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Saturday, November 7, 2009
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TODAY'S NEWS
LSU-Alabama is usually big, and today is no exception. The winner gains the inside track to the SEC title game. Get periodic updates on the Tigers-Crimson Tide clash, which is under way, in our Tiger Tracks blog.
A second attorney for Filipino teachers recruited to work in East Baton Rouge Parish has complained that some did not receive promised jobs and that the school district provided federal labor officials false reports about their situations.
MIAMI — Tropical Storm Ida is expected in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, but current National Hurricane Center forecast maps show the storm fizzling out in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. At 9 a.m. CST, the center of Tropical Storm Ida was near Latitude 17.9 North, Longitude 84.1 West or about 255 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico and about 270 miles south of the western tip of Cuba.
WBRZ and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank will auction a one of a kind football to benefit WBRZ's Feed A Family campaign, now celebrating its 25th year. Coaches of the three LSU national football championship teams—Paul Dietzel, Nick Saban and Les Miles—autographed the football, which is housed in a glass display case.
The Sorrento Town Council has had several arguments recently during meetings but the mayor set them straight at a special meeting.
A family fights back against unknown people exploiting the death of their daughter.
Litter bugs are the target of a new operation in Denham Springs and the surrounding areas.
The Southern Board of Supervisors won't back down from lawsuits concerning the former university president.
Family members of 40-year-old James Rachal lashed out against two St. Gabriel Police officers accused of stealing $2,000 in cash from him after he died during a crash in August.
Arlene Folmar graduated from Our Lady of the Lake School of Nursing in 1956 with a class of about 25 students. Folmar eventually helped develop the region’s first coronary care unit and relocated with the Catholic hospital and school from downtown to Essen Lane.
The funeral for 24-year-old Army Sgt. Patrick Williamson was held Friday morning at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Broussard. Williamson was among seven soldiers killed in Afghanistan on Oct. 27 when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Kandahar Province.
Interest in this year’s tax election has caused many of the 4,619 early voters to show up at polling places in advance of the Nov. 14 election, said Elaine Lamb, East Baton Rouge Parish registrar of voters.
Bruce Chaisson, 33, 6924 Braswell Lane, Ethel, died at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center after the 2001 Dodge Caravan he was riding in slammed into the back of a 2004 Honda Civic, said Sgt. Don Kelly, a Baton Rouge police spokesman.
A library board committee member summed up the difficulties of his task Friday when he said the committee has to pick a location for a new branch in south Baton Rouge from two sites which “can’t be built upon.”
People interested in learning more about the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office can tune in to a new program called “Parish Justice.”
SORRENTO — The Sorrento Town Council voted unanimously Friday night to take emergency measures to get the town sewage treatment system in better working order.
A man in Baton Rouge on an expired student visa was arrested Friday in Baton Rouge and accused of illegally possessing thousands of doses of controlled dangerous substances.
A political action committee formed to promote a $901 million tax package on the Nov. 14 ballot raised $43,500 in campaign contributions in the past few days, according to campaign finance disclosure reports.
State government is investigating turning over operations of its self-insurance program to private business. The Office of Risk Management is drafting a request for proposal “to evaluate the cost-effectiveness” of the move, office director J.S. “Bud” Thompson Jr. said.
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.
Police arrested an 18-year-old man Thursday in the June 3 killing of 21-year-old Louis Shelton Deggs Jr. Deggs was shot during a fight in the 2800 block of Jackson Street, an affidavit of probable cause says.
Discounted backyard compost bins and rain barrels as well as free mulch will be available for Baton Rouge residents from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at Memorial Stadium, 1702 Foss St.
A state judge appointed a psychiatrist and two psychologists Friday to determine whether condemned killer Robert Craig Miller, of Baton Rouge, is mentally retarded.
Former state Sen. Walter Boasso’s 2007 gubernatorial campaign committee violated campaign finance law when it failed to accurately report $1.2 million in spending, an ethics adjudicatory panel ruled.
The Louisiana Board of Ethics has filed conflict of interest charges against the president of the Tangipahoa Parish School Board.
The state’s revamped disaster food stamp program is expected to reduce long waits and decrease fraud, an official with the Department of Social Services said.
Members of the Southern University Board of Supervisors and their lawyers prepared Friday for their ongoing legal battle with former Southern President Ralph Slaughter.
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.
A California-based digital effects company with a résumé that includes the movies “300,” “The Last Samurai,” and “Spiderman” is opening shop in Lafayette.
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.
The East Baton Rouge Parish school system cashed in money this past year it had been holding in reserve, in the process shrinking its undesignated surplus from $80 million to $47 million, according to its latest audit.
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 — 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.
Airline 30, Southwood 14
Today's funeral notices.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Peter Vandyke’s steps have slowed since he stormed Normandy Beach, but his 1942 Army uniform still fits and he wore it proudly as the National World War II Museum dedicated a $60 million expansion as Tom Hanks and other celebrities looked on Friday. The museum has added a theater, a restaurant and a replica of the “Stage Door Canteens” that cheered military men during the war. Vandyke was one of hundreds of World War II veterans on hand for Friday’s ceremony along with Hanks, fellow film star Patricia Clarkson and Mickey Rooney.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization's national headquarters was based in New Orleans. "This is an investigation of everything - ACORN, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities, specifically as it relates to any potential violations of Louisiana law," Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said.
FORDYCE, Ark. (AP) — A dozen students and a driver where hurt when three buses carrying members of the renowned Grambling State University marching band were involved in a pileup on a highway in southern Arkansas.
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship - common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, dead.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- A gunman opened fire Friday in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago, authorities said, killing one person and injuring five others. Jason Rodriguez, 40, surrendered about three hours later, after officers saw him through the window of his mother's home and asked him to come outside, Orlando Police Chief Val Demings said.
Ten out of 17 home runs in the most recent World Series were hit with a Marucci bat, Baton Rouge-based Marucci Bat Co. said today.
NEW YORK (AP) — CF Industries Holdings Inc. — with a plant in Donaldsonville — has rejected rival fertilizer maker Agrium Inc.’s sweetened takeover bid, saying the $4.5 billion bid significantly undervalues the company.
Sealy & Falgoust Real Estate is adding commercial investment properties and multi-family developments to its commercial real estate brokerage services.
The Louisiana Workforce Commission will train workers statewide at its Business and Career Solutions Centers, with an aim of plugging the estimated 4,000-job shortage of workers that possess career and technical education skills coveted by industry.
Alexandria-based Centennial Wireless said its 63 retail locations in Louisiana and Mississippi will continue to operate independently as Centennial Wireless and will compete against AT&T and other carriers.
The Advocate's Randy Rosetta fielded your questions about the LSU-Alabama matchup and other things related to Tiger football today in an online chat. Click the link above to read the transcript.
WBRZ Tropical Update:< br /> Ida is a tropical depression this morning as it sits on the Nicaragua/Honduras border. Winds are sustained at 35 mph. It is moving toward the North at 6 mph. On this track, Ida will move over Honduras today, and emerge in the NW Caribbean by Saturday morning. Then it will move to the NW toward Cancun, Mexico by early on Monday.
Bruce Chaisson,33, of Ethel, was killed in a traffic crash around 10:55 p.m. Thursday night.
