The Times-Picayune 03-23-2025

CROSSING THAT

STREET

Consultants mull fully closing Bourbon to cars among other security measures

BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer

For months, a crew of consultants has been pondering how and when to close off Bourbon Street to cars and thus ward against deadly attacks like the one that roiled the famed party strip on Jan. 1. This week, they will make their recommendations public, just as a festivalladen spring in New Orleans kicks off.

Former New York Police

Commissioner William Bratton and his team will present their suggestions for Bourbon Street pedestrianization and other key security measures on Monday to the New Orleans

Field likely set for New Orleans mayor’s race

BY JAMES FINN Staff writer

a

Former New york City Police Commissioner William Bratton, joined by Mayor LaToya Cantrell, speaks during a news conference in January. He and his team are set to release a report on Bourbon Street safety

Police and Justice Foundation, the booster group that covered the cost of Bratton’s work, which will share the findings with New Orleans Police Chief

Anne Kirkpatrick, Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the City Council, said foundation Chair Darrah Schaefer

That report is meant to guide a cit y that must fend for itself in the coming months, as heightened federal security in place for Super Bowl and Mardi Gras is not expected to persist through French Quarter Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and any number of other spring and summer events

ä See BOURBON, page 4A

BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer

Danielle Hawkins, an LSU admissions counselor, asked a group of about 40 middle and high schoolers this week how many had been to a Mardi Gras parade. Only a few hands went up.

“OK, a couple,” she said brightly “Look at y’all!” The students had come from Tampa to tour the Baton Rouge campus. Hawkins, who frequently travels to New Jersey and Pennsylvania to recruit, gave a presentation, then introduced their tour guide: an LSU junior from Houston. As the Florida students shuffled across the sprawling campus, where 4 in 10 freshmen come from out of state, 10th-grader Ah’Yanna Maultsby liked what she saw “It feels like I actually

40% of freshmen not from La. ä See STUDENTS, page 5A

STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

New Orleans City Council members Oliver Thomas, left, and Helena Moreno are both in the running to replace New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

SOPHIA GERMER

Soldiers with the Louisiana National Guard walk down Bourbon Street ahead of the Super Bowl on Feb 5.

See MAYOR’S, page 5A

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Venezuela to resume repatriation of migrants

CARACAS Venezuela Venezuela will once again accept repatriation flights from the United States carrying its deported nationals after reaching an agreement with the U.S., a Venezuelan official said on social media Saturday

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro suspended flights on March 8, after the U.S. Treasury Department announced the withdrawal of Chevron’s license to export Venezuelan oil.

“We have agreed with the U.S. government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow Sunday,” said Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s Assembly and Maduro’s chief negotiator with the U.S. Venezuela accepted the deal to guarantee “the return of our compatriots to their nation with the safeguard of their Human Rights,” Rodríguez said.

In his statement, Rodríguez referred to the deportation by Donald Trump’s government of some 250 Venezuelans to a highsecurity prison in El Salvador.

Trump alleged the deportees were members of the Tren de Aragua gang. He labeled the Tren de Aragua an invading force on March 15 when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Trump attends wrestling championships

BRIDGEWATER,N.J President Donald Trump attended the NCAA wrestling championships on Saturday night for the second time in three years, the latest example of how he has mostly limited travel early in his new term to trips built around sports events.

Trump arrived at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to loud cheers and a standing ovation He pumped his fists amid USA chants.

Penn State was looking to close out its fourth straight men’s team title and Trump stood just off the ring, personally congratulating wrestlers that won their matches.

The Republican president spent Friday night at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, about 70 miles northeast of Philadelphia, on what was his first visit there of his second term.

“We’re going to the big fight. The reason I’m going is in Philadelphia. They have the NCAA, world, wrestling for college. And I’ve always supported the wrestlers,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Friday evening “I want to support them. These are the great college wrestlers from the various schools.”

Smoke rises from a building Saturday after it was targeted by an

Gaza City following evacuation orders for residents.

Israel strikes Lebanon after rocket attack

Heaviest exchange since truce with Hezbollah

BY BASSEM MROUE AND WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press

BEIRUT, Lebanon Israel struck Lebanon on Saturday in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, killing six people including a child, in the heaviest exchange of fire since its ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah almost four months ago

The rockets fired from Lebanon were the second ones launched since December and again sparked concern about whether the ceasefire would hold In a statement, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the latest attack, saying it was committed to the truce

Israel’s army said the intercepted rockets targeted the Israeli town of Metula. An Israeli official said six rockets were fired and three crossed into Israeli territory and were intercepted. The official said Israel could not confirm the identity of the group that fired the rockets.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it instructed the army to act forcefully against dozens of targets in Lebanon. Israel’s army said it struck Hezbollah command centers and dozens of rocket launchers.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a strike in the southern village of Touline killed five people, including a child, and wounded 11 others, including two children.

On Saturday night, Israel again struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. A strike hit a garage in the coastal city of Tyre, the NNA reported, with one person killed and seven wounded. It was the first time the city had been struck since the ceasefire took effect.

And a strike on Hawsh al-Sayed Ali village along the border with Syria wounded five people, according to the NNA.

lah conflict boiled over into all-out war in

September as Israel carried out massive waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group’s senior leaders. The fighting killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January under a ceasefire struck on Nov 27. The deadline was extended to Feb. 18.

But Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon, across from communities in northern Israel. It has carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it attacked Hezbollah, while continuing drone attacks that have killed several members of the militant group.

Lebanon has appealed to the U.N. to pressure Israel to fully withdraw from the country The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it was alarmed at the possible escalation of violence and urged all parties to avoid jeopardizing the progress made.

The strikes came a day after Israel said it would carry out operations in Gaza “with increasing intensity” until Hamas frees the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israeli strikes on Friday night killed at least nine people, including three children, in a house in Gaza City, according to Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the bodies.

“Rubble and glass started falling on us,” said Sameh al-Mashharawi, who lost his brother in the attack. He mourned with his young nephew Samir al-Mashharawi, whose parents and siblings were killed.

The 12-year-old, his head and wrists bandaged, sat in the back of a truck and cried.

Israel’s military said Friday its forces were planning fresh assaults into three neighborhoods west of Gaza City and issued warnings on social media for Palestinians to evacuate the areas.

“Hamas, unfortunately, understands military pressure,” Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk told The Associated Press.

NEW MEXICO

3 killed, 15 hurt in shooting at park

JULIE CARR SMYTH and MORGAN LEE

Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. — Three people were fatally shot, and 15 others were hurt, after an altercation broke out at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, police said Saturday Police and fire crews arrived at just after 10 p.m. Friday to a chaotic scene at Young Park, where an unauthorized car show had drawn about 200 people, police said in a news conference. Gunshot victims ranging in age from 16 to 36 were treated there or taken to hospitals. Between 50 and 60 handgun casings were scattered across a wide swath of the park, Police Chief Jeremy Story said, suggesting multiple shooters and multiple weapons among two groups whose “ill will” toward each other are believed to have led to the shootings. Several others were injured in the crossfire, he said.

The dead were identified only as a 16-year-old boy and two men ages 18 and 19, police said. Their names and those of the other victims were not yet being released.

Local police were being assisted in their investigation by New Mexico State Police, the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Las Cruces Fire Chief Michael Daniels said 11 patients were sent to three

local hospitals or to University Medical Center of El Paso, the regional trauma center As of Saturday, he said, seven victims were in El Paso, four had been treated and released and the conditions of the other four were not known. Authorities are seeking video from the park and tips from those present as they work to identify a suspect or suspects.

“This horrendous, senseless act is a stark reminder of the blatant disregard people in New Mexico have for the rule of law and order,” Story said. He vowed that authorities will find everyone responsible and said, “We will hold them accountable to the criminal justice system.”

Story acknowledged that illegal car shows at Young Park are not uncommon and that the police presence has been larger in the past. Understaffing on Friday, he added, meant that he had “no units available for most of the night.”

In an Instagram post Saturday, City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo expressed grief over the shootings.

“Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think this is going to happen in your city, but that actually feels deeply untrue,” she said.

“Honestly now days a tragedy like this feels like a nightmare just waiting to come true at any possible moment, yet also always praying and hoping it never will.”

Beloved bald eagle dies after

storms in Missouri

A beloved bald eagle who gained popularity for incubating a rock in 2023 is being mourned Saturday after the 33-year-old avian died following intense storms that recently moved through Missouri.

Murphy, who surpassed the average life span of 25 years, died last week at the World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park, Missouri. Sanctuary officials believe the violent storms that ripped apart homes and claimed 12 lives last weekend may have factored in the bird’s death.

They said birds have access to shelters where they can weather storms and the sanctuary has contingency plans for different environmental situations. But evacuations weren’t performed since no tornadoes approached the sanctuary Three other birds who were in the same shelter with Murphy survived.

A veterinarian performed a necropsy and found the bald eagle sustained head trauma “We are unable to determine if Murphy was spooked by something and hit his head while jumping off a perch or if wind and precipitation played a part in the injury,” a statement shared by the sanctuary on social media said. Murphy lived in the sanctuary’s Avian Avenue exhibit area and rose to prominence in 2023 when he incubated a rock. His instincts were rewarded when he was allowed to foster an injured eaglet that he nurtured back to health. The eaglet was eventually released back to the wild and another eaglet was entrusted to Murphy’s care. The second eaglet is expected to be released into the wild this summer.

In a statement, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked the Lebanese military to take all necessary measures in the south but said the country did not want to return to war

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. The Israel-Hezbol-

Around 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel relaunched the war earlier this week. Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel, and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians, aiming to pressure Hamas over ceasefire negotiations.

The international community has condemned the resumed attacks.

Pope to be released from hospital Sunday after 5 weeks

BY NICOLE WINFIELD, TRISHA THOMAS and GIADA ZAMPANO Associated Press

ROME Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday after 38 days battling a severe case of pneumonia in both lungs that threatened his life on two occasions and raised the prospect — for now put to rest — of a papal resignation or funeral.

The 88-year-old pontiff will require at least two months of rest, rehabilitation and convalescence back at the Vatican during which time he has been discouraged from meeting in big groups or exerting himself, said Dr Sergio Alfieri, who coordinated Francis’ medical team at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.

to go home a few days ago, as even he realized he was improving, breathing better, and that he could work longer. But I have to say he was an exemplary patient,” Alfieri said. “He listened to the suggestions from me, Dr Carbone and the rest of the team.”

But Francis’ personal doctor, Dr Luigi Carbone, said if he continues his steady improvements and rehabilitation, he should eventually be able to resume all his normal activities.

The doctors spoke at a hastily called news conference Saturday evening in the Gemelli hospital atrium their first in-person update on the pontiff’s condition in a month. They said they were discharging Francis after he registered two weeks of stability and increasing progress in his recovery

“The Holy Father would have wanted

The doctors confirmed he would be released Sunday, after first offering a blessing to the faithful from his hospital suite, the first time he will have been seen by the public since he was admitted Feb. 14. They provided details on the severity of the infection, which he is still being treated for, and Alfieri noted that not all patients who develop such a severe case of double pneumonia survive, much less be released from the hospital.

“When he was in really bad shape, it was difficult that he was in good spirits,” Alfieri said. “But one morning we went to listen to his lungs and we asked him how he was doing. When he replied, ‘I’m still alive’ we knew he was OK and had gotten his good humor back.”

Alfieri confirmed that Francis was still having trouble speaking due to the damage to his lungs and the time he spent on supplemental oxygen and ventilation. But he said such problems were normal and predicted his voice would return.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEHAD ALSHRAFI

Israeli army strike in

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL PHOTO By JUSIN GARCIA Crime scene technicians work Saturday at young Park’s parking lot after a mass shooting overnight in Las Cruces, N.M.

U.K. orders probe into Heathrow shutdown

BY JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON The British gov-

ernment on Saturday ordered an investigation into the country’s “energy resilience” after an electrical substation fire shut Heathrow Airport for almost a day and raised concerns about the U.K.’s ability to withstand disasters or attacks on critical infrastructure.

While Heathrow Airport said it was now “fully operational,” thousands of passengers remained stuck, and airlines warned that severe disruption will last for days as they scramble to relocate planes and crews and get travelers to their destinations.

Inconvenienced passengers, angry airlines and concerned politicians all want answers about how one seemingly accidental fire could shut down Europe’s busiest air hub.

“This is a huge embarrassment for Heathrow airport.

It’s a huge embarrassment for the country that a fire in one electricity substation can have such a devastating effect,” said Toby Harris, a Labour Party politician who heads the National Preparedness Commission, a group that campaigns to improve resilience.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said he’d asked the National Energy System Operator, which oversees U.K. gas and electricity networks, to “urgently investigate” the fire, “to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure.”

It is expected to report initial findings within six weeks.

“The government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow,” Miliband said.

Heathrow announced its own review to be led by former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, a member of the

vices more efficient,” said Harris. “We’ve stripped out redundancy, we’ve simplified processes. We’ve moved towards a sort of ‘just in time’ economy There is an element where you have to make sure you’re available for ‘just in case.’ You have to plan for things going wrong.”

‘Clear planning failure’

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel, and saw 83.9 million passengers last year

worked as expected, but it wasn’t enough to run the whole airport, which uses as much energy as a small city

“That’s how most airports operate,” said Woldbye, who insisted “the same would happen in other airports” faced with a similar blaze

But Willie Walsh, who heads aviation trade organization IATA, said the episode “begs some serious questions.”

‘No backup plan’ Friday’s disruption was one of the most serious since the 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which shut Europe’s airspace for days.

Passengers on about 120 flights were in the air when Friday’s closure was announced and found themselves landing in different cities, and even different countries.

airport’s board

Heathrow Chairman Paul Deighton said Kelly will look at “the robustness and execution of Heathrow’s crisis management plans, the airport’s response during the incident and how the airport recovered.”

Stalled Journeys

More than 1,300 flights were canceled and some 200,000 people stranded Friday after an overnight fire at a substation 2 miles away cut power to Heathrow, and to more than 60,000 properties.

Heathrow said Saturday it had “added flights to today’s schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers.” British Airways, Heathrow’s biggest airline, said it expected to operate about 85% of its 600 scheduled flights at the airport Saturday. While many passengers managed to resume stalled journeys, others remained in limbo.

Laura Fritschie from Kansas City was on vacation with her family in Ireland when she learned that her father had died. On Saturday she was stranded at Heathrow after her BA flight to Chicago was canceled at the last minute

“I’m very frustrated,” she said “This was my first big

vacation with my kids since my husband died, and now this. So I just want to go home.”

Broader problem

Residents in west London described hearing a large explosion and then seeing a fireball and clouds of smoke when the blaze ripped through the substation The fire was brought under control after seven hours, but the airport was shut for almost 18 hours. A handful of flights took off and landed late Friday

Police said they do not consider the fire suspicious, and the London Fire Brigade said its investigation would focus on the substation’s electrical distribution equipment

Still, the huge impact of the fire left authorities facing questions about Britain’s creaking infrastructure, much of which has been privatized since the 1980s. The center-left Labour government has vowed to improve the U.K.’s delayplagued railways, its aged water system and its energy network, promising to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy independence through investment in wind and other renewable power sources.

“The last 40, 50 years we’ve tried to make ser-

Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said he was “proud” of the way airport and airline staff had responded.

“The airport didn’t shut for days. We shut for hours,” he told the BBC.

Woldbye said Heathrow’s backup power supply, designed for emergencies,

“How is it that critical infrastructure — of national and global importance — is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative? If that is the case, as it seems, then it is a clear planning failure by the airport,” he said.

Walsh said “Heathrow has very little incentive to improve” because airlines, not the airport, have to pay the cost of looking after disrupted passengers.

Mark Doherty and his wife were halfway across the Atlantic when the inflight map showed their flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to Heathrow was returning to New York.

“I was like, you’re joking,” Doherty said. He called the situation “typical England — got no backup plan for something happens like this. There’s no

BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

CAIRO Sudan’s military on Saturday consolidated its grip on the capital, retaking more key government buildings in Khartoum a day after it gained control of the Republican Palace from a notorious paramilitary group.

Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah, a spokesperson for the Sudanese military, said troops expelled the Rapid Support Forces from the headquarters of the National Intelligence Service and Corinthia Hotel in central Khartoum.

The army also retook the headquarters of the Central Bank of Sudan and other government and educational buildings in the area, Abdullah said. Hundreds of RSF fighters were killed while

trying to flee the capital city, he said.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF

The army’s gain came as a Sudanese pro-democracy activist group said RSF fighters had killed at least 45 people in a city in the western region of Darfur On Friday, the military retook the Republican Palace, the prewar seat of the government, in a major symbolic victory for the Sudanese military in its nearly two years of war against the RSF

A drone attack on the palace Friday believed to have been launched by the RSF killed two journalists and a driver with Sudanese state television, according to the ministry of information. Lt. Col. Hassan Ibrahim, from the military’s media office,

was also killed in the attack, the military said.

Volker Perthes, former U.N. envoy for Sudan, the latest military advances will force the RSF to withdraw to its stronghold in the western region of Darfur

“The army has gained an important and significant victory in Khartoum militarily and politically,” Perthes told The Associated Press, adding that the military will soon clear the capital and its surrounding areas from the RSF

But the advances doesn’t mean the end of the war as the RSF holds territory in the western Darfur region and elsewhere. Perthes argued that the war will likely turn into an insurgency between the Darfur-based RSF and the military-led government in the capital.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KIRSTy WIGGLESWORTH Travelers check the information board Saturday in London as Heathrow Airport slowly resumes flights after a fire cut power to Europe’s busiest airport.

sure to draw smaller, yet substantial crowds.

Teased in late January and February by the consultants and Kirkpatrick, who commissioned their work, the guidance has already revived a long-discussed and controversial debate. But Schaefer said the idea of imposing tighter restrictions on cars is just one of the options Bratton’s team will present to city leaders.

Their report will also touch on longer-term recommendations for deploying officers, new technology the city could use to detect threats, and equipment it could use to block streets. The team will advise the city on protections for crowds at April’s French Quarter Fest, and the consultants have also studied whether law enforcement responded appropriately to the New Year’s Day attack.

Some say the guidance is welcomed in a city that has no long-term plan of its own to keep Bourbon Street and other major arteries safe from similar attacks, without also creating major traffic jams, or challenges for locals trying to access their homes and businesses.

“There are things that need to happen to make the French Quarter safer in the future, and we as a community have to figure out what level of security were comfortable with,” said Walt Leger III, president of New Orleans & Co.

But many still question if such an option would divert too much traffic to surrounding streets, among other concerns, and be too burdensome on area businesses that rely on delivery trucks and other vehicles

“We want Bourbon Street to be safe, and in the next breath, there has to be a balance between safety and accessibility,” said Melvin Rodrigue, president and CEO of Galatoire’s Restaurants Bratton, the Cantrell administration, and the coun-

SOPHIA GERMER

STAFF FILE PHOTOS By

Kim Alexander who operates a henna tattoo business out of a few camping chairs on Bourbon Street, said she supports closing Bourbon Street to cars as much as possible, as long as the city also comes up with a plan for a designated parking lot where workers can park nearby.

cil’s two at-large members, Helena Moreno and JP Morrell, did not respond to a request for comment

Bratton’s group is also expected to detail its recommendations at a public town hall Wednesday, hosted by the Vieux Carré Property Owners and Residents Association.

Pedestrian-only zone?

Consultants have floated the logistics of shutting the strip to cars at recent community meetings, seven people who attended those meetings said.

In a Feb. 24 meeting with French Quarter neighborhood leaders, representatives from Teneo, the global consulting firm from which Bratton hails, offered an option for a “pedestrian-only zone for Bourbon Street” that would block vehicle access from Canal Street to Dumaine Street, using barriers placed on Bourbon Street and on every side street. The barriers would be staggered to allow residents and businesses to access driveways on side streets a bid to address a major concern that closing off the busy strip to vehicles would impede deliveries and travel.

Photos of the consultants’ presentation, obtained by The Times-Picayune, show examples of bollards and

ofSoutheastLouisiana householdscan’taffordbasics

barriers from other cities that “can be deployed to align with the architecture and aesthetic of the French Quarter.”

At those meetings, the proposal prompted the same concerns and questions that have emerged in response to past attempts to “pedestrianize” Bourbon Street over the years.

In interviews this week, some business owners said they worried that strict limitations on vehicle access to Bourbon Street would create traffic jams on streets that are open to vehicles nearby that would deter visitors from coming to the area at all.

“Imagine the traffic you have for Mardi Gras, but 365 days a year,” said Rodrigue.

Erin Holmes, with Vieux Carré Property Owners, said traffic circulation is “going to have to be ironed out,” as will the impacts of the plan on residents.

John Casbon, co-founder of the Police and Justice Foundation, said that the consultants’ report will likely recommend a “compromise” that integrates feedback from neighborhood leaders by allowing designated vehicles like delivery trucks to access Bourbon Street for most of the day before shutting it and side streets off to all vehicles in the late afternoon.

ofSoutheastLouisiana householdscanhelpchangethat

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Louisiana National Guard members sit on a barricade on Bourbon Street. Former New york Police Chief William Bratton and his team will present suggestions for Bourbon Street pedestrianization and other key security measures on Monday to the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation.

Israel Duplessis, who works the door at Tropical Isle on Bourbon Street, said that closing Bourbon Street to cars would be an inconvenience to workers like him who drive to work, not just business owners.

“Workers out there still have to get to work,” said Duplessis.

Kim Alexander, who operates a henna tattoo business out of a few camping chairs on Bourbon Street, said she supports closing Bourbon Street to cars as much as possible, as long as the city also comes up with a plan for a designated parking lot where workers can park nearby

“That would solve a lot of problems,” said Alexander “Not only would it help the

police monitor Bourbon even better, it would help the tourists feel a little more safe.”

Yearslong debate

It’s hardly the first time that proposals to restrict traffic on Bourbon Street have met resistance. A push by then-mayor Mitch Landrieu in 2016 for additional limits on vehicle access as part of a broader French Quarter safety initiative following a mass shooting on Canal Street after the Bayou Classic was ditched after pushback from business owners and residents.

Instead, a $40 million safety plan in 2017 added safety bollards along Bourbon Street designed to deter acts of terrorism using vehicles, along with new crime cam-

eras and more police. A 2020 proposal by Cantrell’s administration that called for expanding pedestrian malls, restricting vehicular traffic, and lowering the speed limit gained some traction, but after pandemic-era restrictions ended, the plan fizzled. Casbon said that whatever plan city officials decide on is only as good as its implementation and enforcement.

“If you don’t have people owning this, it’s not going to work,” said Casbon “Somebody’s job has got to be putting all the barriers out, making sure everything is battened down.”

Email Sophie Kasakove at sophie.kasakove@ theadvocate.com.

Coloncancerscreenings become easier as guidelines encourageyounger adults to beginregular

testing

Coloncancerhas become more predominant across thenationinrecentyears,withthe American Cancer Societyestimatingthatmorethan 107,000new caseswillbediagnosed in 2025 That number is almost evenly splitbetween menand women, although doctorsare seeing more coloncancerdiagnoses amongyounger patients than ever before.

“A lotofpeoplehave it in theirminds that colon cancer can’thappenuntil someoneisatleast in their50s.Thatisnot true at all,”saidDr. Larry Simon, senior medicaldirectorfor Louisiana Blue.“We’veseena marked increase in cases in people in their30s and40s,especiallyin Louisiana, whichhas some of thehighest rates of coloncancerinthe entire country.”

Dr.Simon notedthatcolon cancer is also now theleading causeofcancerdeath in menand womeninthe United States,surpassingbreast cancer,prostatecancerand allother forms of thedisease.The American Cancer Society estimatesthatcolon cancer willcause about 52,900 deaths this year alone.

Yet,manycoloncancerdeathscouldbeprevented with proper screening. Today’sguidelinescall forthose screenings to beginatage 45 forpeople of averagerisk, andevenyounger for people who mayhave more risk factorsfor thedisease.A colonoscopyisconsideredthe gold standard in coloncancerscreening. If theresultsshowno problems,acolonoscopymay be needed only once every10years.

disease. That’s whyit’simportant to talk to your doctor aboutyourspecific situation. Asidefromafamilyhistory,weknowthat smokingand excessive alcoholconsumption have beenlinkedtomanyother forms of cancer as well as otherhealthproblems. Thosefactors maynot make youmoreatriskfor coloncancer, but they cancertainly contributetonumerous issues throughout thebody. What arethe main benefits of screening, especially acolonoscopy?

“Everyadultshouldseetheirdoctorforregular checkups,ideally each year,but certainlyatleast everycoupleofyears,” Dr.Simon said.“People should askabout coloncancerscreeningsduring thoseappointments. Your doctor canlookatyour family historyand risk factorsand determine thebesttimetostart.Coloncancerisextremely treatable if it is caught early, especially nowthat therehavebeeninnovations to better tailor treatment to individuals.

Dr.Simon shared additional insights about coloncancerscreenings,riskfactors andmore. What aresomeofthe main risk factors for coloncancer?

Family historyisthe main one, especially if anyone in your immediatefamilywas diagnosed before age50. Thereare also certaingenetic conditions that canpredisposepeopletothe

Oneofthe upsidesofacolonoscopy is that if it’s clean, youdon’t need to thinkabout it foranother 10 years. Thesescreeningsare oftencovered by aperson’sbenefits,sothere is usuallyvery little cost associated with having one. Another advantageisthatifpolypsare discovered,they canberemoved rightaway. We’venoticed aparticular laginpeopleages 45 to 49 whoare newlyeligiblefor screenings andare hesitant.Sometimes people arescared to findout theresults.I encouragepeopletoget answers. If it’s clear, youhavepeace of mind If it’s not, youcan starttoworkwithyourdoctor on aplantoaddress it What aresomeofthe biggestmisperceptions abouthavinga colonoscopy? Peoplehardlyeverexperiencepainordiscomfort Theanesthesiaworks great, andmanypeople sayitendsupfeeling like areallynicenap.The preparationismuchmorecompact than it used to be andcontinues to become easier Alot of people thinktheywillneedtomiss a lotofwork, butthat’snot thecase. People return to theirfullfunctions thenextday with minimal discomfort.You cantakeaslittleasanafternoon off of work andbebackthe followingday Arethereanycommoncoloncancersymptoms? Thebig oneisblood in thestool or ablack discolorationand tar-like consistencytothe stool. Many patients also experience fever, weight loss andnight sweats. If younoticeany combinationofthose symptoms,it’sdefinitely time to seea doctor LouisianaBlueand most health insurers cover colonoscopiesand otherpreventivescreenings at very low or no cost.Contact Customer Service foryourhealthplantoask howcancerscreening is coveredand what,ifanything, youwould pay outofpocket.

MAYOR’S

Continued from page 1A

change” candidacy, which she launched in December

Retired Judge Arthur Hunter, former 911 call center manager Tyrell Morris, counselor Ricky Twiggs and business owner Renada Collins are running, too.

Though four months remain until the official deadline to enter the race, it seems increasingly unlikely that other heavy hitters will throw their hats in the ring, more than a dozen analysts, operatives and current and former officials said.

“Let’s face it: Helena has a million dollars in the bank,” said Karen Carvin, a veteran political operative who has worked for decades on New Orleans mayoral campaigns but is not presently working for a candidate.

“Oliver has name recognition and is a great retail politician, as is she. If somebody else is going to get in this race, they would need name recognition, or enough money to secure it.”

The officials and politicos described a lack of cohesion behind a strong businessbacked alternate candidate and a wariness among politically inexperienced outsiders to delve into the chaotic

fray of New Orleans government. In a city whose residents are deeply frustrated by their current political leaders, the result is a narrow field dominated by two candidates with deep experience in city government and long-held mayoral ambitions.

Their challenge, analysts say, will be convincing voters that their experience can translate to an ability to do the job successfully — an area where residents largely feel current Mayor LaToya Cantrell has failed Few takers

As the mayoral race took shape last year political watchers speculated about which candidate might draw support from the city’s influential business interests.

Some business-affiliated donors, according to multiple people familiar with their thinking, were interested in backing state Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, who mulled a run last year before deciding against it in January in part because he didn’t think he’d be able to raise the funds.

When Duplessis dropped out, some business donors flocked to Moreno, the people familiar with their thinking said. Others have scrambled to find an alter-

native They haven’t had much luck.

Michael Hecht, the CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc. and a leader in preparing the city for Super Bowl LIX, has mulled running for mayor, according to multiple people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks with him. He has leaned away from running due largely to family considerations, the people said.

Hecht in a text message late Friday said he will not run. “I look forward to working with the next mayor,” he said.

Other figures viewed by political watchers as having enough clout to potentially mount robust campaigns are shying away, too. Sidney Torres, a local garbage and real estate magnate who mulled a mayoral campaign in 2017, in an interview said he has no interest in running this fall.

Developer and business owner Troy Henry, an ally of Thomas’ who is leading a project to revitalize the New Orleans East Six Flags site and who ran for mayor in 2009, laughed when asked whether he would consider doing so again.

“I will definitely not be getting in and will be supporting council member Thomas’ candidacy for mayor,” Henry said.

Malaise over government

Some observers have looked to the campaign of exMayor Ray Nagin, the Cox Cable executive who shook the city’s political establishment with a last-minute run in 2003 that ended with him in the Mayor’s Office, as an example of the sort of candidate who could get in the race at this stage and have an impact.

Barring someone with business clout or independent wealth, a candidate with a large, existing political base — a former politician, say, or current state legislator — might have a shot.

A few political operators have floated Marlin Gusman, the former sheriff and City Council member, as a potential candidate — though that might be a hard sell with voters, given his troubled track record of running the Orleans Parish Prison. He lost a bid for reelection as sheriff to Susan Hutson in 2021.

Gusman in a brief phone interview last week shut down those rumors. “I’m really not thinking about the mayor’s race,” he said.

Another prohibitive factor in ushering new candidates to the race: Being the mayor of New Orleans may just have lost a bit of its luster.

Residents feel compelled to take out their every frus-

tration on the office, said Silas Lee, a veteran pollster and professor at Xavier University

That many of their biggest daily challenges — soaring insurance rates, turbulent national politics, raging inflation — fall largely outside the mayor’s grasp doesn’t much change where residents direct their ire, he said.

City Hall veterans like Moreno and Thomas have a sense of the tough realities of the job. But the prospect of confronting those realities for the first time may feel more daunting than ever for unconventional outsiders and eleventh-hour dark horses, Lee said.

“I’m thinking of the song

‘The Thrill is Gone,’ ” said Lee, referencing the tune made famous by blues legend B.B. King. “It sounds good to be mayor The title, the position, the ability to affect change are intoxicating.”

“But you have to step back and deal with the realities of today’s environment,” he added.

“Being mayor and CEO of this city is a tougher job than it once was. Your local issues are also national. You confront challenges that might escape or defy your resources. That’s the reality.”

James Finn covers politics for The Times-Picayune | Nola.com. Email him at jfinn@theadvocate.com.

could belong here,” she said. Louisiana’s flagship public university, LSU has become a magnet for out-of-state students. Its steady expansion, to more than 34,000 undergrads last fall, has been driven almost entirely by students coming from outside Louisiana. Over the past decade, the number of undergrads from other states has nearly tripled, exceeding 12,000 students in 2024, according to LSU fall enrollment data that includes online and campus students By contrast, the number of Louisiana undergrads inched up only 2%, to about 20,300 students. The swelling ranks of students from outside Louisiana — including nearby states like Florida and Georgia as well as distant ones like California, Illinois and Maryland is no accident. Like other public universities, LSU has ramped up out-of-state recruitment to broaden its pool of high-achieving applicants,

raise revenue and boost the school’s national profile.

“I told the team when I first arrived, ‘Find the best students in the state of Louisiana and find the best students outside the state of Louisiana and bring them here,’ ” William Tate IV, LSU’s president since 2021, said in an interview last year “Whoever you are, if you’re really good, you’re welcome.”

In this regard, LSU is playing catch-up with its compet-

itors, including the University of Alabama and Ole Miss, where more than 60% of freshmen come from other states. Those schools recruit aggressively: One Alabama recruiter lives in St. Tammany Parish and regularly visits the local high schools.

The rise of out-of-staters at LSU has drawn scrutiny from some state lawmakers who question whether the university is doing everything possible to keep Louisiana’s top talent in

state, and whether taxpayers win if many out-of-state students return home after graduation.

“So then the flagship university of the state of Louisiana,” said state Rep. Kim Carver, R-Mandeville, “is producing the quality workforce for all of these other states.”

Cross-country recruiting

Out-of-state students, who pay significantly higher tuition than state residents, are a coveted commodity for public universities squeezed by declining enrollment and state funding cuts.

“Quite honestly, it would be

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Prospective students from Tampa, Fla. take a tour of LSU’s campus led by undergrad Julia Bozic, who is from Houston.

professional malpractice for your admissions office not to be doing this,” said Michael S. Harris, a professor of higher education at Southern Methodist University Schools that aren’t pursuing those students are “leaving money on the table.”

The University of Alabama was one of the first state schools to recruit nationally, borrowing from the playbooks of elite private institutions. By 2014, about 64% of its freshmen came from outside Alabama Danny Barrow, LSU’s vice president of enrollment and student success, said that 17% of incoming Baton Rouge freshmen were from other states when he arrived in 2017. That percentage was “wildly off” from other Southeastern Conference schools, he told lawmakers in October By 2024, LSU had raised it to 40%

The university uses datadriven recruitment, targeting specific schools in key markets, officials say. Big states with an excess of students are a particular focus. LSU’s incoming class last fall included about 1,000 Texans, more than double the number in 2017, Barrow said.

LSU admissions counselors spend much of the fall traversing Louisiana and other states, attending up to 20 recruitment events a week This month and next, LSU reps are meeting admitted students in cities across the country from San Francisco to Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Recruiters tout the university’s research prowess and more than 300 academic programs. The school culture is an equally big draw, with over 400 student organizations, Greek life and football Saturdays.

“It’s kind of the epitome of what I feel like a southern college experience should

feel like,” said Genevieve O’Connell, a high school senior in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, who’s heading to LSU this fall. “It’s like a work-hard, play-hard situation.”

Like other southern universities, LSU has seen a surge of interest from students in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Over the past decade, the number of LSU freshmen from New York has grown eightfold, the New Jersey contingent grew sevenfold and the Maryland crew quadrupled, according to federal data.

Many are enticed by the warm weather, the lavish amenities (including a massive recreation center with a climbing wall and LSUshaped “leisure river”) and the price The cost to attend public universities in the South tends to be lower than in other regions, and LSU’s roughly $29,000 per year in out-of-state tuition and fees is cheaper than some other southern flagships.

“Really, for what it is that they offer,” said Rhonda Lewis, a Maryland parent whose son Ahmad will attend LSU this fall, “it’s a pretty good bargain.”

LSU also offers merit scholarships to high-achieving students from other states. Brenda Fay, whose family lives in Florida, said LSU offered her son Tanner $86,000 over four years.

“I was impressed,” she said. “They put their money where their mouth is.”

Even with the scholarships, out-of-state students still pay more than Louisiana students and earn LSU revenue, officials say They also bring geographic diversity, expand the alumni network, elevate LSU’s national standing and contribute to Louisiana’s economy, Barrow added.

“LSU’s investments in both in-state and out-ofstate talent are paying off, strengthening the academic profile of the university and ensuring long-term benefits

for Louisiana,” he said in a statement, adding that LSU is the state’s top industry “for in-migration and helping Louisiana grow.”

Competing for La.’s best Public universities, which receive state tax dollars, were founded to educate their states’ citizens. But the influx of out-of-state students has sometimes sparked concern that fewer seats and scholarships will be available to state residents.

“There is some research suggesting that at least at some public flagships, they’ve effectively crowded out some in-state students and replaced them with outof-state students,” said Robert Kelchen, an education professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He said that is less of a concern at schools that expanded enrollment by adding students from both groups.

His university recently guaranteed admission to any high-performing Tennessee student and set a goal that two-thirds of freshmen would come from within the state. The University of North Carolina system has long capped the share of outof-state freshmen at 18% on most campuses.

Now, LSU is starting to face questions about its outof-state enrollment boom.

Costs are one concern. In 2024, LSU gave about $80 million in scholarships to out-of-state students, including some graduate students who support faculty with research.

“I want to see the math that shows where it’s good for us to spend THAT much on students who aren’t from Louisiana,” state Rep Charles Owen, R-Rosepine, wrote in an online essay last month.

Another question is whether LSU is doing enough to woo Louisiana’s top students.

At a February hearing, some lawmakers said universities in other states promote scholarships that students automatically qualify for based on their grades and test scores, but LSU does not.

At LSU, “it’s unpredictable,” said state Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie, adding that LSU often doesn’t send award letters until the spring of students’ senior year “I promise you by that time it’s too late those students are going to other schools.”

Tobey Mitchell is a senior at Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies, a Jefferson Parish magnet school, hoping to study construction management in college. A high achiever he was recently offered a full ride, including room and board, to the University of Southern Mississippi.

He’s also considering LSU, where he was admitted to the honors college and participated in a summer research program. But he said that even with TOPS, Louisiana’s scholarship program for state residents, and the aid LSU has offered him so far, Southern Miss would cost less.

LSU “offered me some,” he said, “just not enough.”

Christian Monson, principal of Mandeville High School in St. Tammany Parish, watches colleges com-

pete for his top students. Recently, the president of Southern Miss personally visited the school to meet students, and the University of Alabama recruiter who lives nearby is a frequent visitor He said LSU also sends recruiters, but some universities offer more money “There’s really, really strong kids that are leaving our state,” he said “They considered LSU, but they chose to go to another school because there were better incentives to go out of state.”

LSU officials say the uni-

versity is deeply committed to educating Louisiana students.

LSU recruits in every parish and fundraises to offer Louisiana students needbased and merit scholarships to supplement TOPS, said Barrow, the enrollment official. He added that the number of top Louisiana students who get admitted to LSU but enroll elsewhere has gone down, while the number of in-state freshmen has grown 18% since 2017.

LSU’s “mission is to identify recruit, and build meaningful relationships with

Louisiana’s best and brightest,” he said. Hawkins, the admissions counselor, is responsible for recruiting Louisiana students along with those in other states. This week, after welcoming the Tampa group, she and a colleague met with two Baton Rouge students. “As the flagship, in-state students are still the priority for us,” she said. “We want to keep all that wonderful talent in state.”

Email Patrick Wall at patrick.wall@theadvocate. com.

When time is of theessence andevery medical decision couldmeanlifeordeath for an individual sufferingfroma traumaticbrain injury,the team at LCMC Health’s University MedicalCenteris at theready.Asthe only LevelI Trauma Center in theNew Orleansregion, LCMC Health’s UMC hasthe resourceson-site to ensure patients in critical conditioncan move throughtosurgery in underthirty minutes, as needed.The highly experiencedstaff of thehospital’sneurocritical care unit(NCCU)iskey in creatinganoptimal environmentfor patient’srecovery in thecaseofa life-threateningemergency Situated in theheart of NewOrleans,the NCCU at LCMC Health’s UMCisanimportant resource for thecity. Patients whohave experiencedatraumatic braininjury, stroke,brain tumor, hemorrhage spinal cord injury,orother neurological injury or diseasereceive specialized intensivecareunder thesupervision of highly qualified andexperienced physicians andnurseswithinthe unit.The NCCU brings together an assortment of staff andallows them to stay focusedonpurelyneurologicalissues.

“Itissuchanevolvingarea of medicine,and it’s become so specializedthatyou shouldn’thave a generalintensive care unit taking care of apatient with abrain injury,” said Dr.Frank Culicchia, a neurologicalsurgeon at LCMC Health’s UMC.

“Due to thenatureofthe injury,manyofthese people areunconscious,sowecan’t follow their brainfunctionbyaskingthem, ‘Squeeze my hand Release. Show me twofingers.’Wehavetolookat oxygen contentwithinthe braintissuetogiveusan idea if thebrain is in jeopardy or not. Then there’s theelectroencephalogram(EEG),which measures theelectricalactivityofthe brain. We monitorthe EEGtosee if thepatientisgetting better,getting worse, andhow things aregoing.Monitoring pressure inside of thebrain tellsuswhether the brainswellingisgetting better or worse, as well.”

Specializedsupport also comesinthe formofthe occupational,physical, andspeechtherapistswho work directly with theNCCU, as well as apalliative care team that is matchedwithfamilieswho need more extensivelevelsofassistance. Apatient’s palliative care team is agroup of physicians who educatethe family andprovide moralsupport as thepatientbeginstheir recovery andrehabilitation process. Duetothe high-volumeoftraumacases serviced in theNCCUatLCMCHealth’sUMC,the team has alevel of experience that is unmatchedbymany hospitalsaroundthe country. Thenursesinthe NCCU at LCMC Health’s UMCare notablyadept at evaluating thepatients’ status basedontheir ampleexperienceand certifications, andaccording to Dr.Culicchia,the revolvingdoorofpatients has also enabledthe unit to developexpertise that has beenofassistancetoother hospitalswho seefewer traumaticbrain injury cases. “Because of thevolumethatwesee here,weare able to publishoutcomes, care,and protocols we have devisedtohelpothersaroundthe country,” shared Dr.Culicchia

Successinthe NCCU meanstending to patients in amannerwhere brainfunctionisre-stabilized as quicklyaspossible, andany secondaryinjuries aremitigated or prevented. When it is determined apatient’s brainfunctionisreadily improving, and theswellingand theinjuryare resolving, thepatient willthenbemoved outofthe unit

“Our mottohereisthatour competitionisthe injury or thedisease,not theother hospital,not the other groupofdoctors.Our competitionistodefeat theheadinjuryand preventitfromcausing any furtherdamage,”saidDr. Culicchia. “Whenyou look at it like that,itmeans youare totallyfocused and notworried aboutanythingelseother than getting

TheNCCUatLCMCHealth’sUMC is very skilled in analyzingfactors that areuniquetoneurological injuries anddiseases. In tandem with monitoring theusual vitalsigns,the unit nurses andphysicians trackbrain functionalityusing up-to-date tools, such as Moberg,a computer software that assists in analyzingpatient’s data.Byclosely monitoring electrical activity in thebrain,the amount of oxygen andblood flowinthe braintissue, andthe pressure levels inside thepatient’s head,medical staff candetermine howwellthe patient’sbrain is functioningand what canbedonetoimprove brainactivity.

New Social Security requirements raise new barriers

BY LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press

WELCH,W.Va. — Veronica Taylor doesn’t know how to turn on a computer let alone use the internet.

The 73-year-old can’t drive and is mostly housebound in her mountainous and remote West Virginia community where a simple trip to the grocery store can take an hour by car New requirements that Social Security recipients access key benefits online or in person at a field office, rather than on the phone, would be nearly impossible to meet without help.

“If that’s the only way I had to do it, how would I do it?” Taylor said talking about the changes while eating a plate of green beans, mac and cheese and fried fish with a group of retirees at the McDowell County Senior Center “I would never get nothing done.”

The requirements, set to go into effect March 31, are intended to streamline processes and combat widespread fraud within the system, according to President Donald Trump and officials in his administration

They say that’s why it’s vital for people to verify their identity online or in person when signing up for benefits, or making a change like where the money is deposited. But advocates say the changes will disproportionately impact the most vulnerable Americans. It will be harder to visit field offices in rural areas with high poverty rates. Often these are the same areas that lack widespread internet service.

Many Social Security field offices are also being shut down, part of the federal government’s cost-cutting

efforts. That could mean seniors have to travel even farther to visit, including in parts of rural West Virginia.

Donald Reed, who runs a local nonprofit that operates two senior centers, said he has serious concerns about the policy change and how it’ll affect the people his group serves.

“I’m not anti-Trump — let me say that,” he said. “I think the general public greatly supports looking for waste in government. I do not think the general public understands the consequences of the current actions of the government.”

One in three people live in poverty in McDowell County once one of the nation’s largest coal producers. Around 30% of the population receives Social Security benefits and 20% lack broadband access. People already face huge challenges in accessing basic needs like food and clothing.

Nonprofit groups like The Commission on Aging receive money from the federal government to provide rides to the grocery store, medical appointments and free lunch at the county senior center, and could in theory add a stop to the local Social Security office said Reed, who is the group’s director.

But the transportation grant money is already not enough to meet the need.

Last year Reed ran out of money during the last three months of the fiscal year and had to dip into the Commission’s savings. This year, he said he won’t be able to do so.

Then, last Friday, he found out the Commission had lost an almost $1 million grant he expected, again because of the federal government’s cost cutting.

He had planned to use the money to rebuild one of the two county senior centers, an aging 1980s-era double-wide trailer with limited seating.

“Once the money’s gone, you know the money’s gone,” he said.

Seniors at the center gather each weekday for lunch. Usually, they might play bingo or cards. On this day because of the presence of a reporter from The Associated Press, the conversation turned to politics.

Many are Trump supporters. Every county in West Virginia supported Trump in three presidential elections. Yet all agreed that the recent flurry of executive orders had been difficult to follow, especially since the county’s last local newspaper shuttered, and they weren’t sure what effect they’d have on their lives.

“I don’t understand a lot of the stuff that’s going on right now, and I just can’t pinpoint things together you know,” said Brenda Hughes, 72, who said she usually goes to the

Social Security office in person anyway because she said she’s found it difficult to get a hold of the call center “But maybe it’s meant to be like that.”

Mary Weaver, 72, said she doesn’t approve of Trump giving Elon Musk so much leeway to cut and change services, and she doesn’t see those measures helping McDowell County

“He gone run for president, and he’s going to get the presidency, but he’s going to let someone else tell him how to run the country?” she asked, criticizing Trump’s relationship with Musk.

Other residents aren’t concerned. Barbara Lester, 64, said she wishes she could sit down with Trump and Musk and tell them they’re doing a fantastic job.

“And with all the money they’re saving from the fraud, they could afford to

give their senior citizens an increase,” said Lester, who is retired from construction work.

But for Taylor, who depends on rides from the aging commission for most of her outings, the changes to Social Security may be just one more thing that will be difficult. There are already many places she wants to go and can’t get to None of her grandkids live nearby, her daughter lives in Roanoke, Virginia, and her 39-year-old son, who used to live in the Welch area near her died. The walk from her house to the Social Security office is six miles.

“If I ask people more than two times to take me somewhere, it’s like begging. And I don’t

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By LEAH WILLINGHAM

while visiting the

Senior Center on Thursday in Welch, W.Va.

Pentagon scrambles to restore pages amid DEI purge

BY LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP Associated Press

WASHINGTON Every day over the past few weeks, the Pentagon has faced questions from angry lawmakers, local leaders and citizens over the removal of military heroes and historic mentions from Defense Department websites and social media pages after it purged online content that promoted women or minorities.

In response, the department has scrambled to restore a handful of those posts as their removals have come to light While the pages of some well-known veterans, including baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson, are now back up on Pentagon websites, officials warn that many posts tagged for removal in error may be gone forever

The restoration process has been so hit or miss that even groups that the administration has said are protected, like the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots who served in a segregated World War II unit, still have deleted pages that as of Saturday had not been restored.

This past week chief, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video that mistaken removals will be quickly rectified. “History is not DEI,” he said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.

But due to the enormous size of the military and the wide range of commands, units and bases, there has been an array of interpretations of what to remove and how as part of the Pentagon directive to delete online content that promotes DEI.

Officials from across the military services said they have asked for additional guidance from the Pentagon on what should be restored, but have yet to receive any

The officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations, said, for example, they were waiting for guidance on whether military “firsts” count as history that can be restored. The first female Army Reserve graduate of Ranger School, Maj. Lisa Jaster or the first female fighter pilot, Air Force Maj Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, both had their stories deleted

Some officials said their understanding was it did not matter whether it was a historic first. If the first was based on what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth found to be a disqualifying char-

SUNDAY NEWS SHOWS

ABC’s “This Week”: White House border czar Tom Homan; Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and John Curtis, R-Utah.

CNN’s“State of the Union”: Education Secretary Linda McMahon; Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Jason Crow, D-Colo.

CBS’ “Face the Nation”: National security adviser Mike Waltz; Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Rep Jim Himes, D-Conn.; Scott Gottlieb, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

“Fox News Sunday”: Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy; Gov Wes Moore D-Md.

The Associated Press

acteristic, such as gender or race, it had to go, they said.

One Army team has taken a very deliberate approach. According to the officials, the team took down several major historical heritage sites that had many postings about women and various ethnic or racial groups. They are now going through them all and plan to rework and repost as much as possible on a new website focused on Army heroes. The process, the officials said, could take months.

Overall, tens of thousands of online posts that randomly mention dozens of key words, including “gay,” “bias” and “female” — have been deleted. Officials warn that the bulk of those images are gone for good. Even as complaints roll in, officials will be careful about restoring things unless senior leaders approve.

The officials described the behind-the-scenes process as challenging, frustrating and emotionally draining. Workers going through years of posts to take down mentions of historic accomplishments by women or minorities were at times reduced to tears or lashed out in anger at commanders directing the duty, the officials said Others were forced to pull down stories they were proud of and had worked on themselves They were often confused about the parameters for removal once

a key word was found, and they erred on the side of removal, according to the officials.

Not complying fully with the order was seen as dangerous because it could put senior military service leaders at risk of being fired or disciplined if an errant post celebrating diversity was left up and found. Officials said the department relied in large part on a blind approach — using artificial intelligence computer commands to search for dozens of those key words in online department, military and command websites.

If a story or photo depicted or included one of the terms, the computer program then added “DEI” into the web address of the content, which flagged it and led to its removal.

Purging posts from X, Facebook and other social media sites is more complicated and time intensive. An AI command would not work as well on those sites.

So military service members and civilians have evaluated social media posts by hand, working late into the night and on weekends to pore over their unit’s social media pages, cataloging and deleting references going back years. Because some civilians were not allowed to work on weekends military troops had to be called in to replace them, as the officials described it. The Defense Department

2025

SCANDINAVIA &THE BALTICS

Talker material was erroneously erased, The previous week, pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were also restored.

The restorations represent a shift from early, adamant denials that any deletion of things such as the Enola Gay or prominent service members was happening at all. At least two images of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, are still missing.

“This is fake news and anyone with a pulse knows it!” the Defense Department’s new “Rapid Response” social media account asserted March 7. “We are NOT removing images of the Enola Gay or any other pictures that honor the legacy of our warfighters.”

is publicly insisting that mistakes will be corrected.

As an example, the Pentagon on Wednesday restored some pages highlighting the crucial wartime contributions of Navajo Code Talkers and other Native American veterans. That step came days after tribes condemned the removal. Department officials said the Navajo Code

Over time, the Pentagon has shifted its public response as more examples of deleted pages came to light.

But others have seen the widespread erasure of history

“Most female aviator stories and photographs are disappearing including from the archives. From the WASPs to fighter pilots, @AFThunderbirds to @BlueAngels — they’ve erased us,” Carey Lohrenz, one of the Navy’s first female F-14 Tomcat pilots, posted to X. “It’s an across the board devastating loss of history and information.”

Among the webpages removed include one about the Women Air Service Pilots, or WASPs, the female World War II pilots who were vital in ferrying warplanes for the military, and the Air Force Thunderbirds.

Parnell, Hegseth and others have vigorously defended the sweeping purge despite the flaws.

“I think the president and the secretary have been very clear on this — that anybody that says in the Department of Defense that diversity is our strength is, is frankly, incorrect,” Parnell said during a Pentagon media briefing. “Our shared purpose and unity are our strength.”

On Thursday, Parnell acknowledged in a video posted online that: “Because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed We want to be very, very clear: History is not DEI. When content is either mistakenly removed, or if it’s maliciously removed, we continue to work quickly to restore it.”

LOUISIANA POLITICS

Medicaid concerns roiling Congressional town halls

WASHINGTON — Usually constituents are polite when attending town halls, using the events as opportunities to meet and discuss issues with their congressperson.

That changed recently, first for Republican representatives and now for Democratic members.

Mark Ballard

Scenes of participants booing and hurling invectives at GOP members of Congress over President Donald Trump’s policies, such as fears about the future of Medicaid and Social Security, have turned the once-staid affairs into shouting matches in many states including Nebraska, Michigan, and North Carolina — all shown on television

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, suggested GOP members avoid scheduling in-person town halls during last week’s congressional recess. Most followed his advice.

“They’re professional protesters,” Johnson said of the agitators at Republican district town halls.

Johnson provided no proof for his assertions, but Trump has made similar claims on social media.

The Democrats were delighted at the GOP withdrawal from the town hall scene and decided to accentuate the GOP’s arm’slength approach.

That strategy hasn’t totally worked out for Democrats.

A Democrat-affiliated group erected billboards targeting six Republican House members in Colorado, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas and two in Virginia for voting to cut Medicaid.

The Washington Examiner reported Thursday that the billboards were taken down by Lamar Advertising Company, headquartered in Baton Rouge, after the National Republican Congressional Committee warned that the representatives had not voted to do away with Medicaid and saying so could make vendors liable to defamation claims. And many Democratic representatives ran into voters outraged at representatives for not doing enough to oppose Trump’s

Landry signs ‘Gulf of America’ executive order

policies. Democratic members were chastised at town halls in Maryland, Oregon, Arizona and other states. So far Louisiana town halls haven’t been as combative as elsewhere around the country Medicaid came up during a telephone town hall held by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, for his constituents in his Republicanmajority congressional district. But most of the questions ranged from flood insurance to tax cuts

for families and businesses.

Medicaid questions have become much more pointed at town halls in Democratic districts, said U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, DBaton Rouge.

“It’s more the anticipation of what’s going to happen. I think that’s where all the anxiety is coming from,” Fields said. Trump and Johnson say Medicaid won’t be touched, except to correct for fraud and inefficiencies. But House Republicans passed

America first.”

a framework bill that requires House committees to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts — $880 billion of which would come from the committee overseeing Medicaid.

Many town hall participants question whether the GOP can reach that goal without significantly shifting much of those costs from federal to state treasuries.

Health care accounts for $21.4 billion, or 43.4% of the state’s total budget. Louisiana taxpayers

will be expected to put up $3.23 billion of that amount through the state general fund during the next fiscal year

Any decrease in federal funding would require the state to pay more or services to be cut.

Nearly a third of Louisiana’s residents, 1.6 million people, are on Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for low-income families.

Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, told a Tuesday night town hall he organized on the Dillard University campus in New Orleans that if Republicans cut Medicaid by $880 billion or anywhere close to that, then millions of Americans would lose their medical insurance, hospitals and nursing home would close, and health care would become “much worse for our children, the disabled, and the elderly who rely on these services. We cannot, we will not sit idly by.”

Carter sits on the House committee tasked with finding the budget cuts that might impact Medicaid. But Medicaid was not the only worry among Carter’s constituents.

The Rev Jeff Conner, a retired Methodist minister, asked Carter what could be done to stop the erroneous rhetoric that dead people are still receiving Social Security benefits.

Carter said he has been trying “to dispel the lies” through frequent interviews on television and on social media.

A participant named Keenan politely but pointedly criticized Democrats for not doing enough to oppose Trump policies.

“We have to use every tool in our arsenal,” Carter responded. He added because Republicans have narrow majorities in the House and Senate and hold the White House, that Democrats must turn a handful of GOP representatives to their side, use parliamentary rules to slow legislative progress and go to the courts to challenge policies.

“I don’t think we have the luxury of waiting for 2026 (when a new Congress is scheduled to be elected). We have to live in 2025,” Carter said.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.

Gov Jeff Landry has signed an executive order directing state agencies, boards and officers to change “Gulf of Mexico” references to “Gulf of America” on all published materials moving forward. References must also be changed to ”Gulf of America” in the Louisiana Administrative Code, a publication that serves as the official log of the policies of various state agencies, no later than May 20, according to the executive order

The order also serves as a formal request to the Louisiana Law Insti-

tute to “study updating all statutory references to the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to the ‘Gulf of America’ to reflect the official and standard geographic name.” Landry signed the directive Thursday at a networking luncheon hosted by the HoumaTerrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary and Thibodaux Chambers of Commerce, among others. In a recording posted on social media, he said he was signing the order “in honor of President Trump, who is absolutely putting

Landry’s order follows and also makes reference to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump his first day in office titled “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness” that in part orders the U.S. secretary of the interior to rename the Gulf of Mexico. Google Maps now reflects the change.

tion co-sponsored by Louisiana Sen. John N. Kennedy that rolled back an archaeological rule in the oilfield, part of a broader push by Republicans to undo restrictions the Biden Administration placed on the oil and gas industry

CAPITOL BUZZ staff reports LandryKennedy

The Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted last week to align the state’s fourth and fifth grade social studies standards with Trump’s order Trump signs bill that rolls back drilling rules

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed into law legisla-

“Burdensome regulations hurt oil and gas producers’ ability to provide affordable energy and jobs to Americans,” Kennedy said in a statement announcing Trump’s signature. The rule required offshore lessees and operators to “submit an archaeological report with any oil and gas exploration or development plan” to drill or lay pipelines

The Biden Administration said the

purpose was to standardize the reporting to create a database of the reports that could be used for future surveys.

Oil and gas interests, however, argued that the Biden administration rule effectively required a survey for every project when reports previously were only necessary if there was a “reason to believe” that sunken ships, submerged settlements or other archaeological findings were on the seafloor

Kennedy co-sponsored the resolution with U.S. Sen. Cindy HydeSmith, R-Mississippi.

“President Trump promised to restore America’s energy might and by signing these resolutions of disapproval he helps Congress reset policy in a way that encourages offshore oil and gas production,” Hyde-Smith said.

PHOTO PROVIDED By U.S REP TROy CARTER

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, R-New Orleans, and Dr Rebekah Gee, the former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, field questions about possible changes to Medicaid during a March 18 town hall meeting in New Orleans.

EDUCATION

Colleges cutting ties with DEI nonprofit

Dozens of universities investigated for alleged racial discrimination

BY CHEYANNE MUMPHREY and JOCELYN GECKER

AP education writers

Until recently, it was a littleknown program to help Black and Latino students pursue business degrees. But in January, conservative strategist Christopher Rufo flagged the program known as The PhD Project in social media posts that caught the attention of Republican politicians. The program is now at the center of a Trump administration campaign to root out diversity equity and inclusion programs in higher education.

The U.S. Education Department last week said it was investigating dozens of universities for alleged racial discrimination, citing ties to the nonprofit organization. That followed a warning a month earlier that schools could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

The investigations left some school leaders startled and confused, wondering what prompted the inquiries. Many scrambled to distance themselves from The PhD Project, which has aimed to help diversify the business world and higher education faculty

The rollout of the investigations highlights the climate of fear and uncertainty in higher education, which President Donald Trump’s administration has begun policing for policies that run afoul of his agenda even as he moves to dismantle the Education Department. Colleges asked to explain ties

There is a range of nonprofits that

The rollout of DEI investigations highlights the climate of fear and uncertainty in higher education, which President Donald Trump’s administration has begun policing for policies that run afoul of his agenda even as he moves to dismantle the Education Department.

work to help minority groups advance in higher education but The PhD Project was not well known before Rufo began posting on X about its work with colleges, said Jonathan Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents.

“It’s not hard to draw some lines between that incident and why 45 institutions that were partners with The PhD Project are getting this investigation announced,” he said.

The 45 colleges under investigation for ties to the organization include public universities such as Arizona State, Ohio State and the University of California, Berkeley, along with private schools like Yale, Cornell, Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Education Department sent letters to the universities informing them its Office for Civil Rights had received a complaint and they were under investigation for allegedly

discriminating against students on the basis of race or ethnicity because of a past affiliation with The PhD Project. The letters set a March 31 deadline for information about their relationship with the nonprofit.

In a statement, the PhD Project said it aims to “create a broader talent pipeline” of business leaders. “This year, we have opened our membership application to anyone who shares that vision,” it said. Colleges tread carefully

Public reaction from the universities’ leadership has been minimal and cautious, with most issuing brief statements saying they will cooperate with investigators and refusing further comment.

Colleges may see reasons not to push back. The Trump administration has shown willingness to withhold federal funding over issues involving antisemitism allegations, diversity programs and transgender athletes At Columbia

University, under fire for its handling of pro-Palestinian protests, the administration pulled $400 million in federal money and threatened billions more if it does not comply with its demands.

“There is a concern that if one university steps up and fights this then that university will have all of their funding cut,” said Veena Dubal, general counsel for the American Association of University Professors. “They are being hindered not just by fear but a real collective action problem. None of these universities wants to be the next example.”

Some colleges moved swiftly to stop working with The PhD Project.

The University of Kentucky said it severed ties with the nonprofit on Monday The University of Wyoming said in a statement that its college of business was affiliated with the group to develop its graduate student pipeline, but it plans to discontinue its membership.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas issued a statement saying three professors participated in the program, but two no longer work at the university and a third was killed in a shooting on campus in 2023. Arizona State said its business school is not financially supporting The PhD Project this year and it told faculty in February the school would not support travel to the nonprofit’s conference. Campaign against work

Similar fallout came in Texas earlier this year, when Rufo began posting on X about the PhD Project.

“Texas A&M is sponsoring a trip to a DEI conference,” Rufo posted on Jan 13. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, accused the university of “supporting racial segregation and breaking the law.”

The next day Republican Texas

WE’RE ASKING EXPERTS ACROSS THE STATE HOW TO TACKLE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACING LOUISIANA SCHOOLS. HAVE AN IDEA?

Gov Greg Abbot posted on X that the university “president will soon be gone” unless he immediately “fixed” the matter Texas A&M responded by withdrawing from the conference, and soon after at least eight other Texas public universities that had participated previously in The PhD Project’s conference also withdrew the Texas Tribune reported. Rufo has not responded to a request for comment.

Some of the schools under investigation raised questions about where the complaints against them originated.

Montana State University said it follows all state and federal laws and was “surprised” by the notice it received and “unaware of any complaint made internally with regards to The PhD Project.”

Six other colleges are being investigated for awarding “impermissible race-based scholarships,” the Education Department said. Additionally, the University of Minnesota is being investigated for allegedly operating a program that segregates students on the basis of race.

At the University of California, Berkeley, hundreds gathered Wednesday on the campus known for student protests. But this one was organized by faculty who stood on the steps of Sproul Hall, known as the birthplace of the free speech movement in the 1960s.

In a campus email last week, Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons did not specifically mention the investigation targeting his school. But he described the federal government’s actions against higher education as a threat to the school’s core values.

“A Berkeley without academic freedom without freedom of inquiry, without freedom of expression is simply not Berkeley,” Lyons said “We will stand up for Berkeley’s values and defend them to the very best of our ability.”

PATRON AND PREVIEWPARTY

WEDNESDAY,MARCH 26

PATRON PARTY 6pm | PREVIEWPARTY 7–9pm

WEDNESDAY,MARCH 26 —SUNDAY,MARCH 30

Floral displayswill be on view to thepublic 10 am –5pm

This five-dayannual eventshowcases interpretive, creative, and breathtaking floral designs by local and regional artists,gardenclubs,florists,designers, and professional landscapers. This year’s theme, LesJardins de la Nouvelle-Orléans will celebratethe gardens of NewOrleans in all of their splendor andbeauty

ARTINBLOOM CHAIRS

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ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Trump plans tariff ‘liberation day’ with more targeted push

BY JOSH WINGROVE Bloomberg News (TNS)

President Donald Trump’s coming wave of tariffs is poised to be more targeted than the barrage he has occasionally threatened, aides and allies say, a potential relief for markets gripped by anxiety about an all-out tariff war Trump is preparing a “liberation day” tariff announcement on April 2, unveiling socalled reciprocal tariffs he sees as retribution for tariffs and other barriers from other countries, including longtime U.S. allies. While the announcement would remain a very significant expansion of U.S. tariffs, it’s shaping up as more focused than the sprawling, fully global effort Trump has otherwise mused about, officials familiar with the matter say Trump will announce widespread reciprocal tariffs on nations or blocs but is set to exclude some, and as of now — the administration is not planning separate, sectoral-specific tariffs to be unveiled at the same event, as Trump had once teased, officials said.

Still, Trump is looking for immediate impact with his tariffs, planning announced rates that would take effect right away, one of the officials said. And the measures are likely to further strain ties with allied nations and provoke at least some retaliation, threatening a spiraling escalation. Only countries that don’t have tariffs on the U.S., and with whom the U.S. has a trade surplus, will not be tariffed under the reciprocal plan, an official said. As with many policy processes under Trump, the situation remains fluid and no decision is final until the president announces it. One aide last week referred repeatedly to internal “negotiations” over how to implement the tariff program and some of the most regularly hawkish signals come from Trump himself, underscoring his avowed interest in sharply raising import taxes as a revenue stream.

“April 2 is going to be liberation day for America. We’ve been ripped off by every country in the world, friend and foe,” Trump said in the Oval Office Friday. It would bring in “tens of billions,” he added, while another aide said recently the

tariffs could bring in trillions of dollars over a decade.

But the market reaction to initial tariffs imposed on Canada, Mexico and China — as well as certain metals has hung heavy over a West Wing serving a president who has long used major indexes as a measuring stick of his success.

Trump officials publicly acknowledged in recent days the list of target countries may not be universal, and that other existing tariffs, like on steel, may not necessarily be cumulative, which would substantially lower the tariff hit to those sectors.

That includes comments from Trump himself, who has increasingly focused his remarks on the reciprocal measures

It’s already a retreat from his original plans for a global across-the-board tariff at a flat rate, which later morphed into his “reciprocal” proposal that would incorporate tariffs and nontariff barriers. It’s not clear which countries Trump will include under his more targeted approach. He has cited the European Union, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India and China as trade abusers when discussing the matter, an official said.

While narrower in scope, Trump’s plan is still a much broader push than in his first term and will test the appetite of markets for uncertainty and a raft of import taxes.

“There will be big tariffs that will be going into effect, and the president will be announcing those himself,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday Markets overestimating Kevin Hassett, Trump’s

National Economic Council director, said markets are overestimating the scope.

“One of the things we see from markets is they’re expecting they’re going to be these really large tariffs on every single country,” he told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, who held Hassett’s job during Trump’s first term.

“I think markets need to change their expectations, because it’s not everybody that cheats us on trade, it’s just a few countries and those countries are going to be seeing some tariffs.”

Trump has also pledged to pair those with sectoral tariffs on autos, semiconductor chips, pharmaceutical drugs and lumber The auto tariffs, specifically, he said would come in the same batch.

“We’re going to do it on April 2, I think,” he said in a February Oval Office event.

But plans for those remain unclear and, as of now, they aren’t set to be launched at the same “liberation day” event, officials said.

An auto tariff is still being considered and Trump has not ruled it out at another time, officials said. But excluding the measure from the April 2 announcement would be welcome news to the auto sector which faced the prospect of as many as three separate tariff streams straining supply chains.

The “liberation day” event might also include some tariff rollbacks, though that’s uncertain Trump imposed, then heavily clawed back, tariffs on Canada and Mexico for what the U.S. said was a failure to slow shipments of fentanyl destined for the U.S. The fate of those remains deeply unclear: a Trump pause on swaths of

U.S. senator meets China’s vice premier

By The Associated Press

BEIJING U.S. Sen. Steve

Daines, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng with warm exchanges in front of journalists on Saturday even as tensions between their countries spiked over trade tariffs and the handling of the illegal trade in fentanyl. Daines, the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump took office in January, will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on

Sunday and the nation’s No. 2 official will give him an introduction to China’s policies, according to He. Daines, who previously worked for American consumer goods company Procter & Gamble in south China’s economic hub of Guangzhou, said this trip marked his sixth visit to China. He had met Li in 2018, when he served as the Communist Party secretary of Shanghai.

He said this visit comes at a time when there are some important issues to discuss

between China and the U.S. “I’ve always believed in having constructive dialogue and that has been the nature of all my visits to China over the course of many years,” he said.

The U.S. Embassy in China posted on X later Saturday that Daines voiced Trump’s ongoing call for Beijing to stop the flow of fentanyl precursors from China. Daines also expressed hopes that further high-level talks between the two countries will take place in the near future.

those tariffs is due to expire, but the tariffs could be lifted entirely and replaced with the reciprocal number, officials said.

‘Dirty 15’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that steel and aluminum tariffs may not necessarily add on to the country-by-country rates. “I will have a better sense as we get closer to April 2. So, they could be stacked,” he told Fox Business last week.

In the same interview, he said it’s roughly 15% of countries that are the worst offenders.

“It’s 15% of the countries, but it’s a huge amount of our trading volume,” he said, referring to it as the “dirty 15” and signaling they are the target. “And they have substantial tariffs, and as important as the tariff or some of these non-tariff bar-

riers, where they have domestic content production, where they do testing on our — whether it’s our food, our products, that bear no resemblance to safety or anything that we do to their products,” he said.

Trump aides considered, before abandoning, a threetiered option for global tariffs, where countries were grouped in based on how severe the administration considered their own barriers, people familiar with the plans said That option was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Trump sees tariffs as a key tool both to steer new investment to the U.S. and to tap new sources of revenue, which he hopes to offset tax cuts Republicans are considering.

“Tariffs will make America more competitive. They will incentivize investment into America,” Stephen Miran,

Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers chairman, said in an interview, declining to detail the steps.

The White House has also argued that trillions of dollars in pledged announcements by foreign countries and companies provides evidence Trump’s plans are working. Miran told Fox Business last week that talks are ongoing ahead of April 2 deadline.

“I do think that it’s perfectly reasonable to expect that we could raise trillions of dollars from tariffs over a 10-year budget window and like I said before, using those revenues to finance lower rates on American workers, on American businesses,” he said. Still, economists have questioned whether the tariffs would meaningfully impact the deficit, particularly considering the risk of inflation or an economic slowdown.

ABACA/TNS PHOTO By yURI GRIPAS President Donald Trump speaks March 13 in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

THE GULF COAST

PROVIDED PHOTO By ALLEN STANFIELD AND TRAVIS TANK

Waterfront Ocean Springs, Miss., hexagon home for sale at $1.25M

BY POET WOLFE Staff writer

Tucked behind live oaks in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, an oddly shaped, powder blue house perched on concrete piers overlooks the water

The three-bedroom three-bath hexagonal home, which spans 1,708 square feet and sits on more than an acre of land, is listed for $1.25 million, according to the real estate company Zillow.

Currently operating as an Airbnb, the beachfront property sits between a winding road and an infinite stretch of bluish-gray water

With its shingle roof and overall structure, the house resembles the shape you learned about in elementary school, with wide angles connected by soft curvatures. It stands solitary on Belle Fontaine Drive, where most homes adhere to standard architectural designs.

The property was constructed by Deltec Homes, a North Carolina-based company that says its curvilinear design helps coun-

teract the wind pressure by 30%.

Deltec advertises that its homes have endured some of the Gulf Coast’s most powerful hurricanes on record, including Katrina, Michael and Ian.

“[Deltec homes are] built for durability with the high-end wind construction,” said Allen Stanfield, the real estate agent who listed the Ocean Springs house, while describing its weatherproof design.

Stanfield considers the property a fit for those looking for a sustainable lifestyle and families who desire an income-producing vacation home

Most homebuyers looking to buy in Ocean Springs lately are New Orleanians, according to real estate website Redfin.

“New Orleans homebuyers searched to move into Ocean Springs more than any other metro followed by Atlanta and Washington,” Redfin said in a statement.

Built in 2021, the waterfront house eschews old-fashioned

designs and embraces modern luxury

Over the kitchen and living room is a wooden vaulted ceiling with recessed lighting. At the center of the kitchen is a marble island surrounded by indigo cabinets with gold handles.

The living room is modest with large windows that offer a beachfront view The master bedroom, similar in size to the living room, includes what Stanfield calls a “spa-inspired” bathroom, featuring a soaking tub and a custom shower with multiple showerheads.

Outside, a black fence separates the saltwater pool and multi-level decks from a grassy field. Stanfield said the house offers a clear view unlike a majority of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where U.S. 90 sprawls between beaches and homes.

“You have direct beachfront access with no public property in front of you,” Stanfield said, adding that the home sits outside of the flood zone.

BY POET WOLFE Staff writer

With the warm weather of spring emerging, people will start flocking to Gulf Coast beaches with the essentials: sunscreen, bathing suits and towels. Many will also have alcoholic beverages, from fizzy hard seltzers to ice-cold beer, clinking in beach bags.

But rules vary for the consumption of alcohol at the white sand beaches across the Gulf Coast, including those in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle

Some allow vacationers and springbreakers who are 21 years or older to drink, though forbid glass containers, while others fully prohibit alcoholic beverages.

Perhaps you, like many other Louisianans college students anticipating spring break and employees in need of a vacation — are preparing for a beach getaway

Here’s a list of popular beaches in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle that allow and do not allow alcoholic beverages.

Mississippi

According to government officials, glass containers are not allowed on the beaches of Harrison County, where Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach and Pass Christian are located. Its official website does not say that alcoholic beverages are prohibited.

Beaches in Hancock County, including those in Waveland and Bay St. Louis, allow vacationers to bring alcoholic beverages, though glass containers are not allowed, its Chamber of Commerce says.

For beaches in Jackson County, home to Ocean Springs and Pascagoula, its rules on alcohol vary Mississippi’s tourism website does not explicitly say that people can’t bring alcohol to Front and East Beaches in Ocean Springs, but it does warn

of glass containers being prohibited.

As for Pascagoula, its parks and recreation department states that no alcohol can be sold or consumed on city property without a permit.

Alabama A resort city in Baldwin County known for its blue-green water and fine white sand, Gulf Shores does not allow the consumption of alcohol on any of its beaches, according to its website.

In Orange Beach, next door to Gulf Shores, alcohol is permitted, though government officials warn glass containers are prohibited.

Located on the tip of Dauphin Island, West End Beach allows vacationers to bring their own beverages, its website says, but similar to Orange Beach, glass containers are banned. Florida panhandle

Destin, a busy beach town known for its recreation and fishing opportunities, allows the consumption of alcohol, but prohibits glass containers, according to a representative on its tourism website.

Eleven months out of the year excluding

Detained Istanbul mayor faces 2nd day of questioning

Protests over his arrest intensify

By The Associated Press

ISTANBUL Hundreds of supporters gathered in front of an Istanbul courthouse on Saturday, where detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu faced further questioning over allegations of corruption and terror links. His arrest this week intensified political tensions and sparked widespread protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in multiple cities to voice their opposition.

Police questioned Imamoglu for around five hours on Saturday as part of an investigation into allegations of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported. A day earlier he was questioned for four hours over the corruption accusations The mayor rejected all charges during both interrogations. He was later transferred to a courthouse for questioning by prosecutors along with some 90 other people who were also detained with him. The authorities barred access to the courthouse using barricades on local roads and closing nearby metro stations. Hundreds of police

officers and over a dozen water cannon trucks were deployed. Still, hundreds gathered in front of the building shouting: “Rights, law, justice!”

Crowds also began to rally outside the city hall for a fourth night in a show of support to the mayor Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on social media that 343 suspects had been detained in protests in major cities on Friday night, adding “There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the people’s peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.” The cities listed included Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Canakkale, Eskisehir, Konya and Edirne.

Imamoglu, who is a popular opposition figure and seen as a top challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday following a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants. Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained

Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to Erdogan in the next

presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently

His arrest has ignited protests that have steadily increased in intensity

On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear

gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the city’s historic aqueduct while hurling flares, stones and other objects at officers.

Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican People’s Party leader, Ozgur Ozel, deliv-

ered a speech in support of the mayor

Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images. Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign. Earlier, Erdogan said the

government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of links to corruption and terror organizations.

The Istanbul governor’s office announced it was expanding a ban on demonstrations until March 26 and imposed restrictions on the entry and exit of vehicles deemed to be transporting people “likely to participate in unlawful activities.”

Erdogan on Saturday accused the CHP’s leadership of turning the party “into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money.”

He also accused it of “doing everything to disturb the public peace, to polarize the nation.” Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey to show solidarity with Imamoglu.

3 people killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia

BY SAMYA KULLAB

Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine Russia launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three people and wounded 14, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire.

Zaporizhzhia was hit by 12 drones, police said. Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that residential buildings, cars and communal buildings were set on fire in the Friday night attack. Photos showed emergency services scouring the rubble for survivors. Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after U.S.

President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders, though it remains to be seen what possible targets would be off-limits to attack

The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be part of the agreement, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would also like railways and ports to be protected

The dead in Zaporizhzhia were three members of one family The bodies of the

daughter and father were pulled out from under the rubble while doctors unsuccessfully fought for the mother’s life for more than 10 hours, Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired a total of 179 drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday It said 100 were intercepted and a further 63 lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

Officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions also reported fires breaking out due to the falling debris from intercepted drones.

Russia’s Ministry of De-

fense, meanwhile, said its air defense systems shot down 47 Ukrainian drones.

Local authorities said two people were injured and there was damage to six apartments when a Ukrainian drone hit a high-rise apartment block in the southern Russian city of Rostovon-Don on Friday night

Zelenskyy told reporters after Wednesday’s call with Trump that Ukraine and U.S. negotiators will discuss

technical details related to the partial ceasefire during a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday Russian negotiators are also set to hold separate talks with U.S. officials there.

Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine is open to a full, 30day ceasefire that Trump has proposed, saying: “We will not be against any format, any steps toward unconditional ceasefire.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a com-

plete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraine’s military mobilization demands rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies. Kremlin spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Saturday that Ukraine was continuing with “treacherous attacks” on energy infrastructure facilities, and that Russia reserved the right to a “symmetrical” response.

BY JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON Oleg Gordievsky,

a Soviet KGB officer who helped change the course of the Cold War by covertly passing secrets to Britain, has died. He was 86. Gordievsky died March 4 in England, where he had lived since defecting in 1985. Police said Saturday that they are not treating his death as suspicious

Historians consider Gordievsky one of the era’s

most important spies In the 1980s, his intelligence helped avoid a dangerous escalation of nuclear tensions between the USSR and the West. Born in Moscow in 1938, Gordievsky joined the KGB in the early 1960s, serving in Moscow, Copenhagen and London, where he became KGB station chief.

He was one of several Soviet agents who grew disillusioned with the USSR after Moscow’s tanks crushed the Prague Spring freedom

movement in 1968, and was recruited by Britain’s MI6 in the early 1970s. The 1990 book “KGB: The Inside Story,” co-authored by Gordievsky and British intelligence historian Christopher Andrew, says Gordievsky came to believe that “the Communist one-party state leads inexorably to intolerance, inhumanity and the destruction of liberties.” He decided that the best way to fight for democracy “was to work for the West.”

He worked for British intelligence for more than a decade during the chilliest years of the Cold War.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KHALIL HAMRA

A man, a Turkish flag draped on his back, stands in front of anti-riot police officers on Friday during clashes in a rally against the arrest of Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, in Istanbul.

Gordievsky

TikTok becomes a tool of choice for migrant smugglers

Videos offer a rare look inside elusive industry

BY MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — The videos roll through TikTok in 30-second flashes.

Migrants trek in camou-

flage through dry desert terrain. Dune buggies roar up to the United States-Mexico border barrier Families with young children pass through gaps in the wall. Helicopters, planes, yachts, tunnels and Jet Skis stand by for potential customers.

Laced with emojis, the videos posted by smugglers offer a simple promise: If you don’t have a visa in the U.S., trust us. We’ll get you over safely

At a time when legal pathways to the U.S. have been slashed and criminal groups are raking in money from migrant smuggling, social media apps like TikTok have become an essential tool for smugglers and migrants alike. The videos taken to cartoonish extremes — offer a rare look inside a long elusive industry and the narratives used by trafficking networks to fuel migration north.

“With God’s help, we’re going to continue working to fulfill the dreams of foreigners. Safe travels without robbing our people,” wrote one enterprising smuggler

As U.S. President Donald Trump begins to ramp up a crackdown at the border and migration levels to the U.S. dip, smugglers say new technologies allow networks to be more agile in the face of challenges, and expand their reach to new customers — a far cry from the old days when each village had its trusted smuggler

“In this line of work, you have to switch tactics,” said a woman named Soary, part of a smuggling network bringing migrants from Ciu-

dad Juárez to El Paso, Texas, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition that her last name wouldn’t be shared out of concern that authorities would track her down.

“TikTok goes all over the world.”

Soary 24, began working in smuggling when she was 19, living in El Paso, where she was approached by a friend about a job. She would use her truck to pick up migrants who had recently jumped the border Despite the risks involved with working with trafficking organizations, she said that it earned her more as a single mother than her previous job putting in hair extensions

As she gained more contacts on both sides of the border, she began connecting people from across the Americas with a network of smugglers to sneak them across borders and eventually into the U.S.

Like many smugglers, she would take videos of migrants speaking to the camera after crossing the border to send over WhatsApp as evidence to loved ones that her clients had reached their destination safely Now she

posts those clips to TikTok. TikTok says the platform strictly prohibits human smuggling and reports such content to law enforcement

The use of social media to facilitate migration took off around 2017 and 2018, when activists built huge WhatsApp groups to coordinate the first major migrant caravans traveling from Central America to the U.S., according to Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor at George Mason University focused on the migrant smuggling industry

Later, smugglers began to infiltrate those chats and use the choice social media app of the day expanding to Facebook and Instagram Migrants, too, began to document their often perilous voyages north, posting videos trekking through the jungles of the Darien Gap dividing Colombia and Panama, and after being released by extorting cartels.

A 2023 study by the United Nations reported that 64% of the migrants that they interviewed had access to a smartphone and the internet during their migration to the U.S.

Around the time of the study’s release, as use of the app began to soar, Correa-Cabrera said that she began to see smuggling ads skyrocket on TikTok.

“It’s a marketing strategy,” Correa-Cabrera said. “Everyone was on TikTok, particularly after the pandemic, and then it began to multiply.”

Last year, Soary, the smuggler, said that she began to publish videos of migrants and families in the U.S. with their faces covered and photos of the U.S.-Mexico border with messages like: “We’ll pass you through Ciudad Juárez, no matter where you are. Fence jumping, treks and by tunnel. Adults, children and the elderly.”

Hundreds of videos examined by the AP feature thick wads of cash, people crossing through the border fence by night, helicopters and airplanes supposedly used by human smugglers known as coyotes, smugglers cutting open cacti in the desert for migrants to drink from and even crops of lettuce with text reading “The American fields are ready!” The videos are often lay-

ered over heavy northern Mexican music with lyrics waxing romantically about being traffickers. Videos are published by accounts with names alluding to “safe crossing,” “USA destinations,” “fulfilling dreams” or “polleros,” as smugglers are often called.

Narratives shift based on the political environment and immigration policies in the U.S. During the Biden administration, posts would advertise getting migrants access to asylum applications through the administration’s CBP One app, which Trump ended.

Amid Trump’s crackdown, posts have shifted to dispelling fears that migrants will be captured, promising American authorities have been paid off. Smugglers openly taunt U.S. authorities: one shows himself smoking what appears to be marijuana right in front of the border wall; another even takes a jab at Trump, referring to the president as a “highstrung gringo.”

Comments are dotted with emojis of flags and baby chickens, a symbol meaning migrant among smugglers, and other users asking for prices and more information.

Cristina, who migrated because she struggled to make ends meet in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, was among those scrolling in December after the person she had hired to smuggle her to the U.S abandoned her and her partner in Ciudad Juárez.

“In a moment of desperation, I started searching on TikTok and, well, with the algorithm videos began to pop up,” she said. “It took me a half an hour” to find a smuggler

Smugglers, migrants and authorities warn that such videos have been used to scam migrants or lure them into traps at a time when cartels are increasingly using kidnapping and extortion as a means to rake in more money One smuggler, who asked to only be identified by his TikTok name “The Corporation” because of fear of authorities tracking him down, said other accounts would steal his migrant smuggling network’s videos of customers saying to camera they arrived safely in the U.S.

“And there’s not much we can do legally I mean, it’s not like we can report them,” he said with a laugh. In other cases, migrants say that they were forced by traffickers to take the videos even if they haven’t arrived safely to their destinations. The illicit advertisements have fueled concern among international authorities like the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, which warned in a report about the use of the technology that “networks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and evasive, thus challenging government authorities to address new, nontraditional forms of this crime.”

In February, a Mexican prosecutor also confirmed to the AP that they were investigating a network of accounts advertising crossings through a tunnel running under the border fence between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso. But investigators wouldn’t provide more details.

In the meantime, hundreds of accounts post videos of trucks crossing the border, of stacks of cash and migrants, faces covered with emojis, promising they made it safely across the border “We’re continuing to cross and we’re not scared,” one wrote.

After connecting, smugglers and migrants often negotiate on encrypted apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, doing a careful dance to gain each other’s trust. Cristina, now living in Phoenix, said that she decided to trust Soary because she was a woman and posted videos of families, something the smuggler admitted was a tactic to gain migrants’ trust.

Dark energy may give clues on how universe ends

Tracking how galaxies move helps scientists

BY ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN AP science writer

NEW YORK

Scientists are

homing in on the nature of a mysterious force called dark energy, and nothing short of the fate of the universe hangs in the balance.

The force is enormous it makes up nearly 70% of the universe. And it is powerful — it is pushing all the stars and galaxies away from each other at an ever faster rate. And now scientists are getting a little closer to understanding how it behaves. The big question is whether this dark energy is a constant force, which scientists have long thought, or whether the force is weakening, a surprising wrinkle tentatively proposed last year

Results presented at a meeting of the American Physical Society last week bolster the case that the force is weakening, though scientists are not yet certain and they still haven’t worked out what this means for the rest of their understanding of the universe.

The updated findings come from an international research collaboration that is creating a three-dimensional map to see how galaxies have spread and clustered over 11 billion years of the universe’s history. Carefully tracking how galaxies move helps scientists learn about the forces that are moving them around

Called the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, the collaboration released its first analysis of 6 million galaxies and quasars last year and has now added more data, bringing the count to nearly 15 million. Their updated results, taken with other measurements exploding stars,

Kitty Dukakis, wife of

By The Associated Press

BROOKLINE,

Mass. — Kitty

Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who spoke openly about her struggles with depression and addiction, has died. She was 88. Dukakis died on Friday night surrounded by her family, her son, John Dukakis, said on Saturday by telephone. She fought to make the world better “sharing her vulnerabilities to help others face theirs,” her family said in a statement.

PROVIDED PHOTO

This NSF’s NOIRLab photo shows the trails of stars above Kitt Peak National Observatory, where a telescope is mapping the universe to study a mysterious force called dark energy.

leftover light from the young universe and distortions in galaxy shape — support the idea presented last year that dark energy may be waning.

“It’s moving from a really surprising finding to almost a moment where we have to throw out how we’ve thought about cosmology and start over,” said Bhuvnesh Jain, a cosmologist with the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved with the research.

It’s not time to completely rule out the idea that dark energy is constant because the new results are still shy of the gold standard level of statistical proof physics requires.

The collaboration aims to map around 50 million galaxies and quasars by the end of its survey in 2026. And other efforts around the globe have an eye on dark energy and aim to release their own data in the coming years, including the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission and the Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile.

“We want to see several different collaborations having similar measurements” at that gold standard to be sure that dark energy is weakening, said cosmologist Kris Pardo with the University of Southern California who was not involved with the new research.

candidate, dies

of life,” the family said. “She and our dad, Michael Dukakis, shared an enviable partnership for over 60 years and loved each other deeply.”

cable death penalty for the killer?” Dukakis said he would not, and his unemotional response was widely criticized.

DEATHS continued from

made many dear friends over the years Some of those who will forever re‐member her include her cherished best friend of 48 years, Karen Trevino, Bon‐nie and Yup Kim, and her “3rd daughter,” Dorothee Kalstek Their shared expe‐riences and unwavering support were a source of great comfort and happi‐ness to Doreene as well as her family While Doreene will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her, the cherished memo‐ries and bonds they shared will remain in their hearts forever. Relatives and friends are invited to at‐tend a visitation on Satur‐day, March 29, 2025 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m at Audubon Funeral Home in Slidell. A Funeral Mass will begin in the chapel at 7:00 p.m In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St Jude Children’s Hos‐pital, the New Orleans WW2 Museum, or any mili‐tary non-profit of your choice. Memories and con‐dolences may be ex‐pressed at www Audubon FuneralHome.com

Young, Rose Ann St. Pierre

loved Jesus and spoke about Him often. She was very generous to everyone and would have given any‐one her last dollar Roe worked as a Collections Clerk for many years, and she was very good at her job She was always proud to tell us about her work‐day Roe loved to sing and would do so randomly whenever family and friends visited her. When the time came she took her mother into her home and took excellent care of her until she passed away Roe is survived by four very close cousins: Carol Venezia

Home 5900 Canal Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70124, with a Mass to follow at 1 pm, and interment thereafter at Greenwood Cemetery, 5190 Canal Boulevard.

“She was loving, feisty and fun, and had a keen sensitivity to people from all walks

Dukakis won high marks as a political campaigner during her husband’s 1988 presidential efforts, stumping tirelessly for him. She was called a key influence in his decision to seek the presidency She even figured in the opening question of a 1988 presidential debate, when her husband was asked: “Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevo-

CASA Jefferson urgently needs volunteers as waitinglist of kids lengthens

Rose Ann St Pierre Young, 86, “Roe” or “RoRo”, as she was affection‐ately called, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Metairie Louisiana She was born on September 20, 1938 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Elvira Lecce St. Pierre and Richard Joseph St Pierre, Sr. She was the older sister of Richard Joseph St Pierre, Jr., who died many years ago at the age of 18 In addition to her parents and her brother she was preceded in death by her husband, Charles A “Buddy” Young Roe was a very good Christian She loved Jesus and spoke about Him often She was very generous to everyone and would have given any‐one her last dollar Roe worked as a Collections Clerk for many years and she was very good at her job. She was always proud to tell us about her work‐day. Roe loved to sing and would do so randomly whenever family and friends visited her When the time came, she took her mother into her home and took excellent care of her until she passed away Roe is survived by four very close cousins: Carol Venezia Ledet, Marie Venezia Glaviano John Joseph Martinez, and Kathy Lecce Lodriguss. In addition to these four, she is survived by numerous other cousins and friends. A visitation for Roe will be held on Tuesday March 25, 2025 from 12 pm to 1 pm at Greenwood Funeral Home, 5900 Canal Boulevard, New Orleans LA 70124, with a Mass to follow at 1 pm, and interment thereafter at Greenwood Cemetery, 5190 Canal Boulevard

e

parentswithsubstance useproblems, andmore. In some situations,the Department workswithjudges to findacommunity member to serveasthe child’s advocate as he or sheentersfostercareand thecase worksits waythrough theproperchannels. Formany kids,thisperson, officially called acourt-appointed specialadvocate, is oneofthe fewconstants in theirlives

worked with some whohavereadmorebooks than me andare so knowledgeableabout so many things,but when youtalktothemabout finishing high school, it’s like talkingabout becoming an astronaut. It just seemssoout of reach for them.Whatwetry to do as advocatesisgivethemthathopeand show them that thereisa path forward. If youspend enough time with them,you cansee that start to sink in.”

“These children mayhave alot of people come andgo, especially if they stay in foster care for along time.Their DCFS workersorattorneys sometimes change.Their foster parentscan change,” said Megan O’Cain,a longtime volunteerwithCASAJefferson. “But,their CASA volunteergenerally staysinthe same.It’sreallyimportant forthembecausethey need that stability. It’s quiteanhonor to be that for a childwho really needsit.”

MageesaidCASAJeffersonadvocates must be at least21years oldwithavalid driver’s licenseand vehicleinsurance.Theymustpassanextensive background check, butthere arenoeducational or professionalexperiencerequirements. Ponthieux notedthatinhis decade-pluswithCASAJefferson, he’s metadvocatesfromall walksoflife, including teachers,lawyers,doctors,retailworkers,students andmore.

“Wedoask for aminimum one-year commitment,” Mageesaid. “Weare really lookingfor people who have aheart for helping children.”

CASA Jeffersonworks with children whohave residencywithin JeffersonParish. WendyMagee CASA Jefferson’sexecutive director,saidthe organization appointedadvocates to more than 100children last year.In2024, that number wascloserto about60kids. Currently, more than 30 children are on theCASAJeffersonwaiting list

“That’sthe highestI’veeverseenitinthe 16 years I’ve been here,” Mageesaid. “There’s such along waitinglistfor kids whoneeda volunteer, butwe don’thave thepeoplecomingthrough thedoors

I’mnot sure if it’s an effectfromCovid or if people areshiftingtheir mindsets abouthow andwhere to give.But,our volunteernumbers have certainly declined sincethe pandemic whileour need is higher than ever.”

Mageesaidsomeofthe advocates’ primaryduties includeassessing achild’s home environment, monitoring casesinthe foster care system,and finding ways to fillgapsinservices that kids need.They also writecourt reportsand testifyduringhearings, as well as make fact-based recommendationsfor a judge to take under advisement.Advocates also oftencommunicate with achild’s teachers andcounselors to keep an eyeontheir school performance andbehavior.

But, it’s thesmaller actionsthatsometimes have thebiggest impact.DaimonPonthieux, another longtime CASA Jeffersonvolunteer,remembers when a boyaroundage 12 criedwhenPonthieux broughthim a birthday cake,since it wasthe first time in hislife he hadeverreceived one.

“Eventhose little things cangivea kidsomehope

O’Cain said she’sespeciallygratefultothe CASA Jeffersonstaff for beingready to answer questions andprovide assistance

“Eachadvocatehas asupervisorwho is an employee of CASA Jefferson, so it’s notlikeyou re assigned acaseand you’re on your own,”O’Cain said.“There’ssomuchsupport.You meet with your supervisor each monthtoreviewthe case andthey canoffer suggestions. They arealsothere when you need to vent,because thesecases areveryemotional. What Iloveabout CASA Jeffersonistheymakesure volunteers understand they arenot alonetobearthe burden of everything.”

MageesaidCASAJeffersonstaff areavailable to speaktobusinessesororganizations aboutvolunteeringand to answer specific questions. They are also lookingfor boardmembers if someonewants to help butdoesn’t have thetimetobeanadvocate In addition,donations arealwaysaccepted,includingfinancialcontributions,schoolsupplies, toys andclothing. “Whenitcomes to an organizationlikeCASA Jefferson, we areinvesting notjust in thepresent, butfor allofour futures,”O’Cainsaid. “These kids aregrowing up to take care of us laterinlife. It’s on us to buildthemintohappy,healthy adults.This is oneway we candothat. Formoreinformation on becoming an advocate or supporting theorganization, visitwww.casajefferson.org or call 504-533-8757

“Such an amazing company!!! Theyhad us with anew front door in less than 3weeks. Icannot sayenoughabout hownicetheywere!Wechanged our mind multiple times on the design, and we still had adoor FAST.Iamsogenuinely happy with our front door,the customer service, the price, and the all aroundexperience. They drove to GA to install our door and were in and out in under 4hours. Icould go on all day! We are so so happy.”

NOLA.COM | Sunday, March 23, 2025 1Bn

Whitney Bank plans back on track

More hotels to anchor CBD area

BY ANTHONY MCAULEY Staff writer

The warren of historic buildings

in downtown New Orleans that once served as the home of the Whitney National Bank have sat empty since 2019, when Whitney’s bankers, clerks and executives decamped to new offices in the Hancock Whitney Center on Poydras Street.

Now, after a series of building sales, developers are planning at least three hotel projects on the Central Business District block, which would transform the former “banker’s row” area into another node of the city’s ever-expanding tourism industry

Baton Rouge developer Mike Wampold and his partners bought

all seven buildings that made up the Whitney Bank complex six years ago, including the 14-story Whitney tower, once the tallest building in the city

At the time, Wampold set out to transform the entire complex into a $100 million luxury hotel, with upper floors converted to high-end apartments and the ground floor occupied by retail outlets and restaurants

The coronavirus pandemic derailed those plans The worldwide hotel market collapsed while building costs skyrocketed and soaring interest rates made projects harder to finance.

In the years since, Wampold has been trying to sell off some of the structures in the complex while holding onto the Whitney tower

building at 228 St. Charles Ave. and rethinking his original plans. Some of those sales are now coming to fruition and his plans — and those of other developers are beginning to take shape.

Last year, Wampold and partners sold 210 St. Charles Ave. for an undisclosed price to Metairie developer Allan McDonnel and his partner in the project, Ryan Bates, who have submitted plans for a 37room boutique hotel separate from Wampold’s.

Wampold also was scheduled to close Friday on the sale of 211 Camp St., the historic Norman Mayer Memorial Building, which is considered one of the finest examples of early 20th-century beaux-arts architecture in the city It was sold together with the adjacent building at 619 Gravier St.

ä See WHITNEY BANK, page 2B

Businesses fear impact of bridge toll

Extra cost may keep customers away from Belle Chasse

BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer

When B&B Tackle relocated from Marrero to Belle Chasse seven years ago, it seemed like the perfect business move

The new storefront on La. 23 was a quick stop for customers on the way to lower Plaquemines Parish and its world-famous fishing waters. Then came the construction of the new

Belle Chasse Bridge over the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway The $170 million project kicked off in April 2021, and in the years that followed, intermittent road closures have caused traffic nightmares. The congestion was made worse by the crush of workers trying to get to Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG plant in Port Sulphur

“It made it hard for anybody on a schedule to come and get stuff,” said Austin Plaisance, 33, owner of B&B Tackle. “There’s days where we hardly got any customers.”

On Monday after an 11-month delay the Belle Chasse Bridge finally opened, allowing traffic to flow more smoothly But Belle Chasse business owners haven’t exhaled yet.

Drivers will soon have to pay a toll to cross the bridge, and business owners are worried what that might mean for their customers.

“I’m just nervous that I’m not going to get the people on that side of the bridge that want to come shop with me because of the toll,” Plaisance said.

The bridge was originally scheduled to open last April, but was delayed after its developers, Plenary Infrastructure Belle Chasse, discovered that higherthan-expected subsidence was causing the structure to sink and that the slabs that provide a smooth transition from the road to the bridge needed to be replaced.

ä See TOLL, page 2B

Tammany voters debate library tax

Proposition up for vote March 29

BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer

The day the director of the St. Tammany Parish Library system was scheduled to speak at a Slidell-area civic association meeting, the association’s president said he started getting phone calls.

Library Director Kelly LaRocca had planned to discuss a property tax that provides 96% of the annual funding for St. Tammany’s nearly 75-year-old library system.

The tax is up for a vote in the March 29 election, and library staff have spoken at well over a dozen community events in anticipation.

Robert Broome, president of the Military Road Alliance, an association of homeowners associations around Slidell, didn’t expect the meeting to be much different than many others over the years.

But then a caller asked why the meeting wasn’t offering an opposing view of the library tax, something Broome said the group doesn’t usually do unless it’s a political forum.

Then someone from the St. Tammany Parish public school system called to make sure the meeting wasn’t partisan, since it was being held at Boyet Junior High School.

“I was so surprised,” Broome said. “I’ve never had somebody call and complain before.”

ä See LIBRARY, page 2B

Parents object to use of son’s name, attorney general says

Rapper announced Caleb Wilson scholarship

BY AIDAN MCCAHILL

writer

Staff

Attorney General Liz Murrill is threatening legal action against rapper Boosie Badazz over the use of Caleb Wilson’s name for a scholarship fund, citing objections from Wilson’s parents who say they were unaware their son’s name was being used to promote a rap festival.

On Friday, Baton Rouge native Boosie, born Torence Hatch Jr., announced he was launching a Caleb Wilson Memorial Scholarship during his sixth annual Boosie Bash, a three-day rap festival, this year featuring GloRilla and DaBaby that takes place on Southern University’s campus. Wilson, a Southern University student and trumpet player for the Human Jukebox, died after an off-campus hazing ritual last month involving the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, sparking national attention and packed memorials on the campus and in New Orleans.

Boosie told WBRZ he was working with the Wilson family and the Human Jukebox to initiate the scholarship, and added that some of the proceeds from the festival would go to a scholarship fund. But according to a statement Saturday from Murrill, Wilson’s parents did not give consent for organizers to use their son’s name in connection to the event, and are now requesting that his “name, image, and any reference to a scholarship for him be removed from all promotional materials,” according to a release

from Murrill’s office. Murrill said in an interview with The Advocate that Boosie contacted Wilson’s family last week to request permission to use Caleb’s name for a scholarship, which they approved.

But the family told Murrill the rapper failed to disclose its connection to his upcoming festival. Murrill also said she is unaware of any firm commitment that proceeds from the event would fund the scholarship, calling the situation a “massive misrepresentation to the public.”

In her statement, Murrill wrote: “I intend to take legal action due to their misappropriation of his name and image to promote their for-profit event. This is not a charitable event.” Representatives for Boosie and the festival did not respond to The Advocate’s requests for comment. However, WBRZ said it reached out to the rapper’s representatives and they stood by Friday’s interview

Email Aidan McCahill at aidan. mccahill@theadvocate.com or follow him on X, @AidanMcCahill47.

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Motorists cross the Belle Chasse Bridge that fully opened to traffic at 5 a.m Monday, 11 months later than originally anticipated

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MAX BECHERER

A distinctively designed light hangs in the main hall of the Hancock Whitney Bank in New Orleans on Jan. 9, 2019. After a series of building sales, developers are planning at least three hotel projects on the Central Business District block, which would transform the former ‘banker’s row’ area into another node of the city’s ever-expanding tourism industry.

Boosie

Northshore residents protest government cuts

BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer

With town halls heating up across the country, more than a hundred northshore residents gathered outside the offices of two members of Congress Saturday to protest cuts — and the threat of cuts — to a wide range of government services and agencies.

“Hands off Social Security, hands off veterans,” Michael Rush, president of the NAACP’s Greater Covington Chapter and a disabled veteran, said to cheers from the crowd gathered at the St. Tammany Parish Government Complex in Mandeville, which has offices for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, and Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. Rush was one of more than a dozen speakers gathered at the edge of the parking lot to raise concerns about the future of Medicaid, So-

TOLL

Continued from page 1B

Plenary has been incurring $10,000-per-day fines as a result of not fully opening the bridge to traffic on time. Those fines were expected to reach $3.5 million by the end of March, Department of Transportation and Development

Secretary Joe Donahue told lawmakers in December

First public-private partnership

The four-lane bridge replaces a vertical-lift bridge built in 1967 and a tunnel that opened in 1955. Before the new bridge was built, drivers used two southbound lanes through the tunnel and two northbound lanes on the old bridge. The new bridge is Louisiana’s first public-private partnership for a major infrastructure project, and is supported by around $100 million in federal funds, with much of the rest covered by Plenary When the project was approved by the state Legislature in 2019, supporters argued that rejecting the proposal would cripple the chances of public-private partnerships elsewhere in Louisiana, including one to finance a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge. Still, the project faced pushback from residents and business owners in Plaquemines Parish for the toll.

WHITNEY BANK

Continued from page 1B

The sale price was not disclosed but Wampold’s real estate agent, Talbot Realty had recently been offering the Norman Mayer building for $5.5 million.

The new owner of both buildings is developer Sean Cummings, who already owns the 117-room International House Hotel on the corner of Camp and Gravier streets, and plans to expand into both adjacent buildings, according to three people familiar with the project. Cummings declined to comment on his plans.

Still for sale is 201 Camp St which was known as the Barnes Building when it was completed in 1901. The four-story red brick Renaissance revival-style building was home to the offices of Whitney’s top executives when they occupied the complex. It was initially offered for sale at just under $4 million.

Also, Wampold said he is looking for a buyer for the upper floors of the so-called “infill building” that sits between the Barnes Building and the Norman Mayer Memorial Building on Camp Street He wants to retain the ground floor of the modern structure for retail but sell or lease the upper three floors.

Meanwhile, and separate from Wampold’s project, there are also plans to convert another building on the block into a tiny boutique hotel. Hollywood actor and New Orleans native Anthony Mackie bought 204 St. Charles Ave. three years ago. The four-story building had a Subway sandwich shop on the ground floor before it was sold.

Mackie has applied for permits to convert the slim, century-old building into three rental units with a bar and lounge on the first floor, public records show Mackie’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

‘Letting the dust settle’

The block, which is bounded by St. Charles Avenue, Common, Camp and Gravier streets, played a significant role in the commercial history of New Orleans and has long been slated for renovation. If the new projects come to fruition, they would add hundreds of new

cial Security and other federal programs. Alicia Breaux, a Covington resident who organized the protest, said she asked Kennedy and Scalise to attend but was told that Kennedy was unavailable and that she had not contacted Scalise far enough in advance.

Efforts to reach Scalise and Kennedy were not successful Saturday afternoon

Earlier this month, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson encouraged his Republican colleagues to avoid town halls, saying they were attended by “professional protesters.”

On Saturday, the protesters had life-size standees of Scalise and Kennedy there in place of the real thing.

“I am a Democrat, but the issues here are for everybody,” Breaux, a retired schoolteacher, said. She said the possibility of cuts to Med-

“It absolutely is going to hurt business. Why would you pay a toll to get your teeth cleaned, get your hair cut, shop, eat, do anything when you could do it in Gretna,” Lt Gov Billy Nungesser, a former Plaquemines Parish president, said last week.

Dale Adams owner of Adams Catfish House, said his business is down about 70% thanks to the traffic congestion. He said he saved up money to help cushion his coffers during construction, but didn’t anticipate the 11-month delay Adams suggested that the money DOTD is fining Plenary for the delay be redirected back into helping businesses and residents in Belle Chasse. “You’re penalizing them, but we’re the ones taking the brunt of it,” he said

The Joint Legislative Committee on Transportation will have the final say on how the money is spent under a new law sponsored by State Rep. Jacob Braud, R-Belle Chasse.

For now, Plaisance plans to stick it out where he’s at and is crossing his fingers that his business doesn’t take any more of a hit.

“It’s going to drag me down with it if it goes down,” he said.

Toll prices

Over the course of the 30-year contract, Plenary could collect about $630 million in toll revenue, at the low end, or $726 million at the high end, according to Plenary projections included in a 2023 au-

hotel rooms, residential units and ground floor shops and restaurants to the heart of the CBD.

Wampold said the sale of the properties has helped put his development group back on track for a slightly scaled-down conversion of the rest of the Whitney complex.

“We’ve really been focused on paying down debt, and now we want to let the dust settle on these property sales,” Wampold said.

“But we have a preliminary plan for what we have left and hope we can get a green light later this year and move forward with construction soon after.”

He said the preference still would be for a branded hotel with up to 300 rooms on the site. Though he and his partners have been in talks with several hotel groups, Wampold noted that he has ties to Marriott International. His Renaissance Hotel in Baton Rouge is a luxury Marriott brand, and his Watermark Hotel in downtown Baton Rouge is part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection of upscale boutique hotels.

Historical significance

The entire Whitney complex block is part of the Lower Central Business District which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1991

The Norman Mayer Memorial Building has a storied past, having been designed by local architects Andry and Bendernagel, who also occupied offices there when the ground floor tenant was Interstate Bank in the early 1900s.

The International House Hotel was itself a conversion of a storied beaux-arts building in 1998 by Cummings and architect Brooks Graham. The 1906 building was designed by Diboll and Owen and was a bank until the middle of the last century, when it became the first site of the city’s World Trade Center

Many other notable buildings in the business district have seen hotel conversions in recent years, including the former Cotton Exchange on Carondelet Street, which was converted just over a decade ago to a Marriott AC Hotel Also the former New Orleans Public Service Inc. building on Baronne Street in 2017 became the NOPSI Hotel.

All but two of the buildings on the Whitney Bank block are also part

LIBRARY

Continued from page 1B

icaid was top-of-mind for her She said her son had a head injury and now relies on Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans.

Rush said he is concerned about the health impact of planned cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a federal agency that provides health care and other services to millions of veterans.

The VA plans to cut 83,000 jobs in conjunction with Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press.

“Elon Musk has never served in the military Donald Trump has never served in the military,” Rush said. “How do they know what we’re going through if they never walked a day in our shoes?”

Email Willie Swett at willie. swett@theadvocate.com.

dit from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor

Tolls are not yet being charged, but are likely to commence in the next week or two, after DOTD inspections are complete, project spokesperson Abbe Ginn said.

The cost for most vehicles is 25 cents for Plaquemines residents, $1.13 for nonresidents with a GeauxPass and $2.26 for everyone without a GeauxPass. The cost is higher for those pulling trailers and larger trucks and vans. Plenary can increase most tolls each year based on the consumer price index, though the toll for Plaquemines residents can only increase by one cent per year

“Tolls will be collected in each direction by an electronic tolling system that does not require vehicles to stop,” DOTD wrote in a news release. “Residents and commuters are encouraged to get a GeauxPass, which offers lower toll rates and ease of payment.”

Town halls

There are three open houses to help residents sign up for a GeauxPass at the Belle Chasse Auditorium, 8398 La 23, Belle Chasse, LA 70037 in the coming week:

n March 24: Noon to 6 p.m.

n March 26: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

n March 27: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Email Blake Paterson at bpaterson@theadvocate.com and follow him on Twitter, @blakepater

of a local preservation district, the Picayune Place Historic District, which covers six blocks within the larger CBD.

The Historic District Landmarks Commission, which regulates local districts, notes that Picayune Place became the fledgling “American Sector” in the early 19th century, attracting new arrivals after the Louisiana Purchase.

The historic significance of the buildings is important both in terms of navigating the permitting process as well as taking advantage of the myriad federal and state tax breaks and grants used to finance renovations of historic properties.

Wampold said his development team has applied for federal and state historic building tax credits and are in talks with financial partners to move ahead with the project. The whole block is designated as an Opportunity Zone, which means eligible investors can get a break on capital gains taxes.

McDonnel and Bates said they are still in the middle of securing the permits for the 210 St. Charles project and declined further comment.

During the 1940s, 210 St. Charles had been the address of the legendary Dixie’s Bar of Music, where the 35-foot wide Xavier Gonzalez Mural had hung before it was moved in 2018 to the New Orleans Jazz Museum.

Documents submitted to the HDLC show the developers are seeking to have a ground-floor hotel lobby, lounge and wet bar on the St. Charles Avenue side of the property, with a total of 37 hotel rooms on floors two through four

Glad to see activity

Apart from the International House Hotel, the only other building currently in commercial use on the block is the Gulf Coast Bank and Trust. A rare reminder of the area’s banker’s row past, it has been at 200 St. Charles Ave. since it was founded in 1990.

Gulf Coast President and CEO Guy Williams said his bank isn’t part of any development plans for the block and is expecting to stay put. “I’m just glad they seem to be finally moving ahead there,” Williams said. “It’s been empty for a long time.”

The parish’s library system has been at the center of controversy in recent years over its collection and who can view it as debate continues to flare over minors’ access to library materials that contain sexual themes and LGBTQ+ subject matter

At the same time, the numbers show it provides a popular parish service: More than a million items were checked out in 2024, including 420,497 virtual items like e-books and audiobooks, and over 600,000 people visited a library, officials say.

The 4.35-mill tax the library seeks would bring in around $13.5 million annually

The library system had been operating under a 5.78-mill tax that expired in 2024. Last year, the library collected 5.35 mills after rolling back due to reassessment. They say the proposed tax’s revenue is about $3 million less than what the 5.35 mill tax brought in.

For the owner of a $300,000 home the tax would cost about $98 a year, the library’s millage data shows.

‘Not ready to defund the library’

A number of parish organizations and governing bodies have avoided weighing in on the tax proposition, even as they support another item on the March 29 ballot a proposal by parish government to rededicate a portion of an existing sales tax to fund the District Attorney’s Office, northshore judges and courthouse.

The St. Tammany Republican Parish Executive Committee, The Northshore Business Council, the St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce and Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany have all expressed support for the sales tax rededication, but have not publicly weighed in on the library tax.

Speaking in his personal capacity, RPEC member Josh Allison said in an interview he plans to vote against the library tax because he believes libraries have to figure out how to better serve community needs and adapt to technology and “should not be places for children to be socialized, particularly socialized in a way that is antithetical to the norms of that community.”

“That’s not the end of society if there is no longer a library,” he said “There was a time when books were very rare and you couldn’t just pay somebody a few dollars and have a book delivered to your front porch. That time doesn’t exist anymore.” Allison’s view isn’t universally shared among members of RPEC’s 19 members, nor elected Republicans in the parish.

For instance, St. Tammany Parish Council member Pat Burke, also an RPEC member, said although he has gotten backlash from some other Republicans, he supports the tax.

“My daughter just graduated from Southeastern (Louisiana University) and she grew up in that library,” Burke said. “I’m not ready to defund the library,” he said, adding that his support of library funding does not mean he supports sexually explicit books in the children’s section.

Northshore District Attorney Collin Sims, who has taken a lead in pushing the sales tax rededication, said his office was not planning to officially endorse the library tax, but he expressed concern about its possible failure.

“I would hate to see St. Tammany Parish be the only parish in Louisiana that doesn’t have a library system.”

The St. Tammany Democratic Executive Committee has endorsed the library tax, as has the League of Women’s Voters. The St. Tammany Economic Development Corp. has adopted resolu-

tions supporting the rededication and the library tax.

A small turnout

The voter turnout is expected to be small, according to Sam Caruso Jr., who has worked on other tax campaigns and is working with the library He said in a text message that he expected less than 10% of voters to turn out.

If the library tax passes, the library will use money it has set aside to make capital improvements, including building a new branch in Lacombe, which currently has a 1,600-square-foot building that was originally built as a temporary structure.

“It’s an old, outdated, tiny facility,” said St Tammany Parish Council member Joe Impastato, who represents Lacombe “This will bring us an updated facility — something that we can be proud of.”

But if the tax fails, the library will have to instead use its approximately $6 million in cash reserves and $6 million in capital funds to cover operating expenses in 2026. Without an additional source of funding, branches would likely begin to close after that.

“The alternative of not having a library is not even something I want to consider,” Library Board member Chuck Branton said at the Military Road Alliance meeting, urging the approximately 20 people there to support the millage.

Another board member, Dinah Thanars, noted the importance of the library for lower-income families. “It’s a home away from home,” Thanars said. Since the controversy about its collection began, the library has moved books that contain sexually explicit material, as defined by Louisiana state law, into the adult section, and adopted a tiered library card system that allows parents to choose what sections of the library their kids can check out materials from.

Connie Phillips, who once lodged over 150 challenges of books in the library and became a founder of the St. Tammany Library Accountability Project, said in a text message, “This ongoing issue has only been met with last-minute reforms, seemingly in response to the pending millage vote.

While we acknowledge these efforts, it is ultimately the voters who must decide whether the system is still worth their investment.”

Kristen Luchsinger, a co-founder of the St. Tammany Library Alliance, said the group is not formally taking a position on the tax because its focus is on questions of diversity and First Amendment issues.

Another voter, Kevin Marino, said he plans to vote against the tax because he believes the Parish Council and Library Board have not made any concessions to First Amendment advocates. “I’m not going to support a censored library,” Marino said.

In the end, the Military Road Alliance meeting went smoothly and showed no indication of the phone calls Broome had received beforehand.

After a presentation that featured LaRocca and Branton, the group unanimously voted to back both the sales tax rededication and the library millage.

Email Willie Swett at willie. swett@theadvocate.com.

Abney, Ronald

Alario, Melanie

Allain,Alexander

Arnold, Joyce

Venturella, Doreene

EJ Fielding

Dickenson, Mary

Hargis, Syvonne

Grace Funeral

Aultman Jr., Everett Davis Jr., John

Bailey, Michele West Bank

Berns Jr., Edward Mothe

Brennan, Lynne Rogers, Mamie

Cayette, McNeal

Tremé,Audrey Curtis,Arnell

Dardis, Dierdra

Obituaries

Davis Jr., John Abney, Ronald Joseph

Dickenson, Mary

Drouilhet, Raymond

Duchmann Jr., Hermann

Ducos, Lilian

Eugene, Joyce

Fine, Julie

George, Melvin

Hargis, Syvonne

Hotard, Lise

James, Jesse

Knee, Margaret

Lea, Margie

Lewis, Sylvia

Mancuso Champagne, Gina

Manzella Jr., John

Miller, Paula

Paciera,Adrienne

Rogers, Mamie

Sawyer, Doris

Scamardo, Mary

Schexnaildre, Loyce

Tremé,Audrey

Venturella, Doreene

Young, Rose

E Jefferson

Garden of Memories

Curtis,Arnell

Duchmann Jr., Hermann

LA Muhleisen

Aultman Jr., Everett Leitz-Eagan

Drouilhet, Raymond

Schexnaildre, Loyce

New Orleans

Charbonnet

Eugene, Joyce

James, Jesse

DW Rhodes

George, Melvin

Greenwood

Arnold, Joyce

Berns Jr., Edward

Young, Rose

Jacob Schoen

Brennan, Lynne

Lake Lawn Metairie

Allain,Alexander

Bailey, Michele

Cayette, McNeal

Dardis, Dierdra

Ducos, Lilian

Lea, Margie

Ronald Joseph Abney, of Slidell Louisiana, peace‐fully fell asleep in death surrounded by his loving family on March 20 2025, at the age of 76. Born on August 27, 1948, in New Orleans, Louisiana he was a man who lived a life marked by love, service and an unwavering dedica‐tion to his family and coun‐try Ronald, known as “Pee Wee” to his friends and family, was a Decorated Vietnam Veteran who bravely served his country with honor and distinction in the United States Army Following his military ser‐vice, he embarked on a ca‐reer as a diamond broker, where his keen eye for de‐tail and his trustworthy na‐ture earned him the re‐spect and admiration of his colleagues and clients alike Ronald's life was one of continuous learning and personal growth, as evi‐denced by his achievement of an associate's degree in college. His education was a source of pride and served as a foundation for his professional and per‐sonal endeavors Ronald is the beloved son of the late Melvin R. Abney Sr. and Elsie Melancon Abney His memory will forever be cherished by his perfect partner of 33 years, Willie Hulette; his three girls: treasured daughter, An‐gelle Terre; his adored grandchild Alicia Terre; his spirited great-grandchild, Hannah Terre; and siblings James "Butch" Abney (Bonnie) Carol "Dee Dee" Abney Chambers (Stanley Loran), Diane Abney Salles (Rodney) Margaret Abney Schiro, Daniel "Danny" Abney (Pamela), and Melvin R. Abney Jr (Pauline) He is also sur‐vived by a host of nieces, nephews and extended family members who will remember him with pro‐found love and affection Those who knew Ronald understood that the word "loving" captured the essence of his character He approached every rela‐tionship with an open heart and a generous spirit. His warmth and compassion along with his sparkling blue eyes were the hallmarks of his per‐sonality, and his presence was a source of comfort and joy to his family and friends His laughter, sto‐ries, and the wisdom he shared will continue to echo in the hearts of those who knew him. He will be deeply missed, but his spirit will live on through the countless memories he created with his loved ones. Ronald will be laid to rest with Military Honors in the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Slidell on Friday March 28 2025 at 9:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers memorial dona‐tions to the Wounded War‐rior Project or St Cather‐ine’s Hospice are appreci‐ated. Memories and condo‐lences may be expressed at www AudubonFuneralH ome com.

Manzella Jr., John Alario, Melanie Cooper

Miller, Paula

Paciera,Adrienne

Scamardo, Mary

Professional

Sawyer, Doris

St Tammany

Audubon

Abney, Ronald

Melanie Cooper Alario passed away on March 19, 2025, at her home in Baton Rouge, LA,atthe age of 78. She was born in Lakehurst, New Jersey, to the late Roy James Cooper and Mercedes Abadie Cooper. She spent most of her life living on the Westbank of New Orleans. Mel leaves to cherish her memory, her high school sweetheart and husband of 56 years, Terry J. Alario, Sr.; daughter, Joy Alario Lonibos and her husband,David; son, Terry J. Alario, Jr. and his wife, Lauri; 5grandchildren, of whom she was extremely proud, Cade Lonibos (Olivia), Alexa Lonibos (Bailey), Easton Lonibos, Devin Alario, and Jules Alario. She is also survived by her sisters, Jan Jenkins (EJ), Teresa Adam; brothers Bob Cooper (Shirley) and Danny Cooper (Debbie); sister-in-law Laura Cooper; and brother-in-law John A. Alario, Jr. (Trina). She joins in heaven, along with her parents, her sister Fran Blondiau (Alfred); brothers Jack Cooper and Jim Cooper; in-laws Elsie and John A. Alario, Sr.; and sister-in-law Ree Alario Melanie had atremendously giving heart and never met astranger. She had avery special love and devotion to The Blessed Mother and Padre Pio.She was amember of theWest Jefferson HighSchool Class of 1965, adedicated employee of SouthCentral Bell and Bellsouthfor 26 years, and was amember of the Telephone Pioneers of America. Aheartfelt thanks and sincere gratitude is extended to Audubon Hospice, including Stacia, Carmen, and Sonnybrook for the compassion and professionalism given during the last 14 months. Gwen, Loretta, and Brenda, know that we are eternally grateful to you for the abundant love and care you gave to our angel. She loved each of you. Visitation will be held at Resthaven Funeral Home, 11817 Jefferson Hwy. Baton Rouge, LA 70816, on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, from9:00 a.m. until Funeral Service at 11:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Resthaven Gardens of Memory. If you feel so inclined, Mel would have loved for donations to be madetothe Alario 22 Endowed Scholarship at Northwestern State University, in Natchitoches, LA https://fundraise.givesmar t.com/form/ZR93jQ?vid=1i ejvl. You can also text Alario to 41444. Checks can be sent to:Demons Unlimited FoundationAttn: Scott Maggio, 468 Caspari Street, Natchitoches, LA 71497. Memo: Alario 22 Athletic Scholarship.Family and friendsmay signthe online guestbook or leave apersonal notetothe family at www.resthavenbaton rouge.com

Alexander deVilleneuve "Lex" Allain, anativeof Franklin, Louisiana, and a resident of NewOrleans, passed away Friday, March 21, 2025. He was 66.

Lex was preceded in death by his parents, Charles "Chuck" and Henrietta "Puddin" Allain; his three brothers, Charles V. Allain, Brent W. Allain, and Mark P. Allain; and his nephew, Reid W. Chadwick.

He is survived by his loving wife of 42 years, Denise Robichaux Allain; his two sons, Dr. Alexander V. Allain, III (Liz) and Dr. David W. Allain (Dr. Meredith); his twogranddaughters, Eva Lane Allain and Josephine Anne Allain; his sister, Anne A. Chadwick (Win); and his brother, Reid P. Allain. He is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews.

opers. Lex eventually moved his family and settled in Mobile, AL, where he and his wife raised their boys.

He was very activewith his church, St. Ignatius, and also the boy's school, McGill Toolen. After this time, he then moved to New Orleans and worked in the commercial construction industry.

Lex was an active parishioner of St. Francis Xavier and amember of the KnightsofColumbus and past grand knight.He spent much of his time with his dedicationtohis church and service throughthe Knights. Church and family were Lex's greatest love.

He was an especially avid fan of LSUsportsand an eternal optimistic. His passions included hunting and always wanting to bring his buddies to his favorite fishing spot.

Lex was avery proud father and was happy to share his boy's accomplishments. Ever more, he was avery proud granddaddy and always ready to share aphotoofhis granddaughters.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass at St.Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 444 Metairie Road in Metairie, on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at 12:00PM. Avisitationwill be held at the church beginning at 10:00AM. Aprivate interment will take place in Metairie Cemetery at alater date.

In lieuofflowers, please consider adonation in Lex'smemory to the Alzheimer's Association, www.alz.org.

To view and sign theonline guest book, please visit lakelawnmetairie.com

Aultman Jr., Everett 'Taylor'

Lex was born and raised in Franklin, LA.Hegraduated high school from Woodward Academy in Atlanta, GA. He graduated from LSU, where he belonged to the Kappa Alpha order. After graduating, Lex began his career in golf course development and construction. His career led him to build and develop with thelikes of Arnold Palmer and many other renowned golf developers.

Lex eventually moved his family and settled in Mobile, AL, where he and his wife raised their boys. He was very activewith his church, St. Ignatius, and also the boy's school, McGill

Mrs. Joyce Marchand Arnold passed away peacefully Wednesday morning, March 19, 2025, at the age of 93. She was born September 9 1931, in West‐wego, LA to the late Michel J and Lottie Mae Marc‐hand and was the sister of the late MJ Marchand and Walter Leonard Marchand Joyce was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Charles E. Arnold Sr , and survived by two sons Charles Arnold Jr (Emily) and Larry Arnold (Alison); one daughter, Gaynell Arnold Clancy (Rodney); six grandchildren, Patrick Clancy (Kelli), Amy Arnold Zimmerman (Eric), Lauren Arnold Hambaugh (Jon) Jason Clancy, Derek Arnold (Kim), and Drake Arnold (Lauren); and eleven greatgrandchildren She also leaves many other family members and friends who will sadly miss her. Joyce was a stay-at-home mom most of her adult life. She went to her children’s ath‐letic and school events, did some substitute teaching, and was very involved with their schools. When her kids were older, she sold Avon. Joyce loved fishing the beach, swimming, playing cards and doing puzzles. She also enjoyed playing Bingo and trips to casinos to play slot ma‐chines. Fishing was some‐thing she especially en‐joyed throughout her life beginning as a child with her parents in Grand Isle, LA. Joyce and her husband had a summer home on Lac des Allemands where you could often find her sitting on the pier with her cane pole Joyce lived in St Bernard Parish most of her life, before moving to Lul‐ing and eventually into St Anthony’s Gardens in Cov‐ington For the last few years she resided in Her‐itage Manor in Mandeville The family extends their heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated caregivers who provided comfort and sup‐port during Joyce’s final years Funeral services will be held at Greenwood Fu‐neral Home on Canal Blvd in New Orleans on Wednes‐day, March 26, 2025, begin‐ning with Visitation at 11 a.m and a Funeral Mass at 1 p.m Burial will follow at St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 on Esplanade Ave.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Everett “Taylor Aultman, Jr. on February 12th of congestive heart failure at the age of 74. He will be missed for his com‐passionate understanding of the human condition and his wonderful sense of humor Never a day passed without him sharing a joke or cartoon He was born in Murfreesboro, Tn to Everett and Eloise Aultman on March 27, 1950. They shortly moved back to South Carolina where he lived until 1965 when his parents moved to uptown New Orleans right before Hurricane Betsy He at‐tended Fortier High School graduating in 1968.He then attended Tulane University on a track scholarship ma‐joring in psychology He at‐tended LSU School of So‐cial Work graduating in 1975. During his high school and college years he was a local track star He holds the record for most consecutive wins (5) of the Jackson Day Race He was inducted into the New Orleans Track Club Hall of Fame in 2015. After an injury ended his track days he began to swim and then bicycle. His passion for cycling had him doing week long cycle trips across the US He was a regular figure on the Mis‐sissippi River levee until his heart decided to give up. In 1975 he married his devoted wife Susan (Sue) Defourneaux Aultman To‐gether they raised their two children, Neal Young Aultman and Jeana Patricia Aultman. He has been a resident of River Ridge for the past 37 years. In 1985 Taylor began a nearly 40 year private psychother‐apy practice His humor and compassion helped many individuals over the years He served on the state board of Social Work‐ers for 6 years and was chairman for several of those years He was an ad‐junct professor with Tulane School of Social for many years In the last twenty years traveling with Sue meant the “world” to him! Traveling to over 50 coun‐tries His last trip was to Scotland in September with the family Taylor is survived by his wife of 49 years Susan Aultman son Neal Aultman and daugh‐ter Jeana Aultman. He is also survived by his broth‐ers James Aultman (Kate), Reynolds Aultman (Jody) and John Aultman (Janet) Nieces and Nephews Patrick and Nicole De‐fourneaux Stephen, Eliza‐beth, Matthew, and Joshua Aultman, and Mother-inlaw Patty Defourneaux Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Cele‐bration of Life Memorial Service on Thursday March 27, 2025 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm at L. A Muhleisen and Son Funeral Home, 2607 Williams Blvd. Ken‐ner Please wear blue Tay‐lor’s favorite color In lieu of flowers please send a donation to your favorite charity. To share memories or condolences, please visit www muhleisen.com

attended Holy Name of Jesus School and later Mercy Academy, where her gifts for sarcasm and her quick wit were fostered. Michele made herway back to LSU for college, and inspired by her roommate, decided to pursuea career in nursing. After graduatingwith herBSN, she worked in thesurgical ICU at Hotel Dieu and saw the hospital's transition to become University Hospital. She was proud to be anurse, butnever hesitated to mention that the first thing she did after graduatingfrom nursing school was to throw away her ridiculoushat. Like many ICU nurses, she had apenchant for dark humor, but her compassion and empathyfor others earned her areputation as an exceptional caregiver. Ever the advocate for her patients, shewas fearless and outspoken,never hesitating to express disagreement with aplan of care or question orders that she felt were not in the patient's best interests. There is an adage in healthcare that nurses anddoctors make the worst patients, and Michele was no exception.

Michele unexpectedly retired from her professional nursingcareer in 2010, when shetook time off to take care of her partner,Gene Traina, who was diagnosed with lung cancer and sadly passed away in April 2011. Afterwards, she triedher handatproperty managementand learned many new skills along theway. Michele was a"do-it-yourself" kind of woman.Why would she pay someonetodosomething that she could learn to do herself? If she didn't know how to do something, she would pay close attention so that she would know how to do it the next time she came across that problem. When she did (begrudgingly) ask for help, shewould repay others' kindness with a batch of brownies or chocolate-chipcookies. She wasanincredible cook and baker, something she would often deny, claiming that she just had theright recipes. All those whoknew Michele were blessed to have knownher. If you didn't know Michele, you may have recognized herasthe woman walking agiant, fluffy polar bear around Uptown. Michele loved her family deeply andwas extraordinarily kind andselfless, often at fault. Sheis survived by her loving daughter, Lauren Trainaof New Orleans, LA. Shewas preceded in death by her sister and best friend, Denise Bailey Scanlon (Patrick), andwill be sorely missed by herremaining siblings, Cheryl Bishop Boyd (Rich) of Folsom, CA, and JT Bailey III (Carol) of Belle Chasse, LA, as well as her nieces, nephews, great -nieces, and greatnephews. Herlegacy will live on in theyoung nurses she helped precept, residents sheput in their place, andpatients and family members whose lives she impacted.

Acelebration of life will take place at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home on March 28, 2025, with visitation from 10:30 AM -noon as wellasa briefchapel service and blessing at noon, followed by areception for close friends and family. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Louisiana SPCA or theNational Alliance on Mental Illness.

Arnold, Joyce Marchand

Berns Jr., Edward James 'Ed'

Edward "Ed" James Berns Jr 84 years old born March 20,1940, died March 12, 2025, surrounded by close members of his family There will

Michele Renee

dren, Catherine “Cat” Dick‐

4B

missed by all Ed was a life-long resident of New Orleans He is a graduate of Alcee Fortier High School, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where he earned a Bache‐lor of Arts in General Stud‐ies in 1963, and Loyola Uni‐versity where he earned a Master of Education in Guidance and Counseling in 1974. He served in the United States Coast Guard Reserve in 1963 and 1964 and was a member of the Coast Guard Honor Guard that stood watch over President John F. Kennedy while he Lay in State at the U S. Capitol Rotunda in 1964. Ed’s career of 32 years in Juvenile Probation and Parole for the State of Louisiana began as a Pa‐role Officer with the Or‐leans Parish Juvenile Court system in 1968, until his re‐tirement in 2000 as Re‐gional Supervisor for the State of Louisiana’s Divi‐sion of Evaluation and Placement. He came out of retirement in 2005 as Court Liaison for Hope Haven Center Residential Treat‐ment Facility, until perma‐nent retirement in 2008. Ed was a member of numer‐ous professional organiza‐tions serving as President of Louisiana’s Juvenile Pro‐bation and Parole Associa‐tion, Vice President of Louisiana’s Juvenile Cor‐rections Association Mem‐ber of the National Profes‐sional Outreach Coun‐selors Association, Mem‐ber of the National Associ‐ation of Mental Health, Member of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, Member of Sheriff Lee's Criminal Task Force, and Member of the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. In lieu of flowers Ed requested a do‐nation in his name to Saint Jude's Children's Hospital Jacob Schoen & Son Fu‐neral Home in

Lynne Trist Brennan, 90 of New Orleans, LA, passed away peacefully at home on Friday, March 21, 2025

Born on September 24 1934, to Nicholas Philip Trist and Inez Lauga Trist, Lynne was a devoted wife mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and woman of deep Catholic faith Lynne was the beloved wife of the late Richard Joseph Brennan Sr., with whom she shared a lifetime of love partner‐ship, and dedication to family Together, they built a home filled with warmth, faith, and hospitality, em‐bodying the spirit of the renowned New Orleans hospitality family she mar‐ried into She was a loving mother to her daughter Lauren Brennan Brower (George), and her son Richard Joseph Brennan Jr She was a cherished grandmother to six grand‐children: George Ellsworth Brower III (Sally), Lindsey Brower Beard (Bradley), Sara Brennan Trechsel (An‐drew), Richard Joseph Brennan III, Brennan Pren‐tice Brower (Jonathan), and Trist Willetts Brower; and a proud great-grand‐mother to six great-grand‐children Lynne is survived by her beloved brother, Nicholas Philip Trist Jr. as well as her extended fam‐ily and dear friends, who will continue to honor her memory Lynne’s legacy is one of faith, love, and gen‐erosity. She had a profound love for people and took great joy in bringing them together Whether hosting grand gatherings or a pool party she had a special way of making everyone feel at home Her door was always open, her table al‐ways set, and her heart al‐ways full of love She truly left an indelible mark on all who had the privilege of knowing her. Lynne’s kind‐ness, hospitality, and un‐wavering love will never be forgotten Though she is no longer with us, her spirit will live on in the hearts of those she touched May she rest in eternal peace in the loving arms of the Lord Lynne’s family would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the dedicated caregivers who provided her with comfort, kindness, and support in her final years Their compassion and devotion meant the world to her and brought great peace to those who loved her A Mass will be held on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at 10:00 AM at Jacob Schoen & Son Fu‐neral Home in New Orleans to celebrate her life The family will receive friends from 9A.M. until mass time Condolences may be left at www schoenfh com.

Cayette, McNeal 'Chakula Cha Jua'

Chakula Cha Jua (McNeal Cayette), of New Orleans, Louisiana, peacefully passedaway at the age of 79, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. He was the youngest son and the eight of nine children born to Ruffin and Mildred Cayette. He was precededindeath by his parents, and three brothers, Ruffin, Jr., Ronald, and Bernell Cayette,along with hissister, Joyce Verret. He is survived by four sisters, Bernice King, Jeanie Harris, Dolores Marco, and Christine Johnson. Relatives and friends are invitedtoattend the Funeral Mass in the chapel of Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in New Orleans, on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at10:00AM. Avisitation will be held at the funeral home beginning at 9:00AM. The interment will follow the Mass at Lake Lawn Park. To read the full obituary and view and sign the online guest book,please visit lakelawnmetairie com

Arnell Kinstler Curtis, age 80, lifetime resident of Chalmette, LA, entered into eternal resting on March 18, 2025, surrounded by her loving family She was born on May 13, 1944 to the late William and Joise Kinstler Arnell graduated from Chalmette High School in 1962 and worked at South‐ern Saving and Homestead and Chase Bank. Remain‐ing to cherish Arnell’s memory are her children: Kerilyn Gallardo (Christo‐pher), Kristi Kaczorowski (Scott) and William Curtis (Laura); grandchildren: CJ Gallardo Maleri Schubert (Curtis), Bryce Kac‐zorowski, Kelli Alvarez (Gallardo), Meaghen Curtis and Camden Gallardo; great-grandchild, Kaz Al‐varez; and nieces Michelle Martin (Wilson) and Lisa Lee (Wilson). Preceding Ar‐nell in death were her par‐ents, William Kinstler and Josie Kinstler; sister Sharon Wilson; and niece, Wendy Frenandez (Wilson) Arnell loved her family and friends and was an avid reader who went to the St Bernard Parish Library reg‐ularly and was on the board of the St Bernard Parish Library for numer‐ous years Relatives and friends are invited to the Funeral Services on Mon‐day March 24, 2025 at Gar‐den of Memories Funeral Home & Cemetery, 4900 Airline Drive, Metairie, LA 70001. Family viewing will begin at 10:30 am with public visitation from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm with Mass to follow In lieu of flowers, donations in Arnell’s mem‐ory may be dropped off or mailed to St. Bernard Parish Library located at 2600 Palmisano Blvd Chal‐mette, LA 70043. Online condolences may be of‐fered at www gardeno fmemoriesmetairie com.

enson James “J.D.” Dicken‐

son (Maryetta), Matthew

Dierdra R. Dardis went intothe open arms of the Lord on March 16, 2025. She was born on November 3, 1944, in Biloxi, MS and moved at avery young age to New Orleans, LA where she spent the rest of her life. She graduated from St.Anthony of Padua, St. James Major High School, and LSUNO. She was apast queen of Prometheus. Spent her life in the banking business working 40 years for Hibernia/Capital One Bank and 3years for Omni Bank. Upon retirement,she was the head wedding coordinator for St.Anthony of Padua Church. She is preceded in deathbyher brother, Bruce Runte; her parents, Phyllis Tortorich and Charles Runte; her step-father, Gustave Tortorich; her maternal grandparents, Clovis and ElizabethMartinez. She is survived by loving husband of almost 50 years, Deacon JosephM.Dardis. She is also by many nieces and nephews and grandnieces and nephews and by many who called her "Aunt DeDe". The family would like to thank Passages Hospice for their loving care, especially nurses Jennifer, Libby, and Randy. AFuneral Mass will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2025 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 4640 Canal Street Visitation for 11:00 AM and Mass at 1:00 PM. She will be laid to rest in Metairie Cemetery following Mass. In lieuofflowers, donation to St.Anthony of Padua Church requested.Toview and sign the family guestbook, please visit lakelawnmetairie.com

John Davis, Jr., age 83, of Mandeville, LA passed away on March 18, 2025. He was born on September 29, 1941 in New Orleans, LA to John, Sr. and Olga (Lagarrigue) Davis.

John is survived by his brother Gary Davis and numerous nieces and nephews.

John is preceded in death by his parentsand his sister Jerleen Naccari (the late Paul, MD).

John grew up in New Orleans and Chalmette, Louisiana, before relocating to Mandeville. He graduated from Holy Cross High School and went on to attend LSUNO, where he earned his master's degree. After graduation, John began his career teaching in theNew Orleans Public School System. Later, he managed afamily-owned store, working closely with his sister Jerleen. In his later years, John cherished his time at Rouquette Lodge, where he enjoyed many happy years.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass at Grace Funeral Home, 450 Holy Trinity Drive, Covington, LA 70433 on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at 11:00 AM with visitation beginning at 10:00 AM.

Burial will take place privately in Lake Lawn Park Mausoleum, New Orleans, LA under the direction and care of Grace Funeral Home.

Fond memories can be shared withthe Davis Family at www.gracenorth shore.com.

“Matt” Dickenson (Kim) Julianna “Julie” Dickenson King (Vince) Ann-Marie

Annie” Waldhoff (Clint) Twin brother George Duke” Carlson 18 grand‐children, and 23 greatgrandchildren Many nieces, nephews, friends, and extended family Mary attended Anoka High School where she met her husband, Ralph They en‐joyed life together on their farms in Ramsey, Pine City, and St. Francis Minnesota Together they raised 6 chil‐dren and many bonus chil‐dren. Ralph and Mary’s home was always open to all They had several busi‐ness adventures over the years together With their life being heavily blended with business and family adventures. Mary was defi‐antly the calm to the storm And the glue that somehow made it all work She also added a certain level of class and fashion to all occasions. This excit‐ing life allowed Mary to wear many hats in her life usually all at the same time. Mary was a wife mother, daughter, sister, Aunty, friend, horseman party planner, personal chef, administrative man‐ager, counselor, Nanny and Boss. Mary entered the arms of her Lord and Sav‐ior Jesus Christ on Wednesday, March 19 2025. She was surrounded by family and friends in the comfort of her home as she wished. She is pre‐ceded in death by her par‐ents George and Betty Carlson, husband Ralph Dickenson, sister Edith Playle, brother-in-law Bill Dickenson, sisters-in-law, Dorthy Carlson and Margie Dickenson, son Lance Dick‐enson, grandson Andrew Dickenson, great-grand‐daughter Kaylee Dearing and best friends Patty Becker and Sharon Niles Memorial services are as follows: Louisiana services are Monday March 24, 2025 at New Zion Baptist Church 17387 New Zion Church Road, Covington, Louisiana with visitation beginning at 9:00 a.m , 11:00 funeral service and luncheon to follow at the church Minnesota ser‐vices will be held on Satur‐day, April 12 at Zion Lutheran Church 1601 S Fourth Ave., Anoka, MN with visitation at 1:00, fu‐neral service at 2:00, and a private interment at West Oak Grove Cemetery in Oak Grove Minnesota with din‐ner to follow at 5 pm at the St. Francis American Le‐gion, 3073 Bridge St. NW, St. Francis, MN 55070. In lieu of flowers family asks memorials to be sent to New Zion Baptist Church in Covington, LA or St Francis American Legion Post 622 in St Francis, MN in Mary’s honor E. J Fielding Funeral Home of Covington, Louisiana is honored to be entrusted with Mrs Dick‐enson’s funeral arrange‐ments Her family invites you to share thoughts, memories, and condo‐lences by signing an online guestbook at www ejfield ingfh.com

Raymond Drouilhet, a loving father and husband, devoted family member respected professional, and cherished friend passed away on March 18, 2025, in Metairie Louisiana. Born on September 21, 1938, in New Orleans, Louisiana Raymond lived a life marked by dedication to family faith and com‐munity Raymond built a successful career with Na‐tional Cash Register (NCR), where he worked for 41 years in various roles be‐fore achieving a manage‐ment position His commit‐ment to excellence and leadership left a lasting impact on colleagues and the industry alike. Family was at the heart of Ray‐mond’s life He shared 38 wonderful years with his beloved late wife Gayle Drouilhet and has spent the past 20 years with his wife Yvonne "Cookie" Todd Drouilhet. Raymond was also deeply connected to his siblings Louise Drouil‐het Michael Drouilhet and Theresa Drouilhet. His love extended to his children: Terri Walters (Gary), Sherri Blackwood (David) Sonny Drouilhet (Kelly), and Timo‐thy Drouilhet (Andree) Ad‐ditionally, he embraced his stepchildren Suzanne Todd Hutton (Michael), Mark Todd, Casey Babin, and Melissa Todd as part of his loving family Raymond was a proud grandparent to T.J. Theil (Jolene), Brandi Puisseger (Andrew), John Paul Drouilhet (Rachel), Jeanne Celwell (Chris), An‐gele Baczmaga (Daniel), Amelia Mary, Step Grand‐

loving family Raymond was a proud grandparent to T.J Theil (Jolene), Brandi Puisseger (Andrew), John Paul Drouilhet (Rachel) Jeanne Celwell (Chris), An‐gele Baczmaga (Daniel) Amelia Mary, Step Grand‐children Chris Hutton Alli‐son Wison (Zach), Kyle Todd, and Kara Blackwood (Mark). His legacy contin‐ued through great-grand‐children Lucas and Shawn Puisseger, Charlotte and Eathan Saunders Mag‐dalena and Lucasz Bacz‐maga, and Sully Babin He was preceded in death by his parents Tiny and Louise Drouilhet; his late wife Gayle Gahagan Drouilhet; siblings Marie Drouilhet and Joan Drouilhet; son Patrick Drouilhet (Cindy); and stepson John Todd Though gone from this world, they remain forever in the hearts of those who loved them. Beyond work and family life, Raymond found joy in supporting his children and grandchildren in various sports and activ‐ities. He was a founding member of Lakeside Coun‐try Club in Metairie and an active participant in the Socialites social club. In re‐tirement he dedicated time to volunteering at City Park Botanical Gardens and the Audubon Aquar‐ium of the Americas A de‐vout Catholic throughout life, Raymond was a faith‐ful member of St Louis King of France Church and St. Ann Church and Shrine His unwavering faith pro‐vided strength during life s challenges, including the tragic losses of his wife Gayle and son Patrick Family and friends are in‐vited to honor Raymond’s life at a visitation on March 27, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at St. Ann Church and Shrine at 3601 Transcontinental Metairie LA 70006. A Catholic Mass will follow at noon. Inter‐ment will take place at St Patrick #3 Cemetery at 143 City Park Ave New Or‐leans Raymond’s kind‐ness, devotion to family and steadfast faith will be remembered always. May their memory bring com‐fort to all who knew him. In lieu of flowers the family request a donation to a charity of your choosing in Raymond's name

Hermann E. Duchmann Jr. passed away on Friday, February 28, 2025 at the age of 71. He is survived by his loving wife of 53 years, June Duchmann; his daughter, Jessica (Lance); and his grandsons, Matt and Ben He will also be dearly missed by his nieces and nephews: An‐drea, Ryan, Amber Crystal David, Jeff, Sherry, Ashley, and Jillian Hermann was preceded in death by his parents, June Friddle Duch‐mann Lester and Hermann E Duchmann, Sr.; his sib‐lings: Adrian Duchmann (Diane), Marsha D. Bennett (late James) Martin Duch‐mann, and Sharon D Williams (late Bob); as well as his nephew, Mike Hermann was born and raised in New Orleans, LA and was a resident of Metairie, LA. He was a hardworking man from a young age working con‐struction with his father, driving a semi-rig for American Steel delivering steel being a self-em‐ployed fisherman, and es‐tablishing Blue Diamond Enterprises for purchasing, refurbishing, and flipping houses. Hermann was a lifelong outdoorsman who enjoyed both fishing and hunting He was a car en‐thusiast and always wanted a 1976 Corvette, which he became the proud owner of one in 2017 He joined the Greater New Orleans Corvette Club and made some great friends to share his enthusiasm with. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Services at Garden of Memories Funeral Home & Cemetery, 4900 Airline Drive Metairie LA 70001 on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 Visitation will begin at 11:00 am with a Memorial Service starting at 1:00 pm followed by inurnment. To order flowers or offer con‐dolences please visit www gardenofmemorie smetairie com.

Ducos, Lilian Alfaro 'Manina'

Lilian Alfaro Ducos "Manina", age 88, passed away at her home in Metairie, Louisiana, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Lilian was preceded in death by her son, Rafaelito Ducos; her sister, Ruth Alfaro Figueroa; herparents, Marta Figueroa and Roberto Alfaro; and her step-father, Ludwig Diehl. She is survived by her beloved husbandof64 years, Dr. Rafael Ducos; her daughter, Consuelo Ducos Barron (Scott); her son, Luis Rafael Ducos (Robin); hergrandchildren, JacquelineHerrington, Victoria Romero, Brandon Ducos, Hanna Zamora, Emma Barron,Max Barron, and Eli Barron;her stepgrandchildren,Jeremy Salva andMatthew Benoit; and her ten great-grandchildren Manina was born in Concepcion,Chile on November 24, 1936. She was the founding Presidentofthe Auxiliary Branch Hispanic American Medical Association of Louisiana and amember of the Latin American Women's Club. She was adevoted and nurturing soulwho found immense joy in caring for her family, especially through the meals she lovingly prepared; each dish a reflection of her warmth and generosity. Her home was always filled with the comforting aroma of her delicious cooking, creating lasting memories around the table. An artist at heart, shefound beauty in nature. andcaptured it with grace in herpaintings, often filling canvases with vibrant flowers andserene trees. She also cherished the company of herhusband and their wide circle of friends, embracing every opportunity to socialize, dress up, anddance the nightaway. Her love for life, creativity, and connections will be deeply missed and forever remembered. The family would like to extend their deepest gratitude to Edith Palacios and Mina Dao for their loving care andunwavering support in caring for Manina each day. We are also profoundly grateful to the wonderful nurses and staff at Concerned Care Home Health, whose compassion and dedication meant so much to Manina and to all of us

Relatives andfriends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass in the chapel of Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in New Orleans, on Monday, March 24, 2025, at 11:00AM. Avisitation will be held at the funeral home beginning at 10:00AM. Theinterment will follow theMass at All Saints Mausoleumin Metairie Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations be made to the Cure Alzheimer's Fund, an organization dedicated to advancingresearchtoprevent, slow, and ultimately cure Alzheimer's disease. Donationsmay be made in Manina's memory at www.curealz.org. To view and sign the online guest book, please visit lakelawnmetairie.com

Davis Jr., John

Brennan, Lynne Trist

Curtis, Arnell Kinstler

Duchmann Jr., Hermann

Drouilhet, Raymond

Eugene, Joyce George

Joyce George Eugene entered into eternal rest on March 15, 2025 at age 98. She leaves to cherish her memory three sons Michael (Shelia), Kerry (Michelle), and Mark. Nine grandchildren, one sisterin-law, Rhea Eugene, and a close cousin Marie New‐man, as well as a host of other relatives and friends

Derbigny St., NOLA

Visitation begins at 10

Interment: St Louis Cemetery No 3, New Orleans, LA.

Dickenson, Mary A.

Dardis, Dierdra Runte'DeDe'

Dierdra R. Dardis went into the openarms of the Lord on March 16, 2025. She was born on

2025 at St. s‐sionary Baptist Church, 1763 N. Derbigny St. NOLA 70119, at 11 am Visitation begins at 10 am Interment: St Louis Cemetery No 3, New Orleans, LA.

Julie Ann Main Fine On March 18, 2025, at 76 years young, we said goodbye to our beloved mom, but her love, laughter, and spirit will stay with us forever.

Julie was the heart of our family—the source of endless love and fun. She was the beloved and devoted wife of Steve Fine for 56 years. She was predeceased by her father, Robert C. Main, mother, Myra Cote Main, and brother, Robert C. Main Jr. She is survived by her sister, Maureen M. Cargil, her niece, Charmaine Hood (Warren), her children, Kerry L. Fine, Kasey F. Ragas(D.J.III), and Christopher S. Fine (Lin), as well as her grandchildren, Kelsey E. Ragas, D.J Ragas IV, Rylee Dupont, and agreat-grandchild, Dayton Dupont.

Julie was more than just amom—she was our BEST friend. We shared everything with her, and she with us. She had away of making even the simplest moments fun! One of her greatest joys was goingto see Ryan Foret and Foret Tradition play music—those nights filled with music, laughter, and good company were some of her happiest. As per Julie's wishes, there will be no formal services. Instead, raise a glass, share amemory, and have asip in her honor. She wouldn't want tears—only love, laughter, and good music playingin the background.

George, Melvin T.

Melvin T George, age 87, of New Orleans passed away Thursday evening, March 6 2025, at his home surrounded by loved ones Melvin is survived by his wife, Rose; his two sons, Eric and Errol; several grandchildren and greatgrandchildren; and many other family members and friends who will miss him dearly. He was known by friends and family for his kindness, patience laugh‐ter, mischief, boundless energy and love of life His journey on this earth will be remembered for the profound impact it had on the lives of those who had the pleasure of knowing him Funeral service and visitation will be on Mon‐day, March 24, 2025 at St Maria Goretti Church Visi‐tation and Rosary will begin at 9:30 am, followed by a U.S. Military Honor Guard at 10:25 am, and ser‐vice at 10:30 am, with Fa‐ther Daniel Green officiat‐ing Burial will follow at Southeast Louisiana Veter‐ans Cemetery in Slidell, LA Arrangements by D.W Rhodes Funeral Home, 3933 Washington Avenue Please visit www rhodesf uneral com to sign the on‐line guestbook

Hargis, Syvonne Adams McWilliams

Syvonne Adams McWilliams Hargis, age 95, of Mandeville, Louisiana passed away on Monday, March 17, 2025. She was born on August 18, 1929, in Ponchatoula Louisiana She is survived by her chil‐dren, Sandy McWilliams Dale Dean McWilliams and Debbie McWilliams Es‐quinance (Bruce); grand‐children, Michele Linehan (Colin), Melissa Hughes,

Ponchatoula, Louisiana She is survived by her chil‐dren, Sandy McWilliams, Dale Dean McWilliams and Debbie McWilliams Es‐quinance (Bruce); grand‐children, Michele Linehan (Colin), Melissa Hughes, Kyle McWilliams (Ashley) Brittany Esquinance Jenk‐ins (Cody) and Laurie Es‐quinance Pike (Blake); and great-grandchildren Au‐drey Linehan, Christopher Hughes (Gabrielle), Kinley McWilliams, Kylie McWilliams, Harper Jenkins Bran‐son Jenkins, Hunter Pike, Brynlee Pike, and many ex‐tended family members and friends She was pre‐ceded in death by her first husband, John B McWilliams; second hus‐band, Earl Hargis, Jr.; par‐ents, Willow E Adams and Carnie Milton Adams; and a stepsister, Nellie Hay‐ward. She was a resident of Mandeville, Louisiana for the last 60 years. In her early years she loved trav‐eling, time at the beach and gardening In her later years she loved to spend her time playing bingo, doing arts & crafts and spending time with family and friends In lieu of flow‐ers, the family requests Masses in memory Mrs Syvonne Relatives and friends are invited to at‐tend the graveside service on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 11:00 AM at Garden of Memories Cemetery, 4900 Airline Drive, Metairie Louisiana E. J Fielding Fu‐neral Home of Covington Louisiana, is honored to be entrusted with Mrs Har‐gis’s funeral arrange‐ments Her family invites you to share thoughts memories, and condo‐lences by signing an online guestbook at www ejfield ingfh.com

Hotard,Lise Marie It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Lise Marie Hotard on February20th, 2025 at the University Medical Center in New Orleans. Born August 14th, 1946 to Joseph Hotard (deceased 1985) and Louise Fourcade Hotard (deceased2001). She will be interredto the family tomb at StLouis Cemetery #3 on March 29th, 2025 at noon.

