2-8-21
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has dumped some disposable containers for takeout meals and replaced them with reusable “to-go” boxes of transparent green hard plastic. U-L says each student on a meal plan gets a voucher for one container, and people who aren’t on meal plans pay $4.99 for one with their meal. After meals, empty containers go into a machine that releases a token good for another to-go box. The used boxes are washed and sanitized.
AN AMBER ALERT HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR A MISSING TEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL FROM NEW IBERIA. GERALD GRUENIG REPORTS.
VOICER U :42
A citywide cleanup is planned in March in hopes of picking up much of the trash that still litters the streets of Lake Charles after Hurricanes Laura and Delta. KPLC-TV reports during Spring Clean LC, organizations and groups are asked to commit to picking up litter in the city on any day in March. The city is coordinating the pickup and is inviting civic and church groups, neighborhood associations, school organizations, businesses, and families to join. The city said trash bags, gloves, and safety vests will be provided while supplies last.
About 85% of Louisiana’s prisoners aged 70 and older opted to get the coronavirus vaccine once access opened to the elderly statewide. That’s according to data that has corrections officials optimistic that large swaths of the state prison population will follow suit when they are eligible. The Advocate reports Louisiana corrections officials are offering inmates a $5 canteen credit for receiving the vaccine and promising wider access to visitation and programming once those activities resume. Prisons and jails became epicenters of the virus in many communities in the U.S. because of close quarters and enclosed spaces that make social distancing impossible.
COVID-NINETEEN HOSPITALIZATIONS HAVE DROPPED BELOW ELEVEN HUNDRED AFTER BEING OVER TWO THOUSAND JUST OVER A MONTH AGO. THEY DECREASED BY ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN IN YESTERDAY’S REPORT FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, WHICH COVERS TWO DAYS. THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS ON VENTILATORS WENT DOWN BY TWENTY-FOUR. THERE WERE FORTY MORE DEATHS STATEWIDE, MOVING THE TOTAL OF CONFIRMED COVID-NINETEEN DEATHS TO OVER EIGHTY-FIVE HUNDRED. LOUISIANA HAD ONE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED THIRTY ADDITIONAL NEW CONFIRMED CASES. THAT PUSHES THE TOTAL NEAR THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN THOUSAND.
ACADIANA HAD THREE MORE DEATHS, TWO IN VERMILLION PARISH AND ONE IN LAFAYETTE PARISH. SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA REPORTED ONE MORE DEATH. CALCASIEU PARISH HAD TWO BUT ALLEN PARISH’S TOTAL WAS ADJUSTED DOWN BY ONE. ACADIANA ADDED ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FOUR NEW CONFIRMED CASES, INCLUDING SIXTY-ONE IN LAFAYETTE PARISH. THERE WERE EIGHTY-EIGHT NEW CASES IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. CALCASIEU PARISH HAD SIXTY-FIVE MORE.
TOMORROW THE LAFAYETTE PARISH COUNCIL WILL APPOINT SOMEONE TO TAKE A VACANT POSITION ON THE LIBRARY BOARD OF CONTROL. THE POSITION HAS ATTRACTED SEVEN CANDIDATES. THE APPOINTMENT COMES TWO WEEKS AFTER THE BOARD VOTED TO REJECT A GRANT FROM THE LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT OF THE ARTS TO PAY FOR A DISCUSSION ON THE HISTORY OF VOTING RIGHTS. SHORTLY AFTER THE VOTE, LIBRARY DIRECTOR TERESA ELBERSON RETIRED.
THE ACADIA PARISH POLICE JURY IS MAKING IT EASIER FOR RESIDENTS TO DISPOSE OF FLAGS THAT ARE TOO OLD TO FLY. THEY HAVE PUT UP A DISPOSAL BOX IN THE LOBBY OF THEIR ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE IN CROWLEY. IT’S AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC FROM EIGHT TO FOUR-THIRTY ON THE WEEKDAYS. ONCE THE BOX FILLS UP, LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THE BOY SCOUTS AND GIRL SCOUTS, THE AMERICAN LEGION AND THE V-F-W WILL HOLD RETIREMENT CEREMONIES.
