Free Republic

A former Kenner police officer was sentenced to 90 days of inactive probation after he pleaded guilty to stealing money from five Hispanic drivers during traffic stops. Jan Gregory, 34, pleaded guilty Monday (July 16) to five counts of misdemeanor theft, according to Jefferson Parish court records.Gregory resigned from the Kenner Police Department on Feb. 22, 2017, after just over four years with the agency, when investigators confronted him with allegations that he'd been stealing money from Hispanic motorists he pulled over for driving without a license, authorities said. Gregory is accused of taking a total of $3,500 from the...

Baton Rouge prosecutors have ruled out criminal charges against several people who are suing over their arrests at protests after a deadly 2016 police shooting in Louisiana's capital. A court filing shows the district attorney's office notified plaintiff's attorneys on Wednesday that it won't prosecute five protesters and two journalists who were arrested on misdemeanor charges. They were among nearly 200 people arrested

Early jockeying has begun in the race for chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee — the largest caucus on Capitol Hill, and one that has seen its influence grow with Donald Trump in the White House. At least five House Republicans told The Hill they are weighing bids to replace the group's chairman, Rep. Mark Walker (N.C.). Known informally as the RSC, the caucus imposes a two-year term limit on its chairman, giving more members a chance to lead. So far, the possible contenders are: four-term Rep. Vicky Hartzler (Mo.); three-term Rep. Roger Williams (Texas); two-term Rep. Barry Loudermilk...

Democrats hold a massive voter lead in states that require party registration, a gap of 12 million that could be key to whether the party takes control of the House and Senate in the fall midterm congressional elections, according to a new analysis. Overall, 40 percent of voters in 31 party registration states are Democrats, 29 percent are Republicans, and 28 percent are independents, according to a new report of July numbers from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. The states include several with key battles over House seats such as California, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania. The lead...

_____ at the 7:50 minute mark-- Kennedy asks Horowitz: "Your classified index ..... does it contain or discuss an email that refers to a conversation between Atty. General Lynch and a person by the name of Amanda Renteria

HOUMA, LA (CBS Local) – A potentially deadly brain-eating amoeba has been found again in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Independent testing returned positive results for Naegleria fowleri, which causes fatal brain swelling and tissue destruction, in the community of Pointe-aux-Chenes, according to WWL-TV, as well as The Courier. The Details: A brain-eating amoeba has been detected in the Louisiana water system It is the third time since 2015 that the potentially deadly organism has been found in the state The amoeba can cause brain swelling and seizures according to the CDC The Terrebonne Consolidated Waterworks District issued the notification Sunday and...

Rhetorical question: if a Hillary-hating Trump supporter had shot and almost killed a Dem congressman, do you think CNN would have mentioned that fact on the one-year anniversary of the event? But in its five-plus minute segment this morning on the first anniversary of a shooting at a Republican practice baseball game in which GOP congressman Steve Scalise was shot and almost killed, CNN failed to even name the shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, and never mentioned that he was a Trump-hating Bernie Sanders supporter. The only reference to Hodginkson was CNN reporter Phil Mattingly speaking of a “lone gunman.”Get the...

DOES Louisiana hot sauce, a principal ingredient in the spicy New Orleans cocktail sauce commonly served with raw shellfish, kill certain bacteria found in raw oysters? The answer is yes, at least in the laboratory, researchers said in a preliminary report at a national scientific meeting on microbes and antibiotics yesterday. Principal ingredients of the traditional New Orleans cocktail sauce were found to kill a rare but sometimes fatal bacteria called Vibrio vulnificus. Dr. Sanders said that he saw his first case of V. vulnificus infection 10 years ago and that his interest in studying the sauces arose from lectures...

<p>Acadiana lost $26.6 million in proposed construction projects with the stroke of Gov. John Bel Edwards veto pen Wednesday.</p> <p>Twenty-nine projects were part of the 40 items struck from the state’s annual construction budget by Edwards using his line-item veto authority.</p>

On 25 May, 2018, Governor Edwards of Louisiana signed HB 892 into law. The bill now becomes ACT 341, which reforms Louisiana knife law, removing a 1950's era ban on switchblades.  From wafb.com: BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – On Friday, May 25, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed 79 bills into new laws. The bills he signed are as follows:(snip) ACT 341 – HB 892 Provides relative to the illegal carrying of certain knives. The wording of HB892, now ACT 341, is as shown at legiscan.   From legiscan.com: (4)(a) The manufacture, ownership, possession, custody or use intentional concealment...

In the waning minutes of the Louisiana Legislature’s 2018 regular session on Friday evening, Louisiana legislators gave final passage to the Commissioner Selection resolution (HCR 4) offered by the Convention of States Louisiana team! The resolution provides for the selection and authority of commissioners representing the state when a convention is called to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution under Article V. This resolution (and other similar resolutions already passed in several other states) means a runaway convention is impossible. This resolution says Louisiana will send five commissioners (aka delegates) to the convention, all selected by the state legislature. Three...

