Louisiana
Missing South Florida girl, 8, found safe in Louisiana in midst of ongoing custody battle between parents
MIAMI — An eight-year-old girl who was reported missing out of South Florida on Friday night has been found in Louisiana amid an ongoing custody battle between her parents.
Police shared in an Instagram post on Saturday afternoon that Liah Meza, from Homestead — a city about 40 miles south of Miami — is now safe with her father Christian Meza.
“We appreciate the community’s vigilance and swift action in helping to locate her,” the agency said. “Thank you to everyone who shared the alert and remained on the lookout. Your support made a difference.”
According to the initial report sent out by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Meza was last seen near the 40th block of NW 1st Ave. in Homestead and believed to be in the company of the girl’s mother Yailen Roche and the mother’s boyfriend Geovany Maresma-Burcet, both 38.
FDLE reported that the trio was traveling to Lafayette, Louisiana in a 2021 white Honda Pilot.
However, Roche and Maresma-Burcet reached out to CBS News Miami before police provided an update because they claimed that Meza was not missing but rather on vacation with them in Louisiana. Roche said they woke up surprised on Saturday morning when they found pictures of them on the news.
“We got in contact with our lawyers,” she told CBS News Miami. “They’re in the process of checking what’s happening because I have not gotten any notification of any… and they’re checking everything to put everything in place.”
CBS News Miami also reached out to Dina Shehata-Hujber, the lawyer for Meza’s father, who said “[Meza] is on her way home to Florida.”
Shehata-Hujber added in a statement that there is ongoing litigation related to the child, saying that there was a court order issued on Thursday, ordering law enforcement “to locate and return the child to Florida and placing her in dad’s sole custody until further order of the court.”
No further details related to Meza’s disappearance and finding were released at this time.
MONROE, La. (KNOE) – People across the country and here in the ArkLaMiss are reporting receiving a racist spam text message.
The text states the person has been selected to pick cotton at a plantation.
“These types of spam texts are vile, threatening and only intend to divide us,” said the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office in a statement to KNOE.
The Attorney General’s office says to contact your local FBI field office by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or 1-800-225-5324 or visiting FBI.gov/tips.
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Governor Jeff Landry and the state legislature held the special session regarding tax reform on Wednesday afternoon.
The focus of the special session is to restructure the outdated tax system and grow the economy. The goal is to move towards a flat income tax for individuals and businesses and expand state sales tax to more services and items.
The current structure has led to impending budget shortfalls, leading to cuts in other key areas like higher education and healthcare.
November 25 is the deadline to complete the proposed tax reforms with then some measures going to a vote of the people.
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MONROE, La. (KNOE) — The Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana has seen an increase in the number of people in need.
The food bank serves 12 parishes across the region and helps around 25,000 people each month. Officials with the food bank say they have seen an increase in the number of people in need since 2023, especially around the holiday season.
A local business, DSLD Homes is hosting “Take A Bite Out of Hunger” food drive, to help meet the needs of people in NELA during the holiday season.
“Everyone doesn’t have a family or friends to rely on when they are in need so we decided to go the extra mile by hosting this food drive. We are asking for community members to donate items like nonperishables and canned goods, so that no one goes without a meal this Thanksgiving season,“ says DSLD Homes representative Tyler Sandifer.
Donations can be dropped off at the Somerset Park model home at 508 Southern Grv Rd. in Sterlington or at the Traditions model home at 1439 W Martin Luther King Jr Ave. in Grambling.
The food drive ends on Nov. 22.
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