Free Republic

What to do with the rundown, dangerous and divisive Evangeline Thruway is a critical open question facing state transportation officials planning an elevated interstate connection through the heart of Lafayette. The Department of Transportation and Development is considering two options: keep the basic structure in place as a frontage road, or reinvent a portion of the roadway as a pedestrian-friendly “Grand Boulevard.” The thruway cordoned neighborhoods to the east when it was built in 1963, and the boulevard idea aims to reconnect those neighborhoods to downtown commerce. State officials and their consultants said a decision will come within a year....

The man who set himself and his car on fire in the parking lot of Lafayette's Walmart in front of dozens of horrified shoppers has died, Lafayette police Chief Rick Bashor said Monday. The man, whose identity has not been released, started driving around the parking lot in a beige Toyota Corolla shortly after 5:20 p.m. Sunday, and asked witnesses to film him as he set himself on fire, police said. He cited years of harassment from the FBI as the reason for his self-immolation, according to video of the incident filmed by a bystander at the man's request. The...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The winning Powerball numbers have been drawn for the jackpot that’s climbed above $400 million for the first time in nearly three months. The numbers are 10-13-28-52-61 and Powerball 2. The game’s website says one winning ticket was sold in Indiana. The Hoosier Lottery confirmed Thursday morning that the ticket was sold in Lafayette.

To all the people associated with Lafayette College: We are each of us suddenly confronted with one of the most important questions of our lives: what will the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States mean? We, the undersigned faculty members of the college, are deeply concerned that our country now faces an unprecedented threat, and that without organized collaboration and resistance this election may lead America toward the dawn of a dangerous and institutionalized form of reactionary authoritarianism. The campaign alone has already mobilized and legitimized long-standing politics based on white supremacy, nativism and patriarchy,...

A Lafayette woman will face a criminal charge for filing a false report after she told authorities she made up a story about two Trump supporters robbing her near the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus, The Advertiser reports. Karl Ratcliff, spokesman for the Lafayette Police Department, confirmed the charge to the newspaper Friday (Nov. 11). The woman was previously identified as an 18-year-old UL student.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette student who said she was robbed of her hijab head covering and wallet and beaten by two white men near campus fabricated the entire story, according to Lafayette Police. The 18-year-old Middle Eastern student reported to police Wednesday that she was walking to class about 11 a.m. when two white men, one wearing a Donald Trump hat, jumped out of an SUV, struck her and hit her repeatedly. She also said the men yelled racial slurs at her, ripped her hijab off her head and stole her wallet. …

A DOTD project manager has informed a citizen committee that they must limit their discussion to DOTD's selected proposals for the Interstate 49 extension or resign from the committee. The order, issued in an Tuesday email to the Community Working Group, came from Toby Picard, the engineer who is project manager for the proposed connection of Interstate 49 with U.S. 90 south. There currently are 14 versions of the connection, all of which include at least a partially elevated highway through the heart of Lafayette. These are the only options that are acceptable for discussion by the committee, Picard's email...

For several weeks, an 18th century replica ship has traveled across the Atlantic Ocean from France to the U.S. L'Hermione is an exact copy of the vessel sailed by the Marquis de Lafayette in 1780 to notify his friend, General George Washington, that the French king had agreed to provide troops and resources to the flailing Continental Army. This week, the boat is docked in the Washington, D.C. area, fittingly near Mount Vernon, and various French and American entities are feting the occasion. They have good reason. America's first and longest ally is France, despite occasional variances in political dispositions....

City-parish president candidates Joel Robideaux and Dee Stanley navigated questions on coal-generated power, the disruption an elevated interstate might cause in Lafayette and whether the city has too many traffic signals — all posed at a Thursday evening forum sponsored by the local chapter of the Sierra Club. In a campaign season where the candidates have often found themselves repeatedly addressing the same issues in the string of debates and forums leading up to the Oct. 24 election, Stanley and Robideaux covered some new ground at the environmental group’s forum at the Lafayette Public Library downtown. Robideaux, a longtime state...

