ABITA SPRINGS, La. (AP) – St. Tammany Parish authorities say two men are in custody in connection with the killings of two Magnolia, Miss., men who were found dead this past weekend in an abandoned car near Abita Springs.

Sheriff’s deputies say the suspects told investigators of their roles in the killings of 27-year-old Joshua Adams and 27-year-old Robert Criswell. Investigators believe the slayings occurred in Kiln, Miss.

Investigators say both victims had been shot in the head.

The two suspects, 21 year-old Nicholas Schilling and 18 year-old Jessica Falgout, are described as being from Hancock County, Miss. They were arrested late Sunday and are being held for Mississippi authorities. Their names were not released.

Police in Mississippi are searching for one other suspect.

Schilling and Falgout, were located by Officers in St. Charles Parish at 804 Luling Avenue in Luling, Louisiana. Schilling and Falgout were booked Monday at the Nelson Coleman
Correctional Center as Fugitives for Hancock County, Mississippi.

Schilling is being charged on a warrant for Homicide and Falgout is being charged on a warrant for Accessory After the Fact.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway– A Louisiana waterfall was unleashed on the Intracoastal Waterway, where engineers tested the world’s largest drainage pumping station.

Part of the West Bank Closure Complex, the pumps are a key feature in delivering 100-year storm protection to the west bank.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also demonstrated the complex’s twin feature, a giant surge gate.

The 225 foot barrier, consisting of two wings, ranks as the country’s largest sector gate.

When operating at 100 percent capacity, the pumps will push 19,140 cubic feet per second, or enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in less than 5 seconds.

Here are some other features in the system, according to the Corps:

• 11 pumps, each individually powered with a 5,400 horse power diesel engine
• 2.3 million cubic yards of on-site excavation, enough material to span from New Orleans to Chicago
• 610,000 linear feet of piling, enough to span from New Orleans to Pascagoula
• 140,000 cubic yards of concrete
• 18 million pounds of reinforcing steel, equivalent to 30 747′s
• 770,000 cubic yards of clay material, enough to fill the Empire State Building

New Orleans - The NOPD is asking for the public’s help in locating a rape suspect. 

Police say 21 year-old Sidney Williams is wanted for a rape in Algiers involving two of his relatives, one adult female and one female child.

In one incident on May 7th of this year, the adult victim was asleep and was sexually assaulted by the suspect inside of his home.

In December of 2010 the suspect sexually assaulted a child in a park.

If you have any information that can help police, call Crimestoppers at 822-1111.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The head of a new coalition of public school
leaders and teachers says the group expects to weigh in soon with
its view of statewide standardized test scores.

Improvements in New Orleans schools that were taken over by the
state after Hurricane Katrina gave a boost last week to the
arguments of those who say the New Orleans model – which includes
numerous public schools being run by independent charter
organizations – is working.

Jack Loup, head of the new Coalition for Louisiana Public
Education, said the group will discuss the latest figures at its
next meeting, possibly as early as this week. Loup said the group
isn’t against reform but questions the effectiveness of using
public money for private entities.

The large-scale turnover of most New Orleans schools to the
state, which in turn handed over many of those schools to
independent charter organizations, has drawn heat from some in the
education establishment ever since it began in the months following
Hurricane Katrina. But backers of the move got a boost last week
with the latest round of test scores showing significant
improvement in the city.

So much so that John White, the new head of the Recovery School
District, which now oversees most New Orleans schools and a growing
number in other areas of the state, was ready to declare the debate
over.

"This moment will not go unnoticed here, it will not go
unnoticed in Baton Rouge and across the state and it should not go
unnoticed in Washington and across the country," White said during
a news conference at a charter school housed in a series of raised
portable buildings in eastern New Orleans, an area still badly
scarred by the 2005 floods. "The New Orleans system of schools
works. Period. End of story. And we cannot go back to a system that
does not put children’s needs first. These results should close the
book on that question."

Loup isn’t yet ready to concede the point. A leader of the
Coalition for Louisiana Public Education, Loup said Friday his
group of data and will discuss the test score data at its next
meeting, possibly this week. The coalition, which was formed
earlier this year, includes representatives from the state school
boards and principals associations, two major teacher unions and
other teacher organizations.

Among those groups are critics of the state takeover of failing
schools and the accompanying loss of jobs for many New Orleans
teachers and other school employees. They have opposed other ideas
pushed by Paul Pastorek, who recently left the state education
superintendent post to return to the private sector. For instance,
they successfully fought Pastorek-backed efforts in 2010 to lessen
some of the power local school boards exert in local
superintendents’ day-to-day management of school systems.
Loup says his group is sometimes falsely accused of supporting a
failed status quo. Not so, he says. They do question, he said, the
use of public money to support private entities, such as charter
organizations.

White said in interviews that he is not dedicated solely to
charters but to whatever models are working. Still, his support of
the charter-heavy New Orleans model was evident last week as the
results of standardized test scores were released. A state analysis
of the scores included the news of a 5 percent jump in the number
of students scoring at the "basic" level – defined by the state
as demonstrating fundamental knowledge and skills needed to move to
the next grade level.

The percentage of RSD-New Orleans fourth-graders meeting
promotion standards in the state’s LEAP promotion tests – a
combination of "basic" and "approaching basic" scores on
different subjects – grew from 58 percent last year to 64 percent
this year. Eighth-grade rates improved from 50 percent last year to
60 percent. The percentage of fourth-graders achieving an overall
"basic" score leveled off at 53 percent, same as last year, but
eighth-grade "basic" scores jumped from 37 percent last year to
50 percent this year.

And the percentage of eighth-graders in the New Orleans RSD
schools achieving basic level increased by double-digit percentages
in all four LEAP test subjects – English, math, science and social
studies.

Statewide, the news was generally good as well. State education
officials say betterment in most subjects and grade levels and in
42 of the state’s 70 school districts is proof that policies
implemented over the last decade are working. Those policies
include "high stakes" testing as a hurdle for promotion for
fourth-and eighth-graders, and standards that can lead to greater
state involvement, including takeovers, when local schools are
failing. That’s what has happened on a large scale in New Orleans
and a smaller scale in Baton Rouge, Caddo and Pointe Coupee
parishes.

The improved scores came at a time when the news hasn’t been all
good for public education. For instance, White pointedly noted a
proposed $11 million cut for public education as the Legislature
works on the state budget.

Also, a long-awaited civil trial opened in a New Orleans
courtroom on Monday that could prove costly to the state. Expected
to last for months, the class-action lawsuit is seeking lost wages
and damages for wrongful termination for thousands of Orleans
Parish school employees fired after Hurricane Katrina.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

 

Greek Salad Found At Greek Fest 2011

 

Greek Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing

2 parts extra-virgin olive oil

1 part red wine vinegar

Pinch of sugar and few drops of water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Herbs including oregano and garlic powder

Shake all the ingredients together in a small jar and serve immediately

Greek Village Salad

3 large firm ripe tomatoes

1 large red onion

1/2 cup green onions

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced into small rounds

1 green pepper, seeded, halved and sliced thin

1/2 cup kalamata olives

1/3 cup Feta cheese

2 or 3 pinches of oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise, core them, and cut each half into thirds or quarters. Cut the red onion the same way, halved and then into chunky wedges.

Toss the tomatoes, onion, cucumber, peppers, and olives together in a serving bowl. Add oregano. Crumble feta cheese on top before serving with dressing.

Yield: 4 servings

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office says a Harvey man was gunned down near his home Saturday night.

Neighbors started calling in reports of gunshots near the 3800 block of Dulaney Drive just before 7:30 p.m.

Detectives identify the victim as 26-year-old Brian Stephen. 

They tell FOX 8 Stephen was standing outside of a Land Rover, talking to another man, when two males drove past in a gray or silver Nissan.

Witnesses say the car stopped a short distance away; the suspects walked up to Stephen and the other man and opened fire, striking Stephen in the head and back.

Detectives recovered several spent 9mm and .40 caliber shell casings from the area.

The driver of the Land Rover told detectives that as he pulled away, Stephen jumped in through the rear door.

He brought Stephen to Meadowcrest Hospital, where he later died.

If you have any information that can help solve this case, call Crimestoppers at 822-1111.

 

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted New Orleans rapper B.G. on gun and conspiracy charges.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten says according to Thursday’s indictment, the 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Christopher Dorsey, faces two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

If convicted, Dorsey faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the gun charges and up to 20 years and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge.

It was not immediately known whether Dorsey had an attorney and a telephone listing could not be found for him.

B.G. is probably best known for 1999′s hit "Bling Bling."

 

©2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – The flooding threat in Louisiana is changing, Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday after the Army Corps of Engineers lowered its projections for the Mississippi River.

Jindal said months of drought lowered water levels in the Ouachita and Red rivers, so less backwater flooding is expected in northern parishes.

Drought also increased the soil’s capacity to absorb water, slowing the movement of diverted river water that began flowing through the Morganza spillway over the weekend, Jindal said.

Col. Ed Fleming said Monday that the corps also has revised downward river crest estimates due to the spillway opening. The Bonnet Carre spillway near New Orleans also is operating.

Jindal said the corps expects to open fewer gates at Morganza, near Baton Rouge, than previously expected to divert water into the Atchafalaya River.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

LAKE PROVIDENCE, La. (AP) — Army engineers prepared Saturday to slowly open the gates of an emergency spillway along the rising Mississippi River, diverting floodwaters from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, yet inundating homes and farms in parts of Louisiana’s populated Cajun country.

About 25,000 people and 11,000 structures could be in harm’s way when the Morganza spillway is unlocked for the first time in 38 years. Sheriffs and National Guardsmen were warning people in a door-to-door sweep through the area, and shelters were ready to accept up to 4,800 evacuees, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

Some people living in the threatened stretch of countryside — an area known for small farms, fish camps and a drawling French dialect — have already started fleeing for higher ground.

"Now’s the time to evacuate," Jindal said. "Now’s the time for our people to execute their plans. That water’s coming."

Opening the spillway will release a torrent that could submerge about 3,000 square miles under as much as 25 feet of water in some areas but take the pressure off the downstream levees protecting New Orleans, Baton Rouge and the numerous oil refineries and chemical plants along the lower reaches of the Mississippi.

"Protecting lives is the No. 1 priority," Army Corps of Engineers Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh said at a news conference aboard a vessel on the river at Vicksburg. A few hours later, the corps made the decision to open the key spillway and inundate thousands of homes and farms in Louisiana’s Cajun country to avert a potentially bigger disaster in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Engineers feared that weeks of pressure on the levees could cause them to fail, swamping New Orleans under as much as 20 feet of water in a disaster that would have been much worse than Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Instead, the water will flow 20 miles south into the Atchafalaya Basin. From there it will roll on to Morgan City, an oil-and-seafood hub and a community of 12,000, and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico, flooding swamps and croplands.

A sliver of land north of Morgan City, about 70 miles long and 20 miles wide, was expected to be inundated with 10- to 20-feet of water, according to Army Corps of Engineers estimates. It will take hours and days for the water to run south, and wasn’t expected to reach Morgan City until around Tuesday. Still, the city has already taken steps to shore up its levee.

The corps employed a similar cities-first strategy earlier this month when it blew up a levee in Missouri — inundating an estimated 200 square miles of farmland and damaging or destroying about 100 homes — to take the pressure off the levees protecting the town of Cairo, Ill., population 2,800.

The disaster was averted in Cairo, a bottleneck where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet.

This intentional flood is more controlled, however, and residents are warned by the corps each year in written letters, reminding them of the possibility of opening the spillway, which is 4,000 feet long and has 125 gate bays.

The spillway, built in 1954, is part of a flood plan largely put into motion in the 1930s in the aftermath of the devastating 1927 flood that killed hundreds.

It is set to be opened when a flow rate of 1.5 million cubic feet per second is reached and projected to rise. Just north of the spillway at Red River Landing, the river had reached that flow rate, according to the National Weather Service.

To put things in perspective, corps engineer Jerry Smith crunched some numbers and found that the amount of water flowing past Vicksburg, Miss., would fill the Superdome, where the NFL’s New Orleans Saints play, in 50 seconds.

