With heavy rain in the forecast, the state is urging you to use extra caution when venturing out onto the roadways. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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A north Louisiana school system tells state lawmakers why it can’t support Governor Landry’s plan to fund a two-thousand-dollar stipend for teachers. Jeff Palermo has the story.
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Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan signed a one-year deal to return to the Saints for one final season. Kace Kieschnick has more.
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With flash flooding possible for the rest of this week, DOTD is urging you to be extra careful when venturing out onto the roadways. Spokesman Rodney Mallett says it’s called “flash flood” for a reason – it happens so fast, before crews have time to respond.
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Mallett says even if you know the streets intimately, flash floods can give you a very unpleasant surprise.
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That’s why officials always stress that during heavy downpours, when you encounter a section that’s washed out, “turn around, don’t drown.” Mallett says the state will stay on top of any and all road closures in as close to real time as possible.
Mallett says if it’s raining hard, the very best thing you can do is to stay off the roads altogether if at all possible.
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While it wouldn’t be a record-breaker, Louisiana could see one of the earliest tropical storms in the state’s history by tonight. The National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning for the Louisiana coast from Morgan City westward. LSU Health Climatologist Barry Keim says the storm is moving directly up the Texas coast.
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If it does become a tropical storm, it would be Tropical Storm Arthur. And Keim says it will make its unwelcome presence felt along the coast later today.
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Keim says the biggest threat with this storm is heavy rainfall.
The earliest tropical storm to make landfall was Tropical Storm Christobal, which made landfall east of Grand Isle on June 7th, 2020.
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State lawmakers heard from school districts yesterday who are concerned about Governor Landry’s plan for a two-thousand-dollar teacher stipend. Landry proposes using 168-million dollars originally allocated for district operations to prevent teachers from taking a pay cut. Caldwell Parish School Board president Gary Cassels told legislators he does not have the money to do it.
Cassels appeared before the Legislative Audit Advisory Council. Landry’s plan would result in a five-percent cut for most districts.
Alexandria Senator Jay Luneau chaired Tuesday’s meeting and he says most school districts do have the reserve funds to pay the two-thousand dollar stipend, and the legislature will likely have to assist the school systems who do not.
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Landry’s plan is just for the 2026-27 school year. He’s called for studies to determine how the state can better use its financial resources to pay teachers and at a higher salary. At Tuesday’s Legislative Audit Advisory Council meeting, Luneau asked Avoyelles School Board President Aimee Dupuy if they they can handle a reduction in what is known as the M-F-P to make sure teachers get their two-thousand-dollar stipend.
Lawmakers have to approve the governor’s plan, and a two-thirds vote is needed. Mail-in ballots are due by 5 p-m on June 23rd.
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A sting operation results in the arrests of ten people, including a St. Mary Parish corrections deputy. Sheriff Gary Driskell says investigators launched “Operation Bear Trap” after getting information that 49-year-old Earnest Ladday (luh-DAY) was bringing contraband into the jail and giving it to certain inmates.
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Ladday is charged with 13 counts of entering contraband and nine counts of malfeasance. The others arrested include two people who allegedly helped Ladday bring the contraband into the jail facility and seven inmates who received the contraband. Sheriff Driskell says all jail employees are fully trained in an effort to prevent situations like these.
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Driskell says all department employees are held to the same standards as everyone else.
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No bail has been set for Ladday or his alleged co-conspirators at this time.
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Defensive end Cameron Jordan will be a lifelong Saint. The 15-year vet signed a deal to return for what he called one final season in New Orleans. Jordan’s 132 sacks are the most by a player in Saints history and rank 17th in the NFL all-time. Jordan explored free agency for the first time in his career, but he says it was his kids who finally convinced him to come back home.
New Orleans drafted Jordan in the first round of the 2011 draft. Since then, he’s played 15 seasons in the black and gold without missing a game. He says he’s always valued the idea of playing his whole career with one team, like his father Steve Jordan did in Minnesota. Jordan says GM Mickey Loomis told him he’d always have a job in New Orleans, and former teammates like Mark Ingram, Michael Thomas and Demario Davis all told him what he needed to do.
Jordan says he plans on playing each game this season like it’s his last, and he’ll contribute as a leader on and off the field to get the most out of his teammates. Jordan will provide veteran leadership to a young team that he says is as talented as any in the league.