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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.

His spiritual adviser a Buddhist, knelt near him while chanting as Hoffman died. Media

ä See EXECUTES, page 10A

Faith leaders, activists and supporters of

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 9A

Roberts rejects Trump’s impeachment call for federal judge

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 Tuesday 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

the controversy over recent deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members 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 judicial 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 IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REA-

SON 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.

ä See ROBERTS, page 8A

Hoffman

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Jessie 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.”

Meanwhile, animal rights protesters and lawmakers pushing the bill celebrated, walking out onto the steps of Congress surrounded by police in riot gear, pumping their ﬁsts and carrying stuffed bull dolls.

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

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.

Files related to JFK assassination released DALLAS Previously classiﬁed documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were released Tuesday following an order by President Donald Trump shortly after he took ofﬁce.

The documents were posted on the website of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The vast majority of the National Archives’ collection of over 6 million pages of records, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings and artifacts related to the assassination have previously been released Trump told reporters Monday that has administration will be releasing 80,000 ﬁles, though it’s not clear how many of those are among the millions of pages of records that have already been made public.

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 identiﬁcation

“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 cellphone 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, were 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 astronauts 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. Within an hour, the astronauts were out of their capsule, waving and smiling at the cameras while being hustled away in reclining stretchers for routine medical checks.

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.

Dust storms

rage across N.M., close highways

By The Associated Press

SANTA FE,N.M. — Dust storms raged across New Mexico on Tuesday, snarling highway trafﬁc as the National Weather Service pushed an emergency alert to cellphones that warned of zerovisibility conditions and adverse health consequences for infants and the elderly Dry, dusty weather reduced visibility to almost zero in some instances amid gusts of up to 50 along the Albuquerque-Santa Fe corridor and high plains communities in Torrance County including towns along Interstate 40.

Blinding dust prompted New Mexico’s transportation department to close a 130-mile stretch of Interstate 10, from the Arizona state line to the outskirts of Las Cruces, along with state highways near Deming.

High winds also led to road closures in the state’s oil-producing region at near Roswell and Carlsbad.

“Motorists should not drive into a dust storm. Pull aside and stay alive,” the National Weather Service said in a dust storm warning. Authorities also warned of extreme conditions in the event of wildﬁre, in the aftermath of a grasslands ﬁre that prompted evacuations Friday on the outskirts of Wagon Mound.

Beyond New Mexico, dust storms last week resulted in a pileup in western Kansas on Interstate 70 involving dozens of cars and trucks that left eight people dead

biting 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 ac-

celerate 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.

After splashdown, Musk offered his congratulations via X. NASA’s Joel Montal-

bano said the space agency was already looking at various options when Trump made his call to hurry the astronauts home.

Even in the middle of the political storm, Wilmore and Williams continued to maintain an even keel at public appearances from orbit, casting no blame and insisting they supported NASA’s decisions from the start.

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 “I see a capsule full of grins ear to ear.”

Dolphins circled the capsule as divers readied it for hoisting onto the recovery ship. Once safely on board, the side hatch was opened and the astronauts were helped out, one by one Williams was next-to-last out, followed by Wilmore who gave two gloved thumbs-up.

Wilmore and Williams’ 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 or-

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By AJIT SOLANKI

Villagers dance Wednesday as they celebrate the safe return of NASA astronaut Suni Williams from the International Space Station at a temple in her ancestral village Jhulasan in Mehsana district of Gujarat state, India.

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

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO Policemen watch Monday as vehicles are torched during communal clashes sparked by protests demanding removal of the tomb of 17thcentury Muslim Mughal ruler Aurangzeb in Nagpur, India.

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Trump’s transgender ban blocked

Active-duty service members challenged order

BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON A federal judge blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from military service on Tuesday, the latest in a string of legal setbacks for his sweeping agenda.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., ruled that Trump’s order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights. She was the second judge of the day to rule against the administration, and both rulings came within hours of an extraordinary conflict as Trump called for impeaching a third judge who temporarily blocked deportation flights, drawing a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. Reyes delayed her order until

Friday morning to give the administration time to appeal.

“The court knows that this opinion will lead to heated public debate and appeals. In a healthy democracy, both are positive outcomes,” Reyes wrote. “We should all agree, however, that every person who has answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect.”

The judge issued a preliminary injunction requested by attorneys for six transgender people who are active-duty service members and two others seeking to join the military

On Jan 27, Trump signed an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conﬂicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military

readiness.

In response to the order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualiﬁes people with gender dysphoria from military service. Gender dysphoria is the distress that a person feels because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match. The medical condition has been linked to depression and suicidal thoughts.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys contend Trump’s order violates transgender people’s rights to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.

Government lawyers argue that military ofﬁcials have broad discretion to decide how to assign and deploy servicemembers without judicial interference.

Reyes said she did not take lightly her decision to issue an injunction blocking Trump’s order, noting that “Judicial overreach

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.

EPA plans to cut scientific research program, could fire more than 1,000

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.

is no less pernicious than executive overreach.” But, she said, it was also the responsibility of each branch of government to provide checks and balances for the others, and the court “therefore must act to uphold the equal protection rights that the military defends every day.”

Thousands of transgender people serve in the military, but they represent less than 1% of the total number of active-duty service members.

In 2016, a Defense Department policy permitted transgender people to serve openly in the military During Trump’s ﬁrst term in the White House, the Republican issued a directive to ban transgender service members. The Supreme Court allowed the ban to take effect. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, scrapped it when he took ofﬁce.

Hegseth’s Feb. 26 policy says service members or applicants for military service who have “a

current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”

The plaintiffs who sued to block Trump’s order include an Army Reserves platoon leader from Pennsylvania, an Army major who was awarded a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan and a Sailor of the Year award winner serving in the Navy

“The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacriﬁced—some risking their lives—to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the military ban seeks to deny them,” Reyes wrote. Their attorneys, from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLAD Law, said transgender troops “seek nothing more than the opportunity to continue dedicating their lives to defending the Nation.”

Konanki before she vanished, including Joshua Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud University in Minnesota.

They said Riibe told them he lost his passport, although Riibe said in court that ofﬁcials seized his passport and cell phone.

BY MARTÍN ADAMES ALCÁNTARA Associated Press

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic The parents of a U.S college student who vanished almost two weeks ago in the resort town of Punta Cana have asked authorities to declare her legally dead.

In a letter to Dominican police dated Monday, Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki state that after an extensive search, local authorities believe that Sudiksha, a 20-yearold student at the University of Pittsburgh, drowned.

“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence,” they wrote. “While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.”

A police ofﬁcial not authorized to speak about the case confirmed Tuesday that authorities received the letter Michael Chapman, sheriff of Loudoun County in Virginia, where the Konankis live, said in a statement Tuesday that ofﬁcials have been working with Dominican authorities and continue to review evidence in the case.

“The disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki is tragic, and we cannot imagine the grief her family has been feeling,” he said. “Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned. While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible.”

Sudiksha Konanki and ﬁve female friends had traveled to the Caribbean nation on March 3 for spring break. Police said she disappeared at a beach by her hotel before dawn on March 6. Authorities have interviewed people who were with

Riibe has been detained by Dominican police and is believed to be the last person to see Konanki. He has not been named as a suspect.

On Tuesday, a judge ordered Riibe’s release, saying he can cooperate with authorities without being detained.

“All parties say that he has cooperated in everything that has been asked of him,” Judge Edwin Rijo said adding that Riibe is a witness and as such, cannot be detained Riibe had appeared in court Tuesday afternoon following a request from his attorney that he be released. So many journalists showed up to cover the hours-long hearing that it was moved to a bigger courtroom.

Before the ruling, prosecutors told the judge that Riibe was not under arrest and that he was free to move around the hotel where he is staying.

“I really want to be able to go home and talk to my family, give them hugs,” Riibe told the judge via a translator. “I understand that I’m here to help. I’ve done that. It’s been 10 days.”

According to the transcript of an interview with prosecutors, reported by Dominican media as well as NBC and Telemundo, Riibe told police he was drinking with Konanki on the beach and they were kissing in the ocean when they got caught in a current. Riibe said he was a former lifeguard and helped bring her ashore. He told investigators he vomited upon reaching the beach and that Konanki said she was going to fetch her things. When he looked up, she was gone. He said he was later surprised to hear of her disappearance.

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.

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.

Trump greeted Roberts warmly earlier this month, thanking him and saying “I won’t forget” as justices attended his address to a joint session of Congress. The president said later he was thanking Roberts for swearing him into ofﬁce.

The latest dispute involving the judiciary comes after a court challenged his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 It has been used only three times before in U.S. history, all during congressionally declared wars. Trump issued a proclamation that the law was newly in effect due to what he claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. His administration is paying El Salvador to imprison alleged members of the gang. Boasberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, convened a hearing on Monday to discuss what he called “possible deﬁance” of his order after two deportation ﬂights continued to El Salvador despite his verbal order that they be turned around to the U.S. Trump administration lawyers defended their actions, saying Boasberg’s written order wasn’t explicit, while an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said “I think we’re getting very close” to a constitutional crisis.

The Justice Department is also pushing in court to have Boasberg removed from the case.

The Constitution gives the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a slim majority the power to impeach a judge with a simple majority vote. But, like a presidential impeachment, any removal requires a vote from a two-thirds majority from the Senate.

“What

MARIN LEVy, Duke University School of Law professor

The president’s latest social media post aligns him more with allies like billionaire Elon Musk, who has made similar demands.

“What we are seeing is an attempt by one branch of government to intimidate another branch from performing its constitutional duty It is a direct threat to judicial independence,”

Marin Levy, a Duke University School of Law professor who specializes in the federal courts, said in an email

Only one day earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I have not heard the president talk about impeaching judges.”

Just 15 judges have been impeached in the nation’s history, according to the

U.S. courts governing body and just eight have been removed.

The last judicial impeachment was in 2010. G. Thomas Porteous Jr of New Orleans was impeached on charges he accepted bribes and then lied about it He was convicted by the Senate and removed from ofﬁce in December 2010.

Calls to impeach judges have been rising as Trump’s sweeping agenda faces pushback in the courts, and at least two members of Congress have said online they plan to introduce articles of impeachment against Boasberg. House Republicans already have filed articles of impeachment against two other judges, Amir Ali and Paul Engelmayer, over rulings they’ve made in Trump-related lawsuits.

Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First- and Fifth-amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

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President Donald Trump greets Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts as Trump arrives

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.

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 pharmaceutical 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

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Florence Ruffin, front, the younger sister of Jessie Hoffman Jr., is consoled by a supporter as she walks away from the entrance to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola upon hearing that her brother was executed on Tuesday.

from The Times-Picayune | The Advocate. 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.

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 condemned 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 Louisiana 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.

STAFF PHOTOS 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.

Darrel Vannoy, center, warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, walks into a room to announce that the execution of Jessie Hoffman Jr was moving forward on Tuesday.

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| Wednesday, March 19, 2025 1Bn

Gunman gets 25 years in prison

One killed, one wounded in BR in 2023

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

A gunman who killed a woman and wounded a man during a heated argument outside a north Baton Rouge apartment in 2023 was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison. Tremal Temonl Baker, 31, pleaded guilty Thursday to a count of manslaughter The plea deal, which capped his possible time behind bars to 40 years, came after prosecutors agreed to drop attempted murder and illegal use of weapons charges against Baker in exchange for his guilty plea.

Officials suspect arson in North BR fire

Building belonging to Collis Temple plagued with blight, crime

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER

Staff writer

A ﬁre that scorched a vacant North Baton Rouge building belonging to a company owned by Collis Temple Jr appears to have been set intentionally, according to ﬁre department investigative records

The apparent arson has left a burnt-out husk of a one-story, fourunit apartment building on Longfellow Drive near the Charles L. Kelly Community Center Before the fire, it had a history of complaints about crime, blight and squatters. Though the building was vacant at the time of the Jan. 16 blaze, Baton Rouge firefighters reported it had been inhabited by several homeless people. It took the fire crews about two hours to put the blaze out.

Temple is a real estate developer who owns the Harmony Center, which provides services for people with disabilities and behavioral health needs. The Longfellow Drive building is registered to that company and CEG Inc., for which he is also a registered agent.

The ﬁrst Black basketball player at LSU, Temple has been on the boards of numerous prominent Baton Rouge organizations and is currently a member of the LSU Board of Supervisors.

Temple did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

According to the Baton Rouge Fire Department, a video feed from across the street shows “a subject at 3:20 a.m. walk up to the structure holding a flashlight, then lighting apt. No. 4 on ﬁre.”

Fire investigators were unable to get a detailed description of the person from the video.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Attorney’s Ofﬁce rejected a public records request by The Advocate for the video, saying the ﬁre was still under investigation.

Temple’s company has owned the property since 1993, according to East Baton Rouge Parish Assessor’s Office records The address has been the subject of several 311 complaints and reports of criminal activity in recent years

The Baton Rouge Police Department logged at least 20 crime incident reports at the address between June 2021 and June 2024. Two blight complaints were made to 311, the city-parish’s complaint system, last year including one in November that asked officials to inspect the building. “It’s an eyesore in the community,” one resident wrote to 311 in August 2024. Records show parish code enforcement staff inspected the property in August, September, October and November 2024. Each

District Judge Louise Hines Myers imposed the 25-year sentence and ordered Baker to relinquish any guns he may own, according to court records. Baker was scheduled to stand

trial this week on a second-degree murder charge in the Dec. 22, 2023, shooting that left 24-year-old Tamina Richardson dead.

A 24-year-old man who shared two children with Richardson was shot in the leg during the incident at an apartment complex just south of Hollywood Street in the 3100 block of Riley Street. Both victims were rushed to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Cen-

ter where Richardson died from her injuries. According to an arrest report, detectives found multiple bullet holes in the exterior and interior walls of the victims’ apartment. The surviving man told investigators he got into a heated verbal argument with a man he knew only by his street nickname, “Pop-alock.”

During the argument, that man began shooting at the victim as he stood in the doorway of the couple’s apartment. Richardson and

the victims’ two children were standing nearby, according to the report.

The male victim fired several shots back at the gunman in selfdefense, as Richardson ran back into the apartment with the children. One of the gunman’s bullets struck her in the chest as she scrambled for cover, detectives said.

Body camera footage from a responding ofﬁcer showed the male

FLOCK FORMATION

Fishing licenses offered outside BR

BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT Staff writer

Eduardo was found to be in possession of 399 images/videos of child sexual abuse material,” Ard said in a news release. A variety of electronic devices, along with a stolen ﬁrearm, were also found in Eduardo’s residence, Ard said.

Eduardo was booked into the Livingston Parish jail on 399 counts of pornography involving juveniles and one count of illegal possession of a stolen ﬁrearm. The investigation remains ongoing, Ard said.

ä See GUNMAN, page 2B

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

flock of American white pelicans fly over LSU’s campus recently in Baton Rouge.

Teachers union backs change

Constitutional amendment will raise pay

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

After initial hesitation, Louisiana’s largest teachers union came out this week in support of an amendment to the state constitution backed by Gov Jeff Landry that would dissolve three long-standing education trust funds to pay for teacher salary increases.

One of four constitutional changes on the March 29 statewide ballot, Amendment 2 would make pay stipends the Legislature approved last year — $2,000 for teachers and $1,000 for support staff — a recurring part of their annual salaries.

Critics have opposed the change in part because the raises would not be built into the state’s educationfunding formula, which leaves the possibility that the money could later be redirected toward other projects. After the bill was introduced in November, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Larry Carter told lawmakers that the union supported “the spirit of the bill” but worried about relying on school districts to put the money toward teacher pay.

But on Tuesday the union said in a news release that it had worked with lawmakers to amend the bill to ensure the raises are included in the state’s mandatory salary schedule and that the state will step in if districts are unable to fund the pay raises.

In an interview, Carter said the revised amendment is currently the only way to provide financial stability to educators.

“It’s the only measure by which we can see teachers’ and school employees’ onetime stipend be turned into a permanent part of their salaries,” he said.

The Louisiana Association of Educators, the state’s other major teachers union, also says it supports the measure, union

BLOTTER

Continued from page 1B

The Sheriff’s Ofﬁce’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was assisted by the Louisiana Attorney General’s Ofﬁce Bureau of Investigation in the case 2 inmates connected with death of third Two inmates at the West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center have been arrested in connection with the death of a third inmate. Quwinton Norman, 34, and Joshua Janise, 34, both face a charge of obstruction of justice in connection

President Tia Mills told the Louisiana Illuminator Mills did not respond to a request for comment.

For decades, the state has funded hundreds of education projects using about $2 billion from three trust funds enshrined in the state constitution If passed, Amendment 2 would eliminate those funds and use the money to partially pay off debts related to the state’s teacher retirement program School districts would be required to use the savings expected to stem from paying off those debts to give their teachers and support staff raises

The amendment would not apply to educators at schools that do not pay into the retirement fund, which includes most charter schools.

Louisiana educators are among the lowest paid in the nation. According to data from the Southern Regional Education Board, they earn $5,000 less on average than their counterparts in other Southern states and nearly $15,000 less than the national average.

The amendment has sparked controversy partly because it would reduce or eliminate funding for numerous education projects.

Last year the trust funds provided roughly $10 million to early childhood education, $3 million toward efforts aimed at improving struggling schools and $1.2 million to help districts with teacher recruitment and retention, among other projects.

State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley, who supports the measure, said that he expects his department will be able to replace funding for some of the efforts, including early childhood education. However Landry’s proposed budget for the next ﬁscal year is based on current revenues and does not account for changes if the trust funds are dissolved.

Richard Nelson, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue, said the state will still have about $40 million left over once the initial raises have

with the March 5 medical emergency death of Ryan Moreau 38.

Moreau suffered an unknown medical emergency earlier this month while in custody at the detention center Deputies began to administer first aid until medical personnel arrived and transported him to a hospital. He died several days later An autopsy has been conducted on Moreau, and the Sheriff’s Ofﬁce is still waiting on a full toxicology report to determine an ofﬁcial cause of death A criminal investigation was launched following his death, and security footage of the incident was reviewed. Detectives de-

been given out, which can only be used for limited purposes such as additional raises or curriculum costs. He added that the measure is expected to save districts around $200 million annually on debt interest payments, which they must put toward pay increases.

A lawsuit ﬁled last month by two educators and a pastor aims to keep the measure off the March 29 ballot, saying its wording is slanted illegally in favor of the 115-page amendment and misrepresents what it aims to do. For example, the ballot explanation of Amendment 2 says it would “provide a permanent teacher salary increase.”

“But there is no salary increase, only the extension of an existing stipend that has been in place for several years,” the lawsuit states. “No teacher will be paid any more than they currently are due to this potential amendment, and some teachers may be paid less.”

Jacob Newsom, an LFT organizer and teacher at St. Amant High School, is one of the people behind the lawsuit. Yet he said he accepts the union’s stance in support of the amendment, explaining that he feels the Landry administration has put both educators and the unions in an impossible position.

“It’s really a rigged game,” he said. “I think the question we need to be asking is why every time the teachers of the state want something, there are all these strings attached.”

Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry’s ofﬁce has asked for the case to be thrown out, arguing that it’s too close to the election and that the plaintiffs don’t have grounds to sue under state law

But on Wednesday, a state judge refused to block the lawsuit. Attorney General Liz Murrill responded by saying she plans to ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to intervene.

Email Elyse Carmosino at ecarmosino@theadvocate. com.

termined that shortly before his collapse, Moreau had received “an unknown item or substance” from Norman.

In footage, Norman was seen approaching Janise while deputies were providing aid to Moreau Afterward, Janise stood to position himself where he blocked deputies’ sightline to Norman’s bunk. Janise was later seen leaving the area with an unknown package concealed under his arm The package was never recovered.

The criminal investigation and knowledge of the unknown package prompted Sheriff Jeff Bergeron to order a facilitywide shakedown at the detention cen-

GUNMAN

Continued from page 1B

victim bleeding inside the apartment as other ofﬁcers administered CPR to Richardson in a back room, according to court ﬁlings. In

FIRE

Continued from page 1B

time, the building was in violation, with the inspector citing the building’s “busted out” windows and open access on numerous occasions.

In October, a blight court order forced Temple’s company to pay $300 in ﬁnes and court costs and said an estimated $2,500 in additional fines would be charged if violations were not addressed.

After the ﬁre, the property was put on Metro Council’s agenda for Feb. 27 for an emergency condemnation and possible demolition. But an objection by District 10 council member Carolyn Coleman stopped the council from moving forward.

On March 12, Temple wrote a letter to Mayor-President Sid Edwards, the Parish Attorney’s ofﬁce and the

FISHING

Continued from page 1B

from noon to 1 p.m.

Lafayette

n 200 Dulles Drive

n April 16-17

n 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., closed from noon to 1 p.m.

Bourg

n 468 Texas Gulf Road

n April 22-25

n 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.,

closed from noon to 1 p.m.

New Orleans

n 2045 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 438

n April 29 to May 1

n 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., closed from noon to 1 p.m.

