The Advocate 02-10-2025 by The Advocate

FLYING HIGH

Take a bow, New Orleans. And a breath. You did it. You crushed Super Bowl LIX

Jeff Duncan

The game. The week. The event. It was all an overwhelming success. Sure, the game turned out to be a dud. The Philadelphia Eagles drubbed the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in a game that, relatively speaking, lacked drama, thrills or controversy In the grand scheme of things, though, the game was irrelevant.

See DUNCAN, page 6A

ä Trump meets with N.O first responders at Super Bowl. PAGE 4A

ä See complete coverage of the Super Bowl. PAGE 1B

ä Grease the poles! Eagles dominate Chiefs. PAGE 7B

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, left, looks up at the

LIX victory at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday.

EBR libraries ‘blindsided’ by plan to end dedicated fund

Edwards wants to use money for police raises

BY QUINN COFFMAN | Staff writer

East Baton Rouge Parish library ofﬁcials say they were not included in discussions concerning Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ proposal to devote library funds to raises for police and other initiatives. In a statement released Saturday, the li-

71 LOW 62 PAGE 16A

brary board said the proposal would hamper the system’s ability to buy new books and host community programs.

“We were blindsided by this proposal,” Library Board President Candace Temple said. “This would fundamentally change all operations within the East Baton Rouge Parish Library system.” Edwards’ plan would move the library which has its own property tax, into the city-parish general fund. He has proposed

Federal judge chides Baton Rouge police over chases

BY MATT BRUCE | Staff writer

In movies, high-speed police chases are choreographed stunts that make for thrilling action sequences. In real life, they can have catastrophic consequences for innocent bystanders and motorists caught in the path of pursuit. Such was the case in December 2022

Civil case over fatal crash in 2022 tossed ä See CHASES, page 9A

when an officer chasing a suspected car thief sped through a red light in Brusly and rammed into another car, killing two high school cheerleaders and critically injuring a college freshman riding in the back seat. Baton Rouge police officers initiated that New Year’s Eve chase before it spilled across the Mississippi River bridge into West Baton Rouge Parish, where officers from other agencies assisted.

STAFF

PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Lombardi Trophy as coach Nick Sirianni hoists it into the air following their Super Bowl

Rescuers recover 1 body in landslide in China

BEIJING Emergency teams in China’s southwestern Sichuan province raced against time Sunday to locate 28 people after a landslide triggered by rains killed one person and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel were deployed following the landslide in the village of Jinping in Junlian county on Saturday. Some officers navigated through the remains of collapsed buildings, using drones and life-detection radars to locate any signs of life with the help of locals who were familiar with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Two injured people were rescued and about 360 others evacuated after 10 houses and a manufacturing building were buried, CCTV reported.

At a news conference Sunday, authorities said preliminary assessments attributed the disaster to heavy rainfall and local geological conditions. They said these factors transformed a landslide into a debris flow more than half a mile long, with a total volume exceeding 3.5 million cubic feet. The rescue operation was hampered by continuous rainfall and more landslides. According to estimates, the collapsed area was about 16 soccer fields in size and many houses were carried far by the debris flow

Storms drop fluffy snow across New England

CONCORD,N.H.— New Englanders stocked up on both Super Bowl snacks and staples like bread and milk this weekend ahead of a fast-moving storm that dropped up to a foot of light, ﬂuffy snow.

The parking lot was packed and the checkout lines were long at a Market Basket grocery store in Epping, New Hampshire, on Saturday, WMUR-TV reported. None of the shoppers seemed to panic about the storm, which cleared out by Sunday morning well ahead of kickoff time

Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service, said the storm moved from the Great Lakes into the Northeast, with accumulated totals of 6 to 12 inches in upstate New York and New England and 3-5 inches around Boston and New York City. While northern areas enjoyed the powder, the snowfall in New York City was wet and dense, clogging storm drains and creating ponds of water at sidewalk intersections in Northern Manhattan.

Airports in Boston and New York saw increased ﬂight delays and cancellations Sunday

Earlier Saturday, heavy snow fell in sections of northern and central Wisconsin, with the community of Medford reporting 13 inches on Saturday Some places in northern Michigan got more than a half a foot on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

The next storm is also expected to move quickly, Oravec said. It is forecast to form across the plains on Tuesday and push eastward, bringing a swath of snow to areas south of the states hit this weekend.

More than 500 eggs stolen from Seattle cafe

SEATTLE More than 500 eggs were stolen from a cafe near Seattle on Wednesday morning. The thieves hit the Luna Park Cafe in West Seattle at about 4:42 a.m., according to Seattle police.

Security footage shows two men entering the restaurant’s refrigerator and stealing about 540 eggs, some bacon, ground beef and “liquid egg products,” police said. About $780 in goods were stolen, with eggs accounting for $387. The breakfast goods were loaded into a van and the thieves left the scene. They later returned but quickly left when they realized an employee was there, police said. The heist comes as egg prices soar in the U.S. Most Americans are paying $4 a dozen or more, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicting a 20% price hike in 2025. In 2022, eggs cost $2 a dozen on average. This isn’t the first egg theft either Last week, 100,000 eggs were stolen from a truck in Pennsylvania. Seattle police are investigating the theft.

Trump repeats vow to take control of Gaza

Pressure mounts to renew ceasefire after emaciated hostages released

BY MOHAMMAD JAHJOUH and TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press

MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip New details and growing shock over emaciated hostages renewed pressure Sunday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a fragile Gaza ceaseﬁre beyond the first phase, even as U.S President Donald Trump repeated his pledge that the U.S. would take control of the Palestinian enclave Talks on the second phase, meant to see more hostages released and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, were due to start Feb. 3. But Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress, even as Israeli forces withdrew Sunday from a Gaza corridor in the latest commitment to the truce

Netanyahu sent a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator, but it included low-level ofﬁcials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough. Netanyahu, who returned after a U.S. visit to meet with Trump, is expected to convene security Cabinet ministers on Tuesday Speaking on Sunday Trump repeated his pledge to take control of the Gaza Strip.

“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it. Other people may do it through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back. There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished,” he told reporters onboard Air Force One as he traveled to the Super Bowl.

Trump said Arab nations would agree to take in Palestinians after speaking with him and insisted Palestinians would leave Gaza if they had a choice.

“They don’t want to return to Gaza. If we could give them a home in a safer area — the only reason they’re talking about returning to Gaza is they don’t have an alternative. When they have an alternative they don’t want to return to Gaza.”

Trump also suggested he was losing pa-

U.S.

By The Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Sunday that top administration ofﬁcials will meet with European ofﬁcials this week about how to end the war in Ukraine, nearly three years after Russia launched an all-out invasion.

Less than a day earlier, the New York Post reported that Trump had a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss steps toward a negotiated solution.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he ﬂew to the Super Bowl in New Orleans, Trump declined to discuss his reported phone conversation with Putin.

“I don’t want to do that. We’re trying to end that war It’s a war that would have never happened if I were president, it would have never happened, but we’re making progress. But I can’t tell you,” he said.

Asked to clarify whether his conversations with Putin took place before he took ofﬁce or after, Trump said, “I’ve had it. Let’s just say I’ve had it. And I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended. It’s going to end. There was no immediate conﬁrmation of the call by the Kremlin.

In a television interview, national security adviser Mike Waltz said the Russian economy is not doing well and that Trump

tience with the deal after seeing the emaciated hostages released this week.

“I watched the hostages come back today and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated. It looked like many years ago, the Holocaust survivors, and I don’t know how much longer we can take that,” he said.

Israel has expressed openness to the idea of resettling Gaza’s population — “a revolutionary, creative vision,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday — while Hamas, the Palestinians and much of the world have rejected it

Egypt said it will host an emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss the “new and dangerous developments.”

Trump’s proposal has moral, legal and practical obstacles It may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic to pressure Hamas or an opening gambit in discussions aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia condemned Netanyahu’s recent comment that Palestinians could create their state there, saying it aimed to divert attention from crimes committed by “the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”

Qatar called Netanyahu’s comment “provocative” and a blatant violation of international law

Families of remaining hostages said time is running out as some survivors described being barefoot and in chains.

“We cannot let the hostages remain there. There is no other way I am appealing to the Cabinet,” said Ella Ben Ami, daughter of a hostage released Saturday, adding she now understands the toll of captivity is much worse than imagined.

The father of a remaining hostage, Kobi Ohel, told Israel’s Channel 13 the newly released men said his son, Alon, and others “live off half a pita to a full pita a day These are not human conditions.” Ohel’s mother, Idit, sobbed as she told Channel 12 her son has been chained for over a year

Michael Levy said his brother the newly released Or Levy, had been barefoot and hungry for 16 months. “The decision-makers knew exactly what his condition was and what everyone else’s condition was, and they did not do enough to bring him back with the urgency that was needed,” he said.

Federal consumer protection agency told to stop work

Trump administration effectively shuts down bureau

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP economics writer

WASHINGTON The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down an agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 ﬁnancial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal.

Russell Vought, the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget, directed the CFPB, in a Saturday night email confirmed by The Associated Press, to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama pushed to include it in the 2010 financial reform legislation that followed the 2007-08 financial crisis.

require a separate act of Congress to formally eliminate it. But the head of the agency has discretion over what enforcement actions to take, if any Yet Elon Musk commented, “CFPB RIP” on social media site X on Friday And the CFPB homepage on the Internet was down Sunday, replaced by a message reading “page not found.” Also late Saturday, Vought said in a social media post that the CFPB would not withdraw its next round of funding from the Federal Reserve, adding that its current reserves of $711.6 million is “excessive.” Congress directed the bureau to be funded by the Fed to insulate it from political pressures.

“is prepared to tax, to tariff, to sanction” Moscow to get Putin to the negotiating table. Waltz also underscored that the Trump administration is looking to use this week’s engagements to begin talks on clawing back some of the United States’ assistance to Ukraine. He said European allies will also need to take a greater role in supporting Ukraine going forward.

“We need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their natural resources and their oil and gas and also buying ours,” Waltz said in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Those conversations are going to happen this week. And I think an underlying principle here is that the Europeans have to own this conﬂict going forward. President Trump is going to end it And then in terms of security guarantees, that is squarely going to be with the Europeans.”

Vice President JD Vance will be in Paris on Monday for an artiﬁcial intelligence summit that’s gathering government ofﬁcials and will head later in the week to the Munich Security Conference, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will lead the battle-weary country’s delegation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump’s special envoy on Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, will also be in Munich.

The email also ordered the bureau to “cease all supervision and examination activity.”

On Sunday, administration ofﬁcials also said that the CFPB’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., would be closed through Friday, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press. No reason was given for closure.

“Employees and contractors are to work remotely unless instructed otherwise,” the email to headquarters workers said.

The order follows similar efforts by the White House to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Since the CFPB is a creation of Congress, it would

“This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,” Vought said on X. The CFPB says that it has obtained nearly $20 billion in financial relief for U.S. consumers since its founding in the form of canceled debts, compensation, and reduced loans. Last month, the bureau sued Capital One for allegedly misleading consumers about its offerings for high-interest savings accounts and “cheating” customers out of more than $2 billion in lost interest payments as a result, the bureau said. Dennis Kelleher president of Better Markets, an advocacy group, said, “That’s why Wall Street’s biggest banks and Trump’s billionaire allies hate the bureau: It’s an effective cop on the ﬁnance beat and has stood side-by-side with hundreds of millions of Americans Republicans and Democrats — battling ﬁnancial predators, scammers, and crooks.” The administration’s move against the CFPB also highlights the tensions between Trump’s more populist promises to lower costs for working-class families and his pledge to reduce government regulation.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By OHAD ZWIGENBERG

A Palestinian man wearing a red shirt, left, stands amid the rubble of destroyed buildings on Sunday while watching Israeli soldiers, bottom right, take position in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel.

President remembers Bourbon Street attack victims

Staff and wire reports

President Donald Trump met briefly with first responders and family of victims of the New Year’s Day terrorist att ack in New Orleans before watching the pregame pageantry from Saints owner Gayle Benson’s suite alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

Entering through the tunnel of the corner of the Chiefs’ end zone, he greeted the New Orleanians for a few minutes and took pictures before going to the suite, where his daughter Ivanka joined him. A mix of cheers and boos went up when he emerged.

“While thousands of fans from across our Nation gather in New Orleans to cheer on their favorite team, we remember that 14 families will be missing a loved one who was tragically murdered during a senseless terrorist attack while celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street,” Trump said in a statement Sunday afternoon. “Our thoughts are also with the 35 individuals injured during the attack whose lives were changed forever that fateful night, and our prayers will remain with them for continued strength, comfort, and healing.”

Trump is the ﬁrst sitting president to attend a Super Bowl.

While aboard Air Force One en route to Louisiana, the flight crew announced that the plane was flying over the Gulf of America. It was the first time Trump had flown over the Gulf since he ordered the federal government to refer to it by that name, instead of the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump held a 30-minute, in-ﬂight news conference to announce that he had declared Feb 9 “Gulf of America Day” to honor the fact that the Gulf is “an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America,” according to a copy of the declaration provided by the White House.

During the news conference, Trump also said he planned to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum Monday Air Force One landed

around 3:30 p.m. at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans and Trump departed around 3:45 for the Superdome. During the 27-minute drive, supporters along the route waved ﬂags, held signs and saluted.

There was plenty of other national politicking going on in New Orleans Sunday U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy R-Louisiana, posted a photo on the social media app X of him with Frank Bisignano, chair of the payment processing company Fiserv and Trump’s nominee to run the Social Security Administration. Two of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr and Barron Trump, ate at Antoine’s in New Orleans on Sunday afternoon.

Hufﬁngton Post reporter S.V Date contributed to this story as pool reporter for the president’s trip. Email Matthew albright at malbright@ theadvocate.com.

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

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, center, speaks with President Donald Trump in Saints owner Gayle Benson’s suite at Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday

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What mattered was the big picture The biggest show in the world came to town, and New Orleans didn’t just deliver The city raised the bar Took the thing to another next level. From the postcard weather to the gonzo events to the Eagles’ authoritative beatdown of the Chiefs, the week couldn’t have gone much better (Unless of course, you were a Chiefs fan.)

Super Bowl LIX was New Orleans at its best, the city in full plumage for the world to experience and appreciate.

It all added up to something that felt less like a football game than a celebration of New Orleans and everything it represents.

“It was a week of goosebumps,” said Jay Cicero, the president of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, who oversaw local operations for the game. From beginning to end, it was also a series of OMG moments for New Orleanians. The awe-inspiring lighting of St. Louis Cathedral. The spectacle of opening night. The splendor of NFL Honors at the Saenger Theatre.

The pageantry of the Super Bowl Host Committee parade. The city never looked so beautiful, its landmarks so majestic. The cathedral, Saenger and the Dome were resplendent. Down-

town blazed like a Pixar movie brought to life. Don’t take it from me. Everyone said it. Celebrities. Journalists. Even NFL executives. The testimonials were everywhere all week. Not a day went by without someone raving about the city its food and infectious joie de vivre. Cardi B, Chad Johnson and Clay Travis, among others, posted ringing endorsements of the city and its incomparable Super Bowl hosting credentials on their social media platforms.

“We have such a special town,” Cicero said. “There’s been nothing but positive comments and reaction. It’s been spectacular.”

And potentially lucrative.

What’s the value to the New Orleans tourism industry when someone like Cardi B’s inﬂuence tweets to her 36.4 million followers: “New Orleans have the best tasting food. Like damn everything

taste good here!!! Ya’ll GOT THAT!!!!!”

It all felt like a giant Chamber of Commerce ad for the city and state, and the game was no different.

While there was an array of celebrities in attendance, including Paul McCartney Lady Gaga, Kevin Hart, Jon Hamm, Kevin Costner, Bradley Cooper, Jay-Z and of course, Taylor Swift, the biggest star of the night was New Orleans and Louisiana.

The pregame show was a tribute to the city and state’s music and culture, highlighted by Lauren Daigle and Trombone Shorty’s rendition of “America the Beautiful.” New Orleans native Ledisi crushed her rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The “NOLA Strong” hype video, featuring Trombone Shorty, was spine-tingling. And the memorial to the victims and ﬁrst responders of the Bourbon Street terrorist attacks was moving and on point.

In the end, the lopsided game won’t be remembered among the best Super Bowls ever, but it still was historic.

The presence of President Donald Trump made it the ﬁrst Super Bowl ever attended by a sitting president.

The media contingent of 6,414 was also a Super Bowl record And by all accounts, the viewership ratings will also be a record.

Best of all, unlike many Super Bowls past, the week went off without a major hitch And that’s a credit to the city’s skilled and experienced team

of organizers, led by the sports foundation.

The ﬂawless execution also served as an important reminder of our civic potential when we set aside our differences and unite for a common cause. Things work much better when we’re patting not stabbing each other’s backs.

“Our sense is that it has gone extremely well, better than we imagined, and we imagined pretty big,” Cicero said. “That’s why our theme is ‘It’s what

we do.’ ” The week was cathartic on so many levels and for so many reasons. It was exactly what New Orleans needed after Jan. 1. Best of all,

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

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Jon Batiste performs the national anthem before Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday.

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

The Southern University band performs before Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday.

CHAMPS

using funds from the library to give pay raises for the Baton Rouge Police Department as well as to other community projects.

In addition to limiting book and e-book purchases, the proposal would reduce programming for early literacy, summer reading, small-business services, Bookmobile service and the career center library ofﬁcials say The release also criticizes Edwards’ original announcement of the proposal, which the library board says misrepresented library funds saved for capitol projects as a surplus in the system’s budget. In his own statement Sat-

CHASES

Continued from page 1A

A federal judge recently blasted the Baton Rouge Police Department for a pattern of recklessness in highspeed chases, citing a number of fatal crashes ofﬁcers have been involved in both before and after the West Baton Rouge collision. But U.S District Court Judge Brian Jack son stopped short of holding the BRPD liable for the Dec. 31, 2022, crash that killed 15-year-old Caroline and her Margare Edline both Brusly students.

urday afternoon, Ed says the more than $90 lion projected to be in brary’s fund balance by indeed constitutes a surplus.

“The average taxpayer in East Baton Rouge is contributing over 200% more than the national average for library funding,” he said. “With Baton Rouge facing a growing home ness crisis and crime nearing record highs, the money currently sitting in the library’s surplus could be better utilized in addressing these urgent community needs.”

Pay as you go

Much of the board’s statement went into explaining how the library system funds

Jackson’s ruling came in a 2023 wrongful death federal lawsuit Gill’s parents ﬁled against the BRPD, Cauthron and the town of Addis. Jackson dismissed the federal claims against the city-parish and relegated a negligence claim to state court It was unclear if the plaintiffs plan to pursue the case against Baton Rouge police at the state level — their attorney was not available for comment Thursday or Friday.

Cauthron, Addis and the town’s insurer remain defendants in the federal uit.

Then-Addis officer Cauthron volved in he floored traveling section of cis Street. show he barreled through a red light without braking and was traveling at 86 mph when he plowed into the passenger side of the Mazda 3 driven by Dunn.

Liam Dunn, Maggie Dunn’s 20-year-old brother was critically injured and suffers with lifelong, debilitating injuries, Jackson noted in his recent ruling The judge pointed out that Baton Rouge officers involved in the chase exceeded speeds of 100 mph, forced other motorists onto the median, drove on the shoulder of roads to pass vehicles and also ran red lights without braking just before the fatal wreck. But he determined there was not enough evidence that training lapses by the BRPD led to the crash or propelled Cauthron’s recklessness.

“Sufﬁce it to say, it is, in the court’s opinion, not for lack of culpability that the city-parish avoids liability here,” he wrote in his Jan. 30 order Rather, he said, there is just not enough evidence “to hold the city-parish accountable for the acts of another municipality’s employee.”

Jason Paul Gill, aroline Gill’s father, has spent much the past two years dvocating for police pursuit policy reforms He started foundation in Car’s name and has ith Brusly police their cars equipped cloud-based app lert that enables ofﬁcers to notify motorists within a mile-and-a-half radius whenever they launch police chases.

“He did acknowledge some of the shortcomings of BRPD and hopefully that can drive some change in one way, shape, or form,”

Jason Gill said of Jackson’s ruling “There’s policies in place to help protect citizens as well as law enforcement ofﬁcers. But we do need to hold them accountable. That can help lessen the chances of something like this tragically happening to another family.”

