The Times-Picayune 03-10-2025 by The Advocate

Howl about that?

The Mystic Krewe of Barkus rolls through the French Quarter

ABOVE: Zen Blue shakes hands with Enzo Gonzalez, 5, for treats during the Mystic Krewe of Barkus parade in the French Quarter on Sunday The 32nd annual Mystic Krewe of Barkus paraded through the French Quarter to the theme ‘Vanity Fur: Barkus Rules the Runway!’ The parade was rescheduled to after Mardi Gras due to weather MIDDLE RIGHT: Bubbles ﬂoat around dogs during the parade on Sunday RIGHT: A poodle walks in the Mystic Krewe of Barkus parade in the French Quarter on Sunday

STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER

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Hutson in crowded race for sheriff

Approval rating has plummeted amid ethical questions, lawsuits

BY JOSEPH CRANNEY | Staff writer

The script has ﬂipped for Susan Hutson. Just three years ago, New Orleans’ ﬁrst female sheriff had beaten an embattled but heavily favored incumbent in Marlin Gusman and was poised to take over a staff of more than 600 deputies and receive the keys to the city’s long-troubled jail, under federal court watch since 2013. Her surprise runoff in 2021 as a progressi former placed Hutson, ously the city’s independent police monitor, among Orleans’ most powerful ers. Now, after a series stumbles and well-publicized struggles to tamp down vio lence in a lockup that swelled to about 1,500 mates, Hutson is drawing challengers saults on her record. The 89-bed menta facility that she pledged fend off is halfway bu der a judge’s order, to the lament of the community activists who supported Hutson’s approval among voters has plummeted amid swirl of ethical questions lawsuits alleging a pattern mismanagement, which s denies Her hold on key backers appears tenuous.

Enter a pair of prominent early challengers, in what’s shaping up as a crowded race this November Michelle Woodfork, who held a brief stint as interim superintendent of the New Orleans

BY ALYSE PFEIL | Staff writer

Madison Sheahan, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, is leaving to take a top role in Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Donald Trump’s administration, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Sunday morning Sheahan will serve as deputy director, Noem said.

“It’s no surprise that President @realDonaldTrump has

tapped Madison Sheahan to help lead the Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement Agency,” Gov Jeff Landry said in a post on social media platform X “I look forward to working with Madison in her new role.” Landry said the department’s deputy secretary, Tyler Bosworth, “will be detailed to handle the responsibilities of the Secretary until Madison assumes her ofﬁcial role.”

Louisiana wildlife chief to take a top job at ICE ä See SHEAHAN, page 3A

Madison Sheahan, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, is leaving to take a top role in Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

BY DESIREE STENNETT | Staff writer

The ﬁrst

Shorty

ä See SHERIFF, page 3A

Carney to become Canada’s next PM

TORONTO Former central banker Mark Carney will become Canada’s next prime minister after the governing Liberal Party elected him its leader Sunday as the country deals with U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and annexation threat, and a federal election looms

Carney, 59, replaces Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remains prime minister until his successor is sworn in the coming days Carney won in a landslide, winning 85.9% of the vote.

“There is someone who is trying to weaken our economy,” Carney said. “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustiﬁed tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”

Carney said Canada will keep retaliatory tariffs in place until “the Americans show us respect.”

Carney navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada and when in 2013 he became the first noncitizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694. His appointment won bipartisan praise in the U.K. after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.

The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged.

Musk calls on U.S. to pull out of NATO

Billionaire Elon Musk threw his weight behind a U.S exit from NATO, saying on his social media platform that it “doesn’t make sense for America to pay for the defense of Europe.”

The senior adviser to President Donald Trump was responding to a post on X early Sunday that asserted the U.S. should “Exit NATO *now*!”

“We really should,” the Tesla Inc. co-founder and chief executive ofﬁcer said.

On March 3, Musk wrote on X he agreed with a suggestion by a conservative commentator that the U.S. should leave both NATO and the United Nations.

Musk’s comments comes at a time when the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which will mark its 76th anniversary in April, hangs in the balance.

NBC reported on Thursday that Trump had discussed with aides calibrating U.S. engagement with NATO in a way which favors members of the alliance that spend a certain percentage of their gross domestic product on defense.

Speaking to reporters the same day, Trump said he told NATO allies that if they’re not going to pay their bills, he won’t defend them.

“It’s common sense, right?”

Trump told reporters in the Oval Ofﬁce. “If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them. No, I’m not going to defend them.”

Authorities: Armed man shot by Secret Service

WASHINGTON An armed man believed to be traveling from Indiana was shot by U.S Secret Service agents near the White House after a confrontation early Sunday, according to authorities. No one else was injured in the shooting that happened around midnight about a block from the White House according to a Secret Service statement. President Donald Trump was in Florida at the time of the shooting.

The Secret Service received information from local police about an alleged “suicidal individual” who was traveling from Indiana and found the man’s car and a person matching his description nearby “As officers approached, the individual brandished a ﬁrearm and an armed confrontation ensued, during which shots were ﬁred by our personnel,” the Secret Service said in a statement. The man was hospitalized. The Secret Service said his condition was “unknown.”

Trump downplays tariff concerns

Businesses worry about uncertainty, prospect of higher prices

BY ZEKE MILLER AP White House correspondent

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President

Donald Trump is dismissing business concerns over the uncertainty caused by his planned tariffs on a range of American trading partners and the prospect of higher prices, and isn’t ruling out the possibility of a recession this year

After imposing and then quickly pausing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada that sent markets tumbling over concerns of a trade war Trump said his plans for broader “reciprocal” tariffs will go into effect April 2, raising them to match what other countries assess.

“April 2, it becomes all reciprocal,” he said in a taped interview with Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “What they charge us, we charge them.”

Asked about the Atlanta Fed’s warning of an economic contrac-

tion in the ﬁrst quarter of the year, Trump seemingly acknowledged that his plans could affect U.S growth. Still, he claimed, it would ultimately be “great for us.”

When questioned whether he was expecting a recession in 2025, Trump responded: “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what

we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America.

That’s a big thing.” He then added,

“It takes a little time. It takes a little time.”

On Wall Street, it was a tough week with wild swings dominated by worries about the economy and uncertainty about what Trump’s tariffs.

Trump brushed aside concerns from businesses seeking stability as they make investment decisions. He said that “for years the globalists, the big globalists have been ripping off the United States” and that now, “all we’re doing is getting some of it back, and we’re going to treat our country fairly.”

“You know, the tariffs could go up as time goes by and they may go up and, you know, I don’t know if it’s predictability,” the Republican president said.

Trump last week lifted the Mexico and Canada tariffs on American car manufacturers, and then virtually all imports to the U.S., but kept them on goods from China.

More tariffs are coming this week, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will take effect Wednesday Lutnick said Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber though would wait until April.

“Will there be distortions? Of course,” Lutnick said “Foreign goods may get a little more expensive. But American goods are going to get cheaper, and you’re going to be helping Americans by buying American.”

Israel cuts off electricity supply to Gaza

Desalination plant producing drinking water affected

BY MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel Israel cut off the electricity supply to Gaza, ofﬁcials said Sunday, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the arid territory Hamas called it part of Israel’s “starvation policy.”

Israel last week suspended supplies of goods to the territory of more than 2 million Palestinians, an echo of the siege it imposed in the earliest days of the war

Israel is pressing the militant group to accept an extension of the ﬁrst phase of their ceasefire. That phase ended last weekend.

Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce

Hamas instead wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEHAD ALSHRAFI

Displaced Palestinian girls fill a plastic jerrycan with water on Sunday at a school run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, which they use as a shelter west of Gaza City

Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.

The militant group — which has warned that discontinuing supplies would affect the hostages — said Sunday that it wrapped up the latest round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators without changes to its position.

Israel has said it would send a delegation to Qatar on Monday in an effort to “advance” the negotiations.

Israel had warned when it stopped all supplies that water and electricity could be next The letter from Israel’s energy minister to the Israel Electric Corporation tells it to stop selling

power to Gaza.

The territory and its infrastructure have been largely devastated, and most facilities, including hospitals, now use generators. Hamas spokes person Hazem Qassam said that Israel has ”practically” cut off electricity since the war began and called the latest decision part of Israel’s “starvation policy, in clear disregard for all international laws and norms.”

The desalination plant was providing 18,000 cubic meters of water per day for central Gaza’s Deir alBalah area, according to Gisha, an Israeli organization dedicated to protecting Palestinians’ right to

ICE arrests Palestinian student who helped lead Columbia protests

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press

NEW YORK Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in last spring’s anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, according to his attorney. Mahmoud Khalil was inside his university-owned residence Saturday night near Columbia’s Manhattan campus when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the building and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press. Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil

was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that too, according to the lawyer

The arrest appeared to be among the ﬁrst known actions under President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport international students who joined the protes ts against Israel’s war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring. His administration has claimed participants forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas, a terror organization.

Khalil served as a negotiator for students as they bargained with university ofﬁcials over an end to the tent encampment erected on campus, a role that made him one of the few student activists willing to share his name and

identity The authorities declined to tell Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, whether he was accused of committing a crime, Greer said. Khalil has since been transferred to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey

“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer told the AP “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”

A Columbia spokesperson said law enforcement agents must produce a warrant before entering university property but declined to say if the school had received one ahead of Khalil’s arrest. The spokesperson also declined to comment on Khalil’s detention.

Messages seeking comment were left with the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.

freedom of movement. Executive director Tania Hary said that it’s expected to run on generators and produce around 2,500 cubic meters per day, about the amount in an Olympic swimming pool.

Israel’s restrictions on fuel entering Gaza have a larger impact, Hary said, and water shortages are a looming issue, because fuel is needed for distribution trucks.

Israel has faced sharp criticism over suspending supplies.

“Any denial of the entry of the necessities of life for civilians may amount to collective punishment,” the U.N. human rights ofﬁce said Friday

The International Criminal Court said there was reason to believe Israel had used “starvation as a method of warfare” when it issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year The allegation is central to South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing

Israel of genocide. Israel has denied the accusations, saying it has allowed in enough aid and blaming shortages on what it called the United Nations’ inability to distribute it. It also accused Hamas of siphoning off aid.

The leader of the Iranianbacked Houthi rebels in Yemen, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, warned Friday that attacks against Israel-linked vessels off Yemen would resume within four days if aid doesn’t resume to Gaza. The Houthis described their earlier attacks as solidarity with Palestinians there.

The ceaseﬁre has paused the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The first phase allowed the return of 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Khalil

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALEX BRANDON

President Donald Trump waves Friday before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.

Police Department, recently announced her entry into the race. She already has the endorsement of Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, who backed Hutson in 2021.

Edwin Shorty, an attorney and former Orleans Parish sheriff’s deputy who has served as the elected constable in Algiers for more than a decade, also has entered the race. Shorty and Woodfork have taken early shots at Hutson, who aims to convince voters she can turn things around.

“I welcome any challengers, as it gives me the opportunity to spend more time with the public informing them of all the strides we’ve made,” Hutson said in a statement. “As Sheriff, I’ve focused on bringing transformative change to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce by prioritizing care, reform, and community safety.”

The qualifying period does not open until July, and more potential candidates could emerge.

A dramatic shift Hutson touts an expansion of mental health programs under her watch; a $1 million prisoner re-entry initiative; strides by the Sheriff’s Ofﬁce’s training academy to reach national accreditation; and “innovative solutions like an anonymous ethics hotline and naloxone distribution for individual leaving custody.”

Her detractors point to skyrocketing violence at the Orleans Justice Center and a recent drop in compliance levels under a 2013 consent decree over jail conditions that is overseen by U.S. District Judge Lance Africk Even Gusman, whom Africk stripped of day-to-day control of the jail for years, said he’s considering a run for his old job.

So far Hutson’s opponents have been unwilling to offer any speciﬁc plans to address issues at the jail that

Continued from page 1A

On Sunday morning, a spokesperson for Landry was not able to conﬁrm when Sheahan will leave the state department and begin her job with ICE.

Noem on Sunday also announced that Todd Lyons will serve as acting director of ICE. Lyons, who held previous roles with ICE in Dallas and Boston, last month was elevated to run the immigration agency’s enforcement and removal operations.

“Todd Lyons and Madison Sheahan are work horses, strong executors, and accountable leaders who will lead the men and women of ICE to achieve the American people’s mandate to target, arrest and deport illegal aliens,” Noem said in a statement.

have been ﬂagged by federal monitors.

Each candidate has stressed rehabilitation for inmates and improving health care for the ones who are mentally ill. Where they diverge is not yet clear

The race ﬁgures to attract hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars. Hutson marshaled about $400,000 to unseat Gusman, about half of it from a political action committee. Gusman spent more than $400,000, campaign ﬁnance reports show

The candidates have reported raising little so far

Funding appeals denied

Regardless, the early ﬁeld of opponents reﬂects a dramatic shift in Hutson’s political outlook.

She rode the same postGeorge Floyd wave of policing reform and progressive campaigns that helped usher Williams into the District Attorney’s Office the previous year, and a host of like-minded candidates into criminal court judgeships in New Orleans around the same time.

Hutson took out Gusman, whose deep ties to the city’s political establishment date to his days as chief administrative officer to former Mayor Marc Morial.

The community rallied around Hutson in part to try to block construction of an addition to the jail that critics worried would increase incarceration. Those efforts ultimately failed, with federal courts refusing to budge. Hutson also has struggled to make her case for a higher budget, with the city or the public.

The City Council has stiffarmed her requests for major budget increases, and voters did the same in April 2023, sending a proposed millage increase to a bad defeat at the polls. Hutson said a pair of salary increases for her deputies hasn’t done enough She recently launched a new campaign to renew her property tax of 2.46 mills, which is scheduled to sunset at the end of the year Hutson has said she needs more money

During an interview on “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday, Noem said the two appointments will “allow us to partner with local law enforcement ofﬁcials to make sure that we are truly following through on enforcing the law, and if you break our law there’s going to be consequences.”

Reuters initially reported Sheahan’s new role last month, but officials did not conﬁrm it until Sunday Sheahan, who is in her late 20s, worked for Noem when she was governor of South Dakota. She was executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party when Landry picked her to run Louisiana’s wildlife agency in late 2023. She was 26 at the time. Cracking down on illegal immigration and ramping up deportations has been a top priority for Trump over the course of his presidential campaign and in the early part of his second term.

to raise the starting pay for deputies by $1.55, to $20 an hour “We can’t keep doing the same things we’re doing and expect to come into compliance with the consent judgment,” Hutson said last year “We can’t continue to fund at the same level and think we can get into compliance. We will not.”

Bad headlines

Hutson has faced her share of media attention since taking office in May 2022. Several firings of top deputies, subsequent lawsuits alleging mismanagement, and reports of misspending are among the dramas that have cast Hutson’s stewardship of the office in a harsh glare.

She was dinged by Inspector General Ed Michel for “wasteful and unnecessary” French Quarter hotel rooms she booked for deputies during Carnival in 2023

And the state Ethics Board later said Hutson skirted state laws by authorizing $55,000 in Sheriff’s Ofﬁce payments to the son of her former campaign chair Those ethics charges have not been resolved.

Hutson’s former chief administrative officer and chief financial officer said in a pair of whistleblower lawsuits that Hutson fired them after they questioned those expenses, claims she has denied.

Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, said the string of controversies for Hutson has opened the door to competition.

“The opponents are going to capitalize and talk about her missteps, and she’s going to have to be able to convince the public that she’s learned from them and is the best and most qualiﬁed person to continue to move the agency forward,” he said.

Woodfork has already signaled that she’ll seek to make Hutson’s management a campaign focus. At her campaign launch event on Feb. 18, the crowd at Dooky Chase Restaurant

Trump has been reorganizing ICE after the number of deportations did not meet his administration’s goals The acting director of ICE, Caleb Vitello, was reassigned last month to a role overseeing ﬁeld operations. In Louisiana, Sheahan opened the ﬁrst bear hunting season in 35 years, extended some open seasons after the January snowstorm and moved to eliminate catch limits for two types of shark.

cheered as Woodfork emphasized the word “integrity” repeatedly in her remarks.

“Let me say that again. I will bring integrity and leadership in managing the Sheriff’s Ofﬁce,” she said. Shifting alliance

Woodfork, 54, a product of the 6th Ward and niece of former NOPD Superintendent Warren Woodfork, spent more than 30 years on the city police force. She rose to the rank of captain not long before Mayor LaToya Cantrell chose her in 2022 to head the department as interim chief.

She was the ﬁrst woman to hold the post, keeping it for 10 months Some, including a panel of stakeholders who interviewed her, suggested she wasn’t ready for the permanent job, which went instead to a veteran police chief from outside, Anne Kirkpatrick.

Michelle Woodfork went on to work for Williams, the district attorney who is now supporting her Asked about the switch Williams released a statement that didn’t say why, only that Michelle Woodfork had “maximized the reach” of the NOPD as chief, and he believes she’d do the same as sheriff.

“It’s not enough just to have a good heart for people,” Williams said. “This is a very serious job and there is a lot on the line. We need the good heart and someone with the background and experience to face our many challenges.”

Uniquely difficult

Shorty, who has served as constable for Algiers’ Second City Court since 2013, called Hutson’s management issues distractions that hinder the ofﬁce’s ability to be more proactive in keeping New Orleans safe.

The Sheriff’s Ofﬁce is unlike other sheriff’s departments in Louisiana in that it cedes its arresting powers to the NOPD. Its chief responsibility is to administer the jail. Shorty said it’s incumbent for the ofﬁce to do

more, with an ofﬁcer shortage at the NOPD and crime persistent, though crime rates continue to fall.

“We can’t just have it where one law enforcement agency is short-handed, they have their hands tied behind their back and other agencies can’t come in to assist,” Shorty said.

He suggested the Sheriff’s Office could assist the NOPD with traffic enforcement and other patrols, though that proposal would likely run into significant legal hang-ups. NOPD’s arresting authority is part of the city’s Home Rule Charter The rules around the Sheriff’s Office’s authority are written into the state constitution. It would require votes of the public to change either of those. Most deputies aren’t certified by the state as full-fledged cops.

Shorty, 48, grew up in the 9th Ward and has practiced personal injury and bankruptcy law for more than 20 years. He said he wants to utilize the ofﬁce’s mobile booking unit, often used to expedite arrests in the French Quarter or during Carnival, in other parts of the city

Michelle Woodfork and Shorty both say they can use their experience to bring order and safety to the jail. Each emphasized better rehabilitation services for inmates, though neither detailed any plans.

Defending her record

Hutson said work has already begun under her watch, along with new strides to reach compliance with the consent decree, which largely covers care for mentally ill inmates. Hutson recently formed a seven-person bureau tasked with prioritizing the jail’s compliance, a step federal monitors have called “a monumental step in the right direction.”

Overall, monitors reported that the jail’s level of full compliance with the consent decree has dropped by 9% since Hutson took ofﬁce.

Jail staff have allowed

inmates to act as “tank bosses” who extort other inmates in trade for protection, monitors wrote in their most recent assessment. Deputies routinely fail to stop inmates from fashioning weapons out of metal sheeting, brooms and mops, monitors said. They flagged high numbers of disciplinary writeups for when inmates show predatory or aggressive behavior. Those averaged roughly four a day over the six months ending in March 2024, the monitors reported. The jail population, over which Hutson has marginal control, stands well above a previous 1,250-person cap set by the City Council.

“OPSO does not control the consistent overcrowding the OJC faces, nor the budget we receive, two major factors in violence in our facility,” Hutson said in a statement. “With an increased budget, we could staff at levels in line with the population we serve.” Ed Chervenek, a University of New Orleans political science professor, said it’s easy for voters to react to Hutson’s bad press, and they have. Her approval rate is now around 40%, according to an October poll from UNO that Chervenek ran. The same polling showed a 33% approval rating for Cantrell. Hutson’s rating is the lowest of any local law enforcement ofﬁcial.

“They’re looking at headlines,” Chervenek said. He also pointed to a broader political headwinds for Hutson; though crime has fallen dramatically in New Orleans for two years now, a three-year surge of violence before then prompted a strong return to law-andorder politics.

“She’s taking this progressive approach to the prison, trying to reduce the prison population, taking a more humane approach to jailing people,” Chervenek said. “I don’t know if that’s still a viable strategy because we’ve seen the shift back to the traditional lock ‘em up approach.”

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to the bark-side

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The 32nd annual Mystic Krewe of Barkus rolls through the French Quarter to the theme ‘Vanity Fur: Barkus Rules the Runway!’ The parade was rescheduled to after Mardi Gras due to weather Her Majesty XXXII, Queen Ruthie Sable, and His Majesty XXXII, King Petey Benson, reigned as royalty with Scrim as the grand marshal.

The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office facility dog Karissa Justice rides in a cart on Sunday.

The Mystic Krewe of Barkus parade walks through the French Quarter on Sunday.

Kahai McFarland holds Finn during the Mystic Krewe of Barkus parade on Sunday.

A dog in costume rides in a cart during the parade.

STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER

Mystic Krewe of Barkus royalty roll on floats through the French Quarter on Sunday

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Today, the U.S. imports most of its organic grain, but if all goes as planned, shipping infrastructure created by the New Orleans facility could play a role in encouraging more domestic organic farming, said Michael Corbett, executive vice president of strategy and infrastructure for Sunrise Foods.

“We are a net importer,” said Corbett, who works in the company’s Chicago ofﬁce and has led the expansion into New Orleans. “To satisfy the demand here we need to import products. The more efficient we get in the organic supply chain, the more accessibility the U.S. consumers have to it It reaches not just urban areas but it gets out to rural areas, so people can have access to it and it’s affordable. A lot of what we do is trying to create those efﬁciencies in the marketplace.”

Residents: ‘Consensus is no’ Sunrise’s announcement has been dampened by an tidal wave of disapproval from residents in the Holy Cross and the Lower 9th Ward neighborhoods who say a large-scale agribusiness does not belong in a residential neighborhood. The facility will be Sunrise’s ﬁrst in an urban setting in the United States.

The opposition came as a surprise to company officials when they faced residents for the ﬁrst time, expecting to answer questions at a town hall-style meeting in the Lower 9th Ward in December Instead, they were met with a group of more than 100 skeptical neighbors who raised concerns over how the project was able to move forward with almost no public input and questioned what it could mean for air quality, home values, noise and pest control. In an effort to share more information and ease fears,

dust mitigation system will be the most robust of all the company’s U.S. facilities and called the potential for pollution “minimal.”

Once the grain is in the truck, it is then moved into a fully enclosed, indoor facility where it is stored until it can be loaded into a train car and moved across the country The area where the train is loaded is partially enclosed but the loose grain will be sealed inside the train cars before being moved. This should minimize dust and protect the grain from contamination.

Even with the company’s efforts, some dust will still escape the facility Kingsly Ambrose, a professor in the Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering at Purdue University, said it’s in the best interest of the company to limit dust as grain is usually sold by weight, and more loss means less proﬁt.

cides or other pest control chemicals is not an option.

Opposition remains Despite the assurances, residents still fear that the facility will bring more harm than good.

If anyone in Holy Cross and the Lower 9th Ward is hired to ﬁll positions at the facility, residents say with just 17 jobs, it’s too few to make any significant economic impact on the neighborhoods. Company ofﬁcials declined to share average pay estimates for the jobs. Gail Varuso, who lives in Arabi, which abuts Holy Cross, called the job numbers “pitiful.”

the company launched a new website — SunriseNOLA. com — aimed at providing more complete information for residents.

Still, gaining public support could prove difﬁcult as the arrival of the ﬁrst vessel nears.

Elected officials have called for more transparency and a pause to the project. And for the past five months, the public comment section at the port’s monthly board meeting has become the de facto time designated for residents to air their grievances. It’s now routine for dozens of residents with two minutes each to take a full hour to rail against the port, its board of commissioners and Sunrise for participating in what they see as part a legacy of ofﬁcials, at best, disregarding the needs of those living in the Lower 9th Ward and, at worst actively working against them.

“The consensus is no,” said Keiya Mavita, who lives just blocks from the Alabo Street Wharf “There’s not really anything I personally feel like they can do to make us

think that this is OK. I don’t see anything because there are so many problems. There’s no solution other than to stop, don’t do this. It’s unacceptable.”

How the facility works

Mavita said she has already seen new cracks appear in the foundation of her home since work started to bring the long-unused train tracks operated by Norfolk Southern back into daily use along Alabo Street and St. Claude.

Mavita and dozens of her neighbors meet every Wednesday to discuss their strategy for trying to stop the facility before it opens.

Despite the growing opposition, company ofﬁcials say the key to gaining support is in sharing with residents how the facility will operate.

Once the grain arrives, dock workers will use a massive claw to move the grain from the vessel into a triple-decker “hopper,” the machinery used to collect the grain. Attached to a crane, the claw will lift the grain from the vessel and

drop it into the hopper from above into a truck parked below it.

At cost of about $300,000 per hopper, this is when perhaps the most important part of the process for residents will be activated: Powerful vacuums built into each hopper will suck the grain and tiny particles of dust down into the truck, keeping it out of the air

If allowed to ﬂow freely through the air, individual specs of the fine particulate matter are invisible to the naked eye. But in large amounts, clouds of dust are dangerous to respiratory health.

According to Corbett, the vacuums will greatly reduce how much dust escapes into the air

While the Environmental Protection Agency allows up to 9 micrograms per cubic meter of the ﬁne particulate matter to be emitted, Corbett said the company has already conducted an environmental assessment that found that the facility would produce just 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter Corbett said the

“In the U.S., dust is money,” Ambrose said.

Tobi Strohan, vice president for compliance for the company said she hopes understanding the operation will aid in acceptance, if not support.

“Really, our hope is that by presenting the scientiﬁc data, we will be able to show them what they can expect, and the data really is clear,” she said. “We’re really hopeful that when we present that data, folks will be able to see that, in fact, these questions that they had are not health concerns and perhaps we can talk more about the beneﬁts that this can bring to the community and how we can work more together as the next step.”

Company officials also said the facility will be equipped with traps around the fence perimeter, the building and inside the facility to capture rodents and other pests that residents fear will be attracted to the grain facility. And no grain will be stored in the facility more than 30 days, which is also expected to reduce pests. Because the grain is organic, spraying pesti-

For her it’s not just dust. It’s also the potential for property values to fall and noise and inconvenience of yet another train in her neighborhood. She and others also said they fear that if they don’t ﬁght Sunrise now the grain facility will only impose more on the neighborhood over time.

Corbett did not comment on the potential for growth at the wharf. But emails that Corbett sent to port staff, and others between port and state government ofﬁcials, reveal the potential for future phases that would increase Sunrise’s footprint at the wharf.

If plans for future phases come to fruition, Sunrise Foods could move a vegetable oil terminal with storage tanks and a deodorizer from the Port of Houston to the New Orleans port as early as this year, with more expansion potential in 2026. “I don’t want to be sitting at a restaurant and have a train pass back and forth and not be able to get home because I’m stuck on the other side,” said Varuso. “I moved back to Arabi because I thought it was being progressive. This reindustrialization of the Lower 9th into Arabi, it’s both areas that suffer all the way through.”

Email Desiree Stennett at desiree.stennett@ theadvocate.com.

‘Bloody Sunday’ 60th anniversary marked in Selma

Event marked amid concerns for the future

BY KIM CHANDLER and SAFIYAH RIDDLE Associated Press

SELMA,Ala. — Charles Mauldin was near the front of a line of voting rights marchers walking in pairs across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965.

The marchers were protesting White ofﬁcials’ refusal to allow Black Alabamians to register to vote, as well as the killing days earlier of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a minister and voting rights organizer who was shot by a state trooper in nearby Marion At the apex of the span over the Alabama River, they saw what awaited them: a line of state troopers, deputies and men on horseback. They kept going. After they approached, law enforcement gave a two-minute warning to disperse and then unleashed violence.

“Within about a minute or a half, they took their billy clubs, holding it on both ends, began to push us back to back us in, and then they began to beat men, women and children, and tear gas men, women and children, and cattle prod men, women and children viciously,” said Mauldin, who was 17 at the time.

Selma on Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965

The annual commemora-

tion pays homage to those who fought to secure voting rights for Black Americans and brought calls to recommit to the ﬁght for equality.

For those gathered in Selma, the celebration comes amid concerns about new voting restrictions and the Trump administration’s effort to remake federal agencies they said helped make America a democracy for all.

Speaking at the pulpit of the city’s historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said what happened in Selma changed the nation. He said the 60th anniversary comes at a time when there is “trouble all around” and some “want to whitewash our history.” But he said like the marchers of Bloody Sunday, they must keep going.

“At this moment, faced with trouble on every side, we’ve got to press on,” Jeffries said to the crowd that included the Rev Jesse Jackson, multiple members of Congress and others gathered for the commemoration.

Members of Congress joined with Bloody Sunday marchers to lead a march of several thousand people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They stopped to pray at the site where marchers were beaten in 1965

“We gather here on the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when our country is in chaos,” said U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama Sewell, a Selma native, noted the number of voting restrictions introduced since the U.S. Supreme Court effectively abolished a key part of the Voting Rights Act that required jurisdictions with a history of racial

discrimination to clear new voting laws with the Justice Department Other speakers noted the Trump administration’s push to end diversity equity and inclusion efforts and a rollback of equal opportunity executive orders that have been on the books since the 1960s.

In 1965, the Bloody Sunday marchers led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams walked in pairs across the Selma bridge headed toward Montgomery

“We had steeled our nerves to a point where we were so determined that we were willing to confront. It was past being courageous. We were determined, and we were indignant,” Mauldin recalled.

He said the “country was not a democracy for Black folks” until voting rights.

“And we’re still constantly ﬁghting to make that a more concrete reality for our-

Russia strikes Ukrainian forces via pipeline in Kursk

BY JOANNA KOZLOWSKA Associated Press

LONDON Russian special forces walked inside a gas pipeline to strike Ukrainian units from the rear in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s military and Russian war bloggers reported, as Moscow claimed fresh gains in its push to recapture parts of the border province that Kyiv seized in a shock offensive. Ukraine launched a daring cross-border incursion into Kursk in August, marking the largest attack on Russian territory since World War II. Within days, Ukrainian units had captured 386 square miles of territory, including the strategic border town of Sudzha, and taken hundreds of Russian prisoners of war

According to Kyiv, the operation aimed to gain a bargaining chip in future peace talks and to force Russia to divert troops away from its grinding offensive in eastern Ukraine.

But months after Ukraine’s thunder run, its soldiers in Kursk are weary and bloodied by relentless assaults of more than 50,000 troops, including some from Russian ally North Korea. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are at risk of being encircled, open-source maps of the battleﬁeld show

According to Telegram posts late Saturday by a Ukrainian-born, pro-Kremlin blogger, Russian operatives walked about 9 miles inside the pipeline, which Moscow had until recently used to send gas to Europe. Some Russian troops spent several days in the pipe before striking Ukrainian units from the rear near Sudzha, blogger Yuri Podolyaka claimed.

The town had some 5,000 residents before the fullscale February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and it houses major gas transfer and measuring stations along the pipeline, which was once a major outlet for Russian natural gas exports through Ukrainian territory

Another war blogger, who uses the alias Two Majors, said ﬁerce ﬁghting was underway for Sudzha, and that Russian forces managed to enter the town through a gas pipeline. Russian Telegram channels showed photos of what they said were special forces operatives, wearing gas masks and moving along what looked like the inside of a large pipe.

Ukraine’s General Staff conﬁrmed Saturday evening that Russian “sabotage and assault groups” used the pipeline in a bid to gain a foothold outside Sudzha. In a Telegram post, it said Russian troops were “detected in a timely manner” and that Ukraine responded with rockets and artillery

“At present, Russian special forces are being detected, blocked and destroyed. The enemy’s losses in Sudzha are very high,” the General Staff reported.

A third Russian war blogger argued that the attacking force lacked the logistical backup to succeed.

marching, we did not know the impact we would have in America,” he said.

Dr Verdell Lett Dawson, who grew up in Selma, remembers a time when she was expected to lower her gaze if she passed a White person on the street to avoid making eye contact. Dawson and Mauldin said they are concerned about the potential dismantling of the Department of Education and other changes to federal agencies.

Support

selves.”

Kirk Carrington was just 13 on Bloody Sunday and

was chased through the city by a man on a horse wielding a stick. “When we started

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MIKE STEWART

From left, U.S Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.y.; U.S Rep Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; the Rev. Al Sharpton; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; and NAACP President Derick Johnson march Sunday across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Ala., during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote.

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New Orleans hotels’ 2025 numbers rise from last year’s celebrations

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

Despite being cut short by a few hours because of the threat of severe weather, Mardi Gras 2025 was signiﬁcantly bigger than last year’s Carnival celebration, according to local hoteliers, restaurant owners and hospitality leaders.

Occupancy in the 26,000 hotel rooms

Mardi Gras’

downtown and in the French Quarter averaged nearly 87% from Feb. 28 through Fat Tuesday, according to New Orleans & Co. On Saturday night, the weekend’s peak, occupancy averaged 95%. And that’s not including data from the city’s roughly 6,000 short-term rental units, which, presumably, would drive average occupancy rates even higher During the ﬁve-night celebration in 2024, by comparison, hotel occupancy averaged 81% and never reached 90%. “The numbers are pretty high, espe-

and St. Tammany Parish President Mike Cooper are in support of a sales tax rededication proposition on the March 29 ballot.

A few days late, but still trucking, two parades stricken from the Mardi Gras lineup due to weather concerns made it up to revelers in a big way Sunday. The Elks Krewe of Orleans and the Krewe of Crescent City truck parades were met with a crowd happy to prolong the season on the Uptown route.

OF CRESCENT CITY: A rider dances to the music as the truck parade, with 2,500 members on 65 trucks, rolls in New Orleans on Sunday.

BY GABRIELLA KILLETT Staff writer

A former New Orleans Police Department sergeant affectionately known as the “dancing cop” has died after developing ALS. Leroy-Joseph “L.J.” Compascio Smith, 58, died Feb. 21. He’d been diagnosed with ALS, a neuromuscular sickness commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in late 2023 and

KREWE OF CRESCENT CITY: Sisters Kaeci Gardner left, Khloi Gardner and Karli Gardner sort throws.

