The Reveille 8-24-23

FEELING THE HEAT

LSU outage sets the stage for Metro Council questioning of Entergy.

Read on page 2

LIGHTS OUT

Power outage amid record heat: LSU’s start-and-stop fall semester

BY CROSS HARRIS @thecrossharris

LSU’s fall semester began on Monday. Classrooms whirred. Students walked. Professors talked. Then on Tuesday, it suddenly stopped.

Shortly after 7 a.m., downed Entergy transmission lines on East Parker Boulevard caused a campus-wide power outage, said Tammy Millican, LSU’s executive director of facility and property oversight.

Streetlights died. Intersections became four-way stops. The few cars humming around campus lurched and zoomed as drivers waved to each other, making hand signals from behind their windshields. While they rushed, however, the university stood still.

Just before 8 a.m., LSU students, faculty and staff received an alert indicating that the outage would close campus until 10:30 a.m. Shortly thereafter, another message arrived: “LSU will close for the day.”

In the absence of power, cicadas replaced the din of A.C. compressors. Gangs of squirrels staggered through the empty quad, apparently dazed by the heat. One climbed up and down the same column over and over searching for something but not finding it. Another lay in the shade on his belly with all four legs stretched wide. No one was there to bother him or force him up a tree.

Unknowing students wandered aimlessly or rushed from building to building—searching for an open door, someplace to eat, a sign of life—but found most doors locked and most food-spots closed.

Just after 10:30 a.m., wildlife ecology senior Josh Riddlebarger strode loosely toward the library’s south doors and gave them a tug. The glass rattled, but the bolt remained latched. A handwritten

sign declared the spot, “Closed until 8/23/23”.

“Can you believe this?” he smiled, looking around, “I’m not quite sure how I feel, to be honest.”

Part of him relished the day’s unexpected turn; part of him did not. “My class was scheduled for 7:30,” said Riddlebarger, sitting down. “The professor went over some stuff and then he was like, ‘Oh, alright, guess you guys can head home.’”

A wisp of black hair slicked across his forehead in the heat. Sweat pooled beneath his eyes.

Cocking his head toward the empty campus, Riddlebarger said he was going home, “where I have A.C.” he laughed, then raised his hands in a gesture of futility.

Not far away, music therapy sophomore Mario Knox found the Student Union similarly shut, with the exception of a note.

“I just woke up from a nap,” he said, bleary-eyed. Another student tried the Union door and frowned.

“Closed?” she called out.

“Yeah,” said Knox, “Sucks,

right?”

A few minutes passed as half a dozen people walked up the steps in succession, each learning suddenly that the Union was closed—many having seen their peers’ failure to enter yet compelled by the need to see for themselves. Down the street, Barnes and Noble was also locked for the day, and many students pulled unsuccessfully on its doors, but The 459 Commons and The 5 Dining Hall opened from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., serving boxed lunches, followed by dinner at 4 p.m.

Just before 10:30 a.m., however, power returned to campus. Streetlights resumed. Traffic picked up. Students reemerged.

The familiar droning of littleknown, underground machines and rattling mechanisms rose from grates in the sidewalks. Fluorescent lights buzzed. Loud clicks sounded from behind metal doors on the backsides of buildings, and in the parking lot between the Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex and Nicholson Hall, A.C. compressors fired with

the enthusiasm and volume of small jet engines.

Amid record breaking temperatures and a heat-induced state of emergency, the outage left some 4,500 Baton Rouge residents without power, according to figures from Entergy.

LSU’s Tuesday disruption, however, is only the most recent in a series of frequent power outages, which have drawn heat from the residents and city of Baton Rouge.

At Wednesday’s Metropolitan Council meeting, constituents and council members gathered to express their disappointment to Entergy representatives Michelle Bourg, vice president of customer service, and Traye Granger, senior manager of distribution operations.

“In the last six months, we’ve probably had 12 electrical stoppages,” said Baton Rouge resident David DiVincenti. “I don’t know what the problem is … but it’s never been this bad.”

The tenor of the room was one of exasperation. Stories of downed poles and faulty transformers were many. Resolutions were few.

Bourg and Granger offered explanations—the heat, the equipment, the challenges of managing a system so large—but their explanations largely fell short for both residents and elected officials.

“I just want to know why every time you look around the electricity is off, but the bills are still coming?” asked councilmember Carolyn Coleman, who ran over her allotted time in a heated push for answers that did not arrive.

Come heat and come outage, LSU’s fall semester lurches forward. With a bump and a grind, new days will come, but days like these beg the question: What will be next?

Claire Sullivan and Matthew Perschall contributed reporting to this article.

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ABOUT THE REVEILLE

The Reveille is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication. A single issue of The Reveille is free from multiple sites on campus and about 25 sites off campus. To obtain additional copies, please visit the Office of Student Media in B-39 Hodges Hall or email studentmedia@ lsu.edu. The Reveille is published biweekly during the fall, spring and summer semesters, except during holidays and final exams. The Reveille is funded through LSU students’ payments of the Student Media fee.

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

An electric crew works on the lines on Aug. 22 on East Parker Blvd. near LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, La.

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

The Metropolitan Council asks questions of Entergy Louisiana representatives on Aug. 23 at City Hall in Baton Rouge, La.

SPARING A KILLER

BY CLAIRE SULLIVAN LOUISIANA ILLUMINATOR

In 1996, Shareef Cousin was 16. While his peers worried about prom and house chores, he was worried about being executed for a crime he didn’t commit.

He spent three years as the youngest person on Louisiana’s death row before being freed. Cousin doesn’t say he was wrongfully convicted — he says he was framed.

On the steps of the State Capitol Tuesday, as a breeze broke the heat of an August morning, Cousin pleaded for the state pardon board to spare the lives of those condemned to death in Louisiana.

“As long as they have life, they have a chance,” said Cousin, the 77th person freed from death row in the United States. “… This is an opportunity for us as a state, as a people, as a community to choose life.”

The Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole will consider clemency for at least 20 of the 56 people in state facing execution. Gov. John Bel Edwards is pushing board members to convert their death sentences to life in prison.

Attorney General Jeff Landry, who’s running for governor, had previously issued a non-binding opinion saying state law doesn’t allow the pardon board to ponder clemency in capital cases more than

WEATHER

a year after a defendant exhausts all of their appeals.

The board has scheduled 20 clemency hearings for four meetings in October and November. There’s been no indication when or if the other 36 people on death row might have their sentences reconsidered.

Brett Malone’s mother, Mary Ann Shaver Malone, was killed in Bossier Parish in December 2000. He was among the two dozen people gathered Tuesday at the Capitol

asking mercy for Jeremiah Manning, the man sentenced to death for abducting and killing his mother.

The 23-year journey to this point has been far from easy, he said.

“It’s normal to feel a lot of different emotions: anger, rage, a desire for vengeance, retribution,” Malone said. “But over time, those … compulses do fade away, and what’s left behind is the grief and the sorrow we have to deal with.

LSU patents lethal pig bait

BY CLAIRE SULLIVAN @sulliclaire

You would need 10 Tiger Stadiums to seat the million wild hogs that run loose in Louisiana. They tear up garden beds, wreak havoc on crops and damage levees — but maybe not for long.

A poisonous bait developed by the LSU AgCenter and LSU Department of Chemistry was approved for a patent earlier in August, according to the AgCenter. The next step before public use is approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Part of the healing is trying to reconcile what happened and trying to get to know a little bit more about the man who is responsible for my mother’s death.”

About six years ago, Malone said he decided to learn more about Manning and his life on death row. The two men haven’t been able to communicate directly with each other “because of the way the death penalty system is set up,” Malone

The bait might seem like an appealing snack — sodium nitrate balls with a rubbery, “gummy bear-like texture,” according to the AgCenter — but they stop swine dead in their tracks. They also glow green under a blacklight and, according to its inventors, don’t pose a harm to the environment or other wildlife.

LSU students and Baton Rouge residents might imagine it’s rare they’d run into a feral pig, but state wildlife veterinarian Jim LaCour said at a public meeting in August that he frequently gets calls for hogs in

see DEATH ROW, page 4 see HOGS, page 4

Atlantic hurricane season to be ‘above average:’ NOAA

CLAIRE SULLIVAN LOUISIANA ILLUMINATOR

With peak hurricane season beginning in mid-August, another group of forecasters say the Atlantic is in for more storms than they first thought.

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Thursday they anticipate abovenormal storm activity this season. They had predicted in May, shortly before the season began, activity would be near-normal.

Their new forecast for this season predicts between 14 to 21 named storms, with winds of at least 39 miles per hour; six to 11 hurricanes, with winds of at least 74 mph; and two to five major hurricanes, with winds of at least 111 mph.

NOAA scientists give a 60% chance for an above-normal season, a 25% chance for near-normal and a 15% chance for belownormal. That’s twice the chance for an above-average season than NOAA anticipated in the spring.

This hurricane season is a battle between record-warm sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic and El Niño, a climate phase that produces storm-slashing vertical wind shear.

NOAA scientists think those warm temperatures will win out and note hurricane-curbing forces from El Niño have been slow to develop.

NOAA isn’t the only forecasting group that has raised its prediction amid the unusual ocean temperatures. Forecasters with Colorado State University heightened their outlook in July, citing similar reasoning.

CSU researchers forecasted a 48% chance of a landfall somewhere on the U.S. coastline, 25% for the East Coast and 31% for the Gulf Coast. These probabilities are a few percentage points higher than normal.

The Atlantic season has had an active start. There have already been five named storms, including one hurricane. The average season produces 14 named storms, including seven hurricanes, according to NOAA.

CLAIRE SULLIVAN / The Reveille

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

A car passes by a leaf and branch filled street, Aug. 30, the morning after Hurricane Ida struck Southern Louisiana near the East Campus Apartments on Veterans Drive.

His mother was murdered. He wants to spare her killer’s life

DEATH ROW, from page 3 said. He thinks that dialogue could help him find healing.

“Part of clemency is really about giving the opportunity to the survivors of these crimes to work on reconciliation, to work on healing the wounds that were created through those actions,” he said.

Mary Ann Shaver Malone wasn’t in favor of the death penalty, and neither was her mother, Brett Malone said.

“We just can’t see at this point how executing someone is going to bring any kind of closure or any kind of healing from the experience that we’ve had,” he said.

Standing on the steps with Malone was Marah Bowie. She was just a child when her brother, David Henry Bowie, was condemned to

HOGS, from page 3 residential areas.

“The hogs are getting more mobile,” LaCour said. “They’ll go where the calories are, so they’re moving into towns and hitting garbage dumps and everything else along the way.”

The pigs multiply faster than any other large mammal on the face of the planet, and Louisiana hunters can’t keep up.

Wild hogs cost $91.1 million in damage to agricultural and timber lands each year, with two-

thirds being crop losses, a 2022 study from the AgCenter found.

Glen Gentry, an animal scientist with the AgCenter and one of the inventors of the bait, said at the August task-force meeting, which focused on a solution for the “pigdemic,” that the team is still searching for the location and funding for the trials.

The other inventors are John Pojman, an LSU chemistry professor, and Baylen Thompson, a former LSU graduate student who worked with Pojman, according to the AgCenter.

death in East Baton Rouge Parish.

“I remember waking up to news, out of my sleep with my family sobbing, that my brother had been sentenced to death,” Bowie recalled of the moment that she said still haunts her 24 years later.

They were left with many questions: When would he be killed? How? And “who was gonna punish the person that’s gonna kill him?” Bowie said.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, so killing another human isn’t any different than a crime that they committed,” she said.

Decades later, Bowie said she is still searching for answers to the difficult questions she must answer for the children of the family.

“The shadow of death isn’t just over my brother. It’s been over every generation that’s came up since

the death row sentence in our family,” she said. “We’ve been forced to teach our kids coming up what it means to have a family member on death row and the purpose of death row.”

