JEFF LANDRY

The Louisiana Bond Commission has approved a $39 million future line of credit for a critical New Orleans area power plant project that had become an unlikely pawn in the ongoing political tug-of-war over enforcing Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban.

A Trump-appointed judge ordered the Biden administration to turn over White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Dr. Anthony Fauci's emails to social media giants in 21 days.

Louisiana Republicans who control money for hurricane flood relief are angered by Democratic city officials' opposition to the state's new abortion ban.

Access to abortion in Louisiana has been back-and-forth for weeks — with the state’s three clinics relying on rulings and temporary restraining orders to continue operations.

For weeks, access to abortion in Louisiana has been flickering — with the state’s three clinics relying on rulings and temporary restraining orders that allowed them to continue operations

For weeks, access to abortion in Louisiana has been flickering — with the state’s three clinics relying on rulings and temporary restraining orders that allowed them to continue operations.

Abortion access in Louisiana has been sporadic in the weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last month.

Abortion clinics in Louisiana can continue operating under the latest order from a state court.

A Louisiana judge temporarily paused the state's ban on abortions pending the hearing in a lawsuit that claims the law is unconstitutionally vague.

The legality of abortion in Louisiana has changed rapidly in the weeks since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

Court battles over abortion continue to play out in multiple states.

The judge's order halts enforcement temporarily while lawyers for a north Louisiana clinic and other supporters of abortion rights pursue a lawsuit challenging the legislation.

Louisiana authorities have once again been blocked from enforcing the state’s near total ban on abortion.

The decision came the same day President Joe Biden issued an executive order to protect abortion access.

Louisiana authorities can now enforce the state’s ban on almost all abortions under a new court order.

Arizona’s Republican attorney general says a total abortion ban that has been on the books since before statehood can be enforced, putting him at odds with that state's Republican governor.

A federal court has allowed Tennessee to ban abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

Judges in Louisiana and Utah temporarily blocked enforcement of trigger-law bans on abortion following the Supreme Courts' overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The owner of seven Louisiana nursing homes whose residents suffered in squalid conditions after being evacuated to a warehouse as Hurricane Ida approached last year was arrested on Wednesday.

Bob Dean is charged with multiple counts of cruelty persons with infirmities, Medicaid fraud and obstruction of justice after last year's fatal evacuation ahead of Hurricane Ida.

The owner of seven Louisiana nursing homes whose residents suffered in squalid conditions after being evacuated to a warehouse for Hurricane Ida has been arrested.

An effort by President Joe Biden's administration to account for potential damage from greenhouse gas emissions when creating rules for pollution-generating industries has survived another court challenge.

An appeals court has revived a Biden administration effort to account for potential damage from greenhouse gas emissions when creating rules for polluting industries.

Republican elected officials across the U.S. are criticizing President Joe Biden over his energy policies and want to ramp up domestic production as a way to help wean the nation and its allies off oil from Russia.

A federal judge on Friday blocked the Biden administration’s attempt to put greater emphasis on the potential damage from greenhouse gas emissions in the federal rulemaking process.

President Joe Biden has an opportunity for a reset on climate policy after a federal judge rejected an administration plan to lease millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil drilling.

A second set of states has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers.

A federal court has declined to lift its stay on the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more workers.

The Biden administration is framing its vaccine mandate for private employers in life-and-death terms in a legal filing that sought to get the requirement back on track after it was halted by a federal court.

Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said the U.S. Department of Labor is "confident in its legal authority to issue the emergency temporary standard on vaccination and testing."

A federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily blocked the Biden administration's vaccine requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers.

A federal appeals court has temporarily halted the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers.

The owner of seven Louisiana nursing homes that were evacuated to a warehouse where four residents died after Hurricane Ida faced prior criticism after a prior evacuation-related death two decades ago.

Across the U.S., some public officials and other community leaders are trying to help people come up with ways to get exempted from having to wear masks or get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The New Orleans Saints have adopted a new refund policy allowing fans to relinquish their season tickets and get their money back.

