2-2-22
A MORGAN CITY MAN PLED GUILTY YESTERDAY TO SECOND DEGREE MURDER, MOMENTS BEFORE HIS TRIAL WAS TO BEGIN IN THIBODAUX. ONE YEAR AGO, THIRTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD LOUIS FORET GOT INTO AN ALTERCATION WITH CHANE BENOIT THAT ENDED WHEN BENOIT WAS SHOT AND KILLED. FORET EXPLAINED, AFTER CHANGING HIS PLEA, THAT IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. HE WAIVED HIS FORMAL SENTENCING DATE AND FACES A MANDATORY LIFE SENTENCE WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PROBATION, PAROLE OR SUSPENSION OF SENTENCE.
LAST NIGHT, THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL AGREED TO BAN ALCOHOL SALES AFTER MIDNIGHT ON MARDI GRAS. DANIELLE JOHNSON HAS MORE.
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A NEW PROGRAM HAS STARTED FOR NEW MOTHERS WHO GIVE BIRTH AT OCHSNER AMERICAN LEGION HOSPITAL IN JENNINGS. MINDY HERTZEL SAYS WORK ON THE BRAIN BAGS PROGRAM BEGAN EARLY LAST YEAR AND THEY RAISED FUNDS FOR IT THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. A BRAIN BAG IS FILLED WITH READING MATERIAL FOR MOMS ON HOW TO AID IN DEVELOPMENT AND TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE BABY’S MILESTONES. NURSE MANAGER HARLEY LANDRY SAYS THE BAGS ARE IMPORTANT IN HELPING MOTHERS TO BE AWARE OF WHAT TO EXPECT AND TO PREPARE FOR LIFE AFTER A BABY COMES.
Louisiana House legislators begrudgingly, but with bipartisan support, advanced a $45 million funding bill for an incentive program designed to entice more insurers to the state. The measures next face debate in the Senate Finance Committee Thursday afternoon. Louisiana is in the midst of an insurance crisis, exacerbated by hurricanes Delta, Laura, Zeta and Ida in 2020 and 2021. In the hopes of making the market more competitive and home insurance premiums more affordable, lawmakers last year passed the incentive program.
CLOSING ARGUMENTS WERE MADE YESTERDAY IN THE DOUBLE MURDER TRIAL OF JAMARCUS MCCLENDON, SON OF THE FORMER OPELOUSAS POLICE CHIEF, MARTIN MCCLENDON. JAMARCUS FACES TWO FIRST DEGREE MURDER CHARGES FOR THE DEATHS OF NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD NAKIA RAMER AND TWENTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD SHAWN PARISH BACK IN TWENTY-SIXTEEN. WHEN JAMARCUS WAS NAMED A SUSPECT IN THE DEATHS, HE WAS SURRENDERED TO THE OPELOUSAS POLICE DEPARTMENT BY HIS FATHER. JURY DELIBERATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN THIS MORNING.
SOME RESIDENTS IN THE FOUR CORNERS AT UNIVERSITY AVENUE IN LAFAYETTE ARE UPSET ABOUT A PLANNED DEVELOPMENT. THERE’S A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW CONVENIENCE STORE AT THE CORNER OF UNIVERSITY AND JEANNE STREET, WHERE A CHASE BANK BRANCH USED TO BE LOCATED. RANDALL LABRY TOLD THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL THAT IT’S ALREADY HARD TO GET ONTO UNIVERSITY AT THAT CORNER, AND THIS WILL MAKE IT WORSE. GISELE MENARD, WHO OWNS PROPERTY NEAR THE LOT, SAYS HE’S CONCERNED ABOUT THE INCREASED TRAFFIC AND THE HEALTH HAZARDS THAT COME FROM A GAS STATION.
THE CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS INVESTIGATING THE DEATH OF TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD DAMARCUS A. ARDOIN, WHOSE BODY WAS FOUND BY DEPUTIES IN A RESIDENCE ON WESTWOOD DRIVE IN WESTLAKE. KPLC TV IS REPORTING THAT MULTIPLE NEIGHBORS HEARD GUNSHOTS AROUND THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. CHIEF DEPUTY STITCH GUILLORY CALLS IT A POSSIBLE HOMOCIDE AND IT MAY BE DRUG-RELATED. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION CAN SUBMIT TIPS BY CALLING CRIME STOPPERS AT FOUR-THREE-NINE-TWO-TWO-TWO-TWO.
AN ABBEVILLE MAN WAS KILLED YESTERDAY IN A SINGLE VEHICLE CRASH IN VERMILLION PARISH. STATE POLICE SAYS SIXTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD BRIAN D. BROUSSARD WAS DRIVING HIS F-ONE-FIFTY ON L-A THIRTY-TWO-SIXTY-SEVEN, WHEN, FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, HE WENT OFF THE ROADWAY, STRUCK A POLE AND HIT TWO PARKED CARS IN A PARKING LOT ON JACQULYN STREET BEFORE THE TRUCK LANDED ON ITS ROOF. BROUSSARD, WHO WAS WEARING A SEAT BELT, WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT THE SCENE AND A TOXICOLOGY SAMPLE WAS TAKEN FOR ANALYSIS. THIS IS THE EIGHTH FATAL CRASH IN THE TROOP I AREA THIS YEAR, RESULTING IN NINE DEATHS.
