A federal judge in Baton Rouge has issued a preliminary injunction to stop Louisiana from moving forward with its first nitrogen gas execution March 18, though the state immediately moved to appeal her ruling.
ment?” Dick wrote in her ruling. She said Hoffman’s attorneys had proved enough to warrant a delay until she can fully consider the issue.
Attorneys for the state filed a notice of appeal within minutes of Dick releasing her ruling Tuesday afternoon.
U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick granted the preliminary injunction Tuesday after a daylong hearing last week in which attorneys for condemned inmate Jessie Hoffman Jr argued that the state’s plan to kill him with nitrogen amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is forbidden under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. She also wrote that she was persuaded by arguments that death by a firing squad would be a quicker and more humane method, though it is not currently legal in Louisiana.
“Now, after an expedited hearing, and absent a fully developed record, this Court must answer the ultimate question: is nitrogen hypoxia cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amend-
“Plaintiff has shown that nitrogen hypoxia superadds psychological pain, suffering, and terror to his execution when compared to execution by firing squad,” Dick added. “He has shown that execution by firing squad is a feasible and readily available alternative that the State has no legitimate penological reason for not adopting.”
One lucky mudbug saved
BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer
One lucky crawfish named Huval was saved from being served at any boil, in any étouffées, or other delicious crustacean dishes during the ninth annual pardoning of the crawfish on Tuesday Huval received a pardon at Pat’s Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant in a special ceremony that officially kicks off crawfish season. During the ceremony, the mudbug was freed from “water hotter than where it was found in the beautiful swamps and bayous in Louisiana,” according to the proclamation
The official proclamation was first sealed and signed by Lt Gov Billy Nungesser in 2017, a Louisiana take on America’s annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon.
This year’s crawfish is named in honor of former Henderson mayor and owner of Pat’s Fisherman Wharf Restaurant, Pat Huval.
“When naming the crawfish the seafood promotion team thinks about someone who has contributed so much to the culture and seafood in Louisiana” Nungesser said. “I’m glad we were able to recognize Huval and his family because they have certainly made an impact.”
Huval was deeply involved in the Hen-
The restaurant is attached to a historical event and music venue called the Atchafalaya Club that still sees crowds on the weekend.
Reminiscing on the early days of his political career Nungesser remembers coming to Pat’s with his dad and giving his first political speech at the venue.
“I remember being right here in this venue with my dad and other political peers and we’d talk for hours and enjoy the food,” Nungesser said. “I had my speech on this stage when I was running for lieutenant governor and everyone cheered me on. That was the feeling you get no matter who you were coming into this place because that doesn’t just happen anywhere.”
Huval died in 2018, but his legacy lives on through the restaurant, dance hall in the surrounding community
“We disagree with the district court’s ruling and are prepared to appeal swiftly to the 5th Circuit,” Attorney General Liz Murrill said. Cecelia Kappel, one of Hoffman’s attorneys, said they were grateful that the court recognized the risks to Hoffman’s constitutional rights posed by a “new and untested”
Schools in La. to use Gulf of America
BESE unanimously adopts name change
BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer
Louisiana’s state board of education voted unanimously Tuesday to align the state’s fourth and fifth grade social studies standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed to the Gulf of America.
The board’s embrace of the name change, which sparked controversy when Trump announced it in January, means that Louisiana teachers will be encouraged to refer to the body of water between Mexico and North America by the new name in classroom lessons, and all new fourth and fifth grade social studies materials — the two grades whose standards mention the Gulf in units on world history — will be required to reflect the change moving forward. However,
ä See GULF, page 4A
derson community and served as the town’s first mayor from 1949 to 1971. He also was a volunteer firefighter and instituted the first municipal trash services
Huval married Agnes Hebert when he was 18 and the two opened their own grocery store in 1948.
The couple bought Henry Guidry’s dance hall/restaurant in the early ‘50s and then in 1952 they bought another building, which is now known as Pat’s Restaurant.
“Thank you to the Huval family for opening the doors to the entire crawfish industry and to the man who put Henderson on the map, Pat Huval,” said Samantha Carrol, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. “This place serves as a gateway to authentic Cajun culture.”
After the pardon, Huval was transported to fresh water without spices, potatoes, seasoning, onions or garlic.
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s advisory council on FEMA’s future wants to hear from the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said GOHS EP Director Jacques Thibodeaux. There could be many reasons. As the frequent target of hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, Louisiana has been working closely with the Federal Emergency
ä See FEMA, page 4A
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Wendy Huval helps her grandson, John Paul Guerriero, meet Huval the crawfish, held by Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser during the ninth annual pardoning of the crawfish ceremony on Tuesday at Pat’s Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant in Henderson
2024 Breaux Bridge Crawfish Queen Demi Patin, left, and 2024 Erath Miss 4th of July Carlie LeBlanc work out the logistics of holding Huval the crawfish during Tuesday’s ceremony.
Chopper reported issue before crash killed 3 CANTON, Miss A medical helicopter that crashed in a wooded area in Mississippi reported “a flight control problem” shortly before a Monday crash that killed all three people on board, federal authorities said.
The pilot was going to attempt to land the helicopter in a field, according to radio traffic from the chopper to its company’s communications base. It crashed shortly after that and caught fire, authorities said.
Investigators found marks in trees consistent with the aircraft’s rotor striking them, National Transportation Safety Board member J. Todd Inman said at a Tuesday briefing near the crash site.
Killed were crew members Jakob Kindt, 37, of Tupelo, Mississippi, and Dustin Pope, 35, of Philadelphia, Mississippi, the University of Mississippi Medical Center said in a statement. The pilot, Cal Wesolowski, 62, of Starkville, Mississippi, also died. Wesolowski worked for MedTrans Corp., which partners with health care systems and agencies to provide medical flights.
The helicopter was returning to its base in Columbus, Mississippi, from a patient transport when it crashed in Madison County around 12:30 p.m. Monday, the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s vice chancellor for health affairs, Dr LouAnn Woodward, said at a news conference.
Education Department plans to lay off 1,300
WASHINGTON The Education Department plans to lay off over 1,300 of its more than 4,000 employees as part of a reorganization that’s seen as a prelude to President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the agency Department officials announced the cuts Tuesday, raising questions about the agency’s ability to continue usual operations
The layoffs are part of a dramatic downsizing directed by Trump as he moves to reduce the footprint of the federal government. Thousands of jobs are expected to be cut across the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and other agencies.
The department is also terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, said Rachel Oglesby, the department’s chief of staff. She said the changes would not affect the agency’s Office for Civil Rights or its functions mandated by Congress, such as the distribution of federal aid to schools.
The Trump administration had already been whittling the agency’s staff, though buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees. After Tuesday’s layoffs, the Education Department’s staff will sit at roughly half of its previous 4,000, Oglesby said.
TSA finds live turtle hidden in man’s pants
NEWARK, N.J A Pennsylvania man who was going through security at a New Jersey airport was found to have a live turtle concealed in his pants, according to the federal Transportation Security Administration
The turtle was detected Friday after a body scanner alarm went off at Newark Liberty International Airport A TSA officer then conducted a pat-down on the East Stroudsburg man and determined there was something concealed in the groin area of his pants. When questioned further, the man reached into his pants and pulled out the turtle, which was about 5 inches long and wrapped in a small blue towel. He said it was a red-ear slider turtle, a species that is popular as a pet.
The man — whose name was not released — was escorted from the checkpoint area by Port Authority police and ended up missing his flight. The turtle was confiscated, and it’s not clear if the turtle was the man’s pet or why he had it in his pants.
Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey, said the incident remains under investigation, and it wasn’t clear if the man would face any charges or penalties.
U.S. resumes aid, info sharing with Ukraine
BY MATTHEW LEE Associated Press
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — The Trump administration lifted its suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine, and Kyiv signaled that it was open to a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, pending Moscow’s agreement, American and Ukrainian officials said Tuesday following talks in Saudi Arabia.
The administration’s decision marked a sharp shift from only a week ago, when it imposed the measures to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to enter talks to end the war with invading Russian forces. The suspension of U.S. assistance came days after Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump argued about the war in a tense White House meeting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the U.S. delegation to the talks in Jeddah, said Washington would present the ceasefire offer to the Kremlin, which has thus far opposed anything short of a permanent end to the conflict without accepting any concessions.
“We’re going to tell them this is what’s on the table. Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking. And now it’ll be up to them to say yes or no,” Rubio told reporters after the talks. “If they say no, then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.”
Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, added: “The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear, that they share President Trump’s vision for peace.”
Tuesday’s discussions, which lasted for
nearly eight hours, appeared to put to rest, for the moment at least, the animosity between Trump and Zelenskyy that erupted during the Oval Office meeting last month.
Waltz said the negotiators “got into substantive details on how this war is going to permanently end,” including long-term security guarantees. And, he said, Trump agreed to immediately lift the pause in the supply of billions of of dollars of U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing.
Senior officials began meeting only hours after Russia shot down over 300 Ukrainian drones. It was Ukraine’s biggest attack since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbor Neither U.S. nor Ukrainian officials offered any comment on the barrage.
Trump said he hoped that an agreement could be solidified “over the next few days.”
“I know we have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow, and some great conversations hopefully will ensue,” Trump said. He did not elaborate.
The Kremlin had no immediate comment on the U.S. and Ukrainian statements Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said only that negotiations with U.S. officials could take place this week.
Trump ‘s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel later this week to Moscow, where he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment publicly The person cautioned that scheduling could change.
Philippine ex-leader Duterte being flown to The Hague to face charges
BY JIM GOMEZ Associated Press
MANILA, Philippines Phil-
ippine police arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila on Tuesday and sent him by plane to the Netherlands to face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, President Ferdinand Marcos said.
The global court in The Hague had ordered Duterte’s arrest through Interpol after accusing him of crimes against humanity over deadly anti-drug crackdowns he oversaw while in office, Marcos said in a latenight news conference.
Duterte had been arrested at the Manila international airport Tuesday morning when he arrived with his family from Hong Kong.
Walking slowly with a cane, the 79-year-old former president turned briefly to a small group of aides and supporters, who wept and bid him goodbye, before an escort helped him into the plane.
His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, said she sought entry to the airbase where her father was held but was refused. She criticized the Marcos administration for surrendering her father to a foreign court which currently has no jurisdiction to the Philippines.
Marcos said Duterte’s
arrest was “proper and correct” and not an act of political persecution, since the Philippines is a member of Interpol.
Among the most feared leaders in Asia while in power, Duterte became the first ex-leader from the region to be arrested by the global court.
Clad in a dark jacket, an irate Duterte protested his arrest after arrival in Manila and asked authorities the legal basis of his detention. His lawyers immediately asked the Supreme Court to block any attempt to transport him out of the Philippines
“Show to me now the legal basis for my being here,” Duterte asked authorities in remarks captured on video by his daughter, Veronica Duterte, who posted the footage on social media.
“You have to answer now
Columbia University under pressure as White House seeks to deport activists
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK The White House complained Tuesday that Columbia University is refusing to help federal agents find people being sought as part of the government’s effort to deport participants in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, as the administration continued to punish the school by yanking federal research dollars.
Immigration enforcement agents on Saturday arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who played a prominent part in protests at Columbia last year He is now facing possible deportation
President Donald Trump has vowed additional arrests. In a briefing with reporters in Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said federal authorities have been “using intelligence” to identify other people involved in campus demonstrations critical of Israel that the administration considered to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas.”
She said Columbia had been given names and was refusing to help the Department of Homeland Security “to identify those individuals on campus.”
“As the president said very strongly in his statement yesterday, he is not going to tolerate that,” Leavitt said.
A Columbia spokesperson didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment. Last week, the Trump administration announced it was pulling $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia, accusing the school of failing to stop antisemitism on campus. As part of those cuts, the National Institutes of Health late Monday it was cutting more than $250 million in funding, which included more than 400 grants.
X. Edward Guo, director of Columbia’s Bone Bioengineering Laboratory, posted a screenshot on X of an email he received notifying him that one of his NIH awards had been canceled “We understand this may be shocking news,” the email reads.
The university was wracked last spring by large demonstrations by students calling for an end to Israeli military action in Gaza and a recognition of Palestinians’ human rights and territorial claims. The university ultimately called in police to dismantle a protest encampment and end a student takeover of an administration building Khalil, 30, had been a spokesperson for the protesters He hasn’t been charged with any crimes, but Leavitt said the administration had moved to deport him under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the secretary of state the power to deport a non-citizen if the government “has reasonable ground to believe” the person’s presence could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
As of Tuesday, Khalil was being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana. Civil rights groups and Khalil’s attorneys say the government is unconstitutionally using its immigration-control powers to stop him from speaking out. A federal judge set a hearing for Wednesday and ordered the government not to deport him in the meantime. Trump, a Republican, has suggested that some protesters support Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251. Israel responded with bombardment and other military offensives that have left over 48,000 Palestinians dead in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Israel says more than 17,000 were militants.
Trump heralded Khalil’s arrest as the first “of many to come,” vowing on social media to deport students the president described as engaging in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic anti-American activity.”
Immigration agents also tried to arrest another international student at Columbia, but they weren’t allowed into an apartment where she was, according to a union representing the student.
The surprise arrest sparked a commotion at the airport, where Duterte’s lawyers and aides protested that they, along with a doctor, were prevented from coming close to him after he was taken into police custody
“This is a violation of his constitutional right,” Sen. Bong Go, a close Duterte ally, told reporters.
The ICC has been investigating mass killings in crackdowns overseen by Duterte when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president.
Estimates of the death toll of the crackdown during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROMAN CHOP
Soldiers of Ukraine’s 100th Mechanised Brigade hold posters saying thanks to the U.S. for support during a flash mob at a U.S.-made APC Bradley on the front line near Toretsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Monday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By AARON FAVILA
Supporters rally outside Villamor Air Base after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on Tuesday near Manila, Philippines.
Cassidy wants more info on vaccine efforts
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy R-Baton Rouge, said Tuesday that he needs more information before he can comment on a string of Trump administration efforts to marginalize the use of vaccines to protect the public.
Cassidy as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, was instrumental in Robert F. Kennedy Jr winning confirmation as President Donald Trump’s secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
A doctor who passionately believes vaccinations save lives, Cassidy said he extracted promises from Kennedy, one of the nation’s most prominent vaccine skeptics, that access to vaccinations would be protected and that vaccine criticism would be downplayed.
The past couple of weeks raise questions about those promises.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week another study into possible links between vaccinations and autism, a connection that Cassidy has said has been thoroughly disproven in many past studies. And the National Institutes of Health announced Monday eliminating funding for vaccination-related research. Meanwhile, Kennedy has downplayed vaccines during a measles outbreak that has seen 222 cases of measles reported in 12 states. Instead, Kennedy suggested alternatives, like taking Vitamin A and cod liver oil. He did not recommend parents vaccinate their children.
Kennedy says some research shows that the vaccine against the measles, mumps and rubella causes autism. Cassidy has said those studies were debunked.
sometimes the facts are different than reflected in a headline.
“I have found that people rush things out and then it’s just different when you find out more things. And that’s why I’ll wait to react to the headline,” Cassidy said.
As head of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions committee and a physician for more 30 years before becoming politician, Cassidy played a key role in Kennedy’s confirmation.
Several Republicans were vacillating, and Kennedy’s nomination was in peril until Cassidy announced his support.
To win his vote, Cassidy said Kennedy agreed to maintain a vaccination advisory board, work within established vaccine safety systems, and give Cassidy increased access to department decision-making.
