Collapsed at NBC’s Washington news bureau.

UPDATE: MSNBC obituary.

Led by Speaker of the House Jim Tucker, the La. House has approved an amended version of the pay raise legislation that caps base pay at $37,500 and keeps the legislators’ per diem, but eliminates the tie to U.S. Congressional pay.

There was no discussion, no objection, and no vote.

Now it’s back to the state senate on Monday.

Jeld-Wen a custom window company is running a contest to restore the windows and doors on a historical U.S. lighthouse.  Go online and VOTE for The New Canal Lighthouse located on Lake Pontchartrain. This little lighthouse which has stood since the 1890’s was battered and destroyed following Katrina.  Looking at the other contenders the choice seems very obvious.  I would also hope that the residents who live near the other lighthouses would just feel pity for ours and vote on New Orleans sad beat-up building instead.

The results will be announced September 7th.

The House has broken for lunch without discussing the pay raise issue. It’s on the schedule for sometime after 1 p.m. Meanwhile, a sample of what Louisiana bloggers are saying:

C.B. Forgotston, in an open letter to Gov. Bobby Jindal:

[T]he people of the state are more upset about this pay raise than anything I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime of living in Louisiana. Frankly, if you don’t side with us on this issue, all the other reforms that you are pushing (and have passed) will be meaningless.

Amorphous Funk:

This is the same legislature who is cutting 240 million from health care and education in Louisiana? That includes ensuring stagnant salaries and hiring freezes and other cutbacks that compel state employees to do more than one person’s work in exchange for one person’s salary!

FYI, Louisiana Legislature: You want your pay to meet national standards? As a state employee, I have yet to reach the same income that I received in Florida, that mecca of high pay, ten years ago for doing the same job. When you can manage to fix that problem, rather than deliberately making it worse, I’ll get behind you on a pay raise.

The Daily Kingfish:

I say drop the percentage to 20% of Congressional pay, which would still be a raise for Louisiana legislators, who have not seen a raise in pay since 1993. That would bring their base pay to $33,860, and with the expense account and per diem, which regularly adds an additional $18,000 to $21,000 to their base pay, legislators will still be sitting pretty.

Oh, and one more thing … these pay raises should not go into effect until after the next round of elections, which would be 2012. That’s only fair, as legislators wouldn’t know if they were voting to raise their own pay or not. The voters can make that determination.

Editor B:

I guess I’m in a very small minority with this opinion, but I actually support our Louisiana state legislature’s efforts to give themselves a huge salary increase. It’s not because I think they deserve a reward them for a job well done. It’s not because I like big government or higher taxes. It’s because when I looked into the prospect of running for the legislature myself (yes, I know, ha ha ha) I have to admit the salary was a nonstarter. I understand public service entails some sacrifices, but the pay really is paltry — a joke. What is it, like $23K? Oh, it’s supposed to be a part-time job, but that’s a joke too.

I certainly understand the kneejerk reaction against the pay raise. But I find myself, surprisingly, in the camp that says we get what we pay for, and maybe if the job paid a decent wage we’d getter a better quality of applicant.

And Red Stick Republican is channeling The Weather Girls:

Hi! Hi! We’re your legislators! Ah-huh!
And have we got news for YOU! You better listen!
Get ready all your poor voters
and leave your ethics at home! Alright!

Gas prices are rising! Disposable income’s low!
According to all sources - politics is the way to go!
Cause on Friday for the first time
Just about in a flash
For the first time in history
It’s gonna start raising cash!

It’s raining cash, Hallelujah! It’s raining cash, Amen!
At the expense of taxpayers I’m gonna go out and let myself get
Absolutely soaking wet!
It’s raining Cash, Hallelujah! It’s raining Cash, Amen!

More when the House gets back from lunch…

Shreveport Times:

If teacher pay raises are still met in some quarters with comments about educators being “only” nine-month employees, how much sympathy will there be for legislators who gather for about a third of that time each year? Besides their current base salary and per diem pay during legislative sessions and out-of-session committee meetings, lawmakers also receive a $6,000 unvouchered annual expense allowance.We agree that after 20 years, lawmakers are due a raise. Just not to $50,000.

Baton Rouge Advocate:

We’re not categorically opposed to a modest legislative pay raise, once it’s properly debated and justified in the normal legislative process. But the size of this raise, the provision for automatic increases and the late-in-the-session rush to pass this bill should concern everyone.Lawmakers and the governor should take the weekend to calm down, listen to their constituents and think about what they’re about to do.

New Orleans CityBusiness:

The governor is ceding the high ground on this issue. If he vetoes the pay raise bill and lawmakers suddenly change course and oppose his legislation, the reason will be apparent. Even by letting the raise become law without his signature, he has sunk to the level of politics that has mired meaningful reform in the state for decades.Our business is reporting on business, and this is bad business.Jindal and lawmakers were just starting to remove the tarnish of political expediency that has sullied Louisiana’s image for generations. This latest black eye may be indelible.

The Independent (Lafayette):

Around 8:30 a.m. this morning, Republican state Rep. Page Cortez was in Baton Rouge getting ready for the morning that promises high drama in the Legislature. “I just walked through the Chamber, and the Speaker is polling members,” says Cortez. “If I were a handicapper, I’d say it’s a 50-50 shot [that the legislator pay raise passes].”Lafayette’s Cortez has been opposed to the pay raise — which would triple lawmakers’ base salaries from $16,800 annually to $50,700 annually — since it was first introduced. “How can you vote yourself a raise when you’ve been here two months and you knew what you were getting into when you ran for office?” he says. Cortez notes that most of the local delegation members that he’s talked to — including Republican Reps. Don Trahan and Jonathan Perry, Democratic Reps. Taylor Barras and Simone Champagne and independent Joel Robideaux — are also against the raise. But Cortez says the inferno of media criticism and taxpayer outrage over the bill still might not be enough for it to fail. “It’s as close a vote as it can be, and I think it might come down to one vote,” he says. “And it’s not along party lines, either. I think it’s the more conservative pockets of the state that are most opposed to it.”

Later this morning: what the bloggers are saying…

THROWDOWN IN BATON ROUGE: SB 672, the pay raise proposal for state legislators, is about to be debated in the state legislature. At the moment, the house is in session, but they seem to have skipped over the bill for the time being in favor of other business….

RON FORMAN’S BUG HOUSE: The Audubon Insectarium opens to the public at noon (see Sarah Andert’s cover story in this week’s Gambit for all the deets). Right now they’re having a block party on Canal Street…

THEY’RE TRYING TO WASH THEM AWAY: Cedar Rapids, Iowa is in a world of hurt as the Cedar River inundates much of the city. Bruce at the New Orleans News Ladder has a wrapup with photos…

TALKIN’ ABOUT NEW ORLEANS: USA Today has features on the insectarium and the new Southern Food & Beverage Museum. (Lots more on the latter in next week’s Gambit.) And The New York Times gushes over Kidd Jordan, oh so deservedly…

FEST FEST FEST: This weekend in the 1/4: the Creole Tomato Festival, the Cajun/Zydeco Festival, and the Louisiana Seafood Festival. On the days you wonder why you live in this place…this is why, baby.

More later on the pay raise.

Over 244,000 views and counting after making the YouTube front page yesterday. As noted during Jazzfest, she loops herself using a dizzying array of sample pedals to create an entire song live. Video taken in her kitchen in Algiers Point.

UPDATE: Now over 400,000 views