Governor Edwards is expected to veto a bill to conceal carry a handgun without a permit and the bill to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports. Brooke Thorington explains once a session has ended overriding a veto isn’t easy.
Cut 1 (31) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
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Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Monty Sullivan is celebrating the legislative passage of what he calls “TOPS for grown folks”. Matt Doyle has more.
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Shreveport Representative Alan Seabaugh wants House leadership and law enforcement to take action against Bogalousa Representative Malinda White for allegedly grabbing and threatening him with gun violence on the House floor. Matt Doyle has the story.
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The LSU baseball season is over and so is the hall of fame coaching career of Paul Mainieri. Tennessee hit six home runs in a 15-6 rout of the Tigers to complete a sweep of the Super Regional Series. Mainieri was visibly emotional in the ninth inning. The 63-year-old says he was thinking about his late father and his nearly four decades as a coach…
LSU’s season ends with a 38-25 record and the Tigers fall short of reaching the College World Series. Mainieri says his team battled all year long…
Tennessee won the super regional series two games to nothing. They won the first game four to two and then rode that momentum to an easy victory in game two. Mainieri says it was a tough way to end an up and down season…
Cut 6 (10) “…call it a career.”
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Governor Edwards is expected to soon sign legislation that would provide grants to low and middle-income workers 21 and older who want to go to a community or technical college.
Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Monty Sullivan calls the grants “TOPS for grown folks” who want to go into one of five high-demand, high pay fields…
Only those making 300 percent or less over the federal poverty line, or about 38,000 dollars a year, are eligible.
Individuals who meet the income, age, and career field requirements can be awarded up to 3,200 dollars a year and 6,400 dollars total.
Recipients can use the grants on a range of programs from full two-year nursing degrees to multi-week industrial certification programs.
The grants will cost the state 10.5 million dollars a year and Sullivan expects they’ll spend every dollar of it, and hopefully be able to expand the program in the future.
Once signed into law the grants will begin in the summer of 2022.
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Governor Edwards is expected to veto two high-profile bills from the 2021 legislative session that made their way to his desk. One bill bans transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports, the other the right to conceal carry without a license. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says overriding a veto isn’t simple.
Pinsonat says to override a veto after a legislative session, the majority of both houses must agree to reconvene and return to the capital city and hold a veto session. He says it is an extremely rare occurrence and traditionally the upper chamber votes against it.
The question remains will the Republicans want the two bills passed enough to return to the capitol and hold a veto session. Pinsonat believes Edwards already has an idea of how a veto will be received if he does indeed refute the legislation.
If both chambers do agree to return for a veto session it will take a two-thirds majority vote of both houses to override a veto.
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Shreveport Representative Alan Seabaugh says he’s filed a police report against Bogalousa Representative Malinda White for allegedly threatening gun violence against him on the House floor.
The incident occurred after a heated argument over White’s domestic violence-related bill that was opposed by Seabaugh. Seabaugh says they were arguing about an amendment when…
White says as a domestic abuse survivor she was triggered by Seabaugh telling her she didn’t understand the legislation she wrote. Seabaugh says the argument was over a technical difference in the bill’s wording. House Speaker Clay Schexnayder confirmed State Police is investigating the incident.
Seabaugh says White was “way too emotionally involved with the bill” and is “irrational about the issue”. He also says other unnamed individuals accused White of similar behavior earlier in the session.
White apologized for her actions on the House floor Thursday after withdrawing the legislation at the heart of the conflict but has not made further comments about it. The bill was opposed by both the conservative Christian advocacy group Louisiana Family Forum and the NRA.
Seabaugh says White is guilty of simple battery or assault and wants law enforcement and House leadership to take action against White. He says if he had done the same thing, he’d be tossed out.
The Advocate reports prominent House Democratic Representative Ted James of Baton Rouge will represent White if she is charged.