Our work from around Louisiana
Livingston Library’s Budget Distortions & Explicit Books Exposed
Discover how a 2.2% Livingston Library budget increase was spun as “cuts,” why explicit books remain in children’s sections, and how activist tactics fuel the uproar.
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April 2025
2025 Champions of Change Honoring Extraordinary Leadership
2025 Champions of Change Honoring Extraordinary Leadership
🚨 Historic Night in Lafayette! 🚨 Join us this spring at the DoubleTree for an unforgettable evening with top national and Louisiana leaders! 🎤🔥 Hear directly from our congressional delegation & more. Don’t miss this rare opportunity!
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Times-Picayune
In Louisiana, the movement [to remove or reshelve sexually explicit books] started in Lafayette in 2021 when ... the conservative nonprofit Citizens for a New Louisiana filed an objection.
NBC News
Citizens for a New Louisiana spoke at the meeting in favor of restrictions on books with sexual content.
National Public Radio
Lunsford spent years raising the heat leading a stealthy but steady campaign that replaced members of the library board who, from his perspective, were not quite on board.
MS Magazine (Feminist)
I knew about Citizens for a New Louisiana because of what they doing in Lafayette Parish to stop Drag Story Hour.
Timmy Hendrix
I AM EXTREMELY impressed with this production! Keep it coming for us little blue collars that can't be on the front lines.
Kim Powers
I can understand why someone would try to duplicate what they are doing at Citizens but alas, that's a trap. They make it look easy. It isn't.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Citizens for a New Louisiana, which Jones describes as an organization “that has wreaked havoc on public libraries across Louisiana.”
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April Showers, More Tax Dollars!
With recent tax propositions being rejected in St. Landry and Evangeline Parishes area voters need to be ever vigilant about the methods and tactics politicians will employ to place taxes on low voter turn out ballots. We have told you about the upcoming DDA tax occurring during Festival International in downtown Lafayette on April 30, but why is no one talking about the Vermilion Parish tax hike election on the same day.
Did Edwards plan the veto override?
We take a closer look at the recent “historic” veto override by asking a baffling question: what specifically was gained by the effort? You’ll be interested to read our answer.
Lafayette residents should not lose sight of the next tax…
Similar to Lafayette’s five recently created taxing districts, the solution is always the need for “more money.” However, the conversation gets interesting when you ask what they plan to spend the money on. In the case of the five taxing districts (now three-years old) the answer is, “we don’t know yet.” That scenario also fits nicely into the recent conversations about building a new jail.
Watching and waiting for Ronnie “Judas” Johns
Remember Ronnie “Judas” Johns? He was the villain of the 2021 veto override session. For simply not showing up (so there wouldn’t be enough votes to override any of JBE’s terrible vetoes) the governor rewarded him with a six-figure salary. Now he’s hoping that so much time has passed that you and the Senate Governmental Affairs committee will have forgotten all about it. Except that we’ll be here making sure everyone remembers.
Letters: Don’t Give In
KEEP pushing. Say NO, ESPECIALLY if it’s something you don’t agree with or if it don’t sit right with your soul. You do what you think is best for your family.
DDA “Weaponizes” Public Records
It just doesn’t look good when a governing body stops sending out meeting notices and then puts a tax on a lonely ballot during the area’s largest festival. Add to that, they are now not going to respond to any public records requests until the day after the election. Now, tell me how that strikes you.
It’s all about the map
Several local RPECs (Republican Parish Executive Committees) have taken up a resolution supporting a veto override for Louisiana’s US Congressional districts. This is very odd behavior. The reason seems to be because the State Republican Party hasn’t taken up the cause, and neither has any US Congressman in Louisiana. So, it’s up to the fraud squad to press the Republican legislators to support this effort another way.
No fiscal impact?
That “no fiscal impact” box always seems to be ticked on ordinances coming out of local government. Whether or not they actually believe there will be no fiscal impact remains to be proven. We’ve seen it so very many times, that it was finally time to take a really good look at one of these. Turns out we were right. It’s just another unnecessary project, another bridge to nowhere, another taxpayer funded boondoggle.
Balance of Power
Soon Louisiana will elect a new governor. Citizens are asking which candidate will be most willing to work with legislators on balancing power.
SUNSHINE WEEK – TAX ASSESSORS
Our request to this elected office was narrowly tailored to the calendar, salary, expenses and staff within the office. Much like the various Clerks of Courts throughout the state we received a virtually identical boiler plate response from the Assessors asserting ‘Responsive documents in our possession are available for inspection and copying during regular business hours at our offices located at [FILL IN THE BLANK].’ This is no more of a response to our request for public records than it is a tactic being employed to set-up a defense for failing to provide the requested records. The position illustrated here is that if you wanted to see the documents all you must do is show up at our office and the records will be readily available.
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