Louisiana news briefs

State seeks comments on new housing program
BATON ROUGE — The state is accepting public comments on a plan that would invest $1 million in a new Homeowner Rehabilitation Program for low- to moderate-income residents whose homes were damaged after Hurricane Isaac.
Partial Action Plan 2 allocates $1 million to the program in order to address housing needs in parishes that didn’t get separate Disaster Recovery Community Development Block Grant funding.
The funds are part of the $66.4 million in CDBG dollars that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated to Louisiana for recovery from the 2012 storm.
Eligible parishes include: Allen, Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Lafourche, Livingston, Morehouse, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. Martin, St. Mary, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Washington, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana.
The formal public comment period runs through 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12.
Citizens, community leaders and elected officials can submit comments about the plan online by visiting: http://www.doa.louisiana.gov/cdbg/DR/IC_ActionPlans.htm and opening, “Isaac Partial Action Plan 2.”
Submissions also will be accepted:
— via email, www.ocd@la.gov
— via mail to Disaster Recovery Unit, P.O. Box 94095, Baton Rouge, LA., 70804-9095, Attention: Janice Lovett
— via fax to Janice Lovett at 225-219-9605.
After accepting public comments, the state will submit the plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for final federal approval.

Louisiana-Lafayette’s summer graduation Aug. 8
LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is bringing back its summer commencement.
About 160 graduates will receive diplomas during the university’s commencement ceremony on Friday, Aug. 8.
The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. in the Convention Center next to the Cajundome. It will be held in Exhibit Hall B, which is on the first floor.
This will be the first summer commencement since 1949.

LSU Health Shreveport welcomes biggest class ever
SHREVEPORT — The School of Medicine at LSU Health Shreveport welcomes its largest class ever today, with 125 students comprising the Class of 2018.
Interim Dean John Marymont says the number of students is seven more than the previous year and the first step toward the school’s goal of increasing class size by 25 more in the next five years.
The university says the need for more doctors is only expected to grow as demand for services increase and the physician population ages.

Opelousas man dies
in single-vehicle accident
OPELOUSAS — State police say an Opelousas man has died in a single-vehicle crash on the Interstate 49 service road near Kennerson Road in St. Landry Parish.
Master Trooper Brooks David says 32-year-old Corey L. Doucet was driving an SUV Thursday when he ran off the road, crashed into a ditch and overturned.
David said Doucet was not wearing a seat belt, and it was unclear whether he was impaired

Judge sets hearing
for man in fatal accident case
GONZALES — A state district judge will hear arguments Sept. 18 over whether to tell a Donaldsonville man convicted 19 years ago of negligent homicide that it is finally time to serve his two-year prison sentence.
Judge Jessie LeBlanc has ordered the hearing for Stanley White after the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal reversed her ruling that had suspended White’s prison sentence last year and sent the case back to LeBlanc.
White pleaded guilty July 10, 1995, to the reduced charge of negligent homicide in an alcohol-related crash in July 1994 near Gonzales. A 10-week-old St. Amant girl, Brittany Deville, was killed in the crash. White was 19 at the time.

Baton Rouge building
permits grow by 52%
BATON ROUGE — Big-ticket commercial building projects, more home remodeling and an increase in homebuilding activity lifted the value of building permits issued in East Baton Rouge Parish by 52 percent for the first half of the year over 2013.
The value of building permits issued by the city-parish Department of Public Works Inspection Division through the end of June was $453 million, compared with $298 million in permits issued during the same period in 2013.
The total number of permits increased by 5.5 percent from 10,793 to 11,390.

Man wanted in Destrehan fatal stabbing captured
INDEPENDENCE — St. Charles Parish sheriff’s deputies a 34-year-old Destrehan man suspected of killing his girlfriend and attacking her mother has been arrested.
Authorities say Bruce Bourgeois Jr. was taken into custody Thursday evening in Independence.
Deputies say Bourgeois faces charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery.
Police say Bourgeois is accused of killing Mia Waite, his 34-year-old girlfriend and mother of his child, in the couple’s home on Wednesday. He later stabbed Waite’s mother, 62-year-old Carmelina Waite, before fleeing in a car.
Carmelina Waite remains in critical condition at an area hospital.

Terrebonne high schools adopting to 7-period schedule
HOUMA — Terrebonne Parish public high school students will start the school year Aug. 11 with more classes as the district moves into seven-period days.
District officials made the decision late last year after they determined seven-period days would boost academic achievement, improve comprehension skills and accommodate different learning levels.
Students have been on a block schedule in which they take four 90-minute classes every day and finish a course in one semester rather a full school year. The new schedule will allow courses to be taught year-round, giving students 55 minutes of class time for each subject.
Assistant Superintendent Carol Davis said Terrebonne’s elementary, middle and junior high schools have also transitioned to a seven-period schedule.

Adult, 2 juveniles arrested in Ascension vandalism
PRAIRIEVILLE — Ascension Parish sheriff’s deputies have arrested an 18-year-old man and two juveniles in connection with vandalism Tuesday at Galvez Middle School.
Deputies surveyed the damage at the school Wednesday, which included numerous broken windows and damage to the school’s computer server and security cameras.
Deputies arrested 18-year-old Khrystopher Landix, of Prairieville, on three counts of simple burglary, 37 counts of simple criminal damage to property, seven counts of criminal mischief and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He’s being held at the Ascension Parish Jail. Bond has not been set.
A 14-year-old and 12-year-old each was also booked on three counts of burglary, 33 counts of damage to property and three counts of criminal mischief. They were taken to the Assumption Youth Detention Center.