Over 200,000 kids are expected to attend summer school for what the Superintendent of Education calls the most important summer school in modern history. Matt Doyle has the story.
_______________________________
Attorney General Jeff Landry says a college vaccine mandate, such as the one being requested by the LSU Faculty Senate, would be illegal. Matt Doyle has the story.
____________________________
Besides the vaccines for COVID, there is also a clinical trial underway for a nasal spray to prevent you from catching the virus. Brooke Thorington explains.
Cut 3 (30) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
____________________________________
Louisiana K-12 schools are preparing to educate over 200,000 students for summer school after a year where most students spent a lot of time out of the classroom and in front of screens.
Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley says they managed to have 70 percent of students back in the classroom by the end of the recent spring semester, but many still need help before the fall starts.
Brumley says to incentivize more summer school attendance they’ve encouraged school systems to use federal funds to create more of a summer camp, and not a summer school experience.
Brumley says if your child is not attending summer school then you need to engage them with some kind of continuing education to keep them up to speed.
_______________________________
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries confirms that a single Red Piranha was caught at University Lakes in Baton Rouge last week. Aquatic Nuisance Species Coordinator Robert Bourgeois says the South American native fish with teeth can throw things out of balance in our ecosystem here in Louisiana.
As for how the invasive species made its way to the lakes on LSU’s campus, Bourgeois has a theory.
Bourgeois says so far only one piranha has been discovered, but they continue to check the University Lake system and take samples.
Cut 9 (08) “…winter temperatures.”
All piranha species are illegal to possess or sell in Louisiana.
______________________________
Attorney General Jeff Landry blasts the LSU Faculty Senate’s request that the school adopt a mandate requiring students be vaccinated to attend classes in the fall.
LSU Interim President Thomas Galligan says he will once again “review” the request, but Landry says there’s nothing to review and the mandate would be illegal.
LSU spokesperson Ernie Ballard says while they are reviewing the request “we do not believe we will be able to mandate vaccines on campus.”
Tulane, Dillard, and Xavier have announced that they will be adopting vaccine mandates. Landry says he believes that decision is illegal as well.
Cut 11 (10) “…University receives.”
Chronicle of Higher Education Data shows more than 400 colleges nationwide have adopted vaccine mandates. The UL System will not mandate the vaccination for the fall semester.
The Faculty Senate says the only way to ensure a safe, normal semester is to mandate vaccination, but Landry says if the faculty wants to be safe they should just get vaccinated themselves.
Landry says also impacting the legality of such mandates is the fact that the vaccines are still under emergency use authorization. A reported 77 percent of LSU employees were vaccinated as of the end of May, but only 21 percent of Louisianans ages 18 to 29 have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
____________________________
A nasal spray clinical trial is underway to prevent COVID-19. Baton Rouge Rhinologist Dr. Henry Barham is overseeing the trial in Louisiana and says the spray works differently from the vaccine. The vaccine helps you build up antibodies to fight off the virus when you contract it.
Clinical trial participants must be 18 and older and not have been diagnosed with COVID, but you can still participate if you been vaccinated. Barham says they are following participants for six weeks after use of the nasal spray and checking to see if the medication remains in your nose and isn’t absorbed elsewhere in the body.
Barham says the spray is not necessarily a substitute for the vaccine, he says the spray compliments the vaccine. He says the spray is targeted to one part of the body as opposed to entering the bloodstream.
Barham says they are looking for around 90 additional participants for the study.
_______________________________________
Louisiana Tech will begin its run through the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at J-C Love Field at Pat Patterson Park when they host Rider at 6 PM. Bulldogs Coach Lan Burroughs says his message to the team is to play loose, just like in the Conference USA Tournament
Cut 16 (17) “…trouble winning.”
_____________________________________________
The LSU Tigers are looking to give retiring baseball coach Paul Mainieri a second national championship as they leave today for Oregon to play in the Eugene Regional this weekend. Starting pitcher Landon Marceaux says he was stunned when Mainieri told the team that this is his last season
Left fielder Gavin Dugas will be forever grateful to Mainieri…
Cut 18 (17)”…appreciative of that.”
________________________________________________
One of the best stories in the NCAA Baseball Tournament is the McNeese Cowboys. The team has overcome a devastating hurricane, a paralyzing winter storm, and historic floods at the end of the season to earn a spot at the Fort Worth regional along with TCU, Oregon State, and Dallas Baptist. Pokes Head Coach Justin Hill says his team is here due to his players’ positive mindset.
Cut 19 (14) “…baseball things.”
The Cowboys will take on TCU at 6 PM Friday on ESPN 3. While Hill doesn’t know the pitching rotation yet, he knows he’ll rely on ace Will Dion, who has a 2.81 ERA this season after starting two games last week in the Southland Tournament…