Shreveport finalizes a deal with a company owned by entertainer 50 Cent to develop three entertainment venues in the city. Andrew Greenstein reports.
Cut 1 (32) “…I’m Andrew Greenstein.”
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A 28-year-old Jennings woman who lost her unborn child is facing criminal charges after investigators determine it was drug use that killed the child. Jeff Palermo has the story…
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Jeff Palermo.”
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A company owned by entertainer 50 Cent finalizes a deal to invest almost 125-million dollars to develop three entertainment venues in Shreveport. As part of his commitment, the state is providing up to 50-million dollars in performance-based funding for these three sites. Grant Nuckolls with Shreveport Film and Entertainment Economic Development says there are conditions attached to this funding.
Cut 3 (11) “…three through five.”
The project includes the renovation of the former Stageworks facility, the modernization of the former Millennium Studios and the construction of a dome-style venue. Nuckolls says if 50 Cent does not keep up with his end of the bargain, the state’s funding will go away.
Cut 4 (09) “…clawback provisions too.”
Nuckolls says one of the conditions of 50 Cent’s company, G-Unit Film and Television LLC, getting this money is that the work needs to be done in a timely manner.
Cut 5 (09) “…spent pretty quickly.”
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Small businesses open 2026 with optimism on the upswing. Leah Long is the Louisiana Director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Cut 6 (06) “…heading into 2026.”
While the decrease in uncertainty has increased optimism among small business owners, Long says there are lingering concerns that they would like to see addressed in the new year.
Long says one issue that is becoming a bigger issue for small business owners – one that President Trump is actively trying to rein in – is swipe fees.
Cut 8 (06) “…their swipe fees.”
Long says for example, some restaurants in the Baton Rouge area pay around 80-thousand dollars a year in swipe fees.
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A California doctor has been indicted on felony charges for allegedly trafficking abortion pills into Louisiana. Doctor Remy Coeytaux has been charged in St. Tammany Parish with Criminal Abortion by Means of Abortion Inducing Drugs. Attorney General Liz Murrill says her office is seeking to extradite Doctor Coeytaux to Louisiana…
Coeytaux is also facing a lawsuit from a Texas man who alleges he illegally provided his girlfriend with abortion pills. Coeytaux has not responded to the accusations made against him.
According to court documents filed last year, Dr. Coeytaux mailed mifepristone, one of two medications commonly referred to as an abortion pill, to a woman who said she was forced to take them by her boyfriend. Murrill says Coeytaux is not providing healthcare, instead he’s dealing drugs…
The woman who received the abortion pills claims it was her boyfriend who used her email address to order the drugs and she never had any contact with the California physician. Prosecutors in Louisiana are also involved in a similar case with a doctor out of New York.
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A 28-year-old Jennings woman is facing criminal charges after cops in Jefferson Davis Parish determine her illegal drug use led to the death of her unborn child. Jennings Police Chief Danny Semmes says Shandelynn Benoit has been charged with third-degree feticide….
Semmes says Benoit admitted to taking fentanyl and heroin to alleviate stomach pain….
Cut 12 (11) “…including death”
Semmes says his detectives have never investigated a case like this…
Semmes says the person who supplied Benoit with the fentanyl has also been arrested.