WRKF News

A new statewide gun rights advocacy group gathered about 3,000 signatures in support of its legislation to protect the Second Amendment this weekend. State Representative Jeff Thompson, founder of Defend Louisiana, outlined the group’s initiatives at the Baton Rouge Press Club Monday afternoon.

Defend Louisiana has filed two bills for the upcoming session. One would protect the identities of concealed and carry permit holders. Another would nullify future federal laws that infringe on gun rights. 

Changes may be coming for a state program aimed at keeping kids at risk of delinquency out of the corrections system. Governor Bobby Jindal proposed tighter more “common sense” regulations for the Families in Need of Service Program, or FINS, at a press conference Friday morning. 

The governor built off of a legislative commission’s study of FINS that found children were being moved through the system without enough attention.

Children are referred to FINS for being ungovernable, for bullying or substance use, among other reasons. There’s worry that kids referred to FINS for non-criminal offenses are propelled into the delinquent system, and then more likely to enter the state’s prisons – the opposite of the program’s goal.

Governor Bobby Jindal held an impromptu press conference at a ceremony at the Governor's Mansion honoring the longest-married couples in Louisiana on Valentine’s Day.

When reporters asked about the polls released by the Louisiana Medical Society and Public Policy Polling, which showed approval of the governor below 50 percent, Jindal shrugged off the numbers.

Pink plastic chicken feet were tossed from several floats at the 33rd Spanish Town parade. The unusual throws were an homage to a board member of the Society for the Preservation of Lagniappe in Louisiana who knew how to be creative with limited resources.

Applications for vouchers are available for the upcoming school year. The statewide program is continuing into its second year.

A district court judge ruled in November that the voucher program could not be funded with the same pool of money that supports public education in Louisiana.

President Barack Obama touched on the oil and gas industry in his State of the Union. Some of these initiatives may benefit Louisiana’s economy.

First, the President suggested loosening regulation. “My administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits,” Obama said. “That’s got to be a part of an all-of-the-above plan.” 

At the end of January, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association voted to separate high school football playoffs into two divisions: one for select admission schools – such as private and parochial schools – and another for non-select public schools. 

Baton Rouge Catholic High School Head Football Coach Dale Weiner is a graduate of Baton Rouge High and has been coaching high school football in Louisiana for 38 years. Although most of his career has been spent at private and parochial schools, he was an assistant coach for two years at a public school.

Weiner said he never conceived the association would take a step like this.

“This kind of came out of left field for me and so, you know, I was a little shocked at the outcome and am disappointed in it," said Weiner.

Weiner says the move essentially changes what LHSAA is all about.

In a national poll released Thursday, Quinnipiac University found no significant voter opposition to background checks for all gun buyers.

It didn’t take long for commentator J. Cullens to pass the background check when he bought a gun in December.

But after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut, he’s not sure if buying a firearm in Louisiana should be so easy.

Almost $83 million in cuts to healthcare programs and services went into effect Friday to shore up a mid-year deficit in the state budget. These are separate from a previous round of cuts made in July.

The latest round of reductions includes cuts to services for at-risk children and low-income moms, as well as a one percent drop in the rate paid to hospitals and physicians for non-primary Medicaid services. 

State Sen. Dan Claitor wants to add tax rebates to the list of matters that can only be considered in odd-numbered years, when the constitution mandates lawmakers take up fiscal issues. Generally, even-numbered years are reserved for non-fiscal deliberations. The constitutional amendment would require two-thirds approval in the legislature and a vote of the people.

Tax exclusions, exemptions, deductions, credits, and refunds are already limited to fiscal years.