An Opelousas man has been arrested for burning down three historical black churches in St. Landry Parish. 21-year-old Holden Matthews is facing three counts of simple arson of a religious building. Governor John Bel Edwards was on hand to congratulate law enforcement for getting Matthews behind bars
Matthews is a son of a St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s deputy and had no prior arrests or history of violence. Browning says an exact motive has not been determined, but the suspect may have been influenced by black metal
Cut 8 (10) “…church burnings.”
The first church to burn down was the St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre on March 26. Two more churches were torched in early April in Opelousas
Walmart is investing an estimated $73 million into remodeling 15 stores in Louisiana. Four of those stores are in the New Orleans area and two in the Baton Rouge area. Walmart spokesperson Anne Hatfield says the goal of the investment in technology innovations is to help save customers’ time and money.
Cut 3 (07) “…serve our customers.”
Stores in Shreveport, Natchitoches, Minden, Leesville, Winnsboro, Thibodaux and Mansura are also being upgraded.
LSU F King Alexander says despite moving to a holistic admissions process, this year’s freshman class equaled the 2017 freshman class GPA and earned more credits in the first semester than the two previous incoming classes. Alexander says they are even seeing an improvement in fall to spring retention levels…
cut 12 (07) “…90-percent”