The Coast Guard is helping to control an oil spill off Plaquemines Parish. Tens of thousands of gallons of oil have gushed out of an old well off the coast. Coast Guard Lieutenant Phillip VanderWeit acknowledges that this is a serious spill and says crews have collected 50,000 gallons of an oily water mixture

Cut 16 (07) “…feet on standby.”

VanderWeit says the two main jobs are to get the source of the spill under control and to mitigate the impacts to the environment.

Advocates gathered outside the State Capitol this week to draw attention to food insecurity. Pat VanBurkleo, the executive director of Feeding Louisiana, says they wanted to let state lawmakers know that many things affect hunger and federal budget cuts are not helping matters.

Cut 11 (10) “…a regular basis.”

Crawfish prices are the lowest they’ve been all season. Jeff Palermo has more…

Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Jeff Palermo.”

One lucky Mandeville man made a quick stop to pick up lottery tickets and when he woke up found himself the winner of a $2,445,468 Lotto jackpot. Ronald Myers said to his wife of 35 years, “you’re not going to be believe this”, and she jokingly asked “Did we win the lottery?” The two picked up a their winnings on April 25^th. After state and federal tax withholdings, they went home with $1,785,196.02 with which they plan to pay it forward, upgrade a Disney Trip and invest back into the business, ChillCo.

The Coast Guard has been brought in to help control an oil spill off Plaquemines Parish. Tens of thousands of gallons of oil have uncontrollably gushed out of an old well off the coast. Coast Guard Lieutenant Phillip VanderWeit says crews are working non-stop to get the leak under control.

Cut 14 (09) “…to the environment.”

The cause of the break is unclear, and it’s also unknown how long it will take to plug the well and clean up the contamination.

The Department of Environmental Quality will have a new leader as Secretary Aurelia Giacometto (Jock-ah-metto) accepts a position with the Washington DC  Earth and Water Law Firm. Her tenure at DEQ wasn’t without controversy with several of her own appointees leaving their positions and many staffers expressing displeasure with her management style. Governor Landry thanked Giacometto for her service Friday and named 10-year DEQ Veteran, Courtney Burdette as the new Secretary.

Police in Minden are investigating the death of a toddler inside a home. Andrew Greenstein reports.

Cut 1 (33) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”

A Jefferson Parish woman is convicted of first-degree murder in the highly publicized brutal murder of  6-year-old Bella Fonenelle of Harahan. After a 4 day trial, it took a jury less than an hour to find Bunnak Landun for the murder. Landun left the little girl in a bucket on her mother’s front lawn. She will be sentenced May 6^th and receive a mandatory life in prison sentence.

A two-year-old was found dead inside a home in Webster Parish Thursday. Minden Police responded to reports of an unresponsive child and found the little girl buckled in a car seat along with a 10-month-old child also in a car seat. Both had been left without supervision. Minden Police Chief Jared McIver says this case is gut-wrenching to the entire community.

Cut 5 (09) “…that’s even tougher”

Investigators are trying to determine exactly how the little girl died. The 10-month-old child was uninjured.

Whooping Cough cases are on the rise across the country including Louisiana. The Louisiana Department of Health says we may reach record high numbers with 164 cases already reported this year. Whooping Cough is highly contagious and especially dangerous for children under a year old. There were 40 hospitalizations last year and there have been two infant deaths. It’s especially important to protect infants. Vaccinations are available but not until a baby is 2 months old. Children and adults are encouraged to keep current with their pertussis vaccinations.

Polls will be open in about half of Louisiana’s parishes Saturday. Various proposals and candidates will be on their ballots. Joel Watson with the Secretary of State’s office says several areas will hold runoff elections from earlier primaries, while others will vote on sales taxes, millages, bonds, and charter amendments and he recommends an easy way to learn about the items on the ballots.

Cut 8 (09) “…gonna be on there.”

Crawfish prices are at their lowest level of the season, according to the Crawfish-App. Co-founder of the Crawfish App, Laney King, says May is usually when we see the lowest prices…

Cut 12 (10) “…Mother’s Day.”

Two children were found locked in car seats inside a house in Webster Parish with no adult supervision, and one of them has died. Minden Police were called to the house mid-morning Thursday on a report of a two-year-old child being found unresponsive inside the house. The girl could not be resuscitated. Minden Police Chief Jared McIver says investigators are trying to determine exactly how the little girl died.

Cut 3 (12) “…off the airway.”

Advocates gathered outside the State Capitol this week to draw attention to food insecurity. Pat VanBurkleo, the executive director of Feeding Louisiana, says one thing that doesn’t nearly get enough attention is hunger on college campuses.

Cut 10 (07) “…having more food.”

Voters in about half of Louisiana’s parishes will head to the polls Saturday to elect local officials and decide on various ballot proposals. Joel Watson with the Secretary of State’s office says Voters in Lake Charles will decide whether to re-elect Nic Hunter as mayor. He’s being challenged by Democrat Marshall Simien. In East Baton Rouge Parish, voters will decide a special primary for House District 67, tax propositions, and runoff races, including two council seats in the new city of St. George.

