Belle Chasse News

Former City Hall technology vendor Mark St. Pierre pleaded innocent Thursday in federal court to charges that he participated in an elaborate kickback scheme to defraud taxpayers.

Even before a volunteer evacuation of Plaquemines Parish went into effect this morning, officials had already fielded a dozen requests for rides to the parish's storm shelter for Ida, according to Parish President Billy Nungesser.

THOMAS G. STEELE, age 62, a resident of Belle Chasse, Louisiana, pled guilty in federal court today before U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt to one count of making false statements to a federal agency in connection with a Louisiana Road Home Program application, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

As Hurricane Ida makes it way through the Gulf of Mexico, some area schools have decided to close Monday.

Weather-hardened Gulf Coast residents refused to retreat from a steadily weakening rare late-season tropical storm that crept toward shore Tuesday, bringing heavy rain, stiff winds and some flooding.

Public schools will be closed Monday in both Plaquemines and Lafourche Parishes along with the 17th Judicial District Court system.

RECOVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT schools and the central office will be closed. Operations and security personnel will report the the district's Welcome School at 2239 Poydras Ave.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School, located at 8970 Highway 23 in Belle Chasse will be closed tomorrow.

As expected, the Notre Dame Pioneers and the Acadiana Wreckin' Rams were the only top three seeds from the Acadiana area when the brackets were released Sunday afternoon by the LHSAA.

Louisiana military bases were under tight watch Thursday after the shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas.

The Army Corps of Engineers may play a role in building a planned megaport near the mouth of the Mississippi River, potentially using mud dredged from the channel as construction material for the massive shipping platform.

The body of a boater missing in Bayou Segnette since late last week appeared in the Westwego Canal on Monday, according to authorities.

BELLE CHASSE - The Army Corps of Engineers on Friday celebrated a groundbreaking for a massive flood protection project for those living on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

A new, arts-based elementary charter school has been proposed for Federal City after military families expressed concerns about the closing of the day-care center on the base.

Sports fans and concert goers beware -- you might be in for a surprise when walking through the turnstiles of the Superdome or New Orleans Arena.

Cole Brothers Circus Northshore Harbor Center Parking Lot, Slidell. The circus celebrates its 125th anniversary with elephants and acrobats, camels and jugglers, high wire acts, clowns, a human cannonball and much more, 4:30 and 7:30. Tickets are $17 adults, $12 seniors/children. Tickets at Northshore Harbor Center or www.ticket.com. Call ...

The Belle Chasse bridge will be closed indefinitely due to a power failure. Michelle Tassin, director of Homeland Security Office of Emergency Preparedness for Plaquemines Parish, said the order was made by Parish President Billy Nungesser.

Under the threat of rain and a veil of security, the USS New York will leave the New Orleans area Tuesday morning after more than three years of construction at Avondale, feted by what organizers hope will be thousands of people gathered along the Mississippi River to see the ship off.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday said a research vessel helped rescue seven people from the sea.

An effort is underway to get residents to line the levees along the Mississippi River on Tuesday when the New York, built with steel from the World Trade Center's destruction in the 2001 terrorist attacks, leaves Avondale for the Big Apple.