What to bring

Those applying for a new license must bring proof of residency such as a driver’s license that has been held continuously for 12 months, voter registration, vehicle registration or state income

ter on March 7. Various papers and “greeting cards” soaked in an unknown substance, some of which tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids, were found. Norman and Janise remain at the detention center.

One booked on suspicion of DWI

One person was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison between noon Monday and noon Tuesday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Johnathan Nicholas, 39, of Baton Rouge, was booked on a count each of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, obstruction of

the body camera video, the male victim could be heard telling police, “He started shooting. I can’t tell you who, the (expletive) happened so fast!”

Several tips from the public through Crime Stoppers helped investigators identify Baker as the shooter

He spent months wanted in connection with the shooting until Baton Rouge patrol officers nabbed him during an April 17 traffic stop near Plank Road.

Email Matt Bruce at matt.bruce@theadvocate. com.

Director of Development, asking for a delay Temple wrote that the company had ﬁled a claim with its insurance carrier and was in the process of collecting the proceeds.

“While we understand the long-term necessity of demolition, proceeding with the demolition at this time will jeopardize our ability to settle the claim and proceed with the restoration or rebuilding process,” Temple wrote.

tax documents.

Those who are applying for a license in a business name must provide documentation of a valid federal tax ID that matches the business names and proof of an authorized signature or occupational license.

Questions about commercial licenses can be directed to (225) 765-2898.

What to know

Trip tickets are a form that commercial fishermen and seafood dealers must fill out that list of information about their catches, like what kind of fish was caught, much, and where. information is track ﬁsh populat inform how it ﬁsheries.

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

At the times and listed above, Wi Fisheries staff will be on hand to explain how to ﬁll out

Questions about trip tickets can be directed to (225) 765-2449 or triptickets@wlf. la.gov

a highway of commerce, obstruction of court orders, possession of marijuana, possession of Schedule II substance and possession/distribution/manufacturing of Schedule V substance.

LOTTERY

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2025

PICK 3: 2-3-4 PICK 4: 6-2-5-6 PICK 5: 9-9-7-1-5 POWERBALL: 11-18-2338-60 (9) Unofficial notification, keep your tickets.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

A January fire that damaged a property belonging to a company owned by

player Collis Temple was recently deemed arson by fire investigators.

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

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.

customers, sank 4%

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-

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

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

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.

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,

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

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

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

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

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

4B ■ Wednesday, March 19,

McDonald, Kenneth Seale Funeral Home in Denham

Springs at 6 p.m Passantino, Dora

St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Plaquemine at 10am.

Obituaries

Besnard Jr., Silas E. 'Skip'

Silas "Skip" E. Besnard, Jr., age 79 of Baton Rouge, LA, passed awayonFriday, March 7, 2025. He was born on October 6, 1945, in New Orleans, LA. He is the beloved son of the late Silas E. Besnard, Sr, and the late Lucille Gleber Besnard. He is survived by his brothers, William Bill" Besnard (Carole Wheeler Besnard) and Michael David Besnard (Belinda Brouillette Besnard), along with ahost of nieces and nephews. Skip was an avid Corvette enthusiast that will be dearly missed by all whoknew him. Services will be held on Friday, March 21, 2025, at Rabenhorst Funeral Home East, 11000 Florida Blvd, at 12pm, with visitation beginning at 10am. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Skip's memory to acharity of your choice

Robert Harley Bone, Jr. born Friday July 13th, 1956, passed awayonFriday March 7th, 2025 at the age of 68 years old. Robert will be remembered for his Love of the Outdoors, Adventurous Spirit &Friendships he built over the years. In his early years he enjoyed building &flying Model Rockets and Control Line Airplanes along with riding Dirt Bikes. Robert loved Hunting, Fishing &Camping where he found Peace, Joy & Serenity in Nature.

He was also amember of the Boy Scouts of America along with his son Brockwell where he taught Brock "Love of the Outdoors". As an adult, Robert enjoyed operating his John Deere Tractor &Gardening.

Robert was also aRegular at Franks Restaurant in Prairieville, LA where he was sure to share astory or agood laugh with friends.

sister, Lydia Diane Bone Campbell (Dennis); brothers; Alan E. Bone &Steven D. Bone; Son, JamesBrockwell Bone &grandsons; Caleb A. Bone &Ryan C. Bone. Memorial Serviceswill be held, Friday March 21st, 2025, at ResthavenFuneral Home: 11817 Jefferson Hwy in Baton Rouge Visitation will begin at 10am followed by aservice at 11am. Burial will follow in ResthavenGardens of Memory. Cherishedmoments with Family &Friends will live on in the hearts of those who knew him. We Love You Robert and you will be Deeply Missed!

Bussey, GlendaVerret

Glenda Verret Bussey, 89 of Zachary, LA passed away peacefully at her home surroundedby her family on March 16, 2025. Anative of Bayou Chene, LA, she is the daughter of the late Aristide (Chick) and Leona Daigle Verret. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by herex-husband Donald Lee Kent; husband Herbert Bussey; daughter Debra Lynn Kent and nine siblings, Viola Verret, Vivian Verret, Clarinda (China) Saltz, Inez Berninger, Mary Pierce,Bonnie Mendoza, Dempsey (Tiger) Verret, Nathan Verret, and Keith (Arrowhead) Verret.

Glenda is survived by her sons Gerald and Tommy Kent of Zachary, LA; daughter Terri Kent Auzenne and son in law Scott Auzenne of Flower Mound, TX;grandchildren Alex KerrofCentral,LA; Alyse Kerr Smith (husband Tommy Smith) of Lacombe, LA; Anna Auzenne of Fort Worth, TX; Amanda Auzenne of Baton Rouge, LA; and great grandson Brantley Kerr of Central, LA. Aprivate Celebration of Life will be held at alater date. Special thanks to Lane Memorial ICU staff and The Hospice of Baton Rouge Butterfly Wing for the wonderful care.

Glenda was awomanof warmth, wit, and unwavering kindness. Herspiritenriched the lives of all who knew her. She will be greatly missed.

Donaldson, Theodore E. 'Ted'

1951. He went on to earn hisdegree fromLSU in 1961. Theodore is survived by his beloved wife of 61 years, Marie Giannobile Donaldson; his son Danny (Nicoline) Donaldson; daughters Marybeth(Lee) West, Dina (Carlos) Molina, and Amy (Tom) Wintz. He is also survived by his cherished grandchildren: Kristen (Adam) Wilcox, Alex (Samantha) West, Emily West,Clay and Holland Donaldson, Maria Claire Molina, Landra Fiebig, and Hayden Wintz, as well as seven greatgrandchildren. Additionally, he leaves behind his sister Mary "Cissy" Poret and brothers David, Thomas, and Patrick Donaldson. He was preceded in death by his parents, Landreaux "Jack" and Cecelia Ruhl Donaldson, and his brothers Landreaux "Laddie", John "Jackie," Ronald "Ronnie," and Richard. A devoted parishioner of Our LadyofMercy Catholic Church, Theodore served on the Parish Council, Long -Range Planning Committee, Building Committee, was aLector for Holy Mass, amember of the Holy Name Society, and served as adirector of the Adoration Chapel. He was amember of the Knightsof Columbus Council 4030. Professionally, Theodore was an accomplished electrical engineer and served in the United States Air Force. He had adeep love for LSU sportsand enjoyed deer hunting and fishing with his extensivefamily and friendsatthe South Bayou Des Glaises Hunting Club. Known for his quiet and gentle nature, Theodore will be greatly missed. May he rest in God's peace. The family extendsspecial thanks to sitters Angel Cottrell and Miki Rowe, the staff of St. Joseph's Carpenter House Hospice, particularly Deacon Mike Chiappetta. Visitation will be held at Rabenhorst East Funeral Home, 11000 Florida Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70815 on Thursday, March 20, 2025, from 5:00-8:00 pm. Visitation will continue at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church, 445 Marquette Ave. Baton Rouge, LA 70806 at 1:00 pm on Friday, March 21, 2025, until the Mass of Christian Burial at 2:30 pm interment to follow at Resthaven Memorial Gardens, 11817 Jefferson Hwy, Baton Rouge, LA 70816.

Gannuch, Melissa Michelle Baudin

Melissa Michelle Baudin

parentsBernard M. Baudin, Jr. and Katherine Forsyth Baudin, sisters Lori Baudin Smith (Jon), Christine Baudin Hernandez (Christopher), Elizabeth Baudin Gaudet (Nathan), and ten nieces and nephews that she adored. Melissa was born in Metairie, Louisiana, and resided in Baton Rougefor the last 26 years. She graduated from St. Mary's Dominican High School, class of 1990, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of New Orleans, in 1994, and while working full-time, earned aMaster of Business Administration from the UniversityofNew Orleans, in 1998. She began her career in New Orleans with National Fruit Flavor Company and Productivity Point International. She moved to Baton Rouge in 1998 and worked as aTrust Development Officer with Hibernia National Bank before beginning a career in state government in 2005. Melissa served in the AdministrativeServices Division under three Attorneys General over nineteen years, holding the roles of Budget Analyst and DeputyUndersecretary. She left the Attorney General's Office in 2024 to join Governor Jeff Landry's Office as Director of Administration and Finance, a position she held until her passing. She loved all of her roles, the people she met and worked alongside, and serving the people of Louisiana, making lasting friendships and memories along the way.

Melissa faced each day with unbridled enthusiasm and full hope. She greeted everyone she met with a warm, bright smile that reflected theinner peace in her heart. Melissa lived by faith, believing that the way to His kingdom was built on choosing kindness and compassion at every opportunity.

Avisitation will be held on Friday, March 21, 2025 at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, 2025 Stuart Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, at 9:30 AM, followed by afuneral mass at 11:00 AM. Inurnment at alater date.

