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The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as speaker of the House, ending more than three weeks without a speaker and a string of chaotic meetings and votes on Capitol Hill.

Johnson received multiple standing ovations from his colleagues Wednesday before securing the speakership. The final vote was 220-209, with Democrats supporting Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

“Today is the day that House Republicans will humbly look in our hearts and elect Mike Johnson as speaker of the people’s House,” Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said in a speech from the House floor ahead of the vote, calling Johnson “a man of deep faith,” and “a deeply respected Constitutional lawyer.”

“Mike is strong, tough and fair, and above all, Mike is kind,” Stefanik added.

Stefanik announced on Sunday nine candidates who were making a bid to be speaker, but that number was slowly whittled down as lawmakers dropped out.

“Today is the day we get this done,” Stefanik said in her Wednesday speech.

U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., gave a speech from the floor to nominate Jeffries for speaker and attack Republicans.

Jeffries blasted Republicans for “all of the infighting, all of the disarray just to end up where we were three weeks ago.”

Johnson pitched Republicans on an aggressive legislative agenda over the next few weeks. Under his leadership, the House will face a looming partial government shutdown deadline in the middle of November as well as ongoing calls to fund Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars.

"We must govern well and expand our majority next year," Johnson said in a letter to his fellow Republicans over the weekend, asking for support in the speakership race.

President Joe Biden called on Congress last week for more than $100 billion to that end, as well as funding for Taiwan, the immigration issue and other priorities.

That proposal was met with immediate pushback from Republicans in the House and Senate. Some funding for Israel though, is likely to pass. More funding for Ukraine has become a divisive issue for Republicans, and it remains unclear how many more billions lawmakers will be willing to send to Ukraine.

Notably, U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, was running for speaker but later dropped out and told reporters he was supporting Johnson.

The chaotic three-week battle for a speaker began when U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., filed a motion to vacate former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. At that point, Majority Leader Steve Scalise won the nomination but quickly backed out after being unable to secure the needed votes. After that, House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, won the nomination but lost it days later after three failed votes on the House floor with 25 Republicans ultimately voting against him.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., was next to secure the nomination but almost immediately withdrew after failing to gain support.

Notably, former President Donald Trump campaigned against Emmer.

Before the vote Wednesday, Johnson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, a picture of the American flag in the House Chamber, which has inscribed above it "In God We Trust."

Forty members of Morgan City High's JROTC program got to see Coast Guard vessels, including the Abbeville-based cutter Amberjack, and operations Wednesday during a tour at the Port of Morgan City dock. Top Photo: JROTC members climb to the bridge of the Amberjack on a tour led by Master Chief Ben Conner. Bottom Photo: The young people learn about this vessel, used to maintain aids to navigation.

The Review/Bill Decker

A typical Thanksgiving dinner table is loaded with familiar foods. Turkey, of course, takes center stage, but side dishes also garner their fair share of attention during Thanksgiving dinner.
Hosts don’t have much room to experiment when preparing turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Though turkey can be roasted, slow cooked, smoked, fried or added to a gumbo, recipes for seasoning the bird are likely to feature similar ingredients.
Hosts have much more leeway when it comes to side dishes. New and bold flavors can add a little something special to side dishes this Thanksgiving, and guests might appreciate a break from the norm.
That’s just what this recipe for “Irresistible Basil Mashed Potatoes” from Marlena Spieler’s “Yummy Potatoes” (Chronicle Books) provides. The fresh basil can add some unique flavor to a beloved side dish.

IRRESISTIBLE BASIL MASHED POTATOES
2 lbs. russet baking-type potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
Salt
2 to 3 cups fresh basil leaves of any type (2 to 3 ounces)
2 cups heavy whipping cream or half-and-half
4 Tbsp. butter
Black pepper
Place potatoes in a saucepan and fill with water to cover. Add a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and cook, covered, for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are just tender.
Drain, return to the heat and shake for a few minutes to dry them out; turn off the heat, cover the pan and keep warm.
Meanwhile, blanch basil. Plunge it into a saucepan of boiling water, cook a moment or two until the leaves wilt and slightly change color and lift out of the pot using a slotted spoon, then plunge into a bowl of ice water. Leave for about five minutes or until it turns brightly colored, then lift from the ice water.
Heat cream in a saucepan until bubbles form around the edge of the pan.
In the meantime, squeeze basil in your hands gently to rid it of excess water from cooking. Place in a food processor and whirl to purée. Slowly pour hot cream into this puréed basil and whirl until it forms a fragrant, pale green cream.
Coarsely mash potatoes with a masher, then add the basil cream and mash it in; work in the butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serves 4 to 6

