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John McCusker/The Times-PicayuneU.S. Rep. Steve Scalise talks to Vice President Dick Cheney on the tarmac at Louis Armstrong International Airport this morning. Cheney flew here from Washington to speak at a campaign fund-raiser for Scalise's re-election.

Vice President Dick Cheney flew into town Monday to headline a political fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, the Jefferson Republican hoping to win his first full term as 1st District congressman on Nov. 4.

Pointing to dwindling staff, stalled negotiations and the response to Hurricane Gustav, the Jefferson Parish Firefighters Association has censured two officials within Parish President Aaron Broussard's administration.

The association, with 225 members comprising most of the East Bank Consolidated Fire Department, unanimously voted no confidence in interim Fire Chief David Saunders and his boss, Homeland Security Director Deano Bonano.

West bank residents will be the first to see what repairs and improvements are being recommended under a proposed $46 million bond issue for St. John the Baptist Parish public schools.

BATON ROUGE -- On a 4-3 vote, the board of directors of the state-run insurance program Monday approved an average 14 percent rate increase that policyholders will start to feel early next year.

A New Orleans man driving down Lafayette Street in the Central Business District apparently lost control of his car Monday afternoon, striking two men who were tailgating before the Saints game, police said.

WVUE-TV news anchor John Snell was booked with DWI after an early-morning traffic stop in Mandeville last week.

A smooth commute is in the offing this afternoon for motorists on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, bridge officials report.

CHUCK COOK / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEThe Press Club of Baton Rouge hosted a debate of U.S. Senate candidates between incumbent Mary Landrieu and challenger, State Treasurer John Kennedy.

BATON ROUGE -- Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican John Kennedy tussled over taxes, government spending, the war in Iraq and the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama as they came together Monday for their first debate of a U.S. Senate campaign that thus far has been fought mostly on the airwaves and over the Internet.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court has rejected a plea by a convicted murderer to require that jury verdicts be unanimous in all criminal cases.

BATON ROUGE -- The final vacant seat on the state ethics board has been filled.

The state House of Representatives chose a Lafayette lawyer, 51-year-old Maurice Monrose, as its second board appointment, the remaining unfilled spot on the board.

With fewer than 300 signatures in hand and interest waning among volunteers, the recall effort against state Rep. Joseph Lopinto, R-Metairie, is officially dead.

Ronette King

If the turmoil in the financial markets has you wondering what direction to take your personal finances in, columnist Ronette King is the one to ask.

John McCusker/The Times-PicayuneU.S. Rep. Steve Scalise talks to Vice President Dick Cheney on the tarmac at Louis Armstrong International Airport this morning. Cheney flew here from Washington to speak at a campaign fund-raiser for Scalise's re-election.

Vice President Dick Cheney flew into town this morning for about two hours to speak at a political fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson.

Scalise said he expected close to 200 supporters at the event at Arnaud's restaurant in the French Quarter. Basic tickets cost $1,000. For $2,300, Scalise said, backers got their photograph made with the vice president.

Cheney's visit had been in the works for two months, Scalise said, and fell on the congressman's 43rd birthday.

A Violet man was booked with armed robbery in connection with a Sept. 26 incident during which three masked men armed with guns forced their way into a Chalmette residence and demanded money from the occupants, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office said.

Satellite imagery of thunderstorms formed in a low pressure system in the Bay of Campeche in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico indicates the formation of the 13th tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center announced this morning.

The first debate for the U.S. Senate seat between Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu and Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy will be held today at noon at the Baton Rouge Press Club.

A 35-year-old man driving through Central City struck and killed a 53-year-old New Orleans man crossing the street this morning, the New Orleans Police Department said.

An umbrella may come in handy as there's a slight chance for thunderstorms today and tonight, according to the National Weather Service.

There are no problems on the Causeway Bridge this morning, according to a Causeway Police spokeswoman. Traffic is flowing smoothly in both directions, she said.

Find out how traffic is moving near Causeway Boulevard and Interstate 10 in Metairie and on other New Orleans area roads by checking out the state highway department's traffic cameras.

A bulk freighter spilled at least 200 gallons of thick industrial fuel into the Mississippi River near LaPlace early Sunday, according to the Coast Guard.

Harold J. Stanwood was supposed to be waking up in a bed in Houston this morning, in the new home he moved to over the weekend. Instead, the 24-year-old lost his life Friday night in the Milan neighborhood of New Orleans in a feud over a woman.

BATON ROUGE -- Saturday's primary narrowed the field to two candidates in the Public Service Commission 1st District race, which will be decided in a Nov. 4 runoff expected to turn out a larger and potentially different set of voters.

Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneCongressman William Jefferson and his granddaughter Phaelin Jones enjoy election night at the eastern New Orleans restaurant Flavorz by Mattie. He made the runoff, despite his recent indictment and pending corruption trial.

