When the calendar flips to 2027, you will no longer have to renew your vehicle inspection sticker. Andrew Greenstein reports.

Cut 1 (35) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”

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16 and 17-year-olds can now get a job without all the red tape. Joe Gallinaro reports.

Cut 2 (35) “…I’m Joe Gallinaro.”

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If your vehicle inspection sticker is not due for renewal until next year or beyond, don’t bother – you’ll never need to renew it again. A House bill to replace the inspection sticker with a QR code has passed the Senate and will soon be on the desk of the Governor, who has said he will sign it. The vote in the Senate was 27 to 7. Lafayette Democrat Gerald Boudreaux one of those voting “no”; he said owners of businesses that perform official state inspections expressed concerns about the effects on their operations.

Cut 3 (07) “…have been there.”

Alexandria Democrat Jay Luneau said inspections are not a major source of revenue for these businesses.

Cut 4 (09) “…profitable or not.”

Boudreaux said no amount of modern technology can replace inspections to keep everyone on Louisiana roadways safe.

Cut 5 (06) “…on the road.”

Luneau said technology changes things; and by implementing the QR codes, the state is moving on to the next level.

Cut 6 (11) “…are going on.”

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Two-time state championship-winning football coach Joe Spatafora is leaving Union Parish for a high school coaching job in Arkansas. Spatafora says this new opportunity at Drew Central High School in Monticello, Arkansas came together in the last week…

Cut 7 (12) “…as well”

Spatafora, who brought a run-first, physical style of football to Farmerville. He cherishes the relationships he built at Union Pairsh.

Cut 8 (08) “..family forever.”

Union Parish has won three football championships in the school’s history, Spatafora was at the helm for two of those titles in 2013 and 2023…

Cut 9 (09)  “…got forever”

Union Parish also finished runner-up three times with Spatafora as its head coach, 2020 to 2022. His record at U-P was 179 and 74.

Union Parish assistant coach and former Arcadia head coach Demitri Carr is expected to replace Spatafora.

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16 and 17-year-olds no longer need to obtain a work permit from their school board to obtain a part-time job. Governor Landry has signed House Bill 232 into law, removing a lot of the red tape that those teens had to go through in order to be able to work. The author of the legislation, Lafayette Republican Josh Carlson, says it was also a very cumbersome task for schools as well.

Cut 10 (11) “…the work permit.”

Carlson says the old system actually prevented some minors from being able to work.

Cut 11 (10) “…a work permit.”

Carlson’s bill removes the government from the process altogether.

Cut 12 (09) “…the school system.”

All other laws governing the employment of 16 and 17-year-olds, including the number of hours they can work per day and per week and the time frame in which they’re allowed to work, remain unchanged. The new law became effective upon Governor Landry’s signature.

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This afternoon, the State Senate passed a congressional map with five Republican-leaning districts and one Democratic-leaning district. The vote was 27 to 10, straight down party lines. West Monroe Republican Jay Morris defended the map he created….

Cut 13 (08) “…present.”

The Louisiana Legislature is redrawing the Congressional map because the Supreme Court ruled the current map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, which means race can not be the primary factor in drawing the district lines.

During questioning, New Orleans Sidney Barthelmy told Morris that since 80-percent of the Republican party is white, his map is also based on race which is not allowed…

Cut 14 (12) “…partisanship.”

Monroe Senator Katrina Jackson-Andrews says registered Republican voters only make up a third of the state, but yet the map is drawn so that the G-O-P has more than a super majority in the Louisiana House delegation

Cut 15 (12) “…Republican.”

The Congressional map debate shifts to the House as the lower chamber will also have to approve the map before it is sent to the governor’s desk.

If you’re planning on going to Paris to watch the Saints play this year, you can now start making your plans. Andrew Greenstein reports that’s because we now know not only the opponent, but also the date.

Cut 1 (34) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”

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A marathon meeting of  Senate Governmental Affairs results in the approval of a Congressional map that will likely result in five Republicans and one Democrat representing Louisiana in the US House. Jeff Palermo has the story…

Cut 2 (45) “…I’m Jeff Palermo.”

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We’ve known for a while that the Saints will be playing a game in Paris this season. Now, we know the date and their opponent – October 25th against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jeff Duncan, who covers the Saints for The Advocate and NOLA-dot-com, says everyone thought that their opponent would be the Browns, but the NFL had other ideas.

Cut 3 (11) “…an attractive matchup.”

The two teams have met 17 times, with the Saints leading the all-time series, nine-to-eight, including wins in four of the last five matchups.

This game will officially be a Saints home game. Duncan says in a way, it really will be a Saints home game – the Saints have exclusive marketing rights to France.

Cut 4 (10) “…the American border.”

Duncan says if you’re planning on going, make your plans now, and plan on arriving a few days earlier, since there will be plenty of events and plenty of opportunities for networking with fellow Saints fans.

Cut 5 (10) “…to that event.”

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The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee spent all night debating a new Congressional  map and after nearly ten hours a map was approved at around 4:30 this morning that has one majority Black district. The committee heard hours of testimony from the public who urged Senators to pass a six-district map with two majority Black districts. New Orleans Senator Royce Duplessis explained why opponents to a 5-1 map waited hours to testify…

Cut 6 (11) “..six decades.”

Duplessis directed those comments towards Republican West Monroe Senator Jay Morris, who is the author of the map that favors Republicans to represent five of the six districts.…

Cut 7 (09) “…Greeks invented it”

Duplessis told West Monroe Republican Jay Morris that Blacks would be underrepresented with a five-one map…

Cut 8 (17) “..Republicans.”

Before approving a five-one Congressional map, Senate Governmental Affairs rejected a 4-2 map, where two districts in southeast Louisiana would give Black voters an opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice. The measure failed on four-three party line vote as all four Republicans voted against the measure. The vote angered many who spent the night at the capitol…

Cut 9 (16)  “…in your district”

Another member of the public told the committee she thought the passionate testimony in support of a Congressional map with Black majority districts would sway the Republican lawmakers on the panel, but it did not…

Cut 10 (07) “…4-3 vote”

The full Senate is expected to vote Thursday on a five-one Congressional map that Republicans support.

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Louisiana State Police has agreed to pay the family of Ronald Greene 4.8-million dollars to settle the wrongful death case. The settlement comes almost seven years to the day after a group of white troopers fatally beat Greene, who was Black, during a traffic stop in Union Parish. Legal analyst Franz Borghardt says given the degree of liability for the loss of a human life, this is a very reasonable settlement. 

Cut 11 (12) “…the same time.”

Borghardt says this was the best possible outcome for everyone involved.

Cut 12 (10) “…paying the money.”

As for whether this settlement will serve as a deterrent from something like this from happening again, Borghardt says this is more of a case of the settlement being the icing on the cake.

Cut 13 (09) “…before this settlement.”

In a statement, Attorney General Liz Murrill says the state agreed that it was time to end the litigation, which arose under the prior administration, and put the matter behind everyone involved.

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Louisiana ranks first in the nation for reading growth according to a new report from the Education Scorecard. State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley says this latest scorecard measured growth from 2022 to 2025….

Cut 14 (12) “…we are making.”

Louisiana also ranks second for math growth from 2022 to 2025. Brumley says the rankings are a point of pride for our state, but they are far from satisfied and will keep pushing for greater academic outcomes…

Cut 15 (11) “…so important.”