James, Jesse

Jesse James, a Veteran of the United States Army entered into eternal rest Sunday, March 2 2025 at age 81. He leaves to cher‐ish his memory his wife of 37 years Emma M Rhodes James; sons Ricky Lee (Henerree), Deighton Rhodes, William Rhodes (Jade); daughters Tanya James (Joseph), Alida Williams Aiesha Hutson and godson Tyree Harris Jesse is also survived by eleven siblings and a host of other relatives and friends Relatives and friends are invited to at‐tend a Celebration of Life honoring Mr Jesse James, Jr. on Monday, March 24 2025 at Oakland Baptist Church 825 Rev. Richard Wilson Drive, Kenner, LA 70062 at 10 am Visitation begins at 8:30 am in the church Interment: South‐east Louisiana Veterans Cemetery 34888 Grantham College Drive, Slidell, LA.

Margaret L. 'Meg'

Margaret (Meg) Loewenbaum Kneepassed this life on March 17, 2025, in Norfolk, VA, after along struggle with complications following surgery. Meg was born in New Orleans, LA in 1950 to Ernest Werner Loewenbaum and Joel Simon Loewenbaum. She attended and graduated from Isidore Newman School in 1968. In 1972, she was awarded aBAby Connecticut College in New London. While attending, she met herfuture husband Richard A. Knee, a then Cadet at the US Coast Guard Academy. Soon after graduation, theymarried and embarkedona 52year partnership in life Meg was truly aCoast Guard wife. She made home in Wilmington, NC,

Guard Academy. Soon after graduation, they married and embarked on a52year partnership in life.

Meg was truly aCoast Guard wife. She made home in Wilmington, NC, Houston, TX Kirkwood,MO, Herdon, VA, San Ramon, CA, Chantilly, VA and Chesapeake, VA. She loved bookkeeping/accounting, utilizing those skills for various employers, volunteer groupssuch as the Girl Scouts, and the family finances. She was also civically active by participating in numerous get out thevote efforts. Meg was an excellent cook, particularly with Creole recipes, and enjoyed making seasonal Xmas cookies and King cakes that she shared with neighbors and friends. She was kind, generous, and gregarious. She treated all she met with respect, and madepeople smile whether in agrocery store line or boarding an airplane. She brought joy to everyone around her, and will be missed by all who knew her.

Meg is survived by her husband, CAPT Richard A. Knee, USCG (ret), son Patrick Knee (Ashleigh) and grandson Quentin of Forney, TX and daughter Shannon Knee (William Oliver) of London, England. She is also survived by her brother G. Walter Loewenbaum (Lillian) of Austin, TX and cousins Dr. Benjamin Jacobs(Augusta) of New Orleans, LA and Sidney JacobsofDallas, TX. Waiting patiently for her to come home have been her predeceased pet dogs that she adored.

The family wishes to thank the doctors,nurses and staff of Sentara Norfolk Heart Hospital, Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, Sentara Leigh Hospital, and Oak Grove and Kempsville Healthand Rehab Centers for their care and support

Avisitation will be held on Wednesday April 2, 2025 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at H.D. Oliver Funeral Apts., 1416 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, VA 23322. A service will take place Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 2:00pm at Albert G. Horton, Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery, 5310 Milners Rd, Suffolk, VA 23434 where Meg will be laid to rest. Online condolences can be made to the family at hdoliver.com.

Margie ElizabethLea (nee Bryant), age 94, died 11 March 2025, after a short illness, at her home in Metairie, LA. Margie was the widow of Norman Wallace Lea. They were married at First Baptist Church in NewOrleans on 10 January 1953, until his death in August 1999. She is survived by her children Glenn, Daniel and Melissa. Her sons-in-law Dennis and Daniel as well as daughter-in-law Maire. Margie adored her grandchildren, Jennifer, Ben and Josh, her great grandchildren Felicityand Orion added to her enjoyment. Her only sibling,Betty, and nephew Brian, who live in Texas, enriched her life. She is also survived by nieces BelindaWalters and RhondaCresswell and nephew James (Jimmy) Lea. Margie was born in Picayune, MS, 27 September 1930, grew up in McComb,MS, but spent most of her adult life in New Orleans where she joined First Baptist Church before1950. She was dedicated to FBCNO forthe rest of her life. She worked for the Jefferson Parish School Board as well as being an accomplished Real Estate agent. Margie enjoyed fishing, bowling and the company of her friends for Bible studyand engaging conversation. She had a wonderful sense of humor. Dad told jokes, but Mom was funny too. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Doctors Without Borders and/or New Orleans Mission. Funeral services will be held on March 29 at 11AM at LakeLawn Metairie Funeral Home & Cemeteries, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70124. Avisitationwill be from9AM until the service begins. Interment will follow in Lake Lawn Park.

Sylvia Muller Lewis, of Slidell, Louisiana, passed away on March 17, 2025, at the age of 86. Born on Jan‐uary 14, 1939, in New Or‐leans, Louisiana, Sylvia's life was a tapestry of cher‐ished moments with family and friends Sylvia was the cherished daughter of the late William and Hilda Muller. She grew up in a loving home, surrounded by the vibrant culture of New Orleans and attended John McDonogh High School Her professional career began when she embarked on a fulfilling ca‐reer as a manager at the Chalmette Refinery Federal Credit Union, where she was known for her dedica‐tion and warm, welcoming presence Her colleagues became a second family, and she left an indelible mark on the institution through her hard work and commitment. Sylvia was a loving mother to her sons Donald H Lewis Jr (Charlen) and David M Lewis (Annette), and she took immense pride in her role as a grandmother to Danielle Lewis, Devin Lewis (Noel), and Lucian Rivera Her great-grandchildren, Kale, Kyler Capri, Bentley Brody, Ruth, and Vincent, brought her immeasurable joy, and she cherished every moment spent with them. She is also survived by her cousin, Larry Wag‐ner (Marlene); her niece Karen Torres Covington (Guy); and a host of ex‐tended family members, all of whom she loved dearly Sylvia was predeceased by her beloved companion and best friend, Robert Tor‐res whom she shared many treasured memories; her sister, Joan Torres; and her cousin, Ashton “Cookie” Chargois. Over the years Sylvia cultivated a passion for sewing and crafts that would become a lifelong pursuit. Her hands were rarely still as she was always immersed in her latest project creat‐ing warmth and beauty for those she loved She was an avid LSU baseball fan, always ready to cheer on her favorite team. As we bid farewell to Sylvia, we celebrate a life well-lived and a woman well-loved Her memory will be cher‐ished and kept alive in the stories told the crafts passed down through gen‐erations, and the countless lives she touched with her kindness. Sylvia's spirit will continue to inspire us all, reminding us to live with love to create with passion, and to treasure the moments we share with those we hold dear Relatives and friends are invited to attend a visita‐tion on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, from 9:00 a.m to 11:00 a.m at Audubon Fu‐neral Home in Slidell. A fu‐neral service will begin in the chapel at 11:00 a.m Memories and condo‐lences may be expressed at www AudubonFuneralH ome com.

Gina

It is withgreat sadness the family of Gina Mancuso Champagne announce her passing. She passed on March 20, 2025 and will sadly be missed. She is survived by her only son Carlo (Pete) Maltese, daughter in law Trish, her three grandchildren Jordan, Raigan, and Koy. Preceded in deathby her mother Elora Hahn Mancuso, father Retired Major Frank Mancuso USA, and her late husband John Champagne. She leaves behind half siblingsthat were discovered in her later years of her life and she loved them very much. Gina also had aclose cousin and friends who were very important in her life!

John D. Manzella, Jr., of River Ridge, Louisiana, passed away on Friday, March14, 2025. He was84. He was preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, Beverly Lagasse Manzella; his son,Gregory J. Caballero Manzella; and his parents, John and Lura Manzella. John is survived by his daughter, Gay Caballero Manzella Miremont (George Martin); his grandson, James Miremont; his Goddaughter, Daniele Lagasse Palen (Chad); his niece, Terri Lagasse Neyrey; his nephew,Paul Lagasse, III (Linda); his companion,Debbie Lane Doll; and manyfriends at American Office Machines and at the coffee house.

Relatives andfriends are invited to attend a memorial gathering at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in New Orleans, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 from 10:30AM until 2:00PM. A graveside servicewill follow the gatheringatAll Saints Mausoleum(in Metairie Cemetery).

To view and sign the online guest book, please visit www.lakelawnmetairie.c om

Paula B. Miller, age 83, passed away at her home in Metairie, Louisiana, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Paula is survived by her beloved husbandof64 years, Leonard W. Miller, Jr., and her two children, Karen Miller and Kristopher Miller. She was preceded in death by her parents, Pauline C. and Daniel A. Barrett.

Paula was born in New Orleans on June 2, 1941. She graduated from Warren Easton High School, class of 1958, and attended LSUNO.

The family would like to express their gratitude to caretaker, Aljanee Jefferson "AJ" for thecare and compassion shegave to Paula and our family.

Relatives andfriends are invited to attend the visitation at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in New Orleans, on Friday, March 28, 2025, from 12:30PM until 2:30PM. A graveside service will immediately follow the visitation in Metairie Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider adonation in Paula's memory to the Dementia Society, www.dementiasociety.org.

To view and sign the online guest book, please visit lakelawnmetairie.com

Adrienne Woolley Paciera, 73, passed away peacefully at her home in New Orleans, Louisiana, surrounded by loved ones, on March 10th after a courageous battle with metastatic brain cancer. Born and raised in New Orleans, Adrienne remained alifelongresident of the city. She met the love of her life, Vincent Paciera Jr., while still in high school, and together they built abeautiful life filled with love, family, and shared adventures. They were blessed with two children:VincentPaciera III and Danielle Paciera. Adrienne embraced life with acalm and joyful disposition,coupled with a poise that was evident in all she did. She found joy in jazzercise, treasured time at her condo in Miramar Beach, and delighted in traveling the world alongside her husband. Her passion for exploration led her to pursue acareer as a travel agent. Adrienne shared aspecial bondwith her children, often taking road trips with her daughter Danielle, relishing lunches with herson Vincent, and enjoying festivals with them both Among her fondest memories were thejoyful days spent "festing" with her children on Local Thursdays at Jazz Fest and enjoying Mardi Gras celebrations with her sisters Mickey Rodriguez and Suzy Smith. Family was at the heart of Adrienne 's world. She shared meaningful connections with her in-laws Shirley and Vincent Paciera Sr., as well as Kirth and Donna Paciera, creating lastingmemories on family vacations with all ten of thePaciera clan. Whether cooking for loved ones, chatting with neighbors on daily walks with her chocolate lab, "piddling" in thegarden, or sharing wine andlaughter with friends, Adrienne's warmth and easygoing spirit made herbeloved by all who knew her. She is survived by her devoted husband Vincent Paciera Jr.; childrenVincent Paciera III andDanielle Paciera; sisters Mickey (Michelle) Rodriguez, Suzanne Smith,and Helene (Heddy) Goslin; and her sweet labrador Abbey. Her remarkable spirit will live on in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to know her. A memorial service will be held to celebrate Adrienne's extraordinary life on Monday, March 24, 2025 at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70124. The visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. until themass at 12:00 p.m. May hermemory bring solace to all who loved her.

Lewis, Sylvia Muller

Manzella Jr., John D.

Paciera, Adrienne Woolley

Fine, Julie Main

Miller, Paula B.

Lea, Margie Bryant

Rogers, Mamie Geraldine

Mancuso Champagne,

Knee,

Jessie Hoffman’s death puts our justice system under lens

The execution last week of Jessie Hoffman Jr marked the end of a 15-year-long stretch in which the death penalty was on the books in Louisiana but not carried out.

It also marked the beginning of a new era in which a practice already fraught with moral significance is complicated still further by deep ethical questions over the new method the state has chosen to employ

Plainly put, we find that no matter how horrific the crime — and the 1996 kidnapping, rape and murder for which Hoffman was convicted was indeed that — the use of nitrogen gas is an affront to both the Constitution and human decency We urge the Louisiana Legislature to reconsider its approval Should it not, we would welcome a fuller vetting of the new execution protocols through the courts.

Take that last point first Both in an Alabama death-by-nitrogen case and in Hoffman’s, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on emergency injunctions without benefit of a full lower-court trial on whether the method of execution amounts to a “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment Courts generally place a high bar against injunctive relief, whereas a full trial could more thoroughly establish a factual basis that could convince the Supreme Court to focus on the central issue that death by pure nitrogen gas is a cruel abomination.

We have concerns over how two judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled federal district court judge Shelly Dick, thus putting Hoffman’s execution back on schedule The Fifth Circuit decision was so dismissive of the careful factual record amassed by Dick, even without benefit of a full trial, that it should raise red flags. If our judicial system cannot take the time to answer a fundamental constitutional question, and one where getting it wrong will result in irreversible harm, what is it there for?

Be that as it may, the simple fact is that state law on human executions is now more permissive than state law on euthanizing pets, which says that pure nitrogen should be only be used if the pet already has been rendered unconscious; even with small animals, death often can be achieved only through prolonged exposure to the gas while potentially painful hypoxia — in which depleted oxygen causes massive deterioration of organ function — occurs prior to the loss of consciousness

The death penalty, in practice, already is highly problematic for many reasons and has not been shown anywhere to make society safer. But if Louisiana lawmakers cannot come up with a usable execution method that isn’t pure torture — and so far, they haven’t — then there’s no good argument for continuing on this path of inhumanity

CORRECTION

An editorial on Thursday misstated the fraternity of former state Rep. Ted James. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, not Alpha Phi Alpha.

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

The pain of Hamas hostage families

WASHINGTON “Good morning. I’m

Kathryn, what’s your name?”

It was a natural enough question at that awkward part of a meeting where we knew the vaguest things about one another I knew he had a family member being held by Hamas. He knew I cared enough to listen to him.

I wanted to put him at ease. And, of course, hear his story I met Ofir Angrest and eight families who’d just traveled from Israel as part of a press event. But it was much more than a media opportunity It was a chance to offer compassion and to learn.

Ofir is the younger brother of Matan Angrest, who was attacked by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas raided the Nahal Oz miliary base. The three men with whom Angrest shared an Israeli Defense Forces tank Itay Hen, Daniel Peretz and Tomer Leibovitz — were all killed that day Angrest was injured and unconscious and was taken alive.

In a statement, sharing a Hamas hostage video showing a malnourishedlooking Angrest, the family pleaded for expedited negotiations while bemoaning his appearance: “Beyond the

severe psychological state evident in the footage, his right hand is nonfunctional, his eyes and mouth are asymmetrical and his nose is broken, according to testimonies from those who have returned all due to interrogations and torture in captivity.”

I told Ofir that many of us are praying for him, his parents and his brother He told me that he is certain that his brother can feel the prayers of people of good will who recoil in the face of inhumanity and aren’t shy to call out the barbarism of Hamas and the evil of antisemitism.

Ofir’s thanksgiving for Americans taking the time to listen was consistent with the feelings of his father and other families. A newspaper cartoon that former hostage Eli Sharabi recently handed Donald Trump came to mind when some of the fathers started talking about the silence in the West on the hostage issue The cartoon depicted three Holocaust survivors, with the post-World War II “Never again” refrain. The next panel had three former Hamas hostages, as emaciated as those Holocaust survivors. “Again” was under those three one of them a likeness of Sharabi.

Letting opinions ripen at

Recently I have been thinking about the speed at which news is happening on the state and especially national levels.

It has prompted an outpouring of letters to the editor on everything from the Department of Government Efficiency to the death penalty

on serious issues. The first impulse of outrage at an action may dissipate once more facts are known. Or conversely, when we have greater clarity about the contours of a proposal, we may be better able to write a strong piece condemning it on the merits.

When our short meeting was over, Merav Gilboa-Dalal came straight for me and gave me a great, disarming hug that communicated so much — gratitude, anger, misery, exhaustion, safety and restlessness.

Her son, Guy, was at his first music festival in October, with his older brother and friends. His big brother Gal survived the brutal Hamas attack on that festival, but Guy was kidnapped, along with many others. Merav hugged Guy, and he took a selfie with her that morning. Merav can’t wait to hug her kidnapped son again. In the meantime, she thanks those of us who are seemingly doing the bare minimum — seeing her son as a human who deserves better than to be held hostage by terrorists.

I wish we had to imagine the evil of antisemitism. While we don’t, may every hug between a Jew and a Christian be healing and, by some miracle, a consolation to those who are isolated in dark tunnels, with no idea if they will emerge from captivity alive to see their mothers and brothers and fathers again.

Email Kathryn Jean Lopez at klopez@ nationalreview.com.

TO SEND US A LETTER SCAN HERE

One of the priorities of any newsroom is speed. Getting the news out first to the public and getting it out accurately is what we strive to do every day But in opinion journalism, we also see that sometimes it’s better to let ideas marinate, especially when the impact of the news is unclear

So while we will do online “quick takes” on issues that are trending in public discourse, we also are careful to take the time to weigh where we stand

Sometimes when I get questions about why we haven’t done an editorial on this or that topic, I do take your ideas to the editorial board for discussion. But even if we don’t immediately have a position on an issue you care about, that doesn’t mean we won’t have one in the future when we feel it’s the time is right. So keep sending your ideas.

I don’t have an account of the letters we received to give you this week, but I hope to return next week with an

up-to-date tally We have been running behind simply due to the high volume of letters we have received.

And here’s a reminder that early voting is underway for the March 29 election.

We recently gave our recommendations on the constitutional amendments on the ballot. They are available online in case you missed them.

It’s clear that many of you recognize the importance of when the newspaper comes out in favor or against something.

But in reality, it’s your voice that matters ultimately, and we urge you to take the chance to vote if you haven’t already

Arnessa Garrett is Deputy Editor | Opinion Page Editor. Email her at arnessa.garrett@theadvocate.com.

Arnessa Garrett

Kathryn Jean Lopez

COMMENTARY

Criminal justice solutions rely on better data

Being tough on criminals isn’t the only way to reduce crime.

Almost since its inception, the conservative Pelican Institute has pushed what it calls a “smart on crime” agenda, one which accepts tough punishment for more severe crimes but that stresses rehabilitation of lesser offenders as a way to cut recidivism. Pelican issued a new report March 17 that continues these worthy efforts.

Stopping recidivism, of course, is perhaps the single best way to make our communities safer Studies too numerous to mention (each with slightly different statistics but extraordinarily consistent bottom lines) show that a very small percentage of criminals are, as repeat offenders, responsible for a large majority of all crimes. And the more offenses someone commits, the more likely his offenses will progress to violence.

The questions always are: How severe should sentences be for each type of crime in order to deter crime in the first place,

versus how much wiggle room should be available to give incentives for redemption and for responsible behavior after release from prison? Put another way, how much stick is appropriate, compared to how many carrots? Pelican’s answer always has been for government to spend more effort and money in rehabilitating minor offenders and less in incarcerating them.

Studies have shown this approach saves taxpayers more money in the long run as it did in Louisiana after earlier Pelican proposals were adopted and plenty of experience shows that the right sorts of rehabilitative programs can indeed keep minor violators from reoffending.

Pelican’s new report builds on this knowledge to make four wise sets of recommendations. (I’ll focus on three.)

The report was drafted by visiting scholar Jordan Richardson, who clerked for the notably conservative federal district judge Aileen Cannon of Florida, served as an adviser for the con-

servative Heritage Foundation and serves on Florida Gov Ron DeSantis’ judicial nominating commission.

First, Pelican recommends that Louisiana make greater use of specialized tribunals such as drug courts and reentry courts for lesser offenders, the latter of which “provide intensive oversight and support during incarceration and through the transition back into the community, under close judicial supervision.”

Whereas most other southern states feature such courts in the vast majority or even all of their judicial districts, only 48% of Louisiana judicial districts boast drug courts and just 19% use reentry courts.

Also, following the lead of Florida and other states, “Louisiana could establish training programs to enhance the capacity of judges, court staff, and program administrators to manage drug and reentry court cases.”

Recommendation two is to adopt a “felony classification system for transparency and proportional penalties.” This is important. Right now, Louisiana has a hodgepodge of more than 600 felony offenses, each with its

own sentencing parameters that usually were set one at a time without careful attention to how they compared with parameters for other offenses. Result: Similar offenses sometimes receive vastly difference sentences.

Pelican suggests doing what other states do and dividing up felonies by the “class” or severity of offense and then providing guidelines for all the penalties within each class. The guidelines would of course provide for more substantial sentences for repeat offenders.

Such a “tiered classification system” of offenses and punishments would “offer greater certainty and transparency to defendants, victims, and their families” alike.

The report’s third major recommendation is for better crime data collection and reporting, allowing for better analysis of what works and what doesn’t.

Only 37% of Louisiana’s 256 law enforcement agencies provide a complete year’s data to the FBI, and only 58% report any data to the FBI at all. Only 10 of 50 states rank worse than Louisiana on data reporting. Rafael Goyeneche, president

of the generally tough-on-crime New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission, praised Pelican’s proposals, with some caveats. “I think those recommendations are all reasonable,” he told me. “The key to all of this is to improve data collection and analysis. That is the cornerstone You need to be able to have data from all the judicial districts. Once you get all the data into one centralized hub, you can compare the [specialty drug courts and reentry courts] that are in existence and hold them accountable for the outcomes of those cases.” Then, he said, “Use that data to make best-practices decisions about what will improve the administration of justice and better provide for the way state dollars are being utilized for justice.” In all of this, the goal isn’t punishment for punishment’s sake The goal is to set both punishments and redemptive possibilities at the best levels, and by the right methods, to reduce the actual occurrence of crime.

Quin Hillyer can be reached at quin.hillyer@theadvocate.com.

Five years in, remember best of the COVID response

It’s been five years since COVID-19 began its deadly spread through Louisiana, and on the other side of the pandemic, many things look different.

Work habits have changed, particularly for those who can do their jobs remotely The effects of longterm social isolation are still showing themselves.

Hindsight is all the rage, with all the couldas and shouldas that generally entails.

That’s fine. Good, even We should always be willing to learn from our experiences and study the unintended consequences of our actions.

But when it comes to reexamining how those who practice medicine and public health acted in the dire, confusing moment, let’s also not forget what went right. Mitigation measures such as mask mandates and targeted closures, which evolved with the current understanding of the disease, were no fun, and they put far more of a burden on some than others.

But they did mitigate. We know this because in Louisiana, where health officials working in Gov John Bel Edwards’ administration took the threat very seriously repeated deadly surges of new variants were brought under control.

Also, rapidly developed and tested vaccines remain a marvel of scientific achievement; widespread use didn’t eradicate the disease but slowed its spread, lessened its

severity and better protected those who were most at risk of severe illness and death. We know this because during the later surges, unvaccinated people were far more likely to get sick — 20 times more, according to a 2021 Louisiana Health Department missive about the delta variant The emerging narrative, it seemed at the time, would be that we’d entered a wondrous new world of disease response and prevention, and that we should double down on related research.

As anyone paying attention these days knows, that’s not where we are now Instead, political rhetoric attacking the response has bled into personal behavior We’re seeing it in markedly lower rates of routine vaccinations among Louisiana kindergarteners.

And we’re seeing it in state government, where Gov Jeff Landry and Surgeon General Ralph Abraham are not only ending mass vaccination programs and banning staff from promoting seasonal vaccines but also irresponsibly trashing actions taken by their predecessors. The Edwardsera vaccine mandates “through both policy and social pressure,” Abraham wrote, were an “offense against personal autonomy that will take years to overcome.”

At a particularly low point during the prior administration, then-attorney general Landry joined Robert. F. Kennedy Jr

at a legislative hearing on vaccine requirements at schools, and Kennedy made the ridiculous claim that the COVID-19 vaccine “is the deadliest vaccine ever made.”

At the time, 11 people in Louisiana had had reactions severe enough to require hospitalization and none had died, according to state data.

That the purveyor of this particularly noxious bit of misinformation is now our nation’s highest-ranking health official confirmed with a key vote from Louisiana’s physician senator Bill Cassidy — is problematic, to put it mildly

So is the reality that one New Orleans physician summed up in a recent story on the surge in skepticism toward all vaccines.

“We went from health care heroes to now we are almost villains at this point, and not to be trusted,” Dr Kara Ward told reporter Emily Woodruff.

That’s got to be enormously frustrating for those who did so much to save lives. But here’s where learning from experience once again comes in.

Several of the physicians Woodruff interviewed described how they’re working harder to help patients and parents of young patients work through vaccine hesitancy So did the authors of a column that ran last month in this paper

“The public health community did a remarkable job during the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote Thomas A.

LaVeist and Pierre Buekens, the current and former deans of Tulane University’s Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, but “we made declarations from a distance and assumed everyone would fall in line. When we realized fear and history and, yes, even politics, were at play leading to vaccine hesitancy, we only doubled down on our messaging. “Vaccines are typically discussed in absolute yes or no terms. But very little in public health is ever absolute. We in the public health community need to provide up-to-date scientific research and the best available information along with a clear risk analysis.”

That’s a smart response, one that I wish more of our politicians would espouse. Their job is not just to protect individual personal liberties but to balance it with the collective good — which, in this case, means encouraging enough uptake to provide herd immunity for diseases such as measles, which is frighteningly on the move again in Texas and other states. That collective responsibility to protect others is something that Edwards frequently talked of during the pandemic, and it’s obviously not a popular sentiment these days.

That doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

Email Stephanie Grace at sgrace@ theadvocate.com.

It’s necessary for someone to witness an execution

As a young senior, there are still things I want to do in life, but watching a statesanctioned execution isn’t one of them

Just a few days ago, for the first time in 15 years, the State of Louisiana executed someone. When the state executed Jessie Hoffman Jr at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, it wasn’t the first time Louisiana killed someone by execution. Robert Wayne Williams was executed in December 1983, our first execution in the death penalty’s modern era. There have been 29 Louisiana executions since 1983, including 20 electrocutions, eight lethal injections and, now, one lethal gas execution — Hoffman. That’s horrible, but at least the state didn’t resort to the execution method used for the first modern-era execution of Gary Gilmore in Utah in 1977 — by firing squad Hoffman died at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday in the Angola death chamber WDSU evening anchor Gina Swanson and this newspaper’s John Simerman were there to witness the ugly event. Both had compelling reports. Simerman had about 10 days to prepare himself emotionally once he learned he would be a media witness. Swanson had one day to prepare She found out the day before the execution that she, too, would be there. Simerman’s not sure how Swanson did it. He said his days leading to the execution were “nerve-wracking.” “I’ve not

slept right just yet,” he told me Thursday

After a day of travel, getting through security clearances, signing paperwork and waiting, Swanson and Simerman watched as a masked and strapped Hoffman twisted, turned and had some convulsions as he breathed nitrogen until he suffocated.

When someone is executed, anything might happen, and it’s important for journalists to witness what happens and report it to the public. “I think we need to be there,” Simerman told me as he tried to relax at a family reunion

There are no journalist witnesses in 23 states because those states don’t have the death penalty and executions. Five other states have paused executions. More than half of the states have concluded that taking someone’s life is not justifiable, moral or a deterrent that works.

Jarvis DeBerry was a young reporter in his first job out of college at The TimesPicayune when he covered Hoffman’s 1998 trial in St. Tammany Parish as a bureau reporter He covered the graphic, 13-day trial and sentencing. “It was really intense, and really long,” he shared with me. “There were no days off I wasn’t OK at the end.”

DeBerry, a former Times-Picayune columnist who is MSNBC’s opinions editor and a columnist, had no doubt that Hoffman raped and murdered Mary “Molly” Elliot. “Take it from someone who was there: There was never any doubt that Hoffman did everything the state says he did.” De-

Simerman’s first execution was a nationally-famous event: Stanley “Tookie” Williams, a founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles, was killed by the State of California for murdering four people. You might have heard of Williams. A Shreveport native, he wrote a book, and his criminal life and his incarceration efforts to reduce gang violence were featured in a 2004 film, “Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story.” Jamie Foxx played Williams. The movie came out while he was in San Quinten, the place where he was executed in 2005. Simerman watched as prison officials had trouble getting needles into his arm.

I asked Swanson for an interview, but WDSU denied the request. I asked her news director boss, Melissa Dart, and I got no response.

Berry wrote in a March 18 column the day Hoffman was killed.

DeBerry told me that he thought about driving to Angola with a sense of “some kind of duty,” but “I just couldn’t get in the car to make that trip.” Though he’s certain Hoffman was guilty, he opposes the death penalty and executions. He doesn’t think taking the life of someone who took a life is right. “I wouldn’t have wanted to see that,” he said, adding, “It’s necessary for somebody to witness it.”

The Louisiana Department of Corrections decides which journalists will witness executions. It was Swanson’s first execution. It was Simerman’s second.

“Unobstructed media access to executions is critical because the media observes what the public cannot,” the Death Penalty Information Center said in a November 2024 report. We shouldn’t have death penalties and state-sanctioned executions. Since we do, it is absolutely necessary for someone to watch what happens and tell us about it. It couldn’t have been DeBerry Or me. I know Swanson and Simerman will have a lot to process. But I’m glad they were there. For us.

Email Will Sutton at wsutton@ theadvocate.com.

Quin Hillyer

Stephanie Grace

Will Sutton

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

The Rev. Marika Hammet, who was a spiritual adviser to Jessie Hoffman, rings a memorial bell at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola during the execution of Hoffman on Tuesday.

New Orleans Forecast

Schexnaildre, Loyce Marie Nelson

Loyce Marie (Nelson)

Mamie Geraldine Rogers born in New Or‐leans, LA September 22, 1942, and entered into eter‐nal rest on Friday, March 14, 2025, at the age of 82. Mrs. Rogers lived in Mar‐rero, LA Mamie was the beloved wife of 62 years to the late Andrew J Rogers She was the daughter of the late Bennie J Baldas‐saro Sr. and the late Mabel May Rita Bernard Baldas‐saro. Loving mother of Faye Murphy (Gary) and Andrea Rogers (Michael Leblanc). Loving grand‐mother of Chad Murphy (Mary), Amy Cousins (James) and Nicole Roy (John) Adoring greatgrandmother of James Cousins Jameson Thomas McKenzie Murphy and Ruby Roy. She was the lov‐ing sister of Bennie J. Bal‐dassaro Jr (Sandra) and Walter Baldassaro (Tanya) A member of Infant Jesus of Prague Church she loved to sing in the choir Her passion was gardening and spending time with her family Her funeral ser‐vices will be held on Thurs‐day March 27, 2025 at Mothe Funeral Home, 7040 Lapalco Blvd Marrero LA Visitation will be held from 9:30 am to 11:00 am, and the funeral service will begin at 11:00 am. Inter‐ment to immediately fol‐low at Gates of Heaven Mausoleum, 622 Ave A Westwego, LA. The family kindly invites you to share thoughts, fondest memo‐ries, and condolences on‐line at www MotheFunera ls.com Mothe Funeral Home has been entrusted with funeral arrangements

Sawyer, Doris

Doris Sawyer, age 74, departed this Earthly Life on Sunday, March 16, 2025 She is preceded in eternal life by her parents, Victor W Sawyer and Earther Cheatham; 2 brothers Vic‐tor Jr. and Gilbert Sawyer; and sister Jenell Sawyer Melvin. Doris leaves to cherish her memories her daughter, Darlene Dapre‐mont (Erwin); 3 grandchil‐dren, Milene Norris, Dar‐lene and Michelle Dixon; 7 great-grandchildren; 3 sis‐ters, Catherine, Terry, and Lisa Sawyer; and brother Kevin Sawyer; and a host of nieces nephews, other relatives, and friends

Doris’s family celebrated her life and legacy pri‐vately Please visit www

Doris Sawyer age 74, departed this Earthly Life on Sunday, March 16, 2025. She is preceded in eternal life by her parents, Victor W. Sawyer and Earther Cheatham; 2 brothers, Vic‐tor Jr and Gilbert Sawyer; and sister, Jenell Sawyer Melvin Doris leaves to cherish her memories her daughter, Darlene Dapre‐mont (Erwin); 3 grandchil‐dren Milene Norris, Dar‐lene and Michelle Dixon; 7 great-grandchildren; 3 sis‐ters Catherine Terry and Lisa Sawyer; and brother, Kevin Sawyer; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends Doris’s family celebrated her life and legacy pri‐vately. Please visit www pfsneworleans.com to Sign Guestbook Services en‐trusted to Professional Fu‐neral Services “Celebrating Life”, 1449 N. Claiborne Ave New Orleans LA 70116, 504-948-7447.

With profound sadness, we announce the passing of Mary Procell Scamardo, who departed this lifeon March 17, 2025, atthe age of 95. BornonFebruary 27, 1930, in Zwolle, Louisiana, Mary embodiedlove,resilience and grace throughout her remarkable life. Mary was precededin death by her devotedhusband, Joseph F. Scamardo Sr.; her belovedparents, Ed and Callie Procell; and herfour cherished siblings. She is survived by herloving sons, Joseph F. Scamardo Jr. (Angela) Donald A. Scamardo (April) ,and Thomas M. Scamardo. Mary was a proud grandmother to nine grandchildrenand agreatgrandmothertofour greatgrandchildren, each of whom brought immense joy toher life.Her warmth, kindness and unwavering dedication to her family were the hallmarks of her character. Mary's memory will forever be treasured by all who were fortunate to know her. Acelebration of her life will be held privately. In lieu of flowers, the family kindlyrequests for prayers. Mary's legacy of love and compassion will live on in the hearts of her family and friends, serving as abeacon of inspiration for generations to come.

Schexnaildre, Loyce Marie Nelson

Loyce Marie (Nelson)

Schexnaildre, age 87, of Metairie, Louisiana, passed away in her sleep in the early morning hours of March 14, 2025. Loyce was born on August 16, 1937, in New Orleans, Louisiana the daughter of Leonard J and Hilda (Delaup) Nelson

She graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1955

Loyce grew up in New Or‐leans, Louisiana, where she met the love of her life – Norvin Schexnaildre

Loyce and Norvin grew up across the street from each other for most of their childhood Although his family moved to Houma, he eventually found his way back to New Orleans. On June 7 1958

Loyce married the boy next door Their family began to grow with the birth of their first child in 1959, and it grew periodically until it became complete with the final child born in 1969, in total four boys and one girl. They moved from New Orleans to Metairie in 1971 and remained there until their final days Family was always Loyce’s first and foremost priority, and de‐spite her quiet loving de‐meanor, she was a fierce defender of her pack Loyce allowed herself one passion as a break from the routine of raising 5 children and that was books; she was an avid reader, always ending the day in her den with a novel usually finishing multiple books per week As the children got older, Loyce was able to enjoy more hobbies and express her artistic talents. She dab‐bled in baking and cake decorating for a while and she became quite good at it. However, her talents were best displayed through her paintings Once grandchildren and eventually, great-grand‐children came into the pic‐ture, she started to pass those talents on by teach‐ing and encouraging them to paint. Nothing brought her more joy than having her family around her, and she loved each one as much as the other, and

Schexnaildre, age 87, of Metairie Louisiana, passed away in her sleep in the early morning hours of March 14, 2025. Loyce was born on August 16, 1937, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Leonard J and Hilda (Delaup) Nelson. She graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1955. Loyce grew up in New Or‐leans, Louisiana where she met the love of her life – Norvin Schexnaildre. Loyce and Norvin grew up across the street from each other for most of their childhood Although his family moved to Houma, he eventually found his way back to New Orleans On June 7, 1958, Loyce married the boy next door Their family began to grow with the birth of their first child in 1959, and it grew periodically until it became complete with the final child born in 1969, in total, four boys and one girl They moved from New Orleans to Metairie in 1971 and remained there until their final days Family was always Loyce’s first and foremost priority and de‐spite her quiet, loving de‐meanor she was a fierce defender of her pack. Loyce allowed herself one passion as a break from the routine of raising 5 children, and that was books; she was an avid reader always ending the day in her den with a novel, usually finishing multiple books per week As the children got older Loyce was able to enjoy more hobbies and express her artistic talents She dab‐bled in baking and cake decorating for a while, and she became quite good at it However her talents were best displayed through her paintings Once grandchildren, and eventually great-grand‐children, came into the pic‐ture she started to pass those talents on by teach‐ing and encouraging them to paint Nothing brought her more joy than having her family around her and she loved each one as much as the other and that was with her entire heart She will be forever known and missed for her kindness, loving nature and nurturing spirit. Re‐maining to cherish Loyce’s memory are her son, Kevin M and his wife, Debbie; daughter Terry Vial and her husband, Chris; son, Keith A and his wife Danielle; Son, Kristin E and his wife, Angie; son, Kurt J and his wife, Jennifer; sis‐ter Karen Foto and her husband, Phillip; brother Leonard J Nelson Jr and his wife, Maureen; 15 grandchildren; 7 greatgrandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews. Pre‐ceding Loyce in death are her husband of 64 years, Norvin J. Schexnaildre; mother, Hilda Nelson; fa‐ther, Leonard J Nelson Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Mon‐day, March 24, 2025, at St Mary Magdalen Church The Funeral Mass will begin immediately follow‐ing visitation at 12. Inter‐ment will be in St. Louis # 3 following the Mass.

Audrey “NuNue” Creppel Tremé gained her wings and passed away peace‐fully, surrounded by family and friends on March 17 2025, at the age of 72. A na‐tive of Lafitte and a life‐long resident of Marrero, she was a devoted wife mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister aunt, and friend to many She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 52 years, Felix Tremé Jr.; her son, Felix “Boop Tremé; her parents, Milton Coon” and Augustine “Tin Tin” Creppel; her brother, Milton “Baboy” Creppel; her grandson, Eric Poland; and her great-granddaugh‐ter, Stella Tremé NuNue was a fiercely protective and deeply cherished mother to Jason Tremé ‐

Tremé, Audrey Creppel 'NuNue'

Audrey “NuNue” Creppel Tremé gained her wings and passed away peace‐fully surrounded by family and friends, on March 17, 2025, at the age of 72. A na‐tive of Lafitte and a life‐long resident of Marrero, she was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother sister, aunt, and friend to many She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 52 years, Felix Tremé Jr.; her son, Felix “Boop Tremé; her parents, Milton “Coon” and Augustine “Tin Tin” Creppel; her brother, Milton “Baboy” Creppel; her grandson, Eric Poland; and her great-granddaugh‐ter, Stella Tremé NuNue was a fiercely protective and deeply cherished mother to Jason Tremé (Lorinda), Chad Tremé (Jes‐sica) Jeremy Tremé (Misty), Josh Tremé (Glenda), and Ted Tremé She was also a loving mother figure to Stephanie Piazza Ledet She loved and adored her grandchil‐dren: Brittany (Pablo) Jason Jr. (Leanne), Angel (Jared) Jessica (Demond) Chad Jr., Hunter, Makayla, Riley Sophia Victoria Je‐remy Jr., Mary, Chad, Sara (Garret), Cameron, Josh‐lynn (Sergio), and Savan‐nah Her love extended even further to 25 greatgrandchildren, as well as numerous godchildren nieces, nephews, and countless adopted sons daughters, and dear friends She was the beloved sister of Kenneth Creppel (Shelley) and Ruby Beshut” Gotangco (Cris) NuNue had a heart bigger than life itself Her home was always open, and no one ever left hungry - she made sure of that She touched countless lives with her kindness, gen‐erosity, and unconditional love. She found joy in cook‐ing for her family, fishing, playing cards, and bowling with her team, the Ragin’ Cajuns She also took great pride in her dealing skills at Boomtown Casino and never missed an opportu‐nity to brag about them More than just a mother, NuNue was “Mom” to so many. Her love, warmth, and presence will be deeply missed, but her legacy of love, laughter, and family will forever live on in the hearts of those she touched Family and friends are invited to at‐tend the Visitation at Mothe Funeral Home, 7040 Lapalco Blvd Marrero Louisiana on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 from 10 a.m until 12 noon A Funeral Mass will be held at the fu‐neral home on Wednesday at 12 noon Visitation will continue at the funeral home immediately after Mass until 11 p.m. A pri‐vate family interment will take place at a later date

The family encourages you to leave fond memories and condolences online at www mothefunerals com.

vember 10, 1955, in the vi‐brant city of New Orleans Louisiana, Doreene's life was a testament to her en‐during spirit and dedica‐tion to her family Daugh‐ter of the late George W Hirstius Sr and Angele Faget Doreene grew up surrounded by love She is cherished sister of Mary Wagner (Steve), Diann Hirstius, Chet Hirstius and the late George Hirstius II. Doreene's life was further blessed by her marriage to the late Stephen A. Ven‐turella with whom she shared 45 years of pro‐found love and partnership until his passing Doreene's legacy is lov‐ingly carried on by her chil‐dren, Leigh Venturella Gutierrez and Loren Ven‐turella Des Ormeaux (Ryan). Her grandchildren, Marielle Gutierrez and Hunter Ryder, Lainie, Luke Des Ormeaux, will forever cherish the memories of their grandmother's un‐conditional love and the joy she brought into their lives Doreene is also sur‐vived by a host of nieces and nephews as well as her Goddaughter, Michelle Hirstius. She was preceded in death by her beloved Godmother, Marcella Eliza‐beth Lukens After gradu‐ating from Abramson High School, Doreene embarked on a fulfilling career in the banking industry where she dedicated 23 years of service until she retired Her professionalism, in‐tegrity, and kindness left an indelible mark on her colleagues and the many clients she assisted throughout her career Be‐yond her professional achievements, Doreene made many dear friends over the years. Some of those who will forever re‐member her include her cherished best friend of 48 years, Karen Trevino, Bon‐nie and Yup Kim, and her “3rd daughter,” Dorothee Kalstek. Their shared expe‐riences and unwavering support were a source of

DEATHS continued from Venturella, Doreene Elizabeth Hirstius

Doreene

Sawyer, Doris

Rogers, Mamie Geraldine

Scamardo, Mary Procell

Tremé, Audrey Creppel 'NuNue'

SPORTS

Johnson managing games

‘a little differently’

LSU coach confident in bullpen’s depth, ability

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

ä LSU at Texas 2 P.M.

SUNDAy,SECN+

In 2022, there were three arms that coach Jay Johnson couldn’t stop turning to Paul Gervase, Eric Reyzelman and Riley Cooper seemingly pitched three times a week for LSU that season. Cooper made 30 appearances. Reyzelman and Gervase made 29. The trio anchored a strong bullpen, but a lack of innings from the starters placed an inordinate amount of pressure on them and others, like Trent Vietmeier and Bryce Collins. The Tigers had the offense in Johnson’s first season to compete in the SEC, but their poor starting rotation resulted in their downfall. The bullpen eventually cracked and LSU got eliminated in the Hattiesburg Regional.

“We didn’t have a choice,” Johnson said on Wednesday “Whether it was Tuesday night, Friday, Saturday or Sunday Cooper, Gervase and Reyzelman were throwing three of the three games a week.”

Johnson is, at least seemingly, confident LSU doesn’t have that problem this season He’s not overtly worried about tiring out his relievers by the end of the year Last weekend against Missouri, neither LSU starter got past the fourth inning. Junior right-handers Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores couldn’t escape their respective jams and combined to allow seven

LATE NIGHT

AT THE PMAC

LSU-San

LOOKING THE PART

Winner Tiztastic could end Kentucky Derby drought for Louisiana

Every year, I attend the Louisiana Derby, hoping to see the next Kentucky Derby winner And seemingly every year, I’m disappointed on the first Saturday in May It’s been almost three decades since the last Louisiana Derby winner crossed the

o finally

trophies once again, repeating as SEC team champion with a 198.200 while fifth-year senior Haleigh Bryant repeated as all-around champion with a 39.725.

Bryant and fourth-year senior Aleah

Finnegan also shared the SEC beam title with Missouri’s Helen Hu and Oklahoma’s Faith Torrez, all scoring 9.925s.

ztastic’s win, which came on idyllic Saturday afternoon at Grounds Race Course, might surprised the betting public, sent the 3-year-old colt off at lukewarm 7-1 odds But his trainer one of them. mussen predicted the outcome

on Steve Byk’s popular “At the Races” podcast during the week leading up to the race, going so far as to call it his “lock of the week.” It was a bold prediction by the normally tight-lipped Asmussen. Even more so, given Tiztastic’s modest record. The son of Tiz the Law had won just two of seven lifetime starts and was coming off underwhelming fifth- and third-place finishes in the Rebel and Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park. But Asmussen hasn’t won more

The Tigers were again consistently solid, posting scores of 9.875 to the 9.95 posted by Bryant to anchor the rotation for LSU.

Finnegan tied for second in the all-around with Florida’s Selena Harris-Miranda (39.675). LSU freshman Kailin Chio finished fourth with a 39.650. Harris-Miranda won vault with a perfect 10, while Missouri’s Mara Titarsolej tied

It is LSU’s fifth SEC team championship since 2017 and sixth overall. The Tigers also won share of the SEC regular-season championship with No. 1 OU, defeating the Sooners for the second time in three meetings first this season, while Florida went to balance beam where it was ranked No. 2.

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

Taniya Latson’s 5-foot-8 height caused no issue with making plays among the trees in the paint. The Florida State women’s basketball guard used an off-ball screen to camp on the left dunker spot. The leading scorer didn’t force a contested jump shot after the cross and instead dished it to her co-star Makayla Timpson who finished near the basket. The unselfish and strong play from Florida State’s top scorers was one of the primary factors in Florida State’s 94-59 win over

finish line first in

Jeff Duncan

PROVIDED PHOTO By AMANDA HODGES WEIR

Jockey Joel Rosario rides Tiztastic to victory in the 112th running of the Louisiana Derby on Saturday at the Fair Grounds.

BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS

11

1

Foreman’s life full of big moments

Fearsome heavyweight who became beloved champ dies at 76

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

George Foreman became the heavyweight champion of the world in his 20s, only to lose his belt to Muhammad Ali in perhaps the most memorable fight in boxing history

A full 20 years later in 1994, the 45-year-old Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship throwing one perfect combination to steal Michael Moorer’s title in an epic upset.

Few fighters ever had more big moments than Big George Foreman and even after he finally left the ring, he was only getting started.

The fearsome heavyweight, who lost the “Rumble in the Jungle” to Ali before his inspiring second act as a surprising champion and a successful businessman, died Friday night. Foreman was 76. Foreman’s family announced his death on social media, not saying how or where he died.

“A devout preacher, a devoted husband, a loving father and a proud grand- and great-grandfather, he lived a life marked by unwavering faith, humility and purpose,” his family wrote. “A humanitarian, an Olympian and two-time heavyweight champion of the world, he was deeply respected. A force for good, a man of discipline, conviction, and a protector of his legacy, fighting tirelessly to preserve his good name— for his family.”

A native Texan, Foreman began his boxing career as an Olympic gold medalist who inspired fear and awe as he climbed to the peak of the heavyweight division by stopping Joe Frazier in 1973. His formidable aura evaporated only a year later when Ali pulled off one of the most audacious victories in boxing history in Zaire, baiting and taunting Foreman into losing his belt.

Hovland

The Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

wasn’t him,” Lampley said. Foreman stopped Frazier in an upset in Jamaica in January 1973 to win the belt, with his knockout inspiring Howard Cosell’s iconic call: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”

Foreman defended his belt against Ken Norton before accepting the fight with Ali in the nowimmortal bout staged in Africa by promoter Don King. Ali put on a tactical masterclass against Foreman, showing off the “rope-adope” strategy that frustrated and infuriated the champion. Foreman was eventually knocked down for the first time in his career, and the fight was stopped in the eighth round.

Foreman told the BBC in 2014 that he took the fight almost out of charity to Ali, who he suspected to be broke.

LSU guard Tyrell Ward to enter transfer portal

LSU basketball’s Tyrell Ward intends to enter the transfer portal, according to multiple reports, including 247Sports and The Athletic.

The 6-foot-6 wing never played during the 2024-25 season after stepping away from the program because of mental health reasons and was never expected to return. Ward averaged 9.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 21.8 minutes per game last season. He would have been the Tigers’ leading returning scorer The transfer portal window officially opens on Monday

The news that Ward would not play this season came about 15 minutes before LSU’s season opener against UL-Monroe on Nov 6.

Astros release outfielder Gamel, lefty Beeks

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Houston Astros released outfielder Ben Gamel and left-hander Jalen Beeks on Saturday

The move with Gamel comes less than two months after he agreed to a $1.2 million, one-year contract. The deal included a $200,000 signing bonus and a $1 million salary, which was not guaranteed.

The Astros will owe Gamel 45 days termination pay, which comes to $241,036, instead of his salary

The 32-year-old Gamel hit .167 in 24 at-bats in spring training He hit .259 with one homer in 20 games with the Astros last season.

The 31-year-old Beeks allowed one run in four innings this spring. He was a combined 7-4 with a 4.50 ERA for Colorado and Pittsburgh in 2024. He had 10 saves, including nine with the Rockies.

Grizzlies forward Clarke likely out for rest of season

Foreman left the sport a few years later, but returned after a 10-year absence and a self-described religious awakening.

The middle-aged fighter then pulled off one of the most spectacular knockouts in boxing history, flooring Moorer 19 years his junior — with a surgical right hand and claiming Moorer’s two heavyweight belts. Foreman’s 20 years is easily the longest gap between heavyweight title reigns.

“His contribution to boxing and beyond will never be forgotten,” former heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson, said on X, formerly Twitter, as he expressed his condolences.

Foreman’s transformation into an inspirational figure was complete, and he fought only four more times — finishing 76-5 with 68 knockouts before moving onto his next career as a genial businessman, pitchman and occasional actor

Outside the ring, he was best known as the face of the George Foreman Grill, which launched in the same year as his victory over Moorer The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and made him much wealthier than his sport ever did.

“George was a great friend to not only myself, but to my entire family,” Top Rank president Bob Arum said. “We’ve lost a family member and are absolutely devastated.”

In the first chapter of his boxing career, Foreman was nothing like the smiling grandfather who hawked his grills on television to great success Foreman dabbled in petty crime while growing up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, but changed his life through boxing. He made the U.S. Olympic team in 1968 and won gold in Mexico City as a teenager stopping a 29-year-old opponent in a star-making performance.

Foreman rose to the pinnacle of the pro game over the next five years, but was also perceived as an aloof, unfriendly athlete, both through his demeanor and through the skewed racial lenses of the time.

