 BY VICKI FERSTEL | Staff writer Louisiana's two Republican U.S. senators voted to approve a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Sen. John N. Kennedy, R-Madisonville, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, were among the 22 Republican senators — less than half the 49 GOP senators — who on Tuesday joined nearly all the Democrats to pass the package 70-29. But another Louisianian, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, has said it could be weeks or months before Congress sends the legislation to President Joe Biden's desk — if at all.
An extra who sued Will Smith’s studio and several Hollywood filmmakers after he was injured on a Louisiana movie set has had his case tossed out by a federal judge in Baton Rouge. James Walker Jr., an extra in Smith’s 2022 slave drama “Emancipation,” was injured when he was struck in the face by a 50-pound camera while filming an action sequence. The Advocate's Matt Bruce explores the legal issues involved in the case.
The U.S. House voted Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the Biden administration's handling of the U.S-Mexico border crisis. The vote was 214-213, with Majority Leader Steve Scalise returning to bolster the GOP's numbers after being away from Washington for cancer care. The next step would be a trial in the Senate, but it's possible the matter could be indefinitely shelved to a committee. Mayorkas is the first Cabinet secretary impeached in nearly 150 years. | 
