Daily Archives: February 9, 2017

State and local emergency preparedness officials in Livingston, Ascension and St. James parishes spent much of Wednesday assessing damage from Tuesday's tornadoes that left some homes splintered and a few residents hospitalized for injuries.

The officials will be out in the field again tomorrow, joined by FEMA employees, hoping that the cumulative damage the state suffered, in this area and in New Orleans East, will be followed by a federal disaster declaration.

"We're trying to get a federal declaration, to get some help for these people," said Mark Harrell, director of the Livingston Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

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Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency.

In Livingston Parish, two people were seriously injured when the tornado blew apart their home in Killian. At least eight homes were damaged in Watson, where four people were injured.

Except for at the homes struck by the tornado in Livingston Parish, power had been restored to all other areas of the parish, Harrell said on Wednesday.

In St. James Parish, the tornado struck down in the community of Lemannville near the Sunshine Bridge, with two injuries reported.

"We had some pretty severe damage," St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin said Wednesday. "I think we had a number of about eight houses totally destroyed and 15 to 20 with extensive damage."

Others had minor damage, said Martin, who expected to get the complete numbers at some point Wednesday and expected there would be 25 to 30 homes affected.

One of those injured was an elderly man who was trapped in his trailer home, Martin said. Neighbors were able to free the man, who was taken to an area hospital, he said.

Entergy reported Wednesday morning that more than 45 utility poles were down in Ascension and St. James parishes.

For customers that can safely accept power, service restoration is anticipated for Wednesday evening, Entergy officials said.

The Ascension Parish School Board office in Donaldsonville and the school district's Head Start building were without power Wednesday and remained closed.

Rick Webre, the director of the Ascension Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said Wednesday it appears that the tornado that came for Donaldsonville touched down southwest of the city, then traveled northeast across the city, with most of its destruction centered along St. Patrick Street, near the city's historic district.

Elsewhere in the parish, the tornado caused damage to the CF Industries complex on the Mississippi River. The Ark Veterinary Clinic, close to River Road and near the plant, was badly damaged by the storm.

One minor injury was reported in Donaldsonville on Tuesday, with three minor injuries reported outside the city limits, in Ascension Parish.

Entergy reported early Wednesday that it was working to restore power to approximately 500 customers in the downtown Donaldsonville area, which includes Patrick Street, as well as on several other streets in the vicinity.

The company estimated that the majority of those without power in Donaldsonville area should see it restored by Wednesday evening.

The Red Cross had set up a shelter on Tuesday night, but nobody checked in and the shelter closed Wednesday, said Donaldsonville Fire Chief Chuck Montero, one of the local officials on hand at the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office command center set up in a trailer in the parking lot of a Donaldsonville church.

On Wednesday morning, city employees operated a backhoe to pick up debris behind the row of wood-frame houses that were in the path of Tuesday's tornado.

The houses, with broken windows and roofs that had been damaged or torn away, stood quiet and empty, their residents having taken shelter elsewhere.

A more than a century-old cemetery on St. Patrick Street, near the damaged homes, escaped the tornado's winds; the stately headstones and wrought iron fence of the Bikur Sholin Cemetery, established in 1856, were unharmed.

Also unharmed was the home of Daisy Eames, 98. Eames said that her carport and her shed were blown away by the tornado. .

A neighbor's home to the right of Eames' house was in tatters.

"The Lord could have taken my house, too," Eames said.

She added, "He didn't take one life."

Advocate staff writers Grace Toohey and David J. Mitchell contributed to this story.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

Originally posted here:

Ascension, Livingston, St. James parishes pick up pieces after tornadoes - The Advocate

The Mount Carmel soccer team would like nothing more than to repeat as the Division I state champion.

The Cubs took a step in the right direction against East Ascension in a second-round playoff game Wednesday. Mount Carmel controlled the ball from the opening whistle, and outshot its opponent 24-0.

That combination was too much for the Spartans, and the Cubs posted a 3-0 victory at Pan American Stadium in New Orleans' City Park.

The victory sets up a quarterfinal against District 6 rival Dominican. That game will be played at 6 p.m. Monday at Pan American. Those teams played to a scoreless tie in the district finale Jan. 28.

Offense wasnt a problem for Mount Carmel against East Ascension, however, their shots did take some time to fall.

We started off a little nervous, and we knew we had to get it together, said Mount Carmels Maddy Murret, who scored two goals against East Ascension. We got our confidence up after missing a few early shots. Thats definitely one of the most frustrating things, when youre taking shots, but they arent going in. Once we had one, we settled down.

Mount Carmel (20-5-2) set the tone early with five close-range shots in the first 12 minutes. Though those attempts missed, the attack wore on the Spartans. The Cubs eventually found the net in the 15th minute when Sydney Blue assisted Jo Galloway for a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs continued to fire at the Spartans net, and outshot East Ascension 17-0 before halftime. Murret scored the other goal of the half when she lined a shot from mid-box to center-net during the 34th minute. She increased Mount Carmels lead in the 45th minute after firing to the top right corner from about 10 yards out.

Mount Carmel coach Pavlos Petrou substituted liberally midway through the second half, and the Cubs still continued to control possession, though they failed to score again.

Petrou was quite pleased with his teams effort, especially with the ball at its feet.

The offense was clicking today, he said. Especially in the first half, there was so much one-touch play, and six or seven pass combinations. We created a lot of good chances. Maybe sometimes we were a little wasteful, but I was happy with the way we came to play. We werent afraid to take our chances.

East Ascension coach Chris Goodall knew his team was in for a difficult battle against the defending state champion. He took pride that his team allowed only one goal in the second half.

Theres a reason were No. 19 and theyre No. three, Goodall said. I was so happy with the second half and that we went (35) minutes with them (not scoring). They got the third goal, and (Petrou) didnt sub everyone out straight away. I was very proud of our defense there.

East Ascension finished 10-9-5.

Originally posted here:

Girls soccer playoffs: Mount Carmel dominates East Ascension, moves to quarterfinals - The Advocate

Brandie Richardson

The Louisiana Travel Promotion Association (LTPA), a non-profit organization that represents the state's travel and hospitality industry, recently announced their 2016 graduates of their Louisiana Tourism Leadership Academy. Among the 22 graduates was Tracy Browning, Executive Director of Tour Ascension.

LTLA has been a tremendous opportunity for those interested in learning more about Louisianas tourism industry, and we are proud of the 2016 graduating class, said Jill Kidder, LTPA President and CEO. It is our hope that these professionals will utilize their new-found knowledge and experience to better themselves, their organizations and their state.

The year long leadership class met every other month at various locations around the state to help tourism-related organizations with skills such as advocacy, product development, leadership and management, networking and marketing.

"I thought this would be a grate learning and educational tool to participate in," Browning said. "It also is networking and meeting other people that do the same things that we are involved in. It was a great way to meet other people in the state."

She said one of the biggest tools she took away from the class to help boost tourism in Ascension Parish is advocacy, along with how bills pass through legislature.

"It was an education part for me, understanding how it was relative back to our business and how it can affect us."

Other 2017 graduates included representatives from organizations and parishes such as St. Tammany Parish, Bayou Country Childrens Museum, the Louisiana Office of Tourism, New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation and Nottoway, Oak Alley and the Myrtles Plantations, to name a few.

Read more from the original source:

Tour Ascension executive director among leadership academy graduates - Weekly Citizen

MUMBAI: The man who holds the key to the leadership struggle in Tamil Nadu is expected to arrive in Chennai on Thursday. Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, who holds joint charge for Maharashtra and TN, is not yet scheduled to meet with the Sasikala camp though an appointment was sought through his office after she was elected leader of the AIADMK legislature party.

Indications are the governor will wait for the Supreme Court verdict on the appeal against Sasikala Natarajan's acquittal in the disproportionate assets case before he decides on the prospect of swearing her in as CM. The verdict is expected next week.

"Governor is not in a hurry to take a decision. Since the Supreme Court has announced that the verdict will be pronounced within a week, Vidyasagar Rao will prefer to wait. As of now, there will be no swearing-in event. Heavens are not going to fall if a new person is not sworn in immediately,'' a source close to Raj Bhavan told TOI on Wednesday.

The source also ruled out the possibility of President's rule in the state, saying there was no void at the moment; caretaker chief minister O Paneerselvam is discharging his duties as political head of state.

"There is no vacuum. The CM's post is not vacant, there will be no justification for imposition of President's rule,'' was the view put forward by the source. The governor had earlier accepted Panneerselvam's resignation, but the latter has since claimed that the resignation was submitted by him under duress.

Rao's stand to put off the decision is in line with the opinion expressed by constitutional expert and former attorney general Soli Sorabjee, who has said that deferring a decision may be the right legal option for now in view of the extraordinary situation. "Governor can defer the swearing-in till the verdict of the Supreme Court,'' Sorabjee told TOI .

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Governor likely in Tamil Nadu today, but may bide time over Sasikala's ascension - Times of India

GONZALES Authorities arrested the owner of a Baton Rouge company, Complete Construction Contractors, Wednesday morning on allegations he defrauded more than a dozen Ascension Parish homeowners who flooded in August, the sheriff said.

Sheriff Jeff Wiley said Matthew Morris, 39, the owner of the company, used a complicated contract to rack up thousands of dollars in claims assistance fees, grossly over-billed or billed people for work that had not been done, and collected residents insurance payments with inflated or fraudulent bills.

Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies said they had received 13 criminal complaints against Morris since December over allegations of contractor fraud on home restoration jobs stemming from the August flood. Six of those complaints were filed by homeowners who are 60 or older, deputies said. The company is often known by the abbreviation CCC.

Wiley said he believes the case could extend into other nearby parishes and noted law enforcement authorities in Livingston Parish are already expressing interest in looking into the case. He added that he believes some victims may still be out there thinking they only had a civil remedy and may not have thought to file a criminal complaint.

I look forward to his day in court when he will be held accountable, Wiley said. I dont think we have heard the last of this case. I think theres a trail of misery and trail of victims that is yet to be identified.

Separately, the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors is actively investigating several complaints the board has received about Complete Construction since the flood, the boards compliance director said Wednesday.

Brad Hassert, the director, said the board, which isnt authorized to look at contract disputes, is focused at this time only on claims related to mold remediation work performed by the company.

Ascension Parish sheriffs deputies said investigators have learned that, though Morris was billing people for mold remediation, he didnt have a valid mold remediation license at the time.

Contractor board online records do show Complete Construction is currently licensed to do commercial, residential and mold remediation work, but Complete Construction did not get its first mold remediation license until Nov. 4, months after the August flood.

In 2015, the board found Complete Construction guilty of hiring unlicensed contractors for a large commercial job and was fined $1,000, the maximum allowed under the law, Hassert said. Morris has paid the fine.

Morris business office and his home in Baton Rouge's Mallard Lakes subdivision off Hoo Shoo Too Road where Complete Construction also has a 6,300-square-foot spec home for sale were searched Wednesday morning shortly before he was arrested at his office. The parish Sheriffs Office, the Louisiana State Attorney Generals Office and the U.S. Secret Service Task Force jointly investigated the fraud allegations, deputies said in a news release.

A woman answering the phone at Complete Construction's office on Perkins Road Wednesday afternoon said Morris was not available and offered "no comment" on the allegations against the company's owner.

The homeowners told Ascension deputies that they signed contracts with Complete Construction Contractors that covered demolition, drying, mold remediation and reconstruction but never received cost estimates despite repeated requests.

Wiley said the fine print in Complete Constructions contracts purported to allow Morris to make change orders while he was dealing directly with residents insurers and raising costs without homeowners realizing it until it was too late.

Residents began to receive inflated invoices that totaled two-thirds of their insurance payouts after demolition was finished, leaving a funding shortage to finish their jobs, deputies said.

When homeowners terminated the agreements, it was then that Morris mailed them bills for the claims assistance fees and 50 percent of the cost of the overall job, deputies said. Morris also placed liens on some homeowners properties that prevented them from continuing to receive their insurance payments.

Morris, 21313 Turkey Creek Drive, Baton Rouge, was booked Wednesday with 12 counts each of residential contractor fraud and of prohibited activities and sanctions, 11 counts of engaging in the business of contracting without authority, nine counts of misapplication of payments, six counts of theft of assets of aged persons and filing or maintaining false public records, deputies said.

Morris remained in Ascension Parish Prison near Donaldsonville late Wednesday awaiting the setting of bail, deputies said.

Follow David J. Mitchell on Twitter, @NewsieDave.

Continued here:

Complete Construction Contractors owner arrested on counts of post-flood contractor fraud in Ascension - The Advocate

Tottenham Hope for Danny Rose Return by March by Ryan Wrenn

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Last year, a very young Tottenham team took the pitch in the Premier League. Because of a few summer sales, Mauricio Pochettino kept only 22 players on his roster.

Their average age was the youngest in Englands top flight division for the season at 23.5.

With plenty of youth, this was a hungry squad that pushed eventual league champions Leicester City until the final four games when the teams inexperience showed.

Against West Bromwich Albion, Craig Dawson gifted Tottenham a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute with an own goal but rectified things 40 minutes later to steal two points from Spurs.

Drawing with the Baggies was a disappointment but losing Dele Alli for the remainder of the 2015-16 season didnt help matters either.

A week later, Spurs traveled to Stamford Bridge needing three points to continue keeping pace with Leicester. Instead they coughed up a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Chelsea, picking up asecond consecutive draw in as many games.

To lose yet another player to suspension once again Mousa Dembl for six matches meant that Pochettino would be without two key midfielders in his sides spine for the final two matches.

Its no surprise that without Alli and Dembl on the team, Tottenham would implode for the final two fixtures of the season and finish in third place. A disappointing finish despite a very good season.

Its unfortunate then that most people will remember Spurs 2015-16 campaign as one of failure, failing to win the league title and finishing below Arsenal for the 21st consecutive season, than recording their best-ever finish in Premier League history with such a young and inexperienced squad.

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Read more here:

Harry Kane Reflects on Tottenham's Ascension and Mauricio Pochettino's Influence - HotspurHQ