Drug resistant staph cases steadily increasing in Louisiana

Louisiana health officials say cases of a resistant, blood-borne staph infection have been climbing.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also referred to as MRSA, has been in the news since a Virginia high schooler died from the drug-resistant staph infection. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report cites a rise in the same infection, prompting mass cleanings and closing of dozens of schools throughout the country.

In Louisiana, a special education teacher at Hammond High School is being treated for the antibiotic-resistant staph "superbug." Instances of blood-borne MRSA in this state have increased from 346 cases in 1999 to 739 in 2005.

Ex-Councilman, Oliver Thomas' nephew fatally shot by police

The Times Picayune has reported that the nephew of ex-councilman Oliver Thomas was fatally shot by the police.

Alton Laraque, 19, died near his residence in the Iberville public housing complex.

Police were called to complex around 8:30 p.m. to handle a report of a man involved in a domestic disturbance. Laraque had apparently had been arguing with a girlfriend, police said.

When police responded, Laraque acted defiantly, they said. Laraque and police exchanged gunfire on two occasions within an hour, police said.

After the initial exchange near Iberville and Crozat streets, Laraque managed to evade police for about an hour, police said.

But police found him hiding underneath a car and another exchange of gunfire ensued, police said. Laraque died at the scene.

A distraught Thomas, a former city councilman who resigned in August after pleading guilty to taking bribes, arrived at the scene late Thursday night.

Police said they initially discovered a man carrying a chrome-colored, 9 mm pistol and chased him when he ran, police spokeswoman Shereese Harper said. During the foot-chase, Laraque turned and shot at the officer, who returned fire, police said.

The officer was not hit, and it still has not been determined whether the man was wounded at that time. But he managed to evade the officer's pursuit, officers said.

The incident is under investigation.

Is Bobby Jindal good for Louisiana?

Republican candidate for governor Bobby Jindal said he would vote to override President Bush's veto of a bill to expand a health insurance program for children, but Jindal, a congressman, didn't show up in Washington on Thursday for the vote.

The veto override in the House failed by 13 votes, killing the bill to expand and reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Four House members didn't vote, including Jindal, R-Kenner — who has received criticism from his opponents in the governor's race for skipping the vote that sent the bill to Bush's desk.

Mr. Jindal told a group in Jefferson Parish this week that he had “150 specific proposals,” after rattling unflinchingly through a good many in a 12-minute speech.

He makes a particular case for a “war on corruption,” as he puts it, in Baton Rouge, proposing to tighten financial disclosures on lobbyists and legislators and to prohibit business relationships between legislators and the state. He promises to build up infrastructure like ports, to devote attention to research universities and promote technical training. He hardly mentions Mr. Bush, a sharp contrast to four years ago when he often boasted of his connections to the president.

Past governors have charged into Baton Rouge promising reform only to founder in the change-resistant Legislature. Mr. Jindal will most likely face long odds too, if he fulfills the near-universal prediction that he will come out on top.

Is Gubernatorial Candidate, John Georges good for Louisiana?

Two of the best-financed candidates in the governor’s race are trading barbs over video poker.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Kenner, is critical of New Orleans businessman John Georges’ proposal to reduce the number of troopers assigned to State Police’s gaming enforcement division.

Jindal’s Republican Party goes even further, accusing the one-time video poker distributor of pushing a plan that “reeks of corruption and self-interest.”

Georges, who has no party affiliation but was a Republican until recently, maintains the GOP is mischaracterizing his proposal.

He said Jindal is being hypocritical by criticizing his gambling proposal while taking campaign contributions from video poker interests.

On another note, John Georges received endorsements from New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, as well as five elected officials in Bossier and Caddo parishes.

Endorsing Georges are Bossier City Marshal Johnny Wyatt, state Rep. Roy Burrell of Shreveport and three family members who are elected officials in Bossier Parish: Bossier City Councilman Jeff Darby, School Board member Julian Darby and Police Juror Jerome Darby.

They said Georges has pledged not to neglect North Louisiana, and they praised his business accomplishments and political independence.

Meanwhile, a recorded phone message from Nagin has been reaching homes in New Orleans this week, with the mayor saying that Georges, a former co-owner with Nagin of the now-defunct New Orleans Brass hockey team, has been a good business partner.

"Georges says he wants to do for Louisiana what he has done for myriad business ventures: Create better management systems for more efficiency, invest in modernization and hire leaders "who will know how to merge and consolidate."

"He has branched out with real estate ventures and a variety of investments, including the New Orleans Brass minor-league hockey team. The long and diverse list of big-name partners with the Brass included Ray Nagin before he became mayor of New Orleans, Republican Party leader and shipbuilder Boysie Bollinger and two close associates of former Mayor Marc Morial: Roy Rodney and Stan "Pampy" Barre. The team played for several years until the NBA's Hornets came to town and supplanted the Brass' lease at the New Orleans Arena."

