The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s office arrests four including the ex-husband of a 54-year-old woman who has been missing sine early April in an apparent murder for hire plot. Detectives believe 64-year-old Hamid Ghassemi hired a man who worked for him, 33-year-old Daniel Richter of Walker and two other associates, to kill Tahereh Ghassemi. State Police Col Mike Edmonson says the confessions were chilling…:
CUT 9 (06) “no remorse”
Apparently the three suspects who shot and killed the woman split $10,000 paid to them by Hamid Ghassemi to kill his ex-wife. They are all being held without bond.

Governor Bobby Jindal announces the formation of a presidential exploratory committee to examine his chances at The White House. The committee also launched BobbyJindal.com seeking donations and supporters. On the web page Jindal says “we must fight to make sure the next generation is not the first generation to inherit fewer opportunities than their parents.

Flash Flood Watches and Warnings have been issued across north Louisiana as heavy rains have pounded the area throughout the morning. Cops say an 11-year-old drowned when his grandmother’s car got caught up in flood waters in Ruston. Jason Hansford with the National Weather Service in Shreveport says they’ve had reports in the Shreveport area of up to six inches of rain this morning…:
CUT 3 (07) “Bossier City areas”

May is Foster Care Month which is why the Department of Children and Family Services is making an extra push to recruit foster families. Scott Carwile reports…:
CUT 2 (31) “reporting”

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office says the body of a woman who’s been missing since early April has been found in St. Helena Parish and four people, including her ex husband, have been arrested in an apparent murder-for-hire plot. Investigators believe 54-year-old Tahera Ghassemi’s former husband, 64-year-old Hamid Ghassemi, paid three men $10,000 for the murder. Additional details are being released at this hour.

The Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee meets this morning to talk about the revenue generating bills sent to them from the House. Among items up for discussion are reductions in business tax benefits and a scaling back of film and solar tax credits. Jeremy Alford of La-Politics.com says the Senate will likely look at limiting those two programs further and putting a higher amount on the cigarette tax..:
CUT 14 (09) “entire answer”
The House passed 11 bills that would increase revenues by 615-million dollars.

The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission begins a statewide “Click It or Ticket” campaign today focusing on back seat passengers, pickup trucks, and low compliance areas. Eric Gill reports…:
CUT 1 (30) “reporting”

Governor Bobby Jindal announces W.R. Grace & Co. announced Advanced Refining Technologies will make a capital investment of $135 million dollars to build a residue hydro-processing catalyst production plant at the existing Grace manufacturing facility near Lake Charles. The company will retain 295 jobs and the project will create 30 new direct jobs.

May is Foster Care Month which is why the Department of Children and Family Services is making an extra push to recruit foster families…

cut 2 (31) “reporting”

State Police say a three vehicle crash on I-49 in Evangeline Parish killed a Covington couple. They say one car became disabled in the roadway after being struck by lightning. A wrecker truck following that car stopped in time to avoid a collision, but a third car ran into the wrecker. The driver of that car, 22-year-old Austin Jones, and a passenger, 24-year-old Destinee Jones, died as a result of their injuries. A 1-year-old in their car was restrained in a child safety seat and suffered minor injuries.

Today begins a statewide “Click It or Ticket” campaign focusing on back seat passengers, pickup trucks, and low compliance areas. Louisiana Highway Safety Commission Executive Director Lt. Col. John LeBlanc says they provide extra funding for law enforcement to increase patrols through the campaign…

cut 6 (09) “rate goes up”

Their 2014 seat belt survey showed 84-percent of Louisiana motorists buckled up, the highest rate to date.

17-year-old Koryn Hawthorne of Abbeville will compete in the finals of NBC’s “The Voice”. Hawthorne had to battle another contestant to advance and a Twitter vote moved her into tonight’s finals. Hawthorne’s principal at Lighthouse Christian School, Tiffany Spraggins says their students were showing teachers how to set up Twitter accounts so they could all vote for #TeamKoryn…

cut 11 (09) “fun experience”

The finals are tonight at seven.

Today, the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee will take up the revenue generating bills that were approved by the House. La-politics-dot-com publisher Jeremy Alford says with less than a month to go in the session, there’s a lot of work ahead for lawmakers…

cut 15 (11) “totals”

He says while lawmakers are busy looking at ways to raise revenue, they also have to find a tax offset to satisfy Governor Bobby Jindal’s concerns about increased taxes.

This is Foster Care Month and the Department of Children and Family Services is recruiting foster families. DCFS Policy Advisor Karen Hebert says children do best in families and by having foster homes in all areas of the state, children in foster care can stay close to home and in the same school…

cut 9 (10) “get to remain”

They’re especially looking for homes who can take larger sibling groups or children with special needs.

