A bill that would have increased the state unemployment benefit from a maximum of 247 dollars to 347 dollars a week was rejected in a House committee. Matt Doyle has the story.

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Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter says residents are “despondent, frustrated, and emotional” after suffering a blow from yet another named storm. Matt Doyle spoke with the Mayor…

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A bill that would result in a loss of construction funding for local governments who decide to reduce their police department’s budget by ten percent advances out of the House. Jeff Palermo has the story…

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The House Labor Committee has rejected legislation that would have increased the state unemployment benefit from 247 to 347 dollars a week.

The panel heard testimony from struggling unemployed workers. Montrell McGraw is a furloughed hotel worker and says at 247 dollars a week he has to make tough choices.

Cut 4 (10) “…down to”

McGraw says under the 600 dollar federally boosted benefits he made ends meet while waiting for his employer to call him back in.

Latoya Howard is a furloughed New Orleans Convention Center worker who says she’s played by the rules and worked her whole life but now can’t pay her bills.

Cut 5 (12) “…system.”

The legislation came as the state is having to borrow money from the feds to keep the unemployment trust fund afloat. Jim Patterson, vice president of governmental relations at Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, says we can’t afford this right now.

Cut 6 (12) “…up there”

Without federal intervention, it is likely that payroll taxes will be hiked on businesses starting next year to replenish the fund.

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Just six weeks after Lake Charles was battered by Laura’s extreme winds the city endured over a foot of rainfall from Hurricane Delta flooding many homes.

Mayor Nic Hunter says Delta was two categories weaker than Laura but a much wetter storm.

Cut 7 (08) “water”

Hunter says the mood in the city is not great as people try to recover from yet another punch, many of whom have yet to even agree to insurance settlements regarding Hurricane Laura.

Cut 8 (11) “…right now”

Hunter says his city needs volunteers and charitable donations, but most of all it needs a promise from the feds that FEMA will reimburse the city for 100 percent of the damages it has suffered this season, just like it did for the Florida Panhandle in 2018 after Michael.

Cut 9 (10) “if not more”

Hunter encourages you to donate to the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana or the United Way to help out.

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The Louisiana House approves a bill that would give the state the authority to take construction funds away from a local government that defunds its police department’s budget by more than ten-percent. Alexandria Representative Lance Harris says cuts to law enforcement will lead to an increase in crime…

Cut 10 (06) “…not sky rocketed.”

An opponent of the legislation, Baton Rouge Representative Ted James, says the defund the police movement has not happened in Louisiana, plus there’s a task force is looking at ways to improve police practices

Cut 11 (10) “…these issues”

Harris responded to James’ argument by telling the House, this bill will make a city or parish think twice before defunding its police department

Cut 12 (10) “..future”

Harris’ measure passed on a 61-26 vote and heads to the Senate for more discussion.

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Today is the last day to register to vote in the November 3^rd election and your only option to do so is online at Geaux-Vote-Dot-Com.

Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin says time is quickly running out and if have any changes to make, or first-time voter registration to do now is the time to do it.

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Once you are registered Ardoin encourages you to download the GeauxVote Mobile App which provides registration info along with voting locations and ballot information.

Ardoin says changing your registration couldn’t be faster or easier, and registering for the first time doesn’t take long.

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Ardoin says we’ve seen a spike in registration that indicates a lot of enthusiasm for the November ballot…

Cut 15 (12) “interest”

Early voting for the November 3^rd election starts Friday and runs through October 27^th from 8 AM to 7 PM.

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The Saints fell behind 20-3 but clawed back to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 30-27 in overtime. New Orleans tied the game at 20 early in the fourth quarter on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees to Jared Cook. Coach Sean Payton says that was one of several big plays

cut 16 (23) “the win”

After the TD pass to Cook, the Chargers scored again when when Justin Herbert hit a wide open Mike Williams on a 64-yard touchdown pass. But the Saints came back to tie on a Taysom Hill 8-yard touchdown run. The Chargers could have won it in regulation, but Michael Badgley hit the upright on a 50-yard field goal try.

Will Lutz kicked a 36-yard field goal in O-T and cornerback Marshon Lattimore ended the game when he tackled Williams just shy of the first down marker.

