The Acadiana Advocate 04-11-2025

Johnson gets budget bill passed in House

Measure directs committees to reduce spending

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON — Once again with his back pressed to the wall by hard-right Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, was able to pull off Thursday another narrow victory to forward the legislative agenda of President Donald Trump

The House voted 216 to 214 to accept Senate changes to a House blueprint bill that instructs congressional committees to reduce spending in the federal budget.

Two Republican members Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, and Victoria Spartz, of Indiana — joined all the

Legislation

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

The Legislature could be in store for more conflict over hemp-THC products during the coming legislative session. Lawmakers have filed bills to raise taxes on them and to add criminal penalties for selling to underage customers. Last year, a battle over how to regulate the products and whether to ban them outright — stretched into the final days of the session. Ultimately, the Legislature did

Democrats in voting against the measure. If another Republican had joined the Democratic opponents the measure would have failed.

As expected, Louisiana’s four Republican members voted in favor and two Democratic representatives voted against.

Johnson had to pull the legislation from a floor vote Wednesday night after a group of about a dozen hard-right holdouts concerned about growing deficits demanded more spending cuts than the Senate’s version included.

Johnson, with the help of Trump, had spent three days lobbying holdouts and was able to persuade enough to get the legislation passed Thursday morning.

not pass a ban. But lawmakers did lower the legal single-serving size from 8 mg of THC to 5 mg of THC, make it illegal to sell the intoxicating products to people under 21 and limit how bars sell hemp products like THC seltzers. THC, the compound in marijuana that gets users high, is also found in hemp, another cannabis plant, though at much lower levels than in marijuana. But many hemp manufacturers sell products with concentrated THC levels. So far this year’s proposed changes do not include an outright

The budget debate has high stakes for Louisiana. For example, the steeper cuts some Republicans want could lead to reductions in Medicaid, which could devastate the state budget and leave many low-income residents without health insurance. Louisiana has one of the highest percentages of people on Medicaid.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the Jefferson Republican who is the second-highest-ranking House leader, said the measure accelerates Trump’s agenda to extend his 2017 tax cuts while expanding energy exploration, restricting immigration, and other issues.

ban on such products. But two bills that would dramatically raise the consumable hemp tax are likely to face opposition from the industry That tax now sits at 3%. House Bill 187 by state Rep. Bryan Fontenot, R-Thibodaux, would raise it to 15%, and House Bill 235 by state Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, to 20%. In a statement, Fontenot said the change would generate about $9 million in revenue at a time when the state faces serious budgetary

ä See HEMP, page 5A

Landry, insurance chief at odds over legislation

Tort reform battle boils as session approaches

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Two powerful state leaders have promised they are committed to bringing down high auto insurance rates shouldered by families and businesses alike, a challenge both have called “a crisis.” But Gov Jeff Landry and Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, both elected in 2023, this week during competing news conferences presented starkly contrasting visions of policy solutions that will translate to lower rates. Temple said the primary reason auto insurance rates are high in Louisiana is that when drivers get into accidents, “we’re more than twice the national average to file a bodily injury claim and more than twice to litigate.”

“That’s what the majority of the legislation is going to focus on,” he said at a news conference Thursday Most of the bills Temple is backing during the legislative session that begins Monday would put stricter limits on people’s ability to sue over damages and how much money they can win in court — an effort pushed as “tort reform” by business interests and insurance companies.

“Will trial lawyers who sue for massive, excessive payouts attack our solutions and call them harmful to consumers? Probably so,” Temple said. “From energy to insurance, I’m sick of how our state has historically sided with a few trial attorneys over the many citizens and job creators in Louisiana.”

The package of bills will create “transparency, certainty and predictability in our market,” Temple said. That in turn will attract insurance companies to Loui-

taxes on hemp and THC products and to add criminal penalties for selling to underage customers.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK Lawmakers have filed bills to raise

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton talks to reporters Thursday just after House Republicans approved their budget framework that is central to President Donald Trump’s agenda.

U.S. ambassador to Ukraine to step down

WASHINGTON The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is stepping down from her post after nearly three years in Kyiv amid uncertainty over the Trump administration’s attempts to broker a peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war

The State Department said Thursday that Bridget Brink will be leaving her post in the near future, although it was not immediately clear exactly when she would depart. Brink assumed the job under former President Joe Biden’s administration and has been a staunch advocate for U.S military assistance to Ukraine. Her resignation had been expected for some time, especially considering the Trump administration’s premium on rapprochement with Russia and ending the war

“Ambassador Brink has been at the embassy in Ukraine for three years during a time of war,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters. “For those three years it’s been an extraordinary performance there And we wish her well.”

“At the same time, of course, it’s a reminder when it comes to the issues that we think about that surround this conversation is that we know that we’re working for (peace) and that is our focus.”

Hackers hit Morocco’s social security database

RABAT, Morocco Morocco‘s social security agency said troves of data were stolen from its systems in a cyberattack this week that resulted in personal information being leaked on the messaging app Telegram.

The North African kingdom’s social security fund administers pensions and insurance benefits to millions of private sector workers, from assembly line laborers to corporate executives. It said in a statement Wednesday that preliminary investigations suggest the leak resulted from hackers bypassing its security systems.

The agency did not say who was thought to be responsible for the leak while also claiming that many of the documents posted were “misleading, inaccurate, or incomplete.”

The hackers who posted the documents on Telegram said the attack was in response to alleged Moroccan “harassment” of Algeria on social media platforms, pledging additional cyberattacks if Algerian sites were targeted Moroccan media have attributed the attack to Algerian hackers, describing it as an episode in a larger cyberwar between the two countries. Relations between Algeria and Morocco have recently deteriorated to historic lows. The countries have withdrawn their ambassadors, closed their embassies and respective airspaces. Algeria’s support for the Polisario Front, a pro-independence movement fighting Morocco over the disputed Western Sahara, is among the roots of the tensions.

Ancient jawbone belongs to early human ancestor

An ancient jawbone discovered in Taiwan belonged to an enigmatic group of early human ancestors called Denisovans, scientists reported Thursday

Relatively little is known about Denisovans, an extinct group of human cousins that interacted with Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens.

“Denisovan fossils are very scarce,” with only a few confirmed finds in East Asia, said study co-author Takumi Tsutaya at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan.

So far, the only known Denisovan fossils include partial jawbones, a few teeth and part of a finger bone found in caves in Siberia and Tibet. Some scientists believe fossils found in a cave in Laos may also belong to Denisovans The probable identification of the jawbone from Taiwan as Denisovan expands the region where scientists know these ancient people once lived, said Tsutaya

The partial jawbone was first recovered when a fishing operation dredged the seafloor in the Penghu Channel near the Taiwan Strait. After it was sold to an antique shop, a collector spotted it and purchased it in 2008, then later donated it to Taiwan’s National Museum of Natural Science.

Helicopter crashes into Hudson River

Source says 6 killed in New york City

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ and TED SHAFFREY Associated Press

NEW YORK A helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront Thursday, killing six people in the latest high-profile aviation disaster in the U.S., according to witnesses and a law enforcement official.

The New York Fire Department said it received a report of the crash at 3:17 p.m. All six people aboard were killed, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.

Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant along

A crane vessel arrives Thursday at the scene where a

River in Jersey City N.J

the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water

“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said in a phone interview

Video posted to social media showed parts of the chopper splashing into the water, and the overturned

aircraft was submerged, with rescue boats circling it.

The skies were overcast at the time, but visibility over the river was not substantially impaired. Rescue crews had to deal with 45-degree water temperatures.

The Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206, a model widely used in commercial and government

Burials begin after Dominican nightclub collapse kills 221

BY MARTÍN ADAMES ALCÁNTARA and DÁNICA COTO Associated Press

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic A merengue icon, a baseball star and others killed when a cement roof collapsed at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic were buried Thursday as authorities called off the search for bodies with the death toll at 221.

Mourners clad in black and white streamed into Santo Domingo’s National Theater, where the body of singer Rubby Pérez lay inside a closed coffin.

Pérez had been performing on stage at the packed Jet Set club early Tuesday when dust began falling from the ceiling and, seconds later, the roof caved.

President Luis Abinader and first lady Raquel Arbaje arrived at the theater and stood beside Pérez’s coffin for several minutes.

Some mourners doubled over in tears as a recording of Pérez singing the national anthem played.

Renowned Dominican mu-

sician Juan Luis Guerra was among those gathered to pay their respects.

Pérez, 69, had turned to music after a car accident left him unable to pursue his dream of becoming a professional baseball player He was known for hits including “Volveré,” which he sang with Wilfrido Vargas’s orchestra, and “Buscando tus besos” as a solo artist.

After a five-hour memorial, mourners released dozens of white balloons outside the theater and spontaneously sang “Volveré” in unison. One woman put her hand over her heart and patted it as she cried.

At the cemetery Zulinka Pérez, one of his daughters, said: “I knew he was loved but I never imagined this.”

Just blocks from the memorial for Pérez, heavy equipment began withdrawing from the site where Jet Set once stood and rescue crews packed up their equipment.

Meanwhile, a group of prosecutors arrived.

It is still unclear what caused the roof to collapse

or when the building was last inspected The government has said it will launch a thorough investigation, and the club’s owners have said they are cooperating with authorities.

Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations, broke down as he addressed reporters.

“Thank you, God, because today we accomplished the most difficult task I’ve had in 20 years,” he said, moving the microphone away from his face as he cried. Other officials patted him on the back as he continued, “Please forgive me,” before passing the microphone to an army official.

Officials said 189 people were rescued alive from the rubble. More than 200 were injured, with 23 of them still hospitalized, including eight in critical condition.

“If the trauma is too great, there’s not a lot of time” left to save patients in that condition, said Health Minister Víctor Atallah. He and other doctors said some of the in-

Judge allows requirement that all in U.S. illegally must register

BY REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press

WASHINGTON A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with a requirement that everyone in the U.S. illegally must register with the federal government, in a move that could have farreaching repercussions for immigrants across the country

In a ruling Thursday, Judge Trevor Neil McFadden sided with the administration, which had argued that they were simply enforcing an already existing requirement for everyone in the country who wasn’t an American citizen to register with the government.

The requirement goes into effect Friday

The Department of Homeland Security announced Feb. 25 that it was mandating that all people in the United States illegally register with the

federal government, and said those who didn’t selfreport could face fines or prosecution. Failure to register is considered a crime, and people will be required to carry registration documents with them or risk prison time and fines.

Registration will be mandatory for everyone 14 and older without legal status. People registering have to provide their fingerprints and address, and parents and guardians of anyone under age 14 must ensure they registered.

The registration process also applies to Canadians who are in the U.S. for more than 30 days, such as so-called snowbirds who spend winter months in places like Florida.

Federal immigration law has long required that people who aren’t American citizens and live in the U.S., including those here illegally, register with the government. Those laws can be traced back to the Alien Registration Act of

1940, which came amid growing fears of immigrants and political subversives in the early days of World War II. The current requirements stem from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.

But the requirement that people illegally in the U.S. register has been enforced only in rare circumstances. In fact, advocates opposing the government say it hasn’t been universally used since it was first introduced in the mid-1940s.

It was used in a limited way after Sept 11, 2001, when the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System required that all noncitizen males 16 and older from 25 countries all but one of them majority Arab or Muslim — register with the U.S. government The program led to no terrorism convictions but pulled more than 13,000 people into deportation proceedings. It was suspended in 2011 and dissolved in 2016.

aviation, including by sightseeing companies, TV news stations and police departments. It was initially developed for the U.S. Army before being adapted for other uses. Thousands have been manufactured over the years. The National Transportation Safety Board said it would investigate.

The rescue craft were near the end of a long maintenance pier for a venti-

lation tower serving the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side of the river Fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were on nearby streets with their lights flashing. The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights. Manhattan has several helipads that whisk business executives and others to destinations throughout the metropolitan area. Over the years, there have been multiple crashes, including a collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River in 2009 that killed nine people and the 2018 crash of a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights that went down into the East River, killing five people. A medical transport plane killed seven people when it plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in January That happened two days after an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair in Washington — the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SETH WENIG

helicopter crashed into the Hudson

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATIAS DELACROIX

A person is comforted Thursday outside the National Institute of Forensic Pathology in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before identifying the body of a family member who died at the Jet Set nightclub days after its roof collapsed during a concert and killed more than 200 people.

jured suffered fractures to the skull, femur and pelvis. Many people have been anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones, growing frustrated with the drip-drip

of information provided by hospitals and the country’s

Some profited on Trump’s‘buy’ tipbeforetariffs pause

BY BERNARD CONDON Associated Press

NEW

YORK When Donald Trump offered some financial advice Wednesday morning, stocks were wavering between gains and losses.

But that was aboutto change.

“THIS IS AGREATTIME

TO BUY!!! DJT,” he wrote on his social media platform

Truth Social at 9:37 a.m.

Less than four hours later, Trump announced a90-day pause on nearly all his tariffs. Stocks soared on the news, closing up 9.5% by the end of trading. The market, measuredbythe S&P 500, gained back about $4 trillion, or 70%, of the value it had lost over the previous four trading days. It was aprescient call by the president. Maybetoo prescient.

“He’sloving this, this control over markets, but he better be careful,” said Trump critic and former White Houseethicslawyer, Richard Painter,noting that securities law prohibits trading on insider informa-

“Fairly early this morning.”

Asked for clarification on thetiming in an email to the WhiteHouse later,aspokesperson didn’tanswer directly but defendedTrump’s post as part of his job

“It is the responsibilityof the Presidentofthe United States to reassure the markets andAmericans about theireconomic security in the face of nonstopmedia fearmongering,” wrote White House spokesman Kush Desai.

TrumpMedia shares

Another curiosityofthe posting was Trump’ssignoff with his initials.

ular.The White House was asked, but didn’taddress that either.Trump includes “DJT” on his posts intermittently, typically to emphasize that he has personally written the message.

The ambiguity about what Trump meant didn’tstop people from pouring money into that stock.

Trump Media closed up 22.67%, soaring twiceas much as the broader market, astunning performance by a company that lost $400 millionlastyear andisseeminglyunaffected by whether tariffs would be imposedor paused.

stock pick—ElonMusk’s Tesla. Last month, Trumpheld an extraordinary news conferenceoutside the White House praising the company and its cars. That was followed by aFox TV appearance by his commerce secretary urging viewers to buy the stock.

tion or helping others do so.

“Thepeoplewho bought when they sawthatpost made alot of money.”

Senators speakout

Democratic senators are callingfor investigation

“Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’sexpense?,” said Democratic Sen. AdamSchiff in apostonthe platform BlueSky.Added Democratic

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut on X, “An insider trading scandal is brewing.”

Akey questionis: Was Trumpalready contemplating the tariff pause when he madethat post?

“Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it,” said Trump himself when asked yesterdaydirectly about when he arrivedat his decision,but then added to the confusion, stating,

DJT is also thestock symbol for TrumpMedia and Technology Group, theparentcompanyofthe president’s social media platform TruthSocial.

It’snot clear if Trumpwas saying buy stocks in general,orTrump Mediainpartic-

Trump’s53% ownership stake in the company,now in atrust controlledbyhis oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., rose by $415 million on the day

Trump Media was bested, albeit by only two-hundreds of apercentage point, by another Trumpadministration

Tesla’ssurge Wednesday added$20 billiontoMusk’s fortunes. Kathleen Clark, agovernment ethicslaw expert at Washington University School of Law,says Trump’s post in other administrationswould have been investigated, but is not likely to trigger any reaction, save for maybe moreTruth Social viewers.

“He’s sending themessage that he can effectivelyand with impunity manipulate the market,” she said, “As in: Watch this space for future stock tips.”

BY JON GAMBRELL and DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Moscow freed aRussian American convicted of treason in exchange for aRussian German man jailed on smuggling charges in the U.S.,a prisoner swap that was completed Thursdayasthe two countries met to repair ties.

