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WARSAW, Va. (AP) — The Latest on a shooting in Louisiana that killed five people (all times local):
1:20 p.m.
A woman who lived in the same house as two people who authorities say were killed by their 21-year-old son says the son had a loving relationship with his mother but argued, sometimes violently, with his father.
Kim Mincks says she was asleep in another room in a trailer she shared with Keith and Elizabeth Theriot when law enforcement officials woke her Saturday morning with news of the shootings.
She and Jacob Chastant, a friend who also lived in the trailer, returned to their home Sunday morning.
Authorities say Dakota Theriot shot and killed his girlfriend, her father and brother and then went to his parents' house and killed them. He was arrested Sunday in Virginia.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Chastant and Mincks described one incident in which Chastant had to pull Dakota Theriot off his father during a fight.
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11 a.m.
A Virginia sheriff says a man suspected of killing five people in Louisiana was arrested when he showed up at his grandmother's house.
Authorities say 21-year-old Dakota Theriot shot and killed three people Saturday morning in one Louisiana parish before going to his parents' house in a neighboring parish and killing them before fleeing.
Richmond County Sheriff Stephan B. Smith said in a phone interview that Theriot's grandmother had spent the night in a hotel because she feared her grandson might come to her home in Warsaw. He said the woman asked authorities to check her home Sunday morning to make sure it was safe before she went home.
While deputies were there, Smith said, Theriot drove up. Smith said Theriot had a gun on him but he dropped it and was taken into custody without incident.
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9:15 a.m.
Authorities say a man suspected in two shootings that left five people dead in Louisiana has been arrested in Virginia.
Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre and Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said in a statement that 21-year-old Dakota Theriot was arrested Sunday by the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.
The news release says Theriot will be brought back to Ascension Parish and booked on two counts of first-degree murder, home invasion, and illegal use of weapons.
Authorities say Theriot shot and killed three people Saturday morning in one parish before going to his parents' house in a neighboring parish and killing them before fleeing.Ard said Saturday that Theriot was believed to have been in a relationship with one of the victims, Summer Ernest. Her brother and father were also killed.
GONZALES (AP) — A man suspected of killing his parents and three other people - including a girl he was dating - was arrested Sunday when he showed up at his grandmother's house in Virginia, a sheriff there said.
On Saturday, Dakota Theriot, 21, shot and killed three people — the woman believed to be his girlfriend, her brother and father — in Louisiana's Livingston Parish before taking her father's truck, driving to neighboring Ascension Parish, and shooting his parents, authorities said.
Theriot's grandmother, who lives in Warsaw, Virginia, had checked into a hotel Saturday night because she feared he might show up at her house, Richmond County Sheriff Stephan B. Smith said in a phone interview. The woman asked authorities to check her home Sunday morning to make sure it was safe before she returned.
While deputies were there, Smith said, Theriot drove up. He had a gun on him but he dropped it and was taken into custody without incident, Smith said.
Theriot will be brought back to Ascension Parish to be booked on two counts of first-degree murder, home invasion, and illegal use of weapons, according to a statement by Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre and Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard.
Smith said he believes the truck Theriot was driving when he arrived at his grandmother's house was the one taken in Louisiana.
Authorities have identified the victims in Livingston Parish as Billy Ernest, 43; Tanner Ernest, 17; and Summer Ernest, 20. Ard said Summer Ernest and Dakota Theriot were in a relationship and that Theriot had been living with her family for a few weeks.
Authorities earlier identified the other two victims as Theriot's parents — Keith, 50, and Elizabeth Theriot, 50, of Gonzales.
They were shot in their trailer on Saturday morning.
"The father was gravely injured at the time we found him and has since passed away," Webre said late Saturday. But before he died, Webre said authorities were able to get a "dying declaration from him, and only enough information to let us know that it was his son that committed this act."
A woman who lived with the Theriots says Dakota had a loving relationship with his mother but argued, sometimes violently, with his father. Kim Mincks was in the house when the shooting happened but didn't hear anything. She was awoken Saturday morning by law enforcement officers who came into her room and woke her up.
"They said something terrible happened here. Get up, get dressed and walk outside," she said.
She and Jacob Chastant, a friend who also lived in the trailer, returned to the trailer Sunday morning.
Mincks said she'd known Keith and Elizabeth Theriot for about two years and described them as wonderful people.
"Give you the shirt off their back. They loved everybody. Never met a stranger. Loved each other. Just a happy couple," she said.
But they said Dakota Theriot had struggled with drugs over the years and had recently been kicked out of the trailer.
"We know he had a drug problem. He got kicked out last Monday because of the drug problem. His dad kicked him out of here. He did have a violent streak. He hurt his dad," Mincks said.
The Franklin Carnival Parade Association Inc., which is comprised of Franklin’s three local krewes, Krewe of Sucrose, Krewe of Teche and Krewe of Shona, will hold its annual Mardi Gras Parade on Tuesday, March 5.
The parade will start at 1 p.m. with float line up beginning at 11 a.m. on Cynthia Street, next to Franklin Senior High School.
Registration for the 2019 parade will be at Franklin City Hall, 300 Iberia St. Anyone interested in registering a float, car, truck, bicycle, golf cart or walker should go to the second floor and speak to Tammy Rogers or Barbara Simmons.
Registration fees are as follows:
Decorated float includes trucks pulling trailer, 18 wheelers with flatbeds etc.: $50
Decorated car no trailer: $35
Decorated truck no trailer: $35
Decorated golf cart: $25
Bicycles: $1
Walker group: $25
Walker single: $1 per person
Horses, motorcycles, four wheelers and go-carts are not permitted.
This year the Franklin Carnival Parade Association is having a float decoration contest. As a registered participant in the parade you will automatically be eligible to win. There will be cash prizes given for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place with prizes of $75, $50 and $25 in two categories:
Category #1 - Best Decorated School Entry. Any school that has a decorated entry in the parade will be eligible for one of the three cash prizes in this category.
Category #2 – Best Decorated Non-School Affiliated Entry. All other entries will be eligible for one of the three cash prizes in this category.
For more information contact Tammy Rogers at 337-828-6350 or 337-828-6305 at Franklin City Hall, Monday through Thursday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and on Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and noon.
The 2019 St. Mary Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Installation of Officers was held Thursday night at the Pavilion at Cypress Bayou Casino Hotel in Charenton.
Highlights of the night included Diane Wiltz’s acceptance speech for the Citizen of the Year Award, presented by longtime protégé, Ed “Tiger” Verdin.
Wiltz accepted after being joined onstage by the various mayors of the cities and towns of St. Mary Parish and being awarded keys to their municipalities.
At the podium, Wiltz said, “Maya Angelou, one of my all-time favorites, said that when she was going into a room to be interviewed, or anything, she would call-in all of her ancestors. And so, today as I stand on this stage before you, Mrs. Almetra Franklin said, ‘You’d better say something about your mama.’ My mama is standing up here with me, the late, great Geraldine Jones, because I invited her up here with me tonight.”
Wiltz went on to thank ancestors, all of the mayors, her family, friends and co-workers.
She even lead a “Who Dat” chant on her way off the stage, a nod to a blown referee call at last week’s NFC championship game between the Saints and the Rams.
16th Judicial District Attorney M. Bofill Duhe’ was also an awardee. He accepted the Virginia Tyler Guillotte Award.
Duhe’ said he felt like he was receiving an award for doing the opposite of what is usually considered excellent business practice. “In my business,” Duhe’ said, “generally my customers are very angry with me. Generally, I am not very worried about their time, and for the most part, I am trying to work myself out of a job. None of which, will ever happen.”
He thanked the Chamber and accepted “humbly,” deferring the responsibility for his being considered for the award, to those with whom he works in his offices.
The installation of 2019 Chamber Board chairman and directors was officiated by Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser followed by remarks from Board Chairman Scott Berry and for the Chambers of Health, Dawn Kaiser Melancon and Dr. Gary Wiltz, who also manned the Teche Talk video camera for Mrs. Wiltz during her acceptance speech.
St. Mary Parish Council members entered into an executive session Wednesday to discuss “prospective litigation involving work on the Bayou Vista Pump Station.”
The 26-minute session ended with the council approving hiring of attorney Bill Bourgeois of Morgan City to represent the parish to resolve “problems” with the project, which weren’t detailed.
Also Wednesday, Billy Hidalgo Jr., chairman of the Wax Lake East Drainage District, updated the council on the Hedgerow Subdivision drainage project in Patterson.
Hidalgo said there was a March meeting in 2018 with “the farmer who farms the Joseph P. Duhe’ property and the homeowners from the subdivision.”
