The Associated Press

The Louisiana State Police and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries are exploring the possibility of a joint training academy as a way to recruit new officers and reduce agency costs.

State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson said Wednesday that no date has been set for a possible class, according to The Times-Picayune.

Both agencies haven't held training academies because of the state's budget troubles.

State officials are looking at ways to beef up efforts to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in debts owed to agencies across Louisiana government.

Louisiana doesn't have a centralized collection agency that handles all state government debts.

Lawmakers authorized the creation of a two-year pilot program that would let the state sell or auction off long-term delinquent accounts to companies that believe they can collect some of the money owed.

A former New Orleans pastor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing nearly $1 million in disaster loan payments meant to rebuild a church after Hurricane Katrina.

Toris Young pleaded guilty in January to theft of government funds and mail fraud. The sentence handed down Thursday by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier was roughly twice that recommended in federal sentencing guidelines.

Young also must pay $963,900 in restitution to the Small Business Administration.

Ed Evans, Northwestern State's head athletic trainer since 1989, is retiring and will be honored at a reception in Natchitoches at Prather Coliseum on Thursday, July 26.

Evans arrived at Northwestern as a graduate assistant trainer under head trainer Eugene Christmas from 1979-82. He spent the next seven years as athletic trainer at Natchitoches Central High School. He returned to Northwestern as Christmas' successor in 1989.

The 2012 Essence Music Festival drew 413,000 people to New Orleans for the four-day event held over the Fourth of July weekend.

That's less than the 422,000 who gathered for the 2011 festival. Last year the festival ran for three days.

This was the 18th anniversary of the festival which features nightly concerts at the Superdome and free, daily "empowerment" seminars and community events at the city's convention center.

The president of a business organization in New Orleans says the group is focusing on changing the image the city presents to businesses that are thinking about relocating or expanding.

Rodrick Miller, president and CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance, told a luncheon Wednesday that many people often associate New Orleans with Bourbon Street, jazz and its port. But Miller said they don't think about the new things coming to the city like the film industry and technology companies.

The business dean at Nicholls State University is now the president of the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants for 2012-2013.

Shawn Mauldin received the group's 2005 lifetime award for achievement in accounting information, and is a past president of its south central chapter. The LCPA has 6,300 members statewide.

Mauldin has bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from Nicholls State and a doctorate in accounting from the University of Mississippi.

Many of New Orleans' best known musicians are planning to gather for a musical tribute to Lionel Batiste, the 81-year-old vocalist and bass drummer with the Tremé Brass Band who died last Sunday.

Kermit Ruffins, Deacon John, Michael Ward and Rockin' Dopsie are among the musicians expected to attend the tribute at Sweet Lorraine's Jazz Club on Friday at 7 p.m.

The organizers of the memorial say proceeds will pay Batiste's outstanding medical bills and funeral costs.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten says a former manager of a Whitney Bank branch in Metairie has admitted stealing more than $56,000 from the bank.

He says 50-year-old Karen Sork pleaded guilty Wednesday to bank theft, and could get up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, and restitution.

Federal prosecutors say a 75-year-old woman has admitted collecting her mother's Social Security payments for 13½ years after her mother died.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten says Shirley A. Bunda of Gretna got more than $173,000 to which she wasn't entitled, and pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of theft of government funds.

A news release says Bunda and her mother shared a joint checking account, and her mother's Social Security payments came by direct deposit.