President Barack Obama nominated a new Supreme Court justice, Merrick Garland, but not all agree with this decision. Emelie Gunn has more…
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The Revenue Estimating Conference is out with it’s measure of Louisiana’s budget deficit this fiscal year and next. Michelle Southern reports…:
CUT 2 (29) “I’m Michelle Southern”
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The National Weather Service is concerned about potential flooding along two major rivers in the northern half of the state. Hydrologist C.S. Ross says all the rain that fell in northwest and northeast Louisiana is making its way down south.
Ross says last week’s rain event produced almost 27 inches of rain near Monroe. He says the Red River crest is moving through the Coushatta area today. He says the crest will rout toward the Grand Ecore area tomorrow, and into Alexandria later this week and into the weekend.
Ross says a flood wave continues to develop on the Ouachita River, but the levels on the river will not even rank in the top 10 in Monroe. He says it will be the highest water there since November of 2009, and there could be flooding in between the levee systems in Monroe. He says the Red River will also cause flooding.
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LSU President F. King Alexander tells the House Education Committee budget cuts are impacting enrollment, faculty and research. Alexander says the university has been receiving more money from the federal government than they have from the state. He says research funding originally for LSU is now going to universities in other states because we don’t invest in higher education.
Higher education is facing a 27 million dollar cut in state funding this fiscal year but that number is expected to grow once a new round of cuts are announced. Alexander says the TOPS program is getting hit the hardest. He says the number of public university visits from TOPS eligible kids is now down about 25 percent.
Alexander says LSU’s medical schools are also suffering because they are hit hard by both cuts to higher education, as well as, cuts to heath care. He says with the new medical center opening in New Orleans last year they never had more demand, now people are running away from us.
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Flooding throughout the southeastern part of the state will impact the strawberry crop this year, particularly in Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes. Whitney Wallace, with the LSU Ag Center, says we won’t know how much the crop was damaged until farmers harvest their strawberries.
Wallace says the losses will vary from one field to another, based on the soil, berries, and other factors.
Wallace says losing part of a crop is all part of the job, but it shouldn’t be a total loss. She encourages people to buy local berries.
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The Revenue Estimating Conference met today to get more exact figures on budget deficit numbers for this and next fiscal year. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne says for the budget period that ends June 30th, Louisiana is now looking at about a $70 million dollar hole that will have to be filled. He says that’s higher than they first thought so another challenge lies ahead…:
Dardenne says there was slightly better news for the fiscal year that begins July 1. He says that after the special session ended, they thought lawmakers had gotten the next budget shortfall down to about a billion dollars…:
Dardenne says they are on a time crunch for this fiscal year, but over the next several days they will sit down and decide how to cut colleges and healthcare in the best possible way to minimize the damage…:
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Today President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to be a Supreme Court justice after the death of former justice Antonin Scalia. Republican US Senator David Vitter believes with the next president coming into office soon, we should let the voters decide the new justice. Vitter is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and says he will not vote to advance the nomination.
Vitter says Supreme Court Justices needed to be decided carefully because they have such a big and lasting impact on our country. He says he hasn’t done much research on President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland.