July 2019

DOI offers tips to homeowners impacted by storm

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon is offering guidance to homeowners and businesses impacted by Hurricane Barry.

Donelon advises residents to exercise caution while surveying damage to their homes and businesses, according to a press release from the Louisiana Department of Insurance (DOI). Standing water, even low levels, can be hiding debris such as broken glass or downed power lines.

Plane makes emergency landing at Jennings Airport

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A Texas pilot and his passenger experienced quite a scare Wednesday morning. The duo made an emergency landing at the Jennings Airport after the small plane’s engine started smoking. Emergency personnel were available on the runway when the aircraft landed. No injuries were reported and the plane was not severely damaged.

 

‘El Chapo’ sentenced to life in prison

NEW YORK (AP) — The Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced Wednesday to life behind bars in a U.S. prison, a humbling end for a drug lord notorious for his ability to kill, bribe or tunnel his way out of trouble.

A federal judge in Brooklyn handed down the sentence, five months after Guzman’s conviction in an epic drug-trafficking case.

The 62-year-old drug lord, who had been protected in Mexico by an army of gangsters and an elaborate corruption operation, was brought to the U.S. to stand trial after he twice escaped from Mexican prisons.

Nesting penguins can’t resist lure of New Zealand sushi shop

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Two little blue penguins just couldn’t stay away from a New Zealand sushi store, returning to nest there even after police had captured them and escorted them back to the ocean.

Wellington police described them as “waddling vagrants,” while the store’s co-owner joked he had no idea that word of his tasty raw fish had reached as far as the subaquatic community.

Number of US overdose deaths appears to be falling

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. overdose deaths last year likely fell for the first time in nearly three decades, preliminary statistics suggest.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday posted the provisional numbers showing nearly 68,000 drug overdose deaths were reported last year. The number may go up as more investigations are completed, but the agency expects the tally will end up below 69,000.

Overdose deaths had been climbing each year since 1990, topping 70,000 in 2017.

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Baseball offers escape from the crazy

The worse it gets, the more I need baseball. The worse what gets? Well, what have you got? Watched the evening news lately? Some days, the promise of a three-hour break from what novelist Philip Roth called “the indigenous American berserk” draws me like a fountain in the desert.

Highlighting the bad, ignoring the good

THE WAY I SEE IT

There is an old saying that probably should fit into a few peoples’ conversations these days: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning how to dance in the rain.”

You know who they are because you see and hear them in nearly every moment of your day. They are the doomsayers, the naysayers, those who dwell in the negative and rarely see the positive. They constantly seek someone or some circumstance to blame for their place in life at a given moment.

Drivers are the issue, not traffic lights and signs

Traffic lights and stop signs keep no one safe if drivers fail to pay attention or flout driving laws. This is the root of the problem at the intersection of U.S. 190 and La. 26 in Elton.

Town officials last week discussed contacting the state to see how the intersection can be made safer. Elton Police Chief Bruce Lemelle said that area has been the site of several fatalities in the past 10 years. Officials believe a four-way stop could address some safety issues in place of traffic lights.

Richard Anthony Darcé

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Richard Anthony Darcé, 86, a longtime resident of Jennings, died July 15, 2019, in Jennings American Legion Hospital following a brief battle with cancer.

Visitation will be held at Miguez Funeral Home in Jennings from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Friday, July 19, 2019, followed by a 3 p.m. funeral mass at Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church in Jennings.

Interment will be at a later date at the veteran’s cemetery in Jennings.