Lafayette City Council support for local mask mandate unraveling
The gist: A local emergency mask ordinance that last week seemed headed toward passage is stumbling.
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Leslie Turk
A founding editor of both The Independent and ABiz and senior editor at The Times of Acadiana in the 1990s, Leslie Turk is an award-winning investigative reporter who has worked in the newspaper business in Lafayette for more than three decades. In 2007 and again in 2017 she received the Louisiana Press Association's highest honor, the Freedom of Information Award. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Acadiana Advocate, The Daily Advertiser, Baton Rouge Business Report, Louisiana Illuminator and Gambit. Contact her at (337) 207-4312 or [email protected].
Lafayette City Council members make second push for local mask mandate
Still failing to see enforcement of the governor’s mask mandate, City Council members are taking a second shot at passing a local one in an emergency meeting. The same council members previously backed off an effort to push forward on an emergency mask ordinance in July after Mayor-President Josh Guillory assured them the state order would be sufficiently enforced.
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Lafayette mayor quarantines after direct exposure to KLFY anchor he says should have been in quarantine himself
The mayor-president is in quarantine after a direct exposure to KLFY anchor Dalfred Jones, who tested positive for the coronavirus Friday, the day he emceed the swearing in of Lafayette City Marshal Reggie Thomas at the Heymann Center.
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Covid kills Mardi Gras, MLK Jr. celebrations in Lafayette
The gist: A different kind of war has canceled Mardi Gras parades and festivities this year.
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Private contractor tapped by Guillory lacks license to install security cameras in Lafayette
The gist: Crime Fighters of Louisiana, the private entity contracted to provide security cameras for Lafayette, was issued a cease-and-desist letter from Louisiana’s fire marshal for failing to secure a license required by state law. What this means: The company, owned by Lafayette businessman and law enforcement booster Brooks Bernard, can’t immediately execute on a […]
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State regulators shut down further scrutiny of LUS/LUS Fiber transactions
The PSC, which has limited oversight of LUS Fiber, shut down any further scrutiny of a pending self-report from December 2019.
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Lafayette City Council members still in the dark over security camera contract with local businessman
City Council members are questioning the mayor-president’s justification for signing a controversial security camera contract with a private company without their knowledge or approval but remain unsure how they might use the various remedies at their disposal.
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Acadiana hospitals can now diagnose Covid, flu and other respiratory diseases from a single swab
The gist: As Covid rages and the flu season threatens to overwhelm an already-understaffed and overburdened workforce, local hospital systems are adding new tools to their arsenal to avoid delays in diagnosing and treating respiratory infections.
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Bending over backwards: officials avoid punishing noncompliance of Louisiana’s coronavirus restrictions
When the governor said at Tuesday’s Covid press briefing that state inspectors had “bent over backwards” to help businesses comply with state-mandated restrictions, he wasn’t exaggerating.
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Guillory leaves fighting Covid up to undermanned medical community and state authorities
The gist: Early signs of another surge are spurring warnings from health officials and the governor, who have renewed calls for Louisiana to take the pandemic seriously. But in Lafayette, Mayor-President Josh Guillory has stood down mitigation efforts, leaving undermanned state and health personnel to deal with the problem without local help.
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High drama in court over Pope sentencing
The gist: While disgraced former City Marshal Brian Pope was saying his good-byes to his family this morning ahead of reporting to the Lafayette Parish jail to begin serving his year-long sentence for malfeasance in office, his attorney was back in court maneuvering for more special treatment.
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A month later, Pellerin family’s statement on body cam viewing offers window into likely lawsuit
Hedging that they saw video from only one officer, the Pellerins’ attorneys said in a previously unpublished statement it nonetheless shows “crystal clear” evidence Pellerin posed no threat to officers and should not have been shot.
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