Latest news with #Landry
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Louisiana lawmakers decline to hold veto override session
Gov. Jeff Landry addresses the Louisiana Legislature on opening day of legislative session, Monday, April 14, 2025, at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate-Pool) The Louisiana Legislature has declined to reconvene for a veto override session this year. The majority of lawmakers – 87 members of the House of Representatives and 29 in the Senate – voted not to hold a special session in which lawmakers try to overturn Gov. Jeff Landry's rejection of bills. In all, the governor vetoed 15 pieces of the legislation and removed portions of three budget proposals that legislators could have voted to reinstate. The legislation Landry rejected dealt with matters ranging from new registered dietician regulations to a prohibition on outdoor balloon releases. Veto override sessions are extremely rare in Louisiana. There have been just three in the past 50 years, and they all took place from 2021-23. At the time, state government was politically divided with Democrat John Bel Edwards as governor and Republicans controlling the two legislative chambers. Edwards and the GOP legislative leadership were at odds over topics such as transgender rights and political redistricting. Landry and legislative leaders are all Republicans, making it much less likely lawmakers would openly buck the governor to overturn one of his decisions. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Solve the daily Crossword
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Patriots linebacker preview: Built in the image of Mike Vrabel, this group could help the defense take a big step forward
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up By the numbers: Advertisement 13: Elliss set a career high vs. the Bills on Jan. 5, with a 13 tackles, the most of the season in a game for any Patriot. 70: Tavai is the only NFL player in the last decade to play at least 70 percent of the snaps on offense or defense and 70 percent of the snaps on special teams, which he accomplished in 2023. The skinny: After an offseason of turnover, no area of the roster provides a better example of new coach Mike Vrabel's football philosophy than the linebackers. The Patriots acquired multiple players who might best be described as Vrabel guys in Spillane, Gibbens, and Landry. All of them played for Vrabel earlier in their careers. Advertisement Of the newcomers, Spillane figures to be a central figure. The former Raider was in the middle of the action at spring practices, and he saw his playing time increase when Tavai went down with a lower-body injury. Look for Spillane to wear the green dot on his helmet this season. Landry, who has 50.5 sacks in six seasons, should provide a boost off the edge in passing situations. Gibbens should provide depth in the middle, as well as special teams value. (He played almost 40 percent of the special teams snaps for the Titans in 2024). One new face that was a bit of a surprise this spring was Chaisson, as the former Raider and Jaguar flashed positively off the edge and could evolve into a nice depth addition. As for the impact returnees, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Jennings will be part of the conversation as an edge presence on early downs. Meanwhile, Tavai (who had a career-high 115 tackles in 2024) is looking to win back the fan base Elliss has had a career renaissance the last couple of seasons, going from fringe journeyman to every-down linebacker to being the subject of a mild bidding war between the Patriots and Raiders that saw him return to New England on a two-year, $13.5 million deal. He appeared to slot in nicely next to Spillane during spring practices, another sign his role will continue to grow. Advertisement In many ways, this is a group that is made in the image of Vrabel: not splashy, but smart, tough, and versatile. If they can be half as successful as Vrabel was when he played, it should help the defense take a big step forward. How does this position rate against the rest of the league? With the additions of Landry, Spillane, and Gibbens, this group probably went from the bottom third to near the middle of the pack. Quote of note: 'This is an exciting group to be around, and I'm excited going into this season. You just look at it, and you just feel the excitement and the production you could have going out there, and knowing everybody out there has that playmaking ability.' — Landry, speaking in June about the defense. Biggest story lines: Is Landry capable of delivering a burst off the edge as a complementary player for the likes of Keion White and Christian Barmore? In his first year with the Patriots, can Spillane grow into the leadership role that's usually asked from an inside linebacker? Will there be a battle for the other inside linebacker spot opposite Spillane? Christopher Price can be reached at
Miami Herald
6 days ago
- Miami Herald
Driver accused of using phone apps before fatal crosswalk crash, CO officials say
A 59-year-old woman crossing the street in a marked crosswalk died after being hit by an SUV and sent more than 10 feet in the air, Colorado prosecutors said. Now, Mary Landry, 64, has pleaded guilty to careless driving resulting in death and been sentenced to 300 hours of community service, the Boulder County District Attorney's Office said in a July 15 news release. Attorney information for Landry was not immediately available. 'This is a heartbreaking case, and it is a reminder of how fast lives can be changed,' District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in the release. 'Our hearts go out to Judy Florian's family. We are grateful to them for their strength and courage throughout this difficult process.' As Florian, 59, crossed the street at a Louisville intersection in a crosswalk 'after having activated the flashing crosswalk lights,' Landry 'came over the hill' in her SUV on July 8, 2024, prosecutors said in a December news release announcing charges against the driver. Landry, however, 'did not see Ms. Florian' and hit her, sending her 12 to 15 feet in the air, according to prosecutors. At the time of the crash, multiple people called 911, including Landry, prosecutors said. When Louisville police officers arrived, prosecutors said, Florian had no pulse and was lying in front of the SUV without shoes. Officers 'found one of her shoes in a nearby storm gutter,' prosecutors said. She was pronounced dead on scene, according to prosecutors. Evidence from Landry's cellphone showed that near the time of the crash, 'both her messaging app and the Pandora radio app were opened,' prosecutors said. After police detectives completed their investigation, detectives worked with the district attorney's office to determine what, if any, charges should be filed, prosecutors said. Whether a vehicular fatality is 'the result of an accident, careless driving, reckless driving or driving under the influence, or intentional conduct' is determined by the driver's actions, prosecutors said. In November, prosecutors said, Landry was charged with careless driving resulting in death and misuse of a wireless telephone while driving resulting in death. In addition to community service, prosecutors said Landry is required to take a distracted driving course, pay a fine and perform 'restorative justice at the discretion of the parties.' 'Nothing will bring Judy Florian back, but we hope this plea and sentence brings some closure to them,' Dougherty said in the release. 'Even though the defendant was sober and driving the speed limit, this case demonstrates the tragic consequences of distracted driving. We worked closely with the victim's family throughout this process.' Florian's husband of 25 years said his wife's death turned his and his daughter's lives upside down, according to a July 2024 Facebook post. 'The other day there was a spider on some flowers in our house. I took the flowers outside and managed to flick the spider into our yard,' he wrote. 'I kinda feel like that spider. My life has been flung from here to there and I can't make sense of what happened.' Florian, who was raised in Wheaton, Illinois, was a 'true life-long learner,' her obituary says. 'She earned a BS in mathematics from the University of Chicago, an MA in experimental psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Michigan, and an MSW from the Metropolitan State University of Denver,' according to her obituary. She held a number of roles, including 'education researcher, a middle and high school teacher, a paraeducator, a certified nursing assistant, a hospice worker, and a social worker in a senior living community,' her obituary says. But, her obituary says, 'the role she cherished the most was being a mother.' Louisville is about a 20-mile drive northwest from Denver.
American Press
6 days ago
- Politics
- American Press
Louisiana cancels $3B coastal restoration project
The beachfront in Cameron Parish has been pounded by number of tropical storms and hurricanes in recent years, including Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, and Gustav. (Coast Protection and Restoration Authority) Louisiana officially canceled a $3 billion coastal restoration funded by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement money, state and federal agencies confirmed Thursday. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project had been intended to rebuild upward of 20 square miles of land in southeast Louisiana to combat sea level rise and erosion on the Gulf Coast. The money must be used on coastal restoration and it was not immediately clear if the $618 million the state has already spent will have to be returned, as federal trustees warned last year. Conservation groups and other supporters of the project stressed it was an ambitious, science-based approach to mitigating the worst effects of a vanishing coastline in a state where a football field of land is lost every 100 minutes. The project would have diverted sediment-laden water from the Mississippi River to restore wetlands disappearing due to a range of factors including climate-change induced sea level rise and a vast river levee system that choked off natural land regeneration. 'The science has not changed, nor has the need for urgent action,' said Kim Reyher, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. 'What has changed is the political landscape.' While the project had largely received bipartisan support and was championed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry became a vocal opponent after taking office last year. He recoiled at the price and amplified concerns that the massive influx of freshwater would destroy fisheries that local communities rely on for their livelihoods. Landry has said the project would 'break' Louisiana's culture of shrimp and oyster harvesting and compared it to government efforts a century ago to punish schoolchildren for speaking Cajun French. 'We fought this battle a long time, but Gov. Landry is the reason we won this battle,' said Mitch Jurisich, chair of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, who was suing the state over the project's environmental impacts. 'He really turned the tide.' The Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group, a coalition of federal agencies overseeing settlement funds from the 2010 Gulf oil spill, said in a Thursday statement that the Mid-Barataria project is 'no longer viable' for a range of reasons including litigation and the suspension of a federal permit after the state issued a stop-work order on the project. A spokesperson for Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority confirmed to The Associated Press that the state is canceling the project.
