The Advocate 03-06-2025

Southern student died from hazing, sources say

Wilson suffered ‘medical episode’ after being punched in the chest

Hundreds turn out for memorial on campus

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

ä See HAZING, page 6A

BR bus worker strike continues

Parties confused which contract is in effect

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

As Baton Rouge reaches day four of a bus worker strike disrupting public transit throughout the region, the Capital Area Transit System and its union both seem to think the ball is in the other’s court. At the heart of the confusion is which contract — the previous labor agreement or a new one implemented unilaterally by CATS is in effect.

According to Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1546, the reason for striking comes down to a letter sent by CATS on Jan. 31 stating that the former labor contract would expire at midnight and the

ä See STRIKE, page 5A

fices and main terminal

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.

Ban

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.

ä Farmers, consumers brace for tariffs. PAGE 4A

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 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

ä See TARIFFS, page 5A

La. health experts and dentists have pushed back

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Two Louisiana lawmakers want to ban fluoridation of all public water systems across the state, arguing that individuals should be able to choose whether or not to ingest more fluoride than what already occurs naturally in the environment.

But some public health experts and dentists have pushed back on that approach, arguing that fluoridated water keeps teeth healthy and poses no health

risks. The state Health Department established Louisiana’s water fluoridation program in 1997 with the goal of preventing tooth decay and promoting dental health. In 2008, the Legislature required water systems with at least 5,000 service connections to begin fluoridation programs, as long as funding was available to implement the change. The law also set up a mechanism for some water systems to opt out of the requirement with voter approval. Current federal guidelines recommend a fluoride concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter in drinking water In 2 02 4, o f 1, 033

ä See FLUORIDE, page 5A

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK Union members strike on Monday in front of the Capital Area Transit System of

on Florida Boulevard.

STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Corey Wilson right mourns alongside other grieving family members during a memorial for his son, Caleb Wilson, outside Southern University’s Smith-Brown Student Union on Wednesday

Jordan Williams and Grace Bettis, from left, hold hands and bow their heads alongside other members of the Human Jukebox during a memorial for Caleb Wilson outside of Southern University’s Smith-Brown Student Union on Wednesday.

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

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

Kremlin: 2022 decree bans Zelenskyy from talks with Putin

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.”

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.”

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 LUKATSKy

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 non-government 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 Secu-

rity 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

—

SANTA FE, N.M.

Authorities 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 Speak-

er 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.

“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.”

“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

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.

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FROM WIRE REPORTS

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.

Retailers temper expectations

in mentions of trade and tariffs, the board said.

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.

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

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.

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

year Shares slid more than 14% 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.

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

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.

Target shares are down almost 15% this year and specialty retailers that have seen stock gains are in the minority Shares of

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

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

Trade war with U.S., other headwinds loom

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

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 more urgent, because they could crimp sales to one of China’s major export markets.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JOSHUA A. BICKEL

Mark Woodruff loads more soybean seeds into a planter in Sabina, Ohio.

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 Pres-

STRIKE

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transit agency planned to operate from a new contract, their best and final offer

“Inasmuch as the parties are at an impasse and the contract will expire this evening, the Agency intends to implement the terms and conditions of the attached document immediately,” CATS attorney Keith Cunningham wrote, per a copy of the letter provided by the union.

CATS CEO Theo Richards said the letter was misunderstood and

FLUORIDE

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community water systems serving nearly 4 million people in Louisiana, just 122 of those water systems serving 1.5 million people were fluoridated, according to state data compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sens. Mike Fesi, R-Houma, and Patrick McMath RCovington, are sponsoring Senate Bill 2, which would eliminate and ban fluoridation programs.

“We should not be forced to put fluoride in our drinking water,” said Fesi, saying it can lower the IQ of children and cause a number of other health problems, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

McMath said parents in his district have raised reasonable concerns about the decades-old practice, which warrants “public reconsideration.”

He pointed to the findings of a 2024 report on fluoride exposure and neurodevelopment by the National Toxicology Program, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That study found “insufficient data to determine

ident 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

only gave management the authority to implement a new contract at any time. CATS is operating from the previous agreement that expired Jan. 31, he said.

“Maybe the confusion is because of how it was phrased in the letter,” Richards said. “It gives us the ability to implement the new contract if need be. However, that new contract has not been implemented as of yet.”

One issue with the new contract was that it instituted a wage freeze, ATU Local 1546 recording secretary Willie Travis Jr said.

“Whatever amount you’re being paid now, you’re going to be paid that for the next three years,” Travis said. “With cost of living going

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 addition 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.

up the way it’s going up right now, we can’t agree to those terms.”

Still, union officials maintained that CATS’ handling of the contract was their reason for going on strike, not wages. In the weeks following the best and final offer communication continued to break down.

In a phone call on Feb. 27 between ATU senior organizer Stanley Smalls and Richards, days before the strike was announced, Richards said again that the expired contract was still being used.

The call was recorded by Smalls.

“I did verify with the team, and I’ll reverify it with the team, but we are operating off of the expired

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

contract, with the hopes that we can get this to arbitration, and we come to a resolution,” Richards said in the recording.

“I’ll say this. From our side, we don’t have that in writing from you guys,” Smalls said.

“And my apologies. I thought that was communicated to y’all,” Richards said.

Smalls said a strike could be avoided if clarification could be sent in writing to ATU Local 1546

President George DeCuir immediately Richards said he would get someone working on it.

But after that phone meeting, the union did not receive the information they requested in writing, of-

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

ficials said, triggering the strike announced Sunday On Wednesday, Richards reiterated that the expired contract is the operative document. He said he has asked for the parties to go to interest arbitration.

“That ball is in their court,” Richards said.

The same day, Smalls restated his position and said Richards can’t request arbitration without formally rescinding the best and final offer

“Withdraw the contract,” he said. “Let’s get back to the table.”

Email Haley Miller at haley miller@theadvocate.com.

if the low fluoride level of 0.7 mg/L currently recommended for U.S. community water supplies has a negative effect on children’s IQ.”

But it also found that higher concentrations, “such as drinking water containing more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter, may lower IQs.”

“I strongly believe in the principle of informed consent when it comes to matters of individual health,” McMath said in a text message. “Adding a substance to public water supplies to prevent a health condition a person may or may not suffer effectively removes individual consent.”

The Louisiana Department of Health said it doesn’t comment on pending legislation and declined to comment for this story

But according to the agency’s chronic disease prevention and health care access arm, “water fluoridation is the single most effective and inexpensive public health measure to fight bacteria in the mouth and prevent tooth decay.”

Frank Martello, a New Orleans dentist who has been practicing for over 45 years, called skepticism of water fluoridation programs “ludicrous.”

He noted that the fluoride

concentration recommended by the federal government is the equivalent of three drops in a 55-gallon container of water

“Fluoride has been such a benefit without any side effects that I think it’s just not right to take it out the water and expect dental decay to be kept at the same levels or decreased,” he said.

Many public health organizations, including the CDC, laud community water fluoridation programs as among the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century

The CDC says there is not “convincing scientific evidence linking community water fluoridation with any potential adverse health effect or systemic disorder.” This includes Alzheimer’s disease, low intelligence, Down syndrome, and increased cancer risk as well heart disease, bone fracture and osteoporosis, renal disorders and immune disorders.

McMath, who chairs the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, said he’s seen substantial support from Louisiana citizens concerned about informed consent.

Robert F Kennedy Jr., who was recently confirmed as secretary of HHS which

houses the CDC, has cast doubt on community water fluoridation.

Ahead of the November presidential election, Kennedy said in a social media post that the White House

would “advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” although that promise has yet to materialize.

The Utah Legislature last week passed a bill that fully

bans fluoride in public water systems and only needs the governor’s signature before becoming law

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

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 Service.

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 Phi.

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 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 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 off-campus 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 anti-hazing 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.

The school’s Student Government Association held a memorial for Wilson on Wednesday evening at the Smith-Brown Student Union courtyard, drawing a crowd that included hundreds of students, including his bandmates with the Human Jukebox, the school’s famed marching band.

“He walked this campus with

a purpose,” Chaselynn Grant, a longtime friend, told the crowd. “I know he is smiling down.”

Wilson’s father, Corey Wilson, a sheriff’s deputy for over 35 years in Jefferson Parish, expressed gratitude for the crowd’s support He recalled walking into his son’s apartment in the aftermath of Caleb Wilson’s death to find his marching band uniform laid out ready for Mardi Gras season.

“I want to thank y’all for the love you gave my son,” he said. “This was Caleb’s life.”

Louisiana adopted strong antihazing 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 convicted of negligent homicide in his death while two other fraternity mem-

bers 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 alcohol-related 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 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 endured 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.

Staff writer Aiden McCahill contributed to this report.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Jaylen Lewis, right, helps light Virginia Olide’s candle during a memorial for Caleb Wilson outside Southern University’s Smith-Brown Student Union on Wednesday.

LSU law professor fights ruling

Review by Louisiana Supreme Court sought

BY ALYSE PFEIL

ASHES TO ASHES

ABOVE: Deacon Glenn Farnet, right, distributes ashes to parishioners at St. Joesph Cathedral in Baton Rouge on Wednesday RIGHT: St. Joesph Cathedral parishioners receive their ashes. LEFT: Parishioners walk back to the pews after receiving their ashes

GALLEGOS

State plans schools takeover

BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer

Mamou shooting kills 2, injures 12

Attack happened during Mardi Gras concert

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 magni-

tude has occurred during the Mardi Gras festival in Mamou.

“The Sheriff’s Department and chief of Mamou Police Department 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 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 Renais-

NEW ORLEANS

Cybertrucks in Orpheus pelted with beads, barbs

Carrying parade marshals, Teslas exit route early

BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer

The Krewe of Orpheus bills itself as the most diverse in Mardi Gras, a “consciously nonexclusive” superkrewe that rolled on Lundi Gras with famed drag artist Bianca Del Rio as monarch, leading more than 1,000 riders in a night of revelry

But some participants weren’t feeling too welcomed by the crowds on Monday night as parade marshals rode inside four Tesla Cybertrucks positioned between floats, American flags waving from rear bumpers

The angular metallic trucks took a pummeling of beads, boos and barbs from paradegoers. At least one shattered window was reported before each Cybertruck bailed, steered manually off the route before the parade’s end, according to the accounts of drivers and others on social media.

