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In-car confession and special Eucharist accommodations at Holy Cross

Fri, 03/27/2020 - 9:42am

Holy Cross Church will offer in-car confession 10:30 a.m.-noon Sunday on the high school parking lot side of the church. You can follow the signs.

Also, in-car Eucharistic Adoration will be administered on the Cedar Street side.

Please follow distancing guidelines.

From Sunday Palm Sunday, a table will be set up in front of the Yvonne Anne Adams Life Center for those who wish to donate palms. Please wash the palms thoroughly with soap and water. Place the on the tables before April 4.

The palms will be blessed April 4. The palms will be available for pickup on the Saturday following the blessing.

Parents in the dark about sibling’s sexual abuse

Fri, 03/27/2020 - 8:47am

By Jeanne Phillips, ©United Features Syndicate

DEAR ABBY: I was sexually abused by a sibling for 10 years during my childhood. I never told anyone what happened to me until I confided in my fiancé after we were engaged. I have gone through counseling sessions and am at a place in my life where I am happy and healthy.
Currently, I have a relationship with my parents, but not with my sibling. My parents often express their wish for me to have a relationship with my sibling, but I always refuse. I feel that telling them what happened at this point would only cause hurt for them. But I also feel that if I tell them, I can stop getting asked uncomfortable questions.
What do you suggest?
SURVIVOR IN SOUTH DAKOTA

DEAR SURVIVOR: I suggest you tell your parents everything.
It’s something you should have done years ago. Do not worry about hurting them. Once they have all the facts, they will understand why you want nothing to do with your sibling and stop pushing you to have a relationship with your abuser, and that’s the goal.

DEAR ABBY: I have been in a relationship with a man for five years, and we are deeply in love. We want to spend the rest of our lives together, but it bothers me that he wants to go into the military for three to five years. He says he wants me to wait for him, but three to five years seems like a lifetime to me. I can’t help but feel like he is prioritizing his desire to serve his country over me and years of our life together.
CIVILIAN IN THE EAST

DEAR CIVILIAN: It would be interesting to know how old you and your boyfriend are. I assume you are both young and graduating from high school.
This is not necessarily a question of where his priorities lie. While three to five years seems like a large chunk of time, the military may provide your boyfriend with the chance to decide what he wants to do career-wise with his life. It would also provide benefits that could positively affect his future — and yours — once his term of service is finished. If you feel unable to wait for him, you should let him go.

DEAR ABBY: My mother is 88 and in a nursing home. While cleaning out her apartment, I found her will. With it there was a handwritten note stating that my son should get my mother’s diamond ring. The ring is unique and special. The note specifically said that my sister’s kids should not get the ring because they didn’t act like they loved her, while my son did. The note instructed my son to give the ring to his wife.
I have not shown the note to my sister because I know she will be upset. I want to give the ring to my son. I know my sister will see the ring on my daughter-in-law’s finger and know it was my mom’s. My sister will wonder how she got the ring. What should I do?
HURT IN OHIO

DEAR HURT: Do not approach your sister with this information until you have spoken to an attorney. Show him or her the will you found in your mother’s apartment and the note that was with it. If your mom is able, have the ring details added to the will. In order to avoid any misunderstandings and a possible rift in the family, your sister should be given a copy of both. After that, take your lead from the attorney.
***
Good advice for everyone — teens to seniors — is in “The Anger in All of Us and How to Deal With It.” To order, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 to: Dear Abby, Anger Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

Hospital district OKs ventilator purchase for Ochsner St. Mary

Thu, 03/26/2020 - 4:17pm

By GEOFF STOUTE

gstoute@daily-review.com

St. Mary Hospital Service District No. 2 is preparing for a potential wave of COVID-19 cases by agreeing to purchase five ventilators for Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City during its special meeting Wednesday night.
Board Chairman Dr. William Cefalu Jr. made the announcement Thursday around noon that five ventilators had been purchased through Ochsner Health System at a total cost of around $200,000.
The ventilators, which have not arrived yet, will be reserved for Ochsner St. Mary when they do arrive.
“What that will allow us to do here locally is ensure that all eight rooms in our ICU will have ventilator capability, so if someone does get critically ill, we’ll be able to utilize our ICU to its full capacity for patients who need ventilator assistance,” Cefalu said.
The move is in anticipation of an increase in COVID-19 cases, which Cefalu anticipated will come no later than two weeks from now.
As of noon Thursday, St. Mary Parish had five cases, according to the state’s Office of Public Health.
“The nature of this virus and how easily it’s transmit-ted basically ensures that we’re going to see more cases,” Cefalu said. “I’ve been in touch with local officials, the Coroner’s Office, etc., and we’re anticipating our local surge, so to speak, within a week or two, and I believe that to be accurate. Just as there’s no reported cases in some parishes, I can guarantee you they’re there.”
Cefalu noted that the area now is beginning to do more testing, too.
“We just haven’t had the capabilities, especially in offices, to perform the num-ber of tests needed to really truly screen for the disease, so that in and of itself is going to bring our case rate up quite a bit,” Cefalu said.
With the ventilators ordered, the hospital now has 22 and emergency backup ventilator systems.
“If you assume that about 20% of hospitalized patients with this disease will require one of those ventilators, if we in St. Mary Parish get to a number of around 400 con-tracting the disease, all those ventilators will be utilized,” Cefalu said.
That’s why he stressed the importance of social distancing to not put a strain on ventilators as well as staffing.
Cefalu said the hospital currently has about 20 pa-tients, and they have enough staffing to care for 50-60 patients.
“But we’re stretched out pretty thin, then,” he said if the hospital reached the 50-60 patient threshold.
Cefalu said the hospital currently is as prepared, staffing wise, as it can be.
“We’re fortunate enough to have a large building and we can certainly accommodate much more than that (50-60 patients) if we had the staffing to do so,” he said.
Cefalu noted that this area is at an elevated risk than other communities as it has high rates of smoking, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
“I would say we’re probably on par with New Orleans as far as risk fac-tors,” he said.
Cefalu said Ochsner has backup supplies such as ventilators and personal protective equipment in New Orleans that will be distributed as needed.
However, he said that Ochsner St. Mary has the personal protective equip-ment it needs right now.
“We are already instituting measures to prolong its use,” he said. “We are reusing masks for the same patients and things such as that. In anticipation of a surge, we want to make sure we have plenty of supplies.”

Drive-through coronavirus testing at TGMC facility in Houma

Thu, 03/26/2020 - 1:30pm

Terrebonne General Medical Center and Chabert Medical Center have partnered to provide drive-through coronavirus testing.

“We are committed to caring for and keeping safe our first responders and health care workers in an effort to keep them healthy so they may continue to provide care to our communities,” said Phyllis Peoples, TGMC president and CEO.

Beginning Thursday, March 26, and Friday, March 27, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., testing will be offered. First responders and health care workers are asked to call 858-7777 to schedule an appointment and must have a physician’s order. Testing will be performed at the TGMC Medical Arts facility, 855 Belanger St., Houma. This testing is open to ALL first responders and healthcare workers not just
TGMC and Chabert employees.

“Due to a limited supply of testing kits our drive-through testing is to care for those who are so graciously caring for our community right now on the front line in these unprecedented times,” said Tim Allen,
CEO, Ochsner Bayou Region: St. Anne & Chabert Medical Center.

72,000 Louisiana people filed for unemployment last week

Thu, 03/26/2020 - 1:01pm

By David Jacobs | The Center Square 1 hr ago

Nationally, almost 2.9 million initial claims were filed during the week that ended March 21, an increase of more than 2.6 million, as businesses close or scale back operations in hopes of mitigating the spread of the new coronavirus.

Advance claims in Louisiana totaled 72,620 during the week ending March 21, compared to 2,225, the labor department says.

