The House of Representatives delivered Articles of Impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate last night. Senator Bill Cassidy is set to be a juror in an impeachment trial for the second time in a year, and a juror for the only President to be impeached twice…
Cut 9 (09) “…I vote.”
Trump is being impeached on allegations that he incited an insurrection on January 6th.

Many Entergy customers in the state are reporting a significant increase in their latest power bill. Entergy New Orleans CEO David Ellis says it was the perfect storm for there to be an increase for the month of December. Ellis says energy consumption last month was up an average of 20-percent.
Cut 12 (12) “…twelve-percent.”
And the billing cycle was 35 days.

21,400 people had their COVID vaccine appointments at Ochsner canceled after the health system received fewer doses than anticipated. Taylor Sharp has the story.
Cut 1 (30) “ …I’m Taylor Sharp”

The state health department reported today that 43-thousand COVID vaccines have been administered since its last update on Thursday. A total of 357-thousand vaccines have been administered, nearly 47-thousand individuals have received both doses.

Ochsner Health System had to cancel and will have to reschedule more than 21 thousand COVID vaccine appointments after discovering they’d be getting less vaccine supply than expected. CEO Warner Thomas says they’re getting less vaccine supply allocated to them by the state than expected, but it’s not the state government’s fault…

Cut 7 (07) “…Louisiana”

Thomas says they will begin rescheduling people for their first dose as they receive a new supply.

LSU is reportedly close to hiring Minnesota Vikings Defensive Backs coach Daronte Jones as the team’s next defensive coordinator.  Head coach Ed Orgeron joined “Off The Bench with T-Bob Hebert” on 104.5 ESPN this morning and says if the process continues to go well, he plans to have the entire defensive staff completed very soon.

Cut 5  (11) “..pretty soon.” 

The state reports 2,654 COVID-19 cases and 31 fatalities today. Hospitalizations had been declining but went up by 8 today to 1,646. The peak was 2,069 on January 7^th.  Just over 311-thousand vaccine doses have been administered in the state.

Only 49 percent of Ocshner system staff have been vaccinated despite being eligible to be vaccinated for several weeks. They are waiting on additional supply.

Ochsner Health System had to cancel and will have to reschedule 21,400 COVID vaccine appointments after discovering they’d be getting less vaccine supply than expected. CEO Warner Thomas says they will begin rescheduling people for their first dose as they receive new supply, but…

Cut 6 (12) “…dose”

LSU Head coach Ed Orgeron says they are close to hiring Minnesota Vikings Defensive Back coach Daronte Jones, Orgeron was on “Off The Bench with T-Bob Hebert on 104.5 ESPN” this morning and says even though former defensive coordinator Dave Aranda is now at Baylor, they still talk and Aranda recommended Jones.

Cut 4 (14) “…outstanding job for us.” 

A report from the Legislative Auditor finds the state’s air quality has improved since 2008 but the Department of Environmental Quality has problems cracking down on air quality violators in a timely manner. Matt Doyle has the story.

Cut 3 (29)  “…I’m Matt Doyle.”  

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in the state have dropped to the lowest level since late December, that’s prior to the post-holiday season surge we experienced when the state hit a record high. On Monday the health department reported 1,638 hospitalized with COVID, that’s a decline of 431 since the peak of 2,069 on Jan. 7.

Only 49 percent of Ochsner system staff have been vaccinated despite being eligible to be vaccinated for several weeks. Ochsner Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Hart says one of the most common concerns they’re hearing is coming from younger workers who are concerned the vaccine will impact their fertility.

Cut 11 (12) “…about that.”

LSU is surveying students and staff to gauge interest in a potential campus COVID-19 vaccination program. LSU spokesperson Ernie Ballard and so far, it appears that vaccine compliance rates might be pretty good at LSU: Ballard says the sentinel mandatory and random COVID testing program is seeing high levels of compliance.

Cut 6 (09) “…living in.

Enrollment at Louisiana Public Schools is down two percent. State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley says the decline in enrollment is on par with other states.

