US Senator David Vitter says New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu should be more concerned about the murder rate rather than the removal of Confederate statues in the city. Vitter says there is a crisis in the Crescent City and New Orleans needs a leader focused on the crime problem instead of monuments…

cut 11 (08) “not monuments”

Landrieu is holding public hearings today on the removal of Confederate statues.

The State Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has cut the ribbon on a new 3 million dollar oyster hatchery in Grand Isle that will more than double production of the larvae used to seed oyster grounds. Statewide Oyster Program Manager Patrick Banks says they’ve seen major decreases in oysters since the BP oil spill and this will be an important component to boosting the oyster population…

cut 7 (09) “of Louisiana”

Banks says the money came as part of the BP oil spill settlement.

CNN/ORC surveyed Republican Iowa voters after last week’s debates and just 2% said Governor Bobby Jindal was their choice as the GOP Presidential candidate. UL-Lafayette Political Science Professor Pearson Cross says even though most people say Jindal did well in the debate, it didn’t get a lot of national recognition…

cut 14 (08) “much traction”

In a statement, the Jindal campaign says he has momentum in Iowa with big crowds and people signing up.

Louisiana shrimpers gathered to protest what they feel is a lack of federal regulations that is flooding the market with cheap imported shrimp and damaging the shrimp industry in the US. Louisiana Shrimp Association President Clint Guidry says, unless the federal government steps in, an industry that has thrived for generations will be destroyed…

cut 5 (07) “thousands of jobs”

He says dockside shrimp revenue has dropped by nearly two-thirds so far this year.