5-24-17
LAFAYETTE MAYOR PRESIDENT JOEL ROBIDEAUX SAID IN A NEWS RELEASE THAT THE CITY PARISH GOVERNMENT IS NOT GOING BANKRUPT AND IS NOT IN DANGER OF BEING UNABLE TO PAY OFF LINES OF CREDIT OR LOANS. THE NEWS RELEASE CAME IN THE WAKE OF A STATEMENT MADE BY AN AUDITOR AT A COUNCIL MEETING LAST WEEK THAT THE PARISH GENERAL FUND IS BROKE. THE AUDITOR, BURTON KOLDER, CLARIFIED IN YESTERDAY’S NEWS RELEASE THAT BEING BROKE MEANS SPENDING CUTS HAVE TO BE MADE WHEREAS BANKRUPTCY IS A COURT DECLARED LEGAL TERM INFERRING AN INABILITY TO PAY OFF DEBTS. ROBIDEAUX SAYS THERE IS A REAL POSSIBILITY THAT PARISH SERVICES WILL BE CUT BUT CREDITORS SHOULD NOT BE CONCERNED.
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD, WHO WAS ACCIDENTALLY SHOT AT MOSS BLUFF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ON MAY 15TH, HAD TO RETURN TO A LAFAYETTE HOSPITAL FOR A SECOND SURGERY YESTERDAY. THE FAMILY OF GAGE MECHE ANNOUNCED ON FACEBOOK THAT THE SURGERY WAS TO CLEAN OUT AN INFECTION IN THE INCISION ON HIS BELLY. HE’S DOING WELL BUT WILL REMAIN IN THE PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT FOR A FEW DAYS. GAGE WAS SHOT WHEN A STUDENT BROUGHT A GUN TO SCHOOL, WHICH FELL OUT OF HIS BACKPACK AND DISCHARGED.
TWO LOUISIANA RESIDENTS WERE KILLED IN SEPARATE CRASHES IN ACADIANA MONDAY NIGHT. JULIE DARCE HAS THE DETAILS.
VOICER J :45
By the narrowest of votes, House lawmakers agreed to toughen criteria for future high school students to get college tuition paid through Louisiana’s TOPS program.
The measure by Rep. Franklin Foil, a Baton Rouge Republican, would bump the grade point average from 2.5 to 2.75 for a student to get the basic TOPS award to attend a four-year university. The change would take effect in four years, so it wouldn’t apply to current high school students. The bill advanced to the Senate with a 53-32 vote Tuesday, the minimum number needed for passage.
A proposal to give people convicted of murder as teenagers a chance at parole after 30 years is closer to reaching the Louisiana governor’s desk. The House voted 82-3 Tuesday in favor of Sen. Dan Claitor’s bill banning juvenile life-without-parole sentences in all cases except when a judge deems a first-degree murderer among “the worst of the worst.” The Senate, which already passed an earlier version of the bill, must approve the House’s changes. Those amendments include changing parole eligibility from 25 to 30 years, as well as letting prosecutors convince a judge that an offender is irredeemable.
THE LOUISIANA BOARD OF REGENTS APPROVED A NEW MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAM IN INFORMATICS AT U-L LAFAYETTE. THE UNIVERSITY HAS HAD AN UNDERGRADUATE INFORMATICS PROGRAM SINCE 2011, BUT NOW U-L HAS THE ONLY GRADUATE INFORMATICS PROGRAM IN THE STATE. UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS DESCRIBED THE PROGRAM AS APPLIED COMPUTER SCIENCE, WHICH FOCUSES ON DESIGNING AND WORKING WITH DATA TOOLS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT. THE PROGRAM WILL ENROLL ITS FIRST STUDENTS IN THE SPRING SEMESTER OF 2018.
A JOB FAIR IS TAKING PLACE IN WESTLAKE THIS MORNING. THE CALCASIEU BUSINESS AND CAREER SOLUTIONS CENTER IS HOSTING THE JOB FAIR FROM NINE TO NOON AT THE MANAGAN RECREATION CENTER ON MCKINLEY STREET. THE EVENT IS SPONSORED BY THE CALCASIEU PARISH POLICE JURY, THE LOUISIANA WORKFORCE COMMISSION AND THE WEST CALCASIEU CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. ATTENDEES SHCOULD COME DRESSED IN PROPER BUSINESS ATTIRE WITH PICTURE I-D AND COPIES OF THEIR RESUME.
A MEETING WAS HELD IN JENNINGS YESTERDAY WITH CRAWFISH FARMERS TO FIND OUT THE EXTENT OF A DEADLY VIRUS THAT AFFECTS CRAWFISH. THE WHITE SPOT SYNDROME VIRUS ORIGINATED IN THAILAND AND HAS SOMEHOW MADE IT TO LOUISIANA, BEING SEEN SO FAR IN JEFF DAVIS, VERMILLION AND OTHER ACADIANA PARISHES. THE VIRUS ONLY AFFECTS CRUSTACEANS BUT SOME FARMERS HAVE SEEN A DRAMATIC DROP IN THEIR CATCHES. AQUACULTURE SPECIALIST MARK SHIRLEY OF THE L-S-U AGCENTER SAYS THEY DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE VIRUS EXCEPT IT KILLS THE CRAWFISH, AND THEY DON’T YET KNOW HOW TO KEEP IT OUT OF PONDS.
