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New Berwick mayor, council sworn in

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 8:08pm

Berwick's new town council and mayor, elected Nov. 6, took their oaths of office Wednesday night at the Berwick Civic Complex. They're shown here posing with a cake and cookie display. They are, from left: council members Raymond Price and Colleen Askew, Mayor Duval Arthur, and council members Kevin Hebert, Lud Henry and James Richard. Arthur had served on the town council, and Richard left his post as police chief to join the council.

The Daily Review/Bill Decker

Louisiana Spotlight: Lawmakers leaving before current term ends

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:35am

By MELINDA DESLATTE
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE— The Louisiana Legislature has been shedding members at a high rate, with 15 percent of lawmakers leaving their elected positions without completing their terms in the last three years.
Blame term limits or the heavy workload across a record number of legislative sessions. Blame partisanship or the general lack of enjoyment about having to repeatedly debate budget cuts and taxes. Whatever the reason, the reshuffling of House and Senate members continues, and it’s causing repeated special elections to keep the jobs filled.
Twenty-two state lawmakers have left office since the term began in January 2016, two senators and 20 members of the House. Nearly one out of every five House members from the start of the term is no longer in the chamber, a higher turnover rate than any term going back four decades, according to data provided by the House.
Some lawmakers left for jobs at government agencies. Others won elections to switch to different offices they preferred. One lawmaker died fewer than two months into the term.
When then-Rep. Chris Broadwater announced his resignation in December 2017 from the seat representing Tangipahoa Parish, the Republican said the job was taking too much time away from his wife and four daughters.
“I cannot continue to allow (my wife) to handle a disproportionate share with regard to our family,” Broadwater wrote.
Louisiana has had 10 legislative sessions in three years — three regularly-scheduled annual sessions and seven special sessions called by Gov. John Bel Edwards to deal with state finances. Those sessions often involved contentious, high-stress debates over taxes and budget cuts in which conservative House Republican leaders and the Democratic governor repeatedly clashed.
Rob Shadoin, a moderate Republican from Ruston, described working through repeated sessions marked by gridlock and animosity: “It feels like I’m aging in dog years. For every year I’m down here, it feels like seven.”
Shadoin left the House in October to become Department of Wildlife and Fisheries deputy counsel in the Edwards administration.
Edwards, a former House member himself, has blamed an increasing partisan atmosphere for some exits.
“I have an awful lot of legislators telling me that it’s not as fun to be there anymore. They don’t feel like they’re being as productive as they should be,” Edwards said on his radio show.
The vacancies were filled across 10 election cycles during the three-year period, according to the Louisiana secretary of state’s office. Five election dates were created specifically to fill empty legislative seats, an expense that otherwise wouldn’t have been needed.
Many lawmakers left for other elected jobs.
Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Benton was elected to Congress. Democratic Rep. Helena Moreno won a New Orleans City Council position, and Republican Rep. Tom Willmott was elected to the Kenner City Council. GOP Rep. Greg Cromer became mayor of Slidell, while Democratic Rep. Mike Danahay became mayor of Sulphur. Republican Rep. John Schroder resigned to run for state treasurer, a job he won.
Other lawmakers, like Shadoin, resigned for appointed positions.
Democratic Rep. Jack Montoucet of Crowley took a job as Edwards’ wildlife and fisheries secretary. Democratic Rep. Gene Reynolds of Minden left to oversee the state parks system. Republican Rep. Bryan Adams of Gretna left for the fire marshal’s office. Republican Rep. Joe Lopinto resigned to work for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and later was elected sheriff.
Democratic Sen. Troy Brown resigned in February 2017 rather than face likely expulsion after he was involved in two domestic violence incidents. Democratic Rep. Ed Price was then elected to fill that Senate seat.
New vacancies also opened after the November and December elections.
Republican Bob Hensgens, of Abbeville, won a special election shifting him from the House to the Senate. He takes over the Senate seat vacated by Jonathan Perry, who moved to an appeals court judgeship. Reps. Marcus Hunter of Monroe and Chris Hazel of Pineville won judgeships; Reps. Kenny Havard of West Feliciana Parish and Major Thibaut of Pointe Coupee Parish won parish president jobs; and Rep. Jeff Hall was elected Alexandria mayor.
Seven House seats are now open, with elections planned in February and March for brief terms. The regular statewide election for all 144 legislative seats happens in October.
Melinda Deslatte has covered Louisiana politics for The Associated Press since 2000. Follow her at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte

Jury verdict rule among new laws

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:33am

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Convictions of serious felony crimes in Louisiana will require unanimous jury verdicts, “granny cams” could show up in nursing home rooms, and government agencies must have anti-sexual harassment policies, as two dozen state laws take effect Tuesday.
Boat registration fees are growing by $9. The student identification cards issued by Louisiana’s public four-year universities must contain the information needed to be a valid voter ID card. And breast cancer screening mandates for health insurance companies are changing.
Lawmakers approved most of the provisions during their 2018 regular session. The student ID measure won passage in 2016, with a lingering start date to give campuses time to ready for the requirement. The unanimous jury law won overwhelming voter support in November after lawmakers placed the constitutional change on the ballot.

Unanimous jury verdicts
The most high-profile change hitting the books with the start of January ends Louisiana’s Jim Crow-era law that allowed split juries to convict people of serious felony crimes. All jury verdicts for felony offenses committed Tuesday and thereafter will have to be unanimous to convict, leaving Oregon as the only state to allow split-jury verdicts for felonies in the future.
But cases winding their way through Louisiana’s prosecutorial system for crimes committed before 2019 still will be subject to the old rules, which allowed some felonies — including some murder cases — to be resolved when 10 out of 12 jurors agree on a person’s guilt.
Passage of Louisiana’s unanimous jury requirement drew an unlikely, bipartisan coalition of support across the political spectrum, from conservative and religious groups to liberal activists.

Granny cams
Louisiana families will be able to install video monitoring systems in their loved ones’ nursing home rooms, to keep track of residents who often can’t speak for themselves. Under the “Nursing Home Virtual Visitation Act,” nursing homes can’t prohibit the cameras or retaliate against residents who want to install them.
Cameras will be voluntary, and several requirements have to be met to use them. Signs must be posted, notifying people of the video monitoring systems. Costs have to be paid by the nursing home patient or family member. Roommates or their legal guardians have to agree to the installation, and if not, the nursing home has to try to move the resident to another room.
Nursing homes have to provide forms to nursing home residents or their legal guardians outlining the ways the cameras can be installed. The state Department of Health sent notices and consent forms to nursing homes in mid-December to distribute to residents and their families.

Sexual
harassment
Though Louisiana’s first government-wide policy against sexual harassment takes effect Tuesday, agencies were encouraged to enact the provisions as soon as Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the measure.
The law requires state and local government agencies to enact anti-sexual-harassment policies that include a process for handling complaints, a ban against retaliation when someone files a complaint, and mandatory prevention training each year.
Agency heads have to compile annual reports documenting the number of employees who have completed the training requirements, the number of sexual harassment complaints received over the last year, and the number of complaints that resulted in disciplinary action.

Other laws
Health insurance plans will have to cover follow-up preventive cancer screenings if a woman has had a bilateral mastectomy after a breast cancer diagnosis. Those plans also will have to cover a procedure that creates a digital 3D image of a breast for patients getting mammograms.
Many of Louisiana’s college students should be able to use their university ID cards to vote in state elections. The law requires the state’s public higher education system governing boards to ensure the student ID cards that campuses issue meet voter ID requirements. Community and technical colleges are excluded from the requirement.

Holiday food drive at Hattie Watts

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:30am

Submitted Photo
The Hattie Watts Elementary's Make-A-Difference Club sponsored a food drive to benefit local food banks this holiday season. Students donated over 1,000 items.

