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SUBURBAN AND STATE

SORRENTO — The Sorrento Town Council voted unanimously Friday night to take emergency measures to get the town sewage treatment system in better working order.

GONZALES — Ascension Parish government officials said Friday they are undecided about how 28 proposed amendments to the home rule charter will be placed on the election ballot March 27.

THIBODAUX — Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s drug task force agents said they intercepted two men planning to conduct a cocaine deal at a McDonald’s restaurant in Larose on Thursday and arrested them on drug distribution charges.

GONZALES — Excavation is nearly complete on a mostly in-house parish project to increase the capacity of a ditch draining east-central Ascension Parish, parish government’s top drainage official said.

ZACHARY — Superintendent Warren Drake told Zachary Community School Board members Thursday that he wants the school system to reclaim its sense of history and also develop an international education initiative.

Officials of the Catholic Church parish council overseeing historic St. Paul Catholic Church in Bayou Goula agreed Friday night to give a preservationist group an extension of time to get organized and set about saving the landmark from demolition.

LAFAYETTE — Students in Lafayette Parish will have an opportunity to eye their options for the next school year during today’s Fall Frenzy. The event showcases the Lafayette Parish School System’s schools of choice programs. It’s also the first opportunity that parents and students will have to apply for a spot in a program.

LAFAYETTE — The gift of reading is on the wish list of preschool programs at nine Lafayette public schools. Barnes & Noble Booksellers of Lafayette customers can help grant those wishes through the store’s annual holiday book drive.

A California-based digital effects company with a résumé that includes the movies “300,” “The Last Samurai,” and “Spiderman” is opening shop in Lafayette.

LAFAYETTE — A 70-year-old Lafayette man is in critical condition at a local hospital following a Friday morning crash at the intersection of Mudd Avenue andNortheast Evangeline Thruway.

BAYOU GOULA — The fate of historic St. Paul Catholic Church remained uncertain as church leaders faced a decision today on whether to have the 138-year-old church damaged by Hurricane Gustav demolished or turned over to a preservationist group.

DONALDSONVILLE — The Ascension Parish Council adopted a raft of proposed amendments to the home rule charter Thursday, sending them on a path to the voters and the March 27 ballot.

ST. FRANCISVILLE — West Feliciana Parish Hospital Board members raised questions Thursday about the parish Police Jury’s handling of dedicated sales tax revenue for the parish’s only hospital.

LAFAYETTE — The state has revoked the license of a Lafayette group home, citing no less than 10 infractions against the facility. The Vermillion Group Home, 800 E. Vermillion St., received the notice of license revocation from the state Department of Social Services on Monday.

LAFAYETTE — Students involved in Carencro High’s Academy of Information Technology will be featured in an upcoming edition of “Louisiana Public Square,” a monthly public forum produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

LAFAYETTE — Four electric utilities in Louisiana, including Lafayette’s public system, have been tapped for $45 million in federal Recovery Act grants, with most of the money for new “smart” meters that would help utility providers better monitor outages and let customers keep tabs on their usage.

OPELOUSAS — The St. Landry Parish School Board voted 8-3 Thursday to allow a 50 percent maximum grade for students who are making-up school work following their return to the classroom after a suspension.

LAFAYETTE — The Police Department reported DNA evidence collected at the scene of a March 9 bank robbery has linked a 48-year-old New Orleans man to the crime.

The Donaldsonville Downtown Development District Main Street program is celebrating the history of the city Saturday during “The Avenue Evening Stroll.”

ABBEVILLE — The Vermilion Parish School Board tabled a motion Thursday night to reject a property exchange between it and the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

LAFAYETTE — University of Louisiana at Lafayette recruiters will be tailgating tonight at Northside High School stadium from 5 p.m. until game time.

LIVINGSTON — After achieving its best test scores so far in spring testing, Livingston Parish School Superintendent Bill Spear told the School Board on Thursday night he was surprised when the state Department of Education ranked the parish 13th when statewide district performance scores were released two weeks ago.

ST. FRANCISVILLE — State highway officials took the 35-car ferry operating between St. Francisville and New Roads out of service Thursday morning after debris in the Mississippi River damaged the vessel’s propeller.

BAKER — Police arrested a Baker man accused of breaking into a church Wednesday night and a residence last month, a Baker Police Department spokesman said.

GONZALES — The Ascension Parish Council plans to consider during a special meeting this afternoon in Donaldsonville 28 amendments to the home rule charter more than a year in the making.

LIVINGSTON — Authorities asked for help Wednesday in identifying human bones found scattered in a wooded area in French Settlement.

CONVENT — A state District Court judge sentenced a St. Charles Parish man to life in prison after the defendant was convicted in March of the armed robbery of a Vacherie bank, prosecutors said.

ST. JAMES — A worker wearing a safety harness died this week of injuries received in a 40-foot fall from scaffolding inside a storage tank under construction, St. James Parish sheriff’s deputies said.

LAFAYETTE — Lafayette Parish school enrollment likely will remain steady for the next 10 years, demographer, Jerome McKibben told board members Wednesday. This year’s total enrollment is 29,089. In 10 years, it’s projected to be 29,124.

LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish school system likely will hold its H1N1 vaccination clinics Dec. 5, said Betty Alford, schools nursing supervisor.

LAFAYETTE — State Police in Troop I have arrested 1,600 impaired drivers and issued more than 10,000 citations this year. Trooper Stephen Hammons, spokesman for State Police, said the DWI Task Force has accounted for about 25 percent of those arrests.

Veterans Day is Wednesday, but observances begin Sunday with programs in Baker and East Feliciana Parish.

VILLE PLATTE — Actively employed Evangeline Parish school workers can expect a little something extra in their Nov. 20 paychecks, according to School Board Business Manager Amy Lafleur.

BREAUX BRIDGE — The St. Martin Parish School Board voted Wednesday, on the recommendation of Superintendent Richard Lavergne, to divide architectural services on a $30 million district-wide building and improvement initiative to local firms.

NEW IBERIA — Employees of Iberia Parish schools will have to endure a slight cut in this year’s supplemental pay and deferred payment.

Annette B. Schouest is the new director of the Medical Unit at Dauterive Hospital in New Iberia. Corey M. Duplechain is the new director of the hospital’s Cardiac Cath Lab, the hospital announced this week.

SORRENTO — Arguments about the town’s sewage treatment system problems forced Mayor Blake LeBlanc to end Tuesday’s council meeting before the agenda could be completed.

GROSSE TETE — State Police arrested a Florida truck driver Wednesday after finding more than 30 pounds of marijuana hidden in his truck.

WESTLAKE (AP) — Drug task force officers are investigating a fire at the Isle of Capri Casino hotel that they believe was caused by someone operating a methamphetamine lab. Westlake Police Chief Jeremy Cryer said firefighters responded to a call on the sixth floor of the hotel Monday night, where they found chemicals that they determined were used in a mobile meth lab.

BAKER — The Baker School Board accepted the resignation Tuesday of one principal and transferred two other principals as part of a staff shakeup that angered several teachers in the audience.

Mayor-President Kip Holden picked up support Tuesday for his proposed $901 million capital improvements bond package from U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, two state representatives and several Baker officials.

HAMMOND — The City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday prohibiting registered sex offenders from entering city parks or public recreational facilities.

A federal judge in New Orleans sentenced a major Lafourche Parish drug figure Tuesday to 16 years in prison on a crack cocaine distribution conviction, U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecutors and parish sheriff’s deputies said.

The Ascension Parish School Board on Tuesday adopted the certified election results of the system’s $100 million bond initiative, passed by parish voters Oct. 17, and authorized the sale of those bonds at Tuesday night’s regular meeting.

LAFAYETTE — A 56-acre commercial and residential development is planned for a stretch of Ambassador Caffery Parkway between Dulles Drive and Guilbeau Road.

LAFAYETTE — Projections of the size and location of the student population that the Lafayette Parish School System may serve in the next five and 10 years will be presented to the board during its 5:30 p.m. meeting today.

ST. MARTINVILLE — The St. Martin Parish Council approved a March 27 election for renewal of the Teche-Vermilion Fresh Water District’s special tax.

