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• Dock worker's body found after cruise ship incident

  April 12, 2013 4:02 PM

  MOBILE, Ala. - The body of a missing Mobile shipyard worker has been pulled from the Mobile Bay. Authorities say the body of 64-year-old John R. Johnson was recovered Friday morning near the area where he was last seen. U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Michael Clausen says authorities found Johnson's... more »

• Halliburton worker testifies at Gulf spill trial

  April 2, 2013 10:20 AM

  NEW ORLEANS - A man who worked for BP's cement contractor on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 says he didn't believe the oil giant's employees were risking workers' safety when they didn't follow his recommendations. Halliburton employee Jesse Gagliano began testifying Tuesday at... more »

• Honeywell contract worker arrested in diesel theft

  February 8, 2013 2:19 PM

  GEISMAR - Deputies arrested a contract worker at Honeywell Chemical Plant in Geismar after he was accused of stealing diesel fuel. Investigators in Ascension Parish said Jerry McBride from Denham Springs stole 300 gallons of off-road diesel from Honeywell's loading dock. Deputies booked McBride into the Ascension Parish... more »

• Trial set in lawsuit against state retirement plan

  January 24, 2013 10:20 AM

  BATON ROUGE - A Baton Rouge judge is hearing arguments in a lawsuit challenging Gov. Bobby Jindal's 401(k)-style retirement plan for future rank-and-file state workers. The Retired State Employees Association of Louisiana claims the law is unconstitutional because it didn't get a two-thirds vote in the state House of Representatives.... more »

• Burned platform workers to be released from hospital

  December 21, 2012 10:17 PM

  BATON ROUGE- Three offshore workers, burned in a platform explosion will be released from a hospital's burn unit. The workers, from the Philippines, were being treated after injuries sustained when the Gulf of Mexico platform they were working on exploded in November. "We are inspired by the progress... more »

• CDC: Language barrier caused chlorine gas leak

  December 6, 2012 12:25 PM

  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a chlorine gas leak at an Arkansas poultry plant last year that sickened nearly 200 people occurred because a worker couldn't read English. The CDC said in a report released Thursday that a Spanish-speaking worker at the Tyson... more »

• Body identified as missing oil platform worker

  November 28, 2012 4:43 PM

  NEW ORLEANS - A body found Monday in the Gulf of Mexico near Grand Isle has been identified as a Filipino worker missing since a Nov. 16 oil platform fire. Lafourche Parish Coroner Dr. John King says the body is 28-year-old Jerome Malagapo. Malagapo had been working for Grand Isle... more »

• Officials trying to identify body pulled from Gulf

  November 27, 2012 5:26 PM

  NEW ORLEANS - The Jefferson Parish coroner's office is trying to determine whether the decomposed body of a man recovered from the Gulf of Mexico is a worker missing since a fire erupted on an offshore oil platform on Nov. 16. The Coast Guard says the body was spotted Monday... more »

• Mass. gas firm president: We'll make things right

  November 26, 2012 5:25 PM

  SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - A Massachusetts company whose worker breached a gas line that led to a massive explosion in one of New England's biggest cities says it'll do whatever it takes to return things to normal. Friday's explosion in downtown Springfield damaged 42 buildings housing businesses and residences. The gas... more »

• Worker injured in platform fire dies

  November 23, 2012 11:56 AM

  BATON ROUGE - One of four Filipino workers injured in an explosion and fire on a Gulf oil platform died today, according to the Phillippine Embassy. Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., said in a press release that Avelino Tajonera passed away early this morning. He said Tajonera's wife... more »

• Agency: Company needs to improve offshore safety

  November 21, 2012 1:53 PM

  NEW ORLEANS - A federal agency has told the owner of an offshore oil platform where a deadly explosion and fire happened last week to take immediate steps to improve safety at its offshore operations. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Wednesday that Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations... more »

• Search for final missing platform worker cancelled

  November 20, 2012 10:14 PM

  GRAND ISLE- The search for the last worker missing after an explosion on an oil platform off the coast of Louisiana has been called off. Black Elk Energy owned the platform. One worker was found dead, four others were burned and are being treated in Baton Rouge after the... more »