Jim Brown: Resolving to be curious, hopeful in the new year

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:28am

By JIM BROWN

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I always do. A New Year always brings with it promise and uncertainty, but this coming year brings with it a greater foreboding than we have experienced in the past. The Chinese have a saying: “May you live in interesting times.” But their definition means dangerous or turbulent. We in Louisiana and throughout America certainly live in “interesting” times today.
One resolution I make each year is to maintain my curiosity. I discovered early on that there are two kinds of people — those who are curious about the world around them, and those whose shallow attentions are generally limited to those things that pertain to their own personal well-being. I just hope all those I care about fall into the former category.
Another resolution is to continue to hope. I hope for successful and fulfilling endeavors for my children, happiness and contentment for family and friends, and for the fortitude to handle both the highs and lows of daily living with dignity.
Each year, I ask my children to give me two gifts for Christmas. First, I ask them to make a donation to a charity that will help needy families in their community. And second, I ask them to re-read "Night," the unforgettable holocaust novel by Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace laureate who survived the Nazi death camps. I have a Wiesel quote framed on my office desk:
“To defeat injustice and misfortune, if only for one instant, for a single victim, is to invent a new reason to hope.”
Like many of you, our family welcomes in the New Year with “Auld Lang Syne.” It’s an old Scotch tune, with words passed down orally, and recorded by my favorite historical poet, Robert Burns, back in the 1700s. (I’m Scottish, so there’s a bond here.) “Auld Lang Syne,” literally means “old long ago,” or simply, “the good old days.” Did you know this song is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year?
I can look back over many years of memorable New Year’s Eve celebrations. In recent years, my wife and I have joined a gathering of family and friends in New Orleans at a French Quarter restaurant. After dinner, we make a stop at St. Louis Cathedral for a blessing of the New Year. Then it’s off to join the masses for the New Year’s countdown to midnight in Jackson Square.
When my daughters were quite young, we spent a number of New Year holidays at a family camp on Davis Island, in the middle of the Mississippi River some 30 miles below Vicksburg. On several occasions, the only people there were my family and Bishop Charles P. Greco, who was the Catholic Bishop for central and north Louisiana. Bishop Greco had baptized all three of my daughters, and had been a family friend for years.
On many a cold and rainy morning, the handful of us at the camp would rise before dawn for the bishop to conduct a New Year’s Mass. After the service, most of the family went back to bed. I would crank up my old jeep and take the bishop out in the worst weather with hopes of putting him on a stand where a large buck would pass. No matter what the weather, he would stay all morning with his shotgun and thermos of coffee. He rarely got a deer, but oh how he loved to be there in the woods. Now, I’m not a Catholic, but he treated me as one of his own.
I’ll be back next week with my customary views that are cantankerous, opinionated, inflammatory, slanted, and always full of vim and vigor. Sometimes, to a few, even a bit fun to read. In the meantime, Happy New Year to you, your friends and all of your family. See you next year.
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning 9-11 a.m. Central Time on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

Louisiana Politics: Red Schtick? Moon Griffon takes radio show back to the capital

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:26am

By JEREMY ALFORD and MITCH RABALAIS, LaPolitics.com

Moon Griffon, the fiery and sometimes controversial radio host, is bringing his brand of conservative punditry back to Louisiana’s capital region after several short, unsuccessful runs in the premier Bayou State market over the past decade or so.
“I’m tickled to death,” he told LaPolitics. “We think that we need to be there. I feel like our program talks more about what goes on in Baton Rouge, at the Capitol and in the governor’s office, more than anybody else.”
While most episodes will be pre-recorded in Griffon’s studio in Lafayette, he will be traveling to Baton Rouge about once a month for live shows from the studios of WJBO Newsradio.
As political activity increases, such as during election cycles, so could the frequency of the live shows, said Griffon.
“During session, we might come do a program every Saturday,” he added.
Capitol-area listeners to Griffon’s show can expect a healthy diet of guests from the hallways and committee rooms. Public Affairs Research Council President Robert Travis Scott was a guest, for example, on the show’s first live episode.
“We will have Republicans, Democrats, people that don’t like me and people that do. They are welcome to come by,” he said.

