 BY DEANNA B. NARVESON | Staff writer Mayoral candidates: With less than three weeks remaining until Baton Rouge will select its mayor-president for the four years, the two runoff candidates met Tuesday night for an in-studio debate hosted by WAFB. Democrat Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and her challenger, Republican Sid Edwards, both sold their visions for East Baton Rouge Parish and answered questions on tough issues relating to each candidate. Read the full rundown of how it went.
Baton Rouge's rundown jail: Through September of this year, the city-parish has paid $2.45 million — or about $9,000 per day — to house it's prison's inmates in other parishes. At the current pace, this will total nearly $3.3 million this year. Why? Because the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison can no longer can humanely house the number of people it was built to contain, especially its youngest group of residents, according to Sheriff Sid Gautreaux. The problem is not an easy fix. Read the full story.
Sales tax solution: State lawmakers continue to weigh various options to retool Louisiana's tax system, including raising the sales tax, which is already higher than any other state in the country. Read more. | 
