Beet L. Jooz

Task force is to produce report on next year

The recommendations of a committee Mayor LaToya Cantrell appointed call for the Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard statues to go on display at Greenwood Cemetery.

Natalie Henderson also claims not enough was done about sexual harassment she faced from men housed at the jail.

Two Russian strategic bombers were intercepted by US military aircraft in international airspace within 200 miles of Alaska's coast on Friday morning. NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) confirmed the incident in a statement to CNN, which involved US F-22 stealth fighters escorting the large Russian planes in international airspace away from the US coastline for 40 minutes, according to Reuters. 

NORAD and USNORTHCOM spokesman Canadian Army Maj. Andrew Hennessy confirmed in a statement a day after the encounter that, "At approximately 10 a.m. ET, two Alaskan-based NORAD F-22 fighters intercepted and visually identified two Russian TU-95 'Bear' long-range bomber aircraft flying in the Air Defense Identification Zone around the western coast of Alaska, north of the Aleutian Islands." 

The referenced Air Defense Identification Zone is said to extend approximately 200 miles off Alaska's western coast, and it appears the Russian aircraft never entered US airspace, according to NORAD's statement.  The official statement further reads the Russian bombers were "intercepted and monitored by the F-22s until the bombers left the ADIZ along the Aleutian Island chain heading west."

12 MAY: USAF F-22s scrambled from Elmendorf AB to intercept 2x Tu-95 in the US area of intrest off the west coast of Alaska pic.twitter.com/56ebhE6onM

— Mil Radar (@MIL_Radar) May 12, 2018

The last such incident took place as recently as May 3rd when a Russian bomber and fighter escort jet flew close to 50 miles from Point Hope, Alaska. American stealth planes were scrambled in response and monitored the Russian planes until leaving the area. 

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The Russian Defense Ministry also confirmed the incident through state-run RIA news agency, adding the detail that US monitoring jets never came closer than 100 meters to the Russian bombers. 

According to Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the Tu-95MS planes, together with Tu-142 anti-submarine warfare aircraft, were conducting planned training flights over the neutral waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk.

“The Russian Air Forces' aircraft were escorted by two US F-22 fighter jets, which did not approach closer than 100 meters, at the part of the route for 40 minutes."

There's been a string of tense Russian-US aerial close calls and intercepts over the past months not only off Alaska, but over the Black Sea as well. In April Russian bombers were sighted and monitored four times near the Alaskan coast, while in January a Russian Su-27 reportedly flew within a shockingly close 1.5 meters of a U.S. Navy surveillance plane while both were operating over the Black Sea, in international airspace. 

The massive Russian TU-95 'Bear' bombers date to the 1950's, but in spite of a six decade history as a feared Cold War areal fortress, its first reported use was in 2015 on the Syrian battlefield in support of the Assad government. It's capable of flying over any US mainland target while hauling over twelve tons of bombs as it has an internal fuel capacity which allows for a 9000 mile range. 

One ominous description and history of the Bear's development is as follows:

The Bear’s original intended mission was fairly clear-cut: in the event the Cold War became really hot, dozens of individual Bears would fly across the Arctic Circle and drop nuclear bombs on targets over the United States. Even if many fell victim to surface-to-air missiles and defending fighters, the reasoning was that some would get through.

However, Friday's incident off the Alaskan coast appears relatively benign  —  though the real story could be how it gets politicized in what most pundits have described as the ongoing "new Cold War."

‘This is unprecedented in American history’

Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham said on Friday that conservative columnist George Will's critical column about Vice President Mike Pence was "beneath him.""I like George Will. A lot of people...

Shreveport police are investigating after a four-year-old boy was shot to death Thursday night.

In over a dozen states, there are towns in which the typical household earns less than half the income that a typical household statewide earns.

Calvin Lewis filed a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Randy Smith.

The House approved it April 16.

Jerel Smith faces mandatory life in prison for the second-degree murder conviction.

Jonathan Talley will be sentenced by Judge Scott Gardner of the 22nd Judicial District Court on May 29.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said Thursday (May 10) that Angelle Hovey had been found.

An East Texas woman is facing serious charges after allegedly intentionally driving her vehicle into a Marshall school.

The victim told St. John the Baptist Parish authorities that the suspects stole his car after he agreed to give them a ride.

It's not clear that the full Senate will support the plan.

A 23-year-old woman went into an evening with $19,000 and left with two black eyes, four staples in the head and swollen bruised face, according to police.

The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for a man accused of the armed robberies a Walmart Money Center in Hammond and a Walmart Money Center and bank in Mississippi, according to release sent out Friday (May 11).

Litter bugs may find themselves in jail.

People shared warm memories Friday of longtime Alexandria City Marshal James Byrd, who died in the early morning.

Kendrick Treman Davis was sentenced Friday (May 11, 2018) to prison in the 2017 overdose death of Millie Harvey. He sold what she and a male companion thought was heroin to them. What they ingested was fentanyl, and Harvey died. The man recovered. Harvey's mother urged Davis to change his life and asked a judge to include long-term rehabilitation as part of his sentence.

Rapides Parish Sheriff's detectives are searching for the suspect in the deaths of an elderly man and woman whose bodies were found days apart, reads a release.

GONZALES- A man accused of binding the wrists and ankles of his 15-month-old son with duct tape has been jailed, Gonzales Police report.

Police say he was taking care of the child while the boy's mother was at work.

David Williams III, 24, was booked with cruelty to a juvenile and held on $500,000 bond, according to jail records.

The boy's mother found the video, captioned "what to do with an unruly child," online in March and alerted the Department of Children and Family Services. The case was later sent to Gonzales Police, according to a news release.

The parents do not live together. The mother took the child back the same night the video was posted. She found abrasions and redness in the areas where the child had been taped.

Williams went to Gonzales Police Department Thursday and, after an interview, was arrested.

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BATON ROUGE- A man just released from prison was involved in a lengthy standoff with police Friday afternoon.

According to BRPD, officers were called to a home in the 900 block of Avenue J around 10 a.m. after Casey Lanns got into an argument with his girlfriend and then followed her into her apartment. Lanns reportedly threatened the victim with a gun before the two were involved in a physical struggle over the gun. The victim's daughter then intervened and the two left the apartment, according to arrest records. 

When police arrived, Lanns barricaded himself inside the home, saying he did not want to go to back to jail. He reportedly told officers he was willing to kill himself or anyone who tried to force their way into the apartment. An EBRSO special response team was soon called to the scene.

According to arrest records, Lanns fired approximately 10 shots as officers attempted to make entry. Agents eventually gassed the home, forcing Lanns out of the apartment sometime around 4 p.m.

Authorities searched the apartment and found two handguns, an assault rifle, two bulletproof vests and various ammunition. A large amount of MDMA was also discovered in the toilet, along with bottles and plastic bags consistent with narcotics activities and distribution, according to arrest records.

Lanns was arrested and booked on four counts of attempted murder of a police officer, one count of aggravated assault with a firearm, one count of illegal use of a weapon, one count of obstruction of justice, one count of possession with the intent to distribute schedule I controlled substance, one count possession of a firearm with a controlled substance, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

BRPD says Lanns had just been released from prison last month after he was arrested for possession of meth with intent to distribute, carrying a gun with drugs and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Court records also mention a prior conviction for cocaine possession and burglary.

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A Pineville couple have been charged in the battery of a victim who reported being threatened by one of them with a knife, reads a release.

A House committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would delay the implementation of the “Raise the Age” law.

Hard-line lawmakers celebrated President Donald Trump's announcement to pull the US out of the Iran deal - a decision that will mostly help them win the sympathies of the Iranian people - by burning a US flag while shouting "Death to America!" in Parliament, the Telegraph reported.

They also burned a piece of paper representing the nuclear deal (despite Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declaring during his rebuttal to Trump that Iran would seek further cooperation with its European partners and China, but barring that would begin enriching uranium "in the next weeks") and stomped on the paper's ashes.

Iranian MPs set US flag ablaze in parliament, shouting 'death to America'https://t.co/abeKypiNwR pic.twitter.com/aRBOguEjnG

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 9, 2018

Rouhani dispatched his foreign minister, Javad Zarif, to begin negotiating with the countries still in the deal - a group that includes, France, the UK, Germany, Russia and China. Even so, Rouhani stressed that he could restart the country's centrifuges at any time.

"So if necessary, we can begin our industrial enrichment without any limitations," the Iranian leader said. "Until implementation of this decision, we will wait for some weeks and will talk with our friends and allies and other signatories of the nuclear deal, who signed it and who will remain loyal to it. Everything depends on our national interests."

After the flag burning demonstration, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said responsibility for saving the accord now falls to the European Union.

"The period is only a window in which the EU can prove if it has enough weight for settling down international issues or not?" he said.

Larijani also urged the country's nuclear program to prepare for "resumption of all aspects of nuclear activities."

All of the remaining signatories to the deal expressed their disappointment with the US decision.

On Wednesday, China vowed to "safeguard" the agreement.

"China calls on all relevant parties to assume a responsible attitude, bear in mind the long-term and general interest, persist towards a political and diplomatic resolution and properly control disputes, so as to return at an early date to the right track of implementing the deal," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's acting foreign minister, said Russia remained committed to the deal.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council basked in what they see as an immense political victory over their regional rival, Tehran.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain swiftly backed U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to reimpose sanctions on Tehran, reflecting their concern about Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for militant groups.

"Paris and London may not like Trump’s decision, but how would the French or British feel if their capital cities came under direct threat by the Iranians?" Faisal Abbas wrote in Saudi Arabia's English-language Arab News daily next to a headline that read: "The deal is dead."

Many observers said that, while harsh criticism of the US has been a staple of Iranian politics for years, it was the first time anybody could remember something being burned inside the Parliament building.

The demonstration reflects broad public anger in Iran following Trump's decision, which effectively puts an end to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, otherwise known as the Iran deal (although as noted earlier, there are many unknowns on just how the unwind will take place). While Iranian officials, including the parliament speaker, say they hope Europe will work with them to preserve the deal, many are pessimistic.

The lawmakers, including a Shiite cleric, held the flaming flag alight as their colleagues joined their chants.

While US flag-burning is common in Iran and harsh criticism of America has been a staple of Iranian parliamentary politics for years, it was the first time political observers could remember anything being burned inside the parliament itself.