TRANSCRIPT
You’re listening to Red River Radio News.
Good morning, I’m Jeff Ferrell.
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INTRO:
Today marks the first day lawmakers can prefile bills for the 90th Texas Legislature, which opens in January.
Houston Public Media’s Andrew Schneider has a preview of what to expect from the first legislature in a generation where Republicans won’t control both chambers:
SOT:
“Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa and Lieutenant Governor-elect Vikki Goodwin campaigned on changes to laws on education and T-H-C, as well as data center regulation. Former Democratic state Representative Sherri Greenberg is an assistant dean at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. “Watch to see…what members have as their priorities…how many bills will be filed on data centers, on THC, on public education, higher education, border and immigration, perhaps housing affordability, healthcare.” Greenberg says it’s too early to speculate what the priorities of the first Democratic House Speaker in a quarter century will be. Houston-area Representative Senfronia Thompson stated Friday that she has lined up enough support to clinch that office.”
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INTRO:
Louisiana was one of the few states in the country where Republicans won a national seat in last Tuesday's election.
But Senator-elect Julia Letlow’s win was by a much smaller margin than analysts had expected.
While everyone had the contest as “safe Republican,” Letlow only beat Democrat Jamie Davis by two points.
Louisiana Republican Party Executive Director Cory Dennis says that trend cannot continue:
SOT:
“Conservative voters got a bit of a wake-up call on Tuesday. I think our voters are going to see that, and if they didn’t vote in the general, I think they’re going to be more motivated to vote now to keep a seat in another.”
TAG:
Two House seats in Louisiana, Congressional Districts 5 & 6, went to runoffs which had been drawn specifically to favor Republicans.
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INTRO:
In Arkansas, Democratic Party Chair Colonel Marcus Jones blamed gerrymandering for the election result in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
In 2022, the GOP split Pulaski County with its 64% of Democratic-leaning voters into three separate congressional districts.
The Associated Press called the race for incumbent Republican French Hill late last week over Chris Jones, with 50.9% of the vote:
SOT:
“Republican gerrymandering is the only reason he did not win that race. Uh, I think that’s pretty clear. Um, the, the margin and the difference would have been a complete, completely different outcome if we had not had that 2nd District gerrymandered in the way that it was, and how it broke up along racial lines, um, in Pulaski County.”
TAG:
While Arkansas Republicans won all 4 U.S. House races, along with the races for governor and U.S. Senator, Democrats picked-up 10 seats in the Arkansas House, ending the GOP supermajority.
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INTRO:
The 2026 Louisiana Startup Report finds the state’s new businesses are optimistic about their futures.
Tulane [University] and the state's Economic Innovation Program surveyed 143 state startups and small businesses to gauge the business landscape in the state.
Rob Lalka with Tulane says businesses are committed to Louisiana:
SOT:
“So often we hear the story of ‘The brains are running away from Louisiana,’ and we worry about states like Texas or otherwise pulling our greatest founders away; but the ones that we are talking to are committed to Louisiana.”
TAG:
Two-thirds of respondents reported plans to add employees in the next year.
Limited financing was the most frequently cited barrier to growth.
<**** FORECAST ****>
The National Weather Service in Shreveport is calling for:
- Areas of fog before 9:00 a.m. Otherwise, partly sunny today, with a high near 72.
- Tomorrow: Patchy fog before 7am. Then, mostly sunny, with a high near 75.
- Wednesday, Veterans Day, more sun and warmer with a high reaching 77.
- Cooler temperatures move in to end the work week, with 70 Thursday, and 64 Friday.
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