The first test burn of explosives is successful at Camp Minden in Webster Parish. Emelie Gunn has more…
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A proposal that would prevent local governments from removing confederate monuments without a waiver from a state board fails to get enough support from a House committee. Halen Doughty has more…
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A bill to increase the fine for not wearing a seatbelt has been approved by the House. The fines would go up to $50 for a first offense and then to $75 for additional offenses. New Orleans Representative Walt Leger says increasing the fine should drive up the number of motorists who wear a seatbelt.
The measure passed on a 62-34 vote and now moves to the Senate. Leger says this increase will save lives, as well as dollars.
Currently the fine for a first offense of not wearing a seatbelt is only $25 in Louisiana. Leger says the fine here is one of the lowest in the country. He says even with this increase, the fine still ranks lower than many other states.
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The Louisiana National Guard at Camp Minden in Webster Parish successfully conducted their first test burn of 88 pounds of M6 propellant. Col. Pete Schneider says over the next 30 days they’ll ramp up different amounts until they reach the full capacity of about 800 pounds. He believes it’ll take about a year to burn all of the propellant that was improperly stored by Explo Systems.
Camp Minden took control of the M6 in 2012 after the propellant started randomly exploding because it was illegally stored. Schneider says a large burn chamber was built in Oklahoma and was transported to Camp Minden in February. He says it took 4-thousand engineering design hours to build the chamber, which will burn the 15 million pounds of explosives over the next year.
Schneider says they’re safely monitoring the system to ensure the 15 million pounds of explosives are safely burned. He says EPA standards must be met throughout the disposal process.
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A bill to prevent the removal of confederate monuments did not get out of a House committee today. The legislation would create a seven-member statewide board that would get to decide if a monument more than 30 years old should be removed. Shreveport Representative Thomas Carmody says removing or renaming monuments that tell the stories of our state is one method of erasing the past from public memory.
Carmody says although Louisiana has a dark history, you cannot change what has already happened. He says the only way to have a brighter future is to learn from past mistakes.
Shreveport Representative Sam Jenkins opposes the bill. He says this proposal would not allow local governments to decide what they want to do with their own property.
New Orleans Representative Joseph Bouie says it is currently left up to local municipalities to decide what they want to display, or not display, in their city. He says each city should be able to decide what kind of monuments they want to have.
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The forecast team at Colorado State University calls for the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane season to be near-average. Research scientist Phil Klotzbach, lead author of the report, says they predict there will be 12 named storms…:
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Klotzbach says the El Nino is dissipating which is why they are predicting a more active season than in 2015, but northern Atlantic Ocean temperatures are still cooler than average…:
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Klotzbach says their next forecast will be out the day hurricane season begins on June 1st. He says the probability of a major hurricane, which is cat 3-5, hitting the Gulf Coast is about 30%…:
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