The St. Landry Parish town of Sunset is mourning the loss of Police Officer Henry Nelson. Eric Gill reports…
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The Louisiana Department of Agriculture unveils its new mobile pet shelter that can be used in the next Hurricane. Emelie Gunn has more…
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The East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office and Capital Area Human Services are teaming up to raise awareness about the growing heroin and synthetic marijuana problem in the area. Coroner Dr. Beau Clark says his office has already seen 24 heroin overdose deaths so far this year. He says the message of this campaign is clear…
He says at this rate, East Baton Rouge Parish could surpass the record of 35 heroin overdose deaths recorded in 2013. Clark says it’s not a coincidence that this campaign is being launched at this time of year…
He says they’ve seen an uptick of heroin overdoses in the fall over the past few years. Clark has confirmed three deaths this year directly from synthetic marijuana use, but those are much more difficult to determine with current testing methods. He says the ultimate goal of this campaign is to save lives…
CUT 5 (08) “synthetic marijuana”
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The Louisiana Department of Agriculture says its new mobile pet shelter is ready for use. Commissioner Mike Strain says the tractor trailer can be used to evacuate up 55 domesticated animals in the event of an emergency.
Before the mobile shelter, they were loading pets into 18-wheelers to transport them during natural disasters which was very difficult and not as safe. He says if a natural disaster strikes and you can’t take your pet with you, when you come to an evacuation point, L-D-A-F will provide safe transportation to a mega pet shelter….
Strain says 40-thousand of the 80-thousand dollars needed to complete the project was donated by veterinary foundations. He says they want to ensure all animals are safe and well taken care of in the event of an emergency.
CUT 8 (11) “during emergencies”
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The St. Landry Parish town of Sunset is mourning the loss of Police Officer Henry Nelson. 35-year-old Harrison Lee Riley is accused of shooting and killing Nelson in the line of duty Wednesday while responding to a domestic disturbance. Sunset Mayor Charles James says the town will get past this tragedy…
Riley is also accused of stabbing three women in the incident, killing 40-year-old Shameka Johnson. James says this incident has really shaken the town of approximately 3,000 residents…
Riley faces charges of first degree murder of a police officer, first degree murder, and attempted first degree murder. James says he knew Nelson since he was a child and he will be someone who won’t be forgotten…
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10 years ago thousands of people were evacuating out of the New Orleans area as Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on Louisiana; and it was chaos. So in that time how has the state improved efforts to make such a large scale evacuation smoother? Department of Transportation spokesman Rodney Mallett says they now contract with bus services…:
At the time Katrina approached, there was no real mechanism in place to get so many citizens safely out of harm’s way — but Mallett says now there is. He says one of the important things they’ve learned in dealing with past contraflow situations, is to work closely with our neighbors:
cut 13 (08) “contraflow plans”
Mallett says they have also expanded the Motorists Assistance program so that in a mass evacuation situation, there would be more vehicles out on the road to help out motorists who get stranded in travel lanes. He also says they have since added traffic cameras on interstate systems in metropolitan areas…: