The coronavirus virus is expected to be in St. Tammany Parish within the next three weeks for study by the Tulane Primate Research Center. Matt Doyle has more…
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Governor Edwards is calling for record levels of spending on coastal resotration in his second term. Matt Doyle has the story.
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Over 200 state troopers are descending upon New Orleans this weekend. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 3 (31) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart.”
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The Tulane National Primate Research Center will soon begin work on a vaccine, and more effective diagnostic tools for the coronavirus.
The virus is expected to arrive at the St. Tammany Parish based facility in the next two to three weeks, and Associate Director Dr. Skip Bohm says it will likely take a while for their work to come to fruition.
The virus has infected some 75,000 people worldwide and is thought to have killed over 2,000.
Part of their work will be developing more reliable ways to test for the disease. Bohm says like many early periods of a virus, they’re seeing a lot of false negatives and false positives.
25 countries have reported cases of the outbreak, with 15 in the United States.
Bohm says the Center was chosen for this work due to it’s long history of, and expertise in biosafety, biocontainment, infectious diseases, and…
Tulane was one of the first labs in the nation to receive CDC approval to study the virus.
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Cleco customers will see a drop on their power bill starting in March with the removal of the storm restoration fee. The fee became part of customers’ statements to pay to fix the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Cleco spokesperson Jennifer Cahill says it’s good news for their customers.
The cost to repair Cleco’s system following the storms was approximately $160 million. Cahill says that was the largest combined storm expense in the company’s history.
Cut 8 (04) “…to the customers.”
Cahill says the storm recovery for Katrina included 3,400 workers and last 29 days while Rita included 2,900 workers for 11 days and adds that some of the money collected will go toward future storm recoveries.
Cut 9 (11) “…our customers’ costs.”
Cleco customers will save a combined $22.3 million annually because of the fee removal.
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Governor Edwards plans to spend a billion dollars a year building and restoring the coast over the next four years, according to his recently released second term coastal plan.
Restore the Mississippi River Delta Director Steve Cochran says with this plan in place, if the world can begin reducing it’s greenhouse gas emissions we could begin reversing the effects of coastal land loss.
The state will also establish a Climate Initiatives Taskforce aimed at finding ways to curb in-state carbon emissions.
The Governor also announced 115 million dollars from last year’s surplus will help bolster those efforts. Cochran says not only is that money flexible, but it shows we mean business.
The billion dollars a year will fund a web of projects, highlighted by massive sediment diversions that will redirect river sediment into the wetlands.
Cochran says the billion dollars a year in coastal spending is the highest in the state’s history.
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Over two hundred state troopers are being deployed to the city of New Orleans for Carnival 2020. This is an uptick from last year as crowds are expected to be bigger. Trooper Monroe Dillon says much of the concentration will be around downtown and the French Quarter.
Cut 13 (09) “…keep them safe.”
This weekend marks the final and likely busiest weekend of Carnival 2020. Dillon says law enforcement will be keeping an eye out for those who have partied too hard and decide to get behind the wheel.
Cut 14 (07) “…they’re driving different.”
Dillon says law enforcement will be utilizing the See Something Send Something app, where if you spot something that may need the attention of law enforcement, you can send in an anonymous tip to officials.
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The Pelicans return from the All-Star break as they start a three-game road trip in Portland tonight. New Orleans is 5.5 games back from Memphis, who occupies the final playoff spot in the West. Pels Coach Alvin Gentry says every game is important the rest of the way….
New Orleans is 23-and-32 on the season. Gentry says in order to finish with a winning season, they need to cut down on turnovers
New Orleans won six of its last nine heading into the All-Star Break. Veteran guard Jrue Holiday believes the team can make a real run at catching Memphis
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After a sloppy loss at Nicholls on Wednesday, the 11th ranked LSU baseball team returns to the Box tonight to host Eastern Kentucky. Coach Paul Mainieri is asking his starters for six innings this weekend against a good hitting team
Mainieri says this weekend he plans to give Wes Toups a shot in left field, Hal Huges will start at shortstop and freshman catcher Alex Milazzo will get two starts behind the plate. The coach says Milazzo has a major league arm…