State Rep. Kevin Pearson and 24 other members of the House of Representatives voted against final passage of the state’s budget for FY11 after the Senate boosted expenditures.

Meetings of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Board of Regents would be streamed live over the Internet and archived for at least one year under bills that received final legislative passage late Sunday and are on their way to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s desk.

St. Tammany now has 22 more firefighters protecting homes and property.

In the last month, two different fire districts graduated 11 new recruits each.

Fire District 4 held a commencement ceremony on May 24 at Fontainebleau High School, and Fire District 12 recognized its graduates at a ceremony May 21. Sean W. Gill, Willie A. Wilson II, Johnny A. Stephens, Albert R. Nickles Jr., Scott Smith, Colin J. Buchholz Jeffrey B. Montalbano II, John P. Tomlinson, Jarred M. Kernan David C. Morris and Vincent E. LeBlanc completed an 11-week training program at Fire District 4’s training academy located at 1800 North Drive off Louisiana Highway 59.

Parish President Kevin Davis, a candidate for lieutenant governor, will speak to the St. Tammany Republican Parish Executive Committee on Tuesday night, the second candidate for the state’s second-highest office to do so.

A week ago, the year-to-date count of completed suicides in St. Tammany Parish was 17. Today, it’s 22.