Louisiana news briefs

Feds: Law may set grad bar too low for disabled
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Federal officials have renewed warnings that a state law to help special education students may violate federal laws.
A letter sent last week says authorities are worried the law will illegally set standards too low for disabled students.
The law lets teachers and parents put together alternative ways to get a high-school diploma, regardless of how a disabled student does on standardized tests that other students must pass.
The head of the Louisiana School Boards Association is a member of a task force set up to monitor a contract to train teachers and parents how to create such agreements. Scott Richard says the letter from acting assistant Secretary Michael Yudin adds a new layer of complication.

La Supreme Court won’t hear ap.peal in student’s murder
LAFAYETTE (AP) — The Louisiana Supreme Court won’t hear Brandon Lavergne’s request to overturn his guilty pleas to two murders, including that of 21-year-old university student Mickey Shunick.
His case was among 57 rejected Friday without comment.
Lavergne pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in August 2012, less than two months after his arrest in Shunick’s death. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette student disappeared while riding her bicycle home from downtown Lafayette.
As part of the plea agreement, Lavergne told investigators where to find Shunick’s body in rural Evangeline Parish.
Lavergne appealed in January 2013, saying he felt pressured to plead guilty to Shunick’s death and that of 35-year-old Lisa Pate in 1999 by pretrial publicity and because he faced a possible death penalty.
He’s in prison, serving life.

4,000 dogs registered
for Alexandria dog show
ALEXANDRIA (AP) — More than 4,000 dogs are registered for a pair of dog shows opening Thursday in the Alexandria Riverfront Center.
The Mardi Gras Dog Cluster is hosted by the Alexandria and Baton Rouge kennel clubs.
Carol Grotton of the Baton Rouge Kennel Club said people come from all over because it’s one of the last big shows before the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in Madison Square Garden.
That can make it a stop for people traveling to New York.
The show is called a cluster because two clubs host it. Baton Rouge hosts the first two days and Alexandria the last two.
Grotton says travelers appreciate being able to enter two shows in one place.
It’s free to the public, but only entrants can bring dogs.

Firefighters keep dogs, cats, birds smoke-free in fire
SLIDELL (AP) — A St. Tammany Parish fire chief says firefighters saved six dogs, five cats and five birds from being hurt by smoke from a fire next door.
Chief Chris Kaufmann of Fire District No. 1 says the animals were being boarded at Bow Wow Dog Grooming when a grocery store in the same Slidell strip building caught fire early Sunday.
He says firefighters quickly set up ventilation fans to keep smoke from getting into the grooming business and had the fire out within 42 minutes.
He says there was heavy fire damage to about half of Palms of Slidell, also called the Thompson Road Grocery, and moderate fire damage to the attic of the adjacent Gift Emporium.
Kaufman says a short circuit in a plug-in hand light apparently started the fire.

St. George Fire Dept. to try 2nd vote at property tax hike
BATON ROUGE (AP) — The St. George Fire Department has amended a tax proposal in a second attempt to send it to voters after the East Baton Rouge Metro Council rejected it last week.
Fire Chief Gerard Tarleton will now return to the council next week to ask for approval to place two measures on the May 2 ballot: a 1.25-mill property tax renewal and a 2-mill property tax increase, both of which would be in place 10 years.
The council last week voted against approving the tax increase proposal, in which voters would have had the option only to pay a 3.25-mill property tax for 20 years.
The council could choose to approve an election only for the tax renewal or to approve an election for the renewal and the increase.

Employees accused
of stealing public funds
BATON ROUGE (AP) — An audit released Monday finds an employee with the St. Martin Parish School Board and another with the city of St. Martinville are each accused of embezzling public funds in separate incidents.
Auditors reported that an employee of the school system stole nearly $20,000 from the school where she was assigned during the budget year that ended in June.
The audit says the employee, who resigned, has entered a pretrial diversion program to avoid criminal charges and has repaid $8,800 of the missing funds.
Neither the employee nor the school where she worked was identified.
In the St. Martinville case, auditors reported that an employee stole about $1,200 in utility funds.
The employee, who was not identified, repaid the money and no criminal charges were filed.

Contract vote planned
for new airport director
LAFAYETTE (AP) — The Lafayette Regional Airport Board of Commissioners is expected to approve a contract on today for Steven Picou, a deputy aviation director in Amarillo, Texas. Picou was offered the Lafayette director’s position last week.
If the board ratifies Picou’s contract at the special meeting, he will begin work March 9. Picou was chosen from among 34 applicants and was offered the job Wednesday after a 7-0 vote.
The 43-year-old Picou arrived in Lafayette with his wife and two children over the weekend to begin looking for a new home.
Picou is a native of Cut Off. His father lives in Franklinton and his mother-in-law lives in Labadieville.

State income tax filing begins
BATON ROUGE (AP) — The Louisiana Department of Revenue will begin accepting 2014 state individual income tax returns today, the same day as the Internal Revenue Service.
The Department of Revenue will begin processing returns on Feb. 3 and will start issuing refunds on Feb. 24.
Following the initial Feb. 24 refund date, the expected refund processing time for returns filed electronically is up to 21 days. For paper returns, taxpayers should expect to wait eight to 10 weeks.

Hospital video allegedly shows woman choking
9-year-old son
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A Baton Rouge woman is accused of choking her 9-year-old son.
The Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called after workers at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center found the boy crying.
A sheriff’s office report says surveillance video showed him being slapped and choked, and 25-year-old Barbara Jordon was booked Saturday with cruelty to a juvenile.
The report says she told deputies she was disciplining the boy.
An online inmate roster indicated she remained in jail Monday.

Prosecutor appeals
dropped murder charge
in pastor killing
LAKE CHARLES (AP) — Prosecutors are appealing a district judge’s decision to cancel the murder indictment against a man accused of killing a minister during a revival.
A prosecutor has asked the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal to reinstate a second-degree murder charge against 53-year-old Woodrow Karey.
He’s accused of killing 53-year-old Ronald Harris in Tabernacle of Praise Worship Center in Lake Charles on Sept. 27, 2013.
Karey’s wife had filed a rape complaint against Harris two days earlier.
Karey was first charged with manslaughter. A second grand jury charged him with murder.
Judge Clayton Davis threw out the murder indictment in December. He said Karey gave prosecutors more information than necessary because he believed they would stick with whatever the first grand jury decided.
From The Associated Press.

Production start again pushed back for Elio
SHREVEPORT (AP) — The start date for production of a new three-wheeled vehicle at a plant in Shreveport has been pushed back — again.
Production at Elio Motors had been slated to start by March 2015. Now, it is expected to begin in first half of 2016.
Founder Paul Elio Paul Elio made the announcement Thursday. Elio again blamed production delays on lack of funding.
Elio says he’s raised more than $65 million in capital so far, but he needs $230 million more to begin production.
Meanwhile, the startup automaker still is taking advanced orders for the car. Elio says more than 38,000 reservations have been made so far. He will continue to take reservations while production dollars are being nailed down.