Today is the final day lawmakers can file bills to be considered for this legislative session. On the eve of this deadline, Baton Rouge Representative Steve Carter has put a bill in the hopper that would increase the state’s gasoline tax by 17-cents. Carter says if approved, his tax hike would generate about 500-million dollars a year…
cut 4 (08) “….resolved”
The state gasoline tax is currently 20-cents.

The House Education Committee approves a bill that would allow public school students to bring sunscreen to school and apply it on their own. Ville Platte Representative Harvey LeBas says skin cancer is a major problem and the goal of his bill is to protect kids from sunburns when they go outside for school activities.
Cut 12 (07) “the protection”
The bill passed on a 12-1 vote and heads to the House floor.

Bossier Parish Sheriff deputies arrest five individuals from Little Rock and a Bossier City teen for their role in sex trafficking case, where the victims were brough into Louisiana in a U-haul truck. Lt. Bill Davis says 18-year-old Antwan Lay of Bossier City is the local man arrested for letting the prostitution take place at his apartment…
cut 8 (10) “…in it”
Davis says two females were rescued from the situation.

The DeSoto Parish Coroner’s office says Cameron Anthony Hernandez from Diana, Texas, was killed when a tank exploded near Mansfield yesterday. A crew was working at the site to clean damage caused by a recent storm.

The Caddo Sheriff’s Office says a nearly 11 foot long alligator shut down traffic on La Highway 1 for nearly an hour early this morning. They said a passer by reported the gator sighting in the middle of the road about 330am and that its tail had been run over by an 18-wheeler. Trappers were called to remove the animal.