Holiday weekends are times for beefed-up drunk driving enforcement — this weekend is no exception. Andrew Greenstein has more.
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After a confusing FAFSA rollout, a new report from PAR finds fewer Louisiana high school seniors are applying for college financial aid this year. Mel Bridges has the details.
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A new PAR report shows around 60% of Louisiana high school seniors are applying for college financial aid this year, a 10% drop from last year. Plus, the report says, 92% of public school districts saw fewer seniors completing FAFSA by June 28 compared to last year. Steven Procopio with PAR…
Procopio says the federal government’s rollout of the new FAFSA form was confusing at best and glitchy at worst, and says it was likely a major factor in the national drop in applications. Louisiana still ranks second nationally for FAFSA completions, but Procopio says he’s worried that rank could slip.
PAR expects completed FAFSA applications in Louisiana will decline even further after BESE repealed a policy that made students apply for federal student aid to graduate. Procopio says he hopes this year’s decline shows lawmakers that students need help getting financial aid.
For more information on the FAFSA, you can visit the Federal Student Aid Office’s website at studentaid.gov.
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Another holiday weekend is upon us; and thus, law enforcement will be out in full force cracking down on drunk driving. Greg Fischer with the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission says the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign is in effect through Monday.
Fischer says this is a federally-funded program that allows departments to use the money as they wish to combat drunk driving.
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Other departments could use the money for additional patrols or other needs. Fischer says there is something that people can do to protect themselves should they encounter a drunk driver.
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In 2022, the last year that statistics are available, 490 people across the country were killed in crashes over the Labor Day holiday weekend; almost 40-percent of those involved a drunk driver.
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Mother Nature could be putting a damper on the holiday weekend in South Louisiana. Chanele Stigger is a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.
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The flip side of the coin is when rain is not falling, it will actually be quite pleasant to be outside.
Stigger says the rain is something that we can all use, given the weather we’ve had recently.
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A tropical disturbance off the coast of Texas is helping to fuel the rain Louisiana will experience this weekend. The National Hurricane Center is giving the disturbance a low chance of developing over the next seven days.
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LSU coaches and players have said the defense is better over last year, we’ll get an idea of how improved when the Tigers take on USC on Sunday night. Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley is considered one of the best play callers in college football and LSU coach Brian Kelly says Riley will keep you on your toes….
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Kelly says USC runs an air-raid offense, which usually means a lot of passing. Riley says running the football is also important to their success…
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LSU is looking for its first win in a season opener since 2019. Kelly’s Tigers have lost the last two seasons to Florida State. He says the team’s preparation for this opener has been superb…
Kick off is Sunday night at 6:30.