Louisiana News Papers

Magginis: Louisiana's Edwin Edwards still charms, and that's enough

Since none of my publishers bought me a ticket to attend the gala roast of former Gov. Edwin Edwards in the French Quarter on Saturday, my next best option, following his pre-event news conference, was the closest cool, dark spot that served a proper martini.

As the bartender set up for the evening, her son, who appeared to be between voting and drinking age, sipped a Pepsi, while fiddling with his smartphone at the end of the bar. The manager walked through and asked, "What's going on at the Monteleone? The TV trucks are all out front."

"Edwin Edwards' press conference," I informed. "His big dinner is tonight."

"Yeah, I heard about that," the manager said. "And he got married yesterday."

Without looking up, the bartender's kid said, "Who's he?"

Time stood still. That was as profound a comment as any one-liner Edwards had popped off an hour before or, according to press accounts, would be offered up by his gentle roasters that evening. It would take more gin to wrap my mind around it.

Public opinion toward the plentiful and genial press attention that has showered Edwards since his release from prison and home confinement has been as divided as assessments of his career, his trial and his legacy. Many readers are appalled that he has been on the front page more than has the sitting governor. Of course, if newspapers covered only those deemed seriously newsworthy, newsstand sales would plummet.

Edwards is a bona fide celebrity, even a hero, to people of a certain age, in an age when notoriety only spikes the appeal, in a state that has celebrated or tolerated rogue behavior in its politicians more than was good for it. There was also a time, when this century started, that interest in Edwards was wearing thin. But that was before his absence for eight and a half years piqued curiosity about what he would say or do next.

For all the spectacle, the mistake comes in thinking that because many people are happy to see him back on the public stage means they would like to have him back in public office. Some politicos and others have taken leave of their good senses to suggest that if the president were to pardon Edwards, thus enabling him to run for office, he would offer serious competition to Gov. Bobby Jindal and that Barack Obama would have a real chance of carrying the state in 2012.

In this real world, none of the above could happen, starting with a presidential pardon for an ex-felon who never admitted his guilt. Whatever good politically that might do for the president in Louisiana would cost him nationwide, among those who aren't in on the joke.

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(DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today the unsealing of three indictments and one complaint charging a total of 72 individuals for their participation in an international criminal network dedicated to the sexual abuse of children and the creation and dissemination of graphic images and videos of child sexual abuse throughout the world. Attorney General Holder and Secretary Napolitano announced the charges with Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Director of U.S. Immigration of Customs Enforcement (ICE) John Morton and U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley of the Western District of Louisiana.

Operation Delego, an ongoing investigation that was launched in December 2009, targeted the 72 charged defendants and more than 500 additional individuals around the world for their participation in Dreamboard - a private, members-only, online bulletin board that was created and operated to promote pedophilia and encourage the sexual abuse of very young children, in an environment designed to avoid law enforcement detection. To date, 52 of the 72 charged defendants have been arrested in the United States and abroad. Members traded graphic images and videos of adults molesting children 12 years-old and under, often violently, and collectively created a massive private library of images of child sexual abuse. The international group prized and encouraged the creation of new images and videos of child sexual abuse - numerous Dreamboard members sexually abused children, produced images and videos of the abuse, and shared the images and videos with other members of Dreamboard. Operation Delego represents the largest prosecution to date in the United States of individuals who participated in an online bulletin board conceived and operated for the sole purpose of promoting child sexual abuse, disseminating child pornography and evading law enforcement.

"This operation is an example of the good work that DHS, through its principal investigative arm, ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) does every year in cooperation with our domestic and international law enforcement partners to protect children," said Secretary Napolitano. "We take our responsibility to protect our children seriously, and this case is a prime example of how cooperation can bring real results.

Louisiana newspapers, 1794-1940, a union list of Louisiana newspaper files available in offices of publishers, libraries, and private collections in Louisiana

Moore's historical, biographical, and miscellaneous gatherings, in the form of disconnected notes relative to printers, printing, publishing, and editing of books, newspapers, magazines and other literary productions, such as the early publications of New England, the United States, and the world, from the discovery of the art, or from 1420 to 1886, with many brief notices of authors, publishers, editors, printers, and inventors

LOUISIANA NEWSPAPERS. Louisiana was settled at Iverville, by the French, in 1699 , and named after Louis the Fourteenth, who at one time owned that section ...

Louisiana newspapers, 1794-196l, a union list of Louisiana newspaper files available in public, college, and university libraries in Louisiana. Editor: T. N. McMullan in cooperation with the Louisiana Library Association

Louisiana newspapers, a union list of Louisiana newspapers currently received and preserved by college, university and public libraries in Louisiana

Red book, American state, county & town sources

Numerous guides have been compiled to Louisiana newspapers. See, for instance: McMullan, Theodore N. Louisiana Newspapers, 1794-1 96 J. Baton Rouge: ...