Two Louisiana lawmakers reportedly decided to settle a dispute over a piece of legislation the old fashioned way.

The argument between state Rep. Stuart Bishop and Sen. Norby Chabert started Tuesday morning, and ended with Chabert throwing several punches at his colleague at a local bar later that night, according to the News Star.

"We had a gentleman's disagreement and settled it with our hands," Bishop said.

The bill in question was not disclosed.

Police were called to the scene, but by then the two lawmakers had already left. No arrests were made, the paper reported.

Bishop, who blocked a Chabert-backed bill, said he was punched several times and only sustained a few bruises. He said he did not return the shots from his colleague, according to the paper.

Both men have since apologized for their actions.

"I grew up in this chamber and in no way would I want to disparage anyone here," Chabert told fellow senators on Wednesday, according to the paper. "We're both better men than that and I humbly apologize."

While Bishop echoed those sentiments, he also used the opportunity to have a little fun.

“The next time it will be dueling guns," Bishop joked.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said although the incident doesn’t “exactly reflect well on the House or Senate or state government,” he believes “it's something we can all get past.”

"They're both good friends of mine and they are good friends with one another," Edwards said on his monthly call-in show, according to the paper. "Every now and then people get too passionate and things can get out of hand."

One of the three Americans who thwarted a terrorist attack on a Paris-bound train is trying his hand at local politics.

Alek Skarlatos, who portrayed himself in a Clint Eastwood film about the 2015 event called “The 15:17 to Paris,” announced Tuesday evening he would be running for the Douglas County commission seat in Oregon, the New-Review reported.

The former Oregon National Guardsman, from the small city of Roseburg, and two friends — Anthony Sadler and Spencer Stone — were traveling in Europe in August 2015 when they incapacitated a heavily armed Islamist gunman.

Skarlatos says he wants to bring more jobs to the rural county if elected.

"I've traveled all over the world, and there's no place I'd rather live than Douglas County, honestly," he said, during his announcement at the Douglas County Republican Party headquarters in downtown Roseburg. "Really I think that jobs bring in taxes, and if we can get people jobs that would make the whole community better off."

Skarlatos is pursing the seat vacated by Republican Gary Leif, who recently left the position to become a state lawmaker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Missouri lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling on Gov. Eric Greitens to resign following a report that an affair he had was at times violent and non-consensual.

Lawmakers said they will hold a special session on May 18 to confer about impeaching Greitens. It will be the first time in Missouri's history that legislators have called a special session, as they are normally set by governors. 

Impeachment is “one of the most serious and consequential powers the Constitution grants the legislature,” GOP House Speaker Todd Richardson previously told the Columbia Tribune. “We will not act rashly, but we will not shrink from it.”

Greitens, 44, has already declared victory after the state dropped a felony invasion-of-privacy charge against him. However, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office said it still plans to pursue the case, either through a special prosecutor or an appointed assistant.

He's been accused of taking and transmitting a non-consensual -- partially nude -- photo of a woman with whom he was having the affair.

Here’s a look at what Greitens has been accused of and what the Republican governor has said about it.

Why was Greitens on trial?

Greitens was indicted in February on a felony invasion-of-privacy charge. He was booked at the St. Louis Justice Center before he was released on his own recognizance, according to a circuit attorney spokeswoman.

The charges came after a man secretly recorded his wife admitting to having an extramarital affair with Greitens in March 2015. In the recording, she alleged that Greitens took a photo of her when she was partially nude without her permission and threatened to release photos of her if she told anyone about the affair, KMOV-TV reported.

The couple, not publicly identified, have since divorced.

Greitens admitted to the affair in February in a joint statement with his wife, Sheena. He said he'd made a “deeply personal mistake” before he was elected, and that the family had “dealt with this together honestly and privately.”

However, his attorney told KMOV-TV that “there was no blackmail.”

In a Facebook post, Greitens slammed the “reckless liberal prosecutor who uses her office to score political points.” He said that while he'd “made a personal mistake” before becoming governor, he “did not commit a crime.”

If convicted, Greitens could have face up to four years in prison. He has declined to directly answer questions about whether he took the photo.

What was in the accuser’s testimony?

WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS BELOW

A Missouri House investigative committee was assembled shortly after Greitens was indicted on the felony charge.

After speaking to the accuser and other witnesses, it released a report – signed by five Republicans and two Democrats – that included a sensitive-content warning. The lawmakers said they found the woman to be an “overall credible witness.”

