12 injured during concert; 2 in critical condition
BY JA’KORI MADISON and CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writers
The Mamou chief of police con-
firmed Wednesday that 14 people were shot during a Mardi Gras concert Tuesday and at least two have died from their injuries. Two
more are in critical condition, Chief Charles “Pat” Hall said.
The shooting, which took place at an outdoor zydeco concert on the north side of Mamou, came just 24 hours after another shooting Monday night at a Lundi Gras gathering in which three people were injured.
The Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana State Police are assisting in the investigation, Hall said Wednesday in a statement. He said it was still an active investigation and told another media outlet that there may be more victims.
“It is very sad incident that took place here in Mamou, and I want to send my deepest condolences to any of the victims and their families,” said the town’s mayor, Leisa Deshtotel.
According to Deshotel, this is the first time an incident of this magnitude has occurred during the Mardi Gras festival in Mamou.
“The Sheriff’s Department and chief of Mamou Police Depart-
WEARING ASHES
ABOVE: Bishop J Douglas Deshotel, foreground, and the Rev. Chester Arceneaux distribute ashes during an Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist in Lafayette. Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting It marks the first day of Lent, the six weeks of penitence before Easter RIGHT: Congregants return to their seats after receiving ashes during Wednesday’s Mass.
Southern student died after being punched during hazing, sources say
BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER and ANDREA GALLO Staff writers
Caleb Wilson, a 20-year-old Southern University student, died last week after being punched in the chest during a fraternity hazing ritual in which about 10 fraternity members hit pledges with their fists and objects, sources close to the criminal investigation into Wilson’s death said Wednesday. The Feb. 27 hazing incident took place at a warehouse off Greenwell Springs Road, according to multiple sources — not at a local
park, as police said some of the fraternity members told them.
One source said Wilson was not singled out, but he apparently “experienced a medical episode as a result of being pledged.” The source said 911 was never called and there was a lapse in time between Wilson’s medical episode and fraternity members bringing him to a hospital.
Louisiana Secretary of State’s
Office records show the warehouse is leased by Todd Smith, owner of California Hardwood Floors, and East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council member Cleve Dunn Jr owner of Runner’s Courier Ser-
vice. Smith is a member of Lambda Alpha Ques, according to the group’s website, which is a graduate chapter of Omega Psi Phi — the fraternity under criminal investigation by police and an administrative probe by Southern University He told local TV station WAFB that his son is a member of Omega Psi
On Feb 27, Baton Rouge authorities said Wilson was brought to a hospital “unconscious” by people who found him that way at the North Sherwood Forest Park. Baton Rouge police officers
ä See HAZING, page 4A
ment are actively investigating the situation. If anyone has any information, we just ask that you report it to the Police Department as the investigations continues,” Deshotel said. In several videos of the shooting shared on social media, Chris Ardoin and his band NuStep Zydeko were playing and hundreds of
Trump pauses some tariffs
One-month exemption granted for U.S. automakers
BY JOSH BOAK and ROB GILLIES Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing.
See MAMOU, page 5A ä Farmers, consumers brace for tariffs. PAGE 10C
The pause comes after Trump spoke with leaders of the “Big 3” automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, on Wednesday according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Asked if 30 days was enough for the auto sector to prepare for the new taxes, Leavitt said Trump was blunt with the automakers seeking an exemption: “He told them that they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariff.”
Trump had long promised to impose tariffs, but his opening weeks in the White House involved aggressive threats and surprise suspensions leaving allies unclear at what the U.S. president is actually trying to achieve.
Based off various Trump administration statements, the tariffs
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Phi.
PHOTO PROVIDED By SOUTHERN UNIVERSITy’S HUMAN JUKEBOX Caleb Wilson, who played the trumpet with Southern University’s Human Jukebox, died last week after an off-campus event.
Army surrounds South Sudan VP’s home
JUBA, South Sudan South Sudanese soldiers surrounded Vice President Riek Machar’s home in the capital on Wednesday and several of his allies were arrested after an armed group allied to him overran an army base in the country’s north.
Machar whose political rivalry with President Salva Kiir has in the past exploded into civil war, said last month that the firing of several of his allies from posts in the government threatened the 2018 peace deal between him and Kiir that ended a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people were killed.
Deputy army chief Gen. Gabriel Duop Lam, also loyal to Machar, was detained Tuesday over the fighting in the north, while Machar ally and Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol was arrested Wednesday alongside his bodyguards and family No reason was given for the arrests.
Neither Machar nor his SPLMIO party have commented about the fighting, but Water Minister Pal Mai Deng, who is also the party’s spokesperson, said Lam’s detention “puts the entire peace agreement at risk.”
Western envoys last week urged leaders to de-escalate the tension.
South Sudan is yet to fully implement the 2018 peace agreement and elections that were scheduled for last year were postponed by two years due to a lack of funds.
NASA powers down parts of Voyager spacecraft
NEW YORK NASA is switching off two science instruments on its long-running twin Voyager spacecraft to save power
The space agency said Wednesday an instrument on Voyager 2 that measures charged particles and cosmic rays will shut off later this month. Last week, NASA powered down an instrument on Voyager 1 designed to study cosmic rays.
The energy-saving moves were necessary to extend their missions, Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement.
The twin spacecraft launched in 1977 and are currently in interstellar space, or the space between stars. Voyager 1 discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn’s moons, and Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune. Each spacecraft still has three instruments apiece to study the sun’s protective bubble and the swath of space beyond. Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles from Earth and Voyager 2 is over 13 billion miles away.
Theft suspect caught after X-ray shows earrings
ORLANDO, Fla. — A suspected thief gulped down two pairs of diamond earrings during his arrest on the side of a Florida Panhandle highway last week, detectives say, leaving them with the unenviable task of waiting to “collect” the Tiffany & Co. jewelry worth nearly $770,000
In the squad car, a state trooper heard the suspect say, “I should have thrown them out the window,” and at the Washington County jail he asked staff, “Am I going to be charged with what is in my stomach?” according to the arrest report.
The 32-year-old man from Texas is accused of two felonies for forcibly stealing the earrings from an upscale Orlando shopping center last Wednesday
An X-ray of his torso shows what the Orlando Police Department believed to be the diamond earrings a white mass shining brightly against the gray backdrop of his digestive tract.
“These foreign objects are suspected to be the Tiffany & Co earrings taken in the robbery but will need to be collected after they are passed,” the department’s arrest report said.
Orlando police spokeswoman Kaylee Bishop said Wednesday she was checking with the lead detective on whether the earrings had been recovered yet.
The earrings’ status also wasn’t known to a deputy who answered the phone but wouldn’t give his name in the rural Panhandle county where the suspect was arrested near Chipley, Florida.
Greenland’s PM: Island not for sale
BY DANICA KIRKA and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press
NUUK,Greenland Greenland’s prime minister has a message for President Donald Trump: “Greenland is ours.”
Múte Bourup Egede made the statement on Facebook Wednesday just hours after Trump declared in his speech to a joint session of Congress that he intends to gain control of Greenland “one way or the other.”
“Kalaallit Nunaat is ours,” Egede said in the post, using the Greenlandic name for his country.
“We don’t want to be Americans, nor Danes; We are Kalaallit. The Americans and their leader must understand that. We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken. Our future will be decided by us in Greenland,” he said. The post ended with a clenched fist emoji and a Greenlandic flag.
On the streets of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, where the temperature was 4 degrees blow zero at midday Wednesday and the bright sunshine reflected blindingly off a layer of fresh-fallen snow, people are taking Trump’s designs on their country seriously
Since taking office six weeks ago, Trump has repeatedly expressed his interest in Greenland, a huge mineral-rich island that sits along strategic sea lanes in the North Atlantic. Greenland, a selfgoverning territory of Denmark with a population of about 56,000 people, lies off the northeastern coast of Canada, closer to Washington D.C., than to Copenhagen.
Trump made a direct appeal to Greenlanders in his speech to Congress, just a week before the country’s voters cast their ballots in parliamentary elections.
“We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump said.
“We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before,” he added.
But Trump’s message came with undertones of the great power politics that have marked the early days of his second administration. Since taking office, Trump has suggested moving Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and turning it into a “Riviera of the Middle East;” announced his intention to regain control of the Panama Canal; and stopped arms deliveries to Ukraine after the country’s president was slow to endorse Washington’s roadmap for a peace deal with Russia.
Trump said his administration was “working with everybody involved to try to get” Greenland.
“We need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Trump said.
Lisa Aardestrup, an 18-year-old language student, wasn’t interested in Trump’s sales pitch as she stepped carefully off a bus and onto an icy street on her way to class Wednesday morning.
She’s concerned that becoming part of the United States would damage Greenland’s environment and the fishing industry, which accounts for about 90% of the country’s exports, while fueling inflation and higher taxes.
“We feel like it’s a bad idea, and we just more want to be like our little island that’s more independent than anything else,” Aardestrup said.
“Greenland is very independent,” she added.
Aardestrup is also worried about importing the school shootings, angry politics and homelessness that dominate the news from the U.S She fears that would threaten Greenland’s culture, which she learned about from the stories her parents told her
Trump administration moves to drop emergency abortion case
BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST and REBECCA BOONE Associated Press
WASHINGTON The Trump administration on Wednesday moved to drop an Idaho emergency abortion case in one of its first moves on the issue since President Donald Trump began his second term
The Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was originally filed by the Biden administration, and allow Idaho to fully enforce its strict abortion ban even during emergency situations
A judge quickly blocked that enforcement, though, after doctors said it could force them to airlift women to other states to get standard critical care without the risk of running afoul of the law.
The Biden administration had argued that emergency-room doctors must to provide terminations if necessary to stabilize pregnant women in Idaho, which has one of the country’s strictest abortion bans.
The case could have nationwide implications, since the Democratic administration had given similar guidance to hospitals nationwide in the wake of the Supreme Court 2022 decision overturning the
right to abortion. It’s being challenged in other conservative states.
In Idaho, the state argued that its law does allow life-saving abortions and the Biden administration wrongly sought to expand the exceptions with an incorrect interpretation of federal law
Idaho doctors, meanwhile, say it’s often unclear in fast-moving emergencies whether pregnancy complications could ultimately prove fatal and allow a legal abortion under ban, doctors said.
Numerous doctors in the state — including some who oppose elective abortion — have said “Damocles’ sword hangs over them all the time,” said McKay Cunningham, a professor of reproductive rights and constitutional law at the College of Idaho.
St. Luke’s Health System, the state’s largest, said it airlifted six patients out of state to treat medical emergencies when the ban was in force between January and April 2024. Only one needed similar treatment in all of 2023.
Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from U.S emergency rooms spiked after the overturning of Roe v. Wade amid questions about what care hospitals could legally provide, federal records
showed.
In his first term, Trump appointed many of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturned the constitutional right to abortion. The Republican has since said the issue should be left to the states.
Dropping the lawsuit is “a big win for unborn children in Idaho, for women and for the truth,” said Kelsey Pritchard, political affairs communications director for Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America.
“Idaho protects women as well as unborn children.”
The Supreme Court stepped into the Idaho case last year It ultimately handed down a narrow ruling that allowed hospitals to keep making determinations about emergency pregnancy terminations but left key legal questions unresolved.
The case went before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December Those judges have not yet ruled, and the Justice Department moved to dismiss the case.
“The administration choosing to walk away is just completely outrageous and really heartbreaking for the women of this country,” said Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation. “This case does have far-reaching impact.”
talks with Putin
Kremlin: 2022 decree bans Zelenskyy from
By The Associated Press
Russia on Wednesday asked how Ukraine could attend potential talks on ending their three-year war when a Ukrainian decree from 2022 rules out negotiations with President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “is still legally prohibited from negotiating with the Russian side,” Dmitry Peskov noted during a daily call with reporters.
Zelenskyy expressed readiness Tuesday to negotiate peace with Russia as soon as possible, and Peskov called that “positive.” However, “the details have not changed yet,” the Russian spokesman added, apparently referring to the decree. Ukraine’s government did not immediately comment.
Neither Ukrainian nor Western officials have mentioned the presidential decree, signed seven months after Russia’s full-scale invasion, in the context of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest efforts to stop the fighting in a war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and over 12,000 Ukrainian civilians.
The United States seeks to pressure Zelenskyy into negotiating an end to the war The Trump administration on Monday suspended its crucial military aid to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials said Washington has
also paused intelligence sharing with Kyiv However, Trump administration officials said that positive talks between Washington and Kyiv mean the suspension may not last long. In the war’s early months, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with Putin but was rebuffed. After the Kremlin’s decision in September 2022 to illegally annex four regions of Ukraine Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Zelenskyy enacted a decree declaring that holding negotiations with Putin had become impossible. The Kremlin at the time said it would wait for Ukraine to sit down for talks on ending the conflict, noting it may not happen until a new Ukrainian president took office. Ukrainian forces are now toiling to slow advances by the bigger Russian army along the 600-mile front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region. The Russian onslaught, costly for its troops, hasn’t brought a strategically significant breakthrough for the Kremlin.
