Columbia Senator Neil Riser sponsors a bill that would exempt flood victims from state income tax for the 2017 year. Michelle Southern reports…:
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A bill to allow inmates who are serving life sentences eligible for parole, if they were convicted of murder while they were a juvenile clears a Senate committee. Emelie Gunn has more…
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A 62-year-old has been charged with vehicular homicide after hitting a pedestrian and killing him in Terrebonne Parish last night, according to State Police. Master Trooper Brooks David says Albert Williams Jr. was driving down LA 24 in Houma shortly before 9 p.m. when he struck 43-year-old Byron Acosta.
David says authorities are still unsure why Acosta was walking down the shoulder of the roadway and the crash is still under investigation. He says when troopers arrived, they suspected Williams was impaired.
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A Raceland man has been arrested for allegedly hitting his on and off again girlfriend after she made jokes about his dance moves. David Melancon with The Thibodaux Police Department says 34-year-old Cole Rodriguez was at a bar on the dance floor when things turned violent…
Melancon says bar patrons broke up the fight and things had calmed down by the time authorities arrived. He says while police were transporting Rodriguez to jail on charges of domestic abuse battery, he began acting up in the back of the patrol car.
Melancon says Rodriguez began spitting blood at the police officers then earning himself additional charges of resisting an officer with force and battery of a police officer. He says he never should’ve hit the woman in the first place after the joke.
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Columbia Senator Neil Riser sponsors a bill that would exempt flood victims from state income tax for the 2017 year. He says the bill includes certain parameters…:
The bill has not yet been scheduled for debate. Riser says it’s the least the state could do to help 2016 flood victims rebuild their lives…:
Riser says hard working people have paid their taxes for their entire lives, and have just lost everything they own. He doesn’t think giving them a break for a year is unreasonable…:
(Under Riser’s proposal, the first $100,000 of income that a family earns this year would be exempt from the state income tax if the family sustained $10,000 or more of losses during 2016 flooding. $50,000 if filing single.)
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A measure that would offer parole after 30 years behind bars for those convicted of life sentences for murder committed while they were juveniles passed out of a Senate committee. Baton Rouge Senator Dan Claitor’s bill has the support of State Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson. Johnson says there needs to be a line drawn between immature juveniles and corrupt juveniles.
If the bill is signed into law, 89 of about 300 people serving life in prison who were sentenced as juveniles would be immediately eligible for parole after already serving 30 years. Johnson says everyone has a made a bad decision because of an immature brain.
A similar measure died right before the end of the session last year. But Kaplan Senator Jonathan Perry disagrees with the measure. He says during the entire discussion there was no conversation about the victims of these crimes.
The bill heads to the Senate floor for more debate.
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