Lafayette drops suit against comedian who posted fake antifa events on Facebook

Lafayette officials are no longer pursuing a lawsuit against a comedian whose online posts about fake antifa rallies in 2020 cost the city thousands. City-Parish Attorney Pat Ottinger, hired by Mayor-President Monique Boulet who took office in January, has been reviewing hundreds of pending lawsuits, many left over from the prior administration of former Mayor-President Josh Guillory. One of them is a September 2020 lawsuit against John Merrifield. Officials wanted Merrifield to pay for law enforcement's response to the fake rallies. "The suit was brought in response to actions of...