News

Trump emerges from seclusion to promote infrastructure plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attempting a policy reset, President Donald Trump will push for upgrades to the nation’s aging roads and bridges Thursday in his first public appearance since an adult-film actress claimed on national TV that they had sex months after his wife gave birth to his fifth child.

Trump is visiting Richfield, Ohio, to sell the public on his plan to use $200 billion in federal money to spur at least $1.5 trillion in spending over a decade to repair or replace highways, bridges, ports, airports and other infrastructure.

His name was Lee Bias

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The faded newspaper clipping, likely published around 1971, shows a young man standing in his baseball uniform, bat in hand, ready for the finals of the Shaughnessy Playoffs. “Lee Byers, who hit .279 with three homers during the regular season, connected for six hits during the first round of playoffs, which Jennings won over Abe’s three games to one,” the caption reads.

JDP under Roseau cane scale quarantine

The scale, an insect native to China and Japan, is destroying Roseau cane, a vegetation which helps protect Louisiana’s coast.

In response, Mike Strain, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner, has signed an emergency quarantine for Roseau cane scale which went into effect Monday, March 26 and which will remain in effect until further notice. This quaratine inludes the entirety of Jeff Davis Parish.

Easter Happenings

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Construction projects underway in Fenton

FENTON – The board of aldermen here voted unanimously to begin construction on three new projects for the village.

The projects passed include the construction of a parking lot for the village’s newly constructed pavilion and the paving of Third Avenue and Eighth Street.

Construction on the parking lot for the Shannon Brown Memorial Pavilion has already begun, said project manager and Fenton Police Sgt. Vernon O’Quinn.

Clarification

A March 27 article that highlighted the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s report on Lake Arthur’s 2016-2017 finances stated that the town will outsource some of its financial reporting to a CPA so that generally accepted accounting principles are applied to its reporting. While the auditor’s report did state this information, Mayor Sherry Crochet clarified on Wednesday that the town will actually be outsourcing some of its financial reporting to an auditor.

Relatives await bodies after fire kills 68 at Venezuela jail

VALENCIA, Venezuela (AP) — Relatives of 68 people killed in a fire at a Venezuelan police station jail waited Thursday for officials to turn over the remains of their loved ones, after having spent much of the previous day clamoring for information and clashing with police.

The fast-moving fire on Wednesday swept through a station where prisoners were being kept in crowded cells, becoming one of the worst catastrophes involving the nation’s prison system.

Kentucky police kill suspect in wife’s death outside school

RADCLIFF, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s governor is praising the quick response to a man who allegedly killed his wife and then was fatally shot by officers outside his son’s high school.

Authorities said the area’s schools were locked down just eight minutes after law enforcement learned of a possible homicide, and officers then fatally shot the man about five minutes after encountering him in the school’s parking lot. It was all over in about 20 minutes.

Here Comes Easter

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This week’s Toddler Time at the McBurney Memorial Library in Welsh celebrated Easter. Participants enjoyed an egg hunt and even had an opportunity to visit with the Easter Bunny.

Minimum wage hike, equal pay bills fail in La. Senate

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana won’t be joining 29 other states in paying a minimum wage higher than the federally-set rate, as Gov. John Bel Edwards saw one of his signature legislative efforts fail for a third year in a row.

The Senate on Tuesday refused to hike the rate from the $7.25-per-hour federal level to $8 per hour in 2019 and $8.50 a year later.

Seventeen senators voted for the bill by New Orleans Sen. Troy Carter, a Democrat. Twenty-one senators opposed it.