(Gallery by The Associated Press)
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address offered new initiatives that, if adopted, will significantly impact Louisiana, including those in the state who make the minimum wage, the oil and gas industry and the state's structurally deficient bridges. It was a bold speech, one that cheered many Democrats, but led Republicans to complain about an expensive, big government agenda that can't be sustained.
In his first State of the Union address of his second term, Obama Tuesday night called for a "Fix-it-First program to put Americans to work on the nation's most urgent repairs, such as the 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the United States. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 11.5 percent of the nation's bridges are structurally deficient, but it's 12.9 percent in Louisiana.
