COVID-19 has killed 4,861 people in the Lombardy region of Italy as of yesterday, March 26th.

In Louisiana, as of this morning, COVID-19 has killed 21% MORE PEOPLE than in Lombardy at this point in its outbreak (day 20 of outbreak, 119 vs 98 deaths).

We are doing everything in our power to flatten the curve.

But we are going to run out of ventilator capacity very soon.

We need some space to breath.

THE VOTER TURNOUT SURGE

We created this tool initially to help community leaders track progress on voter turnout in their precinct.

It turned out to tell the story of the 2019 governor's race as well as anything we've seen.

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We made some ITEP news in EBR

On Wednesday, June 12, Together Baton Rouge Leader Diane Hanley spoke on behalf of Together Baton Rouge in favor of an ITEP application before the EBR Metro Council - because it met the ITEP standards the EBR Metro Council had set.

It made the front page the next day.

"Our main goal was to remove ITEP from being a rubber-stamp entitlement program (and) have it become a true incentive-based program," Dianne Hanley, a leader with Together Baton Rouge, told council members Wednesday night. "Some say the process for reforming ITEP is broken. I don't think it had a chance to be tested yet. Today is the day and we're on track."

This was never been about one particular company or evidence that we're anti-business. In fact, it's the opposite: We support incentives - we just don't support gifts.

This is what reform looks like.

Read the full article online here: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_0afdb964-8d5c-11e9-ab3e-d7c0877625a7.html

Together LA releases study on property tax reduction potential of ITEP reform

Report finds massive tax-cut potential in some parishes, more modest reductions in others

Introduces Reverse Robinhood Index to show how much homeowners and small businesses in each parish are subsidizing industry and the tax-savings from allowing ITEP-exempt property to return to the rolls

Download the full study here.

Watch the video "Why Louisiana stays poor"

With all Louisiana's wealth in natural resources and industry, WHY DO WE STAY SO POOR?

The Advocate's ground-breaking series on industrial tax exemptions

The Advocate's 3-part series on Louisiana's industrial tax exemption program, "No strings attached," is being recognized as among the best reporting in Louisiana in many years. Links to the series below.

For the online version of each part, click its image below: