There’s a discussion about moving the Atlantic hurricane season up by two weeks. Brooke Thorington has more
Cut 1 (31) “…Brooke Thorington.”
_______________________________
Governor Edwards’ proposed 400 dollar K-12 teacher pay raise has some teacher advocates crying foul. Matt Doyle has the story.
____________________________
The Johnson and Johnson effort to end the pandemic received emergency use authorization Saturday. Brooke Thorington on what makes this vaccine different from the others.
Cut 3 (30) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
____________________________
The Workforce Commission reports the state unemployment system was bombarded with fraudulent applications last year, but most were rejected.
The Workforce Commission has turned over 28,000 suspected cases of attempted unemployment insurance fraud to law enforcement. Secretary Ava Dejoie says those attempts did not succeed.
The Commission also suspects they have an additional 60,000 could be fraud attempts. Assistant Secretary of Unemployment Insurance Robert Wooley says these applications have incomplete information, and…
Dejoie says 2020 was an incredibly busy year for the department in general. They disbursed 8 billion dollars in federal and state UI benefits.
________________________
The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts June 1st, but a committee at the National Hurricane Center is looking at changing the start date to May 15th. State Climatologist Barry Keim says the two-week jumpstart might be justified.
Keim says but the bigger question is are we detecting storms sooner or is climate responsible for the earlier start.
The answer to the question according to Keim is that possibly both is happening, climate change and better surveillance.
Keim says hurricane season is tied to sea surface temperatures and when they become warm enough, they can feed energy into creating a tropical storm or hurricane. He says June 1st is not necessarily some magical date.
Keim says by moving the hurricane season up two weeks it may help to foster earlier preparation and forecasting for the Atlantic season.
The record-breaking 2020 season began May 16th when tropical storm Arthur formed east of Florida.
_____________________________
Many teachers are scoffing at the Governor’s proposed 400 dollar teacher pay raise, calling it far too little. Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana Director Dr. Keith Courville says the Governor needs to add an extra zero to that figure if he wants to rival the pay teachers can find in neighboring states.
The 400 dollar pay raise for teachers and 200 dollar pay raise for support staff will cost the state an additional 40 million dollars a year. The proposal will be debated in the upcoming April legislative session.
Courville says teachers made great sacrifices for the state during the pandemic and this proposal is just a slap in the face.
Courville says the Governor is not on track to meet his campaign trail promise of getting Louisiana teacher pay up to the southern regional average.
A+PEL is not associated with either of the state’s two major teachers unions, the LAE or LFT, and Courville described the 9,800 member group as the state’s independent, non-partisan teachers association.
_____________________________
The Johnson and Johnson one dose COVID-19 vaccine has received emergency use authorization and doses should arrive in the state this week. Tulane School of Medicine Professor Dr. Lisa Morici says data shows the J & J vaccine doesn’t have any of the severe allergic reactions shown with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines..
Cut 13 (11) “…injection site.”
Morici says don’t get caught up with the stats that J&J’s has an overall efficacy rate of 66-percent versus in the 90-percent and greater of the other vaccines.
When given the opportunity to be vaccinated, Morici says take whichever vaccine is first offered.
Besides being one-dose, Morici says the J & J vaccine also doesn’t require extensive cold storage like the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines making it ideal for transport in rural areas.
On Thursday, State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter said that once approved the state anticipated receiving up to 38,000 doses of the J & J vaccine this week in addition to the weekly allocation of more than 97,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
______________________________________
Louisiana Tech men’s basketball recorded two blowout victories over the weekend beating Rice 101-57 and 79-58. Kalob Ledoux had a season-high 25 on Friday and followed that up with a 17-point performance on Saturday. Coach Eric Konkol says he’s proud of Ledoux
Before Saturday’s game, Tech celebrated the collegiate careers of the six senior Bulldog basketball players who have led the team to a 19-6 record this season. Konkol calls them a special group…
There is the potential for another game to be added, if not La Tech will play in the Conference USA Tournament next week in Frisco, Texas.
___________________________________________________
The LSU men’s basketball team had a five point lead at Arkansas on Saturday, but played poorly in the second half and fell behind by 20 before losing to the 20th ranked Razorbacks 83-75. Coach Will Wade says it was a tale of two halves
Cut 18 (20) “…advantage of that.”
________________________________________________________
After a couple of tough losses on the road in Milwaukee and San Antonio, the Pelicans return home tonight to host the Utah Jazz, who have the best record in the NBA. On Saturday, the Pels fell to the Spurs 117 to 114 to drop their record to 14-19. After the game, New Orleans All-Star Zion Williamson said the team is close to winning a bunch of games…
Williamson says his teammates are determined to keep fighting, which is why he believes this team is close to turning the season around…