Louisiana news briefs

Pollock-area woman, 85, dies after dog attack
POLLOCK (AP) — An 85-year-old woman who was mauled by stray dogs has died, five days after the attack.
Grant Parish Sheriff Steve McCain confirmed the death of Bobbie Cheveallier Monday evening, after it was posted on social media.
Dogs attacked Cheveallier on Wednesday as she took out the trash from her home near Pollock.
McCain says deputies have caught 15 stray dogs for testing since the attack.
Cheveallier’s son Randy Cheveallier says her legs had to be amputated.
He says nobody saw the attack.
Cheveallier says a neighbor’s boyfriend saw three dogs in his mother’s yard Wednesday afternoon, went over to see what was going on, and found her on the ground, unconscious.

LSU-Eunice’s
chancellor to retire
BATON ROUGE (AP) — LSU-Eunice Chancellor William Nunez III is retiring and will step down at the end of the fiscal year.
Nunez made the announcement Monday about his career in higher education spanning 45 years. He’s been chancellor at the schools since 1996 and is also a biology professor there.
“It has been a sincere honor and privilege to serve LSU Eunice - its students, faculty and staff - and to work for LSU, my alma mater, over the past 19 years,” Nunez said in a statement released by LSU. “And, of all that has been achieved at LSUE during this time, the most important achievement has been the numbers of students who have personally grown, developed and succeeded as the end-result of their LSUE education and experience.”
LSU said it will conduct a national search for his replacement.
The school is located just southwest of Eunice along La. 755 in Acadia Parish.

Audit: Equipment thefts, other problems at GSU
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A new state audit of Grambling State University shows equipment thefts totaling more than $130,000 and an unbalanced budget with more total expenses than revenues in each of the five years analyzed.
According to the audit released Monday by the legislative auditor’s office, the thefts included plumbing units, air conditioners and water heaters taken from the football stadium, campus buildings and vacant housing facilities. One maintenance worker was arrested, confessing to thefts totaling $80,000.
Auditors advised the university to consider limiting key access, installing electronic card readers and security cameras, and increasing police patrols to mitigate its risk of loss.
Management agreed with the findings and recommendations and outlined a plan of corrective action.
“We acknowledge that internal controls were weak regarding the university’s vacant properties and after-hours building security,” said GSU interim President Cynthia Warrick.
Corrective action includes hiring risk manager James Austin, a retired chief of the Ruston Fire Department, to inspect all university buildings to ensure they are safe and property is intact, improving the university’s key control policy to incorporate better controls, stiffer fines for key replacement, limited key access and a reduction in the number of employees assigned a master key; and removing all moveable property from unused buildings to the university’s secured warehouse.
According to the analysis, total expenses have hovered above $100 million while revenues have dipped below $100 million each year.
In October, Warrick said GSU faces a $3.7 million deficit due in large part to decreases in enrollment.

St. Bernard considers name change for courthouse
CHALMETTE (AP) — The St. Bernard Parish Courthouse may be getting a new name.
The Parish Council today is expected to introduce an ordinance proposing renaming it to the ‘Jack F. Rowley Courthouse” in honor of the longtime district attorney who died last month.
The proposed ordinance notes that Rowley “was the longest serving District Attorney in the state of Louisiana,” having served 52 years. He died Nov. 5 at age 83.
He was elected sheriff in 1962 and moved to the DA’s office in 1979.
Rowley was St. Bernard’s first district attorney after it separated from Plaquemines Parish’s district.

Westlake woman
accused of burning child
WESTLAKE (AP) — A 32-year-old Westlake woman has been arrested on a charge of second-degree cruelty to a juvenile after a 2-year-old boy was severely burned.
Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kim Myers said Melynnie Fondel was arrested last week and is being held on $600,000 bond. It was unknown if she has an attorney.
Myers, in a news release Monday, said Fondel was interviewed Oct. 16 following the Oct. 9 incident in which the toddler was burned. Fondel says the alleged incident happened as she was running water for the child’s bath and the toddler crawled into the tub as she stepped out of the room.
Myers says doctors told detectives the burns were not consistent with accidental burns but were consistent with being submerged in hot water.

Unemployment claims rise
BATON ROUGE (AP) — The state labor department says first-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Nov. 22 increased to 2,547 from the previous week’s total of 2,377.
For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,854 initial claims, officials said Monday.
The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, increased to 2,364, from the previous week’s average of 2,270.
Continued unemployment claims for the week ending Nov. 22 increased to 19,764 compared to 19,251 the previous week.
The four-week moving average for such claims increased to 19,318 from the previous week’s average of 19,158.

Unloaded gun found
in 8th-grader’s book bag
BATON ROUGE (AP) — East Baton Rouge Parish authorities have arrested two 8th-graders at Crestworth Middle School after an unloaded gun was found inside the book bag of one of them.
The sheriff’s office says a student reported seeing the weapon to a School Resource Officer on campus about 12:30 p.m. Monday.
No threats were made.
A 14-year-old student apparently brought the unloaded, 9mm handgun to school to show it off. The sheriff’s office says the student allegedly gave the bag — with the weapon inside — to another 14-year-old student.
Both teenagers were booked with illegal carrying of a firearm on a school campus after the campus officer was notified.