Two more arrests have been made in the case of a 4-month-old baby who was found dead of alcohol poisoning in his home in Lake Charles. Halen Doughty has more…
CUT 1 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”
================
With the voucher program being cut during the legislative session, 1/3 of kids who applied are now on a waiting list. Michelle Southern has more on what this means….
CUT 2 (30) “I’m Michelle Southern”
===============================================
Police have located and arrested the father of a 4-month-old baby who was found dead at home in Lake Charles, and an additional person has been booked in connection with the incident. The mother, 25-year-old Courtney Moore, was arrested at home shortly after the warrant was obtained. Police Chief Don Dixon says they received a call to investigate a death at an apartment complex two weeks ago.
40-year-old Larry Champ and Moore each face charges of 2nd Degree Murder. 23-year-old Danielle Allen was booked with Accessory after the fact. Dixon says disturbing toxicology results came back from the child’s autopsy.
Champ is being held on $1.2 million dollars bond, and Moore $800,000. District Attorney John DeRosier called the child’s death a tragedy.
CUT 5 (09) “represent themselves”
===============================================
As the new school year is right around the corner, about one in three students who thought they would receive a voucher to attend a private school are now on a waiting list. President of the Louisiana Federation for Children Ann Duplessis says it’s very devastating to these families. She says over 400 young people who anticipated being placed in a private school have now been told a week before school starts, they won’t have a spot.
Duplessis says these students could be forced to go to some of the worst schools. She says we now have situations where siblings are split up and won’t be attending the same school.
The state cut the voucher program by 2.5 million dollars for the 2016-2017 school year because of Louisiana’s massive budget deficit. But Duplessis says she’s hopeful legislators can resolve this issue soon because this is a huge problem.
===================================================
Grand Isle’s biggest event of the year, the International Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo, is underway. The massive fishing festival draws thousands of people every year. Event spokesperson, Heather Martin says on the first day of the 88th annual rodeo, a man from Houma caught a 167 pound fish that took him 45 minutes to reel in.
The fishing rodeo began in 1928 and is informally referred to as the Mardi Gras of Grand Isle. Martin says in addition to the fishing, there will be live bands playing tonight and Saturday night as well. She says every registered fisherman is also entered to win a 20 foot boat. She says the even draws huge crowds every year.
Martin says plenty of fisherman have already started reeling them in, but she expects even more to come out for the final day of the event on Saturday.
===================================================
The Louisiana Lottery is calling 2016 the year of the jackpot as once again we’re seeing a huge prize up for grabs tomorrow. Saturday’s Powerball jackpot has jumped up to 478 million dollars. Louisiana Lottery Spokesperson Kim Chopin says this jackpot has been growing since May 7th when it was last hit at 430 million dollars. She says it doesn’t matter how big the jackpot is, the odds are always the same…
Chopin says the cash value is 330.6 million dollars. She says the big jackpots are happening more often after Powerball underwent a matrix change to correspond with the increase in player population.
Chopin says these jackpots just keep getting bigger and bigger. She says this is Powerball’s 5th largest prize.
===================================================
Drug arrests have plummeted in Baton Rouge since the fatal officer-involved shooting of Alton Sterling. Crime analyst Jeff Asher says they saw similar occurrences in other cities that had police shootings, like Ferguson, Chicago, and Baltimore.
cut 15 (09) “narcotics arrests”
Asher says the homicide rate also increased during the same time period, which raises the question as to what will happen in Baton Rouge. He says this could just be a natural response to dealing with protests.
Asher says dealing with protests is a plausible explanation for the initial drop in narcotics enforcement, but it doesn’t explain why that drug arrest rate has stayed down.