11-6-19
LAST NIGHT THE LAFAYETTE CONSOLIDATED COUNCIL APPROVED A POLICE PAY RAISE PLAN THAT WILL COST THE CITY ALMOST FOUR MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. THEY ALSO INTRODUCED THREE ORDINANCES THAT WILL BE UP FOR A VOTE LATER TO GIVE PAY RAISES TO EMPLOYEES IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, CITY MARSHAL’S OFFICE AND THE LAFAYETTE CONSOLIDATED GOVERNMENT. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER LORRIE TOUPS SAYS THAT, IF ALL THE PAY RAISES ARE GRANTED, THE CITY’S RESERVES WILL DRY UP IN A YEAR’S TIME. BOTH THE CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR PRESIDENT, JOSH GUILLORY AND CARLEE ALM LABAR, PLEDGED TO LOOK INTO WAYS TO FUND THE PAY RAISES IF THEY ARE ELECTED.
A LAKE CHARLES MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED THIRTY-SIX TIMES, THE LATEST MONDAY NIGHT IN JEFF DAVIS PARISH. SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES ATTEMPTED TO PULL OVER 38-YEAR-OLD GARY TEZENO FOR SPEEDING ON HIGHWAY 99, BUT HE REFUSED AND A CHASE ENSUED. TEZENO CRASHED HIS VEHICLE NEAR A VALERO GAS STATION IN WELSH AND THEN FLED ON FOOT BEFORE BEING APPREHENDED. DEPUTIES FOUND NINETY BOTTLES OF PROMETHAZINE IN TEZENO’S VEHICLE AND MORE THAN FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS IN CASH.
A 13-YEAR-OLD ST. MARTINVILLE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WAS ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH A PHONE THREAT AND NOW HE’S FACING TERRORIZING CHARGES. MEGAN KELLY REPORTS.
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President Donald Trump is turning his attention to the nation’s last gubernatorial race of 2019, seeking to drive Louisiana’s Democratic governor from office. The president is traveling tonight to Monroe. There, he’ll rally supporters to cast their ballots for Republican businessman Eddie Rispone, bidding to keep Democratic incumbent John Bel Edwards from a second term. An endorsement video circulated by the state GOP shows Trump describing Rispone as “a fantastic man” and Edwards as “a disaster.”
ON THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF EARLY VOTING, 46 PERCENT OF THE VOTES WERE CAST BY DEMOCRATS COMPARED TO 39 PERCENT BY REPUBLICANS. THAT’S A WIDER MARGIN THAN THE EARLY VOTING FOR THE PRIMARY IN OCTOBER WITH 43-POINT-7 PERCENT DEMOCRAT VOTES COMPARED TO 41-POINT-3 PERCENT REPUBLICAN. IN LAFAYETTE PARISH FOR THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF THE EARLY VOTING IN THE RUNOFF, FIFTY PERCENT OF THE EARLY VOTES WERE BY REGISTERED REPUBLICANS WITH 34 PERCENT DEMOCRAT. EARLY VOTING CONTINUES THROUGH SATURDAY.
AN 82-YEAR-OLD LAKE CHARLES WOMAN WAS KILLED IN A TWO VEHICLE CRASH IN CALCASIEU PARISH YESTERDAY . SHORTLY BEFORE ELEVEN A-M, 31-YEAR-OLD COURTNEY VINCENT OF LAKE CHARLES WAS DRIVING AN S-U-V EAST ON GAUTHIER ROAD BUT FAILED TO STOP AT A STOP SIGN ON HIGHWAY 397 AND WAS STRUCK BY A KIA FORTE DRIVEN BY 50-YEAR-OLD LESLIE J. LEWIS OF WESTLAKE. 82-YEAR-OLD THERESA JONES OF LAKE CHARLES WAS A PASSENGER IN THE KIA FORTE AND WAS DEEMED TO HAVE SUFFERED MODERATE INJURIES BUT STATE TROOPERS LATER LEARNED THAT JONES DIED AT A LAKE CHARLES HOSPITAL. THE CRASH REMAINS UNDER INVESTIGATION AND TOXICOLOGY SAMPLES WERE TAKE FROM EACH DRIVER.
THE DIOCESE OF LAFAYETTE HAS CLOSED THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CATHOLIC CHURCH IN MORSE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THERE WERE CONCERNS ABOUT THE SAFETY OF THE CONGREGANTS BECAUSE OF THE POOR STATE OF THE BUILDING AND THEY HAVE BEEN DIRECTED TO ATTEND MASS AT LYONS POINT OR MIDLAND. THE MAYOR OF MORSE, RAY RICHARD, TELLS KATC TV THAT THERE ARE LEAKS IN THE BUILDING THAT HAVE LED TO ROT AND MOLD AND CONCERNS OF THE WALLS FALLING IN. HE CLAIMED THAT THERE IS MISMANAGEMENT AT THE DIOCESE OF LAFAYETTE AND THEY NEED TO TAKE CARE OF SMALL TOWN CHURCHES.
Novelist Ernest J. Gaines, whose poor childhood on a small Louisiana plantation town germinated the stories of black struggles that grew into universal stories of grace and beauty, has died. He was 86. The Louisiana governor’s office on Tuesday released word of his death. Two of his books, “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “A Gathering of Old Men” became honored television movies.
