Columns
Waiting for health care reform
BATON ROUGE — Aside from opinion polls and talk radio rhetoric, there are strong indicators that people are growing weary waiting the government to reform Louisiana’s health care system. […]
Jeremy Alford
Columns
House endorses oil royalties plan, Senate brokers compromise
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana came one step closer last week to realizing its longtime goal of increasing its share of offshore oil and gas royalties when the U.S. House approved legislation that would guarantee $9 billion over the next decade. […]
Columns
The man with the plan
BATON ROUGE — Scott Angelle pointed hard and fast to Caddo Parish. The he breathlessly offered an overview of the state’s dry hole tax credit. […]
Columns
Coastal concerns a major issue for legislature
BATON ROUGE – Issues that have long drawn concern from only south Louisiana communities, such as hurricane protection, flood control and coastal restoration, were crystallized as major state policy during the regular session that adjourned Monday evening. […]
Columns
With ethics, old ways die hard
BATON ROUGE – When Rep. Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe, tried last week to get a hearing on the House floor – his third attempt this session — for a bill to prohibit elected officials from entering into hurricane recovery contracts, 52 of his colleagues tabled the move and buried the ethics proposal in a shallow grave. […]
Columns
Insurance concerns huge issue for bankers
BATON ROUGE — More than 40 bankers descended on the State Capitol last month, awaiting meetings with agency heads and filling the hallways with pinstriped power suits and scrolling through BlackBerries while sitting in committee rooms. […]
Columns
eBay squaring off in legislative dot-com battle
BATON ROUGE — There are business and industry folks up at the Capitol, as well as lobbyists for health care and video poker. But very rarely do you ever see eBay’s people, as they might be called, looking out for the interests of the popular auction website. […]
Columns
Tough on crime?
BATON ROUGE — The stars must have been perfectly aligned in 2001 when every imaginable party involved with the criminal justice process in the Legislature sat down at the same table. […]
Columns
Business keeps coming post-hurricane
BATON ROUGE – If you believe the economic development flacks, businesses inside Louisiana and around the country – world, even – continue to salivate at the thought of gobbling up some of the post-Katrina work here. […]