Trump endorsement possibly upends LA Senate race

And now, the Louisiana Senate race of this year gets really interesting.

The contest seemed pretty much set in its field at last summer’s end. Five Republicans – incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, state Rep. Julie Emerson, Treasurer John Fleming, state Sen. Blake Miguez, and Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta – emerged that had the chops to win it all. Most likely, Cassidy would make the semi-closed primary runoff against one of the other four, who then would be favored over Cassidy given the sourness among Republicans over Cassidy’s reversal to vote to convict GOP Pres. Donald Trump on half-baked impeachment charges, as well as concerning his sucking up on various pieces of legislation to the Democrat majorities in the first part of the decade. That challenger then easily would claim the seat in November.

Among those contenders, all vied for Trump’s endorsement, which is thought to convey an almost unimpeachable advantage to whoever receives it. However, concerning incumbents of his party that have displeased him running for reelection, Trump had not endorsed any challengers although, as in the case of Cassidy, he also withheld endorsements of some incumbents. Absent that, Fleming, who once worked for Trump as one of his senior White House aides, was considered in the best position to be viewed as the candidate Trump implicitly backed, although Miguez has played up his association with Trump’s policies as often as he could.

LA case gives chance to bolster impartiality

And this is why the U.S. Supreme Court should grant broad latitude for diversity cases such as Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish.

This week, the Court heard the case, focused on a narrow issue: should this kind of case be heard in federal or state courts. The minutiae of the case make it turn upon just how deputized energy companies are when the federal government gives some authority to their activities. The Court is asked to decide the level of assignment necessary to allow an entity to have a case heard in federal court as opposed to under state law.

In this case, the parish (and others consolidated into the case) accused Chevron (and the entities that it absorbed, plus others consolidated into the case) over decades of straying outside the boundaries of state law in its activities that supposedly caused environment degradation. Independent Judge Michael Clement of the 25^th Judicial District ruled in the parish’s favor, slapping a $744 million judgment onto Chevron that could bring the trial lawyer firm of Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello nearly a quarter-billion dollars. Chevron contends federal law protects it from this punishment.

LA pushing courts to dismiss outdated decrees

With determined effort, where once dozens of school districts in Louisiana several decades ago were under court orders and supervision to desegregate racially, by the end of 2028 every one might be relieved of this useless burden, blazing a trial for other states to follow.

When cases were brought against many of these districts 60 years or more ago, they were deserved. Segregation was rampant, even after a dozen years had passed since Brown v. Board of Education (emphasized by other such cases in the intervening years). It would take a couple of decades to ensure policies were in place to prevent discrimination in education provision in many of these instances, and when such changes were brought to the attention of the particular federal district court its judge would resolves these.

Yet others dragged on for decades after corrections had been made. Entering the second Republican Pres. Donald Trump Administration, Louisiana still had a dozen systems under these orders. The cases continued on autopilot, long after the designated judges or even original plaintiffs had died. Fortunately, the Trump Administration has aimed to clear these cases from the books, seeing them as promoting race-based behavior in the absence of any proof of discriminatory intent.

Dueling reports add up to better LA economy

So, are people coming or going in Louisiana, and what does it all mean for the state’s economic and political futures?

Each year, Atlas Van Lines puts out data about their service moving households, calculating how many trips go from one state to another. For 2025, Louisiana repeated its performance of 2024 by being the state with the highest ratio of outbound to inbound trips of family goods, of nearly 2:1.

Also each year, U-Haul publishes rankings on rentals that happen in one state with the vehicle or trailer deposited in another state. Using raw numbers, unadjusted to population, Louisiana ranked 31^st for dropped-off rentals, but this is significant because it jumped 13 places from 2024.

Allow expedited process to leave consent decrees

Long-suffering families in Concordia Parish and its school district finally might get some relief from once necessary but now burdensome and needless regulation over details about how parish public education operates.

For years, district administrators have tried to exit the school system from court supervision over a desegregation consent decree now six decades old. In these instances when plaintiffs, almost always joined at some point by the U.S. Department of Justice, sue to stop a state and/or local district from engaging in an illegal practice, often the defendants enter into an agreement to take remedial action that corrects the discrimination. This all playing out could take many years, even decades, so the presiding judge and then any successors monitor progress.

Concordia officials implemented a series of reforms long ago agreed upon by the plaintiffs and the court and, with the exception of the opening of a charter school last decade that had to be fit into the decree, for about 45 years little has changed in terms of carrying out agreed-upon actions. As with many of the ten Louisiana districts at present under decrees, this has devolved into an annual exercise of status reports with only incremental statistical changes without the need of any practice alterations, wasting enormous taxpayer resources to continue compiling and reporting with no actual need present.

