BY DEANNA B. NARVESON | Staff writer Tuition program: Louisiana will pay a contractor up to $11 million over three years to manage a new program championed by Gov. Jeff Landry that will give parents grants to pay for private school. The proposed three-year contract would award the New York-based firm Primary Class Inc. as much as $11.3 million to run the state’s new “education savings account” program, which the Legislature created this year with Landry’s urging. The program will offer families state-funded grants to pay for private school tuition, tutoring, computers or other education-related expenses. Read the full story. State Supreme Court: Longtime First Circuit Court of Appeal judge John Michael Guidry is set to become the newest Louisiana Supreme Court justice after the state court disqualified his two opponents from the race this week. In a pair of orders released late Tuesday, state Supreme Court judges voted 5-2 to reverse part of a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal decision to keep Shreveport appellate judge Marcus Hunter on the ballot. Justices also upheld the portion of the Fourth Circuit’s decision to remove Leslie Chambers from the race. Read the full story. Drug bust: Around 181 pounds of fentanyl were seized by Baton Rouge police in an ongoing investigation related to another large drug seizure and arrest last week. Last week, police arrested Cendy Keophimanh, 42, on multiple drug and firearm counts when investigators seized a trove of illegal substances. BRPD's Special Investigations Unit conducted an additional related search since then, which has led to the largest seizure of fentanyl in Louisiana history, according to authorities. Read the full story. |