The Advocate 02-08-2025 by The Advocate

BRPD ends ShotSpotter technology use

Sensor that alerted police of gunshots cost $400K a year

BY AIDAN McCAHILL

Staff writer

In Baton Rouge Police Department’s ﬁrst major belt-tightening measure in 2025, Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr said he’s ending

a $400,000 annual contract with a company that’s provided the city for 18 years with sensor technology that automatically alerts police when and where gunshots are ﬁred.

When ShotSpotter’s acoustic sensors detect a gunshot, the sound is fed through a computer algorithm that determines the approximate location. The technology has given parish law enforcement valuable assistance locating forensic evi-

dence like shell casings, which can help identify suspects’ weapons, District Attorney Hillar Moore said.

In December, for example, 42% of the 470 gunshots reported in Baton Rouge were detected by ShotSpotter, a portion on par with most months since city police started using it in 2007, according to data supplied to The Advocate by the District Attorney’s Ofﬁce.

“The ShotSpotter technology is

good, but it’s limited,” Morse said, explaining his decision to stop using it. “It’s bringing us to an area where a gunshot happened and that’s it.”

When the Baton Rouge police chief faced the challenge of slashing nearly $9 million from the department’s budget because a parishwide 2% sales tax — revenue totaling about $50 million annually — is being transferred to the new city of St. George on July

‘THIS WEEKEND LOOKS REALLY GOOD’

Super Bowl in New Orleans means full hotels in Baton Rouge

BY TIMOTHY BOONE Business editor

Baton Rouge may be more than an hour away from where Super Bowl LIX is being held, but the impact of the big game is being felt locally

Jill Kidder president and CEO of Visit Baton Rouge, said many of the full service hotels in the metro area are “really booked up” for the weekend Of the hotels that had rooms available during the middle of the week, rates were eye-popping. The few rooms in midpriced hotels such as the Home2 Suites in Gonzales, the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown and the Hilton Garden Inn by Baton Rouge Metro Airport were all going for $400 or more a night, according to Hotels. com

“From anecdotal evidence we’re hearing from hoteliers, this weekend looks

really good,” Kidder said. Conservative estimates from Diego Bufquin, a professor at Tulane’s Freeman School of Business, project the big game will pump $150 million into the New Orleans economy Kidder and Laura Cating, a spokesperson for Visit Baton Rouge, said the game will have an impact on the Baton Rouge economy similar to what you would see in an early season LSU football game — like when the Tigers host Nicholls State.

The muted impact is due to the fact that the people who are staying in Baton Rouge for the Super Bowl are here because they couldn’t get a hotel room in or near New Orleans. So they are spending most of their time in New Orleans and sleeping in Baton Rouge, Kidder said.

“This won’t be quite the same as a big LSU weekend or when Garth Brooks was in Tiger Stadium,” she said.

Despite the limited impact, tourism ofﬁcials have done their best to capitalize on having the Super Bowl nearby A $10,000 digital marketing campaign was created in advance and set into place after the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles won their respective conference championship games nearly two weeks ago to earn a trip to the big game.

After the Chiefs and Eagles won, targeted digital ads promoting Baton Rouge tourism started running in the Kansas City and Philadelphia markets. After all, while business leaders and celebrities were going to the Super Bowl no matter what, the average Chiefs and Eagles fan decided to head to New Orleans once they knew their team was playing.

“We were perfect for this kind of overﬂow,” Kidder said.

ä See WEEKEND, page 6A

Judge to halt leave for USAID workers

Plan to pull 2,200 off the job temporarily blocked

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

1, he opted to kill ShotSpotter For Morse, the technology’s increasing cost simply didn’t outweigh its beneﬁts. He said as crime hot spots have shifted over the years, ShotSpotter’s success rate has waned. Presently, the sensors only cover six of Baton Rouge’s 80 square miles, plus two additional areas outside the city in the parish. Relocating the sensors would

Experts weigh in on class remarks

Suspended LSU law professor’s words draw rebukes, defenders

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

LSU’s decision to suspend professor Ken Levy, who used vulgar language to criticize Gov Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump during a lecture, has roiled the law school and launched a highproﬁle legal battle.

At the heart of the controversy is a debate: Were Levy’s comments part of his right to free speech and academic freedom, the kind of intellectual discussion that tenure is meant to protect? Or were they demeaning and threatening to students, the kind of speech that the university can discipline in the name of maintaining a professional and safe learning environment?

“The big question here is whether the comments made in class is actually protected speech or whether it’s subject to discipline,” said Robert Noel, a political-science professor who teaches constitutional law at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and runs a criminal-defense practice.

Levy a tenured LSU law professor, contends his statements were the former

“Professor Levy engaged his students in robust debate, challenged their viewpoints, and expressed his opinion — clearly protected rights of speech and academic freedom,” his attorney, Jill Craft, argued in a lawsuit ﬁled last month. Craft and other supporters of Levy have questioned if his suspension is part of a larger trend of Landry publicly attacking professors who criticize him.

“If the governor got his feelings hurt, well then he needs to not run for political ofﬁce,” Craft said on Friday

ä See COMMENTS, page 6A

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday dealt President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk their ﬁrst big setback in their dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, saying he will order a temporary halt to plans to pull thousands of agency staffers off the job.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, sided with two federal employee associations in agreeing to a pause in plans to put 2,200 employees on paid leave as of midnight Friday Nichols stressed his order was not a decision on the employees’ request to roll back the ad-

ministration’s swiftly moving destruction of the agency “CLOSE IT DOWN,” Trump said on social media of USAID before the judge’s ruling. The American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees argue that Trump lacks the authority to shut down the six-decade-old aid agency without

ä See JUDGE, page 4A

The sign and logo have been removed from the wall outside of the U.S Agency for International Development headquarters in Washington.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

The ESPN Bet sportsbook at L’Auberge Casino & Hotel gives patrons a relaxing spot to enjoy the big game All of the facility’s hotel rooms are occupied for Super Bowl weekend.

ä See BRPD, page 4A

BRIEFS

More active-duty troops going to Mexico border

WASHINGTON The Pentagon will deploy roughly 1,500 more active-duty soldiers to the southern border to support President Donald Trump’s expanding crackdown on immigration, a U.S. ofﬁcial said Friday

That would eventually bring the total to about 3,600 active duty troops at the border

The order has been approved, the official said, to send a logistics brigade from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. The ofﬁcial spoke on condition of anonymity because the deployment has not yet been publicly announced

The Pentagon has been scrambling to put in motion Trump’s executive orders signed shortly after he took ofﬁce on Jan. 20.

The ﬁrst group of 1,600 active duty troops has already deployed to the border, and close to 500 more soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are expected to begin moving in the coming days.

About 500 Marines also have been told to go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some of the detained migrants will be held. Several hundred Marines have already arrived there.

Troops going to the border are expected to help put in place concertina wire barriers and provide needed transportation, intelligence and other support to the Border Patrol. The logistics brigade will help support and sustain the troops.

Troops going to Guantanamo are helping to prepare the facility for an inﬂux of migrants and do other support duties.

Alaska Legislature asks Trump to retain ‘Denali’

JUNEAU, Alaska

The Alaska Legislature passed a resolution Friday urging President Donald Trump to reverse course and retain the name of North America’s tallest peak as Denali rather than change it to Mount McKinley

Trump, on his first day in office, signed an executive order calling for the name to revert to Mount McKinley, an identifier inspired by President William McKinley, who was from Ohio and never set foot in Alaska. He said he planned to “restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs. President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent.”

The 19-0 vote in the state Senate came just over a week after the House passed the measure 31-8.

The Interior Department late last month announced efforts were underway to implement Trump’s renaming order, even though state leaders haven’t seen the matter as settled.

According to the National Park Service, a prospector in 1896 dubbed the 20,310-foot peak Mount McKinley for William McKinley, who was elected president that year

There was no recognition of the name Denali, or “the high one,” bestowed on the mountain in interior Alaska by Athabascan tribal members, who have lived in the region for centuries.

UCF frat sanctioned after hazing allegations

ORLANDO, Fla. — The University of Central Florida has temporarily suspended the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity after viewing a photo of a blindfolded pledge holding a Nazi swastika.

The university learned about the image in the fall 2024 semester and determined it depicted an off-campus hazing incident from 2023, according to Courtney Gilmartin, a UCF spokeswoman.

“UCF unequivocally condemns hazing and acts of antisemitism,” Gilmartin wrote in an email. “While we have come to understand that the students in the photo were blindfolded and unaware of the hateful symbols at the time, this does not diminish the seriousness of this incident or the harm caused.”

UCF put the fraternity under an interim suspension as it continues to investigate, which means Phi Gamma Delta is now prohibited from participating in all activities.

Hamas names 3 more hostages to be freed

Israel will release 183 Palestinians

BY JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press

JERUSALEM Hamas identified three more Israeli hostages it plans to free as part of the fragile ceaseﬁre agreement, a sign the deal was moving forward Friday even as U.S. and Israeli ofﬁcials continued calls to relocate Gaza’s population after the war

The three men, captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, are set to be freed Saturday, in the ﬁfth exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel.

An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material, confirmed that the hostages scheduled for release are: Eli Sharabi, 52; Ohad Ben Ami, 56; and Or Levy, 34. Israel is set to release 183 Palestinian prisoners Saturday to fulfill its side of the agreement, according to the Hamas-linked prisoners’ office in Gaza. The terms of the deal’s first six-week phase call for Hamas to gradually free a total of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Sharabi was taken captive from Kibbutz Beeri, a communal farm that was one of the hardest hit in the Hamas attack. His wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters were killed by militants.

Ben Ami, a father of three, was taken hostage from the same community, where he was the kibbutz accountant. His wife, who was also captured was released during a brief ceaseﬁre in November 2023. Levy, a computer programmer from the city of Rishon Lezion, was pulled by militants from a bomb shelter near the Nova music festival in southern Israel. His wife was killed during the attack. The couple’s toddler son has been under the care of family members.

Hamas has so far released 18 hostages, including ﬁve Thai citizens captured in Israel during the attack. Last week, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners in accordance with the deal.

Details of the planned exchange came as U.S. President Donald Trump continued talking up his widely criticized proposal to move all Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop it as an international travel destination.

The idea, which Trump characterized Friday as a “real estate transaction,” has been roundly rejected by the region’s Arab

governments and by Palestinians themselves, who say forcing them from their homes would constitute ethnic cleansing.

Israeli forces have withdrawn from most of Gaza, as specified by the ceasefire agreement, but remain in border areas.

Negotiators have yet to agree on terms for the deal’s second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens more hostages in return for more prisoners and a lasting ceaseﬁre.

The Palestinian prisoners’ ofﬁce said that of those set for release Saturday, 18 are serving life sentences, 54 have long-term sentences, and 111 are Gazans who were detained after the Oct. 7 attack.

A list of those expected to be released, distributed Friday by Palestinian authorities, included Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49, who has been imprisoned for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas militant attacks that killed dozens of Israelis in the early 2000s. He is serving 18 life sentences.

Also on the list is Jamal al-Tawil, 61, a Hamas politician and former mayor of the West Bank city of AlBireh who has spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli prisons. Since his most recent arrest in 2021, he has been held without trial for allegedly organizing violent riots.

Trump imposes sanctions on International Criminal Court

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE and JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close U.S. ally Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of or recognizes the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes over his military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack against Israel in October 2023. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been killed during the Israeli military’s response.

The order Trump signed Thursday accuses the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and of abusing its power by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant

“The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel,” the order states, adding that the court had set a “dangerous precedent” with its actions against both countries.

Trump’s action came as Netanyahu was visiting Washington He and Trump held talks Tuesday at the White House, and Netanyahu spent some of Thursday meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The order says the U.S. will impose “tangible and signiﬁcant consequences” on those responsible for the ICC’s “transgressions.” Actions may include blocking property and assets and not allowing ICC ofﬁcials, employees and relatives to enter the United States.

Human rights activists said sanctioning court ofﬁcials would have a chilling effect and run counter to U.S. interests

in other conﬂict zones where the court is investigating.

Like Israel, the U.S. is not among the court’s 124 members and has long harbored suspicions that a global court could arbitrarily prosecute U.S. ofﬁcials. A 2002 law authorizes the Pentagon to liberate any American or U.S. ally held by the court. In 2020, Trump sanctioned chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s predecessor Fatou Bensouda, over her decision to open an inquiry into war crimes committed by all sides, including the U.S., in Afghanistan.

However, those sanctions were lifted under President Joe Biden, and the U.S. began to tepidly cooperate with the tribunal — especially after Khan in 2023 charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with war crimes in Ukraine.

Driving that turnaround was Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who organized meetings between Khan and GOP lawmakers who have been among the court’s ﬁercest critics.

Now, Graham says he feels betrayed by Khan — and is vowing to crush the court as well as the economy of any country that tries to enforce the arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

State Dept. lays out plans for arms sale to Israel

BY LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press

WASHINGTON The State Department has formally told Congress that it plans to sell more than $7 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and missiles, just two days after President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

The massive arms sale comes as a fragile ceaseﬁre agreement between Israel and Hamas holds, even as Trump continues to tout his widely criticized proposal to move all Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop it as an international travel destination.

The sale is another step in Trump’s effort to bolster Israel’s weapons stocks. In late January soon after he took ofﬁce, he lifted the hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of the bombs over concerns about civilian casualties, particularly during an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Trump told reporters he released them to Israel “because they bought them.”

According to the State Department, two separate sales were sent to Congress on Friday One is for $6.75 billion in an array of munitions, guidance kits and other related equipment. It includes 166 small-diameter bombs, 2,800 500-pound bombs, and thousands of guidance kits, fuses and other bomb components and support equipment. Those deliveries would begin this year

The other arms package is for 3,000 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million Deliveries of the missiles are expected to begin in 2028 and their use will require additional training by the U.S. military Biden administration officials informally notified Congress about the sale last month Officials at the time said some of the arms in the package could be sent from current U.S stocks but the majority would take a year or several years to deliver

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ABDEL KAREEM HANA

Palestinians walk in the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, on Thursday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI

President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Federal workers have more time to weigh buyouts

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON — Federal employees

who want to take President Donald Trump’s buyout offer now have until 11:59 p.m. Monday because of a federal court ruling.

Until the court hit pause, about 2.4 million federal workers had until Friday at midnight to decide on the Deferred Resignation Program. They need only to send an email to hr@opm.gov from the employee’s work account with “Resign” typed in the “Subject” line, according to an Ofﬁce of Personnel Management memo sent Friday morning.

Active military, Postal Service employees, immigration enforcement personnel and some national security employees are exempt, according to the Ofﬁce of Personnel Management.

Those who refuse the buyout offer according to the memo, “will be subject to enhanced standards

of suitability and conduct” as federal agencies are downsized. This is part of Trump’s promises to radically reduce the size of government and rid taxpayers from the responsibility of paying for so many federal employees.

“This is a rare, generous opportunity,” McLaurine Pinover, from the Ofﬁce of Personnel Management, said in a statement, “one that was thoroughly vetted and intentionally designed to support employees through restructuring.”

The buyout program has proved controversial.

“Louisiana’s federal employees — and millions like them nationwide are the backbone of our government,” said U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans. “They process Social Security beneﬁts, protect our environment, care for our veterans, and keep our communities safe.

Yet, once again, they face attacks from President Donald Trump, who seeks to dismantle the civil service and replace skilled professionals

with political loyalists.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, said the administration estimates that “5% to 10% of the federal workforce will take their golden parachute.” That would be somewhere between 120,000 and 240,000 federal employees.

Just how many took the offer before the deadline was extended is a bit up in the air

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said about 40,000 federal workers have already taken the offer

“If they don’t want to show up to the office,” she said, “if they want to rip the American people off, then they’re welcome to take this buyout and we’ll find highly competent individuals who want to fill these roles.”

Reuters reported Friday its sources said about 60,000, while The Wall Street Journal heard about 65,000.

No list has been made public so there’s no way to know from which

agencies and from which localities the acceptances have come.

Louisiana has about 19,000 civilian federal employees who are eligible to tender their resignations now and receive full pay until September 30. They’re not expected to continue working and can seek a second job through September, according to the memo. Multiple lawsuits have challenged the buyouts, arguing they violate federal employment rules and contracts. Federal law forbids the executive branch from spending any money not speciﬁcally authorized by Congress. Also, federal work rules allow for layoffs to be paid for with a single buyout amount, but that generally cannot exceed $25,000.

The American Federation of Government Employees ﬁled a lawsuit alleging the Trump administration failed to provide the required legal basis for the buyout offer A few hours before the Friday

midnight deadline, U.S. District Court Senior Judge George O’Toole Jr in Boston stopped implementation of the directive “pending the completion of brieﬁng and oral argument on the issues.”

O’Toole, who was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton, set a 2 p.m. Monday hearing. He can delay the deadline again to give more time to consider the arguments or block it permanently

A dozen Democratic state attorneys general called the deferred resignation offer misleading. “These supposed offers are not guaranteed,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

Carter agreed: “His latest scheme — a so-called ‘deferred resignation’ offer — is a trap. There is no legal basis for it, and those who accept could ﬁnd themselves unemployed with no recourse.”

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.

BY COLLIN BINKLEY and BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS

AP education writers

WASHINGTON Democrats are pushing back against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as it turns its attention to the Education Department, with lawmakers raising concerns about DOGE’s access to internal systems containing personal information on tens of millions of Americans.

In a letter to the acting education secretary, a group of Democrats is seeking to intervene as DOGE gains increasing access to student loan databases and other systems. Democrats fear it could lay the groundwork for a takeover akin to Musk’s attempt to close the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Democrats including California Rep. Mark Takano were turned away by secu-

rity when they tried to enter the department’s Washington headquarters on Friday after demanding a meeting with leaders.

“President Donald Trump has promised to abolish the Department of Education,” Takano said in a news conference. “He believes that he can do this through executive order, and we’re here to remind him that he cannot.”

The department has been in turmoil as Trump, a Republican, sets out to abolish it. The White House is considering an executive order that would tell the education secretary to slash the department as far as possible and urge Congress to fully terminate it. Dozens of employees have been placed on paid leave with little explanation, and workers from DOGE have begun scouring the department’s records as they look to slash spending.

Musk’s DOGE team already has gained access to a database housing personal information on millions of students and parents with federal student loans, according to two people with

Federal agencies told

knowledge of the issue. One of them, a department employee, said a DOGE representative requested the access more than a week ago.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Employees described a DOGE team of several young men that has been working out of the undersecretary’s ofﬁce on the seventh ﬂoor Staff members have been told little about the team, which has been spotted in hallways and rummaging through boxes but mostly ignores others, said Sheria Smith, president of a federal employees union that represents some of the agency’s staff. “They are not interacting at all, not even cordially with anyone who is not part of their team,” Smith said.

Among the cuts sought by the DOGE team is an 80% reduction in spending on a contract to manage websites and call center technology that parents and students use for help applying for federal student aid, said two department employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity

to create lists of underperforming workers

BY BRIAN WITTE Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered all federal departments and agencies to provide lists of employees who are underperforming, as it seeks to shrink the workforce and awaits a court ruling related to its deferred resignation offers.

A memo sent by the Ofﬁce of Personnel Management on Thursday directs the agencies to submit names of every employee who has received less than a “fully successful” performance rating in the past three years and to note whether the workers have been on performance plans.

The memo, which was viewed by The Associated Press, also emphasized that the agencies report any obstacles to making sure they have “the ability to swiftly terminate poor performing employees who cannot or will not improve.”

The memo seeks the employee’s name, job title pay plan and other details, as well as

whether that employee is “under or successfully completed a performance improvement plan within the last 12 months.”

The ofﬁce also is asking if an agency has proposed or issued a decision in such cases, and whether any action is being appealed or challenged, as well as any outcome.

The data is due by March 7.

Charles Ezell, the acting director of OPM who sent the memo, wrote that the ofﬁce is developing new performance metrics for evaluating the federal workforce, a standard that “aligns with the priorities and standards in the President’s recent Executive Orders.” To assist the ofﬁce, Ezell wrote that all agencies should submit data regarding their performance management plans and policies, including those contained in collective bargaining agreements.

So far, 65,000 federal workers have opted into the deferred resignation program, according to a White House ofﬁcial who wasn’t authorized to disclose the latest ﬁgures and spoke on condition of anonymity

for fear of losing their jobs.

There are two years remaining on an $824 million contract with information technology services company Accenture for the work.

Education Department employees pushed back, telling the DOGE team that much of the work to help simplify loan applications was required by Congress, the staff members said.

Last year, after a botched rollout of a revised FAFSA student aid form, the department added additional support to the call centers to help families with their applications.

A federal lawsuit ﬁled Friday seeks to block DOGE’s access to student financial aid systems, saying it violates privacy rights of millions of federal student loan borrowers. It was filed by the advocacy group Student Defense on behalf of the University of California Student Association. It says DOGE could now

have access to Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth and contact information for student loan borrowers. The database also houses information on the parents of dependent loan applicants, including citizenship status and income information.

The suit says it’s an “enormous and unprecedented” invasion of privacy for more than 42 million people whose personal data is stored in Federal Student Aid systems.

The Education Department said DOGE is helping it return to in-person work, restoring accountability for employees and reforming the hiring process to focus on merit It said there is “nothing inappropriate or nefarious going on.”

Rep. Bobby Scott, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, asked a government watchdog to review data security at the Education Department and other agencies where Musk’s team has gained access. His Friday letter to the Government Accountability Ofﬁce called it a “constitutional emergency.”

“There is now a void of oversight for a very young and inexperienced team and their leader, the world’s richest man,” Scott wrote. Trump campaigned on a promise to close the department, claiming it has been inﬁltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.”

But Trump’s pledge is colliding with the reality that the department’s existence and most of its spending is ordered by Congress.

“The DOGE employees are federal employees,” the department said in a statement. “They have been sworn in, have the necessary background checks and clearances, and are focused on making the Department more cost-efficient, effective, and accountable to the taxpayers.”

Continued from page 1A

prove prohibitively expensive, the police chief said.

While Moore understood the Baton Rouge Police Department’s budgetary constraints, he would have preferred keeping and expanding ShotSpotter’s range if the money was available.

“It’s not solving a crime,” Moore said, “but there are instances where it’s extremely valuable.

While murder rates in many U.S. cities have been declining, Baton Rouge has struggled with stubbornly high numbers since the pandemic emerged in March 2020.

Given that, Moore said expanding ShotSpotter could save lives with faster police and emergency response times.

”If someone is shot in the lower limb, they have only a few minutes to survive,” he said. “How do you put a price on that?”

Moore said real-time data from

JUDGE

Continued from page 1A

approval from Congress

Democratic lawmakers have made the same argument.

Trump’s administration moved quickly Friday literally to erase the agency’s name Workers on a crane scrubbed the name from the stone front of its Washington headquarters. They used duct tape to block it out on a sign and took down USAID ﬂags. Someone placed a bouquet of ﬂowers outside the door

The Trump administration and Musk, who is running a budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have made USAID their biggest target so far in an unprecedented challenge of the federal government and many of its programs.

Administration appointees and Musk’s teams have shut down almost all funding for the agency, stopping aid and development programs worldwide, placed staffers and contractors on leave and furlough and locked them out of the agency’s email and other systems. According to Democratic lawmakers, they also carted away USAID’s computer servers.

“This is a full-scale gutting of virtually all the personnel of an entire agency,” Karla Gilbride, the attorney for the employee associations, told the judge.

Department of Justice attorney Brett Shumate argued that the administration has all the legal authority it needs to place agency staffers on leave. “The government does this across the board every day,” Shumate said. “That’s what’s happening here. It’s just a large number.”

Friday’s ruling is the latest setback in the courts for the Trump administration, whose policies to offer ﬁnancial incentives for federal workers to resign and end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally have

ShotSpotter can provide police ofﬁcers with crucial information, like whether the gunﬁre is automatic. That information is often more reliable than eyewitness accounts, and can be critical in cases when witnesses are uncooperative, he said.

SoundThinking, the company that owns ShotSpotter claimed its system has a 97% accuracy rate and a 0.5% false positive rate.

However, the technology has been criticized by law enforcement officials and criminal justice advocates nationwide. They say its false positives from noises like fireworks can waste police resources and potentially lead to overreactive policing in minority neighborhoods.

Morse doesn’t share the counterproductive viewpoint.

“I don’t know about the overpolicing part, because it’s just a report of a gunshot in the area,” he said.

Morse, the police chief, said although the technology has improved since 2007, he wasn’t certain whether ShotSpotter technol-

been temporarily paused by judges.

Earlier Friday, a group of a half-dozen USAID officials speaking to reporters strongly disputed assertions from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the most essential lifesaving programs abroad were getting waivers to continue.

Among the programs they said had not received waivers: $450 million in food grown by U.S. farmers sufﬁcient to feed 36 million people, which was not being paid for or delivered; and water supplies for 1.6 million people displaced by war in Sudan’s Darfur region, which were being cut off without money for fuel to run water pumps in the desert.

The judge’s order involved the Trump administration decision earlier this week to pull almost all USAID workers off the job and out of the ﬁeld worldwide.

Besides the 2,200 workers temporarily protected from being put on leave, the fate was not clear of others that work with the agency and have been laid off, furloughed or put on leave.

Trump and congressional Republicans have spoken of moving a much-reduced number of aid and development programs under the State Department

Within the State Department itself, employees fear substantial staff reductions following the deadline for the Trump administration’s offer of ﬁnancial incentives for federal workers to resign, according to ofﬁcials who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. A judge temporarily blocked that offer and set a hearing Monday

The administration earlier this week gave almost all USAID staffers posted overseas 30 days, starting Friday, to return to the U.S., with the government paying for their travel and moving costs. Diplomats at embassies asked for waivers allowing more time for some, including families forced to pull their children out of schools midyear

In a notice posted on the

ogy was responsible for a single arrest since he became chief in late 2023. During a 2007 trip to Washington, D.C., former Baton Rouge Police Chief Jeff LeDuff and then-Mayor Kip Holden saw ShotSpotter equipment perched on street corners in the nation’s capital

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it seemed like a perfect resource to help Baton Rouge handle the influx of residents moving from New Orleans, LeDuff said. Flush with cash from federal grants, Baton Rouge police ofﬁcials soon installed new street crime cameras and ShotSpotter’s sensors throughout the city

“It was an exciting time in law enforcement, and we were leading the charge,” LeDuff said.

Then the investment in gunshot sensor technology took a personal turn for the police chief.

On Labor Day weekend in 2010, LeDuff received an early morning call about a shooting at Nicholson Drive and Roosevelt Street, near the outskirts of LSU’s campus

He soon found out the victim was his brother-in-law, Christopher Domingue, who had been fatally shot while riding his bicycle.

On the morning Domingue was killed, no one had been around to call 911, but ShotSpotter sensors alerted an ofﬁcer who arrived on the scene, in time to see the suspect’s car drive away LeDuff said.

Ofﬁcers soon located the car at an apartment, where they found the man who would ultimately go to jail after his conviction for killing Domingue.

“Can you imagine being the chief of police and going back to your house every day and your signiﬁcant other looks at you and says, ‘You know anything about my brother’s death yet’ and you don’t have any answers?’ LeDuff said. “ShotSpotter saved me from that.”

The ShotSpotter technology joins the police department’s mounted patrol division, with its annual $50,000 cost, as victims of the budget ax. But the reduction in revenue has also exacerbated staffing woes.

The police department was already 100 ofﬁcers short before the St. George tax transfer, and new ofﬁcers earn less than $39,000 a year

“There are 15 to 20 departments right around us that make more starting pay than us,” Morse said.

On Thursday, Mayor Sid Edwards proposed redirecting library funds to boost police salaries. But the budget crunch remains in the police department.

“I have a lot of things that I’ve presented to the Mayor’s Ofﬁce on ways that I can get to that $9 million,” the police chief said. His immediate goals are balancing morale, staffing, community relations, and crime prevention. As for gunshot detection, the chief is looking to move to cheaper more proven technology like crime cameras with facial- and weapon-recognition software, and license plate readers — both of which are already widespread throughout the city

Email Aidan McCahill at aidan. mccahill@theadvocate.com.

USAID website late Thursday, the agency clariﬁed that none of the overseas personnel put on leave would be forced to leave the country where they work. But it said that workers who chose to stay longer than 30 days might have to cover their own expenses unless they received a speciﬁc hardship waiver

Rubio said Thursday during a trip to the Dominican Republic that the government would help staffers get home within 30 days “if they so desired” and would listen to those with special conditions.

He insisted the moves were the only way to get cooperation because staffers were working “to sneak through payments and push through payments despite the stop order” on foreign assistance.

Rubio said the U.S government will continue providing foreign aid, “but it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO MANUEL BALCE CENETA

A group of journalists gathers outside the United States Agency for International Development headquarters in Washington on Friday.

Continued from page 1A

Baton Rouge is also seeing a spillover from some of the people who are in New Orleans to work the Super Bowl, such as security staffers and performers.

“Those people all need places to stay,” Cating said.

At L’Auberge Casino & Hotel Baton Rouge, all of the hotel’s 205 rooms are fully occupied by comped guests and people who are paying elevated rates, said Jerry Abner, vice president of marketing. Guests were invited in based on their play at other gambling halls owned by L’Auberge’s parent company, Penn National Gaming

“We’ve got players coming in from Colorado, Indiana, Pennsylvania,” Abner said.

The combination of Penn National regulars and locals who want to watch the Super Bowl in the casino’s sports book while they wager a little money on the game has ofﬁcials expecting a busy weekend.

“For us it’s a big weekend overall. We’ll have the UFC ﬁghts on tomorrow night Those always pack the place,” Abner said.

At Baton Rouge Metro Airport, the game is having an impact. Four charter ﬂights tied to the game have ﬂown into the airport, said spokesperson Kristen Jewell. Signature Aviation, which provides services to private planes, said all of its 70 or spaces at the airport are full

Email Timothy Boone at tboone@theadvocate com.

could end up changing during the semester due to the U.S Supreme Court

But for LSU, and for Landry, Levy’s comments were not protected speech

“The Ken Levy situation is not a question of academic freedom,” the university said in a statement Friday.

“Our investigation found that Professor Levy created a classroom environment that was demeaning to students who do not hold his political view, threatening in terms of their grades, and profane,” it said.

Some say the line is not always clear

“It’s a gray area,” said Olivier Moréteau, an LSU law professor and member of the LSU chapter of American Association of University Professors, which advocates for academic freedom in higher education.

On Jan. 14, the ﬁrst day of a criminal-law course, Levy told his students that he had a no-recording policy Levy referenced an incident after the November presidential election when his colleague, law professor Nick Bryner, made comments during a class lecture that were critical of Trump and eventually shared with Landry. Landry publicly criticized Bryner on social media.

Levy talked about Landry, and later Trump, using several vulgar terms in the process

“Frankly, like, forward my s*** to the governor Like, I generally don’t have a problem. I would love to become a national celebrity based on what I said in this class. Like, f*** the governor,” Levy said, prompting student laughter Levy said he could put students in jail if they secretly recorded him and shared the recording, which also elicited laughter from students. Later in class, Levy said that changes to criminal procedure can happen quickly. And it was possible that concepts taught during the class

He went on to say, “You probably heard I’m a big lefty, OK. I’m a big Democrat. I’ve been, I was devastated by, I couldn’t believe that f***** won,” referring to Trump’s election

“Those of you who like him, I don’t give a s***

You’re already getting ready to send your evaluations: ‘I don’t need his political commentary.’ No, you need my political commentary. You above all others need my political commentary,” said Levy, again provoking laughter

“But here is the deal. I stopped listening to the news. I don’t know what’s going on. I know there are fires in L.A., and I know Carter died That’s about it Alright? I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what Trump is doing. I don’t care what he’s doing.”

Noel said the Levy case touches on two separate — but intertwined — issues.

“The one issue is the right of the university to ensure that you have proper decorum on the part of the professors,” Noel said. “And the other is the First Amendment right of the professors to make a comment — even one that involves an expletive about the governor.”

Part of LSU policy says, “Academic freedom protects freedom of speech, thought, and expression within the university setting to promote learning and knowledge.”

“Academic freedom is ensured through tenure, which prevents termination or punishment of faculty for any reason that could plausibly stiﬂe academic speech and inquiry but does provide for termination or discipline of faculty members for justifiable causes,” the policy states.

Tenure promotes “inquiry into truth” free from external pressure due to differing ideological views, it states But it goes on to state that faculty can’t pressure

students into adopting any particular point of view and they must “respect for the rights, views, and opinions of others.”

Levy has argued discussion and criticism of the actions taken by political ﬁgures is clearly the kind of intellectual discussion tenure aims to protect.

“No amount of curse words or divergent opinion justifies” the harm caused by the teaching suspension, according to his legal ﬁlings.

But LSU argues Levy went beyond “facilitating learning and gaining knowledge relevant to the subject being taught or researched.”

“We expect faculty to explore the subject matter, not threaten or indoctrinate,” it said.

Moréteau, the law professor, called himself “a ﬁerce defender” of academic freedom. But he believes Levy crossed a line in his use of profanity and verbal attacks against Landry and Trump.

“Attacking people and calling them names in a classroom environment is not appropriate and certainly makes a number of students feel very uncomfortable. That’s not right,” said Moréteau.

But Kevin Cope, an LSU English literature professor and officer of the local AAUP chapter, said he viewed some of Levy’s comments “as a kind of sharp humor.”

Cope also argued the university classroom is a type of “sacred space” where any kind of idea may be discussed — so long as its pertinent to the course.

With political discussions in the law school, where almost any topic could apply to the political issues or actors of the day, that pertinence can be understood broadly, he said.

“The nature of the topic the law, society, politics, the people who act their lives out in all three of those venues — the line between all three of those is very thin indeed,” Cope said.

Looming over the debate

is Landry’s willingness to publicly call for discipline against professors who criticize him.

When Levy exclaimed, “F*** the governor,” he did so in the context of Landry’s targeting of fellow professor Nick Bryner

Landry called out Bryner in two posts from the ofﬁcial governor’s social media account. In the first, Landry shared a video of Bryner teaching in class. In the second post, Landry called on LSU to investigate and discipline Bryner for those comments.

Landry made a similar move in 2021 when he was attorney general.

Bob Mann, then a tenured professor of mass communication at LSU, in a social media post criticized a Landry for his stance on COVID vaccines and one of Landry’s staffers, calling her “a ﬂunkie.”

In response, Landry posted on social media from

his official state attorney general account, saying he hoped LSU “takes appropriate action soon.” Landry also issued a formal letter to LSU President William Tate over Mann’s criticism of his staff.

Landry this week criticized Levy’s comments on social media.

“Is this the type of language and attitude you expect your tax dollars to pay for?” Landry said. “No judge would tolerate this conduct in their courtroom or any legal professional setting. It should not be tolerated at our taxpayer funded universities either.”

Noel, the political science professor, said bitter political divisions have put the country “in a bad spot” and hampered the teaching of different perspectives.

“At the university, in the professional level, you have to be able to discuss more than one point of view You cannot be afraid to offend people,” he said.

Cope, the English professor, said there had traditionally been “wide latitude” for the airing of all kinds of views in the university setting.

“In the early part of my career, there was room for a lot of joking and speculation and daring comments,” said Cope, who has taught at LSU for 41 years. But he said there’s been a “gradual narrowing” of what speech is tolerated in the classroom, a trend he attributed to both the political left and political right.

“That is a shame because it is a narrowing down of what can be discussed in the university,” he said. “It is a narrowing down of the kind of training that the students get. And ultimately therefore, it’s a narrowing down of the competence of the students that emerge from such an institution.”

Email Alyse Pfeil at alyse. pfeil@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Philadelphia Eagles fans and Kansas City Chiefs fans walk Bourbon Street ahead of the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Friday.

Trump wants to slash U.S. trade deficit with Japan

President says he isn’t taking tariffs off the table

BY AAMER MADHANI and MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press

WASHINGTON President

Donald Trump said Friday he wants to slash the U.S trade deficit with Japan as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House for their first face-to-face meeting.

Trump added that he isn’t taking the possibility of levying tariffs against Japan off the table, but believes the issue can be resolved without punitive action. The United States has a $68 billion trade deﬁcit with Japan “I think it will be very easy for Japan,” Trump said at start of his Oval Ofﬁce meeting with Ishiba. “We have a fantastic relationship. I don’t think we’ll have any problem. They want fairness also.”

Trump announced that Japan’s Nippon Steel was dropping its $14.1 billion acquisi-

Trump

tion of the Pittsburgh-headquartered U.S. Steel and would instead be making an “investment, rather than a purchase.” Trump said he would “mediate and arbitrate” as the companies negotiate the investment. The

says

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s revoking former President Joe Biden’s access to government secrets and ending the daily intelligence briefings he’s receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021.

Trump announced his decision in a post on his social media platform shortly after he arrived at his Mar-a-Lago home and private club in Palm Beach for the weekend.

“There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings,” Trump wrote. “He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security a courtesy provided to for-

he’s

mer Presidents.”

U.S. president mistakenly referred to Nippon Steel as “Nissan,” the Japanese automaker

President Joe Biden, before leaving office last month, blocked the purchase, citing national security con-

cerns. Trump in December said he was “totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company.” Trump told reporters Friday that he remained opposed to the Japanese company buying

U.S. Steel outright.

Trump’s push to cut the trade deficit comes as he has pursued tariffs on both friends and foes in an effort to boost American manufacturing.

Ishiba, who was making a whirlwind trip to Washington to get face time with Trump, said he understands that Trump’s goal is mutually beneﬁcial trade policy

But the prime minister also noted Japanese companies have held the top spot for cumulative foreign direct investment in the U.S. over the last ﬁve years. He added that Japan was looking to invest more in the United States.

Ishiba also heaped praise on Trump, saying he was inspired by the “undaunted presence” of a bloodied Trump pumping his ﬁst after surviving an assassination attempt at a July campaign rally Ishiba added that many in Japan were also excited about his return to the White House.

“It is not only among politicians, but also among the general public as well as business leaders,” Ishiba

said. “There are many that were anxiously awaiting your comeback.”

He also said he was excited, before coming to Washington, about meeting a television celebrity like Trump. Ishiba said of Trump that “on television, he is frightening,” but during their Oval Ofﬁce meeting the president was actually “very sincere.” He added that he didn’t come to “suck up” to the president. Trump also said at his news conference with Japan’s prime minister that he wanted to see some FBI agents fired as the Justice Department reviews how the agency handled investigations into the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I’ll ﬁre some of them, because some of them were corrupt,” Trump said. He added, “it will be done quickly, and very surgically.”

Ishiba, who took office in October, is just the second world leader to visit the White House during Trump’s new term Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week was the ﬁrst hosted by Trump.

ending Biden’s classified intelligence briefings

The move is the latest in a vengeance tour of Washington that Trump promised during his campaign He has previously revoked security clearances from more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a “Russian information operation.” He’s also revoked security details assigned to protect former government ofﬁcials who have criticized him, including his own former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who faces threats from Iran, and former infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Biden didn’t immediately comment on the move. Biden ended Trump’s intelligence brieﬁngs after Trump helped spur efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and incited the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. At the time, Biden said Trump’s “erratic” behavior should prevent him from get-

ting the intel brieﬁngs.

Asked in an interview with CBS News what he feared if Trump continued to receive the brieﬁngs, Biden said he did not want to “speculate out loud” but made clear he did not want Trump to continue having access to such information.

“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence brieﬁngs,” Biden said. “What value is giving him an intelligence brieﬁng? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?” in 2022, federal agents searched Trump’s Florida home and seized boxes of classified records. He was indicted on dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified records and obstructing FBI efforts to get them back. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. A judge dismissed the charges, ruling the special counsel who brought them was illegally appointed, and the Justice

Musk says he will rehire DOGE staffer

25-year-old was linked to social media posts that espoused racism

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press

WASHINGTON Elon Musk said on Friday he is rehiring a staff member at the Department of Government Efficiency who resigned a day earlier after he was linked to social media posts that espoused racism. Musk, in a post on his social media network X, said he would bring back Marko Elez after Vice President JD

Vance called for him to be rehired. President Donald Trump later endorsed his vice president’s view Marko Elez resigned Thursday after The Wall Street Journal linked the 25-year-old DOGE staffer to a deleted social media account on X that posted last year, “I was racist before it was cool” and “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” among other posts The account in September included a post that said, “Normalize Indian hate.” The vice president’s wife, Usha Vance, is the daughter of Indian immigrants.

