Cleanup and restoration is underway following Hurricane Barry. Kevin Barnhart has the story.

cut  2 (30) I’m Kevin Barnhart”  

Ascension Parish President Kenny Mattassa is getting some flak for riding out Hurricane Barry in Las Vegas. Mattassa flew out of town for a previously scheduled conference in the desert, one day after declaring a state of emergency in his parish. Mattassa defended the decision saying “The only thing I could have done was fill sandbags, which I couldn’t do because of my back problems.”

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Police are hunting suspects in the murder of Baton Rouge African American History Museum founder Sadie Roberts-Joseph, who was found dead in the trunk of a car from asphyxiation. The Capital City icon was found dead three days ago, and Baton Rouge Police spokesperson Sgt. L’Jean McKneely says they were tipped off as to her whereabouts earlier Friday.

Cut 13 (11) “…the car”

Roberts-Joseph was 75.

Longtime Ruston Daily Leader sports editor Buddy Davis passed away over the weekend at the age of 72. Lousiana Tech sports information director Malcolm Butler says Davis spent five decades covering sports in Lincoln Parish

Cut 10 (08) “…national standpoint.”

Davis covered icons like Terry Bradshaw and Karl Malone, the great Louisiana Tech women’s basketball teams and Grambling State’s coach Robinson. 

A jury recommends the death penalty for the gunman in a 2015 shooting death of a state trooper in Calcasieu Parish. Matt Doyle has the story.

Cut 1 (30) “I’m Matt Doyle”

New details released by the East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office Monday suggest beloved Baton Rouge activist 75-year-old Sadie Roberts-Joseph, whose body was found in the trunk of her own vehicle Friday, died by asphyxiation. Despite the storm, detectives spent the weekend chasing possible leads and conducting interviews. Investigators still have no possible suspects nor a motive in the killing.

People around Louisiana are surveying the aftermath of Hurricane Barry today.  Many are feeling they dodged a bullet.  The main issue facing homes and businesses is power outages.  Cleco spokesperson Jennifer Cahill says Iberia Parish and St. Mary Parish were among the hardest hit with power outages.

Cut 9 (08) “…St. Mary Parishes.”

Cleco has about 17,000 still without power. Entergy has 24,000 customers without power.

Longtime Ruston Daily Leader sports editor Buddy Davis passed away over the weekend at the age of 72. Davis was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and enshrined into the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013. Louisiana Tech sports information director Malcolm Butler says David had the ability to make everyone feel like a hall of famer…

Cut 12 (10) “…made up Buddy.”

People around Louisiana are surveying the aftermath of Hurricane Barry today, with many feeling they dodged a bullet.  Director of the St. Mary Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness David Naquin says many were spared from flooding, but some weren’t so lucky.

Cut 7 (12) “…it as well.”

Heavy rain has set up over central Louisiana, with reports of homes being flooded in Avoyelles, and now Pointe Coupee Parishes.

The main issue facing homes and businesses is power outages.  Entergy has 24,000 customers without power, down from 89,000.  Cleco crews are entering their second day of restoration, with about 17,000 still without power.  Cleco spokesperson Jennifer Cahill.

Cut 8 (11) “…to our customers.”

Iberia and St. Mary Parish were hardest hit.

Legendary Ruston Daily Leader sports editor Buddy Davis passed away over the weekend. Davis covered Eddie Robinson and his championship Grambling State football teams, even at a time when many disapproved, but Louisiana Tech sports information director Malcolm Butler Davis Buddy wasn’t afraid to do it.

Cut 11 (12) “…Louisiana Tech is”

Davis was 72.

A jury recommends the death penalty for 57-year-old Kevin Daigle, convicted in the “cold blooded”2015 ambush shooting death of a State Trooper in Calcasieu Parish. Calcasieu District Attorney John DeRosier says the jury was moved by testimony from Vincent’s family about the trooper’s last moments…

Cut 4 (13) “…house.”

It took less than 15 minutes for the jury to agree to the death penalty.

Most of Louisiana appears to have dodged a bullet from once Hurricane Barry, and Governor Edwards says the state will begin ramping down it’s state of emergency activities. Edwards thanked the emergency personnel who rose to the occasion during the storm…

Cut 11 (08) “parishes” AM

Heavy rain bands have set up over parts of central Louisiana today, in Avoyelles Parish 10 homes have been flooded and a person had to be rescued out of their home in Bunkie.

A jury recommends the death penalty for 57-year-old Kevin Daigle, convicted in the ambush and shooting death of a State Trooper in 2015. Calcasieu District Attorney John DeRosier says it’s the first time in his 14 years as DA that he’s stuck with a death penalty request.

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Daigle was caught on dashcam footage blasting Trooper Steven Vincent with a sawed-off shotgun.

Longtime Ruston Daily Leader sports editor Buddy Davis passed away over the weekend at the age of 72. Lousiana Tech sports information director Malcolm Butler says Davis spent five decades covering sports in Lincoln Parish.

Cut 10 (08) “…national standpoint.”

Davis covered icons like Terry Bradshaw and Karl Malone, and the great Louisiana Tech women’s basketball teams.

