1-28-22
FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY DON LANDRY SAYS HIS OFFICE WILL BE AGGRESSIVELY PROSECUTING JUVENILES AS YOUNG AS FIFTEEN AS ADULTS IF THEY COMMIT VIOLENT CRIMES, INCLUDING MURDER AND ARMED ROBBERY. THAT MEANS IF THE JUVENILE IS CONVICTED OF THE CRIME, INSTEAD OF BEING RELEASED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE, THEY COULD SERVE UP TO NINETY-NINE YEARS IN PRISON. LANDRY, WHO REPRESENTS LAFAYETTE, ACADIA AND VERMILLION PARISHES, SAYS THE VIOLENT CRIME STATISTICS AMONG JUVENILES AND THE PUBLIC OUTCRY LED HIM TO LAUNCH THIS INITIATIVE. LANDRY SAYS SINCE JULY FIRST, TWENTY-TWENTY, JUVENILES HAVE COMMITTED NINE FIRST- AND SECOND-DEGREE MURDERS, THIRTEEN AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS WITH A FIREARM AND TWENTY-TWO RAPES IN LAFAYETTE PARISH ALONE.
IN SAINT MARTIN PARISH, A JUVENILE HAS BEEN ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH A HOMOCIDE. CAROLINE MARCELLO REPORTS.
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A federal court has rejected a plan to lease millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil drilling, saying the Biden administration failed to conduct a proper environmental review. The decision Thursday by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sends the proposed lease sale back to the Interior Department to decide next steps. The ruling said it was up to Interior to decide whether to go forward with the sale after a revised review, scrap it or take other steps. Environmental groups hailed the decision and said the ruling gave President Joe Biden a chance to follow through on a campaign promise to stop offshore leasing in federal waters.
A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BEAUREGARD PARISH POLICE JURY WAS HELD LAST NIGHT TO DISCUSS CONSTRUCTION ON THE PARISH JAIL. THE CONSTRUCTION WAS MADE NECESSARY BECAUSE OF HURRICANE DAMAGE TO THE BUILDING. CONSTRUCTION IS EXPECTED TO TAKE SIX MONTHS AND DURING THAT TIME, INMATES WILL BE HOUSED ACROSS DIFFERENT PARISHES, WHICH, PARISH ADMINISTRATOR BRYAN MCREYNOLDS SAYS, COULD CAUSE A FINANCIAL STRAIN. HE SAYS THEY ARE EXPLORING SEVERAL AVENUES TO FUND THAT EXPENSE.
LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCILWOMAN NANETTE COOK IS HOSTING A TOWN HALL MEETING NEXT WEEK TO PROVIDE THE PUBLIC WITH AN UPDATE ON THE KALISTE SALOOM ROAD WIDENING PROJECT. BESIDES GIVING AN OVERVIEW OF THE REMAINING WORK, A TIMEFRAME FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT IS ALSO EXPECTED TO BE DISCUSSED. LAFAYETTE CONSOLIDATED GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WILL BE ON HAND TO ANSWER QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS. THE MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE FROM ELEVEN TO TWELVE THIRTY ON WEDNESDAY AT THE COUNCIL AUDITORIUM OF LAFAYETTE CITY PARISH HALL AND WILL ALSO BE AIRED LIVE ON ACADIANA OPEN CHANNEL AND STREAMED LIVE AT LAFAYETTE L-A-DOT-GOV.
THE IBERIA PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE WILL BE MOVING INTO ONE LARGE BUILDING NEAR THE ACADIANA REGIONAL AIRPORT. THE PARISH COUNCIL AGREED TO PURCHASE THE FORMER CARBO CERAMICS BUILDING, WHICH IS TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND SQUARE FEET, FOR ONE-POINT-SIX MILLION DOLLARS. CURRENTLY THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE OPERATES OUT OF FOUR BUILDINGS AND THEY HAVE EIGHTEEN THOUSAND SQUARE FEET OF SPACE. SHERIFF TOMMY ROMERO SAYS THIS MOVE WILL MAKE HIS DEPARTMENT MORE EFFICIENT, WHICH WAS ONE OF HIS GOALS WHEN HE CAME INTO OFFICE IN TWENTY-TWENTY.
Officials estimate that conditions after Hurricane Ida last summer killed 280 million fish in inland southeast Louisiana. The department says catchable fish are usually scarce for about a year in areas which had big fish kills, but populations rebound. The department says that 19 of 20 big fish kills after Ida were in areas that had hurricane-force winds. An inland fisheries official says the kills were concentrated in about a 2,800-square-mile area.
DEPUTIES WITH THE STATE FIRE MARSHALS OFFICE BELIEVE A WOMAN, KILLED IN A HOUSE FIRE ON SOUTH BROADWAY STREET IN CHURCH POINT WEDNESDAY MORNING, WAS THE SIXTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD OWNER OF THE HOME. AN OFFICIAL CAUSE OF THE FIRE HAS NOT YET BEEN DETERMINED BY THE INVESTIGATORS, BUT THEY HAVE NOT RULED OUT THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ELECTRIC MALFUNCTION RELATED TO HOUSE WIRING OR THE IMPROPER USE OF EXTENSION CORDS TO POWER SPACE HEATERS. THEY SAY THERE’S ALSO THE POSSIBILITY THE FIRE WAS CAUSED BY AN UNATTENDED CANDLE. THE CORONER’S OFFICE IS STILL WORKING ON THE OFFICIAL IDENTIFICATION OF THE VICTIM AND CAUSE OF DEATH.
