Editorial

Don’t look now but the unemployment rate creeped up again to 3.9 percent in April, the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows, rising from its April 2023 low of 3.4 percent.
With it, the unemployment level itself is up 777,000 to nearly 6.5 million. A year ago, it was 5.7 million.

Does the average Louisiana citizen have a legal right to follow the internal workings of government in Louisiana? Not just in Baton Rouge at the state capital, but in deliberations that take place by school boards, city councils, police juries and any other sanctioned public body? For the past 50 years, open meetings and public records availability we’re stronger in the Bayou State than any other place in the country.

Louisiana’s next Budget for the 2025-2026 year will be under much stress as it will lose significant Federal funding as well as the temporary .45 sales tax that will also expire. These future budget concerns are playing havoc in the legislative session underway as the Senate is grappling with the projected cost of the Universal School Choice program overwhelmingly passed by the House in HB 745 (LA GATOR program).