Traffic restricted in high-damage areas

April 30, 2019, 8:06 am

90 percent of power grid up, but fiber optics to take longer

Nancy Bergeron

Traffic continues to be limited today in two of the areas hardest hit by the April 25 tornado that stormed through Ruston.
Both areas have high concentrations of debris, and in some cases, utility restoration is still in progress, Mayor Ronny Walker said Monday.
One of the restricted areas is near Ruston High School and is bounded by Interstate 20 on the north, Georgia Avenue on the south, James Street on the west, and U.S. 167 on the east.

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Golden Arches come down

April 30, 2019, 8:09 am

≫ Next: Running past the pain

≪ Previous: Traffic restricted in high-damage areas

Pictured are workers taking down the twisted McDonald’s sign at the Graham Shopping Center on Monday morning after it was badly damaged in Thursday’s tornado.

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Running past the pain

April 30, 2019, 8:15 am

≫ Next: Eyes in the storm

≪ Previous: Golden Arches come down

Murphy helps RHS win track meet after losing brother, mom

T. Scott Boatright

Top: Ruston High Senior Cam Murphy (in white T-shirt) and the RHS boys track team celebrate after winning Friday’s regional track meet. Bottom: Helping the RHS boys track team win the regional meet allowed Cam Murphy a quick smile a day after losing his mother and brother in the tornado that tore through Ruston Thursday morning.

Friday’s regional meet championship was a big win for Ruston High School’s boys track team.
But for RHS senior Cameron Murphy, it was much more than a win. It was an escape from tragedy.
Murphy and a female cousin were pulled from the wreckage of their Evans Street home shortly after Thursday morning’s tornado ripped through Ruston.
It took authorities longer to get to the bodies of Murphy’s mother Kendra Butler and his 14-year-old brother Remington.

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Eyes in the storm

April 30, 2019, 8:17 am

≫ Next: Slowing digital-ad growth could force change on Google

≪ Previous: Running past the pain

Residents tell stories of devastation, survival, hope

Nancy Bergeron and Caleb Daniel

Two 70-foot-tall trees crashed into Steve Thurmon’s home on Shelor Drive when the F3 tornado blew through the neighborhood Thursday morning. On the left is what remains of his bedroom.

Steve Thurmon figures his headboard saved his life. Candace Westbrook remembers crawling “like a snake” over and under branches to get out of her house.

Zach Swart thought the whole thing was a joke. Marilyn Whittle wanted to make sure she saved her woodburning tools. Marcus Eagland may never live in a place with trees again.

Like hundreds of other people who live along a path from southwest Ruston to just beyond La. 33, these are survivors of the F3 tornado that bore down on the city April 25.

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Slowing digital-ad growth could force change on Google

May 1, 2019, 6:51 am

≫ Next: Drought hits Panama Canal shipping, highlights climate fears

≪ Previous: Eyes in the storm

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — While Google has dominated the online ad market for almost the entirety of its existence, its first quarter earnings report suggests that competitors may be nipping at its heels.
Investors pushed down the stock of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, more than 7% in after-hours trading Monday after it reported revenue that fell short of analyst expectations. That dip could shave more than $65 billion from Alphabet’s market value if it holds when the markets open Tuesday.

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Drought hits Panama Canal shipping, highlights climate fears

May 1, 2019, 6:58 am

≫ Next: ‘Big Event’ bigger, better, right on time

≪ Previous: Slowing digital-ad growth could force change on Google

GATÚN, Panama (AP) — An intense drought related to this year’s El Nino phenomenon has precipitously lowered the level of Panama’s Gatun Lake, forcing the country’s Canal Authority to impose draft limits this week on ships moving through the waterway’s recently expanded locks.

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‘Big Event’ bigger, better, right on time

May 1, 2019, 7:25 am

≫ Next: Murder trial for man accused of killing GSU teacher begins

≪ Previous: Drought hits Panama Canal shipping, highlights climate fears

Leader Sports Service

More than 1,000 Louisiana Tech students came out Saturday to clean up following last week’s tornado as part of the university’s annual “Big Event.”

All hands and all ‘Dogs were on deck Saturday as Louisiana Tech students, the campus community, and many university friends, businesses, and organizations pitched in to pick up storm debris and encourage each other during Tech’s Big Event.
Organized by the Tech Student Government Association, the Big Event is an annual volunteer project that became bigger and more needed than ever because of the EF-3 tornado early Thursday morning that caused severe damage to the campus and parts of Ruston.

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Murder trial for man accused of killing GSU teacher begins

May 1, 2019, 7:29 am

≫ Next: Debris pushes landfill to limit

≪ Previous: ‘Big Event’ bigger, better, right on time

Nancy Bergeron

Jury selection continued Tuesday in 3rd Judicial District Court in the trial of a Dubach man accused of killing Grambling State University teacher Susan Hashway in June of 2012.
Cameron Mays, 33, is charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, unauthorized use of an access card and second-degree murder, all in connection with Hashway’s death.
Hashway was killed in her home on Paynter Street in Ruston. The 63-year-old was a math teacher at GSU.
As of Monday evening, 11 temporary jurors had been picked, but no final jurors seated.

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Debris pushes landfill to limit

May 1, 2019, 7:31 am

≫ Next: More rain on the way

≪ Previous: Murder trial for man accused of killing GSU teacher begins

Outley: ‘We can handle it’

Caleb Daniel

More than 1,400 tons of debris has been taken to the Lincoln Parish Landfill since an F3 tornado roared through Ruston last week.

When taking in the sheer volume of damage from Thursday’s tornado that tore a destructive path through Ruston, the amount of resulting debris and its effect on the local landfill can be easy to overlook.
But nearly 500 tons of material in less than 24 hours is more than one can shake a tree limb at.
That was the intake volume at the Lincoln Parish Solid Waste Department’s landfill facility in the first day of tornado aftermath last week.

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More rain on the way

May 1, 2019, 7:37 am

≫ Next: West Virginia hospitals sue opioid companies; want damages

≪ Previous: Debris pushes landfill to limit

Nancy Bergeron

Top: Additional predicted rain today and Thursday could make a bad situation even worse for the numerous homes and businesses like this house on Maryland Avenue that suffered roof damage as a result of last week’s tornado. Bottom: Choudrant High School juniors Jessica Upshaw, left, and Ciara Smith worked at Beehive in the Graham Shopping Mall Tuesday afternoon packing up merchandise before predicted rain moves in later today into Thursday.

Get ready. It’s going to rain some more.
The National Weather Service in Shreveport is forecasting upwards of one inch of rain over the next several days, with the greatest chance of severe weather late tonight and into Thursday, said Lisa May, a meteorological technician with the NWS Shreveport office.
The additional rainfall will increase totals that are already above normal. So far this month, the area has had approximately 11.4 inches of rain. That’s 4.35 inches more than usual, according to the NWS.

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West Virginia hospitals sue opioid companies; want damages

May 2, 2019, 9:23 am

≫ Next: Testimony underway in Mays murder trial

≪ Previous: More rain on the way

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Hospitals in West Virginia have banded together to sue some of the country’s largest opioid companies, saying they flooded Appalachia with powerful painkillers and forced medical centers to deal with the financial repercussions.

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Testimony underway in Mays murder trial

May 2, 2019, 9:36 am

≫ Next: Testimony underway in Mays murder trial

≪ Previous: West Virginia hospitals sue opioid companies; want damages

No opening statement made by defense

Caleb Daniel

Testimony in the murder trial of Cameron Mays got underway Wednesday in 3rd Judicial District Court after two days of jury selection.
The jury was seated and instructed on its duties. Then Assistant Attorney General Michelle Thompson gave the opening statement for the prosecution.
“We are here for one reason and one reason alone: justice for Dr. Susan Hashway,” Thompson told the jury.

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Testimony underway in Mays murder trial

May 2, 2019, 9:37 am

≫ Next: Aldermen declare emergency after tornado

≪ Previous: Testimony underway in Mays murder trial

Jury chosen, seated

Nancy Bergeron

After two days of jury selection, the jury that will rule on the murder trial of Cameron Mays is in place.
The four-men, eight-women jury and two alternates — both men — were seated Wednesday morning.
Eleven jurors are white, and one is black. Mays is black.
District Judge Tommy Rogers charged jurors with their duties as proceedings began.
“As jurors, you are the sole judges of the facts,” he said.

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Aldermen declare emergency after tornado

May 2, 2019, 9:40 am

≫ Next: Vigil held to honor fallen RHS student

≪ Previous: Testimony underway in Mays murder trial

Nancy Bergeron

Ruston’s Board of Aldermen has declared a state of emergency in the wake of the tornado that swept across the city April 25.
Aldermen unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday outlining the emergency.
“We’re just covering our bases here,” City Attorney Bill Carter told the board.
The declaration allows the city to circumvent the public bid law to get critical infrastructure, like Ruston’s power grid and fiber optic network, back up and running as quickly as possible.

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Vigil held to honor fallen RHS student

May 2, 2019, 9:45 am

≪ Previous: Aldermen declare emergency after tornado

T. Scott Boatright

Hundreds of Ruston High School students circled the flagpole in front of the school Wednesday morning to hold a vigil in memorial of freshman Remington Butler, who died during last week’s tornado.

A week ago a tornado roared across the skies of Ruston, causing the worst natural disaster in city history.
On Wednesday, balloons drifted up into the skies over Ruston High School, floating up toward the heavens in remembrance of the two lives lost during last week’s storm.
A vigil was held around the flagpole at Ruston High School Wednesday morning in memory of the life of RHS freshman Remington Butler, who would have turned 15 last Monday. But days before, he instead lost his life, as did his mother Kendra Butler, when trees collapsed on their Evans Street home during the tornado.

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