Q&A: Moller on the ACA
— LaPolitics: We recently saw a federal judge in Texas make a ruling declaring the federal Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. There has already been sone talk about bills being filed for the next session of the Louisiana Legislature. Do you think we are going to see an engulfing debate?
— Louisiana Budget Project Director Jan Moller: “Well, Medicaid was always going to be a big issue because it covers so many people in this state. So many people, by virtue of income or disability are dependent on that program to access healthcare. It obviously is the most expensive program in state government. The coverage that more than half a million people in Louisiana depend on is being threatened by this judge’s ruling. So absolutely it is going to be a huge issue and hopefully this ruling will be a wake up call to those who take the program for granted. The expansion of Medicaid has been one of the great public health success stories in Louisiana. We have an uninsured rate in our state now that is below the national average. This ruling threatens to undo that, and think efforts will be made to protect the gains that have been made.”
— LaPolitics: What are some of the other things that we will see out of the Budget Project over the next year?
— Moller: We’re still looking at that. We’re going to continue to do research on the budget, on revenues. Obviously, the tax compromise from 2018 is far from perfect, but I think we have some stability in our budget for the first time in over a decade. We hope the Legislature doesn’t squander some of that by trying to cut taxes. So we will be very vigilant on that front and we’re going to be looking for policies that help low income working families get ahead. That’s what we do every day.

Your Political History:
Hattie & Huey
This month marks the 87th anniversary (January 12, 1932) of Hattie Caraway of Arkansas becoming the first women ever elected to the United States Senate — an accomplishment that was greatly aided by then-U.S. Sen. Huey Long.
Caraway was actually the second woman to serve in the Senate, having been appointed to the seat when her husband Thaddeus Caraway died in office. According to congressional archives, her first remark upon entering the upper chamber was, “The windows need washing!”
As a temporary appointment, she had to immediately begin running in a special election, for which the Arkansas political establishment wanted someone else to win.
Enter the Kingfish.
Long, who at the time was mounting an upstart presidential bid, was eager to prove his prowess outside of Louisiana. So he secured a fleet of vehicles and relocated dozens of state employees (from Louisiana) to launch a canvassing operation. Long gave nearly 40 speeches in Arkansas that election cycle with Caraway at his side.
“We’re out here to pull a lot of pot–bellied politicians off a little woman’s neck,” Long told Arkansas voters during the 1932 cycle. “She voted with you people and your interests in spite of all the pressure Wall Street could bring to bear. This brave little woman senator stood by you.”
Caraway cleaned up in the primary, garnering about 45 percent in a seven-candidate field. And then she won in the runoff by a landslide.

They said it
“The industry has created a kind of cartel to divide the market share and fix prices.”
—Attorney General Jeff Landry, on a lawsuit over generic drugs, in The News-Star
“You know, we’re in uncharted waters in so many ways.”
—Congressman Mike Johnson, on the current state of Republican politics, in The Hill
For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Jeremy Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow.

Central Catholic Eagle Tournament set

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:09am

Staff Report

Central Catholic will host the 2019 Eagle Tournament, an event featuring eight high school boys basketball teams, beginning Thursday, Jan. 3, and continuing through Saturday.
In addition to the host squad, Lutcher, Vandebilt Catholic, Covenant Christian, South Terrebonne, E.D. White, Carencro and White Castle will participate.
A year ago, Carencro won the Class 4A state championship, while White Castle took home the 1A state crown.
Central Catholic will close the first day’s action when it meets E.D. White at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Central Catholic won’t play on the tournament’s second day, but it will close the tournament Saturday with a 1 p.m. contest against White Castle.

