9:30 LRN Newscast May 8

Legislation that would take the regulatory powers for the production of medical marijuana away from the state Ag Department and give it to the Louisiana Department of Health has advanced to the House floor. The bill is in response to the repeated delays that have taken place in making the product available to the public. During testimony, Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain defended his department’s actions by saying their number one concern is patient safety….
cut 9 (12) “….safety”
Strain says they’ve found a pesticide in a batch of medical marijuana grown by GB Sciences, but the biopharmaceutical research company says that pesticide must have come from the department of ag’s own lab.

Louisiana Tech ended its 12-game losing streak to LSU baseball by thumping the Tigers 12-1 at Alex Box Stadium last night.

The Council for a Strong America releases a report that says Louisiana loses one-point-one billion dollars each year because of a child care crisis. CEO of Committee of 100 Michael Olivier says there’s over five-thousand infants and toddlers who are on a waitlist for state funding, so they can go to child care…
cut 5 (09) “…child care”
House Republicans are pushing for more state funding to reduce the child care wait list.

Louisiana Tech athletics director Tommy McClelland says based on preliminary estimates the school’s baseball, softball and soccer stadiums must be completely rebuilt, because of last month’s EF-3 tornado.
cut 13 (08) “…today’s dollars”
McClelland says discussions are underway on how to pay for and where to build new baseball and softball stadiums.