Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, plans to introduce a bill to use some of the proceeds from the new River Road casino resort to help out higher education in East Baton Rouge Parish. Foil’s bill will dedicate some of the revenue generated by the Pinnacle Entertainment casino to help LSU, Southern University, Baton Rouge Community College and Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The money that normally goes into the Support Education in Louisiana First Fund would go to an East Baton Rouge Parish Higher Education Improvement Fund. The SELF Fund gets 4.7% of a casino’s total gross gaming revenue, says Foil’s office. Foil says the plan would create a “means of funding our local higher education institutions without having to raise taxes or pass along the expenses to students.” The Pinnacle casino is set to open in early 2012. —Timothy Boone
Today’s question: Do you support dedicating revenue from the Pinnacle casino to East Baton Rouge Parish higher education?
