 BY DOUG GRAHAM | Staff writer The Metro Council approved three legs of Mayor Sid Edwards' tax rededication plan on Wednesday night, but it declined to advance a $6 million chunk, which means it may be hard to find the money to fund pay raises for Baton Rouge police and other personnel. The plan moves money from the budgets of the library system, the Council on Aging and the mosquito control program and redistributes it. The mayor and council members said they were concerned voters may have viewed the deleted item as a new tax, which could have torpedoed the chances of the entire package. Read more about what the plan would accomplish.
Kip Holden, the first Black mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, saw his three-term tenure bookended by Hurricane Katrina and the 2016 floods. Holden, 72, died Wednesday after a lengthy illness. "I admired his vision. I admired his strength. I admired the way he was a rock star," said William Daniel, Holden's chief administrative officer in the final four years of his tenure. Read more about Holden's accomplishments.
A bill inspired by the recent death of Southern University student Caleb Wilson that would have required college students to take an anti-hazing course was pared down by a House committee Wednesday, replacing a semesterlong course with an annual two-hour training. Read what was behind the change. | 
