3-8-22
THE JEANERETTE CITY MARSHAL’S OFFICE MAY HAVE VIOLATED STATE LAW, ACCORDING TO A STATE AUDIT. CAROLINE MARCELLO HAS MORE.
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A MAN IS IN STABLE CONDITION AFTER BEING SHOT IN LAFAYETTE JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT SUNDAY NIGHT. POLICE RESPONDED TO REPORTS OF A FAMILY DISTURBANCE IN THE ONE HUNDRED BLOCK OF AMBROISE STREET AND FOUND A MAN SUFFERING A GUNSHOT WOUND. FIFTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD PAMELA JOINER WAS ARRESTED AND HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED SECOND-DEGREE MURDER. AN INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING.
Americans paid a combined $561 million in late payment fees to electrical utilities in 2019, but how much you pay depends on where you live. An AP analysis of federal regulatory data found that several major utility companies in states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Florida and Maryland are charging late fees that are much higher than the national average. Late fees typically punish customers who are least able to afford their utility bill to begin with. The fees account for a small part of major energy companies’ overall revenue, but for the people who must pay them, they can be crushing.
A MAN WANTED FOR A SHOOTING AT A LAKE CHARLES WALMART STORE WAS FOUND AND ARRESTED IN OPELOUSAS FRIDAY. DEPUTY CHIEF FRANKLIN FONDEL SAYS NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD COTRELLIS LAQUINCY HENRY GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT WITH AN EMPLOYEE AT THE WALMART STORE ON GERSTNER MEMORIAL ON FEBRUARY EIGHEENTH AND SHOT THE EMPLOYEE, WHO HAS SINCE RECOVERED. FONDEL SAYS HENRY FLED ON FOOT AND LEFT HIS VEHICLE BEHIND IN THE PARKING LOT. U-S MARSHALS AND THE LAKE CHARLES POLICE DEPARTMENT SWAT TEAM ARRESTED HENRY WITHOUT INCIDENT LATE FRIDAY NIGHT IN OPELOUSAS FOR AGGRAVATED SECOND DEGREE BATTERY AND POSSESSION OF A FIREARM BY A CONVICTED FELON.
AN ABBEVILLE MAN WAS ARRESTED SUNDAY FOR ALLEGEDLY SHOOTING A WOMAN IN THE NECK DURING AN ARGUMENT. WHEN POLICE RESPONDED TO REPORTS OF SHOTS FIRED AT THE COUNTRY VILLAGE APARTMENTS, THEY FOUND THE VICTIM OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT, WHO TOLD THEM THE SUSPECT, DEMONTREVON CHAVIS, WAS INSIDE. THEY SEALED OFF THE APARTMENT AND EVENTUALLY TOOK CHAVIS INTO CUSTODY AS HE EXITED THE APARTMENT. POLICE ALSO FOUND THE WEAPON INVOLVED AND LATER LEARNED IT HAD BEEN STOLEN.
The Italian owners of a Switzerland-based helicopter company have backed out of plans to build a new model in Lafayette, and the state is looking for a new tenant. Leonardo Helicopters bought Kopter Group AG in 2020, the year after Kopter announced plans to use a manufacturing plant in Lafayette. News outlets report that Leonardo now plans to build the SH09 single-engine helicopters in Philadelphia. Lafayette Economic Development Authority president and CEO Mandi Mitchell says the agency and state have been marketing the facility to potential clients, and the agency was planning to continue doing so at a trade show this week in Dallas.
LOUISIANA IS ONE OF TWENTY-FIVE STATES EXPECTED TO EXCEED THEIR FORECASTED REVENUES. THE REVENUE FORECAST FOR LOUISIANA IS UP ONE BILLION DOLLARS FROM NINE-POINT-NINE BILLION TO TEN-POINT-NINE BILLION DOLLARS. THE STATE’S CHIEF ECONOMIST MANFRED DIX TOLD THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE MONDAY THAT THE INCREASE IS DUE TO AN UNEXPECTED RISE IN INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX AND GENERAL SALES TAX COLLECTIONS. INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX COLLECTIONS INCREASED UNEXPECTEDLY BY FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTY MILLION ABOVE THE FORECAST AND SALES TAX COLLECTIONS ARE FOUR HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS ABOVE PROJECTION.
A RAYNE MAN WAS ARRESTED SUNDAY IN CONNECTION WITH A SHOOTING THAT HAPPENED ON MAY TWENTY-FIFTH LAST YEAR. RAYNE POLICE SAY TWENTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD MARKEL CORMIER FIRED A WEAPON AT TWO INDIVIDUALS IN A VEHICLE ON LYMAN AND WEST JEFF DAVIS AVENUES, THOUGH NEITHER INDIVIDUAL WAS HIT. AFTER THE SHOOTING, ARREST WARRANTS WERE ISSUED FOR CORMIER ON TWO COUNTS OF ATTEMPTED SECOND DEGREE MURDER. HE WAS BOOKED INTO THE ACADIA PARISH JAIL SUNDAY.
