Breaking News and Updates

Gayle Sloan has been superintendent of St. Tammany schools for almost seven years. Full story »

Covington High School Principal Deborah McCollum, who was holding the position on an interim basis this year, has been given the job outright. The announcement came Thursday night at the St. Tammany Parish School Board meeting in Covington. McCollum took a job at Covington as assistant principal in July 2007 after holding the position of mathematics curriculum specialist for... Full story »

St. Tammany Parish's 911 dispatchers will have a better idea of exactly where they're directing first responders with a new system that provides multiple aerial views of properties throughout the parish. The system, part of a service called Pictometry purchased by the St. Tammany Parish assessor's office, will help dispatchers as they direct emergency crews to the source of... Full story »

A Chicago-based architecture and engineering company has been selected to review potential security problems at the St. Tammany Parish jail in the wake of a murder suspect's escape last month, officials said Thursday. During the next several weeks, PSA-Dewberry will work to analyze the construction and staffing of the jail to determine how Carlos Rodriguez escaped and what other... Full story »

Slidell residents are preparing to elect a new mayor, and the three candidates in the race are touting their ties to the community, years of leadership and plans to ease the financial burden on homeowners. Police Chief Freddy Drennan sees running for mayor as a continuation of his community involvement. City Councilman Rickey Hursey says the city needs to... Full story »

An alleged Ku Klux Klan member pleaded guilty this afternoon to obstruction of justice for helping to cover up the murder his father - the alleged imperial wizard of the Bogalusa Sons of Dixie Knights - is accused of committing in remote northeastern St. Tammany Parish during an initiation ceremony in 2008. State Judge Reginald "Reggie" Badeaux sentenced Shane Foster,... Full story »

A half century after it was written and nearly 30 years since its last major rewrite, Slidell officials are taking steps to give the city's zoning ordinance a complete overhaul. City Planner Randy Clement said the ordinance, parts of which go back to 1959, has mostly been updated piecemeal, using amendments and variances to address specific situations as the... Full story »

A St. Tammany Parish jury on Wednesday took two hours to unanimously find a Lakeland, Fla., man guilty as charged of first-degree murder for the strangulation and beating of a 57-year-old man in 2006. Jody "Florida boy" Swafford held and strangled Carl Glass Jr. in his Slidell-area home on April 8, 2006. While Swafford had his arm wrapped around... Full story »

A Covington man is standing trial this week in St. Tammany Parish for allegedly robbing and killing a drug dealer in 2006. Ray Brooks, now 22, was 18 years old when he allegedly shot Scott Ramsey, 40, three times on Feb. 22, 2006, outside a blighted home on the 1000 block of North Polk Street in Covington. Ramsey's friend... Full story »

Residents who live in northwestern St. Tammany Parish are being asked to renew a property tax to help pay for fire service after officials in the 5th Fire Protection District failed to put the measure before voters in time to collect the millage in 2010. The district, which serves 7,000 people in Folsom and the surrounding area, is requesting... Full story »

St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis will fly this afternoon to Washington, D.C., to prepare for meetings Thursday with members of Congress, congressional committees and the Army Corps of Engineers to lobby for funding for storm protection on the north shore. "I am working on several levels on this trip." Davis said Wednesday in a news release. "In partnership with... Full story »

Two candidates promising to clean up Mandeville's image and promote its economic development are competing to be the city's next mayor. Although the goals are similar, Mandeville City Councilwoman Trilby Lenfant, 52, and St. Tammany Parish School Board member Donald Villere, 58, point to differences in experience, implementation and philosophy that each says makes them better qualified to lead... Full story »

Two sets of eyes, both seemingly filled with hurt and anger, took different paths Tuesday in a first-degree murder trial expected to conclude Wednesday in Covington. Carl Glass III, 37, the only son of Carl Glass Jr., who was killed in 2006 at the age of 57, looked Jody "Florida Boy" Swafford dead in the eyes, a stare filled... Full story »

St. Tammany Parish has received a $1 million grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation to construct a "park-and-ride" facility on Louisiana 434 near Lacombe, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced. The lot will be located on the eastern side of highway 434 about 1 1/2 miles north of Interstate 12, on the site of the planned University... Full story »

Weighing in on a variety of issues including drainage, staffing and trees, Slidell City Council hopefuls agreed more often than not during a candidates forum Monday, but sought to draw differences for voters going to the polls March 27. At the event hosted by the St. Tammany League of Women Voters, candidates listed drainage and infrastructure improvements, as well... Full story »