Category: Louisiana News

NATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) — Prosecutors still are debating on whether to pursue the death penalty against a woman accused of burning her girlfriend’s baby to death, at the girlfriend’s request.

The Alexandria Daily Town Talk reports prosecutors debated the move Tuesday at hearing for 27-year-old Felicia Marie-Nicole Smith. Smith has been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of 6-month-old Levi Cole Ellerbe, whose mother now faces the death penalty on the same charge.

Prosecutors say Hanna Nicole Barker asked Smith to kill Levi and then waited a few hours before calling 911 to report that her son had been kidnapped. Smith is accused of dumping Levi in a ditch, coating him in gasoline and setting him ablaze. Levi was found with severe burns covering 90% of his body and later died.

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Information from: Alexandria Daily Town Talk, http://www.thetowntalk.com

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana secretary of state’s appearance at President Donald Trump’s rally is raising questions about whether he’s run afoul of state law barring the chief elections official from most political activity.

Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin appeared last week at Trump’s Monroe rally for Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone. Ardoin, a Republican, is running against Democrat Gwen Collins-Greenup in Saturday’s runoff election.

Under Louisiana law, a secretary of state can participate in political activity related to his own campaign, but not to support other candidates.

Ardoin spoke at the rally, declaring Louisiana “will win with Donald Trump.” In a video posted to Ardoin’s Facebook page, he asked the crowd to chant who it supported for president and governor, without directly saying the responses of Trump and Rispone himself.

Attorney Franz Borghardt tells WAFB-TV that Ardoin’s appearance is troubling.

“If you don’t believe he is breaking the law, he’s certainly tapdancing on the line,” Borghardt said. He added: “He is campaigning for the president, which falls into the letter of the statute. He is arguably campaigning for the governor, although that’s not as strong of a case.”

Ardoin’s political adviser Lionel Rainey dismissed suggestions the secretary of state violated the law.

“Secretary Ardoin attended the event with President Trump to accept the president’s endorsement for his reelection as secretary of state and to promote his own candidacy as permitted in (the statute),” Rainey said in a statement. “This is a non-issue.”

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Information from: WAFB-TV, http://wafb.com

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — A navigation lock on the Red River in central Louisiana has reopened.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it reopened the John H. Overton Lock and Dam at Alexandria earlier this month.

The Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District closed the lock in September, draining all the water from inside the lock chamber for the first time since it was built in 1982.

Pumping out the water allowed engineers to inspect the lock, perform maintenance and make repairs.

More than 4 million tons of cargo is shipped on the Red River waterway each year. Five locks make the river navigable for towboats for 236 miles (380 kilometers) between Shreveport and the Red River’s confluence with the Mississippi River.

RESERVE, La. (AP) — Officials for a Louisiana public school district say a high school was placed on lockdown after a student brandished a stapler mistaken for a gun.

St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools posted on Facebook that East St. John High had been placed on lockdown Monday morning when a student reported a classmate had a weapon.

The parish sheriff’s office searched the campus and found the student who they say had an opened stapler wrapped in a bandanna, not a gun. The lockdown was lifted.

News outlets report the student was arrested and booked into the parish jail on charges of terrorizing.

NEW ROADS, La. (AP) — School officials in a Louisiana parish say a failed attempt to renew a longstanding tax could mean slashing jobs and closing up to half of the parish’s six schools.

The Advocate reports the 11.96-mill property tax up for a renewal vote this weekend generates about $5.6 million for Pointe Coupee Parish schools and accounts for more than a quarter of its budget. Superintendent Kim Canezaro says a rejected renewal would be devastating. The tax has stayed at the same millage since the late-1970s and has been renewed every decade.

Though there appears to be no organized effort against the renewal, school officials remain worried. The overall parish already expects less property tax funding due to two closed barge operations, and the district struggled this year with a $1.2 million deficit.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com

ST. FRANCISVILLE, La. (AP) — High water levels have forced the main road into a Louisiana wildlife refuge to close, days after it reopened for the first time since 2016.

The Advocate reported Sunday that access to the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge in St. Francisville has been limited since flooding washed out the only road leading in about three years ago. That road was reopened last month but, flooding from the Mississippi River forced officials to shut it back down days later.

Officials said the river has recently exceeded 24 feet (7 meters,) and forecasters say water may not recede until next month, or later.

The newspaper says visitors worldwide come to the park to view a nearly 100-foot (30-meter) bald cypress tree that’s one of the largest in the country.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana judge who sentenced a rapist to 12 years in prison said he’d reduce the time if the rapist pays the victim $150,000.

The offer offended the woman, who said outside court Thursday that she doesn’t want any amount of money from her attacker. She had just read her impact statement in court, saying that 44-year-old Sedrick Hills took at least 16 years of her life way by raping her. She asked the judge to take the same from him.

Hills was convicted last year of raping the her in 2003 when she was 15.

The Advocate reports that both prosecutors and the defense were surprised by Judge Bruce Bennett’s offer to reduce the time if the woman agreed to cash restitution.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Recreational fishing for red snapper will be allowed on Veterans Day this year in Louisiana waters and adjacent federal waters.

The state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says Secretary Jack Montoucet has signed a declaration approving an additional day of red snapper fishing on Monday, Nov. 11.

The department news release says it will be in addition to the current weekends-only season that is open until further notice.

Louisiana is operating under its second year of a permit that allows the state to manage the private recreational red snapper season in state and federal waters. Under the program, participating anglers are allowed to fish red snapper in the state territorial seas and adjoining federal Exclusive Economic Zone waters from shore to 200 nautical miles.