KREWE

ELKS KREWE OF ORLEANIANS: Terrion Lee celebrates catching a stuffed letter ‘R’ for her daughter Rachel.

STAFF PHOTOS By SCOTT THRELKELD

ELKS KREWE OF ORLEANIANS: The Elks truck parade rolls to the theme ‘It’s a Small World After All’ in New Orleans on Sunday Douglas Schiefer of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks reigned as the grand exalted ruler over 4,500 riders on 120 decorated trucks during the Elks’ 90th parade.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Revelers fill Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras.

Mamou gunfire last straw for musician

Mardi Gras violence left 2 dead, 12 injured at concert

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

It was a crowded Mardi Gras weekend in Mamou — a town of a little under 3,000 people that receives thousands of additional visitors during one of the busiest seasons in south Louisiana.

People ﬂock to Mamou to experience traditional courir de Mardi Gras runs, a Lundi Gras fais do-do and Mardi Gras concerts and festivities that highlight the zydeco and Creole folkways the community is known for But on March 4, the festivities turned deadly when dozens of shots rang out during a zydeco concert. A witness to Tuesday’s shooting

FOUNDER

Continued from page 1B

and uses popular songs to teach budgeting, the importance of credit and asset ownership She’s brought workshops to classrooms beyond New Orleans, to cities like Baltimore, Houston, Jamaica, Paris and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The nonproﬁt partners with high schools to pick up where school curriculums leave off.

“It starts in the household,” Mack said. “If you miss the household, then it starts in school or it becomes trial and error, because studies show time and time again that incoming college freshmen are not equipped on money management.”

Mack, a Warren Easton High School graduate, believes the lack of financial knowledge, especially among Black youth, comes from a cycle of not having societal leaders and household examples of financial success Students who take financial education courses have higher credit scores and are less likely to default on loan payments than those who do not, a 2014 report by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board shows.

Growing up, Mack spent a lot of time indoors studying. She made great grades, but no one ever taught her about credit. The most exposure she had to generational wealth was her great-grandfather, who passed down property to members of the family after he died.

“He may not have known how to truly articulate it, but he gave us examples and glimpses of it,” she said.

Inspiration from Jay-Z

To resonate with youth and break down topics like generational wealth, the ﬁnance workshops often incorporate discussions that pull from music lyrics a medium that heavily inﬂuences young people in both negative and positive ways, Mack said.

The 4:44 Financial Literacy Global Tour was inﬂuenced by rapper and music mogul Jay-Z and his 2017 “4:44” album. Its Grammynominated single “The Story of OJ,” in particular, discusses property ownership through credit, investing and transcending economic starting points from which Black Americans have historically lagged behind.

“Everything on the album just made sense about ownership and how we tend to be OK with just renting. Some of us don’t think about the long journey,” Mack said. But many students have never heard of the album, giving rise to workshop exercises like “substance versus vibe.”

Students are asked to choose their favorite music artists and determine if a song offers substance or a blueprint for success. If it offers neither, then it’s simply a vibe.

“You have to meet kids where they are and where their interests are, and I ﬁnd that through music, sometimes lyricists really have a way to reach young people in a way that adults cannot,” council President JP Morrell said last week after the vote to rename the intersection.

“They learn how to hold themselves accountable. We try to use transparency and make sure they know that your parents are not responsible for you If you have a deck of cards, play your best hand,” Mack said.

Mack said the workshops are also geared to improving college readiness.

“When you ﬁrst become a (college) freshman, Mom and Dad are not going to wake you up. It’s learning personal responsibility starting your own bank account, actually knowing what your debit card is for, getting a credit card to start building your credit history,” she said.

Email Joni Hess at joni.hess@ theadvocate.com.

said she had never seen the event so packed, and reports indicate that thousands of people crowded to see zydeco artist Chris Ardoin perform with his band, NuStep Zydeko. Ardoin’s 13-year-old son was also there, standing alongside his father on stage when shots rang out

As people screamed during the shooting, the aftermath of which left bodies on the ground, Ardoin and his band rushed to protect his son, Ardoin said Ardoin, his son and band members were all uninjured.

Ardoin, a native of Lake Charles and a resident of Lafayette, had just returned from a hiatus of outdoor performances. In July 2021, he was shot in the back during a

HOTEL

Continued from page 1B

cially when you consider the explosion of short-term rentals over the past few years,” said New Orleans & Co. President and CEO Walt Leger III. “By all accounts, it was a great Mardi Gras.”

Though a positive sign for the city’s hospitality industry, the still-unofficial occupancy numbers are not as strong as they were in the immediate years before the COVID-19 pandemic, when Mardi Gras revelers regularly took up 95% or more of the city’s hotel rooms during the ﬁveday weekend In the years since, the city has yet to return to pre-pandemic visitor levels, though hotels and restaurants report that business is continuing to steadily improve.

Still, pulling off a successful Carnival season was particularly important this year, given the public safety challenges and potential image problems the city faced after the Jan. 1 ramming attack on Bourbon Street.

In the weeks after the attack and leading up to the Super Bowl on Feb. 8, city state and federal leaders revamped security plans for the French Quarter and Mardi Gras parade routes. They protected streets and sidewalks with bollards and barricades, beefed up law enforcement presence and deployed a host of new crime-ﬁghting technology to not only keep people safer but to make them feel safer

Experts said it paid off.

“There were concerns going into it,” Leger said. “So it was really positive to see that security was effective but didn’t get in the way of people living out their Mardi Gras tradition and having a good time.”

Hotels, bars, restaurants

While hotel occupancy numbers were strong overall, several French Quarter and boutique hotels outperformed the market average. At the six French Quarter hotels owned by the Valentino family occupancy averaged 95%, up several points from 2024, according to Chris Valentino, chief operating ofﬁcer for the company

Hotel St. Vincent in the Lower Garden District was 100% oc-

DANCING

Continued from page 1B

L.J. Smith went viral in a late 2016 video of him dancing at New Orleans’ Luna Fete event. In the years that followed, he used that fame to highlight humanity in law enforcement, telling The TimesPicayune in 2017 that dancing is a way to break through the fear young people often have of police.

NOPD spokesperson Reese Harper said in a statement that L.J. Smith dedicated his life to serving the city during his 27 years with the department.

“Known for his unwavering commitment to his fellow ofﬁcers and the community, L.J. left a lasting impact on everyone he encountered,” Harper said.

L.J Smith served in multiple NOPD districts during his tenure on the force. He also had specialized assignments with the Public Integrity Bureau, the Field Operations Bureau and the Ofﬁce of the Superintendent, according to Harper

L.J. Smith, who was gay, was also an avid advocate for LGBTQ+ awareness, “ensuring that all voices were heard and respected within the department and the community,” Harper said.

“L.J. wasn’t just a leader — he was a trailblazer. He paved the way for so many ofﬁcers who followed in his footsteps, setting a standard

performance at Louisiana Mudfest in Colfax in Grant Parish.

After Mardi Gras’ gunﬁre, Ardoin said on Facebook that he will no longer perform at outdoor venues.

“That’s done. Today, it drew the line for me,” he said in a Facebook Live video posted following the shooting. “I love music, but I love life more.”

The 43-year-old said he is “semiretired” and will perform only at venues that meet his security requirements. The Ardoin family looms large in the history of Louisiana zydeco — Ardoin’s grandfather Bois Sec Ardoin was an early inﬂuence in the development of zydeco from Creole “la la music.”

“I’m sad and heartbroken for

cupied, as in 2024, owner Zach Kupperman said. And the hotel performed better ﬁnancially, with 14% higher room rates than last year

Most of the hotel’s guests were tourists who flew into town for Mardi Gras, not regional, drive-in visitors.

Jayson Seidman, who owns the Columns and the Henrietta hotels on St Charles Avenue as well as Fives Bar on Jackson Square, saw a 20% uptick in revenues this Mardi Gras over last at all his businesses.

“If only we as a city could ﬁgure out how to program around the ﬁrst and second weekends of Mardi Gras, then it would be a major win for the city,” he said.

‘Robust Mardi Gras’

Tourists weren’t the only ones driving Mardi Gras business this year Locals also contributed to the coffers, according to some metrics.

Ticket sales to viewing stands along the parade route on St. Charles Avenue were up 12% this year over last, according to Michael Valentino, whose hotel company manages four sets of stands on the parade route downtown.

Sales of the roughly 2,800 spots in the stands were evenly split between tourists and locals, Valentino said.

“People are increasingly looking for a comfortable, controlled environment to watch the parades versus being out on the street,” he said. “So, the stands did really well this year It was a robust Mardi Gras.”

Restaurants also beneﬁted from a robust Carnival season, fueled, in part, by enthusiastic local diners on “Friday Gras,” a day of celebratory brunches and lunches that kicks off Mardi Gras weekend.

“The Friday before Mardi Gras represents our single busiest lunch of the year in our French Quarter properties,” said Dick Brennan, whose business also was up over 2024. “We ﬁnd it encouraging and exciting to see so many locals out supporting and enjoying the French Quarter on special days like this one.”

Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate. com.

Chris and his family and his band,” Grammy-winning zydeco artist Chubby Carrier said. “I’ve never had to witness what Chris has on a couple of occasions. That’s not what zydeco is about.

“I never thought in a million years, with me playing music this long in my life, I would actually get onstage and look around for a hiding place in case some kind of shooting breaks out.”

Police have been tight-lipped since Tuesday’s shooting, in which Lafayette Renaissance Charter High student Alaya Christian and Cecilia High School student Bryson Green were killed and 12 others were injured. Three additional people were injured in a Lundi Gras shooting the night before in Mamou.

Authorities in Montgomery Coun-

TAX

Continued from page 1B

and expenses of the St. Tammany Justice Center

The proposition has the public backing of northshore District Attorney Collin Sims, the judges, Parish President Mike Cooper, the Parish Council and Sheriff Randy Smith.

Swaying voters?

The elected officials hope that uniﬁed support — something that was lacking for the other attempts — will go a long way in swaying the parish’s voters, who on ﬁve other occasions since 2016 have gone thumbs-down on criminal justice tax propositions.

“It’s such a no-brainer,” St. Tammany Parish Council Chair Joe Impastato said the uniﬁed support.

“It’s something we must do. We can’t fail again.”

The proposition has picked up the support of some key groups, including the Northshore Business Council, St. Tammany Chamberpac and the leadership of the inﬂuential group Concerned Citizens for St. Tammany Parish

“I appreciate that they came up with a plan that doesn’t bring new taxes,” Concerned Citizens President Rick Franzo said. “Believe me, most times we’re fighting against the tax.”

The total sales tax is expected to bring in around $89 million annually according to the language on the ballot. If voters say yes, the parish could then use up to 17% of that revenue to fund the criminal justice costs. Only voters in unincorporated St. Tammany Parish will decide the proposition’s fate and it only applies to purchases made in the unincorporated parts of the parish. In addition to seeking the expanded use, the proposition would extend the sales tax for another 25 years.

The election is March 29. Early voting begins March 15.

Existing sales tax

Sims said he thinks the unified support came about as more elected officials took the time to dive into the parish’s finances and see that the general fund couldn’t support the criminal justice costs. Also, he and other supporters are

wherever he went.”

L.J. Smith was born in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward to a Baptist family as the youngest of six children.

Growing up as the two youngest siblings just a year apart, Susan Smith said her brother was her playmate and that they fought like the best of siblings She said Friday she’ll even miss their arguments.

“He always worried about me,” she said. “I knew that I always had someone in my corner.”

L.J. Smith attended Alfred Lawless Elementary School and Alfred Lawless Sr High School, from which he graduated in the top 10 of his class with honors, Susan Smith said. He then went to Southern University New Orleans on a tennis scholarship but began to work in security before graduating, until he “heard the call to do more” and decided to join the NOPD, his sister said.

“He said he was going to give them two years of his life. Two years turned into 27,” Susan Smith said.

L.J. Smith later ﬁnished a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from SUNO.

ty, Texas, arrested a man Saturday in the shooting. Montgomery deputies, officers with the Conroe Police Department and U.S. marshals in the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders and Fugitive Task Force apprehended Trea’land Ty’rell Castille, 19, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Ofﬁce said.

Castille was found hiding at an apartment complex in south Montgomery County the Sheriff’s Office said. He was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on two counts of first-degree murder, among other charges. He is awaiting extradition, the Sheriff’s Office said Staff writer Chad Calder contributed to this story

Email Joanna Brown at joanna. brown@theadvocate.com.

pushing a message that this is what the voters have asked their elected ofﬁcials to do: ﬁnd a way to fund the operations without a new tax

“This doesn’t increase the tax burden,” Sims said.

Some might argue that extending the sales tax 25 years is a tough pill to swallow, Sims said. But, he added, the tax would have to be renewed at some point or else the parish’s funding for roads and drainage would be severely cut.

“If we can’t at least maintain the status quo, this place is in trouble,” Sims said.

A “no” vote on the rededication doesn’t do away with the existing sales tax. There’s still another ﬁve years on the renewal voters approved in 2005.

The sales tax rededication comes after the parish tried numerous times to convince St Tammany’s often tax-averse residents to approve taxes for the criminal justice system, which parish government must fund. Those tax proposals didn’t always have wide backing by the parish’s political class. Sims, for instance, said some previous criminal justice tax measures sought too much money And as the tax defeats mounted, the parish’s ability to cover the expenses diminished.

Sixth time a charm?

The parish government has been unsuccessful in four separate attempts. The District Attorney’s Ofﬁce, under former District Attorney Warren Montgomery, unsuccessfully sought a sales tax in 2022.

When officials first announced the rededication plan last year, they pitched it as a long-term solution.

“This not like the ﬁrst four attempts,” Cooper said, adding that when voters “are hearing from the DA, from the judges I think that lends credibility.”

Various officials have barnstormed across the parish to push the proposition, addressing civic and business groups and city councils.

The tax rededication is one of two high-proﬁle tax measures voters will face March 29.

The other is a 4.35-mill property tax to fund the parish’s library system. That tax, which is estimated to bring in around $13.5 million annually would be for 15 years.

in the early 1990s.

“He taught me how to be a better person,” Susan Smith said. “He taught me how to feel for people.”

Though baptized Baptist, L.J. Smith left the church for a while before returning to his faith. He loved gospel music and, of course, to dance. Susan Smith remembers her brother holding dance contests at every family member’s birthday party He was also a poet and a painter

“L.J.’s middle name should have been danceaholic,” Susan Smith said. “That’s how L.J. expressed himself.”

L.J. Smith also has two godchildren to whom he was always giving “sound advice,” Susan Smith said. Family and friends gathered Saturday for a remembrance at Greater New St. Luke Baptist Church in New Orleans.

Email Gabriella Killett at gkillett@theadvocate.com

of integrity, inclusivity, and dedication,” Harper said. “But perhaps what made L.J. truly unforgettable was his infectious spirit. Known across the city for his incredible dance moves, he was the community’s ultimate ‘hype man,’ bringing joy, energy, and a sense of unity

Her brother’s dedication to service extended beyond his hometown, Susan Smith said. He made several mission trips to Haiti and embraced service as his passion. Inspired by his love and compassion for others, Susan Smith said he even decided to add “Compascio,” meaning compassion, to his name

FILE PHOTO

New Orleans police Sgt. L.J Smith dances at the Fair Grounds during the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Smith, whose dance moves went viral, died after a battle with ALS He was 58.

Ball, Denise Fraiche Sr., Thomas Perez, Denise Williams, Larry New Orleans

Boyd Family Ball, Denise Williams, Larry St Tammany

Serenity FH

Perez, Denise

Obituaries

Ball, Denise Holmes

Mrs. Denise Holmes Ball, a beloved wife, mother grandmother, sister, aunt and friend, was called home to be with the Lord on February 21, 2025, at the age of 65. She was born on August 22, 1959 to the union of Lillie Mae Holmes and the late Clarence Holmes, Sr. Denise Holmes Ball is survived by her hus‐band James Ball, Jr. chil‐dren: Latasha Holmes (Dwayne G.) Donald Ray McGee, Freddrika Holmes, Benola Holmes (Eric), Iesha Holmes (Jeroy) and Errol Ball, 14 grandchildren: Ryana Ryan Irrianne Rizaria, Razai, Ronyell, Ranyia and Erin Holmes Dontrell Anderson, Kayla Lewis Cordero Johnson Jayceon Thompson, Eric Brown, and Major James Ball, sisters: Cynthia H Carter, Caslie H Williams and brothers: Clarence Holmes, Jr., Alfred, Ro‐sevelt, Calvin, David Wilbert Holmes and Calvin Ramsey Also survived by a host of other relatives and friends Denise is preceded in death by her father Clarence Holmes, Sr. Fam‐ily and friends are invited nd he el b io

Ramsey. Also survived by a host of other relatives and friends. Denise is preceded in death by her father Clarence Holmes, Sr. Fam‐ily and friends are invited to attend the Celebration of Life Service on Wednes‐day March 12, 2025, at The Boyd Family Funeral Home, 5001 Chef Menteur Hwy New Orleans, LA 70126 for 10:00 a.m Visitation will begin at 9:00 a.m Evange‐list Melonie Pichon ofﬁciat‐ing Interment will follow at Southeast Louisiana Vet‐erans Cemetery, Slidell, LA Guestbook Online: www anewtraditionbegins com (504) 282-0600. Linear Brooks Boyd and Donavin D Boyd Owners/Funeral Di‐rectors.

