Thursday, May 15, 2008
SUBURBAN AND STATE
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The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office received a report just before 9 a.m. Thursday of a tornado that had touched down just west of Ponchatoula.
An elderly man was killed this morning near Grosse Tete when strong winds caused a tree to fall on a trailer/camper the man was in, Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office Johnny Blanchard said. 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. Recently, high water flushed a bear out of the woods, and now Angola has another significant discovery: a mastodon tooth found by Lt. Col. Joe Norwood on family property in the Tunica Hills near the penitentiary. GONZALES — Ascension Parish President Tommy Martinez said Wednesday he has asked the District Attorney’s Office for a legal opinion on whether a firm can be paid for work performed under a task order when it does not have a master contract with parish government. LIVINGSTON — Sheriff’s deputies are looking for a Livingston Parish man missing since Monday. Jerry Don Lee Jr., 40, of Walker, was last seen wearing blue jeans and a brown shirt, Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputies said in a statement Wednesday. HAMMOND — Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu will address Southeastern Louisiana University graduates at the university’s commencement Saturday. THIBODAUX — U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is scheduled to address more than 500 Nicholls State University graduates Saturday during morning and afternoon commencement exercises. The ceremonies will be held in Stopher Gymnasium. LIVONIA — An investigation into a homemade bomb planted in front of a supermarket led to the arrest of a Livonia man, the Livionia Police Department reported Wednesday. SLIDELL — St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested a former Slidell police officer Wednesday after a follow-up investigation on a domestic violence call at his house in mid-March, deputies said. AMITE — Negotiations in a Tangipahoa Parish school desegregation case have raised worries about the future of Kentwood High School, a historic building built by a Depression-era jobs and civic improvement program. ZACHARY — Higher taxes for property owners and less spending cash for city workers are likely on the way, Mayor Henry Martinez announced at a City Council meeting Tuesday night. ST. FRANCISVILLE — West Feliciana Parish police jurors increased their “compensation” without increasing their salaries Tuesday night, voting to make themselves eligible for health insurance at the price charged employees. LIVINGSTON — Livingston Parish school officials have taken legal steps to complete the donation of land for a planned Denham Springs-area elementary school, officials said Wednesday. PORT ALLEN — Port Allen City Council members agreed Wednesday to work with developer Rawlston “Bubba” Phillips to make his proposed Riverview traditional neighborhood part of the city. DONALDSONVILLE — The City Council directed the Donaldsonville Historic District Commission on Tuesday to report next month on three derelict historic buildings, including one owned by the city. THIBODAUX — The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office released two of the men it had booked with killing three men Monday, Sheriff Craig Webre said Wednesday in a news release. One man remains in custody, booked with the triple homicide, Webre said. DENHAM SPRINGS — The city’s Fire Department can’t safely rescue anyone from a burning building because of a lack of personnel, Fire Chief Ivy “Woody” Cutrer told the City Council on Tuesday. 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. LIVINGSTON — Livingston Parish public schools continue to struggle to break through a plateau in scores at the upper-middle and high-school levels on state standardized tests. WALKER — Alderman Rick Ramsey said he plans to pursue a proposed voter referendum that would alter rules on alcoholic beverage sales in Walker. ST. GABRIEL — The St. Gabriel Police Department on Monday arrested schoolteacher Julie Landry, 46, of Plaquemine, and booked her with cruelty to a juvenile. Landry is a third-grade teacher at East Iberville School in St. Gabriel. West Baton Rouge Parish President Riley “Peewee” Berthelot plans to deliver his second annual State of the Parish address at 7 a.m. on Thursday. Breakfast and speeches will be served at Bayou Bistro on La. 1 in Brusly. An Ascension Parish physician charged with illegally prescribing medication without a legitimate medical purpose was released on his own recognizance on Tuesday during his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge. VACHERIE — The West Bank connection from Veterans Memorial Bridge to La. 3127 is expected to open in June. LIVINGSTON — The three candidates vying to be the next superintendent of Livingston Parish public schools agreed Tuesday they would communicate and work with School Board members, staff and the public if appointed to the job. DENHAM SPRINGS — The Denham Springs Economic Development District approved a settlement Tuesday with the Bass Pro project developer. NEW ROADS — The Pointe Coupee Parish Police Jury and the city of New Roads administration on Tuesday night called for reaching an agreement on dividing up solid waste tax revenue generated by part of a parishwide sales tax. BAKER — A City Council member and the city attorney got into a shouting match and called one another liars Tuesday as the council considered a proposed ordinance to regulate charitable and video bingo games. ST. FRANCISVILLE — The West Feliciana Parish Police Jury, after a lengthy and often heated discussion with audience members Tuesday, voted unanimously to call an Oct. 4 election for a new 1-cent sales tax for several major projects, including a new library and a jail. AMITE — Tangipahoa Parish sheriff’s deputies have arrested a Loranger man accused of making and selling high quality, counterfeit $20 and $100 bills. FRANKLINTON — Two prisoners in a Washington Parish work-release program walked away from their dormitory sometime around 3 a.m. Tuesday, Washington Parish Sheriff’s Capt. Fred Kirby said. GOLDEN MEADOW — Two men died Sunday night when their vehicles collided and burned in Lafourche Parish, State Police said. DENHAM SPRINGS — The city’s first video bingo operation opened at noon Tuesday. Charitable groups began holding regular bingo games in one room at Sportsman’s Paradise on Range Avenue, while people played against brightly lit electronic machines in an adjacent room. BAKER — Police arrested a 20-year-old man and a juvenile Monday in the May 5 holdup of a Domino’s Pizza restaurant on Main Street, Police Chief Mike Knaps said. THIBODAUX — Deputies arrested and booked three men Tuesday with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of three men in Raceland early Monday, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said. LIVONIA — Livonia Police Sgt. Aaron Biddy was conducting security checks on businesses in the town about 3 a.m. Tuesday when he noticed something suspicious placed near the front door of Soprano’s Supermarket on U.S. 190. SATSUMA — Deputies arrested an allegedly intoxicated man accused of running naked in front of a school bus carrying elementary school children, the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office reported Tuesday. SLIDELL — Officers are looking for a man with gold-capped teeth accused of shooting his girlfriend’s father in the leg, the Slidell Police Department said Tuesday. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A steamship that sank off the Louisiana coast during an 1846 storm has produced a trove of rare gold coins, including some produced at two, mostly forgotten U.S. mints in the South, coin experts say. LIVONIA — A police officer on patrol found what Livonia Police Chief Brad Joffrion called “a homemade explosive device” at Soprano’s Supermarket about 3 a.m. today. Developer Pete Clements has unveiled details of River Park, his planned $600 million mixed-use development near Hollywood Casino on the north side of downtown Baton Rouge. Clements said River Park, first discussed about a year ago, is a 10- to 15-year project that will ultimately include a 280-room, major flag hotel, an extended-stay hotel, 800 to 1,200 residential units, 250,000 square feet of retail space, 650,000 square feet of office space, 6,000 parking spaces and a 600-seat amphitheater along the riverfront. DENHAM SPRINGS — A series of absences kept junior Heather Thompson, 17, from receiving credit in the fall for her English III class at Denham Springs High School. Brandi Morris, 16, a junior at Denham Springs High, straightforwardly admitted it was pretty much her fault when asked why she failed geometry in the fall semester. |
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