A pro-voucher group is attacking John Bel Edwards in a new TV ad as they are criticizing the first year governor for cutting six million dollars from the state’s voucher program. Louisiana Federation for Children president Ann Duplessiss says 71-hundred students receive vouchers, but not all of them will get one next year, if the governor has his way….
cut 13 (09) “….school year’
Governor Edwards says the ad is blatantly false.

There’s a handful of bills in this session that attempt to regulate drone use. Baton Rouge Senator Dan Claitor has a couple of measures, one of them will make it illegal to fly a drone over someone’s property without their permission…
cut 5 (08) “…the government”
So far, the drone regulation bills have received very little opposition.

Legislation is moving to the Senate floor that deals with police body camera video. New Orleans Senator JP Morrell says it causes a lot of financial strain on police departments to save these body cam videos for three years, which is required by law…
cut 16 (07) “….really comprehend”
The legislation also addresses what video connected to a crime should be available to the public

An Alexandria teen is facing several charges including terrorizing after he allegedy made threats on social media about a potential incident that would occur at Alexanderia Senior High’s prom. Rapides Parish Sheriff’s office spokesperson, Lt. Tommy Carnline…
cut 6 (10) “….of justice”
The prom was Saturday night and the teen is held on a 21-thousand dollar bond.

An ad airs today from the Louisiana Federation for Children, a pro-voucher group that shows parents of voucher students saying Governor Edwards lied to them by cutting the budget for taxpayer funded vouchers. Michelle Southern has more…
voicer 2 (26) “…I’m Michelle Southern”

The National Weather Service says it’s possible areas north of Interstate 10 will see a few severe storms tomorrow. There’s the potential for large hail, damaging winds and an isolated tornado from storms that will move through Texas today.

Houston-based Union Tank Car has infomed the Louisiana Workforce Commission that it will lay off about 224 employees in June. CEO of the Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance, Jim Clinton, says they’ll try to assist employees anyway they can….
cut 11 (11) “…possibly do”
Union Tank car says they’ll continue to employ about 350 people.

A Senate committee has approved legislation that deals with police body camera footage and how much of it can be made available to the public. Lake Charles Senator Ronnie Johns says there needs to be some privacy safeguards but…
cut 15 (11) “…real transparency”
The legislation requires a court order for video that my violate a “reasonable expectation of privacy.”

The number of state food inspectors could be reduced, if lawmakers go along with the governor’s proposed budget that calls for an 11-percent reduction in inspectors. Department of Health and Hospitals spokesperson Bob Johannessen says they’re letting legislators know about the risks associated with cutting 16 sanitarians, plus food retailers welcome the inspections…
cut 6 (09) “….in general”

The statewide average price of gasoline is up to $1.93. That’s according to gas-buddy-dot-com. That’s a nickel increase over the last week and Gas Buddy’s Gregg Laskoski says the price at the pump will likely continue to increase for at least another month….
cut 9 (05) “….or June”
Laskoski says greater demand is helping to drive gas prices up.

Investigators from Iberville Parish are in Humble, Texas today, the hometown of the female found dead by fishermen under the I-10 bridge at Whiskey Bay. Iberville Sheriff Brett Stassi says at this time they have very few leads in 28-year-old Elizebeth Ferrell’s death…
cut 12 (09) “…quick recovery”
Stassi says an autopsy found that Ferrell was strangled to death and she had blunt force trauma to the head.

Houma Police announce the arrest of two men who stole several sacks of crawfish worth 250-dollars from a gas station. Police Chief Dana Coleman says surveillance video spotted 45-year-old Richard Buck and 34-year-old Joshua Robichaux taking the mudbugs.

The Shreveport-Bossier City area is under a slight risk for severe weather today. The severe weather risk spreads across much of Louisiana for tomorrow.

