The Lafayette city court judge under fire for a video in which she can be heard off-camera uttering a racial slur resigns – effective immediately. The cell phone video, shot inside Judge Michelle Odinet’s home, shows a TV screen on which people are watching home security video of someone attempting to burglarize the house. That’s when the inflammatory words are heard. Odinet had been on forced leave without pay. Her resignation is immediate.

Celebrating the New Year with fireworks? Ashley Rodrigue, with the state Fire Marshal’s office, has a few safety tips. Like never use them when you’ve been drinking, don’t let kids light or handle them and be sure to properly quench the stuff after you’re done…:

CUT 05        (11)    “…trash can.”

In a press event yesterday, Governor John Bel Edwards addressed the ongoing surge in COVID cases – many of them the Omicron variant. The state added over 12-thousand new cases Wednesday and over 9-thousand Thursday. About 760 are hospitalized with the virus. Mr. Edwards says this time he is asking Louisianans to mask back up, to keep more people from failing ill…:

CUT 14        (11)    “…a loved one.”

COVID tests sites are swamped, so he says – if you cannot get tested, act as if you ARE positive and take precautions.

Get ready for the cold weather to return over the holiday weekend. By Monday morning we should see low temperatures in the mid-to-upper 20’s in northern parishes and the low-to-mid 30’s in the south. So get those coats back out.