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Alford: The battle of the branches begins
Efforts by conservative legislators to rein in the order-making authority of Louisiana’s Democratic governor will at some point pull in members of the judicial...
Alford: Will voters keep feeding the Constitution?
The first changes to the current Louisiana Constitution were approved by voters in 1978, just four years following the ratification of the document. That’s...
Viewpoint: Schools must realize we’re co-educators, not just parents
Schools must change their thinking toward parents in a pandemic-prevention world that has students remote learning from home.
JR Ball: You win 2020, I surrender
2020—with the last straw being Hurricane Laura—is fast-becoming the worst year ever ... then again, LSU did win the college football national title.
Riegel: Anger and stress in a time of uncertainty in Baton Rouge
We're emotionally cratering under the strain of a pandemic, a hurricane, social unrest and a presidential race, writes Editor Stephanie Riegel.
Publisher: What’s changed since the 2000 Baton Rouge mayor’s race?
The questions facing this year's candidates for Baton Rouge mayor are the same as those who ran for the office in 2000. When will they be answered?
Alford: Louisiana voting clouded in mystery for now
In between hurricanes over the past week or so, and in the wake of the national conventions for the Democratic and Republican parties, you...
Alford: Emergency election plan brings tears, hate mail
"Madam chairwoman and members, I don't think any of you would want to be sitting where I am."
That’s how Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin...
Alford: Pandemic has changed business of lobbying, too
This week marks five months since the World Health Organization designated COVID-19 as a pandemic, a watershed moment that deeply transformed how elected officials...
JR Ball: Baton Rouge will have a mayor’s race after all
Steve Carter's surprise entry into the mayor's race instantly made him the most serious threat to Sharon Weston Broome’s reelection chances.
Riegel: Battling the pandemic in a post-truth era
With a full-scale, global crisis on our hands, the reality of what it means to dispute reality is, well, downright dystopian in the post-truth era.
Publisher: Stop the world, I want to get off
Facing the world each day in a mask, 6 feet away from anyone I encounter, I read and watch the national and local news and wonder, “What’s going on? When will sanity return?”
Alford: Was Monroe mayoral race an electoral wakeup call?
Earlier this month, before he was sworn into office for the very first time, Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis turned heads in a major way....
Alford: Business interests eye next moves
The past few months have been bittersweet for business interests in Louisiana, especially in politics.
Practically every corner of business and industry has been impacted...
JR Ball: What’s in a name? Power
Trust on both sides is a must if we're ever going to erase the Baton Rouge racial divide. Removing the remaining vestiges of the Lost Cause Confederacy is a good place to start.
Riegel: Trying to make sense of the new decade
The decade opened with LSU football winning the national title but not much has gone right since then, writes Stephanie Riegel.
Tyson: A moment of racial reckoning for Baton Rouge
The racial justice activism unfolding around the world is cause for cautious optimism and sober reflection, but it's meaningless without facing the truth.
Alford: Legislative session ends as fiscal challenges persist
The Legislature concluded its first special session of the calendar year last week with a balanced budget, but that doesn’t mean the COVID-19 pandemic...
Publisher: I’ll never know what it’s like to be Black
Recent conversations with Black friends have made Rolfe McCollister aware of “the shoes I have never walked in.” His reponse: To listen.
Alford: What we’ve learned about the Legislature this year
We were supposed to get to know the House and Senate as almost entirely new bodies during the regular session, but the learning curve...
