16:45 LRN Sportscast Feb 27

The question over whether former LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis owes LSU money for leaving the Tigers following the 2014 season will be decided in the courts. Chavis has filed a lawsuit to determine if either him or Texas A-and=M owes LSU a 400-thousand dollar buyout. The suit claims Chavis doesn’t owe LSU the money, because he wasn’t officially hired by A-and-m until 30 days after he left LSU.

The 2015 Sun Belt Football schedules were finalized today. The Ragin Cajuns will play twice on national television. On a Tuesday night, October 20th, at Arkansas State and Thursday November 12th at South Alabama. ULM also has a road mid-week game on its schedule and that’s November 19th against Texas State and that’s a Thursday night.

Following a thrilling win over Southeastern Louisiana last night, the LSU baseball team is back at it tonight as they open a three game series against Princeton.

In the NBA tonight…the Pelicans host the Miami Heat. New Orleans has won three straight as recently acquired Norris Cole has been a good addition to the Pels. Cole will be facing his former team for the second time in a week.

The LSU men’s basketball team looks for its 10th conference win of the season tomorrow when they host Ole Miss. In Coach Johnny Jones first two seasons in Baton Rouge, LSU won nine league games each year…
cut 18 (18) “…important”
Tip-off is at 1 PM.

And Louisiana Tech can clinch at least a share of the Conference USA regular season title tomorrow night when the Bulldogs host Texas San Antonio. Tech has won 27 straight home games.

PM LRN Newscall February 27

Republican gubernatorial candidate, US Senator David Vitter, is getting the endorsement of an ex-president. Michelle Southern reports…

CUT 1 (31) “reporting”

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The Jindal administration laid out its plan today on how to cope with a one-point-six billion dollar revenue shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July first. Jeff Palermo has the story…

CUT 2 (30) “reporting”

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This week’s wintry weather that hit Louisiana could result in a lower supply of crawfish this weekend. Mark Shirley, with the LSU AgCenter, says pond water temperatures dropped into the 40’s this week, which keeps crawfish from crawling into traps. Shirley says if you want some crawfish this weekend, you may want to get them early…

CUT 3 (09)  “be there”

He says you will be able to find crawfish this weekend, but the supply will be below normal. Unfortunately, the decrease in production will see a rise in the price of mudbugs. Shirley says you should see an improvement in the price as temperatures warm up…

CUT 4 (10)  “to springtime”

Because of the cold temperatures, you may see some smaller crawfish on your plate, but Shirley says crawfish are good, no matter what size they are. He says, although the winter weather has slowed the crawfish harvest, it hasn’t shut it down completely…

CUT 5 (08)  “Louisiana crawfish”

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Republican gubernatorial candidate, US Senator David Vitter, is getting the endorsement of an ex-president. The Vitter campaign sent an e-mail to supporters announcing the endorsement of former President George H.W. Bush. ULM Political Science Professor Joshua Stockley says this is significant, especially on top of the endorsement of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul…

CUT 6 (11)  “hugely critical”

In his endorsement, Bush describes Vitter as an effective, conservative leader and urges people to contribute to his campaign. Stockley says the backing of Bush and Paul are a big boost to Vitter’s quest to become governor…

CUT 7 (09)  “on your side”

Vitter is the front runner in this year’s governor’s race, ahead of Republicans Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne, Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, and Democratic state Representative John Bel Edwards. Stockley says Vitter’s opponents will now have to step up their game…

CUT 8 (07)  “behind Vitter”

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The Jindal administration presented a proposed budget today that provides  a starting point on how to prevent drastic cuts to health care and higher education, despite a one-point-six billion revenue shortfalll for next fiscal year. Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols says they want lawmakers to scale back a dozen  refundable tax credits which would save the state 526-million dollars

CUT 9 (14)  “take in”

Even with a cap on certain tax credits, the cut in the proposed budget to higher ed is 211-million dollars. Nichols offered solutions to further reduce cuts to higher education and one includes raising the cigarette tax and using those revenues to provide families with a tax credit to help offset the costs for higher fees at public colleges..

cut 10 (07) “100 million dollars “

The potential drop in funding for health care sevices is 235-million dollars according to the proposed budget. Lawmakers who serve on the budget committees seemed like some of the ideas and Delhi Senator Franics Thompson is glad the cuts to higher ed and health care are not as bad as once feared…

cut 11 (06)  “we have”

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The Jefferson Davis Sheriff’s Office has arrested two men in connection with the homicide of a Lake Arthur man. Spokesman Christopher Ivey says deputies were dispatched to the home of 73-year-old Charles Talen, Sr. to notify him that his stolen vehicle had been found burned…

cut 12 (06)  “inside his home”

18-year-old Roderick Cawthrone, Jr. and 26-year-old Brett Hebert, both of Lake Arthur, face first degree murder charges in the death of Talen. Ivey says arrest warrants for the pair were issued yesterday afternoon… (Detectives are expecting more arrests in this investigation.)

cut 13 (07)  “to us”

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The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s office says a man is under arrest accused of pranking 911 calls because he was bored. Sheriff Jason Ard says 27-year-old Brandon Kirkland allegedly called 911 dispatchers and reported that 2 masked men were entering a business in Watson to rob it…:

cut 14 (07)  “as themselves”

Kirkland admitted he did this as a prank two times and that’s two counts of felony terrorizing. Ard says the suspect’s story to detectives obviously didn’t fly…:

cut 15 (07) “prank call”

 

11:40 LRN Sportscast Feb 27

Over five-thousand fans were inside the Thomas Assembly Center last night as Louisiana Tech extended its home winning streak to 27 games with a 77-60 win over UTEP. Redshirt sophomore Erik McCree had his second career double-double 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs are now 13-and-3 in Conference USA and in first place.

ULM remains in a tie for first place in the Sun Belt after beating South Alabama 75-57 last night. Junior Justin Roberson had 18 points for the Warhawks, while Majok Deng had a double-double 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Wild game at Alex Box Stadium last night as second ranked LSU blew a six run lead but rallied with two runs in the eighth inning to beat Southeastern Louisiana nine to eight. Jake Fraley’s two run triple was the big hit in the eighth innings. The Seven and one Tigers host Princeton tonight at the Box.

The Pelicans will host the Miami Heat tonight at the Smoothie King Center. New Orleans trails Oklahoma City by one game in the loss column for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. O-K-C lost in overtime to Phoenix last night, despite a triple-double from Russell Westbrook.

The LSU men’s basketball team will host Ole Miss tomorrow at one o’ clock. Jarell Martin is averaging 16.5 points a game for the Tigers and had 25 points against Auburn on Tuesday night. LSU Coach Johnny Jones likes how the sophomore is playing…
cut 17 (19) “….vast improvement”
A win on Saturday will give LSU ten conference wins and a chance to get a top four seed and a double-bye in the SEC tournament in a couple of weeks.

17:30 LRN Newscast February 26

National media has picked up on the rift between US Senator David Vitter and Governor Bobby Jindal. Jindal told a reporter with the National Journal that he would really say how he feels about Vitter if it was off the record. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat…:
CUT 4 (05) “Senator”
On the other hand in the race for governor, Pinsonat doesn’t think Jindal’s dislike of Vitter will hurt the Senator.

Students in Northeast Louisiana missed a 4th day in a row due to the bad winter weather this week — that means some serious time needs to be made up. Ouachita Parish Superintendent Bob Webber the ideal option is to make school days longer, but they may need to add days to the calendar. He says in his 13 and a half years as Superintendent, he’s never seen more than 2 inclement weather days in a row…:
CUT 7 (08) “snow and ice”

2014 Federal Highway Administration data shows that 29-percent of Louisiana’s nearly 13,000 bridges are deficient. Eric Gill reports…
cut 2 (30) “…reporting”

Two Slidell residents were arrested after they allegedly forced a one-year-old to drink beer. Slidell police detective Daniel Seuzenau says the child’s grandfather noticed signs of abuse…
cut 9 (11) “…child’s throat”
Twenty-four-year-old Flower and 23-year-old Verdin were arrested on cruelty to juvenile charges.

