Derrick Stafford receives the maximum sentence for the manslaughter conviction that was handed down after the former Marksville deputy marshal shot and killed a 6-year-old autistic boy during a 2015 car chase. Stafford maintained the boy’s father posed a threat, and that he did not know the little boy was in the vehicle. Stafford will be eligible for parole after completing 20 years of his 40 year sentence.

A bill that will be debated in the upcoming legislative session calls for the elimination of the death penalty in Louisiana. Emelie Gunn has more…

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An 8 block stretch of Bourbon Street will be rebuilt for the first time in nearly a century. City Officials says crews will replace the roadway and water lines of the first 8 blocks of Bourbon after the French Quarter Fest. The construction will reportedly take place two blocks at a time, and each segment is expected to take 60 days to complete, with the entire $6 million project finishing up by the end of the year.

Today state agencies are participating in an Emergency Response Exercise to prepare for any potential natural disasters. Mike Steele with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Preparedness says the goal of the exercise is to synchronize the response efforts when disaster strikes.

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Steele says emergency response efforts will continue to get better because of training exercises like this.