5:30 PM Newscast

Governor Edwards responded to the new outlook for Marco and Laura, along with good pandemic news at his 1130AM press conference today. Matt Doyle has more…

cut 2 (30) “I’m Matt Doyle”  

A hurricane watch for Laura stretches the coast from Morgan City to the Texas line.

The state reports 662 new COVID-19 cases today, bringing the total cases to 143,566. Fatalities increase by 18 to 4,623.

A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two passengers in the fleeing car dead. Trooper Thomas Gossen says 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin was the driver.

Cut 10 (09) “…with disastrous consequences.”

46-year-old Warren Joe Hines and 17-year-old Markqel James, both of Franklin were identified as the passengers. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow drops an early wave of TV ads in the 5th district Congressional race but ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says it may be too early to be effective…

Cut 8 (11) “October”

The race is on the November 3rd Presidential ballot.

430 PM LRN News update

A hurricane watch has been issued for the southwest and south-central Louisiana coastline and a tropical storm watch extends to the mouth of the Mississippi as Laura inches closer to her projected early Thursday morning landfall along the Cameron Parish coast.

Laura, which is moving towards the Gulf on its way past Cuba at the moment is not a hurricane yet, but it should be soon. Projections have the system as a very strong category two, potentially even a category three as it beelines directly for Lake Charles. National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says Laura could produce a dangerous storm surge…

Cut 4 (12)“ …Gulf coast.” 

That storm surge is leading southwest and south-central Louisiana parishes to call for voluntary evacuations. Governor Edwards says as you pack up to leave please don’t forget about the pandemic…

Cut 15 (10) “shelter” 

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5th Congressional District race to take the airwaves with TV ads. Letlow is generally believed to be competing against state lawmaker Lance Harris and Police Juror Scotty Robinson for the presumptive Republican spot in a December run-off against one of the Democratic candidates, and ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says Letlow is flexing his frontrunner status.

Cut 7 (12) “…their own.”

A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two people dead. A Patterson Police officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin, but Trooper Thomas Gossen says the driver fled, reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

Cut 9 (11) “…in the hospital.”

330 PM LRN News

Lake Charles is preparing to potentially be hit with ten to fifteen feet of storm surge under current models showing Laura making landfall in Cameron Parish, and heading directly north into Calcasieu. Voluntary evacuation orders have been issued in parishes across the region, and National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says that’s because Laura is a very wide storm…

Cut 5 (03)  “…wind field” *editted cut down*

Landfall is predicted sometime late Wednesday night at the moment and Governor Edwards says the state is taking the situation very seriously, and moving emergency response assets into position to respond.

Cut 13 (13) “…aircraft” 

Laura is projected to be a strong category two at landfall, but Edwards warns conditions are ripe for it to develop into a major category three hurricane.

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5th Congressional District race to hit the TV airwaves with ads. Letlow is reporting a strong 500,000 dollars raised so far in the race. ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says its certainly early for a campaign to start TV ads…

Cut 6 (07) “…risk”

Nine candidates are contending for the vacant seat in the ruby-red district that encompasses large swaths of the northeast and central portions of the state.

A high speed pursuit along LA highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in tragedy as two passengers in a fleeing car die in a fatal wreck, and the driver, 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin is in the hospital. Trooper Thomas Gossen says the fatal outcome may be because none of those in the vehicle were restrained…

Cut 11 (07) “…important as well.”

230 PM LRN News

Southeast Louisiana is catching a break as tropical storm Marco appears to be disintegrating rapidly, and may not even be a Tropical Storm for long. National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says wind shear and dry air has pushed all of the thunderstorm activity to Florida and Alabama…

Cut 3 (11)  “…activity”  

With Marco on its way out Governor Edwards says the state is turning its attention to the very real threat of Hurricane Laura which should impact southwest Louisiana Wednesday night. Edwards says folks need to get a hurricane plan in place, but also factor in virus safety.

Edwards did have some good news, last week the state saw the positivity rate of COVID tests continue to drop.

Cut 14 (09) “left”

A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two people passengers in the fleeing car dead. Trooper Thomas Gossen says 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin was the driver.

Cut 10 (09) “…with disastrous consequences.”

46-year-old Warren Joe Hines and 17-year-old Markqel James, both of Franklin were identified as the passengers. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow drops an early wave of TV ads in the 5th district Congressional race but ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says it may be too early to be effective…

Cut 8 (11) “October”

The race is on the November 3rd Presidential ballot, and a likely run-off is set for December 5th.

1:30 PM Newscast

Governor Edwards says Louisiana is set to dodge the first of what was thought to be a one-two punch from Marco and Laura. Edwards says projections of strong tropical storm conditions from Marco in southeast Louisiana appear unlikely to become reality.
Cut 12 (08) “…Florida”
Some storm surge along the southeast coast is still expected.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says the bigger concern is with Tropical Storm Laura which is near Cuba. Laura is expected to strengthen as it develops into a Category Two hurricane this week and make landfall along the Lousiana-Texas coast on Wednesday night, Thursday morning. Zeigler says Laura could produce a dangerous storm surge…

Cut 4 (12)“ …Gulf coast.” 

