A class action lawsuit has been filed against the governor for not providing enough funding for Louisiana’s public defender system. Michelle Southern has more…
CUT 1 (30) “I’m Michelle Southern”
______________________________________
Brittney Spears’ niece is reportedly in stable but critical condition after ATV accident in Tangipahoa Parish. Jeff Palermo has more…
Cut 2 (30) “I’m Jeff Palermo”
______________________________________
Two men from Cameron Parish must pay hundreds of dollars in fines for stealing over 500 alligator eggs. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries spokesperson Adam Einck says 48-year-old Paul Canik and 25-year-old Christopher Trahan, both of Grand Chenier, have been sentenced by a state judge for what they did in July of 2015.
Cut 3 (07) “that property”
Canik pled no contest to illegal possession of alligator eggs and criminal trespass, while Trahan pled no contest to not abiding by rules and regulations. Einck says Canik took the eggs illegally and Trahan helped transport them.
cut 4 (08) “from then”
Einck says Trahan was ordered to pay a $293 fine. He says Canik’s egg collection privileges have been suspended for 18 months, and he was issued a $593 fine.
Cut 5 (10) “trailer as well”
_______________________________________________________
State Education Superintendent John White releases revised plans designed to improve public schools to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. White says one way to raise expectations is to increase the benchmarks for a school to achieve an A grade in the state’s rating system. He says right now students only have to earn “basic” scores on math and literacy tests for the school to be rated an A.
Cut 6 (11) “the ACT”
White says in addition, graduation rates for “A” schools will also have to be at 90-percent, rather than 75-percent. The Every Student Succeeds Act also requires states to show how they plan to measure student achievement as part of their grading system, and White says for the first time ever schools will be judged by how well a student improves over the course of a year.
CUT 7 (06) “over time”
White says they hope to have these new policy changes in place by the 2017-18 school year. They will need to be approved by both BESE and the US Department of Education. He says the new federal law also provides additional dollars to help students get a well-rounded education.
Cut 8 (09) “change this”
_______________________________________________________
A class action lawsuit filed today claims Governor John Bel Edwards and the state’s public defender board are not doing enough to adequately fund public defenders. Deputy Legal Director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, Lisa Graybill, says the US Constitution requires that all accused be provided a suitable defense. But she says that’s not happening in Louisiana.
Cut 9 (10) “to them”
Graybill says budgetary strains leave public defenders carrying two to five times the number of cases recommended. She says 85-percent of defendants in Louisiana are poor, and without proper counsel, they are denied advocacy during arraignments, access to evidence, and assistance with plea negotiations.
Cut 10 (11) “prison population”
The suit notes that Louisiana is the only state that relies primarily on court fees to fund public defender legal services, which includes a fee assessed against indigent defendants. Mark Cunningham, a senior partner with Jones Walker LLP, says that means public defender offices receive more funding for losing cases than winning them.
cut 11 (11) “to intercede”
The lawsuit on behalf of 13 plaintiffs seeks require the state to change its public defender system and for a monitor to be appointed to supervise the system until a new one can be implemented.
_______________________________________________________
One student has been arrested in connection with a shooting at Scotlandville High School. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Casey Rayborn Hicks says deputies received a call at around noon reporting shots fired at the school. Hicks says deputies have learned a juvenile student fired a weapon in a hallway…
cut 12 (10) “a building”
Hicks says no one was injured during the shooting. She says a detective took the juvenile into custody, along with the weapon about 10 minutes after the incident was reported to authorities.
Cut 13 (07) “school campus“
________________________________________________________________