Latest news for June 20, 2013

• I-10 east lanes at Grosse Tete blocked

  Both lanes are blocked on Interstate 10 east at Grosse Tete due to an accident involving two 18-wheelers, according to the DOTD. Traffic is being diverted off … Continue reading →

• Spotlight on board president since hit-and-run arrest

  LIVINGSTON — If you stop by the G&J Drive Inn on U.S. 190 in Livingston on a regular basis, chances are you’ve seen Malcolm or Johnice Sibley there. Dennis Cutrer, who has managed the restaurant for about 10 years, says Malcolm Sibley drops in about …

• Police: Man climbs steps, points BB gun at State Capitol

  State Police want to talk to a man who carried a BB gun up to the front door of the State Capitol during a rainstorm Wednesday. State Police Col. Mike Edmonson said the man mounted the long flight of front steps and pointed the gun at the …

• EBR grand jury to consider nightclub shooting death

  An East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury will decide next month whether to indict a security guard who fatally shot a Baker man last summer in front of a Baton Rouge nightclub. The guard was not booked in the shooting death of 32-year-old Corey …

• Family may view Brett Gerald presentence report

  CLINTON — In an unusual court proceeding, family members of seven people killed in a head-on collision last year in East Feliciana Parish will be allowed to read a pre-sentence report on the drunken driver who killed them. Twentieth Judicial District Judge William G. Carmichael …

• Prairieville businessman pleads guilty in film tax credit scheme

  A Prairieville businessman who operated a film production company admitted to a Baton Rouge federal judge Wednesday that he helped a business associate illegally obtain $1.2 million in state film tax credits. J. Matthew Keith, 36, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy …

• White: Teacher evaluations need consistent rigor

  The state needs to find ways to ensure that public school teachers are evaluated with consistent rigor because it is not happening now, state Superintendent of Education John White said Wednesday. “The challenge becomes how do you create a system where principals have flexibility but at the …

• Kerry calls Karzai to ease anger on Taliban office

  WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday made his second call to the Afghan president in 24 hours to ease Hamid Karzai’s anger over the rollout of the Taliban’s new political office in Qatar — a rift that temporarily delayed U.S. talks with the militant group …

• U.S. House starts debate on farm bill

  WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday began debating a federal farm bill that largely protects Louisiana’s sugar, rice and dairy industries but also cuts more than $20 billion in food stamp funding. The U.S. Senate earlier this month …

• LSU approves blank contract

  The LSU Board of Supervisors approved Wednesday an agreement lacking in financial details for the private takeover of LSU’s public hospital in Bogalusa. The agreement could also reduce the health care for women currently provided at the hospital and its clinics in the rural Washington Parish.

  Bill urges Medicare coverage for obesity treatments

  WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy filed legislation Wednesday to make some weight-loss prescription drugs and treatments available to residents through the federal Medicare program for seniors. The “Treat and Reduce Obesity Act” comes on the heels of the American Medical Association deciding to officially …

• State needs to spend seafood promotion dollars

  Time is running out for the state to spend millions of dollars aimed at convincing consumers Louisiana seafood is safe to eat. Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne told the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board on Wednesday that five months remain to spend $16 million still left from …

• Jindal signs gun bills

  Louisiana has a six new gun laws on the books with actions taken Wednesday by Gov. Bobby Jindal. The Governor’s Office also announced that Jindal had signed bills that authorizes multi-year pay raises for the state’s judges from the Louisiana Supreme Court to the local level as …

• Board vote on EBR schools budget delayed

  An expected Thursday night vote on next year’s budget for the East Baton Rouge Parish school system has been postponed to give School Board members and the public more time to consider additional money the system will receive. “We have until September …

• Pension systems hope to recover $100 million in lost investments

  A lawsuit by three Louisiana pension plans that lost a combined $100 million in a 2008 hedge fund investment has been moved from state District Court in Baton Rouge to the nearby federal district court. The Firefighters’ Retirement System, the Municipal Employees Retirement System, and …

• Father and son indicted in fatal beating

  A grand jury charged a father and son Wednesday in the Jan. 5 beating of a 60-year-old man who died two months later from the injuries he suffered on Ozark Street in Baton Rouge. Shedrick L. Lobrano, 51, and Shedrick D. Lobrano, 24, both of 3925 Geronimo …

• Second man indicted in Wyoming Street shooting death

  A 22-year-old Baton Rouge man was indicted Wednesday in the Aug. 6 shooting death of another man outside the Pueblo Apartments on Wyoming Street. An East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury charged Jerron Davis, 12236 Troy Ave., with second-degree murder in the killing …