9-30-21
ONE PERSON IS DEAD AND ANOTHER INJURED AFTER A SHOOTING HAPPENED OVERNIGHT IN OPELOUSAS. SYLVIA MASTERS REPORTS.
VOICER Q :23
SOME CITIZENS IN JENNINGS RESTRAINED A MAN THAT THEY SAID WAS TRYING TO STEAL CATALYTIC CONVERTERS FROM VEHICLES. IT HAPPENED ON MONDAY AND OFFICERS RESPONDED TO THE COMPLAINT AT AN ADDRESS ON GALLUP STREET AND ARRESTED FORTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD FREDRICK FONTENOT, ALSO KNOWN AS T-BUTCH. FONTENOT POSSESSED A RECIPROCATING SAW AND WRENCHES THAT ARE COMMONLY USED IN CATALYTIC CONVERTER THEFTS, PLUS HE HAD A SYRINGE AND METHAMPHETAMINE. HE WAS CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED THEFT BUT, BECAUSE OF A LACK OF BED SPACE AT THE JEFF DAVIS PARISH JAIL, HE WAS RELEASED ON A SUMMONS.
ENROLLMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE HAS DECREASED FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW. THERE ARE SIXTEEN THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE TOTAL STUDENTS ENROLLED AT U-L FOR THE FALL SEMESTER, DOWN TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE FROM LAST FALL’S ENROLLMENT. THAT’S A ONE-POINT-FOUR PERCENT INCREASE. GRADUATE ENROLLMENT INCREASED BY THREE-POINT-NINE PERCENT BUT THE UNDERGRADUATE CLASS WAS DOWN BY THREE HUNDRED TWENTY.
U-L LAFAYETTE IS BREAKING RECORDS IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DOLLARS WITH THE MOST RECENT YEARLY TOTAL AT ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-FOUR MILLION. THAT’S A ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT INCREASE OVER THE PAST SEVEN YEARS. BRITTANY LECOUR DEAL, THE STRATEGIC ANALYSIS MANAGER AT THE LOUISIANA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, SAYS THE ONE HUNDRED SIXTY FOUR MILLION DOLLARS IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SUPPORTS ABOUT NINE HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN JOBS IN LAFAYETTE PARISH. DOCTOR RAMESH KOLLURU, THE VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH INNOVATION AT U-L, SAYS THEY FOCUS ON RESEARCH THAT HELPS LOUISIANA BUSINESSES CREATE NEW PRODUCTS, OFFER MORE SERVICES, BECOME MORE PROFITABLE AND HIRE MORE PEOPLE.
Louisiana’s education department is no longer recommending that public school systems quarantine asymptomatic students who have come into close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19. That goes against state and federal health guidance. Louisiana’s local school districts already had the ability to determine whether they want to send the students home for days because of exposure, but most of the districts had been following the education department’s recommendation that those students should be quarantined. New guidance issued Wednesday by Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley suggests districts could instead choose to notify parents of the exposure and let the parents decide whether to keep the child in school.
HERE’S SYLVIA MASTERS WITH THE LATEST COVID-NINETEEN NUMBERS IN LOUISIANA.
VOICER R :16
BECAUSE OF A RECENT UPTICK IN CRIME IN ABBEVILLE, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE VERMILLION PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE HAS REACTIVATED A COOPERATIVE VIOLENT CRIMES TASK FORCE. EDDIE LANGLINAIS, THE DIRECTOR OF THE TASK FORCE, SAYS HE FEELS CONFIDENT THE UNIT HELPED PREVENT A MAJOR CRIME ON MONDAY, ITS FIRST NIGHT ON PATROL. THEY ATTEMPTED TO PULL OVER A VEHICLE WITH THREE MALES INCLUDING ONE WEARING A SKI MASK, BUT THE DRIVER OF THE VEHICLE REFUSED TO STOP AND EVENTUALLY CRASHED. THE THREE FLED ON FOOT AND OFFICERS FOUND THE SKI MASK IN THE VEHICLE AS WELL AS A LOADED ASSAULT RIFLE AND NARCOTICS.
A GROUP OF VILLE PLATTE RESIDENTS GATHERED IN FRONT OF THE CLECO OFFICE ON WEST LINCOLN STREET YESTERDAY TO PROTEST HIGH UTILITY BILLS. CLECO’S COMMUNITY STRATEGIST, FRAN PHOENIX, SAYS ONE OF THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTERS TO ELEVATED BILLS IS THE HIGH COST OF FUEL, FROM WHICH CLECO DOES NOT PROFIT. SHE ALSO CITED THE FREEZE IN FEBRUARY IN WHICH THE COSTS FROM THAT HAVE BEEN SPREAD OUT OVER TWELVE MONTHS. THE GROUP PLANS ANOTHER PROTEST NEXT WEEK IF THEY DO NOT SEE THE CITY DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR CONTRACT WITH CLECO.
