Lawmakers in the Louisiana House are having trouble bridging the same divides that left two previous special sessions this year without a tax deal.
    
As the House returns Friday for further negotiations, lawmakers are wondering if this third special session will end with the same inaction as the first.
    
Steep budget cuts across college campuses and state programs are near. They’ll hit agencies and higher education in July if lawmakers don’t agree to additional taxes.
    
Republican House Speaker Taylor Barras urged lawmakers Thursday night to continue tax talks, to try to break the stalemate. But he described his chamber at an “extreme deadlock.”
    
At issue is how much of an expiring 1 percent sales tax to renew. Renewal takes a two-thirds vote, requiring a mix of Republican and Democratic votes.