Governor Landry wants to shift West Feliciana Parish’s federal judicial districts. Andre Champagne reports while Landry stated his reason to Congress, there’s an ulterior motive in play.
Cut 1 (35) “…I’m Andre Champagne.”
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Crawfish season is officially here, and that means we begin monitoring crawfish prices. Andrew Greenstein reports.
Cut 2 (35) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”
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Governor Landry is asking Congress to shift West Feliciana Parish’s federal judicial district from the Middle District to the Western District. In a letter to lawmakers, Landry stated that his reason is to ease the caseload in a district with a growing population. However, legal analyst Franz Borghardt says Landry has an ulterior motive – to shift cases involving prisoners at Angola to court where he could get more favorable rulings.
Cut 3 (09) “…the Middle District.”
All judges in the Middle district were appointed by Obama, whereas the vast majority of the judges in the Western District were appointed by Trump. Borghardt says once confirmed to the federal bench, that’s when politics are supposed to come to an end.
Cut 4 (08) “…run for re-election.”
Borghardt says shifting cases involving Angola prisoners to the Western District will not guarantee Landry any change in outcomes in those cases, since the president who nominates a certain judge to the federal bench is no indication of how that judge will rule in future cases.
Cut 5 (09) “…conservative or liberal.”
It will require an act of Congress to approve Landry’s request; Borghardt says approval is far from guaranteed.
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Three vital members of the state’s ag industry were inducted into the Louisiana Agricultural Hall of Distinction in a ceremony hosted by the Louisiana Radio Network. They are David Cupp, Billy Rogers Leonard and Jim Simon (Sea-mon). Cupp is the president of the Walsh Timber Company in Sabine Parish and has spent 45 years working in the forestry industry
Cut 6 (09) “…faboulous.”
Leonard is the owner of Integrated Crop Consulting. He spent over 35 years working for the LSU Ag Center, where he worked on over one-thousand scientific and technical articles and mentored dozens of grad students…
Cut 7 (12) “…to be here.”
Simon has been the general manager of the American Sugarcane League since 2004. He’s considered a titan in the sugar industry as he’s led research efforts, secured funding for sugar producers and played a pivotal role in U-S and Mexico’s sugar trade agreements….
Cut 8 (11) “…be recognized.”
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Now that Tony the crawfish has been pardoned, crawfish season is officially underway – and that means it’s time to start tracking crawfish prices. Laney King is the co-founder of The Crawfish App. ($4.50/lb. for live crawfish; $7.25/lb. for boiled crawfish)
Cut 9 (11) “…for boiled crawfish.”
King says the official start of crawfish season is a big reason why those prices are down at least a dollar a pound over the last two to three weeks.
Cut 10 (09) “…sell to us.”
King says today’s prices are about $1.50 a pound higher than what they typically are at the official outset of crawfish season.
Cut 11 (13) “…definitely by Easter.”
King says she expects crawfish prices to come down about $2.50 a pound between now and Mother’s Day, when crawfish prices usually hit their lowest level of the year.
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Governor Landry is going to have another tough sell on his hands with the L-A GATOR program. That’s the voucher program that provides tax dollars to allow parents to, among other things, send their kids to private schools. Senate President Cameron Henry is looking to keep funding at 43.5-million dollars, while Landry wants to bump it to 88-million, which Henry says is untenable.
Cut 12 (07) “…to stop it.”
Henry says when you double funding for a program every year, you have to eventually figure out when to stop doubling it.
Cut 13 (07) “…it’s not sustainable.”
Furthermore, Henry says the program is too new to examine any results to determine whether it’s even worth increasing the state’s investment on it.
Cut 14 (11) “…it every year.”