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Star witness killed in Hattiesburg wreckbound for Louisiana Quinton Tellis trialHATTIESBURG — Retired Brigadier GeneralPaul Rowlett was killed Saturday in a car crash in Hattiesburg on his way to Monroe, Louisiana, to tes-tify as an expert witness in the Quinton Tellis mur-der trial. The accident occurred at Hwy 98 and Ralston Road in Forrest County when another vehicle al-legedly ran …

 Penelope Hull doesn’t care that the road in front of her elementary school leads to what will be the largest data center in the world. She just misses the playground in front of Holly Ridge Elementary School.  It’s shut down this year because it faces the roads where, every day, thousands of dump trucks and 18-wheelers thunder toward “Hyperion,” Meta’s …

Voters reject Tangipahoa Sheriff’s taxproposal again; analyst says post-electionmessage may have backfiredHAMMOND — For the second time this year,Tangipahoa Parish voters rejected a sales tax thatSheriff Gerald Sticker said was critical to boostingstaffing and wages inside the sheriff’s office.Saturday’s proposal, a three-quarter-cent salestax that would have raised nearly $25 million a yearfor the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, failed57% to 43%. …

Louisiana politician forecast the LSU BrianKelly buyout debacle and now has freshadviceLouisiana Public Service Commissioner FosterCampbell forecast the fate of fired LSU footballCoach Brian Kelly and the debacle of his contractbuyout before Kelly coached his first game for theschool.Campbell, who represents Shreveport and almost1 million northern Louisiana constituents, wrote anopinion piece after Kelly’s hiring in 2021 predictingLSU would rue the …

Louisiana Republicans move electiondates with hopes of redistricting for 2026midtermsState Rep. Candace Newell, D-New Orleans, saysRepublicans in the Louisiana Legislature are likelyto dilute Black voter strength if a pending U.S. SupremeCourt ruling allows them redraw the state’ssix congressional districts. (Photo by Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)Republicans in the Louisiana Legislature gave finalapproval Wednesday to pushing back 2026 primaryelection dates, capping a one-week …

Louisiana sugarcane farmers say theydepend heavily on migrant workers fromMexicoIn the late summer heat, the hours move likemolasses.Still, across the cane fields of South Louisiana,migrant workers from Mexico brave the sun andpunishing humidity to plant sugarcane. They comefrom the mountains of Guanajuato and San LuísPotosí, or the tropical coast of Veracruz, working thefields, often up to 70 hours a week.Their …

Judiciary Commission of LouisianaAnnounces Elected Officers and Appointees(See the full Press Release at https://judiciarycommissionla.org/)New Orelans, La. – The Judiciary Commission ofLouisiana has announced the election of officers andappointees to serve for the 2025-2026 term. ThirdJudicial District Court Judge Bruce Hampton hasbeen elected to serve as Chair, and Third CircuitCourt of Appeal Judge Sharon D. Wilson was electedas Vice-Chair. In addition …

On October 1st, the Union Parish Clerk of Courtannounced on their Facebook page that they wouldbe closed on October 2nd in order to relocateto the Hub, a commercial private office space inFarmerville. Sources at the courthouse revealed tothe Gazette the presence of black mold growing inthe Courthouse Document Storage.Black mold, also known as Stachybotrys, is a typeof fungus that grows …

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana iscalling out what he describes as “waste and fraud” infederal spending, saying he will not support a budgetdeal that restores controversial line items or weakensaccountability in Medicaid. Speaking from theSenate floor, Kennedy said his goal is to protect taxpayersand restore trust in how government moneyis managed.Targeting Waste in MedicaidKennedy said one of the reforms …

At approximately 12:30PM today, the Darbonne Woods CharterSchool School Resource Officer (SRO) notified UPSO dispatch of areport he received of possible gunshots heard near the DWCS campus.Out of an abundance of caution, the SRO placed the campusinto a soft-lockdown. Additional UPSO deputies quickly respondedto the area. Deputies checked the campus and nearby areas forany criminal activity, utilizing patrol vehicles and …