Louisiana news briefs

N.O. department store to be razed for high-rise condos
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The former Woolworth department store in downtown New Orleans is being torn down to make room for a high-rise mixed-use development.
A construction crew began demolishing the 1940s-era building this week. It will be replaced by a $70 million residential and retail complex, a formerly controversial project that was first introduced seven years ago by developer Mohan Kailas.
According to plans on file with the city, Kailas plans a 17-story building, with the first and second levels to include 85,000 square feet for shopping. A 467-car parking garage would occupy floors three through seven. The rest of the space would be dedicated to 240 condominiums, including penthouses on the top two floors.
The development will include a pool, gym, theater and banquet room.

Assumption sheriff fires 3 following complaint
NAPOLEONVILLE (AP) — Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack says two patrol deputies and a corrections officer have been fired as a result of an ongoing internal affairs investigation into a complaint of excessive force at the parish’s Youth Detention Center.
Waguespack said he would not provide the names of the people who have been fired.
As part of regular protocol, he says the files of the internal investigation are being forwarded to the district attorney.
The sheriff said two deputies were on leave following a complaint of excessive force being used on a youth in the detention center.
He says no one was hospitalized in the Sept. 24 incident. He said the complaint of excessive force involved one deputy.

L’Auberge petitions for annexation
to Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE (AP) — The L’Auberge Casino and Hotel is seeking annexation into the city of Baton Rouge.
It’s a move being described as a “tremendous victory” for Baton Rouge officials in their ongoing effort to stifle the proposed city of St. George.
The proposed annexation is the most recent in a series of high-profile land acquisitions by the city of Baton Rouge, including the Mall of Louisiana, which shrinks both the footprint and revenue stream for the potential new city.

St. Landry sheriff PIO reassigned
OPELOUSAS (AP) — St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz is transferring the department’s public information officer to other duties after an early morning driving incident Saturday.
Capt. Megan Vizena will retain her rank and make what the department is calling a lateral move to head the sheriff’s Triad, Kops & Kids and School Activities programs.
Cpl. Glenn Clay Higgins is being promoted to sergeant and will become the public information officer, whose duties including working with the news media.
Vizena was cited for reckless operation of a vehicle after turning into the wrong driveway near her Port Barre home Saturday, prompting a resident to call 911. Vizena backed her vehicle into a ditch before pulling into her own driveway.

March trial date
in challenge
of La. abortion law
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A March 30 trial date has been set in Baton Rouge federal court for a lawsuit challenging a new Louisiana law that requires doctors who perform abortions to be able to admit patients to a nearby hospital.
Until then, a temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles remains in effect, barring the state health department from penalizing doctors who are applying for the admitting privileges.
The law requires doctors to be able to admit patients to a hospital within 30 miles of where the procedure is performed.
Clinics in Shreveport, Bossier City and Metairie were the first to sue the state seeking to block the law. But the state’s other two clinics in New Orleans and Baton Rouge since have been added to the federal lawsuit.

School Board member resigns
LAFAYETTE (AP) — Lafayette Parish School Board member Mark Cockerham has resigned amid questions about his residency.
Cockerham moved in with his sister temporarily and learned she lives in District 7 as it’s defined by new boundaries. However, the address is not in the district boundaries that are currently in effect for the present term.
However, he says, he will run for the seat in the Nov. 4 election.
Cockerham faces opponent Dawn Morris in the upcoming election.

Dismemberment suspect awaits extradition
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man charged in the 2012 death and dismemberment of a Bourbon Street strip club dancer is awaiting extradition to Louisiana after completing a federal prison term.
Terry Speaks, 41, was released Tuesday morning from a federal lockup in New York, where he was serving time for a North Carolina sex offense unrelated to the Louisiana case. He was taken to the Orange County, New York, jail. A deputy who declined to give his name said Speaks was being processed and a hearing date had not yet been set.
Speaks and his alleged accomplice, 30-year-old Margaret Sanchez, were indicted in August in Jefferson Parish on charges of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the death of 22-year-old Jaren Lockhart. Parts of Lockhart’s body washed ashore in Mississippi in 2012.
Sanchez was arrested by Kenner police earlier this year. She was being held in the Jefferson Parish jail with bond set at $1.5 million.
Police have said surveillance camera footage showed both Speaks and Sanchez leaving with Lockhart on June 6, 2012, from Temptations, the strip club where Lockhart worked.
Authorities in Hancock County, Mississippi, working with authorities from that state and in Louisiana, began investigating after Lockhart’s torso floated ashore in Bay St. Louis. Other parts of her body drifted onto beaches within 10 miles east in the next few days.
A stab wound to the heart killed her, according to the arrest report.
Hancock County officially turned the case over to police in the New Orleans-area suburban city of Kenner in April.

Jefferson Parish to build river boat launch
GRETNA (AP) — Jefferson Parish is expected to have a boat launch in Gretna for emergency-response vessels by this time next year, thanks to a $1 million federal grant obtained through the U.S. Coast Guard.
As it stands today, such vessels must be launched from private property along the Harvey Canal in the case of accidents and other emergencies on the Mississippi River.
The parish had applied for the federal port-security grant twice before and succeeded on its third attempt this year.
The launch will be used not only by fire, police and rescue vessels from Jefferson Parish and its municipalities but also by Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes.