PM Newscall Nov 29

Senator John Kennedy has pushed back his decision on whether or not he’ll enter the 2019 governor’s race until Monday…

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Republican US Senator John Kennedy leads Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards in a poll looking ahead to next year’s governor’s race. Jeff Palermo has more…

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Senator John Kennedy is delaying his announcement on whether or not he’ll run for governor until Monday, siting travel issues. The 2019 race is now less than a year away, and only one Republican, Eddie Rispone, has declared against Governor Edwards. ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says the Senator’s repeated delays are beginning to look like non-interest.

Cut 3 (09) “indecisiveness”

Stockley says if Kennedy does not declare, he’s hurt the GOP cause in the race by boxing other candidates out of fundraising for the last few months.

But, Stockley says despite the delays, the former Louisiana Treasurer has quite a few good reasons to jump in the race despite his growing national profile two years into his six year Senate term.

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He’d also get to keep that Senate gig through 2022 even if he lost.

Kennedy’s opponents have already hinted that a major line of attack will be highlighting the brief nature of his stay in DC, but Stockley says the average voter likely wouldn’t care if the Senator jumped ship so early in his term.

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Previously Kennedy said an announcement would be made by December 1st.

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The son of south Louisiana serial killer Derrick Todd Lee has been charged with negligent homicide in the shooting death of a 16-year-old East Feliciana High School student. East Feliciana Sheriff Jeff Travis says 19-year-old Dedrick Lee was playing with a gun when it went off killing Valentae Brooks

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Travis says investigators reported in the warrant that Lee was remorseful for killing his friend…

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Lee’s father, Derrick Todd Lee, has been linked to multiple murders across south Louisiana in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Derrick Todd Lee was sentenced to death and died of heart disease in prison in 2016. Travis says Dedrick Lee’s father doesn’t have an impact in his case

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A statewide poll of 500 Louisiana chronic voters finds that Republican US Senator John Kennedy leads Democratic incumbent Governor John Bel Edwards 49-to-45-percent in a head-to-head race for governor. Pollster Bernie Pinsonat says Kennedy has several advantages in his favor, including an increase in popularity

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An announcement on whether Kennedy will run for governor is expected Monday. He’s currently completing the second-year of his six-year term as US Senator. Pinsonat says this survey is good news for Kennedy if he makes a run for the state’s highest elected office

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The poll indicates only six-percent of voters are undecided with the election just over 10 months away. Pinsonat says Edwards remains a popular governor, 60-percent of respondents approve of his job performance. But he says the governor is a Democrat in a Red state…

Cut 11 (10) “…from him”

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Tangipahoa Parish authorities say they believe the 3 pound baby boy found in the back of a Tickfaw garbage truck was likely a stillborn. Sheriff Daniel Edwards says they’re searching for the child’s mother, and have honed in on the likely dumping location after determining where the corpse was located relative to other trash in the truck that had been compacted.

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The child was discovered by a Waste Management worker yesterday while he was loading trash cans into his vehicles compactor along Whiskey Lane.

Edwards suspects the mother is from the Tickfaw area, and after searching records at local medical facilities, determined the birth was likely performed off-the-grid.

Cut 13 (12) “…like that.”

The Sherriff says someone in the public knows about this incident, and is asking anyone with information to come forward.

The brother of Governor John Bel Edwards says their number one priority at this time is trying to find her to make sure she’s safe.

Cut 14 (11) “…infections.”

Edwards says if they confirm the child was a stillborn, and a toxicology report on the body comes back clean, the mother likely won’t be facing felony charges.