There’s now a 70-percent chance over the next 48 hours we can see our first tropical system of the year. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine has been licensed for a medical school at ULM, which will lead to a privately funded, 100 thousand square foot facility. Don Molino has more.
Speaker Taylor Barras weighed in the on win, congratulating New Orleans on grabbing yet another major sporting event.
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The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season should be an active one, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. Lead hurricane forecaster, Dr. Gerry Bell says there is a 75 percent chance that the upcoming season will be near- or above-normal.
Dr. Bell says the number of storms may depend on whether a weak El Nino or La Nina develops
Cut 7 (08) “a lot more hurricanes”
The NOAA says the severity Atlantic hurricane seasons have been steadily increasing since 1995 and the impacts have not been limited to coastal communities. Dr. Bell says more people should get ready for this upcoming hurricane season.
NOAA will issue another seasonal outlook in early August, right before the peak of the season.
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Invest 90L, the low-pressure system in the west Caribbean that’s on its way to ruin gulf coast Memorial Day weekends, is starting to get a narrower prediction track, and more confidence that it will grow into a tropical depression or storm. State Climatologist Barry Keim says at this point, Louisiana should be spared the worst of it, but…
Nasty weather could start to popup nearby as early as Saturday, but Keim says they expect the system to really hit starting next week.
The system is not expected to threaten the coast with dangerous storm surge or high winds, but Keim says it could dump a ton of water on whoever is unlucky enough to get hit.
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ULM has been approved for a new medical school in partnership with The Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, who was granted the license. A 100 thousand square foot facility will be built on the campus that is currently scheduled to begin classes in fall of 2020. ULM President Nick Bruno says that means there will be more room for medical students to stay home in Louisiana.
And Bruno says that’s important because students who study and take residencies in one state tend to stay there once they finish their education. The President says that could help address the reported 19 percent shortfall in the number of physicians needed in the coming years.
Reports indicate that 30 percent of physicians in Louisiana are 60-years-old or older, and the average age of those in the profession is 55.
Bruno says Virginia College plans to make the state of the art facility the most impressive of its nationwide set of colleges. He says students who attend the program are getting a great education.
Last year New York Institute of Technology was issued a license to work with ULM, but decided not to pursue the plan in August.