Fraiche Sr., Thomas Thomas Fraiche, Sr. entered the arms of the Lord February 26th, 2025. He was preceded in death by his Wife,Ann, his Son Tommy and Sister, Marion. He is survived by his loving children: Sharon, Suzanne (Chris), Grandson and best friend Jack, Granddaughter and sweetheart Abby, Siblings: Catherine and Buddy, beloved friend, Ashley. Afuneral mass will be be held for Thomas Sr and Thomas, Jr.atSt. Angela Merici Catholic Church in Metairie, LA on March 18,2025 with visitation starting at 10:30am. A private burial will take place at St. Joseph Abbey. In lieuofflowers, consider adonation to your preferred charity.

Perez, Denise Alice

Denise Alice Orgeron Perez, 68, of Covington, La., passed away peacefully on Thursday, March, 6, 2025, with her husband by her side. She was born in New Orleans, La., grew up in Belle Chasse, La. and was a resident of Covington, La. for the past 20 years. Denise graduated from Belle Chasse High School Class of 1974 and Nicholls State Universitywith a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics and a Masters with Honors in Special Education. She taught at Belle Chasse High School, Gretna Junior High School, West Jefferson High School, and Monteleone Junior High School, retiring after 30 years of teaching in our public schools. She was also amember of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Covington, La. where she previously served on the Parish Council. Denise enjoyed painting, sewing, cooking, baking, and spoiling her grandchildren. She always had something baking in the kitchen, loved attending her art classes, craft fairs, and also enjoyed searching for treasures in thrift stores. Denise also had avery soft spot in her heart for her dogs: Rex, Chi-Chi, Roscoe, and Stella.

Denise was preceded in death by her Parents, Albert F. and Marie Boudreaux Orgeron and Sister, Virginia Bayhi, and Son, Frank Andrew Hastings.

She is survived by her Husband of 39 Years, B.J. Perez IIIofCovington, La., Sons, Carl Hastings and wife KristyofDestrehan, La., Robert Perez and wife Monica of Hammond,La., Sisters, Deardra "Susie" Orgeron, Sylvia Langlinais, Marsha Crawford, Karen Gulotta, Jennifer Barnard, Ruby "Fran" Renegar, Brother, Robert Orgeron, Grandchildren, Abbeygale, Payton, Parker, Theodore, numerous Nieces, Nephews, Cousins, and Friends.

The family will receive

Payton, Parker, Theodore, numerous Nieces, Nephews, Cousins, and Friends.

The family will receive friends on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 10:00 AM with aMemorial Mass at 11:00 AM at Serenity Funeral Home, 20419 Hwy. 36, Covington, La. 70433. Rev. Rodney Bourg will officiate. Inurnment will take place at alater date at St. Lazarus of Bethany Cemetery Mausoleum.

In lieuofflowers, the family request donations may be made to theLewy Body Dementia Association at lbda.org

The family would like to thank the entire staff of St. Tammany Hospice for the loving care they gave during Denise's illness. Arrangementsare entrusted to SerenityFuneral Home of Covington, La.

Williams, Larry

Larry Williams passed away surrounded by family on February 27, 2025, at the age of 71 at Ochsner Med‐ical Center New Orleans LA. Larry leaves to mourn his wife of 51 years Shelia W Williams, their two sons: Jarvis Williams of Katy, Tx and Bradley Williams of Houston, TX, two grandchildren: Amiree Williams and Blake Williams one daughter-inlaw Cheterra G. Williams of Katy, TX, one brother Joseph Williams of New Or‐leans LA sisters-in-law: Angela Williams, Iris Taplin and brother-in-law James Williams, Jr., a devoted cousin Shirley Powell of Eu‐reka, CA. Also survived by a host of niece’s nephews and friends Preceded in death by his parents Her‐bert and Virginia Williams and one brother Albert Ell, Sr Ofﬁcers and members of New Zion Baptist Church of New Orleans, LA, VA Medical Center, Teamster Local 270, UAW Utility Houston, TX., and Linde Gas of Houston, TX are in‐vited to the Celebration of Life Service on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at the The Boyd Family Funeral Home,

NIH funding is vital to our country’s long-term competitiveness

Cancer Heart disease. Dementia Each year, millions of American families face these and other terrifying, life-changing diagnoses and their single best hope for a healthier future lies in medical research and innovation. Most funding for medical research in the U.S. comes from the National Institutes of Health, and most of the NIH-funded research is conducted at medical schools like LSU Health and our teaching hospitals including University Medical Center and Manning Family Children’s. Through federal funding from the NIH, our academic scientists have made groundbreaking advances like improving survival rates of children with leukemia, dramatically reducing the death rate from heart disease and stroke and nearly eliminating HIV transmission from mother to child. These remarkable improvements in the health of our nation positively affect not only our physical health but our fiscal health as well. Beyond its lifesaving benefits, medical research generates thousands of well-paying, skilled jobs, new products and technological advances that touch all our lives. Our nation’s investment in NIH funding to universities across the country is an efficient way to ensure our country’s long-term competitiveness in industries like biotechnology medical device manufacturing and pharmaceutical development. It is with NIH support that the U.S. leads the world in medical research, innovation and quality of care, even as other countries challenge our historical leadership position. Our patients want cures and deserve nothing less. LSU Health, along with other medical schools and teaching hospitals across our great nation, must remain a nexus for innovation, discovery and superior health care. Medical research has been and must remain a national priority if we are to offer hope to our patients and their families who anxiously await the next medical miracle.

STEVE NELSON chancellor, LSU Health New Orleans

Letters are published identifying name and the writer’s city of residence.The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SEND US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

to death.

anyone

Defenders of life must oppose restarting death penatly in La.

The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops has consistently defended life from conception to natural death, and we remain deeply aware of the pain and grief that victims and families suffer, especially those who have lost a loved one through the crime of murder or crimes of violence.

As we continue to pray for the victims and their families, we pray that the state will not usher in a culture of death by facilitating death warrants and consider that mercy can be the highest form of justice. No method of execution is acceptable, including nitrogen hypoxia (asphyxiation).

As a result of the recent efforts to restart the protocols for executions, the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops issued the following statement:

“We are saddened by the recent notice to restart the process for the issuance of death warrants to execute human beings in Loui-

siana. This only contributes to the culture of death. We promote a culture of life, not death, in this great State we love. As bishops, we will continue to promote life from conception to natural death and work to end the execution of another human being.”

MOST REV GREGORY M. AYMOND Archbishop of New Orleans

MOST REV MICHAEL G. DUCA bishop, diocese of Baton Rouge

MOST REV J. DOUGLAS DESHOTELS bishop, Diocese of Lafayette

MOST REV FRANCIS I. MALONE bishop, Diocese of Shreveport

MOST REV ROBERT W. MARSHALL bishop, Diocese of Alexandria

MOST REV GLEN JOHN PROVOST bishop, Diocese of Lake Charles

VERY REV SIMON PETER ENGURAIT diocesan administrator, Houma-Thibodaux

Landry following Trump’s dangerous example

So, Gov Jeff Landry’s Fiscal Responsibility Program decided to temporarily suspend its work because of questions as to whether it could legally hold its meetings in secret.

The commission was created within the Ofﬁce of the Governor by executive order and directed all agencies and departments to cooperate in the implementation of the order

That Landry would attempt to emulate the lawless behavior of President Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s DOGE should come as no surprise: Landry as state attorney general did, after all, give legal cover to Trump in his attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

The preamble to Louisiana’s open meetings statute states, in part, “It is essential to the

maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner...”

Landry’s penchant for lawlessness, whether it is ignoring open meetings laws, undermining open records laws or illegally impeding the First Amendment rights of an LSU law professor who was critical of the governor and Trump, demonstrates his unﬁtness to lead this state and the continued violation of his oath to “support the constitution and laws” of the United States and Louisiana.

As Landry and the president continue to consolidate power and trample over the rule of law, we should be prepared for more attacks on our rights as citizens and attempts to hold government accountable. JAMES TAYLOR Baton Rouge

Our representatives don’t seem to care about budget harm

Recently the House voted to advance a budget that would hurt Louisianans. Now, the Senate is positioning itself to ram the budget through the legislative process without considering how it affects constituents. Congress is teeing up to pass the budget through reconciliation, which would fast track the bill. It’s legislation through blunt force, rather than debate and consensus. Perhaps reconciliation is the preferred way to govern because House Speaker Mike Johnson knows what they propose hurts the people they claim to represent.

While there are wealthy Louisianans who will beneﬁt from tax cuts, they are outnumbered by the rest of us.

The majority of tax cuts will go to people who make over $157,000 a year Statewide, 86% of us earn less than $annually In Rep. Julia Letlow’s district, 90% of us make less than $150,000.

How will we pay for this tax break for our wealthiest colleagues? By dismantling

programs that far more of us need. One in 3 Louisianans depends on Medicaid, which is likely on the chopping block.

I’ve heard the justiﬁcation for the budget bill is that this is what we voted for Even if true, I assume Trump supporters voted to pay less than $7 for eggs, and not lose coverage that they need in the name of a welfare check to the wealthy

While I agree that the federal deﬁcit needs to be reined in, I abhor the methods Johnson and my representative, Letlow, have used to reach this goal.

This proposed budget actually balloons the deﬁcit. An effective way to tackle the deﬁcit would be to limit tax cuts for the top 20% of earners, rather than take a hatchet to programs that Louisianans depend on. I implore Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy to consider the people that will be affected by their actions during reconciliation.

AMANDA RICHEY Baton Rouge

Article on school vouchers provided facts, raised issue of parent involvement

As a concerned grandfather of two granddaughters (ages 8 and 5) in favor of school choice programs, I read this article, “Despite lofty promises, Louisiana’s private-school vouchers fall short,” twice one day and then again the next, just so I could truly take in all the information you have provided. Thank you for writing this.

I will begin ﬁrst by saying that I have always believed a child’s education starts at home by the parents, and in some cases grandparents, to prepare them for their initial encounter with an actual school. Without this familial pre-education, the child is already behind.

Secondly, I have some issues with Tulane economist Doug Harris’ negative take on the original 2012 voucher program, which was designed for disadvantaged poor children. It is my opinion that the reasons why these children were slow to improve was speciﬁcally that they were disadvantaged from the start. They didn’t have a hill to climb, they had to climb an educational mountain.

From your school voucher article: “Principal Bufﬁe Singletary said voucher students typically arrive at the school far behind, with limited reading skills, making it difﬁcult to catch them up. ‘It’s just really hard,’ she said.” Per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Louisiana is 1 of 3 states (Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico) that lead the country in unwed mothers, with over 50% of babies born to unmarried women. Nearly twothirds of these mothers are well under the age of 25 Basically, children having children.

The problem isn’t the voucher system or, in most cases, the school itself, be it public or private, but the lack of parental involvement in pre-education before the child even begins school.

CHARLES COLLINS Avondale

Pope Francis not even-handed in his criticism

Pope Francis has rebuked President Donald Trump for his policy of deporting immigrants who illegally entered our country His claim is that the action is inhumane and counter to Christ’s teachings.

It seems odd that this selfsame pontiff failed to chastise Joe Biden for his unwavering support of abortion. Is that not against Christ’s teachings?

I sense a bit of hypocrisy here. And I wonder if the Pope is a Democrat.

CHARLEY IRELAND Robert

STAFF FILE PHOTO

Louisiana is set to resume executions using nitrogen gas after a 15-year span of not putting

ST. PADDY’S DAY

A leprechaun, a frog and an alligator all walk into a bar on St Patrick’s Day.This has a classic joke setup with a Louisiana twist Who can come up with the funniest punchline for THIS one? Have fun!

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

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

To enter, email cartooncontest@theadvocate.com.

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

Cell numbers are best.

The deadline for all entries is midnight Thursday, March 13.

Good luck, folks! — Walt

Louisiana is under dire threat, and politicians are making things worse

We’re only six weeks into Trump 2.0 and Louisianans are facing two of the biggest threats ever to their health, livelihoods, property and futures.

The No. 1 threat is President Donald Trump

The No 2 is the Republican members of our congressional delegation

It’s all so the very rich get even richer

Here’s why Louisiana faces arguably the highest and most costly environmental risks of any state.

We have been ranked the most polluted state overall, the third worst for industrial toxins and their associated health impacts and the fourth worst for life expectancy

If those problems don’t make Louisiana an unattractive place to live or start businesses, the climate costs certainly do.

Our coastal zone, the state’s economic hub, is sinking at one of the planet’s fastest rates as the Gulf of Mexico is rising at one of its fastest rates. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says we could see 2 feet of sea level rise in just 35 years, while researchers report the worst-case projections for both issues could mean ﬁve to seven feet by the end of the century But wait, there’s more.

The record heat in the Gulf caused by climate change has led to more Category 4 and 5 hurricanes costing record billions in damages. Indeed, Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan claims its projects could prevent as much as $11 billion in damages every year by 2073. Of course, that’s only a percentage of the expected damage; it won’t stop billions more. That’s the reason property insurance has become unaffordable for many, threatening the building and mortgage industries.

Now, the proper responses to these threats are obvious

We could enjoy healthier, longer lives by reducing toxic pollutants at their primary sources — the petrochemical industry We could lighten climate impacts for the next generation by cutting fossil fuel emissions, the main cause of climate impacts. But since Day 1 of this term, Trump has done the exact opposite. He has un-

leashed the most brutal rollback of environmental protections of any president in history

He has gone to war on programs to reduce fossil fuel emissions. He has falsely declared a national energy emergency, pledging to kill regulations on permitting and the production of toxic emissions to help boost oil and gas production even as the nation now leads the world in those areas. He is illegally canceling congressionally approved grants that help our economy transition to green energy and help states to install electric vehicle charging stations, and is even cracking down on teaching the science of climate change in public schools.

Mimicking communist-style thought control, Trump ordered federal agencies to wipe their web pages of research and news about climate change.

And he has cheered as Elon Musk, his unelected, untitled assistant, unleashed arbitrary, dangerous and likely illegal staff reductions at federal science agencies.

One of those is NOAA. This is the agency that warns us of approaching hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, blizzards and freezes, and provides critical information to help farmers determine

when to plant and harvest crops.

All these actions will increase the risks to Louisianans’ health, property, livelihoods and futures.

In the past, members of Congress whose districts were victimized by cuts like these would rise in objection — even to their own party’s president.

But what’s been the reaction from Louisiana’s GOP members?

They simply tug their forelocks and grunt obeisance to Trump, tacitly giving approval for actions that harm their constituents to increase corporate proﬁts for business owners and stockholders.

This is how a plutocracy works.

The goals of Trump’s actions are clear Increase proﬁts for his wealthiest backers by reducing regulations and programs protecting the public That could show a reduction in the federal budget to justify his proposed $4.5 trillion tax cut mostly for those plutocrats — even though it will add $2.8 trillion to the deﬁcit our children will owe.

Maybe you should ask your representatives who they are working for Bob Marshall, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Louisiana environmental journalist, can be reached at bmarshallenviro@ gmail.com.

Vague policies don’t protect free speech

Until recently, I served on the faculty at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication — my alma mater I was proud to return to the university that shaped me, where I learned to ask hard questions, think critically and engage with people who saw the world differently than I did.

When I was a student at LSU, some of my professors — informed by their research or professional experiences — spoke freely about their views. Some were conservative; some were liberal. In political communication classes, many were practitioners who had run campaigns, worked in government or advised elected ofﬁcials. Of course, I knew their views. How could I not? But their perspectives didn’t “indoctrinate” me If anything, they sharpened my thinking, exposed me to competing arguments and instilled a respect for open discourse. In fact, my professors could take either side of an argument to challenge us in class. That is how you reﬁne your thinking. They intentionally invited guest speakers from both sides of the aisle, ensuring that students heard different perspectives and had to engage with ideas they might not have considered That is what higher education is supposed to do.

At the direction of Gov. Jeff Landry, the LSU Board of Supervisors has revised the university’s free speech policy — curbing the rights of professors in the name of “neutrality.” Under the new rules, faculty members cannot express political views in their classrooms unless it is directly related to the subject matter

The policy is intentionally vague, making it unclear what is and isn’t allowed. That ambiguity is by design. It creates a chilling effect. Professors will now self-censor out of fear that a single complaint could threaten their jobs.

Let’s be clear: This is not about protecting students from bias. It’s about controlling what ideas are heard on campus. If Landry were genuinely concerned about free speech, he would not be policing faculty speech while claiming to protect student expression. He wouldn’t create a culture of fear among professors while pretending to champion intellectual diversity He wouldn’t be using the state’s power to dictate what can and cannot be discussed in a university setting.

