The investigation continues into Saturday’s mass shooting in Webster Parish that injured six people, two of them critically. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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BESE, the Louisiana Department of Education and the state Legislature are working to address rising truancy and chronic absenteeism in K-12 classrooms. Sean Richardson reports.
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Webster Parish Sheriff deputies are continuing to investigate a shooting that injured six people, including two critically at an unpermitted bonfire event in Dubberly on Saturday night. Sheriff Jason Parker says they are still interviewing attendees, and no arrests have been made…
Cut 3 (13) “…those statements.”
Parker says at least 350 people were at the bonfire, which also had a DJ, free food and drinks. The sheriff says events in Webster Parish are required to have a permit if there are more than 250 attendees…
Parker says the bonfire was on a person’s property along Louisiana Highway 531, about 40 miles east of Shreveport. The sheriff says the organizers are facing fines….
Cut 5 (12) “…situation happen.”
Parker says the people shot are in there 20s and 30s.
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Student attendance has become a key focus in Louisiana’s education system. BESE, the Louisiana Department of Education and the state Legislature are working to address rising truancy and chronic absenteeism. BESE Vice President Stacey Melerine (mel-uh-REEN) says in the 2023-24 school year, the truancy rate reached 41-percent, and students were absent an average of 11 days.
Cut 6 (09) “…grow as students.”
The LDOE’s Success Through Attendance Recovery, or STAR, Task Force, a multi-agency group, studied the issue and provided recommendations to BESE in December 2024. Melerine says the Task Force will address chronic absenteeism.
Melerine noted that while schools implement interventions, inconsistencies in data collection hinder statewide progress. The STAR Task Force’s 2024 report proposes several solutions, including requiring schools to monitor attendance data, creating a discretionary referral process for truancy cases, and formally defining chronic absenteeism
Cut 8 (13) “…the Governor’s office.”
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It’s going to warm up this weekend, but by no means should you be putting that winter jacket away just yet. Some parts of South Louisiana will see temperatures in the 70s this weekend. LSU Public Health Climatologist Barry Keim says then comes a big change.
Cut 9 (07) “…really cold air.”
How cold? Keim says it would cure any transplanted New Englander of homesickness.
And Keim says that brutal cold could be accompanied by some flaky white stuff.
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Federal prosecutors will not be pressing charges against the white police officers involved in the 2019 deadly arrest of Black driver Ronald Greene near Monroe. The Justice Department informed Greene’s family of its decision today. While federal charges appeared imminent when the FBI launched its probe in 2022, Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino says prosecutors ultimately decided that a conviction was no sure thing.
Ciolino says as a result, federal prosecutors closed the book on their investigation without bringing any charges.
Cut 13 (10) “…very close one.”
Ciolino says prosecutors reached their conclusion only after a very exhaustive investigation.
A Louisiana grand jury indicted five officers on state charges. One of them, Chris Hollingsworth, died in a car crash in 2020, hours after he was told he would be fired due to his role in Greene’s death. Most of those charges have been dropped; and now, only two officers are facing lesser charges. One pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery, and the other is expected to enter a similar plea soon. A civil suit against the officers is still pending.