10-27-17
A TWO-YEAR-OLD CHILD DIED YESTERDAY MORNING IN A HOUSE FIRE ON KETTERING CIRCLE IN LAFAYETTE. THE FIRE STARTED SHORTLY BEFORE EIGHT A-M AND THE PARENTS AS WELL AS AN INFANT CHILD SURVIVED. A LAFAYETTE FIRE DEPARTMENT NEWS RELEASE SAYS THE PARENTS FRANTICALLY SEARCHED FOR THE TODDLER, WHO HAD BEEN WATCHING TV, BUT THE FLAMES AND THE SMOKE BECAME TOO INTENSE. THIRTEEN TRUCKS FROM FOUR JURISDICTIONS RESPONDED TO THE FIRE, AND IT TOOK THEM THIRTY MINUTES TO BRING IT UNDER CONTROL.
THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL’S OFFICE HAS IDENTIFIED THE REMAINS OF A BODY FOUND IN A HOUSE FIRE IN NEW IBERIA WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE VICTIM IS 77-YEAR-OLD MARTHA ARCENEAUX. IT WAS A MANUFACTURED HOME ON ANDERSON STREET THAT CAUGHT FIRE. HAROLD JONES, A FORMER MARINE WHO WAS AT A FRIEND’S HOUSE NEARBY, TELLS KLFY TV HE TRIED TO GET INTO THE HOUSE TO SAVE ARCENEAUX, BUT WAS UNABLE TO GET PAST THE LIVING ROOM AREA BECAUSE OF THE SMOKE AND HEAT.
A DERIDDER MAN HAS BEEN INDICTED ON 16 COUNTS OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY INVOLVING JUVENILES. 54-YEAR-OLD RAY MONCEAUX LEFT HIS PHONE AT A RESIDENCE IN CALCASIEU PARISH LAST MAY, AND THE PERSON WHO FOUND IT DISCOVERED THE PICTURES WHILE TRYING TO FIND OUT TO WHOM THE PHONE BELONGED. DETECTIVES, AFTER CONDUCTING A FORENSIC EXAM ON THE PHONE, FOUND IMAGES AND VIDEOS INVOLVING GIRLS AGED 16 AND UNDER, INCLUDING ONE GIRL WHO LIVES IN CALCASIEU PARISH. MONCEAUX WAS ORIGINALLY CHARGED WITH 46 COUNTS AND HE’S BEING HELD ON A 100 THOUSAND DOLLAR BOND.
Gov. John Bel Edwards traveled to Washington to attend President Donald Trump’s speech on fighting the opioid epidemic. Louisiana’s governor joined leaders of five other states at Thursday’s White House event in which Trump declared the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency. Edwards praised Trump’s declaration, saying it will give states more tools to combat addiction.
Edwards also met privately with the nation’s acting drug czar, Richard Baum, to discuss opportunities for Louisiana to work with the White House on combatting drug abuse.
THE FEDERAL CONTRACTOR THAT TOOK OVER THE HEAD START PROGRAMS RUN BY THE SMILE COMMUNITY AGENCY HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO OPEN THREE OF THE 15 CENTERS. PAT FISHER WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICE’S ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SAYS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT HEAD START IS STILL TRYING TO GET LICENSING FOR THE JEANERETTE HEAD START EARLY HEAD START CENTER, THE NEW IBERIA HEAD START CENTER AND THE HOLY ROSARY HEAD START CENTER IN LAFAYETTE. THE OTHER TWELVE HEAD START CENTERS WERE REOPENED OVER THE LAST TWO WEEKS. C-D-I TOOK OVER THE HEAD START PROGRAMS IN AUGUST AFTER THE FEDERAL AGENCY THAT OVERSEES THE PROGRAM CUT FEDERAL FUNDING TO THE SMILE COMMUNITY AGENCY OVER ALLEGATIONS OF UNREPORTED CHILD ABUSE AND OTHER PROBLEMS.
A SECOND SUSPECT IN A ST. MARTINVILLE SHOOTING FROM EARLIER THIS MONTH HAS BEEN APPREHENDED. JEFF HORCHAK REPORTS.
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A VILLE PLATTE MAN WAS ARRESTED IN CALCASIEU PARISH WEDNESDAY NIGHT AFTER 74 THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF COCAINE WAS FOUND IN HIS CAR. 39-YEAR-OLD ERIC RICHARD WAS PULLED OVER BY A STATE TROOPER FOR A TRAFFIC VIOLATION ON I-10 EASTBOUND AND REFUSED A REQUEST TO ALLOW A SEARCH OF HIS VEHICLE. A STATE POLICE K-9 WAS BROUGHT IN WHO DETECTED THE PRESENCE OF NARCOTICS, WHICH WAS FOUND TO BE TWO POUNDS OF POWDERED COCAINE. RICHARD WAS BOOKED INTO THE CALCASIEU PARISH CORRECTIONAL CENTER ON CHARGES WHICH INCLUDE POSSESSION OF COCAINE WITH THE INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE.
Louisiana appears to be shelling out millions for Medicaid patients’ prescription drugs above the reimbursement paid to pharmacists, dollars pocketed by private companies managing the care. A legislatively-created task force searching for waste in Louisiana’s Medicaid program wants more details on how those deals work — and how much money is steered to middle-managers above what the pharmacists receive. The task force sent a letter to the health department Wednesday questioning whether pharmacists are getting low Medicaid reimbursements to help boost profits for private companies that coordinate health services for 90 percent of Louisiana’s Medicaid patients. A recent independent audit done for the Department of Health identified at least $42 million in drug charges for Medicaid patients that were kept by private companies after pharmacists were paid for filling prescriptions.