“They releasedthe young ballerina and she is now out, and that wasgood. So we appreciatethat,” President Donald Trump said of Ksenia Karelina,who wasexpected to arrive back in the U.S.on

Thursday evening.She was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 and convicted of treason on charges stemming from adonation of about$52 to acharity aiding Ukraine. U.S. authorities have calledthe case “absolutely ludicrous.”

Arthur Petrov wasreleased as partofa swap in AbuDhabi,UnitedArab Emirates,accordingtothe Federal Security Service, or FSB, Russia’s main securityand counterintelligence agency.Petrov was arrested in Cyprus in August 2023 at therequest of the U.S. on

charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronicstoRussia and extradited to the U.S. ayear later

Karelina was among a growing number of Americansarrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washingtonspiked over the war in Ukraine. Her release is the latest in aseries of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia andthe U.S.carried out in the last threeyears—and the second sinceTrump took office andreversed Washington’spolicyofisolating Russia in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By SETH WENIG

Atelevision displays President Donald Trumpspeaking Wednesdayonthe floor at the Newyork Stock Exchangein Newyork.

Stocks dive again after Wednesday rally

Wall Street reverts to fear about U.S.-China trade war

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK U.S. stocks dove

Thursday and surrendered a chunk of their historic gains from the day before as President Donald Trump’s trade war continues to threaten the economy

The S&P 500 tumbled 3.5%, slicing into Wednesday’s surge of 9.5% following Trump’s decision to pause many of his tariffs worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,014 points, or 2.5%, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 4.3%.

“Trump blinks,” UBS strategist Bhanu Baweja wrote in a report about the president’s decision on tariffs, “but the damage isn’t all undone.”

Trump has focused more on China, raising tariffs on its products to well above 100% Even if that were to get negotiated down to something like 50%, and even if only 10% tariffs remained on other countries, Baweja said the hit to the U.S. economy could still be large enough to hurt expected growth for upcoming U.S. corporate profits.

The losses for U.S. stocks accelerated Thursday after the White House clarified that the United States will tax Chinese imports at 145%, not the 125% rate that Trump had written about in his posting on Truth Social Wednesday, once other previously announced tariffs were included. The drop for the S&P 500 exceeded 6% at one point.

“Everything is still very volatile, because with Donald Trump, you don’t know what to expect,” said Francis Lun, chief executive of Geo Securities. “This is really big uncertainty in the market The threat of recession has not faded.” China, meanwhile, has reached

out to other countries around the world in apparent hopes of forming a united front against Trump.

The world’s second-largest economy is also ramping up its own countermeasures to Trump’s tariffs.

The stock price of Warner Bros. Discovery, the company behind “A Minecraft Movie,” dropped 12.5% for one of Wall Street’s sharpest losses after China said Thursday it will “appropriately reduce the number of imported U.S. films.”

The Walt Disney Co.’s stock sank 6.8%.

A spokesperson for the China Film Administration said it is “in-

evitable” that Chinese audiences would find American films less palatable given the “wrong move by the U.S. to wantonly implement tariffs on China.”

bond market, which had been showing encouraging signals earlier in the day that stress may be easing.

U.S. Treasury yields had rattled the market, so much that Trump said Wednesday he had been watching how investors were “getting a little queasy.”

Several reasons could have been behind the sharp, sudden rise in yields. Hedge funds may have sold Treasurys in order to raise cash, and investors outside the United States may be dumping their U.S. government bonds because of the trade war Regardless of the reasons behind it, higher Treasury yields crank up pressure on the stock market and push rates higher for mortgages and other loans for U.S. households and businesses.

The 10-year Treasury yield had calmed following Trump’s U-turn on tariffs, dropping all the way back to 4.30% shortly after the release of a better-than-expected report on inflation Thursday morning. That’s after it had shot up to nearly 4.50% Wednesday morning from just 4.01% at the end of last week.

As Thursday progressed, though, the 10-year Treasury yield climbed once again and reached 4.40%. It all demonstrates why many on Wall Street are preparing for more swings in markets, after the S&P 500 at one point nearly dropped into a “bear market” by almost closing 20% below its record. Often, the market’s whipsaw moves have come not just day to day but also hour to hour The S&P 500 still remains below where it was when Trump announced his sweeping set of tariffs last week on “Liberation Day.”

siana and create competition and lowers premiums Just a day earlier, Landry announced an alternative slate of policies to lower auto insurance rates but urged a “balanced approach” he says would hold both insurance companies and trial lawyers accountable.

“Both sides have plenty of blame to go around,” Landry said at his own news conference Wednesday

“Today I’m not here to help any lawyers, and I’m not here to help insurance companies I’m here to help the citizens of the state.”

Landry acknowledged a need to tamp down frivolous lawsuits and said the prevalence of minor injury claims “points to a cultural problem” of civil litigation connected to lawyer advertising.

But unlike Temple, who laid blame for high insurance rates squarely on Louisiana’s civil law system and the trial lawyers, Landry also emphasized the role of insurance companies.

“Insurance coverage in this state is not an option,” Landry said “It is mandated by law, and our citizens are forced to pay for it. With that

mandate comes great responsibility from those who cover them.”

Landry said insurers have promised that policy changes would lead to lower rates, “but they have broken their word again and again.”

He also said insurance companies have lost public trust as they continue to bring in “record profits.”

Landry angered many in the business community last year when he killed a major bill opposed by trial lawyers and weakened other measures before agreeing to support them.

Business backing Temple

At his Thursday news conference, Temple recruited two members of the trucking industry to speak in support of his plan.

“We feel as though the trucking industry is being attacked,”

said Jake Minner, a transportation manager at Bengal Transportation Services, which hosted Temple’s news conference.

Minner cited “staged accidents” and “plaintiffs attorneys’ frivolous lawsuits.”

“We need our legislators to implement measures that will protect our family businesses from frivolous lawsuits,” said Jared Varnado, president of Towing and Recovery Professionals of Louisiana, a trade association

That was after Trump and his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, sent a clear message to other countries Wednesday after announcing their pause on tariffs for most countries: “Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded.”

The European Union said Thursday it will put its trade retaliation measures on hold for 90 days and leave room for a negotiated solution. Thursday’s swings also hit the

Temple’s policy is also backed by two other powerful groups: the Insurance Council of Louisiana, an insurance trade association, and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the state’s most powerful business lobby

A statement from LABI said the organization has worked with Temple “on a comprehensive package of bills” that “will signal Louisiana is open for business.”

“For far too long, we have failed to enact the reforms necessary to curb lawsuit abuse, prevent jackpot justice and attract more insurers to the state,” the statement said “The result has been a legal climate where lawyers cash in and Louisianans lose out, forcing them to shutter their businesses or relocate to friendlier states.”

Temple worked over 20 years in various parts of the insurance industry and has consistently said free market principles will help ameliorate Louisiana’s insurance woes.

Temple’s legislative priorities

The insurance commissioner highlighted three policies he is supporting this year

One is a “collateral source” bill by Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter that would put limits on recovering health care expenses during litiga-

The bond market has historically played the role of enforcer against politicians and economic policies it deemed imprudent. It helped topple the United Kingdom’s Liz Truss in 2022, for example, whose 49 days made her Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister James Carville, adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, also famously said he’d like to be reincarnated as the bond market because of how much power it wields.

Earlier this week, big jumps for

tion. The amount would be the lesser of a “usual and customary rate” for the services or the amount actually paid to a health care provider regardless of the source of funding for those payments.

Another is a legal concept known as “modified comparative fault.”

Right now, if someone is injured but is partly responsible for it, the amount of money, or “damages,” received is reduced in proportion to the “percentage of negligence attributable to the person.” But the change backed by Temple wouldn’t allow someone to collect damages if they are at least 50% responsible for the accident.

Also, “general damages” legislation Temple supports would cap money paid out for non-monetary damages such as pain, suffering and emotional distress at $5 million.

Policy debate

Temple took time to dispute details about Louisiana insurance regulation that he said Landry presented in a way that was “incorrect.”

One is the power of the state’s insurance commissioner to regulate insurance companies. Landry on Wednesday said Louisiana has the “weakest regulatory structure for holding insurance companies

All told, the S&P 500 fell 188.85 points Thursday to 5,268.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,014.79 to 39,593.66, and the Nasdaq composite sank 737.66 to 16,387.31. In stock markets abroad, indexes rallied across Europe and Asia in their first chances to trade following Trump’s pause on many of his tariffs. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 9.1%, South Korea’s Kospi leapt 6.6% and Germany’s DAX returned 4.5%.

accountable.”

On Thursday, Temple disagreed:

“I have all the authority I need to deny a rate for being too high, and I exercise it,” he said “I don’t approve rates that are too high — period.”

Another issued related to insurance company disclosures.

“I’m supporting legislation to prevent these insurance companies from arbitrarily labeling information as confidential and proprietary,” Landry said Wednesday without providing additional details about the measure. “They are preventing the public from seeing information that can assist the insurance commissioner in decisionmaking.”

Temple disagreed with that.

Insurance companies are required to provide his office information upon request, confidential or not, he said. “They have to provide the information, and they do.” Addressing Landry’s assertion that insurers are making record profits, Temple said the companies are leaving Louisiana because they are losing money here.

Temple said it is important to “correct the record” on the issues because “if we aren’t on the same page about the problems, we can’t begin to make real progress on the solutions.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RICHARD DREW

Trader Peter Herits, center works on the options floor of the New york Stock Exchange on Thursday

Thebill doesn’tinclude specific budget cuts. It tells committeestomake spending cuts and include wording that enacts Trump’slegislative wants to achieve those cuts.

Underthe rules,ifthe House and Senate Republicans agreeprecisely on the terms, they can proceed to pass that budget with Trump initiatives into lawwithout Democratic input under what is called reconciliation.

The Senate version, narrowly passed over the weekend, aimed at cutting$4billion in spending. The version the House previously passed called for much steeper cuts of at least $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

Johnson says passing the Senate version doesn’tlock Congress into alower number but only gives the House and Senate instructions to proceed.

“The budget resolutionis not thelaw itself, but only the necessary kickoff for reconciliation to begin,” Johnson said. “Although the Senate chose to take adifferent approach on its instructions, the amended resolution in no way prevents us from achieving our goals in the final reconciliation bill.”

Senate Majority Leader JohnThune, R-South Dakota,indicatedsenators could try to match the $1.5 trillion in cuts the House wants.

“The speaker has talked about $1.5 trillion,” Thune said. “Wehave alot of United States senators who believe that is aminimum. And we’re certainly goingto do everything we cantobe as aggressive as possible to see that we are serious about the matter.”

Extending the Trump tax cuts will cost about $5 trillion.

HEMP

Continued from page1A

challenges.

Lawmakers this session face two major budget obstacles. If they want to keep a$2,000 stipend for teachersthat has been in place for two years, they must come up with$198 million. Meanwhile, if federal cuts come down the pike from the Trump administration, the state could have abigger issue, since nearly half its spending comes from the federal government. Currently,the hemp tax goes toward early childhood education. Fontenot’sbill would not change that.

Echols’ bill, however, would spread the revenue In addition to early childhood education, the tax would fund criminal justice initiatives, drug abusetreatment and hemp-THC product testing and regulation

Echols estimated increasing the tax to 20% would generateatleast $10million more in revenue

“I don’tthink it has ever been appropriately taxed,”

Worries about cutting Medicaid, the state-federal programthatprovides health insurance to low-income Americans, illustrate the tension over how much to cut While Republicans in deep-red districts want to see massive budget cuts, some senators and some House Republicansoperate under different political realities. For instance,many of theirconstituents don’t wantdeep cuts in Medicaid. Johnson has said repeatedly that Medicaid was never mentioned in thebill and that thepresidentpromised theprogram won’tbe touched.

Butothershave argued the scale of cuts the House version of the bill required would makeavoidingcuts to Medicaidimpossible.

“Givemeabreak,” said Rep.Brendan Boyle, DPennsylvania, thehighestranking Democrat on the House Budget committee.

TheHouse committee thatoversees Medicaid has been toldtofind $880 bil-

Echols said. But Joe Gerrity,CEO of New Orleans-based Crescent Canna, which makes THC-infused seltzers, balked at the notion of such atax hike.

“It’sexcessive,” he said.

“It onlyserves to make people pay more money at atime where many Americans are already tightening their belts.”

Retailersare responsible for paying the taxonthe hemp-THC products they sell.

Generallyspeaking, Gerrity said,constant changes to hemp lawsdiscourage people from investing in what he believes should be a thriving industry

“Wefirmly believe that Louisiana should become a leader inthis industry,and constant changes to the law make it nearlyimpossible forcompanies likemineto invest in this market,” he said. Meanwhile,two billsby Rep. Laurie Schlegel,RMetairie, would tighten the regulationsplaced on consumable hemp products last year

Though it is already ille-

lionincuts over a10-year period. But93% of the funding within thecommittee’s jurisdiction is Medicaid and Medicare, Boyle said, citing aCongressionalBudget Office report. CBOestimates that Medicaid will cost $8.2 trillion between 2025 and 2034.

ButsomeRepublicans argue there are ways to reduce spending on Medicaid withouttearing insurance away from low-income and elderly Americans.

Scaliseargued that waste, fraud and inefficiencies in Medicaid amount to about $60 billion ayear

“That’sthe theft of hardworking taxpayers’ money That’staking health care away from the disabled who need it,” Scalise said. “People that work two and three jobs, working their tails off to help provide for their family areincensed when they hear aboutthis waste andtheysay,‘When’ssomebody going to do something about it?’”

“Medicaid is debilitat-

ingthe vulnerable andnot helping them,” saidRep. Chip Roy, aTexas Republican who opposed the Senate version for having shallow

spending reduction targets, but in the end voted for the measure. “Whatthe Senate sent over is ajoke.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said that, now that the committee process has been set in motion with the passage of the bill, “they will have to spell out the very cuts to Medicaid and other programs” Democrats have warned about.

Citing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis, Jeffries added, “the only waytoachieve that levelofspending cuts is to gutMedicaid alongwith Supplemental Nutritional Assistance (food stamps) anda whole host of other things.”

Johnson continued to emphasizethe importance of the bill to Trump’sagenda.

“By clearing this critical hurdle, House committees can now work in tandem with Senate committees to swiftly prepare their respective parts of the reconciliation bill, keeping us on track

for markups during the next work period,” Johnson said after the vote. “This process will requireclose consultation with the White House to ensure that the final bill reflectsour sharedpriorities, resulting in aproduct that can pass both chambers and be signed into law by President Trump.” Johnson becamespeaker in late October 2023 after House Republicans battled for almost amonth among themselves over who to place in thetop job.Hewas nearly ousted in March 2024 by far-rightpartisans whoin January almost kept Johnsonfrom beingreelected to the speakership. Trump bailed him out both timesbyleaning on Johnson’sconservative opponents. Trumpagain hit thephonesand broughtin recalcitrant Republicans to help Johnson pass the House version of the blueprint bill.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.

gal to sell hemp-THC products to people under age 21,House Bill 12 would add criminal penalties for doing so. If thebill passes, anyone who sells ahemp-THCproduct to an underage person could face afine of $1,000 to $2,000 or aone- to six-month prison sentence. Underage people in possession of such productswould face fines of up to $100.

Schlegelsaidshe modeled the bill after the state’s criminal alcohol laws.

“Those guardrails weren’t put into place when the industry was getting set up,” she said.

The bill also would make distributing hemp-THC products outside of state regulationsacrime comparable to drug dealing. Penalties would include one to 10 years in prison or afine of up to $50,000.

Schlegel has asecond proposal, House Bill 36, that wouldadd civilliability to illegally distributing hempTHC products.

Email Meghan Friedmann at meghan.friedmann@ theadvocate.com.

30-year mortgage rate falls for third week

The average rate on a30year mortgage in theU.S. declined for the third weekina row, another positive movefor prospective homebuyers during what’straditionally the housing market’sbusy season.

