8-10-17
AUTHORITIES HAVE RELEASED THE IDENTITY OF TWO MEN WHO KIDNAPPED A LAFAYETTE WOMAN ON SUNDAY AND DROWNED IN THE INTRACOASTAL CANAL WHILE FLEEING POLICE. 27-YEAR-OLD SYLVESTER BRACEY AND 27-YEAR-OLD ARSENIO MONTREAL HAYNES, BOTH OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, HAD EXTENSIVE CRIMINAL HISTORIES IN THAT STATE. POLICE ARE STILL LOOKING FOR THE ESTRANGED HUSBAND OF THE KIDNAPPED WOMAN, LAWRENCE MICHAEL HANDLEY. CORPORAL BRIDGET DUGAS OF THE LAFAYETTE POLICE DEPARTMENT SAYS THEY LIKELY WON’T KNOW IF HANDLEY HAD A CONNECTION WITH THE TWO DECEASED MEN UNTIL HE IS FOUND AND BROUGHT IN FOR QUESTIONING.
A DEATH AT A BEST WESTERN HOTEL IN SULPHUR SUNDAY NIGHT HAS BEEN RULED A HOMOCIDE. MEL ESTESS OF THE SULPHUR POLICE DEPARTMENT SAYS STEVEN MITCHELL GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT IN A HOTEL ROOM, AND HE GRABBED A PERSON AROUND THE NECK AND BEGAN CHOKING HIM. THAT PERSON RESPONDED BY STRIKING MITCHELL IN THE FACE WITH AN OPEN FIST, KNOCKING HIM UNCONSCIOUS, AND HE LATER DIED. THE CALCASIEU PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE WILL BRING THE CASE TO A GRAND JURY TO DETERMINE IF CHARGES WILL BE FILED.
A COURT APPEARANCE FOR A BREAUX BRIDGE PRIEST, WHO IS FACING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES, HAS BEEN PUSHED BACK FROM AUGUST 14 TO NOVEMBER 27TH. REVEREND F. DAVID BROUSSARD WAS CHARGED IN JULY OF LAST YEAR AFTER AROUND 500 IMAGES OF CHILDREN WERE FOUND ON HIS COMPUTER. IN MAY HE PLED NOT GUILTY AND HAS BEEN FREE ON A 25 THOUSAND DOLLAR BOND. HE HAS BEEN PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE BY THE BISHOP OF THE LAFAYETTE DIOCESE AND IS PERFORMING NO PRIESTLY DUTIES.
Louisiana’s public high school students performed slightly better on the ACT college readiness test in the most recent results, continuing a trend of improvement for the last four years. The state education department said Wednesday the average composite score for students during the last school year reached 19.6, edging up from 19.5 in 2016. The average has gradually increased from 19.1 since the 2012-13 school year. Louisiana’s education department says a record number of seniors who graduated in 2017 earned a score of 18 or higher, considered a “college-going” score.
A federal judge has permanently blocked enforcement of a Louisiana law that prevented foreign-born U.S. citizens from getting married if they couldn’t produce a birth certificate. U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle’s ruling Tuesday resolves a lawsuit that Lafayette resident Viet Anh Vo filed last year after he and his U.S.-born fiancee had their application for a marriage license rejected two weeks before their wedding. In June, lawmakers passed legislation allowing marriage license applicants to get a judicial waiver if they couldn’t produce the required documentation. However, the judge said the new law preserved other unconstitutional requirements that only apply to foreign-born citizens.
OAKDALE ELEMENTARY HAD THEIR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL YESTERDAY, JUST A LITTLE MORE THAN TWO MONTHS AFTER A FIRE BURNED DOWN EIGHTY PERCENT OF THE SCHOOL. THE LIBRARY AND 18 CLASSROOMS WERE LOST IN THE BLAZE. PRE-K THROUGH FIRST GRADE CLASSES ARE BEING HELD IN THE UNDAMAGED PART OF THE SCHOOL, WHILE THE SECOND TO FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS, WHICH NUMBER ABOUT THREE HUNDRED, ARE GOING TO OAKDALE MIDDLE SCHOOL. IT’S EXPECTED THEY WILL REMAIN THERE FOR ABOUT A YEAR-AND-A-HALF UNTIL THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IS FINISHED BEING REBUILT.
A DUSON MAN PLED GUILTY TO WIRE FRAUD IN CONNECTION WITH A SCHEME TO DEFRAUD A EUNICE PIPELINE COMPANY OUT OF MORE THAN TWO MILLION DOLLARS. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
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Louisiana’s lottery had its third-best year ever since operations began in 1991, taking in nearly $455 million from gamblers in the budget year that ended in June.
But revenue in the 2016-17 fiscal year still was down nearly $54 million from a year earlier. The Louisiana Lottery Corporation attributed the drop to the state economy’s continued hit from the oil industry’s struggles, a lower unclaimed prize pool and a sales spike last year tied to a record Powerball jackpot. Thirty-five percent of lottery income, about $159 million, went to Louisiana’s treasury for K-12 education.
