By Tristan Baurick Contributing Writer (Veritenews.org) — It wasn’t the wail of a siren or the buzz of an emergency phone alert that warned Tanya Richard a pipeline near her home was spewing poison gas. The first hint that something was wrong came from her cats, a motley collection of free-roaming felines that fled her property as the dense cloud of carbon dioxide (CO2) rolled over a rural stretch of southwest Louisiana on April 3. “Normally, I’ve got six kitty cats out here wanting to be fed when I come home,” said Richard, who lives just outside Sulphur, a small Calcasieu Parish town about f ..read more

By Piper Hutchinson Contributing Writer (lailluminator.com) — A panel of federal judges has thrown out Louisiana’s new congressional map that created a second majority Black district, dealing a blow to one of Gov. Jeff Landry’s first official actions in office. The 2-1 decision from a U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel comes in the case Callais v. Landry, in which a group of non-Black voters sued the state. They contend the map, signed into law after a five-day special legislative session convened at the governor’s direction, constitutes an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and violates ..read more

By Mason Harrison Contributing Writer After a major site selection and personnel announcement on April 29, Xavier University of Louisiana is one step closer to joining the small club of historically Black colleges that are home to medical schools across the country. Dr. Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University, named Dr. Leonardo Seoane, executive vice president and chief academic officer of Ochsner Health, as the burgeoning facility’s founding dean and the BioDistrict’s Benson Tower as the location for what will become the only HBCU-led college of medicine in the Gulf South. Dubbed the ..read more

By Wesley Muller Contributing Writer (lailluminator.com) — The Louisiana Legislature repealed a decades-old law on Monday (April 29) of last week that prevents homeowner insurance policy cancellations. House Bill 611, sponsored by Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, received final passage in the Legislature and is now headed to the desk of Gov. Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it. The bill repeals Louisiana’s unique three-year rule, which prohibits insurance companies from raising deductibles and canceling or not renewing homeowner policies in effect for more than three years. Once Firment’s bil ..read more

By Benjamin Barber Contributing Writer (Special from Facing South) — SouthernEarlier this year, thousands of New Hampshire voters received robocalls with audio of what sounded like President Joe Biden’s voice telling them to stay home during the state’s primary election. But the recording wasn’t really Biden: It was a “deepfake” generated with AI technology. The state’s Attorney General’s Office Election Law Unit ultimately identified the source of the false AI-generated recording as two Texas-based companies, Life Corporation and Lingo Telecom. In response to the incident, the Federal Communi ..read more

By Stacy M. Brown Contributing Writer (NNPA Newswire) — Bishop William J. Barber II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, alongside the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, led a press conference on Monday at the National Press Club to unveil plans for the “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C.: A Call to the Polls and to Vote.” Scheduled for June 29th, the assembly aims to commence four months of outreach efforts targetin ..read more

By Lauren Sausser Contributing Writer (kffhealthnews.org) — When he recently walked into the dental clinic at the Medical University of South Carolina donning a bright-blue pullover with “In Our DNA SC” embroidered prominently on the front, Lee Moultrie said, two Black women stopped him to ask questions. “It’s a walking billboard,” said Moultrie, a health care advocate who serves on the community advisory board for In Our DNA SC, a study underway at the university that aims to enroll 100,000 South Carolinians – including a representative percentage of Black people – in genetics research. The g ..read more

By Minh Ha Contributing Writer (Veritenews.org) — It was early on in the pandemic when Catalian Colbert’s son, then 10-year-old Steven Williams, wanted to switch schools. Colbert said Williams had been in a French Immersion School since kindergarten and could speak and write in French much better than he could in English. Colbert’s husband had attended Bienville Elementary, which, prior to Hurricane Katrina, was located at the same site where Arthur Ashe Charter School stands today. So, the family decided to enroll Steven there. At first, Colbert said she was worried about the transition, but ..read more

By Wesley Muller Contributing Writer (lailluminator.com) — A member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission wants Gov. Jeff Landry to eliminate the state income tax and replace it with a tax on foreign oil processed in Louisiana. Foster Campbell, a Democrat from Bossier City, announced his “challenge” to the Republican governor on Jim Engster’s “Talk Louisiana” radio program last Monday (April 29) and issued a news release to that same effect later in the day. Engster noted Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, another Republican, recently endorsed Campbell’s “Foreign Oil Tax” proposal, which would req ..read more

By Dr. E. Faye Williams TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist I listened to every word of the United States Supreme Court Hearing in the past few days. My mind went back to years ago when people seeking justice would say the words “We will take this to the Supreme Court” because we truly believed we would receive some measure of justice there. The last place we want to go today to think we’re going to get justice for women, for Black people, poor people, for Liberals! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from the male justices – not even the Chief Justice. As much as I hate to say it, there was no dou ..read more