January 6 marks the celebration of Epiphany, also known as Three Kings’ Day, a Christian holiday observed around the world with rich traditions and deep spiritual significance. This day commemorates the visit of the Magi—commonly known as the Three Wise Men—to the infant Jesus, symbolizing the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles.

Epiphany holds a unique place in Christian faith and culture, with observances varying by region. In many Western Christian traditions, Epiphany concludes the Twelve Days of Christmas. Churches often celebrate with special services, where the story of the Magi’s journey, guided by the Star of Bethlehem, is retold.

In Spain and Latin America, Three Kings’ Day is a highlight of the holiday season. Children eagerly await the arrival of Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, who bring gifts, much like Santa Claus. Parades, such as the Cabalgata de Reyes in Spain, bring the tradition to life with elaborate floats and costumed performers. Families enjoy a special meal featuring the Rosca de Reyes, a sweet bread with a hidden figurine of baby Jesus baked inside, symbolizing the search for Christ.

In Italy, the holiday is marked by the legend of La Befana, a kindly witch who delivers gifts to children. Meanwhile, Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Epiphany as the feast of Theophany, focusing on the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. In Greece, the day includes the Blessing of the Waters, where priests bless rivers, lakes, and seas to honor this sacred event.

Epiphany is more than a religious observance—it’s a celebration of faith, community, and tradition. Across cultures, it reminds us of the universal themes of hope, generosity, and light, offering a meaningful way to conclude the holiday season and begin the new year.

The YPG of Cenla invites young professionals to kick off the new year with fresh strategies to maximize time and productivity. Join the YPG for an inspiring Lunch and Learn on Friday, Jan. 17, at 11:30am at Ugly Mug Marketing HQ with Wayne Mullins, founder of Ugly Mug Marketing and a productivity enthusiast, as he reveals how to design the ideal week.

In this interactive session, Wayne will dive into key insights, including:

• Why time management is a myth.
• How the concept of work/life balance may be holding people back.
• How to turn procrastination into a powerful productivity tool.
• The five biggest time mistakes entrepreneurs and leaders make.
• The pain (and payoff) of time-blocking.
• Understanding the difference between recurring and trigger tasks.

Start the year strong by learning practical, innovative strategies to craft the perfect work week and set up for success in 2025. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a leader who’s passionate about helping professionals and entrepreneurs work smarter, not harder.

Limited space! RSVP as soon as possible to claim a spot.

The Alexandria Museum of Art will host one of its Launch Pad classes on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 5:30pm at the museum.

Launch Pad classes are for ANY and ALL individuals at any and all skill levels seeking a fun, relaxed
and creative environment in which to learn something new or work on one’s own. These classes offer an opportunity to experience different mediums as an introduction, that could provide a gateway to independent making.

Participants must be 21 to attend these classes. Cost of attendance is $10 per class for AMoA members and $20 Non-members. Register at www.themuseum.org/adult-art-classes

The Moon Pie Festival Committee is selling raffle tickets in support of the festival in March in Ball.

The tickets are for a chance to split the pot and a four-burner Blackstone grill. One ticket is $5; 5 tickets are $20. The drawing will be held at the Moon Pie Festival on Mar. 22. 

All proceeds benefit the Moon Pie Festival.

To purchase tickets, the public can reach out to the Committee via its Facebook profile.

After the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, January 3rd’s Festival of Sleep Day is the perfect reminder to prioritize rest and recovery in the New Year. While the day may seem lighthearted, its underlying message is crucial: sleep is vital for overall health and well-being.

Modern life often glorifies busyness, leaving little time for quality sleep. However, research consistently shows that inadequate sleep increases the risk of physical and mental health issues, including heart disease, depression, and impaired cognitive function.

The Festival of Sleep Day encourages everyone to make rest a priority. Start by creating a sleep-friendly environment. Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool, and invest in comfortable bedding. Establish a bedtime routine, such as reading or meditating, to signal to your body that it’s time to wind down. Avoid screens and caffeine before bed, as both can interfere with your ability to fall asleep.

Experts recommend seven to nine hours of sleep for adults, but quality matters as much as quantity. Consider tracking your sleep patterns or consulting a professional if you’re struggling with insomnia or other issues.

