The new voice of the Tigers, Chris Blair, will hit the airwaves for the first time tonight on the LSU Sports Radio Network as baseball season gets underway at The Box. Jeff Palermo reports…:

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 Apple is fighting the federal government over hacking into iPhones and the ruling could impact a murder case in Baton Rouge. Halen Doughty has the story…

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Attorney General Jeff Landry has announced he’s terminating outside legal contracts with District Attorneys and their civil practices. Emelie Gunn has more on other changes…

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The new voice of the Tigers, Chris Blair, will hit the airwaves for the first time tonight on the LSU Sports Radio Network as baseball season gets underway at The Box. Blair says, on a smaller level, his time at Georgia Southern helped him prepare for dealing with passionate fan bases…:

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Former LSU pitcher Doug Thompson will join Blair as the color analyst for broadcasts of Tigers’ home games on Skip Bertman Field. Blair says he’s always had a passion for listening to sports on the radio and he never thought he’d be able to say one day he’d be calling play-by-play for LSU…:

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Blair is moving into the spot held by Jim Hawthorne for more than 30 years. Blair says working with Jim these last few months has been phenomenal. Hawthorne is retiring following the conclusion of the men’s basketball season. He says he expects a big crowd for opening night tonight..:

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Apple is fighting the federal government over accessing iPhones and the ruling could have implications on murder case in Baton Rouge. 29-year-old Brittney Mills was shot and killed last April after answering a knock at her door. Baton Rouge investigators believe her phone has information that could answer questions surrounding the case, but they are unable to access it. East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore is glad the feds are forcing Apple experts to assist in these kind of investigations.

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 The FBI has received a court order for Apple to hack into a phone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernandino terrorist attack. Apple says it could lead to privacy issues for its customers. Moore wonders if this court order could also impact the Mills investigation, because at this point they can’ get in her phone..

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Police are cautious to keep trying incorrect passcodes, because after 10 failed attempts, the phone will erase all of the stored data. Moore says the inability to check information on Mills’ phone has bogged down their investigation…

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Attorney General Jeff Landry announces new polices that attempt to rid his department of public corruption. Landry says one new policy eliminates all outside government legal contracts with District Attorneys and their civil practices. And He says fulltime lawyers in his office will no longer take on private legal cases on the side…

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Landry says he will permit his attorneys to do pro-bono work under circumstances where there are clearly no conflicts of interest. He also announced the termination of existing contracts with outside council in the BP litigation.

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Landry says the responsibility of the Attorney General’s office has not changed. He says they will keep working to find ways to make his office honest and ethical to make the people of Louisiana proud.

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Early voting begins tomorrow for Louisiana’s Presidential Preference Primary which will be held on March 5th. Secretary of State Tom Schedler says only registered Republicans and Democrats will be able to vote in their respective primaries.

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So in other words, Democrats can only vote in the Democratic Presidential Primary and Republicans can only vote in the Republican Presidential Primary.  Other items, mainly local elections, will be on the ballot in 24 parishes for which all registered voters will be able to vote. Schedler encourages people to check out GeauxVote-dot-com to see what will appear on their ballot.

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Schedler says all voters, no matter what party, should vote in their local elections. He says early voting will be available starting tomorrow, and offices will be open until next Saturday.

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Registered voters can vote everyday with the exception of Sunday.

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It’s opening day for college baseball as the 7th ranked LSU Tigers host the Cincinnati Bearkats tonight at Alex Box Stadium. Last year, the Tigers reached the College World Series, but the team that will take the field tonight will look different. LSU will have eight new starters in its batting order and Coach Paul Mainieri is expecting some opening night nerves.

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One of LSU’s new starters is sophomore Greg Deichmann of Metairie, who will start at first base. Deichmann says he’s excited to carry on LSU’s winning tradition….

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Expectations are also high in Lafayette, where the sixth ranked Ragin Cajuns begin the season tonight by hosting Sam Houston State at Tigue Moore Field. Over three-thousand season tickets have been sold and Coach Tony Robichaux says the players are just as anxious as the fans…

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Sam Houston’s head coach is Matt Deggs, who is a former assisant at UL Lafayette. Robichaux says Coach Deggs and the Bearkats will provide good competition to start the season…

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Marketa Garner Walters, secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services, is concerned about a 15-million dollar hole in her budget. Halen Doughty reports…

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South Louisiana law enforcement are searching for fugitives from the Gremlins Criminal Gang and Michelle Southern says the search is receiving all kinds of attention because of a viral video….

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The secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services tells legislators her department is in need of resources to care for the more than four-thousand children in foster care in Louisiana. Marketa Garner Walters spoke to the House of Appropriations about a 15-million dollar hole in the DCFS budget. Garner says there is a shortage of foster homes…

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Walters says DCFS helps families in tough times. They deal with things like child abuse investigation, foster care and adoption, food stamps, child support enforcement and disability determinations. Garner says the process of finding a place to stay can be difficult on children from abusive homes.

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Walters says without sufficient funding, people will be laid off at the affected agencies and Louisiana could receive federal penalties for falling short of the national standards for these agencies…

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A federal judge officially rejected Former Saints safety Darren Sharper’s plea bargain in the case where he allegedly drugged and raped multiple women. Legal Analyst Chick Foret says Sharper is facing accusations in three other states and agreed to nine years in jail after pleading guilty in those jurisdictions. But Foret says US District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo believes nine years isn’t enough…

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Judge Milazzo gave Sharper until March 3^rd to withdraw his guilty plea. Foret says Judge Milazzo said this morning, the original plea deal does not reflect the seriousness of the crime. He says the federal sentencing guidelines recommend a sentence of 15 to 20 years…

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Foret says Darren Sharper is in a bad position and the facts keep getting worse. He says Sharper only has three options…

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South Louisiana law enforcement are actively searching for the seven remaining wanted fugitives of the Gremlins Criminal Gang and their search efforts have been boosted by the latest video message from the “Cajun John Wayne.” Captain Clay Higgins with St. Landry’s parish sheriff’s office says the gang is very active in Acadiana and Higgins called out the remaining fugitives in a viral internet video.

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The video filmed in front of the police station shows police officers and state leaders standing behind Higgins. It has received over 8 million views on St. Landry Parish’s Facebook page. He says police have arrested 10 Gremlins, and they have warrants for seven more. He says the officers are not afraid of these so-called thugs.

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Higgins says all of them are armed and dangerous. Authorities say the Gremlins are responsible for violent crimes including murder, armed robbery, witness intimidation, burglary, drug trafficking, extortion, and brutal beatings.  Higgins asks the public to contact police with any information about these crimes of the whereabouts of the wanted fugitives.

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A debate broke out at the state capitol over a tax credit that benefits working individuals with low incomes. Prairieville Representative Tony Bacala has legislation to do away with the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, which he says will save the state about 50-million dollars a year

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But Democratic state representative Walt Leger says the Earned Income Tax Credit helps the working poor pay for daily life expenses

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Leger says in parishes like East Carroll and Madison,  over 50-percent of the state’s tax filers receive the earned income tax credit. The New Orleans lawmaker is actually proposing to double the earned income tax credit, which would actually help the state and local economy

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