“I will carefully watch for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote,” Cassidy said in a speech explaining his decision.
Cassidy is running for reelection next year He faces competition from the far right because he voted to convict Trump on impeachment charges in 2021 and because he has been willing to negotiate with Democrats.
Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.
The percentage of children being inoculated against measles has been dropping each year since 2019. More and more parents have opted to cite religious or philosophical reasons to exempt their children from the vaccination usually required to go to elementary school.
A passionate promoter of vaccinations he created a private-public partnership to vaccinate 36,000 Baton Rouge area children against Hepatitis B at no cost — Cassidy recently has used his position to urge parents to immunize their children, particularly as the number of measles cases grow When asked about Kennedy’s actions, Cassidy said, “Until I know the backstory, I’m not going to comment.”
During a hearing last week when the CDC autism research first came up, Cassidy quipped that some people still believe the earth is flat.
On Tuesday, Cassidy said he needs to do more research on what is being reported.
“Frankly, I’ve gotten conflicting signals on that,” he
said.
He said some have told him that the CDC is beginning studies while others have said it’s just an idea being advanced.
And Monday an internal NIH memo announced the National Institutes of Health would eliminate or drastically curtail grants that pay for research involving vaccinations, The Washington Post reported.
The Post published the email, which listed “awards that need to be terminated today.”
The termination notice should include the following language, according to the email: “It is the policy of NIH not to prioritize research activities that focuses gaining scientific knowledge on why individuals are hesitant to be vaccinated and/or explore ways to improve vaccine interest and commitment. Therefore, the award is terminated,” the Post reported.
“I’ve not spoken to him about this particular headline this morning,” Cassidy said Tuesday, adding that
lethal gas execution method
“This order gives everyone a chance to have a full trial on the merits before Jessie is executed, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue presenting the court with evidence proving that this method risks inflicting torture on Jessie at the time of his death,” Kappel said.
Hoffman, 46, testified at Friday’s hearing, asking the state to find a different method to put him to death. He described being a Buddhist and using Buddhist meditation and breathing techniques to calm himself down.
His attorneys argued that being forced to breathe nitrogen gas would affect Hoffman’s ability to practice his religion at his time of death, but Dick rejected that argument.
State officials sought to convince Dick that breathing in nitrogen gas amounted to a relatively quick and painless death, noting that the state cannot find pharmaceutical companies willing to supply drugs for executions.
GULF
Continued from page 1A
schools will not be required to replace their existing textbooks, state officials said.
To ensure Louisiana is aligned with the president’s order, “I recommend striking the name ‘Mexico’ and replacing it with ‘America’ in reference to the Gulf in Louisiana’s standards for social studies education,” state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley, who has periodically dipped his toes into the U.S.’s education culture wars since his appointment in 2020, told the board Tuesday
The president’s order has spurred a partisan debate, with some states and school districts embracing the name change, saying it promotes Trump’s “America first” platform, as others vocally
FEMA
Continued from page 1A
Management Agency for 30 years to provide recovery and mitigation funds for individuals and local governments, Thibodeaux said The federal agency has open programs in Louisiana for 10 disasters, giving the state’s emergency management officials more experience with the agency than those from most states.
Thibodeaux said the panel especially wants to hear how things worked with the local-state-federal coordination in providing security for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. The state wants federal reimbursement for its $50 million cost.
“I’ve already been asked by the Department of Homeland Security for them to share our process these last 65 days with FEMA and use it as a case study,” Thibodeaux said. “That was huge for us, for them to ask us the permission to use this as a case study and to and to bring us in front of the panel and ask us questions as subject matter experts in the field. That’s what we’re really excited about.”
Also, Thibodeaux said the investigative council wants to hear about the working relationship between more than a dozen city, state and federal agencies over the past two months. It’s the basic review of who is in charge of what, how the various agencies communi-
They said Louisiana closely followed Alabama’s execution protocol for nitrogen gas. Alabama is the only state to have tried the method using it on four death row inmates since last year Federal courts in Alabama have declined to stop those executions.
But Dick ruled that a key difference between the two states was that Alabama waited about five months between finalizing its nitrogen gas protocol and using it to put someone to death. Louisiana served Hoffman with a death warrant shortly after finalizing its execution protocol on Feb. 7.
“Here, Louisiana finalized its protocol in the eleventh hour, allowing Hoffman virtually no time to seek redress,” wrote Dick, who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama.
She also referenced the state’s decision to cloak the execution protocol in secrecy, which meant that Hoffman could not review it until a few days before Friday’s hearing. The state moved to seal the execution protocol from public view but later agreed to have it unsealed, in redacted form, after an attorney for The Times-Picayune | The Advocate asked about intervening in the case.
reject it. In Louisiana, the Jefferson Parish Council voted against adopting the name on district maps last month, calling the resolution “inherently divisive.” Meanwhile, the majority-Republican state board’s move falls in line with views expressed by Gov Jeff Landry, who said in February that Louisiana would “absolutely” adopt the name change on state maps and other documents. “I think it’s a good thing,” board member Kevin Berken said. While teachers are encouraged to refer to the new name during lessons, the board’s vote does not mean schools will be required to replace their current teaching materials, department spokesman Ted Beasley said. However, he said the agency is working with publishers of fourth and fifth-grade social studies materials to ensure the updates are incorporated into new materials.
cated to act efficiently, and how much it cost. The New Year’s Day terrorist attack on Bourbon Street threw the security apparatus into high gear New Orleans hosted the Super Bowl, which was already classified to receive the highest security available. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security then upgraded Mardi Gras, at least in New Orleans, to the same Special Event Assessment Rating, called SEAR-1. No other city except New York after 9/11 had to juggle two SEAR-1 events in such a short period of time after a terrorist attack, Thibodeaux said Louisiana spent roughly $50 million in preparing for responding to, and standing down afterward two high security events that meshed federal air, sea and intelligence assets as well as onthe-ground law enforcement and SWAT teams — all of which needed to gel with established practices of local, parish and state agencies, Thibodeaux said
“We have shown them that we can help in the federal mission and with this cost and have FEMA come forward and absorb that cost,” Thibodeaux said. “We’re hoping that Louisiana is used as a model on how the federal government can serve as a financial resource where the state is responsible for its own response recovery to events.”
FEMA is responding to more disasters each year about 1,400 hurricanes, wild-
“The public has an interest in knowing how its government operates,” Dick wrote. “The obfuscation of the protocol by the State is deleterious to the public’s interest.”
Louisiana has retrofitted its execution chamber at Angola with exhaust fans and oxygen monitors for the new method. State officials plan to strap Hoffman to a gurney, fit a full-face respirator mask onto him and pump pure nitrogen gas into the mask at a flow rate of 70 liters per minute, according to the state’s newly unsealed protocol. The gas will flow for either 15 minutes or until Hoffman’s heart rate reaches a flatline on an EKG for five minutes, whichever is longer
Two anesthesiologists testified at the hearing. Dr Joseph Antognini, a clinical researcher from California, testified for the state that nitrogen gas would lead to a fairly quick and painless death.
But Dr Philip Bickler, the chief of neuro-anesthesia at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center testified for Hoffman’s team about how the execution method would feel to Hoffman as if he was drowning.
Bickler, who studies hypoxia,
School systems are free to choose which curriculum materials to use, but they are required to teach the state’s learning standards. The state also administers annual tests that assess students’ knowledge of the standards. It’s not the first time Louisiana’s education chief has aligned with the president’s conservative agenda.
In April, Brumley supported a lawsuit brought by Gov Jeff Landry and state Attorney General Liz Murrill against former president Joe Biden over a new law banning discrimination against students based on their gender or sexual identity Brumley, who was one of a handful of names floated in January to lead the country’s Education Department under Trump, ordered schools to ignore the directive a move that earned him praise from conservative groups.
A month later, Brumley an-
fires, floods and tornadoes over the past decade. Over the past four years, FEMA has provided 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 Many of the individuals and local governments are frustrated with the rules and regulations involved in transferring money from the federal to state to parish and local levels.
FEMA also is in charge of the National Flood Insurance Program that provides coverage for damage caused by rising water, which most private insurers refuse to sell. The program has been under scrutiny because premium prices recently were adjusted to better align with recovery costs, making the insurance too expensive for business and homeowners in much of Louisiana’s floodprone areas.
Trump ordered in January a Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council begin in April to review FEMA’s missions, regulations, protocols and spending of the disaster agency and come up with recommendations by summer on what to do up to abolish the disaster agency and return its functions to the states.
The council’s charter states: “The Federal re-
testified that the nitrogen gas would make someone feel like they are being asphyxiated and cause psychological terror
Dick wrote that she credited Bickler’s testimony over Antognini’s, saying that the latter’s opinions “are untested scientific hypotheses.”
“The Court is convinced by Dr Bickler’s testimony and by common sense that the deprivation of oxygen to the lungs causes a primal urge to breathe and feelings of intense terror when inhalation does not deliver oxygen to the lungs,” she wrote.
Hoffman made two other arguments that Dick rejected.
He argued that he had the right to have an attorney present at the time of his execution, but Dick rejected it, citing 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals precedent.
Hoffman also argued that another, more humane way to die would be using the same cocktail of drugs that are used in physicianassisted suicide in states where it’s legal.
Dick found that the state would encounter the same problems trying to obtain those drugs as with lethal injection drugs. Many pharmaceutical companies have
nounced that Louisiana teachers would be allowed to show their students videos created by PragerU, a right-wing media nonprofit known for its “pro-America” content. The state also adopted new social studies standards, which Brumley referred to as the “Freedom Framework.”
In a statement, the superintendent said Louisiana was the first state to adopt standards “that teach students about American exceptionalism and our quest for a more perfect union.”
This month, Brumley expressed support for Trump’s bid to shut down the U.S. Department of Education.
Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico refers to its influential role in the U.S. economy noting that the basin is one of the “most prodigious oil and gas regions in the world.”
“It is in the national interest to
sponses to Hurricane Helene and other recent disasters demonstrate the need to drastically improve FEMA’s efficacy, priorities, and competence, including evaluating whether FEMA’s bureaucracy in disaster response ultimately harms the agency’s ability to successfully respond. Despite obligating nearly $30 billion in disaster aid each of the past three years, FEMA has managed to leave vulnerable Ameri-
banned the state from using their drugs in executions and have threatened to withhold their other drugs if Louisiana were to ignore those orders.
Dick ruled that Hoffman would suffer irreparable harm without the preliminary injunction.
“The Court finds that the balance of equities and public interest weigh in favor of enjoining Hoffman’s March 18, 2025 execution through nitrogen hypoxia until the matter can be resolved at a trial on the merits,” Dick wrote.
“The Fifth Circuit holds that an injunction does not disserve the public interest when it prevents constitutional deprivations. Stated another way, injunctions preventing the violation of constitutional rights are ‘always in the public interest.’”
Hoffman is on death row for the 1996 abduction, rape and killing of Mary “Molly” Elliott, who was walking to her car in New Orleans when Hoffman came upon her. Elliott’s dead body was found by a duck hunter near the Middle Pearl River in St. Tammany Parish.
Hoffman was 18 when he committed the crime and has spent most of his life on death row
promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes,” the order says. Most countries still refer to the Gulf by its original name, which it has kept for over 400 years, along with international news organizations, including The Associated Press.
Other states have made legislative moves to switch to using the Gulf of America in schools.
In Tennessee, a lawmaker proposed a resolution encouraging teachers to use that name when speaking with students.
In Alabama, Iowa and Florida, some bills are taking it a step further, mandating that districts update their classroom materials to align with the federal order
Email Elyse Carmosino at ecarmosino@theadvocate.com.
cans without the resources or support they need when they need it most.”
The council is co-chaired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA No more than 20 members, including relevant agency heads and experts from outside the federal government, will be appointed to the council by Trump. The
council also will organize subcommittees with expertise in disaster relief and assistance, emergency preparedness, natural disasters, budget management, and how federal-state relationships actually operate. Thibodeaux said the council is turning to Louisiana as one of those experts.
Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.
Trump halts doubling of tariffs on Canadian metals
BY JOSH BOAK, ROB GILLIES and MICHELLE PRICE Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump ‘s threat on Tuesday to double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% for Canada led the provincial government of Ontario to suspend its planned surcharges on electricity sold to the United States.
As a result, the White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the U.S. president pulled back on his doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs, even as the federal government still plans to place a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports starting Wednesday
The drama on Tuesday delivered a win for Trump but also amplified concerns about tariffs that have roiled the stock market and stirred recession risks. Tuesday’s escalation and cooling in the ongoing trade war between the United States and Canada only compounded the rising sense of uncertainty of how Trump’s tariff hikes will affect
the economies of both countries.
Trump shocked markets Tuesday morning by saying that the increase of the tariffs set to take effect on Wednesday had been a response to the 25% price hike that Ontario put on electricity sold to the United States.
“I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,”
Trump posted on Truth Social.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Tuesday afternoon that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called him and Ford agreed to remove the surcharge. He said he was confident that the U.S. president would also stand down on his own plans for 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
“He has to bounce it off the president but I’m pretty confident he will pull back,” Ford said on Trump’s steel and aluminum tariff threat.
“By no means are we just going to roll over What we are going to do is have a constructive conversation.”
After a brutal stock market selloff on Monday and further jitters Tuesday Trump faces increased pressure to show he has a solid plan to grow the economy. So far the president is doubling down on tariffs and can point to Tuesday’s drama as evidence that taxes on imports are a valuable negotiating tool, even if they can generate turmoil in the stock market.
Trump suggested Tuesday that tariffs were critical for changing the U.S. economy, regardless of stock market gyrations.
The U.S. president has given a variety of explanations for his antagonism of Canada. He has said that his separate 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada, some of which are suspended for a month, are about fentanyl smuggling and voicing objections to Canada putting high taxes on dairy imports that penalize U.S. farmers. He also continued to call for Canada to become part of the United States as
Republicans advance a government funding bill
BY KEVIN FREKING Associated Press
WASHINGTON House Republicans passed a critical test of their unity Tuesday on legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown, teeing up a final vote in the afternoon for a measure that keeps federal agencies funded through September Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., moved ahead on the bill despite the lack of buy-in from Democrats essentially daring them to oppose it and risk a shutdown that would begin Saturday if lawmakers fail to act. Republicans needed overwhelming support from their members on the procedural vote, and they got it. Next, they’ll look to pass the measure and send it to the Senate, where it will likely need support from at least eight Senate Democrats to get to President Donald Trump’s desk. It’s one of the biggest legislative tests so far of the Republican president’s second term, prompting Vice President JD Vance to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning to rally support.
“We have to keep the government in operation,” Johnson said as he emerged from the House Republican meeting. “It’s a fundamental responsibility of ours. The vice president echoed that sentiment. It was very well received and very well delivered.”
The strategy has the backing of Trump, who is calling on Republicans to “remain UNITED — NO DISSENT — Fight for another day when the timing is right.”
Lawmakers said the bill would trim $13 billion in non-defense spending from the levels in the 2024 budget year and increase defense spending by $6 billion, which are rather flat chang-
es for both categories when compared with an overall topline of nearly $1.7 trillion in discretionary spending. The bill does not cover the majority of government spending, including Social Security and Medicare. Funding for those two programs is on autopilot and not regularly reviewed by Congress.
Democrats are mostly worried about the discretion the bill gives the Trump administration on spending decisions They are already alarmed by the administration’s efforts to make major cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, run by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk. And they say the spending bill would fuel the effort.
Spending bills typically come with specific funding directives for key programs, but hundreds of those directives fall away under the legislation, according to a memo released by Senate Democrats So the administration will have more leeway to reshape priorities.