Cut 7 (16) “…season.”

The two-percent decline equates to 17-thousand students and at least half of those students are pre-k and kindergarten ages.

There are reports that LSU will hire Minnesota Vikings Defensive Backs coach Daronte Jones as the team’s next defensive coordinator.  Head coach Ed Orgeron joined Off The Bench with T-Bob Hebert on 104.5 ESPN and he says that although nothing is finalized, he likes where they’re at in the process.

Cut 3 (12)  “…tolerate it.”

Enrollment at Louisiana Public Schools is down two percent. State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley says many fail to understand the importance of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten to prepare students for elementary education, he’s worried the decline in enrollment will put them further behind.
Cut 9 (11) “…ready”
Brumley says he is confident that more families will have their children return to the classroom when all systems can safely resume face-to-face instruction.
Only 49 percent of Ochsner system staff have been vaccinated despite being eligible to be vaccinated for several weeks. Ochsner Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Hart says some staff are concerned about how quickly the vaccine was developed. He says they’re trying to teach the staff the speed was in part due to how easy it was to find test subjects.
Cut 12 (10) “…work”

A Legislative Auditors report on the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality shows the state making progress in the fight against pollution but raises concerns about regulatory enforcement.
DEQ spokesperson Greg Langley says one complaint in the report is the amount of time it takes to issue enforcement actions against air quality violators has more than doubled since 2008, and DEQ doesn’t keep up with whether pollution fines are being paid once issued. Langley disagrees with many of those conclusions…
Cut 15 (10)“…arm”

The report concludes that a large part of the department’s problem is due to low staffing, including a 15 percent decline in air quality monitoring positions since 2008, high workloads, and frequent staff turnover.

There are reports that LSU has finally found a defensive coordinator Minnesota Vikings defensive backs coach Daronte Jones is expected to become the Tigers new defensive coordinator.

Enrollment is down by 17,000 at Louisiana Public Schools half of those are pre-K and Kindergarten students. Brooke Thorington has more on why school officials are worried.
Cut 1 (32) “…I’m Brooke Thorington”

Only 49 percent of Ochsner system staff have been vaccinated despite being eligible to be vaccinated for several weeks.
Ochsner Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Hart says one of the most common concerns they are hearing is coming from younger workers who are concerned the vaccine will impact their fertility.
Cut 11 (12) “….about that”

A Legislative Auditors report on the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality shows the state making progress in the fight against pollution but raises concerns about regulatory enforcement.
The report raises concerns with how long it takes DEQ to process self-monitoring reports from state polluters and staying on top of industries to submit those reports. Spokesperson Greg Langley.
Cut 14 (10) “…risk.”

LSU is surveying students and staff to gauge interest in a potential campus COVID-19 vaccination program.
LSU spokesperson Ernie Ballard says they’ve emailed all 32,000 students and 5,500 employees…
Cut 4 (06) “…campus.”

Just over half of all Ochsner system staff have not taken the vaccine yet. Matt Doyle has the story.
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Matt Doyle”

There are reports that LSU has finally found a defensive coordinator. Bruce Feldman with the Athletic reports that Minnesota Vikings defensive backs coach Daronte Jones is expected to become the Tigers new defensive coordinator. He’s spent the last five seasons coaching defensive backs with the Vikings, Bengals and Dolphins.

Enrollment at Louisiana Public Schools is down two percent. State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley says the two-percent decline equates to 17-thousand students and at least half of those students are pre-kindergarten and kindergarten ages. Brumley says he’s worried having those students, in particular, out of the classroom is going to hurt literacy rates.
Cut 8 (12) “…do better.”

A Legislative Auditors report on the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality shows the state making progress in the fight against pollution but raises concerns about regulatory enforcement.
Since 2008 the report notes we have seen a 75 percent decline in poor air quality days a year, down to 3.6. DEQ spokesperson Greg Langley says we have also met other benchmarks.
Cut 13 (11) “….parishes”