Data center surge may give Port bills traction

For Republican state Rep. Danny McCormick, it’s not just a matter of trying again, but trying harder to correct potential secret government overreach on property rights as the issue becomes amplified by the data center boom in Louisiana.

McCormick has been a persistent critic of alienation of property without owners having sufficient say in what happens to their possessions. In his second term in office, he has sought to shield owners from overaggressive expropriation, side effects of carbon sequestration, and particularly the ability of the Port of Caddo-Bossier from imposing its will in those two parishes.

In 2021, a law was passed that basically gave the Port Commission, an appointive body chosen by area governments, the ability to make economic development deals anywhere in the two parishes without oversight by other elected officials and bodies. Other local governments could not have any input into those deals, or even know any details about these in the negotiating phase. This included tax abatements that could detract from revenues of these governments.

Nat'l food, Venezuela policies to pay off for LA

You win some, you lose some. Louisiana had that reinforced with recent developments about its sugar and oil industries.

This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a new, and radical, change in its guidelines for nutrition. Principally, it pivots away from processed food and other suggestions that invoked sugar-composed consumption.

That’s not so good for Louisiana sugar production, which leads the country. And it could be significant because, although not a lot of consumers will base their shopping choices on the 2025-30 dietary guidelines, promised cooperation with the Department of Agriculture’s nutrition programs — which send $400 million a day out the door — will affect what foodstuffs can be purchased, which affects demand, which affects producers.

Landry going to Nuuk as Trump jacks up more wheels

So, Mr. Landry is going to Nuuk, as part of Republican Pres. Donald Trump’s larger foreign policy goals that risk driving purveyors of conventional wisdom and unimaginative analysts and journalists to the brink of madness.

Louisiana’s GOP governor was appointed as a special envoy to Greenland late last year, and he says he’s going to make a trip there in a couple of months to rap with Greenlanders about how their independence leading to closer association with the U.S. can make their lives better. In fact, there he’s been invited to the world’s largest dogsledding event (although if he pilots a sled, beware).

That must irk Danish authorities a bit, especially as they can’t stop Landry from visiting and spreading this gospel. With Greenland existing as an autonomous entity loosely associated with Denmark and as part of the 2009 revisions to that status, it gained the ability to admit nationals of other states without Danish oversight. In essence, Landry will argue that an association deal that Greenland and its roughly 57,000 residents can get with the U.S. will top that from what Denmark does and could provide.

Startling new growth chances to challenge LPSC

The Louisiana Public Service Commission acted correctly on streamlining the vetting process of large power customers, but it shouldn’t get too far ahead in boosting the state’s competitiveness for economic development that may hike needlessly rates for all, leaving commissioners in a tough political spot.

Last month, the LPSC revamped how it evaluates power providers’ requests to bring on new customers, specifically designed for those with large demands. This change was held out as a competition measure, enticing such customers by cutting red tape and thereby speeding up rendering a decision.

Now, the provider that has gained the most to date by adding large customers, Entergy Louisiana, has signaled intent to add another such payee and in conjunction with that also seeks approval to upgrade transmission capacity. This mechanics of these proposals differ from the one that dominated discussions last year, the Hyperion project in Richland Parish, in that ratepayers in Entergy’s footprint would pay for a much higher proportion of the project.

Bossier Jury breaking laws over library board

The new year marks just on two years that the Bossier Parish Police Jury has been breaking the law concerning how it governs its libraries, and it gives no indication it’s going to stop doing that any time soon.

Mark Jan. 10, 2024 as the day the Jury began to rack up legal violations. Statute places library governance in the hands of a library board of control for municipalities and, in this case, parishes. R.S. 25:215 states that the board of control shall have authority to establish rules and regulations for its own government and that of the library not inconsistent with law. This includes employing and evaluating the library director, establishing and adopting written library policies, working to secure adequate funding for the library system, adopting the library system’s annual budget, and takes responsibility for providing and maintaining library facilities, resources, and services.

The governing authority, in this case the Jury, has its involvement defined largely in R.S. 25:214. It appoints members to the board and, through R.S. 33:1415 mentioned in this statute and R.S. 25:220.1, also exercisers budgetary and fiscal control that includes approval of annual operating budgets with the right to veto or reduce line-items and vet for approval any submission to the people to levy any tax or issue any bonds. In succeeding sections, statutes say that the head librarian (synonymous with director of libraries) and the Jury are to deliver an annual report, the Jury must pay expenses monthly for the library out of any special tax levied for that purpose and if insufficient its general fund, and must approve of any gifts received for the library system while the board must approve of any expenditures from these.