Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover covered several topics during his visit to the 710 KEEL studio this morning.

Among them were U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Louisiana DOTD Secretary Sherri Lebas' visit to Shreveport, and the ongoing Fire Station 8 scandal.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Visit

Mayor Glover explained why Shreveport was on the list of stops for Secretaries Foxx and Lebas.

"I'd like to think that because maybe we've helped to draw some attention to some of our issues and challenges here in this region," said Glover. "Secretary Foxx is a former mayor, someone I had a chance to get to know in his capacity as mayor of the city of Charlotte, and I've spent some time bending his ear over the last few years about what our issues and challenges, as well as what our opportunities, are here. And so he decided to put this together and we ended up, I think, being just about the next-to-the-last stop. Because we'll end up wrapping it up a little bit later over in Dallas."


I-49 Debate

Speaking on I-49 and financial issues surrounding its expansion, Glover said he still hasn't completely read through the economic impact study on the interstate's inner city connector. However, he believes there is a bigger issue here.

"The bigger conversation has to be around what our priorities are. One of the reasons as to why the secretary is coming to town is to highlight the fact that we are not generating the revenue at the federal level to spend on the infrastructure that we need to just under maintenance, much less talking about new projects," said Glover. "A great example [of that] is these 33 miles of interstate that we're in the process of completing right now."


The Fire Station 8 Scandal

The Fire Station 8 Scandal continues to be a focus for law enforcement and residents. New claims suggest that Shreveport Fire Chief Craig Mulford may have ordered an FBI special investigator off of the Fire Station 8 property and refused to allow that investigator to question the firefighter who first blew the whistle.

Mayor Glover insisted that the investigation into what exactly happened at Fire Station 8 will continue.

"I'm going to start by telling you that there's no better or greater fire department anywhere in the world than the Shreveport Fire Department, filled with men and women, every day, who go out and put their lives on the line," said Glover, adding: "We've got some issues right now that are under investigation. We're going to allow those investigations to go forward and we're going to follow the facts where they go, and allow those things to be resolved in the proper venues where they need to be addressed and resolved. But I'm not going to contribute to it by adding rumor or innuendo or what have you."

I'm going to start by telling you that there's no better or greater fire department anywhere in the world than the Shreveport Fire Department, filled with men and women, every day, who go out and put their lives on the line -- Mayor Cedric Glover

Glover added that Chief Mulford has been a great chief, as was Brian Crawford before him. Glover has not been subpoenaed in the Fire Station 8 case, and he doesn't know if Mulford has.


Domestic Violence

Now that Providence House will have to shut down its safe house for women and children, what will be done locally to help victims of domestic violence? Glover said this is an issue that has him extremely worried.

"The idea that we could end up putting families at risk is just something that is just simply, absolutely unacceptable to me," Glover said. "And I'm glad now that Paula at Community Foundation has taken the lead role in calling together not just the city of Shreveport, because this facility doesn't serve just Shreveport, it serves all of northwest Louisiana."

Leaders from all over the region have gathered to come up with a possible solution.

Glover says one thing that's absolutely clear is that the Providence House has to carry this burden until everyone can figure out what to do next.

"To think that we've had three of the lowest years of homicides ever in the history of the city of Shreveport in the last three years, but at the same time, the state still leads the country in domestic violence-related homicides is unacceptable," he said. "So they've gotta stay on the job until we can figure out how to effectively transition. And we are working on that right now."

Listen to Mayor Glover's complete interview below:

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