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A 17-year-old girl in her third trimester of pregnancy was gunned down in a road rage incident in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, over the weekend. According to the Tangipahoa Sheriff’s Department, Katelynn Strate was a passenger in a vehicle with two others when another driver began tailgating them. The other driver, 54-year-old Barry West, fired a shot, and it struck Katelynn Strate in the head. Katelynn Strate delivered her baby at 27 weeks before she was taken off life support. The baby is reportedly healthy and in the NICU.

PONCHATOULA, La. — A Tickfaw man has been arrested after shooting at a car during a road rage incident, critically injuring a pregnant teen girl. The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office arrested Barry West, 54, of Tickfaw on four counts of attempted second-degree murder, one count of illegal use of a weapon and obstruction of justice. According to deputies, on Sunday, around 9 a.m., the 17-year-old girl was in a Ford Expedition with two other people traveling on North Hoover Road in the Ponchatoula area. They encountered West, who was driving a silver Dodge truck in the same direction. After an...

Two boys from Independence have been arrested and charged with 50 counts of desecration of a grave after a Tangipahoa cemetery was vandalized, authorities said. The boys are 12 and 14. The vandalism reportedly happened at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 12). According to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, more than 50 graves were opened, with 32 of them broken into. Plus, seven structures containing human ashes were opened and dumped on the ground. Numerous personal items left at the graves were damaged or broken, TSPO said, and American flags honoring United States servicemen and women were removed, damaged and thrown...

Election results don’t get much more lopsided than this. The massive proposed School tax increase was defeated on all four propositions by a vote of 87% against to 12% for. Can the school board and the federal judge possibly be any more out of touch with what the electorate wants? The Yard Sign photo is courtesy of Tim Patrick. The ‘yes’ crowd struggled to get above 60 votes in any single voting district in the Parish. The ‘no’ vote was able to get more than 300 votes in 8 voting districts – with one district over 500 votes and another...

HAMMOND, La. (AP) - A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long. Neither Bardwell nor the couple immediately returned phone calls from The Associated Press. But Bardwell told the Daily Star of Hammond that he was not a racist. "I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house," Bardwell said. "My main concern is for the...

HAMMOND -- Police have arrested the last person named so far in warrants accusing them of being part of a cult which had sex with children and animals, but a dozen or more additional people could be involved, authorities say.

The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's office has broken up what they call a "child sex abuse cult." Three members of a Ponchatoula church have been arrested for allegedly raping children, and in some cases, having sex with animals. Some of the kids are as young as two years old. The Tangipahoa Sheriff's office says the alleged abuse occurred two years ago. Sheriff Daniel Edwards says his office began investigating the Hosanna Church more than a month ago, after getting information from a mother of an alleged victim. The big break in the case came Monday when the church's minister turned himself...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A pre-game prayer before a high-school baseball game last month violated a court order against official prayer at Tangipahoa Parish public schools' athletic events, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday. The ACLU asked U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan to hold the parish school board in contempt because someone said a prayer over the public address system March 24, before Loranger High played Sumner High. "This marks the second contempt motion filed against the school board within the past two weeks for transgressions of injunctions related to the original lawsuit," the ACLU said in a news...