The Acadiana Advocate 03-19-2025 by The Advocate

Jessie Hoffman Jr. sentenced to death for 1996 rape, murder

It is the first execution in Louisiana since 2010

Nitrogen gas used for first time in death chamber at Angola

LA. EXECUTES INMATE

After last-minute legal challenges failed, Hoffman died at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday

BY JAMES FINN and JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writers

Louisiana executed a man convicted of murder with nitrogen gas on Tuesday evening the state’s ﬁrst execution in 15 years and its ﬁrst using the largely untested method — after a raging legal battle that ended with a gas mask strapped over his face in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola death chamber.

State ofﬁcials pronounced Jessie Hoffman Jr dead at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday at Angola. He inhaled pure nitrogen gas through a mask strapped to his face for 19 minutes while pinned to a gurney, ofﬁcials said, until oxygen deprivation caused him to die. Officials acknowledged that Hoffman showed “convulsive activity” as he died and that he moved and shook.

Hoffman was on death row for the 1996 abduction, rape and execution-style slaying of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliott in rural St. Tammany Parish.

Hoffman declined to give a final statement or to eat a final meal at Angola, state officials said in a briefing after the execution. As Hoffman was executed, most of his body was covered with a thick blanket, though witnesses said his hands were visible with his index finger and thumb pointing toward each other — a sacred hand gesture in Buddhism

ä See EXECUTES, page 8A

Faith leaders, activists and supporters of Jessie

Angola moments after hearing that Hoffman was executed

Friends, family gather at vigil outside

Angola

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

Around 50 friends, family members and supporters of Jessie Hoffman Jr gathered outside the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on a warm and breezy Tuesday evening to pray for him and commemorate his life as the state put him to death.

“Jessie will always be remembered as a reason for why we do this work,” said Alison McCrary, spiritual adviser on death row and director of Louisiana

InterFaith against Executions. “For how we know deep in the marrow of our bones that we are all better than the worst thing that we’ve ever done.”

Hoffman’s younger sister, Florence Rufﬁn, was among those who joined the vigil. After visiting her brother for the ﬁnal time at Angola, she staggered out of the prison, falling into the arms of a friend who waited for her at the vigil site.

Rufﬁn carried a brown paper sack full of candy, the last gift from her brother

“Jessie Hoffman,” it read on the outside in thick marker “8 Blowpops. 2 Skittles.”

As the vigil began, she sat under an oak tree with the paper bag at her side. She rolled it up, placed it like a pillow beneath her head and laid back on the

grass. Those at the vigil showed support for Hoffman and his family as well as the victim in his case, Mary “Molly” Elliott, and her family Hoffman was convicted in the abduction, rape and murder of Elliott in 1996.

Anti-death penalty advocates and representatives from many faiths including Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism — gave speeches to the vigil crowd, calling for an end to executions in Louisiana and wishing Hoffman peace at the moment of death.

“May this ﬂame remind us that no life is beyond redemption, no soul beyond grace and no person beyond love,” said Lauren Sapp, deputy director of the

Speeches, prayers offered for Hoffman and his victim ä See VIGIL, page 7A

Boulet tells board approval not necessary for new library

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

A 20,500-square-foot library will be built in northeast Lafayette, Mayor-President Monique Boulet said Monday after making it clear the Lafayette Public Library Board of Control’s consent is not

necessary After years of debate and delays, a board-appointed committee that hired a consultant to gauge the community’s wants and needs for the library recommended the board build the largest of three alternatives considered: 13,500, 17,500 and 20,500 square feet.

The board, in February, once again delayed the decision “indeﬁnitely” to gather more information.

Boulet and City-Parish Attorney Pat Ottinger at Monday’s board

meeting said the decision to build the Northeast Regional Library and how big it should be lies with Boulet’s administration and the Parish Council, not the board. State attorney general opinions agree, Ottinger said. The contract is already in place and the land has been purchased, he said. Any contract adjustments will be done by Boulet, who will work with the Parish Council if additional money is needed, which is likely since only $8 million was set aside in 2019 for a 13,500-square-

foot building. “It’s going to happen at 20,500 square feet,” Boulet said after the meeting. “And I think we can do it well.”

The larger library is estimated to cost an additional $5 million. Library Director Danny Gillane said the library system has the money in reserve to build and operate the new library as well as operate the existing libraries in the parish.

The ﬁve board members in attendance voted to recommend building the 20,500-square-foot li-

brary on 6 acres of land the parish bought on Shadow Bluff Drive off Louisiana Avenue. A library for northeast Lafayette, a socioeconomically challenged area cut off from all other libraries in the parish by Evangeline Thruway and interstates, has been under discussion at least since at least 2019 when then CityParish Council member Kenneth Boudreaux got $8 million earmarked to buy land and build the

Contract in place, land purchased for northeast branch ä See LIBRARY, page 9A

Hoffman

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Hoffman Jr hug outside the entrance to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at

on Tuesday.

STAFF PHOTO By JAMES FINN Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary Gary Westcott, right, holds up a photo of murder victim Mary ‘Molly’ Elliott while Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murill speaks at a news conference after the execution Tuesday of Jessie Hoffman Jr

Mexico City lawmakers ban violent bullfighting

MEXICO CITY Mexico City lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to ban violent bullﬁghting, triggering outrage from aﬁcionados and celebration from animal rights advocates.

The legislation, approved by a 61-1 vote, prohibits the killing of bulls and the use of sharp objects that could injure the animals. It also sets time limits on how long bulls could be in the ring, all part of an initiative dubbed “bullﬁghting without violence.”

The decision sparked angry protests from bullﬁghting supporters and matadors, some of whom tried to breach a police barricade at the local Congress. Some carried signs that read “Being a fan of la fiesta brava (bullﬁghting) is not a crime, it’s a point of pride.” Animal rights protesters celebrated, and were joined by Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada of the ruling Morena party, who said the decision will help the Mexican capital become a place “that respects the rights of animals and that will not tolerate them being subjected to abuse or violence.”

Harvard waives tuition for some families

CAMBRIDGE,Mass.— Dreaming of going to Harvard University?

Well, the university has made things a little easier with an announcement Monday that students whose families make up to $200,000 won’t pay tuition. The university said the plan goes into effect for the 2025-26 academic year and is aimed at making Harvard more affordable, especially for middle income students. Those students could also get additional ﬁnancial aid to cover other expenses.

“Putting Harvard within financial reach for more individuals widens the array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that all of our students encounter, fostering their intellectual and personal growth,” Harvard University President Alan Garber said in a statement. “By bringing people of outstanding promise together to learn with and from one another, we truly realize the tremendous potential of the University.” Garber said students whose families make less than $100,000 will pay nothing, meaning their tuition as well as other expenses like food and housing will be covered. Tuition is $56,500, but rises to $82,866 with food, housing and other expenses 12 killed in plane crash, including musician

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A small commercial plane crash off the coast of Honduras killed 12 people, including a well-known Garifuna musician, authorities said.

The Lanhsa Airlines flight crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff Monday night from the island of Roatan en route to the mainland city of La Ceiba. It carried 17 passengers and crew, ﬁve of whom were rescued and hospitalized.

Police reported that the plane failed to reach full altitude and sank quickly after impact. Local ﬁshermen rescued the survivors. Among the victims was Aurelio Martínez Suazo, a former member of Congress and member of the Garifuna ethnic group, which is of mixed African and Indigenous heritage. Martínez Suazo also held U.S. citizenship.

Jury convicts thief who stole golden toilet

LONDON — A thief who swiped a golden toilet from an English palace was convicted Tuesday along with an accomplice who helped cash in on the spoils of the 18-carat work of art insured for more than $6 million.

Michael Jones had used the fully functioning one-of-a-kind latrine as he did reconnaissance at Blenheim Palace — the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born — the day before the theft, prosecutors said. He described the experience as “splendid.” He returned before dawn on Sept. 14, 2019, with at least two other men armed with sledgehammers and crowbars. They smashed a window and pried the toilet from its plumbing within ﬁve minutes, leaving a damaging ﬂood in their wake.

Netanyahu: Airstrikes

‘only the beginning’

More than 400 killed Tuesday across Gaza Strip

BY WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH Gaza Strip — Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday that killed more than 400 Palestinians, local health officials said, shattering a ceaseﬁre in place since January as it vowed to force Hamas to release more hostages and relinquish control of the territory

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused Israeli demands to free half of the remaining hostages as a precondition for extending the ceasefire Israel’s deadliest bombardment of the territory in the 17-month war killed mostly women and children, according to the Gaza

Health Ministry

Netanyahu said the attack was “only the beginning” and that Israel would press ahead until it achieves all of its war aims — destroying Hamas and freeing all hostages held by the militant group.

All further ceaseﬁre negotiations will take place “under ﬁre,” he said in a statement aired on national television. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.

The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza and head toward the center of the territory, indicating that Israel could soon launch renewed ground operations. The new campaign comes as aid groups warn supplies are running out two weeks after Israel cut off all food, medicine, fuel and other goods to Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians.

The pre-dawn barrage across Gaza struck homes and shelters and set a tent camp ablaze as families slept or prepared the “sohour,” the meal Muslims eat before they start the daily fast in the holy month of Ramadan. In Gaza City, Omar Greygaa said that after the strikes, he ran out to help survivors in a nearby stricken building.

“In every room I found the dead.

I ﬁnish in one place and go to an-

other, and I ﬁnd more dead,” he said.

“I don’t know if we’re in a state of war or truce.”

The attack could signal the full resumption of a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised concerns about the fate of the roughly two dozen hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.

A senior Hamas ofﬁcial said Netanyahu’s decision to return to war amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages. Izzat al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to save his farright governing coalition There were no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the bombardment.

But Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired rockets toward Israel for the first time since the ceasefire began. The volley set off sirens in Israel’s southern Negev desert but was intercepted before it reached the country’s territory, the military said.

Nightclub fire triggers protests in North Macedonia town

BY KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES and ELDAR ERMIC Associated Press

KOCANI,North Macedonia Municipal workers in Kocani dug graves Tuesday for the dozens of young people killed in a nightclub ﬁre as protests were held in cities across North Macedonia.

Authorities said the nightclub blaze in the eastern town early Sunday was caused by indoor use of pyrotechnics and numerous safety violations at the venue, killing 59 people and injuring more than 150 during a live concert.

The ﬁre has sparked outrage over alleged bribery and corruption linked to the safety violations at the nightclub.

Crews used excavators to dig rows of graves in Kocani as the town awaits the burial of young residents whose remains are still being processed for identiﬁca-

tion

“It’s very bad, very bad. I have been crying for three days,” resident Dragi Ignjatov said. “Children of our friends are gone. It can’t be worse than this, for Macedonia and for our city.”

Late Tuesday, rallies were held in solidarity with the victims’ families, with thousands gathering in the capital, Skopje, holding up candles and cell phone ﬂashlights during the nighttime event

Pensioner Zoran Jovanovski said he hoped the tragedy would trigger reforms to ﬁght corruption “The solution is very hard. There needs to be a change in mentality a different way to run this country,” he said

Government officials appealed for calm after some demonstrations a day earlier had turned violent. Protesters in Kocani overturned a van, hurled rocks at a municipal building, and smashed a cafeteria believed to have shared owner-

ship with the nightclub.

Investigations have so far revealed that the club was operating at least double its 250-person capacity without proper licensing. Officials say the numerous safety violations included no emergency exits insufficient fire equipment the use of flammable cladding and no sprinkler system. Many victims were trampled as panicked concertgoers rushed toward a single exit.

Neighboring Serbia and Bulgaria, which immediately offered assistance following the tragedy, are observing a day of national mourning Tuesday in solidarity with North Macedonia. Medical specialists from the Czech Republic, Serbia and Israel have arrived to support treatment efforts for the injured, Health Ministry ofﬁcials said. The European Union is helping transport burn victims to nearby countries.

Around 50 patients are being treated in mostly neighboring and nearby countries, the majority of them with serious burns.

Trump, Putin agree to ceasefire

Deal covers energy, infrastructure targets

BY AAMER MADHANI, VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy call Tuesday to an immediate pause in strikes against energy and infrastructure targets in the Ukraine war, but the Russian leader stopped short of backing a broader 30-day pause in ﬁghting that the U.S. administration is pressing for.

The White House described it as the first step in a “movement to peace” that it hopes will include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and eventually a full and lasting end to the fighting. There was no indication that Putin has backed away from his previous conditions, fiercely opposed by Kiev, to consider a broader ceasefire. Russia wants Ukraine to renounce any prospect of joining the NATO military alliance, sharply cut its army, and protect Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit, among other concessions. In fact, Putin during the call reiterated his demand for an end to foreign military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, according to the Kremlin. Shortly after the call ended, air raid alerts sounded in Kyiv followed by explosions in the city Local officials urged people to seek shelter Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that Ukraine is open to any proposals that lead to a sustainable and just peace but stressed the need for full transparency in discussions.

“We need to understand what the conversation is about,” Zelenskyy said. “What are the details? And hopefully, we will be fully informed, and our partners will discuss everything with us.” He added: “There are two sides in this war Russia and Ukraine. Trying to negotiate without Ukraine, in my view, will not be productive.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEHAD ALSHRAFI

A woman reacts Tuesday over the body of a person killed during overnight Israeli army airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ARMIN DURGUT People push a car on its side Monday while protesting near the home of the owner of a nightclub that was the scene of a massive fire in Kocani, North Macedonia.

NASA astronauts return to Earth

Pair stuck in space for more than nine months

BY MARCIA DUNN AP aerospace writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Stuck in space no more, NASA as-

tronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth on Tuesday, hitching a different ride home to close out a saga that began with a bungled test flight more than nine months ago. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico in the early evening, just hours after departing the International Space Station. Splashdown occurred off the coast of Tallahassee in the Florida Panhandle, bringing their unplanned odyssey to an end. It all started with a flawed Boeing test flight last spring. The two expected to be gone just a week or so after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5. So many problems cropped up on the way to the space station that NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty and transferred the test pilots to SpaceX, pushing their homecoming into February Then SpaceX capsule issues added another month’s delay Sunday’s arrival of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave. NASA cut them loose a little early, given the iffy weather forecast later this week. They checked out with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who arrived in their own SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo.

Wilmore and Williams ended up spending 286 days in space — 278 days longer than anticipated when they launched. They circled Earth 4,576 times and traveled 121 million miles by the

time of splashdown.

“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” radioed SpaceX Mission Control in California.

“What a ride,” replied Hague, the capsule’s commander

The two astronauts’ plight captured the world’s attention, giving new meaning to the phrase “stuck at work” and turning “Butch and Suni” into household names. While other astronauts had logged longer spaceﬂights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much.

Wilmore and Williams quickly transitioned from guests to full-ﬂedged station crew members, conducting experiments, fixing equipment and even spacewalking together With 62 hours over nine spacewalks, Williams set a record: the most time spent spacewalking over a career among female astronauts.

Both had lived on the orbiting lab before and knew the ropes, and brushed up on their station training before rocketing away Williams became the station’s commander three months into their stay and held the post until earlier this month

Their mission took an unexpected twist in late January when President Donald Trump asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to accelerate the astronauts’ return and blamed the delay on the Biden administration. The replacement crew’s brand new SpaceX capsule still wasn’t ready to ﬂy, so SpaceX subbed it with a used one, hurrying things along by at least a few weeks.

Even in the middle of the political storm, Wilmore and Williams continued to main-

tain an even keel at public appearances from orbit, casting no blame and insisting they supported NASA’s decisions from the start.

NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing after the shuttle program ended, in order to have two competing U.S companies for transporting astronauts to and from the space station until it’s abandoned in 2030 and steered to a ﬁery reentry By then, it will have been up there more than three decades; the plan is to replace it with privately run stations so NASA can focus on moon and Mars expeditions.

Both retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams stressed they didn’t mind spending more time in space — a prolonged deployment reminiscent of their military days. But they acknowledged it was tough on their families. Wilmore, 62, missed most of his younger daughter’s senior year of high school; his older daughter is in college. Williams, 59, had to settle for internet calls from space to her mother and relatives.

Immigrants disappear from system after deportation flights

BY JOSHUA GOODMAN and GISELA SALOMON Associated Press

MIAMI Franco Caraballo called his wife Friday night, crying and panicked. Hours earlier, the 26-yearold barber and dozens of other Venezuelan migrants at a federal detention facility in Texas were dressed in white clothes, handcuffed and taken onto a plane. He had no idea where he was going.

Twenty-four hours later, Caraballo’s name disappeared from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s online detainee locator

On Monday, his wife, Johanny Sánchez, learned Caraballo was among more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants ﬂown over the weekend to El Salvador, where they are in a maximum-security prison after being accused by the Trump administration of belonging to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

Sánchez insists her husband isn’t a gang member She struggles even to ﬁnd logic in the accusation.

Flights by U.S. immigration authorities set off a frantic scramble

among terriﬁed families after hundreds of immigrants vanished from ICE’s online locator

Some turned up at that massive El Salvador prison, where visitors, recreation and education are not allowed. The U.S. has paid El Salvador’s government $6 million to hold immigrants, many of them Venezuelan, whose government rarely accepts deportees from the U.S.

But many families have no idea where to ﬁnd their loved ones. El Salvador has no online database to look up inmates, and families there often struggle to get information.

“I don’t know anything about my son,” said Xiomara Vizcaya, a 46-year-old Venezuelan.

Ali David Navas Vizcaya had been in U.S. detention since early 2024, when he was stopped at a U.S.-Mexico border crossing where he had an appointment to talk to immigration ofﬁcers. He called her late Friday and said he thought he was being deported to Venezuela or Mexico.

“He told me, ‘Finally we’re going to be together, and this nightmare is going to be over,’” Vizcaya said in telephone interview from her home

in the northern Venezuela city of Barquisimeto.

His name is no longer in ICE’s system. She said he has no criminal record and suspects he may have been mistakenly identiﬁed as a Tren de Aragua member because of several tattoos.

“He left for the American dream, to be able to help me ﬁnancially but he never had the chance to get out” of prison, she said.

Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2013, when its oil-dependent economy collapsed. Most initially went to other Latin American countries but more headed to the U.S. after COVID-19 restrictions lifted during the Biden administration.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced he had invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the U.S. to deport noncitizens without any legal recourse, including rights to appear before an immigration or federal court judge

Many conservatives have cheered the deportations and the Trump administration for taking a hard stance on immigration.

Woman who had sought protection in Colo. churches detained, advocates say

BY COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press

DENVER — A woman who gained prominence after she took refuge in churches in Colorado to avoid deportation during the ﬁrst Trump administration has been detained, immigration advocates said Tuesday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether Jeanette Vizguerra had been taken into custody Vizguerra, a mother of four, was arrested at a Denver-area Target store where she worked on Monday, said Jordan Garcia of the American

Supporters of immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra hold signs Tuesday outside the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement GEO Group detention facility in Aurora, Colo.

Friends Service Committee, who has been in contact with Vizguerra’s lawyer and family Vizguerra has been trying to gain

a visa given to crime victims that allows them to remain in the United States since she left sanctuary in churches in 2020, Garcia said.

City sets curfew amid protests

BY SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press

NEW DELHI — Authorities imposed an indeﬁnite curfew in parts of a western Indian city on Tuesday, a day after sectarian clashes were sparked by Hindu nationalist groups who want to demolish the tomb of a 17th-century Muslim Mughal ruler

Clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Maharashtra state’s Nagpur city broke out on Monday during a protest led by Hindu nationalist groups demanding the demolition of the tomb of Aurangzeb, a Muslim Mughal ruler who has been dead for more than 300 years.

Lawmaker Chandrashekhar

Bawankule said at least 34 police personnel and ﬁve other people were injured and several houses and vehicles were damaged during the violence. Senior police ofﬁce Ravinder Singal said at least 50 people have been arrested so far

Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra’s top elected ofﬁcial, said the violence began after “rumors were spread that things containing religious content were burnt” by the protesters, referring to the Quran. Aurangzeb’s tomb is in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar city, some 310 miles from Nagpur The city was earlier called Aurangabad, after the Mughal ruler

Aurangzeb is a loathed figure among India’s Hindu nationalists, who accuse him of persecuting Hindus during his rule in the 17th century, even though some historians say such stories are exaggerated. As tensions between Hindus and Muslims have mounted under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, scorn for Aurangzeb has grown. Modi has made references to Aurangzeb in the past, accusing him of persecuting Hindus. Such remarks have led to anxieties among the country’s significant Muslim minority who in recent years have been at the receiving end of violence from Hindu nationalists, emboldened by a prime minister who has mostly stayed mum on such attacks since he was first elected in 2014.

THE DENVER POST PHOTO By RJ SANGOSTI

Roberts rejects impeachment call

Trump demands removal of judge over ruling

BY CHRIS MEGERIAN, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MARK SHERMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON In an extraordinary display of conﬂict between the executive and judiciary branches, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected calls for impeaching judges shortly after President Donald Trump demanded the removal of one who ruled against his deportation plans.

The rebuke from the Supreme Court’s leader demonstrated how controversy over recent flights of Venezuelan immigrants has inﬂamed tensions over the judiciary’s role, with a legal case challenging Trump’s actions now threatening to spiral into a clash of constitutional powers.

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judi-

cial decision,” Roberts said. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

The rare statement came just hours after a social media post from Trump, who described U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg as an unelected “troublemaker and agitator.” Boasberg had issued an order blocking deportation ﬂights that Trump was carrying out by invoking wartime authorities from an 18th century law

“HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING!

I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATIONMAYHAVEBEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY,”

Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social “I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced

to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”

Although Trump has routinely criticized judges, especially as they limit his efforts to expand presidential power, his latest post escalated his conﬂict with a judiciary that’s been one of the few restraints on his aggressive agenda. Impeachment is a rare step that is usually taken only in cases of grave ethical or criminal misconduct.

The relationship between Roberts and Trump has shifted through the years. Roberts emphasized judicial independence during Trump’s ﬁrst term, taking issue with the president’s description of a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge” in 2018.

Before Trump was sworn in for his second term, Roberts warned against threats to the judiciary and called for even unpopular court decisions to be respected.

Judge: USAID dismantling likely violates Constitution

BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency likely violated the Constitution, a federal judge ruled Tuesday as he indeﬁnitely blocked DOGE from making further cuts to the agency The order requires the Trump administration to restore email and computer access to all employees of USAID, including those put on administrative leave, though it appears to stop short of reversing firings or fully resurrecting the agency In one of the ﬁrst DOGE lawsuits against Musk himself, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland rejected the Trump ad-

ministration’s position that Musk is merely President Donald Trump’s adviser

Musk’s public statements and social media posts demonstrate that he has

“ﬁrm control over DOGE,” the judge found pointing to an online post where Musk said he had “fed USAID into the wood chipper.”

The judge acknowledged that it’s likely that USAID is no longer capable of performing some of its statutorily required functions.

“Taken together these facts support the conclusion that USAID has been effectively eliminated,” Chuang wrote in the preliminary injunction.

The lawsuit filed by USAID employees and contractors argued that Musk and DOGE are wielding power the Constitution reserves only for those who win elections or are conﬁrmed by the Senate. Their

attorneys said the ruling “effectively halts or reverses” many of the steps taken to dismantle the agency

The administration has said that DOGE is searching for and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, consistent with the campaign message that helped Trump win the 2024 election. The White House and DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Musk, his team and Trump political appointee Pete Marocco have played a central role in the two-month dismantling of USAID.

In one instance in early February, the administration placed the agency’s top security ofﬁcials on forced leave after they tried to block DOGE workers from accessing USAID’s classified and sensitive documents.

BY MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research office and could fire more than 1,000 scientists and other employees who help provide the scientiﬁc foundation for rules safeguarding human health and ecosystems from environmental pollutants.

As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists — 75% of the research program’s staff could be laid off, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House Committee on

Science, Space and Technology. The planned layoffs, cast by the Trump administration as part of a broader push to shrink the size of the federal government and make it more efﬁcient, were assailed by critics as a massive dismantling of the EPA’s longstanding mission to protect public health and the environment. The plans were first reported by The New York Times.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said he wants to eliminate 65% of the agency’s budget, a huge spending cut that would require major stafﬁng reductions for jobs

such as monitoring air and water quality, responding to natural disasters and lead abatement, among many other agency functions. The EPA has also issued guidance directing that spending items greater than $50,000 require approval from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efﬁciency

The Office of Research and Development — EPA’s main science arm currently has 1,540 positions, excluding special government employees and public health officers, according to the memo. A majority of staff — ranging from 50% to 75% — “will not be retained,” the memo said.

•

The chief justice also had a prominent role in a major ruling last year that said presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

The decision helped Trump avoid one of his criminal trials before the election that returned him to the White House.

GETTy IMAGES PHOTO By WIN MCNAMEE

President Donald Trump, center, greets Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts on March 4.

Promise of Justice Initiative, as she lit a candle at an altar table.

“As we hold this space, may peace enter the heart of Jessie Hoffman and may light guide his path home.”

McCrary, who worked with Hoffman as a paralegal on his case 20 years ago, said he was one of the most reﬂective people she ever met.

“He has a level of depth that is rarely found in people,” McCrary said. “And I wish the world could see, and those in power could see, Jessie is not the same person he was when he was 18 years old.”

Charles Keith, impact and communities liaison for Death Penalty Action, traveled from Canton, Ohio, to attend the vigil. His brother was formerly on death row in Ohio but was taken off and granted life without parole. He now travels to executions across the country to advocate for the anti-death penalty movement.

“How does killing somebody solve anything?” Keith said. “It does not deter crime. You just destroyed that family.”

In addition to hearing speeches, those holding vigil meditated, prayed and took turns ringing a large bell brought by Death Penalty Action to pay tribute to Hoffman and others who have been executed

At 7:07 p.m., the vigil leaders announced to the crowd that Hoffman had “gone home.” The attendees sat in silence, some crying, others staring ahead.

Hoffman was the ﬁrst person Louisiana put to death using nitrogen gas, which the state legalized last year as an execution method. His execution was the ﬁrst in 15 years in the state.

Michael Cahoon, an organizer with The Promise of Justice Initiative, criticized nitrogen gas as being experimental. He also decried the practice of the death penalty as perpetuating cycles of violence.

“Nothing has changed today except more pain has been caused and another life has been lost,” Cahoon said.

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STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER

Alison McCrary, director of Louisiana InterFaith against Executions, talks to the media as she and other supporters of Jessie Hoffman Jr gathered outside the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola before his execution on Tuesday.

Faith leaders, activists and supporters of Jessie Hoffman Jr cry outside the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on Tuesday, moments after hearing that Hoffman had been executed.

His spiritual adviser, a Buddhist, knelt near him while chanting as Hoffman died. Media witnesses said they entered the death chamber at 6:17 p.m., that gas began to flow to Hoffman at 6:21 p.m. and that he started twitching. His hands clenched and his head jerked as the gas ﬂowed, they said, and his breathing grew increasingly shallow His last visible breath appeared at 6:37 p.m. and the curtains were closed to the death chamber shortly after When the curtains reopened at 6:50 p.m., the warden pronounced Hoffman dead.

Lawyers for Hoffman, the only one of Louisiana’s 56 death row prisoners who advocates acknowledged had exhausted his appeals, had filed a flurry of last-minute legal challenges in an attempt to spare his life.

“Jessie no longer bore any resemblance to the 18-year-old who killed Molly Elliott,” said one of his attorneys, Cecelia Kappel, in a statement following Hoffman’s death. “The State was able to execute him by pushing out a new protocol and setting execution dates to prevent careful judicial review and shrouding the process in secrecy.”

Judges in state and federal court struck Hoffman’s petitions down in a blizzard of orders Tuesday, including one from the U.S. Supreme Court. They cleared the way for the ﬁrst execution of its kind in the United States outside of Alabama, where ofﬁcials have put four people to death via nitrogen gas hypoxia in the past 14 months.

Andy Elliott, the husband of the victim in Hoffman’s case, called the execution “bittersweet news” in a statement Tuesday night.

“There is relief that this long nightmare is finally over but also renewed grief for Molly and sadness for Mr Hoffman’s family, whose nightmare began when mine did and who’ve also had to go through nearly 30 years of this gut-wrenching process through no fault of their own,” Elliott said. Hoffman’s wife, Illona, said Tuesday evening that he was failed by multiple systems. As a child, he was not kept safe and given the guidance he deserved, she said. And as an adult, another system chose vengeance over justice in

his death

“The past few weeks have been incredibly hard, filled with an unimaginable weight that no one should have to carry,” she said in a statement. “Yet through it all, Jessie remained grounded and calm. He faced everything with a strength and grace that most could never understand.”

Alabama’s nitrogen gas execution protocols formed a template for Louisiana ofﬁcials who recently crafted their own revised death penalty procedure. “We followed the protocol of Alabama,” Louisiana corrections Secretary Gary Westcott said. He called Hoffman’s execution by nitrogen gas “ﬂawless.”

That execution method — a source of deep controversy and criticism from religious activists and death penalty opponents, who contest that it is inhumane and experimental — emerged amid some states’ struggles to obtain drugs for lethal injections from pharma-

ceutical companies who became wary of being afﬁliated with capital punishment.

Hoffman’s execution culminated a political sea-change in Louisiana that ushered in a slew of more punitive criminal justice policies at the behest of Republican Gov Jeff Landry Landry, an ardent death penalty supporter, former law enforcement ofﬁcer and rising star in national conservative politics, took office early last year and swiftly exacted his will over the state Legislature to make nitrogen gas hypoxia and electrocution approved execution methods in the state.

Landry and his political allies argue that executions fulﬁll contracts that the government strikes with victims’ relatives once courts hand up capital convictions. For 15 years, he said the state was not fulﬁlling those contracts as Louisiana’s death chamber sat unused. Anti-death penalty advocates and some religious activists coun-

ter that Louisiana has long sentenced men to die only to later alter their sentences after uncovering legal system errors. Victims’ families have varied views on what constitutes justice, and carrying out executions in their names overlooks the complexity of those views, they argue.

Landry did not witness Hoffman’s execution, a spokesperson said, though members of his staff were present at Angola on Tuesday evening.

“If you commit heinous acts of violence in this State, it will cost you your life,” Landry said in a statement after Hoffman’s death.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, was at Angola but did not witness the execution.

Among the challenges to Hoffman’s execution that emerged Tuesday was a plea from a family member of Hoffman’s victim.

Kate Murphy, a sister-in-law to Elliott, asked in a letter dated

Monday for a pardon hearing for Hoffman.

“I want my opportunity to speak as a victim’s family member in the clemency process before Jessie is executed and am distraught that my voice cannot be heard,” Murphy wrote. “Executing Jessie Hoffman is not justice in my name, it is the opposite.”

Andy Elliott said last week that he was torn about the execution after spending nearly 30 years waiting for ﬁnality in the case. He said he wanted the case to come to a close but that he’d become indifferent toward the choice between the death penalty and life in prison without parole.

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections did not make Hoffman available for interviews ahead of his execution and has declined interview requests from The Times-Picayune | The Advocate.

STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER

Florence Ruffin, front, the younger sister of Jessie Hoffman Jr.,

Penitentiary at Angola upon hearing that her brother was executed on Tuesday.