The meeting

The woman said she met Greitens in 2013 when he became a client at the hair salon where she worked, according to the report. She said that she developed a “crush” on Greitens, but when she saw him in the salon in March 2015, he “moved his hand up her leg ‘all the way up to [her] crotch’ without her consent."

‘Sexy workout’

Later that month, she said Greitens asked her to come to his house when his wife was out of town. She said he did not want to be seen in public with her because he was running for office.

At his house, she testified that Greitens told her he thought she hadn’t “been treated good in so long” and wanted her to exercise. She said “for whatever reason, I trusted him.”

Greitens then gave her men’s pajama pants and a man’s white T-shirt with a slit at the top and instructed her to change into them, she said. After she changed, she claimed he told her he was going to teach her “how to do a proper pull-up.”  She said she thought “this is going to be some sort of sexy workout.”

“I still really thought he was perfect,” the woman testified, adding that Greitens knew she had not cheated on her husband in the past, and she didn’t want to “do anything physical” with him. “So I think I was just confused, kind of shocked. And I was curious enough – he likes me this much that he has something planned for our workout?”

The photo

When the two got to the basement, the woman alleged, Greitens taped her hands to the pull-up rings and blindfolded her. She said the items he used were already on a workout bench nearby.

He then spit water into her mouth, telling her she needed to be hydrated, she testified. She said it was his way of trying to kiss her, but she did not want to be kissed.

Greitens began to kiss her, and he tore off the white shirt, she testified. During this time, he was also “pull[ing] down [her] pants,” but she did not give consent, she said.

“[T]hen I hear him kind of, like, step back – take a step back and I hear – I can hear like a, like a cell phone – like a picture, and I can see a flash through the blindfold,” she added.

Greitens said: “You’re not going to mention my name. Don’t even mention my name to anybody at all, because if you do, I’m going to take these pictures, and I’m going to put them everywhere I can. They are going to be everywhere, and then everyone will know what a little whore you are,” she testified.

She alleged he spanked her after she didn’t respond.

“I was definitely fearful. I was so embarrassed and ashamed, because I really felt like a whore because I had let him get me in this position before we’ve even kissed. I felt really used,” she said.

A photo has not been obtained by lawmakers on the committee nor by the prosecutor in the criminal case.

The aftermath

As she was trying to leave, Greitens gave her a hug and laid her on the floor while she wept, the woman testified. On the floor, the woman testified, she performed oral sex on Greitens because she “felt that she had no other choice if she were going to get out of the basement,” according to the report.

She said Greitens didn’t prevent her from leaving after that, but she forgot her keys at the house. When she went back to get them, she said she confronted Greitens about the picture.

“You have to understand, I’m running for office, and people will get me and I have to have some sort of thing to protect myself,” she claimed he told her.

The woman testified that Greitens told her he had deleted the photo, but that she didn’t believe him.  

How has Greitens responded?

Greitens has called the accusations a “political witch hunt.”

He did not testify before the House committee and said the report was “one-sided tabloid, trash gossip that was produced in a secret room.”

He also highlighted a comment the woman made during a deposition in his criminal case in which she was asked if she saw what she believed to be a phone used to take the photo. A court filing from Greitens’ attorneys quoted her as saying, “I haven’t talked about it because I don’t know if it’s because I’m remembering it through a dream or I – I’m not sure, but yes, I feel like I saw it after that happened.”

Additionally, Sheena claimed in a letter to the Missouri lawmakers investigating the allegations that she was stalked by the accuser’s ex-husband, The Washington Examiner reported.

“When I didn’t respond to his anonymous emails, he sent me a letter,” Sheena said. “When a letter to me didn’t produce the desired response, he contacted my parents. When letters didn’t satisfy him, he made his accusations public on Twitter. And finally, when targeting our family on social media didn’t fulfill his agenda, he secretly recorded his wife admitting to the affair and began shopping the audio tape to news outlets.”

How have lawmakers responded?

House Speaker Todd Richardson called the woman's testimony “beyond disturbing” and defended the integrity of the investigation. He said, “Let me be very clear about this: This is not a witch hunt, and the committee had no political agenda.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called on Greitens to resign. They include the state’s Republican Attorney Gen. Josh Hawley, who is also a U.S. Senate candidate.

