Sound Off Louisiana

Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) Member Jean Pitre expresses concern that up to 92 percent of for-profit cosmetology schools may have to close their doors as a result of proposed new “gainful employment” provisions.  Pitre expressed his concerns at the May 4, 2026 LSBC meeting.

Today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature will be the first in a series dedicated to items discussed at the meeting of the LSBC of Monday, May 4, 2026.

First, on a housekeeping note, both braiding bills are dead for this Legislative Session with neither bill having obtained even a hearing before the House Commerce Committee.  On a positive note, however, a bill to permit estheticians to blow dry hair (we’re not kidding) appears to be sailing toward approval having originated in the Senate with essentially no opposition and having cleared the Louisiana House Commerce Committee meeting this morning (Monday, May 11, 2026) also with no opposition.

While the bill had no opposition from lawmakers, there were the usual doomsdayers who testified against the bill, to include Lynn Johnson repeating her claim that “strokes” could result from the bill’s passage.  Interestingly, even for a measure so simple as this, lobbyist Ryan Haynie’s name was read into the record as being in opposition to the bill.  Fortunately, it appears Louisiana State Legislators are finally starting to see that the LSBC is dead set on blocking even the most basic of services in Louisiana.  We take that as a very good sign which is long overdue!

Our main focus today, however, is the near panic among for-profit cosmetology schools over the U.S. Department of Education’s “gainful employment” (GE) provision.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, enacted 2025) introduced broader earnings accountability measures effective around July 2026.  The Department’s April 2026 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks to harmonize and extend an earnings-focused test to these programs via amendments to the GE framework. Public comments on this proposal will close on May 20, 2026.

LSBC Member Jean Pitre, who has traveled to Washington, DC to become educated on the full impact of the provisions, gave a 13-1/2 minute presentation at the May 4, 2026 LSBC meeting, at which he stressed that up to 92 percent of for-profit cosmetology schools may have to close their doors due to failure to meet “gainful employment” provisions:

Pitre voices his concerns at the May 4, 2026 LSBC meeting.

These are our thoughts on the matter:

Amazingly, Pitre actually says, “This is all Federal funds.  It’s their money.  They have a right to do what they want with it.”  That’s the whole problem with entities who syphon taxpayer resources.  They act like the Federal Government is some mythical agency out there.  Federal funds are our funds!  Furthermore, with the nation running a $2 trillion a year deficit and being at war, it’s our firm opinion that programs like these need to be abolished in favor of more efficient means of delivery of instruction!

In fact, let us provide an outstanding feature focusing on high school vocational programs, emphasizing benefits such as hands-on training, faster career entry, lower costs, and practical skill development compared to these massively-expensive for-profit cosmetology schools for which tuition often approximates $15,000 to $20,000.

Here is a perfect example of courter arguments to Pitre’s self-serving boohoo cries in the video above:

• • Cosmetology Students Deserve Better Than Debt and Broken Promises (New America): Advocates for alternative low- or no-cost pathways, including high school career and technical education (CTE) programs and registered apprenticeships, to improve outcomes and reduce reliance on high-cost programs. It explicitly promotes these models as preferable for training: https://www.newamerica.org/insights/cosmetology-students-deserve-better-than-debt-and-broken-promises/

From the above feature:

As soon as the rule was released, the cosmetology education industry pushed back, urging beauty and barbering schools to call for a weaker rule and to gut the accountability provisions entirely so that outcomes data is used for informational purposes only. This isn’t new for this sector. As our research has shown, the cosmetology education industry is backed by a powerful lobby that tries to preserve its access to federal aid despite a poor track record of being good stewards of that investment. The industry has sued the Education Department repeatedly over any accountability rules, it has blamed the demographics of their students as a driving reason for their poor outcomes, and has lobbied to keep licensure hours high, while fighting to keep low-cost providers and pathways at community colleges or through registered apprenticeships out of cosmetology education altogether.

It should not be a surprise that industry advocates are advancing claims about this new accountability rule that don’t hold up. Just over 9 in 10 cosmetology and barbering programs would fail the new earnings premium metric, according to the American Association of Cosmetology Schools’s analysis of Education Department data. This will likely cause programmatic and institutional closures for those reliant on federal student loans to operate. But these rules are designed to ensure that students enrolling in programs that result in low earnings are not taking on taxpayer-funded loans they may be unlikely to repay.

Since Pitre encourages those with an obvious vested interest who syphon off the Federal taxes we pay for these “broken promises” as outlined in the article above before the May 20, 2026 deadline, we want to encourage regular, everyday taxpayers to do the same!  Anyone is welcome to make such public comment as follows:

Simply by clicking on this link.