Vance, in a post on Muskowned X, said Elez should be brought back and blamed “journalists who try to destroy people.”

“I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life,” Vance said.

“I’m with the vice president,” Trump told a news conference Friday

A few hours later, Musk posted: “He will be brought back To err is human, to forgive divine.”

Elez did not respond to a message seeking comment Friday

Department gave up appeals after Trump was elected in November

In a related matter, Trump dismissed Colleen Shogan as the archivist of the United States, White House aide Sergio Gor posted on X Friday night.

Trump had said in early January that he would replace the head of the National Archives and Records Administration. The government agency drew his anger after it informed the Justice Department about issues with Trump’s handling of classified documents. Shogan, the ﬁrst woman in the post, wasn’t the archivist of the United States at the time the issue emerged.

In his post on Biden, Trump cited the special counsel report last year into his handling of classified documents, saying, “The Hur Report revealed that Biden suffers from ‘poor memory’ and, even in his ‘prime,’ could not be trusted with sensitive information.” He ended his post by saying, “I will always protect our National Security — JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Special counsel Robert Hur investigated Biden’s handling of classified information and found that criminal charges were not warranted but delivered a bitingly critical assessment of his handling of sensitive government records. The report described Biden’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It said Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president. Trump has the right to end the briefings for Biden because it is a sitting president’s decision on whether a past president should continue to have access to classified information. Steven Cheung, the president’s communications director shared Trump’s post on X and said, “Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more!”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI

President Donald Trump, center, greets Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, right, Friday at the White House in Washington.

Fish kills reported after snowstorm

Trout, redfish, drum among thousands found dead

BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer

Louisiana’s record freeze and snowstorm last month killed many thousands of ﬁsh, but marine conditions were not as severe as a 1989 cold snap, and time will tell if species such as speckled trout and redﬁsh were badly affected, biologists

with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said.

The department had investigated 77 ﬁsh kills statewide through Thursday, most discovered by its own teams searching for them. The dead ﬁsh included 12,552 speckled trout, 6,568 redfish, 2,142 black drum, 2,657 sheepshead and 19,107 striped mullet.

Most of the dead trout, redfish and drum were found in the Terrebonne/Timbalier Basin, while most sheepshead were in the Barataria Basin and mullet in the Pontchartrain Basin, department data shows.

The data showed “concentrations of kills occurring in some areas where ﬁsh likely did not have time

to leave shallower areas or have access to deep enough, slightly warmer, water readily available in which to take refuge,” biologists said in a report supplied to the state’s Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.

“Coastal water levels were already somewhat lower prior to the Arctic blast and ﬁsh may have moved to deeper waters prior to those areas reaching critical water temperatures.” When water temperatures drop below 40 degrees and remain there for more than a day conditions can be fatal for saltwater ﬁsh. The cold weather the week of Jan. 20 led to water temperatures below that point across coastal Louisiana, with some areas remaining there for four days. Though the snowfall was record-breaking, with as much as 12 inches falling in some areas, the

TELLTALE SIGNS

ABOVE and RIGHT: Crews prepare signage supports for new signs that will be used along Interstate 10 near the College Drive exit from westbound Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.

STAFF PHOTOS By HILARy SCHEINUK

Chef Guy Fieri spotted around Baton

Rouge

TV host appeared at meet-and-greet event at Total Wine & More

Drive-Ins and Dives,” “Grocery Games” and “Guy’s Big Bite” — spent two days in Baton Rouge The spiky-haired, tattooed and bejeweled host appeared at a consumer meet-and-greet event at Total Wine & More Thursday

ä See FIERI, page 2B

ä See FISH, page 2B

Popular concert series lineup restored

BY ELLYN COUVILLION

Staff writer

Two Baton Rouge businesses stepped up with donations to restore the long-standing Live After Five free concert series to its full 2025 lineup, after news earlier this week that city-parish budget cuts would have trimmed the number of free shows held in downtown Baton Rouge. MAPP Construction and b1 Bank pledged the money to ensure the popular series will continue with six shows in the spring and the fall, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards said Friday Each company contributed $15,000.

With city-parish tax money being shifted to St. George, funding for the concert series was cut by 20% this year, from $75,000 to $60,000, said Casey Tate, assistant executive director of the Downtown Development District. However, the two local

STAFF PHOTO By JOHN BALLANCE

Dr Jay Perniciaro, far left, and his wife Colleen, far right, wait for a photo while celebrity chef Guy Fieri signs their tequila bottles at Total Wine & More in Baton Rouge on Thursday.

Woman arrested using stolen credit cards

Police: ‘Career criminal’ seen leaving hotel room where reporter found dead

BY MICHELLE HUNTER Staff writer

Two days after a Kansas City Tel-

emundo reporter visiting New Orleans to cover the Super Bowl was found dead in his hotel room, Kenner police announced the arrest of a woman seen leaving his room and later using his credit cards at several local stores.

Danette Colbert, 48, of Slidell, is only facing fraud and theft charges, said Deputy Chief Mark McCormick, of the Kenner Police Department.

But authorities noted that she has a criminal history that includes allegations of drugging men, theft and credit card fraud. Colbert has convictions in Jefferson and Orleans Parish for targeting tourists on Bourbon Street and illegally using credit cards, according to authorities.

“She was stopped quite frequently in the French Quarter, and she’s known for these fraud schemes,” Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said Friday

But authorities have said there were no signs of obvious trauma to his body Video evidence Authorities didn’t say where they suspect Manzano met Colbert. But she was with him when he re-

FIERI

Continued from page 1B

night to sign bottles of his and rock star Sammy Hagar’s Santo Tequila brand. Appropriately the store’s sound system played classic rock music throughout the evening.

Fieri also conﬁrmed at the hourlong Total Wine stop that he and the production crew are shooting segments for “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” (or “Triple D,” as he refers to it) in the capital city

“We came in to do some ‘Triple D.’ What a great food scene We saw three restaurants today We have three tomorrow,” Fieri said. “I know everybody knows New Orleans, and well, everybody knows Baton Rouge and LSU, but I’m going to tell you something, you’ve got the greatest food scene. You’ve got the nicest people a big small town The three we shot today are outstanding, and the three tomorrow are going to be pretty dynamite, too.” In the series, currently on season 51, Fieri takes his red convertible across the country to visit roadside eateries searching for the best burgers, comfort foods or local specialties. He pops in the restaurant kitchen to watch the dishes being made, grab a bite and chat with diners to ﬁnd out why a place is so special. Football-wise, Fieri said he’s not taking sides for Sunday’s big game.

“I’m a Raider (Las Vegas Raiders) fan, so I think, like all these New Orleans Saints fans, you look forward to a great Super Bowl,” he said. “You just want to make sure it’s a good game. Nobody in particular just a good game. I want it to be close.”

Fieri’s appearance at Total Wine off Siegen Lane drew a few hun-

turned to his room about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Comfort Suites Airport hotel, 2710 Idaho Ave., Kenner, according to Conley Hotel security video shows Colbert entering Manzano’s room and leaving a short time later returned to the left again by

Manzano was not security footntering that Conley said.

Manzano’s co-workabout 4 p.m. to ask for a ter he missed a appointment, according s when he was

Detectives learned that Manzano’s cellphone and the credit card he used to check into the hotel were missing, Conley said. The card was later used at several stores in the New Orleans area, Conley said. Kenner police working with the

Major Crimes Task Force took Colbert into custody about 10:30 p.m.

Thursday in New Orleans, Conley said. She was being held Friday at the Orleans Parish Prison as a fugitive.

Investigators executed a search warrant at Colbert’s residence in Slidell and recovered Manzano’s credit card, his cellphone, drugs and a gun that had been reported stolen, Conley said. Kenner police don’t believe the gun is related to Manzano’s case.

Once brought to Kenner Colbert will be booked with bank fraud, computer fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, access device fraud and simple robbery, Conley said.

Thus far, Colbert has not been booked on any charges directly related to Manzano’s death. The investigation is still ongoing, but Conley admitted the charges could be upgraded based on the results of the completed autopsy and toxicology testing.

“We investigate. We don’t specu-

A crowd forms

dred fans. The line wound from inside the front of the store to outside and down the sidewalk to the building’s northern corner Baton Rouge couple Dr Jay and Colleen Perniciaro were first in line, arriving at 3:30 p.m. for the 6 p.m. event

“Yes, we’re absolutely fans. We watch what we can when we can,” Colleen Perniciaro said.

“And we like tequila,” her husband added, looking down at the four bottles in his cart

Making the trip from New Orleans were Olivia Olivard and her father, James Olivard.

“She’s been a fan for years,” James Olivard said of his daughter

“She asked me ﬁve years ago, ‘Dad, I want to meet him,’ and I’m like I don’t know how I’m going to pull that off. And then my buddy sent this (info about Fieri’s appearance), and I was like

‘We’re going.’” Olivia Olivard showed off her Guy Fieri T-shirt. She had him au-

tograph the right sleeve.

Sharing Olivia’s love of the television host is Baton Rouge’s Tekeamma Mosley, who was so excited to see Fieri that she burst into tears.

“Come here. Come here,” Fieri motioned to her as she slowly moved up to the signing table and got a big hug.

“I love him so much, and I used to watch him with my grandmother and she loved him so much. That’s how I got into watching him,” Mosley said. “And so she’s passed now, so it’s a memory thing. My favorite (show) is ‘Triple D’ because I’m a big foodie.”

Probably the eldest of the fans was Emile Edwards, of Baton Rouge, accompanied by Lisa Hubbard, who maneuvered Edwards’ wheelchair through the crowd.

“Oh yeah, a big fan. I met him when he won ‘The Next Food Network Star’ to become what he’s doing now,” Edwards said. “That’s how long I’ve been watching him.”

late,” Conley said. “In the next 24

to 48 hours, we’ll have a lot more answers.”

History of targeting tourists

While there’s no indication, thus far, that Manzano was drugged before the theft, Conley said Colbert has been accused of such acts before.

“It’s important to note that Ms. Colbert’s criminal history does include two instances where she drugged a victim and stole his access device cards,” he said.

Conley was referring to two 2022 arrests in Las Vegas where Colbert was booked with drugging men at casinos in two separate incidents and stealing pricey watches and more than $50,000 from each, according to a story by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She was booked with two counts of administering a drug to aid in the commission of a felony and two counts of felony theft, according to court records. But the charges were dropped in October 2022. It’s not clear why prosecutors didn’t move forward with the cases.

Colbert has been convicted of targeting Bourbon Street tourists and illegally using their credit cards in Jefferson and Orleans parishes, according to court records.

In 2014, Colbert approached a 35-year-old man on Bourbon Street about 4 a.m. and asked if he wanted to “hang out,” authorities said. She accompanied him back to his hotel on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. When he woke the next morning, his credit card, $100 in cash and his $4,000 Rolex watch were missing, the New Orleans Police Department said. The card was later used about 20 times at a grocery store on Chef Menteur Highway New Orleans police found video from an ATM of Colbert withdrawing money with the pilfered card, still wearing the blonde wig and blue shirt described by the victim.

Colbert pleaded guilty in May

CONCERT

Continued from page 1B

enjoying this cherished downtown tradition,” Edwards said in a statement.

“We sincerely thank the mayor-president and our community members for their swift and dedicated efforts to support and sustain Live After Five,” said Lauren Lambert-Tompkins, president of Life After Five Inc., the non-

BLOTTER

Continued from page 1B

being transferred to Livingston Parish Jail. No charges have yet been announced. The investigation is ongoing.

Man sentenced to 20 years for assault

A St. Francisville man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for an attack on a U.S. Postal Service worker, the U.S. Attorney’s ofﬁce said Friday On Dec. 31, 2021, Lionel Haile attacked a postal employee with a sharp object as she was delivering mail to an apartment complex in Zachary, U.S. Attorney Ronald Gathe Jr said in a statement. Haile, 31, stabbed the victim in the leg and proceeded to try to stab her more times as she fought him off. The postal worker was able to run toward a vehicle that was driving away from the apartment complex and escape

2015 to two counts of theft. She was sentenced to ﬁve years of active probation and three years of inactive probation, according to authorities.

In 2016, she was accused of using a credit card belonging to a man who said the card and his cellphone went missing after he met a woman while out drinking with friends on Bourbon, authorities said.

Colbert tried to use the man’s card the next day to buy $1,600 worth of gift cards and other items at a Walmart in Kenner, where she was arrested. Colbert pleaded guilty in May 2017, to access device fraud and two counts of possession of stolen property and was sentenced to three years in prison, according to court records.

She also pleaded guilty to access device fraud in December 2019. In that case, Colbert and two other women were arrested in May 2018 at a Walmart in Gretna, authorities said.

The victim told investigators he lost his credit card while visiting a Bourbon Street strip club. The suspects bought gift cards and got cash back on purchases totaling about $3,000, authorities said. They also spent about $3,000 at a Sam’s Club.

Colbert pleaded guilty to one count of access device fraud between $1,000 and $4,999. Judge Ray Steib Jr of the 24th Judicial District Court, sentenced Colbert to ﬁve years in prison, the maximum possible. But he suspended the sentence and ordered that she serve ﬁve years of active probation, according to court records.

“She’s deﬁnitely a career criminal,” Conley said. Anyone who may recognize Danette Colbert or has any information regarding her involvement in the case is asked to call the Kenner Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at (504) 712-2222 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.

Email Michelle Hunter at mhunter@theadvocate.com.

proﬁt that produces the shows.

The downtown concerts got their start 30 years ago.

“This beloved concert series holds a special place in the hearts of Baton Rouge residents,” Tompkins said in a statement.

The downtown concerts got their start 30 years ago. This year’s concert schedule and lineup will be announced in the coming weeks, Edwards’ ofﬁce said.

Email Ellyn Couvillion at ecouvillion@theadvocate.com.

with the driver Haile was later arrested and convicted of assaulting a USPS employee with a dangerous weapon and inﬂicting bodily injury In the federal Middle District Court of Louisiana in Baton Rouge this week, Judge John deGravelles sentenced Haile to 20 years in federal prison. Haile must serve three years of supervised release when he gets out of prison. The case was handled by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce and the Zachary Police Department.

One booked on suspicion of DWI in EBR Parish

One person was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison between noon Thursday and noon Friday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Those booked and the counts against them are: n Edward Hayward, 31, of Baton Rouge, one count of driving while intoxicated.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHELLE HUNTER

Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley stands before a mugshot of Danette Colbert, the Slidell woman arrested for allegedly using credit cards belonging to Adan Manzano, a Kansas City reporter found dead in his Kenner hotel room while in town to cover the Super Bowl.

STAFF PHOTO By JOHN BALLANCE

Guion, Wendy Resthaven Gardens of Memory at 12:30 p.m

Harelson, Jennifer Resthaven Funeral Home 11817 Jefferson Highway, at 11 a.m

Hill, Leroy United Faith Christian Ministries 9229 N. Ridgewood

Glenda Jean Barrow of Baton Rouge, La. went to be with herHeavenlyFather on Sunday, February 2, 2025. She was astrong, caring and devoted mom and grandmother. Visitation will be held Sunday, February 9, 2025, at Desselle Funeral Home, 2pm until 4pm. Graveside Service will be held Monday,February 10, 2025, at 11am, Roselawn MemorialPark 4045 North St. Baton Rouge, La. 70806

Brumﬁeld, Clara Irene Webb

dearly, we take comfort in

11 a.m

Marks, Eva St Aloysius Catholic Church at noon.

McCrary, Meloda Life Church Walker, 9036 Florida Boulevard in Walker, at 2 p.m

Philip "Michael"Berthelot, age 47, aresident of Baton Rouge, passed away on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. He was agraduate of Parkview Baptist School, where he lovedplaying football. He also grew up playing soccer and was still very passionate about this sport in hisadult life Michael spent his career as aconstruction project manager. He is preceded in death by his grandparents Roy and Reba Berthelot, and Arthur and Myrtle Aucoin. Michael is survived by his wife Ashlee, whom he adored; histwo daughters Preston and Peyton, who meant the absolute world to him; his loving parents Philip J. Berthelot and Cherry Aucoin Berthelot; hissister D'Ette Sommers (Frankie); his nephew Cole; and his niece CoCo Sommers. He is also survivedbyhis stepdaughter Maloree;in-laws, who he was very close to, Jack and BeverlyHolmes; his brother-in-lawBrent Holmes(Heidi), and his two nephews Nicholas and Logan. Michaelmaintained his childhood friendships with his two special friends, Gabe Brooks and Eric Hedricks. He loved his fur babies, and they were truly "A Man's Best Friend" Luke, Beau and Finn. A Celebration of hisLife will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 9, 2025, at Resthaven Funeral Home, 11817 Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge, with Deacon Don Musson officiating. AMemorial Visitation will be held at the funeral home beginning at 12:00p.m. Aprivate inurnment will be heldfor the family at Resthaven Gardens of Memory at a later date. For those so desiring, please make donations to an animal rescue association of your choice. Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonalnote to the family at www.resthav enbatonrouge.com

Clara Irene Webb Brum‐field passed away on Feb‐ruary 5, 2025, at North Oaks Medical Center in Ham‐mond, Louisiana at the age of 74. She was born Sep‐tember 29, 1950, in Amite Louisiana to Pete and Olivia Webb. She was a na‐tive of St. Helena Parish and resided in Amite, Louisiana Irene graduated from Greensburg High School in 1968. She at‐tended Southeastern Louisiana University and graduated with a degree in Education and later com‐pleted her Master’s de‐gree. After teaching thirtythree years she retired in 2006. Irene was married to the love of her life, Tom Ed Brumfield, for fifty-one years She was a lifelong member of Hillsdale Bap‐tist Church and regularly attended Amite First Bap‐tist Church Irene was the first pageant director for the Amite Oyster Festival and served as the Amite Oyster Pearl in 2018. She blessed her family, friends, community and church with her overwhelming generosity, strong faith and southern hospitality She was a natural nurturer known to many as “Aunt Irene” She is survived by her husband Tom Ed Brum‐fied; five siblings, Sylvia Crouch, Patsy Bufford (Ronnie), Mary Helen Hughes (John), Barbara Carter, and Louis Webb Preceded in death by her parents, Pete and Olivia Robertson Webb; grand‐parents, A.D and Myrtle Robertson and Robert Clark Webb and Oma Williams Webb; brother, Wayne Webb; brother-inlaw, Clyde Carter; and mother-in-law, Helen Ce‐falu Brumfield. Visitation at First Baptist Church of Amite from 9:00 a.m. until religious services at 1:00 p.m Monday, February 10 2025. Services conducted by Rev. Trey Waldrop and Rev Darryl Miller Inter‐ment at Amite Cemetery Amite In lieu of flowers, the family requests memo‐rial donations be made to the youth group at First Baptist Church of Amite.

knowing that she is nowat peace, perhaps enjoying a heavenly cup of coffee and browsing theaisles of Heaven's Walmart. She is survived by her Daughter Sandra Boudreaux and Husband Bobby; Son David Jarreau and Wife Tammy; Sonin law James Manuel. She is also survived by Grandchildren Sandi Quelle and Husband Brad;Dustin Jarreau and Girlfriend Ashley; Megan Maggiore and Husband Vincent;Jared Manuel and Girlfriend Kelsey. Great Grandchildren Savanah McKey and Husband Brandon; Carson and Colton Quelle; Amelia Maggiore; Samantha Manuel; Tucker and Sawyer Dupuy; Karlee Magee and Joshua Peffers, Jr. Great-Great Grandchild Ryleigh McKey. Sister Cathy Leteff and Husband Ray; and many loved nieces and nephews. Iola is preceded in death by her Husband Lamartine Jarreau Jr.; infant children Patricia Lynn, John Ray, and Lisa Marie Jarreau; Mother and Father Seville and Iola Pourciau; Daughter Mona Manuel; Granddaughter Lani Jarreau; Brothers Raymond,Gerald, Emile, Seville Jr. Pourciau, and Sister Martha Chustz. Avisitation will be held at Niland's Funeral Home in New Roads on Monday, February 10, 2025, from 9:00am until 10:45am. A Christian Mass will be held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in NewRoads at 11:00am, followed by a Burial service in False River Memorial Park.

