Bossier City Representative Mike Johnson took to the House floor today to try and clear up some of the misconceptions of his so-called religious freedom bill. Johnson says his bill does not promote discrimination against gays and lesbians. He says it’s only an attempt to safe guard religious freedom…
cut 13 (08) “…involved in it”
Johnson’s bill seeks to prevent the state from denying a resident a business license or tax deduction because of that person’s religious belief about marriage. But state representative John Bel Edwards says the legislation is vaguely written…
cut 14 (08) “….interracial marriage”
Johnson plans to change the language in his bill, when it gets its first hearing in the House Civil Law committee.

Louisiana college students will rally at the state capitol tomorrow afternoon to express their concerns about a potential 600-million dollar cut in state funding to public colleges and universities. Stephanie Travis, who chairs the council of student body presidents, says she started at Southeastern Louisiana in 2009 and has seen how previous budget cuts have impacted the Hammond campus
Cut 10 (07) “previous years”
Lawmakers are looking at how they can preserve higher education, but finding ways to raise revenue to prevent drastic cuts will be difficult. Travis says raising tuition on students is NOT the answer

State Representative Paul Hollis was not in Baton Rouge today as he continues to recover from an automobile accident that occurred with the new security system installed at the state capitol. State Police Lt. J-B Slaton says they are investigating, but it appears the security system worked properly.