Under discussion was a ditch on the west side of the subdivision, and the farmer has been cleaning that ditch for years, but the residents did not want him to.
“The homeowners expressed that the drainage ditch is on their property and they did not feel that there is a need for it,” Hidalgo said.
After that meeting, the attorney who represents the Duhe’ family wrote to parish government stating that that the family and farmers have been tending to the property for as much as 50 years.
Attorney Bill Bourgeois looked at plats of the location, and found drainage servitudes and a dedication to public use.
The drainage district then hired Miller Engineers & Associates to survey the ditch to find the centerline, verify the state of the ditch compared to “what it should be” and prepare a scope of work. A letter was sent to homeowners to that effect.
The original bid of up to $49,000, that has been reduced to $28,000 after negotiations, Hidalgo said.
The matter will be discussed at the February meeting, and the work should commence thereafter. The work should take about a month, Hidalgo said. “All the work will be done from the headland, from the Duhe’ property, a minimal footprint on the homeowners’ property,” he noted.
Terri Foulcard and Meg A. Morgan also addressed the council regarding Claire House for Women and Children’s food drive.
Foulcard is the executive director of Claire House, a residential facility for women and children that provides services “who have fallen along the wayside” by domestic abuse or alcohol and drug usage. There are in-house counselors, a nurse, a child development specialist, a dietetic manager and a nutritionist.
Morgan, senior clerk for Claire House, said is a non-profit organization. Its clients receive “state of the art care to restructure their lives to live successfully and drug free.” Children receive age-appropriate programs as well.
They are conducting a food drive Jan. 26, and donations can be made at the facility on 1101 Southeast Boulevard in Bayou Vista from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. then, but they will accept contributions at any time.
Morgan said hunger is often a problem for mothers and children, as well as shelter and nutritional food. Food costs are often prohibitive for some families. She said 59 percent of children from low-income families go to school hungry. “Imagine what $50 in canned good donations to do for these children,” she said. “Even $20 in non-perishable items could help make a difference between a child going hungry or not.”
Also Wednesday, Councilman Craig Mathews said there had been a discussion about fire hydrants in Fire Dist. 11, Sorrell-Glencoe area.
There was some discussion about parish authority to erect hydrants, but Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange said there is a process to eventually clear the way.
Late in the meeting, Councilman Sterling Fryou announced that he would not be pursuing re-election for another term on the parish council.
The council’s February meeting will be held on the 12th.
In further business:
—Ellis Schouest III was reappointed to the Fire Protection Dist. 1 board, Cypremort Point.
—Dickey Arnold was reappointed to the Mosquito Control Dist. 1 board, Cypremort Point.
—Franklin Police Chief Morris Beverly was appointed to the 911 District board.
—Thomas Philbook, Donald C. Lantz and John Paul Trevino Sr. were reappointed to the Water and Sewer Dist. 2 commission.
—Stephanie Lee-Burney, Anthony Darden and Julius M. Hebert were reappointed the the Water and Sewer Dist. 4 commission.
—Dr. Tim Tregle was appointed to the Consolidated Gravity Drainage Dist. 2 board.
—Harris J. Soileau Sr. was appointed to the Sub-drainage Dist. 1 of Gravity Drainage Dist. 2 board.
One driver was airlifted to a hospital Saturday following a crash on U.S. 90 in Ricohoc. The extent of the person’s injuries is unknown.
St. Mary Parish Sheriff's deputies were on the scene Saturday evening of a three-vehicle accident involving an 18-wheeler at the intersection of U.S. 90 and La. 182 in Ricohoc. The crash occurred shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday.
Westbound U.S. 90 traffic was diverted to La. 182 to La. 317 then back to U.S. 90 while authorities worked the crash.
The investigation was turned over to state police. As of Monday morning, state police Troop I hadn’t released any information on the crash.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities in Louisiana said they are searching for an "armed and dangerous" 21-year-old accused of killing his parents and three others in two separate but related shootings Saturday.
Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre says Dakota Theriot is the "prime suspect" in the deaths of Keith, 50, and Elizabeth Theriot, 50, of Gonzales, his parents.
They were shot in their trailer on Saturday morning. Deputies arrived at the scene and were able to interview one of the victims before both died. Webre said that information led authorities to zero in on the couple's son as a suspect.
Dakota Theriot was being sought on first-degree murder and other charges. He was believed to be driving a stolen 2004 Dodge Ram pickup, gray and silver in color.
