Category Archives: Ascension

ST. AMANT Two Ascension schools displaced from the historic August flooding finally movedfrom their temporary sites Monday morning.

Lake Elementary moved from host sites Duplessis Primary, Prarieville Middle and the old RPCC campus to temporary buildings on its home campus. St. Amant Primary movedits PreK through second grades from G.W. Carver Primary to the old RPCC campus so the entireschool is on a single site.

Both schools have been at their respective host sites since the August flood. Teachers movedtheir classroom materials over the weekend in preparationfor the start of school on Monday.

"This is yet another significant step toward our flood recovery, and we are very appreciative of all the hard work of internal and externalpartners that have madethis happen," said Ascension Public Schools Superintendent David Alexander.

St. Amant High School returned to its campus on Feb. 13 and Galvez Primary returned on Mar. 2.

The last flooded school to leave a host site will be Galvez Middle.

For more flood recovery updates, visit http://www.apsb.org.

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Two Ascension schools move to temporary sites after flood - WBRZ

Prosecutors in Ascension Parish are seeking to hold jailed Baton Rouge contractor Matthew Morris without bail, alleging he used fraudulent methods to obtain a line of credit while in jail and then "went off the grid" for four dayslast month after he posted $635,000 bail in the parish.

Prosecutors said in a motion to revoke his bail that Morris' "propensity for fraudulent conduct remains prevalent" and he is a "flight risk" who cannot be trusted to turn himself in when ordered to do so.

Morris, 39, owner of Complete Construction Contractors, has been booked on dozens of counts of contractor and insurance fraud and other counts and was expected to be in court in Livingston Parish Monday morning.

Starting in early February, six law enforcement agencies in the Baton Rouge area have accused Morris of starting home and business restoration work and then seeking exorbitant cost increases that arent justified by the completed work, according to affidavits of probable cause. Ascension deputies also allege Morris used sophisticated damage estimating software to inflate costs.

He was first arrested in Ascension Parish Feb. 8. After Morris was release Feb. 10, he was rearrested Feb. 21 at his home and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish before he was taken to Livingston Parish Detention Center where he is being held in lieu of $780,000 bail along with holds from other jurisdictions.

Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies are planning to bring him to their parish Monday afternoon to book him on counts involving four more victims, Chief Deputy Bobby Webre said.

Prosecutors with the 23rd Judicial District in Ascension allege in their motion filed in February that Morris used payments purportedly owed to his company to secure lines of credit.

But prosecutors allege that the payments were actually "false" and based on contracts that had been terminated over allegations of Morris' fraudulent business practices.

Prosecutors said in the motion that Morris, while sitting in Ascension Parish Prison last month, directed family members and his comptroller, Kerry Jones, to secure the lines of credit on his behalf.

Jones, the comptroller, told sheriff's deputies that Morris showed up at Complete Construction's office on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge after he posted bail in Ascension on Feb. 10 with $200,000 cash and a handgun, prosecutors said.

"Morris attempted to assure his employees that everything was going to be okay," prosecutors wrote in their motion.

After Livingston Parish sheriff's deputies obtained warrants against Morris, they spoke with him and his attorney and had planned to have him turn himself in Feb. 17 at the Sheriff's Office.

"Instead of turning himself in, Mr. Morris went off the grid," prosecutors said in the motion.

Sheriff's deputies had to ask Crimestoppers to put out a notice on Morris and formed a special task force to find him.

Authorities caught up with Morris at 7 a.m. Feb. 21 at his home in Mallard Lakes subdivision in Baton Rouge. He was about to leave the house with his wife when they arrived, prosecutors said.

Morris is set to appear in 23rd Judicial District Court at 9 a.m. March 20 on the prosecutors' motion. In addition to setting the hearing date, Judge Jessie LeBlanc also ordered the law enforcement agencies to hold Morris until then.

Follow David J. Mitchell on Twitter, @NewsieDave.

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Ascension prosecutors: Morris went off grid after initial release from jail, remains a risk for flight, further fraud - The Advocate

LIAM HEHIR

Last updated05:00, March 7 2017

Chris Skelton

Labour leader Andrew Little and his new deputy Jacinda Ardern.

OPINION: Will Jacinda Arden's accession to the deputy leadership of the Labour Party be the "game changer" that has been heralded so often before?

