Louisiana Archives

Outraged Landowners Face Bayou Bridge Pipeline Co. in Court

November 16, 2018November 16, 2018 SABRINA CANFIELD

Attorneys representing landowners in the Atchafalaya Basin will meet in a pretrial hearing Friday with attorneys for Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC, the corporation they say trespassed on their land, cut down hardwood trees, dug trenches and buried a crude oil pipeline without their permission. At issue, attorneys say, is the larger issue of why Louisiana allows corporations to expropriate private property by eminent domain in the first place.

Environment

Oil Spill

November 13, 2018November 14, 2018 ROBERT KAHN

birds, Brief3, Louisiana, marine biology, Oil and gas, Settlement, toxic spills

Hess Corp. will pay the United States and Louisiana $8.7 million to settle a complaint over a June 2005 oil spill from an offshore drilling platform that killed hundreds of endangered brown pelicans and other ocean life.

Appeals Criminal

Dirty DA

November 8, 2018November 8, 2018 ROBERT KAHN

Brief1, Fifth Circuit, Fraud, Louisiana, money laundering, prosecutors

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the convictions of Walter Reed, who had been the longtime district attorney of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, and his son, Steve Reed, for conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

Appeals Civil Rights

Voting

November 6, 2018November 7, 2018 ROBERT KAHN

Brief1, Elections, Louisiana, race

A federal judge denied as “unwarranted” the Louisiana governor’s request to reconsider the trial judge’s ruling that at-large voting for a state judicial district in Terrebonne Parish deprives black voters of the equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.

Courts Criminal Law

Jim Crow-Era Jury Rule Goes to Louisiana Voters

October 30, 2018October 30, 2018 SABRINA CANFIELD

jury, Louisiana, race, referendum, verdict

An overtly racist, 120-year-old Louisiana law with roots in the Jim Crow era that allows split juries of as few as 10 of 12 to convict even in life-sentence cases may be history after the Nov. 6 elections.

Environment Government

Clean Water

October 29, 2018October 29, 2018 ROBERT KAHN

Brief2, EPA, Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, pollution, water

A federal judge agreed with the Gulf Restoration Network that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s reply to questions about pollution in 31 bodies of water in Louisiana was “non-responsive” and must be redone, as, for example, the EPA stated repeatedly “the document speaks for itself” when there was no reference to a document.

Courts Entertainment Law Regional

Federal Judge Remands Lawsuit Over ‘NCIS’ Shoot

October 24, 2018 SABRINA CANFIELD

jurisdiction, Louisiana, negligence, PTSD, television

An actor’s lawsuit arising from an “NCIS: New Orleans” armed robbery that was staged by CBS and ended with local police officers arriving to the scene with guns drawn has been sent back to the Louisiana court it was originally filed in.

Appeals Civil Rights Education

School Desegregation

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 ROBERT KAHN

Brief2, Fifth Circuit, Louisiana, race, schools, segregation, Settlement

The Fifth Circuit affirmed that the School Board of Concordia Parish, La., and Delta Charter (Schools) Group are bound by a consent decree ordering them to desegregate the Delta Charter School, which is overwhelmingly white though the parish is half black and half white.

Appeals Civil Rights Government Health

Louisiana Abortion Restrictions Upheld by Fifth Circuit

September 27, 2018October 4, 2018 SABRINA CANFIELD

Abortion, Fifth Circuit, Louisiana

The Fifth Circuit ruled 2-1 Wednesday in favor of a Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have credentials to enter nearby hospitals — a rule that opponents say could limit abortions to just one doctor at one clinic.

Environment Government Law Regional

Open Meetings

September 20, 2018 BRIEF

Brief8, Louisiana, open meetings, plastic

Opponents of a $9 billion Formosa plastics plant in Louisiana claim they were locked out of public meeting Wednesday night in St. James Parish about the company’s application.

Business Energy Environment

Landowners Celebrate Halt to Louisiana Pipeline Construction

September 10, 2018September 11, 2018 SABRINA CANFIELD

construction, Louisiana, Oil and gas, Pipeline, property, wetlands

In a win for landowners, Bayou Bridge Pipeline said it will stop construction of its crude oil pipeline through 38 acres of private property in Louisiana after an owner filed for an injunction to halt the project.

Appeals Courts Regional

Fifth Circuit Hears Challenge to Public-Defender Wait List

August 7, 2018August 7, 2018 DANIEL JACKSON

Fifth Circuit, funding, Louisiana, public defenders

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and public defenders seemed to agree before the Fifth Circuit on Monday that a waiting list for representation in Louisiana violates poor defendants’ rights to a speedy trial and assistance of counsel.

Courts Government Law

New Orleans Sheriff Says NY Times Defamed Him

July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 ERIK DE LA GARZA

defamation, Libel, Louisiana, New Orleans

Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman says The New York Times defamed him and his office in a July 9 video op-ed in which a former jail inmate claims he was raped and sold into sexual slavery for $20 in commissary items.

Energy Environment

Fifth Circuit Gives OK to Louisiana Pipeline

July 7, 2018July 9, 2018 CAMERON LANGFORD

Fifth Circuit, Louisiana, Pipeline

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers properly approved construction of a pipeline through the largest river swamp in North America – authorizing the destruction of acres of old-growth trees – a divided Fifth Circuit ruled Friday.

Environment

Shell Oil Spill

July 6, 2018July 6, 2018 ROBERT KAHN

Brief, Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, oil

Shell Offshore spilled 80,892 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, which covered 1,270 square miles in the first five days, in May 2016, the United States and Louisiana claim in a federal complaint.

Environment

Southern Environmentalists Sue Over Black Bear

June 28, 2018July 3, 2018 EVA FEDDERLY

animals, bears, Louisiana

A group of Southern environmental groups claims the Louisiana black bear is in danger after the U.S. Department of the Interior booted it from the endangered species list.

Civil Rights Government Politics Regional

Three Southern States Sued Over Racial Gerrymandering

June 14, 2018June 15, 2018 DANIEL JACKSON and KAYLA GOGGIN

Alabama, Eric Holder, Georgia, gerrymandering, Louisiana

Citing the states’ long histories of suppressing the right to vote among their black voters, an organization headed by former Attorney General Eric Holder sued three states in the Deep South, accusing them of using gerrymandering to dilute the strength of their black voters.

Appeals Education

Charter School’s Desegregation Plans Heard in Fifth Circuit

June 4, 2018 SABRINA CANFIELD

Fifth Circuit, Louisiana, race, schools, segregation, students

A Fifth Circuit panel listened Monday to arguments over why a Louisiana charter school with a mostly white student body should be allowed to stay open in a mostly black town without adhering to a decades-old federal desegregation order.

Energy Environment Government

Protesters Arrested While Trying to Block Louisiana Pipeline

May 24, 2018 SABRINA CANFIELD

arrests, construction, Louisiana, permits, Pipeline, protests, wetlands

Twenty protesters, two of whom were arrested, stopped construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline through a Louisiana coastal zone Thursday while demonstrating against continued construction despite a state judge remanding the permit.

Education Employment

Teacher Pay

May 24, 2018 BRIEF

Brief, discrimination, immigrants, Louisiana, teachers

A group of Filipino immigrant teachers in Louisiana filed a lawsuit against the Caddo Parish School Board claiming they have been denied equal pay because of their national origin.

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