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BATON ROUGE–Battle lines were being drawn between Democrats and Republi-cans in the Louisiana Legislature Tuesday as the two sides proposed new congressional maps as a special redistricting session got underway.
Democrats are pushing for a second of the six congressional districts that would be likely to elect a Black representative.
Map proposals filed by State Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, would redraw con-gressional District 5 to be majority black. The district is currently represented by Republican Rep. Julie Letlow.
The new district would run down from the northeast corner of the state, hugging the Mississippi border and going as far south as East Baton Rouge Parish.
On the other side of the trenches, Repub-licans are proposing to make minor changes to current congressional maps, preserving the current balance of power in in the congressional delegation.
A proposal filed by House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, would keep two likely Republican congressional districts based in north Louisiana, despite major population shifts from the north to the southeast part of the state.
Democratic legislators and civil-rights groups say that with Black residents making up a third of the state’s population, two of Louisiana’s six congressional districts should be majority Black.
The state currently has a single majority Black congressional district, District 2, which encompasses the black populations of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. It is represented by Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat.
The push for two majority Black congressional districts has drawn intense outside interest. For months prior to the session, the Joint Governmental Affairs Committee traveled to different parts of the state to hear public comments.
At each of these roadshows, as many took to calling them, representatives from the NAACP and progressive groups like Louisiana Progress came to advocate for two majority-minority districts.
These groups proposed a plethora of maps for legislators to consider. The NAACP put forward seven maps, each showing a different way to add a second majority Black district.
Republicans have been relatively tight-lipped about their thoughts on the proposals.
Rep. Tanner Magee, R-Houma and the House Speaker Pro Tempore, would not en-tirely rule out the possibility of a second Black district. But he expressed skepticism that such a district would be possible due to the geographic spread of the state’s black population.
“The last time we tried to do that, we had what they call the Zorro District, which Z’d across the state,” Magee said. “And then that got ruled unconstitutional.”
Peter Robbins-Brown, the executive director of Louisiana Progress, disagreed with that assessment.
“It’s difficult when you have six of these across the size of Louisiana to draw a truly compact map,” Robbins-Brown said. “Which is why compactness should not be a priority.”
Robbins-Brown said Fields’ maps were reminiscent of those put forward by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He added that those maps were more compact by every measure of compactness than the current congressional map.
While Gov. John Bel Edwards, a rare Democratic governor in a red state, has not completely ruled out signing a map that does not have two black congressional dis-tricts, he has said that such maps would have “defects in terms of basic fairness.”
Last month, Edwards defined what he meant by fairness. “Fairness, if it can be done, would be to have two out of the six congressional districts be minority districts,” he said.
Still, Edwards said in January that he would consider signing a map that included just one Black district if it included an “influence district” where the Black popula-tion was large enough to influence the outcome of the election.
In Schexnayder’s proposal, excluding the single Black district, the Black population does not rise above 33.6% in any of the five remaining districts.
State Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell and the chairwoman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, proposed maps that were slightly different than Schexnayder’s but that also would likely keep two northern Louisiana congressional districts in Republican hands.
Hewitt’s committee and a similar committee in the House will consider the various proposals before they go to the House and Senate floors.
Legislators also are redrawing some of the 105 state House seats and 29 state Senate seats to reflect population changes recorded in the 2020 Census.

When Patterson High football standouts Lonnie Kinchen and Kyler “K.J.” Paul picked a college, family was part of the decision — their families in St. Mary, and the football family they hope to join.
Receiver Paul and linebacker Kinchen signed letters Wednesday to declare their intent to play football for Nicholls State.
Paul signed a letter of intent and will attend Nicholls with a full scholarship. He hopes to study sports medicine.
Kinchen signed a letter of commitment to attend Nicholls and walk on. He’s interested in physical therapy and engineering.
Why Nicholls?
“It was a family atmosphere,” Paul said.
“I wanted to be near the family and I wanted to be part of my brothers,” Kinchen said.
Kinchen also likes the way the Nicholls staff interacts with the players.
“They’ve got a great bond,” Kinchen said.
The staff talked about putting the 6-foot, 200-pound Kinchen at linebacker or strong safety.
Kinchen was a leader on defense for 7-4 Patterson, said head coach Zach Lochard, who worked with members of the current Nicholls coaching staff at UL Lafayette.
Joining Lochard on the Patterson staff are offensive coordinator Garrett Kreamer and defensive coordinator Tremaine Lightfoot.
Kinchen led the team in tackles for two years and averaged 10 a game last fall, when he called the plays for the Patterson defense.
“He’s a hard worker with great character and great focus,” Lochard said. “He was like a coach on the football field. He was never late for a workout or missed a workout.”
Paul has 4.47 speed, Lochard said, and Paul said the Nicholls staff talked about starting him on special teams, “getting me in the open field, getting the ball in my hands and letting me be an athlete.”
During his senior season at Patterson High, Paul caught 43 passes for 801 yards and scored 10 touchdowns. He piled up 189 kick-off return yards and three return TDs.
“He’s the best athlete in the parish in my opinion,” Lochard said. “On the football field and on the basketball court, he’s just a dynamic playmaker.”
Under head coach Tim Rebowe, Nicholls won four of its last five games in 2021 to finish 6-5 and third in the Southland Conference.
“I’m happy,” Kinchen said. “It’s a blessing — D-1 football. I’m just glad God put me in a position to play D-1 football.”

