2-11-22
ONE PERSON IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER BEING SHOT AT POINT BLANK RANGE NEAR THE EVANGELINE THRUWAY LATE THURSDAY NIGHT. CAROLINE MARCELLO REPORTS.
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AN ARGUMENT OVER MONEY LED TO A SHOOTING IN OPELOUSAS YESTERDAY. IT HAPPENED AT FERN AND HALL STREETS, ACCORDING TO POLICE CHIEF MARTIN MCLENDON. THE TWO STRUGGLED WITH THE GUN AND THE VICTIM WAS SHOT IN THE LEG. POLICE TOOK FORTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD JAMES ALLEN INTO CUSTODY AS THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES.
The Louisiana House has approved a bill shifting boundary lines for the state’s six congressional districts without creating a second majority Black district sought by civil rights organizations. Thursday’s vote for the bill by House Speaker Clay Schexnayder was 70-33. Amendments creating a new “majority-minority” district were defeated by similar margins. A similar bill has been approved by the Senate.
THERE ARE THREE CANDIDATES SEEKING TO REPLACE FORMER JEFF DAVIS PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY KEVIN MILLICAN, WHO DIED OF A HEART ATTACK IN JULY. THEY INCLUDE REPUBLICANS ELLIOT CASSIDY, WHO HAS BEEN SERVING AS INTERIM DISTRICT ATTORNEY, AND LAUREN HEINEN, AND INDEPENDENT DANIEL SPARKS. THE THREE TOOK PART IN A CANDIDATE FORUM LAST NIGHT THAT WAS WELL ATTENDED. THE PRIMARY ELECTION WILL TAKE PLACE ON MARCH TWENTY-SIXTH.
U-L LAFAYETTE IS IMPLEMENTING PLANS TO CONVERT EIGHTY SINGLE USE RESTROOMS THAT CURRENTLY HAVE MALE OR FEMALE DESIGNATIONS AS GENDER NEUTRAL. INTERIM CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER KIWANA MCCLUNG SAYS THE PLAN WAS DEVELOPED MORE THAN A YEAR AGO TO MAKE MORE RESTROOMS AVAILABLE FOR TRANSGENDER OR OTHER INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE COMFORTABLE USING SINGLE-USE RESTROOMS. SHE SAYS CAMPUS FACILITIES SERVICES WILL BE SETTING STANDARDS FOR NEW RESTROOM DESIGNS AND CONSTRUCTION. MCCLUNG SAYS THEY HOPE MORE STUDENTS “IN THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERING THEIR GENDER IDENTITY OR WHO DO NOT WISH TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES BY GENDER, WILL FEEL INCLUDED AND WELCOMED.”
A NATIONWIDE POLICE SHORTAGE IS AFFECTING ACADIANA AS WELL. THOMAS GOSSEN, THE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER FOR STATE POLICE TROOP I, SAYS THEY NORMALLY HAVE TWELVE TROOPERS PER SHIFT, BUT THEIR DOWN TO ABOUT HALF OF THAT, MEANING LESS THAN ONE TROOPER PER ACADIANA PARISH PER SHIFT. CROWLEY POLICE CHIEF JIMMY BROUSSARD TELLS KATC TV THAT THEY ARE FIVE SHORT. THE LAFAYETTE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS TWENTY-NINE OPENINGS ON THEIR CURRENT STAFF THAT THEY ARE TRYING TO FILL.
Louisiana’s House speaker announced a bipartisan legislative investigation Thursday into the deadly 2019 arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene, an inquiry that will examine the state’s response at “all levels,” from troopers to the governor. Republican Rep. Clay Schexnayder says he was responding to an Associated Press report that showed Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards was informed within hours that troopers arresting Greene engaged in a “violent, lengthy struggle,” yet he kept quiet as state police told a much different story to the victim’s family and in official reports: that Greene died in a crash after a chase.
CHURCH POINT POLICE HAVE MADE THREE ARRESTS SO FAR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SHOOTING OF A JUVENILE AT THE CENTENNIAL VILLAGE HOUSING AREA ON DECEMBER FOURTEENTH. A JUVENILE SUSPECT IS STILL BEING SOUGHT FOR HIS ARREST. ONE OF THE SUSPECTS WAS CAUGHT IN TEXAS IN A STOLEN CAR AND IS AWAITING EXTRADITION. THE THREE WHO WERE ARRESTED ON ATTEMPTED SECOND DEGREE MURDER CHARGES HAIL FROM OPELOUSAS: EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD DERRION BRADLEY, TWENTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD DAVONTAE MOTT AND ANTHONY MINOR.
