Louisiana

More child abuse victims can sue after Louisiana Supreme Court reversal • Louisiana Illuminator

Published

1 year ago

June 13, 2024

More child abuse victims can sue after Louisiana Supreme Court reversal • Louisiana Illuminator

Adults abused as children decades ago will be able to sue over the mistreatment under a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling released Wednesday.

Justices overturned their decision from March that declared a “lookback window” for lawsuits over older child abuse allegations unconstitutional. Now such cases can move forward.

The new ruling likely creates greater liability for the Catholic Church and other organizations accused of systemic child exploitation over decades. It could also affect individual schools, summer camps and other institutions that tolerated misconduct toward minors.

“I am thankful that the Court saw the error in its original opinion and was willing to reconsider this matter and find the Lookback Window to be constitutional,” Frank Lamothe, a New Orleans attorney who represents child abuse survivors in lawsuits against the Catholic Church, said in a written statement. “This is a victory for the survivors of child sex abuse.”

The court’s change of heart is also a political victory for Attorney General Liz Murrill, who put the justices under public pressure to reconsider the initial ruling. In April, she asked for a rehearing on the issue.

“These child victims of sexual abuse deserve their day in court,” Murrill said in a written statement Wednesday after the new ruling. “It’s very rare for the Supreme Court to grant rehearing and reverse itself. I’m grateful to the Court for giving such careful attention to an issue that is so deeply troubling and personal for so many victims of abuse.”

A case brought against the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette led to the justices’ ruling. A group of plaintiffs sued over alleged abuse at the hands of a priest in the 1970s. The diocese maintained the accusations were too old to be pursued.

The Legislature voted in 2021 to let adult survivors of child abuse file claims for damages for three years — from June 14, 2021 to June 14, 2024 — if the deadline to do so had previously expired.

This was expected to allow people abused prior to the early 1990s, but who had never come forward with a legal challenge, to do so.

The Lafayette diocese pushed back on the law, saying legislators never intended to allow old allegations dating back to the 1970s to be examined. They also argued allowing older accusations to come forward would be a violation of due process, because witnesses and documents related to abuse claims might longer be available.

The Legislature disagreed. It unanimously passed a clarifying law in 2022, stating its intent to allow for civil lawsuits over decades-old abuse. Earlier this year, lawmakers also unanimously approved a resolution, sent to each Supreme Court justice, restating their desire to see older abuse allegations be brought forward in court.

In the ruling released Wednesday, justices writing for the majority acknowledged as much.

“[T]he conclusion is unassailable: the legislature intended retroactive application of the law,” Chief Justice John Weimer said in his opinion.

Weimer also agreed with the lawmakers’ reasoning for establishing a three-year lookback period. Many victims take years to come to terms with their mistreatment as youth.

“Child sexual abuse is a unique tort in which the average victim does not come forward until they are 52 years old,” Weimer wrote. “For many victims of child sexual abuse, the revival provision represents their first and only opportunity to bring suit. Providing that opportunity to those victims is a legitimate legislative purpose.”

Justices Weimer, John Crain and Jay McCallum voted in favor of upholding the lookback window twice, in March and this week. Justices Scott Crichton and Piper Griffin reversed themselves, initially throwing out the lookback period in March but voting to reinstate it this week.

Justices James Genovese and Jeff Hughes opposed the lookback window both times, saying the Legislature was overstepping its bounds by passing the law.

“I am very concerned about this majority ruling on rehearing granting unbridled authority to the legislature to enact legislation which supersedes and tramples our constitution,” Genovese wrote.

The confusion over the 2021 law prompted the Legislature to make yet another legal change this year. Last month, they unanimously passed an extension to the lookback window, which will allow abuse survivors to file lawsuits until June 14, 2027.

Advocates for child abuse victims said some people have held back on filing lawsuits while the court deliberated whether the lookback period would stand.

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Louisiana

How a Louisiana budget whiz and small business owner sees Congress’ fight over health care

Published

5 hours ago

November 22, 2025

Press Room

How a Louisiana budget whiz and small business owner sees Congress’ fight over health care

WASHINGTON – When state Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Winnfield, isn’t mulling complex finances as chair of the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee, he runs a logging contractor firm in Winn Parish.

As a small businessman with about 20 employees, McFarland frets about the lack of action on health care. Time is of the essence, and McFarland wants the warring parties in Washington to figure out a solution.

Republicans want to overhaul the Affordable Care Act to lower health care costs and increase consumer choice. Democrats are not opposed to fixes but argue that will take too much time, so first, the enhanced ACA marketplace subsidies need to be continued before expiring.

About 24.3 million working Americans and small businesses — 292,994 in Louisiana — will see their monthly costs double, on average, starting Jan. 1 if the subsidies are not extended. Disagreement on extending the tax credits was at the center of the government shutdown.

An ardent conservative in a parish that gave 88% of its votes to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, McFarland agrees that substantial changes are necessary.

