Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser says the recent slowing case growth is making him confident that fall football will be played. Matt Doyle has the story.
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Governor John Bel Edwards is calling on Louisiana’s Congressional Delegation to provide funding for states to replenish their unemployment insurance trust funds. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
cut 2 (28) “I’m Kevin Barnhart.”
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The Louisiana Department of Agricultural says since Friday its office has received about 300 calls from people who say they received a mysterious package of seeds. The seeds have a mailing address from either China, United Arab Emirates, or Uzbekistan. Ag Commissioner Mike Strain says this could be brushing scam
Strain says the packages have arrived in mailboxes across the country…
Strain says if you receive the seeds call the state department of agriculture’s office and do not take them out of the bag or throw them away and most importantly do not plant them…
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Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser is optimistic that football and Mardi Gras will not have to be canceled due to the pandemic, and is celebrating yet another record weekend for state parks.
Nungesser says the recent slowing in new cases is likely due to the mask mandate and closing of bars, and if this keeps up he expects football to be a go for the fall and Mardi Gras to be back next year.
He also added he is meeting soon with the Sugar Bowl Committee and is committed to holding the bowl game in New Orleans at the start of next year.
Nungesser says if the recent trend holds he’s hopeful that the state is set to move to Phase Three in three or four weeks and not impose additional restrictions.
The state has now seen two consecutive days of cases under 2,000 after last week’s numbers averaging clear over 2,000 a day.
After breaking records earlier in the pandemic Nungesser is celebrating the fact that last weekend was the biggest attendance weekend in Louisiana State Park history.
Attendance records were first recorded in 2008.
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Governor John Bel Edwards is calling on Louisiana’s Congressional Delegation to consider funding Louisiana’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund in the current proposal for COVID-19 relief legislation. Edwards says the benefit of the extra help would be widespread.
Edwards says the state’s unemployment was 17th strongest in the nation before the pandemic took a toll on the fund.
Louisiana law mandates the Louisiana Workforce Commission impose a surtax on businesses up to 30% on taxable payroll.
Edwards says if the fund gets to the point where it needs to borrow money from the feds, that borrowing is available interest free, but a mechanism has to be set up to pay it back.
Cut 11 (09) “…and their payroll.”
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A mystery philanthropist makes a 20 million dollar donation to Xavier University, a historically black college in New Orleans. Xavier President Dr. Reynold Verret calls it a historic contribution.
The Associated Press suggests the donation may have been made by MacKenzie Scott, the recently divorced former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Verret says representatives of the anonymous donor requested that the funds be used to create a tuition endowment.
Verret says the donor understands the importance of institutions like Xavier and the role they play in helping to bridge the nation’s achievement gap.