By staff reports ALEXANDRIA, La. - Ben H. Yang, a former Louisiana College music professor, died Sunday, Oct. 11. He was 73. A native of Daegu, South Korea, Yang came to the United States in 1970 to pursue an advanced degree in music, receiving his master’s degree and Ph.D. in music composition and theory from the University of North Texas. Afterwards, he joined the Louisiana College music department in 1989 and taught music composition, musical theory and piano for nearly three decades before retiring in 2019. Yang was devoted to his students and would often spend long hours composing recommendation letters. He was a piano accompanist for many years at First Presbyterian Church in Alexandria and enjoyed volunteering to play the piano for residents at local nursing homes and assisted living facilities. He was an avid golfer and gardener and had a deep fondness for cats, particularly the family cats, Frisky and Tiger, who would only sleep by Yang's side at night. Yang is survived by his wife of 39 years, Amy Yang, and their daughter, Stephanie Yang, of Boston, Massachusetts. A memorial service will be held in Guinn Auditorium at Louisiana College at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. To send flowers to the family or … [Read more...]

By Baptist Message staff BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Today is the final day for online registration to vote in the Nov. 3 election. According to a news release from Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, Louisiana residents can register to vote and make changes to their registration at GeauxVote.com. A Louisiana driver’s license or special ID must be used upon submission online. Early voting is scheduled for Oct. 16 to Oct. 27 (excluding Sundays), from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Polls on Nov. 3 will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. In addition to casting their vote for president and congress, Louisianans will have the opportunity to approve a number of amendments, including one that could protect state pro-life laws in the state. Known as the Love Life Amendment (also known as Amendment #1), this change to the state constitution is needed because of developments in 12 other states. In each case, a state court ruled that it had found in that particular state constitution a right to abortion – but the rulings were based on creative interpretations of a general phrase or vague wording and not on anything that specifically stated such rights. … [Read more...]