5-12-15
The Lafayette Parish School Board has racked up more than $120,000 in legal expenses for work related to an investigation and firing of its former superintendent. The Advocate reports the invoices also involve work related to representation of the board against Pat Cooper’s legal challenges, including his pending wrongful termination claim. In addition, the board also has paid $178,247 to Hammonds, Sills, Adkins & Guice for legal services. Board President Tommy Angelle says the board meets today to review how it moves forward.
27 LAKE CHARLES AREA PASTORS TOOK PART IN A SIX WEEK COURSE TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND THE TRAINING OF LOCAL POLICE AND SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES. THE COURSE IS AN EFFORT BY AREA LAW ENFORCEMENT TO OPEN THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION AND TO BUILD BETTER RACE RELATIONS. THE PASTORS HAVE EVEN GONE WITH POLICE ON PATROLS. LAKE CHARLES POLICE CHIEF DON DIXON TELLS KPLC TV THAT TO BUILD A HEALTHIER COMMUNITY, THERE NEEDS TO BE COMMUNICATION, UNDERSTANDING AND TRUST.
A LAFAYETTE MAN WAS ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH A DECEMBER SHOOTING IN CROWLEY. JULIE DARCE HAS MORE.
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Louisiana’s state senators have agreed to let public colleges raise their own tuition rates without needing legislative approval. But that authority only would come if a separate proposal to put cost controls on the TOPS free college tuition program also gains passage. The Senate voted 33-4 Monday for the constitutional amendment by Sen. Jack Donahue, a Mandeville Republican, that would take the Legislature out of the tuition-setting business. The tuition-setting proposal heads to the House for consideration, where the TOPS bill also awaits a hearing.
Lafayette police have identified a teenager killed by his friend in a weekend shooting. Cpl. Paul Mouton says 18-year-old Jo’nathan Delacroix was shot once in the face Saturday afternoon. Delacroix was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Mouton says a friend of Delacroix, 18-year-old Anthony Beloney, was booked on counts of negligent homicide and marijuana possession.
SULPHUR POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING THE DROWNING OF A FIVE-YEAR-OLD BOY FRIDAY NIGHT. SECURITY CAMERAS AT THE CUMBERLAND ESTATES TRAILER PARK SHOWED THREE CHILDREN PLAYING WHEN ONE OF THE THREE PUSHES THE FIVE-YEAR-OLD, MALCOLM RAMI, INTO A CANAL. A FOURTH CHILD TRIED TO PULL RAMI FROM THE WATER AND THEN HE WENT TO GET RAMI’S STEPFATHER, WHO PULLED HIM OUT AND TRIED TO REVIVE HIM WITH C-P-R. SULPHUR POLICE CHIEF LEWIS COATS SAYS IN A NEWS RELEASE THAT EVERYONE WHO LIVES NEAR BUSY ROADWAYS OR DANGEROUS AREAS SHOULD SET BOUNDARIES AND RULES FOR CHILDREN REGARDING WHAT THEY CAN AND CANNOT DO.
NEIGHBORS HELPED A RAYNE WOMAN AND HER SON TRAPPED IN THEIR HOME AFTER A TREE FELL ON IT YESTERDAY. NATALIE CARTER TOLD KLFY TV THAT SHE THOUGHT SHE HEARD LIGHTENING, AND THEN EVERYTHING CAME CRASHING DOWN AND SHE WAS PINNED. A FRIEND, JASON MCCLELLAN, CAME OVER AND REMOVED THE DEBRIS THAT WAS PINNING HER DOWN, THEN THEY HAD TO BREAK DOWN A DOOR TO ALLOW HER 16-YEAR-OLD TO GET OUT. NATALIE SAYS THE FAMILY WILL STAY IN A HOTEL UNTIL THEY CAN GET THE MONEY TO REMOVE THE TREE AND RENOVATE THE HOME.
An anti-union bill is stirring up what may be Louisiana’s first real battle between business and labor unions in a generation. The measure is scheduled for a Tuesday debate before the full House. If approved, it would bar police, firefighters and teachers from having union dues automatically deducted from their pay. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Stuart Bishop, a Lafayette Republican, says the government shouldn’t deduct dues that could be directed to political activity they dislike.
