With the state looking at about a 13-billion dollar transportation backlog, Governor-elect John Bel Edwards is looking at funding solutions…

cut 1 (30) “I’m Jeff Palermo”

The Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office says a brief police chase ended with an armed suspect dead. They say an off-duty officer saw a suspicious person and when he tried to approach, the suspect pointed a gun at the officer and fired. A chase ensued that came to an end when the unidentified suspect turned his gun on himself and committed suicide. The investigation is ongoing.

The National Weather Service is lowering the projected crest of the Mississippi River from the Louisiana-Arkansas line to about Vicksburg, Mississippi. Marty Pope, with the N-W-S in Pearl, Mississippi, says a drop in these crest projections is good news, especially in Vidalia, where there is a convention center, hotels, and a hospital along the riverfront. He is hopeful these river estimates will hold up…

cut 8 (08) “the area”

He says they’re now expecting a foot and a half drop in the river crest.

Don Redman, with the American Automobile Association, predicts we’ll continue to see affordable gas prices in 2016. Redman says we’ll probably see the highest prices of the calendar year during March through May because of the switch to summer grade gasoline…

cut 15 (08) “not dramatically”

Redman says right now we’re looking at a statewide average of $1.77 for a gallon of regular gasoline.