New Orleans hosted the first offshore oil and gas lease sale in 2021 today. Jeff Palermo has the story…
Cut 1 (31) “…I’m Jeff Palermo.”
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A 17-year-old convicted and sentenced to life without parole for killing an East Baton Rouge deputy is getting out of jail after nearly 58 years in prison. More from Dave Brannen.
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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the first Gulf oil and lease sale of 2021 in New Orleans today. President Biden placed a moratorium on new oil and gas development on federal land and waters, but a 13-state lawsuit led by Attorney General Jeff Landry resulted in a nationwide injunction against the executive order
Landry says today’s sale is a win for the hundreds of millions of Americans who rely on affordable and dependable energy…
Landry says today’s lease sale is welcome news but he’s still looking for the Biden Administration to take public action on developing the five-year lease program and without that plan, energy prices will continue to increase…
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Drivers in Louisiana won’t be getting a break anytime soon on the cost of getting from here to there. Tim Waldenback, co-founder of Zutobi, an online driver’s education platform, says in a report just issued that insurance premiums will help keep the state as the most expensive in the nation to operate a vehicle in 2031.
Fuel prices will also keep the Bayou State as one of the most expensive for travel by motor vehicle.
Waldenback says he sees no indication that fuel costs will reverse course significantly over the next decade, keeping the state on track for wallet-draining prices at the pump, more so than any other state in the U.S.
Insurance rates are expected to average close to 33-hundred dollars a year by 2031, with the overall annual costs to own and operate a vehicle in Louisiana to just over 71-hundred dollars a year, a more than 800 dollar increase compared to now.
The report put out by Zutobi is based mostly on the use of combustion engine vehicles, which Waldenback says may change as more and more electric vehicles hit the road.
He says it currently costs nearly 63-hundred dollars a year to own and operate a vehicle in Louisiana, or about 800-less than the projected costs for 2031.
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A 75-year-old Louisiana man who has spent about 58 years of his life in prison for the shooting death of an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputy when he was 17 was granted parole today by the Louisiana Parole Board. Kerry Myers, Deputy Director of the Louisiana Parole Project, says the release of Henry Montgomery, follows a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life sentencing without parole for juveniles was cruel and unusual punishment…
Montgomery had originally been sentenced to death for the murder of Deputy Charles Hurt.
Myers says Montgomery’s case opened the door for many other such cases involving juveniles to be reviewed.
Cut 10 (09) “…an automatic release.”
The Louisiana Parole Board had reviewed Montgomery’s parole request two times previously before granting it today.
Myers says the paroling of Montgomery is similar to thousands that have occurred nationwide and dozens in Louisiana.
Cut 11 (09) “…of that change.”
Montgomery’s death sentence for killing Deputy Charles Hunt was tossed on fair trial challenges, his retrial ending in a sentence of life without parole that was eventually deemed cruel and unusual punishment because he was 17.
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A cold front will be crossing into the state tonight and tomorrow. State Climatologist Barry Keim says the chances of scattered showers will persist today and tomorrow.
Keim says expect highs Thursday in the 60s in northern parishes and in the 70s in the southern parishes. He says the cold air will continue to barrel into the state and as for Friday, you might want to have a jacket handy.
As for Friday afternoon and evening, Keim says we should have ideal weather for playoff games but don’t worry it will warm up again as we continue this oscillating pattern of mild and cold temps.