The disapproving response reflects a backlash that has erupted nationally over the popular electric vehicle brand, in response to Tesla owner Elon Musk’s close alliance with President Donald Trump. Musk, the world’s richest

SHELTER

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parish, not just the municipalities but even in the rural areas,” Delatte said.

The new shelter will focus on spaying and neutering animals to better control the stray animal population, he said.

PROFESSOR

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inappropriate statements,” which prompted the professor to sue. Levy, who is tenured, has said he didn’t receive proper notice before the suspension and that the university was punishing him over constitutionally protected political speech. LSU has argued the suspension is proper A state district court judge last month granted a preliminary injunction that both ordered LSU to immediately return Levy to the classroom and barred the university from infringing on Levy’s constitutionally protected due process and free speech rights. But the appeals court in a Feb. 20 decision threw out the portion of the district court order that mandated LSU to reinstate Levy to his teaching

sance 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

TAKEOVER

Continued from page 1B

man, heads up the Department of Government Efficiency, which has wielded a heavy hatchet to federal jobs and foreign aid since Trump returned to the White House six weeks ago. Musk has been vocal in attacking liberal policies and diversity programs.

None of it sat too well with revelers in the heavily blue Crescent City

“It’s just been brutal. They’re killing us out here,” one rider told a police officer after cracking a window on a Cybertruck, in a video posted from inside one of the trucks.

“We’re getting beat to s*** by certain people throwing stuff, jumping on the car, kicking the car, hitting the car,” a man told an Orleans Parish sheriff’s deputy at Harmony Circle, adding that three other Teslas in the convoy had already left the route.

Officials with the Krewe of Orpheus, which was founded in 1993 by crooner Harry Connick Jr., were silent Wednesday The krewe’s spokesperson, Renee Matthews, refused to answer questions about the trucks. She referred questions to Orpheus cofounder Sonny Borey, who did not respond to calls.

One local Reddit user, identifying himself as a marshal, said he was unaware he would be riding in a Tesla truck until he received his assignment.

Delatte’s office said it doesn’t know the exact number of employees the new shelter will hire yet.

Operators of takeover schools typically need a state-issued Type 5 charter Such charters, however, limit operators to enrolling only students who live in the child-scarce city limits of Baker GEO applied for a Type 5 charter in December and BESE is scheduled to approve it Tuesday

Only two school groups statewide have Type 5 charters.

For parents in Baker, the closures mean little immediate change. Park Ridge, Baker Heights Elementary and Baker Middle already share space on two campuses that abut each other on Groom Road. The Feb. 12 vote put them all under the control of the highest performing school in the bunch, Park Ridge.

The Baker School Board is meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday to consider the state’s action. Baker Superintendent J.T Stroder said he’s reserving comment about the situation until the board meeting.

For months, Stroder strove to no avail to work with the state in turning around the two Baker schools. Stroder said state officials offered no feedback to two school turnaround proposals he submitted.

The arm’s-length approach to Baker contrasts with the collaborative approach state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley took last year with Caddo and Grant parishes. Caddo Parish schools closed two “F”rated elementary schools, handed a third “F” school over to a charter school group and made a variety of changes at other low-performing schools. Grant Parish, located northwest of Alexandria, closed an “F”rated elementary school.

The shelter has nine employees, with about half of them working full time, shelter director Desiree Green said Her staff spends a large part of the day handling animal control situations, which can sometimes take an entire day depending on the situation. The number of hires for the new shelter hasn’t been decided.

Green and her staff are hopeful the new shelter will improve staffing issues. The shelter recently started opening on Friday and Saturday, hoping to increase adoption rates and reduce the number of dogs at the shelter There’s been a lot more foot traffic and a few more adoptions, she said.

Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Denham Springs, said the shelter will pro-

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.

The traditional courir begins early Tuesday morning, when costumed and masked participants on horseback, foot or trailer make their way through rural neighborhoods singing in French and “begging” for gumbo ingredients It culminates with a chicken chase before participants make their way to the center of town for a street party, which is where Tuesday’s fatal shooting took place.

The Mamou courir, which follows tradition and only allows male participants, has garnered media attention in the past. In 2018, just four months before his death by suicide, chef Anthony Bourdain participated in the event.

Staff writers Kristin Askelson, Ashley White and Stephen Marcantel contributed to this report.

Email Ja’kori Madison at jakori. madison@theadvocate.com.

Preston Castille, whose BESE District 8 includes Baker, said he’s set meetings with Brumley and Stroder to find out more. He wants to determine in his own mind what is “in the best interest of the students.”

The state, he said, has worked with school districts like Baker in the past, but also has taken control of the schools. A key legal question is whether the state can take over a school that’s already closed.

“If you don’t have the school in operation, there’s nothing for (the state) to take over,” attorney Brandon Decuir told the Baker board at the Feb. 12 meeting where it opted to close the two schools.

A spokesperson for the Education Department said the agency is not answering questions about the takeover proposal of the two Baker schools at this time.

During a presentation by GEO to BESE on Jan. 9, Brumley complimented GEO “as a good partner who has worked with us for several years” and who “operates some highquality schools.”

GEO’s three Baton Rouge schools have “B” letter grades Almost every school in the state, according to the state, outperforms Baker with its Black students and “economically disadvantaged” students.

GEO Prep Baker which opened in 2022 and does not yet have a letter grade, is by far the smallest GEO school in the state, with about 120 students in kindergarten to third grade. In 2021, GEO asked the state to let it open as many as three schools in Baker educating about 2,600 students in kindergarten to 12th grade. The organization later downscaled its plans to only open the GEO Prep Baker school.

vide a “much needed” upgrade to improve public safety by managing the number of stray animals in Livingston Parish.

“It also reflects our parish commitment to responsible animal welfare and community health,” Wilder said.

Email Claire Grunewald at claire.grunewald@theadvocate. com.

Clint Newsom and Glen Miers The graveside service and burial will follow at Zoar Baptist Church Cemetery in Central Louisiana. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Zoar Bap‐tist Church Cemetery Fund Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave a personal note

duties, calling it “improper.”

“A mandatory injunction is so named because it commands the doing of some action,” said the ruling, issued by 1st Circuit Judges Kelly Balfour, Walter I. Lanier III and Page McClendon. “A mandatory preliminary injunction may not be issued unless the party seeking the injunction proves by a preponderance of the evidence at a full trial on the merits in which the taking of evidence is not limited that he is entitled to the injunction.”

Both Levy and Bruce Warfield Hamilton, the attorney representing him in the Supreme Court review, say the 1st Circuit got wrong the question of whether or not the injunction was proper, and Levy should be back in the classroom teaching.

But Jimmy Faircloth Jr., the attorney representing LSU in the case, disputed that idea.

“They re wrong on the law That’s

the bottom line,” said Faircloth “I have confidence the Supreme Court will agree.”

Beyond questions of legal procedure, though, Hamilton said it’s clear that LSU violated Levy’s right to due process by failing to give him proper notice and a chance to respond and violated his right to free speech.

“Everyone in this country has a right to express his or her political beliefs without fear of retaliation,” said Hamilton, who previously worked as an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU of Louisiana. “And it seems to me that professor Levy was retaliated against for expressing unpopular political opinions.”

Levy said his case has larger implications: “If LSU can get away with suspending a tenured faculty member for political speech that was relevant to the subject matter of what I was teaching then they can do that to anybody.

LSU has said the teaching suspension doesn’t violate rights afforded by tenure. Further, his comments weren’t protected speech, but rather, “demeaning to students who do not hold his political view, threatening in terms of their grades, and profane,” the university said in a statement last month.

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

LOTTERY

TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2025

PICK 3: 8-3-9

PICK 4: 7-9-4-2

Alesce,

and many cousins. Leon was preceded in death by his parents Anthony and Auwiece Alesce.

We loveyou and will miss your special morning greetings that were always the start of our day.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the visitation on Sunday, March 9, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. at Resthaven Funeral Home, 11817 Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge. Aprivate burial will follow on Monday, March 10, 2025, at Resthaven Gardens of Memory. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to your favorite charity. Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonal note to the familyatwww.resthav enbatonrouge.com

Mrs. Lollie Agnes Ourso Bergeron, aresident of Baton Rouge, LA., passed away on February 26, 2025, at the age of 97 years old. Mrs. Bergeron was born in Baton Rouge on July 26, 1927, to parents Alvin and Lollie Ourso. Lollie wasa graduate of St. Joseph Academy and LSU Business School and enjoyed doing needlework, reading mystery books, and playing BINGO. She is survived by daughter, Terri Poole and son-in-law Danny; grandsons, Trey Shows from Baton Rouge and Andy Shows (Claira) from Sylva, North Carolina; great-grandchildren, Irie Shows, Wylde Shows, Lazarus Shows, Xenia Shows and Genevieve Shows; sisters, Lois O. Taylor, Patricia O. Bourg (Skipper); brothers, Rodney Ourso (Mary); sister-inlaws, Leola and Karen Ourso; her Poole grand-daughters, Michelle, Natalieand Melissaand their families. Preceded in death by, husband, George H. Bergeron; parents, Alvin and Lollie Agnes Sanchez Ourso; brothers, Al Ourso, Tom Spec Ourso. Visitation will be held at St. Jean Vianney Church, 16166 S. Harrells Ferry Rd.,Baton Rouge, LA., on Friday, March 7, 2025, from 9:30 am until Funeral Mass time of 11:00 am. Interment willimmediately follow at Greenoaks Memorial Park, 9595 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA. Aspecial thanks to Lake Sherwood Village Staff and friends and many thanks to MichelleDixonfor all her loving care.

Berthier, Paul Stephen Tank

Paul Stephen (Tank) Berthier, 70, resident of Glynn, Louisiana ,native of New Roads, Louisiana was taken home peacefully by angels on February 18 2025. Paul was abeloved husband, father, brother, and friend. His kindness and calmness were palpable to everyone he encountered. He exemplified grace, integrity, honesty and strong values. Softspoken and gentle, Paul enjoyed simple things in life such as woodworking, drawing, music, shooting, tending to his tractor, and relaxing on his front porch swing. He was preceded in death by parents, Una and Pat Berthier, sister Pat Springstead, and brother Louis Berthier. Paul is survived by his wife of 44 years, Becki; his daughter, Story ;sister Colette Jewell (husband Dan); brother Michael Berthier (wife Kris); MillieSmith; as well as Kerry Callegan, his dear friend of 55 years and long-time friend Joanna Wurtele.

Acelebration of life and tribute for Paul will be held at New Life Worship Center, located at 806 Hospital Road in New Roads, Louisiana 70760, on March 8, 2025 from 11am to 3pm.

Please join us to share a meal, stories and memories honoring Paul's life.

We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to Bryan Bienvenu, Antoinette Thompson, Kerry Callegan, and Joanna Wurtele. Their

ries honoring Paul's life.

We would liketoextend our sincerest gratitude to Bryan Bienvenu, Antoinette Thompson, Kerry Callegan, and Joanna Wurtele. Their steadfast partnershipand uplifting presence have been invaluable throughout this journey.

He leaves for us his calmness and quiet. He gracedhis spaces and his grace and worth shall remain. We will love you and treasure you forever. There will never be another.

After you have suffered for alittle while, the God of all grace, who calledyou to His eternal glory, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthenand establish you. Peter 5:10

Bossom, Mary Elizabeth Williams 'Betty'

Mary "Betty" Elizabeth Williams Bossom passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 2nd, 2025. She was 90 years of age. Betty was anative of Georgia and had been aresident of Denham Springs, Louisiana for morethan 50 years. Betty was akind and loving woman, who enjoyed God's gentle beauty from kittens and puppies to flowers and hummingbirds. She loved family gatherings, especially Pizza Sundays. She enjoyed traveling, sewing, and looked forward to the times her grandchildren would come over to spend the night. Betty is preceded in death by her birth parents, Amasa and Mallie Williams; her foster parents, Charlie and Gertrude Mallory; twelve siblings; and her son, Michael Bossom. Betty is survived by her loving and devoted husband of 71 years, John Marion Bossom; and their children, Deridre "Dede" Bossom Caruthers(Jeffrey Caruthers), Randy E. Bossom (Sandra Bossom), and Keith Bossom. She is also survived by seven grandchildrenand seven great grandchildren. Servicesand acelebration of life are to be heldonMonday, March 10th, 2025, at Resthaven Funeral Home in Baton Rouge.Visitation will be from 12:30 to 2:30 with aservice starting at 2:30, and burial to follow.

Boudreaux, Edith Mae Fryoux 'Tugar' 'B'

Edith Mae Fryoux Boudreaux passed away on March 1, 2025 at the age of 100. She was born on May 12, 1924, the third child of Jules and Edith Paille Fryoux. As ababy, she was giventhe nickname "Tugar"byher sister, Kat and used it for all her life. Alifelong resident of Baton Rouge,she grew up with 6sistersand two brothers in Sacred Heart Parish. In 1948, Tugarmarried Joe Boudreaux and they had 10 children. She acquired the name "B" when herchildren's friends, andlater, grandchildren became apart of her life. Tugar was preceded in death by herhusband Joseph F. Boudreaux, her daughter Julie Boudreaux Claxton Barnett, her son MichaelJoseph Boudreaux and her son Mark Emmett Boudreaux. She is survived by her sister, BeverlyFryoux Jackson, and her brother, Jules Anthony "Bubbie" Fryoux.Her surviving children are sons Rene (Diane), Carey (Kitty), Roy (Mary), Warren (Cindy), Rhett (Leslie) and daughtersDoris Dean (Rick) and Edie Boudreaux. She is also survivedby20 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. Tugar is also survived by special friends, Gay Hebert, Doretha Bond Brenda Forester and Edith Goetzman, and her friends on the staff at HollyCourt Assisted Living Facility. Tugar is aproud graduate of St. Joseph'sAcademy and afounding memberofSt. Aloysius Parish. She was a member of Lambda Rho Sorority and the Lambdalums. She wasanofficer in the RSESA organization. She was also part of the

afounding member of St Aloysius Parish. She was a member of Lambda Rho Sorority and the Lambdalums. She was an officer in the RSESA organization. She was also part of the movement to bring special education to East Baton Rouge Parish. Avisitation will be held on Thursday, March 6th at Rabenhorst Funeral Home on Government St from 5PM to 8PM. Visitation will resume on Friday, March 7th at St. Aloysius Catholic Church from 9:30AM to 11AM; with aMass of Christian Burial at 11AM. Burial will follow at Roselawn Memorial Park. The family would like to thank thewonderful staff at Holly Court, Sage Rehabilitation Hospital and ClarityHospice for their care and support. Donations may be made to The Arc Baton Rouge (thearcbr.org) and St. Aloysius School.

Carolyn Cranford Bowman, aresident of Prairieville, La passed away onWednesday, February 26, 2025 at the age of 86. She served Livingston Parish School system as Board Certified Social social worker for 32 years. She was one the founders of Baton Rouge RapeCrisis hotline, amember of Gilbert and Sullivan Society where she acted sang, directed and participated in the productionof multiple musicals formore than 30 years. She was an artist of oil paint, watercolor, stained-glass, three-dimensional mediums as well as ceramics. She taught summer classes at LSU on the art ofGinger Bread House making.She helped in productionand was acontributor to the Ascension Theater. She was amember of the Chorus for the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, she was involved in and acontributor to The Baton Rouge Little Theater, a member of RiverRegion Art Association and was a life timemember of theBaton Rouge Sertoma Club. Carolyn is survived by her son, Gregory Bowman; grandchildren, Lacey Bowman, and Zachary Bowman; and daughter-in-law, CyndiBowman. She was preceded in death by her husband of 55 years, John Bowman; father, Paul Cranford Sr. and mother, Valera Williams Cranford; son, Scott Bowman; brothers, Paul Cranford Jr., and Dwight Cranford. Funeral services will be conducted for Carolyn on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Ourso Funeral Home 13533 Airline Hwy Gonzales, La. Visitation will be from 9amuntil the service at 11 am. Conducted by Bro Andrew Tullos. Interment will be at Serenity Oaks Memorial Park Hwy 73, Prairieville, La at 2pm. Serving as pallbearers are Jackie Young, Kevin Baylot, Josh Wilfshire, Mark Gour, Dustin Gour, Wayne Jaubert, and Greg Bowman.

Mark E. Claflin was born on June 4th, 1948 and passed away peacefully at Baton Rouge General surrounded by his family and friends on February 26, 2025. Mark was born in Eaton RapidsMichigan to Victor Otto Claflin and Maude Elida McFarland Claflin. The family moved around to several states before settling in Maude's birthplace of Louisiana. Mark was a graduate of East Jefferson High School in 1966 and the University of Southwestern Louisiana in December of 1982 where he earned a bachelor's degree in General Studies. He married thelove of his life Sharon J. Sheaffer Miller September 9, 1997 in Montgomery County Ohio and inherited adaughter, Gwendolynne "Wendy"

eral Studies. He married the love of his life Sharon J. Sheaffer Miller September 9, 1997 in Montgomery County Ohio and inherited adaughter, Gwendolynne "Wendy" Miller. He is survived by both his wife and daughter. He is also survived by his special niece Christine Olivier, nephew John Olivier (Claire) and great nieces and nephews Cody Olivier, Matthew Hollier, Marty Hollier, Caelee Briscoe, R.H. "Zed" Fatherree, and Samantha Fatherree. He was preceded in deathby his parentsand two sisters, Judy Olivier (Oren) and Vickie Claflin Giamalva (John).

Mark served in the Army from April 12, 1968 to November 4, 1970 and was honorably discharged.After many years in the oil field working forvarious companies ensuring the safetyofthe rigs, he retired from Hercules Offshore in 2015 after 20 years of service. He was acertified Emergency Medical Responder and took his job of protecting thecrews seriously.

Mark enjoyed rebuilding M. G.'s and belonged their car club.Healso enjoyed his time working for Habitat for Humanity. He missed his calling as ahistory teacher and could impress everyone with his extensive knowledge of history and memory for dates. He also enjoyed talking all thingspolitics and spent much of his time in the later years enjoying the news and political discussions. Although his favorite past timewas sitting together and holding hands withhis beloved Sharon.

Mark was agenerous man who never met a stranger and had many interesting stories to tell. He was an animal lover and along with Sharon adopted many various petsover the years, including horses, donkeys, dogs and cats (most notably Mark's favorite LilGuy).

On Behalf of Mark, the family would like to thank the angels at SerenityPrivate Care and Clarity HealthServices for lovingly caring for Mark and his Sharon over the last several years. Please join us at the home of Mark and Sharon to celebrateMark's life, Sunday March 9th 12:303:00. Bring any thoughts, stories or photos that you wish to share. 2200 Meadow Oak Dr., Saint Gabriel. Interment will be with his Mother, Grandparentsand other relatives at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Ball Louisiana.

August 15, 1952 -February 24, 2025

Ronald "Ronnie" Stephen Curtis, adevoted husband, loving father, cherished grandfather, and loyal friend,passed away on February 24, 2025, at the age of 72. Born in Checotah, Oklahoma, he was a longtime resident of Denham Springs, Louisiana, where he built alife rooted in hard work, family, and faith.

Ronnie honorably served in the United States Navy and later dedicated his career to Corporate Mechanical Contractors, whereheretired as Service Manager after more than 30 years. Aman of many talents, he enjoyed working with his hands, whether fixing or building something, riding his tractor, or spending time outdoors. He was known for his love of movies, collecting an extensivelibrary of DVDs, and found joyin sharing stories with his grandchildren, singing old country songs, and gathering around abonfire with family and friends. He would challenge anyone to agame of foosball, and was likely one of thebest players within many miles. Above all, Ronnie was a man of deep loveand devotion to his late wife, Susan Marie Curtis, whom he affectionately called "Susie Q." Married on February 14, 1980, they shared alifetime of love until her passing on June 13, 2011. Now, they are reunited once more in eternity. He is survived by his loving family &numerous friends: Daughter, LyAnn Romashyna and her husband,OleksandrRomashyn; LyAnn's children: Stanley Ware Jr., Dakota Civello, and Aspen Ware. Daughter Holly Cottun and her children, Veda, JonMikal, and William Cottun. Son Clifford Curtis and his former spouse, Melanie Meranta, and their children, Cade, Calli, and Cole

Daughter Holly Cottunand her children,Veda, JonMikal, and William Cottun. Son Clifford Curtis and his former spouse, Melanie Meranta, and their children, Cade, Calli, and Cole Curtis. Mother Barbara Curtis. Sister Linda Curtis. Special friend Barbara Tanskley. Nieces and nephews: Jimmy Curtis, Jr., Jack &Ben LeBlanc, Celeste Curtis, Ally Ashworth, and Christopher Curtis. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Susan M. Curtis; his father, Clifford M. Curtis; his brothers, Jimmy Curtis and Tommy Curtis, and his niece Brooke Curtis. Ronnie will be remembered for his humor, his storytelling, his love of country music,and the way he made those around him feel at home. His legacy of hard work, laughter, and love will live on in the hearts of those who knew him. "I have foughtthe good fight, Ihave finished the race, Ihave kept the faith."