16:45 LRN sportscast February 26

Big games tonight for Louisiana Tech and ULM basketball as both teams fight to stay in first place in their respective leagues. The Bulldogs host UTEP tonight. Tech beat the Miners in El Paso earlier this season and Coach Michael White says they need a big crowd tonight to help them sweep the season series…
cut 18 (15) “….be successful”

The Warhawks are on the road, where they’ll battle South Alabama. U-L-M has won six of its last seven, but the Warhawks are coming off a two-point defeat to Arkansas State.

In college baseball tonight…LSU will host Southeastern Louisiana. Doug Norman will start on the mound for the Tigers and he’ll be opposed by junior left-hander Domenick Carlini.

The Baton Rouge Advocate reports the Southeastern Conference has placed some recruiting restrictions on LSU’s football program. It’s the result of an unnamed LSU recruit, who planned on enrolling at the university in January, but decided not to. The recruit signed a financial aid agreement with LSU, which gave the Tigers unlimited contact with him. But since he decided on not going to LSU that unlimited contact is now considered illegal. The penalties include fewer recruiting evaluation days this year and LSU can’t sign early enrollee recruits to financial aid agreements for the next two years.

In other college football news…ESPN’s Brett McMuprhy reports that Louisiana Tech will play at Baylor in 2020 and 2022, and the Bulldogs will host the Bears in 2021 at Joe Aillet Stadium. The two teams haven’t played since 1996.

The weather is forcing several changes to the college baseball schedule. ULM and Louisiana Tech will not play Friday, but they’ll host doubleheaders on Saturday.

11:40 Sportscast Feb 26

Louisiana Tech men’s basketball will face UTEP tonight in a match-up of two teams battling for first place in Conference USA. The Miners are led by six-foot-eight sophomore Vince Hunter, who is averaging nearly 16 points and 10 rebounds a game. Bulldogs Coach Michael White says UTEP is a tough team to defend…
cut 17 (14) “….Conference USA”
Louisiana Tech beat the Miners 58-45 in El Paso earlier this season.

In the Sun Belt tonight…U-L Monroe is at South Alabama. The Warhawks are in a three-way tie for first place in the league standings with Georgia State and Georgia Southern. U-L Lafayette, who has won three in a row, is at Georgia Southern on Saturday.

Last night the Pelicans won their third straight, beating Brooklyn 102-96, Quincy Pondexter had 25 points to lead all scorers.

LSU and Southeastern Louisiana will face off in baseball tonight. Both teams will end up playing four games in four days as the Tigers host Princeton this weekend and the Lions will face the Big Ten’s Northwestern University. Tigers center fielder Andrew Stevenson is not expected to play tonight because of a tweaked hamstring.

The Ragin Cajuns baseball team heads to Birmingham today to face Alabama in a three-game series. Tomorrow’s game has been moved up three P-M, because it’s expected to be cold on Friday night.

There’s plenty of NFL news today. The Detroit Lions have released former Saints running back Reggie Bush. The 29-year-old was set to make over three-million dollars this season, but only rushed for 297 yards in 2014 as he battled an ankle injury.

The Falcons have signed kicker Matt Bryant to a contract extension. And there are reports that the Broncos and Quarterback Peyton Manning are working to restructure his current contract.

LRN Newscast 17:30 February 25

It’s been a snowy day across northern Louisiana. State Police troooper Matt Harris says it may look pretty, but it doesn’t mix well with cold pavement and drivers who are NOT used to driving on slippery, slushy roads…
cut 8 (08) “…in crash”
While some of the snow that fell in the morning, started melting in the afternoon, Harris says there’s a concern some of that what will re-freeze on the roads tonight.

