A rally will be held in downtown New Orleans this evening to call attention to immigration crackdowns that’s happening across the country, including in Louisiana. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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Yesterday, Governor Jeff Landry signed a series of bills to reform the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Sean Richardson has more.
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A new era of college athletics has arrived. Schools can now pay athletes directly, thanks to revenue sharing in the NCAA. Kace Kieschnick has more.
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With immigration raids ramping up across the country, activists have been holding protests outside ICE detention facilities throughout what’s been dubbed Louisiana’s “detention alley.” And their journey culminates with a rally in New Orleans this evening. Service and care workers will be joined by civil rights activists and faith leaders in Lafayette Square to demand the release of immigrant workers who have not committed any crimes. Siti Pulcheon (SEE-tee PUHL-shin), a child of an immigrant mother, says what’s going on is inhumane.
Cut 4 (11) “…in horrible conditions.”
Yesterday, the group held demonstrations outside ICE processing centers in Basile and Jena. Pulcheon says the conditions inside those facilities are deplorable.
Cut 5 (11) “…solitary confinement.”
Pulcheon says during the rally, you could see the anguish in the faces of the people being held in the detention facilities.
Cut 6 (11) “…here or elsewhere”
The rally starts at 5:30.
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Governor Jeff Landry signed a series of bills to reform Louisiana’s Department of Transportation and Development yesterday. HB 640 established the Office of Louisiana Highway Construction to manage five-thousand miles of non-federal aid roads, aiming to improve project delivery.
Cut 7 (10) “…the private sector.”
The Office of Project Delivery was created to ensure the timely completion of DOTD projects. Landry says the Office of Transformation, led by the deputy secretary, will set performance indicators to enhance efficiency.
Cut 8 (08) “…over the horizon.”
These reforms aim to make DOTD more effective and accountable. Landry emphasized restoring public trust and maximizing taxpayer value.
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A new era of college athletics begins, as revenue sharing launches across the nation today. Schools can now pay up to 20.5-million dollars of athletics revenue directly to athletes. The Advocate’s Wilson Alexander says LSU will spend around 75-percent of that on football, 15-percent on men’s basketball and five-percent on women’s basketball. That leaves a small percentage for some of LSU’s other marquee sports like baseball, gymnastics and track and field, but Alexander says officials plan on paying every sport and finding other NIL opportunities.
The expense from revenue sharing will leave LSU’s typically profitable athletics department in a projected eight-million-dollar deficit this fiscal year. Wilson says the administration intends to focus less on cutting expenses and more on increasing revenue through sponsorships like corporate logos that will be coming to Tiger Stadium this season. Alexander says they hope to have a balanced budget by 2027.
Cut 11 (12) “…dollars a year.”
The NCAA will police revenue sharing cap limits with the new College Sports Commission. NIL deals over 600 dollars will also be reviewed by the NIL Go board to determine whether they serve a valid business purpose and fall within a reasonable range of compensation. LSU has been outspent by its competitors so far in the NIL era; but with the shift away from collective-based bargaining, Alexander says officials believe the Tigers can offer just as much as other schools.
Cut 12 (13) “…programs these days.”
LSU spent 5.5-million dollars out of its Bayou Collective on the football roster last year, compared to Ole Miss’ over 10-million-dollar investment and Ohio State’s near 20-million-dollar payout.
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This is the time of year that West Nile Virus starts to ramp up, and Dr. Alma Roy, the director of LSU’s Vector-Borne Disease Diagnostic Lab, says this year could be a busy one.
Cut 13 (09) “…season this year.”
So far this year, West Nile Virus has been detected in 14 parishes, with Livingston Parish reporting the state’s first human case last month. Dr. Roy says West Nile is not the only virus that mosquitos can transmit to humans.
Cut 14 (15) “…eastern equine encephalitis.”
Roy says while St. Louis encephalitis and eastern equine encephalitis are not as common as West Nile Virus, they are both just as dangerous.