student loan borrowers in Louisiana’s two biggest cities have some of the highest rates of late payments in the nation…
____________________________
Shreveport Representative Sam Jenkins has pre-filed legislation to target hostile motorists who engage in aggressive driving.
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Conner Ferril”
_______________________________
The state has ordered Drax Morehouse Biomass Plant, a wood pellet plant near Bastrop, to install air pollution controls following a challenge by environmental groups. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 3 (33) “I’m Kevin Barnhart”
__________________________________
Baton Rouge and New Orleans are in the top ten most likely cities for people to me more than 90 days late on student loan payments, as more than 20 percent of borrowers have been delinquent.
Student Loan Hero analyst Kali McFadden says that’s largely due to the fact that Louisiana households make 11,000 dollars less per year than the national average.
Cut 4 (10) “…huge difference.”
According to the report, Louisiana students graduated with 27,210 dollars of student debt on average, a little less than the national average.
McFadden says for-profit college attendees and two year college alums are more likely than four year college grads to be delinquent, but those who take out loans and drop out before getting their degree are most likely of all, and that’s a significant problem in the Bayou State relative to the rest of the nation.
McFadden noted that while borrowers in Louisiana’s two biggest cities were far more likely than those in other cities to be late with payments…
___________________________________________________
Representative Sam Jenkins has prefiled an aggressive driving bill that would create a more middle of the road punishment for impatient drivers. Jenkins says charges like careless operation of a vehicle are very minimal, while vehicular injury or homicide carry heavy penalties, but he wants something in the middle…
The representative says he hopes this will prevent road rage and get drivers who are charged enrolled into driving improvement schools. Jenkins says in some cases this misdemeanor could also lead to serious repercussions…
Jenkins says after viewing research from the National Highway Transportation Safety Board he noticed other states had enlisted laws to address poor driving behavior but Louisiana was lacking in proactive measures…
Jenkins says the legislation will be reviewed by the committee of administration for criminal justice who will then present the bill to the legislature during the next session.
_________________________________
Investigators with the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Brayton Galentine of Lafayette, who is wanted in connection with a burglary and vehicle theft last month. Major Ginny Higgins says Galentine is accused of breaking into a hom in St. Martinville and stealing keys to the home owners Ford Fusion, but he left a pretty incriminating piece of evidence behind.
Cut 10 (08) “…in their driveway.”
Higgins says it doesn’t appear the suspect knew the home owner and as far as a motive…
Higgins says the stolen vehicle was found torched a few days later. Galentine is facing serious time if convicted.
Higgins encourages anyone who knows of the suspect’s whereabouts to contact law enforcement or submit a tip through Crime Stoppers.
_____________________________
Louisiana has ordered a wood pellet plant near Bastrop to install air pollution controls following a challenge by environmental groups. Environmental Integrity Project attorney Keri Powell says when the Drax Morehouse Biomass Plant opened in 2015, it drastically underestimated it’s pollution output and had been exceeding it’s allowed emissions by four times to 1000 tons annually.
Powell says the abundance of volatile organic compounds emitted into the air can result in a plethora of health issues.
Cut 14 (010) “…respiratory issues.”
Powell says the state is requiring Drax to submit their preconstruction permit applications within three months, but the plant is now asking the state to give them a free pass for violating its emissions limit for the next year.