The US Senate race in Louisiana has taken a backseat to other major events, like a tragic police ambush followed by historic flooding. Halen Doughty has more…
CUT 1 (31) “I’m Halen Doughty”
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Louisiana is the sixth most tax-friendly state in the nation, according to a new report from the personal finance website Kiplinger. Don Molino has more…
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US Representative Garrett Graves of Baton Rouge is not pleased with FEMA’s slow response getting displaced flood victims into long term housing. Jeff Palermo has more…
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Between a police ambush and historic flooding, the US Senate race has taken a backseat. But Jeremy Alford of LaPolitics.com says the campaign should start to ramp up soon and one of the front-runners, Republican Charles Boustany is already running ads.
Alford says a favorite to make the run-off, Republican State Treasurer John Kennedy, is holding off on running ads because the flooding in south Louisiana continues to dominate headlines. He says the unofficial start date for the election cycle is usually after Labor Day, but Republican Congressmen John Fleming and Charles Boustany are not waiting.
Cut 5 (12) “congressional districts”
Alford says with things getting off to a slow start, we haven’t seen any secondary candidates making headway in the race. He says there’s still 10 weeks to go before the election day, which can be an eternity in politics, especially in Louisiana.
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Republican Congressman Ralph Abraham of Richland Parish and the rest of Louisiana’s Congressional delegation sent a letter to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, asking for a flood relief cost-share reduction for not only the south Louisiana flood, but also the one that hit north Louisiana in March. Abraham says the feds will cover 75% of the flood response and relief costs, while state and local governments are on the hook for the other 25%.
Abraham says they are asking that the federal government cover 90% of the cost for both historic floods, leaving only state and local governments to pay 10-percent. He says 49 parishes were declared federal disaster areas at some point this year, and some parishes were impacted by both floods.
Abraham says reducing the cost-share statewide will lessen the financial burden on Louisiana as the recovery effort continues. He says we got through this together, and we will be a stronger state if we rebuild together.
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According to the personal finance website Kiplinger, Louisiana is the sixth most tax-friendly state in the US. Sandra Block with Kiplinger says Louisiana’s property taxes are the third lowest in the country, and the state also did well in other categories.
Louisiana’s gas tax is 10-cents below the national average, and the income tax rate is about 3%. Block says Louisiana did not do well in the sales tax category, as the state sales tax is now up to 5-cents.
Wyoming came in first in the study as the most tax-friendly state, and California came in last. Block says there are tradeoffs in states with lower taxes, because there are less dollars for schools, public services, and roads.
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US Representative Garrett Graves of Baton Rouge toured the flood devastated areas of the state with Florida Congressman John Mica, and Mica then criticized FEMA for being slow to get people into temporary housing units. Graves says they understand there are 1,300 FEMA manufactured homes available around the country, but as far as he knows only one has been set up in Louisiana.
Graves says he is not pleased that FEMA won’t let people set up the manufactured homes in their yards if they’re in a flood plain.
Graves is also not happy that the largest FEMA payment he’s heard of being awarded is around $8-thousand, and the max is $33-thousand. He says FEMA needs to be respectful of the fact that some of these flood victims just lost everything.
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Redshirt freshman J’mar Smith gets the nod over Price Wilson and Smith will start at quarterback for Louisiana Tech this Saturday when they kick-off the season at Arkansas. Coach Skip Holtz on how he arrived to the decision for Smith to start against the Hogs
Smith is taking the place of Ryan Higgins as the starting quarterback. Higgins will not start because he was arrested on DWI charges before the start of fall camp. Higgins could play against Arkansas. The Razorbacks are known for their power run game and Holtz says it will be a test for his defense…
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The 5th ranked LSU Tigers will kick-off the season on Saturday against an unranked Wisconsin squad, who will start a fifth year senior quarterback. Twenty-three-year-old Bart Houston is set to make his first collegiate start and LSU Coach Les Miles says he’s a talented kid from California..
For the first time during the Les Miles era at LSU, both coordinators Cam Cameron and Dave Aranda will coach from the sidelines, instead of the press box. Miles says both guys wanted to be on the field, which means part-time coaches, like graduate assistants, will be the eyes in the sky
Cut 19 (19) “this will change”
LSU running back Leonard Fournette enters this game 13 rushing yards shy of reaching three-thousand for his career. He will likely become the fastest player in school history to three-thousand rushing yards. Fournette is set to play in his 26th collegiate game and Miles says that kind of experience should benefit him well…