A 26-year-old Monroe Police Officer died in a traffic accident yesterday. Ayrian Williams was an LSU grad and New Orleans native who worked at the Southern Campus Police Department before taking a job with Monroe in November of 2017. Police Chief Eugene Ellis says the officer had a great reputation in the department after just half a year on the force, and had the talent to work anywhere, but chose to make Monroe her home.
Cut 7 (09) “police department”
The Louisiana Federation of Teachers released a survey of its members that shows 61-percent of them support a statewide walkout or strike, because of low teacher pay. Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Larry Carter says average teacher salaries in Louisiana have been below the Southern average since the 2012-13 school year…
cut 18 (06) “….low pay”
Governor Edwards speaks today at UL Lafayette breaking special session tradition of opening the proceedings by talking in the House chamber. The Governor is calling on the legislature to replace expiring sales taxes to avoid 638 million dollars in budget cuts. University of Lafayette Political Science Professor Pearson Cross says Edwards is hoping to draw attention to the importance to higher ed.
This will be the 9th special session since governor Edwards took office in 2016, when temporary sales taxes that are set to expire in July were raised to address the last fiscal cliff. Cross says the Governor will most likely have to settle for a compromise built around renewing half of the one penny sales tax that is set to expire.
And a low pressure system that could ruin Memorial Day beach vacations across the gulf coast is starting to get the attention of the National Hurricane Center. The system has been named Invest 90L. Current forecasts show it staying east of Louisiana.