This year, embrace the Festival of Sleep Day as an opportunity to set a resolution for better sleep. By prioritizing rest, you’ll equip yourself with the energy and focus needed to tackle 2025’s challenges and opportunities with vigor.

The National Weather has confirmed a total of 5 tornado touchdowns in central Louisiana during Saturday, Dec. 28’s severe weather outbreak. 

Four of the five touchdown locations occurred in Vernon Parish. The NWS in Lake Charles confirmed those locations as Jeff McDonald Rd., New Llano, Cooper Church Rd., and Fullerton Lake. The first two of these tornadoes was rated EF-0 while the latter two ranked at EF-1. 

The fifth touchdown occurred in St. Landry Parish. This EF-1 tornado had a longer track than the others identified by the NWS in this outbreak. 

No injuries or fatalities were reported from these surveys, though there was a great deal of damage, debris, and trees damaged or downed. 

This collection of tornadoes featured more touchdowns than the Dec. 26 spate yielded, but the Dec. 26 collection of tornadoes – one of which touched down in Rapides Parish – all rated at EF-1. 

The Pineville Police Department responded to a parking lot on Medical Park Boulevard regarding a welfare concern on Dec. 30. 

Upon arrival, officers located a deceased individual inside a vehicle. The preliminary investigation indicates that the individual died by suicide.

The Drifters, Cornell Gunter’s Coasters, and The Platters will perform on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 7:30pm at the Entertainment Center next to the Rapides Parish Coliseum. 

The newly renovated Entertainment Center (formerly the Expo Hall) has been updated as a venue for intimate 1,500 seat concerts and other live entertainment. Come see what the Entertainment Center has to offer on when The Drifters, Cornell Gunter’s Coasters, and The Platters perform live.

Three Rock & Roll Hall of Fame acts in one show – it’s not a concert…it’s a party. Spend a nostalgic evening saluting three of the world’s most beloved musical groups who were instrumental in creating the Rock & Roll/Doo Wop sound: The Drifters, one of Rock & Roll’s founding vocal groups with their 50-year catalog of hits (Under the Boardwalk, Up on the Roof, This Magic Moment, and On Broadway), Cornell Gunter’s Coasters (Charlie Brown, Yakety Yak, Poison Ivy), and The Platters featuring four of America’s premier singers performing their greatest hits (Only You, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Great Pretender).

Combined, these three Rock & Roll Hall of Fame groups have been associated with well over forty of the top classic songs in Rock & Roll history. From “Under the Boardwalk” to “Only You” to “Yakety Yak”, very few artists can boast of a richer musical resume. With such incredible musical diversity – from the comedy of Cornell Gunter’s Coasters to the romance of The Platters to the Motown Magic of The Drifters.

Tickets are on sale now. Tickets will be available at the Coliseum Box Office or at the “Buy Tickets” link.

My maternal grandparents were both born in the 19^th century. They lived long enough that I knew them. I was particularly fond of my grandmother. Their house had a huge front porch with a swing and rocking chairs. After lunch we would all go out to the front porch. I asked my grandmother once, “What are we doing?”

She said, “We are watching the world go by.” 

After we watched the passing world we were required to go inside and “be still.” Looking back, I understand that was grandparent for “we are napping, you kids don’t bother us.” Forced stillness is tough on a six-year-old. But even at that I have memories. When I was still, I would imagine what the people in that painting were doing.

That painting depicted a bearded man sitting with his wife and two children. My mother inherited the painting from her mother. When my mother died, I took the painting of the bearded man and his family. As a child, I had a vague notion that those people were family. When we cleaned out mom’s house, seeing that painting again after so many years brought back strangely comforting feelings. My siblings had no such affinity for the painting. I took it home.

We live in a world of reciprocal relationships. We say it like this, “what goes around comes around.” Don’t admit this to anyone, but you know that in your heart what you have received in life is what you have planted. This can be a hard truth to swallow in places. And it will break down at times because of evil and human sinfulness. With those caveats, it seems to be true. If you want to change your luck, then change your behavior. If you want to have more friends, be friendlier. If you want financial peace become generous. You get the idea; you have heard it enough in sermons!

Now back to my grandmother’s painting. Since I have inherited it, I have wondered about the identity of those people. Why did this painting pull at my heart?

