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Christie Mayeux, who has been an interim justice of the peace for St. Amant for almost two months, says she has been unable to hold court or process legal matters because she doesn't have enough records held by her predecessor. But John Hebert, who abruptly quit the job in January just days into his new term, said Mayeaux hasn't contacted him personally for the records and is more than welcome to get them. All she has to do is come over and pull them from his office and the metal storage container on his home acreage in St. Amant where they are stored, he said. "I've said that from the get-go," he said Thursday. "They can get a truck and trailer, and they can load everything up." The 390 justices of the peace in Louisiana operate primarily as small claims courts with limited jurisdiction where the matters in dispute are worth less than $5,000. They also handle other matters like evictions, marriages, notarizing documents and wage garnishments. Their courts are designed as a … [Read more...] about A mix-up over records has kept this justice of the peace from holding court. What happened?

Last night I tuned into the Grammy nominations special waiting to see an “iconic group” announce their “monumental” reunion . I saw Lady Gaga sing with Sugarland. I saw a lot of Bruno Mars. I saw the Band Perry inexplicably cover Tom Petty’s “Free Falling.” I saw Usher perform with Mike Stoller and Valerie Simpson. I didn’t see anything resembling a reunion. What happened? “There was the expectation that the artist involved and we would be ready to announce,” Grammy President Neil Portnow told the Telegraph . “We were genuine about the intention and discussion, but the time frame has moved.” Many people thought that Van Halen was supposed to be the band, largely due to the fact that the Grammys sent out this not-so-subtle Tweet on November 3rd: “Who do u predict the reuniting band will be @ GRAMMYnoms? Does this hint make u wanna ‘Jump’ & ‘Dance The Night Away?'” This seemed to confirm beyond any doubt that Van Halen was the band, but what many people missed is that the … [Read more...] about ‘Iconic Group’ Reunion at Grammys Nominations Concert Doesn’t Happen

The White House has no intention of allowing expanded unemployment benefits to expire, but top-ranking lawmakers expect President Donald Trump to sign a bill in August, more than a week after the additional help is set to end. Closing businesses to curb the spread of a new coronavirus pushed unemployment to levels not seen since the Great Depression so Congress increased unemployment benefits to ease the financial burden. With millions of people still out of work, legislators are pushing to extend the additional help past the July deadline and Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, told The New York Times there was "no way" the Trump Administration was going to let unemployment expire. But, the last checks with the extra benefits are going out this week and legislators don't see a new bill happening until next week or August. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday that he didn't envision the bill to get done "by the end … [Read more...] about Kudlow Says ‘No Way’ Unemployment Benefits Will Expire But Stimulus Deal Unlikely to Happen This Week

Because of Covid-19, thousands of people around the world have lost their sense of smell , some of them for months. But like so many other symptoms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, anosmia, or the inability to smell, isn’t a new phenomenon. Anosmia can be caused by viral infections like the flu, by traumatic brain injuries, or by nasal polyps. Some people are simply born without the sense. Although it’s often overlooked, smell disorders like anosmia or hyposmia, a reduced ability to smell, are relatively common problems, affecting as many as one in four Americans over the age of 40 . Among older people, the rate is even higher. Though we often fail to appreciate being able to smell, living without it can be both a physical and emotional trial. Anosmics can’t tell if something on the stove is burning, and because smell and taste are intricately linked, they can’t experience complex flavors. Many people with chronic smell loss report feelings of depression, anxiety, and isolation. … [Read more...] about This Is What It’s Like to Live Without Smell

DELHI: Fisherman Rambabu Sahani remembers his childhood days when the Ganga River used to be clear and fit for drinking. “The Ganga was so clean that the coins offered were visible at the bottom. But now there’s so much mud that visibility is zero,” says the 35-year-old. “We could drink the water … but now it’s not fit for drinking.” In fact, the Ganga, or Ganges, has become so polluted that fishermen like him, in Varanasi city, “aren’t allowed to fish”. Even the fish there constitute a health risk. “This contamination isn’t visible with the naked eye, but found when fishes were tested,” says B D Tripathi, chairman of the Mahamana Malaviya Ganga Research Centre. “It was imperative that consumption of these fishes had to be stopped. Hence the only solution was to ban fishing.” Sahani, however, has known no other life than fishing. He still goes out to fish, but the police “harass” the fishermen community all the time. “It has become challenging for us,” he says. The … [Read more...] about Can Ganga be saved? What must be done to clean up India’s holy river?