INDReporter

2014’s top stories at theind.com

Death, development and departures dominated the news year by our readers. To wit:

10. A federal mistrial is granted in April when criminal defense attorney Barry Domingue, one of several defendants in the Curious Goods synthetic marijuana case, shoots himself to death in his backyard. Another attorney accused in the case, Daniel Stanford, will later be convicted along with others charged in the case.

9. The September death following a brief battle with cancer of Allison Neustrom, a public policy researcher and daughter of Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mike Neustrom, shocks the community.

8. The Acadiana musical community deals with the sudden death by aneurysm of Al Berard, a musician par excellence, in February. A music festival will be established in Berard’s honor and a record he had been working on will be released in late 2014.

7. Longtime Lafayette Regional Airport Director Greg Roberts retires suddenly in June after a prank — he pulled a fake gun used in training exercises by federal officials during a meeting with staff — goes wrong. Although local authorities investigate, Roberts is not charged with a crime.

6. Panera Bread announces in February that it will build a new restaurant on the site formerly occupied by CC’s Pizza in front of Albertson’s on Johnston Street.

5. A new study analyzes the state of the Lake Charles region and the impact 19 industrial projects will have on residents. We didn’t know y’all were so interested in that sort of thing.

4. Respected banker and IND Media partner Jerry Reaux dies suddenly in February after collapsing at his home. Reaux was only 53 years old.

3. Lafayette gets excited by the announcement that a Costco-anchored shopping center will rise near the corner of Ambassador Caffery Parkway and Kaliste Saloom Road.

2. The whack story of the year wherein a bar using a rainbow logo and another of the same name become embroiled in a social media meltdown after one of them “clarifies” on Facebook that it is not a gay bar. Or something like that.

1. Longtime anchor and investigative reporter Chuck Huebner is canned at KLFY TV10 in July after a sometimes mercurial tenure that included battles with staff and management.