8-1-17
THE FEDERAL OFFICE OF HEAD START HAS ISSUED AN EMERGENCY SUSPENSION OF FEDERAL FUNDS TO SMILE, WHICH OPERATES HEAD START PROGRAMS IN LAFAYETTE, ST. MARTIN AND IBERIA PARISHES. LAST FRIDAY, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE HEAD START, A GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR, SHOWED UP AT THE SMILE OFFICE IN LAFAYETTE TO TAKE OVER ITS HEAD START AND EARLY HEAD START OPERATIONS. SMILE ISSUED A PRESS RELEASE FRIDAY SAYING THEY WOULD SEEK AN INJUNCTION TO PREVENT THE TAKEOVER. SMILE WAS TOLD ON JULY ELEVENTH THAT THEY WOULD BE INELIGIBLE FOR FEDERAL FUNDS BECAUSE THEY HAVE FAILED TO CORRECT PROBLEMS, INCLUDING REPORTS OF CHILD NEGLECT AND ABUSE BY STAFF.
A LAKE CHARLES MAN DROWNED IN THE CALCASIEU RIVER ON MIMS ROAD IN WESTLAKE OVER THE WEEKEND. 60-YEAR-OLD DANNY GABBARD WAS ON A BOAT ON THE RIVER AND DOVE INTO THE WATER, ACCORDING TO CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE SPOKEWOMAN KIM MYERS. THE COAST GUARD WAS CALLED WHEN HE FAILED TO RESURFACE, BUT BY THE TIME THEY ARRIVED, GABBARD HAD BEEN FOUND AND PEOPLE ON THE SCENE ATTEMPTED TO REVIVE HIM. HE WAS LATER PRONOUNCED DEAD AT THE HOSPITAL.
A NEW IBERIA MAN WAS SENTENCED TO 75 YEARS HARD LABOR WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE FOR A 2015 CRIME HE COMMITTED. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
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More than 200 new Louisiana laws take effect with the start of August. Beginning today, public school children can bring sunscreen to school without a doctor’s note. Minors face tougher restrictions for getting an abortion. Colleges can’t ask unlimited questions about applying students’ criminal histories. While 38 of Louisiana’s 69 public school districts allow schools to use corporal punishment, paddling will be outlawed for students with disabilities. Cities and towns that use cameras to catch speeders have to post signs notifying drivers, or won’t be able to use the images to ticket motorists. Drivers-in-training can soon expect lessons on how to respond to police during a traffic stop. Free parking is required for disabled veterans at airports.
IBERIABANK IN LAFAYETTE HAS PURCHASED SABADELL UNITED BANK. SABADEL HAS 28 BANK BRANCHES IN SOUTH FLORIDA. IBERIABANK ACQUIRED THE MIAMI-BASED BANK FOR ONE BILLION DOLLARS. THE CONVERSION OF THE BANK AND OPERATING SYSTEMS IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED BY OCTOBER.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says a Louisiana site contaminated with creosote should be added to the Superfund list of the nation’s most contaminated sites. The American Creosote site is south of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality says it was a timber treatment operation for the first half of the 20th century. State environmental quality secretary Chuck Carr Brown says his agency is happy to join EPA in adding the site to the list.
ESTHERWOOD CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS SAY THEY WILL NOT TAKE ACTION AGAINST A POLICE OFFICER FOR A CONTROVERSIAL POST HE MADE ON FACEBOOK. IN A POST ON THE ESTHERWOOD CITY HALL FACEBOOK PAGE, THE COUNCIL MEMBERS AND THE MAYOR SAID THAT THEY HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER THE POLICE DEPARTMENT OTHER THAN ITS BUDGET. YESTERDAY POLICE CHIEF ERNEST VILLEJOIN SAID HE WOULD DISCUSS THE MATTER AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING AUGUST TENTH. THE POLICE OFFICER POSTED A PICTURE OF A WHITE CHILD’S HEAD BEING HELD UNDER WATER BYA WOMAN AND THE CAPTION THAT THIS IS WHAT YOU DO TO YOUR DAUGHTER WHEN HER FIRST CRUSH IS A BLACK CHILD.
