Governor John Bel Edwards is at this hour remarking to reporters on the good and the bad of Louisiana in 2016. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says the governor inherited a historic budget deficit when he took office on January 11th, which took up most of his time during the first half of the year…:
CUT 7 (09) “on that”
He says Edwards was able to raise over $1.5 billion in revenues this year, but there are still challenges ahead in 2017.

There’s been a lot of talk about the news that Amazon will begin charging state and local sales taxes at the start of the year. State Revenue Secretary Kimberly Robinson says the online retailer has gone forward with voluntary compliance…:
cut 14 (08) “about it”
She says Louisiana law has always required consumers to pay taxes on items they purchase online.

Louisiana women earned about 76% of what their male counterparts earned from 2014-2015, according to the Us Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s a 1.4% decline from the prior year. Tulane business professor Dr. Mark Rosa says almost no one would argue that women and men should be paid the same, but there are a lot of labor intensive jobs in Louisiana..:
CUT 4 (09) “welding job”
The statistics show women in Louisaina had a median weekly income of $630 to $828 for men.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and Venture Global LNG announced today the company will invest $8.5 billion to develop a natural gas liquefaction facility and export terminal in Plaquemines Parish. They say Plaquemines LNG will create 250 new direct jobs at an average annual salary of $70,000 per year, plus benefits. Full operations are expected to begin in 2022.