This is Why He can't Have Nice Things
The company the city of New Orleans hired to remove the Confederate monuments has been under fire, literally. First, there were death threats, prompting contractor David Mahler to drop out of the job (hey, this is New Orleans, so threats should be no big deal). Now, he reports someone torched his Lamborghini. And by torched, we mean washed in in gasoline and dried it with a match. While that sure is sad - it was valued at more than $200K - maybe he should have bought a slightly cheaper car and sprang for a garage for a fricking Lambo.
The tax increases John Bel Edwards sees as the keys to fixing the budget are now known. Edwards proposes tax increases at the registers, at the smoke shop, when you pay Ma Bell and on business utilities. Plus, he wants to take money from the rainy day fund, redirect oil spill money and go after normally protected items in the budget. According to the Tax Foundation, his raising the sales tax from four cents to five would make Louisiana's average combined state and local sales tax rate the highest in the nation. Hey, were are at the top of the list! Woo-hoo! Oh, wait.
Don Briggs, the president of The Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, said that it won't be getting better anytime soon for the oil industry. In fact, it will get worse when Iran starts selling oil again. Great. Just great. BTW, there is less drilling in Louisiana now than in the Oil Bust days. Again. Great.
Planned Parenthood is A-Planning
What is the status of Planned Parenthood in Louisiana? Hard to say. John Bel Edwards will have to decide whether to keep fighting the organization in court - as Bobby Jindal did - or allow them to serve as part of our Medicaid program. Jindal cut Planned Parenthood after damaging videos of donor tissue harvested from aborted fetuses came out. The group won an injunction, which the state has been fighting since October. So far, it has cost us at least $40,000 in legal fees. If Edwards continues the fight, Planned Parenthood is ready to continue the legal battle. Man, it's like we have a hole in our pocket.
A Common Core by any Other Name
Word around the BESE fire is that Common Core is set to be a memory here in Louisiana. Don't get too excited just yet, as BESE Vice President Jim Garvey says the phrase is "toxic" and the state's curriculum will likely be dubbed something else. Whatever the new program is, it will likely overlap with the existing Common Core curriculum. So, it is kinda like the old shell game but with the children as the nut, eh? Nice.
This year's flu season is behaving like LSU's football team. It is off to a slow start - according to Dr. Frank Welch, immunization medical director at the Department of Health & Hospitals. However, he expects it to come out swinging - and scoring sick days - in the second half. His prediction: the worst flu season. So that makes it like the Saints and the Tigers all in one. Go sports team!