Governor John Bel Edwards has signed a budget that provides millions of additional dollars towards public education. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Louisiana is once again ranked 49th in overall child well-being. A major contributing factor is poverty. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 2 (31) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart.”
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If you’ve got some bats on your land, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries wants you to count them. Matt Doyle has the story.
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Governor John Bel Edwards has signed the 30-billion dollar budget that lawmakers approved in the recently completed legislative session. Edwards says the spending plan that goes into effect July 1st contains the first teacher pay raise in a decade
Teachers will receive a one-thousand dollar pay raise, school support workers get a five-hundred dollar boost in pay. The budget also contains an additional 39-million dollars in block grant funding for public schools and the budget increases funding so that additional children can attend pre-K education classes
Edwards says if re-elected, he’ll push Louisiana teacher salaries to the Southern Regional Average…
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Louisiana continues to be ranked 49th in overall child well-being. KIDS COUNT manager at Agenda for Children Teresa Falgoust says a big factor into the low ranking is that the state ranks 50th in childhood poverty, with 307-thousand children living in poverty, roughly 28% of the state’s child population.
The state has dropped in ranking for education from 47th to 48th. Falgoust says another troubling trend is the number of children getting ready to enter high school not doing well in math. In 2009, 80% of eighth graders were not proficient in math. That has risen to 81% in 2017.
Cut 8 (06) “…slightly as well.”
Falgoust says the state is also low in the ranking when it comes to child and teen deaths and underweight births.
Cut 9 (07) “…worse since 1990.”
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The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is asking for the public to help count how many bats live in the Bayou State, so they can find out if a bat-based disease is spreading.
LDWF State Wildlife Veterinarian Jim LaCour says over 80 percent of the state is private property, which can make it tough to track bat populations, so if you got some bats on your land…
Louisiana has 12 species of bats.
LaCour says the white nose syndrome has ravaged bat populations in other states, but has not yet been detected in Louisiana.
The disease is not a danger to humans.
LaCour says filling out the form about how many bats are on your land could be a big help to the Louisiana economy, and Louisiana healthcare as bats love to chow down on nasty bugs.
If you’ve got some bats and want to help out, email nanderson@wlf.gov (N-Anderson-At-W-L-F-Dot-Gov)
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Four people are behind bars, with three charged with human trafficking and the fourth being charged with carnal knowledge after an investigation by the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Tony Mancuso says the investigation began in March when a tip was called into authorities alerting them to the location of 14-year-old girl previously reported as a runaway.
The victim indicated she had been forced into sex trafficking since January. Mancuso says combatting sex trafficking is a high priority for his agency and encourages victims to come forward.
Among those arrested are 24-year-old Mariah Miller of Iowa, 21-year-old Kaleb Citizen, 28-year-old Darius Landry, and 25-year-old Antonio Tompkins, all of Lake Charles. Mancuso says he believes there will be more arrests in the case.