Those numbers have not been adjusted to account for seasonal trends, as is often done with unemployment statistics. Seasonally adjusted numbers indicate a nationwide spike of almost 3.3 million.

Louisiana’s unemployment trust fund is worth more than $1 billion. Louisiana Workforce Commission Secretary Ava Dejoie has said she believes the fund is strong enough to handle a surge in demand.

Since declaring a statewide public health emergency March 11, Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued increasingly restrictive mandates meant to keep people home as much as possible and discourage residents from gathering in large groups, though many businesses deemed “essential” under federal guidelines remain open.

Senate passes relief bill with $1,200 payments

Thu, 03/26/2020 - 12:58pm

By DAN McCALEB, The Center Square

The U.S. Senate late Wednesday unanimously passed a historic, $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package that would send billions of dollars directly to Americans and provide hundreds of billions more for businesses, health care systems and others impacted by the pandemic.
The measure passed 96-0 and now moves to the U.S. House, which has been in recess but where a vote is tentatively scheduled for Friday. It would be the largest relief package in the country’s history.
President Donald Trump said he supports it as the country deals with the health and financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused at least 785 deaths in the U.S. There also are more than 55,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country.
“This is a proud moment for the United States Senate, and for the country, and we’re going to win this battle in the very near future,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after the vote.
The stimulus package includes $250 billion in direct payments to Americans depending on their income, $250 billion in expanded unemployment insurance benefits, $350 billion in guaranteed small business loans and $500 billion in loans for businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic.
If passed in the House and signed by Trump, the legislation would provide payments of $1,200 to each adult and $500 to each child under age 17 depending on a household’s 2019 income. A married couple with children could receive up to $3,400.
The payments start to phase out for individuals with income of $75,000 or more, or income of $150,000 for couples filing jointly. Individuals making more than $99,000 or couples earning more than $198,000 would not be eligible.
With thousands of businesses across the U.S. shuttered over fears of spreading COVID-19, and unemployment claims skyrocketing, Trump urged a stimulus deal to keep the economy running and to help Americans who in larger numbers are losing their jobs daily.
The measure would extend jobless insurance benefits by 13 weeks and include a four-month enhancement of benefits. It would include independent contractors such as freelancers, furloughed employees and gig workers.
Small businesses that pledge not to lay off their workers would be eligible for low-interest loans through June 30. The loans would be forgiven if the businesses continued to pay workers during the pandemic.
Airlines and airports could receive up to $32 billion in grants for wages and benefits as the industry screeches to a halt with travel restrictions in place across the globe.
Student loan payments also would be suspended until Sept. 30.
The package had been stalled for days by Democrats wanting to include non-stimulus measures in it, including higher emissions standards for airlines, and concessions to unions.

