A Baton Rouge man who has been behind bars for almost 50 years had his conviction overturned, and is now a free man. Michelle Southern reports…:
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It’s the holiday season and many will take to the skies to visit family. Emelie Gunn has more with some new rules from TSA….
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The U.S. House passed a bill to overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program, allowing it to operate another five years and to update flood mapping requirements. But Representative Ralph Abraham of Richland Parish says he voted against the bill, because he’s concerned about double digit premium increases…
Abraham says the proposal will hurt economic growth in Louisiana, since many residents and business owners alike are in flood prone areas…
Congressman Garret Graves called the higher premiums a tax increase and agrees with Abraham. However Congressman Steve Scalise says the bill has good reforms for taxpayers, giving real certainty to policyholders. Abraham hopes the U.S. Senate can pass a better bill…
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65-year-old Wilbert Jones is a free man after serving over 45 years in jail for the 1971 rape and kidnapping of a Baton Rouge nurse. State District Judge Richard Anderson threw his conviction out, because he determined the case against Jones was weak and the prosecution withheld evidence. Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino.
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The group the Innocence Project worked for 15 years to free Jones. However, Ciolino says prosecutors approach these type of cases without much merit and Jones is fortunate to be released after so long.
State law does allow for wrongly convicted individuals to receive compensation but Ciolino says this case doesn’t qualify.
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Many people will travel to visit with friends and family this holiday season but TSA reminds those flying out of Baton Rouge or New Orleans that any electronic larger than a cellphone must be taken out of a carryon when going through security. TSA Spokesperson Sari Koshetz says this is just another step in stopping terrorists.
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Koshetz says these bigger electronics need to be in a bin without anything under or over the item. She says this will create a more efficient screening through security and allow passengers to get on their planes quicker.
Liquids and aerosols still can be no bigger than 3 ounces and must fit into a quart sized bag. Koshetz says they have discovered knives inside the handles of brushes and stun guns disguised as cellphones. She says so far this year, TSA has confiscated 6 guns in Baton Rouge and 52 in New Orleans.
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The state has added 23 juvenile whooping cranes to the Louisiana flock as part of an effort to re-grow the population, after the large white birds disappeared from the Bayou state in 1950. Louisiana Department of Wildlife Fisheries Wildlife Biologist Sara Zimorski says these young birds join 49 other cranes. She says they re-introduced whooping cranes to Louisiana to 2011.
LDWF along with Audubon Nature Institute and Chevron have partnered to save the whooping cranes from extinction. Zimorski says these generous donors have allowed them to achieve measurable conservation results and impact the future of the species.
Zimorski says last year, for the first time, a young pair of birds hatched and raised a chick. She says 2017 has also been successful with new baby whooping cranes.
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