The Jindal administration will propose a budget for next fiscal year to lawmakers that’s expected to include significant cuts to higher education and health care. Jeff Palermo has the story…

CUT 1 (31) “reporting”

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The new movie “Focus”, featuring Will Smith, hits theatres today and it’s just one of many major Louisiana shot movies to be released this year. Scott Carwile reports…

Cut 2 (30) “reporting”

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Comedian Bill Cosby is appearing tonight at the Heymann Performing Arts Center in Lafayette and not everyone is laughing. Michelle Southern reports.

Cut 3 (32) “reporting”

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Governor Bobby Jindal’s proposed budget for next fiscal year will be presented to lawmakers today and significant cuts to higher education and health care are expected. La-politics-dot-com publisher Jeremy Alford says during today’s joint legislative budget committee there will be discussion on how to mitigate those cuts

cut 4  (09)  “be enough”

Drastic cuts are needed as the state faces a  one-point-six billion dollar revenue shortfall. Alford says the governor opposes any tax increase to close the deficit, but Jindal is open to changing the rules for refundable tax credits to increase revenue, but the budget ax will  likely still fall hard

Cut 5  (08)  “budget hole”

Alford says once lawmakers have a chance to see the proposed budget and how bad the cuts will be, ideas will start flowing on how to deal with it….

Cut 6 (08)  “session starts”

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Cleco’s shareholders have approved the sale of the Pineville-based company, but the Public Service Commission still has to give its consent. A North American investor group led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and by British Columbia Investment Corporation is seeking to purchase the utility company. PSC Commissioner Clyde Holloway says he will study this proposed merger carefully.

CUT 7 (10)  “present employees”

Holloway says their job is to take care of people who work for CLEO and its customers. He says he knows what they have now with CLEO, but they don’t know what they’d be getting with Macquarie — a company outside of the US…:

Cut 8  (09)  “and for the employee” 

Holloway says he expects a vote before the PSC during the latter part of the third quarter of this year…:

Cut 9 (07)  “their findings are”

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The new movie “Focus”, featuring Will Smith, hits theatres today and it’s just one of many major Louisiana shot movies to be released this year. Chris Stelly, Executive Director of Louisiana Entertainment, says “Focus” could top the box office this weekend…

Cut 10 (09) “really well”

The streak started last weekend with the release of “Hot Tub Time Machine 2″. Stelly says other Louisiana films scheduled to open this year include “Pitch Perfect 2″ in May and “Jurassic World” in June. Stelly says he’s looking forward to seeing “Get Hard” starring Will Farrell and Kevin Hart that will open next month…

cut 11 (11) “see that one”

This summer will also see the release of “Terminator Genisys” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in July and the reboot of the “Fantastic Four” franchise in August. Stelly thinks this summer is going to be a blockbuster season for films shot in Louisiana…

cut 12 (07)  “of films”

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The embattled comedian Bill Cosby is appearing tonight at the Heymann Performing Arts Center in Lafayette. There are some who aren’t happy about that due to allegations which recently surfaced accusing Cosby of sexually abusing women. Ebony Turner, Director of the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault, is concerned people who still buy tickets to Cosby’s show don’t take these alleged victims seriously…:

Cut 13 (08)  “come forward”

The comedian released a statement thanking fans for love, support and trust and added he can’t wait to warm the hearts of the audience with the gift of laughter. Turner says it’s their hope that people in the audience tonight realize that famous people also have private lives that are very different from who they portray…:

Cut 14 (06) “criminal activity”

The performance is set for 8pm. Turner says there has been so much victim blaming surrounding the Cosby allegations that people are separating Dr. Huxabtable from someone who is capable of committing a horrible crime…:

Cut 15  (12)  “sexual assault”

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The LSU men’s basketball team looks to extend its winning streak to three games on Saturday when they host Ole Miss. The Rebels are led by five-foot-ten guard Stefan Moody, who is averaging 16 and a half points a game. Tigers Coach Johnny Jones Ole Miss likes to create shots for Moody by running him off screens…

Cut 16  (17)  “one look”

LSU has been led lately by Jarell Martin who is also 16.5 points a game. He’s coming off a 25-point performance against Auburn and Jones likes how the sophomore is playing

