The Legislative Auditor’s Office has issued a report detailing how Louisiana can reduce its incarceration rate, which is higher than anywhere else in the world. Halen Doughty has more…
CUT 1 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”
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The Office of Motor Vehicles is giving drivers an option to cancel license plates online. Michelle Southern has more…
CUT 2 (29) “I’m Michelle Southern”
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The Coast Guard and other agencies are responding to an oil spill off the coast of Bay Long, near Grand Isle. Petty Officer Lexie Preston says roughly 53-hundred gallons of crude oil leaked from a pipeline owned by Harvest Pipeline Company. She say it was struck by a vessel owned by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company…
Preston says ECM Maritime Services, an oil spill response organization, along with a variety of other agencies, are currently out and managing clean-up operations.
Preston says aircrews have conducted aerial assessments of the spill…
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The Legislative Auditor’s Office has released a report highlights possible ways to reduce Louisiana’s incarceration rate, which is the highest in the world. Karen LeBlanc with the Legislative Auditor’s Office says they looked at everything from pre- to post-incarceration. She says the state can save money by providing alternatives like diversion and specialty courts for people arrested on drug charges.
LeBlanc says they also propose sentencing reform, like reducing mandatory minimum sentences and habitual offender laws, which she says results in longer jail time for those convicted and more expenses for the state. She says they also want to see nonviolent offenders with more probation and less jail time.
LeBlanc says they are calling for more rehabilitation programs in jails, especially at the local level where over half of Louisiana’s inmates are housed. She says the money the state saves from these reforms can be used to fund the rehab programs.
Executive Director of the Louisiana District Attorney’s Office, Pete Adams, says they would rather see solutions that didn’t cost anything and only had savings. He says they like the idea of drug courts, but they cost money. He says it takes a dedicated team for drug courts to be successful.
Adams says putting more nonviolent offenders on probation instead of in jail would mean getting more probation officers, and there’s a cost associated with that. He says it could also be dangerous for the public.
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A new animal disaster relief shelter has opened in Amite. Executive Director of the Humane Society of Louisiana Jeff Dorson says this new center is the base of operations for not only Amite, but the surrounding parishes. He says the key reason they opened this shelter was to help reunite pets and livestock with their owners.
Dorson says at this site, they have 50 dogs and 20 cats in separate areas with air conditioning. He says if you’ve lost your pet in the flooding, they could very well be at the new Amite location.
Dorson says the Humane Society originally partnered with the Livingston Government Animal Control during the flood recovery stage, but the Livingston Shelter needed to return to normal business. He says this Amite Arena is in a perfect location.
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The Office of Motor Vehicles is letting drivers cancel their license plates online. Deputy Commissioner Staci Hoyt says before the flood, car owners never had the option to cancel their license plates on the OMV website. But she says State Police Col. Mike Edmonson asked if the OMV would look at this option, because so many vehicles were flooded…
Hoyt says drivers wishing to cancel plates online will have to enter the vehicle’s VIN number, the plate number, and the zip code of the registered owner.
Hoyt hopes this will help the massive OMV wait times that have only increased after the flooding event. She says the office also has extended hours…
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