Friday, May 9, 2008
SUBURBAN AND STATE
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GONZALES — An Ascension Parish physician who owned and operated a “wellness center” is scheduled to appear in federal court next week on an accusation that he illegally prescribed medication.
LIVINGSTON — Rural and urban members of the Livingston Parish Council divided Thursday night on the bumpy issue of gravel roads. The council voted 5-3 to accept six more private gravel roads into the parish’s maintenance system. 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. Fifty-seven percent of fourth-graders in a magnet school program at Hammond Eastside Upper School scored at top levels in the 2008 LEAP English section, the school’s principal said. Brusly Police Chief Jamie Whaley said Thursday night that he is almost certain that the more than 20 bullets that hit four camp buildings near Addis were fired by Brusly and Addis police officers during target practice. LIVINGSTON — The Livingston Parish School Board will interview candidates competing to become the school system’s next superintendent starting at 2 p.m. Tuesday. CLINTON — A minister asked the East Feliciana Parish Police Jury on Thursday to break a two-year contract with the School Board for use of a building for District Court sessions while the parish courthouse is being renovated. GRAMERCY — A 57-year-old man is accused of kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl Wednesday afternoon. HAMMOND — The city’s economic development district ratified on Thursday a lease to open its troubled hospital, built two years ago with tax incentives and public financing, by Dec. 31. PORT ALLEN — Two tractor-trailer trucks collided Thursday morning, causing intermittent traffic delays for several hours on La. 415 in West Baton Rouge Parish, State Police reported. GONZALES — The Ascension Economic Development Corp. chairman said Thursday that Ascension plans to offer a satellite-based system for business and industry to use in searching for suitable building sites. CONVENT — The Rookies Softball Organization struck out in its bid to get the St. James Parish Council to lift the team’s 2006 suspension for fighting in time to rejoin the Adult Slow Pitch Softball League for Monday’s opening of the 2008 season. NEW IBERIA — Employees of Iberia Parish government will see a 3 percent increase in pay starting with their next paychecks, officials said Wednesday. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Army Corps of Engineers said it planned to finish closing a major spillway Thursday that it opened last month to ease pressure on area levees from the swollen Mississippi River. DARROW — Faced with an impending deadline to start construction, school officials are investigating a different location for a primary school in southern Ascension Parish. LAFAYETTE — Lafayette Parish School Superintendent Burnell Lemoine on Wednesday announced that N.P. Moss Middle School will partially reopen in the fall. LAFAYETTE — Friends, colleagues and esteemed community members gathered Wednesday at a luncheon to pay tribute to retiring University of Louisiana at Lafayette President Ray Authement. A Springfield man led Livingston and Tangipahoa Parish sheriff’s deputies on a chase along Interstate 12 and a busy Hammond commercial strip Wednesday, leaving two collisions and an injured deputy, authorities said. TICKFAW — A driver who refused to pull over for driving through Tickfaw with his headlights off led village police and sheriff’s deputies on a chase weaving through both Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes Tuesday night. COVINGTON — A 15-year-old boy drowned Tuesday afternoon after he jumped into a river swollen with flood water to catch a fish with his hands but was swept away by the current, police said. A new unit in the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office created to track fugitives made its first arrest Tuesday in Vernon Parish in connection with a case in Tangipahoa Parish. WALKER — Glenn Westmoreland announced he is a candidate in the Oct. 4 primary election to fill the Division I open seat on the 21st Judicial District Court bench. OSCAR — Pointe Coupee Parish businessman and School Board member Major Thibaut announced he will be a candidate for the District 18 seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives. BAKER — The Baker School Board agreed Tuesday to contract with a California firm to assist teachers in preparing for next year’s state accountability tests. ZFest 2008 continues in Zachary with games, carnival rides, food booths and entertainment tonight through Saturday at the Zachary Youth Park on Mount Pleasant Road. NEW IBERIA — The Iberia Parish School Board spent its time celebrating both academic and athletic achievements during its regular Wednesday night meeting. VILLE PLATTE — A federal judge has given approval to the Evangeline Parish School Board to spend up to $28,500 to pay for the cost of moving bleachers from Kinder to Pine Prairie High School. President Bush's hurricane recovery chief says the large number of errors in grant awards in the Road Home homeowner program is unacceptable. LAFAYETTE — The newly named leader of the group working on recommendations for future construction and maintenance of Lafayette Parish public schools has already established a reputation with the school system central office staff. LAFAYETTE — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday proposed 1.3 million acres as “critical habitat” for the Louisiana black bear — a designation that could add protections for the threatened species. NEW ORLEANS — A federal appellate court has upheld U.S. District Judge James Brady’s decision to throw out a Denham Springs man’s triple-murder conviction and death sentence and grant him a new trial. LAFAYETTE — The City-Parish Council on Tuesday deferred a vote that could stop a controversial plan by Greyhound Lines to move its bus station to a neighborhood on Moss Street. AMITE — The Tangipahoa Parish School Board heard a complaint Tuesday about a high school principal who did not allow a girl to bring a female date to her prom during the weekend. West Baton Rouge Parish President Riley “Peewee” Berthelot will deliver his second annual State of the Parish report at 7 a.m. May 15 at Bayou Bistro in Brusly. The event is hosted by the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce. HAMMOND — City government’s general insurance coverage is going up about $140,000 for the year, apparently because of potentially large liability claims which could be settled during the life of the current policy. CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish School Board asked for more time Tuesday to ponder the future of U.S. Army training programs in Clinton and Jackson high schools. GREENSBURG — A former St. Helena Parish social studies teacher and coach pleaded no contest to a simple battery charge after being accused of grabbing a female student’s buttocks last fall, a state prosecutor said Tuesday. PORT ALLEN — Michael Garcia, 29, of Lansing, Mich., was supposed to be in 18th Judicial District Court on Tuesday for a motion hearing related to his upcoming first-degree murder trial, but he wasn’t there and no hearing was held. LIVINGSTON — A state district judge has delayed a trial for a Brookhaven, Miss., woman accused of fatally stabbing her Livingston Parish boyfriend three years ago, the prosecuting attorney said. NEW ORLEANS — A federal appellate court has let stand U.S. District Judge James Brady’s decision to toss out a Denham Springs man’s triple murder conviction and death sentence and order a new trial. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-sponsored insurer of last resort, will be nearly its pre-Hurricane Katrina size after responsibility for 30,000 homeowner policies is transferred to private insurers. DENHAM SPRINGS — Two top Livingston Parish public school administrators and a Dillard University program director have applied to be the next superintendent of Livingston Parish schools, records show. LIVINGSTON — Livingston Parish will open an animal-control shelter in August, the head of the Parish Council’s animal-control committee said Monday. LAFAYETTE — Lafayette Parish could face stricter pollution limits in coming years when the federal government toughens air quality standards. LAFAYETTE — About 50 Lafayette Parish Jail inmates recently took advantage of a new opportunity to ease the transition back from incarceration to making their way on the outside. ABBEVILLE — The Vermilion Parish Police Jury at a regular meeting Monday night gave parish bond attorney Lonnie Bewley permission to draft a document creating a Vermilion Parish Hurricane Flood Protection and Drainage District. LAFAYETTE — Classical guitarist Gerd Wuestemann has been tapped to head the Acadiana Arts Council, the organization’s board of directors announced Monday. ABBEVILLE — The Vermilion Parish Police Jury at a regular meeting Monday night gave parish bond attorney Lonnie Bewley permission to draft a document creating a Vermilion Parish Hurricane Flood Protection and Drainage District. |
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