The front runner in the governor’s race, Jeff Landry, commits to participating in a televised debate. Jeff Palermo has the story…
Cut 1 (31) “….I’m Jeff Palermo”
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State Transportation will receive an additional $210 Million from the Federal Highway Administration. Brooke Thorington has more.
Cut 2 (31) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
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This year, Garth Brooks will be the main attraction at the first-ever Louisiana Sugar Bowl Country Kickoff at the New Orleans Caesars Superdome on September 2. Teiko Foxx has details on the Labor Day weekend festivities.
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The front-runner in the governor’s race, Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry, has committed to participating in one televised gubernatorial debate. It will take place on September 15th and it will be shown on TV stations owned by Nexstar. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says it would look bad if Landry avoided all of the debates…
Landry’s campaign says the A-G will not participate in a televised debate on September 7th, because the Urban League of Louisiana is one of the organizers. A spokesperson for Landry says the participation of the Urban League raises questions about impartiality. because this group seeks to elect Democrats.
The Urban League told the Advocate that its singular focus is to ensure the candidates have the ability to share their platform and reasons they believe voters should have confidence in their ability to lead Louisiana.
Pinsonat says Landry has no interest in participating in more than one debate, because of his big lead over the other Republican candidates in the polls…
Cut 5 (07) “…to be in the runoff”
The other development in the governor’s race is that Independent Hunter Lundy has has spent more than one-million dollars on a statewide TV buy that launched this week in all the major TV markets. Pinsonat says one-million dollars is a decent investment, but Landry remains the clear front-runner…
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State Transportation will receive an additional $210 million from the Federal Highway Administration, the most they’ve ever received in redistributed funds. DOTD spokesperson Rodney Mallet says when other states do not spend all of their allocated money it goes back to the FHWA, and then it’s redistributed.
Mallet says several projects that DOTD was already committed to were in limbo due to the lack of funds.
DOTD receives state funding for maintenance and transportation projects from a fuel tax that is more than three decades old and with inflation, Mallet says the backlog of projects continues to grow, only emphasizing the dependency on federal highway funds.
Mallet credits the hard-working employees at DOTD who manage to push projects through and spend all the federal money that’s allocated for much-needed projects. By doing so DOTD is eligible for additional redistributed funds.
Mallett says this is the 15th year in a row that DOTD has received FHWA redistributed funds.
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Country music superstar Garth Brooks headlines the inaugural Sugar Bowl Country Kickoff at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on September 2 to kick off the 2023 football season. CEO of Allstate Sugar Bowl Jeff Hundley says tickets include a full day of activities including the NewOrleans.com Tailgate Town.
Cut 10 (11) “…Rolling Stones.”
Opening acts for the event include Louisiana’s own Lainey Wilson and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The NewOrleans.com Tailgate Town is a free event. It features performances by DJ Jevity, Alex Smith, and Austin Bishop.
There will be football-themed activations, special college football and amateur sports spotlights, and other games and activities throughout the day. Hundley says this is the second year that the Sugar Bowl has had an impact on Louisiana’s tourism over Labor Day.
Fans are encouraged to wear their favorite school colors to celebrate the 2023 college football season. Hundley says the Sugar Bowl Committee is always looking at ways to drive revenue, and tourism, and remain competitive with larger cities.
Tickets are on sale via Ticketmaster. Proceeds from the event will go toward the aid of existing scholarship programs and youth events the Bowl supports annually.
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The Historic Stadium Caucus, which is a congressional effort to preserve, protect and enhance stadiums around the country, has included Tiger Stadium among America’s Most Treasured Stadiums. Now that Tiger Stadium is included in that list, the Historic Stadium Caucus will focus on enhancing security, technology and funding. US Representative Garret Graves on why Tiger Stadium is now one of those venues.
Tiger Stadium is one of the few stadiums in the country that are now on the list of America’s Most Treasured Venues, but Graves says he does not want to stop with just LSU football stadium.
Graves also says Tiger Stadium is on the list because of the passionate fans that come with every LSU football game.
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LSU left tackle Will Campbell is entering another year with the team. This time last year there were many questions about the offensive line and he says where he is mentally starting a year against Florida State.
In 2022, Florida State’s defense was 14th in the country in total yards allowed, and Campbell says why he thinks Florida State’s defensive line could cause issues for them.
Cut 17 (14) “…people problems.”
LSU’s linebacker Harold Perkins makes such an impact on opposing offenses that teams have to gameplan around him, and Florida State head coach Mike Norvel says the Seminoles are no different.
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ULM plays Army this weekend for their season opener. Last year, Army beat the War Hawks 48-24, backed behind the triple option offense. ULM head coach Terry Bowden says they knew the team was playing the unusual style of football, but now it’s a bit different.
Bowden also says that Army might go out there and run something that they have not seen before, but all they can do is be ready on ULM’s end.