A new statewide poll shows Republican Senator David Vitter’s lead in the governor’s race is growing. Scott Carwile has the story…
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The debate over whether Louisiana should keep the controversial Common Core education standards in place ramps up at the state capitol today. Jeff Palermo has more…
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Researchers at the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport are working on a new drug that could possibly help cure addiction. Michelle Southern reports…:
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A new statewide poll shows Republican Senator David Vitter is separating himself even more as the front-runner in the governor’s race. In a survey conducted by Southern Media and Opinion Research, 38-percent of respondents said they would vote for Vitter, his closest challenger is Democrat John Bel Edwards at 25-percent. Pollster Bernie Pinsonat…
cut 4 (08) “the conservatives”
Republican Jay Dardenne finished third in the poll as he received support from 17-percent of those surveyed, while Republican Scott Angelle got five-percent. Pinsonat says the poll also shows there’s very few white voters who are undecided, which is bad news for Vitter’s opponents
Pinsonat says Vitter would have to suffer a catastrophic melt down with his white support not to get into the runoff against Democrat John Bel Edwards…
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The House Education Committee is scheduled to debate legislation today that would remove the controversial Common Core education standards from public schools and replace it with one developed by Louisiana residents. Alexandria Representative Lance Harris authors the bill and he says Common Core was implemented with little public input and now parents see it’s not good for our students…1
CUT 7 (09) “democratic process”
Harris says Common Core has created chaos in the state’s public schools and it’s time to come up with a better assessment test and curriculum…
But Barry Erwin, president of the Council for a Better Louisiana, says ditching Common Core for another education curriculum is a wrong move for the state…
Cut 9 (09) “several years now”
Erwin says schools are wrapping up the second full year of implementation of Common Core. He says there were some bumps in the road at first, but things are proceeding along just fine now….
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Researchers at the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport are working on a new drug that could possibly help cure addiction. Dr. Nick Goeders (geh-derz) says they’re looking at whether or not the pill “EMB-001″ would work for people who have certain dependencies…:
cut 11 (10) “leads to relapse”
Goeders says many people enter treatment centers and do fine while they are there, but then they come back to their old lives and encounter triggers that lead to cravings then they begin using again. He says EMB-001 blocks the body’s stress responders which interferes with triggers that lead to cravings…:
cut 12 (05) “going to relapse”
Goeders says the drug is being developed in partnership with Embera Neuro and they estimate it may be three to five years before it can go to market. He says the difference between their drug and other drugs that aim to block people from getting high or feeling the effects of drugs, EMB-001 goes directly after the cravings…:
Cut 13 (07) “in the first place”
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New Orleans Pelicans General Manager Dell Demps says the decision to release Monty Williams as head coach was one agreed to by everyone within the organization. Williams led the Pels to the playoffs for the first time in four seasons, but Demps says the firing decision was not based on what did or did not happen…:
Demps says he is going to lead the coaching search which is underway immediately. It’s been reported that the GM and Williams did not see eye to eye on many personnel moves, but Demps says he didn’t see it that way…:
Demps says he personally talked to certain players, including star Anthony Davis, about the decision to let Williams go after the fact but he’s keeping those conversations private. He believes the program will be attractive to potential coaches during the search…:
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The Attorney General’s office says two former St. John the Baptist Parish Water Works employees were convicted Tuesday for covering up their failure to properly collect water samples from testing sites. The Department of Health and Hospitals later found a brain eating amoeba at those sites. Kurt Wall directs the criminal division at the AG’s office.
Cut 17 (10) “what happened here”
Wall says 55-year-old Kevin Branch of LaPlace and 43-year-old Danielle Roussel of Paulina, both pleaded guilty to false swearing. Branch was convicted on two counts and Roussel on one count. Wall says the two were lying about taking samples and also lying about chlorine levels. He says they were covering the areas where the brain eating amoeba was discovered
Wall says both were sentenced to one year in parish prison, with that sentence suspended, and 6 months probation. He says they are appreciative to all who helped in this investigation…: