KAJN Jesus FM 102.9


1-20-20

A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER BEING SHOT DURING A ROBBERY IN LAFAYETTE.  CAROLINE MARCELLO REPORTS.

 

VOICER K :36

 

An independent financial audit says a the city of Oakdale may have run afoul of the state’s constitution when it gave its workers a one-time pay supplement that cost nearly $41,000. An accountant looking at the books for Oakdale says the city might have violated a Louisiana Constitution provision governing how public funds can be spent. The American Press reports about 60 workers received the one-time pay supplement, which was approved by the city council and mayor in November 2018. Mayor Gene Paul and the city’s clerk have requested a legal opinion from the attorney general’s office to determine whether the adjustments were allowed — and to prevent any future potential violations.

 

A MAURICE WOMAN WAS ARRESTED YESTERDAY FOR ALLEGEDLY SHOOTING HER HUSBAND IN THE BACK.  FIFTY-FOUR YEAR-OLD PAMELA RICHARD ALLEGEDLY CONFESSED TO SHOOTING HER HUSBAND FOLLOWING AN ARGUMENT.  A WITNESS ALSO TOLD VERMILLION PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES THAT SHE AND HER HUSBAND WERE OUT WORKING ON A CAR WHEN SHE HEARD A LOUDING POPPING SOUND AND LOOKED UP TO SEE RICHARD STANDING WITH A GUN AND HER HUSBAND LYING ON THE GROUND.  THE HUSBAND WAS TREATED FOR A SINGLE GUNSHOT WOUND THAT IS NOT LIFE THREATENING.

 

A decades-old time capsule, buried in the walls of the Louisiana Capitol building by former Gov. Huey Long, has been uncovered. The state Senate says Long and architect Leon Weiss concealed a copper box behind the cornerstone in the northwest corner of the Capitol building in 1931. The box was found during research for rehabilitation of the nearly 90-year-old historic landmark. The building’s current architects say planned construction would make accessing the capsule in the future impossible, so Senate officials decided to extract the time capsule, but the Senate says the box will remain sealed for now — until it is analyzed and a plan is decided for where and how to display the time capsule and its contents.

 

The National Endowment for the Humanities will give as much as $125,000 to help restore the oldest building at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Center for Louisiana Studies Director Joshua Caffery says the center must raise another $375,000 over the next four years to get the full amount. The center began restoring the Roy House last year. It was built in 1901 and is the only university building on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

A LAKE CHARLES MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED ON SECOND DEGREE MURDER CHARGES IN CONNECTION WITH A TRAILER FIRE LAST WEEK THAT KILLED A 39-YEAR-OLD WOMAN AND HER TWELVE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER.  IN AN INTERVIEW WITH CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES FOLLOWING THE FIRE, 36-YEAR-OLD CASEY HATCH ALLEGEDLY CONFESSED TO SETTING THE FIRE IN AN ATTEMPT TO COMMIT SUICIDE.  THE WOMAN, MARIE BOURQUE, AND HER DAUGHTER, SKI SMITH, BOTH DIED OF SMOKE INHALATION, AND BOURQUE’S ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD SON REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION.

 

BACKUPS WERE AS LONG AS TEN MILES ON THE WESTBOUND SIDE OF THE ATCHAFALAYA BASIN BRIDGE YESTERDAY BECAUSE OF ROAD WORK THAT REDUCED SECTIONS OF THE BRIDGE TO ONE LANE.  THE DECK SURFACE BETWEEN THE WHISKEY BAY EXIT AND MILE MARKER ONE-TWENTY-FIVE IS BEING REPLACED.  THAT SECTION WAS DAMAGED BY A VEHICLE FIRE LAST AUGUST THAT HAS SINCE CAUSED THE CONCRETE TO CRACK AND FLAKE OFF.  THE BASIN BRIDGE IN THAT WESTBOUND SECTION WILL BE REDUCED TO ONE LANE AGAIN NEXT WEEKEND AND THE WORK IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED BY NEXT MONDAY.

 

Multibillion-dollar Medicaid contracts awarded by Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration have been scrapped. Louisiana’s chief procurement officer Paula Tregre (trayg) determined the health department mishandled the bid process for deals to provide health services to 1.5 million people. Tregre says the department failed to follow state law or its own evaluation and bid guidelines in determining which private companies should receive contracts to manage care for most of Louisiana’s Medicaid patients. The decision won’t disrupt Medicaid services.