Pallbearers will be David Jarreau, Jared Manuel, Dustin Jarreau, Brad Quelle, James "Jimbo" White, and Brandon McKey.

ters, Verall Robinson and Antoinette Tate (Robert). She is preceded in death by her husbandCharles Robinson;her parents; two brothers and their wives, Joseph (Dolores) and Charles (Janice) Jefferson; brother-in-law Aaron W. Wilson; step-daughters, Angela Robinson and Carlette Jack; and several other family members. Amemorial service in her honor will be held on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025 at 10:30AM at Christ Fellowship of Leland, 2725 College Ave., Baker, LA.

Entered into eternal rest on February 2, 2025 at 67. Survived by his wife, Elvina Smith; daughter, Ezaeria Smith; son,

am until religious serviceat 11:00 am. Entombment Heavenly Gates Cemetery of Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, LA. Funeral Service Entrusted to Hall Davis and Son. www.halldavisandson.com

sister, Mercheryl Moore; 11 grandchildren other relatives and friends; preceded in death by his parents, Fannie and Earl Moore and Clarence Bell

Anative of New Roads, La and resident of Erwinville, La., passed away on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, surrounded by her family and friendsatthe age of 87. Iola was a homemaker and caregiver to many. She was awoman of strong catholic faith, whose rosary had special powers. Her family was her greatest treasure, and she filled their lives with unconditional love, endless stories, and the occasional "I told you so"—always with aknowing smile. Though we will miss her dearly, we take comfort in knowing that she is nowat peace, perhaps enjoying a heavenly cup of coffee and browsing theaisles of Heaven's Walmart. She survived by her Daught Sandra reaux and Husband Bobby; Son David Jarreau and Wife Tammy; Sonin law James Manuel. She is also survived by Grandchildren Sandi Quelle and Husband Brad;Dustin Jarreau and Girlfriend Ashley; Megan Maggiore and Husband Vincent;Jared Manuel and Girlfriend Kelsey. Great Grandchildren Savanah McKey and Husband Brandon; Carson and Colton Quelle; Amelia Maggiore; Samantha Manuel; Tucker and Karlee Peffers, Grandchild Sister and Husband nephews. preced in by her Husband Lamart

Claudia transitioned into eternal rest on January 28, 2025. She was the eldest offive children born to theunion of Elouise & Isaac Jefferson, Jr. Loise, as she was affectionately known by family, was stern, strong willed and many times stubborn. But shining through that strong will was an infectious smile. She had many gifts and talentsaswell as being acaregiver at heart, willing to help anyone in need. Loise also did makeovers before it was given that name. She would style your hair, apply makeup or sew just the right outfit giving youa new look. With a'Doctorate' in shopping, she could outshop the best as she owned every gadget along with numerous clothing pieces in multiple colors We dare not forget the baker; she baked thebest homemade yeast rolls, biscuits and peach cobbler. Cooking and sharing meals with family and friends was acommon thing. More importantly, one thing we say with great joy is her belief in Jesus Christ as her Savior and we are assured of her final destination. She is now at total peace, far from sickness and the cares of this world. Loise leaves to share her precious memories her sisters: Mary J. Robertson (Thomas) and Wanda J. Wilson; and Godsister Constance Lee. Also ahost of cousins, nieces and nephews; friends, Lillie Mae Bell Gamble and Marshall Wheeler; step-daughters, Verall Robinson and Antoinette Tate (Robert). She is preceded in death by her husband Charles Robinson; her parents; two brothers and their wives, Joseph (Dolores) and Charles (Janice) Jefferson; brother-in-law Aaron W. Wilson; step-daughters, Angela Robinson and Carlette Jack; and several other family members. Amemorial service in her honor will be held on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025 at 10:30AM at Christ Fellowship of Leland,2725 College Ave., Baker, LA.

and

Smith Sr., Falfon

Robinson, Claudia Eloise

Jarreau,Iola Pourciau

BRIEFS

Aldi plans to sell about 170 Winn-Dixie stores

Less than a year after it closed a deal with Southeastern Grocers to buy all of its WinnDixie and Harveys locations, Aldi said Friday it will sell about 170 of the supermarkets to a group of private investors. Aldi did not immediately identify which Winn-Dixie stores in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Florida will be sold to the group. According to the company website, there are 16 Winn-Dixie stores in south Louisiana

The group that is purchasing the stores includes the president and CEO of Southeastern Grocers and C&S Wholesale Grocers. C&S had a deal to buy more than 400 supermarkets from Kroger and Albertsons as part of a deal to help smooth the merger between the two chains, but that fell through after judges in Oregon and Washington shot down the merger When Aldi announced its plans to purchase Southeastern Grocers, the fast-growing supermarket chain said it would convert many of the Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores. Aldi said it would convert about 220 of the stores to its format over the next two years. At least four former south Louisiana Winn-Dixies are currently being rebranded as Aldi stores By the end of the year, Aldi said about 100 stores will be converted to its brand. Aldi stores are smaller than WinnDixie locations and don’t have amenities such as fresh meat and seafood departments But the stores have lower costs because of the limited inventory and features like self-bagging and asking customers to put down a 25-cent deposit on shopping carts.

Bally’s acquires both downtown BR casinos

Bally’s has completed the purchase of The Queen Casino & Entertainment, a deal that gives it control of both downtown Baton Rouge casinos

Bally’s purchased Standard General, which funds owned the majority of The Queen, in an all-stock deal that closed Friday Queen shareholders received 30.5 million shares of Bally’s stock, which was trading at $18.24 a share Friday morning.

The Queen’s holdings include The Queen Baton Rouge and the Belle of Baton Rouge. The Belle is undergoing a $141 million redevelopment, which will move the city’s oldest casino onto land and reopen a 242room hotel that has been closed since the COVID pandemic. The hotel is set to open in April while the expanded casino is set to open in the fall. The Belle will be rebranded with a new name. Terry Downey, president and CEO of The Queen, said the deal will not affect operations at either local casino.

The deal gives Bally’s 19 casinos across the U.S. The company already owned Bally’s Shreveport and the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Biloxi. The company is developing a landbased casino in Chicago and has rights to develop property in Las Vegas, around a proposed Major League Baseball stadium.

Local firm buys NAI Latter & Blum

New york real estate giant sold company after a year

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

Less than a year after Compass Real Estate, the nation’s largest real estate company, purchased Latter & Blum from its longtime local owners, the New York real estate giant has sold the commercial brokerage division back to New Orleans owners — Rampart/ Wurth Holding Company

Rampart/Wurth is already the largest third-party property management firm in the Gulf South, managing more than 10,000 apartments and 20 million square feet of

ofﬁce space and shopping centers.

Acquiring NAI Latter & Blum, as the commercial brokerage is known, will create the state’s largest full-service commercial real estate ﬁrm, CEO Joseph Pappalardo Sr. said. “This acquisition represents a signiﬁcant step forward in Rampart/Wurth’s mission to deliver unparalleled commercial real estate services across the Gulf South and beyond,” Pappalardo said in a prepared statement. “We are creating a powerhouse capable of serving a diverse array of our clients’ needs.”

Rampart/Wurth Holding has deep ties to Latter & Blum. It was founded in 1989 by Pappalardo and former Latter & Blum CEO Robert W. Merrick Jr to do property management for the firm. Over the years, it grew and eventually spun off from Latter & Blum Real Estate, though it continued doing business as Latter & Blum Property Management. In early 2023, it changed its name to Rampart/Wurth Holding Co. to end decades of confusion for clients of both companies, Pappalardo said at the time. The commercial brokerage,

which has 92 agents and ﬁve ofﬁces across Louisiana, will continue to operate as NAI Latter & Blum Commercial for now In May, the company will announce a new name. It joins Rampart/Wurth’s other business divisions, Wurth Real Estate Services, Rampart Commercial Management and Rampart Multifamily Management. Rampart/Wurth principal Michael Ricci said the deal came together within the last six months. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but Ricci said the company will be taking over NAI Latter and Blum’s 1,200 commercial listings.

Latter & Blum | Compass Residential is not a part of the deal.

Clean energy push focuses on profit

Leaders tailor message to emphasize money, jobs

BY SETH BORENSTEIN and ALEXA ST JOHN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Saving the planet is so 2024. Clean energy leaders across the globe are now tailoring their messages to emphasize the greener side of green: wealth-building. It’s an idea that sells far better in the new world of nationalism and tycoon leaders.

Messaging from the U.S. renewable energy industry and the United Nations on climate change has typically focused on the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions for the sake of environmental and human health To bolster the argument, they cite record-shattering heat around the world, the frequent climate disasters costing billions of dollars and the human toll of it all.

But a sharper emphasis on profit potential has become evident as President Donald Trump stormed into ofﬁce with a ﬂurry of rollbacks to clean energy initiatives and an emphatic declaration of plans to “unleash” oil, gas and mining. In a lobbying blitz in Washington this week, solar, wind, hydropower and other cleanenergy interests touted their role in a “robust American energy and manufacturing economy” and sported lapel pins that said “American energy dominance” — a favorite Trump phrase.

Meanwhile, in a major policy speech Thursday in Brazil, the U.N.’s top climate ofﬁcial played up the $2 trillion ﬂowing into clean-energy projects and recalled a friend telling him that appealing to people’s “better angels” only goes so far That friend, according to U.N. Climate

Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, added:

“In the great horserace of life ‘always back self-interest what’s in it for me.’”

It’s not that clean energy backers haven’t made the case before. But a different landscape, especially in the U.S., stands to make it more potent.

“It’s a very winning message for outreach to conservatives because it’s really true,” said former U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, a South Carolina Republican who founded the conservative climate group RepublicEN.org. “If we play our cards right and lead the world to this, we can create a lot of wealth, create a lot of jobs here in America.”

Inglis pointed to Elon Musk’s empire-

building on electric cars, solar panels and batteries.

“When right-of-center people hear, ’You know, you can you make a proﬁt at this,’ then it makes sense. Otherwise, it’s like, why are people giving stuff away?” Inglis said.

Jobs especially have long been a big selling point for solar and wind energy and electric cars, but there’s a push to not think of self-interest as a dirty word — and instead to harness it United Nations ofﬁcials said. When Stiell mentioned the $2 trillion in his speech for clean energy, he called it “unstoppable because of the colossal scale of economic opportunity it presents.”

Slidell’s $40M Amazon center to start more construction

BY BOB WARREN Staff writer

Years after it was expected to be operational, it appears work will begin soon to ﬁnish and open the $40 million Amazon facility in Slidell.

But don’t look for company ofﬁcials to provide a possible opening date yet.

The online retail giant has pulled two city permits: for interior work at the huge building, and to erect signage on it, acting Slidell Mayor Bill Borchert said.

An Amazon spokesperson, Steve Kelly, said this week that the Slidell facility remains in the company’s long-term plans, even

though its opening has been delayed.

Kelly said the company does not have an anticipated opening date that it can provide. He has said in previous interviews that hiring won’t begin until the center is 30 to 60 days from being operational

“Work is ongoing in preparation for the facility to come online,” Kelly said in an email. “That work is currently concentrated on building out our internal construction including racking and conveyance.”

“As construction progresses, we should have a better idea of a launch timeline,” he added in the email. The exterior of the

140,000-square-foot facility on Town Center Parkway near Old Spanish Trail has been complete for several years. But the company has said it still must be outﬁtted with racks, conveyors and other equipment

Amazon announced the Slidell center in 2021, with an initial opening date targeted for 2022. The opening has been pushed back several times, and Kelly declined to even offer a ballpark timeframe.

Officials in St. Tammany have been anxiously awaiting the opening of the center, which they have said will bring 250-400 jobs. While dates remain hazy for Slidell, Amazon has been busy in Louisiana.

Last June, Amazon opened a $200 million, 3.4 million-squarefoot facility in Baton Rouge at the former Cortana Mall. More than 1,000 people could eventually work at that site, the company said. Another Amazon facility, in Shreveport, opened last October and employs more than 1,300 people. The facilities in Baton Rouge and Shreveport are the company’s large “fulfillment centers.” The center in Slidell will be somewhat smaller and is often referred to a “last-stop center” because it is the ﬁnal stopping point for packages before they are delivered to customers.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By CHARLIE RIEDEL Wind turbines at the Buckeye Wind Energy are diffused by heat vapors as they are silhouetted against the rising sun near Hays, Kan.

New Orleans is a football town Cheering for the Tulane Green Wave and LSU Tigers is as much a part of the culture as eating red beans and rice. Hosting the Sugar Bowl has been an annual rite since 1935.

But New Orleans didn’t join the ranks of professional football cities until Louisiana U.S Rep Hale Boggs and Sen. Russell Long made a deal in Congress to allow the NFL and AFL to merge. Soon thereafter, the Saints came marching into Louisiana’s psyche on All Saints Day, 1966. The Saints ﬁrst played in Tulane Stadium, then moved to the Superdome in 1975. A colorful, canny businessman named Tom Benson bought the team in 1985, keeping it from relocating. The Saints are now owned by his widow, business leader and philanthropist Gayle Benson.

In 2009, destruction and gloom caused by Hurricane Katrina still covered the city like a funeral shroud. But when the Saints won that season’s Super Bowl, its spirit came back alive. “Amen” bannered the front page of The Times-Picayune.

New Orleans has hosted 11 Super Bowls, 91 Sugar Bowls, one CFP and four BCS championship games, as well as the annual Bayou Classic that pits Grambling State against Southern University The Superdome is where LSU won the BCS in 2007 and the CFP in 2019. Football stars linked to Louisiana include the Manning family (Peyton, Eli and Archie), Joe Burrow, Bert Jones, Bobby Hebert, Jim Taylor, Ed Reed, Marshall Faulk, Odell Beckham Jr., Reggie Wayne and Terry Bradshaw, to name a few. But there’s more to the region’s rich sports history than football.

“Before 1850, organized athletic activity in New Orleans was largely limited to such upper-class amusements as horse racing, yachting, cricket, and hunt clubs,” wrote historian Roger Fischer As time went by, “rich and poor, white and black alike, began to occupy their idle hours with such diversions as baseball, bowling, cycling, billiards, roller skating, tennis, golf, and football.”

In the late 1800s, New Orleans became the “boxing mecca of the United States,” noted Fischer, when bare-knuckled prizeﬁghter John L. Sullivan defeated world champion Paddy Ryan to claim the heavyweight title James Corbett took it away at New Orleans’ Olympic Club in 1892. Horse racing goes back to 1837. Author Dale A Somers reminds us that New Orleans racing determined American thoroughbred supremacy in the mid-1850s The New Orleans Fairgrounds is now America’s second oldest track still in operation. The 1924 Kentucky Derby winner, Black Gold, is buried in its inﬁeld. The son of Secretariat, Risen Star, won the Louisiana Derby and went on to win both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes in 1988.

The city’s ﬁrst NBA team was the New Orleans Jazz (1974-79), which moved to Utah but still, for some unknown reason, uses the name. The current NBA team moved here in 2002. It started as the Hornets but is now the Pelicans, and plays in the Smoothie King Center. It has qualiﬁed for nine NBA playoffs, with two victories and one division title.

New Orleans has hosted six men’s and three women’s Final Fours. The city’s own Clara Baer published the ﬁrst rulebook for women’s basketball.

NBA and college basketball rosters have been built around Louisiana talent, such as Bob Pettit, Willis Reed, Elvin Hayes and Joe Dumars. “Pistol Pete” Maravich earned his chops at LSU, where he scored 3,667 points in his three years of varsity play New Orleans started playing baseball 150 years ago. The baseball Pelicans debuted in 1887, winning their second Southern Association pennant thanks largely to the hitting of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Attendance peaked at 400,000 in 1947. They moved in 1960 and returned for a single season in 1977. The city has hosted spring training for countless teams, from the Cubs to the Yankees Legendary Negro League baseball teams called New Orleans home, including the Stars, Black Pelicans Creoles, Pinchbacks and Eagles Even Louis Armstrong sponsored his own club in the early 1930s, the Secret Nine. Baseball wasn’t integrated until 1947.

In 1993, the AAA Denver Zephyrs, a Milwaukee Brewers farm team, moved to New Orleans. After rebranding itself the Baby Cakes, the team left town after 27 years. In golf, New Orleans hosts the Zurich Classic, the only PGA tour event in the region The city also sponsors tennis and bowling tournaments, such as the NOLA Fall Classic. New Orleans may be the city that care forgot — but when it comes to sports, it has a long memory Ron Faucheux is a nonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana. He publishes LunchtimePolitics.com, a nationwide newsletter on polls and public opinion

Your recent article, “Louisiana entrepreneur wins prize with an AI program,” mentions how Cantaloupe AI, created by a Louisiana startup, has been used to expedite the application and interview process by allowing artiﬁcial intelligence to conduct immediate voice interviews, thinning out the applicant pool. This way of conducting job interviews and applicants could cause some concern. Potential bias from the AI interview could prevent applicants from having a fair chance and the opportunity for face-to-face interactions with the company AI could also be discriminatory if not trained with the proper models and guidelines, further

disqualifying potentially qualified applicants. However, with transparency and oversight from the company, this issue could be negated with proper maintenance and training. With this being said, Louisiana companies should be allowed to modernize and have the resources available while maintaining ethics with new technologies. Artificial intelligence is an amazing tool that can be used to improve our lives and make tedious tasks easier, but certain precautions should be set in place so that applicants and companies can benefit from a more streamlined interview process.

CLINT JONES Slidell

Respectfully I ask that the newspaper assign a crackerjack political reporter or editor to interview our senator Dr Bill Cassidy, and ask him for one reason just one for his committee vote to approve the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And, ask him if the vote fulﬁlls

the oaths that he took, both the Code of Ethics at the LSU School of Medicine to become a physician and the oath of ofﬁce he took to become a U.S. senator, especially this part: “That I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the ofﬁce on which I am about to enter So help me God.”

KATHLEEN RANDALL Baton Rouge

Four years ago, Jan. 6 was one of the worst events I have witnessed on TV, exceeded only by 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

I watched with horror as marauding thugs (not tourists) stormed our seat of government, breaking windows and doors, attacking journalists and police whose job it was to secure the premises and who were greatly outnumbered. They threatened the vice president and members of Congress and deﬁled the Capitol with grafﬁti and feces.

I have followed the efforts of the Justice Department to locate and prosecute these violent lawbreakers, many of whom have admitted their guilt.

Now President Donald Trump

has released all of these violent lawbreakers with the stroke of a pen. What happened to the party that used to espouse law and order? What a slap in the face to our country’s laws and to its lawmakers who have cowered rather than confronted this affront. I am reminded of Hitler’s rise to power which was aided by his use of the brownshirts — a band of bullies and thugs who attacked Jews and Hitler’s political opponents.

Now Trump has a band of thugs loyal to him who are free to continue their lawless behavior. We should be all incensed and afraid of what will follow NANCY PICARD

Mandeville

Give a chance to Landry’s plan for temporary homeless shelter

This is regarding the story about the homeless shelter being established on France Road.

I found the story very interesting, especially the comments from New Orleans council member Lesli Harris and several of the prospective residents.

There are complaints about the lack of heating, sanitary services and mental health services at the new facility Along with the article, there were several photos of the facility and the homeless camp from where the people were being relocated.

My observation is that these people will be much better off in the new shelter than living on the street. There may be some kinks to work out, but it is certainly a better option than living in the elements, especially in light of the freezing temperatures we recently endured.

I say good for Gov Jeff Landry for doing something positive. The city and the advocates for the homeless should, instead of criticizing the project for what it lacks, add their support and resources to help make it work and possibly become a model that can be used in other communities. It seems to me that other current efforts to curb homelessness are showing very little success, if not just prolonging the problem.

JEFF WILSON Mandeville

I welcome President Donald Trump to New Orleans and the grand Super Bowl. I hope he and others will have time to rub shoulders and interact with New Orleans folks.

We are a hospitality city We welcome newcomers; we share good times over great meals; we help each other out and we help others. Maybe the president will love these qualities and take them back to Washington.

CAROL ALLEN New Orleans

Ron Faucheux

SPORTS

Wanting Moore?

Eagles OC made rapid ascent to become Saints’ top head coaching target

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

Kellen Moore, like practically every other quarterback listed at 6 feet or shorter, grew up a fan of Drew Brees.

But it wasn’t until Moore reached the NFL that he truly could appreciate the former New Orleans Saints quarterback’s success. In 2014, when the Detroit Lions hired then offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, the former Boise State quarterback suddenly had to learn the same Brees-Sean Payton offense that his new coach brought with him. Moore, three years into his career as an undrafted free agent, came to understand the scheme’s “nuances” and “subtleties,” built in by the complex minds of the quarterback and coach duo.

Then, as a coach, Moore intertwined with the scheme again. As the Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator in 2023, Moore was tapped to replace Lombardi which meant he had to install his own system and carry over any parts of the old offense that worked for his players.

“It was a really impressive system to learn,” Moore said Moore has spent his life learning — and blending together — offensive systems, ﬁrst as the son of a high school football coach who used to draw plays up on the couch for his dad, then later as an offensive coordinator for three different teams. Now, he ﬁnds himself at the sport’s pinnacle event.

On Sunday, Moore will call plays for the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs. By Monday, he could become the next coach of the New Orleans Saints Landing such a job would complete the path that Moore seemed destined for when he hung up his cleats in 2018 at age 28 and became an offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys just one year later Over the last six years, Moore has been linked to — and interviewed for various head coaching jobs.

He turned down an opportunity to coach his alma mater in 2021. That same year, his ﬁrst NFL head coaching interview came, coincidentally with the Eagles. Others occurred yearly after that. The Vikings, Broncos, Dolphins and Jaguars in 2022. The Panthers in 2023. The Chargers in 2024. Then last month, he hit the circuit with several teams again. Interviews with the Saints, Cowboys and Jaguars all came.

And it’s the Saints, who have interviewed Moore twice and want another meeting as soon as the Super Bowl ends, that appear poised to land him

That several interviews happened after Moore’s season with the Eagles

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By TyLER KAUFMAN Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts speaks with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore during a game against the Saints on Sept. 22 in the Caesars Superdome. Moore is considered the top candidate to become New Orleans’ next head coach.

“He’s been fantastic as our offensive coordinator. You know you go from an offensive coordinator to leading the entire team, but you’re still in charge of 30 guys there on the offensive side. So it’s a good preview of the type of head coach he’ll be.”

NICK SIRIANNI, Eagles coach on Kellen Moore

shouldn’t be cast off as a coincidence In his first year with Philadelphia, Moore’s arrival helped freshen up an offense that coach Nick Sirianni described as stale after last season. He has helped craft the league’s leading rushing attack one that maximizes star Saquon Barkley and modernizes

it with a blend of different formations, play calls and tendencies.

At 36 years old, Moore is still one of the NFL’s youngest coordinators despite this being his sixth season of calling plays.

ä See MOORE, page 4C

Saints got close look at Chiefs, Eagles

N.O. players weigh in on outcome after playing both

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Bryan Bresee saw the two teams that will play in Super Bowl LIX up close and personal this season. In fact, he faced the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs in a span of 15 days. Both were Saints’ losses. So which team does believe will hoist the Lombardi Trophy in the Caesars Superdome on Sunday night?

“That’s tough,” Bresee said. “I really couldn’t give you conﬁdently a prediction on one team or the other I really think it’s a coin toss.”

It’s not often that the Saints have played both Super Bowl teams in the same season — just the eighth time it’s happened. It’s the ﬁrst time since 2020 when the Saints played both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chiefs. In the regular season, the Saints lost to the Chiefs and beat the Bucs twice. But

ä See SAINTS, page 4C

FEB. 9 • NEW ORLEANS Countingdowntothebiggamewithalook backatSuperBowlmomentsinNewOrleans: HARD-HITTING SAFETY LOTT WINS TITLE NO. 4 IN BLOWOUT VICTORY

The San Francisco 49ers were most known for their powerful offense leading up to Super Bowl XXIV on Jan. 28, 1990, against the Denver Broncos but their defense wasn’t far off.

The 49ers outscored opponents by a combined 55 points in their two playoff games leading up to the game, with their defense allowing only 20 total points. Free safety and defensive leader Ronnie Lott had an interception in both contests.

Lott didn’t have a gaudy stat line against the Broncos, but he didn’t need to with the rest of the 49ers defense stepping up for a combined six sacks and a pair of interceptions in a 55-10 victory.

The 49ers Super Bowl triumph at the Superdome was their fourth title in franchise history. It was also the fourth for Lott and Super Bowl MVP Joe Montana.

LSU pitcher Heavener has perfect start to career

Highly touted freshman flawless in LSU’s shutout against Charlotte

BY JIM KLEINPETER

Contributing writer

LSU softball’s highly touted pitching recruit Jayden Heavener could not have been better in her collegiate debut. She was, in fact, perfect. The left-hander from Pace, Florida, pitched the sixth perfect game in LSU history during an 8-0 season-opening victory against Charlotte in the Tiger Classic on Friday at Tiger Park.

Heavener’s gem overshadowed junior Sydney Berzon’s near-perfect effort in LSU’s nightcap, a 10-0 victory against Central Arkansas in ﬁve innings Berzon hurled a two-hit shutout and allowed only three baserunners. Both hits were inﬁeld dribblers, and Berzon notched five strikeouts while needing only 61 pitches.

“You couldn’t ask for anything better. Doing that on the first night as a freshman is absolutely unreal. I don’t think it will be the last time you see something like this.”

SyDNEyBERZON,LSUpitcher

The perfect game was LSU’s first since Maribeth Gorsuch threw a seven-inning perfect outing against Belmont on Feb. 22, 2020, and the ﬁrst by a player in her debut. The other four were ﬁve-inning games Friday’s game was shortened to six innings by the mercy rule.

“I really didn’t know I warmed up pretty good and didn’t know what to expect,” Heavener said. “I was kind of nervous the ﬁrst and second inning but got into a groove

and realized what I could do and what I’ve been preparing for

“My curveball and two seam were working pretty well. It kind of depended on the batter, where they were standing.”

Heavener, the nation’s No. 1 recruit, was razor sharp from the start, striking out 10 of the ﬁrst 12 batters she faced and 13 overall. She had a streak of seven consecutive strikeouts and had only one inning without fanning at least one batter Charlotte (1-1) put only ﬁve balls into play

“I was thinking what a storybook moment this was, and our theme this year is about writing a book,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “She’s (Heavener) an incredible player Everyone was waiting for this moment. It was an incredible day for the team.”

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU pitcher Jayden Heavener delivers a pitch against Charlotte in the second

BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS

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1 p.m. Xavier at Seton Hall FS1

8 p.m. Ohio St. at Southern Cal FOX MEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY

7 p.m. Michigan St. vs. Michigan BTN COLLEGE SOFTBALL

noon Missouri vs. Duke MLBN

3 p.m. Nebraska vs.Texas Tech MLBN

6 p.m. Tennessee vs Northwestern MLBN GOLF

3:30 a.m. The Qatar Masters GOLF

LSU aims to ﬂip script on Ole Miss

BY TOYLOY BROWN III

Staff writer

Flying off screens is one of Cam Carter’s specialties.

The LSU men’s basketball guard sped to the left side to two off-ball screens that impeded the trailing defender Carter was free and ready to hoist a shot from above the 3-point arc with eight minutes remaining in the game.

But the pass came too late. Freshman point guard Curtis Givens was too preoccupied with keeping his dribble at the top of the key and missed LSU’s leading scorer when he was open The ball was delivered when the defender was back in front of Carter Coach Matt McMahon went from a focused, crouched position on the sideline to immediately standing up in frustration Carter felt similarly as he hopped to get Givens’ attention to pass the ball. Inattentiveness and a lack of sharpness were at the core of consecutive poor showings for LSU (12-10, 1-8 SEC). Moments like these must be minimized if it wants a chance to beat No. 25 Ole Miss (176, 6-4) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Disciplined defense

Defense is the aspect of LSU’s play that has dropped most precipitously

Its last two opponents shot 49.2% and 56.3%, which are the two highest field-goal percentages posted against LSU this season. Coincidentally, the third-best shooting outing occurred in its first meeting against Ole Miss. The Rebels shot 49.1% in a 77-65 win Jan. 11.

A repeat poor effort would not bode well for LSU’s chances for an upset. The Tigers can rectify their diminished defense if they are more physical and connected

While LSU is blessed with more wiry athletes than powerful ones, it has to avoid being pushed

LSU forward Daimion Collins finishes a dunk against Florida Golf Coast

the Peter Maravich Assembly Center The Tigers will try to avenge

ä Ole Miss at LSU 7:30

SECN

around as frequently in the paint and on the perimeter

Imposing its force is only one part of the solution. The Tigers’ awareness and connectedness have dropped off. One basket with 11:32 left in the game against Georgia illustrates the issue.

A Georgia guard had a step driving on Carter. The senior remained in position and would have made it a difﬁcult layup.

Daimion Collins was the nearest paint defender and detached from his assignment to jump for a block on an already well-guarded shot. The ballhandler recognized the extra defender and delivered

a wrap-around pass to his wideopen teammate LSU’s Corey Chest was in the picture in the paint and could have rotated to Collins’ man However, the redshirt freshman was unaware and did not make an impression. Too many disjointed sequences like this could crater any chance LSU has to beat Ole Miss. Protect the ball

Limiting turnovers is a critical factor in practically every game LSU plays. It is 317th in the country in turnover percentage on KenPom as of Friday for a reason.

Securing possession is even more important as Ole Miss is 21st in the country in turnovers forced per game (15.4). It’s also

elite at protecting the ball itself as it is ﬁrst in the country in turnover percentage on KenPom.

The Rebels top ballhandlers Jaylen Murray and Sean Pedulla have a combined 42 fewer turnovers than LSU’s backcourt duo of Carter and Jordan Sears. The Ole Miss pair also have played one more game.

If LSU doesn’t get obliterated in the turnover battle, it can compete with Ole Miss. LSU had four more turnovers in the ﬁrst matchup but still shot four more ﬁeld goals thanks to its offensive rebounding strength. Ole Miss is a tough out but has lost four of its last six games. This could be the ideal opportunity the Tigers need to end a five-game slide.

LSU women receive unlikely offensive boost

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

It had been a while since any of the LSU women’s basketball reserves affected a game quite like Mjracle Sheppard did in a tough road win over Missouri Sheppard, a transfer guard, is a long, lanky defensive specialist. Before Thursday, the sophomore hadn’t logged more than 19 minutes in a game all season. The most action she saw against a Southeastern Conference opponent was 14 minutes of mostly mop-up duty in the No. 6 Tigers’ lopsided Jan. 2 win over Arkansas. LSU’s 71-60 win over Missouri turned into a much tighter battle, yet coach Kim Mulkey trusted Sheppard with 28 minutes of run that she used to score 11 points, snare seven rebounds and give the Tigers a spark they sorely needed. LSU outscored Missouri by 17 points in the time she was on the ﬂoor “Mjracle was outstanding tonight,” Mulkey said. “She pres-

ä Tennessee at LSU 3 P.M.SUNDAy, ESPN

sured the ball. She’s very active rebounding the ball for her size, and we sure needed her to be as good as she was tonight. It was very good for her conﬁdence.”

That belief stems from LSU’s ﬁrst exhibition, a game in which Sheppard tallied 12 points, six rebounds and six steals in 25 minutes. The Mississippi State transfer hasn’t seen that kind of opportunity since then because a stress reaction injury in her foot shelved her for the ﬁrst month of the season. By the time she returned for a Thanksgiving trip to The Bahamas, Mulkey already had begun tightening her rotation, leaving little room inside of it for the player she once deemed her best defender

Shayeann Day-Wilson won the battle for lead ballhandling duties. Kailyn Gilbert emerged as a scoring threat off the bench. Even Jada Richard a 5-foot-7 freshman from Lafayette, crept her way

onto the ﬂoor while LSU searched for someone who could hit open shots on the perimeter

Sheppard won’t threaten opposing defenses from beyond the arc. But Mulkey is always happy to save a spot in her rotation for an extra perimeter defender, especially when one of her best — Last-Tear Poa falls outside of it for LSU’s wins over Texas A&M, No. 15 Oklahoma and Mississippi State

The problem was that Sheppard, in her limited time on the ﬂoor, was tallying more turnovers and fouls than points and assists.

That is, until her activity earned her 28 minutes on Thursday against Missouri.

“She’s been trying to get back in the lineup,” Mulkey said, “and sometimes when you try, you force things. Force a bad shot, or you have a turnover.”

Instead, Sheppard started forcing turnovers. With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Flau’jae Johnson missed a 3-pointer giving Missouri a chance to move within

Tiger ready to compete in Genesis next weekend

Tiger Woods committed Friday to playing the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines in San Diego, returning to one of his favorite venues for his first PGA Tour start since the British Open in July Woods will be playing and walking — 18 holes next weekend in competition for the ﬁrst time since he had a microdiscectomy in September to alleviate pain down his legs, his sixth surgery on his lower back.

Woods is the host of the Genesis Invitational, which was moved from Riviera Country Club because of wildﬁres that devastated the surrounding Los Angeles community of Paciﬁc Palisades. He has never won at Riviera, but his eight wins at Torrey Pines include the 2008 U.S. Open.

Indiana basketball coach

Woodson set to step down

Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson is leaving his alma mater on his own terms.

The 66-year-old Woodson, who has been under fire most of the past two seasons because of underperforming teams, decided to step down at the end of this season, the school announced Friday

The Hoosiers missed last year’s NCAA Tournament for the first time since Woodson took the job in 2021-22, and they’re in danger of being left out of the 68-team ﬁeld again this season.

Indiana (14-9, 5-7 Big Ten) heads into Saturday’s matchup against Michigan having lost four straight games and six of seven. The Hoosiers were this season’s preseason pick to ﬁnish second in the Big Ten.

WR Hill changes course, wants to stick in Miami

Tyreek Hill wants to stay in Miami, and he regrets his comments after the Dolphins’ final game of the season that suggested he wanted out.

The receiver said he doesn’t want to play for another team when asked Friday on the “Up & Adams” show about his comments after Miami’s regular-season finale against the Jets, when the Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention.

Not happy with missing the postseason for the ﬁrst time in his career Hill said afterward: “For me, I have to do what’s best for me and my family, if that’s here or wherever the case may be. I’m (going to) open that door for myself. I’m opening the door I’m out, bro.”

NFL Hall of Famer Faulk to coach Colorado RBs

Deion Sanders added another Pro Football Hall of Famer to his staff at Colorado by bringing in Marshall Faulk to oversee the running backs.

Faulk becomes the third member of the Buffaloes’ coaching ranks to boast a gold jacket, joining Warren Sapp and Sanders Sapp is the senior quality control analyst for the defense.

Faulk will try to improve a running game that’s been one of the worst in the nation the last two seasons. The Colorado offense has relied heavily on quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter who both will get drafted in April.

two possessions of LSU at the other end.

But before Laniah Randle could dribble outside of her own 3-point arc, Sheppard snuck behind her and poked the ball loose. It bounced to Aneesah Morrow, who lobbed a pass for an easy layup chance to Sheppard, who added three more buckets to help the Tigers preserve their lead.

Another layup off a nicely timed cut. A spinning floater away from a tumbling defender Then one final lay-in she scored from the baseline after her defender helped on a drive by Mikaylah Williams. Those field goals pushed Sheppard into double figures and gave the LSU bench 21 points the most it’s scored in a game in nearly a month.

The Tigers needed all those points to avoid an upset loss to Missouri.

“She deserves to have that kind of game,” Mulkey said, “because that’s how she was playing before she got injured.”

Faulk was a dual threat out of the backﬁeld over a 12-year career with the Indianapolis Colts and the St. Louis Rams.

Detry sits at 12 under for Phoenix Open lead

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Thomas Detry nearly aced the par-3 16th hole and shot a 7-under 64 in the second round to take a two-shot lead in the Phoenix Open on Friday

Detry had eight birdies and a bogey to reach 12 under on another day of perfect conditions at TPC Sawgrass. Michael Kim shot a bogey-free 63 to reach 10 under and was tied with Alex Smalley, who shot 65.

Jordan Spieth put himself in the mix with eagles on 13 and 15, shooting 65 to reach 9 under in his second tournament since offseason wrist surgery Argentine Emiliano Grillo set off the biggest roar of the day, slamdunking his tee shot on the rowdy par-3 16th for an ace.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

in the second half on Dec. 8 at

Pelicans ready to sport new look

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and two players from the New Orleans Pelicans’ starting lineup on opening night are no longer with the team.

First, the Pelicans traded Daniel Theis to the Oklahoma City Thunder for cash considerations, a move to get under the luxury tax. Then late Wednesday on the eve of the trade deadline, Brandon Ingram was traded to the Toronto Raptors In exchange for Ingram, the Pelicans received a pair of role players with plenty of playoff experience in Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk Brown is in his seventh NBA season, and his strength is his versatility

His best year was in the 202324 season when he averaged 12.1 points and 4.7 rebounds. Two years ago, he played for the Denver Nuggets when

they captured an NBA title. For Brown, 28, this will be the sixth different team he has played on. He also played for the Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets, Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and Raptors Brown has averaged 8.4 points and 3.8 rebounds this season in the 18 games he’s played Olynyk, a 6-foot-11 center, has averaged 10.2 points and 5.1 rebounds in his career

He’s in his 12th NBA season.

New Orleans is the seventh team he’s played for, joining a list that also includes the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz, Pistons and Raptors. He was also named team captain for the Canadian national team that played in the Paris Olympics.

Injuries have taken their toll on New Orleans. Of the five Pelicans who started on opening night, only CJ

McCollum remains active.

In addition to Ingram and Theis, the Pelicans are also without Herb Jones and Dejounte Murray Murray is out for the season with a torn Achilles and Jones could miss the rest of the season as well with a shoulder injury

“It’s tough, especially with what we have been dealing with this season,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “Especially with the amount of injuries we’ve had.”

The Pelicans (12-39) will take a seven-game losings streak into Saturday’s game against the Sacramento Kings. After that, they’ll play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, then the Pels return home to play back-to-back games Wednesday and Thursday in the Smoothie King Center against the Kings.

“It comes down to discipline,” Green said. “We know our margin of error is small.”

LeBron becomes oldest player to score 40 points

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

LOS ANGELES Age is more than just a number to LeBron James.

It’s also a target The 40-year-old James became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game Thursday night, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

James passed the record held by Michael Jordan his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday

“I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.”

Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003.

James is 38 days removed from his 40th birthday last Dec. 30 — and it seems highly unlikely this will be the last time he hits the mark, since the top scorer in NBA history is still playing phenomenal basketball deep in his record-tying 22nd NBA season. This feat is a remarkable bookend for James as well: He also is the youngest player in NBA history to score 40 points in a game.

James ﬁrst hit the mark 88 days after his 19th birthday on March 27, 2004, scoring

41 as a rookie for the Cleveland Cavaliers against the New Jersey Nets.

“Throughout my journey anytime I’ve been named or put in a category of whatever the case, to cross paths with the greats is always humbling,” James said.

“Just to know where I come from and I love the game so much so it’s pretty cool.”

James also grabbed a season-high 17 rebounds and added eight assists while carrying the Lakers down the stretch against the Warriors and 36-yearold Stephen Curry, who put up 37 points in defeat.

“We’ve run out of words and superlatives and descriptions to capture what he’s doing at this stage of his career and at this age,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said “It continues to be remarkable. It really does, and he really led us tonight. AR having an off shooting night, and we needed all of that offense from LeBron.”

James is still making NBA history while he waits to begin his new partnership with Luka Doncic, who watched his new teammate’s domination from the bench for the second straight game since arriving in a trade with Dallas. Doncic is likely to make his Lakers debut on Monday night at home against Utah.

“I can’t wait, because everything I do on the floor, he has the ability to do it or do it even better,” James said. “That’s how great he

Southern women set for 2nd-place showdown

BY CHARLES SALZER Contributing writer

The Southern women’s basketball team put up its lowest winning point total of the season in Thursday’s 48-33 win at Alabama State, but the Jaguars will take any kind of road win.

The win allows Southern (10-13, 8-2 SWAC) to stay within two games of conference leader Texas Southern, which is unbeaten in league play It also keeps Southern tied for second with Alabama A&M and Jackson State.

Southern defeated Jackson State last week and will play Alabama A&M (15-7, 8-2) in Huntsville, Alabama, at 2 p.m. Saturday “We need to play well against Alabama A&M,” Southern coach Carlos Funchess said. “They’ve got a loaded roster, so we’ll need to get after it.”

Alabama A&M has won four straight games since a 75-65 loss to Texas Southern on Jan 11. Kalia Walker led three Bulldogs in double figures with 23 points in A&M’s 70-58 win over Grambling on Thursday

Walker is second in the SWAC in scoring at 14.5 points per game while Alisha Wilson pulls down 9.7 rebounds, also second in the conference.

