State health officials, along with the EPA, are reviewing water quality concerns in the Tensas Parish town of St. Joseph. Eric Gill reports…
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The Cajun groundhog climbed out of his cottage in New Iberia today to tell us if we’ll see an early spring. Emelie Gunn has more on Pierre C. Shadeaux’s forecast…
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Louisiana’s Cajun groundhog, Pierre C. Shadeaux, predicts an early and long spring this year. The young nutria came out of his Cajun cottage in New Iberia this morning in front of a crowd awaiting to find out his forecast. Publisher of the Daily Iberian Will Chapman led the ceremony and says since he didn’t see his shadow, we will have a longer spring and put off the extreme summer heat.
Chapman says every February 2nd Pierre C. Shadeaux makes his prediction at Bouligny Plaza. He says every year there is a great turnout for the event and the kids really look forward to seeing him come out of his Cajun cottage.
Pierre’s cousin, Punxsutawney Phil, made a similar prediction today in Pennsylvania calling for an early spring. Chapman says Pierre takes his job very seriously, as he has a lot of responsibility with predicting this forecast.
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The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, along with the EPA, are looking into water quality issues in the Tensas Parish town of St. Joseph. Residents have reported brown, murky water coming from their faucets. State Health Officer, Dr. Jimmy Guidry, says the system’s source water contains a level of iron that discolors the water…
He says the iron in the water is not a health issue. Guidry adds that the St. Joseph Water System is an older system in need of maintenance and repair. The state legislature has approved funds to work on the system. Guidry says they’re doing everything they can at the state level to move this project on as quickly as possible…
He says the legislature would have to make water treatment a top priority before those funds are readily available. Guidry says it could be a while before the water is cleared up…
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The St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating the murder of a Melville teenager. Capt. Clay Higgins says 14-year-old Treyvon Goudeau was shot once and found dead in the woods on Friday. He says the case was originally identified as just a suspicious death but it has now turned into a homicide investigation.
The coroner says Goudeau was shot once in the head. Higgins says detectives searched a Melville home this morning and interviewed a number of people but no arrests have been made at this point.
Goudeau was a student at Port Barre High School. Higgins says they can’t imagine why someone would murder this teenager. He says detectives have been working non-stop to find who is responsible…
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Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne says he’s paying his executive staff nearly 400-thousand dollars less than what employees were paid under the previous administration. Dardenne says he’s decided against filling a couple of positions and will pay a few people less, because of the state’s budget problems
Dardenne’s annual salary is 237-thousand dollars, a 33-thousand dollar increase than his predecessor. Dardenne says that’s the salary the governor offered him and he accepted the challenge of solving Louisiana’s budget mess…
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Governor John Bel Edwards will answer questions tonight from public school teachers at a town hall style meeting at a Baton Rouge high school. Edwards is participating in an event sponsored by the Louisiana Association of Educators at Broadmoor High School. L-A-E President Debbie Meaux says the governor will discuss a variety of topics…
Meaux says they’re honored to have the new governor attend one of their events and hopes he gives insight on the fate of funding for K-12 education. She says they’ll make sure L-A-E members who cannot come are updated on what Edwards’ says….