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From legal challenges to political drama, the run-up to qualifying last week made everyone wish qualifying was already over.

As summer came into focus, congressional maps were kicked around by the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches as school boards and city councils raced to complete their own local redistricting plans.

Stretching further back, political moods also soured over the past congressional term, from last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol and spiking inflation to tough hurricane seasons and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 shutdown.

All of these factors were bumping up against the highly anticipated qualifying period that concluded July 22.
In an interview after the candidate sign-up period ended, Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin agreed with the prevailing sentiment on the past two years, but offered a positive spin on the path forward. “The qualifying process was actually smooth and quiet,” he said.

Some races were populated on the secretary’s website later than usual Friday due to a long candidate line in East Baton Rouge Parish and minor technical problems in Grant Parish and elsewhere. But the hiccups went largely unnoticed.

Looking ahead to Election Day in November, Ardoin said St. John the Baptist Parish will likely rely once again on a “mega-precinct” to accommodate areas that are still recovering from Hurricane Ida. “There are a few other areas along the coast with similar precinct challenges, too, and we are monitoring those situations closely to determine what we will or won’t be able to do,” said Ardoin.

Mapping Johnson’s moves

The big winner from qualifying on the federal side was Congressman Mike Johnson of Shreveport, the only member of the Louisiana delegation who won’t have to campaign for re-election. “Having a congressional seat in these times without opposition is notable,” remarked Ardoin.

Having the cycle off is major development for Johnson, the vice chair of the Republican Conference, which essentially serves as the House GOP delegation.

Johnson was already poised to be a player in the leadership, and now he has the freedom to help his colleagues in other states campaign and raise money.

Johnson will also have more time for “Commitment to America,” the plan House Republicans will present to voters across the country this year. Johnson said the plan, which will be released over the next week or so, will be similar to “Contract With America,” which former House Speaker Newt Gingrich introduced during the 1990s.

Watching Higgins

Most House delegation members made it to Baton Rouge Friday to qualify, with the exception of Congressman Clay Higgins of Lafayette, who qualified by proxy with the help of state Rep. Julie Emerson of Carencro, a longtime ally. Of the House incumbents facing opposition, Higgins’ campaign is among the re-election contests worth keeping tabs on.

Fellow Republican Holden Hoggatt, an assistant district attorney in Lafayette, has mounted enough of a challenge to keep reporters interested and political observers wondering if he can find momentum over the next few weeks. So far Hoggatt has taken the fight directly to Higgins, in public statements and on billboards depicting the incumbent as “All Hat and No Cattle.”

Hoggatt, however, will need an impressive fundraising haul and recognizable conservative surrogates by his side to take on Higgins, who has been angling for the chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. Hoggatt will also have to contend with six other candidates who cover quite a bit of the spectrum when it comes to party, race and gender.

Kennedy Needs Money

As we’re all aware by now, the star atop the fall election tree will be the re-election bid of U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, who will likely reach $30 million raised by the end of the month. Two Baton Rouge Democrats, activist Gary Chambers and former fighter pilot Luke Mixon, have made quite a splash this year, but now there are 10 other candidates looking for attention as well.

As for Kennedy, who has either already broken or will soon shatter all fundraising records for an incumbent senator in Louisiana, he needs more money. After all, there’s simply no other way to begin this election cycle in earnest.
In an email appeal sent from his fundraising team shortly after qualifying closed Friday, supporters were told that contributions to Democrats were “skyrocketing.”

“Meanwhile,” the email continued, “fundraising for our campaign has decreased by 63 percent over the past few weeks.”

Let’s hope Kennedy pulled in a few bucks from yet another appeal painting his own campaign as cash poor, because he’ll get little sympathy from Chambers and Mixon, who have so far reported a combined $2.5 million in receipts.

For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @ LaPoliticsNow.

DEAR ABBY: A co-worker has been stricken with multiple stage-4 cancers. We all have been compassionate and caring, supporting him through the challenges of treatment and the side effects. His condition is terminal, in the final stage and deteriorating rapidly.
He does have a supportive family, but we don’t have the heart to send him home and take away the only thing that gives him his reason to live — his work. So we spend our time providing hospice care, something none of us have any training for.
Our work environment has become increasingly stressful and anxious, and it’s overflowing onto our friends and families, not to mention the toll it has taken on our company. I need to make a choice — to place my family and my well-being first, take a leave of absence and abandon my co-workers, or stay in support and have a front-row seat to the imminent passing.
911 ON SPEED DIAL

DEAR 911: This is something you should discuss with your employer. Neither you nor your co-workers are trained caregivers, and no one should be administering medical care because of possible liability to the company.
You are obviously a sensitive and caring person. However, if the situation has become more stressful than you can manage, it’s time to take a step back. To do so isn’t “abandoning” anyone; it is looking after your own mental health so you can provide for your family.