2Timothy 4:7

Acelebration of Ronnie's life will be held at Seale Funeral Home March 7, 2025 from 12:00pm2:00pm and memorial service at 2:00pm with gravesite burial to immediately follow.The family appreciates yourthoughts and prayers during this time.

Billy Charles Geiger of Mandeville, LA passed away on Sunday, March 2, 2025 at his home surrounded by family. Billy was 78 years old.

Billy was born in Bassfield, MS to thelate James Elbert Geiger and Mamie Speights Geiger in 1946.

Billy relocated to Baton Rouge, LA in 1965. He married the late Helen Ruth Sinclair on October 28, 1965 and was married for 53 wonderful years. Billy was preceded in death by his son, Gary Geiger, his siblings, Bobby Geiger and Doris Bozeman,and his grandsonsLincoln and Bennett Geiger.

Billy is survived by his son, BrentGeiger (Ginger) of Mandeville, LA; his grandchildren Corey Geiger (Gabrielle), Lindsey Geiger Waguespack (Aubert), Alicia Geiger (Dylan Payne), MonicaGeiger, Maxwell Geiger; and great grandchildren Aubrey, Bliss, and CruzWaguespack and Gavin and Nolan Geiger and Everly and Kai Payne.

Billy was adevoted husband and family man.Billy served in theMississippi National Guard and spent his career as aproject manager for Percy JMatherne Construction. Billy was awarded Superintendent of the Year in 1991.

Relatives andfriends of the family are invited to attend theFuneral Serviceon Friday, March 7, 2025 at 11:00 at EJ Fielding Funeral Home, 2260 West 21st Avenue, Covington, LA. The visitation will begin at 9:00 am until service time. Interment will follow in Pinecrest Memorial Gardens, adjacenttothe funeral home. In lieu of flowers, the family request donations to be made to Louisiana Baptist Children's Home in Monroe, LA, PO Box 4196, Monroe, LA 71211, www.ldch.org

E.J. Fielding Funeral Home has been entrusted with funeral arrangements. Please sign the guestbook at www.ejfieldingfh.com.

Phillip Dean

Phillip Dean "PD" Hill wasborn in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on July 27, 1950. He died on Friday, February 21, 2025, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana surrounded by hisfamily. PD graduated from RoyaltonHartland HighSchool in Middleport, New York in 1968, and continued his education at Jacksonville University, where he earned a bachelor in science degree in Business. PD leaves behind to cherish his memory, his lovingwife of six years, Sherry Lee Hill, with whom he traveled the world and sometimes danced all night. Other members of his family who will miss him forever include his daughter, Johan-

years, Sherry Lee Hill, with whom he traveled the world and sometimes danced all night. Other members of his family who will miss him forever include his daughter, Johanna Hill Couvillion (Jeremy); sons, Christopher Hill (Katie) and Justin Hill (Laura). His legacyflourishes through his precious grandchildren with whom he had aforever bond(in birth order): Maria Couvillion, Lucy Hill, Bradley Hill, Madeline Couvillion, Brenham Hill, Joseph Duke Hill, Barrett Hill, andJulia Couvillion; and his nephew, Kodiak Kopp. Also included are his brother, Duane Hill; sister, Carol Harring, and their extended families. Preceding PD in death were his parents, Kenneth and Thelma Hill; his twin sister, Phyllis Hill; and his wife, Karen Michelle Hill. PD and Karenwere married 34 years and had three beautifulchildren, but Karen lost her battle to cancer. PD never left her side. PD enjoyed along career as aSenior Business Development Manager, but also was an inventor, an entrepreneur, and abar owner. His participation in various organizationsincluded Krewe of Orion (King of Orion XIII), Baton Rouge Round Table, Canary Island Men's Club, Corvette Club, Bourbon Barons of Baton Rouge, Rambling Readers member at large, Krewe of Jupiter, and Old Goodwood Literary Society member at large. Some of his interests included tailgating, beer brewing, LSU Tiger fan, aspiring novelist, traveling, cooking, fishing, reading (it was not unusual for him to read three books aweek, both fiction and non-fiction), patron of thearts, beachcomber, mentor/life coach, and gardener. The family would like to give very special thanks to Our Lady of the Lake care givers Adam, Emily, Glenn, Maria, Peggy, and Ryan for their exceptional care and compassion. AMemorial Celebration of Life will be held for PD on Friday, March 7, 2025, at Broadmoor United Methodist Church, 10230 Mollylea Drive, Baton Rouge, with visitation from 9:00am until serviceat11:00am. Areception at the church will follow the service. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider agift in PD's name to St. Jude's, Wounded Warrior Project, or Association for Prosecuting Attorneys (APA), Prosecutors for Prosecutors (EIN#.26-3117485).

In loving memory of a cherished husband, father and grandfather, Frank Allen Hughes, wenthome to be with the Lordon March 1, 2025, in the presence of his beloved wife and daughters at the age of 89.

Born on March2,1935, in Mobile, Alabama, Frank wasthe child of Patrick Earle and Ila Hughes. He was adevoted family man, who adored his wife, Kaky, for over 68 years. Together, they raised five children: Allen (with the Lord), Sandy, Anne Marie, Lee and Laurie who will forever carry his legacyintheir hearts. He wasa proudgrandfather of 13 grandchildren and 9great grandchildren He cherished every moment spentwith them; having funinthe sun in the Alabama beaches, teaching them to fish, cooking at their family barbecuesand fish fries. Frank was masterful at creating incredible memories for his family. Frank hadanextremely generous heart, always desiring to helpthose in need. To his family and nieces and nephews, he was such an encourager and would do anything for them. He showed us all how to workhard, honor God andlove well. He was aman of great faith who knew how to persevere through life challenges with Jesus by his side. Frank graduated from McGill Institution (McGillToolen Catholic High School) and earned his BA from Springhill College in Mobile, AL. He served as a 1st Lieutenantinthe 101st Airborne Division 1957-1960 and washonorably discharged and entered the business world. In time, Frank became asuccessful entrepreneurand founded his own company, LOBO's. Afuneral service will be held March8,2025, at Grace Funeral Home, 450

Bergeron, Lollie Ourso

Bowman, Carolyn Cranford

Geiger, Billy Charles

Curtis, Ronald Stephen 'Ronnie'

Hughes, FrankAllen

Claflin,Mark E.

Hill,

'PD'

OUR VIEWS

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.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’s city of residence The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a

address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com.

OPINION

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. 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

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. 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

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.”

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-

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE

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.

Hughes, Frank Allen

In loving memory of a cherished husband, father and grandfather, Frank Allen Hughes, went home to be with the Lord on March 1, 2025, in the presence of his beloved wife and daughters at the age of 89. Born on March 2, 1935, in Mobile, Alabama, Frank was the child of Patrick Earle and Ila Hughes. He was adevoted familyman, who adoredhis wife, Kaky, for over 68 years.Together, they raised five children: Allen (with the Lord), Sandy, Anne Marie, Lee and Laurie who willforever carry his legacy in their hearts. He was aproud grandfather of 13 grandchildren and 9great grandchildren. He cherished every moment spent with them; having fun in the sun in the Alabama beaches, teaching them to fish, cooking at their familybarbecues and fish fries. Frank was masterful at creating incredible memories for his family. Frank had an extremely generous heart, alwaysdesiring to help those in need. To his family and nieces and nephews, he was such an encourager and would do anything for them. He showed us all how to work hard, honor God and love well. He was aman of great faith who knew how to persevere through life challenges with Jesus by his side. Frank graduated from McGill Institution (McGillToolen CatholicHigh School) and earned his BA from Springhill College in Mobile, AL. He served as a 1st Lieutenant in the 101st Airborne Division 1957-1960 and was honorably discharged and entered the business world. In time, Frank became asuccessful entrepreneur and founded his own company, LOBO's. Afuneral service will be held March 8, 2025, at Grace Funeral Home, 450 Holy Trinity Drive, Covington, LA at 11:30 a.m. Visitation is from 10:00am until 11:30. Burial to follow in St. Lazarus of Bethany Memorial Garden Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to St. Jude Foundation in Frank's memory at https://www.stjude.org

Frank has left alegacy of unconditionallove and dedication to his family who will cherish his memory forever.

Eric Charles Kocke was born March 24, 1958 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and entered peacefully into eternal rest on Febru‐ary 5, 2025 in Little Rock, Arkansas Eric spent 22 years serving in the United States Air Force retiring as a Master Sergeant in 1998. He eventually went back to school graduating from the University of Central Arkansas with a Bachelors in Education in 2007. He then spent the remainder of his career as an JROTC instructor serving students in Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee. After retire‐ment he moved closer to his daughter son-in-law and grandchildren in Arkansas. In his free time he enjoyed fishing, hiking, canoeing, watching the LSU Tigers, volunteering with the American Legion and spending time with his grandkids. He is preceded in death by his parents Ed‐ward Kocke, Jr. and Marie Troxclair Kocke, sister Katherine Kocke Olivier, and brother-in-law Thomas Hebert. He is survived by his children Petty Officer 2nd Class U.S. Navy Samuel Kocke (Candace), Micale Goodhart (Jeff) three grandchildren: Natalija Kocke Marin Goodhart and Jonah Goodhart and by his siblings Louise Kocke Rich (Skip), John Kocke (Anita) Paul Kocke (Jackie), Jane Kocke How‐son (David) Fay Kocke De‐Paula, June Kocke Hebert, Edward Kocke, III (Tina), 15 nieces and nephews and family friend Joe Wray Vis‐itation services will be at Wilbert Funeral Home in Plaquemine, Louisiana on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 11:30 a.m until 1:30 p.m Following the visitation, Eric will be interred with his parents at Grace Memorial Park in Plaquem‐ine, Louisiana with full mil‐itary honors. Our family is grateful for the kindness he received while living in memory care and for the compassionate and loving care provided by Arkansas Hospice during his final days. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the JROTC program at Lex‐ington High School Checks can made out to LHS JROTC for Eric Kocke Memorial Fund and sent to: Lexing‐ton High School Attn: JROTC, 284 White Street, Lexington TN 38351. Please share memories at www wilbertservices.com

Beverly Peno Landaiche died peacefully on the evening of March 2, 2025, at the age of 81, after a long and painful struggle with cancer. Survived by her husband,Donald J. Landaiche;children Kimberly Peno Allabaugh (husband Brian), Jonathan Peno (wife Marci), Heather Peno, BrettAllen(wife Yvette), and Mable Grace Medine (husband Chad); her sister and lifelong companion Jo AnnPeno Dawson, brothers Ronald Peno and Jerry Peno,sister -in-law Myrna Peno,and numerous extended family. She is preceded in death by her siblingsTeddy Peno, Bobby Peno, and Betty Peno, and parents Theodore Peno and Alma Hall Peno. She was aloving foster mother to over 63 children over the years. She attended school in Dutchtown and after that opened and ran Beverly's Flower Shop on Coontrap Road in Gonzales. After she retired from the florist business, she served as a docent at the Baton Rouge Zoo and Bluebonnet Swamp, working especially with school programs. She was an active member of St. Theresa of Avila parish in Gonzales, working on the garden, serving as Eucharistic Minister, and bringing the Eucharist to the sick. She maintained an active social life through her McDonald's breakfast group, theCrazy Ladies coffee group, her walking group, and her Mary Bird Perkins painting class at theHaven of Ascension. Her legacy lives on through her service to others, her paintings, and the backyard oasis she lovingly created.Visitation will take place at St. Theresa of Avila Church in Gonzales on Saturday, March 8, 2025, from 9am, followed by Mass at 11am and burial at Hope Haven cemetery in Prairieville. In lieu of gifts or flowers, the family requests that memorial flowers be sent in honorof Beverly's Flower Shop to the residents and staff of the Gonzales Healthcare Center or Ascension Oaks Nursing &Rehabilitation Center. May she rest in the peace of Christ

Truax, Charles Robert Charles Robert Truax, a native of Napoleonville and resident of Denham Springs, passed away on Monday, March 3, 2025.

Charles, 83, was a1960 graduate of Denham Springs High School. He retired after 33 years from the airline industry, beginning withSouthern Airways through Northwest Airlines. He loved to restore antique cars. His favorite car was his 1955 Thunderbird. Charles also enjoyed camping and meeting friendsfor breakfast at McDonalds. His grandchildren were the apples of his eye! He loved to boil peanutsfor them.

Charles was aveteran of the U.S. Navy, serving in Squadron VT-3, the Red Knights, during the Vietnam War. He was amember of the LiveOak Church.

Charles is survived by his wife of 59 years, Charlotte Ann Lard Truax; his son and wife, Jeff and Natalie Truax of Denham Springs; his daughter, Jennifer Truax of Amite; honorary family member, Staci Warner of Amite; three grandchildren, U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Joshua Truax of Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Louisiana Army National Guard Specialist Jonas Truax of Lafayette, La.; Anna Truax of Denham Springs; and Mr. Kitters, his favorite four-legged friend.Charles is also survived by his brother-in-law Glen Tyler of Clinton, La.; sisters-inlaw, Wilma DeLatte Cardon and Pat Collins Truax, all of Denham Springs. Charles is also survived by ahost of nieces and nephews.

Charles was preceded in death by parents, WilsonR and Viola Aucoin Truax; brothers Leroy Cardon, Lloyd Truax, Carroll Truax and Ronnie Truax; sisters, Irene C. Beauregard,Emily C. Dixon and Doris T. Tyler; brothers-in-law David Beauregard and Bert Dixon; and sister-in-law Sheran D. Truax.

Per his wishes, there will be no service. Acelebration of life will be held at alater date. Anyone wishing to memorialize Charles may donateinhis memory to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

Gaynell Collins Young, a devoted spouse, mother, grandmother, sibling, and abeloved figure of Zachary, La. sadly left our world on March 2, 2025, after alife richly lived in service andgenerosity.

Gaynell was abeacon of light andhope in the Zachary Community.

Leaving to live out her legacy, her devoted husband, Lucius Young, Jr.; children,Samara Young Ferguson,Lucius Tramon (Monica) Young, and Jonathan Colin (Janay) Young; God children,Andrea Moore and Lavar Collins; along with her sister, Beverly Collins and brother, Anthony Ray Collins, ten (10) grandchildren, eight (8) great-grandchildren as well as ahost of nieces, nephews, and

Gaynell Collins Young, a devoted spouse, mother, grandmother, sibling, and abeloved figure of Zachary, La. sadly left our world on March 2, 2025, after alife richly lived in service andgenerosity. Gaynell was abeacon of light andhope in the Zachary Community.

Leaving to live outher legacy, herdevoted husband, Lucius Young, Jr.; children,Samara Young Ferguson,Lucius Tramon (Monica) Young, and Jonathan Colin (Janay) Young; God children,Andrea Moore and Lavar Collins; along with her sister, Beverly Collins and brother, Anthony Ray Collins, ten (10) grandchildren, eight (8) great-grandchildren as well as ahost of nieces, nephews, and cousins. Public Viewing on Friday, March7,2025, from 57PMand Saturday, March 8, 2025, from 9- 11 AM until Celebration of Excellence Service at 11 AM at First Baptist Church, Zachary, La. Flowers are appreciated, and charitable donations may be made to New Life Baptist Church at the following link https://cash. app/$newlifembcph

Ozone 64/51

DEATHS

Kocke, Eric Charles

Landaiche, Beverly Pearl

Young, Gaynell Collins

Young, Gaynell Collins

SPORTS

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 did as a strongside linebacker in 2023. Both positions cover slot receivers man-to-man

Saints could draft differently on defense under new staff

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 to 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 who currently don’t exist on the roster The days of pegging a defensive end as a fit for the Saints because he is 6-foot-6 and 275 pounds are probably over, but those 240-pound bendy edge rushers who never made sense for the Saints now may be in play Nobody yet knows exactly what kind of players fit what both Staley and the Saints scouting department like, because this 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 to load up on new defensive players early in the draft, here are some who make sense.

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

Tigers enjoy sequel vs. Bison

BY JIM KLEINPETER Contributing writer

LSU softball didn’t leave its burgeoning offense behind on the West Coast in its return home against UL-Monroe on Tuesday

The No. 4 Tigers pounded out 12 hits, including a pair of three-run homers by Tori Edwards, to make short work of the Warhawks 12-4 in five innings at Tiger Park. Edwards’ homers, her team-best sixth and seventh, came in the first and second innings. Along with a two-run double by Maci Bergeron in the second, the early offense staked LSU (19-1) to an 8-0 lead. Seven of LSU’s nine starters had at least one hit, with Edwards and Danieca Coffey leading the way with three each. Coffey scored three times and drove in a run. “Tori Edwards was incredible,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “I thought the whole offense did a good job applying pressure throughout the game. It was well swung at the plate.

“There are some at-bats that go unnoticed. Jaydn Laneaux drawing a walk after an 0-2 count. Maci in a two-strike at-bat hitting a

PHOTO By APRIL BUFFINGTON LSU’s Derek Curiel attempts to swing at the ball against North Dakota State during their game on Wednesday at Alex Box Stadium.

LSU linebacker Harold Perkins STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

6

Belichick coaches first college practice

BY AARON BEARD AP sportswriter

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. Bill Belichick is back on the practice sidelines again, a familiar home for the man who won six Super Bowls as an NFL head coach.

Only now the setting is a small college town. And instead of that familiar hoodie, he was instead decked in a navy blue shortsleeved quarter-zip top and ballcap, along with mesh shorts in that distinctive shade of Carolina blue.

The 72-year-old is a rookie in college coaching, opening his first set of spring practices this week since taking over at North Carolina as part of that school’s audacious bet to upgrade its football program.

“That’s the great thing about being a head coach — I can coach anybody I want,” Belichick quipped at his pre-practice news conference Wednesday “I can coach the line, I can yell at the tight ends, I can yell at the DBs, I can yell at the kickers.

“I can go to any group I want and coach them. And honestly, that’s the fun part.”

When the news conference ended, Belichick started to walk away from the podium when he realized he left his whistle behind. He paused, picked it up and blew a short quick chirp — offering a bit of a symbolic start to spring drills for the media, anyway Belichick was hired in December and had a signed contract for a five-year deal — though only the first three years are guaranteed with $10 million annually in base and supplemental salary — a month later The goal is to build a pro-style model at the college level, creating what amounts to a “33rd” NFL team as general manager and former NFL executive Michael Lombardi put it last month.

He had continued appearances on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” and had been spotted in social media posts from the recruiting trail or attending men’s basketball games at the Smith Center, but he hadn’t spoken to local reporters since his introductory news conference nearly three months ago The Tar Heels opened spring practices Tuesday, then let media members watch about 20 minutes of Wednesday’s practice — though Belichick stood behind the end zone roughly 50-plus yards away

PERKINS

Continued from page 1C

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.

“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.

from where they were allowed to observe.

Throw in the fact that the players aren’t wearing numbers, and it was hard to pick up much of anything in that brief window

His news conference proved more revealing in that regard, with Belichick providing fuller answers than the terse and grumpy responses he was known for with the New England Patriots. That included talking about the new wrinkle for him of having spring practices in pads at the college level, something that wasn’t the case in the NFL

He pointed to his time being around the Washington program as the Huskies prepared to enter the Big Ten before this past season. His son, Steve, worked there as defensive coordinator and Belichick said the progress made during those sessions last spring was “remarkable.”

Now he gets to try it with his own program in Chapel Hill.

“The response has been great,”

Belichick said of connecting with teenagers and college-age players as opposed to NFL veterans in

their mid- or late-30s “It’s kind of similar to what a rookie minicamp would be and time with the rookies. Granted, those kids are a little bit older, but they’re coming in from all different programs and different situations.