For more than three years, critics presaging Rep. William Jefferson's political demise have derived their assumptions from the nine-term congressman's mounting legal problems, which have cost him stroke on Capitol Hill and handcuffed his ability to raise campaign money.

But even his staunchest enemies marvel that Jefferson, whose trial on 16 federal charges of public corruption is set to begin in early December, has maintained his hold on a loyal bloc of voters who appear unfazed by the allegations of wrongdoing.

There was a strange mixture of stalwart support and utter abandonment at U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's election party Saturday night as the indicted congressman claimed a primary victory in his 10th election campaign for the 2nd District seat.

• See more photos from election night

Former judge Leon Cannizzaro did twice as well with African-American voters than his runoff competitor, defense attorney Ralph Capitelli, according to an analysis of the primary results for Orleans Parish district attorney.

Cannizzaro, who has run for office since 1986 with constant success, placed first in Saturday's primary, finishing ahead of political newcomer Capitelli 37 percent to 32 percent.

The Nov. 4 runoff will determine who will take over the DA's office for the remainder of the year and then begin a six-year term in January. Voters will choose between two men who both worked under iconic former DA Harry Connick, whose 29-year tenure helped define the office for most New Orleanians.

SUSAN POAG/THE TIMES-PICAYUNEYancey Royal of Gretna found out that a house at Five 1st Street in Gretna his deceased father had purchased in 2006 is of historical value. It was discovered that is was the first African American school in Gretna. The blighted property is scheduled to be torn down. Royal said his father would have never let the building fall into disrepair if he had known. The land deed dates from 1871. Royal is staging a last minute effort to get the demolition stopped.

Of the two dozen Gretna buildings swiftly approved for demolition last month, the squat, one-story beige house on First Street is typical. The back wall has rotted away in the face of termites, portions of the roof are missing and much of the interior is weather-worn and moldy.

Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans police officers gather around the body of a man killed in the 2500 block of St. Ann Street on Sunday afternoon. In all, three people were shot and two were killed, police said.

A 6th Ward shooting killed two men and sent another one into emergency surgery Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

When the Judicial Council of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals effectively suspended District Judge Thomas Porteous last month, it quietly shuttered his chambers and laid off his staff of five, including a secretary who played an integral role in the financial history of the disgraced judge.

The Judicial Council of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans spent seven months investigating federal District Judge Thomas Porteous, hiring two former U.S. attorneys and a prominent psychiatrist in the process.

4th CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEAL

1st District, Division B
Paul Bonin was elected without opposition.

1st District, Division C
Dennis R. Bagneris Sr. was re-elected without opposition.

Former Public Service Commissioner John Schwegmann led voting Saturday for the utility-regulation agency's open District 1 seat to qualify for the Nov. 4 runoff against either attorney Eric Skrmetta or former state Rep. Ken Odinet.

Two state appeals court judges, both Republicans, will face each other in a Nov. 4 runoff for a seat on the Louisiana Supreme Court after outdistancing a Democrat in Saturday's election.

Ballot propositions

Animal services tax

Voters approved a 10-year renewal of the parishwide 1-mill tax that generates about $1.1 annually million for the parish Department of Animal Services. The tax accounts for more than 85 percent of the department's revenue and is used to provide animal control services, operate the parish animal shelter and help finance adoption and low-cost spay and neuter programs.

Judge, 25th Judicial District

Division A
In a campaign that centered around an audit of the state court, lawyer Kevin Conner defeated Judge Anthony "Tony" Ragusa to win the state court's Division A seat Saturday. The contest was overshadowed by a legislative auditor's report earlier this year that resulted in the indictment of Judge William Roe of Division B. Ragusa was criticized for improper use of public money, but was not a target of the grand jury probe.

With five seats opening up on the state court serving St. Tammany and Washington parishes, voters Saturday elected five new judges, meaning no runoffs will be need in the November general election.

Parish Council
At-large East Division

Wayne Landry, a businessman from St. Bernard community, topped a field of three candidates to win a seat on the Parish Council. Landry beat Stacy Riley Sr. and Will Guillot in the race to fill the remaining three years in the term of Tony "Ricky" Melerine, who was elected to the seat last year but resigned because of health concerns.

36 of 36 precincts Votes Pct.
Wayne Landry 3,930 72
Stacy Riley Sr. 846 16
Will Guillot 665 12

District attorney
Incumbent Paul Connick Jr. was re-elected without opposition.

ST. CHARLES

Judge, 29th Judicial District

Division C
Incumbent Judge Emile St. Pierre was re-elected without opposition.

ST JOHN

School Board 5th District

James R. "Jimmy Ray" Madere was elected without opposition. Madere was appointed to the board as an interim in January after long-time board member Dowie Gendron resigned for health reasons.