The New Roads Chiropractic Center is participating in the “Helping Hands” program in which area residents receive free chiropractic services in exchange for donating food for the needy.

LAFAYETTE — Barnes & Noble of Lafayette’s annual holiday book drive began Sunday and will continue through Jan. 1.

LAFAYETTE — A 53-year-old Carencro man wanted on a count of attempted second-degree murder of a woman turned himself in Tuesday morning.

CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish School Board on Tuesday set a Nov. 13 meeting to discuss possible ways of cutting this year’s spending by up to $1 million.

BAKER — Police arrested a Slaughter man Monday accused of stealing parts for a vintage Jeep that its owner was restoring, Police Chief Mike Knaps said in a news release.

GONZALES — Police searched on Tuesday for a man accused of shooting two people Saturday during a fight at a Halloween party reportedly attended by as many as 250 guests at the home of former NBA player John “Hot Rod” Williams.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared eight Mississippi counties and six Louisiana parishes disaster areas due to flooding earlier this year.

CLINTON — East Feliciana Parish Registrar of Voters Edwin Lea McGehee said a petition submitted Friday has enough valid signatures for Gov. Bobby Jindal to call a special election on the question of recalling Wilson Mayor Joshua L. Thomas.

ZACHARY — Two meetings are set Nov. 16 for residents and business owners to participate in an assessment of the city’s strengths and weaknesses for economic development purposes.

GALVEZ — A Walker man died after his GMC pickup rear-ended another truck early Monday on La. 42 in Ascension Parish, Louisiana State Police reported.

DENHAM SPRINGS — The outside lane of U.S. 190 eastbound will be closed at the Amite River Bridge from 6 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. today while crews perform an emergency repair, according to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

LAFAYETTE — On a cool and clear day there is no better beat than the one Ed McLean and Kelsie Lege work for the Lafayette Police Department. The two corporals patrol downtown Lafayette on Segway Personal Transporters, which are two-wheeled devices that seem to defy gravity.

LAFAYETTE — The Cajundome has reached a tentative agreement with the tax collector that will allow beer and liquor sales to continue at the facility.

CROWLEY — Four supplementary employee paychecks totaling about $3.7 million were approved on Monday by the Acadia Parish School Board.

ABBEVILLE — Vermilion Parish Attorney Paul Moresi received permission from the Police Jury on Monday to challenge a state attorney general auditor’s finding the body held two inappropriate executive sessions stemming from a recent landfill fire.

LAFAYETTE — Police are searching for 53-year-old Paul Brown of Carencro in connection with the attempted second-degree murder of a woman Sunday night.

EarthShare Gardens will hold Harvest Moon Dinner, a fundraiser for the group, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday in the gardens of Harold and Sarah Schoeffler in Lafayette.

CLINTON — Two local businessmen complained Monday to the East Feliciana Police Jury about the poor practices of collecting occupational license taxes.

BAKER — Firefighters evacuated five people at a Thomas Road mobile home park Monday morning after a construction crew broke a buried natural gas line, Baker Fire Department spokesman Howard Ward said.

WHITE CASTLE — The White Castle ferry will return to service today, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development announced.

School Board approval of a proposed timeline is the next step for approximately $100 million in construction, renovations and upgrades in fast-growing Ascension Parish, school system officials said.

LAFAYETTE — By early 2010, Sonny Landreth will have his own signature slide-guitar Stratocaster series, an honor normally reserved for the Eric Claptons and Jeff Becks of the world.

There was one winning ticket sold in the Louisiana Lotto, but the Louisiana Lottery Corp. reported Sunday that nobody won the jackpot in the multistate Powerball drawing Saturday night.

NEW ORLEANS — Divers have patched a hole in a cargo ship that was leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico near Venice, and the vessel was headed up the Mississippi River to a repair facility on Sunday, authorities said.

Starting today, the Livingston Parish Assessor’s Office has a four-day work week, Assessor Jeff Taylor said, which should allow more working people to get to the office before it closes.

A Baton Rouge woman was killed Saturday night in a three-vehicle crash on U.S. 190 west of La. 1024 in Livingston Parish when the van she was driving was hit head-on by a sport utility vehicle, State Police said in a news release.

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