Our new jobs report highlights Louisiana’s economic situation based on the most recent data. The report is based on several key factors that indicate how the economy, labor market, and public policy influence the lives of everyday Louisianans. While some of these data indicate a relatively strong labor market–such as the historically low unemployment rate–there...
A few weeks ago, the White House stunned people all across the world when it convened some of the nation’s largest technology companies and announced a planned executive order regarding artificial intelligence (AI). It wasn’t a celebratory event, as one might expect, to highlight immense advancements in technology, preview how AI can increase educational and...
Last week, the Louisiana Department of Education released the results of the 2022-2023 Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP), which measures student learning in public schools across the state in third grade through high school. Individual student results are used to inform families and educators about the extent to which students mastered or fell short in...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BATON ROUGE, LA – Two highly qualified veterinarians today filed a lawsuit against the Louisiana Board of Veterinary Medicine, challenging an arbitrary rule that prohibits them from practicing their profession. Dr. Lara Stooksbury and Courtney Breen, who had active licenses in other states and over 20 years of combined experience as veterinarians,...
Key Point: Too many Louisianans are struggling because of poor public policies which will be overcome with the Pelican Institute’s “Comeback Agenda.” Louisiana’s Labor Market: Table 1 shows Louisiana’s labor market information over time until the latest data for June 2023, recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in its two surveys. Table...
In 2014, the Louisiana Legislature passed a law allowing parents and legal guardians of students enrolled in D- and F-rated public schools to request a transfer to a higher-performing school in the district or in another school district. Schools were given the ability to define “capacity” at each school and grade level, decide whether capacity...
In their report “Antitrust & Enforcement: Letting Markets Work without Empowering Government,” Ted Bolema, Ph.D., J.D., Antitrust and Competition Fellow at the Innovators Network Foundation, and Vance Ginn, Ph.D., Chief Economist at the Pelican Institute, write that while the current frustrations with the size of large tech companies and censorship practices may be warranted, giving...
Students in Louisiana suffered damaging learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, and billions of dollars have been spent to bring them up to speed. But did the extra efforts pay off? We’re about to find out. The answer is critically important for families in the state, for their children, and for Louisiana’s comeback. The Louisiana...
In a staggering revelation, Louisiana Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Thomas Harris admitted under oath that he delegated sweeping governmental power over coastal drilling litigation to a personal injury attorney, all to the financial benefit of political cronies. The Pelican Institute discovered the news via a public records request of the DNR,...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Baton Rouge, July 19, 2023 — Everything old is new again, and that’s turning out to be true in the case of a growing drumbeat to use antitrust tools to rein in big technology companies like Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Google. But as a new policy report from the Pelican Institute points...
It’s election season again. And like clockwork, some politicians have pulled out their old talking points that attack standardized testing, “teaching to the test,” and even pledging to end testing altogether—playing on emotions they think will translate into votes this fall. No one likes to take tests. But testing – the measurement of what individuals...
Louisiana has one of the highest poverty rates out of all the states, but why? That’s a complicated question for which there are several right answers, some of which are more difficult to solve than others. But one contributing factor isn’t so complicated, and it’s something legislators can and should address soon: safety-net program dependance....
New Orleans – The Pelican Institute will advocate for the free speech rights of a Louisiana attorney in an oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans on Tuesday, July 11 at 9 a.m., in the case of Boudreaux v. Louisiana State Bar Association. In that case, the...
Yes, you read that right. In a state still ranked in the bottom ten nationally for student achievement, the state’s top education board has proposed a work-around for public school students failing state tests to receive a high school diploma. During its June meetings, instead of advancing a thoughtful plan to better support struggling students...