News for Friday 031513

By Dave Graichen

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a man shot by a Pineville Police Department officer last April. The story started when family members asked the Pineville PD for help in locating a family member , Carter Rhodes Jr., that after they had obtained an order of protective custody for Rhodes. Pineville PD report when they located Rhodes he charged them with a knife. An officer at the scene followed procedure and shot Rhodes. Authorities say video and physical evidence collected at the scene will prove the officer acted properly.

The weather promises to be perfect this weekend for the 28^th annual The Louisiana Nursery Festival in Forest Hill. A wide variety of shrubs and trees are available, as well as rose bushes, including the new disease-resistant Knock-Out Rose. Alongside those, there will be bedding plants. Gardening experts will be on site to answer questions. Plus, more than 50 vendors will be at the festival with handmade crafts. The festival runs today through Sunday.

The  Jindal  Administration  unveiled  its  tax reform plan to state lawmakers yesterday. On the upside, It would eliminate income  taxes. On the down side it would eliminate about 200  tax  breaks currently on the books. The  plan would raise the state sales tax from 4% to 5.88% on most purchases and  the cigarette tax would go from 36-cents a pack to $1.41.  The  plan would  include rebates for retirees making less than $60,000  and  low and  middle  income families. The proposed tax changes would go into effect January  1st  and  lawmakers will debate the reforms when the legislative session begins in April.

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s rejection of the federal Medicaid expansion could prove expensive to Louisiana businesses. Collective tax penalties for Louisiana employers potentially could range from $51.7 million to $77.5 million annually, based on the analysis by Jackson Hewitt, a national tax accountants’ company.

A clause in the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, penalizes some employers with 50 or more employees  when those workers aren’t able to obtain affordable medical coverage through their company. The employers don’t have to pay the penalty if their employees qualify for Medicaid expansion coverage. That is something the governor has so far refused to agree to.

In an effort  to  turn  things  around  in  failing  schools,  state superintendent  of  education  john  white  says  Louisiana will use $5million  in  federal  professional  development  funds   to  train

educators.  The  grants  will  reportedly  cover  a year of advanced training for the new school leaders.

The East Baton Rouge Metro  Council  has  approved a proposal to let casinos serve alcohol 24 hours a day. The panel voted, 7-4, with one abstention, in favor of creating a special  license for casinos that

will allow them to sell alcohol past 2am.

The US  Marshals  Service  added an escaped murdered who disappeared from a St. Gabriel women's prison  to  their 15 most wanted fugitive list today. Keana Barnes escaped January  1st.  She  was  serving 15 years on two counts of manslaughter.

Shreveport Police are seeking a man who stole car with a small child inside yesterday morning. They  report a mom was dropping one child off at daycare, and momentarily left her other child  in the back seat. The suspect jumped in her Mercedes sedan and roared  off.  Some  minutes later police received a call that the vehicle was stopped and  empty on  a  local  street  with  a  child  standing outside. The child is unhurt.  Police  are  searching  for the man,  who  they  think  was attacked by a dog, while escaping on foot.

A state lawmaker says someone is scamming  Louisianans  with a bogus website  that  solicits  money  in  exchange  for info on getting  a drivers license; info that is free, by the way.  Mandeville  Rep. Tim

Burns  says  "LouisianaDriversLicense.org"  is  a  private site that LOOKs  like  a  state  website,  but asks you for your credit  card information and $14..just to link  you  to  the REAL state Office of Motor Vehicles website. The legitimate state  website  address  is "expresslane.org"

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services is putting a  new initiative in place that focuses on creating lasting connections for  children who spend time in foster care. DCFS Secretary Suzy Sonnier says  the "Faith in Family Services" program has several goals. It’s hoped that within 12 months 75.2 percent of children in  foster care in the state will be reunified with their family -- which would equal the  national standard. She says one of their main goals is also to reduce  the number of children in foster care to start with.

The Louisiana Lottery says the estimated jackpot for the Saturday night  Powerball drawing is up to $216 million dollars. Kimberly Chopin says this is the second jackpot that's been up over $200 million  this year. She says the take home cash payout for Saturday night's  drawing is a nice chunk of change, $132.8 million. Before you get too giddy, keep in mind. there have only been 14 powerball winners in Louisiana since the state lottery joined in 1995. That’s less than one per year.

A Calcasieu Parish grand jury indicts nine people  in  a  string  of armed  robberies  of  Radio Shack stores in Lake Charles and Sulphur earlier this year. Some  of  the  nine are also suspected of robbing

Radio Shack's in east Texas.

Sports..

The LSU  men's  basketball  team  beat  Georgia 68-63 yesterday afternoon and will

advance to the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament.  The Tigers face Florida today. You can hear that game on ESPN1410.. Airtime 11:30 this morning.

The third ranked LSU Baseball team begins SEC play with a top-ten  match-up against eighth ranked Mississippi State. The three-game series  with the Bulldogs gets underway in Starkville at 6:30 tonight. Coach  Paul Mainieri is expecting close, hard-fought baseball games. You can hear tonight’s game beginning at 6 on 970 KSYL