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 precipitous loss of residents that Louisiana has seen over the last three years has been spread across nearly every parish, with urban and rural areas alike seeing large decreases, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau estimate of local population changes that offers another stark sign of the challenge facing state leaders.Some of the steepest declines were in areas …

From news service and staff reportsLouisiana politics have been dominated this year by new Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s special legislative sessions to address crime and adopt new congressional maps. On Saturday, the focus will shift to the state’s presidential primaries.There’s little doubt who will win.Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump, the former president, unofficially sewed up their parties’ …

Easter eventsthis weekendA number of Easter Egg Hunts are scheduled for this weekend.Union Parish Egg HuntThe Farmerville Recreation Department and Union Parish will host the annual Union Parish Easter Egg Hunt from 10 a.m. to noon on March 29 at the Willie Davis Recreation Center, 116 Cox Ferry Road in Farmerville.Bring your baskets. There will be door prizes, music, a …

State, parish and community leaders, forced inside due to rain, held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Willie Davis Jr. Recreation Center Friday to mark the beginning of construction on a tournament quality Mega Boat Ramp on Lake D’Arbonne. The ramp is being constructed on Highway 33 across from D’Arbonne Lake Motel. (At right) During the ceremony, Farmerville Mayor John Crow …

By Luke BrittEditorThe Lake D’Arbonne Watershed Commission intends to stock the lake with 40,000 Tiger Bass later this year, an investment that commissioners said should result in a steady increase over the years in the average size of largemouth bass pulled from the lake.Tiger bass are a hybrid cross between a strain of aggressive Northern largemouth and a “pure strain” …

Glynn HarrisGlynn Harris is a long-time outdoor writer from North Louisiana and has won more than 50 writing and broadcasting awards during his 47 year career. BUSSEY BRAKE – Bass fishing continues to improve with some big fish in the 10-11 pound range being caught flipping jigs and soft plastics around brush. Crappie are beginning to move to the shallow …

Glynn HarrisGlynn Harris is a long-time outdoor writer from North Louisiana and has won more than 50 writing and broadcasting awards during his 47 year career. It’s time for the arrival of the scourge of the south, pine pollen, as evidenced by swollen buds on pines. This past Sunday I saw it for the first time. At first, I didn’t …

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 …