12-20-19
LAFAYETTE PARISH HAS FALLEN BEHIND CALCASIEU PARISH WHEN IT COMES TO THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, OR G-D-P. ACCORDING TO DATA FROM THE BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, LAFAYETTE PARISH GENERATED 13-POINT-5 BILLION DOLLARS IN G-D-P, COMPARED TO 14-POINT-3 BILLION FOR CALCASIEU PARISH IN 2018. THE DATA ALSO SHOWS THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY HAS BEEN CUT IN HALF IN LAFAYETTE PARISH. IN 2014, THE OIL AND GAS G-D-P IN THE PARISH WAS AT TWO-POINT-6 BILLION DOLLARS AND LAST YEAR THAT NUMBER DROPPED TO ONE-POINT-3 BILLION DOLLARS.
THE LOUISIANA GAMING CONTROL BOARD HAS APPROVED AN APPLICATION ALLOWING A RIVERBOAT CASINO IN WESTLAKE TO MOVE ONTO DRY LAND. IN MAY OF LAST YEAR, THE LEGISLATURE APPROVED A MEASURE ALLOWING RIVERBOATS TO PUT THEIR CASINO FLOORS ON DRY LAND WITHIN TWELVE-HUNDRED FEET OF THE WATERWAY WHERE THEY ARE LICENSED TO OPERATE. ELDORADO RESORTS WAS GIVEN PERMISSION TO BUILD A NEW ONE HUNDRED TWELVE-POINT-SEVEN MILLION DOLLAR CASINO BETWEEN THE PARKING LOT AND HOTEL AT THE ISLE OF CAPRI RIVERBOAT CASINO. THE NEW CASINO WILL HAVE NEARLY THREE TIMES THE SPACE OF THE RIVERBOAT.
THE LARGEST RICE MILLING OPERATION IN LOUISIANA IS ABOUT TO GET EVEN BIGGER. ON THURSDAY, GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS AND THE PRESIDENT OF SUPREME RICE MILL ANNOUNCED A TWENTY MILLION DOLLAR EXPANSION OF THEIR FACILITIES IN CROWLEY. THE EXPANSION INCLUDES UPGRADING TO A NEW STATE OF THE ART MILLING PROCESS. PRESIDENT AND C-E-O BOBBY HANKS SAYS THE EXPANSION SHOWS A COMMITMENT TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY, LOUISIANA JOBS, AND TO THE LOUISIANA RICE INDUSTRY.
A drought that threatened crops and helped spark wildfires in the Southeast has receded across most of the region, and more rain is on the way. A federal report released Thursday shows only tiny portions of Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina are still too dry after weeks of regular rainfall. But conditions are worse in Georgia and Louisiana, where about 1.4 million people are still experiencing drought conditions. Forecasters say heavy rains predicted for this weekend could break records and further alleviate drought conditions.
THE INCOMING LAFAYETTE MAYOR PRESIDENT, JOSH GUILLORY, HAS CHOSEN A FORMER OLYMPIAN TO SERVE AS THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR. HOLLIS CONWAY WON TWO MEDALS IN THE HIGH JUMP AT THE 1988 AND 1992 OLYMPICS AND CURRENTLY IS SERVING AS ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR AT U-L. GUILLORY SAYS HE CHOSE CONWAY BECAUSE OF HIS REPUTATION AS A GO-GETTER WHO HAS AN ABILITY TO INSPIRE AND MOTIVATE PEOPLE. CONWAY SAID IN A STATEMENT THAT HE’S ECSTATIC TO BE PART OF GUILLORY’S TEAM.
AN ESCAPED JUVENILE FROM THE ACADIANA CENTER FOR YOUTH IN BUNKIE WAS CAPTURED LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND TWO ADULTS WERE ARRESTED FOR HARBORING HIM. THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD WAS HIDING AT AN APARTMENT ON MCKINLEY STREET. THE TWO ADULTS, 18-YEAR-OLD HAKEEM GLOSTON OF JENNINGS AND 49-YEAR-OLD DARREL RIGMAIDEN OF WELSH, BOTH DENIED KNOWING THE TEEN AND SAID THEY DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS HIDING IN THE APARTMENT. THE 17-YEAR-OLD WAS ONE OF SEVEN JUVENILES WHO ESCAPED FROM THE ACADIANA CENTER FOR YOUTH LAST MONTH AND IS THE LAST ONE TO BE RECAPTURED.
THE LOUISIANA SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE HAS CONFIRMED THAT WASHINGTON MAYOR JAMES OLIVIER HAS RESIGNED. MEGAN KELLY HAS MORE.
VOICER K :10
Federal regulators have vastly scaled back a plan to make more shrimp nets include sea turtle escape hatches. A conservation group calls it “a dangerous departure.” The proposed rule would have required about 5,800 inshore shrimp boats to use turtle excluder devices. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday made a rule public that applies to fewer than 1,100 boats.
