Edwin Edwards is high on life

Still alive. Not on drugs. Got it.

Former Gov. Edwin Edwards is "looking good" and expects to be released from the hospital Wednesday, said Leo Honeycutt, who was by his bedside.

Edwards was hospitalized Tuesday morning but was doing well and cracking jokes by evening.

After doctors visited Edwards Wednesday morning, Honeycutt said, "Looking good to be released today." Honeycutt wrote in 2009 the authorized biography, "Edwin Edwards Governor of Louisiana."

"He's in great spirits, lucid, laughing (not drug induced)," Honeycutt said.

Kathleen Blanco, on the other hand.... 

Peace in our time

Well, not fully. But the Bensons are halfway there.

Three days before Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson was scheduled to be privately questioned by his estranged daughter Renee’s attorneys, he and Renee reached a settlement Friday afternoon in their year-old battle over control of a family trust fund in Texas, according to an attorney in the case.

Terms of the settlement are confidential, said Bennett Stahl, a San Antonio attorney who represented Renee Benson in the dispute. But he said the agreement renders a scheduled Feb. 1 trial moot.

The trust fund dispute is separate from the controversy over the sports teams succession but getting this half settled at least suggests that the time of uncertainty is coming to an end.  At the same time, though, it suggests that Team Rita-Renee might have a stronger hand than people are giving them credit for.  Look how they bullied their way into this settlement. 

Friday’s settlement came a little more than a month after Benson offered to resign as the trust’s steward as long as a neutral party was appointed to that role. It also came after Hardberger and Bayern issued a report to Rickhoff saying they did not believe the trust owed Benson any money.

Rickhoff had recently ordered Tom Benson to face questioning by Renee Benson’s attorneys in San Antonio. The questioning originally was supposed to have started by Thursday of this week, but that was postponed to Monday.

Friday’s agreement makes Monday’s deposition unnecessary.

Benson’s side objected to his being questioned by his daughter’s attorneys, and mediation talks didn’t begin until shortly before Rickhoff handed down his order.

Even though a judge has already determined that Benson is "mentally competent" to run his affairs, he doesn't actually want to have to put that... um.. competence on display during court proceedings.  As long as Team Rita can threaten to make that happen, they've got a fighting chance.

Meanwhile, for those of you still looking to take down Bronze Tom, you may now direct your lobbying efforts toward Former Governor Meemaw.  

The Governors

Check out the photo. If you didn't know who these people were and I told you they were a post-punk Blondie rip-off planning a reunion show you'd totally believe that, wouldn't you? Sadly, it's nothing so exciting... or is it?

Former Louisiana governors' Kathleen Blanco, Edwin Edwards, Murphy "Mike" Foster and Buddy Roemer are slated to be on a panel discussing the last four decades of government. The LSU Public Administration Institute and the Public Administration Institute Student Association will host PAISA Day in The Rotunda of the Business Education Complex.

The governors will tackle the following topic: "The Evolution of State and Local Government: A discussion about the last 40 years."

So far as I understand, this is a one-off show.  Unless Jimmy's ever gets its permits in order and then we'll see. 

Note: This is the first time in years I've posted anything having to do with Kathleen Blanco. I thought it was strange that there was no established "Kathleen Blanco" tag for this blog.  But then I remembered they're all filed under "Meemaw".