A Shreveport lawmaker feels the state legislature should look at different options in trying to shrink the state’s $1.6 billion budget deficit. Eric Gill reports…

CUT 1 (29) “reporting”

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The state Department of Transportation and Development is taking part in National Work Zone Awareness Week which runs through Friday. Michelle Southern reports…:

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Parks Senator Fred Mills is sponsoring legislation this session that looks at ways to change the way public school teachers are evaluated. Michelle Southern reports…:

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Sentencing is scheduled today for a Baton Rouge man who allegedly shot his girlfriend up with a fatal injection of heroin in 2013. 31-year-old Brandon Eirick pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and heroin distribution in the death of 31-year old Leah Hutchinson. Legal analyst Tim Meche says cases like this are not unique…

cut 4  (08)  “for years”

Eirick was originally charged with second degree murder in this case, but pleaded to the lesser charge of negligent homicide in October. Meche says this case is clearly a homicide case and not a murder…

Cut 5  (03)  “present, here”

Meche says Eirick faces up to 10 years in prison. He says since these cases are not unusual, the sentencing judge will be able to use prior judgement to help determine Eirick’s sentence…

Cut 6 (05)  “guided by that”

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A Shreveport lawmaker feels the state legislature should look at different options in trying to shrink the state’s $1.6 billion budget deficit. Democratic Representative Patrick Williams it’s clear that the state needs to generate additional revenue. The House Ways and Means Committee member says a hike on cigarette and alcohol taxes is one way the state can raise funds quickly…

CUT 7 (04)  “point in time”

Williams feels Governor Jindal will veto any piece of legislation that is seen as a tax increase. The representative also feels that lawmakers should take a closer look at tax incentives offered by the state to shrink the budget gap. He says some of these are not paying dividends back to the state…

Cut 8  (07)  “from them” 

The film industry is the recipient of one of the state’s largest tax credits. Williams says, while it’s good to have movies being made in Louisiana, lawmakers should consider restructuring this incentive…

Cut 9 (06)  “support it”

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The state Department of Transportation and Development is taking part in National Work Zone Awareness Week which runs through Friday. DOTD spokesman Rodney Mallett says this is about bringing attention to the fact that safety should be a top priority through road construction areas..:

Cut 10 (11) “rules of the road”

Mallett says since 2013 in Louisiana there’s been about 580 people who have lost their lives in work zones…:

cut 11 (08) “lose their lives”

Mallett says drivers face fines, fees and other consequences if they’re caught speeding in a work zone or driving without their headlights on. He says there are so many things inside vehicles these days that it’s more important than ever to put distractions aside when you’re behind the wheel:

cut 12 (11)  “through the work zone”

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Parks Senator Fred Mills is sponsoring legislation this session that looks at ways to change the way public school teachers are evaluated. Currently educator effectiveness is determined by students’ standardized test results. Mills says his bill seeks to make a teacher’s job performance more accurately measured…:

Cut 13 (06)  “quantitative measurement”

Mills says he is speaking for this bill on behalf of constituents in his area who tell him that the value added assessment model is not a valid measurement tool. He says this measure would take things back to the way they used to be when it comes to checking out how a teacher is doing…:

Cut 14 (07) “set for the student”

Mills says the proposed law would not completely remove the use of test scores as a factor in deciding teacher effectiveness…:

Cut 15  (08)  “measurement”

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The “Dunkin Dogs” of Louisiana Tech will face Texas A&M tonight in the second round of the NIT.  Bulldogs Coach Michael White says his program doesn’t have many opportunities to beat a team from a major conference, so they need to take advantage of it when it comes…

Cut 16  (13)  “very very excited”

Tech enters the game with a 26-8 record, while the Aggies are 21-11 and beat Montana in the opening round of the NIT. White says A&M presents a tough challenge for his guys…

Cut 17 (15)  “strong and physical”

The Aggies are one of the better defensive teams out of the SEC. White says tonight’s game on ESPN could be low scoring…

Cut 18 (12) ”   College Station”‘

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The Pelicans are now three games back of Oklahoma City for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference after completing an 0-for-3 road trip with a 107-100 loss to the Clippers. Coach Monty Williams is not happy with the 18 turnovers his team committed

Cut 19 (14)   “but it happens”