Area teams busy during holiday break

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:02am

Area basketball teams were busy during the holiday break.
Central Catholic High School boys finished the E.D. White Tournament in Thibodaux with a perfect 3-0. Patterson High School boys went 0-2 in the St. Martinville Tournament and Berwick High School boys fell 0-3 in the North Vermilion Tournament. For the girls, Central Catholic got a home-court win against Hanson Memorial, 59-51.
Lady Eagles 59,
Lady Tigers 51
The Central Catholic Lady Eagles, 8-7, played host to the 7-1A Hanson Memorial Lady Tigers on Friday in Morgan City. The Lady Eagles ultimately outscored the Lady Tigers 59-51 in the back-and-forth contest.
First quarter action saw the Lady Tigers taking a 15-10 lead, but the Lady Eagles battled back with a 22-14 second quarter to take the lead 32-29 going into the half.
In the third, the Lady Tigers went on a 13-8 run taking the lead once again. The final quarter saw Central Catholic get hot on the boards with a 19-9 run to win 59-51.
Having an outstanding night was Yani Johnson who put up 24 points including two free throws. Aaliyah Poole contributed 15 with two 3-pointers and a free throw. Also with two 3-pointers and a free throw was Jalaysia Bertrand with 11.
Helping on the boards were Laurielle Bias with four points, Caitlyn Picou with four and Sydney Williams with two.
Having a good night for Hanson was Carlie Pellerin with 20 points and A’Myrie Foulcard with 18. Other scorers for the Lady Tigers were Camille Baker with six, Rosemarie Colley with five and Celia Bishop with two.
Next on the schedule for the Lady Eagles is a Jan. 4 contest on the road against Gueydan, 10-10.
Eagles 58, Gators 48
The 7-1A CCHS Eagles outscored the 7-4A South Terrebonne Gators 58-48 in tournament play Friday. Game play through the first quarter was close with the Gators leading 12-11. The Eagles took the lead by the end of the half, 23-20, and never relinquished it.
The birds were hot on the boards scoring 23 points in the third to the Gators 10 resulting in a third quarter score of 46-30. But South Terrebonne didn’t give up and shot 18 in the fourth quarter, but Central Catholic’s 12-point fourth gave the Eagles the 58-48 win.
Scoring 18 points for the Eagles was Brooks Thomas with three 3-pointers and five free throws. Elijah Swan was close behind with 17 points with a 3-pointer and six free throws. Also scoring were Taylor Blanchard with nine points including two 3-pointers and a free throw, Davidyione Bias had eight points including four free throws and D.J. Lewis contributed six points.
Eagles 52, Tigers 47
The Eagles had a close game Saturday night in tournament play against the 7-5A Terrebonne Tigers but outscored the Tigers 52-47 to bring their season record to 10-5.
Again, the opposing team outscored the Eagles in the first quarter of play, 17-8. But the birds came back flying with a 14-4 run to take the lead, 22-21 at the half.
Both teams kept pace with each other in the third quarter but the Eagles made two more points than the Tigers to keep the advantage, 38-35. Another two point difference in the final period of play went in the Eagles favor for a final of 52-47.
Swan was the top scorer for the Eagles with 18 points including three 3-pointers and a free throw. Brooks contributed 11 points with a 3-pointer and four free throws. Showing it was a team effort were Lewis with eight points, Blanchard with six points, Tyler Smith with four, Bias with three and Demondrick Blackburn with two.
Central Catholic will host the 2019 Eagle Tournament, an event featuring eight high school boys basketball teams, beginning Thursday and continuing through Saturday.
See the related article for details.
PHS 52, Peabody 64
The 8-3A Lumberjacks dropped its final tournament contest to the Warhorses Friday, 64-52.
Peabody took the lead in the first quarter and never gave it up scoring 14-10. The Warhorses were hot on the boards in the second with a dominate 27-12 run for a 41-22 lead going into the half.
The ’Jacks came back strong outscoring Peabody 16-13 in the third and 14-10 in the fourth, but fell short 64-52.
Putting points for Patterson were Kai Schexnayder with 15, Elijah Williams had 14 and Tyrone Tillman contributed 10. Also on the board were Dajon Richard with nine, Louis Jones with three and James Butler with one.
The 6-5 Lumberjacks will enter district play Wednesday when they play host to crosstown rival the 0-15 Berwick High School Panthers. This will also be the Panthers first district game. Also Wednesday, the 7-6 Lumberjills who are 1-0 in district play and will host the 3-10 BHS Lady Panthers who are 0-2 in district play.
Check with PHS for game times for junior varsity and varsity games.
BHS 45, Gueydan 53
On Friday, the Panthers lost to 7-1A Gueydan 53-45 in tournament play. Then on Saturday, 2-5A Alexandria defeated Berwick 65-34.
Statistics for the game were unavailable at press time.
——
Morgan City High’s 7-4A Tigers who are 10-5 will play at 7 p.m. Thursday at home. They will take on the 6-1A White Castle Bulldogs who are 11-3.
The Morgan City Lady Tigers who are 8-6 will be at home Jan. 4 taking on 7-5A Destrehan who are 13-7. The contest is scheduled for 5 p.m.

