to do so to the Biden Administration.
Edwards recently spoke with the person tapped to be the Biden Administration’s Energy Secretary.
Some are calling for a more forceful response from Governor Edwards. Harris says that’s counterproductive.
The Biden Administration says these restrictions on domestic oil and gas production are key to helping the country hit carbon neutrality by 2050, thus limiting catastrophic levels of future global temperature increase.
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Public Affairs Research Council President Robert Travis Scott expects the Legislature will seek to reform the way the state collects sales taxes when the legislative session begins in April. Scott says a task force has been working to bring the state’s sales tax collection system in line with the rest of the country.
It’s a touchy subject as many parish leaders do not want to give up direct control of their sales tax collections. Scott says that’s because local governments rely heavily on those revenues.
Scott says even if the Legislature passes an item to reform and centralize sales tax collections, voters will have the last say.