Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser laid out the Office of Tourism’s goals for 2019 in a speech at the Baton Rouge Press Club. Nungesser says he wants to build on international tourism.

And Nungesser says he wants to keep the relationship alive between New Orleans and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve. The past three years the popular TV program featured the Big Easy on New Year’s Eve, with a television audience of 20-30 million viewers. He says the contract to have the show in NOLA has reached its end and he wants it renewed.

“We could not afford to pay for this kind of advertising. A Grammys’ commercial cost two and a half million dollars for 30 seconds, more people watch this than watched the Grammys last year.”

President Donald Trump is in New Orleans today to speak at the American Farm Bureau Convention. Rice and soybean farmers say the tariffs and now the government shutdown have hurt their ability to make money off their crop. Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat said despite the tariff issues, he expects the crowd to welcome the President.

"Farmers love him. Middle America, the Heartland of America, overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump, so speaking to the farmers is smart. He'll probably talk about the tariffs are they are hurting some farmers," said Pinsonat.

This is Trump’s first visit to New Orleans since a 2016 campaign stop. Pinsonat said the President is popular in the Bayou State.

"In Louisiana, Donald Trump got more votes than the last governor's race, both candidates combined in the runoff, so he's extremely popular in Louisiana as he is throughout the deep south," said Pinsonat.

Pinsonat said to expect plenty of media attention on the Big Easy.

"New Orleans will get a lot of attention with his speech being in New Orleans. PLus whatever else he decides to do, so yeah, it's great for New Orleans, and great for Louisiana," said Pinsonat.

A female Shreveport Police officer is dead after being shot multiple times outside of a home last night around 8:30 as she was on her way to start her shift. The officer was identified as Chateri Payne, who had graduated from the police academy in November. Police Chief Ben Raymond says the murder of an officer is a catastrophic event to a law enforcement agency.

“The reason they signed up to be police officers is still there. As a matter of fact, this is a moment of mourning but it is also a moment to remind us that there are bad people in the world.”

Georgia-Pacific will be laying off at least 650 workers in March from its Port Hudson paper facility, in a major blow to the North Baton Rouge economy. Baton Rouge Senator Regina Barrow says it’s a huge loss, and a drastic shock to a community that relied on those union jobs to provide a good quality of life. 

Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome says the city will activate a Rapid Response employment program to help displaced workers find new employment.

Barrow says with more and more people going digital, and sending correspondence through email and text, the need for traditional paper that the facility specialized in has diminished.

“Certainly it is a shock, and hearing the reason why I can understand it, as it relates to the lack of need and demand for paper products, copy paper, white paper.”

Barrow says the closure should reemphasize the need for additional resources being allocated to programs that help prepare workers for the new, digital economy.

“I believe that we need to be making sure that we are preparing our young people to be able to take on those digital electronic jobs so that when those positions become available, they are in a position to take them.”

Two Bossier City women are dead after an overnight double homicide shooting. Public Information Officer Traci Landry says officer’s arrived to a tragic scene after getting an 8:30 PM call from a neighbor who heard gunshots.

“They located two unresponsive females inside the complex. They were pronounced deceased by the Bossier City fire department from apparent gunshot wounds.”

22-year-old Shandrell and 40-year-old Maeisha Simoneaux are believed to have been murdered by the father of Shandrell’s two kids, 22-year-old Fred Jackson, who has been arrested. Landry says it didn’t take long to apprehend the alleged murderer.

“He was quickly located in Shreveport by members of the US Marshall’s service task force and brought into our location for questioning and interviewing.”

Landry says enough evidence was collected to charge Jackson with 1^st Degree Murder. Landry says Jackson and Simoneaux’s two children were in the apartment at the time of the shooting, and have been turned over to a responsible party.

“The department of child services were also on scene. The children were taken into custody into a safe area and before the end of the evening they were turned over to family members.”

Jackson has been booked into the Bossier City Jail on a 7.5 million dollar bail.

President Donald Trump will visit New Orleans on Monday, so he can speak at the American Farm Bureau Convention. Louisiana Farm Bureau President Ronnie Anderson is glad to see the President will be at their centennial convention.

“With the problems with the trade negotiations, the border wall, labor, and everything else going on right now it’s an ideal time for him to address the farmers of this country.” 

Rice and soybean farmers say the tariffs and now the government shutdown has hurt their ability to make money off their crop. There’s also concern among producers about whether documented workers living in Mexico can return for the growing season. Anderson says farmers are eager to hear from the president.

“Explaining some of the things that are going on and hopefully an idea of when these negotiations will be wrapped up and some of the other issues that are causing us problems right here.”

The state has completed the purchase of a 515-acre tract of land to resettle the Isle De Jean Charles community that will lose their homes due to coastal erosion. The 11.7 million dollar land purchase outside of Schriever is the first step in relocation.

