The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus believes white supremacy is behind legislation seeking to protecting confederate monuments. Halen Doughty has more…
Cut 1 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”
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A measure to increase the gas tax by 17 cents passes out of the House Ways and Means Committee. Emelie Gunn has more…
Cut 2 (31) “I’m Emelie Gunn”
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The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus is offended over legislation aimed at protecting the state’s confederate monuments that has been approved by the House. Chairman and New Orleans Representative Joseph Bouie says this bill is a Trojan horse designed to supersede the authority of local municipalities who have voted to remove such statues.
Cut 3 (08) “white supremacy”
Bouie notes some people testified in committee that the South is rising again. He is disappointed his colleagues would support such a divisive piece of legislation. He called it a failure of legislative leadership and says lawmakers have more important issues facing them.
Cut 4 (12) “our citizens”
Bouie says there has to be some healing after the 65 to 31 vote. The amended measure still has to win approval in the Upper Chamber. The Black Caucus is calling on senators and the governor not to pass this bill.
Cut 5 (08) “and legislator”
But Shreveport Representative Thomas Carmody says his bill would allow the public to decide which monuments to keep and which ones to remove. He says the proposal is all about allowing voters to have some input on the matter.
Cut 6 (11) “people decide”
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An Allergist with LSU Health Sciences Center says in all his years as a doctor, this is the worst allergy season he’s ever seen. Dr. Sanjay Kamboj (San-jay Kam-bozh) says there has been a 10 to 20-percent increase in the number of patients coming in with allergies that were once able to be treated with over the counter medications.
Cut 7 (07) “the office”
Kamboj says with virtually no winter, there were only two days in the season where there was no pollen count.
Cut 8 (08) “late January”
Kamboj advises people who get the symptoms of a runny nose or a post nasal drip to cover up when going outside by wearing a hat or a mask. He also recommends washing your face immediately when coming back inside to remove the pollen.
Cut 9 (10) “the nose”
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A Slidell man is facing a first-degree murder charge after he allegedly beat his 7-week-old son to death. St. Tammany Sheriff Randy Smith says deputies responded to a call about an infant who was not breathing last Wednesday. He says after seeing the severe head injuries on Karter Smith, deputies questioned his father, 25-year-old Anthony Dearmas.
Cut 10 (09) “the ground”
Smith says the infant was transported to a local hospital, where doctors later determined the 7-week-old was brain dead. Dearmas was initially charged with cruelty to a juvenile, but that was later upgraded to a charge of first degree murder.
Cut 11 (08) “to live, folks”
The parish coroner says Karter sustained 7 fractures to his skull and had bleeding inside his brain. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, and the manner of death is child abuse homicide. Smith says Dearmas told detectives why he killed his child.
Cut 12 (07) “sad excuse”
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A proposal to increase the state’s gasoline tax by 17 cents won approval from the House Ways and Means committee. State Representative Steve Carter says his bill would help fund a new Interstate 10 Mississippi River Bridge and improved roads across the state. Carter says the tax hike will bring in an additional 510-million dollars a year.
Cut 13 (10) “unaddressed”
The bill passed on a 9 to 7 vote. Department of Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson also spoke out in support of the tax hike and says the state’s current gas tax has lost 57-percent of its value since it was instated decades ago. He says Louisiana spends less on our roads than we do on LSU’s football program.
Cut 14 (09) “the country”
But Lake Charles Representative Stephen Dwight spoke out in opposition. He says if this hike is signed into law, surrounding states will have a significantly lower gas tax than Louisiana.
Cut 15 (09) “a jump”
Eunice Representative Phillip Devillier says a 17 cent increase would make Louisiana have the 9th highest gasoline tax in the country. He says residents in his district would gladly pay a little bit more in taxes if they actually saw construction on roadways.
Cut 16 (08) “have now ”
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