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MARY LAURENT WITH SLEMCO SAYS THE DAMAGE FROM YESTERDAY’S THUNDERSTORM WAS WIDESPREAD. SHE SAID IT WAS DUE TO A COMBINATION OF WIND AND LIGHTNING. SOME HOMES WERE DAMAGED BY THE HIGH WINDS AND SOME YARDS WERE FILLED WITH TREE BRANCHES AND OTHER DEBRIS. CREWS WORKED TO REMOVE A FALLEN TREE FROM A BRIDGE NEAR NORTH WILDERNESS TRAIL IN THE CARENCRO AREA.
SUNSET MIDDLE SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED TODAY. THAT’S BECAUSE OF A POWER OUTAGE YESTERDAY THAT AFFECTED THOUSANDS IN ACADIANA. OFFICIALS DECIDED TO CLOSE THE SCHOOL FOR TODAY BECAUSE THE OUTAGE WAS EXPECTED TO LAST AT LEAST THROUGH THIS MORNING. PARENTS AND STUDENTS ARE URGED TO STAY UPDATED THROUGH THE SCHOOL’S COMMUNICATION CHANNELS.
The Supreme Court seems closely divided over a challenge to Louisiana’s congressional map, which added a second Black majority district. Several of the court’s conservative justices suggested Monday they could vote to throw out the map and make it harder, if not impossible, to bring redistricting lawsuits under the federal Voting Rights Act. Two years ago, the court’s 5-4 decision in an Alabama case led to new districts in both states that sent two more Black Democrats to Congress. A decision is expected by late June.
THE MAN SHOT BY CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS FORTY-YEAR-OLD MATTHEW E. CALLOWAY OF SULPHUR. AUTHORITIES SAY CALLOWAY PUT A GUN TO THE HEAD OF A WOMAN AND PULLED THE TRIGGER THOUGH NO ONE WAS SHOT AT THE TIME. THEY SAY DEPUTIES HAD ORDERED CALLOWAY TO EXIT FROM A HOME WALKING BACKWARDS BUT, WHILE DOING SO, HE TURNED AND PULLED OUT A FIREARM AND WAS SHOT BY THE DEPUTIES. CALLOWAY IS IN THE HOSPITAL WITH NON-LIFE-THREATENING INJURIES.
A LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARIAN WAS NAMED AS THIS YEAR’S LOUISIANA SCHOOL LIBRARIAN OF THE YEAR. AMANDA BLANCO HAS SERVED AS A LIBRARIAN FOR THE LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR TWELVE YEARS AND HAS BEEN AN EDUCATOR IN THE DISTRICT FOR TWENTY YEARS. THE LOUISIANA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION SAYS THE AWARD SEEKS TO RECOGNIZE A SCHOOL LIBRARIAN WHO DEMONSTRATES OUTSTANDING WORK AND DEDICATION TO THE MISSION AND GOALS OF THE LIBRARY PROFESSION. IN A PRESS RELEASE, THEY CITED BLANCO’S PASSION FOR LITERACY AND A COMMITMENT TO STUDENT SUCCESS THAT EXEMPLIFIED THE QUALITIES HONORED BY THE AWARD.
THE SHERIFF OF SAINT MARTIN PARISH IS SEEKING THE PUBLIC’S HELP IN IDENTIFYING THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR A FATAL HIT-AND-RUN. GEORGE FAUST REPORTS.
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GOVERNER JEFF LANDRY WAS AT THE WHITE HOUSE YESTERDAY WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP TO ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR A FIVE-POINT-EIGHT BILLION DOLLAR HYUNDAI STEEL MILL TO BE BUILT IN LOUISIANA. IT WILL BE LOCATED ON SEVENTEEN HUNDRED ACRES IN THE DONALDSONVILLE RIVER PLEX MEGA PARK. THIS WILL BE HYUNDAI’S FIRST STEEL MILL IN NORTH AMERICA. THE PROJECT IS EXPECTED TO CREATE THIRTEEN HUNDRED DIRECT JOBS WITH AN AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARY OF NINETY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS AND APPROXIMATELY FORTY-ONE HUNDRED INDIRECT JOBS.
A MOBILE HOME IN THE EUNICE AREA WAS SEVERELY DAMAGED BY FIRE YESTERDAY. FIRE CREWS HAD TROUBLE REACHING THE HOME NEAR THE EUNICE IOTA HIGHWAY BECAUSE OF DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES CAUSED BY THE STORMS. IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE FIRE STARTED IN THE KITCHEN BUT THEY’RE STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE CAUSE. THERE WAS NO ONE IN THE HOME AT THE TIME OF THE FIRE.
