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.

GOP lawmakers express their concerns to state health officials over audits that show misspent dollars within the Medicaid program. Jeff Palermo has the story…

Cut 1 (32) “I’m Jeff Palermo”

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An Opelousas man is arrested following the stabbing death of his mother.  Kevin Barnhart has the story.

Cut 2 (30) “I’m Kevin Barnhart.”  

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House Republican lawmakers grilled state health officials about the growing Medicaid budget and whether the state is doing enough to prevent waste or misspending. Baton Rouge Representative Rick Edmonds is concerned the health department’s budget is set to grow by another billion dollars

Cut 3 (12) “…L-D-H.”

Health Secretary Rebekah Gee says mistakes will be made with a large government program, but they are trying to control spending and pointed to the recent removal of 30-thousand people from Medicaid, because they made too much money…

Cut 4 (09) “…this program”

The House Appropriations Committee is hearing from every state agency as they  put together a spending plan for next fiscal year. Edmonds says the health department’s budget is set to grow to nearly 15-billion dollars and they need confidence that the money is spent wisely

Cut 5 (11) “…we have.”

It was revealed during the hearing that 16-hundred people making at least 100-thousand dollars a year were covered by Medicaid, which is way above the income threshold. But Gee says an upgraded computer system should make sure ineligible residents are not receiving taxpayer funded health care

Cut 6 (11) “…very well”

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After failing for five months on recognizing additional revenues, the Revenue Estimating Conference adopted an income forecast that will give lawmakers an additional 110-million dollars in this year’s budget to spend and another 119-million dollars in next year’s budget. House Speaker Taylor Barras “Yes” vote broke the gridlock

Cut 7 (11) “…budget work.”

Four members sit on the Revenue Estimating Conference. Since February, Barras blocked an increase to the income forecast, because he was concerned the state may not collect as much money as projected. The House Speaker relented on Wednesday after hearing revenue projections from two different economists…

Cut 8 (09) “…we can get.” 

The extra revenue recognized can help the state pay for raises for teachers and the governor also wants to put more money towards colleges and public safety programs. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne is glad the stalemate over revenue projections is over with

Cut 9 (11) “…is gonna be”

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An Opelousas man is behind bars for allegedly stabbing his mother to death.  St. Landry Parish Sheriff deputies arrested 28-year-old Cody James Arceneaux after receiving 911 calls from a witness inside the home and from the suspect.  Deputy Chief Eddie Thibodeaux says an argument quickly escalated into violence.

Cut 10 (07) “…out of control.”

The victim has been identified as Vicky Granger.

Thibodeaux says Arceneaux claims his mother tried grab the knife to stab him, slicing the suspect in the process.  He then regained the kitchen knife and began to attack her.

Cut 11 (10)   “…could stab her.”

Arceaneaux was transported to a local hospital for treatment, then was taken to jail.

Thibodeaux says by the time deputies arrived, they found the suspect curled up on the floor holding his hands in a bloody towel, but were too late to help the victim.

Cut 12 (05) “…we got there.”

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Democrat Charlie Greer of Natchitoches Parish is running for Agriculture Commissioner against incumbent Mike Strain, touting his 20 year career in the Ag Department, and time in law enforcement.

Greer says if elected, he would push hard for the regulated production of industrial hemp, and hemp adjacent products to revitalize the state’s lagging Ag.

Cut 13 (10) “…in it.”

Greer ran for the office in 2015, finishing with 30 percent of the vote.

Greer is blasting Strain for a series of medical marijuana delays, but Strain says he’s just following the law to ensure the product is safe for consumption. Greer isn’t buying it, and says Strain had years to get the program together.

Cut 14 (11) “…in place.”

Strain denies impeding medical cannabis progress, and recently granted approval for the growth of the first crop. Greer says the delays have been unacceptable, and proof that the commissioner is not surrounding himself with competent regulators.

Cut 15 (09) “…put that”