Many of you may still be able to score a hundred bucks just for getting your first COVID shot in Louisiana. More from Dave Brannen.
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Louisiana is beginning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to improve water systems in small towns and rural parishes. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Louisiana’s Shot for $100 program is continuing through the end of December with more than 34-thousand 100-dollar debit cards distributed so far to those receiving their initial COVID-19 vaccination. Sheree Taillon heads up the program and says college students are rolling up their sleeves in fear of classes being canceled if they don’t.
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The new Omicron variant of COVID is also expected to increase the response to the Shot for $100 program.
Taillon says the Louisiana Department of Health has partnered with an independent pharmacy group to expand the Shot for 100 program in harder-to-reach areas.
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College students will be eligible for the Shot for $100 program and one debit card whether it’s their first or second shot.
The deadline for college students is still December 10th, not through the rest of the month as it is for the general public.
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With oil prices dropping of late, Louisiana drivers and others nationwide are hoping that’ll mean a drop in gasoline prices, sooner rather than later. Triple A’s Nick Chabarria says it usually takes a while for the transition to lower prices to show up at the pump.
The statewide average price of regular stands at three-10 a gallon in Louisiana, down two cents from a week ago. The barrel price of oil has dropped almost 15-dollars from a week ago.
Chabarria says despite the price drop for a barrel of crude, he says it’s a little difficult to tell how much savings you’ll realize and when you gas up your vehicle.
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Chabarria is optimistic that gas prices will continue slowly dropping as the price of oil declines.
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A Legislative Budget Committee has approved the spending of 23-million dollars in federal money that will be used to modernize very old water and sewerage systems in small towns and rural parishes. House Appropriations Chair Jerome Zeringue says this round of money will fund 29 projects, but there’s more work to be done…
Zeringue says they currently have about 300-million dollars to spend on improving water and sewerage systems that are about 100 years old. He says they plan to approve more projects for funding early next year…
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Local governments must apply for the funding and they need to show a need for upgrading their water systems. Zeringue says the dollars to pay for these projects is the result of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021…
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Thanksgiving Weekend state police responded to 15 fatal crashes. Troop C’s area alone in southeast Louisiana, last month there were 13 deaths from fatal crashes. So, they are working with several agencies like Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre in hopes of curbing impaired driving.
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Webre, along with other law enforcement officers, says they can’t do it alone, they need the public to contact them when they see an impaired driver behind the wheel.
Troopers say more than half of fatal crashes involve impaired drivers and distracted driving from things like cell phones is responsible for a growing number also.
Troop C Commander Lanny Bergeron says you’ll see an increased presence of law enforcement in the area in hopes of reducing the recent increase of fatal crashes.
Webre says the pandemic along with residents coping with the difficulties from Hurricane Ida have resulted in many turning to alcohol and drugs to manage their stress. They also want to find ways to help individuals with addiction.