The Advocate 04-13-2025 by The Advocate

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Edwards marks 100days leadingBR

‘There’s alearning curve,’ former football coachsays

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER |Staff writer

In the lobbyofthe mayor-president’s office on the third floor of CityHall, adigital clock ticks down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until East Baton RougeParish Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ first term ends.

He often points to it when someone comes to meet with him.

“Wehave that much timetomake adifference,” Edwards tells them Sunday marks the 100th day of Edwards’ term, and he points to severalbig wins so far.But he also acknowledges his introduction to politics has had some turbulence, and he has had to learn some lessons the hard way

“On the front end, when theplane’staking off, everything’scoming at you,” Edwards said. “It’sonly when you get to that 30,000 feet that it doesn’tfeel like you’re moving at all. We’re not there yet, but I’m also not on the runway anymore either.”

In just over three months,the former highschool football coach turned political

ä See EDWARDS, page 6A

In his first 100 days as East Baton Rouge mayor-president, Sid Edwards hasfaced budget shortfalls,messaging woes and a high-profile libraryfunding battle.

Landry’s path throughsession will requiredeftpolitics

Governor opensregular sessionMonday

BY TYLER BRIDGES |Staff writer

Gov.Jeff Landry was riding high when he kicked off the regularlegislative session ayear ago.

Only monthsbefore, he had outpaced the ﬁeld to be elected governor.Shortly after taking ofﬁce, he calledtwo special sessions where state lawmakers approved almost everything he wanted.

But Landry is now facing headwinds when he conveneshis secondregular session as governor on Monday

On March 29, voters handed Landry his worst defeat in his15months as governor by soundly rejecting all four changes to the state constitution he sought.

Landry is also encounteringa restive Republican freshman class in the House that is pushing for changesincar insurance laws that the governor and his trial lawyer allies oppose.

“His political honeymoon is over,” said veteran pollster and political consultant Bernie Pinsonat. “He has to do abetter job of selling hisaccomplishments and bringing stuff to thepublic that will satisfy their problems.”

Apoll conducted by Pinsonat and Greg Rigamer for conservative business owner Lane Grigsby immediately after the March 29 ballot box defeat showed that voterswere evenlydivided on Landry with 45% offering favorable andunfavorable views of him

The poll also showed that45% of the people surveyed believeLouisiana is heading in the wrong direction while 38% said the state is heading in the

ä Lawmakers seek solution to insurance crisis. PAGE 4A

right direction. To be sure, history showsthat agovernor’shoneymoon won’tlast long.

In the case of Landry’sDemocratic predecessor,John Bel Edwards, it didn’t last even aday.House Republicans broke40years of traditiononthe day Edwards wasinaugurated as governor by refusing to accept Edwards’ choice to be speaker of the House. The Republican majority,instead of selecting Edwards’ Democratic pick, chose alittle-known Republican, thenRep. TaylorBarras of New Iberia. UnderBarras,the House leadership made Edwardscall in political favors to pass

ä See LANDRY, page 8A

BY CHARLES LUSSIER |Staff writer

Aftermonthsofworkand three well-attended community meetings, East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent LaMont Cole is ﬁnally on thevergeofreleasing his recommendations for school closures, mergers andother changes in operations. This announcement has been a longtime comingfor theschool system, which is built for 60,000plus studentsbut thesedays educates fewer than 40,000.

Cole’s recommendations are being released Tuesday at aspecial meetingofthe parish School

Board.The meeting —a workshop during which no votes are planned—will center around what Cole is calling a“facility alignmentplan.”

The meetingisscheduled to startat4 p.m. at theInstruction ResourceCenter, 1022S.Foster Drive, next door to theSchool BoardOfﬁce. Cole said he is hoping the board

will vote on his recommendations when it meets again on May 1, and failing that he will likely schedule aspecial meeting soon after

Any changes approved by the board would take place over thesummer in advance of the 2025-26 school year,which starts in early August

Public school enrollment in Louisiana has declined by about 6% sincebeforethe COVID pandemic. The declines have led Caddo, Jeffersonand school districts in the state to close schools, and nowit is East Baton Rouge Parish’sturn. Two-thirds of East Baton Rouge Parish public schools have lost studentscompared with

STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

STAFFFILE PHOTOByHILARy SCHEINUK

Gov. Jeff Landryfaces challenges over thestate budget, auto insurance and hisprivate school voucher program, among others.

Dominican club collapse death toll rises to 226

SANTO DOMINGO Dominican Republic — A woman hospitalized after being rescued from the rubble of a roof collapse at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic died on Saturday, raising the death toll to 226, health ofﬁcials said.

The latest victim was a 41-yearold Costa Rican national, according to the National Health Service. Earlier in the day, health ofﬁcials said four other people hospitalized after the disaster had died overnight.

Ofﬁcials said 189 people were rescued alive from the rubble of the popular venue in the capital Santo Domingo. More than 200 were injured, with 14 still hospitalized, including four in critical condition.

The roof at the Jet Set nightclub collapsed during a merengue concert in the early hours of Tuesday Politicians, athletes and a fashion designer were among those enjoying live music when disaster struck.

As of Saturday, friends and relatives remained at a forensics institute waiting for the return of their loved ones’ bodies Later in the day, health authorities said 225 bodies had been returned to their families.

Health minister Victor Attalah told journalists there had been a delay in identifying victims because the majority of them had to be matched using biometric data.

Killer mistakenly released caught 2 weeks later

ATLANTA The U.S. Marshals Service said Friday that a convicted killer who was mistakenly released from a Georgia jail has been caught two weeks later in Florida — ending days of anxiety for the victim’s family outside Orlando who feared he might harm them over their role in the trial.

Kathan Guzman, 22, was supposed to spend the rest of his life in prison after admitting he strangled his girlfriend, 19-yearold Delila Grayson, who was found dead in a bathtub in August 2022, Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen told WSB-TV

However, jail workers in the county south of Atlanta mistakenly released Guzman on March 27 because they didn’t read paperwork carefully, failing to see that he’d been convicted of murder and assault by strangulation, the sheriff told the broadcaster In a statement Friday, he said disciplinary actions are pending and ﬁrings are on the table.

Guzman told someone after being freed that “God is good” and he believed his release was the result of a higher power the sheriff told WSB.

The victim’s mother, Christina Grayson, wasn’t told her daughter’s murderer was on the loose until Tuesday, after the district attorney learned of it, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “I feel like I’m a sitting duck,” Grayson told WFTV-TV in Orlando.

Her family was sleeping in shifts so that someone was awake at all times, she told the broadcaster, and deputies in Osceola County patrolled her neighborhood as the search continued.

World’s oldest gorilla turns 68 in Berlin

BERLIN Fatou, the oldest gorilla living in captivity worldwide, is getting ready for her 68th birthday in style.

The Berlin zoo on Friday presented Fatou with a basket of fruit and vegetables ahead of her ofﬁcial birthday, which falls on Sunday. Fatou was born in 1957 and came to the zoo in what was then West Berlin in 1959 Since she no longer has teeth, keepers ensure that her food is soft and easy to eat Vet André Schüle said that “Fatou gets the best possible care here.”

She lives in her own enclosure, apart from the zoo’s more boisterous other five gorillas who range in age from 4 to 39 Schüle said that “she has the peace she deserves at her high age.” Gorillas can live for around 3540 years in the wild and longer in captivity Fatou became the zoo’s oldest resident last year, following the death of Ingo the ﬂamingo The bird was believed to be at least 75 and had lived at the zoo since 1955. BRIEFS

Russia, Ukraine accused of not pausing strikes

By The Associated Press

Russia and Ukraine’s top diplomats on Saturday used a high-level conference in Turkey to once again trade accusations of violating a tentative U.S.-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, underscoring the challenges of negotiating an end to the 3-year-old war

The two foreign ministers spoke at separate events at the annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum, a day after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss peace prospects. Ukraine’s European allies on Friday promised billions of dollars to help Kyiv keep ﬁghting Russia’s invasion.

While Moscow and Kyiv both agreed in principle last month to implement a limited, 30-day ceasefire, they issued conﬂicting statements soon after their separate talks with U.S. ofﬁcials in Saudi Arabia. They differed on the start time of halting strikes, and alleged near-immediate breaches by the other side.

“The Ukrainians have been attacking us from the very beginning, every passing day, maybe with two or three exceptions,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would provide the U.S., Turkey and international bodies with a list of Kyiv’s attacks during the past three weeks.

A representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry separately told state media Saturday that Moscow has been sharing intelligence with the U.S. regarding more than 60 supposed breaches of the deal by Kyiv Lavrov on Saturday insisted Russia had stuck to the terms of the deal.

His Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, ﬁercely contested that claim, saying Russia had launched “almost 70 missiles, over 2,200 (exploding) drones, and over 6,000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, mostly at civilians,” since agreeing to the limited pause on strikes.

“This clearly shows to the world who wants peace and who wants war,” he said.

Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, and Kyiv has warned Moscow is planning a fresh spring offensive to ramp up pressure on its foe and improve its negotiating position.

Ukraine has endorsed a broader U.S. ceaseﬁre proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions. European governments have accused Putin of dragging his feet.

“Russia has to get moving” on the road to ending the war, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media Friday He said the war is “terrible and senseless.” Lavrov on Saturday reiterated that a prospective U.S.-backed agreement, also discussed in Saudi Arabia, to ensure safe navigation for commercial vessels in the Black Sea could not be implemented until restrictions are lifted on Russian access to shipping insurance, docking ports and international payment systems.

Details of the prospective deal were not released, but it appeared to mark another attempt to ensure safe Black Sea shipping after a 2022 agreement that was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey but halted by Russia the following year

Ukraine’s air force said a second F-16 ﬁghter jet supplied by Western allies has been lost and its pilot, 26-year-old Pavlo Ivanov killed.

Ukraine’s General Staff said the F-16 crashed while repelling a Russian missile strike. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday offered condolences to Ivanov’s family saying, “We are proud of our soldiers. We will give a strong and apt response.”

Ukraine said the first F-16 was shot down last August, after it intercepted three Russian missiles and a drone.

Since last July, Ukraine has received multiple batches of the ﬁghter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands, with U.S. approval. Their total number has not been disclosed.

Meanwhile, Russian drones killed at least two civilians in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Saturday according to local Gov Oleksandr Prokudin.

U.N.: Attacks on camps in Sudan’s Darfur leave at least 100 dead

BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

CAIRO Sudan’s notorious paramilitary group launched a two-day attack on famine-hit camps for displaced people that left more than 100 dead, including 20 children and nine aid workers, in the Darfur region, a U.N. ofﬁcial said Saturday.

The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias launched an offensive on the Zamzam and Abu Shorouk camps and the nearby city of el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Friday, said U.N Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami.

El-Fasher is under the control of the military, which has fought the RSF since Sudan descended into civil war two years ago, killing more than than 24,000 people, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is likely far higher.

The camps were attacked again on Saturday, Nkweta-Salami said in a statement She said that nine aid workers were

killed “while operating one of the very few remaining health posts still operational” in Zamzam camp.

“This represents yet another deadly and unacceptable escalation in a series of brutal attacks on displaced people and aid workers in Sudan since the onset of this conﬂict nearly two years ago,” she said.

Nkweta-Salami didn’t identify the aid workers but Sudan’s Doctors’ Union said in a statement that six medical workers with the Relief International were killed when their hospital in Zamzam came under attack on Friday They include Dr Mahmoud Babaker Idris, a physician at the hospital, and Adam Babaker Abdallah, head of the group in the region, the union said. It blamed the RSF for “this criminal and barbaric act.”

In a statement Saturday evening, Relief International mourned the death of its nine workers, saying they were killed the previous day in a “targeted attack on all health infrastructure in the region,” including the group’s clinic.

S. Carolina executes second man by firing squad in 5 weeks

BY JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A firing squad on Friday executed a South Carolina man who killed an off-duty police ofﬁcer, the second time the rare execution method has been used by the state in the past ﬁve weeks.

Mikal Mahdi gave no ﬁnal statement and did not look to his right toward the nine witnesses in the room behind bulletproof glass and bars once the curtain opened.

He took a few deep breaths during the 45 seconds between when the hood was put over his head and when the shots rang out, fired by three volunteers who are prison employees at a distance of about 15 feet.

Mahdi, 42, cried out as the bullets hit him, and his arms ﬂexed. A white target with the red bull’s-eye over his heart was pushed into the wound in his chest.

Mahdi groaned two more times about 45 seconds after that. His breaths continued for about 80 seconds before he appeared to take one ﬁnal gasp. A doctor checked him for a little over a minute, and he was declared dead at 6:05 p.m., less than four minutes after the shots were ﬁred.

Mahdi’s execution came a little over a month after Brad Sigmon was put to death March 7, in the ﬁrst U.S. ﬁring squad death in 15 years and the fourth

since 1976. The others all occurred in Utah. The ﬁring squad is an execution method with a long and violent history around the world. It has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in America’s Old West and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany But South Carolina lawmakers saw it as the quickest and most humane method, especially with the uncertainty in obtaining lethal injection drugs. In a statement Mahdi’s attorney, assistant federal public defender David Weiss, called the execution a “horrifying act that belongs in the darkest chapters of history, not in a civilized society.”

Mahdi had the choice of dying by firing squad, lethal injection or the electric chair

“Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils,” Weiss said. “Mikal chose the ﬁring squad instead of being burned and mutilated in the electric chair, or suffering a lingering death on the lethal injection gurney.” Mahdi is the ﬁfth inmate executed by South Carolina in less than eight months as the state makes its way through prisoners who ran out of appeals during an unintended 13-year pause on executions in the state. Mahdi’s is the 12th execution in the U.S. this year

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The group said the central market in Zamzam along with hundreds of makeshift homes in the camp were destroyed in the attack.

The offensive forced about 2,400 people to flee the camps and el-Fasher, according to the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees, a local group in Darfur Zamzam and Abu Shouk shelter more than 700,000 people who have been forced to flee their homes across Darfur during past bouts of fighting in the region, Nkweta-Salami said.

Late last month, the Sudanese military regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war. But the RSF still controls most of Darfur and some other areas.

The two camps are among ﬁve areas in Sudan where famine was detected by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classiﬁcation, IPC, a global hunger monitoring group. The war has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with about 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population facing extreme hunger

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ANNA DONETS

People light flares during the farewell ceremony of Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Samoilovich, 18, of 1st Separate Assault Regiment of Dmytro Kotsiubailo, at the cemetery in Slavuta, Ukraine, on Friday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVID yEAZELL

South Carolina execution protesters demonstrate outside the scheduled execution of South Carolina inmate Mikal Mahdi in Columbia, S.C., on Friday.

Death warrants rejected, executions off

Supreme Court orders judge to consider post-conviction relief

BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer

The Louisiana Supreme Court on Friday recalled execution warrants that a judge had signed for two death row inmates who were each convicted of murder in Caddo Parish.

The court ruled in favor of condemned inmates Marcus Reed and Darrell Draughn, ordering the district judge in their cases to ﬁrst consider their state claims for postconviction relief before ordering new execution dates. At the request of Caddo Parish District Attorney James Stewart, District Judge Donald Hathaway had set a May 28 execution date for Draughn, and a June 4 date for Reed. Their attorneys had argued that Reed and Draughn are a long way from being eligible to be killed. Stewart argued that Draughn effectively abandoned his post-conviction claim years ago, and that

Reed waited too long for a lawyer to ﬁle on his behalf for relief, following a legal process in which Reed’s lawyers were jettisoned from the case over an alleged conﬂict.

Hathaway’s signature on the two warrants placed Draughn and Reed at the center of a legal battle over just who among the state’s remaining 55 death row inmates might now be eligible to be executed, following the March 18 execution of Jessie Hoffman Jr His killing by nitrogen gas ended a 15year hiatus for executions in the state.

But a Louisiana Supreme Court majority found that Stewart acted out of turn in seeking both warrants. In a concurrence, Chief Justice John Weimer lamented the duration of the cases but urged “prudence,” saying an attempt to proceed with the two execution dates could only add to delays

“It is incumbent on our system of justice to ensure the

imposition of the sentence is properly applied, not in haste, but without delay for the sake of delay,” he wrote.

Justices Will Crain, Jay McCallum and Cade Cole offered dissents that argued the court should have waited for Hathaway to act on pending challenges to the execution warrants.

Stewart did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Just how the court’s ruling affects the rest of death row is uncertain.

Attorney General Liz Murrill, who supported the warrants, said each case is different while she argued that the cost to the state warrants new legislation she supports to speed up the process.

“This is the reason we need comprehensive reform of post-conviction relief. Lawyers for these individuals obtained delay after delay, then did nothing. District attorneys and judges let these cases falter as well,” Murrill said. “Now the victims’ families are suffering the consequences of their actions.”

Capital defense pointed to precedent, noting that courts in Louisiana and nationally

have repeatedly turned back death warrants where the prisoners hadn’t exhausted their state post-conviction or federal habeas corpus appeal rights.

“The Louisiana Supreme Court recognized the fundamental principle that the state cannot send a man to the death chamber without at least allowing him to exhaust his appeals,” said Draughn’s lawyer, Cecelia Kappel of the Center for Social Justice at Loyola University, in a statement.

“If prisoners can be executed before they have completed all of their appeals, by warrants signed under cover of darkness, then all of our rights are seriously in jeopardy.”

Hoffman’s execution was Louisiana’s ﬁrst since 2010, and the ﬁrst that took place over a legal challenge for more than two decades It followed a new law that Gov Jeff Landry signed last year that added nitrogen gas to a new list of options.

Unike Reed and Draughn, Hoffman’s attorneys acknowledged that he had exhausted his appeals.

Draughn was convicted

Iowa governor says she won’t seek reelection

BY HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa In a surprise announcement Friday, Iowa Gov Kim Reynolds said she will not seek a third term in ofﬁce. Reynolds, a Republican, has held the position since 2017, when former Gov Terry Branstad was appointed U.S. ambassador to China. She was elected to full terms in 2018 and again in 2022.

“This wasn’t an easy decision, because I love this state and I love serving you,” Reynolds said in a video posted on social media. “But, when my term ends, I will have had the privilege of serving as your governor for almost 10 years.”

ing ofﬁce after years of her family supporting her, saying now “it’s time for me to be there for them.” Her husband, Kevin Reynolds, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2023. In January, she said his cancer remained in remission.

Her decision sets up next year’s election for governor in Iowa as the first without an incumbent in nearly two decades.

Reynolds said she is leav-

Reynolds, who got her start in politics as treasurer in largely rural Clarke County in southern Iowa, population less than 10,000, was the state’s ﬁrst female governor She was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2008 before serving as Branstad’s running mate, when she was elected lieutenant governor in 2010.

Iowa’s politics have shifted drastically since Reynolds first got to the state capitol in Des Moines. The state launched former President Barack Obama’s presidential bid and supported him in both the 2008 and 2012 general elections then clearly backed Presi-

dent Donald Trump in all three of his presidential runs. Republicans have been steadily increasing their majorities in the Iowa House and Senate under Reynolds’ leadership, giving her ample opportunity to advance her priorities. Reynolds also has not shied away from the national attention, delivering a GOP response to President Joe Biden’s address to Congress and serving as the chair of Republican Governors Association.

She’s enjoyed the spotlight that comes with hosting the presidential caucuses, making a splash in 2023 by breaking a longstanding tradition of Iowa governors staying neutral in the race — and breaking with Trump by endorsing Florida Gov Ron DeSantis.

And as Trump has moved on his second-term agenda at the federal level, Reynolds has regularly highlighted the conservative policies Iowa has already

adopted. Reynolds has celebrated her work to get school choice in Iowa across the finish line, signing into law in 2023 the creation of publicly funded educational savings accounts for students’ private school tuition or other approved expenses. In the current school year, more than 27,000 students used the program, which becomes available to any student in the coming year Reynolds’ proposed budget line for the accounts next year reached $314 million.

and sentenced to death in 2003 for the murder of 64-year-old Lauretta White, of Shreveport, who was found on April 6, 2000, in a pool of blood in her kitchen in what appeared to be a robbery gone awry She’d been stabbed numerous times, including two fatal slashes in her jugular vein. The Louisiana Supreme Court denied Draughn’s appeal in 2007.

His attorneys argued that the District Attorney’s Office had no issues with an extension requested in 2011 for ﬁling his post-conviction plea. A judge never ruled on it, and the last activity in the case came in 2011, before Stewart’s office sought an execution warrant.

Reed was convicted of murdering three brothers — Jeremiah 20; Jarquis 18; and Gene Adams, 13 — in August 2010 after a burglary at his home The bodies were found

in Jeremiah Adams’ silver Chevrolet Malibu, parked in the front yard of Reed’s home. At trial, Reed claimed it was a justifiable homicide, but the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence as well. Stewart argued that Reed lost his chance to supplement his shell petition In seeking the execution warrant, prosecutors pointed to a legal fight in 2019, when the district attorney challenged Reed’s representation by a team led by attorney Blythe Taplin, who also represented Reed on appeal. The judge at the time set a Dec. 30, 2019, deadline for Reed’s attorneys to supplement his state petition. Reed recently filed a lengthy post-conviction application. The court’s ruling Friday demands that the judge first rule on it before he can be killed.

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Lawmakers seek solution to insurance crisis

Bills filed to ramp up oversight

BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer

A year after lawmakers agreed to a package of bills to make Louisiana friendlier to insurance companies, the ongoing home insurance crisis is prompting a host of legislators to seek more relief from spiraling costs for homeowners.

Lawmakers have ﬁled bills to ramp up oversight of insurers, to crack down on what some see as “excessive” profits and to provide tax credits to people who pay high premiums, among an array of other ideas. Legislators have ﬁled several dozen bills about property insurance in the session that begins April 14.

A key question remains:

Will the GOP-dominated Legislature continue on the path championed by Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, a Republican and former insurance executive who has pushed to make it easier for insurers to drop policyholders and raise rates?

Temple believes the strategy will attract more insurers to Louisiana and that the competition will drive rates down. He said several insurers are considering entering the market, while a handful have ﬁled for rate decreases. He supports several proposed measures to boost building codes and strengthen fortiﬁed roof incentives, while he’s continued to try to woo insurers with fewer regulations.

But the session comes as Gov Jeff Landry and Temple are at odds over insurance issues, a rift that has grown since lawmakers convened last year And there is growing disquiet among some lawmakers that insurance rates continue to rise for most of their constituents, years after a series of hurricanes threw the market into turmoil. Temple said in a recent interview that he has not “had the opportunity” to speak with Landry about insurance since last spring

The governor has not championed a major package addressing property insurance. During a recent news conference on insurance costs, Landry focused almost entirely on auto insurance, though he again said he’s frustrated that the package of industry-friendly bills he signed into law last year haven’t resulted in major savings for homeowners. It was similar to the message he gave late last year, when he said he was open to supporting a different strategy on home insurance, such as legislation that requires insurers to provide certain levels of discounts in exchange for fortiﬁed roofs.

“We don’t want to go down the road that Florida traveled, which is what we’re hearing continuously echoed in this Capitol: If we believe everything the insurance companies tell us, we’ll be just fine,” Landry said last week.

‘Top concern’

While much of the energy at the state Capitol is focused on high auto insurance rates, Louisiana homeowners are also being hit in the pocketbook by increasing homeowners insurance rates. An analysis of rate ﬁlings from The Times-Picayune | The Advocate shows they have continued to climb since last year’s laws were passed, and the average policyholder who experienced a rate change since then saw a 9% increase.

The rate hikes have threatened the ability for people to stay in their south Louisiana homes. In some coastal areas, communities are being ripped apart. Rising premiums have exacerbated shortages of affordable housing in metro areas. And the housing market has taken a hit in many south Louisiana markets.

“It is still a top concern of everyone,” said Rep. Jacob Braud, a Belle Chasse Republican who ﬁled a bill to allow homeowners to reduce coverage to only the unpaid principal balance of their mortgage, rather than having coverage on their home’s full value. Doing so could lower their premiums but leave them with less protection during a hurricane.

“The rates are just so high. It might be the highest thing in their escrow, more than their house note,” Braud said.

Louisiana voters have increasingly voiced concerns about rising home insurance costs since the state’s insurance market tanked in 2022 and 2023.

John Couvillon, a pollster who works on behalf of many Republican elected officials, said his recent polling shows high property insurance costs are the No. 1 issue of concern in the state, particularly in south Louisiana.

Tricky problem

The Times-Picayune | The Advocate found in a series of stories on the crisis last year that homeowners in south Louisiana are being hit with staggering price increases, which in some cases are driving people out of their homes. Communities in coastal Louisiana are seeing an exodus of residents, hit with the double whammy of the insurance crisis and the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in 2021

Finding quick solutions is not easy

The state relies heavily on the global reinsurance industry, which backstops insurance companies and ultimately decides rates for homeowners. The California wildﬁres at the start of this year were another setback for the market, much of which is based in Bermuda.

That means Louisiana is, in many ways at the whims of global catastrophes, which are becoming worse because of climate change.

But there are signs that reinsurance costs could be topping out after years of steep increases. A rate index kept

when filing a claim, while others would require insurers to give more notice before canceling a policy Much of his package is focused on auto insurance, part of a hotly contested debate between the insurance industry and trial lawyers over lawsuits filed after car accidents.

Battle brews

With home insurance costs still high, many lawmakers are pushing for a different approach.

has a house is fed up paying these high premiums,” Connick said. “Where is the money going? They get no relief.”

Landry threw his support behind an effort to give Temple more power to reject “excessive” rates from insurance companies Sen Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, and Rep. Robby Carter, DAmite, are sponsoring bills to do that.

by the reinsurance broker

Guy Carpenter forecasts a slight drop in reinsurance costs in 2025 after years of steep hikes.

Some elected ofﬁcials and advocates have begun pushing for a federal solution to homeowners insurance, which could work similarly to how the federal government underwrites flood insurance. But it is unlikely Congress will swiftly enact such a program.

Meanwhile, Louisiana is trying to incentivize large numbers of homeowners to build fortiﬁed roofs that are less likely to come off during a hurricane, which can provide premium discounts.

State Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, said he’s preparing to ﬁle a bill that would require the state to back catastrophe bonds, which provide a backstop to insurers in the case of a major hurricane. He said the idea would help alleviate high reinsurance costs that are putting upward pressure on home insurance bills.

Jordan is also pushing a bill to give out tax credits for people paying high premiums. The measure would give homeowners a tax credit for the amount in home insurance premiums they pay over $3,000 a year. The amount of the credit would cap at $5,000.

“Hardworking families in Louisiana are still facing a crisis,” Jordan said. “More of their income is going toward paying insurance than people in other states. If that’s the case, they’re entitled to some relief until we can ﬁx it.”

Staying the course

Temple and Republicans in the Legislature have enacted a series of changes to laws and regulations that make it easier for insurers to raise rates, drop policyholders and avoid costly lawsuits after hurricanes.

While premiums have not meaningfully dropped since then, Temple said he remains optimistic. He said several insurers are considering entering Louisiana’s market, and noted that several companies filed for rate decreases this year Rate filing data shows the vast majority of policyholders are not seeing significant rate declines, though

some insurers have ﬁled rate decreases for small groups of homeowners.

“We’re trending in the right direction,” Temple said. Temple is supporting several bills on property insurance. One would require homeowners to sign a “satisfactory proof of loss” document

Sen. Patrick Connick, RMarrero, is pushing a bill to require insurers to report more information about their finances, including transactions with affiliates. The Times-Picayune | The Advocate last year found that 11 of the 12 companies that went insolvent in the wake of Hurricanes Laura and Ida sent hundreds of millions of premium dollars to lessregulated affiliates, making it difficult to say how much profit they were extracting from the insuranc

“Our insurance commissioner has been unable to hold insurance companies to their word,” Landry said. “I do not believe it is personal. I just believe he does not have the power to be able to do that.” Temple rejected the idea, saying in an interview that insurers do make signiﬁcant profits in some years, but that they lost tremendous amounts of money after hurricanes in 2020 and 2021.

“To say insurance companies are making excessive profits is extremely disingenuous,” Temple said. “I

SCHOOLS

pre-pandemicnumbers.

Overall enrollment has declined by about 4% over that periodand has fallen under 40,000 students for the ﬁrst time in decades.

If you takeout charter schools, overall enrollment is just 33,000 students, down about 11% from before the pandemic. Consequently,the number of schools below half their functional capacity has nearly doubled, and such schools currently makeup athird of the traditional publicschools. Twenty-six schools have fewer than 300 students, 11 of them neighborhood schools. The smallestofthoseisNortheast Elementary with180 students.

Cole launchedawebsite in Februaryfor the “realignment” process. It is filled with academic, ﬁnancial and other information about the school system and its individual schools.

He then held three community meetings at three elementary schoolsintown to gather feedback. There also is an online survey asking the same questions presented at the community meetings.The link is live until noon Monday

Cole has tapped Baton Rouge native Pamela Whitley to lead the consolidation effort. An electrical engineer,Whitley spent her careerwith the Federal Aviation Administration.As part of that job, she helped lead what became a25-year effort to upgradeairports and related facilities so they could accommodate modern technology,inthe process closing some buildings. In deciding whichschools need changes, Cole has focused on the academic performance of the school, the age of school buildings and the degree to which the schools’ student enrollments are too low.Inparticular,he is trying to reduce theranks of Dand Fschools in the schoolsystem.

Cole hassaidwhatishappening now is “Phase 1” of amultiphase processof schoolchanges that will play out over years.

In his eight months as superintendent, Cole already has closed three schools, two of them charter schools. Newdirection Over the past two months,

Cole has tried to flip the script, emphasizing the beneﬁtsofhaving schoolswith morestudents and consequently greater resources, newerbuildings,better stafﬁng and richer academic programming.

“A student who sits in an underutilized facility with anoncertiﬁed teacher in an old decrepit buildingshould have the opportunity to transition to anew facility with acertiﬁed teacher,perhaps two in theclassroom at one time,and learn in an environment thatissafe, that is cleanand that they deserve,”

Cole said in February Whitleyservedasmaster of ceremonies at thecommunity meetings.She noted that about one in ﬁve school buildings in the systemis considered in poor condition. Keeping them open would require millions of dollars in maintenancecosts that could be usedfor “the beneﬁt of the students,” she said.

“Weunderstand that change is hard,but we also look to make acommitment to makechange aseasy as possible for those impacted,” Whitley said At themost recent communitymeeting, held

Thursday at Broadmoor Elementary,Cole said he has hadtrouble sleepingfor the past four weeks as he has triedtosettle on what he will recommend. He said people stophim daily,trying to inﬂuence his thinking. One personbegged him the day before not to closethat person’sschool.

“People typically think about what theymight lose, but Ithink about what would be successful if we do this in theright way,” Cole said.

Indeed, soon afterhe spoke, Pearl Porter,alongtimeparent activist,said the district is notdoing enough to inform parents of what is happening.

“I’mpraying to God we don’tclose any school in 70805 (ZIP code),” Porter said. “Just give us one more year.”

Underthe microscope

At aMarch 27 community meeting at Capitol Elementary, much of thediscussion centered around the fate of nearby Capitol High.

Cole began themeeting by saying he is not recommending closing any high schools during Phase1,but said that may happen down theroad.

CapitolHigh is the small-

est neighborhood high school in Baton Rouge and is an obvioustargetfor potential closure. It usedto educate more than 1,000 students. In 2009,itwas taken over by thestate and convertedintoa series of charter schools. Under the last operator,analumni-led nonproﬁt known as the Capitol Educational Foundation, the high school hadabout 360 students Then SuperintendentSito Narcisse waged asuccessful public campaign to bring the school back under the control of the East Baton Rouge

Parish school system, with promises of building anew facility and apartnership withnearlyBaton Rouge General Medical Center Capitol’sreturn, though, has not been so auspicious. It currently has about half the students it had under the previous management and dropped from aD to an Fletter grade. Four out of five students enrolled last year were chronically absent, missing at least 10% of the school year.Meanwhile, proposals to build anew school at 1000 N. 23rdSt. have stalled.

While thebuildings are notscheduledfor closing, School Board memberCarla Powell-Lewis asked Cole at the CapitolElementary meeting whether thehigh school and nearby Capitol Middle could be merged. Jacqueline Germany,an alum of CapitolHigh, reminded Cole of past promises.

“Wewere promisedto have built another school at Capitol,” she said.

Email Charles Lussier at clussier@theadvocate. com.

By Amanda McElfresh| amcelfresh@theadvocate.com

T-Mobile is continuing itscommitmenttoLouisiana with expansions of its5G wireless services,moreretailstoreswithlocal employees, disaster preparation andresponse, andhelping to enhancethe livelihood of smallercommunities SinceT-MobilemergedwithSprintinApril 2020,the companyhas invested more than $300 millioninLouisiana,saidDavid Seale, Regional Director of Business DevelopmentSupport for T-Mobile.Muchofthatinvestmenthas gone toward adding newcellularsites andgrowing 5G coverage,particularly in ruralareas of thestate that previously hadlittleornocellularcoverage.

T-Mobile’s investment in Louisianaincludedthe addition of more than 300 newcellsites andnearly1,870 upgrades to existing ones.Statewide,T-Mobile nowprovides5Gservice along99% of interstate highways,U.S.highways, and stateroutes.

“Residents andbusinessesinLouisiana todayhavehighspeed data and high penetrationinareasthatpreviouslydid nothavecoverage,”saidNicole Mitchell,aSr. ManagerofRFEngineering forT-Mobile’sGulfCoast region

MitchClabeaux, T-Mobile’s Market Director forRetailfor theGulfCoast region,noted that whilethe companyhas always hada strong presence in large cities like BatonRouge andNew Orleans, it hasworkedhardtobring that same levelofservice to smallertowns throughout thestate

“Overthe past several years, we’vebuilt thelargest andfastest 5G network in thecountry,” Clabeaux said.“Throughthiswork, we also identified that many communities, includinginLouisiana,had alarge gapinterms of internet connectivity.Inmanyareas,customerscan nowreceiveinternetaccessthrough our5Gnetwork,while saving moneyontheir internet bill.”

In addition to service, Clabeaux said T-Mobile hasadded 35 stores in Louisianaoverthe past four years, creating nearly 250 jobs. This givescustomers thechancetohave theirquestions answered andproblemsaddressed quickly, whilegivinglocalresidents career opportunities.

“Wewantcustomers to interact with us in theway they want to interact,” Clabeaux said.“If they prefer to do that in astore,wehavemorecompany-owned stores andcompany employees in Louisianathaneverbefore. If they want to use aself-serviceoption, ourT-Lifeapp is availableinthe palm of theirhands.In many partsofLouisiana,we’ve also expanded ourpresenceinnationalretailers like Costco andSam’s Club.Whenyou go theretodoyourshopping, youcan join T-Mobile or upgradeyourphone at thesametime.

Over this same time period,Louisiana hasbeennostrangertonatural disasters, includinghurricanes, droughts andevenwinterweather.Mitchell andDavid Ide, Director of NetworkEngineering andOperations, said T-Mobile hasworkedextensively to furtherhardenits networktohelpcustomers stay connectedduringmajor events

“Wehavebecomereallyproﬁcient with disaster planning andrecovery. We arealsoveryproactive,nimble andquick in ourresponses,” Idesaid.

T-Mobile also worksclosely with ﬁrst responders andgovernmentagencies aheadofanticipated disasterssuchashurricanesinorder to have assets such as generators, SatelliteCell-On-Wheels(SatCOWs),Satellite Cell-On-Light-Trucks (SatCOLTs) andemployees in placetorestore andboost connectivity as needed

“I thinkone of ourdifferentiatorsisthatmostofour folksare local,”Seale added. “There’s adifferent levelofurgency when youare helping your own

community. They want to getstarted fast.Assoonasastorm haspassed, they aregoing to thosesites andgetting to work rightaway.

In responsetoeducational needs, T-Mobile hasconnected more than 41,000 Louisianastudents across 40 school districtswithheavily subsidized data plans andaccesstoaffordabledevices to complete theirschoolworkthrough Project 10Million.

T-Mobile also wantstobethere for smalland ruraltowns lookingto jumpstart projects andbuild stronger communities. Forexample,the company awardedthe city of Slidell $50,000through itsHometown Grants initiativethis past February to transform an unkemptgreen spacein Olde TowneSlidell into the CareyStreetPocketPark. Dawn Crippin, whohelps lead Slidell’spreservation commission,saidthatrevitalizationofthespacewould notbepossiblewithout the grantfromT-Mobile.

“Thishasbeenavision of ours for alongtime,”she said.“We’regoing to have an ADA-compliant brick pathwayand benchestogo alongwiththe pergolaand picnic tables that arethere.Wethink theambiance of theparkisgoing to attractpeople. We’d love to have brownbag lunches, small bandsand communityevents. We want to create aspace wherepeoplecan just sitand relaxand step away from thehustle andbustle of dailylifefor alittlebit.”

AnotherT-Mobilecommunity program, Friday Night5GLights, kicked off last year to help more schoolsand communitiesnationwide. Thecompetition givesone high school aprize packagethatincludesa$100,000grant,a weight room,new teched-out scoreboard,and an epic tailgate partycelebration with live musicand a5G-poweredhalftimedrone show.Along theway,16ﬁnalists also received a$25,000 grantfor theirschool.

High schoolsinsmall townsand ruralcommunities across Louisianacan pre-register nowfor the2025competition or learnmoreatFridayNight5GLights com. T-Mobile US,Inc.(NASDAQ:TMUS) is America’ssuperchargedUn-carrier,deliveringanadvanced 4G LTEand transformative nationwide 5G network that will offer reliable connectivity forall.T-Mobile’scustomers beneﬁt

newcomer has faced amore than$40 million budget shortfall,aonce-in-a-generation Baton Rougesnowstorm and astandoff with the parish library system.

Here’show he views his progress so far Policevs. library

Edwards’ administration wasted little time in attempting to overhaul parts of the city-parish government.

On Feb. 6, the mayor-president announced aplan to shore up asagging budget —the creation of the city of St. George meant the parish was losing an estimated $40 million to $50 million —while giving parish employees along-sought pay raise: The library system, which operates independently, would be folded into city-parish government, and some of thelibrarymoney would then be used to fund other priorities.

At ﬁrst, Edwards’ administration focused mostlyon police, saying the plan would fund significant raisesfor officers, who are paid less their counterparts at nearby agencies. In hindsight, the mayor-president acknowledges that backfired, and says he quickly learneda lesson from it.

“Me being arookie and putting it right out there, it immediately began as ‘police versus the library,’ and that was on me,” Edwards said. “There’salearning curve.”

From the start, the plan was about more than police, Edwards said. But that quickly became thenarrative.

At one of the first debates over the library plan at Metro Council, police in uniformattendedenmasse —sitting awkwardly shoulder to shoulder with acrowd of librarysupporterswearing blue shirts. The scene reinforced the idea thatEdwards was asking the city to choose between libraries and the law

Moving fast

Charlie Davis, Edwards’ chief administrative officer, said the administration had to move quickly upon taking office —before the mayorpresident had even fully filled out his roster

The library had already asked Metro Council to approve putting an item on theballotaskingvoters to renew the library’sproperty tax millage. So if they wanted library funding to be part of theirplan, Edwards’ team had to launch acampaign immediately

“Wehad to make adecision to move instantly or not,” Davis said. “Wehad to engage before we even hired afull communication staff.”

That contributed to the confusion, he says. For weeks, libraryleaders and supporters campaigned against theinitial proposal, which would have cut the library’soperational funds by 38%.

But eventually,Edwards and his staff, Metro Council members and library leaders worked out acompromise.

The library agreed to rededicate aportion of its funding to the city-parish while remaining independent. The cut to its budget is now 25%.

Mosquito Abatement andthe Council on Aging chipped in some of their own tax revenue too.

If it gets Metro Council approval next month, the mayor-president hopes his plan —dubbed “Thrive! EBR” —will get an OK from voters in November whenit appears as four separate millage renewals.

“I credit the library,” Edwards said. “Where we’re at now,becausethisisnot over, this part ended very well with us working together.”

Acclimatingtopolitics

Edwards took office as leaderofLouisiana’smost populous parish in January with no experience as an elected official. And most of his top staff members entered their jobs from the private sector That has meant some acclimation.

“I’ve worked around state and federal government a bitfor manyyears. AndsoI wasexpecting there to be a lot of bureaucracy.But there was even more than Iwas expecting,”said Davis, who previously was CEOofMoxey,aneconomic platform for business owners. Davis said hespent signiﬁcant time in his ﬁrst week walking in and out of departments of City Hall tryingto get to knowemployees who hadmuchmore experience in governmentthan he did.

Bothheand Edwardssaid they put significant effort into building relationships with all12MetroCouncil members too, whichisa majorreason acompromise was reached with thelibrary deal, apoint echoed by coun-

cil members.

“For the mostpart, you had an incumbent Metro Council that wasversedinissuesas anew administration and brand-new staff cameinthe door,” said District 3council member Rowdy Gaudet. “It is clearly an effort that they put alot of effort and concentration toward.”

Gaudetsaid Baton Rouge needed someoneto“challenge the status quo,” even if there were early stumbles.

“Sometimes you’re moving fast, and yougot to put themessaging out there and then letfolks consume it andsee where they stand,” Gaudet said.

Thenext100

Likemany administrations before, Edwards’ first 100

days have been spent trying to balancebetween remainingfocused on the issues he campaignedon, responding to allthe people and organizations who want some of his time, and learning the systemthey now operateunder

Though Edwards said“not everyday is asmooth ﬂight,” he has become accustomed to theregular 12- and 13-hour days andthinks he andhis staff have made it through the initial turbulence.

“I’m comfortable where we’re at.I’m excited still We’regetting things done,” he said.“Alot of it is belief without evidence. Youknow, Ithink theevidenceisstill yet to appear,and that just takes time.”

The mayor-president said he thinks residents will see that evidence with public safety soon

Assistant Chief Administrative Officer and former BRPD chief Jeff LeDuff was one of the first people named to Edwards’ staff and has spent the past three months tackling public safety forthe Mayor’s Office.

LeDuffsaidnumbers show first-quarter homicides are down23% in city limits from the year prior andthere hasbeena 33% decrease in gunshotinjuriesoverthe same period.

The former chief points to recent effortstoput more desk ofﬁcersbackout on regular uniform patrol, amongotherreasons.

“I also think morale is up. They’re hearing aboutabig payraise andexcited about the administration with Coach being here,” LeDuff said. As ahead football coach, Edwardssaid, “I letmy coaches coach,” delegating to staffers like LeDuff. And though he feels like he has grinded out acoupleearly wins, he is readyfor his team to do more. “I like offense.Iwas a former offensive coordinator.That’swhat Ilike to do,” Edwards said. “In these ﬁrst 100 days, we’ve been playing alot of defense. And when thedefense is on the ﬁeld toolong, it hurts.”

Email Patrick SloanTurner at patrick.sloanturner@theadvocate.com.

Notice is hereby givenpursuanttoArticle 7, Section23(C) of theLouisiana Constitution andR.S.47:1705(B)thata public hearingof theLaw EnforcementDistrictofLivingston Parish will be held at itsregular meeting place, theoffice of Livingston Parish Sheriff JasonArd,20300 Government Blvd,Livingston, Louisiana70754 on Tuesday, May 27,2025at10:00 a.m. to consider levying additional or increasedmillage rateswithoutfurther voterapprovaloradoptingthe adjusted millagerates afterreassessment androlling forwardtorates nottoexceed theprior year’s maximum. Theestimated amount of taxrevenuestobecollected from theLaw Enforcement(Maintenance) taxin thenextyearfromthe increasedmillage is $10,310,556.05,and theamountofincrease in taxesattributabletothe increasedmillage is $222,730.29.

From thebasketballcourt to thesoccerpitch from thefootballﬁeldtothe track, Parkview Baptist School in BatonRouge hascreated an environment wherestudent-athletescan thrive in multiple areas.

Most Parkview Baptiststudent-athletesplay severalsports, oftenwithoverlapping seasons. For example, thegirls’soccerteamincludesvolleyball andbasketballplayers,plustrack athletes,saidHead CoachRaphael Nunes.

“WhenI ﬁrst came to Parkview,the softball team hadwon thestate championship theyearbefore. That told me theschoolhad good athletes.I just needed to ﬁndthem,”Nunes said.“Ifeellucky that I’ve hadsome of thebestofthe bestthe past fewyears.I feel it’s part of my job to make it work with theother coachesin termsofschedulingand practice to make sure allof thesportsare successful,not just my own.

Nunessaidhemeets with otherParkviewcoaches severaltimes each week to create andreviewschedulingdocuments that take into accountpracticeneeds, gamesand recovery

“Noneofour athletes have hadinjuriesthisyear becauseofbeing overworked,” he said.“Sometimes we adjust practice times, or aplayermight do half a practice with us andhalfwithanother sport. If we want to be successful andhave thebestathletes, we need to be ﬂexible. I’mgratefulthatthe othercoaches feel thesameway.”

AllisonLeake,the school’s assistantathletic director andheadvarsity volleyball coach, said that atmosphere of coachesencouraging athletes to play more than onesport isn’t common at high schools, even smalleroneslikeParkviewBaptist.However Leakesaidthe school is fortunatetohave coaches whounderstandthatbeing on multiple teamscan help kids in several ways

“Ithelps them to be stronger athletes in general, shesaid. “Weknowsomeofour students maynot have theopportunity to play asport at thenextlevel,sowe want to make sure they have thebestpossiblehigh school experience andare on everyteamtheywant to be involved in whiletheyare here.”

ForParkviewBaptist students,balancing multiple sports is achallenge that they embrace. Ansley Bernhard,afreshmanwho is in cross-country, basketball soccer andtrack,saidbeing on severalteams has givenher achancetobeapart of high-level playoff competitions andchampionshipvictories,creating memories that willlasta lifetime

“It’shonestlyhardtodescribewhatitfeels like to have that kind of success,exceptthatyou know your hard work is paying off,” shesaid. “The family feeling isimportanttomeaswell.Itdoesn’tmatterwhatteam

you’re on –all of theother girlsare encouragingone another, andthatmakes youwanttobearoundthem allthe time.”

Ansley’s mother, BetsyBernhard, is thegirls cross-countryand trackcoach at Parkview Baptist. Whilethe family hasabusyschedulebetween sports, school andsocialactivities, BetsyBernhardsaidshe feelslearninghowtobalanceitallteachesthestudents importantlessons for thefuture.

“I thinkitshows them that youcan do alot in aday probably more than youthink youcan,” shesaid. “We know they can’tdoeverythingafter school,sowe make sure to offer them differentpracticeoptions.It’s impressivetoseethegirlsrunningatsixinthemorning or taking outtheir bookstostudy during ahour-long carride. Ithink alot of it comesfromParkviewbeing aGod-centeredcampuswithanoverall spirit of excellence. That translates into thekidshavinghighgoals forthemselvesand settingplans in placeeachday to achievethose.”

AnotherParkviewBaptistathlete,C.J.DeLeon,said he trulyfellinlovewithfootballduringa game against Dunhamhisfreshmanyear,whenhescoredtwotouchdownsinParkview’swin.Now asophomore,DeLeon hasadded trackand basketballtohis sports schedule

“I like thefactthatevery sportisa newchallenge andanewjourneyforme,”hesaid.“Therearedifferent obstaclestoovercomeineachone.Eachsporthelpsme improveonsomethingdifferent, whichIthink makes me abetterathlete andfootballplayeroverall.”

TheParkviewBaptist coachesand facultywork closelytoensurestudentsarestayingontrackwiththeir academics. Nunesnoted that theseventh hour period canbeusedfor tutoring if astudent is struggling in a particulararea.DanielMcCulloch,ParkviewBaptist’s interimhighschooldivisionhead,saidathleticleaders alsocloselymonitorstudents’grades,bothtomakesure they remain eligible to play andare building pathsto asuccessful future

“Ifany of ourcoaches sees astudent whoisstarting to fall behind,westart academic planning meetings,” McCullochsaid.“Thoseinvolvethestudent,theparents theteachersand thecoaches.Wetakea whole-child approach.Whenyou have probably half to two-thirds ofyourstudentsplayingsportsinsomecapacity,likewe doatParkview,it’sveryimportantthatyouareworking with them to be theirbestinall areas, notjust

andsoftball, gymnastics andpowerlifting. Visit www.parkviewbaptist.com for more information.

STAFF FILEPHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Mayor-President Sid Edwards answers questions from the media about his newplan for the city’s budget during anewsconference at Café Américain on Feb.25.

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whatever he could get approved and blocked many of his priorities, including raising the minimum wage and making it easier for women to earn equal pay for their work.

The spanking that voters gave Landry on March 29 has prompted comparisons to the defeat that voters handed then-Gov. Buddy Roemer in 1989 when they rebuffed his campaign to revamp the tax system, a plan known as “Fiscal Reform.”

Steve Cochran, who was Roemer’s chief of staff at the time, offered an instructive view of the danger Landry faces. He said Roemer’s defeat made legislators less willing to follow the governor on tough votes that followed.

Cochran described the attitude of legislators afterward as: “You got us on board (Fiscal Reform), and then you couldn’t sell it, and it’s left to us to carry the weight.” As a result, Cochran added, “They weren’t quite on board next time. It made things harder for us, no question about it.”

Roemer lost his reelection bid in 1991.

Significant strength

Nobody is forecasting that for Landry By all accounts, he had a strong ﬁrst year He got legislators to redraw the political boundaries for Congress and the state Supreme Court in a way that locked up a more conservative majority He got legislators to pass bills to lock up more offenders, adopt a new kind of school voucher program, lower income taxes while raising sales taxes and allow the death penalty to be carried out with nitrogen gas He signed MAGA-style bills to require the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms and to prohibit transgender students from insisting that teachers call them by their preferred pronouns. And he is the ﬁrst Republi-

can governor in the modern era who enjoys a Republican supermajority in the Legislature.

As governor, Landry has shown deft political skills in getting lawmakers to approve most of his agenda.

He has also shown a willingness to exercise all of the considerable powers of the Governor’s Ofﬁce to get his way

“The amendments failed at the ballot box, but the lineitem veto is alive and well,” said Rep. Mike Bayham, RChalmette, referring to the governor’s ability to kill individual spending projects to punish wayward legislators “There’s never been a line-item veto overridden. He’s also got the ability to gut you on capital outlay and appropriations after session.”

Legislators report privately that Landry and his senior leadership have already begun threatening to kill bills and spending projects by legislators who do not support key items on his agenda.

Potential battles What tops his agenda is

not clear Unlike predecessors, Landry has not released a list of his legislative priorities before the session begins.

In recent days, Landry has taken a strong stand on two issues, but he is facing pushback on both.

The governor wants to double spending on a modified version of the school voucher program known as Education Spending Accounts. Social conservatives and megadonor and business owner Eddie Rispone, who narrowly lost the 2019 governor’s race to Edwards, love the program.

But pointing to a lack of new money, Senate President Cameron Henry, RMetairie, said on Tuesday that the Legislature will spend no more this year on ESAs.

Added Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro the House budget chair, talking about ESAs: “Some of the things that are important to him we may not fund.”

McFarland called the budget “a bit of a mess” but said state ofﬁcials may learn in late May when the

Revenue Estimating Conference meets next that tax receipts have been higher than projected, giving lawmakers more money to spend.

Landry said last week that he didn’t know whether the treasury will have the $198 million needed to prevent teachers from suffering a pay cut.

What appears to be shaping up as the biggest issue in the regular session is the ﬁght between trial lawyers on one side and business interests and insurance companies on the best way to reduce car insurance rates in Louisiana, said to be the highest in the country

House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, empowered his members when the Legislature was out of session by asking them to hold committee hearings to devise legislation to reduce the insurance rates.

That has led Republican House freshmen to back a package of bills favored by business interests and insurance companies that aim to make it harder for people injured in accidents

to ﬁle lawsuits and win big payouts. Two second-term legislators — Speaker Pro Tem Mike Johnson, R-Pineville, and House Insurance Committee Chair

Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock — and 15 freshmen met with Landry on March 26 at the Governor’s Mansion to push their plan.

That effort and the news that Landry met at a Texas hunting camp two weeks ago with four trial lawyer representatives has put the governor on the defensive on this issue.

On Wednesday, Landry tried to regain control of the narrative by announcing which car insurance bills he supports, saying repeatedly that he favored “a balanced” approach.

It was notable that only one of the 17 Republican legislators pushing the car insurance bills favored by business interests stood behind Landry that day

“I’m just as tired of seeing Morris Bart as I am of seeing the lizard,” the governor told reporters, referring to the New Orleans trial lawyer seen on TVs and billboard ads and Geico’s animated mascot with a Cockney accent.

“Maybe I should learn how to hunt?!!” Bart replied on Twitter later

Bart’s trial lawyer rival Gordon McKernan ﬂew the legislators to Texas on his private jet. Bart was not part of the trip.

On Wednesday before announcing his plan in Baton Rouge before reporters, Landry appeared on the radio program of Moon Griffon, a favorite of conservatives, to push his “balanced” approach on car insurance rates.

“People are looking and watching,” Griffon told Landry at one point, seemingly unimpressed with his plan. “Trial lawyers have been winning a lot here.”

Landry did not respond to a request for an interview

That House freshmen are feeling emboldened doesn’t surprise Henry “Each session that goes by builds a greater under-

standing of asking tougher questions in committee, asking tougher questions when you’re one on one with the governor,” Henry said. “It’s not that you’re not going to agree with the governor You’re just going to take a few more steps further before you say yes.”

