Gets notes, calls and cards: The phone calls and incoming mail have picked up at Ecumenical House, a federal halfway house, in the two weeks since it added a famous prisoner to its watch list: former Gov. Edwin Edwards. Though Edwards was allowed to serve the final six months of his prison term in home confinement at his daughter’s house, he is assigned to Ecumenical House and must check in with its staff constantly. Darla O’Connor, director of the halfway house, says Ecumenical House has been receiving a steady stream of notes, cards and calls from Edwards’ supporters. O’Connor says one man called from Bunkie and asked her to just tell Edwards “I appreciate him.” She says the four-term former governor averages one card a day in the mail—not typical for an inmate. Edwards was released from federal prison earlier this month, after serving eight years on a corruption conviction.
Now owns Cincinnati track: Pinnacle Entertainment, which will open a casino resort on River Road by the end of the year, has closed on a previously announced deal to buy the River Downs Racetrack in Cincinnati. Pinnacle paid $45 million for the horse track. The company says the 85-year old track will complement its Belterra Casino Resort, located less than an hour away in Indiana.
