At the starting line: Candidates who plan to run for the March municipal elections that will be held across 17 parishes can start signing up for their races. The qualifying period for the March 28 elections begins today and continues through Friday at 4:30 p.m. Candidates register at their local clerk of court’s office. Municipal elections will be held in Ascension, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Caddo, Claiborne, Concordia, Grant, Iberia, Iberville, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, Natchitoches, Plaquemines, St. Tammany, Union and Webster parishes. The races include elections for police chiefs, mayors, justices of the peace and town council positions, among others. Runoff elections will be held, as needed, on May 2.
In the right direction: The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission says traffic fatalities dropped by 29% between 2007 and 2013. Lt. Col. John LeBlanc, the commission’s executive director, says the state had 993 traffic fatalities in 2007, compared with 703 in 2013. LeBlanc says the decrease stems from tougher impaired driving and seat belt laws, more robust law enforcement and public information campaigns on the causes of traffic accidents. Roadway fatalities fell 2.9% between 2012 and 2013, when 651 died. Bicycle and pedestrian deaths also dropped between 2012 and 2013—by 46% and 20%, respectively. The commission has more details.
The take: The Louisiana Lottery Corp. says transfers to state coffers from lottery sales were at about $75.7 million halfway through the current fiscal year. That’s about $1 million more than the corporation had budgeted, but about 5.5% less than year-to-date transfers at this point last fiscal year. The corporation says it netted revenue of about $112 million in the second quarter and transferred about $39 million of it to the state. By law, 35% of lottery proceeds are transferred to the state treasury and dedicated to K-12 public education. The corporation has more details.
