One day after the close of the legislative session, today, Gov. John Bel Edwards called a special session of Louisiana’s Legislature to redraw Louisiana’s Congressional district maps with two majority Black districts, as required by yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.

After a long regular legislative session, Gov. John Bel Edwards, today, announced that he signed a number of bills into law and vetoed one bill, that related to the 2017 Justice Reinvestment. The Governor also issued a letter regarding his decision to let SB 44 become law without his signature. 

Gov. John Bel Edwards released the following statement following the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in Congress last night. 

Gov. Edwards said: 

Gov. John Bel Edwards’ Climate Initiatives Task Force will benefit from a newly released tool designed to estimate and evaluate the effectiveness of proposed greenhouse gas mitigation policies for achieving Louisiana’s climate goals.

Is Louisiana a judicial hellhole where decisions by state judges are influenced by campaign contributions?  Apparently, the Louisiana legislature and business lobbying groups think so. In the recent legislative session, laws were passed taking away the authority of state judges to make decisions involving small claims above $10,000.  Evidently elected judges often do not make fair decisions.  Or at least that what insurance companies and other business groups want you to believe.

How insane, how selfish can some people be?

The Republican Party has total control of the Louisiana Legislature, with a supermajority in the State Senate and an overwhelming margin in the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, these legislative Republicans, who were elected to enact policies in line with the party’s platform, are not standing up for their principles and opposing the liberal agenda of Governor John Bel Edwards.

Did you know that those individuals around the United States and locally, who want the national governments to be prudent, follow science and put life before money, are “unconstitutional anti-business, socialists who have destroyed the American economy’?

Yep.

If you looked around over the past week, you will see these epitaphs all over.  They’re on protests signs, on social media posts, on certain cable networks along with revolutionary-war era slogans such as “Don’t Tread on Me”, “Give Me Liberty or Give me Death”.

The new unemployment numbers are horrific. Another 4.5 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. Since the beginning of this health crisis in March, the total number of unemployed Americans has exceeded 26 million.

Some experts believe the unemployment rate will eventually surpass 20%, nearing the all-time high of 24.9% in 1933, in the middle of the Great Depression.

With the coronavirus spreading across the nation, all Americans are feeling vulnerable and nervous about the future. Incredible steps have been taken to shut down interaction among people and slow the spread of the killer disease. Hopefully, these measures will be successful, and life will soon return to normal in the country.

In the meantime, the crisis will get worse before it eventually gets better. One place that is being particularly hard hit is Louisiana. Our state is facing a crisis like nothing it has ever experienced. We are used to dealing with hurricanes and natural disasters, but this crisis is multi-faceted and will be long-lasting.