LRN PM Newscall Feb 3

The West Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested a first-grade teacher for allegedly striking a student late last month. Eric Gill reports…

CUT 1 (30) “reporting”

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President Obama’s proposed budget for next fiscal year calls for taking federal dollars away for coastal restoration and using that money elsewhere. Eric Gill has more…

CUT 2 (29) “reporting”

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President Obama is proposing that offshore revenue sharing plan, which would provide Louisiana millions of dollars in revenue for coastal restoration, be replaced with a plan that would spread that money across the nation for various issues. Senator Bill Cassidy says it seems the president doesn’t care about the people affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita…

CUT 3 (12)  “disaster in the future”

The president’s proposal would strip Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states of revenue promised by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act which is scheduled to go into effect in 2017. Cassidy, who sits on the Senate Appropriations and Energy committees, says lawmakers will do their best to defeat this policy…

CUT 4 (06)  “about stopping this”

He says if the president is looking for more money, there’s plenty out there. Cassidy points out that some states get 50-percent of the royalties from oil and gas resources produced on in-state lands, while Louisiana, over the past three years, has gotten less than one percent…

CUT 5 (10)  “opposed to us”

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The West Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested a first-grade teacher for allegedly striking a student late last month. Witnesses reported seeing 31-year-old Chanel Lemelle, a teacher at Bains Lower Elementary in St. Francisville, berate, kick, and slap a student at the school. Sheriff’s spokesperson Erin Foster says they met with school board officials regarding teacher complaints about Lemelle…

CUT 6 (12)  “warrant for her”

Lemelle is charged with cruelty to juveniles. Foster says the witness statements about the incident were confirmed by video surveillance footage…

CUT 7 (07)  “of the head”

Lemelle turned herself in to authorities and was released after immediately posting bail. Foster says witnesses reported that, on several occasions, they also saw Lemelle taking food from students’ lunch plates…

CUT 8 (06)  “he sat down”

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The Internal Revenue Service is reminding low and moderate income tax payers they could be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit — the largest federal government benefit for workers. IRS spokeswoman Jodi Patterson says the EITC is a program designed to give extra money to people who don’t earn very much…:

CUT 9 (08)  “for the credit”

Patterson says for tax year 2014, the credit is as much as $6100 for a family with three or more children. She says last year in Louisiana, 519,000 taxpayers took advantage of the EITC…:

cut 10 (09)  “Louisiana economy”

Patterson says you don’t have to have children to qualify for the credit. She says if you make less than $53,000 a year you should log on to IRS.gov to see if you qualify. Patterson says four out of five people who are eligible for the credit do claim it, a lot of people don’t know about it exists…:

cut 11 (06) “to get that credit”

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With cooler temperatures forecast for much of Louisiana this week, will that have an effect on the crawfish crop leading up to Mardi Gras? LSU Aquaculture Specialist Dr. Greg Lutz says, in the long term, there shouldn’t be a problem because of their ability to adapt to cold. However, in the short term, Lutz says the cold temps could cause issues…

cut 12 (10)  “just sit there”

Lutz says crawfish get inactive in cold temperatures and won’t crawl into the traps until it warms up. He says some crawfishermen are inactive in cold temperatures, too, because their potential haul is not worth the trouble. Lutz says it costs the same to run their traps whether they catch anything or not…

cut 13 (08)  “their gasoline, probably”

Lutz says consumers may have a hard time finding crawfish this weekend and may see an increased price. He says this problem shouldn’t last long, though. Lutz says, fortunately, crawfish ponds are pretty shallow and they warm up quickly…

cut 14 (06)  “active again”

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