Eleven school children were injured in a school bus crash in Rapides Parish this morning. Troopers say the bus was traveling on Highway 121 and there was a large amount of mud on it, when the bus driver lost control, causing the buse to leave the roadway and overturn on its side. The injuries to the children are considered minor to moderate, and the children’s ages range from five to 15. The driver is not expected to face any citations, as the mud is considered a factor in the crash.

The Legislative Black Caucus calls on Governor Jindal to stay in Louisiana and deal with the state’s budget crisis. Monday, Jindal spoke against President Obama at a press conference outside the White House. Monroe Representative Katrina Jackson says the governor needs to concentrate on problems facing Louisiana…:
CUT 12 (10) “budget crisis”

If you plan to take a drivers ed course, the Department of Motor Vehicles says make sure the course is certified. State Police Sgt Nick Manale says there is an online web source which provides information on state licensed driver education providers…:
CUT 10 (09) “criteria too”
The website is expresslane.org.

LRN Sportscast 16:45 Feb 25

The LSU men’s basketball team avoided another bad loss on its NCAA Tournament resume when they beat Auburn 84-61 last night. The Tigers are now 20-and-8 overall, nine and six in the SEC. LSU’s next game is Saturday at home against Ole Miss. The Tigers beat the Rebels on their home floor earlier this season and Tiger Rag Editor Cody Worsham says it will not be easy to sweep the season series…
cut 18 (20) “…tournament”
The Rebels are in action tonight as they host Georgia.

LSU’s baseball game against Southeastern Louisiana scheduled for tonight has been postponed. The two teams will play tomorrow night at Alex Box Stadium, with first pitch set for 6:30 PM.

Tonight the Pelicans host the Brooklyn Nets at the Smoothie King Center. Both teams are battling to get in the playoffs. The Nets currently occupy the final playoff spot in the East, as they have a one-game lead over Charlotte. The Pels are two and a half games back of Oklahoma City for the final playoff spot in the West.

Because of the snow that hit Ruston today, the Lady Techsters basketball team was not able to fly out for tomorrow night’s game against UTEP. So instead, LaTech will bus to Dallas, fly to El Paso on Thursday morning and play UTEP Friday afternoon at one o’ clock. Also there game Saturday, against Texas San Antonio, has been moved to Sunday.

The snow will not prevent tomorrow night’s game between La Tech and UTEP on the men’s side. Those two teams will still battle for first place in Conference USA. The Bulldogs have won 26 straight games at home.

Also, the ULM men’s basketball team traveled safely to Mobile and they’ll play South Alabama tomorrow night. The Warhawks are in a three-way tie for first place with Georgia Southern and Georgia State in the Sun Belt.

LRN PM Newscall Feb 25

The chance of you getting audited by the IRS is getting smaller. Eric Gill reports.

CUT 1 (30) “reporting”

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The Legislative Black Caucus calls on Governor Bobby Jindal to stay in Louisiana and deal with the state’s budget crisis. Eric Gill has more…

CUT 2 (29) “reporting”

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The chances of you getting audited by the IRS is getting smaller. The IRS audit rate dropped to its lowest level in at least ten years last year and is expected to drop further this year. Since 2010, the number of IRS audits have fallen by over 20-percent. John Theriot, with the Louisiana CPA Society, says one reason for the drastic drop in the number of audits is money…

CUT 3 (10)  “qualified people”

He says drops in IRS funding is a leading cause in the decline in the number of audits. The IRS audited more than 162,000 fewer individual tax returns in 2014 than in 2013. Theriot says another reason for fewer audits could be that more individuals are having their taxes professionally done…

CUT 4 (11)  “better returns”

Theriot adds that tax preparation software has helped individuals file more accurate returns. He says this will probably have a bigger effect on the IRS and their ability to collect taxes from people they do audit than on the taxpayers themselves…

CUT 5 (10)  “then it’s going to re-freeze”

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The snow has arrived in north Louisiana and State Police urge residents to stay home and don’t travel unless it’s absolutely necessary. Trooper Matt Harris says if you do have to drive somewhere in areas where snow has fallen…take it easy

CUT 6 (09)  “destination”

Harris says there’s been dozens of weather related accidents on the highways, because of the snow

CUT 7 (10)  “of control”

Harris says if you drive on a snowy road, don’t panic and slam on the brakes at a slick spot. He says the snow may look pretty, but it doesn’t mix well with cold pavement and drivers who are NOT used to the snow…

CUT 8 (08)  “in a crash”

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The Department of Motor Vehicles is urging citizens to be sure their local driver education program is properly certified through the state — and now there’s a way you can check online. State Police Sgt Nick Manale says the OMV regulates driver education programs throughout Louisiana to make sure education is up to par and that they have a license to operate…:

CUT 9 (12)  “that’s required”

Manale says the new web resource is offered through expresslane.org and it provides information on state licensed driver education providers so new drivers can verify theirs has met all applicable standards and certifications…:

cut 10 (09)  “criteria too”

Manale says only applicants who have attended a properly licensed education provider will be eligible to receive a learner’s permit or new license….:

cut 11 (08)  “that permit”

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The Legislative Black Caucus calls on Governor Bobby Jindal to stay in Louisiana and deal with the state’s budget crisis. Monday, Jindal spoke against President Obama at a press conference outside the White House. Monroe Representative Katrina Jackson says the governor needs to set aside his presidential aspirations and concentrate on problems facing Louisiana…

cut 12 (10)  “budget crisis”

It is reported that Jindal spent 45-percent of his time outside of Louisiana in 2014. Jackson says Jindal is overly concerned with party politics and issues that are irrelevant in regards to the state’s budget shortfall…

cut 13 (07)  “education close”

Jackson says they are reviewing tax credits in an effort to bring money back into the state. Baton Rouge Representative Ted James says Louisiana is in the governor’s rearview mirror and is not optimistic that Jindal will have much bearing in his last months in office…

cut 14 (10)  “last session”

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Snow has blanketed several parishes in north Louisiana and as far south as Jonesboro. Forecasters predicted as much as four inches. Travis Washington, with the National Weather Service in Shreveport, says cold air  was already in place and it mixed with the right amount of precipitation to create the snow

cut 15 (10) “what happened”

Washington says they expect the snow to leave the state at 4 PM. He says at noon today, Shreveport reported two inches of snow and more was on the way…

cut 16 (09) “around there”

11:40 LRN Sportscast February 25

The LSU men’s basketball team went on a 15-0 run in the second half last night to put away Auburn 84-61. It was another big night for Jarell Martin, who had 25 points. Tiger Rag Editor Cody Worsham says Martin has been attacking the rim more lately…
cut 17 (11) “…closer to the rim”
LSU’s next game is Saturday at home against Ole Miss. The Rebels host Georgia tonight.

In college baseball last night…McNeese State and U-L Lafayette battled for 17 winnings and it was the Cowboys who prevailed five to four. Connor Lloyd drove home the winning run, denying Ragin Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux his 1,000th career win. Tonight’s LSU-Southeastern Louisiana game has been pushed back to tomorrow.

There’s a couple of mock drafts that have the Saints selecting LSU offensive lineman La’el Collins with their 13th overall pick. NFL draft analyst Mike Detillier says the Black and Gold can’t go wrong with that pick…
cut 30 (10) “….dominant player”

In other NFL news…the Ravens have released returner Jacoby Jones. The New Orleans native spent three seasons in Baltimore, winning a Super Bowl with the Ravens.

In college football…LSU has received a verbal commitment from a five star cornerback out of Florida, Saivion Smith.

ULM has received final approval from the state to construct an end zone facility at Malone Stadium. Groundbreaking is set for next week. The new facility will contain a new locker room, coaches offices and a Hall of Fame area.

Southeastern Louisiana has hired Blake Williams as its defensive coordinator, he’s the son of former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.