06:30 Newscast December 28, 2015

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.

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 he always recommends that people have all of their information ready to go so they can file as soon as possible.

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…

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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. Number three is the drought conditions the state suffered in 2015.