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SHREVEPORT, La. (August 6, 2015) — Police in northwest Louisiana say an officer has died after being shot while on duty, and a manhunt for a suspect is under way. Shreveport police spokesman Bill Goodin tells The Associated Press that investigators believe they know who the suspect is and are obtaining a warrant for his arrest.

Public officials are in the process of eliminating Naegleria Fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba, from two drinking water supplies in Louisiana. Naegleria Fowleri was detected during routine tests last week at a utility district in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, roughly 25 miles from Baton Rouge. The water system serves roughly 1,800 throughout the rural town. Three other systems in the area were tested with negative results, according to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH). While officials say the water is safe for drinking, residents are urged to use caution with the water, not letting it get into their nose. Humans...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal canceled Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid contract with his state Monday, moving to strip the organization of funding in the wake of disturbing undercover videos that appeared to show employees haggling over selling fetal tissue obtained from abortions.Mr. Jindal said the videos showed Planned Parenthood workers admitting they engaged in late-term abortions and did them to try to leave fetus body parts as intact as possible so they could be sold later.He said his state health department believes Planned Parenthood’s local affiliates could be breaking laws that prohibit groups that take funding from encouraging women to have abortions.“Planned...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, is calling on mayors of sanctuary cities to be arrested as accomplices to the crimes illegal aliens receiving special treatment in their cities commit. “Absolutely, I would hold them as an accomplice,” Jindal said on Boston Herald Radio on Monday morning, as reported by BuzzFeed, Jindal said of mayors of sanctuary cities. “Make them criminally culpable. I’d also make them civilly liable so that families, victims’ families could sue. Especially if the prosecutor isn’t taking action or the mayor’s not changing their ways, I’d allow the families to go to court...

“I would hold them as an accomplice. Make them criminally culpable.” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told Boston Herald Radio on Monday morning that mayors of sanctuary cities should be arrested. “Absolutely, I would hold them as an accomplice. Make them criminally culpable,” the Republican presidential candidate said when asked if he’d arrest mayors of sanctuary cities . “I’d also make them civilly liable so that families, victim’s families could sue.

Stand-up comedian and actress Amy Schumer is teaming up with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer to call for tighter gun control. She will join the senator on Monday as he unveils a three-part plan that would make it harder for violent criminals and mentally ill to obtain guns. They cited the recent shooting in a Louisiana movie theater that killed two women and injured nine others during a screening of the movie "Trainwreck" starring Amy Schumer. Amy Schumer is the senator's cousin.

House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) had been planning to call up on the House floor last week a measure from Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) that would have removed him as Speaker of the House if it succeeded—intending to embarrass Meadows—but abandoned the plan after his entire leadership structure learned that they did not have the votes to re-elect him as Speaker before the August recess. “[House Majority Leader Kevin] McCarthy was making phone calls—he was whipping it—and so was [House Majority Whip] Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA),” a senior conservative movement leader who’s had many personal and direct discussions with...

In Louisiana, there’s a police officer who gets straight to the point. “Look at me, son. I’m talking to you…. We’re going to identify you, arrest you, and put you in a small cell. After that, I’m going to have a cheeseburger here – with fries and a Coke. And leave a nice tip for the waitress. Meanwhile, your next meal will be served through a small hole in a cell door.” His name is Lt. Clay Higgins, and he vowed to make a robber “famous” in a stark video taken at ABC affiliate KATC. After Stelly’s Supermarket and restaurant...

MEET Sidney Torres IV, the suave New Orleans businessman who is taking policing the city’s crime-ridden streets into his own hands. The wealthy real estate developer was sick of the painfully slow police response to widespread gunfights, theft and drug offences, so he created an Uber-style app to clean up his neighbourhood. He bought a fleet of black Polaris Rangers, fitted with blue flashing lights and iPads to deal with requests, and hired off-duty police officers as his team. The former waste disposal mogul, who managed a network of garbage trucks, told The New York Times: “I’m handling crime the...

