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IN A NEW STUDY THAT DETERMINES WHICH METRO AREAS HAVE WITHSTOOD INFLATION THE BEST OVER THE LAST DECADE, LAFAYETTE WAS TOPS IN THE STATE AND WAS RANKED THIRD NATIONALLY. SMARTASSET, A FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANY, LOOKED AT THE COST OF LIVING INCREASE IN 222 METRO AREAS AND COMPARED IT WITH THE INCREASE IN PERSONAL INCOME. IN LAFAYETTE, THE COST OF LIVING ROSE JUST OVER ONE PERCENT FROM 2004 TO 2014, WHILE PERONAL INCOME INCREASED BY FIVE-POINT-ELEVEN PERCENT. LAKE CHARLES RANKED SECOND IN THE STATE AND NUMBER 18 NATIONALLY.
A VINTON MAN HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH THE MURDER OF 33-YEAR-OLD JODY L. BARLOW OF STARKS, WHOSE BODY WAS FOUND LAST THURSDAY IN A WOODED AREA OFF OF OLD RIVER ROAD IN STARKS. 21-YEAR-OLD ZACHARY L. BENCH HAS ALSO BEEN CHARGED WITH ARMED ROBBERY AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, AND HIS BOND WAS SET AT ONE-POINT-8 MILLION DOLLARS. CALCASIEU PARISH TONY MANCUSO SAYS INVESTIGATORS BELIEVED THE MOTIVE TO BE ROBBERY-RELATED. BARLOW’S TRUCK, UTILITY VEHICLE AND TRAILER WERE FOUND SATURDAY COMPLETELY BURNED IN A WOODED AREA NEAR GREEN MOORE ROAD IN STARKS.
The U.S. Justice Department says it’s reached a settlement with a Eunice construction company over allegations of employment discrimination against immigrants. The agreement signed Monday by federal officials calls for Louisiana Crane and Construction LLC to pay $165,000 in civil penalties. The company also must establish a $50,000 fund to compensate workers who lost wages because of its practices. A 2014 lawsuit alleged that the company discriminated against non-citizen job applicants who had permission to work in the United States by requiring them to produce certain Department of Homeland Security documents that they were not required to produce under federal law.
A LAFAYETTE MAN IS BEHIND BARS AFTER ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO HIS A POLICE OFFICER WITH HIS VEHICLE DURING A POLICE CHASE ON SUNDAY. JULIE DARCE HAS MORE.
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THE FAMILY OF BLAKE BREWER OF MOSS BLUFF HAVE CLAIMED HIS BODY A WEEK AFTER HIS DEATH AND ARRANGED A FUNERAL. BREWER WAS KILLED BY HIS ROOMATE, 54-YEAR-OLD KEVIN DAIGLE, WHO THEN WENT ON TO SHOOT AND KILLED SENIOR STATE TROOPER STEVEN VINCENT. BREWER DIDN’T HAVE CLOSE RELATIVES AND AUTHORITIES CONTACTED A COUSIN, JOY KELLOG SMITH, WHO HADN’T SEEN BREWER IN SEVERAL YEARS, AND DIDN’T HAVE THE FINANCIAL RESOURCES TO HANDLE THE FUNERAL EXPENSES. SMITH TELLS KPLC TV THAT BREWER’S CO-WORKERS AND BOSS REACHED OUT WITH DONATIONS AND KIND WORDS ABOUT BREWER THAT TOUCHED HER HEART.
THE DEFENSE, FOR THE MAN ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AND KILLING A SUNSET POLICE OFFICER, HAS EXPERTS EXAMINING THE TWO CRIME SCENES. HARRISON RILEY JUNIOR IS ACCUSED OF FATALLY STABBING HIS FIRST COUSIN, 41-YEAR-OLD SHAMEKA JOHNSON, THEN INJURING HER SISTER, HER MOTHER, AND HIS WIFE, WITH THE KNIFE, AND THEN SHOOTING AND KILLING THE RESPONDING POLICE OFFICER, 52-YEAR-OLD HENRY NELSON, WITH HIS OFFICER’S GUN. RILEY THEN DROVE A STOLEN CAR INTO THE SUNSET MINI MART AND BARRICADED HIMSELF FROM POLICE FOR TWO HOURS UNTIL TEAR GAS WAS USED AND HE WAS ARRESTED. CHRISTINE LEHMAN, ONE OF THE ATTORNEYS WITH THE CAPITAL ASSISTANCE CENTER THAT IS REPRESENTING RILEY, SAYS THEIR EXPERTS SHOULD BE FINISHED SOON WITH THE EXAMINATION AND THEN THEY WILL BE ABLE TO RELEASE THE TWO PROPERTIES BACK TO THE OWNERS.
A state Department of Transportation and Development project to reduce a four-lane section of Louisiana Highway 31 through St. Martinville down to three has not been warmly received by St. Martin Parish officials. Officials say they didn’t learn of the changes until after the contract for the work had been signed. DOTD officials, though acknowledging the need for better communication, argue the project is to address safety issues on the 2.2-mile stretch of highway. DOTD spokeswoman Deidra Druilhet says a traffic safety study found 80 crashes on a portion of the four-lane through St. Martinville from 2011 to 2013.
The budget cuts and financial austerity that plagued the St. Landry Parish school district four years ago have temporarily disappeared. That’s according to the district’s finance director. Tressa Miller reviewed a $116.8 million general fund budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 that shows an anticipated $17.5 million fund balance. Miller in an interview Monday with The Advocate says the board’s general fund budget is vastly different than the one in 2011 that eventually led to severe budget cuts, employee layoffs and included the resignation of Superintendent Michael Nassif.
