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High cost of electricity in VP is discussed

News Staff

Thursday, August 14, 2025

By: HEATHER BOGARD Associate Editor VILLE PLATTE - Council member Tracey Jagneaux, during the Ville Platte City Council meeting held Tuesday, August 12, expressed concerns regarding the cost of Cleco electricity rates.

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Road work closes portion of La. Hwy 106

News Staff

Thursday, August 14, 2025

From August 18 until October 16, a two-mile stretch of La. Hwy 106 will be closed from two miles east of La. 3042 (Chicot Park Road) to CC Camp Road, according to the Department of Transportation and Development.

A. J. Frank, assistant police chief for the Town of Basile, speaks during a local law enforcement call-in show program on KVPI radio in Ville Platte. (KVPI Photo)

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Veteran lawman leads Basile PD in Chief Ivory’s absence

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Thursday, August 14, 2025

By: DARREL LEJEUNE LSN Editor With the town’s long-serving police chief recovering from an extended hospital stay, Assistant Police Chief Allarate “A.J.

EPSO Arrests

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EPSO Arrests

News Staff

Thursday, August 14, 2025

The Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office reported the following recent bookings into the parish jail. All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Crouere

Trump is world peacemaker; United Nations is a disgrace

News Staff

Thursday, August 14, 2025

The major force for peace in the world today is not the United Nations (UN), it is President Donald Trump. In his four ½ years as President, he has accomplished more to end wars and save lives than the organization that is supposedly “the world’s best hope for peace.

Johnson

Inmate escapes from city jail

News Staff

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Chief A. Perry Thomas reports an inmate by the name of Braylon Johnson escaped from the Ville Platte City Jail at 10:51 a.m., Sunday, August 10, 2025. He was arrested by Ville Platte Police on July 29, 2025, for Domestic Abuse, Aggravated Battery, and Child Endangerment.

Erica L. Fontenot, assistant principal of Evangeline Reimagine Academy, shows off the school’s test kitchen and culinary area during an open house on Tuesday, August 10. (Gazette photo by Tony Marks)

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Reimagining academics

News Staff

Monday, August 11, 2025

By: TONY MARKS Editor VILLE PLATTE - As a new school year began Thursday, August 7, history was being made as, for the first time, students were walking through the halls of a new campus that was once a nursing home in Ville Platte.

JAG Specialist Dianna Freeman-Johnson is celebrating 22 years with the JAG program and remains passionate about the program and working with the youth of the community and helping them to succeed. (Photo courtesy of Dianna Freeman-Johnson)

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A legacy rooted in passion and purpose

News Staff

Monday, August 11, 2025

By: HEATHER BOGARD Associate Editor The Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) program in Evangeline Parish, established by Dianna Freeman-Johnson in 2004, is celebrating two decades of empowering local youth. The program, which began as the “Options III Program” at the C.B.

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Arrest is made in case of arson at senior center

News Staff

Monday, August 11, 2025

EVANGELINE PARISH – State Fire Marshal (SFM) deputies arrested a Ville Platte man on Friday, August 1, for setting fire to a unit at an elderly and disabled senior living apartment complex in Ville Platte. William McBride, 56, has been charged with aggravated arson. Shortly before 9 a.m.

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Fields urges universal Head Start at town hall

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Monday, August 11, 2025

By: HARLAN KIRGAN LSN Editor Universal Head Start starting for 2-year-olds would help produce productive citizens, said U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields at a town hall on Tuesday at the Eunice City Hall. “When you hear about this bill, you will say, oh, Cleo, that costs too much.

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