Tropical Storm Laura is now expected to become a major hurricane and make landfall along the Louisiana-Texas border early Thursday morning. Governor John Bel Edwards says while Tropical Storm Marco weakened, there’s no indication that will happen with Laura…
cut 4 (07) “…rain impact”
Laura is expected to bring major impacts to southwest Louisiana. Calcasieu Emergency Preparedness director Dick Gremillion says it’s not the winds that have them most concerned…
cut 10 (11) “…several years ago”
Louisiana’s entire coastline is under a storm surge watch. Laura is currently a tropical storm as it has moved past Cuba and will grow into a hurricane today and the National Hurricane Center calls for Laura to be a Category Three storm when it makes landfall early Thursday morning.

LSU students are set to begin classes today under a New Normal. Matt Doyle has the story.
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Matt Doyle”

The state reported 622 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday and 18 new deaths. Also, the positivity rate on COVID-19 tests coming back is down to eight percent, which is an improvement.

Governor Edwards responded to the new outlook for Marco and Laura, along with good pandemic news at his 1130AM press conference today. Matt Doyle has more…

cut 2 (30) “I’m Matt Doyle”  

A hurricane watch for Laura stretches the coast from Morgan City to the Texas line.

The state reports 662 new COVID-19 cases today, bringing the total cases to 143,566. Fatalities increase by 18 to 4,623.

A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two passengers in the fleeing car dead. Trooper Thomas Gossen says 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin was the driver.

Cut 10 (09) “…with disastrous consequences.”

46-year-old Warren Joe Hines and 17-year-old Markqel James, both of Franklin were identified as the passengers. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow drops an early wave of TV ads in the 5^th district Congressional race but ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says it may be too early to be effective…

Cut 8 (11) “October”

The race is on the November 3^rd Presidential ballot.

A hurricane watch has been issued for the southwest and south-central Louisiana coastline and a tropical storm watch extends to the mouth of the Mississippi as Laura inches closer to her projected early Thursday morning landfall along the Cameron Parish coast.

Laura, which is moving towards the Gulf on its way past Cuba at the moment is not a hurricane yet, but it should be soon. Projections have the system as a very strong category two, potentially even a category three as it beelines directly for Lake Charles. National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says Laura could produce a dangerous storm surge…

Cut 4 (12)“ …Gulf coast.” 

That storm surge is leading southwest and south-central Louisiana parishes to call for voluntary evacuations. Governor Edwards says as you pack up to leave please don’t forget about the pandemic…

Cut 15 (10) “shelter” 

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5^th Congressional District race to take the airwaves with TV ads. Letlow is generally believed to be competing against state lawmaker Lance Harris and Police Juror Scotty Robinson for the presumptive Republican spot in a December run-off against one of the Democratic candidates, and ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says Letlow is flexing his frontrunner status.

Cut 7 (12) “…their own.”

A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two people dead. A Patterson Police officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin, but Trooper Thomas Gossen says the driver fled, reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

Cut 9 (11) “…in the hospital.”

Lake Charles is preparing to potentially be hit with ten to fifteen feet of storm surge under current models showing Laura making landfall in Cameron Parish, and heading directly north into Calcasieu. Voluntary evacuation orders have been issued in parishes across the region, and National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says that’s because Laura is a very wide storm…

Cut 5 (03)  “…wind field” *editted cut down*

Landfall is predicted sometime late Wednesday night at the moment and Governor Edwards says the state is taking the situation very seriously, and moving emergency response assets into position to respond.

Cut 13 (13) “…aircraft” 

Laura is projected to be a strong category two at landfall, but Edwards warns conditions are ripe for it to develop into a major category three hurricane.

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5^th Congressional District race to hit the TV airwaves with ads. Letlow is reporting a strong 500,000 dollars raised so far in the race. ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says its certainly early for a campaign to start TV ads…

Cut 6 (07) “…risk”

Nine candidates are contending for the vacant seat in the ruby-red district that encompasses large swaths of the northeast and central portions of the state.

A high speed pursuit along LA highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in tragedy as two passengers in a fleeing car die in a fatal wreck, and the driver, 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin is in the hospital. Trooper Thomas Gossen says the fatal outcome may be because none of those in the vehicle were restrained…

Cut 11 (07) “…important as well.”

Southeast Louisiana is catching a break as tropical storm Marco appears to be disintegrating rapidly, and may not even be a Tropical Storm for long. National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says wind shear and dry air has pushed all of the thunderstorm activity to Florida and Alabama…

Cut 3 (11)  “…activity”  

With Marco on its way out Governor Edwards says the state is turning its attention to the very real threat of Hurricane Laura which should impact southwest Louisiana Wednesday night. Edwards says folks need to get a hurricane plan in place, but also factor in virus safety.

Edwards did have some good news, last week the state saw the positivity rate of COVID tests continue to drop.

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A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two people passengers in the fleeing car dead. Trooper Thomas Gossen says 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin was the driver.

Cut 10 (09) “…with disastrous consequences.”

46-year-old Warren Joe Hines and 17-year-old Markqel James, both of Franklin were identified as the passengers. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow drops an early wave of TV ads in the 5^th district Congressional race but ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says it may be too early to be effective…

Cut 8 (11) “October”

The race is on the November 3^rd Presidential ballot, and a likely run-off is set for December 5^th.

