1. AN ACT OF DEFIANCE FROM NORTH KOREA The pariah nation successfully launches a long-range rocket, ignoring warnings from the U.N. and the U.S.
2. RAMPAGE AT OREGON SHOPPING MALL Witnesses heard the camouflaged, masked gunman say “I am the shooter” before opening fire, killing two people and himself.
3. WHO RAVI SHANKAR MENTORED BESIDES THE BEATLES Saxophonist John Coltrane named his son Ravi after the sitar virtuoso, who died in California at 92.
4. THE TRICKY BALANCE OF OBAMA’S ‘FISCAL CLIFF’ STRATEGY Advisers say he will publicly pressure Republicans to reach a deal while negotiating privately with top Congressional leaders.
5. HOW HIS WORDS ARE COMING BACK TO HAUNT HIM Republicans note the president’s current stand on raising tax rates differs from the one he took in 2010.
6. WHY CHINA COULD BE GOOD FOR EUROPE’S WINE BUSINESS China has become the largest export market in France’s Bordeaux region.
7. AN OFFICER’S GIFT PUTS NEW YORKERS IN A QUANDARY The donation of shoes to a barefoot homeless man raised the age-old urban dilemma about whether to give money to strangers on the streets.
8. PLANE CARRYING JENNI RIVERA TOOK DRAMATIC PLUNGE The music star’s jet plummeted nearly straight down at a speed that may have exceeded 600 mph.
9. WHY VEGAS LIKES THE NUMBERS 12-12-12 Sin City hopes to lure thousands to get quickie weddings on the once-in-a-century date.
10. LOOK WHO’S TWEETING Pope hits 1 million followers as he sends first tweet, blessing online fans and urging them to listen to Christ.
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.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
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.