With Julia Letlow seeking bigger and better things, the race is on to replace her in the House of Representatives. Andrew Greenstein reports.
Cut 1 (35) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”
____________________________________________
A large ice storm could produce power outages and close numerous roads across the northern half of the state this weekend. Jeff Palermo has the story.
Cut 2 (37) “…I’m Jeff Palermo.”
____________________________________________
Lane Kiffin added the 13th top-150 player to LSU’s transfer portal class yesterday. Andre Champagne has more.
Cut 3 (33) “…I’m Andre Champagne.”
______________________________________________
Congressman Troy Carter is among the sponsors of a bipartisan bill that would require all middle school and high school student IDs and websites to include mental health and suicide prevention information. The New Orleans Democrat says the information could be a life-saver for kids at the ages who need those services the most.
Cut 4 (12) “…drugs or alcohol.”
Carter says among the contact information that would be required under the bipartisan legislation would be for the 988 suicide prevention hotline.
Cut 5 (08) “…is totally anonymous.”
Carter says unlike adults or people they know, kids contemplating suicide will call the 988 suicide prevention hotline.
______________________________________________________
Now that Julia Letlow will be vacating her District 5 seat to challenge Bill Cassidy for his U.S. Senate seat, the race is on for her successor. Greg Hilburn, a Louisiana politics reporter for the USA Today Network, says this will be a wide open race – at least in one of the primaries.
Cut 7 (10) “…that’s Garret Graves.”
Garret Graves formerly represented the Sixth District until he was effectively drawn out of that district, leading him to drop his re-election bid. Hilburn says while he does not expect Graves to run, there are several people who you will likely see on the ballot on the Republican side.
The Fifth District is decidedly Republican, as are the three other Republican-leaning districts in the state. Hilburn says with qualifying less than three weeks away, the candidates will have to resort to creative ways to raise any significant amounts of money.
______________________________________________________________
North Louisiana could be hit with a significant ice storm this weekend. State Climatologist Jay Grymes says rain will reach the state’s northwestern parishes on Friday, and that rain will eventually turn to freezing rain and spread across the northern half of the state.
Grymes says ice accumulations could top a half inch for the northern third of Louisiana, and some places could see an inch of ice.
Cut 11 (12) “…widespread power outages”
Grymes says if there are road closures, they could extend into Monday as it will be extremely cold.
Grymes says there is the potential for ice accumulations along parts of the I-10/I-12 corridor by Saturday night into Sunday. Governor Landry will hold a 2 p-m press conference to discuss the state’s preparedness for the storm.
_____________________________________________________________
If this approaching ice storm does what forecasters expect it will do, road closures are likely across the northern half of the state. Rodney Mallett with DOTD says they will do what they can to keep roads open.
Cut 13 (15) “…priority routes open.”
Temperatures are also expected to fall below freezing for multiple days in north Louisiana, so any road closures could be lengthy. Mallett says they do have a chemical called Pavix that can help with iced over bridges, elevated highways and roads.
Mallett says the state also has more than ten million pounds of salt.
Mallett says they can’t spread the salt on the roads too soon, because it will wash away when it starts raining on Friday.
______________________________________________________
Lane Kiffin’s top-rated 2026 transfer portal class got even stronger after receiving a commitment from the top edge rusher in the portal, Princewill Umanmielen (ooh-MAHN-me-ellen) of Ole Miss. Umanmielen had 45 tackles, including 13 tackles for loss, as well as nine sacks for the Rebels last season. Zack Nagy, the managing editor of LSUTigersOnSI.com, says Umanmielen is an impact player.
Umanmielen entered the transfer portal on January 15th but had previously re-signed to stay with the Rebels for the 2026 season on January 5th. Nagy says LSU will likely pay Umanmielen’s buyout…
Cut 17 (18) “…agreement with Umanmielen.”
Garland Gillen of Fox 8 New Orleans reports that LSU paid a total of 1.5 million dollars for Umanmielen, which includes a 500-thousand-dollar buyout that goes to Ole Miss.
Kiffin may not be done yet. The Tigers are fighting to land Colorado sophomore Jordan Seaton, who is rated as the number-one offensive tackle in the transfer portal, according to 247Sports. Nagy says LSU and Oregon are in an intense recruiting battle for Seaton.
Cut 18 (22) “…open up the checkbook.”