Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:

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Sept. 17

The Advocate on the death of Louisiana native and longtime journalist Cokie Roberts:

As the daughter of legendary New Orleans lawmakers Hale and Lindy Boggs, Cokie Roberts had a front seat at history in the making.

That love of history never left her, informing her coverage of national politics as a longtime journalist for National Public Radio, then as a commentator for ABC and the co-author of a nationally syndicated column she wrote with her husband and fellow reporter, Steve Roberts.

Cokie Roberts, who died Tuesday at 75 from complications of cancer, will also be remembered for extending her parents’ tradition of polite civil discourse. Roberts was reliably liberal in her political opinions, carried in a column that was regularly published in this newspaper. But she believed in disagreeing agreeably, and her grace will be especially missed in today’s divisive political atmosphere.

Though she came of age in the 1960s, Roberts didn’t seem like a standard-bearer of the era’s counterculture. She was an exemplar of old-school manners, and her long and devoted marriage to Steve Roberts was an abiding reminder that family values aren’t the exclusive province of any party.

As an amateur historian, Cokie Roberts had a deep appreciation of the principles worth keeping in a constantly changing world. She wrote several books about the courageous and resourceful women who made America what it is today.

Roberts was such a woman herself, carving out a role as a nationally distinguished journalist at a time when such jobs for women were virtually nonexistent.

Louisiana has lost a great friend. Godspeed, Cokie Roberts, and thanks not only for writing history, but making it.

Online: www.theadvocate.com

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Sept. 15

The Houma Courier on three Louisiana gubernatorial candidates’ positions on climate change:

A story last week by The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge, reprinted in The Courier and Daily Comet, examined the three major gubernatorial candidates’ positions on climate change and what, if anything, they might do about it.

Here’s how that story summarizes their views:

“Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, and his Republican challengers, U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham and businessman Eddie Rispone, are each positioning themselves as supportive of the oil and gas industry. They are hesitant to call for a serious reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Louisiana, at least in the near term. They are more willing, however, to call for investments in the state’s coast and in preparing for more extreme storms.”

That’s a kind of middle ground that might have a decent chance of preventing coastal communities like Terrebonne and Lafourche from sinking into the Gulf of Mexico while ensuring the state’s economy stays afloat.

Thankfully, Edwards and his Republican predecessors, and the Louisiana Legislature, have let science - rather than partisanship - govern the state’s 50-year, $50 billion master plan for coastal restoration and hurricane protection. That plan takes climate change into account, along with the resulting estimates of sea-level rise, storms and flooding that has already begun to impact coastal communities like Terrebonne and Lafourche. And those estimates are guiding major decisions like how long the state has left to save its coastal communities from inundation and what, specifically, it can and should do about it.

Another positive sign is that Louisiana voters are coming around to the belief that climate change is real and is affecting their lives. Seventy-one percent of so-called “chronic” Louisiana voters said they believe climate change is real in a poll New Orleans political consulting firm BDPC LLC + Pinsonat conducted for Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a coalition of environmental groups. Half of voters say it’s affecting them now, and 72% say it will impact future generations.

The poll did not ask voters one of the most hotly debated parts of the equation, at least in Louisiana - whether they believe human activity such as burning fossil fuels is causing global warming. A 2013 poll by LSU found that only 48 percent of voters in the state believed humans were the main cause.

In last month’s poll, 62 percent of voters across Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary parishes answered yes when asked if they believe in climate change. Factoring in the margin of error still leaves a majority answering yes, a surprise in a community with a politically conservative majority. However, only 39 percent of local voters say climate change is affecting their lives now. That comes despite strong evidence that rising seas are already causing increased flooding, especially in lower-lying communities such as Grand Isle and Cocodrie. While they might not see it as their problem now, 66 percent of locals do acknowledge that climate change will impact future generations across Louisiana.

Voters locally and across Louisiana may still harbor doubt or delusions about climate change and its cause, but the vast majority of scientists who study the issue do not. Over and over, studies have shown 97 percent of them concur human actions are the main driver of climate change. If 97 percent of scientists who studied the internal combustion engine agreed that changing your oil every six months would keep your car running smoothly, would you go with them or the other 3 percent?

And even if you would choose the latter, consider something former Trump administration Defense Secretary and retired Marine Corps. Gen. James Mattis said a couple of weeks ago in an interview with reporter Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC.

“Climate change, I believe, is a reality,” Mattis said. “We are dealing with open waters where it used to be ice fields, that we have to deal with.”

Mattis called climate change a “national security issue.”

“When people have to leave devastated areas, and move elsewhere, the refugee flows, all the humanitarian effort that goes into it, the willingness of some people to take advantage of those people, terrorists in particular, and recruit from them because they feel a loss of hope, it’s a reality we’re going to have to deal with,” he said. “But for those who are adamant there’s no climate change, you look at the receding sea ice and have different explanations, why wouldn’t we take out an insurance policy and do prudent steps to make certain the generation that’s coming up is not going to be caught flat-footed by this?”

In a coastal community like ours, that kind of insurance sure sounds like a reasonable approach to take.

Online: www.houmatoday.com

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Sept. 15

The (Lake Charles) American Press on expanding government cyber security measures:

Cyber security is something that should be taken more seriously, especially as the world becomes more reliant on technology.

Louisiana had its own cyber security issue in early August when Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an emergency declaration for school districts in several parishes that experienced breaches. The governor called the attacks “severe” and “intentional.”

Thankfully, no Southwest Louisiana parish school districts experienced network compromises. It’s encouraging that Calcasieu Parish School Board officials said the district has beefed up its security measures to be in line with mandates set by the Louisiana Department of Education.

However, the emergency declaration certainly should serve as a reminder that cyber threats like these are real and should be dealt with swiftly.

Louisiana looks to be addressing the issue of cyber security with a $1.5 million training and operations center in downtown Baton Rouge.

According to The Advocate, the center will initially focus on cyber-related missions at statewide military installations, including Fort Polk’s Joint Readiness Training Center.

Over time, the center will assist with other cyber attacks, such as the one that happened at the Louisiana school districts.

Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis of the Louisiana National Guard said the center “gives us the secure intel that we need to look at our adversaries and see what they are trying to do to us and hopefully share that information with the appropriate agencies.”

Roughly 40 Louisiana National Guard reservists will be trained on-site. Other involved parties include Stephenson Technologies Corp. and the Huntsville, Ala.-based Radiance Technologies.

Fifteen employees of Stephenson that are highly trained to deal with cyber attacks will be moved to the new center. Five new hires will also be introduced. According to its website, Stephenson is a nonprofit owned by Louisiana State University that provides solutions to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The new cyber security training center is paramount in keeping Louisiana safe from any related threats. It’s good to see the state taking the steps needed to deal with a problem that isn’t going away.

Online: https://www.americanpress.com

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