If Lt Governor Billy Nungesser gets his wish, the state’s first float to appear in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will steal the show. Brooke Thorington has more.
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State Republican lawmakers are coming out against a Health Department proposal to require COVID shots for kids to attend schools. More from Kevin Gallagher…:
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Tens of millions of people are traveling away from home, or perhaps to home, this Thanksgiving holiday weekend with the highways guaranteed to be crowded as they do. More from Dave Brannen.
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Louisiana is marking its second-largest season over-the-month increase in employment in decades. That’s the word from Workforce Commission Secretary Ava Cates who says the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Ida has had a large impact on the state’s employment situation with a seasonally-adjusted non-farm gain of more than 34 thousand jobs in October.
The largest gains were seen in leisure and hospitality, as well as construction. The jobless rate for October was five-point-four percent, a decline of point-four-percent.
Cates says construction jobs in the state went up by 82-hundred in October, a month-over-month gain coupled with a year-over-year gain of nearly six-thousand jobs.
While a lot of people are shrugging off going back to work because of the pandemic or other reasons, Cates notes the Workforce Commission has a laundry list of job openings up for grabs.
She says New Orleans and Baton Rouge added the most jobs September to October than any other metro areas in the state, with Alexandria the only MSA to lose jobs, 200 of them during the same period.
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Louisiana’s first entry in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade will make history Thursday as the longest float in the parade. Lt Governor Billy Nungesser says Celebration Gator, a 60-foot-long float, will proudly represent the state and promote tourism.
Not only will it be the longest, but New Orleans native and the jazz artist to receive the most Grammy nominations ever at 11, Jon Batiste will be performing on the $1.3 million float.
Nungesser says because Louisiana knows a thing or two about parades, he wanted to make sure Celebration Gator has that wow factor. And while in the Big Apple the float will make several media appearances promoting the Bayou State.
Louisiana has lost millions in tourism revenue due to the pandemic and now with people itching to travel again, Nungesser says Celebration Gator is our new mascot to lure visitors back.
Thursday’s appearance in the parade is the first of a three-year commitment. The parade starts at 9 AM Thanksgiving and can be seen on CBS and NBC.
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Republican state legislators are voicing opposition to a Department of Health proposal to require COVID-19 shots for kids to attend schools. The mandate would apply only to age groups approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for non-emergency use situations – which is currently 16 and older. However, Baton Rouge area state Senator Bodi White says mandating shots for any age group is wrong…:
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The LDH proposal would allow parents to opt-out of their kids having the shots, by signing a statement of exemption. Senator White feels the vaccines are still in an experimental stage, and mandating injections for huge numbers of kids without knowing the possible negative side effects is un-wise…:
Cut 11 (09) “…by doing it also.”
White sits on Senate Health & Welfare which will soon review the LDH COVID proposal. He also is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and says, if LDH insists on giving unproven shots to small kids, the committee can spend their budget elsewhere…:
Cut 12 (09) “…have to do that.”
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The Thanksgiving holiday travel crunch is upon us with experts predicting more than 53 million people will hit the air, roads and waterways to share the love and dinner with others.
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That’s Triple-A’s Don Redman who says the travel volume predicted is within five percent of 2019 pre-pandemic levels and marks the highest single-year increase in 16 years. He says air travel is up 80 percent over last year to a volume of just over four million passengers.
Redman advises those traveling by car to make sure they’re aware of what COVID-19 restrictions might be in place along their route and destination.
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He says the height of highway travel for the holiday weekend should begin this afternoon into the evening hours.
Redman says for those traveling by air, there are bargains to be found for the flight itself, but you may face higher expenses elsewhere.
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As for gas prices, they are holding mostly steady in Louisiana right now, with the statewide average price of regular at around three-13 a gallon compared to a dollar-81 last year at this time.
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Before the 23rd ranked Ragin Cajuns host Appalachian State in the Sun Belt championship game, they’ll host ULM this Saturday, looking for their eleventh straight win. Cajuns Coach Billy Napier says they are not looking past their matchup against the Warhawks…
The Ragin Cajuns beat ULM 70-20 last season for their third straight win over the Warhawks. Napier says they have a much different team this year under first-year head coach Terry Bowden…
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Two teams that can use a win will face off tomorrow night in the Superdome when the Saints host the Bills. New Orleans has lost three in a row, while Buffalo has lost three of its last five and quarterback Josh Allen is coming off a bad performance in a 41-15 defeat to the Colts. Allen threw for 209 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Saints defensive end Cam Jordan on defending Allen…
The Saints defense allowed over 240 yards rushing to Philadelphia last Sunday and Jordan says they have to be a better run defense from this point forward…
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It should be an emotional night inside Tiger Stadium on Saturday night when LSU hosts Texas A-and-M. It will be the final game for Ed Orgeron as coach of the Tigers inside Death Valley and it’s also the final home game for many players like defensive tackle Glen Logan. Logan wants to win for Coach O…