KAJN Jesus FM 102.9


5-8-15

A PANEL OF ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGES WILL SOON DECIDE WHETHER ETHICS CHARGES FILED AGAINST A LAFAYETTE DEVELOPER WILL BE DISMISSED OR PROCEED TO A PUBLIC HEARING.  GREG GACHASSIN IS ACCUSED OF OBTAINING TWO CONSULTING CONTRACTS WORTH ONE MILLION DOLLARS FOR LOW INCOME HOUSING PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE LAFAYETTE PUBLIC FINANCE TRUST AUTHORITY.  GACHASSIN WAS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE AUTHORITY AT THE TIME, BUT RESIGNED SHORTLY AFTER THE RATIFICATION OF THE CONTRACTS.  THE LOUISIANA BOARD OF ETHICS IS PURSUING ONE-POINT-5 MILLION DOLLARS IN PENALTIES FROM GACHASSIN.

 

OFFICIALS FROM LAKE CHARLES AND CALCASIEU PARISH HOSTED A PRESS CONFERENCE YESTERDAY TO URGE THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN’S AFFAIRS TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THEIR PROMISE OF PUTTING A PERMANENT CLINIC IN LAKE CHARLES.  IN DECEMBER, THE V-A SAID A LEASE FOR A PERMANENT FACILITY WOULD BE AWARDED BY FEBRUARY AND A NEW CLINIC OPENED BY JUNE OF 2016.  THEY ARE NOW SAYING IT WON’T BE UNTIL AT LEAST 2018.  AN INTERIM CLINIC IS EXPECTED FOR LAKE CHARLES LATE THIS FALL, BUT AREA VETERANS SAY IT IS NOT ENOUGH.

 

LAST NIGHT THE ST. LANDRY PARISH SCHOOL BOARD VOTED TO TEMPORARILY HALT THE SEARCH FOR A NEW PRINCIPAL AT OPELOUSAS JUNIOR HIGH.  THE SCHOOL’S FORMER PRINCIPAL, JUDE VICTORIAN, WAS PUT ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE AFTER A FIGHT WITH A COACH AT THE SCHOOL LAST DECEMBER, AND RETIRED IN MARCH.  SINCE DECEMBER, AN ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL HAS BEEN RUNNING THE SCHOOL WITH THE HELP OF THE FORMER PRINCIPAL AT MELVILLE ELEMENTARY, WILLIE HAYNES THE THIRD.  THE BOARD VOTED LAST NIGHT 9-TO-3 TO SEND AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE POSITION BACK TO THE PERSONNEL COMMITTEE.

 

The Louisiana House has agreed to raise more than $670 million for next year’s budget by scaling back tax break programs and raising cigarette taxes.  The money would be used to stop cuts to colleges and health services — but it falls short of the $937 million goal set by House leaders.  Lawmakers voted for 11 tax bills Thursday after days of closed-door negotiations.  The measures go next to the Senate, where they are expected to run into resistance because they don’t match Gov. Bobby Jindal’s guidelines for what he’d support.

 

THE LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL BOARD HAS APPROVED THE CONTRACT FOR NEW SUPERINTENDENT DONALD AGUILLARD.  HE WILL RECEIVE NEARLY 239 THOUSAND DOLLARS ANNUALLY IN SALARY AND BENEFITS.  THE FOUR YEAR CONTRACT GOES INTO EFFECT ON MAY 18TH.  AGUILLARD IS ALSO ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE UP TO FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS EXTRA IN SALARY IF HE MEETS FIVE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES.

An appeals court has affirmed the second-degree murder and obstruction of justice convictions of an Oberlin man accused in the stabbing death of his estranged wife.

The American Press reports the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld the convictions and sentences of 46-year-old Joseph Eric Vercher in the June 2013 slaying of Rachel Denise Lambert Vercher.  An Allen Parish jury convicted Vercher of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice in September. The jury rejected defense claims that Vercher should be convicted of manslaughter because the crime was committed in the “heat of passion” after a night of arguing and drinking.

 

AN 82-YEAR-OLD MAN WAS KILLED IN A TWO VEHICLE CRASH IN VERMILLION PARISH YESTERDAY.  STATE POLICE SAY WHITNEY WALKER OF ERATH WAS TRAVELING ON GROSS ISLE ROAD AND CAME TO A STOP AT THE INTERSECTION WITH HIGHWAY 14.  FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, WALKER PROCEEDED THROUGH THE INTERSECTION AND INTO THE PATH OF AN ONCOMING PICKUP TRUCK.  WALKER SUFFERED CRITICAL INJURIES AND WAS LATER PRONOUNCED DEAD AT ABBEVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL, AND A PASSENGER IN HIS VEHICLE AND TWO PASSENGERS IN THE OTHER VEHICLE WERE TREATED FOR INJURIES.

 

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission says state inshore waters will open for shrimping at 6 a.m. May 18.  Most outside waters are already open. The May 18 opening covers inside waters and state outside waters out to 3 nautical miles from shore between the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel at Eugene Island and the western shore of Freshwater Bayou Canal.  May 18 is when biologists think at least half of the inshore brown shrimp will be at least 100 per count or larger.