With a one billion dollar state budget gap looming, Governor John Bel Edwards has a self imposed Friday deadline on whether he will call for a Legislative special session before the regular session starts on March 12th. Edwards says he’s still waiting on House leadership to support some revenue generating proposals, before he asks legislators to come to Baton Rouge for a special session…
Cut 6: “It just seems… …produce results” (:07)
The state will suffer a loss of a billion dollars of tax revenue when temporary taxes expire on July 1st. A possible start day for a February special session is February 19th.

Monday’s drop of over 11-hundred points of the Dow Jones Industrial average was the biggest one day point decline . Financial analyst Fred Dent says it’s not a time to panic, but a time for investors to reevaluate the market…
Cut 10 (11) “whole year.”

Some workers have more take-home pay as a result of the federal tax reform bill approved by Congress. Sanders Offner owns Crescent Payroll Solutions owner Sander Offner in Metairie says his clients have been asking why their employees are making more money. He says once their client is aware of the tax changes, everyone is happy…
Cut 9 (08) “in itself.”
He says those who didn’t see bigger checks in January because of the tax changes, can make note of that when they file their taxes next year.

A Krewe of Oshun horse rider was given a citation for animal cruelty after he war filmed abusing a horse during the uptown New Orleans parade on Friday. Louisiana SPCA spokesperson Alicia Haefele has recommendations for good Samaritarians looking to stop animal abuse…
Cut 15 (12) “every parade.”
The captain of the horse riding group says the rider will not be permitted to ride with the group again.