With the number of visitors expected to increase, restaurants, hotels, and tourist destinations are looking for employees. Erik Picolli has more on a big job fair Wednesday in New Orleans.

Cut 1 (31) “…I’m Erik Picolli.”

_______________________________

The wife of 93-year old former Governor Edwin Edwards shares with podcast Only in Louisiana he’s now confined to a wheelchair. Brooke Thorington has more.

Cut 2 (29) “…I’m Brooke Thorington” 

____________________________

Construction of two personal protective equipment manufacturing facilities is underway in the Acadiana Region of the state, and its partnership with the healthcare facility is a win-win for the state. Brooke Thorington explains.

Cut 3 (32)  “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”

____________________________

New Orleans and Company, the marketing agency for the city of New Orleans, is hosting a hospitality and tourism job fest and offering job seekers COVID vaccines tomorrow at the Ernest Morial Convention Center. Spokesperson Kelly Schulz says about 100 companies are attending.

Cut 4 (07)“…on the spot.”

Schulz says with the tourism industry gradually reopening across the nation, jobs at all levels are available

Cut 5 (07)“…benefit packages.”

Jobs at the convention will play key roles in attracting tourists to New Orleans.

Cut 6 (10) “…very rewarding.”

_____________________

In an interview for the podcast of Only In Louisiana, Trina Edwards, the wife of Edwin Edwards says the 93-year old former four term-governor is now confined to a wheelchair. She says the daily obstacles that wheelchair users face have been an eye-opening experience for her.

Cut 7 (11)  “…that yet.”

Trina Edwards says besides the wheelchair and hearing difficulties the colorful politician isn’t experiencing any major health issues right now. She says before he needed a wheelchair, she didn’t truly appreciate the hard work caretakers do until she became one herself.

Cut 8 (06) “…lot worse.” 

Trina Edwards says she’s extremely grateful her husband is not experiencing any pain and considers it a privilege to help care for her husband.

Cut 9 (06) “…needed.”

Trina and Edwin Edwards married in 2011 when he was 83 years old, and she was 32. They have one child together and both appeared in the A&E reality series The Governor’s Wife.

__________________

The Louisiana House approves a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe the smokable form of medical marijuana to patients. Houma Representative Tanner Magee says 35 states have a medical marijuana program, only Louisiana and Minnesota do not allow raw or crude form.

Cut 10 (09) “…but they will get this.”

The vote was 73-26 in favor of the legislation. Several conservative members of the House voted against it. Magee was asked if law enforcement opposed the measure…

Cut 11 (11) “….none”

Currently, medical marijuana is only available in oils, pills, liquids and topical applications, and in an inhaler. Magee says the smokeable form is a cheaper alternative…

Cut 12 (13) “…currently available.”

The measure now heads to the Senate for more debate.

________________________________________

The Acadiana region of the state is the site of two production facilities to create personal protective equipment. SafeSource Direct is investing $150 million to develop plants in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson says PPE plays a vital role in healthcare.

Cut 13 (08) “…the globe.”

Pierson says the Lafayette Parish facility will create 245 jobs and the St. Martin Parish plant will employ 975 workers and what makes this project unique is the win-win partnership with Ochsner Health.

Cut 14 (07) “…profit center.”

Pierson says the pandemic taught us a valuable lesson, of the dangers of dependency on foreign countries for necessities like PPE.

Cut 15 (10)“…as well.”

Pierson says construction is already underway and hiring is expected to begin mid-2021.

_________________________________________________

The House Criminal Justice Committee will hear a bill to decriminalize prostitution in Louisiana on Tuesday. Opponents of the bill like National Center of Sexual Exploitation CEO Dawn Hawkins says decriminalizing prostitution will do more harm than good for sex workers.

Cut 13 (11)“…prostitution.”

But bill author New Orleans Representative Mandie Landry says the intent of her bill is to protect prostitutes. Landry says trafficking is already a crime no matter what age someone is doing something against their will along with prostitution.

Cut 14 (12) “…trafficking victim” 

The House Criminal Justice committee meets at 9 am.

The Louisiana House approves a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe the smokable form of medical marijuana to patients. Houma Representative Tanner Magee says 35 states have a medical marijuana program, only Louisiana and Minnesota do not allow raw or crude form.

Cut 10 (10) “…will get this.”

The vote was 73-26 in favor of the legislation.

The House Appropriations Committee approved a 36-billion-dollar spending plan for next fiscal year. The measure contains an eight-hundred dollar raise for schoolteachers, four-hundred dollars for school support staff. The budget bill will be discussed by the full House on Thursday.

And Houma Senator Mike Fesi says he tested positive for COVID-19. He tested positive on Thursday after spending that morning and along with Tuesday and Wednesday at the state capitol.  Last Monday when the Republican Senator felt ill he tested negative for the virus and returned to work until he tested positive on Thursday. 61-year old Fesi says he has not been vaccinated and says he does not regret it.

The House Criminal Justice Committee will hear a bill to decriminalize prostitution in Louisiana on Tuesday. New Orleans Representative Mandie Landry says the intent of her bill is to protect sex workers and make it easier to recognize who’s a victim of trafficking.

Cut 14 (12) “…trafficking victim” 

Opponents say decriminalizing prostitution will only draw those in the sex industry to the area and doesn’t necessarily protect workers.