Louisiana favors Jindal in first Post-Katrina Governnor's Race

According to Bloomberg News, Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal, a Rhodes Scholar who became Louisiana's health secretary at 24, is the frontrunner to win the governor's race and become the first Indian-American to lead a U.S. state.

Jindal needs a majority of the vote in an Oct. 20 open primary to avoid a runoff four weeks later. Polls have him capturing almost 50 percent of the vote, while his three closest competitors are each struggling for 10 percent.

The election for governor is the first since hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005. Governor Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, isn't seeking re- election after facing criticism for how she dealt with the storms. A win by Jindal, who lost to Blanco in 2003, would put a Bush administration ally in charge of the second-poorest state.

Housing Information as reported by the T-P

The Times Picayune reported today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will craft a process allowing reimbursements to Road Home applicants who have already elevated their homes -- but warned that such requests face rigorous scrutiny and could be denied.

The FEMA announcement reversed the agency's earlier refusal to consider retroactive elevation payments to "pioneers" who raised their homes to limit or prevent future flood damage, even as state and federal officials haggled over whether such owners should be compensated.

State and federal officials refused to say what percentage of at least 25,000 applicants for Road Home rebuilding grants who began elevation work early might qualify for up to $30,000 in reimbursements. And there was only a vague signal as to how long it might take FEMA to iron out procedures for dispensing the money.

On another note, the Housing Authority of New Orleans agreed Wednesday to apply for $40 million in federal HOPE VI grant money to help transform two public housing developments abandoned since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

HANO will have to compete with cities across the country for the sought-after grants, which were instrumental a decade ago in doing away with two of the city's most deplorably neglected public housing complexes, Desire in the 9th Ward and St. Thomas in the Lower Garden District, and replacing them with homes that resemble mixed-income neighborhoods instead of isolated barracks of poverty.

At its regular board meeting Wednesday, HANO's one-man board of commissioners, Donald Babers, approved the applications for two $20 million grants to defray the costs of turning the vacant C.J. Peete complex in Central City and St. Bernard in the 7th Ward into brand new communities.

Meanwhile, the City Council is poised today to reduce the assessments of about two-thirds of the roughly 5,300 New Orleans property owners who contested new and often drastically higher valuations unveiled by the city's seven assessors this summer.

Frilot LLC, the law firm hired by the council to handle the unprecedented volume of appeals, will recommend that the contested properties be reduced in value by an average of about 23 percent, according to records provided by the company.

The council is expected to take up the appeals in a single motion today. Individual cases will not be heard by the council, whose members said there is no reason for curious property owners to attend the meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m.

Crook and Liar Stan "Pampy" Barre gets temporary reprieve from his sentencing date

The Times Picayune today reported that "federal prosecutors have asked a judge to delay by two months the sentencing of restaurateur Stan "Pampy" Barré and businessman Reginald Walker for their respective roles in skimming more than $1 million from a large city contract.

Both men had been set to be sentenced Nov. 7. The delay, which is likely to be granted by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, would move the date to early January.

In a motion seeking the delay, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann wrote that Barré "is cooperating with the government regarding other matters under investigation, but not yet completed."

Barré helped prosecutors make their corruption case against Oliver Thomas, the councilman who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Barré and payments from a friend he installed on a city contract.

Meanwhile, Barré is no longer operating Pampy's Creole Kitchen, his venerable and popular 7th Ward eatery. A news release from his longtime publicist, Vincent Sylvain, noted that the place had "new owners."

The restaurant and its name have been leased by lawyer Curklin Atkins for the past few months.

The lease does not extend, however, to Barré's airport business, Pampy's, which is a joint-venture partner in the concessions contract at Louis Armstrong International Airport. That business remains in the Barré family."

The crook and liar, Stan "Pampy" Barre should also lose his concessions contract at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. We all know how he got that contract. Leaving that business in the Barre family, could only spell trouble for the City of New Orleans for years to come. After all, if your legacy is stealing to get what you want, we know the rest of the clan have learned well from his leadership.

Blanco, Nagin Lobby for Louisiana Aid

From: Times Picayune

By: Bill Walsh

Gov. Kathleen Blanco is getting lots of empathy on Capitol Hill, but no firm commitments yet about whether Congress will come through with the billions of dollars needed to bail out Louisiana's "Road Home" rebuilding program.

On the first day of a two-day blitz through the nation's capital, Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said lawmakers have expressed willingness to help, but are vague on critical details such as how much Congress will spend and when the money might materialize.

Congress allocated $7.6 billion to Road Home for grants to help owners of hurricane-damaged homes repair and rebuild. But the need has turned out to be greater than expected and the money is projected to run out early next year. Blanco is seeking between $3 billion and $4 billion to cover the shortfall and permission to use $1.2 billion in hazard mitigation money for Road Home grants instead. The state also is urging Congress to waive the local share of some $7 billion in New Orleans area levee improvements.