For instance, his employees can’t access the ACA marketplace.

Despite the promise in 2010 that the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, to lower health insurance premiums, it did not. The policy McFarland provided employees went from about $37,000 annually in 2011 to about $132,000 in 2024.

McFarland said his company had to stop covering premiums for his employees and now just pays a little to help. When some of his workers wanted to lower their costs by shifting to the ACA marketplace, they could not because his company offered health insurance, he said.

“As an employer, I would have to stop offering health insurance to all my employees for them to be eligible for subsidies,” McFarland said, adding that now many of his employees have no insurance.

Like most things that deal with health care and insurance, the Affordable Care Act is complex, with a lot of moving parts.

Obamacare protected people with preexisting conditions and made insurance available for those who couldn’t afford it. But the promise that premiums would decline because more people had insurance didn’t materialize.

Premium costs have risen from an average $177 per month in 2010 for individual policies, like the ones the ACA marketplace sells, to $467 per month in 2024, according to KFF, a Washington-based health analysis organization. Monthly costs for group insurance, like those offered by employers and cover roughly 170 million people, went up from an average $273 per month to $512 per month during the same period.

Senate Republicans are looking at various alternatives that align with President Donald Trump’s demand last week that the ACA subsidies go “directly to the people” rather than insurance companies.

In the House, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, told reporters Tuesday that House committee leaders also are looking at various ideas.

“We’re not here to bail out insurance companies,” he said. “We’re here to give families lower premiums and better options.”

But in both chambers, Democrats and Republicans are not talking officially to each other.

The Senate will need 60 votes to pass any GOP measure, which means seven Democrats have to sign on to any package that all the Republicans support — or eight Republicans have to agree with all the Democrats backing one of their ideas.

Right now, neither scenario looks likely when it comes to the key issue of whether to extend the enhanced ACA marketplace tax credits, which will get a vote in mid-December.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said Thursday on the Senate floor that Republican ideas are “half-baked.”

“They are deeply flawed and woefully insufficient for our nation’s health care problems,” Schumer said. “When people’s monthly payments spike next year, they’ll know it was Republicans that made it happen.”

On Thursday, Johnson refined his oft-repeated accusation that Democrats only care about “illegal aliens” to point out what California, Illinois and Oregon spent more on health care for “noncitizens” than for police and roads.

Immigrants who slipped into the country without authorization are not legally allowed to take advantage of Obamacare. Legal immigrants who have jobs and children regardless of their status are allowed to buy insurance through ACA marketplaces. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 1.4 million immigrants have.

“Everybody’s just went to their corner and they’re just not coming out,” McFarland said. “It’s a broken system that needs to be fixed, not patched, for the people and for small businesses. They need to sit down and figure this out.”

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Louisiana

Louisiana communities brace for federal immigration crackdown amid uncertainty

Published

23 hours ago

November 22, 2025

Press Room

Louisiana communities brace for federal immigration crackdown amid uncertainty

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – More than 200 federal agents are expected to descend on south Louisiana in the coming days, according to Associated Press sources, in an operation aimed at cracking down on undocumented immigrants in the state.

But a local criminologist says much remains unknown about the operation, which the AP reports is being called “Swamp Sweep.”

“How are you even identifying people who are illegal or un-legal is the primary question,” said Dr. Ashraf Esmail of Dillard University.

Earlier this week, FOX 8 asked U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., where he stands on the anticipated arrival of federal agents in his home state.

MORE: Federal immigration operation targets New Orleans area

“So, I agree with President Trump, we’ve got to crack down on the criminals who are [here] illegally, and I think it’s important to note that this problem dates back to the Biden administration. And I think there is a valid concern that some people being picked up are like not members of Tren de Aragua,” Cassidy said.

This week, NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick made it clear that immigration enforcement is not her department’s responsibility.

“I, you know, think the recent actions of the consent decree, etc. I think we’ve developed that trust, and I think if you ask the general public, they’re obviously against what’s going on, and I think we’re going to follow Chief Kirkpatrick in that we don’t want to be involved in this,” Esmail said.

FOX 8 also asked the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office if it would assist federal immigration authorities by detaining individuals arrested for being in the country without authorization. A spokesperson said no one was available to speak on the matter.

However, Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork, who takes office in January, did respond.

Hispanic churches brace for Border Patrol operation in Louisiana

“As a law enforcement professional, I will always uphold and follow the law. What I can promise is that as sheriff, every person housed at OJC will be treated with dignity, respect, and humanity,” Woodfork said.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said it “will not comment on an operation conducted by another agency,” according to a prepared statement provided to FOX 8.

FOX 8 did not receive a response from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have also not released any details about the operation.

“Yes, they want to keep it private, but I think also again we’re at this time in New Orleans where we’re trying to again develop that trust and safety,” Esmail said.

Massive raids in other cities have led to large protests.

InspireNOLA CEO says schools will not allow immigration raids

“The way this is being conducted in other cities doesn’t seem, you know, people are like this is not the proper way of doing this, where people again are being stopped, arrested, not being charged, let go,” Esmail said.

“Local law enforcement counts on having a relationship with members of communities as part of their law enforcement,” he added.

“Violence is down, the last two or three years heading in a very positive direction, and so you don’t want this to kind of come down where it’s again violence starts, people are chaotic, people are nervous, etc.,” Esmail said.

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Louisiana

What is the best elementary school in Louisiana? These 11 rank at top

Published

2 days ago

November 21, 2025

Press Room

What is the best elementary school in Louisiana? These 11 rank at top

When it comes to primary education, it’s important to choose a school that’s the right fit and offers educational opportunities.

U.S. News & World Report analyzed 103,391 Pre-Kindergarten, elementary and middle schools in order to determine which are the best throughout the U.S.

To do so, U.S. News & World Report assessed schools’ shares of students who were proficient in math and reading scores, and assessed such scores in the context of socioeconomic demographics.

US News & World Report best elementary schools in Louisiana for 2026

U.S. News & World Report analyzed 1,125 elementary schools in Louisiana, and these schools ranked as the 11 best.

1. Metairie Academy for Advanced Studies

Metairie Academy for Advanced Studies in Metairie is ranked as the best elementary school in Louisiana by U.S. News & World Report. This public elementary school serves Pre-Kindergarten to fifth grade, with a student population of 377 and a student-teacher ratio of 14:1. At this school, 98% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math, and 98% scored at or above the proficient level for reading.

2. T. S. Cooley Elementary Magnet School

T. S. Cooley Elementary Magnet School in Lake Charles is ranked as the second best elementary school in Louisiana by U.S. News & World Report. The student population of this schools is 302, and the school serves grades Kindergarten through fifth, with a student-teacher ratio of 19:1. Here, 92% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math, and 98% scored at or above the proficient level for reading.

3. South Highlands Elementary Magnet School

South Highlands Elementary Magnet School in Shreveport is the third best elementary school in Louisiana, according to U.S. News & World Report. This school has a student population of 512 with a student-ration of 16:1, serving grades Pre-Kindergarten through fifth. Ninety-seven percent of students scored at or above the proficient level for math and 92% scored at or above the proficient level in reading.

4. Gretna No. 2 Academy for Advanced Studies

Gretna No. 2 Academy for Advanced Studies in Gretna is a public school that serves Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade. This school has a student population of 366 and a student-teacher ratio of 18:1. Here, 98% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math and 92% scored at or above the proficient level for reading, according to U.S. News & Word Report.

5. Airline Park Academy for Advanced Studies

Airline Park Academy for Advanced Studies is a public school in Metairie that serves Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade. This school has a student population of 429 and a student-teacher ratio of 16:1. Ninety-two percent of students scored at or above the proficient level for math, and the same percentage scored at or above the proficient level for reading, according to U.S. News & World Report.

6. Fairfield Magnet School

Fairfield Magnet School is a public school in Shreveport that serves grades Pre-Kindergarten through fifth, with a student-teacher ratio of 15:1. The student population at this school is 528, with 93% scoring at or above the proficient level for math and 91% scoring at or above the proficient level for reading, says U.S. News & World Report.

7. Westdale Heights Academic Magnet School

Westdale Heights Academic Magnet School in Baton Rouge is a public school that serves Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade. Here, the student population is 468 and the student-teacher ratio is 14:1. At this school, 92% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math and 90% scored at or above the proficient level for reading, says U.S. News & World Report.

8. Mayfair Laboratory School

Mayfair Laboratory School in Baton Rouge is a public school that has a student population of 504 and a student-teacher population of 11:1. This school serves grades Kindergarten through eighth, with 88% of students scoring at or above the proficient level for math and 87% scoring at or above the proficient level for reading, says U.S. News & World Report.

9. Ray St. Pierre Academy for Advanced Studies

Ray St. Pierre Academy for Advanced Studies is a public school in Westwego that serves Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade. The school has a student population of 359 and a student-teacher ratio of 17:1. Here, 87% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math, and the same percentage scored at or above the proficient level for reading, according to U.S. News & World Report.

10. Phoenix Magnet Elementary School

Phoenix Magnet Elementary School is a public school in Alexandria that serves Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade. This school has a student population of 319 and a student-teacher ratio of 13:1. Seventy-seven percent of students at this school scored at or above the proficient level for math and 92% scored at or above the proficient level for reading, according to U.S. News & World Report.

11. Eden Gardens Fundamental Elementary School

Eden Gardens Fundamental Elementary School is a public school in Shreveport that serves Kindergarten through fifth grade. The student population of this school is 506 and the student-teacher ratio is 16:1. At this school, 88% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math and 86% scored at or above the proficient level for reading, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Presley Bo Tyler is a reporter for the Louisiana Deep South Connect Team for Gannett/USA Today. Find her on X @PresleyTyler02 and email at PTyler@Gannett.com

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