EXECUTES

Continued from page 8A

Hoffman was unsuccessful before four separate courts Tuesday in seeking a reprieve. State and federal judges rejected his arguments that the execution amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, that it violated state protections for religious freedom and that Hoffman was wrongly sentenced by an all-White jury biased by racial stereotypes. Hoffman’s lawyers also lost a bid to have a federal judge order that the execution be videotaped and livestreamed.

Shortly before the state was expected to put him to death, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision not to intervene in Hoffman’s case. Hoffman had argued to them that breathing nitrogen gas would violate his Buddhist beliefs.

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed with the majority decision and said they would grant a stay for Hoffman.

Justice Neil Gorsuch also wrote a dissent, saying he would issue a stay Gorsuch argued that both the federal district and appeals courts in Hoffman’s case should have considered his claim about the execution method violating his faith under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act

Within the walls of Angola, the sprawling state prison complex located deep within rural West Feliciana Parish, the mood among prisoners and staff — particularly those who live and work in proximity to death row — grew increasingly dour as Hoffman’s execution neared, according to multiple people familiar with the prison who spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount private discussions with ofﬁcials.

LIBRARY

Continued from page 1A

library

“This is a win for Lafayette,” Boudreaux said after the meeting. “I’m conﬁdent that we will not reach any more roadblocks and it will get built.”

Board Vice President Allan Moore offered the motion to build the 20,500-square-foot library with at least 1,200 square feet of additional space being designated for a maker’s space to rival the maker’s space of any other library in South Louisiana. It should include, he said, artiﬁcial-intelligence tools, 3D printers, a laser cutter, augmented reality tools, virtual reality tools, advanced software for engineering and design, robotics equipment and media production tools. The 20,500-square-foot library will be large enough to accommodate all the things identiﬁed by the community as wants and needs including a meeting room to accommodate 60 people, a stage, wall kitchen, multipurpose classroom, seven small group study rooms, 16 computers in an adult commons area, STEM/STEAM learning area in the youth services department, technology stations and a gaming area.

Email Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

Darrel Vannoy, the warden of the prison, said that his staff had acted professionally in carrying out Hoffman’s execution.

“They showed Mr Hoffman dignity and respect,

and I am proud of them,” he said.

Inmates on death row were “kind of quiet and solemn today,” Vannoy added. The Angola death chamber where Hoffman was

executed is located within a unit that’s home to some of the prison’s most wellbehaved inmates. Called Camp F, that unit is located near the death row building where the con-

demned men are housed. Both buildings are located in the northwest swath of the massive prison complex, people familiar with the prison layout said. Camp F houses predominantly older prisoners who are considered low-security risks and have shown themselves to be well-behaved.

Under new execution protocols developed by corrections ofﬁcials, Hoffman was moved from death row to an isolated cell within Camp F several days before his execution date.

He testified in a recent court hearing that the move was difficult for him because he was placed in isolation and away from what he was used to. Hoffman would have taken about 50 steps from that temporary holding cell to the death chamber in the moments before his execution, said one of the people familiar with the prison layout.

Hoffman was put to death at dusk on a clear-skied Loui-

siana spring day Yellow and blue wildﬂowers dotted the rolling green hills abutting the Tunica trace, a winding, two-lane road that juts 20 miles northwest from the village of St. Francisville and comes to an abrupt end at the prison gates. Hoffman’s family visited him in the hours leading up to his death, including his wife. Signs of heavier-than-normal security were everywhere at Angola on Tuesday Reporters arriving at the prison were screened twice by state law enforcement ofﬁcers at a pair of vehicle checkpoints along the road leading to the prison gates. A few hundred feet before the gates, a group of anti-death penalty advocates held a vigil and protested the execution, hugging, crying and speaking quietly Staff writers Meghan Friedmann, Andrea Gallo, Haley Miller and Jillian Kramer contributed to this report.

JointheAdventureatthe LouisianaSportsmanShow

Hunting,ﬁshing,boating,critters,andscience Yes, thereisaconnection. Find outmoreatthe LouisianaSportsman Show,presented by Shell, March28– 31 in LaPlace.

This year,we’re mixing outdoorfun with interactivelearningthrough exciting STEM activities that willspark curiosityinkidsand adults alike! Forthe first time ever,Louisiana’s largesthunting andfishingshowisintroducinghands-onSTEM(Science, Technology Engineering, andMathematics)experiments Head over to theSTEMareaonSaturdayand Sunday whereexperienced Louisianaeducators willleadyou throughfantastic experiments. Ever wondered howwecan protectour homes from rising waters?Testyourcreativity in our WaterErosionexperimentwhere LEGO bricks will representLouisiana’s coastalhomes.Will your popsicle stickwallstand againsterosion? Come findout—thisisanexperienceyou don’t want to miss

Step into theshoes (orbeaks)ofLouisiana’s diversebirdspecies.Using varioustools like plasticspoons, tongs, straws, andtweezers, see if youcan gather “food” like abrown pelican or abluejay.Joininthe Bird Beak Adaptation Challengetouncover theuniqueadaptations that help thesemagnificent birdsthrivein ourstate Nikole Blanchard, AdjunctProfessor at LSUinthe School of Educationsays, “STEM activities demonstratethe connection between science andreal-worldapplicationswhile making learningexciting.

Don’tforgettovisit theWetland Watchers of HarryHurst Middle School on Saturday and Sunday to meet amazingLouisiana critters Experience an intriguing showcase of local wildlife,fromsnakestolizards,rabbits to frogs. Getthe chance to touchand hold fascinating critters whilelearningabout Louisianaecosystems.Thiseducational adventurebringsyou face-to-face with thestate’s native wildlife for auniquefamilyactivity.

That’s notall.Let your kids unleashtheir energy in theoutdoor Kids’Zone, packed with funrecreationalequipment andgiant inﬂatables. It’s theperfect wayfor children to enjoy theoutdoorswhile making lastingmemories with family andfriends

JoinusattheSt.JohnCommunityCenterand Thomas F. DaleyMemorialParkonHighway 51 in LaPlace. Enjoyfreeparking,and remember theshowtimes:-Friday:noon-7p.m.–Saturday: 9a.m.–7 p.m. -Sunday: 10 a.m. –5 p.m. (Special STEM andWetland Watchers activities are only availableSaturdayand Sunday).

Don’t miss outonthisexcitingopportunity to learn, explore, andspend time with your family.Wecan’t wait to seeyou at theLouisiana SportsmanShow.

FunFact: Didyou know Louisiana’sstate bird,the brownpelican,has thelargest beak of anybirdspecies?Comediscovermorecoolfacts like this andpassagoodtime.

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Sister Helen Prejean, a longtime anti-execution activist, stands outside the entrance to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on Tuesday moments after hearing that Jessie Hoffman Jr had been executed.

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Property taxes up for renewal

Two Lafayette Parish levies on ballot

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Lafayette Parish residents would not see a change in their property tax bills if two taxes up for renewal on the Saturday, March 29, ballot are renewed

Festival releases music schedule

Global bands, visitors to flood Lafayette

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

About five weeks from now, thousands of people will gather in Lafayette for one of Louisiana’s most anticipated festival weekends.

Festival International de Louisiane brings in performers, artists, vendors and guests from around the world to experience south Louisiana’s unique culture and share a little bit of theirs.

This year, festival stages across downtown Lafayette will host more than 60 bands from countries such as Ukraine, Jamaica, France, Mexico and Ireland. Global musicians will be joined by Louisiana players beloved by local Cajun and Creole fans, such as T’Monde, Zachary Richard and Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band. The international music exchange fosters appreciation for the role Acadiana plays in global Francophone culture and explores the many ways that culture is influenced by a wide range of artists, styles and sounds.

Festival International de Louisiane will be held April 23-27 in downtown Lafayette. The festival is free to attend.

Wednesday, April 23

SCÈNE OCHSNER LAFAYETTE GENERAL

FAIS DO DO

6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.: Donna the Buffalo (New York)

8:15 p.m to 9:30 p.m.: Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band (Louisiana)

Thursday, April 24

SCÈNE LUS INTERNATIONALE

6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.: Son de Madera (Mexico)

7:30 p.m to 7:45 p.m.: Opening ceremonies

8 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Zar Electrik (France/Morocco)

9:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.: Samantha Fish (Louisiana)

SCÈNE OCHSNER LAFAYETTE GENERAL FAIS DO DO

6 p.m. to 7 p.m.: Soul Express Brass Band (Louisiana)

7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.: Yallah

Voters across the parish are being asked to renew a 4.47-mill property tax and a 3.81-mill property tax. Property owners pay those amounts, which are slightly higher than voters approved because property values in the parish overall decreased in value with the 2020 reap-

praisal, Lafayette Parish Assessor Justin Centanni said Tuesday A mill is one-one-thousandth of a dollar and is equal to $1 of tax for each $1,000 of assessed property value. The Lafayette Parish Council voted to increase or roll those millages forward slightly to collect the same amount of money generated before the property values dropped.

“The Parish Council has been levying that increased millage rate since then,” Centanni said. Now voters are being asked to renew the millages at that rate. Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Boulet on Monday encouraged voters to approve the two property taxes.

“The money is in roads, bridges, drainage, ﬁre protection,” she said.

“It is in really good things we’re struggling to fund some of. So they’re really important millages.”

The 4.47-mill tax is expected to generate about $12.7 million a year to construct, improve and maintain roads and bridges in Lafayette Parish.

The 4.47 mills that is currently be-

a restaurant

Workers

DON’S DEMOLITION

BY ADAM DAIGLE Acadiana business editor

Demolition work began Tuesday on the former Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse in downtown Lafayette to clear the space for an 83-room hotel planned on the site.

Officials with the property announced the demo work Friday as the ﬁrst step in the process for the historic building at Lee Avenue and Vermilion Street Once the property

is cleared, work can begin on the $19 million, four-story building that is expected to be complete by mid-2026.

Lafayette Consolidated Government issued a demo permit on the property earlier this month.

The Don’s building, which dates back to 1934, was a popular destination for locals and visitors over the years. The building has been empty since the restaurant closed in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The hotel will also feature a restaurant space, two suites, an outdoor pool and bar and a 2,500-square-foot event space.

Sans Souci Properties is managed by Lafayette business owners Gus Rezende, Ryan Pecot, BJ Crist and John Peterson. The group bought the property at 301 E. Vermilion St. in 2020 and renamed it Ashby Crossing as a nod to Ashby Landry and his son,

Man arrested with nearly $70K in fentanyl

wrote in a news release.

A Lafayette man was arrested Monday for possession of fentanyl worth about $68,000. Tanakous Onezine, 37, of Lafayette, was apprehended around 1:45 p.m. Monday when detectives with the Lafayette police Drug Narcotics Division executed a search warrant at an apartment at 1512 Louisiana Ave., Lafayette police public information ofﬁcer Sgt. Robin Green

Onezine was wanted on an active arrest warrant for distribution of Schedule I (MDMA).

A subsequent search of the residence yielded: n 856 pressed pills that fieldtested positive for fentanyl, with an approximate weight of 170 grams n $2,590 in U.S. currency n A 9 mm H&K pistol with a magazine containing 11 rounds of ammunition. The estimated street value of the seized fentanyl is $68,000, Green reported.

Onezine was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center and is being held on $330,000 bail, according to the jail’s online roster He was charged with illegal carrying of a weapon, transactions involving proceeds from a drug offense and two counts of possession with intent to distribute Schedule I drugs.

Two killed in crash on Monday, police say

Two people were killed in a Monday night crash in St. Martin

Parish. Kent Allemand, 42, and Angel Allemand, 52, both of Arnaudville, died Monday after their vehicle drove off the road along La. 347, according to a Louisiana State Police announcement. State Police responded shortly before 9 p.m. to reports of a single-vehicle crash along La 347 near Huron Road north of Cecilia.

An investigation revealed, for unknown reasons, the vehicle driven by Kent Allemand drove off the right side before striking

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

move

sign as demolition of Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse begins on Tuesday in downtown Lafayette.

FESTIV

Continued from pag

Mixanteña de Santa Cecilia (Mexico)

4 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.: Red Baraat (India/U.S.)

5:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.: Black Uhuru (Jamaica)

SCÈNE OCHSNER LAFAYETTE

GENERAL FAIS DO DO

BLOTTER

Continued from page 1B

a tree

TAXES

Continued

ing collected represents a 0.30mill increase over the 4.17 mills voters authorized to be levied through 2026 in a March 2015 election

The parish government is collecting 3.81 mills on property with the tax, and approving the proposition on the March 29 ballot would keep it at that rate. Be-

The 3.81-mill property is expected to generate about $10.8 million a year That money will be used for services in the parish, including: n 1.24 mills for parishwide drainage n 0.422 mills for ﬁre protection in unincorporated areas n 0.078 mills for roads and bridges n 2.07 mills for public health units, mosquito control, animal control and expenses of the coroner

Boutin and Nation are being held at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center

Duson police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact investigators at (337) 873-6736.

damage, primarily in the garage and attic area. Both vehicles were destroyed.

Noon to 1:15 p.m.: The Rayo Brothers (Louisiana)

The two were unrestrained at the time of the crash and suffered fatal injuries.

Fire

damages

8 p.m. to p.m.:

Gnahoré (I ast)

.m. to 3 p.m.: Lost Ramblers (Louisiana)

3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.: Mucca Pazza (U.S.)

5:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: Dobet Gnahoré (Ivory Coast)

5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.:

7:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.:

& His Red Hot Louisiana Band with guest Marcia Ball (Louisiana)

8:45 p.m. to 10 p.m.: Y gody (Ukraine) SCÈNE OCHSNER LAFAYETTE

5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.: Zar Electrik (France/Morocco)

6:45 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Grupo Fantasma (Mexico/U.S.)

8:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.: Bab

L’Bluz (France/Morocco)

SCÈNE WELLCARE

SCÈNE DES JEUNES Noon to 12:45 p.m.: Brazos Huval Student Showcase (Louisiana)

1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m.: Rockin’ Trojans — LJ Alleman Fine Arts Academy House Band (Louisiana)

3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.: RAM (Haiti)

LUS LA CRAFT BIERGARTEN

2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Brewmasters’ Talk: Gnarly Barley Brewing (Hammond)

2:45 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Battle of the Bands: First place, Not Our Sons; second place, The Slackers (Louisiana)

SCÈNE WELLCARE LAFAYETTE

12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.: gJam (Ireland)

2 p.m to 3:15 p.m.: Baie (Canada)

3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Shauit (Canada)

5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.: The Debtors (Louisiana)

SCÈNE DES JEUNES

12:30 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.: FIRE Expressions Performing Arts Conservatory (Louisiana)

1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Lafayette Lion Dance (Louisiana)

3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.: JigJam (Ireland) LUS LA CRAFT BIERGARTEN

12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m.: Major Handy & the Louisiana Blues Band (Louisiana) 2:15 2:45 .m.: Rally

S 4:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.: Baie (Canada)

6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.: Grupo Fantasma (Mexico/U.S.)

Reunion: Remembering Jillian Johnson (Louisiana)

The crash remains under investigation.

Two injured, two arrested in shooting

Police arrested two people in connection to a weekend shooting that left two others injured.

The shooting occurred in the 800 block of First Street in the early morning hours of Saturday, according to KADN reports.

A man and woman were wounded in the shooting and were treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.

Marcelle Boutin, 18, and Preston Nation, 20, were arrested in connection to the shooting. Boutin faces one count of attempted second-degree murder and principal to second-degree murder Nation faces one count of attempted seconddegree murder

house, destroys 2 vehicles

A house in the 100 block of Greenhaven Drive off La Neuville Road in Lafayette suffered moderate damage from a fire early Sunday Alton Trahan, public information officer with the Lafayette Fire Department, said in a news release that firefighters responded to the house fire around 12:19 a.m. and had the fire under control within 15 minutes.

