12:30 LRN Newscast

Governor John Bel Edwards and Colonel Lamar Davis officially broke ground today on a new 100-million dollar State Police Crime Lab in Baton Rouge. The state-of-the-art facility will replace the existing lab that’s four decades old. Davis says a new facility is needed to help in crime fighting……
cut 3 (12) “…the future.”
The new facility is expected to be completed in three years.

The state Department of Transportation says it will take another two weeks to complete repairs on I-55 where 168 vehicles were involved in a pileup that killed seven people in St. John the Baptist Parish. DOTD spokesperson Rodney Mallet says northbound will remain closed for two weeks and southbound will have to be closed for a short period this weekend…
cut 8 (12) “…or so”

It’s National Adoption Month and the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services says 465 families have adopted 619 children from foster care in the last year. DCFS Secretary Terri Ricks says the need continues for additional families to care for foster children…
cut 7 (12) “…adoptive family”
For more information on foster parenting and adoption go to DCFS’s website.