Lawmakers failed to pass a congressional map with two Black majority districts despite a June 20th court-ordered deadline. Brooke Thorington has more.
Cut 1 (39) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
____________________________________
Governor Edwards says he will likely sign a bill replacing Louisiana’s “trigger law” that will take effect if the Supreme Court overturns “Roe v. Wade.” More from Michelle Southern…:
Cut 2 (28) “…I’m Michelle Southern.”
_____________________________________
Engineering students from Tulane University are among a select group competing for a chance to have their work sent into space. David Grubb has more…
Cut 3 (36) “…I’m David Grubb.”
________________________________________________
Lawmakers failed to pass a congressional map with two Black majority districts despite a June 20th court-ordered deadline. Political Analyst Bernie Pinsonat believes the Republican majority legislature is counting on the appeals court to approve their current map with only one Black majority district.
Five different congressional maps were filed in the special session and two of the maps sponsored by Democrats failed to make it out of committee after hours of emotional pleas from Black lawmakers. The one map that did go to the floor with two Black-majority districts by Port Allen Republican Senator Rick Ward did not have enough votes to pass in the Senate. Pinsonat says Republicans are rolling on the dice on the appeals court ruling scheduled for July.
The Senate did debate Ward’s bill for two hours, but the map did not have the minimum 20 votes needed to advance. Even though a third of the state’s population is Black, Pinsonat says in reality is difficult to map out a second district that’s 52 to 56% majority Black.
Because the legislature failed to meet the June 20th deadline issued by U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, she’s ordered attorneys to submit maps for her to consider for a June 29th hearing. Pinsonat says but a map chosen by Dick could be overturned if the appeals court approves the map Republicans approved in February.
Governor Edwards issued a statement saying “It is disappointing that after every opportunity to do the right thing and create a second majority African-American Congressional district as ordered by the U.S. Court for the Middle District, the Legislature has once again failed to do so.”
Edwards also pointed out the irony of the legislature’s failure to approve a map with two Black majority districts on the anniversary of Juneteenth.
_____________________________________________
Governor John Bel Edwards says he intends to sign into law a replacement for Louisiana’s so-called “trigger law” that bans all abortions, should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn “Roe versus Wade.” On his monthly radio program, the governor says the law passed under Governor Kathleen Blanco has no exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or any other mitigating factor. He says Senate Bill 342 does have some…:
Cut 8 (14) “…life of the mother.”
He says some exceptions are better than none at all, but he would still prefer lawmakers had shown more compassion to victims of rape or incest…:
Cut 9 (10) “…her rapist’s baby to term.”
Edwards says he plans to sign the bill into law, despite interest groups’ calls for a veto. He says killing the bill will accomplish nothing at all…:
Cut 10 (09) “…exception either.”
Edwards says it’s better to sign a bill with a few exceptions than to veto it and have none whatsoever, should the federal High Court’s ruling ever be reversed. A leaked opinion draft indicates a majority of justices would vote that way, but so far no action on “Roe” has been taken.
____________________________________________
A quartet of students from Tulane University is in Cocoa Beach, Florida, to compete in NASA’s RASC-AL forum. Tulane’s Team CERBERUS is one of just 15 finalists invited to present its designs at the competition, with an opportunity for its work to be a part of the 2025 Artemis mission to the moon. Graduate student Brock Headen says he never imagined they would get this far.
Cut 11 (07) “…shooting for it.”
Team CERBERUS will enter the finals as an underdog. Their four-person squad is one of, if not the smallest team in competition and Tulane does not have an aerospace engineering program. Headen says they’ve embraced that role and found their advantages where they could.
Cut 12 (11) “…engineer produced.”
Team CERBERUS will share the stage with groups from MIT, the University of Texas, and Michigan among others. Based on what he’s seen of the other submissions, Headen believes that he and his teammates can hold their own.
Cut 13 (11) “…in that structure.”
Tulane’s group will make their presentation Tuesday with two winners to be announced on Thursday.
____________________________________________
The FDA has authorized emergency use of the Moderna and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines for children under 5 years of age, a move applauded by one of the top pediatricians in Louisiana. Mark Kline is physician-in-chief and chief medical officer at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. He says this is long overdue…:
Cut 14 (11) “deaths from occurring.”
Kline expects about 15-20% of parents will rush to get their kids vaccinated to protect them from a potential serious illness, but a larger group will still be nervous about it. He says it’s up to healthcare professionals to keep parents properly informed…:
Cut 15 (05) “right thing to do for their kids.”
The Pfizer vaccine for young kids is 3 shots each with one-tenth of the dose for adults spaced three weeks apart for the 1st and 2nd, then the 3rd given 8 weeks later. Moderna is two doses given 4 weeks apart each one-quarter of the adult dose. Kline says both shots are safe and effective. He wants to let parents know it’s a myth that kids can’t get Covid, or that they wouldn’t get very sick if they did…:
Cut 16 (13) “all preventable illnesses”
In terms of side effects, Kline says they’ve only seen a few cases of mild fever and soreness at the injection site, but the benefits of the vaccines far outweigh the risks.
______________________________________________
Over the past week, LSU baseball has lost a pair of assistants. Top recruiter Dan Fitzgerald and pitching coach Jason Kelly will move into the head coaching positions at Kansas and Washington respectively. Coach Jay Johnson says it’s tough to lose both, but doesn’t expect the Tigers to miss a beat.
Cut 17 (16) “ …(x2) all will be well.”
While he, and Tiger fans, would have preferred to end the season in Omaha, Johnson says LSU accomplished a lot of good things this past season.
Johnson says he began preparing for next season almost immediately following the Tigers’ loss to Southern Miss in the NCAA regionals. He believes the key is remaining consistent with the plan he’s laid out for the program while staying flexible enough to live in the ever-changing world of college sports.
______________________________________________