The Advocate 02-13-2025

EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH

Council fails to pass library tax renewal

Large crowd turns out in support of library system

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer

The fate of future funding for East Baton Rouge Parish’s library system remains an unknown, after the Metro Council failed to pass a millage renewal Wednesday

The possibility of the council approving the tax for voters’ ballots in October remains, though the path might not be abundantly clear because, while the millage failed to pass, it could be approved in the future.

“We need to figure out our next steps,” said Library Director Katrina Stokes. “We want to talk to the council members to try to reach a workable solution In order to get our resolution to ask for our dedicated millage tax, it will still go to the library; it will not go into the general fund.”

Last week, Mayor-President Sid Edwards pitched a plan to use funds

dedicated for Baton Rouge’s library system to help raise salaries for Baton Rouge Police Department officers. That proposal — which would

House releases budget

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

and Scalise, of Jefferson Parish, played key roles.

But the plan still could be undone by restless Republicans who want even steeper cuts. And a deadline looms: If no budget or temporary extension passes by March 14, the government could shut down.

The plan would require House committees to reduce the budgets for agencies they oversee by a total of $1.5 trillion. For example, the House Agriculture Committee would need to cut $230 billion, an amount that indicates Republican lawmakers may look to change the requirements for receiving federal assistance like food stamps. On Tuesday night, Scalise told Fox Business: “We’re also identifying similar waste, improper

ä See BUDGET, page 5A

See LIBRARY, page 5A

Advocates press state for answers on $3 billion coastal project

BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer

Coastal advocates are pressing state officials for answers on the future of the $3 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project, an unprecedented wetlands res-

toration plan years in the works but recently thrown into doubt because of opposition from Gov Jeff Landry

Few of those answers emerged at a public hearing Tuesday on the state’s annual coastal plan. Advocates there urged the state

to move forward with the project, but Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority executive director Glenn Ledet instead focused his comments on other large-scale works on the books for the coming fiscal year The Mid-Barataria project was

long seen as the linchpin of the state’s coastal master plan, intended to both build land and nourish other marsh-building projects in the region by mimicking the geological processes that created south Louisiana. Long a goal of coastal advocates and a range of

scientists, the project took off because of fines and settlement dollars paid out after the

spill.

But it has been controversial from the start, largely because of

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton, right, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, speak with reporters on Tuesday.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr announces the City Hall meeting room has exceeded capacity and some standing visitors must leave to an overflow room during the Metro Council meeting on Wednesday

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Mayor-President Sid Edwards listens as resident Ronnie Harris speaks during the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council meeting on Wednesday.

Crew ejects before jet crash off San Diego

LOS ANGELES Two crew members ejected from a U.S. Navy jet before it crashed Wednesday off the San Diego coast and were quickly rescued by a sportfishing boat, authorities said.

The two occupants of the E/A18G Growler were first picked up by the Premiere Sportfishing vessel then transferred to a nearby Customs and Border Protection vessel, said Coast Guard spokesperson Petty Officer Christopher Sappey

On a live webcam of San Diego harbor traffic, someone aboard the Premiere can be heard telling the Coast Guard that the crew members ejected right after takeoff.

“We’re on our way to help assist,” the man called in about 10:14 a.m. “They’re in the water Shortly afterward, someone from the boat added, “We have both pilots on board and safe.”

Photos posted by the fishing company on its website appear to show two people dropping into the water with parachutes.

The two men were taken to an area hospital, where they were in stable condition, authorities said. Earthquakes persist on Greek islands

ATHENS, Greece — Authorities declared a state of emergency on a second Greek island Wednesday as a series of earthquakes continued to rattle the south-eastern Aegean Sea region. The emergency measure announced on the island of Amorgos follows a similar decision for nearby Santorini on Feb 7 after thousands of unusual tremors were registered in an undersea area near the two islands, as well as the islands of Ios and Anafi –all popular tourist destinations

Scientists had expressed hope the seismic swarm could be easing up, but a string of earthquakes around magnitude 5 has renewed concern Seismologists have also noted that the epicenter of the earthquakes is steadily drifting northward in the direction of Amorgos.

The emergency declaration will facilitate rapid deployment of resources and emergency services. The region has already seen a significant mobilization of fire departments, police, coast guard, and armed forces mostly on Santorini where thousands of residents and seasonal workers have left the island

Overall, about 12,000 earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 1 have been registered since Jan. 26, the University of Athens’ crisis management committee said earlier

Although Greece lies in a highly seismically active part of the world and earthquakes are frequent, it is very rare for any part of the country to experience such an intense barrage of earthquakes for such an extended period.

Health agencies restore webpages and datasets

NEWYORK Federal health agencies have restored several webpages and datasets, following a judge’s order to bring back public access to information that had been removed to comply with a presidential executive order.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday night restored nine webpages and datasets, including pages on adolescent health, information on HIV monitoring and testing, contraception guidance, and data on how pollution, poverty and other factors impact certain communities.

The Food and Drug Administration restored recommendations for increasing enrollment of females in clinical trials, analyzing and interpreting sexspecific data and including sexspecific information in regulatory submissions of medical products.

On Jan. 20, his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump signed an order for agencies to use the term “sex” and not “gender” in federal policies and documents. In response, the Office of Personnel Management’s acting director required agency heads to eliminate any programs and take down any websites that promote “gender ideology.” That led to widespread takedowns across government websites.

Israel threatens ‘all hell will break loose’

BY TIA GOLDENBERG and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

JERUSALEM Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday vowed that “all hell will break loose” on Hamas if it fails to free hostages this weekend as planned, stepping up threats against the militant group as mediators worked to salvage their ceasefire.

There were signs that the gaps could be bridged. The dispute was sparked when Hamas accused Israel of failing to meet some commitments under the truce, including the delivery of tents and other aid, and said it would delay the next hostage release on Saturday Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi told The Associated Press there were “positive signals” the three hostages will be released as planned on Saturday but the group had not yet received a commitment from Israel that it would adhere to the deal.

An Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks said the two sides were close to an agreement. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said Israel had committed to delivering more tents, shelters and heavy equipment to Gaza.

Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the deal, which went into effect on Jan 19 and has paused the 16-month war in Gaza, bringing respite to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

In the ceasefire’s current first stage, which is to last 42 days, Israel is to deliver large quantities of aid. Hamas is meant to free 33 hostages taken during its cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Eight of them are said to be dead. Twenty-one have been re-

leased so far, along with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody Hamas’ threat to delay the hostage release sparked fury from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to resume the fighting if Hamas didn’t follow through and ordered troops to be strengthened around Gaza. They pulled back from the territory’s populated areas during the ceasefire.

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he was echoing U.S. President Donald Trump by threatening that “all hell will break loose” if there is no hostage release on Saturday as planned.

“If Hamas stops releasing the hostages, then there is no deal and there is war,” he said during a visit to a military command center He said the “new Gaza war” wouldn’t end until Hamas was defeated, which would allow for Trump’s “vision” on transferring Gaza’s population to neighboring countries to be realized.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem rejected “the language of U.S. and Israeli threats” and called on Israel to implement the terms of the ceasefire deal. Among other claims, Hamas says Israel is not allowing an agreed-upon number of tents, prefabricated homes and heavy machinery into Gaza.

The ceasefire’s stability has also been rocked by Trump, who has proposed relocating Palestinians out of Gaza to neighboring Arab countries so the U.S. can “own” and rebuild the territory not necessarily for its current inhabitants.

Jordan and Egypt, where Trump wants Palestinians moved, have repeatedly and vehemently rejected the proposal. Jordan’s King Abdullah II did so again after his meeting with Trump at the White House on Tuesday

U.N. estimates 1,400 killed in crackdown on Bangladesh protests

BY JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press

GENEVA — The U.N. human rights office on Wednesday estimated that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in Bangladesh over three weeks last summer in a crackdown on student-led protests against the now-ousted former prime minister In a new report, the Geneva-based office says security and intelligence services “systematically engaged” in rights violations that could amount to crimes against humanity and require further investigation Citing “various credible sources,” the rights office said it estimated that as many as 1,400 people may have been killed in the protests between July 15 and Aug. 5 — the day longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India amid the uprising.

Thousands more were injured in the weeks leading up to and after the protests, and the vast majority of those killed and injured “were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces,” the report said. Over 11,700 people were detained, the report said, citing information from security services.

It said that about 12 to 13% of people estimated to have be killed or as

many as about 180 people were children.

In some cases, “security forces engaged in summary executions by deliberately shooting unarmed protesters at point blank range,” it said.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk cited signs that “extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture” were conducted with the knowledge and coordination of the political leadership and top security officials as a way to suppress the protests.

The U.N. fact-finding team was deployed to Bangladesh at the invitation of the country’s interim leader the Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, to

Trump says he and Putin will begin talks on

ending Ukraine war

BY MATTHEW LEE, WILL WEISSERT and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a sudden prisoner swap.

Trump said in a social media post that he and Putin held a lengthy phone call and committed to “work together very closely” to bring the conflict to an end and would meet in person, including perhaps in each other’s countries.

Trump subsequently announced that he’d also spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but only after his talk with Putin. After the calls, White House officials declined to clarify whether Ukraine would be a party to the U.S. negotiations.

That sent a potentially dramatic signal that Washington and Moscow might work to hammer out a deal to end fighting in Ukraine by going around that country’s government. Doing so would break with the Biden administration, which steadfastly insisted Kyiv would be a full participant in any decisions made.

In another blow to Ukraine’s Western-leaning aspirations, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at NATO headquarters in Brussels that NATO membership was unrealistic for Ukraine, it should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and any security guarantees for Kyiv would have to be borne by European countries.

“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration had joined other NATO members in vowing that membership in the Western

military alliance was “inevitable.”

Zelenskyy sought to put a brave face on what many in Ukraine will see as a major disappointment. In a social media post, he said he had “a meaningful conversation” with Trump that included discussion of “opportunities to achieve peace” and Kyiv’s “readiness to work together at the team level.”

“I am grateful to President Trump,” he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation between Trump and Putin covered a good deal of ground, including the Middle East and Iran, but that Ukraine was the main focus.

Peskov said Trump called for a quick cessation of hostilities and a peaceful settlement, and that “President Putin, in his turn, emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace talks.”

“The Russian president supported one of the main theses of the U.S. president that the time has come for our two countries to work together,” Peskov told reporters. “The Russian president invited the U.S. president to visit Moscow and expressed readiness to host U.S. officials in Russia for issues of mutual interest, naturally including Ukraine, the Ukrainian settlement.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said of Trump’s conversations with both Putin and Zelenskyy: “They were very good calls. They were very positive.” But when she was asked specifically about the administration’s views on Ukraine’s NATO membership, she said only that she had not spoken to Trump about it.

“I believe this nation views Putin and Russia as a great competitor in the region. At times, an adversary,” Leavitt said. She also noted of Trump: “At times, he enjoys having good diplomatic relationships with leaders around the world.”

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look into the uprising and violent crackdown.

The team of investigators said the interim government has reportedly made 100 arrests in connection with attacks on religious and indigenous groups.

The report said “many perpetrators of acts of revenge, violence and attacks on distinct groups apparently continue to enjoy impunity.”

The human rights situation in Bangladesh continues to raise concerns, the U.N. office said.

While the government has changed, “the system has not necessarily changed,” Rory Mungoven, head of the rights office’s Asia-Pacific region, told reporters.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By OHAD ZWIGENBERG

Activists sit on a road with white umbrellas during a protest calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the prime minister’s house in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By RAJIB DHAR

People carry an injured protester in a cycle rickshaw to a hospital after he was shot at by the police during a protest against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 5, 2024.

Eastern storm cuts power to tens of thousands

BY BEN FINLEY and JOHN RABY Associated Press

Storms dumped heavy snow and freezing rain on a swath of the eastern U.S. stretching from Kentucky to the nation’s capital, causing hundreds of traffic accidents, knocking out power in places and threatening to flood waterways as temperatures began rising Wednesday California, meanwhile was bracing for an atmospheric river that could flood areas ravaged by the recent wildfires.

The storm system that cut a path from Kentucky to Maryland and points farther north on Tuesday brought more than 14 inches of snow to Iron Gate, a tiny Appalachian town in western Virginia, and 12 inches to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, a small city about 65 miles to the west, the National Weather Service said.

By Wednesday, more than 190,000 customers in Virginia and nearly 16,000 in North Carolina had lost electricity, according to PowerOutage.

us Appalachian Power, which serves a million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said Tuesday that it had 5,400 workers trying to restore power

The region’s airports received several inches of snow according to Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center

“After a pretty quiet few seasons here, things have kind of picked back up again,” he said.

Nearly 4,000 flights were canceled or delayed across the United States on Wednesday, including about 250 into Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington D.C. according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware.com School was canceled throughout Virginia for a second straight day, and districts in the Baltimore and

Washington, D.C., areas also told students and teachers to take Wednesday off. Some families took the opportunity to go sledding outside the U.S. Capitol.

Flood threat

The snow-and-ice mix was expected to become rain by Wednesday afternoon as temperatures climb. Concerns about flooding emerged as rain and melting snow wash into rivers and streams in regions already saturated from previous storms

A flood threat through Thursday morning stretched from eastern Tennessee to southwestern Virginia into other parts of South, the weather service said.

“Our main concern once we get into Thursday will be potential flooding impacts as we see rivers and streams swell with the combined impact of melting snowpack and rain at the same time.” said Vance Joyner, a weather service meteorologist in Blacksburg, Virginia

Hundreds of accidents

In Kentucky, snowy roads caused a head-on fatal crash Tuesday in Nelson County, south of Louisville The driver lost control of their car going into a curve, crossed the center line of the road and hit an oncoming semi truck head on, according to the county’s emergency management

director, Brad Metcalf. The driver died at the scene.

In Virginia, where Gov Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency, the state police reported about 850 crashes on Tuesday and Wednesday dozens of which involved injuries. An agency spokesperson said it’s unknown if the weather caused the crashes. Maryland State Police reported 235 crashes and 185 inoperable or unattended vehicles.

In southern West Virginia, multiple crashes temporarily shut down several major highways Tuesday Mess to the west Points farther west weren’t spared the wintry mess. A separate storm system was expected to dump heavy snow on an area stretching from Oklahoma to the Great Lakes on Wednesday, the weather service said. Government offices were closed in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, and some universities in those states and Iowa canceled classes.

On the West Coast, officials in Oregon’s Multnomah County extended a state of emergency through at least Thursday, and five emergency shelters were open through midday Wednesday Wind chill readings could dip to 10 degrees in Portland, the weather service said.

Court upholds singer R. Kelly’s convictions, 30-year prison term

BY LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

NEW YORK R Kelly’s racketeering and sex trafficking convictions, along with a 30year prison sentence, were upheld Wednesday by a federal appeals court that concluded the singer exploited his fame for over a quarter century to sexually abuse girls and young women.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled Wednesday after hearing arguments last March.

The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling R&B songwriter was convicted in 2021 in Brooklyn federal court of multiple charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking.

Attorney Jennifer Bonjean, representing R. Kelly, said in a statement that she believed the Supreme Court will agree to hear an appeal She called the 2nd Circuit ruling “unprecedented,” saying it gives prosecutors limitless discretion to apply the racketeering law “to situations absurdly remote” from the statute’s intent.

Last year, the high court declined to hear an appeal of a 20-year sentence Kelly received after he was convicted in 2022 of child sex charges including charges of producing images of child sexual abuse in Chicago.

The 2nd Circuit rejected Kelly’s arguments that the trial evidence was inadequate, the constitutionality of some state laws used against him were questionable, four jurors were biased, the trial judge made some improper rulings and a racketeering charge more commonly used in organized crime cases was improper.

“Enabled by a constellation of managers, assistants, and other staff for over twenty-five years, Kelly ex-

ploited his fame to lure girls and young women into his grasp,” the appeals court said, noting members of his entourage helped introduce him to underage girls.

“Evidence at trial showed that he would isolate them from friends and family, control nearly every aspect of their lives, and abuse them verbally, physically, and sexually,” the three-judge panel said.

The appeals court said it

was “neither arbitrary nor irrational” that several accusers were permitted to testify at trial that Kelly gave them herpes without disclosing he had an STD, and it was not unduly prejudicial or cumulative that seven witnesses who were not yet adults when Kelly began to abuse them were allowed to testify

“None of the testimony was more inflammatory than the charged acts,” the appeals court said.

Scalise pitches New Orleans as rotating Super Bowl host

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

How’s this for an idea?

New Orleans and Las Vegas ought to host the Super Bowl every three years, with a rotating cast of other cities taking the third year That was the suggestion of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise R-Jefferson, to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the game on Sunday “I don’t expect him to go for it, but he didn’t push back on the idea,” said Scalise, the second ranking House member “He had nothing but great things to say about the city.” Under the current setup, New Orleans competes with a

number of other cities with NFL teams to host the Super Bowl. Sunday’s game marked the first time since 2013 that it was held in New Orleans.

Scalise, echoing the words of other elected officials, said he constantly heard rave reviews about New Orleans’ preparations for the Super Bowl.

“They got to see a worldclass city with all the things we have to offer great character great culture and great music,” said Scalise, who lives in Jefferson Parish but said he was proud to tell visitors that he was born in New Orleans. “So many people told me how much they loved the pregame music — with performances by Harry Connick Jr. Lauren Daigle, Trombone Shorty and Jon Batiste. Everyone said they would have made a great halftime show It’s a great source of pride to see how New Orleans can show itself to the world.” Scalise noted that fans attending Super Bowls in other cities often have to drive an hour or more to the stadium and noted that people could get around to the prime spots in New Orleans on foot. “With the exception of Las Vegas, I don’t think there’s another Super Bowl city that can offer that convenience,” he said.

BY JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — With a heartbeat abortion ban solidly in place in South Carolina, lawyers for the state and Planned Parenthood return to the state’s highest court Wednesday to argue how restrictive the ban should be.

The law is being enforced in South Carolina as a ban on almost all abortions around six weeks after conception, setting that mark as the time cardiac activity starts.

But Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups are arguing the 2023 law includes alternative definitions about the timing of a fetal heart forming and a “heartbeat” starting and the true ban should start around nine or 10 weeks.

Both sides argued for just over an hour Wednesday at the South Carolina Supreme Court in Columbia. The jus-

tices likely will take several months to decide the case.

In the meantime, the abortion ban around six weeks likely will remain in place after a lower court upheld it. The 2023 law says abortions cannot be performed after an ultrasound can detect “cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac.”

South Carolina and several other states place that at six weeks into development. But what follows the “or” in the sentence could require that a heart has formed, and medical experts say that doesn’t happen until around nine weeks.

The legal fight has been brewing since the state Supreme Court reversed itself after overturning a similar ban in 2021. The Republican-dominated General Assembly then made small

changes and a justice who voted in the majority in the 3-2 decision to overturn the ban reached retirement age and was replaced. In the decision upholding the new ban, the state Supreme Court itself noted the different definitions saying resolving them would be a question “for another day.”

That day is Wednesday Since then, more inconsistencies in the law’s language have been brought up. The law refers to a fetal heartbeat, but most experts consider a fertilized egg to be an embryo for about 10 weeks after conception before transitioning into a fetus.

Lawyers for the state said the parsing of the language ignores the intent of the Legislature. Both supporters and opponents of the bill called it nearly exclusively a six-week ban during debate in the House and Senate.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JACQUELyN MARTIN

Johnny Hong of Washington, and his daughter Eliyah Hong 5, build a snowman by the Capitol on Wednesday after a snowstorm in Washington.

Fired government watchdogs sue administration

BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

WASHINGTON Eight government watchdogs have sued over their mass firing that removed oversight of President Donald Trump’s new administration.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington asks a judge to declare the firings unlawful and restore the inspectors general to their positions at the agencies.

The watchdogs are charged with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse at government agencies, playing a nonpartisan oversight role over trillions of dollars in federal spending and the conduct of millions of federal employees, according

to the lawsuit.

Presidents can remove inspectors general, but the Trump administration did not give Congress a legally required 30-day notice, something that even a top Republican decried

The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit Trump has said he would put new “good people” in the jobs.

The administration dismissed more than a dozen inspectors general in a Fridaynight sweep on the fourth full day of Trump’s second term. Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, some serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be nonpartisan. Two of the plaintiffs had

been nominated to inspector general roles by Trump in his first term.

“The firing of the independent, nonpartisan inspector general was a clear violation of the law,” said Michael Missal, the former inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs. “The IGs are bringing this action for reinstatement so that they can go back to work fighting fraud waste and abuse on behalf the American public.”

At the time of the firings, Sen. Chuck Grassley, RIowa, said there may have been good reasons for the terminations but that Congress needed to know

The lawsuit comes a day after the White House fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for Inter-

USAID staffers describe colleagues abandoned as DOGE ends assistance

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press

WASHINGTON A lieutenant of Trump ally Elon Musk and other outsiders are overseeing the immediate termination of hundreds of American aid and foreign assistance programs abroad this week, without required documentation or justification, according to newly filed affidavits from staffers and accounts Wednesday from U.S. officials.

Meanwhile, other affidavits from USAID staffers until recently based in Congo describe the gutting of their agency by President Donald Trump and Musk, which they said left them abandoned and in danger from political violence in the African country’s capital.

As chaos reigned at USAID’s headquarters, with senior leadership removed and funding frozen, USAID workers and their families abroad had no agency help in fleeing after looters overran their homes in Kinshasa, several of the staffers said in sworn accounts to a federal court.

Congo-based USAID staffers who described getting out with nothing but their backpacks wrote of now being stranded in Washington, without a home or agency payments, and facing joblessness.

Those accounts, filed late Tuesday in support of a lawsuit by two associations for government employees, offer some of the most detailed looks of the scenes inside the agency and confusion abroad, and they describe Musk’s teams at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency overseeing the purge of longstanding U.S. aid and development programs. The groups are suing to roll back that dismantling by the administration and Musk’s government-cutting effort.

A court hearing in the case was postponed Wednesday because of heavy snow in Washington.

USAID contract officers on Monday emailed agency higher-ups asking for the required authorization and justification needed to cancel programs abroad. But the response was from a Musk associate, one of the contract workers said in a sworn account filed with the federal court.

The decisions on killing the programs came from the “most senior levels,” that associate told USAID staffers.

Other affidavits describe similar scenes from agency contract officers and tensions and uncertainty as USAID workers dealt with the shutdown.

More spreadsheets arrived in USAID employees’ inboxes into Wednesday about U.S.-funding programs -– including for agriculture, conflict resolution, democracy and human rights that were to end, immediately and permanently, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the developments The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity

The emails said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had given that order, but they came from individuals not known to staffers The decisions about which programs to eliminate appeared to be being made using the program names and one-line

descriptions of them, pulled from the USAID payment system, the two U.S. officials said.

The administration, in its filings in the lawsuit, defends its actions, saying USAID was rife with “insubordination” and must be shut down as Trump’s team figures what parts to salvage. The argument was made in an affidavit by the deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco.

USAID staffers deny insubordination and call the accusation a pretext to break up the agency among the world’s biggest donors of humanitarian and development assistance.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, dealt the administration a setback last week by temporarily halting plans to pull all but a fraction of USAID staffers off the job worldwide.

Nichols is set to hear arguments later this week on a request from the employee groups to keep blocking the move to put thousands of staffers on leave, and to broaden his order They contend the government has already violated the judge’s order, which also reinstated USAID staffers already placed on leave but declined to suspend the administration’s freeze on foreign assistance.

national Development, following a warning from his office that the administration’s dismantling of that agency had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian funds.

The role of the modernday inspector general dates to post-Watergate Washington, when Congress installed offices inside agencies as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of power Democrats and watchdog groups said the firings raise alarms that Trump is making it easier to take advantage of the government.

Trump, said at the time the firings were “a very common thing to do.” But the lawsuit says that is not true and that

mass firings have been considered improper since the 1980s.

The dismissals came through similarly worded emails from the director or deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel. The watchdogs’ computers, phones, and agency access badges were collected within days. The officials were escorted into their respective agencies to collect their personal belongings under supervision, they said in the lawsuit.

The inspector general of the Agriculture Department, however, returned to work as normal the Monday after being informed of the firing, “recognizing the email as not effective,” the lawsuit said. The watchdog

conducted several meetings before agency employees cut off her access to government systems and took her computer and phone Trump in the past has challenged their authority In 2020, in his first term, he replaced multiple inspectors general, including those leading the Defense Department and intelligence community as well as the one tapped to chair a special oversight board for the $2.2 trillion pandemic economic relief package. The latest round of dismissals spared Michael Horowitz, the longtime Justice Department inspector general who has issued reports on assorted politically explosive criminal investigations over the past decade.

BY DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press

WASHINGTON Tulsi Gabbard was sworn in as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence on Wednesday shortly after she was confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.

Gabbard is an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country’s 18 intelligence agencies, given her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden.

A military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard was confirmed on Wednesday by a 52-48

vote, with the Senate’s slim Republican majority beating back Democratic opposition. The only “no’ vote from a Republican came from Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky She is the latest highranking nominee to win Senate confirmation as the new administration works to reshape vast portions of the federal government, including the intelligence apparatus.

Staffers at the CIA and other intelligence agencies have received buyout offers, while lawmakers and security experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency accessing databases containing information about intelligence operations.

“Unfortunately, the American people have very little trust in the intelligence community, largely because they’ve seen the weaponization and politicization of an entity that is supposed to be purely focused on ensuring our national security,” Gabbard said. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to address intelligence failures exposed by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Republicans have increasingly criticized the office, saying it has grown too large and politicized. Trump himself has long viewed the nation’s intelligence services with suspicion.

McConnell, the former GOP leader, said in a statement after the vote that in his assessment, Gabbard brings “unnecessary risk” to the position.

Speaking after she was sworn in at the White House, Gabbard promised to work to “refocus” the intelligence community in line with Trump’s vision.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MANUEL BALCE CENETA

Priya Kathpal, right, and Taylor Williamson, left, who work for a company doing contract work for the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, carry signs outside the USAID headquarters in Washington on Monday.

Continued from page 1A

leadership, who said the mayor’s words were untrue regarding the library’s funds.

In particular, leaders like Stokes and Assistant Library Director Mary Stein took issue with Edwards’ use of the word “surplus” and the notion of the library losing agency over its own funding. Throughout the five-hour Metro Council meeting, Stokes and other library leaders could be seen periodically leaving the council chamber to speak with members of Edwards’ staff and Metro Council members. Those conversations potentially led to some compromise, as Stokes and Edwards both said the possibility keeping dedicated funding for the library and money for police raises is still out there.

“Everything’s on the table; let’s work together,” Edwards said after the meeting. “That’s why I’m excited about tonight. I want the parish to win That’s the bottom line. And I think this opens up further discussion with our leaders.”

The mayor-president said he is still open to the possibility of the library’s funding being separate from the city-parish’s general fund, a major sticking point of library leadership, particularly if the library system volunteers to dedicate some of its money back to the parish.

More than 100 members of the public signed up to speak at Wednesday’s meeting All but two one being BRPD Chief Thomas Morse Jr — urged the Metro Council to approve the tax renewal.

COASTAL

Continued from page 1A

the effects it would have on shrimp and oyster fishing in Plaquemines Parish and, more recently, the escalating costs. The parish has sued to stop it, and Landry reversed the state’s course after taking office last year, leaving the project in limbo even after it broke ground in 2023. Negotiations have been ongoing with Plaquemines officials on the project’s future.

Any change would likely require further review from federal and state trustees overseeing the BP oil spill money which could set back work for years.

A range of speakers implored Ledet to find a way to move the project forward as planned and studied, noting Louisiana’s worsening land loss crisis.

Anne Milling, whose Women of the Storm organization played a key role in drawing federal attention to the

BUDGET

Continued from page 1A

payments to people here illegally who are getting things like Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, programs that good hardworking Americans paid into, illegals are coming and helping bankrupt. Why don’t we protect those programs by putting those integrity measures in place?”

One possible measure frequently discussed by Republicans is requiring lowincome recipients of food stamps to have a job in order to get them.

The Economic Policy Institute, a pro-union, nonprofit think tank in Washington, reported that the “work requirement” would limit the number of enrollees. But it argued the change would not increase employment because a lot of people on food stamps can’t find jobs, are disabled, elderly or are caregivers for ill family members who can’t afford outside help.

“The consequences of losing access to SNAP and Medicaid for low-income adults are severe, often resulting in food and health insecurity,” according to the institute’s analysis Johnson, Scalise and Arrington have been the target of blistering abuse from some fellow Republicans who all profess a desire to pass Trump’s priorities but intensely disagree on how best to do that Johnson argues that “one, big beautiful bill,” using the reconciliation process,

to council members, standing atop a stool to see over the podium.

Though some were unhappy to pay the $10 event parking charged at the LAZ parking garages downtown Wednesday night — despite no events taking place at the River Center — many said they are happy to pay the property taxes dedicated to the library knowing what they get in return.

“That Baton Rouge residents have said yes to this dedicated tax for 30 years tells you unequivocally that our community sees the treasure that is the East Baton Rouge Parish library system,” said Krista Carver “It deserves our support.”

For 2025, the library budgeted around $61.1 million to operate, and plans to have a fund balance of $92.7 million at the end of the year Those leftover funds will be used to operate the library in 2026, as well as pay for things like renovations, extra maintenance and development.

reduce its tax millage to redirect funds toward a mental health treatment center District 12 council member Jen Racca said Wednesday it was important for citizens to understand how the city-parish got into a position in which leaders are forced to weigh boosting funding for a major group at the expense of another — pointing to the incorporation of St. George.

“That conversation may not be germane to have tonight look at you holding your leaders accountable, all 12 of us that sit up here today But did we support the thing that got us to the $60 million deficit? Those are conversations that we need to have,” Racca said. The library’s millage could be added back to a council agenda and go before another vote on March 26. That date is two weeks after the mayor’s proposal to use library funds for other departments — including police pay — which is set for March 12.

The library had brought a reduced millage rate of 10.5, down from 11.1, for the council’s approval Wednesday. If approved, it would have gone on voters’ ballots in October A mill is a dollar of tax on every $1,000 dollars of assessed property value.

But the library’s millage cannot exist simultaneously on ballots in October with the mayor’s plan, which proposes a 9.8-mill rate in place of the library’s millage. This would raise averaging starting pay for BRPD officers from $40,900 to $58,000, equating to a 15%-41% bump depending on rank, the largest raise ever for the agency

region after Hurricane Katrina, said the state’s coastal program has always prioritized scientific planning, and she questioned whether that was changing. Her husband King Milling, the former Whitney National Bank chief who became a leading figure in the state’s coastal restoration efforts, was also in the audience.

“I worry if the political process has gotten involved in this, because suddenly there’s been a pause on this most important project,” she said. “So I’m terribly concerned about this. I want to figure out a way to unblock this project, get it back on track. We cannot afford to put our heads in the marsh and not have a project of this scale and scope.”

Other speakers included state Rep Joseph Orgeron, who has pushed in the Legislature to move the project forward. He acknowledged that Grand Isle, which is part of his district, is opposed to the diversion, but said he would “fight tooth and nail” for additional mon-

would be the surest way to turn Trump’s legislative agenda into law

The reconciliation process instructs the appropriate committees to “develop legislation achieving the desired budgetary outcomes.” It’s a way to sidestep Democratic resistance to Trump’s goals.

Over in the GOP-majority upper chamber, the Senate Budget Committee forwarded two resolutions that split the various Trump objectives. Senators argue that strategy would give Trump a quicker victory

Given the narrow majorities Republicans hold, GOP representatives and senators will need to agree on whatever is passed by either chamber

Johnson and Scalise still face possible opposition from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has indicated its members would seek “modifications” during the budget committee hearing. The Freedom Caucus wants to cut spending by $2.5 trillion, which would require deeper reductions in social safety net spending like SNAP and Medicaid

The Freedom Caucus keeps its rolls secret. But one member is Lafayette Republican Rep. Clay Higgins, who has repeatedly declined to speak to reporters from The Advocate | The Times-Picayune and most traditional media.

He posted a video Tuesday night saying: “Bottom line is that it appears that many of my colleagues have backed up on the promises we made to restore fiscal responsibility to our country, and some

Metro Council chambers were at capacity, as library staff and supporters wearing blue sat throughout the room while dozens of BRPD officers in uniform lined the walls. City Hall staff opened up an additional floor as overflow to accommodate the more than 200 in attendance.

Those who spoke in favor of the library’s tax included its leadership, parents, teachers, high school students and residents ranging from children to the elderly “I am here today to ask you to please approve the library request and allow residents to vote about this important matter,” said 6-year-old Valentia Hernandez said

ey to help if there are negative economic effects on the island. Some $378 million is already set aside in assistance money, including for commercial fishers.

The Republican said that while the 1,000 people of Grand Isle oppose the project, 43,000 constituents in lower Lafourche mostly support it.

“Knowing that the entire wetlands of the Barataria Basin was built by the Mississippi River’s fresh water and sediment, and it being in the master plan since (former governor) Kathleen Blanco, it’s extremely important that we resolve this issue and, once again, get it back on track, in construction as properly permitted, as fully funded and as designed,” he said.

Ralph Herrmann, who lives in Plaquemines Parish, argued the diversion would take too long to produce results and cost too much money He urged the state to use the money for more marsh-building projects using dredged sediment in-

of us are not going to back up from that promise.”

Johnson told reporters that the House Budget Committee would consider the bill Thursday morning, which starts the process that would have the full House vote on the measure by the end of the month.

“I’ve been talking with the committee members, and this will unlock the process and get us moving, so we’re excited about it,” Johnson said.

Scalise said 11 House committees will hold hearings on the portions involving their areas of jurisdictions, which is the traditional way of doing things.

Leadership hopes the bill clears all legislative hurdles in March.

The government will shut down on March 14 unless Congress approves a spending plan or passes a bill to again postpone Lawmakers are still working on the budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30.

“Now is the time for House Republicans to come together and start the budget reconciliation process, first in the Budget Committee and then on the House floor, to unite behind President Trump, and make good on our promises to the American people,” Scalise said after the legislation was released “Let’s pass this resolution and start delivering for those hardworking families who have been struggling for too long.”

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.

Many said it would be wrong to rededicate money voters have chosen to give to the library for years, and asked the council to let it be left up to voters again.

In 2021, several council members tried to redirect 1 mill from the library’s 10.52 millage rate and 0.25 mills from the 1.06 mills for Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control. The money would have beefed up funding for the parish’s flood protection system.

However, the council voted against the measure following strong opposition from library advocates.

In 2015, Baton Rouge officials made an unsuccessful attempt to convince the library board to

It is unclear what effect an approval of the mayor’s proposal would have on the library’s millage set for an agenda two weeks later Stokes said she left feeling like the mayor and his staff genuinely are open to finding a solution that lets them keep dedicated funds.

“Several of them have approached us and said, ‘We understand. We want the entire parish and city to thrive,’” Stokes said.

“We are more than happy to sit down at the table and work with our Metro Council members to work on that compromise.”

Email Patrick Sloan-Turner at patrick.sloan-turner@ theadvocate.com.

stead.

“We do not need this project. We can have our land now We can have our protection now,” the 71-year-old retiree said. “This is not in the best interest of the state.”

Despite the uncertainty, continued spending on the Mid-Barataria project is included in the coastal authority’s $1.8 billion annual plan for the fiscal year beginning in July That, however, does not mean the project won’t be changed or eventually eliminated, with the money shifted to other plans.

Ledet did not address Mid-

Barataria in his presentation of the plan, instead focusing on projects like the major effort to restore the disappearing Chandeleur Islands off southeast Louisiana and the state’s biggest marshcreation project to date in Lake Borgne. He called the annual plan among the largest in state history and stressed that the vast majority of the money will go toward actual work.

“We’ve got our largest share that goes to construction in the state’s history,” Ledet said. “That’s 80% of those dollars will go to actu-

ally putting projects on the ground.”

Asked after the hearing about the status of MidBarataria, Ledet said he could not provide details for now, citing ongoing discussions. He said Landry and CPRA board chair Gordon Dove would provide further information “at the appropriate time.” The public comment period for the annual plan ends March 22. An interactive map, further details and the opportunity to comment can be found at ap26.coastal. la.gov

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Members of the Baton Rouge Police Department stand along the back wall as community member Gary Chambers, seen on monitor, addresses his concerns regarding the department during Wednesday’s East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council meeting.

BRIEFS

Globalstar officials ring Nasdaq opening bell

Globalstar officials rang the opening bell on the Nasdaq on Wednesday morning, at a ceremony tied to the Covington satellite company recently joining the tech-heavy exchange

Paul E. Jacobs, Globalstar CEO, rang the bell and was joined by other officials with the company Globalstar was added to the Nasdaq Global Select market on Tuesday

“Globalstar’s listing on Nasdaq marks a significant milestone in our 30-year history. Not only does this reinforce the strong financials and momentum of our company, but it also reflects our mission and commitment to innovation, growth, and long-term value creation,” Jacobs said in a statement.

Shares of Globalstar fell by $3.27 or 13.4% Wednesday to close at $21.06. On Monday, the company completed a reverse stock split, where 15 shares of Globalstar stock were converted to one share. The reverse split was done as part of an effort to make the business more appealing to a broader range of investors, including institutional shareholders.

N.O. Entrepreneur Week announces ’25 schedule

The producers of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week have announced the 2025 schedule.

The six-day celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship will take place March 24-29 at multiple greater New Orleans locations, including Loyola University New Orleans, the Nieux, NOLA Brewing and the Metairie Sheraton. Several other colleges and universities will host events as well. Created by the Idea Village, a nonprofit business accelerator, in 2009, the event has gone through multiple transformations over the past decade and a half. This year, Loyola has signed on to coproduce NOEW and host many of its events. The event will feature speeches, panels, networking sessions and pitch competitions aimed at entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders and “creative minds.” Topics of focus include biotech, software and energy innovation.

The invite-only 3rd Coast Venture Summit, designed to connect regional founders with investors, will happen March 2628 at Common House.

The list of speakers will be announced soon.

Most of Wall Street sinks on inflation news

Most U.S. stocks fell Wednesday after a report showed inflation is unexpectedly worsening for Americans.

The S&P 500 dropped, though it had been on track for a much worse loss of 1.1% at the start of trading The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down, while the Nasdaq composite edged slightly higher Stocks pared their losses through the day as the price of oil eased. A barrel of benchmark U.S crude fell 2.7% below $72 after President Donald Trump said he had agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin “negotiations” on ending the war in Ukraine. Such a move could free up the global movement of crude.

Inflation got worse in January

Increase fueled by rising cost of groceries, gas

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP economics writer

WASHINGTON U.S. inflation accelerated last month as the cost of groceries, gasoline and rents rose, a disappointment for families and businesses struggling with higher costs and likely underscoring the Federal Reserve’s resolve to delay further interest rate cuts.

The consumer price index increased 3% in January from a year ago, Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department showed, up from 2.9% the previous month. It has increased from a 31/2-year low

of 2.4% in September

The new data shows that inflation has remained stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target for roughly the past six months after it fell steadily for about a year and a half. Elevated prices turned into a major political hurdle for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris. President Donald Trump pledged to reduce prices on “Day 1” if elected though most economists worry that his many proposed tariffs could at least temporarily increase costs.

The unexpected boost in inflation could dampen some of the busi-

ness enthusiasm that arose after Trump’s election on promises to reduce regulation and cut taxes. Most of Wall Street sank Wednesday Bond yields rose, a sign traders expect inflation and interest rates to remain high.

“We’re really not making progress on inflation right now,” Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “This just extends the Fed’s hold.”

Inflation often jumps in January as many companies raise their prices at the beginning of the year, though the government’s seasonal adjustment process is supposed to

filter out those effects. Yet House said inflation’s stubbornness wasn’t just a one-month blip. Consumers — particularly wealthier ones — are still spending at a robust pace, giving many companies less reason to hold down prices. And much of the decline in inflation in 2023 and early last year stemmed from supply-chain improvements, but that trend has mostly played out.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core consumer prices rose 3.3% in January compared with a year ago, up from 3.2% in December. Economists closely watch core prices because they can provide a better read of inflation’s future path.

Joann to close 500 stores across U.S.

5 La. locations on list; BR, Lafayette to remain open

BY WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Associated Press

NEW YORK Struggling fabric and crafts

seller Joann plans to close about 500 of its stores across the U.S. — or more than half of its current nationwide footprint

Five Louisiana stores are marked for closure: locations in Metairie, Slidell, Gretna, Shreveport and Alexandria. The Baton Rouge and Lafayette stores will remain open The move, announced Wednesday arrives amid a tumultuous time for Joann. Last month, the Hudson, Ohio-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time within a year, with the company pointing to issues like sluggish consumer demand and inventory shortages.

Joann filed for Chapter 11 in March and emerged as a private company But after operational challenges continued to pile up, Joann filed for bankruptcy again in January It’s now looking to sell the business and maintained in a filing Wednesday that closing “underperforming” locations is necessary to complete that process

“This was a very difficult decision to make, given the major impact we know it will have on our team members, our customers and all of the communities we serve,” the company said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. “(But) rightsizing our store footprint is a critical part of our efforts to ensure the best path forward.” Joann currently operates around 800

stores across 49 states. The initial list of the roughly 500 locations it’s looking to close can be found on the company’s restructuring website — spanning states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. When exactly those closures will take place and how many employees will be impacted has yet to be seen. Joann’s Wednesday motion seeks court permission to begin the process Joann’s roots date back to 1943, with a single storefront in Cleveland. The retailer later grew into a national chain. Formerly

known as Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, the company rebranded itself with the shortened “Joann” name for its 75th anniversary Both of Joann’s bankruptcy filings seen over the last year arrived amid some slowdowns in discretionary spending — notably with consumers taking a step back from at-home crafts, at least relative to the early COVID-19 pandemic boom. Joann has also faced rising competition in the crafts space from rivals like Hobby Lobby, as well as from larger retailers like Target, who now offer ample art supplies and kits.

Trump picks Bureau of Land Management leader

Longtime oil, gas representative set to oversee public land

BY MATTHEW BROWN and MATTHEW DALY

Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. — President Donald Trump has nominated a longtime oil and gas industry representative to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land concentrated in western states. Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Colorado-based oil industry trade group Western Energy Alliance, was picked to serve as Bu-

reau of Land Management director a position with wide influence over lands used for energy production, grazing, recreation and other purposes. An MIT graduate, Sgamma has been a leading voice for the fossil fuel industry, calling for fewer drilling restrictions on public lands that produce about 10% of U.S. oil and gas.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would be a key architect of Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda alongside Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who leads the newly formed National Energy Council that Trump says will establish American “energy dominance” around the world. Trump has vowed to boost U.S. oil and gas drilling and move away from

President Joe Biden’s focus on climate change.

Former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt relocated the land bureau’s headquarters to Colorado during Trump’s first term, leading to a spike in employee resignations The bureau went four years under Trump without a confirmed director

The headquarters for the 10,000-person agency was moved back to Washington, D.C., under Biden, who installed Montana conservationist Traci Stone-Manning at the bureau to lead his administration’s efforts to curb oil and gas production in the name of fighting climate change.

Sgamma will be charged with reversing those policies, by put-

ting into effect a series of orders issued last week by Burgum as part of Trump’s plan to sharply expand fossil fuel production.

