Baton Rouge Temperature: 92°
Thursday, August 7, 2008

NEWS

 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Louisiana Senate has until August 18 to turn over copies of calendars stored on the computer of a lawmaker awaiting trial in a money laundering case.

Baton Rouge fire investigators are asking East Baton Rouge Parish residents for help in solving a rash of arsons that began two months ago and appears to be continuing. “We are doing everything we can, but we need help,” said Howard Ward, a Baton Rouge Fire Department spokesman. “It’s time to get these criminals off the streets.”

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's jobs market sent a fresh cry of distress as the number of newly laid off people unexpectedly hit the highest level in more than six years, a Labor Department report showed Thursday.

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Two Iraqi officials say the U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later.

Thursday was the last morning for students in Ascension Parish to sleep in, as Friday marks the first day of school.

The Manship Theatre is gearing up for a new season of spectacular performances. Janie Oldfield joined us with a preview of this season's hottest acts.

If you like ribs, we have the event for you. This weekend you can head enter a rib-eating contest and help raise money for the Battered Women's Shelter. Javonne Miller joined us with more on 2une In.

HAMMOND — Members of the Humane Society of Louisiana announced at a press conference today that they are launching an investigation into the Tangipahoa Parish Animal Shelter’s decision to euthanize 170 dogs and cats on Monday.

URUMQI, China (AP) -- A U.S. group that monitors extremist Web sites says that a Chinese Islamic group has posted a new video that shows a burning Olympics logo and an explosion over a venue for the Beijing Games.

Parents get their first look at Prescott Middle School.

Continuing a long-running trend, the Baton Rouge area’s Hispanic population grew by 6 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today.

Just a few months ago, LSU planned on requiring new students to live on campus. Now, on-campus housing is unexpectedly becoming so popular the university is turning people away for maybe the first time, school officials said.

HAMMOND — When Besty Pittman walked into the Tangipahoa Parish Animal Shelter on Tuesday morning, she was struck by the silence. The day before, on her day off, all of its scores of cats and dogs had been euthanized because of what parish officials described as an unknown, highly contagious, airborne virus.

Two people police say are possible suspects in the 2006 death of a toddler were arrested Wednesday in a string of arsons and frauds.

COVINGTON — A Covington man who formerly co-owned a well-known icehouse and fishing dock in St. Bernard Parish was killed Tuesday in a crash on La. 25 in St. Tammany Parish, friends, family and Louisiana State Police said.

Energy giant BP has formed a partnership with biofuel pioneer Verenium Corp. to speed the development and commercialization of cellulosic ethanol made from agricultural waste such as sugar-cane bagasse.

LOCKPORT — Sitting at the edge of Lake Fields, Nicholls State University marine biology professor Earl Melancon said Wednesday he’s happy he and his graduate students weren’t finding much.

NEW ORLEANS — Two blocks from the Lower 9th Ward home of legendary performer Fats Domino, more than a dozen sign-waving activists Tuesday called for the closing of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet Canal.

A new community program is offering adult day care and full health-care coverage for some of the Baton Rouge area’s elderly.

PORT ALLEN — An apparent flaw in how the state evaluates school performance has landed Port Allen Elementary School on the list of Louisiana’s academically unacceptable schools.

State officials say they are within weeks of starting the first “one-stop shop” in Louisiana that would give residents a central location for assistance usually gathered from several separate state agencies.

SLIDELL — A tip from a Wal-Mart employee has led to the arrest of a Tennessee woman on methamphetamine possession and other charges, Slidell police said.

Beginning today, drivers are asked to observe 20-mph school zones for East Baton Rouge Parish schools from 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The school speed zones will be strictly enforced, police said.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Kennedy on Wednesday again asked incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu to commit to a series of campaign debates.

A Metro Council panel on Wednesday recommended acceptance of a low bid of $4.1 million from Barber Brothers Contracting Co. to widen Lobdell Avenue between Florida and Independence boulevards.

SLIDELL — St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s deputies are looking for a man who fired a handgun multiple times inside a Wendy’s restaurant Tuesday night after employees twice refused his demands to open a cash drawer, deputies said.

GONZALES — The Ascension Parish Home Rule Charter Commission spent most of its two-hour meeting Wednesday night trying to decide what charter issues to discuss and the order in which they should be discussed.

AMITE — The capital murder trial of a Hammond man accused of killing and burning his girlfriend and her two young children inside their FEMA trailer was postponed Wednesday.

A group of Baton Rouge-area churches is hosting six Metro Council election forums from Aug. 19 to Sept. 23.

Today is the last day to register for free uniform vouchers for middle and elementary schoolchildren through Metro Councilman Byron Sharper’s office, a news release says.

LIVINGSTON — Parish President Mike Grimmer said the proposed Baton Rouge loop project is less important to Livingston Parish residents than more immediate prospects of improving Interstate 12, which crosses the parish from east to west.

ZACHARY — Enrollment in the Zachary Community School District shows no sign of falling off, Superintendent Warren Drake said at the conclusion of an opening-day assembly for employees Wednesday.

AMITE — So long, “vals and sals,” because the “laudes” will take your place in Tangipahoa Parish public schools four years from now.

The co-chairman of a community advisory panel to the Tangipahoa Parish School Board on school desegregation said his group was not consulted about changes recently proposed to a federal court in New Orleans.

LAFAYETTE — An old vacant building, known as a hot spot for drug use, prostitution and transients, burned to the ground Wednesday despite efforts from a large contingent of firefighters who battled to keep the blaze under control and away from a nearby homeless shelter.

LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School Board voted Wednesday night to grandfather in parish high schools’ current schedules for the 2008-09 year rather than force the schools to comply with a new pupil progression plan that would allow all seniors, excluding athletes, to take only those courses needed to graduate.

LAFAYETTE — The City-Parish Council on Wednesday reviewed proposed budgets for the police and fire departments that would add 19 police officers and raise salaries for firefighters.

Today's funeral notices.

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