Columns & Opinions

You read that right. Republican legislator Jack McFarland will sponsor a bill to raise the gasoline tax in Louisiana by 22 cents over 12 years to address Louisiana’s $15 billion backlog in road and bridge repairs as well as other state infrastructure like dredging rivers and canals. There is also a $14 billion backlog in unfunded megaprojects. Twenty-two cents per gallon will not be enough, though.

This is that time of year that everything is confusing for me. Do I put a heart on the door for Valentines, or a wreath for Mardi Gras? Are we pulling out our summer wear, or are we still expecting snow? The rug at my front door has spring flowers on it.

I know in my heart of hearts that I have been inflicted.

Well, it is that time of year.

The city of Shreveport’s 2.75% sales tax revenues spiked up a whopping 9.5% over January 2020. $13,000,330.17 in January 2021 receipts is an all-time high, the first ever to land north of $13 million. In fact, it had not ever surpassed $12 million.

I endured many winters in the Great Plains (below-zero temperatures), the Great Lakes region (gray skies, sloppy snow) and the mountains of the Pacific Northwest (snowfall exceeding 100 inches).

“(T)he oppressed become as evil as the oppressor.” -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

With the arrival of February, many of us will naturally turn our focus to relationships. Consider for a moment the most important relationship you will ever have: the relationship with yourself. Most of us likely think “other” when we think about relationships, but what sponsors every relationship we are in? Is it not the relationship we have with ourselves?