MONROE, La. (KNOE) – The University of Louisiana Monroe held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the first installation of the Louisiana State Mesonet, an interconnected network of instrumented weather monitoring stations on Monday, October 15.

. The ceremony was held on the ULM campus at the mesonet site located adjacent to University Park on Bon Aire Drive. It featured special guests such as the Louisiana District 5 U.S. Representative, Julia Letlow, and Brad Bryant, Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Shreveport.

Congresswoman Julia Letlow secured $2 million dollars for the project through the Appropriations Act of 2023. The purpose of the Mesonet project is to fill coverage gaps across the state where there has been little weather data available.

“This day really isn’t about me; it’s about the incredible work that has culminated in something that is so incredibly inspiring, and I’m just proud to be a small part of it,” said U.S. Representative, Julia Letlow.

The Associate Director of the ULM School of Science and Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science, Dr. Todd Murphy acknowledged the growth that took place due to the hiring of Mesonet Manager Emily Newby and Mesonet Technician Dylan Hall, who have been instrumental in working with landowners across the state to secure mesonet sites.

The project is estimated to be complete by the end of 2025.

For information on Mesonet data visit mesonet.ulm.edu.

Copyright 2024 KNOE. All rights reserved.

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) -More hearings are expected on how the state managed the covid pandemic in 2020.  One of the big issues at the house committee is whether citizens need to be better informed on shots or medications allowed during an emergency.

Even after two days of hearings the House Committee on Homeland Security committee members feel more meetings are needed to evaluate how the state handled the covid pandemic in Louisiana.  

Some committee members want to assure that doctors feel free to speak and act independently without fear of it jeopardizing their livelihood.  

Representative Chuck Owens, R-Rosepine, says some doctors were afraid to appear before the committee in September.

“These people didn’t break any laws, they just did thing the Department of Health wasn’t recommending. Some of these private hospitals and the state were really going after these physicians. And one of them from Monroe, bob Calhoun’s testimony, he treated over four hundred covid patients and did not lose one,” said Owen.

Though he says no licenses were revoked, Owen says some doctors were fired from private hospitals for refusing to take the vaccine and refusing to wear masks.

He says another big concern is whether citizens gave informed consent for vaccines and some treatments.  

“The dirty secret is that these vaccines were rushed out. They were not appropriately tried or analyzed. They were still under emergency use authorization which has a monitor of its own as far as what’s supposed to be done. When you’re given an emergency use authorization you’re supposed to be given informed consent, and we didn’t do that on anyone in Louisiana,” said Owen. Owen says the committee also wants to look into how the pandemic affected schools and education,” said Owen.

He says there are many more questions they want answered even if they need to call back former health department employees from John Bel Edwards’ administration.

Owen says they also want to find out more information about those who died after getting a Covid shot.  He says they have a litany of questions.  No date has been set yet for the hearings.

Copyright 2024 KPLC. All rights reserved.

The Louisiana State Treasurer’s Office currently holds over $900 million worth of unclaimed funds for current and former Louisiana residents.

Louisiana’s Department of Treasury set a record this year by returning $70.6 million worth in unclaimed property to over 160,000 Louisiana residents.

One in six Louisiana residents are said to have unclaimed property.

How to find out if you have unclaimed property in Louisiana:

Unclaimed property is comprised of abandoned financial assets, such as account balances, outstanding checks and other financial instruments, that are held at corporations, financial institutions, life insurance companies and other various institutions.

Unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts, uncashed payroll checks, stock dividends and utility deposit refunds are common types of unclaimed property. Real Estate and vehicles are not considered unclaimed property.

In Louisiana, the average amount of a check issued from unclaimed property is $900, however, some parishes have more unclaimed property than others. To receive a check for unclaimed property, a claim must be filed on the official Louisiana Unclaimed Property website.

The first step to claiming property is to search for the property on Louisiana’s Unclaimed Property website, by entering a name, or name of a business, then one will be able to see search results and find properties. Once the property is found, continue to file a claim and begin the claiming process.

In the claiming process, select the relationship to each property and then enter required personal information. After submitting the claim, the claims office will send an email with further instruction. After completing the necessary steps, one can track the claim’s progress online.

How does Louisiana treasury unclaimed money work?

When checks remain un-cashed, or accounts go dormant, and companies are unable to contact the owner, the funds are transferred to the Treasurer’s Office for safekeeping.

The Treasurer’s Office acts as the vault for the state, holding lost funds until they are claimed by either the original owners, heirs or legal representatives. The Treasurer’s Office holds these funds until they are claimed, no matter the amount of time that has passed.

Each year, businesses render millions of dollars in unclaimed cash, stocks, bonds, securities and insurance proceeds to the Department of Treasury. These unclaimed property funds may be lost through the course of business, typically caused by a bad address. The state’s Department of Treasury is legally required to preserve funds in safekeeping, despite how long it may take for the rightful owner to come forward.

The institution holding potential unclaimed property will initiate contact with the owner and establish activity through online login, written correspondence, withdrawal, deposit or update to personal information. If activity is not produced, the assets are reported to the state of the owner’s last know address.

Laws regarding unclaimed property began in the U.S. as a consumer protection program. Now, these laws have evolved to protect not only the property owners, but their heirs and estates as well.

Once the state is given custody of property, and it enters the unclaimed property program, efforts to reach the property’s rightful recipient begin via mailings, social media, advertisements and local media coverage. Individuals can claim their property for themselves, their businesses or as an heir.

In 2018, the Department of Treasury partnered with the Louisiana Department of Revenue in order to pass legislation that allows the departments’ agencies to share databases. This allowed the Department of Treasury to increase the number of checks issued by nearly 500% and decreased the administrative cost of issuing each check by 80%.