The family wishes to thank the staffs at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Woman's Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baton Rouge General Hospital, and ClarityHospice for their exceptional and kind care. In lieuofflowers, please consider adonation to National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos at Seelos.org,the Sister Dulce Foundationat cypressspringsprayercent er.org.

nation to National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos at Seelos.org, the Sister Dulce Foundation at cypressspringsprayercent er.org.

cen on y, hard work, and adventure Craig was the devoted hus‐band of Darlene Dodson Hunt for 46 years—a love that was the foundation of their family Together, they raised two children: Amy Hunt (Justin Cop) of Fred‐ericksburg, TX, and Stephen Hunt (Laurie) of Zachary, LA His greatest joy came from being "Paw‐paw" to AnnClaire, Ivan, MaryCatherine, John Hunt Cop, Easton, and Kaiden Hunt His role as a grandfa‐ther was one he cherished and he never missed a mo‐ment to be present in their lives Craig was a beloved husband, father brother uncle, and friend to many He had a way of making everyone feel like family, offering kindness, laugh‐ter, and unwavering sup‐port. Whether through his jokes, advice, or simply being there when needed, he touched countless lives For 46 years, Craig was a skilled custom home builder, leaving his mark in both Zachary, LA, and Fred‐ericksburg, TX. He split his time between Louisiana and Texas, ensuring he was always near the peo‐ple he loved most Beyond his work, he was an avid fisherman who loved spending time at his Old River camp, where some of his best memories were made with family He be‐lieved in making the most of life—whether that meant planning trips to bring everyone together or showing up for every sporting event and special occasion. There was never a dull moment with him, and his presence filled every room with warmth and laughter. Craig is sur‐vived by his siblings: Don Hunt (Rosalyn), Jeff Hunt (Sherlyn), Ginger Kent (Mike) Stacy Denicola (Mike), Brad Hunt (Kathy), and Tara Jones (Matt) Sis‐ter-in-law Scarlet Faulk (Gilbert) and brother-inlaw Jim Lipscomb. He was also a cherished uncle to many nieces and nephews, each of whom he loved dearly He is preceded in death by his parents, Don‐ald DeWitt Hunt Sr. and Shirley Claire Hunt; inlaws, AP and Clara Dodson; sister, Da’Anne Lipscomb (Jim); brother-in-law, Mickey Dodson; niece, Jen‐nifer Hunt; and nephew, DR McDavid Craig’s legacy is one of love, laughter, and a deep commitment to fam‐ily and friends. He lived with purpose and left a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him His family and friends will forever cherish the memories made with him. Visitation will be held at St John the Baptist Catholic Church on Thursday, March 20th, from 10 am until the Mass of Christian Burial at 1 pm, conducted by Fr Lamar Partin Burial will be in Hunt Family Cemetery, Zachary. In lieu of flowers, the family requests dona‐tions be made in his honor to support cancer research at St. Jude’s Research Hos‐pital Share sympathies, condolences, and memo‐ries at www CharletFune ralHome com.

put off or even go without care. Simply put —without dentalinsurance, there may be an importantgap in your healthcare coverage.

Robert is preceded in death by his father, Robert Harley Bone Sr. and sisterin-law, Angela R. Bone. He is survived by his mother, Wilma Ann Bone; sister, Lydia Diane Bone Campbell (Dennis); brothers; Alan E. Bone &Steven D. Bone; Son, James Brockwell Bone &grandsons; Caleb A. Bone &Ryan C. Bone. Memorial Services will be held, FridayMarch 21st, 2025, Home: in 10am at in Memory. with live those who knew We Love You Robert and you will be Deeply Missed!

Theodore Edward Donaldson, aged91, passed away peacefully on March 16, 2025. Born on September 6, 1933, in Baton Rouge, Theodore attended Sacred Heart of Jesus Elementary School and graduated from Catholic High School in 1951. He went on to earn his degree from LSUin 1961. Theodoreissurvived by his beloved wifeof61 years, Marie Giannobile Donaldson; his son Danny (Nicoline) Donaldson; daughters Marybeth (Lee) West, Dina (Carlos) Molina, cherished

grandchildr ly, ter Mary "Cissy" Poret and brothers David, Thomas, and Patrick Donaldson. He was preceded in death by his parents, Landreaux "Jack" and CeceliaRuhl Donaldson, and hisbrothers Landreaux "Laddie", John "Jackie," Ronald "Ronnie," and Richard. A devoted parishioner of Our Lady of

Gannuch, born May 14, 1972, and aresident of Baton Rouge, passed away peacefully with family by her sideonMarch 14, 2025, at theage of 52. She is preceded in deathbyher maternal grandparents Herbert Forsyth, Sr. and Roesmary Catoire Forsyth, and paternal grandparents Bernard M. Baudin, Sr. and Dolores Esler Baudin. She is survived by her loving husband of 26 years, Craig Gannuch, her three beloved children, Justin, Ella, and Andrew Gannuch, parentsBernard M. Baudin, Jr. and Katherine Forsyth Baudin, sisters Lori Baudin Smith (Jon), Christine Baudin Hernandez (Christopher), Elizabeth Baudin Gaudet (Nathan), and ten nieces and nephews that she adored. in and or She

Mary's School, a AcUniverin rking full-time, earned aMaster of Business Administration from the UniversityofNew Orleans, in 1998. She began her career in New Orleans with National Fruit Flavor Company and Productivity Point International. She moved to Baton Rouge in 1998 and worked as aTrust Development Officer with Hibernia National Bank before beginning a career in state government in 2005. Melissa served in the AdministrativeSer-

ministration and Finance, a position she held until her passing. She loved all of her roles, the people she met and worked alongside,

doesn’tpay for

Stephen Craig Hunt lov‐ingly known as Craig and most affectionately called Pawpaw" by his grand‐children and their friends, passed away peacefully after a courageous 13-year battle with cancer. He faced every challenge with strength and grace, never complaining and always pressing forward Born in Zachary, Louisiana, on April 26, 1958, Craig was a proud graduate of Zachary High School, where he played the drums in the band before continuing his education and musical passion at UL. He built a life centered on family hard work, and adventure Craig was the devoted hus‐band of Darlene Dodson Hunt for 46 years—a love that was the foundation of their family Together, they raised two children: Amy Hunt (Justin Cop) of Fred‐ericksburg TX and Stephen Hunt (Laurie) of Zachary, LA. His greatest joy came from being "Paw‐paw" to AnnClaire Ivan MaryCatherine, John Hunt Cop, Easton and Kaiden Hunt His role as a grandfa‐ther was one he cherished, and he never missed a mo‐ment to be present in their lives. Craig was a beloved husband, father, brother, uncle and friend to many He had a way of making everyone feel like family offering kindness, laugh‐ter, and unwavering sup‐port Whether through his jokes, advice, or simply being there when needed, he touched countless lives. For 46 years, Craig was a skilled custom home builder, leaving his mark in both Zachary, LA, and Fred‐ericksburg TX He split his time between Louisiana and Texas, ensuring he was always near the peo‐ple he loved most. Beyond his work he was an avid fisherman who loved spending time at his Old River camp, where some of his best memories were made with family He be‐lieved in making the most of life—whether that meant planning trips to bring everyone together or showing up for every sporting event and special occasion There was never a dull moment with him, and his presence filled every room with warmth and laughter. Craig is sur‐vived by his siblings: Don Hunt (Rosalyn), Jeff Hunt (Sherlyn) Ginger Kent (Mike), Stacy Denicola (Mike), Brad Hunt (Kathy), and Tara Jones (Matt) Sis‐ter-in-law Scarlet Faulk (Gilbert) and brother-inlaw Jim Lipscomb. He was also a cherished uncle to many nieces and nephews, each of whom he loved dearly He is preceded in death by his parents, Don‐ald DeWitt Hunt Sr. and Shirley Claire Hunt; inlaws, AP and Clara Dodson; sister, Da’Anne Lipscomb (Jim); brother-in-law, Mickey Dodson; niece, Jen‐nifer Hunt; and nephew DR McDavid Craig’s legacy is one of love, laughter and a deep commitment to fam‐ily and friends. He lived with purpose and left a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him His family and friends will forever cherish the memories made with him. Visitation will be held at St John the Baptist Catholic Church on Thursday, March 20th, from 10 am until the Mass of Christian Burial at 1 pm, conducted by Fr Lamar Partin Burial will be in Hunt Family Cemetery, Zachary. In lieu of flowers the family requests dona‐tions be made in his honor to support cancer research at St. Jude’s Research Hos‐pital Share sympathies, condolences, and memo‐ries at www CharletFune ralHome com.

Armas

Hunt, Stephen 'Craig'

Bone Jr., Robert Harley

occa e was never a dull moment with him, and his presence ﬁlled every room with warmth and laughter. Craig is sur‐vived by his siblings: Don Hunt (Rosalyn), Jeff Hunt (Sherlyn), Ginger Kent (Mike), Stacy Denicola (Mike), Brad Hunt (Kathy) and Tara Jones (Matt) Sis‐ter-in-law Scarlet Faulk (Gilbert) and brother-inlaw Jim Lipscomb He was also a cherished uncle to many nieces and nephews each of whom he loved dearly. He is preceded in death by his parents, Don‐ald DeWitt Hunt Sr. and Shirley Claire Hunt; inlaws, AP and Clara Dodson; sister Da’Anne Lipscomb (Jim); brother-in-law, Mickey Dodson; niece Jen‐nifer Hunt; and nephew, DR McDavid. Craig’s legacy is one of love, laughter, and a deep commitment to fam‐ily and friends He lived with purpose and left a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. His family and friends will forever cherish the memories made with him Visitation will be held at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on Thursday, March 20th, from 10 am until the Mass of Christian Burial at 1 pm conducted by Fr. Lamar Partin. Burial will be in Hunt Family Cemetery Zachary In lieu of ﬂowers, the family requests dona‐tions be made in his honor to support cancer research at St Jude’s Research Hos‐pital. Share sympathies condolences, and memo‐ries at www CharletFune ralHome.com

McGill; his son, Stanley Lerille and wife,Annie Lerille and theirchildren, AinsleyLerille, Davis Lerille, CooperCitron, Christopher Citron and Liam Lerille; 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 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."

Thomas "Tom" Collins Minniear, 90, of Baton Rouge, passed away peacefullyonMarch 15, 2025. Born in Chicago, the Stephen F. Austin University student became adedicated music teacher and instrument repairman. Tom enjoyed hunting, fishing, LSU sports, and cherished family time. His musical legacy lives on through countless students he mentored.

Surviving are his wife of 65 years, Aline Simpson Minniear; daughters Debbie Castro and Christina Avila (Maria); grandchildren Melissa, Taylor, and Alexis; three great-grandchildren; twosisters and two brothers.

11:00AM. Burial will follow at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church Cemetery. Pam's warmth, generosity, and unwavering kindness will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her.

Savoy Hotard, Dorothy L. 'Dot'

Williams, Edwin Clifford

Aprivate service for family and friends will be held at alater date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association.

Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonal note at www.resthavenbatonroug e.com

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'sname 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

"Tom"

Peacefully on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, Hazel Stilley Neal, abeloved wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend, passed away at the age of 94. Born in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Hazel was known for her deep compassion for others. She was always quick to forgive and never judged anyone she met. Hazel enjoyed prayer withfamily and friends, and reading her bible. She even continued her lifelong dedication to the church by watching her favorite pastors on television after she could no longer attend services in person. Hazel always enjoyed great food and was an incredible cookherself. Hazel is survived by her three children, Donald G. Neal, Michael E. Neal and Nancy Neal Sumner. Her legacy continues through her nine grandchildren, Ryan and Eric Lynn, Anna McIntosh, Joy Bollinger, Jenny Foster, Stephen Neal, Mary RuthErb and Naomi Tanguay. Hazel was avery proud and loving great-grandmother to 17 great-grandchildren doting on Lyric, Echo, Annabella and Levi Lynn, Madison and Ellis McIntosh, Grace, Hope, Joshua and Mercy Bollinger, Cole and Andi Foster, Zoe, Jeremiah, Faith and Josiah Neal.