As European leaders scramble to adapt to the sharply changing U.S. position on Ukraine under Trump, the French government on Wednesday said Zelenskyy French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer could travel together to Washington “eventually.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVGENIy MALOLETKA
A woman walks with her dogs on a beach in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EFREM
A look at claims made by Trump during address to Congress
By The Associated Press
President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress highlighted several of the initiatives he’s started in his first six weeks in office, but many of his comments included false and misleading information.
Immigration crackdown
TRUMP: “Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded. Ever.”
THE FACTS: Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday that Border Patrol apprehended 8,326 people on the U.S.-Mexico border last month. But U.S. government data show that Border Patrol routinely averaged below that number in the 1960s.
While February marked the lowest arrest total in decades, Border Patrol averaged less than February 2025 for the first seven years of 1960s. The government website does not track U.S.-Mexico border totals before 1960. Border Patrol’s monthly average was 1,752 arrests in 1961.
Illegal immigration
TRUMP: “Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States. Many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members.”
THE FACTS: That figure, which Trump cites regularly, is highly inflated. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 10.8 million arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico from January 2021 through December 2024. But that’s arrests, not people. Under asylum restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people crossed more than once until they succeeded because there were no legal consequences for getting turned back to Mexico. So the number of people is lower than the number of arrests.
Hotel costs for noncitizens
TRUMP: Citing alleged examples of what he described as “appalling waste” in the federal government, referenced ”$59 million for illegal alien hotel rooms in New York City.”
THE FACTS: Trump appeared to be referencing a payment of $58.6 million one of two the city received last month. The payment was a federal reimbursement under the Shelter and Services Program, which was created to support local governments and nongovernment organizations that provide support to noncitizens released by immigration authorities.
Liz Garcia, a city spokesperson, said at the time that these reimbursements included $19 million in claims for hotel costs. The two payments totaled over $80.5 million for services delivered between November 2023 and October 2024.
Social Security money
TRUMP: “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old.
It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119. 3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129. 3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is being paid to many of them, and we are searching right now.”
THE FACTS: The databases may list those people, but that does not mean they are getting paid benefits.
Part of the confusion comes from Social Security’s software system based on the COBOL programming language, which doesn’t use a specific format for dates. This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference point of more than 150 years ago. The news organization Wired first reported on the use of COBOL programming language at the Social Security Administration.
Additionally, a series of reports from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general in March 2023 and July 2024 state that the agency has not established a new system to properly annotate death information in its database, which included roughly 18.9 million Social Security numbers of people born in 1920 or earlier but were not marked as deceased. This does not mean, however, that these people were receiving benefits.
The agency decided not to update the database because of the cost to do so, which would run upward of $9 million. As of September 2015, the agency automatically stops payments to people who are older than 115 years old.
‘Economic catastrophe’
TRUMP: “Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families. As you know, we inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”
THE FACTS: Inflation peaked at 9.1% in 2022 under President Joe Biden, but Trump did not inherit a disastrous economy by any measure. The unemployment rate ticked down to a low 4% in January, the month he took office, while the economy expanded a healthy 2.8% in 2024. Inflation-adjusted incomes have grown steadily since mid-2023. And inflation, while showing signs of stickiness in recent months and still elevated at 3% in January is down from its 2022 peak.
Still, concern about the economy was a key driver behind support for Trump during the 2024 election
The average price of basic consumer goods in particular has seen major spikes in recent years. A dozen large eggs, for example, went from a low of $1.33 in August 2020 to $4.82 in January 2023. They decreased in price to $2.07 in September 2023, but are currently on the rise again, at $4.95 as of January
Mayors defend ‘sanctuary’ policies
BY REBECCA SANTANA and TIM SULLIVAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON Democratic mayors of four major cities said Wednesday that Congress and the Trump administration are exaggerating crime committed by immigrants and attacking socalled sanctuary cities simply to score political points, as Republicans hammered the policies for shielding criminals and threatened to prosecute local officials.
The comments came in an often fiery hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where Republicans accused the mayors of putting their cities in danger and undermining President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Republicans have repeatedly highlighted a handful of brutal crimes committed by immigrants who crossed illegally into the U.S., with Rep. James Comer opening the hearings by saying the policies “only create sanctuary for criminals.”
But the Democratic mayors — Michelle Wu of Boston, Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Mike Johnston of Denver and Eric Adams of New York pushed back hard, even as they seemed to carefully avoid using the term “sanctuary.”
Republicans, they said, were trying to paint their cities as overrun by criminal
solving this national problem
— this Congress — can finally commit to do the same,” he said.
Adams got some of the only praise from Republican lawmakers, with Comer thanking him for working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
immigrants even as crime was falling. The mayors said a key to safety is creating cities where residents feel comfortable reporting crimes and working with police.
“We know there are myths about these laws But we must not let mischaracterizations and fearmongering obscure the reality that Chicago’s crime rates are trending down,” Johnson told the committee in a hearing room packed with reporters and onlookers. “We still have a long way to go, but sensationalizing tragedy in the name of political expediency is not governing. It’s grandstanding.”
There’s no legal definition for sanctuary city policies,
but they generally limit cooperation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers. Courts have repeatedly upheld the legality of sanctuary laws.
Denver’s Johnston said that crime decreased when the city was faced with an influx of immigrants, many bussed from border states by Republican politicians. Like the other mayors, he said the onus should be on Congress to update federal immigration laws.
“If Denver can find a way to put aside our ideological differences long enough to manage a crisis we didn’t choose or create, it seems only fair to ask that the body that is actually charged with
Adams’ critics say his collaboration is part of an effort to wriggle out of federal corruption charges, though even before Trump was elected, the mayor called on city lawmakers to allow New York police to work more with ICE. The Trump administration ordered prosecutors to drop the case on the grounds that it was distracting Adams from helping the immigration crackdown and hindering his reelection campaign. About two hours into the hearing, Democratic lawmakers began questioning him sharply over his work with the Trump administration and Justice Department orders to drop the charges.
“Are you selling out New Yorkers to save yourself from prosecution?” asked Rep. Robert Garcia, of California.
“There’s no deal, no quid pro quo. And I did nothing wrong,” Adams said.
Immigration law, the mayors said, is a federal responsibility, and the attempt to put that responsibility on local law enforcement simply makes communities distrust the police and others they may need to call for help.
Mysteries swirl around Gene Hackman’s death
BY MORGAN LEE Associated Press
— Authorities
SANTA FE, N.M.
misidentified a deceased dog while investigating the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, according to a pet care specialist
The couple’s German shepherd, named Bear, survived along with a second dog named Nikita, but their kelpie mix, Zinna, died, according to Joey Padilla, owner of the Santa Fe Tails pet care facility that is involved in the surviving dogs’ care.
The dog that died “was always attached to Betsy at the hip and it was a beautiful relationship,” Padilla said in an email statement Tuesday “Zinna went from being a returned shelter dog to this incredible companion under Betsy’s hand.”
Authorities have been searching for answers after the deaths of Hackman and Arakawa, whose partially mummified bodies were discovered on Feb. 26 at their Santa Fe home. Hackman and Arakawa may have died up to two weeks earlier, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said.
Authorities did not perform a necropsy on Zinna, who was found in a kennel in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, a sheriff’s office spokesperson said Investigators initially noted the discovery of a “deceased brown in color German-Shepard canine.”
Spokesperson Denise Avila acknowledged that sheriff’s deputies initially misidentified the breed of the deceased dog.
“Our deputies, they don’t work with canines on a daily basis,” she said.
USA Today first reported
on the mistaken identification of the dead dog.
Arakawa’s body was found with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the bathroom countertop, while Hackman’s remains were found in the home’s entryway
The two bodies both have tested negative for carbon monoxide, a colorless and odorless gas that is a byproduct of fuel burned in some home appliances and can be fatal in poorly ventilated homes. No gas leaks were discovered in or around the home.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office also said that a more extensive utility company inspection found that one burner on a stove in the house had a miniscule leak that could not be lethal. Authorities retrieved personal items from the home, including a monthly planner and two cellphones that will be analyzed. Medical investigators are still working to clarify the cause of deaths but the results of toxicology reports aren’t expected for weeks.
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, is standing behind his longtime chief of staff, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence shortly after President Donald Trump’s speech late Tuesday night Hayden Haynes was arrested after hitting a vehicle and was given a citation to appear in court.
“The speaker is aware of the encounter that occurred last night involving his chief of staff and the Capitol Police,” said Johnson’s spokesperson, Taylor Haulsee. “The speaker has known and worked closely with Hayden for nearly a decade and trusted him to serve as his chief of staff for his entire tenure in Congress. Because of this and Hayden’s esteemed reputation among members and staff alike, the speaker has full faith and confidence in
“A driver backed into a parked vehicle last night around 11:40 p.m.,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement to NBC News. “We responded and arrested them for DUI.” Police did not identify the driver, but Johnson acknowledged to NBC that it was Haynes.
Hayden’s ability to lead the speaker’s office.” Haynes is from Minden and a graduate of Louisiana Tech University He worked for then-U.S. Sen. David Vitter, RMetairie, for seven years before joining Johnson in 2016.
Haynes ran Johnson’s campaign for Congress and has been his chief of staff since 2017, when Johnson arrived in Washington. He is one of the most influential staffers on Capitol Hill. Johnson secured the speakership in October 2023 and presided over Trump’s 100-minute speech to a joint session of Congress and the nation Tuesday night.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROD LAMKEy
David J Bier right, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, watches as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu center nurses her daughter Mira while being greeted by Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., left, before a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing with sanctuary city mayors on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in Washington.
BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer
A landmark federal lawsuit initiated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleging that a chemical facility in St. John the Baptist Parish threatens the surrounding community with unacceptable cancer risks could be dropped in the coming days, according to recent reports, a sign of sharp changes in environmental policy being undertaken by President Donald Trump’s administration. The move comes as a win for state leaders who said President Joe Biden’s focus on environmental justice in Louisiana needlessly targeted industry But residents and community groups near the facility fear that abandoning the case will worsen an already dire public health situation.
Under Biden’s leadership, the EPA sued Denka Performance Elastomer in 2023 over emissions of the chemical chloroprene, a likely carcinogen. Denka’s facility in LaPlace is the nation’s largest emitter of the toxic chemical, which is released in the process of making neoprene, the synthetic rubber used in gloves, wetsuits and military equipment. The plant is the only source of neoprene in the United States The EPA had demanded that the company immediately reduce its chloroprene emissions. The New York Times first reported the plans to drop the lawsuit.
The Denka plant has become a focus in the fight between environmental justice advocates, industry and politicians on either side, both in Louisiana and beyond Gov Jeff Landry, a steadfast Trump supporter, visited the plant last year in a show of support for the company and announced his administration’s legal challenge to what was then a new federal rule aimed at reducing cancer risks.
“The Biden administration was engaged in an unfounded and illadvised coordinated attack on a single company that plays an essential role in the American supply chain,” said Louisiana Attorney
HAZING
Continued from page 1A
were called to the hospital hours after Wilson was pronounced dead, authorities said.
The source said Wednesday the fraternity members were never at the park where they initially claimed the event happened.
“It’s an ugly situation,” the source said, adding that other pledges at the event “were devastated by what happened to their brother.”
The source said the hazing ritual involved physical violence, not alcohol or drugs
The Baton Rouge Police Department has interviewed pledges who were there that night.
“I expect charges to come,” the source said. “The question is just who is going to be arrested and what the charges are going to be.” Wilson’s death is being investigated by the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office as a possible act of fraternity hazing.
The Kenner native was pledging the Beta Sigma Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. at Southern University
On Tuesday, Southern announced its own probe into the incident, and said all campus groups are required
General Liz Murrill, a close ally of the governor. “I’m grateful the new administration is correcting course.”
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Aurelia Giacometto similarly praised the move.
”We are grateful for the EPA decision,” she said “I am committed to advocating for Louisiana’s interests By reevaluating regulations and litigation stances, we can unlock the potential of our resources, contributing to energy dominance of this administration while benefiting Louisiana and the American people.”
Denka said it could not comment on the still pending litigation. The EPA directed questions to the U.S. Department of Justice, which did not respond.
Advocates in the heavily industrialized region along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans sharply opposed the decision arguing that the government is putting the profits of a company over community wellbeing.
to undergo rigorous antihazing training.
“As the Southern University and A&M College community grieves the loss of student Caleb Wilson, Southern officials continue the internal investigation that was launched immediately after reports of unsanctioned offcampus activities,” university officials said in a statement “The University has begun the student judiciary process as prescribed by the University’s student code of conduct and aligned with Louisiana law.” Groups who breach antihazing policies will be held to disciplinary sanctions,” according to the Tuesday statement.
“Southern University is actively and fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities in their criminal investigation,” the statement says.
Louisiana adopted strong anti-hazing measures after the 2017 death of Max Gruver at LSU. Gruver was forced to drink at a Phi Delta Theta fraternity pledging event and died of alcohol poisoning. His parents became anti-hazing advocates and asked the Louisiana Legislature to create stiffer penalties for hazing The Legislature did so, and those who haze can now be charged under felony counts in Louisiana.
