RSS Feed

ERATH — Funeral Services for Mrs. Annette Mergist Benoit, 66, will be held at David Funeral Home of Erath on Friday, July 3, 2020 at 11:00AM with Father Metrejean officiating.
Visitation will be held at David Funeral Home of Erath from 8:30AM until time of services.
A native of Erath, Mrs. Annette passed away on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. She enjoyed playing BINGO and going to casinos on occasion. She loved the color purple and spending time with her family and friends.
She is survived by her son, Aaron Gaspard and his husband John of Tyler Town, Mississippi; her daughter, Andrea Gaspard of Baton Rouge; her grandchildren, Brooklyn Richard, Jace Gaspard, Layla Gaspard, Derrian Nolan, Adia Gaspard, and Brylee Gaspard; her brothers, Adam Benny Mergist and his wife Dot, and Bradley Mergist and his wife Barbara; her sisters, Ruth Mergist Landry and her husband Calvin, Connie Mergist Leblanc and her husband Francis, and Genevieve Mergist Touchet and her husband Timmy.
She is preceded in death by her parents; Adam Mergist and Eunite Hebert; her children, Angelique Gaspard and Adam Gaspard; her brother, Paul S. Mergist; and her sister, Georgia Mergist.
The family would like to extend a special thank you to the Intensive Care Unit of Abbeville General Hospital and to the staff of Maison du Monde Living Center.
You may sign the guest register book and express condolences online at www.davidfuneralhome.org
David Funeral Home of Erath 209 E. Putnam St. (337) 937-0405 will be handling the arrangements.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette will begin its Fall 2020 semester on Monday, Aug. 17.
The earlier start date is one of several changes the University has made to its academic calendar as it prepares for the safe resumption of on-campus instruction and housing and residential life in the fall.
The last day of classes is Friday, Nov. 20.
Final exams will conclude on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
Fall break, originally scheduled for Oct. 1-2, has been canceled.
Fall 2020 Commencement will be Tuesday, Dec. 8; details about the ceremony will be forthcoming.
Beginning the semester early and ending it before Thanksgiving are among various steps UL Lafayette is taking to mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19, said Dr. Joseph Savoie, University president.
“We are planning for a number of contingencies. Decisions we’ve made up to now have been based on the best public health information and guidance available, and that will continue to drive our decision-making going forward,” he said.
The University created its Ragin’ Cajun Resiliency Plan Task Force in late spring to assess how the pandemic would affect nearly every aspect of campus life. It has since issued the following guidance about campus safety measures, course instruction, housing and dining, among other areas.
“The thoroughness of the task force’s work should assure every member of the University community – faculty, staff members, students and their families – that campus is safe and that we’re ready to begin the fall semester. We want them to focus on teaching, learning, research and work without fear,” Savoie said.

Campus safety measures

The University is requiring all students, faculty, staff and visitors to wear masks or face coverings while on campus.
Masks will be available in all classrooms, though students may wear their own.
Signage throughout campus will direct traffic flow and remind viewers to practice social distancing, to wash their hands frequently, and to wear masks at all times.
Disinfecting supplies and hand sanitizer will be available in buildings and classrooms.

Course instruction

Fall courses will be offered through a number of delivery methods, including in-person and remote. The course catalog has been updated to indicate how courses will be presented. Descriptions can be found here.
In addition, class sizes for in-person courses have been limited to ensure at least 6 feet separates all students and faculty. In some instances, seats and desks may be blocked off.

Housing

Students will move into residence halls and campus apartments Aug. 12-15. Residents will be assigned a specific time and date to move in. In addition:
Only one non-resident will be allowed in the building to help a student move in.
Residents and non-residents will be screened before they are allowed to check in. This screening will include a temperature check.
Everyone will be required to wear a facial covering throughout the move-in process.
No more than two campus residents will share a bathroom or bedroom.
Custodial staff has increased cleaning and sanitation of all common spaces and high-touch areas such as elevator buttons, door handles, public restrooms and laundry rooms.

Dining

The Office of Campus Food Services has eliminated self-service options but has expanded choices for carry-out orders. In addition:
Dining rooms will have limited seating capacity, updated configurations and floor markers to encourage social distancing.
High-touch surfaces will be cleaned and sanitized frequently.
Touchless entryways, online ordering, cashless payments and delivery options will limit contact between dining staff and students.

By Catherine Hunt
LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE--With the special session nearing an end, the Senate passed two possible compromise bills Monday aimed at lowering auto insurance rates and winning support from Gov. John Bel Edwards, who vetoed a major Republican-backed tort reform plan.
The Senate voted 30-8 to approve a bill by House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzalez. Another bill, by Rep. Richard Nelson, R-Mandeville, passed 35-3, with seven Democrats voting in support.
The House passed Nelson’s bill 82-9 last week, with 21 Democrats voting for it.
Stephen Waguespack, head of the Louisiana Association of Business & Industry, told The Advocate/The Times-Picayune that his group was fine with either Nelson’s or Schexnayder’s bill.
The vetoed bill was proposed by Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge. It would have limited damages awarded to plaintiffs in personal injury cases in an attempt to lower auto insurance premiums.
Louisiana has the second highest car insurance rates in the country, after Michigan.
Republicans have not been able to muster the votes to override Edwards’ veto, and have focused on passing replacement bills or resolutions while negotiating with Democrats, who want greater assurances that rates would go down and that accident victims would not be unfairly treated.
Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, and Sen. Robert Mills, R-Minden, have filed three identical resolutions that follow Talbot’s methods to lower insurance rates and could be implemented without Edwards’ consent.
The session must adjourn by 6 p.m. Tuesday, and House and Senate leaders must decide whether to send one of the bills to Edwards or proceed with the resolutions.
Like Talbot’s bill, Nelson’s would extend the time that parties have to file suits in hopes of encouraging parties to settle out of court. It would also limit the amount of recoverable medical expenses and insurance premium payments, and it would lower the monetary amount an injury has to be worth to be decided by a jury rather than a judge.
But unlike Talbot’s bill, it would reduce the default number of jurors to six from 12 to try to lessen the burden on courts and jurors. Judges expressed concerns that Talbot’s bill would overwhelm courts with jury trials and that rural areas could have trouble finding enough jurors for personal injury cases.
In another compromise, Nelson’s bill includes a sunset provision that would repeal the law if rates did not decrease by at least 15% in three years.
Democrats opposed Talbot’s bill because it did not mandate rate reductions, and Republicans refused to include language that would repeal the legislation if the changes did not result in lower premiums.
Unlike any other so-called tort reform bill this session, Nelson’s included comparative fault language that would prevent injured plaintiffs from recovering damages if their percentage of fault is greater than the combined percentage of fault of all other persons found to have contributed to the injury, death, or loss.
Twenty-three states have comparative fault, Nelson said, and the 14 states with the lowest car insurance rates have the same provision included in his bill.
Nelson’s bill would prohibit insurance companies from setting rates based on a driver’s gender if they are over the age of 25.
Schexnayder’s bill also would allow seatbelt evidence to be used in court, lower the monetary amount an injury has to be worth to be decided by a jury rather than a judge and would prohibit mentioning the insurance company during a trial besides during the opening and closing.
Democrats sponsored bills that would have tried to lower insurance rates by prohibiting insurance companies from determining rates based on age, gender, marital status and credit score, but faced opposition from Republicans. Edwards has said he supports this measure and that he believes “discriminatory practices” need to end in order to lower rates.
Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, authored several bills that would have prohibited these “discriminatory practices,” but his bills were killed in committee. Despite Nelson’s compromise, Luneau was one of the three votes in opposition of Nelson’s bill.
“This bill puts something bad for everybody, and it makes for a bad bill all around,” he said of the compromise.
Other Democrats spoke in support of Nelson’s bill, saying the debate over insurance rates has lasted for too long with no real action.
“I’m a trial lawyer, but at the end of the day I want to end this debate about what we need to do to lower insurance rates,” said Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge.
Sen. Karen Peterson, D-New Orleans, agreed and said, “Let’s pass this bill, the governor signs it, and for the next four months let’s talk about something that’s actually going to move the needle.”

BATON ROUGE – While the state unemployment average is 13 percent, the good news is that Vermilion Parish’s unemployment rate is well below that and is one of the lowest in Acadiana.
As of this week, Vermilion Parish’s unemployment rate is 10.6 which is the second lowest out of an eight-parish area in Acadiana.
The lowest is Cameron Parish at 7.9 percent, followed by Vermilion and then Acadia Parish (10.7).
The highest unemployment average in Acadiana is St. Mary Parish at 13.9 percent. Iberia Parish is second at 13.3 percent.
Lafayette Parish’s rate is 11.5 percent.

Here are the state’s employment rates throughout the region.

• Alexandria: 9.2 percent, up from 4.6 percent in May 2019, but down from 9.9 percent from April.
• Baton Rouge: 11.8 percent, up from 3.9 percent in May 2019, but down from 13.0 percent from April.
• Hammond: 16.1 percent, up from 4.9 percent in May 2019, but down from 17.1 percent from April.
• Houma: 10.9 percent, up from 4.2 percent in May 2019, but down from 12.4 percent from April.
• Lafayette: 11.6 percent, up from 4.3 percent from May 2019, but down from 13.0 percent from April.
• Lake Charles: 13.1 percent, up from 3.6 percent in May 2019, but down from 14.2 percent from April.
• Monroe: 10.8 percent, up from 4.8 percent in May 2019, but down from 11.7 percent from April.
• New Orleans: 16.4 percent, up from 4.0 percent in May 2019, but down from 19.0 percent from April.
• Shreveport: 12.5 percent, up from 4.6 percent in May 2019, but down from 13.1 percent from April.