DEAR ABBY: My parents divorced when I was a small child. My father remarried when I was 10, and I loved my stepmother dearly. She died in 1994 after 27 years of marriage.
Daddy then met another lovely woman I’ll call “Eileen,” whom he dated for many years. By this time, I was nearly 40 and living 1,000 miles away from them. He eventually moved in with her, but they didn’t actually marry until 2018. Eileen is only 13 years older than I am, so I have always thought of her as “my father’s third wife,” not “my stepmother.”
Daddy died last year, and I’m not sure how much of a relationship I want to maintain with Eileen, or how to refer to her when I have occasion to introduce her to someone. She was extraordinarily good to my father (better than he deserved, I might add), and I’m grateful for that, but the link that tied us is now gone.
She’s coming to visit soon. Introducing her to my friends as “Dad’s third wife” seems a bit cold, but introducing her as “my stepmother” would mischaracterize our relationship. She had no children of her own, and I don’t want to give her the impression that I have bonded to her as if she were my mother.
Please help.
CHALLENGED IN THE SOUTH

DEAR CHALLENGED: Treat Eileen as you would want to be treated if the situation were reversed. Introduce her WARMLY as “Eileen.”
If further clarification is needed, she is “Daddy’s widow.” That she is third in the line-up does not need to be mentioned.
As to giving her the impression that you feel bonded to her, don’t obsess over it. Your relationship with her is either warm and rewarding, or it isn’t. If it is only obligatory, ask yourself why you feel the need to keep her at arm’s length, and act accordingly.
***
Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: “Abby’s Favorite Recipes” and “More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $16 to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

Wednesday's St. Mary Parish Council meeting focused on Franklin, with congratulations for that city's 12-year-old Dixie All-Stars, news that Franklin Junior High will be the home of a new STEM academy and notification that the city's hospital will soon have a new name.

Franklin Foundation Hospital will be known as Bayou Bend Health System, hospital CEO Stephanie Guidry announced.

According to Guidry, state Sen. Bret Allain, Hospital Service District No. 1 Chairman Allen Randle and Mayor Eugene Foulcard, the move is about more than a name.

Guidry said the addition of a $19 million wellness center, now under construction on the hospital campus on Northwest Boulevard, justifies the change from "hospital" to "health system."

"We're going to transition from taking care of sick people to taking are of people so they don't get sick," said Allain, R-Franklin, who led the effort to obtain funding for the wellness center.

The center could demonstrate that Medicaid spending should focus more on prevention as a way to save money that would otherwise be spent treating illness and injury.

Bayou Bend drew the most votes among five possible names presented to a focus group, Guidry said. The runner-up was Pelican Bend.

Foulcard, a hospital board member as well as the mayor, sees the hospital improvements as part of an effort to "reimagine Franklin as a destination city."

The council passed a resolution supporting the name change.

Allian had more good news for Franklin and every other St. Mary community along U.S. 90. The state is moving toward what Allain called "smoothing out" the four-lane highway between New Iberia and Morgan City.

The current state cost estimate is $150 million.

A resurfaced U.S. 90 could attract traffic through St. Mary with the accompanying economic benefits, Allain said.

Also Wednesday:

--The council passed a resolution, and came up with $2,000 for equipment, for the Franklin 12-year-old Dixie All-Stars baseball team.

The team won its district title in Morgan City, took second in the state tournament in Metairie and qualified for the Dixie Baseball World Series next month in North Carolina.

--Councilman J Ina, who is also principal at Franklin Junior High, announced that the state will fund a new $1 million science, technology, engineering and math academy at the Franklin school.

Franklin Junior High is one of six sites around Louisiana where the academies will be established as a way to help at-risk young people.

The state government is paying for the academy on a three-year commitment.

--Morgan City wasn't overlooked in the laudatory resolutions. The council voted to congratulate Brenna Catherine Laubach, the 19-year-old Central Catholic graduate who was crowned National American Miss Louisiana Teen on July 17 in Baton Rouge. She's the daughter of Celine Lee Laubach and David Laubach, both of Morgan City.

(Editor’s note: The charges listed here and the narratives that go with them are provided by the police agencies that made the arrests. Guilt or innocence has not been determined in court.)

A Hammond man arrested Monday on a Morgan City warrant alleging battery against a dating partner faces a new charge after calling a woman in violation of a protective order as he was being booked, Berwick police said.

Berwick

Police Chief David S. Leonard reported this arrest:

—Jaicherydan Gutter, 24, Harrell Avenue, Hammond, was booked at 3 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant alleging violation of a protective order.
On Monday, Gutter was arrested by the Berwick Police Department for an unrelated matter. During the booking process, Gutter made a phone call to a female caller.

It was later learned that the female whom he called had an active protective order against him prohibiting him from contacting her. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Gutter was booked on the warrant.

St. Mary

Sheriff Blaise Smith reported that over the last 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff’s Office responded to 38 complaints and made these arrests:

—Marcus Damond Austin, 37, Franklin, was arrested at 8:44 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of second-degree battery. Austin continues to be incarcerated at the
St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

—Kelvin Anderson Matthews, 31, Abbeville, was arrested at 1:53 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on the charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with no driver’s license. Matthews was released on $5,000 bond.

—Chasity Fontenot Gahn, 43, Patterson, was arrested at 3:23 Tuesday on a charge domestic abuse battery. Bail has not been set.

—Tyrone Len Freeman, 53, Franklin, was arrested at 6:52 p.m. Tuesday on charges of theft and entry or remaining on premises after being forbidden, and on a warrant alleging failure to appear on the charges of theft and criminal trespassing. Bail has not been set at this time.

—Aketa Raquel Francis, 29, Berwick, was arrested at 3:56 a.m. Wednesday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on the charge of criminal neglect of family. Bail was set at $2,988.