A federal judge his dismissed a lawsuit filed by a New Orleans area levee board that claimed dozens of oil and gas companies should pay damages for destroying Louisiana’s coast. Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown ruled that federal and state laws are not set up so that the levee authority could successfully file a suit against the energy industry.

Louisiana’s Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain says the mid-year budget cuts handed down by Governor Bobby Jindal are just not fair. He says most of the larger cuts hit departments manged by elected officials…
CUT 11 (07) Q; “other agencies”
The Department of Ag received mid-year cuts equivalent to $2.6 million dollars, while the governor’s office had a ten-thousand dollar cut to its budget. The Jindal administration is defending the way the cuts were handed down.

Law enforcement in southeast Louisiana are looking for an inmate who was able to shed his shackles and run away from Washington Parish deputies early this morning. The escaped prisoner’s name is Kaunda Magee and he was last seen still wearing his handcuffs and a waist chain. He escaped as deputies were transporting him back to the jail after receiving treatment at a hospital for a shoulder injury.

In the fight of underaged use of alcohol and tobacco, the A-T-C is continuing the compliance checks of business to make sure there are no sales made to those aged below legal limits. Commissioner Troy Hebert says all businesses need to be smart about this…
CUT 14 (09) Q: ‘not worth it’
Hebert adds there are 16 and 17 year-old undercover operatives doing random checks throughout Mardi Gras.