Over half of the races in the October 14 election have already been settled. Michelle Southern has more…
Cut 1 (30) “I’m Michelle Southern”
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Governor Edwards announces 220 million dollars in federal money will be allocated across the Baton Rouge area to protect against future floods and storms. Emelie Gunn has more…
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Three months ahead of the October 14 election, more than half of the races have already been settled. Candidates in 41 races had no opponents, while 16 saw no candidates at all. Secretary of State Tom Schedler says they saw a similar rate just over a year ago when 44 percent of the races were settled before reaching the ballot.
Schedler blames the public’s frustration with government for the disinterest in running for public office. He says these positions don’t pay much and they come with a lot of stress. He says these demanding jobs are true public service.
Schedler says in cases where an incumbent is unopposed, he or she is simply reelected. He says the law used to allow his office to reopen qualifying if no one qualified, but often times they still wouldn’t see any candidates. That’s why there’s a new policy for such occurrences.
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Zachary Police have made an arrest in the case of a fatal home invasion that occurred last night. Chief David McDavid says the deceased, 20-year-old Damon Hayes Jr, allegedly broke in with 20-year-old Jordale Carter and possibly two other suspects…:
Hayes died in the incident and Carter was booked on many charges including murder because his accomplice died during a crime. McDavid says two other suspects are still at large.
McDavid says one of the suspects was reportedly trying to get a ride away from the scene, saying he was being shot at. He says the robbery occurred in an elderly neighborhood, and they seldom have shootings like this.
Cut 8 (11) “burden to society”
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Governor John Bel Edwards announced today federal funding for flood control projects in the Baton Rouge area. Edwards says 220 million dollars will go to local governments in the Capital region as part of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
Edwards says each parish will submit a plan to FEMA before the money will be allocated. He says some of the money will be used to buy back significantly damaged homes from last year’s flood and make it a green space. He says the rest of the funds will go to….
None of this money will go toward the much talked about Comite Diversion Canal Project because funding for that must come from a different source. Edwards says after Hurricane Katrina, a majority of hazard mitigation grant dollars went towards elevating homes but that won’t be the case this time.
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Monroe Police Chief Quentin Holmes has announced he is going to retire from his post. In a joint news conference with Mayor Jamie Mayo, Holmes said he has been thinking about returning to teaching for quite some time. News outlets had reported that Mayo asked for a resignation which he says is 100% not true…:
Mayo says Holmes will remain chief until July 30th, and during that time his office will work to name someone to serve in the interim. Holmes was named police chief in 2011 and received a no confidence vote from the union in August 2014, but he says that has nothing to do with this retirement…:
KNOE said they had received anonymous calls from people saying there was bad blood between Holmes and the Mayor over the rising crime problem in the Monroe area. Mayo says he hopes they have now cleared the air that it’s just not the case..: