News for Wednesday 101613

By Dave Graichen

 

Get ready for some more cool Autumn-like weather. State Climatologist  Barry Keim says it's coming via a cold front that is bringing rain to  parts of the state already. Keim says the cool front is expected to make its way from northwestern  parishes  to coastal regions by later today, bringing a nice cool  snap.  He says expect overnight lows in the upper 50's and daytime highs in the  mid-to-upper 70's, with very little rainfall after today.

 

Blue  Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana announces they are dropping its prescription  drug  plan  for  seniors.  That  move  will impact 13-thousand residents who will now have to find a new Medicare  Part D  Coverage.  Members  can  enroll  into  a  new plan starting today through February 28th.

 

A  manhunt  is  underway  for a Natchitoches man who is  accused  of fatally shooting 37-year-old  Ted  Charles Brou (Broh) during a home invasion  late  Sunday  in  the  town  of   Creston,   which  is  in Natchitoches Parish. Alan Virgil Brumfield is considered  armed  and dangerous.  He's   a  white  male,  about five-foot-ten, 150 pounds. Authorities believe he's driving a blue Nissan Sentra with a Florida license plate.

 

Deputies in Rapides Parish seek an  inmate who escaped Monday from a work detail on US 71. They say 28-year-old Randy Girod, of Columbia, is not considered to be dangerous. They ask anyone who may have seen him to contact the Sheriff's Office in Rapides.

 

Campaign  finance  reports  show  Senator  Mary  Landrieu  ahead  in fundraising for her 2014 re-election  bid  for  the third quarter of this  year. Between July and the end of September,  Landrieu's  team raised  over  $1.3-million,  compared to her nearest challenger, GOP Congressman Bill Cassidy, who raised about $700-thousand. Landrieu's total raised is nearly $6-million. Cassidy $3.4-million.

 

Cleanup  is  underway a Fourchon Beach, after a ton of oil was found under the sand  there.  Tropical  Storm  Karen brought the oily mess partially to the surface. Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Anderson says it's a mat of oil, beneath the sand,  that  only became visible as Karen dissipated. It is assumed the tar mats and tar balls were from  the  2010 BP oil spill.  He  says  active  cleanup  is underway and so far about  500 pounds have been removed.

 

Benedictine  monks  in  St. Tammany Parish win the final round of  a lawsuit to allow them to  sell  their  handmade  caskets.  The state Board  of Embalmers and Funeral Directors have protested the  coffin sales, as  cutting  into their business. The case went on appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme  Court.

 

The legal battle over who owns the phrase "Who Dat" is going back to court. Two new suits have been  filed  by  a  company called Who Dat Inc.  against a number of New Orleans t-shirt shops  for  using  the phrase  without  permission. Many say no one OWNS the expression and it dates back to the late 18th century.

 

Senator Mary Landrieu recommends that President Barack Obama appoint Walt  Green  as  the  U.S.  Attorney  for  the  Middle  District  of Louisiana.  Green  has  been acting  U.S.  Attorney  in  that  Baton Rouge-based federal district  since  Donald Cazayoux stepped down in July.

 

Police in the Jefferson Parish town of Harahan say a woman told them hundreds of  dollars  in bras and underwear had disappeared from her dresser drawers. She placed  a  hidden  camera and caught video of a neighbor entering her home, her bedroom and  helping  himself to her lacey  things.  Police  arrested 19-year-old Ross Frioux for  simple burglary and possession of stolen things.

 

Grant Parish Sheriff's deputies  were  called  to a Colfax Church on Sunday. Not by the holy spirit but by parishioners  who  didn't  care for  the  7-and-a-half  foot  gator  that got a bit too close to the

church. The deputies were miraculously  able to return the alligator to the Red River.