Cardell Hayes received a 25 year prison sentence today for the shooting death of former Saints star Will Smith. Hayes was facing up to 60 years. Hayes spoke in court today and apologized to the Smith family for their loss and once again claimed he acted in self-defense in the shooting following a car accident.

There are racial divisions over how police treat the public according to an LSU survey. Dr. Michael Henderson with the LSU Public Policy Research Lab says 75 percent of white residents trust police not to use excessive force. He says whites are also twice as likely to think police will treat blacks and whites equally, but blacks have a much different perspective…
Cut 7 (09) “excessive force”
He says they also found a majority of blacks think the country needs further changes to achieve equal rights, while most whites do not.

Even after the state finally gains access to federal flood recovery dollars, the feud continues between Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards and Republican Congressman Garret Graves. Graves said recently that he would resign if the federal government was the hold up in dispersing the funds. But Edwards says the state didn’t have access to the money until last week….
cut 13 (10) “…that we need”
The federal government opened a line of credit for the state on April 10, giving state officials access to the money. Graves is frustrated the state is still not ready to dispense the funds. But he says he’s willing to patch things up with Edwards, if the governor stops feeding lies to the public….
cut 16 (07) “…with anyone”
Graves made the comments on Talk Louisiana with Jim Engster.