The proposed penny increase to the state’s four-cent sales tax easily clears a Senate committee heads to the Senate floor. Jeff Palermo has the story..:
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A man from Lafayette is facing two counts of first degree murder, aggravated arson and obstruction of justice in connection with the brutal death of an elderly woman and her daughter, then the torching of their home. The State Fire Marshals’ Office say firefighters responded to a blaze at a St. Martinville residence where they discovered the badly beaten bodies of a 68-year-old woman and a 30 year old woman. 31 year old Dereke Ross Siner was taken into custody following a high speed chase that ended in West Feliciana.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals opens a new water testing laboratory in Shreveport on Monday. The lab is expected to speed up the time it takes to test samples from drinking water systems in north Louisiana. Currently water samples from the northern part of the state are shipped to Baton Rouge. DHH spokesperson Bob Johannessen says this will be especially helpful when communities are under a boil water advisory…:
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The Shreveport lab will cost $18,300 initially, but is expected to save money in the long run.

The state house has two major tax bills they are slated to take up today. One would increase the cigarette tax, the other raises the tax on alcohol.