• Revised disaster plans may be tested
As Hurricane Gustav moves closer to the Gulf of Mexico, Jefferson Parish authorities are warning residents to start preparing for it to come this way.

• Bike path proposal picking up speed
A scarcity of walking and bicycling trails can turn family evenings out for exercise into a harrowing, traffic-tormented experience in Jefferson Parish, said state Sen. Julie Quinn, R-Metairie, so she is proposing a designated bike path.

• Kenner crime rate falls nearly 3%
Kenner recorded a nearly 3 percent decrease in serious crime during the first half of 2008, compared with the same time last year, despite increases in rapes and robberies, according to statistics released by the Police Department.

• River Ridge man jailed in shooting
A River Ridge man has been arrested in an Aug. 9 shooting at a Metairie apartment, authorities said.

• Gift of land no help to Lee's charity
In defending his public support of a nonprofit group he created, Jefferson Parish Councilman Byron Lee said the money he doles out from a West Bank landfill settlement represents but a sliver of the Jefferson Sports and Scholastic Foundation's revenue.

• Kenner fast-tracks blight action
A newly created Kenner City Council committee is targeting the city's 88 blighted properties, most still reeking of Hurricane Katrina damage, looking for ways to speed up the process to get dilapidated housing fixed or demolished as quickly as possible.

• Library expected to reopen today
The East Bank Regional Library in Metairie, closed most of Tuesday because of a broken air conditioner, is likely to reopen today, Jefferson Parish officials said.

• Maestri may be named to council
Ron Maestri had barely walked into his Metairie home after a fishing trip Wednesday when his phone began ringing.

• Jeff, Kenner police have eye on N.O. suspect
A Metairie man arrested Thursday in the burglary of an Uptown home is also wanted in several crimes in Jefferson Parish and Kenner.

• 5 may vie for Sneed's old job
Jennifer Sneed's resignation from the Jefferson Parish Council was barely official Friday before names surfaced for what likely will be a competitive race to succeed her.

• Schools serve notice to online bullies
As Jefferson Parish school officials continue to integrate technology into the classroom, they are issuing a warning to students: Post derogatory messages, photos, videos or blogs against other students or employees, and there will be consequences.

• Schools serve notice to online bullies
As Jefferson Parish school officials continue to integrate technology into the classroom, they are issuing a warning to students: Post derogatory messages, photos, videos or blogs against other students or employees, and there will be consequences.

• Parent won't excuse absence
Jefferson Parish School Board member Ellen Kovach did not attend four recent parent meetings on a controversial magnet school plan affecting her district, but she said Friday that her absence had nothing to do with her current campaign for judge.

• WORTH A SECOND LOOK
Next to all the big issues facing Jefferson Parish -- flood protection, crime, education and health care -- beautification might seem to be a peripheral concern. But a new report from economic advisers argues that aesthetics deserve more respect.

• Metairie man dies 10 days after crash
Two men have died after separate Metairie traffic accidents, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office reported Friday.

• Metairie man dies after crash
Two men have died after separate Metairie traffic accidents, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office reported Friday.

• Public hearing set on levee tax rate
The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East will hold a public hearing Wednesday to discuss the future of the East Jefferson Levee District's tax rate for 2009, a decision that could generate additional revenue.

• Garbage firm to get raise in Kenner
The Kenner City Council Thursday put $406,000 into the public works budget, giving Kenner Mayor Ed Muniz the mechanism to pay its garbage hauler more to cover high fuel costs.

• Mom says she didn't start brawls
A Kenner woman arrested for allegedly instigating and then taking part in a brawl between her sons and some of their classmates denied being the aggressor and said Thursday she was only trying to break up the fight.

• Officials oppose pump plan
Regional levee commissioners went on record Thursday against the Army Corps of Engineers' plan to provide permanent surge protection from Lake Pontchartrain with two synchronized pump stations on each of three outfall canals during a major storm.

• Friend faces charge in accidental shooting
The Jefferson Parish district attorney's office has charged a River Ridge man, arrested last year after accidentally shooting and killing a friend, with negligent homicide.

• Early ballots can be cast in congressional races
Early voting starts Saturday for two primaries that will determine the Democratic nominees for Congress in Louisiana's 1st and 2nd House districts.

• Coastal hauls in garbage contract
The Jefferson Parish Council chose Coastal Waste Services for its lucrative and politically sensitive garbage contract Wednesday, but it remains to be seen how much fees will rise for household collection.

• Levee officials push 1-pump plan
Opposition is growing among regional levee commissioners to the Army Corps of Engineers' plan for dual pumping stations on three New Orleans canals, one station to drain neighborhoods and another to operate only when floodgates are closed against storm surge.

• Independent probe of pumps sought
Yet another probe is being requested into the purchase and installation of temporary pumping stations on New Orleans' three outfall canals after Hurricane Katrina and whether the pumps would perform properly in an emergency.

• Jefferson Parish Council bids farewell to Sneed
In her last meeting as a Jefferson Parish Council member, Jennifer Sneed accepted roses, accolades and quips Wednesday from her six colleagues.

• Mother arrested in sons' battle
A Kenner mother was arrested after allegedly chasing down a pair of her sons' high school classmates in her vehicle, taking a swing at one and instigating a brawl, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.

• Robber posed as officer, police say
A New Orleans man has been booked with impersonating a police officer for a scheme in which he worked with a pair of New Orleans women to rob a photographer, authorities said.

• Driver booked in insurance fraud
A Kenner woman who fled a hit-and-run accident she caused in New Orleans, then pretended 30 minutes later to be the victim of a fake hit-and-run accident in Kenner, has been arrested and booked with insurance fraud, police said Wednesday.

• Gunfire followed brawl, police say
A Kenner man accused of firing at a friend after a nightclub brawl was booked Tuesday with attempted murder, authorities said.

• Metairie man, 23, booked with rape of girls, 5 and 3
Authorities on Tuesday arrested a Metairie man accused of inappropriately touching a pair of young girls in his neighborhood.

• Robbers took weed, not cash, cops say
A Baton Rouge man who told Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies he was robbed of $400 found himself in custody after his assailants confessed, but said the loot they stole was not money but a half-pound of marijuana.

• Kenner to budget for trash money
Kenner residents probably won't have to pay more on their water bills for garbage pickup because Kenner City Council members plan instead to find money in the budget to pay the city's garbage contractor.

• New library to be built at Lakeshore location
Because her house is just blocks from the Lakeshore Library on West Esplanade Avenue in Metairie, Beverly Zeller has been passing by for almost three years and pondering the storm-darkened building.

• Parish may fight fire flap with PR
To handle some of the fallout surrounding its rift with the firefighters union, Jefferson Parish is looking for outside help.

• Blood drive set to help boy, 9
The Blood Center will hold a blood drive Thursday to benefit 9-year-old Micah Roshell of Deridder, who is battling Hodgkin's lymphoma.

• Crime down in most areas of Jeff
The crime rate in unincorporated Jefferson Parish was down during the first half of 2008 despite increases in murders and rapes, according to statistics released by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.

• Riverdale shuffle may be gradual
Contrary to a plan already approved by the Jefferson Parish School Board, school officials are now suggesting that wholesale changes to Riverdale High and Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies might not transpire in the 2009-10 school year.

• Cabbie's killer wants retrial moved
Seventeen years after a cabdriver was shot and left to die beside the Earhart Expressway in Elmwood, the man awaiting retrial in the slaying now says the Jefferson Parish case should be dismissed because the shooting happened in New Orleans.

• Airline chase suspect claims post-partum depression
A Metairie mother accused of speeding down Airline Drive in the wrong direction, slamming into vehicles while her toddler rode in the back seat of her car, told investigators she had been suffering from post-partum depression, authorities said Friday.

• Trailer count ebbs in Kenner
Just a couple of dozen FEMA travel trailers remain in Kenner yards, down from several thousand at the height of the post-Katrina rebuilding effort.

• Man booked with shooting at cop
A Harahan man was held in lieu of $175,500 bond Friday on charges of firing a gun at a police officer during a confrontation at his house.

• Registrar absolved for mailer
A Republican Party recruitment mailer that appeared to come inappropriately from Jefferson Parish Registrar of Voters Dennis DiMarco was the result of error, not wrongdoing by DiMarco, Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said Friday.

• EAST JEFFERSON POLICE REPORTS
These incidents were reported to law-enforcement authorities.

• Waste panel gives nod to Slidell firm
An advisory committee gave top billing Thursday to a Slidell waste company to begin hauling garbage from Jefferson Parish curbsides next year.

• Wrong-way driver crashes near airport
A woman with a small child in her car Thursday afternoon drove several miles against traffic in the wrong lane of Airline Drive before crashing at Louis Armstrong International Airport.

• Suspect arrested in 6 bank robberies
A Metairie man just off probation for holding up five banks was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of robbing five more.

• Strut your stuff at Rooster Day
Want to celebrate the end of legalized cockfighting in the United States?