Judge in BP civil trial providing public with unusual access to web, records
Ban on laptops in the courtroom lifted; reporters can sign up for Web access for real-time reporting.
Author: Tyler Bridges
- About Tyler Bridges
- Tyler Bridges covers Louisiana politics and public policy for The Lens. He returned to New Orleans in 2012 after spending the previous year as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where he studied digital journalism. Prior to that, he spent 13 years as a reporter for the Miami Herald, where he was twice a member of Pulitzer Prize-winning teams while covering state government, the city of Miami and national politics. He also was a foreign correspondent based in South America. Before the Herald, he covered politics for seven years at The Times-Picayune. He is the author of The Rise of David Duke (1994) and Bad Bet on the Bayou: The Rise of Gambling in Louisiana and the Fall of Governor Edwin Edwards (2001). He can be reached at (504) 810-6222.
‘Fiscal Hawks’ fly to Jindal’s right, denounce governor’s budgeting
The Fiscal Hawks say Jindal's accounting gimmicks are the reason he has overestimated available revenues every year he has been governor. The emergency budget cutting in 2012—performed by the governor, not legislators—came to $166 million. The 30 House members will begin to flex its muscles again today when Jindal releases a projected $24.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2013 that is expected to be kept in balance by $424 million in accounting gimmicks.
Jindal airs tax plan in D.C. but here at home leaves details to his aides
With his poll numbers down sharply, Jindal has asked donors to finance a $750,000 media blitz.
Nature Center fallow for 7 years: IG urges feds to pull funding
The federal government awarded the Audubon Commission $7.6 million to repair Katrina damage to the Louisiana Nature Center. After years of delays, a new report recommends that the feds rescind the funding. It also notes that the repairs are the city's responsibility because it owns the land, not Audubon.
Report: Louisiana’s poor pay higher tax rate than the rich
More than twice as much of their income, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Bad news for Jindal: Florida, Texas rely heavily on property and biz taxes
Gov. Bobby Jindal has pointed to Florida and Texas as models for his plan to cut income taxes and rely more on sales taxes. But those states rely heavily on two taxes he dislikes: business and property taxes. Would Louisiana rely on a "one-and-a-half-legged stool"?
Few details so far on how Jindal would pay for income tax cut
The governor would have to raise about $3 billion a year in order to abolish income taxes in Louisiana. As his administration figures out how to fill that gap, business groups are warning against raising sales taxes too high or wiping out their own tax exemptions.
Cutting income tax is the easy part; filling the gap is trickier
Economist: Jindal plan to raise sales taxes would hurt the poor