Ifthe Labour-Green memorandum of understanding, the rise of James Shaw, the retirement of John Key and the Future of Work Commission have not had the prophesied effect, will this be the thing that finally tilts the balance of New Zealand politics away from National?

Many commentators are excited about the prospect, telling us that Ardern's young, hip image and undeniable media impact will supply Labour with the votes of young Aucklanders in numbers sufficient to make this year's election competitive.

This is a curious claim given that the new deputy who recently won the substantively uncontested Mt Albert by-election has twice failed to win Auckland Central.

READ MORE: *Editorial: Annette King a worthy Wellington champion *Stacey Kirk: Mt Albert win gives Jacinda Ardern near unstoppable momentum *Annette King's move from defiance to acceptance boosts Labour's chances

It's hard to see how Ardern guarantees the votes of young Aucklanders when an Auckland seat held by Labour from 1919 to 2008, which happens to have the highest concentration of young voters in the country, proved beyond her reach.

But more generally, the case for changes in party leaderships making a material difference in elections seems overblown.

We often hear that voters are overly influenced by the politics of public relations. There is probably something to this, but it pays to remember the gripes almost always comes from the losing side. While this makes sense (why would the winners complain?), the danger is that blaming the environment is an outlet for those in denial about the real causes of their defeat.

Rejection is never easy to take, and it may be easier to stomach the idea that the voters are at fault for deciding on the basis personal popularity rather than policy and competence. It's a bipartisan temptation, with ideologues on both Left and the Right being equally apt to blame the herd mentality of the "sheeple" for the unpopularity of the agendas.

In 2001, the National Party caucus despaired of its chances of winning the next election under Jenny Shipley. It deposed her in favour of her recently appointed deputy, Bill English, who had long been touted as a future prime minister. Despite being just 39 years old, English had been in Parliament for 11 years and had even served as minister of finance.

After becoming leader of the opposition, English's preferred prime minister percentage in the Colmar-Brunton poll climbed strongly before falling and then rising again in the run-up to the 2002 election. While he never came close to matching Helen Clark, his ratings were much better than those achieved by the last four Labour leaders.

But as far as the National Party's polling went, however, it didn't make much difference. Whatever the trend in the preferred prime minister stakes, National's party vote maintained a consistent downward trajectory. The party went on to receive less than 21 per centin the general election.

In recent years, John Key's personal style has been cited as an example of PR vapidity triumphing over substance. However, it is pretty clear that his government's popularity was more stable than his personal popularity.

After becoming prime minister, through to the 2014 election, Key's preferred prime minister rating was very rarely less than 50 per cent, with it exceeding more than 70 per cent at times. Prior to his resignation last year, however, the ceiling for his rating was lower than 40 per cent.

And yet through that decline, National's polling proved resilient. It certainly did not go through anything like the same decline.

But in any event, Ardern is not the leader of the Labour Party. She has become Andrew Little's deputy. If the actual leader only has a marginal impact in most cases, a deputy leader's impact will be smaller by several orders of magnitude.

Ardern was a high-profile member of the Opposition before acceding to the deputy leadership and it's hard to see what her new position adds to that. Against that, the manner and timing of her promotion have had two very certain outcomes.

First, now former deputy Annette King will retire from Parliament. This means Labour will lose an MP with experience of actually being in power, who has the respect of the other side of the aisle and who is widely admired in the provinces. For all the handwringing about the need for renewal, her retirement is not a good thing for Labour.

Secondly, assuming she wants the job, Ardern will become leader if Andrew Little fails to topple National in September.

Until now, he probably would have survived a narrow loss, as many leaders of the Opposition have done before him. Now, all the momentum is with Ardern and, like Bill English in 2001, the pressure will be on for her to complete what many have considered to be her destiny ever since she first arrived in Parliament back in 2008.

-Stuff

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Ardern ascension, King exit, barely balances ledger for Labour - The Press West Coast

TeamRock.com

Video Clip For New Song "Ascension" Issued By Voyager Metal Underground Australian progressive metal act Voyager issued a video clip for the new song "Ascension." The song will appear on the band's new album "Ghost Mile." A pre-order campaign is currently underway for "Ghost Mile" at this location. Check out "Ascension" here:. Voyager Release First Video From New AlbumTeamRock.com all 3 news articles »

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Video Clip For New Song "Ascension" Issued By Voyager - Metal Underground

As the competition went on, the words got tougher and tougher.

