The House Ways and Means Committee sent several tax bills to the House floor today. But the panel used a procedural move to advance the tax hikes without having to vote “yes or “no.” The full House is expected to vote on Thursday whether or not to increase taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, telephones, rental cars and there’s proposal to raise the state sales tax by a penny. Louisiana Association of Business and Industry President Stephen Waguespack hopes the rest of the House is up to speed on these different tax proposals…
A report out of Tulane University finds that students in Louisiana’s voucher program end up scoring drastically lower in math. Co-author of the study Jonathan Mills says after one year in the program, they found a large negative drop in both English and language arts and math scores on the Louisiana State assessment test…
A tornado watch remains in effect for southeast Louisiana parishes until 10 tonight. Andrew Ansorge is with the national weather service in Slidell.
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There have been reports of suspected tornadoes in parishes in and around the Baton Rouge area. There have also been reports of property damage and power lines down, but no major injuries have been reported.
State lawmakers are discussing whether to file a proposed amendment to the state constitution in the special session that would ask voter whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana in Louisiana so the state could tax it. Jesse McCormick, head of the Louisiana Cannabis Association, says some feel this is not the time to be getting into the marijuana debate, but he knows there is support from lawmakers who are open to considering every revenue raising option. But he believes getting such a constitutional amendment out of the legislature will be tough…: