It’s Mardi Gras weekend across Louisiana and State Police want you to have a safe one, especially on our roadways. Trooper Melissa Matey says they have zero tolerance for drinking and driving, so make sure there’s a sober driver at the wheel…
cut 12 (10) “in festivities”

Matey says if you are enjoying the parades with your children, have a plan in place in case you get separated from your kids…

Governor John Bel Edwards issued the call for a special legislative session to tackle this fiscal year’s massive 750-million dollar budget shortfall and the 1.9 billion dollar shortfall for next year. The session begins on February 14th and will last about three and a half weeks. During this time lawmakers will discuss budget cuts and tax increases. The Governor’s call sets boundaries on what can be done during the session. Raising the state’s sales tax, increasing cigarette and alcohol taxes and changing personal income tax brackets will all be addressed during the session.

Louisiana State Police say a 23-year-old Addis woman is dead after her husband accidentally shot her while cleaning his gun. The woman’s husband is a reserve Addis Police Officer. She was taken to the hospital shortly after the shooting but later died.

Chevron North America has notified the Louisiana Workforce Commission that layoffs are possible at five office locations in Covington and Lafayette. 385 employees could be affected, 340 at the office locations and 45 offshore workers. Chevron says these cuts could start April 4th and will be complete by June 7th. Eric Smith, Associate Director at the Tulane Energy Institute believes the layoffs are mainly coming in upstream business, which is what they call the process of drilling and operations in getting oil out of the ground…
CUT 7 (10) “pretty well”