News for Tuesday 020613

By Dave Graichen

A  4-year-old  child appears to be unharmed after being found in his home sunday with  the bodies of his parents who had been dead for two days. Jennings authorities are  investigating  the  shooting  deaths  of  Charles  and  Katrina Williams.  The couple  were  apparently  killed  Friday  night.  The woman's mother  discovered  them  sunday  and  called police. The child, other than shaken, is reportedly ok.

There  was  a bomb threat Monday on the campus of Northwestern  State University  in   Natchitoches.   University  Police  detective  Doug Prescott says the threat was called in to the School of Math,  Science and Arts. He says several  law  enforcement  agencies were called in, to help search the buildings for a possible bomb. To quote Prescott, It was obviously a hoax since nothing went off.  He says investigators are working in tracing the bomb threat call to the guilty party.

Someone left a truck  with  several  incendiary  bombs inside parked outside  the  Whitney  Bank  on  Canal Street in New Orleans  Monday. Police used a robot to remove some of the eight devices found in the vehicle. The bank and nearby businesses  were  evacuated during that; traffic on Canal stopped as well. Investigators  are now determining who the abandoned truck belongs to and what the bombs  were doing in it.

Numbers from the White House show Louisiana will lose millions of  federal education dollars and about 7,000 department of defense workers  will be furloughed, if a deal to avoid automatic budget cuts is not

reached by Friday.  Sequestration will also result in Louisiana losing 2.5 million dollars  for clean water and air quality initiatives. The state will also lose  grant money that helps over a thousand people with substance abuse  issues.

After  a  long  bout  with  cancer,  US  District  Court Judge Frank Polozola  died  Sunday  night.  Polozola was the judge in the 2000 federal trial of former Governor Edwin Edwards. Polozola  sentenced  Edwards  to  10  years  in prison and fined him $250,000 for racketeering and extortion.

An Acadiana legislator proposes a tobacco tax increase, with revenues  raised to be protected from political deal-making. Democratic Carencro  Representative Stephen Ortego (OR-tih-go) says most voters support higher taxes on cigarettes, but only if  the money goes to crucial health care needs. Ortego says his bill would let voters have a role in how much the  tobacco tax should be, and where the revenues should be spent. Ortego says he is filing the bill for the coming Legislative session.

The  Charenton  man  arrested after allegedly shooting and killing a Chitimacha Tribal police  Sgt., suspected of killing another man and burning down his house and wounding two St. Mary Parish deputies has been sent to a mental facility.  Attorneys  say Wilbert Thibodeaux's new location reinforces earlier assessments  that he may be mentally unfit for trial.

The state legislative auditor has released a scathing  review of the 75-million dollar Katrina cottage program in Louisiana.  The federal government provided 75-million dollars, so that the state  can build

homes   to   provide   emergency   housing  for  hurricane  victims. Legislative auditor Daryl Purpera says  it  took  seven years before all 461 cottages constructed were occupied. However, more than half of the cottages were so poorly build residents had to move out within months of moving in. The alternative housing program resulted  in the construction of  homes at 12 sites in Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and New Orleans.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon urges homeowners not to forget tax  credits and other incentives for doing storm mitigation upgrades to  their homes. Donelon says there is a tax break for retrofitting one's

 home to withstand hurricanes.  For information on the Storm Mitigation Incentives, visit the Insurance

Department website, at "LDI.LA.gov".  Donelon says homeowners can not  only claim a tax credit, but can also get lower property insurance  rates...once the upgrades are complete.

The former Jefferson  Parish police jury president  will  spend  nearly  four years  in  federal  prison  for  his conviction on public corruption charges. Aaron Broussard pleaded guilty  last September to accepting

bribes  from  businessmen  and  to  payroll  fraud  for  creating  a supervisory  job for his then-wife--who was not  qualified  for  the position. He's must pay over $200-thousand in restitution.

Defensive backs will take the field at the NFL draft combine today, including former LSU star Tyrann Mathieu. The Honey Badger has been in Indianapolis since the weekend, talking with NFL teams about the drug  problems that forced him to miss the 2012 season. Mathieu says the year  off should not hurt his ability on the football field. Mathieu says he doesn't want NFL teams to have any doubt that he is

 committed to turning his life around and being 100% focused on playing  professional football.