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LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School System holds its commencement ceremonies Saturday at the Cajundome. Ceremonies are scheduled: 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. — Acadiana High 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — Carencro High 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. — Comeaux High 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. … Continue reading →
Former Denham Springs resident Roderick Dewitt Aguillard III was sentenced Wednesday in Baton Rouge to eight months in federal prison after admitting that he did not file income tax returns on $2.3 million he earned over a four-year-period. Failure to file a federal income tax return is a misdemeanor crime that is punishable by … Continue reading →
ZACHARY — Zachary High School held commencement exercises for its class of 2013 on Tuesday, May 21, at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baker. Valedictorians: Allison Rachel Burton, Brandon Reed Deshotels, Morgan Elizabeth Hurst, Destiny Janaé Johnson, Trey Michael Leiva, Thomas Joseph Manuel, Nicholas Ryan Maxey, Moriah … Continue reading →
GONZALES — Ascension Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested a man on Wednesday accused of beating one of his dogs to death and dumping the animal’s taped-up body in an open field, the Sheriff’s Office reported. Jacob Blackwell, 25, 40341 Black Bayou Extension Road, Gonzales, was booked into Ascension Parish Prison on two counts of cruelty to … Continue reading →
LAFAYETTE — Prayers for good weather and protection during the upcoming hurricane season will be offered next week during services led by the Diocese of Lafayette. Services are prayer or scripture services unless noted: Central region: 6 p.m. Tuesday at Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist … Continue reading →
Legislation to abolish two juvenile court judgeships in Orleans Parish advanced from the Louisiana House Wednesday. The House voted 71-17 in favor of House Bill 607 despite complaints by one New Orleans legislator that the proposal is premature. HB607’s sponsor, state Rep. Helena Moreno, said the number of juvenile court judges would shrink from six to … Continue reading →
A bid to ban smoking within 25 feet of the entrances to state-owned office buildings, as a way to lessen exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke, continued to advance Wednesday in the Louisiana Legislature. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee backed House Bill 111 without objection, sending it to the full state Senate for debate. The House already … Continue reading →
BREC: 5 p.m., BREC Administrative Building, 6201 Florida Blvd. DIG INTO READING SCAVENGER HUNT: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., 12910 Old Hammond Highway. Children, ages 7-11, are invited to a scavenger hunt and to make bookmarks. (225) 924-9385. PEANUT BUTTER CUP MINI GOLF TOURNAMENT: 6 p.m., Celebration … Continue reading →
LAFAYETTE — Former Vice President Dick Cheney told 1,500 Acadian Ambulance employees and guests at the 2013 Paramedic of the Year Luncheon on Wednesday that it was fitting he was speaker for an event featuring medical first responders. Cheney, 72, has had six heart attacks. The first in 1979, when he was 37; the … Continue reading →
St. Amant man was arrested this week after allegedly dealing prescription pills out of a church parking lot. Narcotics detectives with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office started looking into anonymous tips that drugs were being sold at a church near the Lake Martin area of St. Amant on May 16, Maj. Kevin Hanna said in a news … Continue reading →
ST. FRANCISVILLE — West Feliciana Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested a Louisiana State Penitentiary security officer accused of trying to get narcotics through an Angola inmate, a spokesman for Sheriff J. Austin Daniel said Wednesday. Justin Darrel Nettles, 26, 160 Cedars Lane, Crosby, Miss., met a man he thought was a relative of the inmate, but … Continue reading →
LAFAYETTE — Visitor parking at Lafayette General Medical Center will move to the hospital’s parking garage on Coolidge Street effective June 1, hospital officials said, and vehicles will only be allowed to access the emergency department from Hospital Drive. The changes take effect for construction of six-level, 343-space parking garage adjacent to the emergency … Continue reading →
Promotion rates for fourth- and eighth-graders on a test required for promotion are essentially unchanged this year compared to 2012, figures released by the state Department of Education showed Wednesday. However, overall improvements among students in grades 3-8 rose slightly, which means that 5,000 fewer students are performing below grade level, state Superintendent of Education John White … Continue reading →
A plan to set up a new school district in southeast Baton Rouge moved within one step of a Louisiana House showdown Wednesday. The proposal, Senate Bill 199, passed the House Appropriations Committee 14-7. It now moves to the full House. A companion proposal, Senate Bill 73, is a ballot measure awaiting review of its … Continue reading →