Louisiana ranks high in spread of COVID-19

Thu, 03/26/2020 - 12:54pm

BY LEO HONEYCUTT

BATON ROUGE – Governor John Bel Edwards is stating somewhat emphatically that Louisiana is nearing a Corona-crisis. He says the state now has the 3rd fastest-growing COVID-19 caseload in the United States and could get much worse before it gets better.
“What is essential now,” Edwards warned in a Tuesday press conference at GOHSEP, “is that we do our part to flatten out the curve to extend the duration of this event and not have it peak all at one time with people who are ill, presenting themselves to the hospital where we don’t have the capacity to render the care that they’re going to need. If we overwhelm the system, we are going to have less people survive that could have. We are running out of time.”
Edwards at this point is more fearful of what could be a massive influx of Coronavirus patients to hospitals perhaps as early as next week. Some estimates say the state will run out of hospital beds by that time.
He also laments that Louisiana may have inadvertently aided the spread of Coronavirus when over one million revelers flocked to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Doctors identified the first case of COVID-19 just 13 days later in Orleans Parish. Now the only states where the virus is spreading faster are in the much more populated states of New York, California and Washington State.
This is why the governor says he rushed to put in a federal disaster declaration on the state’s behalf.
“I am not diminishing the challenges being presented in any other state,” he told reporters, “whether it’s New York or New Jersey or Washington or any other state. I just don’t want anybody to minimize the challenges we have here in Louisiana. As I mentioned before, the trajectory we’re on is very problematic. The growth rate we’re seeing is very problematic. We are Number 3 in the country in terms of per-capita cases.”
Late Tuesday night, President Trump granted Governor Edwards’ disaster declaration, only the fourth in the nation to get federal disaster aid in stopping the Coronavirus. According to Louisiana Comm-issioner of Admin-istration Jay Dardenne, the state has already spent $71 million fighting the virus.
But five whole days passed while the Coronavirus became a Pandemic as both parties battled on Capitol Hill over the huge influx of money. Speaking on Fox News’ Sean Hannity Show, Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy blasted Democratic leadership for stonewalling.
“What Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer have done is breathtakingly irresponsible,” Kennedy said of the delay to get money in unrelated programs including climate initiatives. “We had the deal practically put together when Speaker Pelosi flew in with her left-of-Lenin bridge-to-nowhere proposals and Senator Schumer did not have the oranges to tell her to back off.”
Finally in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, the bill to head off economic disaster for the millions now at home and many out of work passed. Checks averaging $1,200 per adult and $500 for children could be in the mail as early as next week.
The Coronavirus Relief Package is the largest economic stimulus package in the history of the United States, with an eventual price tag of $2 trillion far beyond what the White House had recommended as Democrats and Republicans tacked on more programs. In one instance, where the President’s team had recommended a companion appropriations bill of $46 billion to get money to states, Congress ballooned the figure to $300 billion, more than all the federal funds spent for Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy combined.
Lawmakers had previously passed $8.3 billion in emergency funds to healthcare systems and $100 billion-plus to boost paid sick leave, unemployment insurance and to provide free coronavirus testing.
In the meantime, Edwards is pleading with citizens to simply stay home and call friends and family, and in runs to grocery stores, to not get any closer to another person than six-to-ten 6 to 10 feet. The governor is alarmed that Louisiana’s rate of infection is still skyrocketing, heading upwards toward 1,500 cases and 50 deaths, and is now the third highest infection rate per capita in the country.
Edwards sternly admonished, “Stay home, stop the spread, save lives. Behave today as if you already have the virus.”

