Bridge City News

There are three local festivals for folks to choose from this weekend. The Bridge City Gumbo Fest is back after being rained out earlier this year.

The state Office of Juvenile Justice hopes to remake the Swanson Correctional Center for Youth into a smaller, more engaged and less violent facility.

Louisiana's 16,687 miles of state-owned roads are a "giant yoke hung around the neck of the state DOT that is weighing us down," says Eric Kalivoda, assistant secretary for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

Louisiana's juvenile justice system is still plagued by violence and overcrowding despite years of efforts to shift the focus from punishment to rehabilitation, activists told a state panel Monday.

Authorities are investigating a fire that damaged several units this morning at an apartment complex in Bridge City and displaced several residents.

Bridge City Gumbo Festival Gumbo Festival Park, 1701 Bridge City Ave, Bridge City.

The gumbo pots are fired up in Bridge City. The 2009 Bridge City Gumbo Festival opens this evening at 6 o'clock. There's good reason that Bridge City has been officially proclaimed 'The Gumbo Capital of the World.' "Gumbo says love.

Nationally certified experts will be on hand Saturday for a free car seat safety check at Breaux Bridge City Hall, 101 Berard St.

A Jefferson teenager was indicted Thursday on charges of killing one man and attempting to kill another during an alleged drug transaction this summer.

Pesky mosquitos ruining your evening walks? That's because the recent wet weather has created fertile breeding grounds for the annoying insects, and these guys are nasty biters.

NEW ORLEANS a ' The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District awarded a $12.3 million contract to enlarge 2.7 miles of levees along the Lake Cataouatche alignment on the West Bank.

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a Belle Chasse company a $12.3 million contract to raise a nearly 3-mile segment of the Lake Cataouatche levee in West Jefferson.

Visitation has been suspended until at least Sept. 13 at Bridge City Center for Youth near New Orleans because one teenager has Type A influenza.

State health officials say two more residents, adult males from central and southwest Louisiana, have died from complications from the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

Four West Bank teenagers have been booked in string of robberies in Jefferson Parish that stretch back to last November.

Michael J. Couch, 25, 11 Coral Lane, St. Rose, was booked July 11 with DWI and careless driving.

These government and community meetings are open to the public. To have meetings considered for inclusion, send e-mail to citydesk@tpmail.com with "Meetings" in the subject line or a fax to 504.826.3007. --- HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE ADVISORY MEETINGS --- -- Today, 1-2 p.m., at East Bank Regional Library, 4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie.

An investigation will be conducted into an ammonia release in the New Orleans area.

Jefferson Parish authorities are investigating an ammonia leak they say is coming from the Cytech Industries plant in Waggaman.

A New Orleans teenager suspected of forcing several women to strip naked at gunpoint and then robbing them was arrested Tuesday and remains in custody at the Jefferson Parish correctional center, police said.