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W e d n e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 4, 2026
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ELECTION 2026
ICY CHAOS
Rural East Carroll Parish endures shattered trees, trapped people, prison break during winter storm
Two more candidates exit race for Senate State Sen. Miguez shifts focus to congressional seat
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
An Entergy utility truck works on lines along Harding Street in Lake Providence on Sunday. BY AIDAN McCAHILL
Staff writer
Zachary Frasier and his wife were driving down a street in Lake Providence last Friday when something white drifted across the road. It was around 10 p.m. and pitch black, so he pulled over and spotted a bag lying in the street. The 32-year-old Frasier was about to turn in after a day of delivering food and water to people across East Carroll Parish. It was almost a week after a crippling ice storm shattered trees, trapped people in their homes and left nearly everyone in the parish without power. He also knew accused killers were on the loose. Early that morning,
eight inmates broke out of Riverbend Detention Center just a few miles away. It was the same facility where his late father had been warden during a decades-long career in law enforcement. Down the street, his two children were staying with his mother. With a flashlight in one hand and a Glock .40 pistol in the other, he stepped out of his truck into the bitter cold. The beam hovered over a figure in the roadside thicket, Frasier recalled, though it took him a few moments to realize it was a person. “I said, ‘Man I’m telling you, if someone else is with you, if they come out of that bush, I’m shooting you.’” The man called for his partner,
who emerged from the brush. Frasier said he ordered them to lie face down on the ground, even firing a warning shot when they didn’t comply. “They kept looking back,” said Frasier. “I was worried somebody else was coming up behind me.” From the truck, Frasier’s wife dialed 911. Within minutes, deputies arrived and arrested the men, escapees being held in East Carroll Parish while facing murder charges in their hometowns. Inside the white bag Frasier had initially spotted was toilet paper, a jar of salsa, a phone charger and a fillet knife — all believed stolen from a
ä See CHAOS, page 12A
The impact of U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow’s decision to challenge U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy — with President Donald Trump’s endorsement — continued to reverberate Tuesday as two more candidates dropped out of the Senate race. State Sen. Blake Miguez said he would run instead for the 5th Congres“When Donald sional District seat that Letlow is vacating, while St. Trump endorsed Tammany Parish Council Letlow, it took member Kathy Seiden said all the air out she would exit the race and of the room. All endorse Letlow. the attention State Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, announced two immediately weeks ago that Letlow’s enwent to Letlow. try into the Senate election She becomes had prompted her to get out. the prohibitive Letlow jumped in on Jan. favorite if you 20 after receiving Trump’s coveted endorsement. look at the “When Donald Trump enpolls.” dorsed Letlow, it took all the ROBERT COLLINS, air out of the room. All the attention immediately went Dillard University to Letlow,” said Robert Colprofessor of urban lins, a professor of urban studies and public studies and public policy at policy Dillard University. “She becomes the prohibitive favorite if you look at the polls.” As The Times-Picayune | The Advocate reported Monday, three recently released polls show Letlow defeating Cassidy in a head-to-head matchup. Cassidy’s own survey showed him trailing her, 46%-40%, though Cassidy’s campaign says he will pass her as voters learn more about the candidates. To be sure, the field is not set, since the threeday qualifying period does not begin until Feb. 11. State Treasurer John Fleming is giving every indication that he will fight to the finish, making it at least a three-person race. A Republican like the other candidates, he says he is the true conservative in the race and that voters will ultimately elect him. A pro-Cassidy super PAC attacked Letlow with a TV ad beginning Saturday that proclaimed her
ä See SENATE, page 10A
St. George Planning Commission rejects Old Jefferson subdivision BY IANNE SALVOSA
the development would worsen flooding and traffic issues in the neighborhood. Commissioners struck down the The St. George Planning Commission unanimously voted down proposal Monday night following a plans for a controversial subdivi- public hearing where residents of sion after hearing concerns that Old Jefferson, the location of the Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 57 LOW 33 PAGE 8B
proposed subdivision, raised concerns. The development, proposed by the Lynn Levy Land Company, called for an 87-lot subdivision on a 26.8-acre site west of Antioch Road. “It’s simply too dense, and it’s
going to cause great problems in that area,” Commissioner Laurie Nelson Marien said at the meeting. Greg Bauer, president and CEO of the Lynn Levy Land Company, declined to comment on the application denial and if the company
plans on appealing the decision. The commission staff had recommended deferring discussion on the subdivision to the body’s March meeting to allow time for
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ä See PLANNING, page 9A
101ST yEAR, NO. 219
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