A federal court recently put an early roadblock in front of Biden’s efforts to limit oil drilling on public lands. The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said fully one-third of the state’s annual budget comes from oil and gas revenues. The executive order signed by President Joe Biden reserved 30 percent of federal land and water for conservation, halts all new federal oil and gas leases and eliminates subsidies for the industry. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) has introduced congressional legislation that will reward states with federal oil leases if they meet climate-change goals. (Edited by Fern Siegel and Bryan Wilkes)The post Biden’s Efforts To Ban Oil And Gas Leases Puts N.M. Dems In Balancing Act appeared first on Zenger News.

Both Republican and Democratic senators are pressing Interior Secretary Deb Haaland for answers after a federal court blocked the Biden administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters.

The move applies to federal lands and waters and deals a blow to climate change activists. Thirteen states sued in an effort to get the ban lifted.

A federal judge in Louisiana has ordered an end to the Biden administration's suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water.

These are busy days for Republican state attorneys general, filing repeated lawsuits that claim President Joe Biden and his administration are overstepping their authority on immigration, climate change, the environment and taxes.

The White House said climate adviser Gina McCarthy “made clear that the administration is not fighting the oil and gas sector." AdThe meeting came after weeks of friction over moves the administration made to halt new oil leasing on federal lands and to review Trump administration deregulation efforts aimed at helping U.S. oil and gas producers. Despite the moratorium on new leases, the Biden administration has continued to issue permits for existing leases, including more than 200 in March, records show. Companies could claim they have the right to extract oil and gas after spending years and millions of dollars to secure leases. Thirteen states sued the Biden administration Wednesday to end the leasing suspension.

Jeff Landry, Louisiana attorney general, speaks during a news conference outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. Fourteen states filed suit on Wednesday against President Joe Biden's moratorium on new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters. A coalition of 13 states, led by Louisiana, filed one lawsuit on Wednesday. Wyoming filed a separate lawsuit. In a statement Wednesday, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry called Biden's order an "aggressive, reckless abuse of Presidential power."

The agreements say Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas are entitled to a 180-day consultation period before executive branch policy changes take effect. The Biden administration rejects that argument on grounds that immigration is solely the federal government's responsibility under the Constitution. The Trump administration, usually eager to trumpet immigration enforcement, stayed publicly quiet on the agreements, which were first reported by BuzzFeed News. It is our hope that the SAFE agreement will foster timely communications about any significant forthcoming policy changes. “For our entire history, immigration policy has been understood to be the exclusive responsibility of the federal government,” Legomsky said.

Luke Letlow, who was only 41 and had no known underlying health conditions, died Tuesday night at Ochsner-LSU Health Shreveport — days before he was scheduled to be sworn into office, according to his spokesman Andrew Bautsch. Ghali, of LSU Health Shreveport, told The Advocate that Letlow didn't have any underlying health conditions that would have placed him at greater risk of developing complications from COVID-19. "There was no one like Luke Letlow, and there was no one who loved this state and its people more. Luke was a part of our family, and we are so incredibly proud of the man he was.”Before working for Abraham, Letlow had worked for former Gov. Letlow is one of more than 7,000 people in Louisiana who have died from COVID-19 since March, according to data from the state health department.

DENVER – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, on Tuesday donated an additional $100 million to helping local election offices prepare for November even as some conservatives are stepping up their efforts to stop the funds from being used. The contribution brings the total funding for the election from Zuckerberg and Chan to $400 million — the same amount that Congress allocated in March to help fund election offices as they dealt with the difficulties of adapting to new voting behavior during the coronavirus pandemic. Zuckerberg and Chan stepped into the gap initially in September, with a $300 million donation. These funds will serve communities throughout the country -- urban, rural and suburban – and are being allocated by non-partisan organizations.”Zuckerberg added that most election offices that applied have fewer than 25,000 registered voters in their jurisdictions. Some conservatives have criticized CTCL for donating to election offices in large Democratic-leaning cities in swing states.

Across the U.S., state and local officials are trying to balance the competing priorities of protecting their citizens from the coronavirus while keeping the economy running. President Donald Trump also visited Atlanta on Wednesday, arriving at the airport without a face mask. Edwards' initially had resisted a statewide mask order, but changed his mind as case numbers began rising rapidly in Louisiana. Yale University law professor David Schleicher says in cases like Georgias, where it is the state versus local government, the state almost always wins. Thats not to say it is absolute.Schleicher pointed to Wisconsin where the state Supreme Court voted in May to strike down Democratic Gov.