“The conduct the report details is certainly impeachable, in my judgment, and the House is well within its rights to proceed on that front,” Hawley said in a statement. “But the people of Missouri should not be put through that ordeal. Governor Greitens should resign immediately.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said she read the House investigators report and believes it “is clearly time to put the interests of the people of Missouri first” in calling for Greitens to resign.

“This is a sad chapter in our history that should never have come to pass,” Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner, a Republican, said on social media. “The transcripts paint the picture of a vulnerable woman and a man who preyed on that vulnerability. I am disgusted, disheartened and I believe Governor Greitens is unfit to lead our state.”

State Rep. Jean Evans also called on Greitens to resign, saying, “Violence against women is always wrong.”

State Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe is the highest-ranking member of the legislature to call on Greitens to resign. He said the governor has lost the "moral authority and the ability to lead," KMBC-TV reported.  

What is Greitens’ background?

A onetime Navy SEAL, Greitens assumed office in January 2017. He beat Democrat and former Attorney General Chris Koster.

Hawley is also investigating The Mission Continues, a veterans charity founded by Greitens, as it relates to the state's consumer protection and charitable registration and reporting laws. That probe came after media reports alleged Greitens' campaign had obtained and used a charity donor list in 2015 as it ramped up fundraising for his gubernatorial bid.

Greitens married Sheena in August 2011, and the pair have two children. He was married once before, but it ended in divorce in 2003, according to The Kansas City Star.

Fox News’ Samuel Chamberlain and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed Monday reestablishing the death penalty in Illinois for certain violent criminals.

Under Rauner’s proposal, people who are found “guilty beyond any doubt” of killing multiple people or a police officer could be sentenced to death. During a news conference, the Republican governor said people who kill a police officer “deserve to give up their life,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

This would apply to individuals who are at least 18 years old, the governor's office said. 

“There must be a burden of proof where a person is guilty beyond all doubt,” Rauner said. “Guilty beyond any doubt for killing a police officer or committing a mass murder. We then will impose the death penalty in Illinois.”

In a tweet, Rauner, a Republican, said reinstating the death penalty “shows we have no tolerance for such atrocities in our state.”

“So many times the person is caught in the act. Or so many times there are multiple witnesses and they’re fleeing the act and there’s no question of who did it,” Rauner said of people who kill police, according to the Sun-Times. “And you know what’s really tragic? Many times the perpetrators are proud of what they did. And there are plenty of cases where there’s no doubt who is guilty and they deserve to give up their life when they take the life of a police officer.”

The death penalty was abolished in Illinois in 2011 by then-Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat. The move came after former Republican Gov. George Ryan established a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000.

Rauner’s proposal was part of his amendatory veto to a gun control bill, which also included a 72-hour waiting period on all firearm purchases, according to a Rauner Facebook post. The governor also sought to add a ban on bump stocks to the bill, he said on social media.

Rauner faces Democrat J.B. Pritzker in what is sure to be a contentious and expensive gubernatorial election this fall.

Kevin Kamenetz, considered to be one of the leading Democratic contenders for governor in Maryland, died early Thursday morning of cardiac arrest, police have said.

Kamenetz, the Baltimore County executive, woke at about 2 a.m. and said he was not feeling well, Baltimore County police said. He was taken to St. Joseph hospital and died soon after, police said. Kamenetz was 60 years old.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and his wife expressed their sympathies to Kamenetz’s loved ones in a statement. He ordered the state’s flags to be lowered in his honor.

“He was a dedicated public servant in Baltimore County for more than two decades, and we join with the citizens of Baltimore County and all Marylanders in mourning,” Hogan, a Republican, said. “In the difficult days to come, we will provide any support we possibly can to the Kamenetz family and the citizens of Baltimore County.”

Valerie Ervin, a Montgomery County councilmember, was Kamenetz’s running mate. She told The Baltimore Sun that she couldn’t believe the news.

Don Mohler, his longtime aide, told the newspaper that he was “just sitting in my office numb,” after he learned.

After beginning his public service career as a prosecutor in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, he was elected in 1994 to the Baltimore County Council, where he served four terms. He was also a former president of the Maryland Association of Counties and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.

During the gubernatorial campaign, Kamenetz emphasized his fiscal policies, which resulted in no tax increases or government furloughs or layoffs during the Great Recession -- while he was in office. According to The Sun, Kamenetz was able to renovate schools and downtown Towson during his time in office without a tax increase.

