The Mayor of Ponchatoula and other leaders will meet with the Greater Tangipahoa Parish NAACP Branch to discuss the controversial Strawberry Festival poster. The NAACP believes the painting is racist and wants the Kiwanas Club to stop selling it. Former Ponchatoula Kiwanis Club member Christina Rusca says there have been racist overtones in the club for a long time…

cut 14 (09) “that conversation”

She believes the Kiwanas Club will keep the poster.

83-percent of Louisianians want the state’s budget deficit to be resolved through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes according to The 2015 Louisiana Survey. LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab Director Michael Henderson says the way the Louisiana Constitution is written, higher education and health care will take the brunt of budget cuts, but that is not what the public wants…

cut 5 (05) “spent on that”

He says the public seems to support a hike in the so-called “sin taxes”.

A former school board candidate in south Louisiana has been charged with felony sexual battery of a 12-year-old girl whom he used to coach basketball. Lawrence McLeary with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s office says the juvenile told her doctor that she was assaulted by 34-year-old Philip Ziegler of Central about a year and a half ago…:

cut 10 (10) “to report it”

McLeary says the allegation is that the assault occurred when Ziegler had come over to the victim’s house for a bonfire and ended up staying the night.

Louisiana ranks as the fifth worst place to retire according to the financial planning website Bankrate.com. Bankrate’s research analyst Chris Kahn says retirees in Louisiana do not face a huge tax burden, which is good, but the state has the second highest crime rate in the nation, which does NOT make the bayou state a dream retirement spot

cut 8 (08) “in the country”

He says Louisiana scores low when it comes to its crime rate, health care services and weather.