A poll of 500 likely Republican primary voters shows a very close race with early voting set to begin Saturday. Jeff Palermo has the story.
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A beloved crossing guard in Livingston Parish is killed by a suspected drunk driver. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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With early voting starting tomorrow, we’re expecting a ruling today on a federal lawsuit challenging the suspension of Louisiana’s U.S. House elections following Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision ruling the state’s congressional map an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino says that ruling forced Governor Landry’s hand.
The lawsuit states that the Supreme Court did not order the election to be postponed and that absentee ballots have already been cast. Ciolino points out that according to federal law, the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November is the only mandatory election day.
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Ciolino says Landry’s quick action in postponing the U.S. House election runs counter to historical precedent in the state.
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A new poll on the Republican U.S. Senate primary shows State Treasurer John Fleming leading the field with 28-percent of the vote, followed by Julia Letlow at 27-percent and Bill Cassidy at 21-percent. Emerson College and KLFY-TV conducted the survey; and Pearson Cross, who teaches political science at ULM, says this is an extremely close race with 22-percent undecided.
Cross says it’s bad news for Cassidy, because the two-term incumbent Senator is trailing his two challengers with early voting starting Saturday. He says in the survey of 500 likely Republican primary voters, nearly half of them have an unfavorable view of Cassidy.
Cross says only 15-percent of the respondents have an unfavorable view of Fleming, which is a big factor in why he leads this poll.
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In just one night, the Louisiana Millionaires Club added 11 new members. That’s because in Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing, a whopping 11 tickets were million-dollar winners. Chrislyn Maher (“mayor”) with the Louisiana Lottery says it’s an exciting occasion.
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Maher says the odds of winning the million-dollar prize is less than one in 11-million.
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Those five white balls are drawn from a drum containing 69 of them, hence the long odds. Mayer says of those 11 millionaires, five of them doubled their prize to two-million dollars with the Power Play.
Those 11 lucky players were among 89 across the country, including 19 in Indiana, who matched the five white balls of 3, 19, 35, 51 and 67. Had any one of them picked 15 as their Powerball, they would have joined players in Indiana and Kansas in splitting the 143-million-dollar jackpot.
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Tragedy in Livingston Parish as a school crossing guard is killed by a suspected drunk driver. 74-year-old Katy Wells was directing traffic on Highway 16 in Denham Springs Thursday afternoon as Grays Creek Elementary School was being let out for the day, when she was hit by a pickup truck. Wells was killed on impact. Sheriff Jason Ard says Wells was a beloved member of the Livingston Parish community.
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Sheriff Ard says 64-year-old Darren Goudeau (GOO-doe) of Walker was arrested and is charged with vehicular homicide and DWI.
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Ard says he hopes this incident will get people to re-evaluate their behavior on the roadways.