One of his campaign pledges, according to the newspaper, was to “look you in the eye and tell you the truth.”

As one of seven candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to oppose Hogan in the fall, Kamenetz positioned himself as a foil to President Trump, whom he criticized for his attacks on immigrant communities. The Democratic primary is scheduled for June 26.

On Twitter, Ben Jealous, another Democratic candidate, said he would be seated next to Kamenetz during most forums because it was arranged alphabetically.

“I’ll always remember him for the grace and good humor he showed each of his fellow candidates as we lined up backstage waiting … for the event to begin,” Jealous said. He also noted that Kamenetz “dedicated his life to public service, to making a difference” and helping the state move forward.

Kamenetz was consistently in the top three of the field of Democratic candidates in polling and raised more money than anyone else so far, The Baltimore Sun reported. He also recently blocked more than $1 million worth of airtime in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas.

“His absence will shake up the race because he was an important political figure in the state,” Mileah Kromer, a Goucher College political science professor, told the newspaper. “He had a serious record for any candidate to run on. That, of course, is a loss. That is a loss to the Democratic Party and a loss to the voters of Maryland.”

According to his campaign website, Kamenetz attended John Hopkins University and the University of Baltimore School of Law. He grew up with five older siblings. As The Sun reported, Kamenetz often talked about his upbringing as the son of a pharmacist in Lochearn, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore, and the lessons he learned from his father when he ran the cash register at the store.

Kamenetz leaves behind his wife, Jill, and two teenage sons.

For now, administrative officer Fred Homan will serve as acting county executive until the council can vote on a replacement to serve until the fall, which would have been the remainder of Kamenetz’s term.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is a ruff pill to swallow.

An Illinois county official reportedly told a local paper that if the state legalizes marijuana, it may lead to the euthanasia of K-9s trained at seeking out the drug.

Chad Larner, who heads training at the K-9 Training Academy in Macon, reportedly made the comments to the Bloomington Pantagraph.

Larner reportedly told the paper that retraining the dogs would likely lead to “extreme abuse.”

“The biggest thing for law enforcement is, you're going to have to replace all of your dogs,” Macon County Sheriff Howard Buffett told the paper. “So to me, it’s a giant step forward for drug dealers, and it’s a giant step backwards for law enforcement and the residents of the community."

Buffett told the paper that law enforcement would likely have to replace all of its dogs.

Illinois lawmakers are considering a proposal that would expand the use of medical marijuana to fight the state’s opioid crisis and make Illinois the 10^th state to legalize the drug. The Senate bill would allow individuals who qualify for opioid prescriptions to apply for the state’s medical cannabis program, the Southern Illinoisan reported .

The proposal would create a pilot program where patients can take a physician certification to a dispensary to receive medical marijuana. Dispensaries would have to verify the certification and be required to dispense medical cannabis in set amounts tied to the recommended duration of the opioid prescription.

The bill overwhelmingly passed in the Senate. The Illinois House Rules Committee has now been asked to review the legislation. A recent poll showed that 66 percent of the state’s residents support the move.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Multiple rural Illinois counties have passed resolutions establishing a so-called “sanctuary” for gun owners in a bid to thwart the state legislature’s efforts to enact stricter gun control.

At least five counties declared themselves sanctuary counties for gun rights, co-opting a word that most conservatives associate with the liberal policy of ignoring federal immigration laws.

The resolutions aim to send a message to the Democratic-controlled Legislature in the state that if it passes the proposed gun bills, such as increasing the minimum age for owning a gun or a bump stock ban, the counties will instruct their employees to ignore the new laws.

“It’s a buzzword, a word that really gets attention. With all these sanctuary cities, we just decided to turn it around to protect our Second Amendment rights,” said David Campbell, vice chairman of the Effingham County Board.

“It’s a buzzword, a word that really gets attention. With all these sanctuary cities, we just decided to turn it around to protect our Second Amendment rights."

- David Campbell, vice chairman of the Effingham County Board.

He added that around 20 other counties in Illinois have asked for copies of his county’s resolution. He also said officials in Oregon and Washington, have also asked for copies.

County officials say it’s unlikely their symbolic move will be enough to stop the state legislators from passing new gun control measures as the legislature is dominated by lawmakers from in and around Chicago, a city with rampant gun crime.

But it might be enough to make some lawmakers worried.

