BATON ROUGE- Federal Judge Shelly Dick dismissed a lawsuit filed by Dorothy Jackson against Southern University, causing Jackson's attorneys to appeal the decision with at least one saying the judge made a mistake.

"If judges were always right we would not need appellate courts," one of Jackson's attorneys, Joel Porter said. "We will see what the Fifth Circuit says about this."

Wednesday her legal team appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Jackson was terminated from Southern University after she wrote a will for a client at the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging. The will would have benefited Tasha Clark-Amar, the executive director, nearly $100,000. However, all sides broke away from the will when the WBRZ Investigative Unit exposed it two years ago.

Helen Plummer was a client at the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging when she was driven to Southern's Elder Law Clinic to have a will drafted. Jackson was not only a professor at Southern, but also a board member at the Council on Aging.

Last year we asked whether she was comfortable sitting on the COA Board still with everything that was going on.

"Am I comfortable? Of course," Jackson replied.

Jackson tried to keep her job as a tenured professor at the Southern Law Center. However, she was terminated by Dr. Ray Belton. Her termination was upheld by the Southern Board of Supervisors. Jackson sued, claiming her due process rights were violated.

Her attorneys claim she has faced no bar sanctions, ethics charges or criminal charges as a result of her writing the will.

"Ms. Jackson's life was destroyed only because she was trying to fulfill the last wishes of a dying woman," Porter said. "For that, she was crucified. She lost her job and has been crucified." 

BATON ROUGE - In what's shaping up to be a heated election season, Johnny Anderson's accuser spoke up for the first time to reporters since the incident where she claims she was harassed and assaulted by Anderson, one of Governor John Bel Edwards' top staffers.

Anderson has maintained his innocence since day one, but the Governor's office said it removed Anderson from his position within six hours of finding out about the allegations.

Juanita Washington said after she came forward she was forced out of her job.

"I resigned because Johnny Anderson threatened me," Washington said. "Before my last day came and after that evil man resigned I told the governor all of this. I wanted to keep my job, and my family needed our insurance. The governor said 'no.'"

Washington said her daughter had just been diagnosed with Asthma and was left jobless after she claims she was sexually harassed and assaulted. The state settled her case for $85,000.

State Senator Sharon Hewitt spoke this morning outside the courthouse in Baton Rouge standing next to the alleged victim.

"I've watched her courageously battle over the past year to make sure her story was told," Hewitt said. "No woman should have to go through what she did and no woman should battle with a sitting governor to have their truth told."

Inside the courthouse, Truth in Politics sponsored a lawsuit against the governor's office. There are claims requests for public records were ignored. The plaintiff wanted text messages, emails, and other things that could be related to Anderson's tenure.

Tuesday, those supporting Edwards fired back against the lawsuit and Washington.

"I'm clearly not here to talk about any one particular lawsuit but I do have a comment in general," said Jill Craft, an attorney. "The cause of eradicating discrimination is not some soapbox someone can jump on and jump off when it's convenient for them. It takes commitment."

Craft represented Washington in her case against Anderson which led to the $85,000 settlement. Ironically, Craft stood with the Governor's supporters and not her former client Tuesday. She would not answer questions about any particular cases.

Tina Vanichchagorn, the Governor's Deputy Executive Counsel, refuted Washington's claims and said she was not forced out.

"Ms. Washington was given an opportunity to withdraw her resignation and to continue her employment with our office," Vanichchagorn said. "She declined to do that."

As both sides came out swinging, Washington maintains she's been targeted even though she's the victim. We asked why she's speaking up now just days before the election.

"My story needs to be told," Washington said. I'm just here to tell the truth."

BATON ROUGE - The City of Baton Rouge is tracking alarming numbers that show a 40-percent increase in people seeking services provided by the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless.

The increase was first noted from April to August of this year. It's compared to the prior five months of November 2018 to March 2019 where those seeking help at CAAH were much lower. According to its website, "CAAH serves as the Continuum of Care for the Louisiana parishes of Ascension, East & West Baton Rouge, East & West Feliciana, Iberville, and Pointe Coupee."

Those at CAAH said during the April to August window of 2019, they've tracked at least 400 different people signing up for services as the CAAH each month.

Samuel Deacon Reese is one of those citizens who utilize the services there. A few years ago he fell on tough times and has not been able to pry himself out of his problems.

"Some people are mentally unstable," Reese said. "I'm a paranoid schizophrenic myself, but I deal with it. That's part of it. Drugs alcohol, that's part of it. Some of it's just hard times."

Reese said no one wants to be homeless, but trying to find a job has not been easy.

"It's hard to maintain when you've got a sickness, but I'm going to make it," Reese said. "I pray to God."

The problem is being seen at the CAAH, and the increase is something about which those at city hall are meeting.

"We are increasing our outreach efforts, that is, efforts to get out find out who's on our streets, what's the reasoning," Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Rowdy Gaudet said. "Why they are living without a permanent shelter situation, and what resources, wrap-around services can we get them to lift them out of that situation."

Right now, CAAH and those at city hall have not been able to pinpoint what is causing the increase in needing resources for the homeless in the capital city.

"Communities will go through spikes where the numbers do go up," Gaudet said. "What we are trying to do is continue our good communication with those nonprofit providers to make sure all the resources are connected."

Currently, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome is working with a coalition of organizations that are focused on ending homelessness on a pilot program intended to prevent homelessness and return someone to housing within the first 30 days of experiencing homelessness. Last year, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome awarded over one million dollars to St. Vincent de Paul to expand its homeless shelter capacity by 36 new beds. The facility is anticipated to open in the summer of next year.

"The most compelling thing we see is folks have lost a sense of how to maintain a social network," Gaudet said. "Anytime I talk to a citizen experiencing homelessness we inquire about do you have family, friends... Are you a church member... They allow those social connectors to fall by the wayside and have lost sight on how to maintain those."

As the city continues to target the growing problem, Reese remains hopeful that life's storms won't define him as he prays for better days ahead.

Meetings are ongoing to dig deep into the root cause and discover why there's been such a sharp increase. For the past two years, the city-parish has contracted with a non-profit that gives homeless citizens jobs participating in maintenance and litter pick-up around the parish.