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AUTHORITIES ARE INVESTIGATING A DEATH OVER THE WEEKEND IN LAFAYETTE. JULIE DARCE REPORTS.
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Lake Charles officials say the first dog park on city property could open as early as mid-July. Bark du Lac Park will be behind the city courthouse. Downtown development director Lori Marinovich tells the American Press that benches, trash cans and water fountains will arrive by the end of the week. Money for the park is coming both from the city and from donations.
ON WEDNESDAY, THE IBERIA PARISH COUNCIL WILL CONSIDER GIVING THEIR LEGAL ADVISOR THREE MONTHS TO CRAFT A COMPREHENSIVE MOBILE HOME PARK ORDINANCE. IF IT IS APPROVED, THERE WOULD BE A MORATORIUM ON NEW MOBILE HOME PARKS DURING THAT THREE MONTH PERIOD. THE PARISH LEGAL ADVISOR ANDY SHEALY TOLD THE PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE LAST WEEK THAT THEY NEED TO HAVE STRONG RULES FOR DEVELOPERS OF NEW MOBILE HOME PARKS. HE CITED YOUNGSVILLE AND BROUSSARD, WHICH, HE SAYS HAVE VERY RESTRICTIVE ORDINANCES.
Louisiana’s Office of Motor Vehicles reminds drivers whose vehicles are insured by Affirmative Insurance or Affirmative Casualty Insurance that they need to have new coverage by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. Otherwise, says Commissioner Karen G. St. Germain, they could face a penalty for cancelled insurance. The Illinois Department of Insurance ordered Affirmative into liquidation in March. Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has said that about 11,000 Louisiana policy holders are affected.
Federal prosecutors say a 36-year-old Lafayette woman has pleaded guilty to stealing gift cards when she was working for the U.S. Postal Service. U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley says Tonia Moore-Parker pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of theft of mail by a postal service worker. According to the guilty plea, Moore-Parker opened five envelopes and stole gift cards worth $150 while she worked at a post office in October 2015. She faces five years in prison, three years supervised release, a $250,000 fine and restitution.
The Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office says the body of a missing 2-year-old Hornbeck girl has been found in a remote area of Beauregard Parish. Willow Rain Renteria-Molina had been reported missing Thursday. The Town Talk reports that her mother returned home from work to discover that the girl and the man who was serving as her baby sitter were gone. The cause of death has not been released and authorities have not announced charges in connection with her death.
An attorney for the sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a mentally ill man at his Louisiana home last year is praising authorities for reaching the “correct result” and ruling out any criminal charges against his client. Attorney Pat Magee says Sgt. Pittard Chapman of the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office “had no alternative but to use deadly force” against 32-year-old Michael Noel. Assistant District Attorney Chester Cedars announced Friday that his office determined charges aren’t warranted against Chapman or another deputy who tried to take Noel into protective custody and drive him to a hospital on Dec. 21. In a memo, Cedars said Chapman was trapped against a door and acted in self-defense when he fired a single shot at Noel.
State health department officials say they are confident they will receive federal approval for a plan to use data from food stamp applications to qualify people for Medicaid. Nola.comThe Times-Picayune reports the approach will allow the Department of Health and Hospitals to automatically qualify tens of thousands of people for the state’s expansion of Medicaid, the federally funded health care program for the poor. It will also reduce the workload for DHH and its contractors as they begin signing up as many as 375,000 people over the next several months for the program that’s now being branded as “Healthy Louisiana.”
