Governor Edwards has signed the Blue Lives Matter Bill into law, which makes Louisiana the first in the nation to expand its hate crime laws to protect police, firefighters and EMS crews. Author of the legislation, Alexandria Representative Lance Harris says the new law allows prosecutors to seek tougher penalties against individuals who intentionally target first responders because of their profession.
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President of the Louisiana NAACP, Ernest Johnson says this law is just a knee jerk reaction to the Black Lives Matter campaign and unnecessary.
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Five other states have tried to pass similar bills, but they all failed to pass.

Governor John Bel Edwards could issue the call for the next special session as early as today, according to Jeremy Alford with LaPolitics.com. Halen Doughty has more…
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NOAA will issue its outlook for the 2016 hurricane season today. State climatologist Barry Keim expects the federal forecasters will predict an average season. He says there are two factors working against each other, cooler than normal sea surface temperature, which is an indication for fewer storms, and La Nina coming later this season, which is an indicator for more storms.
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