U.S.News and World Report has released its ranking of the "Best States" in the nation. The good news is that Louisiana made the list. The bad news is where our state falls on that list. In most cases where Louisiana shows poorly on "national lists," we can usually thank Mississippi, Alabama, or Arkansas for saving us from the bottom. Did our neighbors come to our "rescue" this time too?

Google Maps/Google Streetview
Google Maps/Google Streetview
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Before we look at that, let's look at the criteria U.S. News and World Report used to create their list of "Best States". They looked at Crime and Corrections, Education, Economy, Health Care, Natural Environment, Economy, Fiscal Stability, Infrastructure, and Opportunity in developing the rankings that were recently published.

If you've lived in Louisiana for more than a hot minute or two, you can tell by looking that categories like Crime, Infrastructure, and Economy are not where the Boot shines the best. We do better in categories related to food, fun, and shenanigans, not this serious stuff.

New Orleans Parties During Traditional Mardi Gras Celebration
Patrick Semansky, Getty Images
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Now if you're wondering what states do well in those categories and the other ones that we mentioned earlier, you'd be thinking of places like Utah, Washington, Idaho, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Those states actually make up the U.S. News Top Five. 

Amangiri Facebook
Amangiri Facebook
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Meanwhile, here in Louisiana, we are bottom dwellers once again. Did we beat Arkansas? No. Did we beat Alabama? Only in football. Well, at least we beat Mississippi, right? Wrong. According to U.S. News and World Report, the Bayou State is the "best of the worst" states in the nation.

Louisiana ranked dead last in Crime & Corrections and Economy. The state was ranked 49th in Infrastructure and Natural Environment. We came in at 48th for Opportunity, 46th for Education, and 45th in Health Care. Our "bright spot" is a #38 ranking in Fiscal Stability. Guess oil prices were high when they did the survey, huh?

Glasgow 2014 Baton Relay - July 2nd
Handout
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I guess the best way to view the results of the study is to understand that we can't get any lower so the only direction we can move is up. I would think that plans to improve two major bridges on I-10 in Baton Rouge and Lake Charles might improve our infrastructure scores. Earlier this week we also got some good news about our public schools too. 

But as you can see, there is a lot of room for improvement and whether or not we actually improve will be based on what you do this October. Yes, this is our not-so-clandestine request to ask you to vote when the time comes to make decisions on where our state is headed next.

Louisiana I Voted Sticker 2020
sos.la.gov
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Unfortunately, you probably won't hear many candidates discussing the issues or many political advertisements discussing what our plans for the future need to be. Instead, you'll be assaulted at almost every turn with some of the most vile and disgusting mudslinging negative advertisements you can't even imagine. At least we're used to being muddy, so we have that going for us, right?

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