The following arrests were made by local law enforcement officers from Sept. 21 through Sept. 27.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Come join the Bordelonville Volunteer Fire Department for an evening of fun, candy, food, and fellowship around the walking track in Bordelonville.
Local businesses, churches, candidates running for office, elected representatives, organizations, and community members are invited to be part of the annual Trunk or Treat. Decorate a truck, table, or whatever and come enjoy the fun. Get creative and help make this a special event for the kids in the community. Must bring table and chairs.
Signing up is not required, but participants are encouraged to let Bordelonville VFD know ahead of time so they can plan accordingly. To set up a booth, contact James at 318-717-0084 or Brandi at 318-447-2340.
In the event of rain, the fun will be moved inside to the gymnasium.
NO DOGS allowed.
Come out, decorate a truck, table, or booth, and help make the 12th Annual Bordelonville Trunk or Treat a great night for the community.
As October continues, it does so with a mix of sun, clouds, and storms. Temperatures still don’t reflect that autumn has arrived, but they are beginning to cool, with night-time lows in the 60s and daytime highs staying in the lower 80s. The highest chain of rain will be Saturday, with an 70% chance for day and a 50% chance night. While the chance for rain will persist through Monday, it will remain around 40% starting Sunday.
Wednesday, Oct. 7: Plentiful sunshine. A few clouds overnight. High near 89, low around 63.
Thursday, Oct. 8: Mostly sunny skies. A few clouds from time to time overnight. High near 89, low around 61.
Friday, Oct. 9: Partly cloudy skies. Partly cloudy skies early followed by increasing clouds with showers developing later at night; chance of rain 40%. High around 87, low near 67.
Saturday, Oct. 10: Showers early, becoming a steady rain later in the day with rainfall around a quarter of an inch; chance of rain 70%. Cloudy with showers; chance of rain 50%. High near 81, low around 66.
Sunday, Oct. 11: Showers in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon; chance of rain 40%. Partly cloudy skies overnight. High near 83, low around 68.
Monday, Oct. 12:Showers in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon; chance of rain 40%. Partly cloudy skies overnight. High near 85, low around 67.
Tuesday, Oct. 13: Partly cloud skies. A few clouds from time to time overnight. High of 85, low of 67.
Avoyelles Parish will start this forecast window with some sun before the clouds roll in and give way to rain. The greatest chance for rain will be Saturday with an 70% chance during the day and a 50% at night before dropping to 40% for Sunday and Monday. No storms are predicted to be severe.
Mark those calendars for the first annual Christmas on L’Eglise event in Mansura presented by the Mansura Chamber of Commerce. Save the date: Saturday, Dec. 5.
The event will feature:
– Vendors
– Santa Clause
– Free Hot Chocolate
– Free Christmas Cookies
– The Grinch
– Music
– Face Painting
– And so much more
Vendor forms are now ready and can be picked up at the Mansura Police Department. Spots are 10 X 10; additional space requires additional payment. Non-electrical booths are $25; electrical booths are $50. For more information, call or text 318-964-2120; 318-613-2281; or 318-359-7415.
Save the date! The Moreauville Volunteer Fire Department will host its annual Trick or Treat event and Haunted House on Saturday, Oct. 31, 5:30pm to 7pm, at the Moreauville Fire Station (328 Main Street).
Hot dogs and juice will be provided to each child.
The Moreauville VFD is inviting any businesses, organizations, or individuals to come out and set up a booth at the event. For more details, message the Moreauville VFD’s Facebook profile or call Emily at 318-264-1353.
New, No-Cost Service Allows Non-Travelers to Access Secure Area Without a Flight
ALEXANDRIA– The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now testing a new program, Gateside by TSA PreCheck, which allows TSA PreCheck® members and individuals with Known Traveler Numbers (KTNs) to access participating airports’ post-security area without a departing flight. This no-cost authorization is now available at select U.S. airports, including Alexandria International Airport (AEX). TSA plans to offer the program at additional airports in the coming months.
Gateside by TSA PreCheck expands upon traditional airline gate pass access, which is limited to special circumstances like accompanying a minor, a person with a disability, or a military service member. With an approved Gateside pass, eligible non-travelers can meet arriving passengers at the gate, accompany departing travelers, or enjoy airport amenities beyond security. Passes are valid for one calendar day, with same-day re-entry allowed.
Gateside by TSA PreCheck Eligibility and Instructions
Learn more about Gateside by TSA PreCheck at tsa.gov/gateside.
About EEIDD
The England Economic and Industrial Development District (EEIDD) is an independent political subdivision of the State of Louisiana. England Airpark encompasses approximately 4,000 acres and includes Alexandria International Airport (AEX). As a mixed-use development offering convenient connectivity through air, interstate highway, rail, and port access, the Airpark features more than 300 residential units and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, supporting aviation, transportation, manufacturing, education, and engineering sectors. Learn more at www.englandairpark.org.
The 2026 Youth Hunter of the Year Award contest is now accepting applications, the Louisiana Wildlife Federation (LWF) and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) announced.
A panel of judges will name one boy and one girl who best represented the joy, thrill and camaraderie of hunting. Youth hunters must be Louisiana residents who were 15 years old or younger at the time of the hunt, and the hunt must have taken place within the 2026 calendar year (Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2026). Applications are due Jan. 31, 2027.
Natalie Perkins of DeRidder and Madden Dowden of Elm Grove were the 2025 Louisiana Youth Hunters of the Year winners.
To enter the 2026 Youth Hunter of the Year contest:
• Complete and submit the application form;
• Submit a short story written by the young hunter describing the hunt;
• Submit photo(s) from the hunt.
Eligibility Requirements:
• Hunter must be a Louisiana resident;
• Hunter must be 15 years old or younger at the time of the hunt;
• The hunt must take place between Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2026;
• Short story must be written by the youth;
• The hunt does not have to result in the harvesting of an animal;
• One entry per youth hunter;
• Previous winners are not eligible.
The two winners will receive a plaque in recognition of their achievement and a gift card. Winners will also be recognized at LWF’s 61st Annual Conservation Achievement Awards banquet in April 2027. Everyone who enters will also be included in a drawing for a $100 gift card. For more information, go to the LWF Hunter of the Year webpage.
Bass fishing is expensive in more ways than one. But one thing is inevitable: you’re going to lose something of value at some point while fishing in a bass boat. It’s like if you’re a motorcycle rider, it’s not if you’re going to have a wreck, but when.
Over my many years of being on the water, I’ve lost several items that I wish I could get back. Today, we all have cell phones as one of our prized possessions. So, it won’t surprise anyone that I have lost one over the side of the boat.
While fishing on Red River early one morning, I had a phone call. Scrambling to get my flip phone out of my pocket, I literally flipped it over the side of the boat and into 15 feet of water.
At first, panic ran through my brain and major anxiety set in as to “what am I going to do now?” After looking at my depth finder and watching my phone fall to the bottom of the river, I knew there was no retrieving this device.
Phoneless and totally out of touch with the rest of the world temporarily, as the day went on it was kind of refreshing and nice to not have a phone, to not be at someone’s beck and call at a moment’s notice. After I accepted the fact that my phone was gone, I actually enjoyed my entire day of fishing with no interruptions!
Another item that every bass fisherman has lost at some point is one of his good rods and reels. Once again, it’s not if you’ll lose a rod and reel, but when. I’ve lost at least three rod and reel combos over the years — two in one day while fishing as a co-angler on Lake Sam Rayburn.
The boater/pro I drew-out, back in 2004, had no rod tie downs on his boat for me to secure my rods. Sam Rayburn is known for high winds, which produce rough rides, and if you don’t have your gear tied down, something will end up in the lake.
That day I had two brand new Bass Pro Shop’s Johnny Morris combos that probably cost $250 each. After making a long rough run across the lake late that day, we stopped to fish. I started counting my rods and realized two were missing. A total of $500 worth of rods and reels were now sitting on the bottom of Sam Rayburn, all because the boat I was in had no rod tie downs!
This past year on Lake of the Pines in East Texas, I was fishing in 5-6 feet of water flipping a boat dock. As I got a bite, I set the hook on a solid four-pound bass. Well, all due to my fault, I had a couple of rods hanging out over the water, and while I was fighting this fish to get him into the boat, my line caught the end of one of my really nice Daiwa combos,valued at $500, and jerked it off the deck and into the lake.
As I was landing the four-pound bass, I made a mental note of where I thought the rod went over. Once the fish was weighed and placed in the live well, I began the search for the Daiwa combo by fan casting the area with a crankbait hoping to snag it. But after wasting 30 minutes of my tournament day, I just gave up on trying to find it.
One other thing that is inevitable while fishing is losing your favorite hat! I can’t even count how many hats I have lost while running across the lake or up the river. Towels are another item that seem to disappear along the way. Some anglers have what they call their “lucky hat” or even their “lucky towel,” and losing either one can cause a full-blown emotional breakdown!
So, as you can see, bass fishing can be an adventure. On top of possible damage to your boat every time you go fishing, there are all these other things that can make your trip expensive. Hopefully, none of this will ever happen to you!
Oh, there is one more thing you can also count on if you’re a bass fisherman; it’s not a matter of if you’ll fall in the lake, but when.
Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com
The inaugural festival brings 10 artists and two nights of country music to Natchitoches as Northwestern State University launches an annual event with ambitions to become North Louisiana’s premier music festival. Get your tickets now at topofthebootmusicfest.com.
By Cole Gentry, Chief Marketing Officer at Northwestern State University
On Oct. 16 and 17, Northwestern State University will welcome country music fans, alumni, students, families and visitors to Natchitoches for the inaugural Top of the Boot Music Festival. The two-day event will bring established country stars, rising artists and Louisiana talent to the NSU campus for a fall weekend centered on live music, good times and the people you want beside you.
Friday, Oct. 16, opens with co-headliners Lee Brice and Louisiana native Dylan Scott.
Brice brings a catalog that includes eight No. 1 country singles and songs such as “I Drive Your Truck,” “I Don’t Dance,” “Hard to Love” and “One of Them Girls.” Scott returns to his home state with four No. 1 songs on the U.S. Country Airplay charts, including “My Girl,” “New Truck,” “Can’t Have Mine” and “This Town’s Been Too Good to Us.”
Lanie Gardner, Jackson Wendell and Clay LaBeff complete Friday’s lineup.
Saturday, Oct. 17, features Flatland Cavalry as the night’s headliner. The Texas Country and Americana group has earned three ACM Group of the Year nominations from 2024 through 2026. Ian Munsick, Rodney Atkins, Laine Hardy and Bottomland round out Saturday’s lineup.
Across two nights, 10 artists will take the stage at Northwestern State.
The reach of Top of the Boot extends well beyond Natchitoches. Marketing for the festival stretches across a multi-state region from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Jackson, Mississippi, south to New Orleans, Louisiana and west to Houston and Dallas, Texas.
That reach reflects the scale of the vision. Top of the Boot is being built as an annual destination event with the goal of becoming North Louisiana’s premier music festival, bringing country music fans from across Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas to Natchitoches each fall.
The festival will take place behind the NSU Soccer Complex along Tarleton Drive. Food trucks, vendors and two nights of performances will create a place for friends, families and loved ones to spend a fall weekend together.
For alumni, it is a reason to come home. For prospective students and families, it is another way to experience Northwestern State. For visitors, it is an invitation to spend time on campus and in Natchitoches while enjoying one of North Louisiana’s largest new entertainment events.
Northwestern State Athletics also has a direct stake in the festival’s success. The event was created to benefit NSU student-athletes while showcasing the university and Natchitoches to visitors from across the region.
Every annual tradition has a first year. For Top of the Boot, that year is 2026. Bring your friends. Bring your family. Come back to NSU or experience our campus for the first time. Spend two nights with some of country music’s biggest names and be there at the beginning of something built to return year after year.
Top of the Boot Music Festival
Oct. 16-17, 2026
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, Louisiana
General admission and VIP options are available. Get your tickets now at topofthebootmusicfest.com.
For thousands of years, people on Earth could look up at the Moon but see only one side of it. That changed on Oct. 7, 1959, when a Soviet spacecraft photographed the Moon’s far side for the first time.
The spacecraft, Luna 3, had launched from the Soviet Union just three days earlier. After passing around the Moon, it turned its cameras toward the hemisphere that no human had ever seen. Beginning at 3:30 a.m. Universal Time on Oct. 7, Luna 3 took 29 photographs over about 40 minutes, covering roughly 70% of the Moon’s far side.
What made the mission especially unusual was that Luna 3 essentially carried its own tiny photographic laboratory. The spacecraft used 35mm film, developed and dried the film aboard the probe, then converted the images into electrical signals that were transmitted back to Earth by radio.
The photographs were grainy and streaked, but they revealed something unexpected. The far side looked dramatically different from the familiar side facing Earth. It was heavily cratered and had very few of the large, dark volcanic plains known as maria that are prominent on the near side.
The event also helped correct a common misconception about the so-called “dark side of the Moon.” The far side is not permanently dark; it receives sunlight just like the side visible from Earth. It was simply the side humans had never been able to see directly.
For the first time, on Oct. 7, 1959, humanity got a glimpse of the Moon’s hidden face—and discovered that the side we had never seen was not quite what we expected.