This policy is part of a broader trend sweeping through conservative-led states, where politicians exploit the language of “freedom” while actively suppressing it. They claim to ﬁght for the First Amendment while using the government to silence views they don’t like. They argue that students should be exposed to a wide range of perspectives — unless those perspectives challenge their agenda.

The real danger here isn’t that students will be shielded from political opinions. It’s that they will be denied the very education that prepares them for civic life. A democracy cannot function without critical thinkers, without citizens who can weigh arguments, challenge assumptions and engage with people who disagree with them. That’s what universities are supposed to cultivate. I learned to think critically at LSU because my professors weren’t afraid to speak their minds. I worry that future students won’t have the same opportunity And that’s exactly what Landry wants.

Alyson Neel is a 2010 graduate of the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication, where she also served on the faculty in 2023-2024.

Alyson Neel GUEST COLUMNIST

Bob Marshall

PROVIDED PHOTO

Canals carved by oil and gas companies over the past 100 years, like these in Plaquemines Parish, have eroded into open water, contributing to coastal land loss.

New Orleans Forecast

Not over yet

STAFF PHOTOS By SCOTT THRELKELD

ELKS KREWE OF ORLEANS: A rider adjusts her mask as the Elks Krewe of Orleanians truck parade rolls Uptown on Sunday after high winds delayed its Mardi Gras procession.

KREWE OF CRESCENT CITY: The Krewe of Crescent City truck parade rolls Sunday in New Orleans.

ELKS KREWE OF ORLEANS: An Elks Krewe of Orleanians truck parade rider sends bubbles into the air.

KREWE OF CRESCENT CITY: A baby is lifted to collect a throw handed off by a rider in the Krewe of Crescent City truck parade Sunday.

SPORTS GETTING IT DONE

allowed

earned

Shores battles through five innings to help Tigers clinch series

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Few players on LSU’s team this season are more important than Chase Shores.

The redshirt sophomore right-hander entered the year as the third starter the Tigers desperately needed considering their struggles in ﬁnding someone to ﬁll that role last season.

Combine that roster demand with his talent — standing at 6-foot-8, with a fastball up to 99 mph — and LSU had a player who could potentially transform its rotation.

“He’s really hard to get those extra base hits against,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “And when he limits free passes, there’s always a way out with him.”

But Shores missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery And in the four starts he’s made since his return, the results have been mixed

No. 4 Tigers sweep Gophers in weekend series to improve to 23-1 overall

BY JIM KLEINPETER

Pelicans’ gritty effort not enough

BY ROD WALKER Sports columnist

a bunt or how they run the bases.” The Tigers (23-1) rocked Minnesota starter Sydney Schwartz with seven runs in the

Shores allowed two earned runs and nine hits in ﬁve innings on Sunday in LSU’s 11-5 win over North Alabama at Alex Box Stadium. He surrendered just one extra base hit but only had four strikeouts.

The victory clinched another series sweep for the Tigers.

“I just thought he kept his composure. I mean, he’s got great stuff,” Johnson said. “He’s not easy to hit. And he’s a deﬁnition of a bend (but) probably not going to break pitcher.”

The result was an improvement from his last outing against Sam Houston State when he gave up four earned runs in ﬁve innings. But he allowed two more hits on Sunday than he had the week before.

“The runs is the only thing that I really care about, to be honest with you,” Johnson said. “And like I said, I think he’s tough to score on.”

ä See SERIES, page 3C

New Orleans falls to Memphis, drops fourth consecutive game ä See PELICANS, page 5C

The New Orleans Pelicans returned to the Smoothie King Center Sunday after three consecutive double-digit losses on the road. This time, despite being short-handed, they kept it close. It still wasn’t enough though as the Pelicans lost a 107-104 nailbiter to the Memphis Grizzlies on a night when both Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum watched from the bench. Grizzlies guard Ja Morant missed one of two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to give the Pelicans one last chance. Jose Alvarado air balled a 3-pointer. Jordan Hawkins got the rebound and threw it to Kelly Olynyk, who also missed what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer Trey Murphy and Alvarado tried to pick up the slack in the absence of Williamson and McCollum.

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU pitcher Chase Shores delivers a pitch against North Alabama in the top of the third inning on Sunday at Alex Box Stadium. Shores

two

runs and nine hits in five innings in LSU’s 11-5 win over North Alabama.

PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

double against Minnesota in the

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado guards Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant in the first half of their game Sunday at the Smoothie King Center

LSU star Olivia Dunne talks gymnastics career, Endymion, and the future, Page 2C

Dunne discusses LSU career

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

Olivia Dunne wrapped up the home portion of her ﬁve-year LSU gymnastics career Friday night with the Tigers’ record-breaking 198.575-197.175 victory over Georgia, relegated to the role of spectator and moral support rather than competitor.

The All-American gymnast and social media superstar revealed Thursday that she has a fractured kneecap that would keep her out of the Georgia meet and could prevent her from competing again this season, something she has only done seven times to this point in 2025.

LSU gymnast and social media influencer Olivia Dunne greets the crowd as the Krewe of Endymion parade rolls on March 1 in New Orleans. Dunne served as the grand marshal. Review

Still, was it worth it to her coming back? Absolutely she said in this interview from before the meet as she talks about her LSU career, getting to serve as grand marshal of the Endymion Mardi Gras parade, and what the future may hold for the 22-year old Hillsdale, New Jersey native after LSU and gymnastics:

Tell us about your knee injury.

“I have an avulsion fracture of my patella. I’ve been dealing with pain all season, and it got to the point where I needed imaging. It made me really sad that I didn’t have the opportunity to compete in the PMAC one last time Tiger fans have made the experience what it has been for me, made the impossible possible.”

Considering you only got to compete a few times (most recently Jan. 24 at Arkansas), do you still think coming back for a fifth year was worthwhile?

“One hundred percent. I have no regrets. I competed in three events in one meet for the first

time in my college career bars, floor and beam (Jan. 11 in the Sprouts Collegiate Quad). To be able to do that was so cool. It’s an experience I’ll cherish the rest of my life. I can’t wait to bring my family back one day to LSU, my future children, and show them the banners from the time when I was at LSU.”

What do you think the emotions of the final meet would be like?

“The best word is grateful. For ﬁve years, through thick and thin, LSU Tiger fans have had my back and loved me through it all, whether I was healthy or hurt. Right now I’m hurt so it’s a bittersweet experience. But I’m taking in every second.”

Tell us about being grand marshal of Endymion. What kind of experience was that for someone from New Jersey?

“It was the best experience of my life. It was so cool and nothing could have prepared me for that. The way the culture is in Louisiana and the way everyone wants to have a good time and is so happy made it the coolest experience. D-D (former LSU coach D-D Breaux) told me I had to do it. I had never been to Mardi Gras because it’s during our season. But you do what D-D says.”

You have taken a very public stance on two major issues this year,filing suit against the framework of the pending House settlement designed to create revenue sharing for college athletes and regarding the controversial changes to gymnastics scoring

GOLF ROUNDUP

Warriors’ Curry reaches 25,000 career points

Curry became the 26th player in NBA history to score 25,000 career points, reaching the milestone during the third quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ 115-110 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night. Curry, who turns 37 next Friday, surpassed 25,000 with a 3-pointer at the 8:32 mark of the third quarter then received a warm ovation when recognized during a timeout with 5:42 to go.

He finished with 32 points — pushing his total to 25,017 — on 8-for-22 shooting and converted all 12 of his free throws.

in 2025. You have also created something called The Livvy Fund to help female college athletes find NIL opportunities.What do you hope your legacy in this respect will be?

“I hope in women’s sports that there is always an opportunity to talk about issues bigger than just you. I had a platform to do that and I felt it was right. I feel I need to speak out on certain things, hence the tweet on the judging I knew I had to speak out on women’s sports, especially with the revenue model starting next (academic) year. Women’s sports is in jeopardy, and I don’t think a lot of people know that.

“Beyond that, in my time here at LSU and with NIL, I found that you’re more than your sport. That’s hopefully something people pick up and I can help them with. The NIL space can be quite intimidating to approach. There is no blueprint I started The Livvy Fund to create NIL deals for people. A lot of the women on our team are now doing posts for Accelerator (energy drink), one of my brand partners. Being able to give them an opportunity to do that and to help female athletes capitalize on NIL while they can is a big deal to me. I think people just expect men’s sports to lead. It’s been an honor.”

What is next for you after LSU and after gymnastics?

“I think there will be a lot more free time day-to-day to pick and choose what I want to do I’m going to the Kentucky Derby (in May) so I’m very excited about that. I’m going to keep working with Sports Illustrated I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m excited and passionate about The Livvy Fund and growing it beyond LSU, to help female athletes nationwide.”

Takeda wins her second LPGA title

The Associated Press

SANYA, China Rio Takeda shot a blistering 8-under 64 on Sunday to win the LPGA’s Blue Bay tournament by six shots ahead of Minjee Lee of Australia, the second LPGA title for the young Japanese. The 21-year-old Takeda finished on 17-under 271 for the four rounds on China’s southern island of Hainan. She opened with rounds of 69-69-69 before carding the 64. Lee closed with a 67 to ﬁnish on 277 with Japanese Ayaka Furue a further shot back after a 68 to ﬁnish on 10-under 278.

Takeda won her ﬁrst LPGA title four months ago, taking the Toto Japan Classic in a six-hole suddendeath playoff.

Jeeno Thitikul, the LPGA’s No. 2-ranked player, closed with a disappointing 74 and was 13 strokes off the pace. She ﬁnished on 4-under 284. It was also a disappointing tournament for Ruoning Yin of China She is ranked No. 4 but ﬁnished with a 73 and was 19 shots off the winning pace.

Bay Hill

HENLEY TAKES BAY HILL FOR BIGGEST CAREERWIN: In Orlando, Florida Russell

Henley delivered a late charge that would have made Arnold Palmer proud, capped off by chipping in for eagle on the 16th hole to rally with a 2-under 70 at Bay Hill on Sunday for the biggest victory of his career

Henley trailed Collin Morikawa by three shots with ﬁve holes to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational when it all changed with a pair of two-shot swings.

Morikawa missed the green on the par-3 14th hole and took bogey, while Henley hit his tee shot to just inside 10 feet for birdie, cutting the deﬁcit to one shot. Nothing was more stunning than the par-5 16th hole, however

Morikawa laid up from a fairway bunker and hit wedge to 18 feet. Henley went through the green to thick rough and had to chip from more than 50 feet away

down the slope to a front pin on a green that was yellow, looking as though it barely had any grass.

It was racing toward the hole when it smacked into the pin and dropped for eagle, giving him the lead for the first time all day when Morikawa failed to convert his birdie putt.

Henley ﬁnished with two pars and Morikawa, who closed with a 72, couldn’t catch him.

“I was just so nervous. I can’t breathe right now,” Henley told NBC off the 18th green “It’s so hard and difficult around this place. I just tried to stay really tough this week.”

He made it tough on himself at times, particularly when he made a mess of both par 5s on the front nine to take bogey on each of them, and then starting the back nine with a bogey from the fairway

But the 35-year-old from Georgia made up for it in a big way, particularly the chip-in for eagle that he called a good break. It’s likely the ball would have run some 10 feet by the hole, if not run off the green Breaks like that are what wins tournaments.

“This game is just so hard,” he said. It was another close call for Morikawa, the two-time major champion whose game is back in order and now is missing only a trophy that he hasn’t hoisted in 17 months.

He began by holing a bunker shot for birdie on the first hole. He was in the lead all day, in control all day, in what had been a sleepy final round on a brutal test of fast, firm conditions.

And then suddenly he wasn’t.

“Hats off to Collin. He played super steady,” Henley said. “Sometimes golf is just mean like that.”

Corey Conners opened with 15 straight pars, made one birdie in his round of 71, and ﬁnished two shots behind. The consolation prize for the Canadian was earning the one spot available this week in the British Open this summer at Royal Portrush.

Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley set a tournament record

with a 29 on the front nine, only to stall and match the tournamentlow 64 to tie for ﬁfth.

Defending champion Scottie Schefﬂer didn’t make enough putts or enough birdies for the week. He closed with a 70 and tied for 11th.

Scheffler now heads two hours up the road to the TPC Sawgrass as the two-time defending champion at The Players Championship. Henley finished at 11-under 277 and earned $4 million from the $20 million purse. It was his fifth career win on the PGA Tour, though never against a field this strong. He was more than up to the task as his game has become consistently good over the last three years. The victory moves him to No. 7 in the world, and he looks the part of a top-10 player European Tour

HILLWINSTHREE-MAN PLAYOFFTO CLAIM

JOBURG OPEN TITLE: In Johannesburg, Scottish golfer Calum Hill made par on the second playoff hole to outlast South African rivals Jacques Kruyswijk and Shaun Norris and win the Joburg Open on Sunday

The extra holes took place to the backdrop of thunder and lightning at Houghton Golf Club, with all three players parring the first playoff hole the par-4 18th — to go back up to the tee. Norris, who led overnight by four strokes, dropped out of contention after hitting his second shot into water from a fairway bunker before Hill left his birdie putt from off the green just short, tapping in for par Kruyswijk needed to roll in a par putt from 3 feet to extend the playoff, but pushed it right. Hill, ranked No. 286, clinched his second European tour title the first being the Cazoo Classic in 2021. He shot 8-under 62 to set the clubhouse target at 14 under and was joined in the playoff first by Kruyswijk (66), who was seeking a second victory in three weeks after winning the Magical Kenya Open last month, and then Norris after his two birdies in the last three holes to complete a round of 70. Norris, bidding for a wire-towire victory won the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December

“It was a surprise actually I knew I was coming up on it but I didn’t think about it until I heard it in game,” Curry said.

Browns, DE Garrett agree to record 4-year contract

Myles Garrett is staying in Cleveland after the Browns gave him a record four-year contract extension that makes the four-time AllPro edge rusher the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history

A person with knowledge of the details told The Associated Press that Garrett’s deal includes $122.8 million guaranteed, an average annual salary of $40 million with a total value of $204.8 million. The person spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity Garrett had asked for a trade last month but the Browns were adamant about keeping the 29-yearold star in Cleveland.

Garrett’s contract raises the bar for other non-QBs, including Bengals All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons. Cincinnati already has stated plans to make Chase the highest-paid non-QB in the league.

Loucks returns to Florida State as hoops coach

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Luke Loucks is returning to Florida State to take over as the coach of the Seminoles. Florida State announced the hire on Sunday The 34-year-old Loucks is replacing Leonard Hamilton, who is stepping down at the end of this season. A Clearwater native, Loucks played at Florida State from 200812. He averaged 7.1 points and 3.3 rebounds as a senior and was part of a Seminoles team that defeated Miami, Duke and North Carolina on consecutive days to win the ACC Tournament title in March 2012. Loucks had been an assistant coach for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings since 2022. He also has worked for the Golden State Warriors, helping the team win NBA titles in 2017 and 2018, and Phoenix Suns.

Giants re-sign fan favorite DeVito to a 1-year deal

The New York Giants ofﬁcially have a quarterback under contract on their roster The team announced late Saturday it re-signed Tommy DeVito, an exclusive rights free agent whose one-year deal is worth $1.03 million.

He started eight games for the Giants since joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2023 out of Illinois.

Backups Drew Lock and Tim Boyle are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents, leaving DeVito alone atop New York’s quarterback depth chart — at least for now

The Giants are expected to target a veteran in free agency with Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson possibilities.

N.C. State fires Keatts a year after ACC title run

It was less than a year ago that Kevin Keatts and N.C. State took over March, taking a wild ride to the program’s first Atlantic Coast Conference title in nearly 38 years followed by an improbable run to its first Final Four in even longer And now, Keatts is out of a job. N.C. State fired coach Keatts on Sunday, an abrupt end to an eightyear tenure that saw the program’s fall this year prove too much to overcome even when framed against last season’s remarkable finish. The announcement came a day after the Wolfpack closed a 1219 season and failed to qualify for the ACC Tournament as the reigning champion.

Keatts’ base contract ran through April 2030, which had included a two-year extension automatically triggered with last year’s postseason milestones.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By yANG GUANyU

Golfer Takeda Rio holds the trophy during the awarding ceremony after the final round of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament on Sunday in Lingshui, South China’s Hainan Province.

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Los Angeles

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, right, of Japan, smiles as he leaves the game with Dodgers’ Tommy Edman during a game against the Texas Rangers on March 6 in Phoenix.

D FRANKLIN

Dodgers, Cubs prepare for season opener in Japan

BY DAVID BRANDT

AP baseball writer

GLENDALE, Ariz Shohei Ohtani’s bat is ready for the Los Angeles Dodgers while Shota Imanaga has looked good on the mound for the Chicago Cubs with less than 10 days remaining before baseball’s regular-season opener in Japan.

The teams will play two games at the Tokyo Dome on March 18 and 19. The early start to the season — more than a week before the schedule begins domestically — has led to a truncated spring schedule for the Dodgers and Cubs, though both teams have managed to navigate the shorter preparation time in fairly good health.

They’re trying to keep it that way as they navigate a fun, but unique week that includes long ﬂights to and from Japan, along with a 15-hour time difference between the two locations.

“It’s two games and we’re not going to exhaust everything to get ready for two games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said early in camp. “But also, we want to be ready and prepared to win two games in Tokyo while appreciating that when we come back, we’ll have time to get ready for the domestic opener.”

All eyes have been on Ohtani, the reigning National League MVP, who is still recovering

from offseason surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder The 30-year-old has looked ﬁne at the plate during Cactus League play with a .357 average in 14 at-bats, including a double and a homer

The two-way star won’t pitch in Japan and has slowed his work on the mound in recent days as he concentrates on being the designated hitter in Tokyo. Roberts believes that Ohtani could return to the mound in May though the manager said he’s keeping the timeline intentionally vague.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto and rookie Roki Sasaki are expected to start on the mound for the Dodgers in the regular-season games in Japan. The 23-year-old Sasaki was dominant in his first spring outing with five strikeouts over three scoreless innings. Yamamoto will throw on Monday and Sasaki on Tuesday in their final spring training starts. Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman has smacked three homers so far in the Cactus League, appearing to recover well from offseason ankle surgery Mookie Betts has been solid in his transition to a role as the full-time shortstop

Both teams will have a 31-man travel roster in Japan that will be reduced to 26 for the two regularseason games. All 31 players will be available to play in exhibition games against Japanese teams on

March 15 and 16.

The Cubs are close to full strength, though the team has said that second baseman Nico Hoerner will remain in the U.S. as he continues to focus on being ready for the domestic opening day on March 27. Hoerner is recovering from surgery on his right forearm in October

Chicago’s plan is to start Imanaga in the opener, with lefty Justin Steele pitching the second game. Imanaga was sharp in his latest spring training outing, throwing four scoreless innings against the Padres, giving up just two hits and striking out three.

He’ll have one more outing in Arizona on Monday

The left-hander had an excellent debut season in MLB in 2024, ﬁnishing with a 15-3 record and a 2.91 ERA. Another Japanese player, Seiya Suzuki, is expected to be Chicago’s designated hitter in Tokyo after hitting 21 homers last season. Manager Craig Counsell said most of the team’s players came to spring training in late January far before the team’s Feb. 9 report date — in an effort to have normal preparation time before the trip to Japan.

“It’s created some urgency for our players,” Counsell told reporters on Friday “Our pitching department did a fabulous job over the offseason in getting these guys ready.”

Umpire Dustin Douglass calls the out after LSU third baseman Danieca Coffey made the tag on Minnesota outﬁelder Breezy Burnett in the ﬁfth inning of their game on Sunday at Tiger Park.

LSU

Continued from page 1C

first two innings and three in the fifth against the third Gopher pitcher Camerson Grayson to end the game as eight of nine starters had at least one hit. McKenzie Redoutey got it started with a clutch two-run single in the first. Danieca Coffey had a run-scoring double in the seventh and No. 9 hitter Avery Hodge had her second triple in two days, scoring the winning run when Jalia Lassiter launched a ball over right fielder Nani Valencia’s head. Even LSU outs were loud. Lassiter scorched a line drive to first baseman Maggie Werner with the bases loaded that resulted in a double play. Jadyn Laneaux hit into another double play with a liner to

left ﬁeld. Tori Edwards was then thrown out at the plate trying to score.

“It’s just a combination of everything this team has put in,” said Hodge, the Oklahoma transfer, who had a bases-loaded triple the night before. “We’ve been working really hard to be where we’re at. With each at-bat we’re trying to get better and better

It’s buying in to what we’re facing and seeing, going all in for that pitch.”

Torina emphasized the effort considering the competition.

“They did it against a really good arm; their off-speed pitcher (Schwartz) is really dirty,” Torina said. “It’s nice to see them live up to that against a really good arm.

They knew the off speed was going to be a factor It was a good opportunity to try some things, and it worked out.”

Green Wave splits pair against North Dakota St.

BY GUERRY SMITH Contributing writer

It took a 56-minute lightning delay in the ﬁrst inning on Saturday night for the Tulane baseball team to ﬁnd some thunder in its bats.

That oomph disappeared Sunday just as quickly as it appeared. After the Green Wave (11-4) won 9-2 in a game that was suspended overnight after the seventh inning, North Dakota State (2-13) took the ﬁnale 12-3 while outhitting the Wave 12-4.

“You say you want to win 40 games and you want to host a regional, that has to be a sweep,” Tulane coach Jay Uhlman said. “My frustration is I felt like we sleepwalked through it, and in a game when the wind started blowing in, it was too many fly balls, double plays.”

The Bison scored two runs in the ﬁrst inning off Tulane starter J.D. Rodriguez (1-1), who did not record an out while facing four batters, and never relinquished the lead.

“The fact that (reliever) Blaise (Wilcenski) limited that to two runs was a minor win for us,” Uhlman said. “It gave us a chance to get back into it, but when you’re not present enough, you’re not getting any breaks.”

Trailing 6-3, the Wave still appeared to have a chance heading into the ninth inning, but that hope ended soon after catcher Andrew McKenna pulled first baseman Boots Landry off the bag for what would have been the third out trying to complete a strikeout that hit the ground. Reliever Michael Lombardi then hit a batter to force in one run and walked another to force in a second before Dante Smith hit a grand slam over the right ﬁeld wall.

Tanner Chun’s two-run homer just inside the foul pole down the left ﬁeld line in the sixth was about the only offense the Wave generated and was the only similarity to what happened a day earlier

Right after the resumption on Saturday night, Connor Rasmussen and Matthias Haas blasted solo home runs over the right ﬁeld and left ﬁeld wall, respectively, galvanizing the Green Wave to its 9-2 lead before more lightning at the end of the seventh inning forced the game to be suspended at 11:44 p.m.

SERIES

Continued from page 1C

The two runs he surrendered came in the third inning on a pair of one-out run-scoring singles, but things could have snowballed for Shores in a bad way after the Lions loaded the bases after both scores.

Shores got a strikeout and forced a pop out to himself to escape the inning.

He also wiggled out of jams in the ﬁrst and ﬁfth innings as North Alabama (3-11) had a runner in scoring position in each inning.

“There’s no other option, honestly.” Shores said. “Just pound the zone and try to get out of the inning for my team.”

After recording most of his outs through the ground the last two weeks, Shores only induced two groundouts against North Alabama. Nine of the 15 outs he garnered came on ﬂy balls.

“It was just the location the (pitches) were called,” Shores said.

“If it was a higher location, there would probably be a pop up on that one.”

“You say you want to win 40 games and you want to host a regional, that has to be a sweep. My frustration is I felt like we sleepwalked through it, and in a game when the wind started blowing in, it was too many fly balls, double plays.”

JAy UHLMAN,Tulane coach

Tulane had hit only six homers through 13 games before the back-to-back home runs made it 2-1. The Wave padded its advantage with three runs in the second thanks to consecutive doubles by Hugh Pinkney and Chun and cruised from there behind another strong outing from pitcher Trey Cehajic in a game that continued long after every Division I matchup was over Cehajic, who has been rock solid in all four of his starts this year, allowed a leadoff triple and two more singles in the top of the ﬁrst before settling down after the delay The only other run he gave up scored when third baseman Gavin Schulz air-mailed a throw over Haas’s head at first base for an error on what would have been the third out of third inning.

Having failed to record an out in the sixth inning of his first two starts after being dominant through ﬁve, Cehajic retired the lineup in order this time as his pitch count rose to 105. North Dakota State, which on Friday came within an errant throw in the ninth inning of stunning Tulane, committed three errors and starting pitcher Logan Knight did not make it through the fourth, giving up six hits and ﬁve runs.

Tulane added two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to go ahead 9-2. At that point, a sweep appeared probable.

Instead, the Wave got raked in Sunday’s ﬁnale.

A ﬁve-game home week awaits, with Nicholls on Tuesday, Jackson State on Wednesday and a series against Xavier of Ohio.

“We want to get the bad taste out or our mouth,” Uhlman said. “That’s the cool thing about baseball. You don’t have to wait seven days.”

The blast was Pearson’s ﬁrst career grand slam.

“I was just looking for a pitch up in the zone that I could drive,” Pearson said. “And he hung me a changeup ﬁrst pitch, and I saw it out of the hand and put a good swing on it.”

Milam, Brown and Jones all ﬁnished the day with multiple hits. The Tigers were 7-for-11 with runners on base.

“I thought it was a very workmanlike performance from the hitters,” Johnson said.

LSU’s attack started with four runs in the ﬁrst inning on a tworun home run from junior Jared Jones, a run-scoring single from sophomore Jake Brown and a stolen base attempt from Brown — he was caught stealing at second base — that allowed sophomore Steven Milam to score from third.

Jones’ homer was his sixth of the year LSU wouldn’t score again until the fourth inning when Milam hit his fourth homer, a solo shot that gave the Tigers a 5-2 advantage.

LSU pitcher Sydney Berzon held down the Gophers despite giving up 10 hits, the second most in her career Taylor Krapf hit a solo homer in the fourth and the Gophers (11-12) got five hits in the fifth but could score only one run. Berzon (9-0) also had a strong defense behind her Hodge made a nice play for a force-out at third in the fifth and started a double play in the third by snagging a line drive and firing to first base.

“It was a good offense we faced,” said Berzon, who finished with three strikeouts. “They were coming out pretty hot with a win before us. They’re good swingers. It was a matter of staying calm, one pitch at a time, not focused on anything going on around me, throwing each pitch.

“You can see all the effort we put in as a defense all through preseason. It’s starting to show.”

As Shores kept on working his way out of mini jams, LSU’s offense continued to roll against North Alabama’s pitching.

The big inning for the Tigers’ attack came in the sixth when LSU (16-1) scored six runs on a grand slam and two singles to take an 11-2 lead.

Singles from Brown and redshirt junior Tanner Reaves and a hit by pitch to start the inning had loaded the bases for freshman Derek Curiel. Curiel then walked — his third of the day — to drive in a run before junior Daniel Dickinson hit a single off the end of his bat that trickled down the third base line.

The base hit allowed the inning to continue and scored the second run. It also kept the bases loaded for senior Josh Pearson who blasted a ball over the Diamond Deck in right ﬁeld and onto the roof of the Marucci Performance Center

“We all knew the home runs would come with the weather and things like that, but our approach doesn’t really change,” Pearson said. “Just try to hit line drives at the middle of the ﬁeld and just take balls and crush mistakes.”

Following Shores, junior righthander Connor Benge entered in relief and threw a scoreless sixth inning before handing the ball off to redshirt sophomore right-hander Jaden Noot.

Noot struck out two batters in a ﬂawless inning prior to freshman left-hander Cooper Williams walking two batters and giving up an unearned run in the eighth. Junior right-hander Chandler Dorsey allowed two unearned runs before recording the ﬁnal out in the ninth inning.

LSU faces Xavier of Ohio on Tuesday at Alex Box Stadium before Southeastern Conference play starts over the weekend. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. and will be available to stream on SEC Network+

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Season in a nutshell

LSU’s rebounding woes continue in regular-season finale

BY TOYLOY BROWN III

Staff writer

Derek Fountain put his hands to his face in disbelief before jogging to the LSU men’s basketball locker room at halftime. Jordan Sears, who had his way against bigger defenders, couldn’t get downhill with 10 seconds left in the ﬁrst half. The point guard pitched it to Mike Williams at the top of the key with three seconds on the shot clock. The sophomore’s subtle head fake allowed him to get near the free-throw line and make a crisp pass to an open Fountain on the right block.

The 6-foot-9, fifth-year senior didn’t use the backboard and blew an easy layup.

Despite possessing a 32-30 halftime lead over No. 22 Texas A&M (22-9, 11-7 SEC), the miss was an omen of things to come for LSU offensively The Tigers scored a season-low in their 6652 loss to the Aggies in the ﬁnal game of the regular season on Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center

NCAA

Continued from page 1C

SEC Tournament.

The No. 3-seeded Tigers didn’t reach the title game. But they did pick up a double-digit victory over the No. 11-seeded Gators, setting a program conference tournament scoring record in the process. They also fought through a tight semifinal loss to No. 2-seeded Texas, finding confidence that even a depleted version of themselves can still compete with the top teams in the country

The Longhorns are the No 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, and they have one of the 12 best scoring offenses in the nation. Yet they could score only 56 points on 32% shooting against LSU, a team that dealt with their fair share of adversity throughout the tournament.

Flau’jae Johnson (shin) didn’t play in either of LSU’s games, and Mulkey spent time away from her team before its quarterfinal win over Florida while she grieved the loss of a loved one back in Louisiana.

Then Morrow injured her foot

“I’ve won a bunch of conference tournaments,” Mulkey said. “Everybody loves to win. Everybody loves to get a trophy But at the end of the day, I’ve also been in those tournaments where I had injuries. Those kids couldn’t go on and play in the most important tournament, the NCAA Tournament.”

All indications are that this LSU team will not have that problem. All three of its stars can play in the Big Dance, and now they may even team up with a reenergized

LSU (14-17, 3-15) also shot a season-low 30% from the field. While scoring woes were more pronounced in its last game, it has been an issue throughout the season.

The challenge of getting the ball through the net can be traced back to the season-ending ACL injury of Jalen Reed. He averaged 11 points per game and was the most reliable low-post option for the Tigers and a burgeoning playmaker as he demanded double teams.

The junior’s absence after getting hurt in the eighth game of the season irreparably altered LSU’s offensive ceiling as its other interior options were either too inexperienced or lacked strong lowpost skills.

More injuries befell LSU, closing the regular season without freshman Vyctorius Miller and redshirt freshman Corey Chest who missed their second and third consecutive game because of injury, respectively

“Vyctorius and Corey still have yet to return to practice,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said. “Corey has missed quite a few games now It was the back injury in Oklahoma, and now he’s got a foot injury Vyctorious, it’s the same ankle that cost him games in early SEC play, rolled it at Mississippi State. And

group of role players to compete for a trip back to the Final Four a journey that will begin inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Against Florida, LSU’s bench chipped in 28 points — the most it’s scored since Feb. 9. Kailyn Gilbert added 10, and Mjracle Sheppard kicked in 12 to pair with two steals while starting for the ﬁrst time this season. The Tigers role players didn’t provide as much scoring against Texas. But the defense they played in the second half after Morrow exited the action and Mikaylah Williams picked up her fourth foul made life tough on the Longhorns, who have now had two of their three worst shooting days of the season come in games against LSU Texas led 36-32 when Williams subbed out of the game at the 2:28 mark of the third quarter

While she sat, the group of six players who saw the ﬂoor in her absence — Sheppard, Gilbert, LastTear Poa, Jada Richard, Sa’Myah Smith and Jersey Wolfenbarger —

Tulane hoops blow out UAB

BY GUERRY SMITH Contributing writer

By the time its regular season ﬁnale against UAB started, it was clear the Tulane men’s basketball team could back in to a double bye in the American Athletic Conference tournament.

The Green Wave chose to blow down the doors instead.

After Florida Atlantic completed a rout of East Carolina and locked up the No. 4 seed for Tulane, the Wave eviscerated UAB with a 38-15 second-half run, winning 85-68 in its most impressive performance of the year Freshman Kam Williams drained six 3s while scoring a season-high 24 points, and all ﬁve starters finished in double figures while the Wave blistered the nets with 54.0-percent shooting.

Trailing 48-47 at the 15:30 mark, Tulane got even hotter, scored 36 points in the next 13 minutes in a torrid display that ended with Asher Woods hitting a shot-clock buzzer-beating, turnaround 3 that made the score 83-63.

“We were predicted almost last in the league and ﬁnished fourth and did it outright,” Tulane coach Ron Hunter said. “We didn’t want to back in. We kept saying that. That was personal for us.”

sense of urgency, which is what you want to do heading into the conference tournament.”

Point guard Rowan Brumbaugh scored only two points during Tulane’s surge, but he was anything but invisible, handing out a season-high 11 assists as he picked apart the Blazers’ often lax defense.

The Wave was just as strong defensively, holding UAB, the AAC’s top scoring team, to its second lowest total in league play while limiting preseason AAC player of the year Yaxel Lendeborg to ﬁve shot attempts and 13 points. Glenn tied him up as he tried to elevate in the lane during the second-half spurt, and Tulane blocked eight shots. Glenn and Williams stuffed forward Christian Coleman at the rim on consecutive possessions, and Banks joined Glenn with three blocks.

“We played with an edge for most of the game,” Hunter said “Asher Woods was great defensively I don’t know if a guard drove by him at all, and we gameplanned for Yaxel He’s a really good player We really wanted to take him away, and we were just swarming everywhere.”

has yet to return to practice, so once again, he’ll also be off tomorrow, be in treatment, both of them obviously, and see where they stand on Monday.”

Miller, the team’s third-leading scorer (8.9) and Chest, the team’s leading rebounder (6.6), each had stints of starting and performing well for the Tigers.

Rebounding was central to Texas A&M’s dominance in the second half. The Aggies entered leading the nation in offensive rebounding rate and ﬁnished the game with 14 offensive rebounds and 17 secondchance points.

LSU needed its bigs Robert Miller and Daimion Collins to be a physical presence in collecting boards but both fouled out in less than 15 minutes of play

Poor defensive rebounding isn’t a new phenomenon for LSU or one that only occurs when its best available frontcourt players are in foul trouble. The Tigers have been one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the country, currently 347th in defensive rebounding rate, according to KenPom.

