The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season is not done with Louisiana as another storm is expected to make landfall in the Bayou State. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Attorney General Jeff Landry says the signing of a legislative petition clearly states the Governor no longer has any authority to enforce his COVID public health emergency orders. Matt Doyle has the story.
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Hurricane Zeta is expected to enter the southern Gulf of Mexico tomorrow morning as a hurricane and then track across the gulf with a likely landfall in southeast Louisiana. State Climatologist Barry Keim says the official forecast track has Zeta as a Category one storm when it makes landfall Wednesday night
It will be the fifth named storm to make landfall in Louisiana in 2020 and the eleventh for the United States. Keim says the previous record was nine, set in 1916. He says Zeta also ties a record for most named storms in a season with 27 which was set in 2005
After Zeta passes over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula it will move northwest, and then turn to the northeast because of an approaching cold front
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Passage of Amendment Six on the November ballot would allow senior citizens with higher income levels to qualify for a property tax assessment freeze. Currently, if you are 65 or older and make less than $77-thousand annually your property taxes can be frozen for your homestead. Public Affairs Research Council President, Robert Travis Scott, says passage would increase the annual income limit.
Scott says Amendment 6 should be attractive for senior voters whose income falls in between the current levels.
Opponents however feel the change in income levels would force local governments to be more dependent on sales tax revenue which is more volatile.
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Attorney General Jeff Landry says the Governor’s public health emergency has been terminated for seven days and he now has no authority to enforce COVID restrictions.
After the House signed a petition Friday overturning the order many businesses began operating without restrictions. Landry says if the state penalizes you or tries to shut you down for doing that…
According to the petition’s supporters, the Governor is allowed to issue another public health declaration Friday that would re-implement Phase Three.
Landry says businesses no longer have to abide by the Governor’s public health restrictions, but they can maintain policies such as a mask mandate…
Governor Edwards announced Monday afternoon he is filing a lawsuit challenging the petition from state lawmakers and he says Phase Three restrictions are still in place. Landry says he’s ready to defend the petition in court
The petition was signed by 65 House GOP lawmakers at the end of the special session amidst frustrations that legislative attempts to limit or eliminate the Governor’s public health authority had failed. Many say their constituents feel the ongoing restrictions are hurting businesses and hampering the state’s recovery, but Edwards says that just doesn’t make any sense…
Edwards says if his order is overturned…
The Governor adds that it would also block GOHSEP from providing additional nurses and doctors to medical facilities in areas that see a surge in cases, and stops the National Guard from processing and transporting pandemic supplies like PPE and testing kits around the state.
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A bizarre killing spree with a knife took in LaPlace on Sunday that resulted in the deaths of two individuals and serious injuries to the suspect’s sister. St John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Trege says 23- year old Oscar Urisa attacked and killed his 31-year old girlfriend and her 15-year old sister, and also stabbed his 17-year old sister and 15-year old brother with a machete.
Trege says the horrific attacks began at a residence on Fairway Drive when Urias’s girlfriend, Elizabeth Tornbene followed the suspect into his bedroom, then Urias immerged wearing a mask and yielding two knives into the living room.
The suspect was apprehended after allegedly stabbing and killing the 15-year old sister of his girlfriend in a garage on North Sugar Ridge.
Trege says Urias’s 17-year old sister was also injured in the attack and this is the most vicious crime he’s ever investigated.
Urias is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.