A bill has been filed to ban hate-related throws at Mardi Gras parades in Louisiana. Brooke Thorington has more.
Cut 1 (31) “…I’m Brooke Thorington”
____________________________
Louisiana drivers saved money at the pump in 2019 compared to 2018 and are on course to save more this year. Matt Doyle has the story.
___________________________
New Orleans State Senator Troy Carter files a bill that will ban “hate-related” throws at Mardi Gras parades. Earlier this month a father was stunned when his son caught a racially-themed throw at the Mystic Knights of Adonis parade in Gretna. Carter says all races and ethnicities should be brought together at parades.
When Carter learned a young boy caught a throw, which was a caricature of a black man holding a watermelon with a noose around his neck, less than two weeks later he filed the bill for the session that opens March 9th.
If a person is caught throwing hate-related throws in the proposed bill, Carter says the punishment is a tiered approach.
If the person cannot be identified, then the organization will be fined for the offense.
___________________________________________
According to AAA, in 2019, Louisiana households spent about 13% of their income filling up at the pump. AAA fuel analyst Don Redman says there were savings compared to 2018 as households saved nearly $46 a month.
While prices saw an uptick earlier in 2020 due to concerns over an Iranian conflict, Redman says coronavirus fears are driving prices down again, so we may see savings this year over last year.
Redman says the slow demand for oil due to the virus is mainly focused around flights and shipment cancellations, border closures and embargos.
Cut 8 (08) “…really good prices.”
Friday’s statewide average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $2.17.
____________________________________________________
Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans scores a 2.6 million dollar grant to help expand capacity.
The money was won in part because of the work of Baton Rouge Congressman Garret Graves, who sits on the House Subcommittee on Aviation. Graves says it’s some vital funding.
Louis has received nearly ten million dollars in grants since November of last year.
The one billion dollar new terminal was unveiled last year, but Graves says the rest of the airport’s infrastructure could still use some love.
Two taxiways at the airport are also set to undergo construction in the fall, part of a 40 million dollar project.
Graves says over a million people came to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and projects like these keep the money flowing into Louisiana.
________________________
Fears from the Coronavirus could roll over into putting dents into Louisiana’s tourism industry. UNO Professor of Economics Dr. Janet Speyrer says travelers may cut out nonessential trips due to being unaware of where other travelers may be coming from and their potential to be infected.
The markets have taken a hit as a result of the threat and Speyrer says some economists are forecasting the possibility of the coronavirus pressing the US economy into a recession, so people will be making cuts to their leisure spending.
Cut 13 (06) “…travel as much.”
Speyrer says business travel may also see a slump due to cuts in spending.
_______________
Cut 15 (07) “…him to recover.”
__________________________
________________________________