Embarking on a senior season far different than his first three, McNeese's Khalil Thomas still plans to attack

It was in “Little League,” Khalil Thomas says. “I was a safety, maybe,” Thomas remembers. “Wasn’t for long.” In addition to those ambiguous duties in the secondary, Thomas began to return kicks on this peewee team. Coaches noted he was the fastest child on the field. “They took me off of defense,” Thomas says, “and they just wanted the ball in my hands. Told me to never tackle anyone and get hurt.” This...

US court upholds ban on gun sales to marijuana card holders

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal government ban on the sale of guns to medical marijuana card holders does not violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court said Wednesday. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applies to the nine Western states that fall under the court's jurisdiction, including California, Washington and Oregon. It came in a lawsuit filed by S. Rowan Wilson, a Nevada...

Searchers respond to midair aircraft collision in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Searchers are responding to a midair collision of two small commercial airplanes carrying a total of five people in western Alaska. Alaska National Guard officials say the collision occurred 60 miles north of Bethel just before 11 a.m. Wednesday. There's no immediate word on casualties. Officials say the planes involved in the crash are a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan carrying...

Trump says he and Mexican leader discussed wall, not payment

MEXICO CITY -- Standing alongside the president of Mexico, a measured Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the right of the United States to build a massive border wall along its southern flank, but he declined to repeat his frequent promise to force Mexico to pay for it. Trump, the U.S. presidential candidate who is widely despised across Mexico, also sidestepped his repeated criticism of Mexican immigrants...

2 months later, flood-ravaged West Virginia town rebuilds

RAINELLE, W.Va. -- Two months after a freak storm flooded homes and killed 23 people in West Virginia, residents in impoverished Rainelle curl up in tents and campers at night while their homes are gutted during the day. Spray-painted X's on the front doors of damaged homes are a constant reminder of the frantic searches for survivors after nearly a foot of rain fell in less than 12 hours, stranding...

Chris Stapleton, Maren Morris, Eric Church lead CMA nods

NEW YORK -- Chris Stapleton, Eric Church and budding newcomer Maren Morris are the leaders at the 2016 Country Music Association Awards. The three performers received five nominations each Wednesday. The awards show, in its 50th year, will air live Nov. 2 on ABC in Nashville, Tennessee at the Bridgestone Arena. Stapleton is nominated for entertainer of the year along with Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks,...

Historic commercial flight from US lands in Cuba

SANTA CLARA, Cuba -- The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century landed in the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War. Cheers broke out in the cabin of JetBlue flight 387 as the plane touched down. Passengers — mostly airline executives, U.S. government officials and...

Hurricane weakens as it nears Hawaii's Big Island

HILO, Hawaii -- Merchants boarded up shop windows Wednesday along Hilo Bay, and shoppers snatched supplies of food and water from grocery store shelves as what could be the first hurricane to hit Hawaii in a quarter-century neared the island. The National Weather Service said Hurricane Madeline had weakened but remained on track to hit Hawaii's Big Island early Thursday. Officials urged residents...

US set to destroy big chemical weapon stockpile

DENVER -- The U.S. Army plans to start operating a $4.5 billion plant next week that will destroy the nation's largest remaining stockpile of mustard agent, complying with an international treaty that bans chemical weapons, officials said Wednesday. The largely automated plant at the military's Pueblo Chemical Depot in southern Colorado will begin destroying about 780,000 chemical-filled artillery...

Lawmakers say FEMA too slow to set up mobile homes

BATON ROUGE -- State lawmakers Wednesday lambasted the pace of mobile home setup for flood victims, saying it's unacceptable that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has moved only one manufactured housing unit into a yard nearly three weeks after the catastrophic flooding. Rep. Clay Schexnayder, a Republican who represents areas of hard-hit Ascension and Livingston parishes, criticized the FEMA...

Africa's elephants rapidly declining as poaching thrives

HONOLULU -- The number of savanna elephants in Africa is rapidly declining and the animals are in danger of being wiped out as international and domestic ivory trades drive poaching across the continent, according to a study released Wednesday. Africa's savanna elephant population plummeted by about 30 percent from 2007 to 2014 and is declining at about 8 percent a year, said a survey funded by Microsoft...

Study: Ohio's abortion pill law led to worse health outcomes

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio's restrictions on the so-called abortion pill led to a higher rate of side effects, more doctor visits and additional medical treatment for patients, according to a new study. The requirements cleared a Republican-controlled legislature in 2004, but legal challenges delayed them from taking effect until 2011. Once implemented, Ohio's law initially required physicians administering...

Fewer students enrolled in Louisiana's public colleges

BATON ROUGE -- Enrollment in Louisiana's public higher education system has dropped by about 4.4 percent in a five-year span. The Advertiser (http://bit.ly/2bQua7W ) reports that enrollment has dropped by about 10,000 students in five years — from roughly 225,000 in 2010 to 215,000 in 2015. During that time, schools have significantly raised tuition and fees as well as cut costs through eliminating...

Bucs beat Saints in season opener

Barbe used a strong start and a big third-set comeback to defeat the Saints 25-11, 22-25, 26-24 and 25-22 in a tightly contested season opener Tuesday night at St. Louis Catholic High. After dominating the first set, the Bucs (1-0) squandered a big lead in the second set before erasing a late 11-point deficit to steal the third and closing the match out in the fourth set, despite the best efforts...

Longtime publisher for Cameron, DeQuincy newspapers dies

Jerry Wise, longtime publisher, editor and co-owner of the Cameron Parish Pilot and DeQuincy News, died Monday. He was 87. DeQuincy Mayor Lawrence Henagan called Wise an “icon who will be truly missed.” “He was a classy guy who I had a lot of respect for,” said Henagan. “He loved DeQuincy and the people in it.” Henagan said there were times Wise would refuse to print a letter to the editor knowing...

Budget of $73 million proposed for LC

Lake Charles’ proposed operating and capital budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year reflects ongoing growth in the region and the demands it has placed on city services. Mayor Randy Roach said the $73 million proposed budget, which includes a $200,000 surplus, is “relatively balanced” overall. Roach said the region continues to be a market leader in the state when it comes to attracting new businesses....

Kinder-Jennings rematch: Bulldogs last team to beat Yellow Jackets

Kinder came up a few inches short against Jennings last year, losing a season-opening game 41-40. The Yellow Jackets haven’t lost since, rolling to 14 consecutive wins and the Class 2A state championship. Kinder gets a chance to avenge that loss Thursday night when it visits Jennings. The game pits one of the state’s most successful programs against one of the state’s top players. The Yellow Jackets...

JD Battle of the Bows Cajun Fiddle Competition to take place

JENNINGS — The second Jeff Davis Battle of the Bows Cajun Fiddle Competition will be 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 1 in the Strand Theatre, 432 N. Main St. Doors will open at 8 a.m. “We want to give fiddle players in this area a chance to compete and showcase their talent,” organizer Doug Dugas said. “It’s also about preserving, promoting and handing down our heritage to our youth.” This year’s competition will...

Aid may be available for flood victims who rent

Federal officials announced Monday that Louisiana renters whose property was damaged by recent flooding after Aug. 10 may qualify for help from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would provide disaster recovery assistance in the form of grants, while the SBA will offer low-interest loans. Although renters in the Baton Rouge area suffered...

Bust of Leo Russell Keene III to be unveiled Saturday

Sulphur Mayor Chris Duncan has announced that the Military Veterans Fund has commissioned a bust in honor of Leo Russell Keene III to be placed in the Brimstone Museum. Keene died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The bust, made by local artist Janie Stine LaCroix, will be unveiled by Allan Grimm, Keene’s stepfather, during a ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, at 900 S. Huntington...

Driftwood LNG reaches out to local community

As Driftwood LNG advances its outreach efforts within the local community, officials associated with the project are encouraging residents to continue bringing forth questions or concerns. The company provides mail, phone and email contact information on its website — driftwoodlng.com. Documentation of past dialogue is included in the company’s filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission....

Former Facebook news curators say the story selection algorithm failed to improve over time and wasn’t ready to be released

You might have heard: Trying to get rid of human bias in its trending topics, Facebook announced it would no longer longer employ humans to write descriptions for the section, but just three days after that announcement, the trending news section include a fake news story claiming Megyn Kelly had been fired from Fox News But did you know: While Facebook’s move to automate its trending news feature...

How news organizations are taking advantage of Amazon’s Alexa

News is one of the core features of Amazon’s AI software Alexa, and news organizations are trying to figure out the best ways to use Alexa. So far, there’s two main ways news organizations can use Alexa: Flash Briefings and skills. In Flash Briefings, the user asks Alexa for their Flash Briefing, and Alexa will launch into pre-recorded updates from broadcasters, headlines from the AP, and weather...

How a Lithuanian news site is using its journalists to get users to turn off ad blockers

Lithuanian news site 15Min.lt, the country’s second-largest news organization, is taking a new approach to getting users to turn off ad blockers. Rather than a pop-up message asking the reader to turn their ad blocker off, 15Min.lt is using its journalists to appeal to readers directly. 15Min.lt created 12 videos featuring members of its staff explaining why readers should either whitelist the site...

How Nextdoor implemented new features to reduce racist posts by 75 percent

“Erasing racism through technology alone is impossible,” Kashmir Hill writes, but neighborhood social network Nextdoor found that a few changes to its interface reduced the number of racist posts significantly. Those changes, which were rolled out to all of its users last week, include requiring users whose posts in the “crime and safety” section mention race to submit additional information — such...

How the rise of mobile could create a ‘a second-class digital citizenship’ of less informed news consumers

According to a new report from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, the rise of mobile has a dark side that could lead to the creation of a less engaged, “second-class digital citizenship” made up of less informed news consumers. Somewhat paradoxically, the report’s research Joanna Dunaway says that smartphones are an imperfect tool for consuming news, due to their smaller screens, slower connection speeds...

Journalists do read and respond to comments, new research from the Engaging News Project finds

New research from the Engaging News Project finds that journalists do actually read and respond to comments. Based on interviews with 34 journalists, all journalists interviewed said they read comments at least occasionally and two-thirds of those interviewed said they responded to commenters at least occasionally. And while some journalists were more enthusiastic about reading the comments than others,...

Need to Know: Aug. 31, 2016

Fresh useful insights for people advancing quality, innovative and sustainable journalism OFF THE TOP You might have heard: Trying to get rid of human bias in its trending topics, Facebook announced it would no longer longer employ humans to write descriptions for the section, but just three days after that announcement, the trending news section include a fake news story claiming Megyn Kelly had...

Just three days after removing human editors, Facebook’s trending news section included a fake story about Megyn Kelly getting fired from Fox News

On Friday, Facebook announced that it would no longer employ human editors for its trending news section; on Monday, Facebook’s trending news section included a fake news story claiming Megyn Kelly was fired from Fox News. The story about Kelly occupied the top spot on Facebook’s trending news section, a spot that supposed to include “automatically selected original news story with an excerpt pulled...

Trying to get rid of human bias in its trending topics, Facebook will no longer employ humans to write descriptions for the section

You might have heard: Former Facebook news curators told Gizmodo they regularly suppressed conservative news from the site’s trending news section, butFacebook says it found no systematic bias in its own investigation But did you know: Facebook will no longer employ humans to write the descriptions for its trending topics section, and has laid off the 15 to 18 people on its Trending team contracted...