By: Jeremy Alford

Legislators’ vote to increase their base pay to $37,500 a year hit a few nerves on the House and Senate floors, not just among voters back home. Lawmakers who voted against the raise felt the ire of their colleagues.

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by Alejandro de los Rios

NOTE: LSU Tiger Fans would be remiss in using the term “Tiger Bait” for the next day or so. At least in regards to the Georgia mascot.

It comes with much sadness to report that this beautiful hunk of dogness has died of congestive heart failure. It should be noted that, when I speak of UGA VI as a “beautiful hunk of dogness” I mean it solely as a dog lover and not as a fan of the University of Georgia. I mean, seriously, would you look at that face?

/makes baby noises, pokes computer screen, loses online manhood.

But in all seriousness, UGA VI served nine seasons as the football team’s winningest, and heaviest, mascot. I guess that, in a perverse way, this bodes well for LSU fans as the Georgia football team went 87-27 with two SEC championships (2002 and 2005) during the big dog’s reign. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Jeremy Alford

Five months of legislative sessions and more than a year of gubernatorial jawboning have been distilled in roughly one week’s time into a singular issue: increased pay for lawmakers. While the 2008 regular session adjourned last week, its aftereffects are likely to be with us for a while. At a minimum, the votes to boost legislative salaries from $16,800 to $37,500 will serve as a flashpoint for this generation of lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal — an early indication of how they got to where they’re heading.

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By: Clancy DuBos

A group of Lower Mid-City residents and business owners has written an “open letter” to Mayor Ray Nagin and City Council members demanding a voice in the decision-making process relating to property acquisitions for the LSU-VA Hospital.

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Chris DeBarr, the chef who put the Delachaise Hotel on the food map with his acclaimed bar menu, has left the restaurant, according to a blog posting this afternoon by his partner, the novelist Poppy Z. Brite.

DeBarr was named the city’s “Best New Chef” by New Orleans magazine in 2006. In Gambit’s current cover survey of the 50 best bars in New Orleans, the Delachaise ranked #4, with the editors citing DeBarr’s “adventurous menu of wild-boar patés and duck fat pommes frites.”

No word as to why DeBarr has left, or where you’ll be able to eat his chilled watermelon soup and Creole tomato BLT salads in the near future…