The Department of Health and Hospitals says Louisiana Medicaid will no longer pay for early elective medically unnecessary deliveries of newborns before 39 weeks of gestation. DHH Secretary Kathy Kleibert says Blue Cross is joining the state in the same effort. Kleibert says these early c-sections and inductions are called “convenience births”…:
CUT 7 (07) “this day and time”
Kleibert says the goal of this move is to get people to wait until the baby is ready to be born for the child’s heath and safety.

According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, a man is under arrest for allegedly stealing more than $4000 from a scholarship fund that was set up to honor a Slidell woman who died in a car crash. 19-year-old Haley Howard went missing in March and after four day search her car was found in water off Lake Pontchartrain. 29-year-old Jonathan Holcomb helped friends set up the scholarship fund but organizers later learned $4,340 was removed from the account in June. Holcomb is charged with felony theft.

The Louisiana State Police Retirement System Board of Trustees is holding a public meeting this afternoon to discuss what they’ve discovered regarding the so called “Edmonson Act.” There was concern political maneuvering this past session allowed Col Mike Edmonson to get a massive pension hike. State Treasurer John Kennedy…:
CUT 4 (11) “is unconstitutional”
He says now the question is what the board plans to do about it and in Kennedy’s opinion a lawsuit should be filed to have the law removed from the books.