The Times-Picayune 03-11-2025 by The Advocate

WHERE BUSINESS & CULTURE COLLIDE

Cantrell defies council’s travel ban

Mayor flies to Washington for national conference

BY JAMES FINN Staff writer

Days after the New Orleans City Council barred Mayor LaToya Cantrell from traveling with taxpayer money, Cantrell is on an ofﬁcial visit to Washington, D.C., for a national mayors’ conference — a trip the City Council president slammed Monday as “patently unlawful.”

The council on Feb. 27 temporarily banned Cantrell from traveling on city business after her administration backed out of a high-proﬁle settlement that was set to deliver millions of dollars to New Orleans schools, arguing that the city’s ﬁnances were too dire to make good on that agreement. Council members responded with the travel moratorium, which they said would reduce frivolous spending.

Cantrell’s trip to the Yale Mayors College Conference this week was “confirmed on the mayor’s office schedule well before the recent council ordinance,” a spokesperson for her office said in a statement. Cantrell was in Washington on Sunday evening, the spokesperson said.

“This event offers a valuable opportunity for leaders to interact and share best practices related

to challenges facing metropolitan areas across America,” the statement said. Over her second mayoral term, during which Cantrell’s popularity plummeted amid a series of scandals, her frequent travel outside New Orleans has set up clashes with the City Council, whose members emerged as some of her loudest critics.

“President (Donald) Trump is fully aware of these problems, and I look forward to working with his administration to improve FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program.” HOUSE MAJORITy LEADER STEVE SCALISE, R-Jefferson

Leaders wary of FEMA cuts

Disaster agency under review by Trump administration

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON The Federal Emergency Management Agency may not close entirely as President Donald Trump says he’s open to — but it appears the disaster relief agency is in for rearranging Trump created a FEMA Review Council, which will convene in April, to report on the agency’s strengths and failings and make recommendations for changes by summer A U.S. House committee hearing last week ﬂoated several ideas — including letting states carry more of the disaster burden.

That would cause dramatic challenges for storm-prone Louisiana, which is particularly reliant on FEMA. Since 2003, Louisiana has received nearly $47 billion to recover from 28 disasters, according to a January Carnegie Endowment report. Meanwhile, Trump has cut FEMA’s budget and ﬁred 200 probationary employees while trying to force out another 800 in an agency with about 17,000 workers. Some emergency ofﬁcials and members of Congress worry that the cuts to what they think is an already understaffed agency will weaken responses for future disasters.

“I am deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s attack on FEMA and the dedicated public servants in emergency management at every level,” said Rep. Timothy Kennedy, D-N.Y “The truth is that for decades, FEMA has come to the aid of the American public time and time again. And they have done so while being understaffed and underfunded.” Yet FEMA is unlikely to be shuttered entirely — the president would need Congress to do that. And Louisiana emergency leaders and members of its Congressional delegation

ä See FEMA, page 4A

Her latest trip spurred furious pushback from the council’s president, JP Morrell, who authored the travel moratorium. In a letter to top administration ofﬁcials Monday, Morrell called the journey “patently unlawful” and said it was cause for “dismay and extreme concern.”

He argued that the ordinance approved unanimously on Feb. 27 was written to cover all official travel, including trips scheduled

See CANTRELL,

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

The Louisiana Department of Health failed to properly oversee some $2.4 billion in

spending aimed at improving the health of the state’s neediest patients, according to a new report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Ofﬁce. The report, released Monday, found that over the past ﬁve years,

expenses and other costs that did not have a measurable impact on patient health outcomes.

“The sole focus of this program was to improve the health outcomes of Medicaid beneﬁciaries but

ä See MEDICAID, page 5A

Education stipend program draws families

Nearly 14,000 have signed up

BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer

Nearly 14,000 eligible Louisiana families have signed up for the state’s new LA GATOR scholarship program since applications opened this month, according to new state data, suggesting that demand for the stipends will almost certainly exceed supply

The centerpiece of Gov Jeff Landry’s education agenda, the new program will give tax dollars to eligible families to help pay for private-school tuition or approved expenses, such as tutoring,

ä See EDUCATION, page 4A

STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Jury: Disney didn’t copy ‘Moana’ from story

LOSANGELES A jury on Monday quickly rejected a man’s claim that Disney’s “Moana” was stolen from his story of a young surfer in Hawaii.

The Los Angeles federal jury deliberated for only about 2½ hours before deciding that the creators of “Moana” never had access to writer and animator Buck Woodall’s outlines and script for “Bucky the Surfer Boy.”

With that question settled, the jury of six women and two men didn’t even have to consider the similarities between “Bucky” and Disney’s 2016 hit animated ﬁlm about a questing Polynesian princess.

Woodall had shared his work with the stepsister of his brother’s wife, who worked for a different company on the Disney lot, but the woman testiﬁed during the two-week trial that she never showed it to anyone at Disney

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” Woodall’s attorney Gustavo Lage said outside court. “We’re going to review our options and think about the best path forward.” In closing arguments earlier Monday, Woodall’s attorney said that a long chain of circumstantial evidence and similarities so numerous they can’t be coincidences make it clear that his story “Bucky the Surfer Boy” was the basis for the hit 2016 animated ﬁlm.

“There was no ‘Moana’ without ‘Bucky,’” Lage said during closing arguments in a Los Angeles courtroom.

Defense lawyer Moez Kaba said that the evidence shows overwhelmingly that “Moana” was clearly the creation and “crowning achievement” of the 40-year career of John Musker and Ron Clements, the writers and directors behind 1989’s “The Little Mermaid,” 1992’s “Aladdin,” 1997’s ”Hercules” and 2009’s “The Princess and the Frog.” Syria signs deal with Kurdish-led authorities

JABLEH, Syria Syria’s interim government signed a deal Monday with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceaseﬁre and the merging of the main U.S.-backed force there into the Syrian army

The deal is a major breakthrough that would bring most of Syria under the control of the government, which is led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir alSham that led the ouster of President Bashar Assad in December. The deal was signed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The deal to be implemented by the end of the year would bring all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, airports and oil ﬁelds in the northeast under the central government’s control. Prisons where about 9,000 suspected members of the Islamic State group are also expected to come under government control.

Syria’s Kurds will gain their “constitutional rights” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades under Assad Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.

25 killed when boat capsizes in Congo

KINSHASA,Congo — A boat has capsized in southwestern Congo and killed 25 people, many of them soccer players, authorities said Monday

The players were returning from a match in Mushie city in Maï-Ndombe province on Sunday night when the vessel capsized on the Kwa River, said Alexis Mputu, the provincial spokesperson.

Mputu suggested that the poor visibility at night may have been a factor

At least 30 other people survived, said Renacle Kwatiba, the local administrator of Mushie territory

Cargo ship hits fuel tanker off England

Jet fuel pouring into North Sea from vessel

BY JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON A cargo ship hit a tanker transporting jet fuel for the U.S. military off eastern England on Monday, setting both vessels ablaze and sending fuel pouring into the North Sea.

All but one of the 37 crew of the two ships were brought safely ashore. One crew member from the cargo ship, Solong, was missing, the vessel’s owner Ernst Russ said in a statement

The ship owner said “13 of the 14 Solong crew members have been brought safely (to) shore.” The owner of the fuel tanker said all 23 of its crew members were safe.

The two ships were still ablaze 12 hours after the collision, British coast guards said. They said they had ended the search for the missing crew member They conﬁrmed 36 others had been brought ashore, one of whom was hospitalized.

The collision triggered a major rescue operation by lifeboats coast guard aircraft and commercial vessels in the foggy North Sea.

The British government said it was assessing “any counter-pollution response which may be required over the coming days.” The Marine Accident Investigation Branch was investigating the cause of the collision.

The U.S.-ﬂagged chemical and oil products tanker MV Stena Immaculate was at anchor near the port of Grimsby on Monday morning after sailing from Greece, according to ship-tracking site VesselFinder

The Portugal-flagged container ship Solong was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands when it struck the tanker’s side.

U.S.-based maritime management ﬁrm Crowley, which operates the Stena Immaculate, said the tanker “sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1

fuel,” when the container ship struck it, triggering a ﬁre and “multiple explosions onboard,” with fuel released into the sea.

The Stena Immaculate was operating as part of the U.S. government’s Tanker Security Program, a group of commercial vessels that can be contracted to carry fuel for the military when needed.

The Solong’s cargo included sodium cyanide, which can produce harmful gas when combined with water according to industry publication Lloyd’s List Intelligence. It was unclear if there had been a leak.

Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the alarm was raised at 9:48 a.m. Humber Coast Guard asked vessels with firefighting equipment and those who could help with search and rescue to head to the scene about 155 miles north of London.

Video footage aired by British broadcasters and apparently filmed from a nearby vessel showed thick black smoke pouring from both ships.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ofﬁce said details of the collision and its cause “are still becoming clear.”

Abdul Khalique, head of the Maritime Center at Liverpool John Moores University, said it appeared the crew of the cargo ship had not been “maintaining a proper lookout by radar” as required by international maritime regulations.

Greenpeace U.K. said it was too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage from the collision, which took place near busy ﬁshing grounds and major seabird colonies.

Scientists said the environmental impact might be less severe than with a spill of heavier crude oil.

“Whilst the images look worrying, from the perspective of the impact to the aquatic environment, it’s less of a concern than if this had been crude oil because most of the jet fuel will evaporate very quickly,” said Mark Hartl of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University

Trump: Arrest of activist at Columbia ‘first of many’

Palestinian grad student helped lead protests against Gaza war

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ and PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press

NEW YORK President Donald Trump warned Monday that the arrest and possible deportation of a Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia University will be the ﬁrst “of many to come” as his administration cracks down on campus demonstrations against Israel and the war in Gaza.

Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident who was a graduate student at Columbia until December, was detained Saturday by federal immigration agents in New York and ﬂown to an immigration jail in Louisiana Homeland Security officials said Khalil’s arrest was a result of Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism.

while the court considered his case. A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday Typically, expelling a person who has permanent residency in the U.S. requires a high bar, such as that person being convicted of certain types of crimes, but Khalil has not been charged with any crimes over his activities during campus unrest last year at the university.

He’s the ﬁrst person known to be detained for deportation under Trump’s promised crackdown on student protests.

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

“We will ﬁnd, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

Khalil’s detention drew outrage from civil rights groups and free speech advocates, who accused the administration of using its immigration enforcement powers to squelch criticism of Israel.

His lawyers ﬁled a lawsuit challenging his detention. A federal judge in New York City ordered that Khalil not be deported

Federal immigration authorities also visited a second international student at Columbia on Friday evening and attempted to take her into custody but were not allowed to enter the apartment, according to a union representing the student. The woman has not been identified, and it’s not clear what grounds the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had for the visit.

Trump has argued that protesters forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting the Palestinian group Hamas that controls Gaza. The U.S. has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Khalil and other student leaders of Columbia University Apartheid Divest have rejected claims of antisemitism, saying they are part of a broader anti-war movement that also includes Jewish students and groups. But the protest coalition, at times, has also voiced support for leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Islamist organization designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group.

The Republican administration on Monday also warned some 60 colleges that they could lose federal money if they fail to make campuses safe for Jewish students.

Doctors say Pope Francis no longer in imminent danger

Pontiff remains hospitalized

BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

ROME Doctors said Monday Pope Francis is no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of pneumonia that has kept him hospitalized for nearly a month, but have decided to keep him hospitalized for several more days to receive treatment.

In a late update, the doctors said the 88-year-old pope remains stable and has consolidated improvements in recent days, as determined by blood tests and positive responses to drug treatments.

The Vatican said the doctors had lifted their previous “guarded” prognosis, meaning they determined he was no longer in imminent danger as a result of the original respiratory infection he arrived with on Feb. 14 But their caution remained.

“However, in view of the complexity of the clinical picture and the important infectious picture presented on admission, it will be necessary to continue medical drug therapy in a hospital setting for additional days,” according to the Vatican statement.

In a sign of his improved health, Francis followed the Vatican’s weeklong spiritual retreat via videoconference on Monday in both the morning and afternoon sessions.

Pasolini is delivering a series of meditations this week on “The hope of eternal life,” a theme that was chosen well before Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 with a complex lung infection

The retreat, an annual gathering that kicks off the Catholic Church’s solemn Lenten season leading to Easter, continues through the week. The Vatican has said Francis would participate “in spiritual communion” with the rest of the hierarchy, from afar Francis also resumed his physical and respiratory therapy at the Gemelli hospital, and rested and prayed inbetween. Francis has been using a nasal tube for supplemental oxygen to help him breathe during the day and a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night, therapy that he was continuing Monday The 88-year-old pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, had what was just a bad case of bronchitis when he was hospitalized last month The infection progressed into a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia that has sidelined Francis for the longest period of his 12-year papacy and raised questions about the future.

As he did on Sunday, Francis participated in the retreat remotely from the Rome hospital where he is being treated. He could see and hear the Rev Roberto Pasolini, preacher of the papal household, but the priests, bishops and cardinals gathered for the retreat in the Vatican auditorium could not see or hear him.

PHOTO PROVIDED By BARTEK SMIAŁEK

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FRANCISCO SECO

A Catholic nun crosses herself Sunday during a prayer of the Rosary for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

Khalil

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Ukraine expected to propose limited ceasefire

BY MATTHEW LEE and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia A Ukrainian delegation set to meet with America’s top diplomat in Saudi Arabia about ending the three-year war with Russia will propose a ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes, as well as the release of prisoners, two senior Ukrainian ofﬁcials said Monday

The ofﬁcials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about Tuesday’s meeting, also told The Associated Press that the Ukrainian delegation is ready during the talks to sign an agreement with the United States on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals a deal that U.S. President Donald Trump is keen to secure.

The ofﬁcials discussed the conﬁdence-building measures, with no further details, ahead of the Ukrainian negotiating team’s meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jeddah.

plane, Rubio said he and national security adviser Mike Waltz would take stock of Ukraine’s responses in Saudi Arabia. If Ukraine and the U.S. reach an understanding acceptable to Trump, that could accelerate his administration’s push to peace talks.

“What we want to know is, are they interested entering some sort of peace conversation and general outlines of the kinds of things they could consider, recognizing that it has been a costly and bloody war for the Ukrainians. They have suffered greatly and their people have suffered greatly,” Rubio said.

meeting Rubio will include his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov Rubio will lead the U.S. team.

The rest of Europe remains skeptical about the talks as it has been sidelined by Washington.

The European Union last week agreed to boost the continent’s defenses and to free up hundreds of billions of euros for security in response to the Trump administration’s shift in stance on Ukraine.

textbooks or special-education services. The application period, which started March 1 and runs through April 15, is being closely watched as an early indicator of public interest in the scholarships. Proponents are sure to point to the ﬁgures when state lawmakers convene next month to hammer out the state budget and decide on funding for programs, including LA GATOR.

The initial application numbers show that “people across the entire state are interested” in the program and “looking for opportunities for their children,” said state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, who chairs the Senate Education Committee and carried the LA GATOR bill last year “I think that will catch legislators’ attention.”

About 16,700 families have applied online for the program since March 1, and more than 13,900 have been deemed eligible, ac-

FEMA

Continued from page 1A

say major changes could be good for an agency that has frequently been a source of deep frustration in the state.

“For years, thousands of Louisiana families, small businesses and local officials have called my office expressing deep frustration with how FEMA delivers disaster relief,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Jefferson Republican whose district includes hurricane-battered southeast Louisiana. “President Trump is fully aware of these problems, and I look forward to working with his administration to improve FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program.” FEMA is responding to more disasters each year — about 1,400 hurricanes, wildfires, floods and tornadoes over the past decade. Over the last four years, FEMA reported providing more than $12 billion to individuals and $133 billion to state and local governments, tribal nations, territories and some nonprofits to help in recovery efforts.

The growing expense has some conservatives talking about reducing the federal government’s role.

The Cato Institute a Washington-based conser-

Kyiv is trying to repair the damage done when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Feb. 28 visit to Washington descended into an Oval Ofﬁce argument with Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

At stake is the military aid and intelligence previously offered by the United States that had helped Ukraine in the war but is now paused as Washington pushes for a peace agreement.

cording to data provided Monday by the Louisiana Department of Education. Roughly 1,800 of the submitted applications are still under review

The scholarships will range from $5,200 for families who don’t qualify as low-income to $15,200 for students with disabilities. Recipients will be able to spend the money on tuition at participating private schools and a wide variety of stateapproved expenses, including laptops, extracurricular activities and school uniforms.

But it’s almost certain that the state will not grant scholarships to every eligible family that applies. If demand exceeds funding, the state will give priority to students who currently receive school vouchers, followed by lowincome students and students with disabilities.

“Participation is always going to be determined by appropriation” by the Legislature, state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said in a recent interview, adding that he believes Landry will “ﬁght for funding for GATOR.”

Last month, Landry proposed

vative think tank, argues that the federal government must cut spending to deal with massive budget deficits. That includes disaster response, which the states should ﬁnance themselves.

“The states demand federal aid, and federal politicians put the costs on the national credit card,” the institute said. Growing federal intervention displaces more efficient state, local, and private efforts Congress should phase out FEMA aid for disaster preparedness, response, and relief.”

At a hearing last week Rep. Dale Strong a Republican from Alabama who chairs the subcommittee that monitors FEMA — called for the agency to shed its role in housing migrants without documentation and refugees. But he also talked about transferring more of the disaster costs to the states.

“As we contemplate how best to reconfigure or establish efficiencies within FEMA to support its operations, we must ask whether FEMA’s expanding mission set has slowly exhausted the agency’s resources and workforce preventing it from completing its core mission to the highest level of sufﬁciency,” Strong said.

Rep. Troy Carter, DNew Orleans, agrees that FEMA needs “comprehensive reform” but warned

Rubio and Zelenskyy landed a few hours apart Monday in Saudi Arabia, though they were not expected to meet. Zelenskyy was to meet with the kingdom’s powerful crown prince Monday evening. Rubio also was due to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Speaking to reporters aboard his

putting $93.5 million into LA GATOR next school year, its ﬁrst in operation. That would fund just under 11,500 scholarships, according to estimates in the governor’s spending plan. If the state Legislature goes along with Landry’s plan, some 2,500 eligible families would not get scholarships, based on current numbers. And the gap between supply and demand will likely grow as more families apply before next month’s deadline. It remains to be seen whether lawmakers will agree to the full $93.5 million Landry proposed, which is double what the state spends annually on vouchers to help low-income families afford private school. LA GATOR will replace school vouchers, and current voucher students are guaranteed scholarships if they apply

Last year, Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, and other lawmakers tried to scale back the proposed scholarship program amid concerns about its potentially huge cost and strong opposition from public-education advocates who said the program will drain

that “dismantling it before putting a new structure in place would leave millions of Americans, especially in disaster-prone areas like Louisiana, vulnerable to further hardship.

“States, while capable of responding to some immediate needs, do not have the resources, infrastructure, or capacity to provide the widespread, coordinated relief that FEMA can offer We must strengthen FEMA, not dismantle it, to ensure that no community is left behind in their time of need.”

Though abolishing the agency gets most of the headlines, shuttering FEMA probably isn’t in the cards, said Jacques Thibodeaux, director of the Louisiana Governor’s Ofﬁce of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, called GOHSEP

Having partnered with FEMA for the past 20 years — the agency is still providing assistance for individuals and local governments for 10 disasters — Thibodeaux said Louisiana has “very extensive knowledge of how FEMA works.”

Louisiana GOHSEP’s annual budget is about $3.1 billion, of which about $2.8 billion is federal funding that routes through FEMA.

Thibodeaux is open to some ideas, such as moving FEMA out of the U.S.

“And it’s hard in the aftermath of something like that to even talk about concessions, but that’s the only way this is going to end and prevent more suffering.”

He added: “I’m not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do. I think we want to listen to see how far they’re willing to go and then compare that to what the Russians want and see how far apart we truly are.”

Zelenskyy has said his team

resources from cash-strapped public schools while sending tax dollars to loosely regulated private and religious schools.

After Landry and proponents of the bill mounted a pressure campaign that included TV ads attacking reluctant lawmakers, the Legislature ultimately passed the LA GATOR bill mostly along party lines, with most Republicans in support and most Democrats opposed.

Now lawmakers will decide during the upcoming legislative session, which begins April 14, how much money to give the program. Their decision will determine how many families get scholarships next school year and how many will be left empty-handed.

LA GATOR supporters hope the application numbers will convince lawmakers to give the program at least the amount Landry requested.

“I think the parent response sends a clear message,” said Ronnie Morris, president of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. “Obviously there’s a significant number of parents

Department of Homeland Security and back to the White House to allow emergency coordinators direct access to the chief executive. Thibodeaux answers directly to the governor and not through several layers of administrators.

“I think that FEMA getting back to their roots is a good thing,” he said.

Slashing bureaucracy is a common theme in talk about FEMA.

The agency grew in the 1970s out of previous decentralized federal efforts at the insistence of Southern governors who demanded that disaster recovery be more coordinated. FEMA has been tinkered with ever since.

Congress passed laws, demanded regulations and expanded the agency’s mission beyond helping people and local governments recover from disasters as well as administering the National Flood Insurance Program.

Over time, myriad rules, often to ensure the federal money is being spent properly have piled up.

For instance, in major disasters, local governments can hire companies to pick up debris in public areas. FEMA reimburses the local governments. But often homeowners need to tear out much of their houses, and there’s simply not

White House special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that the pause of U.S. intelligence-sharing with Ukraine has not limited defense intelligence-sharing.

“We never shut off intelligence for anything defensive that the Ukrainians need,” Witkoff said. A pause on sharing U.S intelligence that can be used for offensive purposes by Ukrainian forces remains in effect, according to a U.S. ofﬁcial familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity

that are interested in this opportunity.”

Students who received school vouchers this year and children from families with a total income at or below 250% of federal poverty guidelines ($80,375 for a family of four) are eligible for scholarships next school year Incoming kindergartners and public school students from families with any level of income are also eligible.

Current voucher students will continue receiving tuition money if they apply for LA GATOR. As of Monday, about half of the roughly 5,600 voucher students had signed up for the new program, but Education Department officials said they expect the number to grow In a statement Monday, Landry celebrated the initial application numbers.

“The high demand for the LA GATOR Scholarship Program shows the value this program provides to families across our state,” he said. “Expanding school choice and ensuring parents are in charge of their child’s education will continue to be our top priority.”

enough room on the street side of the culvert to pile up the debris.

FEMA has to proactively waive that regulation for the local contractors to pick up debris on the privately owned house side of the culvert, which takes time.

This red tape leads to a lot of anger among disaster victims who are understandably impatient to get back on their feet.

“FEMA is badly broken and in need of reform,”

said Rep. Julia Letlow a Start Republican whose district now includes parts of the Baton Rouge area. “I’m glad to see President Trump order a review of an agency that too often puts bureaucracy ahead of effectively helping Americans in need. Sunshine is the best medicine, and this evaluation will provide us the information necessary to bring accountability to FEMA and competence to our nation’s disaster response.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left, meets with Prince Saud bin Mishaal, deputy governor of Saudi Arabia’s Mecca region, right, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Monday.

before the law was conceived

“It is legally irrelevant that the mayor’s latest lark was announced before the travel moratorium took effect,” Morrell wrote in the letter, which The Times-Picayune obtained through a public records request. “The law clearly prohibits employees both from ‘engaging in nonessential travel’ and ‘incurring any non-essential-travel-related expense’ between March 9 and April 30. So, even if the expenses were approved, the act of travel itself is also prohibited.”

The letter addressed to Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño and Chief Financial Ofﬁcer Romy Samuel asked that no city money be used to reimburse Cantrell or her staff for costs incurred on the trip. Morrell said he was making a “formal and continuing request” for records of any such costs, as well as reimbursements requested by Cantrell’s team and a list of employees accompanying her on the journey

have paid the school system $7 million each year for a decade after a $20 million upfront payment. School leaders were counting on that money to help mend the system’s own budget woes.

But Cantrell pulled out of the deal last month, arguing the city cannot afford the payout. She also pointed to an October accounting blunder by the school system — which shorted schools out of millions of dollars — as proof it was prone to mismanagement of public funds.

“No one, especially me, wants to see our children and educators suffer,” she then said. “But at the same time, we cannot ignore the ﬁnancial mismanagement that led to (the school district’s) $36 million shortfall.”

“If the mayor seeks to learn about ‘best practices’ in leadership,” Morrell said, quoting from Cantrell’s news release about the trip, “she might begin with obeying the law and with leading by example through self-sacriﬁce and financial discipline. Neither lesson requires a trip to Washington at taxpayer expense.”

The Yale Mayors College is a program run by Yale University’s School of Management that gathers mayors of mid-size to large U.S. cities for “intensive, peerdriven” roundtable discussions on policy topics, according to the university’s website. Yale describes the sessions as “peer-driven, candid, off-the-record discussion of current leadership challenges.”

After the letter was made public, Cantrell’s administration issued another statement Monday afternoon decrying “misinformation” and “disrespect” ofﬁcials said had come from Morrell. Ofﬁcials said city government “will not incur a cost for the mayor’s participation and attendance at the Yale conference,” though it remained unclear who would.

MEDICAID

Continued from page 1A

that’s not happening,” Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack said in an interview Monday “The funds are not making it all the way down to the hospitals that are doing the work.”

The issues identiﬁed with the Managed Care Incentive Program, or MCIP, which was designed to increase Medicaid patients’ access to preventive medical care, improve management of chronic diseases and offer other services, underscored the challenges Louisiana faces as it tries to improve the health of its lowest-income residents.

The state ranked 49th in health outcomes when the program went into effect in 2019 and has since slipped to 50th.

Federal and state Medicaid funding in Louisiana was nearly $15 billion in 2024. While the MCIP program represents only 4.8% of that total, the report raises questions about how to effectively use the federal funding provided through Medicaid at a time when the safety-net program, which was expanded under former Gov. John Bel Edwards, has since been targeted for potential cuts by Republicans in Congress and Gov Jeff Landry

“We have continued to look at Medicaid because Louisiana has spent a lot of money over the last eight years on Medicaid expansion, but we never can seem to get off the bottom,” Waguespack said Dueling networks

The report highlighted several problems with the incentive program since its inception in 2018. Among them, auditors said the dueling networks of competing hospital systems tracked different “milestones” and

The council’s Feb. 27 legislation bans travel by any city employees until April 30 with two exceptions: for members of the city’s Aviation Board, and for trips whose costs are covered by state or federal grants.

health outcomes, making it impossible to compare the performance of the two.

More than 18% of the program expenditures between 2019 and 2024 — approximately $437 million went to “non-milestone” activities, such as submitting annual reports, holding annual meetings and other administrative tasks that “do not improve the quality of services for Medicaid beneﬁciaries.”

Additionally, around 63% of program expenditures over ﬁve years some $1.5 billion — went to “non-measurable” milestones that are not directly associated with quality health outcomes, the audit said Among the examples cited was $7.3 million the Ochsner-run network received to “identify ideas to improve prenatal health care services,” and $4.9 million the LSU Health-run network received to hold an awards ceremony and conference.

The report, while critical of the program overall and the Health Department’s lack of oversight, specifically cited problems with the network of Ochsner hospitals and affiliates, called the Quality Outcome and Improvement Network, and raised questions about a lack of documentation relating to $46 million in program money it spent on “administrative and management” and other costs.

The audit suggested that the network’s failure to account for those funds could violate the state constitution.

In its lengthy response to the audit, the network’s executive director, Lane Sisung, disputed its conclusions.

Sisung said the audit “omits critical information, regarding the MCIP program, reﬂects a fundamental misunderstanding of applicable federal law, and includes many inaccuracies and conclusions not

The legal sparring over the school funding — and the ensuing travel ban — touched off last month when Cantrell’s administration said it would no longer honor the terms of a $90 million deal with the Orleans Parish School Board to settle a long-running legal ﬁght over tax collections.

A top Cantrell deputy had worked with school leaders last fall to bless that deal, which would

supported by evidence.”

He disputed the auditor’s position on the $46 million, saying that “any suggest QIN’s payments are unconstitutional is contradictory to both the facts and Louisiana law.”

“Ultimately, the report will likely result in misunderstandings by the Legislature and the public, both of which are inconsistent with the Report’s goals,” he said.

In its response to the audit, the LQN, which is headed by LSU Health Vice Chancellor Ben Lousteau, said while there are aspects of the Medicaid incentive program that can be improved, “the design and implementation has been accomplished in good faith, a compliant fashion and has been integral to preserving and improving health care in our state.”

The state Health Department, in its response to the audit, agreed with the ﬁndings and said it is already making changes to the program.

In a statement Monday afternoon, the Health Department spokesperson Emma Herrock said that even before the audit “LDH leadership reviewed the MCIP program and recognized that signiﬁcant improvements needed to be made, such as a critical need for increased oversight and reevaluation of protocols to ensure that funding is correlated with improved health outcomes.”

The department began making those changes last year, restructuring the program and designing two new incentive arrangements for behavioral health and maternal health, she added.

Different milestones

The MCIP was established by the legislature in 2018 and went into effect one year later, offering to pay the six managed care companies that administer the

That about-face spurred ongoing, blistering protests from students, teachers and administrators. Last month, the council responded with the travel ban, which follows Cantrell spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on overseas and out-of-state travel during her second term, according to a Times-Picayune investigation last year

The travel ban was not punitive, council members argued, but rather sought to rein in unnecessary spending amid the administration’s concerns about the health of the city’s budget.

state’s Medicaid program an additional 5% a year if they could improve patient access to care and health outcomes.

The program was supposed to improve health outcomes by reducing emergency room visits, increasing checkups with primary care doctors and increasing preventive care screenings like mammograms and blood pressure monitoring.

According to the audit, however, those companies, which include Blue Cross, Humana and United Healthcare, have had little to do with the program, which, instead, has been run by two “quality networks” — the Ochsner-run QIN, and the Louisiana Quality Network, which is run by LSU Health.

The audit faults the Health Department for allowing

The session underway in Washington this week is focused on how business leaders and local ofﬁcials can apply lessons learned from Donald Trump’s ﬁrst presidential term to his second presidency Cantrell, a Democratic mayor in a solidly-red state embattled by a series of scandals including a federal investigation, has been quiet in speaking out against Trump’s policies since his second inauguration in January

She has recently forged what political analysts describe as an unorthodox friendship with Republican Gov Jeff Landry, a close Trump ally

networks of competing hospital systems that, since the program’s inception, have not wanted to work together and have used different “milestones” to measure performance.

The Ochsner network, for instance, is measured on the outcome of its diabetic members while LQN is measured on increasing the number of breast cancer screenings. The report found this approach was intentional and, it suggests, wasteful because it prevents “disagreements regarding the payments each network should receive based on their performance.”

The Health Department responded that it is changing the program to have a uniform set of milestones that both networks will be measured against.

The report took particular

aim at the Ochsner-run QIN, questioning $38.2 million in administrative and management expenses the network incurred and another $8.4 million paid directly to Ochsner Health for “other costs.”

Auditors, who spent months researching and preparing the report, “asked QIN and Ochsner for documents such as invoices” to support both payments but the health system refused, “stating that the documentation supporting these costs is protected under attorneyclient privilege.”

Sisung said that “QIN disagrees with the report’s recommendations and urges the state to exercise caution before taking any action.”

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

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

New Orleans City Council President JP Morrell calls Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s trip to Washington ‘patently unlawful.’

Former BR restaurant building sells for $1M

The former Boil & Roux building on Coursey Boulevard in Baton Rouge has been sold for just under $1 million to a group that plans to open multiple eateries on the site, including an Indian restaurant.

Grand Wall Chinese Supper Buffet Inc. of Gonzales sold the building at 11777 Coursey Blvd. in a deal that was completed last week. The buyer was MAARS Properties LLC of Baton Rouge, headed up by Rajinder Singh. The plans are to fully remodel the nearly 5,100-square-foot building and turn it into two or three restaurant spaces, said Keith Duncan, of Kadre, who represented the buyers. One of the restaurants will be Indian, while the other will be complementary eateries, Duncan said. Plans are to open the restaurant in three to six months.

Jane Lu, of Property First Realty Group, represented the sellers.

The building has been vacant since Boil & Roux shut down at the end of 2024. Boil & Roux was at the center of controversy with its neighbors and cityparish officials for years due to repeated noise complaints permitting issues and problems with its liquor license.

Grand Wall twice sued to evict Boil & Roux, claiming the restaurant owed thousands of dollars in rent. According to the landowner’s lawyer, Jean-Paul Robert Boil & Roux agreed to vacate the premises voluntarily as part of an agreed-upon judgment in court.

Tesla tumbles again; investors bail on EVs

Shares of Tesla slid again Monday as conﬁdence in Elon Musk’s electric car company continues to disintegrate following a post-election “Trump bump.”

Tesla shares tumbled 15.4%, to $222.15. That’s the lowest Tesla shares have traded since late October, reﬂecting investors’ newfound pessimism as the automaker’s sales crater around the globe. Monday’s decline, Tesla’s steepest since September 2020, came with Wall Street amid a sell-off caused by uncertainty over the Trump administration’s trade policies

Many analysts have attributed Tesla’s sagging stock — and auto sales to Musk’s support of President Donald Trump and other far-right candidates around the world.

Musk pumped $270 million into Trump’s campaign heading into the 2024 election, appeared on stage with him and cheered Trump’s victory over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in November Tesla stock soared to $479 per share by mid-December, but have since tumbled back to earth, losing 40% of their value.

Musk has become the face of the Trump administration’s slash-and-burn government downsizing efforts, known as the Department of Government Efﬁciency, which has promised massive federal worker layoffs and aims to drastically reduce government spending.

Ontario hikes tax on U.S. electricity exports

Ontario’s premier, the leader of Canada’s most populous province, announced that effective Monday, it is charging 25% more for electricity to 1.5 million American homes and businesses in response to President Donald Trump’s trade war Ontario provides electricity to Minnesota, New York and Michigan.

“I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If the United States escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at a news conference in Toronto. Ford said Ontario’s tariff would remain in place, noting a recent one-month retrieve from Trump means nothing but more uncertainty Quebec is also considering taking similar measures with electricity exports to the U.S.

Walking on oyster shells

How one small business is navigating on-again, off-again tariffs on Canadian goods

BY MAE ANDERSON AP business writer

NEW YORK At Fishtown Seafood, owner Bryan Szeliga is worried about the oysters. Szeliga, who operates three retail and wholesale locations in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, New Jersey sells a range of seafood. But briny, slurpable oysters are the biggest part of his overall business. And 60% to 70% come from Canada. The Trump’s administration’s on-again, off-again 25% tariffs on imports from Canada — which went into effect last week only to be suspended on some items for a month on Thursday — are giving Szeliga whiplash. The flip-flopping is making it tough to plan ahead. And if the tariffs do eventually go into effect, he’ll likely need to raise prices and offer his customers fewer choices of oysters.

“Part of the problem of the ‘chaos and shock and awe’ approach to the negotiation is you can’t actually really business plan based on knowing what is and isn’t actually going to happen,” he said. “That’s a big problem.”

Szeliga started Fishtown Seafood four years ago after other jobs in the food industry including chef and working for a nonproﬁt. His customers include neighborhood locals and others who shop at his retail shops as well as restaurant wholesale clients.

He sources some of his U.S. products directly from fish farms but for Canadian oysters, he goes through dealers.

“They’re larger companies that aggregate from all the (seafood) producers and then distribute throughout the

BY ALEX VEIGA AP business

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS By MATT ROURKE

Bryan Szeliga, owner of Fishtown Seafood, says many of his suppliers of Canadian oysters are raising their prices

country,” he said.

There’s also a quality consideration.

“Canadian oysters simply have the size, ﬂavor proﬁle and brand recognition that our customers prefer and have grown to love,” he said.

On Tuesday, most of his suppliers told Szeliga they’d be raising prices He only made one purchase while the tariff was in effect, buying some “sweet petite” oysters from Prince Edward Island, to make sure a wholesale client had enough product. He paid the whole 25% markup himself and didn’t pass it along to his client, eating the extra cost. The suppliers’ price increases are likely to come down now that the tariffs are postponed, but only for a month.

Now that he has a month reprieve, Szeliga said he plans to adjust his own inventory and work with his wholesale clients to plan out a menu that will be less affected by the tariffs. That might mean replacing higher-priced, higherquality oysters with domestic or lower-priced Canadian offerings.

“Now that we have a picture of what this is probably going to look like, let’s just start designing out your menus so that we’re prepared and it’s not complete bedlam again,” he said. “Even if prices come down, we know prices are going to come up to X, Y, Z (when the tariffs return).” He said he’ll be asking his clients, “What products are going to work for you in a month?”

Stocks’ sell-off worsens

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEW YORK The U.S. stock mar-

ket’s sell-off cut deeper on Monday as Wall Street questioned how much pain President Donald Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to get what he wants.

The S&P 500 dropped to drag it close to 9% below its all-time high, which was set just last month. At one point, the S&P 500 was on track for its worst day since 2022. That’s when the highest inﬂation in generations was shredding budgets and raising worries about a possible recession that ultimately never came.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also fell.

It was the worst day yet in a scary stretch where the S&P 500 has swung more than 1%, up or down, seven times in eight days because of Trump’s on -and- off -again tariffs The worry is that the whipsaw moves will either hurt the economy directly or create enough uncertainty to drive U.S. companies and consumers into an economy-freezing paralysis.

The economy has already given some signals of weakening, mostly through surveys showing increased pessimism. And a widely followed collection of real-time indicators compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggests the U.S. economy may already be shrinking.

Asked over the weekend whether he was expecting a recession in 2025, Trump told Fox News Channel: “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.”

Trump says he wants to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, among other reasons he’s given for tariffs. His Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has also said the economy may go through a “detox” period as it weans off an addiction to spending by the government. The White House is trying to limit federal spending, while also cutting the federal workforce and increasing deportations, which could hinder the job market.

The U.S. job market is still showing stable hiring at the moment, to be sure, and the economy ended last year running at a solid rate. But economists are marking down their forecasts for how the economy will perform this year At Goldman Sachs, for example, David Mericle cut his estimate for U.S. economic growth to 1.7% from 2.2% for the end of 2025 over the year before, largely because tariffs look like they’ll be bigger than he was previously forecasting. He sees a one-in-ﬁve chance of a recession over the next year, raising it only slightly because “the White House has the option to pull back policy changes” if the risks to the economy “begin to look more serious.”

DA won’t support resentencing Menendez brothers

BY CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press

LOS ANGELES The district

attorney of Los Angeles County said Monday that he does not support the resentencing of Lyle and Erik Menendez because the brothers have repeatedly lied about why they killed their parents at their Beverly Hills home in 1989.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters his decision hinged on whether the brothers’ had exhibited “insight and complete responsibility” into lies told during their trial, including their original claim that they did not kill their parents He said their repeated argument that they shot their parents in self-defense does not match the facts of the

that, like the Menendez brothers, Sirhan had many letters of support and was determined to be a lowrisk inmate. However, Gov. Gavin Newsom blocked his parole in 2022, saying Sirhan still poses an unreasonable threat to the public.

Hochman called it an “instructive case” because, like Sirhan, the Menendez brothers “fell short” of taking full responsibility for their crimes.

rehabilitation, including earning advanced degrees and repeatedly scoring low on inmate risk assessments.

A resentencing hearing initiated by a court has been scheduled for later in March.

The pair began their bid for freedom in recent years after new evidence of their father’s sexual abuse emerged, and they have the support of most of their extended family

said in a statement Monday

case that showed premeditated steps to plan the killings and make it look like a gang hit.

“They have lied to everyone for the last 30 years,”

Trump predicts no shutdown as Congress faces spending deadline

BY NIELS LESNIEWSKI CQ-Roll Call (TNS)

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump alleged Sunday that “the Democrats want” a government shutdown at the end of this week, but he predicted that a lapse in appropriations probably will not take place this time.

“I think the CR is going to get passed. We’ll see. But it could happen,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, referring to a continuing resolution that would extend current funding until the end of the ﬁscal year on Sept. 30 The current funding extension expires at the end of Friday The wrangling over that continuing resolution to prevent a partial shutdown will dominate the agenda for both the House and the Senate this week. The House Republican majority posted text of a stopgap appropriations measure Saturday that is not

a bipartisan agreement. Democrats sought provisions to ensure that appropriated funds will actually be spent — and not subject to the potential whims of the Elon Musk-led office known as the Department of Government Efﬁciency

“Democrats have a choice to join us or display their true intentions. Should they choose to vote to shut the government for negotiation leverage and their contempt of President Trump, they are readying to hurt hundreds of millions more,” House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, said in a weekend statement. “It’s a battle they lost in November, and one the people will continue to see through.”

Sen. Patty Murray, of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, is arguing for a shorter stopgap that would preserve the possibility of an omnibus.

Rubio: Purge of USAID programs complete

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press

WASHINGTON Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the Trump administration had finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decadeold U.S. Agency for International Development and he would move the 18% of aid and development programs that survived under the State Department.

Rubio made the announcement in a post on X, in one of his relatively few public comments on what has been a historic shift away from U.S. foreign aid and development, executed by

Trump political appointees at State and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efﬁciency teams. Rubio thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid.

In another final step in the breakup of USAID, the Trump administration on Monday gave USAID staffers abroad until April 6 to move back to the United States if they want to do so on the government’s tab, according to a USAID email sent to staffers and seen by The Associated Press.

Hochman said. Hochman compared the Menendez case to that of Sirhan Sirhan, who shot and killed U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He noted

The county’s top prosecutor said he would support resentencing in the future if the brothers “ﬁnally come clean with the court, with the public, with the DA’s ofﬁce, with their own family members and acknowledge all these lies.” He acknowledged the siblings have taken positive steps toward

Family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez slammed Hochman’s assertion that the brothers do not meet the standards for resentencing.

“Let’s be clear: Erik and Lyle are not the same young boys they were more than 30 years ago,” the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition

“They have apologized for the horriﬁc actions they took. They have apologized to us. And, they have demonstrated their atonement through actions that have helped improve countless lives. Yet, DA Hochman is effectively asking for them to publicly apologize to a checklist of actions they took in a state of shock and fear.” Hochman, who took ofﬁce in December, said last month that he opposed a new trial for the Menendez brothers. The siblings, who are now in their 50s, were sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted in 1996 of the murders of their entertainment executive father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez.

Canada’s next PM: Transition will be quick

ment soon.

BY ROB GILLIES Associated Press

TORONTO Canada’s next prime minister met with outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau on Monday and vowed a quick transition.

Mark Carney said he had a long meeting with Trudeau in which they discussed U.S.-Canada relations, national security issues and the timing of the handover in power

“That transition will be seamless and it will be quick,” said Carney, adding there would be an announce-

Carney, a two-time central bank chief, will become prime minister after the governing Liberal Party elected him its leader Sunday in a landslide vote with 85.9% support Carney, 59, replaces Trudeau who announced his resignation in January but remains prime minister until his successor is sworn in.

Carney is widely expected to trigger a parliamentary election in the coming days or weeks amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff and annexation threats. Or the opposi-

tion parties in Parliament could force one with a noconfidence vote later this month.

Carney is a former Goldman Sachs executive with no experience in politics.

He navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada from 2008, and then in 2013 when 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. He helped managed the worst impacts of Brexit in the U.K. The opposition Conser-

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

But Trump’s trade war and his talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state have have infuriated Canadians, who are booing the American anthem at NHL and NBA games. Some are canceling trips south of the border, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can. The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party’s chances in a parliamentary election, and Liberal showings have been improving in opinion polls.

BY MARK SHERMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court agreed on Monday in a case from Colorado to decide whether state and local governments can enforce laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children.

The conservative-led court is taking up the case amid actions by President Donald Trump targeting transgender people, including a ban on military service and an end to federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

The justices also have heard arguments in a Tennessee case over whether state bans on treating transgender minors violate the Constitution. But they have yet to issue a decision.

Colorado is among roughly half the states that prohibit the practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling.

The issue is whether the law violates the speech rights of counselors Defenders of such laws argue that they regulate the conduct of professionals who are licensed by the state.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the state law The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in

Atlanta has struck down local bans in Florida. In 2023, the court had turned away a similar challenge, despite a split among federal appeals courts that had weighed state bans and come to differing decisions.

Carney

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAMIAN DOVARGANES

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, at podium, speaks Monday during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles.

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Dulcimer leads to more than music

Maylee Samuels has been playing the dulcimer for 30 years, and in advance of a local dulcimer St. Patrick’s Day-themed workshop set for Friday, she offered me a lesson.

“It’s one of those things that if you pick it up and start playing with it, you realize how much enjoyment you can get out of it,” Samuels said.

She is right.

Sitting with the long, threestringed instrument in my lap and making legitimate music, albeit alongside an expert, was a blast.

Samuels is an excellent teacher I loved harkening back to all those piano lessons remembering how to follow music with my eyes while my hands did something else. That said, even if I had come to the lesson with zero musical knowledge, Samuels would have carried on undeterred

“A lot of people I teach don’t have any musical instrument at all,” she said. “The goal for lesson one is to be able to talk and strum and keep the rhythms going — and not even realize that you’re strumming with your hand.”

Once we had accomplished the feat of my automatically strumming with a pick in my right hand, we began to focus on my left hand hitting the right frets to get chords for songs

“The thing that makes the dulcimer unique is, if you look at it, the frets are unequal,” Samuels said She explained the connection between the frets and, in my piano parlance, “the black keys” or half notes.

Based on the single hour I spent learning to play, I was amazed at how easy it was — and like Samuels said, how much enjoyment could come from strumming chords and making music with someone else. (Granted, I was steadily strumming, and she was doing fancy ﬁngerpicking )

Samuels teaches regular classes and jams with a group of local dulcimer enthusiasts multiple times a week. She is a part of Baton Rouge-based Lagniappe Dulcimer Society, the ones hosting the Friday workshop and concert, including Irish music to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and a performance by Jessica Comeau.

Spending time with someone like Samuels is such a great reminder that there are people out there doing things on a regular basis that I know so little about — and just how much fun all those things can be.

Playing a dulcimer falls in that category.

Within minutes of sitting down for my lesson in Samuels’ home, we were jamming to “Bile Them Cabbage Down,” a tune based on an old English country dance, ﬁrst printed in 1765 and recorded much later by Hank Williams. Samuels’ home is covered in dulcimers. She said she has had to curtail her habit of buying the instrument.

She got started on the dulcimer in the same way she said many other people do — on vacation in North Carolina.

“We stopped to get gas and this fellow had all these dulcimers hung around in his ﬁlling station,” she said. “We didn’t get one, but I kept thinking about them On the way back, we stopped again and my husband said, ‘If you really want one, go ahead.’ So I got one and came back to Baton Rouge.”

When Lauren Cooper, another Baton Rouge dulcimer enthusiast, ﬁrst messaged me about learning to play the dulcimer, I will confess that I couldn’t picture exactly what a dulcimer looked like. With a bit of research, I learned some of the instrument’s long history The mountain dulcimer was

ä See RISHER, page 2B

2nd suspect arrested in hazing death

Southern student collapsed during ritual, police say

BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer

Law enforcement on Monday

arrested a second suspect in the death of Southern University student Caleb Wilson.

Kyle Thurman, 25 was booked into the West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center on Monday, after he was arrested in Port Allen by West Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service, a

Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said. Thurman is expected to be transferred to East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and booked on a count of felony hazing, according to a Baton Rouge police spokesperson.

Wilson died during a fraternity hazing ritual on Feb 27, police said.

Baton Rouge Police Chief

Thomas Morse Jr said Friday that Wilson’s death was the “di-

rect result” of being punched while pledging Omega Psi Phi.

Morse also said police were preparing warrants to arrest two additional suspects.

Late Thursday, former Southern student Caleb McCray, 23, surrendered to Baton Rouge police, marking the ﬁrst arrest following the death of the 20-yearold junior engineering student and Kenner native.

McCray was booked into Parish Prison on one count each of man-

slaughter and hazing. McCray made his initial court appearance Friday afternoon, where his bail was set at $100,000, attorney Phillip Robinson said, while proclaiming his client’s innocence.

Wilson, a former trumpet player for Southern’s famed Human Jukebox marching band, died after he was punched in the chest during a pledge event at a warehouse at 3412 Woodcrest Drive, Morse said.

During the ritual, pledges

HAZING, page 2B

By DAVID GRUNFELD

AFTER PARTY

From left, Crescent City Fae krewe members Thayer Abigail Lund and Alex Hanna take part in a post-Carnival cleanup on Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans on Sunday With his bead picker in his lap, Laissez Boys member Gary Sheets smokes a cigar as he heads home after helping remove Mardi Gras beads and other throws from tree limbs.

Attorney general invokes statute

Woman on probation accused of theft following reporter’s death

BY JILLIAN KRAMER Staff writer

Louisiana Attorney General Liz

Murrill’s ofﬁce has invoked the state’s habitual offender statute against a woman charged with fraud and theft following the death of a Kansas City reporter in a Kenner hotel room.

Murrill’s ofﬁce ﬁled the statute against Danette Colbert on Thursday in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, in a case unrelated to the fresh charges she faces in Jefferson Parish.

A New Orleans jury convicted Colbert of fraud and theft in November It was Colbert’s fifth felony conviction in Louisiana, according to court records.

Criminal District Court Judge Nandi Campbell sentenced Colbert to a suspended sentence of 10 years in prison and ﬁve years of active probation. Colbert was serving that probation when she was arrested last month.

Kenner police allege Colbert used a credit card belonging to the reporter, Adam Manzano, just days after his death. Jefferson Parish prosecutors charged Colbert with fraud and theft in the incident. Soon after, New Orleans police named her as a suspect in another death on Dec 15 in New Orleans. In that case, John Jenkins, 55, was found dead in a hotel in the 300 block of Dauphine Street in New Orleans. The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Ofﬁce said he died of cocaine and ethanol toxicity, and classiﬁed his death as accidental. Colbert has not been charged in

either death. Following her arrest in Kenner, Orleans Parish prosecutors moved to revoke Colbert’s probation. District Attorney Jason Williams has since asked Murrill’s ofﬁce to take over the case. The habitual offender statute allows prosecutors to add years sometimes up to life to the sentence of a defendant who has been convicted of eligible past felonies. The bill asks Campbell to resentence Colbert as a repeat offender Colbert faces a potential prison sentence of 20 years to life

Residents say N.O. is on the wrong track

Governor asks for $50 million

BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer

Gov Jeff Landry’s administration will ask the federal government to reimburse $50 million the state spent to ramp up security and operate a temporary homeless shelter in New Orleans while the city welcomed tens of thousands of visitors for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. State officials have been in talks with the U.S Department of Homeland Security and are “optimistic” that they will be reimbursed in full, said Mike Steele, communications director with the state’s Ofﬁce of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. A spokesperson for DHS did not immediately respond to a request

for comment. The request follows the New Year’s Day Bourbon Street attack, which left 14 dead and prompted heightened security measures and a commitment of increased support from the federal government for the city’s busy tourist season. It also comes after Landry tied his unprecedented plan to shelter New Orleans’ homeless residents ahead of the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras to those public safety efforts. The state could seek as much as $17.5 million for costs associated with the shelter alone, said Steele The Landry administration plans to submit its request after it decides how long it will employ the ﬁrm that is running the 200-bed shelter, the Workforce Group. The firm’s original $11 million-plus contract expires on Tuesday, but Steele said officials will extend

Group studying City Hall has a turnaround plan

BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer

Alarmed by a disturbing lack of conﬁdence in New Orleans’ local government, a group of civic and business leaders on Monday released a roadmap for reform aimed at improving the delivery of basic services and convincing residents to stick with the Crescent City The recommendations from the City Services Coalition, which was formed in 2024 by real estate developer Pres Kabacoff, attorney David Marcello

system and clarifying the role of the city attorney

The effort comes seven months before voters head to the polls to decide who will represent them on the City Council and who will succeed Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who is termlimited and unable to seek reelection.

The coalition, which released the 216-page policy manual during a news conference Monday afternoon, has already met with announced and prospective mayoral candidates, including Helena Moreno, Arthur Hunter and Oliver Thomas.

26-year-old Slidell woman killed, child injured in I-59 crash

BY KASEY BUBNASH Staff writer

A Slidell woman was killed and a child was injured after back-to-back collisions on Interstate 59 in St. Tammany Parish on Friday, according to the Louisiana State Police.

Destiny Lacoste, 26, was driving a 2022 Kia Telluride north on I-59 near the Interstate 12 interchange when the driver of a 2019 Ford F-250 ahead of Lacoste slowed down and attempted to make an illegal left turn on the interstate crossover, State Police said. Lacoste collided with the Ford, and police said her Kia came to a rest in the left northbound lane of the interstate as the truck stopped on the median.

Police said Lacoste got out of her car before

RISHER

Continued from page 1B

created in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1800s, but the instrument’s history goes back much further

Even King Nebuchadnezzar recognized the allure of the dulcimer Daniel 3:10 reads: “Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, ﬂute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship. …”

HAZING

Continued from page 1B

were brought to the building and forced to change into gray sweatsuits. With Wilson and eight other hopefuls lined up according to height, McCray and two others took turns punching them in the chest using a pair of black boxing gloves, according to McCray’s arrest warrant afﬁdavit.

All the pledges absorbed four punches from fraternity members imposing the rite of passage, authorities said. Each punch represented one of the fraternity’s “four cardinal principles”: manhood, scholarship, perseverance and uplift. Investigators were told neither Omega Psi Phi members nor pledges were allowed to bring cellphones inside the warehouse during the pledging ritual, a source close to the investigation said.

LANDRY

Continued from page 1B

that contract on a week-toweek basis. Extending it for another 30 days would put total reimbursable costs at $17.5 million. The shelter will remain open at least through this week, he said.

The rest of the $50 million request to the government, which Steele said has not been finalized, would include reimbursement for overtime pay for State Police and Louisiana National Guard troops who manned checkpoints around the French Quarter during the major events. More than 200 Louisiana State Police troopers were assigned to secure the city’s streets during the Super Bowl, and 150 were assigned to the city during Mardi Gras. Ofﬁcials have committed to keep the shelter open until it can successfully place everyone currently living at the facility into permanent housing. As of last week, there were 100 people still living at the facility

emergency personnel arrived and the driver of a passing 2018 Ford F-250 hit her car, which then hit Lacoste. She was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

A child inside the Kia was in a car seat and suffered “minor injuries,” police said. The drivers and passengers in the two trucks were uninjured. As part of the ongoing investigation, police obtained routine toxicology samples for analysis. Troopers will forward their ﬁndings to the 22nd Judicial District Court District Attorney’s Office for consultation regarding any potential criminal or traffic violations pending the completion of the investigation.

Police did not immediately release more information.

According to the Smithsonian, the word dulcimer comes from the Latin and Greek works dulce and melos, which combine to mean “sweet tune.” Cooper said she began playing by showing up for a free lesson that the Lagniappe Dulcimer Society hosted two years ago.

“I showed up with a dulcimer I purchased 15 years prior,” Cooper said. From there, she said the group took her under its wings and taught her to play.

“Because the group jams weekly,” she said “I had the opportunity to grow my

According to his arrest affidavit, McCray delivered the ﬁnal blow before Wilson collapsed to the floor and began having a seizure. Fraternity members did not call 911 after Wilson experienced the medical episode and waited to bring him to a hospital, sources said. An autopsy report mentioned in the arrest afﬁdavit revealed a small bruise to the right side of Wilson’s chest. Wilson’s full autopsy report is not yet complete, Shane Tindall the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office chief of investigations, said Friday The cause and manner of his death remain undetermined pending additional tests, which likely will take several months, Tindall said Morse said Wilson was taken to Baton Rouge General Medical Center Police were called there about 2:40 a.m Feb. 27, the police chief said Before leaving the hospital, the men who

Steele said that 53 people had been moved into permanent housing as of Monday, eight people had been moved into other shelters, and 55 had left on their own. It is not clear whether all of those people moved back onto the street

The shelter’s cost had been a sore point for some local critics, who questioned whether it was an effective use of state resources One of them, City Councilmember Lesli Harris, didn’t comment on the state’s reimbursement request Monday but noted that the program run by Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration that works to house homeless residents, is in need of state funding.

“This funding is critical not only for sustaining the program but also for ensuring that individuals who transitioned from the state’s temporary shelter into housing receive the ongoing case management they need to remain housed,” she said.

Email Sophie Kasakove at sophie.kasakove@ theadvocate.com

Coroner identifies body found in a Metairie canal near I-10

BY MICHELLE HUNTER Staff writer

The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Ofﬁce has released the name of the man whose body was discovered in a canal near an Interstate 10 overpass in Metairie last week.

He was identified as 36-year-old Marquise

Bradley

Bradley’s cause of death was still undetermined as of Monday, while the Coroner’s Office awaits the results of toxicology testing. However, he had no injuries to his body, and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce has said ofﬁcials do not suspect foul play

Bradley was homeless and known to stay near the area where his body was discovered, according to the Coroner’s Ofﬁce

skills quickly, learn Cajun and Appalachian tunes I didn’t know and ﬁnd a really wonderful community of friends.”

The Lagniappe Dulcimer Society’s St. Patrick’s Day-themed workshop and free concert is on Friday at the Bluebonnet Library, 9200 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge. The cost to attend the workshop is $35, and the 4 p.m. concert by Comeau is free. Email laurenhcooper2020@gmail.com for more details about the workshop.

Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate.com.

dropped Wilson off said they had been playing basketball with him at a Baton Rouge park, Morse said. In Louisiana, hazing can be a felony under the Max Gruver Act, passed by the Louisiana Legislature in 2018 and named after an LSU Phi Delta Theta pledge who died in a hazing incident in 2017. Louisiana’s anti-hazing law prohibits hazing regardless of whether the targeted person voluntarily allowed it. Violators face a $1,000 ﬁne and six months behind bars.

If the person being hazed dies or is seriously injured, penalties increase to a $10,000 ﬁne and ﬁve years in prison. The increased penalties also apply if hazing involves coerced alcohol consumption that leaves the victim’s blood alcohol concentration at or above 0.30%.

Morse told reporters Friday the case remains an “active, ongoing” investigation involving his department, the East Ba-

STATUTE

Continued from page 1B

under the statute.

“My ofﬁce is working together with District Attorney Jason Williams on the best way to move forward with this defendant, whose alleged conduct is very serious and involves multiple jurisdictions,” Murrill said in a statement. “Our position is the original sentence was not eligible for probation.”

Murrill’s office intervened in the case after Williams asked for her help.

PROVIDED PHOTO By WWL-TV

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies investigate after a body was found near a canal in Metairie near Interstate 10 on March 3

Sheriff ’s deputies were notiﬁed of the remains about 8:30 a.m March 3. Bradley’s body was found partially in the water of the

canal under I-10, just west of the Veterans Memorial Boulevard exit.

It’s not clear how long Bradley had been dead.

ton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Ofﬁce with cooperation from Southern.

Southern President Dennis Shields said Friday that Omega Psi Phi was ordered to “cease all activities” at the university Additionally the university suspended all campus club and Greek life recruiting through the academic year, Shields said. University officials are conducting an internal investigation of Wilson’s death, and Shields said student groups face the “prospect of discipline,” and it’s possible some students could be expelled.

Southern Board of Supervisors Chair Tony Clayton, who is the 18th Judicial District attorney in West Baton Rouge Parish, said in an interview he is pushing for the fraternity to be removed from the university

In 2005, Omega Psi Phi was kicked off Southern’s Baton Rouge campus, archives from The Advocate | The Times-Picayune show

The university ordered a three-year expulsion, after university officials found “overwhelming evidence” a fraternity pledge was severely beaten, with injuries that led to internal bleeding.

Meanwhile, Wilson’s family shortly after his Feb. 27 death thanked the community for its “unwavering” support.

Wilson’s father Corey Wilson, worked as a deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce for 35 years The elder Wilson also worked security details for Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson. Caleb Wilson’s mother is a student at Southern’s New Orleans campus.

In a recent statement released by the Jefferson Sheriff’s Office, Wilson’s family said, “We are committed to seeking the truth about the circumstances surrounding Caleb’s passing and ensuring that no other family has to endure such a tragedy.”

Continued from page 1B

Who wants to stay in N.O.? Kabacoff said the reforms are needed because of the growing unease of residents on the city’s future He pointed to a survey from December conducted by pollster and coalition member Ron Faucheux that found that 65% of New Orleans voters believed the city was on the “wrong track.” The sentiment was shared by voters across demographic groups.

More disturbingly, Kabacoff noted, the survey found that only 53% of voters expected to stay in New Orleans over the next five years. The city’s population has dropped by more than 100,000 people since Hurricane Katrina, and Kabacoff said, “we can’t lose no more.”

The 30-member coalition drilled down on improving ﬁve basic city service areas: crime and public safety, streets and infrastructure, drainage and water management, trash pickup and clean public spaces, and licensing and permitting.

“We decided if you can’t ﬁx basic services, then you probably can’t address the rest of it,” Kabacoff said. S&WB, City Hall reforms

The coalition recommended replacing the S&WB which 80% of survey respondents said needed “major changes” — with a new entity under the city charter called the “New Orleans Water Authority” with a board appointed by the mayor, City Council, state legislators and governor

The status quo, where the mayor serves as chair of the S&WB, the City Council sets rates and the state Legislature oversees its governing statutes, is a “management nightmare,” the coalition wrote, and makes it difﬁcult to assign responsibility for problems with billing, management and maintenance.

The coalition also recommended a ballot proposition be presented to voters later this year to amend the Home Rule Charter to give the city’s chief administrative ofﬁcer the power to remove a poorly performing department head without having to ﬁrst seek approval from the mayor and to make clear that the city attorney represents New Orleans.

The charter language would also require the chief administrative officer to establish a system of datagathering and performance evaluation that is available for review on a public dashboard.

A common theme in the coalition’s report is the need for greater coordination among city agencies. It suggests city leaders create a permitting “concierge” to help applicants manage the various approvals needed and recommends establishing new entities to coordinate public works projects and public safety initiatives. And it suggested reforms to the civil service system to give department heads more ﬂexibility to reorganize their teams.

Among its more radical recommendations is that New Orleans partner with neighboring parishes on a regional water purification facility on city-owned land in St. Charles Parish.

CJ Blache, a coalition member and attorney, said the project would cost at least $1 billion but would help downriver parishes respond to the threat of saltwater intrusion. The coalition plans to hold forums in the coming months to introduce its roadmap to the public. It won’t be endorsing candidates in the next election. However, members hope the report encourages the public to demand changes from political leaders.

A spokesperson for the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a question about whether it will also ask for Murrill’s help.

“Given the multi-jurisdictional span of this defendant’s actions, I have requested the attorney general’s participation in the Orleans Parish cases,” Williams said in a statement. “I’ve further encouraged them to lead the work to hold this offender accountable statewide, and to be the main point of contact for other investigations and prosecutions in other states. I ﬁrmly believe this approach will ensure the most unified and focused prosecution of each of these serious cases.” Williams, who campaigned in 2020 on a promise to never use the habitual offender statute, rolled out a limited-use policy for the law two years ago, after a surge in violent crime. Prosecutors in Williams’ ofﬁce must petition to use the statute, according to the policy and can only apply it to cases involving violence, sexual assault or domestic abuse.

Email Jillian Kramer at jillian.kramer@ theadvocate.com.

LOTTERY SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2025 PICK 3: 5-7-0

4: 0-0-7-5

5: 5-9-8-5-6

Unofficial noti

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHELLE HUNTER

Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley stands before a mugshot of Danette Colbert, the Slidell woman arrested for allegedly using a credit card belonging to Adan Manzano, a Kansas City reporter found dead in his Kenner hotel room while in town to cover the Super Bowl.

STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER

Maylee Samuels, left, and Jan Risher play mountain dulcimers recently in Samuels’ Baton Rouge home.

Lenfant, Lance

Lanza, Landon Charles 'Landy'

Landon (Landy) Charles Lanza beloved husband brother, uncle and friend, passed away on Monday, February 24, 2025, at the age of 65 at his home in Di‐amondhead Mississippi He was born in New Or‐leans on March 6, 1959, to the late Louis J. Lanza and Betty Keller Lanza. Landy was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Jeanne Marie Robert Lanza. Sur‐vivors include his brother Louis J Lanza III (Susan) and his sisters, Cindi Lanza Jacobson (Sid) and Jaye Lanza Herzog (Michael). He is also survived by many nieces, nephews, greatnieces, great-nephews and cousins Landy will be dearly missed by his won‐derful group of friends. His humor and warmth will be remembered by all who knew him. Landy was a proud graduate and foot‐ball team captain of Holy Cross High School Class of 1977. He was owner and president of the Lanza Construction Company Landy was a member of the Greater New Orleans Football Ofﬁcials Associa‐tion for more than 20 years. He was an avid

and member of Dia‐

Tigers and the

Construction Company. Landy was a member of the Greater New Orleans Football Ofﬁcials Associa‐tion for more than 20 years. He was an avid golfer and member of Dia‐mondhead Country Club Landy loved all sports, es‐pecially the LSU Tigers and the Boston Bruins. The Lanza family would like to extend their deepest grati‐tude to Landy’s best friend Mike Emig (Darlene), a huge blessing in Landy’s life. Sincere thanks to his Diamondhead neighbors Aaron Fischtziur (Brittany) and Carlos Lavergne (Melissa). Relatives and friends are invited to a fu‐neral service celebrating Landy’s life on Thursday March 13, 2025, at Green‐wood Funeral Home 5200 Canal Boulevard, New Or‐leans LA Visitation will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by a Funeral Mass at 1 p.m Interment will be private at a later date. In lieu of ﬂowers the family asks that donations be made in Landy’s name to Holy Cross High School, 5500 Paris Avenue New Or‐leans, LA 70122 or the 54 Cares Foundation, P O. Box 550, LaPlace, LA 70069. On‐line guest book at www greenwoodfh com.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Lance Joseph Lenfant, who departed this life on March 5, 2025, at the age of 44. Aproud native of New Orleans, Lance was known for his unwavering devotion to family, his strong work ethic, and his passion for the great outdoors, gaming, and music. Born on October 23, 1980, at Lakeside Hospitalin Metairie to Louisand Angelina Lenfant (née Uddo), Lance wasraisedin Lake Vista, where he built alifetime of cherished memories. He was the beloved younger brotherof Brian and the protective elder brotherofAshleyand Laura. His familyheritage was steeped in deep-rooted traditions, with his paternal grandparents, Louis Sr. and Evelyn Lenfant, and his maternal grandparents, Joseph and Camille Uddo, shaping the valueshecarried throughout his life Lance attended St. Pius X School beforebecoming a proud Blue Jay atJesuit HighSchool, where he excelled both academically

was steeped in deep-rooted traditions, with his paternal grandparents, Louis Sr. and Evelyn Lenfant, and his maternal grandparents, Joseph and Camille Uddo, shaping the values he carried throughout his life. Lance attended St.Pius X School before becoming a proud Blue Jay at Jesuit High School, where he excelled both academically and athletically. Wearing the number 31 as adefensive end and co-captain, he led his teammates with the same strength and determination that would define him throughout his life. He continued his education at Loyola University and theUniversity of New Orleans, earning bachelor's degrees in business administration and accounting. Adriven entrepreneur, Lance coowned LGD Lawn and Landscaping alongsidehis brother-in-law, Colin Casey, growing the company into arespected name in the industry. His leadership, vision, and dedication left alasting impact on both his colleagues and clients. Lance found joy in camping and hiking—passions that were nurtured by frequent family excursions during his formative years. The memories of those adventures remained close to his heart, shaping his appreciation for nature and travel. He was also agifted chef, generously assuming the role of holiday host and family cook. He also loved gaming with his friends and listening tomusic. Above all, Lancewas adevoted son, asteadfast and caring brother, and a beloved uncle to Lilly Casey, Evelyn Smith, and Blaze Casey, whom he adored. His kindness, loyalty, and unwavering support made him apillar of strengthtoall who knew him. Lanceissurvived by his parents, Louis and Angelina Lenfant;his brother,Brian; his sisters, Ashley Casey (Colin) and Laura Smith (Stephen); his nieces, Lilly Casey and Evelyn Smith; his nephew, Blaze Casey; and ahost of extended family and dear friends. Aservice to honor Lance's life will be held at Lakelawn Funeral Home on Sunday, March 16th. Visitation will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., followed by aservice at 12:00 p.m. Lance's spirit warmth, and generosity will live on in the heartsof those who loved him. May he have agood journey to Valhalla.

Alan Yedor Sr. was born on July 9, 1945, in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of late Patricia and late Harry Mark Yedor. The family has an impressive military his‐tory. Harry Yedor served in the Pacific Theater of Op‐erations in World War II as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Air Force, where he engaged in dangerous flight missions across the Himalayan Mountain range Alan Yedor's brother Jonathan served his country with the U.S Army in Viet Nam. He was the loving father of Alan Yedor II (Angie) and Amanda Yedor. He also had brothers Robert and Jonathan and the late Justin Yedor, sisters-in-law Sandy and Tammy as well as nieces, Samantha and Alexis. Alan graduated from Normandy Senior High School in 1963 in St Louis, Missouri and at‐tended the University of Missouri at Columbia for three years. He was an ac‐complished champion of high school and collegiate wrestling On March 16 1967, he was drafted for service in the U.S Army where he served as a com‐bat infantryman. By early December 1967, he arrived in the Republic of Viet Nam as a paratrooper with the 3-d Brigade/187h Infantry of the 101st Airborne Divi‐sion. There, he fought as an M- 60 machine gunner and also performed ground reconnaissance work be‐hind enemy lines. He fought through the 1968 Tet Offensive and many of his unit's major ground opera‐tions of that year. Yedor was wounded twice first by grenade shrapnel in March 1968, and, on his birthday later that year in July, he was wounded by gunfire He is the recipient of numerous medal deco‐rations including the Com‐bat Infantryman's Badge, the Parachute Badge/ Winds, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, the Army Commendation Medal, the Air Medal, the Viet Nam Campaign Medal, the Viet Nam Service Medal and the National De‐fense Medal His outfit re‐ceived a 2nd Presidential Unit Citation. Following his service in Viet Nam Alan came to Louisiana to pur‐sue a career as a commer‐cial deep-sea diver For thirty years until his retire‐ment, he did all kinds of unde water work in both d offshore wa‐erformed search e operations, in‐underwater nd burning and marine pipeline esided in Harvey a member of the of Foreign Wars sabled American For his service, ecently inducted egistry of the Soldier at the Museum of the tates Army in on, DC Alan was ana Racquetball ampion at the age also won numer‐ds in bow fishing, shing and bass ournaments Alan oud member of quetball Associ‐erican Bass An‐onal Rifle Associ‐Ducks Unlimited by his family and by his friends competitors he eatly missed after ble lifetime He erred in Arlington Cemetery with n’s finest after eld at MOTHE FU‐ME 2100 West‐essway, Harvey, day, March 14th at for the visitation am for the fu‐vice Family and e invited to share ces and memo‐siting: www mot com. Arrange‐Mothe Funeral

Viet Nam Campaign Medal, the Viet Nam Service Medal and the National De‐fense Medal. His outfit re‐ceived a 2nd Presidential Unit Citation. Following his service in Viet Nam, Alan came to Louisiana to pur‐sue a career as a commer‐cial deep-sea diver For thirty years until his retire‐ment, he did all kinds of underwater work in both inland and offshore wa‐ters. He performed search and rescue operations, in‐spections, underwater welding and burning and other marine pipeline work. He resided in Harvey and was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans. For his service he was recently inducted in the Registry of the American Soldier at the National Museum of the United States Army in Washington, DC. Alan was a Louisiana Racquetball State Champion at the age of 40 and also won numer‐ous awards in bow fishing, spear fishing and bass fishing tournaments Alan was a proud member of the LA Racquetball Associ‐ation, American Bass An‐glers, National Rifle Associ‐ation and Ducks Unlimited Beloved by his family and respected by his friends and sports competitors he will be greatly missed after an incredible lifetime He will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery with our nation’s finest after services held at MOTHE FU‐NERAL HOME, 2100 West‐bank Expresswa Har ey LA on Friday, M 9:30 am for and 11:00 am neral service friends are in condolences ries by visiti hefunerals co ments by M Homes.

Througheachbreath, Iwhispered my love As angels gathered youfromabove Love, Your daughter Stephanie, Son-in-Law,London, grandchildren, LJ andEvan

Lanza, Landon

Lenfant, Lance Joseph

Yedor Sr., Alan

Yedor Sr.,Alan

Afghan family’s story shows how U.S. should treat those who need us

The harrowing tale of an Afghan couple who found refuge in Louisiana thanks to the efforts of East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore and the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys provides a poignant example of why the United States cannot simply abdicate its role on the world stage.

The couple Afghan prosecutor Freshta and her husband Hadi, who asked that reporter Patrick Sloan-Turner use only their ﬁrst names due to continued fear of retaliation had been living in Pakistan since 2021, when Kabul fell after the hasty and chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops under the Biden administration. Freshta worked with the U.S. military Hadi was a university professor and journalist When the Taliban came back to power, they knew they were targets for having worked with Western forces. Fleeing to Pakistan gave them a measure of safety but left them facing the constant threat of deportation as tensions rose between the two neighbors.

Moore and the APA had been working for months to get Freshta and Hadi to safety in the U.S. It was all coming to a head in recent weeks as Pakistan set a March 31 deadline for the repatriation of all Afghan refugees on its soil. Meanwhile, in January, just as Freshta and Hadi were set to board a plane to the U.S., the Trump administration halted the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program that gave Afghans an opportunity to resettle in the United States. But last week, a federal judge paused Trump’s immigration order and Freshta and Hadi again raced to the airport. This time, they were able to make it to Seattle, and from there to Baton Rouge. Moore and others are helping them get set up in a new home. A GoFundMe was started, and donations for the family are being collected at the Louisiana District Attorneys Association ofﬁce at 2525 Quail Drive in Baton Rouge.

In Louisiana, we pride ourselves on our hospitality, so we have faith the couple and their two young children will find open arms here. We admire the courage and persistence of Moore and the APA as they navigated legal minefields to get to this conclusion. But it should have never come to this. As the country retreats into isolationism amid cries of “America First,” we cannot abandon those around the world who have put America first at great risk to themselves and their families. Lest you doubt that, note that the Taliban has killed 54 Afghan prosecutors since 2021, and 50 prosecutor families remain in danger

Likewise, we are dismayed that the Trump administration is also seeking to unwind humanitarian parole programs that allowed thousands of migrants from Afghanistan, Ukraine and other countries to stay in the country legally if they had a U.S. sponsor These are desperate people who have looked to our country as a lifeline and followed the rules in place at the time. We cannot in good conscience turn our backs on them.

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

On Feb. 13, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was sworn in as the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Known for his skepticism about vaccine efﬁcacy, he was linked to the Samoa measles outbreak during the 2019 crisis. Following Kennedy’s appointment, Louisiana’s surgeon general, Ralph Abraham, ordered state health workers to halt mass vaccination efforts and stop promoting seasonal vaccines, advising residents to consult their health care providers.

Public health exists to bridge gaps in health care access, especially for vulnerable populations who lack resources like personal physicians

Suggesting that individuals consult their health care providers about vaccines assumes a level of privilege and access that many in Louisiana, a state with some of the worst health coverage in the nation, do not have. This approach risks leaving those without regular medical care uninformed and unprotected.

In the winter of 2025, Louisiana is

I grew up in a small town near Fort Polk, Louisiana, graduating with just 30 classmates from Pitkin High School. Back then, that was a big class.

Uncle Riley from church was also “Mr McCullough,” my eighth-grade civics teacher I still remember the laminated poster in his classroom showing the three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The more he taught, the more I marveled at the genius of our Founding Fathers.

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

I loved reading the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Founding Fathers say that, as a natural-born citizen of the United States of America, these are my Godgiven rights.

experiencing one of its worst inﬂuenza outbreaks in years. Despite this, the state surgeon general has inexplicably chosen not to promote mass vaccination. This decision ignores how necessary widespread immunization is in controlling outbreaks and helping the state’s economy Many small businesses rely on healthy workers, and inﬂuenza can lead to many worker absences.

In Texas, a measles outbreak has infected scores of people, most unvaccinated, and resulted in one death. Local health ofﬁcials are urging MMR vaccinations and have set up clinics. If Texas can act quickly during an outbreak, why wouldn’t the Louisiana surgeon general do the same? Does he genuinely think inaction is the best response? Or does he believe that public health emergencies are best handled by thoughts and prayers?

MARKALAIN DÉRY infectious disease physician and epidemiologist

Their system of checks and balances fascinated me. The House versus the Senate, the federal government versus the states, the popular vote versus the Electoral College — it seemed like every mechanism of government had a counterweight Brilliant. When Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy were elected by the people of Louisiana, they swore an oath to protect the Constitution our Founding Fathers wrote and the institutions enshrined therein. More important than our politics or our parties are the principles of our democracy They transcend any ideology, any group of people, any one person. My question to the senators is this: Will you defend our sacred Constitution and fulﬁll your sworn role to counterbalance the executive branch? Or will you let power go unchecked?

DEREK LEWIS Prairieville

Like most people, I was more than a little skeptical of our new president’s scheme to make Canada the 51st state. However, upon further reﬂection, there may be some merit to the notion for all concerned. Making Canada the 51st state is a nonstarter, but Canada has ten provinces and three territories. The ten provinces have way more population necessary for consideration for statehood. Wyoming was granted statehood with barely 60,000 people. Plus, to sweeten the deal, part of the conditions of statehood could be retaining the Canadian health system. Perhaps even adopting it ourselves?

Not only that, but of the three territories, two are pretty close to statehoodworthy populations.

All in all, that would give former Canadians 24 new senators and a slew of representatives in the House. Not to be outdone, if Greenland could dress up a polar bear or two, they could cross the 60,000 threshold, adding another couple of senators.

Having seen this, Panama is bound to get into the act.

This, of course, would evolve into U.S. states from the Darian Gap to the North Pole, and if you think the U.S. government is too big now, just imagine one given sway over the entire continent.

DANIEL DELAUREAL LaCombe

My husband is a disabled veteran, we totally depend on the VA for his healthcare. The thought that those who gave their lives to serve their country would be without much-needed services is criminal. We need to ﬁght to make sure that these services are never touched. We need to pay attention to everything that this administration is trying to do. Our future and that of future generations is on the line. We cannot let this happen.

JERMAINE DUPLESSIS LEWIS New Orleans

COMMENTARY

Bogalusa mayor’s social media posts follow a proven strategy

Bogalusa Mayor Tyrin Truong is deploying a familiar playbook.

The embattled Democratic mayor of the Washington Parish city has been sidelined since a state district judge appointed a fiscal administrator with broad power over the town’s finances a little over a week ago. The appointment came after revelations that the city owed more than $1 million in back payroll taxes and auditors said its revenue might not be enough to cover its expenses. This is the second time in six years Bogalusa has had a fiscal administrator With many of his duties assumed by the administrator, there hasn’t been much need for Truong to be around.

But the 25-year old hasn’t slowed his social media posts, where he has launched broadside after broadside against those he says are out to get him politically

“As it goes at the present moment, the City Council is working with the State to remove me from my job,” he wrote on Facebook on Feb 24, days before the administrator was appointed “When the powers that be can’t beat you in the streets and at the ballot box, they take it to the courtroom with lies and allegations.” He has also insisted that the city has money in the bank and that the ﬁnancial problems were inherited from the previous administration.

Truong’s social media posts seem to follow the approach taken by President Donald Trump, who has used online platforms to build immense political power It’s a comparison the mayor has heard before.

“I’ve been told that a few times,” he chuckled when I asked if it was intentional. “The only reason I say stuff on social media is to get the word out.” Like Trump, Truong also has a legal problem in a criminal court: He was arrested in January by Louisiana State Police on counts related to a drug-trafﬁcking investigation, though it should be noted that Truong is not charged with using or selling drugs. He’s accused of using proceeds from drug transactions, unauthorized use of a movable and soliciting for prostitutes. And of course, a charge is just an accusation; he’s not been convicted of anything

Those charges, he has insisted, are fabricated, the product of political enmity from District Attorney Collin Sims who, Truong says, doesn’t like him because of his work to make Bogalusa better for regular Bogalusans.

“I have been a target since day one because I wouldn’t continue with ‘business as usual’ in Bogalusa,” he wrote in a Jan. 14 Facebook post. An online fundraising campaign has been started to pay his legal fees, to bring in the “best and brightest defense attorneys in the country to ﬁght these bogus unwarranted charges,” the fund’s page says. In about two months, the fund had raised $4,200 of its $40,000 goal. Whether Truong’s efforts will be as successful as Trump’s, I can’t say One key difference is the racial element: Truong is the city’s ﬁrst Black mayor and he has argued that the entrenched White power structure in the region would like to see him gone.

It can’t be immediately discounted: Racism has played a long and ugly history in Bogalusa. In the near term, things are not likely to get better for Truong. They’re not likely to get better for those in his administration, either In his first week, Robert Neilson, the fiscal administrator, let five employees go. And that is just the beginning. Before he was officially appointed, he predicted he’d need to cut as must as $1 million from

the city’s payroll to bring the ﬁnances in line.

Thursday, Bogalusa took another hit when several water main breaks caused most of the city, including the paper mill, the hospital, City Hall and several neighborhoods, to lose water service. The resulting boil advisory remained in effect Monday morning, forcing school closures Truong took to Facebook to say he was aware of the problem and to imply that Neilson, a CPA with ofﬁces in Bogalusa and Covington, might bear some of the blame.

“We are witnessing DOGE right here in Bogalusa, with the entire city without water and many devoted people without a job within one week of being under a ﬁscal administrator,” he wrote. “This is a manufactured crisis to disregard what the voters of Bogalusa wanted.” Truong, who said he has little to do while Neilson runs the city, doesn’t plan to stop. And he plans to run for reelection next year “I plan to continue my social media strategy,” he said. “We are going to run again, we are going to prove we have staying power.”

It remains to be seen whether Truong’s approach will lead to a Trump-like comeback. But at least he knows the playbook’s good.

Faimon A. Roberts III can be reached at froberts@theadvocate.com.

Documenting the courage of Katharine Graham

Imagine this scenario: A dangerously unhinged president, enraged that a prominent newspaper is about to reveal secrets he wants to keep, leverages the vast power of the White House to threaten the paper’s owner with utter ﬁnancial ruin if the information is published Inhouse lawyers strongly advise the owner to back down, warning that the newspaper’s survival is at stake. But it is clear that the public has the right to know what the president is trying to hide. What should the owner do? What would you do?

who suffered from bipolar disorder; her education in business management by investor Warren Buffett; and her constant struggle to overcome her own insecurity and self-doubt.

