News For Tuesday 103012

By Dave Graichen

Today is the last day to cast early votes for the November 6th election,  and state officials say expect more long lines at early voting places.  Secretary of State Tom Schedler says it's easy to see that  more people are early voting than in previous election cycles. Schedler says, as of noon Monday, nearly 227-thousand registered voters have cast early votes. You have until 6pm tonight to cast your early ballot.

A dump truck being towed lost a rear wheel yesterday morning on Interstate 49, which caused both a fire and a Bobcat skid it was carrying to fall from the elevated road onto Murray Street below. Miraculously No one was injured in the incident. According to the APD, the driver of the wrecker was ticketed for having an expired driver's  license and for having an unsecured load.

LSU hosts the Alabama Crimson Tide this Saturday in Death Valley, and  the Baton Rouge area is preparing for a big weekend. Paul Arrigo  (uh-REE-go) with the Greater Baton Rouge Convention and Visitors Bureau  says this will be a big weekend for the hospitality industry. Arrigo says thousands of Alabama fans will be flocking to Baton Rouge,  and with them comes TV networks, sport writers, photographers all  coming to see the matchup between two legendary SEC coaches and  programs.  Arrigo says hotels are booking up quickly, and what rooms are available  are going at premium rates.

The November 6th ballot has a number of constitutional amendments  covering everything from term limits to taxes. Public Affairs Research  Council President Robert Scott says Amendment number eight will extend  industrial property tax breaks, enjoyed by manufacturers, in the state  to a narrow range of non-manufacturing businesses. Among the arguments for the amendments is that it would put Louisiana on  the same footing with competing states for new white collar and high  tech jobs. Scott says one argument against it is that it could cut into  local tax revenues.  Under the amendment each parish would have the option to agree to the  tax breaks.

The Alexandria District Probation and Parole Office will conduct an education session Halloween night for all registered sex offenders in the area. The Alexandria District serves Avoyelles, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant, LaSalle and Rapides parishes. The session, will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at 1534 Lee St. in Alexandria. All supervised cases are required to attend. All unsupervised cases are invited to attend. The aim is to keep all sex offenders, especially those that are under supervision, away from any contact with children on Halloween, as well as to update offenders on any new and/or revised laws and to review compliance issues with them.

Gas  prices  in Louisiana continue the downward spiral as the cooler weather moves  in.  The  current  statewide  average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.39 cents a gallon which  is  down  almost  20

cents from last month. Analysts expect the price to dip even more as we get further into winter.

Two UL-Lafayette Football players have been dismissed from the team  and placed under arrest for allegedly fondling a female student  without her consent. University Police Sgt Billy Abrams says after questioning the victim officers determined they were  dealing with a sexual battery case.  20-year-old Darrell Green and 22-year-old Eric Ferguson  are each charged with one count of sexual battery.

A Monroe man faces assault charges after letting his large vicious dog  attack two Ouachita Parish Sheriff's deputies. OPSO Chief Deputy Marc  Mashaw says officers responded to a domestic disturbance last night to  find 26-year-old Coy Williams at the door. He says Williams let the  large Mastiff-mix dog loose at them. One deputy had to shoot the dog twice, when it  charged them.  Mashsaw says Williams will be charged with two counts of aggravated  assault on a law officer, and with a leash law violation for letting the  dog attack the officers.

The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is  sending response teams to Pennsylvania and Maryland to help authorities  there with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  Both states sent over a hundred National Guard personnel each to  Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Gustav in  2008

A woman driving on I-49 in Shreveport survives a 60 foot fall at the 70th  Street  overpass Sunday. Shreveport Police say it appears  the woman was attempting  to  avoid  a mattress on the on the road. They say the she lost control and fell  60  feet to ground below. She had to be cut out of the vehicle, but, police say, she had only minor injuries.

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review the case of a former Natchitoches man scheduled to be executed this week for the murder of an East Texas woman nine years ago. 41 year old Donnie Lee Roberts Jr.is scheduled to die by lethel injection tomorrow night at the Texas state prison in Huntsville for the 2003 murder of Vicki Bowen at her home on Lake Livingston. The 44 year old Bowen was found shot twice in the head. Roberts confessed to her killing and while in custody, also confessed to the March 1992 murder of Archie Crow Jr. in Natchitoches Parish. Until that confession, Natchitoches Parish authorities had not considered Crow's death a homicide.