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American Press
3 days ago
- Politics
- American Press
Jim Beam column:New voting machines overdue
Louisiana legislators have come up with a new system for buying new voting machines that some watchdogs are worried about.(Image courtesy of Louisiana has always had an election system that ranks among the most trustworthy in the country. However, the national conspiracy about the 2020 election being stolen from President Donald Trump resulted in the Legislature creating what is called 'an overly burdensome system for buying voting machines.' The Louisiana Illuminator in 2024 said the 2021 law created the Voting System Commission within the Louisiana Department of State. It is charged with analyzing any available voting systems and recommending a specific type to the secretary of state. Legislators also created a separate Voting System Proposal Evaluation Committee to independently review vendors that submitted bids before making a final recommendation. Joel Watson, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Nancy Landry, said the multiple layers of bureaucratic red tape would mean it would take five rather than three years to purchase new voting machines. And time is important because the Illuminator said the state's current machines are 35 years old and have become difficult and costly to repair. The Illuminator said an effort was made in 2024 to shorten the selection process but it failed 'under pressure from a small group of Donald Trump supporters who came to the state Capitol several times during the 2021 legislative session and bogged down committee hearings with far-fetched election conspiracy theories involving the 2020 presidential election…' Many of the baseless arguments were about Dominion Voting Systems, a voting machine vendor that many Trump supporters falsely accused of rigging the election. Dominion in 2023 won a nearly $800 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News, which spread some of the conspiracy theories. Now another effort appears to be under way to purchase those machines. The Advocate reported Thursday that House Bill 577 by Rep. Daryl Deshotel, R-Marksville, which has passed both the House and Senate, authorizes the elections department to purchase a new voting system using a bidding process called 'invitation to negotiate.' An 'invitation to negotiate' (ITN) is a type of solicitation used in procurement, where the buyer invites potential suppliers to submit proposals and then negotiates with the most promising ones to achieve the best possible outcome. It's a competitive process where factors beyond price, like experience, project plans, and design features, can be considered. The newspaper said the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana says the new process could lead to less transparency. It is a substitute for the open bidding process, which has delayed purchase of new machines because of lawsuits filed by unsuccessful bidders. Watson said Gov. Jeff Landry hopes to have a new voting system finalized by the end of 2025 and begin a 'phased-in implementation' of the new system in 2026. Under the new system, the state invites vendors to submit competitive sealed responses as a starting point for negotiations. It is then empowered to select which vendors it wants to continue negotiations with. Louisiana currently uses voting machines from Dominion and it will be interesting to see whether Dominion is asked for a response. The state's current machines don't include a paper trail, making it impossible to double-check election results. Absentee and mail-in ballots are on paper and can be checked, but over 90% of Louisiana voters cast their ballots in person. Landry defends the new selection process, saying negotiation is a public bid process. 'It's just more flexible …. It allows you to exchange more information than (a request for proposals) does.' Melinda Deslatte, the research director for PAR, said, 'We just want to make sure that there will be something available for the public to see at the end of this process to understand why the secretary of state's office chose the vendor that it chose.' Deslatte added, 'We're not entirely certain yet if that information will be publicly available. But we're hopeful because the secretary of state's office has indicated that they expect this to be a transparent process.' The PAR concerns are legitimate because the Landry administration has been active in trying to close public records. Landry and other top officials in his administration most of the time also refuse to respond to news media questions. We hope things will be different and that this new voting machine purchasing process will be open widely to the general public. Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or Reply Forward Add reaction
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Louisiana lawmakers again reject LGBTQ+ worker discrimination protections
Following a call from a state legislator in June, the head of the Louisiana Department of Health allegedly asked staff to scrub the agency's online accounts of all content related to LGBTQ+ Pride month, according to internal emails the Illuminator has obtained. (Ludovic Bertron, Flickr) For the fourth year in a row, Louisiana legislators have killed a proposal to prohibit employers from discriminating against new hires based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. House Bill 429 by Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, was shot down Thursday on a 4-6 vote in the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations, with all Republicans voting against the measure. Boyd has been the sponsor of the proposal all four years it's been killed in the same committee. Though conservatives on the committee raised concerns Boyd's legislation would have placed what they see as excessive regulation on private businesses, Louisiana law already prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin and cultural hairstyle. Boyd was joined in presenting her bill by Kenny Oubre, an LGBTQ+ New Orleanian who works in human resources. '[The bill] does allow people to bring their entire selves to work, and the data does show, if you're able to bring your entire self to work, you're able to be more productive,' Oubre said. The Louisiana Retailers Association opposed Boyd's legislation. Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Denham Springs, who sponsored legislation last year restricting what bathrooms transgender people can use, raised concerns Boyd's bill would create a slippery slope. 'Is the next bill going to be about furries and now that every company has to put a litter box in the corner?' Wilder asked. 'Where's the line?' Wilder said. 'So do we have any specific examples versus just a conjecture?' Oubre told the committee one of Louisiana's few pediatric cardiologists left Louisiana in 2023 in response to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation state lawmakers had approved as well as the lack of protections for LGBTQ+ people. 'Twenty nine percent of trans people do live in poverty, and that is a direct result of not having job security,' Oubre said. 'So this protection actually allows people to have security, to get a job, to bring their whole selves to work and to be productive.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Louisiana considers ‘homelessness courts' as housing advocates stress lack of resources
A relocation notice is posted in front of a makeshift shelter at the Earhart Boulevard homeless encampment Jan. 13, 2025. Those living near the corridor were take to a state-operated transitional center in Gentilly. (John Gray/Verite News) A bill to criminalize public camping and create 'homelessness courts' in Louisiana passed its first hurdle Tuesday, despite objections from housing advocates and religious groups. Senate Bill 196, sponsored by Rep. Robert Owen, R-Slidell, would make 'unauthorized public camping' a crime punishable by six months in jail, a $500 fine or both for the first offense. The second offense imposes a sentence of one to two years in jail and a $1,000 fine. A Senate committee advanced the bill in a 4-3 vote along party lines, with Republicans prevailing. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry supports the legislation. The proposal would also allow parishes to establish a court program for unhoused people, versions of which already exist in other states. They would give defendants the option to have their conviction set aside if they agreed to be placed on supervised probation and enter into long-term substance or mental health treatment. If the person failed to complete the program, they would face criminal sentencing. The defendant would be responsible for paying program costs, unless a judge waives them. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Prosecutors and judges would have the authority to decide whether homeless defendants, facing a misdemeanor or felony charge, could be diverted to the homelessness court program. People charged with a violent crime or sex offense, or with a past homicide or sex crime conviction, would not be eligible to take part. Owen's bill also excludes persons accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs that resulted in someone's death. Disagreement over the bill came down to views on housing solutions. Its supporters argued enough resources exist for homeless people, but they need to be convinced to accept assistance. 'We need to have some kind of stick and carrot, essentially, attached to the bill that gives it a little teeth,' Owen told the Illuminator after the hearing. He added that amendments to his proposal are likely. Organizations against the bill are those that advocate and support people without housing. They include the Travelers Aid Society and Unity of Greater New Orleans. Representatives with the Louisiana Interchurch Conference and the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops also testified against the proposal. They argued the bill criminalizes homelessness without offering housing solutions, funding or support services. Sufficient affordable housing and needed treatment programs simply don't exist in Louisiana, they said. 'Housing costs have doubled in the last 10 years. Sending these people to jail is a travesty,' said David Larsen, 50, who told lawmakers on the committee he was homeless for seven years. Sens. Joe Bouie and Royce Duplessis, both Democrats from New Orleans, expressed skepticism about the expense of setting up homelessness courts falling on state and local governments and lack of housing support for people as they go through addiction or mental health treatment. Bouie specifically took issue with the bill's requirement for a 12-month treatment plan. 'What're they doing during that time if they don't have housing?' Bouie asked. 'Where do they go? Back on the streets?' Duplessis noted he lives near encampments in New Orleans, where he often sees homeless people who are not suffering from behavioral health issues and would benefit from simple financial support. According to federal data, 40% to 60% of homeless people in the U.S. have a job, but their wages have not kept up with the cost of housing. 'They literally can't afford a place to live,' he said. Meghan Garvey of the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys said Owen's bill would only exacerbate homelessness in the state. 'This isn't informed by any of the best practices' the American Bar Association recommends for homelessness courts, Garvey said, stressing the bill is 'creating a whole new crime.' Will Harrell of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, which operates the city jail, testified against opposed the bill. He warned it would worsen chronic capacity issues there. 'There is no more room in the inn,' he said. According to Orleans Sheriff Susan Hutson, it costs $53,000 to keep someone in jail for a year. Permanent supportive housing costs about $16,000 annually, said Angela Owczarek with the New Orleans housing advocacy organization Jane's Place. Christopher Walters, the governor's deputy general counsel, appeared before the committee to support Owen's bill and rejected opponents' framing of it. 