She is preceded in death by her husband,Edward T. Neal; grandson, Ethan Lynn; siblings, Gladys Bailey, Genna Hayden, Wallace Stilley, and Arthur Stilley; in laws, Mike and Lois Neal and Ernest and Dee Neal. Hazel will be remembered for her unwavering love for her family and compassion. An intimate graveside service will be held in Holden, Louisiana, on March 19, 2025 at Stafford Cemetery No. 2.

Pam Pullen, abeloved wife, mother, and friend, passed away on March 14, 2025, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at the age of 77. She was born on November 22, 1947, in Livonia, Louisiana, where she spent her early years before eventually making Baton Rouge her home. Pam dedicated much of her career to the Louisiana Department of Education, where she madea lasting impact. She embraced life's simple joys, from celebrating Mardi Gras to collecting flamingo-themed treasures. Her happiest moments were spent at the beach, her favorite retreat. Pam had an extraordinary abilitytomake everyone feel like alifelong friend, and her kindness knew no bounds. Adevoted Catholic, Pam found strengthand purpose in her faithand was deeply involved in her church community. She was a constant source of love and support to those around her, always putting others before herself. She is survived by her loving husband, Irish Pullen, and her cherished son, Brandon Pullen. She also leaves behind nieces and nephews: Todd LeJeune (Shelley), Troy LeJeune (Lauri), Michelle and Patrick Richardson, Michael LeJeune, Lindsey and Ryan McCombie, Austin and Callie LeJeune, Jacelyn LeJeune, Bryson LeJeune, Courtney LeJeune, Connor Richardson, and Landon Richardson Pam was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Mable Alford,and her sister, Carolyn Lee Alford LeJeune. Avisitation will be held at Niland's Funeral Home in Livonia on Friday, March 21, 2025 from 9:00AM until 10:45AM. The mass of Christian burial will follow at St.Frances Cabrini Catholic Church at 11:00AM. Burial will follow at St.Frances Cabrini Catholic Church Cemetery. Pam's warmth, generosity, and unwavering kindness will be deeply missed by all who had the privilegeof knowing her.

Dorothy L. "Dot" Savoy Hotard, born on November 23, 1934, passed away on March 17, 2025, at theage of Dot enjoyed cooking for family &friends on Sundays.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Talmage and Ethel Watts; brother, Eulice Watts; sister, Estelle Watts; herhusband, John O. "Buddy" Savoy; second husband, Joseph Hotard; and daughter, Samantha Labatut.

Dot is survived by her children,Reba Leblanc (Gerald), Tracy LeMarie (Chris), Marty Savoy, Rodney Savoy (Cynthia); her sisters, Dorris Ellis, Linda Hull, andJackie Losch; 8 grandchildren;15greatgrandchildren;4 great great-grandchildren;and a host of nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be at Holy Rosary Catholic Church on Thursday, March20, 2025 from 9:00 am until aMass of Christian Burial at 11:00 am. Burial will follow in Church Cemetery.

The family would like to thank the staff of Pinnacle Hospice andThe Crossing In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Full of Grace Café in honor of Dot.

Edwin C. Williams Jr., affectionately knownasE.C. and "Band Man," passed away on March 12, 2025, at age 90. Adevoted educator, musician, anddeacon, he taught for 39 years at the LouisianaSchool for the Visually Impaired and played bass guitar at Fairview Baptist Church. A graduate of L.B. Landry High School and Southern University A&M College, he was aproud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. He is survived by his children:Beverly Austin, Carolyn Ike (Fred), Lemor Smith (Daryl), Keith Williams (Shirley), Dale Williams (Sheleen), Christopher Johnson (Michelle), Clifford Johnson (Claudette), Ralph Johnson,Sean Williams, and YusufWilliams, along with numerousgrandchildren and extended family. He waspreceded in death by hiswife, Eva J. Williams, and daughter, Nia Williams. Funeral services will be held Friday, March 21, 2025, at 11:00 AM at Fairview Baptist Church, 1636 Braddock St., Baton Rouge, LA. Visitation:9:00 AM -11:00 AM. Arrangements entrusted to Wilson Wooddale Funeral Home, 1553 Wooddale Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70806.

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 alittle piece of Heaven." who many be derful life goals. numerous awards life, alwas on, he the ULL Alumni Busithe Award,to on to being ap the fitness indus icon for the Acadiana area, he was equally alegend in the rebuilding of antiques airplanes. Over the years he

Pullen, Pamela

Neal, Hazel

Lerille, Red 'Mr. America 1960'

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

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

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

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

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

against men muddles abortion debate Brumley’s success worthy of spotlight

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

Court commits an unqualified error on qualified immunity

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

obviousness 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.”

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.

First thing is to fire all the generals

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

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

Noot’s strong start, 4 HRs push LSU by UNO

Heralded pitcher lifts Tigers to run-rule victory

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Jaden Noot coming to LSU was a big deal. The Class of 2022 recruit from Oak Park, California, was the No. 1 right-handed pitcher in California, according to Perfect Game. He was the No. 3 player in the state and the No. 33 player in the country.

The Milwuakee Brewers drafted him in the 19th round of the 2022 MLB Draft, but he came to LSU anyway and was on track to have a role out of the bullpen on the Ti-

Got to stop the run ﬁrst

Godchaux aims to shore up Saints’ 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

ä See GODCHAUX, page 2C

gers’ 2023 national title team. But then he got hurt. Tommy John surgery wiped out his freshman year and half of the 2024 campaign A second injury during the second half of last season limited him to one inning.

The setbacks prevented Noot from making his ﬁrst career start until Tuesday against UNO. It was his chance to prove he was still the top recruit that LSU had landed in 2022.

After a rocky start, Noot did just that. He allowed just one earned run and struck out ﬁve batters in

four innings as LSU took down UNO 11-1 in seven innings at Alex Box Stadium. Noot walked a batter and gave up two singles to the ﬁrst three batters. The mini-barrage resulted in a run, but Noot locked in after that. He struck out the next three hitters to escape the inning.

The sinker was Noot’s best friend, as he consistently generated whiffs with the pitch. His fastball sat around 93 mph and he mixed in the occasional slider.

Junior right-hander Jacob Mayers replaced Noot after the fourth

NCAA TOURNAMENT

Rallying around Flagg

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

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.”

ä AP All-America team. PAGE 5C

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

ä See FLAGG, page 4C

Green an early favorite Nussmeier target

LSU TE showcases size, athleticism in Tuesday’s practice

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

LSU football mixed a few team

drills into its sixth spring practice on Tuesday, giving a few of its returners a chance to compete against some of its transfers.

Not all newcomers have joined the Tigers yet. As it starts its third week of spring practice, LSU is still waiting to add a key transfer offensive lineman into the mix, as

well as the bulk of its top-10 freshman class. Here’s what stood out from a full session open to the media.

Trey’Dez Green

On Tuesday, sophomore tight end Trey’Dez Green was Garrett Nussmeier’s favorite target Green secured two difficult grabs while LSU rehearsed redzone offense, showcasing the size and athleticism he flashed last season The 6-foot-7 sophomore also won all three of his reps in a one-on-one drill against defensive backs, revealing an improved ability to create separation on his routes even against more nimble defenders.

When the season kicks off on Aug.

ä See GREEN, page 3C

Godchaux

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.

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.

Skenes highlights opening-day starters

Former LSU star becomes the youngest since 2014 to start season on mound

By The Associated Press

Pittsburgh right-hander Paul Skenes, the reigning National League Rookie of the Year award winner will be the youngest pitcher in 11 years to start a season opener when he takes the mound for the Pirates next week.

Skenes, a former LSU star, will be 22 years and 302 days old on March 27 when Pittsburgh plays at Miami. José Fernández of the Marlins was 21 years and 243 days old when he opened the 2014 season. In its annual announcement of the opening day starters, most of which had been already informally confirmed by their clubs during spring training, Major League Baseball also revealed Tuesday that Skenes will be the fastest ﬁrst overall draft pick to make an opening day start

Skenes was drafted by the Pirates in 2023. Mike Moore was the ﬁrst selection by Seattle in 1981 and started opening day for the Mariners in 1984, and Stephen Strasburg was the top pick by Washington in 2009 and made his ﬁrst opening day start for the Nationals in 2012.

Three natives of Japan got the nods for their openers, the most in MLB history Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers were the starters for the grand opener in Tokyo earlier Tuesday, a 4-1 win for Yamamoto and the Dodgers. Yusei Kikuchi will also start for the Los Angeles Angels on March 27 against the Chicago White Sox. Seven other Japanese-born players have previously started season openers: Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Kenta Maeda, Masahiro Tanaka, Hiroki Kuroda, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideo Nomo.

Two teams have yet to declare their opening day starter: Arizo-

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes delivers during the

against the Baltimore Orioles on March 1 in Sarasota, Fla.

na and Cleveland. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said he’s deciding between newcomer Corbin Burnes and Zac Gallen for the road game against the Cubs. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt has yet to commit, but all signs point to Tanner Bibee, who pitched in a Cactus League exhibition game on Monday that lines up his rest schedule to be ready for the March 27 game against Kansas City With the Cubs and Dodgers

getting a head start, the 28 other teams will open on March 27. Four of the opening day starters will make their debuts with a new team: Garrett Crochet with Boston, Clay Holmes with the New York Mets, Luis Severino with the Athletics and Kikuchi with the Angels. The others are Carlos Rodón (New York Yankees), Freddy Peralta (Milwaukee), José Berríos (Toronto), Zach Elﬁn (Baltimore), Nathan Eovaldi (Texas), MacK-

enzie Gore (Washington), Zach Wheeler (Philadelphia), Cole Ragans (Kansas City), Framber Valdez (Houston), Hunter Greene (Cincinnati), Logan Webb (San Francisco), Michael King (San Diego), Chris Sale (Atlanta), Sean Burke (Chicago White Sox), Sandy Alcantara (Miami), Sonny Gray (St. Louis), Pablo López (Minnesota), Tarik Skubal (Detroit), Logan Gilbert (Seattle), Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay) and Kyle Freeland (Colorado).

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.

GODCHAUX

Continued from page 1C

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 ﬁvetechnique, which aligned him either directly in front of the of-

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

fensive 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.”