Anthony Davis returned from a sprained ankle and scored 26 points. Eric Gordon had a rare appearance off the bench as he did not start after missing a team meeting. Gordon still scored 23 points and Williams appreciated his performance on the court…

Cut 20 (08)  “played well”

The Spring Equinox occurs later today at precisely 5:45pm our time, marking the end of winter and the very beginning of Spring. Michelle Southern reports…:

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A survey by MarblePort Polling shows it could come down to Republican US Senator David Vitter and Democratic state representative John Bel Edwards in a runoff. Eric Gill reports…

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Crawfish season is in full swing in Louisiana and it looks like this weekend will be prime for a boil. Michelle Southern reports…:

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The Spring Equinox occurs later today at precisely 5:45pm our time, marking the end of winter and the very beginning of Spring. State Climatologist Barry Keim says this past winter will go into the record books as a cold and dry one in Louisiana…:

cut 4  (09)  “past three months”

Keim says as far as the Spring outlook, expect more precipitation over the next couple of months than we usually get because of the current El Nino…:(Keim says it would be great if the El Nino would stick around through summer because they tend to mitigate the opportunity for Hurricane activity.)

Cut 5  (10)  “rivers in Louisiana”

Keim says The Bayou State has been getting a lot of rain over the past few weeks and it’s setting the stage for what we can expect this spring. He says the good news is that the Climate Prediction Center says we should have normal temperatures throughout the season…:

Cut 6 (08)  “much much welcome”

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A survey by MarblePort Polling on Louisiana’s governor’s race shows Republican David Vitter leading the field with 34-percent of the vote. Democrat John Bel Edwards is close behind with 31-percent, followed by Republicans Jay Dardenne with 14-percent and Scott Angelle with 7-percent. MarblePort Founder Ethan Zorfas says the early picture in this race is clear…

CUT 7 (09)  “those Republicans”

The automated phone survey polled just over 1000 Louisiana residents. Zorfas says there appears to be a bit of a resurgence of the Democratic Party. He says Edwards is getting support from White Independent voters and looks to be sitting pretty good for a runoff spot…

Cut 8  (08)  “Mary Landrieu did” 

Zorfas says there is still time for Dardenne and Angelle to make an impact in this election. He says both candidates will need to work hard to expand their name recognition and message…

Cut 9 (06)  “media markets”

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Spring is in the air and crawfish season is in full swing in Louisiana. Gulf Seafood Institute Chairman Harlon Pearce says they expected a substantial change in the price of the mudbugs once we got those crazy early March winter temperatures out of the way and you’ll certainly see it this weekend…:

Cut 10 (06) “that’s normal”

Pearce says you could easily see boiled crawfish this weekend at about $3.50 a pound…:

cut 11 (07) “I would believe”

Ray McClain is an aquaculture professor with the LSU Agcenter Rice Research Center in Rayne and he says not only will the prices be down this weekend, there will be plenty of mudbugs out there. He says when the temperatures are up, the catch is up…:

cut 12 (04)  “holds up”

McClain says this could be one of the better crawfish seasons that Louisiana has seen in the past several years…:

Cut 13 (10)  “a good supply”

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The Louisiana National Guard says they’ve gotten 10 bids from companies with ideas on ways to get rid of the 15 million pounds M6 propellant at Camp Minden. The EPA agreed to delay an open tray burn of the explosives and said they would entertain alternative methods. Col Pete Schneider says these 10 companies have all submit proposals on what should be done…:

Cut 14 (10) “these proposals”

Schneider says in addition to various state agencies, area residents who opposed the open tray burning will also be part of the team formed to evaluate the situation…:

Cut 15  (10)  “was on it” (2x)

Not many details are being released about the bids themselves or the ideas being presented. Schneider says based on analysis of all the proposals by all committee members, hopefully a recommendation will be made…:

Cut 16  (11)  “process is thorough”

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The LSU men’s basketball team’s season ended in heartbreaking fashion last night as the Bayou Bengals blew a 16-point lead and lost 66-65 to North Carolina State. LSU missed its last 12 shots from the field and six free throws in the final four minutes to allow the Wolfpack to steal the victory. Head Coach Johnny Jones on the missed free throws

Cut 17 (12)  “tonight”

LSU’s leading scorer was Tim Quarterman, who had 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. But the sophomore from Georgia says they were just one play away from advancing to the round of 32….

