It’s festival season in the Bayou State. Jeff Palermo has more on the festivals underway around the state…
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A proposed law would exempt items like tampons and diapers from the state sales tax. Emelie Gunn has more on the measure filed by New Orleans Senator JP Morrell….
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Festival season is in full swing in all corners of the Bayou State. Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser says the Blues Festival gets underway in the Capitol City, while the Crawfish Festival kicks off in Lake Charles. He says there’s plenty to do in Louisiana this weekend.
Cut 3 (11) “strawberry festival”
Nungesser says festival season brings a ton of tourists to the Pelican State. He says some even use motor homes to tour the state and travel the festival circuit. He says it’s a great chance to show off the Louisiana lifestyle and hospitality.
Nungesser says with over 400 festivals, there’s something to do every weekend in every town and city around the state. He says he wants to visit them all, but with new festivals popping up every year, that seems impossible.
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Republican members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation fully support the United States missile attack on an air base in Syria. Retired Major General Ron Richard from Louisiana was a guest on WRKF’s Talk Louisiana and says the president made the right move following Syria’s chemical attack on civilians.
While on the campaign trail, Trump said the U.S. would not get involved with conflicts in the Middle East. But Richard says this action was necessary given the heinous attack on innocent people. He says these missiles caused serious damage.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul says President Trump should have received Congressional approval before authorizing a military strike on an air base in Syria. But Richard said on W-R-K-F’s Talk Louisiana that he supports the President’s surprise attack..
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A Baton Rouge man faces over 200 counts of theft after allegedly cashing his dead mother’s retirement checks for 18 years. Attorney General Jeff Landry says 42-year-old Lester Joseph stole over $400 thousand from the state’s Teacher’s Retirement System. Landry says the suspect’s father was the beneficiary for his wife’s retirement checks after Ruby Joseph passed away in 1997.
Landry says the son illegally forged his name on his father’s checks, collecting more than $460-thousand in undue benefits. He says Joseph has been charged with 201 counts of felony theft and two counts of identity theft.
Cut 10 (11) “particular benefits”
Landry says this arrest is a result of the hard work of people in his department who are ensuring the rule of law is followed. He says from here, the case will go to the local District Attorney, and if convicted, Joseph should serve time behind bars.
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A New Orleans lawmaker has filed legislation that would eliminate the state sales tax when purchasing feminine products. Senator J.P. Morrell’s measure would exempt items like tampons and diapers. Supporter of the bill, executive director of Lift Louisiana, Michelle Erenberg, says these products are not luxury items for women. She says even though the cost saving is only a few dollars, every little bit helps.
Erenberg anticipates push back from some lawmakers because previous bills dealing with women’s issues have not much success in the legislature. But she says a significant amount of women in the Bayou State live below the poverty line so any extra savings each month helps them feed their families.
Erenberg says this is common sense legislation.
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Governor John Bel Edwards has some big priorities for the legislative session that begins Monday. One of those is raising the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour, a hike he calls modest but meaningful. Edwards says in 2017, $7.25 an hour is inadequate to pay for the basic cost of living.
Edwards adds several other states have already increased their minimum wage well above the federal minimum.
Another key item on the Governor’s legislative agenda is criminal justice reform. Edwards said on his monthly call-in radio show the proposals will be consistent with the findings of the Criminal Justice Reinvestment task force he commissioned last year. He says we have to do something to lower Louisiana’s highest-in-the-world incarceration rate.
Edwards says they will look at proven strategies from other southern conservative states.
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