Hamilton Spectator
6 days ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Louisiana cancels $3 billion coastal restoration project funded by oil spill settlement
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana on Thursday canceled a $3 billion repair of disappearing Gulf coastline, funded by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement, scrapping what conservationists called an urgent response to climate change but Gov. Jeff Landry viewed as a threat to the state's way of life. Despite years of studies and reviews, the project at the center of Louisiana's coastal protection plans grew increasingly imperiled after Landry, a Republican, took office last year. Its collapse means that the state could lose out on more than $1.5 billion in unspent funds and may even have to repay the $618 million it already used to begin building. The Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group, a mix of federal agencies overseeing the settlement funds, said that 'unused project funds will be available for future Deepwater Horizon restoration activities' but would require review and approval. A plan to rebuild disappearing land The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project aimed to rebuild upward of 20 square miles (32 kilometers) of land over a 50-year period in southeast Louisiana to combat sea level rise and erosion on the Gulf Coast. When construction stalled last year because of lawsuits, trustees warned that the state would have to return the hundreds of millions of dollars it had already spent if the project did not move forward. Former Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, a Republican who once led the state's coastal restoration agency, said that killing the project was 'a boneheaded decision' not rooted in science. 'It is going to result in one of the largest setbacks for our coast and the protection of our communities in decades,' Graves said. 'I don't know what chiropractor or palm reader they got advice from on this, but — baffling that someone thought this was a good idea.' Project supporters stressed that it would have provided a data-driven, large-scale solution to mitigate the worst effects of an eroding coastline in a state where a football field of land is lost every 100 minutes and more than 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) of land have vanished over the past century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey . The project, which broke ground in 2023, would have diverted sediment-laden water from the Mississippi River to restore wetlands disappearing because of a range of factors including climate-change-induced sea level rise and a vast river levee system that choked off natural land regeneration from sediment deposits. 'The science has not changed, nor has the need for urgent action,' said Kim Reyher, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. 'What has changed is the political landscape.' The Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group last year had noted that 'no other single restoration project has been planned and studied as extensively over the past decades.' A perceived threat to Louisiana culture While the project had largely received bipartisan support and was championed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, his successor has been a vocal opponent. Landry recoiled at the rising price tag and amplified concerns that the massive influx of freshwater would devastate local fisheries. Landry has said the project would 'break' Louisiana's culture of shrimp and oyster harvesting and compared it to government efforts a century ago to punish schoolchildren for speaking Cajun French. 'We fought this battle a long time, but Gov. Landry is the reason we won this battle,' said Mitch Jurisich, who chairs the Louisiana Oyster Task Force and sued the state over the project's environmental impacts, including likely killing thousands of bottlenose dolphins due to the onslaught of freshwater. Landry said in a statement that the project is 'no longer financially or practically viable,' noting that the cost has doubled since 2016. 'This level of spending is unsustainable,' Landry said. The project also 'threatens Louisiana's seafood industry, our coastal culture, and the livelihoods of our fishermen — people who have sustained our state for generations.' The project's budget had included more than $400 million for mitigating the costs to local communities, including to help the oyster industry build new oyster beds. Project proponents said that the rapid loss of coast meant communities would be displaced anyway if the state failed to take action to protect them. 'You either move oysters or move people, and there's only one answer to that question,' Graves said. State seeks a smaller, cheaper solution Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the lead agency overseeing the project, said in a statement that the project was 'no longer viable at this time based on a totality of the circumstances' including costs, litigation and a federal permit suspended earlier this year after the state halted work on the project. Chairman Gordon 'Gordy' Dove said that 'our commitment to coastal restoration has not wavered' and that the state plans to pursue a smaller-scale diversion nearby. Dove told lawmakers earlier this year that the state could save at least $1 billion with a different plan to channel river water into the Gulf Coast at a rate 5 to 30 times less than the Mid-Barataria project's 75,000 cubic feet per second. Conservation groups bristled at the change in plans. The Mid-Barataria project's termination marked 'a complete abandonment of science-driven decision-making and public transparency,' Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a coalition of environmental groups, said in a statement, adding that the state was 'throwing away' money intended to protect its coastal residents and economy. The coalition said alternative measures proposed by the state, such as the smaller-scale diversion or rebuilding land by dredging, were insufficient to meaningfully combat land loss and did not undergo the same level of scientific vetting as the Mid-Barataria project. 'A stopgap project with no data is not a solution,' the coalition said. 'We need diversion designs backed by science — not politics.' ___ Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