Governor Edwards says Louisiana is set to dodge the first of what was thought to be a one-two punch from Marco and Laura. Edwards says projections of strong tropical storm conditions from Marco in southeast Louisiana appear unlikely to become reality.
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Some storm surge along the southeast coast is still expected.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says the bigger concern is with Tropical Storm Laura which is near Cuba. Laura is expected to strengthen as it develops into a Category Two hurricane this week and make landfall along the Lousiana-Texas coast on Wednesday night, Thursday morning. Zeigler says Laura could produce a dangerous storm surge…

Cut 4 (12)“ …Gulf coast.” 

The competitive race for the 5^th district Congressional seat held by a retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham sees its first TV ad buy. Brooke Thorington has the story…

Cut 1 (31) “…I’m Brooke Thorington”  

The state reports 662 new COVID-19 cases today, bringing the total cases to 143,566. Fatalities increase by 18 to 4,623. Hospitalization and ventilator use data has been delayed.

While the state has caught a break with tropical storm Marco weakening, we aren’t out of the woods yet with Laura. National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says they also expect Laura to be a big storm, which means a large portion of the region could be impacted…

Cut 5 (08)  “…wind field”

A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two people dead. A Patterson Police officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin, but Trooper Thomas Gossen says the driver fled, reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

Cut 9 (11) “…in the hospital.”

46-year-old Warren Joe Hines and 17-year-old Markqel James… were both pronounced dead at the scene.

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5^th Congressional District race to take the airwaves with TV ads.  Letlows two major Republican opponents are state lawmaker Lance Harris and Police Juror Scotty Robinson. ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says Letlow is flexing his frontrunner status.

Cut 7 (12) “…their own.”

The state health department reports 662 new COVID-19 cases for the day and 18 new fatalities, Here’s a look at today’s’ commodities prices.

And The AP preseason college football poll ranks the LSU Tigers in 6^th place.

Louisiana has caught a break with Tropical Storm Marco as it has weakened significantly as it closed in on the state’s coast. National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says wind shear kept Marco from developing…

Cut 3 (09)  “…warning.”  

Governor Edwards says it appears the state will catch a break from Marco but yet he cautions that we need to focus on Tropical Storm Laura as the Hurricane Center says Laura could be a category two or three hurricane when it makes landfall Wednesday night Thursday morning.

Cut 9 (12) “…images.”

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5^th Congressional District race to hit the TV airwaves with ads. Letlow is reporting a strong 500,000 dollars raised so far in the race. ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says its certainly early for a campaign to start TV ads…

Cut 6 (07) “…risk”

Last night saw a second straight night of protests in Lafayette over the Friday night fatal police shooting of 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin, a black man who was armed with a knife and attempted to enter an occupied convenience store.  NAACP Lafayette President Mardja Broussard believes the police could have handled this better…

cut 4 (06) “….person”

The video appears to show Lafayette police shouting for Pellerin to stop walking before they tazed him to no effect. As he began to enter a convenience store, Lafayette Police officers fired their guns.

The center of Tropical Storm Marco is about 50 miles southeast of the mouth of the Missisippi River, but it has weakened from yesterday when it was a hurricane. State Climatologist Barry Keim says the bigger concern is Tropical Storm Laura near Cuba and he says the storm will strengthen as it heads to the Gulf of Mexico…
cut 14 (13) “…Wednesday evening”
Keim says Laura is expected to be at least a Category Two hurricane when it makes landfall along the Gulf Coast.

Governor Edwards is asking residents not to become complacent, just because Marco has weakened. He’s also grateful President Trump has approved the state’s request for federal assistance…
cut 8 (10) “…support”

Entergy Louisiana has restoration crews in place as the state braces for the impacts of Marco and Laura. Customer Service Vice President Melanie Stewart says there are many complexities that come with preparing for two different storms
Cut 10 (13) “…3400 restoration workers..”

State Police continues to investigate Friday’s fatal police shooting in Lafayette that resulted in the death of 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin. Investigators say Pellerin was armed with a knife and tried to enter an occupied conveinence after disobeying commands from several police officers. NAACP Lafayette President Mardja Broussard notes this is the third Lafayette Police officer-involved shooting in the last five months…
cut 6 (08) “….front yard”
Protests have taken place the last two nights with only a small number of arrests.

Governor Edwards says it appears the state will catch a break from Marco but yet he cautions that we need to focus on Tropical Storm Laura as the Hurricane Center says Laura could be a category two or three hurricane when it makes landfall Wednesday night Thursday morning.

Cut 9 (12) “…images.”

Entergy Louisiana has teams in place across the state’s coastal areas in case storms this week cause power outages.  Customer Service Vice President Melanie Stewart says there are also logistical challenges that come with COVID-19 spread mitigation measures being incorporated into response operations that may slow things down.

Cut 12 (10) “…and for hours..”

Lafayette saw multiple large demonstrations over the weekend against the Lafayette Police shooting of 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin. The protests erupted after a witness video of the incident was released…

Cut 1 (32) “I’m Matt Doyle”

On Sunday the state health department reports less than a thousand hospitalizations from COVID-19 and 152 on vents due to the virus. Cases increased by 1,223.  Fatalities increased by 59.