Greg Larose, Louisiana Illuminator

Attorney General Liz Murrill has obtained an indictment for a California doctor who she alleges sent abortion pills to Louisiana in violation of state law.

Murrill said in a news release Tuesday that Dr. Rémy Coeytaux has been charged in St. Tammany Parish with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs. She has asked Gov. Jeff Landry to approve an extradition warrant to bring Coeytaux to Louisiana to face the charge, though California authorities are unlikely to cooperate.

In 2024, Louisiana classified the reproductive health drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled dangerous substances, the same designation given to drugs with the potential for addiction and abuse such as Valium and Xanax. The medications are the most commonly prescribed for abortion, but they also have other life-saving medical uses....

Clay Schexnayder, former speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, was charged with felony theft Wednesday in connection with a missing piece of historic cypress that had been on display at the State Capitol and was last seen at his legislative office in Gonzales.

An East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury handed down an indictment against Schexnayder, 56, accusing him of felony theft and malfeasance in office. The felony charge applies to items having a value of $25,000 or more.

The Advocate first reported in September on the disappearance of the 20-foot by 6-foot piece of cypress, taken from a tree believed to have been nearly 1,300 years old when it was harvested in 1936 from the swamps of Lake Maurepas. The board was gifted to the state in 1955 by Walter Stebbins and placed in a showcase on the ground floor of the State Capitol until about 15 to 20 years ago....

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has rejected Louisiana’s request to extradite a doctor from her state accused of prescribing and mailing abortion drugs to a woman in West Baton Rouge Parish.

Both were indicted on felony charges last month for allegedly violating a Louisiana law prohibiting the sale, prescription, delivery, dispensing and distribution of abortion-inducing medication.

According to Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, the West Baton Rouge woman forced her pregnant minor daughter to take the pills, though the woman hasn’t been charged with the crime of coerced abortion. ...

Heightened security restrictions will be in effect for the busiest section of the French Quarter starting next Wednesday through at least the day after Super Bowl LIX is played, Gov. Jeff Landry announced Wednesday.

The additional safety measures follow a Jan. 1 terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured 57 others. They apply to the first seven blocks of Bourbon Street and the parallel streets one block on each side. All blocks between Royal and Dauphine streets will become an “enhanced security zone,” where certain items will be prohibited and personal accessories could be searched or seized.

Ice chests and backpack coolers will not be allowed inside the zone. People are also discouraged from bringing standard backpacks, large purses, suitcases, fanny packs, large shopping bags and camera bags into the area. Any bags larger than 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches – roughly the size of a clutch purse – will be subject to search, Landry said. ...

NEW ORLEANS – A group of 17 Louisiana lawmakers has sent a letter to two key organizers for Super Bowl LIX expressing “serious concerns” with the halftime entertainment being “less than family friendly” during the Feb. 9 broadcast from the Superdome.

Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, penned the letter on behalf of her colleagues and sent it Monday to Phillip Sherman, chairman of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, and Robert Vosbein Jr., chairman of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, which oversees the Superdome.

Hodges cited previous Super Bowl halftime performances that she found objectionable. She singled out the 2020 performance in Miami of Jennifer Lopez, in which she “wore little clothing and was groped by male and female dancers on stage, while the performer made sexually suggestive gestures and performed on a stripper pole.” ...