Megan Wyatt

1 week ago | theadvocate.com | Megan Wyatt |Courtney Pedersen

Lake Charles is the latest city in Louisiana to follow a trend of ousting an incumbent mayor, with voters electing Marshall Simien Jr. over the weekend as the city’s first elected Black mayor. Simien, an Independent, won the city’s mayoral runoff with 52% of the vote against two-term incumbent Republican Nicholas “Nic” Hunter, who received 48%. The margin between them was about 650 votes, according to complete but unofficial results from the Louisiana Secretary of State.

1 week ago | theadvocate.com | Megan Wyatt

A proposed state law that would allow the Lake Charles city marshal to spend a portion of his salary on community policing passed its first hurdle this week in the Legislature. House Bill 134 by Rep. Wilford Carter Sr., D-Lake Charles, would create a new avenue for the city marshal to pay deputies extra money for community policing. Existing law allows him to pay deputies additional money with a portion of the marshal’s salary that comes from civil fee collections.

1 week ago | nola.com | Megan Wyatt

A proposed state law that would allow the Lake Charles city marshal to spend a portion of his salary on community policing passed its first hurdle this week in the Legislature. House Bill 134 by Rep. Wilford Carter Sr., D-Lake Charles, would create a new avenue for the city marshal to pay deputies extra money for community policing. Existing law allows him to pay deputies additional money with a portion of the marshal’s salary that comes from civil fee collections.

2 weeks ago | theadvocate.com | Megan Wyatt

A proposed state law that would reform the police civil service promotion process for high-ranking positions in Lafayette and Lake Charles has received early support from a Senate committee. Senate Bill 142 by Sen. Brach Myers, R-Lafayette, would allow any qualified employee ranked at sergeant or above who passes the civil service exam to be considered for the promotion to major at the Lafayette and Lake Charles police departments.

2 weeks ago | theadvocate.com | Megan Wyatt

After the demolition of the Capital One tower in downtown Lake Charles, questions about how the city can best use the site along the lakefront have led to a dividing line in the upcoming mayoral runoff. Mayor Nic Hunter, the two-term incumbent, announced plans late last year to build a new amphitheater on the property where the dilapidated skyscraper had served as a visual reminder of the damage that Hurricane Laura inflicted on the community. The building was imploded last September.