Farmers begin planting amid uncertain prices

Thu, 03/26/2020 - 12:50pm

By BRUCE SCHULTZ, LSU AgCenter

Planting is underway or about to start for most crops, and farmers are watching the markets closely as the world economy reels from the fallout created by the novel coronavirus.
LSU AgCenter economist Michael Deliberto said commodities are looking better this week, and the stock market has improved. But uncertainty from the pandemic is a dominant factor in the economy.
“This uncertainty has translated into downward pressure on commodity prices. As uncertainty begins to resolve in the coming weeks and months, the outlook on usage and demand will have more clarity,” he said.
Markets will begin to focus on production and growing season issues as well as on how demand might evolve.
“The markets have improved a little from last week,” Deliberto said. “Corn and soybean futures have started the week up while cotton started the week down. U.S. stock indices also are higher from last week.”
“As uncertainty begins to resolve in the coming weeks and months, the outlook on usage and demand will have more clarity,” he added. “As such, markets will begin to focus on production and growing season issues as well as how demand might evolve.”
Grain markets are moving higher, building on last week’s recoveries in soybeans and wheat, with speculation that global buyers will boost purchases to increase food security reserves.
Rice has made a big jump in price, with May contracts on March 23 for $13.35 per hundredweight, or $21.63 a barrel, or about $6 a bushel. Not much rice may be left on-farm for old crop prices to continue to increase.
“This is a function of lower supply really driving the price up,” Deliberto said.
Increased rice exports have boosted prices, and demand is good for rough and milled rice.
Milling continues to satisfy commitments to Latin America and Mexico buyers.
“Another factor for the jump may be that outside funds are looking into the commodities such as rice,” he said.
Cotton has not fared well in the past few days, with prices falling to the lowest levels since 2009. May cotton was staying above 50 cents a pound on March 23.
“There are also concerns the plunge to an 18-year low in crude oil futures will push more textile production to synthetic fibers when global textile plants resume normal operations,” Deliberto said.
Soybean prices remain low, below $9 a bushel, a price that makes the commodity attractive to buyers.
“U.S. soybeans are competitively priced, and traders are on alert for any signs of Chinese demand for U.S. supplies. Slowing U.S. exports are hurting prices among other factors,” he said.
Corn prices in the mid-$3-per-bushel range have benefitted recently from increased export demand, but it’s not known if that is a trend. Also unknown is the effect of the sharp drop in crude oil prices on the ethanol industry outlook, he said.
There is some expectation that the Chinese will be buying more commodities.
“That adds to the positive tone today, with stock index futures erasing steep overnight losses this morning ahead of the opening on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve moved to inject a large, unprecedented expansion in programs to provide more liquidity to the markets,” Deliberto said on March 23.
There is talk that the economic stimulus bill in the Senate may include funds for another round of Market Facilitation Payments.
Last week’s trading was based more on fear than reason, Deliberto said.
“It’s often said markets need a calming influence before some semblance of normalcy can return,” he said.
Investors are turning to the U.S. dollar, he added.
“It quickly displaced gold, which has lost nearly 15% in the past two weeks,” he said.

Morgan City police radio logs for March 25-26

Thu, 03/26/2020 - 12:37pm

The following are the radio dispatch logs from the Morgan City Police Department. To report unlawful or suspicious activity, call the police department at 985-380-4605.
Tuesday, March 24
8:50 a.m. 1000 block of La. 70; Alarm.
9:29 a.m. 600 block of Freret Street; Assistance.
10:49 a.m. 700 block of First Street; Suspicious person.
1:11 p.m. Martin Luther King and Victor II boulevards; Accident.
2:55 p.m. 400 block of Leona Street; Medical.
3:17 p.m. 2400 block of Maple Street; Alarm.
6:01 p.m. Morgan City Police Department; Complaint.
6:12 p.m. 500 block of Justa Street; Complaint.
6:35 p.m. Ochsner St. Mary; Complaint.
7:20 p.m. 7500 block of La. 182; Shoplifter.
8:17 p.m. 500 block of Roderick Street; Frequent patrols.
8:50 p.m. 400 block of First Street; Welfare check.
10:11 p.m. Allison Street; Loud Music.
10:59 p.m. 800 block of Ditch Avenue; Fight.
11:40 p.m. 800 block of Ditch Avenue; Medical.
Wednesday, March 25
2:56 a.m. Lawrence Park; People gathered.
4:15 a.m. 100 block of Youngswood Road; Alarm.

Bishop: It's OK to eat meat on two Lenten Fridays

Thu, 03/26/2020 - 12:19pm

n a decree announced late Wednesday, Bishop Shelton Fabre announced that he has granted a dispensation to the Catholic faithful in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux of the obligation to abstain from eating meat for the two remaining Fridays in Lent.

His decree specifically relates to the fourth and fifth Fridays in Lent, but the faithful is reminded that the law on abstinence and fasting for Good Friday is never dispensed and must be observed in its entirety.

The bishop addresses in his decree the issues the coronavirus has placed many of our faithful “in a situation wherein obtaining food, including meal alternatives from meat, the rising cost of fish and other forms of seafood and even the challenge of being able to obtain groceries without endangering their health, make it clearly difficult for them to fulfill this practice.”

For those who choose to accept his decree, “I ask that you substitute this with other forms of penance, especially works of piety and charity in place of the abstinence in accord with canon 1253 of the Code of Canon Law.”

The obligation to abstain from eating meat on all Fridays in Lent, as well as on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, is imposed on all Catholics who have attained the age of 14.