The dead hunger as the Department of Children and Family Services cuts back on SNAP benefits for the deceased. Matt Doyle has more.
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A bill to raise the minimum wage is scheduled to be heard on the Senate floor today. Jeff Palermo has more.
Cut 2 (28) “I’m Jeff Palermo.”
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A bill to allow bulletproof backpacks on school grounds heads to the Senate. Kelley Ray has more on Senator Mike Walsworth’s bill.
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The Department of Children and Family Services has seen a huge decrease in the number of dead people getting food stamps after implementing a successful new program in partnership with the Department of Health that helps identify recipients who’ve died. In 2009-2013, 1.3 million dollars in benefits were administrated to the dead, while 2013-2017 only saw 43,599 dollars. Division of Family Support Deputy Assistant Secretary Sammy Guillory says it’s a big improvement.
Over the last four years, 108 of the deceased have received SNAP benefits, down from the 3,938 who received benefits in the four year period ending in June of 2013.
Entitlement fraud involving the dead is a big talking point these days, but Guillory says under the new system, benefits get cut off before someone can steal them and go on a spending spree.
The results still aren’t perfect, and Guillory says the few cases they see these days are the result of clerical errors and not bad intentions. He says relative to the huge number of recipients, the rate of error is very low.
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A bill to raise the minimum wage will be up for a vote before the full Senate today. The legislation would boost the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour by 2020, and has the support of Governor John Bel Edwards…
A full time minimum wage worker makes 290 dollars a week before taxes.
The governor says more women than men work minimum wage jobs, often times are responsible for children at home. He says raising wages would help provide more stable homes for Louisiana’s children.
A 2017 report from Louisiana Kids Count put the child poverty rate at 28, which contributed heavily to the state’s 48th ranking in total child well-being.
The bill is receiving opposition from the National Federation of Small Businesses. State Director Dawn Starns says “If the state mandates an increase in the cost of labor, then employers are going to have to raise prices or try to get by with fewer workers.” But UNO Business Professor Mark Rosa doesn’t see the buck twenty five increase being particularly harmful to the state economy.
Rosa says even without a minimum wage increase, it’d be tough for businesses to try and pay that little under the current economy.
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A bill to allow bulletproof backpacks on school campuses passed the Senate Judiciary C. West Monroe Senator Mike Walsworth says it’s unfortunate that a step like this is needed to protect school students, but he would rather take preventative action, than rely on school resource officers and other law enforcement…
Walsworth says parents and their children are rightly concerned for their safety. He says it’s up to legislators to do their part to make sure measures are in place, such as allowing bulletproof backpacks…
Opponents on the bill spoke out, including East Baton Rouge Parish Attorney Dadrius Lanus, representing school students. He says the bill does not make common sense and it will put out the wrong message…
Walsworth says the bill would only allow the bulletproof backpacks, but would not require students to have one. The bill heads to the Senate floor.
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Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson spoke Monday for the first time since her husband’s death at the NFL Owners meeting in Orlando, Florida. There have been questions on whether or not there will be major changes to the teams. Benson says after visiting the office on a daily basis for the last eight years, she knows the organizations are running like a well oiled machine…
Even though there are larger markets both teams could relocate too, Benson says she plans to remain committed to New Orleans…
Some big decisions have to be made in professional sports, anything from deciding to cut a player or fire a coach. The fourth female NFL and third female NBA owner is ready for the challenge…
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The Louisiana Attorney General’s office is expected to announce its results in the Alton Sterling investigation today. The state A-G’s office has investigated for nearly a year on whether two white Baton Rouge police officers should face charges in the 2016 shooting of Sterling, who is black. Loyola University Law Professor Dane Ciolino says it’s not known, if Landry presented evidence to a grand jury..
The US Justice Department announced last May the fatal shooting outside of the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge did not violate Sterling’s civil rights. Ciolino says the state’s A-G office likely used information gathered by the feds and State Police
The shooting in the summer of 2016 sparked protests in Baton Rouge. Officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II approached Sterling after receiving calls about a man with a gun. An altercation ensued and video shows Salamoni shooting Sterling. Ciolino says investigators have been looking at more than just the video