Bobby Jindal News

Gov. Bobby Jindal signed three bills Wednesday revising the laws for drunk drivers, including one that mandates jail time for driving with a license suspended for a previous DWI.

Gov. Bobby Jindal on Thursday signed into law a pair of career diploma bills at West Ouachita High School's agricultural sciences building that require public high schools to offer an alternative, vocational-based curriculum in addition to a traditional, college preparatory track.

In a year that the state is digging for money to pay the bills and laying off thousands of workers, legislators sent to the governor more than $150 million in tax breaks for businesses and individuals.

The 2009 regular session of the state Legislature closed last Thursday, but not without some last minute fireworks.

The Louisiana Board of Ethics is asking Gov. Bobby Jindal to veto a bill that broadens an exception to a $50 cap on lobbyists' wining and dining of lawmakers and other public officials.

BATON ROUGE - Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked Tammie McDaniel to resign her post as an appointed member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

BATON ROUGE - Gov. Bobby Jindal use his veto pen Tuesday to scratch through 53 items and provisions, slicing millions of dollars that were to go to local projects across the state.

"Everything starts from a beginning," explained Rep. Henry Burns, which might seem like an obvious statement, except for legislators who learned to take nothing for granted in the recently adjourned legislative session, which was light on substance but slippery on process.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has stripped $3 million of legislators' pet projects from the budget with his line-item veto.

Paper mills, crawfishermen and movie makers are among the beneficiaries of the tax credits, some supported by Gov.

BATON ROUGE - While approving funding that reduced cuts to higher education and health care, state lawmakers also included $34 million to fund select projects in their districts.

Watching lawmakers work can be frustrating. The creation of laws and public policy is messy, fraught with hidden agendas and often driven by ego, rather than the best interests of regular folks.

We knew the effects of the national economic downturn would not spare Louisiana, even as we continue to outperform the national economy - winning economic development projects that will create 32,529 new direct and indirect jobs in Louisiana and $4.3 billion in new capital investment since January of last year.

Life and politics play strange tricks. Approximately two decades ago, I was watching a rather young Roger Villere in a debate for Louisiana House District 81 against John Treen, David Duke and a few other candidates.

Tim Pawlenty is stepping onto Mike Huckabee's turf. Amid speculation that he is considering a run for the White House in 2012, the Minnesota governor is headlining a fundraiser for Arkansas Republicans tonight in Little Rock.

A bill designed to better protect witnesses and their families from retaliation for testimony against criminals cleared its final legislative hurdle Tuesday when the House expanded the scope of those who are covered.

Louisiana lawmakers pushed tax breaks as the legislative session wound into its final days on Monday, though it's unclear how many will ever make it past Gov.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's mysterious disappearance from his state is the latest sign that Republican governors, once thought to be President Obama's most credible adversaries, haven't quite lived up to their billing.

Louisiana will have a new diploma for public school students, who will face lower requirements for English and math, if Gov.

The House has approved legislation opening more of the governor's records to public scrutiny, but keeping some documents used in formulating the state budget out of reach for six months.