LSU knocks off No. 7 UCF in Fiesta Bowl

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 9:58am

By JOHN MARSHALL, AP Sports Writer

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Joe Burrow watched the ball land in an opposing player’s hands and immediately gave chase. Locked in on preventing a pick six, LSU’s quarterback didn’t see Joey Connors, Central Florida’s 313-pound defensive lineman, bearing down on him.
With a thunderous, blindside collision, Burrow found himself flat on his back, woozy and wondering what happened.
Minutes later, after being helped to his feet, Burrow was back on the field, hitting receivers all over the field.
The nation’s longest winning streak was over. So was a second self-proclaimed national championship.
The LSU Tigers were Fiesta Bowl champions, thanks to their gritty junior quarterback.
Burrow shook off the big early hit to throw for 394 yards and four touchdowns, helping No. 11 LSU end No. 7 UCF’s 25-game winning streak with a 40-32 victory in the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday.
“I didn’t really think about the hit too much after it happened,” said Burrow, who had a cut on his neck from the hit. “It hurt for a second, I got right up and went on to the next play.”
LSU (10-3, No. 11 CFP) started its first Fiesta Bowl without several key players on defense and fell into an early 11-point hole against the high-scoring Knights (12-1, No. 8 CFP).
The Tigers clawed back behind Burrow and a defensive front that made life difficult for UCF quarterback Darriel Mack Jr.
Burrow returned from the early blindside hit to pick apart UCF’s secondary, hitting 21 of 34 of passes, including two touchdowns to Justin Jefferson.
“It looked like the passing game we wanted,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “Joe was on the money.”
LSU sacked Mack five times and made him rush numerous throws, holding the nation’s third-best offense to 250 total yards — 295 below its average — while spoiling the Knights’ bid for a second straight self-proclaimed national title.
Taj McGowan scored on a 2-yard run and the Knights converted a 2-point conversion to pull UCF to within 40-32. After LSU recovered the onside kick, the Knights’ last-ditch attempt finished with a tipped interception, ending a run that started after a loss in the 2016 Cure Bowl.
“Obviously, everyone in the locker room is really upset,” UCF defensive lineman Mason Colubiale. “We haven’t lost a game since 2016.”
UCF declared itself national champions after finishing as the only undefeated FBS team a year ago. The Knights earned another shot at an undefeated season by staging a massive rally to beat Memphis in the American Athletic Conference title game.
But just like last year, UCF was on the outside looking in when the College Football Playoff final four was announced, adding to the boulder-sized chip on its shoulder and only a self-awarded national title in its reach.
The Speedy Knights got the Fiesta Bowl off to a fast start, going up 14-3 on Greg McCrae’s 25-yard TD run and Brandon Moore’s 93-yard interception return.
The Tigers roared back behind Burrow and their disruptive defensive front.
Burrow shook off the big hit on the pick six, finding Jefferson on a pair of scoring passes and a 49-yard TD to Derrick Dillon.
UCF sputtered offensively after its opening drive, but Mack hit Gabriel Davis on a 32-yard pass in the closing seconds to pull UCF to within 24-21 at halftime.
Burrow opened the second half with a 32-yard TD pass to Ja’Marr Chase, and Cole Tracy hit three field goals to put LSU up 40-24. Tracy’s final kick, the 97th of his career, broke the NCAA all-division record and ended the nation’s fourth-longest winning streak since 2000.
“Love the way they competed for four quarters, continued to fight with everything that they had. Believed. Played as a group,” UCF first-year coach Josh Huepel said. “Just weren’t good enough at the end.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Even depleted, LSU’s defense proved to still be formidable and Burrow showed his grit after the big hit, giving LSU its first 10-win season since 2013.
UCF missed injured two-time AAC player of the year McKenzie Milton and had no answer for LSU’s passing game to lose for the first time in two years.
SO MANY PENALTIES
The first meeting between UCF and LSU was chippy from the start, including three first-half ejections. LSU consensus All-America safety Grant Delpit was among those ejected after being called for targeting in the second quarter.
UCF had a key penalty in the second quarter, when Randy Charlton was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the Knights stopped LSU on a third-and-6. That kept the Tigers’ drive alive and Burrow hit Justice for a TD that pulled LSU to within 14-10.
LSU had 14 penalties for 145 yards, LSU had 12 for 104 yards.
UP NEXT
LSU: RB Nick Brossette is a senior, Clyde Edwards-Helaire is just a sophomore and Burrow will be back. Delpit also is a sophomore and most of the defense should be back. LSU opens the 2019 season against Georgia Southern on Aug. 31.
UCF: Most of the Knights’ offense skill players should be back, but they have four seniors on the two-deep offensive line roster. UCF also will have new pieces on defense next season, with nine seniors on the two-deep. UCF opens the 2019 season against Florida A&M on Aug. 31.

