9-26-16
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana says a man has been unconstitutionally arrested in Lafayette on a charge of desecrating the American flag by setting one afire and tearing up another. Online jail records indicate that 57-year-old Charri Mohamad was held Sunday on charges of flag desecration and entering or refusing to leave a place where he’d been forbidden. KLFY-TV reports that police arrested him Thursday after a complaint that surveillance video showed him setting an American flag on fire days earlier. The ACLU says Louisiana’s flag desecration law was among dozens overturned by a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
THE LAKE CHARLES POLICE DEPARTMENT HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE SHOW UP SATURDAY FOR A RECRUITING DAY, ACCORDING TO KPLC TV. INDIVIDUALS HAD TO PASS A PHYSICAL TEST IN ORDER TO MOVE ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SCREENING. DEPARTMENT RECRUITER CORPORAL LARRY MOSS SAYS THEY BEGAN THE RECRUITING DAYS TO FIND THE BEST CANDIDATES, HOPING THE PUBLIC WILL ENCOURAGE QUALIFIED CANDIDATES TO ATTEND THESE EVENT. THOSE WHO MAKE THE CUT WILL BE HIRED IN NOVEMBER AND THEN GO THROUGH EXTENSIVE TRAINING OF MORE THAN A YEAR.
A NONPROFIT GROUP IS RAISING MONEY TO REBUILD THE OLD GOVERNOR’S MANSION IN OPELOUSAS, WHICH WAS DESTROYED BY AN ARSON FIRE IN JULY. CAROLA HARTLEY OF THE OLDEST GOVERNOR’S MANSION IN LOUISIANA FOUNDATION SAYS THE MANSION IS A HISTORIC ASSET FOR OPELOUSAS AND NEEDS TO BE REBUILT. THE MANSION WAS BUILT IN 1950 AND SERVED AS THE LOUISIANA GOVERNOR’S MANSION IN 1962 WHEN UNION FORCES OCCUPIED BATON ROUGE DURING THE CIVIL WAR. THE FOUNDATION IS PUTTING TOGETHER PLANS THEY WILL PRESENT TO THE STATE TO START THE REBUILDING PROCESS AND SO THEY CAN APPLY FOR GRANTS.
ABOUT 60 THOUSAND STUDENTS IN LOUISIANA WERE SUSPENDED FROM SCHOOL LAST YEAR, ACCORDING TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. THE DEPARTMENT NOTES THAT MORE THAN 41 THOUSAND OF THOSE STUDENTS WERE BLACK COMPARED TO ALMOST 17 THOUSAND WHITE STUDENTS. OTHER AREAS OF NOTE INCLUDED NEARLY ELEVEN THOUSAND DISABLED STUDENTS WHO WERE SUSPENDED AND ALMOST EIGHT THOUSAND OF THE TOTAL SUSPENDED WERE BETWEEN PREKINDERGARTEN AND THIRD GRADE. THE STATISTICS WERE PUT TOGETHER FOR A NEWLY CREATED ADVISORY COUNCIL ON STUDENT BEHAVIOR AND DISCIPLINE.
Federal prosecutors say a 42-year-old Franklin woman has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for stealing more than $61,500 from the company where she worked. U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley said in a news release Michelle Leann Berry-Ortemond was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi on one count of wire fraud. She was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay just over $55,000 restitution. According to the May 25 guilty plea, Berry-Ortemond stole over $61,000 from a Lafayette construction company from February 2010 to April 2011 where she was employed.
ONE MAN IS DEAD AND TWO OTHER PEOPLE INJURED IN A CRASH ON HIGHWAY 109 IN BEAUREGARD PARISH SATURDAY MORNING. SERGEANT JAMES ANDERSON OF STATE POLICE TROOP D SAYS 22-YEAR-OLD TREY JONES OF STARKS WAS TRAVELING NORTH WHEN, FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, HE CROSSED THE CENTER LINE AND HIT AN ONCOMING PICKUP TRUCK. THE DRIVER OF THE PICKUP, 41-YEAR-OLD JONATHAN SHANE SAYS OF STARKS WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT THE SCENE, WHILE JONES SUFFERED SEVERE INJURIES AND A PASSENGER IN SAYS’ VEHICLE HAD MODERATE INJURIES. THE CRASH IS UNDER INVESTIGATION AND THEY ARE AWAITING TOXICOLOGY RESULTS.
A Breaux Bridge woman has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $64,000 from a New Iberia company. U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley says in a news release Friday that 66-year-old Joan C. Edgar pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna to one count of wire fraud. Finley said the plea will become final when accepted by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell. Edgar worked as an office manager for the company, which was not named, and stole $64,860.
First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Sept. 17 increased from the previous week’s total. The state labor department figures released Friday show the initial claims rose to 2,402 from the previous week’s total of 2,394. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,307.
The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 3,136 from the previous week’s average of 3,781.