A Franklin resident asked the Franklin City Council to change the city charter in order to allow for the removal of a councilman for missing too many meetings.
Ella Hamilton did not name the councilman, but said that District 3 (actually District C), where she lives, is not being properly represented because the elected councilman has not attended a meeting since February of 2022.
But the city charter does not provide clear expectations of its council members’ attendance at meetings, she said.
“I don’t know when the charter was written or who wrote it, but the charter does not explain enough,” Hamilton said. “It explains a lot about (the expectations on) the mayor, but not about the council. I’ve got a charter here and it only says that a vacancy should come only through death or resigning, and none of this is happening.”
“I want the citizens of District 3 to know, District 3 is not being represented. We need a representative in Disrict 3. We need a lot of work in District 3. I understand we have a lot of other councilmen, but we need someone on the ground in District 3.”
District C Councilman Larry Guilbeau Sr. has not attended a meeting in some time, she said.
“If you are going to miss a meeting, something should be in that charter pertaining to that,” Hamilton said. “January of 2022 to now, which is October of 2023, one of our councilmen has never been to a meeting. Something needs to happen with District 3.”
Hamilton said that if nobody else runs for that council seat, the current councilman can run and remain in office and continue to be paid for being a councilman even if he doesn’t attend any meetings.
She added that work needs to be done in the district, for instance, at one of the railroad crossings where the street is in such bad condition that people’s cars are being torn up.
“This used to be a beautiful little town, but this town is going down because District 3 needs help,” she said. “Y’all help us. Help us to get this together.”
Mayor Eugene Foulcard thanked Hamilton for having the courage to bring the issue to the council, adding that he served as the chairman for the original charter commission from 2000-04, with the charter voted into service in 2006.
“The councilman in question was sworn in on July 1st of 2022 and he may have come to two or three meetings after that, but be that as it may, we are going to review that,” Foulcard said, before asking City Attorney Russell Cremaldi to explain the process that would be needed to make a change to the charter before the council addresses the issue.
“I’ve been asked how do you go about amending the charter,” Cremaldi said, explaining there are two routes for making changes to the charter. “Right now, Miss Hamilton is correct. Basically, the charter says you hold your office unless you die, resign, or unless you are removed from office under some legal process that’s set forth in state law. That does not include missing meetings. That’s not part of the charter.”
An amendment to the charter to set forth a requirement for holding the office, or for removing someone from the office, must be voted on by the public, Cremaldi said. The amendment would have to be specific about what is necessary to trigger a disqualification or removal from office, such as missing a certain number of meetings in a year.
The first method for amending the charter is for the City Council to draft an ordinance saying they want to have a detailed proposition to be placed on an election ballot.
The second method, if the council chooses not to seek to amend the charter, is to circulate a petition and have one-third of registered voters in the city sign the petition. That is difficult because the petition must be very specific, and the petitions have to be verified. Often that process eliminates some of the signatures as invalid — for instance, one person in a household can’t sign for multiple people in the household.
The amendment would then likely be submitted to a bond attorney who works with the state in order to submit it to the Secretary of State’s office to be included on a future ballot. Since the bond attorneys routinely submit bond election items to the Secretary of State to be included on ballots, Cremaldi said, they are familiar with the process of coordinating with the Secretary of State’s office.
“I can tell you that if any council member here wants to work on such an ordinance, I’ll be happy to work on it with them,” Cremaldi said. “It’s really going to be up to the council, if the council wants to move (on amending the charter). If the council doesn’t want to move, the people can move. It’s not easy, but the people have the right to move. If you’re going to petition, the petition has to say exactly what the change is going to be, so it takes some work to get the wording of the petition done. And then it would take one-third of the registered voters of Franklin to sign. If that happens, then that petition would be presented to the City Council. It would then be sent to the Secretary of State and he would put it on a ballot with some election coming up next year.”
Foulcard said the council would take the issue under advisement.