Nutrition legislation also targets school food, seed oils
BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer
Louisiana is preparing to join a national effort bubbling up to ban soft drink purchases under SNAP, the federal food assistance program for low-income residents, as part of a larger push to reshape food policy led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr Gov Jeff Landry announced on social media last week that the state will request a federal waiver to prohibit the use of SNAP benefits for soft drinks.
“Louisiana will lead the way in the MAHA movement,” Landry posted, referring to Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, the growing movement championed by Kennedy, head of the U.S. Depart-
“We’re constantly surrounded by poison. It’s why we’re by far and away the most unhealthy nation in the world and the most unhealthy state within that nation.”
STATE SEN. PATRICK MCMATH, R-Covington
ment of Health and Human Services, that focuses on personal choice and nutrition-based health reform over public health care programs.
The soda ban is part of a sweeping nutrition bill filed by state Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, who also introduced separate legislation this session to remove fluoride from Louisiana’s drinking water
Senate Bill 14 would also ban ultraprocessed ingredients in public schools, such as those in shelf-stable breads, Little Debbie snacks and sports drinks that contain certain dyes. It would also require physicians to complete continuing education on nutrition and metabolic health, and mandate that restaurants clearly disclose if they cook with seed oils such as canola, soybean or corn oil.
“We’re constantly surrounded by poison,” McMath said in an interview “It’s why we’re by far and away the most unhealthy nation in the world and the most unhealthy state within that nation.” Roughly 850,000 Louisiana residents about 20% of the state’s
ä See SODA, page 5A
Bill seeks to ensure ICE cooperation
Measure would make it a crime to interfere with federal agencies
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
As President Donald Trump pursues a shock-and-awe crackdown on illegal immigration, some Louisiana lawmakers want to “set the tone” that local law enforcement will cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, has filed legislation that would make it a crime for any public official to interfere with Immigra-
tion and Customs Enforcement or other federal immigration enforcement agencies. Those officials could be charged with malfeasance in office or even obstruction of justice.
“I can’t believe that we actually need a law that says that local officials have to cooperate with our federal law enforcement officials,” Morris said. “But apparently around the country it’s become somewhat of a trend in certain areas to say they are not gonna cooperate with the federal government. And I think that’s wrong.” Morris said he supports Trump’s handling of immigration: “He’s doing the right thing by deporting
criminals and people who are here illegally It’s not much more complicated than that.”
For the most part, state and local law enforcement agencies play a narrow role in immigration detention and deportation.
“Immigration law is federal administrative law,” explained Metairie immigration attorney Michael Gahagan. “It’s not criminal law where the judge issues a warrant and the sheriff’s deputy will go out and arrest them at their house based on this arrest warrant.”
Federal officers enforce federal laws, Gahagan said. Because of
ä See ICE, page 5A
Officials brace for loss of up to $86M
La. Health Department funding part of DOGE cuts
BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer
The Louisiana Department of Health, which runs the state’s Medicaid program and scores of initiatives aimed at improving public health, may lose tens of millions of dollars in funding due to federal program cuts initiated by the Trump administration through its Department of Government Efficiency
According to DOGE’s public “wall of receipts,” which billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading the cost-cutting endeavor, has posted in an effort to show how he is reshaping federal spending, Louisiana is expected to lose at least $128.5 million in federal funding overall through the efforts of DOGE, with the largest share attributed to the Health Department. DOGE’s savings estimates have not always proven reliable, however, and Health Department spokesperson Emma Herrock said internal projections suggest the losses will not exceed $86 million.
Prosecution in election case could be challenging
Parts of law previously ruled unconstitutional
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
In mid-March, Chun Ping “Eddie” Lau was arrested, accused of violating a state campaign ethics law that prohibits distributing knowingly false information in a campaign during a recent election.
Prosecuting Lau may be difficult, however, as the Louisiana Supreme Court has erred on the side of free speech in previous court cases dealing with the law, declaring parts of the law
See ARRESTED, page 6A
A team from the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement office plans a raid in 2022. A state senator is proposing to make it a crime for any public official to interfere with federal immigration enforcement agencies.
STAFF FILE PHOTO
MAX BECHERER
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
in Louisiana would ban soft drink purchases from the federal food assistance program for low-
Block on deportations under wartime law lifted
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a court order blocking the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants under an 18th century wartime law
In a bitterly divided 5-4 decision, the court said the migrants still must get a chance to challenge their deportation before they are taken out of the country and said the Trump administration must give them “reasonable time” to go to court.
But the conservative majority said the legal challenges must take place in Texas, instead of a Washington courtroom.
The justices acted on the administration’s emergency appeal after the federal appeals court in Washington left in place an order temporarily prohibiting deportations of the migrants accused of being gang members under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act.
The case has become a flashpoint amid escalating tension between the White House and the federal courts.
Myanmar’s earthquake death toll hits 3,600
BANGKOK Long-shot efforts to find survivors from Myanmar’s devastating March 28 earthquake were winding down Monday as rescue efforts were supplanted by increasing relief and recovery activity The death toll surpassed 3,600 and was still climbing.
A situation report issued late Monday by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than 17.2 million people are living in affected areas, and urgently need food, drinking water, health care, cash assistance and emergency shelter In the capital, Naypyitaw, people cleared debris and collected wood from their damaged houses under drizzling rain, and soldiers removed wreckage at some Buddhist monasteries.
Myanmar Fire Services Department said Monday that rescue teams had recovered 10 bodies from the rubble of a collapsed building in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city It said international rescuers from Singapore, Malaysia and India had returned to their countries after their work to find survivors was considered completed. The number of rescue teams operating in the residential areas of Naypyitaw has been steadily decreasing.
The 7.7-magnitude quake hit a wide swath of the country, causing significant damage to six regions and states. The earthquake left many areas without power telephone or cell connections and damaged roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess.
Ukraine mourns children killed in Russian strike
KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine — Anger and outrage gripped the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday as it held funerals for some of the 20 people, including nine children, killed by a Russian missile that tore through apartment buildings and blasted a playground
More than 70 were wounded in the attack last Friday evening on Kryvyi Rih The children were playing on swings and in a sandbox in a tree-lined park at the time. Bodies were strewn across the grass.
“We are not asking for pity,” Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city administration, wrote on Telegram as Kryvyi Rih mourned. “We demand the world’s outrage.”
The U.N. Human Rights Office in Ukraine said it was the deadliest single verified strike harming children since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. It was also one of the deadliest attacks so far this year
Ukraine has consented to a ceasefire proposed weeks ago by Washington. But Russia is still negotiating with the United States its terms for accepting a truce in the more than three-year war
U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the continued fighting, and Ukrainian officials want him to compel Putin to stop.
Trump threatens more tariffs on China
Global markets continue to shudder
BY CHRIS MEGERIAN and JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Undeterred by a panicked stock market,
President Donald Trump threatened additional tariffs on China on Monday, raising fresh concerns that his drive to rebalance the global economy could intensify a financially destructive trade war
Trump’s threat came after China said it would retaliate against U.S. tariffs he announced last week.
calmed the markets. The only improvement came from a false report that top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Trump was considering a pause on all tariffs except for China. Stock prices spiked before the White House denied it was true by calling the post “fake news.”
The Republican president has remained defiant despite fears that he could be pushing the U.S. toward a recession, insisting that his tariffs are necessary for rebuilding domestic manufacturing and resetting trade relationships with other countries.
ä Stocks have manic day before slump.
“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,”
Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”
The U.S. president has shown few signs of backing down on tariffs despite the mounting pressure in the financial markets. His commitment to tariffs could have devastating effects for the global economy, even though Trump is banking that it will ultimately pay off with manufacturing jobs.
Asked Monday if he would consider a pause on his widespread tariffs,
Trump said, “We’re not looking at that.” The U.S. president said he was open to negotiations “if we can make a really fair deal and a good deal for the United States.” Trump added that it’s possible to have both negotiated settlements with other countries and permanent tariffs.
Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would take its tariffs against U.S. goods to zero, Trump was noncommittal about removing the new import taxes placed on an ally
The White House also said Monday that Trump would veto a Senate bill that would mandate congressional approval for new tariffs, a bet that the critical mass of Republican lawmakers will loyally back him despite the economic and political risks.
If Trump implements his
new taxes on imports from China, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would reach a combined 104%. The new taxes would be on top of the 20% tariffs announced as punishment for fentanyl trafficking and his separate 34% tariffs announced last week Not only could that increase prices for American consumers, it could also give China an incentive to flood other countries with cheaper goods and seek deeper relationships with other trading partners.
The Chinese Embassy in the U.S on Monday responded to Trump’s latest tariff threat by saying his bluster would not help him resolve any trade disputes.
“We have stressed more than once that pressuring or threatening China is not a right way to engage with us,” said Liu Pengyu, the embassy spokesperson.
“China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”
After sell-offs on the prior two days of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday fell 0.9%. The S&P 500 slumped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.1%.
Tr ump fr equently bragged about stock market gains during his first term, and the threat of losses on Wall Street was viewed as a potential guardrail on risky economic policies in his second term. But that hasn’t been the case, and Trump has described days of financial pain as necessary
“I don’t mind going through it because I see a beautiful picture at the end,” he said.
Trump officials have frequently appeared on television to make the case for his policies, but none of their explanations have
But his aggressive push has scrambled U.S. economic policy Even though inflation remains elevated, Trump has called on the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark interest rates that were increased to constrain price increases.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Friday that the tariffs could increase inflation, and he said, “There’s a lot of waiting and seeing going on, including by us,” before any decisions would be made.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would focus on trade with other countries besides the United States, saying there are “vast opportunities” elsewhere. Trump said he spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to start trade negotiations He complained on Truth Social “they have treated the U.S. very poorly on Trade” and “they don’t take our cars, but we take MILLIONS of theirs.”
Swollen rivers flooding towns in the South
BY BRUCE SCHREINER and KRISTIN M. HALL
Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky Days of unrelenting downpours swelled rivers to near record levels across Kentucky on Monday, submerging neighborhoods and threatening a famed bourbon distillery in the state capital.
Inundated rivers posed the latest threat from persistent storms that have killed at least 23 people — 10 in Tennessee since last week as they doused the region with heavy rain and spawned destructive tornadoes. Though the storms have finally moved on, the flood danger likewise remains high in several other states, including parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Indiana. Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio. Floodwaters forced the closure of the historic Buffalo Trace Distillery,
close to the banks of the swollen Kentucky River near downtown Frankfort, Kentucky
Salon owner Jessica Tuggle watched Monday as murky brown water approached her Frankfort business. She and her friends had moved her salon gear — styling chairs, hair products and electronics up the hill to a nearby taproom.
“Everybody was just, ‘stop raining, stop raining,’ so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said.
Officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in Frankfort as the river crested just short of a record Monday More than 500 state roads across Kentucky were still closed Monday morning, Gov Andy Beshear said.
Ashley Welsh, her husband and four children — along with their pets — had to leave their Frankfort home along the river Saturday evening, abandoning a lifetime of belongings to the floodwaters. When she checked her
house’s cameras Sunday morning, the water had risen to the second floor
“My stuff was floating around in the living room. I was just heartbroken. Our life is up there,” Welsh said.
Twenty-three deaths have been reported since the storms began Wednesday Among the four confirmed killed in Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy in Kentucky was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus. A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said.
A 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm.
Kentucky State Police said Monday they recovered the body of a McCracken County man swept away by floodwaters Sunday while trying to retrieve his boat. And Beshear on Monday reported the flood-related death of a Trigg County man. The Arkansas Division of Emergency confirmed the death of a man found
Roberts halts deadline for return of mistakenly deported Md. man
BY MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON Chief Jus-
tice John Roberts agreed Monday to pause a midnight deadline for the Trump administration to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador The temporary order comes hours after a Justice Department emergency appeal to the Supreme Court arguing U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis overstepped her authority when she ordered Kilmar
Abrego Garcia returned to the United States. The administration has conceded that Abrego Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador because an immigration judge found he likely would face persecution by local gangs. But he is no longer in U.S. custody and the government has no way to get him back, the administration argued. Xinis gave the administration until just before midnight to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
“The district court’s injunction — which requires Abrego Garcia’s release from the custody of a foreign sovereign and return to the United States by midnight on Monday — is patently unlawful,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court papers, casting the order as one in “a deluge of unlawful injunctions” judges have issued to slow President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The Justice Department appeal was directed to Roberts because he handles appeals from Maryland.
by the Sherwood Fire Department in a submerged vehicle.
Two men sitting in a golf cart, a father and son were killed when a tree fell on them at a golf course in Columbus, Georgia, according to Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan.
The Kentucky River was cresting at Frankfort Lock at 48.27 feet on Monday
morning, just shy of the record of 48.5 feet set there on Dec. 10, 1978, according to CJ Padgett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Louisville, Kentucky, office. Beshear said more than 1,000 people had no access to water and nearly 3,000 were under boil water advisories. He said at least 20 water systems were affected.
theadvocate.newsbank.com
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MANUEL BALCE CENETA
President Donald Trump waves Sunday as he arrives on Marine One at the White House in Washington.
Israelistrikehitsnearcharity kitcheninGaza
Officialssay Palestinians were gathered at facility to getfood
BY WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip An Israeli strike on Monday hit next to acharity kitchen where Palestinianscrowded to receive cooked meals as food supplies dwindle under Israel’smonthlong blockade of the Gaza Strip, one of a string of attacks in the territory that killed more than 30 people, mostly women and children, hospital officials said.
Another strike hit amedia tent outside ahospital, killing two people, including a local reporter,and wounding sixother journalists,medics said. The Israeli military said the strike targeteda manwhomitidentified as a Hamas militant posing as a journalist.
Video footage showed people carrying the bodyof alittle girl, her face covered with blood, from the blast that witnesses said hit atent next to the charity kitchen
Trump: U.S. will hold talks with Iran
BY AAMER MADHANI, TIA GOLDENBERG and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump saidMonday the U.S. will hold direct talks with Iran about its nuclear program, while warning the Iranians they would be in “great danger” if the talks don’tsucceed in persuading them to abandon their nuclear weapons program. The president, in comments to reportersafter meeting with Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, said the talks will start Saturday.Heinsisted Tehran can’tget nuclear weapons “We’re dealing with them directly andmaybeadeal is goingtobemade,” Trump said. He added that “doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious.” Asked if he would commit to military action against Iran should his negotiators be unable to come to terms withTehran, Trump responded that “Iran is goingtobe in great danger,and Ihateto
outside the southern city of Khan Younis. Six other people were killed, including two women, and at least 10 people werewounded, hospital officialssaid.
Thestrike hitaround noon as the kitchen was distributing meals to displaced people living in tent camps. Samah AbuJamiesaidher nephew was among those killed and heryoung daughterwas wounded as they waited with theirpots to collect mealsfor their families.
“They were going to get food. Itoldher,‘Daughter don’tgo’,” she said. “These were children, and they had nothing with them but apot. Is apot aweapon?”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike Charitykitchens havebeen drawing bigger crowds of Palestinians becauseother sources of food are running out.More than amonth ago, Israelicut offall food, fuel, medicineand other supplies for Gaza’spopulation of more than 2million people, forcing aidgroups to ration their stocks.
The World Food Program has warned that its supplies to keep kitchens going could be depleted by next week. It had to stop distributing
Palestinians
boxes of foodstaplesdirectly to families last week, spokesperson Abeer Etefa said Monday. The bakeries it ranhavealsoshutdownfor lack of flour,ending amain source of bread for hundreds of thousands of people.
