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Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer is leaving the Republican Party and going independent in his bid to become the next president. Barely registering in presidential polling and unable to get invited to major debates, Roemer said Wednesday in an announcement that he will seek the nomination of a third-party ticket in order to get on the ballots. Continue reading →
A Baton Rouge man accused of raping a woman Feb. 16 has been arrested, according to an arrest warrant. Roderick Lee Edwards II, 22, 6735 Winborne Ave., was booked Tuesday with aggravated rape by Baton Rouge Police, parish jail records show. According to the warrant, Edwards attacked the woman at her home and she resisted by … Continue reading →
NEW ROADS — Christine Hebert gave up her several-years-long boycott of Mardi Gras on Tuesday. Hebert, of Gonzales, was with relatives attending the dual Mardi Gras parades in New Roads, a first for her party of four. In years past, Hebert said she enjoyed making the trip to New Orleans … Continue reading →
About 200 people filled the pews at Woodlawn Baptist Church on the night of Mardi Gras to learn more about a new proposed school district that would be the fourth one carved out of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. State Sen. Bodi White, R-Central, confessed he was not sure of the support for a new … Continue reading →
For the second year in a row, the Jindal administration is proposing the elimination of funding for a program that educates public school systems’ worst behavior problems. The $4.3 million funding cut to what are known as day-treatment programs. Continue reading →
A proposal for consideration in the upcoming legislative session is sparking concerns among district attorneys. State Sen. Ed Murray, D-New Orleans, wants to allow jurors in criminal trials to use notebooks and pens and take notes. The materials would allow them to jot down testimony and make notes on legal arguments during murder trials and other … Continue reading →
The receiver for the Stanford companies has sued Adams & Reese LLP and Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson LLP for $1.8 billion, alleging that the New Orleans and Baton Rouge law firms helped R. Allen Stanford misappropriate the money. The lawsuit claims the loss was caused by the wrongful conduct of the law firms … Continue reading →
ST. AMANT - Two children died early Wednesday after being rescued late Tuesday from a submerged car in Black Bayou off Springer Bridge Road, Louisiana State Police said. The children, seven-year-old Faith Encalade and 9-year-old Patience Encalade, were with Raelyn Encalade, 28, of St. Amant and two other children in the 2003 Mercury Sable that went off the Ascension Parish road … Continue reading →
Former St. Gabriel Mayor George Grace Sr. disputed allegations Tuesday by a Houston businessman that he pressured the man for a percentage of his profits from a municipal contract. That’s an outrageous lie,” Grace said during his trial on federal racketeering, bribery, fraud and extortion charges in Baton Rouge. The former … Continue reading →
NEW ROADS — A New Roads man who fell from a Mardi Gras float was killed Tuesday when the float and a pickup truck ran over him on La. 10 near La. 420, a State Police spokesman said. James Lee, 58, was standing on the tongue of the Albert Family and Friends float, being pulled … Continue reading →
East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council members filed their campaign finance disclosure forms with the state Ethics Board last week and the documents showed a disparity in fundraising and spending among the 10 who filed on time. With the exception of term-limited Councilman Mike Walker, who is running for mayor-president, Joel Boé led the pack with … Continue reading →
LAFAYETTE — New Superintendent Pat Cooper said he’ll present the district’s goals, proposed by system employees and community members, to the School Board by April 1. Over the next few weeks, teams that Cooper described as “task forces” will analyze three areas of district operations: academics, health and wellness and facilities. … Continue reading →
LAFAYETTE — The first stretch of a biking and hiking trail that could eventually go from downtown Lafayette into St. Martin Parish is scheduled to open Saturday. The Atakapa-Ishak Trail, named after Native Americans who lived along the Vermilion River, has been in the planning stages for several years. The first phase is … Continue reading →
Lafayette revelers put in a full day of work for beads and other bounty thrown from riders during the city’s Mardi Gras parades. The King’s Parade featuring King Gabriel LXXIII Thomas Reginald Hightower Jr. led the trio of parades followed by floats from the Lafayette Mardi Gras Festival Parade and the KADN/KLAF Independent Parade. The … Continue reading →
GONZALES — Investigators have not positively identified a safe found in Livingston Parish as the one stolen from an Ascension Parish couple during a Saturday attack in which a woman’s husband and son were killed and she was wounded, authorities said Tuesday. Shirley Marchand is “still fighting for her life” at a hospital under police … Continue reading →
LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center has the best bar exam passage rates in the nation when compared to the LSAT scores of incoming law school students, according to a national report. The new study by The National Jurist magazine on the “Best Schools for Bar Exam Preparation” examines bar passage rates compared to the academic quality … Continue reading →
The number of uninsured children in Louisiana continued to decline while the number of adults without insurance rose over the past two years, according to a new LSU report released Tuesday. The 2011 Louisiana Health Insurance Survey found 16,190 fewer uninsured children than in 2009 — bringing the percentage of uninsured children down to 3.5 … Continue reading →
Arthur J. Riopelle, a former Boyd professor of psychology and professor emeritus at LSU, died Feb. 11 at his daughter’s home in Houston, university officials said Monday. He was 91. Riopelle joined the LSU faculty in 1972 and became a Boyd professor, LSU’s highest teaching honor for faculty members, in 1977, a university release … Continue reading →
A woman was arrested Sunday for allegedly setting a North 31st Street home on fire earlier this month after warning the person living there that the music she played in her vehicle was too loud, an affidavit of probable cause says. Julia Grayer, 36, and … Continue reading →
3 arrested in fight over float's banner LAFAYETTE - Three people were cited for disturbing the peace Tuesday following a woman's attempt to remove a banner from a parade float prior to the KADN/KLAF Independent Parade, according to a police news release. Lafayette police spokesman Cpl. Paul Mouton, in the news release, reported that Erin M. Fitzgerald, 41, approached the float parked … Continue reading →
Municipal posts are on the ballot March 24 in three East Feliciana Parish municipalities. Early voting will be March 10-17 at the Registrar of Voters Office, 11048 Bank St., Clinton. Voters will elect mayors in Slaughter and Norwood, while Jackson Mayor Charles Coleman, a former police juror, won his fifth term in office when he qualified … Continue reading →
Wednesday is the deadline to register to vote for the March 24 election. On the ballot in East Baton Rouge Parish are the presidential preference primary, Baker municipal elections, Baker school system property tax, and a number of races for Republican and Democrat state central committee seats and parish executive committee seats. Office hours … Continue reading →
When The Dunham School decided to get a laptop computer for almost every one of its more than 800 students in 2009, Ann Finkenaur knew she had some learning of her own to do. "I didn't even know how to get my email working," Finkenaur recalled. But as she went through training for the laptop rollout that summer, the veteran high school … Continue reading →
NEW YORK — It came and went in a flash each time, a number on a board for mere seconds, but its symbolic power couldn’t be dismissed. The Dow Jones industrial average, powered higher all year by optimism that the economic recovery is finally for real, crossed 13,000 on Tuesday for the first time since … Continue reading →
NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s business offers valuable insight into how Americans are reacting in the slow economic recovery: they will spend, but only if they believe they’re getting the lowest prices. The world’s largest retailer guaranteed holiday shoppers that they’d get the lowest prices on merchandise. As a result, bargain-hungry shoppers flocked … Continue reading →
DETROIT — Federal safety regulators are investigating a problem with side air bags that may fail to inflate in a crash. The problem has caused recalls of more than 2,700 Toyota, Honda, Subaru and Nissan vehicles, but that number could grow if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determines more automakers used similar defective parts. Continue reading →
WASHINGTON — The government regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has submitted a plan to Congress that would shrink the mortgage giants’ role in the housing market. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposal for a leaner Fannie and Freddie was released Tuesday and would mean fewer mortgages are backed by the government. That … Continue reading →
TORONTO — Research In Motion released a free upgraded operating system for its struggling PlayBook computer tablet Tuesday, almost a year later than it first said it would. The BlackBerry maker said the software allows for built-in email, calendar and contacts on the tablet. When RIM launched the PlayBook in April, it said … Continue reading →