A long overdue honor for a Louisiana military hero killed in action eight decades ago. Kace Kieschnick reports.
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President Trump has threatened to phase out FEMA following the current hurricane season. Governor Landry was asked if that would really happen. Jeff Palermo has more.
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An Iranian woman taken by ICE from her New Orleans home last month is back home. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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A long overdue honor for a Louisiana military hero who was killed in action more than eight decades ago. Marine Private First Class Harry LeBert was killed in June of 1944 during World War Two. However, Louisiana V-A Secretary Charlton Meginley says his remains went unidentified for many years.
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LeBert’s remains were transferred to the Philippines in the 1950s; and three years ago, they were transferred again to Hawaii, where forensic scientists conducted DNA testing. With 95-percent of LeBert’s remains intact, that helped scientists conclusively put LeBert’s name with the body. Meginley says LeBert was interred July 2nd at Southwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery.
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Meginley says while the LeBert family finally got the closure that it had been waiting for, countless others are still waiting.
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The FEMA Review Council, which is looking to make major reforms to the federal disaster response agency, held its second meeting in New Orleans. Last month, President Trump said he wants to phase out FEMA after the current hurricane season. Governor Jeff Landry, who attended yesterday’s meeting, says the President’s goal is to have a competent and functional agency whether that’s FEMA or something else.
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Reforms were made to FEMA following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. But Landry says the agency still requires too much red tape when it comes to providing financial relief following a natural disaster.
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Landry says local governments and residents should not have to wait years for FEMA to distribute disaster aid.
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Colorado State University researchers have decreased their hurricane season forecast. Experts are now predicting 16 named storms, including eight hurricanes and three major hurricanes, one less than the school’s initial prediction for each category. C-S-U lead researcher Phil Klotzbach credits wind shear in the Caribbean.
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Researchers still predict slightly above average activity due to warm Atlantic temperatures and other conditions conducive to hurricane formation and intensification. Klotzbach says the wind shear and Saharan dust have deterred tropical formation so far this summer.
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Researchers now say there’s a 31-percent chance of a major hurricane making landfall along the Gulf Coast. Klotzbach says Colorado State will release its final forecast August 6th, when activity historically ramps up.
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A 64-year-old Iranian woman taken from her New Orleans home by ICE agents last month is back home. Masked men wearing tactical gear took Donna Kashanian (ka-SHAHN-ee-in) from her home on June 22nd while she was gardening. It happened in the wake of the U.S. bombing Iranian targets. Kashanian was set to be deported to Iran; but on Monday, she was released following national outcry and outreach from elected officials from both parties, including New Orleans Republican State Representative Stephanie Hilferty.
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Hilferty says those letters of support described how much of an upstanding member of the community Kashanian is.
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Kashanian first came to the U.S. in 1978 on a student visa and applied for asylum after the shah was overthrown a year later. She eventually was allowed to remain in the U.S. as long as she checked in with immigration authorities, which she never failed to do. She married her husband in 1990, and the couple raised a daughter. Hilferty says now that Kashanian is back home, she wants to make sure she stays home.
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The Pelicans tip off Summer League action in Las Vegas today at 2:30 against the Timberwolves. The New Orleans summer league roster is headlined by first-round duo Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen, and last year’s first-rounder Yves Missi. McNeese forward Christian Shumate played against Fears in high school.
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Shumate, a Chicago native, spent four years in Lake Charles, where he helped revitalize the Cowboys program along with coach Will Wade. Shumate helped McNeese to back-to-back tournament appearances and signed to the Pels Summer League roster after graduating.
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The Pelicans also signed former LSU center Will Baker to the Summer League squad.