An Allen Parish man from Louisiana died in Arizona after being stung more than 1,000 times by bees. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office says 23-year-old Alex Bestler was hiking with some friends at a park when he was attacked by a swarm of bees. Deputies say his friends reported they tried to help Bestler, but they couldn’t because of the aggressive, massive swarm. He later died at a local hospital. The park is now closed.

Governor John Bel Edwards is trying to convince the Senate to put a stop to House amendments made to the budget bill. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne told the Senate Finance committee that the spending plan put together by the lower chamber simply won’t due. One of the major changes the House made to HB1 was reallocating money towards TOPS and away from hospitals that provide care for the poor. Dardenne explained what would happen if TOPS was fully funded…:
CUT 11 (08) “unacceptable budget”
The Senate Finance committee is expected to approve its own version of the budget in the coming days.

Governor Edwards has signed the Blue Lives Matter Bill into law, which makes Louisiana the first in the nation to expand its hate crime laws to protect police, firefighters and EMS crews. But the Louisiana NAACP strongly opposes. President Ernest Johnson says if you classify hate crimes by occupation, everyone should be included…:
Cut 16 (06) “news reporters”
Previous hate crime laws only included people on the basis of race, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or affiliation with certain groups.

NOAA will issue its outlook for the 2016 hurricane season today. State climatologist Barry Keim says if this season does lean in one direction, it would probably lean towards a more active season because 2016 already produced Hurricane Alex in January…:
Cut 9 (11) “gonna be”