March 2018

AGGIE DAY

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Hathaway High School’s FFA students hosted its annual Aggie Day Saturday, complete with animals, food and fun.

Rec complex to enforce ban on shelled foods

LAKE ARTHUR - A small sacrifice must now be made by those who attend events at the Lake Arthur Recreation Department’s baseball and softball complex.

Their ban on shelled foods, namely sunflower seeds and peanuts, will begin to be seriously enforced, Mikka Guidry, the recreation director said. These products are preventing water drainage from working properly.

New system to affect hunting, fishing licenses

Sportsmen in Louisiana must purchase their licenses online from now until Monday, April 1, because the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) is currently attempting to transition to a new recreational hunting and fishing license sales system.

Jennings man arrested for vehicular assault

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A Jennings man was arrested Saturday after allegedly intentionally hitting his exgirlfriend and another person with his car.

Joseph Durkin, 40, of Jennings was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted first degree-murder and resisting arrest.

Saturday evening deputies with the Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office received a call from a woman who said that her ex-boyfriend had hit her and another victim with his car. Deputies went to Durkin’s home and found the car in question with damage to its windshield, Deputy Chief Chris Ivey said.

Russian shopping mall fire kills 64; no alarms reported

MOSCOW (AP) — Witnesses say fire alarms were silent and staff was nowhere to be seen when a fire at a shopping mall packed with children and their parents on the first weekend of the school recess killed 64 people in Russia’s Siberia.

The fire at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo, a city about 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow, was extinguished by Monday morning after burning through the night.

Germany plans stricter controls on Facebook

NEW YORK (AP) — Germany’s justice minister says she wants closer oversight of companies such as Facebook, following a meeting with executives about the abuse of users’ private data.

Katarina Barley says Facebook representatives assured her Monday that such breaches wouldn’t occur again and pledged to inform those users who were affected.

She added that “promises aren’t enough, though. We will need to monitor companies such as Facebook much more strictly in future and also punish breaches of data protection strongly, swiftly and painfully.”

Diplomats ousted: US, Europe punish Russia over spy case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and more than a dozen European nations kicked out Russian diplomats on Monday and the Trump administration ordered Russia’s consulate in Seattle to close, as the West sought joint punishment for Moscow’s alleged role in poisoning an ex-spy in Britain.

Witness in Mueller probe aided UAE agenda in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top fundraiser for President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates last April, just weeks before he began handing out a series of large political donations to U.S. lawmakers considering legislation targeting Qatar, the UAE’s chief rival in the Persian Gulf, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Daniels’ lawyer won’t give evidence of alleged Trump affair

WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels declined Monday to specify additional evidence he claims he has of Daniels’ alleged affair with Donald Trump in 2006, adding “it would make no sense for us to play our hand.”

Michael Avenatti, making a round of morning television appearances following Sunday’s airing of Daniels’ “60 Minutes” interview, insisted there is more evidence to come, but that he and his client are withholding certain details, including the contents of a CD or DVD he tweeted a picture of last week.

Audit: Food stamp tracked better, but still paid after death

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana’s social services agency is improving efforts to keep food stamp rolls current and shrink improper payments, but still has paid out benefits after recipients have died.

Those are findings of a review of the Department of Children and Family Services released Monday by the Legislative Auditor’s Office.

Auditors found over four years from July 2013 and June 2017, the agency paid nearly $42,600 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, called SNAP, to 108 people who had died.