Burgum ordered reviews of many of Stone-Manning’s signature efforts, including fewer oil and gas lease sales, an end to coal leasing in the nation’s biggest coal fields, a greater emphasis on conservation and drilling and renewable energy restrictions meant to protect a wide-ranging Western bird, the greater sage grouse Burgum also ordered federal officials to review and consider redrawing the boundaries of national monuments that were created under Biden and other presidents to protect unique landscapes and cultural resources.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NAM y. HUH

Joann plans to close about 500 of its stores across the U.S., including five in Louisiana.

Modi and Trump’s rapport tested as Indian PM visits Washington

BY ASHOK SHARMA and JOSH BOAK Associated Press

NEW DELHI Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s longstanding bonhomie with President Donald Trump could be tested as the Indian leader kicks off a visit to Washington on Wednesday eager to avoid tariffs that have been slapped on others and threats of further taxes and imports

India, a key strategic partner of the United States, has so far been spared any new tariffs, and the two leaders have cultivated a personal relationship. Modi — a nationalist criticized over India’s democratic backsliding — has welcomed Trump’s return to the White House, seeking to reset India’s relationship with the West over his refusal to condemn Russia for its war on Ukraine

But Trump has repeatedly referred to India as a “tariff king” and pressed the South Asian country on the deportation of migrants. In response, New Delhi has shown a willingness to lower its own tariffs on U.S. products, accept Indian citizens back and buy American oil.

But as tariff threats loom, the question remains how much a good rapport between two leaders matters and how far India will go to cut a deal.

Modi had established a good working relationship with Trump during his first term in office, and the two can build on the areas of convergence and “minimize areas of friction without conceding on core areas of national interest,” says Meera Shankar, India’s former ambassador to the U.S.

“Most other partners have their reciprocal lists ready from the word go, because it’s a point of leverage when you negotiate,” Shankar added, expressing hope that India “will find the right balance between firmness and flexibility” on the tariffs issue.

Modi — boosted by his ruling Hindu nationalist party’s victory in the high-stakes state legislature election

U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace after giving a joint statement in New Delhi, India, on Feb 25, 2020. Modi’s longstanding bonhomie with Trump could be tested as the Indian leader kicks off a visit to Washington on Wednesday.

last weekend in India’s federal territory, including New Delhi said before leaving for Washington that the visit was an “opportunity to build upon” collaboration during Trump’s first term and “deepen our partnership” in areas such as technology, trade, defense and energy.

What has Trump said?

Speaking with Modi in January, Trump emphasized the importance of India buying more American-made military gear and weapons, as well as reducing the trade imbalance. Last year, the U.S. imported $50 billion more in goods than it sold to India.

A readout from the White House at the time said Trump “emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship.”

Earlier this month, India accepted the return of 104 migrants brought back on a U.S military plane, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by the Trump administration.

Also, Modi’s government lowered some high tariffs, including on some HarleyDavidson motorcycles, from 50% to 40%. In 2023, India had dropped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. almonds, apples, chickpeas, lentils, and walnuts.

“Another thing we can ex-

pect is that Modi would offer to purchase more American (natural) gas to narrow the U.S. trade deficit,” said Lisa Curtis, director of the IndoPacific security program at the Center for a New American Security, a Washingtonbased think tank. “This will help a little bit.”

Concerns over China

India is seen as integral to the U.S. strategy of containing China in the Indo-Pacific and is to host a summit of a group of countries known as the Quad — made up of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia — later this year

But India will likely have to recalibrate its stand in case of a Washington-Beijing thaw under Trump.

“Trump’s outreach to China will complicate India’s ability to cultivate the American desire to use India as a proxy against China without actually ever becoming one,” said Happymon Jacob, founder of the New Delhi-based Council for Strategic and Defense Research.

India turned the page with China and in December agreed to work toward a solution to their long-running border dispute in the Himalayas after a military standoff that began with a deadly clash in 2020.

“Even a tactical accommodation between the U.S. and China has implications for India,” Shankar said.

Philippine investigators file complaints against vice president

BY JIM GOMEZ Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines Philippine government investigators filed criminal complaints, including sedition, against Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday over her public threat to have the president assassinated if she herself was killed in an escalating political storm.

National Bureau of Investigation Director Jaime Santiago said at a news conference that the complaints of inciting to sedition and grave threats against Duterte were filed at the Department of Justice, which would decide whether to dismiss the complaints outright or elevate them to court. The vice president, a lawyer and daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, reacted briefly by saying that she had expected the move by the NBI. She has accused her political rivals of taking steps to prevent her from seeking the presidency when President Ferdinand Marcos

Jr.’s term ends in 2028

The vice president’s father himself, whose presidential term ended in 2022, is facing legal troubles. The International Criminal Court has been investigating the widespread killings under a brutal anti-drug crackdown he oversaw while in office as a possible crime against humanity

Sara Duterte ran as Marcos’ vice presidential running mate in 2022. Their whirlwind political alliance, however, quickly frayed and deteriorated into a bitter feud in an Asian democracy that has long been hamstrung by clashing political clans

Last week, the vice president was impeached by the House of Representatives on a range of accusations that included her threat to have Marcos, his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez killed if she herself were fatally attacked in an unspecified plot that she brought up in an online news conference in November

The impeachment complaint, which was signed by majority of the more than 300 members of the House, which is dominated by Marcos’ allies, also included allegations of large-scale corruption and misuse of her office’s confidential funds. The 24-member Senate plans to tackle the impeachment complaint after Congress reopens in June.

The vice president has vaguely denied that what she said amounted to a threat against Marcos, his wife and Romualdez, the president’s cousin, but her remarks still sparked a national security alarm at the time and investigations, including by the NBI.

The vice president said at a news conference last week that her lawyers were preparing for a legal battle in her upcoming impeachment trial, but she refused to say if resignation was an option so that she could preempt a possible conviction that would bar her from running for president in the future.

Monty the giant schnauzer wins Westminster dog show

BY JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press

NEW YORK This time, the giant schnauzer went the full Monty

After coming close in the last two years, Monty the giant schnauzer won the top prize at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Tuesday night, leaving handler and co-owner Katie Bernardin almost too emotional to speak.

“He always tries so hard, and we’re just proud of him,” she told the crowd at Madison Square Garden.

The spirited schnauzer bested six other finalists to become the first of his breed tapped as Westminster’s best in show the most prestigious prize in the U.S. dog show world The dog won the huge American Kennel Club championship in December and he’d been a Westminster twice before.

A standout because of “everything from his attitude to his structure,” Monty is bold, cocky and fun, according to co-owner Sandy Nordstrom.

“He’s just a really cool dog,” she said in an interview before his win, which will be his last The 5-year-

old is retiring from showing. The runner-up was, for the third time, a whippet known as Bourbon. Other finalists included a bichon frise called Neal, a Skye terrier named Archer, and a shih tzu called Comet who’s been a finalist before.

Also in the mix were a German shepherd named Mercedes, who came in second last year and an English springer spaniel called Freddie.

Each dog at Westminster is judged according to how closely it matches the ideal for its breed. Winners get a trophy, ribbons and brag-

ging rights, but no cash prize.

During a break between semifinal rounds, security personnel surrounded and ousted someone along the sidelines of the ring. The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has protested the dog show for years, said on X that a supporter was removed after holding a sign. Westminster says it celebrates all dogs. The show champions that compete also are household pets, and some do therapy work, search-and-rescue or other canine jobs.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MANISH SWARUP

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON Katie Bernardin and Monty a giant schnauzer compete in the best in show competition during the 149th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday in New york.

U.S. suggests Ukraine should give up hope of winning all territory back

BY LORNE COOK and TARA COPP Associated Press

BRUSSELS U.S. Defense Secre-

tary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.

Hours later, President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending

the Ukraine war In a social media post that upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine, the Republican disclosed a call between the two leaders and said they would “work together very closely Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Zelenskyy and Trump also had a phone conversation. Taken together, the statements by Trump and Hegseth offered the clearest look yet at how the new administration might try to end Europe’s largest land war in generations. Hegseth’s warning to Ukraine that it should abandon its NATO

White House bars reporter because of AP style policy on

‘Gulf of America’

BY DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer

NEW YORK The White House

blocked an Associated Press reporter from an event in the Oval

Office on Tuesday after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.

The reporter, whom the AP would not identify, tried to enter the White House event as usual Tuesday afternoon and was turned away Later, a second AP reporter was barred from a late-evening event in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room.

The highly unusual ban which Trump administration officials had threatened earlier Tuesday unless the AP changed the style on the Gulf, could have constitutional free-speech implications.

Julie Pace, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, called the administration’s move unacceptable.

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace said in a statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s ac-

cess to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.” The Trump administration made no immediate announcements about the moves, and there was no indication any other journalists were affected. Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the media. On Friday, the administration ejected a second group of news organizations from Pentagon office space.

Before his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump announced plans to change the Gulf of Mexico’s name to the “Gulf of America” — and signed an executive order to do so as soon as he was in office. Mexico’s president responded sarcastically and others noted that the name change would probably not affect global usage.

Besides the United States, the body of water — named the Gulf of Mexico for more than 400 years — also borders Mexico.

The AP said last month, three days after Trump’s inauguration, that it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico while noting Trump’s decision to rename it as well. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP says it must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.

bid and its push to reclaim all Russian-occupied territory signaled starkly to Kyiv that the administration’s view of a potential settlement is remarkably close to Moscow’s vision. Putin has declared that any peace deal must ensure that Ukraine gives up its NATO ambitions and withdraws its troops from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. In sweeping remarks to allies eager to hear how much continued support Washington intends to provide to the Ukrainian government, Hegseth indicated that Trump is determined to get Eu-

rope to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops.

Making the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration, the defense secretary also said the force should not have Article 5 protections, which could require the U.S. or the 31 other nations of the NATO alliance to come to the aid of those forces if they are attacked by Russian forces.

The secretary’s comments were sure to dim Ukraine’s hopes of

making itself whole again and to complicate talks later this week between Zelenskyy and U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials at a major security conference in Munich.

“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said, as Kyiv’s backers gathered at NATO headquarters for a meeting to drum up more arms and ammunition for the war which will soon enter its fourth year.

All 32 allies must agree for a country to join NATO, meaning that every member has a veto.

BY CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press

Medications that have transformed the treatment of obesity may also help people drink less alcohol, according to new government-funded research.

The study was small just 48 adults — and lasted just over two months, so it’s not the final word. Experts say it’s not yet clear how safe these drugs are for people who don’t need to lose weight.

But the results add to evidence from animal studies and reports that people are finding drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy helpful to manage cravings, not just for food, but also for tobacco and alcohol. Scientists are studying these drugs in smokers, people with opioid addiction and cocaine users.

“This is such promising data. And we need more of it,” said study co-author Dr Klara Klein, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who treats patients with diabetes and obesity

“We frequently will hear that once people start these medications that their desire to drink is very reduced, if not completely abolished.”

The drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, work by mimicking hormones in the gut and

the brain to regulate appetite and feelings of fullness. The new study looked at one of these drugs, semaglutide, which is the drug in Ozempic and Wegovy

The research, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health.

There are already three medications approved to treat alcohol use disorder, so until larger studies can confirm the findings, people should talk to their doctor about what’s already available, said lead author Christian Hendershot, an addiction researcher at University of Southern California

For the new study, researchers recruited people who reported symptoms of alcohol use disorder, such as difficulty controlling their drinking, but weren’t actively seeking treatment for it.

First, each person came to a lab where they were served their favorite alcoholic beverage and could drink as much as they wanted over two hours.

Then, researchers randomly assigned half the people to get a weekly injection of semaglutide.

The other half got sham injections.

For nine weeks, everyone kept track of their drinking habits and

their desire for alcohol. A lab visit with their favorite alcohol was repeated at the end of the study

During the last weeks of the study, nearly 40% in the semaglutide group reported no heavy drinking days compared with 20% in the placebo group. And in the final lab test, the semaglutide group drank roughly half the amount, on average, compared to those who got the placebo.

Everyone in the study was overweight. It’s unclear how safe the drugs would be for a person of normal weight, Klein said.

Smokers in the study who got the semaglutide also cut back on cigarettes, noted Luba Yammine of UTHealth Houston, who is leading other research on GLP-1 drugs for people who want to quit smoking. The finding is promising but more data is needed, Yammine said.

The study “provides additional important information on the potential role of this new class of medications” in treating certain addictions, said Dr Lorenzo Leggio, an NIH researcher who is leading a 20-week trial of semaglutide for alcohol use disorder now underway in Baltimore

“It is important to keep in mind that we need larger randomized clinical trials to confirm these findings,” Leggio said.

La. starts fight to extradite N.Y. doctor

Abortion pills allegedly sold to Port Allen teen

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

Louisiana’s top prosecutor has started the protracted process to have indicted New York doctor Margaret Carpenter extradited to Louisiana to face criminal charges for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant Port Allen teenager.

In likely the first case of its kind nationwide, Carpenter, 55, was indicted by a West Baton Rouge grand jury last month on a felony count of criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs Prosecutors claim the upstate New York physician sold mifepristone tablets online that caused the pregnant teen to have a miscarriage that ended her pregnancy

In order for Carpenter to be extradited to Louisiana, the doctor must be arrested in New York or another state. That presents a quagmire since New York authorities are poised to refuse to honor Louisiana’s extradition request. New York Gov Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, lashed out at the indictment publicly and vowed to protect Carpenter from Louisi-

ana’s arrest warrant and pending extradition attempt. Three days after a West Baton Rouge grand jury indicted her on Jan. 31, Hochul signed a bill that bolsters New York’s shield laws for telemedicine health care providers who prescribe abortion medications across state lines. The new law protects family doctors like Carpenter by allowing them to keep their names off prescription bottles in Louisiana and other states with abortion bans.

Prosecutors in West Baton Rouge Parish submitted a requisition to Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry on Feb. 6 that declared Carpenter a fugitive who “refuses to present herself to the state of Louisiana” to face charges, court records show The extradition application asked the governor to submit a request to Hochul for Carpenter’s apprehension so she can be brought to court in the 18th Judicial District.

MAKING PROGRESS

Workers make progress on repairs to the wall surrounding the Baton Rouge National Cemetery near Florida Street and North 22nd Street in Baton Rouge on Feb 4.

East Feliciana man acquitted in retrial

Documents not provided detailing spending on federal grants

BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer

provide documents detailing how the city spends federal grants and awards to auditors for seven years in a row This was one of several findings in the city’s recently released 2024 fiscal year audit. Governments that spend more than $750,000 in federal grants in a fiscal year are required by law to prepare such a document, called a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. According to accounting firm EisnerAmper, the document is used to accurately report how money is used by the federal government and granting agencies, as well as determine how

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

An East Feliciana man was found not guilty of manslaughter in a 10-2 jury vote last week, just hours after the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled juries can acquit defendants in cases like

his without a unanimous verdict. Cleao Dunn Jr., 41, successfully argued self-defense as he was tried for the second time in a 2018 shooting that left 25-yearold John Davis dead on a rural Clinton road. Prosecutors alleged he sprayed bullets from an AR-15 rifle at Davis without provocation, but Dunn’s attorneys argued he fired his gun after Davis got out of his car and opened fire first. A jury on Feb. 6 acquitted him, after listening to three days of

testimony and even visiting the scene of the shooting. Dunn originally was indicted and tried for second-degree murder in the fatal shooting, and a jury voted 11-1 to find him guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter in early 2020. But the U.S. Supreme Court declared spilt-verdict jury convictions unconstitutional in April 2020, and ordered all jury convictions be unanimous. That ruling stemmed from the New Orleans murder case of Evange-

listo Ramos, who originally had been sentenced to life but was found not guilty at his retrial in 2023.

Sixteen months before the Supreme Court’s landmark decision, Louisiana voters passed a constitutional amendment into law that sanctioned juries in state cases to find defendants not guilty by 10-2 and 11-1 votes. The law applied only to felony cases involving offenses that

State judiciary panel receives more time La. officials deciding fate of suspended BR judge

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

she was so incompetent as a district judge that she posed “a substantial threat of serious harm to the public.” Johnson Rose, who was elected to her seat in December

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Report lists reasons Louisiana residents leaving

Economy, climate change hurting state

BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer

Louisiana is being hammered by the effects of climate change, a floundering economy and failing infrastructure, according to a new report that paints a bleak picture of a state mired in a depopulation crisis.

The report released Wednesday by the Data Center illustrates the

staggering breadth of problems facing Louisiana. Louisiana has seen more damage from natural disasters per capita than any state in the nation. More than 42% of properties in the state — including major oil and gas assets — face the risk of flooding over the next 30 years. The state’s power grid has been the least reliable in the nation since 2013, and deaths from worsening heat are rising at an alarming clip. Meanwhile, the state’s employment growth far lags the rest of the

country, driving an exodus of population, the report said. Employment has fallen across demographics since the 1980s.

“The main reason Americans move long distances is for economic opportunity, and since 2000, Louisiana has had among the lowest job growth rates in the nation at 2%,” the report said.

The Data Center, a nonprofit that studies New Orleans demographics, offered up a silver lining in the report.

The organization said Louisiana

has a “rare opportunity” to use billions of dollars flowing to the state from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act and BP oil spill settlement dollars to minimize the impacts of climate change while also attracting new industries aimed at reducing emissions and managing water

“As Louisiana’s leaders come together to invest these funds, a shared, evidence-based understanding of location-specific impacts and opportunities will be key to building resilience, protecting our culture,

Fed appeals court orders dismissal of lawsuit

Former St. Tammany Parish library board members alleged discrimination

BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer

A federal appeals court has or-

dered a lower court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three former St Tammany Parish library board members who argued the Parish Council had wrongfully removed them last spring due to their views about access to library materials.

The three former members of the St. Tammany Library Board of Control, William McHugh, Rebecca Taylor and Anthony Parr, sued St. Tammany Parish government and Parish Council member David Cougle after the council adopted a resolution in May 2024 that replaced five of the six members that they appoint and staggered members’ terms.

The trio argued they were retaliated against because they expressed views about certain library books and refused to restrict access to them.

Since June 2022, when some of the parish’s library branches put up “Pride Month” displays, the parish’s library board had been at the center of a controversy over

AUDIT

Continued from page 1B

federal programs are audited

Donaldsonville has failed to provide such a report to auditors since the 2018 fiscal year, although it’s not clear if it has passed the expenditure threshold each year The audit’s findings — some of which have been reported for multiple years — were presented Jan. 28 to the City Council, before being posted on the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s website.

“The records were not maintained in a manner which allowed the SEFA to be prepared in an efficient manner to ensure accu-

RETRIAL

Continued from page 1B

occurred before Jan 1, 2019, when the constitutional amendment took effect.

Late on the morning of Feb. 6, on the final day of Dunn’s retrial, a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling in a Jefferson Parish case reaffirmed that statute, determining only 10 of 12 jurors need to agree that a

youth access to library materials that contain sexual themes and LGBTQ+ subject matter including books like “Pink, Blue, and You,” which McHugh said was about “being who you want to be,” according to court filings.

The case was on appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over whether evidence involved in the process of passing the resolution could be used in court or if it was barred by “legislative privilege.”

But the three-judge 5th Circuit panel, which consisted of Chief Judge Jennifer Elrod and judges Andrew Stephen and Cory Wilson, never considered that question. Instead, in the 14-page opinion penned by Wilson, the panel found the library board members did not have “standing” to bring the case and sent the suit back to the district court with orders to dismiss it.

“Plaintiffs lost their Board positions and thereby lost the power to wield the levers of influence over St. Tammany’s libraries — and they want that control back,” Wilson wrote.

“But rather than pursue that aim through the political process, they have ‘dragged that fight into federal court by tricking it out in (constitutional) colors,’” Wilson wrote.

Elrod was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush; Stephen and Wilson were appointed by President Donald Trump.

racy and completeness,” auditors wrote.

Following the audit, the city has agreed to design controls to ensure it gets properly prepared, but it has responded with the same sentiment to each audit since 2018. At the council meeting, Mayor Leroy Sullivan said the city had a small finance department run mostly by Chief Finance Officer Sandra Williams.

“We’re doing the best that we can with the small group that we have. We have received a lot of money in federal grants and we have contracted with someone to handle just that portion because it is too much for Sandra to do by herself,” Sullivan said. “So, we’re doing the things that we need to do.”

The court found that the council’s resolution, which was originally introduced by Cougle a co-founder of the St. Tammany Library Accountability Project, affected all the board members “equally” and did not single out McHugh, Taylor and Parr who “remain free to comment on library policies and related matters as private citizens.”

‘Loss for libraries’

In a statement, Parr Taylor and McHugh said they were “disappointed” by the ruling and argued the evidence that had not been introduced because of legislative privilege would have further demonstrated the merits of their case.

“This outcome is a loss for libraries and the communities they serve. Library board members must be allowed to perform their roles without fear of retaliation and discrimination for defending the public’s right to read and access information,” they said.

Bruce Hamilton, who represented the former library board members, declined to comment. The northshore District Attorney’s Office, which represented the Parish Council and Cougle, deferred to St. Tammany Parish government spokesperson Michael Vinsanau, who said via text message, “We are pleased with the outcome.”

The original question before the 5th Circuit was on an entirely different matter The former board

He also said no fraud or missing money was reported in the audit. Sullivan did not respond to requests for comment this week.

EisnerAmper issued an unmodified opinion on the Donaldsonville audit, which means they think all financial statements were presented fairly That opinion is what “all local auditees should strive to achieve,” according to the legislative auditor’s website.

However the report stated the city lacked internal financial controls, was not in compliance with Louisiana law and was possibly not in compliance with other federal regulations. The city issued a corrective action plan in response to the findings, a standard procedure when violations are found.

members were hoping to use a variety of evidence, including deposition testimony and a recorded phone call that was itself the cause of a separate political drama on the council, to show the council had “discriminatory intent” in its decision to restock the board.

The Parish Council, meanwhile, asserted that evidence was barred by “legislative privilege,” which generally limits the evidence and testimony legislators are required to provide at trial.

U.S. District Court Judge Brandon S. Long, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, agreed with the former library board members, finding the resolution was not a legislative act.

