2-8-19
SOME FIFTY-FIVE LAFAYETTE POLICE OFFICERS ARE SET TO GET A RAISE. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
VOICER Q :23
ABOUT 250 TO 300 MOTORCYCLE POLICE OFFICERS FROM ACROSS THE STATE AND MISSISSIPPI WERE IN BATON ROUGE FOR THE FUNERAL OF FELLOW OFFICER CORPORAL SHANE TODDY. HE WAS A MOTORCYCLE POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS KILLED IN AN ACCIDENT WHILE ESCORTING A FUNERAL PROCESSION. TWENTY MOTOR OFFICERS FROM VARIOUS LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES IN CALCASIEU PARISH WERE PART OF A PROCESSEION THAT TRAVELED ABOUT NINE MILES, LINED WITH PEOPLE PAYING THEIR RESPECTS. CORPORAL SCOTT DOUGHERTY WITH LAKE CHARLES POLICE SAYS THIS IS THE SECOND MOTORCYCLE OFFICER KILLED ESCORTING A FUNERAL PROCESSION IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS.
AN OPELOUSAS MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY SETTING FIRE TO HIS FAMILY’S HOME ON JANUARY 21ST. AMAD REDDING WAS THE ONLY PERSON AT THE HOUSE, LOCATED IN THE 500 BLOCK OF MAIN STREET, WHEN THE FIRE HAPPENED. HE SUSTAINED THIRD DEGREE BURNS TO HIS HANDS. THERE WERE NO OTHER INJURIES REPORTED AND A NEIGHBORING MEDICAL CLINIC SUSTAINED MINOR DAMAGE.
A divided Supreme Court has stopped Louisiana from enforcing new regulations on abortion clinics in a test of the conservative court’s views on abortion rights. The justices said by a 5-4 vote late Thursday that they will not allow the state to put into effect a law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberals in putting a hold on the law, pending a full review of the case. President Donald Trump’s two Supreme Court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, were among the four conservative members of the court who would have allowed the law to take effect.
THE FATHER OF DAMIEN CHAMP, WHO WAS MURDERED IN LAFAYETTE IN 2015, EXPRESSED FRUSTRATION THAT THE ACCUSED KILLER WAS OUT ON BOND WHEN HE ALLEGEDLY SHOT AND KILLED ANOTHER MAN IN SCOTT. ALVIN CHAMP, WHO LIVES IN SHREVEPORT, VISITS HIS SON’S GRAVESITE IN LAFAYETTE JUST ABOUT EVERY WEEK. THE MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING HIM, TRAVEN SOLOMON, ORIGINALLY HAD HIS BOND SET AT 200 THOUSAND DOLLARS BUT IT WAS REDUCED TO TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS AND HE POSTED BOND LAST MARCH. SOLOMON WAS ARRESTED AGAIN THIS WEEK FOR THE MURDER OF ROBERT FELIX IN NOVEMBER. CHAMP, SPEAKING TO KATC TV, SYMPATHISED WITH THE FAMILY OF FELIX AND QUESTIONED WHY THE COURT SYSTEM KEEPS FAILING THEM.
SOME BUSINESSES IN OAKDALE HAVE BEEN THE VICTIM OF COUNTERFEIT ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS. THE OAKDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS RECEIVED THREE REPORTS OF THE COUNTERFEIT BILLS. LEAD INVESTIGATOR VIRGIL WEST SAYS HE BELIEVES THE COUNTERFEITER IS CHEMICALLY WASHING LOWER DENOMINATION BILLS AND USING THAT BILL TO PRINT NEW EXTREMELY REALISTIC ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS. HE SAYS THESE BILLS PASSED THE TEST USING COUNTERFEIT DETECTOR PENS. HE ADVISES HOLDING THE BILL UP TO THE LIGHT AND LOOKING FOR A BLUE LINE THAT SHOULD SAY “USA 100” OR WHATEVER IS THE DENOMINATION OF THE BILL.
A WOMAN ACCUSED IN THE MURDER OF A CHURCH POINT MAN LAST SUNDAY MORNING HAS BEEN FOUND AND ARRESTED. TYLA MECHE OF CHURCH POINT WAS FOUND BY AUTHORITIES AT A RESIDENCE ON THE CHURCH POINT HIGHWAY NORTH OF BRANCH. ACADIA PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES EARLIER HAD ARRESTED ANOTHER SUSPECT, KERVEE WOODARD OF CHURCH POINT. IT’S BELIEVED EITHER MECHE OR WOODARD SHOT AND KILLED 32-YEAR-OLD MATTHEW MARK BRISCOE DURING AN ARGUMENT IN A VEHICLE AND THEN DUMPED THE BODY IN A WOODED AREA NEAR BRANCH.
Louisiana’s largest auto insurer will cut its rates starting in April by an average of 3.2 percent for its roughly 1 million Louisiana policyholders. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announced the rate decrease for State Farm on Thursday. It’s the company’s third rate decrease in the past nine months, totaling a drop of 7.7 percent. The Advocate reports the change, which will vary by policy, will go into effect April 1, and be applied to policies as they are renewed.
