A Louisiana Department of Education study group finds a significant increase in the number of students completing the application for federal financial assistance. Educational Technology Consultant Stephanie Marcum attributes this jump to cuts in funding to the TOPS scholarship program…:
Cut 10 (08) “by TOPS”
The rate of kids completing the FASFA form increased by 24-percent from last year.

A self-driving shuttle bus called the E-Z 10 will take a demonstration ride in New Orleans today to show how it can be used within a city’s transit system. Transdev makes the vehicle and Neil Hemenover says the autonomous shuttle is already being used in Europe…
cut 8 (11) “…public streets”
The state department of transportation says construction to expand Arkansas Road in West Monroe will begin this summer. DOTD spokesperson Marshall Hill says four round-a-bouts will also be added at major intersections and the project should take three years to complete…
cut 5 (11) “…the roadway”
Hill says the project will cost nearly 33-million dollars.

State Police says nearly two million dollars worth of drugs are off the streets in Central Louisiana as a result of the arrest of a 37-year-old Alexandria man. Derrick Felton was taken into custody after a traffic stop. Tooper Scott Moreau says a large amount of narcotics and money were found in his vehicle and multiple residences in Alexandria, so more arrests are likely…
cut 15 (04) “….the beginning”
Moreau says the street value of the drugs seized is approximately one-point-seven million dollars.