Occupants of the house discovered the ﬁre in the home’s garage, Trahan wrote. They exited the house without injury and called 911.

When firefighters arrived, they found the garage and two vehicles fully involved.

The house, he wrote, sustained moderate fire

Fire ofﬁcials are investigating the cause of the ﬁre. 2 arrested in Kaplan on drug charges

Two people were arrested recently in Kaplan on various drug charges related to the possession of more than 1,000 grams of suspected marijuana, more than 200 grams of suspected methamphetamine and a 9 mm handgun.

Chaquam Williams, 24, was found hiding under a bed inside a residence in the 1100 block of 11th Street in Kaplan on March 10 when the Vermilion Municipal and Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant, according to a news release by Sheriff Eddie Langlinais.

Mary Antoine, 28, arrived while police searched the residence and claimed ownership of the home, he wrote. Both were placed under arrest in connection with the narcotics police found.

Email Joanna Brown at joanna.brown@ theadvocate.com.

year agowhenthe former locationburned down.

7:45 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Mucca Pazza (U.S.)

SCÈNE OCHSNER LAFAYETTE GENERAL FAIS DO DO

8:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.: Baie (Canada)

4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.: Tommy McLain + CC Adcock with guests Tiffany Lamson & Kelli Jones (Louisiana)

5:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.: CC Adcock & the Lafayette Marquis (Louisiana)

which owner Vincent Starwood opened bought last summer and has since worked to put back into commerce.

12:15 p.m. to 1:45 p m.: Geno Delafose & French

Rockin’ Boogie (Louisiana)

2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: JigJam (Ireland)

original location for its returning customers, she noted, “but it was bigenough for us to do adrivethru plus it had cooler spaces for us to store our daiquiris and crawﬁsh,” Louvierre said.

4 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.: Belles of the Boot ft. Connie G, Donna Angelle & Sarah Russo (Louisiana)

5:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.: Etran

The building, which became available when the franchisee for that location closed it along with another in Lafayette in December,isdoublethe size of their old building. Louvierre said they may expand the menu to include aseafood market located at the entrance of the business

“Weare trying ourhardest to get open as soon as we can,” Louvierre said. “Wemiss interacting with our customers in the public, and we are just excited to get back up and running as soon as we can.” Other businesses have opened in the four-unit business center at 417 NE EvangelineThruway,

7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.: Leroy Thomas & the Zydeco Roadrunners (Louisiana) Sunday, April 27

SCÈNE LUS INTERNATIONALE

12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.:

Abody contour shop and a laundromat will openinthe development,which wasthe former Hanger Prosthetics& Orthotics. It already houses asmall grocerystore,called Starwood Marketplace, and a beauty salon/barbershop.

Voices of Progressive Gospel Choir (Louisiana)

2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.:

“Everywhere yougo, you gotta get on the road and go to the otherside of town to get anything you need,” Starwood said. “And Isaid I’ll put asmallgrocerystore there to help the community out. It was just heartbreaking when Isee these older folksget on the bus to go all the way on the other side of town just to get groceries because everything on our side of town seems to notbe important.” Starwood said he used his own moneytobuy the abandoned ofﬁce, which lies in an “opportunity zone.” He used most of his military money to help get his business up and running.

“I called everyresourcein Lafayette to help me, even with thiscoronavirus,” he said. “The government claimed to have all these resourcesfor smallbusinesses, but we couldn’tseem to ﬁnd adollar of it.” Other developments along the Thruway include: n Baton Rouge attorneys Harry DanielsIII andChristopher Washington bought property at 718 NW Evangeline Thruway and later at 800 NW Evangeline Thruway.Attempts to reach them were unsuccessful.Work beganearlier last month on the ﬁrst property n Theformer car dealership at 1406 NE Evangeline Thruway is under contract, according to the statecommercialproperty database. Theproperty, whichwas used temporarily last year by food distributor last fall, is listed at $540,000 andincludestwo buildings and acombined 25,000square feet. Email Symone Graham at news@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Duhè, Martin St Peter’s Catholic Church at 11am

Obituaries

Lerille, Red 'Mr. America 1960'

AMass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 10:00 AM at St. Mary, Mother of the Church in Lafayette for Red Lerille, age, 88, who passed away on Friday, March 14, 2025 in Lafayette, Louisiana Reverend Cedric Sonnier, Pastor, St. Mary, Mother of the Church, will be the Celebrant of the Mass. Homilist will be The Most Reverend J. Douglas Deshotel,DD, Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette Louisiana. The Most Reverend Michael Jarrell, Bishop Emeritus, will be in attendance. Reverend Louis Richard, Reverend Jude Halphen, Reverend Steve LeBlanc and Reverend Donald Bernard will serve as Concelebrants. Interment willbeheld in Holy Mary Mother of God Cemetery in Lafayette.

The family requests that visitation be observed on Friday, March 21, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Martin &Castille's DOWNTOWN Location. There will be no public visitation on Saturday.

He leaves behind his wife of 62 years, Emma Davis Lerille; his brother, Gary Lerille; his son, Mark Lerille and wife, Jacquie Ring Lerille and their children, Brady Lerilleand wife, Olivia LeBlanc Lerille, Emily Lerille and OliviaLerille; his daughter, Kackie Lerille; his daughter, Christine "Tine" LerilleMcGill and husband, Geoffrey McGill and their children, Tatum McGill and Adison McGill; his son, Stanley Lerille and wife, Annie Lerille and their children, Ainsley Lerille, DavisLerille,Cooper Citron, Christopher Citron and LiamLerille; and six nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lloyd J. Lerille and Mabel Parr Lerille. Born in New Orleans, raised in Harvey, Louisiana Red graduated from Holy Cross High School in New Orleans. He arrived in Lafayette, Louisiana on September 9, 1959 after being honorably discharged from the Navy. Red described the moment that he stepped off the TransTexas DC-3, "I stepped off into ittle piece of Heaven." Red aman who set many for himself and because ALL the wonderful he met in his life achieved those goals. Red received numerous prestigious awards throughout his life, although recognition was never motivation, he humbly accepted the Lafayette Civic Cup, ULL Outstanding Alumni Award, ULL Honorary Business Doctorate, and the HFA Hall of Fame Award,to name afew. In addition to being apioneer in the fitness and an icon for the Acadiana area, he was egend in the rebuilding of antiques airplanes. Over the years he was featured in many aviation magazines for show quality restoration he mastered on his planes winning the Grand Ch pion AAA and Bronze Lindy at Oshkosh.

ille, CooperCitron, Christopher Citron and Liam Lerille; and six niecesand nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lloyd J. Lerille and Mabel Parr Lerille.

Born in New Orleans, raised in Harvey, Louisiana Red graduated from Holy Cross High School in New Orleans. He arrivedin Lafayette,Louisiana on September 9, 1959 after being honorably discharged from the Navy. Reddescribed the moment that he stepped off the TransTexas DC-3, "Isteppedoff into alittle piece of Heaven."

Red was aman who set many goals for himself and because of ALL the wonderful people he met in his life he achievedthose goals.

Red receivednumerous prestigious awards throughout his life, although recognition was never his motivation, he humbly acceptedthe Lafayette Civic Cup, ULL Outstanding Alumni Award, ULL Honorary Business Doctorate, and the HFA Hall of Fame Award, to name afew. In addition to being apioneer in the fitness industry and an icon for the Acadiana area, he was equally alegend in the rebuilding of antiques airplanes. Over the years he was featured in many aviation magazinesfor the show quality restoration he mastered on hisplanes winning the Grand Champion AAA and Bronze Lindy at Oshkosh. Red also had a host of otherpassions including collecting sports cars, motorcycles andbicycles. He loved histoys and enjoyed conversing with otherenthusiasts about them. Another hobby that he enjoyed was the building of modeltrain layouts- his attention to detail was impeccable.Everything that Red did was first class-he never settled for less than his best.

Red was afaithful servant, lovedhis church, his family, RED'S,his current and past employees, his members and his community. Red leaves this world a better place,never to be forgotten Threesimple letters, one simplewordRED!

Memorial contributions in Red's name may be made to the Carmelite Monastery, 1250 Carmel Dr, Lafayette,LA70501, Hospice of Acadiana, 2600 Johnston Street, Suite 200 Lafayette,LA. 70506 https:/ /hospiceacadiana.com/, or to Camp Bon Coeur, 300 Ridge Road, Suite K Lafayette,LA. 70506 https:/ /www.heartcamp.com/ View the obituary and guestbook online at www.mourning.com

Martin &Castille Funeral Home -DOWNTOWN, 330 St. LandryStreet, Lafayette,Louisiana 70506, 337-234-2311

cars, motorcycles and bicycles. He loved his toys and enjoyed conversing with other enthusiasts about them. Another hobby that he enjoyed was the building of model train layouts- his attentiontodetail was impeccable. Everything that Red did was first class-he never settled for less than his best Red was afaithful servant,loved his church, his family, RED'S, his current and past employees, his members and his community. Red leaves this world a better place, never to be forgotten Three simple letters, one simple wordRED! Memorial contributions in Red's name may be made to theCarmelite Monastery, 1250 Carmel Dr, Lafayette,LA70501, Hospice of Acadiana, 2600 Johnston Street,Suite 200 Lafayette,LA. 70506 https:/ /hospiceacadiana.com/, or to Camp Bon Coeur, 300 Ridge Road,SuiteK Lafayette, LA.70506 https:/ /www.heartcamp.com/. View the obituary and guestbook online at www.mourning.com

Martin &Castille Funeral Home -DOWNTOWN, 330 St. Landry Street Lafayette, Louisiana 70506, 337-234-2311

Medicare doesn’tpay for dental care.1

That’s right. As good as Medicare is, it was never meanttocover

Early detection canprevent small problems from becomingexpensive ones

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OUR VIEWS

Tulane, other La. schools unfairly ensnared in anti-DEI dragnet

As part of their mission, Louisiana’s higher education institutions have routinely identiﬁed talented individuals from marginalized communities and given them a shot at a better life — and a reason to lend their skills to a state that desperately needs them

Yet now, the Trump administration has cast a pall over what was once considered an incontrovertible beneﬁt of having top-notch colleges and universities in your state. Last week, the Department of Education’s Ofﬁce of Civil Rights announced it was investigating Tulane University and 44 other institutions nationwide for alleged violations of Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in educational programs that receive federal funding.

Tulane, Duke, Yale and Notre Dame are among the institutions being scrutinized for working with a nonproﬁt called the Ph.D Project, the goal of which is to increase racial diversity among faculty at business schools

It’s all part of the Trump administration’s concerted effort to root out all initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion in government and the broader society Even for those who may agree that it’s time we ﬁnd a new yardstick to evaluate who is most in need of a leg up, moves like this one come across as extraordinarily petty So much so that we’re left to wonder what’s really at play here.

Tulane has proven that it is committed to the welfare of all its students and our state It offers several generous scholarships and other beneﬁts without regard to race, for Louisiana residents. It and other Louisiana universities give back to our communities in a multitude of ways.

In February, the U.S. Department of Education sent a memo to schools, calling racial preferences in admissions, hiring, scholarships or other decisions “illegal and morally reprehensible.”

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has cut off federal funding to several teachertraining programs aimed at attracting more people of color to the profession, including some in Louisiana that beneﬁted Tulane, Xavier and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette It has threatened to pull grants from universities it says aren’t doing enough to combat antisemitism. It is investigating schools it says use race in scholarship decisions.

Facing the loss of $320 million in annual federal funding, Tulane’s leaders have attempted to respond. The school’s Ofﬁce of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion has become the Ofﬁce of Academic Excellence and Opportunity. And the university is looking at other ways it can comply with federal guidance

We hope it’s enough to take the target off its back, but we have our doubts. All of this is looking less and less like a meaningful attempt to articulate a future framework for our educational institutions to assess merit and more and more like a push to keep a Big Brother lens on higher ed institutions that government ofﬁcials perceive as a threat The real threat, though, may be lurking in our halls of power, not in our ivory towers.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title 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.

OPINION

Editorial on prosecutors overlooked the real problem

Your Feb. 23 editorial entitled “Lack of consequences for misbehaving prosecutors undermines justice system” included the following acknowledgment: “We know that there are many aggressive, hard-working and fair prosecutors in Louisiana’s courtrooms. And that, by and large, they are careful to make sure that their Brady obligations are met when working a case against a defendant.”

I wholeheartedly agree with your statement. Louisiana’s elected district attorneys work hard to make sure their assistants are sensitive to and compliant with a prosecutor’s ethical obligation to disclose information to the defense.

The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board’s website has statistics that catalog not only how many lawyers were disciplined in any given year, but also how many complaints were ﬁled and what those complaints alleged. A review of the LADB statistics puts in context the frequency of complaints that allege not only prosecutor misconduct, but criminal defense counsel misconduct as well.

For the 10-year period from 2015

through 2024, the statistics show that 24,373 complaints were lodged against lawyers in general. Only 65 of those complaints, a mere .00267% of the total ﬁled, claimed misconduct allegedly committed by a prosecutor During that same period, the disciplinary system ﬁelded 801 ineffective assistance of counsel complaints against criminal defense lawyers, which is 12 times more than those lodged against prosecutors.

While my colleagues across the state and I are sensitive about any instance of prosecutor misconduct, the disciplinary statistics support the conclusion that legitimate instances of such misconduct complaints are rare. That is particularly true when compared to complaints against criminal defense lawyers or lawyers whose practices focus on civil cases. The title of your editorial might be viewed as more balanced if it had spoken to misbehaving “lawyers” rather than prosecutors.

HILLAR MOORE district attorney, East Baton Rouge Parish

Conservative viewpoints not adequately represented

Four days a week, the newspaper features a section in the editorial pages dedicated to reader opinions. These reader submissions are listed under the heading “Your Views.” But if you are in the majority of state voters who identify as Republican or hold conservative viewpoints, you are now well aware that letters selected for publication regularly short-change and detract from your views.

After regularly noting these imbalances in reader letters dealing with politics, I decided to quantify my concerns by actually calculating the extent of contrast in whose viewpoints get published. For the four days of the week beginning

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

with Monday, Feb. 24 to Thursday, Feb. 27, I took a ruler to each day’s politically oriented reader letters from my newspaper subscription and actually measured how much space was dedicated to anticonservative stances to those favoring pro-conservative viewpoints. The results were shocking: I calculated 242 square inches of space dedicated to letters denigrating conservative viewpoints versus 54 square inches dedicated to proconservative letter writers during that same time. What more needs to be said?

PATRICK GROSSIE Lafayette

Argument against men muddles abortion debate

I am writing to reply to Phyliss Lear’s letter headlined, “Fight to charge N.Y doctor for abortion misses point.” I believe Lear misses the point. For starters, Lear refers to men three times as “sperm donors.” That says a lot. Lear states, “This is the glaring hole in today’s abortion laws: The sperm donors are never prosecuted for the abortion of the children they conceive.” It is not a crime to impregnate someone, for conception to occur Rape and statutory rape are crimes. Many people, including myself, believe that under such circumstances, a woman absolutely has the right to choose. However, men have no rights. No man can legally force a woman to become pregnant or have an abortion. Therefore, if it is a woman’s body and a woman’s choice, then a man cannot be held responsible for that choice, especially if it results in an abortion. By the way, there isn’t a single place in this country where deadbeat dad and child support laws do not exist. Well, in case Lear forgot, sperm donors do not get the right to abort our lifelong responsibility on a whim with a one-time fee and or procedure and nor should “sperm recipients.” CLAY DOREMUS Baton Rouge

Brumley’s success worthy of spotlight

I applaud Cal Thomas on his Feb. 21 column, “History teaches there is no substitute for victory.” Strongly agreeing with Thomas is a once in-a-millennium event for me, and it is with pleasure that I read the historical facts of Neville Chamberlain conceding the Czech Republic to Hitler in their 1938 meeting in Munich, for the purpose of bringing “peace for our time.” We know the subsequent consequences of World War II.

