Military leaders are ready to begin tearing down the remaining walls that have prevented women from holding thousands of combat and special operations jobs near the front lines.More >>
Military leaders are ready to begin tearing down the remaining walls that have prevented women from holding thousands of combat and special operations jobs near the front lines.More >>
Tuesday, June 18 2013 1:05 PM EDT2013-06-18 17:05:02 GMT
A driver trapped by a falling tree crashing down on his car as he headed down the road in Minden early Tuesday morning has been freed and rushed to the hospital.More >>
A driver trapped by a falling tree crashing down on his car as he headed down the road in Minden early Tuesday morning has been freed and rushed to the hospital.More >>
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
Editor's Note: While this report deals only with portable toilets, WAFB will air a report Thursday at 10pm that examines all costs associated with food stamp distribution sites including catering of meals for state employees. That report will also be posted on wafb.com.
Hundreds of temporary toilets set up for one week at food stamp distribution sites for East Baton Rouge Parish recipients will cost taxpayers $360,214, according to records examined by the 9News I-Team.
The state only had a few days to set up six locations for people in East Baton Rouge Parish to sign up for emergency food stamps after Hurricane Isaac. The program is known as DSNAP.
In setting up the program, Louisiana's Department of Children & Family services were on a mission to drastically improve services from the level where they were four year prior, following Hurricane Gustav. That's when there were extremely long lines and few restroom facilities at many distribution sites. The fiasco, in 2008, eventually led to the resignation of the head of that state agency.
Workers say the improvements they made this time around were tremendous and led to most recipients being serviced in less than 30 minutes. "What you saw was a smooth operation," said Children and Family services spokesman Trey Williams.
Four of the six distribution sites for East Baton Rouge Parish already had working permanent restrooms so not as many portable toilets were needed at those locations. The state sent a dozen or fewer toilets to each of those locations. However, 82 temporary toilets were sent to the former Walmart in Baker and 112 were delivered to the Old Sam's Club on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge. Neither of those locations had permanent toilets available, Williams said.
"In sheltering, we do one toilet for every 25 people in the site," Williams said. "For DSNAP, we actually raised that to one toilet for every 35 people."
Williams says contracts for items like temporary toilets are put in place many months in advance to make sure the items are available when needed and can be delivered with very short notice.
Tuesday, June 18 2013 1:05 PM EDT2013-06-18 17:05:02 GMT
A driver trapped by a falling tree crashing down on his car as he headed down the road in Minden early Tuesday morning has been freed and rushed to the hospital.More >>
A driver trapped by a falling tree crashing down on his car as he headed down the road in Minden early Tuesday morning has been freed and rushed to the hospital.More >>
Tuesday, June 18 2013 7:33 AM EDT2013-06-18 11:33:55 GMT
A lane on Westbound I-20 in Bossier City has been reopened between Old Minden Road and Airline Drive following multiple accidents Tuesday morning.More >>
A lane on Westbound I-20 in Bossier City has been reopened between Old Minden Road and Airline Drive following multiple accidents Tuesday morning.More >>
Monday, June 17 2013 9:59 PM EDT2013-06-18 01:59:19 GMT
LYNCHBURG, VA (RNN) – Kimberly Burke is used to capturing emotion. As a wedding photographer, she has an eye for tender moments, like the photo she snapped of a Marine and his bride praying that has goneMore >>
A quiet moment captured before a couple wed has brought collective "awws" by millions on the internet.More >>
Monday, June 17 2013 8:50 AM EDT2013-06-17 12:50:06 GMT
An animal lover has been hailed a hero after he wrestled a suffocating cat from the squeeze of a boa constrictor with his bare hands. The unidentified man was alerted to the distressing scene after heMore >>
Incredible footage shows a man managing to pry a startled cat out of the suffocating clutch of a boa constrictor. Andres Gonzalez captured the footage on his cell phone in Costa Rica.More >>
Tuesday, June 18 2013 4:10 PM EDT2013-06-18 20:10:44 GMT
WWL-TV reports there has been a possible explosion in Washington Parish early Tuesday morning. The station stated on its website officials are on their way to the town of Isabel to investigate. According toMore >>
There was a gas line explosion early Tuesday morning, according to Washington Parish Sheriff Randy Seal. The gas fire is out, but trees in the area are still burning. More >>
Monday, June 17 2013 9:54 PM EDT2013-06-18 01:54:17 GMT
Last night was the 62nd annual Miss USA pageant held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Contestants from all 50 states and territories of the Unites States went heel to heel on stage at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. Miss Connecticut, Erin Brady, ended up walking away with the grand title of Miss USA, but it was Miss Utah who really stood out from the rest of the competitors.More >>
Last night was the 62nd annual Miss USA pageant held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Contestants from all 50 states and territories of the Unites States went heel to heel on stage at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. Miss Connecticut, Erin Brady, ended up walking away with the grand title of Miss USA, but it was Miss Utah who really stood out from the rest of the competitors.More >>
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