11-22-17
Houston-based offshore oil and gas firm Talos Energy says it’s acquiring Lafayette-based Stone Energy in a merger worth nearly $2 billion. The deal means that Talos, a private equity firm, will go public on the New York Stock Exchange with Stone, which is traded publicly. The new company will be based in Houston, with offices in Lafayette and New Orleans. Its corporate board will have six members designated by Talos and four by Stone.
A 16-YEAR-OLD SHOT SOMEONE NEAR THE CIVIC CENTER IN LAKE CHARLES MONDAY NIGHT, AND THE VICTIM IS EXPECTED TO MAKE A FULL RECOVERY. IT COMES RIGHT AFTER A HOMOCIDE IN SULPHUR OVER THE WEEKEND IN WHICH A 17-YEAR-OLD WAS ARRESTED. CALCASIEU PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY JOHN DEROSIER SAYS THAT, IN ORDER TO STEM THE VIOLENCE AMONG TEENAGERS, IT’S GOING TO TAKE A CHANGE OF CULTURE FOR AT-RISK TEENS SO THAT THEY VALUE LIFE AND SEE HOPE FOR THEIR FUTURE. HE TELLS KPLC TV THAT JOINT SERVICE AGREEMENTS ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING SIGNED BY THE D-A’S OFFICE, THE SCHOOL BOARD AND VARIOUS LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES TO STOP THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE WITH AN EMPHASIS ON REACHING STUDENTS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL.
IN OCTOBER, NEW IBERIA VOTERS APPROVED A NEW SALES TAX TO HELP FUND THE CREATION OF A POLICE DEPARTMENT. LAST NIGHT, THE CITY COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY SELECTED TODD D’ALBOR OF ST. MARTINVILLE TO SERVE AS THE NEW POLICE CHIEF. D’ALBOR PREVIOUSLY WAS CHIEF OF THE JENNINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR TWELVE YEARS AND LAST YEAR WAS INTERIM CHIEF IN ST. MARTINVILLE. THE NEW DEPARTMENT IS EXPECTED TO TAKE OVER FROM THE IBERIA PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE ON JULY FIRST.
The Louisiana House GOP lawmaker who led the effort to stall $15 billion in Medicaid contracts says Gov. John Bel Edwards is improperly circumventing the legislature by using an emergency process to enact the deals. Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry says House Republicans twice delayed approval of the 23-month contracts for companies that manage care for 1.5 million Medicaid patients to make sure state dollars were spent wisely. He said Tuesday the intention was never to stop the contracts from eventually being signed. The Edwards administration is moving ahead to enact the contracts without getting approval from lawmakers, by using a state law that allows for emergency contracting when an imminent threat to public health exists.
THERE WAS A FATAL ACCIDENT IN LAFAYETTE PARISH LATE LAST NIGHT. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
VOICER K :16
A FIRST OF ITS KIND TRAFFIC SIGNAL SYSTEM IN LOUISIANA HAS BEEN INSTALLED IN WESTLAKE. THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND DEVELOPMENT TEAMED UP TO IMPLEMENT THE SYSTEM WHICH IS DESIGNED TO ENHANCE SAFETY WHILE REDUCING TRAFFIC DELAYS. D-O-T-D SECRETARY DR. SHAWN WILSON SAYS THE ADAPTIVE TRAFFIC SIGNAL SYSTEM, WHICH COST ONE-POINT-TWO MILLION DOLLARS, ADJUSTS SIGNALS BASED ON TRAFFIC DEMAND, THEREBY REDUCING CONGESTION. THE D-O-T-D IS HOPING TO BRING THE SYSTEM TO OTHER CITIES ACROSS THE STATE.
A federal investigation revealed that authorities in a rural Louisiana parish routinely used illegal “investigative holds” to arrest hundreds of people for questioning and secretly keep them jailed for days without criminal charges.
But a federal judge’s ruling could preclude most of these people from getting any class-action compensation for their ordeals. In a court filing last Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna recommended dismissing three people’s claims because they were freed from jail more than a year before their lawyers sued the city of Ville Platte and the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office over the arrests.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that a one-year statute of limitations shouldn’t apply in this case because people were told to keep silent.
OPELOUSAS POLICE HAVE ARRESTED A MAN THEY BELIEVE WAS INVOLVED IN SEVERAL HOME BURGLARIES. THEY WERE CALLED OUT TO A BURGLARY IN PROGRESS AT A RESIDENCE ON ATTAKAPAS STREET AND APPREHENDED 21-YEAR-OLD ELIJAH SAM JUNIOR OF OPELOUSAS. AFTER FURTHER INVESTIGATION, THEY LEARNED SAM WAS ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN OTHER HOME BURGLARIES IN THE INDIAN HILLS SUBDIVISION. HE HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH THREE COUNTS OF RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY.
‘
