Republicans give $101m to sports arena as myriad needs loom over Louisiana

State faces poverty, poor education and insufficient healthcare, but lawmakers are funding renovations to event center

Louisiana lawmakers have faced backlash for using some of their spring legislative session's final moments not to address some of their state's myriad needs - but instead to grant the multimillion-dollar wish of the state flagship university's championship-winning women's basketball coach.

Poverty, poor education and insufficient healthcare have loomed over Louisiana for decades and have earned the state the country's lowest rankings in each category, according to the US News and World Report. Louisiana ranks 50th - dead last - in crime and economy, 49th in infrastructure and 46th in education when compared to the rest of the nation, the report says.