The Tigers’ disappointing ﬁnale aligns with the overall regular season. However, they must move on and prepare for its SEC tournament game against No. 25 Mississippi State at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee.

managed to shave a point off the Longhorns’ lead, giving Williams a chance to reignite the Tigers’ offense and drive LSU in front by the time she checked back in at the 6:42 mark of the fourth.

“They competed with the No 1 team in the country today without Flau’Jae, without Morrow and (with) Mikaylah sitting a lot,” Mulkey said. “I’ll take that any day.”

LSU, however, never quite ﬁgured out a way to ﬁnd open shots — with or without Morrow and Williams. Since Mulkey took over the program, it’s never scored fewer points in a game than it did on Saturday The Tigers also missed eight free throws — a recurrence of a problem that stood in the way of their hopes of upsetting the Longhorns in the regular season. That day LSU clanked six freebies and lost 65-58.

But the Tigers’ win over Florida, coupled with the fight they displayed in the loss to Texas, showed them what’s possible.

In that game, Morrow scored 36 points — more than any Tiger ever has in the SEC Tournament.

Now she’ll have about two weeks to make sure her foot can handle the rigors of the NCAA Tournament, the postseason action that LSU was prioritizing all along, well before it took another eventful trip to the conference tournament and returned (mostly) unscathed.

“To me, it’s too long,” Mulkey said. “If you have conference tournaments, do we really need all 16 teams in the conference tournament? I don’t know.”

Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com.

Tulane (18-13, 12-6) will play Friday at approximately 2:30 p.m. at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas against the winner of Thursday’s secondround game between No 5 seed Florida Atlantic and either No 12 seed Rice or No. 13 seed Charlotte.

UAB (20-11, 13-5), which returned several key players after winning the AAC Tournament last March, was assured of the No. 3 seed win or lose.

The Wave, which jumped ahead 16-3 in the first half before faltering, had it all going after the break. Gregg Glenn gave it the lead for good, 49-48, with a lay-up off a backdoor cut with 15:23 left. Woods took over for the next few minutes, scoring seven points on three hard drives to the basket that he ﬁnished despite being fouled on two of them and sinking 3-pointer to make the score 63-53. Williams added a pair of lay-ups after doing most of his work from behind the arc as Tulane went up by 14 for the ﬁrst time.

The Wave ﬁnished off the Blazers with a barrage of 3s. Williams connected on his ﬁfth and sixth in eight attempts. Kaleb Banks sank one in transition before Woods’s rushed turnaround found the net.

“They’ve gotten a lot better,” said UAB coach Andy Kennedy, whose team beat Tulane 81-69 in January “They played with a

Woods contributed 20 points on eight-of-10 shooting, which would have matched his high in two years with the Wave if he had not scored 21 at East Carolina on Thursday His ﬁve assists were his most in an AAC game, with Tulane’s 22 its best since getting 25 against Texas-San Antonio on Jan. 4.

“It was a great team effort,” he said. “We came in knowing everything we want is ahead of us, and 22 assists is a recipe for success.”

Williams, who attempted one shot in 21 minutes in Thursday’s loss, worked much harder to get open against UAB and did not hesitate on the catch.

“Taking one shot in a game was me not playing aggressive enough,” he said. “I’ll take responsibility for that. I knew I could not play another game like that and let my teammates down.”

Tulane is now in the same position as UAB and AAC tournament No. 2 seed North Texas entering Fort Worth — three wins away from an NCAA tournament berth that would be its ﬁrst in 30 years. Top seed Memphis, which could face the Wave in a semiﬁnal, will get a bid no matter what it does at Dickies Arena.

“Probably a lot of people gave up on us,” Hunter said. “We talked about the bandwagon would grow and grow once we got to the end of the year These guys stayed focused and showed how good they could really be.”

South Carolina routs Texas for 9th SEC title

BY STEVE REED AP sportswriter

GREENVILLE, S.C. — South Carolina

coach Dawn Staley thought winning this year’s SEC Championship would be much harder than any of the school’s previous titles after the league added Texas and Oklahoma to the mix. But it didn’t look all that hard at all for the ﬁfth-ranked Gamecocks.

Tournament MVP Chloe Kitts

ﬁnished with 15 points and nine rebounds, Tessa Johnson added 14 points and South Carolina completed a dominant three-day run in Greenville by knocking off No. 1 and second-seeded Texas 64-45 on Sunday to win its third straight Southeastern Conference Tournament championship and ninth title in the last 11 years under Staley

“They are young people that come down here and perform to a high standard every single time they step on the ﬂoor and for that I am super proud of them,” Staley said.

Sania Feagin and Joyce Edwards each had 11 points for the Gamecocks, who boldly staked their claim to a No 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks won their three tournament games by 21, 18 and 19 points with the last two coming against newcomers No. 10 Oklahoma and Texas.

None of them looked prepared to handle South Carolina’s intensity

South Carolina (30-3) never trailed and blew the game open with a 19-2 run to start the second quarter to build a 33-16 lead at the break behind a stiﬂing defense. The lead ballooned to 21 early in the fourth quarter and the Gamecocks were never threatened again.

“I took two timeouts in the second quarter and we just could not stop (their momentum),” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. Staley improved to 5-0 against Schaefer in the SEC title games, although the previous four came when he coached at Mississippi State.

Kitts average 16.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game during the tournament and shot 74% from the ﬁeld, but the Gamecocks got contributions from several players as Staley rolled in one talented player after another But the team defense was key

The Gamecocks held All-American Madison Booker to 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting to snap Texas’ 15-game win streak and forced 18 turnovers. Taylor Jones and Rori Harmon led Longhorns (31-3) with 14 points each.

Said Harmon: “We have another big tournament ahead of us and we have to learn from our mistakes. but this game will haunt us as a team.”

AP PHOTO By DAVID yEAZELL LSU head coach Kim Mulkey makes

traveling gesture during a game against Florida on Friday in Greenville, S.C.

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

LSU guard Curtis Givens drives to the basket as Texas A&M guard CJ Wilcher defends in the second half of their game on Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Sweat, Williams are headliner free agents

BY ROB MAADDI

pro football writer

NFL teams can start reshaping their rosters by signing free agents this week.

There’s plenty of attention on the quarterbacks, including Sam Darnold, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. Aaron Rodgers technically isn’t a free agent, but the New York Jets already said they plan to release him, so he’s free to ﬁnd a new team. Agents can start negotiating with teams at 11 a.m. Monday when the legal tampering period opens. Players can’t ofﬁcially sign new deals until the start of the league’s new year at 3 p.m. Wednesday Here’s a look at 25 non-quarterbacks who will be available:

1. Josh Sweat, edge rusher, Philadelphia Eagles

Sweat is set to cash in after an impressive performance in Philadelphia’s 40-22 victory over the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. He had 21/2 sacks on Patrick Mahomes. Sweat has averaged eight sacks per season since becoming a starter in 2021.

2. Davante Adams, WR, New York Jets

Adams caught 85 passes for 1,063 yards and eight touchdowns in a down year spent with the Raiders and Jets He’s a three-time All-Pro who has averaged 103 catches, 1,290 yards and 11 TDs over the past seven seasons.

3. Milton Williams, DT, Philadelphia Eagles

Williams had two sacks in the Super Bowl and showed he’s ready to play a major role on a defensive line after thriving as a rotational player for the Eagles.

4. Charvarius Ward, CB, San Francisco 49ers

A second-team All-Pro in 2023, Ward dealt with adversity last season after the death of his daughter

5. Carlton Davis, CB, Detroit Lions

The seven-year veteran stabilized Detroit’s secondary in his ﬁrst year with the Lions after spending the ﬁrst six in Tampa Bay

6. Chris Godwin, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Coming off a gruesome ankle injury that forced him to miss the ﬁnal 10 games, the 29-year-old Godwin might not get the massive deal he was on pace for when he had 50 catches for 576 yards in just seven games.

7. Drew Dalman, C, Atlanta Falcons

A reliable starter for a top offensive line, Dalman is the best center on the open market

8. D.J. Reed, CB, New York Jets

He allowed just two TDs last season and opposing QBs completed just 46.3% of their passes against him.

9. Dre Greenlaw, LB, San Francisco 49ers

Greenlaw should be all the way back to his old form after returning from an Achilles tendon injury last year

PELICANS

Continued from page 1C

Murphy led the Pelicans with 27 points and five rebounds. Alvarado scored 11 points and had a career-high 11 assists. Murphy also provided the game’s biggest highlight in the first quarter. On the play, Murphy with his back to the basket leaped high and caught a Jose Alvarado pass thrown from beyond half court and finished the alleyoop with a backwards slam.

It was the start of what turned out to be a good ﬁrst half for the Pelicans, who led 64-57 at halftime. Murphy scored 12 points in the half and got plenty of help from role players. Jordan Hawkins, who started, scored nine points in the half. So did rookie Antonio Reeves, who came off the bench and knocked down

Bills release active sacks leader Miller

BY JOHN WAWROW AP sportswriter

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y

The Buffalo Bills announced the long-anticipated decision to release Von Miller on Sunday, parting ways with the aging edge rusher whose contract proved too expensive for his dwindling playing time and production.

The move allows the Bills to free up about $8.4 million in salary cap space, which comes close to matching how much the team was projected to be over the limit before the NFL’s new year begins Wednesday. Nevertheless, a portion of Miller’s contract will remain on Buffalo’s books this year and is projected to count more than $15 million against the cap.

The Bills posted a picture of Miller with the words “Thank You Von” in making the announcement on their X account.

The 14-year veteran is the NFL’s active leader in sacks and set to turn 36 in two weeks. Miller avoided being released a year ago by agreeing to take a substantial pay cut to lower his cap number It’s unclear if the two sides considered a similar contract restructuring this offseason.

Before a holdout ruined his 2024 season, Reddick had 27 sacks in two seasons in Philadelphia.

11. Byron Murphy, CB, Minnesota Vikings

Murphy had his best season last year with a careerhigh six interceptions and allowed a 62.0 passer rating.

12. Amari Cooper, wide receiver, Buffalo Bills

Cooper has had seven 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 10 years. He was limited by injuries when he split time with the Browns and Bills last year

13. Nick Bolton, LB, Kansas City Chiefs

He’s a third-down player and was a leader for Steve Spagnuolo’s stout defense.

14. Jevon Holland, S, Miami Dolphins

Despite a down season in 2024, Holland is the top safety on the market

15. Will Fries, Guard, Indianapolis Colts

Despite playing just ﬁve games because of a broken tibia, Fries should get a signiﬁcant deal.

16. Khalil Mack, edge rusher, L.A Chargers

He’s 34 and his sack total dropped from 17 to six last season but Mack still can provide a boost for teams needing a pass rush specialist

17. Justin Reid, safety, Kansas City Chiefs

A proven leader who would be a big upgrade for a secondary

18. Cam Robinson, OT, Minnesota Vikings

Several teams could use a solid anchor to protect their quarterback’s blind side.

19. Stefon Diggs, WR, Houston Texans

Diggs is coming off an ACL injury that limited him to eight games but the four-time Pro Bowl pick could transition well to a slot role.

20. Tre’von Moehrig, S, Las Vegas Raiders

After recording a career-high 104 tackles and 10 pass breakups in 2024, Moehrig increased his stock.

21. Mekhi Becton, Guard, Philadelphia Eagles

Becton moved from tackle to guard and revived his career in Philadelphia on one of the league’s best lines.

22. Tevin Jenkins, Guard, Chicago Bears

Jenkins is another solid starter who should quickly ﬁnd a home in free agency

23. Asante Samuel, CB, Los Angeles Chargers

He’s a playmaker despite the criticism he receives for his tackling.

24. Jamien Sherwood, LB, New York Jets

He was the best player on a disappointing defense ﬁlled with star talent.

25. Josh Myers, C, Green Bay Packers

Myers allowed just one sack last year and has started 50 of the past 51 games.

“Pretty much everyone you’re going to face is going to be physical. They have something to play for So for us, it doesn’t change. We have to go into it with the right mindset and the right approach.”

WILLIE GREEN, Pelicans coach

all three of his 3-point attempts in the ﬁrst half

But the Pels let the Grizzlies climb back into it in the third quarter, getting outscored 32-15. Morant scored 11 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter

One night after completing their season series and going winless in their four games against the Houston Rockets, the Pelicans also ﬁnished their season series with the Grizzlies without a win. The chances of winning this one looked bleak from the start, with Williamson and

McCollum sitting out on the second night of back-to-back games.

The Pelicans (17-48) lost their fourth straight game. All four losses came against teams in the upper echelon of the Western Conference. The Pelicans’ recent skid started with a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers (currently second in the West), then consecutive losses to the Rockets (ﬁfth in the West) and now the fourth-place Griizzlies (40-24).

“It’s part of the NBA,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “Part of beinginthisleague,especiallybeingin the Western Conference, there are no nights off. Pretty much everyone you’re going to face is going to bephysical.Theyhavesomethingto play for So for us, it doesn’t change. We have to go into it with the right mindset and the right approach.”

The Pelicans’ homestand continues Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers and then Thursday against the Orlando Magic.

Miller expressed optimism he’d remain in Buffalo for a fourth season after the Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game in January

“There’s always some stuff that you can work out or something that you can do,” Miller said.

“I want to be here. I don’t want to speak for them, but I think they want me here too,” he added. “If you want to make God laugh, start making plans. But I plan on being a Buffalo Bill for sure.” General manager Brandon Beane was vague in saying the team was still working through its roster plans when speciﬁcally asked about Miller’s status at the NFL combine in Indianapolis last month.

Beane has since placed his priority on locking in his young core by signing fourth-year edge rusher Greg Rousseau and third-year players linebacker Terrel Bernard and receiver Khalil Shakir to fouryear contract extensions. Miller failed to play to the high expectations Beane had in making the bold gamble to sign the player to a six-year, $120 million contract three years ago. Miller chose Buffalo instead of re-signing with the Los Angeles Rams after winning his second Super Bowl. After leading the Bills with eight sacks through his ﬁrst 10 games in 2022, Miller tore the ACL in his right knee in Week 11, an injury from which he never fully recovered.

He failed to register a sack in 12 regular-season and two playoff games in 2023. Miller had six sacks in 15 games, including playoffs, last season. His playing time was severely limited to mostly passrush situations in averaging 211/2 snaps per regular-season outing. Miller also missed four games because of an NFL suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The suspension stemmed from allegations that Miller assaulted his pregnant girlfriend a year earlier He was arrested but never charged. The future is cloudy for a player who enters free agency for just the second time entering what would become his 15th season. His 1291/2 sacks rank 16th — two behind Lawrence Taylor and Leslie O’Neal since sacks became an ofﬁcial stat in 1982.

Miller was the No. 2 pick in the 2011 draft and spent his ﬁrst 10-plus seasons with the Denver Broncos. He earned NFL defensive rookie of the year honors and appeared in two Super Bowls with Denver, including the Broncos’ win in the 2015 season.

Buffalo Bills

linebacker Von

Miller registered six sacks in 15 games last season, including the playoffs.

ASSOCIATED

BY ROB MAADDI AP pro football writer

The NFL’s free agency period opens Monday with a 52-hour legal tampering period ahead of the official start of the new league year on Wednesday Several high-profile players, including quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Sam Darnold and Justin Fields, will be free to sign a contract with a new team.

Here’s an explanation of rules and terms: WHAT DOES LEGAL TAMPERING MEAN?

At 11 a.m. Monday, teams can start negotiating with players who will become unrestricted free agents when their contracts expire at the start of the new league year on 3 p.m. Wednesday. Players can’t sign with new teams until the league year ofﬁcially begins. The two-day negotiating period applies only to players who will be unrestricted free agents.

WHO ARE UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS?

Any player with four or more accrued seasons — six or more regular-season games on a club’s active/inactive, reserve/injured or reserve/physically unable to perform lists — whose contract has expired becomes an unrestricted free agent and may negotiate and sign with any team.

WHO ARE RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS?

Restricted free agents are players with three accrued seasons who have received a qualifying offer when their current deals expire on Wednesday WHAT IS A FRANCHISE TAG? Each team can designate one potential free agent a franchise player. Only Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins and Chiefs guard Trey Smith received the tag before the March 4 deadline

An exclusive franchise player is not free to sign with another club and is offered the greater of the average of the top ﬁve salaries at the player’s position for the current year as of the end of the restricted free agent signing period on April 18; or the amount of the required tender for a nonexclusive franchise player.

A nonexclusive franchise player can sign with another team, but that club will owe his previous team two ﬁrst-round draft picks. All the players tagged this year are nonexclusive A team has to sign a franchise player by Nov 11

WHAT IS A TRANSITION TAG? The transition tag is a one-year offer for the average of top 10 salaries at the position It guarantees the original club the right of ﬁrst refusal to match any offer the player might receive from another team. The tagging team is awarded no compensation if it chooses not to match a deal. No player received the transition tag this year Teams can decide to withdraw franchise and transition tags and the player automatically becomes an unrestricted free agent.

