Bobby Jindal

October 18, 2013 - The special election for Louisiana's impoverished 5th congressional district is set for Oct. 19, and Democrats are trying to turn it into the Democratic district it appears to be on paper -- and save the Affordable Care Act from continued assault from the right.

August 1, 2013 - A federal trial about to get underway over the drawing of district lines for judges in Baton Rouge, La. could determine how the Voting Rights Act will be applied in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision throwing out a key part of the landmark civil rights law.

August 1, 2013 - Across the South, Republican governors and state legislatures have turned down federal funding to expand Medicaid, excluding millions of uninsured, working-poor residents from health care coverage -- and missing an opportunity to shift costs away from expensive emergency-room care.

July 22, 2013 - Once accused of being a spy and held in solitary confinement by the Iranian government, Sarah Shourd is now a playwright who is using her work to shine a light on the notorious case of Herman Wallace of Louisiana's Angola 3 and the broader human rights issue of prolonged solitary confinement in U.S. prisons.

April 12, 2013 - The U.S. has one of the most regressive tax systems of the developed nations, and now some states including Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina are considering plans to make their own tax systems even more regressive.

April 10, 2013 - N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory wants to privatize the Department of Commerce and the state's Medicaid program, but the experiences of other states like Louisiana that have carried out similar plans point to serious problems.

February 8, 2013 - Some New Orleanians may be laughing about Sunday night's blackout during the Super Bowl, but Rosana Cruz is infuriated by the overblown language about what amounted to a minor inconvenience given the very serious problems the city and Louisiana faces.