The sheriff said three other shooting deaths occurred Saturday in neighboring Livingston Parish, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) west of New Orleans.
"After speaking with their detectives for quite a while we came to realize that these two cases indeed may be related. We feel that they are related," Webre said.
Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard confirmed in a statement that three people were killed in his parish and identified the victims as Billy Ernest, 43; Tanner Ernest, 17; and Summer Ernest, 20. The sheriff's office identified Dakota Theriot as the suspect in those killings.
Webre said the Ernests were not relatives of the suspect but appeared to know him.
Crystal DeYoung, Billy Ernest's sister, told The Associated Press that she believes Theriot had just started dating her niece, Summer Ernest.
"My family met him last weekend at a birthday party and didn't get good vibes from him," DeYoung said. She said she wasn't sure how her niece and Theriot met, but that she believed the relationship was relatively new.
"My mom is a good judge of character and she just thought he was not good," DeYoung said of Theriot.
DeYoung said she skipped the birthday party and didn't meet Theriot herself. DeYoung said Summer and Tanner Ernest were two of Billy's three children. He was also raising his wife's children.
DeYoung said Theriot doesn't have a vehicle and she's not sure how he ended up at the Ernest home on Saturday, but after the killings, he took off in her brother's truck.
There were also two young children in the home at the time. DeYoung said a 7-year-old took the baby out of the house and went to a neighbor's.
DeYoung said her brother, niece and nephew were good people.
"They all had very good hearts. They trusted people too much," she said, as she began crying. "They all loved unconditionally."
Charlenne Bordelon lives near the house where the Ernests were killed. She told The Advocate newspaper that two young children from the house ran to her home. They were uninjured and asked for help after the shooting.
Bordelon said Theriot was the older daughter's boyfriend and that he'd recently moved in with the family but she did not know him.
A Facebook page appearing to belong to Dakota Theriot was filled with defensive and sometimes angry posts. He shared someone else's post in June that said "wish i could clear my mind jus for one day" (sic) with a sad face emoji.
In May, he reposted something saying, "If you have a problem with me, tell me. Not everyone else."
He also shared someone else's post that said, "I don't care what people say about me I know who I am and I don't have to prove anything to anyone."
Webre said Dakota had lived with his parents briefly but was asked to leave the residence and not return.
"I would not approach this vehicle. We feel no doubt that Dakota is going to be armed and dangerous, and we need to bring him to justice really quick," Webre said.
Webre said Dakota Theriot had some run-ins with law enforcement in other parishes that he described as misdemeanor-type incidents that did not include violence: "Certainly nothing of the magnitude that we've seen today."
Webre said they believe Dakota Theriot is heading east and that there was no reason to think he was now targeting someone else but warned that because he's armed and dangerous: "Anybody he comes into contact with could be a target."
May 14, 1942- January 23, 2018
Caroline F. Hirschmann Eby Ring, a native of Connecticut and a resident of Patterson, was called home to her Lord and Savior on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at the age of 76.
Caroline was a proud and dedicated member of Bayou Vista Baptist Church. She immensely enjoyed the gatherings and events held at her beloved church, especially the get-togethers with the Sunday School teachers. An avid reader, Caroline enjoyed reading and possibly had every book written by her favorite author, Danielle Steel. When not reading in her spare time, she could often be found watching television on the Hallmark Channel with her beloved cat, Bowser, sitting in her lap. A loving and caring individual, Caroline was the role model her family looked up to and the best mother her children could have ever possibly asked for.
Those left to cherish Caroline’s beautiful memory are her son, Robert “Bob” Hirschmann; her daughter, Valerie Hirschmann; her siblings, David Carpenter, Lynn Westfield and Alan Carpenter; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by three husbands, one of whom was the love of her life, Roy Eby; her son, Christopher Hirschmann; and her parents, Earl and Marge Carpenter.
A time of visitation and remembrance was held for Caroline on Saturday, January 26, 2019. The services were at 11 a.m. Saturday at Bayou Vista Baptist Church with Brother Steven Kelly officiating. In keeping with Caroline’s wishes, Caroline will return to her hometown in Connecticut where final services were to be held.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Caroline’s memory to: Bayou Vista Baptist Church.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the partial government shutdown (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
The Trump administration is promising to pay federal workers as soon as possible after the partial government shutdown ends. But a senior official says agencies are in charge of their own payroll issues and workers should check with their departments for details about when their paychecks will arrive.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have missed two paychecks since the shutdown began just before Christmas. Congress passed legislation requiring reimbursement for those employees who were furloughed and forced to work without pay.