We have already supplied our public comment, and we certainly want to strongly encourage everyday citizens fed up with the waste of taxpayer dollars (which Pitre calls “their money”) when far more efficient and cost effective avenues are available at existing Louisiana high school programs which, in our opinion, need to be significantly expanded to replace these high-cost leaches of taxpayer dollars!

It’s time to stop the madness of flushing ungodly amounts of our tax dollars down the toilet on for-profit cosmetology schools which, in reality, help facilitate predatory lending and don’t even care that they’re doing so because they actually could care less if the student ultimately repays the debt or not, but we certainly should!

Former LSP Trooper Michael Lynn Satcher II, who was recently sentenced to 10 years at hard labor for his double arrest on domestic abuse charges.  James Jefferson, who recently had his suspension for his first domestic abuse arrest tossed by the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) on a technicality, faces a multitude of criminal charges as a result of his own recent second arrest.

Michael Lynn Satcher II served as a Louisiana State Police (LSP) Trooper and helicopter pilot in the LSP Air Support Unit. As we previously reported on December 27, 2020, he resigned effective December 18, 2020 while facing his first set of domestic abuse charges.

On October 12, 2019 (the night Gov. John Bel Edwards procured his victory for a second term in office), Satcher was arrested following a complaint of domestic abuse involving his dating partner at the time, Cynthia Chapman. He faced charges including unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling, intentional damage to property in an amount less than $1,000, and intentional use of force or violence against two victims.

Chapman’s petition for a protective order detailed multiple alleged incidents of physical violence, often occurring while Satcher was intoxicated, beginning with their dating relationship in March 2018. These included an incident during the July 2018 Louisiana State Troopers Association (LSTA) cruise in which Satcher allegedly ripped off his shirt, damaged Chapman’s personal items, lifted her by the hips causing injury to her neck (head hitting ceiling), held his hand over her nose and mouth restricting her breathing, and caused additional bruising.

Chapman stated that she did not report prior incidents due to her fear of retaliation, given Satcher’s position as a state trooper and sniper. The Rapides Parish District Attorney recused himself due to a close personal friendship and hunting partnership with Satcher, resulting in the Louisiana Attorney General’s office assuming prosecution. The Attorney General’s office initially pursued the charges as felonies.

As we also reported, LSP did not commence an administrative investigation into Satcher until shortly after our publication of a November 4, 2020 article exposing the matter, which was more than a year after Satcher’s arrest.

Satcher had no disciplinary file with LSP at the time and had been placed on forced annual leave (and later leave without pay) since his arrest.

A protective order issued against him prohibited firearm possession, rendering him unable to perform his duties. He resigned amid widening allegations of improprieties within the Air Support Unit. A Brady motion filed by Satcher’s defense in advance of a February 25, 2021 court hearing referenced Chapman’s statements expressing fear for her own life.

The Attorney General’s office later offered Satcher a plea deal resolving the 2019 charges, which required payment of a $250 fine plus $277.50 in court costs and six months of unsupervised probation pursuant to Article 894. We characterized this plea deal agreed to by then AG Jeff Landry as a “soft plea deal” which ultimately blew up in his face.

The deal blew up in Landry’s face as a result of the fact that, on December 9, 2023, Satcher was once again arrested on allegations of domestic violence, home invasion, and kidnapping involving his wife, Karen Satcher.

The incident allegedly occurred after Satcher became upset that his wife had not remained long enough at Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood’s re-election victory celebration.

Karen Satcher’s application for a protective order described physical violence that included being dragged by the hair, punched in the face multiple times, thrown around the master bedroom, and forced into a vehicle, with video evidence reportedly documenting aspects of the altercation.

The Rapides Parish District Attorney again recused himself due to the prior friendship with Satcher.

Retired Judge Florence Rae Swent was retained for his defense.  As evidenced by the “soft plea deal” link above, Swent, reportedly Satcher’s great aunt, attempted to manipulate the system to get Satcher off; however, her efforts flopped (with some saying that flop was largely because we exposed them very publicly via the “soft plea deal” link above).

Satcher recently pled guilty to charges stemming from his second arrest and was sentenced to 10 years at hard labor.  From this feature:

On Thursday, March 19, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill released the following statement:

“We’ve said it before, and we will say it again: we will fight for justice and to protect victims of domestic violence.”