Breakdown of ruling

Police say Tyquel Eugene Zanders broke into his family’s Baton Rouge home, took the keys to his father’s Nissan Altima and stole the car He raced away when police tried to pull him over on River Road near the Raising Cane’s River Center on Dec. 31, 2022, setting off a pursuit across Interstate 10 into West Baton Rouge through heavy midday trafﬁc, police said. Deputies in that parish joined the fray along with Brusly and Addis police ofﬁcers. Five BRPD units also

differently than other city-parish divisions, and this requires it to keep much money on hand. The libraries are funded through a property tax, which parish residents must vote to renew every 10 years. The “Pay-As-YouGo” plan described in the library’s statement was ﬁrst instiin 1986, and residents to renew the tax in 1995, 2005 and 2015.

Edwards’ original proposal announcement said the library system has access to a $114 million surplus in its fund balance. Library officials dispute this, saying the system plans to have a $92.8 million fund balance at the end of this year “This includes the entirety

remained in hot pursuit after Zanders crossed the parish line.

Judge Jackson noted that the grand theft auto call that ignited the high-speed chase was a grade three infraction and described it as a “mundane origin” for the intense response. Baton Rouge ofﬁcers had already identiﬁed Zanders as the culprit, he indicated. BRPD policy says there was no longer a need for immediate apprehension in such circumstances and chases should be terminated when they pose a greater immediate threat to public safety than the suspect being on the loose.

Police said Zanders ran multiple red lights and fled at speeds of 110 mph. Cauthron led the chase as Zanders raced through the red stop light where the crash occurred. Tim Gilbert, a Brusly police ofﬁcer who was directly behind him, slowed down as he approached the intersection. But he said Cauthron never applied his brakes as he entered the busy juncture.

Cauthron saw multiple cars crossing the intersection as he approached, and the light was red approximately 11 seconds before he sped through, court records show He could be heard on dashcam audio devices in his cruiser saying “F*** this is going to hurt,” about eight seconds before the collision. Yet he never slowed.

Jason Gill and Kimberly Elliot, Caroline Gill’s parents, said Baton Rouge officers “set in motion” the chain of events that provoked Cauthron’s actions. Their lawsuit argues that the BRPD units’ recklessness “inﬂuenced Ofﬁcer Cauthron’s decision-making process and emboldened him to make the arrest at all costs.”

A city-parish spokesperson had no comment on the judge’s ruling Friday But James Moore Jr a senior special assistant parish attorney, argued that none of the claims aimed at Baton Rouge police ofﬁcers had any legal merit.

“Allegations that an Addis police officer was ‘emboldened’ or excited by observing ‘reckless and dangerous’ driving by BRPD units to the point that he drove through a busy intersection at high

of next year’s operating budget, which pays for books and library materials, staffing, utilities, maintenance and repair supplies, and operations,” the system’s statement reads.

Another difference in the library system’s plan is that it does not borrow money or issue bonds to fund capitol projects, according to library ofﬁcials. Instead, the system accrues money through the tax and must save unspent funds year-over-year to eventually pay for planned capitol projects.

“The Mayor’s proposal to seize the funds currently assigned and designated in the Library’s Fund Balance will destroy the Capital Improvements Plan,” said Donald Luther, vice president of the library board.

Edwards said Saturday it

speed is not a ‘fact,’” he wrote in his motion to dismiss. “It is rank speculation and conjecture, conclusory at best. Even if such an allegation could support a legal claim against BRPD ofﬁcers, the complainants would still have to show that the Addis officer’s decision to drive through the intersection was directly caused by BRPD’s inadequate training policies, to which the BRPD was deliberately indifferent when adopting. There are no facts alleged that conceivably make that direct connection.”

Jackson said the plaintiffs succeeded in showing a pattern of Baton Rouge ofﬁcers not abiding by the BRPD’s chase policy and illustrated how the department routinely allowed cops to operate their units recklessly

An investigation published last year by The Advocate found that between 2013 and 2023, the BRPD launched a car chase roughly once every three days. Of the 1,200 pursuits ofﬁcers reported in that decade, more than half started with trafﬁc violations, and 83% were initiated over nonviolent crimes.

Jackson noted that a “whopping” 10% ended in crashes,

is crucial to put the library’s financial situation into perspective.

“The library system claims it doesn’t have a surplus yet their own projections show they will have over $91 million remaining by 2035,” he said.

In their statement, board members shared their fears that libraries would be vulnerable to unplanned budget cuts and reduced operating hours if the system was funded through the traditional general fund.

“Back in 1985, when the Library was part of the General Fund, their budget was cut to almost nothing, hours were reduced, facilities were closed, staff were laid off, and no books were purchased,” said Kathy Wascom, library board member The library system’s tax

and the BRPD recorded just six violations for pursuits during that span Even after the fatalities in West Baton Rouge, a BRPD internal affairs committee determined ofﬁcers involved in that chase “committed no egregious policy violations,” the judge noted.

“That BRPD ofﬁcers have committed a mere six violations over the course of a decade, given the number of pursuits, the cause of these pursuits, and the resulting number of crashes, simply strains credulity,” he said.

“The BRPD’s more recent history supports the court’s disbelief.”

Ultimately, however, the judge agreed with parish attorneys that the BRPD’s shortcomings must be directly linked to the crash in order to hold the city-parish jointly liable.

“The accident, in the most literal sense, was caused by Cauthron’s actions alone according to the factual allegations,” Jackson ruled Cauthron, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter March 18 and a West Baton Rouge judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison and three years probation

will expire at the end of this year The Metro Council must decide whether to seek an election for its renewal through 2035. Library ofﬁcials said they will bring a resolution to call an October election for renewal before the council at 4 p.m. Wednesday The library is asking for a lower rate than in its three past tax renewal votes. While past votes had approved a 11.1-mill property tax rate, the library is proposing a 10.5-mill rate instead. A mill is a dollar of tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value.

The library says the reduced rate is partially due to the fact that all major construction projects outlined in the original 30-year library plan have now been completed.

Zanders, 26, was indicted on a charge of aggravated ﬂight from an ofﬁcer and two counts of manslaughter Doctors declared him competent in September and a judge set his trial to begin April 14, West Baton Rouge court records show

Policing police chases

Policing Project, a public policy think tank at NYU’s School of Law, drafted a model statute of pursuit policies legislators across the nation can use to institute restrictions in their agencies. Josh Parker, the Policing Project’s policy director, said the most effective restrictions are hardline policies that limit pursuits to speciﬁed offenses.

“A growing number of states and agencies are waking up, but not nearly enough,” said Parker. “I think there’s a growing awareness of how dangerous they are, particularly for low-level offenses. But generally across the board, I don’t think the public atlarge understands how much of a danger these chases pose not only to the driver, but to others on the road as well as ofﬁcers.”

C. Gill

Vance, Musk question authority of the courts

Trump’s agenda faces legal pushback

BY JILL COLVIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Top Trump administration ofﬁcials are openly questioning the judiciary’s authority to serve as a check on executive power as the new president’s sweeping agenda faces growing pushback from the courts

Over the past 24 hours, officials ranging from billionaire Elon Musk to Vice President JD Vance have not only criticized a federal judge’s decision early Saturday that blocks Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records, but have also attacked the legitimacy of judicial oversight, a fundamental pillar of American democracy, which is based on the separation of powers.

by President Donald Trump with rooting out waste across the federal government.

Musk also shared a post from a user who had suggested that the Trump administration openly defy the court order “I don’t like the precedent it sets when you defy a judicial ruling, but I’m just wondering what other options are these judges leaving us,” the person had written, in part.

“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance wrote on X on Sunday morning.

That post came hours after Musk said overnight that the judge who ruled against him should be impeached.

“A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached NOW!” said Musk, who has been tasked

The court order against Musk barred his team temporarily from accessing a Treasury system that contains sensitive personal data, such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans. Musk and his team say they are simply rooting through government systems to identify waste and abuse at the direction of the Republican president.

Deputy White House chief of staff of Stephen Miller called the ruling “an assault on the very idea of democracy itself.”

“What we continue to see here is the idea that rogue bureaucrats who are elected by no one, who answer to no one, who have lifetime tenure jobs, who we would be told can never be fired, which, of course is not true, that the power has been cemented and accumulated for years, whether it be with the Treasury bureaucrats or the FBI bureaucrats or the CIA bureaucrats or the USAID bureaucrats, with this unelected shadow force that is running our government and running our country,” Miller

ﬁts and much more, sending out trillions of dollars every year while containing an expansive network of Americans’ personal and ﬁnancial data. A hearing is set for Friday

Democrats have been sounding alarms over Musk and Trump’s efforts, including efforts to halt spending that has already been appropriated by Congress. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress is the body in charge of spending.

they are facing. “The pace of this assault on the Constitution in order to serve the billionaire class, it is absolutely dizzying. And so, you have to run a fullscale opposition,” Murphy said. “Ultimately, you’ve got to bring the American public into this conversation because we need our Republican colleagues in the House and in the Senate ultimately to put a stop to this. You cannot just rely on the court system.”

said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

The pushback comes as the administration’s efforts to dismantle government agencies and eliminate large swaths of the federal workforce are being held up by the courts. Judges have also blocked Trump, at least temporarily from moving forward with mass federal buyouts, from placing thousands of USAID workers on leave and from implementing an executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S.

Early Saturday, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction after 19 Democratic attorneys general sued, alleging the Trump administration allowed Musk’s team access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system in violation of federal law

“We’re very disappointed with the judges that would make such a ruling, but we have a long way to go,” Trump told reporters aboard

Trump says he is serious about Canada becoming 51st state

BY JILL COLVIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said he is serious about wanting Canada to become the 51st state in an interview that aired Sunday during the Super Bowl preshow “Yeah it is,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier when asked whether his talk of annexing Canada is “a real thing” — as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently suggested.

“I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. And I’m not going to let that happen,” he said. “Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially a subsidy to Canada?” The U.S. is not subsidizing Canada. The U.S. buys products from the natural resource-rich nation, including commodities like oil. While the trade gap in goods has ballooned in recent years to $72 billion in 2023, the deﬁ-

cit largely reﬂects America’s imports of Canadian energy Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada would be better off if it agreed to become the 51st U.S. state — a prospect that is deeply unpopular among Canadians. Trudeau said Friday during a closed-door session with business and labor leaders that Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state is “a real thing” and is linked to his desire for access to the country’s natural resources.

Air Force One while he ﬂew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. He added: “No judge should frankly be allowed to make that kind of a decision.”

The payment system handles tax refunds, Social Security beneﬁts, veterans’ bene-

“I think this is the most serious constitutional crisis the country has faced, certainly, since Watergate,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“This is a red alert moment when this entire country has to understand that our democracy is at risk.”

Murphy expressed concern that the courts are illprepared for the onslaught

Republicans, who have largely stood in lockstep behind the president since he was sworn in for a second term, did so again on Sunday Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan blasted the court ruling for the Treasury Department case while arguing that the president should be able to implement his agenda as he sees ﬁt.

By The Associated Press

CAIRO Libya authorities have uncovered nearly 50 bodies from two mass graves in the country’s southeastern desert, ofﬁcials said Sunday, in the latest tragedy involving people seeking to reach Europe through the chaosstricken North African country The ﬁrst mass grave with 19 bodies was found Friday

in a farm in the southeastern city of Kufra, the security directorate said in a statement, adding that authorities took them for autopsy Authorities posted images on its Facebook page showing police ofﬁcers and medics digging in the sand and recovering dead bodies that were wrapped in blankets.

The al-Abreen charity, which helps migrants in eastern and southern Libya, said

that some were apparently shot and killed before being buried.

A separate mass grave, with at least 30 bodies, was also found in Kufra after raiding a human trafﬁcking center, according to Mohamed al-Fadeil, head of the security chamber in Kufra Survivors said nearly 70 people were buried in the grave, he added. Authorities were still searching the area.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROD LAMKEy

Vice President JD Vance speaks Wednesday at the International Religious Freedom Summit at the Washington Hilton in Washington.

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A GRAVE SITUATION

USAID cuts may hit La. rice farmers

State food produced for international programs

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

In all his years attending agriculture conferences and meetings, Michael Frugé said he’s never heard the U.S. Agency for International Development discussed.

But that is not for its lack of importance to the industry

“They talk about Mexico because it changes,” said Frugé, a secondgeneration farmer and owner of Parish Rice in Eunice. “They talk about India because they put export bans on long-grain rice. But food aid has just been there. It just hasn’t been talked about because it’s just there.”

ing, but we just don’t know how it’s going to impact the industry as a whole or Louisiana speciﬁcally.” Millions in USAID money has gone to some of the largest rice mill operations in the state, such as Supreme Rice in Crowley and Farmers Rice Milling Company in Lake Charles, according to a federal database.

David Warrington, the Chief Financial Officer of Powell Group, which owns Farmers, said their company has no contracts with USAID.

Supreme Rice CEO Bobby Hanks did not respond to a request for comment.

BY MEGAN WYATT Staff writer

After Edna Nixon’s husband died of heart failure in June, she struggled to pay for a proper funeral and burial. The funeral director suggested a burial option at a new cemetery that would be about $2,000 cheaper than the established cemetery she had in mind. Joseph Oleghe would be the ﬁrst person to be buried at Serenity Gardens Cemetery

Now, about seven months later, there are just ﬁve gravesites at the rear of the wooded pasture between Willow Street and Interstate 10 near Scott The property, with its gravel road and muddy ﬁeld, looks more like a construction site than a cemetery

Nixon visits several times each week, often spending hours at a time at her husband’s resting place. It was during one of those visits she learned of problems plaguing the cemetery Kevin Menard, a Grammy Award-winning musician who played with Buckwheat Zydeco, didn’t get the local permits required to do work on the property And even upon learning what was required and being ordered to stop work, he continued burials.

Menard’s plan for the property was denied by the Lafayette Parish Planning Commission in November and the Lafayette Parish Council upheld that decision this week. Menard can appeal to the 15th Judicial District Court, which he said he intends to do. “I feel some type of way,” Nixon said. “I would rather just move my husband.” Ask forgiveness

Menard told the Parish Council on Tuesday that he obtained the necessary permit from the state to start a cemetery and was unaware of local guidelines.

Neil Leboeuf, development manager of Lafayette Consolidated Government’s Community Development & Planning Department, said Menard did not obtain the required local business or building permits prior to working on the property at 2512 W. Willow St. To obtain the building permit, the property has to be a lot of record and go through the platting process. When considering Menard’s plan in November, the Planning Commission heard concerns from adjacent property owners over ﬂooding, drainage and trafﬁc for the proposed cemetery But, ultimately, the commission denied the preliminary plat because dirt work was done in the floodway before approval, and burials took place before obtaining permits from LCG, Lebouef said Menard appealed the decision, saying the commission’s decision was improper because it was based on land use, and his property in the unincorporated part of the parish is unzoned.

The cemetery’s engineer, James Ricks, and surveyor Shawn MacMenamin spoke to

council members about work at the property and waivers requested from the Planning Commission for sidewalks and crossaccess easements.

When asked if Menard has since come into compliance with LCG, Lebouef said everything his office has requested has now been submitted. The project simply cannot move forward without preliminary plat approval, which the Planning Commission unanimously denied in November

The Parish Council appeared poised to grant Menard’s appeal Tuesday until public comment from Craig Martin, who shared concerns about the appearance of the cemetery and flooding on the property He also said Menard has continued to operate a cemetery on the property despite the plat denial.

“Was there a cease-and-desist order ever granted for this guy?” Martin asked. “Because he has buried people since you’ve been notiﬁed Jan. 11 was the last one He’d rather ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.”

What will happen

Tammy Luke, director of Community Development & Planning, ordered Menard to stop all work at the property in a Dec. 11 cease-and-desist letter sent via email to MacMenamin, Menard’s surveyor Luke told MacMenamin to inform Menard that a permit from LCG is required for commercial businesses to open and operate, and such a permit could not be issued until a plat was approved for the property in question.

Menard confirmed he buried someone in January whose family previously purchased a plot on the property He reiterated that the state had issued a license for him to bury on the property

“You can bury in your backyard,” Menard told the council. “So what you would do about that?”

The Parish Council denied to approve Menard’s appeal of the Planning Commission decision in a 2-2 vote.

Council members John Guilbeau and AB Rubin voted to approve Menard’s preliminary plat; Bryan Tabor and Donald Richard voted against. Council member Ken Stansbury was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.

Tabor said he was initially in favor of granting the plat approval until he learned that Menard buried somebody on the property a month after receiving the cease-and-desist order

Guilbeau questioned what would happen to the existing

graves at the cemetery should Menard exhaust all appeal options. Would the bodies be moved?

City-parish attorney Pat Ottinger said the law is clear that a court can issue a mandatory permanent injunction to undo construction work that has taken place

“This is unique for the reasons that are obvious, and you have families that are concerned who might be viewed as innocent in this,” Ottinger said. “This is not just a matter of telling the contractor to unbuild a building because you have families and a very emotional setting involved.”

Been in the dark

Nixon knew nothing about the situation until she spoke with a reporter Wednesday at the cemetery where work continued on the property

During that conversation, Menard showed up and reassured Nixon that he was within his right to continue working on the property

“They have no right to stop me from burial. This is private property,” Menard said. “They’re just some council of people and all of that. I don’t care what they’re talking about, and they know that.”

Menard said his uncles worked in the industry, and he’s been involved with his own business, Menard’s Burial Vault, for about 20 years. His daughter, who died in a 2021 shooting, is the one who pushed him to purchase land for his own cemetery

Menard said he has retained a lawyer, but he declined to share the attorney’s name Nixon expressed frustration that Menard did not notify her or other families of recent public meetings concerning the property Nixon said she might have spoken favorably on behalf of Menard’s project had she been informed along the way

“I’m still dumbfounded,” Nixon said after speaking with Menard at the cemetery last week.

“I don’t understand.”

On days when it’s too muddy to walk through the property, Nixon sits in her car and looks out onto her husband’s ﬁnal resting place. She hopes that a judge might one day allow her husband to be moved to another cemetery at Menard’s expense.

“It’s like God picked the right person me,” Nixon said “I’m straightforward. So what’s been in the dark thus far now has come to the light.”

Email Megan Wyatt at mwyatt@theadvocate.com.

President Donald Trump’s effort to dismantle USAID, which has been providing food aid since 1968, has changed that.

Earlier this month, Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk laid off thousands of USAID employees and shut down programs around the world as part of a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance.

On Friday, a federal judge, in response to a last-minute lawsuit filed by two unions, issued a restraining order, temporarily blocking the administration’s plans to slash USAID’s 10,000-strong workforce to fewer than 300 people.

However, the agency’s international aid programs, which provide billions of dollars to U.S. farms, are still on hold, and that could have consequences for Louisiana farmers.

The state’s rice farmers, in particular, play a signiﬁcant role in producing food for such aid programs as Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition. From ports in Houston and New Orleans, Louisiana-grown rice is shipped across the globe to places like Haiti, Iraq and Ukraine.

USAID is one of the top 10 purchasers of rice in the nation, said USA Rice Federation’s Michael Klein.

In 2024, the agency purchased more than $126 million worth of U.S.-produced rice, which pairs itself well for food aid because it has high caloric density and an indeﬁnite shelf life.

It’s difﬁcult to estimate just how much Louisiana produces and receives from USAID programs, Klein said, but food aid is a signiﬁcant portion of rice exports from the state. Louisiana is a major U.S. rice producer, and about 75% of the state’s acreage devoted to rice farming lies in Acadia, Jeff Davis, Vermilion Evangeline and St Landry parishes, recent data shows.

“The reality is we just don’t even know the full extent of what is happening,” Klein said. “It’s concern-

Both company CEOs, however, have defended food aid programs in the past, with Hanks quoting former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, stating, “if goodwill programs like these are not fully funded, ‘then I need to buy more ammunition,’” according to a USA Rice news release.

The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation also declined to comment.

State Rep. Troy Romero, a Republican from Jennings and agricultural committee chair, said he is doing everything in his power to ensure Louisiana rice continues to beneﬁt from USAID. While he said there are no guarantees that the food aid programs will be untouched, he believes most of those types of programs will continue to be funded.

“When (the Trump administration) looked into USAID, they found that numerous dollars were going to some crazy things that conservatives may have a problem with,” Romero said. “They’re going to reinstate the stuff that is really important. I cannot imagine that program — as good as it is — would be one of the ones that they would cut out.”

