10-10-16
SOME LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL TEACHERS WILL RECEIVE A NICE BONUS CHECK NEXT MONTH. JULIE DARCE HAS THE DETAILS.
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AUTHORITIES ARE INVESTIGATING BOATING INCIDENT IN CAMERON PARISH THAT LEFT ONE PERSON DEAD. IT HAPPENED NEAR WEST PASS IN THE LOWER PART OF CAMERON PARISH AND INVOLVED A SMALL BAY BOAT. A SECOND PERON IN THE BOAT WAS NOT INJURED. THE DETAILS OF THE INCIDENT AND THE NAMES OF THOSE INVOLVED HAVE NOT YET BEEN RELEASED.
A state fire official says investigators are working to learn whether a carport barbecue pit, a window air conditioner or something else touched off a fire that killed a Mamou couple. Chief Deputy Fire Marshal Brant Thompson says 55-year-old Regina LeJeune and 57-year-old Michael LeJeune died early Saturday. He says the fire started in the carport, where neighbors saw them cooking about 8:30 or 9 p.m. Friday. But he says the carport had a number of electrical features where the fire might have started.
Authorities have received more than 1,200 disaster fraud complaints related to August’s historic flooding in south Louisiana. U.S. Attorney Walt Green announced that tally Friday during a press briefing at the National Center for Disaster Fraud. Green said the Justice Department-created center on the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge has received more than 68,000 fraud complaints related to more than 40 disasters since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and referred more than 50,000 of those complaints to law enforcement agencies. Complaints typically involve allegations of residents fraudulently obtaining federal emergency aid, contractors defrauding homeowners and other scams targeting disaster victims, he said.
A BLOCK PARTY WAS HELD ON CONGRESS STREET NEAR DOWNTOWN LAFAYETTE ON SATURDAY TO CHRISTEN THE NEW CHANGES THERE. THAT STRETCH OF CONGRESS STREET HAS BEEN REDUCED FROM FOUR AND FIVE LANES TO TWO LANE WITH A MIDDLE TURN LANE, AND BIKE LANES HAVE BEEN ADDED. THE C-E-O OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY NATHAN NORRIS TELLS THE ADVOCATE THAT THE CHANGES MAKE THE AREA RIPE FOR DEVELOPMENT. A SHORT CONNECTOR STREET NEAR THE DOWNTOWN LIBRARY HAS BEEN CLOSED AS WELL, AND THERE ARE PLANS IN THE WORKS TO TURN THAT AREA INTO A SMALL OUTDOOR PLAZA WITH FREE WI-FI, SEATING AND TABLES.
A SURVIVOR OF THE BENGHAZI ATTACK IN LIBYA SPOKE IN LAKE CHARLES YESTERDAY IN AN EVENT HOSTED BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. MARK OZ GEIST SAYS THAT THE U-S IS AT THE POINT WHERE IT CAN KEEP OR LOSE THE VALUES THAT HAVE MADE THE COUNTRY WHAT IT IS. ATTENDEES AT THE RALLY BY THE LAKE GOT A CHANCE TO MEET WITH SOME OF THE CANDIDATES IN THIS YEAR’S ELECTIONS AND SOME REGISTERED TO VOTE. TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER FOR THE NOVEMBER EIGHTH ELECTIONS.
An unrestrained11-year-old girl is dead after being ejected during a crash in Acadia Parish. Louisiana State Police says the accident happened about 11:30 p.m. Friday. Investigators say 35-year-old Tashaka Butler, of Rayne, was headed west on Louisiana 98 and for unknown reasons ran off the left side of the road, causing the vehicle to overturn. The victim, identified as Makayla Zachary of Rayne, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.
Louisiana officials want a new location for a federal lawsuit challenging the state law aimed at making 21 the minimum age for working as an exotic dancer. The suit was filed in New Orleans. But lawyers for the state’s alcohol control commissioner — the defendant in the suit — say it should be moved to Baton Rouge. That’s where lawmakers approved the law earlier this year.
