Central City News

By Woody Jenkins. CENTRAL — The Advocate for Wednesday, March 23, 2011, recounted the fiscal crisis which parish school systems around the state are facing.  For example, the East Baton Rouge Parish School System has a $39 million deficit and the probability of layoffs of some of the system’s 6,500 employees.  Likewise, Livingston Parish schools […]

By Woody Jenkins. CENTRAL — The Louisiana Legislature called itself into a 25-day Special Session last Sunday to reapportion Louisiana’s Congressional districts, State House, State Senate, Public Service Commission, and  Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. For Central, district lines for these governmental bodies are expected to remain virtually identical, expect for the State Senate. […]

By Woody Jenkins WASHINGTON — Samuel Morse sent the message “What has God wrought?” from the old Supreme Court chamber in the U.S. Capitol Building to his partner in Baltimore via telegraph in 1844.  He soon extended his lines to New York City. Western Union was founded in 1851 and by 1861 had built a transcontinental telegraph line.  Telegrams flew from […]

By Woody Jenkins CENTRAL — When it incorporated five years ago, Sandy Springs, Ga., (pop. 83,000) was the first city in America to completely privatize all city services.  It was followed by the cities of Milton, Ga. (pop. 31,000), Johns Creek, Ga. (pop. 70,000), and Chattahoochee Hills, Ga. (pop. 14,000).  All of the cities farmed out […]

By Woody Jenkins CENTRAL — For the past three years, the Central City News has put the spotlight on the proposed Baton Rouge Loop.  Using Louisiana’s Public Records Law, we have brought you internal Loop documents that have shown: • The cost of building the Loop, based on their own studies, would be closer to $6 […]

By Woody Jenkins CENTRAL, Feb. 10, 2011 — The federal census results for 2010 are now pouring in, and it is clear that East Baton Rouge Parish is the largest parish in the state. Population has declined in Orleans Parish, while it has grown in the Capital region and on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. […]

By Woody Jenkins CENTRAL — When City Councilmen tell you they feel the City Council has been emasculated and has no significant role to play in city government, you know there’s a problem. Unfolding before us are the most important decisions facing Central in this four-year period: • Whether the entire city government will continue to […]

By Woody Jenkins CENTRAL — For the past six years, the Central City News has pushed hard for extending Hooper Road across the Amite River to Watson with a new four-lane bridge. We have said repeatedly that such a bridge would be the greatest single step we could take to alleviate Central’s daily traffic problems and […]