6-15-17
COMPLAINTS FROM LAFAYETTE UTILITIES SYSTEM CUSTOMERS ABOUT THE WAY TREES HAVE BEEN TRIMMED TO PROTECT POWER LINES HAS PROMPTED THE SCHEDULING OF A TOWN HALL MEETING TO ADDRESS THE MATTER. RESIDENT HERMAN MHIRE TELLS THE DAILY ADVERTISER THAT SOME TREES, INCLUDING OLDER OAK TREES, NOW HAVE HUGE V SHAPES IN THEM TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE POWER LINES. L-U-S DIRECTOR TERRY HUVAL SAYS SOME RESIDENTS WOULD RATHER HAVE THE THREAT OF POWER OUTAGES THAN MESS WITH THE AESTHETICS OF THE TREES, WHILE THEIR NEIGHBORS WOULD DISAGREE. COUNCILMAN BRUCE CONQUE HAS SCHEDULED THE TOWN HALL MEETING AT CITY HALL ON JUNE 27TH AT SIX P-M.
LAKE CHARLES POLICE ARE SEARCHING FOR A MAN WHO COMMITTED DOMESTIC BATTERY ON TWO WOMEN AND SHOT ONE OF THEM ON SUNDAY. LAKE CHARLES POLICE OFFICERS CAME IN CONTACT WITH WILL ANTONIO CELESTINE ON TUESDAY, BUT HE ATTEMPTED TO FLEE FROM THEM IN HIS VEHICLE, WHICH HE CRASHED INTO A HOUSE IN THE 200 BLOCK OF MARTHA STREET. HE THEN FLED ON FOOT, FORCED HIMSELF INTO A RESIDENCE ON LEBATO STREET AND HELD A 56-YEAR-OLD WOMAN HOSTAGE FOR ONE HOUR, BEFORE LEAVING HER UNHARMED, ACCORDING TO DEPUTY CHIEF MARK KRAUS. CELESTINE IS CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS AND ANYONE WITH KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WHEREABOUTS IS URGED TO CALL THE LAKE CHARLES POLICE DEPARTMENT.
- MARTIN PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICIALS SAY THE DEPUTY WHO SHOT AND KILLED A SUSPECT MONDAY NIGHT IS ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE. JULIE DARCE HAS MORE.
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With the narrowest vote, lawmakers in the Louisiana House spurned their GOP leaders and backed a $28 billion-plus operating budget that would use every dollar forecast to be available for spending. The vote was a blow to House Republican leaders who wanted to withhold $100 million from the spending bill, in anticipation that Louisiana’s income predictions are too optimistic. The House decision was a victory for Gov. John Bel Edwards. Fifty-six House members, including rank-and-file Republicans who voted with Democrats, agreed Wednesday to a spending plan that looks largely like a version previously supported by state senators.
THE NEW SUPER ONE GROCERY STORE, LOCATED OFF OF I-TEN IN SCOTT, WILL OPEN NEXT WEDNESDAY. IT WILL RESULT IN 150 NEW JOBS. MAYOR PURVIS MORRISON SAYS HE’S HOPING THE DESTINATION POINTE SHOPPING CENTER,WHERE SUPER ONE IS LOCATED, WILL BRING EVEN MORE BUSINESS INTO THE AREA. HE TELLS KLFY TV THAT THEY WANT SCOTT TO BE THE HUB THAT PEOPLE COMING INTO LAFAYETTE PARISH FROM THE WEST WILL STOP AT.
TESTIMONY IN A PRETRIAL HEARING FOR KEVIN DAIGLE INDICATED THAT HE ALLEGEDLY SAID HE WANTED TO KILL A COP. DAIGLE IS SCHEDULED TO GO TO TRIAL ON SEPTEMBER 18TH FOR THE DEATH OF STATE POLICE TROOPER STEVEN VINCENT IN 2015. DAIGLE’S FORMER GIRLFRIEND IS THE ONE WHO TESTIFIED THAT VINCENT HAD SAID NUMEROUS TIMES HE HATED COPS AND WOULD KILL ONE IF EVER GIVEN THE CHANCE. THE PRETRIAL HEARING WAS TO DETERMINE WHAT TESTIMONY WOULD BE ALLOWED IN THE TRIAL.
THE MAYOR OF OPELOUSAS HAS AGREED REPAY ALMOST 13 THOUSAND DOLLARS IN OVERTIME PAY HE RECEIVED FOR WORKING IN A FLOOD EVACUEE SHELTER LAST YEAR. AN AUDIT BY THE LEGISLATIVE AUDITORS OFFICE SAYS THE PAYMENT TO MAYOR REGGIE TATUM MAY HAVE VIOLATED STATE LAW AND IT CAUSED HIS SALARY TO EXCEED THE MAXIMUM ALLOWED BY CITY ORDINANCE. THE AUDIT WAS PROMPTED BY A COMPLAINT, AND LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF OTHER PROBLEMS WITH THE CITY’S FINANCIAL RECORDS. SOME OF THE ISSUES INCLUDED MISSING RECEIPTS FOR CHECKS PAYABLE TO TATUM, PAYMENTS MADE TO CITY ATTORNEYS WITHOUT DOCUMENTATION, AND ALLEGATIONS OF FINANCIAL REWARDS FOR OFFICERS WHO ISSUE A CERTAIN NUMBER OF TRAFFIC CITATIONS.
The U.S. Commerce Department says recreational anglers in the Gulf of Mexico will have 39 more days to fish federal waters for red snapper, a popular catch that’s still recovering from nearly disastrous overfishing. Gulf state officials praised the decision to reopen the federal season off Louisiana and the other gulf states for three-day weekends through Labor Day, plus three holidays. However, an environmental group and a charter captains’ association estimate that anglers will take nearly triple their allocated quota of the sport and panfish under the plan, potentially canceling next year’s recreational season entirely. A three-day anglers’ season that started June 1 had been set because anglers went over last year’s quota.