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday rejected a Republican bid to turn the federal food stamp program over to the states. The current program, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is administered by the Agriculture Department and federal dollars are unlimited as long as recipients qualify. The program cost $78 billion last year, … Continue reading →
NEW ORLEANS — Not retirement, not a recent heart transplant, not even a trip to the Big Easy could persuade former Vice President Dick Cheney to lighten up for an evening. Continue reading →
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana’s top education officials released relatively upbeat standardized test results for public elementary and middle schools across the New Orleans metro area on Wednesday, but added a strong note of warning about test questions aligned with new federal standards and took the first steps toward dropping underperforming private schools from the state’s voucher program. Continue reading →
Six television stations in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, including the local Fox and NBC affiliates, are slated to get new ownership later this year. Mission Broadcasting and Nexstar Broadcasting have reached a $270 million deal to buy 19 television stations from Communications Corporation of America and White Knight Broadcasting. The deal includes WVLA, the Baton Rouge NBC … Continue reading →
After warnings from the Jindal administration about creating a budget hole, legislators rejected a proposal Wednesday to forgive millions of dollars in loans that state government made to municipalities after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Andy Kopplin, chief administrative officer for the city of New Orleans, said the loans were made with the understanding that the state would … Continue reading →
An apparent lightning strike set fire to a two-story house in Bayou Corne early Wednesday that had been evacuated due to the Assumption Parish sinkhole, parish officials said. John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the strike was visible from the sinkhole command post, which is across from the … Continue reading →
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu filed legislation Tuesday to delay flood insurance hikes for many residents and businesses in southern Louisiana and nationwide that coastal parish officials fear could begin skyrocketing at the end of the year. The National Flood Insurance Program reauthorization was approved last year in an omnibus bill. Landrieu, D-La., had … Continue reading →
New Orleans - Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Frank Marullo got home from dinner Tuesday night, parked his car in front of his Birch Street house and got out to find five men waiting. “They were right on top of me,” the 73-year-old judge said. The men told Marullo to “give it … Continue reading →
MOORE, Okla. (AP) -- The cost of a massive tornado that battered an Oklahoma City suburb could be more than $2 billion, according to a preliminary estimate announced Wednesday by the Oklahoma Insurance Department. Spokeswoman Calley Herth told The Associated Press that the early tally is based on visual assessments of the extensive damage … Continue reading →
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chairman Ben Bernanke is telling Congress Wednesday that the U.S. job market remains weak and that it is too soon for the Federal Reserve to end its extraordinary stimulus programs. In testimony to the Joint Economic Committee, Bernanke noted that the economy is growing moderately this year and unemployment has fallen to a four-year … Continue reading →
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes ticked up last month to the highest level in three and a half years, helped by a jump in the number of houses for sale. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million, up from 4.94 million … Continue reading →
It’s going to be another busy Memorial Day weekend on the nation’s highways. From Thursday through Monday, 31.2 million Americans will drive 50 miles or more to a beach, campground or other getaway, according to car lobbying group AAA. That’s a small increase from last year but still well short of the record 37.3 million people who … Continue reading →
The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for Lafourche and Terrebone parishes in south Louisiana, according to the agency's website.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A man being questioned by authorities in the Boston bombing probe was fatally shot when he initiated a violent confrontation, FBI officials said Wednesday. The shooting early Wednesday took place in Orlando, Fla., where an FBI agent along with other law enforcement personnel were interviewing the man, identified as 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev. Continue reading →
With barely two weeks left in the session, legislative committees will debate four key public school bills at the State Capitol. Senate Bill 199, which is part of a package to set up a new school district in southeast Baton Rouge, will be reviewed for cost considerations in the House Appropriations Committee during a 10 a.m. hearing. Continue reading →
Louisiana’s worldwide exports jumped to a record $16.5 billion in the first quarter, up 15.6 percent over the same period in 2012, according to figures released by the World Trade Center in New Orleans. The increase in exports — those produced in the state and passing through the state — pushed Louisiana to the No. 5 … Continue reading →
UPDATED at 11 a.m. A pickup traveling west on Thomas Road in north Baton Rouge Wednesday morning crashed into a train that was stopped on the tracks. The driver of the 1994 Chevy truck, 52-year-old Eric Alexander, told deputies it was dark and he never saw the train, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office Deputy Lawrence … Continue reading →
An effort to bar enforcement of federal laws banning or restricting semiautomatic firearms in Louisiana stalled Tuesday. With state senators challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 5, state Sen. Rick Ward opted to delay a vote on the House-passed measure. “There are a few things I have been made aware of to try to make this … Continue reading →
Coverage of the 2013 Regular Session of the La. Legislature. For previous coverage of this session go to http://theadvocate.com/news/politics . The website for the Legislature is at http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/home.aspx . Live coverage of the session is provided by LPB each day from 2-6 p.m. Continue reading →
It’s an ironclad aphorism authorities have repeated for years: Seat belts save lives. The act of buckling up, studies have shown, remains the most effective means of preventing injury and death in an automobile crash. Yet law enforcement officials are frequently reminded of the tragic consequences of noncompliance, like a rollover crash … Continue reading →
Updated at 9 p.m. – MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children. Scientists concluded the storm was a rare and extraordinarily powerful type … Continue reading →
A huge tornado similar to the one that devastated Moore, Okla., on Monday could happen in Louisiana and residents should be prepared for it and other disasters, especially with the Atlantic hurricane season fast approaching, city-parish officials said Tuesday. Between 1991 and 2010, Louisiana had an average of 37 tornadoes reported each year, according to … Continue reading →
LSU is not one of the nation’s elite institutions, nor is it on the cusp of reaching that status, members of the university’s Transition Advisory Team agreed Tuesday. The group, led by consultant Christel Slaughter, is in charge of recommending how the LSU System’s separate institutions will be consolidated under the main campus in Baton Rouge. Continue reading →
OAK GROVE - Residents in the north Ascension community of Oak Grove will have a new-look gathering place for parties and other events by the end of the year. The Ascension Parish Council last week awarded a $342,225 contract to Capitol Construction LLC to renovate and expand the Oak Grove Community Center, located at La. 42 and La. 73 near the … Continue reading →
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu on Tuesday led a congressional hearing on “Assistance for Children in Adversity” as the federal government continues implementing its first-ever “action plan” to assist struggling children worldwide. The federal “Action Plan on Children in Adversity” launched in December with the support of several federal agencies, the Peace Corps and … Continue reading →
WASHINGTON — Louisiana rice and sugar farmers fare better in the Senate and House farm bills that are currently under or nearing floor debate, according to state and congressional delegation officials. The nearly $1 trillion Senate farm bill that is being debated this week keeps the federal sugar program … Continue reading →
DENHAM SPRINGS — Changes in the National Flood Insurance Program threaten a major reduction in property values for many Denham Springs residents who live in flood zones, the city’s building official said Tuesday. When homes located in flood zones are sold, the new owners may have to pay thousands of dollars more a year in … Continue reading →
State regulators Tuesday approved a settlement that would lower Entergy’s profit margin, pay a refund and roll back rates for about 92,000 natural gas customers in Baton Rouge. Under the terms of the settlement, the rate paid for natural gas each month will drop about 2.5 percent, testified Matthew Kahal, of Columbia, Md., the regulatory economist hired … Continue reading →
The chairman of the Louisiana Public Service Commission on Tuesday acknowledged that he cut off testimony prior to a vote that rolled back a program that included incentives for consumers to improve their homes and buy energy-efficient appliances. Three nonprofit groups have sued the state regulators, claiming that PSC Chairman Eric Skrmetta, of Metairie, had improperly refused … Continue reading →
Ten people have applied for the temporary position to lead the Capital Area Transit System, including former CATS employees, a 2012 Baton Rouge mayoral candidate and the former general manager of the New Orleans bus system. Brian Marshall, the embattled CEO hired in 2009, resigned in April from the agency, which provides bus services in … Continue reading →
LUTCHER — St. James Parish residents Tuesday voiced their concerns over U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans that aim to reduce storm surge risk from area lakes. During a neighborhood focus meeting held by the corps’ New Orleans District at the Knights of Columbus Hall, officials outlined the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane and Storm … Continue reading →