There's good news and a cautionary note for business and individuals in the political world.

Most of the news came in a poll of 700 registered voters taken March 28-April 6 by Southern Media and Opinion Research of Baton Rouge, a firm that does polls for television stations and private clients.

The poll showed great public. sentiment against raising any state taxes on business and individuals--with one exception: the gambling industry. And that's not the only bad news for the gambling industry.

Southern Media asked the following question:

"If more state government revenues were needed, would you favor or oppose the following:"

* Increasing personal, income tax: 73.7 percent opposed, and 23.2 percent in favor, with no response or didn't know getting the remainder.

* Raising taxes on businesses: 57.5 percent opposed, and 36.4 percent in favor.

* Raising the state sales tax (now 4 percent): 76 percent opposed, and only 22.1 percent in favor.

* Putting a new tax on the oil and gas industry: 68.4 percent opposed, and 28.1 percent in favor; (When other polls have asked the same question, adding that the money would be dedicated to education, voters have tended to favor the tax, especially when the oil and gas processing tax was explained to them. Nevertheless, this is a weapon the oil and gas industry can use against the current attempt in the Legislature promoting the processing tax.)

* Raising taxes on gambling: 75.1 percent in favor, and 21.3 percent opposed.

Now couple that last question with another: Do you approve or disapprove of the Legislature's recently giving teachers a pay raise by renegotiating the contract with Harrah's New Orleans Casino and increasing the tax on riverboat casinos? The response: 69.6 percent approved and 25.2 percent disapproved.

So the gambling industry has become Louisiana voters' favorite thing to tax, even when it isn't explained to them that the money would go to teachers' salaries. Southern Media did not couple any other tax increases with education to make a comparison.

Now here's the kicker: By a 65.2 percent to 28.5 percent margin, voters said the gambling industry has too much influence over the Legislature, So, while voters approve of taxing gambling, they think the industry has too much influence over the Legislature. What insight.

Other political messages:

* To Senate President John Hainkel, R-New Orleans, and Gov. Mike Foster: 77.7 percent favored term limits; 18.4 percent were opposed. So even if Hainkel can use his influence to get his proposed constitutional amendment out of the Legislature, voters will reject it. So much for Foster's hinting that he might like to be included by removing the two-term limitation on governors. (Legislators have a three-term limit that kicks in after the next election.)

* Voters still like Gov. Foster: 9.7 percent think he is doing an excellent job and 52.5 percent think he's doing a good job, for a total approval rating of 62.2 percent. Down, but not bad for a second term governor. Not bad at all.

* To former Gov. Edwin Edwards: 82.7 percent don't believe he will ever serve a day in jail. Only 10.4 percent think he'll ever see the inside of a cell.

* To New Orleans Saints' owner Tom Benson: Voters, by a narrow margin, will remodel the Superdome to satisfy you but they don't favor much else. By a 52.1 percent to 42.5 percent margin, voters favor remodeling the Superdome, but 76.7 percent oppose building a new stadium. There's some more bad news for Benson: 55.4 percent don't think the governor should put together any kind of revenue package to keep the Saints in New Orleans, with only 35.7 percent. in favor. The good news: Two-thirds of those polled said they'd like the Saints to stay in New Orleans, with 39.9 percent saying it's very important and 26.6 percent saying it's somewhat important. Only 31.5 percent said it's not important.

* To U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu: She beats all four potential opponents that have been mentioned in the 2002 race for re-election.

There is a cautionary note about the Legislature that both business and residents should be looking at closely. It's' the proposed constitutional convention bills. One is on its way to the House floor and the other lies, so far, dormant in a Senate committee. The bills call for a constitutional convention to rewrite the state Constitution.

That means the constitutional dedications tying the Legislature's hands, taking a major portion of the budget out of range for cuts, could be deleted. But it also means constitutional restrictions on the rate of taxation could be removed as well.

But never fear: No one in his or her right mind would propose getting rid of the homestead exemption. It is politically impossible, although reducing property taxes only to support schools for a specific purpose--such as teacher pay or early childhood education-- might have a shot at voter approval. Slight, but a shot.

Louisiana state government is on the verge of making a business decision that makes sense.

The state has finally decided that spending $5,000 per child on early education programs for at-risk youngsters is a better investment than spending $26,000 a year to house them in prisons later on when they get into trouble.

With Gov. Mike Foster's full-backing, the Senate Education Committee got the ball rolling by unanimously approving the bill by Sen. Bill Jones, D-Ruston, to begin implementing programs for at-risk 4-year-olds this fall.

The $15 million cost will come from unused federal funds dedicated to direct aid to poor families; the federal guidelines allow states to spend any of the unused funds on any program that benefits the poor. And early childhood education certainly meets that requirement. There are approximately 65,000 4-year-olds in Louisiana in any given year. All but 14,000 of them get some kind of early childhood education, either from private day-care centers, from the few schools that already have a local program or from Head Start.

The 14,000 who get no services are all "at-risk" children, those most vulnerable, most likely to become delinquents, most likely to enter the first grade not knowing how to spell their own names, recite the alphabet or name colors. Hard to believe among more affluent families, but that's reality.

Unfortunately, the $15 million can provide services to only 3,000 of the 14,000 in need. But Jones, brother of former pro quarterback Bert Jones, is intent on expanding the program as soon as possible.

Jones said the plan is to start out small this fall so the state can build quality programs. The money will be split evenly among the population, using the eight election districts for seats on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. School systems will have the flexibility of creating sub-districts to offer programs in regions where there is the greatest need.

In the meantime, Jones and Gov. Foster's team plan to spend the next year looking for other federal money to expand the program.

Foster bought heavily into the concept of providing early intervention after attending the Republican Governor's Conference and the National Governor's Conference. Early childhood intervention was a major topic at both, said Gwen Hamilton, adviser to the governor and head of his children's cabinet of representatives from all the state agencies that have programs for children.

It was one of the governor's first proposals in his opening day speech to the Legislature. He said it was a moral imperative to fight the cycle of poverty and to do something to help the one-third of Louisiana's children who live in poverty.

Foster also said he "can't even remember" how many times Richard Stalder, head of Louisiana's prison system, has told him that all research shows that early childhood education and intervention programs cause a remarkably high (as much as 97 percent) drop in juvenile delinquency. Kids in these programs tend to finish high school, get some post-high school education and avoid retention in any grade.

An offshoot of this program is that parents are put in touch with social service agencies that offer assistance to families, which increases their awareness.

In West Feliciana Parish, Superintendent Lloyd Lindsey got permission from the federal government to commingle all his federal funds. Coupled with increased tax revenue, Lindsey has been offering early childhood programs for children from birth to 5 years old. The at-risk children in his school system score much better on tests than children in other school systems.

This is only the first step: Louisiana needs to go all the way to prenatal care to make sure mothers know about nutrition and parenting skills.