Governor John Bel Edwards took time today to reflect on what he says has been a rewarding but challenging year as well. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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State Police announced today that Louisiana is the first state that will equip all state troopers with body cameras. Don Molino has more…
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The latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics finds women earn on average 76-percent of the salary men make in Louisiana. Tulane business professor Dr. Mark Rosa says typically, women spend more time caring for families, and being out of the office could affect earnings, especially in commissioned jobs.
The report found the earnings ratio between men and women dropped more than 1-percent from 2014 to 2015, the first decline since 2009. Rosa says another factor is the abundance of trade jobs in Louisiana. He says while labor intensive jobs pay more money, not many women want to work in those industrial fields.
In Louisiana, there’s been a push to pass an Equal Pay Bill requiring companies to pay women the same salary as men for equal work. Rosa says many business owners agree with that concept, but it’s hard to make it a reality when job duties are different.
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The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries confirms the first sighting of a wild cougar in the state since 2011. It said a trail camera picture sent to the department in November out of Morehouse Parish is authentic. Maria Davidson is LDWF’s Large Carnivore Program Manager. She says this is unusual as there is no cougar population here:
Cut 6 (10) “thousands of miles”
Davidson says it’s not likely that this animal will remain in any one area longer than it would take to consume a kill and there is little chance the cougar would still be in Northeast Louisiana. She says when they’ve documented photos like this in the past, the animal commonly can show up somewhere else very quickly…:
Davidson says it is quite possible that this cougar could have been photographed on other trail cameras placed at deer feeders. She says they encourage people to report any physical evidence of cougar sightings…;
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Governor John Bel Edwards calls 2016 a challenging year, but also very rewarding and positive as well. Edwards says he entered office and immediately addressed an unprecedented budget deficit by making cuts and raising revenues through tax increases…
Edwards says the most difficult day in office came on July 17th when a gunman shot six Baton Rouge law enforcement officers, killing three of them. He says the two historic floods were also challenging…
Edwards says the goals for 2017 include addressing long-term structural budget reform so that Louisiana has a fair and predictable tax structure. He says his administration also plans on tackling criminal justice reform….
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Louisiana will become the first state to equip all State Troopers with body cameras. State Police Col. Mike Edmonson says they hope all troopers in the state will have body cameras before this summer. He says they plan to start rolling out the first round of body cams after the holidays.
Edmonson says law enforcement around the state are changing their training methods to better prepare officers for the field, and the footage from these cameras will help improve their methods. He says from a training perspective, this is a homerun.
Edmonson says tensions between law enforcement and the public have been high in Louisiana since the police shootings and ambush in Baton Rouge last summer. He hopes these new cameras will improve transparency between police and citizens.
The cameras will be paid for through the existing State Police budget at a cost of $5.3 million over 5 years.
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