Southern found a way to defeat Alabama State despite shooting 38% from the field. Aniya Gourdine sat out most of the ﬁrst half with foul trouble, but she

still led the Jaguars with 12 points, five rebounds and ﬁve steals.

“That really hurt us offensively because she runs the show sometimes. It messed up our rotation,” Funchess said Gourdine’s foul trouble.

Jaguars post player Tionna Lidge also saw limited time in the first half after turning her ankle. She came back after halftime and put up 10 points and four blocked shots.

Southern never trailed

against Alabama State, but it didn’t take control until late in the third quarter Leading 29-27, Southern went on an 8-2 run and led 39-27 entering the fourth quarter. In a game where scoring

“Not scoring many points made it a tough game,” Funchess said. “We need to do better (Saturday) I thought we got some good shots but we just missed them. Hopefully we got all of that out of our

Southern’s Nunley makes his living on defensive end

BY CHARLES SALZER Contributing writer

Southern guard Andre Nunley is one of the smallest players on the Jaguars roster, but his contributions have been large enough to make him one of the key pieces in the team’s unbeaten start in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

is. Even at his young age, 25, he’s such a unique player He’s a special player, a generational talent, so I’m super-appreciative to be able to share the ﬂoor with him and then watch him do his thing.”

James was outstanding all night against the Warriors. He scored 18 points in the second quarter in a spree highlighted by three 3-pointers in 38 seconds — the third from the Lakers’ logo at midcourt. He basked in a standing ovation from the Lakers crowd while teammate Rui Hachimura placed an imaginary crown on his head.

James then stepped up down the stretch when the Lakers’ 26-point lead dwindled to five in the fourth quarter Golden State trailed by only six when James drained his sixth 3-pointer of the night with 1:08 to play and he followed it with a half-court assist to Hachimura for a dunk that essentially sealed the win with 49 seconds left.

James didn’t quite manage a triple-double against the Warriors, falling just short for the second straight game. He is the second-oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double, and he’s still about 90 days too young to break the record set by Karl Malone in 2003.

James has 10 triple-doubles this season, each one making him the secondoldest player to accomplish the feat.

A player who makes his living on the court by outhustling opponents and playing ballhawking defense, Nunley’s role on the team expanded after guard Tidjiane Dioumassi went down with a season-ending back injury He has been a fixture in the starting lineup since January, and has averaged more than 26 minutes in SWAC games.

In addition to leading Southern with 41 steals, his energy and work ethic have set an example, but his value is hard to quantify with numbers alone.

“If the season ended right now, he’d be our most valu-

able player,” coach Kevin Johnson said “And you’re talking about a guy who, on the season, averages three points and two rebounds a game. That’s how valuable he is.” Nunley and Southern (14-8, 9-0 SWAC) will try to stay on a roll this weekend when the Jaguars make their swing through Alabama. On Saturday the Jaguars will play at Alabama A&M (7-15, 3-6) at 4 p.m. They follow that up with a 6 p.m. tipoff on Monday at Alabama State (9-13, 5-4).

Last week, the Jaguars swept home games against Alcorn State and Jackson State. Both games came down to the final seconds and each time Nunley came up big in crunch time.

In Southern’s win over Alcorn State, the Jaguars trailed 68-67 with two minutes left to play Nunley’s long 3-pointer from well behind the arc gave Southern the lead and he added two

free throws as the Jaguars won 74-69.

Nunley was scoreless in regulation against Jackson State, but that changed in overtime when he scored eight points. In the extra period’s ﬁrst two minutes, he had two 3-pointers and a steal helping propel Southern to a 91-89 win. Among the weekly honors that the SWAC bestows on standout players, it recognizes an impact player of the week. Southern had no selections last week, but its hard to imagine anyone having a bigger impact than Nunley did in the Jaguars two wins.

“He embodies what I think a basketball player should be — someone with tremendous heart and tremendous toughness,” Johnson said. “He’s come in here and been a good teammate. He works harder than everybody else every day When I look for a basketball player, in my dictionary, it looks like him.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KEVORK DJANSEZIAN

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James shoots a jumper against Golden State Warriors guard Buddy Hield during the second half of a game on Thursday in Los Angeles.

PHOTO By JOHN OUBRE

Southern’s Tionna Lidge, center and Taniya Lawson grab a rebound in front of Alcorn’s Destiny Brown on Saturday at the F.G. Clark Activity Center

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

the Bucs won the one that mattered most in the playoffs, the final game of Drew Brees’ career In seasons the Saints played both Super Bowl teams, they are just 4-18 against those teams. The only wins are the two against the Bucs in 2020, a win over the Bengals in 1981 and a win over the St. Louis Rams in 2001. If you include the seasons the Saints played just one of the Super Bowl teams, the record is even worse They are 12-44 all-time against Super Bowl teams.

This year’s 15-12 loss to the Eagles was a game the Saints let slip away The Chiefs game, a 26-13 Monday Night Football loss at Arrowhead Stadium, wasn’t quite as close. Saints players both past and present see this game going either way Quarterback Spencer Rattler, like Bresee, calls it a tossup.

“It’s going to be a good game,” Rattler said. “If the Eagles run the ball like they have, they are going to be tough to beat. They have a good defense. But it’s hard to bet against Mahomes and what they’ve done.”

The oddsmakers in Vegas have it close, too. The Chiefs were just 11/2-point favorites as of Friday morning

“To me, it’s going to be hard to beat the Chiefs,” former Saints offensive lineman Jermon Bushrod said. “I think it always comes down to that quarterback position. But Philly has a way to win this game. They have a very good offensive line and the best running back in the game. Ground it and pound it and keep that dude (Mahomes) off the ﬁeld and you have a chance.” The Chiefs are trying to become the ﬁrst team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls. Former Saints receiver

NOT SO SUPER RESULTS

The seasons the Saints played both Super Bowl teams New Orleans is 4-18 in those games.

■ 1974 Lost to Steelers, lost to Vikings (0-2)

■ 1978 Lost to Steelers, lost to Cowboys (0-2)

■ 1981 Lost to 49ers twice, beat Bengals (1-2)

■ 1994 Lost to 49ers twice, lost to Chargers (0-3)

■ 1999 Lost to Rams twice, lost to Titans (0-3)

■ 2001 Lost to Patriots, split with Rams (1-2)

■ 2020 Won 2 of 3 vs. Bucs, lost to Chiefs (2-2)

■ 2024 Lost to Eagles, lost to Chiefs (0-2)

Marques Colston predicts history will be denied.

“I think the Eagles,” Colston said. “The Eagles have a throwback offense with road graders up front and an All-Pro running back. Teams don’t have the personnel to deal with that type of rushing attack.”

The past two Super Bowls played in New Orleans both were decided by three points. The Ravens beat the 49ers 34-31 in 2013. The Patriots beat the Rams 20-17 in 2002.

Receiver Rashid Shaheed doesn’t expect this one to be any different.

“It’s going to be a good game,” Shaheed said. “I think it will come down to whoever has the ball last.”

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

MOORE

Continued from page 1C

Moore’s friends and colleagues have long said he’s ready to become an NFL head coach. But this year has been his best argument yet for why that’s the case.

“He’s been fantastic as our offensive coordinator,” Sirianni said. “You know you go from an offensive coordinator to leading the entire team, but you’re still in charge of 30 guys there on the offensive side. So it’s a good preview of the type of head coach he’ll be.”

■ ■ ■

If there’s anyone on the Eagles’ roster who should have less than a glowing endorsement of Moore, it is Jahan Dotson.

Dotson, after all, is the third wide receiver in a runﬁrst offense. In other words, he doesn’t get the ball. And that should be tough to handle for a 24-year-old former first-round pick who was traded to the Eagles from Washington in August

“He’s a brilliant offensive mind,” Dotson said.

Sure, players rarely — if ever — criticize their coaches publicly, but Dotson still raved about the way Moore puts his players in a position to succeed.

“He’s really easy to talk to,” Dotson said.

That can go a long way toward massaging concerns about whether Moore, who’s quieter in a media setting, can command a room.

Backup quarterback Kenny Pickett said Moore’s level of detail was apparent from the beginning, and that earns respect. As soon as the Eagles started to install their offense last spring, Pickett noticed how Moore was “unbelievably clean” in how he communicated the scheme to his players. He made sure they understood it all — from the rhythm of the plays to the structure of the formation’s front to every detail in between.

“I think it’s one of my favorite things about playing for Kellen,” Pickett said.

Moore welcomes players’ feedback, too. When the Eagles opened their ﬁrst drive in the NFC championship game with a 60-yard touchdown run, Moore dialed up a play with a misdirection that he knew Barkley was a fan of.

“If Saquon suddenly says he likes plays, take really good note of it,” Moore said with a grin.

With the Eagles, Moore spent the year tailoring to his personnel — sometimes in dramatic fashion. Philadelphia pass-game coordinator Kevin Patullo said if you turned on the tape of the offense Moore used to run with the Cowboys, it would look “definitely different” from this year’s Eagles.

Some of that, of course, was the inclusion of Barkley after the Eagles lured him away from the New York Giants. But Moore’s changes also boil down to philosophy and adapting to the head coach in charge.

Sirianni is the fourth head coach Moore has worked under in the NFL. Three Jason Garrett, Mike McCarthy and Sirianni — come from an offensive background. While Moore has been allowed to call plays at each stop, he’s had to incorporate their ideas and make sure their offense is tailored to the coach’s vision That’s a necessity of the job, Moore said

But the Eagles also wanted Moore to bring his own ideas. Philadelphia was in search of a new voice on offense after a disappointing end to a 2023 season that saw a 10-1 start crash into an 11-6 ﬁnish with a ﬁrst-round exit.

“When we ﬁrst got together, and we learned his system, we taught him our system and tried to merge them and went through it all,” Patullo said “A lot of it was just the way he views the game, how he likes to set plays up and sees the long forecast of how

plays are strung together which was unique.

“It was very different. It’s worked well for us.”

■ ■ ■

Three years ago, Vic Fangio came into his postgame news conference with a bit of swagger

His Denver Broncos had just put a beatdown on the Dallas Cowboys, holding them scoreless — “a goose egg,” Fangio beamed until a pair of late-game garbage touchdowns. Fangio was so impressed with the win, he boasted that his team had just provided a blueprint to shut down the league’s topranked scoring offense.

“Teams just haven’t played them the right way,” Fangio said.

Moore was still the Cowboys coordinator at that point. And reminded of that game — and Fangio’s bragging this week, Moore broke out in a laugh.

“It’s come up a couple times,” Moore said. Moore and Fangio are now together on the Eagles, as the latter was hired as the Philadelphia defensive coordinator last offseason, another move that explains why the Eagles are in the Super Bowl.

But Moore isn’t the same coach who took his medicine against a wily old defensive mastermind in 2021. Neither is Fangio, who, at 66 years old has found ways to consistently innovate his system.

The best coaches ﬁnd ways to evolve. And the former quarterback feels like he has done that.

“I was fortunate to be a young play-caller, (but) I viewed it from a quarterback’s lens,” Moore said. “Probably early on in my career, I leaned towards solving every problem throwing the football, because you know the answers within that.”

The 2022 season, he said, helped him grow Starter Dak Prescott missed several games and Moore found ways to get production out of the team’s rushing attack to support backup Cooper Rush.

Doug Nussmeier has seen Moore’s evolution at each stop. The current Eagles quarterbacks coach, Nussmeier has followed Moore from Dallas to Los Angeles to Philadelphia. The 54-yearold said Moore’s intellect allows him to keep growing.

“He’s exceptionally smart,” Nussmeier said.

“When it comes to the game, he has the ability to look at the game from so many different viewpoints. I can’t talk about that enough, just how smart he is.”

■ ■ ■

When he played quarterback, Moore’s favorite throws were choice routes.

He loved the sense of anticipation, the chemistry he had to form with receivers to anticipate which way they would run. And it would take knowledge from each of them to read coverages and make the play

Perhaps this partially explains why Moore found his way into coaching. As a coach, every designed play is a way to get the X’s and O’s to read and react. Moore, even more as a coach than a quarterback, gets to control the chessboard.

But his roots run deeper than that. In the days of the

dial-up, Moore sought out any information he could about football. He’d scour the internet to print off playbooks and buy VHS tapes of all sorts of different offenses. His love for football was guided by his father, Tom — a Prosser, Washington, football coach who won four state championships. His brother, Kirby, eventually became a coach as well. The opportunity to coach came much earlier than Moore expected. In 2016, Moore suffered a season-ending ankle injury in training camp that, in hindsight, paved his way into the profession During that season, the quarterback would go about his rehab in the morning and then tend to his kids in preschool. But in other moments, Moore started to help the coaching staff with that week’s game plan. He served as a go-between in helping Prescott, then a rookie, adjust to an offense that had been tailored for years toward Tony Romo, who was also out most of that year with a back injury

“Like any building, when the quarterback is the quarterback for a long time, there’s a lot of layers,” Moore said.

So Moore decided to eventually peel the layers back full time. By 2018, he chose to retire when the Cowboys reshuffled parts of their coaching staff and offered him the job to coach quarterbacks. Moore realized he was fortunate and knew his playing days were at a crossroads. He played six seasons in the NFL, but he was far from the star he was at Boise State, where he finished with the winningest record of alltime as a starter (51-3). But even that route was arguably a benefit to Moore in the long run.

“The more you go through as a coach and a player, you’re able to build upon those experiences and you can relate to everybody,” Patullo said. “That’s important. He can relate to the superstars, and he can relate to the guys that are the backups.

“That’s an important trait for all coaches.”

At seven seasons, Moore now has been a coach in the NFL longer than he was as a player His journey has taken him to three stops, all across different parts of the country He was in Dallas long enough, for instance, for Moore’s 10-year-old son to have his favorite NBA player be Luka Doncic. And he was in Los Angeles long enough for his son’s favorite NBA team to become the Lakers.

“He was very excited,” Moore said of his son’s reaction to the Lakers’ stunning trade this week for Doncic. Funny enough, Moore said he hasn’t spent much time in New Orleans. He’s had a few stops here and there in the NFL over the years. And in college, he spent time in Louisiana as a mentor for the Manning Passing Academy That’s really it. But if the Eagles win on Sunday, New Orleans could be home to the greatest professional achievement of Moore’s life. Then, if everything goes right with the Saints, it could also become literally home for Moore and his family, too.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JAE C. JONG

Former Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Kellen Moore points to his players during training camp May 31, 2023, in Costa Mesa, Calif

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ED ZURGA

Saints quarterback Jake Haener is hit by Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Felix AnudikeUzomah on Oct. 7 in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs won 26-13.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed isn’t able to come down with the ball as Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Quinyon Mitchell defends Sept. 22 in the Caesars Superdome. The Eagles won 15-12.

Super

Bowl three-peat eluded QBs Bradshaw, Brady, Montana and Aikman. Now Mahomes takes his shot.

BY SCHUYLER DIXON AP pro football writer

Terry Bradshaw always wondered what might have been if his Pittsburgh Steelers had reached the Super Bowl either of the times they had a chance to win three in a row Ronnie Lott has long lamented just one bounce of the oblong ball that he said could have helped send the San Francisco 49ers to the big game when they were in just about perfect position for a three-peat.

Kansas City is the ﬁrst team to reach the Super Bowl after winning the previous two, which means Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have done what Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman and Bradshaw couldn’t before them.

Now they’ll try to ﬁnish the job Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans

“You got to have a lot of luck,” Lott said. “You got to ﬁnd moments where you want the ball to bounce your way And then the other thing is, you’ve just got to get over the idea that nobody thinks you can do it.” There is one asterisk. Bart Starr led Green Bay to the 1965 NFL championship and the ﬁrst two Super Bowl titles. Plus, John Elway retired after winning consecutive Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos.

Bradshaw and those Steel Curtain teams lost to the Oakland Raiders, coached by the late Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden, in the AFC championship game during Pittsburgh’s ﬁrst run as the two-time reigning champ.

The Steelers didn’t even make the playoffs the second time around, which was four years later

“Had we gotten to the Super Bowl, then I would say the chances of a three-peat would have been very good because you are a defending champion and you’ve experienced a Super Bowl and winning a Super Bowl,” Bradshaw said.

“It’s that long, drawn-out football season where you’re just waiting to get to the playoffs. And it’s a difﬁcult task.”

Roger Craig’s late fumble is what most remember when the 49ers lost at home to the Giants 15-13 on New York’s ﬁeld goal on the ﬁnal play of the NFC championship game during the 1990 season.

Lott, however, recalls in vivid detail 34 years later an earlier play when the Hall of Fame safety says Jeff Hostetler lost control of the ball in the backﬁeld with him blitzing, but the ball bounced the Giants quarterback’s way instead of his.

A second consecutive 14-2 season with Montana, Jerry Rice and John Taylor amounted to nothing in the minds of the Niners. Besides the luck of the bounce, Lott was quick to bring up the health of the players — as was Montana.

“The seasons are long. The offseasons are short,” Montana said. “Usually you’re not at 100% strength, your body doesn’t have its usual time to prepare itself during the offseason. When you compound that over the years it makes it even worse.”

Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and receiver Michael Irvin also got the Cowboys back to an NFC title game as two-time champs, but the Hall of Fame trio lost at San Francisco during the 1994 season, when Steve Young had taken over for Montana at QB.

Daryl Johnston, the fullback when Dallas became the ﬁrst to win three Super Bowls in a span of four seasons, believes the Cowboys had an asterisk of their own.

After beating Buffalo for the title in consecutive years, owner Jerry Jones and coach Jimmy Johnson had their infamous and acrimonious split. Barry Switzer coached the team that fell short of a threepeat.

In the 38-28 loss to the Niners, the Cowboys turned over the ball the ﬁrst three times they had it and

trailed 21-0 halfway through the ﬁrst quarter

“So, you lose your head coach,” Johnston said. “Where would Kansas City be if they lost Andy Reid? And then to play the worst six minutes of football you’ve ever played as a group to start that game, it was just so unexpected.”

Coach Vince Lombardi left the Packers after winning the first two Super Bowls, and Green Bay didn’t make the playoffs the year Joe Namath led the New York Jets to their famous upset of Baltimore in Super Bowl 3.

The ﬁrst of Miami’s consecutive titles is still the only undefeated season of the Super Bowl era, the 17-0 run during the 1972 season. The Dolphins lost their playoff opener when they were two-time champs.

The New England Patriots fell two victories short of a three-peat in 2005, the only chance they had to do that while winning six championships with Brady and coach Bill Belichick.

Mahomes is well aware of the history as the Chiefs try to to shrug off talk of a three-peat. A victory Sunday over Philadelphia would be the 29-year-old’s fourth Super Bowl title. Brady was 37 when he won the fourth of his record seven.

“I think you always want to leave a legacy and kind of make your imprint on history, but more than anything, you just want to accomplish a goal that you have with your teammates,” Mahomes said “We know that’s a hard process We know it’s hard week-in and weekout. But I’m proud of how our guys have kind of went about that process.”

Bradshaw still talks about how hard trying to three-peat was on him. As part of the Fox television crew covering the Super Bowl, the Hall of Famer will share the stage with the winning team, which could mean handing the Lombardi Trophy to Mahomes.

DB Allen among four voted into Pro Hall of Fame

BY JOSH DUBOW AP pro football writer

Antonio Gates, Jared Allen, Eric Allen and Sterling Sharpe were voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the smallest induction class in 20 years following offseason rule changes meant to make it harder to get inducted.

Sharpe got in as a seniors candidate in voting announced Thursday night at the NFL Honors and will join younger brother Shannon as the ﬁrst siblings ever inducted into the Hall. Two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning fell short and won’t join older brother Peyton in Canton, Ohio, this year

Shannon delivered the news directly to Sterling, and they will be together forever at the Hall after the induction ceremony on Aug. 2.

“I don’t think that has really set in yet,” Sterling Sharpe said. “It’s one of those situations where the closer it gets to having the same color jacket he has and standing in same place he stood and being able to have a conv about the journey to get there I think it will set in. But right now it hasn’t hit home yet.”

Eric Allen starred for 14 seasons as a top cornerback in the NFL and never had to move to safety as he aged. Allen’s career spanned from the “Fog Bowl” game in 1988 when he starred for Philadelphia as a rookie to the “Tuck Rule” game in the 2001 season for Oakland in his final game. He played for the Saints from 1995-97. Allen finished with 54 interceptions, including eight returned for touchdowns. He was a firstteam All-Pro in 1989 and had two other seasons as a second-team selection. He got in on his 19th year of eligibility

“Rarely does life play out like you want it to,” Eric Allen said “There’s always some curves and bends. But time always reveals the truth. It took maybe time for people to see the complexity of my situation.”

While the small class is a change from past years when at least seven people got inducted in each of the previous 12 classes, it isn’t unprecedented.

There were only four inductees in the 2005 class and there were 18 other years with three or four inductees since the ﬁrst class of 17 was enshrined in 1963.

“You almost appreciate it more,” Jared Allen said. “Nothing comes easy When I found out it was only four, it became more special. There’s a true emphasis on what it means to be a Hall of Famer Clearly we fit that. For me, it was kind of a sigh of relief.”

New rules were instituted this year after a push by Hall of Famers to make the Hall more exclusive, and that led directly to the smaller class. The modern era candidates were voted from 15 down to seven in the ﬁnal stage, instead of ﬁve in past years.

egories were then all placed in a group with voters picking three. Candidates also needed 80% support with the top ﬁnisher automatically getting in even if he fell short.

Hall of Fame spokesman Rich Desrosiers said no decision was made on whether to keep this system in place for 2026 but said one year might be too soon to draw any conclusions. Gates got elected in his second year of eligibility He played only basketball in college before turning into one of the NFL’s top tight ends after being drafted by the Chargers.

“The opportunity I got speaks volumes of how (the Chargers) believed in me,” Gates said. “I’m happy it all paid off.” He became an All-Pro in just his second season in 2004. He was an All-Pro again the next two seasons and went on to have a 16year career with the Chargers. Gates ﬁnished with 955 catches for 11,841 yards and an NFL record for tight ends with 116 touchdown receptions He ranks seventh all-time in TD catches.

Sharpe had a short but productive career for the Green Bay Packers from 1988-94 His best season came in 1992, when he became the sixth player to win the receiving triple crown, setting an NFL record with 108 catches for 1,461 yards and 13 touchdowns. He broke his own record with 112 catches in 1993 and led the NFL with 18 touchdown receptions in his ﬁnal season, 1994, before a neck injury cut his career short.

Sharpe was a three-time AllPro and had 595 catches for 8,134 yards and 65 TDs. He trailed only Jerry Rice over his sevenyear career in receptions and TD catches.

The Sharpe brothers will join three father-son tandems in the Hall: Tim and Wellington Mara; Art Rooney Sr and Dan Rooney; and Ed and Steve Sabol.

The four other modern-era candidates who reached the ﬁnal stage but fell short were Willie Anderson, Torry Holt, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri. Those four automatically advance to the ﬁnal 15 for next year’s voting.

BY DAVE SKRETTA

sportswiter

amount of

Bowl had him interviewing with several clubs last week for another shot at being a head coach

“He’s incredible,” Reid said ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles “My ﬁrst year here, like, the

The 49 voters then got to vote for five of the seven with anyone reaching 80% or finishing in the top three getting into the Hall. In past years, the five finalists all got an up-or-down vote with all five getting in for the past 17 years. The candidates from the seniors, coach and contributor cat-

The other eight finalists who got cut earlier were Manning, Jahri Evans, Steve Smith Sr., Terrell Suggs, Fred Taylor, Reggie Wayne, Darren Woodson and Marshal Yanda.

The seniors candidates who fell short were Maxie Baughan and Jim Tyrer, with Mike Holmgren falling short as the coach and Ralph Hay as the contributor

CAESARS SUPERDOME • NEW ORLEANS KANSAS CITy CHIEFS (15-2) VS. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (14-3)

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By HARRy CABLUCK

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw sits on the bench as the rest of his team watches the closing minutes of Super Bowl XIII in Miami on Jan, 21, 1979. The Steelers beat the Cowboys 35-31.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVID J PHILLIP Former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jared Allen, right, hugs

San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates as they are introduced into the Pro Hall of Fame Class of 2025 on Thursday in New Orleans.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Eric Allen, who played for the Saints from 1995-97, was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Thursday night.

THE VARSITY ZONE

Liberty bench player delivers vs. Catholic

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

In what was supposed to be a guard-dominated game, post player Kingston Jarrell was the difference-maker.

The 6-foot-4 Jarrell came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points and had 10 rebounds, leading Liberty to a 52-40 victory over Catholic High in a District 4-5A basketball opener played Friday night at Liberty

“I was a starter, but coach (Brandon White) changed it up,” Jarrell said. “He told me to bring the energy off the bench and that’s what I did. We got off to a good start and it felt good I knew we had it then — right from the beginning.”

Guard Malek Robinson added 12 points for the Patriots (21-3, 1-0) and was the only other double ﬁgures scorer in the game low scoring game between the state’s top two Division I select team based on the LHSAA’s power ratings. The loss snapped a 15-game

winning streak for the Bears (271, 0-1), who held the No. 1 spot in the power rankings this week. It is fourth win in a row for No. 2 Liberty since loss to Georgia power Greenforest.

“He (Jarrell) was the difference maker,” Liberty’s White said. “He gave us what we needed when he came in the game.

“The games we played up to this point and some of the out-of-state teams we played helped prepared us for this moment, I believe.”

Tate McCurry led Catholic with nine points, while Austin Fruge added eight. The Bears scored just one first-quarter field goal and never recovered from a 19-3 lead Liberty built during the ﬁrst 11 minutes of the game.

Catholic struggled against the Patriots’ pressure defense. They had nine first-quarter turnovers and made just one of nine shots from the field. The lone field goal by the Bears was a layup by Matthew Hotstream with 2:26 remaining.

BASKETBALL REPORT

By that time Liberty had a 9-3 lead. Three baskets around the rim by Jarrell — including a layup with 22.2 seconds left — gave Liberty a 13-3 lead after the ﬁrst quarter The struggles for the Bears continued through nearly six minutes of the second quarter They did not score until Brady Broussard scored in the lane at the 3:49 mark. Catholic did counter in the ﬁnal minutes of the half with a 10-2 run ands trailed 24-15 at the half. The Bears outscored Liberty 1412 in the third quarter They got within six at 33-27 on a 3-pointer by Brady Broussard. But they had trouble matching up with Jarrell in the lane throughout the game. Robinson’s driving layup with 11.4 seconds left sent Liberty into the fourth quarter with a 38-29 lead. Catholic got no closer than eight in the fourth quarter

Email Robin Fambrough at rfambrough@theadvocate.com

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

To be elite, Scotlandville’s Ferzell Shepard knows he must jump 50 feet. And that’s the triple jump goal for the former Mississippi State football commitment at Saturday’s Last Chance Qualiﬁer indoor track meet.

“That’s it That’s what I’m going for,” Shepard said. “We’ve been working really hard in practice every day, and my jumps keep getting better

“Since last year, I’ve gotten stronger My technique is better It feels like everything is coming together.”

The Last Chance Qualiﬁer begins at 10 a.m. at LSU’s Carl Maddox Fieldhouse. It will be the ﬁnal chance for many Louisiana competitors to qualify for the LHSAA indoor meet set for Feb. 22 at LSU.

For Shepard, it represents something different. A leap of 50 feet would likely make Shepard only the third high schooler to hit that mark nationally during this indoor season.

The fact that Shepard, a football wide receiver, decommitted from Mississippi State on Monday just before the NCAA’s February signing date could be a distraction. He doesn’t see it that way and neither does his coach, Allen Whitaker.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Shepard is ranked 11th in 247sports Louisiana class of 2025 and committed to Mississippi State after his junior year

The desire to compete in both sports on the college level played a role in his decision. He has visited South Florida and is talking to other schools, including Texas-San Antonio.

“Being able to compete in both

(sports) in college is very important to me,” Shepard said. “I am talking to people trying to ﬁgure out what is best way for me to do both.”

But first things first, starting Saturday at LSU. It is the second indoor meet of the season for Shepard, who had marks of 48 feet, 3 inches in the triple jump and 22-5 in the long jump at McNeese last month.

He ranks first in Louisiana in the triple jump ad second in the long jump among Louisiana competitors and will compete in both events Saturday

“He played Robin to Broderick Davis’ Batman for two years,” said Whitaker, referencing the former Hornets star now at Tennessee. “The first year especially what Ferzell did was all done with athletic ability

“When he and Broderick went ﬁrst and second in the long jump at state two years ago, I’m not sure he realized how good those numbers were or what they meant. I’ve been saying the same things to him for two years, and it’s ﬁnally all clicking now.”

Going from 48-3 to more than 50 feet might seem like a quantum leap for a former basketball player who competed in his ﬁrst track meet two years ago. Whitaker and Shepard don’t see it that way Before coming to Scotlandville, Whitaker won LHSAA championships at Ruston. One of his stars there, Oklahoma standout BJ Green, holds the high school indoor mark of 51-61/2

“We’ve seen it in practice already,” Whitaker said. “He’s ready for it.”

Email Robin Fambrough at rfambrough@theadvocate.com

SOCCER PLAYOFF REPORT

Johnson said Brown, who is also a left-handed pitcher, is unlikely to pitch this season.

LSU coach Johnson sheds light on Brown’s future this season

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

LSU baseball player Jake Brown’s focus has been simpliﬁed to just hitting ahead of the start of the 2025 season, coach Jay Johnson said Friday After pitching during fall practices, Brown, a sophomore outﬁelder-left-handed pitcher has not toed the rubber this preseason He did not pitch for the Tigers last year despite being drafted as a pitcher out of high school by the Texas Rangers.

“Anytime you’re trying to get a player better at something, I try to simplify things,” Johnson said Johnson, however, would not rule out a return to the mound for Brown this season. Injuries and the Tigers having fewer lefthanded pitching options than last year might keep the door open for

HEAVENER

Continued from page 1C

Berzon was cheering Heavener on throughout the ﬁrst game.

“I was telling her how great she was doing the entire game,” Berzon said. “You couldn’t ask for anything better Doing that on the ﬁrst night as a freshman is absolutely unreal. I don’t think it will be the last time you see something like this.”

A two-time All-American, Berzon retired the first 11 batters she faced before Madi Young hit a high bouncer that shortstop Avery Hodges couldn’t ﬁeld on the short hop in the fourth inning After Kaitlyn Graham reached on a swinging bunt, Lily Hood hit into a ﬁelder’s choice to end the inning.

“I felt good. My movement pitches came together and my location was good,” Berzon said. “It felt natural for me. I’ve ﬁnally gotten to that age where the nerves are gone. It just felt normal.”

In the ﬁrst game, Danieca Coffey, Maddox McKee and McKaela Walker knocked in two runs each for the Tigers. Coffey, Walker and Tori Edwards had two hits each as LSU picked up 10 hits off two Charlotte pitchers. Coffey, who missed all but 16 games last year with a knee injury celebrated her return with a

ä Season Opener Purdue Fort Wayne at LSU 2 P.M.FRIDAy,SECN+

Brown to pitch again.

But Johnson is conﬁdent in the Tigers’ left-handed options and noted that their right-handed pitchers are better equipped to retire left-handed hitters than at any point before during his tenure at LSU.

“We’ll see how that goes,” Johnson said.

Brown is seemingly content with simplifying his role ahead of the new season, saying that it will allow him to focus on becoming the best hitter he can be.

“I think just being able to be where my feet are and trying to limit all the stuff that can affect me on the outside, whether that’s what’s going on the next day, what’s going on the previous day whether that’s pitching, whether

that’s school work, anything,” Brown said. “If I can just eliminate that and focus on being in the batter’s box and doing my job at that time, that always makes it easier.” Brown, according to Johnson, had a strong fall at the plate, but his starting spot in the outﬁeld isn’t guaranteed. Auburn transfer Chris Stanﬁeld and freshman Derek Curiel have impressed offensively and defensively through fall practices and the preseason. Sophomore Ashton Larson and senior Josh Pearson are also returning starters, while junior Ethan Frey is a weapon against left-handed pitching and healthy again after he played through a shoulder injury for most of last year

“I think the depth of that group on this roster is probably the strength of the team,” Johnson said.

LSU pitcher Jayden Heavener delivers a

of the sixth inning Friday in Tiger Park.

leadoff single to start the game. Jalia Lassiter was safe on a fielder’s choice, and Edwards drove in Coffey with a single. McKee added a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

In the nightcap, the Tigers offense produced 11 hits, including the season’s first home run on a two-run shot by catcher Maci Bergeron. Avery Hodge had a tworun single in a three-run second in-

ning, and Sierra Daniel knocked in a pair of runs with a double. Coffey also had a run-scoring single, and two more scored on a wild pitch.

“Offense did a great job,” Torina said. “Our coaches were commenting on how well we ran the bases, and our speed played a factor. We had a lot of big swings but the way we ran the bases set a tone for the season and who they want to be.”

Dodgers favored to be repeat champions

Offseason moves enhance L.A.’s already star-studded lineup

BY RONALD BLUM AP baseball writer

Miguel Rojas gladly gave up his No. 11 to Roki Sasaki and went back to 72, his jersey as a Los Angeles Dodgers rookie in 2014.

“I’m not asking for anything. I have everything that I want in life,” the 35-year-old inﬁelder said. “All I ask for him is trying to get us another championship.”

He’s in the right spot. Spring training workouts start Sunday with the Dodgers trying to become the ﬁrst repeat champion since the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000.

Coming off their second title in ﬁve seasons, the Dodgers added Sasaki, the prized 23-year-old right-hander from Japan, and left-hander Blake Snell to a pitching staff expecting two-way star Shohei Ohtani to return to the mound in April or May after recovering from elbow surgery

“Kudos to them. They’re doing everything right,” said Toronto pitcher Max Scherzer, who pitched for the Dodgers brieﬂy in 2021. “They have a well-oiled machine.”

Los Angeles opens the season in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs with a two-game series starting March 18. The Cubs are the ﬁrst team to start practice, on Sunday in Mesa, Arizona, and all clubs will be on the ﬁeld by Thursday Chicago manager Craig Counsell also is switching numbers, to 11, yielding No. 30 to Kyle Tucker, the All-Star outfielder acquired from Houston. Counsell chose 11 in honor of Jim Leyland, one of his early big league skippers. When Leyland led the Florida Marlins to the 1997 World Series title, he reminded players they needed 11 postseason wins for the title, matching the number on his back.

“I’m hoping to use that speech a little bit later in the month of September,” Counsell said.

Chicago’s other team, the White Sox, is coming off a 121-loss season, the most in the major leagues post-1900, Hooray for Hollywood

Los Angeles committed $452 million to eight players during the offseason. The Dodgers kept utilityman Tommy Edman with a $74 million, ﬁve-year contract, outfielder Teoscar Hernández with a $66 million, three-year deal and right-hander Blake Treinen for $22 million over two years.

In addition to Sasaki ($6.5 million signing bonus) and Snell ($182 million for ﬁve years), the Dodgers added reliever Tanner Scott ($72 million for four years), outfielder Michael Conforto‘ ($17 million for one season) and second baseman Hyeseong Kim ($12.5 million for three years).

Tyler Glasnow is projected for the rotation after ﬁnishing last season on the injured list. Threetime Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw is expected to re-sign and return after he recovers from knee and toe operations.

“The Dodgers are a really wellrun, successful organization,” baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Everything that they

do and have done is consistent with our rules. They’re trying to give their fans the best possible product. Those are all positives. I recognize, however, and my emails certainly reﬂect that there are fans in other markets who are concerned about their team’s ability to compete. And we always have to be concerned when our fans are concerned about something. But pinning it on the Dodgers, I’m not in that camp.”

Mets also paying top dollar

In search of the team’s first World Series title since 1986, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen gave a record $765 million, 15-year contract to outfielder Juan Soto, luring him from the rival Yankees, part of a $925 million splurge on eight free agents.

“If you want something that’s amazing, it’s going to be uncomfortable. It’s never going to be comfortable,” Cohen said. “And so I always stretch a little bit because I know that’s what it takes to get it done.”

Following an NL Championship Series loss to the Dodgers, the Mets also added right-handers Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes and Griffin Canning along with left-hander A.J. Minter, and resigned first baseman Peter Alonso, left-hander Sean Manaea, right-hander Ryne Stanek and outfielder Jesse Winker They acquired outfielder Jose Siri in a trade with Tampa Bay

A pair of rules changes

MLB increased the penalty for a violation of the shift rule requiring two inﬁelders to be on the inﬁeld dirt on each side of second base when a pitch is thrown. A batter will now reach on an error, with a manager having the option of taking the result of the play During the 2023 and ‘24 seasons, the penalty was a ball being added to the count or the manager taking the result of the play There were just four violations of the shift rule in 2023 and two last year If a baserunner runs through second or third base on a potential force play and doesn’t try to hold the base or advance, he will be called out for abandonment. If a lead runner crosses the plate, a video review would determine whether he touched the plate before the trailing runner’s second foot touched the ground on the other side of the base. The intent is to discourage baserunners from going through second and third with no attempt to hold the base in order to allow a lead runner to score.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

pitch against Charlotte in the top

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU outfi elder Jake Brown drives the ball during a fall scrimmage on Oct. 27 at Alex Box Stadium LSU coach Jay

AP PHOTO By DAMIAN DOVARGANES Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher

Roki Sasaki poses during an introductory news conference on Jan. 22 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Terry Robinson

FAITH MATTERS

Evangelist keeping watch over ministry

When she was 16 years old, a babysitting assignment helped launch Baton Rouge evangelist Bianca Chandler into a ministry of teaching and serving Chandler, 32, was a high school sophomore when she was asked to care for the youth Sunday school class at her church until a permanent teacher could be appointed She embraced the opportunity to do more. “They asked me to babysit, and I began teaching,” she said. “The kids I was teaching at that time may have been 5, 6 or 7 years old. I just started teaching them the fundamentals of faith, like understanding salvation. I didn’t do the expected stories.” Chandler grew into her teaching/mentorship role and witnessed many of the kids grow in the word and get saved. Chandler served in that capacity for nine impactful years.

“Now many of those kids are college age,” she said. “They are still active in the church and very strong advocates within the external communities of faith. Their roots are real, and I love to see it.”

Chandler remains deeply engaged at Grove First Missionary Baptist Church in Baker, where her father, the Rev Kenneth W. Chandler, serves as senior pastor However her involvement at Shady Grove is just a portion of her broader ministry and community efforts.

Carving her own path, Chandler is quite busy helping people improve their lives and the world as a national speaker, workshop/retreat facilitator, event curator, Vacation Bible School teacher, online Bible study teacher, instructor for the Fourth District Missionary Baptist Association, purpose coach, businesswoman and author Her books include “70 Days, 70 Ways: He Speaks to Me” (2020) and “It’s Simple Not Easy: Purpose Has a Process” (2021).

“Naturally, it seems like every few years, God allows for some new opportunity to develop,” said Chandler, who holds a degree in social work from Southeastern Louisiana University She earned a master’s in theology from St. John Bible Institute, where she is also on track to receive her doctorate in theology in June.

A couple of her closest friends and a cousin have chosen to follow Chandler’s example and attend seminary

“I believe in discipleship I believe in teaching by

ä See MATTERS, page 2D

BY SERENA PUANG Staff writer

‘Constantly

learning is good for your soul.’

Courtesy of the Chiefs, Louisiana’s 2025 Teacher of the Year is going to the Super Bowl

BY JAN RISHER Staff writer

Ask anyone at Rayne High School who’s going to the Super Bowl. Chances are, the ﬁrst answer won’t be the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles. Nope, these days at yne High, the answer is, “Ms. Boutin.” Elise Boutin, the 14year veteran Acadia rish high school senior English and publications teacher is Louisiana’s 2025 Teacher of the Year Boutin is also the school’s cross-country coach. On Jan. 29, she, along with the rest of her school, learned she was the recipient of two tickets to the Super Bowl on a virtual call with former Saints player Chris Reis.

