News for Monday 040813

By Dave Graichen

 

As the 2013 Louisiana State Legislature convenes today, Governor Jindal  is expected to make his strongest case for lawmakers to get behind his  tax reform plan. The Governor wants to eliminate personal and corporate  income taxes, while raising state sales tax by two and a quarter  percent. He says the plan will be good for Louisiana. The tax swap plan, which Mr. Jindal says will be revenue neutral, is his  top priority item for the session. Louisiana Public Broadcasting will broadcast Gov. Bobby Jindal's opening address to the Legislature on Monday. Starting at 1pm.

 

A prison guard at the maximum-security  federal prison in Pollock is recovering at an Alexandria hospital after he was beaten by inmates. Officials say other officers, armed with pepper spray,  came to Cory Barron's aid, but not before the young officer suffered serious injuries. The attack occurred during a security check.

 

Two  Baton  Rouge  men  have been charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly  working  together   to   fraudulently   obtain   at  least one-point-two  million dollars in film tax credits that they  should not have received.  In  a  bill  of  information  the  men have been identified  as Daniel Garcia, who owned and operated D-M-G  Holdings and Louisiana  Film  Finishers  and  Matthew  Keith,  who  owned and operated  Dirty  District  Entertainment.  Louisiana  taxpayers  are listed as the victims of the alleged conspiracy.

 

The  consulting firm, Ernst and Young, has released report that says it would be a bad idea if Louisiana started taxing services that are a part  of a business' regular expense, such as accounting, computer programming  and advertising. Taxing those type of services are part of Governor Jindal's  tax  reform  plan  that would eliminate income

taxes in exchange for higher sales taxes.

 

The Federal Aviation Administration  is  delaying closure of 149 air traffic control towers across the U.S. until June. The closures were dictated  by the federal budget sequestration  earlier  this  year. Shreveport Downtown  Airport  is  the only Louisiana tower slated to close.  It  WAS  all  set  to shut down Sunday,  then  came  the

reprieve.

 

The ongoing civil trial in New Orleans that will determine liability for  2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill begins an important chapter today. BP will  begin presenting its defense in Judge Carl Barbier's courtroom. It's up to Judge Barbier to determine how much BP, Transocean and  Halliburton are to blame for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion. The fines could exceed 20-billion dollars. A BP lawyer told Judge Barbier they will call their last witness to the stand sometime between April 18th and the 23rd.

 

A  new report shows Louisiana has seen a dramatic  increase  in  the number  of  businesses owned by women. According to the third annual State of Women-Owned  Business  report,  there's  been an 84-percent increase in the number of women-owned companies in  Louisiana  since 1997. That's the fourth largest increase in the country.

 

Louisiana  State  Police  have  been  recognized  as having the best uniforms  out of all state agencies in the nation. That's  according to the North  American  Association  of  Uniform  Manufacturers  and Distributors  Best  Dressed  Public  Safety Award. This is the second time L-S-P has received this recognition.

 

A 29-year-old Duson man is facing a vehicular  homicide charge after he was allegedly driving drunk when involved in  a   fatal  crash in Lafayette  on  Thursday  night of last week. State Police Trooper Stephen Hammons says Gerard Richard ran a stop-sign on Highway 724 and West Congress Street, striking another vehicle. A passenger in  Richard's  vehicle,  21-year-old Harold Arnold of Duson, died from his injuries sustained in the crash.

 

A Crowley man  was  killed  in a shootout with Acadia Parish Sheriff deputies early Saturday morning. State Police say two deputies responded to a domestic disturbance complaint at a home south of Crowley. When the deputies arrived, they found  41-year-old  James  A Trahan armed with a shotgun. Investigators say Trahan fired his gun,  striking  a deputy  in  the  leg, the deputies returned fire killing Trahan. The deputy shot underwent surgery and is recovering.

 

Tulane University has won a big grant for the study of possible new  treatments for depression. Molecular Biology and Neuroscience professor  Benjamin Hall says typical anti-depressant medicines can be ineffective  for many patients. His research is looking into the drug ketamine, which  produces fast results, but with troubling side effects.

 

Sports..

 

The second ranked LSU Baseball team put together a dominating  performance over the weekend. The Tigers easily won all three games to  sweep 7th ranked Kentucky. The final score on Sunday was 11-to-4. Coach  Paul Mainieri told the LSU Sports Radio Network's he's proud of his  team, which has a record of 30-and-2.