11-14-25
LAFAYETTE POLICE HAVE ARRESTED TWO TEENS IN CONNECTION TO THE DEADLY SHOOTING AT HIMBOLA MANOR APARTMENTS EARLIER THIS WEEK. GEORGE FAUST REPORTS.
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AN OPELOUSAS COUPLE HAVE BEEN ARRESTED FOR FIRING SHOTS AT A GARBAGE TRUCK THEY THOUGHT WAS TRESPASSING ON THEIR PROPERTY. SHERIFF BOBBY GUIDROZ SAYS THAT DURING A CALL EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING COMPLAINING ABOUT TRESPASSING, A DISPATCHER HEARD A GUNSHOT. THEN THEY RECEIVED ANOTHER CALL FROM THE OPERATOR OF A BAYOU STATE GARBAGE TRUCK SAYING A MAN IN HIS UNDERWEAR WAS SHOOTING AT HIM AND THAT THE MAN AND A WOMAN WERE BLOCKING HIS EXIT. FORTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD KEVIN BERGERON WAS CHARGED WITH ILLEGAL USE OF WEAPONS AND FORTY-YEAR-OLD LORI GAUTREAUX WAS CHARGED WITH PRINCIPAL TO ILLEGAL USE OF WEAPONS.
YESTERDAY, U-S AGRICULTURE SECRETARY BROOKE ROLLINS SAID THAT SNAP BENEFITS WILL BE RESTORED ON MONDAY. THE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ANNOUNCED THEY ARE PREPARING TO DISTRIBUTE ALL OF THE BENEFITS TO ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS WITHIN A WEEK. GOVERNOR JEFF LANDRY IN A RADIO INTERVIEW SAID SOME SENIORS AND THOSE WHO ARE DISABLED MAY SEE A LITTLE EXTRA THIS MONTH. HE CALLS IT A ONE TIME ADJUSTMENT DUE TO THE SHUTDOWN, MEANING SOME PEOPLE MAY HAVE MORE MONEY ON THEIR CARD.
VOTERS IN JEFF DAVIS PARISH WILL DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO APPROVE A NEW HALF-CENT SALES TAX. IT WOULD FUND A PERMANENT STIPEND FOR ALL SCHOOL EMPLOYEES. SUPERINTENDENT JOHN HALL SAYS IT WOULD HELP THEM TO COMPETE WITH OTHER PARISHES ALLOWING THEM TO KEEP THE BETTER TEACHERS. IF APPROVED, THE SALES TAX WOULD GO INTO EFFECT IN APRIL.
THE U-L BOARD OF SUPERVISORS HAS FORMED A SEARCH COMMITTEE TASKED WITH FINDING A NEW PRESIDENT FOR THE UNIVERSITY. MEANWHILE DOCTOR RAMESH KOLLURU WAS APPOINTED AS THE INTERIM PRESIDENT. KOLLURU IS THE CURRENT VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. HE REPLACES DOCTOR JAMIE HEBERT, WHO HAS BEEN THE INTERIM PRESIDENT FOR THE LAST THREE MONTHS AND IS RETURNING TO HIS PREVIOUS POSITION AS PROVOST.
A NEW IBERIA MAN WAS DECLARED A HABITUAL OFFENDER AND WAS GIVEN A THIRTY-YEAR SENTENCE WITHOUT THE POSSBILITY OF PAROLE, PROBATION OR OF A SUSPENDED SENTENCE. THIRTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD TRAVIS LAYNE JUNIOR WAS FOUND TO HAVE FOUR PREVIOUS FELONY CONVICTIONS WHICH QUALIFIED HIM AS A HABITUAL OFFENDER UNDER LOUISIANA LAW. LAYNE’S ORIGINAL THIRTY-YEAR SENTENCE FOR JURY TAMPERING WAS THROWN OUT AND REPLACED WITH THE STRICTER VERSION CARRYING NO CHANCE OF EARLY RELEASE. IN DECEMBER, LAYNE GOES TO TRIAL IN A SEPARATE CASE IN WHICH HE FACES A SECOND-DEGREE MURDER CHARGE.
THE HENDERSON LAKE CONTROL STRUCTURE IN SAINT MARTIN PARISH WILL RECEIVE MAJOR UPGRADES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES. THE UPGRADES WILL BE FUNDED BY ONE MILLION DOLLARS IN FEDERAL MONIES LEFT OVER FROM THE PONTOON BRIDGE RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN BUTTE LA ROSE. PARISH PRESIDENT PETE DELCAMBRE SAYS IT’S NECESSARY BECAUSE OF THE DETERIORATION OF THE TIMBERS DUE TO CONTINUAL WATER FLOW. HE SAYS THE UPGRADES WILL IMPROVE DAY-TO-DAY WATER LEVEL CONTROL, VEGETATION MANAGEMENT AND WILDLIFE SUPPORT WHILE AIDING IN FUTURE DRAWDOWNS IN THE LAKE.
THE SAINT LANDRY PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE HAS RECENTLY RECEIVED A PROJECT SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS GRANT FROM THE U-S DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. MAJOR MARK LEBLANC SAYS IT HAS HELPED IMMENSELY IN TAKING DRUGS AND WEAPONS OFF THE STREETS OF THE PARISH. THE GRANT HAS HELPED THEM TO BEEF UP THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE’S NARCOTICS DIVISION AND ITS DETECTIVES. LEBLANC SAYS THIS YEAR SO FAR, THEY HAVE MADE FIFTY-ONE FELONY ARRESTS AND SEIZED OVER THREE-AND-A-HALF POUNDS OF CRYSTAL METH, OVER TWENTY-FOUR POUNDS OF MARIJUANA, ONE-POINT-ONE-SEVEN POUNDS OF FENTANYL AND OVER FIFTY FIREARMS, SIX OF WHICH WERE FOUND TO BE STOLEN.
