UPI Louisiana First News Briefs
UPI
UPI Louisiana First News Briefs
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(BATON ROUGE) - In an effort to speed up the land casino contract
decision issue, the state Attorney general's office has been joined by
pro-gambling lawmakers and the casino developers in a new initiative.
They want to bypass all lower courts and go straight to the State
Supreme Court to determine whether it was constitutional for the Gaming
Control Board to approve the Harrah's Jazz contract. Lawsuits filed in
district courts challenging the authority of the gaming board would
eventually make their way via appeals to the Supreme Court anyway.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - State Attorney General Richard Ieyoub says he thinks
the state will begin to receive money from the national tobacco
settlement by this summer. Ieyoub says he expects final approval to soon
after Congress takes action to allow payments to start flowing to the
states. For Louisiana, the state stands to get as much as $100-million a
year and almost $4-billion over the next 25 years.
-0-
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Democratic U.S. Senator John Breaux has co-
sponsored legislation to protect and expand health care research and
prevention programs for woman. Amendments by Breaux would change the
Public Service Act to revise and expand women's health programs at the
National Institute of Health in Washington and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - There's more bad news for the owners of a Baton Rouge
bar where an LSU fraternity pledge was drinking before his death last
year. At a hearing before the state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco
Control, Murphy's Bar was cited by the board for serving alcohol to
people who were already drunk and for serving alcohol to minors at a
party last August. Fraternity pledge Benjamin Wynne of Mandeville died
later that evening of alcohol poisoning. Thursday, in a brief hearing,
the owners were fined $5,000 and the bar had its liquor license revoked.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - In action controversial to public teachers, a
legislative committee has approved a measure adding an additional half-
hour to each day's class time. Governor Foster's bill would increase the
minimum teaching time from 5-1/2 hours a day to six hours. The measure
still faces action before the full House and Senate during the current
special session, but it won't take effect unless the Legislature
approves a teacher pay hike during the regular session. That session
comes late next month.
-0-
(MINDEN) - The car of a New York man arrested on a Louisiana highway
has yielded approximately $200,000 in cocaine hidden under the vehicle's
bumper. Officers stopped and searched a weaving car on Interstate-20
near Minden and arrested 42-two-year-old Rafael Sanchez. The seizure
netted 12 pounds of cocaine found by members of a State Police task force
that targets drunk drivers, drug traffickers and other suspicious
activities.
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard says the body of
the Reverend Ramon Martinez had so many stab wounds he couldn't count
all of them. Reverend Martinez's body was found Wednesday in the French
Quarter Holiday Inn by a hotel housekeeper. Police say the death of the
37-year-old priest does not appear to be a random act of violence and
whoever killed him probably knew him because there was no sign of forced
entry.
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(BATON ROUGE) - A proposal to lower the legal limit when a person is
considered to be drunk has been rejected by a state Senate committee.
The measure by Baton Rouge Senator Jay Dardenne, which was backed by
Governor Mike Foster, would have lowered the blood-alcohol level for
intoxication from .10 percent to .08 percent-0-
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(BATON ROUGE) - The full state Senate will vote on a proposal that
would let delinquent taxpayers pay what they owe without penalties.
Secretary of Revenue John Kennedy says the measure will allow the state
to gain more tax revenue because people who owe on their taxes will be
more willing to make good on their debts and clear them up and the state
won't have to pay collection fees and legal costs.
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UPI Louisiana First News Briefs
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - A court hearing in Baton Rouge today is expected to
send the Harrah's land casino matter further up the judicial ladder. The
Louisiana 19th District Court will conduct a hearing on whether the
Gaming Control Board had the legal authority to adopt a new Harrah's
operating license without approval of the Legislature. A ruling to that
effect by the State Attorney General has resulted in two lawsuits
challenging the ruling by angry anti-gambling forces in the Legislature.
The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled last week the lawsuits must be combined
and take the standard course of trials and appeals.
-0-
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - If the results of a new survey are any
indication of future races, Republican House Appropriate Committee
Chairman Robert Livingston's quest for the House Speakership may be
sidetracked. Campaigns and Elections Magazine says its' survey shows
Texas Republican George W. Bush is well ahead of any other candidate with
over 30 percent of those polled favoring Bush as the next GOP nominee for
president. It has long been discussed that House Speaker Newt Gingrich
might seek the presidency clearing the way for Livingston to run for
speaker.
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - New Orleans attorney Arthur ``Buddy'' Lemann IV has
asked for a State Attorney General's opinion regarding permits requested
from environmental agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by
Tammany Holding Corporation. Lemann, representing Save Our Wet Lands,
says Tammany Holding has requested permits from the Army Corps of
Engineers, the Louisiana department of Environmental Quality, and the
Department of Natural Resources to develop approximately 1,000 acres of
property in eastern St. Tammany Parish. Environmentalists claim the land
was once submerged and is public property and originally part of Lake
Pontchartrain bottoms.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - A court hearing is set for this week for the daughter
of Baton Rouge Mayor Tom Ed McHugh. State Police investigators arrested
33- year-old Leslee K. Richards on three felony counts involving
prescription drugs. She was charged with possession of Xanax, Valium,
and Vicodin with intent to distribute. Richards is being held in the
parish jail on $500,000 bond.
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(BATON ROUGE ) - A Baton Rouge teenager on probation for vandalizing
a city golf club has earned himself a long prison sentence after
violating his probation. Authorities say that 19-year-old John Edwards
has been sentenced to 15-years in prison after admitting to a judge that
he burglarized homes to feed his drug habit. District judge Mike Erwin
ruled that he violated the conditions of his probation after Edwards and
two others admitted to destroying 74-Briarwood Country Club golf carts
last May valued at $250,000.
-0-
(SLIDELL) - St. Tammany Parish investigators have arrested two people
whom they say are among the principal drug dealers in the parish.
Arrested were 31-year-old Anthony Barnes and 22-year-old Leonard Wise,
both of Slidell. Two others also arrested in association with the
operation are 20- year-old Lachona Charles and 24-year-old Richard
Thomas, and authorities recovered about $10,000 in stolen property.
Officials said the group would use stolen merchandise to finance crack
cocaine distribution.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - The Louisiana Legislative Women's Caucus has elected
New Orleans Democratic Senator Paulette Irons as its chairman for 1998.
There are now 17 women in the Louisiana Legislature. The caucus will co-
host a one-day mini-conference for women May 11th at the Pennington
Biomedical Center at LSU.
UPI
UPI Louisiana First News Briefs
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - New Orleans Police Chief Richard Pennington will be
staying. He was due back in Washington, D.C., today for a second
interview for the chief's post there, but last night he announced he
would stay in New Orleans. Without ever being offer the job in
Washington and without asking for raise, Pennington is getting a new
four-year contract at $150,000 a year and an additional $50,000 a year
in his retirement package.
At a packed news conference last night, a smiling Mayor Marc Morial
listened as Pennington said, ``This was never about money. It was more
about where me and my family wanted to be, and New Orleans is clearly the
city in which I wanted to live and raise my family.''
-0-
(GRETNA) - A search that started yesterday resumes this morning in
Jefferson Parish where children may be in possession of live hand
grenades. Shannon Zeno is under arrest for armed robbery and has previous
felony convictions that could land him in prison for life with a new
conviction. Children reported they found a camp belonging to Zeno near a
Marrero park where officers discovered an AK-47, a rifle, knives, walkie-
talkies, hundreds of rounds of ammunition in clips, and other weapons.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - A decision following a Monday hearing on the Harrah's
Jazz casino contract must be issued by Friday according to the State
Supreme Court. The hearing in Baton Rouge court was on a lawsuit
challenging the contract for the Canal Street casino with Lafayette
Senator Max Jordan challenging an Attorney General's opinion giving the
state Gaming Control Board the authority to sign the deal without
legislative approval. The state Supreme Court is expected to make the
final decision after the district court and appeals court finishes with
the matter.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - The federal grand jury in Baton Rouge investigating
business activities in connection with former Governor Edwin Edwards has
turned its' attention to the liquidation of an insurance company. The
grand jury is looking into the failure of Artist National Insurance
Company and the sale of Tropical Plaza, a New Orleans shopping center
owned by the insurance company.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - A new settlement between the failed Cascade Insurance
Company and the state has been approved in a state court. The deal calls
for Cascade to pay Louisiana $1.5 million. The company agreed in 1996 to
pay just over $3 million for claims paid after the company went
bankrupt. Cascade has already paid the state $1.6 million.
