Using a contractor selection process without advertising public bids, West Monroe chose Lincoln Builders of Ruston last week to build an indoor sports complex costing more than $18 million, city officials say.

The Ouachita Parish School Board weathered a second wave of protests against Gov. John Bel Edwards’ face covering mandate during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This news report is the third in a four-part series focused on a shooting that occurred decades ago in Ouachita Parish.

The Morehouse Parish School Board adopted a new emergency paid sick leave policy that extends additional leave time to employees who undergo vaccination against COVID-19.

West Monroe City Marshal William Guyton’s office realized a general fund surplus of some $8,000 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year as well as one finding for spending training and equipment funds on operations, a recent audit shows.

A state appeal court recently shot down part of Monroe businessman Stanley Palowsky III’s appeal in an ongoing lawsuit against Fourth Judicial District Court officials accused of conspiring to conceal illegal activity at the court.

The Ouachita Parish Police Jury may reconsider reappointing West Monroe businessman Mike Mulhearn to the Hospital Service District No. 1’s board of commissioners after the board requested Mulhearn’s reappointment Tuesday.

A Caddo Parish bank sued the town of Sterlington earlier this year claiming the town owed some $1.8 million it borrowed to finance the launch of a water treatment system that never materialized.

The U. S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the city of West Monroe to ensure a black candidate could be elected to the Board of Aldermen next spring could put the current aldermen at odds with one another if they each seek re-election.

Several people supporting a recall of Richwood Mayor Gerald Brown Sr. cited former Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo serving as the town’s consultant among their concerns about Richwood’s future.

Several Richwood citizens and officials say they supported the petition to recall Mayor Gerald Brown Sr. because of dissatisfaction with his job performance, not as a coordinated effort to restore a former mayor.

Members of Hospital Service District No. 1’s board of commissioners say they are disappointed or baffled by Ouachita Parish Police Juror Scotty Robinson’s motion to deny renewing a commissioner’s term on board.

GoFundMe began as a place to support social and similar causes, but now families battling diabetes are using the fundraising platform as a last-ditch attempt to cover the skyrocketing price of their life-saving drugs and supplies.

First Monroe Baptist Church announced today the sale of its property at 201 St. John Street in downtown Monroe to St. Francis Medical Center.

Monroe businessman Stanley Palowsky III recently asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in Gretna to overturn a judge’s decision to bar the businessman from alleging illegal case fixing in Ouachita Parish.

Three students suing the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) in Monroe say the medical school violated a federal judge’s restraining order by continuing to discriminate against them for choosing to forgo getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

West Monroe Mayor Staci Mitchell says residents and visitors could enjoy a marina on the Ouachita River in the city’s downtown area by summer 2022.

Monroe Police Chief Vic Zordan recently signaled his department’s commitment to house dispatchers alongside dispatchers from other law enforcement agencies if the Ouachita Parish Police Jury decides to expand the Ouachita Parish 911 Communications Center’s facility.

Monroe police arrested a Monroe man on suspicion of illegal use of weapons last week after authorities learned of a shooting on Sherrouse Street on Aug. 16 after 10 p.m.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second report in a four-part series.

A federal judge issued a restraining order against the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Monroe on Tuesday, forbidding the medical school from doing anything that might harm three students who want to study there without receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

The population of Ouachita Parish grew less than five percent since 2010, adding some 6,600 residents in the last 10 years and resulting in a slight shift to the area’s demographics.

The state disciplinary agency tasked with investigating judges says Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Sharon Marchman violated the judiciary’s ethics code through several acts including endorsing then-President Donald Trump in a judicial race three years ago.

The Ouachita Parish School Board is expected to decide later this month whether to engage a local firm to study recent U.S. Census Bureau data and recommend any changes to school district boundaries.

The Ouachita Parish Police Jury voted earlier this week to ask a local video bingo machine operator to appear at its next meeting to explain why it is delinquent on taxes owed from net wins on the machines.

The amount of road repair work facing the Morehouse Parish Police Jury exceeds the manpower available to tackle such projects, parish officials say.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first part of a series.