After several days of inaction, the House Appropriations Committee sent budget bills to the House floor for consideration. House Bill 1 would fund TOPS at 80 percent, and cut higher education by 26 million dollars. Baton Rouge Representative Patricia Smith says funding TOPS at such a high level while slashing higher ed doesn’t make sense.
Cut 10 (10) “you want”
Legislators will push to pass the budget before the special session ends June 4th.

St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister is urging the Edwards administration to expand Interstate 12 after fiery 18-wheeler crash that claimed the lives of four people on Saturday. Brister says the area around I-12 and L-A 21 is congested and unsafe…
cut 15 (09) “…not that”

The state education department is kicking off its 6th Annual Teacher Leader Summit in New Orleans today. The summit even has its own app, to help seven-thousand teachers in attendance plot their way through the dozens of lectures and workshops. Superintendent of Academic Content Rebecca Kockler says it’s a reinforcement of educational basics.
Cut 4 (10) “and writing”
World renowned researchers and speakers will be in attendance.

Governor John Bel Edwards has vetoed legislation that could have reduced new affordable housing units in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center Executive Director Cahsuana Hill says it’s a big win for the working class being squeezed by higher rent…
cut 7 (12) “….affordable units”