News

St. Landry Parish sales tax collections rise a bit

Harlan Kirgan

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Total St. Landry Parish sales tax collections through July rose $20,907 to $60,060,998, according statistics released by the St. Landry Parish School Board tax division. The July collections totaled $9,058,710, up $967,554 or 12% over the July 2024 total. The July collections were up $753,109 of 9.

New observation tower on South Farm at Sherburne WMA. (Submitted photo)

New observation platform at South Farm on Sherburne WMA opens

Harlan Kirgan

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Construction has been completed on a new observation platform at South Farm on the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and is open to the public, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced.

Celebrating the return of Columbus Day

Harlan Kirgan

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Every time I walk by the statue of Christopher Columbus a few blocks south of my Philadelphia office, I get flashbacks about the hot, June days at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, days after George Floyd died from police brutality, a fentanyl overdose, or both.

The ancient art of gerrymandering

Harlan Kirgan

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Everyone gets what President Trump is trying to do in Texas. He’s pushed the state’s Republicans to redraw the boundaries of its congressional districts now instead of at the end of the decade so the GOP can pick up five more U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterms.

Opelousas man arrested for sex crimes involving children

Harlan Kirgan

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

In July, detectives with the Louisiana State Police Special Victim’s Unit (LSP SVU) began an investigation into sex crimes involving a minor, which resulted in the arrest of 58-year-old David Woodson of Opelousas.

Students Abby Roche and Lily Tubbs retrieve the conductivity, temperature, depth sensor package after profiling dissolved oxygen at a station on the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium Shelfwide Hypoxia Cruise. (Photo by Cassandra Glaspie | LUMCON/LSU)

‘Dead zone’ shrank sharply in 2025

Harlan Kirgan

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

The Gulf’s “dead zone” has shrunk significantly this summer, with scientists measuring a hypoxic area of just over 4,400 square miles — roughly a third smaller than last year and far less than the long-term average, federal officials announced July 30.

City to let parish sell abandoned property

Harlan Kirgan

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

The Eunice Board of Aldermen agreed to allow Mayor Scott Fontenot to enter an agreement with St. Landry Parish Government to sell its adjudicated properties.

The Stansbury Family, Ryan and Sophie and their daughters Cecilia and Charlene, address the crowd at the annual Charlene Richard Mass. The family prayed to the “The Little Cajun Saint” for a healthy birth of their daughter Charlene. (Photos by Claudette Olivier/The Church Point News)

Charlene Richard pilgrimage of faith

(not verified)

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

At a Mass held each Aug. 11, several of the first few pews in St. Edward Catholic Church in Richard are filled with the surviving family of Charlene Marie Richard, ‘The Little Cajun Saint,’ but this year, another young girl bearing the name Charlene Marie was also seated in one of those pews.

$4M funding OK’d for Eunice wastewater plant project proceed

Harlan Kirgan

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

The City of Eunice is to receive $4 million in funding approved by the state’s Water Sector Commission. The funding clears the way for the city to proceed on a plan to upgrade its wastewater treatment facilities, according to Mayor Scott Fontenot. The funding was announced by state Rep.

Abigail Ponthier Courville

Myra Miller

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Abigail Ponthier Courville passed away on Tuesday, August 12, 2025 at the age of 70. A Funeral Service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 15, 2025 at Quirk & Son Funeral Home Chapel with Deacon Gary Gaudin officiating. Burial will follow in Courville Cemetery.