The Apple TV series Five Days at Memorial is based on actual events during Hurricane Katrina. Brooke Thorington has more from the book’s author.
Cut 1 (32) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
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Federal officials say nationally the traffic death numbers for the first quarter of this year are the worst in twenty years. State officials say there’s a glimmer of good news here, but only a glimmer. Marsanne Golsby has more.
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New LEAP test results indicate a literacy bill that failed to pass the legislature was likely a good idea. More from Kevin Gallagher…:
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The Apple TV series Five Days at Memorial is based on actual events during Hurricane Katrina. It chronicles the choices hospital caregivers were forced to make during the crisis without resources and how 45 people died as a result. It’s adapted from the book by Sheri Fink who says it’s important to tell the story, so we are prepared for the next crisis.
Fink, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist says the eight-episodes cover what happened just before, during, and after Katrina. When the levees broke and the city flooded, the New Orleans hospital lost power for five days. Caregivers were forced to prioritize patient care under extreme circumstances.
The series examines how unprepared the hospital was to shelter and care for patients. Fink says for many the realistic portrayal is extremely difficult to watch, especially for those who lived through Katrina seventeen years ago.
The Apple TV series premiered on August 12th and new episodes can be streamed on Fridays.
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Federal officials say nationally, traffic deaths from January through March of this year were the highest since 2002. State Department of Transportation spokesman Rodney Mallet says Louisiana numbers are slightly down from last year. But 194 traffic deaths in Louisiana through the first quarter of this year is still very high
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Mallet says they need drivers to double down on taking precautions to avoid serious crashes. Especially by focusing on driving and by putting away distractions.
Mallet says the goal is zero fatalities. He hopes this year’s slight drop in fatalities is the beginning of a downward trend similar to the one between 2017 and 2019.
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New LEAP test results – showing a decline in literacy – have one state lawmaker saying “I told you so,” after his literacy & retention bill failed to pass this year. Mandeville Republican Representative Richard Nelson’s bill to hold 3rd graders back a year if they continuously failed reading assignments failed to win passage. He says, despite objections from colleagues, the same law worked well for our neighbor to the east…:
Cut 10 (11) “…out of the water.”
The LEAP results show that 41 percent of 4th-grade students read below their grade level. Mississippi adopted the same law in 2013 and has seen its students excel and surpass Louisiana’s in literacy. Nelson says it’s imperative that reading-challenged students get the help they need before they leave 3rd grade…:
Cut 11 (12) “…throughout society.”
Under Nelson’s proposal, 3rd graders held back due to literacy would get intensive instructional help to assure they were prepared, and have the reading proficiency to move up in grade level. Critics argued the law would unfairly punish minority students, but Nelson says the bill would have done just the opposite…:
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A flood watch remains in effect for the northern half of the state. Meteorologist Matt Hemmingway with the National Weather Service in Shreveport says in the past 24 hours some areas north of Alexandria received anywhere from two to three inches of rain on the low end while other areas had as much as five to six inches of rain.
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Hemmingway says while the small disturbance off the coast of Texas was a slight contributing factor to the rains, we’re seeing in the northern half of the state…
Cut 14 (11) “…ahead of that front.”
He says in general a rich tropical air mass was already in place leading up to the frontal boundary stalling out.
Rain chances should begin to taper off in north Louisiana as we go into the evening hours, but Hemmingway says don’t put away the umbrella too quick.
Cut 15 (10) “…after seven o’clock.”
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Former Rummel star Chandler Fields has beat out Ben Wooldridge for starting quarterback duties at U-L Lafayette. Cajuns Coach Michael Desormeaux says Fields gives them the best chance to win….
Fields has been with the Cajuns since 2019. Wooldridge transferred to U-L after appearing in five games at Fresno State in 2020 as a sophomore. Desormeaux says Wooldridge took the news hard that he would not start the season opener against Southeastern Louisiana…
Cut 17 (20) “..keep competing”
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Louisiana Tech plans to start TCU transfer, Matthew Downing,
at Q-B when the Bulldogs open the season at Missouri a week from Thursday. Downing beat out Parker McNeil. Downing says there are no hard feelings between him and McNeil…
Downing played for head coach Sonny Cumbie in 2020, when Cumbie was the offensive coordinator for the Horned Frogs. Before that Downing was at Georgia….