This is the second spillway to be opened in Louisiana. About a week ago, the corps used cranes to remove some of the Bonnet Carre’s wooden barriers, sending water into the massive Lake Ponchatrian and eventually the Gulf of Mexico.

That spillway, which the corps built about 30 miles upriver from New Orleans in response to the flood of 1927, was last opened in 2008. May 9 marked the 10th time it has been opened since the structure was completed in 1931. The spillways could be opened for weeks, or perhaps less, if the river flow starts to subside.

In Vicksburg, Miss., Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said at least five neighborhoods have taken on water.

"We’re patrolling subdivisions by boat," Pace said Friday.

Deputies are also living at Eagle Lake, a community north of Vicksburg that was evacuated and is now isolated. And U.S. Highway 61, a major north-south route has been cut off by water, affecting thousands of people, Pace said.

Meanwhile, farmers along the lower Mississippi had been expecting a big year with crop prices skyrocketing, but now many are facing ruin, with floodwaters swallowing up corn, cotton, rice and soybean fields.

In far northeastern Louisiana, where Tap Parker and about 50 other farmers filled and stacked massive sandbags along an old levee to no avail. The Mississippi flowed over the top and nearly 19 square miles of soybeans and corn, known in the industry as "green gold," was lost.

"This was supposed to be our good year. We had a chance to really catch up. Now we’re scrambling to break even," said Parker, who has been farming since 1985.

Cotton prices are up 86 percent from a year ago, and corn — which is feed for livestock, a major ingredient in cereals and soft drinks, and the raw material used to produce ethanol — is up 80 percent. Soybeans have risen 39 percent. The increase is attributed, in part, to worldwide demand, crop-damaging weather elsewhere and rising production of ethanol.

While the Mississippi River flooding has not had any immediate impact on prices in the supermarket, the long-term effects are still unknown. A full damage assessment can’t be made until the water has receded in many places.

Some of the estimates have been dire, though.

More than 1,500 square miles of farmland in Arkansas, which produces about half of the nation’s rice, have been swamped over the past few weeks. In Missouri, where a levee was intentionally blown open to ease the flood threat in the town of Cairo, Ill., more than 200 square miles of croplands were submerged, damage that will probably exceed $100 million. More than 2,100 square miles could flood in Mississippi.

When the water level goes down — and that could take many weeks in some places — farmers can expect to find the soil washed away or their fields covered with sand. Some will probably replant on the soggy soil, but they will be behind their normal growing schedule, which could hurt yields.

Many farmers have crop insurance, but it won’t be enough to cover their losses. And it won’t even come close to what they could have expected with a bumper crop.

"I might get enough money from insurance to take us to a movie, but it better be dollar night," said Karsten Simrall, who lives in Redwood, Miss.

Simrall’s family has farmed the low-lying fields in Redwood for five generations and has been fighting floods for years, but it’s never been this bad. And the river is not expected to crest here until around Tuesday.

"How the hell do you recoup all these losses?" he said. "You just wait. It’s in God’s hands."

The river’s rise may also force the closing of the river to shipping, from Baton Rouge to the mouth of the Mississippi, as early as next week. That would cause grain barges from the heartland to stack up along with other commodities.

If the portion is closed, the U.S. economy could lose hundreds of millions of dollars a day. In 2008, a 100-mile stretch of the river was closed for six days after a tugboat collided with a tanker, spilling about 500,000 gallons of fuel. The Port of New Orleans estimated the shutdown cost the economy up to $275 million a day.

___

Mohr reported from Redwood, Miss.

 

©2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An emergency ban on the sale of fake bath salts will be put into Louisiana law, if legislators agree to a proposal that has received the backing of the House Criminal Justice Committee.

In a January emergency order, Gov. Bobby Jindal outlawed a half-dozen dangerous chemicals sold as fake bath salts and plant food. A bill by Republican Rep. Ricky Templet, from Terrytown, would write that ban into state law, while also broadening an existing prohibition on synthetic marijuana and cocaine products.

The bill heads to the full House for debate.

The fake bath salt powders — sold under names as White Lightning and Ivory Wave — can cause extreme paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, hypertension, chest pain and suicidal thoughts.

___

Online: House Bill 12 can be found at www.legis.state.la.us

 

©2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.