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@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.

Pelicans guard Murphy out for rest of the season

The New Orleans 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 went to the locker room with 11:11 remaining in the ﬁrst quarter but didn’t return. Murphy is now out for the rest of the season, and his return is currently unknown.

LSU gymnast Chio sets

new

SEC award record

There has never been a freshman gymnast in Southeastern Conference history like LSU’s Kailin Chio. After earning her ﬁrst career perfect 10 Friday on vault at Auburn, the ﬁrst-year phenom picked up her

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 FILE PHOTO By STEPHANIE SCARBROUGH

first inning of a spring training game

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATTHEW HINTON

Saints defensive tackle Davon Godchaux speaks to the media Monday at the team’s training facility in Metairie.

Working on long game

LSU aiming to get better on deep passes during spring

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

Throughout the offseason last year, Chris Hilton said he believed he could have a breakout season. He felt healthy after injuries stalled the ﬁrst three years of his career and he was getting ﬁrst-team reps.

Everything ﬁnally pointed up for the LSU wide receiver — until he suffered another injury this time to his ankle.

“God doesn’t operate on the same clock as you, and that’s one of the things that I had to learn. I learned it the hard way Spring ball and fall camp, I went from here” Hilton said, raising his hand, “in a split second, back at the bottom.”

Hilton missed seven games, and even once he returned, it took another month for him to contribute But in the last two games, Hilton showed the difference he could make with his speed.

He opened up the deep passing attack, something LSU is trying to build on going into the 2025 season.

“When we’re not hitting deep balls and things like that, it allows defenses to play us in a way that almost handcuffs us,” quarterback Garrett Nussmeier said “Having Chris rolling at the end of the year, you saw what we were able to do in the vertical game.”

Could the solution be simple?

Though it was a small sample size, Hilton caught six passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns combined against Oklahoma and Baylor Four of his receptions went for more than 40 yards. During those two games, Nussmeier completed 58% (7 of 12) of his 20-plus-yard passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns, according to Pro Football Focus.

The difference was his speed, and LSU added more potential deep threats.

Kentucky transfer Barion Brown clocked a 10.49 in the 100 meters and won back-toback Tennessee state titles in the 100 and 200 meters. Oklahoma transfer Nic Anderson doesn’t have the same straight-line speed, but he averaged 21 yards per catch in 2023. Even Florida

GREEN

Continued from page 1C

catch anyway

State transfer Destyn Hill was known for his speed in high school.

“That’s where I think (offensive coordinator Joe) Sloan feels real comfortable that he’s got those vertical threats to go out,” coach Brian Kelly said. “We didn’t have them at times last year and now they’re healthy and part of our offensive structure.”

In theory, LSU has one part of the equation Nussmeier is willing and able to throw deep, but he only completed 36% (31 of 86) of his throws more than 20 yards downﬁeld last season for 982 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions, according to PFF

His completion percentage on those passes ranked 10th among SEC quarterbacks who started the majority of their team’s games.

“Completions,” Kelly said when asked what he’s looking for in the vertical passing game. “And completions happen with both the quarterback and the receiver being on the same page.”

It was a stark difference from the year before, when Jayden Daniels turned into the best deep-ball passer in college football. He carved up defenses while throwing to Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas, completing 63.6% (35 of 55)

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-on-11 work that concluded Tuesday practice. But the

of his throws more than 20 yards downfield, per PFF for 1,347 yards, 22 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Daniels led the country at 11.7 yards per attempt. By comparison, Nussmeier averaged 7.7 in his ﬁrst year as a starter, which tied for 12th in the SEC with Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia.

Nussmeier was the only quarterback in the country who threw for more than 4,000 yards and averaged less than 8 yards per attempt.

“I think there’s many different things that could have been that issue,” Nussmeier said. “Obviously, I’m always trying to get better at it and work on my accuracy I think it’s just more of a chemistry thing and getting our timing down.”

Without Hilton, LSU lacked deep threats. Two of its starters, Kyren Lacy and CJ Daniels, were possession types who rarely separated downfield. LSU struggled in the deep passing game for most of SEC play, going a combined 11 of 46 on 20-plus-yard passes against Ole Miss, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Alabama, Florida and Vanderbilt.

Nussmeier was 4 of 18 on those throws for 120 yards and one touchdown during LSU’s three-game losing streak.

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

BY CHARLIE GOLDSMITH Associated Press

CINCINNATI Cincinnati Bengals wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins signed four-year extensions on Tuesday that keep them in Cincinnati for their primes along with quarterback Joe Burrow

The two star playmakers highlighted how much expectations have changed within the Bengals’ organization over the last ﬁve years, which have included four straight winning seasons, five playoff victories and an appearance in the Super Bowl.

“I want to win a championship, and we can deﬁnitely win it here,” Higgins said during a joint press conference shortly after the signings became official. “The money isn’t the big factor It’s being with the guys for another four years and trying to win that championship.”

With Burrow, a former LSU standout, under con-

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and had his best outing of the season. He walked just one batter and struck out four in 12/3 innings.

In ﬁve appearances, Mayers hasn’t allowed a hit and has 10 strikeouts. Walks have been his nemesis instead. He has eight on the season in 52/3 innings.

Freshman left-hander Cooper Williams tossed 11/3 scoreless innings before the game ended on a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh. As has been the case for nearly a month, LSU’s offense continued to smash

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.

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

tract through the 2029 season, two solid starting offensive tackles and a standout young running back in Chase Brown, the Bengals should continue to have one of the best offenses in the NFL.

The final steps toward keeping this core on offense together was finalizing the contracts with Higgins and Chase, also a former LSU star Chase’s $161 million contract makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL, and Higgins’ $115 million deal will make him one of the league’s top 10 highest-paid receivers.

“Now that this is concluded, the next step for us is a championship with these guys,” coach Zac Taylor said. “I think that’s a big reason why they wanted to be here; why they wanted to come back — they know there’s more for us to accomplish as a team, a lot more wins to be had, a lot more great moments.”

The Bengals haven’t had a losing season since they drafted Chase with the ﬁfth

the ball on Tuesday Junior Jared Jones led the charge with four hits. Eight other Tigers finished the night with a hit. They had seven walks, were hit by two pitches and had eight extra base hits.

Jones drove in the lone run in the ﬁrst with a home run, a 450-foot shot to leftcenter field that was his eighth bomb of the year

The Tigers then scored a run in the second on a bases loaded walk to tie the game at 1-1 before scoring four runs in the third inning. Freshman Cade Arrambide hit a two-run homer his second of the year — prior to Jones and senior Josh Pearson tallying run-scoring sin-

all without interfering.

Pickett ran with LSU’s secondteam 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

overall pick in 2021. Last season, he became the ﬁrst player in NFL history with at least 100 receptions (127), 1,700 yards receiving (1,708) and 17 touchdown receptions in a season Despite having one of the league’s most proliﬁc

gles to give LSU the 5-1 lead. LSU later took an eight-run lead on junior Ethan Frey’s third homer of the year, a three-run shot into the right ﬁeld bleachers.

Freshman Derek Curiel also extended his on-base streak to 22 games with a double in the sixth inning. He scored on a single from Jones to give LSU a 10-1 advantage. Frey blasted a solo homer in the seventh inning that activated the 10-run rule and ended the game early LSU resumes Southeastern Conference play on Friday at Texas. First pitch in Austin is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on SEC Network.

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.

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU wide receiver Chris Hilton runs the ball during practice

Aug. 7 at the Tigers’ outdoor practice facility

NCAA TOURNAMENT

SU banking on experience in First Four game

BY CHARLES SALZER Contributing writer

Experience isn’t necessarily a difference-maker, but it will be an area the Southern women’s basketball team has an advantage after traveling to Los Angeles for a First Four NCAA Tournament game. Ultimately, results are all that matters, but Southern does return a handful of players from its 2023 NCAA Tournament team. That squad also played in California where it lost its opening game to Sacred Heart. The experience can only help the Jaguars as they prepare for UC San Diego, their opponent on

Wednesday

The game will be played at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion and will air on ESPNU at 8 p.m.

Southern went 20-14 this season, won the SWAC regular season with a 15-3 record, and then ﬁnished off a 3-0 run through the conference tournament with a 64-44 win over Alcorn State in Saturday’s championship game Among the team’s leaders are four seniors — Aleighyah Fontenot, Soniyah Reed, Sky Castro and Tionna Lidge — who were contribu-

tors in 2023.

“One thing about it is they know what to expect,” coach Carlos Funchess said. “Everything is on a tight schedule (in the NCAA Tournament). You’ll have media obligations, you’ll have media at some of the practices and things like that so they’ll be familiar with that part of it. You’ve got to be on your P’s and Q’s when it comes to time management.”

Reed, who was named to the SWAC all-tournament team, leads the Jaguars with 47 3-pointers while Fontenot has 43. Lidge is the team’s top rebounder at 4.8 per game while Castro has played what might be the

best basketball of her career during the second half of the season. Southern also has a leader in senior Aniya Gourdine, who transferred in from Temple last season.

A second team all-SWAC selection she has team-high numbers with 73 steals and an 11.9 points per game average, and is second with 85 assists. Gourdine was the most valuable player of the SWAC tournament after three typical all-around performances In UC San Diego (20-15), Southern faces a team that is playing in its ﬁrst NCAA Division I tournament after transitioning from Division II four years ago. The Tritons defeat-

UConn aims for rare 3-peat

Transfer portal, NIL making it more difficult

BY JOHN MARSHALL AP sportswriter

Florida had a dominating team in 2005-06, winning 33 games on its way to the program’s ﬁrst national championship. The Gators returned nearly everyone the following season and did it again, becoming the seventh team to win consecutive national titles

Their three-peat bid fell short the next year The key players from the title teams were all gone and the Gators didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament, proving just how difﬁcult it is to win three straight national championships

“It’s just hard to win in general,” said former Florida coach Billy Donovan, now the head coach of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. “I’ve always said this: If you played the NCAA Tournament over after it ﬁnished, you’d have a different national champion every year, for the most part.”

Heading into this year’s NCAA Tournament, one team has a chance at the ﬁrst three-peat in more than 50 years: UConn.

Dan Hurley led the Huskies to their ﬁfth national championship in 2023, retooled the roster and added No. 6 last season, becoming the ﬁrst team since Donovan’s Gators to go back to back.

The ride to a third straight title has been a bumpy one.

The Huskies opened the season No. 3 in the preseason AP Top 25, but went 0 for 3 at the Maui Invitational and have spent most of the season ﬁghting injuries and inconsistencies, entering the bracket 23-10.

