TRANSCRIPT
You’re listening to Red River Radio News.
Good morning, I’m Jeff Ferrell.
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INTRO:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a statewide disaster proclamation over record-high diesel prices.
Texas Public Radio’s Marian Navarro has more:
SOT:
“Abbott said soaring diesel prices has put Texas' agricultural and freight industries at risk. The 30-day declaration waives dyed-diesel restrictions in the state ... and raises the allowable weight for fuel, agricultural, and timber loads. Dyed diesel is off-road fuel marked red that is typically barred on public roadways. The declaration also suspends Texas Low Emission Diesel rules to the extent authorized by the Environmental Protection Agency. Abbott also requested that the EPA waive federal ultra-low sulfur diesel requirements, which would allow more fuel at the pumps and could reduce prices.”
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INTRO:
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is defending the state’s growing data center industry.
That’s despite growing concerns about the impact of data centers on water supplies and electricity bills.
The governor made the remarks during his state of the State luncheon this week.
Several data centers are already under construction in Louisiana, with more planned.
Landry says the projects are important to the state’s economic future:
SOT:
“We have a choice, like I said: We can smother it in fear, or we can set these basic rules; and we can get on watching opportunity grow here in this state. I, for one, am not going to allow fear to write your future.”
TAG:
Critics say the data centers will have serious environmental impacts.
It has also raised concerns about the state's use of non-disclosure agreements surrounding the projects – with little to no citizen involvement.
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INTRO:
In Arkansas, business leaders will likely tell you that economic development can come in many shapes and sizes on the smallest to the grandest of scales.
For the last 19-years, one such success story has quietly worked on one of the pillars of economic growth – a trained and educated workforce.
In 2007, the Murphy Oil Corporation created The El Dorado Promise.
All students who went through the entire K-12 school system can receive 100% of college tuition and fees paid.
Students who came to El Dorado in a later grade are eligible for scholarship funds, based on a sliding scale.
For students who arrived in 8th grade, for example, the Promise Scholarship covers 70% of tuition and fees.
Karen Hicks, with the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce, says nearly 5,000 students have utilized the scholarship program:
SOT:
“We’re opening the doors to children to be able to pursue college education that never would have been given that option, ever, because of the cost.”
TAG:
Hicks says scholarship recipients have attended 207 different colleges and universities in 39 states over the past 19 years.
And Hicks says in recent years, the program has included 2-year institutions, as well:
SOT:
“So we can take a graduating senior, walk them through the pipeline to a workforce, start them two years after graduation in an industry that’s making a livable wage, above a livable wage.”
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Hicks says with El Dorado about to celebrate the 20th year of The Promise in 2027… they’re getting the word out again as a way to remind local residents of the program and also potential future residents.
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The National Weather Service in Shreveport is calling for:
- One more hot, sunny, and dry day in the forecast before changes arrive, with a high near 95.
- Tomorrow: the high may reach 93, and we’ll see some sun, but the chance of showers arrives by the afternoon.
- Friday: those chances of showers rise to 60% with a high only climbing to 87, then 82 Saturday.
- Winds will be increasing out of the south today, gusting to around 25 mph at times.
- Combined with low relative humidity and dry fuels, will make for favorable conditions for fire starts and spreads.
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