LUY-Development

Category: Regional News

  • Governor Edwards on library controversy: bills filed are a solution seeking a problem

    Governor Edwards on library controversy: bills filed are a solution seeking a problem

    Baton Rouge –   A third state lawmaker says he will file legislation to make public libraries more accountable for children possibly accessing adult materials. Mandeville Rep. Paul Hollis, Carencro Rep. Julie Emerson and Turkey Creek Senator Heather Cloud all plan to tackle the issue with bills and says it’s to protect the innocence of children. During his Monthly “Ask the Governor” radio show, Governor John Bel Edwards said it’s a hot issue for Republicans and conservatives, but not a real problem for Louisiana…:

    “I have never had anyone in Louisiana tell me there is a problem with how our libraries work.”

    Bills filed would give local government power to remove library control board members, if need be. Another bill would set up restricted, adults-only lending cards. Edwards says there is no known case of a child accessing adult materials in a Louisiana public library, but it’s an issue many candidates are making important…:

    “This is an election year. You typically see some things that are meant to drive politics, not policy…and I think this is in that regard, because I don’t know a problem that needs to be corrected out there.”

    The governor says this year is a two-month “fiscal only” session, wherein lawmakers are only allowed to file 5 non-fiscal bills. He feels lawmakers are jumping on a conservative “bandwagon” with the issue, when the state has other real problems to address…:

    “If it’s being done elsewhere, you know, by God we’re going to do it here in Louisiana too, and I just find that unfortunate. We should make better use of our time.”

    As for his potential veto of any such bills passed, Edwards says he’ll wait to see what they actually say and do before deciding.

  • First bill filed to move to legal recreational marijuana in Louisiana

    First bill filed to move to legal recreational marijuana in Louisiana

    Baton Rouge / A New Orleans lawmaker files the first in a package of bills meant to make recreational marijuana use legal in Louisiana. District 99 Democrat Rep. Candace Newell (pronounced “new-ELL”) says her House Bill 17 applies to state regulation of cultivating cannabis for recreational use…:

    ”We want to have a handle on who’s growing it, so we know where it’s coming from…and you’re just not willy-nilly growing it in your backyard.”

    Newell’s bill would authorize the Department of Agriculture to create & issue up to ten cannabis production facility licenses, require applicants to undergo criminal background checks and establish fees for production permits. She says other states are seeing revenue windfalls after legalizing recreational cannabis…:

    “Just as alcohol. You have a license to sell alcohol. If you don’t have a license you can’t sell it. The same will be with recreational marijuana…if I can get this bill passed.”

    HB12 is one of a three-bill package Newell says she will file…:

    “I’ve separated the three bills. It’s legalization, regulation (in HB17) and taxation. So each bill does its own thing.”

    Louisiana has already legalized medicinal cannabis, and has expanded the program to allow more treatment options, smokable cannabis flowers (instead of cannabis edibles and oils) and to allow more cannabis “pharmacies” to operate. Newell says this is the next logical step for Louisiana.

  • Mississippi House OKs court with unelected judges in Jackson

    Mississippi House OKs court with unelected judges in Jackson

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Mississippi House on Tuesday passed a bill to create a new court district in part of the capital city of Jackson with judges who would be appointed rather than elected.

    Black Democrats pushed back vociferously against House Bill 1020 during a nearly five-hour debate, arguing the measure unconstitutionally strips voting rights from many residents in the majority-Black city.

    “Don’t create a city within the city,” Democratic Rep. Bryant Clark of Pickens implored the House.

    House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Tray Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, sponsored the bill. He told the House that a new court system would help deal with a backlog of criminal cases, including a large number of homicides.

    “Jackson is the capital city,” Lamar said. “It belongs to all Mississippi.”

    The bill passed 76-38, largely along party lines. It was held for the possibility of more debate in the next several days, but opponents are unlikely to be able block it from eventually moving to the Senate for more work.

    The bill would expand the boundaries of the existing Capitol Complex Improvement District, which is patrolled by Capitol Police officers who work for the state Department of Public Safety. The district also receives some tax money for street repairs.