Louisiana rice is an export-dependent crop, Frugé said. Between Louisiana and Arkansas, about 50% of the crop is shipped outside of the country, and he estimated 5% to 10% of rice shipped out is for food aid programs. Any disruption to the current market, he said, could lead to overstock and dropping prices as mills try to ﬁnd new international buyers.

But Frugé said there is likely misspending within the agency and acknowledged the need for change

Other rice farmers this newspaper spoke to were critical of the agency’s programs and expressed support of the administration’s efforts to cut wasteful spending and pushed harder for a focus on a new Farm Bill.

“If Elon and President Trump are going to ﬁx wasteful spending, how else do you go about it?,” Frugé said. “Are they doing it the right way? I don’t know But I would like to think they’re doing it the best way they know how.”

Email Stephen Marcantel at stephen.marcantel@ theadvocate.com.

Unrestrained BR driver killed in Acadia Parish crash

CRIME BLOTTER staff reports

Louisiana State Police are investigating a crash that occurred just after midnight Sunday on Interstate 10 near Trumps Road in Acadia Parish. The two-vehicle crash claimed the life of 58-year-old Luvenson Sowell, of Baton Rouge, according to police.

A preliminary investigation revealed Sowell was driving a 2007 Honda Accord west on I-10 behind a 2024 Kenworth tractortrailer The Kenworth came to a stop in the right westbound lane because of traffic congestion from a previous crash. The Honda failed to stop and struck the rear of the Kenworth’s trailer Sowell, who was unrestrained, suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. The driver of the Kenworth, who was properly restrained, was uninjured.

A standard toxicology sample was collected from both drivers and submitted for analysis. This crash remains under investigation.

Two people booked on suspicion of DWI in EBR

Two people were booked Saturday into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Those booked and the counts against them: n Mathew Day, 37, of Prairieville, one count each of third offense of DWI, reckless driving and resisting an ofﬁcer n Kaleb Gil, 22, of Baton Rouge, one count each of DWI and careless driving.

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Kevin Menard’s Scott cemetery voted down by parish

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Edna Nixon talks about the burial of her late husband, Joseph Oleghe, at Serenity Memorial Gardens cemetery in Scott on Wednesday.

The five graves rest at the rear of the wooded pasture.

As astar athlete at Baker High School, Leroy was inducted into the school's hall of fame for his excellence in tennis, track, football, and basketball.A year after graduating in 1941, he took a3-day bus ride to Los Angeles, CA, where he

lence in tennis, track, football, and basketball. Ayear after graduating in 1941, he took a3-day bus ride to Los Angeles, CA, where he was trainedasa mechanic at Lockheed Aircraft Company. Within weeks of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Leroy married his high school sweetheart, Margie Bernard, in Los Angeles, and they danced to the music of a new singer, Frank Sinatra, in Hollywood. Margie returnedto Louisiana and Leroy enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces, aprecursor to the U.S. Air Force. He was assignedtothe 33rd Photo Reconnaissance Squad where he achieved the rank of Sergeant. The pilots of this unit flewunarmed P-38 aircraft that were outfittedwith cameras to conduct surveillance beforeD-Day. Leroy was amemberofthe mechanic team. Hisgroup was also sent to Omaha Beach in France,where he was in afoxholefor several days until the army secured space for air strips to be built. Leroy also was with the groups thatfreed the survivors of aGerman concentration camp and he was at the Liberation of Paris. While in the foxhole, Leroy asked God to let him live so that he could be baptized at home,which God granted.

Upon returning to Baton Rouge, Leroy wasaccepted into aprogram at Standard Oil, now Exxon Mobil, where he became asupervisor for the Research and Development Division. WhenExxon sent Leroy to France to open afacility, his family accompanied him. Leroy showed his family some of the places he had been, and they returned home aboard the ocean linerSSUnited States.

After Leroy retiredin 1982, he and Margie began investing in rentalproperty and travelling until his wife became chair-bound. He devotedhis time to caring for Margie,even learning to make cornbread. Leroy was atechie before his time,being the first in his neighborhood to own a big C-band satellitedish (which he installed in his yard) in the 80's and the first in his family to own an iPad at 97 years of age. An avid LSU sports fan, he was famous for saying that aplay was "critical crucial" as LSU got down to the wire.Leroy even recorded LSU football games to watch in the offseason. In addition to LSU sports, his otherjoy was his family. He encouraged

games to watch in theoffseason. In addition to LSU sports, his other joywas his family. He encouraged his family to pursue excellence in educationand professional goals. He also had asweet side. Leroy enjoyed watching the Bachelorette TV show because he said he "loved seeing young people in love."

Leroy attended Zoar Baptist Church and was a member of the Central Masonic Lodge #442. Having outlived friendshis age, his caregivers became his friends. They treated him like aking, preparing his coffee and meals with detailed precision until the very end of his life.

Leroy was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, Margie; his mother and father, Issac and Addie; son, Michael (Bobbie); and grandson, Randy. Leroy is survived by his daughters Cheri Sevier (Rick); Patricia McKenzie (Fred); grandchildren Lynn Fleming, Ricky Sevier, Jeff McKenzie (Pam); greatgrandson Layne Fleming (Ashlynn) &several nieces &nephews.

With deep gratitude, the family thanks: Doctors Adrian Landry; Norman Deumite, Salmon Baghian, and John Amadon; Pastors Glen Miers and Clint Newsom; Caregivers and friends: Shirley &Kenneth Browning; Carolyn &Warren Winstead;DaveMyers; Lisa Crutcher; Mona Bates; Deara Hawthorne; Carol Whittle; Doreatha Wright; Elaine Wynn; Karen Parker; Kathleen Cage; &Amanda Sparks; Zoar Baptist Church.

Friends and relatives are invited to the Visitation at 10:00 a.m. on February 12, 2025, at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Funeral Home, 11817 Jefferson Hwy, Baton Rouge, LA until theMemorial Service at 11:00. a.m., and the burial service at Resthaven, followed by areceptionat Zoar Baptist Church, 11848 Hooper Rd, Baton Rouge, LA. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to St. Jude, Zoar Baptist Church, or thecharityof your choice.

Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonal note to the family at www.resthav enbatonrouge.com.

Entered intoeternal rest on February 1, 2025 at the age of 84. Survived by his wife, Jessie R. Jones; daughters, Gale Jones Major (Robert) and Arleen Jones (Bryan); son, Herman Jones (Cheryl); sisters, Shirley Young, Loria Robinson, Ruthie Ventress and Augusta Jones; brothers, WoodrowJones (Marie) and Fred Jones, Sr. (Shirley); grandchildren, Keesha Anthony (Gerald), Giara Major, Ryan Major, Jasmine Jones, and Jaylen Jones; 4great-grandchildren. Preceded in deathby parents; 6brothers. Visitation Tuesday, February 11, 2025, Greater New Guide Baptist Church, 3445 FairfieldsAvenue, Baton Rouge, LA., 10:00 am until religious service at 11:00 am. Pastor Mark Thomas officiating. Interment Carter Family Cemetery, Woodville, MS. Funeral Service Entrusted to Hall Davis and Son www.halldavisandson.com

Baptist Church, 3445 Fairfields Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA., 10:00 am until religious service at 11:00 am. Pastor Mark Thomas officiating. Interment Carter Family Cemetery, Woodville, MS. Funeral Service Entrusted

Toni AnnTregre Vaughan left this earth February 3rd to become a citizen of God's glorious kingdom. Toni, aresident of Baton Rouge was preceded in death by her father, Euclid Tregre. She's survived by mother, Bonnie Riché Tregre and sister Donna

Foster(21), Sadie(17), Aubrey andAndy Albers(6). She was the wife to Russell. Together they were parents of Rascal. Also survived by numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins and lifelong friends. Toni was employed by CMA

Democracy thrives when a fair-minded press keeps citizens informed and shines a light on issues of widespread importance.

With the help of large and small donors across Louisiana, we are striving to publish journalism that makes a difference in people’s lives and that improves the state we all love

But this mission requires continued support. We need to fortify, expand, and sustain our work for years and decades to come.

Jones, Herbert Lee

Nation heading into ‘political twilight zone’

This nation once depended on a rule of law If someone broke a law there was a consequence. The rule of law for one individual who has become president is no longer true. Wanting to be president for life (“I am not leaving”), he incited a riot where law enforcement officers were injured and some ultimately died. If United States senators had recognized the law, this man would now be in a federal penitentiary looking out through bars, but instead, he has now become president again. What was once right (the law) is no longer paramount. Now his administration is set to undo what has seemed the right thing to do. Climate change is occurring — snow in New Orleans, fires in Los Angeles, etc. The sensible policy would be to do all that can be done to minimize or reverse this trend. Yet his policy is “Drill, baby, drill.” Only in America are parents concerned about the safety of their children in schools due to gun violence. The sensible policy would be to do everything possible to reduce the abundance of guns. The integrity of the federal government should not be challenged for partisan purposes Now the civil service is to be altered so individuals can be hired and fired without cause.

The FBI and CIA are responsible for the nation’s security Now the former is to be used to seek out citizens who dissent.

This nation has now entered into a political twilight zone. What was once right, the law is no longer of consequence. Whether this nation can survive this political twilight zone is unknown BYRON ALMQUIST NewOrleans

YOUR VIEWS

Church wants immigration policy based on dignity of all

We write with hearts full of compassion and a deep desire to express our solidarity with migrants during this stressful time. We recognize the immense challenges migrants face, and we want to assure them that they are not alone. Compelled by the gospel of Jesus Christ and recognizing the inherent dignity of each person as a child of God, we stand in ﬁrm solidarity with our immigrant brothers and sisters. As bishops, we will advocate for their just treatment and dignity within the framework of the law

The Church has always recognized the responsibility of nations to control their borders and create migration policies. What is clear is the urgent need for a comprehensive reform of our country’s immigration system. Catholic social teaching identiﬁes principles that should be included in any reform. It is necessary that the root causes of forced migration should be addressed. Any law enforcement efforts should be tar-

geted, proportional and humane and should guarantee humanitarian protection and due process. Longtime residents should have an earned pathway to citizenship. Family unity should remain a cornerstone of the U.S. system and legal pathways to migration and citizenship should be expanded, reliable and efﬁcient.

We also hope that our country can develop an effective asylum system for those fleeing persecution and an immigration system that keeps our borders safe and secure. Enforcement policies should focus on those who present risks and dangers to society — and in particular, aim to reduce gang activity stem the flow of drugs and end human trafficking.

Sacred scripture provides us with countless examples of God’s love for the stranger and the sojourner These words remind us that we are all pilgrims of hope on this Earth.

TOM COSTANZA executivedirector LouisianaConferenceofCatholicBishops

Ten Commandments

law doesn’t respect traditions of our country

The Jan. 24 guest column by Kelly Shackelford in support of Louisiana mandating display of the Ten Commandments is, in places, laughable. But I’m not laughing. He justiﬁes his stand because “the Ten Commandments were widely displayed in schools for the ﬁrst century of our nation.” Really? We have to do this now because that’s the way it used to be when lynchings were common, segregation was rampant and women couldn’t vote?

He warns “secular outrage” will lead to “public schools across the nation canceling all ﬁeld trips to our nation’s capital.” I went to Catholic schools for 10 years, and agree it is an important historical document. I agree that troubled kids should learn “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” But tell me please, when you meet your Jewish friends for a beer have you asked them their thoughts on Commandments I and II: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” When you invite your Muslim friends over for dinner have they mentioned that in the Quran there are 10 commandments given by Allah to mankind? Would Shackelford favor that the life-guiding commandments of the Quran be posted in Louisiana classrooms also for the good of society, alongside the Ten Commandments? In Arabic? It’s only fair Bottom line: The way the U.S. was “for the ﬁrst century” included Thomas Jefferson writing in 1802, “Religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” That’s the “history and tradition” of our nation and should continue to be.

TOM ROCHE NewOrleans

Ignoring justice with Jan. 6 pardons will have consequences

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’s city of residence.The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TOSENDUS ALETTER SCANHERE

In view of recent criticism, I would like to offer a novel idea: Our proven and devoted civic leaders ought to be celebrated rather than condemned and subjected to a public hatchet job.

I have worked in New Orleans as a rabbi and appointed civic leader for almost 40 years, and I have witnessed ﬁrsthand the beneﬁts of unstinting civic leadership in so many instances. Following Hurricane Katrina, when we were challenged to secure failing schools, address broken levees, protect from soaring crime and mammoth homelessness — our civic leadership selflessly stepped forward to help lead in each of these crises.

Without question, the scandals and offender wrongdoings within the Catholic Church of New Orleans present us with some of the saddest moments in our city’s history All of us acknowledge both the unnecessary agony experienced by the victims and their families, and despair over how it was so slowly addressed I take exception, however to the recent attacks by the national media and a local TV station, which chose Super Bowl week to highlight criticism of some of our city’s most respected and trusted leaders — almost suggesting that they themselves were accomplices in something sinister Federal Judge Jay Zainey is a champion of causes on behalf of the homeless. Newell Normand

has kept us safe as a sheriff and continues to serve by means of his daily radio show.

John Georges stepped forward and saved the locally owned newspaper, preventing it from shutting down.

Gayle Benson has supported nearly every charitable cause in the city since taking ownership of the Saints and the Pelicans. I trust these leaders to generously continue to work alongside so many others to help solve our city’s problems and do the right thing.

We should consider ourselves fortunate to have these people in our great city

RABBI EDWARD PAUL COHN NewOrleans

President Donald Trump has issued a blank pardon to over 1,500 people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6 riot. Granted, some were not extremists and were, in fact, innocent dupes of Trump‘s urging to “ﬁght like hell” and his statement that “if you don’t ﬁght like hell, you’re not going to have a country to protect anymore.”

However, these words and Trump’s false statements that the 2020 election was stolen paved the way for the insurrection by the White supremacist insurrection groups, The Oath Keepers and The Proud Boys.

Trump‘s recent election in turn also paved the way for the release of these dangerous extremists. They were found guilty by a 12-person jury of a duly constituted court of law that required a unanimous verdict of all 12 members of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. They were found guilty of the serious felony of seditious conspiracy to overthrow the government. For Trump to totally ignore the facts and circumstances of the most dangerous threat to the cornerstone of American law and justice that “no man is above the law“ is without conscience. It is, in the end, simply an action of a duly convicted felon, commuting sentences of duly convicted felons.

THOMAS GUILBEAU Lafayette

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Families wait after being processed by the U.S Border Patrol and then dropped off at the Central Station bus terminal in downtown McAllen, Texas.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson

COMMENTARY

HIGH STEPPING!

Carnival parade prep is in full swing, and it looks like this krewe is gonna take their fun to new heights! you never know what you’ll see around here this time of year!

So, what’s the little girl telling her friend in this cartoon? you tell me. Be witty, funny, crazy absurd or snarky — just try to keep it clean There’s no limit on the number of entries

The winning punchline will be lettered into the word balloon and run on Monday, Feb 17 in our print editions and online. In addition, the winner will receive a signed print of the cartoon along with a cool winner’s T-shirt! Some honorable mentions will also be listed.

To enter, email cartooncontest@theadvocate.com.

DON’T FORGET! All entries must include your name, home address and phone number Cell numbers are best

The deadline for all entries is midnight on Thursday, Feb 13.

Have fun, folks! — Walt

I.G. ﬁrings are blatantly illegal

Contempt for law

Contempt for Congress. Contempt for oversight That is the lesson of President Donald Trump’s Friday night massacre of at least 14 inspectors general most appointed by Trump himself in his ﬁrst term.

The blatantly illegal action is troubling in itself — nonpartisan inspectors general play a critical role in assuring the lawful and efficient operations of government, in Democratic and Republican administrations alike. An administration supposedly focused on making government more efficient would be empowering inspectors general, not firing them en masse.

But this episode is even more alarming than that. It offers a chilling foreshadowing of Trump unbound, heedless of the rule of law and unwilling to tolerate any potential impediment to his authority

Over a period of six weeks late into his ﬁrst term, Trump ousted ﬁve inspectors general who had crossed him, a move that was deeply concerning but within his power as president In a nod to the president’s constitutional prerogatives, the 1978 law establishing independent inspectors general authorizes the chief executive to dismiss them but requires that he provide Congress “the reasons for any such removal” at least 30 days beforehand.

In 2020, Trump complied with that minimal notice. Two years later Congress, with bipartisan support, tightened the statute, specifying that the president must inform lawmakers of the ‘‘substantive rationale, including detailed and case-speciﬁc reasons,” for the action.

On Friday night, the newly emboldened president ignored all that, summarily ﬁring the inspectors general at the departments of Defense, State, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Energy Commerce and Agriculture as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, Small Business Administration and the Social Security Administration

The email, from White House head of presidential personnel Sergio Gor said the ﬁrings were “due to changing priorities” and announced that the dismissals were “effective immediately.”

The changing priority would appear to be letting the president function

without fear of oversight.

“This is unprecedented, this is unfortunate and it doesn’t seem to comport with the law,” said Glenn Fine, one of the inspectors general removed during Trump’s ﬁrst term. “It undermines the credibility and independence of IG’s and their effectiveness if they’re viewed as tied to one political party or another rather than as independent and objective.”

Fine, who served as the Justice Department’s inspector general from 2000 until 2011 and acting inspector general at the Defense Department from 2016 to 2020, is the author of “Watchdogs: Inspectors General and the Battle for Honest and Accountable Government.”

One of the few presidentially appointed inspectors general who appear to have been spared is the Justice Department’s Michael Horowitz, a well-regarded Obama appointee whose reports on the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation were campaign trail fodder for Trump allies. Trump also did not dismiss the widely criticized inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security Joseph V. Cuffari Jr Some of the inspectors general, I’m told, might turn up for work because they view their removal as unlawful.

“I recommend that you reach out to White House Counsel to discuss your intended course of action,” Small Business Administration inspector general Hannibal “Mike” Ware replied to Gor in a letter obtained by Politico. “At this point, we do not believe the actions tak-

en are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General,” added Ware, who heads the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency

The ﬁrings don’t just pose a fundamental challenge to the inspectors general and the agencies they serve they are a threat to the authority of Congress itself.

What is the point of laws if lawmakers permit them to be so cavalierly ignored? Yet the response of Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has been a thundering champion of inspectors general, was disturbingly muted.

“There may be good reason the IGs were ﬁred. We need to know that if so. I’d like further explanation from President Trump,” Grassley said in a statement. “Regardless, the 30-day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress.” Well, that sure tells them what’s what. Congress and the rest of us need to closely watch what comes next. Presumably, Trump didn’t remove the incumbent inspectors general just to let their deputies continue business as usual. “You can weaponize these jobs,” one of the ousted inspectors general told me. “You can ignore bad things. You can go after the prior administration. You can try to ﬁlter or edit work that comes out. They’ve taken away one of the huge checks and balances.” And that was precisely the point. Ruth Marcus is on X, @RuthMarcus.

The perverse defense of DEI

If you think meritocracy inevitably means White domination, you’re either a White racist or a supporter of DEI.

Stephen A. Smith, the sportscaster is the latter and is convinced that talk of neutral standards is a tool of White supremacy Rifﬁng off President Trump’s comments about DEI at the FAA after the Reagan National crash, Smith opined, “The way that the Trump administration is handling it — ‘we want the most qualiﬁed, we want the smartest, we want this, we want that’ — what you’re really saying is we want White dominance again. That’s what you’re really saying. You want White dominance!”

“You’re always using the word qualified, qualified, qualified,” Smith continued scornfully, objecting to the notion that “everybody that got a position through DEI is not qualified.”

“We know what you’re implying,” he added. “We know what you’re insinuating!”

Smith’s position amounts to saying, “How dare you suggest that a system to hire and promote people based on race and gender and other characteristics is hiring and promoting people based on race and gender and other characteristics.”

This is a common trope in the DEI debate, where the defenders of an overtly race-conscious ideology perversely impute race-consciousness to the defenders of colorblindness.

The New York Times ran a story on Trump’s attacks on DEI in the wake of the midair crash above the Potomac River asserting: “The meaning behind his words was clear, that diversity equals incompetence. And for many historians, civil rights leaders, scholars and citizens, it was an unmistakable message of racism in plain sight at the highest levels of American government.”

This, of course, conﬂates opposition to DEI with opposition to any diversity as such, in what is a ridiculous smear

The critics of DEI have no problem with qualified — to use the word Smith finds so offensive people of all backgrounds filling various jobs or getting accepted at elite universities. It is the DEI ideologues who care deeply about the racial and gender composition of every institution.

