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11-9-15

The driver of a tractor-trailer headed eastbound on I-10 near Scott is being lauded as a hero after rescuing two women whose SUV ran off a bridge into water.

The Advocate reports the man, who was not identified and drove off after seeing the women safely in the hands of emergency crews, told the Scott Volunteer Fire Department he witnessed the incident just before 3 a.m. Saturday.  The trucker told firefighters the women were ejected from their vehicle and were floating face-down in the water.  Chief Chad P. Sonnier, in a news release, said when firefighters responded to the single-vehicle crash they saw the trucker in chest-deep water with the two semi-conscious women at the edge of the water.

 

FOUR PEOPLE WHO HELPED SENIOR TROOPER STEVEN VINCENT, WHO WAS CRITICALLY WOUNDED DURING A TRAFFIC STOP IN CALCASIEU PARISH, WILL BE HONORED TODAY.  JULIE DARCE HAS MORE.

 

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MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND EGGS WERE USED THIS YEAR AT THE GIANT OMELETTE CELEBRATION IN ABBEVILLE.  ALSO USED AS INGREDIENTS WERE FIFTY POUNDS OF ONIONS, 75 BELL PEPPERS, SIX GALLONS OF MILK, AND 15 POUNDS OF CRAWFISH TAILS.  EACH YEAR, SEVEN CITIES IN FIVE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES SEND REPRESENTATIVES TO THE CELEBRATION.  IT BEGAN 31 YEARS AGO WHEN SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ATTENDED AN EASTER OMELETTE FESTIVAL IN FRANCE.

 

State regulators are reviving a program to test the mercury levels of fish caught in Louisiana waters, providing consumers with updated warnings for the first time since 2008.  Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality staff in January will begin taking a fresh look at fish in waters put on a contamination advisory list before the state stopped testing.  The Advocate reports the four-year, $1.5 million program will start in southwest Louisiana, with about 50 sites expected to be tested in each region each year.  Regular mercury contamination testing halted in 2008 as part of a series of budget cuts by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

 

HUNDREDS OF INMATES IN THE LAFAYETTE PARISH CORRECTIONAL CENTER ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE, BUT DON’T.  CORRECTIONS DIRECTOR ROB REARDON SAYS ABOUT 60 PERCENT OF THE PRISON POPULATION IS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE, BUT, IN MOST INSTANCES, THEIR FOCUS IS GETTING OUT OF JAIL.  THE LAFAYETTE PARISH REGISTRAR OF VOTERS, CHARLENE MEAUX MENARD, SAYS SHE HAS NEVER COUNTED A VOTE FROM THE PARISH JAIL IN THE LAST TEN YEARS.  THE ACADIA PARISH REGISTRAR OF VOTERS OFFICE HAD ONE BALLOT CAST FROM THE JAIL SEVERAL YEARS AGO.

 

 

THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RECENTLY RELEASED OVERALL GRADES FOR NINTH TO TWELFTH GRADE HIGH SCHOOLS.  CALCASIEU PARISH SUPERINTENDENT KARL BRUCHAUS SAYS SIX OF THE NINE SCHOOLS IN THE PARISH SHOWED IMPROVEMENT.  BARBE IS THE ONLY PARISH SCHOOL TO GET AN “A” GRADE, AND BRUCHAUS SAYS THEY ARE THE SECOND LARGEST SCHOOL TO GET AN “A”.  BRUCHAUS SAYS WASHINGTON-MARION WAS IN DANGER OF GETTING AN “F”, BUT INSTEAD RECEIVED A SOLID “D”.  THE ONLY HIGH SCHOOL TO DROP A LETTER GRADE IN CALCASIEU PARISH IS WESTLAKE HIGH, WHICH WENT FROM A “D” TO A “C”

 

Expansion of an artificial reef in western Vermilion Bay is now underway.  The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, in partnership with the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana, are coordinating the enhancement of Redfish Point — an existing inshore, 50-acre reef.  Experts say the expansion will help increase hard-bottom fishing habitat.  Approximately 3,500 tons of crushed limestone will be used to enhance the current reef, and construction is expected to be complete early next week.

 

Early voting began Saturday for the Nov. 21 runoff election, with competitions for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general on the ballot.  Secretary of State Tom Schedler is hoping to draw more voters in the runoff, after a low 39 percent turnout for the primary election last month.  At the top of the list of state and local elections is the tighter-than-predicted race between Democrat John Bel Edwards and Republican David Vitter to be Louisiana’s next governor. The winner takes over from term-limited Gov. Bobby Jindal in January.