“I don’t think you can say, ‘I don’t agree with the law so I won’t enforce it,’” said Kathleen Willis, a Democratic state representative from suburban Chicago who sponsored some of the gun legislation. “I think it sends the wrong message.”

Bryan Kibler, the Effingham County’s top prosecutor, claims the resolutions passed by counties aren’t much different from cities such as Chicago which refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

By using the language of sanctuary states, the counties also draw attention to the rural-urban political divide in the state. The “downstate” areas of Illinois voted for Donald Trump while Chicago backed Hillary Clinton.

“We’re just stealing the language that sanctuary cities use,” said Kibler. “We wanted to … get across that our Second Amendment rights are slowly being stripped away.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, for decades one of the most powerful Democrats in Massachusetts, announced Thursday that he will resign Friday after 31 years as a lawmaker because of a scandal involving his estranged husband.

His decision follows Wednesday’s release of an ethics report that states Rosenberg “failed to protect the Senate” from his estranged husband, who faces charges of racially and sexually harassing Senate employees.

“In light … of the disciplinary measure recommended by the ethics committee, it would not be fair to my constituents to have a representative in the Senate who lacked the authority to represent their interests fully,” Rosenberg said in a letter to the Senate clerk, the Boston Herald reported.

Rosenberg, 68, of Amherst, a former president of the Massachusetts Senate, was the first openly gay lawmaker to lead a legislative chamber in the Bay State, Boston’s Fox 25 reported.

He stepped down as president in December, after the Boston Globe reported in November that four men alleged that Rosenberg’s husband, Byron Hefner, had sexually assaulted and harassed them, and boasted of his influence in the Senate.

Hefner was indicted in March. Rosenberg claims to have been unaware of Hefner’s alleged crimes.

Rosenberg’s resignation will take effect at 5 p.m. Friday, State House News Service reported.

Following the release of the ethics report, both Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey called for Rosenberg to resign, Fox 25 reported.

According to the station, the report was prepared by independent investigators hired by the Senate Ethics Committee. It said that while Rosenberg did not violate any formal Senate rules, he showed poor judgment and violated the Senate's information technology policies by granting Hefner “unfettered access” to Rosenberg's Senate email account.

That access began before Rosenberg became Senate president in 2015 and ended in March 2017, after staffers detected two instances of Hefner allegedly sending emails to public officials under Rosenberg’s name.

Rosenberg "knew or should have known Hefner had racially and sexually harassed Senate employees" and failed to address the issue adequately, the report said.

Hefner, 30, pleaded not guilty in Suffolk Superior Court in April to charges of sexual assault, criminal lewdness and distributing nude photos without consent. He was released on his own recognizance pending further court action.

Once coveted as a conservative bastion in liberal California, Orange County has become a last stand for the state's Republicans.

Chased out of much of California by Democrats who hold every statewide office and a 39-14 advantage in U.S. House seats, the state's GOP is trying to hold its ground in a historically Republican stronghold.

Republican elected officials in a string of cities and two counties — Orange and neighboring San Diego — have passed ordinances or taken other actions in opposition to the state's so-called sanctuary law, enacted by the Democratic-run Legislature in response to Trump's calls for more deportations and a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Orange County is undergoing the biggest political challenge we've ever had," Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel, who lives in the county, told volunteers at the GOP headquarters.

"Orange County is undergoing the biggest political challenge we've ever had."

- Shawn Steel, Republican national committeeman

Ten years ago, the GOP held a 13-point edge in Orange County, but that's shriveled to 3 points while the number of independents, who tend to vote like Democrats in California, has climbed to 25 percent.

National Republican leaders, hoping to retain control of the House, have opened a 10,000-square-foot war room in an office tower near John Wayne Airport, filled with computers and phones in a last-ditch attempt to reach potential voters in the June 5 primary election.

It's in suburbs that "we are going to either hold the majority in '18, or lose the majority," said U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, who heads the party's campaign arm in the House.

The risks are plain for Republicans in the state that is home to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: Democrats dominate California politics, and midterm elections generally favor the party not in control of the White House.

President Donald Trump lost the state by more than 4 million votes in 2016.

Political observers say recent Democratic victories in Pennsylvania and Alabama, and House Speaker Paul Ryan's decision to retire at the end of the term makes likelier the prospect of Democrats gaining the 23 seats needed to take control of the chamber.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.