Louisiana news briefs

Deputy recruit is killed in Bayou St. John shooting
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of an Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office recruit in the Bayou St. John area of New Orleans.
Authorities say the shooting occurred about 7 p.m. Sunday. The victim has been identified as 24-year-old d Arron White.
Police say White’s body was found in his car. He had been shot in the side.
Police say a single bullet punctured the driver’s side window.

Bids sought to demolish
Earl Long Medical Center
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Seven companies are competing for the contract to tear down the abandoned LSU Earl K. Long Medical Center in north Baton Rouge.
Office of Facility Planning Director Mark Moses said the contract is scheduled to be awarded in December and work should begin in early 2015.
Moses said asbestos needs to be removed before the demolition of the Airline Highway landmark can take place.
“You might not see much at first because much (of the work) will be interior to the building,” Moses said. “We expect to be inside for several months before they start demolishing the building.”
The state capital construction budget approved this year includes $2 million for the project.

What next for Sadie?
‘See where God leads me’
WEST MONROE (AP) — Sadie Robertson is back from Los Angeles and “Dancing With the Stars” — back with the rest of the “Duck Dynasty” family in West Monroe.
She said after a holiday break, she’ll see where God leads her.
The 17-year-old and her dance partner, Mark Ballas, were second in Tuesday’s season finale, just behind Mirror Ball trophy winners Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson.
Sadie says she doesn’t see dancing as her career, but is considering what she describes as “some really cool offers” in entertainment. She didn’t elaborate.
She’s the granddaughter of Duck Commander founder Phil Robinson.

Nicholls recreational center offers free bicycle sharing
THIBODAUX (AP) — Nicholls State campus recreation director Mike Matherne says a new program offers free use of bicycles to students and other recreation center members.
The bikes may be used on campus. But Matherne said they’re meant to let people explore surrounding areas, such as the farmer’s market, museums, and Jean Lafitte National Park.
He says that, with help from student government, the recreation center bought one tricycle, two tandem bicycles and nine cruisers. He says that they’ll buy more if the demand warrants it.
Bicycles rented during the week must be returned by the end of the day. But those checked out Friday can be returned Sunday.

Houma police may sell guns
HOUMA (AP) — Houma Police Chief Todd Duplantis hopes to get most of the money he needs to buy new guns for the department by selling the old ones.
The current .40-caliber Glock 22 pistols are about 15 years old, and a few have been breaking, he said.
“It’s going to help with officer and public safety because we don’t want something to malfunction,” he said.
He said he’s getting quotes from law enforcement distributors. He hopes to get $250 to $300 per gun, paying about $400 each for new Glocks.
Officers interested in keeping their pistols may buy them from the distributor before they go on sale to the public, but would have to use the new weapons on duty, Duplantis said.

Woman, 85, in critical condition after dog attack
POLLOCK (AP) — An 85-year-old woman remains in critical condition after being attacked by stray dogs.
Charla H. Ducote, a spokeswoman for Rapides Regional Medical Center, emailed the update Sunday evening, four days after Bobbie Cheveallier was attacked while taking out the trash at her home near Pollock.
Deputies have caught 14 stray dogs for testing since the attack Wednesday afternoon, Grant Parish Sheriff Steven McCain said.
Cheveallier’s son Randy Cheveallier said on Friday that his mother’s legs had to be amputated above the knees because of skin damage and tissue and muscle mutilation.

Terrebonne’s black-only
high school may get marker
HOUMA (AP) — Terrebonne Parish school officials hope to commemorate one of the parish’s remaining remnants of racial segregation with help through a state program.
The Terrebonne Parish School Board voted unanimously earlier this month for the administration to research criteria to apply for the state’s Historical Marker Program.
Several parish schools are near or over 100 years old, but the school behind the request is Southdown Elementary in Houma.
Superintendent Philip Martin said few such schools still remain in the state. Other schools will also fall under consideration, he said.

Southern University System suspends leader search
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The board supervising the Southern University System is suspending its search for a new president until January.
On Friday, the board — meeting in New Orleans — voted 10-4 to suspend the search amid concerns over the short timeline for finding a new leader. The search will resume Jan. 9.
Several board members’ terms expire at the end of the year. The governor could reappoint them, as has been done in the past, or there could be new board members with the new year.
In August the board voted 9-4 against offering Ronald Mason, the current president, a one-year contract extension. His contract expires June 30, 2015, but the faculty senate and one board member have asked the polarizing president to resign.

4 ex-New Orleans
officers awaiting new trial
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal prosecutors are asking for a new judge to preside over future proceedings should the government decide to retry five New Orleans police officers in the Danziger Bridge shootings.
The request was filed among other documents with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which will decide whether to reinstate the officers’ convictions on 25 counts.
The government wants to remove U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt from the case. The judge threw out the convictions of the five officers in September of 2013 and ordered a new trial, citing allegations of “grotesque” prosecutorial misconduct in the case.
Former Sgts. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius and former officers Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso have remained in custody since 2010, when a grand jury indicted them.
Less than a week after Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 landfall and the levee breaches that plunged parts of the city into chaos, police shot and killed two unarmed people and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans.
After hearing from five dozen witnesses and examining 400 pieces of evidence during a monthlong trial, a federal jury in New Orleans convicted Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso for opening fire on six unarmed people on the Danziger Bridge. The Sept. 4, 2005, shooting took the lives of 17-year-old James Brissette and 40-year-old Ronald Madison and injured four others.
The officers also were found guilty of scheming with a fifth defendant, former Sgt. Arthur “Archie” Kaufman, and others to engineer a cover-up to frame an innocent civilian for shooting at police.