11:30 LRN Newscast

Fat Tuesday could be marred by severe weather. Meteorologist Matt Hemingway with the National Weather Service in Shreveport says the severe weather threat begins tomorrow morning….

Cut 6 (11) “…there as well.”

As such, the weather is putting a damper on Mardi Gras parades. In Jefferson Parish, President Cynthia Lee Sheng says high winds in the forecast will make parade conditions unsafe; and thus, all parades tomorrow are cancelled. 

Cut 3 (11) “…hour is possible.” 

President Sheng says if those wind speeds are high enough to keep buses and Entergy crews off the roads, they’re certainly high enough to make conditions for a parade unsafe. Parade times have been moved up in the towns of Kaplan, Crowley and Franklin.

While Lafayette will be the first city in Louisiana to get a Buc-ee’s, Ruston won’t be too far behind. Infrastructure work will get underway next week for the new Buc-ee’s there, with travel center construction starting in about five weeks, Mayor Ronny Walker says the store will benefit all facets of the city.

Cut 12 (08) “…taxes also.”

Senator Bill Cassidy says he’s frustrated that veterans are having trouble getting services from the Veterans Administration; and thus, he’s introducing two bills to address it. The first one is called the VetPAC Act, which would create a policy advisory commission to review the Veterans Health Administration.

Cut 14 (12) “…to patient care.”

The other bill is the Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act, which would create an independent organization to assess the quality of care.