Louisiana has the potential for severe weather today as 2020 wants to take one last jab at the state. Brooke Thorington has more.
Cut 1 (30) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
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Congressman-elect Luke Letlow’s surprising COVID-related death at 41 cut short the life of one of the state’s fastest climbing young political figures. Matt Doyle spoke with Letlow earlier this month ahead of his 5th District runoff win…
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The showdown between Governor Edwards and House Republicans over COVID restrictions was the defining political fight of 2020 in Louisiana. Matt Doyle has the story.
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Most of Louisiana is under an enhanced severe weather threat for the final day of 2020. State Climatologist Barry Keim says a cyclone is expected to form along the Texas coast this morning and travel northward into Oklahoma bringing severe weather to the Bayou State.
Keim says the dicey weather will move across the state from Texas towards the Mississippi Delta as we close out the year.
Outdoor plans are not ideal today with rainfall amounts of one to five inches expected. Keim says the higher amounts of rainfall will be seen in Northwest Louisiana as opposed to Southeast Louisiana.
Temperatures will be cooler once the rain passes through with lows on New Year’s day in the mid-30s for North Louisiana and mid-40s to low 50s in the southern part of the state.
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The state is still in shock over the surprising COVID-related death of 41-year-old Congressman-elect Luke Letlow Tuesday evening.
LRN spoke with Letlow just before his December 5th runoff victory. He said he was excited to head to Washington and get things done with his good friend and fellow Congressman Garret Graves.
Letlow won the December runoff against Alexandria lawmaker Lance Harris with 62 percent of the vote and was set to be sworn-in Sunday.
Letlow spoke highly of his former boss and mentor, retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham, and said it was Abraham who pulled him back into public service in 2014 while he was working for a Denver energy company.
Abraham endorsed Letlow at the start of his campaign for the 5th District, a boost that made him a strong early favorite for the seat.
Letlow said he was looking forward to pushing Congress for the funds needed to take on one of the 5th’s most pressing issues…
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It was a busy year in state politics but it’s clear the defining fight of 2020 was that between the Governor and House Republicans over COVID restrictions and the public health emergency.
House Republicans attempted to override the Governor’s restrictions using a little known petition process but have been, so far, denied by the courts. UL Lafayette Poli Sci Professor Pearson Cross…
Baton Rouge Judge William Morvant rejected the effort, which was brought to court by Attorney General Jeff Landry, in November but last week was ordered by the State Supreme Court to revisit the case in 2021.
Cross says the incredibly vitriolic battle over COVID restrictions in Louisiana was a reflection of the greater partisan battle playing out nationally at that time, and…
Cross says House Republicans’ biggest hurdle was that their Senate colleagues did not back their attempt, which is why he suspects Governor Edwards was never worried about it.
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Despite calls from state and federal officials for folks to stay home for Christmas an estimated 81 million people still took to the roads, but AAA spokesperson Don Redman says road travel was down 24 percent from 2019’s record numbers. Locally…
Redman says only three million Americans traveled by air for the holidays, a whopping 60 percent decrease from last year.
On the bright side, Redman says experts are growing confident that our travel numbers will rebound in 2021 as COVID vaccines become more readily available.