A state audit finds the Louisiana Workforce Commission paid out six-point-two million dollars in unemployment benefits to nearly 12-hundred prisoners. Data Analytics Manager for the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office, Chris Magee, says it’s a conservative number since they only looked at unemployment applications for the first half of 2020.

Cut 9 (07) “..the issue”

Motorists who have State Farm could see a slight increase in their premiums. The Louisiana Insurance Department has approved a statewide rate increase of four percent.  Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says the 9.6 percent decrease in rates that State Farm put into place last year is no longer justified as the nation begins more travel out of the pandemic.

Cut 4 (12) “…2019.” 

The rate increase went into effect on April 5^th.

Department of Transportation has completed debris removal in Louisiana after the state was heavily impacted by Hurricanes Laura, Delta, and Zeta last season. DOTD Spokesperson Rodney Mallet says they began removal at the end of August.

Cut 6 (11) “…hurricane debris”

The 2021 hurricane season begins in four weeks.

House Criminal Justice is scheduled to hear a bill tomorrow that seeks to decriminalize prostitution in Louisiana. Brooke Thorington has more.
Cut 2 (36) …I’m Brooke Thorington.”

The House Appropriations Committee approved a 36-billion dollar spending plan for next fiscal year. The measure contains an eight-hundred dollar raise for school teachers, four-hundred dollars for school support staff. The budget bill will be discussed by the full House on Thursday.

An audit from the Legislative Auditor’s Office finds that six-point-two million dollars in unemployment benefits mistakenly went to nearly 12-hundred prisoners. Data Analytics Manager for the state auditor, Chris Magee, says the Louisiana Workforce Commission plans on trying to recoup the money, and in most of the cases they’ve identified, incarcerated individuals received multiple unemployment checks…
cut 11 (10) “…those individuals”

The Louisiana transportation department says they’ve completed hurricane debris that was left on the side of state roadways from a historic season. DOTD spokesperson Rodney Mallett says they collected over three million cubic yards of debris…
cut 7 (12) “…professional fashion”

A state audit finds that prisoners received unemployment checks last year. Don Molino has the story…
Cut 1 (31) “ …I’m Don Molino”

Governor John Bel Edwards was in Acadiana this morning to announce that Safe Source is investing 150-million dollars into the construction of two manufacturing facilities that will produce personal protection equipment. The facilities will be located in Lafayette and St. Martin Parishes and officials say they will bring more than 22-hundred new jobs to the area.

The House Criminal Justice Committee is scheduled to hear a bill tomorrow that would decriminalize prostitution. Bill author, New Orleans Representative Mandi Landry, says the intent of her legislation to protect sex workers and reduce human trafficking, but the National Center of Sexual Exploitation CEO Dawn Hawkins opposes the legislation…
cut 15 (12) “….in the area”
The House Criminal Justice Committee meets at 9 AM tomorrow.

Motorists who have State Farm could see a slight increase in their premiums. The Louisiana Insurance Department has approved a statewide rate increase of four percent. Last June, State Farm lowered rates by an average of 10-percent. So what changed? Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says more vehicles on the road…
Cut 3 (09) “…as well”
The adjusted auto rates in Louisiana went into effect on April 5th.

The House Criminal Justice Committee will hear a bill to decriminalize prostitution in Louisiana tomorrow. New Orleans Representative Mandie Landry says the intent of her bill is not to turn the state into a red-light district but to protect sex workers and reduce human trafficking.

Cut 12 (10)   “…they need.” 

Landry says if their profession is no longer a crime, they could seek assistance.

However National Center of Sexual Exploitation CEO Dawn Hawkins says decriminalizing prostitution will do more harm than good for sex workers.

Cut 13 (11)“…prostitution.”

Hawkins says it was a London School of Economics study that found decriminalization increased the sex trade and violence associated with it.

The Louisiana Insurance Department has approved a statewide rate increase of four percent for State Farm motorists, but it was last year the legislature passed a tort reform law that supporters say will lead to lower auto insurance rates. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says the legislation changes the rules on how car accident lawsuits are handled in the state’s court system, but we will not see the impact until suits are settled or judges’ rule on cases…

Cut 5  (09)  “…legislature.”

The Department of Transportation has completed hurricane debris removal from damage last season. DOTD Spokesperson Rodney Mallet southwest parishes in the state required most of the debris removal with more than 2 million cubic yards of the just over 3 million cubic yards removed in the state.

Cut 8 (09) “…hurricane season.”

Hurricane season for 2021 begins in four weeks.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office has uncovered that the state workforce commission paid out six-point-two million dollars in state and federal unemployment insurance benefits to nearly 12-hundred prisoners last year. Data Analytics Manager for the state auditor, Chris Magee says L-W-C has told them the problem is with a vendor that multiple states use to track incarceration data…
cut 10 (09) “…COVID pandemic”
Magee says LWC plans on trying to recoup the unemployment benefits that went to prisoners.

The Louisiana transportation department says they’ve completed hurricane debris that was left on the side of state roadways from a historic season. DOTD spokesperson Rodney Mallett says they collected over three million cubic yards of debris…
cut 7 (12) “…professional fashion”

A survey shows that more than 60-percent of tourists say they are more likely to visit a place if they’ve already seen it on the silver or small screen. Brooke Thorington explains.

Cut 2 (31) “…I’m Brooke Thorington”