6-7-19
Plans to open a major Mississippi River spillway have been canceled. Part of the Morganza Spillway structure northwest of Baton Rouge had been scheduled to open Sunday. But a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman said Thursday that the opening has been indefinitely postponed. Spokesman Ricky Boyett says the latest forecasts don’t show the river reaching levels that would require the Morganza opening.
DREDGED MATERIAL FROM THE CALCASIEU SHIP CHANNEL WILL BE USED FOR SEVERAL MARSH CREATION PROJECTS IN THE SABINE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, LOCATED IN CAMERON PARISH. THE HOG ISLAND GULLY RECREATION AREA WILL SERVE AS A STAGING AREA FOR CONTRACTORS WORKING ON THE PROJECTS. THAT MEANS THEY WILL BE CLOSING THE BOAT LAUNCHES AND THE NORTH AND SOUTH PARKING LOTS THERE BEGINNING TUESDAY AND LASTING UNTIL THE END OF AUGUST. THE USE OF THE DREDGED MATERIAL ALLOWS THE REFUGE MANAGERS TO RESTORE MARSHES AND CONNECT THE SITES TO THE GREATER LANDSCAPE WHILE IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF THE HABITAT.
LAFAYETTE RECEIVED MORE THAN THREE INCHES OF RAIN DURING THE 5 A-M HOUR YESTERDAY CAUSING FLASH FLOODING. CRAIG STANSBURY OF LAFAYETTE 9-1-1 AND THE LAFAYETTE OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS SAYS THE 9-1-1 SYSTEM RECEIVED MORE THAN A HUNDRED CALLS BETWEEN FIVE AND EIGHT A-M FROM STRANDED MOTORISTS. METEOROLOGIST SETH WARTHEN WITH THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OUT OF LAKE CHARLES SAYS THERE’S A FIFTY TO SEVENTY PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF SERIOUS THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. DAVID CHERAMIE OF THE BAYOU VERMILLION DISTRICT TELLS THE ADVOCATE THAT ANY SIGNIFICANT RAINS TODAY COULD BE CATASTROPHIC.
Louisiana’s latest legislative session has ended, with lawmakers completing their work on a $30 billion state operating budget, giving teachers a statewide pay raise and passing one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans. The election-year session that ended yesterday saw fewer financial controversies than legislators faced in the other years of the four-year term. Already signed into law from the session is a ban on abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy. But it only takes effect if Mississippi’s law is upheld in federal court. Lawmakers refused to abolish the death penalty, raise the minimum wage or legalize sports betting.
Louisiana lawmakers have agreed to set 16 as the minimum age for someone to marry in the state. The House, which earlier rejected setting a marriage age, reversed course Thursday in the final hour of the session. The final measure will prohibit anyone under the age of 16 to get married, and will prohibit anyone 16 or 17 years old to marry anyone who is three years or more older. Anyone who is 16 or 17 and wants to marry will need parental and judicial permission.
A SUSPECT WANTED IN CONNECTION TO A MURDER, THAT HAPPENED LAST MONTH IN OPELOUSAS, IS NOW IN CUSTODY. MEGAN KELLY HAS MORE.
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SO FAR, CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES HAVE ARRESTED SIX PEOPLE IN CONNECTION TO TWO DRIVE BY SHOOTINGS LAST MONTH. FIVE PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED FOR A DRIVE BY SHOOTING AT A HOME ON MORNING GLORY LANE IN WESTLAKE ON MAY 21ST. IT WAS LATER DETERMINED THAT THE TWO PEOPLE AT THE HOME HAD BEEN IN A VEHICLE THE PREVIOUS NIGHT AT HUBER PARK IN LAKE CHARLES THAT HAD FIRED ON ANOTHER CAR. DETECTIVES ARE TRYING TO APPREHEND 22-YEAR-OLD KEYSHAWN J. BIAS, WHO IS WANTED ON AN ACTIVE WARRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF 250 THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE DRIVE BY SHOOTING IN LAKE CHARLES.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT ILLEGAL NARCOTICS AT A LAFAYETTE HOTEL LED TO A MAJOR DRUG BUST ON TUESDAY. THE LAFAYETTE POLICE DEPARTMENT’S TACTICAL NARCOTICS TEAM RESPONDED TO THE COMPLAINT AT A HOTEL IN THE TWO HUNDRED BLOCK OF NORTHEAST EVANGELINE THRUWAY AND DISCOVERED MORE THAN 123 THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF CRYSTAL METH. THEY ALSO RECOVERED SMALLER AMOUNTS OF HEROIN, MARIJUANA, PILLS, AND TWO HANDGUNS. THEY ARRESTED 34-YEAR-OLD BRANDON MICHAEL MOSING OF YOUNGSVILLE WHO WAS BOOKED INTO THE LAFAYETTE PARISH CORRECTIONAL CENTER ON NUMEROUS CHARGES.