Jim Lampley, the veteran boxing broadcaster who worked alongside Foreman for many years at HBO, told The Associated Press on Friday night that Foreman’s initial demeanor was an attempt by his camp to emulate Sonny Liston, the glowering heavyweight champ of the 1960s.

“At some point somewhere along the way, he realized that

“I said I was going to go out there and kill him, and people said, ‘Please, don’t say you’re going to kill Muhammad,’” Foreman said. “So I said, ‘OK, I’ll just beat him down to the ground.’ That’s how easy I thought the fight would be.”

Exhausted and disillusioned, Foreman stopped fighting in 1977 and largely spent the next decade preaching and working with kids in Houston after his religious awakening. He returned to boxing in 1987 in his late 30s with a plan to defy time through frequent ring appearances, and he racked up a lengthy series of victories before losing to Evander Holyfield in a surprisingly competitive title fight in 1991.

Three years later, Foreman got in the ring with Moorer in Las Vegas, more for his celebrity than for his perceived ability to beat Moorer. The champion appeared to win the first nine rounds rather comfortably with Foreman unable to land his slower punches. But Foreman came alive in the 10th, hurting Moorer before slipping in the short right hand that sent Moorer to the canvas in earth-shaking fashion.

Lampley, who was calling the fight, named his upcoming autobiography — which includes a prologue about Foreman after his famous call of that moment: “It Happened!”

part of 3-way tie for Valspar lead

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Viktor Hovland was steady amid a wild Saturday of charges and collapses at the Valspar Championship, leaving him in a three-way tie for the lead at Innisbrook with two dozen players still very much in the mix. Jacob Bridgeman showed plenty of mettle in his first time as the 36-hole leader falling four shots behind at the turn and rallying for a 1-under 70 to share the lead with Hovland (69) and Nico Echavarria (66). They were at 7-under 206 with seemingly everyone on their heels. That includes Justin Thomas, who left on Friday hopeful he would make the cut. He shot 30 on the back nine for a 65, his lowest round ever on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook, to finish two behind. Jordan Spieth was entertaining as ever, twice making birdie from deep in the woods, and along with missing a pair of short par putts, and having to settle for a 67. He still was only four shots behind

going into a Sunday in which 23 players were separated by four shots.

Byeong Hun An was the only player to reach 9 under with a birdie on the 11th hole, only to make five bogeys over the final seven holes for a 72. Even so, he was only three back.

Hovland came into the week in search of his swing, returning to another coach and being willing to take as much time as he needed to figure out where the ball is going.

It’s working out in his favor so far

“It’s fun to be in contention, but it is a little bit more stressful when you don’t feel super comfortable over the ball,” Hovland said. “But man, it’s fun to see some putts go in and still see the ball end up close to the hole and put some good scores up there.”

Echavarria, who won in Japan last fall for his second PGA Tour title, finished well ahead of the final groups and played bogey-free for his 66, remarkably making birdie on all three of the par 3s on the back nine.

The Colombian didn’t expect to

have a share of the lead when he finished, though he knew he would at least have a chance.

“This is a golf course where you don’t have to be one off the lead starting to get the leaders,” he said. “We have seen that it’s a hard golf course. You have to drive your ball very well out here. You have to hit the greens. It’s tough around the greens. So we’re going to have a chance tomorrow having a good round.”

Most impressive was Bridgeman, a second-year player who began the third round by missing a 3-foot par putt. He also took two straight bogeys to finish the front nine and was falling behind But then he hit wedge to 3 feet for birdie on the 10th and worked his way back At one point, Bridgeman had seven straight holes without a par

“I was just head down and grind the best I could,” Bridgeman said. “I wasn’t hitting it great. I wasn’t flustered, I wasn’t really freaking out. But I knew if I could get the ball in the fairway I would be fine.” He said after the birdie on 10 his

caddie G.W Cable slapped him on the behind and told him, “Let’s go.”

“And I kept it up,” Bridgeman said.

Thomas and Spieth teed off some five hours before the leaders, longtime friends who took turns posting birdies Thomas felt frustrated not to make up much ground until he holed an eagle putt from just inside 30 feet on the par-5 11th hole and was on his way Thomas birdied the next three holes and at one point was one shot behind.

“We got on a little four-hole run there and that can be the difference of sparking an entire week or not,” Thomas said “So hopefully that’s the one that sparks the week.”

Ricky Castillo had a 68 and was one shot behind. Thomas and Shane Lowry (70) were among five players at 5-under 208, with An and Billy Horschel (69) in the large group another shot behind. Lucas Glover (69) was part of the group with Spieth at four behind.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Grizzlies likely will be without forward Brandon Clarke for at least the rest of the regular season because of a sprained right knee.

The Grizzlies announced an update Saturday on Clarke, who hurt his knee in Wednesday night’s loss at Portland. The team said Clarke has a high-grade PCL sprain suffered when he fell to the floor in the first quarter of that loss. Memphis said a more specific timeline will be provided once a treatment plan is set.

The Grizzlies have 11 games remaining in the regular season. Clarke has played 64 games, third behind only rookie Jaylen Wells (71) and Scotty Pippen Jr. (69). Clarke is averaging 8.3 points and 5.1 rebounds over 18.9 minutes per game.

MLB removes mentions of ‘diversity’ from careers site

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball removed references to “diversity” from its MLB careers home page following an executive order by President Donald Trump that could lead to possible federal action against organizations using DEI programs in violation of his administration’s interpretation of civil rights law

“Our values on diversity remain unchanged,” MLB said in a statement Friday “We are in the process of evaluating our programs for any modifications to eligibility criteria that are needed to ensure our programs are compliant with federal law as they continue forward.” Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, who launched a Diversity Pipeline Program in 2016, said last month that MLB was evaluating the interpretation of law coming from the federal government.

Piastri takes first F1 pole at Chinese Grand Prix

SHANGHAI McLaren’s Oscar Piastri scored his maiden pole position in Formula 1 ahead of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix by delivering two sizzling laps that were quick enough for the top spot ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

The 23-year-old Australian, who is maximizing his weekend with second in Saturday morning’s Sprint race, said he’s “pretty pumped” to go one better Sunday, with the major challenge being tire wear

Piastri, who will start the 56-lap race two places ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris, set it up by putting it all on the line on his final Q3 lap.

George Foreman lands a body punch to Muhammad Ali during their heavyweight bout in Zaire, Africa, on Oct. 30, 1974. Referee Zack Clayton is at right. The upset win by Ali is perhaps the most memorable fight in boxing history.

Delhomme’s horse stuns N.O. Classic

Former NFL, UL quarterback gets biggest win of racing career

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

Jake Delhomme enjoyed many joyous moments in his football career, including an NFC championship in 2015, but nothing compared to the feeling of watching his horse, Touchuponastar, lead the whole way in the New Orleans Classic on Saturday at the Fair Grounds Race Course.

The former NFL and UL quarterback was rendered breathless and nearly speechless after watching his Louisiana-bred gelding’s wire-to-wire, upset victory in the $500,000 Grade II stakes race.

“I’m as high as a kite right now, it’s awesome,” Delhomme said, while surrounded by friends and family in the crowded winner’s circle.

“We’re from Louisiana, so to do it here in front of the home crowd, it’s a dream come true.”

Jockey Tim Thornton sent Touchuponastar to the lead in the fivehorse field and the speedy son of Star Guitar set modest fractions of 24.0 and 47.4 seconds on the front end. He spurted away from the field at the top of the stretch

“Making the lead alone, having him prick his ears, I knew we were ready to win this,” Thornton said. “He was absolutely loaded today.”

Touchuponastar’s 21/2-length victory was the biggest of Delhomme’s career as a horse owner

and breeder The $300,000 winner’s purse increased the 6-year-old son of Star Guitar’s lifetime earnings to $1.4 million.

“He’s so classy,” Delhomme said.

“He’s just a special, special horse.”

Hall of Fame placed second, while Sierra Leone finished a disappointing third at 1-5 odds

“He never got into a rhythm,” said jockey Flavien Pratt, who rode Sierra Leone. “He was struggling to keep up the pace. He made a run late, but those horses were all running away.”

Fair Grounds Oaks

Unbeaten Good Cheer validated her reputation as the top 3-yearold filly in the nation with a decisive victory in the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks.

Good Cheer earned 100 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks with the win, which was her sixth in as many starts. Her final time over the 1 1/16th mile course was 1:43.4. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro increased her lifetime earnings to $877,630.

It was the fourth Oaks win in the past six years for trainer Brad Cox.

“This is a very good filly, and we’re really proud of her,” Cox said. “She had to work hard to finish up but she finished very well.

She’s not massive, but we’ve got two races in her as a 3-year-old, and we have six weeks between now and the Kentucky Oaks to get her ready.”

Avaha, a lightly raced secondtime starter for trainer Cherie DeVaux, was the early pacesetter and held on for second to earn 50 Oaks points. Gowell’s Delight was a non-threatening third.

Muniz Memorial Classic

Idratherbeblessed stunned the

Touchuponastar, with jockey Tim Thornton and owner Jake

victory in the $500,000 Grade II New Orleans

field of olde turf horses with a wire-to-wire win at 86-1 odds.

Noting the early results on the speed-favoring turf course, jockey Ben Curtis sent the 5-year-old son of Unified to the lead out of the gate and slowed the pace down on the back stretch. At the top of the stretch, the field closed in on the front-runner, but he had enough left to hold off Gigante by a neck at the wire.

Idratherbeblessed rewarded his backers with across-the-board

payoffs of $174.20, $70.20 and $28.40.

“I was able to get into a rhythm and do my own thing on the front end. He’s a horse who really sticks his head down and tries,” Curtis said. “I think the extra distance really stood to him. I know he was a long shot on the board, but his most recent work was the best he’s ever put in. He got it done today.”

Tom Benson Memorial Way to be Marie snuck through

a tight hole on the rail to gain the lead in the stretch and held off a fast-closing Tufani to win the $150,000 Tom Benson Memorial for older fillies and mares on the turf. The win was the third in five starts at the Fair Grounds for Way to be Marie, who covered the 1 1/16th mile turf course in 1:43.03 under jockey Florent Geroux.

Email Jeff Duncan at jduncan@ theadvocate.com.

than 10,000 races by happenstance. He wisely figured that Tiztastic’s closing running style would be better suited to the Fair Grounds, with its forgiving dirt surface and long stretch run.

“He trains better at the Fair Grounds than he does at Oaklawn, and his work in company with (touted stablemate) Clever Again was as good as it’s been,” Asmussen said. “Because of me feeling that he prefers the Fair Grounds surface Oaklawn, we chose to put him in the Louisiana Derby.” Asmussen, as usual, was right

Tiztastic earned 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points with the win and punched his ticket for the first Saturday in May He’s now earned more than $1.5 million for his powerhouse owners Winchell Thoroughbreds and Mrs. John Magnier.

“We thought he’d run bigger in the Southwest,” Asmussen said. “Since he didn’t run his race and he had trained so well here, we brought him back here, knowing he needed more

distance. He’s stepping forward when he needs to.”

It’ll be interesting to see if the public agrees with him. My guess is that despite Tiztastic’s strong connections he won’t be among

the favorites. It would be a mistake, though, to dismiss any horse sent out by Asmussen, especially one as talented as Tiztastic. And motivation certainly won’t be a problem for

Asmussen. The Derby is one race that has eluded him in his legendary training career His 0-for-26 record in the Run for the Roses is mind-boggling, considering his

$1,271.65 Late Scratches: Secret Faith Sixth Race - $100,000, Stakes, 3 yo’s & up, Five And A Half Furlongs Geaux Sugar (M. Murrill) 6.80 4.40 3.80 Monsieur Candy (F. Astudillo) 8.80 7.40 Marks Promise (V. Del-Cid) 8.60 Finish Time: 1:03.19 Daily Double (2-4) $6.30;

(2-1) $25.40; Exacta (1-10) $25.10; Superfecta (1-10-2-9) $117.09; Trifecta (1-10-2) $65.45; Pic 3 (5-2-1) $167.75 Late Scratches: Unified Dreams, Release McCraken Fifth Race - $100,000, Stakes, 3 yo, One Mile Seventy Yards Blue Fire (J. Ortiz) 4.00 2.20 2.10 Margie’s Intention (I.

$2.08; Trifecta (2-4-8)

$5.20; Pic 3 (2-1-2) $25.90; Pic 4 (5-2-1/11/122/3) $424.20; Pic 5 (4-5-2-1/11/12-2/3)

15.00 5.60 2.60

Hall of Fame (J. Ortiz) 4.00 2.20

Sierra Leone (F. Prat) 2.10

Finish Time: 1:48.10 Daily Double (3-5) $38.10; Exacta (5-2)

accomplished record otherwise. In those starts, his horses have managed just a couple of second place finishes.

It looked like Asmussen — and Louisiana Derby champions — would finally get off the schneid in 2022, when Louisiana Derby champion Epicenter seized the lead at the top of the stretch and appeared headed to victory only to be run down at the wire by Rich Strike in one of the most shocking upsets in Derby history

The last time a Louisiana Derby champion went on to win the Kentucky Derby was almost three decades ago, before my time in New Orleans. Grindstone won the 1996 Louisiana Derby and then ran down Cavonnier at the wire to win the Run for the Roses. Mandaloun was declared the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby after running sixth in the Louisiana Derby But as trainer Brad Cox himself notes, he didn’t cross the wire first. Mandina Spirit did, but he was later disqualified. It’s time for the Kentucky Derby drought to end — for both Amussen and the Louisiana Derby Email Jeff Duncan at jduncan@theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO By LOU HODGES JR.

Jockey Joel Rosario rides Tiztastic

STAFF PHOTO By JEFF DUNCAN | STAFF WRITER

Delhomme, stands in the winner’s circle after his

Classic on Saturday at the Fair Grounds Race Course.

NCAA BASKETBALL

Van Lith looking to take TCU far in NCAA tourney

BY STEPHEN HAWKINS AP sportswriter

FORTWORTH,Texas Hailey Van Lith is trying to get with TCU where she went three times with Louisville, deep into the women’s NCAA Tournament As fate would have it in the standout guard’s fifth and final March Madness, Van Lith faces her old team in the second round Sunday “I understand the narrative that’s being painted. It doesn’t necessarily align with where I’m at mentally or emotionally And that’s OK,” Van Lith said Saturday “I’m at a really good spot. I’m excited to play TCU is looking to go to the Sweet 16 for the first time ever, so that’s a lot bigger than whatever else the narrative could be.” Van Lith started 101 games and averaged 15.4 points for the Cardinals while going to an NCAA Final Four and two other Elite Eights from 2021-23.

Their two-time leading scorer then transferred to join an LSU

FLORIDA STATE

Continued from page 1C

George Mason Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Latson had 28 points for Florida State (24-8) Timpson and O’Mariah Gordon each scored 18 George Mason (27-6) was led by Paula Suarez who had 25.

Florida State’s apparent size advantage with three players over 6 feet tall allowed it to take control throughout the first quarter Its defense was suffocating as it forced five steals and had eight points off turnovers Timpson had a pair of pilfers and four points.

Leading scorer Ta’Niya Latson — a semifinalist for the Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year had seven early points getting three points from the freethrow line.

Most of George Mason’s actions were stymied and it finished the first quarter shooting 4-of-19 overall. It’s top scorer Zahirah Walton, who averages 15.1 points per game, had two points and was 1 of 6 from the field in the first quarter George Mason was more at ease offensively to start the second period. The Patriots managed seven points in the first two minutes compared to scoring that same amount with 2:28 left in the first quarter Florida State remained relentless on both ends. Ball pressure from Timpson made George Mason settle for more high-difficulty shots. It capitalized on misses and led to immediate pushes to the front court for the Seminoles as it organized their attack. Sydney Bowles was a benefi-

team coming off a national championship and made it to another Elite Eight last March before moving again. Her final college season is with a TCU program that has never been past the second round and before now had gone 15 years since even making the tournament. The on-court reunion for Van Lith, now the Big 12 player of the year, and Louisville almost happened in last year’s NCAA Tournament. But the Cardinals lost a firstround game for the only time in 16 appearances under coach Jeff Walz when Middle Tennessee overcame an 18-point deficit and moved on to play LSU in the second round.

When this year’s bracket set up the possibility again, Big 12 champion TCU beat Fairleigh Dickinson for its first NCAA win since 2006 and Louisville followed on the same court Friday with a victory over Nebraska.

“We won a lot of games. We had really good basketball teams She was a big part of it, she had a great career,” Walz said about Van Lith.

“She graduated college in three years, which nobody really talks about, and they should. Because that’s our job as coaches. Sure, if you lose games, you get fired. But at the end of the day, it’s to get kids to graduate from college. She did that in three years and decided to make a move, which is great. Everybody does it. It’s no big deal.”

After averaging a team-best 14.4 points when the Cardinals made it to the Final Four in 2022, Van Lith scored 19.7 a game as a junior in her final season with them.

“It’s the people that I remember most. And you know, we did go to the Final Four. That’s life changing, a lot of emotions there,” Van Lith said. “I look back on it positively.”

Mark Campbell has rebuilt TCU’s program with transfers since being hired as coach two years ago this month. Sedona Prince and Madison Conner were among the first additions, then Van Lith came in with Taylor Bigby (USC) and Donovyn Hunter (Oregon State) this season.

lengthy Florida State defense to get an and-one layup with 17 seconds before halftime. The successful free throw gave her a team-high 14 points. Florida State finished the first half with a 41-29 lead.

Suarez remained hot for George Mason in the third quarter as the 6-foot guard went on a personal 6-0 run after drilling a pair of 3s. The Patriots were down 49-42 at the 6:10 mark.

Florida State responded 10-0 run that was mostly inspired by an uptempo pace. The final bucket in the scoring spree came from 5-4 guard Gordon who made an open right corner 3-pointer

The Patriots steadily bounced back again as it trimmed the deficit to 10 points, 63-53, after a liveball turnover from Latson led to a top-of-the-key 3-pointer for Jada Brown, her first score of the game. To this point, George Mason was 7 of 13 from beyond the arc compared to Florida State who was 5 of 14. Florida State held its opponent scoreless in the first four minutes of the final period. It switched defenders on the perimeter and forced contested floaters and jumpers. Timpson’s 6-2 size and activity was bothersome for all who entered the painted area.

Watkins scores 22 as USC routs UNCG

By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES JuJu Watkins scored 22 points and top-seeded Southern California led all the way in routing 16th-seeded UNC Greensboro 71-25 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday The Trojans (29-3) advanced to the second round to play either eighth-seeded California or ninth-seeded Mississippi State on Monday at Galen Center Watkins appeared to hurt her left hand early in the second quarter, occasionally shaking out her fingers. Then in the third, the star sophomore came up limping on her left leg and winced. She hit a 3-pointer and sat for the final 3:39 before returning briefly in the fourth. The Spartans came out confidently, holding the Trojans to 12 points in the first quarter after missing their first five shots and trailing 8-0. UNCG closed within two early in the second quarter before USC blew the game open The Trojans outscored the Spartans 16-3 while limiting them to three free throws. The Trojans’ pressure defense forced eight turnovers and the Spartans were 0 of 11 from the field and 0 of 5 from 3-point range. USC led 28-11 at halftime.

UCONN 103, ARKANSAS STATE 34: In Storrs, Connecticut, Azzi Fudd had 21 of her 27 points in the first half as second-seeded UConn rolled to a win over Arkansas State. Freshman Sarah Strong added 20 points and 12 rebounds, five assists and five blocks in her NCAA Tournament debut. Most of those came in the first half when UConn jumped out to a 66-16 advantage at the half, playing nearly flawless basketball. The Huskies had runs of 22-0, 12-0 and 13-0 in the first half as UConn won its 31st consecutive first-round game. UConn (32-3) scored 34 points in the first quarter, making all 11 of its two-point shots. Many of those were layups coming off the press. Arkansas State (21-11), which likes to apply pressure itself, had no answer for the Huskies.

Crislyn Rose led the Red Wolves with seven points. The team shot 17% from the field (12for-70), including going 7-for-40 from behind the arc.

OKALHOMA 81, FLORIDA GULF COAST

58: In Norman, Oklahoma, Raegan Beers had 25 points and 18 rebounds, and No. 3 seed Oklahoma dominated the fourth quarter to beat 14th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast. The Sooners led 55-48 entering the fourth, then outscored the Eagles 26-10 in the final period. Beers, a 6-foot-4 center, towered over a team with no starter taller than 5-9. She helped the Sooners outrebound the Eagles 72-35.

Skylar Vann scored 24 points and Payton Verhulst added 13 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Sooners (26-7).

Emani Jefferson, the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year who had 22 points and 12 rebounds against the Sooners last year, had 12 points and eight rebounds in the rematch while spending much of the day in foul trouble. She made 3 of 11 field goals.

Dolly Cairns scored 15 points for the Eagles (30-4), who had won 23 straight. Florida Gulf Coast shot 23.6% from the field and made 8 of 41 3-pointers (19.5%).

lead with 2:57 left in the quarter South Dakota State took a twopoint advantage into the fourth quarter on a driving layup by Mathiowetz to beat the third-quarter buzzer

IOWA 92, MURRAY STATE 57: In Norman, Oklahoma, Freshman Ava Heiden scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and sixth-seeded Iowa rolled past No. 11 seed Murray State.

Lucy Olsen had 12 points and a career-high 12 assists for the Hawkeyes (23-10). They scored a season high in points in the first tournament win for first-year Iowa coach Jan Jensen, a longtime assistant who was promoted after Lisa Bluder retired.

Murray State’s Katelyn Young, who averaged 22.2 points heading into the NCAA Tournament, left the game early in the third quarter with an ankle injury and did not return. She finished with six points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes. Halli Poock scored 15 points and Ava Learn added eight points and 10 rebounds before fouling out for Murray State (25-8). The Racers, who entered the game averaging a nation-leading 87.8 points per game, shot just 30.6% from the field and posted their lowest point total of the season. NC STATE 75, VERMONT 55: In Raleigh, North Caorlina, Zoe Brooks scored 19 points and N.C. State finally took control in the second half to beat Vermont.

Saniya Rivers and Aziaha James added 15 points apiece for the second-seeded Wolfpack, who reached the Final Four last year Keira Hanson scored 21 points off the bench, Catherine Gilwee had 13 and Nikola Priede added 11 for No. 15 seed Vermont (21-13). Vermont pulled ahead 27-24 midway through the second quarter on Hanson’s 3-pointer The Wolfpack scored the last six points of the half for a 35-33 edge. The Wolfpack saved their best stretch for late in the game, outscoring Vermont 23-9 in the fourth quarter ALABAMA 81, GREENBAY 67: In College Park, Maryland, Aaliyah Nye scored 23 points and Zaay Green added 22 to lead fifthseeded Alabama to a victory over 12th-seeded Green Bay

The Crimson Tide (24-8) ended Green Bay’s 22-game winning streak and now advances to the second round to face either Maryland or Norfolk State on Monday Maddy Schreiber scored 14 points for the Phoenix (29-6). Green Bay kept the game close through most of the first half, but the Horizon League champion allowed six straight points to end the second quarter and trailed 38-29. The Crimson Tide — who earned their highest seed since 1999 — now have a chance to achieve another March Madness breakthrough. They haven’t made the Sweet 16 since 1998. Alabama pushed its lead to 13 in the third quarter The margin was down to five early in the fourth, but Nye connected from 3-point range to help repel that Green Bay push.

ciary of the fastbreak pushes. She canned back-to-back 3-pointers on the left wing and corner, making the score 37-17 with 5:40 left in the second quarter. Latson dynamism as a ball handler also shined as she finished the first half with 16 points.

The Patriots found its scoring punch from Suarez who had 10 second-quarter points on 4-of-7 shooting. She maneuvered through the

The clamped paint was boosted by efficient scoring as Florida State remained ahead for the remainder of the game. Florida State outscored George Mason 31-6 in the fourth quarter Florida State’s second-round matchup will be the winner of LSU (28-5) and San Diego State (25-9) on Monday at the PMAC.

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

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 74, OKLAHOMA STATE 68: In Storrs, Connecticut,Madison Mathiowetz scored all 15 of her points in the second half as 10th-seeded South Dakota State erased a double-digit deficit to top No. 7 seed Oklahoma State. Brooklyn Meyer had 19 points and eight rebounds, Paige Meyer had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Haleigh Timmer added 11 points for South Dakota State (30-3). Stailee Heard had 20 points and Anna Gret Asi had 16 points for Oklahoma State (25-7). Oklahoma State took its first double-digit lead on a basket by Alexia Smith with 7:38 left in the third quarter Paige Meyer scored nine points as the Jackrabbits scored 17 of the next 24 points.

A three-point play by Meyer gave South Dakota State the 44-43

WEST VIRGINIA 78, COLUMBIA 59: In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, JJ Quinerly scored 27 points, Jordan Harrison matched a career-high with 23 and sixth-seeded West Virginia led wire-to-wire in a victory over 11th-seeded Columbia. Quinerly also had seven of the Mountaineers’ 17 steals. The Mountaineers (25-7) advance to face the winner of No. 3 North Carolina and No. 14 Oregon State on Monday West Virginia will be looking for its first Sweet 16 appearance since 1992. West Virginia’s full-court press was a constant source of frustration for Columbia, which was coming off its first tournament win in program history The Lions committed 11 turnovers in the first quarter, more than they had in all of Thursday’s First Four win over Washington, and 25 overall. UCONN 103, ARKANSAS STATE 34: In Storrs, Connecticut, Azzi Fudd had 21 of her 27 points in the first half as second-seeded UConn rolled to a win over Arkansas State. Freshman Sarah Strong added 20 points and 12 rebounds, five assists and five blocks in her NCAA Tournament debut. Most of those came in the first half when UConn jumped out to a 66-16 advantage at the half, playing nearly flaw-

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON Florida State forward Makayla Timpson shoots over George Mason forward Zahirah Walton in the second quarter of their firstround NCAA Tournament game on Saturday at the PMAC.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHARLIE RIEDEL

TCU guard Hailey Van Lith looks to pass around Baylor guard Jada Walker during the second half of the Big 12

women’s tournament championship on March 9 in Kansas City, Mo.

NCAA BASKETBALL

Purdue ends McNeese’s run

BY KYLE HIGHTOWER AP sports writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Trey

Kaufman-Renn had 22 points and 15 rebounds, and Purdue used a fast start to roll to a 76-62 win over McNeese in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday Fletcher Loyer added 15 points. C.J. Cox finished with 11 points for the Boilermakers (24-11), who advanced through the Midwest Region to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season. Purdue will meet the winner of top-seeded Houston and eighth-seeded Gonzaga in the regional semifinal. In his 16 NCAA Tournament appearances with the Boilermakers, coach Matt Painter is now headed to his eighth Sweet 16.

Painter said the challenge is to sustain the offensive output they’ve had over the first two rounds.

“We can’t go further without playing great offensively,” Painter said. “We have to execute well, we have to shoot the ball well That’s not really pressure, that’s just a fact.”

Sincere Parker had 17 points to lead McNeese (287). Javohn Garcia added 12 points as the Cowboys came up short in their bid to give the Southland Conference its first Sweet 16 team since Louisiana Tech in 1985.

McNeese came out in the 2-3 zone that was so successful during its firstround win over Clemson.

But Purdue hit 7 of its first 9 field goals and 3 of its first 4 3-point attempts to build an early double-digit advan-

tage. A pair of three-plus minute scoring droughts by the Cowboys and runs of 10-0 and 9-0 by the Boilermakers helped Purdue grow its lead as high as 36-14 in the first half.

“From the start of the game they kind of imposed their will on us,” Parker said. “To their credit they made shots and we missed shots.”

The Boilermakers led for all but 19 seconds.

Purdue shot 11 of 26 from the 3-point line for the game and held a 41-24 rebounding edge.

“I thought we played really well these last two games,” Kaufman-Renn said. “We executed well and we stuck to our game plan and then we outrebounded both teams. So we do that, it’s a winning game plan.”

Wade signs 6-year deal with NC State

BY AARON BEARD AP basketball writer

RALEIGH, N.C. — McNeese

coach Will Wade has a signed six-year deal to take over as N.C. State’s next coach, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Saturday

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the school hasn’t publicly discussed its coaching search.

Wade’s second NCAA Tournament run in as many seasons with the Cowboys ended Saturday with a second-round loss to Purdue, which came two days after a first-round upset of his alma mater, Clemson. Wade’s twoyear tenure in Lake Charles marked a successful climb back after being fired at LSU in 2022 because recruiting violations allegations. Those were rooted in a federal corruption investigation in college basketball that became public in 2017, with N.C. State among the multiple schools entangled in that probe.

OG Media first reported earlier this week that the two sides had reached an agreement for Wade to lead the Wolfpack, while CBS Sports was first to report

the signing after the Purdue loss. The 42-year-old Wade had confirmed talks with N.C. State before the Clemson win, an unusually candid response compared with coaches typically deflecting questions about other jobs.

“Just tell it like it is,” Wade said Wednesday

Asked about the N.C. State job again after Saturday’s loss to Purdue, Wade said: “I’ll worry about that tomorrow Look, I’m an honest guy, but today I want to put a bow on everything with McNeese if we can.”

Wade will replace Kevin Keatts, who was fired after eight seasons on March 9. That came less than a year after he guided N.C. State to its first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title since 1987 and its first Final Four trip since the late Jim Valvano’s “Cardiac Pack” did it in an improbable 1983 NCAA title run

Keatts had guided N.C. State to three NCAA bids and had the program in position for another when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of March Madness in 2020. But the Wolfpack went 12-19 this season to kill any lingering buzz from last year’s remarkable run.

Calipari guides Arkansas to win

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE,R.I.— John Calipari is heading to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time, and this one could be the sweetest of all.

Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks beat longtime nemesis Rick Pitino and No. 2 seed St. John’s 75-66 on Saturday, sending their itinerant coach to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament with his fourth school.

Billy Richmond III scored 16 points and Karter Knox had 15 for the 10th-seeded Razorbacks, who sent Kansas and their Hall of Fame coach Bill Self home from the “Region of Coaches” in the first round.

But the victory over his longtime rival was especially sweet for Calipari, who brought the Razorbacks (2213) back to the tournament in his first season in Fayetteville despite early-season injuries that left them 0-5 to start the Southeastern Conference schedule.

“I told them, ‘This is as rewarding as a year I’ve had, based on how far we’ve come,’” he said.

Zuby Ejiofor had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Big East champion St. John’s (31-5).

Pitino’s history in Providence — he took the Friars to the 1987 Final Four gave him a home-court advantage as he arrived in March Madness with an unprecedented sixth school.

So many of those teams were built with a full-court defense and 3-point shooting.

St. John’s had the No. 1 defense in the country this season But their shooting deserted them on Saturday and they became the first team seeded fourth or better to exit what’s been a chalky tournament so far

“Rick did a good job with his team all year,” Calipari said. “If they made a few shots, they probably beat us.”

The teams combined to make four 3-pointers on 41 attempts, with St. John’s shooting 28% from the floor overall.

No. 3 TEXAS TECH 77, No 11 DRAKE: In Wichita, Kansas, Darrion Williams scored a season-high 28 points, JT Toppin had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 3 seed Texas Tech dominated No. 11 seed Drake in the paint on its way to a victory Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Bulldogs their first Sweet 16 trip in more than five decades and will play No. 10 seed Arkansas in the West Region semifinals Thursday night in San Francisco.

“Our guys were so composed and so tough,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said, “and that was a huge part of the win.”

BRADLEY 75, GEORGE MASON 67: In Fairfax, Virginia, Corey Thomas helped lead Bradley over George Mason on Saturday with 21 points off of the bench in a victory in the NIT

Bradley advances to play Chattanooga in the quarterfinals.

Thomas added 11 rebounds for the Braves (278). Christian Davis shot 7 for 11, including 5 for 8 from beyond the arc to also score 21 points. Duke Deen went 3 of 13 from the field (3 for 11 from 3-point range) to finish with nine points, while adding six assists.

MICHIGAN 91, TEXAS A&M 79: In Denver, Michigan is going back to the Sweet 16 a year after a 24-loss season, using Roddy Gayle’s surge to beat Texas A&M on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament.

Gayle scored 21 of his season-high 26 points in the second half to help the restocked Wolverines overcome a 10-point deficit and advance to Atlanta to face the Auburn-Creighton winner in the South Region.

Vladislav Goldin had 23 points and 12 rebounds as fifth-seeded Michigan (27-9) overcame another big day for Pharrel Payne, who led Texas A&M with 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting.

That ultimately led the school to move on from Keatts even though he was under contract until April 2030, putting N.C. State on the hook for roughly $6.9 million in base salary alone. And it marked a reset for the program, down to how it handles finances for roster construction with players able to profit from their athletic fame and revenue sharing set to start nationally next season.

Wade’s first head-coaching job was a two-year stint at Chattanooga from 2013-15, followed by two NCAA bids in as many seasons at VCU before leaving for LSU in 2017. The peak of his tenure with the Tigers came in his second season, with LSU winning the Southeastern Conference regular-season title and reaching the Sweet 16. He returned to the sideline after his LSU exit at McNeese in 2023, with his tenure beginning with NCAA penalties that included a 10-game suspension to open his first season. But the Cowboys teams went on to win 58 games in two seasons, a rapid climb for a program that had won just 56 games combined in the five seasons before Wade’s arrival.

Elijah Hawkins added 16 points for the Red Raiders (27-8), who denied the

CHATTANOOGA 87, DAYTON 72: In Chattanooga, Tennessee, Honor Huff had 26 points in Chattanooga’s win against Dayton on Sat-

urday in the second round of the NIT Chattanooga advances to the quarterfinals against Bradley Huff shot 7 for 12 (5 for 10 from 3-point range) and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line for the Mocs (26-9). Trey Bonham scored 25 points while shooting 8 for 13 (3 for 5 from 3-point range) and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line and added eight rebounds. Collin Mulholland finished 4 of 5 from the field to finish with 11 points. It was the 11th straight win for the Mocs. AUBURN 82, CREIGHTON 70: In Lexington, Kentucky Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said a trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament was no sure thing, and experienced Creighton made his topseeded team work for it before the Tigers found their defensive mojo in the second half and closed out the ninth-seeded Bluejays on Saturday night to reach the Sweet 16. Tahaad Pettiford scored 16 of his 23 points after halftime and Chad BakerMazara added 17 points for Auburn, which held Creighton scoreless for more than six minutes during a 10-0 second-half run. Pettiford scored six points during that burst to push the Tigers to a 68-54 lead. The No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, Auburn (30-5) moves on to the South Region semifinals in Atlanta next weekend, where it will face No. 5 seed Michigan. Pearl’s team was upset in the first round by Yale last year and he had not taken Auburn past the second round since it reached its only Final Four in 2019

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By STEVEN SENNE

Purdue forward Caleb Furst celebrates a dunk against McNeese State during the first half in an NCAA Tournament second-round game on Saturday in Providence, R.I.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHARLES KRUPA

Arkansas coach John Calipari calls to his players during the first half on Saturday in Providence, R.I. The Razorbacks beat longtime nemesis Rick Pitino and No. 2 St. John’s to advance to the Sweet 16.

ALL-METRO WRESTLING

BOYS WRESTLER OF THE YEAR

RICHIE CLEMENTI ■ Brother Martin

Richie Clementi kept a year-round focus on wrestling throughout his childhood. His father, Rich, was a prominent MMA fighter in the 2000s, and when Richie reached an age he could wrestle competitively, Rich became his coach.

“I love having him in my corner,” Richie said. That early love of wrestling helped Clementi become a four-time LHSAA state wrestling champion.

His achievements from the past season made him the Times-Picayune All-Metro boys wrestler of the year for 2025.

Clementi is among three Brother Martin wrestlers to win four individual state titles.

FIRST TEAM

HASAN KAHLA

Chalmette, Sr.

50-3 at 106 pounds Division I runner-up

MICHAEL BARNETT

Jesuit, Jr.

37-8 at 113 Division I runner-up

SCOTT CASCIO

St. Paul’s, So. 29-5 at 120 Division I champion

BODI HARRIS Jesuit, Sr. 39-4 at 126 Division I champion

JOSE RINCON Jesuit, Sr. 38-8 at 132 Division I runner-up

Steven Shields and Paul Klein are the other two. Clementi won his latest individual state title at 144 pounds in February when he pinned his first four opponents at the state tournament. Among those four pinned opponents, three were completed in the first minute — in 16, 23 and 32 seconds. He scored a major decision in the state final. Signed to wrestle in college at California Baptist University of the Big 12 Conference Clementi never lost to a Louisiana wrestler during his four-year prep career, making him among the more accomplished high school wrestlers in state prep history.

ChristopherDabe

QUINN McDERMOTT

Brother Martin, Jr. 37-8 at 138 Division I runner-up

RICHIE CLEMENTI

Brother Martin, Sr. 42-3 at 144 Division I champion

GUNNER GUIDREY

Holy Cross, Sr. 38-3 at 150 Division I runner-up

NICK DIGEROLAMO

Holy Cross, Sr. 37-3 at 157 Division I runner-up

LEO GONZALEZ Chalmette, Sr. 35-5 at 165 Division I runner-up

106 pounds: Kale Muscarello, Shaw, Fr. 113: Mason Parria, Holy Cross, 8th. 120: Max Belsome, Jesuit, Jr 126: Anthony Oubre, Holy Cross, Jr. 132: Kaiden Triche, Rummel, Sr. 138: Landon Smith, Holy Cross, Sr. 144: Leeland Webb, Chalmette, Sr. 150: Isaac

COACH OF THE YEAR SECOND TEAM

JONATHON ORILLION ■ Jesuit

Jesuit continued its run of state championships by winning a third in a row. Bodi Harris won the lone individual title for the Blue Jays, but several others earned high placements at the LHSAA Division I state meet in February Orillion, a 2001 Jesuit graduate, has been the head coach for four seasons He helped the

CALEB SHARTLE

St. Paul’s, Jr. 44-4 at 175 Division I runner-up

RORY HORVATH

Brother Martin, Sr. 41-2 at 190 Division I champion

JACKSON PEAK

St. Paul’s, Sr. 30-2 at 215 Division I champion

ETHAN SIMMONS

Brother Martin, Sr. 29-3 at 285 Division I champion

GIRLS WRESTLER OF THE YEAR

JANELLE

ROTUNDA

■ Chalmette

Janelle Rotunda tried wrestling for the first time when she was a freshman.

“In the second or third tournament, she blew her knee out,” Chalmette coach Chris McNamara said. She has since won the state championship twice, including this past season — the first year the LHSAA sponsored wrestling for girls.

Rotunda, a junior was the only New Orleans area girl to win a state championship this season, making her the Times-Picayune selection as the All-Metro girls wrestler of the year Rotunda ended the season with a record of 41-4. She pinned all four opponents in the 165-pound weight division at the state

FIRST TEAM

SOPHIA GAGLIANO Lakeshore, So. 28-11 at 100 pounds State runner-up

LAYLA HIGGINS Riverdale, Jr. 26-20 at 107 Fifth place at state

MAKAYLA WHITE Pearl River, So. 12-7 at 114 Fifth place at state

Orillion, Jesuit, So. 157: Jake Brandstetter, Rummel, Sr 165: Blake McDonald, Brother Martin, Sr. 175: Harris Treuting, Jesuit, Sr. 190: Anthony Smith, John Curtis, Sr. 215: Caden Sanderson, Jesuit, Sr. 285: Jackson Norwood, Patrick Taylor, Jr

four place winners from the state meet back next season.

ChristopherDabe

CLAIRE LEBOEUF Chalmette, Sr. 30-11 at 120 Sxth place at state

tournament.All four pins came in the first period — three of them in less than a minute.

“Janelle is a very physical wrestler,” McNamara said.“I yell at her all the time about being a bully on the mat.When she puts her mind to it and she wants to bully someone, she can physically dominate anybody It’s really impressive when she decides she wants to get physical and aggressive.

Rotunda sharpened her skills this season by practicing against boys.

“A lot of boys are stronger faster quicker — I have to think faster and move faster,” Rotunda said.“I learned how to generally wrestle better.”

ChristopherDabe

ALYSSA HYDE Riverdale, Jr. 30-7 at 126 Fourth place at state

JENNA LASSERE Lakeshore, Jr. 31-12 at 138

ADISON TREGLE Chalmette, Sr. 31-13 at 138 Fourth place at state

REINA GARAY CRUZ Chalmette, So. 27-12 at 145 Fifth place at state

COACH OF THE YEAR

CHRIS McNAMARA ■ Chalmette

Chris McNamara has coached wrestling at Chalmette for the past 10 seasons, but only recently has created one of the top girls’ programs in the state.

Chalmette placed third at state in the first season that the LHSAA sponsored girls wrestling With six place winners among 11 wrestlers

JAZMIN MANGRUM

Covington, Fr. 9-7 at 152

Fifth place at state

JANELLE ROTUNDA Chalmette, Jr. 41-4 at 165 State champ

VICTORIA MATHIEU Chalmette, Sr. 22-10 at 185 Fourth place at state

ARIELYN MENARD Pearl River, Jr 5-9 at 235 Sixth place at state

across 12 weight division, the finish was the highest among area schools by a good margin. Chalmette finished behind only Baton Rouge High and Lafayette in the team standings. State champion Janelle Rotunda is among three wrestlers projected to return next season. ChristopherDabe

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Chalmette’s Janelle Rotunda maintains control of Del City’s Chloe Daniels off a restart during the 165-pound championship on Jan. 18 at the Louisiana Classic in Gonzales.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By JILL PICKETT

Brother Martin’s Richie Clementi, left, wrestles Dutchtown’s Cole Gros during the 144-pound Division I final at the LHSAA state meet on Feb 15 in Bossier City

New York Giants and QB Winston agree to 2-year, $8 million deal

BY DENNIS WASZAK JR. AP pro football writer

Former Saints quarterback Ja-

meis Winston is ready to take a bite out of the Big Apple. And maybe eat some wins for the New York Giants, too.

The 31-year-old quarterback agreed to terms with the Giants on a two-year, $8 million contract, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Friday night.

Winston joins Tommy DeVito as the only quarterbacks on the Giants’ roster New York has been in the market in free agency for a veteran, with Aaron Rodgers Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco also mentioned as possible targets.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t announce the deal.

Fox Sports first reported that Winston was joining the Giants, adding that the deal could be for as much as $16 million with incentives.

“Start spreading the neWs,” Winston wrote on X, a play on his infamous “Eat a W” pregame speech with Tampa Bay in 2017. He added an apple emoji while appearing to confirm his Big Apple welcome.

New York’s quarterback situation has been unsettled this offseason, with the only move at the position since free agency began last week being the re-signing of DeVito. The team had interest in the Rams’ Matthew Stafford, who was given permission to explore trade options but later agreed to a restructured contract with Los

Angeles.

The Giants then appeared to be waiting on the 41-year-old Rodgers, who spent the last two seasons with the Jets but was released on March 13.

Rodgers, who hasn’t publicly said he’ll play a 21st NFL season, met with Pittsburgh on Friday, according to another person with knowledge of the situation — signaling an interest on both sides. He spent several hours in the team’s facility gathering information, but left without signing a contract. That person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the meeting was not made public.

Wilson, who spent last season in Pittsburgh, also remains a free agent and his next move could be predicated on what Rodgers decides.

The Giants continued to explore their options and reportedly recently met with Winston, Wilson and Flacco. They now have their veteran in Winston to pair with DeVito — and also hold the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft next month. So, a top quarterback such as Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders could still be in play Winston played in 12 games last season for Cleveland and started in seven after Deshaun Watson was injured, throwing for 2,121 yards and 13 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. He set a Browns record with 497 yards passing in Week 13 with four TDs against Denver, but also had three interceptions — two of which were returned for scores in Cleveland’s 41-32 loss.

RB Emery not returning to LSU for seventh year

Kelly says team ‘set’ at running back ahead of 2025 season

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

Former LSU running back John Emery wants to play another year of college football, but it appears he won’t have the option to return to the Tigers.

LSU coach Brian Kelly said Saturday that while the team will be supportive of Emery as he tries to continue his career, LSU is “set” at running back ahead of the 2025 season.

“We’ll be supportive in any way that we can, but we’re set where we’re at in terms of the running back position,” Kelly said. “But love John, and we’ll be here to help and support him. If he’s given a seventh year, he’s certainly a young man that can help somebody in the Power Four.”

Emery announced Thursday that he had decided to pursue a seventh season of college football, which could be available after he only played in one game this past fall before suffering a torn ACL. Emery’s agent told The Advocate they have not decided where Emery will play next season.

“We haven’t talked to John about it,” Kelly said “It was the first that we heard.”

A five-star recruit in the 2019 class from St. Rose, Emery spent his first six seasons at LSU. He rushed for 1,123 yards and 14 touchdowns and caught 37 passes for 328 yards and two scores.

Emery missed the entire 2021 season and the first two games of the 2022 season because he was ruled academically ineligible. After finding a role, he later suffered a torn ACL in November 2023. Emery entered the transfer portal after the injury and briefly committed to UCLA, but he ultimately returned to LSU for his sixth year

In a 27-20 season-opening loss to Southern Cal, Emery was LSU’s leading rusher with 61 yards on 10 carries. A few days later, he suffered his second ACL injury in as many seasons during a noncontact drill.

“We feel so bad for him and his family,” Kelly said at the time. “But you know, John has overcome so much. So proud of what he’s accomplished in getting his degree from LSU, and he’s going to be successful in life. And you know, we’ll see what the future

Continued from page 1C

Their shorter outings placed extra pressure on the Tigers’ bullpen, even if it mostly came through, allowing just four earned runs in 102/3 innings. Despite the abbreviated performances from Eyanson and Shores, Johnson was unbothered with how they pitched.

“They were both really close to going a little bit deeper,” Johnson said. “I made a decision based on what I thought was best to win those games, and it really wasn’t even in their control.

“Because those types of guys throughout the league got left in a little bit longer (last weekend), I just feel like we have the options to do it a little differently.”

Johnson’s confidence in LSU’s bullpen depth is what allows him to manage games “a little differ-

ently,” whether it’s utilizing freshmen such as right-handers William Schmidt and Casan Evans, or turning to junior left-hander Conner Ware or junior right-hander Zac Cowan.

Not only does LSU have the numbers out of the bullpen, most of its top relievers have been stretched out to throw multiple innings.

That’s different than what LSU has had the last few seasons.

“We have so much depth that we don’t need guys to go seven shut down innings,” junior first baseman Jared Jones said. “If you can give us two to three of your best stuff, and then we can get you out and get the next guy in.”

But getting those arms rest on Tuesday helped. In its 11-1 win over UNO, LSU didn’t use any of the relievers who threw over the weekend against Missouri. They had four days to recover before this weekend’s series with Texas.

“None of them have had four

holds for him.”

LSU currently has four scholarship running backs available going into the 2025 season: sophomore Caden Durham, junior Kaleb Jackson, five-star early enrollee Harlem Berry and freshman JT Lindsey Durham was LSU’s leading rusher last year with 753 yards and six touchdowns, even though he played through a toe injury most of the season.

“We’re doing some things in the spring that are first-time looks for him,” Kelly said. “I don’t want to give many things away, but those things that we’re really focusing on, they’re new looks for him. He’s got to get comfortable in that because that’s going to be featured within our offensive structure.”

Jackson has spent most of the spring as LSU’s second-team running back as he tries to carve out a role in the backfield. After a promising freshman year Jackson gained 10 pounds and only

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Continued from page 1C

Wong and McCusker with perfect scores on bars. Torrez also won floor with a perfect 10. LSU started the meet on uneven bars as top-seeded Oklahoma picked vault. The Tigers made the most of the event, tying their season high with a 49.600 to take the lead after the first rotation. Chio and Finnegan matched career highs with 9.95s The Tigers then went to balance beam for the second rotation and posted a 49.450 to retain the lead halfway through the meet with a 99.050. In the third rotation, LSU went

rushed for 150 yards without a score last season.

“This has been more about him acclimatizing to his weight,” Kelly said. “He struggled the last year with his size and volume, and he’s been great this spring. He has really crossed that hurdle.

“And then add Harlem Berry into it, who’s just figuring out the offense, but you can tell he’s extremely talented And now it’s just a matter of him learning the offense and putting a coat of armor on him.”

Redshirt sophomore running back Trey Holly could also rejoin the team before the season. Holly has been indefinitely suspended since he was arrested in Feb. 2024 in connection with a shooting. He has a trial date set July 7, and the outcome could clear his return to the field.

For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

to floor and matched its secondbest SEC floor score ever with a 49.625. The Tigers got 9.95s from Chio, Amari Drayton (tying a career high) and Bryant. LSU returns home to await its NCAA regional assignment. The NCAA selection show will be aired at 11 a.m. Monday on ESPNU. LSU will be the top seed in its regional, likely in Seattle but possibly in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; or University Park, Pennsylvania. Regionals will be held April 2-6, with the NCAA Championships set for April 17-19 in Fort Worth, Texas.

For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

days off since we started the season... because of how condensed the schedule has been and some of the games that we’ve played in,” Johnson said. “So I think they’ll be really fresh this weekend.”

Johnson also notes that there’s value in having relievers pitch three to four times a week That’s what they’re tasked to do in MLB.

However, LSU can’t win the national championship this weekend or next. It’ll need everyone — especially its bullpen to be crisp in June when the Tigers actually have a chance of making a run to Omaha.

“I looked very intently at last night’s game, going into the game, of what was the best thing to do,” Johnson said Wednesday “Obviously, to win the game at hand, but (also) for what you’re talking about.

“But there’s more than one way to kind of work through that.”

Email Koki Riley at Koki.Riley@theadvocate.com.

LSU

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU coach Jay Johnson, right, stands in the dugout before first pitch against UNO on Tuesday at Alex Box Stadium.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By DAVID RICHARD

Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston looks to pass against the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec 15 in Cleveland.

OUTDOORS

Lookin’ for lunkers

Rodeo anglers hope for improved bass conditions

BY JOE MACALUSO

Contributing writer

Ah springtime and an angler’s fancy turns to bass Yes, spring sprung Friday, and it should be the time we can expect most bass calling south Louisiana waters home to be moving to places they can make lots of little bass. It’s been a frustrating past few weeks. Rain has led to a series of extra-windy cold fronts. The rain has kept water levels fluctuating and the wind shifting from south to north and south have kept spawning banks muddy If there’s one thing a mama bass doesn’t like it’s muddy water. She needs clear water and sunshine to warm fertilized eggs for several days to produce the fry we hope will grow into adult spawners one day

What all this means is male bass, the ones preparing the spawning beds, move in to the shallows on post-cold front days only to have to repeat the process after another front.

So the mama bass are hanging around in prespawn areas waiting for their partner to usher them to a perfectly prepared spawning area. For the most part, these females continue to be in prespawn mode.

For Saturday coming, the folks throwing their hats into the ring for the annual City Park Big Bass Rodeo in New Orleans hope there is enough action along the banks of the miles of the park’s lagoons to make for another successful morning.

