Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain says skyrocketing insurance costs threaten the state’s 13-billion dollar timber industry. Strain says in some cases insuring equipment has quadrupled in the last year
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The Forestry Association president in South Carolina says premiums are rising because there are only a few companies offering coverage for log trucks.

56 Louisiana National Guard soldiers leave out of Esler Regional Airport in Pineville today for a deployment to Afghanistan. Colonel Ed Bush says these men and women will provide aviation support and all of them have been previously deployed multiple times…
cut 11 (07) “….deploying together”
The deployment is expected to last nine months.

LSU-Texas tickets are a hot commodity ahead of Saturday’s game in Austin. Matt Doyle has the story.
Cut 1 (27) “..I’m Matt Doyle”

Over 100 Louisiana first responders are back in the Bayou State to catch the big game after a deployment to Florida. They were there to assist with search and rescue efforts, but Hurricane Dorian spared Florida from significant flooding.

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring four tropical systems, but none of them are an immediate threat to the Gulf of Mexico.