Three people who allegedly planted fake bombs at schools to help them rob banks in Bienville Parish have been arrested. Matt Doyle has the story.
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Hurricane Michael that slammed Panama City, Florida, in October has now been upgraded to a Category 5 storm by the National Hurricane Center. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 2 (33) “I’m Kevin Barnhart.”
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East Baton Rouge residents will not have to worry about serving jury duty until at least June after a case out of Shreveport found young adults were not being summoned for jury duty. E-B-R District Attorney Hillar Moore says a computer system glitch prevented people under age 26 from being summoned as potential jurors…
The problem was uncovered during jury selection for the capital murder trial of Grover Cannon, who is accused of killing Shreveport police officer Thomas LaValley in 2015. The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled jury selection for that case must start over and Moore explains why
The jury service computer glitch means Cannon’s trial and other jury trials will have to delayed. Moore says it’s obviously a set back….
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Three people have been arrested for allegedly planting fake bombs at Bienville Parish schools to distract authorities while they robbed nearby banks.
Fire Marshal spokesperson Ashley Rodrigue says the plan was to sow terror and confusion to draw local police to one area of the town, while they went to work in another…
The three are facing charges of Fake Explosive Device, Criminal Conspiracy, and Criminal Trespassing. Rodrigue says more charges are likely on the way.
In one instance a school was put on lock-down and the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team was called in to sniff out the suspected bomb. Rodrigue says the bomb sniffing dogs combed the premises, but…
Rodrigue says the three criminals were willing to terrorize children and their families just to make a few bucks, and some of the schools were shut down for days at a time as a result.
41-year-old Paul Nash of Jonesboro, 47-year-old Lacentrusa Mayweather, and 42-year-old Tabitha Gray of Ball have been booked into the Bienville Parish Prison.
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Hurricane Michael that impacted the Florida Panhandle in October has been upgraded by the National Hurricane Center to a Category 5 hurricane, making it only the fourth storm to hit the United States to receive the classification dating back to 1851. State Climatologist Barry Keim says the upgrade it is intriguing in assessing hurricane probability.
Cut 9 (07) “…the Saffir-Simpson scale.”
The last Cat 5 to impact the United States was Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and did not receive the distinction until almost a decade after landfall. Keim says although Louisiana was not the recipient of the full force of Andrew, it’s definitely made an impact on the Bayou State after crossing Florida.
Of the four cat 5 storms, two made landfall at peak strength from the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Camille in 1969 made landfall in Mississippi. Keim says Louisiana is lucky to have dodged the bullet on getting a Cat 5.
Cut 11 (12) “…our home state.”
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A GoFundMe page for the three St. Landry Parish churches that were burned by alleged arsonist Holden Matthews has now raised over two million dollars for reconstruction efforts.
Seventh District Missionary Baptist Association representative Mason Jack says the donations have surged in the last week.
Jack says it’s been an inspiring turn of events just in time for Good Friday and the Easter weekend.
The churches are still working out just how much coverage they’ll receive from their insurance companies, but regardless of the deals they cut Jack says they’ll all be getting a slice of the fundraiser once it wraps up.