Around the state for Sept. 3, 2012

Newspaper sues DOE for information

MONROE — The News-Star newspaper has sued the Louisiana Department of Education over a denied Freedom of Information request.

The News-Star reports it took the legal action after the Education Department first ignored and then denied the request, claiming the governor’s exemption of deliberative process.

The complaint was filed Friday. It gives only one side of the legal argument.

2-year car inspections available in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana motorists, except for those in three New Orleans area municipalities, now have the option of getting their vehicles inspected every two years instead of annually.

The new law took effect Saturday.

Drivers can buy a one- or two-year safety inspection sticker. The annual sticker costs $10; the two-year version costs $20.

Drivers in New Orleans, Kenner and Westwego will not have that option. They will have to get an annual inspection and a yearly tag.

Officials said the three cities’ inspection programs pre-dated the state program. If the cities want to give the drivers the two-year option, officials said, each city will have to amend existing local ordinances.

The law prohibits drivers in areas where air pollution is a problem as determined by the federal Environmental Protection Agency from getting the two-year permits and requires annual inspections.

That provision in the law now applies to five parishes in the Baton Rouge area: East and West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville and Livingston parishes, said Office of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Michelle Rayburn.

Bossier may revise
design standards

BOSSIER CITY — Stricter architectural standards like those being discussed in Bossier City could add 20 percent to 30 percent to the cost of a commercial building frame.

The Bossier City Council will vote Tuesday to hire a consultant with CDM Smith, the company helping the city revise its architectural standards. City officials and planners want to strengthen language in the current law to produce more commercial areas with the masonry-style buildings found in Airline Drive’s Stirling Bossier Shopping Center.

Brad Gosslee, president of Coldwell Banker J. Wesley Dowling and Associates, says there are going to be increased costs anytime architectural requirements are added.

Compiled from e_SFlbthe Associated Press