Approximately 98-thousand Louisianans received ineligible unemployment benefits last year totaling $405 million according to a Legislative Auditors report. Brooke Thorington explains
Cut 1 (30) “ …I’m Brooke Thorington.”
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Of the 834,000 Louisianans who’ve completed their vaccine series, only 126 have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. Matt Doyle has the story.
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A Legislative Auditor’s report finds that approximately 98-thousand individuals received $405 million in unemployment benefits and it appears they were not eligible in Louisiana from the end of March until the end of 2020. Auditor Chris Magee says they found the error by using the program Wage Data.
$247 weekly is the maximum one can earn, anymore they are not eligible.
Magee says the Louisiana Workforce Commission reports benefit filings were unprecedented and rose more than two-hundred thousand percent from pre-pandemic levels which led to the oversite.
Cut 4 (11) “…improper payments.”
Magee says another factor for the oversight is the 2020 legislative instrument that gave employers an additional 45 days to report wages.
Magee says once the LWC determines if the error is administrative or fraud, they will enter into repayment agreements with those individuals. And if they don’t make repayments…
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Legislation is filed that would ban K-12 schools from teaching “Divisive Concepts” one of which being that the United States or the State of Louisiana is institutionally or systemically racist. House Education Chairman Ray Garofalo says the bill would ensure a traditional classroom environment that deters discrimination.
Other “Divisive Concepts” include teaching that an individual’s race or sex makes them inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, or that the concepts of meritocracy or capitalism are racist or sexist, along with other topics.
The bill has received pushback from those who advocate teaching that the US, through slavery, was founded on racism and has maintained a legacy of systemic racism. Garofalo disagrees.
The legislation would also apply to trainings provided to teachers and school staff.
Garofalo says the legislation should not be controversial.
Garofalo says the jury is still out on whether this legislation would impact higher education.
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126 Louisianans have tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated, good for only .02 percent of all Louisianans who are fully vaccinated.
State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter says for those few people who got the bug, they didn’t get it bad…
Full vaccination is two weeks after you complete your vaccine series. 834,000 Louisianans have completed their vaccine series.
Kanter says no vaccine is 100 percent effective 100 percent of the time, but…
A recent CDC “real world” study showed Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were 90 percent effective two weeks after their second doses.
Kanter says this is just further proof of the incredible effectiveness of vaccines, and a message that should be shared with those still on the fence…
1.3 million Louisianans have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
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In a poll of 781 Louisiana adults, roughly half of the state’s residents approve of Louisiana’s response to the pandemic. LSU Public Policy Research Lab Director Mike Henderson says the 2021 Louisiana survey shows a divide among party lines.
Part of the state’s response to the pandemic was handling of the fall and spring elections. He says 75-percent of the respondents supported the extra days for early voting
Henderson mail-in voting is a controversial topic and the divide is once again along party lines