The first day of early voting broke records for voter turnout in Louisiana. Jeff Palermo has more…
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The latest Southern Media and Opinion Research poll shows Republican John Kennedy leading the field in the US Senate race, followed by Democrat Foster Campbell…:
Cut 2 (30) “I’m Michelle Southern”
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A Baton Rouge man who set his wife on fire in September is finally behind bars. Sgt. Don Coppola with the Baton Rouge Police Department says 28-year-old John Harleaux got into an argument with his wife on September 24th. He says things turned violent when the woman called for her mother to come pick her up.
Coppola hates that someone would think of doing this to anyone, much less to their own spouse. He says the woman was seriously injured.
Coppola says Harleaux evaded police officers since the dispute. He says thanks to a tip from Crime Stoppers, they were able to locate the suspect yesterday. He says Harleaux was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
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Early voting has only just begun, and it’s already a record breaking year for turnout. Secretary of State Tom Schedler says the 2012 election set voting records in Louisiana, but the turnout yesterday even topped that.
Schedler says lines are shorter today for early voting, and he expects wait times to be around 10 to 15 minutes. He says yesterday there was one issue briefly in Jefferson Parish when a fiber optic line went out between the registrar of voters and the satellite office.
Schedler says his office is getting record calls from voters concerned the election is rigged. He blames the campaign rhetoric for these outrageous claims that have caught fire nationwide on both ends of the political spectrum.
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State officials have wrapped up a two-day meeting discussing the importance of restoring Louisiana’s coast before it’s too late. Val Marmillion with America’s WETLAND Foundation says Louisiana could lose a third of its coast in the next 50 years. He says the five year revision of the coastal restoration plan will be released in January.
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The master plan for coastal restoration needs to be revised immediately, and Governor John Bel Edwards believes the cost of this plan will go up significantly. Officials believe they will have at least $10.7 billion for the first 15 years of the 50 year plan.
About $7 billion of the cost will be covered by the Deepwater Horizon settlement from BP. Edwards says it will also help tremendously if Congress allows Louisiana to reinvest its $100 million annual payments for the levee system that was constructed after Hurricane Katrina. He says it’s important to protect that asset that taxpayers have already invested in.
Another round table on coastal restoration will be held December 7.
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The latest Southern Media and Opinion Research poll shows Republican John Kennedy continuing to lead the field in the US Senate race with 22%, followed by Democrat Foster Campbell at 16%. Rounding out the top five are Republican Charles Boustany with 14%, then Democrat Caroline Fayard at 12%, and GOP candidate John Fleming at 9%. Pollster Bernie Pinsonat..:
The same poll also found that the State Treasurer received the highest “positive” job performance rating among the five elected officials tested with Governor John Bel Edwards coming in second. Pinsonat says the number of undecided in this round for the seat being vacated by David Vitter is 15% which is down considerably from the last survey….:
Pinsonat says of those voters who have not selected a candidate in this race yet, 12% are white and 22% are black. He says that means it appears as though Campbell will be getting most of those votes…:
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