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GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS HAS ADDED LAFAYETTE POLICE CHIEF JIM CRAFT TO HIS CABINET. JEFF HORCHEK HAS THE DETAILS.
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An LSU public health professor is Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards’ choice to lead Louisiana’s health department, the largest agency in state government. Dr. Rebekah Gee was named Tuesday as Edwards’ secretary for the Department of Health and Hospitals. In that role, she’ll oversee a $9.7 billion agency that accounts for more than one-third of the state’s budget. She’ll also be the figurehead for Edwards’ plan to expand Louisiana’s Medicaid program as allowed under the federal health care law.
THE CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS SEARCHING FOR THE DRIVER OF A WHITE DODGE RAM INVOLVED IN A HIT-AND-RUN IN THE PARKING LOT OF FAMILY AUTO ON COMMON STREET IN LAKE CHARLES ON NOVEMBER 21ST AT AROUND 8:30 P-M. SURVEILLANCE VIDEO SHOWED THE DRIVER GET OUT OF HIS TRUCK AFTER HITTING THE VEHICLE, EXAMING HIS TRUCK AND THE OTHER VEHICLE, AND THEN DRIVING OFF. HE WAS AN OLDER WHITE MALE WHO WALKED WITH A LIMP AND WHO HAD A CIGAR IN HIS MOUTH. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION CAN CALL THE LEAD INVESTIGATOR ON THE CASE, DEPUTY SENIOR CORPORAL TY ISTRE, AT THE CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE.
THE REMAINS OF A BODY FOUND IN A BURNING MOBILE HOME IN CHURCH POINT SUNDAY MORNING HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS 32-YEAR-OLD SHONTEL DENISE JOSEPH OF OPELOUSAS. THEY ARE TRYING TO FIND AND ARREST HER BOYFRIEND, 33-YEAR-OLD NICHOLAS JAMES DUPUIS OF CROWLEY, ON A CHARGE OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER AND ARSON. JOSEPH DIED FROM TWO GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE CHEST AND HER BODY WAS PUT IN THE VACANT MOBILE HOME AND SET ON FIRE. A CAR WAS LATER FOUND IN THE CHURCH POINT AREA ON FIRE, WHICH CONTAINED WOMEN’S CLOTHING AND SHOES, AND THE OWNER OF THE VEHICLE, 22-YEAR-OLD KANTARISE TATTY JORDAN LAZARO, WAS ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH ACCESSORY AFTER THE FACT.
A STATE DISTRICT COURT JUDGE PLANS TO HOLD IN CONTEMPT ANY MEMBER OF THE MEDIA THAT PUBLISHES PHOTOS OR VIDEOS OF LANDON BROUSSARD WEARING A PRISON OUTFIT AND BOUND BY SHACKLES. BROUSSARD OF LAFAYETTE IS ACCUSED OF KILLING HIS GIRLFRIEND’S THREE-YEAR-OLD SON, JULIAN MADERA, IN NOVEMBER OF 2012 AND FACES THE DEATH PENALTY IF CONVICTED. HIS DEFENSE ATTORNEYS ASKED FOR THE RESTRICTIONS FOR FEAR THAT THE PHOTOS COULD PREJUDICE POTENTIAL JURORS. BUT SOME MEDIA LAW EXPERTS BELIEVE THE RULING BY JUDGE LAURIE HULIN COULD BE A VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT.
A federal judge has upheld a new rule allocating separate red snapper quotas for recreational anglers and licensed charter captains. U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo ruled Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by a nonprofit group of recreational anglers and three of its 120,000 members. The Coastal Conservation Association said its members would be hurt because anglers could take fewer red snapper.
Milazzo wrote that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council gave a “rational justification for its decision.”
LAKE CHARLES MEMORIAL HOSPITAL’S SPECIALTY HOSPITAL IS NOW OCCUPYING THE THIRD FLOOR OF CHRISTUS ST. PATRICK HOSPITAL. THE MOVE WAS MADE NECESSARY BECAUSE THEIR OLD LOCATION ON ERNEST STREET WAS GETTING OLD AND NEEDED AN UPGRADE. THE PRESIDENT AND C-E-O OF CHRISTUS HEALTH SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA, DON LLOYD, TELLS KPLC TV THAT THE TWO RIVALS IN THE MARKETPLACE ARE WORKING TOGETHER COLLABORATIVELY. LARRY GRAHAM, THE PRESIDENT AND C-E-O OF THE LAKE CHARLES MEMORIAL HEALTH SYSTEM, SAYS THEY BENEFIT WITH A NEW AND IMPROVED FACILITY WHILE CHRISTUS ST. PATRICK CAN NOW MORE CONVENIENTLY MOVE THEIR PATIENTS THROUGH CONTINUAL CARE.
REPRESENTATIVES WITH THE U-S ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS ARE MEETING WITH OFFICIALS IN POINT COUPEE PARISH TODAY AND IN MORGAN CITY TOMORROW TO DISCUSS THE POSSIBILITY OF OPENING THE MORGANZA SPILLWAY. FLOODWATERS FROM THE NORTH ARE COMING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND IF WATER LEVELS GET TOO HIGH AT THE RED RIVER LANDING, IT WOULD REQUIRE THE SPILLWAY TO BE OPENED THREATENING COMMUNITIES ALONG THE ATCHAFALAYA RIVER AND THE BASIN FLOODWAY. THE LAST TIME THE MORGANZA SPILLWAY WAS OPENED WAS IN MAY OF 2011. THE TRIGGER POINT IS EXPECTED TO BE REACHED BY JANUARY 14TH.
