Governor John Bel Edwards says it’s a good sign Louisiana ended up with a 300-million dollar surplus from the budget year that ended June 30th. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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The Public Service Commission is investigating rural electric co-ops after discovering what they say are excessive expenses that are driving up electric costs. Matt Doyle has more.
Governor John Bel Edwards says Louisiana finished the fiscal year that ended June 30th with a budget surplus of approximately 300-million dollars. Edwards says the state’s economy is performing better than what the Revenue Estimating Conference predicted…
Critics of the Edwards administration say the surplus shows the legislature didn’t need to renew millions of dollars in temporary sales taxes earlier this year. But Edwards says…
The state constitution limits how state surplus dollars can be spent, but construction is one of those areas. Edwards says they may use some of this money to fund long-awaited highway projects.
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The Public Service Commission launches an investigation into the spending habits of rural energy coops. Commissioner Foster Campbell says he’s discovered excessive board member compensation and expenses in several parishes. Campbell singled out Claiborne Electric Co-op for paying their GM 195,000 a year.
Campbell says the excessive pay is driving up electric bills.
But Claiborne Co-op General Manager Mark Brown says they pay a fair wage. He says the nine member board clocked about 4500 hours of work last year, and their pay is not exorbitant, it’s in line with national coop compensation averages.
Campbell highlighted what he says were completely unnecessary educational and lobbying trips to places like Las Vegas and Washington, where he says costs for expensive meals and hotels would end up back on customer bills. He says the co-op’s justifications don’t hold up.
Brown says the trips are needed, as they give co-op leaders the opportunity to learn about new advancements in the electric industry. He says they take those new lessons home to provide better service to coop customers.
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After seeing losses in 2017, movie theatres are experiencing their best summer in two decades. It’s quite the feat considering the popularity of at home video on demand services such as Netflix. North American ticket sales will close out the summer season with more than a 14% increase. Entertainment columnist for the New Orleans Advocate Keith Spera says the weather might play a factor.
Cut 10 (08) “…and watch movies.”
Spera says the strong showing of support for historically popular franchises is a major contributing factor to the boom.
Spera says offerings at theatres include more than just soda, popcorn, and a flip down seat as now the multiplexes are offering a deeper menu, and seeing much more comfortable plush reclining seats.
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A Denham Springs woman has been charged with a D-W-I after she drove into a Baton Rouge Police cruiser. B-R-P-D Sergeant Don Coppola says 39-year-old Tia Jones attempted to make a left turn into a parking lot on Government Street last night when the collision happened…
Cut 13 (06) “non life threatening”
Coppola says after doctors checked on Jones injuries, she was then sent to the East Baton Rouge jail for booking on charges of D-W-I, careless operation and vehicular negligent injuring…
Coppola says the police unit suffered severe damage as a result of the wreck. He says Jones could have avoided the whole ordeal, if she was sober when she got behind the wheel…