The Times quotes Margaret Huang, who is, sad to say, the president and chief executive of the Southern Poverty Law Center, declaring that the message of DEI’s enemies is “that women, Black and brown communities are inherently less capable, and if they hold positions of power or authority in government or business, it must be because the standards were lowered.”

No, the contention is that if standards are lowered in the name of DEI, then standards have been lowered to the detriment of the institution that has lowered them. If proponents of DEI want to stop having a debate about qualiﬁcations, they could simply support across-the-board, race-neutral standards — but then they wouldn’t be proponents of DEI.

There is another, opposite tack of DEI’s defenders, who want to portray it as a form of meritocracy itself.

On This Week with George Stephanopoulos recently, Donna Brazile said that DEI “includes every American, women, minorities, people with disabilities, veterans” — apparently not noticing that she left out a large category of Americans, White males, in her list of “every American.”

For Brazile, DEI is “a tool that enables the government or corporations or individuals to open the door, to remove barriers, to bring in the best and the brightest.”

In her account, DEI is simply equality of opportunity Obviously, if the DEI regime meant nothing more than opening up doors to hire the best applicants, contract with the best companies, and admit the best students, there’d be no controversy over DEI. Brazile’s version of DEI runs counter to the welter of quotas, race-conscious trainings, and race-exclusive programs that actually make up the regime.

If she opposed all of that, she’d indeed be a staunch defender of meritocracy, but, again, then there’d be no disagreement. It’s a sign of the growing political and intellectual fragility of DEI that its defenders steadfastly refuse to cop to what they’re defending.

Rich Lowry is on X, @RichLowry.

Ruth Marcus

Rich Lowry

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI President Donald Trump speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday

BY JOSH FUNK

and now a missing plane in Alaska are only the most high-profile disasters. There was also a Japan Airlines plane that clipped a parked Delta plane while it was taxiing at the Seattle airport earlier this week and a United Airlines plane caught fire during takeoff at the Houston airport Sunday after an engine problem sparked a fire on the wing.

That’s not even to mention the security concerns that arose after stowaways were found dead inside the wheel wells of two planes and aboard two other ﬂights. And don’t forget about the time that a passenger opened an emergency exit door on a plane while it was taxiing for takeoff in Boston So of course people are wondering whether their ﬂight is safe. What happened in the worst incidents?

The Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter killed everyone aboard both aircraft.

It was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S since Nov 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and ﬁve on the ground. There hadn’t even been a deadly crash of any kind involving a U.S. airliner since February 2009

Crashes are more common involving smaller planes like the single-engine Cessna that crashed in Alaska on Thursday Ten people including the pilot were killed.

A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground. That Learjet generated a massive ﬁreball when it smashed into the ground in a neighborhood not long after taking off from a small airport nearby How worried should I be?

Fatal crashes attract extraordinary attention partly because they are rare. The track record of U.S. airlines is remarkably safe, as demonstrated by the long stretch between fatal crashes. But deadly crashes have happened more recently elsewhere around the world including one in South Korea that killed all 179 people aboard in December There were also two fatal crashes involving Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. And last January, a door plug blew off a 737 Max while it was in flight, raising more questions about the plane. And federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between

planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for stafﬁng shortages are uncompetitive pay long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.

President Donald Trump added to those concerns Thursday when he blamed the midair collision on the “obsolete” air trafﬁc control system that airports rely on and promised to replace it

But even with all that, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy went on Fox News earlier this week and tried to assure viewers that air travel is “way safer than traveling in a car and train. This is the safest mode of transportation.”

And the statistics back that up.

The National Safety Council estimates that Americans have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on airplanes are too rare to calculate the odds. Figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation tell a similar story

What is being done?

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating these recent crashes and close calls to determine what caused them and look for ways to prevent similar incidents. There have already been troubling revelations about the midair collision, but it will take more than a year to get the full report on what happened.

The NTSB always recommends steps that could be taken to prevent crashes from happening again, but the agency has a long list of hundreds of previous recommendations that have been ignored by other government agencies and the industries it investigates.

But Duffy said the public is right to say that crashes like the recent

are unacceptable. That is why he plans to make sure “safety is

SPORTS

PHILLY’S SPECIAL

Walker: Saints’ probable next coach passes test, Page 6B

LB Baun shines in old stomping grounds, Page 6B

Eagles deny Chiefs from making history, Page 7B

Fangio delivers masterpiece in Superdome return, Page 7B

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith, an Amite City native, pulls in a touchdown in front of Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson during the ﬁrst half of Super Bowl LIX on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. The Eagles defeated the Chiefs 40-22 to win their second Super Bowl since 2018. STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Bench brigade

Gilbert, reserves spark first-ever sweep by LSU of Lady Vols

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

When Aneesah Morrow picked up her third foul, forcing coach Kim Mulkey to put her on the bench, the LSU women’s basketball team was clinging to a onepoint lead over Tennessee. About ﬁve minutes still had to tick off the third-quarter clock.

Flau’jae Johnson, with three fouls of her own, sat on the sideline. So too did both of the LSU post players, relegated to supporting roles against a Lady Vols team that likes to run the ﬂoor and take 3s. On Sunday, Mulkey didn’t have much of a choice. She had to throw Mikaylah Williams and a small, rag-tag lineup of reserve guards on the ﬂoor asking them to carry her offense through a crucial stretch of LSU’s 82-77 win over Tennessee.

“That might have been where the game was won,” Mulkey said.

The No. 6 Tigers (25-1, 10-1 SEC) outscored the No. 19 Lady Vols by four points across those five minutes. Williams orchestrated the offense. Kailyn Gilbert, in the midst of quashing a monthlong shooting slump, scored 12 of her game-high 23 points. Even Jada Richard, a freshman who saw the floor for just five minutes, nailed a jumper in the paint That shot widened LSU’s lead to six points — all the cushion it needed to hang on to a win and sweep a home-and-home series with Tennessee for the first time in program history

“When you take two of your three main players,” Mulkey said, “and they’re sitting over there on the bench, you wonder how your bench and your players that you have on the floor are gonna respond. And I thought that they handled themselves beautifully.”

Exactly a month ago, these two teams met for a frenetic battle of offense, a clash that Gilbert decided with a driving, last-second hook shot. LSU has since proven it has a knack for winning close games, and Tennessee has since cemented its status as a player on the national scene.

The Lady Vols (17-7, 4-7) threatened upsets over No. 4 Texas and No. 2 South Carolina, then toppled No. 5 UConn on Thursday for the

ﬁrst time since 2007, picking up a statement victory on their way to Baton Rouge.

The Tennessee offense converted an efficient 48% of its shots against LSU. But LSU countered by forcing enough turnovers and grabbing enough offensive rebounds. The Tigers may not have shot it well from the ﬁeld only 38% but they turned 19 Lady Vols’ giveaways into 24 points and scored 16 second-chance points off 15 offensive boards.

Under first-year coach Kim Caldwell, Tennessee wants to take lots of shots and earn lots of possessions But on Sunday it attempted 12 fewer ﬁeld goals than LSU.

“We’re developing those that aren’t on the ﬂoor,” Mulkey said, “to be ready to go, and we don’t miss a beat.”

Williams scored 16 points and dished out seven assists. Johnson and Morrow combined to notch only 26 points on 8-of-26 shooting while battling foul trouble, but reserve guards Gilbert, Richard and Mjracle Sheppard picked up most of their scoring slack.

Sheppard chipped in eight points, and Gilbert broke the 20-point mark for the ﬁrst time since the Tigers’ last matchup with Tennessee. The LSU bench

WOMEN’S TOP 25 ROUNDUP

scored 34 points. Tennessee’s reserves, on the other hand, accounted for only six. Jewel Spear, Talaysia Cooper, Ruby Whitehorn and Zee Spearman each scored in double ﬁgures, but their contributions weren’t enough to beat a more balanced LSU team

“They did some special stuff in the skills that they have,” Mulkey said. “(Sheppard) just brings that energy, that defensive intensity You better know where she is because she’s gonna go in there and get an offensive board She’s gonna go in there and block a big shot. She’s just active, and she makes everybody else play just a little bit faster.”

LSU now has hosted seven games against ranked SEC opponents since Mulkey took over the program in 2021. Before Sunday, it was 4-2 in those matchups, with both losses coming to South Carolina. The Tigers have only ﬁve games left in the regular season, and four of those contests likely will be Quad 1 games.

LSU’s next matchup, a road clash with Texas, is one of those games. It will tip off at 2 p.m. next Sunday

Because the Longhorns beat South Carolina 66-62 on Sunday, the Tigers are now in a tie for ﬁrst place in the SEC.

Texas ends S. Carolina’s 57-game SEC streak

By The Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas Madison Booker had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Rori Harmon hit two critical free throws in the ﬁnal seconds as No. 4 Texas beat No 2 South Carolina 66-62 Sunday, ending the Gamecocks’ 57-game Southeastern Conference regular-season winning streak dating to 2021. Harmon converted a pair of free throws with 10.8 seconds left to extend Texas’ two-point lead to the ﬁnal four-point margin.

A 3-point try by South Carolina’s Sania Feagin missed the mark with nine seconds left and Harmon grabbed the rebound to seal the Longhorns’ eight consecutive win and 20th straight at home dating to Jan. 2024.

Backup center Kyla Oldacre scored eight of her 13 points in the fourth quarter for Texas (242, 10-1 SEC).

MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 13 points for South Carolina (22-2, 10-1), which had its 17-game win

streak this season halted Joyce Edwards and Chloe Kitts each scored nine points

While Oldacre had a strong second half, starting center Taylor Jones had 11 points and six rebounds in the ﬁrst half. NO 1 UCLA 62, OREGON 52: In Eugene, Oregon, Londynn Jones scored a season-high 21 points to lead No. 1 UCLA to a win. Lauren Betts added nine points, six rebounds and four assists for the Bruins (23-0, 11-0 Big Ten), who won their 22nd straight game by double digits. Former Oregon player Angela Dugalic added seven points and eight rebounds for UCLA.

Nani Falatea scored 19 points to pace Oregon (16-8, 7-6), which dropped its third straight. Deja Kelly added 14 points and ﬁve rebounds for the Ducks, who shot 26.6% from the ﬁeld.

After Oregon closed within 4538 early in the fourth quarter, UCLA made three consecutive 3-pointers. Elina Aarnisalo, Timea Gardiner and Jones each made a

3-pointer to push the Bruins ahead 54-38 with 6:02 left to play

NO 3 NOTRE DAME 91, NO 21

CALIFORNIA 52: In South Bend, Indiana,Hannah Hidalgo had 24 points and ﬁve assists and No. 3 Notre Dame extended its winning streak to 16 games with a win over No. 21 California. Olivia Miles added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Notre Dame (21-2 overall, 12–0 Atlantic Coast Conference). Sonia Citron chipped in 16 points. Lulu Twidale scored 14 points for Cal (19-6, 7-5). Notre Dame bolted to a 44-23 lead by halftime. Cal struggled through a 1-for-9 shooting stretch and committed four turnovers as the Fighting Irish closed the out the ﬁnal 5:55 of the second quarter on an 11-2 run. NO 5 UCONN 77, PROVIDENCE 40: In Providence, Rhode Island, Paige Bueckers scored 20 points as No. 5 UConn beat Providence to extend its Big East regular-season winning streak to 33 games.

Hernández agrees to new deal with Dodgers

LOS ANGELES After welcoming a ﬂurry of new faces to the organization this offseason, the Dodgers brought back a much more familiar face on Sunday

The team and Kiké Hernández have agreed on a contract that will see the veteran utilityman re-sign with the club for its World Series defense in 2025, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Terms of the deal, which is still pending a physical, were not immediately clear Hernández signaled the news himself by posting a video to social media Sunday afternoon, with the caption “walking through the open door.”

The Dodgers left the door open for a reunion with Hernández this offseason, even amid their other signings in recent months.

Jets tell QB Rodgers they are ‘moving on’ from him

The New York Jets organization has told the 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers it is “moving on from him,” Fox Sports reported Sunday Rodgers said toward the end of the Jets’ 5-12 season he was undecided on his playing future, saying he wanted to take “a break mentally to kind of refresh and put my feet in the sand, and see where I’m at after that.”

But there was uncertainty as to whether the Jets would even want to move forward with the four-time MVP as the team’s quarterback. The Jets recently hired general manager Darren Mougey and coach Aaron Glenn, and owner Woody Johnson said at their introductory news conference on Jan. 27 the new regime would have the ﬁnal say in that decision.

Another knee surgery a possibility for Embiid MILWAUKEE Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid acknowledged Sunday he may have to undergo another surgery on the left knee that has bothered him the last year if it isn’t feeling any better by the end of the season. During the telecast of the 76ers’ 135-127 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, ABC reported that Embiid said he believes his knee would likely require another surgery and long recovery period. The 76ers star wasn’t as deﬁnitive about it when talking to reporters after the game, but indicated offseason surgery could at least be a possibility “I think the straightforward answer is that when you’ve got something that’s inconsistent, at some point, you’ve got to do something about it,” Embiid said. “We don’t know what it is. We’re looking into every option.”

Detry gets first PGA Tour victory at Phoenix Open

Thomas Detry claimed his maiden PGA Tour title with a convincing Phoenix Open win at TPC Scottsdale.

The Belgian began the final round with a five-shot lead over Jordan Spieth, Rasmus Hojgaard, Daniel Berger and Michael Kim. However, while that would have given him plenty of confidence ahead of Sunday’s action, some in the chasing pack threatened to quickly eat up his lead in the opening holes.

After making birdie at the ﬁrst, Detry then bogeyed the second. However, a second birdie followed on the next hole before he began to ﬁnd his rhythm.

Bueckers did all scoring in the ﬁrst three quarters, shooting 6 for 12 from the ﬁeld and 6 for 6 from the line. Azzi Fudd had 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, and Ashlynn Shade added 12 points.

The Huskies (22-3, 13-0) limited the Friars (10-16, 3-10) to 27% (13 for 49) shooting. Providence missed 20 of 24 shots from 3-point range.

Marta Morales led Providence with 15 points. NO 10 DUKE 90, MIAMI 49: In Durham , North Carolina Toby Fournier scored 24 points and Ashlon Jackson made ﬁve 3-pointers on the way to 23 points as No. 10 Duke blew past Miami. Oluchi Okananwa had 16 points for the Blue Devils (19-5, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won twice since Monday night’s loss at No. 14 N.C. State. Cameron Williams scored 14 points and Haley Cavinder added 10 for Miami (13-10, 3-9), which is winless in two games this month after a 2-6 January

“Today I paid more attention,” Detry said. “Yesterday, I actually felt pretty comfortable and I did the exact same routine, and I actually felt comfortable on the ﬁrst tee.”

Noh claims maiden LPGA Tour title at Founders Cup BRADENTON,Fla Yealimi Noh turned a one-shot deﬁcit into a three-shot lead over Jin Young Ko in the span of two holes on the back nine on Sunday and cruised from there to her ﬁrst LPGA victory in the Founders Cup.

The 23-year-old from Northern California closed with a bogey-free, 3-under 68 for a four-day total of 21-under 263 at Bradenton Country Club, four shots better than Ko (71). Noh made her last bogey of the week on her final hole of Friday’s second round, then surged into the lead Saturday with a 63. Noh was making her 111th career start, the first of her sixth season on tour “To really get it done, and especially in the first tournament of

is really nice.”

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU guard Kailyn Gilbert finishes a layup past Tennessee guard Talaysia Cooper (55) in the fourth quarter Sunday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Gilbert scored 23 points as LSU defeated Tennessee 82-77.

Edwards lifts LSU to win over Southeastern

BY JIM KLEINPETER

Contributing writer

LSU softball’s romp through the Tiger Classic skidded a little before ending in a walk-off Sunday

Tori Edwards’ sacrifice fly to deep center ﬁeld in the seventh inning lifted the No. 12 Tigers to a 3-2 come-from-behind win against a scrappy Southeastern Louisiana at Tiger Park.

After beating Charlotte and Central Arkansas twice each by a combined 34-0 the first two days, the Tigers found themselves trailing 2-0 entering the sixth inning. But they scraped together two runs on one hit, escaped a major jam with a fine running catch by Jadyn Laneaux and pulled it out on Edwards’ fly ball.

“In that moment I knew it wasn’t about me but getting that runner across from third,” said Edwards, who hit three homers and drove in eight runs the day before “My goal was to send the ball deep, get something into the air and make it easy so we could advance and get the last run.

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

LSU’s Tori Edwards hits a sacrifice fly into right field in the seventh inning of LSU’s 3-2 win over Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday at Tiger Park. With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning and the score tied 2-2, Edwards drove in Jadyn Laneaux from third with the winning run.

“I was trying to trust myself, see the ball through the zone, make it simpler than the moment seemed. It was an off-speed pitch down the

middle. I’ve been working through that, how to get that pitch up.” Edwards had struggled before

LSU baseball lineup

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

LSU baseball enters the 2025 campaign with a roster as deep as its ever been under coach Jay Johnson. With the new season beginning on Feb 14 against Purdue Fort Wayne, let’s project what the Tigers’ lineup, starting rotation and bullpen will be to begin the year

Lineup

1. Derek Curiel, LF, Fr

2. Steven Milam, SS, So.

3. Jared Jones, 1B, Jr

4. Josh Pearson, DH, Sr.

5. Daniel Dickinson, 2B, Jr

6. Jake Brown, RF So.

7. Luis Hernandez, C, Sr.

8. Michael Braswell, 3B, Sr 9. Chris Stanﬁeld, CF, Jr

Bench: Ashton Larson (OF), Cade Arrambide (C), Tanner Reaves (INF), Ethan Frey (OF), Blaise Priester (C), Dalton Beck (OF/1B), Eddie Yamin (C/OF/1B), Mic Paul (OF), Ryan Costello (1B/ OF), John Pearson (3B/1B), Michael Ryan (INF) and David Hogg (INF)

Breakdown: Curiel in the leadoff spot will surprise some, but the freshman has been as impressive as any hitter on the team since arriving on campus. He’s gained more than 10 pounds, has consistently put the ball in play and has showcased a level of maturity and patience at the plate that’s well beyond his years. His speed also makes him a candidate to start in center field, but Stanfield — the Auburn transfer — appears poised to earn that role. The junior started 52 games in center last season. Stanfield has also been driving the ball with force and could hit at the top of the order on opening day after LSU “overhauled” aspects of his swing and approach.

Johnson claims he has eight outfielders he’s comfortable playing, including Larson, Paul, Beck and Frey. But with only three starting spots, he’ll need to utilize the DH role to maximize arguably the strongest position group on the team. Johnson’s trust in Pearson and the veteran’s experience earns him the nod in this exercise. At catcher, the Tigers have a plethora of options. Where they lack experience no member of the room has ever caught in the SEC — they’ve tried to make up with big arms and powerful bats. Hernandez only played three games at catcher for Indiana State last season, but he’s impressed LSU’s staff with his defense since the start of the fall. He also hit 23 homers a year ago, and the Tigers are in need of power without Hayden Travinski or Tommy White.

If Hernandez needs a break from catching or struggles defensively Arrambide — like Curiel — had a strong fall and “probably has more tools” than any catcher assistant coach Josh Jordan has worked with before. Johnson has been coy about who he plans to deploy at shortstop and third base. Braswell has more experience at third and Milam’s primary position in high school was shortstop — Milam told The Advocate that he’d never played third in his life prior to this preseason. Furthering Milam’s case at short, Johnson has already declared that he’s the best defensive infielder on the team.

Starting rotation

Friday: Kade Anderson, LHP So.

Saturday: Chase Shores, RHP, R-So.

Sunday: Anthony Eyanson, RHP, Jr

Potential options: Conner Ware (LHP), Gavin Guidry (RHP), William Schmidt (RHP), Casan Evans (RHP) and Zac Cowan (RHP)

Breakdown: A new slider, better command and a small boost in velocity has shot Anderson into a potential ace role for the Tigers. He’s been nothing short of dominant this preseason.

Shores is still shaking off some rust after missing the past season and a half due to Tommy John surgery

Consistently locating all of his pitches has been a work in progress, but his fastball reached 99 mph during Saturday’s scrimmage and his slider has looked sharp Ware and Eyanson appear to be the two strongest candidates to start on Sundays. Ware — a junior college transfer was LSU’s best pitcher in the fall, according

to Johnson. Eyanson pitched for the U.S. Collegiate National Team this past summer after transferring in from UC San Diego. Both have pitched well this preseason but Ware moves to the bullpen in this projection, in part due to the Tigers’ lack of left-handed relief options.

Bullpen

Closer: Gavin Guidry, RHP, Jr Set up: Conner Ware, LHP, Jr Middle relief: William Schmidt (RHP), Casan Evans (RHP), Zac Cowan (RHP), Cooper Williams (LHP), Jaden Noot (RHP), Jacob Mayers (RHP), DJ Primeaux (LHP), Connor Benge (RHP), Chandler Dorsey (RHP), Dalton Beck (LHP), Mavrick Rizy (RHP), Kade Woods (RHP), Grant Fontenot (RHP), Dylan Thompson (RHP)

Breakdown: The preseason hasn’t gone perfectly for Guidry but his slider continues to fool hitters and he’s already proven to be a high-level reliever in the SEC. Ware appears to be the strongest candidate to fill the high-leverage multi-inning relief role Grifﬁn Herring was in last year Schmidt, Evans and Rizy are three freshmen with mid-90s fastballs and at least one breaking ball good enough to fool SEC hitters. Schmidt and Evans are the best equipped to throw multiple innings, while Rizy is 6-foot-9 and generates a lot of movement with his fastball. Cowan might not start, but expect him to throw a lot of innings for the Tigers. The Wofford transfer’s velocity won’t wow hitters but he may be the best strikethrower on the team. Williams, despite being a freshman, could play big role this season He throws strikes and complements his fastball well with a big curveball.

the at-bat, fouling out twice to the catcher and reaching ﬁrst on an error

“That was a really cool moment for her in her maturing process,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “She swung through the changeup earlier in the at bat and was forced to deal with it again. It was cool to see the adjustment she made.

“She’s wise beyond her years. She studies prepares, she’s not just up there taking big swings, although it may look like that.”

Avery Hodge started the winning rally with a walk and moved to second on a bunt single by Danieca Coffey Jalia Lassiter sacriﬁced the runners ahead and after Maci Bergeron walked, Edwards delivered the wining run.

LSU (5-0) struggled offensively against SLU starter Britney Lewinski, getting outhit 6-3 The Lions (2-3) also turned two double plays and had the Tigers on the ropes after Brilee Ford’s run-scoring single in the sixth.

But Coffey and Lassiter worked Lewinski for walks to start the bottom of the sixth and Bergeron

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

If Jayden Daniels and Justin Jefferson couldn’t play in the Super Bowl, they did the next best thing: Help get two veterans to football’s ultimate game.

The former LSU stars joined with USAA to award all-expenses paid trips to Super Bowl LIX, including a pair of tickets to watch the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles battle Sunday night in the Caesars Superdome.

Jefferson, the former LSU All-American wide receiver and Destrehan High standout, just completed his ﬁfth season with the Minnesota Vikings. Saturday, he and Daniels took questions from fans at the veterans-only USAA lounge at the Super Bowl Experience inside the Morial Convention Center, signed autographs and took selﬁes. Jefferson was also seen getting a hug from his veteran recipient, Kim Hubers, as she presented him with a Super Bowl lapel pin.

“I always want to do something for the community, especially back in my hometown,” Jefferson said. “They have been risking their lives in order for us to be free, for us to be sitting her talking right now To be able to give them the experience to be with me, talk with me, laugh with them, it’s always a joy to me

“To see the smiles on their faces, that’s what I enjoy the most To give Super Bowl tickets to someone deserving of it, to get the experience of going to a Super Bowl, I’m grateful to be in this position.”

Daniels, LSU’s 2023 Heisman Trophy-winning quar-

singled off reliever Hailie Burns (0-2) to load the bases. Edwards fouled out but McKenzie Redoutey hit a sacriﬁce ﬂy to right and after Maddox McKee was hit by a pitch, McKaela Walker drew a walk to tie the game.

LSU starter Sydney Berzon (2-0) retired 12 of the first 13 batters but the Tigers had some infield struggles in the fifth that resulted in a run-scoring infield single by Shelby Morris. Berzon walked one and struck out four

“They’re a good team,” Torina said. “Every time we play them it’s a game like that. They have all new personnel but play the game the same way That’s the mark of a good coach. The standard is the standard no matter what personnel he has on the ﬁeld.

“Defensive mistakes, miscues there. We’re still learning each other defensively There was a stretch of at bats we’d like to have back. We call them CPA’s (competitive plate appearances) we had a long stretch where we didn’t have one, six or seven in a row We’d like to see them be more competitive throughout.”

terback who Thursday night was named NFL offensive rookie of the year for his sensational ﬁrst season with the Washington Commanders, said being the grandson of two veterans prompted him to get involved in the program.

“When I had the opportunity to bless a veteran with two Super Bowl tickets, I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity,” said Daniels, who took questions in the USAA lounge alongside fellow ﬁrst-year quarterback Drake Maye of the New England Patriots.

A total of eight current and former NFL players joined with USAA to award Super Bowl trips including a pair of game tickets for military veterans and their friends and families.

Aside from Daniels, Jefferson and Maye, they were Saints defensive end Cam Jordan, Green Bay running back Josh Jacobs, Dallas linebacker Micah Parsons, Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson and former New England tight end Rob Gronkowski.

According to Christian Bove, USAA’s communications director, veterans’ organizations like the VFW, Wounded Warrior Project and others nominate veterans to receive Super Bowl tickets. Hubers, an Army National Guard veteran from Dell Rapids, South Dakota, was nominated through her work with Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Daniels’ recipient, 30-year Marine veteran Jonathan Knauth of Stafford, Virginia, was nominated by the Marine Corps Association. Hubers brought her daughter Aubrey to attend the game with her Knauth

brought Jonathan Richards, his best friend since they were preschoolers.

“I try to get to at least one NFL game a year,” Knauth said. “I didn’t make one in 2024.” Naturally, Knauth said, this makes up for that. Naturally, Daniels and Jefferson were peppered with questions about their seasons, their teams, and their favorite New Orleans eating places.

Daniels threw for 3,568 yards and rushed for 891 more yards with 31 combined touchdowns during the regular season. He added 957 more total yards and six total touchdowns in the postseason as he led the Commanders to a stunning 45-31 upset of the NFC topseeded Detroit Lions and an appearance in Washington’s first NFC championship game since the 1991 season. The Commanders were overwhelmed by the Eagles 55-23, a result that despite all of his ﬁrst-year success Daniels said he won’t forget.

“I think you’ve got to ﬂush it,” he said, “but it’s something that’s going to stick with you the rest of the offseason.” Jefferson, the NFL offensive player of the year in 2022, picked up his second All-Pro honors this season He had 103 catches for 1,544 yards and 10 touchdowns as the Vikings went 14-3 in the regular season Minnesota was bounced in the wild-card round by the Los Angeles Rams 27-9.

“This league is so difficult,” Jefferson said. “Everyone is working toward that goal, gearing up for this week, the Super Bowl. It’s always tough. There’s always room for improvement.”

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson looks on during a scrimmage Jan. 24 at Alex Box Stadium.

BY THE NUMBERS

Moore to the liking

bracelets worn by fans spelling out the words “Game Over”, signaling the end of Lamar’s rap beef with Drake.

But that “Game Over” just as well could have applied to the early Eagles’ checkmate.

This one wasn’t really as close as the ﬁnal score indicated.

to win over a fanbase starving for some success.

For Saints fans looking to get one last look at Moore’s work before he migrates down South, they had to be pleased with what they saw The Eagles offense scored 33 of the 40 points.

Kansas City, Mahomes

Hunt 3-9, Perine 1-8, Pacheco 3-7. Philadelphia, Hurts 11-72, Barkley 25-57, Gainwell 6-10, Pickett 3-(minus 4). PASSING: Kansas City, Mahomes 21-32-2257. Philadelphia, Hurts 17-22-1-221, Pickett

0-1-0-0. RECEIVING: Kansas City, Worthy 8-157, Kelce 4-39, Hopkins 2-18, Smith-Schuster 2-16, Brown 2-15, Hunt 1-5, Pacheco 1-5, Gray 1-2. Philadelphia, Barkley 6-40, D.Smith 4-69, A.Brown 3-43, Dotson 2-42, Goedert 2-27. PUNT RETURNS: Kansas City, Remigio 1-5. Philadelphia, DeJean 3-27. KICKOFF RETURNS: Kansas City, Remigio 3-84. Philadelphia, Shipley 1-25. TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS: Kansas City Tranquill 7-4-1, Reid 5-2-0, Bolton 4-5-0, McDufﬁe

4-1-0, Conner 3-3-0, Wharton 3-2-0, Karlaftis

3-1-1, Chenal 3-1-0, Cook 3-0-0, Pennel 2-3-0, Hicks 2-1-0, Omenihu 2-1-0, Anudike-Uzomah

1-1-0, Nnadi 1-1-0, Ja.Watson 1-0-0, Danna

0-1-0. Philadelphia, Baun 3-4-0, Burks 3-2-0, Williams 3-1-2, DeJean 3-0-0, Mitchell 3-0-0, Sweat 2-4-2.5, Davis 2-0-1, Ojomo 2-0-0, Slay

2-0-0, Blankenship 1-2-0, Gardner-Johnson

1-2-0, Hunt 1-1-.5, Graham 1-0-0.

INTERCEPTIONS: Kansas City, Cook 1-0. Philadelphia, DeJean 1-38, Baun 1-0. MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.

OFFICIALS: Referee Ron Torbert, Ump Mike Morton, HL Max Causey, LJ Mark Stewart, FJ Mearl Robinson, SJ Boris Cheek, BJ Jonah Monroe, Replay Kevin Brown.

Welcome to New Orleans, Kellen Moore. All indications are the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator is about to make this city his new home. New Orleans Saints fans would like nothing more than for Moore to make things in the Big Easy look as easy as his offense made things look Sunday in a 40-22 beatdown of the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX. The last time a Super Bowl was played in New Orleans, the lights in the Superdome went out right after halftime.

The Chiefs’ quest to become the ﬁrst team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls never came close to fruition.

Patrick Mahomes and Company had no answer for the Eagles defense, led by former Saints linebackers coach Vic Fangio.

This time — at least as far as the Chiefs’ hopes of a three-peat go — the lights were turned off before halftime. This one was pretty much over before rapper Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance. Lamar’s performance ended with lit-up

But if you’re a fan of the team that normally occupies the Caesars Superdome, this game was all about the Eagles other coordinator

Moore made his way to the top of the Saints’ thorough head coaching search after a few other coaches took jobs elsewhere or decided to stay put in their current jobs.

Truth be told, it really didn’t matter what the Eagles did on Sunday

This was Moore’s job as long as he didn’t get to New Orleans this week and all of a sudden have a change of heart.

Winning the Super Bowl wasn’t a requirement. But it sure helped

It was a ﬁtting end to the week for Moore, who got a chance to put an exclamation point on his one season in Philly all while hanging out in his new digs.

The Eagles practiced this week at the Saints’ facility on Airline Drive. And the Eagles occupied the Saints’ locker room for Sunday’s game. Then Moore’s offense did what Saints fans hope can spill over into the Dome next season with him at the helm.

The Eagles had 345 yards of offense: 210 passing and 135 rushing.

It makes things easy when your defense is as dominant as the Eagles were, pressuring Mahomes all game long and sacking him six times.

It also helps when you have a quarterback like Jalen Hurts, who was named the Super Bowl MVP and a running back like Saquon Barkley, who was the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year this season. Oh, and a dominant of-

fensive line. Moore won’t be bringing Hurts or Barkley or that line to New Orleans with him, so his next job will be much tougher than this one was He’s never been a head coach before. But he’s a young, offensive mind, just like the franchisechanging coach Mickey Loomis took a chance on back in 2006. Will Moore have that same type of Sean Payton success?

None of us know

What we do know is he helped the Eagles roll to 18 wins in his ﬁrst season there.

He was so good that Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said this during Sunday’s postgame trophy presentation:

“Let’s run this s**** back, Kellen,” Sirianni said.

But the 36-year old Moore, who will be the NFL’s youngest coach, has no reason to do that.

His mission in Philly is accomplished.

Moore and the Eagles will take their second Lombardi Trophy back to Philadelphia.

Now, the folks in New Orleans will be craving Moore to bring New Orleans its second one, too. Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

BAUN SHINES IN OLD STOMPING GROUNDS

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

While he was sitting behind a podium on the Caesars Superdome turf for Super Bowl LIX’s opening night, Philadelphia Eagles

linebacker Zack Baun said his most memorable play in the building was a punt block against the Tennessee Titans last year

It’s safe to say he has a new one. Baun, who played 30 games in the Caesars Superdome as a New Orleans Saint, made a diving interception late in the ﬁrst half deep in Chiefs’ territory The play set the Eagles up with the ball at the Chiefs’ 14-yard line. Two plays after his interception, quarterback Jalen Hurts found receiver A.J.Brown for a 12-yard touchdown that gave Philadelphia a 24-0 lead. The Saints selected Baun in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft He languished on the bench for much of his four seasons with the Saints before signing a one-year deal with the Eagles this offseason. He thrived in Philadelphia, becoming a defensive player of the year candidate after recording 151

on the ﬁeld for a fourth and 2 from midfield, and quarterback Jalen Hurts launched a perfect pass deep downﬁeld to Brown for a 32-yard gain.

But the play didn’t stand after officials deemed Brown committed offensive pass interference. The 10-yard penalty backed the Eagles offense up and forced them to punt the ball away The flag immediately drew a reaction on social media, as Brown did not appear to make much contact with Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie on the play outside of some hand-fighting on both sides. While the penalty killed a prime scoring opportunity for Philadelphia, the officiating evened out as the game unfolded. The Eagles finished the first half with three penalties, while the Chiefs were penalized four times.

Happy birthday

tackles, 3.5 sacks and ﬁve forced fumbles.

Baun recorded one interception in his four years with the Saints, last season on the road against the Houston Texans.

Controversial call In the week leading up to Super

Bowl LIX, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell dismissed what he called the “ridiculous theory” that the Chiefs were beneﬁciaries of routinely favorable ofﬁciating.

But if the noise was loud in the lead-up to the game, it reached a fever pitch on the game’s opening drive. The Eagles left the offense

Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean turned 22 years old Sunday and his birthday gift came courtesy of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the second quarter of Super Bowl LIX. On a third and 16, Mahomes rolled right and tried to thread a

pass in to receiver DeAndre Hopkins He never saw DeJean undercutting the throw in the zone defense. DeJean, whom the Eagles selected with the No. 40 overall selection one spot in front of New Orleans Saints rookie Kool-Aid McKinstry, intercepted the pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown that gave Philadelphia a 17-0 lead. It was the ﬁrst time in NFL history a player scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl on his birthday, and it was also DeJean’s ﬁrst career interception.

Celebrity sightings

As is always the case at Super Bowls, the celebrities were out in full force Sunday Actors Jon Hamm (Kansas City) and Bradley Cooper (Eagles)

CAESARS SUPERDOME NEW ORLEANS KANSAS CITy CHIEFS VS. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore smiles before the start of Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome.

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Rod Walker

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT SLOCUM

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun celebrates after intercepting a pass against the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl LIX on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome.

CAESARS SUPERDOME NEW ORLEANS KANSAS CITy CHIEFS VS. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

THREE AND OUT: ZACH EWING GIVES HIS TOP THREE TAKEAWAyS FROM THE EAGLES’ ROUT OF CHIEFS

DISAPPOINTMENT DESERTED

1

The Eagles lost a heartbreaker in the Super Bowl two years ago to the Chiefs, who kicked the winning field goal with eight seconds left, leaving Jalen Hurts staring blankly through red and gold confetti.That script flipped bigtime Sunday evening at the Caesars Superdome, with Hurts accounting for three touchdowns in an MVP performance and the Eagles defense repeatedly stuffing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense.The Eagles weren’t shy about admitting that Super Bowl LXVII defeat bothered them, and their motivation showed.

DEFENSE DOMINANT

One of the lasting images from this Super Bowl will be Mahomes boxed into the pocket, frantically looking for a receiver before being swallowed up by an Eagles defensive lineman. Philadelphia had 16 pressures and six sacks, all from its line.While the game was competitive, according to NextGen Stats, the Eagles had a pressure rate of nearly 50% without blitzing a single time.When Mahomes did get passes off, the result was often disastrous. Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean intercepted one and returned it for a touchdown, and former Saints linebacker Zack Baun picked off another

3

DYNASTY DERAILED

For the Chiefs, history beckoned as they sought to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls. Instead, they suffered the ignominy of Eagles fans doing a mock tomahawk chant during the second half of a blowout.A Kansas City team that made a habit of winning in the fourth quarter simply wasn’t good enough. Mahomes’ firsthalf passer rating was 10.7, the worst of any NFL half he’s ever played.The running game totaled just 49 yards.The defense bottled up Saquon Barkley but left itself exposed elsewhere and forced just two punts.

HISTORY DENIED

Eagles stop Chiefs’ quest for first-ever three-peat in dominant fashion

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

Super Bowls aren’t supposed to sound like this.

They aren’t supposed to sound like a home game in South Philadelphia Team chants and theme songs aren’t supposed to reverberate from the walls and acoustics of the stadium.

Super Bowl crowds are usually made up of corporate bigwigs and celebrities

They typically have little tolerance for fandom and passion

But inside the Caesars Superdome, home of Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX, the Eagles’ sound could not be denied

They had plenty of reasons to celebrate. On the field, where confetti showered as soon as the clock hit zero, the Eagles delivered just as dominant of a performance.

The Eagles emphatically denied the Kansas City Chiefs’ attempt at a threepeat with a stunning 40-22 victory, delivering a master class of a defensive performance that will likely be remembered for years to come.

ChiefsquarterbackPatrickMahomes,regarded as the sport’s best passer, was held to only 257 yards passing and sacked six times. The Eagles did so by rushing only four defensive linemen and trusting the secondary to prevent explosive plays. It was a stunning performance, one accompanied by an excellent showing from Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (221 yards passing) and the rest of the offense.

Just two years ago, the Eagles failed to beat the Chiefs in a Super Bowl. Hurts had said that game ignited a ﬁre inside him, and it appeared it did the same for many of his teammates who shared the pain of that defeat.

But these aren’t the same Eagles of two years ago. And this past offseason had a lot to do with it After a disastrous end to the 2023 season — a flameout that saw a dominant 10-1 start turn into an 11-6 finish with a first-round exit — Eagles coach Nick Sirianni overhauled key parts of his coaching staff On offense he turned to Kellen Moore, a brilliant but young play-caller who could seamlessly blend the existing ideas already in place to bring a fresh approach to the Eagles. And on defense, Sirianni poached Vic Fangio, the well-respected defensive mastermind who left the Miami Dolphins after just one season to oversee Philadelphia’s defense. But coaching alone would not fix the Eagles.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman set out to correct the main ﬂaws on the roster And he arguably did it better than anyone this past year In free agency, he landed star running back Saquon Barkley on a three-year, $37.5 million deal And

in an era when paying big money to the position had become toxic, Roseman said he felt the narrative had shifted too far the other way and he was rewarded for that confidence. Barkley became the ninth player in NFL history to ﬁnish with at least 2,000 yards rushing and the 28-year-old became the identity of Philadelphia’s offense.

Roseman’s other moves also paid off.

Zack Baun, on a one-year, $3.5 million deal, turned into one of the league’s best feel-good stories as he transformed from a seldom-used reserve with the New Orleans Saints to a Defensive Player of the Year ﬁnalist. In the draft, the Eagles dramatically overhauled their secondary with back-to-back picks of cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in the ﬁrst and second rounds.

But the Eagles have been seemingly annual contenders, and the organization’s philosophy was on full display in the Super Bowl.

Repeatedly on Sunday, in ways that hadn’t been seen since his first Super Bowl loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Mahomes ran for his life.

He ran for his life when Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter burst through the line of scrimmage. He ran for his life when Eagles pass rusher Josh Sweat used

his superiority to bend around the edge. He ran for his life when the rest of the Eagles defensive line gave him little to no breathing room.

The strength of the Eagles’ trenches — which Philadelphia invests in time and time again — forced Mahomes into uncharacteristic mistakes.

No sequence demonstrated that better than in the second quarter, when Philadelphia recorded a pair of sacks on ﬁrst and second downs before Mahomes threw an interception that DeJean returned for a touchdown.

On the turnover, which gave the Eagles a 17-0 lead, pressure forced Mahomes to roll out to his right as the quarterback tried to force a careless throw in a desperate attempt to make something happen.

But DeJean, whose 22nd birthday was Sunday, read the play perfectly

At halftime, the Eagles had a higher pressure rate (47%) on Mahomes’ passes than the quarterback’s completion percentage (42%).

Mahomes’ 33 yards passing in the ﬁrst half were the lowest in a Super Bowl since Chicago’s Rex Grossman in 2007.

The Eagles offensive line, meanwhile, also put its imprint on the game While Kansas City was more than prepared for Barkley, who had a quieter day of just 57 rushing yards, the Eagles’ front was still

able to make an impact by how it created time — and open lanes — for Hurts.

The Chiefs often dared Hurts to beat them with his arm, and he did. On Philadelphia’s second drive, the Eagles quarterback hit wide receiver Jahan Dotson for a 27-yard strike that put Philadelphia just short of the goal line. Then, in a play everyone saw coming, the Eagles ran their unstoppable Tush Push that resulted in a Hurts touchdown.

Hurts, too, made up for any lack of Barkley’s rushing success. Whether by design or improvisation, Hurts rushed for 72 yards on 11 carries — which helped Philadelphia keep moving the chains.

The dagger happened when Mahomes threw his second interception — a pass that went right to Baun, his ﬁrst in the Superdome, no less. With starting ﬁeld position at Kansas City’s 6-yard line, Hurts soon found A.J. Brown on an underneath route that resulted in a touchdown.

At that point, the Eagles took a 24-0 lead before halftime.

The Chiefs would score three times a 24-yard pass to Xavier Worthy, a 7-yard strike to DeAndre Hopkins and a 50-yarder to Worthy — but the Eagles, by that point, were never in danger of losing.

Email Matthew Paras at matt.paras@ theadvocate.com

DC Fangio delivers masterpiece in Dome return

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

Nearly 40 years ago, Vic Fangio’s big NFL break came here in New Orleans. He signed on to coach the New Orleans Saints linebackers in 1986 and played an integral part in unleashing the potential of the “Dome Patrol” linebackers. His career took off, and he has long been considered one of the NFL’s premier defensive minds. There was only one thing that was missing — until Sunday Back in the building where his NFL coaching career began, Fangio won his first career Super Bowl title as the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.

And this performance, a 40-22 shellacking against the Kansas City Chiefs, may have been his masterpiece. The Eagles defense spent Super Bowl LIX taking a wrecking ball to the Chiefs’ quest for a historic third straight Super Bowl title, squeezing the life out of the Kansas City rushing attack and then teeing off on superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Nearly three quarters passed before the Chiefs crossed the goal line, and by then Philadelphia had already built up a 34-point lead. Fangio coordinated one of the ﬁnest defensive performances in Super Bowl history Mahomes, the three-time Super Bowl MVP looked flustered throughout the game as Fangio’s defensive front routinely harassed him with four rushers. Even when Mahomes did have time he never looked comfortable. The Eagles sacked him

six times, intercepted him twice and recovered one of his fumbles.

It still felt like a contest when the Chiefs took over at their own 30-yard line midway through the second quarter, trailing 10-0 but with plenty of time to put their sluggish start behind them.

Eagles pass rusher Josh Sweat blew past tight end Travis Kelce and dropped Mahomes for a sack. It wasn’t clear in the moment, but the dam had broken. Sweat’s sack was followed immediately by another this time featuring Sweat and linebacker Jalyx Hunt splitting it. That set up a third and 16, and Mahomes was flushed from the pocket yet again, trying to make a play downfield while rolling to his right. He never saw rookie defensive back Cooper DeJean in the Eagles’ zone coverage. DeJean undercut a Mahomes throw intended for DeAndre

Hopkins and raced 38 yards for a pick-six that gave the Eagles a 17-0 lead and ignited a blowout to give the Eagles their second Super Bowl title in franchise history By the time the first half had come to a close, the Chiefs had managed just one ﬁrst down and 23 net yards, and Mahomes had thrown two interceptions.

The second of those interceptions, a diving grab by former New Orleans Saints linebacker Zack Baun with less than two minutes remaining in the first half, set the Eagles up at the Chiefs 14-yard line Two plays later, Jalen Hurts found A.J. Brown for a 12-yard score that gave Philadelphia a 24-0 halftime lead.

The ﬁnal stamp on the authoritative performance came when defensive tackle Milton Williams swatted the ball out of Mahomes’ hand as he was gearing up to

throw a deep pass downfield. Philadelphia recovered the fumble It was fitting that Fangio finally landed his first title in New Orleans, not only because this is where he got his start, but also because this was the site of his previous failed attempt. Fangio was the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator from 2011-14, and it was in the Superdome that his defense allowed 34 points to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII in 2013 Last week, as the Eagles were beginning their Super Bowl preparations, Fangio showed his team some game film from that loss. He told his players about all the ways it went wrong; that the team was overwhelmed by the moment. Sunday, Fangio and the Eagles met the moment.

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean scores on a pick-six during Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday. Fangio

SUPER BOWL SIGHTS

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni celebrates a touchdown during Super Bowl LIX on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Kendrick Lamar performs during Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday in New Orleans. STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

SZA performs during halftime of the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday AP PHOTO By BRyNN ANDERSON

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun, left, celebrates with teammates after intercepting a pass during the first half of Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome.

AP PHOTO By GEORGE WALKER IV

Kansas City Chiefs safety Bryan Cook celebrates an interception against the Philadelphia Eagles during the first half of Super Bowl LIX on Sunday. STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Philadelphia Eagles players celebrate with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. AP PHOTO By DAVID J PHILLIP

‘The power of the organ

An Arkansas organist is playing 18 hours of Bach this year, one lunch break at a time

BY ANDREW DEMILLO Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

— It was hushed inside a 140-year-old cathedral on the outskirts of Little Rock’s downtown as about ﬁve dozen people sat in the pews during a recent lunch break in January

The nave ﬁlled with the sounds of the Gothic church’s pipe organ, and a screen showed a man performing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach Those gathered weren’t there for church, but for the third concert in a series Colin MacKnight is performing over the next year to commemorate the 275th anniversary of Bach’s death MacKnight, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral’s music director, is performing all of Bach’s organ works throughout 2025 one lunch break at a time. The ambitious plan entails performing 18 hours of music in half-hour increments nearly every Wednesday

“I’ve wanted to for a really long time because it’s, I think, the most thorough way of immersing myself in the brilliance of Johann Sebastian Bach,” MacKnight said one morning as he rehearsed in the empty cathedral the day before a

tive’s funeral when he was about 12 years old.

“Something about hearing it that time just really mesmerized me and that was the beginning of my love of Bach,” he said.

The 31-year-old’s hands move easily between the four keyboards of the organ console, flanked by knobs controlling different sounds that are assembled into various combinations.

Underneath, his feet press on the pedalboards — combining to create the notes of Bach’s works. MacKnight, who has played the organ since he was 16, acknowledges how dizzying the sight of the instrument can be for newcomers.

“If you don’t know what you’re looking at, it’s a little overwhelming, like an airplane console,” he said.

concert.

The concerts in Little Rock are among several events around the world this year commemorating the German composer’s legacy and the anniversary of his death.

MacKnight, who is from Bethesda, Maryland, has been music director at Trinity for three years. He said the ﬁrst time he remembers hearing Bach was at a rela-

MacKnight’s concerts — which are free and open to the public — are also mini-lessons for those who come, with a glossary of terms like concerto and fugue included in the program. In between pieces, MacKnight gives audience members some background on Bach and his organ works.

Singer-songwriter Vincent Neil Emerson

Does someone with Alzheimer’s disease lose their need for

and affection during the progression of the disease?

Alzheimer’s disease can affect a person’s relationships in many ways, including how they feel about love and intimacy According to the book, “Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade: The 5 Love Languages and the Alzheimer’s Journey,” by Debbie Barr, Gary Chapman and Edward Shaw, it is possible to sustain an emotional connection, or emotional intimacy with a memoryimpaired individual, as the affected individual’s need for love does not disappear with the diagnosis. The authors define the “5 Love Languages,” (5LL), as: n Words of affirmation n Quality moments n Gifts for “receiving gifts” n Acts of services n Physical touch. Words of affirmation, the first of the 5LL’s describes the power of unsolicited compliments or words of appreciation. “I love you” or “You did an amazing job” are examples of encouraging and thoughtful phrases and are important to say in making the affected partner feel loved. Loving considerations under this love language focus on the partner’s feelings rather than facts. Even as the disease progresses and the affected partner has difficulty understanding the affirmations, they still respond to the warmth of the caregiver’s voice and may even nod their head or make a gesture to reply The next of the 5LL’s is “quality moments.” The spouse/ partner of the affected individual — or caregiver and loved one should think in terms of quality moments instead of quality time, noting how important it is to live in their reality at that moment. The book describes these special moments as soul connections, which run much deeper than just shared experiences.

Of all the love languages, giftgiving and receiving is arguably the most often misconstrued. “Gifts for ‘receiving gifts,’” the third 5LL, demonstrates love with a tangible item. The giftgiving isn’t an extravagance; it’s all about sentiment. It says to the individual, “I was thinking about you when I saw this,” and serves as a reminder that they are loved. These expressions could include ﬂowers, a favorite snack, or tickets to a concert, and especially nearing Valentine’s Day, these gifts enhance the relationship and are always a means of promoting dialogue and connection. In the fourth 5LL, “Acts of Service” describes the preservation of identity and individuality Caregivers perform numerous acts of service (caregiving responsibilities) for their affected partners during the disease journey, but it is the creation of meaningful and purposeful activities that sustain emotional intimacy in this

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS By KATIE ADKINS

Colin MacKnight, director of music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock, Ark., rehearses for his upcoming lunchtime concert series featuring the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Colin MacKnight prepares for his upcoming yearlong concert series featuring the works of Johann Sebastian Bach on organ.

Living in zero gravity causes many changes to body

Dear Doctors: Our 11-year-old son is fascinated with those astronauts who are stuck on the space station. One of the things he asks about a lot is how being in space for that long affects the human body Do you know what the latest research says about that?

Dear reader: You are referring to two American astronauts who arrived at the International Space Station last June for what was planned to be an eight-day mission. When the experimental spacecraft they had piloted developed technical difﬁculties, however, NASA decided the pair should wait for the arrival of a replacement spacecraft to make the return trip. As of New Year’s Day, the two astronauts had logged more than 200 days in space. They are not scheduled to return to Earth until at least March

By The Associated Press

Today is Monday, Feb. 10, the 41st day of 2025. There are 324 days left in the year

Today in history

On Feb. 10, 1962, on the Glienicke Bridge connecting West Berlin and East Germany, the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States. On this date 1736, the treaty ending the Seven Years’ War was signed in Paris, with France ceding its territory in Cana-

Dr. Elizabeth Ko Dr Eve Glazier ASK THE DOCTORS

As the astronauts await their ride home, they are undergoing signiﬁcant physiological changes That’s because our bodies have evolved to both overcome and to utilize the pull of gravity The absence of that constant resistance affects every cell, tissue, structure and biological system. That’s why astronauts in space spend hours each day exercising. Without the pull of gravity to work against, muscle mass

TODAY IN HISTORY

da to Great Britain In 1936, Nazi Germany’s Reichstag passed a law investing the Gestapo secret police with absolute authority exempt from any legal review In 1996, world chess champion Garry Kasparov lost the ﬁrst game of a match in Philadelphia against an IBM computer dubbed “Deep Blue.” (Kasparov ended up winning the match, 4 games to 2; however, he was defeated by Deep Blue in a rematch the following year.)

Today’s birthdays: Opera singer Leontyne Price is 98. Actor Robert Wagner is 95.

decreases and muscles begin to atrophy Within several weeks, astronauts lose up to 10% to 20% of their lean muscle mass. Weightlessness erases the physical cues that trigger bone remodeling. This is the process in which new bone continuously replaces old bone. As a result, bone mass in astronauts decreases by 1% to 2% every month they spend in space. Fluids change their behavior in the microgravity of space, as well. This adversely affects the heart, circulation and blood pressure; leads to persistent nasal congestion; causes tissues of the face and upper body to become swollen; affects the inner ear and vision; and even results in increased ﬂatulence and constipation. The vacuum of space also interferes with the production of

red blood cells, resulting in a condition dubbed “space anemia.” Astronauts are exposed to higher amounts of ionizing radiation, which can increase cancer risk. There is also emerging evidence that space travel affects the structure of the human brain. The newest research has found that living in space even causes changes to human DNA. This was discovered in a fascinating study of identical twin brothers Scott and Mark Kelly Both are astronauts who have spent time in space. From March 2015 to March 2016, while Mark remained on Earth, Scott lived on the International Space Station. Upon Scott’s return after a year spent living in zero gravity, genetic analysis found that almost 1,000 of his chromosomes and genes worked differently than

those of his twin brother. The good news is many of the adverse effects of space travel resolve upon return to Earth. Some, such as the effects of ﬂuid shifts, take only a short time. Others, including loss of muscle mass, bone density and cognitive effects, can take many months and intense rehabilitation to overcome. Some can be permanent. That has made the development of space suits and space craft to mitigate these effects a priority within the global space community

Send your questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla. edu, or write: Ask the Doctors, c/o UCLA Health Sciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

Singer Roberta Flack is 88. Olympic swimming gold medalist Mark Spitz is 75. Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman is 70. Basketball Hall of Fame coach John Calipari is 66. Filmmaker Alexander Payne is 64. TV host-political commentator George Stephanopoulos is 64. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., is 63. Political commentator Glenn Beck is 61. Actor Laura Dern is 58. Writer-producer-director Vince Gilligan (TV: “Breaking Bad”) is 58. Football Hall of Famer Ty Law is 51. Actor-ﬁlmmaker Elizabeth Banks is 51.

BACH

Continued from page 1C

“These pieces are in the unfortunate category of being much, much harder than they sound,” he says. Generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, Bach is known in particular for his organ works and their heavy use of pedals and complex structures. Few organists perform the composer’s complete organ works, given the difﬁculty and quantity of the music

They include Grammywinning organist Paul Jacobs, who taught MacKnight at the Juilliard School. Jacobs performed an 18-hour nonstop concert of Bach’s organ works to mark the

LOVE

Continued from page 1C

love language. For instance, the spouse/partner can give their loved one tasks such as repotting a plant or watering the garden — tasks that make him feel useful and appreciated.

The last of the 5LL’s is “Physical Touch” and this

RED DRAGON

Continued from page 1C

250th anniversary of the composer’s death in 2000.

and come back to get the next batch,” he said.

Dear readers: We received hundreds of comments about couponing, and I’m absolutely delighted to see that so many people use them.

Dear Heloise: I don’t usually write in to things, but the letter from the woman who uses coupons, much to her husband’s embarrassment, hit a nerve. My husband (now retired) always goes through digital coupons online and clips the ones we use. Last time, we saved about $80! I love him for it. He is great at saving money while still buying what we need!

Just wanted to give a different perspective.

Thanks. — Pat D., an avid fan of “Hints From Heloise” Unsigned check cashed

Dear Heloise: We read a letter in your column about the woman who did not sign checks for her grandchildren’s gifts,

which then got her a visit from them so that the grandchildren could get the checks signed. We had heard about this idea, and after ﬁve years with no response from an adult grandchild for his birthday gifts, we thought we would try it. We made the check out with no signature, put it in the greeting card, and mailed it. When our bank statement came, we saw the check had been deposited to an ATM at the grandchild’s bank. Apparently, the check still cleared our grandchild’s bank and our bank without a problem. Our bank then told us that we could protest the check and send it back to our grandchild’s bank. Our bank had a $30 fee for the protest, and the grandchild’s bank had a $35 fee for a returned deposit. Since the gift was $100, we did not protest the pay-

The free concerts so far have drawn a mix of church members, classical music aﬁcionados and newcomers who say they want a quiet break from the daily bustle.

“I like the complexity of the music and the power of the organ, which stirs me internally,” said Barry Coplin, a member of the church who has attended two of MacKnight’s concerts. Ben Wiley, who lives about 30 minutes away, is a classical music fan who was attending his third of MacKnight’s shows and said he appreciates being able to hear Bach’s works in halfhour increments.

“It’s a good way to be able to get it done in short bursts, to be able to absorb it better

describes the sense of intimacy, comfort and reassurance for both the spouse and loved one. The touch that the affected loved one wants from the spouse/ partner changes as his perception of the spouse/partner changes. Touch can be expressive, such as hugs, holding hands, or instrumental such as assisting with bathing and toileting. Physical closeness helps

MacKnight is also performing a 100-minute concert of Bach’s most extensive organ work — the Clavier-Ubung III, sometimes referred to as the German Organ Mass — on July 28, the day the German composer died in 1750 at 65.

The Rev Thomas Alexander, a priest at Trinity, said the concerts allow the public to enjoy MacKnight’s talents, come together and learn more about Bach in a way they normally wouldn’t be able to.

“It’s like reading someone’s complete collection of novels. You get to really get to know someone in a comprehensive way,” Alexander said. “But it also builds a sense of community.”

the affected individual at an emotional level to know he is loved and appreciated.

Dana Territo is an Alzheimer’s advocate and author of “What My Grandchildren Taught Me About Alzheimer’s Disease.” She hosts “The Memory Whisperer.” Email her at thememorywhisperer@ gmail.com.

In the meantime, the venue has a packed schedule of shows they’re calling “The Farewell Tour.” It includes artists like Rodney Crowell, Bill Kirchen and a huge blues show, among other concerts. The ﬁnal show, featuring the Chris Knight band, is set for June 5. Following that, the Maxwells will host a big party for their musicians and patrons. “I knew this was going to happen but that only makes hearing this news worse,” said Buddy Roussel, a friend of the owners who established the outdoor music venue Buddy’s Backyard during the pandemic. “Chris Maxwell has built a legendary music venue by working tirelessly for 24 years I can’t imagine the live music scene in Baton Rouge without the Red Dragon Listening Room.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KATIE ADKINS

Wearing custom, form-fitting shoes, Colin MacKnight demonstrates how his feet alone can play the organ at the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Little Rock, Ark.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Set boundaries, share your priorities and stick to your game plan. Trust your instincts and focus on self-improvement and what brings you joy. It's time to take responsibility for your happiness and move forward.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Explore the lighter side of life by participating in something that makes you feel good. Love, romance and personal improvement are attainable. Share your thoughts and feelings.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) How you deal with the choices others make and what you do to ensure positive results will be key. Don't let yourself become a martyr. Make a last-minute adjustment if necesssary.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Keep life simple. Put home, family and yourself first. Do not let outside influences affect your choices or plans. Set an inspiring precedent.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) A change of plans will lead to a change of heart Stretch your mind, learn something new and take the path that leads to something that stimulates your mind, body and soul. It's time to help yourself.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Put your effort and resources into making financial gains, upgrading your qualifications and reaching your goals. Choose a positive attitude and a worthwhile purpose, and change whatever isn't working for you.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Consider what you enjoy doing most and pick up information and skills that make you feel good about your choices. An encounter with someone will spark your interest.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) A reset will be uplifting. The people and prospects you meet along the way will give you something to consider and encourage you to adjust your schedule. Dig in and make things happen.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Look over the rules and regulations before you adjust or conform to demands. Set standards and stick to what's realistic. Travel, learning and networking will pay off.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Keep your discussions to a minimum until you better understand what you want and what's possible. Discipline and mapping out a unique path will give you hope for a brighter future.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Make your position clear, and don't hesitate to walk away from any unreliable or unreasonable situation. Hold your head high and be the one who maintains integrity.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Protect against exhaustion. Focus on what's necessary and beneficial to you. Good choices will raise your value and make those you deal with daily appreciate who you are and what you can do.

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

FAMILY CIrCUS

toDAy's cLuE: M EQuALs F

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM

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.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

By PHILLIP ALDER

Sebastian Vettel, four-time and youngest-ever Formula One World Drivers’ champion, said, “As a driver, your target is always to be with the most competitive team possible.”

As a bridge player, your target is always the number of tricks needed to make or to break a contract. When on defense, always ask yourself where your side might take those tricks — what I call the defensive target.

In this deal, how should East defend against three no-trump after West leads the club queen?

West might have made a takeout double on the first round, which would have shown four spades and four or more clubs His point-count was low, but if he could have found a fit with his partner, maybe his side could have done well. North was a trick too strong for his three-diamond rebid, but nothing else was better. And South went for the ninetrick game.

Itiscommoninno-trumptoreturnyour partner’s suit. (In a trump contract, this happens much less often.) Here, though, if East wins with his club ace and leads back the club nine, how many tricks will declarer take? Even if South is void in diamonds, he must have at least 10 win-

InstRuctIons:

Previous answers:

ners: two hearts, seven diamonds and one club — not good

The only chance for the defense is to cash four spade tricks immediately East should take his club ace and shift to the spade queen Here, East and West take the checkered flag. © 2025 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

5(B), 15(A), and 16(A) of the ConstitutionofLouisiana, to read as follows: §5.Supreme Court; Jurisdiction; Rule-Making Power; Assignment of Judges Section 5.(A)

(B) Original Jurisdiction. The supreme court has exclusive original jurisdiction of disciplinary proceedings against amember of the bar and any lawyer specially admitted by acourt of this state for aparticular proceeding, as well as any lawyer not admitted in this state who practices law or renders or offers to render any legal services in this state

§15. Courts; Retention; Jurisdiction; Judicial District Changes; Terms Section 15.(A) Court Retention; Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction. The district, family,juvenile, parish, city,and magistrate courts existing on the effective date of this constitutionare retained. Subject to the limitations in Sections 16 and 21 of this Article, the legislaturebylaw may abolish or merge trial courts of limited or specialized jurisdiction. The legislatureby law may establish trial courts of limited or specialized jurisdiction with parishwide territorial jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction which shall be uniform throughout the state by law enacted by two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature.Effective January1,2007, the legislaturebylaw may establish new judgeships for district courts and establish the new divisions with limited or specialized jurisdiction within the territorial jurisdiction of the district court and subject matter jurisdiction over family or juvenile matters as provided by law The office of city marshal is continued until the city court he serves is abolished.

§16.District Courts; Jurisdiction Section 16.(A) Original Jurisdiction. (1) Except as otherwise authorized by this constitution or except as heretofore or hereafter provided by law for administrative agency determinations in worker’scompensation matters, adistrict court shall have original jurisdiction of all civil and criminal matters. (2) It Except as otherwise authorized under this constitution, it shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of felony cases and of cases involving title to immovable property,except as provided in (3) below; the right to office or other public position; civil or political right; probate and succession matters; except for administrative agency determination provided for in (1) above, the state, apolitical corporation, or political subdivisions, or asuccession, as adefendant; and the appointment of receivers or liquidators for corporations or partnerships. (3) The legislature may provide by law that afamily court has jurisdiction of cases involving title to movable and immovable property when those cases relate to the partition of community property and the settlement of claims arising from matrimonial regimes when such action arises as aresult of divorce or annulment of marriage.

Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on March 29, 2025, or at astatewide election authorized by law,whichever occurs first.

Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at said election thereshall be printed aproposition, upon which the electorsofthe state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows:

Do you support an amendment granting the Louisiana Supreme Court jurisdiction to discipline out-of-state lawyers for unethical legal practices in the state of Louisiana, and to grant the legislaturethe authority to establish trial courts of limited and specialized jurisdiction? (Amends Article V, Sections 5(B), 15(A) and 16(A))

Proposed Amendment No. 2 ThirdExtraordinary Session, 2024 --ACT No. 1 --HOUSE BILL NO.7 BY REPRESENTATIVE EMERSONAND SENATORFOIL

AJOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing to revise Article VII of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to revenue and finance; to provide with respect to the power of taxation including limitations thereon; to requireuniformity with respect to certain local and state tax measures; to provide with respect to assessment of property and other items of taxation; to provide with respect to remittal of some or all of certain tax revenues to local entities; to provide with respect to rates of taxation; to provide with respect to dedication of certain revenue; to provide with respect to bonded indebtedness including limitations thereon; to provide with respect to the Interim Emergency Board; to provide with respect to the State Bond Commission; to provide with respect to deposit of monies received by the state or its instrumentalities; to provide with respect to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund; to provide with respect to expenditureofstate revenues; to provide with respect to the Revenue Estimating Conference; to provide with respect to appropriations; to provide with respect to deficits; to provide with respect to budgets; to provide with respect to publication of certain data; to provide with respect to the Budget Stabilization Fund; to provide with respect to the Transportation Trust Fund including subfunds thereof; to provide with respect to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund; to provide for establishing certain classes of trusts and funds in the state treasury; to provide with respect to designationofcertain trusts and funds in the state treasury as amember of such classes; to provide with respect to the Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund including subfunds thereof; to provide with respect to the Mineral Revenue Audit and Settlement Fund; to provide with respect to the Oilfield Site Restoration Fund; to provide with respect to the Oil Spill Contingency Fund; to provide with respect to the Millennium Trust and any funds within it; to provide with respect to the Louisiana Fund; to provide with respect to the Artificial Reef Development Fund; to provide with respect to

existing tax, tax; the enactment of atax exemption, exclusion, deduction, credit, or rebate or an increase in the amount of atax deduction, credit, or rebate; or arepeal of an existing tax exemption shallrequirethe enactment of a law by two-thirdsofthe elected members of each

§2.1. §3. Fees and Civil Fines; Limitation Section 2.1. Section 3.(A) Any

existing fee or civil fine imposed or assessed by

department, or agency in the executive branch of the state shall require the enactment of alaw by a two-thirdsvote of the elected members of each house of the legislature.

(B) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to any department which is constitutionally created and headed by an officer who is elected by majorityvote of the electorate of the state.

§2.2. Power to Tax; Sales and Use §4. Tax; Limitation Section 2.2. Section 4.(A) Effective January 1, 2003, the sales and use tax rate imposed by the state of Louisiana or by apolitical subdivision whose boundaries arecoterminous with those of the state shall not exceed two percent of the price of the following items:

(1) Food for home consumption, as defined in R.S. 47:305(D)(1)(n) through (r) on January 1, 2003.

(2) Natural gas, electricity,and water sold directly to the consumer for residential use.

(3) Prescription drugs.

(B) Effective July 1, 2003, the The sales and use tax imposed by the state of Louisiana or by apolitical subdivision whose boundaries are coterminous with those of the state shall not apply to sales or purchases of the following items:

(1) Food for home consumption, as defined provided in R.S. 47:305(D) (1)(n) through (r) on January 1, 2003 R.S. 47:305(C)(1) on January 1, 2025.

(2) Natural gas, electricity,and water sold directly to the consumer for residential use.

(3) Prescription drugs. (C) (B) As used in this Section, the term “sold directly to the consumer for residential use” includes the furnishing of natural gas, electricity or water to single private residences, including the separate private units of apartment houses and other multipledwellings, actually used for residential purposes, which residences areseparately metered or measured, regardless of the fact that aperson other than the resident is contractually bound to the supplier for the charges, actually pays the charges, or is billed for the charges. The use of electricity, natural gas, or water in hotel or motel units does not constitute residential use.

(D) Notwithstanding the provisions of Article VI, Section 29 of this constitution, the sales and use tax levied by apolitical subdivision shall apply to any sale at retail, use, lease, rental, consumption, or storage of goods, services, and other products as authorized by or required by law

(E) Notwithstanding any other provision of this constitution to the contrary,all local taxing authorities arehereby authorized to amend their ordinances concerning sales and use taxes to conform any existing levy to the authority granted to those taxing authorities pursuant to applicable law §2.3. §5. Power to Tax; Limitation; Sale or Transfer of Immovable Property Limitations Section 2.3. Section 5.(A) Apolitical subdivision shall not levy a severance tax, income tax, inheritance tax, or tax on motor fuel.

(B) Effective January 1, 2026, no new sales and use tax exemption, exclusion, credit,rebate, or refund shall be enacted unless the proposed exemption, exclusion, credit, rebate, or refund is applicable to both sales and use taxes levied by the state and those levied by political subdivisions.

(C) No new tax or fee upon the sale or transfer of immovableproperty, including documentary transaction taxes or fees, or any other tax or fee, shall be levied by the state of Louisiana, by apolitical subdivision whose boundaries arecoterminous with those of the state, or by apolitical subdivision, as defined in Article VI, Section 44(2) of this constitution after November 30, 2011.Adocumentary transaction is any transaction pursuant to any instrument, act, writing, or document which transfers or conveys immovableproperty.Fees for the cost of recordation, filing, or maintenance of documents, or records effectuating the sale or transfer of immovable property,impact fees for development of property,annual parcel fees, and ad valorem taxes shall not be considered taxes or fees upon the sale or transfer of immovable property

§3. §6. Collection of Taxes

Section 3. Section 6.(A) The legislatureshall prohibit the issuance of process to restrain the collection of any tax. It shall provide acomplete and adequate remedy for the prompt recovery of an illegal tax paid by a taxpayer

(B)(1) Notwithstanding any contrary provision of this constitution, sales and use taxes levied by political subdivisions shall be collected by asingle collector for each parish or acentral collection commission. On or beforeJuly 1, 1992, all political subdivisions within each parish which levy asales and use tax shall agree between and among themselves to provide for the collection of such taxes by asingle collector or acentral collection commission. The legislature, by general law,shall provide for the collection of sales and use taxes, levied by political subdivisions, by a central collection commission in those parishes wherea single collector or a central collection commission has not been established by July 1, 1992.

(2) The legislature, by local law enacted by two-thirdsofthe elected members of each house of the legislature, may establishanalternate method of providing for asingle collector or acentral collection commission in each parish.

(3) Except when authorized by the unanimous agreement of all political subdivisions levying asales and use tax within aparish, only those political subdivisions levying asales and use tax shall be authorized to act as the single collector or participate on any commission established for the collection of such taxes.

(4) The legislatureshall provide for the prompt remittance to the political subdivisions identified on the taxpayers’ returns of funds collected pursuant to the provisions of this Paragraph by asingle collector or under any other centralized collection arrangement.

(5) The provisions of Subparagraphs 1and 2ofthis Paragraph shall not apply in those parishes which have asingle collector or acentralized collection arrangements as of July 1, 1992, that remains in effect.

(6) Taxes collected on behalfofa taxing authority by any collector shall be held in trust by the collector and shall be the property of the taxing authority for which they arecollected.

(7) Nothing in this Paragraph or in Article VI of this constitution shall impede the operations or funding of the Uniform Local Sales Tax Boardestablished by law.Notwithstanding any other provision of this constitution to the contrary,the Uniform Local Sales TaxBoardshall exercise any authority provided to it by law,provided that any change to the membership or reduction in the authority of the board, as effective on July 1, 2024, shall be by law enacted only by

(iii) Of the total amount of severance tax revenues remitted in a fiscal year to aparish governing authority pursuant to the provisions of this Subparagraph, any portion which is in excess of the amount of such tax revenues remitted to that parish in Fiscal Year 2011-2012 shall be knownas“excess severance tax”.

less than the avails of one cent of the excise tax on gasoline and special fuels shall be appropriated each year to the Parish Transportation Fund, or its successor.Beginning with the appropriation for Fiscal Year 2025-2026, the annual appropriation for airports shall be calculated as provided by law Unencumbered and unexpended

aremet, in

pledged in addition to the

the

and

may

(D)The State Bond Commission or its successor may also issue and sell bonds, notes, or other obligations secured by apledge of the excess revenues deposited in the trust fund, which shall otherwise be issued in the manner and for the purposes provided for in this Section, andifsopledged any portion thereof needed to pay principal, interest, or premium, if any,and other obligations incident to the issuance, security and payment in respect thereof may be expended by the treasurer without the need for legislative appropriation.

(E) Bonds, notes, or other obligations issued pursuant to the provisions of Paragraphs (C) or (D) of this Section may be issued in the manner provided by resolution of the State Bond Commission or its successor under the authority of said Paragraphs without compliance with any other requirement of this constitutionorlaw.Paragraphs (C) and (D) of this Section shall be deemed self-operative.

§17. Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund Section 17.(A) Thereshall be established in the state treasury the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund to provide adedicated, recurring source of revenues for the development and implementation of aprogram to protect and restoreLouisiana’scoastal area.

(B) The money in the fund shall be invested as provided by law and any earnings realized on investment of money in the fund shall be deposited in and credited to the fund. Money fromdonations, transfers, appropriations, or dedications, may be deposited in and credited to the fund. Any unexpended money remaining in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall be retained in the fund.

(C) The money in the fund may be appropriated for purposes consistent with the Coastal Protection Plan developed by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority or its successor. No appropriation shall be made from the fund inconsistent with the purposes of the plan.

(D)(1)(a) Subject to Section 13(B) of this Article, in each fiscal year the federal revenues that arereceived by the state generated from Outer Continental Shelf energy production, including but not limited to oil and gas activity,wind energy,solar energy,tidal energy,wave energy,geothermal energy,and other alternative or renewable energy production or sources, and eligible, as provided by federal law,tobeused for the purposes of this Paragraph shall be deposited and credited by the treasurer to the

(b)

two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature.

§18. Permanent Trust Funds Section 18. (A) Funds created by the legislatureand designated as permanent trust funds shall be subject to the following restrictions:

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this Section, funds deposited into apermanent

and Secondary Education and

shall annuallysubmit to the legislatureand the governor not less than sixty days prior to the beginning of each regular session of the legislaturea proposed program and budget for the expenditureofthe monies in the Support Fund. Proposals for such expenditures shall be designed to improve the quality of education and shall specificallydesignate those monies to be used for administrative costs, as defined and authorized by law

(2) Except for appropriations to pay expenses incurred in the investment and management of the Permanent Trust Fund, the legislature shall appropriate from the Support Fund only for educational purposes provided in Paragraph (D) of this Section and shall appropriate fifty percent of the available funds for higher educational purposes and fifty percent for elementary and secondary educational purposes. Those monies to be used for administrative costs shall be expended for such purposes only if so approved and appropriated by the legislature.

(3) The legislatureshall appropriate the total amount intended for higher educational purposes to the BoardofRegents and the total amount intended for elementary and secondary educational purposes to the State BoardofElementary and Secondary Education which boards shall allocate the monies so appropriated to the programs as previously approved by the legislature.

(4) The monies appropriated by the legislatureand disbursed from the Support Fund shall not displace, replace, or supplant appropriations from the general fund for elementary and secondary education, including implementing the Minimum Foundation Program, or displace, replace, or supplant funding for higher education. For elementary and secondary education and for higher education, this Paragraph shall mean that no appropriation for any fiscal year from the Support Fund shall be made for any purpose for which ageneral fund appropriation was made in the previous year unless the total appropriations for that fiscal year from the state general fund for such purpose exceed general fund appropriations for the previous year.This Paragraph shall in no way limit general fund appropriations in excess of the minimum amounts herein established.

(D) Disbursement; Higher Education and Elementary and Secondary Education.

(1) The treasurer shall disburse not morethan fifty percent of the monies in the Support Fund as that money is appropriated by the legislatureand allocated by the BoardofRegents for any or all of the following higher educational purposes to enhance economic development:

(a) The carefully defined research efforts of public and private universities in Louisiana.

(b) The endowment of chairs for eminent scholars.

(c) The enhancement of the quality of academic, research, or agricultural departments or units within acommunity college, college, or university.These funds shall not be used for athletic purposes or programs.

(d) The recruitment of superior graduate students.

(2) The treasurer shall disburse not morethan fifty percent of the monies in the Support Fund as that money is appropriated by the legislatureand allocated by the State BoardofElementary and Secondary Education for any or all of the following elementary and secondary educational purposes:

(a) To provide compensation to city or parish school boardprofessional instructional employees.

(b) To insureanadequate supply of superior textbooks, library books,equipment, and other instructional materials.

(c) To fund exemplary programs in elementary and secondary schoolsdesigned to improve elementary or secondary student academic achievement or vocational-technical skill.

(d) To fund carefully defined research efforts, including pilot programs, designed to improve elementary and secondary student academic achievement.

(e) To fund school remediation programs and preschool programs.

(f) To fund the teaching of foreign languages in elementary and secondary schools.

(g) To fund an adequate supply of teachers by providing scholarships or stipends to prospective teachers in academic or vocational-technical areas wherethereisacritical teacher shortage.

§10.2. Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund

Section 10.2(A) Thereshall be established in the state treasury the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund to provide adedicated, recurring source of revenues for the development and implementation of aprogram to protect and restoreLouisiana’scoastal area.

Of revenues received in each fiscal year by the state as aresult of the production of or exploration for minerals, hereinafter referred to as mineral revenues from severance taxes, royalty payments, bonus payments, or rentals, and excluding such revenues received by the state as aresult of grants or donations when the terms or conditions thereof require otherwise, the treasurer shall make the following allocations:

(1) To the Bond Security and Redemption Fund as provided in Article VII, Section 9(B) of this constitution.

(2) To the political subdivisions of the state as provided in Article VII, Sections 4(D) and (E) of this constitution.

(3) As provided by the requirements of Article VII, Sections 10-A and 10.1 of this constitution.

(B)(1) After making the allocations provided for in Paragraph (A), the treasurer shall then deposit in and credit to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund any amount of mineral revenues that may be necessary to insurethat atotal of five million dollars is deposited into such fund for the fiscal year from this source; provided that the balance of the fund which consists of mineral revenues from severance taxes, royalty payments, bonus payments, or rentals shall not exceed an amount provided by law,but in no event shall the amount provided by law be less than five hundred million dollars.

(2) After making the allocations and deposits provided for in Paragraphs (A) and

in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the fund.

(1) If the official forecast of recurring money for the next fiscal year is less than the official forecast of recurring money for the current fiscal year the difference, not to exceed one-thirdofthe fund shall be incorporated into the next year’sofficial forecast only after the consent of two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature. If

adecrease in the official forecast, an amount equal to one-thirdofthe fund not to exceed the projected deficit may be appropriated after the consent of two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature. Between sessions of the legislaturethe appropriation may be made only after the written consent of two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature. (3) If thereisa federally declared disaster in the state, up to one-thirdof the fund, not to exceed the state costs associated with the disaster,may be appropriated after the consent of two-thirds

capital gains on investment of the trust and credited to the TOPS Fund as provided by Subsubparagraph (A)(4)(b) of this Section and as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference.

(ii) For Fiscal Year 2012-2013, and each fiscal year thereafter appropriations from the TOPS Fund shall be limited to the amount of annual Settlement Agreement proceeds credited to and deposited into the TOPS Fund as provided in Subsubparagraph (A)(4)(b) of this Section, and an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual earnings from interest, dividends, and realized capital gains on investment of the trust and credited to the TOPS Fund as provided in Subsubparagraph (A)(4)(b) of this Section and as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference.

(iii) Further,for Fiscal Year 2011-2012, and each fiscal year thereafter amounts determined to be availablefor appropriation from the TOPS Fund from interest earnings shall be those aggregate investment earnings which areinexcess of an inflation factor as determined by the Revenue Estimating Conference. The amount of realized capital gains on investment which may be included in the aggregate earnings availablefor appropriation in any year shall not exceed the aggregate of earnings from interest and dividends for that year

(2) Appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund shall be restricted to the following purposes:

(a) Initiatives to ensurethe optimal development of Louisiana’s children through the provision of appropriate health care, including children’shealth insurance, services provided by school-based health clinics, rural health clinics, and primary careclinics, and early childhood intervention programs targeting children from birth through age four including programs to reduce infant mortality

(b) Initiatives to benefitthe citizens of Louisiana with respect to health carethrough pursuit of innovation in advanced health caresciences, and the provision of comprehensive chronic disease management services.

(c) Each appropriation from the Health Excellence Fund shall include performance expectations to ensureaccountabilityinthe expenditureof such monies.

(3) Appropriations from the Education Excellence Fund shall be limited as follows:

(a) Fifteen percent of monies availablefor appropriation in any fiscal year from the Education Excellence Fund shall be appropriated to the state superintendent of education for distribution on behalfofall children attending private elementary and secondary schools that have been approved by the State BoardofElementary and Secondary Education, both academically and as required for such school to receive money from the state.

(b) Appropriations shall be made each year to the Louisiana Educational Television Authority in the amount of seventy-five thousand dollars and to the Louisiana School for the Deaf, the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired, the Louisiana Special Education Center in Alexandria, the Jimmy D. Long, Sr.Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the Louis Armstrong High School for the Arts, and Thrive Academy,after such schoolsare operational,to provide for apayment to each school of seventy-five thousand dollars plus an allocation for each pupil equal to the average statewide per pupil amount provided each city,parish, and local school system pursuant to Subsubparagraph (e) of this Subparagraph.

(c) Appropriations may be made for independent public schools approved by the State BoardofElementary and Secondary Education or any city,parish, or other local school system, laboratory schoolsapproved by the State BoardofElementary and Secondary Education and operated by apublic postsecondary education institution, and for alternative schoolsand programs which areauthorized and approved by the State BoardofElementary and Secondary Education but arenot subject to the jurisdiction and management of any city,parish, or local school system to provide for an allocation for each pupil, which shall be the average statewide per pupil amount provided in each city,parish, or local school system pursuant to Subsubparagraph (e) of this Subparagraph.

(c) Beginning Fiscal Year 2007-2008 and for each fiscal year thereafter of the monies available for appropriation after providing for the purposes enumerated in Subsubparagraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this Subparagraph, one hundred percent of the monies availablefor appropriation in any fiscal year shall be appropriated for each city, parish, and other local school system on apro rata basis which is based on the ratio of the student population of that school or school system to that of the total state student population as contained in the most recent Minimum Foundation Program.

(f) Monies appropriated pursuant to this Subparagraph shall be restricted to expenditurefor pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade instructional enhancement for students, including early childhood education programs focused on enhancing the preparation of at-risk children for school,remedial instruction, and assistance to children who fail to achieve the required scores on any tests passage of which arerequired pursuant to state law or rule for advancement to asucceeding grade or other educational programs approved by the legislature. Expenditures for maintenance or renovation of buildings, capital improvements, and increases in employee salaries areprohibited. The state superintendent of education shall be responsiblefor allocating all money due private schools.

(g) Each recipient entity shall annuallyprepareand submittothe state Department of Education, hereinafter the “department”, aprioritized plan for expenditureoffunds it expects to receive in the coming year from the Education Excellence Fund. The plan shall include performance expectations to ensureaccountabilityinthe expenditureofsuch monies. The department shall review such plans for compliance with the requirements of this Subparagraph and to assurethat the expenditure plans will support excellence in educational practice. No funds may be distributed to arecipient entity until its plan has received both legislative and departmental approval as provided by law

(h) No

The legislaturemay annually adopt aHospital Stabilization Formula, hereafter referred to in this Section as “the formula”, by concurrent resolution by afavorable vote of a majority of the elected members of each house. Such resolution shall be referred to the standing committees of the legislaturethat hear the general appropriation bill. The formula shall, to the maximum extent possible, enhance the economic viability of Louisiana hospitals and reduce shifting the cost of caring for Louisiana’sneedy residents to the state’sinsured residents.

(2)(a) The first formula established pursuant to Subparagraph (1) of this Paragraph, whichshall requirea favorable vote of two-thirds of the elected members of each house for adoption, shall define and establish as the base reimbursementlevel under the Louisiana medical assistance program provided for in Title XIX of the Social Security Act, hereafter referred to as the “Medicaid Program”, to hospitals for inpatient and outpatient services in Fiscal Year 2012-2013. The formula shall also provide for the preservation and protection of rural hospitals as provided for by law.Each formula established thereafter may apply arate of inflation, whichshall not be anegative rate, to the base reimbursement level from the previous formula adopted by the legislature

(b) Each formula shall also include and establish assessments to be paid by hospitals and the basis on which such assessments shall be calculated, provided the amount of the assessments does not exceed the nonfederal share of the reimbursementenhancements.

(c) Each formula shall also establish reimbursementenhancements under the Medicaid Program, or its successor,achieving the maximum reimbursementbyfederal law and resulting in distributing such reimbursement enhancements exclusively among hospitals for hospital services. Reimbursementenhancements may also be distributed for uninsured services delivered.

(d) Each formula shall also include any additional provisions necessary to the implementation of the formula. Neither the assessments nor the reimbursement enhancements established in the formula adopted by the legislatureshall be implemented until each has been approved by the federal authority whichadministers the Medicaid Program.

(3) The base reimbursementlevel resulting from the formula shall not be paid from the Hospital Stabilization Fund.

(4) No additional assessmentshall be collected and any assessment shall be terminated for the remainder of the fiscal year from the date on whichany of the following occur:

(a) The legislaturefails to adopt aformula for the subsequent fiscal year (b) The Louisiana Department of Health, or its successor or contractors, reduces or does not pay reimbursement enhancements established in the current formula as adopted by the legislature.

(5) The treasurer shall returnany monies collected after the date of termination of an assessmenttothe hospital from whichitwas collected.

(B) Appropriation. (1) The legislatureshall annually appropriate an amount necessary to fund the base reimbursementlevel for hospitals established in the most recent formula adopted by the legislature.

(2) The legislatureshall annually appropriate the balance of the Hospital Stabilization Fund solely to fund the reimbursement enhancements as provided in the most recent formula adopted by the legislature.

(3) Notwithstanding Article VII, Section 10(F) 14(F) of this constitution, neither the governor nor the legislature may reduce the appropriation funding

(D)

(E)(1) The legislatureshall annually appropriate the funds necessary to provide for Medicaid Program rates for each provider group which pays fees into the fund that is no less than the average Medicaid Program rates established for Fiscal Year 2013-2014 and which may be adjusted annually by establishing the rates of inflation, or rebasing if applicable, which rates shall not be negative, to be applied to the base rates to establish the new base rates for the next fiscal year as authorized by law.For the purpose of this Section, “Medicaid Program”

the effective date of this Section December 23, 1987:

(1)(a) All revenue from the types and classes of fees, licenses, permits, royalties, or other revenue paid into the Conservation Fund as provided by law on the effective date of this Section. December 23, 1987. Such revenue shall be deposited in the Conservation Fund even if the names of such fees, licenses, permits, or other revenues arechanged.

(b) Any increase in the amount charged for such fees, licenses, permits, royalties, and other revenue, or any new fee, license, permit, royalty,orother revenue, enacted by the legislatureafter the effective date of this Section, December 23, 1987, shall be irrevocably dedicated and deposited in the Conservation Fund unless the legislatureenacts a law specificallyappropriating or dedicating such revenue to another fund or purpose.

(2) The balance remaining on June 30, 1988 in the Conservation Fund established pursuant to R.S. 56:10.

(3) All funds or revenues which may be donated expressly to the Conservation Fund.

(B) The monies in the Conservation Fund shall be appropriated by the legislaturetothe Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, or its successor, and shall be used solely for the programs and purposes of conservation, protection, preservation, management, and replenishment of the state’s natural resources and wildlife, including use for land acquisition or for federal matching fund programs which promote such purposes, and for the operation and administration of the Department and the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, or their successors.

(C) Allunexpended and unencumbered monies in the Conservation Fund at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the fund. The monies in the fund shall be invested by the treasurer in the manner provided by law All interest earned on monies invested by the treasurer shall be deposited in the fund. The treasurer shall prepareand submit to the department on a quarterly basis aprinted report showing the amount of money contained in the fund from all sources.

(b)(i) If the legislatureisin session, the reduction is consented to in writing by two-thirds of the elected members of each house in amanner providedbylaw; or (ii) If the legislatureisnot in session, the reduction is approved by twothirds of the members of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, or its successor

§10.15. Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund

Section 10.15. Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund. (A) The Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund is hereby established in the state treasury as a special trust fund, hereinafter referred to as the “fund”.

(B) After allocation of money to the Bond Redemption and Security Fund as provided in Article VII, Section 9(B) of the Constitutionof Louisiana, the treasurer shall deposit in and credit to the fund the revenues as provided for in Paragraphs (C) and (D) of this Section.

(C) The treasurer shall deposit into the fund the amount of mineral revenues as provided in Section 10.16 of this constitution.

(D) The treasurer shall deposit into the fund the amount of revenues in excess of six hundred million dollars received each fiscal year from corporate franchise and incometaxes as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference.

(E)(1) Except as provided for in Paragraph (F) of this Section, monies deposited into the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund shall be permanently credited to the trust fund and shall be invested by the treasurer in a manner provided for by law

(2)

(F)(1) Except as provided in Subparagraphs (2) and (3) of this Paragraph, no appropriations shall be made from the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund.

(i) Capital outlay projects in the comprehensive state capital budget.

(ii) Transportation infrastructure.

(b) The minimum fund balance or the allowable percentage may be changed by alaw enacted by two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature.

(3) In order to ensurethe money in the fund is available for appropriation in an emergency,the legislaturemay authorize an appropriation from the fund at any time for any purpose only after the consent of two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature. If the legislatureisnot in session, the two-thirds requirement may be satisfied upon obtaining the written consent of two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislatureinamanner provided by law §10.16. Dedications of Mineral Revenues Section 10.16.(A) All mineral revenues as defined

§11. §24. Budgets Section 11. Section 24.(A) Budget Estimate. The governor shall submit to the legislature, at the time and in the form fixed by law,a budget estimate for the next fiscal year setting forth all proposed state expenditures. This budget shall include arecommendation for appropriations from the state general fund and from dedicated funds, except funds allocated by Article VII, Section 4, Paragraphs (D) and (E), Section 8, Paragraphs (B) and (C), which shall not exceed the official forecast of the Revenue Estimating Conference. and the expenditurelimit for the fiscal year The recommendation shall also comply with the provisions of Article VII, Section 10(D). Section 14, Paragraphs (C) and (D). This budget shall include arecommendation for funding of state salary supplements for fulltime law enforcement and fire protection officers of the state, as provided inArticle VII, Section 10(D)(3) Section 14(D)(3) of this constitution. (B) Operating Budget. The governor shall cause to be submitted a general appropriation bill for proposed ordinary operating expenditures which shall be in conformity with the recommendations for appropriations contained in the budget estimate. The governor may cause to be submitted abill or bills to raise additional revenues with proposals for the use of these revenues. (C) Capital Budget. The governor shall submit to the legislature, at each regular session, aproposed five-year capital outlay program and request implementation of the first year of the program. Prior to inclusion in the comprehensive capital budget which the legislatureadopts, each capital improvement project shall be evaluated through afeasibilitystudy as defined by the legislature, which shall include an analysis of need and estimates of construction and operating costs. The legislatureshall provide by law for procedures, standards, and criteria for the evaluation of such feasibilitystudies and shall set the schedule of submission of such feasibilitystudies which shall take effect not later than December thirtyfirst following the first regular session convening after this Paragraph takes effect. studies. These procedures, standards, and criteriafor evaluation of such feasibilitystudies cannot be changed or altered except by aseparate legislative instrument approved by afavorable vote of twothirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature. For those projects not eligible for funding under the provisions of Article VII, Section 27 Section 16 of this constitution, the request for implementation of the first year of the program shall include alist of the proposed projects in priority order based on the evaluation of the feasibilitystudies submitted. Capital outlay projects approved by the legislatureshall be made apart of the comprehensive state capital budget, which shall be adopted by the legislature.

§12. §25. Reports and Records Section 12. Section 25. Reports and records of the collection, expenditure, investment, and use of state money and those relating to state obligations shall be matters of public record, except returns of taxpayers and matters pertaining to those returns.

§13. §26. Investment of State Funds Section 13. Section 26. All money in the custody of the state treasurer which is available for investment shall be invested as provided by law §14. §27. Donation, Loan, or Pledge of Public Credit Section 14. Section 27.(A) Prohibited Uses. Except as otherwise provided by this constitution, the funds, credit, property,orthings of value of the state or of any political subdivision shall not be loaned, pledged, or donated to or for any person, association, or corporation, public or private. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, neither the state nor apolitical subdivision shall subscribe to or purchase the stock of a corporation or association or for any private enterprise.

(B) Authorized Uses. Nothing in this Section shall prevent (1) the use of public funds for programs of social welfarefor the aid and support of the needy; (2) contributions of public funds to pension and insurance programs for the benefitofpublic employees; (3) the pledge of public funds, credit, property,orthings of value for public purposes with respect to the issuance of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness to meet public obligations as provided by law; (4) the returnofproperty,including mineral rights, to aformer owner from whom the property had previously been expropriated, or purchased under threat of expropriation, when the legislaturebylaw declares that the public and necessary purpose which originally supported the expropriation has ceased to exist and orders the returnofthe property to the former owner under such terms and conditions as specified by the legislature; (5) acquisition of stock by any institution of higher education in exchange for any intellectual property; (6) the donation of abandoned or blighted housing property by the governing authority of amunicipality or aparish to anonprofitorganization which is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) nonprofitorganization and which agrees to renovate and maintain such property until conveyance of the property by such organization; (7) the deduction of any tax, interest, penalty,orother charges forming the basis of tax liens on blighted property so that they may be subordinated and waived in favor of any purchaser who is not amember of the immediate familyofthe blighted property owner or which is not any entity in which the owner has asubstantial economic interest, but only in connection with aproperty

this Section, the treasurer shall allocate such portion of the revenues received in each year as necessary to pay all principal, interest, premium, if any,and other obligations incident to the issuance, security,and payment in respect of bonds as authorized in Paragraph (C) hereof. Thereafter,the portion

Permanent Trust Fund is to ensurea source of payment for claims made by owners of unclaimed property After allocation of money to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund as provided in Article VII, Section 9(B) 13(B) of this Constitution, after the payment of all administrative fees, costs, and expenses as provided by law,and after the deposit of monies into the Unclaimed Property Leverage Fund, the treasurer shall annuallydepositinand credit to the UCP Permanent Trust Fund the net amount of all monies received as aresult of the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act of 1997 or its successor (3) Realized

fund investment and administrative expenses,

general fund. (4) All monies shall be credited to the fund as

(2) of this Paragraph until the balance in the UCP Permanent Trust Fund equals the amount of the state’spotential liability to unclaimed property claimants as reported in the previous fiscal year pursuant to Paragraph (C) of this Section. All money received above the state’spotential liability to unclaimed property claimants as reported by the state treasurer shall be deposited into the state general fund.

(B) Investment and Administration. The money credited to the UCP Permanent Trust Fund pursuant to Paragraph (A) of this Section shall bepermanently credited to the UCP Permanent Trust Fund and shall be invested by the treasurer.Notwithstanding any provision of this constitution to the contrary,a portion of money in the UCP Permanent Trust Fund, not to exceed fifty percent of the money in the UCP Permanent Trust Fund, may be invested in equities. The legislatureshall establish by law procedures for the investment of such monies. The treasurer may contract, subject to the approval of the State Bond Commission, for the management of such investments. Investment earnings shall be available for appropriation to pay expenses incurred in the investment and management of the UCP Permanent Trust Fund.

(C) Reports; Allocation. (1) Not less than sixty days prior to the beginning of each regular session of the legislature, the state treasurer shall submit to the legislatureand the governor areport of the following:

(a) The balance of the UCP Permanent Trust Fund as of the close of the prior fiscal year (b) The state’spotential liability to unclaimed property claimants as of the close of the prior fiscal year (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (1) of this Paragraph, not less than sixty days prior to the beginning of the 2022 Regular Session of the legislature, the state treasurer shall submittothe legislatureand the governor areport of the following:

(a) The balance of the UCP Permanent Trust Fund as of January 1, 2022.

(b) The state’spotential liability to unclaimed property claimants as of the close of the prior fiscal year

(3)(2) If unclaimed property claims exceed receipts, the state treasurer shall certify the amount needed to pay received claims and shall allocate sufficient funds from the UCP Permanent Trust Fund to pay that amount. The state treasurer shall also immediately notify the legislatureand governor of the amount transferred from the UCP Permanent Trust Fund and amount remaining in the UCP Permanent Trust Fund. (D) Private Property.Property received by the state pursuant to the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act of 1997 or its successor and deposited into the UCP Permanent Trust Fund is private property held in trust until a claim is made for it by the owner

Section 2. Article VII, Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 4.1, 10.1 through 10.3, 10.5 through 10.9, 10.11 through 10.16, and 10-A of the Constitution of Louisiana arehereby repealed in their entirety.

Section 3. Notwithstanding any provision of this Act to the contrary, for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2024-2025, in addition to the revenues dedicated by Art. VII, Section 15(A)(1) and (3) through (5) of this constitution as provided in this Act, any revenues received in Fiscal Year 2024-2025 by the state after the effective date of this Section in excess of nine hundred fifty million dollars as aresult of the production of or exploration for minerals, hereinafter referred to as mineral revenues, including severance taxes, royalty payments, bonus payments, or rentals, and excluding such revenues designated as nonrecurring pursuant to Article VII, Section 14(B) of the constitution as provided in this Act, any such revenues received by the state as aresult of grants or donations when the terms or conditions thereof requireotherwise, and revenues derived from any tax on the transportation of minerals, shall be deposited into the Budget Stabilization Fund after the following allocations of the mineral revenues have been made:

(A) To the Bond Security and Redemption Fund as provided by Article VII, Section 13(B) of this constitution, as provided in this Act.

§19.

and

Procedures Section 19. The

prior to his seventeenth birthday shall be pursuant to special juvenile procedures whichshall be provided by law.However, the legislature may (1) by atwo-thirds vote of the elected members of each house provide that special juvenile procedures shall not apply to juveniles arrested for having committed first or second degree murder, manslaughter, aggravated rape, armed robbery,aggravated burglary,aggravated kidnapping, attempted first degree murder,attempted second degree murder,forcible rape, simple rape, second degree kidnapping, asecond or subsequent aggravated battery,a second or subsequent aggravated burglary,a second or subsequent offense of burglary of an inhabited dwelling, or asecond or subsequentfelony-grade violation of Part XorX-B of Chapter 4ofTitle 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, involving the manufacture, distribution,orpossession with intent to distribute controlled dangerous substances certainfelony offenses provided by law,and (2) by two-thirds vote of the elected members of each house lower the maximum ages of persons to whom juvenile procedures shall apply,and (3) by two-thirds vote of the elected members of each house establish aprocedurebywhich the court of original jurisdiction may waive special juvenile procedures in order that adult procedures shall apply in individual cases. The legislature, by amajority of the elected members of each house, shall make special provisions for detention and custody of juveniles who aresubject to the jurisdiction of the district court pending determination of guilt or innocence.

Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on March 29, 2025, or astatewide election authorized by law,whichever occurs first.

Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at said election thereshall be printed aproposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows:

Do you support an amendment to provide the legislaturethe authority to determine whichfelony crimes, whencommitted by aperson under the age of seventeen, may be transferred for criminal prosecution as an adult? (Amends Article V, Section 19)

Proposed Amendment No. 4 ThirdExtraordinary Session, 2024 ACT No. 4

SENATE BILL NO. 5 BY SENATOR MORRIS AND REPRESENTATIVE MCMAKIN AJOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing to amend Article V, Section 22(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to judicial elections; to provide for election dates for newly-created judgeships or vacancies in office of judge; and to specify an election for submission of the proposition to electors and provide a ballot proposition. Section 1. Be it resolved by the LegislatureofLouisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law,a

be paid directly or deposited in and credited to the trust fund. (B)(1) Except as provided for in Subparagraph (2) of this Paragraph, the monies in the trust fund shall be appropriated or dedicated solely and exclusively for the costs for and associated with construction and maintenance of the roads and bridges of the state and federal highway systems, the Statewide Flood-Control Program or its successor, ports, airports, transit, and the Parish Transportation Fund or its successor and for the payment of all principal, interest, premium, if any,and other obligations incident to the issuance, security,and payment in respect of bonds or other obligations payable from the trust fund as authorized in Paragraph (D) of this Section. Unless pledged to the repayment of bonds authorized in Paragraphs (C) or (D) of this Section, the monies in the trust fund allocated to ports, airports, flood control, parish transportation, and state highway constructionshall be appropriated annually by the legislatureonly pursuant to programs established by law which establish asystem of priorities for the expenditure of such monies, except that the Transportation InfrastructureModel for Economic Development, which shall include only those projects enumerated in House Bill 17 of

(B) To the political subdivisions as provided in Article VII, Sections 8 (B) and (C) of this constitution, as provided in this Act.

Section 4. Notwithstanding any provision of this Act to the contrary,for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, the annual appropriation from the Transportation Trust Fund for airports shall be asum equal to, but not greater than, the annual estimated revenue to be derived from the state taxes to be collected and received on aviation fuel.

Section 5. Within two weeks of the effective date of this Act, the Department of Education shall coordinate with the Department of Treasury to certify amounts maintained in the Education Excellence Fund held to the credit of apolitical subdivision or school. Notwithstanding any provision of this Act or law to the contrary,including Act 4ofthe 2024 regular session of the legislature, the department shall, within three weeks of the effective date of this Act, withdraw an amount equal to the aggregate balances certified pursuant to theprovisions of this Section and prior to the end of fiscal year 2024-2025 remit to each entity its certified amount. Notwithstanding any provision of this constitution or law to the contrary,monies withdrawn from the treasury pursuant to the provisions of this Section may be held in an escrow account at a fiscal agent bank, as defined by law,until expended. Section 6. Withintwo weeks of the effective date of this Act, the State BoardofElementary and Secondary

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