Governor John Bel Edwards meets with reporters today to look back on his first year in office. Don Molino has more on the governor’s challenges and successes in 2016…
______________________________________
Online shoppers in Louisiana are asking how Amazon’s announcement that it will collect Louisiana sales taxes next year will affect them. Halen Doughty has the answer…
Cut 2 (31) “I’m Halen Doughty”
______________________________________
It’s the first day of winter, but we might not see many cold days over the next three months. Jeff Palermo has the story…
_____________________________________________
Winter Solstice officially began at 4:44 this morning, according to State climatologist Barry Keim. He says we’ve been experiencing some cold temperatures this week, but the Climate Prediction Center is calling for warmer and drier than normal conditions for the next three months…:
cut 4 (09) “with precipitation”
Keim says this forecast is based partly because of the weak La Nina conditions currently in place…:
Cut 5 (10) “includes Louisiana”
Keim says the chance of having a white Christmas in Louisiana this year is basically nill. He says this prediction doesn’t mean we won’t see some cold air intrusions this winter…:
Cut 6 (08) “next three months”
___________________________________________________
Governor John Bel Edwards is set to meet with reporters today to look back at the challenges and successes Louisiana has seen during 2016. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says Edwards inherited an historic budget deficit when he took office on January 11th, which took up most of his time during the first half of the year.
Pinsonat says Edwards had some victories in his first year, like getting federal funding for flood victims and raising over 1.5 billion dollars in revenues during two special sessions.
Pinsonat conducted several independent polls during 2016 measuring the governor’s approval rating. A survey last month found that 64-percent approve of the governor’s job performance. The pollster says Edwards faces a number of challenges in 2017, which will impact his popularity going forward.
________________________________________
Baton Rouge has received funding to start plans for a commuter train between the Capitol City and New Orleans. John Spain with the Southern Rail Commission says the city received quarter of a million dollars to start planning for a new train station in downtown Baton Rouge, and the city has agreed to match the federal investment.
Spain says this commuter rail would hopefully be part of a larger route that stretches from Baton Rouge to Orlando, Florida. He says a passenger train used to run that route, but parts of it were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. He adds there were problems because the line started in California, which meant it was often late and did not run daily.
Spain says this Gulf South route would have tourism and economic development benefits for Louisiana, as people could ride the train to and from the New Orleans International Airport. He is optimistic the legislature will allocate funds for the project in the next session.
________________________________________
What does Amazon’s new sales tax collecting policy mean for customers? State Revenue Secretary Kimberly Robinson says not much will change. She says even though customers haven’t seen the taxes on their purchase totals, Louisiana law has always required consumers to pay taxes on items they purchase online.
Robinson says people are supposed to self-report sales taxes on their online purchases. She says lawmakers put in place methods to collect online sales taxes beginning in July of 2017. But she says Amazon has gone forward with voluntary compliance.
The mega online retailer announced earlier this week it will collect sales taxes on purchases made in Louisiana beginning January 1st. Robinson says this means a level playing field for in-store retailers, who have been collecting state sales taxes for decades. She says it’s also good news for the state budget.
_________________________________________________
LSU wide receiver Malachi Dupre says he has not made a decision on whether to enter the NFL draft and forgo his senior season. Dupre says his focus is on the December 31st bowl game matchup against Louisville…
It was reported last week Dupre would make himself eligible for the draft following the bowl game, but the New Orleans native says he’s not sure who the source was for that report…
Dupre was expected to have a big junior season, but he started off slow and had a couple of key drops. The former John Curtis star finished the regular season 34 catches and three touchdown receptions. He says he’s not leaning one way or the other on what he might do…