Here we go again: With time running out before hundreds of millions in cuts take hold, Louisiana lawmakers take one more stab at raising money for next year’s budget, returning today for their fourth legislative session this year. Gov. John Bel Edwards is asking lawmakers to renew part of a temporary 1% state sales tax whose expiration is the main driver of next year’s budget hole. The latest special session is expected to cost about $50,000 to $60,000 a day. A handful of lawmakers have said they intend to donate their daily pay from this latest session to charity. Read the full story.
Shell game: A 65-year-old New Jersey man has been charged with violating federal and state law by illegally trading Louisiana box turtles between March 2016 and June 2017 in Terrebonne Parish. U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans says Robert Glenn Hennessey, of Bayonne, New Jersey, faces four counts of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits trading in wildlife that has been illegally captured, possessed, bought or sold. Hennessey was charged Friday and if convicted, faces up to five years in prison per count Read the full story.
Emission control: German authorities arrested the chief executive of Volkswagen’s Audi division, Rupert Stadler, as part of a probe into the manipulation of emissions controls today. Stadler’s detainment is the latest action resulting from investigations into the emissions scandal that has rocked Volkswagen since 2015 and led to billions in fines, the arrest of executives and the indictment in the U.S. of its former CEO. Read the full story.