UConn may not be as dominant now as it was when winning NCAA Tournament games by an average of 20 points per game the past two seasons, but this is March and the Huskies have shown they can tame the madness.

“Early in the year, it (three-peating) was something that was talked about around here,” said Hurley, whose team opens the NCAA Tournament against Oklahoma in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday

“With the way that we played to this point, it is not something we

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

“It’s

becoming the first team since Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators to go back to back.

just hard to win in general. I’ve always said this: If you played the NCAA Tournament over after it finished, you’d have a different national champion every year, for the most part.”

BILLy DONOVAN, former Florida coach, now coach of the Chicago Bulls

are talking about (now).”

Should the Huskies pull it off, they’ll join rare company

John Wooden’s UCLA teams of the 1960s and ‘70s set the standard for college basketball excellence, winning at a rate not seen before or since.

The Bruins won consecutive titles in 1964-65 and set a mark that may never be broken, seven straight from 1967-73. UCLA had a massive advantage with those teams, first with Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), then with Bill Walton, two of the greatest centers in basketball history

“We set records that still stand billto this day,” Walton said in a 2024 interview with The Associated Press, a few months before he died in May. “He did not talk about winning and losing. He talked about effort and purpose, and we

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 American-Mount 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 na-

tried with everything we had to get to acknowledge that we were doing something right.”

Florida and Duke in 1991-92 were the only teams to have a chance at joining UCLA in winning at least three straight titles. Since Florida’s back to back, no reigning champion had even made it to the title game the next season until UConn.

Part of it is continuity. College players have limited eligibility, so it’s rare for coaches to have the same rosters coming back. Injuries also can crush a team’s chances, or a bad matchup in the lose-andgo-home NCAA Tournament can quickly halt a second deep March run.

More potholes have been added over the past two decades.

The one-and-done rule, implemented in 2005, allowed players to leave for the NBA after a single

tional 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 regularseason 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

ed UC Davis 75-66 in the Big West championship game after ﬁnishing tied for third in the regular season.

“From what I’ve seen, they’re kind of like Alabama A&M,” Funchess said. “They’re not extremely big on the inside, but they’re athletic and they’re skilled. We’ve got to be prepared.”

Sumayah Sugapong leads UC San Diego in scoring at 14.7 points per game. She scored 11 and had seven rebound in the title game win, and was named the tournament’s most valuable player Gracie Gallegos scored a career high 24 points to lead four Tritons in double ﬁgures against UC Davis.

Omaha’s trash (can) turns into treasure

BY ERIC OLSON AP sportswriter

OMAHA, Neb The Omaha Mavericks knew it was just a matter of time until they broke through to earn their ﬁrst NCAA Tournament bid.

This was the vision when the school announced 14 years ago that it would move from Division II to Division I, but circumstances seemed less than ideal for the breakthrough to happen this season. Frankie Fidler who was on track to become the program’s career scoring leader, had transferred to Michigan State, the Mavs were picked eighth in the nine-team Summit League and they were 4-9 following a 32-point loss at Iowa State. Then came the turning point. Assistant coach Kyan Brown was walking through the locker room before the next game and didn’t like the players’ body language. He needed to ﬁnd a way to motivate them.

college season, often stripping teams of their best players.

The transfer portal and NIL deals have made it even more difﬁcult The ability to transfer from a school without having to sit out a year has created a revolving door of rosters, forcing coaches to overhaul their teams nearly every year NIL opportunities have turned into karats to lure players out of high school or from other programs.

“The hardest part to me in the college piece would be college was a place where you could kind of build a program, because you had players that basically stayed for a period of time, and I think people could identify with those teams,” Donovan said. “But now between the NIL and the transfer portal, you basically have a new team almost every year, and it’s almost like free agency.”

Hurley has been one of the best at navigating this new world of college basketball. Keeping it going has proven to be difﬁcult this season, but UConn still has a chance at the three-peat with the NCAA Tournament starting this week.

defender Guillermo Diaz Graham into the basket while being fouled.

And of course, dominating the ﬁrst meeting against rival North Carolina, then overcoming firsthalf 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 gamechanging 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

“So I put this huge trash can in the corner of our locker room,” Brown wrote in a “Meet the Mavs” essay on the school website. “I just hauled off and kicked the crap out of it and started yelling at it. Four guys next to it got scared, and four guys across the room jumped up and started yelling at it, too. It sounds bizarre, but it worked. Something snapped within our guys.”

A meme was born.

The Mavs went out and beat Cal Poly 86-82, and a bash-thetrash can postgame celebration has followed every victory since. Coaches, players, the school mascot and invited guests such as pro wrestlers have taken turns kicking, jumping on and otherwise beating up the trash can.

For one game, fans were invited to bring their own ﬁve-gallon-orsmaller trash can and have it ﬁlled up with popcorn for $5 at a concession stand. In the celebration following the Mavs’ regularseason title-clinching win, Omaha chancellor Joanne Li holding a championship belt, popped out of a trash can placed at midcourt

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.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS FIILE PHOTO By FRANK FRANKLIN II

Dan Hurley led the Huskies to their fifth national championship in 2023, retooled the roster and added No. 6 last season,

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

Minutes after the LSU men’s basketball season closed with a 29-point loss to Mississippi State in the ﬁrst round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, Matt McMahon shared what he’ll remember most from this team.

The third-year coach recalled the program’s “upward trajectory.” He harkened back to this season’s 11-2 start in nonconference play

He closed his answer with the present: the growth into a winning program halted in this year’s conference play as it slowly proved to be one of the worst teams in the SEC.

“Whether it’s just unable to get the job done at the level required, combination with the injuries, the overwhelming level of talent and quality of teams in the SEC, just weren’t able to produce the type of results we wanted to in league play,” McMahon said at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

The faults of this LSU (14-18, 3-15 SEC) team are numerous but explainable

The team’s downward spiral into being the doormat of one of the best conferences in college basketball history was cemented because of the roster’s inexperience and talent shortage. Inexperience

McMahon gave nine players at least 10 minutes in LSU’s 31-point home defeat to unranked Texas on Feb. 1 Five were freshmen, including redshirt Corey Chest and two-sport athlete Trey’Dez Green who left the team after six games to focus on academics. That isn’t the best recipe to win in the transfer portal era of college athletics. On KenPom’s experience rating, LSU was the fourth lowest in the SEC.

The dependence on ﬁrstyear players corresponded with the season-ending ACL injury of junior big Jalen Reed on Dec. 3 and the absence of junior wing Tyrell Ward, who averaged nine

points per game last year, never played after stepping away from the program to prioritize his mental health. Freshmen replaced juniors.

Although Robert Miller became a top-three player for LSU at the end of the season, he didn’t make an impact often. Vyctorius Miller had a promising start but faltered in conference play as the 6-5, 185-pound guard faced more physicality

Chest’s relentless motor and athleticism allowed him to have games such as his 12-point and 18-rebound performance against thenNo. 4 Alabama. However he lost his starting job as his erratic decision-making was eventually exploited by SEC big men who were more savvy and had more detailed scouting reports. Miller and Chest also were injured in conference play, sporadically missing seven and six games, respectively

Curtis Givens struggled throughout. However, the team had no choice but to give minutes to the second of its two point guards who shot 26.9% overall.

Insufficient talent

Once McMahon’s roster was irreparably altered without Reed and Ward, he elevated people into bigger roles and needed starters to play even better to match the ability in their conference Givens, who played 21 minutes per game and started 12 times, was needed as an outside threat. He wasn’t ready for that role although he shot 118 3-pointers. Of the 72 players who attempted at least 70 3-pointers in the SEC, he shot the lowest percentage at 24.6%, according to the metrics site BarTorvik.

Fifth-year senior Jordan Sears, a UT-Martin transfer, also underperformed after shooting 43% last season. Sears shot 37.8% overall and 31.7% from 3-point range on 186 attempts. Of players in the SEC to attempt at least 150 3-point attempts, he had the worst 3-point numbers on BarTorvik.

Fifth-year senior Dji

Bailey was arguably the team’s second most reliable producer — after leading scorer Cam Carter as a “glue guy” who defended four positions and was usually guarding the opponent’s best scorer However, he also was a poor 3-point shooter (25.7%)

The Tigers lacked good playmakers as evidenced by their high turnover rate. The Tigers were 329th in opponents’ rate at getting steals against them, according to KenPom.

In the front court, LSU replaced Reed with Daimion Collins. While the redshirt junior performed admirably at times, his poor rebounding, especially on defense, was dire. Despite being an all-world leaper at 6-9, his slender frame was outmuscled frequently and he averaged only 4.3 rebounds.

Of the 31 SEC players that are at least 6-8 and had a minutes percentage of 35%, Collins had the worst defensive rebounding rate (12.3%), according to BarTorvik.

LSU was 347th in the nation in defensive rebounding rate on KenPom

Players who performed this poorly in these fundamental areas led McMahon to repeatedly experiment with rotations and change starting lineups, once depending on Green to rebound a month after playing his last football game.

McMahon used a fourguard lineup instead of a traditional two-big group to salvage the offense in an SEC that had nine of the top 30 most efﬁcient scoring teams in Division I on KenPom as of Tuesday — LSU is 134th overall.

LSU endured an uphill climb every game starting in January The team’s faults led to an identity crisis as it didn’t know seem to know its strengths despite an initial desire to be an up-tempo, 3-point shooting squad.

After declining its bid to the National Invitational Tournament, McMahon and his staff are tasked with not having this occur again.

Email Toyloy Brown III at toyloy.brown@theadvocate. com

Dutchtown uses big 5th inning in 5-1 win

BY WILLIAM WEATHERS Contributing writer

Dutchtown’s Jacob Wall said it’s a matter of reciprocation with his teammates. The same belief system that exists within the team’s lineup was a spark in Wall’s ability to deliver a crucial hit to keep the Grifﬁns unbeaten in District 5-5A play

Dutchtown, which trailed by a run entering the bottom of the fifth, batted around and exploded for five runs — capped by Wall’s two-run double for a 5-1 victory Tuesday over St. Amant at Grifﬁn Park.

“Our team is so confident in each player that we have in the box,” said Wall, who had two of his team’s six hits. “No matter who it is, we have the utmost confidence and when I came up, I knew they had confidence in me that I was going to rip one.”

Dutchtown (16-8, 3-0 in 5-5A) scored five times on two hits. The Griffins also took advantage of three walks, a wild pitch and a ﬁelding error before

Wall’s hit put the game out of reach. Reliever Tucker Suire retired all six batters that he faced in the ﬁnal two innings, getting a gameending double play from third baseman Coby Mitchell to ﬁrst baseman Braden Hinson.

“I told our guys that so far in district our pitching’s kept us in games,” Dutchtown coach Chris Schexnaydre said.

