Louisiana news briefs

Terrebonne sales tax increase to benefit teachers
HOUMA (AP) — Terrebonne Parish School Board will ask voters to approve a half-cent sales tax increase to raise teachers’ salaries.
The board voted Tuesday to put the tax issue on the Dec. 6 ballot.
Superintendent Philip Martin said the board will submit the action to the State Bond Commission.
Terrebonne residents pay a 9-cent sales tax, with a little more than 2 cents going toward the school district. Martin said the new half-cent tax will bring in about $12 million each year.
The average annual salary for the parish’s public school teachers is about $46,000. Their last local raise came in 2007, and their last state raise was in 2008.
Last year, voters rejected a property tax that would have given raises to public school employees.

Omega Protein Corp adding equipment in Abbeville
ABBEVILLE (AP) — Omega Protein Corp. says it’s adding a new steam dryer and cooling tower to increase peak processing ability at its plant in Abbeville.
The plant’s general manager, Al Vidrine, says the Abbeville plant has been the company’s most productive facility along the Gulf of Mexico, with big catches and excellent yields of oil.
The plant has been open for nearly 50 years and employs about 300 people.
Company president and CEO Bret Scholtes says the project will modernize the plant and shows commitment to Omega’s Gulf Coast fishing operations and employees.
The Houston-based company’s news release Tuesday did not say how much it’s spending on the equipment.
The project is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2015 fishing season.

State police investigate Youngsville police
LAFAYETTE (AP) — Youngville Mayor Wilson Viator has asked Louisiana State Police to investigate allegations of missing and mishandled evidence at the city’s Police Department.
State police spokesman Trooper Brooks David on Tuesday confirmed that state investigators are looking into the complaint but said he had few details.
Youngsville Police Chief Earl Menard did not immediately return a call for comment.
Viator says he requested the investigation after a former Youngsville officer raised the issue of mishandled evidence in comments to the Youngsville Council in June.
Viator and Menard have been at odds in the past but says he hopes the investigation turns up nothing.

Internet sneaker sale ends in teen’s robbery at gunpoint
KENNER (AP) — A Gretna teenager who turned to the Internet to sell Air Jordan athletic shoes was robbed at gunpoint by his would-be buyers.
Police have arrested four of the five suspects.
Kenner Police Sgt. Brian McGregor said Tuesday the 17-year-old victim advertised the sneakers for $160 on the photo-sharing service Instagram and on Kik, an instant messaging application for smartphones. McGregor said the victim arranged to meet a potential buyer Saturday, but five people showed up.
One of them offered $100 for a pair, but when the seller told them that wasn’t enough, the buyers left to get more cash. When they returned, McGregor said one person was armed with a pistol and took back the $100 and four pairs of the teen’s sneakers.
Police canvassed the neighborhood and detained some teenagers who matched descriptions of the alleged robbers, McGregor said.
When investigators called the phone number that the victim said the buyers used to contact him, the phone belonging to a 17-year-old suspect, of Chalmette, began ringing, McGregor said.

Mother sentenced 8 years for negligent homicide of 4 children
CROWLEY (AP) — Shaqueta McDade will spend the next eight years in prison without the benefit of probation or parole.
McDade, whose four children died in a Rayne mobile home fire while she was out at a nightclub in 2012, pleaded no contest to four counts of negligent homicide.
She was sentenced Tuesday to five years of hard labor for each count, but 12 years of the sentence was suspended.
McDade was arrested in April 2012 in the deaths of four of her children, all of whom were under the age of eight. Her oldest child was not home at the time of the fire.

Ex-Brusly chief enters
plea to 2nd set of charges
PORT ALLEN (AP) — Former Brusly Police Chief Jamie Whaley has pleaded not guilty to allegations of malfeasance, forgery and theft.
The new counts stem from Whaley’s second arrest. He had already resigned from office and had been sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation on earlier charges of theft and malfeasance for using a town-issued credit card to purchase gasoline for his personal truck and boat.
The 37-year-old Whaley would not comment Tuesday after his appearance in court.
His attorney, John DiGiulio, said Whaley was in high spirts.
The new investigation alleged Whaley misappropriated seven firearms owned by the town.
Whaley’s next court appearance is Oct. 30 for a pre-trial conference.

Landrieu agrees to 4 debates
BATON ROUGE (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu has agreed to four TV debates leading up to the Nov. 4 election.
The Democratic incumbent is in a tight race, seeking a fourth term against two Republican challengers.
Landrieu’s campaign announced Tuesday she’ll participate in an Oct. 2 New Orleans debate hosted by WDSU-TV, an Oct. 27 New Orleans debate hosted by WWL-TV and an Oct. 29 Baton Rouge debate hosted by Raycom Media, LSU’s journalism school and WRKF.
The senator also agreed to a Monroe debate with KNOE-TV and KALB-TV, but a final date hasn’t been set.
Landrieu’s closest competitor, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, hasn’t announced what debates he’ll attend. Tea party favorite Rob Maness has said he’s participating in the first three and is expected to agree to the Monroe date as well.

$40M college fund studied
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana college, economic development and labor officials are digging into the details of how they’ll spend a new $40 million higher education incentive fund created earlier this year.
Gov. Bobby Jindal and lawmakers set aside the money for college research and training programs that will fill high-demand jobs in the state. The money was put into the newly-created Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy Fund, or WISE Fund.
A council set up to make recommendations for spending the money is meeting Wednesday to discuss the data that will be used to divvy up the money in the fund and possible ways to distribute the cash.
.The Board of Regents will have final say over which campuses get the remaining money, based on recommendations from the WISE Council.