The Associated Press

A woman who served as chief financial officer of a Metairie nonprofit company has pleaded guilty to a charge she embezzled nearly $250,000 from her former employer and another company official.

Thirty-eight-year-old Kelley Williams, of Terrytown, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine following her guilty plea Wednesday to forgery. Her sentencing is set for Nov. 7.

Williams' former employer isn't disclosed in court records, but it provides personal care attendants, transportation, education and training to people with developmental disabilities.

State transportation officials say they will be offering 24-hour toll collections along LA Highway 1 in anticipation of increased traffic surrounding the country's oldest competitive fishing event.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development said Wednesday their goal is to keep the flow of traffic at a steady pace as spectators arrive for the 90th annual Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo. Rhett Desselle, assistant secretary of operations, said there has already been an increase in the traffic volume around the area.

Gov. Bobby Jindal is heading to Iowa to tout Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Jindal spokesman Kyle Plotkin said the Louisiana governor will travel to Iowa on Thursday for the Romney campaign events.

The appearances are certain to continue speculation that Jindal is a contender to be Romney's pick for a running mate.

Jindal will be one of several Romney surrogates on the campaign trail this week while the former Massachusetts governor is traveling through England, Israel and Poland.

A federal magistrate has ruled that prosecutors aren't required to provide defense attorneys with more details regarding the charges against a former BP engineer accused of deleting text messages about the company's response to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. Magistrate Sally Shushan's order Tuesday says Kurt Mix's indictment provides his lawyers with sufficient information to prepare his defense and to "avoid surprise" at trial.

Gov. Bobby Jindal says he's confident LSU's network of public hospitals and clinics will protect health care services, despite cuts that strip a quarter of the system's funding.

Lawmakers have said they don't understand how the university-run health care system can shrink its budget by $329 million this year without shutting facilities that take care of the poor and uninsured.

But Jindal on Tuesday told reporters that "LSU is well on their way to presenting a plan that's going to protect critical services."

ASSUMPTION PARISH — State and local officials are investigating whether an orphaned well may be the source of natural gas bubbling up from the surfaces of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou in northern Assumption Parish.

Parish officials said Tuesday the well is in swampland about 1,000 feet from the main bubbling area in Bayou Corne, The Advocate (http://bit.ly/PEW2Z5) reports.

Ameritas Technologies says it will open an information technology center in Baton Rouge creating 300 jobs.

The startup company's CEO, Brian Keene, said Tuesday that Ameritas will receive a state economic development grant of $125,000 per year over a 10-year period to offset leasing costs at the Chase Tower in the downtown area.

Gov. Bobby Jindal says Ameritas will start hiring in September and open by October. He says the company expects to reach the 300 mark on staffing by 2016.

Nicholls State University says the Louisiana Bond Commission has authorized $8.1 million to build a new, bigger headquarters for the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute.

A news release says the final design will be completed by Oct. 1, and the building should be finished by mid-2014.

Al Davis, dean of University College, says the new building will have more classroom and kitchen space and updated equipment.

Chef Randy Cheramie, executive director of the institute, said the new building will accommodate the program's growing enrollment.

The Advocate (http://bit.ly/PSpdoe) newspaper says it will expand into the New Orleans market with a specialized print edition.

Richard Manship, president and CEO of Capital City Press, says The Advocate is laying the groundwork to reach into the market following the announcement by The Times-Picayune that the newspaper will reduce publication to three days a week this fall while beefing up its online report.

Manship said The Advocate will add staff to supply this coverage of the area, but did not provide specific numbers.

A New Orleans woman was ordered to serve two years of probation for her conviction of having sex with a 14-year-old boy in Gretna two years ago.

The Times-Picayune reports 33-year-old Kendra Greenwald eluded prison time for her July 12 conviction of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, in connection with the June 10, 2010 encounter.

The boy's mother alerted police after learning her son had sex with Greenwald. Greenwald contends the boy, now 16, forced her to have sex by threatening her and to harm her child.