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THE LAFAYETTE PUBLIC TRUST FINANCING AUTHORITY VOTED TUESDAY TO ENTER NEGOTIATIONS TO PURCHASE THREE ACRES OF VACANT LAND AT WILLOW STREET AND NORTH UNIVERSITY AVENUE. IT’S PART OF A PLAN TO HELP REVITALIZE THE UNIVERSITY AVENUE CORRIDOR, WHICH CITY PARISH PRESIDENT JOEL ROBIDEAUX IS PUSHING. IF THE PURCHASE GOES THROUGH, THE AUTHORITY PLANS ON HOLDING ON TO THE PROPERTY WITH THE HOPE OF ATTRACTING A SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT THERE. GREGG GOTHREAUX OF THE LAFAYETTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY TOLD THE L-P-T-F-A THAT THERE’S NO REASON THE AREA CAN’T BE TURNED AROUND AND IMPROVED IF THE COMMUNITY GETS BEHIND IT.
LAKE CHARLES POLICE HAVE ARRESTED THREE PEOPLE IN CONNECTION WITH THE TULIP STREET SHOOTING LAST WEEK, IN WHICH 22-YEAR-OLD CODY LASTRAPES WAS KILLED AND THREE OTHERS WERE SERIOUSLY WOUNDED. POLICE CHIEF DON DIXON SAYS 19-YEAR-OLD JKRISOPHER DEMOND SCOTT AND A 16-YEAR-OLD JUVENILE GOT INTO AN ALTERCATION WITH 19-YEAR-OLD DEON TOBIAS DEMORULLE. HE SAYS SCOTT AND THE 16-YEAR-OLD FIRED SHOTS INTO THE VEHICLE ON TULIP ROAD BECAUSE THEY THOUGH DEMORULLE WAS IN IT. HE SAYS 79 SHELL CASINGS WERE FOUND IN THE STREET,WHICH LED TO HIS REMARK THAT “THIS IS NOT BAGHDAD, THIS IS LAKE CHARLES.”
THE TANGIPAHOA PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS QUESTIONING AN ABBEVILLE MAN IN CONNECTION WITH DEATH OF A PONCHATOULA WOMAN. FIREFIGHTERS, BATTLING A HOUSE FIRE SUNDAY, FOUND THE BODY OF 89-YEAR-OLD DOROTHY POCHE. IT WAS LATER RULED A HOMOCIDE AFTER THE PRESENCE OF AN ACCELERANT WAS FOUND TO FUEL THE FIRE, AND HER CAR HAD BEEN STOLEN, THOUGH IT WAS LATER FOUND ABANDONED IN BOGALUSA. SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES FOUND 26-YEAR-OLD TIMOTHY ROUCHON OF ABBEVILLE IN THE LIVINGSTON PARISH DETENTION CENTER, WHERE HE HAD BEEN ARRESTED ON A WARRANT FOR THEFT AND HIT-AND-RUN DRIVING.
Abortion rights advocates say an abortion clinic in northwestern Louisiana has closed, leaving three other such clinics in the state. Owners of Bossier City Medical Suite could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The phone number at the facility was no longer in service and the website was down. The remaining clinics in the state are in Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
A JURY HAS CONVICTED THE MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING A PIZZA DELIVERY MAN IN YOUNGSVILLE IN 2010. JULIE DARCE HAS MORE.
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Three finalists have been selected to replace McNeese State University President Philip Williams, who announced his retirement in January. The Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System hopes to have a new leader in place prior to June 30, Williams’ last day. The McNeese State University Search Committee Tuesday selected Neil Aspinwall, chancellor of SOWELA Technical Community College; Daryl Burckel, professor and head of the Accounting, Finance and Economic department at McNeese; and Jeanne Daboval, provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at McNeese, for the board to consider. The board will meet April 20 in Baton Rouge to interview the finalists and select a president.
THE FALCON RICE MILL IN CROWLEY HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE NATIONAL CULINARY HERITAGE REGISTER. THEY ARE ONE OF TWENTY HISTORICAL BUSINESSES THAT ARE ON THE REGISTER. FALCON RICE MILL BEGAN IN 1942 AND THEY NOW SHIP TONS OF CAJUN COUNTRY RICE EVERY WEEK TO AREAS BETWEEN ALABAMA AND TEXAS. A PART OWNER OF THE MILL, ROBERT TRAHAN, TELL KATC THAT IT’S PRETTY HUMBLING TO SEE THE COMPANY NAME ON THE LIST, ESPECIALLY ALONGSIDE SOME PRETTY FAMOUS PLACES SUCH AS ANTOINE’S AND THE FRENCH MARKET IN NEW ORLEANS.
Gov. John Bel Edwards is calling Attorney General Jeff Landry’s lawsuit against him “nothing more than a dog and pony show.” The Democratic governor says the Republican attorney general is trying to get access to $4 million in an escrow account that doesn’t belong to him. Landry filed a lawsuit Tuesday, accusing the Edwards administration of improperly withholding the money. Edwards said in a statement: “The law clearly states that this money does not belong to the Department of Justice, and I am more than willing to defend that in court.”
