UL-Lafayette kicks off an incentive program to encourage students to return to campus fully vaccinated this fall. Brooke Thorington has more.
Cut 1 (31) “ …I’m Brooke Thorington.”
____________________________________
The state health department reports over five thousand new COVID-19 cases today, the third-highest daily count since the pandemic started. Jeff Palermo has the story…
______________________________________
A 17-year-old drown Tuesday after he was thrown from a horse in a retention pond. St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz says Jacory Levier (Leave-ee-a) was on the horse when he led the horse into the pond.
Guidroz says they received a call shortly before six last night about a possible drowning at the retention pond near Beau Chene High School in the Grand Coteau area.
According to investigators, Levier was there with a friend but he was the only one riding a horse. Guidroz says Levier was well thought of in the community and it is heartbreaking for the family.
___________________________
Six Louisianans have been arrested by the Attorney General’s Office for allegedly defrauding California out of a million dollars in unemployment benefits.
Louisiana Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Ernest Green says the scheme was based around filing fraudulent online claims with the nation’s largest state during the early days of the pandemic.
Green says the six suspects, who live across Southeast Louisiana, were stealing money and wasting precious resources at a time when people needed them most.
Green alleges the suspects were brazen enough to use their own names while putting in false applications in California. But why the Golden State?
___________________________
UL-Lafayette has launched their ‘Don’t Wait. Vaccinate!” incentive program in an effort to make a return to campus as safe as possible for students and staff. Dean of Students Dr. Margarita Perez says they will hold a drawing and give away 10 prizes to fully vaccinated students.
Prizes include iPhones, MacBook Airs, and free campus parking. Perez says they have put a lot of thought into the campaign and wanted to offer incentives that appealed to students.
Perez says UL-Lafayette is one of eight schools in the state taking part in the White House and CDC’s COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge to educate staff and students about COVID, vaccines, and offer access to vaccinations.
The first drawing will be on August 10th and continue through early October.
________________________________________________
The Louisiana House has failed to override Governor Edwards’ veto of a bill to prohibit transgender individuals from competing in women’s sports. In order to execute the veto, the measure needed 70 votes and it got 68. New Orleans Representative Royce Duplessis voted no and says the legislation is in search of a problem that does not exist
It’s likely the first-ever override veto session will end without legislators overriding any of the governor’s recent vetoes.
In his veto message, Governor Edwards called the bill discriminatory. But during debate on the House floor, Metairie Representative Laurie Schlegel disagrees
Supporters of the transgender sports ban say this bill will help create a fair playing field for biological girls. But Duplessis says the bill would result in transgender boys on a girls team and leading to privacy-violating tests of girls…
Cut 14 (12) “…biological girl”
Schlegel responds to claims the legislation is in search of a problem that doesn’t exist…