A judge has sentenced Christopher McCoy of Bunkie to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. Authorities say McCoy was drunk when he drove off the road and struck a tree killing his passenger Lauren Vaughn. Sean Richardson has more..
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A national survey of small businesses finds optimism increased slightly in April, but the small business optimism index remains below the 50-year average. Joe Gallinaro has more
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Christopher McCoy of Bunkie has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of Lauren Vaughn. She was a 22 year-old nursing student from Alexandria and was a passenger in McCoy’s vehicle when it ran off the road and hit a tree in Avoyelles Parish. The incident happened on Good Friday in 2023. Bridgette Vaughn, Lauren’s mother, says McCoy was sentenced to six years in prison.
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State Police says McCoy’s blood alcohol level was .15 at the time of the fatal crash.
Vaughn says her daughter’s death is a sobering lesson to make plans ahead of time for a safe drive home.
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With apps and ride share platforms available Vaughn asks all drivers to be responsible when getting behind the wheel and if your not sober to not drive.
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Lauren Vaughn was a graduate of Louisiana Tech and three months away from receiving a nursing degree from Northwestern State’s Shreveport campus.
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A national survey finds small business optimism increased slightly in April, but NFIB’s small business optimism index remains below a 50-year average for a 28th consecutive month. NFIB state director Leah Long says there’s a lot of discouraging news about the economy
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Long says 22-percent of owners reported that inflation was their single most important problem….
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Long says a staggering 91-percent of owners who either hired or tried to hire workers last month, reported they had few or no qualified applicants…
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Forty-percent of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in April.
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With crawfish season winding down, we are getting a better idea of the effects still being felt from last summer’s historic drought. LSU Ag Center Economist Kurt Guidry says the number of harvested mudbugs has been way down…
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Guidry says estimates in November had production loss at around 40%, but it actually ended up being 50-60%.
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Crawfish farmers got some good news last week. The USDA is changing its rules so crawfish producers can take advantage of federal disaster grants. Guidry says those dollars can be used to help reseed their ponds for next year.
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Guidry says despite the efforts to reseed, production is expected to be down again next year.