WHAT IS THE SALARY CAP FOR 2025? The salary cap is $279.2 million per club, up from $255.4 million last year Teams must be under the salary cap by 3 p.m. Wednesday WHAT IS SALARY CAP ROLLOVER? A team may carry over salary cap space from one league year to the following league year by submitting notice to the NFL before 3 p.m. on the day following the team’s ﬁnal regular-season game A team can carry over 100% of its remaining 2024 room to its adjusted salary cap for 2025.

10. Haason Reddick, edge rusher, New York Jets

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By STEPHANIE SCARBROUGH

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, right, is sacked by Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Josh Sweat, left, during Super Bowl LIX on Feb 9 in New Orleans.

LIVING

‘IT BRIDGES GENERATIONS’

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

One of the best perks comes of working at LSU’s T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History comes at the end of each semester, when student workers realize the people they’ve interviewed were once young

The epiphany occurs while they’re collecting Louisiana stories for the center And while the students walk away with newfound wisdom and appreciation for those who came before them, the true rewards of their work are the stories they’ve preserved

“If we don’t save these stories, they’ll be lost,” said Jennifer Cramer, the director of the T Harry Williams Center “And if it wasn’t for these students and our partners who do this work, the stories would be lost forever.”

The T Harry Williams Center has collected Louisianans’ stories since 1991, operating ﬁrst out of LSU’s former Middleton Library, and ﬁnally settling in Hill Memorial Library after a several relocations on campus.

ries and making them available to researchers, and actively engaging in outreach to teach the community about oral history research while creating its own projects

The center has since grown to be Louisiana’s largest, most comprehensive oral history repository, as well as one of the largest in the South with categories ranging from hurricanes to integration to Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. Technology has changed through the years. Digital recorders have replaced tape recorders, and AI has taken over manual transcription by staff and student workers. Working with partners

Each story is important and as different as the people who make up the state of Louisiana, but it’s a job the T. Harry Williams Center can’t do alone.

But location didn’t matter as long as the center adhered to its three-part mission of documenting Louisiana culture and history through recorded oral history interviews, preserving these histo-

“Essentially, we’re a relatively small operation,” Cramer said. “We staff-centered interviews, where the staff focuses on certain topics, and then we have partnerships. The vast majority of our

Hozier headed back to New Orleans with new tour

BY KEITH SPERA Staff writer

Barely a year after his previ-

Hozier kicked off the Unreal Unearth Tour back in 2023. In its ﬁrst two years, the tour logged 83 performances in 72 cities. The 30-plus shows on the docket for 2025 include appearances at the Governor’s Ball and Bonnaroo festivals, as well as two nights at Boston’s Fenway Park Hozier performed on the second Friday of the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival,

headlining the Gentilly Stage at the same time the Foo Fighters were at the Shell Stage. He had previously played Jazz Fest in 2015. His 2024 EP “Unheard” yielded the No. 1 single “Too Sweet,” the ﬁrst of his singles to top the charts in the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland.

Email Keith Spera at kspera@ theadvocate.com.

Studies show treatment of periodontitis may lower dementia odds

Is there a link between gum disease and Alzheimer’s disease?

In a 2020 analysis led by the National Institute on Aging, (NIA), scientists suggest that bacteria that cause gum disease are also associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, especially vascular dementia. The results were reported in the Journal of Alzheimer’s disease. A 2016 study performed jointly by the University of Southampton and Kings College London also reported a link between gum disease and greater rates of cognitive decline in individuals with early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Professor Clive Holmes, senior author from the University of Southampton, stated at its conclusion, “These are very interesting results which build on previous work we have done that shows that chronic inﬂammatory conditions have a detrimental effect on disease progression in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Our study was small and lasted for six months so further trials need to be carried out to develop these results. However if there is a direct relationship between periodontitis and cognitive decline, as this study suggests, then treatment of gum disease might be a possible treatment option for risk of Alzheimer’s.” Periodontitis, or gum disease, is common in older individuals and is likely more common in Alzheimer’s disease because of the reduced ability to take care of oral hygiene as the disease progresses. The increased levels of antibodies to periodontal bacteria are associated with increased levels of inﬂammatory molecules elsewhere in the body, which in turn has been linked to greater rates of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. In the Southampton study, researchers set out to determine whether periodontitis is associated with increased disease severity and/or with subsequent escalation of cognitive decline in individuals developing the disease.

Porphyromonas gingivalis is the most common culprit of gum disease. Studies suggest that plaques of beta-amyloid protein, a major hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, may be produced as a response to this infection.

The NIA analysis revealed that older adults with signs of gum disease and mouth infections at baseline were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s during the study period. Among those 65 years or older, both Alzheimer’s diagnoses and deaths were associated with antibodies against the oral bacterium P. gingivalis, which can cluster with other bacteria such as Campylobacter rectus and Prevotella melaninogenica to further increase those risks. Researchers note that the Southampton study should be replicated with a larger cohort, as the precise means by which gum disease may be linked to cognitive decline are not

PROVIDED PHOTOS By T. HARRy WILLIAMS CENTER FOR ORAL HISTORy

Vietnam veteran John Milazzo, left, was interviewed in 2023 by LSU Honors students Grayson Phillips, right, and Elle Boughton, center, for LSU’s T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History.

War veteran Glen Uffman, left, shows LSU graduate student Julie Dietz some mementos during a 2024 interview for LSU’s T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Hozier performs on the Gentilly Stage during the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds.

Ever-younger patients appearing with kidney stones

Dear Doctors: Our son had some of the symptoms of appendicitis. His lower right side was aching, and he was throwing up. At the emergency room, it turned out that he was passing a kidney stone. He’s only 13 years old — isn’t that much too young? How does he stop from getting more?

Dear reader: It’s true that the average age for developing a ﬁrst kidney stone is typically in the mid30s and ranges into the neighborhood of age 50 to 60. However, a growing number of physicians say they are now treating increasingly younger patients. This is occurring in our own practices, where we see more kidney stones in the 20 to 50 age population than we do in people who are 50plus. And, yes, we are also seeing young adolescents, like your son,

ORAL HISTORY

Continued from page 1D

collections come from partnerships.”

Those partnerships are collaborations between the center and volunteers, who go through a training process before embarking on oral history projects.

“Let’s say someone is interested in doing a collection on a certain topic series. We consider you the expert on your topic, and we help you with our expertise on oral history,” Cramer said. “So, you come to us and say, ‘This is what I want to do.’ But now you don’t have to worry about the best practices of oral history or the recording equipment or making sure it’s preserved, or making sure that it gets read by the interviewee — we’ll take care of all of that. You share with us your expertise on your topic, and voilà, we have a collection.”

A regional history

The center has fostered one such partnership with historian Petra Hendry, professor emeritus in LSU’s Department of Education. Her association began when the center was newly formed Former center director Pamela Dean reached out to Hendry because Hendry showed interest in the history of education in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the state. Per protocol, Dean contacted Hendry because she was a historian of education, and her primary method of research was life histories and oral histories, Hendry said.

“I had done life histories and oral histories for my dissertation work with retired teachers, so I already knew how to do interviewing, collecting collect data and analysis,” Hendry said Next, Hendry applied for a federal grant to fund an oral history project for collecting stories in Old South Baton Rouge.

“We received it,” Hendry said. “I can’t remember exactly how much it was, like almost $50,000. But the crux of that grant and what was unique about the oral history project, the way that Pamela and I perceived it, was that we wanted it to be community-based.”

Community-based project

The idea wasn’t for researchers to show up and say, “We’re here to tell history of your neighborhood,” but for people within the community to collect the stories of those around them. Hendry and Dean’s project started with the history of McKinley High School.

“Part of my course load at LSU was teaching the secondary social studies meth-

TREATMENT

Continued from page 1D

Dr. Elizabeth Ko Dr Eve Glazier ASK THE DOCTORS

with this painful condition. For those who are not familiar a kidney stone is a bit of hard debris that forms from the solid wastes that are dissolved in the urine. These include salts, urea, minerals and other inorganic compounds. If the balance between solid waste to liquid in the urine falls too low, crystals can form. Over time, they bond together and develop into hard,

stonelike objects. Kidney stones can be as small as a grain of sand and, while quite rare, may grow to as large as a golf ball. Stones can sit in the kidney undisturbed and unnoticed for years. But if they move into the ureter, which is the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder, problems can arise. Tiny stones can pass through the ureter undetected. Stones up to about 5 millimeters, which is roughly the diameter of an adult ureter, may also be able to pass through, but can cause significant pain. The ureter has no flex, and the rough exterior and irregular size of a kidney stone can slow its passage. Stones can also become stuck. This blocks the flow of urine and forces it back into the kidney The

increasing pressure causes pain in the groin, back and belly It can also lead to infection. Treatment can include medications to help pass the stone and to manage pain, antibiotics to treat infection and medical procedures to break up or remove larger stones. And, unfortunately, having had a kidney stone increases the risk of a repeat. The reason why ever-younger patients are getting kidney stones is not yet clear However, our modern diet, high in added salt, is a leading suspect. Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that children and young adults now far exceed the recommended sodium intake of 2,300 milligrams per day This skews the mineral balance in the urine, which, in turn, increases the risk of certain types of kidney stones. Not drinking enough water and being overweight also increase that risk. Changing your son’s diet may help reduce the risk of developing more kidney stones. This includes limiting salty and ultra-processed foods, going easy on animal proteins, eating calcium-rich foods, staying hydrated and maintaining a healthy weight. And be sure to alert your family doctor to this incident, as they can offer guidance speciﬁcally tailored to your son. Send your questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla. edu, or write: Ask the Doctors, c/o UCLA Health Sciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

PROVIDED PHOTOS By T. HARRy WILLIAMS CENTER FOR ORAL HISTORy Jennifer Cramer right interviews trailblazing university band director O’Neill

for LSU’s T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Sanford, who grew up

East Feliciana Parish, was the first African American band director at the University of Minnesota and the Big Ten Conference. He lives in Baton

ods courses,” Hendry said “so we went over to McKinley and said, ‘We would like to collect oral histories, and we would like to have students at McKinley conduct the interviews so that they can also learn these skills and about the history of their school, the neighborhood and the rich history of African Americans in Baton Rouge.’”

Hendry soon realized that the local African American history was missing from the school’s curriculum.

“As I looked at the history curriculum that was being taught in the high schools in Baton Rouge, there was really no mention of the rich history of education among African Americans of civil rights, of their economic contributions, etc.,” she said. “This ties back into the grant The majority of the money for the grant was to pay students through the Job Training Partnership Act in the summers to conduct interviews, because these were primarily low-income students at McKinley who then got paid to do oral history interviews and transcriptions in the summer.”

The project not only resulted in oral histories that were preserved by the T. Harry Williams Center but are also available at the East Baton Rouge Parish Libraries’ Carver Branch on Terrace Avenue.

They were young, too

Meanwhile, the students involved learned a few things along the way, the ﬁrst being that McKinley High School was the first public school for African Americans in the Deep South. They also learned that the people they interviewed were once teenagers with great stories from

of U.S. adults aged 30 years or older have periodontitis with about 7.8% of those adults having severe periodontitis The American Dental Association recommends the practice of good oral hygiene daily including brushing properly at least twice a day, using toothpaste, ﬂossing, eating a healthy diet that limits sugary beverages and snacks, and visiting a dentist regu-

their own high school days.

Stories are not only preserved in a repository but also within the experience of interviewers.

Hendry has embarked upon other oral history projects for the center, including Old South Baton Rouge, which also has been compiled in the book, “Roots of Hope,” published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press.

While juggling its many partnerships, the T. Harry Williams Center works in a perpetual cycle of transcribing and making available oral histories to the public. Interviews are accessible

Many of interviews are easily accessible on the center’s website, lib.lsu.edu/oralhistory, and all histories are available at the center itself. The center also partners with the Library of Congress on such projects as the Veterans History Project.

Cramer says that, while the stories at T. Harry Williams Center cover the state, the focus is on south Louisiana.

“There are so many good things about working here, from working with community members to working with students. Honestly, one of my favorite things in the whole world about working here is when the students learn about life before them,” Cramer said. “So many times they say, ‘Well, old people were once young too.’ But when working through, say, our Veterans History Project, they can see what life was like at age 18 for the people they’re interviewing. They can imagine how it was different, how they had to go off to war instead of college at that age.

larly for prevention and treatment of oral disease. Treatment for periodontitis includes professional cleaning, gum grafting, laser gum surgery and root planing.

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

It bridges generations.” Email Robin Miller at romiller@theadvocate.com.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Monday, March 10, the 69th day of 2025. There are 296 days left in the year

Today in history

On March 10, 1959, thousands of Tibetans rebelled against occupying Chinese forces, surrounding the Dalai Lama’s palace to protect him from potential harm. Fierce ﬁghting between Tibetans and Chinese forces ensued in the following days, causing the Dalai Lama to ﬂee Tibet for India, where he remains in exile today

On this date: In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln assigned Ulysses S. Grant, who had just received his commission as lieutenant-general, to the command of the Armies of the United States.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant, Thomas Watson, heard Bell say over his experimental telephone: “Mr Watson — come here — I want to see you” from the

next room of Bell’s Boston laboratory; they were the ﬁrst words ever conveyed by telephone.

In 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tennessee, to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.) In 1993, Dr David Gunn was killed outside the Pensacola Women’s Medical Services clinic by anti-abortion activist Michael Grifﬁn; it was the ﬁrst killing attributed to a doctor’s role in providing abortion care. Today’s birthdays: Actor Chuck Norris is 85. Singer Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean) is 85. TV personality/ business executive Barbara Corcoran (TV: “Shark Tank”) is 76. Actor Sharon Stone is 67. Actor Jasmine Guy is 63. Music producer Rick Rubin is 62. Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Tone down the rhetoric and bypass involvements that entail excessive behavior. Avoid situations that are risky or volatile. Do your best to get along with your associates.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) A passionate approach to life, love and the pastimes that bring you joy will improve your disposition and encourage friendships. Step away from controversy and toward what makes you smile

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Stop waiting for others and procrastinating. Refuse to let time pass you by; be the one to make the first move, engage in something new and exciting or step into a leadership position.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Be careful what you say or offer. If you fall short of fulfillment, someone will hold you to your promises or make you look bad. Stick close to home.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Take a serious look at your lifestyle, consider what brings you joy and what you'd like to walk away from. Let go of or change the dynamics of situations that are too demanding.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Research will pay off. Personal changes will offer clarity and revision and give you a purpose that makes life worth living. Love, personal gains and self-improvement are within reach.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Take the time to discover what's available to you. Put your energy into what most fascinates

you and fine-tune what you discover to help you achieve your goals.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Create a safe place to think and develop what you want to do next. Look at the big picture and make choices that leave you feeling comfortable.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Implement activities that get you moving and stir up feelings that push you to follow your dreams. Go on a learning expedition, discover the ins and outs of what you want to pursue and take a wholehearted approach to doing something that makes you feel alive.

sAGIttARIus (nov 23-Dec 21) Not everyone you meet today will be on your side. Listen carefully and decipher what's valid or fits into your plans before you give in to persuasive manipulation.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Push forward aggressively and turn your back on meaningless and time-consuming situations. Protect your space, reputation and peace of mind. Let go of what's holding you back.

AQuARIus (Jan 20-Feb. 19) Take the plunge, and don't look back Focus on what's ahead of you, be open and receptive to new beginnings and learn all you can to bring about the changes that make you happy.

FAMILY CIrCUS

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

toDAy's cLuE: u EQuALs B

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

LAGoon

Sudoku

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

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER

IngridBergmansaid,“Akissisalovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.”

At the bridge table, if you find a lovely, extra,contract-fulfillingtrick,especially in a grand slam, your partner will give you a metaphorical kiss. In this deal, South barrels into seven spades. After West leads the heart queen, how should declarer continue?

If South had used a second dose of Blackwood and learned that two kings were missing, he would have stopped in six spades and ruined a good story. (If you use Roman Key Card Blackwood, it is a good idea to treat an immediate response of four no-trump as regular Blackwood, not RKCB. To use RKCB in opener’s suit, make a forcing raise, then bid four no-trump on the second round.)

When in a grand slam, count winners. Here, South has only 12: six spades, two hearts, one diamond and three clubs. Where might a 13th trick come from?

There is only one sensible chance: hearts. That requires a 4-3 heart break and three dummy entries: two for the heart ruffs in the closed hand and one to return to the dummy to cash the established heart What are those entries?

They must be one heart and two clubs. So, after winning the first trick on the

wuzzles

board, declarer must not touch trumps. He must immediately cash the second heart winner (discarding a diamond from hand) and ruff a heart. Then he draws trumps, plays a club to dummy’s queen, ruffs another heart, leads a club to the ace, and pitches his second low diamond on the last heart © 2025 by nEa, inc., dist. By andrews mcmeel syndication

Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: nOOn gOOD = gOOD aFTErnOOn

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons:

toDAy’s

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C. PiCKles

dIrectIons: make a 2- to 7-letter word from the letters in each row. add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value. all the words are in the Official sCraBBlE® players Dictionary, 5th Edition.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

ken ken

InstructIons: 1 Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 thorugh 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating. 2 The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners. 3 Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner. HErE is a