Louisiana news briefs

Billboards promote healthier lives
BATON ROUGE (AP) — The LSU AgCenter is using billboards, banners and posters to encourage people in low-income areas to take easy steps toward healthier lives.
The campaign has three messages: eat more fruits and vegetables, get more active, and talk more with your family, said Diane Sasser, director of an AgCenter education program for people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
She said she hopes getting those messages into places people see easily and often will get them thinking about their own health habits.
The first billboards went up in June. The banners and posters can be displayed in schools, stores and parish extension offices.
The campaign will last about 18 months, featuring a new message every few months, Sasser said.
The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education program, called SNAP-Ed, is paying for the campaign.
Sasser said small steps can start the path toward a healthier lifestyle, but those steps can be difficult for low-income people whose budgets and food choices often are limited.

Man arrested,
in wife’s slaying
DONALDSONVILLE (AP) — A Donaldsonville man has been arrested shortly after his wife was discovered shot to death at their home.
Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Tony Bacala says deputies found 27-year-old Shella “Shay” Howard, around mid-morning Monday at her home in Donaldsonville.
The victim’s husband, 31-year-old Jarvis Howard, was booked into the Ascension Parish Jail on one count of second-degree murder. Bond has not been set. It was unknown if he has an attorney.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 225-621-4636 or Crime Stoppers at 225-344-7867.

Man booked in woman’s death
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans police have arrested a 75-year-old man in the weekend fatal stabbing of a woman.
Police arrested Seabon “Tom” Gibson early Monday on a charge of second-degree murder. It was not immediately known if Gibson had an attorney.
Police say Gibson confessed to killing his long-time live-in companion about 6 a.m. Sunday. The 58-year-old woman’s body was found on a street in the Treme neighborhood. Her name has not been released.
Police, in a news release, said they were called to the scene on a report of a “woman down” in a vacant lot. Authorities say she suffered multiple stab wounds to her body.

Cassidy endorsed
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy has picked up support for his U.S. Senate campaign from a former GOP competitor.
Rep. Paul Hollis, the St. Tammany Parish state lawmaker who recently dropped out of the race, announced Monday that he is endorsing Cassidy in the Nov. 4 election, instead of tea party favorite Rob Maness.
Hollis issued a statement saying Cassidy will “represent our conservative Louisiana values” in the Senate.
Cassidy and Maness are trying to unseat Democrat incumbent Mary Landrieu, who is seeking a fourth term in office. Cassidy is running with support of the GOP establishment.
If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in November, the top two vote-getters advance to a Dec. 6 runoff.

Armored car held up in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The FBI is looking for a gunman who held up an armored car near Audubon Park and got away with a bag of money.
Spokesman Mary Beth Romig says the gunman forced his way into the Dunbar Armored vehicle at gunpoint Monday morning, when one of the two guards returned from a business on Broadway near Leake Avenue.
She says the man made the guards drive around the corner, then ran off with the bag. Officials don’t know how much money it held.
A white garden-style hat covered his face.
He also wore a long-sleeved blue shirt, dark pants, and white cloth gloves with rubber tips. He carried a black revolver. The only physical description is black, slim, about 6 feet tall, and in his mid-20s to early 30s.