The DA in DeSoto Parish is expected to dismiss criminal charges against the Yogi and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary in Frierson this morning. Michelle Southern has that…:

CUT 1 (35) “reporting”

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The Louisiana Film Entertainment Association announces a plan to commission a study on the economic impact of Louisiana’s film tax credit incentive program. Scott Carwile reports…

Cut 2 (33) “reporting”

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The US House voted to give President Obama authority to train and arm Syrian rebels in the effort to defeat ISIL forces in the Middle East. Eric Gill has more…

Cut 3 (30) “reporting”

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The DA in DeSoto Parish is expected to dismiss criminal charges against the Yogi and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary in Frierson this morning. The state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries was trying to secure a court order to physically remove 9 exotic cats at the location citing safety concerns. But Yogie and Friends Executive Director Jenny Senier says they have tried extremely hard to comply:

Cut 4  (13)  “and we’ve done that”

DA Richard Johnson is quoted as saying they “don’t have a dog in the fight” between wildlife officials and the cat sanctuary. Senier says they are working very hard to make LDWF happy but their facility is perfectly safe…:

Cut 5  (13)  “we’ve gone above and beyond”

Senier says they’ve spent $10,000 since July working to upgrade the facility. She says since they’ve been operating in 2000 they have not had any problems that would create public safety concerns. Senier says the DA was set to evaluate a safety misdemeanor charge against the facility…:(LDWF still has the animals seized on paper and Senier says their legal team needs to decide where to go from here.)

Cut 6 (08)  “dismissed the charges”

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The NFL’s image is suffering because of the Ray Rice domestic abuse case and now Vikings star Adrian Peterson is facing child abuse charges. Saints Quarterback Drew Brees says unfortunately the perception is NFL players beat their wives and children but that’s only a handful of cases in a league that has 17-hundred players

CUT 7 (10) “your community”

Brees is considered one of the faces of the NFL. He says with the league is taking a lot of P-R hits, he understands the importance of demonstrating how to represent the NFL in a positive light on and off the field

CUT 8 (11)   “this position”

Brees says the Rice and Peterson cases provide examples for other players that there are consequences for poor decisions away from the field…

CUT 9 (11) “right path”  

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It’s a question many new parents deal with, should your children sleep in your bed? Jennifer Kelley, who is a pediatrics  instructor at the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, says an estimated 45-percent of families co-sleep. Kelley says proponents say it encourages breastfeeding and babies seem to sleep better, but she says it’s also dangerous

cut 10 (10)  “all night”

A study published in Pediatrics found 74-percent of deaths in babies younger than four months occurred in a bed-sharing situation.  Kelley recommends “room sharing,” which means having your baby in the same room and keeping him or her in a bassinet or crib for up to the first year of their life…

cut 11 (09) “baby safe ” 

Kelley says many parents have a difficult time deciding if they should have their child sleep in their bed, but she says the safest thing you can do is have the infant sleep right next to your bed….

cut 12 (07)  “that’s convenient”

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The Louisiana Film Entertainment Association announces a plan to commission a study on the economic impact of Louisiana’s film tax credit incentive program. The study is estimated to cost $150,000. LFEA President Will French hopes the results of this study will show what the program actually costs the state…

Cut 13 (09)  “hard to quantify”

The state commissions an analysis of the film tax credits every two years and their most recent study shows it costs the state about $4.35 for every dollars’ worth of credits collected. French says Louisiana Economic Development projects economic benefits by merely plugging in spending numbers. He says the state’s analysis doesn’t take into account tourism dollars the film industry brings in, among other factors…

Cut 14 (09)  “as a whole”

The group will launch a Kickstarter campaign later this month to help with the cost of the study. French says their study will look at every component that could be providing an economic benefit to the state because of the industry and try to account for what that benefit likely is…

Cut 15  (11)   “return on investment”

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The US House voted to give President Obama authority to train and arm Syrian rebels in the effort to defeat ISIL forces in the Middle East. The authorization passed on a 273-156 vote that crossed party lines. Republican Minden Congressman John Fleming is the only member of the Louisiana delegation to vote against the authorization. Fleming says he feels we are going down the wrong path in dealing with the militant group…

Cut 16  (12)   “and doctors”

Fleming says it would easily take two years to get any type of group trained just for the basic ability to fight. He says while training is taking place, ISIL forces will be adapting and gearing up. However, Republican Lafayette Congressman Charles Boustany, who voted in favor of the measure, says this is a necessary first step, although it is insufficient. He says we need a broader strategy that involes a coalition…

Cut 17  (10)   “coalition together”

Boustany says this first step will show America’s resolve and pull this coalition together. He says this will help the President have the necessary leverage to put this coalition in place to defeat ISIL…

Cut 18 (08)  “the United States”

Fleming feels this is a situation that US troops need to handle. He says if it is necessary to go in there after ISIL, then we need to acknowledge the truth: it will require boots on the ground. Fleming says this move to train Syrian rebels will not help us build a coalition…(The Senate is expected to vote on this measure today.)

cut 19 (09)  “to do that”

The US-House has passed three bills by Louisiana Congressman Charles Boustany that spotlight recent IRS controversies and would ultimately limit the power of the federal agency. Michelle Southern has that..:

CUT 1 (33) “reporting”

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A federal report indicates Louisiana’s prison population declined two-percent from 2012 to 2013, but the state still leads the nation for its incarceration rate. Jeff Palermo has the story…

CUT 2 (30) “reporting”

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The Shreveport Police Department says a man is in jail today for allegedly beating a child so badly he had to be hospitalized. Corporal Marcus Hines says school officials contacted authorities after the 5-year-old child arrived to class Tuesday…:

CUT 3 (08) “to a serious degree”

Hines says the allegation is that the suspect hit the child with a belt about 25 times which caused a significant amount of injuries..:

CUT 4 (11)  “hospitalized”

Hines says 23-year-old Frank Butler was arrested yesterday evening and booked with a single count of Second Degree Cruelty to a juvenile. The relationship between the child and the suspect is unknown at this time. Hines says the child is expected to recover. He says their are ways to legally discipline your child…:

CUT 5 (09) “for that here”

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The US-House has passed three bills by Louisiana Congressman Charles Boustany that spotlight recent IRS controversies and would ultimately limit the power of the federal agency. Boustany says House Republicans learned a woman was forwarding emails from her official email account to a personal account to conduct business. He says this should never be happening…:

CUT 6 (09)  “any official business”

Boustany, who is the chair of the oversight subcommittee of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, says safeguards must be put in place to ensure that the public’s trust is not breached. He says another issue he wanted to address was that some denials of tax exempt status were not subject to appeal which he think is wrong..:

CUT 7 (11) “certain organizations”

Boustany says the third bill would permit release of reports about investigations into unauthorized leaks of taxpayer information to the victims. He says Americans are demanding higher ethical standards from public servants and they plan to continue to expose the rot at the core of the IRS’s culture…:(The Senate still needs to approve the bills.)

CUT 8 (09) “and accountability”

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A federal report says Louisiana’s prison population fell two-percent last year, but the state still has the highest incarceration rate in the US, well ahead of Mississippi who is second. Doctor Peter Scharf, with the Justice and Public health institute at the LSU Health Science Center, says there’s a major effort to lower the prison population, but it will take time…

CUT 9 (07)  “….got involved”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Louisiana’s prison population in 2013 was at 39-thousand, a drop of nearly nine-hundred people from 2012. Scharf anticipates the state’s incarceration rate will continue to decline, but it will take time to get it at more acceptable level…

CUT 10 (10) “…very large’ “

Scharf says the department of corrections has put programs in place to help recently released inmates stay out of jail and there’s been a push to lower sentences for certain crimes. He says the mindset on how to punish criminals is changing and that should help lower the prison population…

CUT 11 (11) “…fix crime“

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Louisiana State Police say a man from Mississippi is dead after a head-on collision this morning involving a garbage truck. Spokesman Jared Sandifer says 23-year-old Cody Temple of McComb was traveling in East Feliciana Parish south of Clinton around 6am:

CUT 12 (13) “head on”

Sandifer says sadly Temple was not buckled up and was pronounced dead at the scene. He says the other driver is going to be okay…:

CUT 13 (08) “just minor injuries”

Sandifer says they are still working to determine other possible factors in the crash…:

cut 14 (08) “as we speak”