The centerpiece to Governor John Bel Edwards fiscal reform plan is expected to be introduced to the legislature today. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Ochsner Cancer Institute in Jefferson Parish is giving Louisiana cancer patients new hope through its Precision Cancer Therapies Program. Halen Doughty has more…
Cut 2 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”
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The state Department of Wildlife in Fisheries has scheduled a drawdown of Lake Bistineau to combat the giant salivina problem. Emelie Gunn on the May 1st drawdown…
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The centerpiece of Governor John Bel Edwards’ plan to overhaul’s Louisiana tax code is expected to be filed today. The measure has been referred to as a gross receipts or Commerical Activity Tax. Publisher of la-politics-dot-com, Jeremy Alford, says there’s very little support for this new tax on businesses…
The CAT tax acts as a corporate sales tax. Any business that has sales over one-point-five million dollars, a portion of those sales are taxed. Many small business owners would be assessed a flat tax. But Alford says even members of the governor’s party are not supportive…
Alford says the governor has struggled to drum up support for the CAT tax, because no one thought it would be up for debate in this session…
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A Baton Rouge lawmaker is pushing for 18-wheelers to be required to drive at least 10 miles lower than the posted speed limit on Interstate highways. Representative Steve Carter filed the legislation after the speed limits were reduced on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge.
This measure would also pertain to drivers of school buses and tractor trailers. Carter says multiple ostates have similar laws and this can greatly improve safety.
Once the legislation is heard, it will go before House Transportation Committee. Carter hopes this also helps with traffic given the state’s infrastructure problems.
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Ochsner Cancer Institute in Jefferson Parish will provide more treatment options, thanks to the hospital’s new Precision Cancer Therapies Program. Medical Director of the program, Dr. Marc Matrana (Muh-tron-ah) says this program connects Louisiana cancer patients with access to cutting-edge, early-phase clinical trials, something currently not available in our state.
Matrana says currently cancers are treated with the standard treatment for that type of cancer, meaning all colon cancers, for example, are typically treated the same. He says while this is effective for most patients, some need more personalized care. He says this gives more options and hope to patients.
Cut 11 (09 “and innovative will”
Matrana says they’re bringing in more and more trials to the state every day. So if cancer patients are not seeing results with standard treatments, Ochsner’s new Precision Cancer Therapies program can give many of them other options.
For more information on the Ochsner Precision Cancer Therapies Program, visit ochsner.org/earlyphase or call 504-800-6370.
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The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has scheduled a drawdown of Lake Bistineau to control rapidly growing giant salvinia. LDWF Biologist Manager Jeff Sibley says the drawdown, set for May 1st, is a little bit earlier this year in order to get the situation back under control. He says summer temperatures promote giant salvinia growth.
The drawdown is scheduled to go on until November 30th. Sibley says normally during this time of year there are under 1,000 acres of giant salvina in the lake. He says the drawdown dries out large areas of the lake and takes away the places that are the best habitat for the plant to grow.
During the drawdown, the lake has about 10-thousand acres of water in it and remains open to the public. Sibley says the giant salvinia limits recreational boating and most importantly, degrades the aquatic habitat making it unsuitable for fish or wildlife.
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At the halfway point of the SEC Schedule, the LSU Baseball team is 9-6 in league play after taking two of three from Ole Miss. The Tigers clinched the series victory with a three to two win over the Rebels on Saturday afternoon. That’s win number 25 on the season for the Tigers and Coach Paul Mainieri….
Eric Walker was the winning pitcher in Saturday’s win. The freshman from Texas is now 5-0 and he got some help from the fielders behind him, including second baseman Cole Freeman who had a couple of nice defensive plays….
LSU hosts Lamar tomorrow night. The Tigers have won five of their last six after going through a stretch where they lost six of nine. Freeman likes how the Tigers are playing….
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Louisiana Tech took two of three from Old Dominion over the weekend. The Bulldogs defeated the Monarchs seven to three as Tech pounded out three home runs in the ninth inning. Jordan Washam started the long ball display by hitting a solo home run to give the Diamond Dogs the lead for good…
Marshall Boggs hit a two-run bomb and Chase Lunceford also clubbed a home run in that decisive 9th inning. Tech is now 6-9 in Conference USA and Coach Lane Burroughs says his team showed a lot of heart…