Leaders also face tests

This year’s session will also pose tests for Henry and DeVillier

They represent a study in contrasts. A business consultant, Henry has far more political experience, having served as a legislative aide to then-state Rep. Steve Scalise and now in his 18th year in the Legislature, including four years chairing the House budget committee.

Henry has a relaxed attitude to politics that disarms people and a deep grasp of legislative issues. The tensions and problems in his job don’t seem to rattle him as he ensures that his views represent a majority of his 38 colleagues.

Last year Henry and his Senate colleagues blocked several of Landry’s initiatives and watered down others that were seen as catering too much to the far right.

Meanwhile, the House gave Landry virtually everything he wanted.

DeVillier, a real estate investor, is serving his 10th year and has an earnest nature that induces trust.

DeVillier has further won favor among his 104 members by traveling the state to meet with legislators, Democrats and Republicans alike, on their home turf.

“He has been incredibly gracious with his time and presence in my district, even driving several hours through a hurricane forecast to attend a meet-andgreet with over 50 community leaders, business owners, and stakeholders from my district that I hosted for him,” said Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans.

Email Tyler Bridges at tbridges@theadvocate. com.

Trumpadministration: Some electronics excluded from tariffs

BY MAE ANDERSON and MICHAEL LIEDTKE Associated Press

NASHVILLE,Tenn. The Trump administration late Friday said it would exclude electronics like smartphones and laptops from reciprocal tariffs, amovethatcould help keep the prices down forpopular consumerelectronics that aren’tusually made in the U.S.

It would also beneﬁt big tech companies like Apple and Samsung and chip makers like Nvidia, setting the stage for alikely tech stock rally on Monday

U.S. Customs and Border Protection saiditems like smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-panel monitors and somechips would qualifyfor theexemption. Machines used to make semiconductors are excluded too. That means they won’tbesubject to the current 145% tariffs levied on China or the 10% baseline tariffs elsewhere.

It’sthe latest tariff change by the Trump administration, which has made several U-turns in their massive plan to put tariffs in placeon goods from most countries.

The exemption seemedto reﬂect the president’srealization that his China tariffs are unlikely to shift more manufacturing of smartphones, computers and other gadgets to the U.S. any time soon,ifever,despite the administration’spredictions that the trade war prod Apple to make iPhones in the U.S. for the ﬁrst time.

But that was an unlikely scenario afterApple spent decades building up aﬁnely calibrated supply chain in China. What’smore,It would take several years and cost billions of dollars to build new plants in the U.S., and then confront Apple with economic forces that could triple the price of an iPhone, threatening to torpedo sales of its marquee product.

Trump’sdecision to exempt the iPhoneand other popular electronics made in China mirrors the similar relief that he gave those productsduringthe trade warof his first term in the White House. But Trump began his second term seemingly determined to impose the tariffs more broad this time, triggering ameltdown in the market values of Apple and other technology powerhouses.

The turmoil batteredthe stocks of tech’s“Magnificent Seven” —Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms. At one point earlier this week, the combined Magnificent Seven’s combined market value had plunged by $2.1 trillion, or 14%, from April 2when Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on awide rangeof countries.

Some of the losseseased this past Wednesday when Trumppaused thetariffs outside of China, paring the lost value in theMagnificent Seven to $644 billion, or a4%decline, from April 2. Now,the stage is set for another tech rally Monday when trading resumes in theU.S. stock market,with Apple likely leadingthe way because the iPhones madein China remain the company’s biggest money maker The electronics exemption

also shouldrelieve consumer worries that theChina tariffs would result in hefty price hikesonsmartphones and other devicesthat have become essential tools of modernliving, It’sthe kind offriendly treatmentthat industry was envisioning when Apple CEO TimCook, Tesla CEOElon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebookfounder Mark Zuckerbergand Amazonfounder Jeff Bezos assembledbehindthe presidentduring his Jan. 20 inauguration. That united display of fealty reﬂected BigTech’s hopes that Trump wouldbe more accommodating than PresidentJoe Biden’sadministration’sand help propelan already booming industry to even greater heights. Apple won praise from Trump in late February when the Cupertino, California, company committedto invest $500 billion and add 20,000 jobs in the U.S. duringthe next four years. The pledge was an echo ofa$350 billion investmentcommitment in theU.S. that Apple made during Trump’sfirst term when theiPhone was exempted from China tariffs.

The move takes off “a huge black cloud overhang for nowover the techsectorand the pressure facing U.S. Big Tech,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in aresearch note.

In astatementissuedSaturday, White HousePress Secretary KarolineLeavitt did not address the exemptionsspecifically but indicated the administrationstill plans to push for tech companiestomove manufacturing to the U.S.

“President Trump has made it clear America cannotrelyonChina to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops,” Leavitt said in an emailedstatement.

She saidthe administration has secured U.S. investments from tech companies including Apple, TSMC and Nvidia and these companies are “hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United Statesassoonaspossible.”

Neither Apple norSamsung responded to arequest for comment Saturday Nvidia declined to comment.

BY JOSH BOAK and MATT BROWN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Democrats arequick to saythat President Donald Trump’stariffs are horrible,awful, terrible. But Democratsare also stressing that they are not inherently anti-tariff.

WhatTrump’spolitical opponentssay theyreally dislike is the“chaos” he has unleashed.

“Tariffs are an important tool in our economic toolbox,” saidSen. Elizabeth Warren,D-Mass. “Trump is creating chaos, and that chaos undercuts our economy and our families, bothin the short term and the long term. He’s just created a worldwidehurricane, and that’snot good for anyone.”

Sen. TimKaine, D-Va., said Democratshave aconsensus around “a unified concept,which is targeted tariffs can work, across-theboard tariffs are bad.”

“The right targeting is in the eye of the beholder,but nobody on oursidethinks zero tariffs ever,” Kaine said.

The Democrats’ message is meant to convey thatthey are reasonable, focused on capable governance and attuned to financial market distress. It’sapitchtoward swing voterswho would like to see more manufacturing yetare uncomfortable with the consequences of Trump’sapproachto tariffs. Theriskisthatit alsoisa nuanced argumentatatime when pithy critiques travel faster and spread wider on social media than do measured policy analyses.

To theTrump White House, that messageis nothing but hypocrisy

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday notedthatRep Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who would later become House speaker,was warning in June 1996 that tradewith China meant higher trade deﬁcitsand job losses.

“It is about nothing less than our economic future, our national security and our democratic principles,” said Pelosi before the House votedtonot overturn then-Democratic President Bill Clinton’s decision to extendmostfavored-nationtrade statusfor Chinafor another year

TheTrump administration views thoseremarks

ASSOCIATEDPRESS

as evidence that Democrats actually back what Trumpis doing, despitetheir stated opposition.

“Everyone in Washington,whether they wantto admititornot, knows that this president is right when it comes to tariffs and when it comes to trade,” Leavitt told reporters. “Nancy Pelosi can thankPresident Trumptoday.”

Not all Democrats have threaded the needle cleanly

MichiganGov.Gretchen Whitmer gave aspeech in Washington on Wednesday calling fortariffs to be used likea“scalpel.” Hours later, she was in the OvalOfﬁce with Trump—inamoment caught on video —asthe president signeddirectives for the Justice Department to investigate two of his public critics and gave noncommittalmusings on tariff negotiations.

Whitmer’sofﬁce later said

in astatement that she was “surprised” that she was broughtinfor theevent after ameeting withTrump and that “her presence is not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements madeatthat event.” Trump this month unilaterally imposedsweeping tariffs on China, the European Union, Mexico,Canada, Japan and South Korea, amongdozensofother nations.

FILEPHOTO By RODLAMKEy Sen.Tim Kaine, D-Va., speaks during anewsconferenceregarding President Donald Trump’spending tariffs on Canadaatthe Capitol on April 1inWashington. Kaine said Democrats have aconsensus around ‘a unified concept, which is targeted tariffs can work; across-the-board tariffs are bad. BLEU RODBEATTIE

Israel cuts offGaza’scityofRafah,vowstoexpand

BY SAM MEDNICK and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

TEL AVIV,Israel Israel an-

nounced Saturday it had completedconstruction of anew security corridor

cuttingoff the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza,and the military said it would soon expand “vigorously”inmost of the small coastal territory Palestinians were further squeezed into shrinkingareas.

“Activity will expand rapidly to additional locations throughout most of Gaza and you will have to evacuate the ﬁghting zones,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in astatement, without saying where Palestinians were meant to go.

The statement urged Palestinians to removeHamas and releasethe remaining hostages, saying: “Thisis the only way to stop the war.” Israeli troops were deployed last week to the new security corridor referred to as Morag, the name of

aJewish settlementthat once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, after the army orderedsweeping evacuations covering most of Rafah —anindication it couldsoon launch another major ground operation.

The Rafah municipality in astatementcalled Israel’s actions a“ﬂagrant breach of international legitimacy.”

Israel has vowed to seize large parts ofGaza to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24

of thembelieved to be alive, and accept proposed new ceaseﬁre terms.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’sgovernment has also imposed amonthlong blockade on food, fueland humanitarianaid that hasleft theterritory’s roughly2 millionPalestiniansfacing acute shortages as suppliesdwindle —atacticthat rightsgroups say is awar crime.

Israel hasclaimed that enough supplies entered

Gazaduring the two-month ceasefire that it shattered last month. Aid groups have disputed that.

Netanyahu has said Morag would be “a second Philadelphicorridor,”referring to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt farther south, which hasbeen underIsraeli control since May2024. Israelhas also reasserted control of the Netzarim corridor, which cuts off Gaza’snorthern thirdfromthe restofthe territory

The corridors, coupled with abuffer zone that Israel has razed and expanded, give it more than 50% control of theterritory Katz saidPalestinians interested in “voluntarily” relocating to other countries wouldbeable to as part of aproposal by U.S. President Donald Trump. Palestinians have rejected the proposal and expressedtheir determination to remain in their homeland.

Trump and Israeliofficials have not saidhow they would respondifPalestinians refuse to leave Gaza.

But Human Rights Watch and other groups say the plan would amount to “ethnic cleansing” —the forcible relocation of the civilianpopulationofanethnic group from ageographic area.

Many Palestinians have been crowding intosqualid tent camps or the rubble of theirprevious homes, often displacing multiple times in response to Israel’s evacuationorders sincethe Hamas-ledattack on Oct. 7, 2023, killedsome 1,200 people,manyofthemcivilians, andsparkedthe war.

IsraelonSaturday ordered the evacuation of areas eastofKhanYounis ahead of an attack.Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee added that militants hadﬁredrocketsinto Israel from these areas. In the evening, several neighborhoodsinNuseiratincentral Gazawere toldtoevacuate after Israel said it had intercepted aprojectilefromthe territory

Hamas has said the bombardment poses risks to the hostages as well. On

Saturday, the family of the last living American held in Gaza responded to the releaseofa newvideoshowing Edan Alexander speaking underduress.

“When you sit downto markPassover,remember that this is notaholiday of freedom as long as Edan and the other 58 hostages arenot home,” thefamily said in astatement.

Families and supporters again rallied in TelAviv for a deal to bring everyone home.

Israeli strikes across Gaza continued, killing at least 21 people in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry,which doesn’tdistinguish between civilians and combatants but says mostofthe over 50,000 Palestinians killed in the war have been women andchildren.

The ministry said at least 1,500 people have been killed since Israel’ssurprise bombardment resumed the war last month. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants in thewar,without providing evidence.

Iran,U.S.envoyshold1st negotiationovernuclear program

BY JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

MUSCAT, Oman Iran and the United States will hold more negotiations this week over Tehran’srapidly advancing nuclearprogram, Iranian state television reported Saturday at the end of the ﬁrst round of talks between the two countries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Iran’sstate-run broadcaster revealed that U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi “brieﬂy spoke” together —the ﬁrst time the two nations have done that since the Obama administration.

Tehran’sdeclaration that the twosidesspoke face-toface —even if brieﬂy —suggests the negotiations went well even to Iranian state TV,whichlong hasbeen controlled by hard-liners.

In astatement released Saturday afternoon, the White Housedescribed the discussions as “verypositive andconstructive,” while conceding the issues that need toberesolved“are very complicated.”

“Special Envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was astepforward in achieving amutuallybeneﬁcial outcome,” the White House said.

Thenext round of talks will takeplace Saturday,

April 19, according to the Iranian and American statements

This ﬁrst round of talks beganataround 3:30 p.m. local.

The two sides spokefor over two hours at alocation in the outskirts of Muscat, Oman’s capital, ending the talks around 5:50 p.m. local time.

Theconvoybelievedtobe carrying Witkoffreturnedto Muscat before disappearing into trafﬁc around aneighborhood that is home to the U.S. Embassy The stakesofthe negotiationscouldn’tbehigher for thetwo nations closing in on half acentury of enmity Trumprepeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targetingIran’s nu-

clear program if adeal isn’t reached.

Iranianofficialsincreasingly warnthat they could pursue anuclear weapon withtheir stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Associated Pressjournalists saw aconvoy believed to be carrying Witkoff leave theOmaniForeign Ministry on Saturday afternoon and then speed off into the outskirtsofMuscat

Theconvoy went into a compound and afew minuteslater,Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei wroteonthe social platformXthat the“indirect talks” had begun. Afterward, Araghchi de-

scribed the meeting as constructive to Iranian state TV,with four rounds of messages exchanged during the indirect portion.

“Neither we nor the other side are interested in fruitless negotiations —so-called ‘talks forthe sake of talks,’ wasting time, or drawn-out, exhausting negotiations,” he said. “Both sides, including theAmericans,have said that their goal is also to reachanagreementin theshortestpossible time. However,that will certainly not be an easy task.”

That thetwo men spoke face-to-face satisfied ademandofthe Americans. Trumpand Witkoffboth had described the talks as being

“direct.”

“I think ourpositionbegins with dismantlement of your program.That is our position today,” Witkofftold The Wall Street Journal before his trip. “That doesn’t mean,bythe way, that at the margin we’re not going to ﬁnd other ways to ﬁnd compromise between the two countries.” He added: “Where our red line will be,there can’t be weaponizationofyour nuclear capability.”

Araghchi, however,sought to downplay the encounter as “a briefinitialconversation, greetings and polite exchanges” —likely to avoid drawing the anger of hardliners in Iran.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ABDEL KAREEM HANA

Palestinians wait for donated food at adistributioncenter in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, on Friday.

RFKwants to target chronic disease, butkey programgutted

BY DEVNA BOSE, GRAHAM LEE BREWER and BECKY BOHRER Associated Press

CHANDLER,Ariz. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy

Jr.spent time in tribal communities in Arizona and New Mexico last week highlighting ways they are trying to prevent chronic disease among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, something he has said is one of his top priorities.

But Kennedy didn’t appear to publicly addressa Native health program usingtraditional medicine and foods to tackle disproportionate rates of conditions like diabetes and liver disease. The program, called Healthy Tribes was gutted in this month’s federal health layoffs.

Some Native leaders say they are having trouble grasping the dissonance between Kennedy’swords and his actions. With little information,they wonder if Healthy Tribes is part of the Trump administration’spush to end diversity,equity and inclusion efforts. There also is confusion about what and who is left at the 11-year-old program, which was part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, under Kennedy’sagency,and doled out $32.5 million ayear Tribal leaders and health officials told The Associated Press that cuts to the Healthy Tribes program are another violation of the federal government’slegal obligation, or trust responsibility,totribal nations under treaties, law and other acts That includesfunding for health care through the Indian Health Service, as well as education andpublic safety for citizens of the 574federally recognized tribes.

But federal funding has long fallen short of meeting those needs, leaving tribal governments to rely on additional grants and programs like Healthy Tribes.

“So many layers of communications of collaboration and partnerships have just been turned off,” said Onawa Miller,aQuechan Indian Nation citizen and director of tribal publichealth for United South and Eastern Tribes, which serves33 tribes in those regions of the U.S. She said her organization already has received its annual $2 million in Healthy Tribes funding.

Several tribal facilities received an email from aCDC employeeApril 1notifying them that the positionsof many people who staffed the Healthy Tribes program had been eliminated“as part of the reduction in force efforts at CDC.”

The AmericanFederation of Government Employees union, which represents thousands of workers at the CDC in Atlanta, said more than 30 civil servant jobs were or are being eliminated That includes 11 positions in theHealthy Tribes program and others in the larger Division of Population Health. An email sent to the ac-

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By ROSS D. FRANKLIN

U.S. HealthSecretaryRobertF.KennedyJr.,right,

count of Healthy Tribes director Dr.Julianna Reece, an enrolled memberofthe NavajoNation,was met with an automated reply: “Due to therecent HHS reduction in force, Ihave been placed on administrative leave andwill be separated from the agency on June2nd.” Reece did not respond to requests for comment sent to herfederal andpersonal email accounts.

‘A violationoftrust’

Partofthe government upheaval in thepast several weeks includes top ofﬁcials at the National Institutes of Health being offered transfers to Indian Health Service ofﬁces far from Washington, D.C. The National Indian Health Board also has said thegovernment eliminated key staffand programs at theOfficeof the AssistantSecretary for Health’sCenter for Indigenous Innovation andHealth.

The government is requiredtoconsult with tribes on decisions impacting them, like mass layoffs in February at the Indian Health Servicethat were rescindedhours later, and tribal leaders have warned theTrumpadministration that such consultationsare not happening. Insome cases tribes can take legal action against the U.S. for failing to meet its trust responsibilities.

“It is aviolation of trust, without adoubt,” saidW Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington state.

TheU.S. Department of Health andHuman Services didnot answer questionsrelated to the Healthy Tribes cuts but told the AP in an email that theIndianHealth Service was notimpacted by this month’sworkforce reductions and there are no plans to consolidate any of its ofﬁces.

Kennedy’sswing through the Southwestincludeda visit to acommunityhealth center in metroPhoenix thatprovides physical and mental health care to Nativepeople and ahike with theNavajoNation president.Healso moderated a panel at theTribal Self-Governance Conference, held on the Gila River Indian Reservation inArizona, but didn’ttakequestionsfrom the audience, triballeaders on stage or journalists.

Allensaid he had aconstructive conversation withKennedy,reminding him IHSisalreadyunderfunded and understaffed and that tribes relyonadditionalfederal grants and programs

“Your issue is to reduce thecentral office,and so we’re OK withthat, but movethe functions that serve thetribesout to the tribes,”Allen said he told Kennedy.“Because if we don’thave thoseresources, how arewegonna make our communitieshealthy? He agrees.”

Grantfunding

Research shows Native Americans have shorter life expectanciesthanother ethnic groups, and the Indian HealthService saysthey face higher mortality rates from chronic conditions like diabetes and liver disease.

In Seattle,Healthy Tribes money pays for aprogram called GATHER,which focuses on integrating traditional tribalmedicine practices intohealthcare. Providers at theSeattle Indian HealthBoard canuse medicine made from plants grown in acommunity garden.A traditional Native medicine apprentice or healer is apart of apatient’scareteam

Seattle Indian Health BoardPresident Esther Lucero, adescendant of the NavajoNation, said herstaff meets with people from the CDC and other Healthy Tribes grantees bimonthly to discuss project updates andensurecompliancewith grants. But after last week’s layoffs, theyare having trouble contacting anyone.

“If you can’tactually administer the dollars, how are you going to actually get them out to the programs?” she said. “With this current administration, it’salmost like every day we receive an unexpected notice, and then we will get afollow-up notice thatsays you need to move forward as usual.”

Lycia Ortega, interim CEO of Los Angeles-based United American Indian Involvement, echoed concerns about the ambiguous and somewhat confusing messages. Herorganization uses Healthy Tribesmoney to fosterconnectionsbetween younger people and elders in Native American and Alaska Native communities

BY MIKE CATALINI Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J.— The top federal prosecutor in New Jersey says she has launchedaninvestigation into DemocraticGov.Phil Murphy and state AttorneyGeneral Matt Platkin over thestate’s directive to local law enforcement nottocooperate withfederal agentconducting immigration enforcement.

AlinaHabba,appointed last month by President Donald Trump as theinterim U.S. attorney for the state,announced the investigation on Thursday evening on Fox News.

“I want it to be awarning for everybody that I have instructed my ofﬁce today to open an investigation intoGovernor Mur-

phy,toopenaninvestigation into Attorney General Platkin,”she said. At an unrelated news conference on Friday, Platkin touted state and federal law enforcement cooperation on criminal investigationsand pointed to federal courts upholding thestate’sdirective

“I’mgoing to keep doing my job. Iknowthe brave men,men and women of lawenforcementinour state who do extraordinary work every day,will keep doing their jobs,” Platkin said.

Murphy addressedHabba’s commentsFriday during an appearance on theMeidasTouch podcast, saying thatlaw enforcement in the state regularly goes after crimes and works with federal

authorities.

“Ifyou’re acriminal in New Jerseywe’recoming afteryou,” he said,adding: “Law enforcement in NewJersey is obsessed with bringing justice on crimesand against criminals. We’re not in the immigrationbusiness. If we need to work with the authorities, federal immigration authorities, we absolutelydo.” Murphy’sadministration hasbeen largely supportive of immigration Under his tenure, Platkin’spredecessor issued aguideline limiting cooperation between local New Jersey police and immigration ofﬁcials. Abill that would make the directive state law is pending in theLegislature,but hasn’tadvanced

Pollsclose in Gabon’sfirst election since2023

BY MONIKA PRONCZUK and YVES LAURENT GOMA Associated Press

LIBREVILLE, Gabon

The majority of polls closed in the oil-rich Gabon on Saturday in apresidential election that the country’smilitary rulers hoped would legitimize their grip on power

It’sthe first election since a2023 military coup ended apolitical dynasty that lasted over 50 years. Analysts have predicted an overwhelming victory for the interim president who led the coup. The polls were due to close at 6p.m. local time, but there was no ofﬁcial conﬁrmation from the authorities. Interim results were expected overnight or on Sunday

Some 920,000 voters, including over 28,000overseas, were registered across more than 3,000 polling stations. Athird of the country’s2.3 millionpeople live in poverty despite its vast oil wealth.

The interim president, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, 50, the former head of the republican guard, toppled President Ali Bongo Ondimba nearly two years ago. He hopes to consolidate his grip on power for aseven-year term in ofﬁce.

After casting his ballot on Saturday in the capital, Libreville,Oligui Nguema said: “I have afeeling of pride, Ihave afeeling of joy.Isee so much enthusiasm from the Gabonese people gathered here and who want to turn the page to join the new Republic.” He called the election “transparent” and “peaceful.”

Bongo was placed under house arrest after the coup, but then freed aweek later due to health concerns. His wife and son were detained and charged with corruption and embezzlement of public funds.Bongo himself was not charged. Following the coup, Oligui Nguema promised to “return power to civilians”

Voters displaytheir voting cards outsideapolling station during the presidential elections,

through “credibleelections.”But he proclaimed himself the interim president and then apresidential candidate, following the adoptionbythe parliament of anew contentious electoral code allowing military personnel to run. He has touted himself as aleader who wants tounify the Gabonese andgive them hope, running his presidentialcampaign under the slogan: “WeBuild Together.”

Thecountry’s newconstitution, adopted in areferendum in November,has set the presidential term at seven years, renewable once, instead of the unlimited ﬁver-year term. It also states family members can’t succeed apresident and has abolished the positionofprime minister Atotal of eight candidates are running for president.

However,Oligui Nguema’s mainchallenger is Bongo’sformer Prime MinisterAlain Claude Bilie-By-

Nze, who, in arecent inter-

view withThe Associated Press, pledged “a break withthe old system and a newindependence. Political, diplomatic andeconomic independence.”

In aregion whereFrance is losing longstanding allies in many of its former colonies, Gabon stands out as one of only afew where that partnership hasnot been threatened.Itstill has more than 300 French troops present, one of only two African countries still hosting them.

Oligui Nguema has notsignaled an end to the French militarypresence, but BilieBy-Nzehas said “no subject is off limits” in renegotiating the ties between thetwo countries.

Bilie-By-Nze alsosaid during the interviewwith AP that he didn’texpect the election to be fairortransparent. “Everything has been done to lock downthe vote,”hesaid.

However,earlier this

Trumpwants Congress to endthe changing of clocks

BY MICHELLEL.PRICE

Associated Press

WASHINGTON President

Donald Trump on Friday urged Congress to “push hard for more Daylight at the end of aday” in hislatest dig at the semiannual changing of clocks.

Trump, in apost on his Truth Social media network, said it would be “Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, abig inconvenience and, for our government, A VERYCOSTLYEVENT!!!”

The Republican president’sposition calling for more daylight would push the schedule forward, keep-

ing the country on daylight saving time. His post came aday after aSenate panel heard testimony examining whether to set one time all year instead of shifting. Therehas been growing interest instates to standardize daylight saving time in recent years. But daylight saving time, when clocks are setfrom spring to fallone hour ahead of standard time, is still recognized in most parts of thecountry.Itwas ﬁrst adopted as awartime measure in 1942.

Trump last year called for the Republican Party to eliminatedaylight saving time, saying it was “incon-

venient, andvery costly to our Nation.”

But he backed off thatcall last month, withanother postonsocial media calling it a“50-50 issue.”

Thepresident saidsome people would like more lightlater in theday but some want more light early so they don’thave to take their kids to school in the dark.

“When something’s a5050 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” he said.

TheSenate in 2022 unanimously approved ameasure that would make daylight savingtime permanent acrossthe UnitedStates, but it did not advance.

week, Laurence Ndong, spokeswomanfor Oligui Nguema, denied theallega-

tions, saying:“For the ﬁrst time, Gabon will have afree and transparent election.”

Bilie-By-Nze voted on Saturday in his hometown of Makokouinthe north of the country.Inavideo message, he said he was concerned that unused voting cards could be used forpotential electoral fraud.

Voters lined up early Saturdayinthe capital,Libreville,asthe electionprogressed peacefully Jonas Obiang toldthe AP while waiting to cast his ballot in the working-class district of Damas that he would choose Bilie-By-Nze because he viewedthe 2023 coup as acontinuation of the malpractice.

“GeneralOligui Nguema ledthe country with the same people who plundered the country,the former members of the Bongo regime. Iwill not vote for him,” he said.

Hisviews were echoed by Antoine Nkili, a27-yearoldunemployedman with a master’sdegree in law

“The choice is personal, but I’mtelling youthat for me, the military has failed,” Nkili said. “Theypromised to reform theinstitutions, but they haven’t. Instead, they’ve enriched themselves.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByBETINES MAKOSSO

in Liberville, Gabon, on Saturday.

Faction wants women who have abortions to face charges

BY CHRISTINE FERNANDO Associated Press

WASHINGTON As Kristan Hawkins, president of the national anti-abortion group Students for Life, tours college campuses, she has grown accustomed to counterprotests from abortion rights activists.

But more recently, fellow abortion opponents, who call themselves abortion abolitionists, are showing up to her booths with signs, often screaming “baby killer” at her while she speaks with students.

Hawkins has had to send alerts to donors asking them to help pay for increased security

“I’m pretty sure they protest me more than they protest Planned Parenthood,” Hawkins said. “Believe it or not, I now know the price of a bomb dog.”

Hawkins’ encounters, which she related during an interview with The Associated Press, are just one example of what many people involved in the abortion debate have described as the widening inﬂuence of a movement that seeks to outlaw all abortions and enforce the ban with criminal prosecution of any women who have abortions.

It began gaining momentum after the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning Roe v Wade and has accelerated since Republicans won full political control in Washington in last year’s elections.

The movement’s impact also is beginning to show up in statehouses around the country

Mainstream anti-abortion groups have largely shied away from legislation that would punish women for having abortions, but abortion abolitionists believe abortion should be considered homicide and punished with the full force of the law In many states, they have been advocating for legislation to do just that.

publican President Donald Trump.

More state bills

Those actions include pausing some family planning grants pending investigations, pardoning anti-abortion activists who blockaded clinics and signing an executive order that uses fetal personhood language similar to verbiage in state laws declaring that a fetus should have the same legal rights as a person The laws are supported by both abortion abolitionists and mainstream anti-abortion groups.

hood laws. Still, several experts said many state lawmakers have taken Trump’s return to the White House as a green light to pursue more aggressive anti-abortion policies. So far this year, bills introduced in at least 12 states – Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas – would allow prosecutors to charge those who have abortions with homicide. In some of those states, women could be subject to the death penalty if the bills were to become law

Split within the movement

Mainstream anti-abortion groups have tried to play down any divisions and instead, at various rallies this spring, have emphasized their unity behind other goals, such as defunding Planned Parenthood.

Experts say the abortion abolitionist movement, once considered fringe, is growing and getting louder, empowered by recent victories for abortion opponents.

“With the reversal of Roe v. Wade, now states can pass the most severe abortion bans, which has galvanized the anti-abortion movement as a whole, including this part of it,” said Rachel Rebouche, dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia “Certainly the fall of Roe has brought abortion abolitionists one step closer to what they want – banning abortion nationwide.”

In February, Hawkins posted on X, saying “the people I fear getting shot by, most of the time,” are not abortion rights activists but abortion abolitionists Then came the replies:

“Demon,” “Ungodly,” “An accessory to murder,” “Enemy of God.” Her post opened a ﬁre hose of online barbs from abortion abolitionists.

Some called for her to resign and asserted that women should not have roles outside the home, let alone leading national anti-abortion groups.

Some conservative podcasts and online figures have hosted abortion abolitionists or echoed similar disdain for the larger anti-abortion movement. Ben Zeisloft, a podcaster for TheoBros, a network of Christian nationalist influencers, blamed feminism for abortion and said, “We need Christian men leading the fight against abortion.”

The comments reflect a broader uptick in misogynistic rhetoric and align with the religious doctrines motivating many in the abortion abolitionist movement, said Laura Hermer, a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. She said members of the movement have been emboldened by the overturning of Roe v Wade, which had granted a constitutional right

When aLouisiana resident passesaway, thetitle to alloftheir assets is frozen.Thisincludesallbankaccounts,investmentaccounts,andrealestate in theirname. None of it can be sold until ajudge orders thetransferofthe assetstothesurvivingheirs.

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Ausufructisarightthatapersonhasforacertainperiodoftimeontheproperty of anotherperson. Thefeatures of theright of ausufruct vary with the natureofthethingssubjecttoit.Usufructsareoftenestablishedwhensomeonedies.Forexample,amarriedpersonmay,inhisWill,leavehissurviving spouseusufruct of everything he owns when he dies,but thereare certain restrictions andlimitations when establishing ausufruct.The usufructuary may have numerous obligations,suchasanobligationtoprovide security, theresponsibilitytoprovide repairs, thepayment of necessary expenses, taxes,debtsandothercharges

•WhyaSuccessionmaybenecessarywhenyoudie?

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to abortion for half a century, and recent actions by Re-

Trump’s rhetoric on abortion has been mixed. In 2016, he backtracked after saying there should be “some form of punishment” for women who have abortions. He has recently pledged to protect in vitro fertilization, a fertility treatment that has been threatened by fetal person-

Most of those states already ban abortions in most cases, but the restrictions have typically penalized providers, rather than those seeking the procedure. This past week, Alabama lawmakers ﬁled legislation that would consider abortion as murder

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ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, speaks during an anti-abortion rally on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 27

Conservationists try to rehabilitate vulture image

BY GERALD IMRAY

Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa Vul-

tures have an image problem. Seen as ugly and associated with death, they are among the least loved animals in the world. But conservationists in Africa are trying to change that.

They’ve launched an effort to save endangered vultures by trying to put a dollar ﬁgure on their incredible value

A recent report by the BirdLife International conservation organization estimated that vultures are worth $1.8 billion a year to certain ecosystems in southern Africa, which might surprise anyone not familiar with the clean-up, pest control and anti-poaching work performed by one of the most efﬁcient scavengers on the planet.

“They are not up there on the pretty scale. And they are not popular But we know they are very useful,” said Fadzai Matsvimbo, an extinction prevention coordinator

at BirdLife International. The report comes at an important time for Africa’s vultures; six of the 11 species found on the continent are listed as endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which says vultures are highly threatened in many parts of the world. In Africa, some species have declined by nearly 90%, Matsvimbo said. Conservationists hope the report will make authorities and the public more aware of the positive impact of vultures.

It focused on research in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe and shows how a wake of vultures — the term for a group of feeding vultures — can strip a decomposing carcass in hours, cleaning up ecosystems, reducing the chance of disease spreading and the presence of pests like rats and feral dogs, which has great beneﬁts to communities.

Matsvimbo said vultures in Africa are also used as “sentinels” by game rangers because they are often the ﬁrst to spot a dead animal and can lead rangers to where poachers might be active. They have even proven useful in helping farmers locate dead or injured livestock.

Vultures are unique among land vertebrates in that they only feed on carrion — dead animals. That makes them especially susceptible to poisoning by humans, either intentionally by poachers and others who want to get rid of them, or by mistake when pests are the target. Hundreds of vultures can die from a single poisoned carcass.

She said because vultures have such outstanding eyesight and instincts when it comes to ﬁnding a dead animal they are viewed by some as being clairvoyant and able to foresee death. Their body parts, and especially their head, are used in potions or as charms to predict the future.

“Our work is to change the mindsets of people,” Wolter said. “For them to see vultures and think, wow that is amazing.”

Vultures also have extremely strong stomach acid, don’t get food poisoning and are able to consume and neutralize anthrax, botulism and other bacteria and toxins in carcasses that would kill other animals, removing deadly threats from the environment. Just this week, more than 50 hippos died from suspected anthrax poisoning in a reserve in Congo.

sanitation services,” said Matsvimbo. Conservationists have raised the case of the drastic loss of vultures in India over the last 30 years and how that led to a health crisis. A study published last year said half a million people died in India because of the spread of bacteria and infections in the absence of vultures.

Vultures are also regularly killed or maimed in collisions with powerlines in Africa And they are increasingly being killed for belief-based reasons, said Kerri Wolter, the CEO of the Vulpro vulture rehabilitation center in South Africa, which treats sick and injured vultures to be released back into the wild.

Vultures are nature’s “best

Tourists head to Ohio to learn about McKinley

BY JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press

CANTON, Ohio If you’ve been intrigued by President Donald Trump’s praise of his long-ago White House predecessor William McKinley and yearn to know more, it’s time you head to Ohio.

America’s 25th president was born and is buried in the Buckeye State, where museums and monuments to him abound. Websites promoting the state’s McKinley attractions have seen a surge in page views since Trump began highlighting McKinley’s Gilded Age presidency which ran from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. Officials hope a bump in summer tourism will follow

“I don’t think there has been as much interest in William McKinley in at least a century in terms of kind of the public consciousness,” said Kevin Kern, an associate professor of history at the University of Akron. The last time was in 1928, when McKinley’s face was printed on the $500 bill.

While Trump has attached himself to McKinley, Kern says the two Republicans’ political positions are, in many respects, “really apples and oranges.”

In McKinley’s day, the United States was just becoming the world’s foremost manufacturing power Tariffs were viewed as a way to protect that momentum. Today, the economy is global.

Kern also noted that Republicans took huge losses in the 1890 election after the imposition of the McKinley Tariff, and that McKinley appeared to change his tune on tariffs in a speech delivered the day before he was assassinated in 1901. Within an easy drive of

perialist legacy

In 2018, amid national soul-searching over historical monuments, the liberal college town decided to remove an 8-foot sculpture of McKinley, the annexation treaty for Hawaii in his hand, from their town square. Over a century old, the statue had been moved to Arcata from San Francisco, where it was toppled in the 1906 earthquake.

Cleveland, you can find a host of sites for learning more about McKinley’s politics and personal life. Here’s a closer look:

A monument to his birth McKinley was born in 1843 in Niles, a Youngstown suburb about 70 miles east of Cleveland. Here, you’ll find the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial, a classical Greek marble monument that sits on the site of McKinley’s former one-room schoolhouse A McKinley statue stands at the center of the wellmanicured Court of Honor, which is ﬂanked by a small museum and the community’s library The McKinley birthplace home and research center sits nearby

Tackling McKinley’s legacy Canton is perhaps best known for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, The city, about 60 miles from either Cleveland or Niles, is where the kindly and mild-mannered McKinley spent most of his adult life. A young McKinley settled here after serving in the Civil War, began his law career and mar-

ried Ida Saxton McKinley

The McKinley Presidential Library and Museum is a great place to dig into the shared policy goals — especially tariffs and territorial expansion that attract Trump to McKinley

An animatronic William and Ida McKinley greet visitors to the museum’s McKinley Gallery, which features interactive opportunities as well as historical furnishings, clothing, jewelry and campaign memorabilia. The building also houses a presidential archive and a science center complete with dinosaurs and a planetarium The site’s dominant feature, however, is the imposing McKinley Monument, which looms on a hill atop 108 stone steps. It houses the mausoleum where the McKinleys and their two young daughters are buried.

More McKinley memorabilia is on display at the Canton Classic Car Museum.

A McKinley statue

The residents of Arcata, California, were not so enamored of McKinley’s im-

It now stands at the stately Stark County Courthouse in downtown Canton, where McKinley worked as a county prosecutor before being elected a congressman and Ohio governor It was placed there in 2023 after being bought back from Arcata by a Canton foundation and restored.

Glimpsing the home life

A three-block walk from the courthouse is the Saxton-McKinley House, part of the National First Ladies Historic Site operated in partnership with the National Park Service. Originally Ida’s home, the elegant Victorian mansion was the couple’s residence at different times during their marriage. It’s not the house from which McKinley conducted his fabled “front porch campaign” of 1896; that was demolished in the 1930s.

A replica of the porch and the actual chair McKinley sat in can be found at the McKinley museum, however, and a tabletop replica of his “campaign house” is on view at the Stark County District Library, which now sits on the site.

If you’d like to see the porch where another Ohio president carried out his front porch campaign, try the James A. Garﬁeld Historic Site in Mentor, about 30 miles northwest of Cleveland.

Matsvimbo and Wolter both said vultures have been given a raw deal by moviemakers in Hollywood, where they are almost always shown as evil and sinister Movies have done for vultures what “Jaws” did for sharks, Wolter said. “I love watching ‘The Lion King,’ but every time they do the vulture part, my heart breaks,” said Matsvimbo. “Vultures are never portrayed in a positive way I have a bone to chew with these moviemakers. Or should that be bone to pick?”

Regulators order action as pipeline operators aim to restore service

By The Associated Press

N.D Federal

BISMARCK,

regulators have ordered the operator of the Keystone Pipeline to take several corrective actions after a rupture caused 147,000 gallons of oil to spill onto farmland in North Dakota, and the company said its goal is to resume deliveries to reﬁneries on Tuesday

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration directed South Bow to submit the failed section of pipe to a thirdparty lab for mechanical and metallurgical testing, the agency said in a statement Friday

The company must also conduct and submit a root cause analysis of Tuesday’s failure and review all in-line inspection reports from the past 10 years to identify anomalies that may be present in the failed pipe, adjacent joints, or anywhere else on the system, the agency added.

“PHMSA has already secured the operator’s full cooperation and written commitment to take any steps necessary to repair the line and identify the cause of the failure,” acting Administrator Ben Kochman said in the statement.

“Multiple PHMSA investigators are on the ground in North Dakota and in the operator’s control room facility in Calgary working to determine the cause of the accident.”

The order also requires an evaulation of the pipeline’s special permit, which allows the line to operate at higher-than-normal pressures, to determine if new or modiﬁed conditions are necessary

South Bow is still investigating the cause of the spill along the Keystone Pipeline near Fort Ransom, North Dakota, about 60 miles southwest of Fargo. The spill from the underground pipeline released an estimated 3,500 barrels, or 147,000 gallons of crude oil onto farmland. Workers have already recovered thousands of gallons of the oil.

The affected pipeline segment cannot be restarted until the federal agency gives the operator permission. South Bow said in an update Saturday that it’s aiming to restore service and energy deliveries by Tuesday as it carries out the order South Bow also said its response and recovery efforts were continuing. The company said its crews were preparing to repair and replace of the affected section of pipe. It also said crews were onsite with vacuum trucks and other cleanup equipment, and that their work would continue over the weekend, too. The company also said it would restrict operating pressures on the Canadian sections of Keystone, as agreed to with Canadian energy regulators. The 2,689-mile pipeline stretches from Alberta, Canada, to reﬁneries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas The spill has raised concerns about the impacts of a prolonged shutdown on energy prices, particularly for gasoline and diesel.

“Our primary focus remains on the safety of onsite personnel and mitigating risk to the environment,” South Bow said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By DENIS FARRELL

A Cape vulture is seen in its enclosure at the Vulture Programme at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa on Sept 22, 2011.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By PATRICK AFTOORA-ORSAGOS

Animatronics of former President William McKinley and former First Lady Ida McKinley are seen inside the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum on March 26 in Canton, Ohio.

-Amy G.

LOUISIANAPOLITICS

La.delegationweighs in on tariffs’ whiplash

WASHINGTON MostofLouisiana’scongressional delegation remainedmute during lastweek’s whiplash events over tariffs.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday paused the 10%tariffs he imposed on all countries— plus additional, steeper “reciprocal” tariffs on 60 other nations —just the week before. That excludes China, where he increased the tax on goods imported from thatcountry to 145%; the People’s Republic responded with a125% tariff on goods imported from America.

In pausing the tariffs for 90 days, Trump said people were getting “a little bit yippy,alittle bit afraid,” which manifested itself in adramatic drop in stock prices —and, perhaps more importantly,aweakening in the usually stable bond market, where the world’s investors park their money.Slagging demand and rising rates forU.S. Treasury notes are harbingersof the looming recession that many economists and ﬁnanciersfear

Amember of theSenateBanking and Budget Committee, Kennedy complained to The Wall StreetJournalthat Trump’sstaff were giving conﬂicting reasons for Trump’stariffs that confused theWhite House’sgoals. Were the duties to raise revenues or level the playingﬁeld?

Mark Ballard

“They went on television (last) weekendand all offered different scenarios,” Kennedy said. Kennedy said that, of the 195 nations in the world, about 40% have approached the WhiteHouse with offers to lower their tariffs on theU.S.in return for reducing the Trump tariffs on their products. Though he’snot aware of Trump’sagenda, having so many countries willing talk about mutual restrictions is agood thing for America’s ﬁnancial future, he said.

Kennedy told FoxNews that Trumpshould take “a deal” being offered

And while some Republicans chafed, Louisiana’sGOP delegationhas kept to their support of tariffs and trust in Trump. But not U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy,the MadisonvilleRepublican. Kennedy is oftensought bynational media for his repurposing folksy sayings to make ahumorouspoint about whatever issue is at hand. When the issuewas Trump’stariffs, however,Kennedy set aside that routine and let his savvy New Orleans bond attorney who was state treasurer from 2000 to 2017 persona reemerge. Perhaps surprising his interlocutors looking only for apithy quote, Kennedy instead tapped his deep expertise in sophisticated ﬁnances during aseries of national media interviews last week.

Landrypromises fix to OMV computers

Gov.Jeff Landry’sadministration has promised to update a half-century-old computer system that has contributed to delays and disruptions at Ofﬁce of Motor Vehicles sites and public tag agents across the state. Ofﬁcials hope to select the new system within a month,said OMV Commissioner Bryan Adams, adding that the OMV currently uses an operating systemthat was builtin the 1970s.

“He’slike the pitbull, though, whocaughtthe car,” Kennedy said of TrumpinThe New Republic. “I hope he takes adeal. I hope he and (Treasury Secretary) ScottBessentgotoevery one of those countries and reduce those tariffs and trade barriers down to zero and let American businesses compete with those foreign businesses. Competition makes us better.”

“I would pounce on this opportunity like aninja,” Kennedy said on MSNBC’s“Morning Joe,” in between discussions about what a “lick log” is for beneﬁt of the New York City-based production crew andanalysts.

Kennedy said he’stelling the Louisiana business community, “with tariffs, an eyefor an eye just leaves both people blind.”

He continued: “When agovernment imposes atariff, it’sputting its thumbonthe scale. It inter-

ing the weekof March 31, ﬁnding that thesystemwas down for more than three hours aday,accordingtoAdele Dauphin, that organization’s president.

“It’sasimilar program that Iused when Iwas working in the oil ﬁelds in the ’80s,” Adams said. Problems with the computer system became abundantly clear in recent weeks, when constant outages hamstrung public tag agents and OMV ofﬁces trying to issue driver’slicenses and registrations. The outages caused long wait times for services, frustrating Louisianans.

CAPITOL BUZZ staff reports

The Louisiana Public TagAgent Association tracked outages dur-

Fornow,thatproblem appears resolved, thanks to afiximplementedonThursday. On Friday, there were just 13 minutes ofdowntime, Dauphinsaid “Last Thursday evening we implemented one of the solutions that (the Office of Technology Services) believed would remedythe problem,and we haveseen significant improvements in performance and stability in that time,” Landry announced in anews conference Wednesday.“We have gonefour straight days with no issues, which is arecord over the past few months.”

Ofﬁcials will continue to improve thecurrent system,Landry said.

Still, ofﬁcials say Thursday’sﬁx was aBand-Aid.The long-term solutionwill involve replacing the operatingsystem.

“The system’sbroke. It’sbeen

feres with people’sfreedom to exchange goods and services.”

After Trumpannounced the pause, Kennedy told Punchbowl, aCapitol Hill online news source, that everyone will have to wait to see if thebond market stabilizes.

“The only way you can judge investors’ sentiment is to watch what they do,”hesaid.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy,R-Baton Rouge and Louisiana’sother senator,weighed in too. Buthis questionstoTrump’strade representativeJamieson Greer were more speciﬁc.

Cassidy attempted to ensure the tariffs remain adequate enough

kicked down theroad way too long. This governor,this administration and this commissioner are not kicking it down theroad. We’regoing to ﬁx it,” Adams said.

Twoweeks ago, Landry declared astate of emergency related to theOMV outages, waiving the procurement process for theOMV’s system,aprocess that can take six to nine months. Still, it could take up to three years to fully install anew system.

StateRep.Jack McFarland, RJonesboro, who plays akey role in the budget process as chair of theAppropriations Committee, vowed to ﬁnd thefunding for the new system “I have committed to ﬁnding the dollars as well tosolve that problem long-term,” he said.

Kennedy pushes bill on animal fighting

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy,RMadisonville, has introduced a bill aimed at cracking down on cockﬁghting and dogﬁghting.

Co-sponsored with Sen. Cory Booker,D-N.J., the bill would: n Ban simulcasting and gambling on animal ﬁghtsinthe U.S., no matter wherethe broadcast

to help Louisiana shrimpers and rice growers andnot get set aside in negotiations with other nations for larger concerns.

He also feared that the duties on Chinese-built ships will get passed along to nations like South Korea that use someofthat ﬂeet to ship theirgoods to the U.S. He said such costs would negatively impact ports in NewOrleans and Baton Rouge. Democrats, of course, weren’t quiet at all

For instance, Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, wrote to Trump, Bessent,and Commerce SecretaryHoward Lutnick pointing

originated n Make it illegal to ship adult roosters in the mail n Open the door to civil lawsuits against animal ﬁghters, amove to “ease the resource burden on federal agencies”

n Allow property used during animal ﬁghting crimes to be seized throughcivil asset forfeiture.

“Those engaging in dog and cock ﬁghts are abusive, organized and dangerous —and their heinous behavior must be held

out that Louisiana wasthe fourth largest state exporter of goods in 2024. Louisiana exports reached morethan $87 billion dollars in 2024 alone and accounted for close to one-third of Louisiana’s GDP,hesaid —not to mention numerous jobs.

“As the president continues to navigate the future of American trade policy,itismysincerest hope that he will continue to keep the potential impact on states like Louisiana front and center,” Fields said.

Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate.com.

accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Kennedy said in a newsrelease. “It’sillegal to abuse God’s creatures forsport, and this bill would give law enforcement crucial tools to end this cruel practice.”

In the release, Kennedy said animal fights “can becomehubs of violence because of the illegal activity that often accompanies them.” Cockfighting can also be a danger to public health by potentially spreading bird flu, according to the release.

SUNDAY NEWS SHOWS

ABC’s“This Week”: Commerce Secretary HowardLutnick;Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

NBC’s“Meet the Press”: White House trade adviser Peter Navarro; Sen. Cory Booker,D-N.J.; RayDalio, founder of thehedge fund Bridgewater Associates.

CNN’s“State of the Union”: Warren; Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council; Rep. TimBurchett, R-Tenn.

CBS’ “Face the Nation”: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer;

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; Neel Kashkari, president andCEO of theFederal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; Dr.Peter Marks, former director of theFood and Drug Administration’sCenter forBiologics Evaluation and Research.

“Fox News Sunday”: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins; Gov JB Pritzker,D-Ill.; Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. The Associated Press

ASSOCIATEDPRESS FILEPHOTO By ALEX BRANDON

Sen.John Kennedy, R-Madisonville, speaks withreporters recently at the White House in Washington.

BY HANNAH LEVITAN Staff writer

Strolling through the charming town of Fairhope, Alabama,iscomparable to touring amovie set. Its speckless streets, waste bins that double as ﬂower beds and lustrous storefronts create autopian atmosphere that feels too perfect to be real.

The town was established in 1908 “as adream in the minds of agroup of populist reformers who were seeking their own special utopia.” The group of around 500 residents founded the Fairhope Single TaxColony, with the belief that the tax plan would give them a ”fair hope” of succeeding.

Now,acentury later,that dreamstill resonates with its locals as the small-town life intertwines with its legacy as aresort destination Fairhope boasts awhite sandy beach with azalea bushes lining the overlooking park. Despite the ongoing construction by the Fairhope Municipal Beach and Park, the town’sallure remains unaltered.

Even on arainy day,the beach town is brimming with antique stores, upscale boutiques and evenamini French Quarter to explore.

My dayinFairhope

When my colleague and I arrived in Fairhope around noon, we ﬁrst headed to Fairhope’snewest Wawa for aquick bite to eat.

Across the street, Ispotted arange of unique garden decor and bee-lined to the pale yellow warehouse with asign reading “Tuveson’s Architectural Consignment.” Inside, its walls were adorned with antique signs,

THE GULF COAST

artwork andshe trinkets. Therooms endless, andsod variety of treasu vintage furniture posedwood, each offered somethin admire. No surprise, Il my hands full.

While paying fo ﬁnds, thetown’s hospitality camei light. The store handed me apamp other stores, circlin personal favorites. After a10-min to the town center

dealers sprawled across a 29,000-square-foot lot, the Daphne Antique Galleria is agold mine forcollectors and casual browsers alike.

An hour had passed, and there was still moretosee. But ired and

treat. Iordered asmallcup of their rich cake batter ice cream and enjoyed peoplewatching from the patio.

To get atrue sense of the town, we decided to stop by Fairhope’smain bar The Bone and Barrel, fora drink.

Moscow mule in hand, we chatted with locals and visitors in townfor the annual Fairhope Arts &Crafts Festival, which transforms

Crumbling bridges slow traffic, economy in Germany

BY PIETRO DE CRISTOFARO and KERSTIN SOPKE Associated Press

BAD SCHANDAU, Germany

Germany’s reputation for efﬁciency is taking a hit from crumbling concrete. Cracks and collapses are also a risk to its economy, Europe’s biggest.

The European Union’s most populous member is trying to turn around a problem with worn-out infrastructure — including about 4,000 bridges that need modernizing or replacing over the next decade. All too frequently, unexpected scares about the state of bridges cause short-notice closures that bring local gridlock. Occasionally, it is worse than that.

Cracks and a collapse

In Dresden, a bridge dating back to 1971 partially collapsed in the middle of the night in September due to corrosion. No one was hurt, but the collapse snarled traffic and temporarily blocked shipping on the Elbe River The remains of the Carola bridge have yet to be removed.

The collapse prompted checks on similarly designed bridges — including one in Bad Schandau, a small town further up the Elbe near the Czech border It was shut abruptly to all traffic in November as a precaution, leaving locals with a 12.5-mile trip to the nearest road crossing until it reopened on Thursday albeit with a 7.5-ton weight limit.

“The closure of this bridge was an absolute catastrophe for people in Bad Schandau,” said Steffen Marx, a civil engineering professor who led ultimately successful stress tests on the bridge. “It’s the classic gridlock this is the only crossing along nearly 50 kilometers (30 miles) of river.” Even as the situation eases in Bad Schandau, Berliners are steaming over the

A heavy-duty module loaded with weights drives April 1 over the

of a three-day load test intended to show that the Elbe crossing can be reopened

in Bad Schandau, Germany.

abrupt closure last month of a bridge on a busy highway after a widening crack was detected. It will now be demolished quickly. The outage snarled trafﬁc in a large section of the capital, forced the weeks-long closure of a commuter railway line and prompted the government to cough up $164 million for its urgent rebuilding Saving and splurging

“The Germans are very good engineers You would think that everything works,” said Monika Schnitzer, the head of an independent panel of economic advisers to the government. “At the same time, the Germans are also very good at saving — and they saved for a very long time particularly on this infrastructure, on bridges.”

Germany’s prospective new government has moved to address the issue before it even takes ofﬁce.

Last month, the would-be coalition under conservative leader Friedrich Merz pushed through parliament a $551 billion fund ﬁnanced by borrowing, to pour money into creaking infrastructure over the next 12 years.

Politicians see that as part of efforts to restore the stagnant economy to growth.

It’s not just bridges: There are also decrepit schools and a national railway has begun thorough but disruptive overhauls of major routes after years of underinvestment. Complaints about frequent delays and breakdowns on the railway have become a national sport.

The coalition agreement presented Wednesday states that “functioning infrastructure is the foundation for our country’s prosperity, social cohesion and sustainability So Germany needs an infrastructure booster — that applies to hospitals and schools as well as bridges and railways.”

On the roads, it promises that money will be provided “to resolve the renovation backlog on bridges and tunnels in particular.”

The outgoing government says a large number of bridges were already modernized under a program under way since 2022. But much remains to be done.

It’s not just the money

“Now that there’s money, a

growth spurt could actually be generated very quickly,” Schnitzer said. “But what

is really necessary for this is that the money is spent quickly And for that, we need much faster planning and approval procedures than we had so far.”

She noted that Germany has proven it can speed up its planning bureaucracy, notably in building its ﬁrst liquefied natural gas terminals within months after Russia launched its fullscale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and subsequently cut off pipeline gas supplies to Germany

Outgoing government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit pointed this week to the availability of construction companies and machines as a hurdle to quick bridge repairs and said Germany is “at its capacity limit.”

Marx said the situation of Germany’s infrastructure is “quite critical.”

“It isn’t so much because

we don’t invest enough that’s one reason,” he said.

“But from my point of view, the main reason is that we don’t take enough care of things. That we just don’t maintain infrastructure and we do far too little cleaning, repairing, strengthening, all things we do in our private buildings.”

He added that the huge new infrastructure fund is necessary but he’s concerned the money will be put only into demolishing and rebuilding the worst bridges rather than ensuring that others never get into that state.

“You can’t win political points with maintenance and preservation — it’s boring and not really spectacular,” Marx said. “But it becomes spectacular when you neglect it.”

Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

BY SAFIYAH RIDDLE

Associated Press/ Report For America

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A lawsuit that accuses Alabama prisons of illegally harvesting the organs of people who died while incarcerated will be allowed to proceed, a state judge ruled on Tuesday The consolidated lawsuits filed by eight families alleges that the Alabama Department of Corrections illegally allowed the University of Alabama at Birmingham to study the organs of their deceased incarcerated relatives without the consent of the next of kin. The families say that the public entities intentionally hid their misconduct.

Alabama Circuit Court

Judge J.R. Gaines denied

the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case based on state immunity, which protects state officials from lawsuits if they are acting within their ofﬁcial capacities.

Lawyers for the defense argued that the Alabama Department of Corrections and the University of Alabama at Birmingham had a contract authorizing the autopsies. Because the contract was between two state entities, the defense argued, it was protected by state immunity.

Gaines wrote that immunity doesn’t apply if their actions violate the law or when they act “willfully, maliciously, fraudulently, in bad faith, beyond their authority or under a mistaken interpretation of the law.”

Gaines also said that the

statute of limitations doesn’t apply for inmates who died more than two years ago if the defendants attempted to fraudulently conceal the alleged crimes.

Attorneys for the defendants did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Lawyers for the families argued that the contract itself was illegal. They cited a state law that prohibits medical examiners from keeping organs without the consent of the next of kin.

“We are encouraged to see our legal system afﬁrm that no one is above accountability,” said Lauren Faraino, an attorney representing all eight families. “What our clients seek is recognition that harm occurred and a path forward rooted in responsibility and truth.”

DPA PHOTO By SEBASTIAN KAHNERT

closed Elbe bridge as part

to traffic,

Students should trycareered, advisersays

Jobs that don’t need collegedegree areincreasing

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

As college costscontinue

to soar and demand for skilled workers in many sectorsgrows, more high schoolers are considering career paths that don’trequire four-year degrees

At the Career Magnet Center in Lafourche Parish where juniors and seniors are bused in dailyfrom three neighboring high schools to study trades or earn college credits, interest in career and technical education, or CTE, is rising

The center’senrollment has nearly doubled in the last three years to 530 students, according to Bonnie Lefort, the CTE coordinator at the center.

Lefort’sjob is to help students decide which track is right for them, whether that be obtaining acertiﬁcate in welding or taking college-level medical courses for college credits that can be put toward anursing degree.

“I’ve always liked being able to help kids make that connection between school and what their career is going to be,” Lefort said. “Now Iget to ensure that we’re actually providing those opportunities for them.”

The number of students participating in career technical programs in Louisiana is growing. According

Q&A WITH BONNIE LEFORT CAREER ANDTECHNICALEDUCATION COORDINATOR

to the national Ofﬁce of Career,Technical andAdult Education, roughly 130,000 students participated in CTE programsinthe state during the2022-23 school year—anincrease ofmore than 4,000 from the year before.

As interest in CTE continues to expand,Lefort said one of thebiggest obstacles still to overcomeisthe lingeringstigma around forgoingafour-year college degree.

However,she said that she sees signs the tide is

turning.

“I thinkit’sa swiftmoving change, and there’s alight at the end of the tunnel, but there are still people who don’trealize there are manycareers out there that don’trequire that bachelor’sdegree,” Lefort said. “Weneed to make sure we’re getting the message out that CTE is important, and career technical ed can absolutely lead to ahighwage, high-demand career.”

Read on to learn more about why education expertswant to encourage

morestudentstopursue career paths over four-year degrees

This interview hasbeen condensed and edited for clarity

What are someofthe benefits students can gain frompursuing career and technical education?

We have to takeastep back and realize that not every career you enter requires acollege diploma. Welders don’tneed acollege diploma to be agood welder who makes agood living on asustainable income and is highly employable and in demand. That’s deﬁnitely aﬁve-star job in our area.

For along time, it was “everybody has to go to college.” That’snot necessarily true. We need to take thestigma off of career and technical education.

Youthink there’sstill astigma around career education?

Absolutely there is. Often it comes from home, because mom anddad feel like you have to go to college to be successful, but that’snot necessarily the truth, right?

We have to be able totake astep back and look at the big picture and say,“What’s going to makemystudent successful in life?” Being able to support themselves, buy their own houses, thingslike that. All that can happen following the career path.

Is there anyoverlap between CTE and dual enrollment,where high school students takecollege-level courses?

There is absolutely overlap. One way to think about it is that there are two types

WE’RE ASKING EXPERTS ACROSS THESTATEHOW TO TACKLE THEBIGGEST CHALLENGES FACINGLOUISIANA

of dual enrollment.

There’sthe universitytype, where you’re taking core classes (like English or math) dual enrolled and getting credit forboth high school and college.

Technical dual enrollmentworks the sameway, but instead of aligning to auniversity curriculum, we’re aligning to atechnical diplomaoranassociate degree.

They’re still getting community college credit at the sametimethat they’re getting high school credit. The difference is that someone who’staking adual enrollmenttechnical course is not going to be able to apply that credit toward auniversity track.

According to state data, only about 20% of the dual enrollment courses students takeare in career education.Whyisthat?

We’re still in the mindset that you have to go to college to be successful, and so we focus our spending of those (dual enrollment) dollars on the university-track kids, forgetting that the kids whoare on acareer and technical pathway can get dual enrollment credit, too.

Within districts, money comes in and gets allocated to each of the high schools. They get apercentage based on population, and they have to decide how to spend it. In Lafourche, anybody whowants to take dual enrollment courses can.

Have youseen an increase in the numberofstudents seeking CTE courses?

Yes. When Istarted in this

position three years ago, we werestruggling with enrollment. There were a couple of hurdles we had to overcome as adistrict, and one of those wasCOVID. Youcan’tdowelding virtually.Then we got hit with another whammy when Hurricane Idahit because we had students whowere displaced. It really wasagrassroots effort of getting back into those high schools and selling (CTE). But since then, we’ve almost doubled our enrollment.

We’re busting at the seamsonsome tracks, but we also have someareas we know we need to work on. We’re looking at those and saying ‘OK,what’sthe problem here?’ Is it that our pathway isn’tquite right? Is it that we’re not listening to industry? We have to have those conversations, and it’s ever-evolving.

What do youthink about the state’snew school-rating system, which rewards schools that connect students with internships or apprenticeships? I’mexcited about it. I think it’sabsolutely the way to go, because we wantto focus on growing students’ careers. If you don’tstart exploring careers when you’re 16 and 17, then you’re still going to be struggling with it when you’re 19 and 20. It’s starting that conversation sooner,and Ithink we need to provide moreofthose opportunities.

Email Elyse Carmosino at ecarmosino@theadvocate. com.

Many Americansare fortunate to have dental coverage fortheir entire workinglife, through employer-providedbenefits. When those benefits end with retirement, paying dental bills out-of-pocketcan come as a shock,leadingpeople to putoff or even go without care. Simply put —without dental insurance,there may be an important gap in your healthcarecoverage.

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fora checkup. $190 for afilling. $1,213 fora crown.3 Unexpected bills likethiscan be arealburden especially if you’re on afixed income.

Bonnie Lefortisacareer and technical education coordinator for students in Lafourche Parish.

Expect more fake eggs forEasteraspricessoar

BY HEATHERHOLLINGSWORTH

and SARAH RAZA Associated Press

MISSION, Kan. With eggprices stubbornly high, the internet has offered up ahost of alternatives, with crafters painting rocks and influencers dyeing everything from marshmallowsto potatoes.

“Finally ause for Bsized potatoes!!” one commenterwrote in response to avideo posted on Facebook.

But amid the laughingemojis, LOLs and peoplesimplyposting “huh,” there has beenalot of interest from price-consciousparentsasU.S. egg prices increased again last month to reach anew record high of $6.23 perdozen. Relief could be coming:There is evidence that pricesare falling, and grocery stores may start offering discounts to get shoppers in the door

But even with all that, egg prices are higher than ever.That has the idea of coloring potatoes or rocks, which ﬁrstmade the rounds after a2023 spike in prices,making a resurgence.

One video that is circulating shows agrinning mom ﬁlling cupcake tins with dye. Her child then skewered marshmallows with toothpicks before gently lowering them into the dye and proudly displaying the creations on aglass platter.Another inﬂuencer created marshmallow chicks by dipping marshmallowsinyellow food coloring, dabbing dots of black icing

to create eyes and and then attachingorange M&Ms fora nose and feet.

Other videos feature shoppers plucking hefty bags of potatoes off theshelf,alongwithegg dye.

“Potatoes are about theonly thingIcan afford,” one grateful online commenter posted. Another

Colombia’s capitala of drought-relatedw

BY ASTRID SUAREZ and STEVEN GRATTAN Associated Press

BOGOTA,Colombia Nestled among cloud-kissed Andean peaks and known for its steady rainfall,Colombia‘s capital once seemed immune to water scarcity

But that sense of security vanished as an unrelenting drought drained Bogotá’s reservoirstohistoriclows, forcingauthorities ayear agotorationwater forthe ﬁrst time in more than four decades.

Every nine days, more than 8million people in the city and 11 surrounding municipalities have had their water shut off for 24 hours. Households and businesses were forced to adapt by storing water in advance and cutting dailyconsumption

Bogotá’smayor,Carlos Fernando Galan, announced on Friday that the rationing will end on Saturday, declaring that the crisis has been resolved thanks to improvedrainfall, effective conservation efforts and the expansion of a treatmentplant that eased demand on the reservoirs, which hadfallentorecord lows last year

“Weknow that it wasa very difficult year,very complex for everyone, which affected the quality of life of local residents,” Galan said. The yearlong rationing serves as astark reminder of how climate extremes are reshaping urban life —and a warning for othercities facing mounting water stress amid rising global temperatures.

“In my 60 years, I’ve never lived through anything like this,” Bogotá resident Lidia Rodríguez said. “This feels like akind of punishment. We just want it to end.” Bogotá’sexperience is not unique. In Brazil, Sao Paulo

boileditdown intoasingle-word response: “Cheaper ” Kelly Friedl of Chicagodyes eggs for Easterwithher two kids every year.But becauseofthis year’shigh prices, she came up with an alternative: foil eggs. Cut egg shapes out of cardboard, wrap them in foil, andyou haveshiny

eggs to decorate and reuse.

“Our momused to buy three dozen eggs,” said Friedl, 59, who leads achildcare products company called Urban Infant. “I don’tthink we even ate all theeggs, but it’sthe memory of doing something with your mom.” Formany families like Friedl’s,

dyeing eggs isn’tsomuch about eating eggs. That meant having somegobad in the fridge wasn’t such abig deal when adozen cost less than $2, as they consistently did for years, outside the 2015 bird ﬂu outbreak andthe currentone

But not now

Paas, asupplier of eggdyeing kits, said that while 94% of those who celebrate Easter will dye eggs this year,78% of families said they would dye fewer of them than in past years due to the expense.

The craft retailerMichaels said their craft eggkitsare ﬂyingoff the shelves. Sales of two of the kits are up 20% compared to the same time last year,said Melissa Mills, senior vice president and general merchandising manager at Michaels.

Walmart,the nation’s largest retailer,declined to comment on sales of dyeable plastic eggs andotheralternatives, but said it wasn’tthe ﬁrst year it carried them. Among some options for shoppers: acarton of 12 plastic eggs that include four liquid dye packetsand four egg-dyeing bags and Play-Doh Easter eggs. Despite thechangeintradition, Friedl’sfamily is looking forward to the holiday

“We’re asuper crafty family and the most valued gift in our house is agiftthatsomeone has madeyou,” Friedl said. “Weget together every year and do eggs, and we love it.” Dee-Ann Durbin, Caroll Hannah and Josh Funk contributed to this report. Raza reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

ASSOCIA Residentscarry ab filling it at awater in La Calera, on

took drasticw measures due to didCape Town rica, which cam closetorunning entirelydue to ad startedin2015

“A lotofthe globally developed rapidlyinthe la years, and kind theeasy water sou could,” said Gregory director of theH to Water Solutions UCLA.

“Now,that ability and get newsour is not as prevalen course, we have change makingi he told TheA Press.

Expertssay induced water likely to intensify cities adopt both tions —such as water use practices long-terminfra investments.

The scarcity to be exacerbat future, absents changes,”sai Wight, research Water Witness, aU nonproﬁt Rodríguezech gency, saying you by without electricity notwithoutwater collects rainwater

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILEPHOTO By NAM y. HUH

withcrafters painting rocks

Eventcombinesreading,competition

62 students on 12 teamsparticipate

BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer

The Bookworms wereready Since last summer, the five reading-loving girls, all students at Central IntermediateSchool, have been digging deeply into nine books —some read them twice. Now,they were expected to know them inside and out. They arrived at the “Battle of the

Officials introduce distinction forhigh schoolers

Students whopass newcivicstestwill receive‘Freedom Seal’ondiplomas

BY ELYSECARMOSINO Staffwriter

Louisiana ofﬁcials want torecognize students who demonstrate astronggrasp of civics by honoring them with aspecial “Freedom Seal” on their diplomas

Starting next year,high schoolers who achieve “mastery” or aboveonthe state’snew civics test will be given afoil seal on their diplomas acknowledging their accomplishment.Those whoreceive the seal will also qualify for ared, white and blue honor cord to wear during their graduation ceremony

The civics test launches next yearand will replace the U.S.History LEAP test as arequirement forgraduation.

State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said the aim is to incentivize more students to learn about U.S. history and become engagedinthe politicalprocess.

“It is really important for us to elevate civicseducationinLouisiana,” Brumley said. “If acountry doesn’tunderstandthe civics that governit, then it’sanational security risk.”

The special diploma is Brumley’slatest effort to promotesocial studies and civics education in Louisiana in ways that align with the state’snew K-12 social studies standards, known as the “Freedom Framework.”

On Tuesday,agroup of high schoolers from around the state representing Louisiana’sLegislative Youth Advisory Council, an organization that aims to foster a greater appreciation and understanding of civicparticipation among Louisiana students,testiﬁed in favor of the seal before the state school board.

They told members that

Books” competition wearing headbands adorned with cute worms andstacksofbooks. Andthey had their lucky color

“Theonly reason we didn’twin last yearwas we didn’thave pink,” explained fifth-grader Leighton Hutson.

Butpink was not as lucky as they hoped. The Stellar Limes came out on top for asecond year in arow demonstratingthe power of lime

green as they inched past their archrivals to win this year’sevent

Like the Bookworms, the Stellar Limes had prepared hard for monthsfor the competition, which was held Wednesday at the elementaryschool’sgym.Asthe ﬁnal resultswere being tallied, though, the Limes did notshare the Bookworms’ conﬁdence.

“Wethought we were gonna lose last year,and we thought we were gonna lose this year,” SkylarKessler,also aﬁfth-grader,said with a happy,puzzled smile.

Leighton andSkylarhave competed in allthree “Battle of the Books” competitions at the school, located in thecityofCentral,north of Baton Rouge.

The annual book reading contest is thebrainchild of school librarian

Kristy Barker Barker said she gotthe idea from afellow librarianwho told her that several middle schools wereholdingannual student book-reading contests. Barker thought it would be great to hold asimilar competition at the elementary level.

“The goal was to get students reading more diverse and different genres of books,” Barker said. Her larger vision is to expand the competition so elementary schools compete against each other.Ithas been slow going. This year,Barker persuaded three elementary schools in New Orleans to compete against Central Intermediate, but they will need to do so via Zoom. Barker hopes in the future to hold an in-personcompetition fora

THE BERRY BEST

LEFT: The SnoBalls dancegroup perform Saturdayatthe Strawberry Festival parade in Ponchatoula.

BELOW: Leah Linn, 12, Ponchatoula,competes in thestrawberry eatingcontest.

Anti-hazingcoursemay be required forstudent groups

Bill named for CalebWilson

BYQUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

legiate student organizationsto take asemesterlong course on anti-hazing.

Abill introduced in the Louisiana House of Representatives, dubbed the Caleb Wilson Act, would require membersofcol-

Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-NewOrleans, sponsorofHouse Bill 279, said the idea forthe legislation came after conversationswith the family of Wilson,the 20-yearold Southern junior who died in February after afraternity hazing ritual.

Wilson collapsedafterbeing punchedinthe chest multiple times by members of Southern’s chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.Wilson, alongside other pledges, hadbeen linedupina BatonRouge warehouse late at night before being struck as part of their initiationinto the fraternity.

“I’ve been talking with them

almost every day after the incident happened,” Boyd said, who is friends with Wilson’saunt.

The conversations eventually turnedtolegislative solutions that might be able to keep “another family from going through this.” Boyd also lookedtopastinterviews with the parents of Max

BOOKS, page 2B ä See CIVICS, page 2B

Fans rejoice as Hello Kitty Cafe Truck returns to Baton Rouge

BY SERENA PUANG Staff writer

What would get you up before 9 a.m on Saturday? For Ariana

Romero-Merideth, 17, it’s the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck experience. She got up to travel from Chalmette to arrive just after the truck opened at 10 a.m. at the Mall of Louisiana.

The experience is a traveling food truck/merch store that got its start in 2014. Currently, three Hello Kitty trucks tour the U.S., dividing stops into three branches: East, West and Central. Every week, each truck stops in a city and parks in a centralized location like a mall to sell Hello Kitty cookies, hoodies and more for the day

The cafe truck stopped in Baton Rouge in 2024 at the Mall of Louisiana. For Saturday’s pop-up in the same place, workers were met with a line of more than 80 people waiting to buy treats and merch before the truck opened for business. The first person to arrive started standing in line at 7:30 a.m. Hello Kitty was first introduced in 1974 by a Japanese company called Sanrio. Hello Kitty and her cast of friends had several TV shows in the 1980s to early 2000s, and the character has experienced a new surge of popularity around the 50th anniversary of her creation last year, which was marked with all kinds of brand partnerships that flooded the global market with Hello Kittybranded merchandise from Hello Kitty cookie jars at Home Goods to Hello Kitty pop-up cafes and photo experiences in South Korea. Romero-Merideth, who is 17, can’t remember a time before she loved Hello Kitty. She estimates that she has just under 100 plushies, figurines and other merchandise items at home, and she’s still collecting.

Hello Kitty nostalgia is growing. In fact, most of the people in line at the truck were not kids; they were teenagers or young adults. But for Romero-Merideth, Hello Kitty has been a lifestyle.

Saturday was Romero-Merideth’s second time at the truck cafe. She visited last week when the truck was parked outside of Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie. She

CIVICS

Continued from page 1B

recognizing achievement in civics education is crucial to increasing political awareness among young people and encouraging them to learn their rights in the democratic process.

“Civics isn’t just a subject in school, it’s a foundation of how we live, work and lead in our schools, communities and country,” said Lafayette High School junior Spencer Croft. Adopting the seal will send the message “that what students do outside the classroom is just as important as what they learn inside of it.”

Students take the exam the same year they take civics in high school, which is typically during their sophomore year, a department spokesman said. Categories on the test include the foundations of the United States government and how civil rights in the U.S. have developed over time; the role of the U.S. government in developing domestic, foreign and economic policies; and the national, state and local political processes and how citizens participate in those

BOOKS

Continued from page 1B

range of local elementary schools.

Barker said the contest brings out the natural competitive juices in children. And in forming teams, everyone — stronger and weaker readers is encouraged to chip in.

“It allows them to be a part of something bigger than what they can accomplish on their own,” she said.

Preparing for success

The planning for each year’s “Battle of the Books” starts way ahead of time with the summer reading list. This year’s list at Central Intermediate drew on a selection of books for third, fourth and ﬁfth graders suggested by the State Library of Louisiana as part of its Louisiana Readers’ Choice Awards They range from fantasy “Endlessly Every After: Pick YOUR Path to Countless Fairy Tale Endings” — to light horror — “Stinetinglers: All New Stories by the Master of Scary Tales.” Barker said she made sure to have

No motive yet in fatal shooting of 15-year-old

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy

Customers line up for exclusive merchandise and treats as the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck visits the Mall of Louisiana on Saturday in Baton Rouge.

was working but rushed over to the truck after she got off her shift at 7

Brew She bought a pin, a bag and a drink, but the things she really wanted, like the macarons, were sold out by the time she got there.

This week, she brought her friend, Rachel West, and boyfriend with her to stand in line again.

West, 19, watched the shows as a kid and even has the VHS tapes

They both know the lore: Contrary to popular belief, canonically, Hello Kitty isn’t even a cat, she’s a little girl who lives in the suburbs of London.

Though they both dream of visiting one of the big Hello Kitty Cafes one day (Sanrio has a huge one in California), this is still special to them. Romero-Merideth said it’s a way to get out of the house and to enjoy something she loves with friends.

But one doesn’t need to be deep in the lore or nostalgia for the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck. Nine-year-old Mary Genre, clad with a Hello Kitty jacket, Hello Kitty socks and black Hello Kitty glasses, went with her mom, Yashica Genre When they spoke to The Advocate, they had just purchased a Hello Kitty sugar cookie, after standing in line for just over an hour Mary likes Hello Kitty because it’s “cute and pink.”

This isn’t a one-off for them. Mary has Hello Kitty everything at home,

processes.

Beginning next school year, those who score mastery or above will receive the seal and honor cord to wear for graduation Students who graduate next year but who took the test previously will also be eligible.

Brumley pointed out that only 22% of eighth graders in the U.S. performed at or above proﬁcient on a national civics exam in 2022.

“We can improve that by making sure we have rigorous standards to teach civics in our classrooms,” he said Tuesday, adding that Louisiana “has done more in the last few years in regards to history and civics education” than any other state.

Since Brumley took on his role in 2020, Louisiana has introduced several changes to its social studies standards.

In 2022, the state adopted the “Freedom Framework” for social studies education, a revamped version of the standards that tell “the story of American exceptionalism as well as the nation’s continuous journey towards becoming a more perfect union,” a news release from the State Department of Education said High schoolers are taught that

and has been collecting merch for about four years.

Not everyone was at the cafe for themselves Ayjay Comeaux, 19, identiﬁes not as a fan of Hello Kitty but a fan by association, because his girlfriend is really into it. They played the Hello Kitty Minecraft game together, and now he has been converted. He was there with his sister, Emily Picou, to try the snacks and get something for his girlfriend.

The cheapest items on the Hello Kitty Truck Cafe’s menu are a keychain, cold-cup charm and 10th anniversary pin, all $15 each. When popping up at the Baton Rouge location, they were out of macarons before opening, but the other menu offerings were an eight-piece madeleine set ($16), giant cookie ($16) or three-piece cookie set ($18). They were also selling 50th anniversary merch from mugs ($22) to hoodies ($70).

“It’s kind of worth it though,” said Jordan Allen, who arrived at 7:30 with her friend and cousins to be ﬁrst in line “It’s about the experience.”

She missed the truck when it stopped in Baton Rouge last year, and she was ready, and even though her cookie was a little too cute to eat, she planned on it.

“As long as I get a photo, I’m good,” she said.

the failure of communist policy and the assertion of American principles led to the end of the Cold War, according to a pamphlet that outlines the standards. They also learn how individuals such as Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Medgar Evers contributed to the expansion of American civil rights.

Most recently, the state board of education voted unanimously last month to align the state’s fourth and fifth grade social studies standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed to the Gulf of America.

Brinkley Bennett, a junior at St. Joseph’s Academy in Baton Rouge, said offering a special distinction to high schoolers who demonstrate a strong understanding of civics will help encourage “an entire generation of students” to participate in democracy “A healthy democracy depends on active involvement of its citizens, but that participation doesn’t happen on its own,” she said. “It’s something we have to learn.”

Email Elyse Carmosino at ecarmosino@theadvocate.com.

CRIME BLOTTER staff reports

Baton Rouge police detectives are still investigating a Thursday night shooting that killed a ninth grade student from Istrouma High School Tyler McWilliams, 15, was shot about 9:40 p.m. at Brown’s One Stop Convenience Store at 1455 N. Acadian Thruway, police said. He initially was taken to Baton Rouge General Mid City and then transported to Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital in critical condition. Authorities reported he died of his wounds Friday BRPD spokesperson Cpl. Saundra Watts said on Saturday the investigation was continuing Police have not publicly identiﬁed a motive or suspects.

East Baton Rouge Parish Schools released a statement following the deaths of McWilliams and 12-yearold Jayce Shawn Wright, a middle school student who died in a fourwheeler incident.

“This devastating loss has left his family, friends and our entire

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Gruver, the 18-year-old LSU freshman who died of alcohol poisoning in 2017 during another fraternity hazing ritual.

“It’s already a felony (when) causing harm or death, but we really felt like the kids need to be educated, and not only the ones that are being hazed, but the ones that are doing the hazing,” she said. “They clearly are not aware of the consequences if things go left.”

Raising requirements

Under the bill, anyone joining a student organization would be required to take a one-credit-hour semester course on anti-hazing during the ﬁrst two semesters of their membership in such organization. Boyd said the requirement also would apply to any current student who is a member of a student organization.

“I think the bill is straightforward,” Boyd said. “I want incoming freshman to be required to take this, and if you are already a member of one of these groups, then you should have a little time to get that class taken before you graduate.”

Any student who doesn’t take the course would be prohibited from pledging or continuing as a member of a student organization, Boyd said.

“So they’d have a choice,” Boyd said. “Can’t ﬁt the class in? Then they can’t pledge. They pledge in the grad chapter.”

Like current anti-hazing legislation, the bill would apply to undergraduate students who are members of any student organization, not just fraternities and sororities.

This point is important to Boyd, who said it was a “revelation” to her that other organizations, like university bands or sports teams, often engage in the same dangerous hazing rituals reported among Greek-life organizations.

school community in mourning,” the school system wrote “It is essential that we come together as a community to support one another during this challenging time.”

The school system said counseling services and resources will be available for those needing assistance coping with grief. Anyone with information about the shooting of McWilliams can contact the Violent Crimes Unit at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.

Suspect in custody after relative fatally stabbed

One person was killed when a relative stabbed them Saturday in Prairieville, according to authorities.

The incident took place about noon in a residence along Misty Oak Court. A suspect has been taken into custody, said Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Donovan Jackson The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident

Current anti-hazing legislation only requires students to take a single, hourlong anti-hazing orientation and to be given a handbook on the dangers and illegality of hazing.

“I think it’s a good way to get into a whole new world.”

The competition’s format is akin to Accelerated Reader book quizzes, but on steroids.

Questions flashed on a big screen, giving students a limited time to answer These questions, created in secret by Barker ask “How was Adeline able to find Wyatt after putting out the fire?” or “In what way did Evelyn get the music schools in her country to change?” Students are given four potential answers for each question.

The atmosphere during the competition was tense Shouts and squeals routinely ﬁlled the gym.

Julie Kessler, mother of Skylar, was one of several parents who volunteered to help on competition day Like her Skylar is a precocious reader, not to mention a competitive person.

“Oh yeah, she gets it from us,” Kessler said with a laugh. “My husband and I, we’re very competitive.”

Boyd said she has been in conversation with multiple university leaders since pre-filing the bill, including representatives from Southern University She said that while leaders have been supportive, the talks have focused on how to transition students into their potential new responsibilities.

Southern University Board Chair Tony Clayton has already suggested that graduate chapters of Greek organizations take over all recruiting and intake for frats and sororities on Southern’s campus.

Boyd said that while she expects that HB279 might be amended, she expects to have bipartisan support. “I think we all don’t want to see this ever happen again, if possible,” she said. “If we can deter one or two incidents, I think this bill is a huge success by itself.”

Secretary of State Nancy Landry sponsored the similarly-titled Max Gruver Act during her time as a state representative. That 2018 law created felony hazing as a criminal charge that prosecutors could use when a hazing incident resulted in serious bodily harm or death. The three suspects believed by police to be responsible for Wilson’s death have been booked using this law

Landry said that while her legislation was focused on criminal responsibility, anti-hazing education for students was a goal of lawmakers at that time too.

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

Just this week, two fraternities on Tulane’s campus were suspended pending an investigation into allegations of hazing.

If passed, the Caleb Wilson Act would take effect in the fall 2025 university semester The next step for HB279 will be for it to be heard in the Capitol’s Education Committee.

Email Quinn Coffman at quinn. coffman@theadvocate.com.

get on the plot the characters,” she explained.

This year there were 12 teams participating with a total of 62 students. Hutson said she is gratiﬁed to see interest grow and said it now is attracting more than just hard-core early readers like her daughter

“Every year they get more people,” she said. “This is the most participation they’ve had.”

Book competitions aren’t just for kids anymore. Barker said this year, the teachers and staff at Central Intermediate did their own “Battle of the Books.”

“It was the most fun I’ve ever had at the school,” Barker said.

a mix of picture books and chapter books, covering a range of reading abilities. Andrew Ellerbee, a fourth grader, competed as part of the Blood Red Dragons. He enjoyed “Stinetinglers,” a collection of stories from

famed “Goosebumps” author R.L. Stine, but also dug “Maizy Chen’s Last Chance,” a book by Lisa Yee about how the 12-year-old Maizy discovers her family’s Chinese restaurant is full of secrets.

“I just love reading,” Andrew said.

Another parent volunteer, Victoria Hutson, mother of Leighton, said the Bookworms started prepping in the fall.

“They focus on looking up the different types of questions you can

SCHEINUK

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Students from the yellow Star Readers team work together on an essay during the ‘Battle of the Books’ competition on Wednesday at Central Intermediate School in Central.

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Youngsville, the fastestgrowing city in Louisiana, has added a new element to engage residents and attract newcomers. Along with a recently opened sports-themed splash park, the city’s latest project is the expansion of the Youngsville Sports Complex, which is now home to eight pickleball courts, two collegiate baseball fields, an all-inclusive children’s playset, and an amphitheater expected to draw more community events and outdoor concerts.

The amphitheater opened last fall, but its ﬁrst ticketed event will be a performance by Louisiana singer Lauren Daigle, city officials announced last week. Daigle will perform at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 Tickets went on sale Thursday

The Lake Charles native grew up in Lafayette and has won two Grammys as well as 12 Dove Music Awards.

“I think that this event will help put our venue on the map. So if the right artist at the right time is being routed through this area, we certainly want to be a destination that would be considered,” Youngsville Mayor Ken Ritter said The amphitheater is the center of a 46-acre expansion project to enhance recreation opportunities in the community.

Dirt used in the amphitheater’s construction was taken from a nearby drainage project to help mitigate drainage issues and lower ﬂood risk.

“So that’s really where the amphitheater idea was, you know, was born. It was really an opportunity to, how do we use the spoil from the drainage project and create something unique,” Ritter said.

The long-term plan is to use the amphitheater for the city’s annual Independence Day celebration, outdoor concerts and other community events.

“This will without question have a positive impact on the Lafayette Parish economy,” Ritter said “We expect more of these type of events will have

regional attraction. The economic impact from our restaurants and hotels are certainly expected to be positive.”

Previously most events in Youngsville were held at Sugar Mill Pond or the town center. Ofﬁcials expect to sell approximately 5,300 tickets for Daigle’s performance. Seating will include general admission on the grass lawn, VIP tables, and multiple seating areas with different price tiers.

City ﬁre marshals originally gave a capacity of 14,000 for the event, assuming there would be standing room, but that number was reduced to ensure the safety of the crowd, Ritter said. Attendees can expect to see safety protocols including metal detectors, a clear-bag policy and

ample security personnel on site.

Since the amphitheater opened in October, the area has hosted numerous community events including a pumpkin patch, a Veterans Day concert, a Christmas event with a live nativity scene, and St. Thomas More Catholic High School’s annual Hopefest music festival.

“Hosting and planning large events is nothing new” for Youngsville, Ritter said. The recent Mardi Gras Mambo softball tournament attracted about 100,000 people over three days, according to data from city ofﬁcials.

“So having thousands of people is something we are accustomed to accommodate, we are just new to having artists, but we feel that we’ve done our

research, our homework, and have a great artist to partner with to help get it done smoothly,” Ritter said.

Choosing an artist involved numerous factors, most importantly a cross between demand and availability, he said.

“I know this is a smaller venue for Daigle compared to where she has performed, but it’s a great opportunity to be in a more intimate environment and a gateway to what is to come for the city of Youngsville,” Ritter said. Visit laurendaigle.com/ tour for more information on tickets, bag policies and parking.

Email Ja’kori Madison at jakori.madison@ theadvocate.com.

DEQ lawyer quits, criticizes agency’s chief in seven-page letter

Giacometto disputes ‘baseless accusations’

BY DAVID J MITCHELL Staff writer

Louisiana environmental chief Aurelia S. Giacometto is again facing scathing criticism of her leadership from a departing employee, the latest in a line of ofﬁcials to leave the agency since her appointment by Gov Jeff Landry

In a seven-page letter sent to almost all Department of Environmental Quality employees Friday, Roger Ward, a longtime human resources attorney and ethics liaison at the agency accused Giacometto of “single-handedly destroying the workplace culture” with erratic and vindictive behavior He alleged she worsened efﬁciency with her initiatives and micromanagement, contrary to her public pronouncements about streamlining the agency.

“Although she presents an affable public persona with her saccharine smile, she is in actuality a vindictive individual behind the scenes who seems to relish bullying and harassing her subordinates,” Ward wrote in the letter shared with The Advocate and other media organizations “She has no regard for anyone but herself, she is manipulative, and completely disingenuous.”

The letter is only the latest criticism of Giacometto’s leadership and the toxicity that some say she has fostered at DEQ, but one of the few airings with an employee’s name attached to it. In her more than 15 months on the job, she has also seen other executives leave, many of them her own appointees. Some have shared criticisms of her leadership style, while others have said they were simply moving to different jobs in Landry’s administration or federal posts.

Giacometto and Landry have previously defended her leadership, arguing change is necessary at the agency as they seek to streamline operations and make it more businessfriendly.

In a statement sent Friday evening, Giacometto made a similar case and said she disputed “any and all of these baseless accusations by this disgruntled employee.”

“I was not appointed to take the easy or popular road. I am inspired daily by the dedication of LDEQ’s hard working employees and I am not going to allow a few to undermine their great work and the success of this agency LDEQ has an important mission from our governor — having clean air and water while growing a healthy economy,” she said.

“In my 15 months, we are building an internal infrastructure to enable technology to help us do our jobs better and provide transparency to applicants and the public. We have been successful in implementing cost saving measures, as well as making LDEQ more approachable to the public.”

She also wrote that she has focused her early tenure on touring the state, visiting 40 parishes and making more than 110 visits across Louisiana to see through her “top priority” that the public is served “effectively and efﬁciently.”

‘Attention of the governor’

In an interview Friday Ward confirmed the letter was his and said he had personally witnessed Giacometto’s abusive behavior before his one-on-one contact with her ceased in May, when she moved him from his 10th-floor executive office to a smaller one in the agency without a reason.

Though Ward was a classiﬁed employee with nearly three decades in the department and was not one of Giacometto’s appointees, he said he is a Republican who voted for Landry Ward said he hoped his letter would convince the governor to reconsider Giacometto’s appointment.

“I hope it gets the attention of the governor ﬁnally and he removes her, because she’s not ﬁt to be leading an organization,” he said.

As the agency ombudsman, Ward’s role included hearing employee complaints about the department, sitting in meetings with Giacometto in the first months of her ten-

ure and often crafting her write-ups that he asserted had flawed criticisms of employees.

In the letter and interview, Ward said he was initially prepared to support Giacometto and help her give DEQ the improvements he admits it needs, but became increasingly uneasy as she began to target employees, particularly those from the prior administration.

He said he believed her reasons did not revolve around violations of rules or policies but were because employees rubbed her the wrong way, saying “she didn’t want to be challenged on anything.”

“There was really no basis to write people up or threaten to discipline people,” he said in the interview “They weren’t doing anything wrong.”

He cited the example of Yolunda Righteous, the head of DEQ’s waste permits division and an agency employee since 2011. She recently announced her planned retirement at the state annual solid waste association meeting in Lafayette Ward said Giacometto went after her “viciously” for her involvement with the group while Righteous also remained waste permitting administrator Ward said the group is an educational organization that DEQ helped found, and Righteous’ involvement in the group does not violate any agency policies, though he alleges Giacometto wrote her up for the involvement.

Righteous has not said why she is retiring and, in a recent interview, declined to discuss it.

Ward’s letter comes weeks after a state workplace audit and employee survey was made public Feb 28, turning up mixed views of the agency and its top leadership It also follows the recent loss of Giacometto’s second executive counsel, Noah Hoggatt, in less than a year and a half.

In Ward’s letter, he ticked off 10 executives, all of whom were Giacometto appointees and left after short tenures. Many of them didn’t air criticisms but said they were leaving for other opportunities At least one, Tanner Magee, a former legislator and briefly an

interim deputy secretary until January described his working relationship with Giacometto in an interview earlier this year as a good and professional one.

Another, however, wrote of witnessing “atrocities,” accusing the DEQ leader of harassing employees and trying to make her a “hatchet man” who would push workers out of the agency.

Ward’s letter also raises questions about Giacometto’s travel expenses and contracting decisions, and, in the interview, he accused her of creating a “shadow” human resources department with new employees because she disliked the existing department.

‘Unflattering feedback’

While majorities of employees who responded to the audit survey said they liked their direct managers and jobs, near majorities had far less positive views for executive leadership.

More than three-fourths reported low morale, and about one-third also reported working in a toxic environment. A small percentage reported being asked to do things that they believed were procedurally or legally improper.

Though the audit was driven by workplace con-

cerns that have arisen during Giacometto’s tenure, it didn’t indicate that employees were asked directly in the survey about her leadership individually Ward said it was troubling that legislators and the governor haven’t exercised what he considers proper oversight. He said inquiries by the Legislative Auditor’s Ofﬁce and another he said was conducted by the Division of Administration were “to no avail.

In the interview and letter, Ward said he decided he could no longer stay at the agency that has been his only job for close to 30 years — though he wasn’t ready yet to retire because of Giacometto’s “increasingly erratic and alarmingly vicious behavior” toward agency personnel.

“LDEQ used to be an enjoyable place to work. Now, employees both long and short term are leaving the agency in droves solely because of her,” Ward wrote. Ward also claims other midlevel and rank-and-ﬁle employees are leaving to escape Giacometto, noting that several top positions remain open. The letter listed a handful of examples without identifying the employees.

In response to a public records request ﬁled months

ago, a DEQ organizational chart the agency provided on Friday for the period of early February showed four openings in the secretary’s office, with at least three other departures that followed that time period. Despite those openings and Ward’s allegations for this year, civil service data show the agency’s turnover rate was below the state average in the 2024 fiscal year, which included the first six months of the secretary’s tenure. The state average voluntary turnover rate is 14.3%; DEQ’s voluntary rate was 10.2%, according to an annual report. In the interview Ward said he sent the letter to the department after he was told by HR employees that DEQ no longer was using its long-standing exit interview form following “unflattering feedback” about Giacometto’s leadership. Ward confirmed that the unflattering feedback came from a departing employee who called Giacometto “cruel,” “evil” and “vindictive” in an exit interview, which The Advocate obtained through a public records request and reported about earlier this year David J. Mitchell can be reached at dmitchell@ theadvocate.com.

Fine,Mildred

St.James Place at 2p.m

Obituaries

Arnold, Verna B.

Verna Beatrice Delcambre Arnold passed away at her residence on April 8, 2025, at the age of 96. Verna was adedicated mom and wife, and was active in Girl Scouts and Cub scouts when her family was young. She regularly volunteered at her church and her children's schools. Verna enjoyed ballroom dancing, travel, vacations with family, and many cruises. She was born and raisedin New Iberia, LA, then moved to New Orleans when she married Hap. From New Orleans, they moved to Patterson, New Iberia, and Baton Rouge. Verna wasa quiet, loving, genuine, dependable, and dedicated wife, mother, Me-Me, and friend. She willbegreatly missed by all who loved her. We would like to thank the many caregivers who lovingly cared for her during her final months. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 67 years, Herbert TArnoldJr (Hap); father, EJ Delcambre; mother, Eunice Pesson Delcambre; and brother, Knowlton Delcambre. She is survived by three children. Her daughter, Karen Arnold; sons, Kirk Arnold and his wife Peggy, and Kraig Arnold and his wife Janet; four grandchildren, Tommy Arnold andhis wife Sarah, Chris Arnold, Joey Arnold,and David Arnold; four great-grandchildren, Cayden Arnold by Chris, and Henry Arnold, Aria Arnold, and Nate Arnold by Tommy and Sarah; and sister-in-law, Shirley Arnold Labarge Hamilton. Visitation will take place on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at St. George Catholic Church, beginning at 9:00 AM until Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 AM. Aprivate burial willfollow at St. George CatholicChurch Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to your local Habitat for Humanity.

Bergeron, Barbara Dicharry

Barbara Dicharry Bergeron passed at the age of 87 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on April 8, 2025

She was born on June 25, 1937 to her parents Alvin Joseph Dicharry and Reaney Cazenave Dicharryin Baton Rouge, Louisiana Barbara worked as asecretary at Dow Chemicals formany years.She willbe deeply missed by all those who knew and loved her She is survived by her daughter MichelleBergeron Serret (Patrick Joseph),sons Rhett Leon Bergeron, M.D.(Dawn) and Mark Christopher Bergeron (Sara),grandchildren Logan Bergeron, Brandon Bergeron, Cameron Bergeron, Anna Grace Bergeron, BriannaSerret, Brylee Serret, and Dylan Bergeron, sister Gail Dicharry Varisco, and nephews Kerry Mark Varisco Jr., Christopher Kyle Varisco (Kelly),and Patrick Ryan Varisco (Kate). She is preceded in death by her husband CecialJ Bergeron, M.D., parents Alvin Joseph and Reaney Cazenave Dicharry, son Jon Gregory Bergeron, brother Steven Dicharry, and brothers-in-laws Kerry Mark Varisco Sr. and Ralph Leon Bergeron. There willbea visitation held at St. JamesEpiscopal on April 26, 2025 from 9am to 11am with amemorial service starting at 11am.A reception will follow at St. James Parish Hall.

BeldonJ."Jeaux" Bourgeois, abeloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather,brother,and friend, willberememberedfor his warm spirit and the joy he brought to those around him. He peacefully passed awayonThursday, April 10, 2025, at the ageof80. Born on April 5, 1945,in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Jeaux was the son of the late Leidly and Laure Bourgeois. He earned his Bachelor of SciencefromMcNeese State University and served honorably in the Army Reserves.Jeaux beganhis career working at Sears before moving to Moore Business Forms, where he continued to excel until he transitioned to asuccessful 30-year tenurewith New York Life Insurance. Jeaux hada passion forclassiccars, LSU football and baseball, and golf. He cherished spending time with his family, especially his children, grandchildren, and great-grandson. Crawfish boils, selling insurance and engaging with fellow gearheads werejusta few of the activitiesthat filled his life with joyand connection. He is preceded in deathbyhis belovedwife of38years, Frances Raye Mistretta Bourgeois;his parents,Leidlyand Laure Bourgeois;sister Mary Fontenot;and hisfiancé of 8years,KarenMoody. Jeaux is survived by his daughter, Jana Goins (John, 18 years); son, Chad Bourgeois (Darla); sister, Barbara Chauvin;brotherin-law Steve Mistretta (Sue); grandchildren, NicholasDuncan, Shelby Bourgeois,and Rayleigh Goins; great-grandson, AshtonThomas; and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. The family wishes to express their sincere gratitude tothe staffatBarclay House and Clarity Hospice for their exceptionalcare andsupport during thistime. A Celebration of Life will be held to honorJeaux'slegacy on Wednesday,April 16, 2025.Visitationwill take place from 1:00PMto3:00 PM at Resthaven Funeral Home, located at 11817 Jefferson Hwy.,Baton Rouge, Louisiana. All who knew and lovedJeaux are invited to join the familyincommemorating aremarkable life filled with love,laughter,and lasting memories.

Jr.,August Joseph

lieu of flowers memorial donations may be madeto your favorite charity.

Bozeman,Elizabeth Yvonne Raines

The Lord called Elizabeth Yvonne Raines Bozeman to Heaven to be with Him and to join her husband, Warren, on Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Baton Rouge, LA.BorninCanton, MS, she graduated from Baton Rouge High. Yvonne married Warren Bozeman in 1954 and togetherthey resided in BatonRouge, LA She was first awife,mother, and homemaker and lovedit. She wasanLPN andworked,after her children were older, at theBatonRouge GeneralHospital. Adevoted prayer warrior, Mama was amember of FloridaBlvd.,Winbourne Ave.,and after retirement, Zoar Baptist Church. She willberemembered forher tenderheart,warm voice, theloveshe putintocooking and taking good care of her family.Her beautiful blue eyes and sweetsmile willbemissedbyeveryone who knew her. Yvonne is survivedbyher sons, Warren "Butch" Jr. (Jane), Jimmy (Sonya), David (Brianna), Terry(Lisa) Bozeman; daughter, AimeeBozeman Brown; grandchildren, Jonathan, Joshua, Jameson, Kellen,Brennan, Conner and Alex Bozeman, Rebecca Boles, Elizabeth Braud, Jordan Langheinz, Jacoband Matthew Brown; 21 great-grandchildren (with#22 on the way); sister, Shirley Wise; and a host of otherlovingfamily members and friends. She is preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Warren Berwick Bozeman, Sr.; granddaughter,Jamie LaurenBrown; parents, James Edward and Jessie Raines; sister, Jean Fleniken; and brothers, Billy and Ted Raines.The family would like to give aspecial thankstoSt. JosephHospice, and GardenView AssistedLiving,numerous caregivers, and all the friends and family who offeredtheir care and support,thoughtsand prayers, and many others who visitedwithher over theyears. Visitation willbe at GreenoaksFuneral Home,9595 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge,LA, on Monday, April14, 2025, from 5pmuntil 7pm. Visitation willresume at Greenoaks on Tuesday, April15, 2025, from 9:30am until thetime of funeralservicesat 11am. Burial willimmediately follow at Greenoaks Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers,the family requests that donations be madeinYvonne's memory to St. Joseph's Hospice or Volunteer Christian Builders @www.Volunteer ChristianBuilders.com

master's degrees in educa‐tion. During hertimeincol‐lege, shewas an active memberofthe Alpha Sigma Alphasorority. Lynne dedicatedover35 years to teaching,retiring in1997 as an elementary school teacher, leavinga lasting impact on count‐lessstudents. Herwarm spiritand love will be deeply missedbyall who knewher.Anavidpainter, Lynne found joyincreating art,a hobbythatreﬂected her creative soul.She also enjoyed square dancing, sewing, visiting plantation homes,thriftshopping, and watching classic movies. Beyond herper‐sonal interests, Lynne gave backtoher community as a volunteer at theSt. Vin‐centDePaulkitchen,em‐bodying hercompassion‐ate nature.Lynne is sur‐vived by herchildren, Catherine Conway Turner and herhusband Ronnieof Austin, Texas, Bryant Way‐landConwayIIand hiswife Michelle of League City Texas,and Martin Carrol Conwayand hiswifeLynn ofFairfax,Virginia; her legacycontinues through her grandchildren, Meghann Turner,Garrett Turner, SarahConway, Na‐talie Conway, Owen Con‐way,Blake Conway; stepgranddaughter,Danielle Vice; as well as hergreatgrandchildren,Sageand ColeTurner; andstep great-grandchildren,Addi‐son andChase Vice.Lynne was preceded in deathby her parents, Ernest Henry Martinand Marion Cross Martin; andher sibling, ErnestH.MartinJr. Serving aspallbearers will be Way‐landConway, Martin Con‐way,RonnieTurner, Lewis Roeling,CJRushing,and Garrett Turner.Relatives and friendsare invitedto jointhe familyfor thevisi‐tationatBaker Funeral Home, 6401 Groom Road onSunday, April13, 2025, from5:00p.m.to8:00p.m The gravesideservice and burialwillfollowonMon‐day,April 14, 2025, at 10:00 a.m at HillcrestMemorial Gardens,inBaker, Louisiana.Inlieuof ﬂow‐ers,the familykindlyre‐questsdonations be made toSt. Jude Children's Hos‐pital in Lynne's memory (MemorialsProcessing, St JudeChildren'sResearch Hospital, 501 St.JudePl. Memphis,TN38105-9959) Lynne Martin Branton'slife was atestament to love, learning, andservice.Her memorywillliveoninthe heartsofher family, friends,and themanylives she touchedthroughout her remarkable journey.

Robert Donald Bridges, Jr.passed away February 25, 2025 as aresult of a medical incident suffered whileskiing Don, an outgoingand generousman,was beloved by all whomet him, as evidenced by the dozens of lifelongfriendships he maintained. He genuinelyloved thepeople in hislife. Oneofhis mantras was, "Ifyou think abouta person,call the person." And he did, often holdinglengthytelephone conversationstostay connected withfriends and family.

Donwas an inveterate traveler, loggingtrips to more than 20 countries. During his high school yearsatBaton Rouge's Broadmoor High,hemet thelove of hislifeand future wife, Alexandra. She shared hislove of adventure travel; twooftheir finaltrips were to theArctic CircleinFinlandand to the Austrian Military Officers' Ball in Vienna wherethey waltzedfor hours.

Donwas aBelieverand atrueservantofthe Lord. He prayed several times eachday, thankingGod "forthe blessingsand for thedefeats." He wasan Eagle Scoutand a15-year member of theAlbuquerqueDanceClub. He wasalso anaturalborn mechanical engineer. Oneofonly ahandful of Baja Bengals, those intrepid LSUengineering students whosince 1977 have been commissioned to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishmentof rough terrain andwater in thenationwideSAE Mini Baja Competition. Today, a photo of histeam, with Donatthe wheel, is featuredinthe Engineering School trophy case.

Donwas an avidcyclist (designinghis owncarbon bike,ofcourse)who each year placedinthe top spots of theTourdeAcoma, Dayofthe Tread, and othercycling events around thestate.

ATiger to the end, he washonored by hisindustryatthe AEM annual conferencewhere hiscolleagues around theworld selected Donasthe ambassador for LSUGiving Day, March19: "Inhonor of LSUalumnus Don Bridges, we inviteyou to contribute to theLSU EngineeringExcellence Fund. Your donations willhelp carry forward thepositive impact Donmade throughouthis life."

mate role of homemaker. Christine wasa lifelong memberofFirst Baptist Church Bakerwhere she ministeredtothe youthas a Sunday School Teacher; President of BakerVolun‐teer Fire Department LadiesAuxiliary,active memberofMeals on Wheels, andenthusiastfor Relay forLife. Shewas a green thumb, exceptional cook,and an extraordinary woman andmother. Chris‐tinewas abreastcancer survivorand stood ﬁrm against herbattlewith Alzheimer’s.Duringher journey,her memory may havefaded,but herkind and caring spirit didnot waiver. Herfamilywould liketoexpress immense gratitude to Hospiceof Baton Rougeand Kim Glasper fortheir loving careofChristine.“Thereis one thingAlzheimer’s can‐not take away,and that is love. Love is nota memory – it’s afeelingthatresides inyourheart andsoul.” Christine’s legacy liveson through herchildren, Greg Carroll andChristy Solar; her son-in-law,MikeSolar; her grandchildren, Bailey Carroll Shovan (Zach Shovan),ClaireSolar, James MichaelWadeSolar and ChloeSolar;and her great-grandson, Corbin Shovan. Shenow rejoices inheavenwithher beloved husband of 68 years, James E.“Goose” Carroll, as well asher parentsAliceMarie Carrawayand John Henry Carraway, siblings Joyce Maurine Coker, James Mack”Carraway, andRoy Carraway, andother loved oneswho have gonebe‐foreher.Pallbearers will be: Zach Shovan,James Michael Wade Solar, Richard “Ricky” Carroll, JackieMullins, ScottDi‐eterich,and Ty Thomas HonoraryPallbearers in‐clude:Bubba Champagne, Baker Boyd,Henry Green Chris Thomas,Jay Thomas, and SteveZachary.A re‐ﬂection of thelifeshe lived isProverbs31:25-26

In addition to hiswife, Alex,heleaves threechildren,RobertDonald (III), Katelin Ann,and William Daniel, abrother,Philip David, andmother, Jo Ann. Aprivate memorial service will be held later this month.Please visit ouronline guestbook for Robert at www.frenchfunerals.com.