Cut 7 (03) “…all over the state.”

Crawfish prices held steady this week after a recent drop, with live crawfish averaging $2.60/lb—season lows. Some spots offer sacks under $100, even as low as $50. Boiled crawfish dropped to $4.89/lb. May offers peak supply and lowest prices, making it the ideal time to buy.

Two children were found locked in car seats inside a house in Webster Parish with no adult supervision, and one of them has died. Minden Police were called to the house mid-morning yesterday on a report of a two-year-old child being found unresponsive inside the house. Police Chief Jared McIver says investigators want to know who was supposed to be home supervising the children.

Cut 4 (10) “…that’s just negligence.”

The second child who’s ten months old was uninjured.

Advocates gathered outside the State Capitol this week to draw attention to food insecurity. Pat VanBurkleo, the executive director of Feeding Louisiana, says they especially wanted to let state lawmakers know that many things affect hunger

Cut 9 (10)  “…their hunger issues.”

Voters in about half of Louisiana’s parishes will head to the polls tomorrow to elect local officials and decide on various ballot proposals. Joel Watson with the Secretary of State’s office says several areas will hold runoff elections from earlier primaries, while others will vote on sales taxes, millages, bonds, and charter amendments.

Cut 6 (12) “…in your area.”

Voters in Lake Charles will decide whether to re-elect Nic Hunter as mayor. He’s being challenged by Democrat Marshall Simien.

Police in Minden are investigating the death of a toddler inside a home. Andrew Greenstein reports.

Cut 1 (33) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”

A Jefferson Parish jury took less than an hour to convict Bunnak Landon of first degree murder in the brutal death of six-year-old Bella Fontenelle of Harahan. Landon killed her boyfriend’s child and left her body in a buck on the child’s mother’s front lawn. Landon claimed she was insane at the time of the crime.

The Louisiana Legislature is debating a comprehensive nutrition bill that, among other things, would ban SNAP recipients from using their benefits to buy soft drinks Governor Jeff Landry is not waiting for that bill to reach his desk….

Cut 13 (06) “….food stamp program”

The only real power the executive order has is that it directs the Department of Children and Family Services to request a waiver from the USDA to prohibit food stamp recipients from buying soda and candy.

If you are a crawfish lover than head over the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Fest in St. Martin Parish. Publicity Director Angelique Bernard says mudbugs will be prepared in many different ways and there’s more than just crawfish…

Cut 8 (15) “…under the tent”

The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Fest runs through Sunday.

Governor Jeff Landry signs an executive order that directs the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services to seek a waiver from the USDA that would ban food stamp recipients from using their benefits to purchase sodas and candy. Landry says if SNAP recipients want to buy these products, they can use their own money…

Cut 14 (11) “…that’s wrong”

Two children were found locked in car seats inside a house in Webster Parish with no adult supervision, and one of them has died. Minden Police were called to the house mid-morning yesterday on a report of a two-year-old child being found unresponsive inside the house. The girl could not be resuscitated. Minden Police Chief Jared McIver says investigators are trying to determine exactly how the little girl died.

Cut 3 (12) “…off the airway.”

Chief McIver says investigators also want to know who was supposed to be home supervising the children.

The Breaux Bridge Crawfish festival is this weekend. There have been reports with other festivals in the state serving imported seafood, but Publicity director of the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, Anquelique Bernard says the mudbugs at their festival are harvested from Louisiana waterways…

Cut 9 (09) “…coming from”

Today there will be a crawfish eating contest today. Contestants will try to eat two and a half pounds of crawfish as fast as they can.

Another hurricane season begins June 1^st and this year the National Hurricane Center will begin issuing official forecasts 72 hours out if they believe a tropical wave or disturbance will intensify quickly and impact land…

Cut 6 (16) “…and other products”

That’s Director Michael Brennan, who says Hurricane Helene quickly intensified into a Category 4 hurricane last year and caused significant damage in Florida.

Louisiana is the latest state to seek a waiver from the USDA to prohibit SNAP recipients from purchasing soda and candy with their benefits…

Cut 3 (30) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein”

The Minden Police Department is investigating the death of a two-year-old child who was locked into a child seat inside a home. It’s unknown how long the toddler was left unattended. Authorities say it’s possible the two-year-old was  choked because of how she was fastened into the car seat.

Another hurricane season begins June 1^st and the National Hurricane Center says it continues to improve its forecasting. Director Michael Brennan says one area of improvement is predicting rapid intensification of a storm…

Cut 5 (10) “…early 2010s”

Brennan says this year, the National Hurricane Center will produce an official forecast track for unnamed storms as early as 72 hours in advance before that system grows into a hurricane and impacts coastal areas.

The biggest crawfish festival in the state starts today. The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival runs through Sunday, and Publicity Director Angelique (AHN-zhu-leek) Bernard says you can get crawfish prepared in many ways.

Cut 7 (11) “…it’s delicious.”

Admission is ten dollars today, 15 dollars tomorrow and five dollars on Sunday; or you can buy a weekend pass for 25 dollars.