Louisiana news briefs

School board cuts $800K; deficit still nearly $22M
LAFAYETTE (AP) — The Lafayette Parish School Board quickly dismissed three new budget proposals by Superintendent Pat Cooper, then slowly chipped away at its looming $23.5 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year.
Nearly $800,000 in expenses were cut for a host of items, including marketing, travel to conferences and workshops, hospitality, playground maintenance, tree maintenance and more.
The nearly six-hour meeting ended around 11:30 p.m. Thursday. The board still had not decided on the future of several types of classroom positions, including instructional strategists, data analysts, counselors and more.

51 indicted on charges related to Operation 27
LAKE CHARLES (AP) — A Calcasieu Parish grand jury has indicted 51 people on cocaine distribution charges related to Operation 27.
Authorities had previously announced 39 arrests netted by the drug sting, but a grand jury on Thursday returned charges against 51 defendants.
Norvell Harris, for whom the operation was named, faces the most charges. He was indicted on 188 counts, 159 of those are conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
There were also 13 counts of conspiracy to manufacture cocaine and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
Officials say Operation 27 was so named because Harris was arrested for the 27th time.

Orleans sheriff to seek property tax change
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman will ask voters in the fall to approve a change in how certain property tax proceeds may be used by his office.
Gusman says the move would not increase taxes but would allow an existing millage to be used for operating expenses instead of strictly capital expenditures.
Under the proposal, Philip Stelly, Gusman’s spokesman, said tax dollars not needed for capital debt could be used for the maintenance of new jail facilities.
The 2.9-mill property tax in question is levied by the sheriff’s Law Enforcement District. Stelly says the change would generate $7.5 million.
The proposal comes as the sheriff’s office is seeking to hire hundreds of new employees to meet the requirements of a court-ordered plan for jail reform.

Military search
dog reunited with sergeant
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — U.S. Army veteran Staff Sgt. James Harrington has reunited with Military Working Dog Ryky, a Belgian Malinois with whom he served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ryky is a 7-year-old specialized Improvised Detection dog who helped detect explosives. She served with Harrington for four years on two combat deployments in Iraq from 2008 to 2009 and an Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011.
Each military working dog saves about 150 to 200 military service member lives.
Thursday’s reunion was made possible by American Humane Association and Mission K9 Rescue — nonprofit groups that work to bring military working dogs back to the U.S. and reconnect them with their former handlers
Harrington, of Kenner, works as a military police officer with the National Guard and is adopting Ryky.
“I plan to let Ryky be a dog and chill out on the couch. She’s earned it,” said Harrington.

Stage being set for
La. gay marriage rulings
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has set a mid-July deadline for filing briefs on multiple issues involving gay marriage in Louisiana.
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman has already heard arguments on some of those issues regarding Louisiana’s refusal to recognize the unions of gay couples legally married in other states. On Thursday, he set a July 16 deadline for attorneys to file briefs on related issues — including whether the state’s refusal to let same-sex couples marry in the state violates their rights to due process and equal protection.
Feldman will decide later whether to hold more arguments on those issues.

Louisiana to share
$154M for job training
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana is among a group of 32 states, Puerto Rico and the Cherokee tribal nation getting a portion of more than $154 million awarded by the federal government for job training laid-off workers in high-demand industries.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday that Louisiana will get a federal grant of $6.175 million to provide training in various industries through the Job-Driven National Emergency Grand program.
The program is designed to train workers who lost a job through no fault of their own for jobs in high-demand industries. Funding was made available through the Workforce Investment Act Dislocated Worker National Reserve fund
With the number of new companies moving to Louisiana, many officials have been concerned with the state’s ability to churn out a qualified workforce.

Shreveport fire chief
indicted for malfeasance
SHREVEPORT (AP) — Shreveport Fire Chief Craig Mulford surrendered Thursday to Caddo Parish authorities on charges of malfeasance in office.
A grand jury handed up a secret indictment that became public once Mulford turned himself in at the Caddo Correctional Center. Mulford is charged with five counts of malfeasance in office. Each charge carries a $5,000 bond.
A grand jury indicted Mulford and another person following an investigation into the Shreveport Fire Department administration’s handling of alleged misconduct by five firefighters.
Mulford posted a $25,000 bond and left flanked by his wife Robin and his lawyer, Paul J. Carmouche.
Carmouche said the allegations against his client were “absolutely ridiculous.”
Last summer, five firefighters — Derrick Harris, Jason Vaughan, Clint Richardson, Billy Glass, and Randy Chandler — were arrested for mistreating and playing cruel pranks on a mentally disabled man who often visited Fire Station No. 8. The firefighters, except for Chandler, also are accused of hiring a prostitute to have sex with another intellectually-challenged man who was known informally as a “mascot” of the station.
According to court documents, Mulford reportedly responded to the allegations in June 2013 by interviewing some of the firefighters and concluded it was all merely a rumor originating from a disgruntled employee.
In an affidavit by Rod Demery, a Shreveport Police Department detective assigned to investigate the alleged misconduct, Demery wrote that he learned the firefighters “all told the same story of denial” to the chief, which later unraveled.
Demery also wrote that the whistle-blower, a fire department employee, reported the alleged misconduct to the FBI, but when an FBI agent tried to ask questions, Mulford “ordered the FBI special agent from city property, forbidding the special agent from interviewing the reporting party.”
The grand jury indictment had to do with reports that Mulford initiated a cover up of the firefighter misconduct scandal, a charge Carmouche denies.
“The firemen at Station 8 were fired,” Carmouche said. “They were arrested, and they’re facing trial, so if there was a cover up it wasn’t a very good cover up.”
Carmouche added that the investigation against Mulford was simply the result of an angry employee who had made statements that she was going to “get the chief,” and that “she was going to burn him.”
It’s not clear whether Mulford will take a leave of absence from work while the case is pending. That decision rests on the city government, Carmouche said.
Mulford responded to questions from the media only by saying, “This too is the day that the Lord has made and I’m gonna rejoice and be glad in it.”