(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.)

Morgan City police and St. Mary deputies made arrests Tuesday on charges involving alcohol and vehicles.

Morgan City
Police Chief James F. Blair reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 45 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:
—Michelle Bowers, 48, Polaris Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 3:31 a.m. Tuesday on charges of driving while intoxicated (first offense) and careless operation of a motor vehicle.
—Christopher Lee Lacaze, 42, Fourth Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 9:17 p.m. Tuesday on a 6th Ward Morgan City Court warrant alleging failure to appear to pay fine.

St. Mary
Sheriff Blaise Smith ad-vised that over the last 72-hour reporting period, the Sheriff’s Office responded to 22 complaints and made this arrest:
—Reese Michael Richteer, 18, Jeanerette, was arrested at 10:06 a.m. Tuesday on charges of open container and license plate lights required. Richteer was released on a summons May 10.

Franklin
Police Chief Morris Beverly said the Franklin Police Department responded to eight complaints over the past 24 hours and made this arrest:
—Charles Elmore, 46, Third Street, Franklin, was arrested at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of domestic abuse battery with strangulation. Elmore was booked, processed and transported to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

Gov. John Bel Edwards pushed back on the “utterly false and baseless allegations” that he misled the public about the 2019 death of Ronald Greene during a press conference Tuesday.

Edwards addressed allegations in a report by The Associated Press last week that revealed the governor received a text message about the deadly altercation about nine hours after it occurred on May 10, 2019 and failed to correct misleading statements from state police that Greene died in a car wreck.

The AP report alleged Edwards kept the truth under wraps for two years until the news wire obtained and published body-camera footage from the incident showing troopers jolting the 49-year-old with stun guns, punching him in the face and dragging him by his ankles.

Throughout the press conference, Edwards repeatedly stressed that “I have never said Mr. Greene died in a car accident” and objected to allegations his office attempted to delay or intervene in the investigation.

“That, too, is categorically false,” Edwards said. “There is not a shred of truth to that.”

The AP reported Friday that Edwards received a text message from Louisiana State Police Superintendent Kevin Reeves at 10 a.m. on the day of the deadly altercation with state police near Monroe.

The text said state police attempted to stop a vehicle in Ouachita Parish and the driver led police on a high-speed chase in excess of 110 mph through two parishes before eventually crashing his vehicle.

“Troopers attempted to place the driver under arrest. But, a violent, lengthy struggle took place. After some time struggling with the suspect, troopers were joined by a Union Parish deputy and were able to take the suspect into custody,” the text read. “EMS was summoned to assess the suspect’s injuries. The suspect remained combative but became unresponsive shortly before EMS arrived. The suspect was later pronounced dead at the hospital.”

State police told the public and Greene’s family the 49-year-old died in the car crash. A coroner’s report also indicated Greene was killed in a motor vehicle accident, and state police did not mention troopers’ use of force during the incident.

The AP insinuated that Edwards kept mum to avoid a scandal during his re-election and alleged the governor or his staff attempted to influence or delay the investigation.

Edwards told the media Tuesday “it didn’t happen, but it doesn’t make any sense, either.”

Edwards noted the investigation was sent to the state prosecutor in August 2019, and it was referred to the Trump Justice Department “within weeks.”

“Obviously that is not part of a cover-up, that’s the exact opposite,” the governor said, adding that it was not in his best interests to forward the case to the “Trump Department of Justice at a time the president was coming to Louisiana to campaign against me.”

The AP report also claimed Edwards steered Louisiana Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, away from investigating the incident because “Greene died in a car wreck,” which the governor also denied.

Edwards said his relationship with Schexnayder has been strained since last year’s veto session, but he made the speaker and Senate president aware when he arranged for the Greene family and members of the Legislative Black Caucus to view police videos of Greene’s arrest last summer.

“The Speaker doesn’t ask me for permission to have a hearing, that’s just not how it works,” he said. “At no time have I said to anyone – in public or in private – that Mr. Greene died in a car wreck.”

An FBI investigation later attributed Greene’s death to a “physical struggle” and Greene’s use of cocaine.

Edwards referred questions about misleading statements from state police to Reeves but stressed that anyone who has knowingly misstated that Greene died in the car crash is “wrong” and “cannot be tolerated.”

He said state police are conducting an internal investigation regarding that aspect. State and federal investigations are also ongoing, as is a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Greene’s family. Edwards vowed to reach out to Greene’s mother in the aftermath of the controversy.

Edwards said he also disagrees with Schexnayder’s statement on Monday calling for an investigation into the alleged cover-up.

“I can’t tell you I welcome an investigation that’s an absolute witch hunt,” he said.