Five parishes that were impacted by flood waters from the Red River have been declared a federal disaster area. Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Kevin Davis says police, fire, and public work departments who had paid overtime during the disaster will benefit from this assistance. He says whether individual citizens affected by the flood will be eligible for federal aid, is still being determined….

cut 8 (09) “give I.A.”

Damage from the Red River flood was estimated at more than 17 million dollars.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is looking into selling advertising on its properties in an effort to raise additional funds. Spokesman Bo Boehringer says the ads will be tastefully done and people shouldn’t expect to see ads pop up in middle of wildlife areas…

cut 5 (09) “don’t forsee that”

He says there is still a lot of work to be done to determine what is made available on an ad sales basis.

Although we use the most electricity in the country, a recent study by WalletHub shows Louisiana is the 10th least energy expensive state. Spokeswoman Jill Gonzalez says one factor they looked at in this study was how much motorists pay for gas and how much they consume…

cut 11 (09) “low there”

The numbers show that, on average, Louisianians pay $284 a month total on energy coming within the top 10.

An LSU AgCenter study finds feral hogs caused at least 30 million dollars worth of damage to Louisiana farms in 2013. Hogs are known to spread fatal diseases to livestock and root up crops. AgCenter economist Shaun Tanger says they are growing rapidly and destroying everything in their path.

cut 13 (12) “livestock”

The Louisiana soybean, hay, rice and corn crops suffer the most from hog damage.