The Lafayette Fire Department says a blaze that destroyed a home in the 100 block of Kennedy Drive last Thursday evening has been ruled accidental. Officials say it began in a storage room outside the home, where a clothes dryer was running. Homeowner Alana Bernard says she and her family were about to sit down to dinner when they heard a loud explosion and saw flames coming from the carport area. Fire Department officials say propane bottles placed near the dryer exploded. All five occupants got out safely, and no one was injured. Firefighters had the blaze under control in about 20 minutes.

Authorities are looking for an umbrella-toting man who held up two drug stores Thursday. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks says a white male carrying a multi-colored umbrella and a gun walked into the QVL Pharmacy on Essen Lane around 10:20 a.m. and demanded drugs. Hicks says the perpetrator fled when the store clerk locked herself in a back room. Baton Rouge Police Corporal L'Jean [[ EL-jeen ]] McKneely says the same man, still carrying the umbrella, robbed the Rite-Aid pharmacy in the 75-hundred block of Jefferson Highway around 10:38 a.m. McKneely says the robber grabbed some drugs and stuffed them in a duffel bag, then fled. No one was injured in the robberies, and no shots were fired.

New plans for the proposed traffic loop around Baton Rouge were unveiled Thursday, and show that more potential corridors have been eliminated from consideration. They include a northern route between Baker and Zachary and a southern route through Alligator Bayou near Prairieville. Mike Bruce with ABMB Engineers says modifications have been made to a proposed route through Central to stay clear of subdivisions and the proposed town center. The estimated cost of the loop is four billion dollars, and the project would take eight to ten-years to complete.

The wife of a  Keithville man found murdered in his home Sunday has been arrested for hiring someone to kill her husband.

State Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham reopens part of the Mississippi River delta in Plaquemines Parish to recreational fishing.

First Lady Supriya Jindal was in Shreveport and Alexandria today to rally support for an effort to assist those affected by the Gulf oil spill crisis.

Here's a look at stories making national news.

A new national poll finds former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is currently the Republican with the chance of defeating President Obama in 2012. 

Arizona has filed an appeal in the federal lawsuit which resulted in an injunction against portions of the state's new immigration law.