Louisiana Headlines

FAMILY SHOT

Third person dies from apartment shootings

BOSSIER CITY (AP) - A third person has died as the result

of a shooting spree at an apartment and the suspected gunman faces

a third murder count.

Bossier City Police say 17-year-old Gregory B. Colston at LSU

Hospital in Shreveport yesterday.

His grandmother Christine Colston and her husband, Willie Ray

Young, died of gunshot wounds Monday night.

Authorities were seeking 34-year-old Robert Leroy McCoy of

Bossier city on warrants alleging three counts of first-degree

murder.

Police say Colston's mother, Yolanda Colston, received a

protective order against McCoy after she reported being held at

knifepoint in her Bossier City home in April. Police Chief Mike

Halphen says Colston sent her son to live with his grandparents

because of the threat.

Colston was McCoy's stepson.

Before the shootings, Halphen says police had been searching for

McCoy for about three weeks in connection with the April case.

XGR--JUVENILE RECORDS

Juvenile records could be public

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The criminal records of some juveniles

could become public record under legislation passed by a Senate

committee.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Norman said parents and school

officials are often at a disadvantage, not knowing the history of

juvenile delinquents in their neighborhoods and schools.

Norman told a Senate committee there is little that he, as the

chief law enforcement officer in Jefferson Parish, is able to talk

about publicly.

The Senate bill would open to the public any records or reports

related to a child who is at least 14 years of age at the time the

child committed a crime of violence, a second or subsequent felony

offense, or distributed or possessed with the intent to distribute

a dangerous substance.

OVERDOSE DEATH

Woman charged in boyfriend's overdose death

HOUMA, La. (AP) - A 43-year-old Houma woman is charged with

murder after the prescription methadone pills that she allegedly

gave her 21-year-old boyfriend caused a fatal overdose.

Patti Thomas was booked Monday with second-degree murder.

Police say Thomas allegedly gave Devin Michael Smith, her

21-year-old live-in boyfriend, methadone pills from a prescription

she was taking for stomach pains.

Police were called to the house the couple shared Sunday after

Smith stopped breathing.

Thomas remains in the Terrebonne Parish jail in lieu of a

$100,000 surety bond or a $10,000 cash bond.

AFFAIR-SLAYING

Man who shot wife's lover says he thought she was raped

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The North Texas man who killed his

wife's lover after she falsely cried "Rape" says he would "do it

again."

Darrell Roberson says he thought wife Tracy was being raped when

he found her and Devin LaSalle embracing in a truck in front of the

Robersons' Arlington home. He says when he heard his wife scream

"Rape" and LaSalle trying to drive away, he had no choice but to

shoot him.

LaSalle was a Hurricane Katrina victim who moved to North Texas

from New Orleans.

He initially was arrested, but a Tarrant County grand jury

declined to indict him and later indicted his wife instead. Tracy

Roberson was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for

involuntary manslaughter.

The Robersons now live in Frisco. Darrell Roberson says he's

never considered divorce and wishes he could take his wife's place

in prison because "as a man you hate to see your wife hurt."

KATRINA-FRAUD

Panel indicts three for Hurricane Katrina fraud

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - A federal grand jury has indicted three

people for allegedly trying to obtain Hurricane Katrina disaster

relief through fraud.

The panel in Tulsa, Oklahoma, indicted James Ishmel Hayes Senior

and Sybil Lynn Hayes. Terry James Ruffin also was indicted for

similar conduct by the same grand jury in an unrelated case.

Ruffin's brother, Troy Ruffin was sentenced April 29th to five

years of probation and was ordered to pay more than $6,000 in

restitution for Hurricane Katrina fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorney

Charles McLoughlin said the Ruffin brothers' cases are not

connected and that Terry Ruffin's whereabouts are unknown.

Sybil Hayes purportedly gained $27,932 through claims connected

to her childhood home in New Orleans. McLoughlin said she hadn't

had legal interest in the residence since the 1990s.

According to the indictment, Terry Ruffin applied for aid based

on damage to a Louisiana residence that he did not own. The

indictment says he lived in Tulsa at the time of the storm.

James Hayes Senior allegedly claimed that an address in New

Orleans received damage, but he didn't own it and was living in

Broken Arrow at the time. Hayes raked in $6,386 before authorities

caught on.

WOMAN HANGED

Hanging death deemed suicide

RESERVE, La. (AP) - Saint John the Baptist authorities have

classified the death of a woman found hanging from a tree branch in

Reserve last week as a suicide.

Sheriff Wayne L. Jones said deputies found notes near the body

and said detectives tentatively identified the woman as Paula

Chenier of Reserve. Chenier has been missing for four

weeks.

Chenier was seen on a Reserve store's surveillance camera on

April 3rd making a purchase. Jones says the clothes she was wearing

on the video matched clothes found on the body.

The parish public works employee who had just finished cutting

grass near a canal said he spotted a woman's body hanging from a

rope and flagged down a deputy.

XGR--TV SERVICE

Senator approves TV service legislation

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Senate has approved a bill to give

state government control over franchising television service around

the state, and take that power away from local governments.

AT&T, the biggest supporter of Senator Ann Duplessis' bill, has

said the change would encourage more companies to begin offering TV

service in Louisiana, improving TV service, heightening competition

and lowering prices for consumers.

Senators approved amendments that would require that TV service

providers submit a copy of its service application to the

appropriate local government, as well as to the secretary of

state's office. The amendment also included a provision making a

local government free from liability in the case of damages or

injuries caused by the applicant's negligence.

Under the bill by Duplessis, local governments would still

collect the fees - ranging from 3 percent to 5 percent of gross

receipts - but the companies would register with the secretary of

state's office instead of police juries and city councils.

Former Governor Kathleen Blanco vetoed similar legislation in

2006, citing objections from local governments concerned about loss

of revenue and control of the process

The bill moves to the House.

MCMORAN-EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Dual heads of miner, petroleum explorer enjoy boosts

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The top two executives of Freeport McMoRan

Copper & Gold and McMoRan Exploration Company enjoyed hefty

compensation boosts in 2007 as prices for precious metals and

petroleum soared.

James R. Moffett is chairman of Phoenix-based Freeport McMoRan,

while Richard C. Adkerson is chief executive. Adkerson serves as

co-chairman with Moffett of New Orleans-based McMoRan Exploration.

In 2007, Moffett received 71.7 million dollars in compensation

from both companies, up from 38.6 million in 2006. Adkerson

received 67.4 million dollars, compared with 28.7 million in 2006.

For both executives, the mining company made up the bulk of

their compensation. Moffett received 68.6 million from Freeport in

2007, and 32.8 million in 2006. Adkerson took in 65.3 million

dollars in 2007 and 24.3 million the previous year.

The Associated Press calculates compensation by including

salary, bonuses, incentives, perks, above-market returns on

deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and options

awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of

pension benefits, and they may differ from what companies report to

the SEC and shareholders on their compensation summaries in their

proxy statements, which use other measures.

XGR--ELECTIONS-OUTSIDE GROUPS

Lawmakers delay part of the campaign finance law change

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Louisiana Legislature has agreed to

delay the start of a new law requiring outside, third-party groups

that try to influence elections to detail their contributors and

their expenses.

Supporters of the delay said the state ethics board doesn't have

the ability yet to deal with the reporting requirement and the

board believes the campaign finance reporting requirement goes well

beyond what the Legislature intended when it passed the law.

The Senate, which had rejected a previous attempt at stalling

the law, reversed course this week and agreed in a 31-5 vote to

push back the start date, giving final passage to the delay.

But while the initial proposal would have delayed the new law

for more than a year, the final agreement only stalls the law until

August 15th. That gives lawmakers enough time during the current

legislative session to tweak the new law.

The new law - approved during the February ethics special

legislative session - requires any political organization fitting

definitions found in the 527 section of federal tax law to file

state reports that detail contributors, the amount of contributions

and expenditures made. Lawmakers have complained the groups

influence the outcomes of elections without being required to

disclose their funding sources and spending like candidates must

do.

JACKSONVILLE STATE-PERRILLOUX

JSU coach talks with Perrilloux's family

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe

has spoken to the family of former LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux

about a possible transfer to a team with no scholarship

quarterbacks on the roster.

Crowe said he also spoke with LSU coach Les Miles, who kicked

Perrilloux off the defending national championship team after

repeated off-the-field problems.

Perrilloux can transfer to a Football Championship Subdivision

team like Jacksonville State without having to sit out a year. The

Gamecocks' 2007 starter, Cedric Johnson, was kicked off the team

after the season for violating team rules.

Crowe said he has not talked to Perrilloux yet. He said he has

been looking for a transfer to give the Gamecocks some experience

at the position.

EARNS-STONE ENERGY

Stone Energy sharply boosts 1Q earnings

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - Record high oil prices drove Stone Energy,

an independent oil and natural gas producer, to a nearly sixfold

increase in first-quarter profit that shot past analysts'

forecasts.

For the January-through-March period, Stone earned 62.2 million

dollars, or $2.22 per share, on revenue of 203.2 million dollars.

That's compared with year-ago earnings in the first quarter of 10½

million, or 38 cents per share, on revenue of 173.3 million

dollars.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast per-share

earnings of $1.74 and revenue of 175.7 million dollars for the

latest quarter.

Stone said it realized an average oil price of $95.72 per barrel

for the latest quarter, up from the year-ago figure of $56.65.

Natural gas prices averaged $8.82 per thousand cubic feet, up from

$6.95 for the first quarter of 2007.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)