    The district currently encompasses parts of Jackson that have state government buildings, including much of downtown and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The proposed expansion includes busy shopping and entertainment areas along Interstate 55 in north Jackson.

    If people are charged with felony crimes within the current boundaries of the district, those cases are currently handled in Hinds County Circuit Court. The bill would establish a separate court system with two judges appointed by the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court.

    The appointed judges would not be required to live in Jackson or Hinds County.

    “I believe the chief justice should have the authority to appoint quality, experienced legal minds,” Lamar said, adding in response to questions, “The best person for that job may very well come from Hinds County” or from another part of the state.

    The Mississippi attorney general would appoint prosecutors to handle criminal cases in the new court district.

    Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a Democrat who opposes the bill, watched the debate from one of the House galleries.

    Democratic Rep. Chris Bell of Jackson said during the debate that Lamar and other bill supporters had not asked Jackson lawmakers for their input on the proposal, as would normally be done. Bell said legislators should not try to change a community without having input from people living there.

    “We are not incompetent. Our judges are not incompetent. Our mayor is not incompetent,” Bell said.

    More than 80% of Jackson residents are Black and about 25% of residents live in poverty.

    Democratic Rep. Zakiya Summers of Jackson said the proposed district would include predominantly white areas of the city. Summers, who represents a majority-Black House district that would be partially inside the Capitol Complex district, said her constituents don’t want a new court system with appointed judges.

    Democratic Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr. of Jackson said the expanded Capitol Complex district would encompass the city’s more affluent areas.

    Lamar said he did not know about land values, noting about 53% of residents in the proposed district are Black.

  • Special Session on property insurance crisis starts today. Will incentive fund plan work?

    Special Session on property insurance crisis starts today. Will incentive fund plan work?

    State lawmakers convene a special session today, aimed at alleviating the state’s current property insurance crisis. Since the hurricane hits of 2020 and ’21, more than 20 private property insurers have either gone insolvent or left then state; forcing tens of thousands of property owners to the state’s last-resort insurer Louisiana Citizens. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says lawmakers will consider creating a $45-million incentive fund to help attract new insurers to write policies here…:

    “Thousands of them are in danger of losing their homes if we don’t expedite this immediate fix.”

    Donelon says a similar incentive worked after Katrina & Rita caused companies to exit the state, and he believes it will work again…but lawmakers must act quickly…:

    “This is an emergency fix that I think will help many, many folks, and stabilize – if not lower the cost of – our insurance marketplace,” he says.

    State legislators are of different minds on Donelon’s plan and how well it might work. Jonesboro Representative Jack McFarland (R) says the post-Katrina incentive fund did work, but brought the state only five new private insurers and two of those have already left. He says that begs questions…:

    “Of those five – the three that are remaining – how much business are they actually writing in south Louisiana; where the risk is much higher on the coastline for hurricane damage?”  

    But Marrero Representative Kyle Green (D) says he supports Donelon’s incentive package…:

    “If he believes that it will help shore up the market, I’m for it and I’ll be voting for it.”

    The insurance incentive plan is the sole item on the special session agenda. The session opens today and ends Sunday.

  • Dow Chemical and the Last Mile Education Fund offering grants to help trade school students finish their education

    Dow Chemical and the Last Mile Education Fund offering grants to help trade school students finish their education

    Baton Rouge –  The Last Mile Education Fund and Dow Chemical Company are collaborating to assist low-income students who are nearing completion of their skilled trades program with grants, so they are more likely to get certified. Dow spokesperson Stacey Gautreaux said all too often students face financial burdens that keep them from finishing school.

    “You can apply for a grant through the Last Mile Fund. Dow has put this money at River Parishes Community College. So, any students that are accessing that particular college can apply,” said Gautreaux.

    It’s a pilot program and Gautreaux said they want to make sure it’s helping those who need it most with grants up to $5,000.

    “We’ve opened it up to young people who live between our Plaquemine’s facility, right there that straddles the line between Iberville and West Baton Rouge Parishes, all the way down to our facility in St. Charles Parish,” said Gautreaux.

