KAJN Jesus FM 102.9


4-6-21

TWO CHILDREN AND ONE ADULT WERE INJURED IN A SHOOTING SUNDAY NIGHT IN VILLE PLATTE.  CAROLINE MARCELLO REPORTS.

 

VOICER S :30

 

THERE APPEARS TO BE LITTLE PROGRESS IN GETTING A WALKWAY OR WALK RAMP FOR PEDESTRIANS TRYING TO CROSS THE EVANGELINE THRUWAY.  IT’S FRUSTRATING FOR FORMER LAFAYETE CITY PARISH COUNCILMAN KENNETH BROUDREAX.  HE SAYS THERE IS A PROBLEM IN GETTING THE STATE OF LOUISIANA, THE ACADIANA PLANNING COMMISSION OR THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATION TO CONSIDER THE PROBLEM.  SINCE DECEMBER, FOUR PEDESTRIANS HAVE BEEN STRUCK BY VEHICLES ON THE EVANGELINE THRUWAY.

 

A state audit has found that Louisiana’s labor department sent more than $405 million in state and federal unemployment insurance benefits to people who don’t appear to have been eligible for them. The audit estimates that total was paid out from January of last year through September. It’s a time when claims skyrocketed because of the pandemic and total payments leapt to more than $6.8 billion in a few months. The Louisiana Workforce Commission says the growth in applicants and legislative action giving employers more time to submit wage reports affected efforts to verify the accuracy of applicants’ self-reported income.

 

A FORT WORTH, TEXAS MAN WAS KILLED IN A TWO VEHICLE CRASH ON I-TEN IN CALCASIEU PARISH.  IT HAPPENED AT AROUND ONE THIRTY YESTERDAY AFTERNOON ABOUT TWO MILES EAST OF VINTON WHEN FIFTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD REX ALAN CLEMENTS FAILED TO REDUCE HIS SPEED AS HE ENCOUNTERED SLOW MOVING TRAFFIC.  HE REARENDED A VEHICLE, RAN OFF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD, OVERTURNED AND STRUCK A TREE.  DESPITE WEARING HIS SEATBELT, CLEMENTS WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT THE SCENE WHILE THE DRIVER OF THE REARENDED VEHICLE WAS NOT INJURED.

 

TWO CROWLEY TEENAGERS WERE ARRESTED LAST WEEK IN CONNECTION WITH THE AUGUST SHOOTING DEATH OF VONTRE PHILLIPS.  U-S MARSHALS APPREHENDED SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD KEYSHAWN WILLIAMS ON A CHARGE OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER, WHILE EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD WESLEY YOKUM JUNIOR WAS ARRESTED ON THE SAME CHARGE.  YOKUM ALSO FACES CHARGES IN CONNECTION WITH A SHOOTING LAST JULY IN THE WESTWOOD SUBDIVISION.  FOUR PEOPLE HAVE BEEN INDICTED IN THE DEATH OF PHILLIPS.

 

ON THURSDAY, THE LAFAYETTE BOARD OF ZONING AND ADJUSTMENT WILL CONSIDER AN APPEAL OF A DECISION LAST NOVEMBER THAT ALLOWED A SHORT TERM RENTAL HOUSE TO OPERATE ON POINSETTA STREET.  DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR MARY SILMAN GRANTED THE SHORT TERM RENTAL BECAUSE THE UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE DOES NOT EXPRESSLY PROHIBIT OR PERMIT SHORT TERM RENTALS.  RESIDENTS IN THE AREA OF POINSETTA STREET BROUGHT THE APPEAL.  THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL HAS DEFERRED ACTION ON AN ORDINANCE THAT WOULD CLARIFY THE RULES FOR SHORT TERM RENTALS.

 

HOSPITALIZATIONS FOR COVID-NINETEEN IN LOUISIANA HAVE DROPPED BELOW THREE HUNDRED.  THE LATEST REPORT FROM THE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, WHICH COVERS FOUR DAYS, SHOWS HOSPITALIZATIONS DECREASED BY FIFTY-FIVE.  THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS ON VENTILATORS DECREASED BY SEVEN, DROPPING THE TOTAL UNDER FIFTY.  THERE WERE JUST FOUR DEATHS FROM COVID-NINETEEN OVER THE PAST FOUR DAYS.  THE TOTAL OF NEW CONFIRMED CASES ROSE BY EIGHT HUNDRED, EIGHTY-SIX.  THAT MOVES THE TOTAL PAST THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY-ONE THOUSAND.

 

SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA HAD NO DEATHS FROM COVID-NINETEEN FOR THE PAST FOUR DAYS.  ACADIANA HAD ONE DEATH WHICH WAS IN EVANGELINE PARISH.  ACADIANA HAD ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-FOUR NEW CASES.  LAFAYETTE PARISH HAD SIXTY-FOUR, MOVING THEIR TOTAL OVER TWENTY-THOUSAND FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHILE EVANGELINE PARISH HAS JUST ECLIPSED THREE THOUSAND.  SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA HAD ONE HUNDRED EIGHT NEW CASES INCLUDING EIGHTY-FOUR IN CALCASIEU PARISH.