Civil rights group: Louisiana violating voting law
BATON ROUGE — Louisiana departments aren’t complying with a federal law that requires public assistance agencies that serve low-income residents to offer them voter registration, a civil rights group...
View ArticleLawsuit claims not all state offices offer voter registration
Two state departments say they haven’t seen details of a federal lawsuit, but are complying with the spirit and the letter of the 1993 law that requires voter registration at all state offices offering...
View ArticleSome oil spill payments going to child support
BATON ROUGE — Disaster payments from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are being intercepted by the state from those who are behind in their child support. Nearly $5.5 million has been seized so far. Lisa...
View ArticleLouisiana says no thanks to Race to the Top education funds
BATON ROUGE — The state has decided it will not apply for a multi-million dollar education grant from the Obama administration aimed at increasing access to quality early learning programs for...
View ArticleMore Louisiana families turning to food stamps
LIVINGSTON, La. — College graduates. Two-parent households. Elderly residents with growing medical bills. The working poor. The face of Louisianians on food stamps has changed and broadened with the...
View ArticleDrug testing industry split on targeting welfare recipients
Lawmakers are moving toward approving a law that would test 20 percent of the 4,000 residents who receive assistance from Louisiana’s Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program. A comparable...
View ArticleJudge: Agencies violated voter registration law
A federal judge has ruled that Louisiana public assistance agencies have violated a law that requires them to provide applicants with voter registration forms regardless of whether the transaction is...
View ArticleLa. food stamp audit finds overpayment, possible fraud
An audit of Louisiana's food stamp program for low-income families says weak oversight has allowed for duplicate benefits, overpayments and more than $1 million paid to ineligible residents, some of...
View ArticleJuvenile detention facilities face new licensing
Louisiana's social services department says all juvenile detention facilities in the state are now licensed and inspected by its agency.
View ArticleAnalysis: Pay raises uneven across La. government
State government employees are getting pay raises again — at least $33 million in salary increases have been awarded so far in 2013 — after years of stagnant wages for many workers because of...
View ArticleVitter: Cut food stamp recipients who overspent
Louisiana's social services secretary said Wednesday that her office has asked federal officials for permission to suspend food stamp benefits for recipients who overspent their balance when the...
View ArticleState to cut food stamp benefits for overspending
Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration intends to strip food stamps from people who are believed to have deliberately spent more than their monthly benefits when the electronic food stamp service was down...
View ArticleState releases “Most Wanted” poster of deadbeat dads
Louisiana's social services department has put out a "Most Wanted" list of 18 parents who owe at least $20,000 each in child support.
View ArticleLa. disqualifies food stamps for overspending
Louisiana's social services department says it stripped food stamps from six people who deliberately overspent their monthly benefits when the electronic service was down in October.
View ArticleLa. bans use of welfare benefits on tattoos, nails
Louisiana's social services department is prohibiting the spending of welfare money at lingerie stores, tattoo shops, nail salons and jewelry stores.
View ArticleState employee charged with federal crime
Federal prosecutors have charged the director of auditing and compliance for the state's Department of Children and Family Services with fraud.
View ArticleAuditor questions state child protection services
An audit finds the state agency charged with protecting children in abuse and neglect situations has fewer workers, more cases and has failed to follow its own policies.
View ArticleProposed welfare ban covers tattoos, lingerie
Louisiana welfare recipients would be prohibited in state law from spending the federal assistance at lingerie shops, tattoo parlors, nail salons and jewelry stores, under a bill that received the...
View ArticleThird state auditor pleads guilty in fraud case
A former managing auditor for the state Department of Children and Family Services told a federal judge that he used his state credit card to rent hotel suites in New Orleans and also was reimbursed...
View ArticleAudit: $1.3M in federal food benefits went to dead
A state audit has found that about $1.3 million in federal food card benefits were used after the legal benefit recipients had died.
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