Sinceit endedits ceasefire with Hamas last month, Israel hascarried outbombardments across Gaza, killing hundreds of people,and ground forces have carved out new military zones. Israel
say it.”
“If the talks aren’tsuccessful, Ithink it’sgoing to be avery bad day forIran,” Trump said Iran’smission at theUnited Nations had no immediate comment Monday Trump recently sent aletter to Iran’s supremeleader calling for direct negotiationswiththe United States over its rapidlyadvancing nuclear program. But IranianPresident Masoud Pezeshkian said latelast monththatIranhad rejected Trump’sentreaty while leaving open the possibility of indirect negotiationswith Washington. But Trumphas consistently called on Iran,which is the chief sponsor of Hamasin Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthimilitants in Yemen, to abandonits nuclear program or face areckoning.
“If they don’tmakea deal, there will be bombing,” Trump told NBC News in late March. “It will be bombing the likes of which theyhave never seen before.”
Tehran’schief envoy to theU.N., Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, hascalled on members of theSecurity Councilina series of letters to condemn Trump’s threats of bombing Iran. Trumpduring hisfirst White House termwithdrew theU.S.fromthe landmark nuclear accordwith Iran negotiated by Democratic President BarackObama’s administration Netanyahu said he supports Trump’sdiplomatic efforts to reach asettlement with Iran, adding that Israel andthe U.S.share the same goal of ensuringthatIran does not develop anuclear weapon.
says it is pressuring Hamas to free its remaining hostages, disarm andleave the territory.Under theceasefire deal, it had agreed to negotiate for the hostages’ release.
The heads of six U.N. agencies operating in Gaza said in ajoint statement Monday that theblockade has left Gaza’spopulation “trapped, bombed and starvedagain.”
They said Israeli claims that enough suppliesentered during theceasefire “are
far from the reality on the ground, andcommoditiesare running extremely low.”
“Weare witnessing acts of war in Gaza thatshow an utter disregard for humanlife,” they said. “Protect civilians. Facilitate aid.
Releasehostages.Renew a ceasefire.”
The strike outside Nasser Hospital in KhanYounis about2 a.m. setthe media tent ablaze, killing Yousef al-Faqawi, areporter forthe
Palestine Todaynews website, and another man, according to hospital officials. The military said the strike targeted Hassan Eslaiah, claiming he wasa Hamas militant who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israelthat ignited the war.Eslaiah was amongsix journalists who were wounded in the strike, according to the hospital. Eslaiah had occasionally contributedimages to The Associated Press and other international media outlets as afreelance journalist including on Oct. 7. The AP has not worked with him for over ayear Astrike that hit astreet in Gaza Citykilledanemergency room doctor,the GazaHealth Ministry said. Israel’scampaign has killed more than1,000 health workers and at least 173 journalists, according to the U.N. andthe Committeeto Protect Journalists. Hospitals in KhanYounis and the central town of Deir al-Balahsaidtheyreceived thebodiesof33people, 19 of them women andchildren, from strikesovernight and into the day on Monday, including those from the kitchen and the media tent attack.
RFKJr. planstotellCDC to stop recommending fluoride
BY HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press
SALTLAKE CITY U.S. Health
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.onMonday said he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention soon to stop recommending fluoridation in communities nationwide. Kennedyalsosaid he’sassembling ataskforce to focus on the issue. Also on Monday,the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agencyannounced it is reviewing“new scientific information”onpotential health risks of fluoride in drinking water Kennedy toldThe Associated Pressofhis plans after anewsconferenceinSalt Lake City.
Utah last month became thefirst statetoban fluo-
ride in public drinking water, pushingpastopposition from dentists and national health organizations who warned the move would lead to medical problems that disproportionately affect low-income communities.
Republican Gov.Spencer Coxsigned legislation barring cities and communities from deciding whether to add the cavity-preventing mineral to their water systems. Water systems across the state must shut down theirfluoridation systems by May 7. Kennedy praised Utah foremerging as “the leader in making America healthy again.”Hewas flankedbyUtahlegislative leaders andthe sponsor of the state’sfluoride law “I’m very,veryproud of this state for being the first state to ban it,and Ihope
in water
many more will,” he said. EPAAdministrator Lee Zeldin, whoappeared with Kennedy at thenews conference, said his agency was launching arenewed examinationofscientific studies on the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water to help inform any changes to the national standards. “When this evaluationis completed,wewill have an updatedfoundationalscientific evaluation thatwill inform the agency’s future steps,”Zeldin said. “Secretary Kennedy has long been at the forefront of this issue.His advocacy was instrumental in our decision to reviewfluoride exposure risks and we are committed to working alongside him, utilizingsound scienceas we advance our missionof protecting human health and the environment.”
ByThe Associated Press
BALTIMORE An appeals court on Monday cleared the way for billionaire Elon Musk’sDepartment of Government Efficiency to once again access people’sprivate data at three federal agencies, awin for the Trump administration as the underlying lawsuit plays out. In asplit ruling, the threejudge panel blocked alower
court decision that halted DOGE accessatthe Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of PersonnelManagement. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued apreliminary injunction last month in federal courtin Baltimore,sayingthe government failed to adequately explain why DOGE needed the information to perform its job duties.
Led by the American Federation of Teachers, theplaintiffs allege the Trumpadministration violated federal privacylawswhenitgave DOGE accesstosystems withpersonal information on tens of millions of Americans without their consent, including people’sincome and asset information,Social Security numbers,
and
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByABDEL KAREEM HANA
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
President DonaldTrump, left, shakes handswith Israel’s PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu Mondayasheleaves theWest Wing of the White House in Washington.
“The total funding amount canceled should not exceed $86 million, but we will not have a final total until we receive and process all final invoices from contractors,” Herrock said in an email, adding that the department expects the total amount to be “much less” and more accurate projections are expected at the end of April.
The cuts come as the state department is navigating the Trump administration’s rapid-fire changes to federal funding and public health, and how it will affect the agency’s mission and programs.
The department is the state’s largest agency with an annual budget of around $20 billion. Nearly 90% of its overall funding is used to administer Louisiana’s Medicaid program, which insures low-income residents and children and provides support for the elderly and people with disabilities. The rest of its budget is mostly used to support public health initiatives
ICE
Continued from page 1A
that, ICE or other federal agencies take the lead on immigration enforcement operations, though sometimes they enlist the support of state or local police. In the course of their regular policing, however, state or local law enforcement may learn someone they have arrested is wanted by ICE. In that case, they can inform ICE and hold that suspect for up to 48 hours through what is known as an “immigration detainer.”
Just two Louisiana law enforcement agencies out of the many scattered throughout the state’s 64 parishes have formal agreements in place to assist ICE, according to data available on the agency’s website: the Kenner Police Department and the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office. Those arrangements are often referred to as “287(g) agreements” and are set up under section 287(g) of a federal law called the Immigration and Nationality Act
Both Kenner and Bossier Parish signed onto “jail enforcement model” agreements. These allow certain trained local officers to perform immigration enforcement duties inside the local jail after someone has been arrested and booked for another crime.
across the state.
Congress is considering deep cuts to Medicaid, which could deal a heavy blow to poor states like Louisiana. One in three Louisiana residents relies on the program, and House Republicans are looking at the possibility of slashing federal spending by $880 billion as part of efforts to offset the cost of extending President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. Democrats expect those cuts to fall heavily on federal Medicaid spending, though GOP leaders have said they aim to achieve cost savings through cutting waste rather than direct benefit reductions.
In addition to Medicaid, the Health Department oversees services like mental health care, nursing homes, vaccination programs and clean drinking water initiatives. It’s not clear how the cuts initiated by DOGE may impact those programs.
Department officials did not respond to questions about which programs or contracts may be affected.
During a March 25 budget hearing, department officials initially
said they expected a loss of $10 million based on “a series of emails that were slightly difficult to interpret” that they received the night before, according to Karen Stubbs, assistant secretary of the Office of Behavioral Health, who answered questions about the cuts during a state Senate Finance Committee meeting.
At that time, the cuts were predicted to mostly impact mental health and substance use programs. The DOGE cuts to Health Department programs and other Louisiana institutions are part of a broader push to trim federal spending. They do not include recent layoffs at the federal Department of Health and Human Services or freezes to other programs the Trump administration is evaluating, such as those administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s assistance programs for Louisiana farmers.
But through DOGE, the Trump administration has also identified cuts to contracts or programs at several other Louisiana entities.
According to the DOGE web-
site, the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry is set to lose $18.2 million, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette will lose $3 million, the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center will lose $550,000, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana will lose $258,655 and the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana will lose over $193,000.
The funding for UL was slated for the Grow Your Own program, which addresses teacher shortages and was expected to impact more than 69,000 students James Savage, UL spokesperson, said the university is appealing the decision. The Coushatta Tribe was using the now-canceled funds to support the local crawfish market during a difficult post-drought season in 2024. A second distribution planned for 2025 has now been called off.
“The cuts are hard to grasp,” Coushatta Tribe Secretary-Treasurer Kristian Poncho wrote in an email to federal officials.
At the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center Executive Director Ameca Reali said the organization
cies do work together
was owed $275,000 as part of the first payment of a three-year grant. A federal judge in Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order in late March, pausing the cuts, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has yet to confirm whether the funding will be restored.
“We are the only fair housing agency in Louisiana,” Reali said.
“When faced with housing discrimination, people in Louisiana may have no place to turn.” Programs at Tulane University — including its School of Medicine and Delta Regional Primate Center are listed as losing a combined $5.6 million. The university is appealing some of those cuts, spokesperson Michael Strecker said. The 26 funding cancellations, which run through different federal agencies, are dated between Feb. 10 and March 23.
Half of the 26 are attributed to the Louisiana Department of Health or the Office of Public Health, which is run by the department.
Staff writer Jeff Adelson contributed to this report.
Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley signed up in midMarch.
“Sweeps and checkpoints and things of that nature; that’s not even possible with the model we’re going into,” he explained Instead, the agreement applies only to people who have been arrested and taken into custody for another offense.
The agreement gives the Kenner Police Department access to federal databases to confirm an arrestee’s identity and the training and legal authority to interview those who are in police custody to determine if they are deportable.
Conley, who was elected to his post in 2022 and over the years held various roles in Jefferson Parish politics and law enforcement, leads the police force in a city where nearly 30% of the population is Hispanic.
Jefferson Parish, where Kenner is located, has the highest Hispanic population in Louisiana, according to U.S. census data.
“I know that the main knock on 287(g) is that the police department might lose trust of the Hispanic community,” he said. “I think it’s my job as the leader of this department and as an elected official to work on that trust.”
Without the agreement the police department had to rely on federal officials for
Those tasks include identifying and interviewing people to determine if they are subject to deportation, issuing detainers, serving ICE warrants, and preparing removal proceeding documents.
SODA
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population — receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
Nearly 390,000 of them are children
The program launched as food stamps in the 1930s and was formalized in the 1960s to reduce hunger and support farmers Today, low-income residents get a pre-loaded debit card to use at grocery and convenience stores and farmers markets
It is administered at the federal level by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and locally through the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.
While Louisiana has not yet submitted its waiver, the bill aligns the state with more than two dozen other states that have taken similar steps. Supporters argue that allowing sugary sodas to be purchased with taxpayer-funded benefits drives poor health outcomes and increases health care costs over time.
Soda and other sugary snacks have been a point of contention in the program for decades. In Louisiana, a previous attempt to restrict soda purchases through SNAP stalled last year The USDA has been reluctant to approve such waivers in the past because it’s hard to implement. Defining which beverages count as soda has proven difficult as beverage makers have moved to make healthier carbonated drinks, such as prebiotic sodas, car-
bonated water and energy drinks.
Anti-hunger groups have opposed earlier efforts, saying there’s limited evidence that such bans lead to better health outcomes. Banning sugary drinks is a “slippery slope” that opens the door to other banned foods, said Lindsay Hendrix, chief impact officer at Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana.
“It never feels good or dignified to have someone tell you what to do with how you’re feeding yourself or your family,” Hendrix said.
There is little research on whether removing soda from SNAP benefits makes people healthier, said Chen Zhen, a professor of food choice, obesity and health at the University of Georgia. Zhen said it’s possible that such restrictions could complicate access to food benefits or encourage them to reach for other less healthy choices.
“Would that restriction make the program so unfavorable that people stop enrolling?” said Zhen. “How will people substitute?”
But with growing support from national figures, the issue is gaining momentum. Last week, Kennedy told states to submit their waivers. While he does not have jurisdiction over SNAP, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has indicated support for the movement In response to Landry’s announcement, Kennedy said he plans to visit Louisiana soon.
“I’m coming to see you, Jeff You have been with MAHA from when it took
these tasks, something that historically has been “very time consuming,” Conley said.
Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington signed a jail enforcement model agreement on Feb. 27, but through a spokesperson declined to share additional information about the arrangement.
ICE did not respond to requests for comment about immigration enforcement arrests in Louisiana.
The latest regional ICE arrest statistics available on its website are from October They show that for the 2024 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, there were a total of 10,327 ICE arrests in the area that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
It is possible that other Louisiana agencies could sign similar agreements with ICE.
The Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office is “in active negotiations with ICE to fulfill key regional functions,” according to Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Valerie Ponseti.
“These agreements are in process, and it would be premature to disclose details,” she said in an email.
In the meantime, “we actively work with ICE to detain and remit prisoners that we receive in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center who do not have lawful status to be in the United States,” she said.
Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber ended the policy of a previous sheriff
pure courage!” he wrote on social media site X, formerly Twitter
Kennedy was a guest of Landry’s at a legislative hearing in 2021, when Landry opposed then-Gov John Bel Edwards’ proposal to add the COVID-19 vaccine to Louisiana’s school immunization schedule. During testimony, Kennedy falsely claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine “is the deadliest vaccine ever made.”
McMath acknowledged that his bill would take time and money to implement, especially for schools. But he said the market would adjust, pointing to other countries that have banned certain ingredients.
“They are huge adjustments,” said McMath. “But other countries have operated this way, and so it’s it is absolutely possible to do this.”
Hendrix noted that the school portion of the bill would be costly and “challenging” to roll out.
McMath said that part of his rationale for the bill is to pressure food companies to negotiate with the Trump administration and Kennedy, giving them leverage to push for ingredient changes in ultraprocessed foods. He said his bill was crafted with input from Calley Means a health care entrepreneur and adviser to Kennedy
“What you’ll end up with is a patchwork of laws and regulations that will force the food companies to the table,” McMath said.
Email Emily Woodruff at ewoodruff@theadvocate. com.
not to honor ICE detainers when he took office in 2016. He said that since then, his office has “worked with ICE seamlessly.”
Garber changed course after a 2014 decision by thenSheriff Mike Neustrom to honor only ICE detainers that were also supported by a judge’s order Neustrom at the time said the policy was an effort to avoid litigation after a federal judge found a county jail in Oregon liable for civil rights violations over an ICE detainer Offenders who don’t have legal status to be in the U.S. “are putting an unnecessary strain on an already strained criminal justice system and parish jail,” Garber said. “We look forward to cooperating with a reinvigorated Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to alleviate some of these pressures from our community.”
Louisiana State Police confirmed it does not work with ICE under any formal agreement, but didn’t share details as to how the agen-
“Louisiana State Police regularly collaborates with local, state, and federal partners in our shared mission of enforcing laws and ensuring safety in our communities,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
Likewise, Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said that, while there’s no formal agreement, if someone booked in Livingston Parish is identified as being wanted by ICE, the agency honors immigration detainers.
