Regional Headlines

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A jury will soon begin hearing testimony in the first trial over whether Gulf Coast storm victims were exposed to potentially dangerous fumes while living in government-issued trailers. Jury selection started today for the lawsuit against trailer maker Gulf Stream Coach.

ANGOLA, La. (AP) - An Angola chase team has captured escaped inmate Henry Smith. The West Feliciana Parish sheriff says a chase team member spotted Smith Monday morning crossing a parish road northeast of the prison. Smith was captured a short time later.

BAGHDAD (AP) - Military officials say a civilian contractor from Louisiana was shot and killed on a U.S. installation in the Iraqi city of Tikrit -- and an American soldier has been detained. Twenty-seven-year-old Lucas Vinson was shot yesterday morning while at Camp Speicher.

GOLDEN MEADOW, La. (AP) - A Golden Meadow police officer who was fired last week after he pepper-sprayed the mother-in-law of a town councilman says video footage from his squad car will prove he did nothing wrong. The Town Council fired 43-year-old Darrin Charpentier after complaints from the mother-in-law of Councilman David Adams.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)