News for Monday 020413

By Dave Graichen

State police report 47-year-old Kenneth M. Aymond was killed over the weekend  when he apparently lost control of his pickup truck on highway 29 in Avoyelles parish, ran off the road and hit a culvert before overturning. Aymond was pronounced dead at the scene.

Visitation for former businessman and Opus broadcasting general manager Kim Jones will be today at Calvary Baptist church in Alexandria from 2 to 4pm and 5 to 7pm and again tomorrow from 5pm until the time of services at 6pm. Jones passed away last Thursday after a long battle with cancer. Kim Jones was 54.

State  Treasurer  John Kennedy says the state is looming on the edge of yet another financial  crisis.   Kennedy  says the Capital Outlay Fund is near its debt limit  with no room to borrow  more  for rural road  improvements,  college  facility   upkeep  and other important building projects.  He says the fund could be exhausted  within  the next four months. The Governor's Office  points  at  Kennedy, saying he indicated they had more borrowing headroom than they  actually  had. Kennedy says, yes,  but he gave them that information before state  revenues  were revised downward last Fall.

The Ravens were rolling, Beyoncé had just put on a stunning halftime show and then the unprecedented happened: The lights went out in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII. Usually a beacon on the New Orleans skyline, the Superdome was bathed in darkness when the majority of lights flickered out at 7:36 p.m. The power was off inside the stadium for 34 minutes. The lights started to come back on at 8:02 p.m. and play resumed at 8:10 p.m. The exterior lights flickered on at about 8:20 p.m. and the Superdome took back its place in the New Orleans skyline. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a statement issued Sunday night. ”In the coming days, I expect a full after-action report from all parties involved.

Now that the Super Bowl is over, the rush at the New Orleans  International Airport is on. Spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut says all  flights are completely booked today. She says they’re anticipating about 42,000  passengers today.

The  first  black  chief  justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court has been sworn into office.  Bernette  Johnson replaces the first female justice--Kitty Kimball--who retired  last  month after four years in the position.  Johnson has been sitting on the high court since 1994 and served ten years as a district court judge  before being elected to the supreme court.

Cuts to some health care services, brought about by a mid-year revenue  shortfall, have kicked in - affecting low-income mothers, at-risk kids  and others. State Health & Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein says the  cuts are regrettable, but necessary. He says they planned for the lowest negative impacts possible.

A Tangipahoa Parish man is being  held  without  bond  today  in the parish   prison   on   charges   of  aggravated  rape  of  children. Authorities say when they served  a  search  warrant  on the home of 50-year old Robert Eugene Swan they found child pornography  on  his computer  which indicated he was also manufacturing and distributing child porn.   They also say they found video evidence of Swan having sex with children as young as 10 and possible one year old.

The LSU Board of  Supervisors  has  approved a two year extension of head football coach Les Miles' contract  that keeps him connected to the university through the 2019 season.  Miles  annual  salary  went from  just  over three and a quarter million dollars to 4.3 million. Athletic Director Joe Alleva told the board Miles hadn't had a raise in five years, even though he deserved one.

LSU  officials  are  sticking with their timetable of having  a  new university president signed,  sealed  and  delivered within the next four  months.  LSU had a "short list" of about  30  candidates,  but those names  aren't  being released or even guessed at right now and we probably won't know  until  a  finalist  or  finalists are agreed upon.

A Baton Rouge businessman is in the running to be the next Secretary of  Energy.   WBRZ TV in Baton Rouge, is  reporting  Jim  Bernard--founder of the Shaw Group--confirmed  to  them  he  is  one  of  the   candidates  being considered.  Bernard recently sold the world wide construction  firm to a Texas company for some three billion dollars.

Authorities  say  48-year  old Thomas Allen the Third of Baton Rouge was driving with a blood alcohol  content  of three times the normal level when his car slammed head on into another car, killing 10-year old   Bionna  Scott.   He's  been  charged with vehicular  homicide, second offense DWI, reckless operation  and driving with a suspended license.

Confessed killer Brandon Scott Lavergne, who's serving  life for the murders of Lisa Pate in 1999 and Mickey Shunick last year, is asking a  judge  to  release  to him the names of grand jury witnesses  who testified against him and  the  transcript  of  a  secretly recorded meeting with his ex-wife. In December, he requested  his  conviction be  tossed  out,  saying  his  court-appointed lawyers made critical defense errors. Lavergne pleaded  guilty  to  the  two  murders  last August, in order to avoid getting a death sentence.

Seafood expert, oyster distributor and state Wildlife & Fisheries  Commission member Mike Voisin (vwah-zan) has passed away. Voisin died  Saturday, about a week after suffering a massive heart attack. Wildlife  & Fisheries Secretary Bob Barham says he was a fierce advocate for the  seafood industry, but always a gentleman...: