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Metro Council, St. George agree on tax revenue deal

Some members fear lawsuit over past years’ collections

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER

Staff writer

After a year of contention, leaders of East Baton Rouge City-Parish and St. George governments finally came to an agreement over tax revenue and services Wednesday night though it didn’t happen without some last-minute conﬂict.

The Metro Council approved the agreement to disburse sales tax revenue collected in St. George’s boundary since April 2024 despite efforts to release the city-parish from a potential $100 million liability District 6 council member Cleve Dunn

Former

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

“If we approve an item that does not have that in there, I don’t think we’re doing our fiduciary duty I think we’re protecting the interest of something other than the parish.”

CLEVE DUNN, East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council member

Jr called the agreement “incomplete,” pointing out that it lacks a deﬁned incorporation date for the city

“If we approve an item that does not have that in there, I don’t think we’re doing our ﬁduciary duty I think we’re pro-

tecting the interest of something other than the parish,” Dunn said.

St. George ofﬁcials like Mayor Dustin Yates, City Council member-elect Andrew Murrell and others have contested that St. George was incorporated in 2019. If that date is set, rather than the 2024 date argued by former MayorPresident Sharon Weston Broome, St. George could sue the city-parish for an estimated $100 million of tax revenue collected over the ﬁve-year period.

The agreement approved Wednesday is only over sales tax revenue collected in St. George since April 2024. Starting

ä See TAX, page 4A

House speaker Henry dies at 89

Louisiana could ban or regulate kratom

Legislature is taking up the debate

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

Louisiana lawmakers are currently grappling with what to do about kratom, an unregulated herbal substance that causes stimulating or sedating effects and can be purchased over the counter at gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops. This spring, the Legislature is considering two competing bills. One would ban kratom; the other would regulate it State Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, wants kratom banned outright. He said he believes the products are too dangerous to be allowed, and he has won support from many law enforcement officials. His proposal, Senate Bill 154, would make it a crime to possess or distribute kratom. If his bill passes, those in possession of less than 14 grams of kratom would be fined $500. Possessing more than that, or distributing kratom, would carry a penalty of between one and five years in prison or a fine of over $2,000. Meanwhile, state Rep. Chad Boyer, R-Breaux Bridge, is sponsoring House Bill 253, which would restrict what types of kratom products could be sold to prevent what experts say are dangerous, synthetic products from being on the market. It would also ban the sale of kratom to people under 21, require that products be registered with the Louisiana Department of Health and set standards for kratom product labels.

With HB253, which is backed by some in the kratom industry, Boyer says he

ä See KRATOM, page 5A

E.L. “Bubba” Henry, a self-described country lawyer who rose to the top echelons of Louisiana politics by serving two terms as speaker of the state House during the 1970s, died Wednesday in Baton Rouge. He was 89. Henry, who served while Edwin Edwards was governor, also played a pivotal role by chairing the 1973 convention that wrote the Louisiana Constitution. Henry sought to parlay his powerful roles in state politics by running to replace Edwards in 1979, but he finished fifth in a race won by David Treen. Henry remained an influential figure over the next four years by serving as Treen’s top government adviser

Henry then joined the Adams & Reese law ﬁrm in Baton Rouge, where he lobbied the Legislature for insurance companies for decades.

“He was a people person and had a

good sense of humor very easy to talk with, very intelligent,” said former House Speaker and Senate President John Alario, who was a young House Democrat from Westwego when Henry was speaker and also a delegate to the 1973 constitutional convention.

“He always seemed to have a vision of where we were going and a plan to accomplish what we wanted to do. He helped shepherd the constitution

ä See HENRY, page 4A

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

St George Mayor Dustin yates speaks during the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council meeting on Wednesday.

Bubba Henry, left, shares a laugh with John Alario at a 2017 gathering of the people who wrote the constitution in 1973.

STAFF FILE

PHOTO By BILL FEIG

BRIEFS

12 states sue to stop Trump’s tariff policy

NEW YORK A dozen states sued the Trump administration in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York on Wednesday to stop its tariff policy, saying it is unlawful and has brought chaos to the American economy

The lawsuit said the policy put in place by President Donald Trump has been subject to his “whims rather than the sound exercise of lawful authority.”

It challenged Trump’s claim that he could arbitrarily impose tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The suit asks the court to declare the tariffs to be illegal, and to block government agencies and its ofﬁcers from enforcing them.

The states listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit were Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.

The lawsuit maintains that only Congress has the power to impose tariffs and that the president can only invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act when an emergency presents an “unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad.

“By claiming the authority to impose immense and everchanging tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he ﬁnds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the lawsuit said.

Senate’s No. 2 Dem won’t seek reelection

Catholic faithful pay final respects to pope

BY COLLEEN BARRY and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

VATICAN CITY Thousands of people began ﬁling through St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their ﬁnal respects to Pope Francis on Wednesday at the start of three days of public viewing ahead of his funeral.

important to me because he encouraged coexistence. He brought many people together.”

Uvalde approves $2M for families

BY JIM VERTUNO Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas City leaders in Uvalde, Texas, approved a $2 million settlement for families of the victims of the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, marking the ﬁrst time one of the myriad lawsuits has led to ﬁnancial compensation.

Attorneys for the families first announced the terms of the settlement with the city in May 2024, and it was approved by the Uvalde city council Tuesday night.

The settlement with the city will spread the $2 million among the 21 families of the victims killed in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, said Javier Cazares, whose daughter Jackie was one of 19 fourth-graders killed by the gunman. Two teachers were also killed.

surprise popemobile tour through the faithful on Easter Sunday, after his nurse assured him he could despite his frail health from a bout of pneumonia and long hospitalization.

WASHINGTON Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Wednesday he will not seek reelection in 2026, ending his more than fourdecade career representing Illinois and accelerating a generational shift in Senate Democratic leadership where he has long held the No. 2 position Durbin, 80, is in his ﬁfth Senate term and was ﬁrst elected to the House in 1982. His decision not to run will set off a scramble for his Senate seat in solidly Democratic Illinois and for his leadership position in Washington as many in the party agitate for a new and more aggressive approach to confronting Republican President Donald Trump in his second term.

Throngs of the faithful made their way to the 16th-century basilica’s main altar where Francis’ open wooden casket was perched, as Swiss Guards stood at attention. Over the coming days, tens of thousands of people are expected to pass through, and the Vatican said it may extend the viewer hours even longer due to high turnout. In the ﬁrst 8½ hours, 19,430 people paid their respects to the pope.

“The decision of whether to run has not been easy,” Durbin said in a video posted to X. “I truly love the job of being a United States senator But in my heart I know it’s time to pass the torch.”

Durbin served seven terms in the House before succeeding his mentor, Paul Simon, in the Senate in 1996. Durbin has been the No. 2 Senate Democrat since 2005. From that post, he helped shape the career of an up-andcomer from Illinois, Barack Obama, who was only four years into his first term in the Senate when he was elected president Among Durbin’s more significant legislative achievements, he is largely credited with putting in motion the movement to ban indoor smoking. Having watched his 53-year-old father die of lung cancer when he was 14, Durbin won approval of legislation he sponsored in 1987 prohibiting smoking on short commercial flights and expanded it to nearly all domestic flights two years later Dallas students walk out after shooting

DALLAS Dozens of WilmerHutchins High School students walked out of class Wednesday morning in protest, a Dallas ISD spokesperson said, marking their ﬁrst day back to the school since a classmate brought a gun to campus and opened ﬁre. As many as 50 students participated in the demonstration at about 11:15 a.m before returning to the school before noon

The protest comes after police say Tracy Haynes, 17, walked into the school on the afternoon of April 15 and opened ﬁre, injuring at least four students.

Francis was laid out in red robes, clasping a rosary and wearing a bishop’s miter, the traditional pointed headdress. Mourners waited hours to reach the casket, which was behind a cordon. Some held their cellphones aloft as they neared to snap photos in what has become a modern ritual.

“It gave me chills,” said Ivenes Bianco, as she left. She was in Rome from the southern city of Brindisi for medical care, and came to pay her respects. “He was

Francis’ casket wasn’t put on an elevated bier as was the case with past popes — but placed on a ramp, facing the pews. It was in keeping with his wishes for the rituals surrounding a papal funeral to be simplified to reflect his belief that the pope’s role is that of simple pastor, not world leader Cardinals, meanwhile, met in private to finalize preparations for Saturday’s funeral and plan the conclave to elect Francis’ successor Francis died on Monday at age 88, capping a 12-year pontificate characterized by his concern for the poor and message of inclusion, but also some criticism from conservatives who sometimes felt alienated by his progressive bent. Francis first lay in state in the hotel where he lived, in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household. Images released by the Vatican on Tuesday showed the pope in an open casket, his hands folded over a rosary Wednesday opened with the bells of St. Peter’s tolling as pallbearers carried Francis’ body into the basilica, in a procession through the piazza where he had delivered his final goodbye. Francis had made a

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is running the Vatican until a new pope is elected, led the procession to the altar, with clouds of incense and the choir chanting the Litany of Saints hymn. In pairs, cardinals approached the casket, bowed and made a sign of the cross, followed by bishops, ushers, priests and nuns.

Then the doors were opened to the public. There was the squeak of sneakers, the rustling of kneeling nuns, the murmur of quiet prayers. A cough, a child’s cry

“We knew there were many people, so we approached this with calmness,” said Rosa Morghen from Naples, adding: “It’s the feeling one experiences when a family member passes away, as he is a father, a grandfather who has gone.”

The public viewing ends Friday at 7 p.m., after which Francis’ casket will be closed and sealed.

The funeral has been set for Saturday in St Peter’s Square. It will be attended by world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy

Trump: Zelenskyy prolonging war by refusing to cede Crimea

BY ILLIA NOVIKOV, AAMER MADHANI and JILL LAWLESS Assiociated Press

KYIV, Ukraine President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Ukraine’s president, saying Volodymyr Zelenskyy is prolonging the “killing field” after pushing back on ceding Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace plan.

Zelenskyy on Tuesday ruled out ceding territory to Russia in any deal before talks set for Wednesday in London among U.S European and Ukrainian ofﬁcials. “There is nothing to talk about It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people,” Zelenskyy said.

During similar talks last week in Paris, U.S ofﬁcials presented a proposal that included allowing Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a deal, according to a European ofﬁcial familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity

Trump called Zelenkyy’s pushback “very harmful” to talks.

“Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they ﬁght for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being ﬁred?” he wrote on social media.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 after sending troops to overrun it Weeks later, Moscow-backed separatists launched an uprising in eastern Ukraine.

Trump also asserted they were close to a deal and that Ukraine’s leader can have peace or “he can ﬁght for another three years before losing the whole Country,” adding that Zelenskyy’s statement “will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing ﬁeld,’ and nobody wants that!” Wednesday’s meeting was pared back at the last minute, while Vice President

JD Vance said negotiations are reaching a moment of truth.

“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’ or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told reporters during a visit to India. He said it was “a very fair proposal” that would “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” with both sides having to give up some territory they currently hold. He did not provide details.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations that might bring a ceasefire and open the door to full peace negotiations, as he mourned nine civilians killed when a Russian drone struck a bus earlier in the day

“We insist on an immediate, complete and unconditional ceaseﬁre,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media, in accordance with a proposal he said the U.S. tabled six weeks ago. Western analysts say Moscow is in no rush to conclude peace talks because it has battleﬁeld momentum.

The suit addresses the botched law enforcement response by requiring enhanced training for city police ofﬁcers. It also expands mental health services available to the families and the greater Uvalde area, sets May 24 as an annual day of remembrance, and establishes a permanent memorial in the city plaza.

“This is a small win in a larger battle and a lot of injustice we are still going through,” Cazares told The Associated Press. “I couldn’t care less about the money.”

Uvalde Mayor Hector Luevano said the city’s settlement included “restorative justice initiatives for the families” but declined to discuss details. He did not say why it took nearly a year to approve the previously announced deal.

The families have several other lawsuits pending, including a $500 million lawsuit against Texas state police ofﬁcials and officers. There’s also a suit against social media company Meta Platforms, the company that made the video game Call of Duty, and the maker of the riﬂe used in the attack.

Two former Uvalde schools police officers face criminal charges of child endangerment and abandonment.

Durbin

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EMILIO MORENATTI

The body of Pope Francis is carried into St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Wednesday, where he will lie in state for three days.

PHOTO PROVIDED By

UKRAINIAN EMERGENCy SERVICE

Rescuers carry out bodies of passengers Wednesday after a Russian drone hit a public bus in Marhanets, Ukraine.

in July,St. George will be entitled to allofthe sales tax collected in the city’sboundaries after voters approved the transfer of those funds in December last year

Before avote was taken, District 10 councilmember Carolyn Coleman pressed Yates, who was in attendance, as to whether St. George would sue for those funds if the council were to notapprove the agreement, given that it doesn’t setadate.

”Yes or no, can Iget you on record sayingthat you will not sue us if this does not pass tonight?” Coleman asked.

Yates did not give ayes or no answerbut said he has constituents in hisarea wanting him to ﬁle suit, and he couldn’tanswer directly without knowing more.

”I trytoavoidlitigation at all costs,”Yates replied.

Though Yates might not want to go back to court —St. George’s incorporation was tied up in suits withthe city-parishfor years his colleague, Murrell, authorized the city’slegal team to plan todo so as Transition District Chairlast August.

through. There was no handbook on how to handle that.” Survivors include his wife of 67 years, Frances Turner Henry,and two childrenin Baton Rouge: Patrick Henry, an attorney,and Lori Henry Taylor Funeral arrangements are pending. Henry grew up in Jonesboro in Jackson Parish, where his father served as the safety coordinator at the local paper mill and his mother,apianist, taught music at school. They were areligious family,attending church three times aweek Henryacquiredhis nickname as aboy because hisoldersister couldn’t pronounce his given first names, Edgerton Lewis. Henry didn’trun for ofﬁce during high schoolbecause, he admitted later,he was afraid he wouldlose and couldn’tstand the thought But by the time he graduated from LSU Law School in 1961, Henry was dreaming of running for governor one day He gothis politicalstart by winning aHouse seatin 1968.

The‘YoungTurks’

At the time, the United States was undergoing dramatic change. Black people had just won the right to vote in the South, women were claiming morerights at work and at home and college students were organizing massive demonstrations against the Vietnam War. JohnMcKeithen was in his second term as governor Henry and another 10 representatives staged their own mini-revolution at the Capitol by questioninga system where rank-and-ﬁle state legislators were expected to rubber-stamp the governor’splans, no questions asked.

Henry and the others— dubbed “Young Turks” by the press —beganasking why lobbyists were allowed to roam the House chamber and evenvote legislators’ voting machines. They asked why they were given no chance to examinethe statebudget beforevoting on it. They askedwhy they weren’tgiven advance notice before alegislative committee met. They asked why they didn’thave their own staff to analyze the likely impact of bills

council members voted down partylines. Dunn and the council’s four other Democrats, Coleman, Anthony Kenney (District 2), Darryl Hurst (District 5) andTwahna P. Harris (District 7) voted in favor of the delay

While the incorporationdate was atipping point for his predecessor, Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ administrationchose to bypass setting thedatedespite anyensuing liability,asdeadlines to work out the remittance of undisputedtaxes approached quickly

Edwards’ChiefAdministrative OfficerCharlie Davissaid the council’sapproval is the start of many conversationstocome between thetwo parties, as unresolved issues remain.

Yatesechoed Davis and said Wednesday was the beginning of many more conversations to come, forwhich he welcomes third-party mediation if its needed.

showntohim and his colleagues wasdifferent than whatended up before the council on Wednesday Dunn saidEdwards’ team told them St. George had agreed to a waiverofliability and sewer and tax collection fees.

“Theitemthat was submitted, wasnot in theformthat we were told it would be submitted,”Dunn said.

Whileheraisedconcernswith Edwards’ staff after seeing the agreement ahead of the meeting, those discussions didn’tproduce any changes, he said.

“Itwas alot of back-and-forth, a lot of ﬁnger pointing, to be honest with you,” Dunn said.

District 12 council memberJen Racca —whose district partially includesSt. George —voted to approve the agreement but made note on the difﬁculty presented.

“Wecan ﬁnally move forward,”

On the same day, Murrell answered the samequestion by stating “nothing’soff thetable.”

Dunn tried to have Wednesday’s votedelayed two weeks to add language releasingthe parish from liability and fees regarding tax and sewer collection. But the vote to delayfailed, as

ThatAugust resolution directed lawyersto“take all necessary actions”togoafter the same tax revenuecollected since2019that Dunnand othersvoiced concerns about Wednesday Earlier this month,whenasked if he believed St. George was entitled to thosefunds going back to 2019, Yates said, “I don’tknow what we’re entitled to or not entitled to.”

Yates said. “Tome, it’snot so much of an agreement, it’sabout that relationship building. It’s aplatform that nowwecan jumpoff of together.”

After the meeting, Dunn took issue withthe way Edwards’ administration presented the deal. The council membersaid whatwas

Over the next several years, the YoungTurks gained enough political strength to ban lobbyists from the floor,give themselves more timetostudy budgetbills and hire staff to study the ﬁscal impact of bills.

Speakerofthe House

Henry,after winning reelection to his House seat in 1972, secured the votes of his colleagues to become thenew speaker

He had to manage a 105-member chamber that wasdivided not alongpartisanlines —the Househad only ahandful of Republicansthen —but on thequestion of populism versus establishment reform Henry had afoot in both camps, with adesire to have government programs help working classfamiliesin places like Jonesboro, while wanting to move thestate forward.

Working mostly harmoniouslywithEdwards, then in his ﬁrst term, Henry helped usher into law anumber of highly regardedreforms sought by good-government groups. The changes generally made the state’s operations more transparent and better aimed at helping the general public,not just special interests.

“Hehad the mixofpersonality, intelligenceand

ability to be theperfect person to lead the House, deal with Edwin Edwards and put together the dream of independence thatthe Young Turkshad about changing the old ways of doing business in Louisiana,” saidAlfred “Butch” Speer,ayoung legislative aide during the 1970s whowentontorun the House’sday-to-day operations for 36 years as its clerk. “They trusted Bubba to do what needed to be done and knock heads when necessary with Edwin Edwards.

The Young Turks— following the lead of then-state Rep. JamesDennis of Monroe and then-state Rep. Bill McLeod of Lake Charles— calledfor anew convention to replace the 1921 version that hadbecomehopelessly outmoded but still beneﬁted entrenched interests.

In 1973, 132 delegates met throughout the year at aconventionoverseenbyHenry to modernize Louisiana’s 1921 constitution. They approved the proposed new constitution on avote of 121-1, attesting to Henry’s political skills to bring people together

“You have to have at least acertain amount of compromisetoget at least aportion of what youwantthrough the legislative process,” Henry said during a1977 interview on LouisianaPublic

Publication

Broadcasting.

“You have to have give and take.”

“This has been avery difﬁcult issue for several folks that sit on this council,”Racca said. “We’ve had to balancethe consolidated governmentportion of our tenure here, where we serve our constituents and our individual districts, but we also serve the parish as awhole.”

Email Patrick Sloan-Turner at patrick.sloan-turner@ theadvocate.com.

In 1974, voters approved the new document, which simpliﬁed the operations of government,notablybyallowing local governments to make substantive changes without having to win the Legislature’sapproval.

Life afterthe Legislature

Henry declared his candidacy forgovernorin1979 at Jonesboro High School to emphasize hiscommitment to better preparing students for college and the workforce.Most of the state’s newspapers andgood government groups supported him.But he ﬁnished ﬁfthin the open primary Therunoff pitted Louis Lambert, aPublic Service Commission member and Democrat,against Treen, a Republican running in what was then an overwhelmingly Democratic state. Henry and the three other Democrats who lost in the

primary— then-Lt. Gov. Jimmy Fitzmorris, Secretary of State Paul Hardyand state Sen. Sonny Mouton all endorsed Treen. He edged out Lambert to becomethe ﬁrst Republican governor since Reconstruction. Treen named Henry as his commissioner of administration, in charge of running state government day to day andproducing thegovernor’sannual budget. Henry never ran for ofﬁce again, settling in Baton Rouge as alobbyist and, ultimately,asanelder statesman. In hislater years, he and the other Young Turks or the delegatesofthe constitutional convention gathered from timetotimeto reminisce aboutthe battles they fought.

Email TylerBridges at tbridges@theadvocate. com.

NoticeisherebygivenpursuanttoArticle7, Section23(C)oftheLouisianaConstitution AndR.S.47:1705(B)thatapublichearingof Livingston Parish Fire Protection District #7 in Livingston Parish will be held at its regularmeeting placeatStation #1 located at 19784 La Hwy42, Livingston,La70754 on Monday June 2nd ,2025 at 7:00 p.m. to considerlevying additional or increased millagerateswithoutfurthervoterapproval andadoptingthe adjusted millageafter reassessment androllingforward to rates nottoexceed theprior year’s maximum. Theestimatedamountoftax revenues to be collectedinthenextyearfromtheincreased millage is $174,702.37 andthe amount of increase in taxes attributable to the millage increase is $41,928.57

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

East Baton RougeParish Metro Council Member Cleve Dunn Jr left, hugs St. George Council member Richie Edmondsbefore the Metro Council Meeting on Wednesday.

STAFF FILEPHOTO

E.L. ‘Bubba’ Henryservedtwo terms as speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives in the1970s before afailed runfor governor in 1979.

House panel advances teacher pay raise

Bill comes after Amendment 2 rejected

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

Less than a month after voters soundly rejected a state constitutional amendment that included making stipends teachers received last year a permanent part of their salaries, lawmakers again are pushing a bill to reorganize education funding to boost pay

The House Education Committee unanimously voted Tuesday to approve House Bill 466, a repackaged version of a bill from November’s special tax session that requires school systems to give teachers raises using savings from a related piece of legislation That second bill would eliminate three long-standing trust funds in order to pay off debts owed by the state’s teachers retirement system, for

which individual districts currently pay interest. With the money districts are expected to save from the move, they’d be required to give raises of $2,000 to teachers and $1,000 to support staff.

If both bills pass, Louisianans would again head to the polls to vote on the measure.

In March, voters rejected wideranging constitutional changes all wrapped up into Amendment 2.

Unlike that attempt, HB466 by Rep Josh Carlson, R-Lafayette, focuses on teacher pay Voters would only have to consider whether to eliminate the trust funds to raise teacher pay, rather than also weighing a bevy of other changes to the state’s tax system in one swoop.

Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, who authored companion bill

great medical potential for kratom in its use to enhance mood and also move individuals off of substances of abuse.”

is seeking a middle ground that balances the concerns of people who worry kratom is dangerous with those of constituents who say kratom has helped them overcome mental illness, Boyer said Kratom comes from a tree native to Southeast Asia, where it has been used for medicinal purposes for hundreds of years.

Research on kratom is thin and inconclusive so far, and there is much about it that scientists do not understand, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse But it appears to have stimulating effects at low dosages, and sedating and opioid-like effects at higher dosages.

People report using kratom to self-treat chronic pain, alleviate withdrawal symptoms and treat mental illness. But the substance is not approved for medical use by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, which warns against the use of kratom as a medical treatment because it has not yet evaluated its safety and effectiveness.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse cautions that kratom may cause rare but severe neurological symptoms, heart and lung problems, and liver problems. Kratom products can also contain harmful contaminants.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, which lists kratom as a Drug and Chemical of Concern, says users have experienced a long list of effects, among them seizures, nausea, vomiting and hallucinations.

Boyer presented HB253 last week to the House Health and Welfare Committee.

There, Christopher McCurdy, a professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Florida who studies kratom, testiﬁed in support of the bill. He said research at UF has “shown

But he also supported restricting the sale of some kratom products, particularly because of a compound they contain that McCurdy said carries abuse potential.

That compound, 7-hyrdoxymitraginine, is found at low levels in kratom postharvest, McCurdy said. But some kratom products, created synthetically in labs, contain higher concentrations and have exploded on the market even though they are dangerous, he said.

HB253 would ban such products by limiting legal products’ 7-hydroxymitraginine concentration to the level found naturally in kratom plants post-harvest, McCurdy said.

HB253 also would ban the sale of kratom to people under 21. It would further require the products to be labeled with ingredient lists and warnings that kratom can be “habit-forming.”

Manufacturers would have to register their products with the Louisiana Department of Health, providing test results showing their products comply with state law The Health Department would charge a fee to cover the costs of the registration program.

The department would be responsible for enforcing the new law, which would cost the department between $400,000 and $600,000 annually over the next ﬁve years, according to the bill’s ﬁscal note.

That document also says the proposal would bring in an undetermined amount of revenue for the Health Department from registration fees.

During the House Health and Welfare Committee meeting, concerns arose about the cost of the bill. In an interview, Boyer said he is exploring ways to fund kratom regulation.

The committee cleared the bill, sending it to the

HB473, said the legislation responds to criticism that Amendment 2 was too complicated — 115 pages long it also included a cap on income taxes, new limits on government growth and nearly a dozen other changes.

“We heard a lot of feedback that people would like this in more single-dose issues, which is why we broke up the larger amendment,” she said.

It’s still unclear whether teachers could expect to receive any additional compensation this year, however, as the public vote needed to approve the raise would likely not happen before the next school year begins.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Emerson addressed worries that some districts would not be able to fully fund the raises on their own using their expected savings.

To alleviate those concerns last fall, lawmakers amended the bill

House Appropriations Committee, which will weigh its fiscal impact and decide whether to send it to the full House for a vote.

Boyer’s bill was backed by several Louisianans who testiﬁed about the positive impact kratom had on their lives.

Leann Pierson, of Baton Rouge, said she had long suffered from depression, anxiety and chronic pain. Kratom helped her to stop all her medications, as well as opioids, and to “become a functioning human.”

“I’ve taken it for nearly 10 years,” Pierson told the committee “It saved my life.”

But Morris said he’s heard from people who say their loved ones have been harmed by kratom addiction. He does not think Boyer’s bill would protect consumers, he said, but rather the kratom industry

“In no way shape or form is that what this is about,” responded Boyer, who said his bill aims to protect some constituents from a product they consider dangerous while allowing other constituents to continue to use a product that helps them.

Powerful law enforcement lobbying groups, including the Louisiana District Attorneys Association and the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association, are backing Morris’ bill for an outright ban, ofﬁcials for both groups said.

A statewide ban “would give law enforcement the authority to do something about it when we come across kratom in Louisiana,” said Sheriff Steven McCain, of the Grant Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce. McCain said kratom became a problem in his community several years ago, when local grandparents, parents and school professionals told him young people were increasingly abusing it.

A woman also showed McCain a death certiﬁcate for her grandson that listed a kratom overdose as the cause of death, McCain

so that the state would step in to cover the difference for those districts through Louisiana’s education funding formula.

While initial estimates expected between four and 43 districts would need the state to subsidize the raises, Emerson said new estimates put that number at nine or less. The total cost to the state, she said, would be from $1 million to $5 million.

And unlike under the original amendment, teachers at charter schools, many of which don’t pay into the state’s retirement system, would also be eligible for raises, Emerson said.

“I know a lot of our friends from (Orleans Parish) especially were concerned about that,” she said

“We do absolutely have a commitment to make sure we fund those as well to keep everybody on the same level playing ﬁeld.”

Emerson estimated those subsidized raises would cost the state

about $15 million. Many opponents of the previous attempt argued that the trade-off diverting millions of dollars that help fund dozens of state education efforts each year — was too great. Others said that because the raises would not be built into the state’s education funding formula, they would lack protection, allowing lawmakers to later use the funds for other projects.

Carlson said he believes the bill is still the best option Louisiana has to give teachers a long-awaited salary increase.

“Many of you have expressed the desire to help fund a permanent teacher pay raise,” he said. “I think this is really the only way that I’ve seen that we’re able to do that.”

The bill next heads to the House ﬂoor for debate.

Email Elyse Carmosino at ecarmosino@theadvocate.com.

said Given those concerns, he successfully asked the parish to ban kratom and has heard few concerns since, he said.

Now, a newly constituted Parish Council is

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “a very small number of deaths have been linked to kratom products compared to deaths from other drugs.”

But Grant Parish is not the only place in Louisiana where kratom has caused public safety concerns Zachary and Ascension Parish, for example, also have banned the substance.

In October, the St. Tammany Parish coroner said a woman died of a “lethal dose” of kratom, though there were other drugs present in her system.

In 2021, a 2-year-old who ingested kratom and an “extraordinarily high, lethal level” of tianeptine, an antidepressant, died. As details of the case became public in 2023, it fueled a push to ban kratom in Livingston Parish.

Sheriff Jason Ard, who

BY BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI Associated Press

CHATSWORTH, N.J A fast-moving wildfire engulfing part of New Jersey’s Pine Barrens has not resulted in any injuries, ofﬁcials said Wednesday, though it’s expected to grow before forecast rain later this week.

The ﬁre in southern New Jersey’s Lacey and Ocean townships has grown to more than 20 square miles and could continue to burn for days, ofﬁcials said. No one has been injured so far in the blaze, and 5,000 residents were evacuated but have been permitted to return home. A single commercial building and some vehicles were destroyed in the fire, while 12 structures remained threatened Wednesday evening.

“This is still a very active ﬁre,” said Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette. “As we continue to get this under full control the expectation is that the number of acres will grow and will grow in a place that is unpopulated.”

Ofﬁcials said the ﬁre is believed to be the second-worst in the last two decades, smaller only than a 2007 blaze that burned 26 square miles.

The Garden State Parkway, one of New Jersey’s busiest highways, reopened Wednesday morning after ofﬁcials closed a roughly 7-mile stretch in the southern part of the state.

Acting Gov Tahesha Way declared a state of emergency early Wednesday as ofﬁcials said they’ve contained about 50% of the wildﬁre. Video released by the state

agency overseeing the fire service showed billowing white and black clouds of smoke, intense flames engulfing pines and firefighters dousing a charred structure.

The cause of the ﬁre is still under investigation, authorities said. Forest fires are a common occurrence in the Pine Barrens, a 1.1 million-acre state and federally protected reserve about the size of the Grand Canyon lying halfway between Philadelphia to the west and the Atlantic coast to the east. The region, with its quick-draining sandy soil, is in peak forest fire season. The trees are still developing leaves, humidity remains low and winds can kick up, drying out the forest ﬂoor It’s a vast wilderness in the country’s most densely populated state.

LaTourette, the DEP commissioner, said the fire is straddling an area on the edge of wilderness and residential areas. “It’s the interface where the environment and development meet,” he said.

The area had been under a severe drought until recently, when early spring rains helped dampen the region, but ofﬁcials cautioned recent low humidity and a dry stretch have heightened the risk of ﬁre.

The Jersey Central Power and Light Company cut power to about 25,000 customers at the request of the Forest Fire Service and the wildﬁre’s command post Tuesday evening. By late Wednesday afternoon, power had been restored. On Tuesday, Debi Schaffer was caught in gridlocked traffic after evacuating with her two dogs while her husband agreed to stay with their 22 chickens, The Press of Atlantic City reported.

“I wanted to take them in the car with me; can you imagine 22 chickens in a car?” she told the newspaper Around her Waretown house it was “like a war zone,” she said, describing smoke, sirens and the buzz of helicopters.

The blaze is the second major forest ﬁre in the region in less than a week.

Remains of mom, child found near Gilgo Beach identified

Police unsure if woman linked to serial killer

BY PHILIP MARCELO and JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press

MINEOLA, N.Y A woman and toddler whose remains were discovered scattered along an oceanfront highway not far from the victims of Long Island’s infamous Gilgo Beach killings were identified Wednesday as a U.S. Army veteran from Alabama and her daughter

Tanya Denise Jackson, 26, of Mobile, had been living in Brooklyn with her 2-yearold daughter, Tatiana Marie

Dykes, at the time of their deaths, Nassau County police announced.

Jackson, who police say may have worked as a medical assistant, had been previously nicknamed “Peaches” by investigators after a tattoo on her body.

Her identity had been a mystery for nearly 28 years. For roughly half that time, investigators have sought to determine whether she and her daughter were victims of the same killer or killers, who left the bodies of several other people strewn in the sand along the parkway that runs the length of Jones Beach Island.

Nassau County police and prosecutors display photos of Tanya Jackson and Tatiana Dykes, whose remains were found near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, during a news conference Wednesday in Mineola, N.y.

Police said Wednesday that they had no evidence at this point linking the mother and daughter’s deaths to Rex Heuermann, who has been charged in the deaths of sev-

en women whose remains were discovered elsewhere on the beach road and other

parts of Long Island.

“Although Tanya and Tatiana have commonly been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings because the timing and locations of their recovered remains, we are not discounting the possibility that their cases are unrelated from that investigation,” Nassau Police Det. Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said.

“I’m not saying it is Rex Heuermann and I’m not saying it’s not,” he added.

“We are proceeding as if it’s not, keeping our eyes wide open.”

Some of Jackson’s remains were discovered on June 28, 1997, stuffed inside a plastic tub in a state park in West Hempstead. More remains, and the skeletal remains of

the female child, were found in April 2011 off Ocean Parkway, which runs for 15 miles along Long Island’s barrier island beaches. At the briefing Wednesday, law enforcement officials said they had identiﬁed Jackson and her daughter through advanced DNA and genealogy research. Fitzpatrick said local authorities initially turned over DNA evidence to the FBI, which provided a likely identiﬁcation for the two in 2022 Additional DNA samples obtained the following year allowed police to notify surviving family members last year The two were recently laid to rest, with Jackson receiving “full military honors,” Fitzpatrick said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By PHILIP MARCELO

Trump signs executive orders targeting colleges

BY COLLIN BINKLEY and JOCELYN GECKER AP education writers

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has ordered sharper scrutiny of America’s colleges and the accreditors that oversee them, part of his escalating campaign to end what he calls “wokeness” and diversity efforts in education

In a series of executive actions signed Wednesday, Trump targeted universities that he views as liberal adversaries to his political agenda.

One order called for harder enforcement of a federal law requiring colleges to disclose their financial ties with foreign sources, while another called for a shakeup of the accrediting bodies that decide whether colleges can accept federal financial aid awarded to students. Colleges’ financial ties with for-

eign sources have long been a concern among Republicans, especially ties with China and other countries with adversarial relationships with the U.S. It became a priority during Trump’s ﬁrst term and reemerged last week as the White House grasped for leverage in its escalating battle with Harvard University

The White House said it needed to take action because Harvard and other colleges have routinely violated a federal disclosure law, which has been unevenly enforced since it was passed in the 1980s. Known as Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, the law requires colleges to disclose foreign gifts and contracts valued at $250,000 or more.

In the executive order, Trump calls on the Education Department and the attorney general to step up enforcement of the law and take ac-

tion against colleges that violate it, including a cutoff of federal money

The Trump administration intends to “end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions” and protect against “foreign exploitation,” the order said.

Another order aims at accrediting bodies that set standards colleges must meet to accept federal ﬁnancial aid from students. Trump campaigned on a promise to overhaul the industry, saying it was “dominated by Marxist Maniacs and lunatics.”

Often overlooked as an obscure branch of college oversight, accreditors play an important role in shaping colleges in many aspects, with standards that apply all the way from colleges’ governing boards to classroom curriculum.

Trump’s executive order is the

opening salvo in what could be a lengthy battle to overhaul the accrediting industry Chief among his priorities is to strip accreditors of diversity, equity and inclusion requirements imposed on colleges.

Trump’s order calls on the government to suspend or terminate accreditors that discriminate in the name of DEI. Instead, it calls on accreditors to focus more squarely on the student outcomes of colleges and programs they oversee.

The president wants to make it easier for new accreditors to compete with the 19 that are now authorized to work on behalf of the federal government. As it stands, new accreditors looking to be recognized by the government must undergo an arduous process that traditionally takes years. Trump’s order said it should be “transparent, efﬁcient, and not unduly burdensome.”

India blames Pakistan for attack in Kashmir that killed 26

BY AIJAZ HUSSAIN, SHEIKH SAALIQ and RAJESH ROY Associated Press

SRINAGAR, India India blamed Pakistan on Wednesday for a militant attack that killed 26 people in Indian-held Kashmir, downgrading diplomatic ties and suspending a crucial water-sharing treaty that has withstood two wars between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The spray of gunﬁre at tourists Tuesday in a scenic, mountainringed valley was the worst assault in years targeting civilians in the restive region that is claimed by both countries. The unidentified gunmen also wounded 17 other people.

India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri, announced the diplomatic moves against Pakistan at a news conference in New Delhi late Wednesday, saying a special cabinet meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided that the attack had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. However the government provided no evidence of this publicly Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad said that India was using “an unfortunate incident of terrorism” as a pretext to jettison a treaty it has long been trying to evade.

Dar said his country would respond to the Indian government’s decisions after a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday

The Indus Water Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, allows for sharing the waters of a river system that is a lifeline for both countries, particularly for Pakistan’s agriculture The treaty has survived two wars between the countries, in 1965 and 1971, and a major border skirmish in 1999.

Indian forces on Wednesday launched a manhunt for the assailants Tens of thousands of police and soldiers fanned out across the region and erected additional checkpoints.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh vowed to “not only trace those who perpetrated the attack but also trace those who conspired to commit this nefarious act on our soil.”

Earthquake injures 236 in Turkey

BY MEHMET GUZEL and SUZAN FRASER Associated Press

India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism.

Pakistan denies this. Many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.

Misri said that the Indus Water Treaty would be suspended “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.” He said a number of Pakistani diplomats in New Delhi were asked to leave, and Indian diplomats were recalled from Pakistan, reducing diplomatic ofﬁcials for both countries from 55 to 30.

Misri also said the main land border crossing between the countries would be closed.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq

Kashmir Resistance, a previously unknown militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack on social media The group said Indian authorities had settled over 85,000 “outsiders” in the region and claimed that those targeted on Tuesday were not “ordinary tourists” but “were linked to and afﬁliated with Indian security agencies.” The group’s messages could not be independently veriﬁed.

ISTANBUL An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 shook Istanbul and other areas of Turkey on Wednesday, prompting widespread panic and scores of injuries in the city of 16 million people, though there were no immediate reports of serious damage. At least 236 people were treated for injuries they suffered while trying to jump from buildings or for panic attacks — most of them in Istanbul, where residents are on tenterhooks because the city is considered at high risk for a major quake. The earthquake had a shallow depth of about 6 miles, according to the United States Geological Survey, with its epicenter about 25 miles southwest of Istanbul, in the Sea of Marmara. It was felt in the neighboring provinces of Tekirdag, Yalova, Bursa and Balikesir and in the coastal city of Izmir, some 340 miles south of Istanbul. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the earthquake lasted 13 seconds and was followed by more than 100 aftershocks the strongest measuring 5.9 in magnitude. The quake started at 12:49 p.m. Wednesday, a public holiday, when many children were out of school and celebrating in the streets of Istanbul. Panicked residents rushed from their homes and buildings into the streets. Authorities urged residents to avoid entering buildings that might have been damaged and said sports halls and mosques would be open to house residents not wanting to spend the night in their homes. Turkey is crossed by two major fault lines, and earthquakes are frequent.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAR yASIN

A relative wails Wednesday during the funeral procession of Adil Hussain Shah, a daily-wage worker, who died when militants indiscriminately opened fire on a crowd of mainly tourists on Tuesday, at his village of Hapatnar about 13 miles from Pahalgam in Indian-controlled Kashmir where the incident took place.

La. high court disciplines BR judge

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

$11,196 in costs tied to the investigation into her misconduct as well as temporary appointments for the judges that have ﬁlled Johnson Rose’s seat in her absence. After the Office of Special Counsel conducted its investigation, Johnson

ordered her to repay

CAPITAL LANES

disguised as protein powder sent by UPS

Undercover cops bust two BR men

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

Two men were arrested in an undercover operation in Baton Rouge last week after containers of protein powder ﬁlled with a fentanyl-laced substance were allegedly shipped to them from California through UPS. Decorey London and Kenterrius Kelly were arrested April 14 by DEA and Homeland Security agents on one charge each of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute. Police affidavits state that London and Kelly received a package sent from southern California using a UPS overnight delivery service that

ä See FENTANYL, page

Bill to change BR Republican group dies

Debate, questions follow controversial measure

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

State Rep Dixon McMakin views himself as a small-government conservative. But a parade of fellow Baton Rouge Republicans repeatedly told him Wednesday he had com-

mitted the egregious sin of wanting state government to meddle in the business of the GOP governing authority in East Baton Rouge Parish. One local party official even compared his effort to moves made in Nazi Germany Another said he had engaged in “government overreach.”

tee killed McMakin’s bill to nearly double membership on the East Baton Rouge Parish Executive Committee.

After 90 minutes of tart debate and questioning, the House and Governmental Affairs Commit-

Collections to resume May 5, officials say

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

A spokesperson for Landry said on Thursday he was unaware of McMakin’s bill, although Derek Babcock, the state party chair, said in an interview he had told the governor two days earlier in a meeting at the Governor’s

ä See BILL, page 2B

At one point, the parish party’s chair, former state Rep. Woody Jenkins, said the changes sought by McMakin could lead to his ouster Jenkins previously said in an interview on Thursday that Gov Jeff Landry pushed for passage of McMakin’s bill to punish him for campaigning against four constitutional amendments sought by Landry that voters overwhelmingly rejected last month. It was Landry’s biggest political defeat as governor to date.

STAFF

Johnson Rose

ä See JUDGE, page 3B

McMakin

JUDGE

Rose met with the Judicial Commission on Jan. 17 to be questioned about her actions, according to Wednesday’sorder.She admitted that her conduct violated thestateconstitution and judicial canons that govern judges’ conduct. That led to the joint petition, which four of the seven state Supreme Court justices cosigned.

Three justices, including Chief Justice John Weimer, issued dissentingopinions and called for more substantial discipline.

“While even experienced judges can make mistakes, the charges here demonstrate repeated mistakes, bias, and racially charged comments whichhave no place in acourt of law, regardless of one’slevel of experience,” Weimer wrote.

Johnson Rose waselected to her seat in December 2020 and handled criminal and civil cases on the 19th Judicial District Court docket.

Questionable verdicts

The judge has been sidelined sinceAug. 6, when the Supreme Court issued ablistering rebuke and abruptly disqualiﬁed JohnsonRosefromthe bench, pending the outcome of the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana’sprobe into allegations against her The interim removal in Augustcameafterseveral of Johnson Rose’srulings and verdicts in cases she handled were called into questionlast year In March 2024, the judge convicted aformer Baton Rouge police officer,accused of sexual misconduct against aSouthern University student, of “misdemeanor grade” malfeasance in office. When attorneys pointed out there is no such offense in Louisiana law,she acquitted the defendant, drawing intense objections from prosecutors. Less than amonth later, the state Supreme Court overturned the conviction of aBaton Rougeteacher accused of bashing acar on a ﬂooded streetwith abaseball bat and threatening its occupants with agun. Johnson Rose originally read out averdict of “not guilty,” but then returned everyone to the courtroom and issued aguilty verdict, saying the juryhad misunderstood the instructions.

The Supreme Court ruled that in overturning the verdict, Johnson Rose had improperly met with jurors alone afterthe trial. In aconcurrence, one of thejusticeswentsofar as to question Johnson Rose’s “professionalcompetency ” Then, in May,Johnson Rose had to vacate the guiltypleaofTexas lawyer whoadmitted to settinghis ex-girlfriend’s Baton Rouge home on fire, because the judge suspended too much of his prison time.

At an April 29 hearing inside her courtroom, Johnson Rose, who is Black, accused East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore’sofficeof “systematicallytargeting Black men” during a sidebar with prosecutors and public defenders.The judge was frustrated that attorneys were requesting another postponement in

REPAYMENTS

Continued from page1B

Biden tried several avenues to allow for limited repayments or to forgive up to $20,000 of the debt for some borrowers.The U.S. SupremeCourt ruled that Biden did not have authority to forgive debt. He then adjusted the regulations to reduce some repayments and forgive some debtors basedonfamily size and income. That plan was also stalled by the courts. Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, RBaton Rouge,havelong criticized Biden’sefforts to

acase that languished on herdocket without resolution, and sought to have the defendant plead guilty to crimes he denied committing.

“The young man doesn’t have any fricking felonies. And Iknow that the DA probably wants every young Blackman in prison, but Idon’t,” Johnson Rose saidduring the bench conference withattorneys,accordingtotranscripts.

“And this case is goddamn 4years old now,” she also said. “And that’sthe best that y’all can comeupwith?

You’re justgoing to what, stickevery n***** in jail?”

The state paid $100,000 of Johnson Rose’ssalary in the eight months she was out and footed the bill for another $60,000 to cover the salariesofadhoc judgesassignedtohandleher docket in herabsence,Justice Cade Cole noted.

He partially blamed that on thelength ofthe investigation, which had been put on an expedited timeline.Supreme Court justices originally ordered theJudicial Commission to return its findings within six months. But Cole said delays in theinvestigation causedthe coststorise,and current state law doesn’t allow the courts to ﬁne an ousted judgefor thefull amountpaid to ad hoc replacements who step in to ﬁll the role while theyare underinvestigation.

Cole,who agreed with the consent order,was among achorus onthe Supreme Court panel who called for that rule to be changed.

Justice William Crain said he would have voted to disqualify JudgeJohnson Rose without pay in August, but the Louisiana Constitution does notallow it.Following the investigation, he pushed forher to be suspendedsix months without pay.

“This case makesit manifestly apparent why the Louisiana constitution should be amended toaddress the suspensionof judges with and without pay to fix this inequitable burdenonthe taxpayers,” Crain wrote Justice Jay McCallum recounted each of Johnson Rose’sblunders from the benchinhis dissentingopinion, and said the majority decision by hiscolleagues amounted to anine-month paid vacation accompanied by a$15,000 bonusfor JohnsonRose

“This court has confused asanction with areward,” he wrote.

McCallum went on to opine that JohnsonRose should be ordered to bear the brunt of thecostsfor bringing in temporary judges to cover her docket over the pasteight-plus months. The consent decree forced her to pay back only about $6,900 for the appointments, apartialamount that McCallum called a“small fraction” of thecost

“Wecannot expect better conduct from lawyers unless we demand better conduct from judges,” the justicesaid. “The people of thestate of Louisiana have constitutionally given this court the responsibility to define and to regulate the practiceoflaw andthe judiciary.Wewould dowell to rememberthatwhat thepeople havethe power to give they also have the powertotake away Email Matt Bruceat matt.bruce@theadvocate com.

Bozeman,Lisa WoodlawnBaptistChurch at 7p.m

Edwards, Emile

St.GeorgeCatholic Church,7808 St George Dr BatonRouge at 11am

Kernan,Kevin OursoFuneralHome, 13533 Airline Hwy,Gonzales,Laat11am.

Langley,Lillie

Tunica Methodist Church in Tunica at 11 a.m.

Richard, Debra

SealeFuneralHomeinLivingstonat 1p.m

Skipper, Wanda

ScottUnitedMethodist Church at 11 a.m.

Stewart, Jacqueline

Chapel of Brandon G. Thompson FuneralHome, 7738 FloridaBoulevard in DenhamSprings,atnoon.

Obituaries

Altenloh, William J. 'Bill'

It is with heavyhearts and deep sorrow that we announce thepassing of Bill Altenloh, aman who embraced life with aspirit of adventureand unbounded enthusiasm. He was a man who enjoyed motorcycling, cigars, opera,and adventure.

Bill was astaunch, outspoken Conservative and willing to havea robust discussion with anyone who was otherwise.He livedlifeonhis own terms, embracing each daywitha smile, sense of humor,and commitment to doing right by others.

Bill'sskillatretelling an experience as an engaging storywas legendary. He truly filledupany room he was in withcharm and genuine interestinothers. He deeplyloved hischildren and family.Hewas a devoted husband -strong, supportive, and present. He was preceded in death by his parents as well as abrother, Scott Altenloh. Billissurvived by his wife, Susan Saurage-Altenloh, son, William JAltenloh II (Kayla), daughters Rebecca Radabaughand JenniferSacco, brothers Robert Pawlik and Daniel Altenloh, and favorite mother-in-law, Donna Saurage. He also leaves behind alarge circleof friendsand extendedfamily -especiallyhis beloved nieces and nephews -who willforeverremember his larger-than-life presence.

Agraveside memorial servicewillbeheldinBatonRouge,Louisiana. In lieu of flowers,pleaseconsiderdonating to Houston Hospice at https://www.ho ustonhospice.org/ortoa favorite charity.

ElouiseBenjamin-Lazard, age76, anativeof Napoleonville, LA anda resident of Larose,LA, gained herwings on Tues‐day, April22, 2025. Visita‐tion will be held on Friday, April25, 2025, at OurLady of theRosaryChurch 12911 EMainSt, Larose,LA from 9:00am,followedbya Mass of ChristianBurialat 11:00am. Intermentwillbe in thechurch cemetery Arrangements areby Williams &SouthallFuneral Home,1204 ClevelandSt., Thibodaux, LA

Alex KellyBlack ("Kelly") went to see his Lord and Savior on April 17, 2025, surrounded by his family.Kelly,ashewas known to all,was born in Tallulah, Louisiana, on June 23, 1940, and raised on LakeBruininTensas Parish. He took greatpride in his rootsand was proud to tell allwho would listen abouthis affinityand affiliationfor TensasParish Kellyshared his camp and his contagious affection for LakeBruin with hundreds of people over the years. In 1964, Kellygraduatedfrom theUniversityof Southwestern Louisiana (now Universityof Louisiana-Lafayette), where he met thelove of his life,MerilynWilliams, a fellowaccounting student. Since theirmarriagein 1965, Kellyand Merilyn were inseparable.Their devotion to each other was plainfor all to see.Kelly establishedA.Kelly Black CPAwhere he and Merilyn workedalongsideeach other for over fortyyears. TheirofficeonBrentwood Drivewas aplace where many people stopped by to visit, share acup of coffee, and learn life lessons. Kelly was an incredibly generous person who contributed to countless charitable causes. His passion was supporting individuals with special needs. Kelly had asister-in-law and a grandson withDownSyndrome,and throughout his life,hesupported charities that enhancedthe livesof individuals withspecial needs. Kellyissurvived by his wife, Merilyn, and his two sons Brandon (Blake) and Barton (Esther);his eight grandchildren, Patrick,Frances, Clayton, Adele, Evan, Kirby, Stewart, and Alex; hissister LaDean Dunbar (Robert); sisters-in-law, Jane Roussel (John) and Ava Williams Ellis; and many special nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Elbert Bascom Black and Mamie Guice Black.The family willreceive relativesand friends at St Aloysius Catholic Church on Friday, April25, 2025, at 9:30 AM, followedbyMass of Christian Burial at 11:00 AM. Interment willbeon SaturdayApril 26, 2025, at Legion Memorial Cemetery in Newellton, Louisiana, at 10:30 AM. Pallbearers will be Patrick Black,Evan Black,Stewart Black,Alex Black,Mike Dunbar, Blake Roussel, and Brian Black. In lieu of flowers,please consider adonationtoSt. LillianAcademy for special needs studentsinKelly's name or adonationtoSt. JosephCatholic Church in St.Joseph, Louisiana. "Well done, good and faithful servant."You willbesorely missed.

law,Frank Polozol;grandchildren, Paige Browning Lindaman andhusband Max, Joshua Browning, JacobBrowning, Anna Browning, andRachel Evans; andnumerous nieces andnephews, as well as lifelongfriends, ReeceSummerall andRobby Day. He waspreceded in death by hiswife of 43 years, Betty Browning; parents, John MerrittBrowningand Frances Jane Browning; sister,Sylvia BrowningPolozola; paternalgrandparents, Frank andLottie Browning; and maternal grandparents, Robert andFlossieBryant. Visitation will take place on Friday, April 25, 2025, beginningat9:00 AM until servicesat10:30 AM.Burial to follow at ResthavenGardens of Memory. Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamilyatwww.resthavenbaton rouge.com.

BrownIV, Rufus Donaldson

RufusDonaldsonBrown, IV passedaway on April 21, 2025 after along battle with cancer.Hewas born in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, on December 28, 1954 and wasa lifelong residentofBaton Rouge He graduatedfromTara High in 1973 and later created hisjanitorial company.Rufuswas preceded in death by hisparents,Rufus DonaldsonBrown,III and ClydeanGriffin Brown and hisbeloved dog, Sugar.He leaves behind hissister, Cheryl Brown Beauford; nephew,BenjaminRoss Beauford II andhis wife Clare M. Scully andtwo great-nephews,Benjamin Louis Beauford and James Griffin Beauford.

Crockett, Denovas

"I havefoughtthe good fight, Ihave finished the race, Ihave kept the faith. Finallythere is laidupfor me thecrown of righteousness, whichthe Lord, the righteousjudge, will give me on that day, andnot to me only butalso to all who have lovedHis appearing".

2Timothy 4: 7-8

likedJason to try, along with acopyof therecipe for amemorial cookbook. Main dishes and drinkprovided. Dress is casual.

Etheridge, Janeth Berryhill 'Jan'

Janeth(Jan)Berryhill

erase student loan debt. Cassidy,who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee,argued that Biden’s plan favored peoplewho chose college over immediatelygoing into the workforce, and also was unfairto those who took out college loansand repaidthem. Cassidy wrote on social media Tuesday:“During theBiden administration, the American taxpayer hasbeenforcedtocarry that burden. @usedgov (the Department of Education) is simply returning the responsibility paying back the debt to those whowillingly took out theloan. This is common sense.”

Lynn Merritt Browning, age83, passed away peacefully on Saturday, April20, 2025 with family by his side. He was born in BatonRouge and was a proud graduateofBaton Rouge High and LSU. Lynn served in theU.S.Navy, aboard theUSS Enhance, where he was an electrician's mate. Lynn was an avid fan of allthingsLSU athletics, in particular football and baseball. He purchased his first LSU season tickets in 1984 and attended withhis two sons. He was also passionateabouthistory and enjoyed fishing in his younger years. He retired from DOTD, where he workedhis entireprofessional career. Lynn enjoyed family gatherings with his childrenand grandchildren. Lynn is survivedbyhis threechildren, Laura Evans and husband Todd, Lance Browning and wife Lynne,and Steven Browning and wife Jennifer; sister, Charlotte Browning Hue; brother-In-

Denovas M. Crockett affectionately knownas "Dee"was aresident of Baton Rouge,Louisiana, passed away surrounded by familyand friends on April 18, 2025 at the age of 76 from alongbattle of Parkinsons Disease.Denovas "Dee"was born on June 6, 1948, to theunion of Denoy Michael Miles and Ollie MaeMiles. Shewas thesecondbornoffive childrentothisunion. Dee wasa loving mother, grandmother,great-grandmother,sister andfriend. Shewas aretired East Baton Rouge Parish school system educator with more than 30 years of service.She is survived by four childrenthroughthe unionofher and Alton Crockett Sr.Alton Crockett Jr.(wife, Roxanne), Bobby T. Crockett,ShedrickJ Crockett and LakedraL Crockett,and oneson-inlaw,HermanBreauxJr. Four grandchildren, Trevor S. Crockett,Jalon L. Breaux, Bryson T. Breaux and Bobby Crockett Jr.; threegreat-grandchildren Rylee G. Crockett,Ayva R. Crockett andKobe TCrockett; host of nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by hergrandson, Alton Crockett III.Dee was a very caringand compassionate woman and was always foundserving othersasdevoted member of St.PaulCatholic Church Visitation Friday, April 25, 2025 12:00 pm untilreligiousservice at 1:00 pm, St.Paulthe Apostle Catholic Church,3912 Gus Young Avenue, Baton Rouge,LAEntombment Heavenly Gates Cemetery of Baton Rouge.Service entrusted to Hall Davis and

Etheridge,March13, 1941April 19, 2025. Janeth"Jan" Berryhill Etheridge,a belovedmother,grandmother,greatgrandmother,and devoted educator, passed away peacefully on April 19, 2025, at the age of 84. Born in Centreville, Mississippi, Jan later made herhome in Denham Springs, Louisiana, whereshe touched countless lives throughher warmth,faith, andunwaveringlove of teaching. Jan's passion for education spanned over 40 years, andshe spent the last of hercareeratNorthsideElementary, where sheretired.Itbroughther great joyand pride that notonlysome of her grandchildrenattended thesame school, but now some of hergreat-grandchildren arewalking the same halls whereshe once taught. Hergrandson's wife, Ashley, also teaches in herclassroomshe held for so long. Sheissurvivedbyher true love,Harold Etheridge;her children Cathy Fraley, Charles "Chuck" Etheridge,Randa Etheridge (Patrick Hughes), andJamie (Becky) Etheridge;grandchildren Chantelle Kenny, Anthony (Lauren)Etheridge Samantha (Bradley) Porter, Cody Tanner,Hunter(Ashley) Etheridge,and Katy (Kaleb) Slayton;and greatgrandchildrenAlishaKenny, MaddieTanner,BrantleyPorter,AverieKenny, Zaaden Fitzgerald, Roman Etheridge, AdaGrace Etheridge,Naomi Etheridge,Sawyer Porter, DanielEtheridge,and Axel Slayton Jan was precededin death by herparents Charles and Inez Hays Berryhill; hersiblings Emerson Berryhill, Prentice BerryhillVine, andMary HelenBerryhillBruton; and herdaughter-in-law,Patty Etheridge Jan lovedthe Lord deeply and nevermissed an opportunitytoshare hertestimony. Herfaith was agift shegave freely to others.Her kindness will remaina source of inspiration for allwho knewher Acelebration of herlife will be held at Grace Covenant Church in Denham Springsata later date to be announced

ElsieHoneycuttslipped quietly into thearms of Jesus on April 18th, 2025, at the Butterfly Wing at the Baton Rouge General Mid City. Elsiewas abeloved educator andguidance counselor at Christian Life Academy from 1981 until 2017. Elsie'stwo greatest lovesinlifewas helping herstudents plan theirfuturesand sharing herlove of Jesus. Shereceived two Master's Degrees, onein religiousstudies and the otherineducation from LSU. Shewas aproud Tiger graduate andfan.Elsie lovedcheeringonthe LSU Women'sBasketball. When she wasn't cheeringfor the Tigers, Elsiewas cheering for all of the Christian Life Academy athletic teams. Elsiewas an avidfisher woman, hadmany stories of herrecent catches,and many Thibodeaux and Boudreaux jokes. See more DEATHS page

Black, Alex 'Kelly'

Davis,Jason Ryan

Memorial Service for Jason Davis on April 26th from 10-12 at Wayne& Gerry Davis' home. 8822 Waters Edge Ave.Baker, La 70714. Please bringa dish you'd have

Benjamin-Lazard, Elouise

Browning, Lynn Merritt

Honeycutt, Elsie

It is arare sight indeed to seetwo polesin Louisiana’sstark politicaldivide come together on any topic.

That’swhy we were heartened last week to see two of the state’sdedicated political footsoldiers —Democratic Rep.Troy Carterand Republican Rep. Clay Higgins —jointogether to sponsor abill that would increase thepower of federal regulators to conﬁscate anddestroy seafood that has been found to be contaminated, adulterated or misbranded.

This measure is especially key in Louisiana’s shrimp industry,which has been hard hit by imports thatare sold at cheaper prices than Gulf-caughtshrimp. Imported shrimp can contain high levels of contaminants and chemicals, but largely due to stafﬁng shortagesatthe Food andDrugAdministration, which ischarged with testingimportedseafood,only atinyfractionof inbound seafood is inspected before it hits the U.S. market. Under the provisions of the billCarterand Higgins have proposed, inspectors with the FDA would have greater leeway in deciding when to impound and destroy importedseafood found to be mislabeled or in violationofU.S health and safety guidelines. Federal inspectorswiththe Food and Drug Administrationalready have authority to seize and destroy food that is misbranded or adulterated. But often, importers are allowedtokeep theproduct, and oftentimes they just take it to another port wherethey hope theinspections are not as strict.

“Billions of pounds of uninspected seafood continuetoenterour country,causing major healthconcerns,” Higginssaid.The bill will help “protect consumers,” Carter added. Evenifthe bill passes,itmay betough to overcome inspection shortages exacerbated by stafﬁng levels at the FDA that make it virtually impossible for targetstobemet,according to a Government AccountabilityOfﬁce Reportpublished in January

The FDA has not met inspection targets since 2018, the report said.

Louisiana shrimpers have complainedfor yearsthatimported shrimp were undercutting their market and making it impossible formany of them to stay afloat financially State legislators have taken some stepsto address the problem, requiringrestaurants to disclose to customers if theysell foreign-caught shrimp or seafood, but those measureshavenot gone farenough for many The problem was highlighted even further lastyear, when testing of theshrimp sold by five vendors at the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City —anevent staged to highlight theproduce of Louisiana shrimpers —found four of them to be selling imported shrimp

We have long supported Louisiana’s shrimpers, who catch so much of what is turnedinto amazing dishes on Louisianatables. We alsolike to support people in Congress workingtogether forgoodends, as Carter andHiggins areinthis case. We lift adelicious (shrimp) cocktail to you, gentlemen.Moreofthis, please.

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com.

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

OPINION

The resultsfromthe public’svote on Amendment Three sent aclear message:Louisiana voters favor evidencebased strategies over superficial solutions to enhance public safety. They want real solutions —solutions backed by facts, dataand resultsthat actually make our communities safer And we have proof that thosesolutions work. In 2017, Louisiana took abold, bipartisan step to reform our criminal justicesystemthrough the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. It wasn’tabout slogans or quick fixes —itwas adata-driven efforttoreduce crime, cut costs and make families safer.Iwas proud to support that effort then, and today,aswehold anew fiscal session, it’scritical thatweprotect and build upon the principles that have worked.

Before JRI, Louisiana had the highestincarceration rate in the country, nearly double thenational average. That approach wasn’tmaking us safer —itwas draining our state budget and leading to higherrates of recidivism. We werespending moretolock people

up without addressing the root causes of crime.

JRIchanged that trajectory.Between 2017 and 2022, the state saved approximately $153 millionasaresult of these smart-on-crime policies. But moreimportantly,those savings were reinvestedwhere they could do the mostgood: crime victim services, rehabilitation programs, reentry efforts and juvenile justice initiatives. Instead of simply warehousing people, Louisiana started focusing on what works —giving people apathway out of the system and reducing the chances they’d commit new crimes.

The evidence is clear: Investing in proven strategies toprevent crime and reducerecidivismisthe only way to deliver lasting public safety It’s timetodouble down on what’s working —not retreat to failed policies of the past.The path to safer communities is through evidence-based solutions like JRI, not empty promises.

DANNY MARTINY

formerstate senator and member of the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Task Force

In November 2024, before the election results were determined, Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post said that the results of the election will tell us what kind of country we have. We can differonthe right goals for the government to pursue, but they should be pursued within the basics of whoweare. Ibelieved that we’re a country governed by the rule of law, equal protection under the law,the rights of individuals and due process. Evidently,I waswrong. Avisa, a green card or citizenship should keep us safeunder the law.I grieve the loss of systematic, orderly,lawful activities to chaotic acts clearly not consistent with what our government promised.

Iama regular voter,registered independent. Ivalue the country and the rule of law over my individual political opinions. The only power we have to address government issues is to contact our representatives. Please ponder the issues above before you decide what you wantour country to be.

JANE METCALF Baton

Rouge

“Taxation without representation.” One of America’s ﬁrst trending memes,this pithy phrase captured in threewords the animating spirit of the American Revolution.

Levies imposed by distant authoritiesand paid by local people without their consent, input or possibility of reliefisthe essential deﬁnition of colonization.

And this continues today in Louisiana,abetted and accelerated by our ostensible representatives in Congress and the state Legislature, which have allowed boththe cutting of billions in publicly funded federal assistanceand the raising of trillions in new sales taxes (tariffs) without lifting a ﬁnger or uttering awordof objection.

In short, it’staxation without representation.

While the colonistsofour own nation’shistory rose up, severed ties and ultimately won awar of independence from our colonizers, longoccupied Louisiana never seemed comfortable withits new status as a free state

Asleepy province of several distant nations, Louisiana has repeatedly and

consistently sought new great powers under which to subjugate itself.

Thomas Jefferson purchased us (as part of the ﬁrst commercial “bundle”) for the prorated price of acouple hundred thousand bucks. We have never been anything but abargain.

After theCivil Warended Louisiana’soccupation by aslave-powered agricultural economy,westruck oil in Evangeline and immediately sold ourself to anew industry,which eventually spawned ahost of predatory, oil-adjacent industrial colonizers.

Which brings us to thepresent day —literally to today’slocal news in which three-quartersofa billion dollars in publicly fundedstorm aid to Louisiana citizens was cutout of FEMA, and $4 billion (plus tax exemptions) simultaneouslyinvested in asingle chemical plant in Ascension Parish. When will it become clearer to Louisiana citizens that our nominal representatives have once again allied themselves withthe great powers and againsttheir own people?

MATT MULLENIX Baton Rouge

Your April 21 article by John Stanton of Gambit Weekly about Festival International in Lafayette contains lots of accurate, positive information. Unfortunately,italso harbors some potentially harmfulencouragement, as the author says “First off, it’sfree... [and] you can pack alunch and beers.” Sorry,but the reality of it is that if enough people bring their own food and drink to Festival, there is no way it can remain free. It would be better forthe writer to encourage festivalgoers to leave their ice chests at home and purchase areasonably priced cold beer and someofthe regional and international foods while enjoying the music, dancing and camaraderie. Festival is free, but it depends on income from vendors to pay forbands and production. Please encourage support forthe vendors and let the good times continue to roll forfree.

GUY HOKANSON Covington

COMMENTARY

Democratsdon’t want Harris

Here is asimple fact: The Democratic Party does not like to renominate presidential candidates who lost in thelast election. Just look at history.The 2016 losing Democrat was Hillary Clinton; the party moved on in 2020. Before that, John Kerry was the losing Democrat in 2004 He made some noise about giving it another try in 2008,and the party told him to forget it. The losing Democrat in 2000 was Al Gore. The party did not give him asecond chance. Go back to Democratic losers Michael Dukakis (1988), Walter Mondale (1984), Jimmy Carter (1980), George McGovern (1972), and Hubert Humphrey (1968). Nobody got asecond run after losing. Youhave to go back70years, when the DemocraticParty in 1952 nominated Adlai Stevenson, who lost, andthen renominated him in 1956, when he lost again, to ﬁnd atime Democrats chose aproven loser as their nominee. And that didn’twork.

againsta man Democratic prosecutors hadindictednot one, not two, not three, but four times. And she still lost. Compared to 2020, the Democratic presidential ticket lost ground in state after state,lostall the critical swing states, and lost standing among important Democratic constituency groups, like black and Hispanic voters. Harris’defeat,combined with the Democratic loss of the Houseand Senate, caused the party to begin asoul-searching exercise that continuestothis day Democratic strategistsare tornbetweena visceral desire to base the party’sentire reason for existence on attacking President Donald Trump, or trying to reformthe party’spositions andreconnectwith lost voters. So far the attack-Trump side is winning.

lier,” reported the New York Times this week. “Yet some of her closest allies sayshe is leaning against another White House run in 2028 and, instead, toward acampaign for governor of California in 2026. Her political choice is binary, she hastold people: She can run for governor or president,but not both.”

The ﬁrst part of that passage suggests Harris has settled on thebelief that she didn’treally lose the2024 election— Bidendid.

But the second partsuggests that, whatever the truth, Harris has gotten the message thatanother presidential run would not succeed, even in securing the Democratic nomination.

Which brings the story to Kamala Harris. The former vice president lost the 2024 presidential election. Yes, she started late, and yes, she hadtofollow the enfeebled President Joe Biden. But Harris had ahugely enthusiastic base, allthe money in the world, and glowing press coverage in her short race

FEST TIME!

For2028,the ﬁrst question Democrats must grapple withis: Do we want to renominate Harris? The answertothat questionlies in theparty’shistory,for alltosee. Anditappears Harris has gotten the message.

“Friends, former aides, and advisers sayMs. Harris, 60, still thinks she would have beatenMr. Trumpifshe’d had more than 107 days to campaign —the implicationbeing thatformerPresident Joe Biden should have quit the race ear-

Jazz Fest is here again andit’stime to celebrate,dance,eat, drink and be happy!Havefun, everyone!

So,what’sgoingoninthis cartoon? youtellme. Be witty, funny, crazy, absurd or snarky —just trytokeepitclean.There’snolimit on the numberofentries.

The winning punchline will be lettered into the word balloon and run on Mondayinour print editions andonline.Inaddition,the winner will receiveasigned print of the cartoon along witha cool winner’sT-shirt! Some honorable mentions will alsobelisted. Email entries to cartooncontest@theadvocate.com

Meanwhile, theformer vice president’shusband, Douglas Emhoff, is said to be making $6 million ayear from the law ﬁrm, Willkie Farr&Gallagher,that he recently joined. Which means Kamala Harris might have another option for something to do: Nothing. She doesn’t have to run for ofﬁce. She doesn’thave to give speeches. She doesn’thave to set up an institute. She can dabble in things she enjoys.Travel. Give advice to aspiring politicians.

And, of course,dump on Donald Trump. She would probably do that for free,anyway

Byron York is on X, @Bryon York.

DON’T FORGET! All entries mustinclude your name, home addressand phone number. Cellnumbers arebest. Thedeadline for all entries is midnight on Thursday.Good luck, folks! —Walt

Unionmembershiponthe decline

It hardly qualiﬁes as news anymore, but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, union membership declined from 2023 to 2024, going from 10% to 9.9% of wage and salary workers. Some 32% of public employees are union members compared toonly 5.9% of private-sector workers, down from 6% in 2023.

This means 49% of all union members work for the governmentand, even more striking, 32% belongtothe twonationalteachersunions. As National Review’sDominic Pinopointed out, national media is chock full of hopeful stories about union organizing drives and strikes he cited 214 in 2024 —but the longtime trend line away from private-sector unions has not turned around despite the considerable efforts of Democratic politicians.

In early 1937, auto and steel union organizers staged illegal sit-ins in the giant factories that fueled American economic growth from the 1890s to the 1920s. After Democratic governorsrefused to enforce court orders to clear out, auto and steel executives caved in and accepted the industrial unions as bargainingagents.

When the big factories switched to wartime production, industrial labor leaders, such as the young Walter Reuther, cooperated to prevent strikes as workers churned out astonishing numbers of planes in Henry Ford’s Willow Run plant in Michigan and boatsinHenry J. Kaiser’s Richmond shipyards in California.

factories, while high-tech assembly work migrated to China.

This is despite acertain amount of nostalgia in liberal andconservative quarters for the dayswhen union representation of private-sector employees was considered thenorm. Union membership as apercentage of employees peakedat33.5% in 1954, when almost no public employees belonged to unions.

That’smore than ﬁve times thepercentage of private-sectorunionmembershiptoday

What accounts for this major change in American life? It startswithhow unions were formed. Craft andbuilding unions have roots going back more than acentury,when manyserved the function of medieval guilds —maintaining quality standardsand stamping out the competition. They often had adiscernible ethniccharacter,with membership opento sons, brothers, nephews and cousins of current members Thebig jump —atripling —inunion membership camesuddenly from 1937 to 1947 after the passage of theNew Deal’sWagnerAct. Industrial workers weren’tthe worst-off employees in the 1930s Depression. They feared that “time and motion study”managers would speed up the assembly lines, and, with 20% unemployment, they knew they could be easily replacedif they walked out.

In the postwar years, Reuthernegotiated with General Motors’ Charles E. Wilson on the 1950 Treaty of Detroit —a five-year no-strike contract with cost-of-living increases, health care benefits and defined-benefitpensions.

In what has been referred to as “America’smidcentury moment,” it becamewidely known that the only enlightened way to manage enormous centralized factoryoperations, vulnerable alwaystoviolence, was tocooperate with union leaders. Alas, as so often happens in human affairs, success bred failure. U.S. auto andsteel companies failed to respond effectively to unexpected foreign competition,and 1970s contracts promising early retirement and open-ended preMedicare retiree health care insurance pushed Detroit’sBig Three and Big Steel toward bankruptcy Foreign-based auto companies building new plants avoided Michigan and Ohio counties with elected judges who would not enjoin wildcat strikes and chose sites in states with right-to-work laws banning compulsory union membership.

As inventive employers moved from labor-intensive to increasingly automatedmanufacturing and as agrowing economy moved from manufacturing to services, rapid-growth ﬁrms such as Walmart and Amazon depended on thousandsofgeographically dispersed locationsrather than afew enormous

Unions were also victims of their own good intentions. Federal and state minimum wage, work safety and pension legislation made union protections seem unnecessary.Human resource departments,created in responseto government regulations and court decisions, handled matters unions used to. Or consider the record of the two teachers unions, which today pocket thedues of one-third of American union members. Their major achievementinthe past decade was shutting down schools in states and cities controlled by their Democratic allies, not just for six weeks tostop the spread of COVID-19 but for two years or more after it was clear that schoolchildren didn’tcontract or transmit the virus at signiﬁcant rates

The result has been asharp lowering of test scores, especially among Black and disadvantaged students.Itmay have been thegreatest destruction of learning in U.S. history

In contrast, thegreatest improvementinNational Assessment of Educational Progress test scores in recent years cameinthe two non-teacher union-dominated states, Mississippi and Louisiana, which have thenation’s highest Black percentages. Their scores have jumped from the bottom to themiddle rank of states and, adjusted for racial composition, now rank highest in thenation, ahead of even high-incomesuburb-dominated Massachusetts. Democrats inevitably insert provisions encouraging private-sector unionization in their big legislation, including Obamacare and the Biden stimulus. Provisionsthat “Abundance” authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson pointed out include increased costs and delayed completion of public works. Butthese haven’tpushed the union numbers up. It seemsthat however well suited labor unions were during the “midcentury moment,” they’re not well suited toour current servicedominated decentralized economy. Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone.

With die-hard Saints fans nervously awaiting tonight’sstart of the NFL Draft, there’s one thing all can agree that the Saints should do better. No,Idon’tmean they should completely change how they adjudge defensive ends (although they definitely should do that). And Idon’tmean they must follow my own draft preferences. Instead, the one area Saints clearly owe more to their fans is in transparency about injuries. The latest, obvious case in point is the mysterious shoulder ailment of putative starting quarterback Derek Carr Before getting too deep into the transparency argument, please allow adisclaimer: This isn’tan anti-Saints-in-general column. Ilove the Saints, not just on the field but off. Owner Gayle Benson is acharitable dynamo. The Saints encourage their players to be beneficially active in the community,and they tend to choose players with the character to embrace those community engagements. And the Saints tend to reinvest in Louisiana and, in general, to be good (albeit somewhat demanding) corporate citizens.

Finally,ofcourse, they are our Saints. Theyare an indelible part of us. (If you know whatImean, you really know whatI mean.) We cannotnot love them.

Yetstill, they drive us crazy.They make wacky trade-ups in the draft for boom-or-bust players who too often go bust. They insist coaches are good when we can all see they aren’t. They repeatedly insist their roster is betterthanitis and blame injuries for poor team performance —without seeming to look inward to ﬁgure why the Saints for so many consecutive years have had among the most games lost to injuriesinthe league.

Which brings us back to the team’sconsistent lack of transparency about injuries, especially as highlighted by Carr’ssituation. Nearly two full weeks ago, April 11, reports emergedsaying Carr has ashoulder ailment so bad he might miss the whole season. Since then, the Saints have told us nothing. Not asingle substantive thing about the status of the quarterback on whom $150 million is being lavished.

What sort of injury is it? How did it happen? When did it happen? Will he need surgery? Is he really out for the year? We deserve to know the answers.

Caveat: If he isn’treally injured so badly and the Saints are playing mind games with the rest of the league to make other teamsthink we are desperate for aquarterback, thus giving the Saints abetter shot at asuperstar non-QB in the draft, then maybe that’sOK. We like competitive advantage.

Still, no later than Monday,wedeserve those answers. Why? Because in more thanone sense that $150 millionisour money.Idon’tjust mean through the tickets and merchandise purchased by Saints fans. Additionally,Louisiana state government through the years has either paid directly or subsidized the Saints to the tune of many,many hundreds of millions of dollars (I’ll spare you the exact accounting, but the receipts are public knowledge) —building the Superdome and renovating it several times, making direct payments to the team, and creating the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District that through special tax revenue (along with income generated at the stadium) pays for another large chunk of the dome and subsidizes the Saints’ otherproperties. All of whichisn’ttomention that, evenasthe Saints do generate lots of revenue for the region, it is the super-loyal fan base that has allowed whatwas a$70 millionpurchase by TomBenson to balloon into afranchise now valuedbyCNBC at $5.5 billion.

Moreover,nearly uniquely among NFL franchises, the Saints were awarded to the city itself (largely through national political maneuvering, but that’sanother story) before the would-be franchise even had an original owner.Inthat sense, the Saints belong to the city and state themselves.

All of whichmakes the Saints essentially apublic-private partnership. With public-sector money should comepublic accountability

Yetthe Saints are notoriously close-mouthed about injuries in general, and so oftenmisleading that the incorrect reports begin to lookdeliberate. How many times, fergoshsakes, canthe Saints say aplayer is expected to miss only X number of weeks, only to see him still shelved after X-plus-eight or nine or more?

And now our $150 millionman reportedly is injured. Yes, our man: We pay for him. Yetthe Saints, two weeks later,still tell us absolutely nothing about his status. In the long run —indeed, even in the almostimmediate run —there’snogood reason for the secrecy.The Saints have an ethical duty to tell us the truth.

Now, as for how the Saints should draft, well Quin Hillyer can be reached at quin.hillyer@ theadvocate.com.

Quin Hillyer

Byron York

Michael Barone

Elsie is survived by her niece, JulieE.Burton; nephew, David Burton; great nieces and nephews, Brett-Ashley Hammerl, Andrew Cockerham, Loren Burton, Myles Burton, and Bronwyn Burton; and numerous great great nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by parents, WoodH.Honeycutt and ElnoraHoneycutt; and sister, Linda K. Honeycutt. Service will be held at Greenoaks Funeral Home and MemorialPark, 9595 Florida Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70815 on Saturday April 26th. Visitationwill begin at 12pm with aMemorial serviceto begin at 2pm.

Humphrey Sr., Clark'Bit'

Clark "Bit" Humphrey Sr., age 90, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana passedaway on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. Clark is survived by his daughter, Shawn Humphrey (Jay Cudd), his granddaughter, Jessica Che' Winters, his greatgranddaughter, Breanne Dupuy, his son-in-law, Michael Avil Winters, and his granddaughter-in-law Lindsly Laird Winters. He was preceded in death by his wife, Carol C. Humphrey, his son, Clark M. Humphrey, Jr., his daughter, Faith H. Winters, his granddaughter, Lara Lea Winters, hisfather SamHumphrey, and his mother, Claudie Alford Humphrey. In lieu of flowers, memorialgiftsinClark's name may be made to Alzheimer's Services, http://www.alzbr.org/" Agraveside service for Bit will be held Saturday, April 26, 2025 at 12:00 PM at Greenoaks Funeral Home & Memorial Park, 9595 FloridaBlvd, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70815

Darryl HallKerr passed awaypeacefully at home on April 16, 2025 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the age of 66. Darryl was truly aremarkable and loving person and made every person he met feel important. He will be immensely missed. Darryl was born in Montgomery,Alabama.He attended high school at Southaven High School in Southaven, MS and college at Louisiana State University. He was active in businessreal estate and remained committed to his workupuntil the end. He was an avid LSU Tiger fan and greatly enjoyed attending LSU football games. But most of all, he enjoyed spending time with his wife, four children, and three grandchildren. His love for football was something he shared with his children, leaving memoriesand amark on us that will never fade. He is survived by his wife, Renee, and four children, Brandy McMains (Jake McMains), Chelsea Barbay (Ryan Barbay), Noelle Kerr, and Bryce Kerr. He is survived by his three grandchildren, William Barbay, Thyre McMains, and SullivanBarbay. He is also survived by his father, DennisKerr, and three siblings, Fred Kerr Lisha Jacobsen, and Lawanna Kerr. He is preceded in death by his mother, Maebelle Kerr,as well as his daughter, Hannah Kerr.

Afuneral service will be held on Friday, April 25, 2025 at 10am at Greenoaks Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, donations can be

LaPorte Sr., Thomas Joseph'Foots'

Thomas Joseph LaPorte, Sr., known as "Foots", passedaway, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at 12:03a.m., at his homeinWalker, Louisiana.Hewas anative ofBaton Rouge and alongtime resident of Greenwell Springs,Louisiana. Foots was born on November 16, 1938, to Joseph and Maggie Spitale LaPorte in Baton Rouge,Louisiana. He is survivedbyhis lovingwife of 60 years, Linda Vickers LaPorte;and their son, Thomas J. LaPorte,Jr. (Tanya).Relatives and friends areinvited to attend visitation at Greenwell SpringsBaptist Church on Friday,April25, 2025, from 9:00 AM until servicesbegin at 12:00PM. Interment willimmediately follow in GreenwellSprings BaptistChurchCemetery, 19421 GreenwellSprings Rd.,GreenwellSprings, LA 70739. Arrangements have been entrustedtoMcLin Funeral Home in Walker. A fullobituaryisavailableat www.mclinfuneralhome.co m

Victor passed away on Saturday,April 19, 2025, at the ageof86. He was aresidentofAddis, and anative ofBayou Chene. He was a retiredbridge operator withthe LA DOTD. He loved playinghis guitarwiththe Dale &Grace Broussard Band, Dixieland in New Orleans, and various other bands in the area, and lovedHank Williams. His otherhobby wasbuilding model flat bottom boats out of cypress with Nadler engines. Visitation will be at St.John the Baptist Catholic Church in Brusly onFriday, April25th from 9 AM. Arosary will be saidat 10 AM led by the Knights of Columbus Council10744, of which he was amember. Funeral mass willbegin at 10:30AM. His ashes will be laidtorestatGraceMemorial Park at alater date. He is survived by hiswife Lynne Ann Dupuy Mire; stepsons, Troyand wife MaryLaGrone Benoit, Eric and wifeJessica McMastersBenoit;fivestep grandchildren,Hunter, Christian(wifeAmber), Brogan,Joelle and Jesse; andfourstep-great-grandchildren, (Amelia, Olivia, Arianaand Liam) with twins on the way,and his beloved dog, Peaches. Preceded in death by parents Ernest Raymondand Lillie Allen Mire;sisters, Marion Mary Gros, Elaine Domingue,and Theresa Light; firstwife, Nella "Nellie" CoupelMire, andstepgreat-granddaughter, Camille MarieBenoit.Special thanks are extended to those who assistedinVictor's well-being:the Addis Police Department, WBRP Fire Department,and his caregivers.

Rollins, Ruth M. James

Ruth M. JamesRollins departed this life on Thurs‐day, April10, 2025, at her daughter’s residencein Birmingham,AL. Shewas 94, anativeofPlattenville, LA anda resident of Avon‐dale,LA. Visitation on Fri‐day, April25, 2025, at Sec‐ondSt. John Baptist

Church,242 Avondale Gar‐denRd.,Avondale, LA from 9:00 am to religiousser‐vicesat10:00 am.Inter‐ment in Restlawn Memorial Park.Arrangementsby Williams &SouthallFuneral Home,5414 Hwy. 1, Napoleonville, LA,(985) 369-7231. To sign theguest book or offercondolences visitour websiteatwww williamsandsouthallfune ralhome.com.

Roman, Billie Bourg

Billie BourgRoman,born November 27, 1934, passed away peacefully on April 16, 2025atthe ageof90in BatonRouge,LA. Shewas born in NewOrleans and livedmostofher life in Chalmette,relocatingto BatonRouge after Hurri‐cane Katrina. Shewas the daughter of thelate SylvesterT.Bourg andthe late Cecile Lods Bourg. She wasprecededindeath by herhusband of 67 years, Joseph C. Roman, Jr.She wasthe mother of Patricia R. Earhart(Bobby),Joseph C. Roman, III (Judy), Pamela R. Mascari(Brian) andthe late BradleyJ Roman; grandmotherof ChrisEarhart (Daynell), AlanaE.Barnett-Woods (Chris), VincentRoman (Kayla), Gerard Roman (Alyssa), andKatherine, Peterand Andrew Mascari; great-grandmotherof Noah andChloe Earhart, Carter Barnett-Woods, Luke,Camille, andKolton Roman. Shewas thesister of BarbaraB.Capdepon andthe late EliseB Munch, thelateAudrey Bourg, andthe late DorisB Creger.She wasa ’53grad‐uate of RabouinHigh School,and is also sur‐vivedbyher lifelong friend andclassmate Joan Croall Livaccari. Shealsoleaves behind many friendsand relativesfromChalmette andBaton Rouge, mem‐bers of theSt. Bernard Club (peopledisplaced all over Louisiana by Hurri‐cane Katrina),friends at St Thomas More in Baton Rouge, andresidents of Williamsburg Senior Living Shespent herlifedeeply devotedtoher familyand herfaith.A specialthanks to OurHouse forRespite in BatonRouge where she spentthe last 16 months receivingexcellent care by Ms.Verly andher staff. Services to be held at St BernardMemorialFuneral Home,701 Virtue St Chal‐mette,LA, on April25, 2025, with visitation from 9:00 a.m. followed by aCatholic Burial Mass at noon.Inter‐ment will follow immedi‐atelyatSt. BernardGar‐dens

Melvin Sanders, 84 years old, was called to be with his Lord and SaviorJesus Christ in theearlyhours of Easter Sunday on April 20, 2025. He passed peacefully intoeternal rest surrounded by hislovingwife and children. Melvin entered theworld on October 7, 1940, born to Edward and JosieSanders.Hewas a proud graduateofCapitol High School and Shaw University.Melvin retired from Exxon Refinery after 35 yearsofservice, serving many years as Refinery Superintendent. Melvin leaves behind alegacy of love,faith,and generosity He is survivedbyhis devotedand loving wife, SylviaWoodard Sanders; son, Bruce Sanders (Kathy); daughters, Melva Sanders Malone (Daryl), and Heidi SandersHill (John). He is also survived by siblings, Vernon Sanders,LurtieSanders Dillon, and Constance Sanders, as wellasgrandchildren, Bruce Edward

Sanders,OliviaSanders, Mia Malone, Megan Sanders, Naomi Hill, Nathan Hill (Harshi), Nicholas Hill, Nathalie Hill, and Noah Hill; great-grandchild, EvaSanders.Heis survivedbynumerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.Heispreceded in death by his son, Melvin Ray Sanders; parents, Edward and Josie Sanders. Melvin's spirit willliveon in thecherished memories and valuesheinstilled in allthose fortunateenough to knowhim. Acelebration of his life will be held on Friday, April 25, 2025, St. Mark United Methodist Church, 6217 Glen Oaks Drive,Visitation from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Omega Service willbegin at 9:45 am. Service at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers,donations in thememory of Melvin Sandersmay be madeto St.Mark UnitedMethodist Church by mail6217 Glen Oaks Drive,Baton Rouge, LA 70811 in honorofhis lifelong dedication.

Marilyn PlaegerShepard,a devoted wife, mother,grandmother, great grandmother, and aunt, passed away on Monday, April21, 2025, at 88 years old. She was the proud matriarch of her family and a devout servant of her Catholic Community. While living in Chalmette,she was acharter member of St. Mark Catholic Church, a member of the St. Mark AltarSociety,the Knights of Columbus Ladies Auxiliary 5747, AARP #4420, and TOPS Chapter36. After moving to Baton Rouge in 2005, she was amember of Most Blessed Sacrament CatholicChurch, serving as an EucharisticMinister, NARF 1398, and TOPS Chapter0312.

Marilyn was a1954 graduateofthe Academy of theHolyAngels in New Orleans. She had atalent fornumbers and spent many years working in Bookkeepingfor several businesses in theSt. Bernard Parish and New Orleans area. Her greatest joys were her family.She spent 62 years of marriage and adventures living life to its fullest withher belovedCharlie. Withouta doubt, aloving smile wouldcome uponher face when any of her grandchildren or greatgrandchildren walked intothe room. She is precededindeath by her husband,Charles L. Shepard;her parents, Georgeand Thelma Plaeger, Sr.; her brothers, GeorgePlaeger, Jr. (Shirley) and Harold Plaeger(Laverne); and her sisterGloria Brady (Tom). She is survivedby2 daughters, Suzanne Ruiz (Earl)and Yvette Caillouet (Milton); her grandchildren,Stephen Serio(Brittani), Matthew Serio (Daphne), Corey Caillouet (Gil), Sean Caillouet, Scott (Rachel), Chad (Amber), and Quinn (Katherine) Ruiz; her greatgrandchildren,Jathan, Ainsley, Dawson, Ethan, Olivia, Robert Sebastain, Oliver, Rosemary,Elizabeth, Stella, and Lincolnand many cherishednieces and nephews. Visitation and aMass of Christian burial will be held on Friday, April25at St.PatrickCatholic Church in BatonRouge.Visitation willbegin at 9AMwith Rosaryrecitationat10:00, and Mass at 10:30 AM. A receptionwillfollowatSt. PatrickFamily Center. Burial willtakeplace at St. Bernard Memorial Gardens in Chalmette at 2:30 PM In lieu of flowers,please make donations to The Manning Family Children's HospitalofNew Orleans or St. Vincent DePaul of Baton Rouge.

Susan Elizabeth Cino Smallpassed away on April 17, 2025, in Baton Rouge,Louisiana, in the comfortofher home. She wasbornonJanuary 27, 1967, in NewOrleans Louisiana, to Margie Ann Cinoand Oscar Joseph Cino. Sheservedher countryinthe Army National Guard from 1988 to 1996 and later becameanattorneywhenshe graduated from Loyola Law School. Shemarriedher loving husband, StevenAndrew SmallonAugust 8, 1992, in Kenner,Louisiana, andwas with himuntilthe time of herpassing Sheleaves behindher husband, hertwo adult children—Christineand Benjamin,her brothers Antonio (Tony) Cinoand ChristopherJames Mitchell, andher half-sister, Teresa Chow.She is preceded in death by her motherand herhalf-brother,Antonio LucasOrtiz.

Shespent herlifededicated to God, herfamily, andher manybeloved pets. Shewas dearlyloved by all herfamilyand friends and will be rememberedfondlyfor hersharp intellect andsweet disposition.

Relativesand friends are invited to attendthe Funeral Service at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at ResthavenFuneral Home, 11817 Jefferson HighwayinBaton Rouge.A Visitation will be held at thefuneral home beginning at 1:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Resthaven GardensofMemory. ACelebrationofLife to follow Familyand friends may sign theonline guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamilyatwww.resthav enbatonrouge.com

passed away peacefullyathis home on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at the age of 90. Marlinwas born on September 6, 1934, in Glas-

gow,Pennsylvania, to Dorothy Gorman Troxell and Joel August Troxell. He wasthe youngestofthirteen children, andraised in Blandburg, Pennsylvania, wherehelearned thevaluesoffamily, faith, and hard work. He met thelove of hislife, Florie,atReade TownshipHigh School in Mountaindale,Pennsylvania. Thetwo marriedshortly before Marlinwas drafted into theU.S.Army, whereheservedproudly whilestationedinFairbanks, Alaska. After his service,Marlinand Florie made theirhomeinBaton Rouge,Louisiana, where they built alifecentered around familyand community. Marlinhad adeep love forthe people and culture of Louisiana. He enjoyed LSU sports, gardening, hunting, andfishing. He workedfor 45 years in theheavy equipment industry with Boyce Harvey Machinery,T.L. James, and Louisiana Machinery. He approached everyjob with pride anddedication,and instilledthatsame work ethicinhis children. Above all,Marlinwas devoted to hisfamily. He andFlorie raisedsix childrenand were blessed with twelve grandchildrenand eight great-grandchildren.His life wasrichwith love laughter, andpurpose.He is survived by hisloving wife of 67 years, Florie D. Troxell; children, Claire (Robert)Webb Jr Michelle (David) Little, MarlinJr. (Shyrn), George (Melissa) Troxell, and Joel (Julia) Troxell; andhis many grandchildrenand greatgrandchildren. He wasprecededindeathbyhis daughter, Elizabeth Crifasi; son-in-law, JerryP.Crifasi; sisters, Ida Bentz,Evelyn Bland, Genevieve Hommer, VernaMetzger, Dorothy Troxell, Louise Troxell, and LucilleWeston;and brothers, Calvin, Fred, George, Ivan, andKen. Visitation will take place at ResthavenFuneral Home on Friday, April 25, 2025, beginningat1:00 PM until servicesat2:00 PM. Burial to follow at ResthavenGardens of Memory. Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamilyatwww.resthavenbaton rouge.com.

Mire, Victor R.

Kerr, Darryl

Shepard, Marilyn P.

Troxell Sr., Marlin H.

MarlinH.Troxell, Sr., a residentofBaton Rouge andbeloved husband of Florie D. Troxell,

Sanders, Melvin

Small, Susan Elizabeth Cino

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LSUwomen stillonlinefor big fish

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

Any women’scollege basketball player whowished to enterthe NCAA transfer portal had to do so by Wednesday night.

LSU suffered its fair share of losses in this year’scycle,but coach Kim Mulkey and her staff still have the bones of achampionship-caliber team.

They can build aroster around the two stars they’re retaining (Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams), the four freshmen they’re enrolling (Grace Knox, ZaKiyah Johnson, DivineBourrage and Bella Hines),and the two transfers they’re alreadyadding (Kate Koval and Amiya Joyner).

How aggressive will LSU be in what’sleft of the portalcycle?

How heavily will it have to rely on its freshmen next season?

Let’sexamine the Tigers’ offseason to date, with afocus on all thetalent they’ve lost and an eye toward themoves they stillcan make.

Heavyturnover

LSU knew it’dhave to replace three players who were setto exhaust their eligibility: Aneesah Morrow,Shayeann Day-Wilson and Amani Bartlett.

It was unsure, however,ofhow many contributors it’d lose to the transfer portal. The ﬁnal number wound up pushingMulkey and her staff into relativelynew territory

In all, they’ve lost ﬁve players to the portal, which means they must replace eight of the 13 players from last season’steam. That’s three more openings thanthey hadto ﬁll last offseasonand two more than they had to address the year prior

The Tigers haven’texperienced this much turnover since the 2022 offseason, when Mulkey overhauled her first LSU roster and signed the nucleusofthe team that eventually won the 2023 national championship.

Sa’Myah Smith, aformer starter who’stransferring to Virginia, kicked off the movement when she entered the portalthe day after the Tigers’ season ended. Four others have followed her out the door

DUNCAN

Continued from page1C

Those meetings presumably will take place in the days and weeks ahead as Dumars conductshis damage and mitigation assessment of the basketball operation. How those get-togethers go largely will dictate the direction of the franchise going forward.

Dumar was nattily dressed in acharcoal suit and crisp white dress shirt Tuesday,but apair of coveralls andshrimp boots might have been more appropriate attire. He has amess to clean up.

The Pelicans are coming off the second-worst season in franchise history and have lost the conﬁdence and attention of their loyal fanbase.

The disastrous 21-61 season cost David Griffinhis job as vice president of basketball operations and is expected to spur more changes on Airline Drive. As Dumars noted, Griffindid alot of good things duringhis six-year tenure. He professionalized and elevated the front office, adroitly navigated the messy divorcefrom Anthony Davis, and oversaw the shrewd draft selections of TreMurphy,Herb Jones, Dyson Daniels and Yves Missi. His undoing, though, was an inability to make the ZionExperience work. It certainly wasn’tfor alack of trying. Griffinbuilt the entire roster around Zion’stalents. He brought in respectedveteran guard CJ McCollum to serve as amentor and hired anew training staff to try to get the best out of him. None of it worked. Enter Dumars. The product of ablue-collar Louisiana household, Dumars

LSUcoach Kim Mulkey celebrates as her team heads to the bench after causing SanDiegoState to call a timeoutinthe first quarter of their NCAA Tournament first-round game last month at the PMAC

Last-Tear Poais moving to Arizona State, Aalyah Del Rosario is enrollingatVanderbilt andasof Wednesday,bothMjracle Sheppard and Jersey Wolfenbarger are still looking for newschools.

Twobig targets

More portal additions are likely on theway LSU hosted former Wisconsin star Serah Williams on avisit last Thursday, andit’salso considered “the strongfrontrunner” to land ex-South Carolina guard MiLaysia Fulwiley, according to aWednesdayreportfromOn3.

Williamsisa 6-foot-4 forward with 89 career starts,all-conference defensive honors anda scoring average of 19.2 points pergamelast season as ajunior.

Landing herwould give the Tigers aprovenpost presence who can score, defend andrebound, and she’s one of the 10 besttransfers of the cycle, per ESPN rankings UConn and North Carolina also are reportedly recruiting her hard. FulwileyisESPN’s fifth-ranked transfer.She’s oneofthe most dynamic, athletic guards in the country,but sheaveraged only 11.7 ppg on 43% shooting across the first twoseasons of her career Her ceiling is much higher.Could LSU find theright role for her and unlock her potential?

LSU awaitsWilliams’ and Fulwiley’s ﬁnaldecisions.Iftheysign on, the Tigers will have one of the nation’s top transfer classes for thesecond time in three years.

starred for the famed Detroit Pistons Bad Boys teams in the late 1980s and early1990s. During his prime,hewas charged with defending Michael Jordan one-on-one, so going toe-to-toe with Zion over dinner or in a meeting roomwill not intimidate him. If anything, he will relish the challenge. Dumars didn’tmention Williamson directlybyname, but many of his commentsTuesday were athinly veiled message aimed directly at the starcrossed superstar

“You’re not going to be successful just withtalent alone,” Dumars said. “There are some intangiblesthat you have to have. You’ve got to ﬁgureout: Does this guy really want to be great?Ishegoing towork? Is he going to show up? Does he have toughness? All of those intangible things besides who can run fast,who can jump high, who can shoot the ball. Ican see that Anybody can see that.” Dumarsthen added, pointing to his chest, What youdon’t

knowis, what’sinhere. Does this guy have it?” Dumars will spendthe next few weeks trying to answer those questionsabout Zion. It’s an indictment on the former No. 1overall pick —and indirectly, Pelicans’ leadership —that we still don’tknow the answers six yearsintohis career Throughout his time in New Orleans, Williamson hasdemonstrated an afﬁnity for the good things associated with being an NBA franchise player —the money,status and fame —while shirking its other inherent responsibilities—among them, responsible leadership andmature, off-court decision-making. Whenhealthyand focused, Williamson is aforce of nature capable of singlehandedly dominating gameswith his rare combination of brawn,quickness, agility andexplosiveness. Unfortunately,the times Williamson has been healthy and focused have been few and far between. Injuries to his knee, thumb, foot and hamstring

LSU men’shoops guard Givens goes in portal LSUmen’sbasketball guardCurtis Givens entered the transfer portal, according to multiple reports. The freshman entered beforethe portal closed Tuesday Givens averaged 4.8 points on 26.9% fromthe ﬁeld and1.6 assists in 18.2 minutes pergame, including 12 starts, last season. In LSU’s91-62 loss to Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament, he hadseven points five rebounds, threeassistsand zero turnovers in 26 minutes. The 6-foot-3 guard was theNo. 65 player in thecountry in the 247Sports Composite coming out of high school. He is the seventh LSU playertoenter thetransferportal, joining freshmanVyctoriusMiller, redshirt freshman Corey Chest, sophomore Mike Williams, redshirt junior Daimion Collins, junior TyrellWard andjunior Noah Boyde

Fredette,U.S. Olympian, retires from basketball

Jimmer Fredette,the 2011 Associated Press men’s collegebasketball player of the year at BYU who went on to become an NBA lottery pick and then played for theU.S.in3x3 at last year’s Paris Olympics, announced his retirement on Wednesday.Fredette, 36, was the No. 10 pick by Milwaukee in that 2011 draft. He spent parts of six seasons in the NBA with Sacramento,New Orleans, Chicago, Phoenix and New York.

He also played professionally in Chinaand Greece, winning the MVPawardinthe Chinese Basketball Association in 2017.

He averaged 28.9 points per game for BYU in the 2010-11 college season, leading the country on hisway to theAPplayerofthe year award.

Nuggets coachoptimistic Porter will play in Game 3

Otheroptions

LSU is runningout of chancesto catch big ﬁsh. According to On3, roughly a third of the approximately 1,500 playerswho decidedtotransfer hadfound adestination by the time theportalclosedWednesday That number includes most of thetop prospects. Only ﬁve of the top-25 players in ESPN’s annual transfer rankings are still searching for anew home: Williams, Fulwiley,Utah’sGianna Kneepkens, Vanderbilt’s Iyana Moore and St. Joseph’sLaura Ziegler

If theTigers miss out on one or bothofWilliams and Fulwiley, they’ll have afew open roster spots andnot many high-proﬁle players left to pursue.

have undermined Williamson’s progress and caused him to missmore games (258) than he’s played (214) so farinhis career As aresult, the Pelicans have won fewer than 45% of their games duringhis tenure.

Still, his talent is so prodigious and his potential so immense, team ofﬁcials have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to nurture his development, often shielding him from outside scrutiny while waiting —and probably praying —for him to mature into the franchise leader they thought theyweregetting back in 2019. Alongthe way, the growing painshavefrustrated management and ownership.

Williamson was suspended for agame earlier this season for violatingteam rules, had been regularlylate to ﬂights, meetings andother team functions, and was ano-show for the Pelicans’ ofﬁcial team photo shoot late in the season.

Thelatest tabloid-inducing legal drama at his Kenner home was the proverbial last straw

“Certain things are universal,” Dumars said. “You win with good people.Wereally want to bring in the right type of players here. We want people that are going to embrace New Orleans and this state. Youhave to put atremendous amount of emphasisonyour staff to dig in to ﬁnd outwhat’sthis guy made of. Does this guy really want to be great? Is he going to come here andbea part of the culture? Is he going to buy in?” Dumars wasn’ttalking directly about Williamson, but everyone understood the message: It’stimefor Zion to get on board or be shipped out. Dumars will learn the answer soon enough.Ifhecan’treach Williamson, I’mnot sure who can.

DENVER Michael Porter Jr.participated in the DenverNuggets’ practice Wednesday and interim coach David Adelman said he was hopefulPorter wouldplayinGame 3against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night. Adelman also said astomach bug that hadswept through the team earlier in the week, one that had him doubting if Jamal Murray would even play Monday night, was abating. Porter sprained his left shoulderlateinthe Nuggets’ 105-102 loss in Game 2and wasn’t on the ﬂoor when Denver missed desperation 3-pointers in the ﬁnal seconds.

Porter was in significant pain afterward, grimacing as he got dressedand saying he’dnever dealt with that kind of pain.

Hall of Fame DT McMichael dies at age 67 from ALS

Steve McMichael, astar defensive tackle on the Chicago Bears’ famed 1985 Super Bowl championship team whose larger-than-life personality madehim a ﬁxturein the Windy City for decades and a natural for professional wrestling, has died following abattle with ALS. He was67.

McMichael died Wednesday afternoon, his publicist, Betsy Shepherd, told The Associated Press. An All-Pro in 1985 and 1987, McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024.

He played in afranchise-record 191 consecutive games from 1981 to 1993 and ranks second to RichardDentonthe Bears’career sacks listwith 921/2.His ﬁnal NFL season waswith Green Bayin 1994.

Jrue Holiday,wifejoin ownership of soccerteam

Former U.S. women’snational team star Lauren Holiday and husband Jrue Holiday of the Boston Celtics have joined the ownership group of the North Carolina Courage in the National Women’s Soccer League.

Lauren Holiday was on the U.S. teams that won the 2015 Women’s World Cup and gold medals in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Jrue Holiday is atwo-time NBAchampion and two-time AllStar whohas also played for the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Orleans Pelicansand the Milwaukee Bucks. Thetwo haveinvested in the Courage through their Holiday Family Trust, the team announced Wednesday.Lauren Holiday will serve as an advisor and ambassador forthe NWSL club.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Pelicans executivevice president of basketball operations JoeDumars speaksduring

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

ZURICHCLASSIC

FIVE TEAMSTOWATCH: Checkout thetop contenders to winthisyear’sZurichClassic

RORY MCILROY AND SHANE LOWRY

Odds: +350

COLLIN MORIKAWA AND KURT KITAYAMA

Odds: +1300

ROBERT MACINTYRE AND THOMAS DETRY

AARON RAI AND SAHITHTHEEGALA

5 WYNDHAMCLARK AND TAYLOR MOORE

Odds: +2500

Worldrankings: McIlroyNo. 2, LowryNo. 13

FedExCup rankings: McIlroyNo. 1, LowryNo. 19

2024 Zurich: 1st

On thetee: McIlroyisthe only multiple winner on thePGA Tour in 2025 with three, includingthe Masters, butdoeshehavemuch left in thetank? Lowryhas six top-20 finishes

Billy Horschel hits the ball during the first round of the Zurich Classic on April 20, 2023. Horschel withdrewfrom the 2025 Zurich on Wednesday because of a ‘lower-body injury.’ STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA

GERMER

Worldrankings: Morikawa No.4, Kitayama No.110

FedExCup rankings: Morikawa No 9, Kitayama No

152

2024 Zurich: T23

On thetee: Twicearunner-up in 2025,Morikawasix top-20 finishes.Since a fifthtoend 2024 in Zozo,Kitayamahas five missed cuts in nine starts

Kellytouts LSU’sdepth whileplaying pro-am golf

BY REED DARCEY and JEFF DUNCAN Staff writers

This spring, LSU football has enjoyed aquiet transfer portalwindow.Coach Brian Kelly and his staff haven’tlost asingle scholarship player as of Wednesday,and they aren’tchasing transferstoaddress urgent needs like they were ayear ago.

Instead, Kelly is content, free to worry more about the holes he played Wednesday than the ones he may or may not need to ﬁll on his roster

Once again, he’ssignaling conﬁdence in his team, this time after he wrapped up around at theZurich Classic’s annual pro-amevent in a group with PGA Tour professional Matt Fitzpatrick

“Well, the roster’sdeeper,” Kelly told The Advocate. “This is adeeper roster,sothis has been about developing aroster that can withstand injuries, that can certainly go through the depths of aconference schedule that pits you against the best teams in the country.”

Kelly acknowledged Wednesday that LSU began last spring without the depth it needed to compete at the top of the Southeastern Conference. That’s partly why he and his staff courtedseveral high-proﬁle defensive tackle transfers in the 2024 spring window,then began the seasonwithout the star power they wanted after their targets landed elsewhere. This year,the Tigers can be more selective. Maybe alossortwo before Friday’sdeadline dips them below the 85-scholarship limit, freeing up space for atransfer But so far,LSU has lost only walkon receiver Javen Nicholas The 16 transfers Kelly signed in the winter window,agroupthat arrived as part of arenewed push to raise moremoney to distribute among the players, haven’tyet pushed any potential returners out of the door As aresult, LSU has more depth and talent, Kellysaid, enough to give him confidence it can compete for an SEC title and aspotin the College Football Playoff.

“I think the transfer portal window for us was much moreabout retaining players,” Kelly said. “We knew that there might be aplayer or two that felt like there would be abetter opportunitysomewhere else, but we feel likeretention was the most important thing forus.

Junior running back Kaleb Jackson has said he will not enter the portal, even though sophomore Caden Durham usurped him on the depth chart last season and LSUsigned two high-proﬁle recruits at his position, Harlem Berry and JT Lindsey TheTigersare also on track to

Odds: +1900 Worldrankings: MacIntyreNo. 21, DetryNo. 31

FedExCup rankings: Detry No.18, MacIntyre No.40

2024 Zurich: T8

On thetee: Former McNeesegolfer MacIntyrewas T11, andninth in theArnoldPalmer, ThePlayers and in Singaporebeforethe Masters. Detrywon Phoenixbut stuck around T22since

Odds: +2200

Worldrankings: RaiNo. 27

Theegala No.28

FedExCup rankings: Rai No.42, Theegala No.95

2024 Zurich: Raiwas T23, Theegala missed thecut On thetee: Raiwas T4 in Mexico in late February,but hislastthree starts aremissedcut,T27 and T38. Theegala’s best in 2025 was aT17 in theGenesis

Worldrankings: ClarkNo. 17, MooreNo. 87

FedExCup rankings: Clark No.68, Moore No.79

2024 Zurich: Mooremissedthe cut, Clarkdid notplay On thetee: Clarkhurthis back andneckbut haskeptplaying finishingT5inHouston.Moore hada T7 in Januarybut hasn’t hadastart sinceMarch

McIlroyrefused to miss Zurich,despite newstatus

As Shane Lowrycelebrated

after the Masters with his friend Rory McIlroy,therewas aquestion he just had to ask,and it wasn’twhether he could try on his new green jacket.

Say,mate, are we still playing in theZurich Classictogether?

mey andMartin Trainer.

As McIlroyadmiringly describedthe putt, Lowry held his hands shoulder-width apart to showitwasn’ta long one.

retainreceivers Aaron Anderson, Zavion Thomas and Chris Hilton despitethe fact they signed transfer wideouts

NicAnderson, Barion Brown and Destyn Hill On defense, returnerssuch as corner Ashton Stamps,safety Dashawn Spears and defensive lineman Gabe Reliford can compete forsnaps with transferswho playtheirposition.

LSU dipped into the portal to sign two corners, onesafety and three edge rushers, allofwhom occupied spots on the two-deep during springpractices

“Wejust didn’thave that depthof aroster,”Kelly said. “Wehave that now, and that’s through developing the players that we recruited out of high schooland the players that we brought in fromthe portal.

“Sonow there’s depthwithin this roster. It’sa different roster.”

Horschel withdraws

Billy Horschel announcedWednesday that he is withdrawingfrom theZurichClassicbecauseheis battling a“lower-body injury.”

Horschel, who has eight career PGA wins, is the onlyplayer to win the Zurich Classic both as an individualand as partofateam.

He won the tournament himselfin 2013,thenlinked up with Scott Piercy to take home the title in 2018.

Now Horschel’s partner, TomHoge, will play with Kevin Chappell

“Hopefully aftera fewdays of rest, recovery and therapy,” Horschel wrote on X, “I’ll be back and good to go.”

Newparking

Anew public parking plan is being implemented atthe tournament this year.Public parking has been moved to NOLA MotorsportsPark, located at 11075 Nicolle Blvd. in Avondale. Parking is $20 per car

Patrons will be transported from thepubliclot at NOLA Motorsports Park to anew entrance gate to the tournament on Nicolle Boulevard, just acrossfromthe park. The new entrance gatewill bring guests ontothe golf course at the third hole of the TPC of Louisiana. The tournament’sride share drop-off/pick-up location will remain along the eastbound lane of Lapalco Boulevard on therighthand side before themain entrance to TPC Golf Course. When usingride-share programs, fans are asked to use the TPC Louisiana address: 11001 Lapalco Blvd., Avondale.

TV info

This year, themajority of the Zurich Classic willair on the Golf Channel, the stationthat will carry the entirety of the ﬁrst two rounds andhalfofthe last two.

On both Saturdayand Sunday, CBS will take overcoverage from 2-5p.m. The Golf Channel will show action from noon-2p.m. on those days.

The pair won thetournament in 2024, instantlybecoming the most popular champions of the PGA Tour’s only team event since it went to its current buddy-buddy format in 2017. They were even the most popular before they won, getting astanding ovation thenight beforethe ﬁnal round as they left dinner at Arnaud’s, then singing along lustily withapacked room of fans at theZurich’s post-tournament shindig.

Still, Lowry’squestion was a fair one considering how McIlroy’slife had changed. Plus, Rory was soon jetting home to Northern Ireland to celebrate with his parents, who hadn’t been in attendance.

“I saidtomycaddie on the 15th hole at Augusta —and I think he (Rory)had just made double on 13 —‘No matter what happens thenext few holes, I think we’regoing to do well to get intoNew Orleans,’ ”Lowry saidWednesday,sitting next to McIlroy at apre-tournament news conference. “If things didn’tgohis way,Idon’tthink he’d want to be here,and I thought if things did go his way, he’d want to be somewhere else.”

McIlroy,who has picked up a cold but few clubs since becoming thesixthman ever to completethe career Grand Slam, left no doubt

“I said, ‘Absolutely,’ ”McIlroy said. “We’re defending atitle. We had so much fun last year Obviously,it’simportant for me to honor that commitment.”

No matter which team lifts the trophy on TPC Avondale’s18th green Sunday night,McIlroy’s

decision alreadyhas made the Zurich itself awinner. The fact that this is where McIlroyis teeing it up forthe ﬁrst time since his historic Masters victory brings extra attentionto thevenerable tournament, the seventh-oldest non-majoronthe PGA Tour

Asked whether he was ever worried aboutMcIlroy coming back this year,Fore!Kids CEO Steve Worthy said candidly: “Well, Iworry about everything, but certainly it’sphenomenal. The success last year,the fact that we knewthey had agreat time last year playedinour favor.Itelevatedour event.”

The champs arescheduled to tee off at 7:52 a.m. Thursdayon the10th hole, alittle early anda bit stageleftfor amajor championship-tingedmoment sure to draw attentionacross the golf world.

Butthere’slittle doubt the crowds, andthe attention, will ﬁnd McIlroyand Lowry as long as they’re swinging and putting this week.

“It’sobviously going to be pretty cool,”Lowry said. “I was very excitedthatRory still decided to come here because I just want to seewhatit’sgoing to be like.I’m sure the crowds are going to be huge.

“I know he’s notdone much practicing the last two weeks, so Iamgoing to have to stepup.”

Lost in the spotlight cast on thefact McIlroy andLowry won lastyear was how dramatic the ﬁnishwas.Lowry had to sink a nervy 3-footer on the 18th hole to get their team into aone-hole playoff theywon over Chad Ra-

“Hey, I’ve certainly missed shorter,”McIlroysaid, followed by ahearty laugh at his own expense.

It was the laugh of aman who hasbattledwithering adversity, oftenofhis owndevice, to climb back to the topofthe golf world. As he fought for the Grand Slamand his ﬁrst major championship sincethe 2014 PGA, McIlroysufferedthrough huge disappointments at the 2022 British OpenatSt. Andrews, the 2023 U.S. OpenatLos Angeles Country Club, andlast year’s U.S. OpenatPinehurst No. 2, when he missed two short putts on 16 and18tofalltoBryson DeChambeaubya stroke. Eveninthe Masters, he overcame four double bogeys on the week, the most by agreen jacket winner,tobeat 2015 Zurichchamp Justin Rose in suddendeath.

The fact thatMcIlroy has been so public in wrestling with his golf demons is part of his endearing charm. EvenMcIlroy knows it to be true.

“I think people can seethemselvesinthe struggle at times, andeverything thatyou sort of try to put into getting the best outofyourself in thatjourney,” he said. “I think people watching someone ﬁnally get it done, something they’ve been trying to do fora decade-plus, Ithink it resonated with alot of people.” CanMcIlroyand Lowry resonate even further with arepeat Zurichvictory? They’re the overwhelming betting choice, but it will be difﬁcult. One hardly knows howmuchMcIlroyhas in the tank at this point. But there arewins andthere arewins.

McIlroy, andthe Zurich, are plenty good on thatscore.

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

ZurichInsurance hasextended its titlesponsorship of New Orleans’ PGA Tour event through 2030, ofﬁcials announced Thursday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Theagreementcontinues Zurich’spartnership with the Fore!Kids Foundationand PGA Tour thatbegan in 2005 for another ﬁve years.

“After celebrating 20 yearsoftitle sponsorship just one year ago, thePGA Tour is thrilled to extend our partnership withZurich Insurance and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with its unique team format that fans have embraced,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, whowas in attendance at thenews conference Wednesdayatthe TPC of Louisiana in Avondale. “Throughout NewOrleansand the state of Louisiana, Zurich hasbecomesynonymous with thedeﬁnitionofa good corporate citizen through the signiﬁcant economic and charitable

impact created in the community It’sa true success story.” Zurich succeededHewlett Packardasthe title sponsor of the event two decades ago, months before HurricaneKatrina devastated thecity of NewOrleans and surrounding region. Zurichused its afﬁliation with the tournament to spearhead recovery efforts in the area, and the Zurich Classic of New Orleansbecamethe ﬁrst major sporting event to commit to returning to the city for2006.

Sincethen, Zurich executives and employees regularly have led and contributedtorecovery efforts in thecityand also participated in charitable events sponsored by theFore!Kids Foundation, whichoperates thetournamentfor the PGA Tour

“We’re excited to extend our partnership with the PGATOUR, theFore!KidsFoundation and thecity of New Orleans. Our connection to this resilient city runs deep, and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has supported that resilience over the past two decades,” Zurich CEO of North

America Kristof Terryn said. “As theonlyteameventonthe PGA TOUR, the Zurich Classic lets players compete alongside family and friends.

“Just like golfers adapt andleverage strengths, we do the same as aleading insurer,helpingour customers meet tomorrow prepared. We look forward to seeing what more we can achieve together.”

SinceZurichbecamethe title sponsor,the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has raised more than $30 millionfor charitable organizations such as St. Michael Special School and Blessings in aBackpack, includinga record $3.3 million raised in 2024. Zurich has pledged an additional $25,000 to First TeeofGreater New Orleans to helpempower local youth through golfand $50,000 to theEllis Marsalis Center forMusic that serves the people of NewOrleans through youth music education and other community programs. Email JeffDuncan at jduncan@ theadvocate.com.

MacIntyre

Rai Clark

Scott Rabalais

McIlroy

Morikawa

Scott Rabalais

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ROSS D. FRANKLIN

Penn State tight end Tyler Warren pulls in atouchdown pass as Boise State safety Ty Benefield defends during the Fiesta

Saints go heavy on offense early in mock draft

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

The 2025 NFL Draft is upon us, andthe NewOrleansSaintscurrently are armed with their most top-100 selections sincetheir alltime great 2017 draft class. Currently is the operative word in that sentence. New Orleans already has been rumoredtobe looking to trade up from its spot in the second round, potentially using some of their other draft picks as ammunition to do so. Until that happens, let’sgaze into the future to try andidentify who the Saints may take when their turns come around on the first two days of the draft. To provide apool of available players, this mock draft was completed using ProFootball Focus’ mock draft simulator No.9

Considered: Missouri OL Armand Membou, Penn State TE Tyler Warren, Texas CB Jahdae

Barron

The selection: Warren Several fun options went off the board just before the Saints’ pick, including Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty,Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham and Georgia pass rusher Jalon Walker.But one of the best players in the draft was still there. Warren immediately would add some playmaking juice to the offense. He recordedmassive numbers in his ﬁnal season with the Nittany Lions, catching 104 passes for 1,233 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging 8.1 yards per carry as aWildcat quarterback. He’sapolished receiver with sure hands, and he’sadeptatcreating yardage after the catch. Warren also offers some value as ablocker,using his prototypical 6-foot-5, 256-pound frame to wall off defenders.

Tight end would be abit of aluxury pick, considering the Saints just signed Juwan Johnson to an extension. But more than any positional need, New Orleans needs to stockpile good young players, which are in short supply on its current roster Membou was tempting in this spot —some evaluators consider him the best offensive lineman in the class —but it’snot clear how the Saints view their current offensive front. Would they consider moving Trevor Penning inside? Would they use atop-10 pick on an interioroffensive lineman, as some view Membou’sbest ﬁtatguard? It’s deﬁnitely apossibility they go in this direction, but the Warren pick feels safer No.40

Considered:Alabama OL Tyler Booker,Arkansas DE Landon Jackson, Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart, Alabama QB Jalen Milroe

The selection:Dart Idon’texpect Dart (or Colorado’sShedeur Sanders or Louisville’sTyler Shough) to behere when the Saints make their pick at No. 40 —which is why I’m also not anticipating the Saints to stay in this spot.

Loomis needstoanswer

QB Carr questionssoon

Mickey Loomis treated the Derek Carr questions Wednesday much like he often treats the number-crunching intricacies of thesalary cap.

He kicked thecan down the road.

So if you were hoping toget someanswers tothe most importantquestion about the mostimportantposition on themost important sports franchise in this city,you’ll have to wait.

Loomis,the Saintsexecutive vice president/ general manager,held his annual league-mandated pre-draft news conference Wednesday.But he had very little to say about the one topic most people wanted toknow about Youhad abetter chance of ﬁnding out whom the Saintswill choose with their No. 9draft pick Thursday night than you had of gettingLoomis to give any insight on the Carr situation.

thinghecan not to tip his hand on theeve of oneofthe mostimportantdrafts in recent history

Whatever the Saints’ plans are at quarterback, Loomis doesn’t want to show his hand to the other 31 general managers around the league. That’sunderstandable leading up to the draft.

Will Carr be available this season? Didthe Saints know about the injury before they restructured Carr’scontract in early March? Were they blindsided by the newsofthe injury just like the rest of us?

We’llsee how it plays out Thursday, but there has been plentyofsmoke in recent days suggesting some quarterbackneedy teams may waituntil early in thesecondround to target aquarterback.That includes teams such as the Browns (No. 33) andGiants (No. 34).

Let’ssay theSaints don’tselect aquarterback in the ﬁrst round. Andlet’salso say thePittsburgh Steelersdon’tselect one with the No. 21 pick. If New Orleans really wants to address quarterback early,thenitwould makesense to trade into theback quarter of the ﬁrst roundto get ahead of theBrowns andGiantsand make sure they get their guy And Dart may betheir guy TheSaints had abig presence at Ole Miss’ pro day,and while that is far from an indicator that they lovehim as aprospect, it does show they’redoing their homework.

Dart has NFL size (6-2, 223 pounds), astrong arm (FBS-best 10.8 yardsper attempt) and is asolid athlete (14 career rushing touchdowns), but theSaints would have to be comfortable with his ability as aprocessor At Ole Miss, hewas not often asked to see thewhole ﬁeld. No.71

Considered: Cal CB Nohl Williams, LSUDESai’vion Jones, SouthCarolinaDTTJSanders

The selection: Williams Forthisscenario, let’soperate as thoughthe Saintshave both of their currentthird-round selections. There is still one glaring hole on theroster, and that is at cornerback.New Orleans currently has only three players with real NFL experience at the position. Enter NohlWilliams, who intercepted an FBS-best seven passes in his ﬁnalcollegiate season —all of which happened under PeterSirmon, theformer Cal defensivecoordinator who nowservesasthe Saintslinebackers coach. There are some concerns about Williams’ speed —heran a4.50 40-yarddash at thecombine —but aperfect prospect doesn’texist at this stage of the draft

No.93

Considered:LSU OG Miles Frazier,Georgia OG Dylan Fairchild, Georgia RB Trevor Etienne

The selection:Frazier Unless theSaints use their top pickonanoffensivelineman, one of thetwo third-round picks feels like the best place to beef up theinterior of theoffensive line. Even when New Orleans hadits preferred starting ﬁve on the ﬁeld last season,left guard was aweak spot. Frazier offers alittle more upside than Fairchild. He’s huge (6-5, 317) and displayed theathleticism the Saintscovet in their offensivelinemen (a 9.58 RelativeAthletic Score at the combine). Heplayed every position butcenter at LSU, though most of his experience (28starts) cameatright guard.

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

Rod Walker

The Saints have nine picks in this draft, none more important than ninth overall. It’stheir highest draft pick since 2008, when they selected defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis with the seventh overall pick.

Loomis knew Carr would be one of the main topics and addressed it in his opening statement before closing the book on the topic.

“He does have an issue with his shoulder,” Loomis conﬁrmed.

“We’re hoping to get aresolution and clarityonthat in the near future.When we do, we’ll report back to you. Otherwise, Idon’thave anything more to state on Derek.”

The biggest question, of course, is why don’tthe Saintshave clarity on something so important? Hopefully,they do have clarity and Loomis is just doing every-

SAINTS

Continuedfrom page1C

on cornerbacks. New Orleans has nine overall selections, four of whichcome in the top 100 and six in the top 150.

The Saintsalso have done alot of homework on thisyear’squarterback class, withcoach Kellen Moore andhis staff attending pro days for the top prospects. New Orleans is believedtobeinterested in Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss and Tyler Shough from Louisville, which could require theSaints to trade up for either prospect if they passonthem at No. 9. In Round 2, the Saints hold the 40th overall pick, but they are settopick after other quarterback-needy teams in the New York Giants (No. 33) and Cleveland Browns (No. 34).

Unwillingtoanswer on Carr, Loomis didfield multiple questions about potentially draftinga quarterback. He left thepossibility open —“allteams are in the business of quarterbacks,”hesaid —but cautioned “overdrafting” at theposition.

“I think if you’re drafting up really high, you better love them,” Loomis said.

Loomis said he hopesthe ninth pick will yield akey player who the team can “count on” forthe next decade.

The Saints have taken aquarterback in back-to-back drafts with JakeHaener andSpencer Rattler

Loomis said he likes each of those players, but he hasn’tchangedhow he approaches scouting the position. Rattler and Haener combined to go 0-7 in starts when Carr was injuredlastseason, with Rattler

LSU

Continuedfrom page1C

Thirty LSUplayershave been drafted in the ﬁrst round sinceFaneca went No. 26 overall in 1998 to the PittsburghSteelers. Not asingleone was an offensive linemen.

“I definitely haven’tthought aboutthat,” Faneca said, “but especially thedirection the program hasgone since Ileft and where it has been, that is hard to believe.”

BeforeFaneca, twoLSU offensive linemen were picked in the first round of aprofessional draft. Dave McCormick went in the first round of the1965 AFL Draft, though he was selected in the fifth round of the NFL draft.Ayear later,George Rice was picked No. 12 overall in the NFL draft and in the thirdround of theAFL draft

“We’vehad plentyofgreat linemen come through and play,” Faneca said. “It’sjust for some reason or not, getting draftedinthe ﬁrst round hasn’thappened. It’snot always,asyou can seefromthe guys thatwehave had in the NFL, it’snot always theend of the world.There’s still morefootball to be played, and

This pick wasimportant even before the unexpected news that dropped on April 11 that Carr was dealing with a shoulder issue that could sideline him for the season. The pick became even moreimportant once we found out Carr may not even becomeavailable. All of asudden, quarterbacks like Shedeur Sanders of Colorado and Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss seem moreappealing, especially for a franchise and afanbase that have spent the past four seasons trying to ﬁnd DrewBrees’ successor.The Saints shouldn’tjust draft aquarterback just for the sake of drafting one. The grade on Sanders or DartorLouisville’sTyler Shough doesn’timprove just because you suddenly need aquarterback. If you love them, you draft them. If you don’t, you don’t. Butthese are thequestions that were themost important ones Wednesday:

SAINTSEXERCISE OPTION ON OLAVEBUT NOTPENNING

During his pre-draft news conference, New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis announced thathis team will pick up the fifth-year option for receiver Chris Olave but will not do so for offensivetackle Trevor Penning. Thedecision is not asurprise for either player. When he’sbeen healthy, Olave has been the Saints’ most productivereceiver since the team drafted him 11th overall in 2022. Penning, meanwhile, has been either injured or ineffective for much of his tenure. Olave is entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2025, and by exercising his fifth-year option, he will be tied to the Saints through at least the 2026 season. According to Over The Cap, Olave is projected to cost theSaintsabout $15 million in 2026. Penning started just six games in his first twoseasons after the Saints selected him 19th overall in 2022. He opened the 2023 season as the starting left tackle, but was benched midway through the campaign after struggling mightily New Orleans shifted him to right tackle last season. Luke Johnson

starting sixofthose contests. With Carr injured andthe other two still developing, does Loomis feel the Saints have astarting quarterback on theroster?

“I’m not going to answer that questionbecause that’lllead to a bunch of speculation, whichever way Ianswer,” Loomis said. Loomis saidhehas leaned on the new coaching for input ahead of the draft. Working with head coach Kellen Moore, he said, has been “great,” and he noted they have anumber of other assistants whohaveplayedquarterback.He

your career still plays out.”

To Faneca’spoint, several former LSU offensive linemen went on to successful NFLcareers withoutbeing first-round picks. Kevin MawaebecameaHall of Fame center after getting drafted in the secondround, and seventh-rounder Todd McClure was alongtime starter forthe Atlanta Falcons. AndrewWhitworth was picked in the second round and assembled a HallofFame-worthy career.Seven offensive linemen weredrafted in thepast five years. Therewas almost another firstrounder before Campbell. In 2015, La’el Collins wasaprojected firstround pick before Baton Rouge police sought to question him in the shooting death of apregnant woman, though he was notasuspect. Collins went undrafted before signing with the Dallas Cowboys. He’sgoing into his eighth season in theNFL. “It’sahugething,and then after awhile, it’s just thenextstep,” Faneca said. “It’snot theend of the road.”

For Campbell, it’sthe next step in acareer that continues to check the right boxes. He wasthe No.36 overall recruit in the2022 class

Only Loomis can answer those. And perhaps he will once all the dust settles on this year’sdraft. He owes that to the folks who spend their money ﬁlling up the SuperdomeonSundays. It would be good to at least know whether Carr and the Saints are on the samepage. If they aren’t, it’s OK to admit that. Teams and key players have disagreements all the time.

Since nobody —that’sneither Carr nor Loomis —have said anything, we’re leftwondering. One of Loomis’ mostinteresting responses Wednesday came when he wasasked whether the starting quarterback this upcoming season is currently on the roster That would be Carr,Spencer Rattler,Jake Haener or Ben DiNucci.

“I’m not going to answer that question, because that will just lead to abunch of speculation, whichever wayI answer it,” Loomissaid.

A”yes” to that would have indicated Carr or Rattler

A”no”would have indicated they’d tryto ﬁnd theirguy in thedraft What the Saints decide to do in this draftshould provide some answers. And once the draftisover, Loomis needs to provide some answers, too.

lateraddedheagrees with Moore’s philosophy to build the roster “inside-out,” which meanstofocus on adding to the trenches.

Defensive coordinator Brandon Staley also has shared his preferences with the “structure of our defense changing,” Loomis said. As forCarr, Loomis declinedto say whether the clarity New Orleansisseeking is about the severity of Carr’sinjuryorhow the injury happened.

The Saints also restructured Carr’s contract last monthtofree up morethan $30 million in salarycap space in 2025. Loomis said “restructures can come in all sorts of forms” when asked if aplayer has to pass aphysical for therestructure to take place.

Asked about the quality of this year’s quarterback class, Loomis said there are some“really good” players, but he suggested the quantity isn’tasstrong as past years. As ageneral manager,Loomis has nottakenarookiequarterbackinthe ﬁrst round —and as afranchise, the Saints haven’tdone that since 1971 whenthe team took Archie Manning with the second overall pick.

“Look, the guys you fall in love withatthatposition,(that) you feel likeareimmediateplayers,aregoing to be taken in the top 7or8,10picks, right?” Loomis said. “That’sjust the nature of it. That doesn’tmean you can’t ﬁnd areally good quarterback later, justmoreoften, laterit’smore speculativeand there’smore development that’srequired.”

When the Saints are on the clock Thursday at No. 9, Loomis’ actions will reveal whether the Saints love any of these quarterbacks enough to takethemthat high. Even if he’snot ready to answer questions about Carr

coming out of Neville High, then cemented himself as LSU’sleft tackle twoweeks into spring practice as an early enrollee. Campbell became atwo-time ﬁrst-team AllSEC selection and2024consensus ﬁrst-team All-America selection.

“Hopefully he goes in the first round, but there have been alot of first-round busts throughout the years,” Campbell’sdad said. “No matter what round you’re picked (in), you’ve still got to go do the job and do it well. Itold him it doesn’t really matter where you’re picked. As long as you go do your job, you can play foralong time.” Campbell told his dad recently he accepted that whereverheends up, Godplannedfor himtogothere. He just wants to find out where he will starthis NFLcareer, seewho else gets picked by his new team and then go play football. His mom prayedthatheends up with afranchise that’sthe right fit forhim, hoping he “finds the same fulfillment and passion and purpose in his next team” that he did at LSU Before he left forGreen Bay, Campbell told his parents they couldn’tcry when he gets drafted. “Well,” his mom said, “good luck with that.”

Bowl on Dec.31in Glendale, Ariz.

Three > one

State baseball coaches prefer best-of-three series format

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

The underdog upsets the topseeded favorite in a single baseball playoff game to win a high school championship.

It’s legendary stuff, but these days it can only happen in the LHSAA’s smallest classes — 1A, B and C. Not only is the best-of-three series format here to stay, it will determine six LHSAA baseball titles May 15-17 in Sulphur

And yes, the coaches love it. They really love it.

“Look, when I was at Livonia having to win just one game at a time definitely worked for us,” Brusly coach Jason Lemoine said. “It helped us win a state title (in 2011). We had a pitcher who could beat anybody

“You had to be good on that one day to beat a top-seeded team. Things have changed a lot over the last 10 years.”

Eight years after first adopting the best-of-three format for the regional and quarterfinal rounds and adding the first round in 2023, the conversion is complete.

Teams in Division IV select/nonselect and Classes B and C will play semifinals and finals May 1314. The best-of-three format for the LHSAA tourney takes semifinals out of the equation for Divisions I, II, III select/nonselect. Instead, best-of-three semifinals will be played at the site of the higher seed, making the LHSAA tourney a three-day finals event.

It will be different, but it is not the ﬁrst format change. For many years, the LHSAA’s top classiﬁca-

tion played an eight-team tournament. Championships in other classes were held at either school sites or another tourney site.

In 2012, teams in the other classes played a semiﬁnals-ﬁnals tourney at McMurry Park in Sulphur

Two years later, the LHSAA opted for one tourney for all teams in Sulphur

Once the best-of-three series was adopted, teams played in that format through quarterﬁnals. The tourney remained a single-elimination semifinals/finals format.

Until now

“As a coach, I love it,” Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association executive director Tim O’Neal of Downsville said. “I think this gives you the true measure of who the best teams are.

“As a fan, we’ll see. There may not be as many people coming to the tournament because you’ll only have two teams for each group, not four.”

The move to a best-of-three finals format is paved by its share of what-ifs for coaches like Doyle’s Tim Beatty His Tigers have made five tourney appearances and lost four times in a single-game final.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind a best-of-three would have helped us,” Beatty said. “In a three-game series you go back-to-back, and that’s a real test of your pitching, which we had. Having two single games was different.”

Walker High’s Mike Forbes lauds the best-of-three system through the finals even though he won back-to-back titles at Central in 2017 and 2018.

“I was very fortunate at Central in that once we got to the tournament we had Ma’Khail Hilliard

PROVIDED PHOTO

From left, Brusly’s Maci Williams, Evelynn Artieta of Walker and Episcopal’s Sophia Macias are seen after the Girls Metro Golf tournament on Wednesday. The trio combined for a score of -18 at Beaver Creek Golf Course.

Trio blazes course in girls Metro tourney

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH

Staff writer

It was an epic day at the Girls Metro Golf tournament as the top three ﬁnishers, led by champion Sophia Macias of Episcopal, posted a combined score of -18 on Wednesday at Beaver Creek Golf Course in Zachary

“I’m not so sure you’ll ever see a round like that again in this tournament,” Episcopal coach Steve Baronich said. “What Sophia did was incredible. But for the three of them to do what they did in the same round was amazing.” Macias shot a career-best 8-under-par 64 to lead the way for the tourney’s lead trio that teed off at 11 a.m. The Tulane signee had eight birdies, including ﬁve on the back nine of the par-72 course. She had no bogeys while helping her team claim a title.

Brusly freshman Macie Williams was two strokes back at 66,

GIRLS METRO GOLF

(future LSU pitcher) and Brant Husser who could go out and get you that one big win. Then you scratch and do what you can to win the other one,” Forbes said. “I like the best-of-three. I think planning for it for a few years has made us better coaches.

“There was a time when coaches figured all they needed was two good pitchers. Now you need to at least have three or four in 5A. So, we’ve had to develop pitchers.”

Live Oak’s Jesse Cassard said a single-game format favored his Zachary teams that won Class 4A titles in 2007-08. He sees it differently now

“The game has changed and evolved this way,” Cassard said.

Email Robin Fambrough at rfambrough@theadvocate.com

No rust for Doyle in rout of Winnﬁeld

BY CHARLES SALZER Contributing writer

Despite a nine-day layoff, the Doyle softball team hardly missed a beat Wednesday night in its Division III nonselect playoff game against Winnﬁeld.

Behind a 17-hit attack that gave pitcher Bella Collins more than enough room to work, ﬁfth-seeded Doyle powered past No 12 Winnﬁeld 17-4 at Johnny Sartwell Memorial Park.

Doyle (23-5) scored in every inning, including ﬁve runs in the bottom of the fifth. That at-bat ended with Kylee Savant’s insidethe-park home run to cap the runrule win.

“We hadn’t played in awhile,” said Doyle coach Kyle Wieck, whose team defeated Ponchatoula 19-4 on April 14. “We had so much production against a really good Ponchatoula team that we decided to roll with the same lineup. We did what we expected to do at the plate.”

The win moves Doyle into the quarterfinals setting up a re-

match of last season’s championship game. Doyle will travel to face fourth-seeded Sterlington, which defeated the Tigers 1-0 last April in Sulphur Against Winnfield (13-17), all nine Doyle starters collected at least one hit. Led by University of Houston signee Shelby Taylor three Doyle players had three hits. Taylor tripled, doubled and homered, and she reached base and scored in all five of her plate appearances. Taylor had two chances to get a single and hit for the cycle. She took second on an outfield error in the fourth and was walked in the fifth. Also coming up big were Bailey McLin with three hits and three RBIs and Reagan Anthony with

three hits and two RBIs. Savant ﬁnished with ﬁve RBIs. “We scout each team we play really well,” Wieck said “We knew what they would throw against us, and we worked harder on hitting this week. We take pride in our hitting and the numbers show it. We did what we expected to do at the plate.”

Collins retired Winnfield in order in the top of the first, and Doyle’s bats went to work in the bottom half of the inning. Sparked by Taylor’s leadoff triple, Doyle sent eight batters to the plate and scored three runs on four hits. There were more hits and runs in the second inning, when 10 Doyle batters came to the plate. Including a two-run single by Collins, Doyle had six hits and scored five runs to take an 8-2 lead. Winnfield starter Karley Caskey needed 74 pitches to get through the first two innings, and she gave way to reliever Kristen Phelps to start the third inning.

Caskey’s two-run single in the top of the second helped Winnﬁeld stay close in the early going.

followed by Walker sophomore Evelyn Artieta. It is the fourth Metro title in ﬁve years for Macias.

“When I got up this morning, I didn’t feel great, but I stuck with my usual routine,” Macias said.

“During the warmup, I made every shot on the range, which is usually an indicator that you’ll have a good day

“Then, I birdied the first two holes and it went on from there. I am so proud of how we all played. More than anything else, I am excited that we won the team title.” Macias and teammate Marcella Rabalais finished with a two-player score of 148, finishing ahead of St. Joseph’s Academy (159) and Walker (173) in the team standings. Ava Heine carded a 77 to lead runnerup SJA. The Redstickers’ Berkley Reitzell was fifth at 82.

The postseason continues next week with regional competition for Division I set for Beaver Creek and Division II at Santa Maria.

Live Oak, 226

1. Sophia Macias, Episcopal, 64. 2 Maci Williams, Brusly, 66. 3 Evelyn Artieta,Walker, 68.

Baseball

Nonselect Division

Saturday No. 11 Rosepine (20-10) at No. 6 Episcopal (19-12), 6 p.m. Thursday, 3:30 p.m./6:30 p.m. (if necessary) Saturday No. 16 St. Thomas Aquinas (18-16)

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

Brusly head coach Jason Lemoine, right, chats with Braysen Holley in the first inning of Brusly’s 7-6 loss to

Ascension Catholic in Brusly

Walker head coach Mike Forbes watches his team warm up before the second game of the Division I playoff series against Thibodaux on Saturday at Walker

STAFF

PHOTO

By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Flavors lead to successof Chicken Picadillo

BY LINDAGASSENHEIMER

Tribune News Service (TNS)

Picadillo is apopular Latin dish made with ground meat onions, green bell pepper,tomato sauce, capersand raisins.

Thesuccess of this dish lies in the blending of sweet and savory ﬂavors.

Ihave captured the essence of its taste and texture in this 15-minute, no-fuss dinner using ground chicken as themain ingredient for alighter result. It only takes afew minutes to gather the ingredients,but they all cook together in less than 15 minutes.

ﬁnd that this is aquick and easy meal to have on hand.It freezes well, so Ioften make double the recipe and save half foranother meal.

Chicken Picadillo Yields 2servings. Recipe is by Linda Gassenheimer

4teaspoons canola

2cups low-sodium, tomato

2tablespoons Worcestershiresauce

2tablespoons capers

¼cup raisins

2tablespoons

and

2cups washed, ready-to-eat lettuce

1tablespoon reduced-fat oil and vinegardressing

1. Heat 2teaspoons oil in alarge nonstick skilletover medium-high heat and add the onions, green pepper,garlic and ground chicken. Sauté 3 to 4minutes, breakingupthe chicken into small pieces as it cooks.You canuse the edge of acooking spoon to break upthe chicken.

2. Addthe tomato sauce and saute untilthe sauce startsto bubble, about 2to3 minutes. AddWorcestershire, capers, raisinsand vinegar. Reduce heat to medium and cook gently for about 3to4minutes. Add salt and pepper

3. Divide in half and place on 2dinner plates.

4. Microwavethe brownrice according to the package instructions. Measure 1cup and savethe remaining rice foranother meal

5. Toss the rice with the remaining 2teaspoons of oil. Divide the rice in half and place on the plates with the picadillo. Serve alittle washed, ready-toeat lettuce on the side with the dressing.

NUTRITION INFO PER SERVING: 612

calories(23 percent from fat), 15.8 gfat (2.1 gsaturated, 7.5 gmonounsaturated), 126 mg cholesterol, 47.1 gprotein,72.9 gcarbohydrates, 9.5 g ﬁber,461 mg sodium.

LIVING

leLasting ftovers

Make crawfish stew,Creolecream cheese grits, andanItalian saladafter thecrawfish boil

Liz Williams TIPOFTHE TONGUE

When we have a crawﬁsh boil in Louisiana, we make sure to have our vegetables, too. Yearsago, adding corn and potatoes to thepot was de rigueur,but today people add any vegetables they like, such as carrots, onions, celery,mushrooms and even artichokes.Sausage is often thrown in for good measure.

Of course, there can be leftovers, an opportunity to create somethingnew.This crawﬁsh stew is versatile enough for people who have leftovers from aboil as well as those of us whobuy abag of frozen crawﬁsh tails.Ifyou didn’t use all of these vegetables in your boil, just addfresh vegetables to supplementwhat youhave. Boil the fresh veggies beforeyou add them to the stew.You don’twant to overcook some vegetables and undercook others Ihopethissparks some ideas

ä See CRAWFISH, page 2D

Serves 4to6

Crawfish Stew

2tablespoons olive oil or baconfat

2tablespoons all-purpose flour 1tablespoon tomato paste 1onion, chopped 1sausage, cut into small pieces, if you put sausageinto your boil.Ifyou did not, use about ¼pound chopped tasso

1. Place theoil or fat into aheavy-bottomed stewpot Heat over medium flameuntil theoil begins to shimmer.Add the flour.Stir until the flour becomes the color of peanut butter.Add thetomato paste and stir until it is incorporated into theroux.

2. Chopanonionleftover from thecrawﬁsh boil. If you didn’tboil onions or there are none left, addafreshly choppedonion. If youare using acooked onion, cook for2 minutes. If you are using araw onion, cook for 7to8minutes or until it softens. Add the sausage and cook another minute. If you use tasso instead of sausage, cook for 3minutes.

3. Addthe garlic, corn kernels, carrots andmushrooms. These vegetables will have come from theboil. Stirgently.Add 1cup

2cloves garlic, minced Corn kernels cut from2or3cobs 3carrots, sliced 10 to 15 mushrooms, sliced 3small potatoes, chopped 1pound peeled Louisiana crawfish ½cup slicedgreen tops of scallions (optional)

of hotwater.Stirand cook for2 minutes.Addpotatoesandcrawﬁsh. Stir for 2more minutes. If you likeyour stew looser,add abit more hot water.Then stir andcook for aminuteor2 more Don’tadd thepotatoes too early. They are probably already soft andslightly overcooked.

4. Test for seasoning using a clean teaspoon. Because these vegetables andcrawﬁsh have absorbed seasoning from the previous boil,you must taste the stew to adjust the seasoning. If it is too bland, add your favorite CajunorCreoleseasoning mix ¼teaspoon at a time, cooking for 1minute after each addition. Keep adding, if moreseasoning is needed.

5. Serve over grits (recipe included) or cooked rice, garnishingwithslicedgreen tops of scallions, if desired.

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

TNS PHOTO By LINDAGASSENHEIMER Chicken Picadillo

WHAT MEMORIES LURK BENEATH BE

It’s been 50 years, but some people still don’t think it’ssafe to go back in the water

The blockbuster 1975 movie “Jaws,”about a monster great white shark that terrorizes aNew England beach town, marks ahalfcenturythis summer.yet for manypeople, the horror feels as recent as the last time they nervously stepped into the surf.

We’re takingalookatthis cultural phenomenon,and we want to hear from you.

For example,wherewere you when you firstsaw “Jaws”?

Howmanytimes have you seen it since? Did it change your life,and if so how?

Whydoyou think “Jaws” has

had sucha lasting effect on the public, including sequels, more attention to sharksand subsequent hits like“Shark Week” and “Sharknado”?

Emailusatholidays@ theadvocate.com.We’ll include some responses in a storyabout the movie and its long-lasting impact. Include your name and town, and (not forpublication) adaytime phone number

Italian Green Salad withGorgonzola

Aspeed-demon with a temper?Soundslikea keeper

Dear Miss Manners: We vis-

ited afriend and her new partner for aweekend visit.Her partner drove us to an outing about 20 miles away and went 95 mphonthe highway Despite fearing for our lives, we said nothing. On the way back, however, Ipolitely asked the partner if he could please keep his speed under 80 mph. He immediately turned indignant, got out of the car and told me Ishould drive and that he would sit in the back with my wife. I told him Iwould not drive and to just please obey the speed limits.

After aheated exchange, he coldly got back in the car,drove moreslowly,and never said another wordfor the rest of the trip. It wasvery uncomfortable. Was Iright to speak up?

Serves 4to6

1 cup babyarugula leaves

1cup babyspinach leaves

½cup basil leaves

½bulb fennel thinly sliced

¼poundgorgonzola, crumbled intopieces the size of alargeblueberry

6pitted black olives cut in half (optional)

6cherry tomatoes cut in half(optional)

Salad dressing

1. Place all of the ingredients in asalad bowl. Right before serving, pour on the salad dressing andtoss.Serve immediately

Serves 4.

1cup yellow grits

½teaspoon salt

SALAD DRESSING:

½cup olive oil

3to4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1tablespoon Creolemustard

¼teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1clove garlic, minced 1teaspoon dried oregano

1. Place all ingredients in ajar.Cover with alid and shake vigorously.Justbefore serving thesalad, pour half of the dressing on the salad andthen toss. Serve therest of the dressing in asmallbowlonthe table forthose people wholike more dressing.

CreoleCream CheeseGrits

¼teaspoon ground black pepper

¼teaspoon smoked paprika

½cup Creole cream cheese at room temperature

1. Bring 2cups of water to aboil. Add the salt, pepper, and paprika. Reduce theheat to asimmer. Then add the grits, whisking all the while to avoid the formationoflumps.The grits will thicken. This takes no more than 5minutes. Then remove from the heat and cover.Set aside for10minutes.

CRAWFISH

Continued from page1D

By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, April 24, the 114th day of 2025. There are 251 days left in the year

Todayinhistory: On April 24, 1916, Irish republicans launched the Easter Rising, arebellion against British ruleinIreland. Though the rebels surrendered to British forces six days later,the uprising set the stage for republican victories in the Irish general election of 1918 and the establishment of the IrishFree State via the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922.

On this date: In 1960, rioting erupted in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Black protesters staging a “wade-in” at aWhites-only beach were attacked by acrowd of hostile White people.

In 1980, the United States launched Operation Eagle Claw,anunsuccessful attempt to free 53 American

2. Right before serving, remove the lidand stir in the Creolecream cheese.

This should loosen the grits. Addupto¼cup more Creolecream cheeseifyou prefer looser grits. These grits are designed to be a base foragravy dish like shrimp Creole or crawﬁsh stew,sodonot season them too much or theseasoning may not be compatible with thegravy.

seasoning and the crawﬁsh give the vegetables adelicious, spicy ﬂavor Thestewisreally versatile,and if you don’thave something, or if you are not afan of one of the vegetables, leave it out I’dlove to hear about what youput in your boils. We may discover anew taste sensation! Justemail me

Liz Williamsisfounder of the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New Orleans.Listen to “Tip of the Tongue,” Liz’spodcast about food, drink and culture, wherever you hear podcasts. EmailLiz at lizwillia@gmail.com.

hostagesinIran that resulted in thedeaths of eightU.S. servicemembers. In 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery blasted offfrom CapeCanaveral, Florida, carryingthe $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope. In 1995, the ﬁnal bomb linked to the Unabomber exploded insidethe Sacramento, California, ofﬁces of theCalifornia Forestry Association,killing chief lobbyist Gilbert B. Murray. (Theodore Kaczynski was later sentenced to four lifetimes in prisonfor aseries of bombings that killed three peopleand injured23 others.)

In 2013, in Bangladesh, a shoddily constructed eightstory commercial building housinggarment factories collapsed,killingmore than 1,100 people.

In 2018, former police ofﬁcer Joseph DeAngelowas arrested at his home near Sacramentoafter DNA linked himtocrimes at-

tributed to theGolden State Killer; authorities believed he committed 13 murders and more than 50 rapes in the1970s and 1980s. (DeAngelo would plead guiltyin 2020 to 13 counts of murder and be sentenced to life in prison without parole.)

Today’sbirthdays: Actor Shirley MacLaine is 91. Actorsinger-ﬁlmmaker Barbra Streisand is 83. Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier is 73. Actor Eric Bogosian is 72. Actor Michael O’Keefe is 70. Actor-comedian Cedric theEntertainer is 61. Actor Djimon Hounsou is 61. Actor Aidan Gillen is 57. Actor RoryMcCann is 56. Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernandez is 54. Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones is 53. Actor Derek Luke is 51. Singer-TV personalityKelly Clarkson is 43. Country singerCarly Pearce is 35. Actor-musician Joe Keery is 33. Actor Jack Quaid is 33. Actor Jordan Fisher is 31.

Gentle reader: If a reasonable person would feel that the alternative to speaking up would have been to be found dead by the side of the road when the local constabulary made their rounds Monday morning, then this is not an etiquette question. The etiquette question is: What to do after everyone got back in the car? Miss Manners’ answer is: Play dumb. After enough

timehas passed to allow everyone to recover their bearings, resumeasnormal an interaction with your friend as you can muster —speaking about other things forthe rest of the weekend. It won’tfool anyone, but you have to pass the time someway,you are not likely to accept asecond invitation, and it is better than playing dead.

Send questions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www.missmanners com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail. com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Dear Heloise: If you or a family member are referred by your doctor or dentist to another physician for treatment, be sure to ascertain whether the new doctor participates with your insurance carrier.Exorbitant costs could be incurred for which you are responsible. —B., via email

Hair-washing protocol

naturally dry can lead to frizz. Experts agree that washing hair less frequently is best. Dryshampoo can help between shampooing to remove excess oil from the scalp.

Dear Heloise: As Iget up there in years, I ﬁnd myself washing my hair less and less. It has become shinier and even thicker! Helen, in Ohio Helen, Iconcur! The natural oils in our hair can mean stronger and healthier hair.Wetting the hair makes it expand and contract, which can cause damage and breakage. Overly washed hair that is

P.S. Believe it or not, the detergent in shampoos can actually trick your hair into producing moreoils, so frequent washing can be counterintuitive. —Heloise

Carefulcarry-on

Dear Heloise: Itravel to visit family; Ienjoy traveling and love ﬂying. Iwould like to remind travelers whohave carry-ons that it’sconsiderate to be aware of others around you. It’s frightening to have someone turn suddenly in the aisle, and you are face to face with abig bag or backpack. Or to be seated

when someone is wrestling with abag that barely ﬁts in the overhead. Be thoughtful, and everyone’strip will be more enjoyable! —C.M.,inPennsylvania Meatballsonice

Dear Heloise: After making abatch of meatballs, my mother-in-law would place them on acookie sheet so that they werenot touching each other.She would freeze them on the tray overnight. The next day, when the meatballs were frozen solid, she would place them in aplastic bag and return them to the freezer.When cooking dinner,she took out as manyasshe needed for that meal.I use the same method forthings such as chicken, sausage, etc. —Sue D.,inTroy, New York Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

Hints from Heloise

STAFF PHOTO By BRETTDUKE

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Keep your plans to yourself until you have straightened out any wrinkles that might get in your way. Don't expect a unanimous response or let opponents stand in your way.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Reluctance to join the crowd is wise; doing things your way and maintaining balance and integrity have more benefits than following someone else. Let your insight and intelligence lead the way.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Deal with contracts, legalities and medical and financial issues, and you'll make headway. Simplify how you run your life, and you'll gain respect and peace of mind.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Listen, discuss and rethink how you want to proceed. Take responsibility for your happiness, and align yourself with doers, not with complainers; it will speak volumes about who you are and what you can achieve.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) It's OK to change your mind and head in a direction that suits you better. Ignore people trying to steer you in a direction that doesn't suit your needs, and head down a healthy path.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Your words of wisdom will impact the people you encounter today. Stick to the facts and speak passionately without exaggeration. Do your best, and something good will emerge.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Join forces with those who enjoy the same activities as you, and channel your energy into competitive challenges that help alleviate stress and anger.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Look for alternatives when someone disrupts your plans. Refrain from taking on someone else's drama. It's up to you to make your own opportunities and then take advantage of them.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take a moment to gather facts, consider your options and talk with those affected by your choices. A collective decision will help you avoid negative feedback and blame.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Sit tight and watch for signs indicating that any action will improve your position, finances and reputation. Focus and fortitude will help you excel.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Separate fiction from fact before you decide what's best for you. Revise how you manage your day and to-do list, and focus on your health and well-being.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Stick to the facts. Exaggeration will lead to trouble Put your efforts into personal growth, research and networking with people who can help you

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

toDAy's cLuE: c EQuALs H

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe peAnUtS

FrAnK And erneSt

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon dooneSbUrY

bIG nAte

By PHILLIP ALDER

John Wayne said, “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.”

When we are first shown a bridge deal, it is perfect and puts the cards in our hands. Then, usually some mistakes are made after all, we are only human.

Sometimes, we can analyze a doubledummy problem. The contract is given and the result calculated, assuming everyone is looking at all 52 cards. At thetable,yourarelyplaydouble-dummy. However, occasionally it is possible — as in this deal.

How did South play in four spades?

West led the club three (low from length since he had not supported his partner’s suit). East took dummy’s 10 with his queen and shifted safely to a trump.

South might have started with a takeout double, but he judged it unlikely that his side could make a slam. Since there were only 12 high-card pointsmissing,declarercouldplaceEast with the heart king and diamond queen.

South, though, still faced four losers — two hearts, one diamond and one club — because he did not have a dummy entry to take the diamond finesse.

Declarer drew trumps, then played three rounds of diamonds. East won and was endplayed. He led the club ace, but South accurately discarded a low heart. Now East, whether he led a heart or a club, had to bring the dummy back to life. There were other successful lines of play involving a

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe