In the 1960s California passed a law that would ban “endangered” animal products, including alligator, from being sold in their state in the far off future of 2020. Now that it’s about to kick in, that law has Louisiana conservationists scratching their head…
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The state Attorney General’s office announces the arrest of five Louisiana residents for Medicaid welfare fraud. Jeff Palermo has the story…
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Jeff Palermo”
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LSU survived their first test of the tournament and will face Maryland on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Kevin Barnhart has more.
Cut 3 (30) “I’m Kevin Barnhart”
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60 years ago the Golden State, hoping to stem the tide of 20th century extinctions, agreed to ban the sale of “endangered” animal products in their state by 2020. One of the animals listed was alligators, and Louisiana Sea Grant Spokesperson Mark Shirley says California’s legislature may not be aware that we’ve got about as many gators as registered voters.
At one time alligators were considered endangered, but the population has recovered, and we now harvest over 300,000 gators on farms and in the wild in Louisiana annually.
This old law is turning into a ticking time bomb for local alligator industry, which makes a lot of it’s money selling skins to California fashionistas and pharma companies. Shirley says the misinformed sentiment could end up putting Bayou State farmers out of business.
Harvesting gator skin and meat is a nearly 60 million dollar industry.
So Louisiana’s congressional delegation is asking the California legislature to reverse course, and support a proposed law that would overturn that old law before the January 1st blanket ban goes into place. Shirley says if our west coast friends really want to save the gators, they should eat some or wear some, not ban them.
Bayou State wetlands are home to the country’s largest alligator population, with Florida in second place.
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Five people have been arrested on charges related to welfare fraud. Attorney General Jeff Landry says the state is cracking down on those that are fraudulently getting on the Medicaid rolls by working the system and lying about their application.
Landry says those arrested knew they were not eligible for government assistance, adding the expense of non-eligible recipients is has sent the Medicaid program spiraling out of control.
Cut 8 (10) “of our resources.”
Landry says the message to those trying to falsify their way through the application process to get on Medicaid is clear.
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LSU plays 6th seed Maryland Saturday in the second round after grabbing a 79-74 win over Yale. The Terrapins barely escaped a major upset, winning 79-77 in the last moments of their game against 11th seed Belmont. Guard Tremont Waters says he knows from here on out, the tournament will offer no gimme games.
Maryland finished 5th in the Big Ten this year with a 23-10 record. The Terrapins were bounced out of the Big Ten tournament in their first game.
Yale made a late push to keep things interesting, and that’s got a lot of Tigers fans anxious about what a better team could do if the Purple and Gold continue their habit of second half slacking that got them bounced out of the SEC tournament early. Interim coach Tony Benford says concerns about the team’s second half woes are overstated.
Just a few weeks ago Tiger nation was salivating at the thought of their wunderkind coach Will Wade leading a young, hungry team of athletes into the big dance. Now Wade is suspended for alleged recruiting violations, and many fans are concerned the distraction will lead to an early LSU exit. Benford says he’s keeping the team focused on what’s important.
Benford played in the tournament during his days in the 80s as a star guard for Texas Tech. before coming to LSU, His North Texas coached teams never sported a winning record.
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Presently, state law limits the total amount of bottles of wine that can be shipped to a home to 144 bottles that do not exceed 750 ml per bottle. But if a proposed new law in the upcoming session makes its way onto the books, the bottle size limitation would be a thing of the past. Senator Jack Donahue says this would open up deliveries to more variations of wine bottle sizes.
Cut 13 (09) “…the allowable quantity.”
Donahue says the previous law would impede on those that collect wine as a hobby.
Cut 14 (07) “…large format bottles.”
Donahue says he, too, is a wine enthusiast.