Today the possibility of another legislative special session could become a reality. Halen Doughty has more…
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More than 2-thousand Louisianans are in Washington D.C. for the annual March for Life. Emelie Gunn has more…
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President Donald Trump’s idea to impose a 20-percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for the border wall could have implications for the Bayou State. Jeff Palermo has more…
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A special session to rebalance the state’s budget could become more of a reality today. LaPolitics.com publisher Jeremy Alford anticipates the Edwards administration will present three options to the joint legislative budget on fixing a 304-million dollar shortfall.
Alford says what the committee decides, will indicate whether or not another special session will be called before the regular session in April. He says if one is necessary, the Governor will likely call the legislature back in mid-February.
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Many republican lawmakers are not in favor of using rainy day money to help solve the shortfall and prefer more cuts to state spending. Last year legislators approved 1.5 billion dollars in tax increases to solve a budget crisis. Alford says there has been some talk about increasing certain fees to raise more revenue this year.
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Over 2-thousand Louisiana residents are in Washington D.C. along with hundreds of thousands of Americans for today’s annual March for Life. Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life Ben Clapper says there is a renewed sense of hope under a Trump administration.
On Saturday, there will be a March for Life in Shreveport, where 5-thousand people are expected to be in attendance. Clapper says the majority of people in attendance from Louisiana are under 22-years-old.
Last week, hundreds of thousands participated in the Woman’s March on Washington, after the inauguration of President Trump. Clapper says the March for Life has been going on for 44 years.
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A report from U-Haul finds that Louisiana’s population might have grown during 2016. The Bayou State came in at number eight U-Haul’s growth report, based on more truck rentals coming into the state than leaving. U-Haul North Louisiana president Warren Iles…
But Iles says that doesn’t necessarily mean the population is growing at the same rate trucks are arriving. He says the historic floods Louisiana endured last year could have impacted the numbers.
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Iles says they’re opening more truck rental stores and self-storage rooms around the state. He says even if the population isn’t growing, business certainly is, which he says is good news for the state.
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President Donald Trump is considering a 20-percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for a wall along the southern border, so what does that mean for Louisiana? LSU economist Loren Scott says if the tax is imposed, Mexico will likely up the price of their exports to the US, which means American consumers will foot the bill.
Scott says that would be bad news for the economy because Mexico is America’s number two trading partner behind Canada. He says it’s also likely Mexico will impose a tax on products shipped from the U.S.
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Scott says anytime a country engages in a trade war with another country, it’s bad for the economy at home. He says trade wars are one of the key reasons we entered the Great Depression in the 1930s.
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High school principals will vote today on a plan that would reduce the number of state football championships from nine to seven. The vote takes place at the LHSAA convention in Baton Rouge. Iowa (Eye-oh-way) prinicpal Mike Oakley says the proposal will also reduce the number of title games in basketball, baseball and softball
There is no proposal in today’s meeting to reverse the expanded public-private school split that the association voted for last year. Oakley says by reducing the the number of classes and divisions, it should reduce the number of teams who receive a bye and create a more spirited postseason in the sports impacted by the split