Concordia Parish Police Jury is working to install cameras aimed at catching people littering on parish property. The effort is taking place as officials conduct a crackdown on trash, debris, and overgrown weeds on residents’ properties. Officials say they have found items including old furniture, appliances, and bags of trash along roads in the parish. Road supervisor Tony Guillory said some people are illegally dumping next to no dumping signs.
Separately, Louisiana has a new ban on outdoor balloon releases for memorials and celebrations beginning Saturday. Louisiana’s Representative John Illg said balloons eventually end up as litter in fields, trees, and waterways, and balloon fragments can be mistaken for food by wildlife, which may put animals at risk. He said first-time violators could face a fine of up to $500 or up to eight hours of community service. Illg also stated the law is intended to raise awareness about environmental damage caused by plastic balloons.
In Mississippi, Attorney General Lynn Fitch joined a bipartisan coalition of 50 attorneys general that urged the Federal Communications Commission to strengthen its rules for “no-ear” customers to help prevent scammers from using the U.S. communications network to place illegal robocalls. The attorneys general said Americans received more than 29.6 billion scam robocalls and texts last year and lost nearly $2 billion to those scams. The coalition urged the FCC to require providers to understand their customers’ business, require originating providers to meet KYC standards, and require originating providers to collect additional information on high-risk customers. Mississippians can report robocalls and texts using the Attorney General’s Office C & Action mobile app available on Apple and Android devices.
Louisiana’s “I Voted” sticker is also changing ahead of the next election. The state unveiled a new sticker yesterday at the Old Governor’s Mansion featuring a trumpet as the centerpiece. The sticker was created by New Orleans artist Terrence Osborne. Osborne said magnolias representing Louisiana’s state flower appear coming out of the bell of the trumpet, and three Mardi Gras beads are included, with one bead pointing southeast as a tribute to Osborne’s hometown.
Local water levels reported include the Mississippi River at 27.11 feet in Natchez and Vidalia, and that level is falling.