But, in the end, Ascension Academys Jeff Zheng outlasted 15 other competitors over 35 rounds plus the championship word to win the 69th Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday at the Region 16 Education Service Center. Zheng, 12, moves on to the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., for Bee Week, beginning May 28 and culminating in the nationally televised competition.

Zhengs championship word was monstrosity, which he spelled just after bifocals.

My last five words were the most difficult, Zheng said.

Eli Alley, 12, almost got stuck on the word wiseacre, which he didnt know before the competition. But now that the Buffalo, Okla., student knows its definition, Alley thinks its an apropos self-descriptor.

I like that word, he said. I feel like I could be described that way sometimes.

Alley placed second in the competition after faltering on the word imitate. He improved after last years fourth-place finish and says hes ready to compete and win next year.

I find spelling fun because you get to learn new words that youve never heard before, he said. It gives you a feeling of relief when theres a word you dont know but someone else gets that word. Sometimes it feels unfair because someone gets such an easy word and youre stuck with a word you had to guess on.

Perrytons Nicholas Battin won third place and said he loves the challenge of competing. Battin says he was eliminated in the third round during his last trip to the Regional Spelling Bee, so this time he studied for about two-and-a-half hours a day.

There are some words that I struggle with that have weird spellings; those I have to constantly spell, Battin said.

Kinley Rehder from Shattuck, Okla., said she started competitively spelling about three years ago.

The first year I tried out, I came here and got fourth place, she said. I love the meanings and definitions of words.

Rehder, the last girl standing at this years Bee, said her biggest challenge is learning to slow down and take her time. She was eliminated on the word lulled.

Some of the junior spelling champions from the regions counties were also in attendance.

Storm Heger, whose favorite word is contraband, traveled with his family from Hugoton, Kan., to watch big sister Gillian compete.

Some words are challenging but I usually just look them up on the internet or in the dictionary, Storm said. Theres nothing I cant overcome.

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Ascension Academy's Jeff Zheng wins Regional Spelling Bee - Amarillo.com

New classroom buildings for freshmen are steadily going up on the campuses of two Ascension Parish public high schools, mostly unfazed by the August flood.

Work on the freshman academies at East Ascension and Dutchtown high schools, both of which escaped flooding, came to a halt for two or three weeks after the flood, while construction workers dealt with their own flood-damaged homes, said Travis Parker, the school district's project manager for the academies.

But in the months since, "We've been back to full force and moving along," Parker said.

The two freshman academies, each approximately 38,000 square feet, broke ground in the fall of 2015 and are expected to open for students in the spring of 2018, he said.

On the campus of East Ascension High on Worthey Street in Gonzales, the $17 million Freshman Academy project, paid for by sales tax revenues and a 2009 bond issue, also includes the building of a new kitchen and cafeteria/auditorium that will serve the entire student body.

Currently about 70 percent complete, the Freshman Academy is a two-story, free-standing building that will tie into the main school building by walkways.

The freshman building will incorporate the colors and textures of the existing school, in an updated look for the East Ascension High campus, which opened in 1965, Parker said.

The $12.8 million Freshman Academy at Dutchtown High, on La. 73, will be almost identical to the main school building, one of the newer schools in the district, that opened in 2002 and recently had its cafeteria expanded.

The freshman building, funded by sales tax revenues and currently about 40 percent complete, will tie into the main school building on both its first and second floors, Parker said.

The Ascension Parish school district has, for several years, had a "freshman academy" program in each of its four high schools, three on the east bank and one on the west bank, with freshmen having the same group of teachers throughout the day, intervention for those who are struggling and their own associate principal.

The new freshman academy buildings, each designed for 600 freshman, give ninth-graders their own space, as well, and ease overcrowding in the three east bank high schools.

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ST. AMANT A two-story classroom building just for ninth-graders is being built on the camp

In February, the opening of the school district's first Freshman Academy, at St. Amant High School on La. 431, was instrumental in the student body's return to the campus.

