AM Newscall, December 28th, 2015

As 2015 is coming to an end, State Climatologist Barry Keim has put together a list of the top weather events in Louisiana for the year. Eric Gill reports…

CUT 1 (29) “I’m Eric Gill”

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Louisiana employers are only slightly less optimistic about staffing for the first quarter of 2016 than they were the prior year. Michelle Southern reports…:

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As 2015 is coming to an end, State Climatologist Barry Keim has put together a list of the top weather events in Louisiana for the year. Keim picks El Nino as the state’s top weather event of 2015. He says El Nino kicked in in March and will probably continue to build as we get deeper into winter…

Cut 3 (07) “winter warmth”

He says he picked El Nino because of its duration and intensity. Keim’s number two pick is the squall line that moved across the state on April 27th. He says this system swept from west to east across Louisiana and the whole southern half of the state felt its impact…

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He lists drought as the number three weather event of the year. He says the dry conditions began really settling in during the late summer and by late October, 86-percent of the state was in drought…

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Louisiana employers are only slightly less optimistic about staffing for the first quarter of 2016 than they were the prior year. Michael Doyle is the Vice President at the Manpower Group covering the southeast US. He says their Quarter One 2016 Employment Outlook Survey for Louisiana shows about 18% of companies polled do plan to hire during that time…:

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Doyle says 76% of businesses taking part in the survey said they plan to keep the employees that they already have. Louisiana has a 12% net employment outlook, and Doyle says it was 19% in 2015. He says they’ve seen slowdowns in the oil and gas industry which is suffering because of the low price of crude, but some sectors benefit from them…:

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Doyle says about 15% of companies in Baton Rouge plan to hire, and about 20% of New Orleans employers say they will be adding to their staff in the first quarter of 2016. He says The Big Easy seems to be going along with a national trend of growth in the hospitality and retail industries…:

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As we kick off the final week of 2015, there are several things you might want to consider when it comes to saving money on your taxes. Baton Rouge CPA Bill Potter says if you itemize your deductions, you’ll want to maximize those before the new year…:

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Potter says it’s also a good idea to look at your latest pay stub and review your withholdings to see if you’re covered with your tax liability…:

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Potter says he always recommends that people have all of their information ready to go so they can file as soon as possible. He says the IRS will let you file beginning January 19th..:

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With one game left in the season, many in the “Who Dat?” nation are wondering if this will be coach Sean Payton’s last game with the Saints. The Black and Gold will finish the season with their second consecutive losing record and miss the playoffs. NFL analyst Mike Detillier says this will be the team’s biggest story of the offseason…

Cut 12 (06) “move on”

He says it will take a couple of seasons to rebuild the team to be a Super Bowl contender like it was in the past. Detillier says the unsettled ownership issue of the team could also play a part in Payton’s decision. He says when it comes to Payton’s future with the Saints, the coach is holding all the cards…

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Payton has been the Saints head coach for the past 10 seasons, which Detillier says is an eternity in today’s NFL. Detillier believes Payton is leaning more toward one way than the other…

Cut 14 (06) “in 2016″