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Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is leading another multistate legal challenge against a Biden administration COVID-19 mandate; this time over child mask requirements and mandatory staff vaccinations for Head Start programs.
Head Start provides child care and early learning services for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children of low-income families at no cost.
Landry has sued the ad-ministration over vaccination mandates affecting employers, federal contractors and health care workers. The latest lawsuit aims to block rules requiring children age 2 and older to wear masks and all program staff, volunteers and certain contractors to be vaccinated by Jan. 31.
“Like all of his other unlawful attempts to impose medical decisions on Americans, Biden’s overreaching orders to mask 2-year-olds and force vaccinate teachers in our underserved communities will cost jobs and impede child development,” Landry said Tuesday.
Louisiana Solicitor General Liz Murrill released a video statement, saying the consequences of noncompliance could lead to lost funding, reduced child care and early capacity and program closures.
“This policy makes no sense,” she said. “As a mother of four boys, all of whom attended early preschool programs, I understand the importance of these programs to parents.”
According to the Mayo Clinic’s state vaccine tracker, Louisiana has a 49.9% rate of fully vaccinated eligible individuals.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana and included 23 other dissenting states.
The complaint alleges the Head Start mandate exceeds executive branch authority as it is implemented through the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS), not Congress.
Other allegations include violations of the Administrative Procedures Act’s public comment requirement, the Congressional Review Act, the 10th Amendment and the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act.
“The mandate affects ap-proximately a million children and hundreds of thou-sands of staff and volunteers,” the lawsuit reads. “It also impacts hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and disrupts the education of children at a critical developmental period in their lives and impairs alignment of early childhood education programs across the country and specifically in plaintiff states.”
HHS published an interim final rule Nov. 30 in the Federal Register that added the mask and vaccine provisions to Head Start’s performance standards. The “universal” mask mandate was immediate, whereas program staff, volunteers and affected contractors were given two months to comply with the vaccine requirement.
According to the rule, chil-dren age 2 and older must wear masks when indoors, when in vehicles associated with the program, in outdoor settings with sustained person-to-person contact and “for those not fully vaccinated.”
An HHS statement said the staff vaccinations are essential to returning to fully in-person services.
“The purpose … is to pro-tect the health and safety of Head Start staff, children and families; to mitigate the spread of the virus … and to help more programs and early childhood centers safely remain open,” the statement said.
The multistate lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction that would suspend the mandate from taking effect while the dispute is legally resolved.
A similar Louisiana-led lawsuit achieved a nation-wide injunction that blocked the Biden administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) employer vaccination mandate, though the injunction was recently dissolved. The U.S. Supreme Court is now considering an appeal.
“Our nation’s children have faced enough setbacks and difficulties during the last two years; they cannot afford another government attack on their development,” Landry said.

Frost coated plants in the Tri-City area Wednesday morning, when the mercury dipped into the upper 30s. Thursday morning's low is expected to be in the low 40s, and that will be the end of our little cold snap for now. By Christmas Day, the high is expected to be back near 80 degrees.

The Review/Diane Miller Fears

(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.)

St. Mary and Assumption deputies made arrests on drug charges this week, and a St. Mary arrest for failure to appear involved seven narcotics counts.

St. Mary
Sheriff Blaise Smith advised that over the last 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff’s Office responded to 30 complaints and made these arrests:
—Zedrick Gibson, 30, Franklin, was arrested at 1:55 a.m. Wednesday by the Narcotics Section on charges of possession of heroin, possession of Adderall and possession of drug paraphernalia. Gibson also was named in a warrant alleging possession of methamphetamine, transactions involving drug proceeds, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a counterfeit controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute.
—Kacy Lynn Sons, 36, Morgan City, was arrested at 6:16 p.m. Wednesday on four warrants alleging failure to appear on charges of criminal neglect of family, possession of alprazolam, possession of drug paraphernalia, improper display of license plate, operating a vehicle without driver’s license on person, conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of diazepam and possession of amphetamine.
Bail has not been set.
—Molly Windwehen, 33, Youngsville, was arrested at 8:32 a.m. Wednesday on charges of speeding and driving under suspension. Windwehen was released on a summons to appear March 17.
—Latifha Raven Symone Friels, 28, Morgan City, was arrested at 1:01 p.m. Wednesday on two warrants alleging failure to appear on the charges of theft less than $1,000 and conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary. Bail has not been set.
—Ronald Ray Wesley Jr., 39, Jeanerette, was arrested at 6:21 p.m. Wednesday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on the charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of legend drug without a prescription and criminal mischief. Bail has not been set.
Bail was set at $46,000.

Assumption
Sheriff Leland Falcon reported this arrest:
—Taylor James Hebert, 25, Blackberry Drive, Thibodaux, was arrested Tuesday on charges of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, reckless operation of a motor vehicle and improper passing.
The charges resulted from a Tuesday evening traffic stop in Bayou L’Ourse.
A uniformed patrol deputy observed a vehicle commit a traffic violation and initiated a stop of that vehicle. The deputy made contact with the driver, now identified as Hebert.
The deputy conducted an interview and as a result of that process, the deputy concluded that additional investigation was warranted.
A subsequent search of the suspect vehicle yielded a quantity of suspected marijuana and assorted drug paraphernalia.
Hebert was booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center pending a bond hearing.

Franklin
Police Chief Morris Beverly reported that the Franklin Police Department responded to 10 complaints over the past 24 hours and made these arrests:
—Kayla Pope, 32, Autumn Lane, Jeanerette, was arrested at 2:39 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant dated Nov. 23 alleging theft. Pope was booked, processed and released on a $1,500 bond.
—Dewade Howard, 53, 10th Street, Franklin, was arrested at 12:54 a.m. Wednesday on the charges of disturbing the peace and simple criminal damage to property. Howard was booked, processed and released to appear in 3rd Ward City Court.

Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans is hosting KM Dance Project: Raw Fruit from Jan. 14-16 in the Black Box Theater.
Raw Fruit by Kesha McKey and KM Dance Project is a multidisciplinary dance work that reveals the essence of ancestral values woven into the cultural fabric of Black lives, and examines legacy, identity, socialization, unity and friction inside the southern Black family dynamic, according to the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans news release.
Using dance as the foundational medium to elevate the voices of African American women, Raw Fruit is steeped in the movement, sound and spirit of Black folks in New Orleans and layered with visceral expressions of lineage, retention and ancestral memory.
General admission tickets are $25. For tickets visit https://20202.blackbaudhosting.com/ 20202/tickets.
For more information about the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans visit https://cacno.org/.