AG Liz Murrill

In the case, Satcher was found guilty on felony charges of:

• Second Degree Kidnapping
• Home Invasion
• Domestic Abuse (Strangulation)
• Possession of a Firearm by a Felon

In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, former Ascension Parish Sheriff Captain C. J. Matthews provides insight into the recent arrests (like Satcher, plural) on domestic abuse charges involving LSP Lt. James Jefferson:

Former Ascension Parish Sheriff Deputy C. J. Matthews provides his take on the arrests and prosecutions (or in one case entailing EBRP DA Hillar Moore, his initial decision to decline prosecution) of LSP Lt. James Jefferson.

Here are links for our prior Jefferson features:

2/22/26:   After LSP Lt. James Jefferson’s domestic abuse, child endangerment charges dropped by DA Moore, State Police Commission grants summary disposition vacating 48-hour suspension citing violation of no timely Loudermill letter.

2/25/26:  With taxpayers shelling out $205K to LSP Lt. James Jefferson III in 2024, we believe we’re owed more than a “late Loudermill letter” explanation on his 2/6/25 arrest for alleged domestic abuse with child endangerment.

3/31/26:  LSP Col. Hodges gets do-over on Lt. Jefferson as he is arrested again for alleged coverups, destruction of evidence on multiple domestic violence and child endangerment incidents.

For this feature, we want to supplement Matthews’ interview above with material we obtained at 19^th JDC Clerk of Court regarding James Jefferson’s Affidavit of Probable Cause for Arrest along with his wife, Heather’s, protective order.

As evidenced by the documents just linked:

Case Overview (protective order):

• Court: 19th Judicial District Court, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana (Docket IN202601906 / Item 5-178).
• Protected Party: Heather Ellis Jefferson (DOB 01/14/1985).
• Defendant: James Jefferson III (DOB 09/29/1984, alias Jay Jefferson), address 12224 Lake Sherwood Ave South, Baton Rouge, LA.
• Order Type: Criminal Order of Protection (original), effective immediately through 11:59 PM on April 2, 2027.
• Status: Issued after notice and hearing; defendant represents a credible threat to the protected person’s physical safety.

Key Restrictions on Defendant (all initialed/enforceable):

• No abuse, harassment, assault, stalking, threats, or physical force against Heather Ellis Jefferson or her immediate family.
• No contact (personal, third-party, electronic, social media, or public posting).
• Stay at least 100 yards away from protected person, her residence, school, or workplace.
• Firearm prohibition: Must surrender all firearms and ammunition; concealed handgun permit suspended.
• Additional conditions possible via handwritten notes (e.g., family court order regarding communication with children).

Criminal Charges (Felonies):

1. Aggravated Second Degree Battery (R.S. 14:34.7) – Nov 1, 2025.
2. Filing False Public Records (R.S. 14:133) – 2 counts (Nov 1 & Dec 29, 2025).
3. Obstruction of Justice (R.S. 14:130.1) – 3 counts (Feb 5, Feb 20, Nov 1, 2025).
4. Domestic Abuse Battery in Presence of Minors (R.S. 14:35.3(1)) – Nov 1, 2025.
5. Domestic Abuse Aggravated Assault by Strangulation (R.S. 14:35.3(7)) – Mar 23, 2025.

Incident Summary (Domestic Violence Context):

• Married couple with two minor children (<13 years old); shared custody until separation in Aug 2025.
• Multiple documented assaults, including pushing, punching, hair-pulling, pinning between vehicles (causing loss of consciousness and injuries), and strangulation.
• Children present during incidents; false statements to police, tampering with evidence (surveillance), and obstruction via pressure on victim and witnesses.
• Arrest warrant issued March 31, 2026, based on LBI investigation, victim statements, recordings, medical records, and witness accounts.

Enforcement

• Full faith and credit across all U.S. states, DC, territories, and tribal lands.
• Violation subjects defendant to immediate arrest, bond forfeiture, probation revocation, and additional penalties (up to $50,000 fine + hard labor).
• Firearm possession ban under federal and state law.

Summary: This is an active, long-term protective order stemming from serious, repeated domestic abuse incidents involving physical violence, strangulation, child endangerment, and efforts to obstruct justice. James Jefferson III faces multiple felony charges and strict no-contact/firearm restrictions through April 2027.

Supplemental Material (Affidavit of Probable Cause for Arrest):

Issued: March 31, 2026, by the 19th Judicial District Court, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.

Defendant: James Jefferson III (Black/African American male, DOB 09/29/1984), residing at 12224 Lake Sherwood Avenue South, Baton Rouge, LA 70816.