'I don't believe this is criminalizing homelessness,' he said. 'It's criminalizing actions like erecting tents on public property.' Walters and Owen suggested sufficient housing vouchers and nonprofit services already exist to help people. Owen also rejected the idea that housing is the solution to homelessness. 'I just don't think building more housing is the way out of this,' the senator told the committee. Housing advocates provided data in the meeting to contradict Owen's statement. Jennifer Carlyle of East Baton Rouge's Continuum of Care said her homelessness service provider coalition has 2,000 people on its waiting list for housing vouchers, many of whom have waited for months or years for rental assistance. Louisiana is short 117,000 affordable housing units, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. 'We're asking people to get housed without having housing to put them in,' Carlyle said. Some bill opponents also stressed that a person's homelessness does not reflect a lack of desire to be housed. Donna Paramore of Travelers Aid said 98% of the people her nonprofit places in homes stay housed. Detox and treatment centers often have weeks-long waitlists for beds, according to Owczarek. 'These resources don't exist in our state,' she said. Detractors of the bill also said it would likely disproportionately affect people of color, noting that more than 55% of tenants facing eviction in New Orleans are Black women. 'Just weeks ago, a single mom with five kids was sleeping in a van on my corner because no family shelter spaces were available,' Owczarek told the committee. 'There's nothing to stop this bill from leading to her arrest.' Owen's bill comes in the wake of a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that asserted it is not cruel and unusual punishment to arrest people who are sleeping outside when no shelter space is available. The bill is similar to model legislation supported by the Cicero Institute, a public policy group whose backers include Elon Musk. Cicero has two lobbyists registered in Louisiana. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘The Light Switch' Episode 3: Temple, tables and a wrongful arrest
LAI, Getty Images photos Episode 3 of the Louisiana Illuminator podcast, 'The Light Switch' is now available on and . This week, Illuminator reporter Wes Muller serves up details on restaurant reservation trading, a burgeoning digital industry that's made a splash in big dining destinations such as New Orleans. Think of it as eBay, but for tables at high-demand spots. Winning bids have reached four figures just for seats – food not included. But restaurants aren't really embracing these apps, and Wes tells us why lawmakers are getting behind a proposal to place some restrictions on them. Wes also caught up with Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple to get the skinny on why he and Gov. Jeff Landry have seemingly been at odds over their respective proposals to bring down auto insurance rates. They actually have some common ground, but it's clear a political fence needs to be mended. Finally, we hear from one of our fellow reporters from the States Newsroom network: Jackie Llanos of the Florida Phoenix. She broke a story that went viral a week ago when police in her state arrested a U.S.-born Georgia man under a Florida law that forbids immigrants without legal status from entering the state. Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez was held in jail even after providing with his Real ID and a birth certificate that he's an American. The judge said she was obligated to keep him in custody for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jackie followed Juan Carlos' case alongside his family, as they feared the worst. Please listen, follow and rate 'The Light Switch.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
LSU Health Shreveport chancellor resigns amid shakeup
LSU's Memorial Tower displays the time on Monday, March 20, 2023, on Tower Drive in Baton Rouge, La. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) The leader of LSU's medical school in Shreveport has resigned after months of pressure from an LSU Board member. David Guzick, who has been chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport since January 2023, sent a letter of resignation Wednesday to the system Board of Supervisors, spokesman Todd Woodward confirmed to the Illuminator. His resignation follows months of speculation about his potential dismissal after LSU Board member Esperanza Moran called for his dismissal at a board meeting in September. Moran has not spoken publicly about why she supported ousting Guzick. Moran was at the State Capitol on Wednesday for LSU Day at the legislature. When a reporter approached for comment on Guzick's exit, she waved her hand and walked away. News of Guzick's departure comes the same day as confirmation that LSU Provost Roy Haggerty will leave his position at the flagship campus. They become the third and fourth high-level administrators to leave the university this year. Kimberly Lewis, executive vice president for finance and chief administrative officer, announced in February she would step down. LSU's top attorney, Winston DeCuir, relinquished his general counsel role in January, though he will remain a faculty member at its law school until. Guzick had wide support from LSU leadership, including LSU System President William Tate and his top staff at the Shreveport campus. He was praised for getting the medical school removed from probation by its accrediting body. That accomplishment was described as a 'grand slam home run in the bottom of the 9th to win' by his top staffers in a letter they sent to Tate in March, urging his support for Guzick. A similar letter was sent by 17 department chairs to the LSU Board of Supervisors last month, when the LSU Health Shreveport Faculty Senate approved a resolution in support of Guzick. The Illuminator asked Tate, who was also at the Capitol Wednesday, why Guzick resigned. 'Who?' answered Tate, who did not respond to further questions. This is a developing story SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
