The Alliance for Affordable Energy is urging the state and utility regulators to take steps to prevent another widespread blackout. Colleen Crain reports.
Cut 1 (32) “…I’m Colleen Crain.”
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The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network held Cancer Action day at the Capitol to advocate for increase cancer funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Sean Richardson has more.
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Sean Richardson.”
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A statewide ban on kratom is now one signature from Governor Landry away from becoming reality. Andrew Greenstein reports.
Cut 3 (35) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”
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The ULM School of Education earned an A+ rating from the National Council on Teacher Quality for its elementary math teacher preparation, one of only four Louisiana universities to achieve this distinction. School of Education Associate Director Dr. Shalanda Stanley says the NCTQ evaluated 17 programs, focusing on time dedicated to key math content and math pedagogy.
Cut 4 (11) “…very proud of it.”
This follows ULM’s prior A+ rating in Reading Foundations. With 25-percent of Louisiana’s 4th graders lacking basic math skills, per the National Assessment of Education Progress, ULM’s rigorous, CAEP-accredited programs, led by Stanley, prepare teachers to address critical educational needs.
Cut 5 (10) “…student performance.”
Stanley says the difference is shortening the gap between learning how to do it and actually practicing implementation with students getting hundreds of hours of field experience prior to full-time teaching.
Cut 6 (12) “…are the students.”
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The Alliance for Affordable Energy is urging the state and utility regulators to take steps to prevent another massive outage like the one New Orleans experienced Sunday night. The alliance’s clean grid manager, Yvonne Cappel (cah-PELL)-Vickery, says MISO should not be the ones to blame; one factor behind the outage was poor transmission planning among the utilities.
Cut 7 (10) “…us in Louisiana.”
The weather in the New Orleans area Sunday was considerably warmer than forecast; and as such, MISO was forced to order the blackouts to preserve energy. Earlier, Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis blamed the DOGE cuts on the inaccurate forecasts. Cappel-Vickery says it’s imperative that the National Weather Service be fully staffed to prevent blackouts like this.
Cut 8 (13) “…such as this.”
Cappel-Vickery says accurate weather forecasting is essential for utility companies to determine how much load is necessary to meet the demand.
Cut 9 (09) “…we have available.”
Cappel-Vickery is also urging regulators to continue to ask the hard questions in order to fully understand how this happened so that they can enact measures to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
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The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network held Cancer Action Day at the Capitol. Louisiana Government Relations Director for the ACS CAN Alice Kline says the rally was to advocate for increased funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
Cut 10 (10) “…so heavily.”
Kline says advocates met with lawmakers to stress the importance of investing tobacco tax revenue in initiatives to prevent youth tobacco use and help smokers quit.
Cut 11 (10) “…long-term Medicaid costs.”
Kline urged for sustained funding for the Louisiana Breast and Cervical Cancer Program and the Louisiana Tumor Registry to enhance early detection and reduce cancer burdens.
Cut 12 (10) “…each year.”
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A ban on kratom in Louisiana is now one signature from Governor Landry from becoming law. The State House has followed the Senate’s lead in overwhelmingly voting to ban the supplement sometimes known as “gas station heroin.” The House vote on West Monroe Senator Jay Morris’ bill was 86-to-6. Kenner Republican Debbie Villio presented the bill in the House. She said kratom is cloaked in deception.
Cut 13 (08) “…routinely do so.”
Villio says kratom is highly addictive and potentially fatal.
Cut 14 (11) “…bad, bad stuff.”
Covington Republican Peter Egan offered up an amendment that would have allowed the sale and use of only naturally-occurring kratom. That, along with another amendment, were voted down. Egan argued that more than six-percent of Louisiana’s population uses kratom.
Cut 15 (13) “…that consumes it.”
Egan says when used properly, naturally occurring kratom has its benefits.
Cut 16 (14) “…an addicted need.”
The Senate vote earlier this month was 26 to 11. Again, it now heads to Governor Landry’s desk for his signature.
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LSU Baseball is hosting its 28th Regional this weekend and its first since 2023. Designated Hitter Ethan Frey from Rosepine was a freshman on that team and is excited to experience postseason baseball at the Box once again….
Cut 17 (12) “…every game.”
The Tigers offense has looked better at the Box than on the road and Frey says that’s not a coincidence….
Cut 18 (18) “…looks like so.”
Frey was a two-time state champion at Rosepine High and was on the 2023 LSU national championship team. The junior says losing in the Regional last year helped motivate him this year…
Cut 19 (15) “…season again.”