Opinion

Editor’s note: The following is a commentary published by Louisiana Illuminator.The Louisiana House Education Committee on Wednesday approved a bill offered by Rep. Kathy Edmondston, which would apply to public and private schools. Edmonston, a Baton Rouge Republican, has insisted her legislation is needed, although a process has long existed for parents to exempt their children from required vaccines.Just as …

Thomas FieldsThomas “Tuffy” Fields is an author and regular contributor to The Gazette. He can be reached by email at thelouisianaexplorer@yahoo.com. In 1961 a young John Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President of the United States. He was smart, charismatic and a patriot of our great nation. He had much foresight and launched the journey to land a …

Sallie HollisSallie Rose Hollis is a native of Rocky Branch and retired Journalism Professer from Louisiana Tech University. Contact her at sallierose@mail.com. I wish this past Sunday had been April Fool’s Day – and that the joke was that Daylight Saving Time was going to begin.Because to me and countless others it is a joke.Too bad, though. We’ve once again …

Sunshine Week coincides with the start of the Louisiana Legislature’s three-month regular lawmaking session.If you’re not familiar, Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan collaboration among journalists, educators, government offices and the private sector that places an emphasis on open government and unhindered access to public records.In Louisiana, we find ourselves at an interesting juncture where the zeal for open records, usually …

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order on Feb. 21 removing school boards’ veto power over corporate property tax breaks that take money away from schools. It also did away with a requirement that projects granted the tax breaks create jobs and retain jobs.Now, companies that apply for Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program, which can grant property tax breaks …

The Louisiana legislature just finished the special session on crime spending several million dollars to come up with more ways to reduce the violence that continues to plague the Bayou state. Their solution seem to be to stick it to the convicts currently serving time, but ignoring the growing wave of juvenile crime that continues to spread throughout both big …

We all live our lives, feed our families, worship as we want and enjoy a life that is envied by people around the world. Turn on television and we watch leaders that we either love and extol or that we hate and admonish. We, as Americans, can do this freely. Thomas FieldsThomas “Tuffy” Fields is an author and regular contributor …

The following was written by Jon McKinney, President of the Union Parish Chamber of Commerce, who has traced his family’s Irish heritage back 600 years. Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day.St. Patrick’s Day originated as a religious feast day honoring the patron saint of Ireland. He died on March 17 in the year 461. Today he is honored not only as …

Age has never seemed to be such a big issue in American politics. Do we let our elected officials stay in office way too long? Should there be restrictions as to when older politicians must step down? Or should we just let the voters decide as to when someone is too old to serve? Jim BrownJim Brown is a former …

The way we perceive something has a major impact on how we respond to a stimulus or how we visualize our environment. Perception is defined as, “a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression”. We can hear about a place in the world or an action taking place in a distant location and then make a judgement …