It’s the 76th time folks will gather for this event, making it the oldest freshwater fishing competition in our country Better even, it’s for more than

bass. There is a category for bream and both have adult, youth and team divisions. There’s competition for school students in what’s called the Battle for the Bass, and a Kayak/Canoe Boats on the Bayou contest in nearby Bayou St. John.

Oh, and the event’s title is completed by adding a Fishtival with games, music, exhibits and kid-friendly activities near the park’s Casino (not that kind of a casino, the one where long-ago parties and dances were held near the bandstand)

If you fish, and you’re 18 and older, you need a basic fishing license.

Organizers would like participants to register in advance. That website: neworleanscitypark.org/ visit-city-park/big-bass-fishingrodeo/

More on waterfowl

Ducks Unlimited published its annual postseason report last week and its staff posted some interesting results.

With avian flu grabbing daily headlines, DU’s biologists reported the biggest impact appears in ring-necked ducks and several goose species, and, “while mortality events in southern areas faded as winter progressed, outbreaks increased in northern states during February and March,” and they suggested the virus “has relatively small effects on overall populations.”

Also cited was 2024’s early spring led to an early migration and ducks found little water in the prairies which led the ducks to fly farther north into the Boreal Forest area. The breeding areas in the

U.S. were wet, but Canada’s May

pond count hit a 20-year low

The report further stated, “The combined effect of below average duck populations and variable habitat conditions set the stage for an average or slightly below average fall flight.”

Then, there was something most all Louisiana hunters experienced. Unusually warm conditions from September into early December delayed the migration and it wasn’t until Arctic cold came in late December and even colder fronts in January that ducks pushed hard into the Deep South.

As for this breeding cycle, DU’s staff expects, “the 2025 breeding population to be similar to last year and widespread spring and summer rain will be needed to improve conditions across the Prairie Pothole Region.”

You can find the complete report on DU’s website: ducks.org

The survey

State Wildlife and Fisheries sent an email last week to selected waterfowl hunters to direct them to a site for an updated Harvest Information Program survey to selected waterfowl hunters

The survey is conducted every five years in advance of the state’s next plan for a five-year plan (through the 2030 season) LDWF must submit to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service outlining zones and other details for waterfowl seasons. This survey has 37 questions.

If you need more information, email Jeffrey Duguay; jduguay@wlf la.gov or state Waterfowl Program manager Jason Olszak: jolszak@wlf la.gov

Larson misses out on sweep at Homestead

BY ALANIS THAMES Associated Press

TUESDAY LA. REGIONAL FISHERIES SUMMIT: 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m., Municipal Auditorium, 2056 Second Street, Slidell. Freshwater impacts in Pontchartrain Basin focusing on recreationfor-hire & commercial fishing. Lunch provided. La. SeaGrant & LSU AgCenter event. Registration requested. Website: forms.gle/emTopkGAs1yoZjy29

THURSDAY ACADIANA BUGS & BREWS: 6 p.m., Pack & Paddle, 601 E. Pinhook Lafayette. Open to the public. Email Flip Siragusa: redfish452@gmail. com

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

LOUISIANA SPORTSMAN SHOW: St. John the Baptist Community Center, Daley Memorial Park, LaPlace Noon-7 p.m., Friday (free admission); 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday. Kids fishing tournament, displays, $10 fee, 10-&-younger free.

SATURDAY

76TH ANNUAL BIG BASS RODEO & FISHTIVAL: 6 a.m. registration (fishing 6:30-11 a.m.), The Casino & Popp Bandstand area, City Park, New Orleans. Age-group divisions in bass & other freshwater species, high school teams Battle for the Bass & Boats on the Bayou (nonmotorized watercraft) divisioins & “Fishtival,” a family-oriented outdoors event. Fees $5-$20. Website: BigBassFishingRodeo.com

HUNTING SEASONS

TURKEY: March 29-30, Youth/Physically Challenged special weekend.

Area A: April 5-May 4; Area B: April 5-27; Area C: April 5-20. AROUND THE CORNER MARCH 29—SOUTH LOUISIANA HIGHPOWER CLUB MATCH: 8:30 a.m., Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Range, St. Landry Road, Gonzales. CMP GSSM, NRA match rifle or service rifle, 200-yard/50-rounds match course & Prone matches. Fees $5-$15. Club/ CMP membership $25. Call (337) 3808120. Email Mike Burke: SouthLaHighPower@hotmail.com

APRIL 2-3—BASSMASTER COLLEGE SERIES/LEGENDS TRAIL: Lake Eufaula, Eufaula, Oklahoma. Website: bassmaster.com

APRIL 3—LA. WILDLIFE & FISHERIES COMMISSION MEETING: 9:30 a.m., Joe Herring Room, state Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters, Quail Drive, Baton Rouge.

APRIL 3-6—MLF BASS PRO TOUR: Redcrest 2025, Lake Guntersville, Huntsville, Alabama. Website: MajorLeagueFishing.com

APRIL 4-6—FATHER-CHILD FUN CAMP: Families Understanding Nature weekend, Woodworth Outdoor Education Center, Woodworth. Parents with children ages 10-13. Preregistration required. Fee $50/family (two children; $25/additional child; includes lodging, meals, supplies). Registration website: wlf.louisiana. gov/page/fun-camp Also, Oct. 10-12, Mother-Child Camp. Email Mitchell Hukins: mhukins@wlf.la.gov

APRIL 4-7—COLDWATER FLY FISHING

WEEKEND: Little Missouri River, Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Red Stick Fly Fishers event. Call Cole Miller (225) 921-9192. APRIL 5—LA. HIGH SCHOOL/JUNIOR QUALIFIER/WEST DIVISION: Butte Larose Landing, Henderson Lake. Call Tommy Abbott (504) 722-6638. Website: louisianahighschoolbassnation.com

FISHING/SHRIMPING

SHRIMP: Inshore season closed except in Breton/Chandeleur sounds & all outside waters open.

CLOSED SEASONS: Greater amberjack, red snapper; gag, goliath & Nassau groupers in state/federal waters. OPEN RECREATIONAL SEASONS: Flounder; lane, blackfin, queen and silk snappers & wenchmen among other snapper species; all groupers except closed for goliath & Nassau groupers in state/federal waters.

LDWF UPDATES

CLOSED: Pearl River WMA (Old U.S 11 gate & shooting range; flooding); Hope Canal Road/boat launch (Maurepas Swamp WMA, levee construction); Blackhawk Boat Landing, Annie’s Lake, Lincecum, Union Point, Dobbs Bay & Routen Camp roads and the Warren Trailhead (Richard Yancey WMA, flooding, culvert failure).

EMAIL: jmacaluso@theadvocate.com

HOMESTEAD, Fla. Kyle Larson is tired of his weekends at Homestead-Miami Speedway ending in disappointment. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has won a NACAR Cup Series race and Xfinity Series race in his career at the South Florida track, but he mostly just remembers the heartbreaks there.

“Bummer, again, to have another Homestead race play out that way I can’t go when my rear tires are off the ground. So I know it looks like I choked another one away, but I did everything I thought I could (to win). The 41 just lagged back and slammed me.”

ä Straight Talk Wireless 400. 2 P.M.SUNDAy,FS1

Last year it was a 13th-place finish in the playoff race. On Saturday, it was a late collapse in the Xfinity Series that cost him a chance of sweeping the weekend.

Larson, who is competing in the Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck races at the 1.5-mile track in Homestead, was hoping to join Kyle Busch as the only drivers to sweep a triple-header weekend — Busch did it at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2010 and 2017.

Larson got off to a good start, rallying from a late-race spinout to pull off a comeback win in the Truck Series on Friday In the Xfinity Series on Saturday, it looked like he was on his way to a dominant win. He held a 16-second lead in the race before a late spin by Taylor Gray caused a caution with seven laps to go. On the overtime restart, Sam Mayer’s No. 41 Ford made contact with the back of Larson’s No. 17 Chevrolet, costing him the win.

“Bummer, again, to have another Homestead race play out that way,” Larson said. “I can’t go when my rear tires are off the ground. So I know it looks like I choked another one away, but I did everything I thought I could (to win). The 41 just lagged back and slammed me.” Larson led 132 of 201 laps and finished fourth. It was another disappointing end at one of his best tracks.

Larson has five top-five finishes in 11 Cup starts in his career at Homestead — two driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He’s led the most laps (626) of any active driver, and his 12 stage wins in the Next Gen car is a series best. No other driver has more than five stage wins.

Larson finished fourth in 2021 and won the race in 2022 but left frustrated the past two years. He was out of the race at Lap 214 in 2023 after slamming into the pit road barriers trying to overtake Ryan Blaney for the lead. Last year Larson’s winning chance ended when he spun while racing Blaney for the lead with under 20 laps to go.

“I feel like every time I go there (to Homestead) you leave disappointed because you feel like you have the best car or truck, and things don’t work out,” Larson said this week. “Whether it’s mistakes on my end or ill-timed cautions combined with a hiccup on pit road, or whatever late in the race, and you end up losing.

“Literally all but maybe two or three races at Homestead I felt like we had the best car, best chance of winning, and we don’t have the wins to show for it.” Rule clarification

NASCAR sent out a clarification to race teams in all three national series on pitting in another team’s pit stall after Christopher Bell stopped in the pit stall of his Joe

KyLE LARSON, NASCAR driver

Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe to have a loose left wheel tightened during the Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas last weekend.

If a vehicle gets service in another team’s pit stall to fix a safety issue, it will receive a flag status penalty, NASCAR said, and they’ll either have to restart at the tail of the field or receive a pass-through for pitting outside the assigned pit box.

The left-front wheel was loose on Bell’s No. 20 Toyota when he was exiting pit road last week.

If the wheel came off after he exited pit road, Bell would have been penalized two laps and had two pit crew members suspended for the next two races. He stopped in Briscoe’s stall for service instead, was dinged for pitting outside the box and only had to restart at the back of the field. He finished 12th. NASCAR listed tightening loose wheels, removing a fuel can or a wedge wrench as examples of safety issues.

Hamlin’s new sponsor Joe Gibbs Racing announced Tuesday that the organization signed an agreement with Progressive Insurance to sponsor Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota Camry in 18 NASCAR Cup Series races this season, starting with Sunday’s race in Homestead. Progressive’s name and blue branding will be displayed on Hamlin’s car and race suit, and his crew will wear Progressive branded gear

“It’s good for them (Joe Gibbs Racing) to have an anchor partner,” Hamlin said, “and certainly for my fans’ sake, they’re going to be able to identify me week-to-week. And I think that’s something that certainly is very important So feeling out those 18 races is going to be a big deal for myself and Gibbs throughout the year.”

On the pole

Hendrick Motorsports driver

Alex Bowman won the pole for Sunday’s race while driving a No. 48 Toyota that promotes the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled, which just wrapped up its inaugural season in Miami. It’s the sixth career pole for Bowman, who was followed by Josh Berry the winner at Las Vegas last weekend — Noah Gragson, Briscoe and William Byron.

Odds and ends

Larson (+375) is the BetMGM Sportsbook favorite, followed by Tyler Reddick (+600). Larson’s 1,286 total miles led on the 1.5-mile tracks is almost double that of any other driver. Bell is second with 614. Reddick won the race last year, while Hamlin leads active drivers with three wins (2009, ’13, ’20).

This Brother Martin High School team was dubbed the ‘The Miracle Workers,’ before they defended their Battle of the Bass title during the 74th annual City Park Big Bass Rodeo in 2023. The Miracle Workers’ 4.99-pound catch was taken by, from left, Hudson Cammarata, Nathan Wellman, Connor Farrae, Ethan Dietzway and Henry Dauterive. On Saturday, high school teams can compete in one of several categories for the 76th annual event held at City Park in New Orleans.

THE VARSITY ZONE

Crusaders overcome slow start against Patriots

Brother Martin improves to 5-0 in district

BY CHRISTOPHER DABE Staff writer

Brother Martin overcame an uncharacteristically poor first inning and beat John Curtis to stay undefeated in Catholic League play

After allowing two unearned runs in the first inning, the Crusaders went ahead for good in the second inning and won 10-5 on Saturday at Harahan Playground

Winning pitcher Jude Tingstrom went five innings as Stan Wiltz, Brady McCluskey and Cole Navarro each produced an RBI single with two outs in the middle innings to help stretch the lead.

“You get some two-out hits, you get some quality pitching, good things can happen,” Brother Martin coach Jeff Lupo said after his

team won the first of two games between the District 9-5A schools.

The second game is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Kirsch-

Rooney Stadium

Three Curtis errors in the second and third innings helped

Brother Martin (17-5, 5-0 District 9-5A) score four unearned runs for a 5-2 lead. One two-base throwing error came on a seemingly routine ground ball that would have ended the third inning with no runs allowed. Instead, a run scored on the error and Wiltz drove in the next run with a single to right field.

Curtis (12-9, 1-4) used five pitch-

ers who allowed a combined five walks and four hit batters with five free-pass recipients scoring.

“Credit Brother Martin, they did a great job of two-out and two-

strike hitting with runners in scoring position,” Curtis coach Jeff Curtis said. “We just didn’t make enough pitches and nearly enough defensive plays. We got to be better than that defensively.”

Brother Martin scored two runs on wild pitches. Another run scored when Egan Prather laid down a bunt that resulted in a throwing error that let Wiltz score from second base.

Ryan Darrah scored the first run when he stole home with two outs in the first inning. He reached on a walk, stole second and went to third on a groundout.

“We knew that (Juan Washington of Curtis) was a very good pitcher,” Lupo said. “He beat us last year in the playoffs We knew that runs might be at a premium, so we had to be aggressive and take advantage of opportunities and make them play from behind.”

“You get some two-out hits, you get some quality pitching, good things can happen.”

JEFF LUPO, Brother Martin coach

McClusky had the most productive day among Brother Martin hitters with three RBIs and three runs scored. The sophomore singled in a run in the fourth, drove in another on a fielder’s choice in the sixth and hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Also included among the seven hits for Brother Martin was a double by Cody Kropp, who also walked, got hit by a pitch and scored two runs.

Tingstrom, a senior left-hander, overcame a rough first inning that included two unearned runs after a pair of Brother Martin errors and a passed ball that let a run score.

He pitched five innings.

“Like I just told the guys, after one inning, (Tingstrom) was at 40 pitches,” Lupo said. “But over the next four he threw 57. So, he settled in and did his job and kept his composure. And that’s what a senior is supposed to do.”

Tingstrom got the win after his younger brother — Blaise, a junior right-hander — pitched into the seventh inning for a win Thursday against Holy Cross.

“The first inning we had some obstacles,” Tingstrom said “We didn’t do what we wanted to do. But after that I knew I had to lock in because I had to keep my pitch count down. We just started to focus more, and I started to throw more strikes.” For Curtis, Washington doubled in two runs in the fifth inning. Xavier Brown and Nate Alario also had RBI singles for Curtis. Another run scored on a passed ball.

Raiders manage 1-0 victory despite strong pitching by Knights’ Robinson

BY DARRELL WILLIAMS Contributing writer

If he had to choose, Rummel’s Evan Burg would rather play center field. However, he said he feels more in command when he is pitching.

That was the case Saturday at Mike Miley Stadium, as Burg scattered five hits while outdueling St. Augustine’s Dylan Robinson in a 1-0 District 9-5A victory

Rummel shortstop Ian Smith drove in the only run with a one-out double in the sixth that scored third baseman Joel Morange from first

base. Morange had reached base on a one-out single to center field.

The win came after Rummel (16-7, 4-1) lost 6-2 Friday night in a nondistrict game at Chalmette.

After Saturday’s win, Raiders coach Frank Cazeaux said the performance by Burg “was tremendous.”

“Evan Burg will fight you till the end, and that’s what he did,” Cazeaux said. “He went out there and challenged hitters. He doesn’t think about anything. He goes right at you, and he’s a heck of an athlete, you know.

Burg said not much was said after the loss to Chalmette, in which the Raiders were disappointed by their play

“We didn’t say a whole lot,” said Burg, who has committed to play at Tulane as an outfielder “We just try to not lose back-to-back games. That’s what we did well last year (in reaching the Division I select semi-

“Evan Burg will fight you till the end, and that’s what he did. He went out there and challenged hitters.”

FRANK CAZEAUX, Rummel coach

finals), and that’s what we’re trying to do this year — not lose back-toback games.

“It was big that we came out and got the ‘W’ today Now, we’ve got to keep moving forward.”

Burg gave up singles in the second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh, but didn’t allow an extrabase hit nor two base runners in an inning. He struck out just one, but had no walks. More important, no St. Aug runner reached third base. He outdueled Robinson, who gave up one less hit Robinson struck out one, walked six and had two on base

in the second, third, fourth and fifth, but none of them were of any consequence. However, he threw more than 100 pitches, and by the sixth appeared to be tiring.

The Purple Knights (12-9, 1-2) entered having split two district games with 2024 state finalist John Curtis, including a 2-1 win in 10 innings. Saturday the Knights had a chance to pull off another impressive victory

In the top of the fourth, third baseman Bryce Robinson led off with an opposite-field single between first and second base. Shortstop Kenyon Hughes followed with a sacrifice bunt, advancing Robinson to second. Then, with catcher and third-hole hitter Aiden Castillo batting, Robinson tried to steal third and was thrown out in a close play

“He’s a senior and he has the green light,” Knights coach Barret Rey said “He’s done it before. It was a bang-bang play.”

With two outs, Castillo was hit by a pitch, but the next batter, first baseman Jayden Jackson, lined to shortstop.

Rummel’s Smith went 2 for 2 with a walk. Knights second baseman Derek Mercadel also went 2 for 2, with an opposite-field single through the hole in the third and a single to right in the sixth.

After the well-played game, in which there were no errors, Cazeaux shook hands with St. Augustine’s coaches and complimented them.

“(Rey) has built that program,” he said. “They have a very good team.”

The teams are scheduled to meet again Tuesday at Wesley Barrow Stadium.

“I told (his team) that I was proud of how well they played,” Rey said. “I told them that if we keep playing this well, we will win a lot of games.”

HIS FIRST HOME, LAST AND MANY IN BETWEEN

Where did Tennessee Williams live in New Orleans?

BY ANNETTE SISCO Staff writer

“It is a three-story building. There are a pair of alcoves, facing Toulouse Street. These alcove cubicles are separated by plywood. A curved staircase ascends from the rear of a dark narrow passageway from the street entrance to the kitchen area. From there it ascends to the third floor or gabled attic with its mansard roof...” — from “Vieux Carré,” by Tennessee Williams

Margit Longbrake stands at the foot of the wooden staircase, which curves upward into darkness. Described by the playwright Tennessee Williams as the spiritual inspiration for the setting of his play, “Vieux Carré,” 722 Toulouse St. is part of The Historic New Orleans Collection, where Longbrake works as a senior editor and expert in the collection’s Williams holdings.

Playwright Tennessee Williams, 31, works on his typewriter

Rooted in New Orleans, NOMA’s new chief curator is ready to manage ‘visionary programs’

Scholars say 722 Toulouse inspired not just “Vieux Carré,” but the themes of many of Williams’ works, among the most famous of which are “The Glass Menagerie,” “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” His works, and his connections to New Orleans, are celebrated annually during the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival, March 26-30 this year

In December 1938, a young Tennessee Williams climbed these timeworn steps to an attic apartment, where he spent a short but fertile couple of months. It was his first time living in New Orleans, an experience that opened up a new world.

“It was a place where he could actually explore and become all of the aspects of himself that were conflicted and repressed

ä See CURIOUS, page 8D FILE PHOTO

NOMA

has an encyclopedic collection. It has augmented its collection to represent more of our society.”

ANNE COLLINS SMITH, New Orleans Museum of Art chief curator

BY DAVE WALKER | Contributing writer

nne Collins Smith’s appointment as the new chief curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art was announced in February, but she’d already been on the job since September. With April and the opening of the major exhibition “New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations,” focusing on four artists working in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, Smith leads NOMA’s collection and exhibition initiatives and manages the museum’s curators, conservators and collections staff. In her new role, she also oversees the museum’s modern and contemporary art presentations, calling on her background in African American art.

The first Black New Orleans native to hold a full curatorial role at NOMA, Smith most recently served as director of the Xavier University of Louisiana Art Gallery Her previous stations included curatorial roles at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta and the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College Earlier, she was a Romare Bearden Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Smith earned a master’s degree in visual arts administration from New York University after undergraduate study at Spelman

See SMITH, page 9D

Meet ‘The Duckman,’ who spends his days caring for area waterfowl

BY HUNTER ODOM Contributing

The Duckman has arrived. When the feeding frenzy begins, even human passersby can’t help but be intrigued about the commotion. Newman draws a quick crowd, and he is quick to point out the different breeds he is feeding. He can even tell the

ä See 'DUCKMAN', page 9D

By

John Newman greets a pair of ducks Tuesday near University Lake in Baton Rouge.

Anne Collins Smith is the new chief curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

PHOTO By TAyLOR HUNTER

STAFF

PHOTO

HILARy SCHEINUK

The colors were green but the feeling was dark on St. Patrick’s Day in 2020, the day the first closure orders for bars around New Orleans took effect in the pandemic.

Ian McNulty WHAT’S COOKING

I walked my dog past my neighborhood bar, Finn McCool’s Irish Pub, normally heaving for the holiday, but this time shuttered and quiet. I raised a silent toast with a go-cup of Writer’s Tears Irish whiskey (quite intentionally chosen at home for the walk), hoping this and the other businesses forced to close would return, though not knowing how or when they could.

Two days later, I’d peer through the windows of Angelo Brocato’s Ice Cream to look at the St. Joseph’s Altar the Brocato family had built inside. Their dessert emporium was reduced to a trickle of sales from a takeout window, with dining rooms under closure orders, but they decided to continue this great Sicilian tradition of food and faith anyway

As the depth of the crisis set in, and waves of layoffs mounted, I watched as people in the hospitality sector found new ways not just to serve their customers, but to support others, even with their own businesses in limbo. One corner in Mid-City offered two vivid examples.

Toups’ Meatery opened up the idea of staff “family meal” to anyone who needed a meal. They found plenty of takers in an initiative that has since grown to become its own nonprofit, Toups Family Meal.

Across the street, Blue Oak BBQ kept its own takeout business going and on the weekends ran a community feeding program that turned into a seasonlong series of events. With many local collaborators, these grew increasingly generous, even jovial. Here was a grassroots pandemic relief effort that included beer in the care packages, because, well,

DINING SCENE

New Orleans. The arrival of the pandemic five years ago started a timeline that was scarcely fathomable even as it was happening. Now, at this milestone year, looking back is nearly as incredible.

The vignettes above all came in just the first few days around my own home in Mid-City, at a time when home and work became one for many of us. So much more would follow on the undulating course to come.

Dinner is served, somehow I found myself walking into Galatoire’s Restaurant for the

first night back open at limited 25% capacity, with the normally elbow-to-elbow tables spread out like ships at sea. Here, at a restaurant where I don’t need a menu to order, I had to rethink every step, hands slathered with sanitizer, face mask adjusted to make way for a Sazerac and trout meuniere.

I picked up a portion of gumbo z’herbes in a car line outside Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, as the Chase family kept its Holy Thursday tradition intact on new terms.

At Domilise’s Po-Boys, I found a note tucked into the takeout bag with my oyster po-boy (dressed

with hot sauce and ketchup), thanking all customers for coming back.

At McHardy’s Chicken & Fixin’, I had a box of chicken flung to me on a contraption that was basically a zip line, keeping a distance between staff and customers as the family business kept going. And I sat at the bar at Charlie’s Steak House where plates and drinks were slid under a plastic barrier, through a gap like an old bank teller’s booth.

Covering our restaurants and bars on this journey meant watching how a treasured part of the culture and invaluable piece of the economy persisted.

Restaurants, bars, hospitality — it’s all part of New Orleans life, and, like everything else, that life changed in the pandemic.

It was hard to see how most of our restaurants and bars would make it.

But, despite heartrending closures, most are still here. Some — though not enough — got help from official relief programs.

Many flexed their ingenuity and creativity And then there was us, their customers, the people who did their bit by being there.

Empathy with intent

In a crisis that gripped the globe, maybe New Orleans had a little more experience managing catastrophe through community from our own history It was certainly not all uplifting. There was discord and outright hostility and restaurants and bars were often the targets of it.

But the flip side was the intent with which New Orleans rallied for its own, choosing empathy and making the effort to keep treasured places going through hard times so that they would be there again in good times.

Hospitality is about interactions and experiences. New Orleans people, and New Orleans visitors too, redefined these interactions, created their own new experiences, and in the process helped determine how the pandemic would play out for the hospitality sector here.

It was not passively watching what might happen, but stepping up to determine how it would go down, through takeout and gocups, under ever-changing rules and mandates, and, eventually, with reunion and gradual normalcy

What endures

The long shadow of the crisis still looms. It’s the financial burden many places piled up to stay open, and the wholesale change in staff or business models that came along. People who died are still missed and mourned. It’s the stress and strife that built up for the people working to keep it all going, and who may feel that weight still.

But five years on, what feels most remarkable is how this realm of our cultural life and civic identity endured, and how the two-way street of hospitality of people serving and supporting each other, continued.

Maybe it’s true that you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone. But watching New Orleans hospitality persevere and come back to life sure makes me appreciate what we still have, the grit and heart it takes to keep it vital, and the value of the shared culture it gives us.

Email Ian McNulty at imcnulty@theadvocate.com.

■ Decorative Art

Chinoiserie conjures up the allure of the country for which it is named, along with the elaborate decoration and intricate patterns produced. It also served as the theme for the Krewe of Mystery’s 114th Ball of the Roses. The krewe favor by Adler’s featured a bejeweled pagoda modeled after traditional Chinese architecture. More visual attention turned to the ball’s venue, the circa-1918 Orpheum Theater, which continually draws attention to its ornate interior

Nell Nolan SOCIETY

Contact: nnolan@theadvocate.com

Lore&Levity

The regal “jewel” of the evening was the queen. The 2025 honor befell Miss Emily Elizabeth LeBlanc, daughter of Mr and Mrs. Clifton David LeBlanc. She dazzled in an A-line gown by KVH Designs of white silk shantung with an undulating neckline and an overlay of richly embellished lace. Maids to her majesty were Misses Marguerite Lisette Breaux (the queen of Athenians), Elizabeth Gale Brooks, Katie Paige Gardes (Prophets of Persia queen), Sophia Alise Linn, Mary Elizabeth Toso and Margo Irene Gilthorpe Weese. Trainbearers Cecilia Claire Caballero and Marin Marie Taylor, and pages Hayden West Janke and John Thomas Waldrup, completed the court that was ruled over a year ago by Miss Evelyn Blain Argote. She was presented with a floral tribute as was Ms. Elizabeth Jean Diaz called Linda, the 50-year anniversary queen and a relative of the 2025 monarch.

Applauding all the loveliness from the queen’s box seats were royal mother Elizabeth LeBlanc — outfitted in a Mystery red ballgown by KVH Designs that featured a satin bodice with an overlay skirt accented by red roses around the waist as well as Mmes. Ralph E. Diaz, Evelyn Randle,Ashley Nesser, Brent P. LeBlanc,V Price LeBlanc, David Gibbons and William Joseph Goliwas Jr Noted, too, were Mmes.William C Carrere, Nicholas van der Vink, Jacques Hazard Carrere, Cleland Powell, Stephen Schonberg Ralph Gerard Breaux and Patrick Schonberg Also, Miss Celeste Schonberg, the Nereus queen of 2024, and Ms. Elizabeth Schonberg Several enjoyed a dance to the music of the Jimmy Maxwell Orchestra and admired the invitation and program artwork by Katie Rafferty

Dozens of distaff attendees were delighted to receive the roses that were distributed after the seventh dance They were plucked from the eight tall urns that decorated the stage and were filled with hundreds of the organization’s signature flower Prior to the bal masqué, Queen Emily received select kin and kith at a club. After the ball, she held forth regally at the queen’s supper in the Roosevelt Hotel’s Astoria Ballroom, where beautiful red and pink roses were arranged to complement the pink tablecloths. Rockin’ Dopsie and the Zydeco Twisters ignited the ballroom. When the queen and her father, Clifton LeBlanc entered the supper, they took to the dance floor for “Lovely Day.” That was a cue to get everyone on their feet. Congratulations and compliments embraced his majesty, whose identity was not revealed, and his consort. One of the krewe’s principals summed up her reign. “Emily was a superb Queen of Mystery She embodied gracefulness, loveliness and honored our organization... for our 114th year.”

■ Aware of Greeks Bearing Gifts

A unique invitation in the form of a colorful horse opened to the scripting of “Krewe of Dorians” and the Orpheum Theater location. There, “The Trojan Horse” story was depicted in the tableau with some plot twists. The Latin “Bis Vivit Qui Bene Vivit,” meaning “He who lives well lives twice” appeared on both the Katie Rafferty-designed invitation and ball program. All hailed Miss Emma Claire Morton daughter of Mr and Mrs. John Flood Morton IV who was a Carnival rival in beauty to Helen of Troy Her majesty launched a thousand glimpses in her ballgown by Suzanne Perron St. Paul that featured white and silver jewel beading over silk lamé. Brilliant leaves and waves created a prominent pattern. The sweetheart neckline, hem, and sweeping train were outlined with heavily encrusted scalloped lace. Last year Miss Bailey Victoria Shofstahl reigned. Maids to queen Emma were Misses Sarah Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Leven Rebecca Greene, Cameron Crawford Metzinger, Caroline Crownover Koppel Schreiner and Lindsay Sawyer Temple. Completing the court were ladies-in-waiting Ainsley LeFebvre Browne, Olivia Ellen Convenuto, Gabrielle Marie Dennis and Theresa Evelyn Newburger, and pages William Mason Alexander IV Hayden West Janke, Grant Dixon Lagarde and William Prescott Worsley Jr The music was by the Jimmy Maxwell Orchestra. Clothilde Designs created the krewe favor, a gilded seahorse; the king’s pin, which featured a fleur-de-lis and a Bengal tiger; and the queen’s pin, a gilded crown. All three were seen on certain ladies. In prominent box seats were royal mother Lisa Morton, who wore for the momentous occasion a floral jacquard gown in midnight blue, along with Mmes. Brian Christopher Fitzpatrick, Bret Alden Clesi, Christopher William Dorion, Norman Lee Dykes, Elizabeth Morton Keller, Charles Gray Morton,Andrew Buckley Lapeyre,Vanessa Brown Claiborne,Timothy Verlander, Harold Houghton Treleaven III, Diane Dixey Hailey Arterburn, Elizabeth Blair Hailey Reynolds, Harriet Price Hailey Rouhana (a former queen, as were others in attendance), Sean Blair Reynolds, Michael John Reynolds Jr James Anthony Kutter, James Walter Hailey III, Matthew Brian Mazzarell (her majesty of 2011) and John Glenna Bryson Boyd. Also, Miss Mary Kathryn Fitzpatrick, a former first maid of Dorians.

The queen’s breakfast followed the ball at the New Orleans Country Club. There, the monarchs reaped praise galore for their royal roles as they relished the conviviality of friends, family and Dorians brass. About the evening, Queen Emma related, “Everything was beautiful. Just beautiful.” The supper’s flowers and decorations were provided by Thibodeaux’s Floral Studio, while the show band, BRW, turned out the tunes until early the next Carnival day

Prescott Worsley, Hayden Janke, Grant Lagarde, William Alexander

PHOTOS By JEFF STROUT

Emily LeBlanc

Sophia Linn, Margo Weese, Katie Gardes

Elizabeth Brooks, Dwight Acomb, Marguerite Breaux

Elizabeth Toso, Michael Walshe

Hayden Janke, J.T Waldrup

Marin Taylor, Linda Diaz, Cecilia Caballero

Lynn Schonberg, Lauren Carrere, Elizabeth LeBlanc

PHOTOS By DANIEL ERATH Emma Morton

Lindsay Sawyer Temple, Caroline Schreiner

Sarah Fitzpatrick, Michael Walshe, Cameron Metzinger

Leven Greene, Bob Pettit

Gabrielle Dennis, Theresa Newburger, Ainsley Browne, Olivia Convenuto

Carolyn Fitzpatrick, Lisa Morton, Charlotte Dorion, Patrice Clesi

TRAVEL

Universal’s Epic Universe in Orlando to open May 22

BY DEWAYNE BEVIL

Orlando Sentinel (TNS)

ORLANDO, Fla. — Universal’s Epic Universe will celebrate its grand opening on May 22, marking Orlando’s first new theme park in a generation.

It’s a fine time to reboot and enroll in Epic 101, a course that reviews what we know and what we don’t know about Universal Orlando’s expansion, which Mark Woodbury, CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences, has referred to as “the most technologically advanced park we’ve ever done.”

The park was first announced in 2019. Universal has shared details along the way about its rides, shows and hotels, but burning questions remain.

When and where

Epic Universe is under construction about 2.5 miles southeast of Universal Orlando’s existing theme parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, as well as Volcano Bay water park and Universal CityWalk. Epic is on “the other side” of Interstate 4. Universal will run buses between its original parks and hotels and the Epic area. There will be open-air parking available near Epic for visitors only going to the new park. And, as stated before, the park officially opens its doors on May 22. The theme team Epic Universe will be divided into five lands. Visitors will enter through Celestial Park, which includes a coaster and a carousel. Oth-

By Christopher Elliott

er lands are Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic and Dark Universe, which features classic monsters such as the Creature From the Black Lagoon, the Mummy and brides of Dracula. Alicia Stella, owner of Orlando ParkStop website, has been monitoring the park since before construction began.

Some people are confused by the “five immersive worlds” push, she said, thinking that means five parks — and five tickets. It doesn’t The rounded gateways, which Universal calls “portals,” are the walkways from Celestial Park to the other four lands, which are all part of Epic.

“People think all of the worlds are individual theme parks because they have their own portal entrance and because they’re being advertised in individual commercials,” Stella said. “It’s like ‘Do I need a ticket for each world?’”

The portal layout, which will funnel Epic crowds into lands, concerns Tharin White, lead producer of EYNTK.info, an Orlandobased travel website.

“I don’t know what happens when you have to go through a single portal to get into Super Nintendo World, to then go into a second single portal to head into the Donkey Kong Country,” he said “To me, that just sounds like bottleneck after bottleneck after bottleneck.”

Big rides on the way

Yes. There will be four roller coasters across Epic. Mine-Cart Madness, in the Donkey Kong Country subsection of Super Nintendo World, already has a talking point: A moment where the car appears to leap over a gap in its broken rail.

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders will fly over Isle of Berk; Curse of the Werewolf will be a coaster with spinning cars in Dark Universe; and Stardust Racers, operating in Celestial Park, will be a dual-launch racing ride.

Wizarding World won’t have a coaster, but it will feature Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, a ride that follows the trial (and escape) of Dolores Umbridge a cruel character from the Potterverse.

Dark Universe will have big thrill ride. Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment will boast more than a dozen animatronic figures in an adventure that’s set beneath Frankenstein Manor

Tick-tick-tickets

Tickets are now on sale for Epic Universe, but there are limited options so far You can buy multiday Universal Orlando tickets, which come with a one-day pass for Epic Universe.

Or if you are a Universal annual passholder, you can buy one-day tickets for Epic.

Ticket prices vary by date, and this category is sold out for the first 17 days that Epic is open. The lowest posted price through the rest of 2025 is $122. More Epic tickets, including one-day tickets, will be sold before the park opens, the Universal website says.

That’s also true for Universal Express, the resort’s system for skipping lines. But whether they’ll be available months, day, weeks or even hours before opening isn’t known yet.

Tech talk

Officials and promotional materials have touted Epic as being technologically advanced. Several customerfacing bits of tech, including animatronics, robotic drones, facial recognition and ride systems have been mentioned.

“I think it runs the gamut, but I think it starts with the guest experience of what they’re going to see and how they’re going to be brought

into the immersion,” said Dennis Speigel, CEO and founder of International Theme Park Services.

Super Nintendo World will include an interactive feature using a Power-Up Band wearable device to unlock additional content.

“I think technological advancement is going to be very important to the guests,” Speigel said.

Meal motifs

Restaurants will be heavily themed within Epic Universe. Among the eateries will be Mead Hall, a vikingdriven establishment in Isle of Berk, and Das Stakehaus, which will be run by servants of vampires, the story goes, in Dark Universe Toadstool Cafe in Super Nintendo World will lean into its mushroom theme with ingredients and decor And, yes, butterbeer will be sold in the Wizarding World, just as it is in the installments at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.

Will it be ready?

Speigel said he’s talked with manufacturers and installers, and none has expressed doubt. That’s rare, he said. And there’s the swagger factor

“I’ve never seen a park open with such fanfare this far in advance of that readiness and showing the pictures and providing the information that they have,” he said.

“I just think that’s a very bold statement on their part, which leads me to believe, from what I see that they are going to be ready.”

Virgin Atlantic admits multiple failures in customer service

I’m sorry to hear about your ruined vacation. Virgin Atlantic should have refunded your points promptly So why didn’t it? It looks like you had a dispute

with the airline after the initial cancellation.

A Virgin representative rebooked you on another flight but didn’t send you a record locator so you couldn’t be sure it was a confirmed reservation. You then found an empty seat on another flight, but Virgin Atlantic wouldn’t book you on that flight.

So you canceled your trip.

Worse, Virgin Atlantic promised to call you back to fix the problem but never did.

Here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter why your flight was canceled or what kind of alternate flight your airline offered. When an airline cancels your flight, you get your money or your points back. Full stop.

A brief, polite email to one of

the customer service managers at Virgin Atlantic or Chase might have helped. I publish both on my consumer advocacy website, Elliott.org.

Even a quick review of your itinerary would have revealed the problems of rebooking you on a flight.

But if it didn’t, then Chase should have been able to claw back your points.

As I look at your correspondence with Virgin Atlantic, it appears that the airline was trying to pressure you into taking one of its upcoming flights. That’s understandable it didn’t want to issue a refund. But rules are rules, and the airline couldn’t just keep your points.

I contacted Virgin Atlantic on your behalf. A representative contacted you, and you furnished the airline with additional proof that things had gone sideways with your European vacation. The Virgin Atlantic representative admitted to “multiple failures in customer service.” Virgin Atlantic credited your points and added a flight voucher for the inconvenience. It also reimbursed you for the nonrefundable Eurostar tickets you lost. Christopher Elliott is the author of The Unauthorized Travel Manual and founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him on his site.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Universal’s Epic Universe park, in this rendering is an expansion nearly 3 miles away from the Universal Orlando’s existing theme parks.

HOLLYWOOD SOUTH

Coolidge breaks from ‘White Lotus’ with new

If dysfunctional family crime comedy is a movie genre, then the new film “Riff Raff” from Roadside Attractions satisfies all the necessary parameters.

Starring New Orleans resident Jennifer Coolidge, along with such luminaries as Ed Harris, Bill Murray, Pete Davidson, Lewis Pullman and Gabrielle Union, the hilarious crime drama, directed by Dito Montiel, puts a new spin on an unexpected family reunion.

Leslie Cardé

We first encounter Ruth, portrayed by Jennifer Coolidge, passed out on the couch of her ex-husband Vincent (Ed Harris) in a home tucked away in the woods of Massachusetts. She’s been brought there after being drugged for her own safety by her son Rocco (Lewis Pullman) and his pregnant wife, who are on the run from Leftie (Bill Murray) and his dim-witted sidekick Lonnie (Pete Davidson).

The two men are out for payback after they learn that Rocco has killed Leftie’s son, Jonathan. The murderous mayhem that ensues as Leftie and Lonnie hunt down Rocco is incidental to all the family secrets that are unearthed, as past relationships come front and center

No ‘White Lotus’ here Coolidge has just come off two seasons of the critically acclaimed and very popular HBO megahit “The White Lotus.” Speaking on a Zoom call earlier this month, Coolidge said the character of Ruth in “Riff Raff” has nothing in common with Tanya McQuoid, her role in the first two seasons of the sharp, social satire taking place at The White Lotus resort hotel chain.

“Playing Tanya in ‘White Lotus’ was very glamorous,” Coolidge said. “After all, I wasn’t freezing my ass off playing a character in a tiny house in the woods. I was roaming the real-life Four

Seasons Resorts in both Maui and then the Sicilian countryside.

“But the payoff in playing a character like Ruth in ‘Riff Raff’ was that she had an interesting backstory, and additionally I got to meet the cast of a lifetime.”

Coolidge was born outside of Boston attended Emerson College and eventually got into the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She moved to Los Angeles at the age of 21, looking to hit it big in Hollywood. She admired dramatic actresses like Meryl Streep. But when the serious parts weren’t coming, a friend talked her into joining the Groundlings comedy group. It seemed to be her ticket to get-

ting noticed, first on an episode of “Seinfeld” and eventually in the classic comedy films “Best in Show,” “Legally Blonde” and “American Pie.”

The role of Tanya in “White Lotus” was offered to her as COVID was winding down, and her first instinct was to turn it down. She felt that mentally she wasn’t up for it, and she questioned whether she looked good enough for the part after binging on pizza during lockdown.

Fortunately, she was persuaded by creator Mike White to accept the role. Coolidge eventually won an Emmy for her portrayal.

Delightfully ditzy? Sometimes

“I could relate to the character of Ruth in ‘Riff Raff’ because she was clueless about how much she had to do with her life going wrong. Ruth was a bombshell back in the day, and then picked a guy who proceeded to lose interest in her,” Coolidge said.

“I’ve had a pretty good life, so I don’t want to say woe is me, but I made a lot of pretty bad decisions, and I messed up my life by my own actions. That said, I like to play people who get screwed over in life and don’t get to have everything they want and are forced to deal with what’s left.” Coolidge, who many might describe as delightfully ditzy, certainly has a serious side. But her disarming demeanor can throw people off. Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel recently asked her about living in New Orleans and specifically about Mardi Gras. When she described the glitzy shoes that are thrown from the floats of the Krewe of Muses, Kimmel immediately thought she was making a joke, as part of her comedic eccentricity

‘Shows are so complex’

But when given a role that calls for some serious insight, Coolidge is ready to dissect the character

“Shows these days are so complex that it makes me wonder if I could actually do them,” said Coolidge. “Take the show ‘Succession,’ which has like 18-minute monologues. I’m glad it’s over, by the way, as I had a lot of anxiety over it.

“When I read the script for ‘Riff Raff,’ I really thought I could do it because Ruth had a lot going for her in her early years, but her later years were very depressing. I could relate to all of this — like as a woman, everything’s great in your 20s or 30s, and then as time goes on you realize that maybe you’ve invested a lot of time in a man who just really isn’t that into you.”

Comedy, drama, or voice-overs, Coolidge stays busy playing a variety of characters.

“Riff Raff” is now in theaters, and her next film, “A Minecraft Movie” in which she stars with Jason Momoa and Jack Black, hits theaters on April 4.

After that, she plays Aunt Peggy in the animated feature, “Pierre the Pigeon-Hawk” and still in production is “Legally Blonde 3” with Reese Witherspoon. There’s a lot on the horizon for Jennifer Coolidge.

Email Leslie Cardé at lesliecardejournalist@gmail.com.

Jennifer Coolidge, as Ruth, is escorted into the woods by her killer, Lonny, played by Pete Davidson, in ‘Riff Raff,’

Jennifer Coolidge, as Ruth, walks through the woods with her son, played by Lewis Pullman.

‘EVERYONE has a story’

Photographer signs his way into book influencer world

BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer

Tate Tullier, a Gonzales native who lives in Austin, Texas, is a photographer who has a book obsession and he loves to share his reviews on Instagram @booktimewithtate as a bookstagrammer someone who uses Instagram for book-focused content.

One thing separates Tullier from other influencers: His reviews are in American Sign Language. Born deaf, Tullier communicates through lip reading and ASL. Through modern technologies, social media and closed captioning, he participates in the online community of book reviewers and influencers

Although photography is his day job, Tullier takes his reading seriously, plowing through books every couple of days. As a child growing up in Ascension Parish, Tullier would ask his mom to drop him off at a local bookstore where he would browse and read until she finished her errands.

A search for specific books on his spiritual journey brought Tullier back to his love of reading. He started reading books on astrology and physics, which then led to novels. His spiritual rebirth included an insatiable desire for reading.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity and was possible through the ASL interpreter service Convo.

When you were young, what was the pull to books?

I’ve always been really into books since I was a kid. I grew up reading

Maybe it’s because I was a deaf child in a hearing family.

I had friends, but I was often alone when I was at home, so I would just read. My mom was a teacher, so she really wanted to make sure that as a deaf kid, I could read, so she would buy me all the books I wanted, which I loved

Going to college and being out in the world working, I would read a book from time to time, but life got busy, and I lost that connection I set business goals for myself, and that became priority

How many books have you read so far this year?

102! My goal for 2025 was 104.

How have you read that many as of March?

As a photographer, January is a slow month of the year for me, because once the holidays are done, people have no use for me. So I really took advantage of that this year I don’t have kids, and I’m my own boss. I have insomnia.

That’s how my system is. I’ve never really been a big sleeper

And my wife, Sarah, drives us everywhere, so I read in the car, too. All of that comes in handy

Have you found other deaf bookstagrammers or reviewers online?

I have found some, but there are people who got set up over lockdown who are not as active anymore. I am part of a book club, like a DM group, and the majority of them are deaf, so we talk a lot and ask a lot of questions.

I’m still comparing things with the hearing community. I am a communitybased person, and it’s nice when you have access to other peers who are in-

terested in the same thing that you are.

I’m not the only deaf person interested in books.

I grew up with hearing and deaf people not really chatting on a regular basis, and now we’ve become more involved in each other’s lives.

We can say, “Oh, hey, you’re reading this, and I’m reading this.”

I think it’s beautiful that you can get linked to other people, especially when it’s a shared, common interest, and you can hear and read other people’s stories. When we open up to other people’s lives, that’s what really helps us continue. Everybody has a story, and that helps me.

What kind of books are you most drawn to?

I appreciate a broad array of genres.

I’m definitely right now in a mood to read. I’ve been going to the library and just checking out so many books.

I’ll have 16 visible books and maybe five digital books checked out at once,

but what has definitely been super new for me is reading e-books I’m a little bit old-fashioned in that way I like a physical book.

How do you think reading helps develop empathy and compassion?

We’re all connected together and I feel like we’re here for a reason, but people get so hung up on things. If we could interact with different people or if people read more, maybe it would open them up a little bit.

Reading helps us to understand that there are so many different kinds of people.

When you’re face-to-face with people, a lot of times there is already a bias. With a book, you can feel what you need to feel without judgment to focus on that person’s story It’s important to remember that your people are not the only people in this world.

Do you think because you don’t have the distraction of sound, your imagination is able to just take off?

No. Others may disagree with me, but I really think that no matter what you hear or don’t hear, reading has that ability

That’s the beautiful thing about stories. You can read whatever you want to read. When you pick something that you’re really interested in, it’ll kickstart your imagination and transport you to another place.

I really don’t think that deaf or hearing makes a difference, but I understand why you would be curious about that.

Hearing people will never understand what it’s like to be deaf.

I don’t think that reading is soundbased. A blind person can listen to audio, and if somebody has low vision, they can read with large print books or Braille books. There’s so many different ways to read.

Email Joy Holden at joy.holden@ theadvocate.com.

Devin Jacobsen’s stories touch on Louisiana

Devin Jacobsen grew up in Baton Rouge, where his parents, Bob and Vicky Jacobsen, still make their home. He now lives in Paris, France, where his wife, Hailey, serves as an Episcopal priest. Devin Jacobsen, 37, is a writer, and the title of his new short story collection, “The Summer We Ate Off the China,” is irresistible. Good dinnerware tends to stay in the cabinet, so readers will wonder what kind of summer summoned all those fancy plates and saucers into the open. In the title story, the aging Lisa Erskine bequeaths her china to Maggie, a family friend. The treasure’s been used only once — in the summer after Lisa and her husband married. “We were saving it until we could come up in the world, you know,” Lisa laments, “but all it did was serve dust.”

Maggie privately reviews the heirloom dinner settings, “and within the bone-white luster,” Devin Jacobsen writes, “she can make out the sun coming off the mirror behind her.” It’s a moment of almost sacramental beauty, one made all the more moving because it’s short-lived.

Maggie returns the china to its storage box, presumably forever In deeper ways, the story is about missed chances, how lives can be derailed by loss. Most of the sentences are brisk, but one of them, too big to quote here, spans more than a page. There’s a logic to its length, a marathon of prose that underlines the exhausting rituals of Maggie’s work on a wait staff.

Even so, that epic stretch points to Devin Jacobsen’s willingness to experiment. He’s not afraid to take out the English language for rambling country drives, his excursions sometimes touched by hairpin turns.

Sagging Meniscus Press, the small publisher behind this collection and Devin Jacobsen’s 2020 novel, “Breath Like the Wind at Dawn,” prides itself on supporting “nonconformist” books “that want to be themselves.” That kind of insistent individuality brings its own complications.

Some of the stories in “The Summer We Ate Off the China,” such as “Tauroctony,” which unfolds like a medieval poem, are so idiosyncratic that they can seem like private reveries.

Other stories grow from a landscape more familiar to Louisiana readers.

“The Elegance of Simplicity” is a lively mashup that features a visiting Scottish couple, Tulane University, the French Quarter, a campus night watchman, downtown Baton Rouge, a trash compactor and Tiger Stadium. Perhaps no one since John Kennedy Toole has marshaled such a menagerie of characters and settings to tell a tale. There are a few grace notes here, including the author’s description of a day’s start near the Mississippi: “Already the morning is humid, and I can hear, among the gravity of the river, the suck and lapping about the levee, which means there must be a barge somewhere cutting the current.”

Zadie Smith, the acclaimed novelist, has hailed Devin Jacobsen as “a writer to watch out for.” In this, as in so many other things, she is probably right.

Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com.

Danny Heitman AT RANDOM

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Tate Tullier checks out a stack of books at a library in Austin, Texas.

Tate Tullier finds a few goodies at a Little Free Library, one of his favorite hobbies.

Jacobsen

YMIC royalty gathers for Carnival luncheon

The former queens and honored maids of the young Men Illinois Club gathered recently at the Audubon Park Clubhouse to share remembrances and each other’s company. Shown are, front row from left, Chastity Rena Spencer-Thomas Ava Rose Robertson (2025 queen) and Hope Christine Singleton On the second row are Madison Victoria Vidal and Jade Carol Mason (2024). Third row is TroyLynne Perrault, Jacinta Robinet Bell and Lynez Preyan. Fourth row is Kiana Aaron Mitchell, Dr Karen A. Becnel Moore, Karen Dillon and Monica Robinet Joseph. On the back row are Sandra Rhodes Duncan (1963), Sabrina Duncan Rose, Stephanie Rhodes Navarre, Madria Robinet Gauff, Antoinette Robinet and Bernadette Robinet Pickett.