Again and again, Katharine Graham

defied President Richard M. Nixon’s wrath and empowered The Post to publish journalism that changed the world. The courage and integrity of this remarkable woman, whom I was privileged to know is at the heart of a new documentary — “Becoming Katharine Graham: The Only Woman in the Room” — that premiered recently at the Kennedy Center I went to the screening and was flooded with memories of my first days as a young reporter in The Post’s newsroom That was in 1980, and Mrs. Graham — I don’t think I ever addressed her without the “Mrs.” was already a legend. The first time I actually met her, in an elevator at the paper’s old building on 15th Street NW I could barely croak out a weak hello. The documentary by Emmy-winning filmmakers Peter, Teddy and George Kunhardt covers the sweep of Graham’s long and eventful life: the support from her father, wealthy financier Eugene Meyer, who purchased The Post in 1933; the chilly emotional distance of her formidable mother, Agnes Ernst Meyer; the brilliance and charisma of her husband, Philip Graham,

The Kunhardts give prominence to two pivotal episodes that established Graham’s place in history: the Pentagon Papers and Watergate.

An important piece of context is that Nixon seethed with contempt for the news media, which he believed had always belittled him and treated him unfairly “Never forget: The press is the enemy,” he once told Henry Kissinger his national security adviser In that conversation, he repeated the phrase four times for good measure. In 1971, a federal court ordered The New York Times to cease publishing articles based on a leaked, highly classified history of the Vietnam War that showed the government had lied to the American people for years about U.S. progress and prospects in the bloody conflict. The Times appealed the ruling but obeyed the court order Meanwhile, The Post obtained copies of some of the Pentagon documents. Graham’s privately owned company was in the process of going public; executives warned her that publishing revelations from the secret papers could tank the stock price — and also put the broadcasting licenses of The Post’s profitable television stations at risk. Ultimately, the decision was Graham’s alone. She told her editors to publish. Less than two weeks later, in a landmark case, the Supreme Court vindicated her decision, ruling that lower courts should not have tried to restrain the Times and The Post from publishing.

With her company on the line, Graham had done the right thing. The following year, burglars were caught trying to plant listening devices at the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office building. Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein doggedly traced the bugging attempt to the White House — and ultimately to Nixon’s desk in the Oval Office.

For months, other news organizations shied away from the story while Nixon and his thuggish attorney general, John N. Mitchell, pressured and threatened Graham to call off her bloodhounds. The television licenses, once again, were at risk. The Post’s stock price plummeted.

Once again, Graham did the right thing: She backed Ben Bradlee, her larger-than-life executive editor — and not only did she support Woodward and Bernstein, but she went so far as to take their notes home at night to her stately Georgetown residence, so that if Mitchell ever tried to subpoena and seize them, he would have to come through her And once again, her bravery was vindicated: On Aug. 9, 1974, Nixon resigned. As the documentary’s subtitle notes, Graham was indeed the only woman in the room. When she took over The Post after her husband’s suicide, the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies included 499 men — and her Few others on that list ended their careers having become an icon.

Donald E. Graham said on Sunday night that his mother never hosted a dinner party without inviting both Democrats and Republicans. She bowed to no president. I bow to her Eugene Robinson is on X, @Eugene_ Robinson.

Getting to Denmark

Sooner or later, The New York Times catches on to the news. In the case of immigration policy, the news it has caught up with is that mass immigration, legal and illegal, from less-developed countries is politically toxic.

That news was relayed in a Feb. 24 article and thread on X by reporter David Leonhardt, a writer of center-left sympathies and a keen analyst of statistics and the human realities to which they are useful clues.

“The left has lost power in the U.S., Germany, Italy and Sweden,” Leonhardt writes. “Canada and Australia may be next. And the far right is growing across the West. But there is one European country where the left has won reelection and marginalized the far right: Denmark. Why?” His answer seems, once you think about it, glaringly obvious. “Danish progressives listened to working class voters on immigration — and reduced immigration levels.”

It’s an answer that is entirely congruent with a psephological observation in JD Vance’s muchresented (among European elites) Feb. 14 speech at the Munich Security Conference. “No voter on this continent,” Vance said, “went to the ballot box to open the ﬂoodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.” Politicians in Denmark, unlike those in neighboring Sweden and Germany, paid attention to that.

Denmark has long been known for its high taxes and generous welfare state, as well as its democratic norms and opposition to bigotry, as shown by its citizens’ ferrying of almost all its Jews to neutral Sweden during the Nazi occupation. In his book “The Origins of Political Order,” Francis Fukuyama wrote that a nation developing a competent state, the rule of law and public accountability was “getting to Denmark.” Denmark’s national identity goes back a thousand years, and it has long ranked high among nations in trust of government and large institutions.

It’s noteworthy that in Munich Vance was careful to say “no voter on this continent,” for voters on another continent, North America, voted for opening the ﬂoodgates to unvetted immigrants in 2020 and (in Canada) 2021. Joe Biden and the Democrats made no secret that they would undo Donald Trump’s relatively effective (after a few rough months) immigration law enforcement. But perhaps many didn’t expect that the Biden administration would usher in perhaps 5 million, perhaps 7 million illegal immigrants (or that Justin Trudeau would vastly expand Canada’s previously successful policy). In retrospect, it seems a clear example of Trump Derangement Syndrome or a logical extrapolation for those “in this house we believe no human is illegal” signs. For many Americans, any restriction on migration evokes memories of their own forebears from eastern and southern Europe who arrived in the Ellis Island years (1892-1914, 1919-24), and especially for those whose ancestors might otherwise have been murdered in the Holocaust. Today, it’s not plain that the United States or European nations need and can assimilate all the millions they have been coming in, a population disproportionately of unattached, low-skill young men from low-trust Muslim or Latin cultures. Unfortunately today’s public sector institutions here and in Europe seem disproportionately staffed by people who believe that assimilation is oppression.

Plainly there is some erosion of trust. The Biden open-border policy has tilted the immigrant ﬂow toward lawbreakers and violent young men whose crimes Trump has been highlighting. German voters in recent months have watched as Muslim immigrants stabbed three people to death in Solingen in August, killed six by driving a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, stabbed a baby and passerby to death in Aschaffenburg in January and, two days before the Feb. 23 election, stabbed a Spanish tourist at a Holocaust memorial in Berlin.

The result was a stinging defeat for Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic party, founded in 1875 (during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm I, born in 1797), and for the same reasons as the July 2024 defeat, after failing to stop the inﬂow, of Britain’s Conservative party, the modern form of which was founded in 1846 (during the reign of Queen Victoria, born in 1819)

Both parties have noble heritages of opposing Nazis and prosecuting the Cold War but have been brought low

The case against immigration can be overstated. In daily life native-born Americans mix with Latino immigrants, and native-born Europeans mix with Muslim immigrants, in shopping malls and fast food restaurants routinely and politely But mass immigration of culturally diverse people tends to produce economic stress and erode the trust levels.

It’s difﬁcult to get the balance right between the beneﬁts and detriments of immigration. What voters have been concluding is that European and American elites have botched the job and that their task now should be “getting to Denmark.”

Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone

Michael Barone

Eugene Robinson

Faimon Roberts

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SCOTT THRELKELD

Tyrin Truong, then-mayor-elect of Bogalusa, speaks Nov. 18, 2022, at his campaign office in Bogalusa.

New Orleans Forecast

SPORTS

A running start

The New Orleans Saints introduced their new coaching staff to the local media Monday during a meet-and-greet session at the team’s facility

The hourlong session felt a little like the ﬁrst day of school, replete with name tags for reporters to help coaches put a name with a face. Saints coaches might want to consider doing likewise.

As a whole, they’ve been on the job for a week, and the truth is, many are still in the getting-to-know-you phase as they move into ofﬁces and adapt to new surroundings

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Eighteen members of head coach Kellen Moore’s 23-man coaching staff are new, representing the most dramatic overhaul since Sean Payton took the reins nearly two decades ago.

The new assistants come from all over California. Ohio. Montana Penn-

sylvania. Texas. Illinois. A few are former colleagues of Moore

Others have ties to New Orleans and/ or the Saints.

Some are NFL lifers, while others arrive via the college ranks, newbies to the league.

Over the next six months, this mashup of teachers, mentors and protégés must coalesce with the ﬁve holdovers from Dennis Allen’s staff to lead the Saints into the 2025 season.

Saints re-sign DE Young in a rush

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

boosted New Orleans’ pass rush.

Though he finished with only 51/2 sacks, Young ranked sixth in pressures in the NFL, according to Next Gen Stats. His quarterback pressure percentage of 16.2% also represented a personal best.

Drafted second overall in 2020, Young entered the NFL hyped as a generational pass rusher after a dominant college career at Ohio State. At ﬁrst, he lived up to the billing with an impressive 71/2-sack rookie season that resulted in the Washington Commanders winning the division.

But Young’s career trajectory changed in 2021 when he suffered a serious knee injury that kept him out for all but three games of the next season. He also signed with New Orleans last year while needing neck surgery because of an injury from the previous season.

But Young found stability in New Orleans. Coaches praised him for his buy-in and professionalism. He played nearly 63% of the team’s snaps, behind only Carl Granderson on the defensive line.

“Man, I feel like in terms of I feel like I’ve pass rushed the best I have my whole entire career,” Young said last season. “You know my rookie year, I had a great year, but I don’t even think I pass rushed anywhere like I am right now, even though the sack number is not there.”

Cowan’s dominance

LSU baseball continued to dominate its nonconference slate last weekend back at Alex Box Stadium, sweeping North Alabama before the start of Southeastern Conference play this weekend. The Tigers took down the Lions 13-2 in seven innings on Friday, 6-2 on Saturday and 11-5 on Sunday Here are ﬁve takeaways from the weekend sweep:

1.23 ERA while throwing more innings than everyone minus the weekend starters. He has a higher strikeout rate (34.5%) than junior right-hander Chase Shores or freshman right-hander William Schmidt.

son said. “I mean, every time we put him in we win. And every time we put him in, the game’s on the line.” Cowan entered the season as a candidate to crack the starting rotation after he threw 110 innings in 17 starts last year

As good as freshman righthander Casan Evans has been, junior right-hander Zac Cowan is just as important for the bullpen.

The Wofford transfer has a

Cowan tossed 22/3 scoreless innings in LSU’s comeback win on Tuesday against North Dakota State before throwing two more shutout frames and earning a save Saturday “He’s one of the early MVPs of this team,” LSU coach Jay John-

There’s still a chance he earns a starting role if one of the starters falter, but for now he’s become arguably LSU’s most valuable reliever

New Orleans’ commitment to Young comes as the team looks to fortify its defensive line. The team also signed starter Nathan Shepherd to a one-year extension Monday and acquired defensive tackle Davon Godchaux from the New England Patriots.

Last year, Young’s signing arguably marked the Saints’ only splash in free agency And at the start of the league’s negotiating window Monday his resigning also proved to be the team’s ﬁrst splash for this year, too.

Email Matthew Paras at matt. paras@theadvocate.com

If things had gone according to plan, the New Orleans Pelicans would be jockeying for playoff position as they go down the ﬁnal stretch of the season. But the injury bug had other ideas, which is why the Pelicans are playing out the string with just 17 games remaining this season. Despite all the losses that have piled up and the next-to-lastplace position the Pels currently hold in the Western Conference standings, the fans who are still showing up to games are showing passion as if a playoff berth is on the line. You wouldn’t have known by the crowd during Sunday’s close loss to the Memphis Grizzlies

that the Pelicans are a team on pace for one of the worst records in franchise history And because of that passion during a lost season, the Pelicans owe it to their fans to let them see Zion Williamson as often as possible. Instead, Williamson sat on the bench in street clothes as the Pelicans fell 107-104 in a gritty effort against Ja Morant and the Grizzlies. Williamson sitting out on the second night of back-to-back games isn’t new That’s been the case in every game since he returned in January from the hamstring injury that sidelined him for most of November and all of December

If it was Williamson’s choice, he’d be playing in back-to-back games. But it’s a decision made by the team’s medical staff. That part is understandable The big picture is way more important, and Williamson’s longterm health is and should be

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MATTHEW HINTON

New Saints head coach Kellen Moore is introduced at a news conference in Metairie

PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

forward Zion Williamson, center sits on the bench in street clothes during the

Pelicans sign 7-foot center to 10-day contract

The New Orleans Pelicans are giving a former NBA lottery draft pick an opportunity The Pelicans announced the signing of center Mo Bamba to a 10-day contract on Monday

On Feb. 28, Bamba signed with the Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans’ G-League affiliate. Through four games in Birmingham, Bamba averaged 21 points and 14.5 rebounds.

AP WOMEN’S POLL RESHUFFLED

UCLA, South Carolina now 1-2; LSU drops one spot to 10th

BY DOUG FEINBERG

AP basketball writer

UCLA vaulted back up to No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 on Monday after beating USC for the Big Ten title over the weekend.

The Bruins, who spent 12 weeks atop the poll before losing to the rival Trojans in early February received 16 ﬁrst-place votes from a national panel to jump from fourth to ﬁrst. It was the second time this season that the Bruins leaped over a few teams to move up to No. 1.

UCLA topped then-No. 1 South Carolina before Thanksgiving to move up four places to claim the top ranking. LSU closed the regular season by dropping from ninth to 10th.

South Carolina knocked off previous No. 1 Texas in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game and moved up to second from ﬁfth in the poll.

The Gamecocks garnered nine ﬁrst-place ballots.

Texas and USC going down marked just the fourth time since the 1999-2000 season that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the poll lost on the same day, according to Stats Perform. It last occurred Nov 30, 2019, when Oregon was ﬁrst and Baylor was second.

UConn remained third going into Monday night’s game against No. 22 Creighton for the Big East title.

The Huskies received the other seven ﬁrst-place votes.

USC, which beat UCLA twice in the regular season, fell two spots to fourth and Texas dropped to ﬁfth.

TCU climbed up two spots to sixth for the highest ranking in school history after topping Baylor for the Big Ten championship

Sunday The Horned Frogs last won a tournament title in 2005 when

they were a member of Conference USA.

Duke moved up four places to seventh after it beat N.C. State for the ACC championship. It was the Blue Devils’ ﬁrst tournament title in 12 years It’s also the team’s best ranking since it was also seventh on Nov 17, 2014.

Notre Dame fell to eighth and N.C State was ninth.

Ins and outs

Ole Miss joined the poll at No. 25 after reaching the quarterﬁnals of the SEC Tournament. The Rebels were ranked for the ﬁrst nine weeks of the season. Michigan State fell out of the poll.

Getting recognition

UTSA received a vote in the poll for the ﬁrst time The Roadrunners ﬁnished the regular season with a school-record 26 wins, in-

cluding a 17-1 mark in the American Athletic Conference. The 17 conference victories match the school mark set in 2002-03 when the team was in the Southland Conference.

The team is led by conference player of the year Jordyn Jenkins and is coached by Karen Aston. Conference breakdown

The Southeastern Conference has eight ranked teams. The ACC and Big 12 each have ﬁve while the Big Ten has four The Big East has two and the Summit League one.

Games of the week

With the power conference tournaments ﬁnished, attention turns to the mid-major showdowns. The MAAC, NEC and Ivy League all have their championships this weekend.

Duke ends Auburn’s 8-week stay at No. 1

BY DAVE SKRETTA AP basketball writer

Duke ended Auburn’s eightweek stay at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday, while the Tigers dropped to third behind Houston as all three programs began preparing for their conference tournaments

The Blue Devils took advantage of back-to-back losses by Auburn to ascend to the top spot for the ﬁrst time since November 2021, when Duke spent a week there in Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell season. The Blue Devils received 52 of 61 votes from the national media panel, while the Cougars picked up ﬁve and the Tigers held onto the other four

“Just my luck to be No. 1 going into the postseason when it really doesn’t matter,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said with a laugh “We haven’t talked about it one time. We have talked about being No. 1 when this thing is all said and done.”

The Blue Devils, who will be the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament when they begin play in Thursday’s quarterfinals, beat Wake Forest in a rout last week before topping rival North Carolina on Saturday in Chapel Hill.

The Cougars, the top seed in the Big 12 Tournament, climbed to their highest ranking of the season. Auburn fell three spots but will still be the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, despite its close losses to then-No. 23 Texas A&M and then-No. 7 Alabama.

“Those are two teams capable of getting to the Final Four,” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said after watching the Crimson Tide’s Mark Sears hit a buzzer-beater for a 93-

91 overtime win in Auburn’s home ﬁnale Saturday Florida, which beat Alabama earlier in the week, moved up one spot to fourth while the Crimson Tide climbed two spots to ﬁfth in Monday’s poll. St John’s remained sixth after its overtime win over then-No. 20 Marquette on Saturday Michigan State was seventh, Tennessee dropped four spots to eighth, Texas Tech was ninth and Clemson rounded out the top 10. While some conferences are already crowning champions and awarding NCAA Tournament berths, the ACC and Big 12 are among the power leagues that begin play Tuesday The Big Ten and SEC tournaments open on Wednesday

“My standards are probably a little bit different I think there’s areas we need to continue to get better in,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose team rolls

into the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday riding a 10-game winning streak.

“I’m never going to say we’re playing our best ball because I prefer to think our best ball’s ahead of us,” Sampson said, “so we’ve just got to continue to work. That’s the bottom line. Stay humble and just keep working.”

In and out

Oregon, the eighth seed in the Big Ten Tournament, returned to the poll at No 23 while Illinois the seventh seed — is back in at No 24 Their spots came at the expense of Arizona, which lost at Kansas, and Mississippi State, which did not receive a single vote after losing close games to Texas and Arkansas last week.

Rising and falling Texas A&M made the biggest move in the poll, climbing eight

spots to No. 14 after wins over then-No. 1 Auburn and LSU. BYU jumped six spots to No. 17 after a double-overtime win over thenNo. 10 Iowa State and a victory over Utah. Wisconsin and Missouri tumbled six spots apiece this week. The Badgers fell to No. 18 after losing to Penn State on Saturday while the Tigers fell to No. 21 after losing to Oklahoma and then-No. 19 Kentucky Conference watch The SEC and Big Ten led the way with seven teams apiece in the Top 25 though the

The 7-footer out of the University of Texas was a McDonald’s All-American and the No. 6 overall pick of the 2018 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic.

Bamba has played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers in the past three seasons. In 28 games with the Clippers this season, Bamba averaged 4.6 points and 4.3 rebounds.

Ex-Red Sox slugger admits to using growth hormone

Curry named Davidson’s assistant general manager

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry will serve as an assistant general manager for Davidson College’s basketball teams.

The four-time NBA champion and two-time league MVP will be the ﬁrst active player in U.S. major professional sports to take an administrative job with a college team.

The hire was announced Monday Curry and his wife, Ayesha, and longtime Davidson supporters Don, Matt and Erica Berman are creating an eight-ﬁgure fund to support the college’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. Curry, who went to Davidson, says he wants their athletes to be able to compete in the top ranks of an ever-changing landscape.

Source: Dodgers to sign manager Roberts to deal

LOS ANGELES — This season will mark one decade for Dave Roberts as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a decorated run in which Roberts has led the team to eight division titles, four National League pennants, two World Series titles and more regular-season wins than any other franchise in baseball.

On Monday, Roberts added one more distinction to his tenure.

The Dodgers ﬁnally locked down Roberts — who has the best winning percentage in MLB history among non-Negro League managers — to a contract extension, agreeing to a four-year deal that includes an unprecedented $8.1-million annual salary according to a person with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly

Tennis chair umpire is suspended for corruption

LONDON A national-level chair umpire in the Dominican Republic, Juan Gabriel Castro, was suspended for six years and ﬁned $6,000 by the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Monday for manipulating scoring during matches to help someone who was placing bets.

The ITIA said Castro was found to have committed 12 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program across three matches. Castro did not respond to the ITIA’s notice of charge. He was accused of having “manipulated scoring entry to contrive the scorecard and facilitate corruption.” Someone who doesn’t respond to the ITIA’s investigative process can be found guilty of a “deemed sanction” and then have 10 business days to appeal. Castro did not appeal.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MICHAEL CONROy

Moore excited to have QB Carr in fold

BY MATTHEW PARAS, LUKE JOHNSON AND RASHAD MILLIGAN Staff writers

At his introductory news conference, New Orleans Saints coach

Kellen Moore said he was looking forward to going through a “process” to determine whether Derek Carr would remain the team’s starting quarterback.

But now that the situation is settled, and the Saints restructured Carr’s contract to keep him for next season, Moore admitted that step didn’t take long.

“Certainly you take this job with the intentions of some of the top players being here, and we felt really comfortable with him,” Moore said Monday Moore said he’s “really, really excited” to work with Carr and that he and the front ofﬁce wanted him to stay in New Orleans. The Saints opted to restructure Carr’s contract over the weekend to free up more than $30 million in salary-cap room. The restructure came amid a report from ESPN that Carr was open to testing the market for quarterback-needy teams.

Moore said the Saints had “conversations” with Carr before settling on the restructure but was evasive on topics such as whether Carr expressed a desire to hit free agency or whether the team asked the 33-year-old to take a pay cut.

“We just talked about our obviously conﬁdence in this situation and the ability for him to have success here,” Moore said. “I think we got a great group here from the players to the coaching staff to the environment we’re going to be able to create for him.

