A former Department of Veterans Affairs nurse faces jail time after a patient at a St. Charles veterans home died under her care. Halen Doughty has more…
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Under the current budget proposal for next fiscal year, the LSU Health Science Centers in Shreveport and New Orleans would receive a combined 50-million dollars in cuts to state funding. Jeff Palermo has more…
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A former nurse with the Department of Veterans Affairs is facing jail time after a patient died under her care. Inspector General Stephen Street says 58-year-old Cheryl Poirrier was the on-duty nurse the night a resident fell at a Veterans Home in St Charles Parish. Street says after a fall, it’s Veterans Affairs policy to check the patient’s neurological signs for the next 72 hours.
Some eight hours after the patient’s fall, he was found unresponsive in his room and it was determined that he died during the night. Street says Poirrier has been charged with multiple felony offenses, and faces time behind bars if convicted.
Street says this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated, especially with our veterans. He says this is criminal conduct, and his office is treating it as such.
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The spending plan for next fiscal year is moving through the legislature with a proposed $35 million cut to the LSU Health Science Center in Shreveport and about a $15 million cut to the center in New Orleans. Chancellor of the New Orleans center, Larry Hollier says this will impact many of their programs.
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Hollier says the cuts could force him to close the dental hygiene and undergraduate nursing programs. Shreveport Health Science Center Chancellor G.E. Ghali says his center has already made drastic cuts to reduce their spending. He says his center is as lean as it can be in terms of employees.
Ghali says this could also impact accreditation and enrollment at the Shreveport center.
The budget proposal for next fiscal year has been approved by the House and is being debated in the Senate Finance Committee.
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Former Lt. Governor Bobby Freeman has passed died. His family says Freeman passed away this morning after suffering an aneurysm last week. He was 82-years-old. The St. Martinville native served as Lt. Governor from 1980-88. Edwin Edwards was the governor during Freeman’s second term and the former governor says Freeman was a very energetic man…
Freeman also served as a state legislator from 1968-1980. Edwards recalls Freeman was a promoter of race relations…
Freeman also served in the US Army and is a former member of the LSU boxing team. In 1977, he was elected into the LSU Hall of Fame. He was an attorney in Plaquemine prior to his death. Edwards says Freeman was a good man…
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In these tough budget times, some state senators are concerned about growing Louisiana’s film tax credit program. Lawmakers are reviewing the budget for next fiscal year which currently contains a $600 million dollar hole, and proposals to cut healthcare and education are on the table. Alexandria Senator Jay Luneau thinks the movie incentives don’t have a tangible economic impact:
But others who defend the program says the movie making business does bring money to the state especially at the local level. Baton Rouge Senator Yvonne Colomb says she understands that many vital services are looking at cuts, but..:
Luneau says, even without the film tax credits, they already know movie makers will come to Louisiana because they want The Bayou State backdrop…: