Louisiana news briefs

Sinkhole panel urged to act fast

BATON ROUG — A leader of the panel recently appointed in response to the Bayou Corne area sinkhole says the group will follow a “very aggressive” schedule to make recommendations on when evacuated residents can return to their homes.

Gary Hecox stressed the need for quick work at the 13-member group’s first meeting on Friday at LSU. Members attended in person or by video link.

About 350 people in Assumption Parish have been under evacuation orders since Aug. 3.

Scientists believe the sinkhole formed after the collapse of an underground salt cavern where Houston-based Texas Brine extracted brine for petrochemical facilities. The failure also led to the release of oil and gas.

Gas has been found in a major underground industrial water source and under some homes.

ULL honors musician Richard

LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana-Lafayette’s Center for Louisiana Studies has selected musician Zachary Richard for its James William Rivers Prize in Louisiana Studies.

Richard was cited for his contributions to the people and culture of Louisiana.

Richard, who has pursued a bilingual musical career, also has written books on Acadian history and narrated and produced award-winning documentary films.

He is also founder of Action Cadienne, a volunteer organization that promotes the French language and Cajun culture.

Official files records lawsuit

NEW ROADS — A Pointe Coupee Parish police juror has filed a lawsuit in state district court against the parish administrator, public utilities director and the Police Jury’s president, asking them to release documents on outstanding fees and billing protocols for residential utilities rates.

The suit by Police Juror Justin Cox claims Parish Administrator Jim Bello, Police Jury President Melanie Bueche and John Gosserand, director of public utilities for Pointe Coupee, violated Louisiana’s public records laws by refusing to release documents he requested and did not properly state why the information was not provided as required under state law.

Cox said he has been trying to obtain the records since January.

BP to call first witness at spill trial

NEW ORLEANS — BP is scheduled to call its first witness today at a trial designed to determine causes of its April 2010 well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and assign fault to the companies involved in the deadly disaster.

Halliburton, BP PLC’s cement contractor on the Deepwater Horizon drilling project, rested its case Thursday at the end of the trial’s sixth week. Testimony by BP’s witnesses is expected to last at least two weeks.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier is hearing testimony without a jury. Barring a settlement, he could decide how much more money BP and its contractors owe for their roles in the catastrophe.

The trial’s first phase should conclude later this month. Barbier plans to hold a second phase that examines BP’s efforts to stop the gusher.

Terrebonne school chief pitching tax

HOUMA — The head of public schools in Terrebonne Parish says Terrebonne parish’s property tax rate of 9.27 mills is the lowest in the state — and well below the state average of 40 mills.

It’s a comparison Terrebonne Superintendent Philip Martin is stressing as he pitches a proposed 31-mill property tax boost on the parish ballot on May 4.

Martin said the new revenue would fund improvements including a $4,000 annual raise for teachers.

There is opposition. Jeff Teuton, the Bayou Cane Fire Board chairman, said he worries the school tax hike would kill chances for any other districts getting a tax passed.

Rapides officials poised to pick superintendent

ALEXANDRIA — A nearly yearlong process of finding a new superintendent for Rapides Parish schools is set to end Wednesday, when the school board selects one of the three finalists for the job.

The search began after the board voted to not renew Gary L. Jones’ contract in May 2012. Jones now works for the Louisiana Department of Education.

Last Thursday, Nason Authement of Houma, David Karl Carpenter of Pineville and Rick Williams of McKinney, Texas, spent the day visiting schools across the district after their interviews.

If past votes are any indication, Authement appears to be the favorite with votes from all nine board members to be a semifinalist and eight votes to be a finalist.

Child’s father claims judge award too low

LAFAYETTE — The attorney for the father awarded $300,000 in his son’s 2011 school bus dragging death said his client, Marcus Miller, will appeal the judgment handed down in a bench trial.

Attorney Derriel McCorvey said the judgment was extremely too low.

Miller’s son, La’Derion Miller was a kindergarten pupil at Milton Elementary when on March 14, 2011, he was dragged by a Lafayette Parish school bus and crushed beneath the wheels. The child was air-lifted to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.

La’Derion Miller’s parents, who were never married, filed separate lawsuits in May 2011 seeking wrongful death and survivor awards.

McCorvey said the Lafayette Parish school system settled the lawsuit brought by La’Derion Miller’s mother, Heather Dawn Jagneaux, for more than $700,000.

Earned income credit available

BATON ROUGE — Hundreds of thousands of Louisiana families with low to moderate incomes can increase their state tax refunds with the Louisiana Earned Income Tax Credit.

Last year, more than 400,000 taxpayers claimed the credit for an average benefit of $100.

The state earned income credit is equal to 3.5 percent of the federal earned income tax credit.

Louisiana individual income tax returns for 2012 are due May 15.

Parish president to appeal ethics fine

THIBODAUX — The Lafourche Parish president has asked the state Ethics Board to reconsider requiring her to pay a fine for renting her Grand Isle Camp to BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill while the parish was under contract with the company.

Charlotte Randolph’s attorneys argue that the parish’s $1 million contract with BP for expenses from the spill was more of a donation than working agreement. They say the penalty imposed on Randolph is a “radical departure from fines imposed for alleged violations of ethics code.”

The state Ethics Board ruled Randolph must repay $50,000 in rent money in addition to a $10,000 fine.

From The Associated Press.