How to deal with new state, local deduction caps

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 9:35am

By TINA OREM, NerdWallet

If you paid a lot of state and local taxes in 2018, buckle up this tax season — new laws cap how much of those payments you can deduct on your federal tax return. That means more of your income could be taxable this year. But before you worry too much, here are a few suggestions from tax pros on how to cope with the changes.
1. FIND OUT IF THE CAP MIGHT AFFECT YOU
Generally, property taxes and either sales taxes or state and local income taxes are deductible on federal returns. But this year, there’s a cap on how much you can deduct — $10,000 ($5,000 for a married taxpayer filing a separate return). That could make more of your income taxable.
Buddy Newton, a certified public accountant and senior tax manager at Stockman, Kast, Ryan and Co. in Colorado Springs, Colorado, offers a quick way to check whether the cap could affect you: Pull out your 2017 tax return and find Schedule A. If the amount on line 9 was greater than $10,000, you might not be able to deduct as much state and local tax this year as you did last year.
Newton estimated that as many as 75 percent of his firm’s individual clients will hit this new cap on state and local taxes. It’s often referred to as “the SALT cap.”
“A lot of our clients are paying more than $10,000 a year just alone in state income tax,” he said.
2. POUNCE ON OTHER TAX BREAKS
If the SALT cap affects you this year, more of your income could be taxable. However, the federal tax brackets also changed this year, meaning your income might be subject to a lower tax rate than last year. That could offset some of your loss, notes Joe Seifert, a CPA at the Delap accounting firm in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Other new rules this year might help, too. Parents may qualify for the larger child tax credit, which rose from $1,000 to $2,000 per child, for example, or small-business owners may be able to take the new 20 percent pass-through deduction, Seifert said.
“There’s give and take in this thing for most taxpayers. People need to focus on maybe what was given to you in other areas, instead of being so concerned about what was taken away,” he said.
3. THINK ABOUT BUNCHING YOUR CHARITABLE CONTRI-BUTIONS
The standard deduction has nearly doubled to $12,000 for single filers, $18,000 for heads of household and $24,000 for joint filers. That could drive many taxpayers to abandon itemizing altogether this year.
A married couple filing jointly would need to cobble together more than $24,000 in deductions, for example, to make itemizing pay off. Because the deduction for state and local taxes is now capped at $10,000, a couple filing jointly would need to drum up at least another $14,000 of deductions to make itemizing financially worthwhile.
One way to get over that bigger hump is by “bunching” charitable contributions, Seifert said. For example, a couple who gives $5,000 to charity every year might be better off giving $15,000 once every three years instead.
“There are many planning opportunities that have presented themselves related to a taxpayer’s itemized deductions. There is still time in the year to make some moves,” he said.
4. PLAN FOR A NEW TAX LIFE
“I think the biggest thing is, just make sure that you reach out to your CPA early enough to do your year-end planning and think about the solutions that are on the table,” Newton said.
There’s also the possibility of moving to a place with lower taxes. It’s not the easiest thing to do, “but it’s an idea,” he said.