“We haven’t been able to swing it and get in big innings. Tonight, they opened the door and when they did we took advantage of the opportunity, and we had a big inning.”

St. Amant (12-9, 0-1) took a 1-0 lead in the ﬁrst on an RBI-single from center fielder Easton Humphrey (2 for 2). Landon Blanchard had tripled to the rightcenter gap with one out and survived a near-miss tag attempt to score the run. The Gators loaded the bases in the third inning and had two runners on with one out in the fifth and didn’t score against winning pitcher Kason Johnson (2-0).

PREP REPORT

Boys

Brice Water/Reese Mullins, Episcopal def. Claire Nesheiwat/Elizabeth Ortiz, Dunham 6-4, 6-0

“I told our team they were better in critical moments than we were tonight,” St. Amant coach Brandon Bravata said. “We had some moments earlier in the game where we needed the big, clutch hit and then late in the game we needed to be a little more efﬁcient on the mound and make a play or two.”

St. Amant starter Carr Villnerve (2-1) loaded the bases in the fifth without an out. He issued two of his ﬁrst three walks of the game and Eli Freeman (2-3) bunted his way on, setting the stage for courtesy runner Rylan Mayeaux to score on a wild pitch. The Gators appeared to have the second out with reliever Jayce Reddicks on for Villnerve, but an inﬁeld error and hit batsman to Hinson made it 3-1.

“That’s how we roll sometimes,” Wall said. “We thought we were on him every inning, and we had a lot of conﬁdence going into that inning. Baseball’s a game of conﬁdence. That’s what it came down to.”

Margarita and tequila flights, a new sushi roll and a salad special

Bon vi·vant /noun/ a sociable person who has cultivated and reﬁned tastes, especially with respect to food and drink

New food, drinks on the block Head to Modesto, 3930 Burbank Drive, Baton Rouge, every Wednesday for flight night. The margarita flight includes jalapeño pineapple, skinny berry and mangonada margaritas. The tequila flight features Teremana blanco añejo and reposado.

The March special salad at MJ’s Cafe, 5162 Government St., Baton Rouge, is made with mixed greens, fennel, blistered tomatoes, broccoli, Granny Smith apples, sunﬂower seeds and a fennel apple cider vinaigrette.

Rock-n-Sake 3043 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, released the March roll of the month for Tuesdays: The banh mi maki roll is made with salmon, tempura shrimp, jalapeño, pickled carrot and red onions, cucumbers, Thai basil, cilantro and Kewpie mayonnaise. Dine in to get your choice of a rodeo roll or tiger roll for $6 when you purchase any regular-priced roll.

The March special salad at MJ’s Cafe, 5162 Government St., Baton Rouge, is made with mixed greens, fennel, blistered tomatoes, broccoli, Granny Smith apples, sunflower seeds and a fennel apple cider vinaigrette.

Wine and spirits

Wine dinner: 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27, at Bin 77 Bistro and Sidebar, 10111 Perkins Rowe, Baton Rouge

Celebrate PlumpJack’s 25th anniversary with a ﬁve-course menu paired with PlumJack wines. The menu features smoked togarashi seared tuna, coffee and tomato braised pork belly, seared boneless beef short rib and blueberry tart Tia Green will be in attendance to share more about the winery’s history Tickets are $25 per person, available for purchase at resy com.

In the know

Tap 65, 515 Mouton St., Baton Rouge, is now open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with new menu items like roti rolls and a vegetarian curry plate. For the rest of March, The Brakes Bar behind Spoke and Hub, 5412 Government St., Baton Rouge, will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

Red Beans and Rice Heritage and Music Festival: Friday and Saturday in downtown Baton Rouge

This vibrant celebration focuses on one of Louisiana’s most beloved dishes and its rich cultural heritage. The family-friendly event brings together local farmers, businesses and artists. Born and Braised Bash: 5 p.m

LIVING

Cauliflower wrap from MJ’s Cafe

BR RESTAURANTS

BY LAUREN CHERAMIE Staff writer

Because of the plethora of seafood options in Baton Rouge, it isn’t difficult for Christians who observe Lent to abstain from eating meat on Fridays. This year, the 40-day Lenten period ends Thursday, April 17.

Around the city, churches start hosting ﬁsh fry Fridays and restaurants roll out special menu items. These 10 Baton Rouge restaurants have created limited time Lenten menus for customers to enjoy If you know of a special menu or item that we didn’t list, let us know by emailing lauren.cheramie@ theadvocate.com.

Eliza Restaurant n 7970 Jefferson Highway

Eliza is now serving a threecourse Lenten menu for $56 with options like Gulf shrimp in a green goddess marinade, roasted red pepper puree, arugula, artichoke hearts and charred lemon; fried oyster gnocchi with Calabrian chili butter; seared redﬁsh court bouillon in a rich herb and tomato broth with popcorn rice; and strawberry

ya-ya, fried soft-shell crab, shrimp and butterbeans, Verlasso salmon, seafood quinoa paella and whole roasted branzino.

In addition to the special menu, try the recently added jumbo shrimp piccata and lobster roll.

Superior Grill

n 5435 Government St., 7333 Highland Road

mousse with olive oil cake, honey roasted pistachios, blueberries and mint.

Rice and Roux n 2158 O’Neal Lane, 320 Lee Drive, 3617 Perkins Road

Every Friday during Lent, enjoy seafood gumbo, fried ﬁsh, shrimp and corn bisque, shrimp fettuccine, crawfish pies and crawfish étouffée at Rice and Roux.

The Colonel’s Club n 2857 Perkins Road

The Colonel’s Club’s Lenten menu features Alaskan king crab cakes, stuffed artichokes, a crispy halibut sandwich, seafood gumbo

The Lenten menu items at Superior Grill include seafood chimichangas, an ahi tuna bowl, veggie blue corn enchiladas, lettuce wrapped tacos, seafood crab cake enchiladas and more.

Modesto n 3930 Burbank Drive

Modesto has a slew of options for Lent.

Try the fried oyster tacos; fried calamari with spicy garlic butter and horseradish aioli; mahi mahi tacos with blackened gulf mahi, refried black beans, cabbage, avocado crema, mango pico de gallo, cilantro and cotija cheese; crispy crawfish tacos with Louisiana crawfish, cilantro-lime cabbage slaw and crema de arbol; soft shell

PROVIDED PHOTOS

jumbo shrimp picatta at The Colonel’s Club in

PROVIDED PHOTO

Lauren Cheramie BON VIVANT

Eliza is now serving a three-course Lenten menu for $56 with options like mussels.

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.)

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

Dear Heloise: I loyally read your

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

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.

includes rotating options:

sh cream sauce, $26; blackened shrimp alfredo in Parmesan sauce with bowtie pasta, $22; and a seafood platter with fried catfish strips, Gulf shrimp, hushpuppies, coleslaw and fries, $24.

LENT

Continued from page 1D

crab tacos with green mango slic-

es, tahin, guacamole sauce, mango pico de gallo; flounder ceviche with local flounder, lime, orange, jalapeno, red onion, pico de gallo, avocado and totopos; and soft shell crab or fried crawfish tortas, a Mexican po-boy on housemade telera bread with spiced mayonnaise, grilled onions, tomato, Oaxacan cheese, guacamole, pickled jalapeno and cabbage slaw

Overpass Merchant n 2904 Perkins Road

Overpass Merchant has rolled out the shrimp “Philly” sandwich and bang bang bao buns for Lent

The Queen n 1717 River Park Blvd.

Every Friday during Lent, 1717 Kitchen and Cocktails will serve a different special in addition to its regular menu The Lenten menu includes rotating options: crab cake pasta in a crawfish cream

Try the fried oyster taco during Lent at Modesto in Baton Rouge.

sauce, $26; blackened shrimp Alfredo in Parmesan sauce with bow tie pasta, $22; and a seafood platter with fried catﬁsh strips, Gulf shrimp, hush puppies, coleslaw and fries, $24.

Jed’s Local n 672 Jefferson Highway

Jed’s is serving up three options for Lent: seafood plates, a threecourse menu for $42 and the poboy of the month. Choose from a catfish, shrimp or combination seafood plate with fries and coleslaw for lunch only every Friday For something a little fancier, try the three-course

menu, available for dinner only, which features turtle soup, shrimp pasta with Louisiana crawﬁsh and lemon ice box pie.

This month, the featured po-boy is the crawfish cake sandwich. Every order will support Front Yard Bikes in Baton Rouge, which provides a safe space where kids learn mechanics, leadership and life skills through free after-school programs.

Jabby’s Pizza n 3627 Perkins Road, 18303 Old Perkins Road

Try the shrimp and mushroom flatbread at Jabby’s, available through the end of Lent.

Anthony’s Italian Deli n 5575 Government St.

Order a plate of shrimp and pesto lasagna every Friday at Anthony’s or try other meatless options like veggie muffuletta, shrimp spaghetti, salad or Italian-style shrimp po-boys

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

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-

BEST

Continued from page 1D

I couldn’t ﬁnish the salad. — Deanna B. Narveson, regional editor Crawfish

n Hawk’s Crawﬁsh Restaurant, 415 Hawk’s Road, Rayne

Hawk’s claims to have the best crawfish in the world, and this batch sure tasted like it. Their patented purging method, developed by Texas A&M food scientists, ensures the freshest, cleanest-tasting crawfish each time. What’s more, this is a seasonal boil shack that only opens when Louisiana crawfish are at their biggest and tastiest. Hawk’s likes to say that their product is for the “crawfish connoisseur,” and if you count yourself in that corner, you’ll want to try this busy little place deep in the heart of crawfish country Joanna Brown, staff writer 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.

BON VIVANT

Continued from page 1D

9 p.m. Saturday at City Pork Jefferson, 7327 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge Celebrate 10 years of City Pork Jefferson with City Pork classics, drinks, live music, barbecue and more. Tickets are $50 per person, available for purchase at sevenrooms.com. Attendees must be 21 years or older

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 Eduardo Saverin is 43. MLB pitcher Clayton Kershaw is 37.

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

Mark your calendar Zippity Zoo Fest: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday April 5 and 6, at BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo, 13350 La. 19, Baker It’s the zoo’s 55th birthday! Celebrate at the annual spring festival, Zippity Zoo Fest, with a children’s village, education stations, a food court and animal encounters.

If you have an upcoming food event or a kitchen question, email lauren.cheramie@ theadvocate.com. Cheers!

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

PROVIDED PHOTOS

The Queen’s Lenten menu

crab cake pasta in

crawfi

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

beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM

bIG nAte

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

nea CroSSwordS La TimeS CroSSword

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER

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 napping. 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 for down

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

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?