The other day I was trolling the family tree on ancestry. I was working through the material side of the family. I was tracing my great grandmother who died soon after giving birth to my grandmother’s twin brothers. Her father, my second great grandfather, was Rev. Daniel Shephard Campbell from Kentucky. Attached to his information was a painting showing Rev. Campbell, his wife, and at least two of his ten children. One of the girls he named Katie Marvin Campbell. She was my great grandmother. My mother was named Katie Marvin. One of the girls in the painting was my great grandmother, Katie Marvin.

Interesting things about families, things go around in circles. I sat for several moments and stared at the picture on the Internet of Rev. Campbell and his family. It was the same one that hung on my grandmother’s wall. The same painting I inherited from my mother. It was the painting I looked at for hours while “being still.” It was a painting of my second great grandfather, Rev. Daniel Shephard Campbell a Methodist preacher.

Not only do families have these connections and repeated patterns. They are a part of daily life. You cannot escape connection. We were created to be connected. We were created to be dependent if you want a stronger image. In the New Year, could we all depend on each other a little bit more and be more dependable for others?

One of the truths of a reciprocal life is that we are in danger when we decide to divide our lives into those things we can do ourselves and those things that requires God’s help. When we live depending on God’s presence in our lives, we become dependable people of faith and action. It is all about “what goes around comes around.”

That truth will either cause you to be grateful or to duck!

National Science Fiction Day, observed annually on January 2, celebrates the genre that has captivated imaginations and driven innovation for decades. This date honors the birthday of Isaac Asimov, a prolific science fiction author whose works shaped the field’s trajectory.

Science fiction is more than stories about intergalactic travel or futuristic gadgets; it’s a lens through which we explore humanity’s relationship with technology, ethics, and the unknown. From Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the first modern sci-fi novel, to contemporary blockbusters like Interstellar, the genre encourages us to question reality and dream of what could be.

In literature, iconic authors such as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne introduced readers to time machines, submarines, and space exploration long before these ideas became scientific pursuits. Films like Star Wars and The Matrix have transcended entertainment, influencing cultural dialogue and inspiring technological advancements. The concepts of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and space exploration, once purely speculative, are now part of everyday life, thanks in part to the genre’s influence.

National Science Fiction Day invites fans to revisit their favorite works, from classic novels to modern streaming series. Aspiring writers and filmmakers are encouraged to use this day to start creating their visions of the future, ensuring that science fiction continues to inspire innovation and imagination for generations to come.

The National Weather Service offices in both Shreveport and Lake Charles confirmed a total of three tornado touchdowns in central Louisiana from the Dec. 26 storms. One touched down in Vernon Parish, one in Sabine Parish, and one in Rapides Parish

NWS in Lake Charles concluded their storm survey in Rapides Parish with confirmation that an EF-1 tornado touched down during the storms on the night of Dec. 26. During its 4-minute time on the ground, the tornado traveled approximately 1.93 miles. The tornado achieved a width of 150 yards and produced at its peak wind speeds of 100 mph. No injuries or fatalities were reported in connection to this tornado.

Additional details from NWS Lake Charles’ Report noted tree and power line damage across Highway 465. Several trees were damaged as was a frame home. One outbuilding/shed was completely destroyed. The tornado strengthened once in entered this area. The tornado’s debris signature was associated with this path. The tornado crossed Cutts Road and damaged many more trees. 

The Rapides Parish Police Jury announced Monday that all roads previously closed due to inclement weather and high water have reopened. The only road remaining closed, due to high water, at this time is Old Beaubouef. No indication was given of when RPPJ thought Old Beaubouef might reopen. 

The Alexandria Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing person, 25-year-old Shane Johnson.  Johnson is described as a white male 5’10”, 180 lbs.  Johnson was last seen in the 1000 block of MacArthur Drive on Oct. 26.

The Pineville Police Department is searching for Johnson as well, but for different reasons. Pineville PD has an arrest warrant for Johnson related to damage Johnson is alleged to have committed at Pineville High School on Oct. 26. 

Pineville police said Johnson should be considered armed and dangerous.

This is currently an ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information about this incident or any other type of crime in the Alexandria area should contact the Alexandria Police Detective Division at the phone number (318) 441-6416, or APD Dispatch (318) 441-6559. Contact may also be made via email at APDDetectives@cityofalex.com.