A crowd of about two dozen — including religious leaders and community activists — delivered a petition to the governor’s office with more than 2,000 signatures calling for clemency for 56 death row inmates.

All but one of the 57 people on death row at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, filed petitions for clemency earlier in June. If granted, their death sentences will be reduced to life in prison. Their pleas came shortly after Edwards broke his silence on the death penalty this spring, saying he opposed it because of his Catholic faith.

PATRICK SEMANSKY / Associated Press

LSU AGCENTER / The Reveille

Hundreds of thousands of wild hogs cause tens of millions of dollars of damage in Louisiana each year.

purchased on allevents.in. The prices of tickets range from $19 to $380.

Bringing

A Jolyne Cujoh cosplayer poses for a photo for a fellow JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fan.

Lisa Cossentino of Songbird Pixel Art poses at her booth.

Con-goers pose for a photo at a backdrop.

Terenz Sitchon of BenjoBlocks carves a woodblock print.

A Cosplayer pose for a photo.

An anime fan browses wall scrolls.

Todd Haberkorn talks to fans.

T-shirts line a display.

Stephanie Nadolny, Linda Young and Chuck Huber speak at a Dragon Ball panel.

A Joseph Joestar cosplayer poses for a photo.

Jonathan Hallet of StitchToons smiles at a passerby.

SUBBING IN

How will LSU volleyball replace its unxpected Larkin-sized hole?

BY JASON WILLIS @JasonWillis4

Eight months ago, LSU did the unthinkable.

With a Dec. 2 win over Hawai’i, the Tigers advanced past the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014, making their first postseason appearance since 2017.

LSU snuck into the tournament as an at-large seed in the Stanford regional despite a 2-5 close to its season. The upset over Hawai’i cemented the season as a wildly successful debut year under head coach Tonya Johnson.

Almost no one could have predicted the success. Historically, LSU has been a solid but not exceptional program. Even during head coach Fran Flory’s 24-year tenure from 1998-2021, which yielded a program-record 405 wins and seven straight division championships, the team won only four tournament games.

Johnson got her first in her first year.

see LIBERO, page 10

FOOTBALL

LSU preparing for FSU

BY PETER RAUTERKUS @peter_rauterkus

As LSU football starts to shift from fall camp to game preparation this week, head coach Brian Kelly addressed the media Tuesday for his last press conference before the first game week of the season.

Here are some of the takeaways from Kelly’s Tuesday press conference.

Injury update

One of the storylines of Saturday’s scrimmage was Sage Ryan leaving early with an injury to his left arm. Despite not finishing the scrimmage, Ryan was back at practice this week, according to Kelly. Ryan’s return is a positive sign for LSU with how thin the secondary has been, and the versatility Ryan has shown in camp.

“[Ryan] gives us flexibility to put a guy that’s played a lot of football out there that runs really well and can tackle in a position to help us,” Kelly said.

The other injury update came in LSU’s running back room as

see OPENER, page 10

Previewing the LSU volleyball team ahead of the 2023 season

BY CHLOE RICHMOND @chlorichmond

With the volleyball season right around the corner, the Tigers are ready to hit the court again after a historic 2022 season under then-first-year head coach Tonya Johnson.

The team has a few new faces this time around, so for the next few days leading up to the home opener Friday, The Reveille will give a rundown on the players.

First up, setters:

Maddie Waak | 5-feet-10-inches | Sophomore | No. 22

As the lone returning setter on the roster, Waak brings a quiet presence to the court, but plays with a lot of fire. Last season she split time at setter with Josie Vondran, but with Vondran’s eligibility running out, Waak was the main setter running the offense in the springtime and got to spend the most time working on building a connection with her hitters.

During her debut season in 2022, she averaged 4.38 assists per set to go along with her 469 digs and 20 aces. Since she shared the court with Vondran, Waak’s setting duties were fulfilled from the back court, so she didn’t spend much time

playing up at the net.

Registering only seven blocks and seven kills last season, the one aspect of her game to look out for is how well she can handle herself against some of the best hitters in the country.

Waak comes into the 2023 season with a handful of pros and cons: She has experience playing for LSU over the other setters, and she’s had more time to build chemistry with the team, but confidence in the connections she’s established with her hitters needs to be on point if LSU wants to make it to the tournament again this year.

Emily Mitter | 5-feet-9-inches | Graduate student | No. 29

Mitter joins the Tigers this year for her final season of eligibility and brings four years of experience with her from Campbell University. During her time as a Camel, Mitter put up 4.89 assists per set and totaled 810 digs on a 2.08 average with 82 aces. She’s also played in every match since her freshman year.

Last season, Mitter performed better than her career average, accumulating 5.71 assists per set and 2.18 digs per set. Similar to the Tigers last season, the Camels ran a two-setter offense with Mitter primarily working from

the back court. Her four years of experience certainly won’t go unnoticed in the Tiger gym, but she still comes into the program with fundamentals to improve; since she spent her time in the back

court, her ability to perform under pressure against other teams’ hitters must be strong.

Mika Rome | 5-feet-9-inches | Freshman | No. 20

Coming from

see SETTER, page 10

Ra’anana, Israel, Rome brings international ex-

perience to the gym. She played for the Israeli National Team and captained the U17, U19 and U21 youth Israeli teams. During her time on the U21 team,

VOLLEYBALL

ERIN BARKER / The Reveille

LSU volleyball players Paige Flickinger (2), Ella Larkin (3), and Jill Bohnet (10) stand ready on Oct. 30, 2022, during LSU’s 3-2 loss to Mississippi State at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.

REAGAN COTTEN / The Reveille LSU volleyball freshman setter Maddie Waak (22) sets the ball on Oct. 5, 2022, before their 3-2 victory over Auburn in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on N. Stadium Drive.

LIBERO, from page 9

The coaching staff saw the potential for a run this past year, but their main goal before the season was to lay the foundation for future success. Instead, the team exceeded all expectations.

Heading into this year, LSU has the chance to keep the party going. Three key rotation pieces graduated in hitter Hannah Jacobs, setter Josie Vondran and defensive specialist Jill Bohnet, but Jacobs and Vondran had been one-year grad transfer rentals.

The Tigers now have people ready to take their place. The foundation of the tournament team is back in stars Sanaa Dotson and Anita Anwusi along with many other significant contributors.

Run it back? Not quite.

One of the most important pieces of LSU’s 16-14 campaign was then-sophomore libero Ella Larkin. Her rock-solid defense was an important part of the team’s identity.

Over the offseason, Larkin made the decision to leave the

OPENER, from page 9

Josh Williams, Armoni Goodwin and Logan Diggs practiced Tuesday after being limited last week. This created an opportunity for freshman Kaleb Jackson to impress in Saturday’s scrimmage. Despite Kelly saying Jackson has done well, he added that there is “clearly more work to be done.”

Florida State preparation

With LSU’s season opener against Florida State less than two weeks away, Kelly said the team plans to do “a little bit” of Florida State preparation Tuesday and Wednesday, but they aren’t solely focusing on Florida State yet. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are when he said the team would start doing its normal game week preparation.

“When you break down preparation for me, I look at like a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in season and we’ll do that twice. So, we’ve got plenty of time,” Kelly said.

Announcing No. 7 and No. 18

Despite being less than two weeks away from the first game, LSU has yet to announce who will wear the prestigious No. 7 and No 18 jerseys. The No. 7 jersey has often been given to the team’s top playmaker or most explosive player, with Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu and

SETTER, from page 9

she and her teammates qualified for the European Championship and finished in seventh place.

Rome’s international experience adds something different to the Tiger offense, but the question is: Can she adjust to collegiate-level play and run the offense smoothly at the same time? Her ability to play is certainly no concern, but the Southeastern Conference has some of

indoor volleyball program to focus on beach volleyball. For the past two seasons, Larkin spent the fall with the indoor team and the spring out on the sand, a demanding schedule for any athlete.

Larkin still excelled at both, leading the Southeastern Conference in digs during the indoor season and being a member of one of LSU’s top five beach duos this past season with a 29-6 record.

“She decided that beach was where she was more passionate,” Dotson said.

The development was a speed bump to the momentum that was building after such a successful season.

“I did not expect it. I didn’t see it coming,” Johnson said.

“We were sad to see her go, but happy that she’s enjoying herself in the sands,” Dotson said.

Replacing any starter is difficult, but especially one as talented as Larkin. Larkin was a well-rounded volleyball player who started as setter for the Tigers her freshman year and was

Leonard Fournette all wearing it in the past. The No. 18 jersey is synonymous with leadership at LSU.

“The No. 18 is the player who brings all those traits of someone who leads in an extraordinary manner,” Kelly said last year.

BJ Ojulari wore the number last season, and it has been worn most notably by players such as Tre’Davious White, Damone Clark, Jacob Hester and others. When asked about who would wear the numbers this season, Kelly said they will announce the players “probably by the end of this week.”

Being explosive on offense

One of the themes of the offseason for LSU’s offense has been creating more explosive plays. Pushing the ball downfield was made a point of emphasis going into the season, but Kelly talked Tuesday about being balanced in the way they create explosive plays.

“Explosiveness sometimes is looked at as a play that has to be from 20 yards down the field,” Kelly said. “It could be making sure that you get the ball into the hands of your dynamic playmakers and tactically setting it up as such that they touch the ball enough that you can get explosive plays.”

With wide receivers such as Malik Nabers and Aaron Ander-

the best competition across the country, and it’s important that the Tigers are ready for it. Who will get the reins to the offense?

After looking into the options Johnson has at setter, there’s a few things she may consider:

Last season, the Tigers ran a 5-2 offense with Waak and Vondran at setter. While the team was able to perform well and made it to the tournament with

an SEC All-Freshman honoree before switching positions to libero and continuing to excel.

You can’t miss a libero–she’s diving all over the floor and wears a different color jersey. She spends all her time in the back row and is undoubtedly the anchor of a team’s defense, which is why Larkin’s departure is particularly difficult for LSU.

With Larkin leading the charge with a league-leading 516, the Tiger defense collectively had the most digs in the SEC and finished second in digs per set last season. In addition, the team surrendered a hitting percentage of just 0.207, fifthlowest in the conference. A lot of the credit for that goes to Larkin.

Heading into this year, Johnson and LSU are now forced to plug a Larkin-sized hole at one of the most important positions in the sport of volleyball.

The Tigers will have options. As of now, the battle is mainly down to graduate transfer Erin Carmichael and sophomore Bri Anderson.

“They’re both battling it out

every single day. I think they’ll both get opportunities at some point, but they’ve both been really good for us,” Johnson said.

Carmichael transferred this offseason from Jacksonville State where she was a four-year starter at libero. In her time at JSU, she earned a regular season conference championship and recorded over 1400 digs.

Carmichael is also a talented server, an area that Johnson emphasized at times last year as an area of improvement. She had 38 aces last year for JSU, 13 more than anyone on LSU’s roster.

Anderson saw time in each of LSU’s first six matches last year before suffering an injury and being relegated to the bench. The Gainesville, Florida, native was ranked the No. 65 player in the 2021 class by Prep Volleyball and has experience both at pin hitter and defensive specialist.

One of those two will most likely become the libero for LSU, but the team also has a few returners in the mix such as junior Madison Martin and sopho -

more Bri Zamora, who was used occasionally as a serving substitute last year. In addition, the team recruited freshman Ella Hemmings at the position this offseason.

Throughout the early schedule of the season, LSU will likely experiment a good bit at libero. Carmichael and Anderson will both get extended run.

It’s important that the coaching staff makes the right decision for who will hold down their defense, but it’s also important that the decision is made quickly and decisively. Drawnout position battles are often more detrimental to a team than making a decision and sticking with it.

How LSU replaces Larkin, one of the best liberos in the conference and perhaps in the country, could be the most important development of the season. For now, though, LSU is confident that the team will find success despite the unexpected pivot at the all-important libero position.

“We’re definitely not worried,” Dotson said.

son who are known for their ability to make plays with the ball in their hands, Kelly wants to create explosive plays in multiple ways apart from just throwing the ball deep. He referenced Alabama’s offense in 2020 when

a 5-2, a two-setter offense can disrupt the flow of the game. It tends to mess with setter-hitter connections. A more utilized offense is the 5-1, which gives one player control of the offense the whole game.

The one problem with a 5-1 for LSU is the fact that every setter available is under 5-foot-10 and most hitters in the SEC are well over six feet. Additionally, the Tigers are going to need a generally offensive-minded

talking about creating balance in their explosive plays.

“I remember looking at Alabama’s offense in 2020, and their receivers weren’t necessarily always pushing the ball down the field. It was just flipping the ball

setter after Vondran’s graduation, but it could be difficult to achieve that with a smaller setter.

Another important skill to look at when deciding who will get setter is how well a player can discipline themself to hold a spot-on defense when playing the back row. Most setters often release from their base position without playing defense against the opponent. The key to a successful team starts at defense,

out on the perimeter and then turning them into explosive plays,” Kelly said. “You have to balance those because you can’t just keep pushing the ball down the field and find yourself staring at third and 10.”

so whoever proves to be the best passer and defender should get the nod at starting setter. The Tigers have three talented players who are all more than capable of running the offense, and height is something that will have to be worked with. Find out who steps up this Friday when the Tigers begin their season at home against UCLA at 6:30 p.m. CT. The match is available for streaming on SEC Network+.

CHYNNA MCCLINTON/ The Reveille

LSU football head coach Brian Kelly walks out of the football locker room tunnel Sept. 17, 2022, before LSU’s 31-16 win against Mississippi State at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.

Symptoms of injured democracy: Voter apathy and suppression

NATE’S TAKES

NATHANIEL DELA PEÑA

@NateDerDoner

As we get closer to election season this October, many have noted the lack of enthusiasm among Louisiana voters. Most voters seem content to sit on the sidelines.

We saw this occur in the local elections last April. In my hometown of Alexandria’s vote about renewing a property tax, only 5.8% of registered voters participated. Given the unusual

time of the vote, it wasn’t surprising a majority of registered voters didn’t go to the polls. But not even reaching the double-digits in participation is concerning, especially when the issue has a direct impact on every property owner in the city.

The consequences of voter apathy are clear. Our local and state governments will never receive the diversity of opinions needed for a functioning democracy, and the apathetic citizen will cry foul when they’re forced to deal with laws they didn’t consent to.

Both the citizens’ and the government’s well-being depend on

the participation of every voice. Our political system depends on the involvement of the everyday person from all walks of life.

With the deadline passed for candidates to qualify for the fall election, many incumbents in the state Legislature will face no opposition at all or just opposition from perennial candidates. Consequently, the makeup of the Legislature will remain the same.

While women make up 51% of Louisiana’s population, they make up only 21.9% of the Louisiana House of Representatives. In the best-case scenario, only 41 seats, or 39% of total seats, can have a female representative after elections in the fall.

The state Senate is worse. Only five current senators, or 12.8% of total senators, are women. In the fall, only eight women, or around 21% of total senators, can potentially hold a Senate seat.

The imbalance in the state legislature is concerning, especially while issues affecting women remain unaddressed. While the Legislature is eager to deal with the hot-button issue of abortion, Louisiana remains one of the worst states for access to and quality of maternity care, with Louisiana’s maternal morbidity rates increasing from 2018 to 2020.

GRAPHIC BY MADDIE FITZMORRIS

The shutout of women in politics is only one symptom of our injured democratic republic. Gerrymandering, a practice where the incumbent party draws favorable districts to benefit their members, remains a popular tactic, standing as a reminder that politics works for those in power.

Louisiana is no stranger to gerrymandering, as the Louisiana GOP has created unfair congressional and legislative maps that solidified their hold on the state’s politics and sacrificed the betterment of the state. Due to gerrymandering, local Republican politicians have been motivated to appease their base, embracing the combative nature of the national Republican Party. As a result, effective governance has lost its importance in the state Republican Party. Fiery rhetoric has overshadowed the need for rational dialogue between Democrats and Republicans.

Yet many issues that threaten the well-being of all Louisianians require genuine contemplation of every solution from all sides of the aisle. While competitive elections aren’t a prerequisite to better governance, competitive elections undoubtedly lead to a healthier democracy.

According to Professor Jessica

Gottlieb of Texas A&M and Katrina Kosec of John Hopkins University, mature democracies like the United States thrive on competitive elections. Highly contested races with uncertain outcomes lead to politicians being “more responsive to voters,” creating more spending on public services and greater success in fulfilling campaign promises.

Gerrymandering destroys competitive elections, and consequently, the main ability of voters to hold politicians accountable. Voters understand that there’s no point in voting when politicians choose a favorable electorate.

When voters are sitting out in important elections or when everyday people don’t run for office, our democracy suffers. The voice of the people is dominated by a minority that clings to power.

So, when it comes time for us native Louisianians to vote this October, take solace in the fact that your vote is one small step towards making our state a better place. However, with a tsunami of problems looming over our state, we’ll need much more than that.

Nathaniel Dela Peña is a 20-yearold political science and history senior from Alexandria.

What to do if Keke Palmer publicly leaves you for Usher

SERIOUSLY KIDDING

FRANK KIDD @FK446852315

Editor’s note: The following column is satire.

Keke Palmer recently starred in Usher’s music video for his song “Boyfriend.” This comes on the heels of the controversy surrounding the two following the release of a video of the singer dancing with Palmer in a revealing dress. Her then-boyfriend Darius Jackson took issue with his girlfriend’s attire and criticized her for it on X (Twitter).

The discourse that followed the public dust-up centered around Jackson’s controlling attitude toward his relationship, and for a controlling ex-partner, the release of that music video must’ve had him kicking and screaming.

Jackson is being ridiculed for being controlling by the progressive side of the internet while also

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being clowned by the traditional side for losing his woman to another man.

To avoid the fallout from this situation, Jackson should strongly consider going into hiding. The first step is to delete all social media, burn his house down and move to a town so small that the residents don’t have access to the internet.

Jackson would be wise to find the nearest place with an internet connection and pay for bots to post and spread messages favorable to him. He could also pay conspiracy theorists to speculate that the entire situation was staged — a plot by the government to destroy a budding Black family.

Dr. Umar Johnson would be perfect for the job. “They put this garbage in the media, and y’all eat it up. These people aren’t real; they’re all actors. It’s all a movie. I looked it up; Keke Palmer even has an IMDB page. They’re not even trying to hide it anymore, and you still can’t see,” he’d say.

After Jackson’s efforts to lay

low and save his name, he should turn his sights to Usher. His best course of action would be to bring attention to the multiple lawsuits brought against him by women who claimed that he gave them herpes.

He could put up billboards that take the names of Usher’s songs and parody them, like one that takes, “You make me wanna…” and changes it to “You make me wanna… go to a clinic.” He could also change “I Don’t Mind” to “I Do Mind, a lot actually. A $10 million lawsuit’s worth.” The songs “You Got It Bad” and “Burn” can keep their original titles.

Once that’s done, it’ll be time to use the tried and true methods of winning back one’s lost partner. First, he should try playing “Baby Come Back” by Player on a boombox outside her window. After that, he should try texting her incessantly and asking her friends if she’s said anything about him. If that doesn’t work, he should get into another relationship and bring his

new partner to places that Palmer frequents to make her jealous. He could go as far as having picnics right in front of her house.

Public breakups are hard, but with the right plan, one can come

out better on the other side and possibly compensate their advisor.

Frank Kidd is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Springfield, Virginia.

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Keke Palmer attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” exhibition on Sept. 13, 2021, in New York.