It’s time to look back at 2021 and it got off to a rocky start on January 6th, when thousands of angry President Trump supporters stormed the U-S Capitol causing damage to the building, and five officers who attempted to hold back the rioters died and their deaths linked to the riot. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy is disgusted by what he saw.
“It has crossed the line, it’s what happens in third world countries, it’s disrupting a constitutional process, it is not to be tolerated and whoever is caught and whoever is arrested should be prosecuted for sedition,” said Cassidy.
In February, a massive winter storm brought snow, ice, and some of the coldest temperatures on record to the Bayou State. Entergy’s John Hawkins asked customers to conserve energy as rolling blackouts were put in place, because of the demand for heat.
“Now this is done as a last resort to prevent more extensive prolonged power outages that could severely affect the reliability of the power grid,” said Hawkins.
In March, LSU released a 150-page report that investigated several cases where LSU failed to properly handle sexual misconduct complaints involving former football players. No one was fired for their roles, but two high-ranking athletic department employees were suspended. New Orleans Senator Karen Carter Peterson thought the punishment was weak.
“The consequences for not telling the truth is merely a suspension and you can get to come back on the job and maybe not tell the true again,” said Peterson.
The fallout cost former football coach Les Miles’ job at Kansas and former LSU President F King Alexander resigned as a president of Oregon State.
In July, state lawmakers held their first-ever override veto session as Republican legislators were upset the governor vetoed a bill that would prohibit a biological male from competing on girl athletic teams. But the veto override effort failed as a few Republicans and Democrats like New Orleans Representative Royce Duplessis said the legislation was not needed.
“Transgender girls are not stealing scholarships or other opportunities, there’s little to no evidence of any transgender girl ever receiving an athletic scholarship to college,” said Duplessis.
For the second straight year, Louisiana was hit by a Category Four storm. Hurricane Ida devasted the bayou and river parishes and also did a number on Tangipahoa Parish. Republican Congressman Garret Graves couldn’t believe the destruction.
“When you kind of come to the other side of the Bonnet Carre Spillway, there’s just not a single shingle on those roofs, everything blew off, there are just brick walls blown down, just things you really don’t see in the aftermath of a hurricane,” said Graves.
Less than two years from winning a national championship and guiding LSU to a perfect 15-0 season, Tigers Coach Ed Orgeron was told in October he would not return for the 2022 season. Athletics Director Scott Woodward says mediocre play on the football field would not be accepted.
“We can expect to compete for SEC and national championships year in and year out, we are proud of that standard and we always work to uphold it, our last two seasons have simply not meant that standard,” said Woodward.
Woodward also replaced women’s basketball coach Nikki Fargas with hometown hero Kim Mulkey and baseball coach Paul Mainieri retired after 14 seasons. Jay Johnson took over for Mainieri.
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