More and more creepy clowns are popping up around the Bayou State. Halen Doughty has more…
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The President has signed a proposal that would put $400 million towards disaster aid in Louisiana, but it could still be months before we see it. Michelle Southern reports…:
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Rapides Parish Schools are on a soft lockdown after the Sheriff’s Office received a nonspecific Instagram threat believed to be linked to the creepy clown sightings. Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Tommy Carnline says they have not released the exact content of the message.
Carnline says school resource officers are on a heightened state of alert and patrol deputies are closely monitoring schools. He says aside from the clowns being creepy and frightening to many people, they are breaking the law.
There were also three clown sightings in Terrebonne parish within two days. Maj. Malcom Wolfe with the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office says there were two reported incidents on Wednesday.
Wolfe says they have not identified the persons behind the masks in those sightings. He says they did put to rest another sighting on Thursday near the wood line behind an apartment complex, as an 11-year-old boy came forward.
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President Obama has signed the bill that provides 500 million dollars in federal disaster aid. Executive Director of the state Office of Community Development Pat Forbes says Louisiana is expected to get a little over 400 million dollars of that assistance to help with flood recovery. He says the most urgent need is to help homeowners without flood insurance….
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Forbes says it will take a couple of months before the money appropriated by Congress gets in the hands of flood victims, because a federal agency will still have to sign off on how Louisiana intends to spend this money. And he says Congress is expected to approve another relief package in December.
Forbes says ultimately, the decision on where the disaster aid will go is up to the Restore Louisiana Task Force, which is a 21 member panel appointed by the governor. He says this initial 400 million dollars allows victims to really start their recovery process.
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Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon is concerned about the rising number of deaths from prescription opioid overdoses in Louisiana, and the costs associated with prescription pill addiction. Donelon says for the first time since the Vietnam War, the life expectancy has gone down for white males ages 25 to 35, and he says that’s due in part to the opioid epidemic in the US.
Donelon says one in six injured workers in Louisiana had longer term use of prescription painkillers than workers in the other 24 states in a study by Workers Compensation Research Institute. He says this is a cost factor for employers accessing coverage for the workers in the workers comp market.
Donelon says in 2014, 750 people died of opioid overdoses in Louisiana. He says a rising cost of insurance for injured workers is the least of the concerns with this issue.
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Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards plans to sue Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry for blocking state contracts that contains clauses preventing L-G-B-T discrimination. Edwards says Landry is over stepping his constitutional authority…
But Landry says state lawmakers have refused numerous times to pass laws to prohibit discrimination against sexual orientation and gender identity and he’s protecting the will of the legislature…
The elected officials met today and couldn’t come to an agreement on the anti-discrimation clause in state contracts. Back in April, the governor issued an executive order that prohibits state government from discriminating against gay and transgender individuals. Edwards says apparently the A-G believes the state should discriminate against a certain group of people…
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The Attorney General has rejected at least 40 contracts because it has non-discrimination wording in the document. Landry says he’s trying to protect the taxpayer…