Louisiana news briefs

Jindal OKs extra troopers through Labor Day in N.O.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana State Police Col. Mike Edmonson says Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed off on a plan to redeploy 50 state troopers and public safety officers to help with law enforcement in New Orleans.
Edmonson told The Associated Press on Thursday that the contingent has been assigned to work with the New Orleans Police Department in whatever capacity they’re needed.
Edmonson says the extra uniformed presence will be in the city for the July 4th weekend to help with the Essence Festival and will stay through Labor Day.
The news comes as the city comes to grips with a deadly shooting on Bourbon Street. Mayor Mitch Landrieu had asked for the assignment of 100 permanent troopers. Landrieu thanked Edmonson for the additional support, calling it a “step in the right direction.”

High court won’t intervene
in Death Row heat suit
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Supreme Court justice has refused to intervene in an ongoing case about hot conditions on Death Row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
The case involves a suit filed on behalf of three Death Row inmates. It resulted in last year’s ruling by a federal judge in Baton Rouge that Death Row gets so hot it violates U.S. constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
The judge ordered prison officials to develop a plan for cooling the facilities where condemned killers are held.
However, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal put the order on hold in June while state prison officials appeal.
The three inmates asked the Supreme Court to vacate that stay. On Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denied the inmates’ application without comment.

New Orleans man cited
for selling redfish, trout
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A New Orleans man has been cited for allegedly selling redfish and speckled trout from his home.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ agents cited 34-year-old Paul Haptonstall for selling commercial fish without a commercial license, taking commercial fish without a commercial gear license, taking spotted sea trout without a permit, selling spotted sea trout during a closed season and six counts of selling game fish illegally.
The department had received complaints about Haptonstall advertising his sale of redfish and speckled trout on social media. Agents then went to his home and purchased 138 redfish, 11 black drum and two speckled trout.
Haptonstall faces various fines and jail time. He also faces $3,710.80 in civil restitution for the illegally taken and possessed fish.

Shreveport man pleads
guilty to stealing from ATM
SHREVEPORT (AP) — A Shreveport man has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $30,000 from an ATM located on bank property in Minden.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley said 46-year-old Frederick Charles Davis pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. earlier this week to one count of bank theft.
According to evidence presented at Tuesday’s hearing, on July 13, 2012, Davis broke open an automated teller machine at the end of a drive-through lane at a branch of Richland State Bank, and stole $30,320. Authorities say he used a power tool and a chain attached to the back of his truck to open the machine, causing $35,242 in damages.
Davis faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, forfeiture and restitution. Sentencing was set for Oct. 2.

All 110 New Iberia chimps now at Chimp Haven
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — All 110 chimps from a laboratory in New Iberia have been moved to Chimp Haven in northwest Louisiana, according to the national sanctuary for chimpanzees retired from federal research.
The last group of about 20 arrived the week of June 18 but Chimp Haven waited to announce their arrival until they all were out of quarantine, the sanctuary’s President and CEO, Cathy Willis Spraetz, said Wednesday.
“After a long road, seeing these chimps retired is a precious moment to celebrate,” said Kathleen Conlee, vice president for animal research issues of the Humane Society of the United States. She said she looks forward to more such celebrations as the National Institutes of Health carries out a plan announced a year ago to end most use of chimpanzees in medical research and retire about 310 of the animals.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette decided in September 2012 not to renew its federal contract for studies using chimps at its primate lab in New Iberia, retiring 110 of about 350 chimpanzees.
Chimp Haven, an independent, nonprofit organization, now has 212 chimpanzees in 20 groups, Spraetz said. The NIH pays three-quarters of the upkeep cost for animals it owns. The sanctuary pays the entire cost for animals that had been privately owned.
The NIH had originally planned to send only 10 of the New Iberia chimps to Chimp Haven and the rest to a laboratory in Texas, but Chimp Haven embarked on a $5 million expansion drive to make room for all of the animals and raise money for their care. The expansion had been part of its original plans, but was derailed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Construction resumed last year. Since then, six play areas have been completed, making room for all 110 animals. Several bedrooms and one large open playground that would allow further expansion are near completion, officials said.
The sanctuary has raised $3 million toward its goal.

State closes probe into Westlake fire in Geismar
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Company officials say air releases from an early June fire inside a refrigeration unit at Westlake Chemical Corp.’s vinyls plant in Ascension Parish did not exceed pollution limits.
Greg Langley, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said Tuesday that with that information, the state’s investigation into the fire has been closed.
In a June 11 follow-up report to DEQ, Westlake plant manager James Best wrote that the liquid organic peroxide either came into contact with unspecified “incompatible materials” or reached a temperature that caused a release of flammable vapors, which ignited.
Westlake and DEQ officials have said the fire caused no injuries and, based on air monitoring at the time, did not result in off-site impacts.