Louisiana news briefs

Corps to restore
full service on Ouachita River
MONROE (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to restore 24-hour service to the most important locks on the Ouachita River navigation system after more than two years of lobbying from the Ouachita River Valley Association.
Bill Hobgood, executive director of the association, said 24-hour service will be restored on the Jonesville and Columbia locks, where more than 90 percent of commercial navigation takes place, by late summer or fall. The two uppers locks, Felsenthal and H.K. Thatcher in Arkansas, will continue to operate on two eight-hour shifts each day.
Hobgood announced the change during an Association board meeting Wednesday.
The corps reduced service on the navigation system in 2012 after annual shipping tonnages on the river dropped below 1 million.

After latest victory, Woodfox charged again in ‘72 murder
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Months after his last conviction was thrown out, a prisoner known as one of the “Angola Three” has been charged again in the 1972 death of a guard.
Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell said a West Feliciana Parish grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Albert Woodfox with murder in the stabbing death of Brent Miller.
A federal appeals court in November upheld the reversal of Woodfox’s last conviction.
Caldwell says Woodfox’s record already included arrests for rape and robbery when Miller was killed. He said evidence of Woodfox’s guilt is “undeniable.” Woodfox says he did not kill Miller. His attorneys note he was never convicted of rape.
Woodfox and two others became known as the Angola Three due to long stretches in solitary confinement at Louisiana’s prison in Angola.

Man struck, killed on I-10
WELSH (AP) — State police say a Lafayette man died while standing the median of Interstate 10 following an earlier accident.
Sgt. James Anderson said in a news release the accident happen Wednesday night in Jefferson Davis Parish just west of Welsh.
Anderson says one pickup struck another pickup in the rear. He says the drivers of the two trucks were stand in the median when a car swerved to avoid the pickups and hit one of the drivers.
Anderson says 68-year-old Gus Gallet died at the scene. He says the other driver, 43-year-old George Burns of Iota, was hit by debris and received minor injuries.
The driver of the car, 61-year old Albert Charles Nelson of Lake Charles, also suffered minor injuries.

Deputies charged in beating
LAFAYETTE (AP) — The Lafayette Parish District Attorney’s Office has filed criminal charges against two former Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s deputies accused of beating an inmate last April.
Michael McSheffrey, 34, of Lafayette, and 29-year-old Brandon Gallien, of Opelousas, were each charged with second-degree battery and malfeasance in the April 8 incident that hospitalized 41-year-old Jason Brungardt, while he was an inmate at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.
Two other former deputies authorities have said were involved in the incident have not been charged.
Lafayette board aims to hire new superintendent in May
LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School Board hopes to choose the district’s new superintendent this May.
Board President Tommy Angelle said the board may pick the superintendent between May 18 and May 22.
At a Wednesday workshop, Angelle said there is much work to be done between now and then. The first step is advertising the position, which could start next Friday, after the Mardi Gras holiday. Angelle said he expects the official advertisement to run in three Louisiana papers.
The application deadline is slated for March 25. The board could have a special meeting the week of April 13 to narrow the field of candidates and determine who will be chosen for interviews.
In November, the board fired Superintendent Pat Cooper after nearly three years on the job.

Driver of car fleeing Amite police killed in crash
ST. HELENA (AP) — State police say the driver of car fleeing Amite police died when his vehicle ran off the road and crashed into a house.
Sgt. Nick Manale said in a news release that troopers were called to assist Amite police around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in stopping a fleeing motorist.
Manale say Amite police ended the pursuit when they lost site of the car on Louisiana Highway 1046 in St. Helena Parish west of Amite.
A short time later, troopers discovered the crash site at the intersection of highways 1046 and 411.
Manale says the driver of the car Benjamin Zanders Jr., of Independence died at the scene.
Troopers did not release any information on why Amite police were chasing Zanders.

DOTD begins $4.2M safety project for Baton Rouge area
BATON ROUGE (AP) — State highway workers will start a $4.2 million safety project for the Baton Rouge region by enhancing the visibility of two intersections in Ascension Parish with new signs and other improvements.
Officials said the intersections of La. 431 at Lake Martin Road and La. 429 at Highway 22, which occur in curves and are in the eastern edge of the parish, will be the focus of the first batch of upgrades for the two-year project.
Lauren Lee, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation and Development, said the project will improve 300 areas along 100 highways in Ascension, Assumption, East and West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee and St. James parishes.

Man sentenced to 40 years for 2013 B.R. park slaying
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A 20-year-old Baton Rouge man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison in the 2013 shooting death of another man near a Baton Rouge park.
Mrcarl Coleman pleaded guilty Monday before state District Judge Lou Daniel to manslaughter in the Sept. 6, 2013, slaying of Dwayne Foster on Foster’s 48th birthday. Coleman was sentenced Tuesday. He was scheduled to stand trial on a charge of second-degree murder.
Police say Coleman was driving Foster’s car near Interstate 12 in the early morning hours of Sept. 7, 2013, when authorities found him with Foster’s state-issued identification and a credit card.
A search of Foster’s car revealed a handgun. Crime lab analysts matched ballistic information from the gun to evidence collected from the initial crime scene.