SHREVEPORT — Shreveport and Caddo Parish officials say the former General Motors assembly plant has a buyer that plans thousands of vehicle assembly jobs with good pay.
Assistant Parish Administrator Randy Lucky says the buyer expects to bring 1,500 jobs by the end of the second quarter and 3,000 within four years, with assembly line workers getting about $37.50 an hour.
A news conference with details is scheduled today. The first word of a buyer came at Wednesday’s Caddo Parish Commission work session, KSLA-TV reported.
Lucky and Caddo Parish Administrator Woody Wilson say it’s a U.S. company that plans to make vehicles. Lucky says it is not Ford, GM or Chrysler, and is not affiliated with a union.
The plant has been closed since late August.
Sheriff candidate’s lawsuit rejected
VIDALIA — A federal judge has denied one-time Concordia Pariah sheriff candidate Jim Whittington a new trial for his lawsuit alleging he was the victim of a law enforcement vendetta by former Concordia Sheriff Randy Maxwell.
A federal jury ruled against Whittington in April, and shortly thereafter he filed an appeal.
Whittington said a new trial is justified because of a videotape made in 2008 of then-candidate for District Attorney Brad Burget speaking about his role in a case against Whittington.
Whittington alleged the video showed Burget committed perjury at trial. However, U.S. District Judge Dee Drell ruled against Whittington’s appeal Friday. Dress wrote that the evidence does not prove perjury on Burget’s part.
I-10 wreck kills 1
GROSSE TETE — One person was killed in a multi-car accident on Interstate 10 that blocked traffic for hours.
The westbound lanes of I-10 just west of Baton Rouge were closed until around 12:30 a.m. Thursday as a result of the accident.
Authorities said it happened around 9 p.m. Wednesday in Iberville Parish when an eastbound car crossed the median into the westbound lanes.
Judge orders feds to reply to claims
NEW ORLEANS — Federal prosecutors have a deadline today to respond to a defense attorney’s claims that the corruption case against former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard was tainted by prosecutorial misconduct.
Robert Jenkins, Broussard’s lawyer, claims former U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office failed to thoroughly investigate the source of alleged leaks to local television stations WVUE-TV and WWL-TV about Broussard’s impending indictment.
Broussard pleaded guilty in September to charges he cheated taxpayers in a payroll fraud scheme and took payoffs from a parish contractor.
Last month, Jenkins asked U.S. District Judge Hayden Head to order a hearing on his claim that high-ranking prosecutors plotted to destroy Broussard’s public image.
Man killed in fight at New Year’s party
MOSS BLUFF — A Calcasieu Parish judge has set bond at $350,000 for a man accused in a New Year’s party fight that killed a Moss Bluff man.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kim Myers said 36-year-old Matthew V. Crochet died Wednesday. He was hospitalized early New Year’s Day.
Myers says 41-year-old Brian D. Diamond, also of Moss Bluff, was arrested about 2:30 a.m. Monday and booked with second-degree battery, but the charge probably will be changed to reflect Crochet’s death from head trauma. The investigation is continuing.
Man, 83, stabbed, student shot in head
NEW ORLEANS — Police say they don’t know why someone stabbed an 83-year-old man to death in his apartment at a senior housing development in mid-city New Orleans.
Edward Richardson was one of two people killed in the New Orleans on New Year’s Day.
The other was 28-year-old Antonio Llovet, a college student and waiter. His parents found his body about 9:10 a.m. Tuesday in the double they rent to him. He had been shot in the head.
Police say Richardson’s body was found about 7 p.m., when he didn’t answer a family member’s knock. A security guard was called to open the apartment at The Terraces.
The complex is owned by the Volunteers of America and run by Latter & Blum Property Management Inc. The management company says there don’t appear to have been any security breaches or forced entry into Richardson’s apartment. A statement said it had given all of its security video to police.
Callon closes sale of offshore project
NATCHEZ, Miss. — Callon Petroleum Co. says has completed the sale of its share of an oil field to Royal Dutch Shell PLC for $39.5 million.
The Mississippi company says in a statement that the sale of its 11.25 percent interest in the Habanero field to Shell Offshore was completed Monday.
The field, in 2,000 feet of water about 200 miles southeast of New Orleans, began production 2003.
Callon says it will use the money to pay down debt, giving it flexibility to continue expanding in Texas’ Permian Basin.
The field produces close to 3,000 barrels of oil and 4.3 million cubic feet of natural gas each day.
From The Associated Press.
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