A teacher workgroup launched by Louisiana Department of Education aims to improve conditions for teachers. Teiko Foxx has more…
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After news broke that the St. Tammany coroner-elect was accused of child sexual assault in New Mexico, parish lawmakers are calling for him to resign. Brooke Thorington has more.
Cut 2 (41) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
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Gas prices are on the increase with the statewide average price for a gallon of regular gas in Louisiana at $2.89, that’s up seventeen cents from a month ago. GasBuddy Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan it’s not surprising for this time of year.
When you compare prices from a year ago, the average today is down seventeen cents from 2023.
DeHaan expects gas prices to continue to go up now that we’re reaching the typical time of year when demand goes up along with the temperatures…
As for the immediate forecast on gas prices, DeHaan predicts they will continue to increase as refineries make the switch to summer gas and demand increases. He says typically we see prices go up in February and the trend continues into late spring.
Oil prices he says are not impacting the increase in gas prices as they continue to average around $76 a barrel. He says world events also do not appear to be related to the increase in gas prices, he says it’s merely seasonality.
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The Louisiana Department of Education is launching, Let Teachers Teach, a teacher’s workgroup to develop possible solutions to classroom disruptions. State Superintendent Cade Brumley says teachers feel a number of distractions are taking time away from classroom instruction.
Brumley says the workgroup will include pre-K to 12th grade teachers. He says there’s nothing more critical to student success than an effective teacher.
Brumley says LDOE is working with teacher committees and organizations to identify teachers for the workgroup. And he believes current Louisiana Teacher of the Year Kylie Altier…
Teacher committees and education organizations can email their teacher recommendations to ldoecommunications@la.gov.
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Local lawmakers are calling for St. Tammany coroner-elect Dr. Christopher Tape not to take office, after a WWL-TV investigation found Tape was arrested on child sexual assault charges in New Mexico in 2001. The charges were dropped because he didn’t receive a speedy trial but Franklinton Senator Beth Mizell says Tape was never proven innocent either…
Cut 9 (09) “…really concerning.”
Tape told WWL-TV his experience of being accused of child sexual assault makes him a good person to lead the sexual assault response team because he knows what a false accusation is like.
Tape ran unopposed and was officially elected in October. Mizell says if Tape does not resign, the Northshore delegation would support a recall petition to keep him from taking office next month.
According to WWL-TV court records show Tape admitted to Albuquerque police in 2001 that he spanked and then rubbed the bare bottom of his girlfriend’s seven-year-old daughter. Tape told investigators he was disciplining the child and denied molesting her.
Tape reportedly has only been living in St. Tammany Parish for about a year and Mizell says she and other lawmakers were caught completely off-guard with news of his previous charges.
WWL-TV quoted recent court records in Lafayette Parish where Tape paid an undisclosed amount in a 2022 civil settlement young woman who worked for him at the private autopsy firm he ran there after she accused him of unwanted advances.
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The college baseball season begins tomorrow and this will be the last for legendary Louisiana Tech broadcaster Dave Nitz. His first Tech broadcast was 50 years ago in the Spring of 1974. Nitz also called football and basketball games for Tech until 2022…
The 80-year-old Nitz grew up in West Virginia listening to major league baseball games on radio. He says baseball was always his first love…
Nitz was inducted into the La Tech Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. Nitz will just broadcast the home games in his final season as the Voice of Louisiana Tech baseball…