3:30 PM Newscast Jan 28

Governor Jeff Landry is asking for support from Senator Bill Cassidy to confirm RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Sean Richardson has more.

Cut 2 (33) “…I’m Sean Richardson.”

Farmers say despite the single-digit temperatures that gripped the state last week, sugarcane appears to have held up quite well, but LSU AgCenter sugarcane expert Kenneth Gravois says the full extent of damage will remain unclear for weeks.

Cut 4 (09) “…crop starts emerging.”

Gravois says the timing of the freeze helped avoid disaster.

Louisiana is reporting job growth again. Emily DiPalma with the Louisiana Workforce Commission says the state gained 25-hundred non-farm jobs last month with some select industries leading the way.

Cut 13 (12)  “…year as well.”

The Louisiana Forestry Association is encouraging industry to utilize the overabundance of trees in the state’s forests. Executive Director Buck Vandersteen says with trees growing at a much faster rate than those being harvested, that creates an opening for the biofuel industry to thrive.

And he says biofuels produced by forestry are entirely renewable.

Cut 8 (14) “…many different ways.”

Vandersteen says harvesting trees in forests will also reduce the threat of wildfires.