Latest news for January 27, 2012

• Retiree says he lost life savings with Stanford

  HOUSTON (AP) — A retired architect and military veteran told jurors at Texas financier R. Allen Stanford’s fraud trial Friday that he lost nearly all of his life savings investing with Stanford, and has survived by eating “a lot …

• Amylin’s long-delayed diabetes drug gets FDA nod

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Amylin Pharmaceuticals won approval Friday for its long-delayed diabetes drug Bydureon, a next-generation treatment that requires fewer injections than the company’s 7-year old product, Byetta. Bydureon is a once-a-week version of Byetta, which is taken twice a day to help diabetes patients control their blood sugar. Amylin

• Jury seated for Trucko Stampley; murder trial starts Monday

  A jury of eight men and four women was empaneled Friday to hear the first-degree murder case against accused killer Trucko Stampley in the shooting deaths of four people in Baton Rouge in April 2007. Opening statements and testimony are scheduled to begin Monday in state District Judge Bonnie Jackson’s

• Army buys more land at Fort Polk

  FORT POLK, La. (AP) — The Army is buying 4,900 acres of land south of Fort Polk in a move that Sen. Mary Landrieu says points to continued expansion of the central Louisiana military base. The land is being acquired from American Sulphur and Oil Co. of Dry Creek, according

• Louisiana 1st time jobless claims decrease

  (AP) — First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Jan. 21 decreased from the previous week’s total. The state labor department figures released Friday show the initial claims decreased to 3,343 from the previous week’s total of 3,969. The figure was lower than it was for

• One killed in car, motorcyle crash

  CLINTON — A Baton Rouge woman was killed Friday afternoon in the collision of a motorcycle and a car, a State Police spokesman said. The collision occurred on La. 10 west of La. 955 in East Feliciana Parish shortly after 2 p.m., Trooper Russell Graham said. Graham said troopers’ preliminary

• Teachers union: Rely less on evaluations, spend more on schools

  The state should rely less on student achievement in evaluating teachers and spend more on schools to improve Louisiana’s public education system, the president of a teachers’ union said Friday. Those and other recommendations were spelled out as officials of the Louisiana Association of Educators highlighted their school goals for

• American Gateway Bank agrees to shed bad loans, properties

  Federal and state regulators have ordered American Gateway Bank to shed foreclosed properties and reduce its problem loans under a consent order announced Friday. The bank, which has been in business since 1905, has been under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions consent order since

• Woman burns hands in stove-pot fire

  BAKER — A Baker woman suffered minor burns on her hands early Friday while trying to extinguish a fire in a pot left on her stove, Baker Fire Department spokesman Howard Ward said. The fire in a mobile home at 3838 Thomas Road was reported at 1:38 a.m., and firefighters

• BRPD: Man crashes vehicle into utility pole

  A man is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after his vehicle struck a utility pole Thursday night in the 600 block of N. 19th Street. The crash occurred just after 9:30 p.m., according to a Baton Rouge Police Department news release. The Baton Rouge Fire Department had to assist

• BRPD, EBRSO search for fugitive

  Authorities are looking for a fugitive who fled from U.S. marshals Thursday when they tried to arrest him at a house off Hooper Road. U.S. marshals and other authorities spent at least eight hours Thursday morning searching a wooded area off Hooper Road for a man they believed to be

• Budget deficit projected

  The $895 million shortfall projected for the upcoming state spending year stems partly from the use of more than $300 million in one-time money to balance the current year’s $25 billion state operating budget. Also contributing to the state’s money problems are the number of offenders returning to prison for

• Lawyer:  69 IT workers   targeted

  State health agency employees facing layoffs have hired a lawyer in their efforts to get the Civil Service Commission to reject the plan. The state Department of Health and Hospitals wants to expand a contract with the University of New Orleans and eliminate 69 information technology jobs in the process.

• Trucko Stampley murder trial to remain in Baton Rouge

  A judge Thursday rejected a defense request to move Trucko Stampley’s first-degree murder trial out of East Baton Rouge Parish. Daryl Gold, one of Stampley’s attorneys, argued that media coverage of the case has so saturated the local community that Stampley cannot get a fair trial in East Baton Rouge

• National figures to speak in BR

  About 800 people are expected to attend an education gathering Monday in Baton Rouge that will include speeches by state and national leaders, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, schools choice advocate Howard Fuller and former New York City education Chancellor Joel L. Klein. The gathering, which is called “Leadership

• Lawyers  honored  for work  pro bono

  LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Bar Foundation has honored its “Champions of Justice,” local lawyers and firms who commit to pro bono service in the community. About 75 attorneys volunteered their time through the foundation’s service projects, said Tammy DeRouen, program director for the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers. The foundation operates three