Loyola Law School's National Moot Court Team
recently won the Region VII Championship as part of the 52nd Annual National Moot Court Competition in Tuscaloosa, Ala., besting 10 other law school teams in the Deep South. The group -- brief writer Angela Blandino, oralists Josiah Jones and Candice Sirmon, and coach Juan Carlos Moreno -- will travel to New York in January to compete for the national title.
The Parkway Partners Kids' Cafe Community Garden
was named one of the eight best community gardens in America by the national John Deere Seeds of Hope program. Chosen among more than 300 nominees, Kids' Cafe joins such elite winners as the New York Fireman's Memorial Garden. The 1235 Carondelet St. garden brings 50 inner-city kids together in a mentoring program that teaches horticulture and other skills. Winners receive a cash prize for new supplies.
Priscilla Metoyer,
executive director of the Nurturing Nook childcare center in Natchitoches, admitted she lied on documents to the state to receive extra public money, according to an audit by Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle. The center, partly funded by the state Department of Education and the Office of Family Support, overbilled the state about $109,848. The audit said Metoyer inflated the number of children enrolled as well as meal counts.
The Governor's Office of Women's Services program
has spent too much money to provide job training to too few enrollees and has not produced the desired results. The state Legislative Fiscal Office found last week that the program -- which received $1.1 million in federal money to train 600-plus women -- used the funds to train just 44 enrollees, only half of whom ended up employed. The Legislative Auditor's Office and the state inspector general plan to investigate.