Key Facts from Affidavit (Special Agent Dirk Bergeron, Louisiana Bureau of Investigation):

• Ongoing domestic violence investigation initiated February 18, 2026, following LSP referral regarding a November 1, 2025 incident initially reported as a traffic crash.
• Jefferson and HJ (spouse since 2010) have two minor children (under 13) and shared custody; incidents occurred at the family residence.
• February 5, 2025 incident: Audio evidence and texts show Jefferson allegedly assaulted HJ then directed her to provide false statements to police, leading to dismissed charges and obstruction findings.
• March 23, 2025 incident: Surveillance video shows Jefferson grabbing HJ by the wrist/forearm and placing hand around her throat while pulling her back inside.
• November 1, 2025 incident: Independent witness and child statements describe Jefferson using a vehicle to strike/pin HJ (who lost consciousness), with children present. Scene falsified as a crash; surveillance system later deactivated.
• December 29, 2025: False statements in TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) filing regarding a November 11 parking lot incident contradicted by video evidence.

Basis for Probable Cause: Multiple witness statements, audio/video recordings, medical records, text messages, and child interviews establish domestic abuse, injury by dangerous instrumentality, false official reports, interference with investigations, and evidence tampering.

The warrant directs any commissioned peace officer to arrest and book Jefferson. The investigation highlights patterns of domestic violence, witness/victim intimidation, and manipulation of law enforcement records.

So, Jefferson, like Satcher, now has multiple arrests pertaining to domestic violence; moreover, Jefferson has a plethora of alleged other serious felony allegations that center around reports he actively tried to thwart a proper investigation into his acts.

Time will tell if he ends up better or worse than Satcher.  Both matters, however, combined with dozens and dozens of other matters upon which we have reported, certainly demonstrate that LSP has a ton of work to do if it is ever going to be truly deserving of the characterization that both Landry and Murrill bestowed upon the agency soon after they were inaugurated into the office of Governor and Attorney General, respectively.  What was that characterization?:  “The best law enforcement agency in the United States.”

U. S. Congressman Cleo Fields addresses the Baton Rouge Press Club (BRPC) on Monday, May 4, 2026 and prepares to respond to a question posed by Robert Burns of Sound Off Louisiana regarding the 24 percent black voter turnout in the 2023 Gubernatorial election.

Today, Monday, May 4, 2026, Louisiana Sixth District U. S. Congressman Cleo Fields appeared before the BRPC to address all of the upheaval from the U. S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the map of his District is a gerrymandered District drawn with the intent to ensure it is comprised of a majority of black residents.

In the Q & A portion of the presentation, Sound Off Louisiana’s Robert Burns posed this simple question:  “Why was black voter turnout in the 2023 Gubernatorial election an abysmal 24 percent, especially given that there was a major black candidate on the ballot?”  Here is Fields’ official response:

5/4/26:  Fields responds to question about abysmal 24 percent black voter turnout in the 2023 race for Governor.

So, that’s his official response, but let’s delve deeper into what we assert is the real reason.  First, a little background on the whole Sixth Congressional District from Louisiana as it was reconfigured at the direct behest of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on behalf of Congressman Fields:

In early 2024, following a Federal Court ruling in Robinson v. Landry that Louisiana’s prior congressional map (with only one majority-Black district) likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Gov. Landry called a Special Legislative Session. The Legislature passed SB-8 (the new map creating a second majority-black/minority-opportunity District, District 6), and Landry signed it into law in January 2024. This was done to comply with the court order while keeping control of the process away from a Federal judge.

Attorney General Liz Murrill explicitly indicated that the State would defend the resulting map against legal challenges. During her testimony to lawmakers at the Special Session, she stated (in a message later referenced in her own posts and reporting) that they should, “draw a map and I will defend it.”  She and the State (as intervenors) did defend SB-8 in court, including successfully seeking a U.S. Supreme Court stay in May 2024 to allow its use for that year’s elections.  At the time, they argued that the map was driven by political considerations (protecting Republican incumbents) rather than solely race, and Murrill stated that the State would, “continue to defend the law.”

The map was immediately challenged as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in Callais v. Landry (later Louisiana v. Callais).  Murrill initially defended it (including at the Supreme Court), though the State’s position evolved over time.  This evolving transpired by later briefing and in reargument stages.  In those arguments, the State of Louisiana argued against race-based redistricting and that the VRA did not require the second district.  Black voter groups ultimately became the primary defenders of the map.

Last week, on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, the U. S. Supreme Court struck down SB-8 (6-3) as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.  Landry and Murrill then jointly celebrated the ruling, noted the state was enjoined from using the map, and announced that they would work with the Louisiana Legislature to redraw a new map and thus effectively abandoned any defense of the prior “new map.”

They both took it a step further and announced the cancellation of the Congressional elections in Louisiana set for Saturday, May 16, 2026 even though thousands of absentee ballots had already been cast, and early voting commenced Saturday, May 2, 2026 with the names of candidates on the ballot.

