The Acadiana Advocate 03-17-2025

How La. changed on death penalty

Shifting politics led to restart of executions, nitrogen gas option

BY SAM KARLIN

On

USDA ends school food program

Landry’s office had asked Muscarello, R-Hammond, to sponsor legislation to blanket information in secrecy about companies providing execution drugs to the state. It was part of a bid to end a decadelong pause in executions in Louisiana. A lawyer from Landry’s office joined Muscarello as they presented the bill to the Senate Ju-

diciary B Committee.

The panel had a Democratic majority picked by former Senate President John Alario to act as a backstop for John Bel Edwards, who was governor at the time. They swiftly killed the legislation. Edwards was in the middle of a tightly-contested bid for reelection. He would not come out pub-

licly against the death penalty until years later, on his way out of the Governor’s Mansion. Still, it was widely understood that the governor was uneasy about the death penalty and didn’t like the bill.

“It was a whisper campaign,” Muscarello said. “Everybody knew it. It was the worst-kept secret in the Capitol.”

Five years later, Landry and Muscarello teamed up again and turned the tide on the death penalty, part of a frenetic effort by the newly-elected Republican governor to reshape the state’s politics in his image and usher in a red

AT THE FINISH LINE

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

The Trump administration is halting funding for two farm-totable food programs, one of which was slated to provide an additional $11 million this year for getting fresh food into to Louisiana schools.

The announcement that the money would no longer be available is causing child nutrition advocates to sound the alarm about students losing access to healthy meals at school, where research indicates is where American students receive the most nutritious meals.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week that it was ending two programs that help schools, child care centers and food banks purchase local food

The food-to-schools program have provided about $3 million annually to Louisiana schools since they started in 2022. In addition to that $3 million for 2025, the state was allocated an additional $11 million that it now won’t receive. The state also received about $13 million this year for a program that brought fresh, local food to food banks. Another $6 million was on the table but has now been eliminated.

Existing agreements are expected to be fulfilled, but the USDA said it did not plan to award additional money that had been set aside for the year but not yet used. The programs were created under

La. losing $11.8M in change that affects 253,000 students ä See FOOD, page 4A

‘We

went

Five years after COVID hit La., trust in vaccines is falling

BY EMILY WOODRUFF

Staff writer

In May 2020, health care workers gathered on the rooftops of hospitals as the storied U.S. Navy Blue Angels flew over metro New

ABOVE: Half marathon runner Ron Junrau, second from left, is helped across the finish line by Lawson Juneau, center, on Sunday during the 2025 Zydeco Half and Full Marathon in downtown Lafayette.

FAR LEFT: Half marathon runners Wesley Penn, left, and Brook Rhodes run to the finish line.

LEFT: Half marathon runner Jonathon Moore, left, takes a photo with his sister Stephanie Rodriguez, after finishing the run.

from health care heroes to ... almost villains’

“We went from health care heroes to now we are almost villains at this point, and not to be trusted,” said Dr Kara Ward, a critical care and emergency medicine physician in New Orleans.

“There is a huge mistrust now in health care.”

The pandemic marked a turning

Orleans, saluting front-line employees in a monthslong battle against COVID-19. The Krewe of Red Beans was organizing food drop-offs for weary staff, many of whom were sleeping in separate rooms from their families or stripping down and hosing off outside before stepping indoors. Across the state, communities rallied — sewing masks, donating meals, posting signs in the yards of health care workers overnight as shows of gratitude. Nearly five years later, the appreciation has faded, and so has the public’s trust.

point in trust in medicine, and the state’s declining vaccine coverage is a measure of the long shadow it cast and the politics that have evolved in its wake. What began as pushback to COVID-19 mitigation efforts has widened into broader resistance to routine immunizations. Health care workers are now navigating deepening skepticism amid a measles outbreak in neighboring Texas, the nation’s first bird flu death in southwest

Louisiana, and a steady stream of misinformation online. That shift in trust now shows up in exam rooms: There are more questions about vaccinations and more patients referencing things they saw on social media. Fearful parents delay routine shots. Adult patients second-guess flu and shingles vaccines. Longtime doctors find themselves on the defensive

ä See COVID, page 5A

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP

ä Protesters ask Landry to stay execution. PAGE

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

North Macedonia club fire kills dozens

KOCANI, North Macedonia A massive fire tore through an overcrowded nightclub in North Macedonia on Sunday killing 59 people and injuring 155 in a chaotic escape during a live concert. The tragedy focused national attention on corruption in the small Balkan country as authorities detained 15 people. The death toll may rise further, with 20 of the injured in critical condition, according to Health Minister Arben Taravari. The government has declared seven days of national mourning

Some as young as 16 were among the casualties in the pre-dawn blaze in the eastern town of Kocani, where many suffered burns, smoke inhalation and a stampede in the desperate effort to reach the building’s single exit, officials said.

Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski said 15 people were detained for questioning after a preliminary inspection revealed the club was operating without a proper license He said the number of people inside the club was at least double its official capacity of 250.

Relief arrives at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Just over a day after blasting off, a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering the replacements for NASA’s two stuck astronauts. The four newcomers — representing the U.S., Japan and Russia — will spend the next few days learning the station’s ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week when they launched in June on Boeing’s first astronaut flight. They hit the nine-month mark earlier this month.

“It was a wonderful day Great to see our friends arrive,” Williams told Mission Control.

Weather permitting, the SpaceX capsule carrying Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts will undock from the space station no earlier than Wednesday and splash down off Florida’s coast.

Supporters of Brazil’s Bolsonaro protest

RIO DE JANEIRO

Thousands of backers of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro poured onto Copacabana Beach on Sunday to express their support for the farright politician as he faces charges he plotted a coup Bolsonaro and close allies attended the demonstration in which protesters also called for Congress to grant amnesty to those in jail for their roles in the Jan 8, 2023, riot, when government buildings in the capital Brasilia were ransacked

A sea of people wearing Brazil’s yellow-and-green national soccer jersey chanted and held placards reading “Amnesty, now!”

Local media reported that around 18,000 people attended, based on figures from a monitoring project linked to the University of Sao Paulo.

Last month, Brazil’s prosecutor-general formally charged Bolsonaro with attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Part of that plot allegedly included plans to poison Lula and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees several cases against him. After losing to Lula, Bolsonaro refused to concede, and left for the United States days before the end of his term.

Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and has said he is a victim of political persecution.

Deported immigrants reach El Salvador

Judge’s temporary halt issued as planes leave U.S

BY NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th-century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members, officials said Sunday Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday blocking the deportations but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order

“Oopsie…Too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele wrote on the social media site X above an article about Boasberg’s ruling, a post that was recirculated by White House communications director Steven Cheung. Bukele, an ally of President Donald Trump, agreed to house about 300 immigrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in his country’s prisons.

PROVIDED PHOTO Prison guards transfer deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Sunday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who negotiated an earlier deal with Bukele to house immigrants, posted on the site: “We sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.”

Steve Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, said that Boasberg’s verbal directive to turn around the planes was not technically part of his final order but that the Trump administration clearly violated the “spirit” of it.

“This just incentivizes future courts to be hyper specific in their orders and not give the government any wiggle room,” Vladeck said.

The Department of Justice in court papers filed Sunday said some immigrants were already out of the country by the time the hold was issued Sunday night. The department added that it has appealed the order and would use other laws for deportations in coming days if the appeal is not successful.

The immigrants were deported after Trump’s declaration of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has been used only three times in U.S. history

The law, invoked during the War of 1812 and World Wars I and II, requires a president to declare the United States is at war, giving him extraordinary powers to detain or remove foreigners who otherwise would have protections under immigration or criminal laws. It was last used to justify the detention of Japanese-American civilians during WWII.

A Justice Department spokesperson on Sunday referred to an earlier statement from Attorney General Pam Bondi blasting Boasberg’s ruling and didn’t immediately answer questions about whether the administration ignored the court’s order Venezuela’s government in a statement Sunday rejected the use of Trump’s declaration of the law, characterizing it as evocative of “the darkest episodes in human history from slavery to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps.”

Tren de Aragua originated in an infamously lawless prison in the central state of Aragua and accompanied an exodus of millions of

U.S., Iran-backed Houthis both vow escalation after Yemen attack

BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

CAIRO The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the U.S. launched airstrikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight U.S. strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, including Saada, the rebels’ stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.

“We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks and warned that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally

The attacks stopped when a Israel-Hamas ceasefire

took hold in January — a day before Trump took office but last week, the Houthis said they would renew attacks against Israeli vessels after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.

There have been no Houthi attacks reported since then.

The overnight airstrikes were one of the most extensive attacks against the Houthis since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

Trump’s national security adviser Michael Waltz, on Sunday told ABC that the strikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.” He didn’t identify them or give evidence. Rubio said some Houthi facilities had been destroyed.

The Houthis’ political bureau has said the rebels will respond to the U.S. strikes and “meet escalation with escalation.”

The rebels on Sunday claimed to have targeted the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group with missiles and a drone, but two U.S. officials told The Associated Press they were not tracking anything The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement called for “utmost restraint and a cessation of all military activities,” while warning of the “grave risks” to the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation.

Rubio said that over the past 18 months the Houthis had attacked the U.S. Navy

“directly” 174 times and targeted commercial shipping 145 times using “guided precision anti-ship weaponry.”

The attacks sparked the most serious combat the U.S. Navy had seen since World War II.

On Sunday, the head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, denied his country was involved in the Houthis’ attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on X, urged the U.S to halt its airstrikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy

The U.S. and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the rebels. The U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said was bound for the Houthis.

The United States, Israel and Britain previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but the new operation was conducted solely by the U.S. It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.

The USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, which includes the carrier, three Navy destroyers and one cruiser, is in the Red Sea and was part of the mission. The USS Georgia cruise missile submarine has also been operating in the region.

Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, and Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

Venezuelans, the overwhelming majority of whom were seeking better living conditions after their nation’s economy came undone last decade.

Trump seized on the gang during his campaign to paint misleading pictures of communities that he contended were “taken over” by what were actually a handful of lawbreakers. The Trump administration has not identified the immigrants deported, provided any evidence they are in fact members of Tren de Aragua or that they committed any crimes in the United States. It did also send two top members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang to El Salvador who had been arrested in the United States.

The immigrants were taken to the notorious CECOT facility, the centerpiece of Bukele’s push to pacify his once violence-wracked country through tough police measures and limits on basic rights

Immigration lawyers said that, late Friday, they noticed Venezuelans who otherwise couldn’t be deported under immigration law being moved to Texas for deportation flights. They began to file lawsuits to halt the transfers.

“Basically any Venezuelan citizen in the US may be removed on pretext of belonging to Tren de Aragua, with no chance at defense,” Adam Isacson, of the Washington Office for Latin America, a human rights group, warned on X.

Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela contributed to this report.

Netanyahu seeks to boot Israel’s security chief

BY MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press

JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will seek to dismiss the head of the country’s internal security service this week, deepening a power struggle focused largely on who bears responsibility for the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s effort to remove Ronen Bar as director of the Shin Bet follows an increasingly acrimonious dispute that also involves the security service’s investigation into close aides of the prime minister Netanyahu said he has had “ongoing distrust” with Bar, and “this

distrust has grown over time.”

Bar responded by saying he planned to continue in the post for the near future and had told Netanyahu, citing “personal obligations” to free the remaining hostages in Gaza, finish “sensitive investigations” and prepare potential successors.

Bar also criticized Netanyahu’s expectation of a personal loyalty that contradicts the public interest. But he emphasized that he would respect any legal decision made regarding his tenure. Israel’s attorney general said Netanyahu must clarify the legal basis for his decision before taking any action.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By OSAMAH ABDULRAHMAN Residents clean debris in storefronts Sunday after U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, yemen.

Rhetoric targeting courts ramps up

BY NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press

The new populist president

railed against the judiciary as they blocked his aggressive moves to restructure his country’s government and economy

This was in Mexico, where former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador eventually pushed through changes that required every judge in his country to be elected rather than appointed. The reforms, and the promise of more by his successor, caused markets to lose confidence in his country’s reliability as a place to invest, which led its currency to weaken. It was one in a series of assaults that populists around the globe have launched on the courts in recent years, and legal observers now wonder if the United States could be next.

As the courts deliver a series of setbacks to his dramatic attempt to change the federal government without congressional approval, President Donald Trump’s supporters are echoing some of the rhetoric and actions that elsewhere have preceded attacks on the judiciary Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, posted last week on X: “Under the precedents now being established by radical rogue judges, a district court in Hawaii could enjoin troop movements in Iraq. Judges have no authority to administer the executive branch. Or to nullify the results of a national election.”

“We either have democracy,” said Miller who once ran a legal group that sued to get judges to block former President Joe Biden’s initiatives, “or not.”

Trump’s supporters in Congress have raised the specter of impeaching judges who have ruled against the administration. Elon Musk the billionaire Trump backer whose Department of Government Efficiency has ended up in the crosshairs of much of the litigation, has regularly called for removing judges on X, his social media site

On Sunday, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican Chuck Grassley, reacted furiously to a Washington judge’s order briefly halting deportations under an 18th-century wartime law that Trump invoked hours earlier

“Another day, another judge unilaterally deciding policy for the whole country This time to benefit foreign gang members,” Grassley wrote. “If the Supreme Court or Congress doesn’t fix, we’re headed towards a constitutional crisis.”

Activists contend it’s the administration that’s increasing the odds of a crisis.

“They don’t like what they’re seeing in the courts, and this is setting up what may very well be a constitutional crisis about the independence of the judiciary,” said Heidi Beirich, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

Despite the rhetoric, the Trump administration has so far not openly defied a court order, and the dozens of cases filed against its actions have followed a regular legal course. His administration has made no moves to seek removal of justices or push judicial reforms through the Republican-controlled Congress.

Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University and voting rights expert who previously served in the Justice De-

President Donald Trump greets justices of the Supreme Court, from left, Elena Kagan, Bret Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett before addressing a joint session of Congress at the Capitol.

partment’s civil rights division, said he’s no fan of Trump’s moves. But he said the administration has been following legal norms by appealing decisions it doesn’t like “I think most of this is bluster,” said Levitt, noting courts can imprison those who don’t obey orders or levy crippling fines that double daily “If this is the approach the executive wants to take, it’s going to provoke a fight. Not everybody is going to be content to be a doormat the way Congress is.”

Even if no firm moves are underway to remove judges or blatantly ignore their rulings, the rhetoric has not gone unnoticed within the judiciary Two Republicanappointed senior judges last week warned about the rising danger of the judiciary being targeted “Threats against judges are threats against constitutional government. Everyone should be taking this seriously,” said Judge Richard Sullivan, whom Trump in his first term appointed to the federal appeals court in New York.

In Mexico, López Obrador was termed out of office last year But several other populist Trump allies who have shown no inclination to leave power have made their judiciaries a central target.

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán lowered the mandatory retirement age for judges to force out some who might have blocked his agenda. In Brazil, former President Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters have feuded with that country’s high court.

After Bolsonaro was charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss, his party is hoping to win enough seats in next year’s elections to impeach at least one of the justices. In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele’s party removed supreme court justices with whom he had clashed.

Bukele has even egged Trump on to take on the judiciary: “If you don’t impeach the corrupt judges, you CANNOT fix the country,”

Bukele wrote on X, following a post by Musk urging Trump to follow the Salvadoran president’s lead

“This is a basic authoritarian instinct,” said Steven Levitsky, coauthor of “How Democracies Die” and a Harvard political scientist.

“You cannot have a democracy where the elected government can do whatever it wants.”

It would take two-thirds of the U.S. Senate to remove an impeached judge. With only 53 Republicans in the chamber, it’s highly unlikely that supermajority could be reached. The Trump administration, though, has expressed exasperation at the frequency with which lower courts are ruling against it.

Education staff cuts could limit options for kids with disabilities

BY ANNIE MA AP education writer

WASHINGTON For parents of kids with disabilities, advocating for their child can be complicated, timeconsuming and expensive.

Changes at the Education Department are likely to make the process even more difficult, advocates for kids with disabilities say

When a parent believes their child is not receiving proper services or school accommodations for a disability they can seek remedies from their district. They can file complaints with their state, arguing the child’s rights have been taken away without due process of law, or even pursue litigation in state or federal courts.

Those processes often involve multiple sessions with hearing officers who are not required to be experts in disability law Legal fees can cost tens of thousands of dollars for a single case. Legal aid and other advocacy organizations that can provide free assistance often have more demand for their services than they can meet.

But filing a complaint with the Education Department has long been an option for families who can’t afford a lawyer They begin by filling out the Office for Civil Rights’ online form, documenting the alleged instances of discrimination. From there, the agency’s staff is supposed to investigate the complaint, often interviewing school district employees and examining district policies for broader possible violations.

“It’s known and has the weight of the federal government behind it,” said Dan Stewart, managing attorney for education and employment at the National Disability Rights

Network. “The process, the complaint portal, as well as the processing manual are all in public, and it does not require or typically involve lawyers.”

That option seems increasingly out of reach, advocates say Under President Donald Trump, the Education Department’s staff has been cut approximately in half — including in the Office for Civil Rights, whose attorneys are charged with investigating complaints of discrimination against kids with disabilities. The staff has been directed to prioritize antisemitism cases. More than 20,000 pending cases — including those related to kids with disabilities, historically the largest share of the office’s work — largely sat idle for weeks after Trump took office. A freeze on processing the cases was lifted early this month, but advocates question whether the department can make progress on them with a smaller staff.

“The reduction in force is simply an evisceration of the Office for

Civil Rights’ investigatory authority and responsibility,” Stewart said “There’s no way that I can see that OCR can keep up with the backlog or with the incoming complaints.”

A federal lawsuit filed Friday challenges the layoffs at the Office for Civil Rights, saying they decimated the office’s ability to process and investigate complaints.

While the OCR process was not perfect, reducing the office’s investigative staff will only worsen the challenges families face when seeking support for their kids, said Nikki Carter, an advocate for kids with disabilities and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

“It makes them feel hopeless and helpless,” Carter said. “By reducing the number of employees to handle cases, by putting stipulations on certain cases, it only makes it feel intensified.”

Education Department officials insist the staff reductions will not affect civil rights investigations and the layoffs were “strategic decisions.”

Aspiring scientists see career pathways vanish as schools adapt

BY CAROLYN THOMPSON, HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and MAKIYA SEMINERA Associated Press

As an infant, Connor Phillips was born three months premature with cerebral palsy The science that saved his life was the inspiration that led to his role studying brain processes as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health.

He had hopes of continuing his work at NIH through a partnership with Brown University, where he was invited to interview for a program that would lead to a doctorate in neuroscience. But training programs at the NIH have been suspended, a casualty of funding cuts by the Trump administration.

He is applying to other programs and hoping policies putting strains on science might be reversed.

“You don’t take these jobs that pay worse and have insane hours and are really stressful unless you care about helping others and taking our love for science and translating that into something that can improve people’s lives,” Phillips said.

Reductions to federal support for research at universities and other institutions under President Donald Trump are dimming young scientists’ prospects, cutting off pathways to career-building projects and graduate programs.

Universities are cutting back offers of admission for graduate students due to the uncertainty

Many also are freezing hiring as the Trump administration threatens to take away federal money over their handling of a wide range of issues from antisemitism complaints to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Mira Polishook, a Duke University research technician, recently heard from one of the programs she applied to that “government decisions” had left it unable to offer her admission. She applied to the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship which would guarantee three years of graduate school funding, but lately NSF has been silent on timing for awards. She’s uncertain the agency will have funding at all “It’s beyond frustrating,” she said. “It’s made me feel like I am in limbo.”

Cuts to NIH funding have been delayed by a legal challenge from a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions. But the uncertainty already has put some projects on hold as universities deal also with delays or cuts in grants from other agencies including USAID and NSF.

Admissions in some graduate programs have been cut in half or paused altogether said Emilya Ven-

triglia, president of UAW 2750, the union representing around 5,000 early career researchers at NIH facilities in Bethesda, Maryland, and elsewhere.

“At this rate, with the hiring freeze, there may be no Ph.D. students next year if it’s not lifted soon because usually people make their decisions by April,” Ventriglia said. Ventriglia, whose research focuses on how the brain responds to anti-depressants, is unable to recruit another researcher she planned to mentor this spring. She said she is worried that new purchasing restrictions, and firings of employees who processed those purchases, mean she will be unable to acquire reagents she needs for experiments.

“We’re expecting this to play out for generations,” said Levin Kim, the president of a union that represents 8,000 academic workers at the University of Washington.

The financial and emotional toll on those navigating the uncertainty is mounting.

“I love the work that I do. It’s all I want to do,” said Natalie Antenucci, a first-year graduate student at the University of North Carolina Her work at a lab researching the ways social experiences can impact health is funded by an NIH grant. “I’m not in a financial position where I could continue to do it if there wasn’t funding available for this sort of work.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN Protesters demonstrate Friday at the headquarters of the Department of Education in Washington.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

FOOD

Continued from page 1A

former President Joe Biden and no longer supported the department’s goals, a spokesperson told Politico.

If the farm-to-school program had not been canceled, it would have provided about $660 million to schools and child care centers nationwide to fund those partnerships, according to the School Nutrition Association. About $11.8 million of that was supposed to go to Louisiana.

Ending the program is part of the Trump administration and congressional leaders’ efforts to slash the national budget and promote programs that align with President Donald Trump and GOP platforms.

But advocates argue it’s imperative to protect fund-

Continued from page 1A

wave that has cemented the GOP’s grip on Louisiana’s levers of power Last year, during a special session on crime, Muscarello again brought the bill on Landry’s behalf. This time, it went even further Not only would it keep information about execution drug providers secret it would legalize nitrogen gas as an execution method, along with electrocution, which the state previously outlawed in 1991

Instead of being sent to a committee stacked with Democrats, Muscarello’s bill went to a Senate committee with a 6-1 Republican majority It sailed through the Legislature and became law.

On Tuesday, it is expected to culminate in Louisiana’s first nitrogen gas execution of Jessie Hoffman Jr., who has been on death row for the 1996 abduction, rape and execution-style killing of Mary “Molly” Elliott in rural St. Tammany Parish.

The saga is one chapter in Louisiana’s sharp turn away from bipartisan criminal justice laws passed in 2017 in favor of an approach that embraces more incarceration and executing people on death row

“2019 is a big turning point in all this,” said MaryPatricia Wray an anti-death penalty advocate and former communications aide to Edwards. “Prior to that time, most of the death penalty legislation that had been authored was to abolish the death penalty That’s when we switched over to not only not abolishing it, but instead ramping it up.”

Attempt to outlaw

The year 2019 was also perhaps the last best chance for opponents of the death penalty to abolish the practice, the same year Landry began his quest to restart executions through Muscarello’s bill.

That year, a pair of legislators — State Sen. Dan Claitor, a Republican former prosecutor, and Rep. Terry Landry, a Democratic former State Police superintendent both carried legislation to end the death penalty in Louisiana.

Both men had said they previously supported the death penalty but said a host of ethical and practical reasons changed their minds. Terry Landry approached Edwards before he filed the bill and asked if the governor thought it would hurt him politically, the former lawmaker said in an interview Edwards encouraged him to go forward with it.

The effort was gaining steam. Supporters felt if they could get the bill through the House, it could make it to the governor’s desk Terry Landry’s bill made it out of the House Criminal Justice Committee, a crucial step.

But after the House debated the bill for hours, Terry Landry pulled it without a vote. He said he didn’t know if he had enough support, and didn’t want to make members “bleed” on a tough vote.

Moderate Republicans he was courting would likely be hit with allegations of being “soft on crime” during reelection if they voted with him, Terry Landry said.

ing for programs that provide healthy meals to children and students The Local Food for Schools program has been beneficial for farmers and schools and cutting the program is “devastating,” said Alexis Bylander, the interim director of child nutrition programs and policy at the Food Research and Action Center

“We’re at a time right now where families and school cafeteria staff and directors are worried about the rising cost of food,” she said Local produce and products are a great way “to increase the appeal of school meals, have kids excited to eat them and reduce the amount of food that ends up in the trash.”

When the Farms to Schools program began in 2022, nearly $3.4 million was allocated to schools and child care centers statewide to bring healthy, unprocessed food from local farmers, accord-

ing to a 2024 article from the LSU AgCenter This fiscal year, Louisiana had spent about $3.4 million getting food from local farmers into schools as of Dec. 9, according to a table that has since been removed from the USDA’s website. Louisiana was awarded an additional $11.8 million that it will not get to use because the programs were canceled.

The Calcasieu Parish School Board received about $116,000 in 2024 from the program, according to a presentation given at the annual Louisiana Farm to Schools Conference One of its partnerships was with a farm in Slaughter, which provided about 300 pounds of beef per month to the district at one point.

Bylander said the food center is hopeful that the Trump administration will recognize the importance of this funding and reverse its

decision.

Another program designed to give funding to states to purchase food from local farmers to supply food banks brought an additional $12 million to the state. The program was working worked with about 40 farmers to get products into food banks in every Louisiana parish.

“I think of this program more of an economic development program than a feeding program because it’s really helping low-income farmers find a consistent market to see their product,” said Feeding Louisiana Executive Director Pat Van Burkleo.

The nonprofit, which oversaw the program for the state, was told by the USDA another $6 million would not be coming to continue the program. Not having that is “going to hurt the farmers,” Van Burkleo said.

During the debate, Edwards stayed out of the fray A Democrat facing a tenuous reelection bid in which President Donald Trump would travel to Louisiana multiple times to campaign against him, Edwards would only say publicly that he would uphold state law around executions

Privately, the governor said he wanted the Legislature to work it out on their own, a source with knowledge of the situation said. Edwards worried jumping into the mix could turn the debate into a partisan war in a Legislature that was dominated by Republicans. And supporters of repealing the death penalty needed Republicans to get on board in significant numbers if they were to have a chance to pass it.

“John Bel was in his first term. He had to run again. This is such a political, explosive issue, you’ve got to think about not only passing a bill but how it’s going to impact people who you support and who support you,” Terry Landry said. “I think he would have signed it had (it passed).”

Shifting political sands

Republicans have only gained more ground in the Legislature since 2019, putting the abolition of the death penalty further out of reach. While polling shows Louisiana residents are split on the issue, Republican voters in the state are far more likely to say they support the death penalty, with 70% approving of the practice in a 2022 poll by LSU’s Public Policy Research Center. Muscarello, a defense attorney, said he used to be

ambivalent about the death penalty, viewing it as a high cost to the state, especially because Louisiana wasn’t putting anyone to death for years. The State Public Defender’s Office said in a statement last month that they spend at least $7.7 million annually defending death penalty cases, which does not include the costs to district attorney’s offices, courts and law enforcement

But Muscarello and the governor both have been animated by spending time with the families of victims of the defendants on death row Wayne Guzzardo, whose daughter was gunned down in a 1995 restaurant robbery, and his family have played a particularly crucial role.

Todd Wessinger, who was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder in the case, is on death row but has not exhausted all of his appeals.

Not all victims’ families feel the same way: Brett Malone, whose mother was abducted and murdered in 2000, is trying to prevent the execution of Jeremiah Manning, who was convicted in the case and is on death row

He says Manning’s death would not bring any comfort or closure to his family

Muscarello said he briefly worked for Guzzardo’s daughter at the Pepper Tree restaurant in Hammond, and that spending time with the Guzzardo family in recent years has pushed him to fight to restart executions.

Initially, Muscarello had considered including legalizing death by a firing squad as an execution method in Louisiana. He decided against it because it was seen as “too

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, who oversaw the school food program in the state, did not provide a statement and instead directed questions to the Louisiana Department of Education. A spokesperson for that department redirected questions to the agriculture department. It has not yet responded to a request for data about which districts used the program, and which parishes’ farmers benefited from the funding.

Child nutrition advocates warned that these cuts may not be the last to affect students’ access to nutritious meals after the House Budget Committee proposed changes to a program that allows schools nationwide with large numbers of children and families with low incomes to serve free breakfast and lunch to all enrolled students.

the merits of the case. Her ruling was vacated by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, who said the nitrogen gas execution could go forward.

South Carolina carried out the first death by a firing squad since 2010 last week.

While the Legislature never got on board with abolishing capital punishment, there was one last-ditch effort in 2023 to spare more than 50 people on death row during the last year of Edwards’ term.

At a talk at Loyola University that year, Edwards broke his silence on the issue, citing his Catholic faith and saying the death penalty was at odds with “pro-life” values. Edwards is against abortion rights and signed laws enacting further restrictions on the procedure, including the state’s “trigger law” that instantly banned the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022.

Later that year, as faith leaders gathered for a prayer service about the death penalty in front of the Governor’s Mansion, Edwards invited them inside to discuss the issue, said Diocese of Baton Rouge Bishop Michael Duca in a recent interview

Schools that use the program are reimbursed if 40% or more of their students come from lowincome families. But the House Budget Committee has proposed changing the program to only reimburse schools if 60% or more of their students come from low-income families.

A reconciliation memo estimates the change would save $3 billion over 10 years. But the food center estimated that change would result in more than 24,000 schools nationally about 12 million students — becoming ineligible for the reimbursement.

In Louisiana, 469 schools across 29 districts would no longer qualify, affecting about 253,000 students, according to the center

Email Ashley White at ashley.white@theadvocate. com.

the state government, he reunited with Muscarello to push the bill restarting executions. This time, Jeff Landry was governor, not attorney general, and he was not quiet about his position.

“States around us are finding ways and methods in order to execute those who have been tried, and convicted, and sentenced to death,” he said ahead of the special session.

“I have committed myself to those families because I have sat in front of those families. I have listened to those families from all over the state,” Jeff Landry said Wednesday “They deserve their day of justice. That is what that jury has granted them.”

In a special session dedicated to toughening criminal sentencing, Jeff Landry said the bill was part of his package. From the start it faced little resistance.

“Everybody knew it was in the governor’s package,” Muscarello said. “I feel like that gives it a little extra momentum and support.”

radical.” He now wants to put it back.

“Now that I’ve been able to meet with these families, it puts a face behind the news story,” he said. “I have no sympathy for this guy.”

U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, chief of Louisiana’s Middle District, wrote in a recent order that a team of lawyers for Hoffman made a convincing enough argument that death by a firing squad would be preferable to death by nitrogen gas that she blocked the execution. She said she wanted a full trial on

With the backing of the Vatican, whose Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia sent a letter asking him to consider death row prisoners’ clemency requests, Edwards embraced a push to try to commute the sentences of prisoners on death row But despite his urging the state Pardon Board to consider granting them clemency, the board declined. Edwards didn’t return a message seeking comment. Nitrogen gas executions

Last year the changing political tides in Louisiana — long a bastion of idiosyncratic political alliances — culminated in a conservative takeover The GOP had supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature, in part because of Jeff Landry’s yearslong effort to help install more conservative members. As part of Jeff Landry’s blitzkrieg effort to reshape

Still, the impending execution of Hoffman is reigniting an age-old debate, which has played out in the halls of the State Capitol and in courtrooms around the country Eddie Rispone, a Republican who ran a failed bid to unseat Edwards in 2019 before emerging as a key backer of Jeff Landry’s run for governor recalled ringing up Republican legislators in 2022 to encourage them to consider abolishing the death penalty He argued to them that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime and costs the state millions.

In an interview, Rispone said he might feel different if he was personally affected by a heinous crime. But as a Catholic, Rispone said he doesn’t believe in it.

“From my standpoint, if someone did something that egregious to my loved one, I don’t know if I’d want them to put them out of their misery,” he said. “If in fact they don’t ever repent, they’re going to suffer that whole time. If they do repent, and then they have an opportunity to be saved. Christ died for our sins.”

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BILL FEIG

Then-Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, left, chats with family members of victims during a 2019 hearing on the future of the death penalty in Louisiana.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Kathy Randels leads religious leaders and advocates in song on Oct. 10, 2023, outside the Governor’s Mansion for World Day Against the Death Penalty

BY COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press

ROME The Vatican on Sun-

day released the first photograph of Pope Francis in more than a month, showing the pontiff in a three-quarter view from behind wearing a purple stole typical of Lenten liturgical vestments and sitting in a wheelchair before the altar of his personal hospital chapel.

The Vatican said he was participating in the celebration of the Mass with other priests in the 10th-floor papal apartment in the Gemelli hospital. No one else is visible in the photo and it is the first mention the Vatican has made of the pope’s participation in celebrating Mass since his Feb. 14 hospitalization for a bout with chronic bronchitis that quickly turned into double pneumonia.

There was no obvious sign that he was receiving supplemental oxygen mentioned in medical bulletins.

Doctors this week said the pontiff was no longer in critical, life-threatening condition, but they have continued to emphasize that his condition remained complex due to his age, lack of mobility and the loss of part of a lung as a young man. In an audio recording released March 6, the pope spoke in a feeble and labored voice as he thanked the faithful in St. Peter’s Square for their

COVID

Continued from page 1A

at times, and Louisiana is seeing a concerning drop in immunizations.

“Now everything is questioned,” said Ward. She said even routine medical decisions are now met with suspicion, from oxygen use to blood draws. And while Ward welcomes questions, she said they are often asked with disbelief instead of curiosity

By the numbers

Louisiana kindergartners were once vaccinated above the average rate in the U.S. Before the pandemic, nearly 96% of Louisiana kindergartners were vaccinated for measles. By 2023, that number had dropped to 92%

While Louisiana mandates standard childhood vaccinations for school entry, families can request exemptions for any reason Since the pandemic, nonmedical exemption rates have more than doubled, from 1.3% in 2018 to 2.7% in the 2023–24 school year A new state law requires schools to include information about vaccine exemptions in any communication about immunization requirements, a move that public health officials say will likely drive exemptions even higher Dr Nora Oates of Hales Pediatrics in Uptown New Orleans said hesitancy about vaccines comes up a few times a day It doesn’t mean

prayers. His condition has been gradually improving over the last week, leading the Vatican to suspend morning updates and to issue less frequent medical bulletins. An X-ray this week confirmed that the infection was clearing.

In the most recent bulletin on Saturday, doctors said they were working to reduce the pope’s reliance on a noninvasive ventilation mask at night, which will allow his lungs to work more. He was continuing to receive highflow supplemental oxygen, delivered by a nasal tube, during the day — although no such apparatus was evident in the photograph.

Earlier Sunday, dozens of children — many from wartorn countries, and toting yellow and white balloons gathered outside Rome’s Gemelli hospital to greet Francis on his fifth Sunday hospitalized. While the pope did not appear from the 10thfloor suite of windows, he thanked them and acknowledged their presence in the traditional Sunday blessing.

“I know that many children are praying for me; some of them came here today to Gemelli as a sign of closeness,” the pontiff said in the Angelus text prepared for the traditional prayer but not delivered live again. “Thank you, dearest children! The pope loves you and is always waiting to

patients don’t ultimately choose to vaccinate, but she goes into appointments now knowing she’ll need to account for questioning

“It just takes more time than it used to to talk about vaccines with families,” said Oates, a pediatrician of 25 years.

The vaccine questioned most is the MMR, or measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, said Oates. Families want to know if the vaccine causes autism, a longdebunked myth that both the Trump administration and the Louisiana Legislature have directed public health authorities to study.

The hesitancy has even spread beyond children and the MMR vaccine. Ward sees patients in the intensive care unit who say they won’t get a flu shot, even though they are more at risk for bad outcomes, because they heard it causes autism.

“I’ve heard this in grown adults,” said Ward “You’re 55, you’re not going to get autism, and it’s also not caused by vaccines.”

Just last week, Dr Kyle Happel, a pulmonary critical care physician in New Orleans, lost a patient to the flu during a particularly severe season in which Louisiana led the country in cases. It’s a hard backdrop against which to have conversations

“I have people questioning the flu shot now, talking about individual choice and personal preference,” Happel said. “We didn’t have these conversations preCOVID.”

meet you,” Francis said.

The Rev Enzo Fortunato, president of the pontifical committee for World Children’s Day who organized the event, said that the gathering of children with their parents was a form of spiritual medicine for the 88-yearold pontiff. He called it “the most beautiful caress.”

“The children represent a symbolic medicine for Pope Francis,” Fortunato said. “Letting him know that so many children are here for him cheers the heart.”

A small group of children,

Happel is a proponent of fresh food, often gifting friends, family and co-workers with fresh, Louisianacaught fish he catches on his days off. But there’s a difference between promoting a healthy, natural lifestyle and thinking vaccines are “unnatural,” he said.

“You know, dying of the flu is a very natural death,” said Happel. “It is a very natural way to die of a virus that’s been around for thousands of years.”

He still tries to engage patients with evidence-based reasoning. But, he said, wins are “few and far between.”

“A lot of folks are just galvanized” by the politicization of vaccines, said Happel. “When evidence is not in charge of health policy, then evidence-based medicine has lost.”

A messaging shift

Five years ago this week Louisianans were watching warily as the first signs of a new virus emerged in the U.S.

But the virus, driven in part by large gatherings around Mardi Gras, had already taken root in the state. On March 9, the state confirmed its first COVID-19 case, and just days later, Louisiana recorded its first death, a 58-year-old from New Orleans. What followed was a rapid surge in cases and deaths that made Louisiana one of the nation’s early hot spots.

By late March, the state issued a stay-at-home order, shuttered schools, bars and

whose balloons represented the colors of the Vatican flag, briefly entered the hospital to leave behind their drawings, messages and flowers for Francis. Many of the children came from poorer Italian districts or from countries impacted by war, some having arrived in Italy from Afghanistan and Syria via humanitarian corridors set up by the Sant’Egidio charity in agreement with the Italian government; others were from Ukraine, Gaza, South America and Africa.

One of them was 12-year-

nonessential businesses, and banned gatherings to slow the spread. By the end of April, more than 27,000 cases and over 1,700 deaths had been reported statewide.

When vaccines became available at the end of 2020, the state launched a massive campaign to get people inoculated. They stood up large vaccination sites and offered gift cards and free transportation to appointments. The biggest incentive was a $1 million prize.

One of the most vocal proponents of vaccination was Dr Katie O’Neal, chief academic officer for Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System in Baton Rouge. O’Neal, an infectious disease specialist, went on national and local news to urge vaccination, speaking plainly of the hordes of very sick patients, many in their 30s and 40s, crowding hospitals.

Now, she speaks differently of vaccines — not because she sees less evidence, but because the situation is not as urgent.

“At that point, we had thousands of people dying (each) day of one disease that had a vaccine that can save your life,” said O’Neal.

“The conversation today is about lifelong health.”

Still, she has patients and friends who come to her with questions.

“They’re fearful of the unknown,” said O’Neal.

Historian John Barry, a Tulane professor and author of “The Great Influenza,” believes the erosion of trust

old Anastasia, who got up at 5 a.m. to make the trip from Naples with the hopes of delivering the message directly to the pope. “I wrote, ‘Pope Francis, get well and return home soon,’” she said. “We love you, all of the children are praying for you.”

Andrea Iacomini, the spokesperson for UNICEF in Italy, said besides demonstrating affection for the pope, the group also wanted to say “enough” to conflicts that are impacting 500 million children in 59 countries.

“This pope is not just a re-

has left the state in a vulnerable position.

“The net result is we’re actually worse off than we were in 2019,” he said.

In February, Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham sent a memo to employees of the Louisiana Department of Health saying the state would end longstanding mass vaccination efforts and advised public health workers to direct patients to their doctors rather than recommend specific vaccines.

Last year, Abraham blasted the state’s COVID-19 response during a meeting of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security At the same meeting, Deputy Surgeon General Wyche Coleman suggested vaccines cause autism.

“You could probably fill Tiger Stadium with moms who have kids that were normal one day got a vaccine and were then autistic after,” Coleman said.

Abraham recently took to social media to reaffirm confidence in the MMR vaccine, writing, “The measles vaccine (known as MMR) has proven to be safe and effective, and I recommend it to my patients. Adults and children should consider getting the vaccine if they haven’t already received it. Be sure to talk to your doctor before making that decision.”

Rebuilding trust

The “talk to your doctor” advice from the pandemic is one of O’Neal’s biggest regrets. Many people in Loui-

ligious leader, he is a great global leader A man of peace. This pope is pope of the children.” Iacomini said. Francis typically delivers the Angelus from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square to the gathered faithful, who have grown more numerous due to the Jubilee year that Francis inaugurated in December In the written text, Francis said he was thinking of others, who like him, are in a fragile state. “Our bodies are weak, but even like this, nothing can prevent us from loving, praying, giving ourselves, being for each other, in faith, shining signs of hope,” the pope said. Along with a stop at St. Peter’s to seek indulgences by walking through the basilica’s Holy Door pilgrims are now also adding a stop at Gemelli, a 15-minute train ride from the Vatican. Francis has not been seen publicly since he was admitted to the hospital after a bout of bronchitis that made it difficult for him to speak Doctors soon added a diagnosis of double pneumonia and a polymicrobial (bacterial, viral and fungal)

siana under 50 don’t have a primary care doctor unless they have an illness, she said.

“That recommendation fell on many deaf ears, and I wish we had worded that differently,” O’Neal said. Despite the rhetoric, most Louisiana families want protection from vaccination. Dr Stephen Jones said he hasn’t noticed families less inclined to get vaccines. But it is harder for them to get them, he said.

“The access to vaccinations has been a little behind schedule,” Jones said. Some good has come from the experience. Clinicians are now far less afraid of giving steroids to patients for viral illnesses. After initially fearing steroids would worsen COVID outcomes, doctors learned they saved lives, said O’Neal.

When pediatricians see a child with a high fever and viral illness, they now typically wear masks, which offers protection they didn’t routinely reach for before the pandemic, said Oates. And while the pandemic drove some health providers into early retirement or pushed nurses away from bedside care, for others, it was a defining moment.

“When you live through something like COVID it’s kind of a crucible,” said Happel. “I guess it kind of defines who can stand up to the challenge and who bugs out.”

Email Emily Woodruff at ewoodruff@theadvocate. com.

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Health experts warn against ‘measles parties’

Texas outbreak could spread to La.

BY ALENA MASCHKE Staff writer

Louisianans rarely turn down an opportunity to celebrate, but in light of a recent measles outbreak in Texas, experts warn parents against “measles parties,” should infections spread to Louisiana.

“In the simplest of terms, it’s an absolutely horrible idea ” said Dr. Kali Broussard, a pediatrician and pediatric disease specialist with

St. Mary may annex

Lower

St. Martin Parish

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

St. Mary Parish President Sam Jones is asking people in St. Martin Parish to consider this: Should Lower St Martin Parish, which has been geographically separated from the rest of the parish for more than 150 years due to a surveying error, become part of St. Mary Parish?

Jones at a recent Parish Council meeting said there have been discussions about Lower St. Martin Parish becoming part of his parish.

“We talked about it the last few months,” Jones said on Friday

“That set a fire to people, those who hate the idea, those who like it.”

The problem is that Iberia Parish cuts St. Martin Parish into two separate pieces. People who live in Lower St Martin Parish, places like Stephensville, are closer to and have easier access to Morgan City, which is in St. Mary Parish, than to the main section of St. Martin Parish. When Lower St Martin Parish needs local services, parish workers have to travel an hour to reach them while St. Mary Parish is only a few minutes away Louisiana’s parishes, Jones said, were created after the Civil War. A surveying error is supposedly how St. Martin Parish got divided, Michael Martin, professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said in a June news article.

“St. Martin Parish was formed in 1811, and Iberia Parish was formed in 1868, and the story is that there was a survey error although I’m not really finding any definitive evidence of that,” he said. “I’m not necessarily saying it’s wrong, but I’m just saying it just seems like people have just passed this story off for generations about why it happened.”

The access issue was exacerbated in the 1940s, Jones said, when the Corps of Engineers built the Wax Lake Outlet in the wake of the 1927 Mississippi River flood to help control water levels in the Morgan City area. It cut off land access from Lower St. Martin to the main section of St. Martin Parish, he said. Jones said he discussed with St. Martin Parish President Pierre “Pete” Delcambre the possibility of redrawing the parish lines so that Lower St. Martin Parish becomes part of St. Mary Parish, to which it is geographically connected.

Delcambre did not respond to messages for comment on this story Reaction has been mixed, Jones said Some residents like being isolated from the main part of their parish, he said.

“We’ve got our little school. Leave us alone,” some said, according to Jones

Others feel closer ties to the Morgan City area, where residents and business owners do business, he said, than to St. Martin Parish. Jones said he is making the idea public so residents can start discussing it. They’ll be the ones to ultimately decide. There are 1,200 to 1,500 residents in Lower St. Martin Parish who would be affected, he

Our Lady of Lourdes Children’s Health who runs a practice in Maurice.

Measles parties are an attempt by parents to intentionally expose their children to an infected person to build natural immunity The idea is similar to chickenpox parties that were common before the chickenpox vaccine.

Building immunity by exposure is unsafe, Broussard noted, and can cause serious complications

and even death. While the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which has been around since the 1970s, contains a live version of the virus, it’s significantly weaker than the virus present in an infected patient, preventing the vaccine from causing a full-blown disease.

“You’re bringing your kid to a measles party or a chickenpox party, you’re not getting a weakened version of that virus; you’re getting the full-strength measles virus that kills children,” Broussard said.

The U.S. measles outbreak so far

has claimed the life of one child and infected at least 222 people, 33 of whom were hospitalized. The outbreak has also spread from Texas to neighboring New Mexico. Louisiana has not yet seen any infections, but it’s not unlikely that infections may cross the state line. In a news call, Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a gastroenterologist from Baton Rouge who worked on hepatitis B vaccination efforts before entering politics, said the measles outbreak “is moving across the I-10, and it’s now in San Antonio, which means it’s

moving to us.”

“By golly, if it’s coming down the I-10, it’s gonna be in Houston, it’s gonna be in Lake Charles,” he said.

“It’s gonna be in Laffy and Baton Rouge, and then it’s gonna go up the I-49 to Shreveport.”

Many Louisiana families make a living in the oil and gas industry, which has deep ties to West Texas, the center of the measles outbreak.

“There is definitely a chance that it will make its way from West Texas to south Louisiana, just with the

THE ART OF PERFORMANCE

QUINN COFFMAN Staff

TOP: Live art demonstrations by students are held Saturday during the Student Art Expo at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette.

LEFT: Ryder Melancon, a student at Lafayette High, paints a portrait of herself reflected in a lake. BELOW: First grade students from Charles Burke Elementary created art inspired by Wassily Kandinsky

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

PHOTOS By ROBIN MAy

Let’s look into why UNO is chronically underfunded

I write in response to Terry Verigan’s excellent guest column regarding state budget cuts to the University of New Orleans, an institution which has nurtured such luminaries as Stephen Ambrose and Ellis Marsalis Investigation is sorely needed to determine whether other state schools — among them LSU, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and University of Louisiana at Monroe — face the same levels of fiscal constraint. Given Louisiana’s large number of universities and community colleges (much needed in a state where many students are poor and may lack reliable transportation in a state that also badly underfunds public transit), it seems a holistic and less harmful way to trim costs would be to merge nonacademic functions that are duplicated at nearby campuses. For example, UNO, Southern University at New Orleans and Delgado could merge accounting, audit, building/ ground maintenance and bursar’s and registrar’s offices.

Ideally, the U.S. Department of Education and Louisiana Legislative Auditor should lead a joint investigation into UNO’s underfunding; however, we can’t count on the former in an era of Donald Trump/Elon Musk/DOGE purges, and the latter is beholden to a Legislature, which for decades has caused the problem; thus, it falls to this newspaper and other news media to uncover the truth. A good place to start may be to examine U.S. census data on race, age and poverty rates in each area served by a state college or university; this will help to determine if our governor and Legislature discriminate against New Orleans.

BRUCE S EVANS Metairie

YOUR VIEWS

Mike Smith’s February article on the MidBarataria Sediment Diversion needs much more clarity and context.

For instance, the claim that opposition comes mainly from commercial fishers ignores the many environmental groups, marine mammal and waterfowl advocates, academics and coastal officials also raising concerns. Organizations like Earth Island Institute, Healthy Gulf, the Humane Society, the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies and officials in St. Bernard and Plaquemines oppose the project due to its excessive costs, minimal projected land gain and harm to endangered species.

Furthermore, why be dismissive of the commercial fishers industry and our culture?

Louisiana’s shrimp and oyster industry generates over $1.6 billion annually and supports thousands of jobs, yet the economic impact is ignored The effect on recreational fishing another key part of our economy and culture — is also overlooked. The proponents of the project ask us to sacrifice jobs and businesses to “potentially”

rebuild 21 square miles over 50 years while Louisiana loses up to 34 square miles on the coast in a single year, all while officials rushed to break ground on the project, further exposing serious planning flaws in this $3 billion experiment.

Another concern is that in Smith’s article he mentions a trust fund for fishers but ignores that when the BP oil spill settlement funds run out, taxpayers will be stuck with the bill for a project that won’t work. When all is said and done, this just doesn’t make sense as a well-reasoned solution. Instead of gambling billions of dollars, why not explore options that are safer, more effective and faster? Shouldn’t that be our priority?

Pressing pause is the right move so better, more cost-effective strategies can be explored. Gov Jeff Landry is right to listen to those who have lived, worked and protected these estuaries for generations.

EWELL SMITH former executive director Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, 2001-2013 Metairie

America passively going down scary path

For more than 50 years, I have been following the politics of this the country I love. America, after the Second World War, invested billions of dollars and the lives of many of its children in an effort to assure a lasting universal peace. Yes, there have been many costly missteps along the way But still the result of this effort is that the United States became the leader of the free world. But in less than a month, all that changed. Our president has become a bully, insisting that Ukraine cede half its rare earth mineral rights to the United States. Instead of standing up for the facts, he has

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’s city of residence.The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street address and phone 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 SCAN HERE

Woes of Isle de Jean Charles residents show flaws in progressive ideology

Alex Lubben’s article on “relocation anxieties” concerning Isle de Jean Charles is another example of how a supposedly wellintentioned government assistance program goes off the rails due to unrealistic progressive thoughts. Using taxpayer dollars granted under the Obama administration, we built $300,000 homes for folks whose previous homes were worth less than $100,000. A home mentioned in the article was valued at $55,000.

So now we wonder why these folks are having a hard time paying the huge increase in property taxes and insurance. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to build homes that were closer in value to their old homes so that these folks could comfortably afford to live out their years without financial anxiety?

This is social engineering: upgrading homes for relatively poor folks into homes that they can’t afford. All at taxpayer expense. It is an example of pushing an ideal without facing reality

JOHN ANDREWS New Orleans

become a parrot for Russian talking points and propaganda.

And as a negotiator forget it. President Volodymyr Zelensky has to negotiate his country’s peace terms to end the war President Donald Trump will then no doubt claim credit for ending the war

I’m also puzzled at the muted response of our politicians and of the general public.

If America can change this much in a month, what do we have to look forward to in the next four years?

MICHAEL MCCAUGHEY Baton Rouge

Abandoning vaccination push sends message that government isn’t there for people

In a recent article, Dr MarkAlain Dery asks “Why are we taking away tools of public health practitioners that will make life better for people?” He is referring to the state of Louisiana ending mass vaccination efforts. The answer is that the current Republican administrations in Baton Rouge and Washington, with the exception of Dr Bill Cassidy, do not want people to expect anything from

the government. This goes back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. He was reelected three times because he helped people and made their lives better just as Dery suggests that vaccines do. The Republicans do not agree with that. They want us to be on our own, and that is just the way it is. DAVE MEEKS New Orleans

Kendrick Lamar’s artistry went over heads of some viewers

In response to a previously published letter regarding the Super Bowl halftime show: New Orleans indeed shined as a spectacular Super Bowl host, showcasing its culture, hospitality and ability to create an unforgettable event. However, it’s unfortunate that some viewers chose to miss the beauty of this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, opting to mute their TVs in “disgust” rather than appreciate a performance that was nothing short of prolific. Kendrick Lamar, a Grammy Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-honored artist, delivered a powerful display of music, artistry and culture

that resonated deeply with millions of fans worldwide. To suggest that his performance was in a “language other than English” is dismissive and outright inaccurate. Lamar’s lyricism is poetic, rhythmic and deeply intentional, qualities that have cemented him as one of the greatest artists of our time. As his closing words suggested, he is an artist who understands that not everyone is willing to listen. To those who felt compelled to mute their TVs, just “Turn the TV Off” next time.

MARIAN WHITFIELD GRAYSON New Orleans

Your article “Gordon McKernan takes on Morris Bart” puts plenty of emphasis on which one might win, but you neglected to mention who loses no matter what: the vast majority of Louisiana’s auto insurance customers. Auto accidents have been happening since the car was invented, and people have been suing each other nearly as long. What McKernan, Bart and others of their kind have done is incentivize lawsuits with their advertising.

Quoting from the article: “Bart and McKernan both estimate that they spend $20 million to $25 million annually on advertising statewide.” Who are they targeting? In my opinion? People who believe that insurance companies have plenty of money therefore no one is getting hurt when the insurance companies pay out huge claims. Before unregulated advertising, one only had to pick up a phone book to find a lawyer to represent them. That system worked fine. People who were injured by negligent parties had plenty of legal options. Why did that need to change? If the reader doesn’t know the answer to that question, there’s no need to explain further

JOHN SINGLETON

Discussion of RFK Jr. vote was enlightening

I congratulate the newspaper for publishing the discussion between columnists Stephanie Grace and Quin Hillyer on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr for secretary of Health and Human Services. It was refreshing to read a measured discussion and debate without accusations meant to do little more than accuse either side of being traitorous because of their perspectives. Please schedule them both for further such debates.

ROBERT E. THOMAS Metairie

STAFF FILE PHOTO By JOHN MCCUSKER Cars park on July 23, 2024, at the University of New Orleans in New Orleans.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

A wide dirt path is constructed on Aug. 28 at the site of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project near Myrtle Grove.

COMMENTARY

WINNER:

St. Paddy’s Day

Jay Dardenne, Baton Rouge

Nice! We received 767 entries in this week’s Cartoon Caption Contest. This was a tricky one, but we really had some great ideas in this batch. Our winner came up with a very funny punchline that matched the cartoon perfectly. Great work, everyone! As always, when we have duplicate entries, and we always do, we pick the earliest sent in. Here are this week’s winner and finalists. Happy St. Patrick’s Day! — Walt

CHARLES SMITH, ST. ROSE: “I stopped drinking at restaurant bars because the chef kept looking at my legs.

LYNNE CASSARO, HARAHAN: “Haven’t seen so much green since last summer’s algae bloom.

JOHN E. GALLOWAY, KENNER: “May I have a Grasshopper please?”

JIM MCCARTY, SLIDELL: “I need a drink, I almost got hit by a giant carrot!”

ADRIAN GENRE, PORT ALLEN: “So I heard this was a good spot to pick up a few bar flies?”

EMMETT ROBERTS, METAIRIE: “If he hadn’t driven the snakes out, the party would be complete.

LOIS WILLOZ, METAIRIE: “I don’t know about you guys, but I want to find a pot of crawfish at the end of my rainbow!!!!”

DR BILL COLEMAN, METAIRIE: “Go slow boys or you’ll get a My-Green.”

TIM PUJOL, MAUREPAS: “It is my lucky day! I had a fly in my beer!”

MARY H.THOMPSON, GREENSBORO, GEORGIA: “So stop me if you’ve heard

Executing Jessie

On my first visit to Death Row at Louisiana State Penitentiary as a Buddhist chaplain, I remember how loud it was; the clanking of metal and men trying to talk to each other in side-by-side cells. As the three men in my meditation group walked into our small room and took their seats, I naively expected the shackles on their ankles to be removed for our religious services. They were not.

This was where I met Jessie Hoffman — a man who, despite living under the shadow of death, radiated a quiet compassion that softened even the harshest corners of Death Row It was clear to me that Jessie is a person who has turned his life around through hard work, meditation, deep self-reflection and humility In our Buddhist group, which met in a small room off Death Row Jessie was a source of stability and wisdom. During services, we practiced breathing meditation, read the Holy Buddhist teachings and discussed how to live for the benefit of others. Jessie’s contributions to these discussions were always thoughtful and profound. He is kind and patient with others. He has been meditating for over two decades; it was clear to me that through his practice of Buddhist meditation, Jessie is now a person defined by kindness, humility and service to others.

This commitment to faith is not performative; it is a daily discipline that has reshaped Jessie’s life. In my capacity as

Can Democrats rise from the ashes of defeat?

Ron Faucheux

this one before…”

DAVIS C. HOTARD, BATON ROUGE: “I sure enjoyed the rain on my parade THIS time!”

ANA BRENES, METAIRIE: “We can stay dry here at our watering hole.

LYNN WISMAR, KENNER: “Welcome to the ‘Green with Envy’ Management Therapy Group’!”

ALISON CARLIN, MADISONVILLE: “We’ve reached the PINT of no return.”

JIM CRIGLER, BATON ROUGE: “Finally, a couple of guys who understand that ‘it’s not easy being green’!”

PHILLIP T GRIFFIN, NEW ORLEANS:

“you either have a fine costume, or the leprechaun and I are in big trouble.

KEVIN STEEN, CORPUS CHRISTI,TEXAS: “Remember you promised you wouldn’t order frog legs.

DALE HUNN, HARAHAN: “Who’s got the green to pay for this?”

KIM FROLICH, MANDEVILLE: “The Jolly Green Giant should be here any minute…”

GREG HACKENBERG, NEW ORLEANS:

“Today it actually is easy being green!”

MIKE GILLY, COVINGTON: “I really like the ‘hops’ in this beer!”

BOB USSERY, NEW ORLEANS: “Anybody up for cabbage ball?”

FREDDY WAGUESPACK, JR., METAIRIE:

“After this round, let’s all go back to my pad.”

DUKE RIVET, BATON ROUGE: “Seamus, I wouldn’t order the ‘gator bites’ appetizer if I were you!”

TIM PEKAREK, SLIDELL: “This is a very Ribbiting experience!”

STEPHEN R. BARRY, NEW ORLEANS: “Great… one wants me for luck, the other wants me for lunch!”

RICHARD SCHEGA, MANDEVILLE: “This beer beats flies & kale smoothies…”

MARTHA STARNES, KENNER: “The bartender just asked me ‘is this some kind of joke’?”

RORY STEEN, DENVER, COLORADO:

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m one Guinness away from believing I’m a prince.”

Hoffman serves no purpose

chaplain, I saw his deep wisdom and how he models that wisdom for the other men in prison.

Jessie has grown from his struggles and trauma. He is genuine with other people and makes an impact on whoever he engages with He has taken on the role of a mentor, guiding younger men on their own paths to peace and helping them manage conflict and choose a life away from violence.

Prison staff describe him as calming presence — a man who helps to maintain peace within the walls of Angola while showing respect to everyone he encounters. In a place often defined by despair, Jessie’s example has illuminated the possibility of change.

His renewal poses a fundamental question to Louisiana’s leaders: If the purpose of incarceration is not only punishment but also the opportunity for redemption, then what justice is served by extinguishing a life that has so profoundly changed for the better?

Executing Jessie now would serve no

purpose. It would neither erase the pain of the past nor honor the principles of justice that recognize the potential for human transformation.

Clemency exists precisely for cases like Jessie’s — not to forget his past actions but to acknowledge that he is no longer defined by them. His life demonstrates that even those who have committed grave wrongs can find a path to faith and service to others.

To end that life now would be to deny the very essence of what true justice should represent — mercy, redemption, and the belief that no further harm should be done.

Louisiana’s leaders have the power to choose mercy over death, to affirm that our justice system is capable of grace. Jessie Hoffman’s story challenges us to rise to that standard — to show that, even in the darkest of places, we can choose light.

The Rev. Michaela Bono is a Zen Buddhist priest.

Democrats are searching for a magic wand to get them back to power But there are no magic wands in politics. There are only skill, hard work, the right issues — and luck. Beyond that, Democrats need the same three things that political parties out of power have always needed: An agenda that fits the nation’s mood, a presidential candidate who embodies that mood and national conditions (especially economic) that work in their favor Examples in history are plentiful. In 1968, Republicans came back from Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide after the Vietnam War and public unrest tore apart the country In 1976, Democrats came back from Richard Nixon’s 1972 landslide when the Watergate scandal decimated GOP fortunes. In 1992, Democrats came back after three consecutive Republican wins, starting with Ronald Reagan’s hefty victories. In 2008, after losing two elections, Democrats came back after the Republican administration’s mismanagement of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina and the economic meltdown. Last year, voters were in the mood for change. The problem for Democrats was that the change voters wanted was to move away from Democratic policies, especially on immigration, inflation, national security and a variety of progressive social causes. So instead of nominating a candidate who embodied change, Democrats did the opposite. They nominated Vice President Kamala Harris, part-and-parcel of the sitting regime.

Democrats thought Harris would give them something new and exciting. They thought she’d shore up support from women, minorities and young voters — constituencies that elected Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But it didn’t happen.

Harris received a smaller vote percentage among women, Black and Hispanic voters than did Biden and Hillary Clinton in their races against Donald Trump. Also, Black voters made up a smaller percentage of the 2024 electorate, with Harris on the ballot, than they did in the prior two elections, down 15% from when Biden ran and down 8% when Clinton was the Democratic nominee.

In addition, Harris had a problem energizing young people. Voters 18-29 made up 17% of the electorate in the Clinton vs. Trump race, 16% in Biden vs. Trump and only 14% in Harris vs. Trump.

Democrats must face the hard lessons in these numbers. Until they do, their party won’t make a comeback.

As Democrats look to 2028, they must recognize that gimmicks don’t matter; it’s policies, candidates and national conditions that do. That’s why so much of the discussion now going on in Democratic circles is so silly Podcasts, sports news shows, brushed up messaging, angry cussing and town hall meetings won’t save them. The problem is deeper than that.

The root of the tooth ache: Democrats have moved too far left. To make it worse, most Democrats don’t even realize how far left they’re perceived to have drifted. They have allowed the excesses of progressive politics to shape their positioning, policies and image.

Even Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California and a progressive himself, bemoans the hash his party has made of its politics. His finger is surely to the wind, but what else can you expect from a presidential candidate-in-waiting?

So how can Democrats win again? The answer: Tony Blair

Blair, the British politician, became leader of the left-wing Labour Party in 1994, at a time when the Conservative Party held power Blair’s strategy: Remake his party, don’t just fiddle with tactics. “New Labour, New Life for Britain” was his slogan.

Blair’s New Labour offered voters a “third way” alternative to discredited left vs. right politics. He took on the left wing of his party and pushed for market-based reforms and opposed nationalization of the economy At 43, Blair marched to a big victory in 1997, closing the curtain on 18 years of Conservative rule He was the only Labour prime minister to lead his party to three consecutive victories.

Here’s what Democrats should do: Remake their party and move it to the center; reject enough progressive policies to convince voters they’re serious; appeal to the masses and not just to organized groups; find good candidates who embody the new Democratic Party; and wait for opportunities to open up as voters start looking for change.

Victory often lurks in the jaws of defeat. It just takes guts to reach in and pull it out.

Ron Faucheux is a nonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana. He publishes LunchtimePolitics. com, a nationwide newsletter on polls and public opinion.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By TED JACKSON

Michaela Bono GUEST COLUMNIST

or about a proposition to be submitted to the voters.”

The crime is a felony Myers said the day after he defeated Jesse Regan, a Broussard council member that he had filed a complaint with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office about someone distributing during the campaign information that he was endorsed by the Lady Democrats of Lafayette group. Myers and Regan both are Republicans and the Lady Democrats group no longer exists. Myers said his polling numbers dropped afterward.

“T his Helen religious of t Wa Prejean has sat witness to the execution of eight death the from seei their other paigned has man’ ent Landry died so that all man could be free,” Battley-Fabre said

MEASL

Continued from pag

pr that said.

“I came here to talk to Jeff Landry,” Smith said, “I really just want to ask you to not look at the 18-yearwho went in, but to he 46-year-old man who lives today Between 28 years people change. People become different. People learn.”

He finished saying that his father has become a mentor for many, and that it would be tragic for his lessons to “disappear” on Tuesday

failure and potentially fatal brain infections.

said the choice mprisonment is alossibility, left in the district atsaid this puts the tion to considmurder more heinous but that choice equitably t going to be that overwhelmbecause the were White, their valued and we’ll go to the cost for the ultimate punishment,” Prejean said.

“And when Black people are killed in this state and in this nation, there is seldom, if ever, the ultimate punishment sought.”

Other speakers touched on Hoffman’s reformed character, while two family members of murder victims spoke of the lack of closure they believe execution brings.

Abe Bonowitz, of the orga-

nization Death Penalty Action, said the nitrogen asphyxiation method being employed for the first time in Hoffman’s case is experimental and torturous for those being executed.

The rally was organized by Promise of Justice, a New Orleans-based nonprofit that works on issues facing incarcerated people and their families.

Trying to repeal the death penalty in Louisiana has been one of the Promise of Justice’s founding issues.

“Gov Landry is, at this point, the most direct decision maker on whether or not this execution goes forward or not,” said Michael Cahoon, an organizer with the group. “The governor is really the one who will decide whether or not Jessie Hoffman lives or dies on Tuesday evening.”

Regan told The Acadiana Advocate days after the election that neither he nor his campaign had anything to do with the fake campaign information and he hoped the culprit would be brought to justice. Louiry State’s Office as the owner or partner in several businesses, including RM Camellia Boulevard in Lafayette, which was paid $4,000 by Regan’s campaign in January for video production, according to Regan’s Feb. 5 campaign finance report.

La were faith death

in treating children infected in Texas, have spent their entire career without ever seeing a measles patient. Measles was considered eliminated in the United States in 2000, thanks to the highly effective vaccine and high vaccination rates. But the virus has experienced a resurgence in recent years due to growing vaccine hesitancy During her medical fellowship in Columbia, Missouri, Brous-

While Vitamin A supple ments can help replenish supplies in the body that were depleted by the disease, and fluids and other supportive care can ease symptoms somewhat, the young patients are often bleary-eyed from extremely high fevers and 1 in 5 children are hospitalized as a result of the infection. Children admitted with measles can also suffer pneumonia, respiratory

The long-term effects of the disease can be even more devastating. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is a rare neurological disorder that can develop years after a measles infection, as the virus continues to lay dormant in the brain. SSPE leads to developmental disabilities and is always fatal, with most patients dying within one to three years after receiving their diagnosis.

Broussard put the consequences for parents in blunt terms: “You may not kill that kid immediately, but 10 years later they may then die from the measles.”

Parents who consider intentionally exposing their

children to the virus in a group setting should keep those risks in mind, Broussard emphasized, not just for the sake of their own children. “You could potentially kill another child,” she said. Legal experts warn that there may also be legal consequences to hosting or attending “measles parties.”

Instead, Broussard joined the choir of many other medical experts urging parents to vaccinate their children before the virus arrives in Louisiana.

“The measles vaccine (known as MMR) has proven to be safe and effective, and I recommend it to my patients,” Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, also a physi-

cian, said in a social media post Tuesday “Adults and children should consider getting the vaccine if they haven’t already received it. Be sure to talk to your doctor before making that decision.”

Abraham said the Louisiana Department of Health “is on alert and ready to respond if the virus spreads to Louisiana.”

“Please protect your children, not only from measles, but from the devastating after effects of measles,” Broussard urged parents. “The reason why we vaccinate is because vaccines work.”

Email Alena Maschke at alena.maschke@ theadvocate.com.

The arrest was made Thursday as a result of a cyber investigation led by the Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigation Division in conjunction with the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office’s Bureau of Investigation. With information uncovered by detectives during the investigation, law enforcement officials obtained search warrants for Lau’s residence and business. During a search, detectives seized various electronic devices for processing and evidence gathering, a Sheriff’s Office news release states. Lau was taken into custody Wednesday and booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center Bail was set at $2,500. The case remains under investigation as forensic examination continues both digitally and on the devices seized by law enforcement.

PHOTO By APRIL BUFFINGT

Sister H

Governor’s Mansion on Sunday.

SPORTS

Offense clicks

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

alive.

BY EDDIE PELLS AP national writer

Auburn is the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, with Duke, Houston and Florida joining the Tigers on the No. 1 line in the March Madness brackets released Sunday

The NCAA selection commit-

The Detroit Pistons team that will show up in the Smoothie King Center on Monday night won’t be the same pushover the New Orleans Pelicans have dominated for the past three-plus years. The Pistons are no longer the worst team in the NBA

They’ve turned things around after making changes to their front office, coaching staff and roster

As a result, they’ve gone from a team that won just 14 games last season to getting in position to triple that total this season. They are 37-31 and in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a reasonable chance to climb to a top-four seed for the playoffs. Not bad for a team whose struggles this time a year ago were even worse than this season’s Pelicans.

It just turned out it was less than 24 hours later On Sunday afternoon, the Cajuns busted loose in an 18-14 victory over the No. 21-ranked Trojans at Russo Park. “I kept saying we prepare like we’re undefeated every single day, we work hard and we love to play,” Deggs said. “I like that quality about this

tee favored the regular-season champs of the record-setting Southeastern Conference despite three losses in their last four games, along with a loss to Duke back in December

The Tigers (28-5) and Gators were two of the 14 SEC teams to make the field, which are the most for a conference in the

history of the tournament. The previous high was 11 by the Big East in 2011. It’s Florida, which captured the SEC Tournament by winning three games with an average margin of 15 points, that opens as a slight favorite to win it all at the Final Four in San Antonio on April 5 and 7, according to Bet-

ä

The Pistons hired former Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon as their president of basketball operations. Langdon then hired coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who replaced Monty Williams. They upgraded the roster, and Cade Cunningham emerged as an NBA All-Star More importantly, they got better on defense, going from the team with the worst defensive rating in the NBA last season to ninth best this season. They thrive on toughness. These may not be your Bad Boys Pistons of the late 1980s and early 1990s, but they aren’t the ones from the past few seasons, either Bickerstaff reminded everyone of that Saturday night during a postgame rant criticizing the officials after his Pistons lost to the Thunder “We understand that we play a style of ball that’s physical and on

the edge,” Bickerstaff said.

and 47

MGM Sportsbook. In something of a surprise, both North Carolina and Texas slid in off the bubble, while Indiana, West Virginia and Boise State did not. The 68-team bracket starts whittling down on Tuesday with

So the Pelicans, who have won seven straight games against the Pistons, will have a much tougher time extending that streak to eight. The Pelicans have had their troubles against physical teams like this.

You saw it in the playoffs last season when the Pels got swept in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder And you’ve seen it this season in games against the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic. The loss to the Rockets on March 6 prompted Pelicans coach Willie Green to call his team “soft” afterward. “The lack of physicality,” Green said. “We look soft. When we look soft defensively we stop sharing the ball offensively. Do we do it every game? No. But those are the inconsistencies that we are seeing.

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

The NCAA Women’s Tournament bracket is set.

