WALKER — Livingston Parish School Board President Malcolm Sibley’s attorney said Monday his client is remorseful over his involvement in an accident early Saturday that claimed the life of a 21-year-old Mississippi man. The comments by attorney Sherman Mack came the same day as State Police had Sibley’s damaged 2012 GMC 2500 pickup towed … Continue reading →

• Livingston School Board head booked in hit and run

Motorists who have complained for years about daily traffic backups on Interstate 10 may be in for some relief. The widening of Interstate 10 between Siegen Lane and Highland Road is set to officially open on Tuesday, ending four years of work on one of the key corridors through Baton Rouge. The $60 million project includes an additional lane in each direction on the heavily traveled route, which means three westbound and three eastbound lanes. Continue reading →

State Superintendent of Education John White on Monday renewed his criticism of East Baton Rouge Parish School District officials for moving students to bolster scores at troubled public schools. “We have to ask whether what they are doing is the right thing,” White said. “I would say it is not the right thing.” Bernard Taylor, superintendent … Continue reading →

GONZALES — Three people remain hospitalized in Baton Rouge from two industrial accidents in Ascension Parish last week that killed three and injured 108, hospital officials confirmed Monday. Two men remained Monday in hospitals after the Williams Olefins explosion 8:37 a.m. Thursday near the Geismar plant’s propylene fractionation unit. One was in fair … Continue reading →

Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law a bill that outlined the mechanics of creating the breakaway Southeast Baton Rouge Community school system. The statutory change, Senate Bill 199 sponsored by state Sen. Bodi White, R-Central, won legislative approval. But a constitutional amendment that is required to make the district a reality failed to gain the two-thirds … Continue reading →

While tempting, legislators should stop patting themselves on the back for showing independence and bipartisanship during the just-ended 2013 legislation session, Louisiana House Speaker Pro Tem Walt Leger III said Monday. “While there was a lot of fanfare for how special it was, we really came together just to get by,” Leger said, adding that lawmakers … Continue reading →

Gov. Bobby Jindal launched a statewide tour that will take him to all 64 parishes, his press office announced Monday. His first stop is in Alexandria at Central Louisiana Technical Community College, where he will sign legislation to provide funding for projects at community and technical colleges across the state, according to his press office’s announcement. Continue reading →

The Shaw Group Inc., of Baton Rouge, has taken a dispute with its founder and former chairman, J.M. “Jim” Bernhard Jr., into federal court in an effort to block Bernhard’s use of the Shaw name in two new venture capital businesses. Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. N.V. agreed to purchase The Shaw Group Inc. … Continue reading →

The city-parish Planning Commission on Monday approved a rezoning request for a tailor shop on Perkins Road that involved an issue that’s become increasingly common for developers and residents along the busy corridor between Essen and Siegen lanes. Two lots on the east side of Perkins just south of Madeira Drive were rezoned from … Continue reading →

By unanimous acclamation, transportation engineer James Setze was selected Monday to head the Capital Region Planning Commission. Setze, of Baton Rouge, will take over the executive director’s role left vacant by Huey Dugas’ abrupt resignation earlier this year. R.J. Goebel, Dugas’ former deputy, served as interim director after Dugas’ departure. Riley Berthelot, West … Continue reading →

The Louisiana Legislature directed the state’s health agency to seek permission to go outside federal rules to provide more financial stability in Louisiana’s health insurance program for the poor. Legislators voiced worry about potential changes in the federal government’s funding under the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, particularly for states like Louisiana that rejected … Continue reading →

The Research Park Corp. board of directors is set to vote next month on selling off its interest in the Bon Carre Business Center development on Florida Boulevard. Tax-funded Research Park Corp. acquired the financially ailing former mall development in 2003 — selling a $6 million stake in the property to six local investors, while holding onto … Continue reading →

The new owner of the Richoux’s building downtown has signed a deal with Raising Cane’s to bring one of the local chicken finger chain’s restaurants to Third Street. Raising Cane’s will locate on the roughly 3,000-square-foot first floor of the building, hopefully by early spring 2014, said Michael Crouch, who bought the building in April for $1.2 … Continue reading →

Local youth will soon see Baton Rouge police officers in a different kind of uniform under a program aimed at curbing juvenile delinquency. Seeking to boost relations between the Police Department and the community it serves, city-parish officials are resurrecting the city’s Police Athletic League. The newest incarnation of the league will … Continue reading →

A Baton Rouge man who police say admitted to being “very drunk” was arrested Sunday after he ran off the road and hit a vehicle, person, tree and two houses. Baton Rouge police booked Anthony Asmore, 30, 5445 Breckenridge Ave., Baton Rouge, into Parish Prison … Continue reading →

PONCHATOULA — Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputies and Louisiana Workforce LLC searched Monday for an offender who walked away from his work release job Monday morning. Tederick Bessie, 30, of Baton Rouge, walked away from Elmer’s Chocolate Factory in Ponchatoula at about 6 a.m., Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lori Steele said. Bessie is 5 feet, 11 … Continue reading →

A former septic system inspector for the Onsite Wastewater Program of the state’s Center for Environmental Services admitted Monday in Baton Rouge federal court that he accepted approximately $50,000 in bribes from a septic tank contractor. Alan Forrest Pogue, 52, of Covington, pleaded guilty to a charge that he used a telephone in the … Continue reading →

The former owner of the now-defunct House of Blues Club on Airline Highway was sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday for raping an intoxicated 18-year-old woman in a private room at the Baton Rouge club in 2009. State District Judge Mike Erwin, who convicted Leonard Ray Douglas of simple rape in August, imposed the maximum … Continue reading →

DENHAM SPRINGS — Eden Church Road will continue to flood despite $2.2 million in recent road work unless Livingston Parish spends considerably more on drainage improvements or raising the road’s elevation, an engineer said. The heavily traveled, 1.3-mile stretch between U.S. 190 and Lockhart Road east of Denham Springs underwent a redesign in 2012 to … Continue reading →

WALKER — Police are seeking information about an apparent motorcycle accident after a Denham Springs man was found dead near his overturned bike along an Interstate 12 entrance ramp early Sunday. Officers responded to a 911 call regarding a possible crash at the Walker westbound ramp around 3 a.m. Sunday and found … Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE — A teenager was killed and another injured after their four-wheeler was struck by a truck on La. 757 in Evangeline Parish early Sunday, State Police said. Matthew Neal, a 15-year-old from Basile, died at a hospital before 1 p.m. Sunday, State Police Troop I said in a news release. Neither … Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE — A 3-year-old boy who wandered outside his grandparent’s home Saturday night fell into a swimming pool and drowned, the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office said. Efforts to revive Cullen Guilbeaux were unsuccessful after the boy was pulled from the pool shortly before 9 p.m. Sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Kip Judice said deputies arrived at … Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE — Two years ago, the Lafayette Parish school system’s effort to win voter support for facilities improvements failed because the district lacked a “champion” to fight for it, two consultants who developed the plan said Monday. The $900,000 facilities master plan included a school-by-school snapshot of facility improvement needs and … Continue reading →

Dorothy “Miss Dot” Domilise didn’t run her po-boy shop the way a business professor might have counseled. Her grandson Kenneth Domilise Jr. would know, having lived with her while he went to business school at Tulane, coming home every evening to wind down with a drink and some raw oysters before retiring upstairs to the second-floor apartment. … Continue reading →

GONZALES — Ascension Parish officials on Monday began answering questions and soliciting public comments about a proposed sewer system that would serve residents on the parish’s east bank of the Mississippi River. Officials spent nearly an hour Monday night fielding questions from about 20 residents who earlier toured information stations and watched … Continue reading →

Even in the wacky world of sports talk radio, some jokes just aren’t funny. Three former employees of an Atlanta station were suspended Monday then fired hours later for poking fun earlier in the day at former Saints special teams icon Steve Gleason, who uses a wheelchair as he battles for his life. Gleason, … Continue reading →

CHALMETTE – The crowd at a coastal restoration meeting Monday agreed something has to be done to reverse coastal land loss in Louisiana, but sharply disagreed with how the state’s plans to move forward with large river diversions. The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority held the public meeting in St. Bernard Parish to try … Continue reading →

ST. FRANCISVILLE — West Feliciana Parish police jurors mustered enough votes Monday to kill a move to call an Oct. 19 election on the question of repealing the parish’s home-rule charter. The item was added to the initial proposed agenda on Friday, which, under the jury’s rules, required a two-thirds vote to … Continue reading →

The owners of a Morgan City wastewater brokerage were charged Monday in Baton Rouge federal court for alleged participation in a conspiracy that illegally injected more than 380,000 gallons of industrial wastes down a well in Assumption Parish. An Addis man pleaded guilty May 29 in the same case. On Monday, Raymond Marcel … Continue reading →

Traffic will be funneled into a single lane on Interstate 10 between Veterans Memorial Boulevard and Clearview Parkway in Metairie on Tuesday night so crews can move barriers to the roadway’s outer lanes. The shift marks the final phase of a two-year widening project that state Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Sherri LeBas said will … Continue reading →

The 49-mile line of imposing floodwalls, massive levees, gates and pumping stations installed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the West Bank is now a continuous ring aimed at protecting the area from a hurricane’s storm surge. With the last sections of floodwall now installed, officials praised a system that shields the west banks … Continue reading →

New Orleans police are looking for two men in connection with the murder of a man last week in a Lower Garden District apartment. Ahmad Sheppard, 33, was shot in the head about 1 a.m. Friday inside of his neighbor’s apartment in the 2000 block … Continue reading →

Certain Crescent City Connection toll violators would get a break from paying fines under legislation signed into law Monday by Gov. Bobby Jindal. Voters in Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemine in May overwhelmingly rejected a 20-year renewal of the tolls on the bridge crossing the Mississippi River. It was a second vote on the issue, which initially passed … Continue reading →

Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Frank Marullo left his bench Monday afternoon, walked to another courtroom and raised his right hand. He swore to tell the truth, and took a seat on a witness stand to testify about his unwitting bit part in one of the city’s most notorious murders. The judge’s signature – or … Continue reading →

A federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Dixie Brewing Co. in an effort to stop any demolition of the Tulane Avenue edifice that for nearly a century was home to the local beer maker and now is part of the new VA hospital under construction in Mid-City. The VA plans to demolish some … Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE — DNA analysis of human fluids from 3-year-old Julian Madera’s body strongly suggests a 21-year-old man charged with his murder also had sexual contact with him, according to evidence prosecutors have filed in court. The report by Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory stated, “it can be concluded that to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty Landon Broussard is … Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE — Festering litigation between Lafayette and Broussard over annexations along Ambassador Caffery in southern Lafayette Parish has been tentatively settled, an attorney in the case said. The settlement, if finalized, calls on Lafayette to void its annexation of one tract and for Broussard to agree to restrictions on future annexations along … Continue reading →

Three boys and an instructor were burned Monday morning when fire broke out during a chemistry experiment at a science camp for 8- to 10-year-olds at St. Scholastica Academy, Covington Fire Chief Richard Badon said. The Fire Department received a call for a medical emergency at the school at about 10:25 a.m., Badon said. Three campers … Continue reading →

CREATIVE WRITING: 10 a.m., Baker Branch Library, 3501 Groom Road. Children are invited to write poetry or short fiction and make a booklet of their own writing. Registration is required by calling (225) 778-5960. ARTY ON!: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., lower level near Macy’s, Mall of Louisiana, 6401 Bluebonnet Blvd. Baton Rouge … Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE Earl “Nickey” Picard was on his way to work Thursday morning when the lines popped into his head. “Me and God, we talk every day. “We pause a while, take time to pray.” Lafayette’s city marshal pulled off … Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE — Registration for summer openings begins Tuesday for the United Way of Acadiana’s Early Head Start Early Learning centers in Vermilion Parish and Lafayette. The centers provide free early childhood education programs for qualifying families with infants and toddlers up to 3 years old. The program also offers prenatal services to pregnant … Continue reading →

The boxes that fill the hallways and classrooms at Audubon Charter School will now be unpacked as leadership has learned the planned move to the McDonogh 7 building is on hold, due to unforeseen costs and extended timelines for repairs. Orleans Parish School District Deputy Superintendent Kathy Padian explained at a meeting of Audubon’s governing board last week that … Continue reading →

OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Federal agents revived the hunt for the remains of Jimmy Hoffa on Monday, bringing excavation equipment to a field in suburban Detroit where a reputed Mafia captain says the Teamsters boss’ body was buried. Robert Foley, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit division, said the agency and its partners had … Continue reading →

For the first time in seven years, most U.S. homebuilders are optimistic about home sales, a sign that construction could help drive stronger economic growth in coming months. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index leaped to 52 this month from 44 in May. A reading above 50 indicates more builders view sales … Continue reading →

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that deals between pharmaceutical corporations and their generic drug competitors, which government officials say keep cheaper forms of medicine off the market, can be sometimes be illegal and therefore challenged by federal officials in court. The justices voted 5-3 to allow the government to inspect and challenge what it … Continue reading →