Tornado reported in New Orleans East. Treme drunk driver who fled with dead body on roof sentenced to 15 years. A woman who drunkenly struck and killed a pedestrian in October 2015 and tried to drive away from the scene with the victim's body on her roof was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday (Jan. 13) after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide.
Quintella Williams, 30, made no statement in court regarding her responsibility for the death of Sakanah Franklin, 37, and the victim's father declined an invitation to speak. But the defendant's mother said she previously spoke with the dead woman's sister and they tearfully came to terms with a tragedy that struck at the hearts of two families. "We are deeply sorry, and so sad about the whole situation," said Williams' mother, Bridgette Perry. "They lost a little one, and we did, too, in that she won't see anybody for a while. "
Carrie Fisher honored by thousands in New Orleans. NEW ORLEANS — Their hair wrapped in side buns, wielding lightsabers and dressed as everything from Wookiees to stormtroopers, thousands of people turned out to honor Carrie Fisher, the actress famous for her iconic role as Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” movies.
Fisher, whose tough-talking princess defied Empire generals while tossing off one-liners like “into the garbage chute, flyboy,” died Tuesday. In New Orleans, where death is marked by both mourning and merriment, the Mardi Gras group called the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus organized a parade Friday in honor of the woman they consider royalty. New Year's Eve in New Orleans: Your guide to ringing in 2017. New Year's Eve in New Orleans has developed into one of the most festive days of the year in the city, which has prompted two national TV programs to now host at least part of a broadcast on the ground here.
But New Orleans is more than a place to watch, it's a place to be. Here's your guide to getting down for the new year in New Orleans. This list does have activities for those of all ages, but be sure to do your research to ensure the event is appropriate for all of your guests -- unless you plan to leave the kids at home. If you know of other events, email details to cbrasted@nola.com or post them below in the comment stream. Dec. 30. Contaminated Water In St. Joseph, La., Leads To Public Health Emergency. St.
Joseph, La., a town of about 1,100 people in northern Louisiana. Courtesy of Garrett Boyte hide caption toggle caption. A wife of 42 years learns of husband's murder on nightly news. Darrell Hollins, 68Killed Nov. 20 'He was really a father to many' The last thing Darrell Hollins, 68, said to his wife was that he was going out to get ice.
The married couple of 42 years, parents of seven children, were getting ready to host their Sunday checkers game at their Carrollton home. While they waited for other players to arrive, Hollins told his wife, Judy Hollins, he was going to the store. When the Riverwalk got rammed: 20 years ago on Dec. 14. By all accounts, Dec. 14, 1996, dawned as a fairly normal Saturday at the Riverwalk Marketplace in New Orleans.
Temperatures were a touch warmer than usual -- about 63 degrees -- but skies were clear. With Christmas on the horizon, it didn't take long for holiday shoppers to begin buzzing about, fulfilling their elf-ly duties in the liner riverfront shopping mall. What they didn't know was that all of that was about to change. Just as the lunch rush was dying down in the food court overlooking the churning Mississippi River, all hell broke loose. The resulting catastrophe, which took place 20 years ago this week, became known as the Bright Field Incident, which sounds like a Sherlock Holmes mystery or a James Bond operation but which in reality was one of the most jarring maritime accidents in the modern history of the New Orleans riverfront.
More than 550,000 Louisianians could lose health insurance under Obamacare repeal. A new report estimates as many as 558,000 people in Louisiana would lose health insurance if Republicans in Congress force a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and Louisiana would lose $1.9 billion in federal Medicaid funding.
In many ways, the report offers a glimpse from the edge of an abyss: It assumes that a Republican-led Congress, with support from President-elect Donald Trump, would repeal the Affordable Care Act and fail to replace it with any meaningful health care policy. And while it's not clear that will happen, the report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities offers a dark reminder of what health care providers and patients stand to lose under an overhaul of key policy changes. The numbers in the report are all the more dramatic because of Louisiana's longtime reliance on federal funding to finance health care programs for the working poor and indigent. That would mean huge losses for hospitals, health insurance plans and primary care providers. Landry-Walker QB Keytaon Thompson: 'I feel very comfortable at Mississippi State'
Mississippi State quarterback commitment Keytaon Thompson had one of the most prolific offensive seasons in the entire state, and it was capped off Saturday night with a 50-21 Class 5A championship victory over West Monroe.
He finished the game with 154 yards rushing and a touchdown to go along with his 303 yards and five touchdowns through the air. Cardell Hayes crashed his Hummer into Will Smith's SUV on purpose, expert says. Did Cardell Hayes intentionally crash his Hummer into Will Smith's Mercedes-Benz SUV?
Yes, crash reconstruction expert Michael Sunseri said in testimony Friday (Dec. 9) before Judge Camille Buras. The question is central to the prosecution's case. Jurors are being asked to decide who was the aggressor in the April 9 road rage altercation that ended with Hayes shooting the former Saints star to death, and whether either man acted in self-defense. Cardell Hayes passenger Kevin O'Neal about night Will Smith killed: 'They continually attacked us' Kevin O'Neal, the passenger in Cardell Hayes' Hummer the night Hayes killed Will Smith after a car crash, said he feared for his safety after a passenger in Smith's SUV exited the vehicle removing his shirt and saying he wanted to fight.
"'I feel played, I want to fight. We're not about that life,'" O'Neal recalled the passenger saying as he testified in Hayes' trial Thursday (Dec. 8). "They continually attacked us," O'Neal added at another point, referring to Smith and others with him. The man who took off his shirt has been identified by several witnesses at Richard Hernandez, a passenger in Will Smith's Mercedes-Benz SUV. The April 9 crash and shooting was the culmination of road rage, authorities have said, in which Hayes killed Smith and wounded his wife Racquel Smith. Will Smith's shirtless passenger becomes focus of Cardell Hayes trial. Cardell Hayes' lawyers sought Wednesday (Dec. 7) to shift jurors' attention away from their client's actions in his April 9 encounter with Will Smith and onto what they called the incendiary behavior of a shirtless acquaintance who spilled from the former Saints player's SUV.
Richard Hernandez, who an array of witnesses said yanked off his shirt and appeared intent on fighting the much larger occupants of the Hummer H2 that crashed into Smith's vehicle that night in the Lower Garden District, was a recurring focus on the third day of Hayes' murder trial. Hayes, 29, is charged with second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and aggravated criminal damage to property. Prosecutors Jason Napoli and Laura Rodrigue and defense attorneys John Fuller and Jay Daniels continued wrestling over who was the primary aggressor in the deadly confrontation.
An independent witness appeared to offer help to both sides. "He was ridiculous," Cacioppo scoffed. Disco dancing cop gets down at Luna Fete in New Orleans. It was too cute. A handful of little kids were bobbing to the electronic dance music that blasted from a big, lighted bison sculpture on Lafayette Street (part of the Luna Fete light/art festival). Suddenly, NOPD Sgt. Louisiana legislator who opposes LGBT protections likely to be elected to Congress. North Louisiana looks likely to elect one of the Louisiana Legislature's most socially conservative members to Congress this Saturday (Dec. 10).
State Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Bossier City, is expected to easily defeat Democrat Marshall Jones, an attorney and businessman, for the congressional seat centered around Shreveport and northwest Louisiana. Where in Louisiana is personal income on the rise? Personal income in Louisiana, as in the rest of the United States, is growing faster in metropolitan areas than in rural regions. Since 2012, the Shreveport-Bossier City and Lake Charles metros have seen double-digits increases, more than twice the national average, according to recently released federal data. The New Orleans-Metairie metro area, with 4.3 percent growth over that period, also outpaced the national metro average of 3.8 percent. Still, the New Orleans metro per capita income of $47,830 in 2015 is down 7.4 percent from the area's all-time high of $51,675 in 2007.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released updated personal income estimates in November for every metro area and county in the country. Joe McKnight case has parallels with 2013 Kenner killing where shooter was arrested. With Joe McKnight's admitted shooter still not in custody four days after the football standout was slain in Terrytown, critics of Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand's decision not to arrest 54-year-old Ronald Gasser are pointing to a similar case in Kenner in 2013 that landed that shooter in jail almost immediately.
Authorities say Gasser fatally shot McKnight, 27, from inside his vehicle during a road rage incident Thursday (Dec. 1) at the intersection of Behrman Highway and Holmes Boulevard. Gasser was released hours later by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office without charges, as Normand said his office is still working to investigate what happened. Critics say that's different treatment than the way Kenner Police handled the 2013 case of Roger Batiste, who was booked with second-degree murder after he shot a man from inside his vehicle. Man forced woman to New Orleans for prostitution: NOPD. Cardell Hayes' trial to open today in Will Smith death. Joe McKnight's shooter was cited in 2006 road rage incident, beating at same Terrytown spot: JPSO. Watch: Mr. Okra is featured as part of '60 Second Doc' project.
Snubbed developer keeps World Trade Center lawsuit alive, appeals dismissal. Short-term renter dies in Nov. 19 Bourbon Street balcony collapse. After another Bourbon Street shooting, New Orleans searches for peace: Editorial. Demontris Toliver was a gifted artist who expressed his talent through his work at a tattoo parlor in Baton Rouge. He had a gentle spirit and the ability to draw anything, his friends and family said. The former NOCCA student had just turned 25 and was engaged to be married. Now he is gone, the victim of another senseless killing in New Orleans. He was hit in the crossfire during a shootout in the 100 block of Bourbon Street early Sunday. Nine other bystanders were wounded.
Witnesses said they saw two men arguing, and then one of them started firing as he walked away. This is the second time in a little more than two years that a young person has died in a mass shooting on the city's most famous street. John Bel Edwards, Jeff Landry debate whether transgender state workers should be protected. After Bourbon Street shooting, New Orleans tourism industry braces for impact. Authorities are still unraveling the details behind a Bourbon Street shooting that killed one man and injured nine others early Sunday morning (Nov. 27). For the French Quarter restaurants, bars and other businesses that rely on crowds of late-night revelers, an all-too-familiar and unsettling question has resurfaced: Will people still feel safe visiting New Orleans? Pam Fortner, who co-owns three Tropical Isle locations on Bourbon Street and the Funky Pirate with partner Earl Bernhardt, remembers asking herself and others the same question in June 2014 after a shootout in the 700 block of Bourbon Street killed 21-year-old nursing student Brittany Thomas and wounded nine other people.
Trung Le of Belle Chasse was sentenced in April to 60 years in prison for his role in the shooting. Police have yet to identify the suspected second shooter. Man found digging in marsh mud near Bayou Sauvage, police seek to identify. Police are seeking to identify a man found in a marsh near the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday, November 27, 2016. The man is described as between 15- and 20-years old, was not carrying any identifying credentials, and is believed to be possibly mentally disabled as he is unable to identify himself, police said. (New Orleans Police Department) After Bourbon Street shooting, New Orleans tourism industry braces for impact. @Title. 'Go back to the cotton farm': Geismar student hurt protecting sister from racist insults, family says. Bayou Classic Battle of the Bands and Greek Show 2016: photo gallery. Thanksgiving in New Orleans.
Thanksgiving in New Orleans: vintage photos and ads from The Times-Picayune. How will a Trump presidency affect New Orleans tourism? Tropical depression forms in Caribbean, moving slowly. Comedian Adam DeVine cancels his Feb. 2, 2017 New Orleans performance. 9 months' pregnant teen is missing, family says.