A rape victim finally gets justice 30 years later. Halen Doughty has the story…
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TOPS is fully funded under the budget proposal that’s been approved by the House Appropriations Committee. Michelle Southern has more…
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Two people are dead after a private plane went down in Morehouse Parish. Sheriff Mike Tubbs says his deputies received a call yesterday afternoon in reference to a plane that went down in Collinston near the Morehouse Detention Center.
Tubbs says the identities of the victims have not been released. He says the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will conduct an investigation into what caused the crash.
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It’s a sad day in Ouachita Parish, as the community mourns the loss of 26-year-old Sheriff’s Deputy Justin Beard. State Trooper Michael Reichardt says Beard was responding to a burglar alarm early Sunday morning on Highway 34 when he was involved in a crash.
Reichardt says the roads were wet from rain, and Beard was not wearing his seatbelt. Beard was a deputy at OPSO for over three years and leaves behind a wife and three young children.
Glenn Springfield with OPSO says it’s been a tough day for everyone at the department.
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Rising waters are a concern today in Evangeline Parish, as flooding from that weekend storm system hit at least two towns hard. Director of the Evangeline Office of Emergency Preparedness, Liz Hill says the city of Mamou sustained extensive damage.
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Hill says the town of Basille on the Acadia Parish line was also affected. She says they’re still waiting on a count, but the flood damage could be as bad or worse as it was in Mamou.
Hill says many residents are just getting power restored in their homes. She says although the water wasn’t as high as it was in the August flood, some people had to be rescued from their flooded homes.
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An 83-year-old Larose man has been found guilty of sexual battery of a 7-year-old that occurred over 30 years ago. Lafourche Assistant District Attorney Kristine Russell says a victim came forward to report the incidents with Warren Danos that occurred between 1984 and 1986.
Russell says Danos is set to be sentenced June 20th on a count of sexual battery. He faces a minimum of 25 years behind bars. She says two other victims came forward, but those cases had reached the statute of limitations, because the victims were not raped. She says this is a huge victory for the victim because they didn’t expect a guilty verdict.
Russell says the victim said on the stand that’d she’d been a victim for 30 years, and she wanted her life back. She encourages any victim of sexual assault to come forward and report it to police, no matter how much time has passed.
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The House Appropriations Committee has voted to fully fund the TOPS scholarship program for the next fiscal year. Baton Rouge Representative Franklin Foil amended the state’s spending plan to take 82-million dollars from the Department of Health’s budget so TOPS students would have their tuition fully paid for.
TOPS was only funded at 70 percent under the governor’s budget proposal, leaving lawmakers to find more than $81 million needed to fully fund the program. Foil says he will leave it up to LDH to decide where to allocate those cuts.
The Appropriations committee’s version of the budget funds the Department of Health 235-million dollars below what Governor John Bel Edwards proposed. New Orleans Representative Walt Leger raised concerns in committee about how these cuts would impact LDH. He says the only areas of the health budget that can be cut are optional Medicaid programs, like behavioral health services. He says this cut will greatly impact Louisiana residents.
The amendment was approved on a 19-5 vote and the entire budget was approved on a 17-5 vote, along party lines. The full House could take up the spending plan later this week.
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