Louisiana news briefs

Countdown to Mardi Gras getting underway
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The countdown to Mardi Gras is getting underway in New Orleans.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu planned to note the beginning of the Carnival season with a news conference Tuesday at a riverside warehouse where many of the huge, colorful floats for Carnival parades are on display.
And a group of masked revelers known as the Phorty Phunny Phellows scheduled their annual streetcar ride through town on Tuesday evening — a decades-old tradition marking the 12th night after Christmas and the official start of the season.
Carnival is celebrated along the Gulf Coast with parties, balls and parades culminating on Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, a final day of celebration before Lent. It is a major tourist draw in New Orleans.
Mardi Gras falls on Feb. 17 this year.

Louisiana’s new U.S. House members to be sworn in today
BATON ROUGE (AP) — The newest members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation are officially taking their seats.
Recently-elected U.S. Reps. Ralph Abraham and Garret Graves, both members of the GOP, will be sworn into office today, along with 56 other freshmen lawmakers from around the country. They will join a growing Republican majority in the House.
Abraham takes over the northeast Louisiana-based 5th District seat previously held by Republican Vance McAllister, who lost his re-election bid after a cheating scandal. Graves holds the Baton Rouge-based 6th District seat vacated by Republican Bill Cassidy.
Cassidy is moving up today, taking the oath of office as Louisiana’s newest U.S. senator. He defeated Democrat Mary Landrieu in December to win the seat, and he’ll join a new Republican majority taking control of that chamber.

Bastrop tax preparer sentenced for false returns
MONROE (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Bastrop tax preparer has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for filing fraudulent income tax returns using stolen identities and false information.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley, in a news release Monday, said U.S. District Judge Robert G. James sentenced 41-year-old Claudia Mays to 39 months for one count of aiding and assisting in making and subscribing a false tax return, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of identity theft.
She also was ordered to pay $94,043 restitution.
Finley says Mays prepared and filed 15 fraudulent tax returns using stolen identities and false information from January 2011 to April 2011. A co-conspirator, 53-year-old Carla Inzina, also of Bastrop, assisted Mays in the scheme and was sentenced to three years of probation.

Ex-reality TV star faces arraignment Thursday
BAON ROUGE (AP) — Former “Sons of Guns” reality TV star Will Hayden will be arraigned Thursday, his first court appearance since his Dec. 17 indictment in the alleged rapes of two preteen girls more than 20 years apart.
Hayden, who is charged in East Baton Rouge Parish with two counts of aggravated rape and one count of forcible rape, will be arraigned by state District Judge Mike Erwin.
The 49-year-old Hayden, of Greenwell Springs, is accused of raping one of the girls recently and the other in the 1990s.
Hayden owned Red Jacket Firearms, a Baton Rouge custom gun shop that was the center of “Sons of Guns,” a Discovery Channel show that was canceled after his arrests. The gun company later cut ties with Hayden.

Shreveport principal
gets BESE appointment
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A Shreveport elementary school principal has been named to Louisiana’s top school board to temporarily fill the unexpired term of Walter Lee, who resigned amid legal problems.
Mary Johnson Harris, principal of highly rated South Highlands Elementary Magnet School, was named Monday by Gov. Bobby Jindal to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
BESE is set to meet next on Jan. 13-14.
Jindal also called for a primary election on March 28 and general election, if needed, on May 2.
Qualifying for the post is set for Feb. 4-6.
The board sets policies for about 700,000 public school students statewide.

Free Wi-Fi coming to parks
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Parkgoers now can tap into a Wi-Fi connection at 25 Baton Rouge park facilities, as long as they don’t stroll too far from the buildings.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Recreation and Park Commission is offering three public Wi-Fi options, the most basic of which will allow people to spend two hours on the Internet daily for free with slower speeds. The other two options, which BREC classifies as premium services, cost $5 each. The speeds on those connections will be faster, with better streaming quality and the ability to download large files.

Lafayette eyes new bridge
LAFAYETTE (AP) — A road project most Lafayette residents likely had never heard of a year ago has been quickly gaining momentum to become the next crossing over the Vermilion River.
City-parish government is moving forward with a $350,000 engineering study to narrow down the possible routes for the extension of South City Parkway in south Lafayette. Officials are considering buying 26 acres to secure much of the right of way for the road.
Public Works Director Kevin Blanchard says the bridge is the No. 1 project in regards to reducing traffic congestion.
In terms of roadways, Lafayette is literally a city divided by the Vermilion River, and any new crossing has the potential to improve traffic, particularly for the congested arteries of south Lafayette.

Thibodaux man killed
in 3-vehicle accident
HOUMA (AP) — State police are investigating a three-vehicle crash that claimed the life of a Thibodaux man.
The accident happened just before 10 p.m. Saturday on La. 311,
Trooper Evan Harrell says a car driven by 34-year-old Chad Labat crossed the center line and hit a car being driven by 53-year-old Kirk Craig of Metairie. Harrell says Labat’s car was split into three pieces. He says one of the pieces struck a pickup.
Harrell says Labat was ejected from his car and died at the scene.
He says the drivers of the other vehicle were taken a Thibodaux hospital for treatment to moderate injuries.

Permit denied to use Amite River water for fracking
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana officials have denied a permit that would have allowed an oil company to use water from a scenic river to perform hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for a well in East Feliciana Parish.
However, it was a limited, technical victory for the environmentalists who opposed the permit. The company involved, Texas-based Comstock Resources Inc., was allowed to use water from nearby ponds for its well, instead.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which administers the Scenic Rivers Program, had previously approved five permits allowing companies to withdraw water from protected bayous and rivers across the state for use in fracking.
With the new precedent, environmentalists and industrialists are waiting to see how the state will respond to applications for future fracking wells.

Baton Rouge gets much needed new detox center
BATON ROUGE (AP) — People with drug and alcohol addictions in East Baton Rouge Parish have a new place to go for detoxification.
The Baton Rouge Area Alcohol and Drug Center is opening a second location, on South Foster Drive. Administrators hope the new center will gradually reduce the Florida Boulevard facility’s enormous wait list, which fluctuates around 500 people.
Lisa Bailey, the center’s director, said the detox center’s new home used to be a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic. Baton Rouge Area Alcohol and Drug Center Inc. purchased the building for $1.6 million and spent about $700,000 renovating it.
In December, Baily says the detox center received its license from the state Department of Health and Hospitals to operate the new facility, paving the way for this week’s opening.

Thibodaux man killed in 3 vehicle accident
HOUMA (AP) — State police are investigating a three-vehicle crash that claimed the life of a Thibodaux man.
The accident happened just before 10 p.m. Saturday on Louisiana Highway 311,
Trooper Evan Harrell says a car driven by 34-year-old Chad Labat crossed the center line and hit a car being driven by 53-year-old Kirk Craig of Metairie. Harrell says Labat’s car was split into three pieces. He says one of the pieces struck a pickup.
Harrell says Labat was ejected from his car and died at the scene.
He says the drivers of the other vehicle were taken a Thibodaux hospital for treatment to moderate injuries.