A Shreveport woman is arrested for impersonating a licensed nurse at a nursing home, using the identity of a woman with the same name. Matt Doyle has more.
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14 years ago today Hurricane Rita rocked southwest Louisiana. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
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Nationally, the number of children living in concentrated poverty has gone down, but new data shows 27,000 more kids living in poverty in Louisiana from 2013 to 2017 than the previous five year period. Annie E. Casey Foundation Associate Director Scot Spencer says Louisiana is one of ten states to see a rate increase.
Concentrated poverty is when 30% or more of an area is living in poverty, which Spencer says increases the likelihood of a lack of access to things to potentially improve someone’s life.
Spencer says often, concentrated poverty can be an inescapable multi-generational cycle.
Cut 5 (10) “…in concentrated poverty.”
African American and American Indian children are seven times more likely to live in concentrated poverty. Latino children are nearly four times more likely to live in concentrated poverty.
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A Shreveport nursing home social worker is under arrest for posing as a licensed nurse for over 1,000 hours using the identity of an LPN with her same name.
Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Detective Mike King says while pretending to be a nurse, 59-year-old Sandra Martin took on some vital, and potentially dangerous roles…
She allegedly treated over 100 patients during her time as a nurse.
Martin was already being paid more than the facility’s licensed nurses in her current position, and King says they suspect she posed as a nurse to cash in on some overtime opportunities.
Upon being arrested, King says Martin admitted to working as a nurse, but refused to answer further questions and demanded a lawyer.
King says as of now it does not appear that her fraudulent nursing led to any complications or injuries, but it certainly had the potential lead to disaster.
Martin has been charged with forgery, making false statements concerning employment in nursing, and violating the law on professions and occupations.
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14 years ago today, Hurricane Rita made landfall in southwest Louisiana. The storm often is overshadowed by Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall about four weeks earlier. State climatologist Barry Keim says Rita was a Category 5 storm n the Gulf.
Keim says Rita produced a storm surge of 17.8 feet, making it the second-highest storm surge measured in Louisiana in over a century.
Cut 10 (07) “…St. Bernard Parish.”
Keim says 95% of homes and businesses in Cameron Parish were destroyed and combined with the damage sustained by Hurricane Katrina in the weeks earlier, much of the Louisiana coastline was left devastated.
Cut 11 (09) “…state of Louisiana.”
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Two Thibodeaux residents allegedly stole their grandmother’s identity and used it to go on a spending spree racking up over 5,000 dollars’ worth of bills.
State Police Senior Trooper Jesse LaGrange says 30-year-old Megan Hebert and 31-year-old Roger Thibodaux conspired to rip off their grandma by stealing her personal information and…
State Police were informed of the situation by Assumption Parish Sheriffs, the jurisdiction where the victim lived.
LaGrange says the situation is a good reminder for folks to keep a close eye on their bank account and credit statements.
The two face serious charges as a result of the alleged scheme.
Hebert was arrested earlier this month, while Thibodaux was snagged a few days back.