LOUISIANA

“The total product recall of Blue Bell Creameries will likely have an impact on ice cream sales in Baton Rouge, a market where the Texas-based creamery enjoys an estimated market share of at least 60%.” – Baton Rouge Business Report

“Not since 2010 have Louisiana lawmakers filed more constitutional amendments in a regular session, setting a five-year high for proposed alterations to the state’s guiding charter. The issues contained in these bills not only reveal the underlying will of the Legislature, but they also show a real appetite for change on several different political and policy levels.” – Jeremy Alford/LAPolitics.com

“State Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, had to defer consideration Monday of a bill that would repeal the state’s business inventory tax, a measure that is the centerpiece of legislative plans to raise hundreds of millions of dollars of new tax revenue.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“‘I thought ‘God, this fiscal note is zero,” said Adley, referring to the analysis after a meeting of the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee.” – NOLA.com

“Baton Rouge Councilwoman C. Denise Marcelle is calling on the parish bus board to reject an almost 20 percent pay increase for the agency’s chief executive officer Bob Mirabito.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“But could Louisiana’s current ‘acute budget crisis,’ as put by state Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, be the factor that takes politics out of taking the money since Louisiana desperately needs money to close its $1.6 billion revenue shortfall? According to top Republicans, including one of just two Republican senators who last year intentionally voted in favor of a bill related to the expansion of Medicaid: it’s not going to happen.” – NOLA.com

“The first week of the 2015 session of the Louisiana Legislature began and ended with parking lot accidents involving the new State Capitol security system. But the incidents aren’t prompting supporters of the security project to pursue any changes. Motorists just need to be more careful, they say.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“The first Common Core battle of the Louisiana legislative session is over — and the anti-Common Core side lost.” – NOLA.com

“If BP’s Macondo well blowout and catastrophic oil spill five years ago didn’t scare the oil and gas industry straight, the loss of 50 percent of its offshore workforce to retirement by 2018 certainly did.” – WWL-TV

“When the Tigers (34-6) host Tulane (24-15) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Alex Box Stadium, Chinea said he expects to be in the lineup — wearing a face guard that he says doesn’t get in the way. The contest will give him an opportunity to dig back in to the batter’s box and face live pitching before the top-ranked Tigers square off with No. 2 Texas A&M to start a three-game series Thursday.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

NATIONAL

“Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin’s Act 10 — also called the ‘Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill,’ it limited public-employee benefits and altered collective-bargaining rules for public-employee unions — was jolted awake by yelling, loud pounding at the door, and her dogs’ frantic barking. The entire house — the windows and walls — was shaking.” – National Review

“Every Democrat should repeatedly be asked whether they support the police state tactics used by Democrats in Wisconsin. As with Rand Paul every media interviewer should be asked by candidates to answer the same as the price for continuing the interview.” – Instapundit

“If you want to know why Democrats should be worried after Hillary Clinton’s first week on the campaign trail, ask yourself this question: Can you imagine Marco Rubio, Scott Walker or Jeb Bush walking into a Chipotle wearing big, dark sunglasses, trying not to be recognized?” – Marc Thiessen/Washington Post

“Two Chinese Communist Party-controlled newspapers published an indirect warning to Hillary Clinton not to criticize China during her campaign for president.” – Washington Free Beacon

“Hillary Rodham Clinton used her clout as secretary of state to do favors for foreign donors who gave millions to her family foundation — and who paid millions more to her husband, Bill, in speaking fees, a new book charges.” – NY Post

“Today we know that the Obama administration is in the process of striking a deal with Iran. And we know that the Russian sale of the S-300—a system that would make a strike against Iran’s nuclear weapons program considerably more difficult—is perhaps the first concrete consequence of the Iran deal. If the deal is allowed to go forward, it won’t be the last. As Abrams puts it, ‘As sanctions are removed, and as funds flow to Iran, it will strengthen its military posture. Iran with an operational S-300 system will feel more immune from attack and is likely therefore to become even more aggressive in its behavior throughout the Middle East.’” – Bill Kristol/Weekly Standard

“The Barack Obama administration has estimated for years that Iran was at most three months away from enriching enough nuclear fuel for an atomic bomb. But the administration only declassified this estimate at the beginning of the month, just in time for the White House to make the case for its Iran deal to Congress and the public.” – Bloomberg

“When Obama wanted to reassure the public not to worry about Iran’s nukes, he lied to them, insisting that their breakout period was more than a year. Now that he wants to panic the public into accepting his deal to install Iran as the hegemon of the middle east, he declassifies the report he’s been sitting on for years, that Iran’s breakout period is as short as two months, and no more than three.” – Ace of Spades

“In oral arguments Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear the government defend its kleptocratic behavior while administering an indefensible law. The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 is among the measures by which New Dealers tried and failed to regulate and mandate America back to prosperity. Seventy-eight years later, it is the government’s reason for stealing Marvin and Laura Horne’s raisins.” – George Will/Washington Post

“Senate leaders on Tuesday morning announced a deal on a long-stalled anti-human-trafficking bill, setting up a vote to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general later this week.” – The Hill