Drugs like Lortabs and Vicodin will now be much harder to obtain through your pharmacy. The US Drug Enforcement Agency has put hydrocodone-based drugs in a more restrictive category. LSU Health’s Emergency Medicine Chairman, Dr. Tom Arnold, says the federal government is trying to reign in an epidemic of prescription drug abuse. But he says as these prescription drugs are becoming harder to obtain, there has been an uptick in heroin use across the nation, even in Louisiana…

cut 8 (09) “within our borders”

He says the US uses 99% of the world’s hydrocodone.

It’s not quite Halloween, but retailers are already reporting they expect this holiday shopping season to be the best in three years. The National Retail Federation says they expect sales in November and December to be up 4.1-percent from 2013. These Louisiana residents say they’re ready to spend…

cut 12 (04) “ready for it”

The NRF says consumer confidence is high this year as key economic indicators like retail sales, jobs, and housing data are seeing improvement.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is offering a $7,000 reward for information about the shooting death of a black bear. Michelle Southern reports.

cut 2 (31) “reporting”

Tomorrow morning a total eclipse of the moon is going to take place while the sun is rising. Louisiana Tech astronomer Lee Sawyer says the event is going to start at close to 5:27AM…

CUT 10 (04) “in the morning”

He says we’ll have between 2-9 minutes to simultaneously see the sun rising in the east, while the eclipsed moon sets in the west.