Leslie Turk

Lafayette

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Managing Editor at KeepMeCurrent.com

Senior Editor at The Current Media

Lead investigative reporter for The Current. (AKA: Pajama-wearing basement blogger who likes to "pry & pry.")

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Articles

Boulet, sheriff at odds over jail funding

2 weeks ago | thecurrentla.com | Leslie Turk

More than six months after a dispute over jail funding and crowding issues boiled over in an email thread that included dozens of city and parish officials, the administrations of Mayor-President Monique Boulet and Sheriff Mark Garber remain at a standstill. Whether the jail is being adequately funded by Lafayette Consolidated Government is likely to be debated at this summer’s budget hearings.
Lafayette Parish School System scrutinized for no-bid contracts

1 month ago | theadvocate.com | Leslie Turk

Since early 2024, Lafayette Parish School System officials have awarded millions in no-bid work to a metal building company in Scott. Bergeron’s Metal Buildings of Scott was awarded contracts to complete walkway covers and sidewalk canopies, remove portable buildings and replace some of their roofs, and construct a large agricultural building at Carencro High School.
Illegal or cost-effective? LPSS scrutinized for no-bid contracts

1 month ago | kadn.com | Leslie Turk

LAFAYETTE, La. (The Current) — Since early 2024, Lafayette Parish School System officials have awarded millions in no-bid work to a metal building company in Scott. Bergeron’s Metal Buildings of Scott won contracts to complete walkway covers and sidewalk canopies, remove portable buildings and replace some of their roofs, and construct a large agricultural building at Carencro High School.
Illegal or cost-effective? LPSS scrutinized for no-bid contracts

1 month ago | thecurrentla.com | Leslie Turk

Since early 2024, Lafayette Parish School System officials have awarded millions in no-bid work to a metal building company in Scott. Bergeron’s Metal Buildings of Scott won contracts to complete walkway covers and sidewalk canopies, remove portable buildings and replace some of their roofs, and construct a large agricultural building at Carencro High School.
LCG moves to fire engineer on Homewood drainage project

2 months ago | thecurrentla.com | Camden Doherty |Leslie Turk

Mayor-President Monique Boulet has moved to fire engineer Pam Granger, whose drainage studies during the Guillory administration were used to launch more than $80 million in controversial flood control projects that were then designed by her firm, McBade Engineering.
Lafayette school system auditors flag public bid law violations

2 months ago | thecurrentla.com | Leslie Turk

The Lafayette Parish School System has been breaking up public works projects that auditors say should have been combined and put out for bid, amounting to potential violation of state law. The findings were reported in an annual audit covering the year ending June 2024 and included about a dozen issues, eight of which were unique findings with several others duplicate compliance/internal controls problems. The most serious of those are five separate potential public bid violations.
In memoriam: notable people who died in 2024

Dec 19, 2024 | thecurrentla.com | Leslie Turk

The Acadiana Advocate looks back on the lives lost in 2024, including the musicians, foodies, artists, business owners and civic leaders so integral to the place we all call home. “When we lose people who spent their time generously sharing their life and talents with the community, the loss is felt by all,” the paper’s Joanna Brown writes.
Lafayette’s jail is running out of room again

Dec 2, 2024 | kadn.com | Leslie Turk

LAFAYETTE, La. (The Current) — Last month, local officials asked the Louisiana Department of Corrections to transfer seven state prisoners out of the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center, what should have been a routine request. But this time, the state said it couldn’t take a single inmate off LPCC’s hands. “Every jail we have contacted is at full capacity,” wrote Deputy Assistant Secretary Duane Cambry in an Oct. 29 email obtained by The Current.
Lafayette’s jail is running out of room again

Nov 25, 2024 | thecurrentla.com | Leslie Turk

Last month, local officials asked the Louisiana Department of Corrections to transfer seven state prisoners out of the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center, what should have been a routine request. But this time, the state said it couldn’t take a single inmate off LPCC’s hands. “Every jail we have contacted is at full capacity,” wrote Deputy Assistant Secretary Duane Cambry in an Oct. 29 email obtained by The Current.
Lafayette juvenile home cited for housing 17-year-olds

Oct 28, 2024 | thecurrentla.com | Leslie Turk

A new Louisiana law that treats 17-year-old offenders as adults is creating confusion throughout the criminal justice system — and sending many of these young detainees to a troubled jail in Jackson Parish. On two occasions in August, the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice inspected the Lafayette Juvenile Detention Home, operated by Lafayette Consolidated Government, and found “adults who should not be housed with juveniles.” On Aug.