A Justice Reinvestment Task Force has been established that will develop ways Louisiana can safely lower its prison population and reduce the cost of housing inmates. Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc says Louisiana incarcerates more residents per capita than anywhere else in the world and hopefully this task force can come up with solutions that the legislature will approve in 2017…:
CUT 3 (07) “some sense”
LeBlanc says the recommendations will be a combination of legislation, policy, and budget reforms.

Toledo Bend on the Sabine River is the number one bass fishery in the country for the second straight year as dubbed by Bassmaster. The publications’ Editor James Hall says this is huge for tourism and he expects it to get even better:
CUT 1 (09) “go back”
Caddo Lake ranked number 7 in Bassmaster’s Central Division of top 25 best fisheries.

Louisiana ranks 48th worst in the country for kids, according to the Annie E Casey Foundation’s 2016 Kids Count Data Book. Teresa Falgoust with the Agenda for Children says the number of kids in poverty in here is higher than in most other states, and that drives a lot of other indicators of child well-being:
CUT 6 (09) “factor here”
But she says the bright spot of the report is that Louisiana children rank 7th in preschool attendance and literacy has improved.

The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office says two people are under arrest on murder charges in connection with the overdose death of a man in Destrehan. They say Richard Keller died in March, and the two people he was with at the time were booked on drug charges. A coroners report indicated Keller died of heroin overdose which is why Jaime Hymel and Roderick Hackett were booked for second degree murder.