State Veterans Secretary Retiring, Interim Appointed

Gov. Bobby Jindal says Veterans Affairs Secretary Lane Carson is retiring after four years, and his deputy will be interim secretary.

He says Carson opened and maintained service offices in every parish, made all Louisiana veterans and their spouses eligible to live in the department's five veterans' homes, and added a second veterans' cemetery. He also developed a program to help veterans who own small businesses get state contracts.

Jindal says the interim secretary is David LaCerte, who has been the department's deputy secretary, executive counsel and legislative liaison since June 2010. Before taking that Job, LaCerte was a Marine. He has business and law degrees.