President Donald Trump on Friday is expected to sign a bill funding the government for three weeks while negotiations continue on his demand for money to build a border wall.
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5:25 p.m.
The Senate has appointed its members of a conference committee that will negotiate a border security agreement between Congress and the White House over the next three weeks.
President Donald Trump agreed Friday to reopen the government until Feb. 15 while Congress works to come to a deal on border security. The government has been shut down since December as Trump has insisted on money for his border wall, but Democrats have objected.
Sitting on the committee are Republican Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Roy Blunt of Missouri and John Hoeven of North Dakota and Democratic Vermont Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Jon Tester of Montana. Shelby is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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4:45 p.m.
The Senate has unanimously passed a hard-fought measure to reopen shuttered government agencies for three weeks, ending a five-week partial shutdown sparked by President Donald Trump's demands for immediate money to build his long-sought border wall.
The measure passed the Senate by voice vote Friday hours after Trump relented. It now goes to the House, which is expected to quickly pass the measure and send it to the White House for Trump's signature.
The measure would recall to work hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers and provide them with back pay after two missed paychecks.
Friday's developments awarded Democrats with a victory settled mostly on their terms and set up talks on a government-wide spending bill that will serve as a vehicle for negotiations on border security and the wall.
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4:25 p.m.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will discuss a date for President Donald Trump's State of the Union address once the government is open.
Trump's annual address was originally scheduled for Jan. 29, but Pelosi canceled it amid an impasse over the shutdown. Trump on Friday agreed to a deal to reopen the government for three weeks, backing down from his demand that Congress pay for a border wall first.
Pelosi said she had agreed to talk to Trump about a "mutually agreeable date" once the government was open. She said she would "look forward to doing that and welcoming the president to the House of Representatives."
Trump is expected to sign legislation to end the shutdown on Friday once it passes Congress.
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4:10 p.m.
Democratic congressional leaders say they hope President Donald Trump has learned a lesson that government shutdowns don't work.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also said Trump learned another important lesson after repeatedly clashing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a 35-day partial government shutdown. Schumer says: "No one should ever underestimate the speaker, as Donald Trump has learned."
Schumer and Pelosi say Democrats stayed united throughout the five-week shutdown and eventually persuaded Trump to reopen the government temporarily.
Trump agreed Friday to fund the government through Feb. 15 while negotiations continue on his demand for a border wall with Mexico.
Schumer says Trump agreed to end the shutdown because "he knew that it was a lost cause."
Pelosi says Democrats' "unity is our power. And that is what maybe the president underestimated."
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4:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he will declare a national emergency to build his U.S.-Mexico border wall if there is no deal with Congress by mid-February.
Trump agreed Friday to end a partial government shutdown and reopen shuttered agencies for three weeks so both sides can continue negotiating over Trump's demand for billions of dollars to build his long-promised wall.
Asked how confident he was of reaching a deal by the Feb. 15 deadline, Trump said, "If we can't do that then ... obviously we're going to do the emergency."
Declaring a national emergency would allow Trump to bypass Congress and use existing money to start building the wall.
Trump previously floated the idea of declaring a national emergency. But he held off, saying he wanted to pursue a deal with Congress.
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3:40 p.m.
Economists believe the partial government shutdown will end up having only a minor impact on the overall economy as long as the government stays open.
Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, says the impact should end up being "barely significant" with economic growth coming at a moderate 2 percent.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, says he looks for first-quarter growth to be around 2.3 percent, down slightly from the 2.5 percent forecast if the shutdown had not happened.
But Zandi says if the government shuts down again after the current stop-gap funding ends Feb. 15, then that could be "very hard on the economy" because it would shatter business and consumer confidence.
President Donald Trump has agreed to fund the government for three weeks while negotiations continue on his demand for money to build a border wall with Mexico.
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3:10 p.m.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate will pass legislation on Friday that's intended to reopen the government after a record-long 35 day shutdown.
McConnell says he knows "the pain that this episode has caused" across the country. The Kentucky Republican says federal workers who have gone without pay "deserve this resolution."
President Donald Trump has agreed to a fund the government for three weeks, through Feb. 15. Negotiations continue on his demand for money to build a border wall with Mexico.
