A 2017 wreck that left a four-year-old girl dead is inspiring legislation for the upcoming session. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 1 (31) “I’m Kevin Barnhart”
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A global tech giant will keep it’s headquarters in Monroe through 2025. Matt Doyle has more.
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A fatal wreck in 2017 that killed a four-year-old girl is inspiring a Bossier City legislator to change state law law so that even drug tests are required for drivers involved in auto and boating accidents that result in serious injury. The current law only mandates toxicology tests in fatal wrecks. Representative Raymond Crews.
Cut 3 (13) “…toxicology was performed.”
Crews says because the 4-year-old child died a week after the accident, toxicology tests were not performed on the driver at fault.
Cut 4 (10) “…a serious accident.”
Crews says the mother of the child plans to testify when the bill is heard during the legislative session that begins April 8th
Cut 5 (08) “…like this again.”
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CenturyLink will keep it’s corporate headquarters in Monroe through 2025. The company, which employs over 2,200 workers in the state at a payroll of 200 million dollars, announced the agreement with Governor Edwards earlier today. Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson says keeping CenturyLink in Monroe is vital for the state’s tech economy.
CenturyLink is the second largest US communications provider to global enterprise customers.
Pierson says the deal was secured through an incentive package, and a commitment to continue building the worker pipeline that feeds the workforce needs of big tech companies.
The incentive package includes a performance based grant based on the CenturyLink’s payroll performance.
As part of the deal, Pierson says the state also agreed to invest two million dollars in education grants to enhance the STEM and IT curriculum.
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The state needs new voting machines and a big election is coming up as we’ll vote on statewide offices and who will represent us at the State Capitol. Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin told the House Appropriations Committee today that about two-million dollars will be spent to rent voting machines…
Ardoin’s office attempted to buy new voting machines last year, but the process was halted over allegations the bidding process was rigged. The Secretary of State says they will rent voting machines for early voting and use spare parts to make sure the decades-old voting booths work properly on election day…
Ardoin expects later this year they will re-do the bid process as they attempt to legally find a vendor that can supply the state with new voting machines. He says interested vendors will have the opportunity to present what they can offer…
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Lafourche Parish Sheriff deputies arrested a Cut Off man accused of stealing thousands from a youth baseball league. 40-year-old Blaine Curole was the president of the league from 2015 until 2017. Lt. Brennan Matherne says when Curole turned over financial records to the league’s board, there were discrepancies…
Cut 12 (12) “…the intended use.”
The board met with Curole in January 2018 to disclose their findings. Curole admitted to using the funds for personal use and requested additional time to pay the money back, but that didn’t happen. Matherne says in addition to the board’s findings, investigators found even more discrepancies.
Cut 13 (10) “…for the league.”
Matherne says the investigation continues and more charges could be coming for Curole.