“We have always maintained an outstanding working relationship with our local ICE agents,” Ard said.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, through a spokesperson, said it doesn’t have any formal agreements in place with ICE nor has it been asked by the agency to participate in any immigration enforcement activity
In Orleans Parish, a consent decree has been in place since 2013 that limits how the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office can assist
ICE with immigration detainers or verifying citizenship status.
But a law passed last year banned illegal immigration sanctuary policies and is now the basis for an ongoing legal effort by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill to end the consent decree. In the meantime, the Sheriff’s Office in a statement said it “remains in full compliance with all applicable state laws and valid court orders related to ICE detainers.”
“Under current policy, which is mandated by the consent decree, OPSO honors ICE detainers in cases involving serious crimes such as murder, rape, and armed robbery,” the agency said. “Our office will continue to follow the law as directed by the courts while maintaining our commitment to public safety and constitutional policing.”
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the New Orleans Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on how those agencies collaborate with ICE.
ARRESTED
Continued from page1A
unconstitutional. Additionally,experts sayproving Lau knowingly spread misinformation is ahigh bar to cross. Thelaw,Louisiana Revised Statute 18:1463C(1), states, “No personshall causetobe distributed, or transmitted, any oral, visual, digital, or written material containing any sta tem en t whichheknows or should be reasonably expectedto knowmakes afalse statement about acandidate for election in aprimary or general electionorabout a proposition to be submitted to the voters.” Lau’sarrest came after BrachMyers defeated Jesse Regan for the state Senate District 23 seat. Myers filed acomplaint with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, saying someone wasdistributing information during the campaign that said he was endorsed by the Lady Democrats of Lafayette group, a group that no longer exists. Myerssaid his polling numbers droppedafter the allegationwas made.
One of the earliest cases involving the law was in 1987 when Paul Burgess and James Fitzgerald were charged with violating parts Band Cofthe statute when the Westbank Citizens for Better Government sent a letter suggesting that Burgess’ opponent, in an election for state representative, supported former Gov Edwin Edwards. The letter wassigned by Fitzgerald.
The state argued that false, scurrilous or irresponsible statements were not constitutionally protected unless the publication contained the names of the person who published it and that it was against the law to falsely allege that “any candidate or group of candi-
dates… are supported by or affiliated with another candidate,groupofcandidates, or otherperson, or political faction.”
In 1989, the court disagreed, arguing that the state had to prove thatBurgess hadknowledge that the information wasfalseand that the Legislature’sunderstanding of false information fell under protected speech.
The justices declared parts Band Cofthe law unconstitutional.Later,in1995, part C(3) of the law dealing with anonymous campaign literature was also deemed unconstitutional.
Policearrested Lau under asection of the law that hasremained largely unchanged since theBurgess case. The law was amended ayear beforeajudge made adecision in that case, and it hasn’tgone before acourt since.
The entire lawshould have been taken off the books after the 1989 decision, said William Davie, acommunicationslaw and ethics professor at the University of Louisiana atLafayette.He argued the courts would have ahard timefinding that Lau knowingly spread false information and thatmost of theseinstances would normally be handledincivil courts.
“Clearly,the Louisiana Supreme Court, at some point, thoughtthislaw wasfatally flawed. And the question is, is that irrelevant now?” Daviesaid Lau’scasealso opens up questions about who determineswhat is true and false, said Albert Samuels, a political science professor at Southern University,calling the law a“textbook violation of theFirst Amendment.”
He saidfalse statements are made throughout political campaigns andsuggested thedistrict attorney should drop thecharges against Lau. He questioned whether it’s thegovernment’s job to determine what is thetruth andwhether this could impact candidates’ability to speak freely
underthe idea that making afalse statementcould land them in jail.
“The free speech clause protects political speech,” Samuels said. “It doesn’t necessarily protect accurate speech or truthful speech; it protectsspeech. Some political ideas are wrong, betterthan others, not as well thought out. Some are incorrect, but in afree society, that’spart of the pricewe pay for this notion of free speech.
“Toapply criminal statutes to someone’sviewpoint, even if they areincorrect, even if they’re false, Ithink it put us in somevery dangerous territory.”
Myers didn’tdirectly commentonwhether he believed the lawtobeconstitutional but arguedthatelections should be protected from dishonest actors.
“There’sa difference between smearing and being flat-outdishonest,” he said “If you’re smearing someone, freedom of speech, ‘Brach Myers is notagood person. He’sabad person.’ If somebody says that, that’s theiropinion… When they knowingly saysomething andproducesomething that’sfalse, and they’ve created afalseorganization… that’snot smearing. That can impact something as sacred as our elections.”
Lau alsoworked as acampaign manager for Youngsville Police Chief Jean-Paul “JP” Broussard and is alleged to have been involved in similar tactics. In this instance, atext message was sent out questioning the political party affiliation of interimChief Cody Louviere, paid for by the Louisiana Republican Citizens’ Group, agroup that does not exist Broussard confirmed his campaign did hire RM Partners andthathehas spoken with Lau on several occasions. He added thatatno time did Lau suggestspreading false information. Staff writers MeganWyatt andClaireTaylor contributed tothis
ProjectaimstohelpGulfCoast
Researcherseye floodprep, response
BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer
The solution to helping Gulf Coast communities prepare for and respond to floods and other climate extremes isn’tgoingto be found in one disciplinealone That’swhy organizers said the $5.8 million, six university impact research projectled by the
University of LouisianaatLafayette is vital. Itsgoal is to bring together expertsfrom various fields who can bring solutions to communities in Louisiana,Mississippi and Alabama.
“Allofour communitiesacross the GulfCoaststrugglewith and need better science, better research, better toolsand data on how to handlethese emerging andcontinuously evolvingflood risks and hazards,” said Emad Habib, ahydrologist and director of theLouisiana Watershed
Flood Center and theInstitute for Coastal and Water Research. UL on Friday brought together more than 30 facultymembers, researchers andstudents from the university,LSU,Tulane University, Jackson State University in Mississippi, theUniversity of Alabama andTuskegee University Their backgrounds varied from hydrologists,engineers, climateexperts,historians, plannerstoeconomists with each person having adifferent per-
spective on flood risks and possible solutions. Participants said in an icebreaker activity that they were mostexcited aboutworking with other scientists, seeing others’ approaches to issues, experimentinginalow-pressure environment,modeling and simulations and publishingresearch papers. The project’scollaborators don’tjustinclude academics
See COAST, page 4B
HATTRICK
ABOVE: Women don fancy and colorful hats during theMad Hatter’sLuncheon and Style Show on Friday
RIGHT: Elaborate centerpieces adorn the tables at the Mad Hatter’sLuncheon and Style Show, which supported the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, heldat La Pavillon at Parc Lafayette.
Free access to mental health care offered
Programtoassist ruralresidents
BY STEPHENMARCANTEL Staff writer
The Southern UniversityAgricultural Center is aiming to bridge the gap between rural residentsand access to mental health care services througha telehealth program. The Rural Connectionsfor Rural Resilience program, in partnership with SoundMinds Counseling, is offering free telehealth servicesfor Louisiana residents living in small towns and rural communities. The program, which is open to adults,aimsto help bridge such hurdles in rural
communities as transportation, health care costs and internet access, which often act as abarrier to accessing care. Residents are offered eight sessions, said Jasmin Mathews, assistantspecialist forpublic health atSouthern’sAgCenter anddirector of theprogram,and can be conducted either through telephone or overthe internet. A mobile unit canprovide internet for residents if needed. So far,the program has proven successful,Mathews said,with50 people already signedupand 90% of those utilizingall their available sessions.
Rural Louisianans face are faced with multiple barrierstoaccess to mental health care services.
Adamslast of thePetroleum Club of Morgan City foundingmembers
BY ADAM DAIGLE Acadianabusiness editor
Byron A. “Red” Adams Sr., thelongtime owner of Oil&Gas Rental Services in Morgan City and veteran of the oil and gas industry,has died. He was 91. Adams, anativeofMarrero, spent mostofhis life engaged in various aspectsofthe oilindustry,including founding Oil &Gas RentalServices in 1967 and later Oil &Gas Marine Services. He retiredasboardchair in 2006. He was the last of thefounding members of the Petroleum Club of Morgan City,a private dinner club and event venue. It opened
JanRisher
LOUISIANA AT LARGE
Findingjoy in disc golf with people who love thegame
Last fall, at the Solomon Episcopal Conference Center on awomen’sretreat, Inoticed two young menplaying disc golf on the center’s18-hole course, situated around its lake and grounds. They were eager to tell me all about it and show me how to best throw the disc into the basket.
Andrew Meister and Kyle Granat’s enthusiasm for disc golf, paired with their kindness and willingness to share the game with acomplete stranger,touched me.They were not only game but excited for us to meet months later for afull round of disc golf.
Meister is alicensed practical nurse and lives in Ponchatoula. Granat is aphysical therapist who lives in Amite, but they are both practiced teachers as they teach a new person to play disc golf every couple of months.
“It’sextremely rewarding to teach someone about something you enjoy,” Granatsaid months later when we met again at the same spot. He describes disc golf as acommunity-driven“accessible sport that you can get into for avery low amount of money.Historically,there has been alot of support for people meeting new people.”
To play around at most places, the cost is free in some parks or around $5 to $10 in other,more tended courses.
That chilly afternoon of disc golf taught me plenty
First, disc golfing is not as easy as it looks.
Meister and Granat have developed skills. They play disc golf together nearly every weekand travel throughout the region and neighboring states to play tournaments. They’ve been friends as far back as both can remember,meeting when Meister was born and Granat was 1.
“Disc golf has brought us closer as friends because we do trust each other,” Granatsaid.
They often do well in the tournaments —most recently winning the 18th annual NewOrleans Doubles Championship in November
They also have all the gear,including hundreds of discs (which Igrew up calling Frisbees) and ahandydandy rolling cart.
For the uninitiated, disc golf works like regular golf —pars, birdies, bogeys and eagles. There are fairways, hazards and tees. The course at Solomon is well-designed and beautiful, offering avariety of terrain and challenges.
They shared with me dgcoursereview.com,aneasy-to-navigate website that lists courses, and they told me about an app call UDisc,another source of disc golf information.
Meister’sgirlfriend, Andee Poche, joined our disc golfing foursome. She cheered Meister on as he birdied five holes, parred eight holes and bogeyed five holes. He finished the round even at 57. Granat was two strokes behind him. They say they’re generally nip and tuck on their scoring.
withaceremony that included then Gov.John McKeithen and Lt.Gov.Taddy Aycock, anative of St. Mary Parish, with McKeithen cuttingthe ribbon, according to reports. That came after Adams, along with Stewart Daigle and Bill Thompson, scoured the local phone book to garner interest in building theclub, accordingtoits website.
Other foundingmembers were J.E. Kyle, Jimmy Grove, Lloyd Guillory,B.J. Courtney, Nathan Levy Jr., Milton Hamer, C.J. Cutrone, Charles Garber Ned Russo, Bill Bright,Herb Stire andKen Hidalgo, each of whom put up equalamountsto movethe project forward.
Keeping up with my score required more serious calculations. Itook nearly twice the number of throws that Meister and Granattook, 110. The next day,Icould barely lift my Yeti filled with sparkling water —myarm was so sore. Even so, Iget the attraction of the sport. The experience wassuch agreat reminder of the goodness of being outside and the kindness people have within them. These two young men went to great lengths to try to teach me avariety of techniques to help me do my best and enjoy the experience. Some instructions were technical. “Wheneveryou’re throwing, you don’twanttohave, uh, weargloves ’cause it’ll mess up the integrity or the grip of your disc,” Meister said. “And it might slip out early or it might slip out late, and it could be adisaster.”
PHOTOSByROBIN MAy
OPINION
OUR VIEWS
Congress should work to protectLa. farmers
Amid the furor over the Trump administration’stariff proposals that went into effect last week, other,more direct economicmoves received less attention butcould also have abig impact in Louisiana.
At the end of last month, the USDA frozepaymentsmadethrough the Environmental Quality Incentives Program andthe Conservation Steward Program, programs that assistedfarmerswho wanted to upgrade their operations by improving sustainability.Farmerscould use the money to improve theirwaterretentionand slow soil erosion, among other things.
The Trump administration stoppedall payments under the programs, ostensibly as away of ensuring that the money was not being used for DEI programs or otherinitiatives with which it disagrees. Administration officials havesaid they want to make sure themoney spent is actually helpingfarmers.
The programs may not have generatedalot of headlines, but they were popular:In2023, for instance, more than 3,700 Louisiana agriculture producers applied for grants underthe two programs,according to reporting by StephenMarcantel for this newspaper.Only afraction— 825 of those applications weresuccessful,but those provided more than $50 milliontolocalfarmsto make improvements.
Between 2025 and 2031,the programs were expected to send more than$360 milliontoLouisianaproducers.
Some farmers aroundthe country wereleft having already completed the upgradesand awaiting reimbursementsthatare nowuncertain Thosefreezes came on top of the suspension of other programs that providedfunding to local foodbanks and school systems to enable them to buy locally grown food fordistribution to the hungry or to students. Those programs sent about $1 billion per year to farms around the nation, includingmillionstoLouisiana food banks andschools.
And as of early December,the state hadspent about $3.4 million gettinglocally grown foodinto schools in the current fiscalyear
The program stops come as farmersinLouisiana and the United States arecontendingwith the cuts to the U.S. Agency forInternational Development, or USAID, whichpurchasedmillions of dollars’ worth of Americanfarm produce every year to send to othercountries as part of theUnitedStates’ goodwill programs Louisiana farmers havehad aroughcoupleof years. Heavy rains in 2022killedsomecrops, drought hammered manyothers the next year Low commodity prices and high costs for diesel andfertilizer have ramped up the uncertainty for many farmers. Ask farmers and they will tell youthatarobust domestic agricultural industry is necessary to make sure Americans are fed. It’salso akey element of national security Rapid and haphazard cuts to the programs that many producers have come torely on do nothing to improve either worthy aim. We urge our congressional delegation,especially its Republican leadership, to work diligently with the administration to make sure Louisiana farmersare able to keep harvesting.
Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com.
YOUR VIEWS
RFKJr. challenginganFDA system that needsfixing
Iamanindependent documentary filmmaker and alaw student at LSU. I have been heavily involved in regulatory matters with the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine and have seen firsthand how theFDA’s regulatoryframeworkoften favors industry interests over consumer safety and transparency Oneglaring issue is how FDA regulations are often developed under a private corporation’sumbrella rather than through public rule-making. When Ichallenged this practice, astate regulator in Indianaadmitted, “It’s just easier.” Worse, public regulators claim their private corporation “owns” these regulations and even copyrightsthem. The FDA-CVM refuses to provide them through FOIA or publish them in its public reading room, yet they are considered “Generally Recognized As Safe” and adopted intostate laws. When Ichallenged federal and state regulatorstostop makingregulations
in private, FDA responded by creating two internal processes that accomplish thesame thing. These processes allow regulations tobedeemed GRAS, making them exempt from meaningful review,especially public oversight. Why are stateand federal regulators so determined to operate in secrecy? Well, one example is the FDAopenly allowing pet food to contain “animals that have died other than by slaughter.” Years ago, aproduct labeled organic beef turned out to be euthanized horse meat tainted with pentobarbital. No one knew until animals eating the food died.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’schallenge to theFDA’s GRAS system is acrucial step toward fixing this broken process. The American public deserves aregulatory process that prioritizes transparency and safety over industry self-policing.
KOHL HARRINGTON Baton Rouge
Columnistwrong to brushaside past economic woes
Cal Thomas is Permian, preceding the dinosaurs in his “We’ve been here before withthe economy” column.
Some Boomers, like myself, remember how difficult it was starting out in 1974, even for acouple with college degrees. Thomas, as usual, only remembers the partsthat serve his narrative. Here’sthe economythat Richard Nixon inherited: In his first twoyearsinoffice, inflation hovered between 5.5% and 6.6% —modestbycomparison to what would follow in the mid-1970s,wheninflation moved into double digits, but still alarmingly high by recenthistoric standards. By late 1970, Nixon was eager to own theissue anddrive prices down. He andJohnConnally usheredinnew policies.Itworked for awhile.
In the winter of 1973, the costoffood rose an astounding 30%, creating ahike
If you’d never met Red Lerille, you’d expect tosee areally big man with muscles on top of muscles. Imet Red about eight years ago and was surprised he wasn’tahulking massof muscles. He looked like areally fit man of 80. The stories of his picture being the
in the Consumer PriceIndex larger than any sincethe KoreanWar.For ordinary Americans,the effects were devastating. The price of meat climbed by 75% in just threemonths. Jimmy Carter inherited Nixon’sstagflation: high inflation coupled with low growth. Ronald Reagan’spolicies —among them —wage suppression, continue to contribute to the ranks of the working poor.George H.W. Bush didn’tbelieve he could do much about asluggish economy, but he made sure taxpayers bailed out his son’s savings and loan.
I, for one, am sickofseeing Cal Thomas’deceptive and cruelopinions. My children and grandchildren face worse financial obstacles, thanks to people like him.
CLAIRE WEAVER Lafayette
window to his future are true. He told me that. To honor theman, his legacy and his accomplishments, I’dlike the city of Lafayette to consider renaming Doucet Road in his honor
DAVE HEBERT Lafayette
In response to the recent commentary defending the LNG export industry in Louisiana, it is critical to address this issue’s misinformation and one-sided portrayal. Advocates forthe industry are attacking people across the Gulf whoare focused on simply fighting forour right to clean air, clean water and asustainable future —just like anyone else would if you were threatened by massive, polluting LNGexport facilities. Lake Charles and the Gulf South residents deserve a fact-based discussion about the industry’sactual economic and environmental costs.
When you look at the facts, you’ll see that the costs of LNG exports aren’tworth it. Unchecked LNG exports are increasing financial burdens on American households and businesses rather than bringing widespread prosperity The commentary dismisses local activists as “paid” operatives, ignoring the genuine concerns of people living with the consequences of industrial expansion. Other community leaders and I are advocating fortransparency, accountability and aseat at the table forthose mostimpacted. We are fighting forour families and our communities. To ensure an open and fact-based dialogue, I plan to organize debates and town hall meetings with mayoral and city council candidates to speak directly about these issues. These public forumswill provide aplatform forcommunity members to voice their concerns, hear directly from policymakers, and engage in meaningful discussions about the future of Lake Charles.
Discrediting local activists and dismissing valid concerns does a disservice to the community.The people of Lake Charles deserve an honest conversation about the economic, health, and environmental implications of LNG expansion not industry propaganda designed to silence opposition. The fight for clean air,fair energy prices, and public health is not extremism; it is anecessity
At least, not if you wanttowin at the polls in Louisiana.
That’sone of the takeaways from the March 29 election, which most notably saw the stern defeat of four constitutional amendments that were heartily endorsed by Gov.Jeff Landry
There has been plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking about the reasons behind the amendments’ flaccid performance before voters who had previously seemed to be largely in lockstep with Landry andhis allies on this one.
That’sright, voters in the parish once proudly known as “St. Slammany” shut the door on more funding for criminaljustice at the same time that they were making sure library doors stayed open.
But beyond the amendments, votersinmany parishes faced dozens of other races andpropositions. Anda look at how they fared lendsitself to a fewquick conclusions.Caveatsgalore —these issues wereintensely local, turnout will change, etc., etc. —the results may teach us athingortwo about voters’ overallmood.
That brings me back to buildings filled with books.
Libraries flexedatthe polls on March 29,going 3-for-4inparishes spread across the state. Mostnotable was theresultinSt. Tammany,one ofthe parishes where controversies over book content have flared in recent years. There, the parish’straditionally conservative electorate approved the library’s4.35-mill, 15-year renewal in a comfortable 55-45win.
That win is evenmore impressive given what St. Tammany voters did on the same ballot. They rejected the rededication of a2%sales taxto allow thefunds to be spent to supportthe district attorney and the judges.
Elsewhere, library taxes in Ouachita andIberia parishes also passed. The lone loss came in West Baton Rouge, where voters rejected alibrary tax renewal alongwith everything else on their ballot
In other words, library voters aroundthe stateshouted rather than whispered: Hands off thelibrary’s money!
Thesecondtakeaway is that many Louisianans like backing the blue, but notwith their green. In two significant examples, voters rejected taxes that would have supportedtheirlocal sheriff’s office. The biggestofthosewas in Tangipahoa, where first-term Sheriff Gerald Sticker proposed repealing the current 11-mill property tax —which won’texpire until2031 —and replacing it withathreequarter centsales tax.
Thenew tax would have brought in significantly morethan thecurrent property tax: almost $25 million vs. $8 million —but Sticker argued thatitwas needed to upgrade deputypay,improve equipment and shorten response times
“We’vehad the same number of deputies on the street for the last 20 years,” hesaid. “The parish has grown by 30%.” Voters didn’tbuy it,and themeasure failed 53-47. He wasn’tthe only sheriff to taste defeat. In northern Louisiana, Jackson Parishvotersrejected atax from Sher-
iff Andy Brown, who sought to extend an existing 9.23-mill property tax for 10 years. With almost 25% voter turnout, 61% of the parish’svoters said no. It wasn’tall bad for sheriffs, though. VotersinSt. James Parish easily approved a12.5-mill tax renewal to support thesheriff’s office.
That brings me to my final lesson from March 29: Taxes need an expiration date.
Sticker’stax in Tangipahoa Parish may have been doomed in part because he sought to replace a10-year property millagewith aperpetual sales tax.Residents in some municipalities would be paying sales tax near 12% under the plan, and there was no mechanism for them to go back to thepolls in 10 years or so and reevaluate.
Sticker wasn’tthe only one who tried this move. Twofire districtsinCaddo Parishalso saw perpetual sales taxes fail at theballot box, even as votersin that parish approved 10-year school tax renewals. Butlike theother lessons, there was an exception: New Iberia voters approved aquarter-cent sales tax with no sunset Ithink it’s fair to say Louisianans don’tlike taxes, but they really hate them when they never end.
Sticker said he’slistening, but won’t give up. He plans to get back out in the community and meet with Tangipahoa residentstofind out what they will approve. He has no choice —his agency is “behind the 8-ball” and simply needs morerevenue.
He just shouldn’ttry to get it from thelibrary Faimon A. RobertsIII can be reached at froberts@theadvocate.com.
Lord, liberate us from President Donald Trump’s“Liberation Day,”as Trump has christened last Wednesday Trump has already “liberated”his country from theinconvenience of due process or expectationsofcivil rights. But his freedom crusade escalated April 2, when he also “liberated” America from affordable cars, astable economy andits closest allies.
Trump unleashed anew round of globaltrade wars. Days before announcing sweeping, once-in-a-century tariffs, even the White House apparently didn’tknow what they would cover.) Separately,hehas singled out worldwide automobile importsfor tariffs —first on finished vehicles and then on auto parts.
The auto tariffs alonecould becatastrophic. They willraisepricesfor consumers, to the tune of 13.5%(an average of $6,400 for each new car), the Yale Budget Lab estimates. Trump told NBC News that he was indifferent to —perhaps even rooting for —sharp hikes.
“I couldn’tcare less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars,” Trump said. “I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonnabuy American-made cars.”
It’sanodd political message from a guy who promised to lower thecost of living. And, if he thinks his tariffs will only raise prices of foreigncars, he’s dead wrong —for at least tworeasons.
First, many of the parts that go into “American-made” cars comefrom abroad (electrical components from Asia, engines from Germany,steel from Canada, steering wheels from Mexico, etc.). This means costswill rise for U.S. auto plants’ inputs. Some of those costs willbepassed alongto American consumers. Some might also be absorbed by automakers themselves, which could in turn mean less investment and fewer manufacturing jobs.
Second, when foreign product prices go up, domestic producers typically raise their prices, too. That’sbecause they face less competition(which is usually the explicit point of tariffs). For example, after Trump raised import taxes on foreign-madewashing machines in 2018, domestically produced washing machines got much more expensive as well New cars aren’tthe only productsexpected to grow more expensive if higher auto tariffs persist. Prices for used vehicles will likely rise, too. So will
auto insurance since it will cost more to repair or replace cars damaged in accidents. There’ssome evidence that auto loanscould also get costlier Trumpand his economic advisers crow that his tariff agenda will bring in eye-poppingamounts of revenue —upward of$6trillionover thenext decade,claims WhiteHouse aide Peter Navarro. This number seems impossible since it assumes consumers will continuespending as much as they do now (which they likely won’tonce confronted with higher prices).
But if it were correct, this would represent the largest tax hike on Americanssince World WarII. It would also be aregressive tax since lower-income households disproportionately bear tariff costs. In other words, poor peoplewill suffer mostfrom Trump’s supposed liberation agenda. Already, American consumers of all income classes (andpolitical persuasions) are souring on the Trump economy
The University of Michigan’slatest consumer sentiment survey data were ugly,and reflected rising risks of “stagflation,”asmycolleague Heather Long noted.Two-thirds of consumers expect unemployment to rise in the yearahead.That’sthe highest reading since 2009 (when, you may recall, the country was in the depths of aglobal
financial crisis)
This is despite thefact that Trumpinherited an economythat was the envy of the world. The United States outpaced its peers on growth and hiring, and appeared to be wrestling inflation under control. Now,Trump’seconomic policies are not only sabotagingthat progress; they’re dragging down the global economy, too. Butthere do appear to be somewinners.
Not long ago, China seemed on the verge of itsown economic self-destruction. The WhiteHouse’smistakes have since given thecountry asecond wind. Beijinghas begun recruiting disaffected and discarded American scientists, who have historically been theU.S. economy’sgolden goose. And, China announced aregional trade pact with South Korea and Japan, forged in responsetoTrump’stariffs.
In just over two months, Trumphas driven two of our most important economic and military allies intoChina’s arms. In fact, Sunday marked thetrio’s first economic dialogue in five years. Meanwhile, Europe and Canada are banding together against the United States as well.
This Trump-style “liberation” is gettingawfully expensive —and lonely Email Catherine Rampell at crampell@ washpost.com.
The White House Correspondents’ Association abruptly canceled the performance of comedian Amber Ruffin, originally scheduled for the organization’sApril 26 annual dinner.Oncea celebrity-filled pageant of Washington journalists and politicians, the dinner has struggled to find equilibrium and meaning since the first election of President Donald Trump in 2016. Trump, the target of years of overwhelmingly hostile coverage from many of the dinner’sattendees, has never attended the event as president and does not plan to go this year
Ruffin had promised to make the dinner a Trump-hating extravaganza. In an interview with CNN on Feb. 28, she said she did notwant Trump to attend. “No one wants that,” Ruffin said. “I don’tknow that anyone’slooking forward to being in the same room as him.”
Ruffin also said that whenshe talked to other show business types, they advised her, “You have to make fun of everybody.You can’tjust make fun of the people you disagreewith. You have to spread it out evenly.” Ruffin said she considered their words but decided “I’m notgoing to do that.”
That was OK with the WHCA, or at leastitwas OK with it in February.When the organization’s president, Eugene Daniels, who has recently becomeanMSNBC host, chose Ruffin for the job, he said her “unique talents are the ideal fit for this current political and cultural climate.” Ruffin was at the “top of my list,” Daniels said. Clearly something happened between Feb. 4, whenDaniels issued that statement, and March 29, when the WHCA announced thatRuffin would no longerperform.
Recently,Ruffin appeared on apodcast produced by the anti-Trump publication Daily Beast. She wasasked if she knows which, if any, Trump administration officials might attend the dinner.She said she did not really care, because she cared about more important things, like that the Trump administration is “kind of abunchof murderers.”
Taylor Budowich, asenior White House official, saw Ruffin’scomments and posteda response: “This year’sWhite House Correspondents’ Association dinner will be hostedbya second-rate comedian who is previewing the event by calling this administration ‘murderers’ who want to ‘feel like human beings, but they shouldn’tget to feel that way,because you’re not.’ What kind of responsible, sensible journalist would attend something like this? More importantly,what kind of company would sponsor such ahate-filled and violence-inspiring event?”
The next day,Daniels sent anote to WHCA members. Ruffin was out, and the dinneritself was being re-thought. “As afirst step, Iwanted to share that the WHCA board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring acomedic performance this year.Atthis consequential moment for journalism, Iwant to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists.”
The incident was obviously the latest in the dinner’s, and the media’s, very troubledrelationship with Trump. But more specifically,these particular events threatened many journalists’ cherished view that their reporting is fair
When Daniels first announced the Ruffin hire on Feb. 4, in addition to saying she was the “ideal fit,” he also said that her perspective “will fit right in with the dinner’stradition of honoring the freedom of the press while roasting the most powerful people on all sides of the aisle and the journalists who cover them.”
Then Ruffin camealong and said —publicly, definitively and on multiple occasions —that she would noteven pretend to be fair and balanced. With that, Ruffin took abig swing at the media’ssacred notion that it does its job fairly and without political bias. If the WHCA kept her on the program, it would be giving Trump one more data point for his very long andvery persuasive case that the media is biased against him. Better to cut her loose and hang on,however tenuously,tothe self-image of an impartial press. What will happen now? Well, at least the dinner won’thave acomedian, which, givensome performances in the past, might be agood thing. But the event will raise afundamentalquestion for the media: Why are we doing this? Long before Trump, there were critics who advocated ending the dinner,calling it an unseemly and borderline-appropriate Washington ritual. That was true —perhaps especially so —ata time whenjournalists mostly loved the president, like the Obama years. Then the dinner wasa train wreckfor the four years of Trump’sfirst administration. Nowitpromises to be more of the same. Why go through it?
Email York at byork@washingtonexaminer.com.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
President Donald Trumparrives on Air Force OneatMiami International Airporton Thursday.
Byron York
Catherine Rampell
Faimon Roberts
Judgerejects plan challenge
Mark Zuckerberg touted the Louisiana project in a Facebook postasa central component of thecompany’sAIexpansion.
BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer
ABaton Rouge judge has dismissedasecondchallenge to Entergy’splan to power Meta’s $10billion artificial intelligence data centerin northeast Louisiana, ruling that thetechgiant does not need to come to the table as a party in theproposalbefore state regulators.
Agroup of environmental and consumer nonprofits had argued that key information about job creation and sustainability wasabsent from Entergy’sproposal and could only be addressed if Meta joins the proceedings. But administrative law Judge Melanie Verzwyvelt sided with Entergy on Friday,arguing that there is not enough justification or legal precedent for Meta —and subsidiary company Laidley LLC —tojoin the process Whether Entergy’srequesttopowerthe data center with three new gas plants is in the public interest will have to be proven when state utility regulators at the PublicServiceCommission issue afinal ruling on the application. Verzwyvelt also wrote that the advocacy groupsstill had other avenues to try to obtaininformation from Meta, such as subpoenas or depositions.
“The commission has multiple regulatory remedies at its disposals,and since we believe that the commission has the tools necessary to take whateveractionit deems appropriate under the circumstances, Laidley and Meta are not necessary parties to this proceeding,” Verzwyvelt wrote in her decision.
Following aMarch hearing on the case, Logan Burke, the executive director of the Alliance forAffordableEnergy,which has intervened in the case, said the advocacy group would likelypursue depositions to unearthmore information.
‘Significant portion’
Entergy wants to build three gas-firedpower plants at acost of more than $3 billion to power Meta’s 4 million-square-foot Richland Parish data center project, which would be the company’slargest. In January,Meta founder and CEO
ADAMS
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Adams was later president and director of the Petroleum Club and was crownedking of the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in 1974.
“Red’svision turned a shared dreamintoalegacy of generosity andcommunity spirit, creating aspace where camaraderie has thrived,” the club saidina Facebook post. “Known for his kingly heart, he poured kindness into both the club and the community,uplifting countless lives with his boundless contributions andpersonalactsofcharity.Red Adams was atitan of generosity and afounding force behind the Petro-
“Topower this, Meta is building a2GW+ datacenter that is so large it would cover asignificant portion of Manhattan,”Zuckerberg wrote. The tech billionaire said it will bring aroundhalf of this expected generation online in 2025. The electricity demands Zuckerberg describes are steep —the amount to power around 2 million homes.
Alawyerrepresentingthe advocacy groups in aMarch hearing argued thatEntergy’sproposal lacks key information, includingan analysis supporting Meta’s claims that the data center will provide 300 to 500 jobs details ofthe techcompany’ssustainabilitycommitments and an explanationof its need for “urgent”power Skepticsofthe project are broadlyconcerned about a lack of public information —suchasthe actualcontract between Entergy and Meta —that ensures average ratepayerswillnot be forced to cover thecosts of the facility.
Partly for that reason, Ari Peskoe, thedirector of the electricity law initiative at HarvardLaw School,said the case is“possibly the worst deal for ratepayers in the country with regard to these datacenters.” Peskoe, who is not affiliated withthe case, questioned whether ratepayerswould ultimately be on the hook for some of the costs.
In itsfilings,Entergy states that Meta is payingfor thefullannualrevenueofthe generators for 15 years and that thetech company “will contribute alargepercentageofthe costs that would otherwise be borne by allof(Entergy’s)customers.” The lifeof onesuchplant canexceed 30 years, advocateshave noted.
During the hearing on whether Meta needed to join the case,Entergy stressed that the issue beforeregulators is notabout approving adata center,but approving electricity generation, said Skylar Rosenbloom, alawyer representing theutility Dana Shelton, alawyer for the Public Service Commission staff, argued that theadvocacy groups were using the case toadvance their campaign for renew-
leum Club of Morgan City.” In 1985, Adams was given the Citation forService Award bythe American PetroleumInstitute. The awardwas oneofonlyfive issued and was awarded to those whohad shown “exceptional energy to thelocal chapter,” according to reports.
His service in the industrybegan with ajob as contract labor foreman in 1952 and divisionmanager forArnoldPipe Rentals in 1958. He alsoserved in the U.S. Navy Adams was also named to leadership positions outsideofhis company, including his tenurein 1973 as president of theformer MorganCity-Berwick-Patterson ChamberofCommerce and president of the Central Catholic School
able energy sources. The groupshad filed aprevious unsuccessful motion arguing that Entergy didn’tshow that thethree fossil fuelpowered plants were the most cost-effective option.
“(The Alliancefor Affordable Energy) does seem to also want to advance clean energy technologiesand advancethose technologies over fossil fuel resources,” Shelton said to thejudge during the March hearing. “That is an agenda,your honor,that is not consistent with the majority of Louisiana’selectorate.”
‘Disincentive’
Theday beforethe judge’s ruling, Entergy CEO Phillip May submitted aletter to regulators stressing the significance of the “worldclassdata center” in Richland Parish, which has been touted as awin for alongstruggling area of the state. May saidthereisnorule or policy mandating its customerstojoin the application to regulators.
“In (Entergy’s) experience, such arequirement is unprecedented and would create adisincentive for new industry to select Louisiana as aplace to make investment,” May wrote.
Mayattached an April 2 letter from Meta supporting Entergy’sapplication and the benefits the company will bring to Louisiana.
In theletter signed by PaulKelly,the company representative said the datacenter will support500 operational jobsand up to 5,000 construction workers, adding that efforts would be made to hirelocally
Metaisalso promising $200 million in infrastructure improvements and says it is matching all data center electricity use with clean and renewable energy,the letter states.
“Because we are workingdiligentlytoconstruct the project forimmediate use,itisimportantthat (Entergy) received timely approval,”Kelly wrote. “Weare growing more and moreconfident that (Entergy)willultimatelyreceive the necessary approvals to keep our project on track.”
The letter also echoed Entergy’sarguments on the need for urgent power, saying that withoutcommitments on infrastructure “Meta would have been forced to select another location outside Louisiana for theproject.”
Board.
Services were held SaturdayatHolyCross Catholic Church in Morgan City, and the family welcomed guests later at ThePetroleumClub.
He is preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Yvonne, and is survivedby five sons, ByronJr.,Bruce, Burt,Brad and Ben; and eight grandchildren.
Other bits were about new techniques “I’m about to throw anew shot, aforehand roller,and Kyle is going to explain what that is,” Meister said. He went on to show me how to hold the disc vertically,and putitata certain angle and toss it onto the ground to make
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In general, the communities are bereft of providers withthe majority of those being located in urban areas.
This meansthat themediandrive time for rural Americansisabout 30 minutes toaccess aprovider Those withouttransportation are left with few to no optionsinterms of public transportation, Mathews said.
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It involves community partners and decisions makers,such as local governments and disaster response agencies,who can help informresearch andpractice howtoolsmight help them in actual scenarios.
Thosepartnerships are how“researchmeets practices,” said RameshKolluru, UL vice president of research, innovation and economic development.
“Theyare theones involvedinbuilding infrastructure,they are the
it roll forward, ideally toward the basket. He did it andthe move produced the exact results he had explained. Itriedthe same move. It did notgoasplanned.
My marginally successful results with the forehand rollerweremuchof my efforts with the whole of disc golf. In the giant open fairway where the two of themdid their balletdancestyle steps to releasethe disc,itwould fly
Nationally,Louisiana ranks eighth worse in terms of mental health care deserts, with around 30% of the state population considered to be in aprovider shortage area with two-thirds of all shortage areas in the country considered rural.
Anotherhurdleisaccess to high-speed internet
Nearly all Lafayette Parish residents have access to someform of internet speeds above25Mbps compared to only 75% of Acadia Parish residents.
In the state, 19%ofpeople have no access to the inter-
ones that areinvolvedin planning infrastructure, they are the ones that are involved in reacting to and recovering from disasters,” he said.
Bringing university and communitypartners together from three different states is importantbecause all of the participants and their Gulf Coastcommunities share the sameexperience: Water is both aresourceand avulnerability when it’snot well managed, Kolluru said.
“Managing the water and the watershed as aresource becomes extraordinarily vital,” he said. “It translates to our economy,
nearly the full length of a football field. Meanwhile, I would throwmyheart out, making asuccession of first downs. Evenstill, Ikeptmoving it down the field. Watching these two do their thing andtry their best to share their joy with me was incredibly wonderful. Overall, the experience left me with a lotofhope.
Email Jan Risheratjan. risher@theadvocate.com.
net. Thesebarriers, at least in part, lead to nearly 50% higher rates of suicide in rural communities, Mathewssaid. The program runs until June 30. To sign up for the Rural Connections for Resilienceprogramvisit suagcenter.com/form/1042.
StephenMarcantel writes forThe Acadiana Advocate as aReport for America corpsmember Email him at stephen. marcantel@theadvocate. com.
it translatestoour wayof life andittranslates to our community security.” Habib said theproject, funded by theNational Science Foundation’sEstablished Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, also will rely on input and engagement from the community “Wewalk into this project withavery humble attitude,” he said. “Wedon’t claim to know all the answers and we lookforward to (the public)informing our research.”
Email AshleyWhite at ashley.white@ theadvocate.com.
SPORTS
FULL SLATE
Five-gameweeks achallenge forbanged-up Cajuns
BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer
Comingoff afrustrating home series loss to Texas State, theULRagin’Cajuns are facing another five-gameweek
This latest challenge after a2-3 showing last week startsat6 p.m. Tu esd ay wit h Texas-Rio Grande Valley in town.The Cajuns then will travel to Louisiana Tech on Wednesday UL (16-18, 7-5) returnstoSun Belt play against UL-Monroe on Friday inMonroe.
“I love five-game weeks. Iwish we played everyday —just not with this group where we’re at right now.These longer weeks are revealing some flawsinus.”
MATT DEGGS.ULCOACH
“I love five-game weeks,”ULcoach
Matt Deggs said. “I wish we playedevery day —just not withthis group where we’re at right now.Theselonger weeks are revealing some flaws in us. “I think last year’steam could chew
them up andspitthemout,and Ithink a year from now we will chew them up and spit them out. Right now,though, it’sjust kind of where we’re at with whoyou can runout there with theinjuries. It makes it tough. You’ve got to be creative.”
The good news on thatfront is ace southpawrelieverDylan Theut (ankle) is scheduled to return Tuesday.His last appearance was March 11.
Deggs saidthe planistouse him after starterBlake McGehee,who threw two shutout innings in Wednesday’slossto Louisiana Tech last week. The hope is
UL softball to take aimatLa. Tech again
BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer
The obstacles for the UL softball team just keep coming. If it’snot leaving too many runners on base, it’sforfeitingleads late by allowing walks and home runs.
If it’snot spending the night in the airport without much assistance from the airlines after
ä UL at LouisianaTech, 6P.M.TUESDAy,ESPN+
aseries loss at Coastal Carolina, then it’sthe bus breaking down as it exits theballpark at Troy
Now it’sback to theroad again forthe Ragin’ Cajuns at 6p.m. Tuesday against Louisiana Tech at BillyBundrick Field in Ruston.
“I still think we leave alot on the table in the sense thatthere are games we should win or could have won that we didn’t,” UL coach Alyson Habetz said. “It comes down to littlethings that we need to takecare of and get better at.”
The Cajuns are19-19 overall and 5-7 in Sun Beltplay,while the Bulldogs are 23-15 overall and 10-5 in Conference USA.
Tech beat Jacksonville State in two of three games at homelast weekend while UL lost two of three at Troy
The two teams playedinLafayettelastWednesdaywithUL winning 3-0 behind Sam Ryan’s three-hit shutout. Ryan (4-4, 3.59 ERA) followed that up witha promising effort at Troy as well.
Masters memories canfill whole course
BY REED DARCEY Staff writer
The LSU women’sbasketball team missed out on one of the nation’stop recruits when shewas weighing offers in high school.
But Kim Mulkey and her staff landed her with asecond swing in the transfer portal.
On Monday,KateKoval —a 6-foot-5 forward and aformer top-five national recruit from the 2024 freshman class —announced that she had committed to the Tigers, becoming their first transfer addition of the2025 cycle. She spenther freshman season at Notre Dame, then entered thetransfer portal on April 1insearch of aplace where she couldplay her sophomore year “Having recruited (Koval) out of high school,” Mulkey said in a
statement, “we are very aligned in our vision for her personal development and theimpact she can have on our program. Tiger fans will love theskill, physicalityand passion that Katewill bring with her to Baton Rouge.”
Koval was the fifth-best recruit in thecountry,according to ESPN, before she began her collegiate career.The only two post players in herclass who were slotted above herinthose rankings wereUConn forward Sarah Strong and South Carolina forwardJoyce Edwards. Both played key roles on teamsthat reached this season’snational title game. Like both Strong and Edwards, Koval considered
Scott Rabalais
In 2016, Arnold Palmer attended his last Masters. Too frail to hit aceremonial tee shot, he sat in achair on the first tee as Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player teed off. Nicklaus had to wipe away atear.Hewasn’talone. Arnie died that September No. 2, Par5: Younever know what celebrity you’ll see at Augusta. In 2018, my son Nick got up the nerve to speak to actor John Hammalong the second fairway.Hamm’sfriendliness madeabig impression on us. All most people really want is foryou to be kind to them No. 3, Par4: Playing to the tiny third green is like trying to stop aball on your roof.Inthe final round in 2022, Scottie Scheffler missed short and leftand below the green but hit adart of apitch shot right in the hole for birdie. Cameron Smith —one stroke back, his ball about afoot away from Scheffler’spitch mark—hit about 20 feet long, madebogey,fell behind by three and finished five back of Scheffler No. 4, Par3: Another spot foracelebrity sighting: Joe Montana by the tee here acouple of years ago on a motorized scooter,I suppose after a recent surgery.How he navigated the hills and tree roots to get there, I’ll never know No. 5, Par4: Before they added 40 yards to No.5in2019, the tee was right behind the fourth green. In 2014, Adam Scott wasabout to drive on 5when Rory McIlroy’stee shot on 4airmailed the green, nearly coldcocked Scott and dove into ahuge bush. Maybe that’swhy they made No. 5longer No. 6, Par3: Aforecaddie was about to dumpFreddie Couples’ divot into atrash can next to the tee when apatron asked whether he could have it. The man immediately marched off, cradling the divot like ababy bird. I wonder whether he points to atiny patch in his yard and tells people, “You see that grass there? That’s from Augusta.” No. 7, Par4: Another Palmer memory. Arnie’slast Masters was 2004. As I was walking past the seventh green, a ball rattled out of atree. Word quickly spread: “It’sArnie’sball! It’s Arnie’sball!” Palmer asked foraruling because of amuddy ball. He marked the spot with atee, turning to the crowd saying, “That’saPennzoil, tee, folks.” The King of endorsements. No. 8, Par5: One year,Phil Mickelson was in contention and Igot awild idea to follow him all the wayaround and write acolumn on his charge. I gave up the chase here, gasping on this steeply uphill par-5. No. 9, Par4: When Tiger Woods was dating skier Lindsay Vonn, she came out to watch him putt on 9. Abunch of photographers were aimed down the nearby 18th, but when they saw Vonn in her big sun hat and huge knee brace, they whipped around their $10,000 lenses and began snapping shots of her.Practically ignored Tiger No. 10, Par4: This hole is famous for the place where in 2012 Bubba Watson hooked awedge from 164 yards about 50 yards around a100-foot tall magnolia onto the green to beat Louis Oosthuizen in aplayoff. Fans go
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By CHUCK BURTON California guard KaylaWilliams,
BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS
McMahon shakes up staff, hires a GM
BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer
The LSU men’s basketball program is bringing in some new leadership in the form of a former player with experience in an NBA front office.
The Tigers have hired Ronald Dupree, 44, to become the program’s first general manager
A six-year NBA veteran, Dupree previously had worked on the college level as an assistant coach at LSU and Nevada. Most recently, he has worked in the front office of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Since 2021, Dupree has served as the director of global scouting for the Bucks. He had worked as a scout for the organization prior to his promotion.
A Biloxi, Mississippi, native, Dupree averaged 13.4 points 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game with the Tigers from 1999-2003 under coach John Brady He was an All-SEC second-team member in both his junior and senior seasons. As a sophomore, he led the SEC in scoring by averaging 17.3 points per game and was second in rebounding with 8.8 rebounds per night. He ended his college career eighth all-time on LSU’s career scoring and sixth in total rebounds.
Dupree’s six years in the NBA were split among the Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Seattle SuperSonics and Toronto Raptors. He ended his playing career with the Hapoel Jerusalem team of the Israeli Basketball Super League
Georgia in 2014 and at Alabama in 2017. Last offseason, he helped Indiana bring in the second-ranked transfer portal class, according to 247Sports.
