Low Popahirum, February 23, 2015

LOUISIANA

“John Jones of CenturyLink, the largest public company headquartered in Louisiana, said his company’s leadership believes unwinding Louisiana from Common Core ‘would throw the education system into turmoil.’ He said Vitter and other opponents ‘have been misinformed’ about Common Core.” – Alexandria Town Talk

“As the four candidates for governor prepare for a debate on public school issues, views vary on what should top the education agenda for the one who wins the race. How to improve student achievement — Louisiana has long ranked near the bottom nationally — is one of the recurring themes, especially in light of sweeping changes in public schools in recent years.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Jindal is preparing a budget to close a $1.6 billion shortfall in Louisiana, a particularly daunting task after the $400 million in additional money he had to scare up to fill a budget gap for the current year. The president of Louisiana State University said earlier this month that the state’s flagship school is preparing for a 40 percent cut in its operating budget next year.” – POLITICO

“As of early Sunday morning, about 800 workers at two refineries and a chemical plant in southeastern Louisiana joined more than 5,200 others at a dozen other facilities across the nation in a strike over what United Steelworkers representatives said are inadequate staffing levels, worker fatigue and safety issues — a claim the industry denies.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Oil companies affected by a growing refinery strike offered union workers modest pay raises for three years, keeping employers’ share of health insurance premiums at 80 percent and doing an assessment of workers fatigue, according to a memo sent Saturday to Motiva Enterprises employees.” – NOLA.com

“Jindal would not agree to an interview. Of course not. He doesn’t talk to the state and local media. If he did, they would ask him questions like, ‘How do you justify running all over the country and the world serving yourself when the state you were elected to govern is going to hell in a budgetary handbasket, in large part because of your budgeting gimmicks?'” – Rod Dreher/American Conservative

“When LSU AgCenter and Sea Grant agent Mark Shirley was busy surveying a crawfish pond south of Abbeville recently, he found both good and bad news for connoisseurs of crawfish – cold water, but a healthy supply of very small crawfish.” – KPLC

“The path to the $409 million John James Audubon Bridge continues to be the road less traveled. Nearly four years after the bridge connecting West Feliciana and Pointe Coupee parishes opened in May 2011, it has yet to carry the volume of traffic across the Mississippi River projected from the first day motorists were able to use it.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Resurrecting tolls on the Crescent City Connection could return to the Legislature’s agenda this spring if a measure to merge Southern University at New Orleans with the University of New Orleans also is revived, a legislator said. Calling it a ‘shot across the bow,’ state Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans, warned that he may push to reinstate the tolls, if Rep. Pat Connick, R-Marrero, pushes to combine the schools. Connick opposed the tolls renewal in 2012.” – NOLA.com

“LSU sophomore Jarell Martin was able to get a steal late in the first half of Saturday’s game against the Florida Gators. With an open lane to the basket, Martin decided to go with a between-the-legs dunk to pump up the home crowd.” – Bleacher Report

NATIONAL

“Fresh off the castigation of Scott Walker for his lack of a college degree and his refusal to be dragged into the question of evolution vs. creationism, Walker is now being dragged through the mud for failing to repudiate statements made by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani assailing the patriotism of President Barack Obama.” – Scott McKay/American Spectator

If he’s lost Vox, he’s lost Middle America. ‘Obama Should Stop Pretending Islamist Terrorism Has Nothing to Do With Islam,’ reads the headline posted yesterday. It’s hardly an original argument, but it’s remarkable coming from a liberal website whose specialty is sycophantic sophistry, and even more so because the author is Max Fisher. That would be the same Max Fisher who complained when his own site broke the news that the president described an anti-Semitic attack in Paris as random and who asserted that it is ‘Islamophobic and bigoted’ to expect Muslims to oppose terrorism.” – James Taranto/WSJ

“If you think the mainstream media is not out to elect Hillary Clinton in 2016 every bit as much as it was for Obama in 2008 and 2012, then you need your head examined. The multi-day and ongoing demand that Scott Walker verify that Obama is Christian and loves America is a good example. Why is it that Republican candidates and politicians are required to verify the bona fides of Democrats?” – Legal Insurrection

“Suddenly, President Obama’s religious beliefs are a subject of intense interest to America’s reporters. This is a marked contrast with 2008, when Obama’s religion (‘God damn America!’) was considered off limits by reporters and editors. It is odd, though: one politician who won’t be asked about Obama’s religion is the only one who plausibly could answer the question, Obama himself.” – Power Line

“The last few weeks have raised a critical question for all Americans: Is the liberal elite unbelievably dumb or unbelievably cynical? Do our over-credentialed, under-educated, would-be betters actually believe the bullstuff they are shoveling, or do they really think that we normal Americans are so stupid that they can lie to our faces and we will just take it?” – Kurt Schlichter/Townhall

“Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is getting roasted by the press for questioning President Obama’s patriotism Wednesday. Reporters and pundits alike express disbelief at the suggestion America’s 44th president doesn’t love his country. Even the White House has taken a poke at Giuliani.” – Washington Examiner

“Funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—which is due to expire at the end of this week unless an agreement in Washington is reached—has continued to rise under President Barack Obama. His administration claims the agency’s increased funding is necessary to protect the homeland, but records show the DHS has continued to increase its spending on furniture and office makeovers as its budget has been increased.” – Washington Free Beacon

“We all have one: The well-meaning relative or friend who is perhaps so zealous in the pursuit of your best interests that they end up doing more harm than good in the process. Despite their best intentions, they end up making a bad situation worse. More often than not, you wish that they would just stop helping and, instead, maybe just write you a check. For the Democrats, that’s Tom Steyer.” – Hot Air

“Rarely has a prince so keenly disappointed his trumpeters. It was announced yesterday that MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow, once the sparkle-eyed wunderkind who would lead the network into broad, sunlit uplands, will be stripped of his show. His time there, it turns out, was a waste of everyone’s time.” – National Review

“On a stormy night in Hollywood, the 87th annual Academy Awards — which came in humbled by backlash to its all-white acting nominees — bristled with politics and heartfelt speeches about women’s rights, immigration, suicide prevention, governmental surveillance and race.” – ABC News

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