For example, the Democratic memo said the bill would allow the administration to steer money away from combating fentanyl and instead use it on mass deportation initiatives.
“This is not a clean CR. This bill is a blank check,” said Rep Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee “It’s a blank check for Elon Musk and President Trump.”
Normally, when it comes to keeping the government fully open for business, Republicans have had to work with Democrats to craft a bipartisan measure that both sides can support. That’s because Republicans almost always lack the votes to pass spending bills on their own.
This time, Republican leaders pushed for a vote despite overwhelming Democratic opposition. Trump is showing an ability this term to hold Republicans in line He met with several of the House chamber’s most conservative members last week.
a solution, which has infuriated Canadian leaders.
“The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” Trump posted Tuesday “This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.”
Tensions rise
Incoming Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government will keep tariffs in place until Americans show respect and commit to free trade after Trump threatened historic financial devastation for his country Carney, who will be sworn in as Justin Trudeau’s replacement in coming days, said Trump’s latest tariffs are an attack on Canadian workers, families and businesses.
“My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect and make credible, reliable commitments to free and fair trade,” Carney said in a statement.
Canadian officials are planning retaliatory tariffs in response to
Trump’s specific steel and aluminum tariffs. Those are expected to be announced Wednesday
Carney was referring to an initial US$21 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs that have been applied on items like American orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles and certain pulp and paper products.
Trump also has targeted Mexico with 25% tariffs because of his dissatisfaction over drug trafficking and illegal immigration, though he suspended the taxes on imports that are compliant with the 2020 USMCA trade pact for one month. Asked if Mexico feared it could face the same 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum as Canada, President Claudia Sheinbaum, said “No, we are respectful.”
Trump was set to deliver a Tuesday afternoon address to the Business Roundtable, a trade association of CEOs that during the 2024 campaign he wooed with the promise of lower corporate tax rates for domestic manufacturers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J SCOTT APPLEWHITE
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton, center, departs a news conference, joined by, from left, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, after discussing the interim GOP spending bill that would keep federal agencies funded through Sept. 30, at the Capitol, in Washington on Tuesday.
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Mother pleads not guilty in landmark case
Daughter was allegedly given abortion-inducing pills
BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer
A Port Allen woman ensnared in Louisiana’s landmark abortion prosecution pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a felony indictment when she appeared in a West Baton Rouge courtroom.
Ashley Lights, 39, stood beside her defense attorney Victor Woods, as she was arraigned on a criminal abortion charge for allegedly giving abortion-inducing
Ex-La. first lady Alice Foster dies at 84
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
Alice Foster who as Louisiana’s first lady oversaw a refurbishment of the Governor’s Mansion and a statewide anti-litter campaign, died Thursday She was 84.
The wife of former Gov Mike Foster, she lived in Oaklawn Manor, the plantation house on Bayou Teche just outside Franklin in St Mary Parish.
She and her husband, who died in 2020, had lived at Oak Lawn since before his election as governor in 1995.
Alice Foster accompanied Mike Foster during that campaign but didn’t seek the spotlight then or over the next eight years.
Leo Honeycutt, a morning talk show host on WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge, got to know the Fosters from Mike Foster appearing on the program and Alice Foster accompanying him. Honeycutt attended prayer breakfasts at the Governor’s Mansion with the Fosters and others.
“I’d have to coach her before an interview to relax,” Honeycutt said, adding that Alice Foster was “very kind and lovely.”
Alice Foster performed the traditional role of first lady, hosting receptions at the Governor’s Mansion.
“She was quiet and retiring but was always available at political gatherings to support Mike in his efforts,” said Bernie Boudreaux, a former longtime district attorney for St. Mary, St. Martin and Iberia parishes before serving as Mike Foster’s executive counsel.
Alice Foster also threw herself into renovating her grand new home in Baton Rouge.
“When Mike and I walked into the Governor’s Mansion, it was with a heavy heart that I beheld this beautiful, stately building so lacking in the grandeur of what my perception of a Governor’s Mansion should reflect and represent,” Alice Foster wrote
drugs to her teenage daughter in April 2024 to terminate her pregnancy
The case likely is the first one nationally in the post-Roe era to pit a state with anti-abortion laws against an asylum state. It’s resulted in a public clash between the governors of Louisiana and New York.
Lights surrendered to Louisiana authorities days after a West Baton Rouge grand jury indicted her Jan. 31, claiming she violated
Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban by buying mifepristone online from New York Dr Margaret “Maggie” Carpenter and forcing her daughter to take the medicine. The pills caused the teen to have a miscarriage, according to the indictment. The grand jury also indicted Carpenter, sparking a cross-state legal battle over her extradition.
Providing an abortion, including the medication for it, has been banned in Louisiana since
summer 2022, under a trigger law that kicked in when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson. Meanwhile, New York is one of eight “safe harbor” states that have passed shield laws to protect abortion providers.
While Louisiana has taken steps to increase its restrictions on abortions, the Empire State enacted new protective measures in the wake of the indictment to bolster its shield laws for telemedicine health care, so physicians selling abor-
tion medications online can ship them to states that have banned them.
Within hours of the Jan. 31 indictment a war of words began between New York Gov Kathy Hochul and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill. Hochul called the charges “outrageous” in a video statement posted to social media, where she vowed to reject Louisiana’s extradition request.
Murrill responded by saying the New York governor was
Proposed amendments face new legal challenge
BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT Staff writer
GRAND & GREEN
ABOVE: Students get a first look at their newly renovated gymnasium on Tuesday at Lafayette High School.
LEFT: Principal Layne Edelman, left, and School Board member Hannah Mason look on as students run onto the court.
Lafayette plans traffic law safety campaign
Police to increase enforcement
Less than three weeks before Louisiana voters are set to decide on four amendments to the state constitution, another lawsuit has been filed seeking to remove some of them from the ballot. Voice of the Experienced, a statewide advocacy group, filed the lawsuit on behalf of four residents from East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Orleans and Tangipahoa parishes. It argues Amendments 1 and Amendments 3 are unconstitutional and should not appear on the ballot.
The lawsuit alleges that the Louisiana Legislature did not follow all of the rules the constitution requires to properly put an amendment in front of voters.
Amendment 1 would give the Louisiana Supreme Court authority to discipline lawyers from out of state who do legal work in Louisiana. It would also give the Louisiana Legislature the power to create specialized courts whose jurisdictions could cover multiple parishes
Supporters said it would allow the state to potentially launch
BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer
With more than 500 motor vehicle crashes reported in January and numerous complaints to the department on intersection safety, the Lafayette Police Department is taking matters into its own hands.
The LSU center for Analytics and Research in Transportation Safety reported that 636
crashes in Lafayette Parish from January to March were at intersections.
Hoping to lower the number of accidents at intersections, mainly red lights, the Police Department is launching a 30day red light awareness campaign.
The initiative will run from March 11 until April 11. During this time, the Police Department’s traffic unit will conduct targeted enforcement in high-violation areas
ä See TRAFFIC, page 2B
ä See LEGAL, page 2B ä See FOSTER, page 2B ä See ABORTION, page 2B
STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE
BR student shot, killed
ABORTION
Continued from page 1B
“cheerleading” for a doctor from her state who helped aid the Port Allen teen’s forced abortion that was “sick and barbaric.”
When Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry signed off Feb. 13 on a request to extradite Carpenter to Louisiana to face the criminal abortion charge and sent it to Hochul. The New York governor made good on her promise to refuse the order, saying “not now, not
ever” would she send the family doctor to this state for an anti-abortion prosecution. It remains unclear if and when state prosecutors in Louisiana will seek a writ of mandamus in U.S Middle District Court of Louisiana, where they could ask a federal judge to order Carpenter’s apprehension on a national arrest warrant, over the objections of New York authorities.
The Louisiana Attorney General is working with the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office to pros-
ecute Lights and the New York doctor.
According to prosecutors, Lights went online April 24 and filled out a questionnaire requesting abortion pills from Carpenter’s Nightingale Medical clinic in upstate New York’s Hudson Valley Lights paid $150 using a credit card, and Carpenter shipped mifepristone to her Port Allen home, prosecutors alleged. When Lights got the medication she gave her pregnant daughter an ultimatum to take the pills
“or else,” Tony Clayton, district attorney of the 18th Judicial District, has alleged. Her daughter a minor experienced a medical emergency, called 911 and was transported to the hospital, where she was treated and stabilized, according to court documents.
Lights is expected to return to court May 5 for a pretrial conference before District Judge Tonya Lurry
Email Matt Bruce at matt.bruce@theadvocate. com.
BY ELLYN COUVILLION Staff writer
A 17-year-old male was fatally shot after getting off the school bus Monday afternoon in what police think is a targeted shooting by a 16-yearold suspect who later was taken into custody, Baton Rouge police said Tuesday
FOSTER
Continued from page 1B
organization honors her work with an annual award in her name for an individual “whose life’s work has left a legacy in their community.”
A native of Portsmouth, Virginia Alice Foster was married for 40 years to her husband.
The victim Anthony Robinson, a student at Scotlandville High School, off someone and L’Jean lice A rested by with Ba Office, the tention of attemp murder of in a Th about 2:50 p.m. in the 1900 block of Bradfield Av Robinson by te alt day High familie sai sadness the of Anthon was to essary afternoon.” and will pus said.
years later I asked Mike, ‘Can you afford to redo this place’? The Governor laughed and said, ‘No, I can’t, and neither can the state of Louisiana. I agree the work is necessary and I agree it needs a lot of work, but we don’t have the money in the state
She worked for her husband’s construction company Bayou Sale Contractors, before he was elected governor.
throughout the city to significantly to reduce traffic after running a red light at the intersection of Bertrand drive and West Congress. Deshotels died scene of the crash, leaving behind three children, Malaki, 13; Alistair, 12; and Yelana, 10. Deshotels was a native of New York and a resident of Lafayette for the past
worked as a at several Laries and respolice officers will be on motorcycles in high-violation areas throughout Lafayette.
The campaign’s key objectives are to bring public awareness by educating drivers about the serious dangers of red light violations, increase traffic law enforcement, reduce accidents, and enhance safety for all road users, includ-
the constitution.
important together as a commu nity, offering strength and support to one another Let us lean on each other as we navigate this difficult moment together,” the statement said.
citizens,” and said 27 other states already had similar measures.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call BRPD’s Violent Crimes Unit at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867. Advocate reporter Char uted
“Amendment 1 gives poli ticians the power to create a whole new court system with hand-picked magistrates and rules stacked even more against everyday people,” said Darlene Joseph Jones, an Orleans Parish resident and the lead plaintiff, in a news release. Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, who sponsored the bill, responded to the lawsuit by saying the amendment was part of an “ongoing effort to improve our judicial system
“For too long citizens have been misled by unscrupulous out of state attorneys over which our Supreme Court has no authory to discipline. Amendment one will change that,” he said. “In addition, the amendment will give the gislature the flexibility to create new courts to address the needs of our citizens If we need a regional drug court or mental health court, this amendment will allow the legislature to create one.”
The lawsuit claims legislative leaders advanced the bill to the floor of the state House, despite a 5-7 committee vote against it, which violated the proper process It also argues the proposal violates a rule saying constitutional amendments can address only one change at a time,
Amendment 3 would remove from the constitution a list of 16 crimes for which people under age 17 can be prosecuted as adults. It would allow legislators to expand the list of crimes for which juveniles can be prosecuted in adult court.
The lawsuit claims the bill did not fit within the boundaries of Gov Jeff Landry’s call for the special session in which it passed. It also argues the bill’s title does not sufficiently explain what it does.
“The same rules they expect us to follow, they’ve ignored,” said Norris Henderson, VOTE’s founder and executive director “They assume nobody’s paying attention, but we know how these systems work.”
Amendment 2, which would make a slew of
ing drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
The Police Department plans to share regular updates, statistics and educational videos on its social media platforms throughout the campaign.
“By working together, we can make Lafayette’s roads safer for everyone,” Wood said.
Email Ja’kori Madison at jakori.madison@ theadvocate.com.
changes to the part of the constitution that governs taxes, also faces a legal challenge. Attorney William Most filed a lawsuit last month arguing the amendment’s language is illegally slanted in favor of the proposition and misrepresents what would happen if it passes.
Email Matthew Albright at malbright@ theadvocate.com.
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LA 70507. Father Louis Richard will conduct thefuneral services. Inurnmentwill take place following the service in Fountain Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be held Friday morning between the hoursof9:00 am -12:30 pm at Walters Funeral Home. Arosary will be prayed at 12:30 pm. Known for his infectious charisma and asmile that could light up any room, Matthew had apersonality that drew people in andmade them feel like they were the most important person in the world. His sense of humor andplayfulnature brought joy to everyone around him, and he will be remembered as the jokester whoalways knew how to make others laugh A2001 graduate of St. Thomas More High School, he continued his education at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette earning aBachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice in 2006, but Matthew's love of aviation led him down a different path.Heattended numerous flight training schools, quickly proving himself to be anatural in the cockpit. Throughout his career he obtain ratings on various private and commercial jets through Flight Safety International, CAE aviation training and Private training companies. Whether for work or for pleasure, he wasa highly skilled and respected pilot, earning theadmiration of his peers andcolleagues. His love for aviation wasmatched only by hiscommitment to being one of the best in the skies, constantly refining his craft and sharing his passion with others. Matthew was notonly remarkable in the skies but also in his approachto business. Smart, driven, and successful, he made a mark in his professional life with his keen business acumen anddetermination. Beyond his professional achievements, Matthew's love for his family was unwavering. He was
dnesday at St. Episcopal Church, funeral ser-
vice there and burial next to her husband at Franklin Cemetery
PROVIDED PHO
e Foster and his wife Alice attend an art showing of sculptor Don Gomez’s work at the home of attorneys Stuart Cooper on Oct. 3, 2001.
Friday morning between the hours of 9:00 am -12:30 pm at Walters Funeral Home. Arosary will be prayed at 12:30 pm. Known for his infectious charisma and asmile that could light up any room, Matthew had apersonality that drew people in and made them feel like they were the most important person in the world. His sense of humor and playful nature brought joy to everyone around him, and he willbe remembered as the jokester who always knew how to make others laugh. A2001 graduate of St. Thomas More High School, he continued his education at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette earning aBachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice in 2006,but Matthew's love of aviation led him down a different path. He attended numerous flight training schools, quickly proving himself to be anatural in the cockpit. Throughout his career he obtain ratings on various private and commercial jets through Flight Safety International, CAE aviation training and Private training companies. Whether for work or for pleasure, he was a highly skilled and respected pilot, earning the admiration of his peers and colleagues. His love for aviation was matched only by his commitment to being one of the best in the skies, constantly refining his craft and sharing his passion with others. Matthew was not only remarkable in the skies but also in his approach to business. Smart, driven, and successful, he made a mark in his professional life with his keen business acumen and determination. Beyond his professional achievements, Matthew's love for his family wasunwavering. He was adevoted godfather to Hayley and Everett, always there to offer guidance, support, and affection. His genuine love and care for his family and friends will forever be cherished by those who were lucky enough to know him. Matthew's big heart and generous spirit touched the lives of many, and his absence will be deeply felt by all who loved him. He leaves behind alegacy of kindness, laughter, and love that will continue to inspire those who were fortunate enough to share in his life. Matthew is survived by his mother, Darlene Marix Hillman; his brothers, Grant M. Hillman (Ashley) of Lafayette, LA and Stephan M. Hillman (Jennifer) of Aurora, CO; four nieces and one nephew, Hayley and Everett Hillmanof Lafayette, LA, and Mila Hillman, Hailey Veazie, and Kaitlyn Veazie of Aurora, CO; his godparents, Timothy Hillman (Brenda) of Gig Harbor, WA, and Kay Marix Martin (Al) of Lafayette; and many friends, who willalways remember him with love and gratitude. He was preceded in death by his father, Michael Hillman; paternal grandparents, Dudley and Dorothy Hillman; and maternal grandparents, Carlysle and Lois Marix. He may no longer be with spirit will live skies and in all who knew tion will follow Restaurant, 5818 St., Lafayette, friends and fa vited to gather and share memories. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to any of these nonprofits:Flying Wings of Louisiana, www.flyingwing soflouisiana.org; The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Asso Foundation, www.aopafoundation.org/ donate; Joseph Shelter in Lafayette, P.O. Box 3177 Lafayette, LA 70502. Walters Funeral Home, 2424 N. University Ave., Lafayette, LA 70507; 337-706-8941 is in chargeof arrangements.
Hillman; his brothers, Grant M. Hillman(Ashley) of Lafayette,LAand Stephan M. Hillman (Jennifer) of Aurora, CO; four nieces and one nephew, Hayley and Everett Hillmanof Lafayette,LA, and Mila Hillman, Hailey Veazie, and Kaitlyn Veazie of Aurora, CO; his godparents, Timothy Hillman (Brenda) of Gig Harbor, WA, and Kay Marix Martin (Al)of Lafayette;and many friends, who will always rememberhim with love and gratitude.Hewas precededindeath by hisfather, Michael Hillman; paternal grandparents, Dudley and Dorothy Hillman; and maternal grandparents, Carlysleand Lois Marix. He may no longer be with us, but his spirit will live on in the skies and in the hearts of all who knew him. Areception will follow atMazen's Restaurant, 5818 Johnston St., Lafayette,LAwhere friends and familyare invited to gatherand share memories. In lieu of flowers,the family asks that memorial contributions be made to any of these nonprofits: Flying Wings of Louisiana, www.flyingwing soflouisiana.org; The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's Foundation, www.aopafoundation.org/ donate; or St. Joseph Shelter in Lafayette,P.O. Box 3177 Lafayette,LA 70502. Walters Funeral Home, 2424 N. University Ave., Lafayette,LA70507; 337-706-8941 is in charge of arrangements.
AMass of Christian Burial will be held Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 1:00 PM in The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette,for John Gregory Poteet, Jr., age 84, who passed away on March 7, 2025 at his residence in Lafayette Interment will be held in St. John Catholic Cemetery -Lafayette. Rev. Howard Blessing will be the Celebrant of the Funeral Mass. The family requests that visitation be observed on Saturday from 10:00 AM to 12:40 PM at Martin & Castille's DOWNTOWN Location. Eulogies will be shared at the funeral home beginning at 11:00 AM with the recitation of theRosary immediately following
Left to cherish his memory are his loving wife of 54 years, JudyAnn Aucoin Poteet; his children, Paul Wendling Poteet and wife, Claudia, and Julie Poteet Brunnert and husband Daniel; his grandchildren, Evangeline Poteet, Gwynevere Poteet, Emmett Brunnert and Damian Brunnert; his nieces, Danielle Poteet Baham, Gaye Pickering and Gina Jones; his nephew, Gary Spring, Jr.; his brother-inlaw, Gary Spring,Sr.
Greg was preceded in death by his parents, Jeanette Beslin Poteet and John Gregory Poteet, Sr.; his siblings, Greta Poteet Spring, Glenn Poteet, and G. Paul Poteet, for whom Greg lovingly cared after Paul's tragic accident playing high school football.
Greg was aloving husband,father and grandfather who cherished time spent with his children and grandchildren, whom he described as the "joyofhis life." He was aman who appreciated and enjoyed the simple thingsinlife: spending time with Judy, the love of his life; afternoons spent reading books about finance, history or science; watching college basketball and football on TV; walks around the neighborhood; many weekend hours spent on yardwork; extended lunches and dinners enjoyed with close friends, including his "Friday Lunch Bunch."
John Gregory Poteet, Sr.; his siblings, Greta Poteet Spring, Glenn Poteet, and G. Paul Poteet, for whom
Greg lovingly cared after
Paul's tragic accident playing high school football.
Greg was aloving husband,father and grandfather who cherished time spent with his children and grandchildren, whom he described as the "joyofhis life." He was aman who appreciated and enjoyed the simple thingsinlife: spending time with Judy, the love of his life; afternoons spent reading books about finance, history or science; watching college basketball and football on TV; walks around the neighborhood; many weekend hours spent on yardwork; extended lunches and dinners enjoyed with close friends, including his "Friday Lunch Bunch."
Greg especially enjoyed traveling with the entire Poteet/Brunnert clan, including travel to Europe and,inrecent years, to locations such as Yellowstone National Park, Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, and Branson, Missouri. He loved visiting his children and grandchildren in their adopted hometowns of Washington, DC and Chicago, Illinois. Alover of history and politics, he took great pleasure in touring themonuments, memorials and museums of Washington and many unique spaces of Chicago, including Millennium Park
adopted hometowns of Washington,DCand Chicago, Illinois. Alover of history and politics, he took great pleasure in touring the monuments, memorials and museums of Washington and many unique spaces of Chicago, including MillenniumPark and boat tours on the Chicago River. Greg's journey took him from ahappy childhood in St. Martinville to adegree from theUniversity of Southwestern Louisiana to service in the Air Force in San Antonio, Texas to law school at Loyola University in New Orleans to finally his more than 50 years of legal practice in Lafayette. An accomplished attorney, Greg specialized in personal injury and family law. He especially enjoyed adoptions, facilitating hundreds of adoptionsfor grateful families over decades of work with Catholic Social Services, for which he was honored and recognized.
An avid football and basketball fan, sports played an important role in Greg's life, from his days playing basketball at St. Martinville High School to his years coaching Paul and Julie's basketball teams, to his attendance at all of LSU's home football games for 54 seasons with his LSU superfan wife. Despite his great enjoyment of LSU football, he never lost his love of all things Ragin Cajun, often attending ULL basketball games at the Cajundome or football games at Cajun
Greg especially enjoyed traveling with theentire Poteet/Brunnert clan, including travel to Europe and,inrecent years, to locations such as Yellowstone National Park, Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, and Branson, Missouri. He loved visiting his children and grandchildren in their adopted hometowns of Washington, DC and Chicago, Illinois. of history and polit he took great pleasure in touring themonuments, memorials and museums of Washington many unique spaces Chicago, including Millennium Park and boattours on the Chicago River.
Greg's journey took him from ahappy childhood in St. Martinville to adegree from the Universityof Southwestern Louisiana to service in the Air Force in San Antonio, Texas to law school y in New Orleans to finally his more of legal practice in Lafayette. An accomplished attorney, Greg specialized in personal injury and family law. He especially enjoyed adoptions, facilitating hundreds of adoptions for grateful families over decades of work with Catholic Social Services, for which he was honored and recognized.
An avid football and basketball fan, sports played an important role in Greg's life, from his days playing basketball at Martinville High School his years coaching Paul and Julie's basketball teams, to his attendance at all of LSU's home football games for 54 seasons with his LSU superfan wife. Despitehis great enjoyment of LSU football, he never lost his love of all things Ragin Cajun, often attending ULLbasketball games at the Cajundome or football games at Cajun Field Greg was aman of ep faith who cherished his Catholicism. While his family greatly mourns and misses him, they take solace in the knowledge that he has arrived home to his Loving Father. Pallbearers will be Paul Poteet, Daniel Brunnert, Joseph Wendling,Gary Spring, Jr., Will Copeland, Steven Copeland,Johnny Ghio and Carol Patin. In lieu of flowers dona-
An avid football and basketball fan, sports played an important role in Greg's life, from his days playing basketball at St. Martinville High School to his years coaching Paul and Julie's basketball teams, to his attendance at all of LSU's home football games for 54 seasons with his LSU superfan wife. Despitehis great enjoyment of LSU football, he never lost his love of all things Ragin Cajun, often attending ULLbasketball games at the Cajundome or football games at Cajun Field
Greg was aman of deep faith who cherished his Catholicism. While his family greatly mourns and misses him, they take solace in the knowledge that he has arrived home to his Loving Father. Pallbearers will be Paul Poteet, Daniel Brunnert, Joseph Wendling,Gary Spring, Jr., Will Copeland, Steven Copeland,Johnny Ghio and Carol Patin. In lieu of flowers donations, can be made in John Gregory eet, Jr.'s name to Charities of Acad eobituary and guestbook online at www.mourning.com &CastilleDOWNTOWN,330 St. Landry Street, Lafayette, Louisiana 70503, 337-2342311
Copeland, Johnny donaJohn name of and at Martin &CastilleDOWNTOWN, 330
Poteet Jr., JohnGregory
Brunnert,
this case is the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. From early anecdotal reports, the department seems to have succeeded with its new system merging westward traffic on Interstate 10 and I-12 near the College Drive exit in Baton Rouge.
The flyover project features I-12 lanes now going underneath a new I-10 overpass, with an additional exit lane at College Drive to more easily serve drivers from both interstates. It allows I-10 drivers to avoid a rapid triple-lane crossing, against merging I-12 traffic, to reach College Drive
The overpass itself opened in April 2024, but the I-12 traffic shift just opened on Feb 22. The new system allows traffic to move both more quickly and considerably more safely It fixes a problem of congestion and unsafe access that has plagued the interchange for the better part of half a century
The flyover project is part of a much larger, $1.1 billion widening of I-10 and I-12 to four lanes in both directions from Essen Lane all the way to the Lobdell exit. The overall widening is desperately needed, as the current corridor was constructed in the 1960s for about 80,000 cars per day, but now serves well over twice that many Work on the larger project began in February 2023 and is expected to continue through 2029. Yet, in an example of common sense that critics say government too often is lacking, officials separated the College Drive project from the more comprehensive interstate widening, thus allowing distinct construction contracts for the former so that it could move faster without being bogged down Indeed, officials even began the College Drive project sooner back in April of 2021. While the nearly four years of construction wasn’t exactly rapid, it was comparatively quick for major road work these days, and without an obscene amount of further disruption in the meantime to an already congested merge system.
Meanwhile, in a complementary project, the government of East Baton Rouge Parish is working on a project to widen College Drive itself near the interstate, along with new service roads and traffic-signal updates, which will further ease congestion from the 49,000 cars that drive daily through its intersection with Perkins Road.
This is all good news for motorists who live in or drive through Baton Rouge. It also is a testament both to common sense and to focused diligence. There’s wisdom in the old saying that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Likewise, the way to fix traffic problems is one discrete chunk at a time. If DOTD officials apply that wisdom statewide, Louisiana might really get “on the move.”
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With the selection of Robert Kennedy Jr to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence, Kash Patel to head of the FBI and Linda McMahon as the head of the soon-to-be defunct Department of Education, the conservative side of Congress (House and Senate) have earned a new name: Republicants.
A Republicant is defined as a person who cannot uphold his or her oath to the Constitution or to the American people. In fact (soon to be made mandatory by another executive order), the oath taken by the Republicants will read as follows: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I cannot support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I cannot bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I can-
not take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion because it might affect my loyalty pledge to Donald Trump; and that I cannot well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
Furthermore, considering DOGE’s directive to cut spending and close or defund government agencies, it is recommended DOGE fire 99% percent of all congressional staff and cut the budget for both the House and the Senate Musk can leave one person to answer the telephone and one person to cast the party line votes. Since Republicants rubber-stamp Trump’s agenda, and the Democrats are powerless to stop them, this will greatly reduce the budget as well.
DANIEL NODURFT Chalmette
The headline says it all: “Vouchers fall short of state promises” for students. After 10 years and $500 million spent, it looks like the promises to help children get a better education have failed. The numbers don’t lie. Whereas 24% of students in public schools met state achievement targets, only 14% in the private school voucher program met those targets. What a waste of taxpayer money Just think, if the half-billion had been spent to improve public schools, provide raises for teachers, administrators and support staff, upgrade equipment and maybe even air condition buses what would our public schools look like today? Better I bet.
With reference to an article in the newspaper Jan. 17 titled “UNO to furlough hundreds of employees,” I find it amazing that this has not come more to the forefront We hear of wealthy folks making donations to hospitals and many other similar charitable donations by corporations, etc. Many students cannot afford tuition at private or out-of-town universities; and seemingly, cannot afford UNO.
Total silence from Baton Rouge and our elected leaders relative to support for building maintenance and making public education affordable at our public universities. UNO has combined colleges, laid off folks and deferred main-
The decision to feature such graphic images on the front page with the article “By Tooth and Tale” on the Venice nutria rodeo is not only in poor taste but also raises serious ethical concerns. While the nutria may be considered an invasive species and the rodeo aims to manage its population, showcasing the brutal aftermath of such a hunt in such a sensationalized manner is disrespectful to both the animals and the values we hold regarding humane treatment of wildlife. This type of coverage can desensi-
tenance and more. Now it needs help. This metro area has precisely two public universities: UNO and Southern University at New Orleans. Two longstanding and wonderful institutions, providing this area with many future leaders. Where are Gayle Benson, Drew Brees and the Manning family as well as corporations, speaking about the needs of these two institutions? Crickets, so far UNO was always a highly regarded institution. It must be brought back to its former glory
RAYMOND H. NOLAN SR. Metairie
tize the public to the suffering of animals and trivializes the importance of finding balanced solutions to invasive species management.
It’s crucial that discussions around wildlife control are conducted with respect and compassion, rather than sensationalism. The media has a responsibility to educate and inform without resorting to shocking imagery that could promote a culture of cruelty or disregard for life.
KEN RABALAIS Lafayette
We live in a constant state of dystopia. Our politicians feed worthless red meat to their base just to garner votes. It all sounds so good until the chickens come home to roost, and we all find out, much later, just how much the false promises cost us all and how the pathetic programs fail. Our birth rate is below our death rate, young people and professionals are moving away and we just spent a half-billion on a failed program. WILLIAM FAULK Baton Rouge
To reverse outmigration, focus on what matters
Yet another article was in the paper recently about Louisiana losing population. Can we talk about some things that are not going to attract people to stay here, especially young people who want a good life for their families? Ignoring climate change would be No. 1, and it will result in our children and grandchildren living in a more and more hostile environment. Attacking librarians. Arresting and vilifying doctors. Making gun laws more lax than ever — none of this is going to bring back our best and brightest.
Until our political leaders can focus on what makes Louisiana special (and there’s a lot —our abundant natural resources, our innate joie de vivre, our acceptance of people different than ourselves) the drain will continue.
CAROLYN RAULT Mandeville
The city of New Orleans is a city so many love, for so many reasons. We just want it to work.
Tourists and visitors come and go. We who live in one of the nation’s most fun cities and one of the best food cities love it enough to stay and make the best of this culturally rich, urban paradise. But we would like to see red lights and street lights working, we’d rather not know there are places where streets will flood with normal and heavy rainfalls. We certainly want the Sewerage & Water Board to work.
Project Director Pres Kabacoff, Policy Director David Marcello, Project Coordinator Emma Trunkle and about 30 prominent business and civic leaders called the City Services Coalition are taking stock of residents’ dissatisfaction and recommending ways to change it.
A December survey by coalition member and pollster Ron Faucheux showed that 65% of city voters think New Orleans is on the “wrong track.”
Though 53% said they plan to stay in the city in the next five years, 40% expect to move out of New Orleans into another Louisiana community (11%) or to move out of the state (29%)
The city’s quality of life is viewed negatively by 69%, with only 19% of Whites and 18% of Blacks believing things have gotten better in the last several years.
That’s disheartening.
New Orleans had more than 600,000 people just a few decades ago. The city has fewer than 385,000 people today. Imagine about 150,000 people up and leaving. Going somewhere. To Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines or St. Tammany parishes Or to eastern Texas, southern Mississippi or southern Arkansas.
Baton Rouge has more than 200,000 Shreveport has just short of 200,000 Metairie pushed above 140,000 recently
People aren’t moving because the city has bland food, few festivals and a weekends-only nightlife. People die, take new jobs, move to join family And some move because the city they love can’t seem to get things done.
Perhaps the biggest, most outrageous proposal by the coalition is that the city cooperate with neighboring parishes to create a regional water purification operation on land the city purchased in St Charles Parish some years ago. It would cost at least $1 billion.
That’s a big ask. Financially Politically I can’t imagine all the key parties coming together and agreeing to create
something over which they would have limited control as the coalition suggests.
But, hey, after the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina and levee failures nearly 20 years ago, we set aside cultural and political differences and philosophies to protect lots of people with a 10-year storm surge protection levee system, and prevention efforts continue with regional cooperation. With a city focus, the coalition has suggested changes that would require city charter, state Legislature and maybe state constitutional changes. There are many, and it’s worth taking time to review what they’ve suggested.
The group looked at governance structure, streets and infrastructure, drainage and water management, permitting, public safety and justice and trash and clean public spaces. Nearly no one would argue with that list. We’re likely to debate what and how to get it done
I’m pleased to see the coalition stick with a strong mayor form of government, though it wants to give the chief administrative officer greater authority and responsibility. I struggle to understand why any elected mayors would willingly relieve themselves of veto power over CAO personnel decisions.
In fall 2023, Orleans Parish Assessor Erroll Williams and former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy floated the idea of creating a city manager job to run the day-to-day city department operations, leaving overall leadership and vision to the mayor
It was a partisan speech It was an optimistic speech. It was a speech that laid the blame for inflation and the massive number of migrants and illegal drugs that entered the country during the previous administration at the feet of Democrats. It was an uplifting speech about the future. It was a deliberately divisive speech when it came to policies pushed by the Democrats as opposed to policies endorsed by Republicans And it was at times a funny speech as President Donald Trump pointed to Democrats and the silly signs raised by some, blasting them for all sorts of things when they had the power It was a long speech. One commentator said it eclipsed the longwinded speeches of Bill Clinton. It was also full of empathy for victims of migrant crime. Trump brought some of the widows and daughters whose husbands and fathers were taken from them by gang members who had repeatedly committed crimes but were let go after being arrested in Democrat states with “sanctuary cities.”
As if to rile Senate Democrats, none of whom would vote for a bill protecting women’s sports from men who claim to be transgender Trump invited a woman who suffered traumatic brain injury after being hit with a volleyball by a biological man playing with women on the opposite team. Perhaps the sweetest moment of the night was when Trump authorized the Secret Service to bestow the title of “agent” on a young boy who was given five years to live after being diagnosed with brain cancer He always wanted to be a police officer The boy hugged the agent who gave him an official identification card. His proud father lifted him up for all to see. Incredibly, all the Democrats remained seated andt stoic and would not applaud anything, not the boy with brain cancer not families of murder victims, not even the first lady when she entered the chamber So deep is their hatred for Trump who is running circles around them with the speed of his policy initiatives. Some held up signs, reminiscent of that TV ad for a pharmaceutical company that treats depression. The woman in the ad carries a round sign with an upside-down smiley face. That appears to be the face of today’s Democrat Party They are being beaten by Trump at every turn. Polls show the public are mostly with him, especially in his quest to downsize bloated government That’s where Democrats are these days. They participate in a political ad that looks like a video wall with everyone saying the same thing about the still struggling economy and throwing in a vulgarity as if that will win them votes. The video looks like an expanded version of the old FBI “Ten Most Wanted” list we used to see in
LETTERS TO
My advice to congressional Democrats: If you’re going to embrace performative politics, be sure you give a good performance.
Instead, the Dems at President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress looked like an angry and lonely clown car
They looked the very portrait that they have become in Donald Trump’s second term: angry gloomy, ripped off and deeply offended that, having lost both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the White House, they have no options left but to make noise.
Clarence Page
“Should the position of chief administrative officer be expanded? Should professional qualifications and management experience for this job be spelled out in the city charter?” they wrote in a November 2023 guest column in this newspaper “Is a city manager form of government, along with the Mayor-Council, a more efficient and proactive way to operate in today’s world? It works for Jefferson Parish, would it work equally well here?” Orleans and Jefferson are different culturally and politically I’m all for looking at government operations elsewhere to consider how New Orleans might improve.
Coalition representatives have reviewed the report with the current crop of prominent would-be mayoral candidates: City Council Vice President Helena Moreno, former Judge Arthur Hunter and City Council member Oliver Thomas. Former 911 leader Tyrell Morris announced his bid on Thursday; they plan to offer him the same courtesy They’ve talked with members of City Council, too. Incumbent Mayor LaToya Cantrell can’t run for re-election, but she’s had nearly eight years of experience. She should be included. New Orleans is a great city, and it needs an update. But let’s not make it Atlanta, Minneapolis or Nashville.
Email Will Sutton at wsutton@ theadvocate.com.
N.O. doesn’t need overhaul, but city services sure do Trump’s uplifting speech to the nation
post offices.
A lowlight for Democrats was when Rep. Al Green of Texas began yelling and interrupting Trump’s speech. Green, who has filed articles of impeachment against Trump that are going nowhere, was escorted out of the chamber by the sergeant at arms as Speaker Mike Johnson pounded his gavel and called for decorum.
It is supremely ironic that Democrats are criticizing the economy when it was the previous administration that caused inflation and accompanying high prices. It took Ronald Reagan two years to turn around the bad economy of Jimmy Carter The headline was kept until almost the end of the speech. Trump announced he had received a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he is ready for negotiations to end the war with Russia, including the mining of Ukrainian minerals to help repay the U.S. for its $350 billion contribution to the war Trump said he has heard “strong signals” from Russia that Vladimir Putin is “ready for peace.” We’ll see about that.
It was a good night for Trump and Republicans. All the Democrats and their media allies could do is look like they were attending a funeral. They have nothing else to show the country except policy failures from the last four years.
Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@ tribpub.com.
So that’s what they did. Some of the Dems protested by waving signs the size of ping-pong paddles bearing remarks like “Elon Steals.”
Stole what? Never mind. It’s the thought that counts. And that apparently was good enough for Rep. Al Green, the widely respected Houston Democrat. Having heard enough of Trump’s braggadocio, he rose to his feet.
“Mr President, you don’t have a mandate,” Green shouted as he pointed his cane. After repeated warnings, House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered the sergeant at arms to escort Green out of the chambers.
“I’ll accept the punishment,” Green told reporters afterwards. “It’s worth it to let people know that there’s some of us who are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”
Indeed, just days before Trump’s address to Congress, the Social Security Administration announced plans to reduce its workforce by 14%.
The same day, Elon Musk, the head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, went on Joe Rogan’s podcast and opined, “Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
In other words, it’s easy to see in Trump’s and Musk’s words and deeds the signs of an incipient monkey-wrench operation. Unfortunately, this message was nowhere evident in Green’s outburst.
Not surprisingly, the Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to censure Green for disrupting Trump’s address by a vote of 224-198. As a formal statement of disapproval, censure is about the worst punishment for a misbehaving House member short of removing them from office. What surprised some was that 10 Democrats crossed party lines to vote in favor of censure, revealing how deeply the divide within Democratic ranks had become.
Breaches of decorum have become a recurring trend that many members of Congress no doubt dislike. Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert set a new bar for hecklers by repeatedly interrupting then-President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address in 2022. Greene did it again during Biden’s 2023 and 2024 State of the Union addresses.
Unlike President Trump’s view expressed at the end of his infamously contentious Oval Office exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — “This is going to be great television” — Democrats came away from the congressional address without much to celebrate.
Ever since the party managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in last year’s presidential race, Democratic leaders and key influencers have reverted to the circular firing squads of blame to which losing campaigns inevitably return.
Yet, when it comes to performative politics, we saw both parties engage in a vigorous round of it in their face-off over the widely misunderstood — and therefore politically exploitable — issue of “sanctuary cities,” or as Chicago calls them, “welcoming cities.”
It has survived 40 years, seven presidents and five mayors. As Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson testified, under friendly questioning by U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents a large swath of Chicago’s suburbs, the policy was set forth in a 2017 state law signed by Republican Gov Bruce Rauner
But Republicans in the era of Trump’s presidency have promoted the narrative that cities run by Democratic mayors are just boiling over with an invasion of lawbreaking immigrants.
As a result, we were treated once again to Republican alarm over criminal immigrants and “hellhole” Chicago, as one downstate Republican gubernatorial candidate constantly whined.
As often happens with congressional hearings that generate more heat than enlightenment, the session held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee turned into something of an inquisition of Johnson and his fellow Democratic Mayors Eric Adams of New York, Mike Johnston of Denver and Michelle Wu of Boston.
Johnson dutifully refuted “hellhole” stereotypes with an array of sunnier statistics, particularly those that describe promising declines in the city’s violent crime rates.
But then the grandstanding went off the rails, as some lawmakers accused Johnson and other mayors of violating federal law and threatened to call for their arrest warrants.
I would be lying if I did not confess to my own pro-Chicago, pro-urban and pro-law enforcement prejudices. I also appreciate our Gov J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat considering his own possible presidential run, for his rejoinder to our visiting critics: “Unlike Donald Trump,” he observed, “Illinois follows the law.”
Right on, Gov
Email Clarence Page at clarence47page@gmail. com.
Cal Thomas Will Sutton
STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Temporary barricades and fencing block access to homes on Spain Street in the St. Roch area in May.
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Choppy waters
BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer
Starting quarterbacks rarely take pay cuts in the NFL.
Pardon stating the obvious, but doing so feels necessary after the Saints opted to restructure Derek Carr’s contract rather than the two sides agreeing to reduce the quarterback’s salary.
And agree, in this case, is the key word here, because any reduction would have required Carr’s involvement — something he made clear was a nonstarter earlier this offseason.
“I wouldn’t take a pay cut,” Carr told ESPN. “Yeah, I wouldn’t do that. Especially with what I put on tape. Would I restructure? Absolutely I’ll always help the team that way But there’s some things that you put out there that you earned.” Carr’s comments, predictably, didn’t sit well with a fan base that has clamored for the franchise to make major overhauls — particularly at quarterback and in the front office. And the Saints’ decision to bring the four-time Pro Bowler back for 2025 did no favors to ease the anger, at least among the fan base’s vocal contingent online.
But Carr’s desire to keep the entire $40 million owed to him this year was well within his right And frankly, why would he take less? Getting a player to accept a pay cut usually comes down to leverage, and the Saints’ leverage was less than ideal in this situation. Cutting Carr would have left New Orleans with a $50 million dead cap hit. And while the team could have lessened that figure with a trade, Carr had control over that process with a no-trade clause. There’s a separate argument to be made that the Saints would have been better off taking that hit now to reset for the future, but the team’s brass did not view that as a palatable option, which further strengthened Carr’s leverage Remember, the Saints went 0-7 when Carr was injured last season. Carr also might have been fine if he had been released. ESPN reported the 33-year-old was open to the idea of hitting the market for quarterback-needy teams. And given the landscape, Carr likely would have been one of the more notable names available Would he have been able to make back his $40 million? That’s unclear But Sam Darnold joined the Seattle Seahawks on a threeyear $100.5 million contract with $55 million guaranteed, while Justin Fields agreed to join the Jets on a two-year $40 million deal with $20 million guaranteed As it stands, Carr’s original four-year, $150 million deal — signed in 2023 — carries an average annual value that still ranks 16th in the NFL. That’s middle of the pack among starters. Saints coach Kellen Moore said the team had “conservations”
the
on Feb 18
LSU teams face obstacles to make waves in March
The soothsayer who warned the eponymous emperor in “Julius Caesar” to “beware the Ides of March” must have also foretold a thing or two about LSU basketball.
The LSU men limp into their first and likely only Southeastern Conference Tournament game Wednesday evening against Mississippi State. First (only?) tip will be 6 p.m. in Nashville, Tennessee.
The LSU women are getting their traditional — and this year muchneeded — nearly two weeks off between the end of the SEC Tournament and the start of the NCAA Women’s Tournament. Resting up, healing up and counting the hours until the NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed sometime after 7 p.m. Sunday The LSU men (14-17, 3-15 SEC)
have no hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament other than to go on a Cinderella five-game run through the SEC tourney and win its automatic bid. You are probably more likely to find gold or crude oil under your front lawn. Still, the Tigers probably aren’t going to be done even if they’re
ä See RABALAIS, page 3C
BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer
Fans inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center chose to beat the traffic. They gradually vacated the basketball arena before the fivegame losing streak became official. The LSU men trailed by as many as 16 points with eight minutes left and only made six field goals in the second half of a 66-52 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday The Tigers ended the regular season 15th in the Southeastern Conference with a 14-17 overall record and a 3-15 conference record.
“Obviously, disappointed with where we’re at in the standings and where we finished in league play,” coach Matt McMahon said Saturday Disappointment won’t be the frame of mind it will enter the SEC Tournament with when it faces Mississippi State at 6 p.m Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee. The third-year coach described this time as a “reset.” Regular-season records are meaningless in a single-elimination tournament. Winning the next game is all that matters.
To survive the first round against the SEC’s 10th seed, the Tigers will need to forget the past and improve on their shortcomings. Mississippi State is a good team but not a juggernaut, possessing the 32nd best Net rating on KenPom. LSU also had a two-point halftime lead over the Bulldogs in the teams’ first matchup on March 1. The Tigers ended up losing that game 81-69. Josh Hubbard was most responsible for thwarting LSU the first time. The 5-foot-11 guard scored 30 points, including 20 in the second half, on 50% shooting. Limiting his production will be at the heart of the Tigers’ game plan. “We know Hubbard put on a show there in the second half. We’ll have to figure out a way to contain him better,” McMahon said. He also mentioned improved rebounding and management of fouls as important aspects. Both loom large, especially because the team may be without its best rebounder Corey Chest and thirdleading scorer Vyctorius Miller
STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
In Derek Carr’s restructured
STAFF FILE PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON AND HILARy SCHEINUK
LEFT PHOTO: LSU women’s coach Kim Mulkey gestures during a game against Mississippi State on Feb 2 at the PMAC. The Tigers will find out their first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night. RIGHT PHOTO: LSU men’s coach Matt McMahon confers on
sideline
against South Carolina in the PMAC. The Tigers open play in the SEC Tournament on Wednesday.
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Eagles send Gardner-Johnson to Texans
BY ARNIE STAPLETON AP pro football
The Philadelphia Eagles’ topranked defense is getting a major makeover a month after ending Patrick Mahomes’ bid to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a third consecutive Super Bowl title A day after defensive tackle Milton Williams and edge rusher Josh Sweat agreed to leave Philly via free agency, the Super Bowl champs agreed to send safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans for guard Kenyon Green and a swap of lateround draft picks, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Tuesday
Like free agent contracts, trades will become official with the start of the new league year on Wednesday Green, who was the 15th overall pick in the 2022 draft, started 23 games for Houston over two seasons. He didn’t play in 2023 because of a shoulder injury
The Texans also agreed to trade left tackle Laremy Tunsil to Washington on Monday. They have big holes up front on an offensive line that struggled to protect C.J. Stroud last season. On Monday when the league’s 52-hour legal tampering window opened, Williams agreed to a deal with New England worth $26 million annually and Sweat is heading to the Arizona Cardinals on a four-year, $76.4 million contract.
The terms of the deals are all according to people familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because teams generally don’t announce contract terms and the deals can’t be signed until Wednesday, the start of the new league year.
The Minnesota Vikings continued an aggressive reconstruction of the interior lines on Tuesday by agreeing to terms on contracts with former Washington defensive tackle Jonathan Allen (three years, $60 million) and former Indianapolis guard Will Fries (five years, $88 million), who followed center Ryan Kelly from the Colts to the Vikings.
Allen missed half of last season after tearing a pectoral muscle, but he returned for the final four games, including the playoffs as the Commanders reached the NFC championship game.
Because Allen was released last week for salary cap savings before the expiration of his previous contract, the Vikings were allowed to host the two-time Pro Bowl pick on a visit to team headquarters and announce the deal ahead of the signing period. With the addition of Fries and
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GEORGE WALKER IV Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J Gardner-Johnson holds a newspaper after the Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Feb 9 at the Caesars Superdome.
Kelly the Vikings have taken two big steps toward smoothing out the expected debut of quarterback J.J. McCarthy — after his rookie season was waylaid by a knee injury and Sam Darnold departed for Seattle
Fries will bring instant chemistry with Kelly, a four-time Pro Bowl pick over nine seasons with the Colts whose arrival might well mean the end of Garrett Bradbury’s six-year tenure as Minnesota’s starting center
The Vikings have had one of the best tackle tandems in the league with Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill, but interior pass protection has hurt them often. That was never more apparent than in their wild-card round loss to the Rams two months ago, when Darnold was sacked nine times.
QB moves
Challenging Anthony Richardson for the starting quarterback job in Indianapolis will be Daniel Jones, who agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard projected this sort of move was in the works when he told reporters at the NFL’s annu-
al scouting combine Indy would have an “open” competition for the job. “I think it’s good for the team, I think it’s good for Anthony,” Ballard said in late February “Look, we drafted Anthony high, knowing it was going to take some time, and we knew there was going to be some hiccups along the way.”
Jones, the No. 6 overall pick in 2019 by the Giants who went 2444-1 in New York with one playoff victory, will get a chance to prove he can still be a starter in the league.
He finished last season as a backup for the Vikings after the Giants released him.
Richardson was the fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft but has struggled with both injuries and accuracy in his first two NFL seasons. He’s just 8-7 as a starter and last season had the lowest completion rate, 47.7%, of any starting quarterback in the NFL. In two seasons, Richardson also has 11 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions.
Other deals
The Commanders agreed to sign safety Will Harris to a two-
year contract. Harris leaves New Orleans after one season to become the replacement for Jeremy Chinn in Washington.
The 49ers added some depth at safety a day after losing Talanoa Hufanga to Denver. San Francisco agreed to a one-year deal with former Atlanta second-round pick Richie Grant, who started 33 games for the Falcons but was mostly a backup and special teams player last season.
The Cowboys retained free agent DT Osa Odighizuwa (four years, $80 million) and shored up their thin interior defensive line by adding former Jets DT Solomon Thomas (two years, $8 million).
The Falcons’ first free agent addition is LB Divine Deablo (two years), who had 63 tackles in 14 games with the Raiders last season and 106 in 15 games in 2023.
The Chiefs have agreed to a two-year, $20 million contract with former Titans and Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton. His size, physicality and versatility will help to free up All-Pro CB Trent McDuffie.
Carolina released veteran running back Miles Sanders.
UL golfer Potgieter, LSU team win Classics event
Malan Potgieter made history Tuesday at the Louisiana Classics Golf Tournament. So did the LSU Tigers.
Potgieter became the first UL player in the 40-year history of the Classics to capture the individual title, winning a three-hole, suddendeath playoff with LSU’s Alfons Bondesson for medalist honors.
The Tigers snapped Texas A&M’s attempt at a four-peat, beating the three-time reigning champion Aggies by two strokes in a back-and-forth battle for the team title, breaking a streak of six straight near-misses in the Classics for the LSU squad.
Potgieter held a three-shot lead coming to the last hole, but he made a double bogey to allow Bondesson to catch him before winning in the playoff.
Chio wins SEC freshman gym honor for eighth time
Perhaps Kailin Chio will get an award for the most awards.
On Tuesday, the LSU gymnast received her eighth Southeastern Conference freshman of the week award this season and her sixth straight. It’s the most in SEC history, tying Florida’s Kayla DiCello in 2023.
Chio scored a 9.925 or better in all four events on Friday, leading LSU to a program-record team score in a 198.575-197.175 victory over Georgia. Chio won the allaround with a personal-best 39.800 and also shared first on vault (9.95) and floor (9.975). The Henderson, Nevada, native now has 19 titles this season, is ranked fifth nationally in the all-around and second on vault. LSU wraps up the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday at Auburn.
Woods ruptured Achilles tendon, out of Masters
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla Tiger
Woods had a less invasive surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon on Tuesday, which will keep him out of the Masters and leaves in question whether he can play in any other major championship the rest of the year
Woods posted the development on his social media accounts without saying how long he expected to be out or any other details except that the surgery went well. He said he had a minimally invasive Achilles tendon repair for a ruptured tendon that the doctor said went smoothly Such surgeries involve smaller incisions, and the recovery time is quicker But most recoveries take at least a month before someone can even put weight on their foot.
West Virginia coach bans team from TikTok dancing
ORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez wants his players to show up on time, work hard and play their best.
Also, don’t dance on TikTok.
“They’re going to be on it, so I’m not banning them from it,” he said Monday “I’m just banning them from dancing on it. It’s like, look, we try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing on TikTok ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.”
a reporter asked whether New Orleans asked Carr to take a pay cut. He also sidestepped a question about whether Carr wanted to be traded or was open to hitting free agency, instead focusing on how the Saints wanted him.
“We just talked about our, obviously, confidence in this situation and the ability for him to have success here,” Moore said There have been instances in which quarterbacks do their teams a legitimate favor Tom Brady, for years, took less than his market value to help the New England Patriots maintain their dynasty — though that is notably different from accepting an outright pay cut. Others, such as Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo’s Josh Allen, have locked in extensions that arguably don’t maximize their earning potential, but in those cases, they’re still often paid near (or at the top) of the market. But the NFL rarely sees quarterbacks ripping up their contracts to take noticeably less. The one rare recent exception was Aaron Rodgers in 2023 after he was traded to the New York Jets. Rodgers sacrificed a whopping $35 million on a reworked two-year $75 million deal. Rodgers’ old deal had $110 million in
guarantees, but that included a $107.6 million cap hit for 2024 upon being traded to New York from Green Bay, which was the driving factor for the deal to be redone. Other than that, quarterback pay cuts are few and far between. Jimmy Garoppolo lowered his $24.6 million non-guaranteed base salary in 2022 to stay with the San Francisco 49ers at a
guaranteed salary of $6.5 million plus incentives. Jameis Winston and Taylor Heinicke also reduced their salaries when opting to stay with the Saints and Falcons in 2023 and 2024, respectively The Falcons ended up trading Heinicke to the Los Angeles Chargers before the start of the 2024 season anyway In those cases, however, all three were facing backup roles and weren’t entrenched as starters like Carr Despite it all, Carr’s restructuring can help the Saints add in free agency as it frees up more than $30 million in cap room. The obvious trade-off to that is shifting that money around now makes Carr even more expensive in 2026 with a $69.2 million cap hit. That’s not impossible to move on from if need be but costly nonetheless. That’s a problem for another day But in the meantime, it’s easy to see why Carr taking a pay cut wasn’t a realistic option. No matter how obvious it is.
Rodriguez is beginning his second stint as Mountaineers coach He said he has talked to his players about emphasizing the individual rather than the team, and that banning TikTok dancing is something he can do to put the focus where it belongs.
Red Sox RHP Bello not ready for season opener
FORT MYERS Fla. Boston Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello won’t be ready for the start of the season, manager Alex Cora told reporters Tuesday Bello, the opening day starter last season, has been dealing with soreness in his shoulder this spring. The Red Sox have been taking a cautious approach with him. The 25-year-old was 14-8 last season with a 4.49 ERA. He had 153 strikeouts over 1621/3 innings. The pitcher from the Dominican Republic agreed to a $55 million, six-year contract last March after originally signing with the Red Sox in
ASSOCIATED FILE PHOTO By ADAM HUNGER
Saints quarterback Derek Carr avoids a tackle against the New york Giants on Dec. 8 in East Rutherford, N.J
RABALAIS
Continued from page 1C
Continued from page 1C
With six of the SEC’s seven ranked teams inside the top 15, the league never has been stronger An unprecedented 13 members are hoping to grab NCAA Tournament berths and two likely No. 1 seeds as well.
The SEC’s 16 teams will play 15 games over five days starting Wednesday with No. 9 seed Arkansas and coach John Calipari kicking it off against 16th-seeded South Carolina. Regular-season champion Auburn is looking to repeat as the tournament champion, but Alabama won the 2023 title and Tennessee took the trophy home in 2022.
Barnes makes clear he wants to see his fourthseeded Vols win after being one-and-done last year
“Right now there’s a lot of teams fighting for their lives to try and get to the NCAA Tournament,” Barnes said.
“We’re fighting to get better, and that’s what’s on our agenda that we have got to continue to grow And otherwise, right now we’ve got two games left if we don’t get better And so right now it’s up to us as a program to see how long of a run in terms of games that we want to make here.”
Auburn (27-4) won’t play until Friday along with Tennessee, No. 2 seed Florida and No. 3 seed Alabama. Auburn likely needs to repeat to be atop the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament after the Tigers’ overtime home loss to Alabama to wrap up the regular season. That’s just fine with coach Bruce Pearl.
“Winning championships are things you’re going to celebrate your whole life,” Pearl said. “That’s never going to get taken away from you. We’re in postseason now, and postseason is all about step-up.” Star big man Johni Broome agrees with his coach.
“We’re going to Nashville to win a tournament championship,” Broome said.
Florida also may have a grip on a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Alabama can make its own argument by beating No. 2 Florida in the semifinals.
The SEC’s newcomers get to see the party just steps
Continued from page 1C
because of injuries. What also could prolong the Tigers’ SEC Tournament run is the continued resurgence of Jordan Sears LSU’s margin of error is slim, but Sears is an X-factor who can widen it significantly after his second-best showing in conference play Against Texas A&M, he had 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting and only two turnovers. The fifth-year senior scored 16 of the team’s 32 first-half points. He was not as effective after halftime, partially because he rolled an ankle in the second 20 minutes. Either way, the 5-11 point
PRESS PHOTO By BUTCH DILL Alabama guard Labaron Philon reacts to fans after the Tide defeated Auburn in overtime on Saturday in Auburn, Ala. Third-seeded Alabama opens SEC Tournament play Friday
SEC TOURNAMENT GLANCE
At Bridgestone Arena Nashville, Tenn. First round Wednesday’s games Arkansas vs. South Carolina, noon Vanderbilt vs. Texas, 2:30 p.m. Mississippi St. vs. LSU, 6 p.m. Georgia vs. Oklahoma, 8:30 p.m. Second round Thursday’s games Ole Miss vs. Arkansas-South Carolina-winner, noon Texas A&M vs. Vanderbilt-Texaswinner, 2:30 p.m. Missouri vs. Mississippi St.-LSUwinner, 6 p.m.
from Nashville’s honkytonk district. Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington went from taking James Madison to the NCAA Tournament to the verge of ending the Commodores’ NCAA drought for a program that last went dancing in 2017. Calipari has been here many times but faces far different expectations in his first season at Arkansas. He’s trying to get the Razorbacks back to the NCAAs after missing out last year Mark Pope, his replacement at Kentucky (21-10), earned a first-round bye and the sixth seed, though expectations of a 32nd tournament title likely are tempered this time around for the Wildcats.
The pressure on Pope for another tournament title is eased by the season-ending injury to guard Jaxson Robinson. He had surgery to fix a wrist injury costing Kentucky one of its top scorers (13 points a game). Guard Kerr Kriisa has been out
guard was a steadying presence as leading scorer Cam Carter had seven points on a season-worst 2 of 12 from the field Sears was impressive at attacking mismatches after screens and getting uncontested layups against the Aggies, which have the seventh-best defensive rating in the country, according to KenPom.
He went 3 of 8 from the 3-point line and excelled at reaching the free-throw He made 6 of 7 attempts and contributed to Texas A&M having two players with four fouls. Sears has a knack for drawing shooting fouls above the 3-point line and getting three points that way as an 86.8% free-throw shooter His offensive juice along-
Kentucky vs. Georgia-Oklahomawinner, 8:30 p.m. Quarterfinals Friday’s games Auburn vs. TBD, noon Tennessee vs. TBD, 2:30 p.m. Florida vs. TBD, 6 p.m. Alabama vs. TBD, 8:30 p.m. Semifinals Saturday’s games TBD vs. TBD, noon TBD vs. TBD, 2:30 p.m. Championship Sunday’s game Semifinal winners, noon
since early December, but 6-foot-11 forward Andrew Carr played a season-high 34 minutes in a win at Missouri Texas has guard Chendall Weaver back after missing 13 games with an injured hip He played nearly five minutes in a regular seasonending loss to Oklahoma, but he is a key defender and rebounder
Arkansas has a chance to improve its tournament security against South Carolina, which went 2-16 in league play Oklahoma can breathe a little easier by beating Georgia on Wednesday night, and Texas likely needs more than one win to play its way into an NCAA Tournament slot.
LSU (14-17) and South Carolina (12-19) are the SEC’s only teams under .500 for the season. Their best hope of playing in the NCAA Tournament? Win five games in five days in this event’s first time around with a true double-bye giving the top four seeds two extra days off.
side Carter elevates LSU’s odds greatly. Two offensive weapons clicking at once rarely has happened this season and can alleviate the pressure put on the rest of the team, which has been offensively challenged. LSU is 121st in offensive rating on KenPom, which is 15 spots below the secondworst SEC team South Carolina. Carter performed well against the Bulldogs in the first meeting, totaling 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Some semblance of that along with Sears’ resurgence give LSU a chance for an extended stay in Nashville.
Email Toyloy Brown III at toyloy.brown@ theadvocate.com
one-and-done against State. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently projects a whopping 13 of 16 SEC teams to earn NCAA Tournament bids. With the SEC’s next two teams left out of the NCAA field guaranteed NIT berths, it would appear that 15th-seeded LSU is going to play someone next week. This isn’t quite the achievement the Tigers pulled off last year when they hosted and lost to North Texas in the first round of the NIT Personally, I don’t think a team with a losing overall record — unless it wins its conference tournament’s automatic bid deserves to get in the NCAA or NIT fields. But even in our current political environment, inclusion is not completely out of date. Assuming LSU gets in the NIT, it’s hard to imagine anything the Tigers do there will move the needle of LSU fandom much. Not with a No. 1-ranked LSU baseball team entering SEC play this weekend, the LSU women trying to put their puzzle pieces back together for a deep run, spring football, gymnastics, softball you get the gist. No, the eye is to the future of the program. By every indication, coach Matt McMahon will return in 2025-26, with what sources and reports say will be more roster-building financial support to field a more competitive program. How competitive is the question. LSU has more basketball tradition than Auburn, which will be a No. 1 regional seed and won the SEC regular-season title, but can LSU be what Auburn is now? LSU should start by accomplishing what its first-round SEC tourney opponent Mississippi State has done this year — 20 wins, projected to be a No. 8 NCAA seed — and see where it goes from there.
LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson takes a shot against Georgia on Feb 20 in the PMAC Johnson, who sat out the regularseason finale against Ole Miss and the SEC Tournament, is expected to be ready for the NCAA Tournament.
The LSU women have greater ambitions, of course, set in place by the fact that the Tigers won the NCAA championship in 2023 and reached the Elite Eight last season. LSU has gone into the postseason under Kim Mulkey under better circumstances. The Tigers are 28-5 but have dropped three of their past five games and four of the past seven, results affected by the shin injury to star guard Flau’jae Johnson that has kept her out of three straight games. Layered upon that is the foot injury that star forward Aneesah Morrow suffered in LSU’s SEC Tournament semifinal loss to Texas. We won’t know until Sunday, but that defeat may well have cost LSU a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The latest bracketology from ESPN and HerHoopStats.com have the Tigers as a No. 3 seed for the fourth straight season under Mulkey That isn’t a huge problem again, LSU won the whole thing as a 3 seed in 2023 and would get to host first- and second-round games — but it does put a No. 2 seed in your path to try to even get to the Elite Eight. Before worrying about any of that, the Tigers just
have to get right. Johnson sat out the regular-season finale against Ole Miss and the SEC Tournament but was hobbling before that, going 2 of 12 from the field with just six points at Alabama. LSU won’t play before March 21, and Mulkey has said confidently that will give Johnson and Morrow time to get ready That’s a must for LSU. The Tigers will be vulnerable even in a 3-14 NCAA matchup if any of its Big Three (also including Mikaylah Williams) is reduced to a spectator’s role. As for LSU’s chances of still being a 2 seed, never count out the NCAA selection committee doing the unexpected, but it seems unlikely The only likely hope is that the NCAA values LSU as a 2 seed over NC State, a team the Tigers drummed 82-65 back in November in The Bahamas. The Wolfpack (26-6) finished better than LSU, reaching the ACC Tournament final, but the Tigers have a significantly better NET ranking (10) to NC State’s 16. I’m probably thinking about this more than Mulkey is. I imagine if her Tigers are at full strength by next weekend, she’ll be ready to take her chances against anyone.
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
ASSOCIATED
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALAN yOUNGBLOOD
Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla pressures Florida guard Walter Clayton on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla. No. 8 Ole Miss opens SEC Tournament play in the second round on Thursday while No. 2 Florida starts play Friday in the quarterfinals.
Defense has been STM’s calling card this year
BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer
Winning 30 or more games in a season isn’t something new to the St. Thomas More boys basketball team
Under coach Danny Broussard’s guidance, the Cougars have accomplished that feat 18 times.
But it’s not about how many wins the Cougars have this year, it is about how they have gotten those wins.
And it’s no secret, the Cougars’ recipe for victory has been relying on a stifling defense that has shut down some of the best players in the state.
“It’s been no secret that our bread and butter this year has been our defense,” Broussard said. “It’s carried us to where we are. Thirty wins was a stretch I would have said at the beginning of the season A big stretch.” But anything is possible when you play defense like the Cougars (31-5), who will face John Curtis at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Division I select semifinals at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles, play defense
The Cougars set a school record by holding opposing teams to an average of 39.5 points per game, Broussard said.
“We shattered our old record,” Broussard said. “… Our defense has been really good.”
The Cougars’ defensive success isn’t a credit to one thing or person, Broussard said.
“Teams change year by year,”
Broussard said. “Elijah (Guidry) has been our best defensive guy for the last two years since his sophomore year Now, he’s a senior, so we knew he would be good defensively But the other four seniors have just bought into the defensive system.
Guidry, Bo Couvillon, Grayson Roy, John Luke Bourque and Trenton Potier have been stout defensively, consistently harassing opposing players when they have the basketball.
“On that starting five, we got some dogs,” Broussard said. “They just battle you. It’s in their DNA. They just don’t back down from anybody.
“They are just aggressive kids, and they don’t fear anything.”
Whether they are in man-to-man, 1-2-2 matchup, half-court trap or full-court press, Broussard and the Cougars have pushed all the right buttons.
“We use some of the pack line and just our old man-to-man jumping to the ball,” Broussard said.
“It’s kind of a hybrid man-to-man I would call it. It’s a little bit different, and it has really paid dividends for us. We’ve been able to stop guys from going to the basket and still not give up open 3s.
“I love mixing it up,” Broussard continued. “I don’t like anybody to get too comfortable. We love to mix up our defenses. I used to stay in the press too long. Now, we throw it out at certain times for two or three possessions. Even if we’re getting steals, we’ll get out of it and throw it back again. It’s STM basketball, kind of what we do.”
In addition to player buy-in, Broussard also credited assistant coach Ryan Welty for the Cougars’ defensive success
“I must give Ryan a lot of credit,” Broussard said. “Coach Welty was at UL for I think like nine years
SCOREBOARD
at UL-Monroe, n Xavier (OH) at LSU, n Xavier (LA) at UNO, n Nicholls at Tulane, n Wednesday’s games Nicholls vs.. Mississippi State, (Biloxi, Miss.), 5 p.m. Mississippi Valley State at Northwestern State, 6 p.m. McNeese State at UL-Lafayette, 6 p.m. Xavier (OH) at Southeastern, 6 p.m. Louisiana Tech at Oklahoma, 6:30 p.m. Jackson State at Tulane, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday’s games No games scheduled.
Friday’s games Northwestern State at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 6 p.m. UNO at Incarnate Word, 2 p.m. UL-Monroe at James Madison, 3 p.m
College softball
Tuesday’s games UL-Monroe 7 Grambling 0 Baylor at Northwestern St., n North Dakota State at Southeastern, n McNeese vs.. Minnesota, n UL at LSU, n 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.
RED SOX — Optioned RHP Hunter Dobbins to Worcester (IL). CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Optioned RHP Nick Nastrini, SS Colson Montgomery and RHP Owen White to Charlotte (IL). Reassigned 1B Tim Elko to minor league camp. HOUSTON ASTROS — Optioned LHP Colton Gordon and OF Kenedy Corona to minor league camp. Reassigned RHP Misael Tamarez to minor league camp.
MINNESOTA TWINS — Reassigned RHPs Ryan Jensen and Andrew Morris to minor league camp. Optioned C Diego Cartaya to St. Paul (IL). NEW YORK YANKEES — Optioned OF Everson Pereira to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (IL). Reassigned OF Spencer Jones to minor league camp. National League COLORADO ROCKIES — Optioned RF Yanquiel Fernandez and RHP Tanner Gordon to Albuquerque. Reassigned LHP Carson Palmquist to minor league camp. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS — Reassigned INF Sergio Alcantara, RHP Justin Garza, LHPs Antonio Jimenez and Helcris Olivarez and C Adrian Sugastey to minor league camp.
FOOTBALL National Football League ARIZONA CARDINALS — Agreed to terms with WR Zay Jones on a one-year contract. CAROLINA PANTHERS — Released RB Miles Sanders. MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Signed DT Jonathan Allen and G Will Fries to contracts. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Re-signed WR Dante Pettis to a one-year contract SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Released DL Leonard Floyd TENNESSEE TITANS — Agreed to terms with S Mike Brown on a contract extension. HOCKEY National Hockey League OTTAWA SENATORS — Recalled G Leevi Merilainen from Belleville (AHL). PITTSBURGH PENGUINS — Recalled D Sebastian Aho and LW Matt Nieto from WilkesBarre/Scranton (AHL).
under (former coach) Bob Marlin. Nick Cortese got an assistant principal job, so a spot opened up.
We are lucky to have Ryan. He’s bought into our system, and he has taken us to another level.”
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
St. Thomas More forward Elijah Guidry, left, shown bringing the ball up the floor against Huntington on Friday, has been a mainstay for the Cougars defensively over the past two seasons.
‘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. 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, lab-grown 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
BRINGING THE HEAT
BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer
Crawfish has come a long way since the days of backyard boils, serving up mudbugs captured that day from a nearby pond or field ditch — probably caught by a good buddy, a generous neighbor, or yourself.
You can do a lot in your personal boil pot. Creativity is welcome, whether that’s coming up with your own seasoning blend, or tossing in fun additions like citrus, root vegetables, smoked sausage and any other flavor that occurs to you. Experts agree that as long as you’re timing your boil correctly, and giving the crawfish enough time to soak up all that goodness, you’re in for a delicious night.
These days, however, people are more likely to pick up crawfish from a drive-thru or go out to a sea-
Take
In an industry that produces around 150 million pounds of crawfish (in a good year) and contributes more than $300 million to Louisiana’s economy annually consistency in volume is paramount And in a restaurant, considerations like space, speed and local norms come into play when it comes to little things like how your tray of crawfish gets seasoned.
‘Is the water seasoned?
food restaurant for their fix. And while commercial boil kitchens have plenty of tricks up their sleeve when it comes to unique seasonings and sides, there are additional logistics at play when it comes to serving thousands of pounds a night to hungry customers.
One of the first things customers tend to notice is whether their crawfish has been tossed in a seasoning blend before being served. In a traditional backyard boil, this step is often skipped due to the attention and time given over to letting the crawfish soak in seasoned water, which is typically used just once to boil a batch before getting tossed. This will ideally produce a tray of red, clean, shiny shells
See CRAWFISH, page 6C
STAFF FILE PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN
Platters of boiled crawfish, served with seasoning dusting the outside of the shells, are ready to eat at Jane’s Seafood and Chinese Restaurant in New Iberia.
A tray of boiled crawfish and shrimp waits to be served at Hawks Crawfish Restaurant in Rayne.
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE
STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA
BEST
Continued from page 5C
and fried sections of breast, which can be ordered on their own or with a generous side portion of fries or fried rice. Come hungry or plan for leftovers. If you can’t finish the plate, the tenders are wonderful chopped up and tossed in a salad.
— Joanna Brown, staff writer
Appetizers
n Bin 77 Bistro & Sidebar, 10111
Perkins Rowe, Suite 160, Baton Rouge
If you don’t already know Bin 77 hosts live music on the patio
Wednesday through Saturday
With the weather starting to get sunny and 70 degrees, my visit was the perfect chance to enjoy the spring weather
I decided to order appetizers for a meal to get a taste of various dishes. I started with the Brussels sprouts, which included sesame aioli, pickled sweet peppers, eel sauce and sesame seeds. The combination of flavors proved to be surprising with the eel sauce and sweet peppers.
Next, the baked brie was made with baked Danish brie, pomegranate arils, toasted pistachio, honey, rosemary and grilled St. Bruno Bread Co. sourdough. The dish was delectable, and I even topped a Brussels sprout with a dollop of brie. Chef’s kiss!
My favorite pick was the parmesan chive truffle fries. The shoestring-like fries were thin and perfect to have several of. Each one melted in my mouth
Continued from page 5C
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 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
with the taste of truffle, a hint of butter and salt.
— Lauren Cheramie, features coordinator
Turkey sandwich
n Rêve Coffee Lab BTR, 8211 Village Plaza Court, Baton Rouge Turkey, salami, white bread and a pesto aioli. Simple and satisfying. I was working remote at Rêve this week, and in addition to my favorite tea lattes, the Crimson Fog and Burrough’s Brew, I stayed long enough to get hungry I ordered a turkey sandwich. The turkey sandwich was on toasted white bread with turkey, salami and a thin spread of avocado. The sandwich came with a ramekin of house-made pesto aioli. I chose to dip my sandwich in the pesto aioli, but another person may spread it on the sandwich. For an accompanying drink, I ordered the Ruby Sipper iced tea, which was a refreshing, citrusy red tea. Rêve has an assortment of delicious baked goods every time I visit, and their made-to-order menu hits the spot while you work, study or chat — Joy Holden, Louisiana Inspired coordinator
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.
By The Associated Press
Today is Wednesday, March 12, the 71st day of 2025. There are 294 days left in the year
Today in history
On March 12, 1930, Mohandas Gandhi began his 24-day, 240-mile “Salt March” to the Indian village of Dandi (then called Navsari) as an act of non-violent civil disobedience to protest the salt tax levied by colonial Britain.
On this date:
In 1912, the Girl Scouts of the USA had its beginnings as Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Georgia, founded the first American troop of the Girl Guides.
In 1928, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles, California, failed, sending over 12 billion gallons of water into San Francisquito Canyon and killing over 400 people.
In 1933, President Franklin D.
CRAWFISH
Continued from page 5C
ready for peeling.
Many Acadiana-area crawfish restaurants will “dust,” “sprinkle” or “toss” the crustaceans with extra spice before serving, particularly for spicy or extra-spicy orders. And on social media sites and other online spaces where people are searching out the best local crawfish, one question seems to pop up over and over again: “Is the water seasoned, or do they just season the shells?”
It’s a question that Kennon Wilson says he gets often. Wilson is co-owner of Crawfish Acadiana near Maurice and while he doesn’t share his boil methods, he says that he has one response for people who ask: “The seasoning is not going to end up on your hand.”
“With so many places popping up, everyone has their way of boiling,” says Wilson. “When I was growing up in Rayne, there were two places I remember going to. I don’t know if the crawfish industry is exploding to where people are noticing and critiquing more, but it might be more of a stigma in Lafayette that places just dust and there’s not much flavor on the inside.”
Anthony Arceneaux is in his 43rd year of boiling crawfish at Hawk’s Restaurant, north of Rayne. The seasonal boil spot, one of the last to open each season when the crawfish yield is at its height, attracts a line of customers each night. If you like them hot, your tray will come tossed in extra spice — but Arceneaux says this is a solution to a space problem, not a question of short-cutting the seasoning.
“We use so much volume, we have to dust our crawfish,” says Arceneaux. “There’s regular seasoning in the water, but if you want them hot or extra hot, we add stuff to it afterwards Even jalapeño juice on top sometimes.”
“Things happen very quickly around here, and we don’t have enough space available to leave them soaking in a pot for 20 minutes,” he says. “It goes back to your time and preparation area. If you move a lot of crawfish you don’t have time to change out the water let it reheat it’s not feasible.”
Is ‘sprinkling’ a local rarity?
Scott Broussard, owner of Acadia Crawfish in Crowley, produces his own seasoning blend that he says is designed to “melt” and ab-
Roosevelt delivered the first of his “fireside chats,” a series of evening radio broadcasts to the American public.
In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria, as German troops crossed the border into the country In 1980, a Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.)
In 2003, Elizabeth Smart, the 15-year-old girl who vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. (Mitchell is serving a life sentence for kidnapping Smart; Barzee was released from prison in September 2018.)
In 2009, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty
sorb into the crawfish, instead of clumping up on the shell. He says that he soaks some, and sprinkles some, and that crawfish seasoning trends are informed as much by personal choice as they are by kitchen logistics.
“There’s no one way. I talk to hundreds of people, and everyone thinks they serve the best crawfish. That’s just how it is. The most efficient way is to sprinkle, if it’s done correctly But if you do it correctly, it’s difficult to tell if you dust, soak, or whatever,” he says. The correct way according to Broussard, is to start with the right kind of non-clumping seasoning. He prefers the sprinkling method, at least in a commercial kitchen, since none of the seasoning is wasted in the water that way Boiling in fresh water makes the crawfish easier to peel, he says, and sprinkling after gives “a little more kick and flavor.”
