Louisiana news briefs

Wrongful death lawsuit
filed in platform explosion
LAFAYETTE (AP) — The wife of a man killed in a Nov. 20 explosion on a Fieldwood Energy platform has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in U.S. District Court that claims the victim and his crew were told the piece of equipment that exploded was safe to work on.
Jerrel Hancock, 24, was a supervisor on a cleaning crew for Turnkey Cleaning Services when a heater treater they were working on blew up, killing Hancock and injuring three others.
The injured employees were treated and released from medical facilities in the days after the explosion.
Turnkey Cleaning Services is a contractor that was working for Fieldwood about 12 miles offshore.
Hancock and other Turnkey Cleaning Services employees were cleaning a heater treater, a piece of equipment that separates water and other materials from oil, when it exploded.
Federal investigators with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement have not yet issued a report.

Bollinger adds 2 new dry docks
LOCKPORT (AP) — Bollinger Shipyards has taken delivery of two dry docks with a total lifting capacity of 12,000 tons.
The Lockport-based shipbuilder said Thursday one of the docks, a 10,500-ton dry dock, will be located at the company’s Port Fourchon facility in southern Lafourche Parish. It measures 320-by-100 feet.
Bollinger Chief Financial Officer Ben Bordelon said the company now has three commercial dry docks at Port Fourchon with a combined lifting capacity of more than 22,000 tons.
The second, a 1,500-ton dry dock will be located at the Bollinger Quick Repair facility in the Harvey Canal near New Orleans. It measures 160 by 60 feet. That site serves both the inland and offshore marine transportation industry with six dry docks ranging from 900 to 3,400 ton lifting capacity.

Alexandria lawmaker resigns from state House this week
BATON ROUGE (AP) — An Alexandria state representative has stepped down from his elected position.
Rep. Herbert Dixon, a Democrat, announced Thursday that he resigned a day earlier. In a statement, Dixon said the decision was “to better manage my health situation, spend more time with family and pursue other opportunities.”
Dixon had represented his district since 2008.
The resignation leaves vacant the chairmanship of the House labor committee.
House Speaker Chuck Kleckley has called a special election for Feb. 21 to fill the state House seat, with a runoff on March 28 if needed.
Dixon was the second lawmaker to resign this month. Vermilion Parish Rep. Simone Champagne, a Republican, said her last day in the House will be Dec. 31. She’s leaving to take a job as Youngsville’s chief administrative officer.

Citing costs, 2 clinics drop La. abortion suit
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Abortion clinics in Baton Rouge and New Orleans have dropped their challenge to Louisiana’s newest abortion law. An earlier lawsuit filed by clinics in Metairie, Shreveport and Bossier City remains intact.
The law requires doctors who perform abortions to be able to admit patients to a hospital within 30 miles.
Attorney Ellie Schilling said earlier that cost was the only reason that Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge, Women’s Health Care Center in New Orleans and a doctor at each decided to drop their suit.
U.S. District Judge John deGravelles agreed Thursday to let them do so.
He has scheduled a trial to begin March 30. Until then, his temporary order bars the state health department from penalizing abortion doctors whose applications for hospital admitting privileges are pending.

709 state vehicles to be sold by Jindal administration
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration intends to sell 709 state vehicles at auction early next year as a cost-cutting move.
Ruth Johnson, deputy commissioner of administration, said Thursday the vehicles aren’t being used enough to justify the continued maintenance costs.
In a statement, the governor’s Division of Administration estimated the sales could bring in $700,000 to $1.4 million for a state struggling with repeated budget shortfalls.
The Jindal administration says of the 11,000 vehicles across state agencies, more than 1,400 were driven less than 15,000 miles over the last year. The administration says it’s cheaper to pay employees for travel than to pay maintenance for those vehicles, so half of them will be sold.
Administration officials notified the agencies this week, giving them two weeks to turn over the vehicles.

Jail stabbing leads
to deputy’s indictment
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A grand jury has indicted an Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy in connection with a stabbing inside Orleans Parish Prison.
The Sheriff’s Office said 42-year-old John Dupart, was charged with counts of malfeasance in office and principal to aggravated battery. The Sheriff’s Office statement said Dupart’s failure to follow procedures resulted in an altercation at the jail.
Several inmates also were indicted on counts of attempted second-degree murder in the attack.
Dupart’s attorney, Jeffrey Smith has asked for a hearing to have a reported $750,000 bond reduced. Smith noted that Dupart is not accused of taking part in any violent act himself. The allegation, Smith said, is that Dupart didn’t stop a fight.

Terrebonne tax OK means raises for teachers
HOUMA (AP) — More than $30,000 in campaign spending by the Terrebonne Parish School Board may have helped win passage of a half-cent sales tax by Terrebonne voters.
More than $22,000 was spent on signs and, more than $5,800 on newspaper ads and $4,000 on mail advertising.
Saturday’s approval comes more than a year after the failure of a proposed property tax for schools, for which there was not campaign. Months later, the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce created a community committee that outlined the half-cent sales tax proposal and recommended how the school system should campaign.
With the tax approved, teachers, school administrators and personnel at school system headquarters with a college degree will receive a $4,000 raise. Support staff will get a $2,000 raise.