Grambling State University has made history by opening Louisiana’s first digital library. Mel Bridges has more.
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Baton Rouge police made the largest fentanyl seizure in state history yesterday. Kace Kieschnick has the story…
Cut 2 (31) “…I’m Kace Kieschnick.”
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Grambling State University made state history by opening Louisiana’s first digital library building earlier today. Dean of the Digital Library and Learning Commons Adrienne Webber says keeping everything online gives everyone access to the most recent, relevant information.
The digital library has no physical material. Instead, it provides access to more than one-point-six million digital books and pieces of research material. Webber says this ensures students are prepared not only for research in higher education, but also for the tech-forward workforce.
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Webber says purely online material removes the need for multiple physical copies or constantly purchasing current research material. Additionally, she says, the digital library reflects a tech-forward shift not just among students, but among libraries and institutions as well.
The seventeen million dollar facility is also the only one of its kind at an HBCU.
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Baton Rouge Police have seized approximately 181 pounds of fentanyl as part of an investigation into the alleged drug trafficking operations involving 42-year-old Cendy Keophimanh (sen-dee kee-oh-fe-men). It’s believed to be the largest fentanyl seizure in Louisiana history, Lt. L’Jean MckNeely says the drugs seized in this investigation have the potential to save 42 million lives
Cut 6 (09) “…southeast region.”
Keophimanh was arrested last week following another large drug seizure including around 150 pounds of methamphetamine. Detectives conducted another search warrant at a house on Vermillion Drive connected to the suspect. McKneely says Baton Rouge was being used as a midpoint distribution center…
Cut 7 (08) “…and then distributed.”
Also seized were over 100 doses of Adderall and Xanax, a money counter, an air hydraulic shop press, 42 kilogram stamps and four guns. Fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths in East Baton Rouge Parish and McKneely says they need the public’s help to find find the drug dealers and traffickers…
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The power in a premium office building in downtown Shreveport is set to be shut off Monday afternoon because the owners haven’t paid the electric bill for months. Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell says an investment group from California owns Regions Tower.
Cut 9 (11) “…five hundred thousand dollars.”
Regions Tower is over 90 days overdue on a building-wide electricity bill totaling around half a million dollars. SWEPCO says they’ve been in contact with the California-based company that owns the building to keep the lights on, and Campbell says the tenants are also trying to make a deal…
Cut 10 (12) “…out in California.”
SWEPCO began posting disconnection notices around Regions Tower yesterday to give tenants time to make plans in case the power does go out. SWEPCO External Affairs Manager Michael Corbin says turning off the power is the last thing they want to do…
Building owner Hertz Investment Group of Sherman, California haven’t commented on the situation yet.
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32-year-old Precious Hicks of Virginia was sentenced to 35 years in prison after being found guilty of drug trafficking charges in Louisiana. Hicks was arrested in January of 2023 after she and her boyfriend were pulled over traveling on I-12. St. Tammany Parish Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Dover says Highway Enforcement found marijuana in open view and several boxes of Fruity Pebbles cereal…
The boxes of cereal were determined to contain almost 8,000 methamphetamine pills weighing over 4 pounds. During a formal police interview Hicks and her boyfriend admitted they had purchased the pills in Texas with the intent of selling them back in Virginia. Dover says this is what the Highway Enforcement Unit is there for…
Hicks’s boyfriend plead guilty prior to the trial and without a criminal history, received a probation sentence. Dover says the judge considered Hicks’s criminal history of firearm, assault, larceny, fraud, forgery, drug, ad prostitution convictions when passing down the 35-year sentence…