Festivities surrounding Mardi Gras are happening across the state starting this weekend. Michelle Southern reports…:

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Monroe-based CenturyLink is opening a new outbound sales center bringing 150 jobs to the area.  Kelley Ray has more…

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Many folks think that Mardi Gras is a celebration that only takes place in Southeast Louisiana, but festivities surrounding Carnival are happening across the state. They do it big in Alexandria with two weekends packed with fun events. Kelli West with the Convention and Visitors Bureau says tonight Pineville will roll with their massive 4th Annual Light the Night Parade:

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West says once the parade is over tonight, the Light the Night After-Party kicks off at 8pm in downtown Alexandria. She says Saturday morning for the second year in a row, the town of Ball will host a big parade at 10am along Hwy. 165…:

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The Acadiana region celebrates Fat Tuesday in a huge way with events that draw over 200,000 people every season. That’s according to Executive Director of the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission, Ben Berthelot. He says the city of Lafayette holds parades over the next two weekends, and rural communities do Mardi Gras their own special way…:

Cut 5  (08)  “twenty or thirty minutes”

Berthelot says their events are known for being extremely fun, in a very family oriented and safe environment. He says another giant draw to their area for the party beings on February 9th at Cajun Field called Le Festival de Mardi Gras…:

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Monroe-based CenturyLink is opening a new outbound sales center bringing 150 jobs to the area.  The center will be located on Forsythe Avenue.  CenturyLink spokesperson Anne Marie Sartor says the center will focus on small businesses throughout the country in helping them with their communication needs…

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A job fair will be held later this month in Monroe to help fill the new jobs.   Sartor says there will be a couple of ways people can apply for the jobs…

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CenturyLink recently merged with Level 3 Communications.  Sartor says there was initial concern as to how the merger would affect employees in the Monroe area.  She says if anything, they have be able to strengthen their status as the largest Fortune 500 Company in the state…

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CenturyLink will now have nearly 25-hundred employed in their Monroe operation.

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An Offers.com survey says Louisianans are the top spenders this year for Super Bowl parties. Even though the Black and Gold missed the Super Bowl by a hair, big game parties will still be raging across the state. Offers.com spokesperson Carson Yarborough says Louisiana spends nearly 40 percent more per party than the average state.

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Forget gumbo, jambalaya or crawfish, Yarborough says Louisiana has a fairly standard go to for Super Bowl snacks.

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Yarbrough says there’s another category the bayou state paces the nation in.

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The Super Bowl kicks off at 5:30PM Sunday.

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Punxsutawney Phil and Louisiana’s own nutria forecaster Pierre C. Shadeaux are at odds in their predictions this year.  Phil saw his shadow and predicted another six weeks of winter, while Shadeaux didn’t see his in New Iberia today and says we will see a longer spring, delaying summertime heat longer.  LSU Climatologist Barry Keim says Shadeaux’s prediction may be closer on the mark…

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Keim says it’s understandable everyone wants to see spring come sooner since January was a very harsh month in Louisiana, even though it was predicted to be milder than usual…

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Big celebrations are scheduled across Louisiana for Mardi Gras this weekend.  However Keim says take the rain gear with you…

Gas prices are seeing an unusual spike for this time of year, according to AAA. Michelle Southern reports…:

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An Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress, including Senator Bill Cassidy and Representative Garret Graves, hit a garbage truck near Charlottesville, Virginia.  Jeff Palermo has more.

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Today is the deadline for retailers to mail notices to Louisiana residents who purchased products online, but did not pay sales tax at the time of purchase. Customers are required to include these forms so they can pay those taxes when they file their taxes this year. Louisiana Department of Revenue spokesperson Byron Henderson says after you receive the notice, you have two options.

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Henderson says if you’re thinking of skipping out on the taxes, just know the state now has an easy way to double check that you’ve paid them.

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Henderson says if you fail to report these taxes, it’ll cost you.

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Louisiana customers won’t need to worry about Amazon, as they charge sales tax at the time of purchase.

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Louisiana drivers continue to see higher gas prices and a return to three-dollars a gallon may not be too far off.  The current average for a gallon of regular gasoline is 2.43, up from six cents a week ago.  Triple A fuel analyst Don Redman says oil is trading at around 64-dollars a barrel.  He says demand is driving the oil market…

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Redman says drivers should be concerned about where oil may end up by summer.  He says with increases coming on a daily basis, we may be paying much higher prices during the busy travel season…

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Redman also says refineries will begin the process of changing to summer blend which always tacks on extra cost to consumers…

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I-10 westbound was closed for several hours this morning at the West Pearl River Bridge in Slidell due to multiple accidents involving two 18-wheelers that were hauling live bees. Trooper Dustin Dwight says 8 vehicles were involved in the crash and first responders were dealing with a mess…:

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Dwight says thankfully they were able to contain the bees fairly quickly, but it was quite a task…:

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An Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress to a retreat in West Virginia, including Senator Bill Cassidy and Representative Garret Graves collided with a garbage truck near Charlottesville, Virginia.  Officials says one in the garbage truck is dead and another seriously injured. Cassidy explains what happened…

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Cassidy says he was fortunate and he and his wife Laura were not injured, but says other passengers felt the brunt of the collision, which derailed the train.  Doctors on board began assisting the passengers in the garbage truck immediately…

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Both Cassidy and his wife are doctors.  They rushed to the garbage truck and describes the scene of the collision…

Cut 13 (06) “serious condition.”

Graves’ office has confirmed he is ok.

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Louisianans looking to buy local products at their grocery store should look for a new logo. Louisiana Ag Commissioner Mike Strain says they have overhauled their Certified logo program with flashier, more diverse logos to further highlight goods made in the Bayou State.

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The program also features a new website.

For a product to be Certified Louisiana, it has to pass state and federal food safety tests, and be made primarily in the Pelican State. Strain says there’s a couple of different certified options for products that pass the test.

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