LRN AM Newscall November 28

It was a Louisiana set and based film that kicked off the Hallmark Christmas movie season on Thanksgiving. Brooke Thorington has more.

Cut 1 (31) “I’m Brooke Thorington.”

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A new Louisiana company has received FDA clearance to provide its chemo-rated nitrile gloves to the U.S.’s huge health care industry. Marsanne Golsby has more on the significant accomplishment by Safe Source Direct…:

Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Marsanne Golsby.”

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The Third District PSC election is one of the major races on the December 10th ballot as early voting is underway. Jeff Palermo has more on this race that will be decided by voters in southeast Louisiana…

Cut 3 (30) “…I’m Jeff Palermo”

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An Alexandria man is convicted of planting bombs at three businesses in Monroe and Alexandria in 2019 and 2020. A federal jury found 40-year-old Daniel Aikens guilty of 3 counts of Making a Destructive Device, 3 counts of possession of bombs and more. Brandon Brown is the U.S. Attorney for the state’s Western District and he’ll push for a long sentence…:

Cut 4 (08)  “…as long as possible.”

Aikens set off a bomb at a Monroe beauty school in September 2019. Three months later he planted a bomb at an Alexandria gas station. A third device went off in January 2020 at an Alexandria payday loan office. Brown says Aiken called some of the businesses afterward to extort cash to prevent another bombing…:

Cut 5 (05) “…by greed. By money.”

Brown credits the prosecutors in his office for working with the FBI to put together a tight case against Aikens, a good amount of forensic evidence and C.S.I. work to nab Aikens. Aikens sentencing is scheduled for March 3rd of next year. Brown says Aikens is a bad person and needs to do serious jail time…:

Cut 6 (07)  “…40 years max.” 

Aikens is set for sentencing in December and faces up to 40 years. He also faces a murder charge in Grant Parish from a 2017 homicide.  He’s accused of killing one of his former employees who died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

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Fans of Hallmark Christmas movies are getting an added spice of Louisiana holiday traditions this year with “My Southern Family Christmas.” Ascension Parish native and filmmaker Daniel Lewis says it’s a sweet film about a family that was set and filmed in Sorrento.

Cut 7 (05) “…tradition.”

But it’s not your typical Hallmark movie. Lewis says it revolves around a Dallas reporter who ends up covering a story about Sorrento’s newest Pere Noel who happens to be her father who left when she was an infant.

Cut 8 (07)  “…about a family.”

With more than 50 films to his credit, it’s not the first production Lewis has shot in the Bayou State. Lewis says working with trained film crews in the area is always an added benefit along with the economic boost it brings to shooting locations.

Cut 9 (09)  “…mass audience.”

My Southern Family Christmas film kicked off the Hallmark Holiday season with a primetime premiere on Thanksgiving.  On December 3rd Lewis’ film A New Orleans Noel set in New Orleans and filmed in Natchez debuts on Lifetime.

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A Louisiana company has received FDA clearance for its chemo-rated nitrile exam gloves to be used in health care. SafeSource Direct partner Steve Mott says the approval positions the company to meet the demand to help keep healthcare workers safe.

Cut 10 (11) “…protected.” 

SafeSource is located in Broussard. Mott says the company was founded in January 2021 as a joint venture between Ochsner Health and Trax Development in response to disruptions in the worldwide supply chain.

Cut 11 (09)  “…at risk.”

Mott says more than 90 percent of medical grade nitrile gloves are manufactured outside the US. He says SafeSource can  produce 108,000 gloves per hour, and the expansion will mean it will produce more than 2 billion gloves annually. He says the FDA approval will mean the addition of more than 13-hundred jobs to the facility, which already employs more than 850 people.

Cut 12 (06) “…them here.”

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Early voting is underway and one of the big items on the ballot is the third district Public Service Commission Race as New Orleans Democrat Lambert Boissiere seeks a fourth term, but is facing a significant challenge from Davante Lewis. Boissiere has been on the P-S-C since 2005 and he says he’s kept utility rates in check

Cut 13 (11) “…they want”

But Lewis says utilities like Entergy used their monopoly power to generate record profits without making the necessary investments. He says utilities use campaign contributions to buy their way out of regulation

Cut 14 (09)  “…same entities”

Lewis says he’s refused to accept donations from industries regulated by the PSC. But Boissiere denies claims that utility companies can buy his vote…

Cut 15 (08)  “.  utility companies”

Lewis says the state’s electrical grid is crumbling and depends on outdated infrastructure and dirty, volatile energy sources. He says he’ll push for utilities to speed up the adoption of clean, renewable energy sources…

Cut  16 (09)  “…the state”

Boissiere says he’s championed wind and solar energy production in Louisiana.

The third PSC district covers Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, plus the River Parishes and sections of the Baton Rouge area.

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For the first time since 2002, the Saints were shut out in a regular season game as New Orleans failed to score any points in a 13-0 loss to the 49ers in San Francisco. Coach Dennis Allen says it was a disappointing loss…

Cut 17 (18) “…advantage of them…

It was not a surprise to see the Saints offense struggle. San Francisco leads the NFL in fewest yards per game given up. But New Orleans had some chances, but kicker Will Lutz missed a field goal, Alvin Kamara fumbled twice for the first time in his career and Allen says there were some passes that could have been caught…

Cut 18 (25) “…you have to make” 

The Saints are at Tampa Bay next Monday.

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Disappointing end to what was a great regular season for the LSU Tigers as they lost on Saturday to Texas A&M 38-23 in Bryan-College Station. The Aggies rushed for 274 yards and a Jayden Daniels fumble in the third quarter that led to a scoop and score for A&M resulted in the upset. Coach Brian Kelly

Cut 19 (19) “…didn’t have it”

So LSU finishes the regular season with a 9-3 record and the SEC West champs will face Georgia in the SEC title game on Saturday in Atlanta. Kelly says his team learned a valuable lesson in the loss to the Aggies…

Cut 20 (19) “…on the road”