Word: louisiana
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...Longfellow. Now their cuisine has become democratized into a culinary cliche as even fast-food restaurants offer ersatz renditions of jambalaya and gumbo. Yes, the Cajuns have shouldered their share of suffering. But are these injustices enough to transform the 250,000 descendants of the original Acadian settlers in Louisiana into a minority group eligible for state affirmative-action programs designed for blacks...
Almost no one took the cause very seriously when Louisiana State Representative Raymond ("La La") Lalonde introduced his bill to allow Cajuns to qualify for minority-set-aside contracts awarded by the state. Amid the bread-and-circuses atmosphere of Louisiana politics, Lalonde's crusade to "enhance the status of the French Acadian people" was seen as a bit of harmless posturing for his constituents. But then the Cajun legislators flexed their political muscle, and the bill sailed through the state house by a vote of 74 to 22, despite the bitter opposition of black legislators. "This is not only...
Buried beneath this ethnic jousting is a serious issue. Over the years, affirmative-action programs have become diluted as more and more groups have been awarded minority status. If the Lalonde bill makes it through the state senate and is signed into law, roughly half of Louisiana's 4 million residents will belong to officially designated minority groups...
From fire-breathing Huey Long to high-living Edwin Edwards, Louisiana's populist Governors have almost always pushed at the boundaries of executive power. The latest to occupy the mansion, Democrat Charles ("Buddy") Roemer, has quickly stretched those boundaries to all but a breaking point. Since he took over from Edwards in March, the scrawny Harvard-educated chief executive has extracted from the legislature budgetary and political power rivaling that $ once held by the dictatorial Kingfish. "I'm the most powerful Governor in America," exults the pragmatic populist as he flashes a baby-faced smile...
...that it lost $30 million to shoplifters last year. Now the company has decided to do something about it. Instead of routinely prosecuting fast- fingered shoppers, more than half of Eckerd's pharmacies allow culprits to buy their way out of trouble by paying the store $200 ($150 in Louisiana). That eliminates the nuisance and expense of formal proceedings for Eckerd, the accused and the courts...