One of those commitments was Oumar Ballo who was a twotime all-conference player at Arizona before averaging 13.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks for the Hoosiers, where he was a Big Ten honorable mention.
Rosemond, 47, helped Indiana improve by nine wins in his first season and become the toprated defense in the Big Ten, according to KenPom (22nd nationally). That season in 202122, he coached All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis, who is on the Golden State Warriors after being drafted 57th overall two seasons ago.
Other NBA players he coached at Indiana were Kel’el Ware, the 15th pick for the Miami Heat last season, and the Philadelphia 76ers’ Jalen Hood-Schifino, who was the Los Angeles Lakers’ 17th pick in 2023.
Blue Jays, 1B Guerrero agree to $500M contract
Vladimir Guerrero Jr and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a $500 million, 14-year contract that starts in 2026, a deal that removes what would have been the biggest star from next offseason’s freeagent market. Guerrero’s deal does not include any deferred money Guerrero gets the third-largest contract in total dollars behind outfielder Juan Soto’s $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets that started this season, and two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million, 10-year agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers that began last year and is heavily deferred. Guerrero is a .277 career hitter with 160 homers and 511 RBIs. He’s batting .256 with no homers and four RBIs in the first 10 games this season.
Cardinals put red-hot catcher Herrera on IL
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Iván Herrera was placed on the 10-day injured list on Monday because of a bone bruise in his left knee. Pedro Pages is expected to get the bulk of the action behind the plate with Herrera out. Catcher Yohel Pozo was brought up from Triple-A Memphis, and he was in the starting lineup for the Cardinals’ game at Pittsburgh on Monday
The 24-year-old Herrera got hurt Sunday in the opener of a doubleheader at Boston. He is expected to be sidelined for four weeks. Herrera was off to a hot start in his first season as a full-time starter batting 381 with four homers and 11 RBIs in seven games.
The LSU men’s basketball program has made an addition to head coach Matt McMahon’s coaching staff.
Indiana basketball associate head coach Yasir Rosemond is the newest assistant coach at LSU. He spent the last four seasons with the Hoosiers and has about 20 years of collegiate coaching experience.
“I am really excited to welcome
Yasir Rosemond to our coaching staff,” McMahon said in a release. “He is a talented coach, proven developer of players, and a terrific recruiter Yasir has recruited and coached multiple NBA players throughout his successful career.” LSU assistant coaches Tim Kaine and Ronrico White who both were with McMahon at Murray State, will not remain on the coaching staff for the 2025-26 season. Rosemond was an assistant in the Southeastern Conference at
During the 2023-24 season, Indiana attracted five-star freshman Mackenzie Mgbako, who was the coBig Ten Freshman of the Year Rosemond’s first college job was in 2003 at Redlands Community College in Oklahoma, where his team reached the national junior college championship game. He became an assistant coach at his alma mater, Oregon, in 2007 and in his time coached three NBA draft picks — Aaron Brooks, and Malik and Maarty Leunen Rosemond’s coaching stops also include Seattle University and Samford.
LSU gym learns path in NCAA championships
BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer
The LSU gymnastics team will be a prime-time player in next week’s NCAA championships semifinals.
The No. 1-seeded Tigers will be in the evening session starting at 8 p.m. April 17 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, along with No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA and No. 8 Michigan State.
The other semifinal will be an allSoutheastern Conference affair at 3:30 p.m. with No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No 7 Missouri and No 11 Alabama.
Both semifinals will be on ESPN2. The top two teams from each session advance to the national championship meet at 3 p.m. April 19 on ABC.
Two teams from each of four regionals advanced to the eightteam championship round. LSU and Michigan State were the survivors from last week’s regional at Penn State.
The Tigers, coming off their first-ever NCAA championship
NCAA championships at Fort Worth, Texas April 17 Session I, 3:30 p.m. Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma Session II, 8 p.m. LSU, Michigan State, UCLA, Utah April 19 National championship final (top two from each session advance)
in 2024, qualified for nationals for the 34th time in program history, going 198.100 to win their regional semifinal and 198.050 to win the final. Michigan State (198.000) advanced for the first time since 1988.
Though a traditional power, Alabama is the only team at nationals to qualify as a surprise.
The Crimson Tide posted a season-high 197.675 in a regional at Tuscaloosa to finish just behind Florida (197.700) and just ahead of California (197.575), last year’s runner-up to LSU.
Oklahoma won a regional in Seattle, advancing with Missouri on a score of 198.450, the highest of the regional round (Missouri was at 197.425). The Sooners are seeking to atone for their surprising flameout in last year’s national semifinals.
LSU gymnast Haleigh
makes her approach on the vault table during her attempt in the vault on February 28 at the Raising
River Center in Baton Rouge.
Utah won a regional on its home floor in Salt Lake City with a 197.825, advancing to nationals for the 49th time alongside UCLA (197.625).
The pedigrees of the teams in Fort Worth are strong. The only ones without a national championship banner are Missouri and Michigan State.
Dodgers southpaw Snell believes he’ll miss 2 weeks
Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell expects to be out for two weeks while he recovers from shoulder inflammation.
Snell, who agreed to a $182 million, five-year contract with Los Angeles in November, said the shoulder issue has been lingering for three weeks. The two-time Cy Young Award winner had an MRI that came back clean, and he was placed on the 10-day IL on Sunday “I thought I could pitch through it,” Snell said. “But when I got to Philly, played long toss, catch, tried to throw it, I just couldn’t. It’s inflammation.”
Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw had a bullpen session on Monday as he nurses a left toe injury
The three-time Cy Young Award winner hasn’t pitched since Aug. 30.
Commanders add former WR Welker to front office
Wes Welker is joining the Washington Commanders as a personnel analyst for the front office and coaching staff, according to a person familiar with the move. Welker, a two-time All-Pro wide receiver during his playing days, has coached for Houston, San Francisco and Miami since retiring from the NFL. He was an offensive assistant for the Texans in 2017-18, and coached receivers for the 49ers from 2019-21 and the Dolphins from 2022-24. The 43-year-old joins the Commanders after they acquired receiver Deebo Samuel from the Niners to pair him and Terry McLaurin as options for standout quarterback Jayden Daniels in his second pro season. Washington now has legitimate contending aspirations after surprisingly reaching the NFC championship game in Daniels’ rookie year
BY WILSON ALEXANDER
Staff writer
LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne objected to a potential landmark settlement in college sports raising her issues Monday during an approval hearing.
Dunne
Dunne — who has become one of the most well-known athletes in the name, image and likeness era — opposed the distribution of back-pay damages, which mostly would go to men. Reading a prepared speech over Zoom to Northern District of California judge Claudia Wilken, Dunne said female athletes, including herself, will not receive enough money in the House v. NCAA settlement to match their value. She cited her own back-pay
projection, saying it was significantly lower than her actual NIL earnings.
The proposed settlement of three federal antitrust lawsuits would offer $2.8 billion to athletes who could not earn NIL money before NCAA rules changed in 2021 Most of the damages (90%) would be given to former power-conference football and men’s basketball players because of the revenue generated by their sports. The settlement also would set up a new system that lets schools pay their athletes.
“This settlement uses old logic to calculate modern value,” Dunne said. “It takes a narrow snapshot of a still maturing market and freezes it ignoring the trajectory we were on.”
Dunne claimed she is “the highest-earning female athlete since the NIL rules changed,” though she did not specify how much she has made She has millions of fol-
lowers across her social-media platforms and has signed numerous endorsement deals while competing for LSU since the 2021 season. Dunne said all of the NIL projections about her have “underestimated” her real earnings.
“This settlement doesn’t come close to recognizing the value I lost,” Dunne said.
Dunne noted the website that athletes use to opt into the settlement did not initially work. Later, she had to opt-in to view how much money she would receive, a decision she did not yet want to make. Dunne said “that wasn’t meaningful consent” and believed the process lacked transparency When she got her projected number, which she did not disclose, Dunne said it was much less than her worth. She submitted NIL data in an effort to object to the estimate, but she said she did
not hear back from the administrator overseeing the system.
“This entire process defines athlete value based on the sport you played in and how much revenue your team brought in,” Dunne said “But NIL is about more than wins and revenue.”
In response, Wilken said if the settlement is approved, Dunne’s questions can be answered by reaching out to the plaintiff attorneys and the administrator of the back payments. Wilken gave a similar response to another athlete who objected to how the estimates were calculated. Later, Wilken said the formula “seemed reasonable.”
Wilken said she would not rule from the bench Monday A final decision is expected in the coming weeks.
“Your honor, I ask the settlement not be approved as it stands,” Dunne said. “We deserve more than an estimate. We deserve to be compensated at the value we deserve.”
Cavaliers guard Mitchell to sit with ankle sprain
Donovan Mitchell will miss the Cleveland Cavaliers’ game against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night after the All-Star guard sprained his left ankle during the second half of Sunday’s game against Sacramento. Mitchell stepped on the foot of Sacramento’s Keon Ellis near midcourt before losing his balance and rolling his left ankle. The 6-foot-3 guard was writhing in pain while being looked at by trainers before limping to the locker room. Mitchell eventually returned after missing nearly seven minutes of game action. He played the final 15:02 of the Cavaliers’ 120-113 loss. He was limping around the locker room after the game. Mitchell leads the Cavaliers in scoring, averaging 24 points per game, despite playing fewer than 32 minutes a game.
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Bryant
Cane’s
Shuffling assistants
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
LSU head coach Matt McMahon, right, listens while coaching against South Carolina on Feb 18 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center McMahon has hired Ronald Dupree as the team’s general manager
Del Rosario enters portal after two LSU seasons
BY REED DARCEY Staff writer
The LSU women’s basketball team is losing one of its sophomores to the transfer portal.
A source confirmed Monday that Aalyah Del Rosario — a 6-foot-6 center who signed with the Tigers as part of their topranked 2023 freshman class — is now looking for a place to play her junior season. Del Rosario was the seventhbest recruit in her signing class, according to ESPN. But she never found her footing across the two years she spent at LSU.
As a freshman, the native of the Dominican Republic appeared in all 37 games the Tigers played after a season-ending injury to starter Sa’Myah Smith thrust Del Rosario into a key role off of the bench. She ended up logging around 11 minutes per game that year. Then Del Rosario’s playing time dwindled once her sophomore season began.
Smith returned to the floor and transfer forward Jersey Wolfenbarger earned a role as LSU’s top reserve post player Her emergence left little room inside coach Kim Mulkey’s rotation for Del Rosario, the former top recruit who saw at least 10 minutes of run in only three games against Southeastern Conference opponents in 2025.
UL SOFTBALL
Continued from page 1C
“Against Troy, she gave us a chance to win, she really did,” Habetz said of Ryan. “She was attacking the strike zone. Her off-speed is working better She’s keeping people off balance. She’s not getting hit hard when she does get hit it’s groundballs or little pop-ups.”
The Cajuns scored three runs on six hits in five innings against Tech starter Allie Floyd last week.
“Assuming we’ll see the same pitch, hopefully we’re going to continue to hit her, maybe hit her even better because we’ve seen her already,” Habetz said. “It’s going to be at their place, obviously Go out there and execute, get some timely hitting and no freebies. Good pitching and defense.”
The Bulldogs may see a change in the UL lineup after Mia Norwood went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the series finale win over Troy
“Just put in Mia Norwood in the DP position in the last game, and she comes through with two hits and (one) RBI,” Habetz said. “You give a kid an opportunity and she takes advantage of it, then she gets another op-
Continued from page 1C
to have both available for the weekend.
“We made a couple of adjustments with him, and I thought he pitched it pretty good,” Deggs said. “He had thrown a ton of pitches the day before in a side session. I felt like if he was fresh, he could have gone pretty good in that game.”
On Wednesday, Deggs is looking at throwing several pitchers just one inning.
Elsewhere, UL is hoping to get Luke Yuhasz (broken hand) back in the lineup at first base this weekend. He played some defense against Texas State.
The Cajuns hope his return will spur more production from the infield.
“Donkey (Yuhasz) changes the dynamic I never thought I’d be saying this — of our infield,” Deggs said. “Now I can use Lee (Amedee) in different spots and we work to get a little more offensive in that infield, especially if Owen (Galt) is playing the way he’s playing.”
Another lineup scenario for UL fans to monitor this week is what happens with Casey Artigues. The pinch-hitter got some time at designated hitter over the weekend, but Deggs missed having him in other roles.
“I would have rather been pinchhitting Casey in that crazy inning than have had him in the game,” Deggs said “He’s really good at that role. I like to be able to insert him when I need it.” Carson Hepworth hit two home runs and had the defensive highlight of the weekend which could help him earn more play-
Four recruits comprised the Tigers’ No. 1 2023 freshman class. Three of them now have left LSU via the transfer portal.
Last offseason, Janae Kent transferred to Texas A&M and Angelica Velez enrolled at Syracuse. Both were top-75 prospects, according to ESPN.
Del Rosario was a more highly rated recruit, and because she too is in search of a new home, Mikaylah Williams is now the only player from that class still on the roster
But LSU has reinforcements on the way In November, it signed another No. 1 freshman class with four recruits — forward Grace Knox, and guards ZaKiyah Johnson, Divine Bourrage and Bella Hines — slotted inside the top 30 of ESPN’s 2025 recruiting rankings.
And on Monday, the Tigers signed 6-5 Notre Dame transfer forward Kate Koval, a top-five recruit from the 2024 freshman class.
That group of additions will try to help the Tigers climb back over the Elite Eight hump next season
Wolfenbarger is the only incumbent frontcourt player who can return to LSU for that run. Smith entered the portal March 31.
Three LSU players have decided to transfer out: Del Rosario, Smith and veteran point guard Last-Tear Poa.
staff at 3.59.
portunity
“It’s nice to have athletes come off the bench and do something, because I think it sparks the
whole team.”
Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.
ing time. “He’s definitely solidified some center field defense for us,” Deggs said. “That was an outstanding catch, just big time. He’s been able to lengthen the field for us at times and come up with some really tough at-bats.
“Credit him because he sat over there for the first half of the sea-
son and didn’t really play He’s gotten his opportunity, and he’s making the most of it.” Texas-Rio Grande Valley visits with a 21-10 record that includes wins over Dallas Baptist and Houston earlier this season.
Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.
LSU WOMEN
Continued from page 1C
2023, she took an official visit the weekend of the LSU football home opener against Grambling. She ultimately chose the Fighting Irish. This season, the Ukrainian forward appeared in 32 games and started 10. While playing 18 minutes per contest, she averaged 5.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks, which were tied for the fourth-highest rate among Division I freshmen.
In ACC play Koval scored in double figures three times. She also tallied six points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks across three women’s NCAA Tournament games. She can carve out a significant role on an LSU team that must replace both Aneesah Morrow and
Sa’Myah Smith, its two frontcourt starters. Morrow exhausted her eligibility, and Smith decided to enter her name into the transfer portal.
So far, LSU has lost Smith, senior point guard Last-Tear Poa and sophomore center Aalyah Del Rosario to the portal. Two other contributors (Morrow and point guard Shayeann Day-Wilson) have run out of eligibility
The Tigers now have signed four freshmen and one transfer so far to help them replace the talent they’re losing LSU’s incoming freshman class, a group of three guards and a forward, is the No. 1 haul in the country
The transfer portal is open until April 23. Koval — a native of Kyiv, Ukraine, who moved to New York in 2021 to pursue college basketball — has three more years of eligibility
from page 1C
down there looking for a plaque. No plaque. Augusta doesn’t do plaques No. 11, Par 4: At the tee in 2012, I asked a gallery marshal, “Everyone behaving today?” He replied, “Everyone but the guy who ran under the rope on 10, jumped in a bunker and started making a sand angel.” That sort of thing is, ahem, frowned upon at The National. They’ll lock you in a room and throw away the room. No. 12, Par 3: I have a photo of me and my father at that 2004 Masters right here, in the heart of Amen Corner My dad, who made me love this crazy game, died in 2022. You can’t buy a memory like that. No. 13, Par 5: The media enters a lottery to play here the day after the tournament. My number came up in 2021. This is the only hole I parred. The rest, well, I don’t want to describe the horror But I’ll tell you about 13. Want to see the schematic drawing of my shots?