FBI records indicate the late John McKeithen supplied the KKK with money when he was governor in an attempt to suppress racial violence in the mid-1960s. Gus Weill served as McKeithen’s Executive Secretary at this time…
cut 8 (11) “….came from”
Weill was unaware of the payments at the time, but first learned of them a few weeks back, when an individual told him about 5-thousand dollars that went to a KKK group and an african-american group in Bogalusa.

Detectives are investigating the deaths of two females who were found along the I-10 corrider this weekend. A woman from Texas was found under I-10 near the Whiskey Bay exit in Iberville Parish. The coroner says she was strangled to death. And in St. Charles Parish, a missing Kenner teenager’s body was dumped on a road in St. Rose.

The House Transportation Committee approves a bill that would allow you to store your driver’s license on an app that can be downloaded on your smart phone. Baton Rouge Representative Denise Marcelle supports the legislation…
cut 13 (08) “…to the phone”
The state Office of Motor vehicles says this license on your phone could be shown to law enforcement in cases when a person doesn’t have their license.

A Monroe woman has been arrested after leaving St. Francis Hospital with a baby that was NOT hers. Monroe Police Chief Detective Chris Bates says 24-year-old Anquinisha Cummings took a three-day old child from a mother she met that day….
cut 5 (10) “….no bond”
Bates says they believe Cummings is suffering from a mental illness.

Former governor John McKeithen gave money to the KKK in an effort to calm racial tensions in the mid-1960s. That’s according to FBI records that the LSU Manship School of Mass Communications has uncovered. Gus Weill, was the executive secterary for the late governor and he’s not surprised to hear McKeithan used money as a way to quell racial strife…
cut 7 (12) “….and Mississippi”
Weill says the money came from a state commission that was established to control civil rights issues.

The state’s budget shortfall for next fiscal year is down from 750-million to 600-million dollars. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne says expanding Medicaid reduces the deficit, but he says it won’t decrease the level of cuts, because the savings were already factored into the governor’s proposed budget.

About 300-thousand public school students are taking standardized tests this week, but there’s not the uproar we saw with last year’s Common Core exams. West Feliciana Superintendent Hollis Milton, also serves as the president of the Louisiana Association of Superintendents, and he says efforts to change the content on these tests has led to a calmer environement….
cut 11 (11) “…will be better”

A Monroe woman has been arrested for stealing a baby from St. Francis Hospital…
cut 4 (10) “…not true”
That’s Monroe Police Detective Chris Bates, who says 24-year-old Anquinisha Cummings was charged with aggravated kidnapping. Bates says Cummings took the baby from a mother that she happened to meet that day.

A bill to prohibit an employer from refusing to hire or fire a person, because they are gay or transsexual was set to be heard in a House committee this morning. But the author of the bill, New Orleans Representative Joe Bouie, decided not to move forward with the legislation, because reportedly the votes were not there. They may bring the bill up again next week.

A New Orleans woman tells WWL-TV in New Orleans that a clerk at a Family Dollar store on the corner of Canal and Broad refused to ring up her items at the cash register, because she is gay. There is cellphone video that shows the clerk saying “I’m not serving them two.” Family Dollar’s corporate office has not responded to the incident.

Authorities in Iberville Parish have identified the body of a female that was found near Whiskey Bay along Interstate 10. The victim’s name is Elizabeth Ferrell of Humble, Texas. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.

The House Transportation Committee is scheduled to hear a bill today that would increase the fines for moving violations when a child under the age of 15 is in the vehicle. Baton Rouge Representative Paula Davis believes the increased fines will help stop dangerous driving with children in the car…
cut 15 (08) “….tripled”
Davis doesn’t anticipate much opposition to her bill.

Children programming in French is airing on Louisiana Public Broadcasting. There are about 45-hundred students in French immersion programs in the state. LPB Program director Jason Viso says this popular French speaking kids show from Canada, will give French immersion students a chance to develop their language skills…
cut 13 (07) “….the classroom”
The shows are airing on LPB in the afternoons on Monday through Friday and during select times on the weekends.