5-13-16
A FEUD IS DEVELOPING BETWEEN THE LAFAYETTE CITY PARISH GOVERNMENT AND THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE THAT COULD LAND IN COURT. THE CITY PARISH COUNCIL IS SET TO VOTE NEXT MONTH ON ENDING 650 THOUSAND DOLLARS IN PAYMENTS FOR SALARIES AND EXPENSES TO THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE. SOME COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE UPSET WITH DISTRICT ATTORNEY KEITH STUTES, WHO STOPPED REIMBURSMENTS PAID TO THE CITY PARISH GOVERNMENT BY FORMER DISTRICT ATTORNEY MIKE HARSON. STUTES TELLS THE ADVOCATE THAT THE CITY PARISH GOVERNMENT IS NOT ENTITLED TO REIMBURSEMENTS FOR THAT WHICH THEY OWE TO BEGIN WITH, THOUGH HE WOULD LIKE TO SIT DOWN WITH THEM TO DISCUSS THE ISSUE.
AN AUTOPSY OF A TWO-YEAR-OLD GIRL FROM VERNON PARISH, WHOSE BODY WAS FOUND IN BEAUREGARD PARISH, INDICATES SHE DIED THE DAY BEFORE HER MOTHER REPORTED HER MISSING. THE MOTHER OF WILLOW RAIN RENTERIA-MOLINA REPORTED HER MISSING ON THURSDAY, MAY FIFTH, WHEN SHE CAME HOME FROM WORK AND FOUND HER AND THE BABYSITTER, 33-YEAR-OLD RODNEY BAILEY JUNIOR, GONE. HER DEATH HAS BEEN RULED A HOMOCIDE. THERE HAVE BEEN NO ARRESTS IN THE CASE YET, THOUGH VERNON PARISH SHERIFF SAM CRAFT SAYS BAILEY IS BELIEVED TO BE THE PRIMARY PERSON OF INTEREST IN THE CASE.
ONE MAN HAS DIED FOLLOWING A FATAL MOTORCYCLE CRASH ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON. JULIE DARCE HAS MORE.
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An effort to eliminate the Louisiana inspector general’s office has failed to win support in the House, amid concerns about scrapping a government watchdog agency in a state with a history of public corruption problems. The inspector general investigates fraud and waste in government. The House Appropriations Committee proposed to eliminate all financing for the inspector general in the budget year that begins July 1. The full House refused to support the move Thursday and restored most of the money.
Lawmakers in the Louisiana House reshuffled the dollars in a nearly $26 billion state operating budget proposal Thursday, choosing to protect the safety net hospitals for the uninsured at the expense of the TOPS free college tuition program. With a narrow 49-43 vote, the hospitals were prioritized amid a struggle to close a $600 million shortfall next year. The decision capped nine hours of debate over the budget proposal to finance state government programs in the year that begins July 1. The House reversed course from the approach that the House Appropriations Committee took in coming up with the nearly $300 million to pay for all TOPS-eligible students next year.
THE DEVELOPERS OF THE RECENTLY OPENED AMBASSADOR TOWN CENTER IN LAFAYETTE ARE THE SUBJECT OF A CIVIL SUIT FILED BY THE FORMER OWNERS OF THE PROPERTY. THE DEVELOPERS, STIRLING PROPERTIES AND C-B -L AND ASSOCIATES, AGREED TO PUT IN THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE AMBASSADOR TOWN CENTER AND IN EXCHANGE NOT HAVE TO PAY PROPERTY TAXES FOR ELEVEN YEARS AND THREE MONTHS. THE FORMER PROPERTY OWNERS, EDMUND REGGIE JUNIOR AND GERALDINE BOUSTANY, CLAIM IN THE LAWSUIT THAT THE INFRASTRUCTURE IS LESS THAN WAS AGREED TO. STIRLING PROPERTIES HAS NOT COMMENTED ON THE SUIT, BUT TOLD THE DAILY ADVERTISER THAT THEY ARE ENTERING THE SECOND PHASE OF CONSTRUCTION, WHICH INCLUDES INFRASTRUCTURE.
A MARINE VETERAN FROM WESTLAKE HAS SEEN THE COMMUNITY COME TO HIS AID BECAUSE OF FINANCIAL TROUBLES THAT LED HIM TO TRY TO SELL HIS UNIFORM. TODD ABSHIRE, WHO WAS A MARINE, SUFFERS FROM POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, WHICH CAUSED HIM TO LOSE HIS JOB WITH THE STATE. AFTER RUNNING OUT OF SAVINGS, ABSHIRE ATTEMPTED TO SELL HIS UNIFORM ON FACEBOOK, BUT INSTEAD GOT OFFERS OF MONEY SO HE COULD KEEP IT. HE SAYS, SINCE THEN, THE COMMUNITY HAS BEEN OFFERING HIM ODD JOBS TO HELP HIM PAY OFF BILLS AND KEEP HIS MILITARY MEMENTOES.
THE ACADIA PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE HAS RELEASED THE IDENTITY OF THE TEENAGER ACCUSED OF SHOOTING A MAN AT THE MEADOW APARTMENTS IN CROWLEY LATE MONDAY. THE SUSPECT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR IS 15-YEAR-OLD DEVON LILLY OF CROWLEY, WHO IS BLACK, 5-4, 154 POUNDS WITH BLACK HAIR AND BROWN EYES. HE IS CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ON HIS WHEREABOUTS IS URGED TO CALL CRIME STOPPERS AT 789-TIPS.