Cut 18 (14) “tonight’

Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey each posted double-doubles, but Mickey was four of nine from the free throw line and missed a lay-up with 22 seconds left that would have given LSU a three-point lead. Martin finished with 16 points in what could be his last game as a Tiger…

Cut 19 (10)   “great shot”

A former caretaker of LSU’s mascot Mike wrote a letter to a Baton Rouge newspaper expressing concern over the fact that the live Tiger doesn’t go to games anymore. Michelle Southern reports.

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A new statewide poll by MarblePoint Polling shows support for higher cigarette taxes, but residents do not approve of Common Core or Governor Bobby Jindal’s job performance. Eric Gill reports…

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A Natchitoches man is under arrest for simple battery and hate crimes after an incident at a local business. 35-year-old Roderick Rachal was booked into the Natchitoches Parish Detention Center. Police Captain Chris Payne says responding officers spoke to a female victim that said a man she did not know grabbed her buttocks…

CUT 3 (08)  “upon the victim”

Payne says Rachal is charged with simple battery in this case. He says as officers looked into this case, they discovered this wasn’t the first time Rachal had done this…

CUT 4 (10)  “of 2006”

He says Rachal had been arrested multiple times in the past for similar incidents. Payne says officers discovered that in each case, Rachal targeted a specific race and gender… (Because Rachal targeted a specific race and gender, he was additionally charged with hate crimes.)

CUT 5 (08)  “hate crimes”

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A former caretaker of LSU’s mascot Mike wrote a letter to a Baton Rouge newspaper expressing concern over the live Tiger’s increasing lack of appearing in the stadium at home football games. Mike the VI did not go to a single contest last season. Paul Marks Jr. says he was responsible for Mike III from 1963-1965 and they never had a problem getting him to games.
He says the difference is that they altered his feeding patterns…:

CUT 6 (10)  “there ya go”

The comments were made on The Jim Engster Show. Marks Jr. says he truly hopes that a new satisfactory method can be developed to bring Mike back to Tiger Stadium so that fans can enjoy his splendor. He says they would not feed Mike III on Friday’s to get him ready for Saturday night…:

CUT 7 (12)  “when he got to the stadium”

Last November Mike VI made a post on Facebook letting fans know that his trainers practice with him all summer to get into the cage, but he refuses to do so on gameday and is not food motivated even if he is fasted on Friday night. Marks Jr. says back in his day their Mike wasn’t in a 5 million dollar enclosure the way Mike VI is…:

CUT 8 (05)  “happy there”

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A new statewide poll shows support for higher cigarette taxes, but residents do not approve of Common Core or Governor Bobby Jindal’s job performance. The survey found that 56-percent of residents support an increase in the state’s cigarette tax. La-Politics-dot-com publisher Jeremy Alford thinks the tax will pass this legislative session…

CUT 9 (09)  “get the money”

The automated phone survey of over 1000 residents was conducted by MarblePoint Polling. The poll shows that 54-percent of respondents disapprove of the Common Core education standards. Alford says this will be a passionate issue in the upcoming legislative session…

cut 10 (10) “for lawmakers”

As far as Governor Jindal’s approval numbers go, only 28-percent of respondents gave him a positive rating. Alford says there’s no doubt that Jindal is not nearly as popular as he was seven years ago, but he’s not convinced that the governor’s numbers have dropped to that extent…

cut 11 (10)  “more believable”

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Governor Bobby Jindal announces a plan to remove Common Core from Louisiana’s public schools and replace it with educational standards and a standardized test developed by Louisiana teachers and parents. Jindal says the plan will be presented to lawmakers in the legislative session that begins next month…

cut 12 (13)  “our classrooms”

Jindal’s announcement comes as 316-thousand students are taking the Common Core tests. The governor says his 10-year-old son, is like many children, who are frustrated with the “Fuzzy Math” questions on the test

cut 13 (13)  “the school”

There are three different bills that make up Jindal’s plan to replace Common Core. He made the announcement as a several lawmakers stood by his side, including Alexandria Representative Lance Harris…

cut 14 (09)  “federal government”