Law enforcement and schools systems statewide have seen an increase in online threats in the wake of last week’s mass shooting at a high school in Florida. Jim Shannon has more…
______________________________________
The special session is at a tipping point after a first attempt at tax reform failed in the House Ways and Means committee. Matt Doyle has the story.
_________________________________________________
The State Department of Education is launching the “Be Irreplaceable. Be a Teacher” campaign. Teacher of the Year Kim Eckert announced the 100-thousand-dollar campaign which is an effort to convince high school and college students to make a career in the teaching profession.
Eckert says DOE will attempt to attract Generation Z about the prestige of the teaching career through television, radio and billboard ads and their website…
Eckert says it’s a challenge to bring in new teachers to Louisiana, since nearby states pay an average of 17-hundred-dollars more. She says it can be overcome by urging teachers to speak openly with lawmakers and education officials and that starts with this campaign…
________________________________________________________
Across Louisiana, students, teen aged boys mainly, have been arrested for terrorizing school mates in the wake of the mass shooting in south Florida. Police are reporting incidents all over the state. LSU Pediatric psychologist Joy Osofsky (Oh-saf-ski) says it’s her belief that kids are simply mimicking what they see.
Osofsky says kids need to hear from parents when these types of events happen.
And she warns many of these kids are star-stricken by the gun toting killers…they relish in the fact that they are “in control.”
_________________________________________________________
Many high school students love to participate in sports, unfortunately there isn’t enough referees to officiate some of those games. LHSAA Assistant Executive Director Keith Alexander says it’s hard to find basketball officials. He believes the crowds, especially if they get unruly, make a difference.
Alexander says there have been times when the crowds have gotten completely out of hand and have had to take extreme measures in a football game
As spring sports begin to ramp up, Alexander says they are needing more refs to step up to the plate
Cut 11 (10) “active official.”
More information can be found at their website at L-H-S-A-A-dot-org.
___________________________________________________
The special session is at a tipping point after just three days. The first major piece of tax reform legislation, aimed at plugging a portion of the billion dollar fiscal cliff, has stalled in the House Ways and Means committee. Lake Charles Republican Representative Stephen Dwight says this failure could doom the special session.
The bill would renew a quarter of the expiring penny sales tax, and remove some of the special sales tax exemptions enjoyed by certain industries. The bill would generate an estimated 300 million a year.
Baton Rouge Democratic Representative Ted James rejects the idea that this is the only fix to the fiscal cliff that would gut popular programs like TOPS. He says Republicans won’t allow other solutions to be entertained.
Reports say this bill represents the furthest GOP lawmakers would be willing to go to raise revenue to head off spending cuts. The bill would fill about a third of the budget gap that kicks in July 1st. Dwight says these are the only taxes he’s willing to support.
The mood was tense in the committee hearing, as Democrats and Republicans alike grew frustrated at the lack of progress. One major point of contention is renewing a portion of the expiring penny sales tax, and Baton Rouge Republican Barry Ivey says any renewal is a non-starter.