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A 20-year-old Reserve man is wanted for first-degree murder in connection with a December shooting that left a woman dead and another man wounded, a spokesman with the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office said.

A former Jefferson Parish Public School System employee was arrested Thursday and booked with theft for allegedly stealing $9,483 from the district, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.

A third St. Bernard Parish man has been arrested in connection with the rape of a 13-year-old Lacombe girl, authorities said.

A St. Charles Parish School bus was struck head-on by a car that went out of control about 2:30 p.m. Friday on U.S. 90 in Boutte.

BATON ROUGE -- A Louisiana school board has agreed to suspend a rule that teachers must submit to drug and alcohol tests if they are injured on the job.

Bond for the Violet man accused of a shooting rampage Tuesday that left his wife critically injured and his wife's daughter dead has been set at $1.5 million.

An armed robbery outside of a Harvey apartment Thursday left one man dead and another man in critical condition.

Harried deliberations, punctuated by one official's public tirades, have yielded an accord among local, state and federal officials to let $1.3 billion flow from Washington to major drainage projects in Jefferson Parish and New Orleans.

The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board has renamed its largest pumping station -- No. 6 -- for former general superintendent G. Joseph Sullivan, who recently retired from the agency. The station, located at 345 Orpheum St. on the 17th Street Canal, will now be called the G. Joseph Sullivan Pumping Station. Sullivan, who was appointed general superintendent by former Mayor Moon Landrieu, served as general superintendent for 36 years.

Jennifer Zdon / The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans recovery director Ed Blakely

BATON ROUGE -- New Orleans' recovery czar told the State Bond Commission Thursday that the city expects private developments will take full advantage of a special post-hurricane financing method before the program reaches a critical deadline at the end of this year.

Ed Blakely, New Orleans' executive director for recovery management, appeared before the panel in the state Capitol to assuage concerns raised in recent weeks that the city might lose some of its dedicated allowance of more than $1 billion in Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds because too few projects were in line to use it.

Long-sought murder suspect David Stann was arrested this week in New Orleans after hiding out for almost two years. Stann, 26, is accused of killing a friend in Detroit to benefit from two $250,000 life insurance policies.

Events will be held today through Wednesday in the New Orleans area to commemorate the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Pick up a copy of today's Times-Picayune, or click here click here for a full listing.

Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneThe Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club hopes to deliver this specially-commissioned coconut to President-elect Barack Obama in honor of his inauguration. Complete Mardi Gras coverage »

When Charles Hamilton Jr. embarks by train this morning, on his way to witness the inauguration of the nation's first African-American president, he will be bearing a precious and very personal gift.

AP Photo / Louis LanzanoA US Airways plane rests against a retaining wall after the pilot ditched the disabled jetliner into the frigid Hudson River in New York Thursday. A collision with a flock of birds apparently knocked out both engines, but rescuers pulled all 155 people on board into boats as the plane sank.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investigators brought in a giant crane, divers and a barge Friday to help pull a US Airways jetliner from the Hudson River, as many of the 155 people aboard recounted survivor stories and hailed the pilot as a hero who delivered them from certain death.

Pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III was in good spirits and showing no outward signs of stress from the ordeal, a pilots union official said. His wife on Friday said he was "a pilot's pilot" and called talk of him being a national hero "a little weird."

Suspect John Sparrow

New Orleans police have caught the two men who they believe killed 43-year-old Benjamin Munn almost eight months ago in the 9th Ward.

John Sparrow, 28, who was jailed late Thursday, and Ricky O. Ray Sr., 48, who was taken into custody late last year, are both facing counts of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Munn last May, said officer Shereese Harper, a New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman.

Bundle up today, as the coldest temperatures to hit the metro area this year will linger a while longer, according to the National Weather Service.

See today's video forecast, as well as the latest radar and satellite imagery.

You won't be able to use the Huey P. Long Bridge to cross from the West Bank to Elmwood for most of the day tomorrow.

Workers installing a new barrier on the bridge will completely shut down the eastbound span from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to officials. Use the Crescent City Connection or the Luling Bridge as alternate routes. As for today, Inspections will close the bridge's left lane on both spans from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A heating problem at Woodlawn West Elementary School in Harvey means students have the day off today, according to officials. Classes will resume Tuesday, after the Martin Luther King holiday.

Rather than face a trial that could leave him with a life sentence, a 24-year-old New Orleans man agreed to spend 15 years in prison after he admitted Thursday that he provided heroin and cocaine to a 16-year-old friend who died from an overdose last year.

If you can't beat 'em, hire 'em.

That was Saints coach Sean Payton's approach when he targeted longtime nemesis Gregg Williams as his top choice to become the team's defensive coordinator.

ALEXANDRIA, VA. -- Barring Supreme Court intervention, former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, will go on trial May 26, nearly two years after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of demanding bribes to advance business projects in Western Africa.

In addition to marquee performers such as Sara Bareilles, Better Than Ezra, Jesse McCartney and Lee Ann Womack, the third installment of Jefferson Parish's Family Gras will include an art market and a second stage focusing on Louisiana musicians, organizers said.

In August, when a group of Mandeville residents launched a drive to recall their city's chief executive, a state audit detailing Mayor Eddie Price's transgressions had just been released.

One day after the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board voted to approve new attendance zones for east bank elementary schools, a board member criticized the board's failure to publicize the vote ahead of time.

Madisonville is poised to become the second St. Tammany Parish town to crack down on modular homes after one of the homes was deemed unsightly by town officials.

Five young men have been charged with picking up a 19-year-old out-of-state woman who was visiting New Orleans, forcing her along on a car ride to Slidell, and then raping her for hours.

The water is off at about 12 to 15 Metairie homes as Jefferson Parish crews work to repair a broken water main in the 1000 block of Division Street.

The Times-Picayune archiveFans of Bobby Cure and the Summertime Blues dance in front of the Metairie stage at the inaugural Family Gras festival in 2007.Complete Mardi Gras coverage »

In addition to marquee performers such as Sara Bareilles, Better Than Ezra, Jesse McCartney and Lee Ann Womack, the third installment of Jefferson Parish Family Gras will include an art market and a second stage focusing on Louisiana musicians, organizers said Thursday.

WASHINGTON -- A divided Senate has approved President-elect Barack Obama's request for $350 billion in unspent financial bailout funds.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's administration is still reviewing Inspector General Robert Cerasoli's recent report on take-home vehicles for city employees, but its preliminary conclusion is that the amount of money the report suggested could be saved by limiting the number of such vehicles is "rather overstated," Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Hatfield said Thursday.

Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneJim Letten, U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Louisiana talks with NOPD Superintendent Chief Warren Riley in 2007. He has been asked to stay on temporarily under new Obama administration.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten confirmed today that he received an email asking him to remain in his job until further contacted.

AP Photo / WNBC-TVThis video frame grab image taken from WNBC-TV shows a US Airways aircraft that has gone down in the Hudson River in New York today.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A US Airways pilot ditched his disabled jetliner into the frigid Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after a collision with a flock of birds apparently knocked out both engines, but officials said rescuers pulled all 155 people on board into boats as the plane sank.

There were no immediate reports of any serious injuries.

Motorists will encounter nightly lane closures on Interstate 12 south of Covington from Sunday to Jan. 23.

Mychal Bell, one of six black teenagers charged in adult court with attempted murder and conspiracy charges in the beating of a white classmate in Jena, Louisiana, talks about his recent suicide attempt in a CNN report published today.

The incident sparked months of racial upheaval in the community of 3,000.

Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneA trial date could be set today for former Rep. William Jefferson, pictured here on Dec. 6.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Former Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, will face trial May 26 on federal corruption charges that he sought bribes in exchange for his help with business deals in Africa.

U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III set the date today in a status session with prosecutors and Jefferson's lawyers. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., which had rejected Jefferson's request to drop most of the 16 charges filed against him, gave Ellis the green light last week to schedule a trial.

• Read more stories on Jefferson's political career and legal problems

The Times-PicayuneWorld Trade Center in New Orleans

The nonpartisan Bureau of Governmental Research urged New Orleans city officials in a report today to push the iconic but largely empty World Trade Center back onto the tax rolls by selling it to a private developer, rather than pursuing a complex, long-term lease for the building.

A city agency called the New Orleans Building Corp. has negotiated for more than 10 years with various developers who would be willing to lease the building for 99 years and undertake a series of major improvements, including conversion of some floors into an upmarket hotel.

Students attending some area schools will have a long weekend after school lets out Friday.
The Recovery School District has announced that it will give students and teachers the day off for Inauguration Day.

Regional levee commission leaders said today they will work to improve the health of Bayou St. John and the adjacent City Park lagoons, but no major steps will be taken until sufficient data is collected to ensure that changes won't create any flooding.

A former Slidell policeman, Jonathan M. Lutman, was indicted Wednesday by a St. Tammany Parish grand jury on 12 counts of malfeasance involving theft.