3:30 LRN Newscast June 20

Speaking today at the Baton Rouge Press Club New Orleans Representative and Vice-Chair of House Governmental Affairs Royce Duplessis says the current congressional map – passed in the February Redistricting Session – does not meet certain standards required by the Voting Rights Act, because it doesn’t reflect the state’s one-third black population….:

CUT 13(08)      “…voter dilution.”

He says of the six congressional districts the state’s one-third Black residents should be represented by two of those districts, not one.

A bill that would have assured one could not be discriminated against because one did not have COVID shot has been vetoed by the Governor. Mr. Edwards says he nixed the bill because it’s (quote) “unnecessary and perpetuates a false narrative” and that it undermines public confidence in the vaccines.

 

State Police say two young men – ages 17 and 18 – were killed Sunday night, as they dealt with car trouble along Interstate 10 near Jennings. Trooper Derek Senegal says the boys’ car ran out of gas & they called for help. He says they walked a few feet over to the I-10 frontage road, where they were hit by a Jeep Wrangler. Senegal says the driver of that Jeep says he couldn’t see them in glare from oncoming headlights…:

CUT 11(09)      “…headlights put out.”

After recent incidents at the Bridge City Center for Youth and the Swanson Center for Youth in Monroe, Governor John Bel Edwards has directed the Louisiana State Police and the Department of Corrections to provide personnel to those facilities to help with staffing shortages. Office of Juvenile Justice spokesperson Nicolette Gordon says they welcome the help, and that safety both inside and out remains a priority…:

CUT 09(11)      “…have been seeing.”