4-28-25
SCOTT FIREFIGHTERS RESPONDED TO A HOUSE FIRE IN THE ONE HUNDRED BLOCK OF NOTRE DAME DRIVE JUST BEFORE NINE SUNDAY MORNING. THE FIRE BEGAN IN A RESTROOM AND SPREAD TO THE ATTIC. THE RESTROOM AND ATTIC HAD MODERATE DAMAGE BUT FIREFIGHTERS MANAGED TO CONTAIN THE FIRE BEFORE IT CAUSED DAMAGE TO THE REST OF THE HOUSE. INVESTIGATORS SAY THE FIRE WAS CAUSED BY A MALFUNCTIONING LIGHTED FAN AND HEATER UNIT.
A SAINT LANDRY PARISH GRAND JURY HAS INDICTED A MAN AND A TEENAGER FOR THE MURDER OF A MAN IN OPELOUSAS. ON DECEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH, KENDRICK LEWIS WAS SHOT ON HONEY LANE AND LATER DIED AT THE HOSPITAL. NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD MARQUES SONNIER OF OPELOUSAS AND A SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD HAVE BEEN FORMALLY CHARGED WITH SECOND-DEGREE MURDER IN THE DEATH OF LEWIS. ARRAIGNMENTS HAVE BEEN SCHEDULED FOR MAY TWENTY-SECOND FOR SONNIER AND MAY FIFTEENTH FOR THE TEENAGER.
THE DEBATE OVER INSURANCE REFORM IN LOUISIANA WILL BEGIN AT THE STATE CAPITOL TODAY. GEORGE FAUST HAS MORE.
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LAKE CHARLES POLICE HAVE RELEASED THE NAME OF A MAN FOUND IN A FIELD OFF OF GERSTNER MEMORIAL DRIVE IN LAKE CHARLES. TUESDAY EVENING POLICE RESPONDING TO A WELFARE CHECK FOUND FORTY-SEVEN-YEAR-OLD JOSE LEONEL BENETIZ PONCE WITH STAB WOUNDS. THEY TOOK PONCE, WHO WAS FROM HONDURAS, TO THE HOSPITAL WHERE HE LATER DIED. POLICE HAVE ARRESTED THIRTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD CESAR ODULIO CHAVEZ-PEREZ IN A NEARBY TRAILER PARK ON A CHARGE OF SECOND DEGREE MURDER AND ON AN IMMIGRATION DETAINER.
A MAN, WHO ALLEGEDLY FIRED MULTIPLE SHOTS AT A VEHICLE IN LAFAYETTE ON APRIL TENTH, WAS ARRESTED THURSDAY. THE SHOOTING HAPPENED ON NORTH BUCHANON STREET AND THE THREE PEOPLE TARGETED HAD ALREADY LEFT THE VEHICLE WHEN THE SHOTS WERE FIRED, SO NO ONE WAS INJURED. NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD TERRICK FRANCIS HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH THREE COUNTS OF ATTEMPTED FIRST-DEGREE MURDER. HIS BOND HAS BEEN SET AT NINE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.
CLECO REPRESENTATIVES SAY THAT, DURING HURRICANE SEASON, MOST POWER OUTAGES ARE DUE TO OVERGROWN TREES FALLING ON POWER LINES. CLECO DOES TREE TRIMMING YEAR ROUND, CUTTING SEVENTEEN HUNDRED MILES OF OVERGROWN TREES IN TWENTY-FOUR PARISHES. FRIDAY THEY WERE IN A NEW IBERIA NEIGHBORHOOD CUTTING TALL TREES. THE TREE TRIMMING, WHICH CLECO REPRESENTATIVES SAY COMES AT NO COST TO LOCAL RESIDENTS, WILL CONTINUE THROUGH JUNE FIRST, WHICH IS THE OFFICIAL BEGINNING OF THE HURRICANE SEASON.
THERE’S FINGERPOINTING OVER THE SUSPENSION OF LOUISIANA’S LARGEST COASTAL PROJECT, GOVERNOR JEFF LANDRY BLAMING FORMER GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS FOR THE MID-BARATARIA PROJECT. GEORGE FAUST HAS THE DETAILS.
VOICER U :23
THE U-S SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION HAS ESTABLISHED A DISASTER LOAN OUTREACH CENTER IN RAYNE. TWO WEEKS AGO THEY ISSUED A DISASTER DECLARATION COVERING ACADIA, EVANGELINE, JEFF DAVIS, LAFAYETTE, SAINT LANDRY AND VERMILLION PARISHES BECAUSE OF SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING THAT HAPPENED MARCH TWENTY-NINTH TO APRIL SECOND. THE OUTREACH CENTER HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED AT THE CITY OF RAYNE’S GREEN ROOM ON GOSSEN MEMORIAL DRIVE AND IS OPEN MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY FROM NINE A-M TO SIX P-M. S-B-A SPECIALISTS WILL HELP THOSE AFFECTED APPLY FOR DISASTER LOANS AND HELP THEM LEARN ABOUT A FULL RANGE OF PROGRAMS AVAILABLE TO ASSIST IN RECOVERY.
