close friend of the fallen Westwego police officer is raising money for his family on a Go Fund Me Page. Halen Doughty has more…

CUT 1 (30) “I’m Halen Doughty”

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LSU basketball suffered its worst loss at home since 1963 and it appears Johnny Jones’ days as the head coach of the Tigers is over. Michelle Southern has more…

Cut 2 (29) “I’m Michelle Southern”

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The LSU men’s basketball team suffered a historic loss last night to Florida. It was the Tigers worst loss at home since 1963, as the Gators devoured the Tigers 106-71. Tiger Rag Editor Cody Worsham believes Johnny Jones’ days are numbered as head coach….

Cut 3 (08) “are off”

Last night’s loss is also the fourth time in the season the Tigers have lost by at least 30 points. Worsham says Jones’ job is in danger and it would take a miracle for him to keep it. But he says athletic director Joe Alleva will likely not fire Jones midseason like he did with Les Miles.

cut 4  (11) “and coaches”

The Tigers are 9-10 overall, 1-7 in the SEC, and have lost six games in a row. Worsham says Jones has two more years left on his contract after this season…

Cut 5  (11)  “will do”

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A Go Fund Me page has been set up for Michael Louviere (Lou-v-air), the Westwego police officer who was fatally shot in Marrero. Reese d’Aquin (DAH-can) is a lifelong friend of Louviere and professional film maker who established the page, which features a video of d’Aquin telling the world about his childhood friend. D’Aquin, who now lives in Florida, says he just wanted to do what he could to help.

Cut 6 (12) “heard of”

Louviere served his country as a Marine, completing a tour in Afghanistan. D’Aquin says the money raised on the page will benefit Louviere’s wife, Ashley, and two young children.  He says the page has already raised more than $50-thousand of the $300-thousand goal.

CUT 7 (11)  “leaves behind” 

D’Aquin says Louviere overcame the adversities in his life with love and joy. In that same sentiment, he ends the story on the Go Fund Me page with a plea for people to hug their loved ones, or better yet hug a stranger.

Cut 8 (12) “better place”

Donations to Louviere’s family can be made at GoFundMe.com/michael-louviere-an-american-hero.

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A team of LSU mechanical engineers are in California to test out a pod that can float inside a vacuum tube and travel 500 to 600 miles per hour. LSU Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor and the team’s faculty adviser Aly-Mousaad Aly says the team is eager to see how fast the pod will actually travel.

Cut 9 (10)  “real world”

The Hyperloop team is one of 30 teams selected out of 1,000 to test out their prototype at a competition for a new high-speed transportation system on January 27^th– 29^th. Aly expects the LSU team will perform well in the competition…

Cut 10 (10) “the goal”

If the infrastructure was in place, the pod could travel from Baton Rouge to New Orleans in 10 minutes. Aly says the theory of an underground high speed transportation system might not be practical in Louisiana because of the wet soil, but is happy the students can put their skills to use.

cut 11 (12) “transportation”

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Former state Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham defended his spending practices before a panel of lawmakers who were discussing an audit that accuses Barham of misappropriating BP funds while in office. Barham admits LDWF made extraordinary and unusual purchases, like three metal shark boats…

cut 12 (11) “in Louisiana”

The audit says samples of fish taken after the oil spill sat for days and were not properly tested. But Barham says those samples were frozen and properly taken. He says the department was put in charge of bringing the seafood back into the market.

Cut 13 (10) “a fish“

The critical audit of LDWF’s spending practices looked at purchases made from 2010 to 2015, when Barham was secretary. Barham says suggestions that there were systemic problems couldn’t be further from the truth.

cut 14 (11) “safety program”

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A Carencro man is facing charges for disposing used oil into state waters. Greg Langley with the Department of Environmental Quality says 41-year-old Roshell Darjean changed the oil in an 18-wheeler and decided to pour between 5 and 10 gallons of oil into a ditch that drains into Bayou Carencro.

Cut 15 (12) “or both”

Langley says someone reported seeing oil coming from a storm drain, and hazmat teams were deployed to contain the substance. He says people performing maintenance on their vehicles can recycle used oil at most auto supply stores. He says not only is dumping oil illegal, it’s bad for the environment.

Cut 16  (10)  “drinking water”

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With 22-percent of Louisiana adults currently smoking, the American Lung Association believes the state has a lot of work to do when it comes to tobacco prevention. Emelie Gunn has more…

CUT 1 (25) “I’m Emelie Gunn”

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The story about a 3-year-old Brazilian girl who had a large, rare tumor removed from her face by doctors in Shreveport is making national headlines. Michelle Southern reports…:

Cut 2 (29) “I’m Michelle Southern”

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The American Lung Association’s annual State of Tobacco Control report finds Louisiana is failing in efforts to reduce tobacco use. An estimated 22-percent of Louisiana adults smoke. Regional Policy Director Ashley Lyerly (Liar-lee) says the report assigned F letter grades in the areas like tobacco taxes and access to cessation programs.

Cut 3 (10) “tobacco use”

The report gave another F to the state when it comes to funding for prevention programs. Lyerly says Louisiana should be spending about 60 million dollars on tobacco prevention each year but total funding for this fiscal year is only 8 million dollars. She says the state also received an F grade when it comes to tobacco taxes, even though it recently increased to $1.08.

cut 4  (10) “grade F”

Louisiana received a B grade for the strength of smoke-free workplace laws. But Lyerly says they recommend the state increase the minimum age for the sale of tobacco products.

Cut 5  (10)  “of F”

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Louisiana isn’t seeing as many flu cases as we usually do this time of year. That’s according to the state’s flu bug expert, Dr. Frank Welch, who says right now, 4 out of every 100 doctor visits in the state is for the flu. He says there’s several reasons we’re seeing a slower flu season this year.

Cut 6 (11) “slow season”

Welch says while the Deep South has seen few cases, other states are seeing an uptick. But he says we aren’t out of the woods yet. He anticipates cases will pick up, once the weather gets colder, which will happen this weekend.

CUT 7 (12)  “flu season” 

Welch advises everyone to get their flu shots to avoid getting the flu and to avoid spreading it to others. He says there are plenty of ways for people to stay well this flu season.

Cut 8 (11) “that properly”

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The Louisiana Department of Insurance announces they recovered $7.6 million for policy holders last year as a result of efforts by their consumer affairs division who work to resolve consumer complaints. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says that money is in addition to what companies offered to pay customers, and it’s a significant increase over the previous year.

Cut 9 (10)  “the past year”

Donelon credits the increase in recovered funds for consumers to a reorganizing within the insurance department two years ago. He says they moved all of the people who handle consumer complaints into the same section, as opposed to dividing them up between health, life and annuities, property, etc.

Cut 10 (12) “additional recovery”

Donelon says it’s the state’s responsibility to make sure insurance companies fulfill the promises they make to their policyholders. He says they’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that Louisiana customers are treated fairly, including yanking a license or taking punitive action against an insurance provider.

cut 11 (09) “insurance company”

Policyholders can file complaints at 1-800-259-5300 or online at ldi.la.gov/fileacomplaint.

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The story about a 3-year-old Brazilian girl who had a large, rare tumor removed from her face by doctors in Shreveport is making national headlines. It all started when Dr. Celso Palmieri at LSU Health Shreveport was reading an online publication from his home country. He says he ran across a Brazlian article about little Melyssa Delgado Braga

cut 12 (09) “could help Melyssa”

Palmieri says he found the family on Facebook after only an hour of searching and was able to contact them. Dr. G.E. Ghali is the chair of the Department of oral and facial surgery at the hospital. He diagnosed Melyssa with a benign tumor that is locally very aggressive…:

Cut 13 (09) “her entire jaw“

They say several organizations, doctors and the community came together to help the family get here. While Melyssa will still require some follow up surgeries as she gets older, doctors say she now has full use of her tongue unlike before. Dr. Ghali says she had been well on her way to becoming a malnourished child because of the tumor…:

cut 14 (09) “over five pounds”

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Louisiana has issued a standing order to make naloxone available without a prescription. Naloxone is an antidote that reverses an opioid overdose. Chief Medical Officer for Louisiana Medicaid, Dr. SreyRam Kuy, (Sray-rum- Kuh-ee) says the standing order is a way to reduce unnecessary deaths…

Cut 15 (10) “deep south”

Kuy says the naloxone drug can be injected into muscle or administered through the nose. She says the best part about receiving the drug over the counter is that anyone can administer the drug to someone suffering from an overdose, not just a medical practitioner.

Cut 16  (07)  “police officer”

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