Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announces more Louisiana residents are purchasing flood insurance since the two devastating floods Louisiana endured this year. Don Molino has more…
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2016 was filled with bizarre stories in Louisiana. Halen Doughty has some of the highlights…
Cut 2 (26) “I’m Halen Doughty”
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More Louisiana residents are buying flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program after two historic floods devastated Louisiana this year. That’s according to Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, who says flood insurance is the best purchase a property owner can make, even if you don’t live in a flood zone.
The NFIP has issued more than $2 billion in payments as a result of the August flood. Donelon says there were 451-thousand policies in place in July. He says that has grown to 480-thousand policies. He says they saw the biggest spike in areas in south Louisiana that were affected by the August flooding.
cut 4 (10) “East Baton Rouge Parish”
Ascension, Lafayette, and Tangipahoa parishes saw similar hikes in policies. Donelon says even he himself increased his flood coverage after the August flood. He says it’s important to make sure the contents of your home are covered as well, not just the structure.
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A 23-year-old Jeanerette man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance and death of 75-year-old Howard Poche. The elderly man was reported missing on Christmas day and the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s office says a significant amount of blood was found in his home. Capt. Richard Fleming says Jeffery Marks was taken into custody this morning.
Marks was booked into the Iberia Parish Jail and no bond has been set. The sheriff’s office says Poche’s body has also been located, but Fleming says they are not providing any other details…
CUT 7 (10) “the investigation”
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Louisiana saw it’s share of bizarre stories in 2016. Jackson Representative Kenny Havard proposed an amendment to a sex trafficking bill that suggested strippers must be younger than 28 and weigh less than 160 pounds. Even after an uproar from female legislators calling the joke sexist, Havard refused to apologize for the amendment, saying he never mentioned women.
Perhaps even more bizarre was when Pamela Anderson suggested that prisoners at Angola should be fed a vegetarian diet. Spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Dan Matthews, said not only is a vegetarian diet healthier for the inmates, it could also save the state money.
This year a special graduation ceremony was also held for a high school senior who was not allowed to walk in his school’s ceremony because he refused to shave his facial hair. Co-organizer of the event, Pastor Roosevelt Wright said Andrew Jones was the valedictorian at Amite High School, and it was incomprehensible that he was denied this privilege because of his beard.
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After record breaking heat this week, we’ll finally see a cold front. Roger Erickson with the National Weather Service says the front will give us more seasonable temperatures tomorrow, with temps in the upper 50s to low 60s . But he says this cool air will not last long.
Erickson says warm weather will return this weekend and there is also a chance of severe weather.
Erickson says this quick cold front will likely help ease the dense fog we’ve been experiencing the last several days.
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