Dealing with a difficult sister-in-law

Annie Lane

DEAR ANNIE

Dear Annie: I’m a divorced woman in my late 40s with a child in college, and for the past 21/2 years, I’ve been in a wonderful, loving relationship with a man I’ll call “Matt.” He and his sister, “Martha,” are extremely close so close they call themselves “Irish twins.” Since she lives far away, I’ve only met her a couple of times, but let’s just say she didn’t leave the best first impression. She was short-tempered and downright rude to their elderly mother a lovely woman with whom I bonded over our shared love of antiquing. Several months ago, their mother passed away and when it came time to handle her estate, Matt asked for my help. I happily lent my expertise, researching values and auction houses that ultimately brought in a fivefigure profit. Last week, we traveled to his hometown to complete the final cleanout of the house, and I once again rolled up my sleeves, making charity shop runs and sorting through keepsakes.

That’s when Martha’s true colors really came out. She openly mocked my expertise, sneered at my opinions, and called me a “trash picker.” Matt, on the other hand, told me I could take whatever I wanted from the donation pile, and I found a few sentimental jewelry pieces that I will always cherish. But later I overheard Martha calling me “greedy” in a tone dripping with disdain. When I brought it up to Matt, he waffled maybe I misheard? Maybe she was just tired? I decided to let it go. After all, she’s grieving. But I know what I heard Then came the kicker On our last night in town, Martha cheerfully announced that she’s planning a big family trip for spring break — her family, Matt and me, and Matt’s kids — all under one roof for a week

I DON’T WANT TO GO! Martha is mean, and I have zero desire to play happy family with her But Matt thinks this is a golden opportunity for his “two favorite girls” to bond. I seriously doubt that’s going to happen, but I don’t want to cause unnecessary drama either

Would it be best to just say, “Maybe next time” and keep the peace? Or do I need to be honest about my

feelings? — Terrible Twin Dear Terrible Twin: You don’t have to spend a week trapped in a house with someone who openly mocks you Martha has made it clear she doesn’t respect you, and Matt’s reluctance to acknowledge that is concerning. A polite “maybe next time” is an easy out, but be prepared for future invitations. At some point, you’ll need

to set boundaries — not just with Martha but also with Matt, who should be standing up for you. If he truly wants you and his sister to bond, he needs to recognize that respect is a two-way street. Trust your instincts. If you don’t want to go, don’t. No explanation required. Send your questions to dearannie@creators.com.

Dear Harriette: I am trying to work on becoming less bothered by the small things in life. I take things personally whether they are big or small, and I let them ruin my whole day For instance, if someone makes a harmless joke at my expense or if I receive minor criticism at work, I dwell on it for hours, sometimes even days. Even when I know deep down that the comment wasn’t meant to be hurtful, I can’t help but feel slighted or embarrassed. I replay conversations in my head, wondering if I said the wrong thing or if people are judging me. It’s exhausting to constantly feel like I have

to prove myself or read between the lines of everything people say I admire people who can brush things off and not take life so seriously, but I don’t know how to get to that point myself I want to be more easygoing and confident, but no matter how much I tell myself to “let it go,” I still feel a knot in my stomach when I think about certain moments. How can I stop overanalyzing every little thing, take things less personally and start enjoying life without feeling so weighed down by my emotions? — Sensitive

Dear Sensitive: At least you know that you are having an extreme reaction to the way people engage with you; that’s a step in the right direction. Now might be the time to count your blessings. Write down what’s good about

you. What are your positive qualities? When you receive compliments, what do people say? Pay attention. Even if you think you don’t get any thanks or praise, I believe you do. Now is the time to notice it. Pump yourself up by acknowledging the good in you. For anything that you need to take to heart and work on, do it. Instead of dwelling on a whole list of shortcomings, focus on one thing at a time that you can improve, and continue to recite your list of accomplishments to help balance out the negative thoughts. Read the book “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. One of the agreements is not to take things personally

Send questions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com.

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PROVIDED PHOTO

Lucky winner gets a bus ticket, but sisters get

BY ANDREW GATES BARRY Contributing writer

Human Condition

Two sisters once lived in a stately old home along Bayou Teche. By circumstances unique to each of them, both had returned to live in the family residence built many years before by their father, who owned a prosperous lumber company

The older sister who had previously lived in Cuba where her husband was in the sugar business before the Castro revolution, was quite outgoing. She was on the board of directors of a local bank, and her knowledge about many subjects and topics was extensive. I saw her shortly before entering law school, and when I told her my plans, she immediately informed me all about the program. She advised on which professors to get and which ones to avoid,

CURIOUS

Continued from page 1D

in his traditional Midwestern upbringing,” Longbrake said Tuesday In New Orleans, Williams met painters and photographers, fellow gay men, barflies and others in the bohemian French Quarter.

“I’m crazy about the city,” Williams wrote to his mother on Jan 2, 1939, just days after he moved in to 722 Toulouse. “I walk continually, there is so much to see food is amazingly cheap, and the cooking is the best I have encountered,” adding diplomatically, “since I left home.”

The one-time garret and the wooden stairs are not open to the public, but it’s easy to imagine Williams, a 28-year-old writer from Missouri, trudging to the top floor of the derelict rooming house.

From his “alcove cubicle,” he would lean out the window overlooking Toulouse Street, watching neighbors, tourists and “handsome sailors,” Longbrake said.

“The boarding house remained a fixture in his imagination for decades, a creative well from which he would draw one-acts, stories, poems,” wrote Robert Bray, founding editor of the Tennessee Williams Annual Review, in 2000. 1014 Dumaine St.

Fast-forward 25 years Williams bought this compound of six apartments, with a lush patio and pool, after he became successful in the 1960s. He took over a twobedroom, two-bath apartment with a balcony on the second floor

In 1981, Drs. Brobson Lutz and Ken Combs moved in next door and discovered they had a famous neighbor

“The first Saturday night we were here, we heard all this commotion over across the courtyard fence,” Lutz recalled recently “Music, big party going on Sunday we got a little ladder and looked over the fence. There was all this debris from what had been a huge party, with six or seven bodies lying around.

“That’s when we found out that Tennessee Williams owned the property next door.”

which was spot-on advice, along with numerous other bits of information about the school. When I asked her how she knew all of this, she replied, “I just do.”

The younger sister (my god-

mother) traveled extensively and sometimes very spontaneously Once when she heard a song about Kalamazoo, she called her travel agent to book a trip there so she could see what the town

“We got to know him casually,” Lutz said. When Williams decided to put the property up for sale in summer 1983, Lutz and Combs offered to buy it.

“We crafted a contract with an agreement that he would keep his apartment on the second floor for as long as he lived, for $100 a month,” Lutz said “That was very appealing to him because he had a lot of junk up there, and he didn’t want to move it.”

was all about. She also loved trains, and one year for her birthday, the older sister acquired a caboose and had it shipped by barge up the bayou and delivered by crane into the backyard. Amazon Prime and other modern-day delivery services take note!

One summer, the sisters planned to host a dinner party for a special occasion. They furthermore announced that a “nice” door prize would be awarded to one of the lucky attendees. That in and of itself piqued a lot of interest among the invited guests. In fact, curiosity reached such a level that the sisters decided to divulge a clue the prize involved “travel.”

The appointed evening arrived and guests enjoyed cocktails followed by a formal dinner It was good fellowship and conversation, but what was probably on everybody’s mind was the door prize. Travel. Where might the lucky

winner be going? Perhaps the Grand Canyon or an exotic cruise. The possibilities seemed endless. For dessert and coffee, the guests eventually were led into the living room where everyone got a ticket along with a matching stub to throw into a large bowl. From this bowl, the winning ticket would be drawn. The anticipation was almost too much, so finally the older sister mixed up all of the stubs and pulled one from the bowl. She then awarded the lucky winner with the prize a bus ticket to Delcambre — 10 miles down the road — on the local line. Barry lives in Baton Rouge Human Condition submissions of 600 words or fewer may be emailed to features@ theadvocate.com. Stories will be kept on file and publication is not guaranteed. There is no payment for Human Condition.

“Williams lived there later in 1939, and there was a party going on downstairs,” the professor told the newspaper “A sailor at the party climbed up the fire escape, and Williams always claimed this was when he lost his virginity

“The James bar diagonally across Royal Street was a gay bar, and Williams could look down from his balcony and see people cavorting around. He said he always felt that he was their patron saint.”

632½ St. Peter St.

It was in this apartment that Williams wrote at least half of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which he completed in 1947, Holditch told The Times-Picayune. Although Williams lived at this address only a short time, it was pivotal in his development. He could “hear the sounds of the streetcar on Royal Street,” Holditch said. 727 Toulouse St

“He was jovial, a pleasant drunk most of the time,” Lutz said. “He always had on something with a vintage flair to it. Our old friend Dan Mosley, who knew him before we knew him, talked about how every day, regardless of the time of year, he would go out and jump in the swimming pool. He would walk out in his fur coat, hand it to his manservant, or boy, and jump into the pool.”

The six apartments are mostly unchanged, with green tile bathrooms dating back to Williams’ time, Lutz said. Apartment B, where Williams lived, is occupied by a psychiatrist and his wife.

Toulouse at Royal streets

The playwright died just months later, at the Hotel Elysée in New York. He was 71.

Within hours, a Pinkerton guard appeared at the Dumaine Street compound and set up shop on the second-floor landing to guard the apartment, Lutz said. Williams’ estate sent a moving van to New Orleans after three or four weeks.

“They completely cleared out the apartment, except for some hidden pill bottles they didn’t find,” Lutz said.

After the garret on Toulouse Street and before the party palace on Dumaine, Williams lived in numerous places, mostly in the French Quarter

Speaking with The Times-Picayune in 2015, Kenneth Holditch, the late professor emeritus of English literature at the University of New Orleans, thought an apartment in the building behind the corner building that faces Royal Street could be the spot where Williams firmly became “Tennessee” but lost something else.

Just across the street from the rooming house where he first settled in New Orleans, Williams wrote in a hotel at 727 Toulouse, in a tiny apartment with windows over the patio. “The site offered a tranquil retreat, and the sound of the hotel’s fountain calmed Williams’ nerves,” The TimesPicayune reported.

Hotels and cottages

“Williams also maintained adjoining rooms at the Hotel Monteleone (214 Royal St.) in 1949 for when he brought his grandfather, the Rev Walter Dakin, to town,” The TimesPicayune wrote in 2015.

“In later years, the playwright complained about the small rooms he was given at the (Omni) Royal Orleans Hotel (621 St. Louis St.) and reveled in the comparative decadence of the Pontchartrain Hotel (2031 St. Charles Ave.).”

And for a time in 1969, Williams occupied one of the Audubon Cottages (415 Dauphine St.), where he held at least one fabled party Do you have a question about something in Louisiana that’s got you curious? Email your question to curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and the city where you live.

STAFF PHOTO By ANNETTE SISCO

The timeworn steps to the thirdfloor attic of 722 Toulouse St.,

The following interview with Smith was edited for length and clarity

What’s your assessment so far of NOMA’s institutional position both locally and nationally?

NOMA has an encyclopedic collection. It has augmented its collection to represent more of our society, so it’s doing the work the typical encyclopedic museum does. There are some visionary programs that it has in welcoming and prioritizing youth and the elders. I don’t want to use the word inclusive because that’s a hot topic, but it’s welcoming to as broad an audience as possible.

As someone who has known the museum her whole life,do you have your own personal experience with a specific work of art or exhibit?

The last time my mother was here before she died, we came to experience the exhibition of Rashaad Newsome (“King of Arms,” 2013), who is a New Orleans native artist who graduated from McMain. It was right after my brother died, and Rashaad looks so much like my brother and so that work resonated with us, especially at that time. My brother died in March and this

was June when we went to see the show. The topics that he explored — and I don’t care how this may be perceived by relatives — if my brother had been free to live out loud, this artist was doing that. So it was a way for us to have some — I don’t believe in closure — but to have some reconciliation with my brother It meant a lot to see Rashaad Newsome’s work and it was kind of healing for us because we saw my brother resonating. It was like he was speaking to us from his place of ascension.

What are the strengths of the collection and how will those be tapped in upcoming exhibitions?

The most immediate exhibition that we’re working on, furiously, is “New African Masquerades,” which is an exhibition that is organized around the principle of equity That exhibition complements works from our collection. What it does is it gives a living context for the works that we see.

African art in a museum tends to be pretty static. In the ways in which it will be installed, there will be some idea of movement or how the body activates it.

There will be some seriously articulated mannequins, but also there will be an immersive room that will allow you to fully experience the masquerade, and we are looking at some complementary pieces from the collection.

This exhibition “New African Masquerades” provides us with the opportunity to feature one of the museum’s collections of a Black Masking Indian suit by Rukiya Brown. She’s very excited about that; to have these complementary works on view provides a fuller experience and engages our collection and puts it within a broader context in the community and in conversation with one another According to your appointment announcement,you are serving as the institutional curator for upcoming retrospectives by Hayward Oubre and Willie Birch.What can we expect in those exhibitions? Hayward Oubre, who I’m really getting to know more of, was a native New Orleanian artist. He studied at Dillard University but he also went to Atlanta University where he studied under Hale Woodruff, who was the founder of the Atlanta University art department. So I wrote on Hale Woodruff when I was at Spelman, because we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the art department and Hale Woodruff. One of the things that Hayward Oubre did is that he taught at other HBCUs. He taught in Alabama and in North Carolina, so I’m excited that his work is being discussed and presented in his hometown.

With Willie Birch, I’m excited about his exhibition and I don’t

want to play on this too much, but my mother grew up right next door to Willie Birch. It’s a full circle, and I’m excited about presenting his exhibition at NOMA, and it will travel to three or four other sites.

You never underestimate the grasp and the reach that certain artists have, so I get to be a part of that archive or that documentation and that presentation of his work in a broad arc. New Orleans knows a certain aspect of his work, but we will also present the work that he was creating when he was in New York, and also when he was in Baltimore. We get to meet a different aspect of him.

As a museum professional, you were able to observe the #DismantleNOMA controversy of some years ago. What are your thoughts and what is your evaluation of changes wrought by that controversy?

So, I will not specifically speak on that. I will talk about what a particularly fraught time that was. NOMA wasn’t the only one under fire. There was Newfields Indianapolis Museum of Art and there was stuff happening at SFMOMA (the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). Ironically, during that time I was teaching at the curatorial studies program at Spelman and we were coming up with certain touchstones about how we do our work as curators, and the students were supposed

to propose exhibitions. When we were talking about those charged issues at that time — that was a heightened time; we had this pandemic and then we had that heinous (George Floyd) murder — everybody was so vulnerable and so reactive and just afraid in general. We weren’t rational. When I asked my students about these situations, these occurrences, “What should we do?” They said, “Well, burn the museums down.” So, when they’re presenting their exhibition proposals, I’m like “So where do you want to have it?” And it was (in) the museums that they wanted to burn down. That’s my answer to that We mess up. I can’t speak for NOMA on that. I know that I’m here to ensure that NOMA honors its mission and its mission is inclusive — and to advance that in maybe newer and exciting ways. It’s great to see (NOMA) Director Susan M. Taylor respond to the needs of the museum and the public and to have helped establish a strategic plan in which we can be more impactful to our public and to our audiences.

Dave Walker focuses on behindthe-scenes coverage of the region’s many museums here and at www.themuseumgoer com. Email Dave at dwalkertp@ gmail.com.

names of each.

“That is Seymour,” he said. “You can tell by his beak.”

A safe harbor

Originally from Baton Rouge, Newman, 64 has moved all over the country throughout his career But it was his wife who chose to return to Baton Rouge when they retired. Shortly after returning, his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and he acted as her primary caregiver for years. In June 2022, when his wife decided to come back to their home in hospice care, he began to find solace and peace by walking from his home on Stanford Avenue to University Lake to feed the ducks on East Lakeshore Drive. Call it divine or fate, but not long after his wife’s passing in October 2022, Newman awoke one morning to find that a group of 10 ducks had made their way to his front yard, looking for a home.

He set up an inflatable pool and offered the ducks a safe harbor

from the busy streets of Baton Rouge — until they were ready to move to University Lake. Two years later, when he found two abandoned unhatched eggs, he purchased an incubator A few weeks later on Oct. 4 2024, Mr. Duck and Baby Girl were born.

Now living around the LSU lakes, Mr Duck and Baby Girl still find their way to Newman’s feeding grounds, quickly jumping into his arms like toddlers when they arrive. Home for generations

Baton Rouge is located in a

major bird migration route, the Mississippi Flyway The city is a permanent and transient home to a vast array of waterfowl and migratory birds. At any given time of year, one can walk the LSU lakes and see different winged species. One in particular that has ex-

ploded in population is the blackbellied whistling duck. At dawn and dusk, the whistles of thousands overhead making their diurnal migration to and from the Mississippi River to feed or roost are hard to miss. The sky fills up with these birds, flapping their white wings and whistling through their pink-orange beaks while they dot the sky

Meanwhile, wood ducks forage through the common water hyacinth and native great egrets and great blue herons go about their day, often poised gracefully on logs for seemingly hours on end. The belted kingfisher, a small but defiant fluttering bird, is known for spearing down into the water for fish.

For generations, these birds have called the LSU lakes home. With spring’s arrival comes courtship and mating for local waterfowl and wildlife, which is the reason for walkers and drivers near the lakes to exercise caution as ducklings, turtle hatchlings and others make their way often on roads.

“Their beauty is obvious,” Newman said. “You just have to look for them.”

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

John Newman feeds a group of ducks Tuesday near University Lake in Baton Rouge.

By The Associated Press

Today is Sunday, March 23, the 82nd day of 2025. There are 283 days left in the year

Today in history

On March 23, 1998, “Titanic” tied an Academy Awards record by winning 11 Oscars, including best picture, best director for James Cameron and best original song for “My Heart Will Go On.”

On this date:

In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered an address to the Virginia Provincial Convention in which it is said he declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

In 1919, Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy.

In 1933, the German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers.

In 1942, the first Japanese Americans incarcerated by the U.S. Army during World War II arrived at the internment camp at Manzanar, California.

In 1965, America’s first twoperson space mission took place as Gemini 3 blasted off with astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom and John W. Young aboard for a nearly five-hour flight orbiting Earth.

In 1993, scientists announced they’d identified the gene that causes Huntington’s disease.

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, a $938 billion health care overhaul In 2021, a cargo ship the size of a skyscraper ran aground and became wedged in the Suez Canal; hundreds of ships would be prevented from passing through the canal until the vessel was freed six days later

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Chaka Khan is 72. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma is 71. Fashion designer Kenneth Cole is 71. Actor Amanda Plummer is 68. Actor Hope Davis is 61. Musician Damon Albarn is 57. Basketball Hall of Famer Jason Kidd is 52. Actor Randall Park is 51. Actor Michelle Monaghan is 49. Actor Keri Russell is 49. Country singer Brett Young is 44.

To post, as well as to overshare, is human

Dear Miss Manners: Why do people, especially celebrities, feel the need to post their intimate details for all to read?

One female celeb posted about her partner’s performance in bed and how good he was at it. Another posted about how bad her ex was. Does the public need to know this information?

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

Those who post continuously don’t understand that social media is the downfall of many relationships.

Gentle Reader: Why, indeed, does everyone — celebrated or just hoping to be — feel the need to post everything about their lives?

We claim to care about our privacy We hate it when we expect people to admire us, and instead they attack us. Yet we keep feeding each other material.

Dear Heloise: Sometimes we forget some of the kitchen hints that we’ve learned over the years. Here are a few reminders:

n You can substitute beer for wine as the liquid in stews or soups, and you’ll discover a nice, rich sauce. But only use as much beer as the recipe calls for, and don’t forget the water that is often called for as well.

n If a recipe calls for Champagne, use a fairly inexpensive brand Or use wine instead and keep the Champagne to celebrate a special occasion!

n Should a recipe call for wine, you can use nearly any kind, although a number of chefs prefer to use a good quality They claim that it makes a superior dish, but you can be the judge. Personally, I can’t tell the difference.

n Many wines that are specifically advertised for cooking contain monosodium glutamate or

Celebrities did not always do this. They had press agents to spread favorable stories and, when necessary, quash unfavorable ones. The assumption was that they led blameless domestic lives, unless they made public scenes or landed in court. The idea was to boost their careers by making them seem relatable and likable.

Surprisingly, this approach often worked: Not everyone had a camera with which to catch them behaving badly, and the press was less aggressive. But now, bland narratives no longer titillate the public. Failings are often forgiven, but virtue is suspicious — not to mention boring.

Noncelebrities follow famous people’s lead, in the hope of becoming celebrities themselves. Or because they hold the nowcommon belief that the unpublicized life is not worth living.

Now, Miss Manners has a ques-

salt, making them undrinkable. The rumor is that salt was added to wine to keep cooks from drinking it instead of adding it to the recipe. So, just use the real kind that is drinkable.

n Don’t have the red wine you need? Try using balsamic vinegar in its place.

n If you need to add sherry to a soup, add it just before serving time. Use about 1 teaspoon of sherry per cup of soup.

n Tired of ordinary vegetables? Try steaming them in white wine or balsamic vinegar instead of water

n Not all food benefits from cooking them with wine. Acidic foods like vinegar, citrus, tomatoes, asparagus, onions, pineapples and artichokes may taste off if you use wine. — M.H., in Connecticut

Scratching furniture

Dear Readers: When you bring a new kitty home, it is normal for them to scratch furniture due to their growing claws.

So, to prevent your kitten from ruining your sofa or chairs, buy a

tion for you: Why are you reading this stuff?

Dear Miss Manners: I have become something of an auction junkie, and I am surprised at how often I see incomplete sets of sterling flatware for sale. Often, the “set” is just dinner forks and several sizes of spoons; sometimes it’s only knives, or only coffee spoons, etc.

I’m confused by the incompleteness of place settings and the fact that this was apparently how they were collected. Did people entertaining with “the good silver” mix utensil designs freely?

Odd! I see it too often for it not to be “a thing”!

Gentle Reader: You probably have a garbage disposal. You may or may not have children. But those are the two most likely places where missing pieces go. True, the garbage disposal doesn’t actually eat silver, but it can mangle anything it catches. And the original silver owners’

descendants may not actually use silver, but sets are often split up when they inherit it. The possessors of incomplete sets might have supplemented them with pieces from other incomplete sets, perhaps inherited from another side of the family Or like you, maybe they went scavenging at auctions and other venues selling odd pieces.

Miss Manners feels obliged to point out that you, as an auction junkie, benefit from this chaos. Buying a complete set would be a one-time pleasure, but if you buy an incomplete one, you can have a lifetime of sport in tracking down the missing items.

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

scratching post for it.

To get your kitten used to the scratching post, sprinkle a bit of catnip over it because cats love catnip! — Heloise

Slicing safety

Dear Heloise: I traded in my mandoline’s safety guard for a cutproof glove. I have fewer, smaller hunks left at the end, and there are no trips to the emergency room. — Jen, via email

Drink your water

Dear Heloise: More women should really listen to their bodies in order to look and feel their best. One practice women often neglect is drinking enough water, which ends up dehydrating them. There is a simple test you can do right at home to see if you need to drink more water:

Pinch the skin on the back of either hand, and if the skin seems to stay up for a few seconds, you need more water in your system and lotion on your hands. Try to drink 8 glasses of water a day. If you remember, squeeze the

Private family notes

Dear Heloise: My husband and children used to leave me little notes such as: “Please pick up my insulin on your way home tonight,” or “Your mom called and wants to talk to you as soon as possible.” These

BY STEPHEN BATTAGLIO Los Angeles Times (TNS)

NEW YORK Brian Baumgartner, who played the endearingly dimwitted accountant Kevin Malone on NBC’s “The Office,” can’t escape the role that defined him for nine seasons.

He even recently appeared in an episode of the NBC drama “Suits LA,” playing himself In the show, he asked his attorney to find a way to do away with the character so he could realize his dream of becoming an Oscar-worthy dramatic actor Loyal “Office” fans surely caught the inside gag.

In fact, Baumgartner has for years served as a happy ambassador for the beloved mockumentary about the employees of a Scranton, Pennsylvania, paper company He hosted a podcast celebrating “The Office” and turned it into a bestselling oral history book Kevin Malone’s famous chili paved the way for two cookbooks

Many hit shows from decades ago have been embraced by audiences thanks to exposure on Netflix and other streaming platforms. But even among that group, “The Office” — which is celebrating its 20th anniversary — lives in rare air

While never a blockbuster hit during its initial run that began on March 24, 2005, streaming has helped turn “The Office,” an adaptation of the eponymous British series, into an enduring pop culture touchstone.

The familiar cast members have ridden the wave, evoking their famous roles in TV commercials for Cheerios, Panera Bread, Bush’s Beans, Fox’s telecast of the 2020 Super Bowl and AT&T Business. The show is being licensed for toys (Lego, Little People, Funko Pop! and Polly Pockets) and children’s books including “The Office: A Day at Dunder Mifflin Elementary.” Tickets for an annual unofficial fan convention known as the Reunion to be held in New Jersey this year, go for as much as $400. “The Office” continues to have a stylistic influence on TV comedy as well.

Its faux-documentary style reminiscent of Christopher Guest movies — became a template for other successful sitcoms including “Modern Family,” “Abbott Elementary” and most recently NBC’s “St. Denis Medical.”

While fans have been content to rewatch “The Office,” they will finally get a spinoff series from executive producer Greg Daniels.

The still-to-be-named series, set at a Midwestern newspaper that depends on citizen journalists, will premiere this year on Peacock.

The series will take place in “The Office” universe with alum Oscar Nuñez joining the cast (Daniels, protective of “The Office” canon, noted that Oscar Martinez was the only character who did not have a life-changing resolution in the finale).

Baumgartner has helped feed

“The Office” popularity machine for years, but he’s still taken aback at how much the show means to fans who have discovered it since it ended.

“They have an intense need to tell me how the show helped them through a difficult time,” Baumgartner told The Times. “A medical condition, a family issue, a domestic problem. It’s a very powerful thing.”

Even with its cringe-generating moments, often created by Steve Carell’s malapropism-prone Michael Scott, the familial atmosphere of Dunder Mifflin is a welcome escape at a time of political division and angry social discourse.

“In this fractured society, just seeing and feeling a disparate group of people who care about each other is rare, particularly in TV right now,” Baumgartner said.

While streaming services entered bidding wars for “Friends,” ”Seinfeld” and other hit sitcoms of the past, “The Office” quietly outperformed them. Nielsen data showed it was the most streamed show in 2020, a time when more consumers were turning to Netflix, where “The Office” was streaming, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That demand translated into a big-money deal. Comcast Corp shelled out $100 million to its own Universal Television unit that produced “The Office” to bring the series to its Peacock streaming service in 2021 five times what Netflix was paying, according to people familiar with the deal who were not authorized to comment publicly

The series is the most popular program on the service. NBC says the average Peacock viewer has watched 59 episodes of the series. Peacock enlisted the show’s producers to create “super fan” episodes that restore material cut for its original 22 minute broadcast run-time (they are just getting to the ninth and final season). They have helped drive 1.7 billion hours of viewing of “The Office,” accounting for 7% of all Peacock usage.

“The Office” has also remained a staple of traditional TV, currently running on three cable networks: E!, Comedy Central and Freeform. With cable networks cutting back on original programming, “The Office” reruns are filling up hours of their schedules. The show airs on more than a dozen international broadcast services

The durability of vintage TV sitcoms such as “I Love Lucy” and ”Friends” are driven in part by the nostalgia of fans who grew up with them. But some audiences flocking to the “The Office” are discovering as if it were a new show

As streaming video gained audience, Daniels heard from co-workers on his other projects about how their preteen kids were watching “The Office” obsessively on Netflix which first bought the rights in

2011 Being trapped in a cubicle and forced to deal with a buffoonish boss resonates with the junior high crowd.

“It’s like your experience in school, when the teacher is lecturing you and you’re unable to avoid it,” Daniels said. “Or the person at the desk next to you is someone you didn’t necessarily choose to be your best friend and you’re kind of stuck there.”

Jim Donnelly, executive vice president for comedy at Universal Television, said the show’s youthful appeal helps replenish the audience.

“I do think that as television viewers come of age, they are finding the show,” he said. “We haven’t really seen any drop-off in interest.”

Daniels says the show still fells contemporary after two decades.

The British version of “The Office” — created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant was shot with a Frederick Wiseman-like bleakness. But Daniels gave the U.S. edition the look of a reality show format, complete with confessional interviews. He hired the film crew from “Survivor” after “The Office” pilot was picked up.

The practical jokes on the show appeal to a younger generation that devours prank videos from MrBeast to Dude Perfect — across YouTube and other social media platforms. The official TikTok account for “The Office” has 4.2 million followers, nearly 1 million more than “Friends.”

The enduring success of “The Office” is remarkable considering the show’s rocky start. “A single camera sitcom, shot as a faux documentary with no laugh track with people who look normal in the age of ‘Friends’ and ‘Baywatch,’ was not an easy pitch,” said Ben Silverman, who brought the program to NBC. (Silverman currently runs the production company Propagate.)

“The Office” was created in another era of television, when reaching broad audiences was necessary for network TV survival. The show was vying for a spot on the schedule at a time when NBC had lost its mega-hit “Friends” and had pinned its hopes on ”Joey,” a spinoff featuring Matt LeBlanc that struggled to get through two seasons.

Jeff Zucker, who ran NBCUniversal at the time, admits the quirky comedy style of “The Office” pilot was not easy for his programming department to digest.

“The folks at NBC Entertainment at the time were probably

not the target in understanding the humor of the show,” Zucker said in an interview

“The Office” had one real champion in upper management at the network: Kevin Reilly the entertainment president who first received a pitch for the project when he was running cable network FX. Daniels didn’t have the prestige TV snobs behind him either

Creating a U.S. version of the acclaimed 2001 British series was perilous.

“There was a lot of stress because fans of the original show were saying ‘Why are you doing this? It’s such a gem,’” Daniels recalled. “I would say, ‘If you like this kind of comedy, this is the closest you’re going to get.’”

The pilot was not well-received by test audiences but showed enough of a pulse with younger viewers to earn a six-episode order — an unusually small number at the time for a network show

Ratings declined after a decent audience for its premiere Zucker said there were “long conversations” at the network before bringing the show back for a second year

But the show caught a couple of major breaks. One was Carell’s lead role in the summer box office hit “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” which turned him into a movie star and a draw for a show that avoided casting big-name actors at the start.

The other was NBC’s decision to offer episodes on Apple’s iTunes platform when DVD sets were the main way to binge-watch. The move was a precursor to the videoon-demand streaming world.

While the “Office” audience was small by network TV standards of the time, many of its viewers were young, upscale and more willing to adapt to new technology In 2005, “The Office” became a top seller on iTunes with 100,000 downloads in the first few months.

“I think that told us that there was going to be a new way of delivering these shows,” Zucker said.

“Had ‘The Office’ started out on streaming, it would have been a huge hit right out of the box.”

Ash Tavassoli, executive vice president and creative director of ad agency BBDO LA never caught “The Office” during its network run. But when he was recovering from surgery he went down the series rabbit hole of 192 episodes.

“I’m like, ‘I can’t turn this thing off,’” Tavassoli said. “I had to immediately tell anyone who I knew who hadn’t watched it, ‘You need to go watch this thing.’”

PROVIDED PHOTO

Brian Baumgartner, center, and a guest attend 2024’s Charitybuzz, that included cast members of ‘The Office,’ in Woodland Hills, Calif.

Walkers: 2mi Joggers: 2mi Runners: 5mi

Walkers: 2mi Joggers: 2mi Runners: 5mi

Walkers: 2mi Joggers: 2mi Runners: 5mi

Walkers: 3mi Joggers: 3mi Runners: 5mi Walkers: 3mi Joggers: 3mi Runners: 5mi

Reading the room

BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer

At a time when people are overloaded with information from their smartphones and other screens, Cheryl Landrieu thinks it’s important to discuss ideas face to face.

That’s one of the missions of the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University cochaired by Landrieu and esteemed journalist Walter Isaacson. The fourth annual event is scheduled to take place Thursday through Saturday on the university’s Uptown campus.

“People might sit at home and worry about what is going on in the world, but this is a way to come together and share the information you’re receiving and get together in groups to talk about it,” Landrieu said. “It’s helpful to have a shared experience.”

The event, which began 15 years ago as a small children’s book gathering, has grown dramatically since moving to Tulane in 2022. Organizers estimate it drew roughly 15,000 attendees last year, thanks to an A-list lineup of authors, media figures and politicians. This

year’s crowd is expected to be comparable. Landrieu, a lawyer and author, said Book Fest is expanding in several ways in 2025. It will take up more space on campus, for one thing. Also, organizers have broadened programming to include new sessions on humor and cooking, plus content aimed at younger readers. Overall, there will be more than 90 panels, book signings, a culinary symposium, family activities and a closing concert High-profile guests scheduled to participate this year include immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci, journalists Connie Chung and Bob Woodward, statistician Nate Silver, novelist

In total, Book Fest 2025 will gather more than 200 authors, thought leaders and creatives for three days of discussion about politics, culture, fiction, productivity business and more.

“These are creative, thoughtful, insightful individuals talking about their passions and what they think the world is about,” said Tulane President Michael A Fitts. “It’s a smorgasbord.”

In its 15th year, authors, journalists, more add to a thought-provoking Book Fest ä See BOOK, page 2E

BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer

Landrieu

Isaacson

John Grisham and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Students walk past a New Orleans Book Festival sign at Tulane University in New Orleans. The festival kicks off Thursday

How to prepare for a recession before it’s too late

It’s OK if you’re not OK.

Whether you’re living paycheck to paycheck or have healthy savings, the erratic tariff battles of President Donald Trump are tanking markets and fueling expectations that a recession is coming.

With workers, businesses and consumers increasingly alarmed, Goldman Sachs has raised its 12-month recession probability from 15% to 20%, while J.P Morgan’s chief economist has upped the odds to 40%, a significant jump from the 30% prediction at the start of the year

“If we get the impression that they’re moving ahead with even larger tariffs than we now expect, or if the White House just signaled that it’s really committed to its policies, even in the face of weaker economic data, either of those developments might imply that the recession probability is higher,” David Mericle, chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs, said Monday during a podcast on tariffs and the U.S. economy

The tariff timing couldn’t be worse. It already feels like you need a microloan to buy eggs, with the average cost of a dozen jumping by 10.4% last month.

Your old car is one breakdown away from the junkyard, but

PEOPLE IN BUSINESS

New Orleans

Manning, APC recently marked its 40th anniversary by promoting seven employees to leadership positions.

n Ryan Bertucci is director of architecture | practice leader, New Orleans

n Bartek Skowron is director of design

n Rachel Billingsley is director of interiors

n Travis L.Martin is director of planning

n Charles Luquet is director of construction

n Marion B. Bracy is director of program management

n Lisa Herron is director of strategy and growth.

BOOK

Continued from page 1E

Too much ‘current events’?

Book Fest 2025 will offer plenty of political content, like a conversation featuring dueling political strategists David Axelrod and Karl Rove and an opening night presentation from the team at The Atlantic magazine.

But Isaacson said the event is not really focused on the headlines, no matter how engaging or concerning they may be.

“I think the world has too much ‘current events’ right now,” he said.

Landrieu said the goal is more about building community around all different kinds of ideas. It’s almost like a well-rounded person’s Facebook or Instagram feed come to life, with presentations ranging from the state of democracy to an argument that New Orleans is America’s “sandwich capital.”

There will be a conversation with Saints legend Archie Manning, led by his son Cooper, as well as a look at the 50th anniversary of the Superdome and the 20th anniversary

layoffs and policy-related uncertainty.”

Michelle Singletary THE COLOR OF MONEy

you can’t afford to replace it if Trump’s tariff war escalates — leading to even higher prices for new and used cars The average monthly auto loan payment was a record $754 in the last three months of 2024, with some borrowers paying $1,000 a month.

Even if you can’t bear to look at your 401(k) retirement account (I haven’t), you know its value is down. The S&P 500 — a key gauge of market performance — tumbled into a correction earlier this month, which is a 10% drop in the price of a stock or index.

“Typically we see corrections when there’s a noticeable crack in the economy, or when the market needs to cool off after a long stretch of gains,” Callie Cox, chief market strategist for Ritholtz Wealth Management, wrote in a market alert. “We think today’s correction is a mix of both dynamics. The economy is under pressure from years of high interest rates, plus large-scale government

Fool’s Take: An undervalued company

Alphabet’s (Nasdaq: GOOGL) (Nasdaq: GOOG) Google was recently ranked the third most valuable brand in the world by Brand Finance.

The company’s Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps services are widely used and helped Alphabet haul in $72 billion in advertising revenue last year Alphabet has excellent growth prospects. Its growing ad revenue delivers a steady stream of cash that management can reinvest in technology like artificial intelligence. Over the last year, Alphabet generated nearly $73 billion of free cash flow Google’s Gemini AI model is leading to new features that make the company’s products better For example, the AI Overviews feature is boosting usage of Google Search, and higher engagement can mean increased advertising revenue. Management sees a lot of opportunities in AI, especially in Google Cloud, where revenue grew 30% year over year in the fourth quarter Importantly, the cloudcomputing business continues to see improving profit margins.

The value of Google’s businesses and the momentum the company is seeing in AI services point to a bright future. With a recent price-to-earnings ratio of 21, below its five-year average of 26, Alphabet is a solid stock for long-term investors to consider (Suzanne Frey, an Alphabet executive, is on The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet.)

Fool’s School: Funds have fees

If you haven’t given much thought to mutual funds, you

of Hurricane Katrina.

Social media influencers Nicole Richie, a reality TV star, and Cleo Wade, a poet and New Orleans native, will host several “coffee chats” with authors in a living room-style gathering place under one of the two big tents on the Tulane quad.

“I like that we’re keeping it true to New Orleans, where we want to have serious conversations, but we also want to have fun and talk about things we love, like culture, art and food,” Landrieu said. “Ultimately, Book Fest is about creativity. It’s obviously something New Orleans has in spades, and writers do, too.”

If an economic downturn is inevitable this year, here are some ways to prepare your finances and mind.

Pay down credit card debt

If you have been battling credit card debt, your top priority should be to pay off your balances as soon as possible.

If you lose your job you may have no choice but to focus on paying for essentials — a roof over your head and food on the table — not shelling out interest payments on unpaid credit card debt

One way to tackle the debt is to get a low-interest personal loan or sign up for a balance-transfer credit card. You can eliminate debt much faster if you transfer high-interest debt to a credit card with a zero percent rate. If you can’t qualify for that call your credit issuer and ask for an interest rate reduction.

Stockpile savings

A recession can quickly change your circumstances. Low and high earners can be affected.

If you don’t have an adequate rainy-day fund, it’s time to look for cuts, increase your income to help boost savings, or both.

Got vacation plans? Put that summer trip to the beach on hold until you have a decent cash cushion. Otherwise, you’ll have to rely on debt

Establish a backup

In addition to having a recession rainy-day fund, figure out where you might go for additional funds if you need them in a pinch.

If you’re a homeowner, consider getting a home equity line of credit (HELOC), which allows you to borrow money using the equity in your home. But only use this line of credit as a last resort should your savings run out and make sure you understand all the fees and interest costs associated with a HELOC.

Curb your consumerism

People buying stuff fuels the U.S. economy Consumer spending on goods and services in the U.S. economy accounts for about two-thirds of domestic spending, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. But much of this consumption is funded with debt. Total household debt increased by $93 billion to $18 trillion in the last quarter of 2024, according to the New York Fed. Credit card balances were up by $45 billion from the previous

NOEW

might want to start considering them for your portfolio. (We especially love broad-market index funds, such as those that track the S&P 500.) With a good mutual fund, you plunk in your dollars and financial professionals invest them for you saving you a lot of trouble.

When you look at various funds, though, don’t just focus on their performance records. Look at the fees they charge, as well, including annual fund operating expenses and shareholder fees.

A fund’s annual fee is generally expressed as its “expense ratio,” and it might be thought of as the cost of owning the fund. It covers management fees and other expenses of running the fund. If a fund charges, say, 1.2%, you’ll pay $12 per $1,000 you have invested in the fund — every year That might not seem like much, but if you had $100,000 invested in mutual funds with an average expense ratio of 1.2%, you’d be paying $1,200 in a single year

Shareholder fees include sales “loads,” which are commissions paid when you buy or sell shares of certain funds. Load fees can be fairly steep (some funds charge 5% or more), but there are gobs of “no-load” funds.

Mutual fund fees have dropped quite a lot in recent years, with the average expense ratio for stock funds hitting 0.42% in 2023, down from 0.99% in 2000. And index funds tend to have even lower fees, in part because their managers just copy an index’s holdings and don’t have to research, buy and sell various stocks, bonds and other assets. As of 2022, the average expense ratio of a stock-based index fund was just 0.05%, and today, you can find some index funds charging 0.02% or less. There are also exchange-traded funds, which have grown quite popular They’re funds that charge similar annual holding fees, but trade like stocks. Many are also index-based, such as the excellent Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO).

‘Find the box that will surprise you’

Earlier this month, the festival released its detailed schedule in the “cubes” format familiar to regulars of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Overlapping events on multiple stages make for tough choices for hardcore book nerds and political junkies.

On Friday morning, Isaacson will interview Fauci at the same time that Tulane geographer Richard Campanella joins a discussion

about the future of the Mississippi River Afterward, Chung will talk about her groundbreaking media career, while retired Gen. David Petraeus, former director of the CIA, addresses war strategy and leadership. Later in the day, Isaacson will converse with CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna while Axelrod and Rove talk politics.

On Saturday, novelist John Grisham and New Orleansborn nonfiction writer Michael Lewis will share the stage at McAlister Auditorium, while a Dixon Hall panel showcases a new generation of talents: novelists Alison Espach and Casey McQuiston. Isaacson has one piece of advice for people planning their day

“My recommendation would be to find the box that will most surprise you and teach you something new,” he said. “You can go to a cookbook talk and genetic engineering talk and hear authors talk about turning their books into movies. Whatever tickles your mind.”

Email Rich Collins at rich. collins@theadvocate.com.

Continued from page 1E

CEO of the Idea Village.

“The partnership with Loyola is helping us grow NOEW by engaging new networks, bringing in new audiences and building a sustainable platform,” Atkinson said. “It also helps connect the university with the business community and institutionalize the educational mission that makes NOEW special.”

Busy schedule

The week will include days packed with back-to-back programming across the city that bring together diverse organizations that have a stake in the city’s entrepreneurial community

On Monday, for instance, Junior Achievement will host an event for high schoolers at Loyola, while food trucks are setting up for a kick-off party outside The Nieux, an events space and “innovation hub” in the old Eiffel Tower building on St. Charles Avenue.

After lunch, The Beach at UNO will host the “Future Energy Experience” at the Nieux while students participate in a pitch competition at Tulane.

Simultaneously, across the lake, the St. Tammany Economic Development Corp. will be hosting a Startup Northshore event offering leadership, marketing and strategy training. And that’s just day one. The busy schedule of events continues on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, the NOEW “summit” at Loyola begins.

Among the highlights on campus will be a panel discussion on Friday with Matt Wisdom, who sold his tech company TurboSquid for $75 million in 2021, and Waitr founder Chris Meaux. They will talk about their approach to entrepreneurship and how artificial intelligence is reshaping the startup landscape.

Three startups that have successfully completed the Idea Village’s accelerator program will make presentations and receive an investment commitment from NOEW, which launched its Momentum Fund last year

After the Idea Pitch event, NOEW will conclude with a panel focusing on “My Black Country,” a memoir written by songwriter Alice Randall.

The hope is that Loyola will become NOEW’s permanent home, where existing event space, audio/visual equipment and student workers can help keep costs down. The main stage will be in a large tent near the business school building. Other presentations and activities will be spread across campus.

“We can take advantage of the school’s resources, while bringing together engaged students and business leadership,” said Liz Maxwell, Idea Village senior director of strategic initiatives.

‘Front door’

Since its inception, NOEW has been designed to help local entrepreneurs create more startups. This year is no different.

At a time when the metro area is struggling with a shrinking population and “brain drain,” the coproducers want the event to serve as a big, flashing welcome sign for potential south Louisiana entrepreneurs.

“We’re trying to focus on being

quarter, ballooning to $1.21 trillion. If there’s a recession and you lose your job, carrying a lot of debt makes it harder to recover Or you might be forced to take part-time work if you can’t find a full-time job.

If you’re servicing a lot of debt, reduce your consumption. Then actively save the money you aren’t spending.

Don’t panic-sell

It’s OK if you’re scared that we are headed for a recession. But if you lead with your feelings, you’re more likely to make a financial mistake, such as cashing out your investments.

“The best time to decide how much cash to hold is when the stock market is calm, not when it’s in flux,” Cox said when I asked her what she would tell investors.

“Your saving and investing goals should be objective and based on your cash needs over the next year or so,” she added. “There’s an element of sanity and well-being in deciding how much you have in savings, but it’s a choice best made when you’re not under duress.”

Email Michelle Singletary at michelle.singletary@washpost. com.

the front door to the ecosystem,” said Sam McCabe, director of Loyola’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development, which leads Loyola’s NOEW planning efforts. “Anybody remotely interested in entrepreneurship — whether a founder, investor or someone with a new idea — is welcome here and can find content that will be valuable.”

NOEW, by another name, began in 2009, when the Idea Village hosted an event called IdeaCorps at Tulane’s business school. It took on its current moniker the next year, after moving downtown.

Since that time, NOEW’s home base has moved multiple times, including stops at the Contemporary Arts Center and Gallier Hall.

Just as they experimented with different locations, NOEW producers also have tried different formats, including various types of pitch competitions.

This year, NOEW content has been curated to be relevant to young people eyeing future careers. Areas of focus include climate tech, AI, social media and the future of the music business in the region. Loyola’s Jesuit philosophy also is shaping the event, which will examine how to make a positive social impact through entrepreneurship

“Wehaveaverycreative,diverse group of students on campus who want to be change makers,” McCabe said. “We want to give them the info they need to get started.” Further along

If NOEW itself wants to welcome local entrepreneurs, 3rd Coast is aimed at Gulf South startups that have momentum but need more investment to grow

Capped at about 150 people, the event sounds like a speed dating session for regional entrepreneurs and national investors.

Companies attending include Occupi, an Alabama-based fintech company focused on the real estate sector; Arix, a Louisiana/Texasbased robotics company targeting industrial users; and Freyya, a Texas-based health tech company developing a wearable, biofeedback device to diagnose and improve the pelvic floor condition

The Idea Village staff has been able to focus on that event because Loyola has partnered to produce NOEW

Bobby Savoie, dean of Loyola’s business school and chair of The Idea Village, is hopeful the strategy is going to pay off.

“We’re taking what NOEW has been doing for 14 years and bringing it to the students and bringing the students to it,” Savoie said. “Every successful technology economy, like Silicon Valley or Research Triangle Park, have contact with university students that have great ideas to build businesses of the future. This could really make a difference.”

Bertucci

Billingsley

Luquet

Herron

Skowron

Martin Bracy

PROVIDED PHOTO Liz Maxwell and Jon Atkinson, both of The Idea Village, help organize New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.

Motley Fool

Fauci

TALKING BUSINESS WITH JOSÉ SUQUET

Pan-American Life CEO sees fresh opportunities

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

In 2004, José Suquet was tapped to lead New Orleans-based PanAmerican Life Insurance Group, which had once been among the top personal and business insurance providers in the Americas but, by the early 2000s, was losing market share and seeing its profits erode amid rising costs and a string of unprofitable ventures.

Suquet was tasked with turning things around at the company, which was founded in 1911 by Crawford E. Ellis, a United Fruit Co. executive during the height of the banana trade between New Orleans and Honduras.

In the years that followed, Suquet focused on growing business in core Latin American markets, overhauling the company’s financial structure and cutting business lines he saw as distractions. Today, the insurance company’s revenues, which were $284 million when he took over two decades ago, are nearly $1.5 billion, and the company is comprised of more than 30 member companies, with more than 2,200 employees worldwide. Its footprint extends to 49 states and more than 20 countries In this week’s Talking Business, Suquet discusses the company’s growth and why he says he’s not worried about the potential disruptions to global trade and economic stability

Interview has been edited for length and clarity I would bet a lot of people who walk by your building at 601 Poydras St. every day have no idea what PALIG does.

We are a life and health insurance player for the individual and corporate markets In Latin America, we focus on the affluent and high net worth customers on the individual side. We also focus on employee benefits for all of the leading, major multinational firms that operate in Latin America — Walmart, Amazon, Dell, Microsoft — clients that are top of the corporate world in business. Though we

are all over Latin America, Panama, Costa Rica and Columbia are the countries where most of our activity is located.

Does PALIG actually underwrite policies for these clients or just do plan administration?

We do all of the above. We are an employee benefit plan administrator, we underwrite, we have an extensive network of medical providers throughout Latin America. We have about 47 doctors and

40-50 nurses that work with us as well and offer a full array of services, whether group medical, group life or accident products throughout the region. We have a very strong brand name in the region. We have been in Panama for more than 100 years and more than 80 years in Honduras. No other company can say that. PALIG also is growing its business in the U.S.? Yes. In the states, we offer in-

dividual life insurance to the middle and mass affluent classes. We don’t compete in the high net worth segments. With respects to health insurance, we are focused on the blue-collar and no-collar industries — trucking, for instance.

Has your growth been organic or more through acquisition?

Both. We have a strong, organic growth machine, but we have had three acquisitions that have helped the growth trajectory Last year, we bought Encova Life Insurance Co. in Ohio, which brought about $600 million in assets that are fully integrated with Pan American Life They are also that mass affluent type of marketplace. Ten years ago, we acquired a company called Mutual Trust that was based in Oakbrook, Illinois, and brought $2.5 billion in assets into the company We kept their facility and employees and management team, and they now manage the U.S. life business for us. And the one that started it all was in 2012, when AIG, which was a major insurance company, was taken over by the U.S. Treasury and we acquired certain companies from one of their subsidiaries.

PALIG recently put new signage with its name on top of the building the PanAmerican Life Center Why the need for such mass market branding when you are sort of a B-to-B company?

The name has always been at the bottom. We just put it on top before the Super Bowl to recognize the progress we have made over the last 20 years. We have almost 400 employees here and 2,3002,400 throughout our footprint. When I got here, we had revenues of $284 million. Last year, we closed with almost $1.5 billion, which puts us in the top five companies in New Orleans in revenue. We have made great progress and want to tell that story Where do you see the greatest opportunities for future growth?

More growth opportunities are international. When you have a recognized brand with a long history in that market, which is com-

prised of foreign companies that are in and out of the countries down there, there is plenty of potential. The life insurance industry in the U.S., in general, grows at a steady 2%-3% a year We have been able to hypercharge that in Latin America.

How concerned are you about all the turmoil now roiling global markets, between tariffs and policy changes?

We don’t anticipate that will impact us. Our Panamanian company, a subsidiary, has been there more than 100 years. We have a Honduran company run by a Honduran, also a subsidiary Our CEOs down there are stalwart members of their communities. Our customers are large multinationals like Microsoft and Amazon.