The Saints head into the bye week with a 3-2 record and Payton says they have time to clean up some mistakes

cut 17 (14) “after the bye”

The Saints next game is October 25th versus the Panthers.

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LSU has five days before its next game to fix a defense that’s allowing nearly 500 yards a game. Coach Ed Orgeron has asked his defensive coaches to simplify the defense in the hopes of eliminating the big plays they gave up in their two losses

cut 18 (24) ” all that is” 

The Tigers are coming off a four-point loss to Missouri in a contest that saw the two teams combine to score 86 points. LSU is at Florida this Saturday. The Gators lost last Saturday at Texas A-and-M 41-38. A lot of points are being scored in the SEC this season, but Orgeron says that’s not an excuse for his defense…

cut 19 (22) “.missed assignments”‘

LSU has also struggled to get the running game going. They only rushed for 49 yards against Missouri. But Orgeron says they are still averaging 39 points a game…

cut 20 (25) “.run the football”

A federal judge rules that a high school senior in Washington Parish can repaint a picture of President Donald Trump on school grounds. Jim Shannon has more…

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An 11-year-old took a school bus on a joy ride through north Baton Rouge Sunday morning. Matt Doyle has the story.

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A federal judge has ruled in favor of a high school senior at Pine High School in Washington Parish after the school board decided to paint over his painting of President Donald Trump at his assigned parking spot. Attorney Yigal Bander represents Ned Thomas and says he’s not surprised by the ruling

Cut 3 (12)  “…United States”   

The painting is part of the school system’s Senior Paint Your Space” program and it received initial approval from the principal at Pine High School. Bander says the superintendent was concerned the painting would create controversy but he says the real controversy started when the picture was painted over with grey paint

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The painting of President Donald Trump had him wearing a stars and stripes bandana and sunglasses. Bander believes the school system got some bad advice on how to handle this…

Cut 5 (10) “…straight forward.”

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Cameron Parish residents are back cleaning up the streets and surveying storm damage for the second time in six weeks. Police Jury VP Scott Trahan says so far it appears Delta was not nearly as destructive as Laura, and any new damage appears to be limited.

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Delta made landfall Friday around 6 PM in the small community of Creole.

Trahan says his mom lived 48 years in Cameron before she ever saw a major storm make an impact, that being Rita in 2005…

Cut 7 (08) “…telling”

Louisiana has suffered a record four named storm landfalls this hurricane season. Nationally we’ve had ten named storms make landfall, a record as well.

Trahan says a lot of folks say they’ll be moving back to Cameron despite the storm damage but he’s hearing from some who are still undecided.

Cut 8 (08) “do it”

As of 2019, Cameron had an estimated population of about 7,000 people.

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An 11-year-old Baton Rouge boy faces several charges, including theft of a motor vehicle and aggravated flight, after stealing a school bus and taking it for a joyride. Baton Rouge Police Sergeant L’Jean McKneely says the young boy saw two buses sitting at Progress Head Start in Scotlandville yesterday

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When asked why he did it, McKneely says to boy told detectives he wanted to take it for a ride. He says they were first told about the rogue driver around 9:45 Sunday morning

Cut 10 (12) “…crash”

The bus hit three vehicles, caused one minor injury before it crashed into a tree and a gas line in the city of Central. McKneely says thankfully the kid didn’t do a whole lot of damage.

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The child also faces an aggravated assault charge, because he allegedly tried to strike a vehicle.

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A priest has been arrested and removed from ministry after allegedly having sexual relations with two women at the alter at Saints Peter and Paul Church in Pearl River. A witness captured video of the incident the reportedly involved a half-naked priest and two women in corsets and heels. There were also stage lights and sex toys involved. New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond…

Cut 12 (08) “…actions.”

The former priest, 37-year-old Travis Clark, and the dominatrices, 41-year-old Mindy Dixon a “Satanatrix”   and 23-year-old Melissa “Empress Ming” Cheng were charged with obscenity.

Aymond says he personally consecrated a new altar for the church.

Cut 13 (04) “…burned”

Clark was ordained in 2013 and had been named chaplain of Pope John Paul II High.

This is the second scandal to hit the New Orleans Catholic church in the past few weeks. The other involved another case of priest sexual abuse. Aymond calls the situation challenging.

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