Today the Board of Regents will look at proposed changes to TOPS, as the scholarship program is only funded at 70-percent under the governor’s spending plan for next fiscal year. Jeff Palermo has more…
______________________________________
The big Mardi Gras weekend is here and celebrations are in full swing in every corner of the state. Emelie Gunn has more…
______________________________________
Grambling State University officials are working to have the undergraduate nursing program reinstated by 2018. Halen Doughty has more…
Cut 3 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”
______________________________________
TOPS is not fully funded under the governor’s spending plan for next fiscal year. Officials say it will take more than 80 million additional dollars to pay for the scholarship program. Higher Education Commissioner Joe Rallo has concerns about how students will react to TOPS once again being funded at only 70-percent.
The Board of Regents meets today to discuss possible changes to TOPS. Under the newest proposal, those recommended changes do not include making the award amount tiered for freshmen, sophomores, and upperclassmen. Rallo says a flat grant amount is one option on the table.
The recommendations will go into a bill by Baton Rouge Senator Sharon Hewitt that will be taken up in the regular session. Rallo says a proposal to require TOPS students to complete 30 credit hours a semester, rather than 24, is also up for consideration. He says this could ensure that students complete their degrees in four years.
If approved, the changes to the program would impact the incoming class of 2018.
______________________________________
The big Mardi Gras weekend has arrived as cities and towns will be celebrating the carnival season with parades and traditional Mardi Gras festivities Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser says Mardi Gras is not just popular in New Orleans and Lafayette, central and north Louisiana are getting into the act. He says he was recently the Grand Marshall of the first parade ever in Ball.
Nungesser will also serve as the Grand Marshall of the Lions Club parade in Covington starting at 10 a.m. on Fat Tuesday. The Lt. Governor says the celebrations across Louisiana have really grown over the last few years.
Thousands of tourists will be in New Orleans for the biggest celebration of them all. The big parades of Endymion and Bacchus will roll down St. Charles Ave on Saturday and Sunday night. And Nungesser says the party doesn’t stop until Fat Tuesday…
_________________________________________________________
Grambling State University is one step closer to reinstating their undergraduate nursing program. The undergraduate program was closed in December of 2015, and officials have been working to get a new program instated. University President Rick Gallot says they have the support of the University of Louisiana System Board, but he says their work is far from over.
Cut 10 (11) “Board of Nursing”
Gallot says they are confident the program will be accepted by both the Board of Regents and the Board of Nursing. He says once they are approved, they can then hire a program director and move forward on reinstating the undergraduate degree program.
Gallot says a requirement to have a nursing program is a passing rate above 80-percent. He says after the program fell into a period of decline, passage rates fell to around 70-percent, and the program was closed. But he says they’re doing everything they can to ensure that doesn’t happen when the program is reinstated.
_________________________________________________________
While many Louisianans will be celebrating Mardi Gras this weekend, Governor John Bel Edwards is heading to Washington to discuss more federal assistance for flood recovery and the recent tornadoes in south Louisiana. The governor’s Communications Director Richard Carbo says Edwards will meet with the acting FEMA Administrator today to discuss recovery for tornado victims.
Carbo says on Monday Edwards and other governors from around the country will meet with President Donald Trump. He says this meeting will give the governor a chance to discuss his request for an additional $2 billion in federal flood recovery aid.
Governor Edwards has said another $2 billion is needed for Louisiana to have a full and robust recovery from the Great Flood of 2016. Carbo says that’s why Edwards will also meet with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and the new director of the Office of Management and Budget to discuss the state’s unmet needs.
_______________________________________________
The LSU baseball team begins a three-game series tonight against Maryland, who is a favorite to win the Big 10. The Terrapins are off to 1-2 start as they lost two games to Ball State. But Tigers Coach Paul Mainieri says don’t be fooled by Maryland’s slow start….
Maryland has recently appeared in the Super Regionals in both 2014 and 2015. LSU is 3-1 on the season and Mainieri says the Tigers are still a work in progress…
Mainieri says his starting line-up is not set in stone. He says he’s waiting for someone to step up in left field between Beau Jordan and Brennan Breaux