KTBS.com

Posted 1 hour 16 minutes 53 seconds ago
Posted In: Homepage

Citizens of Shreveport may have noticed their water is a little softer these days. Apparently weeks of rain can do that!

Darren Fortenberry, purifications superintendent for the City of Shreveport, makes the educated guess that while the flood gates were open at Cross Lake, we may have let as much as 60 billion gallons of water out of Cross Lake. Cross Lake holds about 26 billion gallons of water, so that means the lake could have turned over twice in the time the gates were open.

Fortenberry says he has never seen the hardness level for the city water supply as low as it is right now; the rain has definitely diluted the mineral content. The city's hardness level is on average 45-50 mg/liter, but at one point in the last two weeks, it was only 21 mg/liter.

Tagged As: Shreveport, hard, soft, water, Cross Lake

Posted 1 hour 42 minutes 43 seconds ago by Chris Redford
Posted In: Homepage

Police are responding to a shooting at the Villa Marquis Apartments in Shreveport.

Police say the man who was shot may have been forcing his way into an apartment.

Check back here and on KTBS 3 News for updates.

Tagged As: shooting, Villa Marquis, apartments, Shreveport, crime

Posted 1 hour 50 minutes 32 seconds ago by Wade Nessmith, KTBS News Now
Posted In: Homepage, News - Health

AARP/Walgreens Wellness Tour to offer free health screenings in Shreveport-Bossier City area

Persons 18 and older are invited to attend the AARP/Walgreens Wellness event at five different dates and locations in the Shreveport and Bossier City area. According to officials, all six screenings will take about 25 minutes to complete. Free one-year AARP memberships will be given to all adults who receive health screenings.

The AARP/Walgreens Screening Bus will be at these locations for free screenings:

 Noon to 6 p.m. Thursday, November 19, 2009 at the Walgreens located at 2107 Airline Drive in Bossier City.

 Noon to 6 p.m. Friday, November 20, 2009 at the Walgreens located at 9209 Mansfield Road in Shreveport.

 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, November 21, 2009 at the Walgreens located 3124 Line Ave. in Shreveport.

 Noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, November 22, 2009 at the Walgreens located at 300 Southfield Road in Shreveport.

 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, November 23, 2009  at the Walgreens located at 3100 N. Market St. in Shreveport.

Posted 2 hours 30 minutes 21 seconds ago by Sherri Talley, Anchor, Reporter, Web Producer
Posted In: Homepage

Officians with the LSU AgCenter Pecan Research and Extension Station in Shreveport say rain has delayed the pecan harvest across the state by two to three weeks, but plenty of the crop should be available for the holiday season.

South Louisiana had an average crop due to the 2008 hurricanes, but north Louisiana had a large crop.

No new insects or diseases threatened the crop this year.

The pecan station is now selling pecans grown there. Several varieties are available at $1.75 to $3.75 per pound and can be cracked for an additional 50 cents per pound.

Sales hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The station is located about four miles south of the Shreveport city limits off of Louisiana Highway 1.

Tagged As: pecans, Louisiana, LSU, agriculture

Posted 3 hours 27 minutes 19 seconds ago by Associated Press
Posted In: Homepage

Health officials say four people in North Carolina have tested positive for a type of swine flu that's
resistant to the drug Tamiflu.

It's the first cluster of that many cases seen in the U.S.

Health officials said Friday the four cases were reported at Duke University Medical Center in Durham over the past six weeks.

Tamiflu is one of two medicines that help against swine flu. Health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective.

About 52 resistant cases have been reported in the world since April, including 15 in the U.S. so far. Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say almost all the U.S.
cases have been isolated.

Tagged As: swine flu, Tamiflu, health

Posted 3 hours 45 minutes 15 seconds ago
Posted In: Homepage

One person is being flown to LSU HSC by LifeAir right now. Caddo deputies say the driver of a Volkswagon headed north in the 15200 block of Highway 71 veered into oncoming traffic, and collided with an 18-wheeler. The crash happened around 12:45pm. The truck driver was not hurt. Deputies say the road will be closed for probably an hour while crews clean diesel fuel off the highway.

Tagged As: Highway 71, Caddo, crash, wreck

Posted 5 hours 25 minutes 54 seconds ago by Associated Press
Posted In: Homepage, News - Texarkana

  HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- A suspect in the five murders last week in Pearcy, Ark., was shot and killed Thursday night in a shootout with officers who were trying to arrest him at a Hot Springs hotel.

 A member of the Garland County sheriff’s tactical response team was seriously wounded during the shootout.

The team had gone to the National Park Inn on Grand Avenue early Thursday night to arrest the suspect, who had checked into the hotel. There was an exchange of gunfire, Hot Springs City Attorney Brian Albright said.

 The wounded officer was taken to a Little Rock hospital, Albright said.

  The name of the dead suspect had not been released this morning.

 Four bodies were found Nov. 12 in the rubble of a burned-out mobile home in Pearcy, which is located west of Hot Springs. The body of a man was found in a home next door.

Tagged As: suspect, killed, shootout, Hot, Springs

Posted 6 hours 17 minutes 6 seconds ago by Meteorologist Marcy Novak
Posted In: Homepage

Showers have developed in central and north Texas, with heavy rain falling in southeast Texas. Some of these showers will drift to the east/northeast through Friday, causing rain in the ArkLaTex, especially south of Interstate 20.  These showers will be hit and miss, and no severe weather is expected.  Most of the rain will remain light with a few areas of heavy rain possible.  The rain will stick around tonight and Saturday, but will end by Saturday evening as a low pressure system along the Gulf coast will slowly drift east.  Highs today in the low 60s, lows tonight in the upper 40s.  Highs on Saturday will remain in the upper 50s.

Posted 6 hours 48 minutes 44 seconds ago by Sherri Talley/Photo by Trey Lankford
Posted In: Homepage

A student at Elm Grove Middle School in Bossier got a heartfelt surprise this morning.

Trevor Calais, who has been in Afghanistan since June, returned home to surprise his sister, Kayla Tuggle in her classroom this morning.

You'll get the story, including Kayla's reaction, tonight on KTBS 3 News.

Tagged As: Elm Grove, Bossier, soldier, Afghanistan

Posted 8 hours 13 minutes 54 seconds ago
Posted In: Homepage

 A quick-thinking engineer is credited with preventing a potentially hazardous situation this morning when he unhooked a burning freight train engine and moved it away from a cargo of hazardous materials.

  It happened around 7 a.m. on the tracks near Keithville-Keatchie and Preston roads in south Caddo Parish.

  There was no explosion and no one was hurt.

Tagged As: Caddo, train, fire