AM Newscall July 23, 2014

According to a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Louisiana ranks No. 47 in the nation for overall well-being of children. Michelle Southern has that…:

CUT 1 (35) “reporting”

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A 40 year prison sentence has been given to a Bossier City man accused of killing his estranged wife and discarding her remains last November. Eric Gill has more…

Cut 2 Audio (33) “reporting”
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Governor Jindal’s legal counsel is confident they’ll prevail in a lawsuit that claims the Jindal adminitration overstepped its legal authority to halt the implementation of Common Core. Matthew Doyle has the story…

Cut 3 Audio   (35) “….reporting”
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According to a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Louisiana ranks No. 47 in the nation for overall well-being of children. The report was published in the 25th edition of the Kids Count Data book and study co-author Laura Speer says they took into account economic status, education, health, family and community…:

Cut 4  (09)  “education domain”

Speer says Louisiana lags the nation in 4th and 8th grade reading and math scores and also has a poor graduation rate. She says they found that 28% of students don’t graduate on time compared to the national rate of 19%. Speer says the lowest ranking in their report is for family and community where Louisiana ranked 48th overall…:

Cut 5  (10)  “two parents working”

Speer says Louisiana’s best ranking was at No. 42 and that was in the health category with indicators including percentage of low-birth weight babies and percentage of children without health insurance. She says another factor hurting Louisiana’s score is the fact that we have one of the highest teen birth rates in the nation.

Cut 6 (12)  “their children”
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A 40 year prison sentence has been given to a Bossier City man accused of killing his estranged wife and discarding her remains last November. In a plea deal, Robert Bond plead guilty to manslaughter instead of going to trial on second-degree murder charges. Bossier Parish District Attorney Schuyler Marvin says his office is happy with the sentence…

CUT 7 (13)   “justice was served”

46-year-old Annie Bond’s charred remains were found in northern Webster Parish on November 18th. Mr. Bond received the maximum sentence for a manslaughter charge. Marvin says one of Robert and Annie’s sons, Alex, spoke at the sentencing hearing. He says the young man’s speech to the judge was touching…

CUT 8 (14)   “for him”

Robert Bond spoke at his sentencing hearing and asked the 60 or so family members in attendance to forgive him for what he’d done. Marvin says he and the family are glad this has come to a conclusion. He says he’s happy that this case was resolved so quickly and cannot praise the work of local law enforcement enough…

CUT 9 (13) “of the police”
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The governor’s office has responded to the latest legal action over the Common Core debate. A lawsuit filed yesterday claims Governor Bobby Jindal overstepped his authority when he canceled the testing contract for Common Core. Jindal’s legal counsel, Jimmy Faircloth, says the suit has no legal basis…

cut 10 (09)  “real legal basis”

A collection of concerned parents and teachers were behind this latest filing. The suit claims the governor does not have the constitutional authority to dictate education policy. But Faircloth says there is no question as to whether Jindal has the authority to influence policy in this case…

cut 11 (13)  “subject matters”

The lawsuit is seeking to reverse the Jindal administration’s decision to use the Division of Administration to cancel a vendor contract to supply Common Core testing. Faircloth says allegations the Jindal misused his authority are unfounded…

cut 12 (07)  “doing here”
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A federal judge has sentenced a Shreveport pastor to six-and-a-half years in prison for taking minors across state lines and having sex with them. 54-year-old Andrea (Andre) Lewis, pastor of Act on Faith Ministries, was found guilty of three federal sex crimes in May. US Attorney Stephanie Finley says Lewis used his status as pastor to coerce young female church members to have sex with him…

Cut 13 (05) “young women”

Evidence in the case showed Lewis transported at least three minors to and from Texas to have sex with them. The events happened between 1994 and 2000. Finley says the young girls were very brave in coming forward and sharing their stories…

Cut 14 Audio  (11)  “them sexually”

Lewis used church choir trips and other church related business to cover up the sexual abuse. He was also sentenced to three years supervised release and must register as a sex offender. Finley says Lewis violated not only his oath as a minister, but also the trust of parents and these young children…

Cut 15 Audio  (10)   “kept the secret” ___________________________________

At Sun Belt Media Day, Ragin Cajuns head coach Mark Hudspeth answered questions about being the preseason favorite to win the conference. Hudspeth says he’s already told his players be prepared to receive every team’s best effort

Cut 16 Audio (16)    “on the road”

The Cajuns begin their season August 30th against Southern. Hudspeth expects over 40-thousand fans for the season opener at Cajun Field

Cut 17 Audio (20) “to town”

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ULM’s season will get underway Thursday August 28th, with a home game against A-C-C member Wake Forecast. The Warhawks will also travel to three SEC schools, LSU, Kentucky and Texas A-and-M. Head Coach Todd Berry says the Sun Belt schedule will also be tough…

Cut 18 (15) ”  more ready”

The Warhawks are picked to finish fifth in the Sun Belt, but Berry says they can surprise some people if they can stay healthy…

CUT 19 (17) “be sidelined”