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THE LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT SAYS HE WAS SURPRISED TO FIND OUT THIS WEEK THAT THE GRADUATION RATE FOR THE PARISH DROPPED BELOW 70 PERCENT FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE 2009-10 SCHOOL YEAR. BURNELL LEJEUNE TELLS THE ADVERTISER HE WASN’T EXPECTING BIG GAINS, BUT HE THOUGHT THE RATES WOULD BE SOLID. LEJEUNE SAYS THAT HE WANTS TO SEE THE DETAILED GRADUATION REPORT TO DETERMINE IF THE PROBLEM IS AT PARTICULAR SCHOOLS OR ACROSS THE DISTRICT. LEJEUNE SAYS HE WOULD LIKE THE DISTRICT TO BECOME MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH A STATE PROGRAM CALLED JUMP START WHICH HELPS STUDENTS, WHO NORMALLY WOULDN’T GRADUATE, GET A CAREER DIPLOMA, WHICH ALLOWS THEM TO ENTER THE WORKFORCE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL.
TONIGHT THE JEFF DAVIS PARISH POLICE JURY IS EXPECTED TO DISCUSS BIDS TO CLEAR 15 ACRES OF LAND THAT WILL BE USED FOR A NEW JAIL. THEY HAVE RECEIVED FOUR BIDS FROM LOCAL CONTRACTORS RANGING FROM 60 THOUSAND TO 280 THOUSAND DOLLARS. POLICE JURY PRESIDENT DONALD WOODS SAYS THEY WILL ALSO UNVEIL PRELIMINARY PLANS FOR THE FACILITY, WHICH WILL BE LOCATED ON HIGHWAY 90 WEST OF JENNINGS. FORMER STATE JERRY THEUNISSEN, WHO IS A CONSULTANT ON THE PROJECT, TELLS THE AMERICAN PRESS THAT HOPEFULLY FUNDING WILL MOVE FORWARD WITH THE LEGISLATURE ABOUT TO BE IN SESSION, AND THEY CAN BREAK GROUND EARLY IN THE FALL.
HUNDREDS OF MOURNERS ATTENDED THE FUNERAL OF THE MAYOR OF LOREAUVILLE, AL BROUSSARD, WHICH WAS HELD YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AT ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH. BROUSSARD WAS KILLED IN A HEAD-ON COLLISION FRIDAY EVENING AND HIS FIANCEE, CITY CLERK PHYLLIS SAVOY, SUFFERED CRITICAL INJURIES. 26 POLICE CARS AND THREE FIRE TRUCKS LED THE FUNERAL PROCESSION TO ALL SAINTS MAUSOLEUM, WHERE HIS BODY WAS LAID TO REST. BROUSSARD WAS IN HIS THIRD TERM AS MAYOR AND BEFORE THAT SERVED 24 YEARS AS AN ALDERMAN.
Louisiana’s education superintendent asked lawmakers to add money to his budget for standardized testing next year. Superintendent John White says Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposal to strip $23 million from his agency’s main office operations would damage the state’s ability to measure student performance. White told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that Jindal’s spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year so deeply cuts his agency that he would violate state and federal student testing requirements. Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols says the reductions proposed for White’s department are reasonable and White has discretion over where to slash spending.
DUSON TOWN OFFICIALS COULD ASK VOTERS TO APPROVE A HOTEL MOTEL TAX IF A BILL IS APPROVED IN THE UPCOMING STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION. REPRESENTATIVE JACK MONTOUCET OF CROWLEY PREFILED THE BILL, WHICH HAS BEEN ASSIGNED TO THE HOUSE MUNICIPAL, PAROCHIAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE. DUSON MAYOR JOHNNY THIBODEAUX SAYS IF IT PASSES, THEY COULD ASK VOTERS TO APPROVE A FOUR PERCENT HOTEL MOTEL TAX THIS FALL, AND BEGIN COLLECTING IT ON JANUARY FIRST. THIBODEAUX SAYS THE PROPOSED TAX, WHICH WOULD ONLY APPLY TO HOTELS AND MOTELS, NOT R-V PARKS, WOULD RAISE ABOUT THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ANNUALLY.
GREENFIELD LOGISTICS IS PLANNING A HOUSING FACILITY FOR TEMPORARY WORKERS AT THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 90 AND W-P-A ROAD, BETWEEN VINTON AND SULPHUR. LAST NIGHT A MEETING WAS HELD IN SULPHUR TO GET FEEDBACK FROM RESIDENTS ABOUT THE FACILITY. SCOTT PLATZER OF THE CORMORANT GROUP, ONE OF THE COMPANIES SEEKING TO BE THE OVERSEER OF THE FACILITY, TELLS KPLC TV THAT THEY GOT A GENUINE FEELING OF THEIR CONCERNS AND THEY NEED TO SEE HOW THEY CAN MAKE A PLAN TO ADDRESS THOSE CONCERNS. TEMPORARY WORKERS HOUSED AT THE FACILITY WILL BE BUILDING SASOL’S MULTIBILLION DOLLAR ETHANE CRACKER.
A JEANERETTE POLICE OFFICER IS DEAD AFTER A HIGH SPEED PURSUIT IN IBERIA PARISH. JULIE DARCE REPORTS.
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Oil companies say they can clean up offshore spills far faster today than five years ago when BP’s Macondo well blew out 45 miles off the coast of Louisiana, spawning the nation’s worst offshore oil spill. It took BP and the industry’s best containment technology 87 days to contain the deep-water blowout. The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and spill on April 20, 2010, resulted in as much as 172 million gallons of oil getting into the Gulf of Mexico. On Tuesday, Don Armijo, CEO of the Marine Well Containment Co., a consortium developing containment technology, touted technological breakthroughs and advances made by the industry since the BP spill.
