Editing St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana (section)

===21st century===
While St. Tammany was sparsely populated and almost wholly rural in the 1950s, its population exceeded 200,000 in the wake of [[Hurricane Katrina]]'s landfall in 2005.

A major event in the parish's transition from a bedroom community of commuters to a more diverse and independent economic unit occurred in 2008 with the relocation of [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron's]] regional corporate headquarters from [[New Orleans Central Business District|downtown New Orleans]] to an office park outside of Covington.

One of the parish's most powerful figures was Jack Strain, who served as St. Tammany sheriff from 1996 to 2016.<ref>{{cite news |title=Former St. Tammany Sheriff Jack Strain gets 4 life sentences for sex crimes |url=https://www.wdsu.com/article/st-tammany-jack-strain-sentenced/39175824 |access-date=May 13, 2023 |work=WDSU |date=February 22, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> After losing his bid for a sixth term, Strain was the subject of a federal corruption investigation into his privatizing a parish work release program in exchange for kickbacks. After being charged with 16 federal counts, Strain agreed to plead guilty to one count of bribery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Eastern District of Louisiana - Former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain Sentenced to 120 Months Imprisonment After Previously Pleading Guilty to Soliciting and Receiving Bribes Involving Contract for Privatization of Work Release Program in St. Tammany Parish |url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/former-st-tammany-parish-sheriff-jack-strain-sentenced-120-months-imprisonment-after |website=www.justice.gov |access-date=May 13, 2023 |language=en |date=April 6, 2022}}</ref> But the federal investigation also uncovered accusations of sexual abuse involving juveniles. Strain was charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated incest and one count each of sexual battery and indecent behavior with a juvenile.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pagones |first1=Sara |title=Former St. Tammany Sheriff Jack Strain guilty on all sex crime charges |url=https://www.nola.com/news/courts/article_339b914a-4095-11ec-b26d-17006bd04e1b.html |access-date=May 13, 2023 |work=NOLA.com |date=November 8, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> In 2021, he was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to four life terms in prison.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pagones |first1=Sara |title=Jack Strain formally sentenced to life behind bars for sex crimes |url=https://www.nola.com/news/courts/jack-strain-formally-sentenced-to-life-behind-bars-for-sex-crimes/article_a9dee4c2-9371-11ec-ac85-ff8c1e9ea8fe.html |access-date=May 13, 2023 |work=NOLA.com |date=February 22, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>