7-9-18
60-YEAR-OLD SOHAIL RANA OF LAFAYETTE HAS PLEADED GUILTY TO MAKING THREATS TO THE LAFAYETTE OFFICE OF CONGRESSMAN CLAY HIGGINS. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
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LIGHTNING IS SUSPECTED AS THE CAUSE OF A HOUSE FIRE IN RAGLEY YESTERDAY EVENING. FIVE FIRE DEPARTMENTS IN BEAUREGARD PARISH RESPONDED TO THE FIRE LOCATED ON TRINITY LANE. NO ONE WAS AT HOME WHEN THE FIRE BEGAN. A NEIGHBOR TELLS KPLC TV THAT THEY HEARD A LOUD LIGHTNING STRIKE AND, WHEN THEY WENT OUTSIDE, THEY SAW SMOKE COMING FROM THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR.
FIVE PEOPLE FROM ACADIANA WERE INVOLVED IN A SMALL PLANE CRASH IN ORANGE BEACH, ALABAMA, BUT THEY WALKED AWAY FROM IT WITH JUST MINOR SCRAPES AND BRUISES. THE F-A-A HAS NOT RELEASED THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO WERE ABOARD THE PLANE, BUT FOUR OF THEM ARE FROM LAFAYETTE AND THE FIFTH IS FROM ST. MARTINVILLE. THE PLANE WAS OWNED BY PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY L. CLAYTON BURGESS OF LAFAYETTE, BUT IT WASN’T CLEAR IF HE WAS ON THE PLANE WHEN IT CRASHED. THE PEOPLE ON BOARD THE PLANE LEFT FROM LAFAYETTE REGIONAL AIRPORT EARLY SATURDAY MORNING FOR A GOLF OUTING IN ALABAMA.
The legal problems for a man facing a felony bank fraud charge in connection with a highly touted Louisiana development project became more complicated after he showed up for his arraignment in Alexandria without an attorney. The Town Talk of Alexandria reports that Roger Dale Boggs asked for a delay and a judge re-set the arraignment for July 23, but Boggs was then arrested on a fugitive warrant out of Lafayette. The Lafayette case involves a charge of unauthorized use of a moveable property. Boggs gained notoriety in Rapides Parish with a promise to build a $1.5 billion plant in Pineville that never materialized.
TOMORROW NIGHT THE LAFAYETTE CITY PARISH COUNCIL IS EXPECTED TO INTRODUCE MAJOR CHANGES TO THE HOME RULE CHARTER. THE BIGGEST CHANGE IS GOING FROM A NINE MEMBER CITY PARISH COUNCIL TO SEPARATE FIVE MEMBER COUNCILS FOR THE CITY AND PARISH. IF THE COUNCIL INTRODUCES IT AS EXPECTED, THE ORDINANCE WOULD BE VOTED ON BY THE COUNCIL ON JULY 24TH. IF THE COUNCIL APPROVES THE ORDINANCE, VOTERS WOULD DECIDE ITS FATE ON DECEMBER EIGHTH.
LAKE CHARLES POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING A HOMOCIDE THAT HAPPENED LATE SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE 44-HUNDRED BLOCK OF FIFTH AVENUE. 19-YEAR-OLD CARLOS ROSS JUNIOR OF LAKE CHARLES WAS TAKEN TO LAKE CHARLES MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AFTER HE WAS SHOT. HE DIED WHILE BEING TREATED IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM. ANYONE WHO HAS INFORMATION IS URGED TO CALL SERGEANT FRANK FONDEL OR DETECTIVE WILLIE FONTENOT IN THE LAKE CHARLES POLICE DEPARTMENT.
A FORMER ACADIA PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE SPOKESWOMAN HAS PLEADED GUILTY TO STEALING MORE THAN 200 THOUSAND DOLLARS IN SEIZED CASH. 59-YEAR-OLD MAXINE TRAHAN PLED GUILTY TO THEFT OF OVER 25 THOUSAND DOLLARS AND THE JUDGE GAVE HER A SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF FIVE YEARS HARD LABOR ALONG WITH FIVE YEARS SUPERVISED PROBATION. SHE AGREED TO PAY MORE THAN 226 THOUSAND DOLLARS IN RESTITUTION TO THE 15TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE. TRAHAN WAS ARRESTED AFTER AN AUDIT REVEALED SHE HAD POCKETED THE MONEY SEIZED FROM DRUG ARRESTS THAT SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO DEPOSIT INTO AN ACCOUNT THAT WAS SPLIT BETWEEN THE D-A’S OFFICE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
A federal appeals court’s ruling allows construction to continue on a crude oil pipeline through the Atchafalaya basin. A divided panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday vacated a lower court’s preliminary injunction blocking construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. The panel’s 2-1 decision was a victory for Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC, whose lawyers had urged the panel in April to throw out U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick’s injunction. Dick issued a preliminary injunction in February, stopping pipeline construction in the Atchafalaya Basin swamp until a lawsuit by project opponents is resolved.
