Louisiana is once again participating in the federal SUN Bucks program. Andrew Greenstein reports.
Cut 1 (34) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”
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The House has approves measures that seek to lower the payouts car accident victims receive in court. Jeff Palermo reports that supporters say the legal reforms will help drive down auto insurance rates…
Cut 2 (35) “…I’m Jeff Palermo.”
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More than 30,000 residents in Bossier and Caddo parishes were left without power for six hours on Saturday, prompting Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell to demand answers from SWEPCO and the Southwest Power Pool. About what happened and who is paying for it:
Cut 3 (11) “…pay for that?”
The outage, ordered by SPP to prevent a broader grid failure, came without warning and has raised serious concerns from residents and business owners. SPP President Lanny Nickell says they take responsibility and their role in the emergency outage.
Cut 4 (13) “…from reoccurring.”
Campbell stated that while he’s not looking to assign blame, he wants clear answers and solutions. SWEPCO President and CEO Brett Mattison says the outage was a last-resort response to instability caused by planned maintenance.
Cut 5 (08) “…specific area.”
Mattison says they can’t guarantee this will not happen again when temperatures soar above 90-degrees.
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Governor Landry announces yet another major economic development project for Louisiana.
Cut 6 (17) “…in Southwest Louisiana.”
(Woodside Energy Group is investing $17.5 billion investment to build a new LNG facility in Calcasieu Parish)
Woodside Energy is an Australian-based company, and their 17-billion dollar investment in Calcasieu Parish is the largest single foreign direct investment in Louisiana history. It’s also the first greenfield LNG export facility to advance since President Trump rolled back the Biden administration’s pause on LNG export permits.
Executive Vice President Daniel Kalms says he’s proud that the company is making such a huge investment in Louisiana.
Cut 7 (13) “…sector this year.”
Governor Landry says the project will create about 15-thousand jobs during construction and thousands more once the facility is up and running.
Cut 8 (10) “…their incomes raised.”
The announcement comes on the heels of prior economic development announcements, including a ten-billion-dollar Meta A-I data center near Monroe and a six-billion-dollar investment by Hyundai to build a steel plant in Ascension Parish. Construction is already underway, and the goal is to have it up and running in 2029.
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Louisiana is once again participating in the federal SUN Bucks program. The program provides eligible children between the ages of five and 18, 120-dollars to use on food during the summer months when they’re out of school. Tim Jenkins, the economic stability director for the Department of Children and Family Services, says for those already receiving SNAP benefits, there’s nothing that they need to do.
Cut 9 (09) “…household SNAP card.”
Jenkins says those participating in other programs will get a new SUN Bucks card sent to them.
Cut 10 (13) “…the child’s name.”
Jenkins says families have only 122 days – about four months – to use the 120 dollars, and the money may only be used for certain food items.
Cut 11 (09) “…nothing like that.”
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The Louisiana House has approved bills that seek to reduce the big payouts car accident victims receive after filing a lawsuit. One of those measures is Baton Rouge Representative Emily Chenevert’s (SHEN-UH-VAIR) bill, which says if a driver is 51-percent or more at fault for a wreck, they are not entitled to damages. She says states with lower insurance rates have this law…
Cut 12 (12) “…claim for damages.”
Chenevert says the bill would reduce frivolous lawsuits and called it a common-sense change…
Cut 13 (12) “…cover that.”
The bill passed on a 67-26 vote and it has the support of insurance companies.
The House also approved a medical transparency bill. House Bill 34 by Slidell Republican Brian Glorioso would make medical costs admissible in court, so the judge and jury know exactly how much a person injured in a wreck paid in medical costs…
Cut 14 (07) “…consider it.”
Both of these bills head to a Senate committee for further consideration.