8-23-18
BELL HELICOPTER OFFICIALS SAY THEY WILL FIGHT ATTEMPTS TO BE FORCED TO PAY 16 MILLION DOLLARS TO THE STATE FOR FAILING TO LIVE UP TO THE TERMS OF AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEAL. THE STATE CONTRIBUTED MORE THAN 26 MILLION DOLLARS TO BUILD A HANGAR FACILITY FOR BELL AT THE LAFAYETTE REGIONAL AIRPORT. BELL OFFICIALS FILED A LAWSUIT THIS WEEK SAYING THEY OFFERED TO PAY BACK 16-POINT-5 MILLION TO THE STATE TWO YEARS AGO, WHEN THEY MOVED ASSEMBLY OPERATIONS TO CANADA, BUT NO LONGER. THE LAFAYETTE AIRPORT COMMISSION HAS REGAINED CONTROL OF THE HANGAR AND THEY ARE NOW LOOKING FOR ANOTHER COMPANY THAT WILL BRING JOBS TO THE FACILITY.
A SUSPECT IN THE AUGUST 15TH ROBBERY OF A C-V-S PHARMACY IN SULPHUR HAS BEEN APPREHENDED IN CONROE, TEXAS. SGT NICHOLAS JOHNSON OF THE SULPHUR POLICE DEPARTMENT SAYS AUTHORITIES IN TEXAS PROVIDED MORE INFORMATION AND EVIDENCE THAT PLACED PATRICK GLAVIN IN SULPHUR THE DAY OF THE ROBBERY. GLAVIN ALLEGEDLY APPROACHED THE COUNTER AT THE C-V-S GIVING THE CLERK A NOTE DEMANDING A NARCOTIC GRADE DRUG AND SAYING THAT HE HAD A WEAPON. GLAVIN HAS A CRIMINAL HISTORY DATING BACK TO 2007 THAT INCLUDES THEFT AND DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED.
- LANDRY PARISH WANTS TO CREATE MORE SPACE FOR JUVENILE DETENTION INMATES. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
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Federal authorities say a leader and a member of a prison-based “whites only” gang have pleaded guilty in Alexandria, to being accessories after the fact in a 2016 slaying. A U.S. Justice Department news release says 38-year-old Aryan Circle leader, David Wayne Williams of Sulphur, pleaded guilty Tuesday; Forty-three-year-old Leland Hamm of Tulsa, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty Wednesday. In court records, prosecutors say both men were at a meeting where another Aryan Circle member, Clifton Hallmark, was shot after a fight broke out in Turkey Creek, in 2016. Authorities say the Aryan Circle began in the Texas prison system and spread to rural and suburban areas in Texas, Louisiana and Missouri.
THE INTERSECTION OF KALISTE SALOOM AND E BROUSSARD ROAD IN LAFAYETTE WILL BECOME A ROUNDABOUT SOON. IT’S DESIGNED TO HELP IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOW. BUT SOME MOTORISTS WHO GO THROUGH THAT INTERSECTION AND RESIDENTS WHO LIVE IN THAT AREA ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HOW BAD TRAFFIC WILL BE UNTIL THE ROUNDABOUT COMES IN. THERE’S ALSO CONSTRUCTION OF A THIRTY THOUSAND SQUARE FOOT RETAIL FACILITY JUST UP THE ROAD.
TOMORROW THE CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS HOSTING A DISPATCHER RECRUITING DAY. DISPATCHER DEE DEE DEROUEN TELLS KPLC TV THAT HER POSITION IS FACING A SHORTAGE NATIONWIDE. SHE SAYS BEING A DISPATCHER TAKES A SPECIAL KIND OF PERSON WHO WANTS TO DO THE JOB. SHERIFF TONY MANCUSO SAYS THE EVENT IS OPEN TO ALL APPLICANTS WHO CAN REGISTER ON THEIR WEBSITE AT C-P-S-O-DOT-COM-SLASH-EMPLOYMENT-SLASH, OR THEY CAN REGISTER WHEN THEY ARRIVE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL THE CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE.
CYPREMORT POINT STATE PARK, WHICH SUFFERED DAMAGE FROM HURRICANE GUSTAV IN 2008, WILL SEE MORE THAN FIVE MILLION DOLLARS IN IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS. A ONE-POINT-3 MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT TO INSTALL SEVENTEEN 75 FOOT LONG WATER BREAKS TO PROTECT THE BEACH WILL BE COMPLETED THIS WEEK. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF LOUISIANA STATE PARKS GENE REYNOLDS SAYS THE STRUCTURES HELP BREAK THE WAVES AS THEY COME IN, PREVENTING BIG WASHOUTS. THERE ARE ALSO PLANS TO BUILD A FISHING DOCK, PAVE ROADS, AND MAKE OTHER IMPROVEMENTS.
Louisiana and Mississippi are leading the nation in the number of people who have become seriously ill from West Nile virus this year. State health departments are warning residents to take precautions against mosquitoes, which spread the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that as of Aug. 21 , Louisiana had 18 cases of West Nile encephalitis or meningitis, out of a national total of 133.
CDC figures lag behind state reports. Louisiana reports there have been 31 residents with dangerous nervous system infections and 13 cases of flu-like West Nile fever.
