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T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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T h u r s d ay, M ay 1, 2025
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Bill to inject health into food programs advances
New rules for solar projects debated There’s agreement on regulation, but little else
BY BLAKE PATERSON | Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
A massive crowd fills the Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting room during the discussion of SB14 by Sen. Patrick McMath, left, at the State Capitol on Wednesday. The crowd was large enough to fill an overflow room upstairs.
Food dyes, sugary drinks would be restricted in plan BY EMILY WOODRUFF | Staff writer A bill that proposes to bring the Make America Healthy Again movement to Louisiana went before a packed Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday, which ultimately advanced the bill out of committee and to the full Senate. The proposed law, Senate Bill 14, is part of a national effort to reshape food policy led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. MAHA’s broad agenda includes regulating soda and candy purchases under social welfare programs, removing fluoride from public water systems, rolling back pharmaceutical interventions and removing
Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, speaks while presenting SB14 during a Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting at the State Capitol on Wednesday.
ultra-processed food from schools. The end goals are to curb obesity, reduce chronic illness and restore individual autonomy in health decisions. Louisiana consistently ranks near the bottom in national health metrics, including obesity, diabetes and child well-being. Sen. Patrick McMath, a Republican from Covington who authored the bill, said he worked with the Trump administration and Kennedy to craft the measure. “This movement is taking place across the country,” said McMath, who said other states passing similar legislation have had it fast-tracked for federal
For much of 2021, one issue dominated Tangipahoa Parish politics: Should the parish allow a 100-megawatt solar farm to be built on 1,200 acres of farmland? And if so, under what rules? On one side, residents and farmers worried it would be an eyesore and pose a safety hazard and take up valuable agricultural land. On the other, solar developers and landowners argued that property owners should be allowed to do what they want with their land and that the project was clean and safe. After issuing a temporary moratorium, the council passed regulations requiring 50-foot vegetative barriers, among other rules. In April, the solar farm went online. But the debate left lasting scars. “We had people crying. We have, still to this day, neighbors that do not speak,” said state Rep. Kimberly Coates, R-Ponchatoula, who was a member of the Parish Council. “At the time, we were like, ‘We need the state to step in and help,’ because we were not experienced.” The debate in Tangipahoa has played out over and over again on police juries and parish councils across Louisiana in recent years, as local officials grapple with concerns from constituents amid a surge in utility-scale solar projects. Almost everyone agrees that solar needs regulations. But there’s little agreement on how to go about it. A group of lawmakers spent the last year studying the issue with the goal of creating state regulations that could serve as a “model for the rest
ä See SOLAR, page 4A
ä See HEALTH, page 4A
Bill aims to reform police civil service promotion process Qualified ranked officers would be eligible for career advancement
BY MEGAN WYATT | Staff writer A proposed state law that would reform the police civil
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service promotion process for high-ranking positions in Lafayette and Lake Charles has received early support from a Senate committee. Senate Bill 142 by Sen. Brach Myers, R-Lafayette, would allow any qualified employee ranked at sergeant or above who passes the civil service exam to be considered for the promotion to major at the Lafayette and Lake
ä Changes to civil service weighed. PAGE 1B Charles police departments. It would also add a requirement for annual reviews by the police chief for anyone holding the position, which supporters billed as adding a layer of accountability. The current law requires civil
service candidates at police departments to be considered for promotions based on “departmental seniority” and does not require an annual review process once someone is named a major. “These majors run divisions. They run a third of the department,” said Lafayette Police
ä See REFORM, page 5A
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STAFF PHOTO By JOHN BALLANCE
A 50-megawatt, $67 million solar power farm in West Baton Rouge Parish operated by Helios Infrastructure is operational. Two solar farms are near completion in St. James Parish by D.E. Shaw Investments, which has emerged as the developer of seven of Louisiana’s 16 proposed large-scale solar farms.
100TH yEAR, NO. 305