Visitors to the Louisiana Capitol may have noticed that scaffolding used to restore the building’s limestone and mortar is gone. But work is still needed on the 86 year old building, so a new walkway is being built to shelter those walking into the front doors from falling mortar. Louisiana Division of Administration spokesman Jacques Berry says the front doors are expected to be reopened before the end of the calendar year.
Cut 4 (11) “…top of the steps.”
After 15 years on the run, 44 year old Lonnie Payne is returning to East Feliciana Parish in shackles. Payne had been living in Mexico since his July 2003 escape, when he was serving twelve years for a burglary in Jefferson Parish. Last month, he attempted to come back to the states, presented border officials with a fake identity and after a few days in a Mexican jail, decided to give up and tell the US Consulate the details of his true identity.
The Bayou State is getting a 24-million dollar boost from the federal government to help us rehabilitate opioid addicts and keep them from falling back into the habit that’s killing thousands across the country every year. The federal grant will go to the state Department of Health. Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Behavioral Health Dr. Janice Petersen says it’ll fund a comprehensive recovery program.
Cut 10 (10) “support services.“
The trust fund that covers unemployment benefits for the state is projected to hit one billion dollars this year. The trust fund, managed by the Louisiana Workforce Commission, is the twelfth strongest in the nation. Dejoie says the next big milestone for the trust fund will be 1.275 billion, which will trigger beneficial results for employers who pay into the fund as well as those that draw the benefits from it.