A former fraternity member in Gruver’s case was
“Just like our ancestors fought for their freedoms in Reconstruction and the civil rights eras, we will keep fighting for clean air, clean water and clean soil so that we can live on the land our ancestors passed to us,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder of the advocacy group RISE St. James.
The 2023 lawsuit was paused after the EPA adopted a new rule last year requiring a reduction of chloroprene limits. Denka challenged this ruling in federal court, arguing that the EPA used flawed studies to determine the chemical’s cancer risk and saying it would not be able to meet the 90-day deadline for reduced emissions.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality gave the company a two-year delay to meet the new federal limits. A federal court in New Orleans agreed to reopen the case, as other challenges to the EPA emissions guidelines continue to be litigated in federal court in Washington, D.C.
The EPA contended that chloroprene emissions above 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter in areas
convicted of negligent homicide in his death while two other fraternity members pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hazing Their arrests came before Louisiana enacted felony hazing.
Despite heightened penalties, hazing has not gone away
“There’s still a disconnect between students who want to continue hazing despite heightened risk to them personally,” said Walter Kimbrough, the former president of Dillard University in New Orleans, who has served as an expert witness in hazing cases across the country
Kimbrough, now interim president of Talladega College in Alabama, said the mindset proliferates that people have to earn their place to be part of certain organizations.
Kimbrough also said it’s common for predominantly Black fraternities to use physical hazing while predominantly White fraternities more often use alcoholrelated hazing.
“They’ve just evolved differently in terms of culture,” he said. “For those guys who allegedly killed this young man as part of hazing, their lives are about to change in ways they can’t even imagine.”
Lane Ewing, one of the attorneys who represented Gruver’s family in their civil case against LSU, said the
outside the facility and 0.3 on the fence-line result in cancer risks greater than 1 in 10,000 people over a 70-year lifetime. Fence-line monitors over the past few years have shown emission levels much higher than the 0.3 figure. The most recent monitoring reports for January show average chloroprene emissions of 0.90 micrograms per cubic meter Denka also sits a couple hundred feet from an elementary school in its final semester of existence. The St. John Parish School Board voted to shut down the school amid a discrimination case over the young children’s exposure to the likely cancer-causing chemical, which can be even more dangerous for children. The majority-Black school is in a U.S. census tract with the highest risk of cancer from air pollution in the country, according to an EPA report.
Robert Taylor, a founding member of community activist group Concerned Citizens of St John said the organization is entering “emergency mode” over the reports that the lawsuit may be
Southern case could spawn civil suits as well.
“Certainly, there’s a civil cause of action against the hazers themselves,” Ewing said.
Ewing said there are possible wrongful death arguments about Wilson’s case, along with claims for pain and suffering that he en-
dropped.
Taylor said that for years, the local and state government failed to support the predominantly Black residents who were raising alarm over the public health and environmental issues in their area. For Taylor, this began to change when Biden entered office and put environmental racism, in which communities of color are disproportionately impacted by pollution, in the national spotlight.
“Now, the situation has reverted back or gotten even worse because we’ve got a government here that’s so aggressive to the environment” and, Taylor alleged, unfair to the Black population in the region activists often refer to as “Cancer Alley.”
“Our situation was dire from the start,” Taylor said. The leader of another advocacy organization in St. John, The Descendants Project, similarly said environmental groups “are used to having a government that’s hostile towards us at the state level,” Joy Banner said, so facing hostility at the federal level is not much of a change.
dured before he died. And he said homeowner’s insurance policies sometimes provide coverage in hazing cases.
The Gruvers named a number of defendants in their civil suits, which included LSU, the fraternity chapter and individual fraternity members. LSU agreed to pay the family
$875,000 while nearly all of the others reached confidential settlements.
A jury also found in 2023 that the Gruvers should receive $6.1 million in their wrongful death suit as well. Email Patrick SloanTurner at patrick.sloanturner@theadvocate.com.
on Canada, Mexico and China imposed on Tuesday are about stopping illegal immigration, blocking fentanyl smuggling, closing the trade gap, balancing the federal budget and other nations showing more respect for Trump.
All of that has left Canada, a longstanding ally, determined to stand up against Trump with its own retaliatory tariffs, rejecting a White House overture to possibly reduce some of tariffs imposed on Tuesday
“We are not going to back down,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said after speaking with the Canadian prime minister “We will not budge. Zero tariffs and that is it.” Ford told The Associated Press that the auto sector in the United States and Canada would last approximately 10 days before they start shutting down the assembly lines because of the tariffs.
“People are going to lose their jobs,” he said.
After the White House announced the one-month reprieve, shares of big U.S., Asian and European automakers jumped as much as 6%.
But pausing the 25% taxes on autos and auto parts traded through the North American trade pact USMCA would only delay a broader reckoning to take place on April 2, when Trump is set to impose broad “reciprocal” tariffs to match the taxes and subsidies that other countries charge on imports.
The U.S. automaker Ford said in a statement: “We will continue to have a healthy and candid dialogue with the Administration to help achieve a bright future for our industry and U.S. manufacturing.” GM in a statement thanked Trump “for his approach, which enables American automakers like GM to compete and invest domestically.”
Stellantis also thanked Trump for the one-month exemption, saying it “strongly” supported “his determination to enable the American automotive sector to thrive ” Other industries are also likely to seek exemptions from the import taxes.
“A number of industries have reached out to us to ask us for exemptions to the tariffs,” Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday The White House repeatedly insisted that it would not grant
exemptions and the sudden turnaround reflects the economic and political problems being created by Trump’s day-old tariffs. While the Republican president sees them as enriching the United States, his plans to tax imports have alienated allies and caused anxiety about slower economic growth and accelerating inflation.
The U.S. president engaged in a phone call on Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had suggested that the administration was looking to meet Canada and Mexico “in the middle.”
But Trudeau refused to lift Canada’s retaliatory tariffs so long as Trump continues with his new taxes on imports from Canada, a senior government official told The Associated Press. The official confirmed the stance on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter
“Both countries will continue to be in contact today,” Trudeau’s office said The prospect of a trade war appears to be an ongoing feature of the Trump administration. In ad-
dition to his upcoming reciprocal tariffs that could strike the European Union, India, Brazil, South Korea, Canada and Mexico, Trump wants to tax imports of computer chips, pharmaceutical drugs and autos. He also closed exemptions on his 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs and is investigating tariffs on copper as well.
Tariffs are taxes paid by importers in the countries receiving the goods, so the cost could largely be passed along to U.S. consumers and businesses in the form of higher prices. In his Tuesday night speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump tried to minimize the financial pain as a “ little disturbance.”
“It may be a little bit of an adjustment period,” he said after claiming that farmers would benefit from reciprocal tariffs on countries that have tariffs on U.S. exports. “You have to bear with me again and this will be even better.”
Trump has predicted that tariffs will lead to greater investment inside the U.S., creating factory jobs and boosting growth in the long term.
On Tuesday, Trump put 25% taxes on imports from Mexico and
Caution tape sits on the ground along 4th Street
shooting at a
people were dancing in the streets when the event was interrupted by several individual shots and then rapid gunfire. People dove for cover and ran screaming in many directions.
One woman said she hid behind a car when she heard the barrage of shots, along with a man who was using his body to shield a baby in a stroller
Another witness said on social media that she had never seen the Mardi Gras celebration so packed She said many of the attendees were teenagers who appeared to have been drinking. Several people reported seeing three bodies on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
The victims have not been identified by authorities, but multiple reports have indicated the two dead victims were juveniles.
On Wednesday, Lafayette Renaissance Charter High
School said one of its students, Alaya Christian, was killed in the Tuesday shooting.
“She was not only a dedicated student but also a proud member of our softball team, student council, a football trainer, and an active participant in numerous clubs and organizations. Her impact on our school was immeasurable, and she will be deeply missed,” the school posted on its Facebook page. Ardoin was on stage with his band and 13-year-old son Tuesday about 15 minutes into a 45-minute gig, when the shooting began
“This was the first time I had one of my boys with me. One of my sons. My oldest one,” Ardoin said in a Facebook video. “He was on the stage, on the side of me, when it happened.”
When he heard the shots close to the stage, Ardoin said he dropped his accordion and jumped on his son to protect him Law enforcement officers rushed in front of the band, he said, to shield them
He said it sounded like at least 100 rounds were fired.
“Why would you come to an event with a gun like that? Like you’re fighting in a war,” he said. He said he would not perform at any more outdoor concerts.
A native of Lake Charles and a resident of Lafayette, Ardoin was shot in the back in July 2021 while performing at an outdoor Louisiana Mudfest event in Colfax in Grant Parish.
“That’s done. Today, it drew the line for me,” he said. “I love music, but I love life more.”
The traditional Cajun Mardi Gras celebration in Mamou draws thousands of visitors to the Evangeline Parish town, which had a population of 2,936 in the 2020 census. The annual celebration includes a street dance, or fais do-do, on Monday evening, which is where the first shooting took place. Staff writers Kristin Askelson, Ashley White and Stephen Marcantel contributed to this report.
Canada, taxing Canadian energy products such as oil and electricity at a lower 10% rate. The president also doubled the 10% tariff he placed on China to 20%.
The administration has claimed that the tariffs are about stopping the smuggling of drugs such as fentanyl, with aides asserting that this is about a “drug war” rather than a “trade war.” U.S. customs agents seized just 43 pounds of fentanyl at the northern border the last fiscal year
Trudeau said on Tuesday that his country would plaster tariffs on over $100 billion of American goods over the course of 21 days, stressing that the United States had abandoned a long-standing friendship.
“Today, the United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they are talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator Make that make sense,” Trudeau said on Tuesday Mexico indicated it would announce its own countermeasures on Sunday Beijing responded with tariffs of
up to 15% on a wide array of U.S farm exports. It also expanded the number of U.S. companies subject to export controls and other restrictions by about two dozen.
“If war is what the U.S wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” China’s embassy to the United States posted on X on Tuesday night.
In response to China, U.S Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” that the United States is “prepared” for war against the world’s second largest economy
“Those who long for peace must prepare for war,” Hegseth said Wednesday morning. “If we want to deter war with the Chinese or others, we have to be strong.” Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First and Fifth Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BEN CURTIS
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick speaks with reporters after President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE
in Mamou on Wednesday, the day after a
Mardi Gras concert left two people dead and 12 others wounded.
BY CHRISTINA LARSON AP science writer
WASHINGTON Early humans
were regularly using animal bones to make cutting tools
1.5 million years ago.
A newly discovered cache of 27 carved and sharpened bones from elephants and hippos found in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge site pushes back the date for ancient bone tool use by around 1 million years. Researchers know that early people made simple tools from stones as early as 3.3 million years ago. The new discovery, published Wednesday in Nature, reveals that ancient humans “had rather more complex tool kits than previously we thought,” incorporating a variety of materials, said William Harcourt-Smith, a paleoanthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History who was not involved in the research.
The well-pr es erv ed bone tools, measuring up to around 16 inches, were likely made by breaking off the thick ends of leg bones and using a stone to knock off flakes from the remaining bone shaft. This technique was used to create one sharpened edge and one pointed tip, said study coauthor Ignacio de la Torre, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council.
The bone tools were “probably used as a hand axe” — a handheld blade that’s not mounted on a stick — for butchering dead animals, he said. Such a blade would be handy for removing meat from elephant and hippo carcasses, but not used as a spear or projectile point. “We don’t believe they were hunting these animals. They were probably scavenging,” he said. Some of the artifacts show signs of having been struck to remove flakes more than a dozen times, revealing persistent craftsmanship The uniform selection of the bones — large and heavy leg bones from specific animals — and the consistent pattern of alteration makes it clear that early humans deliberately chose and carved these bones, said Mírian Pacheco, a paleobiologist at the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Brazil, who was not involved in the study. The bones show minimal signs of erosion, trampling or gnawing by other animals — ruling out the possibility that natural causes resulted in the tool shapes, she added.
The bone tools date from more than a million years before our species, Homo sapiens, arose around 300,000 years ago. At the time the tools were made, three different species of human ancestors lived in the same region of East Africa, said Briana Pobiner a paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program, who was not involved in the study The tools may have been made and used by Homo erectus, Homo habilis or Paranthropus boisei. “It could have been any of these three, but it’s almost impossible to know which one,” said Pobiner
‘BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER’
Lafayette students at Teurlings celebrate community and culture with food, music and conversation
BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer
Around five years ago, students at Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette found out how tough it can be to navigate high school through a pandemic.
According to school librarian Carrieanne Ledet, some students began reaching out to teachers during this period to voice feelings of disconnection from their classmates. Remote learning and lots of computer time had led to reports of online bullying, and the students knew they had to take action to build bridges and improve communication among the student body.
The Common Ground club at Teurlings was born thanks to their efforts.
“They asked if they could get the club, and the kids have taken off with it,” said Ledet, club sponsor and faculty organizer for the Common Ground Black History Month celebration, which took place Friday in the school’s
central courtyard.
Students purchased lunch in a festival atmosphere from food trucks selling Louisiana Creole-inspired dishes, and gathered in the shade of a live oak to hear music from Grammy-winning zydeco artist Chubby Carrier Common Ground’s student leaders said they also planned Black History Month trivia and other games, and hoped that students enjoyed learning about other cultures through the day’s festivities.
“We want to accomplish bringing people together and making a big community where everybody tries new things, hears new music and understands other cultures and experiences,” said student organizer Alexis Jean Batiste.
The club hosts monthly meetings on different themes and topics and the entire school community is invited to participate, Ledet said.
“It’s about trying to unite the campus into a better understanding that
Local group invests in north Lafayette
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
A local group will invest $5.1 million in a north Lafayette residential neighborhood with the intention of bringing affordable homeownership to residents.
The group, led by developer Ravi Daggula, bought 83 residential properties in the Bayberry Point neighborhood, aiming to bring sustainability and economic development to the area. The project is in conjunction with Fi Hori B k and partwith organizations like One Acadiana, Lafayette Economic Developthe Greater Southwest Louisiana Chamber of Commerce. Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Laannounced ighborhood, intersection of reet and Hamwas Olympia partnering orgaoccupants to howtoadvance their credit and improve educational attainment for parents and children. Those residents can then transition into homeowners, and Dagulla said he hopes to build affordable homes throughout the north Lafayette for those Bayberry Point residents to purchase.
ä See VENTURE, page 4B
Telehealth service to improve access
BY ALENA MASCHKE Staff writer
Louisiana oil lauds rollback of Gulf whale measures
Rice’s whale among most endangered marine mammals
BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer
Louisiana’s oil and gas industry is cheering a move by the Trump administration to roll back protections in the Gulf for the highly endangered Rice’s whale, though wildlife advocates warn it places the species at extreme risk with only several dozen believed remaining in the wild.
The protections had recommended that boats traversing Rice’s whale habitat slow down to 10 knots and keep 500 meters of distance between boats and any whale that could be a Rice’s whale, which live year-round in the Gulf. It also suggested that vessels have a trained spotter aboard to watch for whales. Last week, following the president’s executive order aimed at “unleashing” American energy production, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management nixed those protections, which weren’t legally enforceable and amounted to a set of “suggested precautionary measures,” per the bureau.
The protections had drawn harsh pushback from Republican members of Louisiana’s
When Crystal Burke hit her late 30s, she started noticing strange symptoms. Her psoriasis flared up. She had trouble sleeping.
“I went to see my primary care doctor I went to see several doctors, a dermatologist for skin changes, a sleep doctor for sleep problems,” Burke said. “I had a problem and I didn’t know what it was, where to go.”
While most women don’t hit menopause until their late 40s or early 50s, perimenopausal symptoms can start as early as their mid-30s.
Burke, a nurse practitioner, and her partner Dr Steven Youngblood, began researching menopause care and hormone replacement therapy Instead of women having to visit several doctors for their symptoms, they felt there should be a way for them to receive comprehensive care for changes that come with menopause and perimenopause.
That’s how The Menopause Clinic, a telehealth clinic serving patients across Louisiana, was founded. The couple launched the clinic this year, and it serves mostly patients from the New Orleans area, where the couple is based, but is accessible to women anywhere in the state.
“When I started seeing multiple Clinic
See CLINIC, page 4B
PHOTO PROVIDED By NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE
STAFF
PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Students enjoy lunch during the Common Ground Black History Month celebration at Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette on Friday.
Chubby Carrier performs during the Common Ground Black History Month celebration at Teurlings Catholic High School.
A secure Mardi Gras season like no other
Our world was rocked by a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in the New Orleans French Quarter less than four hours into the new year days before the official Carnival season started on Jan. 6. Fourteen people were killed as the domestic terrorist drove a rented truck from Canal Street onto a sidewalk and then along the street until it hit construction equipment.
The Feb. 9 NFL Super Bowl at the Caesars Superdome had the nation’s highest security protection a level one Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR), the highest potential threat rating the government can assign to any event guaranteeing extensive federal support.
Soon after the attack, President Joe Biden granted the city of New Orleans a SEAR 1 rating for the entire Carnival and Mardi Gras season through Mardi Gras.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security stepped up to provide the city with a team of fire and explosives investigators, engineers, bomb-sniffing dogs and other expertise to keep the city safe.
The parade season went on as it has in recent years, but for a few incidents and a curtailed Mardi Gras celebration with the Krewe of Zulu and the Rex organization rolling earlier than normal and with fewer marching and walking participants so eager parade-goers could enjoy two of the best parades before rather ferocious high winds and tornado threats made things dangerous later in the morning.
With presidential backing — and cooperation between Gov Jeff Landry and Mayor LaToya Cantrell — New Orleans had beefed-up security Normally, Mardi Gras has a level two rating, and the city got additional federal assistance and resources.
Cantrell argued in 2019 that Carnival season was unlike other events nationwide and therefore deserving of a SEAR 1 rating. When the SEAR 1 designation was announced, Cantrell said “Mardi Gras 2025 is going to be the safest ever.” Sadly, Mardi Gras weekend was not totally without incident.
In Franklinton Sunday there was a mass shooting with five people injured and one person arrested. In Mamou in Evangeline Parish, a Mardi Gras Zydeco concert was interrupted Tuesday night when a shooting near the stage killed two people and injured about a dozen others.
In New Orleans, there were shootings that did not seem to be connected to Mardi Gras parades during the day
These acts should not detract, however, from the tremendous amount of work by Landry, Cantrell, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, Attorney General Liz Murrill and an array of federal state and local law enforcement agencies to make sure the festivities were devoid of major security breaches With tens of thousands of visitors in New Orleans and surrounding areas, this was no small feat. We wish there had been no incidents throughout the weekend and on Mardi Gras, but thanks to cooperation at all levels, this may have been the safest Mardi Gras in recent history. New Orleans needs a SEAR 1 rating for future Carnival seasons.
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OPINION
YOUR VIEWS
Lack of access to early childhood education has a ripple effect
At Entergy, we’re proud to help power Louisiana’s homes, businesses and communities. Behind the electricity that lights up our state are thousands of employees working hard to support their families. Finding high-quality and affordable child care is a persistent challenge for many of my employees with young children.
The inability to access early childhood education has a ripple effect: Employee absenteeism rises, productivity falls and the broader economy suffers. Business loss calculators, such as the one developed by the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, estimate that child care issues cost businesses millions of dollars annually and Entergy is no exception. Lost work hours and turnover tied to child care gaps cause our company to lose approximately $14 million annually, which has a stifling effect on our impact. With a high-yielding return on investment, early childhood education is
one of the most cost-effective ways to strengthen Louisiana’s economy and support working families. Its impact on today’s workforce is why we were proud to be the title sponsor of Early Ed Month in February
However, there is more underneath the impact on working parents and employers; children benefit from early education, too. Studies show that children thrive and are better set up for success in school and beyond when they have experienced high-quality early learning programs. This is how we build a talented workforce for the future.
As business leaders, we must create solutions that benefit employees and communities. Together, we can ensure that every child and every working parent — has the opportunity to thrive. Let’s power a brighter future for Louisiana.
PHILLIP MAY president and CEO Entergy Louisiana
Democracy demands citizens not be afraid to act
From the inception of our democracy, one common powerful theme prevails “We the people.”
The Declaration of Independence states that “governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Our Constitution purposely begins with those words. The power that dictates how our government operates comes from us.
Our democracy has been battle-tested and saved by the blood and sacrifice of our people throughout its existence. Lincoln’s words say it best: “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new
birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
We should never forget this. Abandon a victim mentality Know and use your power We the people must be vocal and involved — all of us. Peacefully, legally, actively Stay vigilant.
Roughly 35% of eligible voters nationwide do not vote. No politician or party can claim they have a mandate when less than 50% of the eligible population votes for them. Communicate with and critique your elected officials. Hold them accountable. Make your presence felt.
STEVE PEARCE Mandeville
Musk’s vision favors billionaires over the rest of us
It appears Elon Musk has been given unlimited power over the U.S. government, including the president and the Congress. It is astounding what $280 million (although amounts vary on a fact check) will buy a person. We, the average citizens, are being punished by all the cuts and freezes taking place.
Congress seems comfortable or perhaps knee-capped by his power I wonder, when Musk wakes up one day and
decides on a whim that cutting salaries and benefits to members of the House and Senate is necessary to reduce spending, if the tune will miraculously change. During the campaign, when the president and the vice president referred to “they/them,” “them” was all inclusive. All of us are “them.” I could make a joke about knowing your pronouns, but this isn’t the time.
SUSAN BENSINGER New Orleans
We need politicians who support all forms of energy
I agree with Josie Abugov’s article on Feb. 10 on offshore wind projects. I would like to add that we, American citizens of this great yet troubled nation, need to start looking for better representatives for all of us, who will work for all Americans, not just half of us who voted for them. In the future, we will need more energy, be it oil, wind, gas, solar — all forms of energy Since 2016, our representatives in Washington keep giving us less desirable choices to vote for, (Democrat and Republican). We need to work together rather than fight each other on every topic or policy that is put forth.
One president comes in and wipes out everything the previous president set, and then, four or eight years later, same thing. This is unsustainable. Oil gives us much more than pollution and greenhouse gases. We get plastics, pharmaceuticals, feedstocks, asphalts. There are over 6,000 products, including our hightech devices which we cannot live without, that come from oil. Also, we will need more and more energy in all forms in the future. We need to work together rather than fight each other to accomplish this.
Washington, please give us someone to vote for who will work for the entire country DARREL JULES LEGER Lafayette
Don’t hide behind ‘pro-choice’ label if you truly respect life
A recent letter writer stated: “prochoice does not mean pro-abortion.” Actually, pro-choice is open-ended. Everyone was created by God with a free will to make choices about everything they do, resulting in a world full of saints and sinners. The choice to kill a pre-born human being is called abortion. Therefore, if you believe in the choice to kill a pre-born person, you are proabortion. People who are pro-abortion should consider why they would rather be called pro-choice instead of pro-abortion.
MARY LANDRY Harahan
Parents want, and deserve, new school choice program
A boffo early response to the LA GATOR education program is a reminder that the biggest advantage of school choice programs is yes, the ability to choose. Choice is a good in itself, even before the social scientists tally test scores and graduation rates The LA GATOR (Giving All True Opportunity to Rise) program creates scholarship accounts that eligible students can use for tuition or other education-related expenses such as textbooks, computers, supplies, tutoring and uniforms They can be used for private schools or for individual offerings at public schools, or for costs relating to home-schooling LA GATOR replaces an existing state voucher program that has drawn spirited criticism amid unimpressive results on standardized testing Proponents of choice, though, say the old program was badly designed, with far too many restrictions and stultifying regulations They say LA GATOR, by contrast, will be open to more participants, at more schools, for more purposes.
that’s the point. Parents, not central bureaucrats or designers of arbitrary district lines, should be presumed to know what is best, in toto, for their children — and either way, parents should have the right to choose. The Supreme Court in Meyer v. Nebraska in 1923 rightly recognized what the case summary called “the right of parents to control the upbringing of their child as they see fit.” In a free society, the ability to make essential choices free from overweening state control is a central, bedrock value.
to state treasuries that 48 education choice programs studied “saved state and local taxpayers” as much as “$45.6 billion since their inception through FY 2022.”
Erin Bendily of The Pelican Institute think tank wrote on the group’s website that it is “a very different program than the old voucher system.” She said participating schools must meet significant standards, but they won’t need to show as much “deference to top-down, heavy-handed pressure from the state to conform to the public-school model.” Even the old program made most parents considerably happier than they were with their children’s previously assigned schools. Bendily wrote that more than 93% of families in the voucher program reported they were either “satisfied” or “very satisfied.” Parents may be considering factors such as a school’s safety or disciplinary rules, its perceived “school spirit,” its values or educational emphases or any number of other concerns. And
It also is true that regarding school choice, parents now have a significant amount of nationwide data available to inform their decisions. Oft-times, the measurable differences between results from “choice” systems and those from traditional public schools are small, but the overall trend is telling. EdChoice, a preeminent national advocate of scholarships, vouchers, charter schools and the like, has an excellent reputation for accuracy Rather than do its own study, it compiled results from numerous high-quality analyses of choice programs conducted by respected outside researchers. It found that in studies analyzing test scores in 17 private-school choice systems, 11 found at least small improvements, compared to four with no change and just two with at least small declines In eight studies of the effects on racial integration, seven showed improved integration and one showed no change. All eight that looked at school safety found improvements. Thirty-one of 33 found improved parental satisfaction.
And, despite rampant predictions that choice programs would bleed public treasuries, 69 of 75 actually showed improved “fiscal effects.” Indeed, this finding comports well with another more in-depth EdChoice analysis showing such widespread fiscal benefits
Either way, the response of Louisiana families to the new LA GATOR program has been stunning. The old voucher program served just 5,693 families. Yet after LA GATOR opened for applications last Saturday, March 1, it received more than 12,775 applicants by 8:15 Wednesday, a scant four days later and even in the midst of Carnival. Ted Beasley of the state Department of Education says of the those applications, 10,646 already were determined as eligible based on the information submitted, meaning the students either participated in the Louisiana Scholarship Program the previous school year are entering kindergarten, were enrolled in a public school the previous year or come from a family with total income at or below 250% of federal poverty guidelines.
