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IRVING MYRON BLATT

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:35am

Irving Myron Blatt MD, 94, a native of New York, New York, died Saturday, May 25, 2019.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Blatt; his children, Dr. Stephen Blatt, Barbara Blatt, Georgia Landry and Ashley Galloway III; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife and a daughter.
Visitation will be Saturday from 9:45 a.m. until services at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Morgan City.

CORY CHAPMAN

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:33am

Cory Chapman, 54, a native of Morgan City and resident of Verdunville, died Thursday, June 13, 2019, at University Medical Center in New Orleans.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

CAROLYN TURNER DORSEY

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:31am

Carolyn Turner Dorsey, 72, a resident of Bayou Vista, died Tuesday, June 18, 2019, at her residence.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

ANNIE SIMPSON BRUNER

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:30am

Annie Simpson Bruner, 92, a native of Berwick and resident of Charenton, died Monday, June 17, 2019, at New Orleans East Hospital.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Wheel House for June 19

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:29am

HAM RADIO
Field Day hosted by local hams as part of National Field Day on Saturday, June 22, at 201 Everett St, Morgan City. Public invited from 2-6 p.m.

CHILI DINNER
Sold by St. John Baptist Church, 508 Utah St., Berwick, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 12. Menu: 16-ounce chili, crackers and drink. Cost $6. Call 985-518-1183.

Oil majors make commitment to carbon pricing

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:27am

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Some of the world’s major oil producers pledged Friday to support “economically meaningful” carbon pricing regimes after a personal appeal from Pope Francis to avoid “perpetrating a brutal act of injustice” against the poor and future generations.
The companies, including ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Chevron and Eni, said in a joint statement at the end of a Vatican climate summit that governments should set such pricing regimes at a level that encourages business and investment, while “minimizing the costs to vulnerable communities and supporting economic growth.”
The CEOs, as well as leaders of major asset managers such as BlackRock and BNP Paribas, also called for companies to provide investors with clarity about the risks climate change poses to their businesses and how they plan to transition to cleaner energy sources.
The joint statement was issued at the end of a closed-door summit in the Vatican gardens, the second time the Holy See has convened the world’s petroleum leaders for private talks on climate change, scientific research and the moral imperative to save God’s creation.
Francis attended Friday’s session and told the gathering that a “radical energy transition” to clean, low-carbon power sources was needed and that if managed well, would “generate new jobs, reduce inequality and improve the quality of life for those affected by climate change.”
“Faced with a climate emergency, we must take action accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal act of injustice toward the poor and future generations,” he said.
He praised the executives in particular for taking on the core issue of carbon pricing, which he said was necessary for humanity to use the resources of creation wisely and not burden the poor and future generations with the debt incurred by the rich.
In their joint statement, the CEOs said, “Reliable and economically meaningful carbon pricing regimes, whether based on tax, trading mechanisms or other market-based measures, should be set by governments at a level that incentivizes business practices ... while minimizing the costs to vulnerable communities and supporting economic growth.”
The pledge comes ahead of a European Union summit next week at which leaders will discuss the bloc’s efforts to combat climate change including a proposal to stop adding carbon to the atmosphere by 2050.
While the announcement refers to the 2015 Paris accord’s goal of “keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit)” by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, experts say capping the rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7F) would be safer.
The Carbon Tracker Initiative, a London-based group that examines the impact the shift away from fossil fuels has on financial markets, welcomed the Vatican announcement.
“It is important that many of the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas companies and many of the world’s largest investors have endorsed carbon pricing regimes,” the group’s executive director, Mark Campanale, said in a statement.
“Critically, asset owners with trillions of dollars under management are also calling for company disclosures of meaningful and material information on plans and investments in the energy transition,” he added.
Outside the summit, around half-a-dozen protesters held up signs urging the oil executives to listen to the pope.
The meeting was held under unusual secrecy even by Vatican standards, with the program and guest list initially unpublished. A few executives confirmed their presence ahead of time, including the chief executives of BP and Eni, Bob Dudley and Claudio Descalzi.
On the BP blog, Dudley wrote this week that the meeting was coming at an urgent time, with BP’s own latest survey showing carbon emissions grew by 2% last year, even as experts say they have to dramatically decrease to meet standards set by the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Eni’s Descalzi said in a statement that four years after Paris, “it’s clear we have to change pace. Progress has been insufficient and the emissions continue to grow.”
The summit was co-organized by the University of Notre Dame, whose president, the Rev. John Jenkins, praised the commitment taken by the industry leaders.
The commitments taken “won’t solve the problem themselves,” he said. “But they’re extremely important first steps toward doing that.”
Francis has dedicated a major teaching document to the environment and is expected to press his case at a Vatican meeting of Amazon bishops later this year.
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Gift to help Lighthouse Festival

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:25am

Submitted Photos
The Lighthouse & Tour du Teche Festival Committee member and Berwick Councilwoman Colleen Askew, left, and Misty Pillaro, event coordinator, are looking forward to the event’s continued success. Patterson State Bank Chief Financial Officer Jason Watson presents a donation to sponsor this year’s event, which will coordinate with the finish of the Tour du Teche.