"We've been very well-received," Blanco said after making a presentation to the House Democratic Caucus. "We're asking both parties to branch out and embrace our needs. These are critical moments for Louisiana."

Plans in flux

One reason that House leaders have been unable to give definitive answers is that their own plans are uncertain. The Democratic majority is debating whether to take up a controversial $190 billion Iraq war spending request immediately or wait until next year to consider it. The war spending bill is seen as an ideal vehicle to attach additional hurricane-recovery assistance, but a six-month delay could mean interruptions in Road Home payouts.

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the majority whip and designated Democratic vote counter in the House, was encouraging about the state's chances of getting some bailout, but provided few details about how or when it would happen.

"If you look at what (the Democratic leadership has) done with this, I think that's a good indication of what we'll do in the future," Clyburn said.

The Louisiana group, which also includes New Orleans Recovery Chief Ed Blakely, is expected to go to the White House today to meet with President Bush's Recovery Coordinator Donald Powell and Al Hubbard, the domestic economic policy adviser, as well as with Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The Bush administration has been close-mouthed about the state's request.

Through Oct. 8, Road Home had paid out grants averaging $69,887 to about 60,000 applicants. However, nearly 185,000 had sought financing by the July 30 deadline.

f the war spending bill gets delayed, Congress could attach Louisiana's request to any number of routine government spending bills that are still pending in Congress and expected to pass by year's end. If Congress isn't willing to allocate the full amount, Louisiana officials estimate that $2 billion in "bridge financing" would probably be enough to carry the Road Home program through March.

"The challenge is the timing of the funding and what (legislative) instrument they will use," Nagin said.

Seeking a united front

Blanco and Nagin stressed the need for presenting a united front as Louisiana makes its pitch for more money to Congress. But, there were signs of tension Tuesday in the delegation.

Shortly after a morning meeting with Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, the second-term congressman urged Blanco to give Congress "an honest and fair assessment" of the needs of the state. Boustany also noted that this was the first time Blanco had met privately with him since the 2005 hurricanes.

"We need to make this a team effort," Boustany said in a brief interview.

Boustany said Blanco must figure out precisely how much the state needs. With applications still being processed, Blanco estimated Tuesday that it will be between $3.3 billion and "no more than $3.7 billion" and Nagin said it would be between $3.2 billion and $3.9 billion.

"It's getting harder and harder to get members to coalesce around something like this. They need to come up with a figure and make a case for how they derived that figure," Boustany said.

Blanco said she was surprised at the criticism. "We had a very positive meeting with him," Blanco said.

There has been some bad blood between the two since Blanco pointedly criticized Boustany several weeks ago for his vote against a $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Boustany said he supports more money for SCHIP but wants regulations tightened so that it only covers children, not adults.

Congressman Jefferson wants his trial moved

Congressman Jefferson wants his trial moved out of Virginia because he assumes that he won't receive a fair trial. Mr. Jefferson wants to insult the black race by assuming that since he is a black corrupt politician, black people will condone his behavior. It is time we as a people stand united against corrupt politicians, like Congressman Jefferson, and let them know that we will no longer tolerate corrupt politicians in the big easy. Additionally, his legal argument has no merit.

Jefferson's legal team amended its earlier claim that the government orchestrated a sting operation in the heavily white suburbs of northern Virginia to avoid trying an African-American defendant in the majority black city of Washington, D.C.

Race did not play a factor in the government's sting operation because he was the one who accepted the bribe. It is time for him to stand up for once and be a man. Admit to his guilt and accept responsibility for his actions.

Signs of Recovery in New Orleans

The Times Picayune reported, this morning, the following signs of recovery in New Orleans. I did find it refreshing to read this article since there is usually a lot of negative press regarding the city.

Evidence of recovery can be seen all over the metro New Orleans area. Those signs brighten our mood and show that we are on the mend. We'll be watching for these harbingers of rebirth and taking note of some of them every week.


-- The Lower 9th Ward, which lost its public library in Katrina, has a new library branch, located in the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology. The library has received sizable donations of books, computers and money to rebuild its collection.

-- Lakeview neutral grounds are being brought back to life by residents and hundreds of volunteers who've tackled numerous replanting projects. Al Petrie and Glenn Stoudt with the Lakeview Civic Improvement Association and Connie Uddo, director of the homecoming center for St. Paul's Episcopal Church, have been coordinating the ongoing work.

-- The St. Thomas Community Health Center has opened a coffee shop and community meeting rooms on lower Magazine Street to provide a gathering place for people. Tambourine and Fan, the Treme-based group that teaches young people entrepreneurship, is running the coffee shop.

-- The New Orleans Police 5th District, one of the last district stations still housed in trailers, is getting a new home at the former Universal Furniture Store on St. Claude Avenue, according to the Police Association of New Orleans. Construction, which PANO says will take about a month, will begin shortly.

-- Nursery-rhyme mosaics that deck the walkway of Edward Hynes Elementary School won't be destroyed in the building's demolition. Neighbors and former students of the Lakeview school persuaded the Orleans Parish School Board to save them, and they'll be featured at the new Hynes school.

-- Enthusiastic crowds turned out for Art for Arts' Sake, particularly on Magazine Street.

-- Tulane University has enrolled 215 undergraduate transfer students for the fall semester, a university record.

-- Slidell's First United Methodist Church has reopened its Pumpkin Patch for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.

K-Ville's opening sequence is a 'Made in Louisiana' product

Posted by Dave Walker, TV columnist


Conceived as a virtual NOPD ride-along through the streets of New Orleans, the opening credits sequence for the Fox cop drama "K-Ville" sets the tone for the whole show.

With motion in every frame -- including, yes, the kind of motion by which female tourists obtain beads in the French Quarter -- the sequence is a kinetic overview of life here post-K: Criminals and cops and crumbling shotguns, but also hard work and families and good music and grown-up fun.

Some weeks, the credits, backed as they are by a funky Dr. John track doctored with a sly hip-hop beat, have been the highlight of the hour.

Not this week. "K-Ville" is on leave Monday while the baseball playoffs play out. The series returns with an original episode Oct. 22.

Stir the roux slowly, you gumbo party animals.

Surprising, perhaps, but the "K-Ville" credits are homegrown, the creation of the Baton Rouge company River Road Creative.

A Baton Rouge native and Catholic High School alum who made his way gradually west until working his way into the high-end world of advertising, then motion-graphic design, Richie Adams founded RRC about two years ago.

While in Los Angeles, he'd worked on coming-attractions trailers and/or title sequences for such high-profile projects as "The Last Samurai," "Babel," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "Hide and Seek," "Star Trek: Nemesis" and "S.W.A.T."

Around the time of the hurricanes, he decided to move home.

"Louisiana was becoming a serious player on the film landscape," he said, adding that the outpouring of person-to-person support he saw his hometown provide storm victims was head-turning. "On a human level, I said, 'I think it's time to move back home.' "

Adams and his staff total four. Thanks to their talent, his established connections in Hollywood and contemporary computing power, River Road Creative operates on the premise that it can do anything larger coastal production houses can do -- but all while within walking distance of a Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Caniac Combo. (See for yourself here: www.rrc.la.)

"It all can be done just on a basic souped-up Mac," he said. "Our biggest struggle (has been) convincing studios . . . that the usual Hollywood-caliber work can be obtained in Louisiana."

RRC was one of several companies that pitched for the "K-Ville" job, said Adams, adding that Jonathan Lisco, the series' creator and executive producer, was the foremost advocate for keeping the work local.

"It's almost a bake-off," Adams said. "(Lisco) played a huge role."

Racing toward a mid-September premiere, the two-day credits shoot didn't happen until late August. Clips of stars Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser from the "K-Ville" pilot were edited into the original footage shot by RRC.

A lot of the credits imagery, which was captured on a combination of film and high-definition digital video, is shot through raindrop-splattered car windows.

"The idea is kind of a day in the life, riding with these guys," Adams said. "Jonathan's biggest concern was that he wanted this to feel like it was authentic, (that it) basically showed what New Orleans was like right now.

"You couldn't ignore the fact that the flood took place. The point was to see where it (happened), and the end shot is where you see the kids playing, and then it's that long shot over the 9th Ward. That's right where the canal broke, right there, one of the biggest points of devastation, and for us it was poignant.

"That was one of the things we sold Jonathan on. (Fox) responded to the point that we were showing actual places in New Orleans where the devastation took place.

"But we wanted to finish with a sense of hope, which is what that last shot is about."

Congressman William Jefferson's Laughable Defenses

First there was ignorant Stan "Pampy" Barre trying to get the government to believe that he received money as consulting fees when everyone knows that an intellectually deficient human being as Mr. Barre could not possibly consult anybody on anything. Now we have Jefferson trying to get us to believe that he did not receive bribes. He and Barre are examples of educated and uneducated fools.
___________________
Make up your mind Congressman Jefferson. First, you wanted to go free because they would not let you pee. Now you are saying they lied because you did not take a bribe.

The judge in the federal case against U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, expressed skepticism Friday at the congressman's central defense that despite evidence that he and his family received nearly $400,000 in payments from companies seeking his influence in business deals, it doesn't amount to bribery.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III issued no rulings after the first round of oral arguments in the 16-count public bribery case. But he did raise questions when Jefferson's attorneys argued that the congressman's actions -- writing letters, traveling to West Africa and meeting with federal officials for paying clients -- can't be considered bribery.

"Using a congressman's influence is not a bribe?" Ellis asked defense attorney Amy Jackson.

Jackson conceded that Jefferson's actions might look bad and defy the "walking-around understanding" of bribery. But, she argued, Jefferson's actions don't violate the bribery statute as spelled out by Congress, which she said talks about "official acts," not every action performed by a congressman while in office.

"That may be people's walking-around understanding, but that is not the statute," Jackson said. "When Congress wants to be specific, it is."

The argument is critical to Jefferson's defense. He contends that he was carrying out a private business deal, not an official act of Congress, when he tried to help Kentucky-based telecommunications firm iGate Inc. land lucrative Internet service contracts in Nigeria and Ghana. IGate paid nearly $400,000 to the ANJ Group, a Louisiana corporation controlled by Jefferson's wife, Andrea, in addition to millions of shares of company stock.

If Jefferson is successful in getting the bribery counts dismissed, much of the government's
2 1/2-year-old case would unravel.

New Orleans former school employees Convicted in Scam

It never ceases to amaze me when I read the newspaper these days. There is always a news story about someone committing bribes, fraud, theft and scams. People should realize that there is no such thing as a free ride. There seems to be no concern for others. Scamming the school system hurt the children as well as the state.

After five hours of deliberations, a federal jury Thursday convicted three former Orleans Parish school employees of doctoring payroll records in order to scam extra cash.

Debra Harrison and Drena Clay were convicted of violating the Hobbs Act by falsifying payroll records in order to beef up their paychecks, while Walter Tardy was convicted of lying to the FBI during a sweeping investigation of corruption in the public school system, pre-Katrina.

U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval will sentence them in February. Violation of the Hobbs Act alone carries up to 20 years.

Harrison was the assistant secretary at Fannie C. Williams Middle School, while Clay taught special education there.

The same jury acquitted teacher's aide Lillie Carmouche, and special education teachers Willie Morris and Noble Garner of all charges in connection with the payroll scheme.

The players all worked at Fannie C. Williams Middle School in eastern New Orleans during December 2002 and January 2003, during which a group of teachers, secretaries and aides padded paychecks by making it appear that they covered for absentee teachers during the seven-period day.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office said originally that some $35,000 was siphoned away from the failing school system dependant on millions of dollars in federal funds to stay afloat before Hurricane Katrina delivered the final blow.

During the seven-day trial, prosecutors Carter Guice, Richard Rose and Dan Friel presented jurors with original payroll documents that still bore the white-out that the school employees used to blot out their correct number of hours worked. Also, teacher Trynitha Fulton and aide John Baker, Jr., pleaded guilty before the trial and agreed to testify against their former colleagues at Fannie C. Williams.

Since launching an investigation into the public schools in 2004, Letten's team has obtained 26 convictions out of 29 invidividual indictments.

Thursday's verdict doesn't end the federal probe into public school corruption, Letten said Thursday.

"Our investigation of individuals within the school system is still alive," Letten said.

Federal Prosecutors Issue Subpoena to Terry Lisotta

When will the theft and fraud end in Louisiana? US Attorney Jim Letten is extremely busy these days.

______________________________________________________________

Federal prosecutors have issued a subpoena to the former chief of Louisiana's taxpayer-backed insurance company, who's been accused of theft, fraud and malfeasance.

Terry Lisotta, CEO of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. until early this year, will comply with the grand jury subpoena for documents, his lawyer, David Courcelle, told The Times-Picayune.

Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot, in an audit released early this month, found Lisotta might have illegally spent over $1 million on travel, meals, and other expenses. The audit suggested Lisotta broke state laws in his use of the firm's money.

SUNO students protests the university's slow recovery

More than two years after Hurricane Katrina, SUNO students are still being housed in temporary buildings. John Georges was the only gubernatorial candidate who took time out to voice his concerns over the university's plight. Would UNO have been neglected by the State? I doubt it very seriously.
________________________________________________________________________

Massed in front of a campus building that has not been touched since Hurricane Katrina two years ago, about 200 placard-waving demonstrators today cheered a procession of speakers who called for immediate action to restore the Southern University at New Orleans campus.

For the past 20 months, SUNO has been housed in temporary buildings about a half-mile away. It is the only local institution of higher education that hasn't returned to its campus.

At the midday rally, participants vented their frustration as they brandished blue-and-yellow posters with slogans such as "Katrina Victim Victimized Once Again."

"We need classrooms, not trailers," said Raynika Gougis, a freshman majoring in criminal justice.

Plans originally had called for demonstrators to help clean out a building. Instead, a few dozen people stood outside the Education Building and cheered workers in hazmat suits and respirators as they brought out smelly garbage from the dark, mold-infested building.

Shavonda Chambers, a senior, stuck her cell-phone camera inside and took a picture.

"I smell negligence," she said.

"I smell embarrassment," said Thaddeus Petit, a fellow senior who stood nearby.

Although SUNO personnel pressed the case for quick action to the crowd, the hour-long demonstration was dominated by a host of office holders and candidates who took turns at the microphone echoing the demand for speedy restoration of the Pontchartrain Park campus. Despite muddy sound and a speaker system that died frequently, they whipped up the emotions of the spectators, who stood beneath a cloudless sky in temperatures around 90 degrees.

"I don't have the slightest idea why the state is treating you like this," said former state Sen. Jon Johnson, who is seeking a return to that chamber. "Why do we have to stand out here in the hot sun and get people to do the right thing? We're supposed to be living in 2007, not 1807."

The only gubernatorial candidate to appear was John Georges, who not only spoke and worked the crowd but also provided 3,000 chilled bottles of water bearing his red, white and blue campaign logo.

"I am the man with a plan, and my plan includes rebuilding SUNO," he said to cheers. "It's the last university to be rebuilt; it should have been the first."

Congressman William Jefferson's "bathroom break" defense

It seems that Congressman William Jefferson and his attorneys are grasping at straws in the case against him. Can you hold your piss, Congressman Jefferson?
_______________________________________________________________________

In a case already fraught with precedent-setting legal questions, attorneys for Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, are seeking perhaps another first in judicial opinions.

Is it reasonable, the lawyers ask a federal judge, to believe that a 58-year-old man could wait more than two hours after awakening in the morning before taking a bathroom break?

The issue is raised in motions intended to cast doubt on the Justice Department's contention that FBI agents did not restrict Jefferson's movements until they began a court-authorized search of his home, about 2 1/2 hours after they knocked on his door and awakened him from a night's sleep.

The timing is important because Jefferson's attorneys say a person who believes he is being restricted in his actions must be read the Miranda rights before he can be questioned by law enforcement agents.

In an earlier motion, Jefferson, now 60, said he answered a knock on his door at 7 a.m. on Aug. 3, 2005, barefoot, wearing an undershirt and a pair of pants he had quickly put on, to find the waiting agents. At one point, according to Jefferson, the lead agent told him this would "be the worst day of his life."

Jefferson's attorneys are asking federal Judge T.S. Ellis III not to allow Jefferson's statements, which the Justice Department describes as "incriminating," to be used in the upcoming trial in which the congressman is accused of bribery, racketeering and other charges. In the motion filed last month, defense attorneys said Jefferson was accompanied to the bathroom by an armed FBI agent who insisted that the nine-term congressman keep the door open.

Bad marriage can increase risk of heart attack

I thought about "BB", in New Orleans, when I read this article. I guess she doesn't mind that she has a bad marriage with her cheating husband. Maybe she can ignore the fact that he bought his girlfriend a new Mercedes. Poor "BB". Well she won't be seeing him, in person, in a few years anyway.


BY JORDAN LITE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER



A lousy marriage can be a real heartbreaker.

Unhappy couples are more likely to have a heart attack or chest pains than those who have healthy marriages, a study in today's Archives of Internal Medicine says.

"There is evidence that people are more likely to mentally replay negative events compared to positive ones, and this might trigger biological reactions that can lead to a heart attack and angina," said Roberto DeVogli, a lecturer in epidemiology at University College London.

DeVogli polled 9,011 British civil servants about how often their spouse, close relative or friend gave them "worries, problems and stress."

Those in bad relationships were 34% more likely to experience heart problems over the 12 years DeVogli followed them. Sixty-two percent of those in the study were married.

Previous research has also linked bad marriages to heart attack and congestive heart failure.

One study found that unhappily married women were three times more likely to have metabolic syndrome, a collection of symptoms that can lead to heart disease and diabetes.

A study published in July in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine found that women who silenced themselves during spats with their husband were four times more likely to die than those who spoke up.

Although other research has found that being married has protective effects on a person's health, DeVogli stressed, "It's not only important to have a partner, but what kind of partner you have."

Louisiana Citizens board taken to task

Another example of some type of corruption in Louisiana: Fraud at the Louisiana property Insurance Corporation. It will take more than public outrage to end this type of behavior in Louisiana.

As public outrage spread over audit findings of fraud at the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., elected officials questioned the role of the Louisiana Department of Insurance in the debacle and called for the state-sponsored insurer of last resort to be overhauled, privatized or scrapped.

Last week Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot released a long-awaited audit of Louisiana Citizens that found evidence of fraud and abuse by former chief executive Terry Lisotta. The report detailed false billing or inappropriate expenditures on fishing excursions, quail hunts, football tickets, golf outings, cigars and trips to Bermuda, New York and Florida.

Lisotta has been mum on the audit findings. He opted not to comment in the audit, and has not responded to queries from The Times-Picayune.

Louisiana residents battling Citizens in court, or stung by high insurance bills and the special assessments to help Citizens pay its claims, demanded to know why public officials didn't protect them.

"The Legislature created this monster, and no one sat on it and looked at what went on, and now we have to pay for it," said Uptown resident Lurana Hahna, who's been firing off angry letters all week. "It just floors me."

Citizens is governed by a board that's roughly half public appointees and half insurance industry appointees, though the board's composition will shift next year because of changes made by the Legislature.

The board has substantial overlap with the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, a fire rating agency that did the work for Citizens, and the Louisiana Automobile Insurance Plan, an obscure state-run auto insurer of last resort, which handled Lisotta's contract and much of the bills. The result is an entangled morass with little delineation of responsibility.

Whether Lisotta's expenditures are criminal or merely indicative of shoddy management will depend greatly on whether Citizens, PIAL and LAIP are found to be public entities, as Theriot believes. PIAL filed a lawsuit in a Baton Rouge court challenging that designation.

By law, the Citizens board includes the commissioner of insurance, state treasurer, and the chairmen of the House and Senate insurance committees, all of whom are up for election this fall.

Several of those board members sought to distance themselves from the Citizens debacle. While they credited Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon for replacing top management at Citizens, PIAL and LAIP, they blamed him for systemic problems at the agency, questioning the role of the insurance department in creating and monitoring Citizens.

State Treasurer John Kennedy, a newly declared Republican who is thought to be eyeing a run for the U.S. Senate next year, said he wasn't able to attend board meetings before the storm because of a scheduling conflict with the bond commission. He said the insurance department under former Commissioner Robert Wooley set up Citizens so that it relied upon the insurance-industry-dominated PIAL, which Wooley's wife, lawyer Julie Fusilier, now represents.

Rep. Karen Carter, D-New Orleans, said that "a lot of times, you can't detect these things until audits come out," and ultimately "the buck stops" with Donelon.

Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek, said he's been screaming about problems at Citizens for years and couldn't get anyone to listen. He said he got so frustrated he stopped going to the meetings and gave his seat to someone else.

Spreading the blame

The Legislative Audit Advisory Council has scheduled a hearing on the audit Oct. 15, and has subpoenaed the management of Citizens and related groups to testify.

Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Mandeville, blames both the board and the insurance department.

He said the insurance department bears some culpability for the Citizens problems because Donelon and Chief of Staff Chad Brown worked in Wooley's insurance department when Citizens was formed. Donelon's insurance department also had appointees on Citizens and related boards, including Brown, the Citizens chairman until earlier this year.

Schedler questioned how the board didn't catch the expense account problems. "Where was the board of directors?" Schedler asked. "No one was asking any questions? I find it unbelievable that here was two legislators, State Treasurer John Kennedy and Donelon and no one heard about these trips to Destin? Somebody had to have known."

Not to be upstaged by Schedler's Oct. 15 meeting, Kennedy has called for a special meeting of the Citizens board on Oct. 11 to address the findings of the audit report in a public hearing, saying he believes that Lisotta couldn't have acted alone.

"Somebody approved these expenses. I do not believe Mr. Lisotta spent this money by himself," Kennedy said. "It's hard to be taking care of your business when you're at a spa in Bermuda smoking a cigar. All of those costs were passed on. These costs were passed on to not only Citizens policyholders, but to every policyholder in Louisiana."

Realm of responsibility

The finger pointing is likely to create new challenges for Donelon, who successfully kept legislative changes to a minimum. Donelon is an ardent proponent of solving Louisiana's insurance woes through private competition, and is loath to see the Legislature follow Florida in giving the state a bigger role in the insurance industry.

"The structure itself is not broken," Donelon said.

Donelon defends his handling of problems at Citizens, saying that he replaced top management at Citizens the moment he learned that Citizens was unable to produce audited financial statements because of a massive computer crash -- even though it wasn't clear that he had the authority to do so.

The law that created Citizens gives the insurance department the power to review and approve Citizens rate filings, and to require audited financial statements, but it does not say that the insurance commissioner has the power to hire and fire administrators. Donelon realized he could do it only when a Citizens attorney advised him that he had that authority through a plan of operation adopted by the board.

Donelon said he accepted responsibility for problems at Citizens "to the extent that the commissioner's designee is chairman of the board," because Brown sat on the board, but Donelon points out that one individual does not make a controlling majority. "That's only one member of the board," he said.

The insurance commissioner said he originally sought to bring in new management around Lisotta because he thought the problem was incompetence, not malfeasance. "He had been on that job for years. I did not want to ruin the man; I merely wanted to fix the problem."

Donelon later fired him, and as soon as he was briefed on Theriot's early audit findings, he worked to get Lisotta removed from the Louisiana insurance plans, which Donelon now wants to disband and hand over their operations to the New Jersey company ISO and the Rhode Island nonprofit AIPSO.

Donelon said the unfolding tale of Lisotta's expense account excess is unsettling. "Now I'm angry, because this is certainly a betrayal of the policyholders who pay the price of this largess," he said. "Ultimately, the policyholder pays the bill for this abuse."

Major overhaul?

But other public officials say the early results of the Citizens audit makes them think the group should be overhauled, disbanded or privatized.

Kennedy further called upon the Legislature to revisit the structure of Citizens and how it handles cost overruns. Under the old system of the FAIR and Coastal plans, insurance companies would pay for any cost overruns in proportion to how much business they did in the state. Under the Citizens plan created in 2003, the insurance companies pay nothing and cost overruns get billed to owners of insured property across the state.

"Under the old law, any surcharges need to be paid by the industry. This legislation moved that surcharge from the backs of the industry to the backs of the people of Louisiana. I think it's time to revisit that," Kennedy said.

But Donelon said the old Fair and Coastal plans drove insurers out of the state and worked to raise consumer rates. Under the old system, State Farm, which has about one third of the insurance business in Louisiana, would have been handed a bill for $500 million for Citizens costs after the 2005 hurricanes.

Insurance companies tried to reduce their exposure to sudden whopping bills by reducing the amount of business they did in the state, Donelon said. And because rates for the following year are based on a company's loss experience, companies would raise rates to recoup their money, making rate-setting volatile and unpleasant for everyone.

"I truly believe the new system serves us much better, despite the abuses that the legislative audit made public. That abuse could have been done under the old system. The structure had nothing to do with the integrity and the morality of the people in charge," Donelon said.

More explaining to do

He urged other elected officials to let the new management at Citizens straighten things out. The new board will include professionals such as accountants, bankers and district attorneys. Citizens is also separating itself from PIAL and LAIP, and will have its own employees.

Schedler said the insurance department has more explaining to do about the structure and oversight of Citizens.

"Jim's my friend, but he's coming out astounded and horrified and dejected," Schedler said. "If you go back and look, Mr. Donelon or his designee was not only a board member of Citizens, but a board chairman of Citizens. It's hard for me to understand why he can be so astounded.""

Former New Orleans' Mayor Uncle released from prison early

Glenn Haydel, uncle of former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial has been released from a federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla., to a halfway house in Lafayette.

Haydel, 62, who pleaded guilty to bilking the Regional Transit Authority of $550,000, is scheduled to be discharged for good March 25, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. Once moved to halfway houses, inmates are often released well ahead of their scheduled release dates, meaning Haydel could be free by the end of the year.

Ironically, Haydel's wife, Lillian Smith Haydel, could be headed to prison just as her husband is released. Smith Haydel, who pleaded guilty more than two years ago to bribing a New Orleans public schools official in exchange for insurance contracts, is set to be sentenced for that crime Oct. 31.
However, she is likely to receive lenient treatment because she agreed to testify against other insurance brokers who made similar payments.

Glenn Haydel had a lucrative consulting contract with the RTA during Morial's eight-year tenure as mayor. He pleaded guilty to transferring $350,000 of the agency's money into a personal bank account. Another $200,000 was paid in six checks to unnamed individuals and businesses "to facilitate the illusion of legitimacy," according to his indictment.

Haydel paid the stolen money back shortly before turning himself in to federal prison officials in November.

Haydel's release date was moved up mainly because he completed a drug treatment program at the Pensacola camp that allows inmates to shave up to 12 months off their sentences, according to Felicia Ponce, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman.

Haydel also received credit for "good time," which can reduce a well-behaved inmate's sentence by about two months per year, Ponce said.

The federal records show that Haydel is in the custody of the community corrections management office of New Orleans. He is staying at the City of Faith facility in Lafayette, according to an employee who answered the phone there.

The essence of Marc Morial: He has relatives either being released from prison or going to prison. He has friends and associates going to prison. His administration was filled with corrupt individuals. Does former Mayor Marc Morial deal with anyone who is a law abiding citizen?

Domestic violence can affect the workplace

"Domestic violence may seem like a concern of the home rather than the office, but chances are it affects your workplace.

One in four women employees has been the target of domestic violence, according to a recent survey by Liz Claiborne Inc., victim assistance agency Safe Horizon and the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence.

Corporate executives, however, estimated that only 6 percent of their full-time employees were victims of domestic violence. While they often recognized the effects of domestic violence the workplace, only 13 percent of executives thought their company should address the problem.

Violence in the home has ramifications in the office, such as increased absenteeism, tardiness and diminished performance, said Scott Millstein, interim CEO of Safe Horizon." |Read more|