The competitive race for the 5th district Congressional seat held by a retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham sees its first TV ad buy. Brooke Thorington has the story…
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Governor Edwards responded to the new outlook for Marco and Laura, along with good pandemic news at his 1130AM press conference today. Matt Doyle has more…
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Louisiana has caught a break with Marco as it’s barely a Tropical Storm as it’ approaches Louisiana’s coast National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says wind shear and dry air has pushed all of the thunderstorm activity to Florida and Alabama…
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The forecast calls for Marco to move into Plaquemines and Lower Jefferson Parish this afternoon and then into LaFourche Parish as it continues to weaken.
Zeigler says the bigger concern is with Tropical Storm Laura which is near Cuba. Laura is expected to strengthen as it develops into a Category Two hurricane this week and make landfall along the Lousiana-Texas coast on Wednesday night, Thursday morning. Zeigler says Laura could produce a dangerous storm surge…
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Zeigler says they also expect Laura to be a big storm, which means a large portion of the region could be impacted…
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Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5th Congressional District race to hit the TV airwaves with ads.
Letlow is reporting a strong 500,000 dollars raised so far in the race. ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says its certainly early for a campaign to start TV ads…
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Nine candidates are contending for the vacant seat in the ruby-red district that encompasses large swaths of the northeast and central portions of the state.
Letlows two major Republican opponents are state lawmaker Lance Harris and Police Juror Scotty Robinson. Stockley says Letlow is flexing his frontrunner status.
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The three are likely contending to be the strong favorite in a run-off race with a Democratic candidate.
Stockley says there is some risk in running ads so early in the season considering everyone is distracted by hurricane season, the pandemic, and the Presidential Election.
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The race is on the November 3rd Presidential ballot, and a likely run-off is set for December 5th.
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A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two people dead. A Patterson Police officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin, but Trooper Thomas Gossen says the driver fled, reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.
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46-year-old Warren Joe Hines and 17-year-old Markqel James, both of Franklin were identified as the passengers. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
A toxicology sample was obtained from the driver. Gossen says it is unclear what motivated James to evade police.
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Gossen says the crash is a grim reminder of the importance of being properly restrained.
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Governor Edwards says Louisiana is set to dodge the first of what was thought to be a one-two punch from Marco and Laura.
Edwards says projections of strong tropical storm conditions from Marco in southeast Louisiana appear unlikely to become reality.
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Some storm surge along the southeast coast is still expected but rain totals and heavy winds from Marco are projected to be at best localized.
Edwards says with Marco fizzling the state is turning its attention to Laura and taking the storm very seriously ahead of its projected Wednesday night landfall in southwest Louisiana.
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Laura is projected to be a strong category two at landfall, but Edwards warns conditions are ripe for it to develop into a major category three hurricane.
The Governor did have some good news: last week the state saw the positivity rate of COVID tests continue to drop.
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Despite the recent decline in COVID transmission Edwards says Louisiana is still around 15th in the nation for cases per capita and positivity.
Edwards says those bracing for impact from Laura in southwest Louisiana need to recognize the virus is still very much present as they make their plans.
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