Choice cuts from Acadiana's news media for Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014:
Choice cuts from Acadiana's news media for Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014:
Baby New Year
Born at 1:15 a.m. Jan. 1, Isabelle Kate Delahoussaye is Lafayette's first newborn of the year, and, according to this story from KATC-TV 3, her mother, Kristen Delahoussaye, was the first baby born on Christmas Day in Lafayette in 1985. Both were delivered by the same doctor.
A look back at 2013
Acadia Parish Today lists the top stories to affect the area in 2013, ranging from the police jury's passage of an anti-sagging ordinance to the arrival of Great Race contestants in Crowley to the Dec. 17 grand jury decision to indict Kerry Bertrand on a second-degree murder charge for his alleged killing of his stepdaughter, Skylar Credeur, in August.
Another top 10
Here's The Daily Iberian's top 10 stories of 2013, including the fight over an attempt to take dedicated tax revenues from the Iberia Parish Library system to help fund a hotly contested levee project, as well as the unexpected death of Jeanerette Mayor Timothy de'Clouet, which was followed by the election of Aprill Foulcard as the city's first black female mayor. Topping the Iberian's list, however, is the story of a Chitimacha Tribal Police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty early last year.
A gargantuan reconstruction
The roads of St. Landry Parish, considered some of the worst in the state, are now slated for repair thanks to a 15-year, 2-cent sales tax passed in October, which according to this report from The Opelousas Daily World, will be used to sell $62.5 million in bonds and help get the project under way this summer. The effort will represent the largest road project in the history of St. Landry Parish, and will target about 700 miles worth of the area's most poorly conditioned rural roadways.
Wanted: Public input
The Center for Louisiana Studies has been awarded an $83,447 grant from the federal government to be used for the Bayou Teche Paddle Trail. The project, according to this report by the Acadiana Advocate, is still in the planning phases, and includes two meetings slated for this month to get the public's input on the development of the canoe and kayak trail, which will stretch 134 miles from Port Barre to Patterson.