SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - A Louisiana parish commission has approved funding to remove a Confederate monument during a special budget meeting Tuesday.
The Caddo Parish Commission officially adopted its $82,776,407 operating and capital improvement budget for the 2020 fiscal year, news outlets reported.
The commission allocated $500,000 to remove the 30-foot tall marble and granite Confederate monument in downtown Shreveport that was erected in 1905 on the north side of the Caddo Courthouse lawn.
Although the commission has the funding to remove the statue, there's still a legal battle brewing between the parish and the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The organization filed a temporary restraining order against the parish and the commission, halting the removal of the statue and during Tuesday's meeting continued speaking out in opposition of the statue's removal.
A judge ruled Nov. 29 that neither the parish nor the commission could move the statue, for now.
A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13.
