The son of a St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s deputy has been accused of burning down three historically black churches in the Opelousas area. Jeff Palermo has more…
Cut 1 (31) “I’m Jeff Palermo”
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Nearly three quarters of Louisianans approve of Governor Edwards’ Medicaid expansion according to the latest edition of the 2019 Louisiana Survey. Matt Doyle has more…
Cut 2 (30) “I’m Matt Doyle.”
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Walmart is investing an estimated $73 million into remodeling 15 stores in Louisiana. Four of those stores are in the New Orleans area and two in the Baton Rouge area. Walmart spokesperson Anne Hatfield says the goal of the investment in technology innovations is to help save customers’ time and money.
Cut 3 (07) “…serve our customers.”
Shreveport, Natchitoches, Minden, Leesville, Winnsboro, Thibodaux and Mansura are also among the stores seeing the upgrades.
Hatfield says among the innovations, Walmart is adding autonomous shelf scanning to help with inventory, grocery pickup and delivery, and Walmart Pickup Towers.
Cut 4 (08) “…on walmart.com.”
In addition, autonomous floor scrubbers and fast unloaders to sort and scan truck deliveries will be added to assist Walmart employees.
Hatfield says online grocery pickup and delivery is extremely popular with customers. Walmart has specially trained employees who do the shopping for the customers.
Cut 5 (07) “…customers love it.”
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An Opelousas man has been arrested for burning down three historical black churches in St. Landry Parish. 21-year-old Holden Matthews is facing three counts of simple arson of a religious building. Governor John Bel Edwards was on hand to congratulate law enforcement for getting Matthews behind bars
Cut 6 (12) “…evil acts”
The first church to burn down was the St. Mary Bapstist Church in Port Barre on March 26. Two more churches were torched in early April in Opelousas, State Fire Marshal Butch Browning credits boots on the ground law enforcement for making an arrest
Cut 7 (08) “…is a suspect”
Matthews is a son of a St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s deputy and had no prior arrests or history of violence. Browning says an exact motive has not been determined, but the suspect may have been influenced by black metal
Cut 8 (10) “…church burnings.”
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The Revenue Estimating Conference’s updated revenue forecast gives lawmakers 110 million dollars extra to spend for this fiscal year, and 119 million dollars more for the next fiscal year.
The upgraded forecast had been blocked by Speaker Taylor Barras for months, citing concerns about accuracy. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne says it was unnecessary.
Cut 9 (09) “…modified”
The forecast showed a 308 million dollar budget surplus from the fiscal year ending on June 30th.
The legislature can now go about crafting a budget, knowing exactly how much money they can spend, something they couldn’t do previously. Dardenne says he’s disappointed the final numbers came out lower than expected, but it’s better than nothing.
Cut 10 (09) “…forecast.”
Everyone at the Capitol appears ready to back a 1,000 dollar teacher pay raise, and 500 dollar support personnel pay raise, which could eat up most of these newly surplus funds. On top of a pay raise though, Governor Edwards is chasing 39 million in additional education funding, which could be a tough budget fit…
Cut 11 (10) “…today.”
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73 percent of Louisianans support Governor Edwards’ Medicaid expansion according to the fourth installment of the 2019 Louisiana Survey.
Manship School Dean Martin Johnson says before you preface the question with any background information about costs, the policy has bipartisan backing.
Cut 12 (07) “…expansion”
The survey also found 74 percent of Louisianans support protections for pre-existing conditions in health insurance.
The survey shows support for the expansion increases even further when respondents were informed about how many people were covered by it, but Johnson says GOP support begins to collapse when the cost of the program is mentioned, something gubernatorial candidates are sure to notice…
Cut 13 (12) “…counting on”
The Medicaid expansion provided health insurance coverage to 600,000 Louisiana, and is primarily funded by the feds.
55 percent of respondents said they were “unsure” whether the state had expanded Medicaid, with only 35 percent correctly saying that it had. Johnson says the large gap is due to the difference in language between people in political and news circles, and the public.
Cut 14 (07) “…we do”
The expansion’s popularity has risen four percent in the three years since the survey began tracking it’s approval rating.