People around Louisiana are surveying the aftermath of Hurricane Barry today and Director of the St. Mary Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness David Naquin says the parish did not receive the copious amounts of rain forecasters expected, but they did get dumped on a good bit yesterday afternoon.

Cut 6 (10) “…before that hit.”

The main issue facing homes and businesses in the parish is power outages.

Barry did not deliver a blow to Louisiana that forecasters were predicting. Jeff Palermo looks at what happens….

Cut 1 (30) “I’m Jeff Palermo.”

Friday there were serious concerns that some levees in New Orleans may have difficulty handling the storm, but Governor Edwards says the upgraded levee system held up.

Cut 10 (10) “…well.”

Entergy is hoping to have power restored in the next 48 hours to those that were affected by the storm. This morning they reported that 31-thousand customers were still without power, down from the peak of 89-thousand customers. They are having to rebuild poles, wires and substations that were damaged.  Entergy has approximately 4-thousand worker restoring power. They are facing challenges accessing roadways in Assumption. Lafourche, St. Mary and Terrbonne Parishes due to high water. Cleco is reporting approximately 23-thousand without power still this morning, down from 63-thousand and they have 14-hunderd contractors working to restore power.The hardest hit areas for Cleco is St Mary and Iberia Parishes.

SEC football Media Days begin today in Hoover, Alabama. Braden Gall covers college football for Athlon Sports and ESPN-U Radio and he says LSU will be good on defense once again, but the play at quarterback could be the best it’s been at LSU in a long time…
cut 8 (08) “…you games”

Barry is now a tropical depression in Arkansas but state State Climatologist Barry Keim says you have to forgive forecasters for using the information available and predicting a Category One hurricane would make landfall in southwest Louisiana four days before it actually happened…

Cut 6 (12) “…this event”.

Keim says forecasters use multiple models in order to come up with a rainfall prediction, but in this case, they were not accurate

The system knocked out power all along the coast as hurricane and tropical storm force winds knocked down power lines. Governor Edwards says the final numbers were substantial.

Cut 12 (08) “…once”

The majority of those outages occurred in coastal parishes.

SEC Media Days kicks off in Birmingham, Alabama today, Braden Gall covers college football for Athlon Sports and ESPN-U Radio. Gall says Alabama goes in as the preseason favorite in the SEC West again. Texas A-and-M is facing a difficult schedule, so Gall believes Auburn could be the other team that challenges the Crimson tide for SEC West supremacy.

Cut 9 (10) “…who knows”

LSU receives a grant worth nearly $400-thousand from the Institute of Museum and Library Science to creation virtual footlockers.  Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science Ed Benoit says while the project is focusing on vets of the 21^st century, they hope to expand the scope of the project.

Cut 15 (09) “…help them too.”

Barry is a tropical depression in Arkansas this morning after dumping several inches of rain, knocking out power and producing some flooding along the coast. But Barry didn’t live up to projections of major flooding, of 15 to 20 inches of rain. State Climatologist Barry Keim says you can thank wind shear that the models didn’t take into account…

Cut 4 (12) “       storm” 

Most of Louisiana appears to have dodged a bullet from once Hurricane Barry, and Governor Edwards says the state will begin ramping down its state of emergency activities. Governor Edwards thanked the emergency personnel who rose to the occasion during the storm. He says operations took place in a number of locations.

Cut 11 (08) “parishes”

Today is the first day of SEC Media Days. LSU Coach Ed Orgeron will speak to hundreds of reporters today. Braden Gall covers college football for Athlon Sports and ESPN-U Radio. He says LSU and Florida are two dark horses to make the college football playoff.

Cut 7 (12) “…that point”

LSU receives a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Science in an effort to tell the stories of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and active duty military through the creation of virtual footlockers.  Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science Ed Benoit  says footlockers would include social media posts, digital photos, videos, emails, and stories from the troops.

Cut 14 (07) “…create the application..”

Barry is bringing Louisiana one last big rain storm as a heavy rain band is sweeping across south Louisiana this morning after dumping a couple of inches of rain in Alexandria during the overnight hours. Barry did not deliver on predicted rainfall totals of 10 to 20 inches. State Climatologist Barry Keim says forecasters use multiple models, but they were not accurate this time…
cut 5 (10) “…snake eyes”
No other storms are in Louisiana’s near future as the tropics are quiet.

SEC football Media Days begin today in Hoover, Alabama. Braden Gall covers college football for Athlon Sports and ESPN-U Radio and he says LSU will be good on defense once again, but the play at quarterback could be the best it’s been at LSU in a long time…
cut 8 (08) “…you games”

Houma police say two of their officers were shot at while conducting storm damage assessment yesterday afternoon. Authorities say several shots were fired at the officers from a burgundy colored sedan that officers returned fire at. No officers were hurt. A man was dropped off by a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound and it could be related to the exchange of gunfire.

LSU receives a grant for a project focusing on the preservation of photos, videos, emails, and social media posts of 21st century veterans. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 3 (32) “,,.I’m Kevin Barnhart”