Pineville-based power company Cleco will begin construction this month on the St. Mary Clean Energy Center in Franklin. Jeff Palermo has more…
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A report finds nearly 200-thousand students in 19 states, including Louisiana, are subjected to corporal punishment. Emelie Gunn has more…
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Monroe is the fourth poorest city in the country, according to a report from the finance website 24/7 Wall Street. Halen Doughty has more…
Cut 3 (31) “I’m Halen Doughty”
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Pineville-based utility company, Cleco, will break ground this month on a new clean energy plant in St Mary parish. Spokesperson Robbyn Cooper says a partnership between Cleco and Cabot Corporation will allow them to produce energy without any emissions at the 80-million dollar facility in Franklin.
Cooper says the new St. Mary Clean Energy Center will provide power for 17-thousand homes across Louisiana. She says building the facility will also benefit the local economy by creating new jobs.
Cut 5 (11) “construction jobs”
Cleco expects it will be operational by March 2018. Cooper says this is a good investment for Cleco, because it will replace a smaller plant that was built in the 1950s.
Cut 6 (08) “increased emissions”
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A report by the Society for Research in Child Development finds over 160-thousand students in 19 states, including Louisiana, where kids are being subjected to corporal punishment in their schools every year. Developmental Psychologist with the University of Texas, Dr. Elizabeth Gershoff, says African American children are 50-percent more likely to be smacked than white students.
Gershoff says she decided to do this research to alert the public, because many people are surprised corporal punishment is still legal in some schools. She hopes this will get parents to address this issue.
Her research found one in five Louisiana schools still use corporal punishment, with the majority being in rural areas. Gershoff says there were almost 5-thousand students paddled in the 2013-2014 school year, which is the latest data available. She says even when some parents get upset after discovering their child is spanked at school, the lawsuits are usually unsuccessful.
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A new report from the finance website 24/7 Wall Street finds Monroe is the fourth poorest city in the country. ULM economics professor Dr. Robert Eisenstaedt says this isn’t surprising because Louisiana as a whole is a poor state, and the northeast part of the state tends to be even poorer.
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According to the 24/7 Wall Street report, Monroe has a poverty rate of about 24-percent and an unemployment rate of just over 6-percent. Eisenstaedt says Monroe has been a poor city almost since its birth. He says the best way to reverse this trend is through education.
cut 11 (08) “anti-poverty program”
Eisenstaedt says the workforce is becoming a little more diverse. The growth of CenturyLink is helping in that area. He says a positive for Ouachita parish is that it’s not impacted by the downturn in the oil industry.
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The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness announces more than 1-thousand flood victims have had their homes repaired as part of the Shelter At Home program. GOHSEP spokesperson Mike Steele says this is a huge milestone for the program.
Steele says they have seven contractors and several more subcontractors working on homes throughout the affected area. He says while this program may not be the right fit for everyone, it’s been an enormous help to those that are eligible for Shelter At Home.
Steele says the deadline to register for Shelter At Home is October 15. He says if you don’t have all the paperwork like a deed and a utility bill, you could still qualify as long as you get the initial application in on time.