Writing about the Trump position on ceding Ukraine to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Thomas cautions, “What happened in 1938

when an evil monster was allowed to have his way launching the Holocaust, perhaps it needs another reminder Accommodating evil never ends well.” Sage advice, yet sadly doubtful that President Donald Trump and his policymakers are seeking wisdom over misdirected ideology Yes, history does teach us important facts, but who in the current administration cares about either facts or history? But then, perhaps, accommodating Putin at the peril of the U.S. is the goal. DAVID ELIZARDI Metairie Columnist gave

Boy oh boy, are Louisiana’s students, teachers and schools lucky to have Superintendent Cade Brumley leading education in our state? Results speak for themselves, and he has repeated successes moving from DeSoto to Jefferson parishes to now leading the entire state, and he’s homegrown to boot! Congrats to Brumley and the newspaper for the timely and positive “On The Record” interview JOHN K ROBERTS III Gretna

By a recent dereliction of duty, the Supreme Court has demonstrated that sometimes the proper regret about judicial activism is that there is too little of it. The court refused to hear a case that would have allowed it to clarify a doctrine that has become an impediment to remedies for even gross government violations of individuals’ constitutionally guaranteed rights.

In 2016, Kodi Gaines then 5, was seriously wounded by a Baltimore County police corporal who was, he later explained, “hot” and “frustrated” during a six-hour standoff on a sweltering August day in a Baltimore suburb. The corporal was, however, protected by court-granted “qualified immunity” from liability for his appalling misjudgment. Qualified immunity is frequently misapplied because the Supreme Court has declined to dispel confusion that has proliferated in the absence of clarity that the court could have provided by taking up Kodi’s case. According to court documents, when two police officers arrived to serve Kodi’s mother with misdemeanor arrest warrants (arising from traffic violations), they encountered her with Kodi, a shotgun in her lap. The officers withdrew and summoned more than 30 backup officers. They surrounded the apartment building and cut its power, and hence its air conditioning When Kodi’s mother went to the kitchen to make him a sandwich, she took her shotgun but pointed it at no officer Although she seemingly posed no threat of flight or imminent harm, the police corporal, who had been in an adjacent apartment, and who testified that he knew Kodi was somewhere behind the kitchen’s drywall partition, fired his rifle at the mother The bullet hit

her in the back, ricocheted off the refrigerator and struck Kodi’s face. The corporal then entered the apartment and killed the mother with three more shots, one of which shattered Kodi’s elbow His injuries required multiple surgeries In a suit filed on Kodi’s behalf, a jury awarded him monetary compensation for violations of his constitutional rights. But an appellate court found that no “well-settled law” established that an innocent bystander has a right to be free from injury from a gunshot intended for someone else. So, the “hot” and “frustrated” corporal was protected by qualified immunity In 1871, Congress legislated that government officials who violate citizens’ constitutional rights “shall be liable to the party injured.” In 1982, however, the Supreme Court substantially weakened this guarantee. It held that for an official to receive qualified immunity for his conduct, the conduct must violate “clearly established law.” This, in turn, has been construed to mean that trivial differences between the fact patterns in even egregious violations of rights mean that the abusive official did not have “fair warning” that his abuses, however glaring, were wrong.

The Supreme Court has, however, held that such immunity does not shield officers whose constitutional violations are “so obvious” and “clear” that a reasonable officer’s sense of justice should suffice as “fair warning” of their acts’ illegality, even absent a precisely similar precedent.

So, the Maryland court erred in considering only whether relevant prior cases exist. It wrongly ignored — as various federal circuit courts of appeal have done the Supreme Court’s obvi-

President Donald Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have outraged the Beltway by dismissing top generals, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown. This is being called an “unprecedented purge” and a step toward the politicization of the military At the very least, though, these moves send a message that change is coming to an ossiﬁed Pentagon, and if they are followed up with reforms to how we promote and evaluate our generals, they will be a step toward a more effective and — to use one of Hegseth’s favorite words — lethal military

Worries about the politicization of the military are rich after years of the civilian leadership pushing DEI on the ranks and insisting that climate change is a national-security threat. Here comes Secretary Hegseth saying that the military needs to be about “its core mission of deterring, ﬁghting and winning wars,” and he’s the dangerous ideologue?

General Brown is an honorable man, but he’s the one who used his position as a political soapbox.

After the killing of George Floyd in 2020, Brown released a video that began, “As the commander of Pacific Air Forces, and a senior leader in our Air Force, and an African American, many of you may be wondering what I’m thinking about the current events surrounding the tragic death of George Floyd.” In all likelihood, not very many people were wondering what an Air Force general was thinking about a hotbutton political and social issue, and even if they had been, Brown should have told them it wasn’t his role to pronounce on such matters. Whatever else you think about the Pacific Air Forces command, it has never been considered the conscience of the nation Brown also signed on to a 2022 memo that encapsulated the attitude that Hegseth, rightly, is attempting to eradicate. It set out goals for the Air Force officer applicant pool “by race, ethnicity, and gender,” and ordered that the so-called commissioning

ousness principle: Some violations are so shocking that, when denying qualiﬁed immunity, it is unnecessary to ﬁnd a prior case with closely similar fact patterns.

The obviousness principle rescues the law from this perverse outcome: The most luridly ﬂagrant violations of rights are apt to be sui generis, so government agents who commit them would be especially likely to be shielded by qualiﬁed immunity because there are no precisely similar precedents for denying it.

Qualified immunity was originally intended to protect endangered police making split-second decisions in, for example, high-speed chases or shootouts with armed suspects. But courts have granted qualified immunity to officers who stole more than $225,000 in cash and rare coins while executing a search warrant. To a deputy sheriff who, while trying to shoot an unthreatening pet dog, wounded a 10-year-old child. To state investigators who, without a warrant, entered a doctor’s office and searched the medical records of patients. Even to some university bureaucrats because their flagrant denial of some students’ First Amendment rights did not violate “clearly established law.”

Court commits an unqualified error on qualified immunity First thing is to fire all the generals

Qualified immunity properly shields from personal liability the overwhelming majority of competent police officers who might make honest misjudgments in high-pressure situations. But as a federal appellate judge has said, qualified immunity has begun to look like unqualified impunity for misbehaving public officials. The Supreme Court should have corrected this with some dutiful activism, using Kodi’s case to end confusion among lesser courts Email George Will at georgewill@washpost.com.

sources establish “a diversity and inclusion outreach plan” for achieving these goals.

The deeper issue with our top generals is that they are the creatures of a system geared toward bureaucratic conformity and a ﬂavorless competence; they tend to be highly replaceable cogs who know what it takes to get promoted but not what it means to be distinctive. Originality and strategic thinking are not valued, or even are treated as liabilities. Personal peccadilloes are mercilessly punished, while minor matters, like losing wars, don’t rate.

“Relief of generals has become so rare,” Thomas Ricks wrote in an essay in The Atlantic years ago, “that a private who loses his riﬂe is now punished more than a general who loses his part of a war.” Ricks lamented “a perverse incentive system that drives leaders toward a risk-averse middle.”

What we need is a new George C. Marshall, who, before the U.S. entry into World War II, relentlessly ﬁred ofﬁcers he found unsuitable for the impending

struggle and replaced them with the most impressive talent available.

This is the real question about the Hegseth ﬁrings: Do they betoken truly fundamental change, including a rethinking of the Goldwater-Nichols Act that created unnecessarily large headquarters staffs and generals who are good at many things, but the masters of none?

Military expert John Noonan suggests a new highly rigorous paradigm for selecting commanders based on Navy SEAL training. To wit: “hundreds of ofﬁcers apply for a school that selects only a few dozen to compete in realistic war games, problemsolving exercises, physical competitions, and technical challenges, and only 10 or so are rewarded with a prized command billet.”

“War is too important to be left to the generals,” the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau famously said. Even so, our top generals need to be better Rich Lowry is on X, @RichLowry

Why don’t we have a word for someone you’ve barely met, but nonetheless think of as a friend? The internet created the need for such a word, but as far as I’m aware, has yet to meet it. I realized this the other day when Kevin Drum — the liberal blogger formerly known as Calpundit died.

I met Kevin just once, on a long-ago trip to Los Angeles, where I found him to be that rarest of birds: the person who is basically the same off the internet as on it. Both in person and online, he was possessed of a mild manner overlaying a keen intellect, ﬁerce independence and ruthless honesty He was as impatient with the nonsense of his own side as he was with the excesses of his opponents, and did not hesitate to point any of that out, even when it was costly to do so.

But mostly I knew him through our arguments, because we didn’t agree on much. Kevin was a joy to argue with: He always fought fair and smart. His weapons were charts and logic, not ad hominem and snappy retorts. When I read of his passing, after a long battle with multiple myeloma, I felt as if I’d lost an old buddy

Though we both initially supported the Iraq War, Kevin was the ﬁrst to realize his folly — to his credit, before the invasion started. At the time I was irritated at his defection, but even then I grudgingly accepted it, because he argued from the likely outcome, not moral high dudgeon at his opponents. Of course, events subsequently proved him absolutely correct, as was to happen often.

Yet occasionally we became allies, because his intellectual integrity prevented him from going along with his own team’s weak arguments, or staying politely silent while it launched into wild error The ﬁrst time I can remember this happening was in 2004, when “60 Minutes” ran a piece on some documents that purported to prove President George W. Bush had gone AWOL during his Vietnam-era Texas Air National Guard service, but that strongly appeared to have been forged, a fact that CBS missed due to inadequate vetting. Kevin was forthright in listing the reasons to believe CBS had been hoaxed, while others on the left were equivocating, or making far-fetched arguments about how a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard could have produced, on 1970s typewriters, a document that looked very like what you’d get if you just opened Microsoft Word and started typing. Years later, when people tried to revive the allegations, he patiently laid out all the reasons to believe the documents were fakes.

It was the ﬁrst evidence of his unusual integrity; it would not be the last. After Kevin died, Ben Dreyfuss, a writer who worked with him at the liberal political magazine Mother Jones, told a story on Substack that captures a lot of what made Kevin so quietly extraordinary Apparently over his years at Mother Jones, Kevin had repeatedly been offered raises, and repeatedly asked that the money instead be used to pay the journalism fellows more, or improve their beneﬁts. Men of such caliber are rare, and I’m afraid that pundits of his stripe are practically extinct.

Blogging was more like an all-night dormroom bull session, and it rewarded very different traits: the ability to write frequently and at length, and a desire to be argued with. Conversations raged for days or even weeks between blogs and within them. Commenters made counterarguments they expected to be answered by the blogger The effect was to create multiple overlapping communities, which were both broad and deep. Bloggers themselves often became friends, but they were also cultivating the commenters’ bonds among themselves, and with the blogger who gave them a forum.

It’s just as hard to curate a good comment section, and keep it from descending into pointless name-calling, as it is to write a good blog in the ﬁrst place. It’s enormous work, weeding out the spam and the trolls and the people who can’t argue in good faith, and the only reward is a (relatively) small group of people who wouldn’t have known each other if you hadn’t brought them together, and who revel in arguments that can run for years.

Kevin had one of the most vibrant and longest-lived comment sections on the internet, and reading through the comments on the ﬁnal post to his blog, I was struck by how many people were grieving the loss, not just of Kevin, but of the fellowship he’d created. How much he did, for so many people, and how much we have all lost, now that he is gone.

Megan McArdle in on X, @asymmetricinfo.

George Will

Mega McArdle

Rich Lowry

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown

‘It’s

something I’m built for’

New Cajuns basketball coach details plans for transition to new job

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

UL’s new men’s basketball coach

Quannas White let the university’s supporters know what he envisions for the program in Monday’s introductory news conference.

The baby steps in the effort to begin achieving his lofty goals, though, won’t be easy ones.

White met with UL’s current roster Sunday night after ﬂying in from Houston and met with them again after Monday’s gathering before heading back to be with No

1-seeded Houston for its quest to win a national championship over the next few weeks.

Somehow in the middle of all of that, White ﬁnalized his staff and is recruiting players while somehow determining which current players should remain on the roster moving forward.

“It’s something that I’m built for,” White said. “When you have a coaching change, there’s going to be some things that you have to address. That’s just part of it.

“I still have to do my meetings with these guys individually and

there’s a group I’ll have a second meeting. At that time, that’s when I’ll discuss who will be staying and who will be leaving.”

White referred to senior center Hosana Kitenge, who entered the transfer portal after the season ended.

“We had a really good talk (Sunday) night and I plan on speaking with again (Monday),” White said. Slimmed down after missing the entire season with an Achilles injury, Kitenge was upbeat as White

Cajuns look for encore in SLU visit

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

If you enjoyed Sunday’s 18-14 offensive explosion, UL coach Matt Deggs isn’t guaranteeing a repeat performance.

But he isn’t expecting a pitchers’ duel when his Ragin’ Cajuns travel to meet Southeastern Louisiana at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Alumni Field in Hammond.

ä UL at Southeastern.

6 P.M.WEDNESDAy, ESPN+

“I think it’ll be very friendly to hitters, just looking at the forecast and knowing the way their ball park sits,” Deggs said of SLU’s relatively small ballpark. “It’s a fun place to hit. I think there will be a lot of runs scored.” Deggs might also be remembering UL’s 15-8 win at SLU last season. UL (9-12, 1-2 Sun Belt) defeated Southeastern (16-3, 6-0 Southland) 9-7 on Feb. 26 in Lafayette.

Being two days before UL’s ﬁrst league road trip at South Alabama on Friday will also determine pitcher usage Wednesday.

“You’re going to see a bunch of guys just because it’s a short turnaround heading over to Mobile,” Deggs said.

The expected starting pitchers are UL’s right-hander Aiden Grab (0-0, 2.84 ERA, 61/3 innings, .143 opponents batting average) and SLU right-hander Luke Lirette (0-1, 7.94, 5.2 IP, .261 OBA).

The Cajuns are hoping Sunday’s offensive breakout unlocked some things. Conor Higgs and Caleb Stelly both had three-run homers in the game UL’s ﬁrst homers of the season that weren’t solo shots.

“When you look at numbers that I look at that are clutch-related, hitting with the bases loaded is one of them,” Deggs said. “Coming into that game (Sunday), we were hitting like .190-something with the bases loaded. The ability to hit with guys in scoring position is another and then two-out batting average.

“It’s not a talent issue. It’s a seasoning and conﬁdence issue. The more times you put yourself in

Rallying around Flagg

BY AARON BEARD AP basketball writer

A hobbled Cooper Flagg was determined to celebrate top-ranked Duke’s latest Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title by snipping a piece of the net, even after missing two straight games.

So he crossed a sea of scattered confetti and began climbing a ladder, with fans, teammates and media members closely watching as he took the ﬁrst step up on his sprained left ankle.

“Be careful, brotha!” a voice implored amid the din. “Be careful, up and down.”

As Flagg descended with keepsake in hand, he bypassed the ladder’s lowest step and touched down on that same left foot, offering a momentary awkward gait.

“Just don’t hurt yourself getting off the ladder, please,” another voice said.

Sure, it was a small — and maybe a little nervously tense moment, but it captured a slice of the gaze that has been locked on Flagg all season. The biggest star in the NCAA Tournament is a freshman who didn’t turn 18 until nearly two months into

the season and went on to be an unanimous Associated Press ﬁrst-team All-American. Yet his presumed lone March Madness run as a potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick begins with him nursing that ankle injury and the East Region’s top seed facing a bit of late-season tumult, only magnifying the attention on Flagg’s every step, dribble or potential grimace.

“Man, Cooper’s handled every single thing that’s been thrown at him with grace,” graduate guard Sion James said after Duke’s home finale against Wake

Green an early favorite Nussmeier target

well

Tight end showcases size, athleticism in Tuesday’s practice

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

more nimble defenders.

When the season kicks off on Aug. 30, the Tigers can use Green in the red zone like they did Tuesday The former Zachary High School star lined up in the slot on a 7-on-7 rep, then ran a fade route into the end zone. Once Green earned a step on his defender Nussmeier dropped a perfectly thrown pass over his shoulder and into his outstretched hands. Earlier, in full team work, Nussmeier found Green in the back corner of the end zone. Rising sophomore safety Dashawn Spears had good coverage, but Green used his length and

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL outfielders Caleb Stelly, left, and Brooks Wright had big days at the plate in the Cajuns’ 18-14 win over Troy on Sunday in Lafayette.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

Quannas White speaks after being introduced Monday as the Cajuns’ basketball coach. White will finish the season as a Houston assistant coach in the NCAA Tournament before taking the reigns at UL full time.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON LSU tight end Trey’Dez Green makes a catch during an August practice. The 6-foot-7 sophomore was impressive in Tuesday’s spring practice session.

Duke freshman has seized spotlight all year and is March Madness’ biggest star

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHRIS CARLSON

Duke forward Cooper Flagg cuts the net after the Blue Devils beat Louisville to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C. A first-team All-American, Flagg is potentialy the No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA draft.

ä See WHITE, page 3C

Godchaux is ‘a dominant run player’

Saints hoping former LSU star can help leaky run defense

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

Davon Godchaux sees himself as a versatile interior defensive linemen, but when asked to describe his game at his introductory news conference, he likely hit on exactly why the New Orleans Saints traded for him.

“I’m just a dominant run player,” Godchaux, a Plaquemine native, said New Orleans sent a seventhround pick to the New England Patriots to acquire Godchaux because he brings that trait to a unit that ﬁnished with one of the NFL’s worst run defenses a year ago.

The Saints allowed 141.4 yards rushing per game and 4.92 yards per carry last season, with only the Carolina Panthers faring worse in either category Rather than blowing up their defensive interior the Saints chose to add the 6-foot-3, 330-pound Godchaux to the existing group.

Godchaux, a former LSU standout, spent the past four seasons anchoring a Patriots defense that posted two top-ﬁve ﬁnishes in run defense Three of those seasons were spent under future Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick.

His 67 tackles ranked fourth among NFL defensive tackles last season, and his 50 run stops deﬁned as a tackle that resulted in a successful play for the defense — ranked ninth among all defensive linemen, according to NFL Pro. Godchaux has never put up gaudy pass rushing stats, but he’s still an excellent run defender as he nears his ninth professional season.

“Whatever it takes, if I’ve got to take the double team up on that

play so someone else can come free and make a play, I’ll do it,” he said. “It’s all about team defense. I’m excited about that. I’m excited to join this group.”

He’ll be an important part of the Saints’ attempt to turn their run defense around, but he was quick to point out he will not be alone in that.

“It takes 11,” he said. “It takes the safeties to come down, it takes the linebackers to be in great fits. It takes everybody And that’s what I learned playing in New England, playing with Bill Belichick. It’s a team defense.”

As he explained, Godchaux clasped his two large hands together

“It’s nice to have a group come

together like this, all from different backgrounds to come together and play as one,” Godchaux said. “Team ball. If we can do that, we can stop anybody I’m a ﬁrm believer in that.”

He may ﬁt into new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley’s defensive machinery as a nose tackle which felt like his obvious placement, as the Saints did not have a nose tackle before the trade. But while Godchaux played nose tackle in New England, he played all along the defensive interior

The Patriots sometimes asked him to play a four- or ﬁve-technique, which aligned him either directly in front of the offensive

tackle or over the tackle’s outside shoulder

So, while he’s comfortable doing what he described as the “dirty work” playing up the gut and taking on double teams to free others behind him to make a play he also said he can add more. Being able to help in multiple roles is something that he said was drilled into him during his college football days at LSU.

“When I was there, coach (Ed) Orgeron always told me, ‘The more you can do. Stay versatile. Play with your left hand down, play with your right hand down.’

I thank him for that today because now you see in this day and age in this league, they ask you to play multiple positions.”

Ward says he would love to play for Saints

Miami QB projected as No. 1 overall pick in NFL draft

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

The Saints were one of Cam Ward’s favorite teams while growing up in West Columbia, Texas.

So, it was exciting for the AllAmerican quarterback from Miami to meet with Saints ofﬁcials at the NFL scouting combine last month in Indianapolis.

“I loved watching Drew Brees and (receiver Marques) Colston out there,” Ward said Monday night before receiving the Manning Award at a ceremony at the Caesars Superdome “It would be a dream of mine to play for them, if I get a chance someday. But that’s not really my focus right now.” Ward is projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the April 24-26 NFL draft.

The Saints currently have the No. 9 selection in the ﬁrst round, so it would likely require a trade for New Orleans to acquire him.

The Saints have not selected a quarterback in the ﬁrst round of the draft since taking Archie Manning with the second overall pick in 1971.

Derek Carr is entering the third year of a four-year, $150 million contract he signed with the Saints in 2023.

The Saints recently restructured the deal to create space on the team’s 2025 salary cap.

While the Saints and new coach Kellen Moore are not expected to select a quarterback in the ﬁrst round, it was notable that they scheduled one of their 45 formal meetings with Ward, the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year

“It was a great meeting,” Ward said. “If you get a chance to go play for a Super Bowl-winning coach like coach Moore. He knows how to dial up the playbook.

“The biggest thing I took away

from that meeting was that you just have to be prepared at all times, whether you go in as a starter or you go in as

Pelicans’ Murphy out for season with shoulder injury

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

The Pelicans’ injury-ﬁlled season took yet another hit Monday night. Trey Murphy, who was having the best season of his NBA career, is out for the year after being diagnosed with a torn labrum and partial tear of the rotator cuff in his right shoulder An MRI conﬁrmed the injury late Tuesday night, the team announced.

Murphy’s injury occurred in the first minute of Monday’s 127-81 home loss to the Detroit Pistons.

Murphy was attempting to get to a loose ball on the play He

ä Pelicans at Timberwolves. 6:30 P.M.WEDNESDAy GCSEN

went to the locker room with 11:11 remaining in the ﬁrst quarter, but didn’t return. Murphy, in his fourth NBA season, was averaging a careerhigh in points (21.6), rebounds (5.2) and assists (3.6). Last week, he moved into ninth place on the franchise’s all-time scoring list, surpassing former teammate Jonas Valanciunas. It’s the latest injury for the Pelicans, who dropped to 18-51 after Monday’s loss.

The 46-point loss tied the record for worst regular season loss in franchise history

“To start the game with Trey going down it kind of just rocked us from there,” coach Wille Green said. “We kind of felt sorry for ourselves a bit You can’t do that. But it shook our guys up, especially with all we’ve been through this season.”

And the Pelicans have been through a lot. It’s the third season-ending injury for the Pelicans. Two starters from the season-opener, Dejounte Murray and Herb Jones, also suffered season-ending injuries.

Murray suffered a torn Achilles against the Boston Celtics in late January A week later, Jones suffered a torn labrum in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Zion Williamson played his 29th

game Monday Murphy played in 53 games this season. He missed the ﬁrst 10 games of the season dealing with a hamstring injury suffered during the team’s training camp in Nashville in early October He missed two more games with that injury in November Later in November, he missed one game with a left knee contusion. In January, he missed three games with a left ankle sprain. This latest injury will sideline him for the remaining 13 games.

The Pelicans have used 36 different starting lineups this season.

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

Mulkey buys all student tickets for games LSU hosts

The NCAA Tournament can get expensive, especially for someone on a college budget. To help solve this issue, LSU women’s coach Kim Mulkey has purchased every student ticket for the entirety of the Tigers playing at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center during the national tournament.

“I am pleased to be able to purchase the student tickets for these games in the PMAC,” Mulkey’s announcement read. “All we need is for you to show up, be loud and help propel us to victory!”

Mulkey urged students to claim their free seats as soon as possible. Mulkey also said one of her motives to pay for the tickets is because of some older fans electing to stay home from Saturday’s late start. The No. 3 Tigers play No. 14 San Diego State at 9:15 p.m. Saturday

Versatile offensive lineman

Young returning to Saints

Landon Young is returning to the Saints on a one-year deal, the team announced Tuesday afternoon.

Young a sixth-round pick out of Kentucky in the 2021 NFL Draft, has appeared in 56 games with 12 starts for the Saints.

After playing exclusively as a tackle his ﬁrst three seasons, Young added some additional flexibility in 2024, lining up at both left and right guard as needed.The only offensive line position Young has not played during his ﬁrst four years with the team is center According to Pro Football Focus, 96.4% of Young’s offensive snaps last season came at guard. The 6-foot-7, 321-pound Young will turn 28 years old in August.

Broome and Flagg lead AP All-America team

One is a fifth-year senior who began his career at a mid-major, the other a first-year wunderkind recruited by everyone. The first is a now leading a program on the rise, while the other is the unmistakable star for a traditional power Johni Broome of Auburn and Cooper Flagg of Duke do have something in common, though: The forwards were unanimous first-team picks for The Associated Press men’s college basketball AllAmerica teams released Tuesday They were joined on the first team by Alabama star Mark Sears and Purdue’s Braden Smith.

Only Broome, a third-team pick a year ago, and Flagg were among the ﬁrst ﬁve on the ballots of all 61 national media members who vote for the weekly AP Top 25.

Missouri hires Harper as new women’s coach

Kellie Harper was hired as the women’s basketball coach at Missouri, where the former coach of SEC-rival Tennessee will have the job of rebuilding a once-proud program that has not been to the NCAA Tournament in six years.

Harper grew up in Sparta, Tennessee, and played under Pat Summitt with the Volunteers, helping them to win three consecutive national championships.

She began her coaching career in the SEC as an assistant at Auburn in 2000 before replacing Holly Warlick at her alma mater in 2019.

Harper led the Vols to the NCAA Tournament each of the four seasons it was held, including back-toback Sweet 16 trips in 2022 and ‘23. She was ﬁred after last season.

Eagles lineman Graham announces retirement

Brandon Graham’s career in Philadelphia began with criticisms that he was a ﬁrst-round bust, and his career ended with him being one of the most beloved Eagles players and lineman of his generation.

Graham retired Tuesday following a 15-year career in Philly that was highlighted by his role in the defensive play that helped deliver the Eagles their ﬁrst Super Bowl title earlier this year “I gave everything I had, everything I had in this,” Graham said. “I don’t have no regrets.” Graham, who turns 37 in April, proceeded to thank the organization, all of his coaches, his teammates and his family during an emotional news conference announcing and commemorating his decision.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GEORGE WALKER Miami quarterback Cam Ward speaks during a press conference at the NFL scouting combine on Feb 28 in Indianapolis.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GREG M. COOPER

New England Patriots defensive tackle Davon Godchaux reacts during a game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 3, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass.

Duke forward Cooper Flagg watches from the bench during the first half against North Carolina in the semifi

of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Friday

FLAGG

Continued from page 1C

Forest. “People have been saying all kinds of stuff about about him, really good and really bad. He’s taken it all in stride.”

Only now he’ll have to thrive amid the biggest spotlight of the sport in the NCAA Tournament, where college stars can become even bigger names amid the upsets and buzzer-beaters that captivate the country every spring.

Bumpy times

The 6-foot-9, 205-pound forward gets his shot, one stuffed full of storylines

First there’s the injury, when he rolled his ankle after coming down on a rebound and crashed to the court in last Thursday’s ACC quarterfinal against Georgia Tech. He hobbled to the bench and pounded a chair in frustration before heading to the bowels of the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he had X-rays and was briefly spotted by TV cameras in a wheelchair before walking out on his own power — no boot, no crutches to rejoin his team after halftime.

He hasn’t played since, though coach Jon Scheyer expressed optimism that Flagg could be ready for Friday’s home-state opener against the AmericanMount St. Mary’s winner about a half-hour from the Duke campus.

There was also the Blue Devils losing versatile defender Maliq Brown to a shoulder injury only moments before Flagg was hurt. And Scheyer has had to shake up staff duties with assistant and defensive coordinator Jai Lucas leaving after the regular season to get the jump on his tenure as Miami’s new head coach

“Cooper’s got an opportunity here to do some real hero stuff,” said ACC Network analyst Luke Hancock, the Final Four most outstanding player for Louisville’s later-vacated NCAA title run in 2013. “You can come back from injury and you find a way to lead the team with Jai Lucas leaving and Maliq Brown being hurt.

“If Cooper Flagg wins the national championship, it’s going to be, ‘Look what he did coming out of the wheelchair in the ACC Tournament,’ just kind of adding to the story.”

And what a story it’s already been.

Meeting the moment Flagg has lived up to the lofty expectations, which began years ago in the form of growing whispers about a hoops prodigy back in his home state of Maine. He was was the undeniable star of a team that swept the ACC outright regular-season and tournament titles for the first time since 2006, and now enters the NCAAs having spent the past two weeks at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll

There have been plenty of highlights along the way

A strong showing to beat eventual No. 1 overall NCAA seed Auburn and fellow unanimous first-team AP All-American Johni Broome in December An ACC freshman single-game record 42 points against Notre Dame.

A highlight-reel transition dunk against Pittsburgh in which he all but stuffed 7-foot defender Guillermo Diaz Graham into the basket while being fouled.

And of course, dominating the ﬁrst meeting against rival North Carolina, then overcoming first-half foul trouble to do it again after halftime in Round 2.

Flagg leads Duke in five major categories: scoring (18.9), rebounding (7.5), assists (4.1), blocks (1.3) and

steals (1.5). He’s a versatile threat, sideline to sideline and baseline to baseline, with game-changing ability as a scorer and playmaker that had him frequently ﬂirting with a triple-double that ultimately has eluded him.

So far, anyway

“Being around this level of coaches and coaching, skill development every single day just helped me immensely,” Flagg said after his possible Cameron Indoor Stadium ﬁnale.

“I feel like I’ve just gotten so much better all around.”

Thriving in an older game

Flagg’s story has taken shape amid a time of rapid change in college sports, notably with the transfer portal allowing more player movement in what amounts to de facto free agency

There’s still a ﬁnal crop of players in their ﬁfth year of eligibility secured by competing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Auburn’s Broome checking the box on both categories after starting his career at mid-major Morehead State.

Add that together, and coaches across the country are putting a premium on dipping into the portal to add veteran talent over high school recruits who might transfer elsewhere anyway

Yet amid an older game, there’s still an allure to seeing the best freshmen take on the spectacle of March Madness, particularly at marquee-brand bluebloods like Duke, Kentucky, Kansas or North Carolina.

And Flagg is as prepared as anyone could be.

“Incredible, he’s been incredible all year long,” Duke associate head coach Chris Carrawell said after the ACC title-game win. “Put the play aside. Your team kind of follows the personality and the attitude of the best player And he’s been so selﬂess.”

Continued from page 1C

was introduced.

“Recruiting is something that’s every day, it’s ongoing,” White said. “The landscape of college basketball has changed with the transfer portal and guys being able to come in and play right away

“The staff that I’m assembling, those guys understand the type of guys that we need to recruit highcharacter guys and guys that want to come in and hit the ground running with a chip on their shoulder and that ﬁt us.”

The new staff already has a commitment from 6-foot2 guard Michael Collins of Shadow Creek, Texas.

Caleb Sanders, a 6-6 small forward from North Tampa Christian in Florida, also committed to UL.

“We’re excited,” White said. “We’re going to keep the ball rolling and put together the best roster that’s ready to go and win right away.”

White credited Houston coach Kelvin Sampson with preparing him for his new job.

“Coach Sampson has helped me in so many ways,” White said. “He’s prepared me every single day to be prepared for this

CAJUNS

Continued from page 1C

that spot, naturally you’re going to have some success at some point.”

Higgs had a homer and two RBIs and Stelly was 3 for 4 with a triple and three RBIs in the win over SLU earlier this season.

Another dynamic the Cajuns are going through is using true freshmen and having newcomers play a bigger role.

Matt Osteen got his ﬁrst career save, Brooks Wright was 3 for 3 with a triple and

moment.

“You have to be proactive. Before you get the job, you have prepare for the job. I’m prepared in every way imaginable. I’m been thinking about my assistants and having my staff together before I accepted this job.”

White was a guard at St Augustine in New Orleans and later played guard at Midland (Texas) Junior College and then at Oklahoma under Sampson.

White’s area of expertise — developing guards — should be evident in Lafayette, he said.

“The development of our guards, we’re going to do similar things here,” White said. “Come to school, win games, get developed but they also have aspirations of playing in the NBA. I want them to have that and I’m really good at player development. My staff is real good at player development.

“That’s why you’re already seeing the commitments that we’re getting right away.”

That also means those guards having a greater responsibility than many of their teammates.

“That the head coach can never have a bad day,” White said. “That’s one of the lessons — be consistent. Also, your best player can never have a bad day and never can the point guard.”

three RBIs, Owen Galt at two hits and Griffin Hebert had three walks and a sacrifice fly

“They’re progressing the way I would want them to,” Deggs said of the freshmen. “Brooks just had a thumb (injury) and Owen’s had a shoulder (injury) and the list goes on and on. It’s just a matter of us staying healthy and getting them opportunities.

“It’s one thing to get out there and it’s another thing to experience success, which I’m glad they got to do (Sunday).” Sunday’s win over Troy also featured another new

White said Monday, he’ll announce his new staff at a later time. The terms of White’s contract at UL were not released.

White said his recruiting philosophy includes the new NIL factor, but it isn’t restricted to it.

“I’m excited for the guys, because they should be getting paid,” he said. “I’m 100% in agreement with that, so we’ll be competitive in that arena. But I also want guys who don’t just want to come over here for a dollar I want guys who love basketball and the NIL is just a part of it.

“Those are the guys we’re going to do heavy evaluations on to make sure they’re the right type of gentlemen that believe in winning ﬁrst, playing hard and aspire to win championships and just getting money is an added bonus.” It also sounds like White is convinced recruiting in his home state will be an added advantage.

“Coming back home means the world to me,” he said. “Being a part of a great program like Houston and all the success there and everything coach (Kelvin) Sampson instilled in me, I plan to bring to Louisiana.

“We’re going to do similar things here. This moment, this day, it’s a new era and I’m just really excited.”

name in junior transfer Carson Hepworth, who scored three runs and was solid defensively in center ﬁeld.

“I thought he made the most of that shot,” Deggs said of Hepworth. “He was a spark. If his coach doesn’t move him from center to right when Brooks came in, we win by a lot more probably Brooks is still learning the spot, but he’s our center ﬁelder of the future and I thought that was the right move at the time.

“Hep’s as good of a center ﬁelder as I’ve seen in a long time. He’s a ball hawk with a nose for the ball.”

Continued from page 1C

strength to secure the catch anyway

Remember, Green was playing basketball a month ago. He appeared in six LSU games from Jan. 25-Feb. 12, then stepped away from the team to prioritize academics, said coach Matt McMahon. Now Green’s focus is back on football. And it looks like he hasn’t missed a beat.

Play-by-play

The offense got off to a strong start in the 11-on11 work that concluded Tuesday practice But the defense forced a few incompletions and created a turnover, stopping both the Tigers’ first-team and second-team offenses short of the red zone.

Sophomore corner PJ Woodland broke up a Nussmeier pass intended for receiver Aaron Anderson near the sideline. Pressure up the middle then forced the LSU quarterback to roll outside the pocket and throw an incomplete pass out of bounds.

Once the second-team units rotated onto the ﬁeld, redshirt freshman cornerback Michael Turner made the play of the day

Backup quarterback Michael Van Buren, a Mississippi State transfer, tried to complete a deep vertical shot to receiver Barion Brown, a Kentucky transfer But Turner matched Brown’s speed, turned his head to find the ball and leapt for a difﬁcult interception, securing the catch as he hit the ground Turner, a former John Curtis standout, has worked mostly with LSU’s secondteam defense this spring. Incumbent starter Ashton Stamps and Virginia Tech transfer Mansoor Delane took most of the reps at corner on Tuesday in the ﬁrstteam base defense.

Other observations In a one-on-one rep on Tuesday, five-star freshman cornerback DJ Pickett flashed the talent that made him one of the pillars of LSU’s most recent freshman class. Brown the transfer wideout known for his speed tried to fool Pickett with a double move. But the early enrollee stuck with him, ﬂipped his hips tracked the ball and broke up an accurate pass — all without interfering. Pickett ran with LSU’s second-team defense on Tuesday

The starting unit looked a little bit different than it did in the Tigers’ last practice. Delane took one of the outside corner spots in place of Florida transfer Ja’Keem Jackson. The two edge rushers were Florida State transfer Patrick Payton and Nebraska transfer Jimari Butler On Saturday sophomore Gabriel Reliford and Florida transfer Jack Pyburn manned those positions.

Expect LSU to keep fiddling with its depth chart as spring practice continues.

The only notable player absent from Tuesday’s session was sophomore defensive end Dylan Carpenter Transfer offensive lineman Josh Thompson has still not joined the team because he is wrapping up course work at his previous school, Northwestern. Coach Brian Kelly has said that he is expected to begin practicing at some point this week.

When Thompson gets on the ﬁeld, he can play either tackle or guard. The Tigers are hoping to play Virginia Tech transfer Braelin Moore at center and move incumbent starter DJ Chester to guard.

On Tuesday, however, Chester received most of the ﬁrst-team reps at center while Moore rotated in.

GREEN

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHRIS CARLSON

nals

Cookbook clubs are a tasty way to try new recipes

BY GRETCHEN McKAY

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

PITTSBURGH Eager to make friends and try new things when she moved back to Pittsburgh after retiring 19 years ago, Jan Haltigan turned to what’s always been a welcoming space to connect: her local library

Growing up in Pittsburgh, she spent countless hours reading books at the Carnegie Library on Fifth Street. So she was pretty sure when she walked through the doors of Shaler North Hills Library on Mt. Royal Boulevard, she’d ﬁnd some kind of fun.

It turned out to be Food for Thought, the cookbook club that adult services librarian Marie Jackson started to bring together home cooks to swap recipes and share cooking experiences. Haltigan grew up cooking for her family and Jackson, despite not being much of a cook herself, could talk anyone into anything.

“So right from the get-go, it just felt right,” Haltigan says of the group, which since 2006 has met on the second Wednesday of the month to explore food, cooking and cookbooks. She even convinced her sister, Judy Enz, who lives in Shaler, to become a member, too.

Nearly 20 years later, both women are still at it, trying their hands at cooking unfamiliar foods and celebrity recipes each month for a potluck lunch that’s followed by a discussion on what they learned making the various recipes.

“It’s just a fun thing,” says Enz.

It’s also a great way to add a little variety to your weekly menu if you get tired of eating the same thing several days in a row

“And you really fall in love with everyone,” she says with a smile. “It’s the highlight of my month.” One tasty mashup

Book clubs have been around for decades and so has the tradition of the modern potluck dinner which rose in popularity during the Great Depression to help struggling families pool resources. The cookbook club combines the two, allowing members to enjoy a meal together while also introducing them to new cuisines, techniques and ﬂavors.

They can be held at libraries there are more than a dozen active clubs in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh system — but they’re also popping up in bookstores. And some cookbook clubs meet in members’ homes. Every group does it a little different. Some choose a theme while others pick a particular cookbook, favorite chef or region of the country or world. The goal is always the same: to learn something new about food, nosh on a dish you might not otherwise try and above all, have some fun and great conversation. Here’s how it generally works in Shaler and at many other libraries: Participants arrive with whatever dish they’ve made and set it out on a communal table. If it’s from a cookbook, they bring that along, too. After the potluck meal (often a buffet) and some socializing, attendees get down to the nuts and bolts of what they learned — where to ﬁnd that one weird ingredient, how long a dish took to make, how many pots and pans ended up in the sink and perhaps most important: Would they ever make it again?

At Castle Shannon Public Library, for example, members generally cook from a title chosen by circulation desk manager Donelle Mayausky, often

LIVING

a Mediterranean-style

Friday.

Fast and fresh

CAVA brings Mediterraneanstyle, on-the-go fare to Lafayette

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

Cava, a Mediterranean-style fast casual restaurant known for offering a build-your-own line of fresh grains, salads, meats and vegetables, opens in Lafayette on Friday

The restaurant and drive-thru is located at 4220 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, in front of At Home and next to a newly constructed Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, which opened in January

Customers moved quickly through the line during a soft opening event Thursday that featured the eatery’s customizable concept. Fans of popular lunch spots like Chipotle will be familiar with the system, where you choose your own base (in Cava’s case, a bowl or ﬂuffy pita) and build your meal from there.

Opting for a mix of greens and brown rice in a bowl (which came with a slice of pita bread) offered a hearty foundation for dips like Cava’s traditional hummus, or snazzier options such as a spicy harissa, a cool tzatziki sauce or “crazy feta,” which comes with jalapeño and onion.

The meats are an unexpected standout at Cava Who looks for

juicy, spicy lamb meatballs at a fast food joint? You can add them to your bowl or pita at Cava, or opt for falafel, roasted veggies, braised lamb, grilled chicken or the ﬂavor bomb that is their harissa honey chicken — a protein choice that brings the perfect amount of heat and sweet to the melded ﬂavors.

Cava is a popular choice for people searching for an on-the-go lunch option, or looking for a place that lets you build a great tasting meal with health and dietary needs in mind. Their focus on healthy, whole ingredients extend to the beverage station, which features a line of teas and lemonades with ﬂavors like cucumber mint, blueberry lavender and a classic sweet (or unsweet) tea. Their soda fountain is ﬁlled with options from the Maine Root brand, which uses organic sugar cane instead of high fructose corn syrup.

ä See CAVA, page 6C

STAFF PHOTOS By JOANNA BROWN

CAVA

fast-casual eatery, opened in Lafayette at 4220 Ambassador Caffery Parkway on

A Lafayette CAVA employee helps a customer build their own bowl at a soft opening event Thursday.

Boiled crawfish from Hawk’s Crawfish Restaurant in Rayne

STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN

Mom’s jewelry serves as mementos

Dear Heloise: My mother loved jewelry! She had so many pins, necklaces and bracelets, so we decided to share them with her friends. Naturally I kept a few of my favorite ones, but we put the rest in tiny boxes tied with colorful ribbons. Even my brother and the rest of our close family enjoyed boxing up her special pieces and tying a bow on top. At her funeral, we put all the boxes in a lovely basket and let each person who attended choose one box. So many people were delighted to have a memento of my dear mother! — Sandy A.,Tecumseh, Nebraska A close shave

column and I’d like to share some advice (after 68 years of shaving) for a more comfortable shave, especially for men like me who have a tough beard and sensitive skin. (The same procedure can be applied to women for shaving their legs.)

First, wet your face with hot water Then take a heaping teaspoon of baking soda and make a paste with liquid soap and water Make sure to vigorously rub in the paste while keeping the skin very wet. Then thoroughly rinse. (This is called exfoliation, aka the removal of dead skin which allows blades to better cut whiskers. This also helps prevent ingrown hairs and a rash.)

Dear Heloise: I loyally read your

Next, rub in a few “squirts” of hand or body lotion into your

whiskers, then apply or lather shaving cream Now the razor should glide down as though it were wiping whiskers off with a washcloth, and the blades should last for longer

After a cold water rinse, a splash of witch hazel and a small dab of the same lotion can leave your face feeling smooth and comfortable.

Incidentally, disposable razors and multiblade cartridges damage the environment, and the double-edged (one edge on each side) razor of yesteryear is making a comeback. They can be ordered online (so can the blades), and they are much less expensive than cartridges. — John M., Longview, Washington Send a hint to heloise@heloise. com.

CAVA

Continued from page 5C

Cava acquired another fast casual, health-focused eatery, Zoe’s Kitchen, in 2018. The Lafayette location of Zoe’s Kitchen, which was in River Ranch, closed in Novem-

COOKBOOK

Continued from page 5C

based on suggestions. Their choices have embraced a wide variety of cuisines, culinary traditions and famous cookbook authors.

Since they started ﬁve years ago, members have cooked from Snoop Dogg’s “From Crook to Cook,” Chrissy Teigen’s “Cravings” and food blogger/social media influencer Tieghan Gerard’s “Half Bake Harvest” cookbooks.

To make it easier to join in, Mayausky typically reserves cookbooks from the library’s catalog to have on hand. Participation has grown from just a handful of attendees in the beginning to upwards of 25 participants at the potluck dinners, depending on the topic.

Members of the 2½-year-old Cooks and Books group at Cooper-Siegel Community Library in Fox Chapel, which meets on the second Thursday of each month,

ber of 2022. As of May 2023, all Zoe’s Kitchens nationwide closed or were converted to Cava restaurants. There are six other Cava locations in Louisiana — four in Baton Rouge, and two in the greater New Orleans area, in Metairie and Harahan. Cava Lafayette was built on one of the last open commercial spots

also often cook out of a selected cookbook. They tackled “Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over” by Alison Roman in January and will explore “Evergreen Vietnamese” by Andrea Quynhgiao in March. Attendees might also get to experiment with recipes from a particular cuisine, chef or seasonal ingredient.

Information services department head Kelley Beeson started the group in 2022 after enjoying great success with a similar group at Western Allegheny Community Library in Oakdale. The Fox Chapel club draws between 15 and 20 people every month — everyone from professional chefs to people simply cooking for their families

“It’s such a great way to bring people in,” Beeson says. Libraries, she notes, provide a great way for communities to connect. But cookbook clubs are extra special.

In Fox Chapel, as in other libraries, “it has grown to mean a lot to the people who come, with the

near the intersection of Kaliste Saloom Road and Ambassador Caffery Parkway, an area of south Lafayette that has seen explosive growth in recent years with openings like Costco, Top Golf and Dave & Buster’s.

Email Joanna Brown at joanna. brown@theadvocate.com.

friendships that have formed.”

Make new friends

The opportunity to meet new people is what drew musicians/ performers Andres Zara and Audrey Pernell, who moved from Philadelphia to Bloomﬁeld in August, to the 2-year-old Squirrel Hill Cookbook Club at Riverstone Books.

“We love to cook and trying new recipes,” says Zara, who is originally from Chile. “And we love to eat.”

Which they did plenty of at the bookstore’s Valentine’s-themed event on Feb. 5 (It’s free but bookseller Abby Sewell likes to know how many will attend).

Asked to bring recipes they love, the cooks proved pretty creative. Garrett Lee, who lives in the South Side and works in accounting, brought ribs, while Tishanna Lewison, of Rankin, shared a sweet bread she grew up eating in Trinidad. The potluck also include crab palmiers, mango sticky rice, apple cake and roasted red pepper pasta.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, March 19, the 78th day of 2025. There are 287 days left in the year

Today in history: On March 19, 2003, in a televised address, President George W. Bush announced that coalition forces had begun an invasion of Iraq. (Bush would declare victory just over ﬁve weeks later in his “Mission Accomplished” speech.)

On this date:

In 1931, Nevada Gov Fred B. Balzar signed a measure that made the state the ﬁrst to legalize gambling.

In 1945, during World War II, more than 800 service members were killed when a Japanese dive bomber attacked the carrier USS Franklin near Japan.

In 1953, the 25th Academy Awards ceremony was the ﬁrst to be televised; “The Greatest Show on Earth” would win the Oscar for Best Picture.

In 1965, archeologist E. Lee Spence discovered the wreckage of the SS Georgiana, a Confederate ship that had sunk near Charleston, South Carolina, ex-

actly 102 years earlier In 1966, Texas Western (now the University of Texas at El Paso) became the first team to start five Black players in the NCAA basketball tournament’s championship game; they defeated top-ranked Kentucky in the final, 72-65. In 1987, televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary In 1995, 17 months after announcing his retirement from basketball, Michael Jordan returned to play in the NBA with his former team, the Chicago Bulls. (He would go on to win three more NBA championships alongside the three he and the Bulls had already won.)

Today’s birthdays: Actor Ursula Andress is 89. Singer Ruth Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) is 79. Actor Glenn Close is 78. Actor Bruce Willis is 70. NFL coach Andy Reid is 67. Actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach is 48. Comedian-podcaster Theo Von is 45. Facebook co-founder

BEST

Continued from page 5C

Cauliflower wrap

n MJ’s Cafe, 5162 Government St., Baton Rouge As a longtime vegetarian, I love going to MJ’s Cafe because I know there will be many options. I have never tried something I didn’t like from the menu. This was a warm pita filled with cauliflower and chickpeas tossed in Buffalo sauce, with avocado, sprouts, pickled red onions and vegan ranch — it struck a great flavor balance between the creaminess of the avocado, the heat of the Buffalo sauce and the crunchy freshness of the onions and greens. The wrap is served with either soup or a salad as a side. I chose the salad, which had a tangy vinaigrette. The wrap was so filling I couldn’t finish the salad.

Deanna B. Narveson, regional editor

Club salad

n Brew-Bacher’s Grill, 8415 Bluebonnet Blvd., and 3554 Drusilla Lane, Baton Rouge; 909 E. Ascension St., Gonzales Baton Rouge has no shortage of new and trendy restaurants to try, but sometimes an old favorite hits the spot. Case in point: Brew-Bacher’s Grill, a tradition for more than 30 years, has a club salad that’s difﬁcult to beat.

The kitchen starts with a bed of mixed lettuce and piles on diced ham, diced turkey cheese, bacon, tomatoes, house-made croutons, chives and a hardboiled egg. It also comes with cucumbers, but not being a cuke fan, omitting it was no problem. The creamy, homemade ranch dressing is a great choice. All elements taste super fresh, and the croutons are special — larger-than-usual sections lightly toasted to give it a little crunch, but not overly so as to become those hard little chunks. All of the components meld into a flavorful, filling lunch, so large I’ve yet to be able to finish this salad in one sitting No worries, I’ll enjoy the leftovers the next day — Judy Bergeron, Features assistant editor

Hints from Heloise

STAFF PHOTO By JUDy BERGERON Club salad at Brew-Bacher’s on Drusilla Lane

STAFF PHOTO By DEANNA B NARVESON

Cauliflower wrap from MJ’s Cafe

STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Take a break, release yourself from responsibilities and give yourself a chance to rejuvenate Allow yourself some "me time," and it will put a positive spin on your outlook.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Surround yourself with people who complement your skills. Knowing your attributes and applying your energy to what you are good at will show your ability to lead the way.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Stay focused on finishing what you start. The less interference, the better; sit in an isolated corner and do your thing. Put the bulldozer away and let your subtleness prevail.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Live and learn. Research will help you decipher what's best and put you in a leadership position. Take charge, but refrain from making others feel deflated by your choices.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Don't fear change; embrace new beginnings and enjoy asking questions and keeping up with all the latest technology. Interactions will bring you closer to the people that can help you get ahead.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Be a good listener, figure out what's best for you and rule out any proposal that doesn't fit your lifestyle or direction. Change is only worthwhile if it helps you reach your goal.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Count your pennies and rule out purchases you cannot

afford. Going into debt for the wrong reasons will lead to stress. Focus on cost-efficient changes at home. Call in an expert if needed.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) A chipper attitude will draw attention and interest regarding your achievements. Now is not the time to hesitate; it's the time to engage, get things done and take a bow.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Strut your stuff, put your best foot forward and make your initiative known. A social or networking event will give you the platform to recruit the best of the best.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec 21) Emotions will be close to the surface. It's time to be upfront. Show where your loyalty lies and take responsibility for the opportunities you desire. Build the future that excites you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Mix business with pleasure, and you'll gain ground. How you make others feel will determine who helps you. Don't deny yourself the chance to take the road less traveled.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You know the rules and have the power to bring about change. Put a plan in place and share what you want to do with the people who matter to you. Focus on financial growth.

FAMILY CIrCUS

CeLebrItY CIpher

beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM

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.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Edwin Schlossberg, the founder of ESI Design and the constructor of the first hands-on learning environment in the United States at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, said, “True interactivity is not about clicking on icons or downloading files; it’s about encouraging communication.”

True bridge is not about making meaningless bids and playing uninformative cards; it is about communicating with your partner and sometimes about breaking the opponents’ communication.

In this deal, South is in three no-trump after East overcalled in hearts. West leads the heart 10. How should declarer plan the play?

Some Souths would have made a negative double over one heart to show the four-card spade suit. But with a limited hand worth only one bid, two solid heart stoppersandfourweakspades,Ilikeone no-trump. (If South had doubled, North would have rebid two hearts, a gameforcing cue-bid, South would have rebid two or three no-trump, and the final contract would have been the same.)

Southstartedwithseventoptricks:two spades, two hearts and three diamonds He had to establish two club winners.

Thinking no further, the original declarer took the first trick and played a club from his hand. West was not nap-

ping. He rose with his king and led his remaining heart. Whether South won or lost this trick, when he played a second club, East took the trick and cashed his hearts

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Previous answers:

InstRuctIons:

toDAY’s WoRD — nEoGEnEsIs: nee-oh-GEN-ih-sis: The regeneration of

Average mark 23 words Time limit 40 minutes

Can you find 36 or more words in NEOGENESIS?

YEstERDAY’s WoRD — HostILItY

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

hidato

mallard fillmore

BRIEFS

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

N.O. airport to get nonstop flight to Florida

Breeze Airways announced its 12th nonstop route out of the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Breeze Airways will launch a new direct flight to Tampa, Florida, starting June 1 for $39 per ticket.

Flights will operate four times a week on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Breeze Airways will join Spirit Airlines and Southwest Airlines in offering nonstop ﬂights from the New Orleans airport to the Tampa International Airport, near the popular beaches of Clearwater and St. Petersburg.

The airline was founded in 2021 by former JetBlue CEO David Neeleman as a low-cost, convenient option for domestic travel It serves 70 U.S. cities across 31 states.

The new route comes shortly after Spirit Airlines announced a new international route from New Orleans to Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, starting May 8. In its release, the airport said New Orleans has one of the largest Honduran populations outside of Honduras.

Google to spend $32B on cybersecurity firm

Google has struck a deal to buy cybersecurity ﬁrm Wiz for $32 billion in what would be the tech giant’s biggest-ever acquisition at the same time it’s facing a potential breakup of its internet empire.

The proposed takeover announced Tuesday is part of Google’s aggressive expansion into cloud computing during an artiﬁcial intelligence boom The frenzy is driving demand for data centers that provide the computing power for AI technology and intensifying the competition in that space among Google and two other tech powerhouses, Microsoft and Amazon. If the all-cash transaction is approved by regulators, Wiz will join Google Cloud — an increasingly important part of its business separate from the search and advertising operations that account for most of the $350 billion annual revenue at Google’s parent company Alphabet. With the advent of AI, however, the cloud division has become a rising star at Google. Annual revenue in the division was $26.3 billion in 2022, and soared 64% to $43.2 billion last year Wiz, a five-year-old startup founded by four longtime friends who met in the Israeli army when they were still teenagers, is on track for an estimated $1 billion in revenue this year After getting its start in Israel in 2020, Wiz now oversees an operation that makes security tools protecting the information stored in data centers from its current headquarters in New York.

Director accused of swindling Netflix

A Hollywood writer-director was arrested Tuesday on charges that he swindled $11 million from Netflix for a sci-fi show that never aired, instead steering the cash toward cryptocurrency investments and a series of lavish purchases that included a fleet of Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari.

Carl Erik Rinsch perhaps best known for directing the film “47 Ronin” has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering over what federal prosecutors allege was a scheme to defraud the streaming giant.

Prosecutors said Netﬂix had initially paid about $44 million to purchase an unﬁnished show called “White Horse” from Rinsch, but eventually doled out another $11 million after he said he needed the additional cash to complete the show Rather than using the extra money to wrap up production, Rinsch quietly transferred the money to a personal brokerage account, where he made a series of failed investments that lost about half of the $11 million in two months, according to prosecutors.

Wall Street swings back down

Big Tech resumes slide

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEWYORK Wall Street swung back down on Tuesday, and its former superstars once again led the way

The S&P 500 dropped for its latest swerve in a scary ride, where it tumbled by 10% from its record and then rallied for two straight days

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also sank. Tesla was one of the heaviest weights on the market after falling 5.3% The electric-vehicle maker’s stock has been struggling on wor-

ries that it will lose sales because of anger at its CEO, Elon Musk, who has been leading efforts to cut spending by the U.S. government. EV rivals, meanwhile, continue to chip away at its business.

The drop for Big Tech continues a trend that’s taken hold in the market’s recent sell-off: Stocks whose momentum had earlier seemed unstoppable have since dropped sharply following criticism they had simply grown too expensive.

Chief among them have been stocks that zoomed higher in the frenzy around AI technology Nvidia fell 3.3% as it hosted an event known as “AI Woodstock.” Super Micro Computer which makes servers, lost 9.6%. Palantir Technologies, which offers an AI platform for

customers, sank 4%

They’ve been among the biggest losers as Wall Street retrenches amid uncertainty about what President Donald Trump’s trade war will do to the economy Trump’s announcements on tariffs and other policies have created worries that U.S. households and businesses could hold back on their spending, which would hurt the economy

It all makes things more complicated for the Federal Reserve, which is beginning its latest meeting on interest-rate policy and will make its announcement on Wednesday

The Fed could lower its main interest rate, which would make it easier for U.S. businesses and households to borrow That in turn could boost the economy But lower

interest rates can also push inﬂation upward, and U.S. consumers have already begun bracing for higher inﬂation because of tariffs.

Virtually everyone on Wall Street expects the Fed to hold its main interest rate steady on Wednesday, as it waits for clues about how conditions play out. The job market, for the moment at least, appears relatively stable after the economy closed last year running at a solid rate. More attention will be on the forecasts the Fed will publish after the meeting, showing where officials expect interest rates, inﬂation and the economy to head in upcoming years. For now, traders on Wall Street are largely expecting the Fed to deliver two or three cuts to rates by the end of 2025.

China launches EV charging system

ByD has announced system it says is nearly as quick as a fill up at the pumps

BY ELAINE KURTENBACH AP business writer

BANGKOK — China’s energy and auto giant

BYD has announced an ultra fast EV charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a ﬁll up at the pumps.

BYD, China’s largest EV maker, said Monday that its flash-chargers can provide a full charge for its latest EVs within five to eight minutes, similar to the amount of time needed to fill a fuel tank. It plans to build more than 4,000 of the new charging stations across China Charging times and limited ranges have been a major factor constraining the switch from gas and diesel vehicles to EVs, though Chinese drivers have embraced that change,

with sales of battery powered and hybrid vehicles jumping 40% last year

BYD, which stands for “build your dreams,” began pre-sales of its Han L and Tang L models, which are upgraded versions of earlier models.

The Chinese company started out making batteries and has been refining its battery and energy storage technology while building an auto empire that is expanding outside China. It says its 1 megawatt flash chargers can provide power for nearly 250 miles in five minutes.

Ultra-high voltage and a large current are required to maximize charging speeds, BYD’s founder Wang Chuanfu said in a statement.

“To completely solve users’ anxiety over charging, our pursuit is to make the charging time for EVs as short as the refueling time for fuel vehicles,” Wang said.

The company also said that its ﬂash-charging system relies on silicon carbide power chips with voltage levels of up to 1,500V that it developed on its own. Its Blade lithium-iron

phosphate battery is perhaps the world’s safest and most efﬁcient EV battery, with Tesla opting to use it in some of its EVs, industry analyst Michael Dunne said in a recent report. BYD reported it made just over 4.3 million “new energy vehicles” last year up 41% from a year earlier, including 1.8 million battery electric vehicles and 2.5 million plug in hybrids. The price of its shares traded on China’s smaller market in Shenzhen has surged nearly 50% in the past six months.

While BYD’s fanciest, latest premium models are expected to sell for up to about $40,000, it also makes much less expensive EVs including the Seagull, which sells for around $12,000 in China.

BYD barely nudged ahead of Tesla in production of battery-powered EVs in 2024, making 1,777,965 compared with Tesla’s 1,773,443. In early January, Tesla said its sales dropped in 2024, a ﬁrst in more than a dozen years, as rivals such as BMW, Volkswagen and BYD gained market shares with competitive EVs

Nvidia CEO unveils new Rubin AI chips at GTC 2025

BY SARAH PARVINI AP technology writer

Nvidia founder Jensen Huang kicked off the company’s artiﬁcial intelligence developer conference on Tuesday by telling a crowd of thousands that AI is going through “an inﬂection point.”

At GTC 2025 — dubbed the “Super Bowl of AI” Huang focused his keynote on the company’s advancements in AI and his predictions for how the industry will move over the next few years. Demand for GPUs from the top four cloud service providers is surging, he said, adding that he expects Nvidia’s data center infrastructure revenue to hit $1 trillion by 2028. Huang’s highly anticipated announcement revealed more details around Nvidia’s next-generation graphics architectures: Blackwell

Ultra and Vera Rubin named for the famous astronomer Blackwell Ultra is slated for the second half of 2025, while its successor, the Rubin AI chip, is expected to launch in late 2026. Rubin Ultra will take the stage in 2027.

In a talk that lasted over two hours, Huang outlined the “extraordinary progress” that AI has made. In 10 years, he said, AI graduated from perception and “computer vision” to generative AI, and now to agentic AI or AI that has the ability to reason.

“AI understands the context, understands what we’re asking. Understands the meaning of our request,” he said. “It now generates answers. Fundamentally changed how computing is done.”

The next wave of AI, he said, is already happening: robotics. Robotics fueled by so-called “physical AI” can understand

concepts like friction and inertia cause and effect, and object permanence, he said.

“Each one of these phases, each one of these waves, opens up new market opportunities for all of us,” Huang said. The key to that physical AI, and many of Huang’s other announcements, was the concept of using synthetic data generation AI or computer-created data — for model training. AI needs digital experiences to learn from, he said, and it learns at speeds that make using humans in the training loops obsolete.

“There’s only so much data and so much human demonstration we can perform,” he said. “This is the big breakthrough in the last couple of years: reinforcement learning.”

Nvidia’s tech, he said, can help with that type of learning for AI

as it attacks or tries to engage in solving a problem, step by step.

To that end, Huang announced Isaac GR00T N1, an open-source foundation model designed to assist in developing humanoid robots. Isaac GR00T N1 would be paired with an updated Cosmos AI model to help develop simulated training data for robots.

Huang introduced the Cosmos series of AI models, which can generate cost-efﬁcient photo-realistic video that can then be used to train robots and other automated services, at CES earlier this year

The open-source model, which works with Nvidia’s Omniverse a physics simulation tool to create more realistic video, promises to be much cheaper than traditional forms of gathering training, such as having cars record road experiences or having people teach robots repetitive tasks.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MATTHIAS SCHRADER

Visitors check the China-made ByD ATTO 3 at the IAA motor show in Munich, Germany. ByD has announced an ultra fast EV charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a fill-up at the gas pumps.