Obamacare signups are down 15 percent in Louisiana this year, and the 93,000 enrollees mark the lowest level of participants since the individual market came online in 2014.
Enrollment is also down 57 percent from it’s high point in 2016, and Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says that’s because 2016 was the year of the Medicaid expansion.
Cut 4 (12) “…program.”
A Jefferson Parish deputy was wounded and two men are dead after a shooting Wednesday night in Gretna.
According to Sheriff Joseph Lopinto, the shooting happened around 10:22 p.m. outside an IHOP in the 100 block of the Westbank Expressway near Terry Parkway.
Lopinto said detectives were conducting an undercover drug purchase in the parking lot when a driver put his vehicle in reverse, striking a deputy and ramming a JPSO car. Detectives shot at the suspect’s car, striking the driver and a man sitting in a passenger seat.
The JPSO reports that the driver died at the scene. The passenger who was also shot at the scene was taken to the hospital where he later died.
LSU hoops fans heading to the nation’s capital to see the Tiger take on Michigan State Friday in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament will have a warm welcome from the DC’s LSU Alumni Chapter. Chapter secretary Ginger Gibson says the celebration starts tonight at an Irish pub near the venue for the Sweet 16 showdown. Gibson says it’s tricky to come across Louisiana flair when it’s time to a party in DC.
Cut 11 (12) “…will be played.”

The Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction for the man who fatally shot former Saints player Will Smith in a 2016 traffic dispute. Legal analyst Tim Meche says the opinion of the panel to reject all grounds of the appeal of Cardell Hayes was very thorough. The three-judge panel unanimously rejected the appeal. Hayes was sentenced to 25 years in December 2016. Meche says some of the actions of his legal representation did not help his case.