On July 24, the day after John Russell Houser allegedly used a handgun to kill two people in Lafayette, Louisiana, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley called on Congress to ban “the sale of assault weapons” and “[establish] a national gun registry.” He also said it is time to “[increase] inspections” on gun shops and mandate that gun owners lock up their guns in their homes.

John Russell "Rusty" Houser methodically shot 11 people in a Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater on Thursday night using a handgun he legally purchased from an Alabama pawn shop, authorities said Friday. Houser stood up in the theater where the comedy "Trainwreck" was showing and fired off one 10-round clip, Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craig said at a press conference. "This was slow and methodical," Gov. Bobby Jindal said. "This was not a single burst." Houser left the theater through a side door and headed toward his car, a 1995 Lincoln, but saw a police cruiser arrive in the parking lot,...

The gunman who opened fire inside a packed movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, Thursday night, was 59-year-old John Russell Houser, police said at a news conference today. ((snip)) Houser also supported Barack Obama. He wrote this in his Manifesto (why do mass murderers always seem to have a rambling manifesto?) I accepted this it came to me that the president is doing exactly what Tim McVeigh did,only the president is much more effective.The way I see it,the faster he wrecks this nation, which in no way resembles what it’s founders envisioned,the faster working people with morals may re-assume command.ie I...

In the immediate aftermath of the Louisiana movie theater shooting last night, Governor Bobby Jindal and numerous other figures took to the media and urged America to pray for the victims and those affected. In the midst of all this, BuzzFeed News editor Rachel Zarrell tweeted out her frustration with gun violence, but then, she tweeted a message that struck a negative chord with viewers:(TWEET-AT-LINK)After a responder suggested that it might not be the right time to politicize the tragedy, Zarrell doubled down:(TWEETS-AT-LINK)[continued]

The man identified as killing two people and wounding nine more in last night's shooting is John Russell Houser, 59, of Alabama. He spent time in an East Alabama Mental Health Facility from 2008 to 2009, Russell County, Ga., Sheriff Heath Taylor tells KATC. They're unsure what he was treated for, but will hold a press conference this afternoon to release information about him. Houser was previously arrested for arson in Columbus, Georgia, but Taylor was unsure when that arrest happened. It may have been decades ago. Houser was evicted from his Phenix City, Ala., home in March 2014, Taylor...

Victims, gunman identified in Grand 16 shooting The victims who died in last night's shooting at The Grand 16 have been identified as 21-year-old Mayci Breaux of Franklin and 33-year-old Jillian Johnson of Lafayette. The shooter, who shot himself in the theater, has been identified as 58-year-old John Houser of Alabama. Police say he was a "drifter" who had been in the Lafayette area since early July. He fired 13 rounds into the theater during the 7 p.m. showing of "Trainwreck." One of the victims and the gunman died at the scene. A second victim died at an area hospital....

The gunman who opened fire inside a packed movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, Thursday night, was John Russel Houser, police said at a news conference this morning. Houser, 59, is among three people who died, police said. Nine others were injured.

DEVELOPING: A gunman killed two people and injured seven others late Thursday when he opened fire in a Lafayette, La. movie theater before turning the gun on himself, the city's police chief said. Police Chief Jim Craft told a news conference that authorities had identified the gunman as a 58-year-old white man, but did not release his name, citing an ongoing background check. The chief added that the conditions of the injured victims ranged from critical to non-life-threatening. City Marshal Brian Pope told The Daily Advertiser that the gunman opened fire at the Grand 16 Theatre in Lafayette, approximately 40...

Two people were killed and at least six others were injured in a shooting Thursday night at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, authorities told NBC News.

Theater shooting here in Lafayette, LA tonight. Three confirmed dead so far.

It is doubtful the American Republic would have been born were it not for the courage and generosity of our greatest French friend, Marquis de Lafayette, who joined the Continental Army at the age of 19 with the rank of lieutenant general. He helped provision George Washington's army, led troops in several battles ,and played a key role at Yorktown. He persuaded France to join the war on our side. He was Washington's surrogate son and a beloved American. When he died in 1830 he was eulogized by former President John Quincy Adams for three hours, and Congress and the...