LOUISIANA

“LSU has officially announced that Kevin Steele has been hired as the team’s new defensive coordinator and Ed Orgeron has been hired as the team’s new defensive line coach, replacing former defensive line coach Brick Haley, who has now been offered a separate role within the department.” – Geaux 247

“Orgeron has said publicly over the last few weeks that he would ‘love’ to be on LSU’s staff, and many thought of him as a candidate for the defensive coordinator role. Orgeron has been a defensive coordinator just two years of a coaching career that began at Miami in 1989.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Ed has done a great job at every coaching stop he’s made. His teams are always well prepared, played hard on every snap and fed off the enthusiasm and excitement that he brought to the field. This is a great hire for us and we are really excited about Coach O becoming a Tiger.” – ESPN

“Reaction was swift and unforgiving from some Tigers’ fans. They were hopeful Miles was about to steal Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, Nick Saban’s golden goose, but instead settled for Foghorn Leghorn.” – Ron Higgins/NOLA.com

“Some local lawmakers are taking aim at the state’s $7-billion tax credit and exemption budget to help cover a $1.5-billion shortfall in the state budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.” – Ouachita Citizen

“Shopping malls across the country are struggling to survive as consumers shop online. Here in the metro area, Kenner’s Esplanade Mall continues to lose tenants. City officials hope the mall’s current owner can turn that trend around.” – WWL-TV

“Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is expected to bash former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and go after radical Islam in a foreign policy speech next week in London.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“The Obama administration laid out a blueprint Wednesday for the first regulations to cut down on methane emissions from new natural gas wells, aiming to curb the discharge of a potent greenhouse gas by roughly half.” – Lake Charles American Press

“‘I absolutely will run if Sen. Vitter is elected governor,’ said Fleming. Vitter hasn’t said who he plans to appoint to his seat if he does follow Gov. Bobby Jindal, and Fleming said he’s not trying to jump the gun — but he believes he knows which way the state is turning.” – Shreveport Times

“Few things go better with Louisiana politics than red beans, biscuits and fried chicken. Well, other than money. And for $1,000 per head, donors can learn later this month at a D.C. townhouse whether the state’s two U.S. senators take their Popeyes spicy or mild.” – LAPolitics.com

NATIONAL

“At issue: Jobs taken by illegals that America’s minorities, specifically blacks and legal Hispanics, need. ‘Was that Dr. King’s dream?‘ asks the ad produced by Californians for Population Stabilization and launched this week on national cable news networks leading up to Monday’s celebration of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.” – Washington Examiner

“With the announcement that former Clinton White House chief of staff and Obama administration advisor John Podesta is formally joining the Clinton campaign-in-waiting, it is clear that Democrats want the transition from Obama’s White House to Hillary’s White House to be a smooth one.” – Hot Air

“As Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) moves toward a presidential bid, he’s hoping that a series of in-state accomplishments can help him vault ahead of more outsized personalities.” – The Hill

“Obama is an unpopular president in the eyes of the men and women in uniform. Yet his two-term administration is etching a deep imprint on the culture inside the armed forces. As commander in chief, he will leave behind a legacy that will shape the Pentagon’s personnel policies and the social customs of rank-and-file troops for decades to come.” – Military Times

“And where was Mitt Romney when he announced on Friday that he was thinking of another run in 2016? He, too, was talking to his base: about 30 deep-pocketed donors in New York City. ‘Tell your friends,’ he said.” – Jonah Goldberg/National Review

“Mike Huckabee had to know this would happen, right? After review copies of his new book,God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy (subtle, no?), went out last week, the media immediately singled out an astonishing attack on pop culture icons Beyoncé and Jay Z. For a candidate who has touted his appeal to black voters (he won 48% of blacks in a gubernatorial election many, many years ago, he will be quick to tell you), this is utterly tone deaf:” – Hot Air

“The final jobs numbers are in for 2014, and unless we get some exceedingly unlikely downward revisions, the news is pretty good — or at least better than “the new normal” we got all too used to during President Obama’s first term. And for that good news we can thank bad governance.” – PJ Media

“Last year the Republican Study Committee in the House of Representatives began a purge of conservative staffers. The organization, which collaborated with outside conservative groups to push the House GOP right and hold the House GOP Leadership accountable, fired several staffers who were doing just that.” – Erick Erickson/RedState

“Dozens of House Democrats on Wednesday voted against a legislative proposal aimed at ensuring that illegal immigrants convicted of domestic violence, sexual abuse or child abuse are a priority for deportation.” – The Blaze

“As Walker explained to me last May, Wisconsin is already essentially a right-to-work state. The major union power was in the public sector, which was squeezing the state’s finances and economy, and Scott Walker broke that stranglehold in his first term, with the passage of Act 10. Public-sector union membership has fallen by more than 50,000.” – Mario Loyola/National Review