August JosephBourgoyne, Jr.passedaway April7,2025,athis home at the age of 86. He was aretiredpipefitter, anative and resident of Plaquemine,La. August is survived by his wife, Linda Neubig Bourgoyne;sons,David (Denise),Lance (Anita), and Chad(Julie);grandchildren,Ashley and Samantha Bourgoyne, Casey Sanders (Thomas) and Landon Bourgoyne (Rachael);great grandchildren, Avery, Olivia, and Lane Sanders, Luke and LilaBourgoyne; sister,CarolynLoubiere; brothers, Donald Bourgoyne (Debbie), and MichaelBourgoyne (Diane); sister and brother-in-law, Suzette and RobertWillis;numerous nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by his parents, August "Doo"and Nola LeRay Bourgoyne; inlaws, Fritz and Helen Neubig; brothers-in-law, WayneLoubiere,Frederick and Carl Neubig; sisters-inlaw, Gay Bourgoyne and GailNeubig; and infant niece, Terry Loubiere. August enjoyed fishing and hunting; he was amember of Club 73 Hunting Club Special thankstoRobin Falcon, Troyce Gerk,Beverly Joffrion,Ricky Bourgoyne,Nancy and Roch Shearer,and ComfortCare Hospice. Visitation will be held at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Plaquemine on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, from 12pm until Mass of Christian Burial at 2pm. Entombment of ashes willfollow at Grace MemorialPark. In

Lynne Martin Branton, beloved mother,grand‐mother, andgreat-grand‐mother, passedaway peacefullyonApril 11, 2025, in Zachary, Louisiana, atthe ageof88. Born on September 23, 1936, in New Orleans,Louisiana.She lived arichand fulfilling lifemarkedbydedication toher family, herprofes‐sion, andher passions Lynne wasraisedonthe propertyofthe ShellRefin‐ery in Norco, where herfa‐ther, Ernest HenryMartin, servedasa supervisor.She married Bryant Wayland Conway, with whomshe established afamilyhome inBaker,Louisiana.Later, she marriedWilliam David Branton,sharing alife filled with love andcom‐panionship.Ahighlyedu‐cated woman, Lynne at‐tendedNorco andDestre‐han Elementary schools beforegraduatingfromDe‐strehan High School.She pursued higher education atSouthwesternLouisiana Industrial Institute(now the University of Louisiana atLafayette)and Louisiana State University,earning both herbachelor'sand

Ricky Simon Braud, 71, of Zachary, LA,passed away April10, 2025. Ricky was born June 30th, 1953 in BatonRouge,LA. He graduated fromIstrouma High School where he metand latermarriedhis wife, Beth in 1974. Ricky went to work at ExxonMobilein1978, where he worked until he retired as asupervisorin 2012. While at Exxon, he spent his extra time building their home in Zachary where he and Beth raised their 3children. In retirement,Ricky enjoyed playing golf with his buddies calledthe "rat pack"as well has his highschool classmates. Ricky and Beth lovedbeing at their beautiful home where he would spend time in his yard and woodshop attending to numerous projects, while alsotaking care of their two grandchildren. He and Bethespeciallylovedtraveling to their beach condo where they would boatand enjoy eating greatfood. Ricky is survivedbyhis wife of 50 years, Beth Braud; son, Ricky Braud, daughter, Lauren Campbell and husband Scott Campbell,daughter, Devyn Landreneau and husband Jean Paul Landreneau;sister Mona Lafoon; two grandchildren, Annabelle Campbell andEverett Landreneau.Hewas preceded in death by his parents, Ernest and Celine Braud. Visitation willtakeplace at Greenoaks Memorial Park in BatonRouge,LAon Tuesday, April 15thfrom 11am untilservices at 2pm and theburial to follow.

It is with heavyhearts thatweannouncethe passing of ourbeloved Christine Carraway Carroll. After an eight-year journey withAlzheimer’s disease, Christine peacefully en‐tered hereternal rest with her Lord andSavior, Jesus Christ, on April7,2025, sur‐rounded by herlovingfam‐ily at home.BornonAu‐gust13, 1937, in Smithdale, Mississippi,Christine lived a life steadfastfor the Lord, herfamily, andher community.A devoted wife, mother,grand‐mother, great-grand‐mother, andcherished friend, Christine’sheart overﬂowed with compas‐sion, care,and aservant’s spirit. Christinegraduated fromMorrisHillHigh School and, in 1958, mar‐riedthe love of herlife, James E. “Goose” Carroll. Together,theymadetheir homeinLouisiana,where Christine dedicatedherself toraising afamilyand serving others with grace and love.Her nurturing spiritand passionfor oth‐ers wasundeniable. After dedicating20years with South CentralBell, shewas blessedtofulﬁll theulti‐

Alice Joyce Fogg passed away on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at the age of 94. She wasborninCorozal, Belize on March19, 1931, to Henry Darly Andersonand Henrietta Maria Orio Anderson. Alice workedasanadministrativeassistantat LSU'sMuseum of Natural Scienceand enjoyed spending time with her familyand friends. Sheispreceded in death by herparents; herdaughter, Susan Elizabeth Fogg; hersisters, HelenGabriel andJuanita "Nena" McKune; andher brothers, William "Billy" Anderson, Charles "Buster" Anderson, Harry Anderson, and Douglas "Roy" Anderson. Alice is survived by belovedhusbandof66 years, PeterJohnFogg;her daughter, Patricia "Trish" Fogg Kimball and husband, KevinKimball;her son, Keith LeonardFogg andwife, Love DennyFogg;her grandchildren, Melissa Ann Fogg,Erica Fogg Jobe and husband, CalebJobe, Jennifer Fogg Remington,Hudson Kimball,and Clayton Kimball and hergreatgrandchildren, Grant Mercer, EmilyRemington MylesRemington, andAsher Jobe Relativesand friends are invited to attendthe Funeral Service at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at ResthavenFuneral Home, 11817 Jefferson HighwayinBaton Rouge.A Visitation will be held at thefuneral home beginning at 9:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Resthaven GardensofMemory. Thefamilywould like to give special thanks to her caregivers, TerryLeblanc andKaren Longand Bridgeway Hospice Familyand friends may sign theonline guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamilyatwww.resthav enbatonrouge.com

BridgesJr., Robert Donald

Fogg,Alice Joyce

Braud, Ricky Simon

Bourgoyne

Carroll, Christine Carraway

Branton, Lynne Martin

Sylvia Thibodeaux Gill 83 yearsold,beloved

Mother andGrandmother, was called to be with her Lordand Savior,Jesus Christ, on April10, 2025, surrounded by herloving family. Sheentered this world on December 14 1941, born to Lillianand SydneyThibodeaux, in Bunkie, LA.She wasa long‐timeresidentofBaker,LA and aparishioner of St Isidore Catholic Church Sylviaretired from Bell‐South after 30 yearsofser‐vicetoher community.She enjoyed spending time withfamilyand friends and hada greatpassion for gardeningand alove for Cajunmusic anddanc‐ing.Sylviaissurvivedby her loving son's; Gary Gill and Gerald Gill;a daughter Becky Arnold (Larry); grandchildren,DanielleGill Guidroz,Grant Gill, ChancelyArnold, andChad Arnold; great-grandchil‐dren, TrippGaudet, Bron‐son Guidroz, Jadelyn, Gun‐nar andBowen Gill;and a brother,SidneyThi‐bodeaux,Jr. (Linda). Sylvia isprecededindeath by her husband,HarveyT.Gill; fa‐ther, Sidney Thibodeaux Sr.;mother, LillianMar‐cotte Thibodeaux;and son, GregoryWayne Gill.Serv‐ing as pallbearerswillbe GaryGill, Gerald Gill,and Grant Gill,Larry andChad Arnold, TrippGaudetand Bronson Guidroz. Thefam‐ily wishes to extend their heartfelt thanks andgrati‐tudetoDr. ElizabethCurtis, the staff, nursesand CNA's atOld JeffersonCommu‐nityCareCenter, Clarity Hospice,and Dr.Miletello's office fortheir compas‐sionate care.Relatives and friends areinvited to join the familyfor thevisitation atBaker FuneralHome, 6401 GroomRoad, on Mon‐day,April 14, 2025, from 9:00AMuntil theFuneral Service at 11:00AM, offici‐atedbyDeaconTommy Benoit. Thegraveside ser‐viceand burial will follow atHillcrest Memorial Gar‐dens, in Baker, Louisiana. In lieu of flowers, dona‐tions canbemadetoCan‐cer Services of Greater Baton Rouge(550 Lobdell Ave,Baton Rouge, LA 70806) in Sylvia's memory Familyand friendsmay signthe online guestbook orleave apersonalnote for thefamilyatwww.bak erfuneralhomeonline.com

PaulaMorrisHowat, a mother, grandmother, professor, teacher,researcher,and mentor, died on April 4, 2025. Paula was anative of West Virginia, daughter of Ruby and Paul Morris, born in 1939 in Greenbank, WV in Pocahontas County. She graduated from Huntington East High Schooland Marshall University in Huntington, WV. She continued her education at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, andVirginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA where she earned aPhD in Nutrition and became aRegistered Dietitian. She practiced clinical dieteticsinhospitals and other healthcare facilities for 10 years including Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, MA; Lankenau Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA; then rerouted her professionalinterests to the university level in teaching and research. She taught and conducted research at Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS and moved further south where she was atenured professor teaching, conducting research and after 25 years retired as aProfessor of Nutrition in the School of Human Ecology at Louisiana State University in BatonRouge, LA. She published more than 50 researchpapers and wrotea book composedof newly developed as well as modified traditional recipes. The book, published in 1998, was designed for healthy eating. The need for such abook, presented in an understandable, realisticmanner was areflection of Dr Howat's years of clinical work. Paula is survived by awonderful daughter, Heidi Ann Howat Wendt,a great son-in-law, Thaddeus Wendt, and 2beautiful, wonderful grandchildren, a grandson, Grayson Paul Wendt and agrand-daughter, ShelbyGrace Wendt. Paula was preceded in death by her immediate

family consisting of her mother, Ruby Waddell Morris Hogg, herfather Paul Anderson Morris, a brotherRobertLee Morris, asister HarolynJune Morris, and astep-father, Russell Hogg. Since Paulainvested most of her life in the field of health, she donated her remains to the LSUSchool of Medicine in New Orleans for the education of future physicians. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to any of the following: Eating Disorders Research & Treatment; The National KidneyFoundation; The Heart Association; or the The Arthritis Foundationof Louisiana.The family wouldliketothank the following forthe excellent care theyprovidedfor Paulathroughout her latter years, weeks anddays: Ochsner Health; Fresenius Baker; The Hospice of Baton Rouge ButterflyWing; and especiallyher caregiver,Michele Berthier. ACelebration of Life honoring Paula Morris Howat is being held Thursday, May15 from 5pm to 7pm at Blackwater United Methodist Church, 10000Blackwater Road, Baker, Louisiana. Those attendingare encouraged to wear her favorite color, LSU purple.

Lewis, Amanda Lynn Dupree

Amanda passedaway peacefullyather residence onthe morningofApril 10, 2025. Shewas 70 yearsold Amandawas aresident and native of Plaquemine She is survived by herhus‐bandof49years Charles Burt Burton Lewis; 3 brothers, Mark W. Dupree (Jean), Jack P. Dupree & Lanis O. Dupree, andnu‐merousnephews anda niece.Amandaispreceded indeath by herparents Horaceand EllenKeith Dupree; sister in law TeresaDupree. Please share memories online at www.wilbertservices.com

Maxwell, William Scott 'Scotty'

With his wife and daughters by his side WilliamScott "Scotty" Maxwell enteredeternal life on April 5, 2025,following abrief illness. Scotty was bornonAugust 12, 1946, in Tullos, Louisiana, to MaxWilliamMaxwell and Betty Jo Adams Maxwell. The oldest of six children,Scotty spoke fondly of his childhood spent with his siblings and cousins on the familyfarm in Urania,including visits with hisbeloved grandmothersand great-aunt and participation in the Baptistchurch. Scottygraduated from LaSalle HighSchoolin 1964.HeattendedNorthwesternState University (NSU) in Natchitoches, LA, wherehewas afounding memberofthe Theta Mu chapterofthe Kappa Sigma fraternity and the chairman of theLouisiana Student Government Association. At Northwestern he met his wifeof55 years, Christine Reed Maxwell of Alexandria, LA. When they marriedin1969,hebecame an extended part of the Reed family, establishing and managing the annual family football board, complete with an engraved winner's trophy thathas been passedacross the state and the countryfor thepast 50 years. After graduatingfrom NSU,Scotty attendedlaw schoolatLouisiana State University, ultimately settinguphis lawpractice in Winnfield, LA, where he also served as President of the Winn Parish Chamber of Commerce and coached allhis daughters' t-ball and softball teams every summer. As aboard member of the Pine Ridge Country Club in Winnfield, Scotty spent many enjoyable afternoons perfecting his golfgame, which included shooting 63 on 18 holes and acoveted hole-in-one In 1989,Scotty relocated to Baton Rouge,LA, to establish anew lawpractice. He had greatpride in supporting the education of his threedaughtersatSt. AloysiusSchool and St. Joseph'sAcademy, where he served three terms as president of the Dads' Club. Scotty willberemembered forhis friendliness to people from allwalks of life. Henever met a

stranger and considered allhemet worthy of a handshake and agreeting His favorite pastimes over theyears included cheering on the LSUTigers, bragging abouthis childrenand grandchildrento any who wouldlisten, and "getting his steps in" around Baton Rouge.

He is preceded in death by hisparents, his sisters, JanAlsup and Kathy Maxwell,nephew, Andrew Nugent,brothers-in-law, Lee Nugent,Chuck Alsup and Danny Reed, and his mother-in-law and fatherin-law,Jeanand Roger Reed.

Left to cherish hismemoryare his devoted wife; hisdaughters, Catherine McDaniel (Malloy) of Alexandria,VA, Angie Maxwell (Sidney Burris) of Fayetteville, AR,and MarcieMaxwell of Memphis, TN;his grandchildren, Maxwell,Murphy, and Vidrine McDaniel,and Elizabeth Burris; hissister, AnnNugent;his brothers, Kim Maxwell andJamey Maxwell;in-laws, Becky Reed, Archie and Jackie Reed, Stephen Reed, Jennifer and Wynn Lawrence, and Vicki and JayDurham; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He willberemembered with greataffection and missed in thebig and little momentsoflife.Donations in Scotty'smemory canbemadetoShriners Hospitalsfor Children, where he receivedcare as an adolescent Visitationwillbeheldon Tuesday, April 15, 2025, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., immediately followed by thefuneral service at 12:30 p.m. at Rabenhorst Funeral Home (825 Government Street,Baton Rouge, LA 70802). Following the service, therewillbea briefcommitment service at 1:30 p.m. at Our Ladyof Mercy GardenofPeace (445 Marquette Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70806).

Susan GandyOlds, 73, of BatonRouge,LA, passed away peacefully on April 6, 2025, at theButterfly Wing of Hospice of BatonRouge. Susan wasborn August 26, 1951, in Natchez,MS. She wasthe onlydaughterofDr. Thomas Howard Gandyand Sue Buford Gandy. Susan attended high schoolatAll SaintsEpiscopalSchool in Vicksburg MS where she made many lifelong friends. She went to theUniversity of Southern Mississippi andthen to Louisiana StateUniversity where she earnedher bachelor's degree in earlychildhoodeducation.

Susan taught school in East Baton RougeParish formany years, and those friendshipscontinuedlong after retirement She is survivedbyher loving husband, John RussellOlds, her daughterand son-in-law Mary Margaret and Wyn Singer, and three loving stepdaughters, Beth, Courtney &Robyn Olds who willforever hold her memory in their hearts. She also leavesbehind her threebrothers, Warren Buford Gandy and hiswife Nell,Thomas Howard Gandy, Jr.and his wife Paula, William Wiley Gandyand his wife, Christy and loving sister-in-law Vera Lee Olds.Susantreasured her threeamazing grandchildren, Trip Singer, John HartSinger, and Simon Boonchai.

Susan willbedearly missed by allthatknew her. She loveddogs, planting flowers,estatesale shopping,and gathering with friends, butmostly she lovedany moment that she spent with family

Susan livedlife to the fullest, and thefamily wouldliketothank theentire nursing staffofthe Our Ladyofthe Lake Regional Medical Center's Neurological Critical Care Unit, Dr. Greg Fautheree, and The Hospice of Baton Rouge's Butterfly Wing forimpeccable care and love throughthese last few weeks.

AMemorial Service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church on Tuesday, April15, beginning with visitationat9:00 followed by aserviceat10:30. In lieu of flowers,memorial donations may be madeto The Hospice of Baton Rouge's Butterfly Wing.

Robbins,Elizabeth Langford

ElizabethLangfordRob‐binswas born in Natchi‐toches, LA on July 15, 1940 and passedawayather residence in BatonRouge LAonApril 7, 2025, at the age of 84. Sheispreceded indeath by herparents, AlexEugeneand Lillie Scott Langford;son,Robert Stanton “Red”Pearson; sister, EmilyLangford Thornton; andson-in-law, JohnStanley “Stan” Wood She is survived by herhus‐band, MajorRobertE.Rob‐bins(USAF,retired)of Baton Rouge, LA;son Byron DavidPearson (Lisa) ofAustin, TX;daughters MargaretElizabeth Pear‐son Wood of Mountain View, MO andCatherine Amanda“Camy”Miller Maloney (Mike) of Scott AFB,IL; stepson, Robert E. R.J” Robbins,Jr. (Christen) ofGrapevine,TX, 10 grand‐children, 8great-grandchil‐dren, 2nephews,1 grand‐niece anda host of cousins.Elizabeth wasa strongwoman who over‐camemanyadversities duringher lifetime.She al‐waysattributed each suc‐cesstobeing a“Girl Raised inthe South” (GRITS)and thisbecameher mantra She enjoyedcooking, read‐ing,growing ﬂowersand all sports,especiallyfoot‐ball. Shewas atrueLSU fan andwould make sure her familylivingout of state knew whenall the LSU football, baseball and basketballgames were televised.Her bright smile and wonderfulsense of humor will be missedbyall those who knew her. Fu‐neral Services will be held Friday, April25, 2025, at St Patrick's Catholic Church Ferriday, LA.There will be a Rosaryat1:00PM, followed byvisitation. Thefuneral Masswillbegin at 2:30 PM withFatherLouis Sklarand FatherJohnPardueofﬁci‐ating.BurialwillbeatLe‐gionMemorialCemetery, Newellton,LAfollowing the Mass.

John Lane Seeser, age 82, aresident of Baton Rouge, LA passed away on April9,2025, surrounded by his family.John was born on August 2, 1942, in BatonRouge,LAtoEthel Louise Hall and Paul C. Seeser.

He was married to Mary Josephine Denicola for 63 years. He served in the United States AirForce for four years and was stationed in Korea.Heretired fromthe Baton RougeCity Police Departmentserving 30 years. He was amember of St.GerardCatholic Church.

Alfredo Suárez, M.D peacefully died at his home in Baton Rouge,LA, on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Doc, as he wasaffectionately known, wasborn on July 24, 1942, in Vallede la Pascua,Venezuela. He wasthe thirdson of Carmen Suárez. He wasraised by hismother's sister,PetraSuárez. Hisfirst cousin, José ÁngelSuárezsaw his intelligence andencouraged himtoenrollinmedicalschool in Caracas, Venezuela. By 22 years old, he hadcompleted medical school andinhis cousin's honor he became apathologist. He often spoke of his gratitude for thecareand support from hiscousin José Ángeland hiswife ClaudiaSuárez, M.D.s. In 1965 he moved to NewOrleans, LA, andbythe end of hisresidencyatCharity Hospital, he wasthe Chief Resident. Then he completed an additional two-year fellowship in forensic pathology. He wasa pathologist at Earl K. Long hospital for42years, servingasChief Pathologist for 25 of those years. He wasa trustedand giftedasset to themedical community. He calledhimselfthe "Doc's Doc." Alfredo had twochildren, Christine Suárez andAliciaSuárez, with hisfirst wife, Sandy Button.Hehad apassion for theracetrack, cigars andthe music of Frank Sinatra. He had awicked sense of humorand was generoustomany. He is survived by his wife,Ava Claire Juneau;his dog, Sammy; his twodaughters andthree grandchildren.A memorial gathering willbe at Greenoaks Funeral Home, 9595 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge,LA, on Thursday, April 17, 2025, from 10am until thememorial service at 11:30am.

Micah Matthew Theriot gainedhis wingsonThursday, April 10, 2025, at the age of 19. He wasa residentand native of Plaquemine,LA. Micahwas born on March3,2006, in Baton Rouge,LAtoRita Marino Guercio andWarren J. Theriot. Visitation will be at St John the Evangelist Catholic Church,PlaquemineonMonday, April 14, 2025, from 9:30am until Mass of Christian Burial at 11:30am, celebrated by Father Jason Palermo.Intermentwill follow at Grace Memorial Park, Plaquemine. Micah is survivedby hismother,Rita Marino Guercio;father,Warren J. Theriot; siblings, Mario Guercio (Christina), Maci Guercio,and DylanTheriot; nieces and nephews, Claire,Hayes, Halle,and NatalieGuercio,Brock, Jillian andEllie KateTheriot, Emma, Abbie andSophie Himel; grandparents, Patsy and Clifford Suggs, and Rose Marino; aunts and uncles,Maria Favron,Faye Falcon,TroyMarino(Angie), Gerald "Frugi" Cedotal, andDwayne Theriot (Michele). Preceded in death by hisgrandparents, ShirleyB.Marino, Mike "Fuzzy" Marino, andWarrenTheriot; andgodmother,Glenda "GrannyNanny" MarinoCedotal. Pallbearerswill be Mario,Hayes, Dylanand Brock. Honorary pallbearers will be hisgodfather,CarlBoudreaux, Beckett Boudreauxand ReggieRichard. Special thanks to Maria Favron Lisa Hebert,Dodie Falcon, Leigh andCandiceBlanchard,Rashondra Harris, andMonette Cargo for theirloving care anddevotion to Micah

He is survivedbyhis loving wife, Mary Josephine;his daughter, Tina Moore (Steve); his son, Jack Lane Seeser. Sisters, Susan Lipoma and Paula Pertuit (Jerry) Brothers: Paul Seeser (Gwen), Donald Seeser (Patti),Jimmy Seeser (Melinda), Billy Seeser, and Danny Shaffett. Grandchildren,Blake (Amanda) Cason, Justin Bourgeois, Kyle (Afton) Matherne, Lacie (Chris) Prestridge, and Tyler (Kelbie) Moore.Great -Grandchildren, Caden and MasonPrestridge, Brendon and Breanna Bourgeois Kennedy and Camp Moore, Rylenand Emery Matherne. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ethel Louise Scardina and John Charles Seeser, Sr.,his daughter, TheresaLouise Seeser, and hisbrother, Charles"Chuckie"David Seeser. Pall Bearers: Blake Cason, Tyler Moore,Kyle Matherne, Chris, Caden and MasonPrestridge, Justin and Brendon Bourgeois. Visitation willbeheldat theSt. Gerard Majella CatholicChurch, 5354 Plank Rd.onMonday April 14 11am-12pm with mass at 12pm. Amilitaryburial servicewillbeheldat Louisiana National Ceme-

ElwanaJoyce (Lasiter) Thibodeauxwas born in Oklahoma on March17, 1941. Shelived through decades of remarkable change,startingwiththe early memory of herfather coming home from World War II. Shespent herearly life in Oklahoma, then Louisiana, with two cherished siblings, Larry and Doylene. Despite their beingdecades apartinage, thesiblings shared cheerfulbanter andrelentless Lasiter sarcasm.She attended RayneHigh School andmet herhusband, Louis J. Thibodeaux, when she wassixteen. After attending Louisiana State University, marrying, and havingtwo children, she dedicatedher life to nurturinga successfuland happy family. Grandy was adevoted wife to Louis, herhusbandofsixtyyears, supporting andcorrecting himateveryturn. She showed herdedication to herchildrenthrough her unwaveringpresence, making 'being there'her most profound expression of love.Joyce became "Grandy" withthe birthsof her7 grandchildrenand 9 great-grandchildren and defied thetypical definition of agrandmother.She wastheir biggest cheerleader, spirited spectator, occasional heckler, costume designer,horse handler,honest critic, and coach. Allofher grandchildren agree that theirupbringing would nothave been possible without Grandy in theircorner. She wasa steward of herfamily'shistories,recipes, and heirlooms and made sure they lived on withher children andgrandchildren. To theuntrained eye,Grandy wassimply elegantand demure,but at heart, Grandy wasa cowgirl and hadLouisiana kick. She shopped theworld with Louis on theirfar-flung traveladventures.She had alifelong, untamable sweet tooth, never without an obscure candy in tow. Sheloved pink roses, Prosecco,and dazzling jewelry. Shewas truly afancy lady. Joyce is preceded in death by herhusband, Louis J. Thibodeaux; herparents, DoyleK.and EllaCorean Lasiter; andher brother, Larry.She is survived by hersister,Doylene Poimboeuf; herson,Jason Scott andwife Carla; herdaughter, Michele Thibodeaux McLindon andhusband John. Shewill be forever missed by herseven grandchildren, Phoebe,Natalie,Whitney, Bonnie, Camille,Miles, and Britt, andnine great-grandchildren,JohnNathan, Lottie, Jason,Scottie, Darcy, Fitz, Zoey, Mya, and Oakley. Visitation will be held at Greenoaks Funeral Home 9595 Florida Blvd., on Wednesday, April 16, from 1:00-2:00 PM. Thefuneral andgravesideservice will follow.The familyrequests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to support the growth of the Louis J. Thibodeaux Youth SailingProgram of thePelicanYachtClub, PO Box 40845, Baton Rouge,LA 70835. Please visit www.gr eenoaksfunerals.com to leave condolencestothe family.

tery 303 W. MountPleasant

LA. following theservice

Thibodeaux, Joyce Lasiter

Suarez, Alfredo'Doc'

Olds,Susan

Howat, PaulaMorris

Theriot, Micah Matthew'Shorty'

Seeser, JohnLane

OPINION

OUR VIEWS

Amid uncertainly, lawmakers should spend Louisianans’ moneywisely

The new session of the Louisiana Legislature, which begins Monday and runs through June 12, is likely to be less dramatic than the four regularand special sessions of 2024, which saw newly elected Gov.Jeff Landry push for and in many cases get huge changes on multiple fronts, from elections to education, from taxation to crime and punishment.

Landry’sagenda is less sweeping this time around,and while the session promises more of the usual political and culturewar showdowns, we think the Legislature’s most important business will center on the work of divvying up ﬁnite resources among needs that can feel inﬁnite.

Lawmakers averted the ﬁscal cliff that had been looming in 2025, but that doesn’tmean the coffers are ﬂush. Landry has proposed a standstill budget amid much uncertaintyout of Washington, where the DOGE process will meancuts in health care and other programs and where the budget process now underway could well lead to afurther drop in federal funding, the extent of which might not be known until after lawmakers are required to adopt abudget.

Complicating matters was the voters’ sound rejection last month of the overly complicated Amendment 2, which would have freed up some money now dedicated to speciﬁc funds.

Legislators will be looking toreplace the $2,000 stipend teachershave gotten in recent years, which was one of the failed amendment’sselling points. Alikely casualty is Landry’s private school voucher program, which he’d hoped to rampupthis spring but which is getting legislative pushback. We hope lawmakers focus on public schools ﬁrst;the state’steachers have done theirpart tohelp improve outcomes in recent years and deserve fair pay

And as lawmakers propose measures they believe will reduce Louisiana’shigh auto insurance rates, we hope they remain focused on the real existential crisis in our state: property insurance costs so high that they threaten people’sability to buy homes or stay in the ones they already own. To thatend,weurge expansion of efforts to help homeowners install fortiﬁed roofs, which are proven toreduce exposure to wind damage.

We don’tknow yet whether we’ll see at hit to Medicaid, but we’re gladtohear that Senate President Cameron Henry is urging his friend Steve Scalise, the U.S. House majority leader, and his colleagues to spread any federal cuts over time so that states can plan, and tonot eliminate fundingwithout addressing the problems the funding is intended to solve. We hope they get the message.

Paying to fix the state’svast infrastructure needs is an ongoing challenge, and so far we like what we hear about alegislative effort to reorganize the Department of Transportation and Development so that it’smore efficient andtransparent. At the Public Affairs Research Council’sannual meeting last week, several lawmakers suggested that thiscould build enough public confidence in the agency to eventually bring in long-needed dedicated funding, whether in the form of an increase to Louisiana’slow gas tax or some other source. In general, we think that thisidea of rebuilding trust among constituentsisagood move after the voters, in rejecting all four amendments on the March 29 ballot,made it clear they think Landry andthe Legislature had been trying to do too much, too fast, with too little explanation. We hope legislators also took away from the defeat that their constituents want them to support the governor when he’s right but speak up when he’snot After all, the Legislature is acoequal branch of government. This session, we look forward to watchinglawmakers use the power vested in them wisely

Springtime in Washington,D.C.

Out with theselﬁe-sticks. Not that long ago, touristswereslowing down foot trafﬁc in D.C., stopping to take pictures. This year,for cherry-blossom season in the nation’scapital, tourists weresoserious about their vacations thattheywereusing actual cameras instead of theirphones. As Itriedto maneuver between meetings in my usual lastminutestyle, thechange was unmistakable. Iwondered if it had something moretodowithnostalgia, or perhaps even an attempt at aLenten fast from excessive screen time. Trytowait out the crowds,and thecherry blossoms will be gone. Igot to D.C. for afew events during what was still the peak timefor the bloom, and by that evening heavy rain had done them in —creating showersofpink around the Tidal Basin. Time is short.You have afew mornings to attempt to beat the crowds —animpossible exercise, in my experience —and suddenly theblooms aredying. Isn’tthat abit like life? Spring is agood timetoreset in orderto avoid regrets.There’ssomething about new life that— if it doesn’tget your allergies going too intensely —inspires a new outlook, ayen to begin again.

Ihad my own personal retreat at my alma mater in town,the Catholic UniversityofAmerica. The school had asked me to speak to poli-sci students being inducted intothe discipline’shon-

or society.Yes,it’ss adiscipline. Yes, honorisnot anathema to it. Aftermyspeech endedand the certiﬁcates weregiven, Imeandered over to the campus chapelfor aholy hour of prayer,praise and worship. While the campus is adjacent to one of the largestchurches in thehemisphere, there arealso some humble chapels around the grounds. Isaw some of my politics kids come in to pray,and for Mass after Now that’ssomething worth going to the nation’scapital for.That gave me hope! God renews us, if we lethim. Afew weeks before,Igot to see some early blooming cherry blossoms on National Harbor,without the tourists. Ionly had my iPhone, but it was suf-

ﬁcient to prove it happened and share some of the joy the blooms seem to inspire. Igave myself abirthday present and lingered before Igot back on the train to New York. Ispent alittle time at the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art. Art museums never get old. Even if you didn’ttake timetosmell the cherry blossoms this spring, we’ve got agift of acountry that understands that life isn’tforever,and that it’sa temporary gift to be cherished and preserved. And, as it says on the base of the Washington memorial: Laus Deo (“Praise be to God”) with it all.

EmailKathryn Jean Lopez at klopez@ nationalreview.com.

Making apoint usingmathematics

I appreciate it when our letter writersdrill down intospecifics and cite data to back up their opinions. But math can be tricky, and sometimes the numbersdon’tadd up. We do our best to double check your calculations, but if numbers are unclear or cannot be verified, we cannot publish theletter Iunderstand why,especially in this data-driven age, theimpulse to listastring of numbers is so great. But sometimes,astrong argumentbeats alist of numbers in my opinion. Journalists are notoriously bad at math, although thefield of data journalism hasgrown exponentially in recent years. However,even we wordsmiths understand

thepower of numbers to makeapoint clear.And often those whohave aclear grasp of the datawin the argument. As thedaughter of two former high school math teachers, Iwould never urge anyone not to use math. But if you do, makesure to check your work. We are still collecting responses forour next Town Square question.This being aholy season for manyreligions, we decided to ask you about your viewsonfaith. We want to know: How important is your faithtoyour daily life, and what role, if any,should it play in public life? Send your responses to letters@theadvocate.com. We have had many debates in recentmonths over the TenCommandments in classrooms and other issues involving reli-

gion, so we hope to hear your viewson the broader issues of church and state. In our letters inbox, we continue to see manyofyou focused on what’s going on in Washington. In the week of March 20-27, national politics was the topic of 20 of the 71 letters we received. Next to that, we received four letters on the recent constitutional amendments that went before voters, four letters on the death penalty and another four commenting on the content of the Opinion pages. As always, we welcomeyour thoughts on what we do and what you’d like to see more frequently

Want to seeyouropinion published in TheAdvocate |Times-Picayune? Submitaletter to the editor

Arnessa Garrett

PHOTOByMARK SCHIEFELBEIN

Visitors recently walk along the Tidal Basin to see cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.

COMMENTARY

When apleatosavechildrenangerseveryone

that’strue.

I’mfeeling the need to start this column by saying two things: One, health is more important than politics. And two, when we’re talking about health, Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy,agastroenterologist andchair of the Senate’scommittee that oversees health care, is usually right.

He certainly was right last weekend, when he posted this message on X, after asecond unvaccinated childinTexas died of measles: “Everyone should be vaccinated! Thereisno treatment formeasles. No beneﬁt to getting measles. Tophealth ofﬁcials should say so unequivocally b/4 another childdies.”

important message.Instead,the comments were brutal. Asampling:

“You voted for this, Doctor.”

“It’slike asitcom watching you getmad at thepublic ofﬁcials you voted to conﬁrm.”

“You supported @SecKennedytolead our public health agencies —aman whohas been the preeminentanti-vax leader globally.When you had achance to makea real impact on an issue you claim to deeply care about, youwere acowardtothe MAGA cult.”

But oh, the politics of even saying such athing these days.

Particularly if you’re Bill Cassidy,alongtime advocateofvaccinations against deadly diseases, and also akey vote —under immense political pressure —to conﬁrm Robert F. KennedyJr., known as much for his vaccine skepticism as for his famous inherited name, to head theDepartment of Health and Human Services.

The reaction to Cassidy’spost wasswift and furious.

From those still angry that he caved and supported resident Donald Trump’smostly unqualiﬁed, often downright batty slate of cabinet nominees, Cassidy got no gratitude for sending this

Andthose who believe in antivaxconspiracies were just as vocal, and equally vicious. Iwon’t repeatthe bad information they spread about natural immunity andalleged deathsfromvaccines rather than disease, but Iwill notethatone critic posted several videosfromthe organization Children’sHealth Defense, which Kennedy founded In today’sdivided Washington —and at homeinLouisiana too Cassidyhas more people angry at himfor more reasons than most.

He committed what MAGA Republicansconsider the original sin of having voted to convict Trumpinthe second impeachment,for instigating the violent Jan.6,2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He drew achallenger forhis 2026 reelection soon after Trumpwon theWhite House in

Louisiana’shighsales

In Louisiana, sales taxesare way too high. They need to come down. By most measures,Louisianans pay the highest sales taxes (state and local combined) in the nation

This matters. Sales taxes at some level may be a necessary evil, but the use of particularly high sales taxes is just plain bad policy

Yetless than half ayear ago, Louisiana lawmakers went in the wrong direction. In the midst of ahost of tax reforms and trade-offs, they actually raised state salestax rates rather than reduced them. The rate now stands at 5centsto the dollar,while other state tax policy essentially encourages localities also to rely heavily on sales tax for revenue. Most cities in Louisiana have a10centssales tax (combined), and Baton Rouge is at 10.5. That’sawful. The national median sales tax rate is just 7cents. Again, this matters. Salestaxes, even if groceries are exempted, are regressive, meaningthey takeahigher proportion of poor

November,and theLegislature changed the open primary process to make it easier for state Treasurer John Fleming or another true Trumpbeliever to take himout.And there’snosign that backing Kennedy’sconﬁrmation bought him any favor withthis crowd. In his defense, Cassidy points to what he has described as Kennedy’swillingness to work with him and reconsider someofhis prior stances. That’s done little to

earn forgiveness from those who are alarmed to see Kennedy take awreckingball to HHS and its associated agencies, in waysthat will undermine public health and research farinto the future. Nor, it’squiteeasy to argue, should it. Cassidy doesn’tsay this, but he may well think that going along allows him to have at least some inﬂuence —maybe even keep the chairmanship he’slong desired —instead of being an outcast in today’sGOP.It’seven possible

Here’swhat he had to say,for example, about Kennedy’srecent stated support forthe MMR vaccine, which has infuriated some of the secretary’slongtime followers too. On acall with local reporters last week, Cassidy said Kennedy’swords “may relieve aparent’sanxiety; it could save their child’slife.” As forthe criticism, Cassidy had this to say: “Now you can either accept consistency,oryou can accept the importance of preventing childhood death. I’m adoctor,and something that’sso easily given, so effective in preventing disease, I’mgoing to advocate unless somebody is willing to accept the loss of achild. Iam not. Iamabout preventing death, and that should be the position of our United States government.” But tellingly,Cassidy also deﬂected aquestion over whether he should get credit forinﬂuencing Kennedy’sthinking on the measles outbreak. Instead, he contended that what got to the secretary waslikely the twodead children and fear of more.

In asaner world, of course, just how Cassidy parses his message on health wouldn’tmatter.Politically,itseems, it’sall that matters —because somehow,we’ve let “children shouldn’tdie” become ﬁghting words.

Email Stephanie Grace at sgrace@theadvocate.com.

people’s money thanofwealthier people’s.While other,more“progressive”taxes,such as income taxes, somewhat counteract this regressiveeffect, the regressivity of salestaxes doesn’t fit most people’s definition of fairness. The higher the salestax, the greater the unfairness Unfairness, though, is far from theonly reason high salestaxes arebad policy. Like every tax does in one way or another,sales taxesdeter productive economic activity.WhenIservedonan official, special citizen’scommission appointedtoanalyze Mobile, Alabama’stax system ten years ago, our compilation of copious nationalresearchshowed sales taxes are marginally more deterrent to economic growththan property taxes, while being clearly more regressive and significantly more volatile

The latterpoint means that if the economytakes adownturn—asit very wellmight, thanks to President Donald Trump’stariff regime —salestax collections drop more

thanpropertytax collections

For state and local governments looking for revenue stabilityto provide consistent levels of law enforcement, road maintenance and education, salestaxes area bad bet. Nonetheless, at an April 8meeting with theeditorial board of this newspaper,Louisiana House Speaker Cameron Henry scoffed at the deleterious effectsofsales taxes.

“Whensomeone moves to astate very rarely,atleastinmyexperience, [do]they[say] ‘how muchis their sales tax?’”hesaid dismissively.“It’s not: Iwas gonna move there,but your sales taxactually is alittle bit toohigh.”

Henry clearly doesn’tunderstand that high sales taxes are anathema to retail establishments, especially small ‘mom and pop’ shops. It’s theexisting small businessman who getshurt worst,not the major new conglomerate. Henry mustnot pay attention to polls, either.A March 30-April 2 Louisiana survey by experienced state pollster Bernie Pinsonat said last fall’slegislative special

session“raised the sales tax in Louisiana in compensation for lowering of personal income taxes and some corporate taxes. Do you think this is agood thing?’ By adecisive majority of 58% to 26.6%, respondents answered “no.”

State Revenue Secretary RichardNelson, speaking at an April 10 conference hosted by the Public Affairs Research Council, had asmarttake. He said the three major taxes —sales, income, and property —should be in apositiontosomewhat “balance” each other,and that “you don’twant to be the worst [highest] in any” of the three.

The importance of greater balance, while offering acompetitive advantage vis-à-vis other states, is the same thing the Mobile tax commission’sresearch showed.

Nelson also said one good thing about property taxes is that they are“moretransparent,” because acitizen can’thelp noticing something he pays for in one chunk in one annual bill, ratherthan being nickeled and dimed as astandard portion of every purchase that

barely makes an impression even as it adds up to large annual sums. This isn’ttosay Louisiana needs to vastly raise its property taxes while vastly lowering sales taxes. But whenyour state ranks highest in the nation in the latter while only the 39th highest in the former (and with agenerous homestead exemption as well!), there’scertainly room for some rebalancing while still maintaining acomparative advantage on property taxes against the large majority of states.

There’sanother added advantage: Almost nobody keeps detailed enough receipts to write off sales taxes on their federal tax returns. Everybody who itemizes, though, writes off property taxes (up to acertain high limit). In other words, taxpayers shift some of the effective cost of property taxes to the federal government. For all those reasons, arebalancing is necessary.Torepeat: One way or another,Louisiana must reduce its sales taxes.

Quin Hillyer canbereached at quin.hillyer@TheAdvocate.com.

Louisianalawmakers maytry to redo failed amendment

Louisiana Gov.Jeff Landryand the Republican supermajority state Legislature got awhuping in last month’selection as ahigherthan-expected voter turnout overwhelmingly rejected four constitutional amendments on the ballot, including Amendment 3. Only 34% voted yes to strip the state constitution of speciﬁc youth crime cases in which achild could be tried as an adult. Sixty-six percent voted no. The defeat was across geographic, party and race lines. Youmight think that Republicans got the message, that they would understand that a majority of Louisiana voters don’t want more children in adult courts and adult prisons. Obviously that’snot true

JeffersonParishJuvenile Court and Orleans ParishJuvenile Court. Theyhandle cases involving people who are 17 years old andyounger,including adoptions, truancy, misdemeanors and crimesthat might be considered felonies if the suspects were tried as adults. Thereare more than 40 district courts with responsibilityfor civil and criminal cases,including felonies.Not all youth casesshould go to adult criminal courts

work,” Kristen Rome, executive director of Louisiana Center for Children’sRights, toldme. “This bill is amess.”

thelaw would becomeeffective if the Legislature approves it.

As written, somechildren could face ajuvenilecourt judge fora misdemeanor and adistrict court judge for afelony connected to thesame actions.

Though Amendment 3 failed,this is alegislative attempt to send morechildrentoadult courts, and possibly adult prisons

Youth advocates andattorneys aren’tsurprised, and theysee lots of problems.

Just recently,State Sen. Alan Seabaugh introduced Senate Bill 74, which would move allfelony crimes cases involving children 15 years old and older to district courts. Is it Amendment 32.0?

There are only four juvenile courts in Louisiana —Caddo Parish Juvenile Court, East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Court,

“They weren’table to win on Amendment 3, so they aregoing through the backdoor,” shared AlanahOdoms, executive director of the American Civil Liberties UnionofLouisiana

“It is glaringly obvious that this was written by someone who doesn’tknowhow juvenile courts work and how criminal courts

The big problem with thebill is that it would automatically assign 15-year-old and 16-year-old children to adult criminal courts without law enforcement, district attorneys and judges weighing anumber of factors. Clerks, district attorneys and judges connected todistrict courtswould have to learnhow to handle confidential underage criminal matterswithout the benefit of years of learning the Louisiana Children’sCode. The code governs how thestate handles children who enter the judicial system for somethingthey are suspected of doing. As astate, we’veagreed that children should be treated differently from adults—and there are very specific rules that govern how children must be handled in thejudicial system

There are so manyspeciﬁcs that the latest print version of thecode takes two inches of shelf space.

That’sa lot to toss to clerks, DAs and judges on Aug. 1when

The bill would strip DAsof their discretion of moving acase forward under the children’scode or the criminal code forthose 15 years old andup. Since childcases must have confidentiality,onwhich days and during which hours would district courts be closed to other matterstoprotect the confidentiality of children? Most district court judges probablyfeel that they have enoughwork. The felony cases juvenile court judges oversee include children 15 years old and older,but the Seabaugh bill instead could send their district court colleagues asignificant load of cases.

Seabaugh said don’tjudge his bill so fast. He told me his proposal has nothing to do with Amendment 3. It was written before the March 29 election, he said. Seabaugh thinks district courts are better prepared

to handle more serious youth crimecases. “Juvenile courts used to focus on misdemeanors, truancy,small things,” he explained. “Juvenile courts weren’tmeant to handle serious crimes.”

But whydoes he wanttolower the age to 15 foryouth felonies to go to district courts? “You’ve got to draw aline somewhere,” he added.

“The bill has nothing to do with charges or where they would do time,” the senator insisted. “The focus is on where the trial occurs.”

If achild has acase in an adult court it is farmore likely that that child’scase would get fumbled because judges and others don’t know the children’scode, making it morelikely that morechildren would be convicted as adults and sent to adult prisons. Where would they be housed? With people 10, 20 and 30 years older? There are so manychallenges and complications with this measure that this bill needs to be withdrawnassoon as possible.

EmailWill Sutton at wsutton @theadvocate.com.

PHOTO PROVIDEDByU.S.SEN. BILL CASSIDy’S OFFICE

U.S. Sen.Bill Cassidyspeaks March 20 at the Northlake-Mandeville RotaryClub in Mandeville.

Stephanie Grace

Quin Hillyer

Will Sutton

Forces of nurture

howasmall Washington town andidaho collegeshapedmoore into thenFl’s youngest coach

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

PROSSER,Wash. Jump intothe charcoal gray pickup truck that belongs to the unofﬁcial mayor of Prosser.There are importantpeople to talkto, and thereare thingsto see.

Lanky and gray-haired, Mark Little punctuates hisfree-ﬂowingchatterwith wisecracksand crooked grins, giving him amischievous airthat belies his upcoming 70thbirthday.Little has passed mostofthoseyears in this little pocket of theYakima Valley —40asan educator, four more as aretiree, all of them as acoach. He was at the hospital the day Kellen Moorewas born, and he is delighted to show off theNew Orleans Saintshead coach’shometown.

You’re there to ﬁgure out what kindofforces shape someone like Moore. What is it about this place —orhis upbringing, or his talents, or his demeanor —that takes someone from asmall town to thehelm of an NFL organization before his 37th birthday? What drivessomeone so outwardlyunassuming to set high school andcollege footballrecords, and to skip so many rungs on the professional ladder that he becomesthe NFL’s youngest head coach?

So Littlegrabs his keysand says,“Let’sgo.”

Kelly open to joint practices with La. schools

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

LSU football coach Brian Kelly is open to holding a scrimmage and joint practices with another Louisiana team as coaches continue to consider changes to spring practice

Kelly said there would be issues to work through with different academic calendars at schools, but he likes the idea if it is possible under NCAA rules

“What I would say about it is that in years past, it was a dream,” Kelly said Saturday after LSU’s open practice in Tiger Stadium, which replaced the traditional spring game. “I think it’s within our grasp now I think there needs to be some more attention to particular rules that make that difﬁcult, but I think we’re on the course toward that happening.”

Last month, an NCAA committee denied a waiver request from Colorado and Syracuse to hold joint practices and a scrimmage this spring, which is currently prohibited Colorado coach Deion Sanders ﬁrst proposed the idea. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy expressed interest in doing something similar against instate rival Oklahoma.

The Football Bowl Subdivision oversight committee cited three factors in its decision to deny the request from Colorado and Syracuse this year: the late timing, a potential recruiting advantage and the academic effect because players may have to miss class.

In its report, the committee said it would continue to discuss “a concept that could permit joint spring practices in future seasons.”

Following a national trend, Kelly changed the format of LSU’s spring game this year.

After car crash, QB Hurley back

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

LSU DEs in rush to prove themselves

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

Jack Pyburn likes to celebrate after he makes a stop, so when he sacked quarterback Garrett Nussmeier on the last play of the day for LSU starters, he danced.

The transfer defensive end raised his arms above his head, encouraged by linebacker WestWeeks, and a frustrated Nussmeier tossed the ball back toward the middle of the ﬁeld.

It was a ﬁtting end to the open practice Saturday in Tiger Stadium after the defensive ends impressed throughout the scrimmage. Pyburn, sophomore Gabriel Reliford and Nebraska transfer Jimari Butler all created pressure multiple times, making it tough for Nussmeier and the rest of the offense to move the ball.

Ashton Stamps also practiced with the starters, while ﬁve-star freshman DJ Pickett and redshirt freshman Michael Turner stayed with the second team at cornerback. Florida transfer Ja’Keem Jackson was present but did not practice.

Kentucky transfer Barion Brown made several catches in 7-on-7, including an over-theshoulder grab in tight coverage down the sideline. He also caught two touchdowns, one of them when he came back to the ball as Nussmeier scrambled. Brown looks like he could make a difference.

Working on run game

LSU softball spots A&M seven runs, can’t rally back

The No. 3 Texas A&M softball team scored seven runs in the ﬁrst inning, then had to hold on for dear life to beat No. 5 LSU 9-7 on Saturday in College Station, Texas.

The Aggies (36-5, 10-3 SEC) took advantage of five first-inning walks and one hit batter from LSU freshman left-hander Jayden Heavener, who walked home three runs before giving up a three-run double to No. 9 hitter Kramer Eschete to knock her out of the game LSU (35-7, 8-6) responded with five runs in the third, then scored two more in the fifth to trim its deficit to 8-7.

Tori Edwards hit a grand slam in the third inning for the Tigers’ biggest blow

St. Louis SS Winn placed on IL with back problems

The St. Louis Cardinals placed shortstop Masyn Winn on the 10day injured list Saturday and activated inﬁelder Nolan Gorman.

Winn left the Cardinals’ 2-0 win against Philadelphia on Friday night with back spasms, and the team decided to take a safer approach to keep Winn healthy long term.

Winn also missed time last season and during spring training with stiffness in his back.

In putting Winn on the injured list, Marmol also wanted to ensure the Cardinals had the ability to make moves during a game if needed. When Winn left in the ﬁrst inning Friday night, backup catcher Pedro Pages entered at second base while rookie Thomas Saggese took over Winn’s spot at shortstop.

NBA rescinds technical, allows Edwards to play

The Minnesota Timberwolves were hopeful after Friday night’s win over Brooklyn that the technical foul Anthony Edwards received would be rescinded. If it wasn’t, Edwards was set to be suspended for Sunday’s regularseason ﬁnale against Utah, a game that carries major playoff implications for the Wolves.

Win and they guarantee themselves a top-six playoff seed. Lose and they’re likely headed to Memphis for the ﬁrst part of the play-in tournament.

The Wolves got their wish Saturday, as the league announced Edwards’ technical from the second quarter was rescinded and he can play Sunday Coach Chris Finch said Edwards had a right to be upset at some missed foul calls. He also didn’t think Edwards deserved the technical.

Florida QB Lagway set to start throwing soon

Almost three months after he was involved in a single-car crash, the family of LSU redshirt freshman quarterback Colin Hurley said he has made a “full recovery” and rejoined the football team Hurley was back with the team for the first time since the wreck Saturday during an open practice in Tiger Stadium. He did not participate or wear pads Hurley watched with his teammates, who hugged him in the locker room before the practice.

“Colin and his family are grateful for the dedication, collaboration and support of everyone involved throughout this process,” Hurley’s family said in a statement released by LSU. “Now back with his team, his sole focus is on football and academics.”

While driving a 2023 Dodge Charger, Hurley struck a tree at the South Quad Drive and Highland Road intersection at 2:47 a.m on Jan 16 according to a crash report.

The cause of the crash is unknown Police did not detect any evidence that Hurley was intoxicated or under the inﬂuence, the report said. An LSU spokesperson said LSU PD only conducts alcohol testing when there is evidence to support probable cause.

Hurley, 17, appeared unconscious, the report said, and had a large cut on his face. After emergency personnel pulled him from the car, he was transported to Our Lady of the Lake. The nature of his injuries were unclear

LSU coach Brian Kelly said Hurley later returned to his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, to recover at the Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital.

LSU put no timetable on his return. Because of Hurley’s age, Kelly said “a lot” of his recovery was left to his family Hurley ﬁnished as the No. 25 quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He reclassiﬁed upon committing to LSU in 2022, allowing him to leave high school a year early

Needing to restock the position, LSU added three defensive ends from the transfer portal in Pyburn, Butler and Patrick Payton from Florida State. Their arrival and Reliford’s development have given LSU conﬁdence in the group.

“You’ve got mature players that have played a lot of football, and certainly that shows up,” coach Brian Kelly said. “It didn’t just show up today for me. It showed up every day in practice.”

Kelly changed the format of the spring game this year Instead of keeping score, LSU worked on special teams and red-zone situations before running full-field plays Kelly said LSU practiced “virtually every situation” that it would face in a game.

O-line combinations

The starting offensive line was the same as it has been for most of the spring with left tackle Tyree Adams, left guard Paul Mubenga, center DJ Chester right guard Coen Echols and right tackle Weston Davis Adams and Davis have the edge on their respective positions, though Northwestern transfer Josh Thompson brings tackle experience.

Thompson and Virginia Tech transfer

Braelin Moore got plenty of work. At one point, Moore played center and Thompson was at left guard. Thompson also took reps as the second-team right tackle.

It appears those seven are in contention for time heading into the rest of the offseason.

Kelly said LSU would use the ﬁrst eight or nine practices of preseason camp to make a decision on the starters, then spend the second half of August trying to build continuity among them before the season opener against Clemson.

Individual standouts

Early in the 7-on-7 period, sophomore cornerback PJ Woodland dove for an interception off Nussmeier Woodland spent a lot of time with the ﬁrst-team defense opposite Virginia Tech transfer Mansoor Delane

Kelly cut off photography and videography of practice before a goal-line period, and he said the timing was intentional. LSU didn’t want images circulating of a play with Johnson at quarterback.

Nussmeier lined up in the slot, and Johnson scored on a keeper Kelly ﬁrst mentioned before spring practice that Johnson, a converted defensive back and running back, could help in certain situations. He ran the ball multiple times and threw a touchdown to early enrollee TaRon Francis as the third-team quarterback.

