Connect with us

News from the South - Louisiana News Feed

Jeff Landry’s budget includes cuts to Louisiana’s domestic violence shelter funding

Published

on

lailluminator.com – Julie O’Donoghue – 2025-02-21 10:54:00

Jeff Landry’s budget includes cuts to Louisiana’s domestic violence shelter funding

by Julie O’Donoghue, Louisiana Illuminator
February 21, 2025

Gov. Jeff Landry has reduced state funding for domestic violence prevention programs by $7 million in his budget proposal for the second year in a row. Survivor advocates said losing the money could close shelter beds and end outreach services.

“It would have an almost immediate and catastrophic effect,” Mariah Stidham Wineski, executive director for the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said in an interview Thursday.

Wineski said her organization received $7 million more from the state in 2023 and 2024 and distributed the money to shelters and local anti-domestic violence groups to expand their programming. 

It was used to add 229 new shelter beds statewide for domestic violence survivors for a total of a little over 600 spaces. The money also opened 11 new outreach offices where people can seek counseling, support groups and legal assistance.

Landry also proposed cutting $7 million from domestic violence programs last year, but legislators added the money back into the state spending plan a few months later. Wineski hopes lawmakers will do the same this year during their legislation session that starts in April.

Domestic violence is one of the largest public safety issues facing Louisiana. In 2020, the state had the fifth highest female homicide rate in the country, and more than half of women who were victims that year were killed by an intimate partner, according to the Violence Policy Center.

A 2021 investigation by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor concluded the state desperately needed more shelter beds for domestic violence survivors. At the time, Louisiana’s 16 shelters had a total of 389 spaces and an average of 2,700 unmet requests for shelter beds every year.

Thanks to the additional money, Wineski said shelters got the number of unmet requests down to 1,400 annually – a historic low for Louisiana. 

“The state for the past two years has funded something that works,” she said.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

SUPPORT

 

Wineski said the loss in state funding would come at a particularly vulnerable time for domestic violence services, which are also at risk of losing federal support.

The federal grants that help fund domestic violence services in Louisiana have shown up on lists of spending that President Donald Trump might cut, Wineski said. The state’s domestic violence organizations were also blocked from accessing any federal funding for two days in January when the administration put a wide-reaching freeze on federal spending in place. 

“This is a level of funding uncertainty that [domestic violence shelters] have not seen in recent history,” Wineski said. “Now is really not the time to be losing state dollars.”

In total, Wineski said between 40 and 45% of the money her organization receives every year comes from federal or state funds. 

Since taking office last year, Landry has said public safety would be his top priority. While he has proposed cuts to domestic violence services, the governor has increased funding for other public safety services dramatically over the last year.

This year, Landry and state lawmakers agreed to spend close $100 million on new youth jails and prisons. His budget proposal for fiscal year 2025-26, released Thursday, includes $39.5 million more in funding for the Department of Public Safety of Correction from the current year.

At a budget hearing Thursday, state Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, said she will seek to restore the $7 million in domestic violence response funding.

“We should not be decreasing funding to domestic violence shelters,” she said.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

The post Jeff Landry’s budget includes cuts to Louisiana’s domestic violence shelter funding appeared first on lailluminator.com

News from the South - Louisiana News Feed

New website shows public school officials' spending

Published

on

New website shows public school officials' spending

www.youtube.com – WDSU News – 2025-04-24 08:51:23

SUMMARY: A new website launched by Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming provides transparency on public school spending, revealing purchases such as luxury hotel stays and SUVs. While some see it as a step toward accountability, critics argue it may be intrusive. The site displays various expenditures, including a significant dinner at a high-end restaurant just before a school closure due to financial issues. Advocates, including parents, believe the data empowers communities to make informed decisions. However, there is controversy over the inclusion of staff salaries, with some feeling it invades privacy, though others, including teacher organizations, support the initiative.

YouTube video

New website shows public school official’s spending

Subscribe to WDSU on YouTube now for more: http://bit.ly/1n00vnY

Get more New Orleans news: http://www.wdsu.com
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/wdsutv
Follow us: http://twitter.com/wdsu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wdsu6/

Source

Continue Reading

News from the South - Louisiana News Feed

Morning Forecast – Thursday, April 24th

Published

on

Morning Forecast - Thursday, April 24th

www.youtube.com – KTVE – 2025-04-24 08:27:04

SUMMARY: On April 24th, meteorologist Sammy Petraco reported ongoing scattered showers in Arkansas, with isolated rain in southeastern regions. Rainfall over the past 24 hours varied, with some areas receiving up to three inches while others saw minimal accumulation. Current temperatures are in the mid to upper 60s, with a humid environment expected throughout the week. Cloud cover persists, limiting sun exposure, and upper-level disturbances will continue to create scattered precipitation. Rain is likely tonight into Friday, with a cold front expected on Saturday potentially offering a brief reprieve. Daytime highs will be in the low to mid 80s.

YouTube video

Today, more showers and storms expected in a scattered fashion in the afternoon and evening hours. If the past days haven’t already shown it, but it’s hard to pinpoint where the rain will happen, but the chance for rain is there. Clouds continue over the region with highs ranging from the upper 70s to low 80s, depending on shower and storm activity. Severe weather stays limited with winds out of the south 5-10 mph

Tonight, staying relatively the same as previous nights. Showers and storms may linger into the night before fizzling out to the east/ northeast. Skies stay broken to overcast with lows staying pretty muggy in the mid to upper 60s. Winds are light and variable

An unsettled pattern continues as rain chances are likely to end this week. That said, they will probably occur in a scattered to isolated fashion. Some of the storms that do develop may be a bit noisy and produce heavy rainfall. There is the potential to see a break in the rain early next week before the unsettled pattern continues after that. Temperatures reside in the lower to upper 80s with overnight lows falling only in the 60s. Keep the rain gear handy

Source

Continue Reading

News from the South - Louisiana News Feed

Taxes on vapes and smokeless tobacco advance through committee | Louisiana

Published

on

Taxes on vapes and smokeless tobacco advance through committee | Louisiana

www.thecentersquare.com – By Nolan McKendry | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-24 07:00:00

(The Center Square) — The Louisiana House is weighing two bills by Rep. Ken Brass, D-Ascension, that would significantly increase taxes on vaping and smokeless tobacco products, aiming to curb youth use and fund cessation efforts..

House Bill 517, which has passed committee and is now headed to the House floor, would replace the state’s current tax on vaping products — 0.15 cents per milliliter of nicotine liquid — with a 33% tax on the invoice price of those products, starting Jan. 1, 2026. Retailers and wholesalers would be required to submit an inventory of their stock by Feb. 1, 2026, based on their holdings at the end of 2025.

Another bill by Brass would raise the excise tax on smokeless tobacco from 20% to 33% of the invoice price and dedicate 20% of the proceeds to a newly created Youth Cessation and Prevention Fund. That money would be divided among cancer research centers and the state Department of Health for evidence-based anti-tobacco programs. 

Brass told the House Ways and Means Committee that the rising use of vaping among children makes the issue urgent.

“Nearly one in five middle school students are currently vaping,” Brass said. “That’s a dramatic increase from just a few years ago — back in 2015, only 4.8% of middle schoolers vaped. Now it’s 18.4%. Among high school students, it’s jumped to over 30%.”

He warned that early nicotine use can have lifelong consequences.

“Most youth try tobacco between ages 12 and 13,” Brass said. “That early exposure has lasting effects — increased risk of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. This is not just a school issue — it’s a statewide public health and economic issue. Smoking costs Louisiana billions in health care and productivity losses.”

But some Republicans questioned the strategy of using taxes as a deterrent.

“What I’m hearing is we have all these people breaking rules, and we’re going to fix it by making it more expensive,” said Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Livingston. “If you’re vaping in school, that’s already against school rules and the law for anyone under 21. Are schools even serious about enforcement?”

Wilder argued that without stronger action at the school or criminal justice level, the tax might not be an effective deterrent.

“Do we have a bill in education or criminal justice to actually address this where it’s happening—on the ground, in schools?” he asked. “I agree with the intent. I’m just not sure it’s going to be a real deterrent.”

Rep. Jay Galle, R-St. Tammany, echoed those concerns.

“Addictions are rarely deterred by an increase in price,” Galle said. “I understand this is a sin tax, but again, price alone rarely changes behavior.”

Brass defended the tax increases as one part of a larger effort to reduce nicotine use and shift the economic burden away from the state.

If the bills are signed into law, the vape tax increase would take effect Jan. 1, 2026, and the smokeless tobacco tax increase would begin July 1, 2025. 

The post Taxes on vapes and smokeless tobacco advance through committee | Louisiana appeared first on www.thecentersquare.com

Continue Reading

Trending