A federal report says Louisiana’s prison population fell two-percent last year, but the state still has the highest incarceration rate in the nation. Doctor Peter Scharf, with the Justice and Public Health Institute at the LSU Health Science Center, says the mindset on how to punish criminals is changing and that should help lower the prison population…

cut 11 (11) “fix crime”

He says there’s a major effort to lower the prison population in Louisiana.

The US House passed three bills by Louisiana Congressman Charles Boustany that spotlight recent IRS controversies. Boustany says House Republicans learned a woman was forwarding emails from her official email account to a personal account to conduct business and that should never happen…

cut 6 (09) “any official business”

The bills still need Senate approval.

The Shreveport Police Department says a man is in jail today after allegedly hitting a 5-year-old about 25 time with a belt causing the child to be hospitalized. 23-year-old Frank Butler is charged with a single count of second degree cruelty to a juvenile. Corporal Marcus Hines says there are ways to legally discipline your child…

cut 5 (09) “for that here”

The child is expected to recover.

State Police say a McComb, Mississippi man is dead after a head-on collision in East Feliciana Parish involving a garbage truck. Trooper Jared Sandifer says the accident happened around 6 o’clock this morning. He says 23-year-old Cody Temple was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene…

cut 13 (08) “just minor injuries”

Sandifer says they’re still working to determine possible factors in the crash.