“I was stunned — much less to come from someone like Chris Reis,” Boutin said “I wanted to say, ‘I know exactly where I was sitting when I watched you pick up that onside kick when the Saints won the Super Bowl.’” Boutin, 42, is the single mother of four young sons, ages 13, 12, 10

and 9. She decided not to play favorites and invited her boyfriend to go with her “I couldn’t choose out of my sons. I felt like that would be wrong,” she said. “I’m bringing my boyfriend. I guess that makes me ‘Girlfriend of the Year.’” The tickets are courtesy of the Kansas City Chiefs, which recognize a female educator as the recipient of the Norma Hunt Super

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

& Wings.” “The roots are those who came before, and the wings are those who are here and will ﬂy out into the world,” Randell Henry said. Henry, a professor in Southern University’s Visual Arts Program, has two pieces in the show,

through March 6 in the

Elise Boutin is a senior English and publications teacher at Rayne High School. Pictured here from left are Baylee Stallings, Lexic Lacoq, Boutin and Ellah Barousse.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Elise Boutin, Louisiana’s 2025 Teacher of the year, is a senior English and publications teacher at Rayne High School. She is also the mother of four sons. Pictured here are Dax Boutin, Charles Boutin, Elise Boutin, Jase Boutin and Rhett Boutin.

STAFF PHOTO By ROBIN MILLER

Lloyd Wade’s acrylic, mixed media on canvas, ‘The G.O.A.T.,’ is featured in the Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Roots & Wings.’

Dear Miss Manners: I made a serious error when speaking to someone with cancer by referring to people not diagnosed with the disease as “normal” — as in, “Can normal people get periodically scanned?” I quickly corrected myself, but I still agonize over it, two weeks later I don’t know what I was thinking and I’m so embarrassed. This is a casual acquaintance, and we have loose plans to get together for lunch. How should I address this, if at all?

If your friend seems chilly or distant, Miss Manners suggests you cautiously bring up the incident and apologize. But if she appears to have forgotten about it, let it go. You will have learned a lesson for next time.

follows I don’t want to volunteer what my actual profession is; that invites a lot of other questions, and I don’t think they are really interested in my job. I don’t necessarily want to engage in a whole conversation, but I don’t want to come across as rude, either

draw attention to it, followed by “I just like to wear fun things.”

That they do not will only be implied.

Gentle reader: Make those loose plans ﬁrm. Then assess the damage at lunch.

By The Associated Press

Dear Miss Manners: People often ask if I am an artist. I think it is because of the offbeat way that I dress: no paint spatters, but oversized glasses, angled haircuts, quirky shoes, etc. It seems like a way of commenting on my appearance, and I think it is meant to be complimentary But when I simply say “No,” there is an awkward silence that

TODAY IN HISTORY

of a Nation” premiered in Los Angeles.

Today is Saturday, Feb. 8, the 39th day of 2025. There are 326 days left in the year

Today in history

On Feb. 8, 1968, three Black students were killed and 28 wounded as state troopers opened ﬁre on student demonstrators on the campus of South Carolina State College in Orangeburg in the wake of protests over a Whites-only bowling alley The event would become known as the Orangeburg Massacre.

On this date: In 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I In 1693, a charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in the Virginia Colony In 1904, Japan launched a surprise attack on the Russian Navy at Port Arthur (now Dalian, China), marking the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War In 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated by William D. Boyce. In 1915, D.W Grifﬁth’s controversial epic ﬁlm “The Birth

MATTERS

Continued from page 1D

example, and I believe in being authentic,” she said.

Among her wide range of teaching ministry opportunities are Rooted and Letting Every Go Faith for youth and Focusing Ahead for women. Founded in 2019, the organization Focusing Ahead helps equip women with everyday tools to “thrive spiritually, physically and mentally to focus on all that is ahead.”

Since its inception, Focusing Ahead has hosted events in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago and San Antonio. This year’s Focusing Ahead returns to Baton Rouge in November

“I create safe spaces for people to experience community and then introduce that community to the love of God, to the sacriﬁce of God, and to the love and forgiveness of God being personiﬁed,” she said. “I am able to help them heal and move forward. It’s literally everything focusing ahead. That’s what matters to me.”

Chandler credits her parents dad and mother Amy with instilling in her a deep passion for people and that commitment to community

“I got to see community in action at an early age,” said Chandler, who was an only child.

In 1924, the ﬁrst execution by gas in the United States took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City as Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, was put to death

In 1936, the ﬁrst NFL draft was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia.

In 1960, work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles. In 1971, NASDAQ, the world’s ﬁrst electronic stock exchange, held its ﬁrst trading day Today’s birthdays: Composerconductor John Williams is 93. Broadcast journalist Ted Koppel is 85. Actor Nick Nolte is 84. Comedian Robert Klein is 83. Actor-rock musician Creed Bratton is 82. Actor Mary Steenburgen is 72. Author John Grisham is 70. Hockey Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli is 65. Rock singer Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe) is 64. Basketball Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning is 55 Actor Seth Green is 51. Actor William Jackson Harper is 45. Actorcomedian Cecily Strong is 41. Hip-hop artist Anderson .Paak is 39. Professional surfer Bethany Hamilton is 35.

“Watching my parents in ministry, it brought up the importance of doing for others and showing up and being present for people. I talk about community a lot because I believe it’s the thing that fosters relationships.”

A precocious child, Chandler’s passion for speaking and people was evident years before she started teaching Sunday school.

“Even though I was interested in professional speaking at an early age, I had no intention of preaching and did not see this coming,” she said Around the age of 17, Chandler began to consider a calling to ministry It was in 2016 that she initiated meaningful conversations with her father about the path to becoming a licensed minister In 2020, her father ﬁnally granted Chandler’s request as a licensed and called minister

“He realized I wasn’t losing steam for nothing,” she said.

Chandler said her calling is about making connections with anybody God places in her path.

“For me, even though I teach, what I’m called to is people,” she said. “My call from God has always been the concern of people and making sure they’re well and reached and seen and validated and loved and understood.”

For more information on Chandler, visit biancachandler.com.

Contact Terry Robinson at terryrobinson622@gmail.com.

What would be a polite and friendly response?

Gentle reader: Rarely one to seek out offense where none is intended, even Miss Manners wonders why these strangers feel the need to label your appearance. And the awkward pause afterwards is betraying any honorable intentions they may have had.

Miss Manners suggests you let them live in the silence a bit to

Dear Miss Manners: I have a coworker who is older than me by about 20 years. We both work remotely While we work together on projects, we report to different bosses. When I tell her I have ﬁnished a task or project, she will respond with “Good girl,” as if I am her pet or child. She does this via email, in instant messages and verbally over the phone. It is infuriating and demeaning. What would be a suitable response to her? Up to this point, I have just ignored it and moved

on, but I really want to say something to make her realize it is awful to say that to a grown woman.

Gentle reader: “I’m sure you mean it kindly, and I’m delighted that you appreciate my work. But this is my job, and when you say ‘Good girl,’ it makes me feel as though I am doing you a favor Or that I am a pet instead of a colleague.”

Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

EXHIBIT

Continued from page 1D

perspectives of life, beliefs and the world itself.

A mentorship theme

“I feel like, generally, the whole theme of this exhibition is about mentorship,” said Samantha Combs, gallery director and adjunct instructor in the arts program. “We have an art minor at Southern, but we don’t have an art major anymore. We lost it 10 years ago, so it’s been sleeping for a few years.”

But the status of “minor” hasn’t stopped the Visual Arts Program from growing.

“Shows like this are like a spark starting to light our current students, and I thought it would be a good idea to pair the alumni and student work,” Combs said. “You get a fusion, and it opens the door for students to meet alumni, make connections and inspire mentorships.”

Combs is happy with the mix of subjects and themes within the artwork.

“We have a good range of things,” she said. “We have a lot of ﬁgures, and we have a lot of women in the artwork, and I was really happy to see that.”

Both alumni and students were asked to submit up to ﬁve works each. Combs served as curator, liberally choosing a variety of works so she could “stack the walls.”

“I wanted to hang them in the gallery salon-style,” she said.

The salon-style art method originated at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1670s Paris. Paintings can be displayed in stacked arrangements from the

‘ROOTS & WINGS’

Southern University Visual Arts Program exhibit featuring work by Southern art alumni and students l Through March 6 in the school’s Visual Arts Gallery in Hayden Hall on campus l Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and by appointment l Admission is free. For more information or to make an appointment, call Randell Henry at (225) 771-4109 or email samantha. combs@sus.edu.

ﬂoor to the ceiling.

Reaching for the same dream

Now, all of the paintings in Southern’s show are at eye level, but many are arranged in stacked groupings. Lloyd Wade’s Muhammad Ali-themed “The G.O.A.T.” perfectly meshes with the blooming human heart in Meckenzie Smith’s yarn-dominated, mixed media piece “Blooming Heartstrings.”

One rings more masculine, the other more feminine. Yet both are reaching for the same dream.

The show also features work by some deceased art alumni and artists who may not have attended Southern but have direct connection to the school. The biggest name in this group is Frank Hayden, for whom the art gallery’s building is named.

Hayden’s ‘Unity’

Hayden taught for 27 years at Southern, joining the art faculty in 1962 and working until his death in 1985.

“He didn’t go to school at Southern, but he taught here,” Henry said.

If anyone is an example of what this art show represents, it’s Hen-

ry, who not only was a student in Hayden’s classes but was inspired and mentored by the professor Hayden’s public sculptures can be found throughout the nation, many in Baton Rouge. Similarly Henry’s collage paintings have been featured in galleries nationwide.

When Henry stands in the center of the Visual Arts Gallery contemplating works in the show, he sees talent and potential in each.

Then he stops to take in Hayden’s wooden sculpture, “Unity,” where one pair of hands reach toward another Perhaps this sculpture summarizes the show even better than its title.

Hayden’s hands reach out and help the other, encouraging alumni and student artists to do the same.

Email Robin Miller at romiller@ theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTOS By ROBIN MILLER

Frank Hayden’s wooden sculpture ‘Unity’ sets the theme for the Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s exhibit ‘Roots & Wings.’

Craig Ambeau’s color pencil and marker piece ‘Greatness in My DNA’ is featured in the Southern University Visual Art Gallery’s exhibit ‘Roots & Wings.

Continued from page 1D

Bowl Champion of Education Award.

Norma Hunt was the only woman to attend every Super Bowl from Super Bowl I to the Chiefs’ victory in Super Bowl LVII in 2023. Hunt died in June 2023, and the Chiefs announced the creation of the Norma Hunt Super Bowl Champion of Education program to honor Hunt’s passion for education, her lifelong love of football and her renowned Super Bowl attendance streak.

“Everybody was absolutely thrilled for her,” said Connie Credeur, the high school bookkeeper. “We’re all going to be watching for her on the big screen.”

Meanwhile, Boutin says she’s trying to get used to all of the attention.

She had not known the Teacher of the Year honor would come with a longstanding spotlight This year, she sits on the BESE Board. She’s going to the Super Bowl this weekend. In two weeks, she leaves for a conference in California with all the other Teachers of the Year from other states.

“For so long I was in my classroom with my students, coaching and with my sons. It’s a year of opportunity,” she said. “When I was named Teacher of the Year, they told me, ‘Your life just changed.’ Barely over a month in, I believe it.”

Boutin says she is doing her best to take it all in and determine what aspect of education she wants to be her focus. She feels a responsibility to her school, her students, her community, her state and her predecessors, including Kylie Altier the 2024 Louisiana Teacher of the Year, whose focus on literacy is making a signiﬁcant impact.

Boutin is listening and learning to determine a focus and platform. Her interests are broad, as indicated by the varied hats she wears at Rayne High — from English teacher to cross-country coach to media teacher and adviser for “Rayne, Alive!,” a student-produced news

program.

“Kylie motivates me,”

Boutin said “This is an opportunity to learn, especially coming from a rural area. I’m just going to be exposed to a lot of things that will help us grow here. I’m trying to listen and see where my best effort can go to make an impact on our area and possibly even the state.”

Boutin is also taking one graduate class this semes-

ter

“I don’t know how I’m going to do all of this, but I’m a lifelong learner,” she said.

“Constantly learning is good for your soul. I share that with my students constantly I don’t ever want to feel like I’ve peaked in my life.”

Boutin took time to answer a few questions about being named Louisiana’s Teacher of the Year and Norma Hunt Super Bowl Champion of Education.

What do you believe has been at the crux of your success as an educator?

That’s an interesting question. Personally, I’m a passionate and curious person. I believe even my trying to learn Spanish on Duolingo is an example to my students

I’m constantly trying to show them that there are so many things in life that they can be exposed to — that keeps them interested, which has helped me connect with them. Also, I’m open to what they’re interested in, like movies or particular books. If they make a recommendation to me, I’ll watch it or read it, and we’ll talk about it. Those things matter

How are you incorporating mentorship into your curriculum?

I’ve developed what I call “the senior project fair” these past few years, which has helped take things to the next level. Students are able to go shadow in a ﬁeld they’re interested in.

I was thinking, “They go through 12 years of school, and they don’t get to choose what they study.” I created a unit so that they get to decide what they want to learn about. It works for both college-bound and careerbound students in helping to learn about what they want to do in adulthood

For some college-bound students, they realize what

they thought they wanted to do isn’t really for them — and the project sometimes saves them a couple of semesters of studying something they don’t want to end up doing.

When are you headed to New Orleans for the game?

We’re going Sunday I don’t like overly crowded places. I’m going to go to the Super Bowl, but I’m OK with just getting there Sunday afternoon and taking it in from there.

Any celebrities you’re excited about seeing?

I’m a Swiftie. She is a phenomenal artist. You’ve got to commend her If I get to see her I think my boyfriend would like to see Bradley Cooper He was worried about wearing red for the Chiefs and seeing him as an Eagles fan.

Do you know what you’ll wear to the Super Bowl?

I like shiny I have a gold shiny skirt and a red shirt. I have to play homage to the Chiefs since I get to go in Norma Hunt’s place, but if they were playing the Saints — I’m sorry, I would have to wear black and gold. And your students? How have they responded to this latest excitement? They’re pumped. They are hoping to see me on television. I wonder, “Do I need to make a sign that says, ‘Hey students! I’m here.’”

When we ﬁnish (this conversation), I’m going to go ask the arts teacher if she has someone who could help me make a classy sign.

Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate.com.

Dear Heloise: I have been reading your column with interest and like the tips displayed therein. A recent letter from Cody, in San Antonio, noted that he gives various kinds of nuts and seeds to squirrels for their food, which is nice. On the contrary, I feed them with small pieces of regular or buttertopped bread. Squirrels and other birds like it very much. Sometimes if all of the bread is consumed, squirrels come to me with folded hands and request more. It brings a smile on my face, and I feed them

NEW YEAR

more bread pieces. — Glen Allen, in Virginia Medicare scam confirmed

Dear Heloise: I wanted to send a big “thank you” after reading a letter about the scam to get Medicare numbers for a new card. Not more than 45 minutes later, I received one and told the guy to read “Hints From Heloise” because he was a scammer He hung up (how rude!), and I have since gotten four

Continued from page 1D

Louisiana traditions together In March, they host a crawﬁsh boil.

“Our goal is to promote the community, friendship, culture exchange and development,” said Yang Mu, current president of the association.

The event was organized by Esther Yao, who has been involved in the organization since she moved to Baton Rouge in 1997. She brought three dishes to the event.

“Probably people know the name, but (it) probably tastes a little different, because I improved,” Yao said with a laugh before the event.

One of the dishes she brought, fuqi feipian, which translates roughly to “husband and wife lung pieces,” is delicious and not nearly as scary as it sounds. Despite the name, lung is very rarely used. Yao makes her version from beef tendon that she buys from an Asian market.

There are numerous distinct cuisines in China, many of which cannot typically be found served at the same table or in Baton Rouge restaurants. But for one night, they were enjoyed all together, united

by the experience of people who made them, being part of the Chinese diaspora in Baton Rouge Yao’s dish is local to Sichuan province, which is not the part of China that she is from, but she learned to make it online and experimented with different versions of the recipe before settling on the version she made for the party Lin He, an associate professor of violin at LSU, has been a member of the association for many years. Originally from Shanghai, he studied in Pennsylvania before moving to Baton Rouge in 2007 to teach at LSU. He made Shanghaistyle spring rolls for the party the way his parents taught him as a kid.

“It’s actually really simple The inside is sliced pork, napa cabbage, and today, I put in some mushrooms,” he explained in Mandarin. “It’s a nostalgic dish from my hometown that represents the best of its culture.”

He and his wife have been a part of the association since shortly after they moved to Baton Rouge.

“In this foreign land, we are a minority,” he said. “Of course, I’d want to congregate with people who speak my language, who are of my people, who can talk to me about the culture and represent the best parts of it.”

His wife, Maggie Yuan who is from Taiyuan, also made a Shanghai-style dish called sixikaofu, which is known in English as gluten salad It’s a cold dish made of mostly mushrooms and roasted gluten.

“I like it, although it’s not really (from) my hometown,” she said of the dish. Yuan said she and many others at the event moved away from their hometowns years ago, so their traditions and recipes have been “mixed up” — it’s not solely what people grew up doing. This is part of the way that people adapt and change when adjusting to a new place, after getting married or being exposed to different kinds of cuisine.

In February, The Chinese Friendship Association will partner with LSU’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association to host performances, activities and a cultural show to continue to celebrate Lunar New Year The event starts at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 22 outside in front of the Student Union before moving to the ballroom inside the building. There are no tickets, but preregistration is required. For more information, visit instagram.com/lsucssa.

Email Serena Puang at serena.puang@ theadvocate.com.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) When one door closes, another opens. Refrain from laboring over what's ending when embracing new beginnings will optimize your chance to advance. Talk less and do more.

PIsCEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Stick close to home. Venturing out will lead to tempting offers. Choose to concentrate on health, diet and exercise, not on indulgent behavior. Refuse to let an emotional situation take control.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Go over every detail and change whatever is necessary. Take care of matters personally and be secretive regarding your choices. Emotional spending will set you back.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Concentrate on what matters most to you and clear a path forward. Getting personal papers in order will ease your mind. It's up to you to create opportunities.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Approach every issue openly and honestly. Decisiveness will help you gain trust, and proof that you know what you are doing and saying is accurate will seal the deal. Put your emotions on the shelf and do your best.

CAnCER (June 21-July 22) Think before you act. Emotions will surface quickly and require restraint if you want to avoid trouble. Avoid hasty decisions and unnecessary changes. Pay attention to your health and emotional well-being.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Pay attention to detail; research, learn and be creative with the information you gather. Attend

a reunion or function that will bring back memories or prompt you to revisit a pastime that brings you joy.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Experience is golden. A change will spark your imagination and encourage you. Heading to a destination you've never been to and participatinginsomethingthatintrigues you will encourage new friendships.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Refuse to let someone's angst or emotional madness affect your plans. Look at the big picture; consider how others react and socialize with those who share your sentiments.

sCoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Let your creativity take over your life. Get together with people who spark your imagination and encourage you to pursue your dreams. Travel and physical endeavors will help put things in perspective.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Stick to what and who you know and trust. Refuse to fold under pressure just to keep the peace. Find common ground and incentives to ensure that equality prevails.

CAPRICoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Emotional manipulation is apparent. Look for solutions instead of getting bogged down in what-ifs. Refuse to jeopardize your health or risk damaging a meaningful relationship.

FAMILY CIrCUS

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

toDAy's CLuE: G EQuALs W

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

peAnUtS

zItS

FrAnK And erneSt

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM SherMAn’S LAGoon

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS CurTiS

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Hunter S. Thompson, a journalist and author who died in 2005, said, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”

If it looks weird, talks weird and smells weird, it must be weird especially if produced by a pro.

In other words, if a competent player does something weird, it is (almost certainly) not because he has lost his marbles, but because he is hoping to sneak a trick past an unsuspecting opponent.

In today’s deal, South is in three notrump.Eastisinthespotlight.Westleads a fourth-highest club six. What should East be thinking?

First, though, let’s look at declarer’s problem He has only eight top tricks: five spades, two diamonds and one club. And with clubs wide open, he must hope that East has the heart ace and is sleeping soundly. South should win the first trick and call for the heart jack, trying to look like a man about to take a finesse.

What should East conclude now?

Initially, East should have asked himself this question: What is declarer likely to do at trick two? Here, if South doesn’t have the spade ace, he will surely establish that suit. So, when South doesn’t do that, it is because he has the spade ace. Ergo, the suit is ready to run and declarer has eight top tricks: five spades, two

diamonds and one club. Why is he calling for the heart jack?

South must be trying to sneak his ninth trick.

East mustn’t fall for it: He should jump in with the heart ace and play clubs. If East ducks, South, in desperation, will put up his king and, when it wins, claim. © 2025 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD = GOOD AFTERNOON

InstRuCtIons:

toDAy’s

Previous answers:

yEstERDAy’s WoRD — PAnGoLIn

today’s thought

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles