During the extraordinary session that ended just last month, we were fortunate to dodge a number of open government wrenches aimed to make otherwise practical and good laws bad.You probably remember Act 302, which allowed, for the first time, for public bodies to meet via online means (like …

With our new executive director, we’ve seen a renewed commitment to member services, and, importantly, that includes the LPA Hotline!One of the many downsides in COVID-19 has been a drop in hotline calls. One of the upsides is that your Hotline calls can now include video — which means I can…

It’s tax sale season, and so it’s a good time to figure out if you’re using the right rate for your public notices. I suggest you do it every year – there’s a great chart in in your LPA Law Guide at Appendix C-1 that lays out exactly how much you should charge and the statutory basis for suc…

A good contract goes a long way. I use that axiom a lot in my practice. In good times and in bad, there’s no substitute for memorializing your agreements on paper – just in case. It’s generally good for accounting, risk management, and peace of mind. It’s also good for all the reasons I can’…

In the time of COVID-19, we have learned to live with many inconveniences that could ultimately save lives. One of these is the virtual public meeting.During the 2020 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature, both Rep. Stephen Dwight (R-Lake Charles) and Sen. Sharon Hewitt (R-Slidell) pr…

Most of us are fortunate to be in positions of safety and relative health, even as the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has taken the lives of too many Louisianans and crippled our economy.The “Phase 1” reopening that has been ordered by Gov. John Bel Edwards may not restore every open meeting o…

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, continues to threaten the lives of Louisianans and has crippled our economy. Another illness has infected Louisiana government: a plague of secrecy.I read, listen and watch the reporting around our state—not only because my practice involves media work but be…

It’s a whole new world, folks. The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, will change the way we’re working in the media for a long time.It’s entirely possible that we will be in a recession, a quarantine, and perhaps even worse, for quite some time. It’s also possible that none of that happens, be…

Take a deep breath, but election season is over, at least until the next special election, that is. Editorial will slow down as the holidays approach, and, unfortunately, some of those great advertising dollars our industry has benefited from will be replaced with retail and good cheer.In ad…

The calls have been coming in – certain state agencies are particularly interested in whether your stringers or drivers are independent contractors or employees – and whether LPA members may have been misclassifying them

For those of you that missed it, we had our first LPA Legal Webinar last week – on advertising. Advertising is one of my favorite 

For those of you that missed it, we had our first LPA Legal Webinar last week – on advertising. Advertising is one of my favorite subjects, because not only does it support community journalism, it also presents particular legal problems that can be challenging.

When the Louisiana Legislature adjourned sine die for yet another year, your friends at LPA let out a long sigh of relief, that for another year, we generally held the line.

This time of year is the busiest for LPA Governmental Services Representative Kevin Hayes and me. There are hundreds of bills currently under consideration before the legislature that could affect our business.

It’s that time of year again: the Louisiana Legislature’s bill-filing deadline is at the end of March. We call that the busy season over at LPA’s legal and legislative department, and we’re on guard waiting to see what bills will be filed.

I get lots of calls that sound like legal questions but are really ethical quandaries. Some of the calls I get also come with some lagniappe – usually a politician or gadfly complaining about bias in the news media.

Non-journalist folk often complain to me about the way we write true things. Sure, it’s in the public record, but do we have to write it?

One of the most important and regular calls we get on the LPA Hotline relates to the Open Meetings Law and the use of Executive Session.

In August and September the Louisiana newspaper world was abuzz because of the arrival of a piece of mail. That letter, sent to member papers and several public bodies--including sheriffs, school boards and Parish governments—was sent by Civicsource and essentially accused our members of ove…

I prefer Jimmy John’s to Subway, because the ingredients feel fresher to me. But can I prove that? I suppose that I could review all the invoices and see who actually gets the freshest lettuce or the squishiest tomatoes: but would that prove my opinion true or false? Probably not.

In the last month I had one of the most involved and difficult hotline calls I have ever encountered. On the other end of the line was Gwen Payne, a reporter at the Madison Journal in Tallulah. She had been volunteering as a reporter at the Journal for about three months when she called the …

A question that I occasionally hear on the LPA Hotline is so loaded and pervasive it will surely come across everyone’s desk once or twice. It has to do with independent contractors versus employees.