Author
Neighbors oppose Central Louisiana burn pit permit renewal
COLFAX – Neighbors of a Grant Parish hazardous waste disposal facility are fighting the renewal of its state operating permit. They say Clean Harbors Colfax has faced few repercussions for serious past violations at its burn pit, and they fear the continued open burning of materials there will lead to further groundwater and soil contamination […]
Rapides Library Review Board considers removing ‘unsuitable’ material
ALEXANDRIA – An overflow crowd showed up Tuesday for a public hearing of the Rapides Library Review Board, whose newest member has proposed removing material on sexual orientation and gender identity from the public library system’s collections for children up to age 17. Events and displays at libraries could also be deemed unsuitable and not allowed. […]
Video shows Rapides deputy’s fatal shooting of motorist after traffic stop
ALEXANDRIA – Body-worn and dashboard camera video was released Sunday from a Nov. 6 shooting in which a white Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy killed a Black man during a traffic stop. Louisiana State Police are investigating the death of Derrick Kittling, 45, after Deputy Rodney Anderson pulled him over in Alexandria’s Lower Third neighborhood. […]
Arsonist of three Black Louisiana churches sentenced to 25 years in federal prison
The white St. Landry Parish man who torched three Black churches in March and April 2019 to curry favor with “black metal” music fans has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after multiple members of the incinerated churches described the suffering he had caused them. Earnest Hines, a deacon at Mt. Pleasant Baptist […]
Cameroonian asylum seekers said to be one day away from deportation back to the oppression they fled
There is a peaceful room in a safe, joyful home in the Washington metro area waiting for Micah, an English-speaking Cameroonian refugee who spent his 20th birthday on hunger strike in Pine Prairie Detention Center. His 19th birthday was also spent in ICE detention. His uncle, who raised him, has been counseling patience while waiting […]
African asylum seekers jailed in Louisiana stop eating in protest
In the Mankon language, spoken in northwest Cameroon, mughu is a word for hell. Northwest Cameroon was home to more than a dozen of the 48 African asylum seekers now confined in Louisiana at Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center, where COVID has taken a firm grip. Along with men from Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and Burkino […]
Amidst COVID-19 pandemic, parents and advocates push for a release of juvenile inmates
Like so many other Louisiana mothers with a child in juvenile detention, Latoyia Porter wants her 19-year-old son home with her during the pandemic. He’s already been jailed for five years for stealing a car, she said, and with the pandemic, she worries about his health. “Treyjon’s had symptoms of COVID, has asked to be […]