C’EST BON The Louisiana Science Education Act, signed into law in 2008 by biology major Gov. Bobby Jindal and derided by supporters of mainstream biology education as a Trojan Horse for creationists, is being targeted by a bill that would repeal the controversial act.On Friday, Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, pre-filed Senate Bill 70. The LSEA, heavily lobbied for by Louisiana Family Forum, allows biology teachers to “supplement” the biology curriculum by introducing materials that question the validity of evolution and introduce students to Intelligent Design, a pseudo-science that cloaks itself in scientific terminology while positing that because life on earth is so complex its genesis must be due to a creator, or intelligent designer. ID is designed to skirt clear and unequivocal federal rulings against teaching creationism in public school. Our segue into Pas Bon is this: The LSEA enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support when it cleared the Legislature; its repeal is highly unlikely.
PAS BON Amid the steady stream of positive economic news for Lafayette specifically and Louisiana in general comes a sobering reminder that we’re not immune to the nation’s economic torpor: Nearly 1,400 homes in Louisiana were taken back by lenders in the first quarter of 2011, according to national foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac. For the January-March period, 5,275 properties in the state faced some type of foreclosure-related activity ranging from default notices to repossession. Overall foreclosure actions in the state jumped 10.8 percent from the fourth quarter of last year and were up an alarming 34.4 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010. Lafayette, meanwhile, recorded 291 foreclosure-related actions in the first quarter, affecting one in every 391 housing units. That was up 8.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 and up more than 21 percent from the first quarter of 2010.
COUILLON Open letter to Downtown Lafayette Unlimited: Don’t just look out the window, y’all; call a meteorologist. And be patient. Around 6 p.m. Friday, after the humidity had been flushed out of the Hub City by a delightful cool front and as the sun shone its beneficent face upon us, our frisky, end-of-the-week throw-down known as Downtown Alive! was dead, quashed by DLU in a spasm of acute weather anxiety. Indeed, the sky was gray and the thunder a-rumbled in the distance that afternoon, but DLU put the kibosh on DTA a little after 3 p.m., three hours before the scheduled first tune from NIK-L-BEER, the world’s most bad-ass cover band ever.
... written by Downtown Lafayette , April 20, 2011 - 06:55 pm
No one can possibly be more upset about cancelling Downtown Alive! than the people who put countless hours and sweat into it. It is agonizing to make the final decision. After consulting two meteorologists on Friday, who both said to cancel and weather would last till 6pm, there was no other option. Setup starts 4 hours before the show and of course there is consideration for the very expensive sound equipment that could be ruined, the safety of the band and the safety of our great fans, especially when there is a tornado watch as was the case last Friday. We have numerous volunteers, staff, the band, sound engineers, vendors and more that all have to be contacted and given the bad news. Plus, the word has to be spread to our diehard audience through multiple forms of media. Cancelling something we have planned for since January is possibly the worst part of the job, and the latest we can make the decision is 3pm. We appreciate the passion and enthusiasm for DTA! and hope that everyone will come out to our next event on May 6th for The Howdies. Again, we want to emphasize that it takes many hours to put everything in motion for the band to start at 6pm. Thanks for 27 years of support!
... written by Marsha Miller , April 21, 2011 - 07:03 pm
Thank you for the efforts and hard work that DLU staff and volunteers do to make DTA! and other events so enjoyable. Because you so successfully throw great parties, we can't help but be disappointed when you have to cancel. Consider out collective sighs a compliment to your accomplishments.
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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.
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