“I like to eat different tasting crawfish, and some of it is achieved by soaking, some by sprinkling,” said Broussard. “Efficiency-wise, sprinkling is the way to go. Taste, I like it both. We can season 1,000 pounds of crawfish with 50 pounds of seasoning with sprinkling, and to soak 1,000 pounds you’d need about 150 to 200 pounds of seasoning.”
Broussard’s nephew Brant Lamm co-owns two Crawfish Time locations in Lafayette, and he believes that most of the crawfish spots in the Lafayette area do season the outside of the shells, to the consternation of some. While Lamm declined to reveal Crawfish Time’s seasoning methods, he agrees with his uncle that both “soaking” and “sprinkling” are effective — but too often, crawfish eaters don’t understand the factors that inform the process.
“Maybe when you’re cooking one sack at the house you do things differently,” Lamm says. “Maybe
in New York to the largest Ponzi scheme in history having defrauded his clients of nearly $65 billion; he would later be sentenced to 150 years behind bars. (Madoff died in prison in April 2021.)
In 2021, the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd’s family over Floyd’s murder by police.
Today’s Birthdays: Politician and civil rights activist Andrew Young is 93. Actor Barbara Feldon is 92. Actor-singer Liza Minnelli is 79. Politician Mitt Romney is 78. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 77. Author Carl Hiaasen is 72. Actor Lesley Manville is 69. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 68. Actor Courtney B. Vance is 65. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., is 57. Actor Aaron Eckhart is 57. TV journalist Jake Tapper is 56.
some places don’t let the seasoning melt and people get a bad idea of it. But it seasons them just as good, if you’re doing it right.”
N.O. does it a little differently
It would appear that seasoning the shells is a bit of an Acadianaarea trend, likely driven by the mudbugs’ enormous popularity and commercial success in the heart of crawfish country But trends have boundaries, and this one is less prevalent in markets like New Orleans.
Chef James Clesi, of Clesi’s Seafood Restaurant & Catering in New Orleans, says that he has to travel west to see seasoning dusted on the outside of the shells. At his restaurant they serve about 2,000 pounds a day and have developed a system, using a series of 160-quart pots, to boil and soak two sacks of crawfish at a time. “I can speed it up or slow it down. With a lot of orders we increase the speed, and when things are starting to slow down we’re not cooking 10- to 12-pound sacks,” he says. “For a lot of people within the city, dusting on top is frowned upon. It’s not how we’re used to it. I’ve had it prepared that way, and it is delicious, but it’s not how I was taught.”
Clesi says that sprinkling practitioners will often dump the crawfish in an ice chest to dust it with the seasoning, which then steams and soaks through the membranes and shell. He says, “Sure, it tastes good. It’s just not how I’m comfortable doing it. I’d never seen anyone dust until I got into the biz, and started meeting people in the outer parishes who swear by it.”
According to Clesi, New Orleans crawfish eaters are also less accustomed to dip, which seafood restaurants in Acadiana prepare by the gallons. His restaurant never made crawfish dip, until they started to see waves of people asking for it — even ordering enough ketchup, mayo, Worcester and other ingredients to make their own when it wasn’t available. Dip now seems to have made its way to New Orleans — could sprinkling be far behind?
Clesi is a strong proponent of his soaking system, “but I only know what I know,” he says. “It’s all delicious stuff. It’s a Louisiana thing in general being ferociously loyal to the way you’re used to it. I don’t discount anyone experimenting with the styles they make crawfish. If it’s good, it’s good.”
Email Joanna Brown at joanna. brown@theadvocate.com.
STAFF PHOTO By JOy HOLDEN
Rêve turkey sandwich with pesto aioli
STAFF PHOTO By LAUREN CHERAMIE
Brussels sprouts, Parmesan chive truffle fries and baked brie at Bin 77
Bistro & Sidebar in Baton Rouge
STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
James Clesi stands next to live crawfish at his restaurant, Clesi’s Seafood
PIsCEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Take the plunge and participate in something challenging. Strive for positive change, and you will exceed your expectations. Trust your instincts.
ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will help you make the right choices. A give-and-take situation with people you can barter with will pay off. Use your intelligence, attributes and skills to get ahead.
tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Take care of domestic issues and update anything that's pending regarding your home, finances or health. A proactive approach will help you avoid penalties or maintenance expenses.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Offer your time and input but not your cash. Paying for someoneelse'smistakewillleadtosticky situations. Prepare, upgrade and move forward fearlessly.
CAnCER (June 21-July 22) A high-energy attitude and a bold presentation will outshine anyone trying to undermine you Trust and believe in your ability, and the people you want to impress will follow suit. Look out for your health and financial security.
LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) A learning experience will turn into something tangible. Get involved in something you feel passionate about, and you'll feel the excitement of making a difference.
VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) The process of looking back will help you make better
choicesmovingforwardandgiveyouthe couragetomakeyourdreamscometrue Don'tsitidlybywhenyoushouldbemaking things happen. Embrace change.
LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) It'stimetobroaden your outlook, circle of friends or qualifications. The less time you spend worrying and fretting, the better it will be for you. Focus on the present and the future, and let the past go.
sCoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Attitude is everything when you want to make a pointorgetotherstojoinyourteam.Plan a trip that encourages a healthy lifestyle and long-term plans, and you will ensure personal growth and happiness.
sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Bypass negativity and people trying to manipulate you. Don't engage in indulgent behavior or promote uncertainty. Look for opportunities to have some fun.
CAPRICoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take nothing for granted; oversee whatever you want done to your expectations, and you won't be disappointed. High energy, insight and experience will put you in your own league.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Putyourtalents to work. An opportunity to bring in extra cashispossibleifyouarewillingtoputin the time and effort. Get to work!
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.
toDAy's CLuE: o EQuALs B
CeLebrItY CIpher
better or For WorSe
SALLY Forth
beetLe bAILeY
Mother GooSe And GrIMM SherMAn’S 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
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Hi and LoiS CurTiS
Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer
By PHILLIP ALDER
Bridge is full of suit combinations that can be played in different ways, dependingonthenumberoftricksneededorthe circumstances in a particular deal. Taken in isolation, how should South handle today’s heart suit for either five tricks or four? And in the full deal, how should South play in six hearts after West leads the diamond queen?
In the auction, North’s three-heart rebid was game-forcing. South’s three spades was a control-bid (cue-bid) indicating a maximum, the spade ace and slam interest if North had a sufficiently strong hand. Four clubs and four diamonds were also control-bids, showing the aces of those suits.
To play the heart suit without loss, declarer should cash dummy’s king before finessing his jack. If South can afford one loser, he should cash his ace, play low to dummy’s king, and lead back toward his jack. (This would be the right play in six hearts if West had led a spade, not a diamond.)
In this deal, though, if South loses an early trump trick, the opponents will cash two diamond winners. The best line of play is to take the heart king and ace immediately. Here, the queen drops and declarer can claim an overtrick. But if the queen remains elusive, South plays on clubs, hoping to discard both of his diamond losers. If hearts are 3-2, declarer needs the defender with the queen to have at least three clubs. If hearts are 4-1 without giving South two unavoidable
Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8
loCKhorNs
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Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
B.C.
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BRIEFS
North La.’s Fibrebond being sold to Eaton
Minden-based Fibrebond, a company nationally known for its electrical modules that power utilities, industry and data centers, is being sold.
The new owner will be Eaton Corporation, a multinational business whose corporate headquarters is in Dublin, but whose primary administrative duties are handled in Beachwood, Ohio.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Eaton Company, founded in 1911, has multiple U.S. facilities and services electrical, aerospace and vehicle industries — in 160 countries worldwide.
Fibrebond is undergoing a $150 million expansion at its Minden facility and that work will continue, according to the company After the sale closing, the Minden facility will remain open and the current leadership team will remain in place, according to Fibrebond’s news release.
Southwest: Checked bags no longer free
Southwest Airlines will begin charging customers a fee to check bags, abandoning a decadeslong practice that executives had described last fall as key to differentiating the budget carrier from its rivals.
Southwest, which built years of advertising campaigns around its policy of letting passengers check up to two bags for free, said Tuesday that people who haven’t either reached the upper tiers of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program, bought a business class ticket or hold the airline’s credit card will have to pay for checked bags.
The airline did not outline the fee schedule but said the new policy would start with flights booked on May 28.
Less than a year ago, the Dallas-based airline announced it was doing away with another tradition, the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years Southwest expects to begin operating flights with passengers in assigned seats next year
As recently as Southwest’s investor day in late September, airline executives described the bags-fly-free as the most important feature in setting Southwest apart from rivals. All other leading U.S. airlines charge for checked luggage, and Wall Street has long argued that Southwest was leaving money behind.
The airline estimated in September that charging bag fees would bring in about $1.5 billion a year but cost the airline $1.8 billion in lost business from customers who chose to fly Southwest because of its generous baggage allowance.
Nissan chief executive steps down
Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Corp.’s chief executive, Makoto Uchida, is stepping down after the company reported dismal financial results.
Nissan said in a statement Tuesday that Ivan Espinosa, the company’s chief planning officer, will take Uchida’s place, effective April 1. Nissan said the company leadership needed to be “renewed” to achieve long-term growth. Uchida, who remains as a director, expressed confidence in Espinosa as “a real car guy,” and stressed he was handing over the baton of leadership to better unify company ranks.
Speculation about Uchida’s future was rife after he called off talks last month with Japanese rival Honda Motor Co., announced late last year, to set up a joint holding company to integrate its businesses. At the time, he told reporters the focus of the talks had changed to making Nissan into a Honda subsidiary, which he denounced as unacceptable
BARREL OVER A
CHERRy
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JON
Victor yarbrough, CEO of Brough Brothers Distillery, walks through the under-construction facility in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday.
Bourbon makers face fallout as Ky. businesses contend with trade war
BY BRUCE SCHREINER and DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. With a new distillery set to open soon, the makers of Brough Brothers bourbon in Kentucky were ready to put their business plan into action. They were looking to ramp up whiskey production to break into lucrative new markets in Canada and Europe.
Now the on-again off-again threat of tariffs has disrupted those plans.
Efforts by the Black-owned distiller to gain a foothold in Canada are on hold, as are plans to break into Germany and France, said Brough Brothers Distillery CEO Victor Yarbrough. That’s because the iconic American spirit’s widening global appeal is caught in the crossfire of trade conflicts instigated by President Donald Trump.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Yarbrough, who started the Louisville distilling company with his
brothers, Bryson and Chris. “We are collateral damage.”
For distillers looking to sell to consumers of all political stripes, talking politics can be as distasteful as discussing Prohibition. But along with the turmoil and uncertainty over tariffs, bourbon makers and other U.S. firms trying to do business in Canada are confronting public relations challenges still reverberating from the president’s blunt-force “America First” approach to international relations.
With Canadian hockey fans booing the U.S. national anthem and some liquor stores north of the border clearing American spirits from their shelves even before there’s clarity over tariffs, businesses like Brough Brothers are watching to see how the trade conflict plays out.
In the building being converted into the new distillery near the Ohio River drywall dust covers the floor of the project that the brothers hope will raise the company’s
profile in the ultracompetitive bourbon world.
“I believe there’s going to be some type of repair of the relationships that needs to happen,” said Yarbrough, who was hoping, before the trade war erupted, to introduce his bourbon in New Brunswick and later expand to Ontario and other parts of Canada. “So I think some type of media blitz, PR blitz is definitely going to have to take place.”
The trade wars pose an immediate threat to an American-made success story, built on the growing worldwide taste for bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and other products.
Kentucky Democratic Gov Andy Beshear said the president’s zigzagging tariff policy is hurting the American economy and will lead to higher consumer prices while disrupting business.
“It’s not just the imposition of tariffs, it’s this month-to-month, ‘I may do it to you at any moment’ policy,” said Beshear, a potential presidential candidate in 2028. “You can’t create stability.”
Trump on Thursday postponed 25% tariffs on some imports from Canada for a month amid fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war Yarbrough said his company’s expansion plans are still in limbo.
President buys Tesla vehicle to support Musk
BY CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump shopped for a new Tesla on the White House driveway on Tuesday, selecting a shiny red sedan to show his support for Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company as it faces blowback because of his work to advance the president’s political agenda and downsize the federal government.
“Wow,” Trump said as he eased his way into the driver’s seat of a Model S. “That’s beautiful. Musk got in on the passenger side and joked about “giving the Secret Service a heart attack” as they talked about how to start a vehicle that can reach 60 miles per hour in a few
seconds
Trump told reporters that he would write a check for the car, which retails for roughly $80,000, and leave it at the White House so his staff can drive it. The president also said he hopes his purchase will boost Tesla which is struggling with sagging
sales and declining stock prices.
“It’s a great product,” he said. Referring to Musk, Trump said “we have to celebrate him.”
It was the latest and most unusual — example of how Trump has demonstrated loyalty to Musk, who spent heavily on his comeback campaign last year and has been a key figure in his second administration. Tesla’s stock price increased nearly 4% on Tuesday after dropping almost 48% since Trump took office in January
The Republican president announced on social media overnight that he was going to buy a new Tesla as “a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”
But if Trump’s intention is to help reverse the frightening plunge in Tesla’s stock he could have the opposite effect by turning off even more buyers.
“Tesla is becoming a political symbol of Trump and DOGE, and that is a bad thing for the brand,” said Wedbush Securities financial analyst Dan
Wall Street falls in manic day
Drop briefly totals more than 10% below its record
BY STAN CHOE AP
NEW YORK
The U.S. stock market fell further Tuesday following President Donald Trump’s latest escalation in his trade war, briefly pulling Wall Street 10% below its record set last month. And like it’s been most of the past few weeks, the market’s slide on Tuesday was erratic and dizzying. The S&P 500 fell, after careening between a modest gain and a tumble of 1.5%. At its bottom for the day, the index was more than 10% below its all-time high and on track for what Wall Street calls a “correction.”
Other indexes likewise swung sharply through the day The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite both ended the day down. Such head-spinning moves are becoming routine in what’s been a scary ride for investors as Trump tries to remake the country and world through tariffs and other policies. Stocks have been heaving mostly lower on uncertainty about how much pain Trump is willing for the economy to endure in order to get what he wants. And moves by Trump and comments by his White House on Tuesday didn’t clarify much.
Stocks began tumbling in the morning after Trump said he would double planned tariff increases on steel and aluminum coming from Canada. The president said it was a response to moves a Canadian province made after Trump began threatening tariffs on one of the United States’ most important trading partners.
Ives, referring to the advisory group in charge of cutting government spending. “You think it’s helping, but it’s actually hurting.”
Analysts have said Musk’s shift to right-wing politics doesn’t appear to sit well with potential Tesla buyers, generally perceived to be wealthy and progressive consumers.
Tesla sales are falling precipitously in California, the company’s biggest U.S. market, and the company recorded its first annual global sales decline last year Similarly, Tesla sales plunged 45% in Europe in January, according to research firm Jato Dynamics, even as overall electric vehicle sales rose The sales numbers were particularly bad in Germany and France.
The latest auto sales figure from China show that Tesla sales there have been nearly halved from February a year ago, although the decline is largely due increased competition from domestic EV companies.
But sales in the U.S. have fallen due to competition, and a country sharply divided about Trump.
Trump has acknowledged the economy could feel some “disturbance” because of the tariffs he’s pushing. Asked on Tuesday just how much pain Trump would be willing for the economy and stock market to take, right about when the market was nearing its lows for the day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to give an exact answer But she said earlier in a news briefing that “the president will look out for Wall Street and for Main Street.”
For his part, Trump said earlier on social media, “The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.”
Stocks pared their losses later in the day, even eliminating them all briefly after Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he had agreed to remove the surcharge on electricity that had enraged Trump so much. Ford said he was confident
