The House Appropriations Committee is hearing from every state agency as they put together a spending plan for next fiscal year. Baton Rouge Representative Rick Edmonds says the health department’s budget is set to grow to nearly 15-billion dollars and they need confidence the money will be spent wisely
Cut 5 (11) “…we have.”
It was revealed during the hearing that 16-hundred people making at least 100-thousand dollars a year were covered by Medicaid, which is way above the income threshold. But Health Secretary Rebekah Gee says an upgraded computer system should make sure ineligible residents are not receiving taxpayer funded health care
Cut 6 (11) “…very well”

Republican Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain will have an opponent in the October primary. Democrat Charlie Greer of Natchitoches Parish says he’s running against Strain again. Greer received 30-percent of the vote in 2015, when Strain was re-elected to a third term. Greer blames Strain for causing the series of delays when it comes to the legal dispensing of medical marijuana. Strain says he’s just following the law to ensure the product is safe, but Greer isn’t buying it…
cut 14 (11) “…in place”
Greer says if elected, he would also push hard for the regulated production of industrial hemp.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the three children from Avoyelles Parish that were ejected from their church van in a fiery crash on Florida Highway in January where wearing seat belts. The Center for Auto Safety says while seatbelts remain an indispensable safety tool, they are not infallible.