• Filipino worker killed in offshore fire identified

  November 19, 2012 2:05 PM

  NEW ORLEANS - The embassy of the Philippines in Washington has released the identity of a worker killed in a fiery offshore explosion off the coast of Louisiana. In a news release on the embassy website, he was identified as 42-year-old Elroy Corporal. Meanwhile, the embassy said it holds out... more »

• 2 dead, 1 trapped in Fla. parking garage collapse

  October 10, 2012 4:29 PM

  MIAMI - Authorities say a second person has died in the collapse of a parking garage under construction at a community college in Florida. Roy Rutland of the Miami-Dade Police Department says the second body was discovered Wednesday. A construction worker is also still trapped in the rubble. That worker... more »

• No pressure: The 200 meters from starter's view

  August 10, 2012 4:46 PM

  LONDON - Track official Gordon Staines has two special words for Usain Bolt: "Thank you!" Staines is the guy who fired the gun to start the men's 200-meter final Thursday night, and he's downright thrilled that Bolt and his other competitors stayed "steady" at the start of the race and... more »

• Man dressed as construction worker robs bank

  June 28, 2012 3:22 PM

  BATON ROUGE - Sheriff's deputies said a man dressed as a construction worker robbed a bank in East Baton Rouge this afternoon. Spokesperson Casey Rayborn Hicks said it happened around 2 p.m. at the Whitney Bank on 7890 Jefferson Highway. She said a man came in and gave... more »

• Worker hurt trying to shut off gas fire

  May 30, 2012 4:55 PM

  BATON ROUGE - A gas meter caught on fire and injured one utility worker this afternoon in Baton Rouge. Curt Monte with the Baton Rouge Fire Department said it happened this afternoon behind a home on Madras Drive. Flames from the meter could be seen shooting up behind the... more »

• State worker retirement contributions could change

  May 23, 2012 5:06 PM

  BATON ROUGE- Another key component of Governor Bobby Jindal's pension reform package advanced at the Capitol today. Senate Bill 52 by Senator Elbert Guillory, D- Opelousas, could require state workers to contribute more towards their retirement plan. About 47,000 workers could be affected. The list does not include K-12... more »

• Worker crushed by roll of newsprint

  May 18, 2012 5:42 PM

  KING OF PRUSSIA - A railroad engineer near Philadelphia has been killed by a roll of newsprint that fell out of a boxcar and crushed him. Officials say the death occurred Friday morning at a plant that produces the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. A newspaper company spokesman says the... more »

• At the Capitol: State employee retirement age Play Video

  March 26, 2012 10:26 AM

  BATON ROUGE - Changes to state worker retirement plans proposed by Gov. Bobby Jindal could undergo changes today. Sen. Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas), who chairs the Senate Retirement Committee, said there are discussions to slowly introduce the age requirement depending on how long someone's been employed. The more years someone... more »

• Employees advised they can oppose pension changes

  March 8, 2012 11:04 AM

  BATON ROUGE- The civil service department is advising Louisiana's state employees that they can talk with lawmakers, testify at legislative hearings, attend public rallies and otherwise express their views on Gov. Bobby Jindal's proposals to change their retirement benefits and contributions. The Advocate reports that the department issued a memo... more »

• Council urged to settle school worker suit

  February 16, 2012 7:42 AM

  BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Metro Council's Finance and Executive Committee has recommended that the full council settle with a former elementary school employee who sued the city-parish seven years ago over toxic-mold issues at the school. Richard Brown, a former custodian at LaBelle Aire Elementary School, said... more »

• Coffee Pot stops Robbery

  December 14, 2011 7:47 PM

  A worker at a coffee shop near Pittsburgh smashed a glass pot over the head of a man as he tried to climb through the drive-thru window to rob the place. Police are looking for the would-be thief and have the encounter recorded on surveillance video. Police say one worker... more »

• Iberville Parish plant worker's death under investigation

  November 1, 2011 3:26 PM

  PLAQUEMINE - A 15 ton crane ran over and killed a worker at the Shintech manufacturing facility this morning making it the third death at the plant in past six months. Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office haven't released the man's identity yet as they, OSHA, and Shintech are still investigating... more »

• La. groups seek to block immigrant wage increase

  September 14, 2011 5:37 PM

  NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana seafood and sugar cane processors, hotel owners and operators of amusement parks are among the business interests who hope a federal judge will block new federal rules that they say could increase the wages they are required to pay to temporary foreign workers by as much... more »

• Camera found in government restroom, worker fired

  July 18, 2011 2:18 PM

  LAFAYETTE, La. - Lafayette's city-parish government has fired an employee accused of secretly recording video in a men's restroom of the planning and zoning department. Police said 38-year-old Jeffery Larcade, of Lafayette, was arrested Friday and booked with video voyeurism after a co-worker discovered the camera. He had... more »

• Worker dies after fall on abandoned gas platform

  April 18, 2011 5:20 PM

  LAKE CHARLES - A worker sealing off an abandoned natural gas well in the Gulf died this morning after a fall, according to authorities. A spokesperson with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said the worker with Alliance Oilfield Services died when he fell through a... more »

• Worker dies after being found in nitrogen trailer

  January 11, 2011 4:22 PM

  ST. GABRIEL – A truck worker has died after passing out in a tanker trailer that had contained nitrogen, according to city police. St. Gabriel Police had been called out around 3:45 p.m. Monday to Quality Carriers on LA Highway 30. The victim was taken to a Baton Rouge hospital... more »

• Daycare worker arrested in Baker baby death

  January 7, 2011 5:34 PM

  BAKER – A daycare worker has been arrested and accused of murder in the October death of an infant under her care, according to authorities. Baker Police arrested 22-year-old Ashley Reifer this evening after autopsy results showed that the child had died from traumatic brain injury, caused by being shaken.... more »

• Fate of worker that sent Obama email undetermined

  December 1, 2010 3:27 PM

  BATON ROUGE – A Louisiana Senate employee has been suspended and an investigation launched after an email was sent to state workers that depicts President Obama as a white person and is labeled a “racism test”. Senate researcher Tammy Crain-Waldrop was suspended without pay after she sent the email to... more »

• Citing deficit, Obama freezing federal worker pay

  November 29, 2010 11:18 AM

  WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has announced a two-year pay freeze for federal employees, saying the step is necessary to help bring the federal deficit under control. The freeze would apply to all civilian federal employees but would exclude military personnel. Obama says the sacrifices of limiting government spending must... more »

• Midyear cuts force 420 state worker layoffs

  November 20, 2010 10:01 AM

  More than 400 state workers are expected to be laid off because of Gov. Bobby Jindal's midyear budget cuts. Ray Stockstill, one of Jindal's top budget advisers in the Division of Administration, told lawmakers Friday that an estimated 420 layoffs were expected after Jindal cut $107 million in state... more »

• Thibodaux man arrested after flinging fast food

  October 29, 2010 1:07 PM

  THIBODAUX, La. - Police arrested a man in Thibodaux last night after they said he demanded free food at a fast food restaurant he used to work at, then made it himself when workers refused. 25-year-old Terrance Shepard faces charges of disturbing the peace and remaining after forbidden from the... more »

• Husband sues La. firm in wife's death

  October 27, 2010 7:22 AM

  The husband of a Baton Rouge construction company worker shot to death at the business Dec. 23 claims the firm ignored a threat that the alleged shooter made when he was fired. James Coutee, whose wife Dianna Tullier was a clerical worker at Grady Crawford Construction Co., is seeking damages... more »

• La. hospital worker acquitted on battery

  October 14, 2010 7:59 AM

  A state district judge has acquitted a state hospital worker accused of restraining a brain-injury patient without authorization in 2009. Linda Thompson was originally charged with cruelty to the infirmed, but District Attorney Kathryn Jones amended the charge to simple battery before the trial of the Villa Feliciana Medical Complex... more »

