A passenger fell off a Carnival Liberty cruise ship sailing out of Galvenston, Texas, and the US Coast Guard is searching the Gulf of Mexico. A statement from the Coast Guard out of the New Orleans command center says they were contacted by the master of the ship who said surveillance video showed a woman going overboard. A passenger check indicated 33-year-old Samantha Broberg was missing.

The U.S. Department of Education is letting schools know they are required to allow transgender restrooms or risk losing federal funds. Emelie Gunn has more…:
CUT 1 (31) “I’m Emelie Gunn”

Two people died in a Richland Parish crash after the driver of the vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign. State Police say a Honda Civic, driven by 26-year-old Jade Abshire of Vidalia, did not stop at an intersection in Rhymes and the car was hit by a truck on the driver’s side door. Both Abshire and a passenger in the Civic, 45-year-old Arby Carter, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The House sent a nearly $26 billion dollar budget to the Senate Friday that includes a $72 million dollar cut to the TOPS program, in order to give more money to the state’s safety net hospitals for the poor. An amendment seeking to move $36 million back to the scholarship program failed. Ruston Representative Rob Shadoin says he understands the importance of TOPS funding, but health care for young individuals, who can’t afford to go to a private hospital, is more important…:
cut 15 (10) “to college”
House Bill 1 is likely to be modified further in the upper chamber.

Seth Fontenot, the now 21-year-old Lafayette man who killed 15-year-old Austin Rivault in 2013, will walk free tomorrow after serving 10 and a half months in jail for manslaughter. Fontenot’s release comes much sooner than it could have been as his original first degree murder charge was reduced to manslaughter and with a 13 month jail sentence.