In sum, choice is so popular that in four days, more than twice as many families applied than were served in the old program overall.
“Ultimately we have to remember that this is a parent-driven program,” Bendily said in a March 2 interview with The Times-Picayune | The Advocate. “Do families feel like their kids are making progress? Are they feeling that their kids are happy and engaged in learning? Those are going to be the most important indicators of success.”
The remarkably strong initial interest shows that parents indeed expect the new education scholarships will be worthwhile. Louisiana is wise to give them that option.
Quin Hillyer is a columnist and editorial writer for The TimesPicayune | The Advocate. He can be reached at quin.hillyer@theadvocate. com
Living and praying by pope’s example
A papal deathwatch united us. It doesn’t seem as crass an observation now that Pope Francis has been rallying, but regardless of one’s politics or opinion of him specifically or the Catholic Church more generally, what looked for a weekend like the pontiff’s final hours appeared to put one person’s health not only on millions of our screens, but in our prayers. Cynically, I thought the attention would immediately go to scorecarding the next papal conclave (and Oscar possibilities for the recent movie about papal succession.) But as with the around-the-clock news coverage of Pope John Paul II’s final days, it appears some of us may still believe in something more and something like eternal hope and matters even more important than politics presidential or papal. I confess having sighed in relief that Francis’ final act as pontiff wasn’t to instruct recent Catholic convert Republican Vice President JD Vance on the order of love, in his Feb. 10 letter to the U.S. bishops on immigration. In U.S. Catholic circles, there would never be the end of that social media thread, from the right and left (for lack of a better way to describe “sides” in intra-Church debates).
And while Francis hasn’t been known to be the favorite of many a Western conservative, every evening in Rome, U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke about as Western and conservative as they come, has been among those gathering in St. Peter’s Square daily praying for him.
George Weigel, the authority on all things John Paul II, referred to JPII’s final years as his “last encyclical.” It was a living letter to the world about how to die. Similarly, we have seen Francis struggle in a wheelchair, in pain and now out-of-sight at a Roman hospital. Whereas the advocates of assisted suicide suggest that there is “mercy” in ending things when the going gets tough, watching someone so promi-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE
nently facing the last season of life as a necessary part of existence should give us pause. Pope Francis frequently makes headlines for talking about immigration and the environment, but one of the most consistent themes of his tenure has been to push back against our “throwaway” society As Francis issues messages and moves sainthood causes forward from Gemelli Hospital, he teaches us that life continues. The lack of suffering is not the point of human life. And see how he draws love out of a people who would otherwise be distracted and angry and jaded! How long Pope Francis will hang on remains unclear But as he prepares to
meet our maker, he reminds us there is so much more to life, and that there is hope beyond wherever our ideological leanings fall. When the pope between JPII and FI (if you will), Pope Benedict XVI, visited the United States, public transportation in the metro D.C. area proclaimed via an ad buy from the local archdiocese: “He who has hope lives differently.”
Or so it ought to be. And so, with living our deaths. May it be so — for Francis and for all we love, and are drawn out of ourselves to care for and care about.
Email Kathryn Jean Lopez at klopez@ nationalreview.com.
If Chinese leader Xi Jinping wanted to take down the U.S. auto industry — and he probably does — he couldn’t have a better helper than Donald Trump. The American president’s tireless efforts to slow America’s shift to electricity-run transportation is a dream come true for China as it leads the world in that transition. Electric vehicles are the cars and trucks of the future. In some parts of the world, that future is here. Norway now has more fully electric cars on its roads than the gas-powered kind.
China has put enormous resources behind the development and manufacture of EVs. The U.S. was on the case when Joe Biden was president. Trump is taking away those subsidies, thus messing with U.S. automakers’ big plans to compete in this growing market.
The politics of it are also wild.
About 80% of the Biden-era clean energy investments are in red states (or if they are rescinded, were).
In North Carolina Toyota just unveiled a $13.9 billion battery plant in the small town of Liberty Another maker of cutting-edge batteries will soon open near Raleigh, not far from a factory that builds charging infrastructure Trump also wants to take away money Congress appropriated for EV charging stations. That appears to be illegal, but Republicans in Congress seem more afraid of Trump than voters who could lose jobs.
But one Republican, Alabama’s Gov Kay Ivey, defends that funding. “Having strategic electric vehicle charging stations across Alabama not only benefits EV drivers, but it also benefits those companies that produce electric vehicles, including many of them right here in Alabama, resulting in more high-paying jobs for Alabamians.”
All true.
Some observers surmise that Elon Musk sees a personal gain in slowing down the growth of charging stations. His Tesla currently has the largest network of fast chargers in the country Adding chargers could help sales of EVs other than Elon’s.
Potentially hurting the American automakers are the 25% tariffs Trump is threatening to slap on the parts they get from Canada and Mexico. This shared production arrangement would make U.S. cars more price-competitive on world markets, thus protecting the jobs of American workers.
But get this: Musk is now suing the European Union over its decision to put hefty tariffs on EVs made in China Tesla, you see, makes more than half its EVs in China
MAGA has been brainwashed to see evil behind efforts to direct American drivers away from fossil fuels. As a self-pitying Arizonan told The Wall Street Journal, EVs are “being pushed down our throats.”
A Morning Consult poll taken last spring found that 4 in 10 Americans have unfavorable views of EVs. And 38% of those respondents said their political views were a factor
One must ask: What mean man is forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles? No one is stopping you or me from going to an auto showroom or used car lot and driving off with a 100% gas-powered machine.
Having the U.S. government help a new domestic industry is what we call economic policy When Henry Ford’s first Model T rolled out of the factory in 1908, America had almost no paved roads beyond the cities.
Ford was a strong advocate for the kinds of roads his new cars needed to run on. He became the first chairman of the Wayne County Road Commission. The Federal-Aid Road Act was passed in 1916 and the Federal-Aid Highway Act in 1921. Back to the present, sales of Chinese-made EVs rose 40% last year alone. China also has the world’s largest network of charging stations.
Something tells us President Xi Jinping likes the way things are going in the age of Trump. Froma Harrop is on X, @FromaHarrop. Email her at fharrop@gmail.com
Quin Hillyer
Kathryn Jean Lopez
Froma Harrop
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
Candles are left outside the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, in Rome, where Pope Francis has been hospitalized since Feb 14.
Saints could draft differently on defense under new s
BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer
For the first time in nearly a decade the New Orleans Saints are going into the NFL draft process searching for players
fit something other than Dennis Allen’s defensive scheme.
That means the team is looking for a few different types of players for new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley currently don’t exist on the roster The days of pegging a defensive end as a fit for the Saints because he is 6-footpounds are probably over, but those 240-pound bendy edge rushers who never made sense for the Saints now may be Nobody yet knows exactly what kind of players fit what both Staley and the Saints scouting department like, because is their first time working together But that won’t stop us from trying to guess.
The NFL scouting combine is in the rearview mirror, and the 2025 draft is seven weeks away If the Saints choose on new defensive players early in the draft, here are some who make sense.
BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer
As UL women’s basketball coach Garry Brodhead and his staff scouted Wednesday’s Sun Belt Tournament game that No. 11-seeded Marshall won over No. 10-seeded Texas State, he had an uneasy feeling. His Ragin’ Cajuns beat Marshall this season, but it took 92 points to do so. UL split with Texas State but didn’t play well in the last meeting. But his prevalent hope is for the execution his team displayed in practice Wednesday to carry over when No. 7-seeded UL takes on Marshall at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida.
“I thought we were kind of struggling a little bit to kind of get through things, but the last couple of practices have been really good,” Brodhead said. “I’m kind of hoping we’re kind of getting over it.
“I think they’re disappointed that we’re not going like we should, but today was one of our better practices in a while. We did a lot of good things.” Marshall advanced thanks to a 68-62 win over Texas State one day after rolling past South Alabama.
“I’m hoping they will be kind of tired,” Brodhead said of the Thundering Herd.
TENNESSEE EDGE JAMES PEARCE: In terms of build, Pearce is kind of a blend between the old and new Saints defenses. He is a 6-5 freak athlete (4.47-second 40-yard dash at the combine), but he’s 245 pounds. He is just 21 years old, and he was super productive in the Southeastern Conference, recording 171/2 sacks in his last two seasons.
MICHIGAN DT MASON GRAHAM: To state the obvious, it’s not realistic to hope Graham makes it all the way to No. 9. He is considered one of the best defensive prospects in this draft, and he could wind up being selected in the top five when draft day rolls around. But for a team with a lot of needs, help along the defensive interior is near the top. Graham instantly would upgrade the interior on run downs and pair nicely with Bryan Bresee as an interior pass-rush tandem in sub defensive packages.
Tigers believe they have settled on right position for Perkins
BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer
Harold Perkins always has played his best when he can use his athleticism in space, and LSU coaches believe a different position next season will allow the senior linebacker to thrive after years of debate about what his role should be.
Perkins will play the Star position, a hybrid linebacker/defensive back in coordinator Blake Baker’s scheme. Although defensive backs often play the position because of its responsibilities in pass coverage, coaches think Perkins can handle the role.
“We want to get him running,” LSU coach Brian Kelly told The Advocate. “We want to get him in his best element, which is being an athlete. We think that position does it for him.” Baker implemented the Star when he was hired last year, and safety Major Burns
played the position most of the season.
Perkins isn’t expected to be an exact replacement. Baker told On3 that Perkins
“gives us a little more position flexibility.” With 13 career sacks, Perkins’ background as a pass rusher could let Baker do some different things, especially off the edge.
“There’s great versatility in the position,” Kelly said.
The position change means for the first time in his LSU career Perkins will not spend the offseason learning how to play inside linebacker Perkins tried to develop inside the past two years, but he struggled to shed blocks from larger offensive linemen His production dipped playing inside, and he was moved to strongside linebacker each season. A year ago, Kelly said playing Star required a lot of the same things that Perkins
See TIGERS, page 3C
TEXAS A&M EDGE SHEMAR STEWART: know, we’re framing this exercise around the new kinds of players the Saints are seeking, and Stewart is the kind of guy who would’ve excited the old regime. But with Jeff Ireland running the show, the Saints are still going to seek players who are unnaturally gifted for their size. There is some significant boom-or-bust
ä See SAINTS, page 3C
BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer
UL men’s basketball interim coach Derrick Zimmerman wasn’t surprised about how close Tuesday’s 73-69 overtime win over ULMonroe was in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament opener in Pensacola, Florida.
“What do you expect from a rivalry game?” Zimmerman said. “You expect a competitive game going down to the wire You don’t expect a blowout in a rivalry game. Our guys just found a way to win. “We survived and advanced. That’s the name of the game this time of the year.” With the win, the No. 11-seeded Cajuns improved to 12-20 overall and played No. 10-seeded Old Dominion in the late game Wednesday night.
“I felt we didn’t play our best,” Zimmerman said. “We played OK. We left a lot of points out there on the table Our defense was good for about 38 minutes and then we kind of took our foot off the gas a little bit.” The win also completed a three-game season sweep of UL-Monroe, which dropped to 7-25
“I thought it was an extremely competitive game,” UL-Monroe coach Keith Richard said. “Both teams played really hard. Like all close games, a play here and a play there toward the end usually determines whether you win or lose.
Alabama LB Jihaad Campbell AP FILE PHOTO
STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
UL guard Tamiah Robinson
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
6
St. Thomas rides defense to victory
BY NICK FONTENOT
Contributing writer
Call it a cliché, but St. Thomas More coach Danny Broussard is living by it in 2025: Defense wins championships.
St. Thomas More came into its Division I select regional playoff game allowing just 39 points per game They lowered that average Tuesday in a 58-37 win against Tioga in Lafayette.
Trenton Potier had 14 points and Grayson Roy added 13, but Broussard said the third-seeded Cougars beat the No. 14 Indians largely because of their defense.
“Our defense was smothering tonight,” Broussard said. “We’ve been doing that all year long and we told our guys that this is the defensive effort it would take to win in the playoffs.
“It’s an old cliché, you know offense wins games and defense wins championships. We’re trying to prove that this year.”
John Luke Bourque drew the task of guarding sharp-shooting Tioga point guard Kaydhn Hardie. Bourque held the 5-foot-5 Hardie to just two 3-pointers and nine points total.
“That kid (Hardie) is a tremendous shooter,” Broussard said. “I mean, you saw it when he got the two looks from 3, he made both. I thought John Luke was tremendous in staying with (Hardie) all game long. We knew that kid could drop 20 (points on any night). John Luke did an awesome job of limiting his looks.”
The Indians of Rapides Parish attemped several 3-point shots in the first half but hit just one as STM led 12-9 after one quarter and extended it to 17-4 at halftime.
Broussard said the open 3s concerned him but once he saw the shots not dropping, STM let Tioga continue to take the longrange shots.
