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Louisiana’s coast continues to erode at the rate of approximately one football field-sized piece of land every 39 minutes. And each day Club Desire is one day closer to disappearing. Such facts make Johnston’s fight to restore the club and turn it into a community center — and the voices that gathered in New Orleans to combat social and environmental injustice — more important than ever.

In an op-ed for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Louisiana State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy lays out how legislators “stole” from state workers and cheated retirees out of health coverage in order to put up the facade of a balanced budget. And the taxpayer is on the hook for the shady accounting. Kennedy, a Republican who has been treasurer since 2000, has a history of calling out those within his party. Now he has state legislators who put the long-term security of the health care plans of over 230,000 state workers, teachers, and retirees in his crosshairs.

Louisiana's Attorney General, Buddy Caldwell, refuses – like most Republicans these days – to listen to the science when it comes to Ebola. He's trying to inhibit the incinerated remains of Ebola victim Eric Duncan from traveling to his state (though incineration most assuredly vaporizes the virus).

Gov. Bobby Jindal filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Obama administration, accusing it of illegally manipulating federal grant money and regulations to force states to adopt the Common Core education standards. The Department of Education has used a $4.3 billion grant program and federal policy waivers to encourage states to adopt uniform education standards and testing. The legal challenge puts Jindal, who is considering a 2016 presidential bid, at the forefront of a dispute between conservatives and Obama, bolstering the governor's profile.

In the coming days, Gov. Bobby Jindal is preparing to strike several blows to reproductive freedom in Louisiana. Three bills that will compromise the health, safety and rights of women are before him awaiting signature. Since assuming office in 2008, Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed 13 pieces of legislation curtailing women's reproductive freedoms, making Louisiana the most anti-choice state in the United States.

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for bribery, money laundering and other corruption that spanned his two terms as mayor — including the chaotic years after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Nagin was convicted Feb. 12 of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen who wanted work from the city or Nagin's support for various projects. The bribes came in the form of money, free vacations and truckloads of free granite for his family business.

Handcuffed but not obeying police commands, the 21-year-old suspect absorbed the first shot from a 50,000-volt stun gun as he lay on the ground.

Sunday was the fourth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11 workers and dumped more than 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a three month period in 2010.

Thousands of people who helped clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and subsequent spill are considering claims under a medical settlement BP reached with cleanup workers and coastal residents. The settlement, which could benefit an estimated 200,000 people, received final approval in February from a federal court. It establishes set amounts of money — up to $60,700 in some cases — to cover costs of various ailments for those who can document that they worked the spill and developed related illnesses, such as respiratory problems and skin conditions.

Imagine if your child was ridiculed in front of his classmates for his religious beliefs until he was physically ill.

Like many people I have encountered who were raised in a Christian environment, I was indifferent to what I felt were minor infractions of the law that protects the separation of church and state. But then, when my stepson, who has been raised a Buddhist, enrolled in the sixth grade at our local school, Negreet High, it became personal.

Norco, Louisiana, is fighting back against the industries that are plaguing their communities with toxic air. Sandwiched between a chemical plant and oil refinery, the town has had levels of cancer-causing chemicals violating state standards for years.