LRN PM Newscall August 28

For the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, former President George W. Bush visited New Orleans and gave a speech praising the recovery of its public schools…

CUT 1 (30)  “I’m Jeff Palermo”

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Monroe-based Centrylink has plans to bring high-speed internet to 24-thousand rural households and businesses in Louisiana.  Eric Gill has the story…

CUT 2 (29)  “I’m Eric Gill”

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Former President George W. Bush spoke at Warren Easton High School today to emphasize how far public education in New Orleans has come since Hurricane Katrina. In his speech, Bush said nine in 10 public school students in New Orleans now attend a charter school and praised the good work done by these charter schools…

CUT 3 (11)  “almost doubled”

Bush said he and wife Laura visited New Orleans to salute the leaders of the city who have helped it and its schools progress since the tragic storm. After Katrina, Bush says educational entrepreneurs came together to help reform the school system…

CUT 4 (07)  “school reform”

In closing his speech, Bush spoke of the spirit in Warren Easton High and other schools in the New Orleans area that had to rebuild and reform. He acknowledged the New Orleans spirit was stronger than any Hurricane Katrina or storm like it…

CUT 5 (07) “of this city”

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The Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office seized nearly 200 pounds of cocaine–the largest in the parish’s history–after receiving an anonymous tip about several suspicious packages. Commander Eric Becnel says there is an ongoing investigation with the United States Homeland Security New Orleans office because the wrapping of the cocaine is consistent with drug trafficking…

CUT 6 (05) “in our parish”

After a field test and examination, the drugs were determined to be pure cocaine. Becnel says the sheriff’s office estimates the street value of the cocaine to be 18 million dollars. No arrests have been made as of yet. But he says the seizure has helped prevent the possibility of property and violent crimes that would have been fueled by the drugs…

CUT 7 (04)  “their habit”

Becnel says the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office is grateful to have a relationship and the support of the community. He says this relationship allows the public to notify authorities when there is suspicious activity in the parish…

CUT 8 (05)  “wound up”

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Tropical Storm Erika continues to drop heavy rains as it moves through the Caribbean. State Climatologist Barry Keim says the current projected path of Erika has it making landfall in South Florida sometime Monday. He says the good news is that very little strengthening is forecast…

CUT 9 (06)  “by that”

He says Erika is not expected to reach hurricane strength. Keim says some bad news regarding Erika is the cone of uncertainty now includes the Gulf of Mexico…

cut 10 (09)  “very, very carefully”

Keim says Erika is disorganized which is giving forecasters problems in predicting how strong it will get and where it will move. He says the unpredictability of Erika warrants our attention…

Cut 11 (09)  “the peninsula”

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Monroe-based Centurylink announces plans to bring high-speed internet to more than 24-thousand rural households and businesses in Louisiana. Centurylink Senior vice-president John Jones says they have accepted money from the Federal Communications Commission to get this work done…

cut 12 (08)  “exisiting markets”

Jones says the company accepted about 500-million dollars a year for six years from the FCC to develop high-speed Internet service to one-point-two million Centurylink customers nationwide

cut 13 (10)  “little time”

Jones says they’ll spend the next few months mapping out a plan to bring high-speed internet to rural areas and construction is expected to begin early next year….

cut 14 (09)  “get too”

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