Louisiana will add 50 nurse positions to the Department of Children and Family Services, for infants that were exposed to drugs while in utero. Brooke Thorington explains.
Cut 1 (33) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.”
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Homecoming at Southern University is marred by a shooting during an off-campus homecoming celebration. Jeff Palermo has the story…
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Jeff Palermo”
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There’s a gun buyback program scheduled for Saturday in Jeanerette. The program is a faith-based effort to get guns off the street and help prevent further violence. Organizer Felton Hogan says the buyback will start at noon Saturday at Jeanerette’s King Joseph Recreational Center. Hogan says his group had a successful buyback in New Iberia recently as well…:
Cut 3 (12) “…one life at a time.”
Hogan says they’ll pay up to $300, depending on the gun. He encourages young people – who shouldn’t have dangerous weapons anyway – to take advantage…no questions asked…:
Cut 4 (11) “..hurting somebody or themselves.”
Hogan says guns brought to the buyback will be sold completely anonymously. The event is backed by the city of Jeanerette, who will then destroy the guns…:
Cut 5 (10) “..in the cities again.”
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The Department of Children and Family Services plans to hire 50 nurses to make home visits to infants who were exposed to substance abuse by their mothers while pregnant. DCFS Secretary Marketa Garner Walters says five years ago the department was ordered to come into compliance with follow-up visits for those infants.
DCFS came under fire after a two-year-old’s overdosed death from fentanyl and the agency received multiple warnings about the child and other child welfare incidents. So far 11 nurses have been hired and 11 more are in the process of onboarding. Walters says the purpose of nurse visits is to see that the mother understands how to protect their infant especially when drug abuse could cloud their judgment and…
And if a nurse encounters a visit where they sense the child is in danger, Walters says DCFS will act.
Cut 8 (12) “…into foster care.”
Walters says she feels it will greatly improve a child’s welfare because people are more likely to be more honest with a nurse and their homelife can be more accurately assessed.
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Multiple people were rushed to the hospital early after a shooting this morning at a fraternity house located just off the Southern University campus. Baton Rouge Police Lt. Don Coppola says officers responded to the Kappa Alpa Psi House on Harding Boulevard at around two o clock…
Coppola says this is an active investigation
It’s homecoming weekend on the Southern campus and based on a flyer posted on social media, the fraternity was hosting a homecoming celebration. We spoke with a student who was at the gathering
Cut 11 (09) “…started running.”
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The State Supreme Court refused to allow the ban on non-unanimous jury verdicts be retroactive. The ruling denies new trials for as many as 15-hundred inmates convicted by divided jurors. Loyola University Law Professor Dane Ciolino says as a practical matter it’s an important decision.
Cut 12 (12) “…judicial districts.”
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to make non-unanimous verdicts retroactive two years ago which Ciolino says left advocates to appeal to the state’s highest court for those incarcerated by juries 10-2 or 11-1.
Ciolino says when the law passed in the state legislature it specifically addressed that non-unanimous verdicts would not be retroactive, but says lawmakers are free to change that law.