LRN PM Newscall November 7

Attorney General Jeff Landry is tackling the opioid crisis saying he knows why there is a problem in Louisiana. Michelle Southern has that…:

Cut 1 (29) “I’m Michelle Southern”

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The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office is urging the community to come forward with any info into the death of a Gonzales man found dead on the street. Emelie Gunn has more…

Cut 2 (31) “I’m Emelie Gunn”

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The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to come forward with any information about the death of 44-year-old Brian Tumas who was found dead on the street where he lived. Sheriff Jeff Wiley says Tumas suffered significant trauma, was transported to a local hospital and died about 12 hours later.

Cut 3 (11) “his body”

But Wiley does say they are not ruling out any scenario. He says one theory is he was walking to his car on a foggy morning and was hit by a vehicle but there is some confusion because not much is known about Tumas’ life.

Cut 4  (11) “schedules” 

Wiley says police responded to the scene at around 4:45 am on Friday morning. He says Tumas lived with his parents in the senior citizen area of Pelican Point in Gonzales.

Cut 5  (09)  “about it.”

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State Attorney General Jeff Landry has announced a drug prescription takeback box is now available 24 hours a day at the Baton Rouge Police Department.  In making the announcement, Landry addressed the drug problem taxing the state.  He says statistics show the problem may be related to recent Medicaid expansion, which made Louisiana the 31st state to do so in 2016…

Cut 6 (10)  “Medicaid expansion.”

He says once Medicaid expansion was approved, it opened the door to allow many more opioids to become available to anyone who wants them…

Cut 7 (09) “for free.”

Landry hopes to be able to expand the prescription drug take back boxes to more places across the state.  They have placed a few others along the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain and the Shreveport area.  He says by teaming up with other law enforcement partners they are looking to take the program statewide …

Cut 8 (09) “the website.”

That website address is end-the-epidemic-l-a-dot-org.  There are currently 41 boxes in 32 parishes.  The Governor’s Communications Director Richard Carbo disagrees with Landry’s findings and says 14,000 people have already taken advantage of substance abuse treatment under Medicaid expansion…

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Louisiana’s Superintendent of Education John White released the annual school performance scores for the 2016-2017 year. White says the scores have remained steady for the third consecutive year. He says Louisiana fourth graders are showing the most improvement in reading and math.

Cut 9 (06)  “progress”

White also adds the percent of students scoring Mastery and above on LEAP English language arts and math tests has increased 13 percent since 2013. He says these are extremely important results that show our improvements as a state.

Cut 10 (09) “ever before”

This is the last year public schools with be graded on the state’s curve transition policy. White says unfortunately, 272 schools statewide received D of F grades for three straight years or saw high school graduation rates less than 67-percent. He says all improvements starts with an awareness of where there have been successes and challenges.

Cut 11 (10) “education”

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The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office says this morning’s deadly shooting in Central was the result of a domestic murder suicide. EBRSO spokeswoman Casey Hicks…:

Cut 12 (06) “on himself”

The victim is identified as 24-year-old Alyssa Kanouse. The ex-boyfriend as 31-year-old Larry Warino Jr of Lafayette. Hicks says Kanouse was found dead inside a silver sedan, and Warino was found dead in a white one..:

Cut 13 (05)  “suicide”

Warino is listed as a legislative aide for Lafayette Representative Stuart Bishop of Lafayette. Hicks says it’s unfortunate to see an increase in domestic incidents like this which result in the loss of life…:

Cut 14 (08)  “report it”

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