“I think (Tioga’s Kervin John-
son) is a tremendous player, but his game is not the 3-point shot,” Broussard said. “And so we kind of stayed off him and said until he hits one, we’re going to let him have it. It was really a hard game plan to not give (Hardie) the looks, but the other guys had some looks and if those were going in, the game probably looks a lot different.”
Johnson missed all of his 3-point attempts and finished with four points
Broussard credited his staff for the scouting it did on Tioga, saying the Cougars were prepared for everything the Indians threw at them. Next up for STM is No. 11 Huntington, a 70-66 regional winner over No. 6 Ponchatoula, in the quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Lafayette. Again, defense will be key “Huntington scored 70 to beat Ponchatoula. We can’t give up 70,” Broussard said. “I think our
staff is going to be up for the challenge. Coach Wes (Cortese) and coach (Ryan) Welty, they just see things that I don’t see. Coach Welty is great at breaking down film and getting us prepared.
“Our players understand that the coaches are seeing things that they don’t see. It’s going to be a different kind of game against Huntington than what we played tonight, but I am excited about the challenge.”
Lafayette Renaissance wins first postseason game
BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer
Lafayette Renaissance was ecstatic about getting a first-round playoff bye and hosting a regional game. But after Tuesday’s Division III select regional-round thriller, the Tigers and their fans are over the moon. Behind a defense that forced 25 turnovers and some clutch free throws down the stretch, the eighth-seeded Tigers won the first playoff game in school history with a 73-64 overtime victory against No. 9 St. Louis Catholic of Lake Charles.
“This is the first year that we are eligible for district and playoff honors,” coach Brad Boyd said. “We come out and finish in the top eight and now we are going to the quarterfinals Great job by these guys.”
In an up-and-down game, the Tigers trailed 14-4 after one quarter, led 46-32 midway through the third quarter and then blew a 62-55 lead in the final 25 seconds that allowed the Saints to send the game into overtime.
Trailing 62-60 with 2.2 seconds left, St. Louis called for a lob to 6-foot-5 freshman Dreylon O’Key on the inbounds play O’Key’s shot rolled in and out, but he tapped it bck in with his right hand for the tying basket.
The referees conferred to discuss whether to allow the basket because the game clock never started. After talking it over, the referees counted the basket to send the game to an extra period
“I told them after the last timeout that they were a good team and that they were going to make a run,” said Boyd, whose Tigers lost to St. Louis 65-49 in a Decem-
ber game. “That’s why we put together a good coaching staff. The kids were distraught (at the end of regulation), but we had coaches telling the kids, ‘Hey, let it go. It’s over with. Regroup and finish it.’ ”
The Tigers outscored the Saints 11-2 in overtime, making five free throws in the final three minutes to seal the victory
“We did a good job of finishing at the line in overtime,” Boyd said
“We tell them it is on to the next shot, on to the next play They did a good job of refocusing and closing out the game.”
Tthe Tigers were led by Mat-
thew Gordon (29 points, four assists), Te’Shaun Wiggins (15 points), Jon’Tavon Etienne (13
points) and Gabriel Duhon (10 points).
“Wiggins hit some big 3-pointers for us,” Boyd said, “and Etienne was all over the place. But really the whole team just did a great job. Everyone paid attention to their assignments in our man-toman defense.” The Saints were led by Nick Devall with 19 points. O’Key added 11. LRA will travel to face No. 1 Calvary Baptist at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals. The Shreveport team is led by Tyrone “TJ” Jamison, rated the
No. 1 point guard and No. 9
Eagles retain LB Baun with $51 million contract
All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun is staying with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Super Bowl champions announced Wednesday they’ve agreed on a three-year deal with Baun through the 2027 season. Baun’s contract is worth $51 million, including $34 million guaranteed. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the terms weren’t released.
Baun, who mostly played on special teams for the New Orleans Saints, was a key part of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s unit last season in his first year in Philadelphia. He had 151 tackles, 31/2 sacks and one interception in the regular season and also had a pick against Patrick Mahomes in the Eagles’ 40-22 victory in the Super Bowl last month.
Seahawks wide reciever Metcalf requests trade
D.K. Metcalf wants out of Seattle.
A person with knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press, under the condition of anonimity, that the longtime Seahawks wide receiver has asked for a trade. Metcalf, a two-time Pro Bowler, has caught 438 passes for 6,324 yards and 48 touchdowns in six seasons with the Seahawks. The 27-year-old Metcalf has one year remaining on his current contract, which has three voidable seasons after 2025. He’s currently scheduled to count nearly $32 million against the salary cap next year Metcalf’s request was made public on the same day Seattle cut veteran wide receiver Tyler Lockett in a salary cap-saving move.
Raiders give Crosby record-breaking extension
HENDERSON, Nev The Raiders not only extended the contract of star defensive end Maxx Crosby, they made him the highest-paid nonquarterback in NFL history Crosby received a three-year extension worth $106.5 million, with $91.5 million guaranteed, to keep him in Las Vegas through the 2029 season.
His average salary of $35.5 million in the three-year extension surpasses Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s average deal of $35 million, according to overthecap.com.
That was the previous high for a non QB. Crosby has been one of the NFL’s elite pass rushers with 591/2 sacks since being selected in the fourth round of the 2019 draft.
Chiefs trade offensive guard Thuney to Bears
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are trading two-time All-Pro guard Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday under the condition of anonymity The 32-year-old Thuney would have carried a salary cap number of nearly $27 million next season, unless the Chiefs could have worked out a contract extension. That extension is now expected to come from the Bears, who have been working to retool their offensive line to better protect young quarterback Caleb Williams next season. Williams was sacked an NFLhigh 68 times last season.
Rangers expect RF García to play on opening day
SURPRISE, Ariz. The Texas Rangers expect right fielder Adolis García can be ready for opening day after testing on his sore left oblique revealed a mild strain. Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters Wednesday, a day after García was scratched from the lineup for a spring training game, that the two-time All-Star slugger had “not quite” a Grade 1 strain.
Bochy said García should return “a little bit sooner” than that timetable.
That would have García easily on track for the opener at home against Boston on March 27. When the Rangers won their only World Series title two seasons ago, García missed the
two World Series games with
oblique issue.
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
St. Thomas More guard John Luke Bourque drives on Tioga guard Kaydhn Hardie during their Division I regional playoff game on Tuesday in Lafayette.
The Thundering Herd were led by Aislynn Hayes with 17 points and Blessing King with 13 on Wednesday
“They looked the same to me,” Brodhead said of Marshall. “They like to shoot the 3 and they pressed a little bit. They really like to get to the free-throw line a lot.
“Hayes is the leading scorer in the conference and mostly because she gets to the rim. She gets down the lane line and they get fouled.”
The two teams met on Feb. 5 in Lafayette as the Cajuns survived a 92-88 overtime contest
By UL’s standards, defense took a backseat that day
“No, 92 points is not a normal thing for us,” Brodhead said. “I think it’ll be more of a lower-scoring game, but we’ll see We got a pretty big lead in that game, and we started playing more players We probably should have just stayed with the top seven kids.”
The Cajuns finished shooting
53.6% overall, 54.8% from 3-point land on 6-of-11 shooting and also hit 85.7% at the line on 12-of-14 shooting. Erica Lafayette stood out in the matchup with 26 points on 11-of17 shooting for the Cajuns. Skylah
SAINTS
Continued from page 1C
potential here, which may make Saints fans groan. Stewart never recorded more than 11/2 sacks in a season at Texas A&M, but he possesses rare athletic gifts for a 6-5, 267-pound man.
GEORGIA LB/EDGE JALON WALKER: If Staley wants someone who can do a little bit of everything, Walker makes a lot of sense. He brings some juice as a pass rusher, evidenced by his 111/2 sacks the past two seasons, but he also can contribute as an off-ball linebacker
The self-described “hybrid linebacker” might be an ideal fit for what Staley is trying to build
The New Orleans scouting staff would need to be impressed with Walker who stands at just 6-1, below the prototypical height for linebackers and edge rushers.
ALABAMA LB JIHAAD CAMPBELL: Even though he racked up more than 100 tackles for Alabama last year, Campbell may never be an off-ball linebacker a la Demario Davis. But he does present some really exciting traits as a 3-4 outside linebacker and sub-personnel package pass rusher, and his rangy athleticism could one day translate as a middle linebacker if Campbell can improve as a processor. Campbell plays a physical, violent and fast brand of football.
TEXAS CB JAHDAE BARRON: If the Saints are unable to re-sign Paulson Adebo — which feels increasingly likely the closer we get to the new league year — they will have a sneaky need for a corner So why not go out and get the player who just won the Thorpe Award under Terry Joseph, the new defensive passgame coordinator for the Saints?
CAJUNS
Continued from page 1C
“This has happened to us kind of a lot during the season. I felt bad for this team, because they didn’t always get rewarded for their effort and their competitive spirit. Tonight was another one of those nights.”
The largest lead of the night was an eight-point cushion for UL at 5446 with 7:37 left in the second half, but the Warhawks responded with a 7-0 run to draw within 54-53 with 4:40 left.
It was a one-possession game for allbutsixsecondstherestoftheway
The Warhawks earned their first and only lead after halftime with
Travis also enjoyed a huge game with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 11 rebounds.
“That game is when Sky was first
coming out, and she’s been pretty consistent since then,” Brodhead said. “This could be a good game for her, because they play smaller
GRUNFELD
STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID
Washington Huskies tight end Jack Westover gets past Texas Longhorns defensive back Jahdae Barron for a first down during the first half of a College Football Playoff semifinal game on Jan. 1, 2024, at the Caesars Superdome.
Barron picked off five passes for the Longhorns last year and had eight in his final three seasons. He profiles as a slot corner in the NFL, though he may fit best as a safety Barron probably isn’t in play at No. 9, but his combine performance may have improved his stock to the point where he won’t be available for the Saints’ second pick at No. 40. The Saints have been known to make a trade to get a player they like.
NOTRE DAME S XAVIER WATTS: Even if the Saints re-sign free agent Will Harris after a solid debut season here, it’s safe to say New Orleans
an AD Diedhiou basket at 61-60 with 57 seconds left in regulation.
Michael Thomas responded 17 seconds later for UL with a 3-pointer for a 63-61 lead. The senior guard delivered in a big way for the Cajuns with 21 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists.
“I felt like it was in due time,”
Thomas said of his big night. “I had struggled a couple games before. Before the game, coach Z said this is when players step up and tonight it happened to be me.”
Tyrese Watson hit two free throws with 25 seconds left for UL-Monroe to force overtime. Free-throw shooting didn’t treat the Warhawks very well most of the night, though, as they settled for 63.6% on 14-of-22 shooting.
doesn’t have its long-term answer at safety Watts could be a fun addition if he’s there in the second round. The two-time AllAmerican is one of the best ball hawks in this class, having made 13 interceptions the last two seasons. Watts isn’t a complete player, especially in run defense, but he has one exceptional skill that should translate well to the NFL. It’s worth noting that Watts will wait until his pro day to perform any physical testing.
Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.
Jalen Bolden led the Warhawks with 21 points, while Watson and Diedhiou each had 15.
In overtime, Mostapha El Moutaouakkil put UL in front for good with a free throw at 3:53. El Moutaouakkil added two more free throws and then a short baseline jumper for a 68-66 lead with 2:10 left in overtime.
“We just found a way to win,”
Zimmerman said. “Mo got to the free-throw line 12 times he got to the front of the rim and finishing at the rim. He got their guys in foul trouble.”
Christian Wright then buried a 3-pointer with 1:29 left for a 71-65 Cajuns’ lead.
There were two long replay delays in the final 1:02 of overtime. The second one went UL-Monroe’s
We might be able to take advantage of that.” Tamiah Robinson had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, while
TIGERS
Continued from page 1C
did as a strongside linebacker in 2023 Both positions cover slot receivers man-to-man and blitz off the edge. Kelly said at the time
“that’s not really where we want Harold to be,” but Perkins had trouble at inside linebacker again early last season before suffering a torn ACL. Kelly said in a recent interview
“we felt that it was best in his development that he got a chance” to play inside linebacker
He added LSU has a “responsibility” to develop players, and Perkins needed to learn run fits to prepare for the next level. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds, he’s not viewed as an every-down pass rusher in the NFL.
Nubia Benedith added 11 points and four boards to account for the Cajuns’ double-figure scorers. Marshall countered with a huge day from CC Mays with 27 points behind 10-of-13 shooting from the line.
“I’m not so sure it wouldn’t have been a better defensive matchup for us against Texas State, but that’s not the way it worked out,” Brodhead said. “Texas State runs a lot of ball screens, which is easier for us to defend. This team moves the ball better They do a lot of dribble-drive and then pitch. Those kind of things are hard to guard.”
Madison Kellione hit half of her eight 3-point attempts to finish with 19 points.
Marshall made 11 3-pointers on 30 attempts and hit 23 of 32 free throws for 71.9%.
“Sometimes when you foul a lot it’s because of how they’re making you guard them,” Brodhead said. The Cajuns collected 27 points off turnovers compared to 21 for the Herd.
“I think we can rebound against them,” Brodhead said. “They have two girls who rebound well for them The problem is they get a lot of long rebounds, because they shoot so many 3s.”
Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com.
wide receivers.
Though the positions have similar responsibilities, what the Star does could adjust based on the player Kelly said freshman linebacker Davhon Keys technically filled the role of the Star when he played strongside linebacker near the end of this past season, but LSU didn’t leave him in space as much as it did with Burns. Instead, Kelly said it “crowded the box with him quite a bit” and used three linebackers.
“We saw him play inside, and he certainly can play inside, but there’s a lot more hand-to-hand combat, if you will.”
BRIAN KELLy, LSU coach, on Harold Perkins
“We saw him play inside, and he certainly can play inside,” Kelly said. “But there’s a lot more handto-hand combat, if you will.”
At the Star position, Perkins may not face the same issues.
“You’ve got to go block him in space,” Kelly said. “Not with a tackle, not with a guard, not with a center You’ve got to go block him with a wide receiver or a flex tight end. That’s a good matchup for us.”
In some ways, this could feel familiar for Perkins. He spent most of his sophomore year and two games last season at strongside linebacker, and the Star morphed out of a need to replace strongside linebackers against spread offenses that used three or more
way giving the Warhawks possession on a shot-clock violation with 30.1 seconds left.
Watson then fell down near the free-throw line with 14.1 seconds left, and El Moutaouakkil forced a jump ball with the possession arrow in UL’s favor
El Moutaouakkil hit a layup two seconds later to account for the 7369 final.
El Moutaouakkil turned in another stellar performance with 28 points on 8-of-12 shooting at the line to go along with six rebounds.
“Every team adjusts (defensively) — collapsing in the lane and bringing in everybody,” El Moutaouakkil said. “Just being able to kick it out and see different guys opens the floor for me. That was the name of the game tonight.”
LSU thinks it will have options with Perkins. Kelly said if a team uses two tight ends, LSU can put him close to the box in a threelinebacker set and bring down a safety If another team plays with four wide receivers, he believes Perkins has the athleticism to cover the slot receiver In 2023, he caught an interception after dropping into coverage on Missouri All-SEC receiver Luther Burden.
For now, Perkins will continue to recover from his torn ACL as LSU begins spring practice Saturday Kelly said Perkins is doing “football-related movements” and is expected to be fully cleared for summer workouts. Once he’s healthy, LSU thinks it can finally put him at a position that will bring out the best in his skill set.
“He just gives us great versatility,” Kelly said, “and that’s what’s exciting about having him at that position.”
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Wright finished with nine points and five assists.
UL won the rebounding battle 3431 and shot 45% overall from the field while UL-Monroe finished at 46.2%. The Cajuns made 10 3-pointers at a 41.7% clip.
“They’re a bigger team than us,” Zimmerman said. “We’re the smallest team on the court every night. Our guys compete and fight. They find a way to get that ball.
“We might not look it on the court with our height, but we’ve got some physical, tough guys who compete every day going for that ball. That’s the name of the game — defending and rebounding. That’s what I preach every day.”
Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com.
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
UL guard Erica Lafayette scored 26 points in the Cajuns’ win over Marshall earlier this season.
Jan Risher
‘Clean eats’ salad the perfect Mardi Gras cleanse
After all the richness and revelry the last few months have brought, this week, I was craving clean, healthy delicious food. I wanted quinoa. I wanted crunch. I wanted lime. I wanted bright. I wanted to eat something that made me feel good. I found everything I was looking for in what I’m calling the “Clean Eats Salad.” It’s a combination of fruit, herbs, vegetables and quinoa, which is technically not a grain
Quinoa is considered to be a pseudograin a seed prepared and consumed as a grain. Many consider quinoa to be one of the healthiest foods around. It’s packed with fiber and protein and contains all nine essential amino acids. Plus, when prepared properly, it’s delicious.
Cooking quinoa is easy, much like cooking rice, except quicker Like rice, proportions are 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa. For the salad recipe, I used 1½ cups uncooked quinoa and three cups water, which made more than I needed. (The next time, I’ll try 1¼ cups quinoa and 2½ cups water.)
The rest of the prep is simple: once the water or broth comes to a rolling boil, add in the quinoa. Cover and turn to low Cook for 15 minutes Let sit 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. For this salad, I used chicken broth to give it more flavor
While the salad is great with oil, lime juice and honey, I wanted to add some extra zip.
I love Trader Joe’s Green Goddess salad dressing It’s a mix of avocado, apple cider vinegar, green onions, chives and other spices. Its flavorfulness takes the salad to the next level
ä See THE DISH, page 6C
STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER
To make the salad, add quinoa, jicama, cilantro, carrots, red onion and Mandarin oranges to a large bowl.
Baba Ghanouj
2 eggplants (roasted)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil (plus more for brushing on the eggplant)
¼ cup tahini
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon cumin ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt GARNISH
Toasted pine nuts
Fresh flat leaf parsley (chopped) Drizzle of olive oil
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil. Slice the eggplants lengthwise and brush the inside of the eggplants with olive oil. Place flesh side down on the prepared baking sheet. Put the eggplant in the oven to roast, until the skin is wrinkled and the flesh is tender about 30-45 minutes.
2. Once the eggplant is roasted, remove it from the oven and let it cool. Then hold each half of the eggplant in your hand and use a spoon to scoop out the eggplant flesh from the outside skin into a fine mesh strainer Place the strainer over a bowl and let the eggplant sit for a few minutes This allows moisture to strain out.
3. Once the eggplant has rested and the moisture is removed, place the eggplant in a bowl of a food processor Next, add the tahini. (Note: Much like natural peanut butter, tahini has a layer of oil that sits on the top. Simply mix the oil into the seed butter before using it.) Then add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, smoked paprika and salt. Process until smooth Drizzle in the olive oil and process a minute more until the baba ghanouj is smooth and creamy
Open sesame Open sesame
Four tahini recipes to try this spring
Tahini is a terrific condiment that is made from grinding sesame seeds into a paste. The paste adds a warm, nutty flavor to Mediterranean dishes like hummus and baba ghanouj.
Most grocery stores carry tahini, but for a fun condiment-hunting adventure, start the search at a local Mediterranean restaurant. Mona’s Cafe on Banks Street in New Orleans has a small Lebanese grocery store next door with a large selection of tahini products. Plan a lunch date and pick up a jar of tahini to take home. There are a few things to consider when making tahini: The condiment can be made from hulled and unhulled sesame seeds. Hulling is a process of removing the outside shell from the seed before grinding it up. The next consideration is that tahini can be made from raw or roasted sesame seeds. Raw tahini is lighter in color because the raw sesame seeds
are lighter in color than toasted sesame seeds. Tahini made from toasted sesame seeds has a nuttier flavor profile. One common feature for all kinds of tahini is that, like natural peanut butter, the oil can separate from the paste, so it’s important to mix it before using.
Faul
After doing some research, I found a brand called SOOM tahini that was smooth, creamy and easy to use. Conduct a taste test to discover your favorite brand, or try making your own by putting raw sesame seeds in a food processor and adding a little olive oil to make a paste. My favorite recipe to make with tahini is baba ghanouj, which is a dip that is made with roasted eggplant combined with tahini, garlic, lemon and olive oil. When making this dip, try adding a little cumin and smoked paprika to add a warm, smoky flavor It’s easy and satisfying to make and can be
BY LINDA GASSENHEIMER Tribune News Service (TNS)
Here’s a warm and inviting, vegetarian
Liz
Baba Ghanouj
PHOTO By LIZ FAUL
By The Associated Press
Today is Thursday, March 6, the 65th day of 2025. There are 300 days left in the year
Today in history
On March 6, 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, ruled 7-2 that Scott, an enslaved person, was not an American citizen and therefore could not sue for his freedom in federal court; it also ruled that slavery could not be banned from any federal territory The decision deepened the national divide over slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War
On this date: In 1820, President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise, which allowed Missouri to join the Union as a slave state and Maine to join as a free
state, while banning slavery in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory In 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell as Mexican forces led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna stormed the fortress after a 13-day siege; the battle claimed the lives of all the Texian defenders, including William Travis, James Bowie and Davy Crockett. In 1869, chemist Dmitri Mendeleev introduced his concept of a periodic table of elements at a meeting of the Russian Chemical Society in St. Petersburg In 1912, Oreo cookies were first introduced by the National Biscuit Company (later known as Nabisco) In 1964, heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay took a new name given to him by Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammed:
Roasted Beet Hummus
Muhammad Ali. In 1970, a bomb being built inside a Greenwich Village townhouse in New York by members of the Weather Underground militant leftist group accidentally exploded, destroying the house and killing three group members. Today’s birthdays: Former FBI and CIA director William Webster is 101. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is 99. Former Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is 88. Opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa is 81. Rock musician David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is 79. Filmmaker-actor Rob Reiner is 78. Actor-comedian Tom Arnold is 66. Actor-comedian D.L. Hughley is 62. Actor Connie Britton is 58. Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is 53. Rapper-producer Tyler the Creator is 34.
This recipe makes a lot of hummus, a great choice for a party or a healthy dip for game day
2 cans of
1
3. If using fresh beets, cut the beets to remove the leaves and cut the end of the beet to make a flat end. Wash the skin of the beets and place them in a shallow roasting pan. Add about 1-2 cups of water to the bottom of the roasting pan. Cover the roasting pan with tin foil to form a cover over the roasting pan that is sealed. Place the beets into the preheated oven. Let roast for about 1½ hours. Once beets
1. Preheat the
2. Drain the cans of chick-
(garbanzo beans) into a
No Bake Chocolate
it to a boil. Meanwhile, pour the chocolate chips in the bowl of the double boiler and stir the chocolate until it is melted.
1
1
1. Line an 8-inch by 8-inch pan with parchment paper Be sure to cut the paper large enough to fold over the side of the pan to make removal of the chilled bars simple.
2. In a double boiler pan (or a heat proof bowl placed on top of a pan), place the water in the pan and bring
TAHINI
Continued from page 5C
served with vegetables or used as a spread. The dish is as nutritious as it is fun to say, because it is high in fiber healthy fats and vitamins.
Hummus is also a Mediterranean dip that is made with tahini. Adding a roasted beet to hummus creates a smooth, delicious pink dip that is lighter and more
flavorful than store-bought hummus. I shared this recipe for roasted beet hum-
THE DISH
Continued from page 5C
I enjoy making the full salad for dinner on Sunday evenings and then being able to take the salad to lunch multiple days the following week.
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.
are tender enough to insert a fork, remove beets from the oven and let cool. Once cool, peel the skin and cut beets into quarters (they should be tender and easy to cut).
4. In the bowl of a food processor (or blender), place one beet, drained chickpeas, tahini, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and cumin. Blend until smooth. If the mixture is chunky or thick, drizzle more olive oil a bit at a time, until the hummus is smooth. Give the hummus a taste test, and add more salt and pepper to taste. Then one more spin in the processor
5. Place the beet hummus in a serving bowl, garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, lemon zest, chopped parsley and/or cayenne pepper 6. Serve with any of the following: pita chips, carrots, cucumbers, radish or sliced sourdough bread.
Tahini Yogurt Dip
3. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat. Add the tahini, cereal, oats, dried fruit and salt. Stir all of the ingredients together, then pour the chocolate tahini mixture into the prepared pan.
4. Place the pan with the chocolate tahini crunch bars in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to one hour to allow the bars to harden. Then remove the pan from the refrigerator and pull the bars out of the pan using the parchment paper Set the bars on a cutting board and cut into square portions.
mus a few years ago, but it is so good and complements baba ghanouj so well that I decided to write about it again For a quick and easy dip, mix tahini with plain Greek yogurt and lemon juice. This dip is great as a sauce to serve with vegetables or as a sauce with grilled chicken or lamb. This dip comes together in just a few minutes by mixing all of the ingredients in a bowl — no need for a food processor or blender This exploration of tahini would not be complete without adding it into a bowl of
lemon zest and a drizzle of olive oil. 3. Serve with freshly sliced vegetables, such as sliced carrots, celery bell pepper, radish or cucumber
melted chocolate to create a sweet treat. No-bake chocolate tahini crunch bars are great to keep chilled in the refrigerator for dessert or a brain-boosting snack. I added rice crispy cereal and dried cranberries, but these bars would be great with chopped dried apricots, cherries or your favorite nut or seed. The combination of dark chocolate and tahini are a lot like peanut butter and chocolate: two great tastes that taste great together Then again, chocolate makes most everything better
King Imperial VI, Herman Fuselier
The Opelousas Imperial Mardi Gras Association is pleased to announce that Herman Fuselier will serve as King Imperial VI and reign over the 2025 Opelousas Imperial Mardi Gras celebrations.
Herman Fuselier is a longtime journalist and supporter of Louisiana music, culture and tourism. Fuselier has served as executive director of the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission for the past six years.
His “Zydeco Stomp” radio show airs at noon Saturdays on KRVS 88.7 FM. He is a contributing writer to the Acadiana Advocate and author of the dancehall book, “Ghosts of Good Times.”
Fuselier is host of the Louisiana Crossroads series at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. He has served as a writer and cultural resource for the New York
Times, NPR, BBC, Living Blues, Oxford American and CNN’s “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.”
Queen Lily VI, Rhonda Gerace Bergeron
Rhonda Gerace Bergeron is a native of Bayou Current, also known as Little Italy, in Northern St. Landry Parish. She is a 1994 graduate of Opelousas Catholic and began her healthcare career more than 20 years ago in our community after obtaining her degree from Our Lady of the Lake College as a registered nurse. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing and then a master’s of science in nursing as a family nurse practitioner from Northwestern State University She is the co-founder of Acadiana Practitioners, a group of Family Practice clinics within St. Landry Parish where she continues to practice. Her service to the St.
Landry Parish community extends beyond her medical treatment of patients. She is also a Founding member of the Dream Team 6, known as the DT6, a non-profit organization whose mission is to assist families of children with life-threatening illness in our community In addition, she is a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Port Barre, the Gumbo Foundation and has also served on the Opelousas Catholic Advisory Board, Acadiana Transportation Safety Coalition and the Specialty Trauma Team for Sudden Impact. Her proudest accomplishment has been rearing 6 children. She and her husband, Aaron, have been married for 20 years and have 6 children: Ashley, Tyler, Hannah, Kaylee, Anniston and Parker and 7 grandchildren. During her spare time, she loves reading books with her toes in the Destin sand and spoiling her grandchildren.
STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER
Jan Risher’s Clean Eats Salad is filled with all sorts of goodness and is rich in protein, fiber and nutrients
PHOTO By LIZ FAUL Roasted Beet Hummus
PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) It's time to satisfy your curiosity and talk with people who make you think. Consider alternative lifestyles. A change of attitude will take you on an unforgettable journey.
ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Share your thoughts, make promises and follow through. Be the leader you know you are and stand your ground until you get things done. Changing how you use and handle your cash will help you deal with what's to come.
tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Putting others to work will help you make your life easier. Offering incentives will keep others happy and willing to work for you. A happy and positive mindset will make a difference.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Keep your eyes wide open and concentrate on what's important to you. Reaching your goal depends on how you handle what's happening around you. Think big, but stick to a tight budget and a conservative plan.
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Stick to a plan, and don't stop until you are satisfied with the results. Be sure not to overlook fine details that can set you back. Focus on your mission and worry less about what others think.
LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Expand your circle, listen and learn, and you'll stretch your imagination. Arguing is not productive; verify information and develop what will help you excel.
VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) You'll be pulled in different directions Quickly discard
what does not apply to what you want to achieve. There is no time to waste. You can help someone, but first, set boundaries.
LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Share your wealth of knowledge with people who have as much to contribute as you do. The outcome will give you the footing you need to get a project started.
scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) A change will rejuvenate your body, mind and soul. Put your energy to work for you, instead of for someone trying to exploit your talents. Make the most of your time and money.
sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Stop and take a moment to review, redesign and establish what it is you want to pursue. Following someone else's lead will not help you meet your expectations. The choice is yours.
cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) A domestic change may not be fun, but it will help enhance your lifestyle. Stressful situations are best dealt with quickly and appropriately to avoid illness, financial loss or damage to your reputation.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Spend more time building a nest that is conducive to the lifestyle you want to live. It's time to implement changes based on your needs instead of appeasing everyone else.
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.
toDAy's cLuE: M EQuALs J
CeLebrItY CIpher
For better or For WorSe peAnUtS zItS
FrAnK And erneSt
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
THe wiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS
CurTiS
By PHILLIP ALDER
Calvin Coolidge said, “The right thing to do never requires any subterfuge; it is always simple and direct.”
That is true most of the time at the bridge table — but not always. Occasionally, a little subterfuge might save the day.
Can you see a devious piece of deception for declarer in this deal? South is in four hearts. West leads the club nine. East wins with his ace and returns the suit.
Northusedatransferbidshowingfiveplus hearts and zero-plus points. South used a superaccept, jumping to three hearts to promise a maximum with four hearts and a doubleton somewhere. With three minor-suit losers, it looks as though the trump finesse had better be working.Butaquickpeekatthediagram shows you that it is losing. Does declarer have any chance?
East, after winning with the heart king, might retain his aversity to diamonds. Then declarer can draw trumps and discard two diamonds from the board, one on the third club and one on the fourth spade. However, South has one other possibility. After winning the second trick, he should cash his third club and discard a spade from the board. Then he runs the heart queen. The finesse loses, but there is a good chance that East will shift to a spade. And if he does, declarer is home. Therearetwootherpoints.First,South has to think of that ruse — never stop considering the alternatives. And if East has a suspicious nature, it will be better to throw a diamond on the third club; then East will switch
Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
Wall Street rebounds after tariff pullback
U.S. stocks climbed Wednesday after President Donald Trump pulled back on some of his tariffs temporarily. The move revived hope on Wall Street that Trump may avoid a worst-case trade war that grinds down economies and sends inflation higher
The S&P 500 rose to bounce back from a sell-off that had erased all of its “Trump bump” since Election Day The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also gained 1.5%.
The market turned sharply higher after Trump said he’s granting a one-month exemption for U.S. automakers on his stiff new tariffs for Mexican and Canadian imports Trump made the move after talking with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler
All of the Big Three automakers could have been hurt by such tariffs because of how much production happens across the countries.
Trump’s announcement sent relief through Wall Street, and Ford’s and General Motors’ stock both jumped more than 5% to help lead a widespread rally across the market.
The worry has been that such tariffs would not only hurt profits for companies but also jack up prices for cars and other bills for U.S. households already struggling with stillhigh inflation.
The hope is that Trump is using the threat of tariffs as a tool for negotiation and that he may ultimately institute less painful moves for the economy and global trade if he can win what he wants.
Trump did not roll back all of the tariffs he announced on the United States’ largest trading partners, including on China. His latest move may also simply add more uncertainty to a market that’s already reeling from it. It was just on Monday that Trump had said there was “no room” left for negotiations that could lower the tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which took effect Tuesday and caused the U.S. stock market to tumble.
“The economic impact and consumer impact is still ahead of us,” said Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “It comes back to what no one really knows, and that is how long these tariffs stay in place.”
A report issued Wednesday gave a mixed read on the U.S. economy, suggesting employers pulled back sharply on their hiring last month. The report from ADP could be a warning signal ahead of the more comprehensive jobs report coming Friday from the U.S. Labor Department.
Second weight-loss drug maker cuts prices
Makers of the popular obesity treatments Wegovy and Zepbound are cutting prices for people without insurance. Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk said Wednesday that it will drop prices 23% for all doses of Wegovy The new monthly price of $499, down from $650, takes effect immediately Novo said the new pricing is available to both the uninsured and people who have insurance that doesn’t cover the weight-loss drugs. Last week, Eli Lilly said it would cut the monthly price of its starter dose of Zepbound to $349. The U.S. drugmaker also is making larger doses available for $499 through its selfpay program. The price cuts come as supplies improve. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has moved both drugs off its list of medicines in shortage. The agency has said compounding pharmacies and other entities that have been allowed to make off-brand, cheaper copies of the drugs during the shortage must wind down production.
BUSINESS
Retailers temper expectations
in mentions of trade and tariffs, the board said.
year
Shares slid more than 14%
BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP business writer
A pullback by American shoppers has led to more caution from national retailers about their sales potential in 2025, with Abercrombie & Fitch becoming the latest company to temper expectations.
The imposition of new tariffs this week by President Donald Trump against America’s three biggest trading partners drew immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada and China, sending financial markets into a tailspin. Tariffs threaten to rekindle inflation, which in recent weeks appears to have begun to tick higher and has created more uncertainty for families and businesses.
Wednesday and they’re down almost 46% this year
The retail landscape is becoming more challenging, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote Wednesday Yet he also noted that Abercrombie had a very good 2024, making it more difficult to match in 2025.
“It is reasonable to expect some moderation in the growth rate — as is reflected in the company outlook,” Saunders said.
this week that there will be ”meaningful pressure” on its profits to start 2025 because of tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, in addition to other costs.
Even before the trade war heated up this week, Target reported falling profits and sales in the crucial period leading up to the yearend holidays, with more customers pausing before breaking out the wallet.
U.S. consumer confidence plunged last month, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, according to the Conference Board. Respondents to the board’s survey expressed concern over inflation with a significant increase
Target shares are down almost 15% this year and specialty retailers that have seen stock gains are in the minority Shares of Gap are down 15% this year and shares of American Eagle, Guess and Zumiez are all down about 29%. Walmart, like Abercrombie & Fitch, thrived in 2024 but sees a potentially rougher path forward. They’re watching signs
On Wednesday when reporting its most recent quarterly performance, Abercrombie & Fitch said it expects sales growth of between 3% and 5% in 2025, worse than Wall Street had been expecting and far below the sales growth of 16% that the retailer achieved last
Abercrombie & Fitch, however, joins a growing list of retailers that see a slowdown ahead, and not all of those companies had a banner year in 2024.
Sales and profits slipped for Target last year and the retailer said
Farmers, consumers brace for tariffs
BY JOSH FUNK and MELINA WALLING Associated Press
OMAHA,Neb — Farmers and meat producers across the U.S. can expect the new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China and the retaliatory action from those countries to hurt their bottom lines by billions of dollars if they stay in place a while, and consumers could quickly see higher prices for produce and ground beef.
But some of the impact on farmers might not be felt until the next harvest and some products might actually get cheaper in the short run for consumers if exports suffer And the price of corn, wheat and soybeans accounts for relatively little of the price of most products.
Plus, President Donald Trump could offer farmers significant aid payments, as he did during the trade war with China during his first administration, to offset some of the losses.
In his address to Congress on Tuesday night, Trump argued that agricultural imports hurt American farmers and asked them to “bear with me again” as he seeks
BY SIMINA MISTREANU and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press
BEIJING — China is keeping its economic growth target “around 5%” for 2025 despite a looming trade war with the United States and other headwinds. The target for gross domestic product growth was announced Wednesday in a report being presented by Premier Li Qiang at the opening session of the National People’s Congress, the annual meeting of China’s legislature. It reflects the government’s plans to try to stabilize growth in challenging economic times, but stop hold back on more dramatic action to supercharge it.
The 32-page report acknowledged the challenges at home and abroad.
“An increasingly complex and severe external environment may exert a greater impact
to protect them. He didn’t mention any additional aid.
If the tariffs make farmers uneasy about investing in expensive tractors and consumers worry so much about groceries that they cut other spending, that would hurt the economy overall and could even lead to a recession. And consumers were already worried about record egg prices amid a bird flu outbreak.
“Exactly how strong our economy is over time has a lot to do with U.S. consumers’ comfort with continuing to go out to restaurants and continuing to buy washers and dryers and just that general activity And a lot of what we’re talking about here is probably going to slow some of that,” said Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University
The situation has some farmers stocking up on equipment and supplies in preparation for prices to go up, but it’s not like they can easily buy all their fertilizer ahead of time And consumers might have a hard time stockpiling perishable products like avocados and ground beef.
The details of how the tariffs are imple-
mented and whether any products are excluded will also matter
Corn and soybean prices for this year’s harvest already fell roughly 10% since the tariffs were first announced a couple of weeks ago.
Joe Janzen, an agricultural economist with the University of Illinois, said that has “snuffed out” any profitability in those crops. He called Trump’s comments that farmers may be able to sell more of their products at home “at best tone-deaf.”
“There is no domestic market for the amount of corn, soybeans, wheat and other agricultural products that we now export in significant quantities,” he said.
Meanwhile, as crop prices decline, farmers might see their fertilizer bill jump because 85% of the potash American farmers use in fertilizer comes from Canada, which also supplies some nitrogen fertilizer as well.
But Iowa State University agricultural economist Chad Hart said many farmers applied fertilizer to their fields last fall and may not have to pay the higher fertilizer bills until later
on China in areas such as trade, science, and technology,” Li said, reading parts of the report to the Congress over nearly an hour “Domestically, the foundation for China’s sustained economic recovery and growth is not strong enough. Effective demand is weak, and consumption, in particular, is sluggish.”
The IMF has projected China’s economy will grow 4.6% this year, down from 5% in 2024, according to Chinese government statistics.
The report offered some details on previously announced plans to step up stimulus for the sluggish economy this year It outlined plans for a “more proactive fiscal policy,” including an increase in deficit spending from 3% to 4% of GDP, or the size of the overall economy It said the government would issue $180 billion in ultralong term bonds, up from 1 trillion yuan last year, and that 300 billion yuan in such bonds would go toward a program launched last year that offers rebates to consumers who trade in automobiles or appliances for new ones. Across-the-board tariffs imposed on Chinese products by U.S. President Donald Trump
pose the latest threat to an economy already weighed down by a prolonged real estate slump and sluggish consumer spending and private business investment.
China’s ruling Communist Party signaled in December that it would boost stimulus this year The U.S. tariffs have made that task
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JOSHUA A. BICKEL
Mark Woodruff loads more soybean seeds into a planter in Sabina, Ohio.
