THIBODAUX — The Lafourche Parish Council has agreed to contribute $1 million help prevent cuts at the state charity hospital in Houma.
The money approved Tuesday will be added to an expected $2 million from Terrebonne Parish to avoid cuts to services and staff at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center.
A public-private partnership announced Monday is expected to provide the long-term solution to keep the hospital, which serves many of the area’s poor and uninsured, open.
Ochsner Health System and Terrebonne General Medical Center have agreed to step in as partners to lease the hospital from the state.
In September, after severe federal Medicaid cuts, the LSU board governing state hospitals announced it would cut more than $14.3 million from Chabert’s budget.
Man shot, killed during arrest
MARKSVILLE — State police say a 51-year-old Marksville man being served a warrant for armed robbery was shot and killed by a member of the U.S. Marshal’s Violent Offender Task Force.
The shooting happened around 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Troopers say members of the task force were trying to serve the warrant on Larane Pierce. When marshals entered a building, Senior Trooper Scott Moreau say officers encountered Pierce and he was shot.
Woman dies when train hits vehicle
WALKER — A 29-year-old Denham Springs woman died after the car she was driving was struck by a locomotive.
Walker Police Chief Marliam Lee said Laraye London Phillips was pronounced dead at a local hospital Wednesday afternoon.
Lee says Phillips was alone in the car and apparently going to work at a site just across the railroad tracks.
The chief said Phillips turned off of U.S. 190 onto Industrial Drive, where her vehicle was struck by a westbound Canadian National locomotive.
TB testing urged
at Lafayette High
LAFAYETTE — Officials say about 200 people at Lafayette High School need to be tested for exposure to tuberculosis after a suspected case was reported earlier this week.
Tuberculosis is a lung disease that can be transmitted by sharing the same space with an infected person for an extended period of time.
The school system notified Lafayette High parents Tuesday of the suspected tuberculosis case at the school and that those students identified as being at risk of exposure would be sent home with a letter Wednesday about exposure testing to be conducted by the Office of Public Health on Monday and Tuesday.
Dr. Tina Stefanski, regional public health director, said the exposure testing is a precaution and tuberculosis has not been confirmed at this time.
La. College remains on SACS warning
PINEVILLE — Louisiana College will remain “on warning” from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for a second straight year.
Pamela Cravey, the SACS coordinator of communications and external affairs, said she could not comment, but provided The Town Talk an email saying the college remained on warning because of shortcomings.
Travis Wright, the vice president of academic affairs at LC, said the school has been working on strengthening its strategic planning processes since it first was placed on warning last year.
Travis says a SACS accreditation team visited the college in October.
No tech school chancellors picked
BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Community and Technical College System Board of Supervisors says it needs more time to decide who will lead campuses in Alexandria and Monroe.
The appointments were tentatively scheduled for the board’s regular meeting Wednesday in Baton Rouge, but board members emerged from a lengthy closed-door session undecided.
System President Joe May said the board will hold a special meeting at a later date to make the announcements.
Louisiana Delta Community College in Monroe and Central Louisiana Technical Community College in Alexandria have both been without chancellors since June.
B.R. council kills sewer buyout
BATON ROUGE — A deal to relocate at least 44 Scotlandville families living next to a foul-smelling sewage treatment plant has been rejected.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council failed Wednesday to muster the seven votes required for approval.
Outgoing Councilman Ulysses “Bones” Addison, who represents University Place and who also resides in the subdivision, was among the three council members who voted against the deal to relocate residents at an estimated cost of $6 million.
In April 2011, Addison initiated the council action asking the city-parish to craft a buyout plan for residents. But on Wednesday, at Addison’s last meeting as a council member, he said he couldn’t support the plan because, once it was approved, residents would be forced to relocate even if they wanted to stay.
Man accused
of beating son to death denied bond
BATON ROUGE — A state district judge has denied a request to set bail for a man accused of beating his young son to death in June.
Judge Don Johnson refused to set bond Wednesday for Michael Anthony Robertson, 46, father of eight-year-old Xzayvion Riley. The ruling marked the second time a judge denied bail for Robertson.
State District Judge Trudy White initially denied bail for Robertson on June 18.
Robertson and Lavaughn Riley, 32, were both indicted Aug. 9 on first-degree murder charges in the June 12 death of their son.
Both parents have pleaded not guilty.
East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark has said the preliminary autopsy results show the boy died of an “overwhelming infection” caused by a ruptured bowel from blunt-force trauma to his abdomen. Clark ruled the child’s death a homicide.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to Lavaughn Riley’s apartment June 12 because the boy was unresponsive, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks has said. The child was pronounced dead later that day at a hospital.
Lavaughn Riley admitted to deputies that she caused some of the bruises on her son’s body and that Robertson caused the bruises and scratches on his neck, Hicks said.
Robertson denied any involvement in his son’s injuries, Hicks said.
From The Associated Press.
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