5-1-18
One of Louisiana’s safety-net hospital operators has notified about 770 of its employees they could be laid off and the hospital shuttered on June 30 because of proposed budget cuts. Lafayette General Health System sent the notices Monday to workers at University Hospital and Clinics, ahead of deep reductions slated to hit the facility when the new budget year begins July 1. Other safety-net hospitals are expected to issue similar layoff notices. The House-backed version of next year’s budget would close a gap caused by expiring taxes by cutting $431 million in general state tax dollars from the health department.
NEXT MONDAY THE SULPHUR CITY COUNCIL WILL VOTE ON A NEW 24 MILLION DOLLAR BUDGET. IT INCLUDES SIX MILLION DOLLARS FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. POLICE CHIEF LEWIS COATS SAYS THAT WOULD INCLUDE THE PURCHASE OF THIRTY NEW BODY CAMERAS FOR POLICE OFFICERS. SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS IS SET ASIDE FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, WHICH FIRE CHIEF DAN SELPH SAYS WILL ALLOW THEM TO PURCHASE NEEDED EQUIPMENT.
U-S SENATOR BILL CASSIDY WAS IN ST. MARTIN PARISH TO VISIT THE T-M LANDRY COLLEGE PREPARATORY ACADEMY IN BREAUX BRIDGE. THE SCHOOL HAS GOTTEN NATIONAL NOTORIETY BECAUSE IT TAKES DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS AND HELPS THEM BE SUCCESSES INCLUDING HELPING THEM BE ACCEPTED INTO NATIONALLY PROMINENT UNIVERSITIES. CASSIDY TELLS KATC TV HE WANTS TO LEARN WHY THE SCHOOL IS SO SUCCESSFUL SO THOSE POINTS CAN INFORM PUBLIC POLICY. CASSIDY ALSO TOOK A BOAT TOUR ON THE ATCHAFALAYA BASIN WITH THE LOUISIANA CRAWFISH PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION.
Four current or former Louisiana State Police troopers have been arrested on charges stemming from an investigation of a program that pays overtime for extra police patrols. State Police detectives made the arrests early Monday after a months-long internal investigation of the agency’s participation in the Local Agency Compensated Enforcement program. A State Police news release says a current trooper, Daryl Thomas, and former trooper, Byron Sims, were arrested on charges of felony theft and filing false public records. A second current trooper, Wayne Taylor, and former trooper Jimmy Rogers, who was from Calcasieu Parish, were arrested on charges of malfeasance in office and injuring public records.
THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN HAS RELEASED AN AGED PROGRESSED PHOTO OF MISSING DUSON TEEN KEIOSHA FELIX. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
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THE STATE SUPREME COURT HAS REMOVED JUDGE GUY BRADBERRY FROM THE KEVIN DAIGLE FIRST DEGREE MURDER TRIAL, WHICH WAS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN YESTERDAY. SPECIAL PROSECUTOR RICK BRYANT SAYS THE DECISION COULD MEAN A MAJOR DELAY. THE CALCASIEU CLERK OF COURT IS EXPECTED TO RANDOMLY ASSIGN THE CASE TO A NEW JUDGE TODAY. KPLC TV REPORTS THE COURT REMOVED BRADBERRY BECAUSE HE HAD A LONGTIME WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WIDOW OF TROOPER STEVEN VINCENT, WHO WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY DAIGLE.
TWO SEX OFFENDERS WERE ARRESTED IN ACADIA PARISH AND TWO MORE ARE WANTED. ACADIA PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES VISITED 25 SEX OFFENDERS IN THE PARISH TO MAKE SURE THEY WERE COMPLYING WITH REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW. DAVID JONES OF RAYNE AND QUINARIUS LEBLANC OF CHURCH POINT WERE EACH ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH FAILURE TO REGISTER AS A TIER ONE SEX OFFENDER. KEVIN BIAS OF RAYNE AND DANIEL HOFFPAUIR OF CROWLEY ARE WANTED ON THE SAME CHARGES.
A court hearing over whether construction of a crude oil pipeline in an environmentally fragile Louisiana swamp will continue focused on whether enough would be done to make up for environmental impacts from the project.
An attorney for Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC told a federal appeals court panel in Houston Monday that it’ll be providing “appropriate compensation” by re-establishing forested wetlands elsewhere in the swamp. A lawyer for environmental groups suing to stop the construction say the project’s considerable impacts haven’t been taken into full consideration by federal regulators. He asked the panel to not permanently throw out a previous order that had stopped construction.
