Louisiana | InsideOjodu https://www.insideojodu.com ...conecting the community Mon, 10 May 2021 09:25:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.10 http://www.insideojodu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/favicon.ico Louisiana | InsideOjodu https://www.insideojodu.com 32 32 The US issues Emergency declaration in 17 states after fuel pipeline cyberattack https://www.insideojodu.com/the-us-issues-emergency-declaration-in-17-states-after-fuel-pipeline-cyberattack/ https://www.insideojodu.com/the-us-issues-emergency-declaration-in-17-states-after-fuel-pipeline-cyberattack/#respond Mon, 10 May 2021 09:25:16 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=22058 Joe Biden’s administration has issued a regional emergency declaration for 17 states and Washington,…

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Joe Biden’s administration has issued a regional emergency declaration for 17 states and Washington, D.C., to keep fuel supply lines open after a cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline’s infrastructure on Friday, May 7.

Friday night’s cyberattack is “the most significant, successful attack on energy infrastructure” known to have occurred in the U.S., according to Politico.

Colonial Pipeline carries 45% of fuel supplies in the eastern U.S. Some 5,500 miles of the pipeline has been shut down in response to the attack.

While gasoline and diesel prices aren’t expected to be impacted if pipeline operations resume in the next few days, fuel suppliers are becoming “increasingly nervous” about possible shortages, Bloomberg reports.

Colonial said in a statement Sunday while its main fuel lines remained offline, some smaller lines between terminals and delivery points were now operational.

He said “We will bring our full system back online only when we believe it is safe to do so and in full compliance with the approval of all federal regulations”

The US said it’s “working with” fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline to try and restart operations as soon as possible.

The regional emergency declaration by the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is so that fuel supply lines can be kept open.

The emergency declaration covers Alabama, Arkansas, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

The DoT agency said in a statement the declaration “addresses the emergency conditions creating a need for immediate transportation of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other refined petroleum products and provides necessary relief.”

The attack is a significant breach of critical infrastructure and comes on the heels of multiple other major cyberattacks on both U.S. companies and the federal government in recent months by foreign actors.

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Louisiana plane crash kills at least 5 headed to Peach Bowl https://www.insideojodu.com/louisiana-plane-crash-kills-at-least-5-headed-to-peach-bowl/ https://www.insideojodu.com/louisiana-plane-crash-kills-at-least-5-headed-to-peach-bowl/#respond Sun, 29 Dec 2019 10:01:22 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=9746 The pilot and six passengers were killed when a twin-engine plane with six people…

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The pilot and six passengers were killed when a twin-engine plane with six people on board crashed in Louisiana on Saturday morning en route to the Peach Bowl in Georgia to watch LSU play Oklahoma.

Robert Benoit, the fire chief in Lafayette — where the crash took place — confirmed the deaths, while also reporting that the lone surviving passenger had been taken to the hospital in critical condition. That passenger was identified as Stephen Berzas, 37.

Three other persons, including two U.S. postal employees, who were on the ground at the time of the crash, suffered injuries, Lafayette Fire Department spokesman Alton Trahan said.

Officials released the names of those killed on Saturday afternoon. They were identified as Ian Biggs, 51, who was the pilot; Robert Crisp II, 59; Carley Ann McCord, 30; Gretchen Vincent, 51, and Micahel Vincent, 15.

McCord was a sports reporter for WDSU-TV in New Orleans and the daughter-in-law of LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, the station reported.

Her husband confirmed to The Associated Press that she was riding in a private plane from Lafayette headed to Atlanta with friends for the LSU-Oklahoma College Football Playoff Semifinal.

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Woman to spend decades in prison for trying to kill lawyer https://www.insideojodu.com/woman-to-spend-decades-in-prison-for-trying-to-kill-lawyer/ https://www.insideojodu.com/woman-to-spend-decades-in-prison-for-trying-to-kill-lawyer/#respond Mon, 28 Oct 2019 15:06:18 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8397 A 78-year-old Louisiana woman was sentenced to decades in prison after she tried to…

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A 78-year-old Louisiana woman was sentenced to decades in prison after she tried to kill an attorney who she claimed bungled her bankruptcy case.

Patricia Currie, of Mandeville, was 75 years old in October 2016 when she pulled a loaded shotgun on Keith Couture at his office.

Couture testified in court that when he came out to see Currie and asked her why she was there, she said she was going to kill him, NOLA.com reported. Currie, who was sitting in a chair and had latex gloves in her hands, then showed him a .410 shotgun hidden underneath a towel on her lap.

Currie raised it at Couture, but he said he wrestled it away and called 911.

The woman was arrested and taken into custody. Investigators said her shotgun was loaded and four additional shotgun shells were found inside her underwear. Currie also had a box of ammunition in her vehicle, investigators said.

Currie testified that she was only trying to scare Couture, but Blair Alford, the assistant district attorney of Washington and St. Tammany Parishes, argued during the trial the incident “was a coldblooded, calculated attempted murder.”

“If it was not for the victim’s quick thinking to wrestle the gun away from her, he would be dead,” she said.

In August, Currie was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder — which carried a minimum sentence of 10 years — after a jury deliberated for 15 minutes. On Thursday, she was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

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Louisiana man arrested in 1989 murder case https://www.insideojodu.com/louisiana-man-arrested-in-1989-murder-case/ https://www.insideojodu.com/louisiana-man-arrested-in-1989-murder-case/#respond Thu, 17 Oct 2019 21:42:37 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8177 Authorities in Louisiana on Tuesday arrested a man who is accused of murdering his…

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Authorities in Louisiana on Tuesday arrested a man who is accused of murdering his wife and her friend in 1989, according to reports.

Alexandria resident Robert Blair, 71, is facing two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his wife, Isabelle, and her friend Marian Coutee,

The Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office said Isabelle split with her husband in July 1989. Around that time, she got into a vehicle with Coutee and the two were never seen again.

The case remained unsolved for 30 years. But two months ago, deputies received a tip that reopened the inquiry, KALB-TV reported.

While investigators were searching a lake on a property that formerly belonged to the Blair family, they found a Nissan truck that matched the description of the vehicle Isabelle and Coutee were last seen in, according to the station.

Blair was booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center on Tuesday, the Town Talk reported. He remains in custody on a $2 million bond.

Maj. Mark Baden, who was originally assigned to the case, said Blair’s arrest provides some closure.

“It feels very good. I always work for the victim. You know, through my whole career, I always had the victim out front — the victim and their family,” Baden said. “What is really sad is both victims’ parents are deceased now. We didn’t quite make it in time.”

The sheriff’s office has not said whether it found the women’s remains. Blair faces life in prison if he’s convicted on the charges.

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Authorities confirm fifth death linked to Tropical Storm Imelda https://www.insideojodu.com/authorities-confirm-fifth-death-linked-to-tropical-storm-imelda/ https://www.insideojodu.com/authorities-confirm-fifth-death-linked-to-tropical-storm-imelda/#respond Sat, 21 Sep 2019 22:39:23 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=7681 A fifth death has been linked to the devastating east Texas floods produced by…

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A fifth death has been linked to the devastating east Texas floods produced by Tropical Storm Imelda, one of the wettest tropical cyclones in U.S. history.

Authorities say a 52-year-old Florida man was found dead Thursday in his stranded pickup truck along Interstate 10 near Beaumont, which is near Texas’ border with Louisiana. Jefferson County spokeswoman Allison Getz said that although floodwaters seeped into Mark Dukaj’s truck, investigators don’t believe he drowned, though they do believe his death is storm-related. An autopsy will determine the cause.

Hundreds of homes and other buildings in the Houston area have been damaged by the storm, bringing back unpleasant memories of Hurricane Harvey — which dumped more than 50 inches of rain on the area two years ago. Imelda, the first named storm to impact the area since then, has deposited more than 40 inches of rain in some spots as it churned across a region extending east from Houston to the Louisiana border.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has already declared a state of disaster for the counties impacted by Imelda  and officials in Harris County, which is home to Houston, were trying to determine if millions of dollars in uninsured losses were enough to trigger a federal disaster declaration.

The heaviest rainfall had ended by Thursday night in Southeast Texas, but forecasters warned that parts of northeast Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana could see flash flooding as Imelda’s remnants shifted to the north.

Officials say two of the deaths from Imelda happened in the Houston area: an unidentified man in his 40s or 50s who drowned Thursday while driving a van through 8-foot-deep floodwaters and a man whose body was found in a ditch Friday and is believed to have drowned.

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