The House Ways and Means Committee advances a proposed constitutional amendment that would give voters the opportunity to decide whether parishes should have the option to increase the homestead exemption by five-thousand dollars in assessed value. The bill’s author, New Orleans Democrat Matthew Willard, says since the homestead exemption has not increased since 1980, people are getting priced out of their homes.
Cut 13 (10) “…it’s not affordable.”
Jim Patterson with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry spoke out against Willard’s bill. He says Louisiana already generates a disproportionately low amount of property tax revenue relative to other states.
A bill that would make kratom illegal in Louisiana moves to the House. The Senate passed S-B 154 yesterday on a vote of 26-to-11, split right down party lines. The author, West Monroe Republican Jay Morris, says kratom – sometimes known as “gas station heroin” – has already been banned in several places.
Addis native and Brusly High graduate John Foster is still in the running to be the next American Idol. He is now in the Top 7. Brusly High Principal Walt Lemoine says Foster is an unassuming star; and the first time he heard Foster perform, he says he never expected that voice from one of his students.
Watch Foster perform this Sunday on ABC.