Lawmakers will begin a special session tonight at 6:30 pm to attempt to raise $600 million to close the budget deficit for next fiscal year. LSU economist Jim Richardson, also serves as the chairman of the task force for long term budget reform and says to raise that much money, lawmakers will likely have to alter personal income taxes….
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Governor John Bel Edwards will address a joint session of the legislature at 10 AM tomorrow.

The Louisiana Family Caregiver Act has been signed into law. Advocacy director of the AARP Louisiana, Andrew Muhl, says the measure requires hospitals to offer caregivers instruction and demontrations of medical tasks…
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Muhl says this measure should reduce costly hosptial readmissions as family caregivers will be to perform the tasks the patients need.

A fiscal administrator has been appointed for St. Joseph, which the governor’s office says is a significant step towards bringing clear drinking water to the Tensas Parish town. The governor’s communications director Richard Carbo it’s been a priority for John Bel Edwards since he took office…
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A fiscal administator is needed to get the town’s finances in order, so they can receive state funding to fix their drinking water system, which is currently producing brown looking water.

Authorities say a man who was urinating along Interstate 10 in St. Charles Parish started a chain of events that led a Houma man being killed and two others injured including a State Trooper. Trooper Melissa Matey says charges are pending against Louis Hernandez of Meridian, Mississippi…
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A 42-year-old from Little Rock was critically injured and the unidentified trooper suffered minor injuries.