The 2018 Atlantic Tropical Storm season is off to an early start with Subtropical Storm Alberto. Gradual strengthening is forecast until the system reaches the northern Gulf Coast by Monday night. Rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches with maximum amounts of 15 inches are possible along the track of Alberto from eastern Louisiana, across much of Mississippi, Alabama, western Tennessee and the western Florida panhandle. Rainfall totals of 3 to 5 inches with maximum totals of 8 inches possible from the southern Appalachians into the coastal southeast. Mash image to find lots of satellite imagery linksPublic AdvisoriesNHC DiscussionsFL Radar...

Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an executive order Tuesday night (May 22) prohibiting Louisiana state government from doing business with companies that boycott Israel. The order directs the state commissioner of administration, Jay Dardenne, to terminate existing state contracts with companies if they are currently boycotting Israel or supporting those who do so. Moving forward, companies will be required to sign an agreement certifying that they aren't boycotting Israel before being awarded a state contract. The prohibition will not be applied to companies that have contracts with the state that total less than $100,000 or that have fewer than five...

On April 13th, 2018, the Louisiana repeal of the switchblade ban (HB892) unanimously passed the House.  From legiscan.com: (4)(a) The manufacture, ownership, possession, custody or use intentional concealment on one's person of any switchblade knife, spring knife, or other knife or similar instrument having a blade which may be automatically unfolded or extended from a handle by the manipulation of a button, switch, latch, or similar contrivance located on the handle. Section 2. R.S. 14:95(J) is hereby repealed in its entirety. CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. On May 10th,...

GOP seeks farm bill support amid immigration debate House Freedom Caucus members are trying to flex some muscle on immigration in exchange for support on the farm bill; A sprawling and subsidy-packed farm bill that also would have tightened food stamp rules failed in the House on Friday, in a dramatic defeat for GOP leaders who faced an uprising from conservatives over inaction on immigration. The farm bill, which was voted down 213-198, had been hanging in the balance as the conservative House Freedom Caucus threatened to withhold support without an agreement on an immigration bill vote. The GOP leadership,...

Two Louisiana lawmakers got into a fistfight at a Baton Rouge bar, evidently over a disputed bill in the Legislature, Greg Hilburn with the USA Today Network reports. State Rep. Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette, and Sen. Norby Chabert, R-Houma, were involved in a dispute on the House floor Tuesday (May 15) and squared off later that night at the River Room on Laurel Street. Bishop said Chabert "punched me several times" but he didn't throw any punches back. Chabert said he "loved Stuart like a brother" and regretted the incident. Police were called to the bar, but Bishop and Chabert had...

On Monday, a divided Supreme Court said a court in a Louisiana murder case couldn’t accept a lawyer’s admission of his own client’s guilt over his client’s objections. In McCoy v. Louisiana, the Court considered a basic question about the proper role of attorneys in murder cases. Robert McCoy originally filed his own appeal directly to the Supreme Court about two questions related to his conviction on three murder charges. McCoy was sentenced to death in the case. McCoy was accused of killing three people in 2008 in a dispute with his then-wife and he was arrested after fleeing to...

Vanity lead in about this: In 1978-1979, then California Governor Jerry Brown 'punished' the taxpayers for passing Proposition 13 (making property taxes affordable for those who had lived in California all their lives). Governor Brown cut police and fire services to 'punish' the taxpayers of California for passing Prop 13 (or Proposition 13). Then in 1981, then California Governor Jerry Brown hired 'Hanoi Jane Fonda' to head an Arts Committee with a $1 million budget. This infuriated California voters even more. One of the articles below attributes the actions of then California Jerry Brown to getting Ronald Reagan president. Articles...

Mayor LaToya Cantrell ascended to New Orleans' highest public office Monday (May 7), becoming the first woman to lead the city in its 300-year history, and telling a large audience at the Mahalia Jackson Theatre that "There's only you and me and the work before us." "I vow to each one of you standing here today, before God Almighty, I'll spend every breath and every moment of the next four years proving that you made the right choice," Cantrell said in her speech. Cantrell's relatively short inaugural speech, which clocked in at about 12-1/2 minutes, touched on themes of equity,...

Kanye West revealed in a TMZ interview on Tuesday that he wanted to apologize to George W. Bush for saying in 2005 that the president did not care about black people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Kanye West said he was always told not to apologize to Bush, but that he recently saw the former president pushing his father’s wheelchair at Barbara Bush’s funeral in March, and he felt sympathy for him. “Do you know how bad I would want to go to George Bush and say I’m sorry for hurting you. I was an artist I was hurting...