Louisiana news briefs

Terrebonne council approves park improvements
HOUMA (AP) — Terrebonne Parish parks could be getting safer and more handicapped accessible.
The Parish Council voted unanimously Wednesday to strive for such improvements.
The parish will send letters to recreation districts that oversee the public outdoor spaces, asking their members to evaluate their safety measures and make play equipment more user-friendly.
The districts are required to report back to the Parish Council about possible improvements.
Councilman John Navy said he hopes there will be more security cameras at parks and jungle gyms for specials-needs children.

Houma man found guilty of vehicular homicide sentenced
HOUMA (AP) — A 33-year-old Houma man found guilty of a December 2012 vehicular homicide has been sentenced.
Terrebonne Parish First Assistant District Attorney Carlos Lazarus said Gregory Poindexter was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison for the death of a 70-year-old Montegut woman,
State police say Poindexter was driving a stolen vehicle on Dec. 4, 2012, north on La. 659 when he tried to pass a car in front of him in a no passing zone. The vehicle hit a car driven by Linda Bascle, whose car struck another vehicle. Bascle was not wearing a seatbelt was pronounced dead at the scene.

Battle shaping up over ‘Big Oil’ lawsuit bill
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Advocates of a lawsuit filed by a Louisiana flood control board against scores of oil and gas companies over erosion of coastal wetlands are making plans to fight legislation they say could undermine the suit.
Among other things, the bill set for debate in this year’s legislative session would ensure Gov. Bobby Jindal’s power to reject an independent committee’s nominations for membership on the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. Jindal is a critic of the lawsuit filed by the SLFPA-E last year.
The advocacy group Levees.Org, which was formed to call attention to levee failures that led to catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Katrina, announced today’s news conference, planned for the site of a breach on New Orleans’ London Avenue canal.

Cox trimming 246 call center jobs
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Cox Communications is centralizing its call center operations, a move that will eliminate 246 jobs in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette but lead to 150 new positions at its Baton Rouge operations.
The net loss to Cox’s operations in the state is 96 jobs.
The company is setting up seven “Centers of Excellence” nationwide that will focus on matters such as account services, sales and technical support. Baton Rouge will be a center of excellence in technical support. Some other cities with the centers are Las Vegas, Phoenix, Oklahoma City and Hampton Roads, Va.
Sharon Bethea, a spokeswoman for Cox, says the switch to centralized operations is aimed at making them operate more effectively, achieving standardization and improving responsiveness.

Cool Planet breaks ground for plant
ALEXANDRIA (AP) — Cool Planet Energy Systems will begin construction soon on its alternative fuel production facility at the Port of Alexandria.
Company officials and Gov. Bobby Jindal were in town Wednesday for a ground-breaking ceremony for the plant — Cool Planet’s first commercial production facility.
Cool Planet’s technology converts biomass such as wood products into high-octane gasoline and an agricultural-enhancement product known as biochar.
The Alexandria plant is one of three Cool Planet has committed to building in Louisiana. The second will be located in Natchitoches. The location of the third has not been determined.

McCain-Slaughter lawsuit set
PORT ALLEN (AP) — A state district judge has reset the trial date in the wrongful termination lawsuit Port Allen Chief Financial Officer Audrey McCain filed against former Mayor Demetric Slaughter.
District Judge Alvin Batiste plans to hear arguments in the case on March 31, four days before the city holds a special election to select a new mayor following Slaughter’s recall from office.
Slaughter said Wednesday she won’t let the upcoming trial’s close date to the April 5 special election be a distraction to her campaign. Slaughter is one of four candidates vying for the mayoral seat in the April election.
McCain sued Slaughter in February 2013 after Slaughter tried to fire her over accounting deficiencies cited in an audit report of the city’s financial records for fiscal year 2011.

Jindal’s ex-coastal leader running
for Congress
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal’s former coastal protection adviser, Garret Graves, said Wednesday he is running for Congress this fall.
Graves, a Republican, will seek the vacant 6th District seat, which stretches from Pointe Coupee Parish down into Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes and contains most of the metropolitan Baton Rouge area.
Nine other candidates, eight of them Republicans, have filed candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
The seat is open because Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy is running for the U.S. Senate.
Graves, a Baton Rouge native, spent six years as chairman of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and was heavily involved in the Jindal administration’s reaction to the massive Gulf Coast oil spill in 2010.
He has experience in Congress, having worked for U.S. Sen. David Vitter, former U.S. Sen. John Breaux and former U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin. He also was a chief legislative aide to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
“I’m all in,” Graves said in a statement. “We have a tremendous opportunity as a nation and state. In Louisiana, there is an overwhelming sentiment that we need effective representation to change the direction of Congress.”
The announcement comes less than two weeks after Graves left the Jindal administration. He enters a crowded field of contenders vying for the position in the Nov. 4 election, but he starts with a higher level of name recognition than many of them.
From The Associated Press.