At a public meeting today, the LSU AgCenter will pitch its medical marijuana plan to potential investors. Halen Doughty has more…
CUT 1 (31) “I’m Halen Doughty”
______________________________________
More bad budget news for Louisiana as another round of cuts could be coming. Jeff Palermo has the story
______________________________________
Another statewide poll has Republican John Kennedy as the front-runner in Louisiana’s US Senate race. Jeff Palermo reports…
______________________________________
A new poll from the University of New Orleans shows Republican John Kennedy with a strong lead in the US Senate race at 22-percent. UNO pollster Ed Chervenak says Republican Charles Boustany and Democrat Foster Campbell are tied for second at 15-percent. He says it will be a close race for the second runoff spot.
Republican John Fleming polled at 11-percent to come in fourth place. Chervenak says for Boustany to make the runoff, he has to improve his numbers somehow, which could mean more attack ads are coming.
Cut 5 (08) “Boustany campaign”
Democrat Caroline Fayard isn’t far behind Campbell, as she polled at 10-percent. Chervenak says if Campbell wants to surpass Boustany and get in the runoff, he’ll have to take votes away from Fayard.
____________________________________________
The LSU AgCenter will pitch its plan to grow the state’s medical marijuana today at a public meeting that will be attended by potential private investors. LSU Vice President for Agriculture, Dr. Bill Richardson, says they have about 450 people signed up to come to the meeting.
LSU and Southern University have agreed to grow medical marijuana in line with the plan that was established by state legislators earlier this year. Richardson says for the plan to work and they need private businesses to assist the AgCenter with the growing, shipping, storing, and securing of the medical cannabis.
The AgCenter is not using state dollars to finance the growing process. LSU estimates operating the growing facility will cost more than $1 million for the first year, and over $5 million for the next five years. Richardson says it will take just over $11 million total to grow the medical pot.
___________________________________________
A mother has been arrested in the death of her 6-year-old daughter who died in a fire in Jena early Wednesday morning. Chief Deputy Brant Thompson with the State Fire Marshal’s Office says investigators found illegally energized electrical wires and an electric space heater in use near the mattress where Ayla Breeland was sleeping.
Thompson says Ayla’s mother, 29-year-old Wendy Blasingame, was not in the camper home when the fire broke out, and it’s unclear how long the child was left alone. He says investigators were only able to speak to her hours after the fire had been put out.
Thompson says Blasingame has been charged with one count of negligent homicide. He says the investigation is ongoing, and more arrests are possible. He says they have confirmed that the mother was shooting up drugs in an abandoned house while her daughter was in the burning home.
______________________________________________________
Today, Camp Minden officials will begin burning off volatile explosives that are stored in three bunkers at the Louisiana National Guard Facility in Webster Parish. Col. Ed Bush says 200-thousand pounds of explosives are left of the 320-thousand pounds that have been stored at Camp Minden since the company that was storing them improperly went out of business. He says they plan on burning one of the three bunkers today.
Bush says they will conduct three burns, and today’s is the smallest, with 820 pounds of Clean Burning Ignitor being stored in this bunker. He says they expect the unstable CBI to ignite and burn up quickly. He says they are prepared for anything that might go wrong.
Today’s explosion will be conducted between 11 am and 1 pm, as long as weather conditions are favorable. The second bunker will be burned on Sunday, and the third will be ignited November 5. Bush says everyone involved in this process is a subject matter expert in their field. He says they do not anticipate any problems with any of these explosions.
_____________________________________________________
The Saints passing game faces a major test this Sunday against Seattle. The Seahawks have become one of the best teams in the league, because of how they defend the pass. New Orleans Quarterback Drew Brees says Seattle’s defense doesn’t have a weak link…
Sunday’s game also marks the return of tight end Jimmy Graham to the Mercedes Benz Superdome. The Seahawks tight end’s first five seasons in the NFL were in New Orleans where he caught 51 touchdown passes. Since then he’s only caught three. Brees says it will be weird to see Graham in an opposing uniform…
During the 2015 offseason, the Saints traded Graham and a fourth round pick to Seattle for a late first-round choice and center Max Unger. Brees says Unger has played better then he could ever envision….