St. Amant High students, who had been going to school at host site Dutchtown High in the afternoon hours since the flood, are now back at their home campus in temporary classroom buildings and the Freshman Academy.

+14

ST. AMANT For the past six months, St. Amant High students have carried on the school year

The freshman buildings are a way "to help students move from the eighth grade, where they are on top, to high school, where they are beginning anew," Lisa Bacala, director of secondary education for the school district, has said.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

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Major projects at two Ascension Parish high schools take shape - The Advocate

The Ascension LGBT Party, which has been located on Fire Island Pines in Long Island and more recently inMykonos Greece is coming to the Asbury Park beach and New Jersey this August.

Organizers say attendees come from around the world. This year in Asbury Park the party organizers say there will be 14 deejays spinning at 11 different locations between August 4-6, 2017 in the city. The main location will be the primary hotel host Asbury Hotel on Kingsley Avenue. The Asbury Hotel is justa short two blocks from the famous beach and Boardwalk. The Saturday Celebration party will take place at the renovated Asbury Lanes, which is adjacent to the hotel, according to Ascension organizers.

The fest was staged at Mykonos Greece for the past two years, Organizers are glad to bring it back to the states. We are thrilled to bring Ascension back to the states this year, said Eric von Kuersteiner. He launched the Ascension Party back in 2006 in Long Island. Ascension is going to bring thousands of visitors from all over the tri-state area as well as the world to Asbury [Park]. It will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the local businesses to thousands of new visitors.

Ascension is an LGBT charity event and the organizers say that 100 percent of proceeds raised this year will be donated to Asbury Park and other local LGBTcharities.

For more information visit http://www.ascensionparty.com.

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LGBT Ascension Party moves to Asbury Park this August - Out In Jersey

STILLWATER When Stillwater said arrivederci to downtown restaurant Luna Rossa last year, Ascension Episcopal Church said buon giorno to the businesss wood-fired pizza oven.

The church hopes to set up a food and social ministry by installing the oven at the church office site on Fourth Street in downtown Stillwater.

Reverend Buff Grace said that the church is in the midst of putting a team together to lead the charge to install the oven. There will most likely be a few hurdles to overcome, such as acquiring the proper building permits and making sure the building and oven are in compliance with health codes.

Grace explained that the idea for a pizza oven ministry was inspired by his brother-in-law, Jim Schmitt.

He installed a pizza oven back in the 90s, Grace said. Its been a lot of fun; every time I go over he fires up the pizza oven. He has a flagpole, and whenever the oven is on, he runs a flag up the pole and neighbors know they can bring whatever they want ... Since then weve had a dream of putting a pizza oven in here, and having that space for our congregation and anyone who wants to come in and join us.

It was also through Schmitt that the opportunity presented itself. Schmitt is a collector of antique architecture items, and had arranged to take sconces from the restaurant interior after it closed. He noticed that the pizza oven was still on the site, and learned it might be available.

We talked with the owner and were able to work out a deal, Grace said. It had to be out within a couple of days. We scrambled to get a team to move it out and move it to the church. It was somewhat of a windfall; we didnt have a (project) team together right away, so we wanted to wait until beginning of the new year (to begin planning for the ovens use).

Luckily for Ascension, one of the congregations most recent members is former pastor Bryce Johnson, who spearheaded the installation of a bread oven at United Methodist Church in White Bear Lake.

He has a lot of skills and capacity with this, Grace said. The work that he did was mainly along the lines of bread making. He had done some study in Europe for bread making, so this would be slightly different than what were doing.

Grace said that there has been a large amount of interest from people within the parish.

You say, lets gather a meeting to talk about some of the usual things you would expect in a church, but you say wood-fired oven and people come out of the woodwork, he joked. It stirred up a bunch of interest.

The group discussed the many options for the oven ministry and at this point, plans on an adult fellowship-type of ministry, not that it wouldnt be available for youth and kids, he said. Were seeing that theres a lot of ways to get connected with the church community, and Sunday morning is not necessarily the best avenue for everybody. We think that Christian community is really important, and it doesnt have to be on Sunday morning. This turned out to be a brilliant way to do that.

Grace estimated that the oven might be in use by the end of next summer. He doesnt expect the oven will move far from its current garage location, but hed like to see improvements to the driveway and garage area before everything is complete.