And the selection committee gave the LSU women’s basketball team a No. 3 seed for the fourth season in a row

This time, the Tigers will compete at the top of the Spokane 1 region alongside squads such as No 1 UCLA, No 2 North Carolina State and No 4 Baylor

Because it’s once again a top-four seed, LSU will host tournament games for the fourth consecutive year Its first opponent is No 14 seed San Diego State — one of the three other teams assigned to the Baton Rouge region, which will cover the first two rounds of the bracket. The other two squads that will play in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center are No. 6 seed Florida State and No. 11 seed George Mason. The Tigers have won their own regional and advanced to the Sweet 16 in each of the past two seasons. In 2022, coach Kim Mulkey’s first year in charge, they suffered an upset loss to No. 6 seed Ohio State in the second round. LSU then bounced back and stormed to a national championship in 2023. In 2024, it reached the Elite Eight and fell to a No. 1-seeded Iowa team. Caitlin Clark tallied 41 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds in that rematch of the 2023 national title game. Her nine 3-pointers tied a tournament record.

The Tigers could’ve earned a No. 2 seed or even a No. 1 seed this season, but they’ve dropped three of their last four games, including regularseason contests against Alabama and Ole Miss, and a Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinal clash with Texas.

Senior Aneesah Morrow aggravated a foot sprain early in the second half of the Texas game, depleting an LSU team that already was missing junior Flau’jae Johnson (shin). Mulkey has said that both stars will be available to play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

On Sunday, both Johnson and Morrow wore walking boots during the team’s selection show watch party

The Tigers are one of only three No. 3 seeds to win a national title since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1994. This LSU team will need to win six games in a row to become the fourth.

It can notch its first victory when its first-round game against San Diego State tips off in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Saturday The time is yet to be determined.

The Tigers are making their 30th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve been a top-four seed 15 times. Email Reed Darcey at reed.darcey@ theadvocate.com. For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/ lsunewsletter

Rod Walker

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL outfielder Conor Higgs celebrates his three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning against Troy during the Cajuns’ 18-14 win Sunday.

MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDUP

Florida wins SEC tourney title

BY TERESA M. WALKER Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Todd Golden knows exactly what he expects out of his fourth-ranked Florida Gators.

“We have a chance to win a national championship,” Golden said as his Gators accepted the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship trophy Sunday Walter Clayton Jr scored 22 points as Florida won its fifth SEC Tournament title and first since 2014 Sunday, beating the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers 86-77.

“I came here because I believed in that vision,” Clayton said of winning titles at Florida “See it come to fruition, it actually happening, is great.”

The Gators (30-4) lost in this game a year ago. This time, they showed off their depth going through No. 21 Missouri, No. 5 Alabama and now the Vols. The result is finishing their 12th appearance in this game all-time to add another title to the list that started with three straight between 2005-07

“When we are playing like this, I think we are the best team in America,” Golden said.

Will Richard added 17 points for Florida. Alex Condon had 13, Thomas Haugh 11 and Alijah Martin 10. Richard wore one of the nets around his neck talking to reporters, and the senior made clear he doesn’t want his first to be his last. This is just more motivation.

“Cutting down the nets is a great feeling, but we want to be able to do that in the NCAA Tournament as well,” Richard said.

Fourth-seeded Tennessee (277) goes home still looking for its first title in this event since 2022. The Vols have five SEC championships, but dropped to 1-3 under coach Rick Barnes with this the Vols’ fourth final in the past seven tournaments.

“We came with the idea we wanted to win this tournament,” Barnes said. “Disappointed that we didn’t. We get to go again next week. Hope that we can survive and keep moving on.”

Jordan Gainey led the Vols with a career-high 24 points. Zakai Zeigler had 23 and Chaz Lanier added 11 before fouling out.

“The experience we’ve had, playing the best of the best in this conference is going to help us

in March, and that’s the biggest goal,” Tennessee senior Jahmai Mashack said of balancing the disappointment of the loss.

These teams split during the season with each winning routs defending their home courts. The Vols had enough fans that this felt like a home court Yet they led only briefly, the last less than two minutes in at 6-5.

Florida took over from there

The Gators jumped out to a 3422 lead and took a 39-30 edge into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating deep 3 from Denzel Aberdeen. Tennessee never got closer than five in the second half.

No. 22 MICHIGAN 59, No. 18 WISCONSIN

53: In Idianapolis, Tre Donaldson seems to have this March Madness stuff down pat.

The Michigan guard delivered his second clutch play in two days, this time making the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:54 left to send No. 22 Michigan past No. 18 Wisconsin for the Big Ten Tournament title Sunday Donaldson scored 11 points and had eight assists one day after catching an inbound pass on the run with 5.3 seconds left and driving the length of the floor for the winning layup in a semifinal victory over Maryland, rekindling images from past NCAA Tourna-

ments. No. 16 MEMPHIS 84, UAB 72: In Fort Worth, Texas, PJ Haggerty scored 23 points, Dain Dainja had another double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds and 16th-ranked Memphis won the American Athletic Conference tournament with an win over UAB on Sunday Haggerty put the Tigers (29-5) ahead to stay with his tiebreaking bankshot with 16:10 left. The AAC player of the year later had a 17-second span when he drove the baseline for another shot off the glass, then had a steal that led to his fastbreak ending with a threepoint play Memphis was already a lock to make the NCAA Tournament for the 29th time, and the third time in the past four seasons for seventhyear coach Penny Hardaway who as a player for the Tigers was part of the 1992 and 1993 tournaments. VCU 68, GEORGE MASON 63: In Washington, Max Shulga scored 18 points and Joe Bamisile sealed the win with two free throws with a half-second left as Virginia Commonwealth held off George Mason to win the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship Sunday VCU led by eight at the break, 3628, but George Mason got back-to-

back 3-pointers from Jared Billups and Woody Newton to trail by just two, 45-43 with more than 12 minutes to play Shulga answered with a 3 and hit a pair of free throws before finding Jack Clark for a 3 to push the VCU lead to 53-43. Darius Maddox hit a 3 with 2:27 left to get the Patriots within one at 59-58. Coming out of a timeout, Shulga held the ball at the top of the key, then calmly knocked down a step-back 3 with 1:59 left.

Jalen Haynes’ layup with 39 seconds left got George Mason within 3 but Zach Anderson missed a 3-pointer with :04 left and Newton was forced to foul Bamisile with a half-second left.

Bamisile and Jack Clark each scored 17 points for VCU (28-6).

Shulga, the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, hit 8 of 9 from the line as the Rams converted 22 of 27. Haynes led George Mason (26-8) with 17 points and eight rebounds Maddox had 12 points to go with three steals and Anderson and Brayden O’Connor each added 10 points.

YALE 90, CORNELL 84: In Providence, Rhode Island, John Poulakidas knocked down five 3-pointers in the second half as regular-season champion Yale added the Ivy League Tournament championship with a win over Cornell on Sunday to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

The senior guard got off to a slow start, scoring just two points in the first half and missing all four 3-point attempts as Yale took a 37-32 advantage into intermission. That changed to start the second half when he erupted for eight points during a 90-second span, burying two 3s and a jumper to push the Bulldogs’ lead to 16 points, 50-34 with under 16 minutes to play Cornell clawed back. Guy Ragland Jr., Adam Hinton and Nazir Williams each hit 3-pointers in the span of just over a minute to get within seven and Ragland hit two more 3s to make it 60-58 with 9:18 left. Bez Mbeng answered with a 3 for Yale and Poulakidas hit from deep to make it 66-60, but Cornell got a three-point play from AK Okereke to make it a threepoint game. Trevor Mullin and Poulakidas each hit a 3 and Nick Townsend scored twice during a 10-4 run for a76-68 lead with five minutes left.

LSU’s late power surge wraps sweep of Kentucky

BY JIM KLEINPETER

Contributing writer

LSU softball had control of its Sunday game against Kentucky with a 4-1 lead going into its final at bat, but the No. 4 Tigers added a knockout punch compliments of their power-hitting duo of Maci Bergeron and Tori Edwards.

Bergeron hit her second homer of the day, a three-run shot, and Edwards followed with her teamleading 11th as LSU finished a sweep of the Wildcats, 8-2, on a windy day at Tiger Park

The visitors never showed signs of surrender and outhit the Tigers, 9-6 while stranding nine baserunners. The late homers allowed LSU right-hander Sydney Berzon to relax in the seventh inning even as the Wildcats scored, and improve to 12-0. Berzon was the winning pitcher in all three games, coming out of the bullpen on Saturday

“We talked about throwing the last punch, and we did a good job of doing that,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “It makes the last inning feel completely different. If it’s 4-1 and they score that run, it’s a lot of pressure. It feels completely different. The fact we’re never done, never quitting, continuing to throw punches, continuing to be aggressive, that’s who we are.” LSU (27-1, 3-0 in SEC) threw punches early too The Tigers scored a run in the first without a

hit and made it 3-0 on Bergeron’s two-run homer in the third. Kentucky had baserunners in all but one inning and a couple of times had Berzon on the ropes, but with the wind blowing out, Berzon got 11 groundball outs to pitch around trouble.

“When the wind is blowing this hard, just trying to keep the balls out of the air, keep it more on the ground as best I can,” said Berzon, who struck out four and walked one while throwing 116 pitches. “It’s a mental thing, understanding I can work through the process, and I have a strong defense behind me Knowing if something were to happen, I have a phenomenal offense to pick me up.”

The LSU defense shut down a major Kentucky threat with the Tigers leading 1-0 in the second. With runners on second and third and one out, shortstop Avery Hodge fielded a smash by Cassie Reasner and threw out Lauryn Borzilleri out at home on a close play that survived a video replay challenge. Peyton Plotts then hit a line drive down the left-field line and Tigers left fielder Jadyn Laneaux made a running catch toward the foul line to save two runs. Kentucky finally got a run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, and LSU answered with one in the bottom half on a bases-loaded infield hit by Jalia Lassiter Berzon dodged another threat after allowing leadoff singles in the sixth inning, getting two easy grounders after a

FILE PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

LSU’s Maci Bergeron, shown hitting a double against Virginia Tech on Feb 16, hit two home runs in the Tigers’ 8-2 win against Kentucky on Sunday at Tiger Park.

sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position. Then the LSU sluggers stepped up. Bergeron followed a single by Hodge and a walk to Danieca Coffey with her seventh homer of the season, and third in two games, on a 3-2 pitch from relief pitcher Carson Fall. Bergeron had five hits and nine RBIs for the weekend. “I’ve been very specific about what I’ve been swinging at,” said Bergeron, who is second on the team with 25 walks. “That’s helped me walk more and do what

I did today

“I’ve been training for those pitches all week in the Mike (Moore Performance Center) for hours. I definitely feel more confident in what I’m swinging at.” Edwards then hit her 11th homer to left field. “Really incredible performance by Maci this weekend,” Torina said. “This is something she’s work hard for, for two years. She conducts herself like a professional in practice. She’s worked for this moment and is deserving of moments like this.”

Vikings acquire 49ers RB Mason after a trade

The Minnesota Vikings acquired restricted free agent running back Jordan Mason from the San Francisco 49ers and rewarded him with a two-year deal worth up to $12 million.

The trade sends a 2026 sixthround pick to San Francisco. There is also a pick swap in 2025 with the Niners flipping the 187th overall pick for the 160th. San Francisco previously had placed a second-round tender on Mason worth $5.4 million for 2025. That gave the 49ers the right to match any offer made to Mason or receive a second-round pick as compensation.

But with San Francisco unwilling to pay that high a salary to a backup and Minnesota unwilling to part with such a high pick, the sides reached the trade instead.

Ravens sign QB Rush to back up Jackson

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has a new backup.

Cooper Rush has agreed to a two-year, $6.2 million deal worth up to $12.2 million with Baltimore, a source with direct knowledge of the deal confirmed Sunday Rush spent his first seven seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, where he was the backup to Dak Prescott. He replaces 38-year-old Josh Johnson, who is a free agent and was Jackson’s backup each of the past two seasons.

The only other quarterback on Baltimore’s roster is Devin Leary, a sixth-round draft pick last year who struggled through training camp. Rush, 31, brings plenty of experience. He has appeared in 38 games (14 starts) and the Cowboys went 9-5 in games he started.

Russian teen Andreeva beats No. 1 Sabalenka

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva came back to beat No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday to make the 17-year-old the tournament’s youngest champion since Serena Williams in 1999. The 11th-ranked Andreeva improved to 19-3 this season — the most wins by a woman on tour and collected her second Masters 1000 title of 2025. The other came at Dubai in February, which earned her a top-10 ranking for the first time.

This was Andreeva’s fifth consecutive victory over a top-10 opponent, and she is now 9-5 against players ranked that high since the start of 2024. That includes two victories each over Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek.

Astros to start Valdez on opening day again

Framber Valdez is going to start for the Houston Astros on opening day — again.

Manager Joe Espada told reporters on Sunday that Valdez will take the mound when the Astros host the New York Mets on March 27. The left-hander is making his fourth consecutive opening-day start. The 31-year-old Valdez went 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA in 28 starts for the AL West champions last year He finished seventh in balloting for the AL Cy Young Award.

Valdez made his big-league debut with Houston in 2018. He helped the Astros win the World Series in 2022. He is 68-41 with a 3.30 ERA in 157 big league games — all with Houston.

Illness jeopardizes Betts’ status for Dodgers’ opener

Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is still struggling to recover from an illness, with manager Dave Roberts pessimistic that the eight-time All-Star will be ready for opening day against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday in Japan. Betts was able to go through a light workout Sunday but became tired quickly Roberts said Saturday that Betts started suffering from flulike symptoms in Arizona, the day before the team left for Japan. He still made the long plane trip, but he hasn’t recovered as quickly as hoped. Roberts said Betts will need to show substantial improvement on Monday to play against the Cubs. “To be able to go through an entire workout and not feel that same fatigue would give us a chance,” Roberts said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GEORGE WALKER IV

Florida center Rueben Chinyelu cuts part of the net after his team defeated Tennessee in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.

Frey rewards coach’s faith as LSU

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Ethan Frey has carved out a de-

fined role in the LSU lineup

Hitting left-handed pitching became a strength of the right-handed hitter since last season. That’s why he was back in the lineup Sunday against Missouri left-handed starter Kadden Drew Frey did his job in the first inning, shooting a run-scoring double off Drew, but when Missouri went to right-handed reliever Xavier Lovett, LSU coach Jay Johnson kept Frey in the game. Frey quickly rewarded his coach’s trust, shooting a single off of Lovett before hitting another single to drive in a run an inning later It was Frey’s second threehit day of the season as LSU won 10-5 to clinch the series sweep of Missouri (8-11, 0-3 SEC) at Alex Box Stadium.

LSU had 10 hits, nine runs, three walks and was hit by four pitches through five innings. By the end of the day junior Jared Jones was the only starter without a hit Frey and freshman Derek Curiel had three hits apiece Curiel reached base five times and extended his on-base streak to 21 games, while sophomores Steven Milam and Jake Brown drove in multiple runs along with Frey After Frey’s run-scoring double, Milam hit a sacrifice fly to right field in the first inning that scored a run. Brown then hit a two-run home run, a shot into right field

Continued from page 1C

minutes and improved UL to 9-12 and 1-2 in the Sun Belt, while Troy dropped to 15-5 and 2-1 The Cajuns next will play at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond.

The win interrupted a long stretch of success for Troy against the Cajuns. Entering play Sunday, the Trojans had won the season series seven times since 2018 and won 17 of the 24 games. The 32 runs were the fourth most in the park’s history, with a 19-16 win over Little Rock in the Sun Belt Tournament opener in 2018 topping that list. Others were 2410 over Texas Southern in 1989 and 24-9 over Harvard in 2004.

“Props to Troy: That’s an incredible offense with great pitching,” Deggs said. “We talked in the dugout a little bit that we’re not playing against the scoreboard. We’re on ourself I think that mounted into a lot of our success today.” Sunday certainly didn’t start as a day of relief with Troy jumping out to a 6-1 lead after the top of the second.

Steven Meier homered and Brooks Bryan collected a tworun single in the first, and Blake Cavill added a two-run double in the second.

Luke Yuhasz led off for UL with a solo homer, and Carson Hepworth singled and scored on Griffin Hebert’s sacrifice fly in the second.

“We’ve got a lot of grit and tenacity, and today’s a great day to hit, too,” Deggs said.

The Cajuns scored in each of the first six innings. In the third, Yuhasz singled, later scored on a wild pitch, and Jose Torres delivered the second of three sacrifice flies for the Cajuns.

The breakthrough smash came in the third.

Yuhasz got a sacrifice fly to score Owen Galt after a leadoff single. Then Conor Higgs clubbed a three-run home run to center for an 8-6 Cajuns’ lead. It was UL’s 16th homer of the season, but the first one that wasn’t a solo homer

“I had heard that, but I didn’t really pay too much attention to it,” Higgs said. “I was thinking back to last year when I had a whole bunch of solos. We finally broke

PELICANS

Continued from page 1C

“We have to make decisions that we want to be more consistent in our approach starting with our physicality. When we do, we’re fine.” When they don’t, they aren’t. The lack physicality and having a bad quarter here or there are why the Pelicans have lost 13 games by 20 or more points. The latest such loss came to the Magic last week.

“I think it starts with the leaders of the team,” Trey Murphy

in the seventh inning.

that was his homer of the year

Later in the third inning, Milam reached on a fielder’s choice that drove in another run. Jones and junior Daniel Dickinson had a runscoring groundout and double, respectively, in the fourth before Frey’s second RBI hit of the day No 1 LSU (20-1, 3-0) had to rely on its bullpen again Sunday after redshirt sophomore right-handed starter Chase Shores lasted only 32/3 innings. The night before, junior right-handed starter Anthony

Eyanson lasted the same amount of outs.

Junior left-hander Conner Ware was the first LSU reliever, recording two outs before handing the ball to freshman right-hander Mavrick Rizy with one out in the fifth inning.

Rizy threw two scoreless frames, forcing three groundouts, including a double play, on 25 pitches. He walked one batter before coming out for redshirt sophomore lefthander DJ Primeaux with one out

Primeaux forced a fielder’s choice before walking a batter and giving up a two-out, run-scoring single that cut LSU’s lead to 9-4.

Junior right-hander Zac Cowan replaced him after the hit and walked a batter before getting a strikeout to escape a bases-loaded jam.

Cowan tossed a scoreless eighth inning before giving up a run in the ninth, but the game never was in doubt.

Shores had an up-and-down start for LSU, surrendering three earned runs on four hits. After

throwing a scoreless first inning, he allowed one run in each of the next three innings. He had five strikeouts and allowed almost no hard contact, but his control was erratic at times. He walked three batters and hit another on 87 pitches. LSU faces UNO on Tuesday at Alex Box Stadium. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. and the

that today, twice. It felt good. It was a good day.”

Higgs finished a busy day 2-for4 with a homer and four RBIs.

“I’ve been trying to tell all the guys we’ve got to stay slow in the big moments,” Higgs said. “Sometimes I’m one of the worst at trying to do too much sometimes. We just have to stay slow We’re good enough, we’re here playing at UL. Just be yourself and go get the job done.”

Hepworth walked and scored on a passed ball in the fifth to set up UL’s seven-run barrage in the sixth. In that frame, there were two huge at-bats.

The first one was a three-run triple by Brooks Wright, who finished 3-for-3 after entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the fourth.

“In my at-bats before that, I was late on two fastballs,”

Wright said “So I knew that eventually at some point in the at-bat, they were going to come at me with a fastball. I knew I had to get my foot down and be better for it. He threw it over the heart of the plate and I stuck to my approach.

“Today was crazy We knew we were going to have to come out with the bats. It was a good day to hit with that wind blowing out to left field Friday night, we didn’t hit the best The hitters knew we had to step our game up.”

After a Higgs RBI single, Caleb Stelly hit a huge three-run home

said about not playing soft. “There was a huddle at half court right before the third quarter (against Orlando) about testing our manhood. We’ve just got to draw a line in the sand. I feel like we showed a better effort in the second half.”

To beat a team like the Pistons or any other team in the league, for that matter — the Pels can’t wait until the second half to show up They’ll have to bring it for all four quarters against a team they haven’t lost to since Valentine’s Day 2021.

“I know we’re not going to accept softness,” Green said. “So whatever that means. I don’t know

Osteen (S,

WP — Nelson (3); Falinski (1). HBP — by Hess (Meier); by Tapper (Torres); by Herrmann (Markham); by King (Higgs). PB — Bryan, B.(2). Inherited runners/scored: Falinski, A. 2/2; Tapper, B. 3/1; Gorgen, G. 2/2; Crumpton,

run to left for a 12-7 lead at the time.

But the Trojans weren’t quite ready to go home with a loss, scoring four runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to make it 16-14.

Bryan homered again to ignite the seventh-inning rally finalized by Meier’s two-run double.

In the eighth, Gavin Schrader’s two-run double, including Galt throwing Houston Markham at the plate for the second out.

“Thib (Assistant coach Seth Thibodeaux) does a great job with the defense,” Deggs said. “I’m proud of the way we’re working Our relays have been money pretty much all year.”

That chased reliever Andrew Herrmann, who had thrown 74 pitches Friday True freshman Matt Osteen struck out the first batter he faced in the eighth and pitched the ninth for his first career save one day after fellow freshman Aiden Grab pitched 3.1 effective innings.

“They both have ice water in their veins,” Deggs said of the duo. “Their stuff ticks up because of their intent behind it.”

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

if I can instill it. But we just can’t accept that. We have to step on the floor and at minimum you’ve got to match their intensity and physicality, and we’ve got to outcompete them.” Green, a Detroit native in his fourth season as the Pelicans coach, is 6-0 against his hometown team. But these Pistons are much tougher In order for the Pelicans to continue their winning ways against them, they’ll have to be tougher, too.

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GEORGE WALKER IV Auburn guard Miles Kelly reacts to a play against Tennessee during the SEC Tournament on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn. Auburn is the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

MEN’S BRACKET

Continued from page 1C

preliminary games, and the main draw kicks off Thursday and Friday, with 32 games at eight sites around the country

The selection show began with a heartfelt tribute to the late Greg Gumbel, the CBS stalwart who oversaw the bracket unveiling for decades. Then, just as Gumbel would have preferred, it was about the basketball and there was plenty to talk about.

North Carolina looked all but out, a victim of a 1-12 record against Quad 1 opponents and part of a conference (ACC) teetering on the verge of a historically bad season. But the Tar Heels were the last team in, thanks maybe to a strong nonconference slate. Texas was also in, its seven wins against Quad 1 teams outweighing its overall 15 losses.

The Carolina inclusion was certain to fuel some conspiracy theories. The chair of the selection committee was Tar Heels athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who said rules state he cannot be part of any debate about his own team.

“As vice chair I managed all the conversations we had about North Carolina, and we had quite a few,” said Sun Belt Conference commissioner Keith Gill, who was brought onto the CBS bracket show to discuss Carolina

The SEC’s 14 teams were followed by the Big Ten with eight and Big 12 with seven. The ACC, meanwhile, ended up with four teams, barely avoiding its worst showing since 2000, back when the conference was half the size it is now Even in a down cycle, the ACC has Duke, and Duke has arguably the best player in the country in freshman Cooper Flagg,

a 19-point, 7.5-rebound-a-game freshman whose ankle injury, the school says, will not keep him out of March Madness. Elsewhere in the bracket, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino leads his unprecedented sixth program into the tournament, and what a road he would have to take to get to the Final Four First, he will travel to Providence and the same building where the coach led the Friars to a surprise Final Four trip back in 1987, to lead St John’s in a firstround game against Omaha. Pitino’s second game could come against Arkansas and John Calipari in what would be a titanic matchup between two of the game’s biggest coaching names. Another coaching icon, Tom Izzo, leads Michigan State to its 27th straight tournament. The Spartans are seeded second and will face America East champion Bryant in its opener And Gonzaga is in for the 26th time, though extending its streak of making the second weekend to 10 years will be tough. The Bulldogs are seeded eighth and could face Houston in the second round.

The biggest quirks in this year’s bracket all involved the SEC:

• There are three potential second-round games between SEC teams — the sort of matchups the committee is asked to avoid, but that became inevitable with 14 SEC teams in the bracket.

• The SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 captured 42.5% of the spots, which leads to questions about whether the tournament really needs to expand to bring even more big-school teams into the mix.

• Now that the SEC officially has established itself as a hoops conference comes the question of whether the league can capture its first national title since 2012 when Kentucky won it all.

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

ALZHEIMER’S Q&A

Baton Rouge Irish Club celebrates 75 years

‘As long as you like Ireland, you’re welcome’

BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer

The Baton Rouge Irish Club, the oldest Irish organization in the city, was founded in 1950. This year, its members will celebrate 75 years of Irish culture, music, dance, food and fellowship. The club strives to provide a platform for Irish heritage and culture to be shared and enjoyed

The nonprofit organization conducts multiple activities throughout the year, including the highly anticipated Irish Film Festival at the Manship Theatre, which is their largest fundraiser With a membership of around 100 people, the club has a loyal following Allen Kinney, a longtime member for 30 years, says Irish heritage isn’t a requirement to join “As long as you like Ireland, you’re welcome in the club,” he said. “We are looking for more members.”

Kinney got involved with the Irish Club in the early 1990s through the annual Wearin’ of the Green St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which led to joining the club to learn more about his Irish heritage He says the club is a great way for people to learn more about

PROVIDED PHOTO

Longtime member Liz Walker poses in front of the Baton Rouge Irish Club float for the St Patrick’s Day Parade.

their Irish roots and spend time with people who share common interests.

Joe Sullivan, a native New Yorker and the child of Irish immigrants, has also been a member of the Baton Rouge Irish Club for about 30 years. Both Kinney and Sullivan describe the club’s events as their

favorite part of the club, from monthly get-togethers, to the annual film festival, to Irish festival celebrations.

“It’s the activities, I’d have to say, that I like best,” Sullivan said. “All of the different memories I have from all of the different activities are so special.”

Baton Rouge Irish Club events

n Monthly club meetings at Café Américain: Meetings are once a month on the third Wednesday and usually include some kind of music, speaker and entertainment.

n Literary club: Meets once a month on the fourth Thursday to read and discuss Irish poets and authors.

n Float for St. Patrick’s Day Parade: Club members ride on their float at the Wearin’ of the Green parade through Hundred Oaks.

n Bloomsday: Celebrated on June 16, this event honors Irish author James Joyce and his works The event includes readings of Joyce texts and videos about Joyce and his life.

n Irish Film Festival: A city favorite, this 15-year-old film festival will be on July 25-26 at the Manship Theatre. Friday is for the short

ä See IRISH CLUB, page 6C

BR brewery expanding to Omaha, opening taproom

BY LAUREN CHERAMIE

writer

Cognitive issues could point to other culprit than Alzheimer’s

Is hypothyroidism linked to dementia?

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases approximately 5 out of 100 Americans (5%) have hypothyroidism. This translates to an estimated 16 million people in the United States. Hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid, is a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough of certain crucial hormones. Untreated, the condition can cause a number of health problems, including heart disease, obesity, joint pain and cognitive decline. If a person is experiencing concerns about lack of focus and signs of memory loss, they should also be aware of other symptoms associated with hypothyroidism. These include fatigue, weight gain, fluid retention, enlarged tongue with teeth indentations, cold intolerance, hair loss, dry skin, depression, joint pain, constipation, headaches, brittle fingernails, elevated cholesterol and enlarged thyroid gland. These symptoms often lead to a person thinking that they might have the onset of Alzheimer’s or dementia. The person shouldn’t rush to judgment about possibly having the beginnings of Alzheimer’s disease. Rather, the symptoms of memory loss and lack of focus might be related to low thyroid function.

Because the brain uses so much energy, people with hypothyroidism (slowed metabolism and less energy) tend to experience a decline in their mental acuity — the “brain fog” that many individuals describe as they experience the symptoms of the disorder

Hypothyroidism is often associated with mood disturbances and cognitive impairment, meaning that the thyroid hormones are critical for normal brain function. Specifically, hypothyroidism has been associated with several cognitive deficits, including general intelligence, visual-spatial skills and memory

ä See BREWERY, page 6C

return each year because the fans bring such a lively atmosphere. Who can forget the Jell-O Shot Challenge at Rocco’s Pizza and Cantina? The atmosphere is so vivacious that Baton Rouge-based Rally Cap Brewing Company owner Kevin Whalen is opening a second 3,000-square-foot taproom in north downtown Omaha on the ground floor of Nova at the intersection of 12th and Nicholas streets.

LSU fans pack Rocco’s Pizza and Cantina before an LSU game at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., in 2023.

Hypothyroidism can often be diagnosed with a simple blood test. With some people, however, it may be more complicated, and more detailed tests are needed. In an individual with an underactive thyroid gland, the blood level of T4 (the main thyroid hormone) will be low, while the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level will be high. This means that the thyroid is not making enough hormone, and the pituitary gland recognizes it and is responding appropriately by making more TSH in an attempt to force more hormone production out of the thyroid.

For the majority of people with hypothyroidism, taking some form of thyroid hormone replacement (synthetic or natural, pill or liquid, etc.) will make the “thyroid function tests” return to the normal range, and this

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

PROVIDED PHOTO FROM BATON ROUGE IRISH FILM FESTIVAL Musicians perform during a past Baton Rouge Irish Film Festival.

Urban fire particulates in air can cause health issues

Dear Doctors: We live in the fire zone in Altadena, California After the evacuations ended, we came home, and now my throat is constantly sore. There’s no smoke smell, but my husband says the air can still be unhealthy Why would that be? The air quality numbers are good, so it’s confusing.

Dear reader: We are near one of the fire zones in Southern California and are sadly familiar with the ongoing aftermath. Over the course of 24 days, fire tore through 60 square miles, destroyed more than 16,000 homes and businesses and damaged thousands more. At least 29 people died, and many more, including rescue workers, were injured Now the flames are out, but the health dangers continue. This is due to fine particulates released by the fires. We touched on this in

Dr. Elizabeth Ko Dr Eve Glazier ASK THE DOCTORS

a recent column, but your question allows a more detailed look at the issue.

Particulates are the microscopic bits of burned materials that become suspended in wildfire smoke. Their extremely small size means they can be inhaled into the deepest recesses of the lungs. These are the alveoli, which are minute air sacs clustered at the ends of the bronchial tubes. The delicate membranes of these air

sacs are where the oxygen we breathe in enters the bloodstream and the carbon dioxide produced by metabolic processes exits.

To get a sense of just how small alveoli are, an adult has about 240 million in each lung.

The particulates released in urban fires differ from those generated by forest fires. In urban fires, particulates come from the vast array of man-made materials found in the built environment. They include building materials, appliances, electronics, plastics, vehicles, batteries, gasoline, propane, paints, stains and solvents, cleaning products, pesticides, carpets, wood and tile floors and furnishings. As these burn, dangerous substances are released into the air They include heavy metals such as lead, zinc and chromium; toxic chemicals such

Dardenne to give talk on Long family

Staff report

Longtime state official Jay

Dardenne will speak to Friendship Force Baton Rouge at its first-quarter meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the Main Library at Goodwood, 7711 Goodwood Blvd.

Dardenne will talk on the politi-

cal Long family in Louisiana The speaker has served more than three decades in varying roles in state government, including most recently as commissioner of administration during John Bel Edwards’ two terms as governor The club also will show slides of its recent trip to Alajuela, Costa Rica.

What did the groom do?

Dear Miss Manners: On my daughter’s wedding day the weather was perfect, as was the venue and all preparations. A few hours before the ceremony, the groom was arrested on an active warrant. (That’s an issue for another day.)

We were already at the venue. The bridal party was getting dressed and photos were being taken while the bride was on the phone with an attorney, attempting to have the groom released. Guests were already arriving since it was more than an hour’s drive for all of them Since we were hopeful that the groom would be released, and since the guests were already there and we couldn’t cancel, we decided to proceed with the cocktail hour and reception, hoping to hold the ceremony once the groom arrived. The groom was not released. The wedding ceremony never took place. I told my daughter to return all monetary gifts. She feels they should be kept since the couple “will be getting married eventually.”

I am torn. Yes, we did have a wonderful party, although we were not in

a very celebratory mood But I feel that they are keeping the gifts under false pretenses. Gentle reader: Yes, you certainly did entertain your guests. They’re still talking about it. But of course, you are right that your daughter cannot keep the wedding gifts on the grounds that the guests got their money’s worth The rule is that presents are returned if the wedding does not take place. But in sympathy with the would-be bride, Miss Manners (who is weak from politely suppressing a scream of “WHAT DID HE DO?”) is happy to have a way around this. As your daughter does intend to marry him when possible, she can write charming notes to the guests, apologizing for the mix-up and stating that she looks forward to seeing them when she is able to set a date for the postponed wedding.

However, she must promise that she will invite all the same people to the postponed wedding, and that if she decides to postpone indefinitely, she will return all wedding presents, monetary and otherwise. They should not

be spent on bail.

Dear Miss Manners: As I was leaving my local grocery store, a young man approached me and asked me to donate to a local high school baseball team. I apologized and told him that I do not carry cash. I have specific causes that I donate to annually, but I am constantly being stopped at the door or asked to round up at the register What is a polite way to say no to a donation request?

Gentle reader: There is no need to apologize or explain. Miss Manners presumes you don’t want the young man to show up at your house, where you keep your cash. We assume that sensible people contribute to causes they know and care about, rather than simply to anyone who happens to ask. Therefore, you need only say pleasantly, “Thank you, but no.” And to be extra nice, you can add, “I wish you good luck with it.”

Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, 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.

Make jewelry easily accessible

Dear Heloise: Sixty years ago when our home had been built, my husband solved my jewelry tangle in a simple, beautiful way He painted a 7-by2-foot pegboard medium blue, framed it with narrow stained cove strips, and hung it on our bedroom wall with numerous hooks. Necklaces and bracelets are visible, quickly accessible, and a focal point of the room’s decor Earrings and pins take up less room in the drawers with inserts from candy boxes — Donna, in Canandaigua, New York

Carrying heavy loads

Dear Heloise: Recently, someone wrote in that they could no longer carry in economical heavy bags of pet food and potting soil from their trunk when they got home, and their solution was to divvy up these contents into smaller bags that were easier to carry and dispense from As a lifelong pet owner, I do want to recommend to everyone that when you

transfer pet food from large bags to smaller containers, please be sure to hold on to the original bag until you have finished up the contents. These days, there are many pet food recalls, and the only way to identify yours is by the date and lot numbers printed on the bag It is a “best practice” that I have always followed, and it provides me with peace of mind. I hope this helps folks to remember the importance of being able to confirm the safety of your pet’s food if there is a recall. — Stacy E., Winston-Salem, North Carolina Stacy, another solution might be to purchase a hand cart to move the bags around. You can roll the bag out of the trunk and slowly slide it onto a dolly, aka a hand cart It’s what I usually do to save my back.

— Heloise Jewelry storage

Dear Heloise: Regarding your reader’s advice to store jewelry in plastic

bags, please tell your readers not to do this. I inadvertently destroyed a beautiful keepsake bracelet by storing in a baggie. I was subsequently told that due to plastic outgassing and moisture retention, gemstones and various metals may be irreparably damaged when stored in plastic. I learned the hard way that plastic baggies are not for jewelry storage. — Lisa G., in California No bread for squirrels

Dear Heloise: I was disappointed to see a recent reader’s letter about feeding bread to squirrels. Bread of any kind is really bad for squirrels! They are adapted to only eat nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Squirrels will eat bread, but it is missing the essential nutrients they need. Eating it can lead to serious health problems for them.

Please ask your readers to only feed squirrels the proper foods that are good for them. — Tom, in St. Louis Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.

as formaldehyde, benzene, ethylene glycol-toluene, chlorine and asbestos from older homes; and an array of carcinogens known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.

The AQI, or air quality index, warns about common pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. However, many of the particulates generated in urban fires are outside of its scope. That’s the disconnect — and the ongoing health risks that your husband is referencing. Wildfire particulates mix with the ash and soot that fall to the ground. When blown by wind or disturbed during debris removal, they can once again become airborne. Updated air quality specific to wildfire particulates is available at fire. airnow.gov

By The Associated Press

Today is Monday, March 17, the 76th day of 2025. There are 289 days left in the year This is St. Patrick’s Day Today in history

On March 17, 1992, White South Africans voted 68.7% to 31.3% to end over 40 years of apartheid in a national referendum. (Voters of all races were allowed to vote two years later in the general election that resulted in Nelson Mandela becoming president.)

On this date:

In 1762, New York held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade.

In 1776, the Revolutionary War Siege of Boston ended as British forces evacuated the city In 1950, scientists at the University of California,

People returning to burn areas are advised to take precautions for several months. Keep windows and doors closed whenever there’s a smoky smell. Use an appropriately sized air purifier that has a HEPA filter, and change the filter often. When it’s windy, and when debris removal occurs, use an N95 mask while outdoors. Wildfire particulates are known to ramp up inflammation throughout the respiratory tract. If the throat irritation you are experiencing doesn’t clear up, please check in with your health care provider

Send your questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla edu, or write: Ask the Doctors, c/o UCLA Health Sciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

TODAY IN HISTORY

Berkeley announced that they had created a new radioactive element they named “californium.”

In 1969, Golda Meir took office as prime minister in Israel, beginning a term that would last through five crucial years in the nation’s history

In 2003, edging to the brink of war, U.S. President George W. Bush gave Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country Iraq rejected Bush’s ultimatum, saying a U.S. attack to force Saddam from power would be “a grave mistake.”

In 2010, Michael Jordan became the first ex-player to become a majority owner in the NBA as the league’s Board of Governors unanimously approved his $275 million bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats from Bob

IRISH CLUB

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films and Saturday is for features. The festival gives two awards, one for best short and one for best feature.

n Samhain: Pronounced Saawn, this festival on October 31 marks the end of harvest, the coming of longer nights

BREWERY

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He hopes to open the satellite taproom in early 2026. “Omaha holds a special place in the hearts of LSU baseball fans, and over the years, a strong bond has formed between them,” Whalen said in a news release. “We look forward to building on that connection

ISSUES

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by a general improvement in symptoms making the person feel better, including easing concerns about cognitive function.

Hypothyroidism is one of the most frequent causes

and honors the dead. The club burns a fire and fills the evening with toasts, storytelling, music and singing as well as a reading of names of those in the club who have passed away Kinney says that the Irish Club offers opportunities to have cultural fun, literary fun or have-a-drink-withyour-buddy fun. Sullivan concurs and adds that the club is close-knit and gathers for dinners and pub nights in between their official events. Annual dues are $40 for an individual and $65 for a family For more information, visit bririshclub.org or facebook. com/batonrougeirishclub. Email Joy Holden at joy holden@theadvocate.com.

and bringing our version of Louisiana hospitality to Omaha year-round. We can’t wait!”

Across from the Charles Schwab Stadium, the taproom will feature 12 taps, a specialty cocktail menu and food offerings like pizza, calzones and sandwiches. In Baton Rouge, the baseballthemed Rally Cap offers pale ales, stouts, lagers, sours and IPAs at 11212 Pennywood Ave.

of symptomatic dementia and is recognized as a cause of reversible dementia.

Consultation with a physician, preferably an endocrinologist, is recommended to determine an accurate diagnosis.

They also feature yearround and seasonal offerings like First Pitch, Golden Sombrero and Big Red Machine. The Omaha taproom will serve Omaha-exclusive beers in its one-barrel pilot system, along with beers that are featured in Baton Rouge.

Email Lauren Cheramie at lauren.cheramie@ theadvocate.com.

Dana Territo is an Alzheimer’s advocate and author of “What My Grandchildren Taught Me About Alzheimer’s Disease.” She hosts “The Memory Whisperer.” Email her at thememorywhisperer@ gmail.com.

Dardenne

PROVIDED PHOTO

Irish music captivates the crowd at one of Baton Rouge Irish Club’s monthly meetings at Café Américain.

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

Hints from Heloise

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Engage in activities or events that stimulate your life and provide encouragement to yourself and others. Change your spending habits. Buy only what you need and save your money.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) You owe it to yourself to focus on personal and financial gain. Put aside your generosity and desire to make everybody love you, and focus on taking care of personal business.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You've got the drive and determination to make a difference. Concentrate on lifestyle, finances and health, and stop worrying so much about what others do.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Discuss how you feel and what you want, and dissect the information you gather. Test a proposal's validity before you sign on. Skip the agitation and take ownership of what you pursue.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Be bold and do your best to stand out and finish what you start. A labor of love will fill your heart with joy and line your pockets with cash.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) The best way to persuade others to help you make a difference is to make them feel so empowered that they want to utilize their skills. Set the stage for success and run the show.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Live and learn. Changing your surroundings will

spark your imagination and help you understand what's possible. Engage in discussions with someone you trust to give you a unique perspective.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Get your responsibilities out of the way and then turn on the charm. The extreme will make your heart flutter and help you connect with someone who brings out your best.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Let your actions speak for you. Focus on what's best for everyone and challenge anyone who is being greedy. Become the voice for those who have yet to find theirs.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Look for any sign of opposition and arm yourself with the facts, knowledge and answers you require to stay on top of your game Compliments and encouragement will lead to favorable contributions.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take time to analyze a situation before you act. It's best to let matters play out until you can assess what action to take. Observation is a great teacher. Learn from experience.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Lie low; now is not the time to put pressure on a situation. Lighten up and show your fun side; everyone will want to be with you and share their thoughts.

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

Andrews McMeel Syndication

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

TODAy'S CLUE: y EQUALS D

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

bIG nAte

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM SherMAn’S LAGoon

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER

Jay Leno said, “Major League Baseball has asked its players to stop tossing baseballs into the stands during games, because they say fans fight over them and they get hurt. In fact, the Florida Marlins said that’s why they never hit any home runs. It’s a safety issue.”

Iassumethatwasproducedbyascriptwriter — but no doubt Leno’s delivery was equally important.

Unless you are in an event where overtricks can be important (pairs or boarda-match), you should play your contracts as safely as possible. And if you succeed in a particularly tough deal, it will feel like a home run.

This three-no-trump contract would result in an out for many declarers at the table. How should South play after West leads the club nine?

North’s three-heart rebid promised five or more spades, four or more hearts and at least game-forcing values. (However, if North had six spades and only game interest, he might have jumped straight to four spades, keeping his heart suit hidden.)

West did not want to lead! Eventually he chose the unbid suit.

Southhaseighttoptricks:threespades, one diamond and four clubs. And those spades will surely provide at least one extra winner. But if declarer cashes his spade ace and plays a spade to dummy’s queen, he is called out — his contract has no chance. Instead, South should finesse dummy’s spade 10 on

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C. PiCKles