Under resident Barack Obama's overhaul, taxpayers provided $2.4 billion in loans to get the co-ops going, but only one out of 23 -- the one in Maine -- made money last year ... Another one, the Iowa/Nebraska co-op, was shut down by regulators over financial concerns. The audit by the Health and Human Services inspector general's office also found that 13 of the 23 lagged far behind their 2014 enrollment projections. The probe raised concerns about whether federal loans will be repaid, and ... Just last week, the Louisiana Health Cooperative announced it would cease offering coverage next year

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gave a stern warning to Westboro Baptist Church members who had reportedly threatened to protest the funerals of the Lafayette movie theater victims. “Let me be very clear, if they come here to Louisiana and they try to disrupt those funerals, we're going to lock them up,” said Jindal. The funerals for Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson were held on Monday. Before that, Jindal issued an executive order asking police to enforce a Louisiana State law that protects against disturbing the peace at funerals. But, it did not have to be enforced...

Democrat John Bel Edwards, left, has taken the lead over Sen. David Vitter and the other Republicans in the race. A widely respected firm’s latest poll on the Louisiana governor's race — a poll The Independent obtained through a source before its public release — shows the lone Democrat in the contest, Amite state Rep. John Bel Edwards, with a six-point lead over previous (and, as conventional wisdom would have it) frontrunner U.S. Sen. David Vitter. Conducted sometime in late June by Market Research Insight, the respected and frequently used polling firm of Verne Kennedy, the poll shows Edwards with...

A man armed with an assault rifle opened fire at a crowded park in Desire Sunday (July 26), shooting at least four people, including a man left critically wounded, New Orleans police said. The attack came around 6:20 p.m., when Edith Sampson Playground Park at the corner of Piety and Treasure streets was crowded with family gatherings and several children were playing inside two inflatable "space walkers," witnesses said. "I was scared for my life," said one woman, who asked that her name be withheld for fear of retaliation. "All those children was out there. I just got down and...

Just two years after Obamacare’s implementation, a Louisiana nonprofit insurer that received nearly $66 million in taxpayer-funded loans is closing its doors.

After a gunman opened fire in a Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater last week, killing two people and injuring nine others, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is pushing back against repeated calls to strengthen gun control legislation. "These are sick people," Trump said of the shooter, John Russell Houser, who was reported to be mentally ill. "This has nothing to do with guns. This has to do with the mentality of these people." "I'm a big Second Amendment person. You need protection," the presidential hopeful added in a CNN interview Sunday. "This person from what I hear had a record of...

On July 24, the day after John Russell Houser allegedly used a handgun to kill two people in Lafayette, Louisiana, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley called on Congress to ban “the sale of assault weapons” and “[establish] a national gun registry.” He also said it is time to “[increase] inspections” on gun shops and mandate that gun owners lock up their guns in their homes.

John Russell Houser was deeply troubled long before he shot 11 people in a movie theater in Louisiana, but decades of mental problems didn't keep him from buying the handgun he used. Despite obvious and public signs of mental illness — most importantly, a Georgia judge's order committing him to mental health treatment against his will as a danger to himself and others in 2008 — Houser was able to walk into an Alabama pawn shop six years later and buy a .40-caliber handgun. [Snip] Court records reviewed by The Associated Press strongly suggest Houser should have been reported to...

John Russell "Rusty" Houser methodically shot 11 people in a Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater on Thursday night using a handgun he legally purchased from an Alabama pawn shop, authorities said Friday. Houser stood up in the theater where the comedy "Trainwreck" was showing and fired off one 10-round clip, Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craig said at a press conference. "This was slow and methodical," Gov. Bobby Jindal said. "This was not a single burst." Houser left the theater through a side door and headed toward his car, a 1995 Lincoln, but saw a police cruiser arrive in the parking lot,...

In the immediate aftermath of the Louisiana movie theater shooting last night, Governor Bobby Jindal and numerous other figures took to the media and urged America to pray for the victims and those affected. In the midst of all this, BuzzFeed News editor Rachel Zarrell tweeted out her frustration with gun violence, but then, she tweeted a message that struck a negative chord with viewers:(TWEET-AT-LINK)After a responder suggested that it might not be the right time to politicize the tragedy, Zarrell doubled down:(TWEETS-AT-LINK)[continued]

LAFAYETTE, La. — The man who killed two people and wounded nine others at a movie theater was so mentally ill and violent that years ago, his wife hid his guns and his family had him hospitalized against his will before obtaining a court order to keep him away. John Russel Houser, 59, stood up about 20 minutes into the "Trainwreck" movie and fired first at two people sitting in front of him, then aimed his handgun at others. Police said Friday they found 13 shell casings.