The Parish Council, however appealed Long’s decision to the 5th Circuit. Attorney General Liz Murrill even filed a 14-page amicus brief siding with the council, arguing Long’s ruling “undermines” the “critical doctrine” of legislative privilege. Even with the lawsuit dismissed, the parish’s library system and library board are poised to remain under scrutiny In March, voters will decide whether to renew a property tax that provides the library with 96% of its funds.

Last Thursday, the Parish Council voted to add two new members to the board, after two other members, who had been appointed by the resolution in May, resigned.

The audit found Donaldsonville submitted a report late to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the second year in a row, and said the government didn’t comply with federal procedures that require the city to maintain documentation of vendor suspension or disbarment.

Additionally, the Local Government Budget Act requires government entities to revise their budgets when projected revenues fail to meet the budgeted amount by more than 5%. Donaldsonville has failed to do that since 2021, according to audits since that year City management said it concurred with all findings and said it would make changes to comply with the findings.

and securing Louisiana’s competitiveness on the national and global stage,” the group said in a news release. Louisiana has faced a declining population for years until ticking up slightly in 2024 because of immigration. But the state’s problems have magnified in recent years, especially after a series of hurricanes in 2020 and 2021, as well as a resulting home and flood insurance crisis that is raising existential questions about risky communities in the southern part of the state.

EXTRADITE

Continued from page 1B

On Wednesday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, issued a statement confirming her office has signed off on the extradition request to Landry and awaits his approval.

“We will take any and all legal actions to enforce the criminal laws of this state,” Murrill said. It was not immediately clear Wednesday afternoon if Landry had signed off on the request. State officials confirmed that Carpenter had yet to be taken into custody on the nationwide arrest warrant. If New York refuses to hand over the doctor, prosecutors here can seek a writ of mandamus in the U.S. Middle District Court of Louisiana, asking a federal judge to order her apprehension.

“I’m not one who would want to pit a fight between two governors, so at that point in time, I’ll just let the process play out,” West Baton Rouge District Attorney Tony Clayton said Wednesday, when asked what could happen if Hochul refuses the request.

“I believe that if a governor denies an extradition request, it’s very ministerial. But I’m not going to ask my governor to get into a war over what is now a fugitive with the state of New York.”

Providing an abortion, including abortion medication, has been banned in Louisiana since the summer of 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with its Dobbs v. Jackson ruling.

Email Matt Bruce at matt. bruce@theadvocate.com.

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to Kelly Balfour

The Supreme Court suspension was a drastic and relatively rare step that has kept Johnson sidelined pending the outcome of the Judiciary Commission’s investigation

The interim removal came after the commission recommended suspension, following an inquiry into misconduct allegations.

Prior to the disqualification, Johnson Rose faced scrutiny after several of her rulings and verdicts were called into question last year

In March, the judge convicted a former Baton Rouge police officer accused of sexual misconduct against a Southern University student, of “misdemeanor grade” malfeasance in office. When attorneys pointed out there is no such offense in Louisiana law she acquitted the defendant, drawing intense objec-

defendant is not guilty

The state Supreme Court ruling came down as prosecutors were wrapping up their case in Dunn’s trial. After testimony in the courtroom ended, jurors accompanied attorneys from both sides to the rural road where the 2018 shooting took place. Prosecutors intended to give them a firsthand visual of the scene to disprove Dunn’s selfdefense theory

After the parties became aware of the state Supreme Court ruling,

tions from prosecutors.

In April, the state Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a Baton Rouge teacher accused of bashing a car on a flooded street with a baseball bat and threatening its occupants with a gun. Johnson Rose originally read out a verdict of “not guilty,” but then returned everyone to the courtroom and issued a guilty verdict, saying the jury had misunderstood the instructions.

In overturning the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that Johnson Rose had improperly met with jurors alone after the trial. In a concurrence, one of the justices went so far as to question Johnson Rose’s “professional competency.”

Then, in May, Johnson Rose had to vacate the guilty plea of Texas lawyer who admitted to setting his ex-girlfriend’s Baton Rouge home on fire because the judge suspended too much of his prison time. Johnson Rose, who is Black, accused East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore’s office of

attorneys met with 20th Judicial District Court Judge Kathryn “Betsy” Jones in her chambers and discussed how to properly apply the ruling to Dunn’s trial. The sides agreed to modify the instructions Jones gave to the jury She advised them that only 10 jurors would have to find Dunn not guilty for an acquittal to stand.

The jury deliberated about an hour before rendering its verdict, according to prosecutors and defense attorneys.

“systematically targeting Black men” during an April 29 sidebar with prosecutors and public defenders. The judge was frustrated that attorneys were requesting another postponement in a case that languished on her docket without resolution, and sought to have the defendant plead guilty to crimes he denied committing.

“The young man doesn’t have any fricking felonies. And I know that the DA probably wants every young Black man in prison, but I don’t,” Johnson Rose said during the bench conference with attorneys.

“And this case is goddamn four years old now,” she said. “And that’s the best that y’all can come up with? You’re just going to what, stick every n***** in jail?”

Three weeks after Johnson Rose made the comments — and eight days after

excellent care they provide to Beverly. Arrangements by Ourso Funeral Home of Gonzales. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be sharedat www.oursofh.com.

for and praying for Donna. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Woman's Hospital Foundation, The Hospice of Baton Rouge or Our LadyofMercy Catholic Church. Funeral services will be held on Friday, February 14, 2025 at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church (Baton Rouge, La) with visitation from1:003:00 PM followed by mass at 3:00 PM.Burial to follow at theOur Lady of Mercy Garden of Peace.

Brenda Petty Ackman 83, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Sunday February 9, 2025. Visitation will be on Saturday Febru‐ary 15, 2025 at Charlet Fu‐neral Home, Inc Zachary from 9:00 am until service time at 12 noon Burial will follow in Masonic Ceme‐tery in Clinton Brenda is survived by her loving hus‐band of 58 years, Gaius Ackman daughter, Deanna Mankins (Scott), son, Michael Ackman (Amanda), grandchildren, Molly Svoren (Raymond) Michael Mankins, Mallory Mankins, Thomas Ackman Cooper Ackman (Anna), and Caleb Ackman (Na‐talea), and one greatgrandchild, Jameson Svoren. She is preceded in death by her parents, Mar‐vin and Bernice Petty Brenda graduated from Clinton High School in 1960 and Spencer Business Col‐lege in 1962. She enjoyed gardening and her flowers but most of all, she loved spending time with her family She was the best mom and the picture-per‐fect grandma. Her family and friends never had to wonder how much she loved them. She always put others' needs above her own, which was a testa‐ment to who she was We will miss her every day but are thankful for the assur‐ance we will see her again.

Beverly Ann Ayo, aresident of St. Amant La, passed away on Friday, February 7, 2025 at the age of 87. She was born in St. Amant, La on February 20, 1937. She is survived by three daughters, Katharine Walker (Thomas), Lisa Henley (Rick), and Lori Spillman (Darryl); one son, Gary Ayo (Michelle); 10 grandchildren, Clint Walker, Brandi Scivicque, Daphne Landry, Gary Ayo, Jr., Shnoa Clements, Erica Kennett, Richard Henley, Jr., Justin Boyd, Wyatt Spillman, Bailee Spillman; 26 great grandchildren; sisters, Verna Moran Michel, Patsy Moran Sibley (Alfred), and Donna Moran Babin; and brother-in-law, Donald J. Templet. She was preceded in death by her husband, Herbert "Jr" Ayo; mother, Bernice Laiche Moran; father, Lamar J. Moran Sr.; sister, Diane Templet; brother and sister-in-law, Lamar "L J" Moran Jr. (Wynonna); brother-in-law, Leroy Babin, niece, Renee Sibley; and nephews, Blake Michel, Brian Moran, and Jasen Templet. Acelebration of Beverly's Life will be held at Ourso Funeral Home, 13533 airline Hwy, Gonzales, La. on Friday, February 14, 2025 from 1 pm to 5pm. The family would like to thank Dr. Shows and his staff at Mary Bird Perkins for the excellent care they provide to Beverly. Arrangements by Ourso Funeral Homeof Gonzales. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.oursofh.com.

other relatives and friends; preceded in death by his parents Estelle and Robert Banks Jr and a sister Vanessa Banks

Donna Wentworth Brian peacefully passed away at her home on February 8, 2025, surroundedbyher family. She was born on October11, 1962, in Hammond, Louisiana.Donna grew up in Baton Rouge where she attended Belaire High School and played the clarinet in the marching band. She loved planning the Class of 1980" reunions for the past forty-four years. As afunloving soul, she often spoke of her favoritechildhood memory of riding dirt bikes with herfather. Donna formed relationships that lasteda lifetime and enjoyedspending quality time with each of hertreasured friends. Anatural born hostess with alove for all things glitter and gold, Donna was always entertaining, decorating and party planning for friends and family. Donna was also awell-loved member of the Ruffino's team and was always ajoy to have around both the office and the restaurant Her latest passion was remodeling the country home of her grandparents in Darlington, Louisiana for the futureenjoyment of her childrenand grandchildren. She enjoyed entertaining and having cookouts in the yard, just asher grandparentsdid.She was along-time parishioner of Our Lady of Mercy Church, spending many years as a devotedvolunteerfor the school, including serving as amemberofthe OLOM School Board. She was also amemberofthe Catholic High School Mothers' Club and volunteeredatSt. Joseph's Academy.Inhonor of her service,she was a recipient of The Diocese of Baton Rouge Mother Seton Award. Of all her lifeexperiences, Donna's greatest reward was her beautiful, thirty-five year marriage to her devotedhusband, Frank, and the family that they built together. She found her calling in motherhood with apassion for caring for herchildren.She was abeautiful example of an unwavering faith in God and apowerful relationship with the Blessed Mother and all of the Saints and Angels.She will always be remembered as acompassionate and selfless daughter,wife, friend and, above all,mother. Donna is survivedbyher husband, Frank Brian, and her belovedchildren: AynsleyBrian Scheuermann(Chandler), Grant "Tick" Brian (Anna Catherine) and Briggs Brian (Victoria Byrd), as well as by her grandson, Graham Scheuermann, to whom she was affectionately known as "Goldie "Graham brought Donna an immeasurable amount of joy. Donna is also survived by her motherCamille Courtney Wentworth and sister, Michelle Vince Johnston (Richard). She waspreceded in death by her father, Wayland Wentworth. The Brian Family would like to thank the physicians, nurses and staff at the Woman's Hospital Cancer Pavilion and The Hospice of Baton Rouge team. In addition, aspecial thank you to FatherCleo Milano, FatherCharbel Jamhoury, FatherMark Beard, Donna's sister-in-law, Renee Brian and countless other family members and friends who selflessly devoted their time to caring for and praying for Donna. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Woman's Hospital Foundation, The Hospice of Baton Rouge or Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church. Funer-

James Ducote, anative of Hessmer, LA,resident of Bueche, LA.a wonderful husband, loving father and grandfather passed away on February 10, 2025, at Our Ladyofthe Lake Hospital at theage of 88. Jim, as he was affectionately known will always be remembered as aman of great faith being kind, generous and most of allgenuine. He loved life and lived it to the fullest, but his big heart was tired, so our Lord took him home to rest peacefully in His arms. Heaven has truly gained an angel and those of us left behind will miss him tremendously. We are so grateful for thetime that we had withhim, but goodbyes are never easy. Jim was the owner of Ducote Plumbing Co. for over 40 years an accomplishment he was very proud of. He was always honest and dependable and expected the same of his many loyal employees over the years. At the age of 75 he retired and began doing small plumbing repair jobs for which he was well known. He even received aphone call for ajob as he lay in his hospital bed.Heloved LSU football and of course the Saints. He loved cooking for his family, music and dancing with our mother, telling jokes and making others laugh. He loved making his big spring and fall gardens and sharing the fruits of his labor with family and friends. He was also known as the "Egg Man" he loved his chicken farm and selling his eggs all over.Raising cattle was another thing he enjoyed in his younger years. He served as the Justice of the Peace in Ward 6, West Baton Rouge Parish from2009 until his death. He was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and amember of the KnightsofColumbus #8878. He cherished his time at Manresa for annual retreats up until recently. He served as aCorporal in the 769th AAA, BN Army National Guard of the US and the Army National Guard of Louisiana from March 8, 1954, to March 7, 1957. He is survived by his wife and best friend of almost 49 years Elise Ducote, hisdaughters, Lisa (Kirk), Charlotte (Tootie), Cathy, Tami and sons, Mark, Todd (Missy) and Tommy. Grandchildren Jeanine, Kacie, Trey, Justin M., Illisa, Justin L., Todd, Braelyn and Chance. Great Grandchildren, Haelyn, Cora, Emelia, Landon, Luke, Eli, Adley, Presley, Lane, Taylor, Michaela, Adelaide, Emile and Jace. One great-great randdaughter, Oaklynn Ann. Proceeded in death by his first wife Evelyn Ducote, grandson Michael Britt and son-in-law Paul Britt. Pallbearers, Kirk White, Tommy Lott, Trey White, Chance Lott, Todd Lott, II. and Jace Lott.Honorary Pallbearers, Jesse Gardener, Mark Lott, Todd Lott, Bud Carrier, LeonDay, Wesley Torres and Scott Boudreaux. VisitationFriday February 14, 2025, at Niland's Funeral Home, 210 West End Dr., New Roads, LA from6-9pm with Funeral Mass on Saturday February 15, 2025 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Lakeland,LA. at 10:00am. In lieuofflowers donations may be made to ImmaculateConception, Lakeland,LA, PO Box 158, Lakeland,LA70752, American Heart Associationor St. Jude Children's Hospital.

Berta ElizabethLovett Gay, anative of Walker, age 81, passed away in her home surrounded by her family on Saturday, February 8, 2025. Relatives and friends are invited to attend Bert's visitation Thursday, February 13, 2024, from 9:00 AM until the memorial service begins at 11:00 AM. Services will be conducted by Pastor Clint Mitchell. The family requests In lieuofflowers please consider donating to JudsonBaptist Church Bereavement Food Ministry. Arrangements have been entrusted to McLin Funeral Home of Walker, 225-755-9757. Online condolences may be shared at www.mclinfuner alhome.com

Jan Dorsey Graham passed away on Monday, February 10, 2025, at the age of 74. She was born July 15, 1950, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A1968 graduate of East Ascension High School, Jan received her associatedegree from Draughn Business College. For decades, Jan worked in and managed bowling centers in Louisiana, New York, and New Jersey. She retired as theRegistrar at St. Michael theArchangel High School.

She is preceded in death by her mother, Margaret Jo Dorsey; her maternal grandparents, Vannie and Ruby Vines; her brother, Jimmy "Bud"Dorsey; and her previous husband, Lynn Graham.

Jan will especially be missed by her devoted partner of 24 years, Ronnie Tircuit,with whom life was aconstant adventure. Jan is also survived by her loving children, JasonGraham and wife Jami-Lynn, Stephanie Graham-Moore and husband Brian; "bonus daughters" Carmen Hebert and husband David,and Carla Tircuit; and her beloved grandchildren Jessika and Julia; Conner and Drew, Jewel, Brian Jr., Taylor, and Asia; Carsonand Caroline; and Paige; as well as numerous other family and friends.

"Fun comes first!" is how many would define Jan. She was always ready to go! Whether it was dancing and listening to live music, playing her favorite slots at the casino, cruising, bowling, or traveling -you knew if Jan was there, it was going to be memorable. She had an uncanny abilitytotreat everyone like family; you never had to doubt her devotion.

Our beloved mother, Nana, and friend will forever live on in the many "Jan stories" that so many have.

Although Jan was known for being perpetually late, we invite relatives and friendstoattend the visitation beginning at 12:30 p.m., with afuneral service at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at Resthaven Funeral Home, 11817 Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge. Interment will immediately follow at Resthaven Gardens of Memory.

For those of us that knew Jan's favorite quote, the answer is... "We know where you are now, but we will miss you always."

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

ris, Sr. andViola Dawson Harris. He passed away at home on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. He is survived by his wife of 71 years, DianaUggen Harris, hisdaughter Karen Harris Jewell and her husband James Jewell, son Scott Harris and wife Lisa Smith Harris and Karen Poole Harris, daughter-in-law. Also survived by sister Elaine Harris Roy, grandchildren Ryan Harris, Zachary Harris and wife PratikshaMalbari Harris, Luke Harris, Alix Harris Smith, Jason Harris and fiancé Sarah Cambre, Nick Harris, Tim Harris, Jamie Jewell Kent and husbandBrandon Kent, John Jewell, Great grandchildren,Aiden Harris, Asher Harris, John Carroll Harris. Preceded in death by parents and son, Jeffrey Carroll Harris, sister Roma Harris Mullins and mother and father-inlaw Leah Norden Uggen and Donald Stuart Uggen Sr. He graduated from Istrouma High School in 1951 and LSU. He retired from Ethyl Corporation and Georgia Gulf where he was technical support to sales and marketing. He was an expert in the early development of injection molding of PVC plastics. All of his life he was interested in airplanes and flew model airplanes. Then he got his private pilot license at the age of 63. He and friend Boyd Shelton built their own engines to fly model speed planes that held 2 world records for 2years. Other hobbies included building computers and playing tennis at Bocage Racquet Clubuntil he was 87 years old. He couldrepair almost anything, he was even called "Mr. Goodwrench" by his son's friends. Friendship Force of Baton Rouge was one of the organizations he and Diana enjoyed.They traveled all over the world and hosted foreign club members for 30 years. He was a member of the Red Stick Radio Control Airplane Flying Club and the Society of Plastics Engineers. He endured tent camping in the Smoky Mountains with his family and enjoyed being the water ski boat pilot for the family on the Ticfaw River. Scott and Jeff have fond memories of Sunday afternoons, chasingthe model airplane launching dollies on the parking lots of LSU. Relatives and friends are invited to attend avisitation at Greenoaks Funeral Home, 9595 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge, on Thursday, February 13, 2025 from 12:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. with afuneral service to follow. Burial

Louis, Russell Nicholas Russell Nicholas Louis, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, andgreatgrandfather, passed away peacefully at hishome in Baton Rouge on February 11, 2025, surrounded by his loving family. He was 80 years old. Born in Plaquemine, Louisiana, on October 7, 1944, to the late Sam and Nell Louis, Russell lived afull and vibrant life in hishome state. He proudly served his country as acryptologist in the Navy and Air Forcefrom 1962 to 1968. After his military service, he earned a degree in business managementand became a successful owner and operator of several restaurants in the Baton Rouge area. Russell is survived by his loving spouse, Genell Louis; his devoted children, RustyLouis and Lynette "Sissy" Anders, Dwayne and Brandi Louis, Ron and Janet Rockforte, Angela Louis, and Nikki and Jason Mark; his eleven grandchildren,Kayla Lasserre, Sam Louis, Alyssa Seo, Trey Rockforte, Riley Louis, Delaney Louis, Brant Rockforte, Trent Rockforte, Ruby Louis, Jack Louis, and Sarah Rockforte; as well as seven great-grandchildren.He will be deeply missed by all who knew him. Adevoted member of Maranatha Fellowship Church of God, Russell's faith was acornerstone of hislife. He cherished time spent with family andfriends, particularly at City Café, agathering place where many cherished memories were created. His artistic talents shone brightly, but his greatest joy came from his family, especially his grandchildren and his passion for LSU sports. He delighted in watching all of them compete, sharing his knowledge and wisdom, and simply enjoyingtheir company. These moments, often spent in comfortable conversation,were some of the cherished highlights of hislife. Acelebration of

Ducote, James 'Jim'

Simpson, Shirley Emerald Coast Theatre Company Grand Boulevard, San Destin FL at 11am

Graham, Jan

Vaughan, Toni

Wascom, JoAnn

Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs at 12pm

Obituaries Brian, Donna Wentworth

Ackman, Brenda Petty

Ayo, Beverly Ann

Harris Jr., Berlin Carroll 'BC'

Age 91, was born in Baton Rouge, LA on May 27, 1933 to Berlin Carroll Harris, Sr. and Viola Dawson Harris. He passed away at home on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Diana Uggen Harris, his daughter Karen Harris Jewell and her husband James Jewell, son Scott Harris and wife Lisa Smith

daughter-in-law. Al-

survived by sister Elaine

Gay, Berta Elizabeth Lovett

Berta ElizabethLovett Gay, anative of Walker, age 81, passed away in her home surrounded by her family on Saturday, Febru-

OUR VIEWS

La. rice farmers are collateral damage in fight over USAID

The hastily developed and executed pause in aid from the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has thrown some of Louisiana’s farmers into limbo as they wait to find out if programs that bought a significant portion of their crops will continue.

Within weeks of taking office, President Donald Trump and his point person on governmental spending, Elon Musk, abruptly shuttered many operations at USAID and ordered freezes on many aid programs, alleging wasteful spending. Among the programs affected were those that bought crops — including Louisiana rice — for foreign food aid.

Trump’s announcement left rice industry leaders scrambling, with USA Rice Federation Michael Klein saying that they weren’t sure the “full extent of what’s happening.”

State Rep. Troy Romero, a Republican from Jennings in southwest Louisiana, expressed disbelief that the food aid programs would be ended.

“I cannot imagine that program — as good as it is would be one of the ones that they would cut out,” Romero said

Good will programs, like those run by USAID, have helped supply Louisiana rice to places all over the globe. They are one of the best examples of the use of American “soft power.” They also provide important markets for American farmers.

In Louisiana and Arkansas, about 50% of the rice produced is exported and as much of 10% of that is part of food aid programs to other countries, estimated Michael Fruge, a rice farmer in Eunice.

It’s not just Louisiana farmers affected. Agriculture producers around the country have raised alarms about cutting USAID programs, which could affect some $340 million in food aid, including rice, soybeans and wheat, according to a report in The Washington Post.

White House officials have insisted that they will only cut programs that do not help Americans. A White House spokeswoman has said that includes “protecting America’s farmers.”

It seems natural that the Trump administration would want to protect Louisiana rice farmers, many of whom are likely among his most ardent supporters A hit to rice lands hard: Louisiana is the third-largest producer of rice in the country, behind only Arkansas and California More than 425,000 acres of rice are grown in the state.

In the near term, we urge Louisiana’s congressional leaders, especially Reps. Clay Higgins and Julia Letlow, whose districts include many of these producers, to work to get these programs up and running again as soon as possible And going forward, we beg our leaders to think of the knock-on effects that hurried, poorly thought-out policies create. Cutting wasteful spending is a worthy objective, but can’t be done with the same haste as a triumphalist social media post.

Plenty of federal programs such as those run by USAID require thoughtful, nuanced approaches When leaders follow a “cut it all, figure it out later” method, it creates chaos downstream. In this case, Louisiana farmers are collateral damage.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title 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.

OPINION

YOUR VIEWS

Protect federal workers from political attacks

Louisiana’s federal employees — and millions like them nationwide are the backbone of our government. They process Social Security benefits, protect our environment, care for our veterans and keep our communities safe. Yet, once again, they face attacks from President Donald Trump, who seeks to dismantle the civil service and replace skilled professionals with political loyalists. His latest scheme — a so-called “deferred resignation” offer — is a trap. There is no legal basis for it, and those who accept could find themselves unemployed with no recourse. Even more dangerous is Schedule F, a reckless policy designed to strip civil servants of job protections, allowing mass firings based on political loyalty rather than expertise. The goal? To replace competence with compliance. Union-busting, contract violations and political purges don’t just harm federal workers — they harm every

American who depends on government services Gutting agencies means delayed Social Security payments, fewer resources for veterans and weaker law enforcement. We cannot allow this blatant power grab to weaken the institutions that serve us all.

To every federal worker in Louisiana and beyond: You are valued, you are needed and you are not alone. As a proud member of Congress, I will fight to protect your rights, your jobs and the integrity of your service. The government should be staffed by professionals based on merit — not loyalty to any politician.

Americans deserve a government that works for them, not one manipulated for political gain. I urge my colleagues and citizens to stand against these dangerous proposals and defend our civil service.

U.S. REP TROY A CARTER SR. Louisiana’s Second Congressional District

Congress can help in fight against Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are a rapidly growing public health issue in Louisiana and throughout the nation. Alzheimer’s is one of the most expensive diseases in America, costing $360 billion in 2024. One in every 5 Medicare dollars is spent on someone with Alzheimer’s. As the granddaughter of someone living with dementia, I understand the firsthand impact this disease has on families across America. My grandma has been one of the biggest influences on my life. It’s difficult to see one of the strongest women I know battling such a heartbreaking disease. Without my nonna, I wouldn’t be the person I am today That is why I am proud to be a volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association and the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, which have been working to ad-

dress the Alzheimer’s crisis. I’m grateful for the efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association and the progress that is being made toward finding a cure for Alzheimer’s and dementia, with the hope that others may not have to experience the effects of this disease in the future.

Working with bipartisan congressional champions, we’ve made monumental progress in advancing critical research and ensuring all affected families have access to care and support. But more work remains. As a new member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields can play an important role in building on this progress. Please join me in encouraging Fields to support the fight against Alzheimer’s and other dementia.

HOLLY VALDIVIESO Baton Rouge

Trump supporters should be ashamed of Jan. 6 pardons

We have reelected a president who continues to condone political violence. Everyone who has supported Donald Trump is now complicit in his approval of acts of violence on police officers. We have set free from restraint a detestable tempest. Our lawmakers have helped this repugnant morality persist.

Maybe now we should learn from the Old Testament quote: “For they have sown the wind, and shall reap the whirlwind.”

Police officers put their lives on the line constantly for us and should have more support than this president has shown. He can wrap himself in a flag, but that doesn’t make him any less reprehensible for his support and pardoning of the Jan. 6, 2021, convicted and accusable traitors and criminals.

People cannot stay neutral or silent during times of injustice.

JOHN RIEDIE Belle Chasse

LSU law professor Ken Levy forgot basic requirement of the job

Ken Levy an instructor at LSU Law School, is not fit to be teaching students.

You cannot intimidate students because they don’t agree with your political views.

His comments about the governor and the president are not the issue.

The issue is allowing dissenting views to be talked about in an academic setting without vulgarity or disrespect.

Ken Levy forgot that.

RICHARD LEVY New Orleans

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCAN

HIGH STEPPING!

Carnival parade prep is in full swing and it looks like this krewe is gonna take its 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.The winning punchline will be lettered into the word balloon and run on Monday. In addition, the winner will receive a signed print of the cartoon along with a cool winner’s T-shirt! 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 is midnight on Thursday. Have fun, folks! — Walt

BEHIND THE HEADLINES TRUMP CABINET NOMINEES

Bill Cassidy’s big bet

GOP senator staked his future on support for RFK

Louisiana

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy faced the hardest and most closely watched decision of his political life over whether to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s highly controversial nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services. Columnists Quin Hillyer and Stephanie Grace discuss the fallout from the Republican physician’s “yes” vote, despite deep concerns he made plain in hearings before the Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity

Grace: Quin, were you surprised that Cassidy voted the way he did?

Hillyer: Let me start by saying that I have generally been an admirer of Bill Cassidy I think he has been a good senator and seems like a good man. But yes, I was definitely surprised.

I thought that on this nomination, of all nominations, Cassidy would believe that he could fall back on his background as a doctor and if there were any one nomination where he could have gotten a pass, as it were, this was the one. And if there were any one nomination where he should have felt absolutely — professionally and ethically — bound to stop it, this was the one, because he knows darn well what an absolute frightening quack Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is.

Grace: Right, and he really did a good job of showing that during the hearings. He talked a lot about vaccines. I didn’t know the extent to which Cassidy had worked specifically on vaccine research and immunization programs as a physician. So he really was speaking from a place of expertise, and having had patients become sick and die who could have been saved It was very personal.

And the other thing he did very effectively in the Finance Committee hearing was to really show that Kennedy doesn’t understand in any depth how Medicare and Medicaid work. It was factual questioning aimed at soliciting his ideas, not gotcha questioning, but I think that made it even more damaging.

Hillyer: I agree with you. He was getting praise from all sources, right, middle and left, for his very sober, thoughtful, effective questioning of RFK. Philip Klein, in National Review Online, had a piece called “Bill Cassidy’s finest hour.” So again, if he needed political cover, that questioning gave him political cover and then he backed out

The question is: Do you, as somebody who has been covering Louisiana politics for so long, think that this vote on RFK is going to do anything to help him in the 2026 primary? And on the other hand, is there any way that it could hurt him?

Grace: You know, I don’t think it moves the ball very much, because I really feel like the conditions are baked in right now and have been baked in since 2021, when he was one of only a few Republicans who voted to convict Donald Trump in the Jan. 6-related impeachment of inciting the insurrection. That’s when the Republican Party of Louisiana censured him. That’s when the kind of MAGA true believers really started to talk about him as a turncoat — and that dynamic has only grown since then. So that’s the original sin, and I don’t think he gets forgiven by those people for it And the very important thing that’s happened since then is that the state went to party primaries, in part because of him; state Treasurer John Fleming who used to work for Trump and is now planning to challenge Cassidy, basically said in a letter to the editor that it’s because of people like Bill Cassidy that we need these Republican primaries, that we don’t want to elect people who won’t be true to what we Republicans think they should be.

So, I don’t know Certainly they would have attacked him if he had voted against Kennedy, but they’re coming for him anyway And at the same time, I think he did lose some good will [by voting for Kennedy]. I don’t know how many votes it would have translated into, but he certainly disappointed people who were hoping he would

Jr.

stand up and do exactly what you were describing earlier Some of them might be “no party” voters who’ll be allowed to vote in the GOP primary next year

Hillyer: I think so too. As you said, he doesn’t gain anything from the MAGA crowd. They’re still going to be against him, but now he loses a ton of credibility with people who are conservative, but who do not think that that means that you have to kowtow to everything Donald Trump does.

And there are also big money people who feel the latter way, and now they’re going to look at Cassidy and say, well, if he’s just going to be Tweedledum to somebody else’s Tweedledee, why support him?

But again, those are political calculations. There also should be just ethical imperatives to not confirm somebody who is manifestly unqualified for this position.

And if you’re a conservative, I could go down a very long list of policy positions that are absolute anathema to conservatives. And then, finally, he has absolutely no background running an organization this size, or even anything close to it And as you said, no knowledge about how Medicare or Medicaid or any of these other health systems work.

Grace: I’m wondering if one of those things that you think is really kind of anticonservative is his background as a trial lawyer

Hillyer: Well, that’s one of them, but it’s more than that. Just last year, he was saying that he supports abortion all the way up until the moment of birth. He has supported price controls on medicine and a single-payer national socialized health care system. He has praised the basically communist former dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. He said that the National Rifle Association is a terrorist organization. He has said that oil and gas executives are traitors. He has said that climate change deniers should be jailed “for all eternity.” I mean, I can go on and on.

Grace: An incredible list, isn’t it?

Hillyer: Kennedy is a radical leftist, yeah, and he’s a nutcase. He has said COVID was race-engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews. He has said that the AIDS vaccine is phony, that Lyme disease is a deliberate bioweapon, and he has said that putting fluoride in the water creates more gay children.

Grace: I should say Cassidy has supported legislation promoting fluoridation. So it’s interesting you bring up abortion, because that’s something else Bill Cassidy talked about in a call with journalists right before the hearings. Kennedy is not in line with

Cassidy’s point of view and the Republican Party’s point of view on that issue so again, Cassidy was setting up multiple avenues to justify saying no. So what I wonder is, what do you think happened that secured his yes vote?

Hillyer: Who knows? We do know that the Trump apparatus has been playing hardball with every Republican senator in every way they can. You saw Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who literally told the Senate majority leader that he was a no vote on Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, and then turned around and voted yes — which, by the way, was another bad vote that Cassidy made..

Grace: Cassidy said that JD Vance, the vice president, had a conversation with him. We don’t know the substance of that conversation. He said he got some concessions from RFK to not undermine efforts to promote vaccine acceptance, and also to regularly consult with Cassidy, who chairs the committee that oversees health and other things. Cassidy described it as almost a partnership. Do we buy that?

Hillyer: OK, let me say: “Good luck, Senator, in enforcing that one.”

It is absolutely absurd to believe that somebody who has pushed for decades this nonsense on vaccines is going to actually be sincere in his conversion against something he had fought for for decades.

Grace: I agree, and there’s one more reason I want to throw in there. Look at the way the Trump administration is approaching executive power The idea that they would say “Oh, yes, Congress, come in and be an equal partner” — that is not their approach at all, to the extreme

Hillyer: It is absolutely not. And if anybody had a chance to moderate Trump on executive power, this was the vote and Cassidy was the man, because right now the Senate is playing like a big collective lap dog and completely forfeiting its own authority And at some point you give up enough of your own power that you can never get it back. We are in a bad way in terms of separation of powers.

Grace: And in addition to forfeiting their ability to be guardrails, they forfeit their claim to moral authority, right? Cassidy on medicine, some of these other senators —

I’m thinking of Joni Ernst [of Iowa], who has been a champion of women in the military and survivors of sexual assault.

She’s both, and yet, under exactly the kind of pressure tactics you described, she supported Hegseth.

So it just weakens her voice on those issues that she’s really made central to

her career The same way, I think this can weaken Cassidy’s voice on issues that are very important to him and where he has a lot of credibility with the public and with his colleagues.

Hillyer: You forfeit credibility if you do not stand up for what you know ethically and professionally is right when you have the chance to do so.

So do you think that Bill Cassidy has any real chance, now, even with this vote, of winning the 2026 Republican primary?

Grace: I think he can win a general election, but can he get there?

The way the primary is set up, there is a primary within the Republican Party, and then there is a runoff within the Republican Party if someone doesn’t get 50% plus one. I guess I would have said yes if he only had to win a plurality of Republicans and several MAGA candidates got in, which it seems like might be the case, and there is the wild card of “no party” voters that can vote in the Republican primary But he has to get a majority of Republican primary voters.

Now, one thing I’m wondering about is the behind-closed-doors conversations. Did Cassidy extract a promise from Trump, either for his endorsement or to not endorse an opponent? Did he exact some sort of promise from Gov Jeff Landry? Maybe that could help, although I still think a big segment of voters are really just dug in on this.

Hillyer: I think there are voters that are dug in on this as long as Trump remains popular within the party And nothing Cassidy can do is going to win enough MAGA voters back over to his side to win the primary unless Trump himself tanks in popularity

But if Trump tanks in popularity, Cassidy is no longer in a position to be the one who showed the sense and the courage to stand up against him. So the only distinction that he has is gone. Grace: I guess he could make other arguments, like that the infrastructure bill he championed, while all the other Republicans in the state voted against it, has been beneficial to Louisiana.

Of course, now they’re trying to cut off money for that. And it’s a complicated argument to make.

Hillyer: Yeah, I don’t see it personally And his votes for all of Trump’s nominees, even manifestly unqualified — in fact, not just unqualified, but horrific, just sick-joke types of nominees — does not recommend Cassidy as somebody who is who is keeping his head in the storm.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROD LAMKEy, JR.

Robert F Kennedy Jr., right, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, talks with Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, following his testimony during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill last month in Washington.

Stephanie Grace Quin Hillyer

Louis, Russell Nicholas Russell Nicholas Louis, a beloved husband, father grandfather, and greatgrandfather, passed away peacefully at his home in Baton Rouge on February 11, 2025, surrounded by his loving family.Hewas 80 years old. Born in Plaquemine, Louisiana, on October 7, 1944, to the late Sam and Nell Louis, Russell lived afull and vibrant life in his home state. He proudly served his country as acryptologist in the Navy and Air Force from 1962 to 1968. After his military service, he earned a degree in business management and became a successful owner and operator of several restaurants in the Baton Rouge area. Russell is survived by his loving spouse, Genell Louis; his devoted children, Rusty Louis and Lynette "Sissy" Anders, Dwayneand Brandi Louis, Ron and Janet Rockforte, Angela Louis, and Nikki and Jason Mark; his eleven grandchildren, Kayla Lasserre, Sam Louis, Alyssa Seo, Trey Rockforte, Riley Louis, Delaney Louis, Brant Rockforte, Trent Rockforte, Ruby Louis, Jack Louis, and Sarah Rockforte; as well as seven great-grandchildren. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him. Adevoted member of Maranatha Fellowship Church of God, Russell's faith was acornerstone of hislife. He cherished time spent with family and friends, particularly at City Café, agathering place where many cherished memories were created. His artistic talents shone brightly, but his greatest joy came from his family, especially his grandchildren and his passion for LSU sports. He delighted in watching all of them compete, sharing his knowledge and wisdom, and simply enjoying their company. These moments, often spent in comfortable conversation, were some of the cherished highlights of his life. Acelebration of Russell'slife will be heldat Wilbert Funeral Home Plaquemine on Friday, February 14, 2025, from 10:30 a.m. until religious services at 1:30 p.m. conducted by Pastor Jacob Douglass. Interment will follow at Grace Memorial Park, Plaquemine. Please share sympathies, condolences, and memories online at www.wilbertservices.com.

DEATHS continued from

Karen was 74 years old, born August 20, 1950. She was anative of French Settlement, Louisiana and awell known beautician who worked for herself for over 50 years. She went to be with the Lord, our heavenly Father on Wednesday, February 12, 2025at7:51a.m., surrounded by her loving family. Karen is survived by her spouse Linen Paul Matherne of nearly 56 years, an honorable Vietnam Veteran; her daughter, Jill Matherne-Persac (Perry). Other survivors include her sister, Connie Aydell Moody (Henry), and her sister Carole Aydell and daughter Jennifer Ackerman; grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her parents, (JH) Jules Hubert AydellJr. and Alberta Averette Aydell. She willbedeeply missed by those who knew and loved her.

Karen Aydell

Karenwas 74 years old, born August 20, 1950. She was anative of French Settlement, Louisiana and awell known beautician who worked for herself for over 50 years. She went to be with the Lord, our heavenly Father on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 7:51a.m.,surroundedbyher loving family.

Karenissurvivedbyher spouse Linen Paul Matherne of nearly 56 years, an honorable Vietnam Veteran; her daughter Jill Matherne-Persac (Perry).

Other survivors include her sister, Connie Aydell Moody (Henry), and her sister Carole Aydelland daughter Jennifer Ackerman; grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by herparents, (JH) Jules Hubert Aydell Jr. and Alberta Averette Aydell. She will be deeply missedbythose who knew andlovedher.

Jude "Rude Jude""Fuzzy PawPaw" Sigur -The river is literally alittle less bright without his presence.Precededindeath by his father, PatrickSigur, Sr., he is survived by his son, Eric (Savannah) Sigur; daughters, Dani (Michael) Gaspard and Aundraya Keller; mother, Carol Sigur; brothers, Patrick(Karen) and Jon (Wyn) Sigur;sisters, Christine and Angelle (Craig); formerwife,Julia Shoaf; his seven beloved grandchildren, Ryleigh and Logan Keller, Brayden, Gavin, Camryn, &Carson Gaspard, and LouieSigur. Agathering to celebrate Jude's life will be heldon Friday, February 14, 2025, at The Venue of St. Amant from 5pm until 9pm. Arrangements entrusted with Church Funeral Services. To see full obituary, please visit www.churchfuneralse rvices.com

Sincere, Aubrey Visitation services for baby Aubrey Sincere will be held Friday, February 14, 2025 at Charles Mackey Fu‐neral Home. A public visi‐tation will be held from 12:00 noon until 12:45 p.m Burial to follow at Southern Memorial Gardens Profes‐sional services entrusted to Charles Mackey Funeral Home.

Steib, Jai

Jai Steib departed this life on Thursday, February 6 2025, at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center He was 51, a native and resident of Vacherie, LA. Visitation on Thursday, February 13, 2025, at Williams & Southall Funeral Home, 5414 Hwy. 1 Napoleonville, LA from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm Visitation on Friday, February 14, 2025, at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church from 9:00 am to Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 am. Inter‐ment in the St. Phillip Catholic Church Cemetery Arrangements by Williams & Southall Funeral Home 5414 Hwy. 1, Napoleonville, LA 70390, (985) 369-7231. To sign guest book and offer condolences visit our web‐site at www williamsand southallfuneralhome.com

Kimberly Dean Sullivan, born on June 12, 1970 passed away peacefully on Friday, February 7, 2025 at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans surrounded by her family. Kim, or "Lollie" as her grandkidscalled her, was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Dr. Herschel and Dorothy Dean in 1970. She graduated from Parkview Baptist High School in 1988 and Louisiana State University in 1992. While in college,

Kimberly Dean Sullivan, born on June 12, 1970 passed away peacefully on Friday, February 7, 2025 at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans surrounded by her family. Kim, or "Lollie" as her grandkidscalled her, was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Dr. Herschel and Dorothy Dean in 1970. She graduated from Parkview Baptist High School in 1988 and Louisiana State University in 1992. While in college, Kim traveled with theContinental Singers around the world sharing the love of Jesus Christ and her incredible voice. In 2007, after noticing her community lacked atheatre program for children, Kim, known as "Cookie" to her students, launched Central Community Theatre with her family. After being diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2013, Kim underwent surgery to place aLeft Ventricular Assist Device on her heart in December 2018. After surgical complications, Kim went on to show her doctors, family, and friendswhat strength and faith through adversity looked like. Forsix years, throughmany further complications, she never gave up and spent precious time withher family, friends, and students. Her testimony has impacted thousands around the world showing them thegrace, love, and miraculous healing power of Jesus Christ On February 7, 2025, Kim finished her race and gained her eternal reward as she ran into the arms of her Lord and Savior. She is survived by her husband, Michael Sullivan; children, Addie Dean Cross and husband,Ryan Cross, Andrew Sullivan, Meghann Sullivan, Savannah Sullivan, and SophieJane Sullivan; parents, Dr. Herschel and Dorothy Dean; grandchildren, Harrison Cross, Eleanor Cross, Hollis Cross, Remington Sullivan, and Audrey Sullivan; siblings, Karen Clinkingbeard and husband,Byron, Dr. Kyle Dean and wife, Debbie, and Kesleigh Castle and husband,Chad; first niece, Claire Voelker; sister in law, Cynthia Sullivan; ahost of nieces and nephews; and all of her Central CommunityTheatre family. Kim is preceded in death by grandparents, Herschel Dean, Mary ElizabethHart, Robert Anderson, and Nelwyn Marie Anderson; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Manuel Richard Sullivan, and Ruth Sullivan; and sister-in-law, Debra Bridgers.

Relatives and friends are invited to join thefamily at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, 19421 Greenwell Springs, Greenwell Springs, LA on Friday, February 14, 2025 from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM. The visitation will continue Saturday, February 15, 2025 from 9:00 AM until the funeral service at 11:00 Am.The graveside service will fol-

Louisiana to Dr. Herschel and DorothyDean in 1970. She graduated from Parkview Baptist High School in 1988 and Louisiana State University in 1992. While in college, Kim traveled with the Continental Singers around the world sharing thelove of Jesus Christ and her incredible voice. In 2007, after noticing her community lacked atheatre program for children,Kim, known as "Cookie" to her students, launched Central Community Theatre with her family. After being diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2013, Kim underwent surgery to placea Left Ventricular Assist Device on her heart in December 2018. After surgical complications, Kim went on to show her doctors, family, and friends what strength and faith through adversity looked like. For six years, through manyfurther complications, she never gave up and spent precious time with her family, friends, and students. Her testimony has impacted thousands around theworld showing them the grace, love, and miraculoushealing power of Jesus Christ. On February 7, 2025, Kim finished her raceand gained her eternal reward as she ran into the arms of her Lord and Savior. She is survived by her husband, Michael Sullivan; children, Addie Dean Cross and husband, Ryan Cross, Andrew Sullivan, MeghannSullivan, Savannah Sullivan, and Sophie Jane Sullivan; parents, Dr. Herschel and Dorothy Dean; grandchildren,Harrison Cross, Eleanor Cross, Hollis Cross, Remington Sullivan, and Audrey Sullivan; siblings, Karen Clinkingbeard andhusband, Byron, Dr.Kyle Dean and wife, Debbie, and Kesleigh Castle and husband, Chad; first niece, Claire Voelker; sister in law,Cynthia Sullivan; ahost of nieces and nephews; andall of her Central Community Theatre family. Kim is preceded in death by grandparents, Herschel Dean, Mary Elizabeth Hart, Robert Anderson, and Nelwyn Marie Anderson; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Manuel Richard Sullivan,and Ruth Sullivan; and sister-in-law, Debra Bridgers. Relatives and friends are invited to join the family at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, 19421 Greenwell Springs, Greenwell Springs, LA on Friday, February 14, 2025 from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM. The visitation will continue Saturday, February 15, 2025 from 9:00 AM until the funeral service at 11:00 Am. The graveside servicewill follow immediately at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church Cemetery.

Sister Leamenia Veal, a beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, aunt, cousin,and friend was born August 11, 1997. Leamenia departed this life at the age of 27 on February 6, 2025, just the way she wanted to, at home with her parents holding herhands.

Menia leaves to cherish her memories: herloving parents, Jones H., Sr. and Gwendolyn A. Veal; Brother Jones H. Veal, Jr. (Taneshia), nephewsEli D. and Isiah J. Veal all of Zachary, LA. Grandfather, Frank Alexander of Zachary, LA. Heraunts and uncles; FrankA.Alexander, Sr. (Pearl) of Kathleen, GA, Henry R. Alexander, Larry J. Alexander, Sr. (Nora Yvette) all of Baton Rouge, LA, PaulD.Alexander of Zachary, LA, and Carlos T. Alexander of Richardson TX ;Rev. Lafayette Veal, Jr. of Zachary, LA, Melvin L. Veal (Dorine) of San Diego, CA, Chette L. Veal, Sr. of Zachary, LA, Pat M. Veal (Michelle) of Denham Springs, LA, DianeV.Davis (Tyrone) of Zachary, LA, Bernadine Veal of St. Francisville,LA, Delores V. Baker of Baker, LA, and Ethel Veal of Addis, LA. Godparents -Larry J. Alexander, Sr. of Baton Rouge, LA and Gloria D. Hamilton,of Zachary, LA. God children: Sydnee Marie Robinson of Denham Springs, LA, and Kyler T. Jackson of Baywood, LA. Avery special aunt, Anissa Veal of Humble, TX; achildhood best friend Kourtney Jackson of Baywood, LA, and hersister in college DiamondJ Lee of Kenner, LA, and a host of aunts, uncle, cousins, andfriends.

Menia was preceded in death by herbeloved maternal grandmother Leatrice H. Alexander, and paternal grandparents Rev. Lafayette Veal Sr. and Elmenia J. Veal, uncles: Calvin N. Veal, Sr., Jerry L.

Sister Leamenia Veal, a beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, aunt, cousin,and friend was born August 11, 1997. Leamenia departed this life at the age of 27 on February 6, 2025, just the way she wanted to, at home with her parents holding herhands. Menia leaves to cherish her memories: herloving parents, Jones H., Sr. and Gwendolyn A. Veal; Brother Jones H. Veal, Jr. (Taneshia), nephewsEli D. and Isiah J. Veal all of Zachary, LA. Grandfather, Frank Alexander of Zachary, LA. Heraunts and uncles; FrankA.Alexander, Sr. (Pearl) of Kathleen, GA, Henry R. Alexander, Larry J. Alexander, Sr. (Nora Yvette) all of Baton Rouge, LA, PaulD.Alexander of Zachary, LA, and Carlos T. Alexander of Richardson, TX ;Rev. Lafayette Veal, Jr. of Zachary, LA, Melvin L. Veal (Dorine) of San Diego, CA, Chette L. Veal, Sr. of Zachary, LA, Pat M. Veal (Michelle) of Denham Springs, LA, DianeV.Davis (Tyrone) of Zachary, LA, Bernadine Veal of St. Francisville,LA, Delores V. Baker of Baker, LA, and Ethel Veal of Addis, LA. Godparents -Larry J. Alexander, Sr. of Baton Rouge, LA and Gloria D. Hamilton,of Zachary, LA. God children: Sydnee Marie Robinson of Denham Springs, LA, and Kyler T. Jackson of Baywood, LA. Avery special aunt, Anissa Veal of Humble, TX; achildhood best friend Kourtney Jackson of Baywood, LA, and hersister in college DiamondJ Lee of Kenner, LA, and a host of aunts, uncle, cousins, andfriends. Menia was preceded in death by her beloved maternal grandmother Leatrice H. Alexander, and paternal grandparents Rev. Lafayette Veal Sr. and Elmenia J. Veal, uncles: Calvin N. Veal, Sr., Jerry L. Johnson,aunts- Iona Veal, AugustineJohnson, Katherine G. Alexander, and ahost of other aunts and uncles; her godbrother Christoper Price. Avisitation will be held from 9:00 am to 11:00 am on Friday, February 14, 2025, at Greater Philadelphia Baptist Church, 24497 Cook Rd., Zachary, LA until the funeral serviceat11:00 am. Services conductedby Pastor Lorenzo T. Bennett. Interment -Strangers Home Baptist Church, 8525 Lemon Rd., Slaughter, LA 70777.

Ella Zito, Presley Zito, and Lyla Vicknair, andnephew Landon Vicknair. He is preceded in death by his mother Shirley

sister-in-law Amy Zito, grandparents Mervin and Leona Gourgues, and Paul and Jean Zito. Aspecial thanks to all of Brian's friends, family, and coworkers for thesupport and prayers for him over these last two years. There will be avisitation at St. Johnthe Evangelist Catholic Church on February 15, 2025 from 11am to 1pm with aservicestarting at 1pm.

Matherne,

Sullivan, Kimberly Dean

Veal, Leamenia Marie

Veal, Leamenia Marie

Sigur, Jude Joseph

Matherne Aydell

Zito, Brian Joseph

Brian Joseph Zito passed at theage of 47 on February 5, 2025. He was born on February 27, 1977 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to hisparents Harold and Shirley Zito. Brian was a graduate of St. John High School and worked as a salesman at Team Mazda. He enjoyed spending his time with family, watching sports, andcooking. He is survived by his father Harold Zito, sister Kayla Vicknair (Andrew), brother Blake Zito, nieces

Zito,

Sullivan, Kimberly Dean

ENTICING TRAITS

The more I learn about Kellen Moore, the more I like him.

The New Orleans Saints have landed a rising star as their next head coach. Moore arrives with a strong résumé and stellar reputation NFL folks rave about his intelligence, composure and makeup. All things considered he is as qualified of a candidate as the Saints could have hoped to land as the 12th head coach in franchise history

What I like best about Moore is his makeup. His background reveals a track record of success. He’s a classic achiever and has succeeded at every

step of his life and career He was a state champion and record-setter at Prosser (Washington) High School. At Boise State, he set national records and left as the winningest quarterback in college football history (51-3). As an NFL assistant, he has guided top-ranked

offenses and won a Lombardi Trophy Those things don’t happen by accident.

The son of a coach, Moore grew up around football. At a young age, he learned the intangible traits necessary to succeed in life. He drank water instead of sodas and didn’t eat candy or cake (his diet might need to change come Carnival season). He started working out with the players on his father’s high school team at the age of 5. And as he got older he became a film

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

The long strides and the post moves of Robert Miller shined brighter than ever Wednesday night. The LSU men’s basketball freshman slipped a ball screen, receiving a pass a step under the 3-point line. The 6-foot-10 forward with a 7-4 wingspan took one dribble and swooped in for a sweet layup. Not too long after,

BY SCOTT RABALAIS

ville, Arkansas. Miller had a career-high 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting for LSU (12-12, 1-10 SEC). His previous high was nine points. Cam Carter had 15 points, but the Tigers lost after beating the Razorbacks 7874 at home on Jan. 14.

The Tigers opened the game by exploiting Arkansas’ poor defense with their screen and roll actions. They created easy opportunities to finish around the basket for the

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

Nobody knows anything yet about what kind of head coach Kellen Moore will be for the New Orleans Saints, because he never has been a head coach before.

But Moore as an offensive play-caller a role he presumably will take on with the Saints, has six seasons worth of data and interviews to help provide some insight on what he may bring to the sidelines. His offenses have enjoyed a lot of success during his time as an NFL coach Here are a few reasons why Lean into strengths

This is the thing that is most evident when looking through Moore’s body of work as an offensive play-caller: His offense pivots depending on the players at his disposal.

During his lone year in Philadelphia, Moore realized he had one of the league’s best running backs in Saquon Barkley, one of the league’s best offensive lines and a quarterback who was a threat to run. The Eagles proceeded to run the ball on an NFL-high 55.7% of their offensive snaps.

The commitment to the run was a success: The Eagles not only ranked second in the NFL in rushing but also third in expected points added (EPA) per rush and second in rushing yards over expectation. But the 2024 season stands out in stark contrast compared to some of Moore’s previous seasons. His 2023 Chargers and 2019, 2020 and 2021 Cowboys teams each passed the ball roughly 60% of the time offenses that were built around the quarterback and the receiving options at his disposal. How this plays out with the Saints likely will depend on how the roster shakes out in the coming months, but at the moment the best players Moore has are receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed, and running back Alvin Kamara.

Motion

If you’re looking for a consistent thread in his offenses through the years, it is his use of pre-snap motion. Moore’s teams have used pre-snap motion on at least 51% of their plays in each of his six seasons as offensive coordinator, topping out at a 69.8% motion rate in 2023 with the Chargers.

Here is a look at how much pre-snap motion his teams have used during his time as an offensive coordinator, ac-

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, right, speaks with quarterback Jalen Hurts during Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday

Jeff Duncan

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU gymnast KJ Johnson leads the team out of the tunnel during introductions for the NCAA gymnastics championships on April 20 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Mulkey, CBS journalist to hold event

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

Coach Kim Mulkey will host a pub-

lic Q&A session on the LSU campus with CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford

According to an Eventbrite posting, Mulkey will guide the discussion, centering it around Crawford’s “law and journalism insights.” The forum will begin at 5 p.m. March 11 inside the Cox Auditorium.

“We’re gonna open it up to questions,” Mulkey said Tuesday on her weekly radio show “It’s gonna be like a fireside chat, and I’m gonna be like the moderator You can ask anything. We’ll open it up. Mulkey said she and Crawford are friends. The LSU women’s basketball coach recently floated the idea of inviting Crawford to the university, she said, so she could speak with students, faculty and anyone else who wished to attend.

“I did it one day without her knowing it,” Mulkey said, “and they took me up on it.” Crawford, according to her CBS News bio, is a “recognized authority” on the U.S. Supreme Court

She’s also a New York Times bestselling author who’s sat down for interviews with five current Supreme Court justices, including the first network TV interview with Chief Justice John Roberts ever granted. She joined CBS News

Kelsey Plum of the Los Angeles Sparks fields questions on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

LSU

in 2009. Crawford’s Q&A session with Mulkey is organized through a partnership between the LSU school of mass communication, law center and honors college.

Tough stretch ahead

LSU has begun one of the most difficult stretches of games it has encountered so far under Mulkey

As many as five of the No. 5 Tigers’ final six regular-season contests could turn into matchups against teams ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 poll. LSU already has beaten No. 19 Ten-

ä LSU at Texas. 2P.M.SUNDAy ABC

nessee, and it will soon face No. 3 Texas, No. 8 Kentucky and No. 21 Alabama.

Ole Miss, the Tigers’ final opponent of the regular season, could break into the Top 25 soon, thanks to a 66-57 win it picked up over the Wildcats on Monday Across Mulkey’s first three seasons at LSU, the Tigers faced only nine ranked Southeastern Conference opponents They’ve already played four so far this year

LSU is 5-1 this season in Quad 1 games, with four such contests still left on the schedule. Only six Division I teams have picked up at least five of those wins this year In the previous two seasons, the Tigers went 14-7 in Quad 1 games. The first of those matchups — a 2 p.m. Sunday road clash against the Longhorns — will be a new challenge for LSU. Under Mulkey, the Tigers never have faced a top-five opponent not named South Carolina. Texas, which just ended the No. 4 Gamecocks’ 57-game SEC regular-season winning streak, presents the latest challenge in a season full of them for LSU.

Sheppard’s minutes surge

Durant becomes eighth to score 30,000 points

PHOENIX Kevin Durant became the eighth player in NBA history to score 30,000 points, hitting the mark against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night with a free throw late in the third quarter

The 36-year-old Phoenix Suns forward, who recently was voted to his 15th All-Star team, joins LeBron James, Kareem AbdulJabbar Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki and Wilt Chamberlain in the 30,000-point club.

Julius Erving also hit the mark when combining his points scored in the NBA and ABA.

Durant is a four-time NBA scoring champion and remains one of the league’s elite shot makers in his 17th NBA season. He’s averaging about 27 points per game while shooting 52% from the field.

Hip surgery sidelines Angels third baseman Rendon

TEMPE,Ariz.— Angels third baseman

Anthony Rendon needs hip surgery and will be out for an extended period, his latest major injury setback since joining Los Angeles.

General manager Perry Minasian told reporters at the Angels’ spring training complex Wednesday that Rendon will miss a significant amount of playing time for the fifth consecutive season.

Until LSU beat Missouri on Thursday, Mjracle Sheppard was playing an average of eight minutes per game against SEC opponents. Now she’s playing closer to 30.

The transfer guard from Mississippi State logged 28 minutes in the Tigers’ win over Missouri, then saw 27 minutes of action in their victory over Tennessee. LSU outscored those two opponents by a combined 30 points in the time Sheppard spent on the floor “(Sheppard) just brings that energy, that defensive intensity,” Mulkey said. “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.”

Johnson names LSU rotation for weekend

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Plum joins LA Sparks for a

‘full-circle moment’

BY BETH HARRIS AP sportswriter

LOSANGELES Kelsey Plum used to attend Los Angeles Sparks games as a kid, with her mother driving them from the San Diego area. Now she’s joined the franchise in a reunion with her former Las Vegas Aces teammate Dearica Hamby.

“I would say I’m still that kid. It’s a full-circle moment. I feel so grateful,” Plum said at Cypto.com Arena. The 30-year-old point guard was introduced Wednesday, shortly after the Sparks announced the signing of center Mercedes Russell, who like Plum is a two-time WNBA champion.

Plum was part of a three-team trade last month that sent Jewell Loyd to the Aces, while the Sparks gave the Seattle Storm the No 2 pick in the draft and Li Yueru Los Angeles also received the No. 9 pick while the Aces got the 13th pick in the draft

“We needed to improve our backcourt. That was a clear offseason goal of ours,” Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley said. “We kept feeling all roads led to Kelsey.” Plum felt a similar pull.

“My boyfriend gave me for Christmas a bunch of candles from different cities. I kind of put them in different rooms of the house,” she said.

“I looked over one day and LA was sitting right next to my bed, like Los Angeles candle I was like, ‘That’s not a coincidence.’ It’s just funny to me because it was on my spirit for a while. I look back now and it makes perfect sense.”

The Sparks won league titles in 2001, 2002 and 2016 but have missed the playoffs four straight years. Another of their offseason moves was hiring coach Lynne Roberts from the college ranks at Utah.

Roberts has her own painful memory of coaching against Plum, who starred at Washington.

“We’re driving in the bus over for the game and someone on our staff said, ‘Oh man, Plum needs 53 to break the all-time scoring record in college basketball,’” Roberts said “I was like, ‘She’s not getting 53 on us.’ And she didn’t She got 57.”

That was on Feb 25, 2017, when Plum set the Pac-12 single-game scoring record and became the NCAA Division I women’s career scoring leader She was passed by Iowa’s Caitlin Clark last year

“We knew we needed a lead guard that can absolutely play and score. She’s a competitor at heart and that’s what we need,” Roberts said. “I want our team to get back to where it belongs.”

Hamby was on hand to welcome Plum. They helped the Aces win back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023.

“We’ve always had a great connection,” Plum said. “Me and her playing together, it’s just a different level of pace so I’m super excited to get back to that.”

In 2022 Plum earned All-WNBA first team honors for the first time and was MVP of the All-Star Game. She also won gold medals in 3x3 basketball at the Tokyo Olympics and in 5x5 at last year’s Paris Olympics.

LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson announced on Wednesday that sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson, junior right-hander Anthony Eyanson and redshirt sophomore right-hander Chase Shores will begin the season in the weekend rotation.

Anderson will be the Friday starter, Eyanson starts Saturday and Shores makes his way to the mound Sunday LSU begins its 2025 campaign on Friday against Purdue Fort Wayne.

“I’ve tried to be as thorough as possible,” Johnson said. “A little different process (this year with) so many new players. I really didn’t scratch out a whole lot of scenarios, to be honest with you, until seeing kind of a full body of work.”

After posting a 3.99 ERA last year as a freshman, Anderson dominated hitters in the fall and preseason. His velocity has increased since last year and he’s greatly improved his slider

He also revealed Wednesday that he’s gone from 167 to 190 pounds since arriving on campus as a freshman.

“Whoever we kind of open with and who pitches at the end of the game, like you have to really trust the makeup of that pitcher,” Johnson said. “And I trust him with my life, like he’s one of the leaders on the team.”

Eyanson earned the second rotation spot after transferring in from UC San Diego this past offseason. He posted a 3.07 ERA in 82 innings last year, striking out 85 batters and holding opponents to a .190 batting average.

He also pitched on the U.S. Collegiate National Team this summer

“It’s a lot to like,” Johnson said. “Strikes, high-level pitchability (and) composure. You can feel him smelling the season, so to speak. Like he’s operated like a veteran.”

Shores returns after missing the past season and a half after Tommy John surgery He was

“I’ve tried to be as thorough as possible A little different process (this year with) so many new players. I really didn’t scratch out a whole lot of scenarios, to be honest with you, until seeing kind of a full body of work.”

JAy JOHNSON, LSU baseball coach Notebook

ä LSU vs. Purdue Fort Wayne.

2 P.M.FRIDAy,SECN+

in the starting rotation to begin his freshman campaign before becoming a key component of the LSU bullpen by the start of Southeastern Conference play

His fastball was back up to 99 mph during LSU’s preseason scrimmage Saturday, and his slider has looked sharp since returning from injury Regaining his consistency from a command standpoint is the biggest hurdle he’s still trying to clear

On Tuesday, Johnson revealed on the “Batter Up” show that sophomore Steven Milam will begin the season as the LSU shortstop. Milam was the second baseman last season and stood out defensively because of his arm strength and quickness. He spent some time at shortstop last season and primarily played there in high school.

Johnson repeatedly has said this preseason that Milam is the Tigers’ best defensive infielder

“My comfort is Steven has shown a really good ability to come get the ball. His quickness moving left and right has been good, and he’s got a good (and) accurate arm,” Johnson said. “And because he does a good job of coming and getting the ball, he’s got kind of a really good internal baseball clock.”

Milam replaces senior Michael Braswell at the position. Braswell played 64 games at short last season but now moves to third base, a spot he played seven games at during his sophomore year

Rendon is beginning the sixth season of a $245 million, seven-year contract that has been disastrous for the Angels, who haven’t had a winning season since 2015 or made the playoffs since 2014.

Rendon, who will turn 35 in June, played in just 205 games over the past four seasons, and he has been on the injured list 12 times since 2021.

Ohio State hires former Lions coach Patricia as DC Ohio State is hiring former Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia as defensive coordinator according to a person familiar with the situation, under the condition of anonymity Ohio State coach Ryan Day, who led the Buckeyes to the national championship, agreed in principle last week to a seven-year contract valued at $12.5 million per year Day is hiring Patricia to fill the void left by defensive coordinator Jim Knowles leaving for the same job at Penn State. The 50-year-old Patricia, a Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator in New England under Bill Belichick, is getting another chance to coach after the Philadelphia Eagles let him go a year ago, after their openinground playoff loss to Tampa Bay

UNLV senior O-lineman Christman dies at 21

LAS VEGAS UNLV senior offensive lineman Ben Christman, who transferred after last season from Kentucky, has died, the university announced.

Christman, who was 21, was found dead in an off-campus apartment on Tuesday morning. The university said it didn’t have other details and a cause of death would later be determined by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

Christman began his college career at Ohio State as a highly ranked prospect in the 2021 recruiting class. He redshirted that season and played in one game in 2022 before transferring to Kentucky Christman did not play in 2023 because of a knee injury, but appeared in all 12 games last season on special teams.

NFL WR Toney charged with assaulting a woman

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. Former Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney has been charged with assaulting a woman in Georgia and preventing her from calling for help.

Toney, 26, was arrested and booked into the Douglas County Jail on Feb. 6 on charges of aggravated assault and obstructing or hindering an emergency call. He was released the same day on $50,000 bail.

An investigator wrote that red marks were visible on the woman’s neck, as well as hemorrhaging in her eyes.

Toney put his hand around a woman’s throat “with enough force to cause her to be unable to breathe” on Jan. 14 at his

with South Carolina.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

head coach Kim Mulkey walks to the bench before the game against Mississippi State on Feb 2 at the PMAC.

AP PHOTO By DAMIAN DOVARGANES

Breaking down Moore’s career by the numbers

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

The New Orleans Saints’ head coaching search finally reached its expected conclusion Tuesday when the team announced the hiring of former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

Here is a quick numerical breakdown of Moore’s career to this point.

142 — Prior to becoming a coach, Moore was one of the most prolific passers in college football history

His 142 career touchdown passes with Boise State rank third all time, behind former Oregon/Oklahoma/Central Florida quarterback Dillon Gabriel (155) and Houston quarterback Case Keenum (143). His 14,667 career yards passing rank 10th in the NCAA record books, and his 69.8% career completion percentage ranks fourth all time.

36 At 36 years, 214 days, Moore became the youngest head coach in the NFL on Tuesday (he will turn 37 in July of this year). Moore is younger than 20 active NFL players, and he began his playing career in 2012 — the same year as Saints linebacker Demario Davis and a year after defensive

end Cam Jordan. Moore is about six months older than Davis.

6 — One of the things Moore has emphasized throughout his career as an offensive play-caller is tempo, and that is evident when look-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ASHLEy LANDIS

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts eludes the reach of Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Mike Danna during Super Bowl LIX on Sunday.

Eagles’ roster overhaul between two Super Bowl titles an NFL rarity

BY JOSH DUBOW AP pro

football writer

Seven years after Doug Pederson and Nick Foles delivered Philadelphia its first Super Bowl title, Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts did it again with a 40-22 win over Kansas City in Super Bowl 59. Winning multiple titles in that short a time period is far from rare in the NFL, with the league often dominated by transcendent coach-quarterback combinations. Doing so with different people in those key positions is extremely unusual. Only two other teams have won multiple Super Bowls in a span of eight seasons with a different coach and different quarterback in both wins

The Raiders broke through with their first title in the 1976 season when coach John Madden and quarterback Ken Stabler led Oakland to a 13-1 record and a Super Bowl win over Minnesota. They did it again four years later when Tom Flores and Jim Plunkett led the Raiders past the Eagles in Super Bowl 15. The 49ers did it as well as their dynasty extended long past Bill Walsh’s retirement. Walsh and Joe Montana collaborated on three championships from the 1981-88 seasons before Walsh stepped down. George Seifert then won the Super Bowl in his first season in 1989 with Montana and again in 1994 with Steve Young at quarterback.

The Raiders had 11 players appear in both Super Bowl wins, while the 49ers had six, including Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and four other players who started on offense in both Super Bowl 23 and 29.

The Eagles had a bigger roster turnover, with only right tackle Lane Johnson, defensive end Brandon Graham, kicker Jake Elliott and long snapper Jake Lovato appearing in both wins

The main constant between Philadelphia’s two titles was general manager Howie Roseman, who has now built two championship teams.

Back to school

The Super Bowl featured firsts for college football powerhouses Alabama and Texas. Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith’s

46-yard touchdown catch were the first points scored in the Super Bowl by a player who finished his college career at Alabama NFL scoring rules give credit for points to the player who catches a touchdown — not who throws it — so Bart Starr and Stabler’s TD passes didn’t count.

Players who finished their college careers at 144 other schools had scored in the Super Bowl before 12-time AP college football champion Alabama cracked the list.

The win also put Smith in an exclusive club of players with a Heisman Trophy and championships in college and the NFL. Only four other players have done that: Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Charles Woodson and Reggie Bush.

Texas previously had two kickers score in a Super Bowl, with Justin Tucker getting 10 points in Super Bowl 47 for Baltimore and Raul Allegre getting seven for the Giants in Super Bowl 21. But Xavier Worthy’s two TD catches in the second half for Kansas City were the first touchdowns scored by a player who finished college at Texas, the fifthwinningest program in college football history

One other college got on the Super Bowl scoreboard for the first time, with Justin Watson’s 2-point conversion catch the first points scored by a player from Penn. It marked just the second time a player from the Ivy League scored in the Super Bowl with Harvard grad Kyle Juszczyk catching a TD pass for the 49ers in Super Bowl 54.

Payback

Hurts drew even with Mahomes in head-to-head Super Bowl matchups. This game was the fourth rematch between quarterbacks in a Super Bowl, with Mahomes and the Chiefs having won in Super Bowl 57. Hurts is the only one to get revenge, with the other three all ending in sweeps: Eli Manning over Tom Brady, Troy Aikman over Jim Kelly and Terry Bradshaw over Roger Staubach.

Hurts also became the fourth player who lost his first Super Bowl as a starting QB to go on to win one as a starter, joining Hall of Famers Len Dawson Bob Griese and John Elway

ing through some of the numbers since he first began working as an offensive coordinator in 2019. The Eagles ran 261 offensive plays in the no-huddle offense this season, ranking second in the NFL. That is

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junkie. For Christmas and birthdays, he’d ask for money so he could buy college and NFL game tapes.

Moore has been programmed to be a coach, leader and teacher

In that way, he’s got some Drew Brees in him. Never blessed with prototypical physical skills, Moore succeeded as a player because of the intangibles — intelligence, work ethic and discipline. He compensated for what he lacked in terms of height, weight and speed by outworking and out-studying his competition.

Like Brees, Moore spent so much time in film study that he would catch details the typical player wouldn’t see, particularly pre-snap hints by defensive personnel that would expose the coverage.

He’s carried this “PHD” mindset poor hungry and determined — into his coaching career It has driven him on an accelerated path to the top of his profession. And it will serve him well in New Orleans.

The Saints head coaching job will be the biggest challenge of his football career The roster is aging. The salary cap is a mess. And the quarterback situation

not a new trend. His teams have ranked top-10 in no-huddle usage each of his six seasons as offensive coordinator, according to Pro Football Reference. In a 2021 news conference while he was with the

is unsettled. Moore and his staff will start their first season in New Orleans behind the eight ball.

Moore, though, seems to know what he’s getting into. In his social media post Tuesday, he said, “I look forward to embracing the challenges ahead and am eager to get started.”

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one, and Moore is embracing the challenge rather than running from it, which is exactly the mindset he’ll need to be successful. Sean Payton attacked the job with a similar attitude in 2006 and was successful. Moore, like Payton, is enthusiastic, ambitious and driven. Personalitywise, though, he’s the polar opposite of the cocky, impulsive, carousing Payton. Moore is Taysom Hill in a headset.

Regardless, Moore will need energy and enthusiasm to tackle the challenge ahead. In that regard, his youth could be a blessing rather than a curse. This is not a job for a retread.

In these ways, Moore looks like an ideal fit for the Saints, but the bottom line is he’ll need to win to keep the job.

The NFL is the ultimate production business, and at some point, Moore will need to produce on the field, or the Who Dat Nation will turn on him just as

Cowboys, Moore said, “We’ve been preaching tempo forever It’s just that pace of play If we’re in the huddle, we want to break the huddle fast, get to the line as quickly as possible and apply pressure.

We want to play as fast as possible, mix in the no-huddle and play that way.”

4 In six seasons as an offensive coordinator, Moore has directed four top-10 scoring offenses. His teams also led the NFL in total yardage twice, including the 2021 season, when his Cowboys unit led the NFL in both yards and scoring.

3 Although Moore is known more for his expertise in designing plays for the passing game, he’s coordinated just as many top10 rushing offenses (three) as top10 passing offenses. The explanation for that is Moore tailoring his play-calling toward what suits his roster best. This past season was a prime example of that: Philadelphia not only had Saquon Barkley but also one of the NFL’s better offensive lines and a mobile quarterback. The Eagles finished the season with the NFL’s No. 2 rushing offense.

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

quickly as it did Dennis Allen. And the fact remains as promising as Moore’s résumé and pedigree are, he is unproven as a head coach. The list of great NFL coordinators who failed as head coaches is extensive. The man rumored to be Moore’s defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley is just one example. Super Bowl LIX defensive coordinators Vic Fangio and Steve Spagnuolo are two others. There’s a world of difference between being a head coach and a coordinator The jobs require different skill sets. In addition to being great game planners and managers, NFL head coaches must be leaders, communicators, marketers, recruiters, psychologists and disciplinarians. There’s so much more to it than simply calling a good play or scheming up X’s and O’s.

But Moore has the ingredients needed to make a successful transition. If he fails, his track record suggests it won’t be because of a lack of preparation or work ethic.

This football-crazy town now has a football-crazy head coach to lead its beloved team. Time will tell whether the marriage endures, but it certainly looks like a promising match.

Email Jeff Duncan at jduncan@ theadvocate.com.

MOORE

Continued from page 1C

cording to NFL Pro. For context, the ranking is based on the number of overall snaps using motion, not the rate.

n 2019: 5th (660 plays/ 61.7%)

n 2020: 9th (621/ 55.8%)

n 2021: 14th (590/ 51.2%)

n 2022: 14th (607/ 54.5%)

n 2023: 4th (772/ 69.8%)

n 2024: 17th (671/ 60.2%)

Prior to Moore’s arrival, the Eagles had one of the lowest usages of pre-snap motion in the NFL. Last season, under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, the Saints used a roughly similar amount of movement prior to the snap at 59% of their of-

fensive plays.

Breaking tendencies

The goal for many modern NFL offenses is to look complicated to opposing defenses while keeping things relatively simple for the offensive players. That was true for the Saints last year under Kubiak, and it should be true again under Moore.

The pre-snap motion is part of that, and so is using a variety of personnel and formations to run the same core concepts. Taking that to another level, part of it is also establishing tendencies early — in other words, making things appear predictable to opposing defenses — with the intent of breaking those tendencies later Moore expanded on this idea last summer, accord-

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts speaks with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore against the Saints on Sept. 22 in Caesars Superdome. ASSOCIATED

ing to NBC Sports Philadelphia

“Once you get to game-plan football and you get into the regular season, you have to be really conscious of who is on the field and what those tendencies dictate,” Moore said in August.

“Sometimes you want to create tendencies for your own ability to trump them at later points.

“We’ll continue to evolve and utilize all those different points, whether it be who is on the field from tight ends, running backs; it’s every single unit. We have to really be conscious of that to protect our tendencies. Sometimes you want to have tendencies to break them in critical moments.”

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

PRESS

PHOTO By TyLER KAUFMAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott laughs with head coach Mike McCarthy, right, and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore during a practice in Frisco, Texas, on May 25, 2022. In the 2021 season, Moore guided the Cowboys offense to No. 1 in the NFL in scoring and yards.

AP PHOTO By NIC COURy

Torrey Pines to bring familiar setting to PGA

BY DOUG FERGUSON AP golf writer

SAN DIEGO The corporate boxes around the 18th green at Torrey Pines are just like they were three weeks ago except for the color — black instead of blue — and the logo. The rough is thicker from recent rain. Otherwise, the South Course looks to be every bit the beast it usually is.

Same course. New tournament.

The Genesis Invitational, one of the premier events on the PGA Tour because it is held at Riviera in Los Angeles, relocated to San Diego’s popular public course because of the LA wildfires that destroyed so much of the Pacific Palisades community around Riv The familiarity only goes so far The 72-man field includes only 32 players who teed it up at the Farmers Insurance Open, including Harris English who is trying to join a most exclusive list. Tiger Woods (twice), Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan are the only players to win on a course twice in the one year

The difference is they won U.S. Opens — Woods the U.S Open at Torrey Pines (2008) and Pebble Beach (2000), Nicklaus at Pebble Beach (1972) and Hogan at Riviera (1948).

But the field also has 46 of the top 50 in the world, many who are playing only because the Genesis Invitational is a $20 million signature event, with $4 million going to the winner Rory McIlroy hasn’t been to Torrey since it hosted the U.S. Open

in 2021.

“I didn’t expect to be at Torrey this year but obviously everything happened in LA and they had to pivot quickly,” McIlroy said.

“Yeah, it’s good to be back. It’s a little bit of a different setup to the U.S. Open in ’21, it’s a lot softer and rough is thick and course is playing very long.”

McIlroy only played nine holes of the pro-am when his amateurs suggested that was enough in a cold, raw rain and marine layer that took away one of Torrey’s best traits endless views of the Pacific Ocean.

Asked whether it reminded him of a Farmers Insurance Open or a U.S. Open, it was no contest because of the recent rain. Yes, the rough is juicy and thick. The greens are plenty soft.

“But the course is going to play long, the rough is very, very penal, so there’s a premium of putting your ball in the fairway and then controlling the spin into the greens,” he said.

Scottie Scheffler can attest to the rough.

The world’s No. 1 player hasn’t been to Torrey Pines since a tie for 20th in 2022, the last tournament he played before he started winning. He was having a match with Gary Woodland on Tuesday afternoon when Scheffler’s tee shot hit a tree on the par-5 18th.

What followed was a dozen people searching for the golf ball

Scheffler hates losing and it eventually was found by his mother All he could do from there was

gouge a 7-iron down the fairway

Scheffler is adding a 5-wood to the bag this week to help with shots out of the rough. For him, this doesn’t feel like a regular Farmers Insurance Open for a different reason.

“We’re not playing the North,” he said, referring to the other course used in the opening rounds three weeks ago. Now the ninth hole on the North is a short-game area.

“But I think it will play like the Farmers,” he said. “It will remind me of what it was then. It’s thick rough. The course is playing long because it’s soft. It’s going to rain and be cold. The South is a brutal course for four days, physically.”

Scheffler had a late start to his season after puncturing his right hand while making ravioli, which required minor surgery and stitches. This will be his third event a top 10 at Pebble Beach in his debut, an early charge Sunday after a 41 on the back nine in Phoenix.

“I feel like I got two weeks under my belt,” he said. “I thought about adding an event to get some reps in, but I feel like I’m in a good spot.”

McIlroy is in a great spot. He began the PGA Tour portion of his global schedule by winning for the first time at Pebble Beach, another soft course with rain and plenty of wind that led him to play threequarter shots to manage his game. It worked beautifully in a twoshot victory “Feel like I’m in good form, obviously, coming off the back of Pebble,” McIlroy said. “Just trying to keep it rolling.”

Pelicans waste Zion’s stellar night against Sacramento

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

The New Orleans Pelicans’ slide continued Wednesday night

Not even another stellar night from Zion Williamson could stop it as the Pelicans fell 119-111 to the Sacramento Kings at the Smoothie King Center Williamson, who was upgraded from questionable to available right before tipoff, finished with 33 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. It was the 10th straight loss for the Pelicans (12-42), one shy of their longest losing streak of the season. Their last win came on Jan. 20 against the Utah Jazz. New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore, who will have his introductory news conference Thursday morning, sat court side and got a warm reception when introduced. But Moore and the crowd didn’t get to witness a victory, which has been the norm this season.

The Pelicans have lost all three games against the Kings this season after going 6-0 against them last season. The two teams play again in the Smoothie King Center on Thursday night in the final game before the All-Star break. Williamson made 8 of 10 shots in the first half and had 19 points at halftime. He knocked down a 3-pointer in the first half, his third of the season and first since Nov 1. He’s attempted just 12 this season.

McClung looks for 3rd dunk title in row

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

SAN FRANCISCO About a year at this time, Mac McClung tho his dunk contest days were done. He’d been in the contest at NBA’s All-Star weekend twice, it both times with plenty of flair figured there was nothing el prove. Then a week later, he found himself practicing new dunks. that’s when he quickly realized he has one — and he insists, onl dunk contest left in him.

“I love the contest, man,” McClung said. “It’d be an action in fear not to do it again. So, I’ll do it — one last time.”

The 6-foot-2 McClung a standout guard in the G League who has appeared in only five NBA games — is headed back to All-Star weekend, looking to become the first person to win the league’s dunk title in three consecutive years. Nate Robinson is the only three-time dunk champion, though his didn’t come in back-toback-to-back years.

McClung breathed new life into the dunk contest and got rave reviews from some of the NBA’s biggest names when he first won it in 2023, then went airborne over Shaquille O’Neal to win it again last year Now he goes for three in a row in San Francisco on Saturday night, with San Antonio rookie Stephon Castle, Chicago rookie Matas Buzelis and Milwaukee second-year wing Andre Jackson Jr. providing the competition.

“I’m not going there to lose,” Buzelis said Added Jackson: “I just want to be myself and put on a show.” Castle is confident as well, though he acknowledged he expects to feel some nerves on Saturday night.

“I get nervous for most games,” Castle said. “I think it’s just going to be another event for me.” When this weekend is over they’ll all head back to their NBA jobs. McClung, for now, continues to wait for a real opportunity

His five NBA games have come with four NBA teams one with

Chicago, one with the Los Angeles Lakers, two with Philadelphia and He has scored mes, 20 comin one contest the 76ers at Brooklyn on April 023. He hasn’t scored an NBA point since that

“The easy answer is opportu,” McClung just Mac McClung. There’s a lot of G League guys that can play in the league. There’s a lot of guys I’ve seen in the G League and then they get an opportunity in the (NBA) and people are like, ‘Man, he got so much better this last year.’ And I’m like, ‘No, he’s been good.’ I really have my faith in God, and believe I’m always right where I’m supposed to be.”

For now, that’s with the Osceola Magic. He is on a two-way contract with Orlando, and McClung is averaging 24.5 points and 6.1 assists during this G League regular season. He’s been rookie of the year, he’s been a G League champion and this season he’s the reigning G League MVP

“I take pride in the G League,” McClung said. “Each year it’s so hard because when you’re on a twoway people are like ‘Be ready, stay ready.’ But I’m trying to win in the G League. That’s important to me. Winning a championship is always the standard and hopefully we can do that this year in Osceola and apply even more pressure.”

Winning back-to-back dunk contests has brought fame. People recognize McClung more now, but he hasn’t changed. He is comfortable in jeans and T-shirts, drives a Ford Bronco, has the same group of friends that will smack him back in line if he gets out of line. He is proud to be the small-town kid from Gate City, Virginia — who just happens to be able to jump higher than most people and has become one of the most famous dunkers in the world.

Jones has season-ending shoulder surgery for Pels

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

New Orleans Pelicans forward

Herb Jones underwent successful surgery Wednesday, the team announced.

The surgery was to repair a torn rotator cuff in Jones’ right shoulder He injured the shoulder on Jan. 8 against the Portland Trail Blazers and hasn’t played since.

The procedure was done the day after Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations

David Griffin told media members that Jones would be shut down for the rest of the season.

Dr Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery in Los Angeles.

The Pelicans trailed 65-63 at the break Unlike their loss to the Kings on Saturday night, the Pelicans didn’t collapse in the third quarter On Saturday, the Pels got outscored 45-22 in the third quarter This time, they were outscored 27-23 and trailed just 92-86 heading into the fourth quarter They were behind 99-95 with 8:15 left when Williamson went out after having played just a little more than 24 minutes By the time he returned with 3:30 left, the deficit was 109-102.

The Pelicans outscored the Kings 70-40 in the paint, but it still wasn’t enough Pelicans newcomer Bruce Brown, acquired last week from the Toronto Raptors in the Bran-

don Ingram trade, made his debut.

“You look over his career he’s performed at a high level everywhere he’s gone,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said before the game about Brown. “He’s smart, physical, a good defender who can play multiple roles on the team offensively and defensively He’s that Swiss Army knife kind of player.” Brown, the first sub off the bench, finished with just four points, three rebounds and an assist in 26 minutes. Trey Murphy scored 19 points, and Jose Alvarado finished with 18 points and nine assists for the Pelicans.

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

“Herb loved being with his teammates right up to that point (of the surgery),” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said prior to Wednesday’s home game against the Sacramento Kings. “We’re sending

LOSS

Continued from page 1C

known early for Arkansas, scoring five of the team’s first nine points to go with two blocks in the first five minutes. He played only seven minutes in the first meeting against LSU but has improved his play recently He is averaging 16.9 points in his past three games.

The Razorbacks had moments of improvement in preventing the easy paint looks LSU created early They went on an 8-2 run to take a 21-16 lead with 7:58 remaining in the first half.

LSU reclaimed the lead after a 6-0 run that started when Chest nailed a mid-range jumper from the right corner On the next possession, Chest made one free throw Dji Bailey rebounded Chest’s missed second free throw and found Carter, who splashed a 3-pointer with 7:02 left in the half.

Carter, a senior transfer from Kansas State, also showcased his passing skills as he had three assists in the first half. On one possession, Carter received a hard close-out and drove hard to the hoop, forcing the paint defender to defend him and leaving room for a pass to Miller, who made an

him our prayers for a speedy recovery He is one of the pillars of our team and one of our leaders, so we want him to heal quickly and progress as he goes through this.” Jones, selected to the NBA’s first-team All-Defense team last season, played in just 20 games this season. He missed 18 games earlier in the season when he injured his shoulder while diving for a loose ball against the Golden State Warriors in late October He returned and played 16 games before the latest injury

“Knowing him, he’s going to go over and beyond what he’s supposed to do to prepare himself,” Green said.

Jones averaged 10.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists this season.

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

and-one layup with 3:48 left in the first half.

LSU took a 35-34 halftime lead after a catch-and-shoot 3 from Vyctorius Miller just his third 3-pointer in SEC play

LSU opened the second half with some sloppiness as it had four turnovers in the first 150 seconds of the half. Two were due to illegal screens, including one from Collins that gave him a third foul. Miller checked in and was more than ready to produce, offering instant offense. The Houston native was eager to post up Ivisic repeatedly after initially getting his scoring opportunities as a pickand-roll finisher He had 10 points in the second half Arkansas was undeterred by his outburst. It went on a 6-0 run, punishing LSU’s lackluster transition defense, to take a 53-45 lead with 12:30 left in the game. Sears, LSU’s second-best scorer, only had two points and Carter was held to five points in the second half. The Tigers shot 39% from the field overall.

Ivisic ended up being too much to handle as he finished with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting.

LSU’s next game is against Oklahoma at 5 p.m. Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits from the 18th tee at Pebble Beach Golf Links during the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Feb 2 in Pebble Beach, Calif.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson scores against the Sacramento Kings at the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday.

THE VARSITY ZONE

RARING TO GO

BRHS girls ready to embark on first state wrestling tournament

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

Brianna Bonton was sur-

prised to learn that this weekend marks the first girls state wrestling tournament sanctioned by the LHSAA. The Baton Rouge High senior proved she can deftly pivot on or off a mat.

“Honestly, I thought it was official last year,” Bonton said. “But now I am even more excited.

“Since this is my senior year, it’s like my final celebration and I can’t wait to compete. It is special for us.”

The Bulldogs enter the two-day tournament at Bossier City’s Brookshire Grocery Arena as a safe bet to win the LHSAA’s first sanctioned girls title after two seasons as a junior varsity/ club sport. Action in the three boys divisions and one girls division starts at 9:30 a.m. Friday However, action taken more than two years ago helped pave the way for the 205 girls competitors entered this weekend.

“We always had a few girls who came out and wrestled with the boys,” BRHS coach Paige Russell said. “I had a cousin who wrestled in California and she was a twotime All-American.

“I always thought it should be its (own) sport. Several teams always had girls. We talked about it and decided why not? We pushed for it.”

Two principals at schools known for wrestling success, Baton Rouge High’s

Nanette McCann and Brusly’s Walt Lemoine, put a proposal to make girls wrestling a sanctioned sport last January and wrestling schools passed it by a 96-1 margin. Brusly won the unofficial girls title in 2023 and last year Baton Rouge High edged the Panthers 100-88 for the title in the unsanctioned tourney sponsored by the LHSCA.

A year later, there are parallels between the rise of the Bulldogs and girls wrestling. The 205 girls entered this weekend eclipse the Louisiana Classic total of 186 last month. At the time, the Louisiana Classic was the largest girls event held in the South.

Baton Rouge High’s 19-member girls roster has won every tournament this year by impressive margins.

The Bulldogs scored 1861/2 points at the Greater Baton Rouge Championships two

weeks ago.

The next closest team was at 50.3 points. Other notable wins came at the Louisiana Classic, Queen of the South tourney in Alabama and the New Orleans Duals tourney One key to BRHS success is having competitors in 11 of the 12 weight classes. The only team entering the LHSAA tourney with an 11-competitor lineup is Chalmette

“Having 11 girls out there makes a difference,” Russell said. “You have other teams with some outstanding wrestlers, but they may only have five or six girls.

“The numbers are an advantage for us. But we still have to compete each week and score points in as many weight classes as possible.”

BRHS has three-year veterans like Bonton who is 20-7 at 165 pounds and a No. 2 seed this weekend. The Bulldogs’ Olivia Maxie

(20-3) at 152 pounds is also a No. 2 seed. Live Oak’s Ava Payne (26-4), the top seed, beat Maxie in the final of the GBR Championships

Maxie’s first loss to a Louisiana competitor in the past two years offers motivation.

“I am really excited about state,” Maxie said. “Just to be part of this to compete there and hang out with my team.

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations (for wrestling) when I started. But being around a bunch of great people, including our coaches, really motivates me.”

Maxie, who grew up watching her older sisters compete in volleyball and basketball, adds one confession that could apply to her team.

“I wanted to be different,” she said. “I guess that got me to where I am.”

EFHS girls having historic season

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

The playoffs won’t start until next week, but it has already been a season like no other for the East Feliciana girls basketball team.

A 39-37 win over The Dunham School in the final of the District 8-2A tournament played last week gave the Tigers their first district title.

The team’s 17-6 record marks the second time the school has had a winning record in girls basketball since Clinton and Jackson were combined to form East Feliciana over a decade ago. Clinton did make an LHSAA girls tourney appearance in Class 2A in 1989.

“I’m a former track athlete, so we’re aggressive on defense and we aim to

fini sh in transition,” EFHS coach Tyriece Chambers said “We got five girls back from last year, so we’ve been building toward this.

“Finishing the way we did in that game (against Dunham) really helps. We had some games where we were up by 10 points and then we blew the lead in the fourth quarter It’s perfect timing for us to this with the playoffs about to start.”

Chambers said East Feliciana trailed by nine points with about five minutes left in the game against Dunham.

The defense held Dunham scoreless the rest of the way. Kariah Dunn, who led EFHS with 26 points, made what proved to be the gamewinning shot.

The sophomore averages 27 points per game. Freshman Kemani Coleman averages 12 points per game. There are reasons for Chambers to be optimistic about the future. The Tigers have only two seniors, and six of the returning players are either freshmen or sophomores.

EFHS sits at No. 14 in Division IV nonselect power ratings and will be in line to host a playoff game. The Tigers face Istrouma and Ascension Catholic to close out the season this week.

Milestones-makers

■ Former Liberty girls basketball standout Haley Franklin recently became the all-time leading scorer for the Millsaps women’s basketball team. Franklin scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds in her milestone game. She earned NCAA Division III honorable mention All-America honors a year ago as a junior for the Majors of Jackson, Mississippi. ■ Woodlawn’s Kelinee Stone surpassed the 1,000-point plateau, and he was honored for completing the feat earlier this week. Stone averages 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Woodlawn boys.

■ West Feliciana’s SaMaria Berry scored her 1,000th point for the Saints in a game played earlier this week.

Email Robin Fambrough at rfambrough@theadvocate.com

‘Pink elephant in the room’

With 3B Arenado not yet traded, Cardinals’ GM in awkward position

BY MARC BERMAN

The Associated Press

JUPITER, Fla. — After spending much off the offseason trying to trade Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak admits it would be awkward if the third baseman arrives in camp Monday

“Obviously, the pink elephant in the room is what are we going to do with Nolan Arenado,” Mozeliak said Wednesday on the first day of workouts.

“Candidly we’re still looking at what that might look like and could something happen in the next week? Possibly Could this go into camp? Possibly So I don’t really have like a definitive answer.”

An eight-time All-Star, Arenado hit .272 with 16 homers and 71 RBIs last year, his poorest season in a decade. A 10-time Gold Glove winner, the 33-yearold has a .285 career average with 341 homers and 1,132 RBIs for the Cardinals and Colorado Rockies.

Position players are due to report Monday, though the Cardinals remain involved in trade talks as they transition to a younger roster with Mozeliak stating the goal is “how do we set ourselves up for ‘26, ‘27 and beyond?”

“I imagine there might be a moment of awkwardness,” Mozeliak said, “but I still think that he’s a professional baseball payer He’s currently a St. Louis Cardinal.”

Arenado is owed $74 million for the next three seasons: $32 million this year, $27 million in 2026 and $15 million in 2027. Of those salaries, $6 million each in 2025 and 2026 is to be deferred with no interest, payable from 2032-41.

Colorado will pay St. Louis $5 million this year, the final installment of $51 million the Rockies agreed to pay to offset the $199 million remaining in an agreement worth $275 million over nine years.

“We thought all along that we could probably do something this offseason, but it just hasn’t happened,” Mozeliak said. “I think you can determine on your own why it might not be happening: due to the free agent market or it could be who’s available on the free-agent market I imagine there’s a direct correlation there, but ultimately I do not have a large list of teams. It wasn’t like 29 I could take him to. So I just tried to navigate what I could work with, and obviously

it hasn’t moved at the pace many of us had hoped for.” Arenado has a full notrade provision, giving him control over whether he gets dealt. Mozeliak said Arenado would allow a move to five teams. Mozeliak began his 19-minute news conference with a reference to the team’s lack of player moves.

St. Louis has not signed any free agents to major league contracts after missing the playoffs for the second straight season. The team announced in September that Chaim Bloom will replace Mozeliak after the 2025 season.

“Typically you spend a lot of time rehashing all the accomplishments of the offseason, so this will be brief,” Mozeliak said.

“It’s an oddity,” he added near the end. “Normally we open this thing feeling really good about what we accomplished in the offseason and then the hope of spring, everybody gets excited when they’re down here and we go play baseball. But right now we have this over our heads that’s that’s what we’re just working through.”.

Four-time Gold Glove first first baseman Paul Goldschmidt left as a free agent for the New York Yamkees and All-Star catcher Willson Contreras is moving to first.

Fourth-year manager Oliver Marmol is optimistic.

“What’s difficult for a manager is when there’s not clarity or direction, which is far from what has taken place,” he said.

“I think the organization was very clear on what was going to take place and how we were going (to) go about doing it, so from being in limbo or upin-the-air difficulty, there’s zero of that, to be quote honest. There’s extremely clarity to what this offseason was going to look like and we’ve operated under that the entire time as far as how we’re prepping for the guys that are in that building.”

St. Louis hopes younger players such as middle infielders Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman, and outfielder Jordan Walker can lead the team to the postseason.

“Our goal is to win this year,” Mozeliak said. “If all things go right, we feel like we have a veteran pitching staff, we feel like we have emerging arms and feel we have a really talented young core. It’s not a bad bet to make on a young team.”

Chambers Coleman Dunn

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By DAVID ZALUBOWSKI

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado throws to first base in the ninth inning on Sept. 25 in Denver. An eight-time All-Star, Arenado hit .272 with 16 homers and 71 RBIs last year, his poorest season in a decade.

PHOTO By APRIL BUFFINGTON

The Baton Rouge High girls wrestling team huddles around coach Paige Russell during practice Wednesday at the school in preparation for the LHSAA girls wrestling tournament starting Friday in Bossier City

Two hearts, one kitchen

BY KEVIN BELTON Contributing writer

Imet Monica in 2000 while I was teaching cooking classes. She had moved to a nearby area to pursue a graduate degree. She had come to New Orleans to pick up her grandmother from the airport and get to know the city As part of their weekend, they decided to take my class.

I remember that day so clearly I did not want to look directly at her, but I didn’t want to take my eyes off her either Luckily, she and her grandma stayed to talk after class. We exchanged contact info. Monica said she was in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and much like living in New Jersey and getting on the train for an hour to go to NYC regularly, she came to New Orleans every other weekend. And that was our new routine. We would meet up, and as weeks turned into months and then years, our connection deepened I would show her my city and all

my favorite spots, or I would cook for her

Three years later almost to the day, she was graduating. In my heart, I felt that I had to let her go. Life is always complicated; I was a single working father raising two boys, and she had just finished a doctoral degree. I felt it was the right thing to do, and I kept telling myself, when you love someone,

you let them go. She got a job and moved away It was hard but we kept in touch. We would check in from time to time. She knew where I was during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and when I was on national television. She wrote me to tell me she had gotten married and had a child. That news was hard, but I was happy for her I guessed it wasn’t meant to be.

We continued to talk all those years. I dated someone; Monica’s marriage had not turned out as she hoped. And then about a decade later I called her but got her voicemail.

I was nervous, and I wasn’t sure what I was trying to say I felt like I stumbled through my words. And when she listened to the voicemail, she said I sounded different and that it was more what I didn’t actually say than what I said.

Fast-forward another 12-plus years and Monica is my wife. This year for Valentine’s Day, especially after the busy Super Bowl weeks and with Valentine’s Day on a Friday, our plan is to stay home.

Gretchen Love in Metairie has been baking for years, but when asked for a king cake recipe, she offered her son’s version. In Gift-of-the-Magi fashion, Steven Love says his mom is the real king cake expert. Even so, he has gained quite a reputation among friends for his delectable desserts — especially his galette des rois, the traditional French-style king cake made with puff pastry

Both shared the same recipe with me, which is an old recipe from The Times-Picayune.

The traditional galette des rois, which the Loves make, has an almond filling, similar to frangipane. I’ve made frangipane so often lately that I just didn’t have it in me to make it again for the king cake. I wondered if a cream cheese filling would work instead. I did a little research and decided to take my chances. The cream cheese filling worked like a charm. Certainly, it is not a traditional galette des rois, but it was still tasty

All in all, the dessert turns into a solid return-on-investment. Using store-bought puff pastry makes it a relatively quick dessert to prepare. The custom design on top makes it look fancy (One thing I did learn in the process of making this dessert is that Trader Joe’s only carries puff pastry during the Christmas holiday season.) Along the way, I learned that in France, the person who gets the piece with the baby (or the bean) is considered to be the lucky one — and wears a crown for the day In France, according to my research, the galette des rois is generally eaten on Jan. 6, the Epiphany (or King’s Day), and through the month of January, as opposed to the entire season of Carnival. One error I made when preparing my galette des rois was ä See THE DISH, page 2D

PROVIDED PHOTO Kevin and Monica Belton

PHOTO By MONICA BELTON

Valentine’s Day Raspberry Lemon Loaf Cake

STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER Jan Risher prepared a traditional round galette des rois, which mimics the shape of the crown.

Chicken Saltimbocca

to ¾-inch thick. Season both sides with Creole seasoning and then evenly sprinkle on the 1 tablespoon of fresh sage.

2. Press a piece of prosciutto ham onto each pounded chicken breast, covering it. Place a fresh sage leaf into the center of the prosciutto ham on the chicken and press it in to stick. Set aside.

3. In a bowl or pan mix together the flour, salt and pepper, then lightly dredge each chicken saltimbocca in the flour and pat off any excess and set aside.

saltimbocca in batches, prosciutto side down first, for 2½ to 3 minutes per side or until browned and cooked through. Set the cooked chicken saltimbocca aside and add the shallot and garlic to the pan and saute for 1 to 2 minutes

5. Deglaze with white wine and cook until it’s almost gone. Pour in the chicken stock and cook over high heat for 3-4 minutes or until it reduces to a thin gravy Remove from heat.

6. Finish with butter 1 teaspoon sage, parsley, salt and pepper

each sliced

1.

2

¼

1. Preheat oven to 350

VALENTINE’S

Continued from page 1D

I would like to say I will cook for her, but we usually end up cooking together It is a symphony of movement and deliciousness in our kitchen. These recipes are on our list of favorites, which we rotate and enjoy while spending the evening together

By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2025. There are 321 days left in the year

Today in history

On Feb. 13, 1945, Allied forces in World War II began a three-day bombing raid on Dresden, Germany, killing as many as 25,000 people and triggering a firestorm that swept through the city center

On this date

In 1935, a jury in Flemington, New Jersey, found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-slaying of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was executed by electric chair the following year.)

In 1980, the 13th Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, New York. In 1996, the rock musical “Rent,” by Jonathan Larson,

4. Add the olive oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat and cook the

7. Serve the pan sauce over top of the cooked chicken saltimbocca.

Day Raspberry Lemon Loaf

and spray a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray Line the loaf pan with parchment paper 2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Reserve 1 tablespoon flour mixture to toss with raspberries.

3. Beat butter and sugar in a large mixer bowl at medium speed until light and fluffy Beat in lemon zest. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. Reduce speed to low and add eggs one at a time. Combine milk and yogurt in a small bowl. Beginning with flour mixture add in the flour in three additions, alternating with milk mixture just until incorporated.

4. Toss raspberries with reserved flour mixture and gently fold into the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan and tap sharply to re-

While I enjoy sweet and savory and everything in between, Monica’s palette leans firmly to savory The prosciutto adds a crisp saltiness that elevates the chicken. And this raspberry lemon loaf is as sweet as Monica will go. I will add ice cream, but she won’t! It also doubles as an on-the-go breakfast.

Friday, we will be enjoying both these dishes while spending the evening at home with our girls, rescue

TODAY IN HISTORY

premiered off-Broadway less than three weeks after Larson’s death.

In 2002, John Walker Lindh pleaded not guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to conspiring to kill Americans and supporting the Taliban and terrorist organizations. (Lindh later pleaded guilty to lesser offenses and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.)

In 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia, the influential conservative member of the U.S. Supreme Court, was found dead at a private residence in the Big Bend area of West Texas; he was 79.

In 2017, President Donald Trump’s embattled national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned following reports he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia. In 2018, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, said he had paid $130,000 out of his own

1

Galette des Rois (Kings’ cake of northern France)

2 packages frozen puff pastry dough, thawed

1 bean or plastic baby

1 egg, well-beaten for the egg wash

1. Using an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, mix the butter and sugar at high speed until light and flaky

2. Add the egg and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the almond meal and flour and add to the egg mixture. Add the rum and vanilla and mix well.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry to 1⁄8 inch thickness. Cut out two 9-inch circles (or keep square both shapes work well as long as they are the same size).

4. Place the puff pastry on a flat tray and let rest in refrigerator for one hour

THE DISH

Continued from page 1D

that I added additional egg wash after I did the decorative cutting. When I compared notes with Steven Love afterward, he reminded me that using all of the egg wash before the decorative cutting works best and makes the cut lines more distinct, which makes a lot of sense.

Cake

duce air bubbles.

5. Bake cake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached.

6. In the last 5 minutes of baking, combine lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves and syrup thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove cake from the oven and immediately brush the top with lemon syrup. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes; carefully remove cake from pan and cool completely

7. Whisk together melted butter, salt, lemon zest, powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle glaze over cake and let set before serving. Top with fresh raspberries.

pups Cookie and Momo.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Kevin Belton is resident chef of WWL-TV and has taught classes in Louisiana cooking for 30 years. The most recent of his four cookbooks, “Kevin Belton’s Cookin’ Louisiana: Flavors from the Parishes of the Pelican State,” was published in 2021. Email Chef at chefkevinbelton@gmail com.

pocket to Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels), a porn actor who claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Trump.

In 2021, former President Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate at his second impeachment trial — the first to involve a former president — in which he was accused of inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Seven Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in voting to convict, less than the two-thirds threshold required.

Today’s birthdays: Actor Kim Novak is 92. Actor Stockard Channing is 81. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is 79. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski is 78. Musician Peter Gabriel is 75. Musician Peter Hook is 69. Singerwriter Henry Rollins is 64. Hockey Hall of Famer Mats Sundin is 54. Singer Robbie Williams is 51. Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss is 48.

5. Take one of the pieces of pastry and brush egg wash around the edge, making a 1-inch wide border Spread the almond cream from the

“It helps to do the egg wash before the cuts so that they don’t brown as much,” he said. Nonetheless, my error didn’t affect the taste, but I’ll be sure to follow the proper instructions on the next go-round to make the most of the decoration.

Love, a 34-year-old electrical engineer, says his friends seem to appreciate his baking hobby From the sounds of things, he’s invited to his share of dinner parties, usually with the

Jan’s optional cream cheese filling for Galette de Rois

1

of

1. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract together until creamy

2. Spread on the first layer of puff pastry, from the center, exactly as instructions for almond paste.

3. Sprinkle the cream cheese with the chopped pecans. (Originally, I mixed the pecans in with the cream cheese spread. That method works too, but I prefer them sprinkled on top.)

offer of bringing dessert. He was excited about my trying a different filling on the cake and may give it a

try himself.

I appreciated his detailed instructions and tips. When I was getting ready to cut the design in my king cake, I texted him to see if he recommends a special knife.

“I just use a small cheese knife,” he replied. “I only cut with the very tip of the knife, holding it like a pencil. (So smaller is easier.)”

Since it’s the week of Valentine’s Day and given his surname, I couldn’t help but ask if he was seeing someone.

“Yes, I’m single,” the engineer with a love for baking said with a laugh.

The Dish is a Thursday column by Jan Risher. Each week, she tries her hand at making someone else’s signature dish — and compares notes. If you or someone you know has a signature dish that you would like Jan to try, email her at jan.risher@ theadvocate.com.

Jan Risher cuts designs in her galette des rois.

STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER

PHOTO By MONICA BELTON

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Take the time to assess your relationships. Decluttering your living space will help you gain clarity regarding the people you associate with and their influence on you.

PIsCEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Say what's on your mind, but be ready to face controversy. The best route forward is honesty, integrity and fair play. Put your energy into personal improvements, better health and expanding your interests.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Refrain from counting on anyone but yourself, and you will spare yourself grief and disappointment. You have what it takes to succeed if you believe in yourself and your capabilities.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Think twice before you spend money unnecessarily. Take a walk, invite someone to coffee or consider what you can part with that will save you money. Indecisiveness and excessive behavior will be your downfall.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Question everyone and everything before you agree to participate in something. Use your intelligence, connections and high energy to get things done. Refuse to turn an emotional matter into something gigantic.

CAnCER (June 21-July 22) Use your imagination, and you'll develop ideas that make your job or responsibilities more manageable. Stay on track and distance yourself from manipulative people.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Check off the boxes as you head in a healthy direction.

Getting into a routine and consciously maintaining a healthy diet and regular fitness will lead to a positive attitude and common-sense choices.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Avoid drama and situations you cannot control. Refuse to get caught in someone else's battle or pay the price for a mistake you didn't make. Choose your circle wisely and play to win.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Abide by rules and regulations, and keep your information private. Concentrate on gathering information and socializing with upbeat individuals. Be wary of pushy people.

sCoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Choose the path that allows you to do things your way and test what intrigues you. Networking, conferences and connecting with someone from your past will be in your best interest

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Use your skills and time to further your interests, not to benefit someone who isn't likely to do the same for you. Look for opportunities and take the initiative to strengthen your position.

CAPRICoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Use common sense and know when to decline an offer that isn't right for you. Positive results come from implementing changes that suit your needs. Be honest with yourself and others.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2025 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

toDAy's

CeLebrItY CIpher

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

LAGoon

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

nea CroSSwordS

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS CurTiS

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Francis Ford Coppola said, “When newspapers started to publish the box office scores of movies, I was horrified. Those results are totally fake because they never include the promotion budget.” I never thought of that. And not many Eastswouldthinkofthewinningdefense in today’s deal How can East defeat four spades after West leads the heart nine?

The auction was straightforward and quantitative, North’s rebid in principle showing a balanced hand (no singleton or void) with (typically) seven losers and 13 to 15 support points.

Although it goes against the usual recommendation of experts, West might have led the club ace, since it was the unbidsuit.Ifhehad,Eastwouldhavehad to discourage with his six, not encourage a club continuation with the 10.

When West instead led high from his heart doubleton, East won with his queen, cashed the ace, and played a third round of the suit.

Momentarily, this looked good. If declarer had ruffed high, West would have gained a trump trick to go with his club ace. However, instead, South calmly discarded his singleton club West trumped and tried to cash the club ace, but declarer ruffed, drew trumps, and claimed.

There is a golden rule of trump promotion: Cash all of your side-suit winners first.

After taking his two heart winners, East had to

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

today’s thought “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

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