“So it’s starting to put everything together: here’s how we do things, here’s what our expectations are, this is what you need to do to be successful. They’ve embraced that they’ve tried to do it.”

Belichick teamed with quarterback Tom Brady during most of his 24-year tenure with the Patriots that included those six titles, most recently coming in the 2018 season That run in Foxborough ended after the 2023 season, leaving Belichick with 333 career regular-season and postseason wins to trail Don Shula by just 14 for the NFL record.

He had been linked to NFL jobs after his exit from the Patriots, but nothing materialized — and soon, Belichick had made his first jump into college football after the Tar Heels moved on from Mack Brown as the winningest coach in program history

“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 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. 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 three-

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 receiver

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

UNC formally announced his coaching staff earlier this week, featuring a mix of NFL and college experience.

The list includes former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens as a holdover from Mack Brown’s staff, as well as sons Steve (defensive coordinator/ linebackers) and Brian (defensive backs/safeties).

Belichick said it’s too early to know how things will go with roster management for the upcoming season, including when it comes to the transfer portal for additions and departures after the 15-practice spring session concludes April 12.

UNC’s longer-range target is a college-version of Monday Night Football, with the Tar Heels hosting TCU on Labor Day to open Belichick’s tenure.

“We’ll go out there and do what we do and see what happens, see how it goes,” Belichick said.

“I know we have a good plan. I know we can do the right things to help the players improve, help the team improve and put a good product on the field.”

“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

linebacker 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.”

For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

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 last two World Series games with an oblique issue.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU linebacker Harold Perkins closes in on USC quarterback Miller Moss for a sack in the first half of their game on Sept. 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHRIS SEWARD

North Carolina coach Bill Belichick watches UNC practice on Wednesday in Chapel Hill, N.C.

LeBron becomes first to score 50,000 points

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

LOS ANGELES LeBron James is well on his way to rewriting every previous definition of basketball longevity, and the 40-year-old star is now racking up numbers the NBA has never seen before.

James became the first player to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and postseason on Tuesday night, surpassing the mark with a 3-pointer early in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 136-115 win over New Orleans.

James finished with 34 points against the Pelicans after toppling another milestone in his unprecedented career

“I mean, that’s a lot of points,” James said afterward, rubbing his beard in wonder

“Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is where I’m from. Picking up the game when I was a little kid and having a love for the sport, and hoping that someday I’d be able to play at the highest level. I’ve been able to do that and really enjoy my career So it’s definitely an honor It’s pretty cool to see that.”

James already is the top scorer in NBA history in both the regular season and the playoffs.

Maintaining a spectacular level of play midway through his record-tying 22nd season, he is pulling away from the other greats of the game: Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons, is a now-distant second with 44,149 combined points.

James got his milestone 3-pointer off an assist by Luka Doncic, a trivia tidbit that pleased both superstars. Doncic’s arrival in last month’s seismic trade with the Dallas Mavericks has invigorated both James and the Lakers who look like championship contenders with a seven-game winning streak and 17 victories in their last 20 games.

“It’s amazing, watching him do this stuff at this age,” said Doncic, who had 30 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds against New Orleans. “It’s just unbelievable, that

TIGERS

Continued from page 1C

There was no such urgency Wednesday LSU coach Jay Johnson was able to experiment with his lineup instead. In the fourth inning, with LSU leading 11-1, Johnson moved Jones to third base. It was the first time in Jones’ collegiate career that he’s played the position. Wednesday also was an eventful night for Jones at the plate. He blasted his third home run of the year in the third inning a three-run shot that handed LSU its 11-1 advantage — before hitting another homer in the fifth, a two-run blast.

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

packages.

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

TEXAS A&M EDGE SHEMAR

STEWART: I 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 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

50K points. I can’t even explain how insane that is. He might get to 70K. You never know.”

The Lakers recognized the milestone at the next timeout, with public address announcer Lawrence Tanter saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, we all have just witnessed history.” James acknowledged the standing ovation with several waves from the bench.

James is tied with Vince Carter for the most seasons played in NBA history But while nearly every other NBA player who lasted to his late 30s finished at a fraction of his peak powers James shows no signs of decline in his 40s.

He was named the NBA’s Western Conference player of the month earlier Tuesday after he averaged 29.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.2 steals in February while playing more than 35 minutes per game for the Lakers, who went 9-2 to surge into second place in the West.

With their victory over the Pelicans, the Lakers improved to 11-2 since acquiring Doncic.

James has played in 1,548 regular-season games, trailing only Robert Parish (1,611) and AbdulJabbar (1,560).

Jones, Curiel and junior Chris Stanfield finished with multiple hits. Steven Milam, Jones and Curiel also drove in at least two runs. Milam hit a two-run single in the first that stretched the Tigers’ lead to 3-0

It was LSU’s fourth consecutive game in which it scored at least 11 runs The Tigers have scored at least seven runs in each of their last eight contests On the mound for No. 1 LSU (13-1), freshman righthander William Schmidt made his second career start. He allowed just one run on two hits in four innings while throwing 73 pitches. His command wasn’t always present as he walked two batters and hit three

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

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

Jordan Hawkins doesn’t know when the back pain that sidelined him earlier this season will go away Truth be told, he doesn’t know if they ever will.

“Hopefully it goes away like tomorrow,” Hawkins said early last week.

are the most he’s made in a game since January He made 11 of 30 3-pointers on the road trip.

“He just has a shooter’s mindset,” Pelicans forward Zion Williamson said. “The longer he is in the league, the more he’s starting to develop that shot, and I think that really helps his game a lot.”

If he stays healthy and elects to return for a record 23rd season, he will likely surpass Parish next winter

James has also played in 287 postseason games, the most in NBA history He became the league’s career playoff scoring leader on May 25, 2017, when he surpassed Michael Jordan’s total of 5,987 during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Eastern Conference finals game at Boston.

James then became the top scorer in regular-season history on Feb. 7, 2023, when he topped Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points during the Lakers’ game against Oklahoma City

James’ prolific scoring is due in large part to his metronomic consistency With his performance against the Pelicans, he has scored at least 10 points in 1,278 consecutive games since Jan. 6, 2007 — by far the longest such streak in NBA history

James’ player of the month award for February was his 41st, extending his own league record. He is also the oldest player to win the award, surpassing a 37-yearold Karl Malone in November 2000.

others, but he also struck out seven while featuring a deadly curveball.

Senior left-hander Dalton Beck made his first appearance this season after replacing Schmidt in the fifth inning. He threw a scoreless frame before junior righthander Jacob Mayers took over for him in the sixth.

Mayers walked three hitters but escaped the inning unscathed. Redshirt junior right-hander Grant Fontenot closed out the contest despite allowing two earned runs in the seventh inning, but the 10-run rule still was in effect.

LSU returns to Alex Box Stadium on Friday to face North Alabama in its final nonconference series of the season.

and get the player who just won the Thorpe Award under Terry Joseph, the new defensive pass-game coordinator for the Saints? 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 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.

But the Pelicans’ second-year guard is playing through it, as well as playing through the shooting struggles that have come with the pain. When the Pelicans host the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, Hawkins would like nothing more than to see some carryover from his play on the team’s recent four-g ame road trip. Hawkins averaged 14.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists on the road trip that saw the Pelicans go 2-2. Those numbers are all higher than what he’s averaging for the season (10.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists).

“He’s playing more consistent where he has more consistent minutes,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “He understands what his role is when he steps on the floor.”

Hawkins scored 24 points in a loss to the Suns, one shy of the seasonhigh 25 points he scored against the Denver Nuggets in December. He also had four assists in that game, tying his season-high in that category The four 3-pointers he knocked down Tuesday against the Lakers

Hawkins also is reaping the benefits of the Pelicans’ bigger lineup now that newly acquired 7-footer Kelly Olynyk is on the roster

“It gives us a different perspective on offense,” Hawkins said. “A lot more ball movement and screening and gets everybody engaged.”

The official diagnosis of Hawkins’ back issues that caused him to miss time in November and December was a lumbar spine annular fissure. He also experienced back issues during his time at UConn.

“Just go out there and hoop and not overthink too much and not put too much pressure on myself,” Hawkins said. “I’m out there and just hooping.”

Hawkins has had his struggles against the Rockets, who the Pelicans play Thursday in the Smoothie King Center and then again Saturday in Houston’s Toyota Center In his five career games against Houston, he’s made just 9 of 37 shots, including 6 of 26 on 3-pointers. He’s averaging six points per game against them. Green hopes to see the Hawkins he saw on the road.

“We want to see him step on the floor and continue to build momentum, build good habits,” Green said. “And for the most part, we like what we see.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JAE C. HONG

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James gestures after making a 3-point basket to go over the 50,000 career point mark on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

BY MIKE GEGENHEIMER Contributing writer

The postseason is not where teams want to go cold Unfortunately for Doyle, that’s exactly what happened Wednesday night in Hammond

The No. 4-seeded Tigers came into the Division III nonselect girls semifinal against top-seeded Oakdale on a 16-game win streak driven by the Tigers’ offense that averaged 54.9 points per game. But a challenging first half that saw Doyle go nearly 13 minutes without a field goal set the stage for a season-ending 57-41 loss at the University Center Doyle coach Sam White summed it up simply as bad luck at the most inopportune time.

THE VARSITY ZONE

Doyle goes cold, falls to Oakdale Standard fare

“I’m not going to sit here and say we’re the best shooting team,” White said. “But we’ll knock it down when left open, normally. And I don’t mind us shooting with confidence because I think you have to. Unfortunately tonight was not the night for that, and that happens. You have to find different ways to win and we struggled to find different ways to win.” Doyle got off to a hot start. The Tigers took a 7-0 lead over the first 90 seconds thanks to several turnovers by the Warriors. In fact, the Tigers’ 16 steals and 21 points off turnovers was a bright spot in an otherwise difficult performance. Kassidy Rivero and Shelby Taylor tied for the team lead with four steals each. That all changed once Oakdale’s Emani Young came up with a big block and a few rebounds, sparking a 16-3 run to finish the first quarter Doyle had little answer for 5-foot-9 Young and the Warriors’ length and size, particularly down low where Oakdale outrebounded Doyle 53-29 and outscored them 30-20 in the paint. Young finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and four blocks Doyle was paced by senior forward Alyson Fletcher with 15 points. Fletcher also had four rebounds and all four of the Tigers’ blocks. As a team, Doyle shot 12 of 52 from the field (23%).

“Their length,” Fletcher said of what made Oakdale so difficult to defend. “I definitely underestimated them height-wise and their athletic ability.”

It was Doyle’s fourth trip to the state tournament in the past six years, including a loss to Amite in the 2024 semifinals.

Oakdale plays No. 2 Oak Grove for the championship on Friday

“We fought,” White said. “I don’t think we ever gave up. Shots wouldn’t fall for us, some things didn’t go our way but I do think we fought.” Division II nonselect No. 7 ALBANY 52, No. 3 STERLINGTON 48: In Hammond, Albany upset Sterlington in a semifinal game that concluded Wednesday’s state tourney action.

The Hornets (24-11), making the program’s 25th tourney appearance, withstood a nine-point run by tourney newcomer Sterlington to advance to Friday’s 8 p.m. title game against top-seeded Wossman.

Rene Harris scored a game-high 14 points and had 16 rebounds for the Hornets, who will meet Wossman for the fourth straight year in either the semifinals or final.

Kaidence Ponder and Kaitlyn Duhe each had 12 points for the winners. Sophie Fletcher and Alyssa Randle had 10 points each for Sterlington (23-8). Robin Fambrough contributedtothisreport.

Southern Lab guard/forward Shaila Forman takes a shot over Ouachita Christian forward Gracyn Reppond during their Division IV select semifinal game Wednesday in Hammond. Forman scored a game-high 21 points in the Kittens’ 68-16 victory.

Southern Lab forces 39 turnovers in trouncing Ouachita Christian to reach championship game

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

The standard, as in the championship standard.

Top-seeded Southern Lab talks about it regularly

And the Kittens checked all the boxes for it with an overwhelming 68-16 victory over No. 5 Ouachita Christian at the LHSAA girls basketball tournament on Wednesday in Hammond.

“(The players) know what’s (at stake),” Southern Lab coach Quianna Chaney said. “We either win or we go home. We were trying to get to the championship game, so obviously we had to win this one first.” With the victory, Southern Lab (20-5) advances to play No. 2 Cedar Creek (29-3), a 47-44 come-from-behind winner over JS Clark in Division IV select final set for noon Saturday at the University Center

Shaila Forman had a gamehigh 21 points, six steals and five rebounds for the winners. Asia Patin was equally prolific with 19 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field, along with five steals and five assists.

Chaney and the players referenced the “standard” multiple times throughout a postgame news conference. The win puts the Kittens in position to win their second title in a row and fourth in five years. The victory also was Chaney’s 100th as head coach at her alma mater

Ouachita Christian (28-4) led 2-0. The score was tied at 3-3 with 6:04 remaining in the first quarter Over the next six minutes the Kittens outscored the Monroe team 21-2, while forcing 17 first-quarter turnovers. Southern Lab scored 54 points off turnovers during the game. The Eagles finished the game with 39

turnovers.

“We started off a little slow a little sluggish,” Chaney said. “But we were able to pick it up and do what we do best on defense and then get down on the offensive end.”

Kori Wesley, who finished with 10 points and seven steals, teamed with Forman and Patin to help set the tone on defense. In turn, the Kittens made 56.8% of their shots from the floor (25 of 44).

That total included 42 points in the paint partly because of layups that followed OCS turnovers.

Ouachita Christian didn’t score double-digit points in any quarter By contrast, Forman scored 10 first-quarter points.

“We know what we’ve got to do pass the ball to an open spot at the right time,” Forman said. “We knew it would come eventually The defense just adds to it.”

SOUTHERN LAB: Shalia Forman 21, Asia Patin 19, Kori Wesley 10, Bre’Alle Clark 6, Jamya Cain 5, Kailyah Brown 4, Jaszaiah Stampley 3 3-POINT GOALS: OUACHITA

Catholic 24 12 15 12 -63

SCORING: PARKVIEW BAPTIST: Ansley Bernhard 18, Ella LeFors 13, Anna Richerson 10, Emma Shoef 4, Hannah Hebert 2; VANDEBILT CATHOLIC:

Parkview’s bid for three straight titles ends in loss

BY WILLIAM WEATHERS Contributing writer

Parkview Baptist conquered plenty of challenges along the way to becoming two-time state champions.

To extend that magical string to three, the Eagles faced a sizable test from Vandebilt Catholic they weren’t able to master No. second-seeded Terriers of Houma went on a 12-0 run midway in the first quarter, taking a lead they never relinquished in a 63-47 victory over No. 3 Parkview Baptist in a Division II select state semifinal at the University Center in Hammond.

“It seemed like once we got down a little bit every time we made a shot, they made a big shot back,”

Parkview coach Matt Shelton said. “We could never kind of chip away I’m pleased with the effort.”

The end of a two-year title reign in Division III for Parkview Baptist (21-7) was a time for reflection for Shelton, whose first team won seven games.

The Eagles, with seniors Emma Shoaf and Carlyn LeBlanc, went 75-26 with three successive trips to the state tournament.

Freshman point guard Ansley Bernhard led Parkview with 18 points. Sophomore Ella LeFors had 13 points on the strength of three 3-pointers, and junior Anna Richerson add-

ed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Vandebilt (18-7) moves to the state title game at 2 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between University and Madison Prep. Tyanna Stewart led all scorers with 15 of her 21 points in the first half. Makayla Charles added 11 and Journee Johnson 10. “Height matters,” Parkview’s Anna Richerson said of Vandebilt’s distinct height advantage which led to a 37-30 edge in rebounding. “We always need rebounds for that. It didn’t happen tonight.” Vandebilt made 64.3% of its shots from the field and made three 3-pointers in the first half for a 36-21 halftime lead. Parkview closed to within seven points on two occasions, the second on Bernhardt’s second 3-pointer, making it 26-19 at the 5:31 mark. The Eagles, who shot 37.5% in the half, went scoreless for five minutes until Richerson’s drive, reducing their deficit to 33-21. Vandebilt finished the half with a banked-in 3-pointer from Johnson at the buzzer and the Terriers led by as many as 21 points (51-30) at the end of the third quarter

“We’re blessed,” Shelton said. “I’m thankful to God to be here and put in a situation where we have great kids. I have a great staff and great parents. It’s been a blessing to coach this team.”

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK Vandebilt Catholic forward Makensie Charles looks to pass under pressure from Parkview Baptist guard Anna Richerson during their Division II select semifinal game Wednesday in Hammond. Vandebilt won 63-47.

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Five from BR area aim for title game

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH

Staff writer

District rivals University High and Madison Prep played each other a month ago. Zachary and Walker played a year ago and used to be district rivals.

And then there’s Woodlawn. The Panthers are back after making history a year ago at the LHSAA girls basketball tournament. Put it all together and one thing is apparent: There is no shortage of storylines for Thursday’s semifinals at the LHSAA girls tourney at the University Center in Hammond.

“In game situations like this, you never know what is going to happen,” U-High coach Bonita Johnson said.

“Both teams are guard-oriented, and players on both teams are versatile enough to play inside, too. You need to make plays and take care of the ball.”

Johnson’s top-seeded Cubs (22-3) take on No. 5 Madison Prep (19-12) in the Division II select semifinal that opens the action at 1 p.m. MPA was the runner-up in this division a year ago, and U-High was the Division III select runner-up.

Though the Chargers beat the Cubs by 10 points last month, MPA coach Dwayne Hayes notes: It’s always hard to beat a team twice in one season. We can’t take it for granted because we beat them this is a new deal.”

Next, third-seeded Woodlawn (25-6) meets No. 2 Karr (28-4) in a Division I select game at 4:30 p.m. The Panthers were the runners-up a year ago to John Curtis. Woodlawn edged Karr 4441 in a December tournament.

“Our focus is to maintain control and make sure we take care of the ball on every possession,” Woodlawn coach Alicia Dedeaux said. “We worked to correct things that did not do well in the championship last year We have a bench with players who contribute and that should help us.”

The Division I nonselect semifinal between No. 2 Walker (32-2) and No 3 Zachary (24-4) is set for 8 p.m. and concludes the semifinals for the week. Though the programs are familiar with each other, Walker graduated six seniors from last year

It is the fourth straight semifinal berth for Walker

Zachary is in the tourney for the first time since 2018.

“They (Zachary) have been knocking on the door for a couple of years now,” Walker coach Korey Arnold said. “They have all the pieces they need to win a championship.

“This is one of my best defensive teams. If we can keep them off the boards and limit our mistakes we give ourselves the best chance.”

Said Zachary coach Tami McClure: “We’ve got a little more size, but I think we match up well. One thing we have to do is break their press. And there will be ups and downs.”

Players to watch

• Two top players, Woodlawn guard Amijah Price (18.9 points a game) and Walker’s Arionna Patterson (20 ppg), are UL signees.

• Ava Raymond (19 ppg) leads Zachary

• Kennedy Aldridge (18 ppg) of U-High, and the Madison Prep duo of Brooklyn Smith and Auri Ray average 18 points a game.

Email Robin Fambrough at rfambrough@ theadvocate.com

Top seeds Zachary, Liberty head area boys teams in quarterfinals

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

Top-seeded Zachary and Liberty headline the list of 15 Baton Rouge-area boys basketball teams that are now just one win away from advancing to next week’s LHSAA boys basketball tournament in Lake Charles. All but one locally notable quarterfinal will be played

Games are Friday unless otherwise listed.

Nonselect

Division I

No. 8 Sulphur (28-5) at No 1 Zachary (25-6), 6:30 p.m.

No. 6 Ruston (18-5) at No. 3 Denham Springs (28-3), 6 p.m. at Walker High No. 7 East Ascension (264) at No. 2 Central (23-4), 7 p.m.

Division II

No. 13 Franklinton (17-9) at No. 5 Brusly (24-4), 7 p.m. Division III

Continued from page 1C

double and getting Tori to the plate. There are a lot of good things happening in the offense in front of her and around her that went well today, too.” Edwards’ first homer was an opposite-field shot into the bleachers. Her second was a low line drive with an 84 miles per hour exit velocity

“The whole week we’ve been studying the pitchers,” said Edwards, who also stole a base and scored from third on a wild pitch. “Coming off of California at this point of the season, I think I’ve seen a little bit of everything. I’m sticking to my plan. My goal is if someone misses a pitch I’m going to make them pay for it.

“It’s been a goal of mine to spray the field. That’s been a challenge I’m capable of. It made me happy to see the progress.”

The Warhawks (15-8) saw their 13-game winning streak end and couldn’t get their small ball going. But the visitors took advantage of a couple of mistakes by LSU right-hander Tatum

Friday night. The largest concentration of area teams is in Division I select/nonselect with five teams set to host games. Liberty (24-1), the top seed and reigning Division I select champion, hosts No 8 Jesuit (21-7) at 7 p.m. Friday Zachary (25-6), the No. 1 seed on the Division I nonselect bracket, hosts No 8 Sulphur at 6:30 p.m.

There are two all-local matchups. Second-seeded Central (23-4) hosts No. 7 East Ascension (26-4) at 6:30 p.m. in Division I nonselect action. In Division II select, No. 13 University (19-9) plays at No. 5 Madison Prep (26-9) at 6:30 p.m.

Email Robin Fambrough at rfambrough@theadvocate. com

Tennessee routs Texas A&M to begin the SEC Tournament

By The Associated Press

GREENVILLE, S.C. Talaysia Cooper had 19 points and eight rebounds, Jewel Spear added 11 points and three 3-pointers, and 18thranked Tennessee beat Texas A&M 77-37 on Wednesday in the opening game of the SEC Tournament.

Tennessee (22-8) advances to play No. 8 seed Vanderbilt on Thursday The Lady Vols dropped a 7170 contest against the Commodores on Jan. 19 when Mikayla Blakes tipped in a missed shot at the buzzer for just their 11th series win in the last 90 games.

Tennessee pulled away from Texas A&M in the second quarter The Lady Vols closed the half on a 14-2 run to take a 32-19 lead as Texas A&M went 1 for 6 from the field with five turnovers in the final 5:27.

GEORGIA 79, ARKANSAS 74: In Greenville, South Carolina, Asia Avinger scored 13 of her 19 points in the second half, De’Mauri Flournoy added 15 points and Georgia closed on an 11-2 run to beat Arkansas on Wednesday in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.

Georgia (13-18) will play No. 5 seed and 10th-ranked Oklahoma on Thursday The Lady Bulldogs lost the only regular-season matchup with the then-No. 15 Sooners 86-55 on Jan. 26

Izzy Higginbottom had Arkansas in control through three quarters as she reached 29 points after a three-point play with 4:52 left in the frame for a 57-46 lead. But Georgia opened the fourth on an 8-3 run to get within 63-62 on Roxane Makolo’s fast-break layup.

Trinity Turner sank a floater in the lane with 2:01 left in the fourth to give Georgia its first lead, 74-72, since it was 32-30 in the second quarter

WOMEN’S SEC TOURNAMENT

MISSISSIPPI STATE 75, MISSOURI 55: In Greenville, South Carolina, Jerkaila Jordan scored 21 points, Destiney McPhaul added a career-high 19 and No. 10 seed Mississippi State used a 31-0 second-half run to beat No. 15 seed Missouri on Wednesday night to give coach Sam Purcell his first SEC Tournament victory Mississippi State (21-10) will play No. 7 seed Ole Miss on Thursday in the second round. The Bulldogs lost to the Rebels 71-63 on Jan. 19. The Bulldogs trailed 4632 with 8:28 left in the third quarter before taking its first lead, 49-47, since it was 18-17 and closing the frame on a 20-0 run.

McPhaul sank a 3-pointer from near midcourt just before the third-quarter buzzer to extend the lead to 5647. McPhaul also made two 3-pointers from the corner in the opening four minutes of the fourth.

Jordan added a jumper from the free-throw line to make it a 30-0 run that ended at 31. Missouri missed 18 straight shots until Grace Slaughter made a shot in the lane with 4:39 left. The

No. 5 Donaldsonville (17-7) at No. 4 Richwood (20-9), 6 p.m.

Division IV

No. 9 White Castle (16-14) at No. 1 Vinton (21-4), 7 p.m No. 6 East Iberville (18-14) at No. 3 Lakeview (25-5), 7 p.m. Thursday

Select

Division I No. 8 Jesuit (21-7) No. 1 Liberty (24-1), 7 p.m. No. 7 John Curtis (23-6) at No 2 Catholic (28-4), 7 p.m. Division II

No. 13 University (19-9) at No. 5 Madison Prep (26-9), 6:30 p.m.

Division III

No. 10 Thomas Jefferson (228) at No. 2 Dunham (20-5), 6 p.m.

Division IV

No. 22 Central Catholic (10-16) vs. No. 3 Southern Lab (19-7), 6 p.m. at SU’s Seymour Gym

Class C

No. 5 Georgetown (31-7) at No. 4 Family Christian (25-9), 6:30 p.m.

Clopton. Meagan Brown hit a three-run homer in the third inning after two of Clopton’s four walks, and Maryssa Zenzen hit a solo homer in the fourth

Clopton (4-0) entered the game with a team-best 0.75 ERA after not giving up as much as an extra-base hit through her first 182/3 innings.

“There’s nights like these that will happen,” Clopton said. “It’s always tough for a

curve rise pitcher with the wind blowing out. We adjusted. I continued to adjust and incorporate different pitches and attack the hitters.

“Our game plan was to force them into the air, which is exactly what we did. We stuck with our plan. They executed on some of those pitches. You have to take your hat off to them on those. Some of those situations, I dug my own hole and that’s also going to happen.”

Tigers also finished with 20 turnovers.

FLORIDA 60, AUBURN 50: In Greenville, South Carolina, Ra Shaya Kyle had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead 11th-seeded Florida past 14th-seeded Auburn on Wednesday the first day of the SEC Tournament. Florida advances to a second-round matchup against sixth-seeded Alabama.

Auburn’s Celia Sumbane scored in the paint to get the Tigers within 50-48 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter A minute later, a three-point play by Liv McGill gave the Gators a 55-48 lead as the clock approached one minute Laila Reynolds made two free throws for Florida with 53 seconds left and Kenza Salgues added two more with 34 seconds to go for a 59-49 lead. Jeriah Warren had 14 points, Reynolds 12 and McGill 11 for Florida (15-16). McGill added eight assists and six rebounds. The Gators shot 35% for the game but got a big boost from going 21-for-23 on free throws. DeYona Gaston led Auburn (12-18) with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Yuting Deng added 10 points. Auburn shot 30%.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU first baseman Tori Edwards gets a pat on the helmet from first base coach Taylor Pleasants after a hit against Charlotte on Feb 7 at Tiger Park. Edwards had two home runs in Wednesday’s game against UL-Monroe.

‘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 2D

To make the

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

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.

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

See TAHINI, page 2D

Jan Risher

Liz Faul

Baba Ghanouj

PHOTO By LIZ FAUL

STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER

salad, add quinoa, jicama, cilantro, carrots, red onion and Mandarin oranges to a large bowl.

Foreign objects in soup

Judith Martin

MISS MANNERS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F

2. Drain the cans of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) into a colander and rinse well.

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.

No Bake Chocolate

possibly cooked with it for a while. My sister and I were pretty put off, but we could tell my mom would be heartbroken if we refused to eat it. What should we have done?

Gentle reader: Immediate family rules about sanitary conditions around food may be marginally less strict by mutual consent, but consent

Roasted Beet Hummus

is still key

As there were two of you, you and your sister could have resorted to any distraction and deception techniques you may have worked out when you were young. Such as one of you declaring how great the soup was while the other whisks it to the kitchen before your mother could check the bowls.

Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com.

Place the beets into the preheated oven. Let roast for about 1½ hours. Once beets 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

it to a boil. Meanwhile, pour the chocolate chips in the bowl of the double boiler and stir the chocolate until it is melted.

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

4. Place the pan with the chocolate tahini crunch bars in 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

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.

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

Protect your phone from viruses

Dear Heloise: I read with concern Daniel T.’s hint about scam calls. Our phones are like our computers; they hold valuable information for scammers. As such, they must have the best protection against viruses. In Daniel’s case, he should have his phone evaluated by a phone expert or at least have it reset so that any scam programs are erased. Then he should install a virus program and a call screener that blocks any suspicious spam calls. Don’t forget to back up your data to the cloud before you reset it. If you are uncomfortable about resetting your phone, contact your phone company, and they can usually talk you

through it. Apologies for the long letter, but this is important! — Priscilla Wigham, via email

Hair conditioning

Dear Heloise: I have an easy hint for you — compliments of my daughter! When she gets in the shower, she washes her hair first, then applies conditioner She leaves the conditioner on while she washes her body This way, the conditioner gets extra time to do its job. It’s so simple, and I’m amazed that I went all these years without trying a hint that is so easy to incorporate. — L.L., in San Antonio Cleaning a silk plant

Dear Heloise: Today I bought an artificial plant. It was 6

TODAY IN HISTORY

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 1951, the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on federal espionage charges began in New York.

In 1964, heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay took a new name given to him by Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammed: Muhammad Ali.

In 1970, a bomb being built inside a Greenwich

feet tall and really needed cleaning. I decided to get my cotton gloves out and wipe each leaf with warm water Using the gloves, it was pretty easy to clean both sides of the leaf, and it turned out beautifully Some leaves came off, but I used my glue gun to attach them back on. Corrinne Berkland, in Universal City,Texas Cut-proof gloves

Dear Heloise: To K.O.B.,

Village townhouse in New York by members of the Weather Underground militant leftist group accidentally exploded, destroying the house and killing three group members. In 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time after nearly two decades as the anchor of “The CBS Evening News.” Today’s birthdays: Former FBI and CIA director William Webster is 101.

on zest and a drizzle of olive oil.

Serve with freshly sliced vegetables, such as sliced carrots, celery bell pepper, radish or cucumber

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 1D

Continued from page 1D I

by

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

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

STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER

Risher’s Clean Eats Salad is filled with all sorts of goodness and is rich in protein, fiber and nutrients

Hints from Heloise

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.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2025 by NEA, Inc., dist By Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

toDAy's cLuE: M EQuALs J

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

FrAnK And erneSt

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

Puzzle Answer

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

thought “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” James 3:16

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C. PiCKles