Louisiana news briefs

Restoring LSU lakes could mean draining them
BATON ROUGE (AP) — As plans to restore the LSU lakes move forward, saving them as lakes could mean draining them.
The six lakes — City Park, University, Campus, College, Crest and Erie — were created in the 1930s when a cypress swamp on the property was cut down. Ever since, soil from the surrounding land has been washing into the lakes making them too shallow to be healthy.
John Spain, executive vice president of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, said there are two scenarios.
The entire lake system would be drained while the sediment is removed. In the other, “coffer dams” would be built to wall off smaller areas at a time for dredging.
Spain says cost could be a factor in choosing between the two.

Pizza delivery driver killed
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans police are investigating the shooting death of a 35-year-old pizza delivery driver.
Police were called to investigate a man down in the middle of the street early Monday morning. When officers arrived, police said in a new release they found the unresponsive victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the body.
They say the Domino’s Pizza delivery driver died on the scene.
Police say neighbors heard a verbal altercation and moments later, they heard several gunshots.
Police have not released the man’s name. Police say the victim’s car was also stolen.

2 killed when ATV crashes
KAPLAN (AP) — Deputies say two men died in Vermilion Parish when their all-terrain vehicle ran off the road and into a ditch, throwing them off the ATV.
Vermilion Parish Sheriff Mike Couvillon says a juvenile who was riding with them was injured when he also was thrown from the ATV.
Couvillon says 34-year-old Shawn Lalonde and 29-year-old Kyle Dudding were pronounced dead at the scene early Sunday morning while the juvenile was taken to a hospital where he was listed in stable condition.
Couvillon said the three were riding down Clint Road near Kaplan when they came to the intersection of La. Highway 35. He says they did not stop at the stop sign and ended up running into a ditch.

Church Point man dies in crash
LEWISBURG (AP) — State police say a man died in a single-vehicle wreck when his car ran off a highway and overturned.
Master Trooper Brooks David says 24-year-old Joshua Jenkins, of Church Point, was westbound about 2:20 a.m. Saturday on La. 358 near Lewisburg when his car left the roadway and slammed into a ditch embankment.
David said Jenkins was ejected from the vehicle and died later at a nearby hospital.

Gonzales man accused
of threatening judge, attorney
BATON ROUGE — Ascension Parish sheriff’s deputies say a 71-year-old Gonzales man has been arrested after allegedly telling a clerk of court official in Baton Rouge that he was going to kill an Ascension Parish judge, district attorney and then himself.
Allison Hudson, a spokeswoman with the sheriff’s office, said Paul Cleveland made the comments in Baton Rouge Friday when he was leaving the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal after losing an appeal of a DWI arrest.

Fordoche man dies
in Pointe Coupee crash
LIVONIA (AP) — State police say a 43-year-old man died after he ran a stop sign in Pointe Coupee Parish and struck an 18-wheeler.
Trooper Jared Sandifer says Michael J. Jarreau, of Fordoche, was headed south on La. 81 shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday when he came to the U.S. 190 intersection and failed to stop at the stop sign.
As he went through the intersection, Sandifer says Jarreau’s car hit the rear corner of a tractor-trailer headed west on U.S. 190 near Livonia.
He says was not wearing his seat belt.
The truck driver was not injured.

2 dead in aircraft crash
RESERVE (AP) — A small helicopter-like aircraft crashed into a canal at the St. John the Baptist Parish Airport in Reserve, killing the pilot and a passenger.
Officials say the pilot and his passenger, a teenage family friend, were pronounced dead Sunday night. Their identities have not been released.
Port of South Louisiana Commissioner and Chairman of the Aviation Committee Joey Murray says the gyrocopter — an experimental aircraft that resembles a helicopter — flew down the length of the runway. Murray say as the aircraft was making a turn at an altitude of around 300 feet, the top rotor blades collapsed and the aircraft crashed into a drainage canal.
Murray said the airport is closed until federal officials complete their investigation.

Mayor: Move state inmates from New Orleans jail
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu asks the governor to pull state inmates from Orleans Parish Prison, saying that could save tens of millions of dollars on a new jail.
The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said that the jail holds 380 state inmates.
The sheriff’s office was paid $6.7 million last year to house state inmates.
State Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc tells The New Orleans Advocate that the mayor “should work with the sheriff on this local issue.” He says officials will review Landrieu’s request.
Landrieu and Sheriff Marlin Gusman have been at loggerheads over a federal settlement of lawsuits saying the jail is filthy and unsafe. The city must pay for the changes but was not part of settlement talks.

New Orleans, heirs
fight for control of land
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A state appeal court has ruled for New Orleans over control of coastland that brought $8 million in 2012, including rent from Port Fourchon.
The Wisner Donation Trust’s revenue goes to the city, heirs of philanthropist Edward Wisner, the Salvation Army, Tulane University and the former Charity Hospital, now controlled by LSU.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal ruled Friday that Wisner meant the trust to end Aug. 4 this year. Wisner’s heirs say it should continue.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu hasn’t said what he thinks should happen if the trust is dissolved.
City Attorney Sharonda Williams couldn’t be immediately reached and the Wisner heirs’ attorney, Dan Lund, declined to comment Friday.

Enrollment slips at Nicholls
THIBODAUX (AP) — Enrollment in workforce programs at Nicholls State University increased though total enrollment dipped for the fall semester.
Overall enrollment dipped 4 percent, lowering the university’s total to 6,298. Officials expected the decline based on the large spring-summer graduating class, an increase in tuition and implementation of higher admission standards.
The department of petroleum engineering technology and safety management grew by 153 students, bringing total enrollment to 459. That’s up about 50 percent from enrollment for the fall 2013 semester.