• Chalmette refinery leak temporarily solved, one worker killed

  October 8, 2010 10:31 AM

  State Police say a hydrogen sulfide gas leak at Chalmette Refining LLC's Chalmette plant has been contained, but not completely sealed. Trooper Melissa Matey said Friday that workers are waiting for a part needed to finish closing the leak. She says the leak is being monitored and has not affected... more »

• Transocean ordered to pay $4M for worker's injury

  October 8, 2010 7:30 AM

  A federal jury has ordered Transocean to pay more than $4 million in damages to an oilfield worker injured in an offshore rig accident. The judgment entered Tuesday capped a trial for the lawsuit that 32-year-old Dan Averette filed over the July 14, 2007, accident aboard the Amirante, a rig... more »

• Construction worker dies at Baton Rouge park

  September 30, 2010 2:41 PM

  A construction worker in Baton Rouge is dead after falling on the job. Police say Thomas LeDuff Jr. fell through a rooftop skylight of a maintenance building at Forest Community Park, in the 13000 block of South Harrell's Ferry Road. They say he was trying to remove a... more »

• Fire rages in Bossier, Webster parishes

  September 20, 2010 7:52 AM

  A state forestry worker was burned while bulldozing a firebreak against a woods fire that started near Doyline and spread toward Haughton. Bossier and Webster parish firefighters and state forestry workers spent more than seven hours containing the fire. The Webster Parish Sheriff's Office believes the fire may have started... more »

• Sixth worker pleads in fraud probe

  August 11, 2010 8:46 AM

  A sixth person has pleaded guilty in the federal government's ongoing investigation into disaster food stamp fraud. Dorothy Reedom, who had worked for the Department of Social Services' Office of Family Support in St. Mary Parish, pleaded guilty Monday to theft of public money, property or records. Reedom is one... more »

• $15 million settlement for injured worker

  June 20, 2010 4:36 PM

  An oil field rigger severely injured in a post-Hurricane Katrina salvage job has agreed to settle his court claims for $15 million. A trial for Randall James Wooley's lawsuit against his employer, Longnecker Properties Inc., and several other companies was scheduled to start July 18 in a Lafourche Parish... more »

• Cafeteria worker faces indecency charge

  May 19, 2010 8:37 AM

  A 40-year-old cafeteria worker at Green Oaks High School is behind bars for propositioning a 12-year-old girl over the telephone. Quenton Washington was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center for indecent behavior with a juvenile. Deputies say Washington posed as a 15-year-old boy and talked with the girl on the... more »

• Ex-state worker pleads guilty

  May 12, 2010 6:35 AM

  A former state social service worker has pleaded guilty in connection with a federal food stamp fraud investigation that has resulted in charges against 13 people. Andrea Broussard admitted to getting $345 in federal disaster assistance in 2005 after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She once worked for the state Department... more »

• Worker gets caught in equipment in Fordoche

  March 24, 2010 1:03 PM

  An accident involving injuries took place this morning in Fordoche as workers were preparing for upcoming fair. Around 11:15 a.m., Pointe Coupee Sheriff's deputies responded to the community park in Fordoche, after a worker who was setting up for the fair got caught in a piece of equipment. The... more »

• Parent arrested after dog attacks foster care worker

  March 23, 2010 4:47 PM

  Louisiana Department of Social Services secretary Kristy Nichols said Tuesday that the parent of a foster child was arrested following an incident in Ouachita Parish on Monday. Nichols said a foster care worker sustained multiple injuries after being attacked by a dog during a visit to the parent's home.... more »

• Monroe city worker fired, arrested

  February 4, 2010 8:44 AM

  A Monroe city employee has been fired from her position as account clerk after being arrested on suspicion of felony theft in the amount of $2,200. Police say 32-year-old Karmenista K. McGuire admitted to taking $1,000 from the cash drawer on January 28 but said she had brought that back... more »

• State worker pay change approved

  December 9, 2009 1:13 PM

  The Louisiana Civil Service Commission has officially signed off on a new pay plan for most state employees. The plan involves a three to six percent pay raise based on employees' job performance. Most workers have been receiving an almost automatic, four percent merit raise in recent years. ... more »