Louisiana will continue to have one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation as the House Criminal Justice Committee voted ten to five against a bill to add exceptions for rape and incest. A bill to lessen penalties against doctors who perform abortions and require only one doctor’s opinion instead of two in order to get an abortion because of a futile pregnancy also did not pass.

State Police release body cam video of a fatal Shreveport officer-involved shooting last month. Kevin Gallagher has more…:
Cut 1 (31) “I’m Kevin Gallagher.”

Labor quality surpassed inflation as the top concern in the latest Small Business Optimism Survey. NFIB State Director Dawn McVea says 24 percent of ‘Mom and Pops’ say filling job openings with qualified workers is their top concern followed by inflation at 23 percent.
Cut 13 (08) “…that’s down.”
McVea says finding qualified applicants has been an issue since the pandemic and a good number of small businesses have or plan to increase wages to rectify the problem.

Legislation that would require schools to establish safety policies for carpool and bus lines for K-5th graders was approved by House Education. Slidell Representative Robert Owen authored the bill in response to last year’s death of six-year-old Emma Bell Savoie who was fatally struck by a truck in the parking lot at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Slidell.
Cut 7 (10) “…too many.”
Under Owen’s bill, students must stay behind a barrier before entering the pick-up area and students under the age of 10 must be accompanied by a school employee while walking to and from a vehicle.