Exiled from their Canadian homeland hundreds of years ago, Cajuns know no boundaries. But thanks to a new law passed by the Louisiana legislature, Louisiana Cajuns can now be card-carrying. SB 201, which was signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday, allows Cajuns to get a special stamp on their state issued ID card or driver's license that says "I'm a Cajun."

The Louisiana Budget talks got over a major hurdle this week, when the House passed a bill by a vote of 93-5. But as the details are reviewed and the Senate's voting buttons readied, the budget talk reveals an increasing, and possible systemic problem built into the local government's budget, that could have big potential costs to the state’s future. Whether it is the underfunded universities or increasing fiscal gaps, each side of the aisle can see that there is a problem here.

Once again, the Louisiana legislature is turning its attention to guns this year, and they aren't talking about control. A proposed lifetime permit for concealed weapons (HB 265) has already made through the House with an overwhelming majority, and has now been moved into the Senate's sights.

Pot dealers should pay their fair share like everyone else, a state Senator told a committee last week. The Advocate reports that the state legislature got the whiff of marijuana law when Sen. Dan Claitor of Baton Rouge urged the hard-up state to start enforcing a tax on pot dealers. The tax, which was passed in the 1990s, requires dealers to buy stamps that can prevent their property from being seized if they get busted. Claitor, a former New Orleans prosecutor, said the state collected only about $500 on the tax in 2011.

Not even a month into their three-month session, the state legislature's education battle turned out to be more of a blubber. Bobby Jindal saw his reforms that provide state money for students to go to charters and the government to recruit new operators, remake teacher tenure as a performance-oriented status and hand hiring and firing power in school districts from school boards to superintendents pass easily through the House and Senate. Clear of the legislature, both bills are likely to be signed into law next week.

Not even three weeks into the legislative session, Gov. Bobby Jindal's massive overhaul of the state's education system seems poised to pass both houses of the legislature without much debate. Amid pleas that "it's for the children," two mammoth bills that activley encourage opening more charter schools, provide state money for students to leave struggling schools, consolidate school district power in the hands of superintendents and attach teacher tenure to performance ratings have already passed the House, and appear poised to cruise through the Senate.

Those on the hunt for invasive justice received a pair of helping hands from the Louisiana legislature yesterday. The state Senate approved a pair of bills that will assist in the eradication efforts of some of our craziest cast-off critters, Da Paper reports. One bill would allow hunters to trap or kill our most mysterious interloper, the feral hog, to at anytime, and allows any type of firearm to be used to kill them.

Turns out the Yes Men were onto something. On the first anniversary of the Big Oozy, news outlets were sent into a frenzy when a team of enviro-hucksters sprung a fake press event announcing a ban on that Palmolive of the sea, dispersant. A little more than a month later, Sen. A.G. Crowe seems to have taken a liking to the evironmentalistas' idea. The local Republican introduced a bill to ban the oil-separating chemicals from use in Louisiana, and even saw it passed in committee with no objections yesterday. Crowe will only find solace in a study released yesterday by the University of West Floridal that concludes dispersant doesn't really get rid of the oil.

When last we left 17-year-old Zack Kopplin, he hadn't even graduated high school and only Nobel laureates were talking to him. Now, with a diploma in hand, he must be hitting the bigtime, because he gets to be on TV! Despite Kopplin's testimony yesterday, the state Senate Education Committee voted against a bill that would repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act. It's a 2008 law that allows influences other than science to dictate what is taught in science classes. Influences might include the Bible, for example. Despite what many headlines read, Kopplin says there's still hope - and he is taking his message to Hardball with Chris Matthews this afternoon.

Over the past few years, the Louisiana legislature has passed laws allowing people to carry guns in church and requiring women to get an ultrasound before an abortion. Yet, one of the body's houses was controlled by Democrats - until last night. With the election of Republican Jonathan Perry over Democrat Nathan Granger by a 52-48 percentage margin, Acadiana voters around the greater Abbeville area also gave Republicans control of the state Senate for the first time since Reconstruction.