7-26-16
DeSHAWN T. LANDRY, 15 OF ABBEVILLE IS MISSING. IT IS BELIEVED THAT LANDRY RAN AWAY FROM HOME. LANDRY IS A BLACK MALE, 5’1 AND WEIGHS ABOUT 115 POUNDS. POLICE BELIEVE HE MAY BE IN THE LAKE CHARLES SULPHUR AREA BECAUSE HE HAS FAMILY THERE. PLEASE CONTACT THE VERMILLION PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON LANDRY.
SHAWN CALVIT AND MICHAEL LAUE OWNERS AND OPERATERS OF LAUCO AUTO SALES ON JOHNSTON STREET IN LAFAYETTE ARE FACING FELONY CHARGES FOR ALLEGEDLY STEALING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN STATE SALES TAX REVENUES. ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, THE MEN UNDERREPORTED THE SALES PRICE OF MORE THAN A HUNDRED VEHICLES. THE ACTUAL VALUE OF VEHICLES SOLD WAS MORE THAN 1 MILLION DOLLARS, BUT THEY REPORTED GROSS SALES OF ONLY $146,000. THEY CHEATED THE STATE OF AN ESTIMATED $37,100.
THE PORT OF LAKE CHARLES IS BEING MODERNIZED AND THAT WILL LEAD TO JOB GROWTH FOR THE FUTURE. A NEW WAREHOUSE AT BERTH ONE, REPLACED THE OLDEST WAREHOUSE BUILT DECADES AGO. LAKE CHARLES PORT DIRECTOR BILL RASE SAID THE PORT WILL SPEND OVER $100 TOTAL ON MODERNIZATIONS THROUGH 2017. ACCORDING TO RASE, THE IMPROVEMENTS WILL ALLOW THE PORT TO HANDLE HEAVY CARGO WITH AN OPEN FLOOR PLANS. RASE SAID THE UPGRADES TO THE PORT WILL ALLOW THE PORT TO ACCOMMODATE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH AND SECURE AND KEEP JOBS IN THE FUTURE .
LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL OFFICIALS KICKED OFF A WEEK LONG CONFERENCE YESTERDAY. JEFF HORCHECK HAS MORE.
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THEROLD L. JAMES, 32 OF BAYOU VISTA WAS ARRESTED YESTERDAY MORNING AROUND 8:40 ON AN ARREST WARRANT FOR THE ARMED ROBBERY AND SHOOTING IN AMELIA ON THURSDAY. JAMES WAS BOOKED IN THE ST. MARY PARISH JAIL WITH A BOND SET AT $300,000.
JEFF DAVIS SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES ARRESTED APRIL D. SAVANT, 39 OF KINDER AND DEVINTAY BRYON SMITH, 17 ALSO OF KINDER THIS PAST FRIDAY NIGHT. DEPUTIES WERE RESPONDING TO A HOME BURGLARY AND REPORT OF A SUSPICIOUS VEHICLE ON VILLAGE CEMETERY ROAD IN KINDER AROUND MIDNIGHT. WHEN POLICE CAME TO THE VEHICLE, IT WAS PARKED IN THE ROAD WITH NO LIGHTS ON AND SAVANT AND SMITH SITTING IN THE BACK SEAT. SAVANT TRIED TO JUMP INTO THE DRIVER’S SEAT AND DRIVE AWAY. SAVANT SEEMED TO BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE WHEN SHE GOT OUT OF THE VEHICLE AND AS SHE WAS ARRESTED, SHE KICKED A DEPUTY. POLICE FOUND DRUGS IN THE VEHICLE. SMITH HAD NO I.D. ON HIM AND GAVE DEPUTIES A FAKE NAME AND DATE OF BIRTH, BECAUSE HE HAD OUTSTANDING WARRANTS IN ALLEN PARISH. SAVANT WAS CHARGED WITH DRUG POSSESSION, RESISTING ARREST AND BATTERY ON AN OFFICER. SMITH WAS ARRESTED ON OUTSTANDING WARRANTS AND ON A CHARGE OF RESISTING ARREST BY GIVING FALSE INFORMATION.
(AP) The average composite score on the ACT college readiness test has edged up in Louisiana, from 19.4 in 2015 to 19.5 this year. Louisiana’s Department of Education said in a Monday news release that the average has gradually increased by 0.4 percentage points since 2013. Public school students have been required to take the ACT since 2013. ACT scores are now used in figuring accountability ratings for schools and school districts. The department also says a record 25,144 seniors in the class of 2016 earned a score of 18 or better, a benchmark score the department considers a “college-going” score.
(AP) A Buddhist monk has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for embezzling more than $260,000 from the Louisiana temple he led and gambling most of the money at a casino.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley’s office said in a statement Monday that U.S. District Judge Donald Walter also ordered 36-year-old Khang Nguyen Le to pay nearly $264,000 in restitution.
Le pleaded guilty in March to one count of wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Le served as president and presiding monk of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Southwest Louisiana’s Lafayette temple. A court filing said he withdrew cash from the temple’s accounts to fund his frequent gambling trips to L’Auberge du Lac Casino in Lake Charles.
(AP) Louisiana employer payrolls rose in June, as the state’s unemployment rate ticked down to 6.2 percent. The state’s jobless rate fell from 6.3 percent in May, but was level with the 6.2 percent recorded in June 2015. It remained tied for third-highest among the states.
Alaska had the worst jobless rate nationwide at 6.7 percent. The nationwide jobless rate was 4.9 percent. June Louisiana payrolls were 15,000 below year-ago levels. Used by many economists as their top labor market indicator, payrolls have fallen in part because of heavy oil and gas job losses. Both sets of figures, adjusted to cancel out seasonal changes, were released Friday by the U.S. Labor Department. The number of unemployed Louisianans fell below 135,000 in June, down 1,000 from May, but 1,000 above June 2015.