Continued here:

Ascension serves a slice of faith - Forest Lake Lowdown

DONALDSONVILLE In the days leading up to President Donald Trump's first address to Congress, a large contingent from Ascension Parish government that included Parish President Kenny Matassa, seven of 11 Parish Council members and handful of staffers came to Washington hat in hand.

Specifically, they are seeking a slice of the $1 trillion in infrastructure spending that Trump said he'll be asking Congress to supply.

Council Chairman Bill Dawson said Thursday that parish officials believe Ascension's important role in the nation's energy sector should give it a priority for some of those dollars and made that case to new U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R- La., and others in Congress.

"If the Trump administration has an infrastructure bill, we think we should get some priorities because we're carrying the load for the energy in the United States," Dawson said during a council meeting in Donaldsonville. "We have a large section of industrial development here. We don't have the roads, the exit roads. We don't have the supply roads that we need to supply those industries."

Trump hasn't yet offered a lot details about where the $1 trillion will come from or how much will go toward traditional public works projects.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Republican Pennsylvania Congressman Bill Shuster said billions of that investment could come in the form of planned private sector investment, like pipelines, that is being held up by federal agencies.

Shuster chairs the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. In late January, Congressional Democrats proposed their own $1 trillion, 10-year infrastructure plan with a focus on major public infrastructure projects but left unclear how it would be paid for as well.

Ascension Council Chairman Dawsonmade the announcement as he and other parish officials recapped the large parish delegation's visit to Washington, D.C., over the Mardi Gras weekend and through the middle of the week. They made the stops on Capitol Hill after a weekend National Association of Counties conference in Washington.

He said the visit with Kennedy was among several with federal agencies that affect the parish and other members of the parish's congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, and aides to U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans.

The group also met with U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre, who was sworn in to his first term in January.

Matassa said he was able to deliver a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that was signed by him and the presidents of four other parishes in the region. In the letter, they indicate their support for construction of the Comite River Diversion Canal, extension of the proposed West Shore hurricane protection levee so it protects St. James and Ascension parishes, and the dredging of Bayou Manchac.

Matassa also pressed for Ascension to get a greater share of federal disaster recovery dollars for the March and August 2016 floods in the next round of funding that state officials are pursuing.

"We would like to see some of those funds come directly to the parish, so we can get going and do what we need to do," Matassa said.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has asked for nearly $4 billion to recover from the floods, but Congress has approved about $1.7 billion. In the first batch of funding, nearly $438 million, Ascension has been projected to receive just a small fraction due to restrictions on the money.

Parish officials also used the D.C. visit to air a few grievances, from the slow pace of permitting by the Corps on major drainage projects to how ozone attainment is enforced in the parish.

Dawson also noted that parish officials aired their complaints with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over their response to the August flood and, in particular, the speed with which residents are receiving their insurance payouts under the National Flood Insurance Program.

"People pay their premiums on time. People pay their taxes on time, but they didn't receive their payments on time," Dawson said.

Follow David J. Mitchell on Twitter, @NewsieDave.

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Ascension officials visit Washington DC, want piece of Trump infrastructure pie - The Advocate

ST. AMANT Two Ascension schools will move from their host sites since the August flood to temporary facilities on Mar. 6.

Lake Elementary will move from host sites Duplessis Primary, Prarieville Middle and the old RPCC campus to temporary buildings on its home campus. St. Amant Primary will move its PreK through second grades from G.W. Carver Primary to the old RPCC campus so the entireschool is on a single site.

Both schools have been at their respective host sites since the August flood. Teachers will move their classroom materials over the weekend in preparationfor the start of school on Monday. According to Ascension Public Schools, parents will receive information about schedules, bus and car drop-off/pick-up and classroom locations.

"This is yet another significant step toward our flood recovery, and we are very appreciative of all the hard work of internal and externalpartners that have madethis happen," said Ascension Public Schools Superintendent David Alexander.

St. Amant High School returned to its campus on Feb. 13 and Galvez Primary returned on Mar. 2 After Lake Elementary and St. Amant Primary's move, the last flooded school to leave a host site will be Galvez Middle.

For more flood recovery updates, visit http://www.apsb.org.

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Two Ascension schools to move from host locations following flood - WBRZ