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BREAKING: New Orleans Fire Department requesting major EMS response following large tornado. Reports of injuries and people trapped. Damage significant in parts of Arabi and Lower Ninth Ward.

Following a tornado that plowed across the Arabi area of St. Bernard Parish Tuesday night, parish officials said there were mutltiple injuries and several reports of people trapped in their homes. "We have reports of people that are trapped," St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jimmy Pohlmann said. "We're in the area doing assessments now." Parish President Guy McGinnis said there were reports of people trapped inside bathrooms in their homes. The tornado struck Arabi, in a south to north direction, McGinnis said. Asked about damage, McGinnis said a this point it appears to be extensive.

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Aldon Smith is wanted for allegedly committing second-degree battery. An arrest warrant was issued after the NFL player reportedly choked a victim unconscious on Saturday during a confrontation inside a coffee shop in Chalmette, Louisiana, ESPN reported, citing St. Bernard Parish District Attorney Perry Nicosia. Smith has been suspended multiple times by the NFL for drug-related offenses and personal misconduct violations. He was out of the league from 2016 to 2019 and reinstated in 2020. After a one-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys, he joined the Seahawks Thursday.

A St. Bernard Parish teenager has been booked with murder after authorities say he shot two men after being denied a drink at a bar in the Poydras community because he was underage. Anthony Hookfin Jr., 18, of 2304 River Queen Drive, Violet, was booked Friday with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths Thursday evening of Michael Whitehead, 51, of Kenilworth and David Ward, 41, of Oklahoma. Hookfin was captured at about 4 a.m. at his girlfriend's house and is being held without bond. Hookfin allegedly shot Ward and Whitehead outside of Barracuda's Lounge at 7907 E. St....

Alarmed by newspaper reports that a hurricane memorial in St. Bernard Parish will feature a cross bearing a likeness of the face of Jesus, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana is reminding parish officials of the Constitution's separation of church and state. Never one to back down, Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez has a simple reply: "They can kiss my ass." In a July 28 letter to Rodriguez and other officials, Louisiana ACLU Executive Director Joe Cook said that the government promotion of a patently religious symbol on a public waterway is a violation of the Constitution's First Amendment,...

The FBI said members of the Mara Salva-Trucha, or the “MS 13,” one of the most terrorizing gangs in the country are in the New Orleans area and agents need law enforcement agencies to work together to help bring them down. St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens said this tattoo was symbolic of a drive by. Members of the Los Angeles-based gang were arrested last weekend in St. Bernard Parish and the FBI said it could simply be the beginning of something bigger. Recognized by their MS 13 tattoos in Old English, some of the gang’s members have other, more...

This one is puzzling thousands of people. St. Bernard Parish, virtually wiped out following Hurricane Katrina, is seeing the spontaneous growth of watermelons. They're everywhere! It's a post-Katrina phenomenon that has even the experts baffled. "I've never seen anything like this before," said Dr. Ron Strahan of the LSU Ag Center as he surveyed the watermelon infestation. The fruit, which is normally planted in April, has been sprouting up all over St. Bernard Parish ever since Katrina. Presumably, the seeds were deposited during the hurricane and unusually high temperatures have produced a natural mystery. "It's just going to be one...

YSCLOSKEY, La. -- His wife safely settled in a donated house in Tennessee, Ricky Robin, a Cajun-speaking native of this historic low country, will in a few days point his 56-foot shrimp trawler the Lil' Rick toward the Gulf of Mexico, make a wide right turn west and head for parts unknown. A shrimper has to make a living, and there's no living here now.

To get a glimpse into the personal side of what Hurricane Katrina has done, read this talented teen's journal of everything that's happened to her since she learned a storm was headed towards her hometown outside of New Orleans. It's amazing in its honesty and detail.

Louisiana state senator Walter Boasso is praising the rapid response of rescuers who arrived in New Orleans to assist in saving trapped residents as the waters from the corrupted levees began to rise the day after Katrina. The surprising aspect of the senator's praise was the fact that he wasn't referring to the United States military or FEMA. He was praising the Canadians. The forty-six member Vancouver-based Urban Search and Rescue Team arrived in the St. Bernard Parish which lies east of New Orleans a full 5 days before American rescue units, and the volunteers worked 18-hour days rescuing 119...

Reports about firefighters being held hostage in St. Bernard Parish were just rumors, said Col. Henry Whitehorn of the Louisiana State Police. Fox News had reported that firefighters were trapped and being pinned down in the Bellsouth building across the street from the ExxonMobil refinery in Chalmette. Whitehorn said he spoke with fire chief Thomas Stone of Chalmette, who said two firefighters were not being held hostage, but got sick and were airlifted out by helicopters. He said firefighters from Baton Rouge and Canada were on the scene with 57 Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's deputies, and no one plans to leave....

Romero won't endorse Tauzin or Melancon By The Associated Press NEW IBERIA -- Republican Craig Romero, who finished a strong third in the primary election for Congress to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin Jr., said he will not endorse either candidate in the Dec. 4 runoff. Romero, a conservative state senator from New Iberia, finished behind fellow Republican Billy Tauzin III and Democrat Charlie Melancon in the Nov. 2 primary. Tauzin of Houma had 32 percent of the vote and Melancon of Napoleonville had 24 percent, edging out Romero's 23 percent. Romero said he was still angry at the...