The rate fell to 6.62% from 6.64% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac saidThursday Ayearago, the rate averaged 6.88%.

The average rate has mostly trended lower since reaching just over 7% in mid-January When mortgage rates decline, they boost homebuyers’ purchasingpower

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, were unchangedfrom lastweek. The averagerate remained at 5.82%, butisdown 6.16% ayear ago, Freddie Macsaid.

Prada agrees to buy Versace in $1.4B deal

The Prada Group announced adeal Thursday to buycrosstownMilanfashion rival Versace from the U.S. luxury group Capri Holdings underterms that value one of the mostrecognizable namesinItalian fashion at $1.4 billion.

The deal will put Versace, knownfor sexy silhouettesand boldGreco and Medusa motifs, under the sameroof as Prada’s “ugly chic” aesthetic and the youth-drivenMiu Miuwhose stunning growth in recent years has far outpaced the market

Prada said the 47-year-old Versace brand offered “significant untapped growth potential.”

The final value of the deal will be adjusted at closing, which is expected in the second half of the year,the Prada Group said. Donatella Versace, who took over as creative director at the fashion house founded by her brother,GianniVersace, after his 1997 murder,continues with the fashion house in the new role of chief brand ambassador The Italian government welcomeda dealthat appears to secureVersace’slonger-term future as otherfamily-owned fashion brands have faltered or even disappeared after opening up to outside investors.

PublishersClearing files for bankruptcy

Publishers Clearing House, adecades-old marketingand sweepstakescompanyknown for dolingout large “Prize Patrol”checks,has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcyprotection.

In an announcement this week, PCHsaid it was using thebankruptcy process to “finalize ashift away” from its legacy business of direct-mail, retail merchandise and magazine subscriptions. The companyishoping to instead transition to a“pure digital advertising” model, whereit willcontinuetooffer free-to-play entertainment and prizes.

The Chapter 11 proceedings, filed in NewYork on Wednesday,arriveamid growing financial strain forPCH —which has struggled with rising operational costsand changing consumer habitsinrecent years.

PCH’sroots date to 1953 when Harold and LuEsther Mertz and their daughter,Joyce Mertz-Gilmore, formed abusiness outoftheir Long Island, New York, home to send directto-consumer mailings that solicitedsubscribersfor anumber of magazines through one single offering

The company later grew with chances for consumers to win money —first launching adirect mail sweepstakes in 1967. PCH became known for surprisingprize winners with oversized checks. In Wednesday court documents, the company said it has awarded over half a billion dollars in prizes and continues to attractmillions of contestants today But in recent years the businesshas been squeezed by rising shipping and postal rates, as well as inventory and supply chainchallenges that have continued since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. inflationfalls in March

Increase in core prices smallest in four years

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP economics writer

WASHINGTON— U.S. inflation declined last month as thecostofgas, airlinefares, and hotelrooms fell, a sign that price growth was cooling even as President Donald Trump ramped up his tariff threats

Consumer prices rose 2.4% in March from ayear earlier,the Labor Departmentsaid Thursday, downfrom 2.8% in February.That is thelowest inflation figuresince September

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose

2.8% compared withayear ago, down from 3.1% in February.That is thesmallest increase in core prices in nearly four years. Economists closely watchcorepricesbecause they are considered abetter guide to where inflation is headed. Yetsome economists warned thatthe data is mostly backwardlooking and could be overtaken by the impact of the tariffs that Trump hasleftinplace, including huge duties on China, even after the90-day pause of some tariffs announced Wednesday. Inflation maystart to pick up in twotothree months’time andpossibly remain

elevated through at least the end of this year “Wegot ahuge tariff increase,” saidPaul Donovan, chief economistfor UBS Wealth Management. “There was an extreme tariff increase for less than 24 hours, and we’re back to ahuge tariff increase, relativetowhere we were a monthago. This is increasing taxes on U.S. consumers. And they’re going to have to find the money to pay these taxes.”

On amonthly basis, prices actually fell0.1% in March, the first monthly drop in nearlyfive years. Core prices rose 0.1% in March

from February “Thatwas nice, but don’tget used to it,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. “All this is looking in therearview mirror. With both inflation and the overall economy, uncertainty abounds about what might be lurking around the bend.”

One reason prices fell were sharp drops in travel-related costs, including airfares, which slipped 5.3% just from February to March. Hotel room prices dropped 3.5%.

Economists said thosedrops in part reflected much slower international demand as thenumberof tourists visiting the UnitedStates hasfallensharply amidTrump’s aggressive trade policy

Trump’stariffs threaten to endera of cheapgoods forU.S.consumers

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP business writers

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s new tariffs threaten to push up priceson clothes, mobilephones,furnitureand many other products in the coming months, possibly ending the era of cheap goods thatAmericans enjoyed for about aquarter-century before thepandemic.

In return, White House officials hope the import taxes create more high-payingmanufacturingjobsbybringing production back to theUnitedStates. It is apolitically risky trade-off that could take years tomaterialize, and it would have to overcome tall barriers, such as theautomation of mostmodern factories.

EvenafterTrump’s U-turn on Wednesday that paused steep new tariffs on about 60 nations for 90 days, average U.S. duties remain much higher than acouple of months ago.

Trumphas imposed a10% tariff on all im-

BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP technologywriter

SAN FRANCISCO President Donald Trump’sadministration has been predicting its barrage of tariffs targeting Chinawill pushApple into manufacturing the iPhone in the United States for thefirst time But that’sanunlikely scenario even with U.S.tariffs now standing at 145% on products made in China —the country where Apple has manufacturedmost of itsiPhones since thefirst model hit themarket 18 yearsago

The disincentives forApple shiftingits production domesticallyinclude acomplex supplychainthat

ports, while goods from China —the United States’ third-largest source of imports face huge 145% duties.And there are25% taxes on imports of steel, aluminum, cars androughlyhalf of goodsfrom Canada and Mexico.

As aresult,the average U.S. tariff has soared from below 3% beforeTrump’sinauguration to roughly 20% now,economists calculate, the highest level since at least the 1940s.

Should they remain in place, such high duties would reverse decades of globalization that helped lower costs for American shoppers.

Other trends,including factory automation and technological innovation, particularly in electronics such as TVs, have also brought down prices.But imports help keep prices in check, economists say,partly because of lower labor costsoverseas and because increased competition in the U.S. marketforces American companies to be more efficient.

“Freer trade has helped moderate inflation

it beganbuilding in China during the1990s.Itwould take several yearsand costbillions of dollars to buildnew plants in theU.S., and thenconfront Apple witheconomic forces thatcould triple thepriceof an iPhone, threatening to torpedo salesofits marquee product

“The conceptofmakingiPhones in the U.S. is anonstarter,” asserted Wedbush Securities analystDan Ives, reflecting awidely held view in theinvestment community that tracks Apple’severy move.Heestimated thatthe current $1,000 price tag for an iPhone made in China, or India, wouldsoartomorethan $3,000 if production shifted to the U.S.And he believesthatmoving

over thelongterm,” said ScottLincicome, atrade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute.“If we areentering amorerestricted supply side then you’re likely to see more expensive stuff.”

Bank of America estimates that the new duties could raise car prices an average of $4,500, even assuming that automakers absorb some of thetariffs’ impact. Suchan increasewould follow sharp price hikes of the past fewyears that have leftthe average price of anew car at apainful $48,000.

AaronRubin, CEO of ShipHero LLC, which provides software for merchants to help book shipments and track order deliveries, said his data indicates that retailers arealready starting to raise prices to get ahead of the tariffs.

ShipHero’sdata capturesprices on several million products equivalent to about 1% of overall U.S. e-commerce sales. Prices rose 3.9% on Sunday and Monday on avariety of goods compared with the week before Trumpannounced moretariffs, Rubin said.

production domestically likely couldn’tbedoneuntil, at theearliest, 2028. “Price pointswouldmove so dramatically,it’shard to comprehend.” Apple didn’trespond to arequest for comment Wednesday.The Cupertino, California, company has yet to publicly discuss its response to Trump’stariffs on China, but the topic may comeuponMay 1when Apple CEOTim Cook is scheduled to field questions fromanalysts during aquarterly conferencecall to discuss the company’sfinancial results and strategy And there is no doubt the China tariffs will be ahot-button issue given Apple’sstock price has

dropped by 15% andlowered the company’smarket value by $500 billion since Trump began increasing them on April 2.

If thetariffs hold, Apple is widely expected to eventually raise prices on iPhones and other popular products because Silicon Valley’ssupply chain is so heavily concentrated in China,India andotheroverseas markets caught in thecrossfire of the escalating trade war The big question is how long Apple mightbewilling to hold the line on itscurrentprices before the tariffs’ toll on the company’sprofit margins become too muchtobear and consumers are asked to shoulder some of the burden.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByNGHAN GUAN

province.

Feds cite power to deport people for beliefs in Khalil case

large demonstrations against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the war in Gaza.

Rather, Rubio wrote Khalil could be expelled for his beliefs.

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press

NEWYORK Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over evidence for its attempted deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, the federal government has instead submitted a brief memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, citing the Trump administration’s authority to expel noncitizens whose presence in the country damages U.S foreign policy interests.

The two-page memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press, does not allege any criminal conduct by Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident and graduate student who served as spokesperson for campus activists last year during

He said that while Khalil’s activities were “otherwise lawful,” letting him remain in the country would undermine “U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”

“Condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” Rubio wrote in the undated memo.

The submission was filed Wednesday after Judge Jamee Comans ordered the government to produce its evidence against Khalil ahead of a hearing Friday on whether it can continue detaining him during immigration proceedings.

Attorneys for Khalil said the memo proved the Trump administration was “targeting Mahmoud’s

Hout and Johnny Sinodis, said in a joint statement.

“There is not a single shred of proof that Mahmoud’s presence in America poses any threat,” they added.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, did not respond to questions about whether it had additional evidence against Khalil, writing in an emailed statement, “DHS did file evidence, but immigration court dockets are not available to the public.”

“Knowing fully that this moment transcends my individual circumstances,” he added, “I hope nonetheless to be free to witness the birth of my firstborn child.”

Though Rubio’s memo references additional documents, including a “subject profile of Mahmoud Khalil” and letter from the Department Homeland Security, the government did not submit those documents to the immigration court, according to Khalil’s lawyers.

free speech rights about Palestine.”

“After a month of hiding the ball since Mahmoud’s late-night unjust arrest in New York and taking him away to a remote detention center in Louisiana, immigration authorities have finally admitted that they have no case whatsoever against him,” the attorneys, Marc Van Der

Khalil, a 30-year-old Palestinian by ethnicity who was born in Syria, was arrested March 8 in New York and taken to a detention center in Louisiana. He recently finished his coursework for a master’s degree at Columbia’s school of international affairs. His wife, an American citizen, is due to give birth this month.

Khalil has adamantly rejected allegations of antisemitism, accusing the Trump administration in a letter sent from jail last month of “targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent.”

The memo also calls for the deportation of a second lawful permanent resident, whose name is redacted in the filing.

The Trump administration has pulled billions of dollars in government funding from universities and their affiliated hospital systems in recent weeks as part of what it says is a campaign against antisemitism on college campuses, but which critics say is a crackdown on free speech. To get the money back,

Former Lafayette marshal remains in jail

Pope was arrested for probation, parole violations

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Former Lafayette City Marshal

Brian Pope remains incarcerated two weeks after he was arrested in connection with probation and parole violations. Pope, 60, was arrested March 26

in connection with probation and parole violations and on seven fugitive warrants, according to court records.

He spent two weeks in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center and was transferred Wednesday to the jail in Evangeline Parish, according to jail records.

In 2018, Pope was convicted on three counts of malfeasance in office. The judge suspended two years of his three-year jail sentence and put Pope on probation with several conditions which the former city marshal failed to comply with, according to a probation and parole officer

Fifteenth Judicial District Court Judge David Smith issued an arrest warrant March 26 after Pope failed to show up for a revocation hearing. Court records indicate it wasn’t the first time Pope failed to appear for court.

Probation and parole officer Brandy Bonner in a motion to revoke Pope’s probation filed April 9 detailed the ways in which Pope violated the conditions of his probation. Pope, he wrote: n Failed to appear for revocation hearings on July 31, 2024, and March 26, 2025. n Failed to pay a $71 monthly

CELEBRATE EARTH

BELOW: Blair Begnaud, center, and Mona Saleh, right, meet a 7-month-old alligator held by Tanya Sturman, program manager for the Alligator Advisory Council, at the Louisiana Deparment of Wildlife and Fisheries, at the Dupre Library on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus in Lafayette on Tuesday. The alligator encounter was held as part of the UL Lafayette Office of Sustainability’s Fête de la Terre Month which includes various activities to learn about sustainability and celebrate the Earth during the month of April. LEFT: UL Lafayette student McKaylen Broussard holds a 7-month-old alligator at the Dupre Library on Tuesday STAFF PHOTOS By

LESLIE WESTBROOK

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

PHOTO PROVIDED

NICOLE FERGUSON

Anaya Zachary, 14-year-old girl, was murdered by a classmate on March 21 in Baytown, Texas.

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

OPINION

Bigreforms needed to solveLa.’s auto insurancecrisis

When Itook office last January Louisiana was stuck in aproperty insurance crisis sparkedbythe devastating hurricanesof2020 and2021 and intensified by our state’s overly burdensome regulatory environment. Last year, Iworked with legislators to developa comprehensive package of property insurance reform to get insurerswriting new business in Louisiana again. That package was quickly passed with broad, bipartisansupport from the Legislature and Gov.Jeff Landry We have more to do to make sure home and business owners across the state benefit from these changes, but the data shows we are already trending in the right direction with 10 newly licensed homeowners insurers, a reduction in the severity of rate increases and significantly more insurers taking arate decrease in 2025. While our property insurance

market is on the upswing, Iam sorry to say our long-standing auto insurancecost crisis is not on the same path —atleast not yet. Thereisnodoubt our private passenger and commercial automarkets are in disastrous shape. We consistently rank as the most unaffordable state for auto insurance in thecountry.Louisiana drivers pay close to twice as much as drivers in our neighboring states just for livinginside our borders. In meetings with loggers, big truck drivers and business owners, I am consistently told there are few or no options for affordable insurance —and manyare considering amove out of state because of it.

Youmight think our high rates are driven by insurer profit, but the datashows that is not the case. Over the past 10 years in Louisiana, private passenger auto insurers have an average annual underwriting loss of 7.6%, which

Carbon captureisn’t worththe risk,effort

An interesting debate among traditional allies in Louisiana is underway

These allies are various factions in the oil and gas industry,land owners and economic conservatives regarding carbon capture, utilization and sequestration, often abbreviated CCUS. The topic may be obscure, butitisvery serious. Without caveat, Ifully concur with the notion of American energy dominance. In Louisiana, we literally stand on top of enough energy resources to keep America moving and to sell on the world market for hundreds of years to come. We are at the threshold of prosperity that we’ve never known to access our great resources, use them ourselves and sell them on the world market. To me, “energy dominance” should be focusedonfinding, extracting, processing and marketing these resources. Capturing something that is used by plant life (carbon dioxide) and turning it into apossible poison and then sequestering it below ground is not an energy activity whatsoever

means theyare losing money at threetimes the national average. They do even worse on the commercial side, taking aloss of 30.9%, which is six times the national average. The reason Louisiana families and business pay so much for autoinsurance is not amystery Study after study shows thatour high rate of medical and legal utilization is the primary problem in our state.

Proponents of the status quo say we have triedlegal reform for years and it has not done anything to curb our insurance costs. Well, theyare half right. We have triedtopass meaningful legal reform —but we have failed by passing watered-down “compromise” legislation thatis politically beneficial in the short term but totally ineffective at addressing the root causes of our high auto insurance rates. But it doesn’thave to be the same this year Since the last session ended, I have worked with lawmakers to develop legislation thatfixes the

real problems in our legal system by addressing medical billing transparency,comparative fault, general damages and other areas where we do things differently thanstates with more affordable autorates.

