The U.S. Senate passes a measure that grants 500 million dollars in federal disaster aid. Emelie Gunn has more…
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The FBI’s 2015 Uniform Crime Report finds Louisiana once again has the highest murder rate of any state in the nation. Halen Doughty has more…
Cut 2 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”
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Body cam footage of a police shooting that took the life of an autistic 6-year-old last November has finally been released by the judge overseeing the case. Halen Doughty has more…
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The U.S. Senate passes legislation that grants 500 million dollars in federal disaster assistance. About 400 million dollars of that will go to Louisiana for flood relief. Republican Senator David Vitter says this is just a start, more federal aid is expected in December. He says this is great news for thousands of Louisianans struggling to recover from the historic flooding event.
Vitter says the other 100 million dollars of aid will assist other states with natural disaster damage. He says his colleagues from other parts of the country had a hard time understanding the level of destruction that took place in Louisiana.
Vitter says this money should first go to homeowners who were not in the flood zone and received water damage. He says it’s not uncommon for a middle to low class family to have over 100-thousand dollars of uninsured damages.
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New data from the FBI finds Louisiana’s murder rate is once again higher than any other state in the country. The state recorded 10.3 murders per 100-thousand people in 2015, a slight increase from 2014. Louisiana has had the highest murder rate in the country since 1989. Criminologist Dr. Peter Scharf with the LSU School of Public Health says the state’s high incarceration rate contributes to the large number of murders.
New Orleans has the highest rate in the state, followed by Monroe and Baton Rouge. And the Crescent City ranks 8th in the country for murder rates among major metropolitan areas. Scharf says there’s a national trend for increasing murder rates, but he believes Louisiana is leading the trend, not following it.
Scharf says a murder costs the state between $1 million and $6 million. He says preventative measures are much more affordable than the costs of violent crimes.
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The body cam video has been released of the police shooting that left a 6-year-old autistic boy dead in Marksville. The graphic video shows deputy city marshal Derrick Stafford open firing into a vehicle, where 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis was seated in the passenger seat. Legal analyst Tim Meche says it doesn’t look good for Stafford.
The video of the shooting that occurred last November was played Wednesday in the courtroom at Stafford’s hearing. Meche says the video probably would have been released sooner, if there was more media attention around the incident.
The father, Christopher Few, was critically wounded in the shooting. Defense attorneys have said Few rammed his car into the deputy’s vehicle before he fired, but Meche says the video does not show the vehicle used as a weapon at the time of the shooting.
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A Bossier Parish School Board committee has decided not to let MTV film a TV show at two schools in their system. School Board member Dennis Bamburg is the chairman of the Buildings and Grounds Committee and he says Barcroft Productions wanted to film three students, because they have chosen practice abstinence.
Barcroft has produced shows like Young, Trans and In Love, Inside the Ku Klux Klan, and Body Bizarre. Bamburg says the show would have supposedly centered on the students decision to be celibate, but they didn’t believe that’s how it would air on MTV.
Bamburg says anything that uses school facilities has to come before the committee. He says the school system doesn’t want any part of the show, because the movie industry and schools don’t mix.
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Louisiana Tech hosts UTEP this Saturday night in Ruston in match-up of 1-and-3 teams. The Bulldogs have lost their last two games, including a 38-34 defeat to Middle Tennessee. Tech Coach Skip Holtz says his team is a work in progress that is working to get better….
Holtz says they don’t have time to lick their wounds as Miners bring one of the top running backs in the country to Joe Aillet Stadium. Aaron Jones is averaging seven yards a carry. Holtz is glad to be back at home after playing on the road the last two weeks…
Holtz says the defense needs to play better if they are going to string some victories together. Some fans in Bulldog nation would rather see redshirt fresman J’Mar Smith as the quarterback. But Holtz says Ryan Higgins is his guy, especially after throwing for 504 and three touchdowns last week at Middle Tennessee…
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The Saints seek their first win of the season this Sunday in San Diego where the Black and Gold take on Quarterback Drew Brees’ old team, the Chargers. Brees says it would be great if the team was rewarded for all of their hard work with a win….
The Saints are 0-3 and have lost by a combined 17 points. Brees believes this team is just a few plays away from having a winning record…