No. 14, Par 4: How fast are Augusta National’s greens? I watched former LSU golfer David Toms hit his second shot here onto the green atop a huge mound that looks like it hides a buried elephant. As he walked up, a gust of
wind blew his ball back down the fairway Wedge. Bogey No. 15, Par 5: Tiger putting for eagle. The marshals allowed the crowd, including myself, to stand in the crosswalk as he putted. There must have been 7,000 people ringing that green all the way over to 16. He missed, and the collective groan probably registered on the Richter scale.
No. 16, Par 3: Former University High golfer Patrick Reed won the 2018 Masters, but let’s say he hasn’t been the most beloved green jacket recipient. The next year I was watching him next to two guys. “Who’s that?” one asked. “Oh, that’s just Patrick Reed,” the other said. “Let’s go find someone else.” I said, “He can hear you.” They didn’t stop. No. 17, Par 4: President Eisenhower, an Augusta National member with the power to order airstrikes, lobbied for years to cut down a tree here that snared many of his tee shots. He never succeeded. Mother Nature did. It split the tree with an ice storm in 2014, prompting its removal. No. 18, Par 4: After Mickelson won his first Masters in 2004, ending an 0-for-46 streak in the majors, he
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
UL starting pitcher Sam Ryan now has the lowest ERA on the Cajuns’
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
UL starting pitcher Blake McGehee delivers a pitch against McNeese during a game at Russo Park on March 12.
AP PHOTO By MATT SLOCUM
Patrick Reed helps Tiger Woods with his green jacket after Woods won the Masters tournament on April 14, 2019, in Augusta, Ga.
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
LSU center Aalyah Del Rosario tries to move to the basket against San Diego State forward Cali Clark in the third quarter of a women’s NCAA Tournament game on March 22 at the PMAC.
Aren’t azaleas great?
Yes, this staple of Southern gardensisone of 2025’s Louisiana SuperPlants
GARDEN NEWS
Every year,LSU AgCenter horticulturists select four plants to add to the Louisiana Super Plant program. Plants don’tcome by this designation easily.They must prove they can be beautiful and tough in the face of Louisiana’schallenging growing conditions. If ever there was a plant that has shown itself to be areliable performer in Louisiana landscapes, it’sthe Southern Indica azalea —one of the AgCenter’s2025 Super Plant picks. This general group of plants is sometimes referred to as Southern Indian hybrids. This species of azalea (Rhododendron indicum) hasbeen astaple of Southerngardens since the 1800s, when it was introduced to the United States from its native Japan. They also can be found growingas understory plants in the woods, especially beneath pine trees
AGCENTERPHOTO By
These large evergreen shrubs are vigorous and heat tolerant. They are reliable springbloomers withawide range of flower colors. You’re sure to have seen three of the most common cultivars: lavender Formosa, which is ubiquitous in Louisiana and has vibrant purple-to-magenta blooms; George L. Taber,which displays soft pink blooms; and Mrs. G.G. Gerbing, whosepure white flowers stand out especially well in shadier areas. Like many good things, azaleas’ stunning spring show of flowers doesn’tlast long Blooms usually begin to appear in mid-Marchinsouth Louisiana and aweek or two later in the northern partofthe state. Bloom times can vary depending on the cultivarand site-specific conditions, but most shrubs will spend only two weeks in full bloom. Fortunately,there’smoreto azaleas than just flowers. With their dense, evergreen foliage, azaleas provide visual interest in the garden year-round. They can reach 6feet to 8feet tall and 4feet to 6feet wide, making them agreat choice for foundation plantings that give structure to the landscape. Some cultivars in the Southern Indica azalea group are abit smaller All sizes of azaleas are attractive in masses or used individually as specimen plantings. Azaleas also are tough,often living for many decades, especiallyifthey’re given all the right conditions. They’ll have the most flower power in full sun, but you can still enjoy plenty of blooms in part sun and even part shade. While these shrubsprefer acidic soils, they’re quite ä See AZALEAS, page 6C
THEBIGGEST SALE YET
What to know aboutthe AtticTrash andTreasuresaleinBaton Rouge
BY MARGARETDELANEY
Staff writer
In need of vintage record players? Wooden cutting boards?A new wardrobe? Picture frames or anew dining room table?
Attic Trash andTreasure, aBaton Rouge nonprofit thatsells secondhanditems to donatetolocal charities, is back.
DianaRaffray,the public relations coordinator for AtticTrash andTreasure,has been with the group fornearlyfouryears and says this is their biggest sale yet It took the organization months to find aspot that could fit all of the great stuff Baton Rougeans donated throughout the year,which left them with two weeks to sort through 30,000 boxes —inaspace that fills over 43,000 square feet.
Kay Nelson, avolunteerinthe antiquesand collectibles section, has sorted through items and organized the section for the nonprofit for seven years.
“It’shard work,” Nelson said, “but it’sa blast.”
Everysilver platter has been polished, each linen setmeasured and grouped by size andcolor,each piece of jewelryanalyzed, all technologies (coffee makers, speakers, recordplayers, etc.) have been tested to see that they work.
Allinthe nameofquality, second-
Easter decorationshavetheir ownsection at the Attics Trash and Treasure sale in
hand treasures.
The sale will be held April 11, 12 and 13 at Town and Country Furniture on 6545 AirlineHighway,Baton Rouge. The second-hand sale is free and will beginat9 a.m. and end at noon each day
Crystal, candlesticks andmore!
Alarge warehouse in the back includes people fixing up woodwork (a worn legonachair,ora quick
fix on thebaseofa largecabinet). Everything is being accomplished before opening day
Authentic oriental rugs, Waterford Crystal, brass candlesticks, copper pots, large dining room tables, barstools, living room rugs, china cabinets, an eclecticcollectionofsalt andpeppershakers andmuch,much moreare availableatthe sale.
ä See TREASURE, page 6C
PROVIDED PHOTOByDIANA RAFFRAy
Jess Shaffett, from left, MarilynGrake, MaeShaffett and Tara Radoni, at Attics Trash and Treasure, polish silver until it shines ahead of the annual Baton Rougesale for local charities.
STAFFPHOTO By MARGARET DELANEy
Baton Rouge.
OLIVIA McCLURE Lavender Formosa is apopular SouthernIndica azalea cultivar
Trythese handy uses forkitchen tools
Dear Heloise: For years, I’vebeen using various kitchen tools to help me in the kitchen and do jobs that they weren’toriginally designed for.Ithought I’d share some of these with you and your readers:
n Iuse atea strainer filled with herbs and spices to flavor soups and stews. Youjust have to remove the strainer before serving. Youcan also fill astrainer with powdered sugar and use it to sprinkle sugar over pastries such as cakes and muffins.
in the oven this way to cook afro-
zen pizza —D.F., in Pennsylvania
Aggressive tippersoverlookrules
Microchipped pets
Dear Heloise: We recently were out on apicnic, and ourdog got away from us andwent running after a squirrel. We stayed until after dark looking for our beloveddog. Finally,we had to go home.
n Iuse an old potatomasher to separate ground beef andsausage while it’scooking.
n Iuse an egg slicer to cut small, firm tomatoes, eggsand strawberries
n Iuse amilkfrother to mix other small batches of things. I recently mixed whippingcream with my frother to add on top of apudding that Imade.
n Itenderize chicken and meat by wrapping it in cling wrap, then using my metal rolling pin to poundthe meat.
n I’ve known anumber of people who use apastry slicer to blend or chop up eggs for an egg salad, or to chop up potatoes to make hash browns
n Afriend of mine gave me this hint: Take acast-iron skillet, turn it upside down so that the flat bottom is right side up, and place it
Aday later,aman called to say that he’d found ourdog. Ourdog had been microchipped, which is what saved himfrom ending up atashelter or thecity pound, or from wanderingoff to never be found again. Pleaseurge all your readerstoget their pets microchipped. Andhave them wear atag that says they are microchipped —M.Y., in Georgia
Disinfecting wipes
Dear Heloise: Iuse disinfecting wipes that comeina tall, round plastic container.When all the wipes are gone, there is still some liquid in the bottom, so I put afew half-sized paper towels in the bottom and use them after they have soakedupthe liquid. I usually do this several times until all the liquid has been used. With today’s prices, we need to do whatever we cantosave money. —A.H., via email
Send ahint to heloise@heloise. com.
TODAYINHISTORY
30 years in prison.
By The Associated Press
Today is Tuesday,April 8, the 98th day of 2025. There are 267 days left in the year
Todayinhistory:
On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in agame against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth’shomerun record that had stood since 1935
On this date:
In 1820, the Venus de Milo statue, likely dating to the 2nd century B.C., was discovered by afarmer on the Greek islandof Milos
In 1864, the U.S. Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery.(The House of Representatives passed it in January 1865; the amendment was ratified and adopted in December 1865.)
In 1911, an explosion at the Banner Coal Mine in Littleton, Alabama, claimed the lives of 128 men, most of them convicts leased out from prisons
In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, providing for election of U.S senatorsbystate residents as opposed to state legislatures.
In 1962, Cuba announced that 1,200 Cuban exiles tried for their roles in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion were convicted of treason and sentenced to
In 1990, Ryan White, theteenager whose battle with AIDS drewnational attention and led to greater understanding and destigmatization of those suffering from thedisease, died in Indianapolis at age 18.
In 1992, tennis great Arthur Ashe announced ata New York news conference that he had AIDS, havingcontracted HIV from ablood transfusion in 1983.
In 2010, PresidentBarack Obama and RussianPresident Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty in Prague.
In 2020, a76-day lockdown was lifted in the Chinesecity of Wuhan, where the global COVID-19 pandemic began.
Today’sbirthdays: Journalist Seymour Hersh is 88. Songwriterproducer Leon Huffis83. Rock musician Steve Howe (Yes)is 78. Sports broadcaster Jim Lampleyis76. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, is 70. Author Barbara Kingsolver is 70. Actor John Schneider is 65. Guitarist Izzy Stradlin (Guns N’ Roses) is 63. Singer Julian Lennon is 62. Actor Dean Norris is 62. Actor Robin Wright is 59. Actor PatriciaArquette is 57. Actor TaylorKitsch is 44. Boxer GennadyGolovkin is 43. NFL wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is 26. Actor Skai Jackson is 23.
AZALEAS
Continued from page5C
adaptable and willtolerate neutral pH soils, too —aslong as the area has decent drainage. Mulching with pine strawor composted pine bark will help with soil pH, and in locations with alkaline soils, adding elemental sulfur may be required every few years.
Fertilize azaleas in late winter or very early spring each year before you see blooms start to emerge.
Pruning is fairly easyand doesn’tneed to be done every year.When it is time to prune, however,make sure to doit as soon as the bloom cycle is
Dear Miss Manners: Iwork as an usher at apopular field house that hostsa large number of sporting and entertainment events (concerts, comedy shows, etc.). Oneofthe rules is that we are not allowed to accept tips.
On occasion, aguest will offer atip, usually for something Ihave done above and beyond simply helping them find their seat.Inthose instances, Ipolitely thank them for their kindness but let them know that it is against thepolicy of the venue. Most of thetime that is sufficient,but on occasion, apatron will insist that Itake the money, frequently commenting that “No
over.Azaleas set thenext year’s blooms in summer,sopruningtoo late will eliminate most flowerproduction for thefollowingspring. Shearing orhedging is not recommended, as it takes away from theazalea’snatural woodland appearance If you’re interested in adding azaleas to yourlandscape this spring, try to plant them soon. While it’sbest to plant shrubs in thecooler temperatures of fall andwinter,you can successfully establish azaleas in thespring, too. Just don’t wait until the heat of summer,whichwill put too much stress on newly planted shrubs.
To learn more about Louisiana Super Plants, visitwww.LSUAgCenter.com/SuperPlants
one will know.” Iamnot sure what to say when they continue to push. Icertainly do not wish to be rude (and Idosincerely appreciate theirgenerosity), but neither do Iwant to violate therules and accept the money.What do you recommend Isay to people who demand that Iaccept atip?
Gentle reader: No doubt such people think they are conferring abenevolence on you in advising you to defy your employer sneakily.And they are unlikely to imagine any reason for refusing money other than the fear of getting caught. As Miss Manners has observed, thetipping system brings out the
worst in everyone. Well, not everyone; not you. The response to “Noone will know”should be aregretful little smile and the comment, “But I would know.”
Dear Miss Manners: What is your opinion of sprinkle parties?
Gentle reader: That much as she appreciates toning downthe usual shower,Miss Manners finds the nameunfortunately vivid in connection with babies.
Send questions to Miss Manners at herwebsite,www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO 64106.
TREASURE
Continuedfrom page5C
Thereare women in chargeof pricingjewelry,peopleincharge of frames, one exclusively in charge of lamps, crewsmoving and staging largerfurniture and carpets with buggies and wheelies constantly moving about the space to get ready for future customers.
Nancy LeBlanchas been in charge of the gardening section for eight years. For thelast two weeks,she hung up gardening craftsonthe walls, staged handpainted birdhouses with magnolias and strawberries and sorted many bitsand bobs in her section.
LeBlanc’sdesignated area is next to the sports and outdoors section that features kids’ baseball gloves, golf clubs and caddies, large water bottles and hunting gear
The room all the way to the back is filled withbothmen’sand women’sclothing items: patterned scarves, vintage fur jackets, cowboy hats, luxury and frilled purses (including aLouis Vuitton bag) silky patterned tops, ’80s and ’90s wedding dresses and bedazzled, floor-length gowns.
Each holiday has adedicated spaceatthe sale:Mardi Gras, Christmas, Valentine’sDay,St. Patrick’sDay,LSU gameday —that counts in Louisiana, right? —Easter and more.
Acharitablecause
Attic Trashand Treasure started in 1988 and has continued to grow since. Keigh Ballard, the first president of theAttic Trash and Treasure organization, whose 89th birthday was on April 3, continues to show up to help volunteerssort through thetrinkets.
Once part of theInner Wheel Women’sGroup, anational charitable organization, Attic Trashand Treasure is now acompletely local and self-sustaining charity for Baton Rouge programs.
All of the proceedsfrom the sale are split betweenfive Baton
IGUANA
Continuedfrom page5C
On Friday and Saturday nights from 8p.m. to 9p.m., there’sa fire show by thehead bartender
“He spits fire out of his mouth,” saidOseguera. “I typically don’t look because it gets me nervous, but it’s very exciting.”
The location that is nowBlue Iguana wasformerly 225-Crab Seafood &Bar,but the space has
Rouge charities (with avery small amount of the proceedstaken out to provide boxes, tape and supplies for thefollowing year’ssale).
In 2024, the sale raised$250,000 that theorganization split evenly to Louisiana MentalHealth Association, Alzheimer’sServicesof theCapital Area, The Arc Baton Rouge,Providence Road Outreach Mission, and St. Lillian Academy (that’s$50,000 per charity).
TheArc of BatonRougewas able to buy avan with the donated funds to transport many in their community to various events and activities.
Each year,the charity board meets to decide whichfive charitiestodonate the profits from the large sale
“It breaksour heart to say no to anyone,”saidJulieTerrell, the 2025Attic Trash and Treasure president. “But we want to make sureeach charity gets as muchas possible.”
This year,the proceeds will go to these charities: n Baton Rouge Children’sAdvocacy Center,a program that helps children and families after physical abuse,sexualabuse or aviolent crime;
been converted to the Tex-Mex restaurantchain. “We’vereally changed alot of things on themenutonot be the same as theother Blue Iguanas,” Oseguera said.
This includes expanding menu offerings to include seafood. For acustomer’sfirsttime, he recommends chicken wingsorboom-boom shrimp as appetizers, andcarne asada or fajitas for main courses. He loves the Cuban sandwiches. “I’ve been having them pretty much every day,”hesaid. “It’sa
n Brave Heart of Louisiana, a nonprofit program that helps youth transition out of foster care;
n Providence Road Outreach Mission, agroup thatworks with underservedyouth by nurturing relationships, encouraging character development and providing trauma-informed care;
n St. Lillian Academy, afull-time school founded by professionals and parents, educating children whohave communication and learning challenges;
n The ArcofBaton Rouge,a programthatserves individuals with developmental disabilities and their families with access to education, opportunities and community Those whowould like to contribute money to the local nonprofits are advised to mail checks to P.O. Box 84306, Baton Rouge, LA 70884. All visitors are encouraged to carpool to the saleormake arrangements to pick up larger items at alater date. Attic Trash andTreasure takes cashand credit cards at checkout.
Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@theadvocate. com.
great lunch option.” Blue Iguana’s signature drink is the Beso de Iguana, acocktail with mint,watermelonsyrup,lemon juice and your choice of liquor —tequila, mezcal, rum or vodka. Each drink comes in afun animalthemed cocktail cup and is served on atray with dry ice.
“We’re trying ourbest to make sure we stand up,” Oseguera said of the over-the-top additions. Email SerenaPuang at serena. puang@theadvocate.com.
Hints from Heloise
Judith Martin MISS MANNERS
LSU AGCENTER PHOTO By OLIVIA MCCLURE Azaleas are long-lived andcan grow quite large STAFFPHOTOSByMARGARETDELANEy
From posters to flagstomini tigers, there is plenty of LSUfan regalia availableatAttics Trash and Treasure sale in Baton Rouge.
Hand-painted birdhouses with magnolias and strawberries are available at the Attics Trash and Treasure saleinBaton Rouge.
ARIEs (March 21-April 19) A change of attitude or to how you deal with institutions, money and superiors looks promising. Personal improvements will boost your confidence.
tAuRus (April 20-Ma y 20) If you want change, stop pontificating and start making things happen. Take control and be proud of who you are and what you achieve. Reject what isn't right for you and do your own thing.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Be careful what you promise or sign up for. If you want to help make a difference, contribute your energy, not your money. Make choices based on facts, not on your emotions.
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Take a moment to observe, wait, watch and evaluate. Timing is essential to get the highest return from your effort. Keep the conversation going and the momentum flowing.
LEo (July 23-Aug 22) A last-minute change will cost you. Don't jeopardize your position. Work quietly behind the scenes; don't take a risk until you are prepared to go the distance.
VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Keep moving forward. A change will pump you up and encourage you to meet new people and engage in events and pursuits that grab your attention. Life is about living.
LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Being aware and prepared to counter anything that might have a negative impact on your
dreams will make it easier to turn your intentions into a reality. A passionate presentation will pay off
scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Get out into the field and see what's happening firsthand. Mingle, participate and actively contribute to whatever group, event or institution is suitable to help you have a positive impact and make a difference.
sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) You may want to keep your plans to yourself. Being too open will allow someone to take advantage of you. A networking event will lead to a valuable opportunity.
cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan 19) Positive change stemming from collaboration will be your calling card. Mix business with pleasure, and you'll create a path to victory.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Prioritize partnerships and diversity. Declutter your space, sell off what you no longer use and ease financial stress. It's up to you to find solutions.
PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Refrain from making uninformed decisions. Don't let your ego or emotions lead you down a slippery slope. Network, and you'll meet someone with valuable input
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.
toDAy's cLuE: y EQuALs K
CeLebrItY CIpher
For better or For WorSe
And erneSt
SALLY Forth
beetLe bAILeY
Mother GooSe And GrIMM
SherMAn’S LAGoon dooneSbUrY
bIG nAte
Sudoku
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer
nea CroSSwordS La TimeS CroSSword
THewiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS CurTiS
Bridge
By PHILLIP ALDER
Virginia Gildersleeve wasthe only American woman at the 1945 San FranciscoconferencethatcreatedtheUnited Nations. She said, “Theabilitytothink straight, some knowledge of thepast, some vision of the future,some skill to do useful service, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community—thesearethemostvitalthings education musttry to produce.”
At thebridge table, it is important to thinkstraight,torememberthepastbids and plays,and to have someidea of what youplan to do. In this deal, how should Southplayintwospades?Westleadsthe club ace, cashes the club king, and plays another club.
South, with five top losers (twohearts, onediamond and two clubs), needs to find the spade queen to get home.
Declarer mustremember that neither opponent could open the bidding. And Southhasalreadyseensevenpointsfrom West. However, before guessing how to play the trump suit, declarer should explorefor moredata.Heshouldplay on the red suits to learn who holds those honors.Thenhewillbesuretoknowwho hasthe spade queen.
At trick four, South leads aheart. Let’s assumeEasttakesthattrickandshiftsto
alow diamond. Declarer wins withhis king and plays another heart. East wins andcasheshisdiamondace.Whohasthe spade queen?
EachWuzzle is aword riddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON
Previous answers:
word game
InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” suchas“bats” or “dies,” are notallowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may notbeused. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are notallowed.
toDAy’s WoRD LEuKEMIA: loo-KEE-me-uh: An acute disease characterized by an abnormalincrease in white blood cells.
Average mark 19 words Time limit 25 minutes
Can you find 24 or more words in LEUKEMIA?
yEstERDAy’s WoRD —ADJuVAnts
java junta just vast vaunt tuna sand sauna stand stud stun
wuzzles
loCKhorNs
marmaduKe
Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
B.C.
PiCKles
hidato
mallard fillmore
Longtime Baton Rouge toy store up for sale
Victoria’sToy Station, alongtime Government Street business,isupfor sale with a$1.2 million asking price.
The deal includes the business and the property at 5466 Government St.
DeeDee Culotta, thelongtime owner of Victoria’s, said she put the business up for sale because she wants to retire. The plan is forVictoria’stostay in business until abuyer can be found, aprocess she said she hopes is completedbefore the holiday season rolls around.
“We’ve had the store for 41 years, and we just feel like it’s time forustomove on,” she said.
“We’re hoping someone buys the storesowecontinue to have a wonderful toy store for children in Baton Rouge.”
Beau Box, who has the listing for Victoria’s, said the offering gives thebuyer the opportunity to purchase abusiness and real estate on the busy Government Street corridor
Victoria’sToy Stationwas founded in 1984. It was originally located in the Catfish Town development downtown, before moving to Government Streetin1987.
Tariffs, low oil prices squeeze some nations
Middle East stock markets tumbled Monday as theystruggledwith the dual hit of the United States’ newtariffpolicy and asharp decline in oil prices, squeezing energy-producingnationsthat rely on those sales to power their economies and government spending.
Benchmark Brent crude is down by nearly 15% over the last fivedaysoftrading, with abarrel of oil costing just over$64. That’s downnearly 30% from ayear ago when abarrel cost over $90. That cost per barrel is far lower than the estimated break-even price for Saudi Arabia and most othercountries producingenergy in theMiddle East. That’scoupled with the new tariffs, which saw the Gulf Cooperation Council states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hit with 10% tariffs. Other Middle Eastern nations face higher tariffs, likeIraq at 39% and Syria at 41%.
“With these measures andthe expected retaliatory measures that could be adopted by other countries, the stability and predictability of internationaltrade could be undermined,” the accounting firm PwC said in an advisory to its Mideast clients.
Last week, OPEC+ members Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait,Oman, Russia,Saudi Arabia and the UAE agreed to speed up the introduction of more oil into the market. This month marks the first oil production increase by the group since 2022.
Flood closes Buffalo Trace
Distillery
The historic Buffalo Trace Distillery has temporarily closed after deadly flooding ravaging Kentucky swept into its facilities,forcing the popular bourbon company to turn away the public and staff.
In astatement released Sunday, the Frankfort, Kentucky-based distillery said it would remain closed through Thursday but warned that date couldchange. It was not immediately known how much of Buffalo Trace’sinventory—ranging from barrels, bottlesorother items —may have been damaged. Aspokesperson for Buffalo Trace declined to comment further.
BuffaloTrace is farfromthe only distillery in Kentucky,the home of bourbon country,but it is one of the closest to the banks of the Kentucky River.Notably,the distillery has markersofseveral high-water marks from previous floods inside itsFrankfort buildings,with the most recentbeing the1978 flood.
Buffalo Trace Distillery is an American, family-owned companythat has operated for more than 200 years. Its products include theholy grail forbourbon fanatics: Pappy VanWinkle 23-year-old, which can sell for tens of thousands of dollars on resale markets.
Stocks have manicday before slump
BY STAN CHOE, ELAINE KURTENBACH and DAVIDMcHUGH AP business writers
NEW YORK U.S. stocks careened througha manic Monday after President Donald Trump threatened to crank his tariffs higher, despite astunning display showing how dearly Wall Street wants him to do theopposite.
The S&P 500 closed lower after a dayfullofheart-racing reversals as battered financialmarketstry to figure out what Trump’sultimate goal isfor histrade war. If
it’stoget other countries to agree to tradedeals, he could lower his tariffs and avoid apossible recession. Butifit’storemake the economy and stickwithtariffs for the longhaul,stock prices mayneed to fall further
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell and the Nasdaq composite edged up.
All threeindexes started the day sharply lower,and the Dow plungedasmanyas1,700 points followingevenworse losses elsewhere in the world. But it suddenly surged to again of nearly
900 points in the late morning. The S&P500, meanwhile, went from aloss of 4.7% to aleap of 3.4%, which would have been its biggest jump in years.
The sudden rise followed afalse rumor that Trump was considering a90-day pauseonhis tariffs, one that aWhite House account on Xquickly labeledas“fake news.”
That arumorcould move trillions of dollars’ worth of investments shows how much investors are hoping to seesigns that Trump may let up on tariffs.
Stocks quickly turned back down, and shortlyafterward, Trump dug in further andsaidhe may raise tariffs moreagainst Chi-
na after the world’s second-largest economy retaliated last weekwith its own set of tariffs on U.S. products. It’s aslapinthe face to Wall Street because it suggests Trump may not care how much pain he inflicts on the market. Many professional investorshad long thought that apresident who used to crow about records reached under his watch would pull back on policies if they sent the Dowreeling. Indexes nevertheless did keep swinging between lossesand gains Monday after Trump’slatest tariff threat, in part because hope still remains in markets that negotiations may still come.
hurt all economies involved.
BY STAN CHOE and ALEX VEIGA AP business writers
NEW YORK Wall Street could soon be in the clawsofanother bear market as theTrump administration’stariff blitzfuels fears that the added taxesonimportedgoods from aroundthe world will sink theglobaleconomy. The last bear market happenedin2022, but this decline feels more likethe sudden, turbulent bearmarket of 2020, when the benchmark S&P500 indextumbled34% in aonemonthperiod, the shortest bear market ever Abear market is aterm usedbyWall Street when an index suchasthe S&P 500 or the Dow JonesIndustrial Average hasfallen 20%ormorefroma recent high forasustainedperiod of time. Whyuse abear to refer to amarket slump? Bears hibernate, so they represent astock market that’sretreating. In contrast,Wall Street’s nicknamefor asurging marketisa bull market, because bulls charge.
TheS&P 500, Wall Street’smain barometer of health, closed lower Monday.It’snow 17.6% below the all-time high it setonFeb. 19.
The tradewar has ratcheted up fear and uncertainty on Wall Street over how businesses and consumers will respond.
President Donald Trump followed through on tariff threats last week by declaring a 10% baseline taxonimports from all countries and higher tariff rates on dozensof nations thatrun trade surpluseswith the United States Global markets cratered thenext day,and the sell-offdeepened afterChina announced it would retaliate withtariffs equaltothe ones from the U.S. Tariffs cause economic pain in part because they’rea taxpaidbyimporters that often gets passed along to consumers, adding to inflationary pressure. They also provoke trading partners into retaliating, which can
Import taxes can also cause economic damage by complicating the decisions businesses have to make, including which suppliers to use, where to locate factories and what prices to charge.And that uncertainty can cause them to delay or cancel investments that help drive economic growth.
The tariffs come at atime when the U.S. economy is already showing signs of slowing. Markets are also worried that tariffs couldfuel inflation,whichrecentlyticked higher
On average,bearmarkets havetaken 13 months to go from peak to trough and 27 monthstoget back to breakevensince World WarII. The S&P500 indexhas fallenanaverage of 33% during bear markets in that time. The biggest decline since 1945 occurred in the 2007-2009 bear market, when the S&P 500 fell 57%.
History shows that the faster an index enters into abear market, the shallowerthey tendtobe. Historically,stockshave taken 251 days to fall into abear market. Whenthe S&P 500 hasfallen20% at afaster clip, the index has averaged aloss of 28%.
BY DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY,Mo. Global agrochemical manufacturerBayer has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whetherfederallaw preempts thousands of statelawsuits alleging it failed to warnpeople that itspopular weed killer could causecancer. Bayer’snew request to thenation’s highest court comes as it is simultaneously pursing legislation in several states seeking to erect alegal shieldagainst lawsuitstargeting Roundup, acommonly used
weed killerfor both farms and homes.Bayer disputes the cancer claims but hasset aside$16 billion to settle cases and asserted Monday that thefuture of American agriculture is at stake.
In acourt filing Friday, Bayer urgedthe Supreme Court to take up aMissouri case that awarded $1.25million to aman whodeveloped non-Hodgkin’slymphoma aftersprayingRoundup on a community garden in St. Louis The federally approved labelfor Roundup includesnowarning of cancer. Bayercontends federal pesticide lawspreempt states from adopting additional labeling for products and thus prohibits failure-to-warn lawsuits brought under statelaws.
TheSupremeCourt in 2022 declinedtohear asimilar claim from Bayerina California case that awarded more than $86million to amarried couple.
ButGermany-basedBayer, whichacquiredRoundup maker Monsanto in 2018, contends the Supreme Court should intervene now because lower courts have issued conflicting rulings. The 3rd U.S Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Bayer’sfavor last year,while the 9thand 11th Circuits have ruled against its stance.
An attorney representingthe St Louis gardener said Bayer is “really grasping at straws.”
“The reality is they don’twant to put the warning on it because they’re afraid” that if people “real-
ize it’sunsafe, it will reduce sales,” said attorney JimOnder, whose firmhas more than 20,000 clients with failure-to-warn claims regarding Roundup.
Bayerfaces about181,000 Roundup claims, mostly from residential users. Because of that, Bayer stopped using thekey ingredient glyphosate in Roundup sold for home use. But glyphosate remains in agricultural products. It’sdesigned to be used with genetically modifiedseedsthatcan resist theweed killer’sdeadly effect, thus allowing farmers to producemore while conserving thesoilbytilling it less Monsanto’sLuling plant is the largest U.S. producer of glyphosate.
James Lambworks on the floor at the Newyork Stock ExchangeinNew york on Monday
