In north Louisiana this morning, SWEPCO reports over 130-thousand of its customers are without power as a result of last Thursday night’s severe weather. Entergy Louisiana has additional five-thousand customers experiencing an outage. No electricity, means no air conditioning. Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator says there are cooling centers available…
cut 8 (14) “…the works”
There are also a couple of cooling stations in Bossier Parish, one in DeSoto and one in Webster Parish at the town hall in Doyline.

A new report from the Louisiana Department of Health finds three-thousand people every year are hospitalized or treated in an emergency room due to heat-related illness. Doctor Alicia Van Doren says a good number of those individuals are young people…
cut 6 (04) “…ED visits”

The latest survey of small business owners finds that many are deeply concerned about the direction of the economy. Twenty-five percent listed inflation as their single most important problem, followed by labor quality at 24-percent. N-F-I-B state director Dawn Mcvea…
cut 12 (07) “….lot of frustration”
McVea says several small businesses say they need to increase prices, but are reluctant to do so for fear of losing business.

The Humane Society of Louisiana is upset three-million dollars in state funding was not included in the budget bills approved by state lawmakers in the final hour of the recently completed legislative session. H-S-L-A Director Jeff Dorson says the funds would have gone toward the construction of new animal shelters…
cut 15 (13) “…have helped”
Dorson says half of the state’s 64 parishes lack pariswide facilities.