    The grants are also available for their Sabine Parish site at community colleges in Beaumont, Texas.

    The grant amounts will differ depending on the need. Gautreaux said at this point they don’t know how much funding the program will require.

    “And with it being a pilot we want to see how many people we can help. But we felt like $200,000 in seed money and we can track it really close to see what is the need out there. Especially in these manufacturing skill trades,” said Gautreaux.

    For more information click here.

  • Niagara Bottling investing up to $160 million to build Tangipahoa Parish manufacturing facility

    Niagara Bottling investing up to $160 million to build Tangipahoa Parish manufacturing facility

    Baton Rouge –  Niagara Bottling announced its plans to invest $160 million in a state-of-the-art production facility near Hammond. The company headquartered in Diamond Bar California operates more than 40 production facilities with over 7,000 employees worldwide. Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller says this is a great company to work for.

    “Niagara is a privately held company I mean it’s a family, to start 70 full-time jobs, career jobs, in a clean really good operation,” said Miller.

    The new facility will have highly automated technology used to increase production efficiency, allowing the company to meet high demands. Miller says the new development will be advanced.

    “Unbelievable facility the systems and filtering of the water it’s all done in one building all the way down to robot forklifts moving the pallets of water its an incredible operation and were really excited,” said Miller.

    The company expects to begin construction on the 500,000-square-foot facility 6 months into the year. Miller says work on the facility has begun.

    “They’ve begun some of the construction, they’re building their own well to drill the water and that’s already begun. I believe their expectation is to be producing in the first quarter of 2024, if I’m not mistaken,” said Miller

  • Legislation to make father’s responsible for half of pregnancy related expenses filed for upcoming session

    Legislation to make father’s responsible for half of pregnancy related expenses filed for upcoming session

    Baton Rouge –  Abita Springs Republican Representative Larry Frieman believes fathers should pay half for out-of-pocket pregnancy-related expenses. After talking with family law attorneys, he learned that there is no law to help pregnant women recover those expenses, so he’s filed legislation to change that.

    “The bill was drafted out of fundamental fairness. I just felt it was unfair for the woman to have to bear that expense and the father gets off scot-free,” said Frieman.

    And after the state’s abortion ban went into effect last year, Frieman said it’s even more crucial to have such a law.

    “I actually thought it was even more important to go down this road in light of Roe v. Wade being overturned, I said this really brings it to the forefront that this needs to be fixed,” said Frieman

    The bill only focuses on medical expenses during pregnancy, because Frieman said there are already laws in existence for child support. The legislation requires proof of paternity.

    “I made it very clear that the mother has to prove paternity before she can file a petition to that money,” said Frieman.

    The legislature goes back into session on April 10th. To read House Bill 5 click here.

  • Mississippi increasing pace of adoptions from foster care

    Mississippi increasing pace of adoptions from foster care

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s foster care system is on pace for more adoptions during the current budget year than the previous one.

    Department of Child Protection Services Commissioner Andrea Sanders told lawmakers Tuesday that judges finalized adoption of 644 foster children during the year that ended June 30, while 600 adoptions have happened since the current year began July 1.

    Some children are in foster care for a short time before returning to their original families, while others remain in the state program for years, Sanders said. Several legal hurdles must be cleared before a foster child can be adopted, and that can be a “logistical, legal nightmare,” she said.

    “It is pretty amazing that kids get adopted in this state through the foster care system,” said Sanders, who has led the department since November 2020.

    Mississippi has 3,647 children in foster care, and the department is providing services for another 3,622 children who are living with their own families, she said.

    Sanders — who has been a social worker and earned a law degree — said Child Protection Services employees have been trying to move a backlog of cases to get children into permanent homes. The pandemic slowed some adoptions.

    “I’m not interested in pointing fingers about that, but we just started really taking it down as granular as each child and looking at why they’re stuck in the system and starting to move them through,” Sanders told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    She said about 25% of the adoptions this budget year have taken place in the past two months. The department has been looking at creating parity between what it pays for foster care and what it pays for adoption subsidies.

    Child advocates sued Mississippi in March 2004 over problems in the state’s foster care system, including large caseloads for social workers. In January 2008, the plaintiffs and the state reached a settlement agreement that included limits on caseloads and set standards for staff training. A federal judge appointed monitors to ensure the state met goals required by the settlement.

    Sanders said she will be in New York next week to meet with plaintiffs and monitors to discuss the next steps the department must take to meet demands of the lawsuit.

    “I believe that I have demonstrated consistently to the plaintiffs’ attorneys that we are headed in the right trajectory,” she said. “But I will tell you like I told them: You do not change a system this size that has this many multiple components overnight.”

    The Department of Child Protection Services has worked within its existing budget to increase the beginning salary for caseworkers to about $37,000, Sanders said. She said the job requires a college degree. While the new salary remains below the regional market average, Sanders said she hopes the increase will help the department attract and retain employees.

  • DCFS: extra pandemic-related SNAP benefits run out next month. Be prepared.

    DCFS: extra pandemic-related SNAP benefits run out next month. Be prepared.

    Baton Rouge –  Emergency additional food stamp benefits for the COVID pandemic are about to end. The USDA says February will be the final month. DCFS administers the extra benefits for Louisiana. Assistant Secretary Shavana Howard says the benefits can run from an extra $95 a month for food, to over $300 extra; depending on how many are in the home. She says they have been paid out since March 2020, when the pandemic took hold…

    “We have been issuing these extra SNAP benefits for over three years, and we realize that for some people it’s almost become their new norm. And so we try to give as much advance notice as we can.”

    The federal government made the additional funds available after the pandemic put folks on lockdown and temporarily closed places of employment. Howard says they want to let people know the added benefits are ending February 28th…

    “We have issued over $2-billion in emergency allotments, so we’ve really been working diligently to make sure that we are trying to care of the households.”

    Normal SNAP benefit amounts return March 1st; meaning a family of three would receive about $335-a-month for groceries. Howard says this may not be a good time for many families to have a reduction in monthly SNAP…

    “Inflation has caused a great increase in the amount of money that it takes to purchase food now. Some households still haven’t returned to work…”

    She says persons who find they cannot meet their family needs should contact DCFS and talk with a case worker about a case adjustment.

  • Tensas Water Boil Order

    Tensas Water Boil Order

    Tensas Water District Association Boil Order

    The Tensas Water District Association is currently in violation of the treatment technique requirements for turbidity as set forth in the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (40 CFR Part 141). We routinely monitor your water for turbidity (cloudiness). This tells us whether we are effectively filtering the water supply. On January 1, 2005, EPA’s Long Term 1 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT1ESWTR) became effective for our water supply. The LT1ESWTR requires that our treated water never exceed a maximum allowable turbidity limit of 1.499 NTUs any time.

    On December 23, 2022, the Tensas Water District Association was in violation of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (40 CFR Part 141). The violation occurred because the combined filter effluent turbidity exceeded 5 NTU. The combined filter effluent turbidity was 7.83 NTU on December 23, 2022. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) set drinking water standards and has determined that the presence of microbiological contaminants is a health concern at certain levels of exposure. Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms. Turbidity has no health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of diseasecausing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea and associated headaches. These symptoms, however, are not just associated with disease-causing organisms in drinking water, but also may be caused by a number of factors other than your drinking water. LDH has set enforceable requirements for treating drinking water to reduce the risk of these adverse health effects. Treatment such as filtering and disinfecting the water removes or destroys microbiological contaminants. Drinking water which is treated to meet LDH requirements is associated with little to none of this risk and should be considered safe.

    DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST. Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using or use bottled water. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water. People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-(800)-426-4791.

    Action has been taken to prevent this violation from recurring. The extreme temperatures caused some of our chemical lines to freeze up even though they were insulated resulting in treatment issues.

    For more information, please contact Tensas Water at 318-766-3285. Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

    This notice is being sent to you by Tensas Water District Association, Mike Thompson, President. PWS