A study shows 34 percent of Louisiana high schoolers drink and 8 percent use injectable drugs, the highest rates in the nation. Matt Doyle has more…
voicer 2 (30) I’m Matt Doyle”

The US Army Corps of Engineers has started closing the Bonnet Carre Spillway. This is the first year the spillway has been opened twice, due to high Mississippi River levels, but Corps spokesperson Matt Roe says the river is finally starting to go down.
Cut 6 (06) “…of the workers.”
The opening has resulted in mass toxic algae blooms.

Based on social media posts, LSU players can not get over their new lockers at the renovated football operations center. Each one has a pod that folds out, so players can take a power nap. Equipment manager Greg Stringfellow says the facility also contains a nutrition center and the Tyrann Mathieu players lounge…
cut 4 (12) “…and recline”
LSU has invited the media to see the new facility Wednesday

LSU AgCenter sugarcane specialist Kenneth Gravois says Hurricane Barry did minimal damage, which means the state’s sugarcane crop is on its way towards another successful harvest. Gravois says good prices are drawing more people into the sugarcane business and production this year is expected to be around a record high…
cut 11 (09) “…that’s very attainable”
He expects mills to open for processing around September 17th.

The governor’s office says the state has now saved over 12-million dollars from the 2017 criminal justice reform package approved by the state legislature. Louisiana Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc says the savings are being reinvested into programs to reduce recidivism…
cut 15 (07) “….these reform efforts”
Louisiana’s prison population continues to decline, from a peak just shy of 40-thousand at the end of 2012 to 32-thousand inmates at the end of 2018.

The U-S Army Corps of Engineers began the long process today of closing the Bonnet Carre Spillway. Once closed, it would stop redirecting Mississippi River water into Lake Pontchartrain. Corps spokesman Matt Roe says they will close 10 of the 168 bys currently open and hope to have all of them completed by the first week in August…
cut 8 (03) “…everything’s good.
A recent study by Project Know finds that nearly 29-percent of Louisiana high school students admitted to using illegal drugs on school grounds. American Addiction Centers Researcher Ruchi Dhani says…
Cut 14 (11) “…percent”
The study looked at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2017.

LSU Ag Center sugarcane specialist Kenneth Gravois says sugarcane farmers dodged a bullet from Hurricane Barry. Gravois says the storm produced three to 14 inches of rain across the sugarcane belt, but there were only pockets flooding and storm surge tha needed attention…
cut 10 (06) “…worst of it”
Gravois says they are still on pace to haul in a near-record sugarcane harvest this fall.

Louisiana’s riverboat casinos report a 10-percent decline in revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30th. Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Jones says legal sports betting in Mississippi and the growth of indian casinos in Okalhoma are drawing customers away…
cut 8 (10) “….kicked”
Seven casinos saw a 10 percent or more decline in revenue.

Louisiana’s latest employment report finds that Houma has lost the most jobs out of any market, with 29-hundred fewer jobs since June 2018. Louisiana Workforce Commission Chief Economist Ali bustamante…
cut 6 (10) “…compeititive”
Shreveport is down 2,400 jobs year to year, and Baton Rouge is down 1,700.

Republican U-S Representative Clay Higgins of St. Landry Parish was among a bipartisan group of Congressmen who visted a Southern border detention center in McAllen, Texas. Higgins says the U-S has the most generous immigration system anywhere
Cut 12 (13) “…and Chuck Schumer.”
Higgins says the facilities are at overcapacity, but they are trying to process these children of God in a very humane manner.

Louisiana’s annual performance report on the criminal justice reform package approved in 2017 finds it has saved the state over 12-million dollars, twice the anticipated savings. Department of Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc…
cut 13 (08) “…would be today.”
Leblanc says they are reinvesting the savings into programs that help to reduce recidivism.

Louisiana’s unemployment rate decreased to 4.3 percent in June, down .7 percent from the same time last year. Louisiana’s unemployment rate is it’s lowest since January 2008. Louisiana Workforce Commission Chief Economist Ali Bustamante says the state gained 300 jobs from May to June, which is better than most places in the US during the same period.
Cut 4 (10) “…direction.”
Healthcare and social assistance, which added 1,200 jobs from the previous month, and 9,400 jobs over the year.

The governor’s office says the state has now saved over 12-million dollars from the 2017 criminal justice reform package approved by the state legislature. Louisiana Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc says the savings are being reinvested into programs to reduce recidivism…
cut 15 (07) “….these reform efforts”

Southwest Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins visited McAllen, Texas, late last week where US Customs and Border Protection agents process immigrants coming across the border from Mexico. Higgins says if compassionate law enforcement is the goal in America, no one is doing it better than those at the southern border.
Cut 10 (11) “…broken a law.”
Higgins is the Republican leader of the Homeland Security subcommittee.

Louisiana’s riverboat casinos report a 10-percent decline in revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30th. Seven casinos saw 10 percent or more declines in revenue year to year, but the Belle of Baton Rouge posted the most shocking decline, at 43 percent. Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Jones says the owner is trying to get out…
Cut 9 (11) “…yet”

Louisiana casinos have seen substantial declines in revenue in the last year, leading casino advocates to sound the alarm that the state’s gaming industry is shrinking. Shreveport casinos are down 11.6 percent, Lake Charles 10 percent, New Orleans five percent, and Baton Rouge 13 percent. Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Jones…
Cut 7 (11) “…operate”
Jones says gaming revenue now exceeds oil and gas revenue in funding the state.

The governor’s office says the state’s prison population continues to decline…
cut 14 (08) “…had in 2012”
That’s Corrections Secretary James Leblanc who says Louisiana no longer has the highest imprisonment rate in the nation.

Southwest Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins scoped out border security operations in McAllen, Texas. Kevin Barnhart has more.
Cut 3 (31) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart”

Franklin Parish Sheriff deputies are trying to find the person responsible for the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old woman at a birthday party. Waneshia Bush died from her injuries at a local hospital yesterday morning. Sheriff Kevin Cobb says he expects multiple arrests and adds that the victim was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Louisiana’s annual performance report on the criminal justice reform package approved in 2017 finds it has saved the state over 12-million dollars, twice the anticipated savings. Department of Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc…
Cut 13 (08) “…would be today.”
Leblanc says they are reinvesting the savings into programs that help to reduce recidivism.

Congressman Clay Higgins was among a bipartisan delegation that toured a facility in McAllen, Texas that processes immigrants coming across the U-S Mexico border. The Republican from St. Landry Parish says after seeing first-hand how the operations at the border work, he believes many media outlets are casting the treatment of immigrants in the wrong light…
Cut 11 (10) “…totally false, man.”
Higgins says the immigrants are being handled as compassionately as possible.

The national unemployment rate rose slightly in June, but Louisiana is on the decline, powered by a robust job market in New Orleans. Matt Doyle has more.
Voicer 1 (30) “I’m Matt Doyle.”