Interstate 10 will be widened from four to six lanes from Highland Road in Baton Rouge to Highway 73 in Ascension parish. Jeff Palermo has more on the announcement from Governor John Bel Edwards…

CUT 1 (31) “I’m Jeff Palermo”

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Solar panel customers in Louisiana are suing the state over a cap that was placed on the solar tax credit program. Halen Doughty has more…

Cut 2 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”

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More Louisianans than ever are now covered by health insurance, according to new census data. Emelie Gunn has more…

Cut 3 (31) “I’m Emelie Gunn”

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Governor John Bel Edwards announces I-10 will be widened from four to six lanes between Highland Road in Baton Rouge and Highway 73 in Ascension Parish. He says about 30-percent of the traffic on I-10 is moving commerce. But he says this project will benefit all drivers.

cut 4  (10)  “as well”

State Department of Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson says the project will cost more than 60-million dollars, but the state plans to use 40-million dollars in federal monies to get the project started.  Edwards says they are also looking at elevating parts of the interstate in this 7 mile stretch.

Cut 5  (10)  “this area”

Construction is expected to begin in about a year. Edwards says this is an important project because this section is one of the most congested parts of I-10, because the interstate goes from three lanes to two east of Highland.

Cut 6 (11) “this area”

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This week is National Drive Electric Week and the state department of natural resources would like motorists to learn about the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars.  Executive Director of Louisiana Clean Fuels program, Ann Shaneyfelt, says the range of some fully electric vehicles is up to 200 miles, which is similar to having a full tank of gas.

CUT 7 (08)  “every single morning” 2x

Shaneyfelt says the maintenance cost of electric vehicles is also much lower, and most public charging stations are free. She says there are also tax credits available for people who purchase electric and hybrid vehicles.

Cut 8 (08) “hundred dollars”

Shaneyfelt says Plugin Louisiana is one of their initiatives that encourages employers to install workplace charging for plug-in electric vehicles. LSU is the first Workplace Charging Challenge partner in Louisiana.  She says workplace charging is an appealing incentive for many employees that can help attract and retain a cutting-edge workforce, while also increasing consumer exposure of electric cars.

Cut 9 (08)  “their employees”

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Solar panel customers in Louisiana are suing the state over the cap that was placed on the solar tax credit program earlier this year. New Orleans lawyer Larry Centola says the state violated these people’s rights when they retroactively capped the program.

Cut 10 (11) “on em”

Centola says because the program is now first come first serve, people who bought their panels after the cap was passed could get a tax credit before those bought them before the cap, depending on who filed their taxes first. Centola says about 2-thousand homeowners installed their panels before the June 2015 vote on the cap.

cut 11 (09) “entitled to”

The tax credit program was capped at $25 million during the 2015 session. Centola says they will be seeking more than $10 million in the suit. He says he understands that the state was in a budget crunch, but…

cut 12 (10) “rules on them”

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New census data shows that more Louisianans than ever before are now covered by health insurance. Director of the Louisiana Budget Project Jan Moller says this is great news because for the longest time, Louisiana had one of the highest uninsured rates in the country.

Cut 13 (10) “percent” 3x

And Moller says this number doesn’t even include all the people who received coverage this summer through the expansion of Medicaid. He says nearly 212-thousand people in Louisiana signed up for coverage through the federal health insurance exchange program.

cut 14 (09)  “preventative care”

The new census data also found the overall median income rose 5-percent in 2015, but in the south, it only climbed three percent. Moller says we can’t be sure exactly why the southern part of the country is behind but the south in general has lower levels of educational attainment. He says even though it’s not as much, 3-percent is still an improvement.

Cut 15 (09) “class family”

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Mississippi State is getting ready to travel down to Baton Rouge for Saturday night’s SEC showdown with the 20th ranked LSU Tigers. Bulldogs Coach Dan Mullen says despite the Tigers opening week loss to Wisconsin, they have one of the most talented rosters in the country…

Cut 16  (19)  “defensive lineman”

Two years ago, Mississippi State came into Tiger Stadium and beat LSU 34-29 for their first win over the Tigers since 1992. The Bulldogs quarterback that day was Dak Prescott, who played an exceptional game. Mississippi State’s quarterback this Saturday will be Nick Fitzgerald who threw for 178 yards and rushed for 195 yards against South Carolina. Mullen on Fitzgerald and Prescott’s running styles

Cut 17 (18)  “of running”

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ULM and UL Lafayette open Sun Belt play this Saturday. The Warhawks are at Georgia Southern and Coach Matt Viator says the Eagles option offense is hard to simulate in practice…

Cut 18 (17) “of challenges”

The Cajuns host South Alabama. UL Lafayette Coach Mark Hudspeth likes how quarterback Anthony Jennings is developing in their system…

Cut 19 (19) “effective there”

South Alabama comes into Lafayette with a 1-1 record. They upset Mississippi State in the season opener and then lost to Georgia Southern last week. Hudspeth says his defense will have to pay attention to Gerald Everett…

Cut 20 (11) “outstanding players”

Prostitution allegations have surfaced against a candidate for US Senate, Republican Congressman Charles Boustany. Emelie Gunn has more…

CUT 1 (29) “I’m Emelie Gunn”

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The LSU AgCenter finds the total damage to agriculture from the August floods to be about 277-million dollars. Don Molino has more…

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American Cancer Society volunteers from Louisiana and many other states are in Washington, D.C, today rallying for more funding for cancer research. Director of the LSU Health Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, Augusto Ochoa, is among those volunteers. He says the advances in science over the past several decades have been phenomenal, and we are at a turning point in cancer research that just needs an additional push.

CUT 3 (12)  “chronic disease”

Ochoa and the other volunteers are asking Congress to increase funding for the National Cancer Institute by $680 million. He says, more than 9-thousad Louisiana residents die from cancer every year, and Louisiana has one of the highest rates of death by cancer in the country.

CUT 4 (07)  “a year”

According to the National Institute of Health, in 2015, almost $24 billion funded nearly 50-thousand cancer research grants over 25-hundred research facilities around the country. Ochoa says Louisiana receives some of those grants.

CUT 5 (11)  “cancer institute”

For more information on how to volunteer with the American Cancer Society, go to A-C-S-CAN-dot-org (acscan.org).

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The wife of Republican US Senate candidate Charles Boustany says prostitution allegations against her husband are “false attacks.” The accusations were raised in a new book that claims Boustany was involved with prostitutes who were killed in Jefferson Davis Parish. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says this has the potential to hurt Boustany’s campaign…

CUT 6 (08) “running that”

A statement from Boustany’s campaign says these allegations are completely false. The author of the book stands by what he wrote. Pinsonat says we saw something similar last year in the governor’s race with PACS attacking David Vitter’s prostitution scandal.

CUT 7 (11) “or not”

Pinsonat expects voters will give Boustany the benefit of the doubt as long as nothing more comes from this allegation. But he says only time will tell if attacks ads will come…

CUT 8 (08) “background noise”

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Louisiana State Police has arrested a Slidell man on 500 counts of Possession of Child Pornography. Trooper Dustin Dwight says 73-year-old Lanier Lively was sharing pornographic files involving juveniles over the internet. He says after executing a search warrant of his house, authorities found massive amounts of suspected child pornography…

CUT 9 (05) “of data.”

Dwight says the investigation into Lively began in April. He says Lively had nearly 32-thousand gigabytes of data….

cut 10 (10)  “amassed”

Dwight says State Police is constantly looking for criminals like Lively. He says this is a very appalling case.

Cut 11 (07) “to justice” 

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An Ascension parish man will spend the next five years behind bars after he beat his dog to death with a baseball bat. Jeff Dorson with the Humane Society of Louisiana says Jamari Jackson faced up to 10 years for the 2014 crime, but they are happy with the sentence he got.

cut 12 (08) “what he did”

Jackson reportedly claimed that he hit his dog because it was stuck in a barbed wire fence and he wanted to “relax” it to get it loose. Dorson says this is a good result for a horrible tragedy.

Cut 13 (07)  “in Louisiana”

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An updated analysis from the LSU AgCenter finds agriculture losses from the August flooding totaled nearly 277-million dollars. The original estimate was 110-million dollars in damage. AgCenter Economist Kurt Guidry says rice and soybeans were the two hardest hit crops.

cut 14 (11)  “the storm”

Guidry says row crop producers affected by the flooding are eligible for emergency loans. He says corn was the next hardest hit commodity taking a 44-million dollar hit and cotton is at 27-million dollars…

cut 15 (10) “crop”

Agriculture losses from both the March and August floods are a combined 367-million dollars. Guidry says livestock also suffered greatly during last month’s floods and the Farm Service agency has programs to help livestock producers.

cut 16 (09) “the storms”

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