Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden has filed paperwork to run for Congress. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Louisiana is ranked third most dangerous state for teen drivers, according to a new study from Carinsurance.com. Michelle Southern has more…
CUT 2 (30) “I’m Michelle Southern”
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Baton Rouge mayor Kip Holden has filed his paperwork to run for Congress. Holden is expected to challenge fellow Democrat and incumbent US Representative Cedic Richmond, who represents the 2nd District which covers New Orleans and parts of the River Parishes and Baton Rouge. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says Holden, who is term-limited as a mayor, is a strong candidate.
While Holden will have support from Baton Rouge voters, Pinsonat says he may need to get support from organizations in New Orleans to win more votes in that area.
Pinsonat says Holden’s campaign for Lt. Governor last year was unsuccessful, probably because he didn’t raise enough campaign money. He says Holden will have to do a lot better with his fundraising this year…
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A new study from Carinsurance.com shows Louisiana is the third most dangerous state for teen drivers. Highway safety advocate, Col. Jim Champagne is not surprised because he says we give teen drivers too much freedom at an early age.
Champagne says Louisiana also allows driver’s permits at 15, but the rest of the country doesn’t allow permits until 16, and the driving curfew for teen divers is earlier in other states. Champagne says we are giving our kids the ability to seriously hurt themselves, their passengers, and other drivers.
The study also found Louisiana teens are driving drunk at a rate of 9-percent, and 49-percent are texting and driving. Champagne says unfortunately law enforcement is too busy with other traffic problems to pay enough attention to teen drivers.
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The Jimmy Davis Bridge in Shreveport-Bossier City will not get its planned renovation anytime soon because the construction contract has been terminated. Department of Transportation spokesperson Rodney Mallett says the plan has been halted because of a protected species of bird that’s nesting on the bridge.
Mallett says the Highway 511 Bridge will still be renovated, as soon as DOTD can figure out the best way to go about repairing the bridge without hurting the cliff swallows living there.
Mallett says the 23-million dollars is still allocated for the project. He says there are multiple angles to tackling this issue, and that’s what DOTD officials are looking into now.
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The House Appropriations Committee has approved a spending plan for next fiscal year that fully funds TOPS. The governor’s proposed budget only funded a third of the costs associated with the program. Chairman, Cameron Henry of Metairie, says they came up with the 183-million dollars to fully fund TOPS by taking dollars from other departments…
While speaking to the Baton Rouge Press Club today, Governor John Bel Edwards expressed concerns about cutting funding from various agencies that have already seen their budgets slashed…
Henry says making sure tuition for TOPS scholarships are fully funded is a priority. But Edwards says an across the board cut in other areas of the budget to get that accomplished is not a good idea…