Contrary to common sense, New Orleans Congressman William Jefferson’s indictment last year on federal racketeering charges may not have been his ultimate downfall politically. He was heavily favored to win re-election Saturday after sweeping the Democratic primaries and analysis of the election in The Times-Picayune shows that Jefferson probably suffered more from Saturday’s lackluster turnout (less than half the Nov. 4 election turnout) and a confused electorate than any cloud of corruption. This was the first time in 30 years that Louisiana held closed Congressional primaries. Hurricane Gustav also delayed the first primary election, pushing the general election into December. The Picayune notes that Jefferson said over the course of the general election that he ran into several voters who mistakenly thought that he been re-elected on Nov. 4.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
Is it a crime for citizens to photograph, video, or take notes of a police officer in the line of duty, or a right protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution? Locally, such activity, as witnessed recently, will at the very least result in a night spent behind bars.
At Thursday's State of the Economy luncheon, LEDA President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux said PXP has already quietly hired 180 people for its Broussard expansion.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.