A Denham Springs man is behind bars after a missing massage therapist’s body was discovered in a vacant building. Michelle Southern has more…
Cut 1 (29) “I’m Michelle Southern”
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Bills heading to the governor’s desk will implement the criminal justice reform lawmakers promised at the start of the regular session. Jeff Palermo has more…
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Livingston Parish Sheriff deputies arrest a Denham Springs man following the discovery of a missing massage therapist’s body in an abandoned building. Sheriff Jason Ard says 24-year-old Kayla Ann Denham of Baton Rouge never returned from a home visit in Denham Springs, where she was meeting first-time client Christopher Landry for a massage. Ard says detectives searched the residence near where the girl’s vehicle was found.
The 22-year-old Landry is booked at the Livingston Parish Detention Center for obstruction of justice and second degree murder. Ard says the charges could be upgraded as the investigation unfolds. He says the victim did not know the suspect, and this was the first time they had met.
Ard says they still have a lot of unanswered questions and the investigation is ongoing. He asks the public to keep the family of the victim in their thoughts during this difficult time.
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Bills seeking to reform the state’s criminal justice system are heading to the governor’s desk. The measures implement sentencing reform for some offenders and offer parole eligibility for more inmates. Prairieville Representative Tony Bacala spoke in opposition because he says the state’s high incarceration rate is driven by crime.
But Houma Representative Tanner Magee disagrees. Supporters of the governor’s criminal justice reform package say it will help reduce the state’s inmate population by 10-percent over the next decade. Magee says these bills will do just that.
One measure would provide parole eligibility for about 160 murderers convicted in the 1970s. Magee says the law at the time said these offenders would have parole eligibility after 20 years. He says the legislature later removed that eligibility, and this measure simply rights that wrong.
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Students with disabilities will now be protected from corporal punishment in public schools after a measure to prohibit the spanking of children with ADHD and other developmental disabilities received final legislative approval. Mom of an autistic child in St. Charles Parish, Allison Badgerow, says teachers physically restraining her son to say the pledge of allegiance significantly set him back.
Badgerow says in a school where physical punishments were allowed, her son was showing violent behaviors. But she says her family moved to another town where corporal punishment is not permitted and her son is thriving.
Michelle Hurst with the Louisiana Developmental Disabilities Council also voiced her support for the measure. She says often times students with limited social or communication skills possess more intense and challenging behaviors.
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A bill to allow public school students to bring sunscreen to school and apply it themselves without a doctor’s note heads to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. Sarah Gray of Baton Rouge who heads a skin cancer awareness foundation advocated for the passage of this bill because it protects our kids.
Gray says studies have found the regular use of sunscreen can significantly reduce someone’s risk of skin cancer.
Gray says along with hats, sunglasses, and long sleeve shirts, it’s sunscreen that protects us for damaging UV rays.
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