| Good Morning, After some slow weeks before, during, and after the holidays, government has ramped up again. This morning the Revenue Estimating Conference meets to officially decide just how much money the state has to spend for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Gov. John Bel Edwards through his Division of Administration soon needs to suggest how to spend that money. His Executive Budget proposal serves as the base document from which legislators will add and subtract before approving the annual state budget. The number the REC certifies by the end of the day is expected to be much larger than last year because of COVID surplus dollars from the federal government fueling an increased economy, and hence higher tax collections, in Louisiana. Before lawmakers wade into budget negotiations they face a stickier problem with redistricting. In a practice as old as the Republic, state assemblies meet every 10 years to adjust the maps of the districts from which officials are elected to better align with the results of the decennial U.S. Census. State senators and representatives have been holding town halls across the state to explain their job and to hear from voters how they would like to see the districts drawn for congresspeople, state legislators, members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education as well as the Public Service Commission. Their last meeting before returning next week to Baton Rouge and starting draw maps is tonight in Thibodaux. The special redistricting session is expected to begin Feb. 1. Floating over the holidays was the outbreak of the omicron variant of COVID-19. A surge of infections, larger than ever before, worried public health officials as hospitals filled with sick, unvaccinated people. Many of the major cities across the nation that faced overtaxed hospitals filled with patients needing ventilators during previous outbreaks returned to mitigation efforts of masks and social distancing – but not in Louisiana. At the same time as the unvaccinated faced an increased possibility of death, infected people who had been injected and received a booster faced much milder effects. Louisiana, and much of the rest of the South, with larger populations disbelieving the impact of the coronavirus, has about half the population vaccinated. In other parts of the country vaccination rates approach 80% of a state’s residents. As always, check throughout the day for the latest Louisiana political news at theadvocate.com/politics or NOLA.com/politics and on Twitter at @MarkBallardCNB, @tegbridges, @samkarlin, @blakepater, @WillSentell. Here are a dozen articles, commentaries and editorials that will catch you up for the week to come. One last item: Thank you to our subscribers. Your support means a great deal to us. If you're not yet a subscriber, we’ve got a special offer you can check out here. – Mark Ballard | 