A flood of lawsuits has been filed with at least three (3) in State Court, and one in Federal Court for which a panel of three (3) judges has been convened by the Chief Judge of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case. The judges on the panel are Shelly Dick, Chief Judge of the U.S. Middle District Court (and the Judge who indicated that, if the Legislature did not draw a map ensuring a second minority District, she would), Stuart Kyle Duncan, Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit, and Greg Guidry, District Judge for the U.S. Eastern District.  Fields requested that he be added as a Plaintiff in that lawsuit, and he confirmed at today’s BRPC meeting that he in fact was added “last night.”

We want to succinctly sum up where some prominent Louisiana governmental officials have stood on that original map Landry passed through the Legislature:

• Jeff Landry (Governor): He called the Special Session to enact a new map and urged legislators to act to keep map-drawing out of Federal court hands.  He supported SB-8 as a way to address the Robinson litigation. The state (under his administration) defended the map in court. As referenced above, after the Supreme Court issued its ruling on April 29, 2026 striking it down, he and Murrill issued statements addressing implementation (e.g., suspending Congressional primaries for redrawing).
• Liz Murrill (Attorney General): As incoming AG (and previously involved in Robinson), she testified to legislators that they should draw a map with two majority-Black districts to avoid a court-imposed one, while noting that she would defend a new map. The AG’s office represented the State’s interests and defended SB-8 against the Callais challenge (the State intervened as a Defendant). Later developments showed shifts in defense strategy at the Supreme Court level, but the initial and primary stance was opposition to invalidating the map.
• Republican Louisiana State Senator Alan Seabaugh: He voted against SB-8, testified at trial as a Plaintiffs’ witness that race was the predominant (and essentially only) reason for the Special Session and map, and that the Legislature would have kept the prior map otherwise. He and Sen. Thomas Pressly are associated with conservative challenges to the map as a racial gerrymander. Seabaugh did not file the suit but actively supported the Plaintiffs’ case through testimony and public opposition.  He contended that Gov. Landry should have simply permitted U. S. Judge Shelly Dick to draw the map, which could have then immediately been challenged (with Seabaugh contending that Dick would have had no choice but to also draw a racially gerrymandered map which would be successfully challenged), and the kind of chaos the State is now experiencing could have been avoided.

Now back to the response given by Fields about the abysmal 24 percent black voter turnout for the 2023 race for Louisiana Governor, which he attributes to “apathy.”

Well, we don’t quite subscribe to his explanation.  Virtually anybody in the know on that election concedes that Fields essentially tried to charm a cobra, with that cobra being Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry!  Fields has an extensive and well organized GOTV bus system which he has used very effectively to maximize black voter turnout in years past.  He “charmed” Landry (the cobra) by simply agreeing not to activate that GOTV vehicle in exchange for Landry pushing a Congressional map tailor made for Fields to return to Congress after about a 28-year hiatus away from it.

Landry lived up to his end of the bargain, and that’s also why Landry and Murrill defended the map and heavily sought for it to be in effect for the 2026 election.  Why?  Because Landry needs Fields to once again suppress black voter turnout in 2027 for his re-election campaign to pull off a victory.  That is precisely why Landry (via Murrill) fought to defend the Fields-friendly map!

The only problem with “charming a cobra” is that, once that cobra hears a note he doesn’t like, he lunges forward and takes out the “charmer” (Fields in this analogy).  Well, once the three-judge panel hearing the Callais case sided with the Plaintiffs, Landry, the cobra, heard a note he did not like.  As the music got further and further off key (i.e. the U. S. Supreme Court hearing the case), Landry, the cobra, began to coil up and prepare to strike the “charmer” (Fields).

Once Wednesday’s ruling from the United States Supreme Court came down, Landry, the cobra, struck full force and injected a highly venomous poison into Fields, leaving him ultimately pleading with the same body (i.e. the U. S. Supreme Court) to provide healing ointment from Landry’s vicious injection of pure poison into Fields’ veins.  Fields made it clear that, whichever party may prevail in the Fifth Circuit three-judge panel referenced above, the other side is going to immediately appeal, thus placing the matter right back in the U. S. Supreme Court’s hands to decide whether Landry’s venomous strike injecting poison directly into Fields was too strong and will therefore rule that, at least for this upcoming election cycle, the current maps will remain in place.

Hopefully, Fields learned a valuable lesson from this entire episode with that lesson being:  #1) Gov. Jeff Landry is a cobra and #2) when a cobra strikes, its bite and injection is typically fatal!  That’s why attempting to charm a cobra is dangerous business!

CLICK HERE to see Fields’ presentation to the BRPC in its entirety.