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U.S. carries out strikes on Iran Trump blames Tehran for downing Army helicopter
BY JON GAMBRELL, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
U.S. Central Command said on social media that the strikes would be “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.” Associated Press Iranian state media reported that DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The explosions were heard on Qeshm U.S. military said Tuesday that it Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a carried out strikes on Iran follow- critical shipping lane that Iran has ing the crash of an Army helicop- effectively closed during the war, ter near the Strait of Hormuz that before saying that the wave of President Donald Trump blamed American attacks in the south has “subsided.” on the Islamic Republic.
President Donald Trump talks with reporters before boarding Air Force One at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New york early Tuesday.
Trump said earlier in a social media post that Iran had shot down the aircraft while it was on patrol over the strait and declared that the U.S. “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.” Iran’s top diplomat said foreign military forces near the country’s territory “are at constant risk.” The downing of the helicopter
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
ä See STRIKES, page 6A
Pilot program targets 12 homeless individuals for help
DeRIDDER
Ex-mayor sentenced in sex case Misty Roberts ordered to serve 90 days in jail
BY MEGAN WYATT
Staff writer
What they came up with is 12 Together, a multiagency pilot program that aims to create a stronger web of services for the city’s most resource-intensive individuals through a housing-first lens. Since then, collaboration has expanded to organizations like Faith House, Acadiana Cares, and the Outreach Center to governmental agencies such as the 16th Judicial District, the Lafayette Police Department and the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office. The program focuses on 12 individuals identified by service providers and government agencies as some of the community’s most frequent users of
Former DeRidder Mayor Misty Roberts, convicted of multiple sex crimes after a 2024 party in which she was charged with having sex with her son’s 16-year-old friend, was ordered by a judge Tuesday to serve 90 days in the parish jail. Judge Kent Savoie, who sits on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, presided over the trial and sentenced Roberts. Roberts He acted as an ad hoc district judge for the case because of the recusals of the other district judges. Savoie sentenced Roberts to five years in prison for each charge with the time to be served concurrently, but he suspended the sentence. He instead ordered Roberts to 90 days in the parish jail and to pay a $5,000 fine. He also ordered Roberts to abstain from drugs and alcohol, to submit to random drug screenings, to pay monthly supervision fees and to have no contact with the victim and his family. If she violates any of the conditions of a five-year probation, she’ll serve 10 years in prison. State prosecutors asked for Roberts to receive the maximum sentence — 10 years for one charge
ä See HOMELESS, page 6A
ä See SENTENCED, page 5A
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
A small homeless encampment is located near downtown Lafayette. A multiagency pilot program aims to create a stronger web of services for the city’s most resource-intensive individuals.
Coordinated multiagency approach connects services BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
On the surface, homelessness appears to have become far more visible in Lafayette. Photos of tents set up on the side of the road or of someone sleeping at a bus stop make the rounds every week. It can often lead people to question what’s being done to address the issue. And it’s an issue that comes with a hefty price tag. The group of 12 individuals targeted by a pilot program was estimated to cost government agencies and service providers roughly $1.25 million annually through repeated ambulance transports, emergency room visits, jail stays and oth-
er interventions, said Elsa Dimitriadis, executive director of Acadiana Regional Coalition on Homelessness and Housing. On average, that amounts to about $102,000 per person each year, compared with roughly $29,500 annually to provide permanent housing and supportive services. “I’m talking about people who are getting hundreds of ambulance rides per year. Police calls multiple times a week,” Dimitriadis said. About a year and a half ago, Lafayette Consolidated Government approached ARCH, Catholic Charities of Acadiana, and Acadian Ambulance to begin discussions on how best to address resource drain.
Inmates’ families left in dark after Louisiana prison deaths Failed legislation would have created reporting system
Center. More than six months later, she’s still searching for answers. Eight months after detectives told them their son died at the West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center, Charlene and Henry Henderson say they have learned BY AIDAN McCAHILL more about it from watching the Staff writer local news than from public offiJahane Draper says she learned cials. through social media that her son Monica Lafayette recalls the died at Elayn Hunt Correctional excruciating two weeks she had
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to wait to see her daughter’s body, and the bruises she saw when she finally viewed her. The questions for Lafayette — whose daughter was in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison — have stretched on for more than 10 months. In Louisiana, there is currently no uniform, statewide system for reporting deaths in custody. Many families of inmates who died say they are forced to fight for basic
information, disrupting an already arduous grieving process. Some wait months for just a death certificate. “You play it in your mind, trying to figure out what happened,” said Jehane Draper. “Because we don’t know what happened … your mind tends to go here, tends to go there, your mind is never at rest.” State Rep. Candace Newell, a New Orleans Democrat, sponsored
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a bill that failed this past legislative session that aimed to establish basic reporting requirements for deaths in custody. “Families have been left in the dark at the very moment they are grieving the most,” she said. The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, which declined an interview, has
ä See PRISON, page 4A
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