“It appears that he was traveling at 58 mph on Main Street; and in that particular area where the accident was caused, the speed limit was 30 mph,” Watts noted.

Corporal Watts says while it’s unknown exactly why Murphy was driving so fast on that downtown street, evidence shows that he was not sober at the time.

“Detectives were able to obtain a search warrant for a blood draw on Mr. Murphy; and as a result, he is facing charges for driving while intoxicated,” Watts explained.

Watts says Murphy, who played in five games at running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 following his career at LSU, is facing several charges.

“Driving While Intoxicated, two counts of vehicular homicide, reckless operation of a vehicle, first-degree vehicular injury,” Watts said.

The Rayville native played at LSU from 2007 until 2010. His best season with LSU was his first season, during which he gained 304 all-purpose yards — 230 rushing and 74 receiving — and scored two rushing touchdowns in helping the Tigers win the national championship.

“They’re going to be here for one or two nights. They’re going to stay in a hotel or an Airbnb or an RV spot. They’re going to eat in our restaurants; they’re going to shop in our shops. We’ve got a great downtown, so people love to come and be a part of it,” Walker said.

13 of the 16 schools in C-USA when Tech joined in 2013 have already departed, including three the Bulldogs now join in the Sun Belt. The LA Tech football team traveled nearly 8,000 miles last season, but Walker says that, with the Sun Belt’s regionality, those days are over.

“Fans of Tech can also travel, because the teams we are playing are so much closer than Delaware or wherever,” Walker noted.

Tech joins the Sun Belt West division with historic rivals ULM, UL Lafayette and Southern Miss. LA Tech Athletic Director Ryan Ivey said the school has already seen a $150,000 increase in season ticket sales year-to-date, and Walker expects the city to feel a similar effect.

“We’ve got regional rivalries. It’s a great conference. They do a fantastic job; so, from a city standpoint, we just couldn’t be happier with the move,” Ivey said.

“When you’ve got an in-state vehicle without liability insurance, law enforcement can impound that vehicle, so really it just applies the law equally to Louisiana drivers and out-of-state drivers,” Firment explained.

Firment says the issue of uninsured vehicles continues to be a problem in Louisiana, and it’s not just vehicles registered to in-state drivers.

“We’ve got a really high number of out-of-state vehicles from Mississippi and Texas and Arkansas that do not carry mandatory liability insurance that their states require,” Firment noted.

Firment says this law is also intended to lower auto insurance rates.

“These uninsured, out-of-state vehicles are getting in accidents with Louisiana drivers, and we’re having to file claims against our uninsured motorist coverage; and that’s driving up rates for Louisiana drivers,” Firment said.

“He doesn’t have any name recognition; he’s likely not going to have any money. The national party’s not going to invest in him because they don’t think he probably has a chance based on past performance,” Cross explained.

There are still four months before we get to the November general election. Cross says Letlow will spend this time making sure Republican voters are fully behind her.

“I think the main thing to do would be to go around and reassure people, try to pull the Fleming people behind her. There are a lot of people who voted against her,” Cross noted.

Letlow defeated John Fleming 57% to 43% in the Republican Party primary runoff. President Trump’s endorsement of Letlow was a key factor in her getting the Republican nomination, and Cross expects the President will be involved in the general election race.

“He put a lot of energy into her; taped a couple of live things with her, was on the interview; 100,000 people heard the interview that he was on. So it’s possible that he’s going to continue to invest some energy in her and try to get her launched,” Cross said.

“That kind of backlogged high school kids, and there were some high school kids that probably would have signed with D-I schools that the opportunities just weren’t there,” said Butler.

While it likely won’t affect the nation’s top recruits, low-star and zero-star prospects may lose their spots on top programs to older athletes. Butler said modern coaches value collegiate experience and immediate impact over player development.

“Whether that’s junior college, whether that’s the D-II level, whether that’s a Division I school, if they’ve got an opportunity to recruit them out of the portal over maybe a high school kid, that’s usually the way they’re going to lean,” said Butler.

Recent cuts to NCAA roster limits won’t help high school athletes either. Butler spoke with LA Tech football coach Sonny Cumbie and Ruston High School coach Jerrod Baugh, who both agreed the new rules will put a strain on the next few years of recruiting. Butler said impacts are already being felt.

“Some of these high school kids who had committed have now been contacted by those schools,” said Butler. “Basically, the school’s telling them hey, we don’t have a scholarship for you anymore.”

“The judge agreed with them and disqualified that firm from the case, and because of that, that also dissolved the temporary restraining order,” Wall said.

Landry’s plan reduces funding that public schools would use for operational costs by $168 million. Instead, the money will be used to give teachers a $2,000 stipend and a $1,000 stipend for school support staff. Wall said the plan results in a reduction of 4% or more in state funding for local school systems.

“They’re going to have to find savings at the local level to kind of make up for that money,” said Wall.

Wall said the plaintiffs went to court on Monday ready to argue the Legislature and the state board of education have jurisdiction over public school funding, not the governor. Landry’s plan is set to take effect on July first. Wall said the plaintiffs have a short time to react to Monday’s court ruling

“There is a possibility they could try to file another motion, kind of bring in a different law firm and try again, but definitely, they’re racing against the clock right now,” said Wall.

Judge Moore did not rule on whether Landry has the legal authority to reallocate public school education funding. The lawsuit was basically dismissed after it was determining the law firm the plaintiffs hired can not be involved in litigation against the state when they are representing Louisiana in another case.

“He shouldn’t have any problems getting re-elected. This was, if anything, a boost to his stature,” Sadow noted.

There were reports the Senate Republican Primary runoff could be a nail biter, but Letlow won by 14 percentage points. Fleming’s campaign strategist, Roy Fletcher, told Talk Louisiana on WRKF, the Letlow campaign spent a lot on advertising in the days leading up to the run-off election.

“I think we spent about a million dollars in the runoff, and they probably spent $12 million. All of the groups together, had so much mail that were coming from groups that I had never heard of,” Fletcher said.

Despite the defeat, Fletcher says Fleming ran a good campaign, and just missed hitting a home run.

“I guess we hit a double in this. We got into the runoff, which surprised the hell out of a lot of people,” Fletcher noted.

“A lot of people have started to gut their homes; see all their precious things they’ve worked all their lives for, just thrown away,” Frank said.

Frank says more than 1,500 households in the parish have reported flood damage. He they’ve placed 120 displaced residents in hotel rooms or in RVs at the Paragon Casino, with the state picking up the tab.

“I’ve had quite a few people come and either assigned a hotel room to them or an RV, and I almost want to cry for them and with them; it’s just so sad,” Frank noted.

Frank says they’re winding down the emergency supply distribution centers.

“All the distribution of items in the Moreauville area pretty much have shut down. We still have one going in Plaucheville, and in Dupont,” Frank explained.

Those with damage are strongly encouraged to document all of it at damage.la.gov, in order to bolster the state’s quest to secure a federal disaster declaration.

LDI to Provide Insurance Assistance in Avoyelles Parish for Tropical Storm Arthur Recovery June 29 – July 2

“We have been trying to isolate and reduce our search area and believe that the cell we have to search makes up nearly half an acre,” Morse said.

Officials searching will wear fully insulated suits due to the threat of hazardous gases. Fire Chief Michael Kimble says the safety of the men and women conducting the search is a top priority.

“Every dump has every household, human waste, you name it; as you all know, it’s a nasty environment that these men and women are going to be put into to conduct this search,” Kimble said.

The physical search is expected to begin July 13 after extensive planning. Kimbell says the search will be conducted entirely by hand and compares the process to combing through the wreckage of 9/11. He says it could take several weeks.

“It’s going to take quite some time. How long it’s going to take, we don’t know. But we’re going to encounter every opportunity and flip every coin we have in that pile until we realize we can’t go no more,” Kimble said.

Police believe Minnieweather was beaten to death and picked up on a routine collection route to the landfill. 51-year-old Maurice Parms was arrested and faces a first-degree murder charge. He has not provided any information on the location of the remains.

“A lot of these projects just get added in, in a bulk set of amendments; they don’t seem to go through any kind of public vetting process or discussion of the needs of the state on a statewide holistic basis,” Deslatte said.

Deslatte points out that unlike last year, when Landry’s vetoes were aimed at his fellow Republicans, namely those who voted against his signature insurance reform measure, this year’s vetoes were aimed at Democratic districts.

“There are a lot of vetoes of projects, particularly in New Orleans, that seem to have taken quite the brunt of a lot of these vetoes, but also in the Baton Rouge area as well,” Deslatte noted.

Unlike other vetoes that Landry issued, which were accompanied by letters explaining his reasons for those vetoes, Landry’s letter only listed the line items he was vetoing and offered no explanation. Deslatte says that leaves people to speculate that Landry only did this for political retaliation; and if that’s indeed the case, Landry would by no means be the first governor to take this approach.

“A lot of times, varying from governor to governor, there are always claims that this is political retaliation for specific votes that individual legislators took, or retaliation because of a legislator’s political party affiliation,” Deslatte explained.