Officials in Tangipahoa Parish say a tornado that touched down Sunday in Tickfaw injured three people and damaged several homes. The National Weather Service says the twister had windspeeds of up to 110-miles-per-hour. They say three homes were destroyed or had major damage. Two people received what is described as minor injuries. A third injured person was transported to a local hospital. It’s reported that more than two dozen people were displaced because of the tornado.

17-year-old Koryn Hawthorne of Abbeville performs tonight in the finals of NBC’s “The Voice”. Michelle Southern reports…

cut 3 (27) “reporting”

Today, the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee will discuss the revenue generating bills approved by the House. The tax bills up for debate would reduce tax breaks businesses currently enjoy and scale back the film tax and solar tax credit programs. Jeremy Alford, with la-politics-dot-com, says the Senate will likely look at limiting those two programs further, plus raising the cigarette tax to a higher amount than agreed upon by the House….

cut 14 (09) “entire answer”

The lower chamber passed 11 bills that would increase revenues by 615-million dollars.

17-year-old Koryn Hawthorne of Abbeville performs tonight in the finals of NBC’s “The Voice”. Her principal at Lighthouse Christian School, Tiffany Spraggins, says the excitement on campus ranges from the youngest in class to the oldest adult…

cut 10 (10) “that night”

The show airs at 7pm.

The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission begins a statewide “Click It or Ticket” campaign today that runs through the end of the month. Executive Director Lt. Col. John LeBlanc says this campaign is designed, in part to raise the compliance rate for back seat passengers. He says since the state expanded its seat belt law to cover back seat passengers in 2009, the compliance rate has doubled to 55-percent…

cut 5 (06) “about that law”

He says you should expect to see extra law enforcement patrols throughout the campaign.

May is Foster Care Month and the Department of Children and Family Services is recruiting foster families. DCFS Policy Advisor Karen Hebert says this month, more than 4300 children will be served by Louisiana’s foster care system and just 2,000 certified foster homes are available. She says that’s a huge deficit for their agency…

cut 8 (09) “older children”

To find out more about becoming a foster parent, visit www-dot-dcfs-dot-la-dot-gov-slash-foster.

The Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee will discuss today the revenue generating bills that were approved by the House. The lower chamber passed 11 bills that would increase revenues by 615-million dollars. Jeremy Alford, with la-politics-dot-com, says Senate leadership wants to raise even more revenue to offset a one-point-six billion dollar budget gap…

Cut 13 (10) “control over”

He says with less than a month to go in the session, there’s a lot of work ahead for lawmakers.

The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission announces a statewide “Click It or Ticket” campaign focusing on back seat passengers, pickup trucks, and low compliance areas. Executive Director Lt. Col. John LeBlanc says this is a statewide campaign, but they will focus efforts in areas of the state where seat belt compliance is the lowest…

cut 4 (05) “central Louisiana”

Seat belt compliance was lowest in the Alexandria area, 71-percent, followed by Monroe with a 75-percent seat belt use rate.

The Department of Children and Family Services is recruiting Foster Families, especially those who can take larger sibling groups or children with special needs. DCFS Policy Advisor Karen Hebert says because of unsafe living conditions at home, they regularly have children who need a new place to stay. She says children enter foster care almost daily…

cut 7 (09) “scheduling”

May is Foster Care Month which is why an extra push to recruit families is made. To find out more about becoming a foster parent, visit www-dot-dcfs-dot-la-dot-gov-slash-foster.

According to a recent statewide survey, almost two-thirds of voters (many of those-parents and graduates) are in favor of the TOPS scholarship program to remain fully funded. This, despite lawmakers efforts to put a cap on the awards. That’s a problem, according to Bernie Pinsonat with Southern Media and Opinion Research…
CUT 4 (04) Q: ‘more money’
Which leaves lawmakers with a bit of a dilemma, given the state budget crisis.

It’s that termite time of year once again, and you may have already started to see them swarming around streetlights in the evening. There’s no shortage of pest control companies out there who want your business for termite control, but LSU AgCenter entomologist Dr. Dennis Ring says get at lease three companies to come out and diagram the plan…
CUT 14 (09) Q: ‘once you get termites.’
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Hollywood South takes center stage in this summer’s blockbuster movie season, starting this weekend with opening of Pitch Perfect 2 filmed in Baton Rouge. Also scheduled is “American Ultra,” “Selfless” and “The Fantastic Four.” And according to Louisiana Entertainment Executive Director Chris Stelly, that’s not all…
CUT 7 (10) Q: “New Orleans”
Stelly adds, even with adjustments to the film tax credits being considered by the legislature to help ease the state budget deficit, he does not believe this would be a deterent to film makers.
Governor Bobby Jindal is in Iowa today, speaking at the National Action Summit and the Iowa GOP dinner tonight. Yesterday Jindal told Iowa Press that the decision by former President George W. Bush to invade Iraq was – quote – absolutely right.