Thursday, May 15, 2008
ACADIANA
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LAFAYETTE — Emergency crews were clearing roads and repairing power lines in Lafayette’s Oil Center from damage blamed on a suspected tornado, one of nine reports of twisters in Acadiana received by the National Weather Service Thursday morning.
LAFAYETTE — A plan for future development along Interstate 10 calls for a balance of commercial and residential areas, buffers to shield neighborhoods from traffic, and better road connections in a city not known for ease of travel. LAFAYETTE — Police Chief Jim Craft on Wednesday said he will ask the City-Parish Council to approve the purchase of about 90 new vehicles in the next budget year, about $2.2 million worth. OPELOUSAS — A proposed school reorganization and consolidation plan approved by the U.S. Justice Department and affecting most St. Landry Parish schools was unveiled Wednesday during a special School Board meeting. LAFAYETTE — City-parish government has tentatively agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a 9-year-old lawsuit filed by police, firefighters and city marshals in a dispute over back wages. Organizers of the effort to build a National Hurricane Museum and Science Center in southwest Louisiana are preparing to put a bid out for specific plans for the project. OPELOUSAS — A proposed school reorganization plan to help resolve desegregation issues in St. Landry Parish is scheduled to be made public today at a special School Board meeting. JENNINGS — Jefferson Davis Parish District Attorney Michael Cassidy and his staff put more than $120,000 in questionable expenses on the public tab, including hotel suites at more than $700 a night and $3,045 in alcoholic beverages, according to a state audit released Monday. Acadiana law enforcement agencies on Sunday began investigating two unrelated, but unusual suspected second-degree murder cases. The deaths involved a 90-year-old man in LeBeau in St. Landry Parish and an 8-month-old girl in Lafayette. LAFAYETTE — An appeals court has declined to hear a challenge from a man fighting new criminal charges after his acquittal in the death of a 13-year-old girl. The Lafayette Police Department will hold memorial ceremonies Thursday for Acadiana-area law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. The ceremony is set to mark the national recognition of Police Memorial Week. LAFAYETTE — With his tall, brawny frame perched like a gargoyle behind thundering drums and with his arms and hair whipped by the breeze of an electric fan, Jonathan Strate appears fearsome onstage. However, some things are more than they appear. Another round of special guests will be working on a Kaplan-area Habitat for Humanity project today, this time in recognition of the national “Women Build” week. LAFAYETTE — City-parish officials want a clearer distinction between ponds and pits as demand for dirt has led to more big holes in Lafayette Parish. The concern is over large open pits that owners identify as planned ponds but which sit empty for years. LAFAYETTE — The Atchafalaya Basin is gaining international recognition today as a vital spot for bird habitat. The basin is now part of the National Audubon Society’s Important Bird Area program, set up to identify and conserve land that is important for the survival of bird populations. LAFAYETTE — The Police Department is splitting the city’s busiest precinct in the hopes of reducing workload to improve service. LAFAYETTE — Firefighters, police and city marshals are within days of a possible settlement in a long-fought lawsuit with city-parish government, an attorney for the emergency workers said this week. LAFAYETTE — The leader of the N.P. Moss Middle School parents’ group said Thursday that she and her fellow parents are comfortable with the way the school system is handling repairs and reoccupation of the school. NEW IBERIA — Employees of Iberia Parish government will see a 3 percent increase in pay starting with their next paychecks, officials said Wednesday. |
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