Louisiana

POLITICS 05/01/2018 06:22 pm ET Updated 44 minutes ago His former executive secretary accused him of making repeated advances and then banishing her to a do-nothing job when she refused. By Sam Levine 100 Louisiana’s top election official resigned Tuesday amid a lawsuit from one of his staffers accusing him of sexual harassment. The announcement was a reversal for Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler (R), who previously refused to resign and said in March it would be “cowardly” to do so after the allegations were first made. Dawn Ross, who was an assistant to Schedler but now works in the secretary of state’s office in a reduced role, filed a lawsuit in state court in February accusing him of engaging “in a pattern and practice of sexual harassment and retaliatory harassment” for nearly a decade. After hiring her as his executive secretary in 2011, she said in the suit, he made repeated passes at her, including coming … [Read more...] about Louisiana Secretary Of State Resigns After Staffer Accuses Him Of Sexual Harassment

BATON ROUGE, La. -- In Louisiana, tens of thousands of elderly and disabled people could soon lose their Medicaid benefits because the state faces a budget shortfall of more $500 million. Eviction notices are going out on Thursday to thousands in nursing homes and group homes. Betty Waller, 89, is a polio survivor, and she lives in a nursing home in Baton Rouge. Her life savings pays for part of her care, but Medicaid is needed for the rest. "I won't be living under a bridge, but it's a really scary thing," she said. On July 1, she could be one of about 37,000 people in the state who will lose their Medicaid eligibility if the state doesn't balance its budget. Jim Tucker runs 12 nursing homes in the capitol and 800 of his patients could be told to leave. "It has the potential to kill people," Tucker said. "I'm not trying to scare people by design," said Gov. John Bel Edwards. "The cuts are so catastrophic we shouldn't even contemplate them as we sit here. The legislature has failed … [Read more...] about Almost 37,000 elderly people could face eviction in Louisiana due to budget shortfall

POLITICS 05/16/2018 06:19 pm ET The measure’s passage is a significant victory for voting rights advocates. By Sam Levine The Louisiana Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would allow people on parole and probation for felonies to vote after a five-year waiting period. The measure’s passage is a significant victory for voting rights advocates. Louisiana currently does not allow people serving probation or parole for felony sentences to vote at all. In 2016, The Sentencing Project found that over 69,000 people in Louisiana were disenfranchised while serving on probation or parole, amounting to about 64 percent of the total population disenfranchised because of a felony conviction. The bill will now go back to the Louisiana House of Representatives to be reconciled with an amendment stipulating that people convicted of certain election crimes be excluded from the measure. The House has already approved the bill. In Wednesday remarks on the Senate … [Read more...] about Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Restoring Voting Rights To People On Probation And Parole

A bid to ban abortions after 15 weeks has become law in Louisiana. A spokesman for Gov. John Bel Edwards said Wednesday that the Democrat has signed the bill, which would only take effect if a federal court upholds a similar law in Mississippi. Senate Bill 181 imposes a prison sentence of up to two years for someone who performs the procedure after 15 weeks. A woman who has an abortion could not be criminally charged under the bill. Democratic Sen. John Milkovich, who sponsored the legislation, said the state is taking a step in the right direction. He has repeatedly said he wants to see Louisiana ban abortions outright. "We thank and commend our pro-life governor for signing this bill and once again taking a stand for life," he said. "This is an important step forward in Louisiana's fight to protect the unborn." Reproductive health advocates have slammed the bill throughout the legislative process, calling it a blatant violation of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court … [Read more...] about Ban on Abortions After 15 Weeks Signed into Law in Louisiana, but There’s One Hurdle Left

Home Daily News Louisiana, Oregon should require unanimous… Annual Meeting By Lorelei Laird Posted August 6, 2018, 1:58 pm CDT sirtravelalot / Shutterstock.com Only two states, Louisiana and Oregon, permit felony convictions by a less than unanimous vote. At Monday’s meeting, the ABA House of Delegates voted to urge those states to end the practice, raising concerns about how well it serves justice. The resolution was moved in the House by Judy Perry Martinez of Louisiana, who is also the association’s president-elect nominee. She noted that Louisiana adopted its nonunanimous jury policy with its 1898 constitution, which was expressly designed to “establish the supremacy of the white race.” Today, she said, one study showed that African-American defendants were 30 percent more likely to have been convicted by a nonunanimous jury. Louisiana is considering a constitutional amendment to require unanimous juries, she said, but the state’s attorney … [Read more...] about Louisiana, Oregon should require unanimous juries for felony convictions, ABA House urges