Hundreds rally at GM's Shreveport plant in support of federal bailoutDetroit's Big Three automakers, begging Congress for a $25 billion bailout to help their teetering companies, told lawmakers today that without $25 billion in loans from the government, millions of people will lose their jobs as their demise ripples across the economy. In Shreveport, hundreds of former and current General Motors workers -- both management and rank-and-file -- rallied outside the gates of the truck assembly plant, calling for the federal bailout. The rally began after the lone remaining shift at the plant ended. GM earlier this year cut the evening shift, idling about hundreds of workers. "The cost of allowing this industry to fail would be catastrophic," assistant plant manager Mike Pearton said. "This level of economic devastation far outweighs the $25 billion our industry needs to bridge this current period. "
"The economy is bad. Desperate times call for desperate measures," autoworker Alex Santana said. "And brothers and sist
Public colleges ask for budget increaseBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- State budget crafters are warning of tight times next year. But Louisiana's public colleges are asking for a funding boost of $116 million. That's the amount of money Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen says is needed to cover the costs of reworking state college funding to be more performance-based. Clausen is pushing a change that would reward schools for performance, like paying incentives for campuses that graduate more students and that receive more outside research grants. The funding formula changes were sought by Gov. Bobby Jindal and state lawmakers and will have to be approved by both if they'll be put in place. Clausen says those changes cost more money, on top of the $2. 9 billion appropriated for the public college systems in the current year. Jindal and lawmakers will consider Clausen's request as part of their work to craft a budget for the year that begins July 1. .
Twenty children from Alamo Ministries in protective custodyTwenty children associated with the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries were taken into protective custody in Miller County, Ark. , today as part of an investigation into allegations they were abused and neglected, authorities said. The children were taken into state custody as hearings were being conducted on whether six other girls seized from the compound in September should remain under state protection or be returned to their parents. Three boys seized were taken from the courthouse, where they were with their parents for those hearings. Eighteen of the children today were found in two vans that were stopped by Arkansas State Police in Miller County. Department of Human Services spokeswoman Julie Munsell said she didn't know what the children were doing in the van. Munsell didn't have details of gender and ages of the children, although all were 17 or younger. An order by Circuit Judge Joe Griffin authorizing the children to be seized said there were allegations of neglect and ph
La. lawmakers discuss budget cutting ideasBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Lawmakers on the House budget committee said they want to shrink government employee salary growth and end program duplications as they started today looking at how to balance next year's budget, which faces a more than $1 billion shortfall. Representative Jim Fannin of Jonesboro says it's their responsibility to look at the budget in a way that has as little impact to services as possible. Fannin is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Fiscal analysts have said it would cost $1. 3 billion more than the state has to spend in the new budget year that begins July 1 to continue running all programs, keep up with the costs of inflation and pay for new obligations like increased retirement and salary costs. The estimate is called the "continuation budget. " Fiscal analysts told the committee that the continuation budget hasn't been funded the last five out of six years because it's too expensive. In many cases, agencies have been required to abs
Twenty children from Alamo Ministries in protective custodyTwenty children associated with the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries were taken into protective custody in Miller County, Ark. , today as part of an investigation into allegations they were abused and neglected, authorities said. The children were taken into state custody as hearings were being conducted on whether six other girls seized from the compound in September should remain under state protection or be returned to their parents. Three boys seized were taken from the courthouse, where they were with their parents for those hearings. Eighteen of the children today were found in two vans that were stopped by Arkansas State Police in Miller County. Department of Human Services spokeswoman Julie Munsell said she didn't know what the children were doing in the van. Munsell didn't have details of gender and ages of the children, although all were 17 or younger. An order by Circuit Judge Joe Griffin authorizing the children to be seized said there were allegations of neglect and ph
Lifesaving crossing arms coming to east Texas townThe small east Texas town of Joaquin will finally get a safer railroad crossing. The Texas Department of Transportation and Union Pacific will close the crossing that has claimed four lives. The most recent was Valentine's Day 2002 when three teenage boys were killed. The railroad is going to install lights and crossing arms at a crossing a few hundred yards away. For the families of the victims, this comes several years too late, but they're still glad to see it come. The railroad says the new crossing arms will be installed by the end of the year. The crossing where the fatalities happened will be closed by the first of next year. From Chris Redford.
Twenty children from Alamo Ministries in protective custodyTwenty children associated with the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries were taken into protective custody in Miller County, Ark. , today as part of an investigation into allegations they were abused and neglected, authorities said. The children were taken into state custody as hearings were being conducted on whether six other girls seized from the compound in September should remain under state protection or be returned to their parents. Three boys seized were taken from the courthouse, where they were with their parents for those hearings. Eighteen of the children today were found in two vans that were stopped by Arkansas State Police in Miller County. Department of Human Services spokeswoman Julie Munsell said she didn't know what the children were doing in the van. Munsell didn't have details of gender and ages of the children, although all were 17 or younger. An order by Circuit Judge Joe Griffin authorizing the children to be seized said there were allegations of neglect and ph
Audit attacks rate cuts La. gave CitizensBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- A state audit says the Louisiana Department of Insurance may have broken the law in 2006 by cutting rates for the state's insurer of last resort to levels competitive with private insurance companies. Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot also says the insurance department failed to comply with state audit laws by refusing to provide needed information to auditors. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says his office followed all applicable laws. The audit released Monday was the second in two weeks to criticize Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. State law requires its rates to be at least 10 percent above the highest rate in a given area. .
