Seven months from today, Louisiana voters will decide if Governor John Bel Edwards should have another four years in office. Brooke Thorington has more…
Cut 1 (31) “I’m Brooke Thorington”
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Activists want the state to overturn a 1999 law that prohibits local governments from setting their own minimum wage. Matt Doyle has the story.
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The gubernatorial primary is seven months from today. Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards is facing two G-O-P challengers, Congressman Ralph Abraham and Baton Rouge businessman Eddie Rispone. UL-Lafayette Political Science Professor Pearson Cross says it’s hard to say who will be in a likely run-off with Edwards
There is still time for another Republican to get in the race. Could Congressman Steve Scalise change his mind and throw his hat into the ring. UL Lafayette Political Science Professor Pearson Cross says that’s unlikely…
In 2015, Edwards defeated Republican US Senator David Vitter. Cross says Edwards might face a more difficult challenge this time around, because Vitter was a wounded candidate trying to shake his former ties to prostitution…
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Governor John Bel Edwards spoke to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education this morning to urge them to include a one-thousand dollar teacher pay raise as part of their public education funding request to the legislature. Edwards says teaching is an underappreciated profession and he wants to change that…
Edwards has made teacher pay raises his number one priority in the upcoming legislative session, because teacher salaries have fallen below the Southern Regional Average. He says the low pay is forcing teachers out of the profession…
Edwards is also proposing a 500-dollar increase in pay for school support workers and if re-elected the governor pledges to push for additional raises…
BESE is expected to officially endorse tomorrow the governor’s plan for a teacher pay hike.
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State lawmakers heard from supporters of the death penalty today, including Attorney General Jeff Landry and victims’ families, during a meeting of the House Criminal Justice Committee. Louisiana has not carried out an execution since 2010. Landry says the state is denying justice to victims’ families.
Landry said he’d be happy to work with lawmakers in an effort to restart executions.
Wayne Guzzardo’s daughter, was gunned down in a robbery in 1995 and blames Governor Edwards for being excuse-oriented as to why Louisiana can’t execute inmates, while other states saw a total of 22 executions last year.
Guzzardo expressed his disappointment in Governor Edwards handling of the death penalty, citing Edwards had run on a platform of transparency and justice.
Cut 11 (11) “…it’s ridiculous.”
New Orleans Representative John Bagneris sits on the House Criminal Justice Committee and says a life sentence is still a harsh punishment.
Cut 12 (11) “…of a punishment”
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Community activists are calling on lawmakers to pass a law allowing local governments the right to set their own minimum wages. Step Up Louisiana member Pamela Bourgeois says such a move would empower local municipalities to raise the 7.25 minimum, and reinvigorate their economies by putting more money in a larger number of peoples hands.
A 1999 law bars local municipalities from setting pay and benefit standards, instead leaving that up to the state.
Nationwide states and cities have been raising their minimum wages, including neighboring Arkansas, which will land at 11 dollars an hour by 2021. Cities like Seattle and New York have adopted 15 an hour minimums, and Bourgeois says with the cost of living rising ever higher, 15 is a reasonable place to start in the Bayou State.
California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have adopted a 15 dollar an hour state minimum wage that will be phased in over time.
Governor John Bel Edwards, who’s up for re-election this year, has backed a two year rise to 8.50 an hour, but Bourgeois says 8.50 an hour is still a poverty level wage, and with 20 percent of the state below the poverty line, cities should be granted the right to push past that if they chose.