An official announcement is expected later today, but Fort Polk is expected to lose 350 soldiers as part of the US Army’s effort to reduce troop numbers by 40-thousand. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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The Lafayette Parish District Attorney says an appeal is coming over the length of sentence Seth Fontenot received in the shooting death of a 15-year-old. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Anti-abortion advocates gather in New Orleans for a three-day convention that begins today. Emelie Gunn has the story…
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The National Right to Life convention begins a three day conference in New Orleans today that will feature Republican presidential hopefuls including Governor Bobby Jindal who will make an appearance tonight. Ben Clapper, Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life says tomorrow there will be a forum with some big names.
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Rick Perry and Rick Santorum will also be at the forum. Clapper says The Duck Dynasty family will join the conference for a prayer breakfast on Saturday. He says delegates from all 50 states come together to celebrate a festival of life and feature speakers to educate individuals of the Right to Life movement.
Clapper says their mission is to restore the culture of life in America by bringing an end to abortion and all action to destroy innocent life.
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An official announcement from the US Army is expected today, but 5th District US Representative Ralph Abraham has learned Fort Polk will lose 358 soldiers from its Vernon Parish military base, as part of a plan to cut 40-thousand troops nationwide. Abraham says Fort Polk should add soldiers, not lose them, because of the growing threat from ISIS and countries like Iran and North Korea…
Abraham says Fort Polk did not get hit as hard as others, as one base will lose three-thousand troops, but the loss of one soldier is tough to take…
Fort Polk has 81-hundred troops stationed at its base and it’s located in the district of U-S Representative John Fleming. The republican from Minden says Fort Polk and the surrounding area has worked hard to stave off any troop reductions
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The Lafayette Parish District Attorney will seek through an appeal to have 21-year-old Seth Fontenot spend more than 13 months in prison for the shooting death of a 15-year-old. Fontentot , who was convicted on manslaughter and two counts of aggravated battery, was sentenced to three years in prison, but most of the sentence was suspended. Lafayette D-A Keith Stutes says they will argue to the appeals court that none of his sentence should be suspended
Fontenot shot at a moving truck in 2012. One of the bullets killed Austin Rivault and two other teens were also wounded. Austin’s father asked the judge during the sentencing hearing for the maximum 40-year sentence. Stutes agrees the final sentence handed down was light…
Fontenot has admitting to shooting at the truck that had three teens inside, but he says he did so, because he thought they were breaking into his vehicle. Stutes says they will file a write with the Third Circuit Court of Appeal challenging the sentence
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The University of Louisiana System has approved tuition and fee increases at their four-year universities. The highest increase is at UL Lafayette, 20-percent, while Nicholls State’s tuition hike is less than two percent . U-L System President Doctor Sandra Woodley says before tuition hikes were approved, they looked at how many students at a particular school received the TOPS scholarship, plus other factors…
Woodley says UL Lafayette’s was allowed to raise its tuition by 20-percent, because of the GRAD Act legislation approved in 2010, which gave campuses more autonomy if it met certain goals. She says the school’s 2014-15 tuition was also well below the Southern Regional Average
Woodley says Nicholls State and Grambling are the only schools in the system that will not see a tuition hike of 10-percent or more. She says Nicholls is struggling with its enrollment and there was a concern not to price out prospective students…