“We felt really, really good and comfortable with what we’re going to be able to provide.”

Saints make deal

The Saints acquired their ﬁrst piece of the roster Moore is trying to build, agreeing in principle on a trade for former LSU defensive tackle Davon Godchaux In exchange, the Saints will send a seventh-round pick to the New England Patriots.

Godchaux, a Plaquemine native, was originally a fifth-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in 2017, but he made his name as a pro in New England

In four seasons with the Patriots, Godchaux, 30, did not miss a game because of injury and started all but one of the 68 games he appeared in. While he did not put up gaudy numbers as a pass rusher, he anchored the Patriots’ run defense as its nose tackle — a position New Orleans needed to address in new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley’s scheme.

New Orleans allowed 141.4 yards per game and 4.92 yards per carry last year on the ground, the NFL’s second-worst marks on both fronts.

Shepherd extension

The Saints agreed to a one-year extension with defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

The deal, of which the terms are not yet known, gives Shepherd another year on his contract, as he was set to enter the ﬁnal year of the three-year, $15 million deal that he signed in 2023. Shepherd has started 30 of his 33 games for

New Orleans over the last two seasons after spending ﬁve seasons with the New York Jets.

Shepherd had only 11/2 sacks for the Saints last season after a 31/2sack campaign in 2023 The 31-yearold has been reliable, however, as he has missed only one game in that span He missed last year’s Week 16 game against the Green Bay Packers because of an eye injury

Shepherd was set to have a $7 million cap hit in 2025 with a $4.8 million base salary, though those ﬁgures could — and likely will — change after his extension.

Adebo moving on

On a busy day for NFL offseason moves, the Saints lost some depth in their secondary after cornerback Paulson Adebo agreed to terms with the New York Giants.

In 2024, Adebo grabbed three interceptions, deﬂected 10 passes and collected 43 solo tackles. The three picks tied with Tyrann Mathieu for the team lead.

A 2021 third-round pick out of Stanford, Adebo started in 51 of 52 games of his career, all with the Saints. Adebo’s season ended early in 2024 when he broke his leg in October

New York Yankees ace Cole to have season-ending Tommy John surgery

The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will have season-ending Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on Tuesday

The Yankees said the 34-yearold right-hander was examined Monday by Dr Neal ElAttrache at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. ElAttrache, the Dodgers’ head team physician, will operate

“This isn’t the news any athlete wants to hear, but it’s the necessary next step for my career,” Cole said in a statement. “I have a lot left to give, and I’m fully committed to the work ahead. I’ll attack my rehab every day and support the 2025 Yankees each

Continued

“Obviously it’s really exciting when you get to team up as a group now it’s about us just connecting and building that togetherness as a staff,” Moore said. “We’ve got some really great teachers and really great communicators that are going to connect with the players on a really high level.”

The group faces a daunting challenge. Moore’s late arrival has forced the group to work on a compressed timeline and play catch-up with their NFL peers. He was ofﬁcially hired just two days after the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LIX, and he didn’t ﬁnalize his staff until late last week.

Only a week ago, many of the new assistants were still introducing themselves to one another and trading background information as they moved into the team’s

step of the way I can’t wait to be back on the mound — stronger than ever.”

Cole experienced discomfort following his second spring training outing Thursday New York also is missing another starting pitcher, AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, who will be sidelined for at least three months because of a strained lat muscle. Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is sidelined indeﬁnitely because of tendon pain in both elbows, and inﬁelder DJ LeMahieu is out with a calf strain

“You’ve got to be able to handle it and deal with it and maneuver,” manager Aaron Boone told the YES Network before the team announced Cole’s surgery “It’s not

headquarters on Airline Drive. Meanwhile, there are new offensive and defensive systems to be mastered and installed, and new personnel to be learned, scouted and acquired. The coaches will do that while living out of temporary housing and trying to relocate families and ﬁnd schools for their kids

Defensive coordinator Brandon Staley is a prime example of the whirlwind transition. He was hired Feb. 21. He barely had time to celebrate with his wife, Amy, and their three children in California before boarding a plane to Indianapolis for the NFL scouting combine, where he joined the Saints’ contingent of coaches, scouts and personnel executives for the ﬁrst time

“I pretty much got off a plane, put my stuff in my room, and then I was doing formal interviews (with NFL draft prospects) two hours later,” Staley said. “Sometimes on tight timelines like this, it forces you to get to know each other fast.”

Eagles take hits, others get QBs in free agency

BY ARNIE STAPLETON AP pro football writer

The NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles are losing two of their defensive disruptors who pressured Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Defensive tackle Milton Williams agreed to a deal with New England worth $26 million annually and edge rusher Josh Sweat is heading to the Arizona Cardinals on a four-year $76.4 million contract, people with knowledge of the terms told The Associated Press. Williams and Sweat combined for 41/2 sacks, four quarterback hits, four tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the Eagles’ 40-22 rout of the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. The NFL’s 52-hour legal tampering period arrived Monday with a slew of stars getting big contracts after a weekend ﬂurry that featured league MVP Josh Allen’s record-setting $330 million extension and Myles Garrett set to become the highest-paid nonquarterback in history

The quarterback carousel kept turning Monday with the Seattle Seahawks grabbing Sam Darnold (three years, $100.5 million) after his bounce-back season in Minnesota, and Justin Fields landing with the New York Jets ($40 million over two years) to replace Aaron Rodgers. The deals can’t be signed until Wednesday Among the other headliners were Carolina Panthers star Jaycee Horn, who became the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL with a four-year, $100 million deal that includes $70 million guaranteed. The Panthers also agreed to terms with Las Vegas Raiders safety Tre’von Moehrig on a three-year, $51 million contract.

Along with Williams, the Patriots also agreed to contracts with linebacker Robert Spillane, cornerback Carlton Davis and offensive tackle Morgan Moses. The Washington Commanders made two big splashes, agreeing to terms with defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (three years, $45 million) and acquiring standout offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil in a trade with the Houston Texans. Allen’s deal includes $250 million guaranteed. That’s an NFL record regardless of position. Meanwhile, Garrett is staying in Cleveland after the Browns gave him a record four-year contract extension that makes the fourtime All-Pro edge rusher the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history Darnold went 14-3 in Minnesota before ending the season with

back-to-back duds that contributed to the decision by the Vikings to let him hit the open market and turn the team over to J.J. McCarthy, who was drafted 10th overall last year

Aside from Darnold, who is heading to his fourth team in four seasons and his ﬁfth franchise overall, two other veteran quarterbacks are among the most intriguing names on the market: Russell Wilson and Rodgers. Rodgers isn’t technically a free agent, but the Jets said they’re going to release him this week after a disappointing two-year stint in the Meadowlands. A torn Achilles tendon ended Rodgers’ 2023 season after a handful of snaps and he went 5-12 last year coming nowhere near the 9-7 mark another former Packers great, Brett Favre, posted with the Jets in 2008 before a rebound season with Minnesota. Rodgers hopes to land somewhere so he can have a similar bounce-back at age 41, and so does Wilson, who lost his last ﬁve starts for Pittsburgh last season. Since leaving Seattle for Denver in 2022, Wilson is 17-25. Seattle’s move for Darnold came three days after the Seahawks agreed to a deal to send Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round draft pick. The Seahawks are undergoing major changes on offense, having also agreed to trade star receiver D.K. Metcalf to Pittsburgh for a second-round pick and having cut receiver Tyler Lockett.

Among backup quarterbacks staying put are Jarrett Stidham, who agreed to a two-year, $12 million deal to serve as Bo Nix’s No. 2 in Denver, and Jimmy Garoppolo, who is staying with the Rams to back up Matthew Stafford. Denver also bolstered its stellar defense, agreeing to keep runstuffer D.J. Jones (three years, $39 million) and to sign former 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga (three years, $45 million). Two-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Haason Reddick is on the move again, this time to Tampa Bay, where he’ll make $14 million in 2025 with $12 million guaranteed. Before a holdout ruined his 2024 season with the Jets, Reddick had 27 sacks in two seasons in Philadelphia. He also had double-digit sacks for Arizona in 2020 and Carolina in 2021. The Buccaneers are his ﬁfth team in nine seasons. The Bucs also agreed to resign receiver Chris Godwin, who is returning from a gruesome ankle injury, for $66 million ($44 million guaranteed) over three years. The 29-year-old had 50 catches for 576 yards in seven games last season.

a death sentence for us by any means, so it’s an opportunity for someone else. The reality is Gerrit still has a lot of pitching in front of him in his career and pitching with the Yankees and we want that to be as successful as it’s been already.”

A six-time All-Star Cole threw a perfect ﬁrst inning Thursday and reached 97.6 mph in the second, when he allowed Matt Wallner’s three-run homer on a fastball in the middle of the strike zone. He also surrendered Brooks Lee’s solo homer in the third on a 94 mph fastball with a 3-0 count.

Cole signed a $324 million, nineyear contract before the 2020 season.

Moore is doing his best to hasten the learning process. He’s scheduled various get-togethers outside of the ofﬁce. A group attended a New Orleans Pelicans game last week. Similar events are scheduled in the weeks ahead as homes are bought and families are situated, Moore said.

“Coach is doing a great job of getting everybody to mix and get to know each other to help build the camaraderie,” new tight ends coach Chase Haslett said. “We spend more time together than we do with our families during the season, so you want to know and be on the same page with everyone who is around you.”

The calendar might say Moore is the youngest head coach in the league, but he’s mature beyond his 36 years when it comes to coaching experience As the son of a longtime high school coach in Washington state, he’s been around the game his whole life and understands the importance of assembling a quality staff. The assistants, after all, are the

A staff, like a roster, takes time to mature and ripen. The quality of Moore’s ﬁrst staff will reveal itself on Sundays this fall. But Moore wisely has placed an emphasis on character, communication skills, teaching ability and compatibility, and the ﬁrst impression of this new Saints staff is a good one.

Email Jeff Duncan at jduncan@ theadvocate.com.

ones who work with the players on a daily basis and are charged with keeping them motivated and holding them accountable. They review and grade practice performance, break down opponents’ game tape and compile the bulk of the weekly game plans. One of the reasons the Saints shined under Payton was his ability to attract and hire good assistants. The 2018 staff, for example, featured eight assistants who had been or eventually would be NFL head coaches or coordinators: Allen, Joe Brady Dan Campbell, Pete Carmichael, Aaron Glenn, Joe Lombardi, Ryan Nielsen and Mike Nolan. There was a noticeable drop-off in coaching talent after Payton left, in part because it wasn’t as easy to lure top assistants here in the post-Drew Brees era. To a degree, Moore has started with a clean slate. He retained ﬁve capable assistants — Jahri Evans, Phil Galiano, Peter Giunta Keith Williams and Brian Young — and ﬁlled in the rest with newcomers he either worked with previously or knew about from the coaching grapevine. The energy and enthusiasm of the new group was noticeable Monday “Fortunately for Kellen, he has a lot of relationships in a lot of different places, and we were able to take our time and not rush (the hiring process),” Staley said. “There were a lot of people that wanted to work with Kellen that have so much respect for him from afar and that wanted to coach in New Orleans with the Saints.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT SLOCUM Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams celebrates after recovering a fumble by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during the second half of the Super Bowl on Feb 9 in New Orleans.

FILE PHOTO By BUTCH DILL

Saints quarterback Derek Carr works against the Atlanta Falcons during the second quarter on Sept. 29 in Atlanta.

THE VARSITY ZONE

MCCUSKER

LHSAA BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT CAPSULES

BY CHRISTOPHER DABE Staff writer

Five New Orleans area teams remain after the first day of games at the LHSAA boys basketball state tournament in Lake Charles.

Here’s a rundown of those teams, and who they will face in their upcoming semiﬁnals.

Country Day

VS DUNHAM, 2:45 P.M. TUESDAY

How they got here: The third-seeded Cajuns (24-6) are riding a seven-game winning streak that includes impressive wins against Newman in the regular season and Catholic-New Iberia in the Division III select state quarterﬁnals.

Player to know: Kellen Brewer, sophomore who scored 22 points in a quarterfinal win against Catholic-New Iberia. He averages 18 points per game.

Scouting report: No. 2 Dunham (21-5) has three scorers who average double ﬁgures in points, including top college quarterback prospect Elijah Haven, a 6-foot4 sophomore who averages 13 points, eight rebounds and ﬁve assists Shaw VS MADISON PREP, 1 P.M. WEDNESDAY

How they got here: The Eagles (262) are seeded No. 1 for the ﬁrst time in their four-year run of reaching the state tournament, all with coach Wesley Laurendine building one of the most

productive programs in the New Orleans area.

Player to know: Kobe Butler, 6-7 senior who averages better than 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots on a balanced team that includes four other players who average 11 or more points per game.

Scouting report: No. 5 Madison Prep (27-9), which defeated Shaw in the semifinals the past two seasons, has been to the finals 11 times in the past 12 seasons — winning eight titles. But Shaw has good reason to feel confident after beating Madison Prep 61-55 in the first game this season.

St. Augustine VS LIBERTY, 2:45 P.M. WEDNESDAY

How they got here: The fourthseeded Purple Knights (284) have first-year head coach Wade Mason back at his alma mater Mason played on the 1995 team that ended the season ranked No. 1 nationally by USA Today

Player to know: Aaron Miles, a sophomore point guard is averaging 13 points and ﬁve assists per game and is a key facilitator for a team that includes senior Jakobe Shepeard among its top players. Shepeard scored 19 points in a quarterﬁnal win against Alexandria.

Scouting report: No. 1 Liberty (251) is the reigning Division I select state champion with senior Malek Robinson averaging 15 points, seven rebounds and eight assists per game.

VS PEABODY, 6:45 P.M.WEDNESDAY

How they got here: Second-seeded Hannan (21-6), unable to get past the quarterﬁnals the past two seasons, is back at the state tournament for the second time in four seasons. The Hawks beat Liberty in the Division II ﬁnal three years ago.

Player to know: Drew Timmons, a 6-6 senior who averages 22 points, 10 rebounds and three assists per game.

Scouting report: No. 3 Peabody (254), with Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Charles Smith as coach, is the reigning Division II select state champion.

John Curtis

VS ST THOMAS MORE, 1 P.M.THURSDAY

How they got here: The 9-5A champion Patriots (24-6), seeded seventh, won the district title with a close win against Holy Cross and then advanced to the state tournament by winning a quarterﬁnal on the road against Catholic-BR.

Player to know: Autrail Manning, the 9-5A player of the year and a 6-1 junior point guard, scored 25 points including the winning point from the free throw line — in the district-clincher against Holy Cross.

Scouting report: No. 3 St. Thomas More (27-4), the reigning Division I select state runner-up, can hold high-scoring teams to low point totals with its deliberate style of play Leading scorer Grayson Roy averages 10 points per game.

Tulane looking to make history at AAC tourney

Wave seeks first conference tournament title

BY GUERRY SMITH

Contributing writer

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

LAKE CHARLES With a rich tradition and an appearance in the ﬁnal a year a ago, top-seeded Crescent City Christian is used to being a leader of the pack.

But a slow start thwarted a furious fourth-quarter rally as fourth-seeded Hamilton Christian held on to claim a 54-51 victory over the Pioneers in a Division IV select semifinal at the LHSAA Boys Basketball tournament Monday

“We’ve had a few games like this, but we’re just not as experienced at playing from behind,” Crescent City coach Jerry Thompson said. “It’s different when you go into a game as the hunter, which is something we have done.

“Today, we were the hunted. (Hamilton) hit us in the face pretty good. We had a good chance at the 3 there at the end, but just did not knock it down.”

The Pioneers trailed by seven points with 1:13 remaining. A 3-pointer by Freddie Scott got Crescent City within two a 53-51 with 24.3 seconds to go.

Hamilton made just 9 of 21 free throws in the game. The Warriors made just 1 of 4 in the ﬁnal 18.4 seconds and survived when one ﬁnal Pioneers 3-pointer was off the mark.

Scott led the Pioneers with 14 points. Isiah Stevens and Kenneth Malarchar added 11 points and 14 rebounds for Crescent City (1812). Javon Vital led Lake Charles-

based Hamilton (19-7).

Vital added 11 rebounds and 10 assists to ﬁnish with a triple double for the Warriors, who advance to play Southern Lab in the Division IV select ﬁnal set for 2 p.m. Friday at Burton Coliseum.

Vital and the Warriors set the tone early by outscoring Crescent City 23-12 in the ﬁrst quarter, helping to cancel out the Pioneers 21-9 fourth-quarter ﬁnish.

Seth Ned scored nine ﬁrst-quarter points to put Hamilton in the driver’s seat. The Warriors made 66% of their shots from the ﬁeld (eight of 12) compared to 4 of 16 first-quarter shots for Crescent City Hamilton led 33-21 at halftime. The Pioneers outscored the Warriors 17-9 in the third quarter to climb back in contention.

The Tulane men’s basketball team has never won a league tournament, a dubious distinction that spans stints in the Southeastern Conference, Metro, Conference USA and the American Athletic After routing reigning AAC To urnament champion UAB 8568 in Sunday’s regular-season ﬁnale and earning a double bye to the quarterﬁnals, the fourth-seeded Green Wave (18-13 12-6) will head to Fort Worth, Texas, believing it can make history

the ﬁnal.

Rare feat

Notebook

The task is to win three games in three days, starting Friday vs. No. 5 seed Florida Atlantic, No. 12 Rice or No. 13 Charlotte opponents against which it is 5-0.

“We finished the season off strong and beat one of the better teams at our place,” coach Ron Hunter said. “We’ll have conﬁdence. There’s no question about that We’ve been waiting for this all year

“As I told the guys, we are not even supposed to be in this situation, so we’ll go down and play relaxed, trying to bring our defense with us and see what happens.”

That defense is what makes Hunter particularly excited about a group the league’s coaches tabbed to ﬁnish tied for 11th. He coached four teams to conference tournament championships before arriving at Tulane — IUPUI in 2002-03 and Georgia State in 2014-15, 2017-18 and 2018-19 — and says none of them defended like his current one

During league play, Tulane finished second in the AAC in scoring defense (70.9 points per game), third in field goal percentage defense (.427) and third in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.326). Its eight blocked shots against UAB marked the ﬁfth time it had eight or more this season.

“I’ve had more explosive teams, but I haven’t had teams that for 40 minutes could compete defensively this way,” Hunter said. “These guys (UAB) were averaging almost 80 points, and we shut them down.

“This defense can do a lot in the tournament.”

Tulane has reached two AAC tournament semifinals under Hunter but has not played in a championship game since the 1991-92 Metro. To get there, it likely would have to beat topseeded, 16th-ranked Memphis in a semiﬁnal.

The only time the Wave have won three games in a conference tournament was 1948-49 in the SEC. It then lost to Kentucky in

Tulane’s 12 conference wins matched its total from 2022-23 one off the school record of 13 set in 1947-48 in the SEC.

The Wave’s .667 winning percentage also is among the best in modern history Since joining the Metro Conference and playing a full league schedule in 1977-78, Tulane’s only better marks were in 1992-93, when it went 9-3, and 1996-97, when it ﬁnished 11-3.

The Wave lost in the ﬁrst round of its league tournament in both of those seasons, but no one on this team was alive for either of them.

“It’s a zero-zero atmosphere now,” junior guard Asher Woods said. “Any game now can be our last game, so we have to do what it takes to prepare and make sure we’re fresh and mentally sharp. From there we have a good chance.”

Woods on fire

Woods made the final AAC weekly honor roll, averaging 20.5 points and 4.5 assists in two games while hitting 16 of 23 shots overall, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Before then, his high point total in two years at Tulane was 20, but he has progressed offensively since the end of January He enjoyed a three-game stretch in early February with 18, 20 and 20 points on 19-of-31 shooting.

“It’s almost to the point where it’s expected,” Hunter said. “He’s one of our older guys. His attitude that we weren’t going to lose to UAB showed on all the other guys. He talked and showed his leadership.”

Stat master

Point guard Rowan Brumbaugh led the AAC in steals during conference games, averaging 2.2. No other Tulane player topped a category, but Brumbaugh was high on several lists. He ﬁnished second in assists (4.7) and minutes played per game (36.9), fourth in free-throw percentage (.850) and seventh in scoring (17.2), virtually assuring a spot on the expanded 10-player ﬁrst-team All-AAC list that will be announced this week. Forward Kaleb Banks placed fourth in field goal percentage (.533) and eighth in blocked shots (1.3).

Hannan

STAFF PHOTO By SCOTT THRELKELD

Tulane forward Greg Glenn, right, blocks a shot by Memphis guard PJ Haggerty on Jan. 30 at Devlin Fieldhouse.

Torina: ‘Cool time’ for LSU softball

BY JIM KLEINPETER

Contributing writer

The No. 4 LSU softball team has reached a transition point in its season. The competition gets decidedly tougher the rest of the way when the Tigers take on UL at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Tiger Park before hosting its first Southeastern Conference series of the season against Kentucky beginning Friday LSU coach Beth Torina’s message after Sunday’s 10-2 victory against Minnesota was simple.

“If you’re not excited about what’s in front of us, you need to check your pulse,” she said. “It’s an exciting week, a cool time to be a part of this program and team. We’ve done our job in the early part of the season, but we don’t want to sit on that or catch our breath. We want to go, keep the pedal down, keep building and getting better.”

The Tigers (23-1) are on a roll and nearly got off to their second consecutive 24-0 start. Their last three wins have been ﬁve-inning mercy rule blowouts, something they’ve done 10 times this season. The start is a true accomplishment after the program replaced

six position starters and longtime hitting coach Howard Dobson. But the new faces have blended well with holdovers, and a new emphasis on aggressiveness on the base paths under assistant Bryce Neal has been a winning formula. Leadoff hitter and third base-

man Danieca Coffey has taken her play to another level with a .547 batting average and a .667 on-base percentage. Despite her position in the batting order, her 24 RBIs are second on the team and her .734 slugging percentage is third. Redshirt freshman first base-

man Tori Edwards has eight homers and 35 RBIs with .420 average while Sierra Daniel has nailed down the job at second base with a .457 average. Transfers Avery Hodge at shortstop and Jalia Lassiter in center ﬁeld have ﬁlled the voids of longtime starters Taylor

Tampa Bay Rays get 120 hours to make Yankees’ spring stadium their own

BY RONALD BLUM

AP baseball writer

TAMPA. Fla. “Extreme Makeover: Baseball Edition” is about to premiere. When Tampa Bay players leave Steinbrenner Field following the New York Yankees’ spring training home ﬁnale on March 23, their staff will launch a 120-hour transformation of the ballpark for the Rays’ season in exile from stormdamaged Tropicana Field By the time the Rays return for their March 28 opener against Colorado, more than 3,000 unique signs and advertising boards will have been installed The 10-by-9 foot “Y-A-N-K-E-E-S” letters above the first- and third-base stands will have been covered with Rays markings, along with the interlocking “NY” hanging from the ceiling in the center of the clubhouse. The team store will have been emptied of pinstriped gear and restocked with Rays apparel.

A metamorphosis that even Statcast can’t measure

“Building the plane while you ﬂy it,” said Bill Walsh, the Rays’ chief business ofﬁcer “At times really, really exciting and at times obviously just incredibly frantic and stressful.”

Tampa Bay is one of two big league teams whose home games will be in minor league stadiums this year The Athletics moved to Sutter Park in West Sacramento, California, for at least three seasons while a planned structure is built in Las Vegas

After playing indoors at the Trop in St. Petersburg since the franchise took the field in 1998, the Rays needed a rental after Hurricane Milton tore off the roof panels on Oct 9.

Concluding the ballpark couldn’t be repaired quickly, Tampa Bay

PELICANS

Continued from page 1C

team considered sitting Williamson for the road game and letting him play the next day at home, had this to say:

“We have (considered it),” Green said. “It just didn’t happen this time.” Well, it should the next time Pelicans fans deserve that.

The league’s load-management rules, implemented in 2023, suggest that teams balance how often players miss home and road games. But in a season where there hasn’t been a whole lot to cheer about, the fans who spend their hard-earned money on season tickets should at least get to see the team’s biggest draw as often as possible.

Williamson has played in just 26 games this season. He’s played only nine times in the Smoothie King Center while playing 17 road games. This past weekend was a perfect opportunity to sit him in Hous-

NESIUS

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By STEVE

Soaking tubs and a spa pool, part of the New york yankees medical and training room, are seen during a tour of the upgraded team spring training facilities Feb 13 at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla.

found an ofﬁce site near the Trop two weeks later and announced a deal on Nov 14 to play 2025 home games at Steinbrenner Field, the open-air 11,026-capacity spring training base of the Yankees across the bay in Tampa. The site of any postseason homes games remains uncertain.

These temporary digs will feel like a player palace. A two-year renovation designed by Gensler and executed by Turner Construction Co. transformed the home clubhouse from motel quality to a Four Seasons.

A home clubhouse more lavish than most regular season facilities

Player and staff space doubled to 50,000 square feet. There is a two-story weight room with ﬂoorto-ceiling windows and garage door, indoor and outdoor stretching areas, a Ping-Pong table, a barbershop, eight beds in a trainers area, massage rooms and a SwimEx along with hot and cold tubs with TVs at water level, a sauna red-light therapy and four batting cages Each player locker has a

safe along with USB and USB-C ports. There is a 70-seat meeting room, six private ofﬁces and 12 desks for additional staff.

A made-to-order open kitchen is near a 2,400-square foot picnic patio with 18 tables for dining and a long counter

“I could totally see a wedding,” said Matt Ferry, the Yankees’ director of baseball operations. Andy Pettitte, a former Yankees ace and now a spring training instructor, recalled how the food table was in a clubhouse corner near the showers when the stadium opened in 1996.

“It’s crazy it’s so beautiful,” Pettitte said after a dip in the cold tank. “When I came up, it was taboo to be in the trainers room.”

Steinbrenner Field’s regularseason team is the Yankees’ Class A Tampa Tarpons, who will dress a 1.2-mile drive away at the team’s minor league complex across Dale Mabry Highway and play home games on ﬁeld two, a practice diamond behind Steinbrenner’s ﬁrst-base side.

PELS TO BECOME FIRST NBA TEAM TO PLAY IN AUSTRALIA

The New Orleans Pelicans are headed down under

The Pelicans will start next season with a pair of preseason games in Australia, the NBA announced Monday afternoon.

It will be the ﬁrst time an NBA team has played in Australia.

The Pelicans will play against two teams in the National Basketball League, a professional basketball league in Australia.

The Pelicans are scheduled to play Melbourne United on Oct. 3 and South East Melbourne Phoenix on Oct. 5 The games will be played at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne

The NBA, the NBL and the Pelicans also will conduct NBA Cares community outreach initiatives and lifestyle events leading up to and during the week of the games.That includes a fan night on Oct. 4

ton on Saturday and let him play in New Orleans on Sunday in front of the fans who buy the Williamson jerseys.

The good news is Williamson should be available for Tuesday night’s home game against the Los Angeles Clipper as well as Thursday’s home game against the Orlando Magic.

Even better news is the Pelicans play on back-to-back nights just one more time this

season. They play on the road against the Detroit Pistons on March 23, then turn around and play at home against the Philadelphia 76ers the next night. Assuming Williamson is still not playing consecutive nights by then, the Pelicans should sit Williamson in Detroit and let him play in New Orleans. For the sake of the fans, it’s the right thing to do.

Pleasants and Ciara Briggs, respectively

Home run production is down (17), but the Tigers have stolen 40 bases after getting 44 in 61 games last season. Their aggressiveness on taking extra bases has resulted in numerous errors by their opponents that have led to more runs.

“This offense is super, super special,” pitcher Sydney Berzon said. “They do a great job of staying in their plan, staying in their processes. I love watching it. “I want people to look at us and understand we’re going to play with 100% effort every single time. This team is truly powerful in every way — offensively, defensively and mentally We’re a tough team.”

So is UL, which is 13-9 while playing a difficult schedule. The Cajuns have played seven games against SEC teams, including No. 1 Texas, and owns victories against Alabama (4-3) and Ole Miss (6-5). The Cajuns play small ball even more than LSU with just eight homers, five by first baseman Emily Smith, and 22 steals.

Outfielder Kayla Falterman leads the team with a .411 average, and center ﬁelder and leadoff hitter Maddie Hayden is batting .391 with a team-best nine stolen bases. The top pitcher is Mallory Wheeler with a 5-1 record and a 2.57 ERA.

LSU

Continued from page 1C

Catching situation

Freshman Cade Arrambide had a rough night behind the plate

Tuesday, prompting Johnson to replace him with senior Luis Hernandez by the fifth inning. Hernandez, who has caught the majority of LSU’s games, then started on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday before getting a break Sunday

Finding those pockets of rest for Hernandez will be important since he’s emerged as the top option behind the plate. He arrived at LSU as a power threat (23 home runs last year at Indiana State) but has become more valuable defensively than offensively for the Tigers.

Johnson on Friday went as far as to say that he doesn’t believe Hernandez will hit as many homers this season because “we’re asking him to do something that he hasn’t done.”

“It’s most important that he catches good. That’s the most important thing,” Johnson said.

“And he’s doing a really nice job of that.”

Arrambide bounced back with a cleaner performance Sunday, and redshirt junior Blaise Priester came off the bench Friday and Sunday But this week made it clear that LSU will have to rely on Hernandez while Arrambide hones in his blocking and receiving skills.

“I know he’s a great player,” Johnson said about Arrambide on Tuesday, “and I know he’ll catch again relatively soon, and we need him to be good back there.”

Here comes the power?

LSU blasted 10 home runs in three games last weekend, a stark improvement from the weekend before when the offense had three homers in three

ON DECK

WHO: Xavier (7-9) at LSU (16-1) WHEN: 6:30 p.m.,Tuesday WHERE: Alex Box Stadium ONLINE: SEC Network+ RADIO: WDGL-FM, 98.1 (Baton Rouge); WWL-AM, 870 (New Orleans); KLWB-FM, 103.7 (Lafayette)

RANKINGS: LSU is No. 1 by D1Baseball; Xavier is not ranked

games. The Tigers entered this year without much proven power Junior Jared Jones is its only player who had more than 10 home runs last season while playing in the SEC.

A healthy Jones is a virtual lock to hit at least 20 homers, but LSU will need the likes of junior Daniel Dickinson, senior Josh Pearson and sophomore Steven Milam to hit a few extra balls over the fence.

Anderson missing bats

Sophomore left-hander and staff ace Kade Anderson has made a lot of opposing hitters look silly through his ﬁrst four starts.

Anderson has struck out 15.4 batters per nine innings and holds a 43.5% strikeout rate this year He leads the team in both categories among pitchers who have thrown at least 10 innings. He featured his curveball more Friday after sticking to a mostly fastball-slider approach in his previous start. He struck out 11 hitters in six innings against North Alabama.

“I think that’s just how the lineup kind of was, to attack with all my pitches, honestly,” Anderson said “And I think that (pitching coach Nate Yeskie) did a really good job of kind of mixing and matching.”

Guidry update

Gavin Guidry the junior righthander who has been unavailable the last three weekends with a reported back injury, played catch Saturday and Sunday in hopes of returning to the bullpen and making his ﬁrst appearance this weekend against Missouri.

“The ball is coming out good, and got really good reports about the catch play (Saturday),” Johnson said. “(His) general disposition, it was very positive. He’s right next to me in the dugout and smiling, and he had a lot more positive vibes, I guess, this weekend.”

PROBABLE STARTERS: LSU — TBA; Xavier —

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU right-handed pitcher Zac Cowan pitches against Southern on Feb 18 at Alex Box Stadium.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON LSU third baseman Danieca Coffey connects for a base hit against Penn State on Feb 21 at Tiger Park Coffey is hitting .547 with a .667 on-base percentage so far this season.

Injuries present challenges for LSU gym

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

His team is ranked No. 2 in the nation and coming off the best score in the nation in 2025 by nearly three-tenths of a point. But for LSU coach Jay Clark, every week is a new challenge.

Notebook

“E ve ry w ee k when I walk into the gym and get the news from the trainer, someone is sick or someone has to go to the doctor,” Clark said Monday Every week is also an opportunity for him to try and let go and not worry about the things he can’t control.

“As a coach, I want to control every outcome,” Clark said with a wry grin. “I’m getting better about letting go and practicing what I preach.”

Two of the hurdles going into the final meet of the regular season are the health of freshman Kaliya Lincoln and senior Olivia Dunne Lincoln competed on vault in Friday’s

198.575-197.175 victory over Georgia, but a lingering shoulder injury that will require offseason surgery prompted Clark to pull her out of the ﬂoor rotation and re-

of Friday’s meet at Auburn. The same already was expected for Dunne, who posted on Instagram on Thursday that she has an avulsion fracture of her left kneecap.

“It’s an unusual thing,” Clark said. “It usually happens to someone who’s been in a car accident or had some sort of blunt force trauma. She can’t recall anything like that.”

Dunne was on the ﬂoor for the Georgia meet and senior night activities with a brace on her left knee.

“She can force herself to function, but it’s very painful,” Clark said. “We’ve shut her down and immobilized it. I still remain cautiously optimistic that she’ll be available again, at least on bars, but it’s hard to say.”

Clark said he expects freshman Lexi Zeiss will replace Lincoln on vault at Auburn and that Coen, who filled in for Lincoln in the floor lineup, will again fill that role. Coen led off on floor and scored a 9.875.

The Tigers have an NQS (National Qualifying Score) of 197.825 to the Sooners’ 197.965. Florida is No. 3 (197.760), followed by UCLA (197.600) and Utah (197.515).

Freshman sensation Kailin Chio, who won her ﬁfth all-around title Friday with a season-best 39.800, is the nation’s fifth-ranked allarounder with an NQS of 39.665. She is also No. 2 on vault (9.945) and tied for fourth on beam (9.935).

Sophomore Konnor McClain is sixth on uneven bars (9.925), and senior Aleah Finnegan — who recorded LSU’s ﬁrst 10.0 score of the season with a perfect routine on beam Friday — is tied for ninth in that event (9.920).

No TV again

place her with sophomore Kylie Coen

“She vaulted and didn’t feel she could get her arm back,” Clark said. “It didn’t make sense to push her on ﬂoor. We’re trying to get it

to calm down and get her ready for SECs, maybe, and (NCAA) regionals.”

Clark basically ruled the 2024 U.S. Olympic team alternate out

Tigers closing gap

LSU remained No. 2 in this week’s national rankings but again closed the gap on No. 1 Oklahoma.

SCOREBOARD

Incarnate Word

67 Quarterﬁnals Monday’s games Northwestern St. vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, n Nicholls vs. Incarnate Word, n Semiﬁnals Tuesday’s games McNeese St. vs Northwestern St.-Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders-winner, 7 p.m. Lamar vs. Nicholls-Incarnate Word-winner, 9:30 p.m.

Championship Wednesday’s game Semiﬁnal winners, 5 p.m. Women’s national scores Monday’s games

American Athletic Quarterfinal Rice 62, UTSA 58 Temple 65, Charlotte 34 Big Sky Confrence Quarterfinal Idaho St. 62, Weber St. 42 Montana 65, Idaho 54 Horizon League Confrence Semifinal Green Bay 67, Robert Morris 53 Fort Wayne 83, Cleveland St. 65

Mountain-West ConferenceQuarterﬁnal UNLV 80, Boise St. 70

Southland Confernce

First Round Northwestern St. 66, Texas A&M-CC 63 Sun Belt Championship Arkansas St. 86, James Madison 79, OT West Coast Conference

Semiﬁnal

Oregon St. 63, Gonzaga 61

Western AthleticFirst Round

Nicholls 55, Texas Rio Grande Valley 53

Southland Conference

At The Legacy Center Lake Charles, La.

First Round

Monday’s games Northwestern St. 66, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 63 Nicholls 55, Texas Rio Grande Valley 53

Quarterﬁnals

Tuesday’s games Incarnate Word vs. Northwestern St., Noon Stephen F. Austin vs. Nicholls, 2:30 p.m

Semiﬁnals

Wednesday’s games SE Louisiana vs. Incarnate Word-Northwestern St.-winner, 11:30 a.m. Lamar vs. Stephen F. Austin-Nicholls-winner, 2 p.m.

Championship Thursday’s game

Semiﬁnal winners, 5 p.m. American Athletic Conference At Higher-Seeded Schools

First Round

Saturday’s games Charlotte 55, FAU 51

Second Round

Sunday’s games Rice 76, UAB 63 Charlotte 71, Tulsa 66 East Carolina 64, Memphis 45 Tulane 69, Wichita St. 63

Quarterﬁnals

Monday’s games Rice 62, UTSA 58 Temple 65, Charlotte 34 North Texas 69, East Carolina 58 South Florida vs. Tulane, n Semiﬁnals

Tuesday’s games Temple vs. Rice, 7 p.m. North Texas vs. South Florida-Tulane-winner, 9:30 p.m.

Championship Wednesday’s games Temple-Rice-winner vs. TBD, 7 p.m.

College softball

Sunday’s games UL-Monroe 9, Detroit Mercy 1 (6 innings) Louisiana Tech 10, New Mexico State 4 LSU 10, Minnesota 2 (5 innings)

Monday’s games

games

6 p.m.

Wednesday’s games No games scheduled

Thursday’s games No games scheduled.

Friday’s games Grambling at UAPB, TBA UIW at Nicholls (DH), 4 p.m. Southeastern at Houston Christian (DH) 4 p.m. Southern at Alcorn, 4 p.m. UL at Marshall, 5 p.m. Georgia State at UL-Monroe, 5 p.m. Louisiana Tech at UTEP, 6 p.m. Northwestern St. at McNeese, 6 p.m. Kentucky at LSU, 6 p.m.

Hojgaard, 69.479. 2,

Smalley, 69.624. 3, Sepp Straka, 70.003. 4, Scottie Schefﬂer, 70.020. 5, Kevin Roy, 70.026. 6, Michael Kim, 70.037. 7, Collin Morikawa, 70.125. 8, Russell Henley, 70.157. 9, Rory McIlroy 70.165. 10, Karl Vilips, 70.235. Driving Distance 1, Niklas Norgaard, 325.1. 2, Tim Widing, 323.8. 3, Aldrich Potgieter, 322.9. 4, Gary Woodland, 321.6. 5 (tie), Rory McIlroy and Karl Vilips, 320.1. 7, Alejandro Tosti, 319.8. 8, Min Woo Lee, 319.6. 9, Michael Thorbjornsen, 318.3. 10, Rasmus Hojgaard, 317.9. Driving Accuracy Percentage 1, Ben Kohles, 75.00%. 2, Takumi Kanaya 74.76%. 3, Brice Garnett, 72.65%. 4, Collin Morikawa, 72.37%. 5, Lucas Glover, 71.74%. 6, Paul Peterson, 69.37%. 7, Victor Perez, 68.64%. 8, Aaron Rai, 68.51%. 9, Kevin Roy 68.32%. 10, John Pak, 67.96%. Greens in Regulation Percentage 1, 10 tied with .00%. Total Driving 1, Kevin Roy, 40. 2, Karl Vilips, 46. 3, Victor Perez, 62. 4, Alex Smalley, 69. 5, Steven Fisk, 70. 6, Isaiah Salinda, 77. 7, Rico Hoey, 83. 8, Daniel Berger, 92. 9, Kris Ventura, 98. 10, Taylor Pendrith, 100. SG-Putting 1, Brandt Snedeker, 1.009. 2, Aldrich Potgieter, .936. 3, Frankie Capan III, .851. 4, Lee Hodges, .847. 5, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, .829. 6, Will Chandler, .801. 7, Brendon Todd, .799. 8, Harry Hall, .717. 9, Sami Valimaki .695. 10, Taylor Montgomery, .692. Birdie Average 1, Cam Davis, 5.28. 2, Collin Morikawa, 5.25. 3, Sepp Straka, 5.2. 4, Harry Hall, 5.17. 5, Jesper Svensson, 5.05. 6, Russell Henley, 5.04. 7, Niklas Norgaard, 5. 8, Patrick Cantlay, 4.95. 9, Adam Scott, 4.94. 10, 2 tied with 4.92. Eagles (Holes per) 1, Steven Fisk, 42. 2 (tie), Nicolai Hojgaard, David Skinns and Karl Vilips, 54. 5, Patrick Cantlay, 60. 6, Ludvig Aberg, 61.2. 7 (tie), Cam Davis, Kurt Kitayama and Trey Mullinax, 64.8. 10, 2 tied with 66. Sand Save Percentage 1, 10 tied with .00%. All-Around Ranking 1, Karl Vilips, 185. 2, Alex Smalley, 223. 3, Collin Morikawa, 302. 4, Sepp Straka, 330. 5, Justin Thomas, 381. 6, Russell Henley, 389. 7, Kevin Roy, 394. 8, Ben Kohles, 399. 9, Nicolai Hojgaard, 415. 10, Niklas Norgaard, 419. LPGA Tour Statistics Through March 9 Scoring 1, Nelly Korda, 67.75. 2, Akie Iwai, 68. 3, Yealimi Noh, 68.25. 4, Angel Yin, 68.64. 5, Lexi Thompson, 68.75. 6, Megan Khang, 69. 7, A Lim Kim, 69.13. 8, Jeeno Thitikul, 69.17. 9, 3 tied with 69.25. Driving Distance 1, Julia Lopez Ramirez, 287.25. 2, Polly Mack, 285.25. 3, Emily Kristine Pedersen, 279.25. 4, Auston Kim, 278.43. 5, Bianca Pagdanganan, 278.42. 6, Dewi Weber, 277.5. 7, Nelly Korda, 276.38. 8, Nanna Koerstz Madsen, 276.29. 9, Liqi Zeng, 274.67. 10, Elizabeth Szokol, 273.5. Greens in Regulation 1, Megan Khang, .85%. 2, Lexi Thompson, .83%. 3 (tie), Carlota Ciganda, Allisen Corpuz, Yealimi Noh and Angel Yin, .81%. 7 (tie), Haeran Ryu and Rio Takeda, .80%. 9, 4 tied with .79%. Putts per GIR 1, Saki Baba, 1.41. 2, Sei Young Kim, 1.62. 3, Yue Ren, 1.63. 4, Yuka Saso, 1.67. 5 (tie), Amanda Doherty and Chisato Iwai, 1.68. 7 (tie), Akie Iwai and Minami Katsu, 1.69. 9, 2 tied with 1.7. Birdies

1, A Lim Kim, 85. 2, Celine Boutier, 80. 3, Ayaka Furue, 78. 4, Leona Maguire, 74. 5, Rio Takeda, 73. 6 (tie), Jin Young Ko, Mao Saigo and Angel Yin, 64. 9, Jin Hee Im, 62. 10, Jeeno Thitikul, 61. Eagles

1, Minjee Lee, 5. 2, Rio Takeda, 4. 3, Lauren Coughlin, 3. 4, 14 tied with 2. Sand Save Percentage 1 (tie), Saki Baba, Jaravee Boonchant, In Gee Chun, Kumkang Park, Julia Lopez Ramirez Miranda Wang, Fiona Xu and Liqi Zeng, 1.00%. 9, Andrea Lee, .88%. 10, Paula Reto, .83%. Rounds Under Par 1, Rio Takeda, .80%. 2, Ayaka Furue, .75%. 3, Leona Maguire, .65%. 4, Celine Boutier, .60%. 5, A Lim Kim, .75%. 6, Minjee Lee, .69%. 7, Angel Yin, .79%. 8, Nanna Koerstz Madsen, .92%. 9, Pajaree Anannarukarn, .61%. 10, Yealimi Noh, .92%. 11, 2 tied with .69%.

Because of the Southeastern Conference Tournament for men’s basketball, no SEC gymnastics meets will be televised again this week. The LSU-Auburn meet, which starts at 7 p.m., will be shown on a streaming basis on SECNetwork+. A win at Auburn will guarantee LSU at least a share of the SEC regular-season championship with Oklahoma, which is at Georgia at 6 p.m. Friday

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU gymnast Kaliya Lincoln performs her floor routine against Oklahoma on Feb 14 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Lincoln currently is battling a shoulder injury.

‘LARGER,

FANCIER AND SHINIER’

Why some shoppers are buying lab-grown diamonds

BY MICHAEL BUTLER Miami Herald (TNS)

MIAMI When Hollywood, Florida, engineer Cristina Montiel and her ﬁancé Ruben Yrady decided they were going to get married, Montiel wanted a ring that conveyed their yearslong romance. The couple met as high school students in Venezuela, and both studied engineering in college before moving to Miami in 2019 In December, Yrady proposed to Montiel in Italy with a radiant-cut diamond almost as big as a gummy bear

“Everyone and all of my girlfriends that see it are in love with it,” said Montiel, 30. “My friends that know me know it’s what I’ve dreamt of, shape-wise Everyone compliments the ring.”

What most people don’t know is that Montiel’s sparkling diamond was made in a laboratory In recent years, lab-grown diamonds have gained recognition for their identical similarities to naturally occurring diamonds — and signiﬁcantly lower prices.

Montiel purchased her ring from Liori Diamonds, a Sunny Isles Beach jewelry shop that opened last year and specializes in lab-made diamonds

“With inﬂation and where the economy has been, (lab) diamonds have integrated into the market way faster than expected,” said Jesse DeLeon, partner at Liori Diamonds. “People are looking for better deals.”

DeLeon, 35, was born and raised in Queens, New York Working in ﬁnance for years, he felt like he was stuck in the city’s “rat race” and pivoted into digital marketing He worked with home decor brands and slowly got into jewelry after meeting people in that industry, joining Liori Diamonds ﬁve years ago. After visiting Florida over the years and noticing Miami’s culture of glitz and glamour, DeLeon saw an opportunity for Liori to expand to South Florida. Liori had begun selling lab-grown diamonds in 2020, and DeLeon believed the South Florida store should focus on them.

“When people look to get engaged, there’s a lot of pressure about money you should spend,” he said “It’s historically very pricey What lab diamonds have done is allow people to get larger, fancier and shinier rings.” DeLeon believes the increased affordability of lab diamonds appeals to customers navigating a volatile economy Even celebrities see the appeal: In December, Leonardo DiCaprio made headlines when he was seen shopping for his mother’s Christmas present — a lab-grown diamond necklace.

ä See DIAMONDS, page 2D

STANDING THE TEST OF TIME

South Louisiana town home to the oldest independent rice mill in the country

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

On a quiet street in the heart of New Iberia, an old rice mill full of original German machinery, wide cypress planks and a few mill cats is still in operation — just as it’s been, more or less, for the past 113 years.

The Conrad Rice Mill stands as an intact monument to Louisiana agricultural history largely thanks to the fact that the business has only been owned by two families since it was started in 1912. That was the year that P.A. Conrad, a planter from a family of German settlers to Louisiana, built a mill and started buying up rice land on the banks of the Bayou Teche.

While the mill was under the Conrads’ ownership, they processed and sold white rice to New Iberia grocery stores — the same snowy grains that ﬂy off shelves across the country But when a young Lafayette businessman named Mike Davis bought Conrad Rice Mill in 1975, a new vision for the company was born: specially-milled, aromatic brown rice, with all the ﬂavors of bayou country in the nutty, toothsome kernels.

“White rice was difﬁcult. It’s a commodity item The market’s up, you’re doing good — but all

of a sudden you have a big crop in Thailand, and the price drops,” said Davis.

“We consider ourselves to be a specialty, or niche, operation. We’re all about value added, and to add value, you’ve got to do more to it.”

Doing things different

Davis’s plan for doing more involved his partner, Claude Brewer, who had contacts at the Louisiana State University rice research station in Crowley Brewer picked up

a new rice that had been brought over from southeast Asia and crossed with another strain to produce an aromatic brown rice with a better yield. It would become the company’s ﬂagship product, Konriko Wild Pecan brown rice.

“We were really the ﬁrst to start selling aromatic rice in the United States,” said Davis “We also did a little more to it than that.

“When you remove the bran

ä See RICE MILL, page 2D

BY CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT Travel Troubleshooter

On a recent flight from Atlanta to Austin, Keisha McCotry got trapped in an AI maze. She was trying to reach her airline to ask about flying with a sprained ankle, which made it difficult to walk to the gate.

PHOTOS By LEE BALL

Mike Davis stands behind Konriko rice products at the company store on Feb 20 in New Iberia.

The Conrad Rice Mill is one of the oldest independently owned rice mills in the United States still in operation.

layers from the rice, it’s called white rice, which is what you mostly see in the grocery store. We didn’t want to do that, because everybody did that. So we learned this little technique that Mr Conrad (Julian Conrad, P.A. Conrad’s son) taught us, to scratch the bran layers on the grain of rice to where water can get through to the inside and cook faster.”

Konriko Wild Pecan rice cooks in about 20 minutes, instead of the typical 50 minutes for brown rice, and Davis says their processing method produces a nutty cooking aroma, with ﬁnished grains of rice that have a little curl to them. “We didn’t know that was going to happen, but that’s how it happened. And it makes it really interesting,” said Davis. Conrad Rice Company products, including their seasoning blends, are sold in stores under the Konriko brand name. The Conrads had applied for a product trademark as “Conrico,” an acronym for Conrad Rice Company — but changed the Cs to Ks due to the similarity with another trademark. Davis continues to operate

CHATBOT

Continued from page 1D

on automation. While AI can be helpful for routine tasks, it often falls short when travelers encounter more complex or urgent issues.

“Automation in the travel industry is driven by the need for cost-efﬁciency and handling high volumes of customer inquiries,” explains Erick Alfaro, director of transformation at AXA Partners US. “But it can leave travelers feeling frustrated and disconnected.”

Travelers sometimes need alternatives to AI chatbots to solve their problems. McCotry took special notice of the quick resolution through Instagram because she’s an expert on AI. She runs a consultancy in Atlanta that helps companies use artiﬁcial intelligence in their business But you don’t have to be a techie to know that the travel industry is over-relying on AI and making it almost impossible to talk to a real human.

“I’ve noticed that using social media to reach companies has become one of the most effective ways to bypass frustrating automated systems,” she says. “Whether it’s Instagram, X, or even Facebook, companies tend to respond faster through their social media accounts, especially if you mention your issue

DIAMONDS

Continued from page 1D

But there hasn’t always been a warm response to lab-made diamonds. When DeLeon started selling them in 2020 in New York, the responses from customers were mixed, he said. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) began grading lab-grown diamonds in 2007 but stopped for several years. After the GIA began certifying lab diamonds again in 2019, labgrown diamonds became more credible than ever before. Lab diamond sales around the world grew from under $1 billion in 2016 to almost $12 billion in 2022.

“It was like rocket fuel,” DeLeon said. The educational component of explaining lab diamonds to customers has made DeLeon a professor of sorts Just as organic diamonds are made of carbon, lab-made diamonds have the exact same chemical makeup. To differentiate lab-made diamonds from natural ones, factories are supposed to make small incisions in lab-made diamonds to indicate that they were made in a lab.

“[The creators] simulate these extreme temperatures

under these names to this day, but “Wild Pecan Rice” was his personal brainwave, thanks to a fateful dinner at La Fonda in Lafayette in the early 1980s.

Davis remembers being at dinner with a friend, discussing business, when he had the idea to name his new brand of rice “Wild Pecan” — based on the fresh ﬂavor reminiscent of the local pecans that fall on the banks of the bayou

It’s surely not the only legacy that has been forged over conversation and a few drinks at La Fonda, a longtime haunt for Lafayette’s business community

publicly.”

How far has AI gone?

The travel industry is leading in AI adoption, especially when it comes to customer service. Airlines, hotels and car rental companies use artificial intelligence to respond to emails, offer you booking assistance and respond to your phone calls often without any indication that you’re dealing with AI. Why are travel companies doing this? Money By cutting staff and handing over the customer service functions to automated systems, they stand to save millions. In a presentation to investors back in 2022, Frontier Airlines cited that as a benefit of moving to self-service systems. “Chatbot efficiently answers questions, reduces contacts and removes negotiation,” it noted. In other words, AI is going to help us reduce the number of exceptions we make to our rules, increasing revenues. Has the travel industry taken AI too far? From the perspective of many travelers, the answer is yes. Too often, they’re lost in a phone tree or given scripted or irrelevant responses by a chatbot. Companies have also outsourced their complaints to artificial intelligence. I’ve been seeing more cases where it’s clear the AI didn’t understand a complaint and sent an inappropriate response.

“The travel industry needs to balance AI’s convenience

in the facility of extreme heat and cold,” he said “A natural diamond goes through millions of years, whereas this is simulated in months.”

But the affordability of lab diamonds isn’t their only appeal. The conflict-free aspect of lab diamonds’ production has also captivated buyers like Montiel and Yrady Illegal diamond smuggling in their native Venezuela has led to violence. Montiel said she wanted her engagement ring to reﬂect her love for Yrady, not make her wonder what country it came from every time she wore it

“I’ve been touched by [the violence] from a very young age,” she said. “I was always open to lab-grown diamonds. When the time came to get my own engagement ring, the topic hit close to home.”

For DeLeon, being able to help customers make their money go further has been rewarding. One customer with nearly a $20,000 budget was surprised that he could get the type of diamond he wanted for far less than that.

“We got him a deal for a ﬁve-karat ring, and he ended up spending $8,000,” DeLeon said. “He got a higher-quality stone for less than half of his budget. We don’t make anyone do anything but he thanked us a million times.”

“He doesn’t remember that conversation,” Davis said of his friend, laughing. “I tell him, ‘What do you mean you don’t remember? You were there!’”

A Louisiana rice legacy

Since Davis purchased the Conrad Rice Company 50 years ago, he has achieved a rare accomplishment — keeping the core of the mill and business intact, while pivoting to access new markets and build brand loyalty

Visitors to Conrad Rice Company and the Konriko Company Store, located at 307 Ann St., New Iberia, can take tours of the old mill that still functions much as it did under the Conrads, still churning out rice for major grocers across Louisiana and the United States, including Publix, H-E-B and Stop & Shop.

“If you develop a label and you build some ambience behind it, and some romance to it, and get it out there and established, you can find that customer loyalty,” says Davis.

He didn’t start out in life as a rice planter or even a businessman — he graduated in marketing from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, and decided that he wanted to go into farming after leaving military service in 1968. In a twist

with the essential human element of customer service. If companies fail to achieve this balance, they risk alienating customers and losing business,” says Rob Lubeck, chief revenue ofﬁcer of AI consulting ﬁrm RTS Labs. But what do you do in the meantime?

How to escape the AI maze

Several recent surveys suggest consumers are frustrated with the increasing use of AI in customer service — or, to put it differently, they’re trapped in an AI maze. The most common complaints include the inability to resolve complex issues, feelings of impersonal interactions, and irritation with navigating automated systems.

Here’s how to get out:

PRESS “0” OR SAY “AGENT” REPEATEDLY. During automated calls, repeatedly pressing “0” or saying “agent” can sometimes outsmart the system and connect you to a human operator “These little hacks can often help you get through to a live agent faster,” says Mario Matulich, president of Customer Management Practice, a market intelligence ﬁrm. GO INTERNATIONAL. Call the company’s international customer service line and choose a foreign language option. These lines often have shorter wait times, and the agents may have more authority to solve problems. Once connected, request an English-speaking representative. “You

By bucking societal norms, lab diamond buyers are able to put their savings toward other things, like a vacation with a loved one or a portion of a down payment on a house. “If you’re ready to start your life with someone you want to be with, money shouldn’t be a hindrance,” DeLeon said.

DeLeon said he makes more money if he sells natural diamonds, yet he’s pushing more of his customers to purchase lab diamonds instead. He believes that lab diamonds will become more common in jewelry stores within the next three years.

DeLeon likens the current emergence of lab diamonds to when faux-fur coats began trending. “Synthetic fur jackets became wildly popular because they’re the same and more affordable,” he said.

As Montiel prepares for a September wedding, she is happy with her engagement ring. She and her fiance regularly plan large financial decisions with a spreadsheet. When it came to her ring, they didn’t worry about resale value.

“It didn’t mean anything for us to have a natural diamond ring that we would be able to resell,” she said. “An engagement ring is for you to hold onto for the rest of your life.”

of fate, Lafayette business scion Herbert Heymann (the son of Oil Center developer Maurice Heymann) would be the catalyst for launching Davis into the world of rice.

“He had been my Little League football coach,” said Davis of Herbert Heymann. “I was talking to him and found out he had a piece of property out in St. Martin Parish — 612 acres, just sitting there He said, ‘Sure, I’ll lease it to you, Mike. I’m happy to have you there.’”

Davis started raising cattle on the property and teaching school. “It didn’t take me too long to realize there wasn’t a whole lot of money to be made, doing what I was doing,” he said “So I started looking for a middleman operation, something that was agricultural based, because I like that.”

Eventually, a chance meeting in New Iberia led him to the Conrad Rice Mill — right into a conversation where P.A. Conrad’s sons were discussing their retirement and desire to sell.

Davis said, “I was 29 and didn’t have any money But I asked them how much they were asking, and it wasn’t that big a number So we shook hands on the deal, and I told them I’d be back in a week with some earnest money, which I didn’t have.”

can hack the VIP backdoor through foreign language lines,” says Stephen Boatman, a frequent flyer who runs a financial advisory firm in Charlotte.

TRACK DOWN AN EXECUTIVE. Airlines, hotels and car rental companies do their best to hide the phone numbers and emails of their executives.

“But you can find hidden customer service numbers online,” says Gary Hemming, a frequent flyer who owns a finance company in Birmingham, England. (In fact, I publish a directory of executive contacts on my consumer advocacy website, Elliott.org.)

“The implications for travelers are that they are likely to face more automa-

By The Associated Press Today is Tuesday, March 11, the 70th day of 2025. There are 295 days left in the year Today in history

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

On this date:

In 1918, what were believed to be the first confirmed U.S. cases of a deadly global flu pandemic were reported among U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas; 46 soldiers would die. (The influenza outbreak would ultimately kill an estimated 20 million to 40 million people worldwide.)

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Konstantin Chernenko as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party In 2004, three days before general elections in Spain, 10 bombs exploded in quick succession inside commuter trains in Madrid, killing 193 people in

tion, whether it’s through chatbots or endless phone trees,” says Josh Browder CEO of DoNotPay.com, a site that helps consumers get around some of these systems. “You have to know your rights, do whatever dirty tricks you need to to get to a human being, and be ready to pursue smallclaims action if necessary

The real solution

Instead of learning new hacks for getting around the system, maybe the system needs to change. Maybe it’s time for the travel industry to tap the brakes on its AI adoption and to think about what it’s doing.

It shouldn’t just be a question of whether AI makes

an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants. In 2010, a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the use of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency In 2012, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales shot and killed 16 Afghan villagers mostly women and children — as they slept. (Bales later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.) In 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package that he said would help defeat the virus and nurse the economy back to health. Lower-income Americans would receive up to $1,400 in direct payments, along

ﬁnancial sense to the company — it should also make sense to their customers. Until then, there’s only one way around this chaos: a human travel agent.

“It’s someone who can assist when the system falls short,” says Carrie Hays, a travel adviser “In the world of travel, that person is a trusted travel agent who not only knows you but is also a skilled problem solver.” Human agents are far from perfect, but in a travel industry enamored with automation, they may be the fastest way to ﬁnd your way out of the AI maze. Christopher Elliott writes about travel. Email him at chris@elliott.org.

PHOTO By LEE BALL

Mike Davis stands inside the Conrad Rice Mill.

PIScES (Feb. 20-March 20) Move into high gear and make positive changes. Improve how you live, work and handle your money Chat with experts and people you trust to point you in the right direction.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Do something to help others. Pitching in will make you feel grateful for who you are and what you have. Expand your circle of friends and interests, and you'll discover something you want to pursue.

TAuRuS (April 20-May 20) Impulsiveness will lead to poor choices. Concentrate on one thing at a time, and you'll accomplish what you set out to do. Timing is everything; thought and planning will make you look like a pro.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Sit back for a change, and let the dust settle before you begin again. Listen to your heart instead of letting someone else bully you. Evaluate what's important.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Be cognizant of others, but refuse to let anyone outshine or manipulate you. Put your best foot forward and put your energy where it counts. Shut out negativity and those trying to lead you astray.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Refuse to let a change of plans unnerve you. Go about your business, finish what you start and set your priorities straight to avoid outside interference. Implement self-love into your routine.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Visit a destination that offers visual, mental or emotional stimulation. Trust and believe in your-

self, and you won't be disappointed. It's time to live, love and be happy.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-oct. 23) Take the time to interact with knowledgeable people, and expand your circle of friends and interests. Doors will open, and proposals will spark your imagination and help you prioritize your schedule.

ScoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Turn up the volume and put your running shoes on; it's time to get serious and get things done. Stay focused, and you'll outsmart and outdo anyone who wants to slow you down.

SAGITTARIuS (nov. 23-Dec. 21) An open mind, courage and a positive attitude will help you navigate highs and lows. Live life in the moment, and don't deny yourself the right to pursue what makes you happy.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Look for alternative ways to stretch your money. Whetheryoustartabusiness,makesome investments or apply for a better-paying position,youwilldiscoveryouhavemore control over your financial future than you anticipated.

AQuARIuS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Homeimprovementsthathelptoloweryourutilitycosts or overall expenses are achievable. Do the work yourself when possible and oversee any outsourcing to ensure you get your money's worth.

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: P EQuALS V

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

peAnUtS

zItS FrAnK And erneSt

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.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Victor Hugo wrote, “He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of the most busy life.”

A declarer who every first trick plans the transactions of the deal, and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of a most busy deal.

That is true, but declarers must always be ready to change their plans if necessary. For example, look at today’s club suit IfSouthhasnootherworries,whatis his best play for four tricks? Then, South isinthreeno-trump Westleadstheheart six: five, jack, king. How should declarer plan the transactions of the deal?

South has seven top tricks: two spades, one heart (trick one), two diamonds and two clubs. He needs two — not three — more club tricks to get home.

In isolation, the best plan is to cash dummy’s ace, then play low to dummy’s jack on the second round. But one of the main reasons bridge retains its popularity is that the right way to play a suit mathematically will not always be the correct approach in a given deal.

Here, if East gets on play, he will lead a heart through South’s queen. That will not hurt if the hearts are 4-4, but if they are 5-3 or 6-2, the contract will fail. Declarer must work to keep East off play. South should lead a club to the king and cash the ace. Here, the queen drops and South gains an overtrick. But if the queen has not appeared (and the suit is 3-2), declarer plays a third round, hoping for the best. © 2025 by nEa,

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

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.

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