San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been making headlines for refusing to stand during the National Anthem at games, and the ACLU of Louisiana says they are getting reports about schools punishing kids for sitting during the Pledge. ACLU-LA Executive Director Marjorie Esman says nobody can be forced to stand for the Pledge, salute the flag or anything of that nature…:
cut 11 (09) “everybody has”
They sent a letter to schools reminding them about the First Amendment.

Louisiana has the third highest poverty rate in the country. That’s according to new census data which shows almost 20 percent of people in the state are poor, which is a slight decrease over the prior year…:
CUT 8 (09) “the nation”
That’s Demographer Greg Rigamer.

Monroe based CenturyLink reportedly sent a company wide memo indicating that it plans to lay off as much as 8% of its workforce by the end of the year. The letter said the layoffs are related to the decline in revenue due to more and more people choosing not to have a landline. It is not known how the announcement will affect the local workforce. The company currently has about 43,000 employees worldwide.

This week is National Truck Driver Awareness Week and DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson has been traveling the state in a big rig to see what it’s like. He says a lot of drivers like to take advantage of the fact that trucks can’t speed up as quickly in traffic, but that can be dangerous…:
cut 14 (08) “accidents”
Wilson says most of the things we buy are transported by big trucks, and people should all be appreciative of the important job trucks have in moving commerce.