“I think he enhances what we can do in the red zone,” Kelly said. “I think he enhances what we can do at that position in the running game. I mean, it’s hard. We saw that last year against teams that ran the quarterback against us.”

LSU has emphasized the run game this spring after averaging 116.4 yards rushing per game last season. Kelly said there has been “a concerted effort to be much more diverse” with misdirections, handoffs under center and varied schemes.

LSU needs to continue to work on it the defense stuffed a few plays — but the intent could be seen.

Nussmeier scored on a quarterback draw during the goal-line period, and wide receiver Zavion Thomas scored on a handoff. Kaleb Jackson and Harlem Berry had some good runs, especially a 22-yarder by Berry against the backups.

Injury updates

Running back Caden Durham defensive tackle Sydir Mitchell and wide receiver Destyn Hill did not practice. Mitchell went down with an injury earlier this week, but he had returned to practice Thursday Durham and Hill both suffered ankle injuries. Durham has an ankle sprain, Kelly said, so LSU held him out as a precaution. He might return to practice next week. Hill has a high-ankle sprain, so his availability for the last week of spring ball is uncertain.

Forida quarterback DJ Lagway will “start throwing in a couple weeks,” coach Billy Napier said Saturday Lagway was limited throughout spring practice with a shoulder injury that lingered from last season and he played sparingly in the team’s annual spring game. Lagway played five snaps Saturday, all first-down handoffs. Napier raised red flags last month when he said Lagway would be a limited participant during spring, his first as the team’s starter Instead of getting valuable repetitions, Lagway spent a month handing off, watching passing plays and calling the offense. Lagway missed some practice time last fall with shoulder soreness, a lingering issue from his high school days. But it never caused him to miss a game.

Logano fully recovered after bout with norovirus

Regining NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano said a bout of norovirus sent him to the Darlington Raceway inﬁeld care center for medical treatment after last week’s race.

The Team Penske star said he had been ailing throughout the week ahead of the 400-mile race that was run in unseasonably warm 89-degree weather He managed to complete all 297 laps and ﬁnish 13th.

“I had a stomach virus, that norovirus, and I thought I was good,” Logano said. “And then right before the race, I realized I was not good. I was able to get through the race, but I was pretty dehydrated afterward.”

Logano, 34, was grateful to recover in time for a busy week ahead of Sunday’s 500-lap race at Bristol Motor Speedway

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier makes an off-balance throw during Saturday’s open practice on Saturday at Tiger Stadium. LSU changed the format of its spring game this year to more resemble a practice.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Southernrunning back JasonGabriel cuts past linebacker JaMarloCampbell, left, during the spring game on SaturdayatA.W.Mumford Stadium.

SU showsits potential in annual spring game

BY TOYLOYBROWN III

Staff writer

Southern footballclosed its spring practice with its annual blue and gold game at A.W.Mumford Stadium on Saturday

Fans had an opportunity to see how the Jaguars look well before their ﬁrst game on Aug. 23. The team gave onlookers reasons to be excited for the upcoming season. Here are some observations:

ShiningQB

Returning sophomore quarterback Jalen Woods, who appeared in six games and started two last season, playedwiththe first-team offense to openthe scrimmage. While he performed solidly,backup Jamari Jones made more noteworthy plays.

The 6-foot-3 quarterback began his career at East Mississippi Community College, then transferred to Mississippi Valley State before arriving at Southern Jones threw with accuracy on intermediate passes, showed off some speedasa runner and led three touchdown drives. He was superb in the second half of the scrimmage and tossedthree consecutive touchdowns in aredzone drill.

“He’satremendous football player,” coach Terrence Graves said of Jones.

“That’sone of the reasons why we have him here. You know,it’sgood to see him get the conﬁdence. It’sgoodto see him, you know,execute

the offense.” Jones arrived in Baton Rouge in Januaryand steadily has gotten more comfortable with the offense. Graves saidthat it was positive to see him perform theway he did,but that he still has a“long ways to go.”

Woodshad much fewerseries in thesecondhalf of the spring game. Graves still was pleased with Woods’ ability to move the balldown theﬁeldand said the starting quarterback spot is “his job to lose.”

The favorite receiving targets for both quarterbacks were Darren Morris and Malachi Jackson.

Mixedbag on defense

The offense outperformed thedefense. There were no forced turnovers.Evenafter abotched snap that had the ball sail over Woods’ head, theoffense recovered it

The bestmomentscame when thefirst-team defense, led by star defensive end Ckelby Givens, entered the backfield. In thefirst quarter,the defense was stout while stoppingshortpasses Thesecond-teamdefense hadmoremishaps and playedmore than the top players.

The defense hadmore penalties asthe game progressed. Gravessaidthe errors were mostly aproduct of good effort.

“Couple of them were just concentration (mistakes),” Graves said.“But for the most part, guys areplayinghard. Youcan livewith those hard plays. It wasn’t,

you know,itwasn’tanything egregiousout of justguys playing hard. Youknow, guys running around, making atackle.

“Sometimes you’re gonna get aface mask. Sometimes, you know,pass interference or whatever.Guys(are) going for theball. Ican live with that.”

Youthful runningbacks

Thethreetailbacks

Graves played were sophomore Jason Gabriel, freshman Armariyan Asberry and sophomoreZaccheus Cooper.Early in thescrimmage, none of them had a standout run. Gabriel, whoreceivedthe first carries withthe first team,showed his inexperience —heonlyhad three carries aseason ago —when he bumped intoanoffensive linemanblocking forhim TheJaguars didn’t return any of their topthree ball carriers from last season.

The youth doesn’tbother Graves.

“Truefreshmen can play that position,” he said. “If you’re big enough, if you’re fast enough, if you can protect yourself and you understand the offense. That’sa position where atruefreshman can actuallycome in and play and be effective.”

The halfback group played better in the second half andfound open space even againstthe first-team defense. Graves credited their fearlessness forhelping outweigh the inexperience.

Email Toyloy Brown III at toyloy.brown@

Ga.’s Stockton tightens grip on QB spot

BYCHARLES ODUM AP sportswriter

ATHENS,Ga. Carson Beck’s decision to transfer to Miami opened the door for Gunner Stockton to take over as Georgia’sstarting quarterback.

Stockton’sstatus as Georgia’snext optionwas confirmed when he took over for the Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff following Beck’sseason-ending elbow surgery

Stockton, ajunior,held off achallenge from redshirt freshman Ryan Puglisi to

retain thestarting role in spring practice,which ended Saturday Coach Kirby Smart said Saturday Stockton improved in the spring with his “conﬁdence, understanding the offense.”

Running back Cash Jones, asenior,said Stockton’s biggest area of improvement is “decision-making withhis reads. Ithink he dida great job with that.”

FollowingSaturday’sGDay scrimmage at Sanford Stadium, Smart saidStockton“has done avery good jobwithhis feet andhis legs

He madeplays with his legs today.Ryan did, too. They are bothgood athletes who can extend plays.”

Stockton’s role as thestarter was confirmedwhenhe took the field with the firstteam offense. The junior completed 16 of 34 passes for 309 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the scrimmage.

“I just saw how resilient Gunner is,”saidlinebacker RaylenWilson. “I just love how tough Gunner is. He never getsdiscouraged andthat’smyfavorite thing about him.”

LSUstays cold at plate, dropsseriesatAuburn

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

AUBURN, Ala. LSU entered this weekend with one of the top offenses in the country CoachJay Johnson’steam walked into Plainsman Park on Saturday with the second-best batting average, the most doubles and the fourth-most runs scored in theSoutheastern Conference. The No. 9hitter,junior Chris Stanﬁeld, had a.330 battingaverage.

Butfor thefourthtime in ﬁvegames,the LSU bats struggled.The Tigers failed to score with the bases loaded in the fourth andseventh innings and ﬁnished the game 1for 10 with runners in scoring position and 0for 10 with two outs.

The strugglesatthe plate resulted in a 4-2 loss to Auburn that clinched the series victory for the host team.

“In the team meeting the message was, ‘You’reone moregood at-bat per inning away from winning by three or four runs,’ “Johnson said. “It is far because we didn’t put together abunchofruns and put a bunch of numbers up on theboard.

“But it’s not far,ifyou think about it in the context of can we put together one more good at-bat per inning.”

LSU(31-5, 10-4 SEC) came closest to tying thescore in the eighth inning after a run-scoring singlefrom redshirtjunior Tanner Reaves cut the deﬁcit to 4-2. Aﬂy out then put men on thecorners forfreshmanDerek Curiel with twoouts, butthe leadoff man grounded out to second base.

“I thinkwecan do alittle better in terms of thequality of theat-bats,” Johnson said “And this team’sdone areally good job of creating its own fortune. We haven’tdone that in the last couple days.”

LSUalsohad opportunities to scorebefore theeighth, but Stanﬁeld struck out with thebases loaded to endthe fourth inning andsophomore Jake Brown ﬂewout in the same situation in the seventh.

LSUstranded 11 men on base and put arunner on third base with less than two outs just once.

“Wejust haven’tgot alot of guys this weekend at third with less than twoouts,” Johnson said, “which requiresa base hit or extra-base hits, and it’sbeen tougher to score.”

LSU’sonlyrun through seveninnings

wassophomore Steven Milam’s solo home run in the second inning over the big wall in left ﬁeld. Milam was theonlyLSU batter with multiple hits.

“Baseball is ahardgame,”Milam said. “You hit balls hard at somepeople and you get little bloops. Baseball rewards people, and eventually,it’ll go our way.”

Starting for LSU was junior right-hander Anthony Eyanson.Heallowedfour earned runs andsix hits in fiveinnings whilestriking out five and walking one. He allowed just one hitter to reach base through the first three innings but ran into trouble the second time through the Auburn (25-10, 8-6) order. He surrendered atrioofdoubles in the fourth inning that turned into two runs and a2-1 Auburn lead. Twoofthe doubles had abetter chance of getting caught than not. The second two-base hit wasmisplayed by Curiel, whotook acouple of steps in before theball flew over hisheadinleftfield. The third double was dropped by adiving Josh Pearson. The senior had achance to makethe play in right field, but it arguably would’ve been easier for Stanfield to take charge and makethe catch himself

“I really believe if we come up with the twoﬂyballs,it’sa differentgame,” Johnson said.

Auburn extended its lead further with twomore runs in the ﬁfth. Atwo-out, tworun homerun from junior Eric Snow to straightaway center ﬁeldhandedAuburn a4-1 lead.

“Credit Snow,” Johnson said. “... Homered on agood pitch to dead center ﬁeld.”

Junior left-hander Conner Ware replaced Eyansoninthe sixthinning andtosseda scoreless frame. Ware then recordedthe first out of the seventh before junior righthander Connor Benge took over Benge retired both batters he faced in the inning and got the first out in the eighth. Redshirt sophomore left-hander DJ Primeaux forced aflyout and agroundout forthe last twoouts to keep LSU’s deficit at two heading into the ninth. Despitenot usingits toptwo reliefpitchers —junior right-hander Zac Cowan and freshman right-hander Casan Evans —the LSU bullpen has allowed just one earned run in 62/3 innings this weekend. Six pitchers have combined to record seven strikeouts and allow just two walks.

But‘what does the otherguy look like?’

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

AUBURN, Ala. ChaseShores’ ﬁrst thought was that he should have caught the ball.

The big LSUright-hander was still hurting. A78mph bouncing ballhad just ricocheted off his glove and into his lefteye.

But thesophomore insisted that he should’ve madethe play

“Noexcuse,”Shores said.

The incident twoweeks agoagainst Mississippi State left Shoreswith a black eyeand fourstitches. He stayed in the game even with thepainand swelling, forcing aﬁelder’schoicetoend theinning before being taken out.

It had been one of his better outings of theseason despite allowing four earned runs in four innings.Hetossed three scoreless innings, ﬁnishing the last one without being able tosee out of his dominant eye.

“He looked like he was in one of those Rockymoviesfor afew minutes,”coach Jay Johnson said.

The playcan be viewed in amore lighthearted lense now,but it wasn’t alaughing matter at thetime forBryan Shores.All he saw was his son down on the ground and in pain.

To some degree, theShores family was already somewhat on egde heading into the game. Theouting was almost two years to the night Chase tore his UCL andmissed aseason and ahalf because of Tommy John surgery

“Kind of just knowing thetimeline lead-

ing up to him throwing, it was kind of a big deal for him to be throwing again this exact weekend,” Bryan Shores said. “And then you see him go downtoone knee and we werekind of like, ‘Oh man.’

“So it wasalittlemore worrisomenot truly knowing what happened and then the backstory of it.”

Bryan, Chase’smother,Nicole, and Chase’sgirlfriend initially thought he had brokenhis nose.Chase’s brother, Nicolas, and his uncle were watching the game on TV,texting them what they were seeing at homeand eventually informing them it wasaneye injury

They couldtellfromthe stands that he wasbleeding, but they were relieved once he started throwing warmup pitches. Bryan Shores said he wasn’tsurprised his son stayed in the game.

“Ifthere wasany possibility that that he could stay,” he said, “he wasgoing to.” With the game not ending until nearly 2a.m., Bryan and Nicole Shores stayed up even latertomeet with Chaseafterward. He’d already gotten his stitches by that point. It was the second time he needed stitches in that area of his head because of abaseball.Whenhewas 15, he gothit by apitch andneeded four stitches about an inch left of his lefteyebrow

“It’skindoffunny that he’s gotthemside by side there,” Bryan Shores said. Oddly enough, Shoreshad his best start againstSoutheastern Conference competition after getting hit in the face. He didn’t allowany earnedruns andgaveupjust three hits in ﬁve innings last Saturday at Oklahoma. He’lltry to maintain that good form on Sunday against Auburn.

Hollis O’Neal,MD

Shores

THE VARSITYZONE

Noah Sullivan pitches againstCatholic HighonSaturday. Sullivan scattered five hitsand struck outfour in

District baseball gamesand titles stillmeana lottosome

Plenty of people write off theﬁnal districtbaseball games played Saturday.And for valid reasons.

The LHSAA playoff pairings that are released Tuesday are basedonpower ratings thatare compiled over the entire season District play is just onepartofit. But if Idid that, you might not know about Cooper Smith’sgamewinning, three-run home run that gave Live Oak, the No. 1team in the LHSAA’s Division Inonselect power ratings, a4-2 win over Dutchtownand theDistrict5-5A title. Or you might not know how Skyler Andrews’ diving catch preserved Zachary’s1-0 victory over District4-5A champion Catholic High.

“Maybe this is old school,” Live Oakcoach Jesse Cassard said, “butifyou want to win titles, the ﬁrstone you should wanttowin is the district title. It starts there.”

If you’re Zachary,there is adifferent end game —amomentumseizing victory to snap atwogame losing streak.

The smile on Andrews’ face after Zachary’s1-0 victory over the Bears illustrates the joy high school baseballbrings

Pope JohnPaul II,65.52. All-around: 1. Ella Odom, Prairieville,36.42. 2. Autumn Mack, St. Joseph, 36.42. 3. Mallory Mitchell, Dutchtown, 36.22. Boys gymnastics LHSAA state meet FridayatBaton RougeHigh School TEAM SCORES Division I: 1BRHS181.5 Division II: 1BRHS107.4 Overall StateChampion: 1. BRHS 288.9 Division I Floor exercise: 1Dwayne Johnson,St. Augustine, 12.3. 2Kai Lintott-Clary, Ben Franklin, 11.9. 3Kaden Fomig,St. Paul, 11.8 Pommel horse: 1. Dwayne Johnson,St. Augustine, 13.7.2.Kaden Romig,St. Paul, 12.2. 3. Aiden Vidrine, Lafayette Christian,11.7 Still rings: 1. Dwayne Johnson, St. Augustine, 12.7.2.Gavin Barras,HolyCross,11.3. 3. Jacob Reilly,Jesuit, 11.2 Vault: 1. Dwayne Johnson, St. Augustine, 12.0.2.Aiden Vidrine,Lafayette Christian, 11.5. 3. JacobReilly,Jesuit, 11.0 Parallel bars: 1. Dwayne Johnson, St. Augustine, 12.6.2.Kaden Romig, St. Paul, 11.73 Aiden Vidrine, Lafayette Christian, 11.2 Horizontal bar: 1. Kaden Romig, St. Paul, 11.5.2.Dwayne Johnson, St. Augustine, 11.4.

3. AidenVidrine, Lafayette Christian, 11.4 All-around: 1. Dwayne Johnson,St. Augustine, 74.7. 2. Kaden Romig,St. Paul, 69.2. 3. Aiden Vidrine, Lafayette Christian,67.6 DIVISION II Floor exercise: 1. Kemoni Dominguez, BRHS 8.8. 2. Logan Pitts, Catholic, 7.4. 3. Alfonso Fernandez, BRHS,6.8.

Dutchtowngirls winthird straight gymnastics title

Prairieville’s Odom an individual champion

BY ROBINFAMBROUGH Staff writer

An individualchampion from anew school, athree-peat team champion and afamiliar rivalry highlighted the ﬁnal day of the LHSAAgymnastics meet

Dutchtown won its third straight overall team title, again holding off local rivalSt. Joseph’s Academy, and Prairieville freshman Ella Odom wonthe Level 8 all-around titles.

The meet held Saturday at Baton Rouge High featured more than 170 competitors.

“It was aday …itwas agood day,” Dutchtown coach Erin Bennett said. “Level 4did not go as well as we thought it could and Ithink the untraditional format had something to do with that

“You had Level3and Level 4s competing together andthenLevel 4and Level 8mixed together That got in their heads alittle bit. Ultimately,they put it together.” Bennett admitted sweating out the final team scores. The Griffins finishedwitha total score of 229.725, while St.Joseph’swas next at 228.700. Mount Carmel was third at 209.625. Odom gave herfirst-year school atitle in the first high school meet of hercareer.She had the top floor routine with ascore of 9.650 andfinishedwithanall-around score of 36.425.

“I tried to showoff my personality alittle in my ﬂoor routine and Iwas very pleased with that. Ialsothought my bars routine wasgood too.”

St. Joseph’sAutumnMack also recorded a36.425 without winning an individual event. Mallory Mitchell wasthird to lead Dutchtown. Mitchell’s36.225 scoreincluded the top mark of 9.475 on the uneven parallel bars.

“Thishas meantthe world to me and to us,” said Moriah Thompson, one of nine Dutchtownseniors. “This team just has my heart. We worked so hard for this. Icould not ask for abetter team.”

Abig key for both Dutchtown and St. Joseph’swas depth. The Griffins hadthe top all-around ﬁnishers in Level 3and Level 4 competitors. PeytonLambert (38.850) led Level 3and Hannah Hernandez (39.225) topped Level 4.

BRHS,Johnson winagain

“I told my other outﬁelders before thelast at-bat no diving keep theball in front of you,”Andrews said.“Iwas barely playing in the gap andthen theball went into the gap.

“My mind wentblank. Idove for it and did what Inormally do in practice —catch it.”

Andrews’ play with two Catholic runners on,two out and two strikes on pinch hitter Michael Griggs in thebottom of the seventh inningalso clinched asigniﬁcantroad win for the Broncos.

Catholic (28-5, 7-1) is No. 1in

theDivision Iselect power ratings andisthe reigning DI select andnational champions. The Broncos (22-12, 6-2)lost to Central 2-1 and then to Catholic 3-0 earlier in theweek.

“Look, we’ve played in alot of close games this year,”Zachary coach Jacob Fisher said. “We

Pommel horse: 1. Logan Pitts, Catholic, 9.5. 2. Kemoni Dominguez, BRHS,8.7. 3. Alfonso Fernandez, BRHS, 8.1 Still rings: 1. Logan Pitts, Catholic, 8.9. 2. Kemoni Dominguez, BRHS,8.6. 3. Martin Ahr, BRHS,7.9 Vault: 1. Logan Pitts, Catholic, 9.1. 2. Kemoni Dominguez, BRHS,8.9. 3. AlfonsoFernandez, BRHS,8.0 Parallel bars: 1. Logan Pitts, Catholic, 7.7 2. Kemoni Dominguez, BRHS,7.5. 3. Alfonso Fernandez, BRHS, 6.3 Horizontal bar: 1. Logan Pitts, Catholic, 9.0. 2. Kemoni Dominguez, BRHS,6.8 All-around: 1. Logan Pitts, Catholic, 51.6. 2 Kemoni Dominguez, BRHS,49.3. 3. Alfonso Fernandez, BRHS, 36.8 Team scores: 1. Baton Rouge High, 181.50. 2. St. Augustine, 74.70. 3. St. Paul,69.20. Boys Division ILevel 10 all-around 1. Dwayne Johnson,St. Augustine, 74.70. 2. Kaden Romig, St. Paul, 69.20. 3. Aiden Vidrine, Lafayette Christian, 67.60. Division II Level4 Team scores: 1. Baton Rouge High, 107.40. 2. Catholic High,51.60. All-around

1. Logan Pitts, Catholic High, 51.60.2.Kemoni Dominguez, Baton Rouge High, 49.30. 3. Alfonso Fernandez, Baton Rouge High, 36.80.

Baseball

Friday’s games

Livonia 4, Westminster Christian 3 Mandeville 9, Dunham 2 Walker 6, Central 4 Ascension Catholic 4, St.John0

St. John000 000 0—043

AscensionCatholic020 200 x—4 41 W-Mace Melancon; L-Jacob Berthelot; LEADERS: ASCENSION CATHOLIC: Rhett Boeckman (1-3, 3B, 2RBIs), Vaughn Blanchard(1-3 2B, RBI); ST.JOHN: Tyler Edwards (2-3); RECORDS: St. John 18-10; ACHS 22-9 Zachary 1, Catholic High0

Zachary001 000 0—170 Catholic High000 000 0—0 52 W: Noah Sullivan (7-1); L: Mills Richardson; Leaders: ZACHARY: Collin Walls 1-4, double, 1RBI; Fischer Romero1-3, one run; CATHOLIC: Ed Henriquez 2-3; Records: Zachary

22-12 -2 in District 4-5A; Catholic 28-5, 7-1

Monday’s games

Liberty at Family Christian, 4p.m. Southern Lab at East Iberville, 4p.m. Prairieville at Catholic-PC, 4p.m. IndependenceatEast Feliciana, 4p.m.

learned from those and winning this one was abig one for us.

“(Catholic) came in and beat us at home 3-0 and we felt like we were in it thewhole way.Wejust did not have enough competitive at-bats. We had those today.And (Noah)Sullivan pitched well.

The Bearswill be checking the next power ratings updatetosee if No. 2Holy Cross will overtake them for No. 1spot in Division I select

Meanwhile, thewin could ensure Zacharyahost spotinhe ﬁrst-round playoff gameasat least aNo. 16 seed in Division I nonselect Sullivan (7-1) scattered ﬁve hits and struck out four.Collin Walls’ RBI single in thetop of the third brought Fischer Romerointo score the lone run.

Smithﬁnished 3for 3with four RBIs to lead LiveOak. Both teams had ﬁve hits. Zach Gurney picked up the win for theEagles.

“Games like this get you ready for theplayoffs,” Cassard said.

Email RobinFambrough at rfambrough@theadvocate.com

WestlakeatCatholic, 5p.m. North Iberville at Port Allen, 5p.m. Avoyelles at West Feliciana, 5p.m. University at East Ascension, 6p.m. Ascension Catholic at Dunham, 6p.m. LiveOak vs.FrenchSettlement at King George Park, 6:30 p.m. Softball Friday’s games Maurepas 15, False River0 Dunham 5, Woodlawn 2 St. John 15, University 0 Lutcher 15, Ascension Catholic 2 Zachary 20, Karr 4 Central at Denham Springs,ccd Monday’s games White Castle at Broadmoor, 4p.m. North Iberville at Tara,4 p.m. Madison PrepatSt. Michael, 4p.m. Scotlandville vs.Liberty at Oak Villa, 4p.m. AlbanyatWoodlawn, 4p.m. Ascension Catholic at Parkview Baptist 4:30 p.m. Family Christian at Plaquemine, 4:30 p.m. St. Charles vs.St. Joseph’s Academy, 4:30 p.m. Springﬁeld at Ascension Christian, 4:30 p.m. North Vermilion at Catholic-PC, 5p.m. Ponchatoula vs.Doyle at Sartwell Park, 5p.m. Dutchtown at St. Amant, 5p.m. Brusly at St. John, 5p.m. Loranger vs.Slaughter Charter at DCIPark, 5p.m.

James at Holden, 5:30 p.m.

Carmel at Prairieville,5:30 p.m. Denham Springs vs.FrenchSettlement at King George Park, 6p.m. Tuesday’s games Tara at East Iberville,4 p.m. University at Zachary,4 p.m. White Castle at Port Allen, 4:30 p.m. FalseRiver at Plaquemine, 4:30 p.m. Belle Chasse at Central,4:30 p.m. Ascension Catholic at Mandeville, 4:30 p.m. St. Michael at St. Scholastica, 4:30p.m. Terrebonne at Ascension Christan, 4:30 p.m. St. Joseph’s AcademyatLutcher,4:30 p.m. Holden

“I really didn’tknow what to expect,” Odomsaid. “I have not competed fora school ever before. But Ithink Idid pretty good.

St. Augustine junior Dwayne “DJ”Johnsonand host Baton Rouge High claimed top honors in Friday’sboys competition. Johnson won his second straight Level 10 titlewithan all-round score of 74.700. He had the top marks on ﬁve of the six apparatuses. Catholic High’sLogan Pitts (51.600) had the Level 4allaround score. BRHSwas theonlyschool to ﬁeld afull team in the 13-competitor meet.The Bulldogs had a 181.50 score.

BY JOSEPH HALM Staff writer

When DrewTimmons started as an eighth grader on theHannan basketball team, the Hawks had never won aplayoffgame sincemoving to their current campus in Covington.

Fastforward ﬁve years and the 6-foot-6standout ﬁnished his high school career as the leading playerona state championship team for the second time in four years, and for that, he has been selected as the Louisiana Farm Bureau Insurance/Mr.Basketball by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association

“It feels great knowing that I’ll leave alegacy behind at Hannan,” said Timmons, Navy signee. “Just finishing my high school career outdoing stuff that no one has ever done at Hannan is special. Before Igot here, we had never won aplayoffgame on this campus, so to build it up from that to twostate championships is definitely something special.” Timmons’ legacy goes beyond thestate championships. He finished his prep basketball career with 2,910 points and 1,491 rebounds as afive-year starter.As asenior,heaveraged 21.4 points, 9.5rebounds, 2.4assistsand 1.6

steals per game and capped his season with22points and four rebounds in a59-55 winover Shawinthe DivisionIIselect championship gamewhere he also claimed Most Outstanding Player honors. Hannan coach Errol Gauff credited Timmons’ work ethic and versatility —healsoled the Hawks in steals— forhis success. “He’sable to affect the gameas more than just alow-post player, Gauff said. “Whether it is as a driver,cutter

Timmons

Zacharypitcher

a1-0 Broncos’ win.

Robin Fambrough

PROVIDED PHOTO

The Dutchtown High School girls gymnastics team poses for aphoto after winning the overall state titleonSaturdayatBaton RougeHigh

OUTDOORS

Time to stockuponcatfish

‘Get Out&Fish!’program opensopportunities foranglers

BY JOE MACALUSO

Contributing writer

Need aplace to catch catﬁsh? Nearby?

The Wildlife and Fisheries’ ‘Get Out &Fish!’ program has stocked or will stock adult channel catﬁsh in 17 ponds across our state.

Alreadystocked locationsinclude Burbank Park in Baton Rouge; Joe Brown Park in New Orleans; Sidney Hutchinson Park in Walker; Zemurray Park in Hammond; Bogue Chitto State Park in Franklinton; Oil and Gas Park in Jennings; Girard Park in Lafayette; Southside RegionalParkin Youngsville; PurpleHeart Memorial Park in Ragley; and,Bayou Country Sports Parkin Houma.

Notebook

The springtime stocking plans alsoinclude parks and ponds in Minden, Ruston, Grambling, Vidalia, Natchitoches and Pineville.

Fishermen 18 and older must have astate basic fishing license. With the Easter holidayscoming next week, the stockingefforts provide an opportunity foryoungsters to catch afish or two. Just be carefulofcatfish. Their dorsal and pectoral fins can hurt.

LagniappeDay

Wildlife and Fisheries has scheduled its annual Boating Education Lagniappe Day for April 26 at nine places acrossthe state. Baton Rouge is not amongthose locations.

Cities and towns included on the list are Metairie at the Jefferson Parish Regional Library,4747 West Napoleon Avenue (9:15 a.m.5:30 p.m.); Lafayette at the Wildlife and Fisheries ofﬁce, 200 Dulles Road (8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.); Ponchatoula at ApocalypseSports, 40147 Interstate Service Road (9 a.m.-5 p.m.); Slidell at the Tammany YachtClub,1196Harbor Drive (8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.); and,in Morgan Cityatthe Bayou L’ourse

MONDAY

RED STICK FLYFISHERSMEETING:

7p.m., Regional Branch Library 9200 Bluebonnet Boulevard,Baton Rouge. Open to thepublic.Email Brian Roberts: roberts.brian84@ gmail.com. Website: rsff.org

MONDAY-TUESDAY

COMMERCIAL FISHING LICENSE/ BOAT REGISTRATION RENEWAL:

9a.m.-3:30 p.m., LDWF office, 1025 TomWatson Road, LakeCharles Also Wednesday& Thursday, 9a.m.-3:30 p.m.,LDWFoffice, 200 Dulles Drive, Lafayette; April 22-24, 8a.m.-3:30 p.m., LDWF office, 468 TexasGulf Road, Bourg; April 29May1,LDWFoffice, 2045 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 438, NewOrleans. Call LDWF Licensing (225)765-2898.

TUESDAY

LAFAYETTE KAYAKFISHING CLUB

MEETING: 6p.m., Pack &Paddle, 601 E. Pinhook, Lafayette.Call (337) 2325854. Website: lafayettekayakﬁshing. com

Signs likethis at JoeBrown

Recreation Center,1213La. 662 (8 a.m.-4 p.m.)

Other locations include Lake Charles, Homer,Monroe and Pineville. Lunchwill be provided and successful completionofthe course means youwillhaveaNational AssociationofStateBoating Law Administrators certiﬁcate. Statelaw requires anyone born after Jan. 1, 1984 to have completed aNASBLA-approved boating education course andcarry proof of completion tooperate amotorboat in excess of 10 horsepower Course instruction covers classiﬁcation andhulls of boats, outboard engines and motors, legal andequipment requirements,

navigation rules and charts and trailering and might also include sailboats, canoeing andpersonal watercraft.

The classes ﬁll quickly.Toregister,gotoWildlife and Fisheries’ website: wlf.louisiana.gov/page/ boater-education,thenclickon the link for “Find ACourse Near You”. Othercourses Wildlifeand Fisheriesoffers other instruction/days in Hunter Education (classes &ﬁelddays), Boater Education, trapping and avarietyoffishing classes throughout theyear. Class sizes are limited and preregistration is requested. Website: louisianaout-

CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY FLIES&FLIGHTS: 7p.m., Rally Cap Brewing, 11212 Pennywood Avenue, Baton Rouge. Fly tying. Open to public. Sparetools,materials for novices. Email ChrisWilliams: thefatﬁngeredﬂytyer@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY

BASSMASTER OPEN/DIVISION 1: Tombigbee River,Columbus, Mississippi.Website: bassmaster.com

THURSDAY

ACADIANA FLYRODDERS PROGRAM: 6p.m., Pack &Paddle, 601 E. Pinhook, Lafayette.Open to public. Email DarinLee: cbrsandcdc@ gmail.com. Website: acadianaﬂyrodders.org

HUNTING SEASONS

TURKEY: Area A: through May4; Area B: through April 27; Area C: throughApril 20

AROUND THECORNER

APRIL 23-25—B.A.S.S.NATION

QUALIFIER: James River, Richmond, Virginia.Website: bassmaster.com

APRIL 24—ACADIANA BUGS&

BREWS: 6p.m Pack &Paddle, 601 E. Pinhook, Lafayette. Open to the public. Email Flip Siragusa: redﬁsh452@gmail.com. Website: www packpaddle.com

APRIL 24-26—MLF TOYOTABASS SERIES/SOUTHERN DIVISION: Lake Seminole, Bainbridge, Georgia. Website: MajorLeagueFishing.com

APRIL 24-27—NRA ANNUAL MEETINGS&EXHIBITS: GeorgiaWorld Congress Center, Atlanta. Includes April 25, NRA Foundationbanquet & auction. Website: friendsofnra.org

APRIL 24-27—BASSMASTER ELITE SERIES: LakeHartwell, Anderson, SouthCarolina. Website: bassmaster.com

APRIL 25—WETLAND EDUCATION

TEACHER WORKSHOP APPLICATION DEADLINE: Registration opensJan. 27 for July 13-18 workshop, Grand Isle Fisheries Research Lab,Grand Isle.EmailLindsaySeely: lseely@ wlf.la.gov

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Wildlifeand Fisheries’ Wildlife Division hasset aﬁnalpublic comment session for 10 a.m.-noon, April22(Tuesday) at state headquarters on QuailDriveinBaton Rouge. Public comment will be taken only on the amendments offered since the2025-26 hunting seasons were proposed in early January Among the handful of amendments were the much-discussed West and East zones duck season dates, use of equipment like airboatsand surface-drive boatson wildlife managementareas and using tracking dogs fordeer

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APRIL 27—SOUTH LOUISIANAHIGHPOWER CLUB MATCH: 8:30 a.m., Ascension ParishSheriff’s Range, St. Landry Road, Gonzales. CMPGSSM, NRA match rifle or service rifle 200-yard/50-rounds match course &prone matches. Fee$15 members, $20 nonmembers, $5 juniors $25 annual club (firstmatch free) &Civilian Marksmanship Program membership (allows purchases from CMP). Call (337) 380-8120. Email MikeBurke: SouthLaHighPower@hotmail.com

FISHING/SHRIMPING

SHRIMP: Inshoreseasonclosed except in Breton/Chandeleursounds &all outside watersopen CLOSED SEASONS: Greater amberjack,red snapper;gag, goliath& Nassau groupersinstate/federal waters.

BY TERESA M. WALKER AP sportswriter

Tennessee is moving forward without quarterback Nico Iamaleava, and coach Josh Heupel said Saturday he had asimple message to the remaining Volunteers. No one is bigger than the Power T, including the coach himself Even now in the different landscape that is college football.

“Thisprogram has been around for along timewith alot of great coaches anda lotofgreat players thatlaidthe cornerstone pieces, the legacy,the tradition that is Tennessee football,” Heupel said. “It’sgoing to be around along time after I’mdone and after they’re gone, and that’swhat’s special about being here is that there is alegacy and atradition that is so richand alogo that’srecognized not just across the nation but around the world, too.”

Heupelcalledlosing Iamaleava an “unfortunate” situation.” He thanked Iamaleava for his work while at Tennessee. Asked about the timing without notice just before thespring game Saturday, Heupelsaidthere’s neveraneasy time to lose aplayer.Heupeltold his coaches Friday that he’slost players at the start of training camporduring the season with adversitya chancetoeitherbring teamstogether or divide them

“If it’sgoing to happen, rip the Band-Aid, too,” Heupel said about losing aplayer.“At theend of the day,wegot alot of great work for the twoguys that are here. We’ve gotachancetomoveforward as aprogram. It’s unfortunateinthe landscape of college football that it happens at this point.”

Iamaleava had been practicing all spring and expected to be the starting quarterback forasecond straight season. Asked when Heupel knew the Vols would not have Iamaleavamoving forward, the coach saidFridaymorning when the quarterback wasa“no show” with no communication with Heupel. The Tennessee coach refused to get into details about any discussions with Iamaleava and his representatives.

“He’smoving on, we’re moving on,too,” Heupelsaid. “We’llbe readytorollwhen we gettonext fall.”

So Iamaleava was not at Saturday’sorange and white gameand not listed on Tennessee’sroster on the website before the session started.His No.8gear also was not inside shops at Neyland Stadium after two days of speculation about Iamaleava’sfuture with Tennessee.

Iamaleava is the quarterback whose name, image and likeness deal bringinghim to Tennessee prompted an NCAA investigation and alawsuit by the attorneysgeneral of Tennessee and Virginia in January 2024.

TheNCAAwas looking at both Tennessee andThe VolClub, an NIL collective run by Spyre Sports Group over the recruitment of the five-starquarterback fromCalifornia and hisNIL contract with Spyre.

The NCAA settled that lawsuit Jan.31overits rules prohibiting name, image andlikeness compensation forrecruits.

FILEPHOTO By MATTHEW PERSCHALL

Iamaleava

From Little’s home on the banks of the Yakima River, which cuts through the heart of the town of about 6,000 people, he drives through the historic downtown and up into the hills to the house on Scenic Drive. He remembers watching young Kellen throw footballs to himself in the backyard

He drives out of the hills, past the gleaming new high school, and winds around a bend to the dingy old building where he witnessed Kellen’s father, Tom, build something special. There, he says, is where the athletic teams lifted weights out of a double-wide trailer He acquires keys to the old gym where he knows Kellen’s Gatorade Player of the Year banner hangs. He apologizes for its tattered condition

From the old gym to Housel Middle School, where Little used to teach, everyone he encounters receives a bit of goodnatured ribbing — from the maintenance man to the ofﬁce workers while he looks for the right people. Here are Jeff Appelgate, Kellen’s eighth-grade football coach, and Dean Smith, who taught Kellen in the gifted and talented program. Both have been here 33 years. There are Wendy Rodriguez (30 years) and Christine Essary (32 years), who both taught Kellen in the sixth grade. There is a long history here Appelgate pulls up a video that all those teachers who taught Kellen and remained in Prosser sent to him before Super Bowl LIX. In it, Appelgate jokingly thanks Kellen for letting him call plays back when Kellen was an eighth grader who knew more about the game than his coaches Little suggests meeting Kellen’s old babysitter, so he calls Rose Brown and directs the pickup back into the hills where she lives. She has known the Moore family for about 40 years, and she watched both Kellen and his younger brother Kirby, from the time they were in diapers through their childhood. She gave all the kids she watched nicknames; the Moore boys were “Kellenmeister” and “Kerbil Gerbil.” She seems somewhat embarrassed that she can’t help clapping when she sees Kellen on TV, though she knows he can’t hear When she sees him on her screen, she recognizes the same soft laugh he had as a child What sort of place shaped Kellen Moore? Throw a rock in Prosser and you re likely to hit someone who can tell you. The place that built Kellen Moore

This clichéd phrase keeps popping up when you speak to people about Moore. Over and over again, they say it was all a “perfect storm.”

The textbook definition of the phrase connotes something negative, or destructive, but that’s not the aim. It is a tidy way to describe something that is difﬁcult to explain. The complex weave of place and people, of nature and nurture, of skill and opportunity, the many disparate things that all aligned in just the right way to produce someone like Kellen Moore.

Prosser is idyllic at sunset Viewed from the Horse Heaven hills where the wild mustangs once roamed, the setting sun casts golden light on those hills to the south and Rattlesnake Mountain to the north and the lush valley in between — wine vineyards, apple orchards, and ﬁelds of hops and wheat. Running through all of it is the shimmering sickle of the Yakima River

The postcard view of Prosser today is a fabrication of American ingenuity and hubris. Left to its own devices, Prosser would be an arid place where little but sagebrush grows. For millennia, the only inhabitants were the people of the Yakima Nation, who came to the falls of the wild river to catch salmon on their annual spawn migration.

That began to change when the town’s namesake, William Prosser, arrived and established a homestead in 1882 on the banks of the river Those who followed found hard times, but those few who lasted lean years taming horses and coaxing wheat

from dry soil were rewarded.

Twenty years after William Prosser’s arrival, Congress passed the Reclamation Act, which gave the government authority to fund the large-scale irrigation of the American west. A dam tamed the wild river, destroying the Yakima Nation’s ancestral tradition and diverting the ﬂow to suddenly lucrative farmland. President Theodore Roosevelt trekked to the Prosser train depot to praise the community making the “wilderness bloom like a rose.”

Water transformed Prosser, revealing the perfect storm of conditions that make it a vibrant place now Three hundred days of sun and 8 inches of rain per year, hot days, cool nights, volcanic soil — an agricultural industry sprouted from the desert, and a community lasted for more than 100 years until two teachers from Illinois arrived on their summer break, blown away by the beauty of the place.

Tom and Kris Moore fell in love with the area that summer while camping at a friend’s home in the nearby Tri Cities. They didn’t have to leave. The Prosser Mustangs, named after those wild horses that no longer lived there, needed a football coach. In some ways, Kellen Moore’s path feels predetermined. He is the son of a coach, but he is also the grandson of a coach.

Thomas “Bert” Moore was a ﬁrst-generation Irish immigrant. He served with the U.S. Marines during World War II, and afterward attended Western Illinois, where his accomplishments earned him a spot in the school’s athletics Hall of Fame. He is most well-known for his time coaching basketball at Bloom Township in the south Chicago suburbs, where his teams competed for state titles. One of his star players, sports executive Jerry Colangelo, once described him to the Chicago Tribune as a “tough, pugnosed competitor” who had a “demeanor that made you want to play for him.”

Tom Moore grew up in that environment His life centered around his father’s sports programs, and then he went west and built one of his own.

Prosser won four games in 1986, Tom’s ﬁrst season leading the program. It then won 21 of the next 22 league championships and four state titles before Tom stepped down in 2009 as one of the most successful football coaches in Washington state history

There’s shorthand for how he got there: TMF for Tom Moore Football. The acronym is spoken like an inside joke, like the people

in on it know Tom despises it. It suggests that he is the center of it all, which may be the antithesis of what Tom Moore Football is actually about. It is a comprehensive system for building better men.

“Tom and the Prosser Mustang culture, throughout those 30 years, changed a generation,” says Josh Jelinek, who both played and coached under Tom at Prosser “We grew up knowing that if we did the right thing, we would be taken care of. We also knew the expectation was to not be mediocre, it was to be great Many of us took that challenge and embraced it.”

Little was already in Prosser when Tom arrived, and he witnessed the “absolute 180” the program took under his direction. When Tom wasn’t coaching football, he taught strength classes in the weight room and incorporated training elements that are common now, but not then. His kids ran sprints if they swore His football practices were scripted down to the smallest detail. Preparation and discipline were the hallmarks of his teams. And he would never, ever allow the circumstances of his environment — a one-school town whose talent is conﬁned to the borders of the school district — to dictate his team’s success.

“Throughout the state, people knew where Prosser was and about Prosser football because of the success,” says Doug Fassler, who began coaching with Tom Moore in 1988 and still teaches at Prosser High today “Lots of people would come back and say ‘What are they doing there? Where are they getting these players? They’re just little farm-town kids.’

“They grew up together, and coach Moore established a culture of winning and raised the bar on the work ethic, what it takes, the weight room, the conditioning, et cetera. He created something that made our town special.”

Scores of small towns experience brief sports successes, but how do some sustain it over decades like Tom’s Prosser teams? Maybebyinvestinginit,soitcanself-sustain.

Patrick Zuniga moved to Prosser from a neighboring town right before he began high school. Like Jelinek, he is one of many who played under Tom, then later coached under him.

“It was kind of our own crop,” Zuniga says. “We grew it, we cultivated it.” The coach’s son was no different than anyone else.

“The way we grew up, all we really wanted to be was Prosser Mustangs,” Kellen says. “It was the way we were raised.” Kellen was placed in Prosser’s gifted program for those who tested in the 97th percentile and above. Rodriguez, who taught his sixth-grade English class, described him as “always deep in thought, a high-level reader, writer, thinker.” Zuniga, who taught Kellen’s honors history class, remembers a boy with an incredibly pliable mind who applied metaphors to make complex things understandable.

He showed an aptitude for tech, and throughout high school he worked in Smith’s S.W.A.T program Students With an Attitude for Technology He helped students and teachers alike with computers, and it was not lost on Smith that the star quarterback was participating in something like this.

“In my gifted program, there were some students who didn’t have the social skills, and I always remember how he was one who would just gravitate to the students who might feel left out and he pulled them in,” Smith says. “He was very inclusive.”

There may have been a hundred different routes Kellen could have taken out of Prosser when he chose to leave. He decided early on to pour his gifts into sports. Kellen was a near constant presence around his father’s teams, and just like in school, he worked hard at understanding what was happening in front of him. When he was young, he sat in the stands with his mother and dissected what was happening on the ﬁeld. When he got a little older, he moved into various on-ﬁeld roles, chasing the tee after a kickoff or working as a ball boy

There are stories about a precocious and quiet child, and then there are stories like this: Essary taught sixth-grade math and science at Prosser’s middle school. During breaks in class, the 11- or 12-year old boys would do things the kids of that age do, except for Kellen, who would ﬁnd a quiet corner in the room and pull out a pen and paper

The Prosser he remembers is one that would come to a complete stop on Friday nights. The people inside Art Fiker Stadium would be parents, but also local business owners who’d offer 2-for-1 specials with proceeds going to support the athletics program, and elementary school kids, envisioning their futures, trying to seek out those broad-shouldered team captains who visited their classrooms.

One day, Essary realized he was drawing up football plays.

“His brain was zoned in to football from a very young age,” Essary says. “I didn’t realize how special that was.” Kellen dissected football plays the way another kid might take apart a radio, trying to understand how and why it worked. He watched as much of the game as he could get his hands on, somehow acquiring nonbroadcast film of Texas Tech’s air raid offense, and thought about how he could apply it to his own high school offense. Everybody who coached him at the time, maybe with the exception of his father, is convinced that Kellen understood football better than they did. He used to make his own playbooks. Hard copies weren’t a thing at Prosser, because Tom always believed the kids learned best through experience. But Kellen was not deterred, and he fabricated his own. Nobody in the Moore family seems to know where they are. They’re relics of a bygone era, and the Moores are not sentimental. But at least one exists. Little seemed to sense what was happening when Tom’s son started lighting up scoreboards and breaking records. He managed to get his hands on one, and he held onto it over the years. It’s a plain white binder, with a cover sheet identifying it as the “2005 Prosser Passing Offense.” Crack its cover and see a bulleted list with the names for personnel packages and instructions for making checks at the line of scrimmage. Each individual sheet

TOP OF PAGE: A middle school autobiography in which Saints coach Kellen Moore laid out his goals as a youth in Prosser, Wash. CENTER: Moore throws a pass as a Prosser Mustang quarterback. RIGHT: Moore, right, poses with his brother Kirby, after a Prosser High School football game. Both were star football players for the Prosser Mustangs. Kirby is now the offensive coordinator for the University of Missouri.

STAFF PHOTOS By LUKE JOHNSON

Mark Little, Kellen’s former coach at Prosser High School, poses for a photo on March 30 at his home in Prosser, Wash.

A metal mustang sculpture is seen on the foreground at the Prosser High School football field on March 30 in Prosser, Wash.

MOORE Continued from page 1C

STAFF PHOTOS By LUKE JOHNSON, PROVIDED PHOTOS By MOORE FAMILy

TANyA RAMIREZ

shows a specific play and its variations based on formation, as well as an inlaid box that identiﬁes the type of drop, hand signals and what a receiver is supposed to do against a certain type of coverage

It might be the only one left. Little laughs and says he may sell it on eBay if Kellen is ever enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

There are a lot of stories about Kellen Moore the football player Even for a kid who threw for a state-record 173 touchdown passes in three seasons at Prosser, some of the stories may be enhanced by the passage of time and the legend that has grown since. But some stories are preserved in the moment.

Zuniga was the head coach for Kellen’s freshman football team He starts laughing before he can ﬁnd the image he’s searching for on his phone, the box score from Kellen’s ﬁrst football game as a high school athlete. He’s laughing because he was the head coach but leaning on his freshman quarterback to help call the plays, and he’s laughing because he remembers the poor kids on the other side of the ball running a zero-blitz look the whole game.

Final score: Prosser 91, Hanford 12. Kellen Moore’s 11 completions went for 239 yards and ﬁve touchdowns.

The place that Kellen Moore built About ﬁve hours southeast of Prosser, the Gene Bleymaier football facility sits near the banks of the Boise river, on top of what used to be a grass lot where Boise State fans tailgated.

Walk into the state-of-the-art complex, up the stairs toward the football offices, and one of the first things to greet you is a giant tile mosaic of Kellen throwing a football. Continue down the hall, and there’s another large mosaic piece of Kellen. Go farther and find a blown-up version of the Sports Illustrated cover featuring Kellen the one that was hanging on the walls of so many homes and classrooms in Prosser. Walk into co-offensive coordinator Nate Potter’s office, with the large window overlooking the iconic blue turf, and find a floorto-ceiling likeness of Kellen loading up to throw a pass.

He is everywhere you look in the football building. Anyone who knows Kellen suggests that he probably hates this type of display, and they’re absolutely right The building was built in 2013, two years after Kellen’s college career ended, and Kellen dismisses the iconography inside it as “timing.”

“That’s called, they were building the facility as I was leaving,” he says “They’ll build some cooler and better things soon.”

He will ﬁnd some who agree with him, who will point out that he arrived to a college program already on the rise, that he played under a brilliant coaching staff and alongside several future NFL players. It was not a oneman show Their shared successes were, in part, a matter of excellent timing. But not everybody feels this way

“This building, the reason it’s here, has a lot to do with him and the impact he had on the program,” says Potter, who was Kellen’s Boise State teammate for ﬁve years. The most well-known moment in Boise State history may have happened a year before Kellen Moore arrived on campus. The 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State vs. Oklahoma. Ian Johnson taking the handoff on the game-winning Statue of Liberty play in overtime, then proposing to his girlfriend on the broadcast.

That is what people thought about when they thought about Boise State — that and the blue turf. That win against Oklahoma resulted in the school securing funding for the glass-windowed facade on the west side of the stadium, and it was the zenith of a great 10-year run after Boise State transitioned to the highest level of college football in the mid-90s But moments are ﬂeeting. How do you take a moment and capitalize on it, to turn it into something with staying power? You take an already strong existing framework and add someone like Kellen Moore to supercharge the growth.

Jay Tust, now the sports director for KTVB-TV in Boise, started covering the team just before Kellen’s ﬁnal season in 2011. The Broncos began that year ranked No. 5 in The Associated Press poll, a fact

Tust had a hard time squaring with what his eyes were telling him.

“They’re top 10 in the country, and they’re practicing in a middle-school grass practice ﬁeld during fall camp,” Tust says.

“And the mode of transportation is a bunch of Idaho kids jumping in the back of pickup trucks and driving down Fairview (Avenue) to get back to campus.

“And then when they arrive at campus, they’re going into this old, dilapidated locker room that is completely outdated. They’re sharing a small weight room with the entire school.”

Not long after they opened that camp, the Broncos waxed Georgia 35-21 in Atlanta in their season opener That was what the Kellen Moore era was all about at Boise State, Tust says. Doing more with less.

“Boise loves to claim that they’re blue collar,” Tust says. “They write it on the back of their jerseys and things like that. But when you go over to the facility now, you realize they actually have some pretty nice stuff. When Kellen was here, that was an era where I truly believe that they didn’t have to embrace being blue collar because they were blue collar.”

Longtime Boise State head coach Chris Petersen seems to have little interest in fueling Kellen’s Boise legend with apocryphal tales. The middle-school ﬁeld? They just needed some grass. The handmade playbook Kellen supposedly showed up with when he arrived at Boise, based off his own film study? The only thing that mattered is if he could play

But Petersen also has no need for it, because the Boise era was proof in the pudding. And the beautiful thing is the way it all dawned on everyone Not in some eureka moment, but in stages.

The production at Prosser forced Petersen to pay attention. Then a recruiting camp, where it was impossible to get a real gauge on whether his ability would translate, but it was hard to ignore how fast he was getting the ball out of his hand. Petersen remembers thinking, “ ‘God, does he know what he’s doing, or is he just feeling things?’ “ So he got Kellen on campus, redshirted him and had him lead the scout team. And Petersen remembers how frustrated his defensive coaches would be during practice, and the way they said, “Yeah, but we’re not going to see that this weekend,” and the eyebrows started to raise a little more.

And then there’s what happened in the meeting rooms.

“The thing about Kellen that was just different — in all my years of coaching, he’s at the top of the chart on this — is the intensity the attention and focus that he brought to meetings every day,” Petersen says. “And I’m talking when he redshirted his ﬁrst year It was just different.” Kellen beat out

veteran Bush Hamdan for the starting job in 2008, Petersen did not have to wait long for the decision to be validated. Boise State traveled to Autzen Stadium to play Oregon in Week 3, and if there is one thing everybody can agree on, it is that the Oregon game removed any doubt that they’d found someone special.

Little saw it from the stands with a Prosser contingent: “I remember talking to Tom, like, ‘Oh, I hope he just doesn’t get crushed.’ Then they start playing, and it’s like, completion, completion, completion. It’s like they were playing one of our high school teams.”

Longtime Boise State sports information director Max Corbet saw from the press box: “Shoot, he just lights it up. You could just see it with him and the conﬁdence that he had. He just doesn’t get rattled, he had a great game, and the rest is history.”

Petersen saw from the sideline: “We still hadn’t been challenged yet. And I just remember in that game, early on, we had a seven-step draw play-action, and he throws a comeback. I’m watching him, and he gets detonated like the guy knocks him about 10 yards backwards. And I’m like, ‘Oh no, we might have just lost our quarterback.’ And he pops over, smiling at the sideline like, ‘We’re rolling here, fellas.’ Then I’m like, ‘OK, this guy might have something here.’ “

Potter saw it from the field: “Players, coaching staff, everybody knew that he was different. In my memory, that was the turning point in football terms, where everybody was like, ‘Oh, man, we’ve got somebody special.’

While Kellen became one of the most proliﬁc passers in college football history his Broncos lost just three games by a combined total of ﬁve points. He endeared himself to a growing Boise State fanbase with a vibe Tust describes as, “low ego, high output.” People in the Boise area really did start naming their kids Kellen. And people invested in the program.

Travis Hawkes was born and raised in Boise. He went to Boise State’s business school and then co-founded a successful business in the area. In his sleek ofﬁce, he has one room dedicated to Boise State memorabilia. In it, there are Kellen Moore bobbleheads and signed footballs and a game-used jersey There is also a nearly life-sized painting of him, which is actually a secret door to a hidden lounge.

“He always did things the right way,” Hawkes says. “It’s a fan’s dream. It’s like the reverse of the guy who is the best player who disappoints you with ego or off-ﬁeld actions or how he treats people.”

It was a wave of momentum that carried Boise State from the Statue of Liberty moment to something that felt more sustainable. Of course he didn’t single-handedly raise the Boise State football program from the

dust. But it is equally evident that the program that exists now probably doesn’t look the same without Kellen Moore’s inﬂuence.

“He changed the trajectory of the program,” Potter says. “This growth and what we’re building here is all, in part, from what he did while he was a player.”

The plan

What forces produced someone like Kellen Moore? Maybe a place like Prosser did.

“It’s a simple, small town,” Kellen says. “There’s two stoplights.”

Well, actually, there are three now, the latest one being added a few years ago. What Moore leaves out is that Prosser did not install its ﬁrst stoplight until he was in high school. Back then, there was a welcome sign posted somewhere in town that described Prosser as “a pleasant place with pleasant people.” That, he believes, is accurate. It has always been a place where everyone knew and took care of each other

Maybe it’s the people in the small town, like the teachers that nurtured his curiosity, or the coaches who to this day hang onto their unwavering belief in him.

Kellen appeared in three games as an NFL player, all a footnote to a forgettable 2015 season with the Dallas Cowboys. A footnote to all except those who remember and still believe.

With Little looking on, nodding, Fassler says, “I swear to God, I know he could’ve done it in the NFL.”

Kellen struggled in his ﬁrst two games, throwing four interceptions in a pair of dismal losses. But he started the regular-season ﬁnal at home against Washington. And with Little and some others from Prosser in attendance, he turned in a vintage Kellen performance, throwing for 435 yards and three touchdowns.

It was the last opportunity he’d have to see the ﬁeld as a player He retired as a player before his 30th birthday and had a job coaching in the league weeks later At 36 years old, Kellen Moore is the youngest head coach in the NFL. He takes over a Saints organization that is desperate for a winner, and the people in his past are convinced he is going to get it done.

“I know if it had broken differently and he had an opportunity to actually play he would’ve found a niche in the NFL, I have no doubt,” Fassler says. “Because mentally he was two steps ahead of you even at that level. Which led to his being a great offensive coordinator and that kind of thing.

“He’s different. He’s different.”

Maybe he is the product of his family environment. His mother a principal who fostered his mind, and his father, a coach who drew him and his younger brother to football. Kellen is an NFL head coach, and Kirby is a Southeastern Conference offensive coordinator at Missouri. There are three generations of successful Moore coaches now

“It’s not a coincidence, and it’s not a onetime lightning strike for Tom, Kellen and Kirby,” Jelinek says. “This is in their blood and it’s in their heart, and they’re very good at it. I can’t wait to see what he does.”

You go to Prosser, and to Boise, and you try to uncover all of those elements that combined to make this perfect storm, and you come to the conclusion that all these elements undoubtedly played a part in shaping the boy that became the coveted man. And then you ﬁnd the last scrap of evidence. A photo of a booklet, typed out more than 20 years ago when Kellen was maybe 12 or 13 years old.

When he was in middle school, a teacher assigned his class a project that required students to write an autobiography In a short introduction, Kellen wrote about the central role football had played in his life, how he was lucky to grow up around the game, how he’d been on the sideline for every game since the ﬁrst grade.

Some of it is funny kid stuff. He refers to himself throughout with the spoonerism “Mellen Koore.” He makes sure to note that he’s always had his own room, and that he visits family in Chicago once a year

And then you get to the ﬁnal page. The list of a middle schooler’s long-term goals. Those are something else entirely

1. To start at quarterback for Prosser for at least two years.

2. To get a scholarship to play football or basketball.

3. To play college football or basketball.

4. To get a degree in sports management.

5. Then it would be to hopefully play in the NFL or the NBA.

6. Would be to then be a General Manager, Coach, or something like that for a football team. He went 5-for-6 before he turned 40. The only thing he missed was his degree. Instead, he was an academic All-American while majoring in communications.

“I’ve never seen somebody with the single focus that he had to accomplish something, and then it all worked out almost like you couldn’t plan it any better,” Fassler says. Little was there the day Kellen Moore was born. He watched Kellen throw footballs to himself in the backyard He coached alongside Kellen’s father for two and a half decades and he likes to joke about shamelessly riding Tom and Kellen’s coattails. He has a personal connection with just about everyone who was important in Kellen’s life, and he’s happy to introduce you to them.

And Little understands.

“We all want to do whatever we can to take credit for Kellen,” Little says with a laugh. “But unfortunately he had a lot more to do with our success than we had to do with his.” The forces that shaped Kellen Moore were all around him. In his Prosser family home and in his classroom and football fields, on middle-school grass and blue ﬁelds among the right people in Idaho. But they were also within him.

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

TOP: Murals of Kellen Moore throughout Boise State’s Gene Bleymaier football facility in Boise, Idaho. RIGHT: Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore holds up the Maaco Bowl trophy after the Broncos defeated Arizona State on Dec. 22, 2011, in Las Vegas.

STAFF PHOTOS By LUKE JOHNSON, AP FILE PHOTO

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL AINSWORTH

Washington outside linebacker Trent Murphy applies pressure as Dallas Cowboys quarterback Kellen Moore looks to make a pass on Jan. 3, 2016, in Arlington, Texas. Moore threw three touchdowns in what was his last game as an NFL quarterback.

Carr’s injury raises allkinds of questions

Oddtiming andvague nature of injured shoulder arepuzzling

Talk about aFriday news dump. Thenews of Saints quarterback Derek Carr’sshoulder injury sent shock waves acrossNew Orleans on Friday afternoon. The report, by the NFL Network, was unusually vague and did not provide many details. It didn’teven state which shoulderwas injured. It did state that Carr’savailability forthe 2025 season might be “threatened”, indicating the injury is serious Carr reportedly is weighing options, including surgery. The report left more questions than answers: When did the injuryoccur?

Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported that the news didnot come as asurprise tothe Saints butit’sunclear how long team ofﬁcials have knownabout it.

The season-ending injury Carr sufferedinWeek 14 against the Giants last season was to his left hand. There was no mention of his shoulder on the injury report Carr sprained the AC joint in his right (throwing) shoulder in 2023, but he playedthrough the injury, and there appearedto be no lingeringissueswith it last season Wasthe injuryfootball-related?

Normally,medical procedures

are conducted as soon as possible after theinjury occurs so players can begin therehab and recovery process. So why wait until April to address it, unless, of course, theinjury occurred recently and/ or was nonfootball-related?

Whichleadstothe next question

Whyare we just learning about it now?

The news broke three days before players are scheduled to report for theteam’soffseason program,which hardly seemsto be by happenstance.

It’s an odd time for major injury news to occur.Players and teams normally address injuries as soon as possible after the season to give proper timefor rehaband recov-

Benson onePels’ game awayfrombig decisions

Oneofthe worst seasonsinNew Orleans Pelicans’ history comes to an end Sunday

That we know for sure.

Whatwedon’tknow is if it’s also theend of an era. Is the David Grifﬁn era over? What about the Willie Green era? Oh, and let’snot forget about the Zion Williamson era.

erygoing into the next season. Conspiracy theorists will run amok with the timing of the leak, late on aFriday afternoon, just before theteam’soffseason conditioning program is scheduled to begin Monday What, if any, are the contractual/cap ramifications?

The Saints restructured Carr’s

contract earlier this offseason. As aresult, Carr’ssalary cap is $20.4 million this season but balloons to $69.4 million in 2026. Under the termsofhis old deal, Carr wasrequired to pass aphysical before earning the guaranteed portion of his salary this season. Assuming he did, wasthe shoulder injury not detected during the physical?

Regardless, it’s unclear whether theinjurygives theSaints any kind of contractual outfor theteam. Howdoes this affect the Saints’ draft plans?

The Saints have three quarterbacks on the roster behind Carr: Spencer Rattler,Jake Haener and Ben DiNucci. Collectively,they have eight combined NFLstarts. Team ofﬁcials have showninterest in several quarterbacks in the upcoming NFLdraft, including top prospects Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders, Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough and Quinn Ewers. Was this interest related to Carr’sinjury? Or werethe Saints simply performing their normal due diligence?

As you can see, there are many questions that remain from this developing story.I’m sure we will learn moreinthe days ahead.

The next chance local media will have to getanswers formally on the subject likely will not come until the week of the April 24-26 NFL Draft, when general manager Mickey Loomis, head coach Kellen MooreoraSaints personneldirector is requiredto conducta pre-draft news conference.

ANALYSIS

King canbring a lottocourt forLSU

Transfer portal addition from Northeastern an adeptscorer

Only Pelicans owner Gayle Benson knows the answer to those questions. Afrustrated fanbase anxiously will await her answers as the clock strikes zero Sunday in the season ﬁnaleagainst the Oklahoma City Thunder

The Pelicans enter Sunday’s game21-60, the second-worst record in franchise history

They are coming off the most lopsided loss in team history,a 153-104 Fridaynight beatdown by the Miami Heat. No team has everscored that many points againstthe Pelicans. And no team had ever beaten the Pelicans by 49 points.

Not many teams can say they suffered the worst loss in franchise history twice in a25-day span. But not many teamshave been quite as bad as these Pelicans, who lost by 46 pointsonSt. Patrick’sDay to the Detroit Pistons to tie the old mark for the worst loss. At the time, you probably thought that was the low pointofthe season. They dipped even lower Friday trailing by as many as 52 at one point. How bad was it? TheHeat had more players reach double ﬁgures (10) in scoring than the Pelicans had players dressed out forthe game (eight).

One injury after another decimatedthe season. It’s abig reason thePelicans went from having the second-best record in team history last season towhere they are now Grifﬁn has brought some talented players to New Orleansin hissix seasons calling theshots Unfortunately,hardly anyofthat talent was available this season

“When these types of things happen, they really reveal alot about who youare and what your team represents,” Grifﬁnsaid in February.“And unfortunately for us, Ithink it’srevealed we have alot of work to do from afront ofﬁce perspective, from ateambuilding perspective.”

The question is who will be doingthat team building?

Benson has to decide whether Grifﬁn getsaseventh season. The Pelicans have made the playoffs twice in his six seasons. They

increased their win total in his ﬁrst ﬁve seasons beforenose diving thisyear

He’sbrought plenty of good pieces to New Orleans, but those pieces sometimes just haven’t quite ﬁt (likeWilliamson and Brandon Ingram together). Or thosepieces havebeen broken (with all typesofinjuries). With the Pelicans back in theNBA lotteryagain with the fourth-worst record in the NBA, will Benson let Grifﬁn continue to try to reach the sustainabilityhe’sbeen trying to get to?

Green, meanwhile, has made the playoffs in two of his four seasons andincreased his win total every yearbeforethis one. This season,one in which he was dealt as bad of ahand as possible, hasbeen downrightbrutal. The Pelicans lost four games by 40 or more points, including Friday’s gamewhenGreen wasplaying with mostly G-Leaguers.

In addition to those blowout losses, the Pelicans have had a nine-game losingstreak, a10game losing streak and an 11game losing streak. But Green, as Houston Rocketscoach Ime Udokareminded me earlier this season, didn’tjust wake up one day and forgethow to coach “You see great coaches struggle at timesthroughouttheir career

when injuries hit seasons,” Udoka said. “It’s not that they’re aworse coach all of asudden.”

Butinthe NBA, especially this season, we’ve seen coaches with far better seasons lose their jobs. Michael Malone (Denver Nuggets),Taylor Jenkins (Memphis Grizzlies) and Mike Brown (Sacramento Kings) were ﬁred during theseason despite all leading teams that made it to at least the play-in tournament.

Will Benson lean on Green’s struggles this season? Or will she take into account what he didlast season when playing with afull deck?

And then there is Williamson, who showed once againjust howdominant he can be,averaging career highs in both assists and rebounds. The problemisheonly showed it 30 times as injuriesand load management limitedhis playonceagain.

To his credit,hewas in the best shape he’sbeen in since Grifﬁn selected him withthe ﬁrst overall pick in the2019 draft. Hasthe Zion experiment run itscourse or do thePelicans believe in him enough to run it back again?

If they do run it back, will Green be theone coaching him?

Will Grifﬁn be the one deciding whether Green is the one coaching him?

Those are all questions for Benson to answer

Email RodWalker at rwalker@theadvocate.com.

BY TOYLOYBROWN III Staff writer

LSU men’sbasketball entered the transfer portal on amission to getpositional size.

CoachMattMcMahon doesn’t want arepeat of last season when he discovered his best lineup consisted of four guards all under 6-foot-5 and less than 200 pounds.

The acquisition of Northeastern’s 6-6, 204-pound wing Rashad King could help prevent that from happening again.

The Evans, Georgia, native made the All-CoastalAthletic Association ﬁrst team last season after averaging 18.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.7 turnovers in 36.6 minutesper game. The junior shot 44.9% from the ﬁeld, 31.9% from the 3-point line and85.3% from the free-throw line on 4.9 attempts.

While thescoring numbers are the most eye-catching, what is arguably the most intriguing skill for LSU is his playmaking.

King’sthree assists per game undersell his willingness as a passer. Despite his scoring prowess, King seemed wiredtoget teammates involved. He surveyed the court and was happy to throw outlet passes andwas trusted to run pick-and-rolls.

King threwavariety of passes, including acouple with his nondominant left hand. When he’s in thepaint,he’llconsistently kick it out instead of taking a high-difﬁculty shot.

King’smature approach was illustrated by a13-assist performance against Princeton and his 19.1% assist rate, the third-highest amongthe top-10 scorers in theCAA.His nearly three turnovers won’tbeas concerning sincehewon’t run the LSU offense like he did for Northeastern. UNLVtransfer DedanThomas will be the one dominating the ball for LSU,but King could be a secondary playmaker with size. Mostimportantly,heseems to be someone who plays the right way He also has thephysicalmakeup to defendmultiple positions. He had a2.5% block rate and 2.3% steal rate. Only 15 rotation players in the SEC had those percentagesorbetter, accordingtoBartTorvik.

Against Monmouth, King defended the CAA’s leading scorer Abdi Bashir,who is now at KansasState.Kingchasedthe 38% 3-pointshooter around screens

AP FILEPHOTO By MICHAEL

Rashad Kingplays in agame against the CollegeofCharleston on Jan. 21, 2023, in Boston. King transferred to LSUearlier this month.

and deterred several jumpers. Defending tallerorstronger players might poseanissue. Against Towson’s6-9 Tyler Tejada,the CAA Player of the Year,Kingwas scoredoverrepeatedly Anotheraddedvalue he brings is hisrebounding forhis size. His 16.5% defensive rebound rate would have been thesecond-best on LSU for players who played more than eight games. King’soutside shooting willbe critical to LSU’s success. While his rawnumbers were poor his shooting mechanics are solid. When isolating his catchand-shoot 3s,hewent37of103 (35.9%), according to Synergy On unguarded catch-and-shoot looks, he was 18 of 38 (47.4%).

King’sshooting could improve since he won’tcreate off the dribble much. Another reason for optimism is his excellent 85.3% free-throw shooting.

Driving was King’sbest scoring method at Northeastern.His dribbling skills, ability to ﬁnish withhis left hand and experience using on-ball screens allowed him to shoot 59% at the rim, which is good but not great for that level of competition. His speed and vertical jump will not stand outonanSEC court. He was blockedmore than you’d like in the CAA and only notched nine dunks. For perspective,LSU’s 6-3Cam Carter had 12 dunks.

If the slashing doesn’ttranslate, his perimeter shotwill be even more crucial. As things stand, King likely will be astarter for LSU. His mentality,size and productivity indicate he should be aserviceable off-ball player.Ifhe defends at ahigh level and continues to playwitha greatfeel, he’ll contribute to winning.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILEPHOTO By ADAM HUNGER Saints quarterback Derek Carrwaits to takethe field during agameagainst the Newyork Giants on Dec. 8in East Rutherford, N.J

Jeff Duncan

STAFF FILEPHOTO By SCOTT THRELKELD

Pelicans coach Willie Green watches agameagainst the Houston Rockets on March6 at theSmoothieKingCenter

Griffin

DWyER

THE 89TH MASTERS

Mastersgives showdown golf needs

McIlroy, DeChambeau havehistory,ability to make Sunday special

AUGUSTA, Ga. They say golf is thirsting for acompelling rivalry in the post Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson era.

SCORES

Maybe Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau is it. If it isn’t, this will do just fine until the real McCoy (or McIlroy) comes along, thank you Yes, there are other players on the leaderboard going into Sunday’sfinal round of the Masters, including 2018 winner Patrick Reed, the former U-High golfer who worked his way intoa surprising tie for fourth.Sunday at the Masters has seen plenty of playersfamously charge out of the shadows and put their arms into agreen jacket But this is also the tournament that perhaps favors the leaders above all. The past eight Masters winners have come from thefinal group. Guess who’slast offthe tee Sundayafternoon?

Messrs. McIlroy and DeChambeau. The anticipation couldn’tbe sweeter.The contrasts couldn’tbe greater McIlroy has been carrying the banner forthe PGA Tour in

golf’s uncivil warwithLIV Golf. DeChambeau hasbeen carrying the water for LIV in the majors the past couple of years because, frankly,noone elsefromthat upstart outﬁt has been as good. Rory is afamily man. He said he whiled away the pre-round hourswatching “Zootopia” with his4-year-old daughter,Poppy “Very,very good movie if you haven’twatched it,” McIlroy said earnestly

DeChambeau was planning to watch aJames Bond ﬁlm Saturdaynight. Preferably,one with Pierce Brosnan. No wordon whether hewould be having any cocktails shaken or stirred.

McIlroy said he was planning to stay off hisphoneand stay in his“own little bubble” during the ﬁnal round.

DeChambeau, who in addition to being agreat golfer has made himself into aviral YouTube sensation, said heck yeah he was planning to be onhis phone Saturdaynightand waslooking forward to engagingwith the fans as he didSaturday when he stared across thepondat16after making abirdie.

“Just wanted to get thepatrons going,” DeChambeau said. “I get that energyback,and it’s acool feeling.”

Thetwo men’sbody language couldn’t have been moredifferent after their rounds.

McIlroy —who shot asecond straight 6-under-par 66, only the ﬁfthman to dothat in the Masters —stared straightahead while

walking from the 18th green to theclubhouse to sign his scorecard, ignoring the fans going berserk for him on either side of thepath.

DeChambeau, who shot a3-under 69 for his third straight round in the 60s, was high-ﬁving peoplelike madashewalked the samegrassy stretch afew moments later.He mayhave even announced he was running for Congress. I’m not sure.

To me, it speaks to the places these two men occupy at this moment. In their experience and in their careers. For thereason why,you only have to look back to the2024 U.S. Open at PinehurstNo. 2.

DeChambeau bested McIlroy by one stroke to win his second U.S. Open. DeChambeau played brilliantly,but he also benefited enormously when McIlroy botched short par putts of 21/2 feet on 16 and 3feet, 9inches on 18. It was validation for DeChambeau, who also won afan-less U.S Open at Winged Foot during the pandemic restrictions of September 2020. It was more scar tissue for McIlroy,who since winning the2014 PGA has had moretop 10s in majors (21) than anyone, including four runner-up finishes, but no wins. Then there is the pressureof knowing what he could do if he wins, something McIlroy mentioned not at all in his post-round interviews. If McIlroy keeps his head and his lead Sunday,hewill becomejust thesixth man and first European to win thecareer

Grand Slam: the Masters, U.S. and British Opens, and the PGA. It’sa hard,rare thing to do. Woods was the last to do it in 2000, and before him Jack Nicklaus in 1966.

If a35-year-old Woods was leading the Masters by twogoing into theﬁnal round instead of a 35-year-old McIlroy,the almost universal expectation would be that Woods would close the deal. McIlroy hardlyfeels like that sure of athing.

As his round erupted —McIlroy started with six straight 3s, going birdie-eagle-birdie-par-birdiepar —fans roared. They also wondered whether he wasn’talso settinghimselfupfor another major meltdown. Like the 2024 U.S. Open. Like the 2011 Masters, when he shot aﬁnal-round 80 and fell from afour-stroke lead going into Sunday to atie for15th. Aman in the gallery next to the 15th hole, the one McIlroy eagled Saturday with atowering 6-iron to 6feet, seemed to speak foreveryone in the gallery

“There are alot of ghosts out there,” he said. “A lot of ghosts.”

The implication was that those ghostsare waiting forMcIlroy Maybe oneofthem is named Bryson DeChambeau.

It promises to be athrilling ﬁnal round, with arare rivalry that has achance to do golf’s fractured world good.

“It’ll be the grandest stage we’ve had in along time,” DeChambeau said, “and I’mexcited for it.”

Isn’teveryone?

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

AUGUSTA, Ga. Former University High golferand 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed surprisingly vaultedintocontentionwitha 3-under 69 that put him atie for fourth at 6-under 210, six strokes back of leader RoryMcIlroy.Reed will bein the second-to-last group withCanada’s Corey Conners at 1:20p.m.

“Didn’thit it quite as solid today as the ﬁrst twodays, but Iput it in the right spots on some holes,” Reed said. “The putter was alittle better. Iactually made acouple of putts today comparedtothe ﬁrst two days. Ididn’tmake anything

“The greens are firmingupa little bit, getting alittle faster,and because of that, I’m able tokindof go back on old feels, old readsand kind of go that way.” Reed’sbest ﬁnal round here is a 68, but he knows he’ll havetobe better than that to have achance at asecond green jacket.

“I’ve got to shoot my lowest round I’ve ever shot on Sunday out here,” he said.

Refreshing drink

You’re all set to watchthe ﬁnal round of the Masters tournament Sunday The pimento cheese is chilling. The Masters garden gnome is gleaming.

What’sleft? Perhaps theMasters’ cocktail of choice, known as the azalea. Recently,Augusta National Golf Club released its “ofﬁcial” recipe for the Masters’ signature drink,

It maybethe greatest “product placement”inthe historyofgolf: Tiger Woods’ Nikeball tumblinginto the cup on the par-3 16th as he made an incredible chip from behind the green in 2005.Leading Chris DiMarco by one,Woodsbombed his8-iron over thebackasDiMarco’sballsat 20 feet belowthe cupfor birdie. Woods playedhis shot 25 feet above thehole then watched it track right into the cup on the final turn.Woods bogeyed17and 18 to fall into a playoffwith DiMarco, but Woods beat him witha15-foot birdie on 18 to win hisfourthof five green

Scott Rabalais

just in time forthe marchtothe greenjacket: •5ounces lemonade

•1.25 ounces vodka •0.5 ounces grenadine

•Ice •Cherry and lemon wheel garnish Burnsfalls back

Former LSU All-American

Scott Rabalais

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREENIKHINSON

RoryMcIlroywaves after making aputt on the 14thhole during the third round at the Masters tournament on SaturdayinAugusta, Ga.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByASHLEy LANDIS

Bryson DeChambeaucelebrates after abirdie on the 18th holeduring the third round at the Masters tournament on Saturday in Augusta, Ga.

Scott Rabalais

It’sjust astronomical. Irealized that Icould not possibly raise my prices highenough.” SEAN BRASWELL,Simple JoeCafe owner

Egg-stra charge?

BY SERENA PUANG Staff writer

At Simple Joe Cafe on Government Street, owner Sean Braswell has added a75-cent chargeper egg with the plan to takethe charge off when egg prices drop back to normal levels. He pays about 92 cents an egg He goes through about 3,000 eggs per week

“It’sjust astronomical,” Braswell said of egg prices. “I realized that Icould not possiblyraise my prices high enough.”

Egg prices in February were 58.8%higher than they were the same time last year due to birdﬂu. According to arecent surveyand analysis by Clarify Capital, over a thirdofAmericans have stopped buying eggs. The same survey revealsthatLouisiana has seen a 243% increase in eggprices this

yearcompared to 2018. To cope,someBaton Rouge restaurants have addedanextra charge for eggs or increased their menu prices in response to rapid “egg-flation.”Onthe customer side, there has been an increase in interest in owning backyard chickens. In January and midway through February,heestimates that he’slost $7,000 duetoegg prices —and it’s not just eggs. Since 2020, Braswell estimates that prices forthings like half and half, bacon and milk have at leastdoubled.Somehave gone up by 300%. Braswell has adjusted his menuprices three times since then, but always by adollar or less.

“No one wants to pay$25 for an omelet,” he said. Many people may think that restaurants buy their eggs from spe-

EmployeeKayla Lee grabs a cardboardbox that reads ‘future flock inside’from the top of the baby chick crates as lines of customers wrap around the shop at Outpost Feed and Outdoors in Walker

Soaringegg

BY RACHEL MIPRO Contributing writer

New Orleans is famous for its French and Spanish inﬂuences, but one less-publicized community has quietly shaped the city’sculture as well: the Basques. One Times-Picayune reader,intrigued by tales of werewolves and soldiers, asked Curious Louisiana to explore the history of the Basque presence in the city.Mark Dispenza, awriter-director, sent Curious Louisiana aquestion about the Basque community in New Orleans after working on ashoot.

Dispenza was researching his short horror ﬁlm, arougarou story set in 1949 Acadiana, whenheread “Werewolf Stories,” by NickRedfern and Brad Steiger. “Itcontained legends of werewolves and shapeshifters from around the world,” Dispenza said. “One of the

ä See CURIOUS, page 4D

cial suppliers whowould give them abetterdeal, but for many small businesses like individually owned restaurants, that’snot thecase. Braswell said he pays thesame retail prices everyone else does. When he opened his businessin 2015, he priced dishes 40%lower than they arenow.Withthose prices, he had a23% proﬁt margin. Now,hesaid,he’slucky if he can

Time to honor oneofthe ﬁrst families of zydeco, Creole music

An empty ﬁeld lies on 231 Parish Road 60-4-1 in the St. Landry Parish hamlet of Lawtell. There’snoevidence that the property once held the Offshore Lounge, arickety dancehall where more rain sometimes fell inside than outside.

YetRockin’ Sidney played weekend dances there, before he wona Grammy with his millionselling record “Don’t Mess with My Toot Toot.” In the 1990s, Beau Jocque mixed zydeco with ﬂavors of War, Santana, John Lee Hooker and rap forathunderous sound that took

STAFFFILE PHOTOByMATTHEW HINTON Students KiraCarter,from left,JaMia Washington and Trey Lazarone wave the Basque flag during aprocession at the International School of Louisana in 2016.

Herman Fuselier

Braswell

AP Check Donation

Air Products recently presented a$60,000 donation to Livingston ParishPublic Schools to fund beautification improvements and science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) curriculum opportunitiesat Doyle High School, French Settlement High School and Springfield ElementarySchool. Shown are, from left, Doyle High School Principal AshleySharp, Air Products Senior Communications SpecialistChristina Stephens, Commercial ExecutiveDirector of Air Products’ Louisiana Clean EnergyComplex DannaLeBlanc,French SettlementHigh School Principal John Chewning,Springfield Elementary Principal MichelleBrown and Livingston Parish Schools Superintendent Jody Purvis.

Air Products Foundationdonates

$60,000 to 3Livingston Parish schools

Three Livingston Parish schools willbenefit from a shared $60,000 donation from the Air Products Foundation to promote science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) curriculum and tomakeimprovements to their campusesthroughbeautiﬁcation andmaintenance efforts.

French Settlement High School,Springﬁeld Elementary and Doyle High School received $20,000 for STEAMcurriculum and facility improvements.

Superintendent Jody Purvis thanked Air Productsfor itsinvestment in Livingston Parish. Commercial Executive Director of Air Products’ Louisiana Clean Energy Complex Danna LeBlanc said thedonation aligns with the company’smissionto promote careersin industry,while also improvingthe communitieswhere its employees live and work.

COMMUNITYGUIDELINES

The Community column runs Sundays in theLiving section If submitting digitally,weprefer JPG files 300KB or larger.We preferemailed submissions tofeatures@theadvocate.com. We also accept submissions by mail at P.O. Box588,Baton RougeLA70821.Aphone number must beincluded.

SciArtsPlayFestival

The LSU School of Theatreand the College of Science announcedthe return of the SciArts New PlayFestival April 15-17,showcasingthree staged readings of new accurate science plays selected from more than 150 submissions across the nation.

Along with the readings, there will be twokeynote speakers: Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals,and DoronWeber, vice president of the Sloan Foundation.

All events will takeplaceinthe Studio TheatreinLSU’s Musicand Dramatic Arts Building, Dalrymple Driveonthe LSU campus. Tickets arefreebyvisiting lsu.edu/cmda/ theatre.

‘Alice in Wonderland’

The ﬁnal performance of Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s production of its newly choreographed, full-length ballet, “Alice in Wonderland,”is 2p.m. April 13,inthe RaisingCane’s River Center Performing Arts The-

PhiMuFounders’ Day

On March 9, activemembers of the LSUAlpha Eta Chapter and alumnae of the Baton RougeChapter gathered at the LSU Student Union Atchafalaya Room to celebrate Founders’ Day. Shownare, from left, PresidentSheila yellott, Kelly Lastor,Kay Hawthorne, Joni David,Andrea McMakin, Roxanne Legarde and Diane Bruno.

ON THEAREAARTSAND CULTURESCENE

ater, 300 St.Louis St., Baton Rouge. Tickets are$35-$55. Visit batonrougeballet.org/springconcert.

At Southern University Southern University Theater will presentits ﬁnal performance of “Bluesfor an Alabama Sky” at 7p.m April 13, inthe Frank Hayden Hall Theatreoncampus.

The showisdirected by theater instructor andprofessional actor Douglas Streater and assistant directed by SU student Reese Baker Students in Streater’s newly offered “Directed Study in Performance” class takeonmajor players from theHarlem Renaissance erainthis poignant show.

General admission is $10 and free for students with astudent ID.Tickets areavailable at the door.

‘Singeaux’

The Musical Theatre Club at LSU will perform itsannual “Singeaux” musical revue at 7:30 p.m. April 17 in the LSU Union Theatre,Veterans Drive, on campus.

Admission is free. Visit tigerlink.lsu. edu/mtclsu/home.

OdetoWarhol

The Art Guild Of Louisiana’s member show, “Ode to Andy Warhol,” runs through May8,atIndependence Park Theatre, 7800 Independence Blvd. The guild will host areception at 2p.m.April 13. Galleryhours are10a.m.to5p.m Tuesdaythrough Friday. Admission is free. Visit artguildlouisiana.org.

BRSO Chorus with Bocelli

The Baton RougeSymphonyChorus under the direction of DavidShaler, will be performing with internationally acclaimed tenor Andrea Bocelli and the Louisiana Philharmonic OrchestraonJune 10 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The concert begins at 8p.m

Tickets are$80-$250. Visit ticketmaster.com/event/1B00613EC61A504C.

At BatonRouge Gallery

Baton RougeGallery center for contemporary art, 1515 Dalrymple Drive,

WBR Garden &CivicClub

The West Baton RougeGarden and CivicClubmembers took aday tripMarch13tothe LSUCenter forRiver Studiesand the OxbowRum Distillery. Shown are, from left,Julie Prejean, TerryGuidry, RumikoBourgeois, Kim Callegan, ‘Chef’ Kerry Callegan, Iris Bonanno, Mary Neilser,and Club President AdaHebert.

Good OleBoys

The North Baton RougeGood OleBoysattended a luncheon on Feb.20atRudy’sSeafood &Steakhouse in Watson. Shown are, from left, seated, RonnieDupre, Billy Sanders, Cisco Landry, Wayne Price, EddieSchafer, HaskellDouglas, Raymond Fisher,GaryRispone, Doug Daigle, JohnnyBraud, Tommy Arceneaux and Floyd Kimble;standing,Jimmy Edwards, RudyRobinson, Gene Hernandez, DickieRembers, Lester Mayer, Paul Fisher,BobbyFunberbork,Winston Vass, Allie McClure, HaroldFisher,Davis Rayborn, RonnieMcKinney, Denny Davis, BuddyWicker and DonnieDickerson.

Baton Rouge,isshowing theexhibit

“Real-Life Experience:JuriedHigh School Exhibition” through May1

The exhibit features approximately 70 original works of art by public and private high school students in East BatonRouge Parish. Hours arenoon to 6p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free. Call (225) 383-1470 or visit batonrougegallery.org.

BatonRouge Symphony events

Tickets areonsale for theBaton RougeSymphonyOrchestra’s Concerts in the Cosmos seriesperformances, “Country Hits: ATributeto CountryMusic Legends” at 7:30 p.m April 23-24 in thePennington Planetarium at theLouisiana Art &Science Museum, 100 S. River Road.

Tickets are$40-$40.

Tickets also areonsale for thesymphony’s Orchestral Series concert, “Carmina Burana,” featuring the Baton Rouge SymphonyChorus, at 7:30 p.m. May1,inthe Raising Cane’s River Center Performing Arts Theater, 300 St. Louis St.

Tickets are$24-$70. Fortickets to

both events, visit brso.org.

At Cité desArts

Tickets areonsale for Citédes Arts’ production of “Reunion,”written and directed by Patricia Cravins

The show will have threeperformancesatthe theater,109 Vine St., Lafayette, during FestivalInternational de Louisiane

The show focuses on aprominent Creole family that’s forced to confront along-held secret at an annual family reunion. Performanceswill be 2p.m. and 7:30 p.m.April 26, and 2p.m. Sunday,April 27. Tickets are$25 and can be purchased by visiting citedesarts.org/events/reunionwritten-and-directed-by-patriciacravins-2025-04-26-14-00.

Also, registration is open for the theater company’stwo-week ﬁlmmaking workshop,“Movie Magic101,” for students in thesixth through 12th grades. The workshop runs from 1p.m. to 3p.m. June30July 11 at thetheater. Costis$330 for thecourse. Payment plans are available. Visit citedesarts.org.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Karnival Krewe de Louisiane

Board members were recognized at the Karnival KrewedeLouisiane’srecent 38th annual ball. Gathered are, from left, Josh Guagliardo, Brad Matthews, Bob Riches, Dodie Albarado, Julie Piedrahita, ValarieVargas, Katie Graves, AmyDeJean, Naomi Nelson, Kim Kwan, Linda Crochet, Katie Varnado, Katie Alligood,Kati Weaver,Mikala Morgan and Angelle Crochet. Not pictured are, Scott Miller,Elizabeth Johnston, Chad Sabadie, AlysiaGraves, Brandi Alford, Josh Morgan and Lisa Johnson.

PROVIDED PHOTO

TRAVEL

Paddle throughthe stumpy swamps at Chicot StatePark

BY CATHERINE S. COMEAUX Contributing writer

Editor’snote:The writer and her family spent three summers exploring state, national and provincial parks, traveling by minivan from Louisiana to Alaska, to Nova Scotia, and all along the Mississippi River in between. This year,she turns her attention to Louisiana state parks to discover the natural beauty of the South less than aday’s drive from home.

Chicot State Park is Louisiana’slargeststate park, encompassing awide variety of habitats within its 6,400 acres in Evangeline Parish, where visitors can listen for barred owls in abottomland hardwood forest, paddle through the dangling Spanish moss of acypress tupelo swamp, or hike the slight hills of a hardwood slope forest.

The inexperienced naturalist might not know the differing characteristics of these habitats, but avisit to theLouisiana State Arboretum within the park will enlighten and enhance the experience.

Ironically,the heavily forested park takes its name from the stumps left behind when 2,000 acres of its bottomland forests were cleared by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1939 to create alake for the soonto-be-designated state park

The Corps also built amilelong levee to encourage the low-lying acreage of chicot (or stumps in French) to retain water

The rains ﬁlled the leveed lowlands, it was stocked with ﬁsh, and Lake Chicot

was born Hindsight might question theecological logic of cutting down so many acres of trees to create astate park, which was ultimately being set aside for preservation of its forested beauty.However,the dictumofthe day was to create jobsduring the Great Depression,and so they did. Aportable sawmill turned the felled forest into lumber for useatthis andother state parks. Thankfully,nature has a way of working withour

TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

By ChristopherElliott

tendencies to trytocontrol her,and LakeChicot has becomehome to myriad forms of wildlife, while ﬁshing has becomeone of themain attractions of the statepark.

Likeanything man-made, thelake requires maintenance. Water control structures areroutinely utilized to lower thelake levels —helping to control the overgrowth of aquatic vegetation and improving ﬁsh habitat.Additionally,herbicides and biological con-

trols like salvinia weevils have been used to inhibit theovergrowthofnuisance plantslike giant salvinia. Call ahead with questions about lake levels during a visit.(Interested in learning about ways the state manages aquatic vegetation?Contact the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at 225-765-2800.)

Another main attraction is the Louisiana StateArboretum State Preservation Area, which is comprised of 600 acres within the state park set aside in 1961 as atree-focused botanical garden. It is asprawling outdoor classroom with

well-marked ﬂora and educational signage throughout its ﬁve and ahalf miles of hiking trails.

Anature center brings to focus the various habitats represented throughout the park and surrounding region and provides awealth of information about the surrounding environment.

The hiking trails throughout the arboretum and the park offer easy hills with morethan 200 feet of elevation change. These inclines might be ho-hum to visitors from higher grounds, but to us whose calves are more accustomed to the ﬂatlands of Louisiana, it is noticeable and fun.

There areafew sections of trails with boardwalks accessible to anyone using awheelchair.For added adventure plus expanded access, Chicot (and several otherstate parks) have all-terrain chairs available. Picture awheelchair with trackslike atank. These electric-poweredchairs arespecially designed to be usedondesignated

trails andcan be reserved in advance.

The lake, the arboretum and the hills are awonderfulway to spend timeimmersed in the natural beauty of Louisiana. As Iwas recently pulling my kayak out of the lake (with the help of ahiker whomagically appeared out of the woods to offer ahand —thank you again, ma’am),I watched acouple packing up their ﬁshing gear and asked, “What did you catch?” “Time—just agood time out on the lake —plus a bass and asac-a-lait, but we let those go.” For agood time out in the wilds, Ihear they’re catching out on Lake Chicot.

Know before yougo

n The closest grocery stores are in Ville Platte.

n Wheelchair accessible and/or pet-friendly cabins are available.

n Be tick aware, especially in the warmermonths. Research tactics foravoiding and dealing with ticks.

n The better sights for tent camping are on Loop Aand Loop Dinthe South Landing Campground.

n All-terrain chairs for trail accessibility must be reserved at least 48 hours in advance.

n For information on how to possibly use your library card to enhance your visit to our state parks, visit CheckOutLouisiana.org and ﬁnd out if your local library is one of the 19 public library systemsthat offers Geaux Explore backpacks which include afree park pass, binoculars, compass, magnifying glass, bird guide, wildlifeguide, trees and wildﬂower guide.

Airlinemixes up ticket names, requires abig feetoﬁx

Christopher Elliott

I’m trying to getarefund for a ticket on ITA, and I’m hoping you can help me.We had tickets on ITA to flyfrom Dallas to Barcelona to catch acruise. My grandson, Jacob,could not makethe cruise, so four months before our departure, Icalled ITAtocancel his flight Just before our departure, I checked the remaining three passengers and Ifound out Jacob had not been canceled by ITA. Instead, it had canceled one of the other passengers who wasgoing on the

cruise. Instead of simply changing the name on the reservation (Jose instead of Jacob), ITAforced me to spend another $604 andrefunded Jacob’sticketwhichwas much less ($268).

This cancellationmistake was ITA’s, not mine. Iamrequesting arefund of the $335 differenceincost between the original andreplacement tickets. Icalled ITAand they told me that someone wouldcontact me that day, but they never did.Can you help? —Jose Portela,Dallas

ITAshouldhave canceled the correct ticket,but if it didn’t, it should have ﬁxed

theticket quickly

Youcould have avoided this problem entirely.It looks like you called ITA to makethe cancellation. That’sabsolutely ﬁne, but ITAalso allows you to cancel areservation by sending an email tobookingschangesrefunds@itaairways.com. Why would you want to do that? Because you’ll have a paper trail of the cancellation with the correct name of the passenger on the canceled ticket. It looks like thecall center agent misunderstood your request and canceled the wrong ticket.

Another thing you could have done was tocarefully review theemail ITAsent you withthe cancellation conﬁrmation. This would contain the correct information

To be extra sure, you could have checked the other reservations to ensure they were still active. That’ssomething Iwould highly recommendifyou trytocancel by phone.

You’re absolutely right, thebest solution would have been for ITAto change the name on theactivereservation to thecorrect one. Butairlines claim

Mourning or acelebration of life?

there are security reasons whythat isn’tallowed. Personally,I believe there are also money reasons —because at least in your case, ITAinitially beneﬁted from its own error

I’mnot surprised ITA didn’tcall you back when it said it would. I’ve heard that promise so manytimes from customer service agents, and I’msure it’s just away to get you off the phone. I’ve never gotten a call back within 24 hours, and Idon’tknow of anyone whohas.

Youcould have appealed this to one of the ITAex-

ecutive contacts Ipublish on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. Abrief,polite email might have persuaded the airline to refund you the fare difference. Icontacted the airline on your behalf,and ITAissued arefund of the fare difference plus a$150 future trip credit as an apology Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy anonproﬁt organization that helps consumerssolve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him on his site.

Dear Miss Manners: We are holding acelebration of life for my 28-year-old son at an airplane hangar.I’m saying “Wear anything!” because we want it to be about celebrating his life more than mourning his death. Iplan to wear white. Do you make adistinction between funerals and celebrations of life, or doyou believe mourning prevails regardless? Iamnot criticizing;beliefs are beliefs. Iguess I’m questioning my actions at awobbly time Gentle reader: Youraise an interesting question: Does a “celebration of life” require etiquette adjustmentsfroma funeral, which it is increasingly replacing?

Funerals used to be set rituals, usually religious ones. Eulogies were given by clergy members, who were unlikely to have known the deceased as well as their relatives and friends, and could inadvertently makemistakes —misattributing speciﬁc virtues, for example. Sometimes the eulogist was astranger, reducedtosaying things like “She loved life,” as if that were aunique characteristic. So the choice of eulogists turned to those who could speak

from close knowledge, and there were more and more speeches, sometimes followed by spontaneousremarksfrom other mourners. This format was far more evocative of the deceased, with speciﬁcexamples that rang true, rather than generalities that sometimes didnot.

When such talks exceeded the ceremonial part, theevent was renamed a“celebration of life.”

Miss Mannersunderstands that many,perhapsmost,people prefer this name. For one thing,itis alot more cheerful. But thereare dangers. Onethatmany people have noticed is that noteveryoneisgifted at this. There are sometimes declarationsofhow much the deceasedadmiredthe speaker. There have beentastelessjokes and revelations, andlengthy impositionsonthe patience of even the most bereaved

Butthere is another danger in thevery premise of acelebration of life: theattempt to banish sadness. So please do not mandatecheerfulness. This loss is a tragedy,and grief should not be made to seem out of place. You maysuccumb to it yourself. TheAmerican color of mourning is black, althoughthe code is only sporadically observed (except in cases of funerals for national ﬁgures).But Miss Mannersisnot going to say you should not wear white —a

mourning color in other cultures —ifitmakes you feel better

Dear Miss Manners: Iamblessed with awonderful doctor who is caring, highly intelligent, personable and who always has time for me. Ithank her for her care and personal concern for me at each visit Is there something else Ican do to show my appreciation? I am on amodest budget, but Ioften give gift cards (with anote) to mail carriers,janitors and other servicepeople who take pride in their work and go above and beyond their duties. Iassumemydoctor would have no need for the$20 grocery gift card Iusually use as athank-you. What would you suggest?

Gentlereader: What about giving her something priceless, which is what she has given you?

Not only would it ﬁt your budget,but it would cost you little effort because you have already done it.Just writeout the appreciation you have sent to Miss Manners and send it to your doctor

Send questions to Miss Manners at her website,www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@ gmail.com; or through postal mailtoMissManners, Universal Uclick,1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO64106.

Dear Heloise: recent letter in which the reader talked about using leftovers to makesoup made me chuckle as I’ve always done this. My family,however,is less delicate and has always called mine “garbage pail soup.” They also know that if they particularly like ameal I’ve prepared, they’d better enjoy it because they’ll never see it again. Inever have the same combination of leftovers! —Resourceful Mom, via email Resourceful Mom,I love leftovers, and your method of reusing them is terriﬁc. In aworld where so manygohungry and somedie for lack of food, we are lucky to have an abundance of food that we enjoy

Within thenext 24 hours, 21,00025,000 people worldwide will die from hunger,10,000 of which are children. Across the globe, 850 million people are undernourished. Just something to consider —Heloise Unwelcomeguests

Dear Heloise: In regards to the Wisconsin couple whodon’twant any moredrop-ins at their lake house, Iwould suggest the following idea: Setupdays with the friends who they want to come to their lake house, then set up aschedule of other available days when others may visit (aka those prone to drop

in). Then send this schedule out to these folks. This way, they know that they’re allowed to come but only on the available days, provided no one else has signed up forthose days. They can use aprogram such as SignUpGenius to manage it. —Martha M., GlenAllen,Virginia Martha, it was alittle morethan ascheduling conﬂict. It wasthe disrespect of their privacy,aswell as the expense and labor involved. Apparently,some people thought that because they were family or a close friend, they could drop in at anytime or drop off their children. There are days when none of us want company.Instead, we would rather just relax and enjoy the day without any noise, people or pets to look after and no dinners to prepare. We had acouple of letters saying that the letter was rude, but sometimes you need to take drastic action to get the message across to people whodon’tseem to be listening. The words “please call before you come” seem to go in one ear and out the other —Heloise Sticky cookie sheets

Dear Readers: To prevent atough cleaning from messy cookie sheets or baking pans, take these steps. Either line the cookie sheets with foil or parchment paper,oruse an oil-based spray.There is less cleaning to do after baking. —Heloise Send ahinttoheloise@heloise.com.

Cabinsfor

PHOTOSByCATHERINE S. COMEAUX Chicot StatePark was named after the chicots, or stumps, found throughout the Evangeline Parish swamp.

Hints from Heloise

Remembering bonds, competition at Camp Rivera

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

Dana Rivera said to expect chaos. And there was indeed chaos.

A week before Camp Rivera starts, Terrell Davis goes to his inlaws’ house in Broussard to help them set up for a weekend full of competitive, family fun.

Living room furniture is tucked into the garage, beds are made, couches are set up for sleeping, the fridge is stocked with drinks (both alcoholic and nonalcoholic) and the backyard is set up like an NCAA Division 1 track meet.

Teepees are set up in the living room for the grandkids All family members are equipped with matching T-shirts and camp-style canteens.

There are multiple game brackets happening across the backyard. Children scream with joy on swings A full buffet of Louisiana classics is set up in the kitchen and a full itinerary of activities. Competitions and games are listed for the family to play

Every year the camp brings the whole family together — Dana Rivera and her husband Jim, their four daughters, their husbands and nine grandkids ranging from ages one to 11.

The Rivera family started this tradition more than a decade ago as celebration of family and another a way to spend time together

The Riveras know a lot about celebrating family.

In January 2015, Dana and Jim’s son, Parker, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma After

EGGS

Continued from page 1D

make 10%.

Others have adjusted their menu prices or taken other cost-saving measures. At Fiery Crab, two eggs used to be $2, but now it’s $4.

At Fork N Spoon, the restaurant hasn’t changed its prices yet, but according to manager Samantha Abshire, the staff switched from buying extra-large eggs to large eggs. The staff also buys their eggs from Walmart instead of their regular food distributor now it’s actually cheaper that way.

The run on chickens

In March, wholesale egg prices fell rapidly, prompting some to ask if the price hike was partially due to egg producers limiting supply to keep prices up. This led the Justice Department to open an investigation into possible egg gouging. According to reporting by The New York Times, consumers may not feel those price drops until after the grocery stores’ current inventory sells out, or not at all if grocery stores choose not to pass savings on to consumers.

Grandchildren have their own games to play during the weekend of Camp Rivera in Broussard.

ä For more pictures, GOTO THEADVOCATE.COM

treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, Parker rallied, but 18 months after his diagnosis, he died unexpectedly

The family’s attention to detail and resourcefulness has brought the camp to life, according to Dana Rivera. Everybody has a cabin number and has to check in on Friday and check out on Sunday

Each year, Dana Rivera requires family members to sign a document saying they had not taken any performance-enhancing drugs before the prime-time competition — all in good fun, of course.

Ax-throwing (foam axes for all), darts (also made of foam and plas-

tic), giant Connect Four, cornhole, costume competitions and more ﬁll the action-packed schedule. The kiddos have scheduled nap times, a s’mores social and planned meal times.

Eight years in, some events have been removed from the family games (for various reasons):

n Musical chairs got a little violent. The family’s competitiveness caused a few too many mishaps

n They stopped doing trivia because some claimed it was too focused on books — and Ally Romero, a teacher, simply knows too much about books for the game to be fair

n Lip syncing was not for the faint of heart. Many battles with stage fright (and glorious moments of the family in colorful wigs) ended the “best karaoke challenge.”

Other games, like creating the best Lego tower, making Kentucky Derby-style hats and play-dough creations, were simply removed from the game schedule because they wanted something new

Healthy competition

The backyard games are a mix of protests, shouts of triumph and cries of loss, ruckus about toes stepping over clearly marked white lines in the grass and extreme athletic focus.

Terrell Davis, the long-winning champion, stared at the giant Connect Four tower for two minutes after his unprecedented loss to 16th seed Ally Romero. And true to Dana Rivera’s word, chaos did ensue as many family members ran around in circles with their arms above their heads, cheering with glee for the unexpected win.

“It’s because I was holding my kid,” Davis said. “He was like a counterweight and threw off my game.”

However, when nap time started for the kids, the adults gathered together to talk about future plans — the competitive edge loosening just slightly

They discussed their next trip to Memphis, a trip they make every year for the St. Jude run and for Parker’s birthday in June. They debated the designs of the camp Tshirts and reminisced about times together at LSU and UL tailgates. Giving back to St. Jude

Every year, Dana Rivera organizes a big event in Broussard for St. Jude — they raised $30,000 last year alone.

shipment of chickens: more than 400 day-old chicks sent in cardboard boxes via USPS. Buquoi said he had to put in his chick orders for the entire year by November, before egg prices began to soar In years past, he’s been able to add to the orders to adjust to demand.

This year what they ordered is what they got.

“If there’s anyone here not for poultry, you can come on in!” Buquoi hollered right as they were opening. Only a couple of people got out of line.

Sara and Rebecca Spears arrived at 5:40 a.m. They just started raising chickens this year, partially motivated by the high price of eggs. They own 11 chickens and planned to buy ﬁve more.

“It’s a new little hobby for us,” Sara Spears said.

But they weren’t first in line.

“We can never repay St. Jude for what they did for our family,” Dana Rivera said. “We’ll always give back when we can.”

The Riveras invite everyone in the neighborhood, and Jim Rivera makes a giant pastalaya for the event.

The family also participates in the St. Jude run two weeks before Christmas each year They stay at the Peabody where everyone from the bellhops to the managers know them.

On the weekend they said goodbye to Parker Rivera, the Rivera family (in true Louisiana fashion) invited all of their friends and family to the Peabody bar to celebrate his life.

The Peabody, after protests from the Riveras, covered the entire tab for the family

Now, the Riveras are regulars at the iconic Memphis hotel and make a point to see the ducks ride the elevator to the rooftop with the duck master Parker Rivera was an honorary duckmaster at one point while he was receiving treatment at the hospital.

As the family lounged on the beautiful Louisiana spring day, they were already making plans to see each other again, even though the games were far from complete and the winner not yet announced.

“It’s just nice,” Dana Rivera said. “To have all this family, all this joy, here in one place every year.”

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@theadvocate. com.

the cost of raising chickens still outweighs the price of eggs, even if they’re $9 a dozen. Still, that doesn’t stop people from wanting to try to raise chickens, increase their ﬂocks or get into the egg-selling business themselves. However, the price of chicks has gone up as well.

Buqoui said the hatchery has raised its prices by $1 per chick over the last year, and four of the so-called “chicken tenders” from the Outpost line interviewed for this article agreed that prices at the Outpost have nearly doubled: from $4 per chick to $8 for some breeds.

Locally, Anthony Buquoi, owner of Outpost Feed and Outdoors in Walker, said there’s been a surge in interest in owning chickens at home. As an animal feed/supply store, Outpost receives shipments of baby chicks and other poultry animals every Thursday Usually, they get a shipment of chicks and have them throughout the week. Now, they sell out within the day, usually within an hour

CARRIERS

Continued from page 1D

But Jocque cut his chops at Thursday night jam sessions at the Offshore Lounge, owned by zydeco legend Roy Carrier Carrier’s own sons, which include Grammy winner Chubby Carrier, were regulars, too.

“It was just us, basically rehearsing,” said Chubby Carrier in a video interview with Lafayette Travel. “But people come in, get a beer or two, and go on about their business

“But people started hearing about it — ‘I understand y’all started playing at the club on Thursdays,’” he said. “… A lot of musicians playing today, that wasn’t playing music, or zydeco music, learned at my daddy’s club.”

That legacy takes center stage at “A Carrier Family Celebration” from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 27, at the Yambilee Building in Opelousas. Generations of accordionists, including Chubby, Troy “Dikki Du” Carrier, Deontae Carrier and Dwight Carrier, along with rubboard player Laura “Zydeco T” Carrier, will perform.

Roy Carrier, who died in 2010, will be inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He entertained fans at home and along the East Coast with hits like “Whiskey Drinking Man,” “I’m Coming Home to Stay” and “What You Gonna Do with a Man like That.” Other weekend activities include a family reunion, genealogy presentation and a musical instrument drive for students. The Opelousas celebration will

The current situation isn’t as bad as during the COVID lock-

also be the ﬁrst public performance in Louisiana for 87-yearold Andrew Carriere, who lives in Oakland, California. He is a living link to Carriere Brothers, an inﬂuential Creole music duo of his father Bebe’ and uncle Eraste Carriere.

The Carriere Brothers were popular in early 20th century house dances called “La La,” where an acoustic, accordionﬁddle sound laid the foundation for zydeco. The brothers were recorded on a 1977 album, “La La: Louisiana Black French Music,” with extensive liner notes by folklorist Nick Spitzer

The album contains their original song “Blue Runner,” a driving, instrumental two-step that is now considered a zydeco standard. One side of the album features the Lawtell Playboys, with Eraste Carriere’s son, ﬁddler Calvin Carriere

The celebration also serves as a fundraiser for the forthcoming documentary, “Zydeco by Birth.”

Wayne Kahn, Roy Carrier’s longtime producer at Right on Rhythm Records in Washington, D.C., has compiled current interviews and rare home videos to illustrate the family’s heritage. Find more details at zydecobybirth.com

Congrats to the Carriers on their time to shine as one of the ﬁrst families of zydeco and Creole music.

Herman Fuselier is executive director of the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission. A longtime journalist covering Louisiana music and culture, he lives in Opelousas. His “Zydeco Stomp” show airs at noon Saturdays on KRVS 88.7 FM.

down, Buquoi said, but since midFebruary when the store got its first shipment, Outpost had 40-60 people in line wrapped around the building waiting for the store to open its doors at 8 a.m. In midMarch, the staff had to implement a five-chicken-per-breed rule for the first time because people were buying up all the chickens.

On the last Thursday in March, Outpost had a larger-than-usual

CURIOUS

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stories concerned a Basque community in eastern New Orleans that apparently terrorized a unit of British troops leading up to the Battle of New Orleans. They were angry with the Brits for disrupting their livelihoods with all of that conﬂict and went all loup garou on them.

“What aroused my interest most was the Basque reference, as I was completely unaware of Basque history in New Orleans.”

Making their mark

Several prominent Basques have made their mark on the city

In a 2011 story in The TimesPicayune, a New Orleans Basque historian named Michel-Antoine Goitia-Nicolas said famed pirate and smuggler Jean Laﬁtte, known for helping defend New Orleans during the War of 1812, was of Basque heritage.

While today the inﬂuence of this group is less well-known, traces of this identity can be found through last names.

Goitia-Nicolas attributed Basque origin to family names like Barbe, Begue, Chachere, Charbonnet, Gayarre, Goyeneche, Lacombe, Lemoyne, Mandeville and Marigny

Brittany Powell Kennedy, senior professor of practice in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Tulane University agreed.

“I think you probably have a lot of New Orleanians who have what they consider to be very strange last names that they think might be Spanish or

Randy Avara, who lives in Walker, was ﬁrst. He arrived at the Outpost at 4:45 a.m. to ensure he got the breeds he wanted.

“It’s not cheaper to raise chickens,” he said. “The price of eggs are going down, but what they don’t realize is chickens need to be 18 weeks (old) before they can lay.”

That fact, combined with the price of feed, the pen, heating lamps for the chickens and other labor/chicken costs means that

French, but that are probably Basque,” Kennedy said. Straddling foreign borders

The region itself, an autonomous community called Basque Country, straddles the border between France and Spain, with four of its seven historic provinces located in northern Spain and three provinces in southwest France. People of this region, used to life on the ports, were attracted to New Orleans’ booming maritime industry

Kennedy said steady Basque migration into New Orleans occurred during the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), when rapid-ﬁre industrialization led to ships making frequent journeys to the Port of New Orleans.

Flocks, whether kept at home or in commercial poultry farms, are still susceptible to the same bird ﬂu that caused the egg shortage. Backyard chickens are also often targeted by natural predators like foxes and possums. It remains to be seen what will happen to retail egg prices for the rest of 2025 Some economists say there’s reason to hope for a return to normal, while others, like the USDA project, say it might get worse. Meanwhile, in Baton Rouge, the worst of the scramble for eggs is over (easy).

Email Serena Puang at serena. puang@theadvocate.com.

ment business Zatarain’s, was another notable Basque inﬂuencer

Kennedy said Zatarain identiﬁed as a Spanish Basque, and had ties to the Pasai area, his family’s original home. Others from the region have quietly built up the New Orleans port and shipping industry, living and working in the coastal south.

Kennedy described Basque immigrants in the 19th century as predominantly Catholic, insular and proud of their culture. The Basques are one of the oldest cultures in Europe, with roots in the Basque Country going back thousands of years.

“They’re seafarers,” Kennedy said. “They’re fishermen, and Basque fishermen find their way to various parts of the Americas throughout their history, the earliest being in Newfoundland in the 17th century

“You have a lot of immigration from Basque country There’s a part of it that’s on the Spanish side, and there’s part of it that’s on the French side. Both sides have immigrants for different reasons, but also just ﬁshing and shipping.”

“There’s a massive port in the Basque country New Orleans was, and still is, one of the biggest ports in the U.S. And so a lot of Basque ﬁshermen, speciﬁcally Basque shipmen, end up here and stick around.”

Building up industry

Kennedy said Emile Zatarain Sr., who built the spice and condi-

“They have their own language which is not related to any other language in the world,” Kennedy said. “It’s a language isolate. And they’re very proud of the fact that they’ve managed to preserve this language.”

Kennedy said Basque culture was likely clouded because American and British people living in the city probably classiﬁed people from the region as simply French or Spanish, without grappling with the complexities of their identity

“I really think it’s kind of a testament to when we think about the various groups that have been in the city,” Kennedy said. “There are just a ton of inﬂuences, and maybe there are some that we don’t see today.”

Do you have a question about something in Louisiana that’s got you curious? Email your question to curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and the city where you live.

Zatarain

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Owner Anthony Buquoi walks by the line of dozens of customers wrapped around the building waiting to buy baby chicks at Outpost Feed and Outdoors in Walker

PHOTO By ROBIN MAy

AT THE TABLE

Stuffed piquillo peppers offer a taste of Spain

BY CATHERINE S COMEAUX Contributing writer

Cooking with others brings out stories.

The tales bubble up naturally while chopping and hovering over simmering pots together. While stufﬁng piquillo peppers with Beatriz Wayman in her Lafayette kitchen, she shared her method for creating this family-favorite recipe from Spain and the memories it stirred up — like being erroneously associated with terrorism as a ﬁfth grader, her mother’s poultry-inspired biology lessons and how an ’80s alt-rock band helped shape her family.

Wayman spent her early childhood in the Basque region of Spain, where she was born near the industrial port city of Bilbao. At the time, the region was in upheaval due to a separatist movement aggressively seeking independence from Spain. She recalled having to duck for cover when demonstrations would get out of hand, and plastic bullets would start ﬂying.

“Growing up in the Basque region taught me to never judge an individual by the group,” Wayman said, recalling being taunted while on vacation because her family was from the Basque country Kids would call out, “Look, here come the terrorists!” To distance themselves from the mayhem of the separatist movement, her family moved to a small town in the nearby region of Navarre while Wayman was still young.

Navarre, speciﬁcally the area around Lodosa, is known for its piquillo peppers, which trace their horticultural beginnings to South America, but, as a result of centuries of cultivation are considered a native Spanish variety When roasted and pickled, the bird-beak-shaped peppers are brilliant red and mildly sweet.

Healthy foods, never from a can

As we stuff our mirlitons here in the South with a variety of concoctions, so too the Spanish have many ways to stuff their piquillo peppers — like with a shrimp and mushroom combo or with salted cod and leeks. Wayman stuffs hers with beef and pancetta, pours a homemade bechamel sauce on top, and then scatters the dish with Parmesan before

By The Associated Press

Today is Sunday, April 13, the 103rd day of 2025

There are 262 days left in the year Today in history

On April 13, 1997, 21-yearold Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, ﬁnishing a record 12 strokes ahead of Tom Kite in second place.

On this date: In 1743, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was born in Shadwell in the Virginia Colony In 1861, Fort Sumter in

baking

The Spanish cuisine Wayman grew up with was simple, not as spice-ﬁlled or ﬂavor intense as what we are accustomed to in south Louisiana.

Her mother focused on serving healthy foods, never serving anything from a can. She bakes her stuffed piquillo peppers with a light, homemade tomato sauce poured on top

One of Wayman’s fondest childhood memories involves watching her mother ready a chicken for roasting, pulling out the innards and explaining each piece.

“It was like a biology lesson,”

she said The family would buy fresh milk early each week, reserving the cream for baking a vanilla cake for Sunday dessert. Wayman and her siblings would routinely beg for a taste as the cake cooled, but they were repeatedly told no, and that they would have to wait until the next day

“But, what if we die tonight?!” they’d cry They didn’t die. Wayman went on to become a brooding teenager and fall in love with the music of The Smiths. While ﬂuent in Spanish and French, she was desperate to learn the meaning of English lyrics like, “I am human, and I need to be loved.” So she went to London as an au pair, where she

began to understand Morrissey’s crooning.

After earning a degree in accounting, she found that production planning and purchasing excited her more. When the company she worked for in Spain was looking to expand in the Southern U.S., noting her English language skills, she was sent to Alabama where she met her husband. Following a job opportunity, they moved to Lafayette several years ago. She tells her children, “You’re

in this world because of The Smiths.”

She currently works as a logistics business development manager — a sort of travel agent for freight — in charge of finding the most efficient way to ship a wide variety of goods from popcorn to roller coasters. Wayman pointed out that Piquillo de Lodosa peppers have denomination of origin status (similar to how only bubbly wine from the Champagne region of France may be sold as “Champagne,” only piquillo peppers grown in the specified areas of Navarre, may be sold as Piquillo de Lodosa.) The more affordable piquillo peppers readily available in U.S. stores typically originate in Peru — still just as vibrant and delicious. Try them with her recipe, ask a friend to help, and see what stories come up.

Stuffed Piquillo Peppers

Serves 10-12; Recipe by Beatriz Wayman

4 jars (approximately 48 ounces) piquillo peppers in water 2 small onions, chopped fine and

stir over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes as the meat mixture thickens.

7. Remove meat mixture from heat and let cool until manageable.

8. While meat cools, make the bechamel sauce by sauteing 1/2 cup onion in olive oil until caramelized. Add 1 clove crushed garlic and saute for about 30 seconds.

9. Add reserved peppers and sauté over medium heat, 1-2 minutes.

10. Add reserved pepper water and bring to a boil, stir, then reduce heat.

11. Stir in 16 ounces heavy cream and continue stirring for about 3-5 minutes as sauce slightly thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.

12. Remove sauce from heat and pour into a free-standing blender or suitable container for an immersion blender Blend until all ingredients are incorporated and set aside.

13. Stuff peppers with approximately 1-2 tablespoons of meat mixture each, being careful not to overstuff Place peppers in a single layer, dividing between two oven-proof casserole dishes.

14. Pour sauce over peppers and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

15. Bake for about 15 minutes until hot and bubbly

16. Serve with a sprinkling of parsley Pairs well with pinot noir, a crunchy baguette and a green salad.

Recipe tips:

n Piquillo peppers can be found at Fresh Market, typically in 11 or 12-ounce jars.

1. Drain the peppers, retaining the pepper water Lay the pep-

out on a tray and pat dry Set

5-6 peppers (the broken ones and their pieces will do).

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Saute 1 cup chopped onions in olive oil. Add 2 cloves garlic and pancetta, then continue to saute as the pancetta releases its fat.

4. Add ground meat and saute until cooked.

5. Sprinkle ﬂour over ground meat, stir over medium heat to cook the ﬂour for about 3-5 minutes.

6. Add 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, salt, pepper, optional nutmeg and milk. Continue to

n When adding salt, take into consideration the sodium content of the jarred peppers, which can range from 40-310 milligrams.

n This recipe makes a large batch of stuffed peppers. Extras can be frozen either before baking or after When ready to cook frozen unbaked peppers, bake them straight from frozen, adding extra baking time. When ready to reheat frozen baked peppers, allow them to thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.

n If you end up with leftover peppers, toss them in a salad, or saute them with olive oil and garlic to be served as a side with steak.

n If you end up with leftover meat, serve it in a wrap or over pasta with a red sauce.

South Carolina fell to Confederate forces in the ﬁrst battle of the Civil War.

In 1873, members of the pro-White, paramilitary White League attacked Black state militia members defending a courthouse in Colfax Louisiana; three White men and as many as 150 Black men were killed in what is known as the Colfax Massacre, one of the worst acts of Reconstruction-era violence.

In 1943, President Franklin D Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial in Washington on the 200th anniversary of his birth

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the ﬁrst Black performer to win an Academy Award for acting in a leading role for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.”

In 1999, right-to-die advocate Dr Jack Kevorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, Michigan, to 10 to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a patient with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. (Kevorkian ultimately served eight years before being paroled.)

In 2005, a deﬁant Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to

ern Afghanistan with the GBU-43/B MOAB “mother of all bombs,” the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the military Today’s birthdays: Singer Al Green is 79. Actor Ron Perlman is 75. Singer Peabo Bryson is 74. Bandleaderdrummer Max Weinberg is 74. Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov is 62. Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III is 61. Actor-comedian Caroline Rhea is 61. Actor Rick Schroder is 55. Actor Glenn Howerton is 49. Actor Kelli Giddish is 45. Singer-rapper Ty Dolla $ign is 43. Actor Allison Williams is 37. TODAY IN HISTORY

carrying out the deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three other attacks in back-to-back court appearances in Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta.

In 2009, at his second trial, music producer Phil Spector was found guilty by a Los Angeles jury of second-degree murder in the shooting of actor Lana Clarkson. (Later sentenced to 19 years to life, Spector died in prison in January 2021.)

In 2011, A federal jury in San Francisco convicted baseball slugger Barry Bonds of a single charge of

obstruction of justice but failed to reach a verdict on the three counts at the heart of allegations that he knowingly used steroids and human growth hormone and lied to a grand jury about it. (Bonds’ conviction for obstruction was overturned in 2015.)

In 2016, the Golden State Warriors became the NBA’s ﬁrst 73-win team by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 125104, breaking the 72-win record set by the Chicago Bulls in 1996.

In 2017, Pentagon ofﬁcials said U.S. forces struck a tunnel complex of the Islamic State group in east-

Beatriz Wayman bakes her stuffed piquillo peppers with a light, homemade tomato sauce poured on top.

PHOTOS By CATHERINE S COMEAUX

Beatriz Wayman’s piquillo peppers are stuff with beef and pancetta, with a homemade bechamel sauce on top, and then covered with Parmesan cheese before baking

BETWEEN THEPAGES WITH MEL HARRISON

In sixthAlexBoydthriller, author takesreaders to N.O.

BY JUDYBERGERON Staff writer

Mel Harrison is aworld traveler and, fortunately for readers, so is Alex Boyd.

Amid the twists and turns of each installment of the “An Alex Boyd Thriller” series, one is taken on atrip through Egypt, England and Italy,among other stops abroad.

It only adds to the entertainment level as Boyd and partner Rachel Smith are plunged into perplexing, page-turning,lifeor-death assignments as special agents. If areader is new to this sixbook series, it’sOKto start with the New Orleansset “Crescent City Carnage,” according to Harrison. “I deliberately wrote the series so that each book can standalone. Having each book set in adifferent country helpsthis approach,” the author said.“However,ifareader wants to see the growth of Alex and Rachel, both as individuals as well as in their relationship, then they should start at the beginning, ‘Deathin Pakistan,’ and then move forward.”

We caught up withthe author to see what else he had to say about hisbooks and his life.

This Q&A was edited for length and clarity

Are you anative of New Orleans, or have youlived there at some point?

Iamnot anative of New Orleans, but my wife is. She was raised in Mid-Cityand went to Tulane. Iﬁrst visited New Orleans in 1975 while stillinthe Foreign Service and immediately loved the city’sarchitecture,food and the sense of history that theresidents felt. Over the years, we have lived in the FrenchQuarter,the Garden District and in Covington Your books’ main characters,Alexand Rachel, seem patterned after you and your wife. Did that makecharacter development

easier or moredifficult?

Alex Boyd, my protagonist, is patterned after my own career as aspecialagentwiththe Diplomatic Security Service. In the books, he is assigned to the same places where Iserved. Naturally, Iembellished thestorylines and dangers that he faces to create excitingscenes for my readers. This madecharacterdevelopment relatively easy,although Imust saythat Alexistougher than me andspeaks morelanguagesthan Ido.

As for Rachel Smith, his wife, sheisaﬁctional creation.

My own wife is not nearly as tall as Rachel, nor does she have martial arts skills. She is, however, as smart and beautiful as Rachel. Because Rachel is ﬁctional, Ihad to create what thereaders might like in afemale character who is brilliant and athletic —and has apersonality that candominate most people.

Can you elaborate on what ledtoyour receiving two high governmental honors?

In separate years, Ireceived both the State Department’s Award for Valor and the worldwide Security Ofﬁcer of the Year while serving in athree-year assignmentinIslamabad, Pakistan The assignment was very dangerous for all Americans in the U.S. Embassy.The threat of terrorism andmob violence was high.

As for the Award for Valor while servingasthe senior regional security ofﬁcer at theembassy in Islamabad, 8,000 rioters attacked theAmerican Cultural Center.Iand afew other embassy staff were presentinthe center during themulti-hourattack We fought off therioters, who hadbrokenall of the building’s windows, tried unsuccessfully to force their way intothe center, andset ﬁre to theembassy motorpool cars outside

As for theSecurity Ofﬁcer of theYear award, that was for sustained performance over the prioryear operating in an environment ofterrorist threats, actual bombingsand violent demonstrations.

Walk us throughyourchoice of New

Orleansasthe setting at this point in the series.

Ialways set my books in places that Iknow well. Having lived in New Orleans several times,Ifelt the city offered avariety of things that could makeanexcellent settingfor a thriller

The city’sculture and history are unique in America, as can be seen through thevoices of its residents. The level of violence in certain areas and at certain times can be signiﬁcant and adds danger to thestory. The food is unparalleled and its architecture is afeast for the eyes.

Also, oneofmygoals in writing the series was to expose readers to thereal world of the U.S. State Department’sDiplomatic SecurityService, aservice that is represented around theworld in about 250 locations. Butitalso has domestic ﬁeld ofﬁces across America handling criminal investigationsand VIP protection.

What were someofthe essential things you had to getcorrect when setting your storyinthe Big Easy?

When Iﬁrst conceptualized writing “Crescent City Carnage,” set in theBig Easy,Iknew Iwanted the murdered victim to be a ForeignService ofﬁcer of African American Creole descent. Yet, Iknew little of theCreole heritage and culture.

Ispent hours talking to afew lifelong residents of New Orleans and many more hours researching information. Of course, Ihad lived in New Orleans several times,soIalso drew upon personal knowledge as well. For other essential things, like restaurants, streetsand locations, Idoublechecked what Ihad remembered, and then triple-checked them during my last vacation to the city

When did you first becomeinterested in writing?

Ihave always been an avid reader of action-adventure books, commonly called thrillers. Toward theend of my 28-year career,Ibecame interested in

writing aseries based upon adventures that Ihad experienced. Where Ilive now,there are several creative writing clubs, so turning my ideas into action-packed novels was ano-brainer

Where do yousee AlexBoydgoing from here?

In my six-book series, Alex Boydhas increased his responsibilities and gained senior rank. Eventually,I will have to place him at the pinnacle of the Diplomatic Security Service. But before that happens, Iwill have him facing different and more dangerous threats overseas.

Meanwhile, Rachel Smith, his wife, is approaching ambassadorial rank, having moved on from being asenior press and political ofﬁcer.Thisisareal-world conundrum in the Foreign Service when aworking couple are both skilled and are outstanding ofﬁcers.

Youhavetraveled to so manyplaces where do you still want to go?

My wife and Ihave visited

about 120 countries and lived/ worked forseveral years each in six of them, plus one of us has worked in another 20 countries formany months at atime. In the future, my wife will prefer to explore new places we have not yet visited, while Iprefer to return to our old haunts in Italy,France and the UK. Who are the authors youfollow or who inspire you?

Ilearned my craft from reading authors whowrite great thrillers such as James Patterson, David Baldacci, Nelson DeMille and Harlan Coben. But there are so manyothers whoI also read, such as Stieg Larsson, Robert Parker, Lee Child and Vince Flynn. Ialso gain inspiration from Ernest Hemingway,John le Carré, and in early times, from Agatha Christie, Alastair McLean and Ian Fleming. It is impossible to list all whohave inﬂuenced what Iwrite.

Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate.com.

Newmemoirraisesdebateabout future of magazines

When The Atlantic editorJeffrey Goldberg arrived in Louisiana last month to speak at the New Orleans Book Festival, he needednointroduction.

Even those who don’treadhis magazine have come to know about Goldberg, who became part of anational controversy when he was accidentally included on messages shared by members of the Trump administration while they planned military strikes in Yemen.

Wiser people have already covered that issue, which Iwon’t rehash here. But Goldberg’s recent prominence in the headlines and his Book Fest visit afﬁrmed an often overlooked reality: Though magazines are frequently lamented as media relics, The Atlantic continuesto play an important role in national life. That’show Goldbergwas included, however clumsily,ina keyconversation among Wash-

DannyHeitman AT RANDOM

ington’skey players. He’sasomebody,the kind of ﬁgurelisted among the contacts of the inﬂuential I’ve been thinking about this while reading Graydon Carter’s newmemoir,“When the Going WasGood.” It’sachatty and convivial reminiscence, walking us through Carter’syounger days at Time, then editing the humor magazine Spy and VanityFair The book’ssubtitle, “An editor’s adventures during the last golden age of magazines,” tells youall youneed to know about Carter’s views on the state of periodical

journalism.Clearly,hethinks the salad days of magazines are behind him There are reasons to be glum. Time, Carter’sformer workplace, clearly isn’twhat it used to be, and the rise of online culture has complicated the fortunes of legacy publications such as Esquire. The penultimatechapter of Carter’smemoir,titled “The Golden Age Begins to Tarnish,” revisitsacorporate shake-up that nudged him to leave Esquire. Carter isn’tthe only magazine veteran tosound an elegiac note about the future of magazines. In his 2023 memoir,“The Noise of Typewriters,”Time stalwart Lance Morrow was equally funereal, speaking of his witness to the magazine’s“waning days.” But The Atlantic’sexperience thesedays paints amorehopeful picture.

Lastyear,The Wall Street Journal reported that The Atlantic

is proﬁtable, and its newsroom is growing. Under Goldberg, the magazine is getting back to basics, with afocus on solid reporting and stellar content. While

still publishing print issues, the magazine has also used its online platform to offer an expanded menu of stories and commentary Notably,inamedia world that’s often deeply polarized, The Atlantic’sopinion writers publish policy critiques aimed at both the right and left. The magazine is also committedtothe oldfashioned notion that readers should be willing to pay for quality content.

After hitting The Atlantic’s paywall last year,Ibought asubscription to keep up with Arthur C. Brooks, who writes alively columnfor the magazine on the art of happiness. As for Carter,hemust not really believe that the age of magazines is done. Since leaving Esquire, he’sstarted another magazine called Air Mail.

Email Danny Heitman at danny@ dannyheitman.com

Harrison

BUSINESS

TURMOIL TRADEIN

BY TIMOTHY BOONE Business editor

A week and a half of wild gyrations in the stock market has left Louisiana investors feeling shaken. Stocks plunged after President Donald Trump announced far-reaching new tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners on April 2, part of an effort he said would shift manufacturing back to America and punish countries he said were taking advantage of taxpayers. Then, on Wednesday, the S&P 500 had its best single day since the 2008 ﬁnancial crisis, soaring 9.5% after Trump backed down, pausing nearly all the tariffs for 90 days.

But that Wednesday rally was followed by a drop Thursday Uncertainty has remained high, and whipsawing markets have left everyone from global CEOs to penny-pinching retirees questioning what’s ahead for the economy and ﬁnancial markets. But local financial experts, who acknowledged there were moves investors could make to shore up their portfolios, largely offered one piece of advice for stockholders: Stay the course, keep working toward personal ﬁnancial goals and don’t make any drastic moves. Amid Wall Street tension, ‘there’s a lot of uncertainty’ for Louisiana investors

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RICHARD DREW

Specialist Philip Finale works on the floor of the New york Stock Exchange. Stocks plunged after President Donald Trump announced farreaching tariffs on April 2. But on Wednesday, he backed down, pausing nearly all the tariffs for 90 days.

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL

Susan Bourgeois said there’s value in the company continuing to identify Monroe as its corporate headquarters and she’s gotten no indication that Lumen is packing up and shipping out. But she acknowledged the nature of the company’s presence in the state

Bourgeois

IRShas $1Bin 2021 taxrefunds.Could youbeowedsomemoney?

The IRS doesn’tusually have to make acase for people to grab their tax refund. Soon after ﬁling season opens, millions of taxpayers ﬁle their returns to collect their annual windfall

As of March 21, the IRShas processed more than 78 million returns with an average refund of $3,221, up 4.6% from thesame periodlastyear

But alot of taxpayers don’trealize they have money due to them. For the 2021 tax year,the IRS estimates over 1.1 million people nationwide have unclaimed refunds totaling more than $1 billion, with the median refund totaling $781. In Maryland, close to 23,000 taxpayers are due amedian refund of $827, according to the IRS. In New York, the agency said an estimated 73,000 people may be due a median refund of $995, one of the highest amounts.

The IRS is also reminding people to double-check whether they are entitled to the 2021 pandemic-related recovery rebate credit. This credit, worth $1,400, was part of atrio of economic impact payments and is separate from the unclaimed amount noted above.

But aparticularly important reason to not pass on ﬁling for 2021 was the plethora of tax

NewOrleans

eligible to receive the credit

By law,taxpayers usually have threeyears to claim arefund from the typical April ﬁling deadline.

Michelle Singletary

beneﬁts that were available in expanded form that year,according to IRS spokesperson Eric Smith.

“It’syour money,you should claim it,”Smith said.

Maybe you always ﬁle, but check withyour young adult children, friends and extended family members to make sure theyaren’t missing out on arefund they could use right now As the ﬁling deadline approaches, here’swhat you need to know about uncollected refunds.

Getthat returninbyTuesday.

Parents of achild born in 2021 who claim the child as adependent on their income taxreturn may be eligible to receive apandemic stimulus payment of up to $1,400.

Some people may not realize theyqualiﬁed for thepayment

For example, the IRS said taxpayers who added adependent —such as aparent, anephew or niece, or agrandchild —ontheir 2021 income tax return may be

PEOPLE IN BUSINESS

Loren Marino has been hiredbythe Port of New Orleans as vice president of externalaffairs and chief of staff.

Marino

Marino has held anumberofexecutive rolesinJefferson Parish government, most recently as senior assistant parish attorney.She wasalso chiefadministrativeassistant to the Parish President’sOfﬁce, directorof inspectionand code enforcement, and assistantdistrict attorney She earned abachelor’sineconomics from the University of Michigan and alaw degree from TulaneLaw School

Globalstar hasadded two employeestoits leadership team.

Tamer Kadous will head theterrestrial spectrum and network solutions business. He is aformer vice president of wireless engineering at XCOM Labs and senior directorofengineering at Qualcomm. He earned adoctorate in wireless communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madisonand is a graduate of the Wharton School’sGeneral Management Program.

Daaman Hejmadi will lead the wholesale satellite capacity business. Before joining Globalstar,Hejmadi held various executive positions, including vice president of engineering at Qualcomm and corporate vice president at Intel.

He earned abachelor’sinphysics/electronics from Sri Sathya Sai InstituteofHigher Learning, abachelor’s in computer scienceand engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, amaster’sincomputer science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and amaster’sinorganizational behaviorand ﬁnance from the University of California, Berkeley

INVESTORS

Continued from page1E

“You prepareclients well for the ebbs and ﬂows of themarketand any surprises that come along,” said Pete Bush, who manages $450 million at HorizonFinancial Group in Baton Rouge. “You build aportfolio to prepare for times like this.” Onepositivethingabout therecent market swings is that it shows the advantage of allocating assets. Bush said he had someclients come to his ofﬁce, expectingtosee a20% drop in theirinvestments. They were surprised to see the declineswere smaller than they feared. “Real estate,gold, value stocks, the big blue chips, they hung in well,” he said.

‘Holding theirbreath’ Trump’selection last year sparked ajump in stocks as investors hopedfor market-friendlypolicies like lower taxes andrelaxed regulations. But he also spoke about tariffs, and his decision earlier this month to call for sweeping tariffs on every major U.S. trading partner immediately prompted a market swoon. Mainstream economists said thetariffs would slow growth and boost inﬂation. Corporateleaders said they were preparing for lower spending. Some inﬂuential CEOs said arecession was likely Peter Ricchiuti, afinance professor at Tulane University,called Trump’stariffs “a self-inflicted wound” that upended aU.S. economy with record low unemployment and astock market comingoff two yearsofgains that exceeded 20%.

“This is the worst economic move of any presidential administration in the past 90 years,” said Ricchiuti, who tracks regional stocks across the South through the university’sBurkenroad Reports. To ﬁnd something with more

This means the three-year ﬁling window closes Tuesday

If people missedthe deadline, their money becomesthe propertyofthe U.S. Treasury

Here’show theIRS knows people are owed arefund.

The IRS examines theW-2 and 1099 formsand other third-party statements it receives from employers, banks and other sources to estimatethe average number of people who might be due arefund and the amount

Here’swho typically has an unclaimed refund.

Many low- and moderateincomeworkers maybeeligible for the earned incometax credit, which for 2021 wasworthas muchas$6,728 for taxpayers with qualifying children. The taxcredit helps individuals and families whose incomes fall below certain thresholds.

If you’re aparent and your child worked during the summer or school year in 2021, have them check whether arefund is due. Students or people working part-time maynot have earned enough, so they maynot have

Fool’sTake: Pfizer,a

dividend giant

been required to ﬁle areturn. Nonetheless, their employer may have taken out federal taxes. Refunds often result from overwithholding, meaning you gave the government more money than youowed. There’snofailure-toﬁle penalty if you’re due arefund. Don’tmiss outonextended credits for 2021.

The American Rescue Plan increased the amount of the Child TaxCredit while making it available for 17-year-old dependents and fully refundable for most families.

The credit itself isn’tnew.Itwas created in 1997 and has always been meant to help struggling families. Before 2021, though, the credit was worth up to $2,000 per eligible child. The law increased it for 2021 to as muchas$3,000 per child for dependents ages 6 through 17 and $3,600 for dependents ages 5and under —but just for 2021.

There was also more money funneled through the tax credit to help parents offset work-related child care expenses, while the tax credit for child and dependent care was temporarily increased from amaximum of $1,050 for one child and $2,100 for two or more children to $4,000 and $8,000. The credit was fully re-

LUMEN

Continued from page1E

fundable, which means you get arefund, even if it’smore than what you owe.

Youmay be able to claim the child and dependent care credit if you paid expenses for the care of aqualifying individual to enable you (and your spouse, if ﬁling a joint return) to work or actively look for work, according to the IRS.

Here’swhat you need to know to file a back-year return. Youcan obtain current- and prior-year tax forms and instructions by going to irs.gov and clicking the link for “Find forms &instructions.”

Keep in mind, however,that your 2021 tax refund maybeheld if you haven’tfiled tax returns for 2022 and 2023. Additionally,any refund could be applied to past due amounts you owethe IRS or astate agency.The money could be used to offset unpaid child support or other past-due federal debt. But at least the refund will help with this debt. So file. With the tax deadline rolling around soon, you maywant to find atax professional to help you complete apast return.

EmailMichelle Singletary at michelle.singletary@washpost. com.

Youmay know175-year-old pharmaceutical company Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) best for its COVID-19 vaccine,but investors have longknown thecompany as areliable dividend payer. Pfizer hasincreased its dividend for 16 straight years, andits dividend yield was recently a fat 7.1%,meaning that a$1,000 position in the stock would generate $71 over ayear Pfizer willlose patent exclusivity on several lucrative drugs over the next few years, but it still expects to deliver solid growth in the second half of this decade. Thanks in part to several acquisitions, it has multiple newgrowth drivers in its lineup, including migraine therapy Nurtec ODT(gained through its 2022 acquisitionof Biohaven Pharmaceutical)and cancer drug Padcev (picked up via the 2023 buyout of Seagen). With the Seagen acquisition, Pfizer believes it may produceasmanyaseight breakthrough drugs andadd $10 billiontoits sales by 2030. Happily for investors, Pfizer is generating enough cash flowtocover its dividend. In 2024, it paid $9.5 billionindividends, while generating over $9.8 billionoffree cash flow, notincluding $3 billionincash proceedsfrom selling most of its stake in British consumer health care companyHaleon.The stock is attractivelypriced, too; itsforward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio hasbeen in the single digits for awhile,and was recently below 8.3. (TheMotley Fool ownsshares of and recommends Pfizer.)

of anegative effect, he saidyou have to go back tothe policies of President Herbert Hoover that led to theGreat Depression.

Jude Melville, CEOofb1Bank, said theuncertaintyaround tariffs over thepast two monthshas led to fewer clients seeking loanscompared with the end of last year.But he said the recent movesbyTrump hadn’tyet raised thepossibilityof higherdefaults “It’snot off the charts and there are no materialsigns of credit degradation,” he said. “People are holding their breathfor asecond and seeingwherethingssort out.”

The market swings have not affected b1Bank’s operations or how it will invest capital, Melville said. Management looks at what decisions are best in thelong termand doesn’toperatebased on the dayto-day stock price. “But certainly, arising stock market gives you more options,” he said.

Trade, politics andstock trading

Localinvestment adviserssaid thatit’sbeen easy to tell their clients’ political leanings by how they’ve reacted to themarket swings. Trumpsupporters want to hold steady,while “never-Trump” Republicans and Democratsare more likely to see calamity ahead.

Butletting personal politics inﬂuence ﬁnancialmovesisn’tagood idea, they said

“Trump is the elephant in the room, but he’sthe elephant that won the election,” saidMickey Guidry,managingpartnerwith Altus WealthManagement in Baton Rouge. “That inﬂuenced theperception of what is going on.”

Guidry,who manages $900 million, said he’sbeen looking to keep clients diversiﬁed.That includes moving into small and mediumcap stocks, defensive stocks and those that pay dividends. Some examples of defensive stocksare pharmaceuticals,tobacco companiesand brewers.

“No matter what theeconomy is, people are going to drink beer and smoke cigarettes,” he said.

John Paul Caswell, president of Iron Horse Financial in Baton Rouge, saidwhile theﬂuctuations in stock prices are jarring, the only clients who are losing money arethose pulling outofthe market

“Nobody wantstosee adownturn in their401(k), but we’vebeenproactive in making calls and making sure our clients are comfortable,” he said.

The fact that the U.S. continues to add private sector jobs and oil prices arefalling suggests that the economycould remainresilient, Caswell said.

That,along with lower stock prices, could lead people to getinto the market. “For people whohave never invested, it’s agreat time to getin,” he said.

Caswell said some clients are watching themarket closely,ready to jump in

Thelingering question is what will happen next with tariffs. Will Trumpgoback to taking ahard line? Or is he using the threat of raising thecost of exporting goods to negotiate concessionsfrom trading partners?

Austin Zaunbrecher, head of investments andadvice in Louisiana for J.P.Morgan Private Bank, said theleast likely outcome is areturn to thetrade status quo.

“We’re talking to our clients to see what we candotomakethem more resilientinthe long term,” he said.

That involvesmaking investments in conservative, stablesectors,suchasinfrastructure,buying gold and rebalancingportfolios, moving out of stocks and into bonds.

“There’sa lot of uncertainty,”he said.

Email TimothyBoone at tboone@theadvocate.com.

“There isn’ta humanecosystemattached to the headquarters, which is not ideal for the local economy,”Bourgeois said. “People aren’tthere eating lunch or using the child care center down thestreet. It wouldbemuchbetter for Monroe to have that building full of people.” For its part, Lumen saysithas no plans to leave the state entirely.Mark Molzen,Lumen’s company spokesperson, said that Monroe “is our hometown” and it is committedtostaying in the state.

“Lumen has built and continues to invest in ournetwork,the backbone of theAIeconomy,and we engagewithstate leaders to explore opportunitiesthatsupporteconomic growth and innovation,” said Molzen, who is based in Phoenix.

‘Hybridisthe future’ Lumenwas founded in 1930 as asmall regionaltelephone company.Over the years, it grew through acquisitionsand mergers, rebranding alongthe way from Century TeltoCenturyLink to Lumen Technologies. At one point in the 2010s, it was the third-largest telecommunications company in the U.S.

In recent years, the company has shifted more of its operations to other cities, notably Denver, thehomebase of Qwestand Level 3Communications, large companies Lumen acquired.

But in 2015, the company nearly doubled thesize of its Monroe campus with the completion of a new, state-of-the-art ofﬁce building intended to accommodate morethan 1,000 employees.

The company received $23.8 million in grants from the state’s Mega-Project Development Fund and Rapid Response Fund to be paid over several years in return for creating 1,146 new jobs and retaining thecorporate headquarters through 2020.

Thedeal was later amended to extend through 2023. But during the pandemic, Lumen, like many tech companiesaround the country,moved to aremotework model.

“Due to our remote work model, we chose to forgo future incentives,” Molzen said. “Our corporateheadquarters remains in Monroe, and we take great pride in our presence here.”

Today, Lumen hasa “keyoperational presence” in Denver according to its website. In addition to theleaders in Denver,three other top executives are based in Seattle, where Tier 3, acompany Lumen acquired in 2014, waslocated.Two othersare in Toronto and California. Of Lumen’sC-suite leadership,its interimexecutive counsel and an executive vice president for mass markets are in Monroe.

The company no longer runs key departments like sales and marketing, accounting or human resources from Monroe. Molzen said since the remote work policy was implemented, “our functions are nottiedtospeciﬁc locations, allowing us to have employees performing work around the world.”

‘Upwardspiral’ Whenitcomes to corporate

headquarters, cities in Louisiana have been losing ground fordecades to places like Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennesse; and Atlanta. Still, as recently as the 1990s, severalhomegrown companies regularly appeared on the prestigious Fortune 500 list, including Tidewater,McDermott International, Freeport McMoRan, and Louisiana Land and Exploration. CenturyLink, now Lumen, Entergy and The Shaw Group joined the list in the early 2000s.

Today,Entergy and Lumen are the only two still based in the state.

Having theheadquarters of large companies, whetheronthe Fortune 500 list or not, matters to acityorregionfor many reasons, experts say “Corporate headquarters are catalysts forgrowth, innovation and community prosperity,” Elizabeth Huff, economic director of the SugarLand, Texas, Ofﬁceof EconomicDevelopment,wrote in atrade publication in 2024. It makes recruiting top talent easier,creating “anupwardspiral,” she added.

The presence of corporate executives in acommunity can also enhance civic life and makes it easier to raise philanthropic dollars.

“When you’re fundraising fora hospital or putting on aroad race for alocal charity,the ﬁrst door youknock on is the corporate CEO,” Tulane University professor Peter Ricchiuti said. Given Lumen’sgrowth through acquisitions andmergers over the years, Ricchiuti is not surprised that its presence in north Louisiana has diminished.

“When corporations merge, you often see them shift things around, relocate keypeople,” he said. “Theyall say it won’thappen. It does.”

Synergiesand opportunities

For themoment, Lumen continuestoleaseabout 50,000 square feet in thenewer of thetwo buildings it donated to ULMin2023. The lease runs until 2026. Mozen said the company will work with the landlord as the renewalapproaches “tomakethe best decision” abouthow to move forward. In the meantime, the university is working with LED on aplan to market thebuilding, according to Dan Robertson, whochairs the nonprofit ULM Facilities Corporation Board,the entity that was gifted the property Robertson said given the building’sfiberopticscapabilities, a likely use would be to leverage the planned artificial intelligence data center underconstruction forFacebook parent company Meta in nearbyRichland Parish and lease the space to arelated to atech company LED is involved in the discussions, according to Bourgeois, who said the availability of the buildings has caught the attention Gov. Jeff Landry andother officials.

“The size, quality and the way they were built makes the buildings an incredible but very unique asset,” Bourgeois said. “ULM and thestate areworking together to determine howwe market it forits highest and best use that serves ULM, the Monroe region and the state as awhole.” Email StephanieRiegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate. com.

THE COLOR OF MONEy

Motley Fool

Business leader says carbon capture vital to La. growth

BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer

When Gov Jeff Landry tapped W. Gray Stream last year to chair the newly created Louisiana Economic Development Partnership, the 45-year-old Lake Charles businessman was skeptical

In his years as president of the Stream Cos. and founder of Gulf Coast Sequestration, Stream has seen plenty of boards and commissions attempt unsuccessfully to tackle Louisiana’s many challenges. He knew that if the 11-member board of business leaders wanted to make a difference in its role providing advice to the state’s economic development team, it needed to break the mold.

After six months at the group’s helm, Stream is upbeat about the board’s progress. In March, it signed off on a new economic development strategy that aims to transform Louisiana into the most innovative economy in the South. Its goal is for Louisiana to have the highest wage growth in the region and positive net migration in all parts of the state Stream didn’t grow up in Louisiana, but his family has deep roots in the state, where the family business, Stream Cos., is among the largest landowners.

In 2018, he founded Gulf Coast Sequestration to develop a carbon capture and sequestration hub in Calcasieu Parish. In this week’s Talking Business, Stream discusses why carbon capture technology is necessary for Louisiana to grow, despite opposition from a small group of Republican lawmakers in the Legislature, and his role as chair of the new private sector board. Comments have been edited for length and clarity

Tell us about Stream Cos.

The Stream Cos. is a humble family business. It started out with land surveying, which turned into land acquisition around agriculture, cattle, timber and so forth. That turned into properties that had oil and gas production. And then it transitioned into other businesses as well: real estate devel-

Gray Stream, president of the Stream Cos and founder of Gulf Coast Sequestration, is leading the 11-member Louisiana Economic Development Partnership, which recently signed off on a new economic development strategy that aims to transform Louisiana into the most innovative economy in the South.

opment, hotels and other private businesses. We sometimes will try to help start things and grow them and exit. Others, like our wetlands company which has restored tens of thousands of acres of coastal wetlands and marshes — we hold onto. We are still very much, no pun intended, rooted in the land. We’re very connected to the dirt here in the state.

How much land do y’all have in your portfolio?

We don’t tend to talk about specific acreage, but it’s a low sixfigure acreage amount. So it’s a meaningful holding of primarily agriculture, timber and coastal properties.

What prompted you to create Gulf Coast Sequestration in 2018?

There is a very large amount of industrial activity that has a lot of emissions that need to be decarbonized. There were also industries that were looking to invest in

Louisiana, but if they didn’t have solutions to decarbonize their materials, they couldn’t get their ﬁnancing. We wanted to construct a solution so the industry that wanted to locate here didn’t have the uncertainty of waiting.

Meta, for instance, said they wanted low carbon power We have all this gas-ﬁred power which is low cost. Put carbon capture and sequestration on it, and it’s low carbon. That’s what we need. Anybody with logic sees that that’s if you’re trying to grow the economy, that this is a very elegant solution.

President Donald Trump has pushed for a return to traditional fossil fuels but thus far hasn’t announced cuts to federal tax credits that are key to financing carbon capture and sequestration projects.Where do Louisiana’s federal lawmakers stand on CCS? Who are your biggest advocates?

I think there’s been a positive level of support, but I don’t think our delegation is monolithic. You

have some who think that anything built on the basis of lowering greenhouse gas emissions is a misguided use of resources. You have some who think it’s a good thing and industry has to have solutions and this is the way to do it. I’ve been pleased with the support. I think the leaders of our delegation understand it well. On the Senate side, Sen (Bill) Cassidy has been so deeply involved in energy policy, and trying to ensure that we’re positioning ourselves in Louisiana for new energy technologies and being proactive about it.

You served as chair of Gov. Jeff Landry’s transition committee on Energy, Chemical and Maritime Industry policy, and also advised Gov John Bel Edwards’ Climate Initiatives Task Force. How do you think Louisiana should approach the energy transition? I’m personally an all-of-theabove guy I think that’s the only practical, pragmatic way to be. The energy transition is not a political

thing. Things are always evolving technologically The demand, particularly for electricity, is being driven up a steep curve. Typically, that’s being addressed with a hydrocarbon-based resource and that’s going to continue to be the case. At the same, there are all these other solutions that are also being developed. You want to be on the side of innovation. That’s where growth is going to be.

There’s a push among some lawmakers to limit CCS in Louisiana in the upcoming legislative session. One proposal would give voters the opportunity to decide whether they want CCS in their parish. What do you make of the opposition brewing against CCS? The basis for those bills are basically some folks that have stoked up some local voices that don’t really understand, but they’re loud and they’re worked up and, you know, there may not even be that many of them, but they can scare enough people to get in a room and at a local level try to shut things down that are good for the state. I think that sometimes legislators feel that they have to do things in response to some folks that, whether they’re informed properly or not, are effective at creating anxiety

How do you view your role on the Louisiana Economic Development Partnership? What do you think about LED’s progress so far? We’re a resource and we’re a means for feedback and accountability. Secretary (Susan) Bourgeois is awesome. I have an enormous amount of respect for her and the culture that she’s building. The governor made a great pick there She and the staff have a huge, emotionally healthy appetite for critical feedback, because they don’t think we’re doing everything right. That’s the point. If you think you’re already a rock star and everything’s great, then why try to improve? There’s an ambition to do things better You see a group of people there that are hungry to be productive and get results for the citizens of the state.

Email Blake Paterson at bpaterson@theadvocate.com and follow him on Twitter, @blakepater

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BY GENAROC.ARMAS

American HeartAssociation News (TNS)

It’s an ability and skill often takenfor granted. It affects quality of life and has been linked to heart disease and stroke. As we ageand ourmuscles weaken, balance becomes crucial to staying active andsupporting ahealthy heartand brain.

Musictherapy forthe lungs

La.patientslearn breath controlusing harmonica

BY MARGARETDeLANEY Staffwriter

Amusician needs full lungsto play theharmonica —thatmakes thepocket-size instrument just what the doctor ordered for respiratory therapy patients at Baton Rouge GeneralPulmonary Rehabilitation Center

Jaqueline McCarthy,amusical therapist at Baton Rouge General, teaches the weekly classes,split up into 15 minute one-on-one sessions.

McCarthy,a formeropera singer, alsoleads aspecial classoncea month for patients wanting to learn the harmonica as respiratory therapy treatment, which helps patients with types of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

In the class,patientslearned the Louisiana classic “You Are My Sunshine.”

Playing theharmonicastrengthens the diaphragm and teaches pursed-lip breathing,which helps better oxygenate the blood, according to Jessica Richardson, aregistered nurse and team leader at the center

The techniqueenablespeople to inhale and exhale more air,bybreathing in through their nose and then breathing out through puckered lips.

“Patients with long-term lung conditions can use this harmonica therapy to strengthen the body,” Richardson said. “The breathing techniques increase the levels of oxygen and makes the diaphragm stronger.”

The deep, deliberate breaths used in playing the harmonica help patients with damaged lungs inflatemicroscopic air sacs called alveoli, which

Patricia Beebe learns howtoplaythe harmonica recently at the Baton Rouge General PulmonaryRehabilitation Center

arewhere theblood exchangesCO2 foroxygen. In contrast,breathing quick, shallow breaths will causethe alveolitocollapse, making it harder to getair sacs to inﬂate again —sort of like when blowing up aballoon.

Thebestthing aboutlearning to play the harmonica, according to music instructor McCarthy,isthat patients don’tneed previous musical experi-

ence to getthe beneﬁts. Theharmonica will make it sound good no matter what.

The sheet musiciscomprised of pluses and minuses (indicating inhales or exhales,respectively) and numbersone through six(indicating where on the harmonica to play).

Music therapistJaqueline McCarthy, center,teaches COPD patients howtoplaythe harmonica at theBaton RougeGeneral PulmonaryRehabilitation Center ä See MUSIC, page 2X

“Balance is important because it’sone of the attributes thatallows you do to physical activity,” said Dr.Kelley Gabriel, aprofessor of epidemiology and associatedean at the University of AlabamaatBirmingham School of Public Health.

“Everything you do involvessome level of balance —standing at the sink, mopping, walking thedog.It’sembedded into almost everysingle activity.” According to federal physical activity guidelines, balance trainingshouldbepart of theweekly exercise routine forolderadults to help prevent falls, another frequent problem for stroke survivors. Such exercises include walking backward, standing on one legorusingawobbleboard Usecaution andworkwitha coach or training partner if needed.Activitiesthatstrengthenthe back, abdomen and legs also improve balance, according to the guidelines.

Balanceisa “multifaceted physiological process” that involves vision, thevestibularsystem in the inner ear and the nervous system,researchers wrote in a2024 study in the Journalofthe American HeartAssociation.

The Swedish study included 4,927 participants without cardiovasculardisease whowere 70 years old. Their balance was measured at the start of the study using abalance board.

After fiveyears of follow-up, researchers found that problems with lateral balance —the ability to remain stable whileshifting weight from one side of the body to theother —wereassociated with ahigher risk for heart attack andstroke

Similarly,a 2023 study in the European JournalofMedical Research found that among nearly 130,000 adults age60and older in Korea, those with balance impairment may be at increased risk for coronaryheartdisease or stroke. Two2024 studies —one in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’sdisease and the other in the Journals of GerontologySeries A—also found an association between balanceimpairment and increased risk of dementia among olderadults.

Dr.Pei-Shiun Chang, associate professor of community and health systemsatthe University of Indiana School of Nursing in Bloomington, said thatwhile impaired balance maybean

PHOTOSByAPRIL BUFFINGTON

HEALTH MAKER

Bringing ‘living drugs’ to Louisiana

Doctor uses genetically altered cells to treat blood cancer patients

BY MARGARET DeLANEY Staff writer

CAR T-cell therapy, also known as Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy, is a personalized form of immunotherapy treatment that genetically modiﬁes a patient’s immune system to target and destroy cancer cells. It is used to treat some types of blood cancer including multiple myeloma.

The success of CAR T-cell therapy is promising with signiﬁcant remission rates in patients who have not responded to standard cancer treatments.

Dr Laura Finn is the section chair of hematology at Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center She received her medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans before completing her residency in internal medicine at Earl K. Long at LSU in Baton Rouge. Finn went on to a hematology and oncology fellowship at Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education in Jacksonville, Florida. She also completed advanced training in stem cell transplant as a Mayo Clinic Scholar at the University of Minnesota.

Now, Finn is the director of Ochsner Health’s Hematology and Stem Cell Transplant Program where she studies blood disorders with a research focus in leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome.

Finn played a major role in bringing CAR T-cell therapy to Louisiana residents, from New Orleans to Lafayette. Tell me about stem cell transplants and how they work.

Multiple myeloma is the No.

use to get their stem cells.

We then keep the stem cells in reserve before the autologous transplant patient comes to the hospital. Then, that patient will receive chemotherapy The intent of that chemotherapy is to remove what is diseased, the remaining cancer in their blood and marrow system — even if we can’t see it by our tests.

Then, we give them back their healthy stem cells. There’s going to be several million of them going back into the body

A stem cell can repopulate the entire blood and immune system just from a few cells. The intention of the transplant is to regrow the immune system in its healthy state again.

1 blood cancer that which an autologous stem cell transplant is performed for An autologous stem cell transplant is a type of transplant that doesn’t require a donor: the patients are going to be donating their stem cells to themselves.

Here’s how it works: At diagnosis, a patient of myeloma receives different types of immune therapy Very rigorous chemotherapy is primarily used to treat multiple myeloma, and the intent is to get patients into remission before a stem cell transplant (remission is when a patient has undetectable cancer by all our available tests).

When a patient enters remission, the blood system in their bone marrow is back to normal or near normal health. At that point, there is a procedure, a little bit like donating blood, that we

By doing this, it’s not a cure for multiple myeloma, but it can improve what we call “progression free survival” survival without evidence of cancer for, on average, about ﬁve years.

Who qualifies for stem cell transplant treatment?

When we ﬁrst meet a patient with multiple myeloma, one of the ﬁrst things we ask ourselves is if they are transplant eligible.

Very few things that would make someone ineligible. We’ve transplanted patients up to their 80s.

It’s primarily based on a patient’s underlying health: Would there be any reason due to another underlying diagnosis (heart health or lung health) that would prevent a patient from receiving chemotherapy?

During a transplant, a patient will not have an immune system at all for about two weeks. We make sure that the risk factor,

should something happen like an infection, is low If someone is in relatively good health, very few other health conditions, they qualify for the treatment.

Another big part is that patients need a support system of family and friends to be there after the transplant. They make sure patients get the necessary things like medicines, meals and transports to and from appointments while recovering from a transplant.

If someone has good baseline health, is physically active and has a good social support system, then it’s safe to have autologous transplant.

What is CAR T-cell therapy, and why is it different than current treatment?

CAR T therapy is approved and indicated for a patient who needs what is called a “second-line treatment” for their myeloma. This could be for a patient who went through all the steps to get the transplant and now needs a new treatment. This second-line treatment is very similar to the autologous transplant. The one difference is a patient doesn’t have to be in remission to go through CAR T — a patient can be in any stage of myeloma.

At one of our stem cell therapy sites, instead of collecting stem cells, we collect lymphocytes — another cell of the immune system. And, instead of holding them in the reserve, we send the lymphocytes to a company that genetically alters the cells to attack multiple myeloma cancer cells.

These new genetically altered cells are now considered a drug. They’re a medicine.

BALANCE

Continued from page 1X

early indicator of brain and heart health, and vice versa, “you can never say if someone has issues with their balance that they also have some issues with their brain or heart. You need to dig more into their” medical history Gabriel agreed saying that direct connections between balance and heart and brain health cannot be made because conditions such as cardiovascular disease and dementia develop over decades, and may arise because of other risk factors.

“It becomes very challenging to measure the relationship between balance and things like cardiovascular disease and dementia given balance is so challenging to isolate from other aspects of physical activity,” she said.

A patient comes back to our site and receives chemotherapy to reduce the number of remaining lymphocytes (so there’s new space for the medicinal lymphocytes). Then, they receive the genetically altered lymphocytes by an IV drip.

Patients receiving this treatment stay in the hospital for a couple weeks as their immune system adjusts to have this new lymphocyte that can recognize and attack their myeloma indeﬁnitely Has this treatment been successful in Louisiana?

Twenty years ago, the average survival of myeloma was three years. Now, the average survival is eight to 10 years.

In Louisiana, we have one of the highest incidences of myeloma in the country We’re seventh in the nation for diagnosis and the national average age is 65. We’re an exception to that. The average age of diagnosis is closer to 45 in Louisiana, especially among African Americans.

We’ve done over 50 CAR T therapies here at Ochsner for lymphoma, multi myeloma and other patients that qualify What we have seen is over 75% of patients respond well to CAR-T therapy Patients tend to maintain, on average, that good response for about two years — a little less for some and a little bit more for others.

People are starting to talk about a cure for myeloma — which has been unheard of for decades. I think we’re going to continue to add decades onto our survival time with these technologies.

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@theadvocate. com.

“Balance is important because it’s one of the attributes that allows you do to physical activity. Everything you do involves some level of balance — standing at the sink, mopping, walking the dog. It’s embedded into almost every single activity.”

DR. KELLEy GABRIEL, a professor of epidemiology and associate dean at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health

strengthen the foot and lower leg muscles, and work with a rehabilitation specialist or family member who can assist if needed. Gradually build up duration and intensity

Continued from page 1X

“The music also gives patients a chance to practice their breathing, and are really able to hear how well their breath control is,” McCarthy said.

Practicing the songs, like “You Are My Sunshine,” gives patients an auditory cue for their lung health. It can also provide patients with something positive (like their favorite song) and very focused, actionable task to improve their health.

“Patients can practice songs over and over again until it sounds right,” Mary Malloy said, music supervisor for Baton Rouge General’s Arts in Medicine program. “It’s also just fun.”

Proven differences in lung health

Patients at Baton Rouge General’s harmonica class started with breathing exercises in their chairs to make sure their posture was best for quality breathing (shoulders back, chin parallel to the ﬂoor, etc.).

The class placed their hands on their stomachs practiced control of the diaphragm making sure the stomach pushes the hand out to expand and retract when taking deep breaths.

Then it was time to “break out the harmonicas,” McCarthy said.

The musicians warmed up with long inhales followed by short exhales, and long exhales followed by short inhales. The breathing

pattern is meant to show patients the difference in volume based on breathing power.

“It take much more work to play softly than really loud,” said harmonica instructor McCarthy, “We try to get the breathing and the sounds as controlled as possible.”

Breathing long inhales helps with oxygenation, and a slow, soft exhale helps get rid of CO2 in the lungs.

The harmonica is another way to tell how well patients are breathing, according to registered nurse Richardson. “We can hear the notes and how long patients are actually inhaling and exhaling,” Richardson said.

In a 2020 study from the National Library of Medicine, patients attended 12 weeks of harmonica training sessions for 2 hours a week and were encouraged to practice at home

The pilot study showed that the harmonica program signiﬁcantly improved measurements used to assess respiratory muscle strength (like PImax, PEmax and 6-minute walk distance) in patients after rehabilitation.

In order to measure the effectiveness of harmonica therapy Richardson and her team at Baton Rouge General measure a patients’ oxygen levels before and after their one-on-one harmonica sessions. Most of the time, the oxygen levels improve

According to Richardson, the effectiveness of the musical treatment can depend on the patient, and at what point in their exercises the therapy was (before or after vari-

ous activities on the treadmill, bike, stretches and more)

“The order that is most helpful for better breathing is very patientspeciﬁc,” Richardson said. “But patients tend to love it either way.”

Using music to heal

Beginning in 2012, the Baton Rouge General Arts in Medicine therapy program has provided patients at the Baton Rouge hospital for many different ways to de-stress and ﬁnd healing through the arts, including painting, knitting, crocheting, live music events, drawing and much more.

“Sometimes the act of focusing on a project or using music to destress can really make a difference for our patients,” Malloy said.

In 2019, the program began to expose babies in the NICU to calming, rhythmic sounds that are designed to help babies grown and heal.

Studies show music therapy in the NICU provides a host of beneﬁts, including a stabilized heart rate and improved breathing, feeding, weight gain and sleep. In the NICU, mimicking the sounds of the womb and reducing loud, disruptive noises can be beneﬁcial for premature infants, as they experience a different soundscape than in the womb.

Specifically, Baton Rouge General’s music therapists use low-frequency sounds, like those from the ocean disc (a hollow, circular drum that mimics wound sounds) and a gato box (a wooden box with soft pedals that simulates a mother’s

One relationship that is more certain, Gabriel said, is that the more active someone is, the better their balance is likely to be. And balance is a key factor in preventing falls, which is the leading cause of injury among adults 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Clinicians should assess balance and risk for falling in people with cardiovascular diseases, according to a 2022 American Heart Association scientific statement that says patients with any loss of balance should be referred for physical therapy Balance exercises can help with the recovery process for those who have had a heart event or stroke. People should plan their exercise program with a health care professional, Chang said.

Start slowly with exercises that

“Maybe start with a short walk in your neighborhood, and once you feel like you can tolerate that level, slowly increase intensity Then move on to other exercises,” Chang said. She recommended toe stands, which is a balance exercise that requires someone to stand or move on the tips of their toes, as great balance training for older adults since it strengthens the calves and ankles. In general, many lower-body strength training exercises can improve balance for people of all ages. Practicing yoga and Pilates can help with balance, strength and ﬂexibility

Chang also recommends qigong, a form of traditional Chinese mind-body exercise, as another practice that can improve balance, ﬂexibility, muscle strength and overall health, especially for older adults. Qigong, which is similar to tai chi, combines slow and precise body movements with controlled breathing and mental focus.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

The Louisiana Health section is focused on providing in-depth, personal accounts of health in the state.This section looks at medical innovations, health discoveries, state and national health statistics and re-examining tried and true methods on ways to live well.

Health editions will also profile people who are advancing health for the state of Louisiana. Do you have a health story? We want to hear from you. Email margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com to submit health questions, stories and more.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Dr Laura Finn is chair of hematology at Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center

heartbeat), can be used to simulate the intrauterine environment

PHOTO By APRIL BUFFINGTON

Music therapist Jaqueline McCarthy, left, teaches COPD patients how to play the harmonica recently at the Baton Rouge General Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center

Eat Fit Live Fit

BROUGHT TO YO UB Y

EatFit-style festing:Enjoy Louisiana’sbiggest outdoor celebrations and still feel your best

Otherscallitspring. AcrossSouthLouisiana,it’sFestival Season.Ourstreets,parks andfairgroundsﬁllwith vibrantmusic,eclectic art,spiritedcrowdsand, ofcourse,unbelievable food.Facedwithso manydecadentlydeliciousoptions,itcanbe temptingtohitpauseon ourwellnessgoals.But, withabitofplanningand know-how,itispossibletoenjoyfest-ﬁlled weekendsandstillfeel yourbest.

Planahead Manyfestivalspost foodvendorlineups onlineinadvance,giving ustheopportunitytolookforoptionsthat alignwithournutritionalneedsandpreferences.Whetheryou’reaimingtokeep carbsincheckorlookingforvegetarianor gluten-freedishes,takingaquickpeekat themenuaheadoftimecanhelpyoumap outyourfestfoodgameplan,narrowing downthevendors’dishesyouwanttotry SpotlightonJazzFest

ingredientslikefreshproduce,leanproteinsandplant-basedfats.Andit’snotjust aboutbeingnutritious.Carefullycrafted bytalentedchefsandcooks,theseEatFit dishesarealsodeliciousandinteresting centeredonqualityingredientslayered withlocalandglobalﬂavors.

CongoSquare.Threeofmyfavorites (favoritepeopleandfavoritedishes)are here:

Festfood:Nutritionalstrategies

OneofLouisiana’smosticonicfestivalsistheNewOrleansJazz&Heritage FestivalpresentedbyShell,spanningtwo weeksanddrawingvisitorsfromaround theglobe.Belovedforitslegendarymusicandiconicfoodofferings,JazzFestis amassivecelebrationﬁlledwithenergy andcreativity.

Iamthrilledtosharethatthisyear, morethan24JazzFestfoodvendor menuswillfeatureEatFitoptions, dishesthathavenoreﬁnedwhitecarbs, littleornoaddedsugar,andwholesome

YoucanﬁndthelistofEatFit-approved dishesatnojazzfest.com/foodorviathe freeEatFitmobileappwhereyoucan browsefestvendors,viewphotosandsee nutritionfactsforeachEatFitdish.

MyﬁrstfoodstopatJazzFestisalways

•GambianFoods(CharlieMendy): Spicygrilledtofuandveggieswith peanutsauce(vegan) •Palmer’sCuisine(JessicaDandridge andhermom,DinahCampbell): Jamaicanchickenwithdouble steamedvegetables •Bennachin(FantaTambajang):Pouletfricasseewithjamajamaspinach MynextstopisFoodArea1forthe shrimpandlumpcrabravigotebyPapa NinetyCateringandthebrusselssprouts (quitepossiblythebestI’veevertasted) bySmokeStreetCatering.Another favorite,thecochondelaitpo-boyfrom Walker’sBBQ,isnowavailableoverasalad.Ialsolovethesunﬂowersaladwith grilledshrimpbyTenTalentsCatering. FoodArea2isamustforDanaHonn’s handmadetacosfromTempero’sMarket KitchenandforCharleyPierre’sgrilled shrimppikliz,aHaitiandishbyFritai. Anddon’tmisstheVietnamesebeef skewers—perfectlymarinatedand tender—byBahnMiinHeritageSquare. There’smore,ofcourse,butthisisasnapshotofmytopJazzFestfavorites. BeyondJazzFest,SouthLouisianais quiteliterallybrimmingwithfestivals. FrombarbecuecompetitionsinBatonRougetoFestivalInternationalde LouisianeinLafayette,similarwellness principlesapply.

MollyKimball,RD,CSSD,isaregistereddietitian withOchsnerHealthandfounderofOchsner’sEatFit nonproﬁtinitiative.Formorewellnesscontent,tuneinto Molly’spodcast,FUELEDWellness+Nutrition,andfollow @MollykimballRDand@EatFitOchsneronsocialmedia. Emailnutrition@ochsner.orgtoconnectwithMollyor scheduleaconsultwithherteam.

LA.RANKS 4THFOR ADULTS

BY THENUMBERS

•Sharewithafriend.Iwouldhavea hardtimepolishingoffallthefavorite dishesonmylistifItriedtodoitsolo. I’mallaboutsharingwithfriends.Not onlydoesitgiveusopportunitiesto trymoredishes,butitalsohelpskeep thingsabitmorebudgetfriendly.

•Scopeoutthemenuaheadoftime. Mapoutyourgameplanandsee whatsplurgesaretrulyworththe indulgence.

•Lookforqualityingredients.Focus ondishescenteredonfreshingredientslikegrilledleanproteinsand vegetables.

•Doubletheveg.Mostvendorsare happytoserveupdoublevegetables inplaceofastarchlikericeorpasta. Justbeawaretheremaybeanupcharge.

•Stayhydrated.Gettingenough ﬂuidsiscriticalwhentheheatindex issoaring.Itcanhelpyoufeelyour bestonalongdayoutatthefest—as wellasthenextday.Water,ﬂavored sparklingwater,unsweetenedtea andnon-alcoholicbeerallserveto hydrateuseffectively.

Savorthefullexperience Ofcourse,ourlocalfestivalsareabout morethanjustfood.They’reacelebration ofculture,musicandcommunity.Yes,nutritionmatters,butsodoessavoringthe moment—soakingupthemusic,strolling throughlocalartists’boothsandspending timewithfriends,botholdandnew. Ifyou’reatJazzFestorseekingout healthiermenuoptionsstatewide,don’t forgettodownloadthefreeEatFitmobileapp,auser-friendlyguideforﬁnding nutritiousdishes—duringfestivalseason andallyearlong.

WITH MULTIPLE CHRONICCONDITIONS

Chronic conditions cover a rangeofhealth conditions lasting more than ayear.Some chronic conditions only require ongoing medical attention. Others limit daily functions such as eating, bathing and mobility

The more chronic conditions an individual has, the higher their risk of the following outcomes: n physical, social and cognitive limitations; n longer hospital stays; n adverse drug events; n death.

In 2023, the averagepercentage of adults whohad three or more chronic health conditions in the United States is 10.7% Louisiana’saverageis 14.3%

Adults with three or more of the following chronic health conditions are considered for this data:

n arthritis, n asthma, n chronic kidneydisease, n chronic obstructivepulmonary disease, n cardiovascular disease (heart disease, heartattack or stroke), n cancer (excluding nonmelanomaskincancer), n depression, n diabetes.

West Virginia had the highest rate of adults with multiple chronicconditions with 20.4% of adults,followedbyTennessee (16.1%), Alabama (14.6%), Louisiana (14.3%)and Arkansas (14.1%).

NewJerseyhad the lowest rate of adults with multiple chronic conditions with 7.5% of adults, followedbyCalifornia (7.6%), Hawaii (7.7%), Alaska (8.3%)and Texas (8.3%).

Multiple chronicconditionsper state

Percentage

4symptomsare warningsigns of colorectal cancer

Diseasehas been rising amongyounger people forthe past twodecades

ByMayoClinic News Network (TNS)

Colorectal cancer,the thirdmost common cancerinthe U.S., has been rising among younger people for the past two decades. It is not one type of cancer but two cancers: colon cancer,which starts in the large intestine, and rectalcancer,which begins in the last part of the large intestine,

known as the rectum.

Dr.Derek Ebner,a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist,notes that colorectal cancer has been increasing in adults under age50, particularly for rectal cancer

He saysit’simportant toknow thewarning signs of colorectal cancer and to not delay medical treatment

“Historically,colorectal cancer was equally divided along the colon andrectum, but particularly forthose with early onset colorectal cancer —age lessthan 50— we’re seeing higher rates of rectal cancer among theyounger onset,” says Dr.Ebner Case of colorectalcancerhas

been increasing in adultsunder age 50, particularly for rectal cancer

Warningsigns andsymptoms

Dr.Ebner says four keysymptoms have been identiﬁedfor people under 50 who arediagnosed with colorectal cancer

“Abdominalpain, diarrhea, seeing blood with bowel motions, as well as iron deﬁciencyanemia,” he says.

Dr.Ebner notes that blood loss after bowel movements, even if notvisibly apparent, can lead to low iron levels

“If on ablood test, for example, we see asign of iron deﬁciency,

thatwould then prompt us to explorefurther,”hesays.

Even though it may be embarrassing, he stresses, “If you have any of those symptoms, you need to share it with ahealth care provider.Thatway,theycan navigatethose subsequent steps.”

That canleadtoearly treatment and better outcomes.

Reducing risks

While it’snot possible to completely prevent cancer,there are ways to reduce your risks, and that includes followinga healthy lifestyle. “Abiding by ahealthy lifestyle is critical,” says Dr.Ebner

“Following awell-rounded diet, staying physically active, for instance, perhaps canbeprotective. The other key,though,is just being very mindful of those symptoms,and then also underscoring theimportance of screening.”

n Screening:Talktoyourhealth care team about colorectal cancer screening.

n Exercise: Aim for 30 minutes of exercise most days.

n Nutrition: Eatfruits, veggies andwhole grains.

n Weight: Maintainahealthy weight.

n Lifestyle: Don’tsmoke;limit alcohol consumption.

Molly Kimball RD,CSSD

Howto handle

allergies spring

Natural ways to beat springallergies

Forthosewhowanttoexplorenaturalremedies,herearesome optionsthatmayhelppreventallergiesfrominterferingwithyour enjoymentoflife.

Butterbur.Studiesindicatethisherbiseffectiveintreatingspring allergies.OnesuchstudyconductedinSwitzerlandshowedbutterbur tobeastrongantihistaminethatworkswellincontrollinghayfever symptomswithoutcausingdrowsiness.

Greentea.StudiesbyJapanesescientistsshowthatgreenteacontainsa substancethatblockscertainallergicresponsesinthehumanbody.

Netipot.Filledwithdistilledwaterandsalt,thissmall,long-spoutedpot canbeaneffectivewaytoclearcloggedsinuspassages.

Humidiﬁer.Youcancounteractallergy-relatednasaldryness,whichcan leadtocongestionandswelling,withahumidiﬁerthatreleaseswater vaporintotheair.

Eucalyptusoil.Anaturalsubstancethatcomesfromeucalyptusleaves, thisoilhasbeenshownbyvariousstudiestoreduceinﬂammation-caused allergies.Addafewdropstoabowlofsteamingwaterandbreatheinthe vapors

Spicyfood.Somespicyfoods–andwehaveoursharehereinsouth Louisiana–canproviderelieffromallergysymptomssuchasnasal congestionandwateryeyes.

High-efficiencyparticulateair(HEPA)filter.Vacuumingyourfloor regularlycanhelpridyourhomeofpollen.AddingaHEPAfiltertoyour vacuumwillfurtherminimizepollenaccumulation.

Protectiveclothing.Wearingsunglasses,wide-brimmedhats,longpants andotherprotectiveclothingwhenyougooutdoorscanhelpprotect yourskinandeyesfrompollenexposure.

Thereisnomagiccureforallergies.However,therearethreedifferentclassesof allergymedicationthatcanhelpcontrolsymptoms:antihistamines,nasalsprays anddecongestants.Antihistaminesandintranasalsteroidspraysarethetwomain medicationsrecommendedtotreatallergysymptoms.

Antihistaminesblocktheeffectsofthehistaminereleased whenyouencounteranallergen.Byinhibitingtheallergic response,theyreducesymptomsofitching,sneezingandrunny nose.Therearetwogenerationsofantihistamines.Benadryl (diphenhydramine)andchlorpheniraminearepartoftheﬁrst generation.Second-generationantihistaminesincludeZyrtec, Allegra,Xyzal,Claritinandtheirgenericcounterparts.

Intranasalsteroidspraysworkbydecreasinginﬂammation withinthenasalpassages,therebyrelievingnasalallergy

Seasonalallergiesareanannoyingrealityforthemorethan 50millionAmericanswhosneezeandsniffletheirwaythrough springeachyear.Warmingspringtemperaturesprompttrees, grassesandweedstoreleasepollentofertilizeotherplants.

Thegoodnewsisthatyoucantakestepstomanage yourallergysymptoms.Inadditiontonasalcorticosteroids andantihistamines,thereareotherwaysto minimizeseasonalsuffering.

Keepwindowsclosedandruntheairconditioningwhileathome andinthecar.

Whenpollenandmoldlevelsarehigh,stayindoorsasmuch aspossible.

Ifyouneedtospendprolongedtimeoutdoors,trywearingapollen maskoradustmask.

Whenyoucomeinsidefromoutdooractivities,leaveyourshoesat thedoorstepand,ifpossible,washyourhairandchangeyourclothes.

Vacuumyourhomeatleasttwiceaweekandhosethepollenoff yourcarandfrontporch/stepsoften.

Don’thangclothingorlinensoutsidetodry.

Takeallergymedicationasprescribed.

symptoms.SteroidsprayslikeFlonase(ﬂuticasonepropionate)andNasacort (triamcinolone)maybegintoprovidesomehelpwithsymptomsafterabout sixto10hours,butitcantakeuptoseveralweeksofdailyuseforfullrelief.

Decongestantsdon’thelpwithsneezinganditching,butthey canhelpunclogbreathingpassageswhenallergensbringon stuffiness.Theycombatcongestionbyconstrictingbloodvessels toreduceswellinginthenose,allowingmucusandairtoﬂow morefreelyinyoursinuses.However,decongestantuseshould belimitedduetopotentialsideeffectslikeelevatedblood pressureanddifficultysleeping.DecongestantslikeAfrinnasal spraycanbeaddictiveandcausesigniﬁcantreboundswellingif usedtoooften.Theyshouldonlybeusedfortwotothreedays atatime.

‘Connected allthe dots in my life’

NewLa. lawhelps adoptees find theirbirth mothers

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

Born in NewOrleans and adopted at eight weeks, Elise Lewis found her birth parents in 1996 when she was 28.

But something important was missing: herbirth certiﬁcate, withall the details it contained.

A2022law gave Lewis and other adoptees in Louisiana the right to obtain it.

When the birth certificate arrived in themail, “I literally burstinto tears,” said Lewis, who grew up in BatonRouge but now lives in Minnesota. “It was the most emotional thing. Isaw my mother’s handwriting. Ifelt like Iwas complete Ididn’thave any secretsanymore.”

Others have used the law to ﬁnd and meet their birth mothers.

COURTESy OF JON HARRIS

JonHarris, right, wasable to meet his birth mother for the first time thanks to anew Louisiana lawthat allowedhim to getacopyofhis full birthcertificate.

About 1,650 people in Louisiana have received theirbirth certiﬁcates since 2022, accordingto the state health department. Adoptees have to be at least 24 to requestit.

“A grown person ought to be able to get their birth certiﬁcate, andthat’s what it’sall about,”said state Rep. Chuck Owen, R-Rosepine,whenhe presented the bill three years ago. He told his colleagues he hadbeen adopted.

“This billisabout agrown person having access to adocument that they arenamed in butcan’t access because of agovernment edict,” Owen said.

House Bill 450, which overturned a 1977 law,passed with an overwhelmingmajority in boththe Houseand Senate. Opponents expressed concerns that birth mothers whowanted no contact with their child would be contacted and because of that fear they could choose to have anabortion instead of giving up the child to adoption.

If the adopted person reaches out to their birth mother,“the twocan have an adult conversation,”said Lewis, who worked with Owen to winpassage of the legislation. “Wehave not heard of any backlash or ill effects from this law.”

Louisiana joined 10 other states in allowing adoptees to obtain theirbirth certiﬁcates,Owen said. His bill allows mothers to check abox saying they don’teverwanttobecontacted.Owen

said only two mothers have done that Jon Harris, 54, was alerted about the existenceofHB450 just before it passed Harris always knew he was adopted and appreciated growing up in what he calls “a great Christianfamily” in Shreveport.

By hisearly 20s, Harris wanted to learn his family history

“My adopted momand dad and I didn’thave alot of similar interests,” Harris said. “Dad was achurchminister,while Iliked motorcycles.Where does that come from? On every doctor’svisit, theywould ask: ‘Doyou haveany medical history?’ IsaidI didn’tknow.’”

Harris’parents told him he had been born in Shreveport and adopted at the Volunteers of America girls’ home there.

Thecenter could give him only limited information because of the 1977 law. Harris learnedthathis birth mother was light-skinned and blonde, hadgreen eyes, was 5’3” and weighed 100 pounds. His birth father was into cars andmotorcycles.Her parents didn’thave alot of means, and her father was aveteran.

That was it.

“They said everything else was underlock and key,” Harris said. “I joined an adoptee forum but ran into dead end after dead end. Ilooked into

hiring an attorney,but it wasgoing to be expensive.Every fewyears, I’d revisit the forumsand make another post.”

Like Lewis, Harris was ecstatic when he receivedthe birth certificate. Then Harris asked himself: “Is my birth mother still alive? Will Iever findmybirth father?The certificate said unknown.”

An executiverecruiter in Texas, Harris set out to use his work skills to ﬁnd his mother Within acouple of days, he found 12 phone numbers for peoplewith her name.

“I began calling with ascript,” Harris said. “I would say my birth date” and say “if it means anything to you, please give me acall.”

Twoweeks later,onaSunday morning beforechurch, Harrisreceived atext from awoman saying that the birthdate meant something to her ShecalledHarristhatafternoon, and “andwetalked for hours. She was ecstatic to meet me. She was 18 at thetimeand aseniorinhighschool. She got her nursing degree, her master’sdegree, was in the Armyfor many, manyyears. Herfear was that Ihad been in awar and gotten killed. She thought about meevery day and looked for me for awhile.”

Thelittle lessons matter:From mnemonics to manners

With the Inspired section, we focus on people whoare working toward solutions —some big, somesmall.

The thing is, sometimes the small things can becomebig —or makeahuge difference in how a situation evolves.

Growing up, my mother believed that table manners mattered, but at our casual family-oriented table, we rarely had abread dish beside the plate.

Iwill also add here that Iam the worst at leftand right. While I usually can point out north, south, east and westwherever Iam, I have to think hard every single timeI have to ﬁgure out leftfrom right. (I realize that may makeno sense to the manypeople out there to whom it comes so naturally.)

The truth is, Ilove agood mnemonic device. They have helped me remember so manydifferent things through the years.

Wayback in elementary school piano lessons, my ﬁrst piano teacher,Mrs. Winnie Mae Mitchell, taught me to read the keys on the lines of atreble clef with Every GoodBoy DoesFine.

In high school, Mrs. Donna McLean, my junior English teacher,taught me to spell necessary with, “A cess pool is necessary.” In college, Dr.MaryAnn Dazey taught me to spell separate with, “There is ‘a rat’ in separate.” Somewhere along the way,I learned Roy G. Biv to remember the order of the colors of aspectrum —red, orange, yellow,green, blue, indigo and violet.

I’mafan of learning new things, but manyyears have passed since Iadded ahelpful mnemonic to my collection. However,about a month ago, Ifound myself sitting at acrowded table full of professors —and one of them taught me something new

The dinner ended up being lovely all the way around —great food and delightful company However,aswewere all arriving, things wereabit awkward. No one seemed to know anyone particularly well, and we just weren’t sure where we weresupposed to sit or the exact order of things for this unusual gathering of folks. Nonetheless, we all took our seats. Small plates and multiple glasses crowded the table among aplethora of utensils, large and small plates galore. The waiter handed me abread basket. Itook a roll and had that momentofpanic. Which one is my bread plate?

Iquickly handed the bread to the dinner guest beside me who seemed to be struck by the same indecision Iwas trying not to acknowledge.

Dr.Jonathan H. Earle, dean of the LSU Honors College, wassitting directly across from me and noticed us trying to sort out the plates and glasses.

He and Ihad met once before, but we didn’tknow each other wellbyany stretch. He began to liftboth of his hands in front of his face, making the OK sign with both thumbs and index ﬁngers. Then he said, “B and D” several times in arow

He said this like we would all know exactly what he was talking about.

Ihad no clue. Rather than remain in the “B and D” dark, Iasked, “What are you doing with your hands, and what do you mean by saying ‘B and D?’”

KEEPING THE SOUND GOING

BY HANNAH LEVITAN Staff writer

On a windy Thursday morning, a group of nearly 60 fourth graders from Christian Brothers School crammed into Preservation Hall, where the creaky wooden ﬂoors and faded paint gave testament to the venue’s history

Despite the buzz of construction next door, the sea of bright-eyed students watched as six local musicians took their positions while tuning their instruments — including a trombone, cello, drums, clarinet, trumpet and piano.

The Preservation Hall Foundation is working to expand the iconic jazz shrine, increasing its footprint to 730 St. Peter St Plans include growing its music education initiatives that are aimed at inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians.

Meanwhile, veterans like Roderick “Rev” Paulin continue to breathe life into the storied walls of the iconic venue.

Filled with music and students, the energy inside the hall was palpable.

Once the group finished their rendition of “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” and the room fell silent, they opened the floor for questions. Immediately, hands eagerly shot up.

“How long have you been a band?” one student asked.

Trumpeter Mark Braud turned

RISHER

Continued from page 1

He said, “This is what I tell my students before they go out to dinner as part of a job interview.” He went on to explain that if a person makes the OK symbol with both hands, one’s left hand resembles the shape of a lowercase b and the right

to his friends and laughed. “Since this morning.”

Though Braud said they rarely play in the same configuration, New Orleans musicians have a certain way of communicating, speaking the common language of jazz.

It’s that language the soul of the New Orleans’ music scene — that program managers at the Preservation Hall Foundation are hoping to pass on to the next generation, launching a ﬁve-year “PASS IT ON” campaign with the goal of reigniting intergenerational connections to preserve the city’s musical and cultural legacy.

Jazz in the heart of New Orleans

Jazz has been a cornerstone of New Orleans culture for more than 100 years. It’s everywhere: on the stoops of shotgun homes, vibrating from the corners of backstreets, in the living rooms of posh Uptown homes and lingering in the dingy alleyways of the French Quarter

For Charlotte Farris, a New Orleans native and music teacher at Christian Brothers School, introducing her class to the musical genre and one of its fountainheads was imperative.

“There’s been so much that has come out of Preservation Hall,” Farris said. “You feel it when you walk in the door I walked in there and felt a lump in my throat.”

Even at 9 a.m., the hall was

hand resembles the shape of a lowercase d B = bread D = drink One’s bread plate is to the left. One’s drink is to the right. Mystery solved I don’t believe I’ll ever hesitate over my bread plate again. B and D forever Sometimes little solutions matter Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate com

brimming with energy. But ﬁeld trips are limited. A lot of kids won’t have that same experience.

Preservation Hall Foundation programs manager Pamela Blackmon is working to change that.

“What used to happen on stoops and in living rooms and down the street, it’s not there anymore,” Blackmon said.

“To access the culture that you’re from, as a kid, it has to be presented to you by your family or by your school.”

ADOPTION

Continued from page 1

She told Harris that when he was born, the staff at the hospital immediately took him away from her to avoid her from becoming too attached. “She had two children — twins who are seven years younger,” Harris said. “They had no idea about me. I said

For many young people, those connections have faded.

By expanding a building that embodies the spirit of jazz, the Preservation Hall Foundation is working toward the chance to pump life back into something that, according to Blackmon, is eroding throughout the city

Passing on the culture

Paulin, who has been with Preservation Hall for several years and is the director of Jazz Studies

I was not there to disrupt or to interfere. ‘You are part of our family, and we welcome you with open arms,’ she said. We’ve been connected ever since. We talk every week, if not every other day “I found out that my birth

at Southern University, began taking music lessons when he was the same age as Farris’ students. He said there’s a huge education component that’s not talked about when it comes to New Orleans music.

“Many of the musicians come from school bands and they had great music educators, who have always been behind the scenes,” Paulin said.

“Many of us come from musical families, but we also had musical families in schools.”

Music education and outreach programs are at the forefront of the jazz hub’s $25 million campaign for their new era. In partnering with other organizations and schools, the Preservation Hall Foundation is able to expose students to jazz, who, otherwise, wouldn’t have the opportunity Music teachers like Farris hope they, too, can pass the culture along.

“This culture has changed the world, and [my students] get to be a part of it,” Farris said.

“I hope that I can also inspire them to continue it because if we don’t have people continuing it, spreading it and talking about it, it’s going to go away and that would be awful.”

As her students erupted in applause after the band’s ﬁnal performance at the historic jazz hall, Farris smiled, knowing the morning had struck the right chord.

He learned his birth father died about 20 years ago. Harris and his mother met in San Diego in 2023. “The connection, the reunion, all the wonderful bonuses — it has been a full restoration, a complete 360,” Harris said. “It connected

STAFF PHOTO By HANNAH LEVITAN

A group of nearly 60 fourth graders from Christian Brothers School listens as five members of the Preservation Hall musicians network perform on March 20.

STAFF PHOTO By HANNAH LEVITAN

Preservation Hall is increasing its footprint at 730-732 St. Peter St. Plans include growing its music education initiatives that are aimed at inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians.

FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Musician Louis Ford plays the clarinet at Preservation Hall.

Mark Braud performs at a CD release party in 2017 at Preservation Hall in New Orleans.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Q&A WITHLAUREN BORDELON

Sex-forwardcouples therapistoffersmarriagetips

‘Loveisinthe thanksgivings’

BY LAUREN CHERAMIE Staff writer

Lauren Bordelon, LPC, is a licensed professional counselor andcoach. She owns Bordelon Counseling in Lafayette andis the founder of Modern Marriage Coaching. In her practice, she helps high-conﬂictcouples save their relationship and rebuild connection. With abackground in mental health and apassion for modernizing marriage dynamics, Bordelon specializes in communication, relational living and conﬂict resolution.

Bordelon supports couples who feel stuck in painful patterns offering them tools to calmtheir nervous systems, communicate effectively and create balanced, emotionallysupportive partnerships. She is committed tobuilding strong,healthy communities andbelieves that when people heal relationships, they heal the world.

This interviewwas edited for length and clarity

What is a“sex-forward” couples counseling practice?

Over time, I’ve incorporated work from the Gottman Method, Esther Perel and Terry Real. I recognize that sex is going tobe ahard conversationfor people to dive into —always.

Iwork to immediately break downany fear barriers. In the ﬁrstsession,I am going to assess thehealth of your sexual relationship just like Iwouldyour communication, whichallows me to show couples that there is nothing off-topic.

We need to break the ice and get vulnerable because all of these topics are going to be hard, so it’sthe one way Ibreak the ice of vulnerability.Italso tells me a story about how they’re relating to eachother.Wetalk about sex from the beginning, and then we

Lauren Bordelon, alicensed professional counselor and coach in Lafayette, supports couples whofeel stuck in painful patterns—offering themtoolstocalm their nervous systems, communicate effectively and createbalanced, emotionally supportivepartnerships.

work toward how your emotional relationship affects your sexual relationships, vice versa, and how people connect to one another physically

Do couples find it easy to talk to you about their sexual relationships because

you’re approaching it with a“birds-eye” view?

Absolutely.Not to mention, I’m working to help normalizethat these conversations need to happen in theﬁrst place. We assume that if our partner

As theregion’sonly dedicated comprehensive

we provide expert careclose to home. At Our Ladyofthe Lake Cancer Institute, we want to make sure younever miss amoment of what really counts. We deliver theexpertise, resources and compassionatecareyou need toﬁght cancer.That’s why we’rethe region’sleading cancer treatment destination. That’s why it allcountshere. Learnmoreatololrmc.com/cancer

NicholasLeBlanc,MD, Thoracic Surgery

loves us,theywould just know what we like— areable to read our minds. It’sjust not true. The movies can’taccurately get what it’s like to be in atrue marriage forever In thebeginning, youtalk, and you’reenamoredwith oneanother.But we forgetthat we still need to do thatevenwhen we’re 40 years down the line. Ifeel like Ihave to normalize that this is how couplesdoit—this is how couples successfully leadamonogamous marriage for 50 years. While everycouple, and certainly every person, is different, aretheregeneral tips for how to makeamarriagelast?

Your sexual world cannot just exist in your bedroom, meaning that we have to be engaging with one another in afriendly way Youhave to have some kind of level of physical touch outside of thebedroom.

If your partner isn’ttelling you anything exceptfor,“Howare thekids?,” there isn’tmuch of a feeling of emotional safety to go intothe vulnerability of sex. I talktopeople abouthow foreplay happens the moment that your lastorgasm just ended, because everything leads to the next time that you arenow trying to be intimate with your partner. Again, it doesn’thavetobe just sex.Wehavetotune into enjoying oneanotherfrequently throughout the week. It’stough to do in this world where we have so much going on,but abig thing is playfulness —having fun on purposewith each other.Thatis where connection is built. That is how people feel more safe in a sexual way, too.

Do you think there’sstill astigma surrounding women’s sexual freedom, or is society moving forward?

Ithink that there still is a stigma, butIdothink we’re in transition. Within the past 60 yearswith contraceptionand the sexual revolution, women gottobefree with their sexuality in ways that it was just reproduction before. Couples arehaving to engage a

lotmorevulnerably in discussing whatworks andwhat doesn’t work.

People arelearning howtotalk aboutit.

Women aremorelikely to be disengaged fromsex earlier than men with their monogamous partners, andthat’sbecause there hastobeastory that goes on.Women require alot more outside of the bedroom in order to feel emotionally safe.

But if it’snot being cultivated in the home,then, generally,sex drops off, andthenthe couple starts to feel like, “Do we even love each otheranymore?”

Really,it’sjust trying to reengage with oneanother and create aromantic plotinyourworld.

Do something to remind your partnerthatyou do,infact, feel love forthemoutside of the bedroom.

What aresome nonsexual ways to show love or supporttowardyour partner?

The sexualshowoflove is so minimalinregards to how frequently we should be showing that. Whatwewantistoknow thatweare topofmind, that they careabout us.

The easystuff is saying please andthank you. Iknowmyhusband takesout the trash on Thursdays. Why should Ihave to saythank you? Because it’snice, anditfeelsgood.That’sthe way we connect

Leavealittle sticky note on the mirror,sendthemafunny text or videothatremindedyou of them —just really simple things that say, “Hey, Isee you, and Isee what youdoinour world every day.”

Small things oftenbuild trust —trust thatIamemotionally connected to youand safe with you. If Idon’t touchyou outside of the bedroom, thatdoes not bode well for emotional connection.

Love is in the thanksgivings. It’sinthe gratitude. It’stalking aboutthe small character you love aboutyourpartner and reminding themthatyou see it.

FAITH & VALUES

A groundbreaking synagogue lures burned-out techies with digital strategies (and ecstatic dance)

BY KATHRYN POST

Contributing writer

Like many fast-growing organizations, Chochmat HaLev tracks new relationships using customer relations management software Brittany Berman, Chochmat’s “community weaver,” logs newcomers’ interests and schedules digitally generated follow-ups. After meeting someone in person for coffee, Berman connects them to at least one other person at Chochmat

“If someone meets you and asks you to reﬂect on your experience, then there’s a chance to make meaning,” said Berman. “And once meaning is made, then there’s more buy-in.”

The process is essential for sustainable growth, said Chochmat’s board president, Estee Solomon Gray, who spent years working in the tech world.

One of the keys to Berman’s work, too, is the small-group meetups she organizes, as well as events such as intergenerational Shabbat dinners. While it has a wide constituency among its tech-world neighbors, with more than a few non-Jewish members, Chochmat HaLev is a Jewish Renewal synagogue.

At a time when loneliness has been described as an epidemic not least, some say because of how our tech isolates us — Chochmat HaLev has been using technology’s approach to making connections between people to build community

“This building is infrastructure,” said Solomon Gray, gesturing around her in the courtyard of Chochmat, a former Baptist church in the tiled-roof Spanish colonial style. “But there’s another whole kind of infrastructure that is the relational infrastructure,” she adds, “which is a fabric, a mesh of relationships in which you are living together, cocreating together.”

Chochmat’s approach has been working, almost tripling its membership to 350 since 2022, many of them younger people with ties to Silicon Valley and to Burning Man. Given that attendance has declined across the broader U.S. religious landscape (though recent data shows that has leveled off) and the trend toward disafﬁliation with volunteer groups of all kinds, from religious institutions to Elks and, famously, bowling leagues, Chochmat is an outlier

Close to sundown on a February Friday, people of all ages crowded the sidewalks in a residential corner of Berkeley for Chochmat HaLev’s Kabbalat Shabbat service, welcoming the Sabbath with songs. Many attendees were wearing some combination of ﬂannels, beanies, yarmulkes, K-95 masks or puffer coats. Packing into the synagogue, for the next two hours they joined in a dance-ﬁlled, ecstatic worship service drenched in Jewish mysticism.

Zvika Krieger, the community’s spiritual leader, addressed the roughly 300 people sitting in chairs or standing around the fringes of the room.

“Whether you encounter the divine through singing and dancing and prayers, maybe through wisdom text and ethical wisdom, maybe through silence and meditation, or maybe it’s a struggle with this whole idea of God altogether, you are so welcome here at Chochmat HaLev, and you are in good company,” he said. When the music began, low at ﬁrst, the energy in the room also built gradually As melodies from the strings and voices swelled, then accelerated, people leapt from their seats, grabbing each other’s hands and dancing along the perimeter of the sanctuary Afterward, members gathered in the courtyard for a potluck, or oneg, and lingered late into the evening.

“I never would have imagined that I would want to spend my Friday nights at a Jewish event,” said David Steuer, a 56-year-old raised in a Reform Jewish community in Wisconsin who joined Chochmat in 2022. “It feels miraculous. I really look forward to coming here.” Krieger, a 41-year-old, queer, sex-positive rabbi with prior experience at Meta, TikTok and the U.S. State Department, is no small part of the success of

Chachmat since being hired three years ago. He helped revive the synagogue’s long history of ecstatic dance and introduced the OpenLev program — soulful coworking time throughout the synagogue, free for members, with a suggested donation of $36 for nonmembers. The program intersperses the workday with meditation, yoga and Jewish rituals for things like celebrating milestones or grieving job loss.

He also hired Berman, who facilitated conversation groups on topics such as Israel and Palestine, all as part of nurturing a close-knit spiritual community that’s also deeply embodied.

“We’re in a loneliness epidemic right now,” said Krieger “People are hungry for connection, and there are also a lot of spiritual seekers who are looking for meaning, looking for purpose, but traditional organized religion has rubbed them the wrong way or it’s just stodgy or sterile or too conservative for them.”

Rabbi Ron Wolfson, author of “Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community,” agreed that people are a more powerful draw than programming or liturgy “As wonderful as a religious service might be, and I’m sure the worship services at Chochmat are fantastic,” he said, “the bottom line is, people will come for a program or even a worship service, but they’ll stay because of relationships,” he said.

He added that Chochmat’s growth strategies ﬁt a playbook embraced by many successful Jewish communities in the last decade Indeed, Wolfson pointed out, Chochmat’s small groups and

its welcome to the unafﬁliated echo the tactics of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, a multicampus evangelical Christian megachurch in Orange County, south of Los Angeles.

“Rick’s mantra is always, if a new person can feel connected to ﬁve to seven other people, quickly, they’ll feel like they belong,” said Wolfson.

At a recent coworking session at the synagogue, a therapist, a professional clown and development director were among the 30 or so adults in attendance. Krieger offered a blessing for overcoming writer’s block, inviting attendees to touch the sanctuary’s ark (where the Torah scrolls are kept), then open its doors as a symbol of opening a portal to creativity, inspiration and “birthing energy.”

“I really like the idea of trying to bring divine into work, and not compartmentalize so much,” said Allyson Greenlon, a newer member who began attending Chochmat after long hiatus from Judaism. “I started a job around the same time I started coming here, and that job’s been exhausting,” she said. “I want to resist my life circling around my job.”

Ben Poretzky, a 32-year-old with a background in the corporate world who began attending in 2022, partnered with Krieger to develop the concept for OpenLev Poretzky said participants appreciate the “gentle co-regulation” that comes from working alongside others, and the “sacred co-snacking” that occurs via indepth chats at the snack table. Several participants have reported ﬁnding roommates, work connections or even romantic partners through OpenLev and

the concept has grown so popular that it’s spawned imitators as far away as Brooklyn, New York.

Chochmat’s growth has come amid the ﬂurry of layoffs in the Bay Area, and Krieger noted that former tech sector workers have lost not only jobs, but their sense of belonging. “What might it be like to have a community that is resilient, so that if you either get ﬁred or you leave your job, you don’t lose all your friends? Your workday community can be constant even as your work life changes,” he said.

Krieger said he’s not interested in leading a mega-synagogue He hopes to cap the Kabbalat Shabbat services at their current size — 300 people feels like the right number to be able to know who you’re praying with, said Krieger — perhaps adding more services. Nor does he want, he says, to be put on a pedestal as a “guru.”

That self-awareness, experts say, could make Chochmat’s acceleration sustainable long-term.

“There’s always a masked fragility, even in growing congregations,” said Mark Mulder, director of urban studies at Calvin University and co-author of the book “The Church Must Grow or Perish: Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity.” “As long as you have money coming in, as long as you have a charismatic person, as long as you have the right constituency in your area, there’s a stability But if you lose one of those three legs of the stool, even these fast-growing places can collapse quite quickly.”

Longtime members point out, however, that innovation is part of Chochmat’s DNA. Founded in the 1990s by Rabbi Avram Davis and Tikkun magazine cofounder Nan Fink Gefen as a meditation center that trained Jewish spiritual leaders, it fused Eastern spiritual practices with Jewish mysticism and dance. A 2010 Forward article dubbed its prayer services “a Jewish rave.”

“When they started it, it was, ‘How do we take all the best parts of the crazy, ultra-f–ing Orthodox and include it in our Berkley world?” said Shoshana Phoenixx, who has been part of Chochmat since the 1990s. “Let’s smoke a lot of dope and drink a lot of slivovitz and teach meditation.’ So, I got wasted every Shabbat for the ﬁrst 10 years of Chochmat at the rabbi’s house.”

Its anti-institutional legacy lives on in members who prefer to call it a “spiritual community,” rather than a synagogue, an edge supported by newer, younger members and, they claim, its rabbi.

“Zvika brought in younger people he knew, and the families are back,” said Andrew Utiger, a former Catholic lay pastor who served as Chochmat’s ﬁrst

non-Jewish board member “It’s always been an amazing community There’s just been different iterations.”

A 2020 Pew Research Center study that Wolfson cited showed that only 35% of Jewish Americans report living in a household with at least one formal member of a synagogue While that percentage varies by location, said Wolfson, communities like Chochmat, which center Judaism but welcome members with a range of beliefs, feel approachable to the large percentage of unafﬁliated Jews.

That’s especially true in the wake of what many in the Jewish world are calling “the surge,” the anecdotal inﬂux of interest in Jewish religious life since the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The surge has been palpable at Chochmat, where more than 100 new members have joined since the war broke out.

One of those members is Solomon Gray, the board president, who is half-Israeli; in the days after the attacks, she experienced what she described as “smithereens of consciousness.”

Long skeptical of synagogue membership, when she walked into Chochmat’s sanctuary doors for the ﬁrst time in October 2023, she encountered a room full of people who were physically engaged and spiritually present, and her body “went quiet.”

“There is an openness and seriousness of connection and movement and being in this together that I have not seen anywhere before,” she said.

Krieger is careful to note that its community is connected, but not of one mind. Chochmat explicitly welcomes all perspectives on Israel and Palestine, for instance, and Chochmat’s leaders believe that being in community with those you disagree with is a spiritual practice.

Krieger delivers short sermons or drashes that feature proPalestinian and pro-Israel perspectives, and the congregation formed an eight-week, 10-member dialogue group with opposing views on the crisis.

Krieger has also added a pause during the lively Friday evening services, inviting people to pair up and reﬂect on that night’s teaching, as well as post-service potlucks, “Ask Me Anything” sessions and talks on topics such as polyamory and psychedelics.

“It’s not about studying texts and religious observance of rituals. It’s about being in relationship with other people as a way of connecting with the divine,” said Krieger “And deep relationship is not something that just happens on the sidelines; it’s something that you actually have to foster and cultivate as a spiritual practice.”

RNS PHOTOS By KATHRyN POST

Congregants place hands on one another’s shoulders during the Chochmat HaLev Kabbalat Shabbat service on Feb 21 in Berkeley, Calif

Rabbi Zvika Krieger, center left, leads coworking OpenLev program participants in viewing the Torah at Chochmat HaLev.

SUNDAY, April 13, 2025

CURTIS / by Ray Billingsley

SLYLOCK FOX / by Bob Weber Jr

GET FUZZY / by Darby Conley

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE / by Chris Browne

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM / by Mike Peters

ZIGGY / by Tom Wilson

ZITS / by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

SALLY FORTH / by Francesco Marciuliano & Jim Keefe

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE /byStephan Pastis

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

word game

instructions: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

todAY's Word — eXtrinsic: ex-TRINzik: Extraneous or originating from or on the outside

Average mark 46 words

Time limit 60 minutes

Can you find 59 or more words in EXTRINSIC?

ken ken

instructions: 1 -Each rowand each column must contain thenumbers 1through4 (easy) or 1through6 (challenging) without repeating 2 -The numbers within the heavily outlinedboxes, called cages, must combine using thegiven operation (inany order)toproduce the target numbersinthe top-left corners. 3 -Freebies: Fillinthe single-boxcages withthe numberinthe top-left corner

instructions: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 gridwith several given numbers. The object is to placethe numbers 1to 9in theempty squares so that each row,each column and each 3x3 boxcontains the same number only once. The difficultylevel of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

directions: Complete thegridso that numbers 1–132 connect horizontally, vertically or diagonally

Sudoku

Remarkable deal

OurthankstoRichardPavlicek, from Florida, for bringing this remarkable deal to our attention.

Pavlicek has long been one of the USA’s top players and teachers and has contributed to bridge on many levels.

Thisdealwasplayed,according to Pavlicek, in an unsophisticated bridge game where a bid of four no-trumpwasalwaysBlackwood. Southdiscoveredthatpartnerhad no aces not a surprise and one king, obviously the king of spades

Even if North held one of the missing jacks, thirteen tricks would not be certain so South settled for six no-trump.

South won the opening spade leadwithhisace,cashedthreetop hearts, and exited with a heart to East’s jack.

East shifted accurately to a low diamond — the slam could be made on a club shift and South bravely played his 10. That got him to 11 tricks, but he had to give East a club trick later and settled for down one. A maddening result!

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

super Quiz

SUBJECT: STATE MOTTOS

(e.g., Iowa’s motto is “Our liberties we prize and our we will maintain.” Answer: Rights.)

FRESHMAN LEVEL

1. This state’s motto is “North to the future.”

Answer________

2. The state motto translates to “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you.” Answer________

3. Its motto is “In God we trust.” Answer________

4. This state’s motto translates to “The star of the north.” Answer________

5. California’s one-word motto means “I have found it.”

Answer________

GRADUATE LEVEL

6. This state’s motto is “The crossroads of America.

Answer________

7. Ohio’s motto is “With all things are possible.” Answer________

8. Maryland’s motto is “Strong deeds, gentle ” Answer________ 9. The motto of New Hampshire is “Live free or ___.” Answer________

Montana’s motto is “Oro y plata,” meaning “Gold and ____.” Answer________ PH.D

Tannah Hirsch welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency inc., 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, Ny 14207. E-mail responses may be sent to gorenbridge@ aol.com. © 2025 Tribune Content Agency

Even worse, Pavlicek tells us that North-South can make a grand slam in each of the four suits, just not in no-trump. Seven spades will make on a trump coup with any lead but a trump Seven of a red suit makes by ruffing the 10 of the other red suit, taking the club finesse, and then finessing for the jack of trumps. We’ll leave it to interested readers to work out the play in seven clubs.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Refuse to let anger set in when common sense and action are necessary An emotional incident can crush a meaningful relationship. Don’t say anything you’ll regret.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) The changes you make will be uplifting and leave you plenty of opportunities to incorporate something you love to do into your daily routine. Shift your thinking to enforce saving and reduce debt.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Observe what’s happening and assess your position before you decide to get involved Get up to speed

with what’s legit and what’s fake to ensure your safety and wellbeing.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Take a hard look at your finances. A shift is taking place that can make or break your ability to maintain your lifestyle. Avoid spending too much on expensive entertainment.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Keep moving in a direction that gives you hope and a desire to keep learning and pressing forward. Avoid groups eager to take advantage of you or compromise your reputatio.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept 22) Consider your needs before you compro-

mise to support or please someone else. When you no longer like a person or situation, it’s time to move on. Adjust your life to fulfill your dreams and satisfy your soul.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) A

lifestyle changes. A chance meeting or connecting with someone whose contributions meld

well with your expertise looks promising. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Be an observer, a thinker and a fence-sitter. Refuse to jump into someone else’s scheme or put your reputation on the line. Reformat your schedule and surroundings to suit your needs. CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan. 19) Focus more on saving money, lowering debt and adding greater security to your life and surroundings Refrain from letting your emotions step in and take control. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Put yourself and your emotional well-being

first. Maintaining balance ensures you aren’t jeopardizing your health or letting temptation set in or lead you astray PISCES (Feb 20-March 20) Balance your books before you go on a spending spree. Put your energy into personal growth, self-improvement and doing things that make you happy. Spend some time with your loved ones.

goren Bridge zodiaC

1. Alaska. 2. Michigan.3.Florida. 4. Minnesota. 5. Eureka. 6. Indiana. 7. God.8.Words. 9. Die. 10. Silver.11. Maine.12. Confidence.13. Rhode Island.14. Thus always totyrants. 15.Wyoming.

SCORING: 24 to 30 points —congratulations, doctor; 18 to 23 points—honorsgraduate; 13 to 17 points —you’replenty smart, but no grind; 5to12points —you really shouldhit the booksharder;1point to 4points —enroll in remedial courses immediately; 0points who reads thequestions to you?

Saturday's Cryptoquote: Spring, when the earth tilts closer to the sun, runs astricttimetable of flowers. —Alice Oswald