2-17-22
POLICE HAVE MADE A SECOND ARREST IN CONNECTION WITH THE HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN NEW IBERIA. SYLVIA MASTERS REPORTS.
VOICER K :45
AN OVERNIGHT APARTMENT FIRE HAS LEFT EIGHT PEOPLE HOMELSS IN LAFAYETTE. A RESIDENT AT AN APARTMENT COMPLEX ON EAST UNIVERSITY STARTED A GREASE FIRE WHILE FRYING FRENCH FRIES ON HIS STOVE. THE FIRE CAUSED MAJOR DAMAGE TO FIVE APARTMENT UNITS. FIRE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN ALTON TRAHAN SAYS THE FIRE APPEARED TO BE ACCIDENTAL AND THE TENANT WILL NOT BE HELD LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE.
Gov. John Bel Edwards has extended Louisiana’s COVID-19 statewide health emergency. But Wednesday’s proclamation did not reinstitute long-expired mask mandates or gathering restrictions. Edwards said in a news release that the state is “on the down swing” of a surge in cases fueled by the omicron variant. Louisiana continues to see new COVID-19 cases daily but new case numbers are down, the percentage of positive tests is below 10% and hospitalizations have fallen sharply in the past month.
OFFICIALS AT SAM HOUSTON JONES STATE PARK ARE SEEKING THE PUBLIC’S HELP TO PLANT MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND TREES. THEY WOULD HELP REPLACE THE TREES THAT WERE KNOCKED DOWN BY HURRICANES LAURA AND DELTA. THE TREE PLANTING WILL TAKE PLACE SATURDAY FROM NINE A-M TO NOON. REGISTRATION IS NOT REQUIRED.
THE EVANGELINE PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS CONFIRMING A SHOOTING TUESDAY NIGHT THAT LEFT ONE MAN DEAD. PEOPLE IN THREE VEHICLES WERE REPORTEDLY INVOLVED IN A SHOOT OUT ON SAINT JULIEN ROAD, SOUTH OF CHATAIGNER. THIRTY-FOUR-YEAR-OLD AUGUST TUJUAN LATRALL OF JEANERETTE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL WITH A GUNSHOT WOUND AND LATER DIED. NO ARRESTS HAVE BEEN MADE YET.
SHOTS WERE FIRED LATE LAST NIGHT ON THE CAMPUS AT U-L LAFAYETTE. UNIVERSITY POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING. THEY PUT OUT AN EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION THROUGHOUT THE U-L SYSTEM. IT CONFIRMED THAT SHOTS WERE FIRED NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF EAST SAINT MARY BOULEVARD AND HEBRARD BOULEVARD.
A bill to give Louisiana a second majority-Black Supreme Court district was killed on the House floor when an opponent used a parliamentary move to abruptly cut off debate. Rep. Barry Ivey of Baton Rouge had pushed the bill. It died when the House voted 52-43 Wednesday in favor of a motion by Republican Rep. Mark Wright of Covington to table it. A motion to table cannot be debated under House rules.
INVESTIGATORS WITH THE SAINT LANDRY PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE HAVE IDENTIFIED A PERSON OF INTEREST IN CONNECTION WITH A SHOOTING TUESDAY NIGHT THAT LEFT ONE PERSON DEAD AND ANOTHER INJURED. THERE WERE REPORTS OF SHOTS FIRED IN THE NINETY-FIVE-HUNDRED BLOCK OF HIGHWAY ONE-OH-FIVE IN MELVILLE AT AROUND SEVEN-THIRTY THAT NIGHT. WHEN DEPUTIES ARRIVED, THEY FOUND THE BODY OF WADE EDWARD SMITH, WHO HAD DIED OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS, AND A SECOND VICTIM NEAR A BURNT VEHICLE. THE CAUSE OF THE VEHICLE FIRE HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED AND THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE SHOOTING CONTINUES.
