State Senator JP Morrell is again bringing equal pay legislation before lawmakers for the upcoming session. Jeff Palermo reports..:

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LSU Student Government believes the Board of Regents’ proposed changes to the TOPS program will force students out of the state for college. Emelie Gunn has more…

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The governor has released his plan to close the state’s $304-million deficit for this fiscal year. Halen Doughty has more…

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State Senator JP Morrell is again bringing equal pay legislation before lawmakers for the upcoming session. The Democrat from New Orleans authored a similar bill last year that failed to make it out of a House committee. Morrell says one of the changes to this measure is that employers would be given a chance to correct a pay inequality…:

cut 4  (10) “remediate the pay”

Morrell says business groups asked him to give companies the benefit of the doubt that if they didn’t know about a pay inequality, they should change it themselves before litigation would be on the table. He says this bill also includes language that says equal pay laws should cover both women and men…:

Cut 5  (10)  “everyone should be paid equally”

Morrell says groups who support pay secrecy and don’t want transparency will oppose this bill in any posture. But he says Louisiana women make less than 70 cents per dollar that a man does, and this measure is simply about getting people paid what they are owed…:

Cut 6 (10) “those children”

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LSU Student Government believes proposed changes to the TOPS scholarship program made by the Board of Regents will have detrimental effects on students and might force some to attend schools in other states. President Zack Faircloth says one proposed change by the board is to require students to take 30 credit hours a year in order to keep the scholarship.

CUT 7 (06)  “about it”‘

Faircloth says they’ve written a two-page letter with their concerns to the board that oversees public colleges. The Board of Regents also proposed that freshman on TOPS should only have 80-percent of their tuition paid for by the state, while sophomores receive 90-percent, and juniors and seniors receive 100-percent. Faircloth says these are regressive ideas.

Cut 8 (10) “any sense”

The Board of Regents have asked for public input on their plan addressing TOPS spending and they’ll make a final recommendation later this month. Faircloth says Louisiana should be doing all it can to make sure our best students stay in the Bayou State.

Cut 9 (10)  “first step”

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State Superintendent of Education John White travels to Caddo Parish to host a public meeting tonight to discuss recommendations on improving struggling schools in Shreveport. White says 15 out of 66 schools in the parish have “F” letter grades and 22 have “D” letter grades.

Cut 10 (09) “about this”

White says there are several schools under the governance of the local school board plus a charter school, Linwood Public Charter that have persistently struggled. He says a plan dealing with the future of these schools will be presented to BESE next month, so White says they want to get the public’s input on how to improve them…

cut 11 (07) “his vision”

White says this is a critical issues, because only two percent of students in Caddo Parish’s “D” and “F” rated schools receive an ACT score to be eligible for TOPS. The meeting takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Peaceful Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Shreveport. White encourages the public to attend.

cut 12 (09) “communities first”

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Governor John Bel Edwards has unveiled his plan for resolving a $304-million midyear budget deficit. The governor’s Communications Director Richard Carbo says the proposal calls for using money from the rainy day fund, a large cut to the Department of Health’s budget, and state elected officials would also make cuts to their budgets, but…

Cut 13 (08) “and family services”

Carbo says the plan would impose the biggest cut on the Louisiana Department of Health at a $128 million budget reduction. But he says vital services for patients and hospitals that provide care for the poor would not be impacted.

cut 14 (10) “by the governor”

The governor’s deficit elimination plan will be debated in a special session that begins next week. Some Republican lawmakers have expressed opposition to using $119 million from the rainy day fund to minimize the cuts to state services. But Carbo says using the rainy day fund is a wise fiscal decision.

Cut 15 (10) “the budget”

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A class action lawsuit has been filed against the governor for not providing enough funding for Louisiana’s public defender system. Michelle Southern has more…

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Brittney Spears’ niece is reportedly in stable but critical condition after ATV accident in Tangipahoa Parish. Jeff Palermo has more…

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Two men from Cameron Parish must pay hundreds of dollars in fines for stealing over 500 alligator eggs. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries spokesperson Adam Einck says 48-year-old Paul Canik and 25-year-old Christopher Trahan, both of Grand Chenier,  have been sentenced by a state judge for what they did in July of 2015.

Cut 3 (07) “that property”

Canik pled no contest to illegal possession of alligator eggs and criminal trespass, while Trahan pled no contest to not abiding by rules and regulations. Einck says Canik took the eggs illegally and Trahan helped transport them.

cut 4  (08) “from then”

Einck says Trahan was ordered to pay a $293 fine. He says Canik’s egg collection privileges have been suspended for 18 months, and he was issued a $593 fine.

Cut 5  (10)  “trailer as well”

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State Education Superintendent John White releases revised plans designed to improve public schools to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. White says one way to raise expectations is to increase the benchmarks for a school to achieve an A grade in the state’s rating system. He says right now students only have to earn “basic” scores on math and literacy tests for the school to be rated an A.

Cut 6 (11) “the ACT”

White says in addition, graduation rates for “A” schools will also have to be at 90-percent, rather than 75-percent. The Every Student Succeeds Act also requires states to show how they plan to measure student achievement as part of their grading system, and White says for the first time ever schools will be judged by how well a student improves over the course of a year.

CUT 7 (06)  “over time”

White says they hope to have these new policy changes in place by the 2017-18 school year. They will need to be approved by both BESE and the US Department of Education. He says the new federal law also provides additional dollars to help students get a well-rounded education.

Cut 8 (09) “change this”

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A class action lawsuit filed today claims Governor John Bel Edwards and the state’s public defender board are not doing enough to adequately fund public defenders. Deputy Legal Director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, Lisa Graybill, says the US Constitution requires that all accused be provided a suitable defense. But she says that’s not happening in Louisiana.

Cut 9 (10)  “to them”

Graybill says budgetary strains leave public defenders carrying two to five times the number of cases recommended. She says 85-percent of defendants in Louisiana are poor, and without proper counsel, they are denied advocacy during arraignments, access to evidence, and assistance with plea negotiations.

Cut 10 (11) “prison population”

The suit notes that Louisiana is the only state that relies primarily on court fees to fund public defender legal services, which includes a fee assessed against indigent defendants. Mark Cunningham, a senior partner with Jones Walker LLP, says that means public defender offices receive more funding for losing cases than winning them.

cut 11 (11) “to intercede”

The lawsuit on behalf of 13 plaintiffs seeks require the state to change its public defender system and for a monitor to be appointed to supervise the system until a new one can be implemented.

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One student has been arrested in connection with a shooting at Scotlandville High School. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Casey Rayborn Hicks says deputies received a call at around noon reporting shots fired at the school. Hicks says deputies have learned a juvenile student fired a weapon in a hallway…

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Hicks says no one was injured during the shooting. She says a detective took the juvenile into custody, along with the weapon about 10 minutes after the incident was reported to authorities.

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