These solutions will be attacked as harmful by those who oppose them, but the bills we are proposing address the foundational issues thatcause our drivers to pay the highest auto insurance rates in the nation. We will continue paying them until we make these necessary legal and insurance reforms.

The time for talk is over.Ifwe can’tget true legal reform passed and signed by the end of this session, it will be time to change the game once and for all. If our legal reform efforts fail, Iwill propose the creation of anew entity called the Louisiana Commercial Automobile Corporation (LCAC).

Basedonthe extremely successful Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation that was created to solve the workers’ comp crisis in the 1980s and ‘90s,

the LCAC would be alegislatively created private entity designed to bring fairness and stability to the commercial market by statutorily limiting excessive claims, setting medical reimbursement rates and capping attorney fees.

The LCAC would solve two problems.

First, it would provide affordable insurance for businesses that have no realistic commercial auto options under the current system. Second, it would demonstrate the degree to which our legal system is corrupting our auto insurance market and finally pave the way for comprehensive legal reform.

Iran for office to make all types of insurance more affordable for the people of Louisiana. Iwill not accept the status quo in which we all suffer from high auto insurance rates for the benefit of a very few

One way or another,now is the time to fix this problem.

TimTemple is the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner

Amendmentrejection waswill of thepeople, notout-of-stateagitators

is tiedto“demands” of the world market. I’m frankly puzzled as to why the U.S. should continue to subjugate itself to thecyclical whims of aloosely defined world market and torture our oil and gas industry by trying to make production“cleaner” for such an obscure purpose. Ouroil and gas industries are already near thetop in the world in terms of clean production.

Further,it’smyappreciation that no other large country on earth is doing carbon sequestration, so Idon’t understand the point of us doing it. We’re out of the Paris Climate Accords, and the currentoccupant of the WhiteHouse sayshe wantsnopart of such things.

There is confusion about two processes that are both tied to the utilization of captured carbon dioxide. One helps maximize available oil and gas reserves, andthe other creates awaste deposit. The first process is EnhancedOil Recovery,orEOR. People in the business know EOR is agood thingfor our oil and gas ventures. EOR is critical to helping oil and gas industries get as muchvalue as possible out of oil fields. The other process is creating permanent waste sites in remote parts of our state that will trap oil and gas below the earthwhen captured carbon is injected. When you put carboninthe ground,itmay makeitimpossibletoget the oil and gas below it That can’tbeagood thing for our economy or our state in general. Some say carbon sequestration

At its root,carbon sequestrationis afederal government initiative —nonmarket-driven taxcredit —aimedatforcing the U.S. to complywithworldexpectations for carbon emissions. Thegoal of this is changing the earth’sclimate. But thescience on climate change is not settled, and Ithink it is very riskytoembrace something that may well be harmful for apurposethat is not achievable or necessary.Iencourage anyone interested in the topic of climate issues to check out Professor Steven Koonin’s book “Unsettled.” This book is agreat review of the utilityof many things we are doing in our current day and age —including capturing carbon.

In addition, there are ahost of other concerns related to sequestering carbon such as personal propertyrightsand the scientific community’sinability to accurately track where thecarbon travels when it goes below the earth’ssurface. Buried carbon is not asafe thing.

Iamvery hopeful that our statewon’tmake decisions now thatwesincerelyregret in the future.

Rep. Charles A. Owen representsDistrict 30 in the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Oneofthe essential principles of American democracy —laid out in the Declaration of Independence —is that our government exists to secure our people’sright to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and its power must be based on theconsent of thegoverned.

Gov.Jeff Landry would do well to reread our nation’sfounding document.

When all four of his proposed constitutional amendments failed overwhelmingly at the ballot box, he blamed George Soros and opposition spending, calling our state“conditioned for failure.”

All four of the proposed constitutional amendments

overwhelminglyonMarch29.

It was apoor attempt to obscure thetruth that thepeople of Louisiana did not consent to his proposed policies to imprison our children, strip away local control, rig our tax system to destabilize our education system and burden the poor to benefit therich.

The election resultswerenofluke or accident. At 21%, this was the highestturnout special electioninrecent history,especially among Black Louisianans,and theamendmentswererejected acrossparty lines.For context, Landrywas elected with547,827 votes,while 419,366 voters turned out to reject Amendment 3, which lostbythe largestmargin of the four questions on the ballot.

While some may claim that thefailure of these amendments is due to money,the “far left” or nonprofitslike the Vera Institute of Justice, where Iserve as director of our Louisiana office, these resultsare, in fact, the mandate of the people Landry was elected toserve. Make no mistake: Plenty of money was spent on this race. The Vera Institute, amemberofthe Liberty and DignityCoalition comprising more than50organizations working acrossLouisiana to create safer,healthier,thriving communities, spent morethan $500,000 against Amendment 3 to reach out and listen to our neighborsacross the state,educatepeople on the harmthese amendmentswould have caused and encourage them to make their voices heard at the ballot box.

The proponents of these harmful ballot measures spent heavily too —$580,000 on Amendment2alone, with money from PACs and outside donors like Charles Koch’sAmericans forProsperity.

Votersshould follow themoney —but that trail can’tstop at the ballot box. Amendment2

would have resulted in Louisiana’srich getting richer,atthe expense of working-class people struggling to get by,while Amendment 3was a“tough-on-crime” scare tactic attempting to trade on fears instead of offering real solutions forsafety

Why did we spend all this money to defeat Amendment 3? Because we love this state. We have spent our lives watching legislators try to arrest and incarcerate their way to public safety It has only madeLouisiana’sproblemsworse, while we are no safer.These failed “tough-oncrime” policies are what condition our state for failure. And while manysheriffs and private corporations makeaprofit off jails and prisons, the people of Louisiana lose millions of dollars that could be used forwhatactually helps neighborhoods and communitiesthrive: jobs, housing, health care and good schools. We helped form the Liberty and Dignity Coalition last summer for these reasons, but it wasborn on the ground, the result of years of organizing by dozens of groups and thousands of Louisianans foranagenda the people of this state actually want: safety,accountability,justice and dignity

The No on 3Campaign knocked on at least 49,000 doors and madeatleast 180,000 phone calls to talk to our neighbors, hear their opinions and explain these misleading amendments. Louisiana voters heard our message, and their will is clear in their ballots.

We are here to listen to the people and to fight fortheir rights to life, to liberty and to happiness. We hope the governor and Legislature will take apage from our book.

Sarah Omojolaisthe director of theVera Institute of Justice’sLouisianaoffice.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

failed

arepiled up at aportinQingdao in east China’sShandong province.

President Donald Trump’ssweeping tariffs sent global stock marketsinto afrenzy before they were pausedascountriesaround the globe struggled to respond.TheTrump administration insists that the president is using trade policy to reset the global economy andbringback manufacturing jobstothe United States. Butcritics argue that the tariffs have unleashed chaos that will ultimately harmU.S.businessesand consumers. Hereare twoperspectives:

Democratsdon’t like tariffs just because Trumpdoes

”Those are my principles, and ifyou don’tlike them well, Ihave others.”Groucho Marx

Guess who said this: “China takestotal advantage of the United States.They steal our intellectual property using cyber theft. Not onlydotheysteal our intellectual property,theykeep ourgood companies out, and say theonly way you’re going to beable to sell yourAmerican productsinChina is if you come to China, make them there,and give us thetechniques and intellectualproperty.”

Elon Musk? Nope.President Trump? Wrong again. That was then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer,D-NewYork, in a2018 radio interview.Onanother occasion that same year,Schumersaid: “I’m closer to him (Donald Trump)ontrade than Iwas to either Obama, aDemocrat, or Bush, aRepublican,because we vegot to get tougher on China. But thepresident and his team have to stick withit, be strong, and not sell outfor atemporary purchase of goods without addressingthe real issue: the theft of American intellectual property which will cost us millions of American jobs in thelongrun.”

Even withouttariffs,Trump’s economic agenda is adisaster

In thefive minutes required to read this column at aleisurely pace, pausing to sip coffee, the nation will pay $11 million (about$38,000 asecond) toward servicing thenational debt. Today,Congress is debating how many trillions to increase the debt.

Cal Thomas

crats whopreviously favored tariffs to now excoriate Trumpover thetariff policies they once supported? Why,politics, of course. Politicians can change positionsfaster than they can change lanes. Meanwhile, there is something else Trumpshould do. Thepresident should address the nation from theOval Office in prime time. He might remindAmericans of Franklin Roosevelt’sfamous line in his first inaugural address near thebeginning of the Great Depression: “The only thing we havetofear is fear itself.” This is nowhere close to adepression, he should say,but an attempt to fundamentally re-set theworld economy which is not working in America’sinterests.

Howabout this one: “Interms of tariffs, it’sinteresting to note thatthe average MFN (most favored nation)tariff for Chinese goods coming intothe United States is two percent, whereas theaverage MFN tariff on U.S.goodsgoingto China is 35 percent. Is that reciprocal?” Same list of choices? Wrong again That was Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) in 1996.

One more: “It’salsoproper for advanced economieslikethe United States to insist on reciprocityfrom nations like China.”

That was President Barack Obama speaking in Johannesburg, SouthAfrica, in 2018. What changed and caused manyDemo-

Don’t ad-lib or repeat yourself as you do when you go off-script in your speeches. Be serious. Be confident. Don’t make it about yourself, but about all Americans. Note that the U.S. no longer produces drugs in this country,but has outsourcedthem all, mostly to China, and that puts American lives and American interests at risk should those nations decidetonolonger ship drugs to us. Quote Democrats who were for tariffs before they were against them. Convince the public it will be better for everyone if we endure this relatively brief rough patch. Transitions can’tbeeasy,but the outcome can produce good results if we stick together and do not falter

If Trump’stariffs are ashort-term tactic to achieve reciprocitywith other nations, and they work (long termthey have been shown tohave negative consequences) —his critics will again be proved wrong. If he fails, Democrats will likely win the next two elections and nothing will have been solved. Speechwriters, get to work.

Email Cal Thomasattcaeditorstribpub.

com

The debate concerns extending or revising portions of, or perhaps extending all of, the first Trump administration’s2017 TaxCuts and Jobs Act. Since then, the 75 percent increase in federal spending has far exceeded the 58% increase in revenue.

On March 27, thespoilsports at the Congressional Budget Office released their Long-Term Budget Outlook. Their projections refute rosy scenarios, even without factoring in the slower economic growth that President Donald Trump’stariffs would cause. The CBO expects: By 2055, the national debt will grow from today’s122% of GDP to 156%, 37 percentage points above what it was in 1946, after borrowing to fight a global war Donald Trump’seconomic agenda, from taxes to tariffs (which are themselves taxes), is variable because he believes in theimmediate translation of whims into policy proposals, without an intervening pause for study.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says Trump suddenly favors eliminating “taxes” on people making less than $150,000 ayear —in2022, about 93% of Americans 15 and over If Trumpisreferring only to income taxes, that would mean —according to Jared Dillian, writing for Reason —that only 7% of Americanswould pay any income taxes. Already,the top 1% of earners provide about 40% of income tax revenue, and the bottom 50% provide about 3%. Progressives want income taxation to be moreprogressive so the wealthy will pay “their fair share.”Trumpismore

progressive still, wanting the wealthy to pay everyone else’sshare, too. There would be an even larger moral hazard problem —anincentive forperverse behavior —than there already is if 93% of incometax filers were not paying forthe government from which they always want increased benefits. Lutnick says, however,that Trumpwants to eliminate “taxes” —not specifically incometaxes —from those earning less than $150,000. So presumably,Trumpmeans under-$150,000 earners would escape payroll taxes, too, given that mostofthose people pay moretoward Social Security and Medicare than in incometaxes. This is “aspirational,” says Lutnick. It also is delusion, says arithmetic. Social Security’stotal incomein2023 was$1.35 trillion, with 91% of that derived from payroll taxes.

As, second by second, the governmentborrows substantial sumstopay interest on the money it has borrowed, remember: The national debt was$20 trillion when Donald Trumpbegan his first administration, having vowed to eliminate the debt in eight years. It was $28 trillion when Joe Biden’spresidency began. As Maya MacGuineas at the Committee foraResponsible Federal Budget notes, it reached $32 trillion on June 15, 2023; $33 trillion 92 days later; $34 trillion 105 days after that; $35 trillion in another 210 days; and $36 trillion in another 118. It will reach $37 trillion after Congress raises the debt ceiling sometime this summer All of these numbers reflect the optimistic, perhaps fanciful assumptions that the post-“Liberation Day” economy does not sag into arecession. In any case: This. Will. Not.End. Well.

Email George Will at georgewill@washpost.com

ROOM FOR DEBATE TARIFFS

George Will

ASSOCIATEDPRESS FILEPHOTO

Containers

Lawsuitagainst St.James Parish advances

Filingsallege environmental race discrimination

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer

Afederal appellate court in NewOrleans will allowalawsuit to proceedaccusing St James Parish government of ahistoric practice of steering polluting industries to majority Black neighborhoods and seeking amoratoriumon new plants there.

Noting the lawsuit is “replete with allegations” of unequaltreatment against Black residents, the threejudge panelofthe U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned alower-court rulingfindingthe localcommunity andenvironmental groups that broughtlitigation didn’thave standing to sue or brought it well past legal deadlines to do so.

WILSON

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family of Wilson, the 20-yearold Southern juniorwho died in February after afraternity hazing ritual. Wilson collapsed after being punched in the chest multiple timesbymembers of Southern’schapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Wilson,alongside other pledges,had beenlinedup in aBaton Rouge warehouse late at night before being struckaspart of their initiationinto the fraternity “I’vebeen talkingwith them almost every day after theincident happened,” Boyd said, who is friends with Wilson’saunt. The conversations eventuallyturnedtolegislativesolutions that mightbeable to keep“another family from going through this.” Boyd also looked to past interviews with the parents of Max Gruver,the 18-yearold LSU freshman who died of alcohol poisoning in 2017

DAIGLE

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Ritter announced. Doors will open at 6p.m., and Daigle is expected to perform at 8:30 p.m.

Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday

Daigle, whowas born in Lake Charles but grew up in Lafayette, is atwo-time Grammy,eight-time Billboard Music, four-time American Music, and 12-

POPE

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supervision fee after Nov 12, 2024.

n Failed to report to asu-

FAMILY

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to live with her dad when she was 11. She was in her last year of middle school and they are devastated that she will never experience all that life has to offer

“A partofour life, our family has been taken away There will never be enough justice served because we don’tget her back,” said her aunt, Nicole Ferguson.

Similar to most teenagers, Anaya loved to watch TikTok videos, and according to family,she was atrue country girl

“A barefooted walking country girl that could hunt, fish, change atire and would eat squirrel, rabbit,”said Janet Zachery,Anaya Zachary’scousin, who also lives in Baytown.

Apreliminary investigation from Baytown police revealed that earlier in the day,Anaya and another student from GooseCreek Consolidated Independent School District were in-

according to the lawsuit.

With the ruling, the plaintiffs can now continue totry to prove their allegationsin court. Filed in March2023, the lawsuit accused theparish of acontinuing violation of theplaintiffs’ equal protection and other rights that has diminished theirproperty values and harmed their health.

Over 150 pages, the suit details an extensivehistory of theparishand state, starting with the loss of freed slaves’ rights during Reconstruction and continuing with a series of land-use decisions since the 1960s that largely steered new industriesto majority Black areas and, in more recent history,blocked new projects in White areas. Home to twodozen industrialoperations, St.James officials through the years have allowed 20 of them in themajority-Black4th and 5th Districts andnot allowed any in majority-White districts for thepast 46 years,

during another fraternity hazing ritual.

“It’salready afelony (when)causing harm or death, but we really felt like thekidsneedtobeeducated, and not only the ones that are being hazed, but the ones that aredoing the hazing,” she said.“They clearly are not aware of the consequences if things go left.”

Raisingrequirements

Under thebill, anyone joining astudent organization wouldberequiredto take aone-credit-hoursemester course on anti-hazingduring the first twosemesters of their membership in such organization. Boyd said the requirement also would apply to any current student whoisamember of astudent organization. “I think the billis straightforward,” Boyd said. “I want incoming freshman to be requiredtotakethis,and if you are already amember of one of these groups, then you should have alittle time to get that class taken before you graduate.

time GMA DoveMusic award winner She’sperformed at the SuperBowl, has garnered over abillion streamsand years of sold-outworld tourswithperformances spanning fourcontinents. She hasperformed at Carnegie Hall, New OrleansJazz Fest, Lollapalooza, Radio CityMusic Hall andacross the globe.

Youngsville’samphitheater opened last fall,but its first ticketed event will be a Daigle’sperformance.

pervising officerafterApril of 2024 when he was ordered to report monthly n Failed to report fora scheduled visit on Oct. 18, 2024.

n Failedtwice to request permission to change his ad-

volvedina verbal argument on aschool bus. Later,the male suspect approached heratthe apartment complex playground and began shooting.

The investigation report from policesaid abystander,who had been holding her baby,sustained anonlife-threateninginjury in the shooting andwas taken to the hospital

According to Janet Zachery,Anaya’scousin, the witnesses contacted her and said that Anaya came outside to play and had beeninteracting with the woman. The woman was familiar with Anaya because the girlwould oftenplay with her baby Moments afterAnaya came outside,aboy allegedly approached heratthe playground with amask on and mentioned to her that he had atoy gun before pulling it out and shooting her

“From whatIwas told shewas shot fourtimes. Onetime in the chest, one time on her side, and then she tried to run and he shot

In court papers, parish officialsargued thelawsuitwas brought too late or couldn’t sufficiently supportany of its claims, calling it apolitically motivated attempttopaint them with racial animus by evoking the state’sdark history of slavery andJim Crow laws.

‘Well-pleadedallegations’

In theruling issued Wednesday,Circuit Judge Carl Stewart noted some of thecomments the plaintiffs had made more recently asking theParish Council not to approveanother project in majority Black areas.

“Similarly,ina council meetingregarding an industrialproject to be built within theFourthand Fifth District, Pastor (Harry) Joseph lamented, ‘(w)hy does it always have to be us?’”the judgewrote. “These statements,juxtaposed withthe organizations’ statements

Anystudent who doesn’t take the course would be prohibited from pledging or continuing as amember of astudent organization, Boydsaid.

“So they’d have achoice,” Boyd said. “Can’tfit the classin? Then theycan’t pledge.Theypledge in the grad chapter.”

Like current anti-hazing legislation, the bill would apply to undergraduate students whoare members of anystudent organization, notjustfraternities and sororities.

This point is important to Boyd, who saiditwas a“revelation” to herthat other organizations, like university bands or sports teams, often engage in the same dangerous hazing rituals reported amongGreeklife organizations.

Currentanti-hazing legislation only requires studentstotake asingle, hourlong anti-hazing orientation andtobegivena handbook on the dangersand illegality of hazing.

Boydsaid she has been in

Officials are hoping to sell approximately 5,300 ticketsfor Daigle’sperformance. Seating will include generaladmission on thegrass lawn, VIP tables and multiple seating areas with differentprice tiers. For more information on tickets, bagpolicies,parking information and more, visit laurendaigle.com/ tour

Email Ja’koriMadison at jakori.madison@ theadvocate.com.

dress on record, on Sept. 10, 2024, and March 12, 2025.

n Failed to pay$325 monthlyinvictim restitution totaling $11,700, leaving an owed balance of $3,900.

n Failed to provide documentation that he complet-

her twice in the back,” JanetZachery said.

Janet Zachery said she andothers in the family believe that the boy’sparents should be charged as well.

“I am afirm believerin God.SoI don’tadvocate for retaliation but my family andIstrongly agreethat the parents should be responsible as well because this childshould have not been able to obtain this gun,” shesaid.

Anaya Zachary was laid to rest by herfamily on SaturdayatGarden of Memory

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abouthow consistently the parish heeds the concerns of its majority-White districts, demonstrate the organizations’ well-pleaded allegations that they were racially classified and denied equal treatment.”

Theplaintiffs hailed theappellate ruling and pledged to continue fighting forthe case in court.

“Weare glad thecourt has found in ourfavor,and we thank God, too, for this victory,” Joseph, pastor of Mount Triumph Baptist Church in St. James, said in astatement. “This moratorium is important for the people in this area. We’ve been battling to achieve it for along time.”

Parish officials had not immediatelyresponded to a request for comment. Parish andindustry representatives have in the past cited the economic development,jobs andtax revenue such plants bring while denying any discrimination in the process.

conversationwith multiple universityleaderssince pre-filing thebill, including representatives from SouthernUniversity. She said that while leaders have been supportive, thetalks have focused on how to transition students into theirpotential new responsibilities.

Southern University

Board Chair Tony Clayton has already suggested that graduatechapters of Greek organizations take over allrecruitingand intake for frats andsororities on Southern’scampus.

Boyd said thatwhile she expects that HB279 might be amended, she expectsto have bipartisan support “I think we all don’twant to see this ever happen again,ifpossible,” shesaid. “Ifwecan deter oneortwo incidents, Ithink this bill is a huge success by itself.”

Secretary of State Nancy Landrysponsored thesimilarly-titled Max Gruver Act during her time as astate representative. That 2018 law created felony hazing as acriminal charge that prose-

Stewart is an appointee of DemocraticPresident Bill Clinton. Thetwo othercircuit judges on the panel are Republican appointees:Senior Circuit Judge Patrick Higginbotham by President Ronald Reagan and Circuit Judge Catharina Haynes by PresidentGeorge W. Bush Patternofdiscrimination?

The churchwas oneof three plaintiffs in the suit brought with lawyers from the Centerfor Constitutional Rights and Tulane Law Clinic. Other plaintiffs are Inclusive Louisianaand Rise St.James.

In November 2023, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier dismissed most of the suit’s claims based on aparish land use plan that was unanimously adopted in 2014 andzoned large parts of the 4th and 5th Districts forindustrial use andlater became apoint of contention foradvocates.

cutors could use when ahazing incident resulted in serious bodily harm or death.

The three suspects believed by police to be responsible forWilson’s death have been booked using this law

Landry said thatwhile herlegislation was focused on criminal responsibility, anti-hazing education for students was agoal of lawmakers at that time too.

“After the Max Gruver incident, there wasalot of cooperation among universities and law enforcement to try to prevent this from happening again,”Landry said. “And there was arequirement that students had to takesome sort of training or anti-hazing education.”

Just this week, twofraternities on Tulane’scampus were suspendedpending an investigation into allegations of hazing. If passed, the Caleb Wilson Act would take effect in thefall2025 university semester.The next step for HB279 will be for it to be heard in the Capitol’sEducation Committee.

FuneralsToday

Shoop, Grace Greenwood FuneralHome, 5200 Canal BoulevardinNew Orleans, at 11 a.m.

Obituaries

Edwards, Jean M. Jean Edwards, 78, passedawaypeacefullyat Calcutta Houseon February 26, 2025 after a recurrence of cancer.She wasbornonDecember7, 1946 in Chambersburg,PA, daughterofRuth Ann and Emlyn Edwards. Having achieveda BA in Fine and StudioArtsatWilson CollegeinChambersburg, VA,she continued her studies in the arts, receivinganMFA in Painting from Virginia CommonwealthUniversity and later an MFA in Interior Design,also from VCUinRichmond, VA Jean's professional career began as Assistant Professor at Winthrop University in South Carolinafrom1987 until 1995 when she acceptedan Assistant Professorship at theUniversity of Louisiana in Lafayette. From thentill herretirement in 2018, Jean served variouslyasa Professor, Assistant Director of theSchool of Architectureand Design andCoordinator of the Interior Design Programat ULL. Jean wasa memberof theNational Writing ProjectofAcadiana, and shewas esteemed for her professional and personal writing.Indoing research for apaper on Katsura Imperial Villa in 2013, she becamea fellow at the Japan StudiesInstitute Shewas an active member of IDEC (Interior Design EducatorsCouncil), an organization dedicatedto advancingeducation and researchininterior design Within the organization she published regularly, served on publication panelsand presentedatconferences.In2008, she was inductedasa Fellow in IDEC. Post-retirement, Jean pursued some of herpersonal interests. Shewas a FoundingMemberof DesigningWomen of Acadianawhich is dedicated to advocatingabout economic andsocialissuesthatimpact design andlife. Shealso grew her love of music and writing maintaininga poetry writingpractice for more than adecade. Additionally, she donatedregularly to causes she favored. Jean is survived by one brother, Tom Edwards who lovedand misses her deeply; asister-in-law, TerryGalen,who along with Tom resides in Moab UT;a niece, Meera Edwards; anda nephew, Brendan Edwards. She was preceded in death by her parents Emlyn Reeceand Ruth Ann(Poling)Edwards. Anymemorial contributionsmay be made to the ULLSchool of Architecture andDesign(Interior Design)throughthe ULL Foundation or IDEC's scholarship programs through theIDEC Foundation

ed 240 hours of community service.

n Failed to pay a$1,500 fine to theLafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office.

n Failed to pay $435 in courtcosts Pope was in courtWednes-

CemeteryinOpelousas. The Baytown PoliceDepartmentisstill investigating the shooting

“This tragic incident has deeply affected our community,” said BaytownPolice Chief John Stringer

“As we continue to investi-

day for arevocation hearing before Judge Michele Billeaud. The hearing was reset for April 28, according to court records.

Email Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

gate, our thoughts are with the victim’sfamily and all those impacted by this senseless act of violence.

This incident serves as areminderofthe importance of peaceful conflict resolution and the severe consequences that violence can have.”

FORMORE INFORMATION: 225-388-0289

PROVIDED PHOTO

PopularLouisiana singer Lauren Daigle willperformatthe youngsville Sports Complex inSeptember,city officials announced Monday.

‘IT’ FACTOR

afull-timestarter for

Cajuns’outfielderFalterman grounded on andoff the field

BY KEVIN FOOTE

Staffwriter

UL senior outfielder KaylaFaltermanisa livingexample of how valuable it istobegroundedinlife.

For some, it’s treacherouswhen fears, doubts and curveballs arise.

Falterman, however,alwaysseems prepared forany storm.

As atrue freshman, Falterman hit 414 in 99 at-bats. Then over the nexttwo seasons,her at-bats dropped and so did her batting averages. The Woodlands,Texas,productnever gave up. Former UL coach Gerry Glascoconstantly praisedher forher unselfish leadership and it showed in Falterman’s approach. “I approach everything the same way,whether I’m starting or not,” she stillmaintainsjustweeks away

AUGUSTA, Ga. At the news conference following the ceremonial tee shots tostartthe Masters tournament Thursday morning, Jack Nicklaus was asked to gauge three-time green jacket-winner Phil Mickelson’sform enteringthe week at age 54.

“I don’tknow what level Phil is competing at,” Nicklaus said.“I guess he’sstill playing. He’splaying the LIV tour,ishe? Idon’t knowif he’splaying or not. Younever see him anymore.”

That’sthe fact, Jack. Because there is mounting evidence that thesound and fury of LIV Golf is increasingly signifying nothing.

Cajuns starting to feel the pressure

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Yes, the baseball season is amarathon, not asprint. For theULbaseballteam, though, those opportunities to take advantage of the message behind theold cliché areshrinking rapidly Coming off two more ugly midweek performances with acombined 14 walks and six hit batsmen in losing to Texas-Rio Grande Valley 9-7 and Louisiana Tech 10-7, it’s critical the Ragin’ Cajuns rebound in style at UL-Monroe this weekend. Theseries starts at 6p.m Friday in Monroe and continues at 2p.m. Saturday and 1p.m. Sunday UL’s record maybe16-20 overall, but it’s still just onegamebackinthe loss column in the Sun Belt race at 7-5. There’scurrently afour-way tie for first place at 8-4 between Coastal Carolina, Troy, Southern Miss and Georgia State. For the record, UL doesn’tplayCoastal

from the end of hercollege career.“Everyday,I just trytoget 1% better,every day,and just do whatever I can to help theteam win that day.That never changes.”

Andwhen Glasco left the program for Texas Tech afterlast season and many players left the program,Falterman again never wavered.

“Tobeable to play here which has the best fans in the entire nation is an awesome experience,” she said. “Seriously,winning or losing, they have ourbacksand they’re going to be cheering loudly

“I don’ttake any second for granted and I’m goingto miss it when it’sover.”

When new coach Alyson Habetztook over without a full read on Falterman’sstatus, the craftyoutfielder was ready toshow her what she could provide the team.

ä See FALTERMAN, page 3C

ä The Masters

2P.M. FRIDAy ESPN

This is not to say LIV Golf, the breakaway men’sprofessional tour createdtochallenge the hegemonyof the PGA Tour and sportswash Saudi Arabia’sreputation (the Saudi’sPublic Investment Fund is LIV’sprimary benefactor) is irrelevant.Twelve LIV players arein the 95-man field here this week, includ-

ingsix former Masters champions.Two LIVplayers, Bryson DeChambeau, who won his secondU.S. Open thispast June, and Tyrrell Hatton, were wellin the thick of things after thefirst round. Both shot 3-under69s to tiefor fifth behind astellar firstround 65 by Justin Rose. They could win. But aside from DeChambeau, there was very little chatter about the LIV legion entering the89th Masters. Not as much as ayear ago, when 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm had just defected to LIV.Nor as much as after the spate of stars like DeChambeau, Mickelson, 2020 Masters champion Dustin Johnson andfive-timemajor winner Brooks Koepka took the Saudi blood money andran for LIV’sland of three-round shotgun startsand short pants. LIVhas since nixed theshort pants, but

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

By trading fordefensivetackleDavon Godchaux this offseason, the New Orleans Saints made clear that they were undergoingaschematic shift undernew defensive coordinator Brandon Staley Godchaux, abig-bodiedrun stuffer, historically has been anose tackle in a3-4 defense. And that’sthe type of player that the Saints haven’thad in many years, as formercoach DennisAllendeployeda 4-3 scheme.

TheSaints’ makeover at the position may not be completely over,either New Orleansallowedthe second-most rushing yards in 2024, so it wouldn’tbea shock if the team devoted moreresources aimed at plugging one of the team’sbiggest holes last season. This year’s NFLdraftisstacked with defensive tackles. Could the Saints add another to agroupthatincludesGodchaux, Khalen Saunders, Nathan Shepherd, Bryan Bresee, John Ridgeway and Khristian Boyd? Let’stake alook at the options:

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL shortstop Owen Galtishoping to provide abigger spark to the Cajuns’infield with

STAFF PHOTO By BRADKEMP

UL left fielder Kayla Falterman continues to take advantageofbeing

the firsttime in hercareer as the Cajuns’ leading hitter

JA ME SM AD IS ON AT UL •6 P. M. FR ID Ay •E SP N+

Scott Rabalais

AP PHOTO By GEORGEWALKERIV Phil Mickelsonhits from the bunker on the second hole during the first round at the Masters on Thursdayin Augusta, Ga

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9:30 p.m.Houston at L.A. LakersNBATV NBA GLEAGUE

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8p.m.TBD vs.LOVBHouston ESPN2

Rose steals theshow

44-year-old builds 3-shot lead over Scheffler

BY DOUG FERGUSON AP golf writer

AUGUSTA, Ga. Justin Rose did more than just match his best score at the Masters. With around that wasnearly nine shots better than the field Thursday,the 44-year-old Rose managed to steal thespotlight fromthe Masters dominance of Scottie Schefflerand the endless questofRoryMcIlroy to complete the career Grand Slam.

Rose felt his 7-under 65 had the potential to be somethingspecial And even with abogey on the final hole, it was every bit of that He opened with three straight birdies. He ran off three in arow around the turn. And he wound up with athree-shot lead over Scheffler,Ludvig Aberg and Corey Conners

RABALAIS

Continued from page1C

it has failed to coerce the PGA Tour to make adeal. Younever see Mickelson anymore except in the majors, or the other LIV stars, either.I won’t say no one cares, but apparently few do. This past week, LIV’s tournament in Miami, televised by Foxaspart of its new deal, DeChambeau, Mickelson and 2017 Masters winner Sergio Garciaincontention, drew abysmal ratings.

Actually,they aspiredtoabysmal. Sunday’sfinal round drew 484,000 viewers.

Are you kidding me? It’sone thing if your tournament is in Singapore on the CW.It’sanother thing to be on the East Coast on amajor network. There were probably 484,000 people watching the Amen Corner channel Thursday on Masters.com.

“When Ihave beenplaying well, IfeellikeIhave beencompetingat ahighlevel,” Rose said.“My consistency maybehas notbeen as high this year. But my good is good again. So I’mexcitedabout that.”

Scheffler did his part in his bid to win athird Masters green jacket in four years, playinga bogeyfree round of 68.

McIlroy,sodesperate to win this major andcomplete thecareer Grand Slam, was right there with him untilthe end. He took apair of double bogeys late in the afternoon with careless mistakes and had to settle for a72. It was the seventh straighttimehefailed to break70 in the opening round of theMasters

He declined to speaktothe mediaafter his round.

Rose set one Mastersrecord:

The fifth time he has had at least a share of the 18-holelead, breaking the mark held by Jack Nicklaus.

The glaring difference, of course, is Nicklaus has six of those green jackets.

It also was the eighth time Rose hashad at leastashare of the lead after any round at Augusta

Meanwhile, the final round of the PGA Tour’sValero Texas Open, atournamentlacking star power because so many players were resting/prepping for the Masters, had 1.75 millionviewers. I’m not sayingthe PGA Tour is perfect orcan do no wrong. I do notlike theseelevated events with smaller fields created to keep starslike Roseand Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler from goingtoLIV,too. Butthe PGATouriswhere the history is, the real competition is. It remains the PremierLeague of

National, something only five othershave done. All areMasters champions.

“I feel like I’ve played well enough to winthistournament,” said Rose, whose best chance was aplayoff losstoSergio Garcia in 2017. “I just feel like Idon’t have thejacket to prove it. But you’ve gottobeplaying the golf to keep creating those opportunities,and theonlyway to do that is to get your nameonthe leaderboard. Idefinitely don’tshy away from it.”

Rose opened with a25-foot birdie putt and madehis eighth birdie witha20-foot puttonthe par-3 16th.Inbetween was aseries of good shots —smartshots—that gave him plentyofchances and he converted most of them Augusta National, soaked by rainthat washed out most of the Mondaypractice round, already was getting scary fast Theaverage score was 73.6. Only six players broke 70, and 20 others broke par “Ridiculous. That’snuts,”Viktor Hovland said about Rose’s score.

men’s golf. It looked for years like LIV had thePGA Tour by thethroat No longer.LIV’steam concept and three-round events have not caught hold. Walking around AugustaNational on Thursday, Isaw tons of fans wearing Mastersgear (of course) and stuff representing other golf courses and tournaments. Ididn’tsee anyone wearing gear for LIV golf teams like Cleeks or Mickelson’sHyFlyers, except for the LIVers themselves. They looked like abunch of guys who still wear the clothes of their college fraternities no one wanted to join. This is not to say LIV is about to fold, though even the mega rich like theSaudi royals probably get tired of wastingmoney Negotiations between the two sides look stalled, perhaps because the PGA Tour has gained theupper hand withprivate, non-Saudi investment. Last week, reportedly PIF went to the PGA Tour withanoffer of $1.5 billion in return for aguarantee

LIV would liveonand PIF major domoYasir Al-Rumayyan would get aseat on the PGA Tour’s policy board.

FROM

Braves’ aceStrider could be ready for MLBreturn

ATLANTA Spencer Strider struck out 13 batters in 51/3 innings for Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday in his second injury rehabilitation start andappears readytoreturnfrom elbow surgery to makehis Atlanta Braves season debut next week. Striderallowedthree hits, two walks and one earned run against Norfolk, then was removed after 90 pitches, as planned. He struck out his first sixbatters, hadninestrikeouts through threeinningsand reached 97 mph with his fastball. Strider last pitched for the Braves on April 5last year and had internal brace surgery aweek laterwithTexas Rangersphysician Dr.Keith Meister.Heled the major leagues in 2023 with 20 wins and 285 strikeouts, finishing fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting.

Colts cutkickerGay just 2yearsafter big contract

INDIANAPOLIS— The Indianapolis Colts released Matt GayonThursday, asurprising move that came just two years after he became the NFL’shighest-paid kicker

He had two years remaining on his $22.5 million contract and while the move will save the Colts $2.75 million on this year’s salarycap,Indy already was below the cap figure.

The bigger problem was Gay not meeting the lofty expectations after making more than 98% of his field goals in 2021-22 whenhe played forLos Angeles Rams.

He battled injuriesthroughout hisIndy tenurebut in theColts’ retractable roofdome, Gay managed to make only 80.5% of his field goal attempts in 2023. Hispercentage slightly improved to 83.8% last season.

MLStoconsider adopting fall-to-spring calendar

MajorLeague Soccer’s board of governors will give further considerationtoadopting afallto-spring calendar,amajor move that would align the league with its international counterparts.

“Those greens are so firm. Iremember afew years ago —I can’t remember what year it was —but he kind of did something similar.I thinkthisone is probably alittlebit more impressive because outofall the Masters I’ve played,thisisprobablythe firmest it’sbeen on aThursday.It’sdefinitely no joke outthere.”

Schefflerwas 3under at the turn, including one birdie on the par-5 eighthinwhich his ball was deep in adivot holeshort of the green. He managed to get that out some 20 feet left of the pin and used the slopetobring it back to 15 feet and made the putt.

He was rarely under stress.

“I struggled for what felt like two pars today,” Scheffler said “But otherthan that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day,kept the ball in play, did alot of really good things out there.”

U.S. Openchampion Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton carried the LIVGolfflag,both at 69. DeChambeau hadseven birdies in hisup-and-downday,ashow of his scoring power

The PGA Tour apparently took theoffer,set it on fireand wrote “Get lost”with the ashes. The Masters invited the new LIV CEO Scott O’Neil to attend this year’stournament, but pointedly Masters chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday he had no formal planstomeet with O’Neil, adding “I know we’ll have somediscussions.” That could mean alot of things, but it doesn’tmeananendorsement of theLIV way.Augusta National has tried to stay above the PGA Tour/LIV fray,but Ridley is making increasingly urgent calls for unification. At this point, live andlet LIV, PGA Tour.Starslike Mickelson andDeChambeau andRahm andJohnson andGarciaand UHigh golfer and2018 Masters champ Patrick Reed were already successful andinsanely rich. They broke golf in half for the proverbial30pieces of silver,and all of us who love golf have been paying forit ever since. They’ve hurt golf. Now they’re just hurting themselves. Of course, all the Saudi’sbillions will buy alot of bandages.

The next phase, announced Thursday following the board’s meeting, includes “additional consultation with key stakeholders.” The MLSsaidina statement that any potential changes wouldn’t take effect until the 2027 season “at the earliest.”

Advocates for ashift have said it will give MLS amore competitive position for player transfers, while also freeing up players forinternational duty during the summer, when manymajor global tournaments take place.

Billie Jean Cup finals moveduptoSeptember

The final of the Billie Jean King Cup were brought forward two months on ThursdaytoSeptember. Thenew Sept. 16-21 schedule in Shenzhen, China,better aligns with thecalendarfor top women’s tennis players, organizers said. Shenzen hosts thefinals each year through 2027

After the U.S. Open ends on Sept. 7, the WTAtour moves to Asia for the China Open from Sept. 24 in Beijing.The tourthen stays in China forthe Wuhan Open.

Billie Jean King Cup reigning champion Italy and host China will be in theeight-team lineup. Italy won a12-nationtournament last November in Malaga, Spain. The other finalists will be winners of sixqualifying groupsplayedthis weekendinAustralia,the Czech Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia.

F1 driver Sainz protests tardiness, swearing fines

CarlosSainz broke Formula 1’s rulesonswearing on Thursday when he protested afine forbeing late. The Williams driverwas fined 20,000 euros($22,200),with half of that suspended, after arriving lateduringthe Japanese national anthem before last week’srace. Sainz explainedhewas late because of astomach problem and that adoctor confirmed he needed medication.

“I was thefirst one to put my hand up and say,‘I’mlate, I’m sorryfor that.’ At thesametime, Iwas five seconds late,” Sainz said. “For me it’s outofthe question that we’re having to pay these fines. Idon’tknow if I’mgoing to getanother fine for saying this, but s*** happens,you know,it’s the wayitis.”

AP PHOTO By MATT SLOCUM PhilMickelson reactsafter missing aputtonthe sixth hole during the firstround at the Masters on ThursdayinAugusta,Ga.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ASHLEy LANDIS

Justin Rose hits histee shot on the 12thhole during the first round at the Masters on ThursdayinAugusta, Ga

FALTERMAN

Continued from page1C

“What aballer,what a gamer,”Habetz said. “Her story has just been tremendous all season.”

Habetz admitted Falterman’sskill set wasinitially hiddenbythe newcoach’s expectations.

“I was reallyanticipating, she’sasenior,soI’m going to give her amoment that first weekend and maybe some more talented kids might (replace her),” Habetz said earlier this season. “But man, she’sjust tremendous Coaches talk about the ‘it’ factor and that’sitinbold and the font as big as you can make it, she’sgot it. You can define ‘it’, butit’ssomething special.”

Becoming an everyday player,Falterman leads the team in hitting at .422 with 13 RBIs, 15 sacrificebunts and fivestolen bases

“I’m trying to just take in every moment because it is my last time playingsoftball,” she said. “I’ve been playing since Iwas 6years old, so I’m really trying to enjoy every moment with my teammates.

“I have the best teammates and we have the best coaching staff. I’m just really trying to enjoy it, have fun and Iam. Ithink this is the most fun season I’ve ever had.” Yes, it’sbeen adisappointing season for manyfor the Cajuns, who are 19-20 over-

CAJUNS

Continued from page1C

this season and still have a road series with Georgia State and Southern Miss. In other words, the chances to improve its lot remain, if the execution improves. Getting an at-large berth this season doesn’tseemto be in the cards with UL currently sitting at aNo. 106 RPI. But winning the Sun Belt could carry some weight and winning the tournament is automatic.

The first part won’tseem possible without abig weekend in Monroe.

The Cajuns are expecting to start Chase Morgan (2-1, 2.52 ERA) Friday,Andrew Herrmann (2-2, 5.29) Saturday and JR Tollett (3-2, 3.31) Sunday

SAINTS

Continued from page1C

MASON GRAHAM •MICHIGAN:

An absolute force on the line, Graham’saddition would seem to instantly upgrade New Orleans’ run defense. He can quickly beat blocks, and his speed allows him to create havoc on the inside. Thereare concerns about his pass-rushing ability —31/2 sacks last year —and his lack of size (296 pounds at the combine), but those could be areas that develop over time. He already weighed 10 pounds heavier at his pro day Graham could verywell be gone by the time the Saints pick at No. 9, but if he’s there, his talent might be too much to pass up. Of the teams in front of the Saints, the Jacksonville Jaguars (at No.5)and Las Vegas Raiders (at No. 6) could be the most likely candidates for Graham.

KENNETH GRANT•MICHIGAN:

If he was overlooked because of Graham’spresence on Michigan’sdefensive line, he shouldn’thave been. Grant, at 6-foot-4 and 331 pounds, eats up space and was also disruptive against the run. ESPN ranks Grant as the fourthbest defensive tackle in this year’sclass, which could make him an option on Day 2for the Saints.

“He’sapeople mover,” The NFL Network’sDaniel Jeremiah said. “Talking to thefolks wherehehas been doing alot of his training, at 340 pounds he should not be able to move around like that. You’re hoping and dreaming on this Dexter Lawrence-type ascension for him once he

all and 5-7 in SunBelt play entering Friday’s6 p.m. home seriesopener against James Madison (16-20, 3-9).

Falterman remains unflappable.

“The message all season long is thatit’sa marathon, not asprint,” shesaid.“We just need to get hotatthe right time. She (Habetz) tells us allthe time, ‘It’snot ifbut when.’ It’s goingtohappen for us.

“Wejusthavetokeepbelieving and keep grinding and keep pushing,because it’s notover. We still believe in each other.”

When acollision at first base resulted in Faltermanmissingnearly two weekswith a concussion, she adjusted quickly

than originally planned.

Andyet, Falterman andher teammates made the best of their airport sleepover

“What aballer, what agamer Her story has just been tremendous

“Yes,itwas awful, but we had fun,”Falterman said. “Wemade the most of it. We’re allbest friends. Coach Alywas up with us too. We were playing cards, she ordered us McDonald’s We were playing games andwewere saying, ‘Hey’ to everybody who walked into the airportat4inthe morning. They were kind of looking at us like we were crazy “Wemade the mostofit. We were stuckin that situation, so why choose to be negative or complain?”

all season.”

“CoachAly told me to be able to control what Iwas able to control,”she said.“I did everything I couldevery daytobeable to take that next steptoget back onthe field ”

HABETZ,ULcoach, on OF Kayla Falterman

An dw hile many senior athletesare uncertain about theirfuture, Falterman has long known she wants to be ateacher —and now a coach.

BY JIM KLEINPETER

Contributingwriter

LSUsoftball coach Beth Torina is convinced that as well as her team has played this season, it’sstill chasing its potential.

TheNo. 5Tigerswillneed to get closer toitbeginning this weekendwith avisit to No. 4Texas A&M for a three-gameseries beginning at 6p.m. Friday.The teams play at 2p.m. Saturday and 1p.m. Sunday Torina will get agood idea of how far her team has come, not only this weekend but in the following two weekends when the Tigers play at No. 1Texas and host No. 6Florida. To say this is acrucial time in the season is an understatement.

For this team, theadversity hasranged further than just the Sun Belt standings. On the way back from the CoastalCarolina trip,the team had airplane travelissues, forcing them to spend the night in the airport.

At Troy,the bus broke downshortly after thefinal game,getting them home at 4a.m., somefourhours later

The Warhawks (16-18, 3-9) counter with right-handers Joey Cirelli (1-6, 5.80) Friday and Daniel Gonzalez (31, 5.25) Saturday UL coach Matt Deggs has been juggling lineupsduring the midweek games. Freshman Kasen Bellard came off the bench to go 2-for-5 with two RBIs in a12-hit team game in Wednesday’sroad loss to Louisiana Tech. After experimenting with Casey Artigues in theDH spot last weekend, he found he prefers him asa pinchhitter when needed.

“I would have rather been pinch-hitting Caseyinthat crazy inningthan have had him in thegame,” Deggs said. “He’sreally good at that role. Ilike to beable to insert himwhen Ineed it

“Few guys are suited to that role. It’s atough role he’s got and he plays it

“WhenIwas little,I’d ask for teaching suppliesfor Christmas,”she laughed. “I wouldplayteacher andhave my sisters be the students or my mom or dadormy stuffed animals.

“My aunt is ateacher and she still is. My grandmawas ateacher for 32 years and she still subs in high school to this day and she’salmost 80 years old. Theyreally inspired me.”

pretty good.”

Whilethe hitting actually improved in the midweek losses, it was the problem in last weekend’sseries loss to Texas State.

“Probably themost disappointing thingwas theearly weak outs—the rollovers,” Deggs said.“Forour ballclub to go,we’vegot to be functioning at ahigh level in clutch situations. It just didn’tfeel like we could get that one big hit.”

Many of UL’s lossesare better losses than some think, but the chances of survivingany more Sun Belt serieslosses are pretty much gone.

Forinstance, Texas-Rio Grande Valley has an RPI of 30. Othersare McNeese(34), Troy (26),UCIrvine (22) and Southeastern (61). “Wejust have to have some guys clutchupand come through,” Deggs said.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS

Tennessee defensivelineman Omarr Norman-Lott recovers a fumble by Alabamaquarterback Jalen Milroe during agame on Oct. 21,2023, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

gets to the NFL.” T.J. SANDERS •SOUTH CAROLINA: TheSaints loveathleticism, and Sanders has it in spades. The 6-foot-4, 297-poundlineman recorded a9.28 Relative Athletic Score thanksinpart to an impressive 311/2-inch vertical jumpand asub-5 (4.99 seconds) 40-yard dash.He also specializes as arun defender.Hestarted nine gameslastyear with50 tackles andfour sacks. The NFLNetwork’s LanceZierleincalled Sanders a“powerful road block withheavy hands and astrongcore.”

OMARR NORMAN-LOTT •TENNESSEE: TheSaints reportedly metwith Norman-Lottin Knoxville, andhewould presentadifferent type of interior lineman on this list. Undersized at 6-foot-2, 291pounds, the23-yearold makes upfor it with aknack asapass rusher —hehad 91/2 sacks over the last two seasons. He also was part of Tennessee’srotation,appearing

in 13 games as areserve. He played two seasons for theVols after three years at Arizona State. With the Saintsholding nine picks in the draft, Norman-Lott could be aDay 3option.

J.J. PEGUES •OLE MISS: The 6-2, 309-pounder has the kind of versatilitythat might makethe Saints’ Saunders —who always clamors to get reps on offense —jealous. At Ole Miss, Pegues was used as a wildcat quarterback, running back and tight end. His selection could give coach Kellen Moore afun weapon to go along with what Pegues can do on the defensive line. Make no mistake, Pegues will make his money because of what he can do in thetrenches. ESPNpraised Pegues as a“adisruptive interior run defender,with thequick first step and activehands to get intothe backfield.” He can play multiple spots on theline as well. He was named thirdteam All-SEC last year

“It’sa tough road in front of us but an exciting opportunity in frontofus, Torina said, moments after getting her700th career win against LouisianaTech on Wednesday. “It’snever adull momentinthe SEC. The next few weeks are going to be exciting.

“Our best softball is still in front of us. Hopefully we willcontinue to buildand grow,continue to push.”

Torina is still pushing buttons and pulling strings to try and snap herteam outof its propensity to playwell on Friday and Saturday and then falter on Sundays. The Tigers arewinlessintheir last fourSundaygames that were marked by uncharacteristically sloppyplay Wednesday’svictory,one Torina called “complete,” was agood sign. The offense kept up thepressure, thedefense made key plays and pitcher Tatum Clopton tossed athree-hitter. LSU batters struck out only once in 33 plate appearances.

“Ourstaff has done agood job of preparing them,” Torina said. “Weput ahuge

ä LSU at Texas A&M

6P.M. FRIDAy,SEC NETWORK+

emphasis on making good decisions at the plate on what pitches we’re swingingatorwhen. They’re executing thatplanreally well.”

Catcher Maci Bergeron hither ninth homer and nearlyhad her 10th with thebases loaded, resulting in asacrifi ce fly on aball to the left field warning track. She had three RBIs, raising herseason total to 41, second only to Tori Edwards with 56. Bergeron said even with several new faces in the everyday lineup, the team has adapted well to the offensive philosophy under new hitting coach Bryce Neal.

“The way we prepare helps us to be comfortable with two strikes,” Bergeron said. “A lot of us don’tget to two strikes but if we do we’re comfortable in that spot. Maybe we have afew

communication things on defense but other than that we’re pretty solid.

“Wetry to be the most preparedteam in the country.I’m super excited to get out to Texas.”

The Aggies have won their last nine games and 13 of the last 14, although LSU swept them at home last season. Leadingthe offense is outfielder Amari Harper with a.463 batting average. The mostdangerous hitter is first baseman Mya Perez with a.450 average, 12 homersand 55 RBIs. Leadoff hitter and third baseman Kennedy Powellisbatting .387 has stolen 15 bases without being caught. In thecircle,All-American left-hander Emiley Kennedy is aformidable foewitha 12-3record and 2.52 earned runaverage. She has 11 complete games andopponentsare batting .188 againsther.Lastseason, shewent24-11 with200 strikeouts in 202 innings.

FILE PHOTO By VASHA HUNT

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

LSUcatcher MaciBergeron watches her flyball to deep left field for astand-up doubleagainst VirginiaTech earlier thisseason at TigerPark

3-2-1, go!

The Old State Capitol, 100North Blvd.,will hostits third annual EasterEgg Roll, reminiscent of thefamous White House Easter Egg Roll, from 1p.m. to 4p.m. Sunday. The museum will be open fromnoon to 4p.m. forexploring the rich historyand exhibits within the OSC. louisianaoldstatecapitol.org

Newsite connects music talents, community

BY JOHN WIRT

Contributing writer

Red Stick Rhythms brings local musical talent to the community andthe world.

Hosted by the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, thewebsiteismodeled on similar sites in cities across the country,includingNashville,Tennessee; Austin, Texas; San Francisco and New Orleans. Alison Nikitopoulos, the library’sprimary administrator for Red Stick Rhythms,found the inspiration to create alocal music website at Crescent City Sounds, asite launched in 2022 by the New Orleans Public Library

“I thought we have alot of talent right here in Baton Rouge,” Nikitopoulos said.

Nikitopoulos’ idea made its way to Andrew Tadman, the library’sdivision coordinator forreferenceservices, and MaryStein, assistantdirector for programs, outreach and collections. Gaining approval,she began website development in spring 2024 and started recruiting curator-jurors from theBaton Rouge music community to help select the artists who’d ultimately appear on the Red Stick Rhythms site. The library also accepted music submissions from Oct. 15 through Dec. 15. Nikitopoulos,working with thejurors’ ratings, subsequently submittedher recommendations to a three-person committee at the library for final approval.

In mid-February,musicby the 25 groups or individual artists selected beganstreaming on redstickrhythms.org. The libraryaddeda26th selection, acompilation albumdonated by the recently closed grassroots galleryand performance space YesWeCannibal.

Red Stick Rhythm’scuratorjurors included Henry Turner Jr amusician, music venue operator and festival organizer, and Cindy Wonderful, founder of thegrassroots creative center Wonderground and host of WHYR-FM’s“Baton Rouge Locals Only” radio program.

Nikitopoulos sent the jurors 65 music tracks to auditionand rate forthe 25 budgeted spots.

“Itturned out to be alot of listening forthem, so Iappreciatedthat,”she said.

Listening to the65submissions wasn’toverwhelmingfor Wonderful, despite receiving as many as 10 hopefulsaday from the project’sadministrator “I loved being acurator and juror,” Wonderful said. “Itwas a delight to reach outtobands that I’ve been afan of from Wonderground and theradio show.It’s awesome that they submitted musicand were selected.I was able to help them make alittle bit of money and gain attention for their creativity.”

Like Nikitopoulos, Wonderfulbelieves local musiciansare worthy of the exposure avehicle

Singer-songw riterMeghan Linsey staystruetoher self and ar tistic pr oces sw ithnew single

BY JUDYBERGERON| Staff writer

Meghan Linsey had to laugh alittle when she said it

“I wrotethe wholething one night when Iwas taking abath,” the former Louisiana singer explained of the creative process involved in her brand-new single, “Humble Again,” which dropped last week. “And Ifeel like Ijust write my bestwhen I’m just relaxed and not really thinking too hard about it.And just being honest. So that’s kind of what I’vebeen doinglatelyisI’ll justgotake abath and write asong.”

“Humble Again” takes listenersalong on the journey of being an artist, with allthe ups and downs,startingand restarting.

ä See LINSEY, page 6C

BY JUDYBERGERON Staff writer

The flurry of activity at the Love Acting Studio in BatonRouge on arecent Wednesday night pointed to one thing there must be ashow in the works. Young film acting students coming and going, dog-eared scriptsinhand. Avideographerready to capturethe action. A voice coach on the way. And in the middle of allofit, acool,calmJency Griffin Hoganpulls up achair fora fewminutes to talk aboutthe culmination of ayear’s work —the studio’sfifth Actors’ Showcase In two performances at 5p.m. and 7p.m. Fridayatthe ManshipTheatre’s Hartley/Vey Studio Theatre in Baton Rouge,27studentswill present14film scenes.The show will run between60and 90 minutes.

“I built the school so thatwecould build up the Louisiana film talent. So the idea is to bridge the gap between the casting directors, the agents, anybody producing and the actors that have been building up here,” began Griffin Hogan. “Baton Rouge doesn’thave as manyopportunitiesfor actorsasNew Orleansdoes, so my whole goal was to start building up

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

Alast-minuteinjury can’tstop Baton Rouge Ballet Theatrefromstaging “Alice in Wonderland.” Theshowmust —and will —gooninthe RaisingCane’sRiver Center Performing Arts Theater when guest artist SarahHurty steps in

Hurty

PHOTO By APRIL BUFFINGTON

FRIDAY

QUARTERSHOTS: Toby’s Lounge, Opelousas, 11 a.m.

BACH LUNCH FEATUR-

ING MIA MONTERO: Parc San Souci, Lafayette, noon

LIVE MUSIC: Cane River Pecan Company Pie Bar, New Iberia, 5p.m.

FRIDAY NIGHT JAM: La Maison de Begnaud, Scott, 6p.m

JACK WOODSON: Charley G’s, Lafayette, 6p.m.

MARLON G.: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6p.m.

THE MINTLLYILLBILLIES: Adopted Dog Brewing, Lafayette, 6p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Jim Deggy’s, Lafayette, 6p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s, Lafayette, 6p.m

CLIFF BERNARD: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m.

ANDYSMITH: Agave Downtown, Lafayette, 6:30 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Randol’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Buck &Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

HIGHLIGHTS FEATUR-

ING THE ICEMAN SPECIAL &QUE BELEZA: Chez La Fete, Lafayette, 7p.m

KID CHARLEROI EP RELEASEWITH BRASS

BED: Hideaway Hall, Lafayette, 7p.m.

MARCO SAVVY: The Alley Downtown, Lafayette, 7p.m.

ANN SAVOY—ANOTHER HEART: Hideaway on Lee, Lafayette, 8p.m.

EFFIGY: The Loose Caboose, Lafayette, 8p.m.

GENO DELAFOSE & FRENCH ROCKIN’

BOOGIE: Feed ’n’ Seed, Lafayette, 8p.m

JEAN BERTRAND AND THE 99 PLAYBOYS: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8p.m.

MAJOR HANDYBAND: Whiskey&Vine, Lafayette, 8p.m.

THE GOOD DUDES: Rock ’n’ Bowl,Lafayette, 9p.m.

LIL NATE: Cowboys Nightclub, Scott, 10 p.m.

SATURDAY

MIKE BROUSSARD & NU’ EDITION ZYDECO: Buck &Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 8a.m.

DONNY BROUSSARD

BAND: Fred’s, Mamou, 8a.m.

CAJUN JAM: Moncus Park, Lafayette, 9a.m.

SATURDAY MORNING

JAMSESSIONS: The Savoy Music Center, Eunice, 9a.m.

CAJUN JAM: Tante Marie, Breaux Bridge, 11 a.m.

ZYDECO CAPITAL JAM: St. Landry Parish Visitor Center, Opelousas, 1p.m.

CAJUN FRENCH MUSIC

JAM: Vermilionville, Lafayette, 1p.m.

CAJUN JAMSESSION: Touchet’s Bar, Maurice, 2p.m.

DAYCLUBBING: The Ruins Lounge, Lafayette, 3p.m.

PHOTO By ROBIN MAy

RayBoudreaux will be the featured artist for Rhythmsonthe River at 5:30 p.m. Thursdayat RiverRanch Town Square, Lafayette.

TOMANDES: Bayou Teche Brewing, Arnaudville,4 p.m

THE MARK PORTER BLUES TRIO: Adopted Dog Brewing, Lafayette, 6p.m.

PAUL TASSIN: Charley G’s, Lafayette, 6p.m.

JAXONMECHE: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Jim Deggy’s, Lafayette 6p.m.

SUGAR JAMFEATURING GTOBAND: Sugar Mill Pond, Youngsville, 6p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s, Lafayette, 6p.m.

THRUWAY BOYS: Agave Downtown, Lafayette, 6:30p.m.

RAIKWON GREEN: TapRoom, Lafayette, 6:30 p.m

LEIF MECHE: Buck &Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m

LIVE MUSIC: Randol’s, BreauxBridge 6:30 p.m

TROUBADOUR: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m

WILL WESLEY: The AlleyDowntown, Lafayette, 7p.m. WALTER JR. BAND: Whiskey &Vine,Lafayette, 8p.m. THE DARKEST HOUR

COMEDYSHOW: Blue Moon Saloon,Lafayette, 8p.m.

THREE SHOWSINONE NIGHT: Hideaway on Lee, Lafayette, 8p.m.

LEROYTHOMAS & ZYDECO ROADRUNNERS: Lakeview Park, Eunice, 8p.m.

COUNTRYMUSIC NIGHTW/THE COUNTRYROUNDUP BAND: La Poussiere, Breaux Bridge, 8p.m. THEMOJOES: Toby’s Lounge,Opelousas 8:30 p.m. LA ROXX: Rock ’n’ Bowl, Lafayette, 9p.m.

CHRIS ARDOIN AND NU STEP ZYDEKO: Cowboys Nightclub,Scott, 10 p.m

SUNDAY

GLENN ZERINGUE: Whiskey &Vine,Lafayette, 11 a.m

LIVE MUSIC: Tante Marie, Breaux Bridge 11 a.m LE BALDUDIMANCHE —T’MONDE: Vermilionville,Lafayette, 1p.m.

CAJUN JAM: Bayou Teche Brewing, Arnaudville,2 p.m JUSTIN CORNETT: Pat’s Atchafalaya Club, Henderson, 4:30p.m. RUSTY METOYER: Rock’n’ Bowl, Lafayette, 5p.m.

Continued from page5C

such as Red Stick Rhythms can provide. She’d previously showcased more than 1,000 local acts, working in all genres, duringher radio show’ssix years on WHYR.

“It’seasy to think that New Orleans is better or Lafayetteisbetter (in music than Baton Rouge),” she said. “But Iwanted to do something that’sabout themusic from here, that maybe helps people think more curiously about the city around them.”

Musicians were enthusiastic about the chance to presenttheir work via Red Stick Rhythms, Nikitopoulos said.

“Theyweresurprisedthatthe library would supportsomething like this,” she said. “In addition to the launch party,we’re planning a concert series. Especially,some of the younger artists, they said there is nowhere for them to perform or they must pay to perform.”

The library staged the Red Stick Rhythms launch party with performances by rhythmand-blues singer Kay Lashea, rock band Mid-City Prowlers, Latin hip-hop artistSt. Missy and punk-rock band Screaming Underwater —March 9inthe main

MICHALIS: Charley G’s, Lafayette, 6p.m STOP THE CLOCK COUNTRYJAZZ: Feed’n’Seed, Lafayette, 6p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Randol’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m

MIKE BROUSSARD & NU EDITIONZYDEKO: O’Darby’s Pub&Grill, Carencro, 8:30 p.m. C4 AVEC STEVE RILEY: Hideaway on Lee, Lafayette,7p.m

MONDAY PATRICIO LATINO

SOLO: Cafe Habana City, Lafayette, 11 a.m.

DAVE TRAINER: CharleyG’s,Lafayette, 6p.m.

TUESDAY

TERRYHUVAL & FRIENDS: Prejean’s Restaurant, Lafayette, 6p.m.

JAZZ TRIO —PAUL TASSIN, BILLE CASTLE &RICK CONDIT: CharleyG’s, Lafayette, 6p.m.

WEDNESDAY

DULCIMER JAM: St Landry Visitors Center,Opelousas, 10 a.m.

STILL MUSIC FOR HUMANS: Park Bistro, Lafayette,6p.m

MATT GARY TRIO: Whiskey &Vine, Lafayette, 6p.m.

LEIF MECHE: Tap Room, Youngsville, 6:30 p.m

CAJUN JAM: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8p.m.

THURSDAY

RHYTHMS ON THE RIVER —RAY BOU-

DREAUX: River Ranch Town Square, Lafayette, 5:30 p.m.

ANDREW WAIN DUO: Whiskey &Vine, Lafayette, 6p.m.

AUDREY BROUSSARD: CharleyG’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6p.m

JEFF DUGAN: Buck &Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6p.m

DUSTIN SONNIER: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m

BILL KIRCHEN: Hideaway on Lee, Lafayette, 7p.m.

Compiled by Marchaund Jones

Want your venue’s music listed?

Emailinfo/photos to showstowatch@ theadvocate.com. The deadlineis noon FRIDAY for the following Friday’s paper

library’splaza. Andrew Hill, leader of MidCity Prowlers, says RedStick Rhythms is awelcome addition to the local musicscene. His band is among themany to grow out of theAdultMusicClub, aschool of rock for grown-upscreated by bassist and music educator DavidHinson.

“Baton Rouge has an underrated music scene,” Hill said. “This is anotheravenue for local music, andithas madeanimpression What Ireally likeabout it is that it shows the diversity of music in Baton Rouge. It’sall kinds.” Nextyear,Nikitopoulos wants to expand Red Stick Rhythmsto musical styles not yet included.

“Weare missing some genres,” she said. “When we open for submissions again, we’relooking for gospel,blues andcountry.” Wonderland praised the diversity of music Red Stick Rhythms alreadycontains.

“Alison did awonderful job,” she said. “And collaborating with thelibrary was an honor for me, because the library is an asset to the community.” Red Stick Rhythmswillbegin accepting submissions for 2026 in September

Email John Wirt at j_wirt@msn. com.

By The Associated Press

Today is Friday,April 11, the 101st day of 2025. There are 264 days left in theyear

Todayinhistory: On April 11, 1945, during World WarII, U.S. Army troops liberated the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp near Weimar, Germany

On this date: In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of the French andwas banished to the island of Elba. (Napoleon later escaped from Elba and returned to power in March 1815, until his downfall in theBattle of Waterloo in June 1815.)

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln spoke to acrowd outside

SHOWCASE

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the film talent, because they (students) could find atheater class to take, whether it’satschool or whatever,but film’s harder to find. Griffin Hogan, an accomplished actor herself,isseeking to bridge that gap. “I had done so many showcases like this in LosAngeles in my 20s (she livedseveral years there). Theshowcasewouldbeput on by the acting school,and the casting directors would be invitedto come,” she said. “That’show you would getyouragent back in the day.SoI’m justfollowing the model Ilearned there.”

Back in Baton Rouge, she teaches thestudio’sintermediate class; workingactor Bill Martin Williams (“Daisy Jones and the Six”)

LINSEY

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“There’sa line in the song that says, ‘I was everybody’scup of tea when Iwas everybody but me,’” Linseysaid, “It’slike everybody wants to be your friend wheneverything’s going good, you know? And youkindofloseyourself in that, I think. So you really find out who your people are, whoyourfriends are, andwhatyou’re allabout when things aren’thappening.”

That’snot thecase now, as theSeason 8“TheVoice” runner-up, who’s lived in Nashville, Tennessee, for several years, is promotingher new single,working on new music, and planning an album release and summer tour.That’sinadditiontoher other business offering studio experiences in the city,where she often performs for corporate groups. Arecentpreview party for “Humble Again” with Music City executives generated positive feedback.

“It’sactually been really cool. This song, it’svery vulnerable. It’s very honest and real,” she said. “People are like, ‘Oh,wow,like I felt like this, you know?’ It’slike people that youdon’teven think have felt like that, have felt like that. AndsoIthink it’s really resonating withpeople, especially in themusic business.”

‘WONDERLAND’

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MeganGuo suffered an injury after monthsofrehearsals as Alice.

“Megan is one of our pre-professionalstudent dancers, and we were so happy thatwewere going to be able to keep our production in-house,”said Jonna Cox, who serves as company co-artistic director withRebecca Acosta.

“She’s been working so hard and diligently in developing this role, arole that was created for her.”

An original production Guowould have been thefirst dancertoperform theleadinthis newly choreographed version of “Alice.” She started rehearsing the role in January

“She put alot of energyinrehearsals, andwewere almost at thefinish line,” Cox said. “It’s been very devastating for her and us.”

So Baton Rouge Ballet turned to theNew OrleansBallet Theatre to find apossible last-minutereplacement.

“I contactedthemtosee if they had any dancers they could loan to us, and one of the directors there said they didn’t, but she said, ‘This youngdancercamethrough our doors just last week toaudition for thecompany,and she’sgot the skills,’ ”Cox said. “They highly recommended her,soIreached out to her,and shehappened to be available. So, to find aprofessional

theWhiteHouse, saying, “We meet this evening, not in sorrow but in gladness of heart.” (Itwas thelast public address Lincoln would deliver; he would die four days later after being shot by John Wilkes Booth.)

In 1961, former SS officer Adolf Eichmann wentontrial in Israel, charged with crimes against humanityfor his role in the Nazi Holocaust. (Eichmann waslater convicted and executed.)

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil RightsAct of 1968, which included the Indian Civil Rights Act and theFair Housing Act, one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr

In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission pub-

handlesthe advanced students; andactress Hallie Todd (“Lizzie McGuire”) coaches the beginners. Once students turn 18, they are eligible to join the adult class.

On Friday,the audience will watch intermediate and advanced students doingscene work from film and television.

“They’llbedoing film-style acting,” Griffin Hogan said. “It’snot theater acting, youknow? It’s moreintimate.

“Film acting is really moment to moment. And it’s acamerathat’s capturing those moments, and they’re usuallyvery truthful moments,” she said. “My jobasa director is to capture those special momentsaswe’re moving through ascene. So that’skind of my style of coaching —tokeep it as real as possible. And it’s basedoff of atechniquecalledthe Meisnertechnique; his definition of acting was living truthfully under imaginary circum-

lished guidelines saying sexual harassment in the workplace amounted to unlawfulsex discrimination in violation of Title VIIofthe Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2012, George Zimmerman,the Florida neighborhood watch volunteer whofatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.(He was acquitted at trial.)

Today’sbirthdays: Actor Joel Grey is 93. Actor Louise Lasser

is

stances. So these scenes we picked arebasically just aframework for youtosee theirhonesttruthwhile connecting with each other.”

The scenes forthe showcase have been taken from familiar drama films such as “Revolutionary Road” and comedies like “When Harry Met Sally.”

“I’vehad people (casting types) cometothe showcase and then cast them rightout of the showcase. That’sbeen huge,” the instructor said. “So they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh,I got aleadbecause of the showcase.’ …I’vehad people that start making their own movies, following my ownmodel, because I really feel like you, at this day and age, need to be able to create your own content to stay relevant.”

For moreabout Love Acting Studio, visit www.loveactingbr.com.

Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED SINGLE COVER IMAGE

Linsey andher husband, Tyler Cain, both worked on “Humble Again,”withCainwriting themusicand handlingproduction.Together for 13 years and married for three, thecouple have collaboratedonmany projects, andfor a brief timeworked as aduo called Megan Tyler Linsey, whogrewupinGretna and Ponchatoula, moved to Nashville just after highschool to pursue music. Her initial success there sparked from herand thenboyfriend Josh Jones winning the CMT competition series, “Can You Duet?” in 2009. As the duo Steel Magnolia and with arecord deal withBig Machine Records, their first single, “Keep on Lovin’ You,” becamepartoftheir self-titled debut album in 2011. The record also featured three morecharting singles, “Just by Being You(Halo

dancer at thelastminute,it’sa miracle.”

Guestdancersteps in Hurty is aguest dancer forthe Los Angeles Ballet and acompany dancer in the Ballet Project in Tustin,California. Sheflew into Baton Rouge theSunday before “Alice’s” opening and spent the weekworking with Cox andAcosta to learn thepart.

“Usually by this timeinaproduction, you’re not spending your time in the studio,” Coxsaid. “You’re coasting across the finish line. But Rebecca and Iwill spend our daytime in the studio with her every day to be prepared forthe role.”

Coxand Acosta choreographed the ballet to amix of selections by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,the Russiancomposer known for “The Nutcracker.”

“This is allbrand new,”Cox said.

“Rebecca and Idid it as ashort, 25-minute youthballetsummer tour show afew yearsago,but we’ve tripled it in size,incastand scope andwith brand newsets, allnew costumes, andexpandedthe story.”

Thecast of some100 members will include amix of company dancers, company student dancers andchildren, alongwithfreelance professionaldancer and Plaquemine native PatrickJefferson to perform maleroles.

‘Wewillbeready’

“Wewill be ready,” Cox said.

“We’re committed to putting on a qualityshow. Ourstage manager,

and Wings),” “Last Night Again” and “Bulletproof.” Whenthe couple partedways, Linsey set out to find her way as asolo artist.She callsher runonNBC’s “The Voice” “a really big high.”

“And, just coming off the show, there was alot of really good momentum, but Idofeel like there’s this thing that happens with artists,” shesaid. “It’slikeifyou’re notTim McGraw and just putting out hit after hit, it’slike you have these lulls where it’slike, OK, something really greathappens and then now what, you know?” Linsey’s other career boosts have included twoofher songs being featured on TV series: n “The Mourning” can be heard during apoignant moment in Season4,Episode 9ofthe ABC workplace drama“Station 19.” n Anew version of “All Things,” the theme song for Netflix’s“Queer Eye,” was recorded by Linsey in New Orleans for Seasons 7and 8, also set in the Big Easy Linsey, 39, categorizesher upcoming album as leaning into Americana, but with her signature soulful vibe.

“I feel like you can take the girl outta New Orleans, but I’malways gonna have that soul part of me in everything that Ido. It definitely fits in the country vein as well.”

Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate.com.

Adrian Bennett, helpedusset the design for this show.Werented threedifferent backdrops, and for the Corridor of Doorsscene, we have eight full-sizedoors on rollers that are painted different colors that are gonna be wheeled around the stage. We have alarge door backdropthat’sgoing to fly in, andthe Queen’s gardensceneisa full set. So, we didn’tcut corners here. We really wanted to invest in this production.” Cox and Acosta plan to include “Alice in Wonderland” in the company’sspring concertrotation, whichalso includes “Cinderella” and “Rapunzel.”

“We’dlike to addone more, but it’sahuge undertaking,” Cox said. “Thankfully,wehave amazing volunteers who are working to make this happen. They’re sewing costumes, painting sets and working on props.”

And in case anyone is wondering, all of the Wonderland gang will be on stagefor “Alice,” including the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and Red Queen. Dancing the role of the Rabbit will be Elliana Chaney,aBerean Homeschool Co-opjunior. Dancing the part of the RedQueen will be Baton Rouge dancer Alyssa Bourque, whohas abachelor’sdegree in dance from Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. “Alyssa and Iused to work togetherinproductions at Christian Youth Theatre,” Cox said. “Her commandofthe Red Queen has been fun.”

is 86. Actor Peter Riegert is 78. Actor Bill Irwinis75. Singer Lisa Stansfield is 58. Former MLB catcher Jason Varitek is 53. Actor Jennifer Esposito is 52. Rapper David Banner

51. Model Alessandra Ambrosio is 44. Singer Joss Stone is 38.

ARIEs(March 21-April 19) Let your imagination take the reins andyourideas accumulate. Onceyou absorbthe possibilities, you can broaden your scope and start anew adventure. Enjoythe ride.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Alifestyle change will enhance your mood and encourage you to takethe initiative to head in an invitingdirection. The results will makeyou healthy, happy and wise

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Socialize, but don't overspend or give in to indulgent behavior. Taking short trips,reunitingwith someoneyou lost touch with or learning something new will kickstart your imagination.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Think, prepare and execute your plans strategically. Letintelligence, not your emotions clear thepath forward. Say no to anger and no-win situations, andsay yes to positive action.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) You have options thatmay requirealittle work. Be open to learning, upgrading and finding a popular nicheinyour community. It's timetobeinnovativeand helpful.

VIRGo(Aug. 23-sept. 22) Presentyour thoughts, feelings andattributes. Put your energy into shaping your next move. Make apromise to aloved one and followthrough on it.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Findsomething you feel passionateabout and do your best to make adifference. Changing your surroundings will motivate you

to adopt ahealthier lifestyle with betterdietary and fitness habits.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Adiversion will help youget outofarut or redirect your attention to something engaging andbeneficial. Acreative outlet will help you see people and situations from aunique perspective.

sAGIttARIus(nov. 23-Dec. 21) Avoid offending someone or ruining ameaningful relationship. Honest communication is in your best interest. Money matters requireattention. Be frugal and prudent so as to avoid aloss.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec.22-Jan. 19) Refuse to let emotional situations spin out of control. Take astepback and evaluate your next move. Someonefrom your past will surface unexpectedly, bringing back poignant memories.

AQuARIus (Jan.20-Feb. 19) Observe what'shappening,but don'tfeel obligated to participate in the changes someone elseispursuing. Focuson your surroundings and what makes you happy. Setabudgettoaccommodate your goals.

PIscEs (Feb.20-March20) Participation is your ticket to new beginnings.Be receptive to information and fine-tune your plans to maximizeoptions and opportunities.You can achieve your desired results.

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

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms arecreated from quotations by famouspeople, past and present. Each letter in thecipherstands foranother toDAy's cLuE:X EQuALs s

FAMILYCIrCUS

zodIAC

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

And erneSt

SALLYForth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

LAGoon

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object 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. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Robert Frost,awinneroffourPulitzer Prizes for poetry, said,“Two roads diverged in awood andI took theone lesstraveled by, and that has made all the difference.” In today’s deal,there aretwo roads that the declarermight take —and manyplayers would not even see one of them, ending up down one in their contract. South is in three no-trump. West leads the spade three. What are the two roads,whichshoulddeclarerchoose,and why?

South starts with seven toptricks: two spades, three diamonds and two clubs. Assuming he can collect five diamond tricks, he will be home. If that suit is breaking2-2 or 3-1, it does not matter what he does. So he shouldconsidera 4-0 split.

Getting that far, some declarers, after winning the first trick, say, on the board, would immediately cash the diamond king. Here, theywould then fail and complain abouttheir bad luck.

However, there is asecond way to play diamonds successfully, when West has jack-fourth. South cancash hisace first, then twice lead through West to pick up his nine andjack. Butwhy should declarer playWest for the diamonds rather than East?

Thesignpost is West’s opening lead. Assuming it was an honest fourth-highest,Westbeganwithexactlyfourspades.

(Heled the three and South holds the two.) If West is also void in diamonds, he would have at least five cards in clubs orheartsandpresumablywouldhaveled that suit, not spades. Use one piece of evidence to helpwith another.

©2025 by NEA, Inc., dist.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is aword riddle which creates adisguised word,phrase, name, place, saying, etc.

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four lettersbythe addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,”are not allowed. 3. Additional

be used. 4. Proper nouns,

or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAy’s WoRD BuFFEtInG: BUF-ih-ting: Striking sharplyorrepeatedly.

Averagemark22words

Timelimit

Can

yEstERDAy’sWoRD

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe