The 2018 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will feature artists including Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin, and Jimmy Buffett. Michelle Southern spoke with Festival Producer Quint Davis…:
Cut 1 (31) “I’m Michelle Southern”
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Congressman Clay Higgins is co sponsoring an immigration reform bill. Kelley Ray spoke with him about why he’s join in with over 70 other House members…
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The recent cold snap could cause the strawberry crop to be pushed back a couple of weeks. There are nine to 12 commercial growers in Tangipahoa Parish. Whitney Wallace from the LSU Ag Center says those farmers took extra precautions during the brutally cold weather and expects the crop should come through just fine…
With a decline in production and available strawberries, Wallace says there might be an increase in prices at the market, but any increase will be short lived. Many of the blossoms on the plants that weren’t protected will have to regrow again, which is a 21 day process. She says after that, prices will stabilize…
Wallace says the big event of the year for Tangipahoa Parish will go on as usual. She says there should be plenty of warm weather between now and mid-April for the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival…
It’s estimated strawberry production in Louisiana is valued at 17-million-dollars.
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The 2018 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will feature Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin, Sting, Jimmy Buffett, Beck, Jack White, and Lionel Richie — just to name a few. Jazzfest will be April 27-29 and May 3-6. Festival producer Quint Davis says Aerosmith will be making it’s Jazzfest debut, but they weren’t hard to bill…:
Also included in the talent lineup this year is Bonnie Raitt, Jack Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Trombone Shorty, Steve Miller Band, and Smokey Robinson. Davis says Jazzfest this year will also be joining in the celebration of the City of New Orleans’ 300th anniversary. He says there will be a massive Cultural Exchange Pavilion featuring all things New Orleans…:
The full lineup features a little something for everyone, and can be found online at nojazzfest.com. Davis says Aretha Franklin is bringing one of the biggest setups they’ve ever seen, and it might be one of her final performances. He says they are also doing a “Locals Thursday” discount day on May 3rd…:
Cut 8 (04) “remainder of 2018.”
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Now that the federal government shutdown is over, Congressman Clay Higgins is setting his sights on passing a bill to bolster the existing immigration law. Higgins is co-sponsoring the “Securing America’s Future Act”. The St. Landry Parish Republican says he wants to cut through the Red Tape to ease the process of hiring an additional ten-thousand Border Patrol and Border Protection Agents…
Farm owners and crawfish producers have been concerned they won’t be able to hire agricultural workers. Higgins says this bill would create a guest worker program that would address the state’s agricultural and seafood processing needs…
Higgins adds there are provisions in the bill that would punish sanctuary cities, by withholding funds if deported criminals illegally return to the U.S and are protected in those municipalities. New Orleans currently prohibits police officers from asking suspects about their immigration status. Higgins is tired of these cities disrespecting federal laws…
The bill is authored by Republican Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte and has 77 co-sponsors. The bill is currently being considered by several subcommittees…
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The governor’s proposed budget calls for an 80 percent cut in state funding for TOPS, because of a one-billion dollar reduction in state revenues. President of the University of Louisiana System Dr. Jim Henderson says a cut like that would cost students and their families thousands of dollars a year…
Along with a massive cut to TOPS, the budget included an additional 26-million dollar cut to higher education. Higher ed dodged budget cuts last year, and Henderson says it had a big impact on the UL system…
According to UL analysis, Louisiana universities currently operate at the lowest per student funding in the country.
Henderson says cutting TOPS would be a betrayal of hard working students…
Henderson says he doesn’t believe the “Doomsday Budget” will be adopted, but he is concerned that continued uncertainty involving TOPS could drive Louisiana’s best and brightest out of state.