Louisiana news briefs

LSU launches crime prevention, reporting app
BATON ROUGE (AP) — LSU has launched a new app designed to make the task of reporting emergencies or crimes easier for students, staff and faculty of the university.
LSU Shield, available for free on both Android and iOS operating systems, will make reporting emergencies with more timely and accurate information to authorities an easier task for the campus community.
The app is a joint venture between the LSU Police Department, LSU Student Government and 911 Cellular LLC with hopes of keeping staff and students safe while on campus.
For more information on LSU Shield, visit LSU PD’s website, https://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsupd/ .

New Orleans Harbor Police officer arrested
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans Harbor Police officer is in custody after authorities said he was caught using department-issued gas credit cards more than 50 times while off-duty or out sick.
Terry Javery, 35, a 12-year veteran, was suspended following his arrest Monday. Bond information was not immediately available and it was unclear whether Javery has an attorney.
Department spokesman Matthew Gresham said an investigation found $669.44 worth of fraudulent gas purchases made between July 7 and Aug. 24 on a card with a unique access number assigned to Javery, and another $1,215 in declined transactions.

Task force looks for ideas to generate road money
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Lawmakers are launching their latest effort to try to chip away at a $12 billion backlog of road and bridge repair and improvement work across Louisiana.
An eight-member task force created by the Legislature meets today, seeking ideas for drumming up new transportation funding.
The state is struggling with a stagnant gasoline tax that hasn’t kept pace with construction inflation and a disinterest in raising new taxes to fill the gaps in roadwork.
Lawmakers charged the Transportation Funding Task Force with looking for enterprising ways to tackle the backlog problem. The panel includes four lawmakers, Louisiana’s transportation secretary and representatives of the construction and engineering industries.
Recommendations from the task force are due Jan. 15. The panel faces a difficult job, since ideas from previous study groups have gone nowhere.

I-10 bridge lane
closings start today
BATON ROUGE (AP) — The first of 18 months of nighttime lane closures on the Interstate 10 Mississippi River Bridge will start this week.
Today, state Department of Transportation and Development says the eastbound right lane of the bridge will be closed from 8:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m.
On Thursday the inside left lanes for both eastbound and westbound traffic will be closed.
No closures are set for Friday or Saturday because of the LSU-University of Louisiana at Monroe football game.
DOTD officials said lane closures will resume on Sunday night and continue for the next two to three weeks except for football games.
The work is needed for rust removal and painting.

Eunice man arrested
in child pornography case
EUNICE (AP) — Authorities say a 35-year-old Eunice man has been arrested on suspicion he possessed and distributed online child pornography.
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell said in a news release on Monday St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies booked Kevin Briscoe on 29 counts of possessing and one count of distributing online pornography involving children.
The case was investigated by the Attorney General’s Office cybercrimes detectives and St. Landry detectives.
Briscoe was booked Friday on counts of producing, distributing, possessing and possessing with the intent to distribute child pornography.

Baton Rouge jury acquits man in bicyclist fatality
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Four months after an East Baton Rouge Parish jury failed to reach a verdict, a different jury acquitted a Baton Rouge man in an alleged hit-and-run that led to the death of a bicyclist.
Darby Griffin, 50, was found not guilty of hit-and-run driving Friday night in the death of 54-year-old Barbara Jacobs.
State police say Jacobs was not wearing a helmet or reflective gear at 11 p.m. Sept. 30, 2012, when Griffin’s southbound car struck her rear tire, throwing Jacobs from her bike and into the northbound lane where an SUV then hit her.
East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said the case was fully presented and the jury spoke.

Man pleads guilty
in 2 rapes 12 years apart
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A 50-year-old Baker man accused of kidnapping two females in Baton Rouge and raping them 12 years apart has pleaded guilty to both sex crimes in exchange for a 40-year prison term.
Michael A. Rushing, who was scheduled to stand trial Monday, faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted of aggravated rape in the 2012 incident involving a 22-year-old woman. He was charged with forcible rape in the 2000 assault of a 14-year-old girl.
Rushing pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible rape The 40 years in prison must be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.
Prosecutors dropped a second-degree kidnapping charge in each incident.

Report takes New Orleans police to task over cameras
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A report issued this week says most incidents involving use of force by New Orleans police are not being recorded by the cameras police have begun wearing.
The report, issued by a federal court-appointed monitor, also takes the police department to task for slipshod maintenance of its in-car cameras. And it says there has been poor oversight of footage captured by cameras in cars or those worn by New Orleans officers.
The monitor’s analysis includes a review of 145 logged “use-of-force events.” For the first five months of the year, it found only 49 reports clearly indicated the event had been recorded.

Port Allen man dies in wreck with garbage truck
PORT ALLEN (AP) — State police say a Port Allen man died in a weekend traffic accident involving his car and a garbage truck.
The accident happened Saturday morning on La. 415 in West Baton Rouge Parish.
A state police news release says 59-year-old Frederick Brown Jr. was driving north on the highway at the time that the driver of the garbage truck was attempting to enter a median opening.
Brown’s car struck the left rear corner of the garbage truck, crossed the median and crossed the southbound lanes before coming to rest in a ditch.
No charges were reported and police said neither driver was believed to be impaired, although toxicology reports were pending.