 

The competitive race for the 5th district Congressional seat held by a retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham sees its first TV ad buy. Brooke Thorington has the story…

Cut 1 (31) “…I’m Brooke Thorington”  

The state reports 662 new COVID-19 cases today, bringing the total cases to 143,566. Fatalities increase by 18 to 4,623. Hospitalization and ventilator use data has been delayed.

12:30 LRN Newcast Aug 24

While the state has caught a break with tropical storm Marco weakening, we aren’t out of the woods yet with Laura. National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says they also expect Laura to be a big storm, which means a large portion of the region could be impacted…

Cut 5 (08)  “…wind field”

A police pursuit on LA Highway 82 in St. Mary Parish ends in a fatal crash, leaving two people dead. A Patterson Police officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by 39-year-old Joseph James of Franklin, but Trooper Thomas Gossen says the driver fled, reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

Cut 9 (11) “…in the hospital.”

46-year-old Warren Joe Hines and 17-year-old Markqel James… were both pronounced dead at the scene.

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5th Congressional District race to take the airwaves with TV ads.  Letlows two major Republican opponents are state lawmaker Lance Harris and Police Juror Scotty Robinson. ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says Letlow is flexing his frontrunner status.

Cut 7 (12) “…their own.”

The state health department reports 662 new COVID-19 cases for the day and 18 new fatalities, Here’s a look at today’s’ commodities prices.

And The AP preseason college football poll ranks the LSU Tigers in 6th place.

11:30 LRN Newscast Aug 24

Louisiana has caught a break with Tropical Storm Marco as it has weakened significantly as it closed in on the state’s coast. National Weather Service Meteorologist Freddie Zeigler says wind shear kept Marco from developing…

Cut 3 (09)  “…warning.”  

 

Governor Edwards says it appears the state will catch a break from Marco but yet he cautions that we need to focus on Tropical Storm Laura as the Hurricane Center says Laura could be a category two or three hurricane when it makes landfall Wednesday night Thursday morning.

Cut 9 (12) “…images.”

Retiring Congressman Ralph Abraham’s former Chief of Staff Luke Letlow is the first candidate in the 5th Congressional District race to hit the TV airwaves with ads. Letlow is reporting a strong 500,000 dollars raised so far in the race. ULM Poli Sci Professor Joshua Stockley says its certainly early for a campaign to start TV ads…

Cut 6 (07) “…risk”

Last night saw a second straight night of protests in Lafayette over the Friday night fatal police shooting of 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin, a black man who was armed with a knife and attempted to enter an occupied convenience store.  NAACP Lafayette President Mardja Broussard believes the police could have handled this better…

cut 4 (06) “….person”

The video appears to show Lafayette police shouting for Pellerin to stop walking before they tazed him to no effect. As he began to enter a convenience store, Lafayette Police officers fired their guns.

9:30 LRN Newscast Aug 24

Governor Edwards says it appears the state will catch a break from Marco but yet he cautions that we need to focus on Tropical Storm Laura as the Hurricane Center says Laura could be a category two or three hurricane when it makes landfall Wednesday night Thursday morning.

Cut 9 (12) “…images.”

Entergy Louisiana has teams in place across the state’s coastal areas in case storms this week cause power outages.  Customer Service Vice President Melanie Stewart says there are also logistical challenges that come with COVID-19 spread mitigation measures being incorporated into response operations that may slow things down.

Cut 12 (10) “…and for hours..”

Lafayette saw multiple large demonstrations over the weekend against the Lafayette Police shooting of 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin. The protests erupted after a witness video of the incident was released…

Cut 1 (32) “I’m Matt Doyle”

On Sunday the state health department reports less than a thousand hospitalizations from COVID-19 and 152 on vents due to the virus. Cases increased by 1,223.  Fatalities increased by 59.

AM Newscall 08/24/2020 *update*

Lafayette saw multiple large demonstrations over the weekend against the Lafayette Police shooting of 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin. The protests erupted after a witness video of the incident was released…

Cut 1 (32) “I’m Matt Doyle”

_____________________________________

President Trump signs a federal emergency declaration for Louisiana ahead of an expected one-two punch from Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Laura this week. Matt Doyle has more.

Cut 2 (28) “…I’m Matt Doyle” 

___________________________________________

Entergy Louisiana has 3,400 storm workers in place across the state’s coastal areas ready to restore power following the impacts of Marco and Laura.  Kevin Barnhart has the story.

Cut 3 (30)  “…I’m Kevin Barnhart”  

______________________________

There were multiple large protests in Lafayette over the weekend against the Friday night police killing of 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin.

A video shows officers following and shooting Pellerin, who was walking with a knife. NAACP Lafayette President Mardja Broussard says there had to be a better way for police to handle this…

Cut 4 (06)“ .person” 

The video appears to show Lafayette police shouting for Pellerin to stop before they begun tazing him to no effect. As he began entering a convenience store at least ten shots were fired, seemingly into Pellerin’s back.

Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory has released a statement in support of the officer’s actions. Broussard calls Guillory a racist mayor.

Cut 5 (08)  “…community”

The incident is now being investigated by State Police.

Broussard notes this is the third Lafayette Police officer-involved shooting in the last five months.

Cut 6 (08) “…front yard”

State Police say the officers were responding to reports of a disturbance at a nearby convenience store when they first approached Pellerin and attempted to taze him. They say he then fled half a mile to the next store before the final, fatal confrontation.

______________________________

Governor Edwards warns Louisiana is set to take a one-two punch from Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Laura.

Edwards says the timing of these two storms will create a uniquely difficult search and rescue and power restoration scenario.

Cut 7 (07) “…hours”

Edwards says if your power goes out work to begin restoring it may not be able to begin until later this week.

Edwards thanked President Trump for signing off on his request for a federal emergency declaration.

Cut 8 (10) “…support.”

Edwards cautioned that the Hurricane Center now says Laura could be a category three hurricane when it makes landfall Wednesday afternoon, and the cone of uncertainty covers all of southwest and central Louisiana.

Cut 9 (12) “…images.”

Marco is set to begin impacting the southern portion of the state Monday afternoon, and the effects of Laura are expected to be felt Wednesday.

____________________

Entergy Louisiana has put teams in place across the state’s coastal areas as residents brace for the impacts of Marco and Laura.  Customer Service Vice President Melanie Stewart says there are many complexities that come with preparing for different scenarios with a double storm impact.

Cut 10 (13) “…3400 restorations workers..”

Stewart says with the abundant amount of variables, their team is going to be working twice as hard and customers may need to practice some patience if power is lost.

Cut 11 (09) “…a lot of patience.”

Stewart says there are also logistical challenges that come with COVID-19 spread mitigation measures being incorporated into response operations that may slow things down.

Cut 12 (10) “…and for hours..”

Stewart says call and report a downed powerline and never try to handle it yourself as the line may still have electricity going to it.

_________________________

The Louisiana coast is preparing for the double impact of tropical cyclones this week with the first landfall expected later this evening from Tropical Storm Marco.  State Climatologist Barry Keim says this storm may have weakened in wind intensity last night, but it’ll still be bringing with it storm surge and possible severe weather in outer bands.

Cut 13 (10) “…tomorrow afternoon.”

Keim says we should have a better idea of what to expect from Laura after its interaction with land as it moves through the Carribean.

Cut 14 (13) “…on Wednesday evening.”

Keim says with two storms impacting within such close proximity, the weather community has had quite a challenge in developing forecasts for these storms as well as figuring out how they might influence each other.

Cut 15 (08) “…things like that.”

________________________

Louisiana Tech football coach Skip Holtz calls the three-way battle for starting quarterback a healthy competition. Holtz is impressed with how much respect Aaron Allen, Luke Anthony and Westin Elliot have respect for each other as they compete. Redshift sophomore Aaron Allen says they push each other to get better

Cut 16 (18) “…perform better” 

Senior Westin Elliot has been on campus since 2017 and says whoever wins the job will be able to lead the Bulldogs to victories…

cut 17  (19) “…to win” 

Luke Anthony a graduate transfer from Abilene Christian is the third quarterback in the competition. The Dallas native was a three-year starter for the Wildcats and says he had interest from Power five schools, but knew La Tech was for him…

Cut 18  (20) “…my fit”   

____________________________________________________

The Saints are less than three weeks from the season opener against Tampa Bay and so far so good when it comes to keeping COVID-19 out of the building. Coach Sean Payton says he’s even surprised that the team has stayed virus free

cut 19 (17) “…good way”  

Drew Brees did not practice yesterday. The 41-year-old worked on throwing the deep ball during the offseason with his personal trainer, Todd Durkin. Payton says he’s seen a difference

cut 20 (25) “  throwing motion”  

5:30 PM Newscast

Tropical Storm Laura is currently projected to make landfall as a Cat One hurricane Wednesday afternoon in southeast Louisiana. It’s one of two storms that may be impacting Louisiana next week that the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is bracing for.  GOHSEP spokesperson Mike Steele says the storms are a reminder that it is important for residents to develop a plan of action and shore up their hurricane supply kits with enough supplies to sustain every member of the family for at least three days.

Cut 16 (11) “…things become strained.” 

Colleges and universities will publicly report on-campus COVID-19 case data each week. Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Alex Billioux says state officials are working with school officials to answer any questions they may have and give them policy recommendations.

Cut 5 (10)  “…being paid for.”

The total weekly tally of cases reported by universities will appear on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

An Ochsner anti-body survey of the Baton Rouge region uncovers some unsettling data about COVID-19. Ochsner Research Scientist Dr. Amy Feehan says those who reported the loss of smell and taste were eight and a half times more likely to test positive for COVID-19, and it’s no simple allergy season kind of sensory loss…

Cut 7 (10) “…severe.”

A Baton Rouge man who killed a woman in a high-speed wreck last summer after he says God told him to kill himself is found not guilty by reason of insanity. 19-year-old Jack Jordan’s attorney, James Manasseh, says three medical experts observed his client and said he was not of sound mind at the time of the incident, and the district attorney agreed.

Cut 12 (10) “…that time”