PSB helps Central Catholic football fundraiser

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:23am

Patterson State Bank Controller Jennifer Blanchard presents a donation to Central Catholic High School football coach Coby Minton for their jambalaya sale last week. The funds raised were to help to send players to football camp to prepare for the upcoming season.

Louisiana Politics: Minority whip speaks out on impeachment

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 10:21am

By JEREMY ALFORD & MITCH RABALAIS, LaPolitics.com

Over the past few months, Capitol Hill has been plagued with rumors and innuendo regarding multiple investigations into President Donald Trump and related chatter about possible impeachment charges.
Speaking to LaPolitics recently, U.S. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Jefferson Parish said that he believed that his Democratic counterparts in the House will attempt to remove Trump from office before the end of his term.
“Many have said publicly, some have pushed forward privately, but everything they’re doing shows that they are leading up to impeachment just to appease their radical left base,” he said.
The whip added that, in his view, the focus on impeachment is preventing Congress from moving forward with legislative priorities.
“When you look at what they’re spending all their days on right now, focusing on impeaching the president even though there’s no evidence to impeach. There was no collusion, but they don’t care,” Scalise said. “They’re still going down that rat hole instead of focusing on real problems like securing the border.”
Scalise also noted that he and fellow Republicans hope to see more investigations into intelligence agencies and what he views as political misuses of authority within the federal government.
“There’s going to be some investigation looking into the abuses of power within some of our intelligence agencies, and I feel it’s very important to do that because they’ve got to root out the bad apples to restore the full integrity of the FBI.” he said.

Q&A with the
state House speaker
LaPolitics: What are your thoughts and reflections as you face term limits and leave the lower chamber’s highest position behind?
Speaker Taylor Barras: It is bittersweet in a lot of ways. As frustrating and as tense as some of those debates got, I think it was important for Louisiana to have them.
And kudos to the members who were willing to roll up their sleeves and try the reform or try the spending cuts.
I mean, it takes that kind of debate, and you got to throw it out there for it to be healthy.
But I think for all of us that are term limited, when I look back to ‘08 and look forward, you know there was some significant education reform that was heavily debated.
I was on the committee that did the ethics reform back in ‘08. I was also on the House Governmental Affairs that did redistricting in 2011. I’ve had a pretty rich 12 years I have to say, and to cap it off with four years as the speaker, as exciting and packed as it was, it’s tough to walk away from, I tell you.
When you’ve been that deep in policy, it’s not that easy to walk away. That’s for sure. But you know, I’m looking forward to my next venture. We’ll see what that is between now and December.
LaPolitics: Are you taking the gavel with you? Is that going to reside on your desk at IberiaBank?
Barras: Well, you know officially I serve until January 13 next year, so I’ll come back to hand the gavel over to someone.
But I have a pretty packed summer and fall. I’m the chairman of the Southern Legislative Conference and I will host the regional conference in New Orleans in July.
So we’ll have 15 states and legislators from 15 states in New Orleans in July. I’m happy to serve as the host. I’ve got a couple of things, speakers conferences and things that I need to attend in the fall. So not hanging up the gavel just yet. I won’t be presiding over a session then, but looking forward to coming back next January and seeing the new body of elected members and of course the new speaker.
LaPolitics: What is the best piece of advice that you could offer up to the next speaker?
Barras: The qualities of the person, the character of the person can play such a vital part of the success of their speakership. Some people can do that by being very flamboyant and very demanding.
I chose the route of diplomacy and let’s get everybody around the table. We had so many 11 p.m. and midnight meetings in here it wasn’t funny. If I couldn’t get the consensus, then I wanted to understand why, and I think it takes rolling up your sleeves and going through that process. If you walk away from any of that, to me, you’re doing the body an injustice.
That takes a lot of hours, there’s no doubt about it.
But it’s been an incredible honor. We had some very frustrating moments, but I think in the end, we’ve made some good decisions. And there’s still some work to be done, but I think we’re beginning to see this ship turn a little bit finally.

They said it
“It’s not necessarily what’s best for the state of Louisiana, a lot of times it’s best for the lobbyists who are lobbying.” —State Rep. Terry Brown, I-Colfax, commenting on government relations
“It’s alive. ... I wouldn’t say it’s well. But it’s alive.” —State Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, on a sports betting bill that ultimately stalled
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Jeremy Alford on Twitter
@LaPolitics

Brittany's Summer Camp slated June 24-28 at FHS

Wed, 06/19/2019 - 9:47am

Brittany’s Project Summer Camp for Friends with Disabilities is June 24-28 at Franklin Senior High School.
A theme of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” will help participants learn the importance of recycling, and the fun.
Attendees will make crafts from items that can be recycles, such as milk jugs, blue jeans and Mardi Gras beads.
There will be visits from the Franklin Fire Department, the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Department, Franklin Police Department, Sanitation Department, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and a visit by Mitch the Magician.
The camp runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. each day. Registration is open now. Call 337-828-2284.