Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator

People are buying and selling table reservations at iconic New Orleans eateries for eye-popping amounts via third-party websites, often without the restaurant’s knowledge.

Critics want lawmakers to ban the burgeoning online business they consider a racket, arguing that it undermines the fine-dining experience and could potentially leave restaurants with empty tables. However, proponents of the practice say it benefits both diners and restaurants when done properly.

Some iconic restaurants topped the list during a recent scan of the New Orleans section of Appointment Trader, one of several platforms designed to let people with scheduling conflicts sell highly coveted reservations on the open market. A Saturday night reservation at Brennan’s later this month is available for a suggested bid of $235 — a discount compared to the whopping $2,138 someone paid for a four-top at Antoine’s during the Super Bowl weekend. ...

NEW ORLEANS – Evidence unveiled Tuesday in federal court showed St. John the Baptist Parish President Jaclyn Hotard’s family stood to make money from a land deal she helped facilitate through rezoning efforts.

Hotard testified that she was unaware of the connection at the time.

The jury heard witness testimony and saw text messages that indicated Hotard maintained frequent communications about the zoning matter with her mother-in-law, Darla Gaudet, who owned several tracts of land within the proposed site of a now-defunct Greenfield industrial grain terminal. The jurors also learned that Hotard’s husband had some financial interest in the deal as well. ...

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry called a news conference Monday to publicize his signing of an executive order that will monitor “noncitizens” in the state and discourage them from trying to register to vote.

His action follows a trend from other conservative Republicans who allege, without firm proof, that noncitizens will try to vote illegally in this year’s election. Landry referenced illegal immigration several times during the news conference, criticizing Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee, for their border policy.

“Everytime an illegal alien votes, it cancels out the vote of a citizen. That’s a disenfranchisement of American citizens,” Landry said. ...

A voting systems law the Louisiana Legislature enacted three years ago to placate right-wing election deniers has made the task of buying voting machines so burdensome that lawmakers are now repealing parts of it.

House Bill 856, sponsored by Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Pineville, would repeal requirements that the secretary of state use the state’s Administrative Procedure Act to purchase new machines and contract with at least three independent experts to certify the machines, among other stipulations in the law.

The bill, which is pending a final concurrence vote in the House, sailed through both chambers without opposition, though the most significant parts of the legislation were only recently added through an amendment adopted Thursday on the Senate floor. ...

House Bill 8, cosponsored by Republican Reps. Dodie Horton of Houghton and Jack McFarland of Jonesboro, was among the first handful of bills published on the legislature’s website as prefiling opened this week.

The proposal would require all public elementary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions in Louisiana to display “In God We Trust” in every classroom. Each individual school system governing authority, such as a parish school board, would be able to determine the design of the display with a minimum requirement of a paper sign.

It would allow school systems to purchase the signs with their own money or with donations. Schools could also accept donated signs. ...