The “Blue Lives Matter” law goes into effect today. Jeff Palermo reports attacks on law enforcement can now be considered a hate crime…
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UL-Lafayette professor Dr. Heather Stone is working to archive the history of a disappearing Terrebonne Parish island before it’s gone. Halen Doughty has more…
Cut 2 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”
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LaFourche Parish Sheriff deputies believe a mother fatally shot her young daughter and then turned the gun on herself. Jeff Palermo has more…
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The “Blue Lives Matter” law goes into effect today in Louisiana, and Alexandria Representative Lance Harris says his bill is now more important than ever after the attacks on police officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas. Harris says crimes committed against first responders, because of the uniforms they wear are now classified as hate crimes, as a result of this new law.
After the fatal shooting of two police officers and one sheriff’s deputy in Baton Rouge, there were social media threats made against law enforcement in Caddo and St. Charles parishes. Harris says this law applies to those criminal acts as well.
Harris says because of this new law, people who target police officers and first responders will spend more time behind bars.
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A Terrebonne Parish island is disappearing, and one UL-Lafayette professor is working to preserve its history before it’s gone. Dr. Heather Stone says Isle de Jean Charles is home to the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe of Native Americans. She says many tribe members have had to leave the island because the road that connects it to the coast floods often, making it impossible to get to the mainland.
In 1955, Isle de Jean Charles was about 22,000 acres and home to hundreds of people, but today it has shrunk to about 320 acres because of coastal erosion. The roughly 70 people who still live on the island will eventually relocate, thanks to a $48 million federal grant. Stone says she is passionate about preserving the tribe’s heritage because she understands having a connection to a place.
Cut 8 (07) “personal experience”
Stone says the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe came to the island when they fled the Trail of Tears. She says the people have been so helpful she doesn’t feel like she is writing their story, but more that they are writing it together.
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Louisiana is ready for the possibility of local transmission of the Zika Virus. There are four confirmed cases of Zika in Florida in people who did not travel out of the country or have contact with someone who did. State Health Officer Dr. Frank Welch says Louisiana has been preparing since January…
Cut 10 (11) “local transmission”
Welch says Zika is such a mild illness in the vast majority of people that four out of five people who get the virus don’t even know they have it. He says those who do notice may confuse the illness with hay fever.
Welch says the biggest risk is when a pregnant woman contracts Zika because while the mother could experience no symptoms, the fetus is developing severe birth defects. He says there are ways for the public to help reduce local transmission by keeping the mosquito population down.
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A 26-year-old mother and her five-year-old daughter were found shot to death in a residence in Thibodaux. LaFourche Parish Sheriff’s office spokesperson Brennan Matherne says investigators believe the mother, Nakesha Carrere shot Abigail Creamer and then turned the gun on herself…
Cut 13 (07) “enter the residence”
Matherne says investigators are still processing the evidence, but they are confident this was a murder-suicide…
Matherne says Creamer’s father discovered the horiffic scene and called 9-1-1 just before noon on Sunday….
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Through the first few days of training camp, Saints rookie wide receiver Mike Thomas has made several impressive catches. Coach Sean Payton likes Thomas’ passion and that he continues to make a play or two every day. Thomas says he wants to gain his teammates’ confidence that he can make the difficult catch..
Thomas is a six-foot-three, 212 pounds and the Saints selected him with the 47th overall pick. Payton says they don’t want the former Ohio State star to just be a pass catcher, they also hope he can develop into an outstanding blocker…
Cut 17 (17) “good in that area”
Payton is also pleased with what he’s seen from last year’s third round pick, cornerback PJ Williams. The former Florida State star missed all of last season with a hamstring injury, but Payton says he’s looked good this year in training camp…
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