Cut 17 (19)  “vast improvement”

A win on Saturday for LSU gives them 10 conference wins. In Jones first two seasons in Baton Rouge, LSU won nine games in the league each year

Cut 18 (18) “important’

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The ongoing rift between Governor Bobby Jindal and Senator David Vitter is getting national press. Eric Gill reports…

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2014 Federal Highway Administration data shows that 29-percent of Louisiana’s nearly 13,000 bridges are deficient. Eric Gill reports…

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The ongoing rift between Governor Bobby Jindal and Senator David Vitter is getting national press. In a recent interview with the National Journal, Jindal told the reporter to turn the recorder off and he’d say what he really thinks about Vitter. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says voters in Louisiana do not want to see these two fighting amongst themselves…

CUT 3 (09)  “public trust”

Both the governor and senator have taken shrewd jabs at each other over the years. Pinsonat says it’s amazing that Jindal is getting involved in this now, seeing that he is eyeing a run for president. He says this could hurt the governor’s aspirations…

CUT 4 (05)  “United States Senator”

Vitter is in the midst of a gubernatorial campaign to succeed Jindal. Pinsonat says this rift could actually benefit Vitter in his quest to become the state’s next governor…

CUT 5 (08)  “doesn’t like him”

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As students in Northeast Louisiana miss their 4th winter weather day in a row, officials say all these days off could mean longer days for students. The state requires 63,720 instructional minutes per student per academic year, and Ouachita Parish Superintendent Bob Webber says they’ve already exceed extra time that is incorporated for inclement weather…:

CUT 6 (08)  “to each day”

Webber says the first option will be tacking minutes to the end of each day through the end of the year, but they are very close to adding entire extra days to the calendar. Webber says in his 13 and a half years as Superintendent, he’s never seen more than 2 inclement weather days in a row…:

CUT 7 (08)  “snow and ice”

In addition to the four days this week, Monroe City schools were also out a day in October last year because of an EF-2 tornado that tore through Ouachita Parish causing widespread damage. Webber says even though they have a significant amount of time to make up, you would always rather be safe than sorry when it comes to putting kids on buses in snow and ice…:

CUT 8 (12)  “concern”

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Two Slidell residents have been arrested after they allegedly forced a one-year-old to drink beer. Slidell police detective Daniel Seuzenau says the child’s grandfather noticed signs of abuse

CUT 9 (11)  “child’s throat”

Twenty-four-year-old Brett Flower and 23-year-old Krysten Verdin were arrested on cruelty to juvenile charges. Seuzenau says Flower poured the beer the down the infant’s throat, because he thought it was funny….

cut 10 (06)  “came forward”

Seuzenau says when Flower poured the beer down the child’s throat, it caused him to choke and regurgitate and Verdin then would get upset with the child…

cut 11 (08)  “witnesses”

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2014 Federal Highway Administration data shows that 29-percent of Louisiana’s nearly 13,000 bridges are deficient. That’s the 14th highest percentage in the United States. Louisiana DOTD spokesman Rodney Mallett says motorists should not take this description of bridges in Louisiana too literally…

cut 12 (11)  “that it’s unsafe”

He says DOTD is working to replace and repair as many bridges as they can. Mallett says most bridges are on an inspection schedule of once every two years, with some on a six month schedule. He says there are 81 bridge inspectors throughout the state…

cut 13 (08)  “as needed”

Mallett says, since 2008, DOTD has spent $1.3 billion to replace or repair 467 bridges across the state. He says motorists should not think that that they can’t safely cross bridges in Louisiana…

cut 14 (05)  “in the past”

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The Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office says a now former Alexandria Police Officer is under arrest amid allegations he had sex with a juvenile. Lt. Tommy Carnline says they first got the complaint on December 1st of last year…:(Carnline says the alleged inappropriate sexual conduct occurred while Reed was off duty and it was outside the City of Alexandria.)

cut 15 (08) “police department officer”

Carnline says the city of Alexandria conducted their own internal investigation after the alleged incident occurred and the accused, 38-year-old Deric Reed, was placed on leave immediately. He says the suspect no longer works as a cop..:

cut 16 (10) “of a juvenile”