McConnell says he hopes there will be "good-faith negotiations" in the coming weeks to settle differences on border security.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats oppose the billions of dollars Trump wants to build the wall, but do agree on other ways to secure the border. He says that "bodes well for coming to an eventual agreement."
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2:50 p.m.
Congress is expected to quickly pass legislation that would temporarily reopen the government after President Donald Trump announced a deal to end the record 35-day partial federal shutdown.
The Senate is set to act first, with the House following later Friday. That's according to lawmakers and aides on Capitol Hill.
Trump has agreed to a deal that will fund the government for three weeks, through Feb. 15, while negotiations continue on his demand for billions of dollars to build a long-promised border wall with Mexico.
The legislation set to be passed by Congress will include back pay for some 800,000 federal workers who've gone without their salaries during the shutdown. The shutdown has disrupted services and created hardship for many workers.
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2:45 p.m.
Even as President Donald Trump backs down and agrees to a short-term deal that reopens the government, he isn't giving up on his push for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
And on top of that, he's threatening to shut down the government again or use his presidential powers to address the border issue if he doesn't get what he's calling a "fair deal."
Trump says the border barrier he wants built isn't "medieval' and shouldn't be "controversial" because it will keep drugs and criminals from crossing into the United States.
He's calling it "smart" and "see-through" walls.
Trump has announced that the government — after a record 35-day partial shutdown — will temporarily reopen for a few weeks while he negotiates with Congress on his demand for billions of dollars to pay for a border wall.
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2:25 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he'll sign legislation shortly to reopen shuttered government departments for three weeks — until Feb. 15.
Trump's action would end what has become a record, 35-day partial shutdown.
Some 800,000 federal workers have had to work without pay or have been kept from doing their jobs as Trump and congressional Democrats were locked in a stalemate over the billions of dollars that Trump has demanded to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Trump spoke at the White House on Friday as intensifying delays at some of the nation's busiest airports and widespread disruptions brought new urgency to efforts to break the impasse.
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1:15 p.m.
The FBI director says the partial government shutdown is "mind-boggling, it's short-sighted, and it's unfair."
In a video message to employees posted on the FBI's website, Director Christopher Wray says he's "about as angry as I've been in a long, long time."
He says 100 percent of FBI employees are feeling financial strains from the shutdown.
Most agents in the field are working without pay and other employees are furloughed. He says he knows he can count on FBI agents to help people however they can, but he recognizes they have bills to pay.
Wray says FBI leadership should not be getting involved in political fights. But he says senior FBI officials have been advocating for employees behind the scenes
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11:45 a.m.
Fewer than half the furloughed IRS employees recalled during the shutdown to handle tax returns and taxpayers' questions and send out refunds, without pay, reported for work as of Tuesday, according to congressional and government aides.
About 30 percent of the 26,000 recalled workers have sought permission under their union contract to be absent from work, IRS officials told House committee staff in a briefing Thursday. The IRS employees' union contract allows them to be absent from work if they experience hardship during a shutdown.
The official start of the tax filing season comes Monday. The Trump administration has promised that taxpayers owed refunds will be paid on time, and it reversed the policies of earlier presidents and made the money available to pay hundreds of hundreds of billions in refunds on time. The administration planned to eventually send about 46,000 furloughed IRS employees back to work. That's nearly 60 percent of the IRS workforce.
Of the 26,000 employees recalled, about 12,000 have come to work, the IRS officials said. Around 5,000 have claimed the hardship exception under the union contract and another 9,000 couldn't be reached by IRS managers.
—Associated Press writer Marcy Gordon
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10:45 a.m.
The Federal Aviation Administration is reporting delays in air travel because of a "slight increase in sick leave" at two East Coast air traffic control facilities.
FAA spokesman Gregory Martin says the FAA has augmented staffing, rerouted traffic and increased spacing between planes as needed.
The staffing problems were at air traffic centers in Jacksonville, Florida and a Washington D.C. center that controls high-altitude air traffic over seven states.
Martin says safety is being maintained during a period of "minimal impacts" on travel.
LaGuardia Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey are both experiencing delays in takeoffs.
Franklin Banner-Tribune
P.O. Box 566, Franklin, LA 70538
Phone: 337-828-3706
Fax: 337-828-2874
Morgan City Review
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Phone: 985-384-8370
Fax: 985-384-4255