10-19-15
LAFAYETTE GENERAL MEDICAL CENTER WILL BEGIN LOUISIANA’S FIRST NURSE RESIDENCY PROGRAM THIS SPRING. CHIEF NURSING OFFICER BECKI BENOIT SAYS THE GOAL OF THE PROGRAM IS HELP NEW NURSES TRANSITION SUCCESSFULLY TO THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD. THE TURNOVER RATE AMONG FIRST YEAR NURSES IS AS HIGH AS THIRTY PERCENT, ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE NURSES, BUT IT DROPS TO ABOUT FIVE PERCENT FOR THOSE WHO GO THROUGH A RESIDENCY PROGRAM. THE YEARLONG PROGRAM, WHICH BEGINS IN MARCH, WILL HAVE U-L LAFAYETTE, LSU AT EUNICE AND S-L-C-C AS ACADEMIC PARTNERS.
Federal prosecutors say a Moss Bluff man faces more than eight years in prison for running a ring that sold and hauled a ton of marijuana in Texas and Louisiana. U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley says 43-year-old David Cantu-Lopez was sentenced Thursday to 96 months on one count of conspiracy to possess marijuana with plans to distribute it. She said in a news release Friday that he pleaded guilty in March, signing a statement that he was warehousing marijuana in Houston and distributing it out of his trailer in Moss Bluff. According to the signed statement, investigators confiscated more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana from the group during four months in 2013.
State police say a 58-year-old man died after his truck spun out and overturned on Louisiana Highway 105, throwing him out north of Krotz Springs. Julie Darce has more.
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While Gov. Bobby Jindal refused to take federal health care money to expand Louisiana’s Medicaid program, the men seeking to follow him into office are less reluctant to accept the cash. The four main contenders vying to be Louisiana’s next governor on the Oct. 24 ballot all say they’d be willing to extend government-financed health insurance to the working poor. That includes the three GOP candidates. But those Republicans — Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and U.S. Sen. David Vitter — have caveats on what type of expansion program they’d be willing to enact and how they’d craft it.
A FIRE AT THE WESTGATE ARMS APARTMENT COMPLEX IN SCOTT CAUSED MINIUM DAMAGE TO ONE OF THE FOUR STORY BUILDINGS IN THE COMPLEX. ACCORDING TO THE SCOTT VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT, WORKERS HEATING TAR ON THE ROOF WITH TORCHES STARTED THE BLAZE YESTERDAY MORNING. CHIEF CHAD SONNIER SAYS FIREFIGHTERS, WHO CLIMBED ONTO THE ROOF, FOUND THE FIRE INSIDE A SECOND FLOOR WALL AND QUICKLY EXTINGUISHED IT. NO ONE WAS INJURED AND RESIDENTS WERE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THEIR APARTMENTS SHORTLY AFTER THE FIRE WAS EXTINGUISHED.
Louisiana State Police say two people were killed in a head-on crash in Calcasieu Parish. The collision happened Saturday morning on Louisiana Highway 397 about a mile north of Interstate 10 near the community of LeBleu Settlement. A state police news release says the preliminary investigation showed a 2004 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by 28-year-old Cortny Paul Vidalier of Rayne was traveling north on Louisiana 397 when the truck crossed into oncoming traffic. The truck hit a southbound Hyundai Genesis driven by 30-year-old Erin Michel Atlow of Lake Charles. Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene.
GUNFIRE BROKE OUT SATURDAY NIGHT AT A RICE FESTIVAL AFTER PARTY IN CROWLEY, RESULTING IN ONE PERSON KILLED AND ANOTHER WITH MINOR INJURIES. THE SHOOTING HAPPENED AT AVENUE B AND SECOND STREET. POLICE CHIEF K-P GIBSON SAYS HIS OFFICERS SPOKE TO SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO WERE PRESENT AT THE TIME, BUT THEY CLAIM TO HAVE NOT SEEN ANYTHING. HE SAYS THEY NEED PEOPLE TO GET INVOLVED IF THEY ARE GOING TO SOLVE THIS CRIME AND SIMILAR CASES.
Louisiana’s elections chief is predicting only half of the state’s voters or fewer will cast ballots in the Oct. 24 election to choose a new governor, new lieutenant governor and other statewide leaders. Secretary of State Tom Schedler released his projection Friday, saying he expects 40 percent to 50 percent voter turnout based on early voting patterns he’s seen. That would be less than the participation in last year’s congressional elections. Data through Thursday showed nearly 148,000 people — 5 percent of the state’s 2.9 million registered voters — cast ballots in advance of the election so far.
