Louisiana Headlines

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - Attorneys are set to make opening statements today in the trial of a man charged in the shooting of a Shreveport police officer in 2008. Twenty-two-year-old Lucien Trammell faces a charge of attempted second-degree murder. He is accused of shooting Officer John Madjerick in the face as the officer questioned him during an investigation.

THIBODAUX, La. (AP) - Lafourche Parish officials are considering switching some pump stations from diesel to cleaner burning natural gas with money from the federal stimulus package. The parish's director of Coastal Energy and Environment says the administration is looking into how many pump stations the parish could switch over with the $388,000 federal energy grant.

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - The Lafayette City-Parish Council will decide in the coming weeks whether to discontinue providing funding for external agencies. The agencies, formally known as non-governmental organizations, include groups such as the Acadiana Symphony, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Faith House, Healing House, the Lafayette Council on Aging, and other groups.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Streetcar service along Canal Street is shut down for about two months as the Regional Transit Authority launches a $2.7 million project. The project would replace underground electrical lines damaged by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters nearly four years ago.

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