The island in south Terrebonne Parish has lost 98 percent of its landmass since 1955 and is at major risk of flooding. While the new site is in development, Forbes says inhabitants of the island have been offered rental assistance to find interim housing.

“We have got almost 20 families who have decided to take the rental assistance and live off the island while we are getting the project done.”

Forbes says the planning and construction of the homes and community will emphasize and maintain the unique culture created by the mostly Native American inhabitants of the quickly disappearing island.

“We know that it has to be an economically viable community, it has to be safe for them, and it has to be affordable for them so there will be commercial development on the highway frontage.”

The site was selected after an extensive search and environmental impact study and was overwhelmingly supported by its future residents. The initiative is being funded by the feds in a first of its kind re-location project.

An Acadiana restauranteur and chef has died following a plane crash while on a hunting trip in California. Lionel Robin is fondly remembered in his community and his food crawfish etouffee was once featured on the Food Network. Henderson Mayor Sherbin Collette said he has known Robin is whole life.

“He married one of my cousins. He was a great, great man. You couldn’t get a better person than that. Anybody that went to him for help, if possible, he’d help them,” said Collette.

Robin had owned and operated Robin’s Restaurant in Hersonville for about four decades but had recently been working as the hospitality chef for Tabasco Pepper Sauce. Collette said Robin had a passion for hunting.

“We talked a lot about his hunts in California. He’d bring pictures, and he’d kill ducks over there. He had a very good friend over there and he’d go hunting with him just about every year. It’s something he wouldn’t miss,” said Collette.

Collette said Robin was a happy guy and his crawfish etouffee was so popular, he canned the dish and it was distributed around the country.

“It’s not often you see this guy without a smile. He was that kind of a person. The restaurant, when he had it open, was one of the top three restaurants in St. Martin Parish. The food was fantastic,” said Collette.

Robin was 70 years old.

After a 2015 GOP gubernatorial blood bath that saw the ascendance of The South’s only Democratic governor, Louisiana Republican operative Scott Wilfong, on Talk Louisiana, said the party is taking a hard look in 2019 at throwing their weight behind just one candidate before the October open primary. Wilfong says the party will be discussing that question, and soon.

“We’re meeting in two weeks actually, we’ve already got a plan to look ahead and settle on one candidate ultimately.”

Louisiana operates a “jungle” primary where candidates from all parties are pitted against one and other, with the top two making the run-off. GOP state leaders have requested closed primaries where each party sends their winning candidate to a general election, but Wilfong says that’s yet to materialize.

“Unfortunately the legislature will not give us the closed primaries that we have been asking for, so we are going to try to do what we can as a party to winnow the field down to one so that we will be united behind that one candidate.”

Wilfong says potential candidates will be given an opportunity to build support and compete for the Louisiana GOP’s backing, and he hopes that once a frontrunner becomes clear, the other competitors will bow out gracefully.

“I know that the party wants to give both candidates an opportunity to make their case to the voters, but at some point we would like to see one of them get out.”

The only two Republicans in the race so far are Baton Rouge businessman Eddie Rispone, and Congressman Ralph Abraham.

Educators are keeping their finger on the pulse of sports betting in Louisiana after Governor John Bel Edwards says he’s open to dedicating any revenue from the additional gaming toward doing better to prepare children for kindergarten. Edwards said if the state really wants to make a difference in the lives of children, more needs to be done about early childhood education.

“If we are serious about education in Louisiana, this is just something we are going to have to do. We cannot wait until kindergarten any longer,” said Edwards.

While he expects the gains to be modest, Edwards said the sports betting is also an important aspect in making sure the state doesn’t see a decline in gaming revenue.

“I believe we will be less competitive to sister states such as Mississippi and gaming revenue will actually decrease, and I do not think that’s in our best interest,” said Edwards.

Edwards said at this point, the legislator has commissioned a study on sports betting to inform their decision moving forward.

“There are many different ways that sports betting can be undertaken, and different states have different models, but we are trying to figure out what works for Louisiana,” said Edwards.

Congressman Garret Graves supports pending legal action against several federal agencies for refusing to distribute RESTORE funds to families who fall into the “duplication of benefits” loophole after the 2016 floods.

“Rather than going through a full judicial proceeding that could potentially take months or even years, we are looking at a dec action which should have a much faster path through the court.”

The suit could potentially free up almost a quarter billion dollars in grants for 2016 flood victims.

Graves puts the blame on a group that’s opposed the regulatory change from the beginning because he says they erroneously fear it would result in flood victims getting paid by both the SBA and HUD.

“There are federal bureaucrats from different agencies including FEMA, HUD, and the office of management budget that were fighting us tooth and nail throughout this entire process.”