-0-
(UNDATED) - Two fires in the state have left four people dead and two
hospitalized. In north Louisiana, authorities are searching for the
cause of a mobile home fire that left 36-year-old Charles Cathey dead
along with his eight-year-old and six-year-old daughters. In south
Louisiana at Raceland, a house fire claimed the life of six-year-old
Delany Strickland and left her 46-year-old grandmother and a second child
injured.
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(GRAMBLING) - A Louisiana college has a new head. Officials of the
Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana University System have named Steve
Favors as the next president of Grambling State University. Favors
replaces acting president Leonard Haynes who was also seeking the job.
Favors is currently serving as vice president of student affairs at
Howard University in Washington, D.C.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - The state House has met to discuss the amount of time
public teachers spend in the classroom on a daily basis. There is a
proposal on the table to increase class time by at least one-half hour to
six hours a day if public schools are to improve. Teacher's unions are
vigorously objecting, saying educators should be paid more money if
they're going to be required to spend more time in the classroom.
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - New Orleans Fairgrounds horse racetrack is enjoying a
busy season with fans rejuvenated by new multi-million dollar
grandstands opened to replace those destroyed by fire a few years ago.
Owner Bryan Krantz says the income for the city and state continuing on,
along with the horse racing tradition of the area proves the state was
right to issue bonds and special financing to make the restoration of the
historic Fairgrounds possible.
UPI
UPI Louisiana First News Briefs
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - Action has been taken to help solve a critical
teacher shortage in Louisiana. It will allow retired teachers to return
to work without penalizing their retirements. That was one of two
education bills easily passed the House yesterday in the special session
of the Legislature. Retired teachers will be able to return to the
classroom without having to suspend all of their retirement benefits
under new legislation approved unanimously by the House. Another measure
requires local school board members to have at least six hours of
training and instruction on the laws that govern schools in the state.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - In the special session of the Legislature, the Senate
Finance Committee has approved Governor Mike Foster's plans for a
community and technical college system. The proposal combines most two-
year colleges with the state's 43 trade schools to create a new junior
college system. The committee learned yesterday the plan will cost the
state just over $1 million annually to administer.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - A House committee has approved a bill that
would give the governor's office more control over state worker's health
insurance coverage. Governor Foster's plan is to have his own appointees
as a majority of the board of directors of the State Employees Group
Benefit plan. Under the compromise measure that's now approved, six of
the eleven voting board members will be elected from among participants
in the insurance program. The five other employees would be named by
governor if the bill becomes law. The full House will debate the measure
next.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - A religious freedom bill pushed by the Christian
Coalition in Louisiana has died in a House committee. The measure was
meant to give people more protection from government interference, but a
change to the bill was approved by the House Civil Law Committee that
would exempt state prisons from the measure. So with that amendment,
Natchitoches Representative Jimmy Long withdrew the bill from
consideration. Long asked the committee to study the issue for one year
and the panel agreed.
-0-
(HARVEY) - Department of Environmental Quality investigators today
return to the scene of where noxious fumes from Evans Industries of
Harvey sent 118 people for medical examinations by paramedics with seven
treated and released at area hospitals. The plant manufacturers and
reconditions steel drums and its' owners ordered it closed until it
isolates the source of the substance and installs new monitoring
equipment in its' furnaces. Plant official Ronnie Evans said the plant
will re-open after that work is completed.
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(NEW ORLEANS) - The trial of a self proclaimed witch is expected to
go to the jury today in New Orleans. Ila Womack Grey could go to a
Louisiana women's prison for the rest of her life without the possibility
of probation or parole if she is convicted of participating in the murder
of a man who was a houseguest at her New Orleans home. Grey's boyfriend,
Jessie Lee, still faces trial in the murder of Peter Weber, a man whose
body was buried beneath Grey's home until, prosecutors say, the smell got
so bad that Grey and Lee took the body and dumped it in St. Bernard
Parish. Grey has denied having anything to do with the murder of Weber.
Prosecutors have made no allegations that witchcraft had any part in the
murder of Weber.
-0-
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Washington D.C. officials continue to deal
with a big dilemma after New Orleans Police Chief Richard Pennington
withdrew his name from the running for the chief of the police chief of
the nation's capital. Pennington decided to accept a pay raise and
pension plan offered by New Orleans after being named as the front-runner
for the chief's job there. Washington Mayor Marion Barry refused any
comment on Pennington's decision, which political observers said may have
been influenced by the Washington bureaucracy. The police chief of
Washington must report not only to District of Columbia boards and
commissions, but to Congress as well who shares in funding authority over
the WPD.
UPI
UPI Louisiana First News Briefs
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - A funeral for a Louisiana priest will be held today
as New Orleans police continue the search for his killer. Investigators
say they have found new clues that may help them find the person
responsible for the murder of Father Ramon Martinez eight days ago.
Police Lt. Marlon Defillo says the suspect could have gray hair but, DNA
evidence indicates may have dyed it red. Defillo also says the killer
may have been seriously injured and may have gotten medical attention.
Father Martinez was found dead March 25th in a French Quarter hotel.
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - After months of silence on the issue, barge traffic
on the Mississippi River could come to a standstill soon if river pilots
strike. The head of a towboat pilots group says the pilots may vote to
strike next week unless company officials improve their wages, benefits,
and working conditions. Dickey Mathes, the leader of Pilots group,
``Agree,'' says their organization hopes to meet with towboat industry
leaders this Friday in Memphis to discuss the issues.
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - A Kenner police officer is among ten people who have
been charged with supplying drugs to all-night ``rave parties.'' Federal
prosecutors say police veteran Roland Vincifora allegedly worked with
drug distributors in Louisiana, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, and
Mississippi to supply methamphetamines to teenagers. Vincifora and the
others have been arrested and are charged with possession with intent to
distribute drugs.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - A former professional football player has once again
been charged with a crime in Baton Rouge. Police say they caught Ramsey
Dardar inside of a house that had been broken into earlier this week.
The 38-year-old former L-S-U and N-F-L player was free on bond in
connection with a November robbery. Dardar has been out of prison for
about one year after serving time for burglary.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - The Special Session of the Legislature continues in
Baton Rouge where the Senate is debating a bill by Senator Jay Dardenne
for the creation of a new statewide system for technical and community
colleges. Over in the House, a committee approved a measure that would
raise the age to play the lottery to 21. Representative Errol Romero of
New Iberia is against the measure and says it tramples on the rights of
those 18 and older. If the retailer is caught selling lottery tickets to
someone underage for the third time, the establishment would lose its
license.
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(METAIRIE) - There was fast work by an off-duty Jefferson Parish
Sheriff's deputy in the capture of three people in connection with a
double drug-related murder early yesterday. Authorities arrested three
men in the assault weapons attack on a home that left two dead and one
wounded after an AK-47 was used to spray the interior of a house with
bullets. Charged with murder and attempted murder are brothers Jarrell
Neal and Zannie Neal and Arthail Darby. Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry
Lee says deputy Derrick McGee was in the area at the time of the
shooting and is credited with capturing the suspected killers.
-0-
(WINNFIELD) - Two fugitives from Oklahoma are behind bars in the
Winnfield City Jail after State Police and Winnfield police officers
arrested the two in Winn Parish. Authorities say 29-year-old Charles
Taylor of Tulsa and 19-year-old Allison Clawson of Alaska are wanted in
Oklahoma on drug and gun violations. State Police say a Winnfield
officer allegedly found drugs in their car after he stopped them for
reckless driving. Officials say the car was stolen last month in
Arkansas. Both Taylor and Clawson are awaiting extradition to Oklahoma.
UPI
UPI Louisiana First News Briefs
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - One day after his funeral, New Orleans police
detectives get back to work on the case of who may have murdered a local
priest. Father Ramon Martinez, the 37-year-old pastor of St. Patrick
Church in Port Sulphur, was found stabbed dozens of times March 25th in a
French Quarter hotel room. Police now say boxes taken from his home at
the church contained pornographic homosexual material.
Yesterday, a standing-room-only crowd attended the funeral whose mass
was delivered by Archbishop Francis Schulte.
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - The New Orleans City Council has approved zoning
changes that will permit the next steps to be taken for a $76-million
theme park. Developer Tom Windinger said the zoning establishes a buffer
zone around the park to protect and separate it from its eastern New
Orleans neighbors. The action now allows the developers to go forward
with a request for $25-million in federal funding to begin construction.
If things go according to plan, work should begin this fall with a
completion and opening date in the year 2000.
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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Democratic Louisiana U.S. Senator John Breaux
has announced his support for a bill designed to allow 50,000 military
retirees to test to see whether they would be better off under the
Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. The legislation will authorize
two sites where 25,000 Medicare eligible retirees can sign on at each
location for three years for the federal health program. Breaux said the
plan is to find better ways of serving military retirees who are
confronted with base closings and military downsizing.
-0-
(NEW ORLEANS) - A former FBI agent has pleaded guilty in New Orleans
to accepting $6,000 in bribes from a cocaine dealer. In a plea bargain,
federal prosecutors dropped a charge accusing Daron Council of setting
up a drug deal so that he could confiscate and keep the cash belonging
to a the dealer. Council has been on administrative leave since his
arrest last November. The former New Orleans agent faces up to 16 months
in a federal prison and up to $500,000 in fines. His sentencing will be
July 8th.
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(BATON ROUGE) - A House committee has voted to lower the blood-
alcohol level for which a driver would be considered legally drunk to .
08. Cathy Childers is a spokeswoman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving
and says she believes this bill will save lives. Opponents include New
Orleans Representative Arthur Morrell who voted against the bill. He says
it will hurt the social drinker who does not drink too much. The bill
still requires action in the full House and in the Senate.
-0-
(BATON ROUGE) - In the Special Session of the Legislature, a House
committee approved legislation and voted to raise the legal age to play
video poker to 21 in Louisiana. The measure calls for fines or license
revocation of establishments which allow underage people to play their
video poker machines. Young people who violate the law could be fined and
even jailed. The bill is similar to legislation that has already passed
in the Senate, but still faces action before the full House.
-0-
(LaPLACE)- Extradition proceedings are expected to begin today for a
former Miss Arkansas USA arrested Tuesday at a hotel in LaPlace for the
March 2nd kidnaping of her 6-year-old son. Authorities say 30-year-old
Melissa Ross is being held without bond as a fugitive from Arkansas
after she abducted Saxon Ross to avoid losing custody of him. The child
was taken from school one day before a scheduled hearing on his custody.
St. John the Baptist Parish authorities say the woman's former husband,
Richard, has now picked up his son.
-0-
(UNDATED) - Authorities in North Carolina are searching for a
fugitive who's also wanted in Louisiana. Police say Glen Dale Horner had
served time for an Indiana rape and was doing more time for burglary
when he apparently was set free because of a clerical error. Horner is
also wanted in connection with assaults on a Texas couple and a
Louisiana law enforcement officer.