They’re not going away They are not going to close up. They want coverage from a multinational like us that has strong cyber security, respects privacy and has strong state-of-the-art tools to help them pay claims. So, we understand. We are not on pins and needles with every executive order that comes into effect. We are going to keep our head down and keep doing business the way we have been doing it. So far, it has worked. If we take sides, we will be in deep trouble We stay in the middle of the fairway and live by values that incorporate doing the right thing.

A few years ago, you stepped back as president, though you remain CEO Any thought of retiring?

The board really wants me to stay as long as I can. I have had two knee replacements and two hip replacements in the past five years, but otherwise, my health is good. I am blessed to have three co-presidents, and we have a tremendous team that is working very well together We challenge each other, but there is real collaboration and a lot of transparency

Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate. com.

Investing in Innovation: HowLouisiana’s MenhadenIndustry is Leading in Sustainability

Louisiana’smenhaden industry plays a critical role in the state’s coastal economy providing jobs and generating millions in economic impact.Together,the industry supports over2,000 direct and indirect workers, providing good wage jobs in rural coastal communities and contributing $25million to state and local economies In astate wherecommercial fishing is a backboneofour culture, thesejobshelp keep coastal communitiesalive.

At the same time, we recognizeour responsibilityasstewardsofthe Gulf menhaden resource and have taken proactivesteps to ensurethe sustainability of our fishery.

While net tearsand fish spills are extremely rare,weacknowledgesuch incidents areunacceptable. That’swhy we’veinvested in cutting-edgetechnology to further reduce occurrences.Overthe past four years, the industry has made 65,000 fishing sets,ofwhich only 44 experienced net tears—a minuscule 0.067% incidentrate

Nettearsare largely caused by sharks which strikethe nets attempting to accessthe captured fish inside them. The significantincreaseinthe shark population along the Louisiana coast has

tearsinrecentyears.

Innovation is Driving Sustainability, NotAdditional Regulations

Westbank Fishing, akey operatorinthe industry,recognizing this growing issue, worked with net manufacturersglobally to identifya suitable solution.

Westbank Fishing invested $1.8million to trial newultra-high molecular weight polyethylene Spectra/Plateena netting, which is arevolutionary fiber which is ten times stronger than nylon.

Between 2018 and 2023, Westbank Fishing had experienced eightnet tears, all of which were when using the industries traditional nylon nets.All but one of these net tearsoccurred at distances greater than 1mile from Louisiana’sregulatory fishing line.

Sinceadopting the Spectra/Plateena nets in May2023, Westbank Fishing has completed over15,000 fishing sets without asingle net tear.Building on this success, the company is investing another $900,000 in 12 newSpectra/Plateena nets forthe 2025fishing season.

Data shows thatindustry innovation –not unnecessary spatial restrictions like extended buffer zones –iskey to reducing fish spills.Industry-led innovation has proventobethe most effectiveway to reduce fish spills,demonstrating that

targetedtechnological solutions aremore effectivethan broad, one-size-fits-all spatial restrictions Industry-WideAdoption of Smarter Fishing Technology

After seeing Westbank Fishing’s success, Ocean Harvesterswill fully transition to Spectra/Plateena nets forthe 2025season and beyond. This investmentreinforces the menhaden fishing industry’s ongoing commitment to innovation and responsible fishing practices.While the industry has already achievedanexceptionally lowincident rate,wecontinue to invest in cutting-edge technologytofurther reduce fish spills and improve sustainability.

The industry’s commitmentto sustainabilityhas drawnattentionfrom regulators and policymakers. Last year, then-Louisiana DepartmentofWildlife and Fisheries Secretary Madison Sheahan, along with LDWF executivestaff and the EnforcementDivision, toured Westbank Fishing’s operations in Empire, LA, for afirst-hand look at its fishing practices AhighlightofSecretary Sheahan’svisit wasthe inspection of Westbank Fishing’s state-of-the-art Spectra/Plateena netting—nearly tentimes stronger than traditional nylon nets and nowthe exclusivematerial used by the company. “Commercial fisheries arevital to

Industry-led innovation has proven to be the mosteffective waytoreduce fish spills, demonstrating that targeted technological solutions aremore effectivethan broad, one-size-fits-all spatial restrictions.

the Louisiana economy,”said Secretary Sheahan following the tour.“As Secretary, it is my dutytothe people of Louisiana and to the Departmenttounderstand the industries within Louisiana regulated by the Departmenttoensurethe health of our fisheries and the habitats needed to support them. Iamgrateful forthe first-hand experience of one of our state’s toughest jobs.”

The Louisiana commercial menhaden industry has proventhat sustainabilityisbest achievedthrough proactiveinvestmentand technological advancements.Weremain committedto working alongside regulators,scientists and the broader fishing communityto ensureabalanced, science-based approach to fishery management—one thatprotects both our coastal environmentand the livelihoods of the hardworking men and women who depend on this resource. Together,wecan secureafuturewhere economic growth and environmental responsibilitygohand in hand. By continuing to invest in cutting-edge solutions,wecan protect both Louisiana’s working coast and its fisheries –ensuring long-term sustainabilitywithout sacrificing economic opportunity.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MATTHEW PERSCHALL

José Suquet has led the New Orleans-based Pan-American Life Insurance Group since 2004.

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GREAT ESCAPE

Physician assistant students took a unique training session in an escape room that merged critical thinking, teamwork and real-world medical

BR university uses an escape room, new tech to train prospective physician assistants

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

Medical education takes an exciting turn as Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University introduces an interactive escape room experience designed to make learning more engaging and impactful.

In February, 29 physician assistant students took a unique training session that merged critical thinking, teamwork and real-world medical skills.

Inside the escape rooms simulated as standard exam rooms — students worked together to take a comprehensive patient history perform physical examinations and analyze clues to form a diagnosis. The prospective PAs were required

to order appropriate lab tests and diagnostics, working together to “escape” the room by accurately diagnosing the patient.

This approach transforms a traditional learning environment into an urgent care clinic simulation.

“This escape room scenario offers PA students a safe, controlled environment to tackle complex, real-world medical situations,” said Tara Milligan, the physician assistant clinical coordinator at the university As coordinator, Milligan is in charge of introducing new and exciting ways to improve education for physician assistants.

At the escape room, students split into two groups to ensure smaller and more intimate learning experiences.

“In the medical field, you have to learn to be able to work with a team of people in order to properly treat a patient sometimes,” Milligan said. “So, I wanted them to have that experience of working together.”

The case scenario provided to both groups featured a 12-year-old male with a traumatic brain injury presenting with a high fever lasting eight days. Through examination and chart reviews, students uncovered signs of sepsis (a bacterial infection in the whole body and blood) from pressure ulcers on the lower back and found that he was being abused and neglected.

Once the correct diagnosis was made, the team “escaped” and the patient was hypothetically sent to the ER for urgent treatment.

A debriefing session followed, where students discussed the plan of care — including treatment protocols for sepsis and the responsibilities of health care providers in suspected abuse or neglect cases. The group covered mandated reporting, engaging social work or case management, contacting law enforcement and proper electronic medical record, or EMR, documentation in the escape room lesson.

“As providers, we are legally and ethically bound to be a mandated reporter of possible abuse or neglect for anyone,” Milligan said. “I wanted the students to be able to have some sort of exposure to that process since they

ä See TRAINING, page 3X

Sent home to heal, patients avoid wait for rehab home beds

BY FELICE J FREYER KFF Health News

After a patch of ice sent Marc Durocher hurtling to the ground, and doctors at UMass Memorial Medical Center repaired the broken hip that resulted, the 75-yearold electrician found himself at a crossroads. He didn’t need to be in the hospital any longer But he was still in pain, unsteady on his feet, unready for independence.

Patients nationwide often stall at this intersection, stuck in the hospital for days or weeks because nursing homes and physical rehabilitation facilities are full. Yet when Durocher was ready for discharge in late January, a clinician came by with a surprising path forward: Want to go home? Specifically, he was invited to join a research study at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts, testing the concept of “SNF at home” or “subacute at

home,” in which services typically provided at a skilled nursing facility are instead offered in the home, with visits from caregivers and remote monitoring technology

Durocher hesitated, worried he might not get the care he needed, but he and his wife, Jeanne, ultimately decided to try it. What could be better than recovering at his home in Auburn with his dog, Buddy?

Such rehab at home is underway in various parts of the country —

including New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — as a solution to a shortage of nursing home and rehab beds for patients too sick to go home but not sick enough to need hospitalization.

Staffing shortages at post-acute facilities around the country led to a 24% increase over three years in hospital length of stay among patients who need skilled nursing care, according to a 2022 analysis. With no place to go, these patients occupy expensive hospital

beds they don’t need, while others wait in emergency rooms for those spots. In Massachusetts, for example, at least 1,995 patients were awaiting hospital discharge in December, according to a survey of hospitals by the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association. Offering intensive services and remote monitoring technology in the home can work as an alternative — especially in rural areas,

ä See REHAB, page 2X

Nationally Ranked Maternity Care

Molly Kimball

PROVIDED PHOTO

HEALTH MAKER

BR breast cancer surgeon on new technologies

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

On Super Bowl Sunday

Dr Everett Bonner, a breast surgeon at Baton Rouge General, was part of the important conversation around early detection of breast cancer with the NFL and American Cancer Society He appeared live on television discussing Baton Rouge General’s High-Risk Breast Clinic at its Mid City campus. As an avid LSU fan and outdoor enthusiast, Bonner lives and practices medicine in Baton Rouge, or as he describes it — the “perfect part of Louisiana.”

A native New Orleanian, Bonner earned his undergraduate degree from LSU in 1992 and then went on to pursue his doctorate at the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans, graduating in 2002.

PROVIDED PHOTO Dr Everett Bonner is a breast surgeon at Baton Rouge General.

From there, he left his home state of Louisiana for a time for his surgical residency at Mercer University School of Medicine in Savannah, Georgia After completing his residency program in 2007, he earned a fellowship in surgical breast oncology from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York

Bonner returned home in 2008 to the Baton Rouge Clinic. A retired lieutenant colonel with the Louisiana Army National Guard, Bonner is a veteran of the Iraq War serving as a combat surgeon. He and his wife, Alison, who is originally from Abbeville, have three children together How has technology and the surgical practices around breast cancer changed? It’s always evolving. We’re finding that doing less is best not as aggressive surgeries. If we do surgeries, we can spare most of the tissue with mastectomies and leave a woman whole again.

From a cosmetic standpoint, with plastic surgery, a patient can look exactly the same. We are incorporating good, sound oncological principles with good cosmetic outcomes. How do you go about learning and

implementing new technologies?

A lot of times, we take our advice from some of the major cancer centers. If the major cancer centers aren’t doing it, there’s probably a reason.

When I see new technologies, first I see who it’s coming from. Is this an industry driven recommendation? Has it been proven by evidence-based medicine? Does it at least treat or cure or perform at least up to the standard of what we have now? Is it superior?

It either has to form at the level of care that we’re doing now or better if you want to change anything. What’s next for cancer care?

There’s a little something that’s starting to come out that I think may replace mammograms. Mammograms have been around since the ’60s and the ’70s — it hasn’t changed in all these years.

Sure, the pictures look better because of our technology, but the actual platform hasn’t really changed. It still does the same positions, and it’s still uncomfortable for a lot of patients. New ultrasounds and 3D imaging that’s already been approved by the FDA for use, and is in use in Louisiana can help make this a better process for women getting their checkups and those with breast cancer

But there’s something else on the horizon that may change things: immunotherapies and targeted-direct therapies.

These drugs, a genetic mutation of the cancer drugs, directly target cancer cells. We’re seeing patients get chemotherapy before surgery, and by the time the surgery occurs, we can’t find any residual disease.

Patients still need the

surgery because you can’t prove microscopic disease, but we’re seeing remarkable responses to some of the chemotherapy drugs. What should women in Louisiana know about the risks for breast cancer?

The biggest thing for breast cancer is screening — that is the single most important thing a woman can do to increase her survivability from breast cancer

There’s not a whole lot of things that we can do to prevent breast cancer: You can watch your diet. Watch your weight, blood pressure and physical activity

What you can control is how often you go to get your mammogram done and visiting the appropriate physician.

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com.

La. educator helps medical students on Match Day

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

Students selected their top residency programs, and residency programs selected their top students.

On March 21, also known as Match Day, medical students all around the country found out what medical residency program they were paired with to continue their medical education.

Medical residencies, a postgraduate training program where doctors gain specialized, in-depth training in a specific medical specialty, typically last three to seven years. Dr Ron Amedee has been in academic medicine for 44 years. Amedee did his medical fellowship overseas in Germany and came back stateside to work at Tulane. He was a faculty member at the New Orleans university for 21 years until Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

Now Amedee oversees academic medical education at Ochsner His role includes undergraduate education, medical school, graduate medical education and continued education for working medical staff For Match Day, Amedee worked with 66 graduating students to either celebrate their matches, or find a match that best fits with the specialty they wish to practice.

Continued from page 1X

where nursing homes are closing at a faster rate than in cities and patients’ relatives often must travel far to visit.

For patients of the Marshfield Clinic Health System who live in rural parts of Wisconsin, the clinic’s six-yearold SNF-at-home program is often the only option, said Swetha Gudibanda, medical director of the hospital-athome program.

“This is going to be the future of medicine,” Gudibanda said. But the concept is new, an outgrowth of hospitalat-home services expanded by a COVID-19 pandemicinspired Medicare waiver SNF-at-home care remains uncommon, lost in a fiscal and regulatory netherworld.

No federal standards spell out how to run these programs, which patients should qualify, or what services to offer No reimbursement mechanism exists, so fee-forservice Medicare and most insurance companies don’t cover such care at home.

The programs have emerged only at a few hospital systems with their own insurance companies (like the Marshfield Clinic) or those that arrange for “bundled

How does Match Day work?

It’s actually a weeklong process — we like to call it Match Week.

On Monday, students that have enrolled throughout the country into the matching process, which has been in place for over 70 years in the United States, find out if they have been matched with a medical program. And there’s roughly 50,000 graduates in the United States that participate, and there’s about 10,000 accredited programs that they are trying to match into Some of these programs have large classes (in the five hundreds), others have smaller programs (less than 100).

What’s so interesting about the national residency matching program, or NRMP is that it’s based upon an award-winning mathematical algorithm. The students put in programs that they would wish to train at, and then the programs put in the students that they would like to have in their programs.

All that information goes into a big computer and through the magic of mathematical algorithms and little bit of science and luck, it prints out matches where the applicants will ultimately end up for their training.

About 70% of the students that are enrolled in the match, out of 50,000, will

payments,” in which providers receive a set fee to manage an episode of care, as can occur with Medicare Advantage plans.

In Durocher’s case, the care was available — at no cost to him or other patients only through the clinical trial, funded by a grant from the state Medicaid program. State health officials supported two simultaneous studies at UMass and Mass General Brigham hoping to reduce costs, improve quality of care and, crucially, make it easier to transition patients out of the hospital.

The American Health Care Association, the trade group representing more than 15,000 long-term and postacute care providers, calls “SNF at home” a misnomer because, by law, such services must be provided in an institution and meet detailed requirements.

And the association points out that skilled nursing facilities provide services and socialization that can never be replicated at home, such as daily activity programs, religious services and access to social workers But patients at home tend to get up and move around more than those in a facility, speeding their recovery, said Wendy Mitchell, medical director of the UMass Chan clinical trial. Also, therapy is tailored to their home environment,

know if they have matched on that Monday

The 25 to 30% that have not matched yet have an opportunity to push their applications forward on Tuesday They will be able to interview at additional programs on Wednesday and on Thursday of Match Week.

After that, there are four more rounds of additional algorithms that occur to try to get everybody finally matched for Match Day, which is on Friday On Friday, everybody finds out where they’re going, and we find out who we’re getting and where they’re coming from How do students prepare for Match Day? Tell me about students who don’t match with a program. The match interviewing opens up in October Students have been interviewing since then with programs and sites that they are interested in. There will be a small component of students who do not match at all. They get no match at all. And that’s a hard place to be. That’s something that we try to advise and work with our students to make sure they never have to face that particular situation.

What does Match Day mean to you?

One of the things that I have always enjoyed is being a part of the educational continuum from a medical student transitioning to a resident, then to transitioning from a resident to a practicing physician.

I’ve gotten the opportunity throughout all my years to see that progress very intimately which a lot of people don’t even understand, probably don’t even care about.

It’s such a fulfilling responsibility of mine.

We have been working with students since when they arrived here in their third year We’re already talking about the match to them.

teaching patients to navigate the exact stairs and bathrooms they’ll eventually use on their own.

A quarter of people who go into nursing homes suffer an “adverse event,” such as infection or bed sore, said David Levine, clinical director for research for Mass General Brigham’s Healthcare at Home program and leader of its study

“We cause a lot of harm in facility-based care,” he said. By contrast, in 2024, not one patient in the Rehabilitation Care at Home program of Nashville-based Contessa Health developed a bed sore and only 0.3% came down with an infection while at home, according to internal company data.

Contessa delivers care in the home through partnerships with five health systems, including Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, the Allegheny Health Network in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin’s Marshfield Clinic.

Contessa’s program, which has been providing in-home post-hospital rehabilitation since 2019, depends on help from unpaid family caregivers.

“Almost universally our patients have somebody living with them,” said Robert Moskowitz, Contessa’s acting president and chief medical officer

The two Massachusetts-

We set expectations from our perspective, and we’re setting expectations that they should be aspire to. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get the notice on Monday, because there’s still an opportunity to get a position in the match through the remainder of the week.

One of the things we really do is we talk to the students. We will be advising them along the way There are a lot of one-on-one meetings with our senior faculty, with myself, as to whether or not the specialty they are going into — or thinking about is a good fit.

based studies, however do enroll patients who live alone. In the UMass trial, an overnight home health aide can stay for a day or two if needed.

And while alone, patients “have a single-button access to a live person from our command center,” said Apurv Soni, an assistant professor of medicine at UMass Chan and the leader of its study

But SNF at home is not without hazards, and choosing the right patients to enroll is critical. The UMass research team learned an important lesson when a patient with mild dementia became alarmed by unfamiliar caregivers coming to her home. She was readmitted to the hospital, according to Mitchell.

The Mass General Brigham study relies heavily on technology intended to reduce the need for highly skilled staff.

A nurse and physician each

For some of the more competitive specialties in the United States, unless you have certain metrics in your curriculum, it’s not going to happen for some students. It’s simply not going to happen. The match has to look good on paper to begin with, for students and programs. Leading indicators that make students more desirable for those competitive matches are high examination scores on the national examinations that they have to take through medical school, scholarly products demonstrated on their manuscript, whether it be a publication or presentations at national meetings.

conducts an in-home visit, but the patient is otherwise monitored remotely Medical assistants visit the home to gather data with a portable ultrasound, portable X-ray and a device that can analyze blood tests on-site.

A machine the size of a toaster oven dispenses medication, with a robotic arm that drops the pills into a dispensing unit.

The UMass trial, the one Durocher enrolled in, instead chose a “light touch” with technology, using only a few devices, Soni said.

The day Durocher went home, he said, a nurse met him there and showed him how to use a wireless blood pressure cuff, wireless pulse oximeter, and digital tablet that would transmit his vital signs twice a day Over the next few days, he said, nurses came by to take blood samples and check on him Physical and occupational therapists provided several hours of treatment

It’s a lot of pressure and a lot of tension and deadlines, but getting to Friday afternoon and seeing the joy on these students faces and the success that they have achieved in a fairly short period of time, is amazing to me. The birds leave the nest at that particular time, and I’m very happy to see them go. I’m very proud of them, whether they stay with us, or they go anywhere else the United States or even go back to Australia. I’m proud of all of them.

One of the major joys of my life in academic medicine is seeing the learners come in as beginners and come out as competent physicians on the other end. That’s a great privilege, and I’m very thankful for it.

every day and a home health aide came a few hours a day

To his delight, the program even sent three meals a day Durocher learned to use the walker and how to get up the stairs to his bedroom with one crutch and support from his wife. After just one week, he transitioned to lessfrequent, in-home physical therapy, covered by his insurance.

“The recovery is amazing because you’re in your own setting,” Durocher said. “To be relegated to a chair and a walker, and at first somebody helping you get up, or into bed, showering you — it’s very humbling. But it’s comfortable. It’s home, right?”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — an independent source of health policy research, polling and journalism.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

The Louisiana Health section is focused on providing in-depth, personal accounts of health in the state. This section looks at medical innovations, health discoveries, state and national health statistics and reexamining tried and true methods on

ways to live well. Health editions will also profile people who are advancing health for the state of Louisiana. Do you have a health story? We want to hear from you. Email margaret. delaney@theadvocate.com to submit health questions, stories and more.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Faculty friends and family gather in the Capital on Baronne in downtown New Orleans to find out where the 185 graduating fourth-year Tulane University medical students will spend the next chapter of their medical careers during Match Day on March 18, 2022.

Eat Fit LiveFit

WBRO UGHT TO YO UB Y Molly Kimball RD,CSSD

Functionalingredients: Elevating zero proof cocktails and other beverages

earenearingthehalfwaymark ofour10thannualAlcoholFree for40Challenge,atimewhen motivationcanwaver,andthosebooze-free sipsmaystarttofeelabitrepetitive.Even ifyou’renotofficiallypartofthechallenge, maybeyou’veoptedoutofalcoholforLent orsimplydecidedtodrinklessforpersonal reasons.Eitherway,thisisaperfectopportunitytoexplorenewwaystokeepthings interesting

Oneofmyfavorite approachesistoshake upyourroutine(and yourzeroproofcocktails)withfunctional ingredients—specifically,adaptogensand botanicalsthatcan supportbothphysical andmentalwellness whileaddinginterest toyouralcohol-free repertoire.

Irecentlyspoke withbarmanager andmixologypro PaulLogginsfrom ZuzulCoastalCuisinein

healthcareproviderorpharmacistbefore usingnewsupplements.

Energizeandfocus

L-Theanine

Anaminoacidfoundnaturallyingreen tea,L-Theanineiscelebratedforprovidinga senseofcalmalertness.

Potentialbenefits:L-theaninemayhelp toenhancecognitionandincreasefocus, makingitapopularchoice forthoseseekingclarity withoutthejitters.

Shreveportformypodcast,FUELEDWellness+Nutrition.Nowsevenyearssober,he hasmasteredtheartofcraftingalcohol-free drinksthatarebeautifullysophisticated, oftenfeaturingfunctionalingredientslike Ashwagandha,L-theanine,lemonbalmand lavender.Below,I’llsharepartsofourfruitful conversation,includingthepotentialbenefitsoftheseingredients,plustipsonhow toincorporatethemintoyourownzero prooffavorites.Youcanalsoaddthemto smoothies,teasorotherbeverages.

Oneimportantcaveat:Someofthese productscanlowerbloodpressureor bloodsugarandmayinteractwithmedications,includingsedativesandantidepressants.Asalways,checkwithyour

Dosage:Typically, 200-400mgisthedaily dosage;tinctureconcentrationsvary.

Flavoranduse:Sharp andsomewhatsavory, itintegrateswellinto citrusyorherbaldrinks. Ashwagandha Asmallevergreen shrub,Ashwagandha isanadaptogenicherb thathelpsthebody adapttostressors.

Potentialbenefits: StudieslinkAshwagandhatoreducedcortisol(astresshormone), improvedsleepandenhancedmentalfocus. Someresearchalsoindicatesitmighthelp loweranxietyandfatigue.

Dosage:Around600-1000mgdailyisa typicaldosage;tinctureconcentrationsvary. Flavoranduse:Earthyandslightlybitter,it pairswellwithawiderangeofflavorprofiles.

ToreapthebenefitsofbothAshwagandhaandL-theanine,addtwodropperfulsof eachtothebottomofarocksglasswitha squeezeoffreshlemon(orquarter-teaspoon lemonjuice),topwithfourouncessparkling water(plain,lemon-orlime-flavored)and garnishwithatwistoflemon.

Relaxandunwind

LemonBalm

Abright,lemon-scentedherbinthemint family,lemonbalmisusedtoeasestressand boostmood.

Potentialbenefits:Lemonbalmmayhelp reducestress,improvesymptomsofdepressionandpossiblyenhancesleepquality byincreasinglevelsoftheneurotransmitter GABA.

Dosage:Dosescanrangefrom600-3000 mgdaily.Myrecommendationistoaimfor 600to1200mg;tinctureconcentrationsvary. LemonbalmhasGRAS(generallyrecognizedassafe)statusbytheFDA.Butifyou havethyroidissues,talktoyourdoctorfirst aslemonbalmmayinterferewiththyroid hormonereplacementtherapy.

Flavoranduse:Herbalandcitrusy,lemon balmpairseasilywithanarrayofflavors.Try twodropperfulswithsixouncesofgrapefruit-flavoredsparklingwater,garnished withanexpressedlimepeeloratwistof lime.

Lavender

Lavenderisafamiliar,soothingbotanical popularinaromatherapy.

Potentialbenefits:Studiessuggestingestinglavendermayhelpreducesymptomsof

MollyKimball,RD,CSSD,isaregistereddietitian withOchsnerHealthandfounderofOchsner’sEatFit nonprofitinitiative.Formorewellnesscontent,tuneinto Molly’spodcast,FUELEDWellness+Nutrition,andfollow @MollykimballRDand@EatFitOchsneronsocialmedia. Emailnutrition@ochsner.orgtoconnectwithMollyor scheduleaconsultwithherteam.

Across the United States, an estimated 178,000 people die every year from excessive alcohol use, making it one of the leading preventable causes of death in the country, behind tobacco and poor diet/ physical inactivity

Short-term and long-term excessive alcohol consumption can have negative impacts on individuals and those around them.

Risks associated with long-term excessive alcohol use include:

n Hypertension, heart disease, stroke and liver disease.

n Cancer of the breast, throat, liver or colon.

n Alcohol dependence

n Memory and learning problems

Excessive drinking is responsible for an average of 488 deaths per day in the country.

Louisiana ranks 31st in the nation for

excessive drinking, reporting that 17.4% of the state’s adults are binge drinking (four or more drinks on one occasion in the past 30 days for females, or five or more for males) or heavily drinking (eight or more drinks per week for females, or 15 or more for males).

The states with the lowest rates of excessive drinking among adults include Utah (12.5%),West Virginia (13.3%), New Mexico (13.8%), Maryland (14.1%) and Oklahoma (14.4%).

North Dakota reported the highest rates of excessive drinking in the nation, with 22.3% of the state’s adults reporting binge drinking or heavily drinking — well above the national average of 16.7%.

Rounding out the top five states with the

are:

anxietyanddepression.

Dosage:Acommondosageisaround80160mgdaily;tinctureconcentrationsvary.

Flavoranduse:Floralandfragrant,alittle goesalongway.Tryonedropperfulmixed with½teaspoonlemonjuiceandtwoounceschilledhibiscustea,toppedoffwith4-6 ouncessparklingwater. Ready-to-drinkzeroproofcocktails Ifyou’relookingforaportableoptionto bringtothebeach,festivalsoranywhere you’dtypicallybringacoolerofdrinks–there’sagrowingmarketofcannedzero proofcocktails.Someofthemcontainfunctionalingredients.

MycurrentfavoriteisPeakCocktails,a zeroproofbrandthatkeepssugarincheck andspecifiesexactlyhowmuchofeach functionalingredientisinside.Theirbeveragescontain200mgAshwagandha,200 mgL-theaninefromgreenteaand100mg lemonbalm.Sweetenedwithabitofstevia, PeakCocktails’LemonJuniperFizzhasjust 10caloriesandzeroaddedsugar. Whenexploringotherbrands,bewareof productsthatcontainlotsofaddedsugar. Somecannedoptionshaveasmuchas20+ gramsofsugar.Andtheyoftenlistherbs andextractswithoutindicatingamounts— leavingusguessingwhetherthere’senough includedtooffermeaningfulbenefits.

Thebottomline

Whilefunctionalingredientscanoffer intriguingperks,theyaren’tmiraclecures. They’rejustonepartofabroaderlifestyle approachthatshouldincludeotherhealthy habits,likestayingactive,gettingenough sleepandkeepingsugarandprocessed carbsincheck.Andalwaysconsulta healthcareprofessionalbeforeaddingnew supplements—especiallyifyou’repregnant, nursing,haveunderlyingconditionsortake prescriptionmedications. Cheerstoexploringnewflavors,enjoying better-for-yousipsandmakingthemostof youralcohol-freejourney!

may experience that in their careers.”

To enhance learning, the Simulation Education Training Hospital recorded the sessions, allowing students to review their performance, reflect on decision-making processes and identify areas for improvement.

This approach aims to better prepare future health care providers for the challenges they may face in emergency and urgent care settings, ensuring they have both the clinical skills and ethical awareness needed to provide comprehensive patient care.

“By engaging in this hands-on experience, students will not only strengthen their diagnostic skills but also gain valuable exposure to sensitive and critical processes,” Milligan said.

Physician assistants are trained much like physicians, although PA school is shorter — just over two years to medical school’s four-year programs.

All of the students that

are accepted into PA programs have some kind of medical experience (like medical assistants, EMT, med-techs, radiology techs, athletic trainers, CNAs and more) before going to PA school.

“It’s almost like a mini medical school,” Milligan said.

The first phase of PA school the didactic phase — is spent in the classroom where students learn the theoretical and basic concepts of medicine, clinical decision-making and critical thinking skills. Didactic students spend their time studying test taking and practicing physical examinations.

The students also have laboratory sessions with their lecture classes so that they can apply what they have been learning in the lecture classes.

“We have also been adding in more simulation experiences for the students as well as games such as Jeopardy to help make the medical learning more interactive,” Milligan said

“All of these students grew up in the new age of everyone having a cellphone and laptop so sometimes you

have to find more innovative activities to keep up with the technology and keep their learning engaging and enjoyable.”

Once students finish the classroom part of the academic program, they move to the clinical phase which, at FranU, consists of seven rotations in family medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, internal medicine, hospital inpatient, women’s health and mental health.

After an additional three rotations in a specialty of their choosing, the prospective PAs return to campus for the last 3 months and have their assessments including the end of curriculum exam, simulated patient experiences, directly observed procedural skills, grand rounds (presentations of medical care to an audience of health care professionals) and their senior projects.

Once they finish those tasks, they will graduate and be able to take the PA National Certification Exam and become a practicing physician assistant.

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Students at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University simulate a full-body exam in an escape-room-style lesson in Baton Rouge.

ImageprovidedbyFreePix

Researchers: Some CT scans deliver too much radiation

Regulators want to know more

BY JOAN KEENEN KFF Health News

Rebecca Smith-Bindman,

a professor at the University of California-San Francisco medical school, has spent well over a decade researching the disquieting risk that one of modern medicine’s most valuable tools, computerized tomography scans, can sometimes cause cancer

Smith-Bindman and likeminded colleagues have long pushed for federal policies aimed at improving safety for patients undergoing CT scans. Under new Medicare regulations effective this year, hospitals and imaging centers must start collecting and sharing more information about the radiation their scanners emit.

About 93 million CT scans are performed every year in the United States, according to IMV, a medical market research company that tracks imaging. More than half of those scans are for people 60 and older Yet there is scant regulation of radiation levels as the machines scan organs and structures inside bodies. Dosages are erratic, varying widely from one clinic to another, and are too often unnecessarily high, Smith-Bindman and other critics say

“It’s unfathomable,”

Smith-Bindman said. “We keep doing more and more CTs, and the doses keep going up.”

One CT scan can expose a patient to 10 or 15 times as much radiation as another, Smith-Bindman said. “There is very large variation,” she said, “and the doses vary by an order of magnitude — tenfold, not 10% different — for patients seen for the same clinical problem.”

About 93 million CT scans are performed every year in the United States, according to IMV, a medical market research company that tracks imaging More than half of those scans are for people 60 and older

In outlier institutions, the variation is even higher, according to research she and a team of international collaborators have published. She and other researchers estimated in 2009 that high doses could be responsible for 2% of cancers. Ongoing research shows it’s probably higher, since far more scans are performed today The cancer risk from CT scans for any individual patient is very low, although it rises for patients who have numerous scans throughout their lives. Radiologists don’t want to scare off patients who can benefit from imaging, which plays a crucial role in identifying lifethreatening conditions like cancers and aneurysms and guides doctors through complicated procedures.

But the new data collection rules from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued in the closing months of the Biden administration are aimed at making imaging safer They also require a more careful assessment of the dosing, quality, and necessity of CT scans.

The Leapfrog Group, an organization that tracks hospital safety, welcomed the new rules. “Radiation exposure is a very serious patient safety issue, so we commend CMS for focusing on CT scans,” said Leah Binder, the group’s president and CEO. Leapfrog has set standards for pediatric exposure to imaging radiation, “and we find significant variation among hospitals,” Binder added. CMS contracted with UCSF in 2019 to research solutions aimed at encouraging better measurement and assessment of CTs, leading to the development of the agency’s new approach.

The American College of Radiology and three other associations involved in medical imaging, however, objected to the draft CMS rules when they were under review, arguing in written comments in 2023 that they were excessively cumbersome, would burden providers, and could add to the cost of scans. The group was also concerned, at that time, that health providers would have to use a single, proprietary tech tool for gathering the dosing and any related scan data.

The single company in question, Alara Imaging, supplies free software that radiologists and radiology

The requirements, rolled out in January, are being phased in over about three years for hospitals, outpatient settings, and physicians. Under the complicated reporting system, not every radiologist or health care setting is required to comply immediately Providers could face financial penalties under Medicare if they don’t comply, though those will be phased in, too, starting in 2027. When the Biden administration issued the new guidelines, a CMS spokesperson said in an email that excessive and unnecessary radiation exposure was a health risk that could be addressed through measurement and feedback to hospitals and physicians. The agency at the time declined to make an official available for an interview The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

programs need to comply with the new regulations. The promise to keep it free is included in the company’s copyright. Smith-Bindman is a co-founder of Alara Imaging, and UCSF also has a stake in the company, which is developing other health tech products unrelated to the CMS imaging rule that it does plan to commercialize. But the landscape has recently changed. ACR said in a statement from Judy Burleson, ACR vice president for quality management programs, that CMS is allowing in other vendors — and that ACR itself is “in discussion with Alara” on the data collection and submission. In addition, a company called Medisolv, which works on health care quality, said at least one client is working with another vendor, Imalogix, on the CT dose data.

Several dozen health quality and safety organizations including some national leaders in patient safety, like the Institute of Healthcare Improvement — have

supported CMS’ efforts. Concerns about CT dosing are long-standing. A landmark study published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2009 by a research team that included experts from the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and universities estimated that CT scans were responsible for 29,000 excess cancer cases a year in the United States, about 2% of all cases diagnosed annually But the number of CT scans kept climbing. By 2016, it was estimated at 74 million, up 20% in a decade, though radiologists say dosages of radiation per scan have declined.

Some researchers have noted that U.S. doctors order far more imaging than physicians in other developed countries, arguing some of it is wasteful and dangerous.

More recent studies, some looking at pediatric patients and some drawing on radiation exposure data from survivors of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, have also identified CT scan risk.

Older people may face greater cancer risks because of imaging they had earlier in life. And scientists have emphasized the

need to be particularly careful with children, who may be more vulnerable to radiation exposure while young and face the consequences of cumulative exposure as they age.

Max Wintermark, a neuroradiologist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who has been involved in the field’s work on appropriate utilization of imaging, said doctors generally follow dosing protocols for CT scans. In addition, the technology is improving; he expects artificial intelligence to soon help doctors determine optimal imaging use and dosing delivering “the minimum amount of radiation dose to get us to the diagnosis that we’re trying to reach.”

But he said he welcomes the new CMS regulations.

“I think the measures will help accelerate the transition towards always lower and lower doses,” he said. “They are helpful.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

LDH reopens Central

Louisiana

State Hospital

On March 6, the Louisiana Department of Health reopened a $33 million state hospital for patients with severe and persistent mental illnesses. The new hospital, 6250 Esler Field Road in Pineville, can provide care for up to 116 patients with a focus on rehabilitation.

Bayou Pediatrics to join

Manning Family Children’s

On April 1, Bayou Pediatrics, a private pediatrics clinic at 569 Enterprise Drive in Houma, will join the Manning Family Children’s network of pediatric primary practices. A team of four providers will join the Manning Family Children’s medical staff, where they will continue to offer pediatric primary care services for children and families in the area.

The Lake renames Ascension hospital

The Franciscan Missionaries of

Our Lady Health System hospital at 1125 La. 30 West in Gonzales, Louisiana will become Our Lady of the Lake St. Elizabeth. The updated name aims to honor the original name while maintaining the connection to our Franciscan mission.

Free Alzheimer’s conference set in N.O

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America will host a free conference on April 23 at the Embassy Suites Hotel New Orleans Convention Center, 315 Julia St., New Orleans. It will feature some of the top local experts in the New Orleans area in medicine, dementia and caregiving. Attendees will learn about everything from healthy aging to early detection, long-term care planning, local resources and more. Health Notes is an occasional listing of health happenings around Louisiana. Have something you’d like to share? Contact us at margaret.delaney @theadvocate.com.

Hea th Back

Ifyou’reoneofthe620millionpeoplegloballywho dealwithbackpain,there’sgoodnews:Steroidinjections canhelp.

Epiduralsteroidinjectionsareoneofthemostcommon medicalprocedurestoaddressbackpain.Itinvolvesusing asyringetoinjectanti-inflammatorymedicationintothe fat-filledspacearoundthespinalnerves.

Inmostcases,theproceduredoesnotcurethecause ofthebackpain,butprovidesquick,short-termrelief.

Backpainafter pregnancy

Temporarybackpainisoftenassociatedwithpregnancy. Butsometimes,thepaindoesn’tgoawayafterthebaby arrives.Fortunately,severaltreatmentscanhelp.

It’snormalfortheligamentsinyour lowerbackandpelvicregiontoloosen duringpregnancytoaccommodate yourgrowingbabyduetotherelease ofahormonecalledrelaxin.

Relaxin,asthenamesuggests,causes themusclesandligamentsinyour pelvicregiontorelax.However,it cancausesomemusclesand ligamentstorelaxalittletoo much,whichcanleadto nerveandjointpain.

Massage,physical therapyand therapeutic exercisescan helpwith postpartum backpain.

Theinjectionsareoftenpartofamorecomprehensive treatmentprogramthatincludesexercise,stretching techniquesandphysicaltherapy.

OchsnerHealthoffersworldclassinterventionalpain managementrighthereinLouisiana.Ochsner’snationally andinternationallyrecognizedmultidisciplinaryteamof expertsoffersinnovative,evidence-basedtreatmentsto safelyandeffectivelyreducepainsothatpatientscanget backtodoingwhattheylove.

Barbell dead lift:

Standwithyourmid-footunderthebarbell.Bendoverandgrabthebar withashoulder-widthgrip.Bendyourkneesuntilyourshinstouchthe bar.Liftyourchestupandstraightenyourlowerback.

Bent-overrows:

Holdabarbellwithaweightthatyouarecomfortablewithbutis stillchallengingforyou.Standwithyourfeetshoulder-widthapart. Bendoveratthewaist.Withyourarmsfullyextendedandtheweight inyourhands,bringthebaruptowardyourchestandstomachand squeezeyourshoulderbladestogether,keepingyourbackflatandtight throughouttheexercise.

Straight-arm pull-down:

Useacablemachineandastraightbarattachedtothecable.Position theequipmentataheighttallerthanyou. Withyourarmsstraightout andhandsholdingthebar,bringthebardowntowardyourlegs.It’s importantthatyoukeepyourarmsstraightbutnotlockedattheelbow. Donotrockyourbodydownanduptoassistintheexercise.

Superman:

Liedownonyourstomachwithyourarmsfullyextendedoveryourhead. Raiseyourlegsandupperbodyofftheground,leavingonlyyourhips touchingthefloor.Holdthispositionfor35seconds.

What causes aknot under the shoulder blade?

Ifyoueverexperiencewhatfeelslikea“knot”under yourshoulderblade,youmayassumeyouhavea backissue. Buttheproblemcouldbelinkedtothe neck,evenincaseswherethereisnooverriding painintheneck.

Cervicalradiculopathyisthefancymedicaltermfor pinchednerve.Itoccurswhenanerveintheneck iscompressedorirritatedwhereitbranchesaway

fromthespinalcord.Thiscancauseradiatingpain undertheshoulderblade.

Theproblemismostcommoninadultsmiddleaged orolder,thoughanyonecangetit.Forolderpeople, “wearandtear”ismostoftenthereason.

Adoctororhealthcareproviderwhospecializesin painmanagementcanhelp.

Onceadiagnosisismade,yourdoctorwilldiscuss treatmentoptions.Theymightincludephysical/ occupationaltherapy,injections,andinsomecases, medications.

Ifthereissignificantcompressionofthenerve, surgerymaybenecessarytorelievethepressure andpain.However,doctorstypicallyexhaustall otheroptionsbeforeconsideringsurgery.

Strengtheningbackmusclesisoneofthebestwaystowardoffback pain.Herearefourexercisesthatcanhelpbolstertheback:

GENTLE SONG

New Orleans choir creates peace and calm at the end of life

BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer

Voices blend in harmony at the bed-

side of a woman in her last stages of life

A choir of three women sing a gentle song called “Thank You” that expresses gratitude for love and caring. The women consider this moment as one of their greatest gifts as their a cappella sound ushers the client in bed as she crosses the last threshold.

The three woman are part of Threshold Nola, a chapter of the international choral nonprofit organization Threshold Choir which Kate Munger founded in 2000 in California. Threshold Choir has 200 chapters of volunteer singers all over the world who sing a cappella to those in the later stages of life, those facing death and those that grieve them.

The organization provides support for its chapters by offering online meetings, video trainings, retreats and other resources.

Music educator Margaret Albert and massage therapist Hermene Anderson heard of Threshold around the same time and founded Threshold Nola in 2016. It is the only Threshold Choir chapter in Louisiana and includes 12 singers who sing together at nursing homes, memory care residences and bedsides.

When the members are called upon to sing at a bedside, only three or four will go together so as to keep the atmosphere intimate. When they sing at nursing homes and assisted living facilities, the group performs more upbeat songs. Anderson says there is no audition required to become a member of Threshold Nola. However, singers must be able to hold a tune, sing harmony, sing the right part — alto, second soprano or first soprano — a cappella and learn the songs, which are short, mantra-style songs. Members receive specialized training around death and grief, bringing calm to the bedside, and producing a harmonized blend of sound

“We sing very softly when we’re singing at bedside,” Anderson said. “It’s all about looking at your life and being grateful, about peace and love and kindness. We keep it flowing very quietly, because some people that we sing to are unresponsive.”

PROVIDED PHOTO

Jan Risher

Loving beyond dividing lines

This column requires a certain notice.

I grew up going to church a lot — as in three times a week, at least. However, as an adult, my church attendance has waxed and waned. I’ve struggled to make peace with a lot of “church stuff.”

That said, I love to be part of a community — and a good church is a great place to do that. So, now I go to church.

A few weeks back, when the minister announced there were decks of Lent prayer cards, I didn’t really understand what she meant. Nonetheless, I picked up a deck on my way out. I decided to take them to my office to read each day The cards have a question on one side and a prayer on the other Last week, the question on one of the cards was, “What does it mean to be a good neighbor?”

On the other side, it said, “I long to be a good neighbor — hospitable, compassionate and free of assumptions. However, I know that my own humanity gets in the way Forgive me for the moments when I miss an opportunity to be compassionate. Forgive me, and spark compassion deep in my bones.”

The next day, the prayer read:

“Every once in a while, someone does something so kind, so unreasonably gracious, that it uncoils something in me. It unravels a bit of fear or grief, and leaves me with a glimmer of hope. Show me how to love like that. Show me how to cross the road, care for my neighbor and love beyond dividing lines. Show me how to be unreasonably hospitable.”

Two days in a row with that kind of beauty made me want to know more about who wrote these incredible thoughts.

“We have the honor of offering them the services of Threshold Nola choir, and it has been an absolute privilege to witness the peace of song that comes over the resident as they are transitioning into eternal rest.”

MARIA LANDRENEAU, director of memory care for The Blake at Colonial Club in Harahan

In her nine years of singing with Threshold Nola, Anderson says she has noticed that clients are relaxed and calm during the music.

“Some people are in their last moments, and we can see how their breathing gets slower and quieter We’ve been at bedside when folks have crossed over, with family in the room,” Anderson said.

Maria Landreneau, the director of memory care for The Blake at Colonial Club in Harahan, has worked with the Threshold Nola singers for almost a year. She arranges the members to perform once a month for the memory care residents. When the group is there, she has noticed that any rhythm or music perks the residents up and encourages them to move and clap with the beat.

In addition to the standing engagement, Landreneau also calls on the small choir when one of her residents is in hospice or close to dying.

“We have the honor of offering them the services of Threshold Nola choir, and it has been an absolute privilege to witness the peace of song that comes over the resident as they are transitioning into eternal rest,” Landreneau said. The sound of the harmonies is the most beautiful thing, the way these women come together and sing.”

PROVIDED PHOTO

The Threshold Nola singers harmonize bedside for a resident.

When singing at bedside, the members bring stools or sit in chairs so they are at the same level as the client in bed or in a chair In addition to nursing homes, Threshold Nola visits hospitals and homes when requested. The group also conducts demonstrations with an antigravity chair for people who are curious about what they do

“We cover them with a blanket and tell them to close their eyes,” she said. “And we go through several songs, and every person that we sing to that is not suffering, tears come to their eyes, and they say they’ve never experienced anything like it.” Anderson says the commitment is demanding because they can be called upon at any time during the week or weekend.

ä See THRESHOLD, page 2Y

Within minutes, I learned the prayers were written by a Presbyterian minister named the Rev Sarah Are Speed. She is a poet and has been a minister in New York City but recently moved to Kansas City

On her website, there was a place to leave a message.

So, I did, adding, on a lark, that I would love to talk to her about being a good neighbor Within hours, she messaged me her cell number and we set up a call to chat the next day

When Rev Speed and I spoke, she told me that the theme for that week’s prayers had been strangers and neighbors and the parable of the good Samaritan.

“You know Jesus said, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’” she said.

She told me about living in a big apartment building in New York for years and all the people there she never met.

She said that when her faith brings up the notion of neighbors, it reminds her of how countercultural that is in our isolated world.

“Still, our faith calls us to be good neighbors,” she said.

Regardless of religion, I recognize the benefits of society having more people who are good neighbors. I asked what could we as individuals do to be better neighbors, rather than putting the onus on our neighbors. She told me about her 72-yearold neighbor, Franny, who keeps doggie treats on her porch and anytime anyone walks by, Franny offers the dog a treat.

That openness and “invite-youin” spirit goes a long way

Threshold Nola choir sings to the residents of the memory care section at The Blake at Colonial Club residential facility

STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Threshold Choir members Hermene Anderson and Jeanne Duplantier join other members of their choir in singing to Laurel Senior Living residents in New Orleans on July 27, 2023.

Speed said she regretted not sending Christmas cards to her neighbors last year

“I send Christmas cards to friends all over the country but I didn’t send them to my neighbors,” she said, adding that she’ll do better the next time. “That is a very small thing we could do to connect.”

She said good neighbors are more than a neighborhood crime watch.

“If the context most people have for what it means to be a neighbor is that we update each other when the world is falling apart like I want something more beautiful than that as a good neighbor,” she said “I want something that is collaborative and creative and not just a notification.”

We discussed the importance of being vulnerable enough to initiate contact with the people around us. With that in mind, other neighborly ideas include:

n Be the one to share dog treats or invite people in.

n Organize a neighborhood potluck.

n In a counterintuitive move, sometimes being the one to ask to borrow a cup of sugar could be the opening that breaks the ice. Be brave enough to ask.

n If your neighborhood has a group chat, be the one who goes beyond the alerts and notices of caution to bring people together for something fun.

Speed added that the concept of “neighbor” goes beyond the people who live next door

“I think our faith would use an expansive definition of neighbor,” she said. “I love the idea bringing that language back to the center of our thought process or conversation when we think about existing in community.”

A neighbor could be the person we share an elevator with or the person we run into at the grocery story, or the person we pass on the street or walk by in the park.

May we be “hospitable, compassionate and free of assumptions,” not letting our own humanity get in the way May we be “unreasonably gracious.” May we cross the road, care for our neighbors and love beyond dividing lines.

Email Jan Risher at jan.risher@ theadvocate.com.

called them, and 35 to 45 minutes later they’re here. If they can make it, they will they will drop everything and come for someone that is passing.”

Threshold choir also requires time to learn the songs and correct parts to sing in order to produce the blended, soothing a cappella sounds.

“I’m really happy that that they’re here,” Landreneau said of Threshold Nola. “They’re just a phone call away I’ve

Threshold Nola has had members who come and go, as the process can be too much for people to handle. Singing in a

“It’s a calling,” Anderson said. “You have to be a special kind of person that will undertake this mission. And I’m grateful I

found it when I did. We are honored a family would allow us to be in the room with their loved one in bed that’s crossing over.” For more information, visit thresholdchoir.org/nola. Email Joy Holden at joy holden@theadvocate.com.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Threshold Choir members, from left to right, Hermene Anderson, Jeanne Duplantier, and Becky Freedman sing to 102-year-old Dot Archer in her room at Laurel Senior Living in New Orleans on July 27, 2023.

Surround yourself with smarter people

Ensuring economic development teams have the tools they need

BY LAUREN CHERAMIE Staff writer

Stacy Romero is the executive director of the Louisiana Economic Alliance for Development, the leading organization dedicated to advancing economic development professionals across Louisiana.

She holds a degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and has completed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Institute for Organization Management, Business Leads Fellowship Program and the Council for a Better Louisiana’s Leadership Louisiana program. In 2024, she was honored with the Junior Achievement of Acadiana’s Richard E. Boudouin Friend of Business Award.

Romero specializes in organizational administration, workforce solutions and economic strategy

She works to unite economic developers, business leaders and policymakers, ensuring they have the tools to advocate effectively and strengthen Louisiana’s economic future.

How was the initial transition to your new role with LEAD, and how is it shaping out now?

I’m one month into my role, and it’s going really well. I’m enjoying the work, and I’m getting to meet so many people. I was previously in Shreveport visiting with folks around the state to find out what I and LEAD can do to support our economic development professionals statewide

If you look deeper at things happening in Louisiana, you’ll find a lot of people who really want to make a difference and are trying to do good things. It just takes

time to make those changes.

We’re in a position right now where there’s so many of us rowing in the same direction. We know where we want to go, and we know what our shared goals are. It just takes finding those like-minded people who want to see good things happen in Louisiana — connecting with those people and doing what we can to support the people who are on the ground, doing the work to attract businesses to Louisiana and grow our economy Sometimes the path to enacting big changes requires slow implementation, which can often feel tedious. Is that true for you, and if so, what pushes you to keep going?

There’s a balance that I’m having to find

LEAD was previously the Louisiana Industrial Development Executives Association, which was started about 60 years ago by a group of economic development professionals who recognized the need for support within their industry That organization was run completely by volunteers

Last year, the association participated in a strategic plan and rebranding exercise with Ernst and Young, which came back with two options: end the organization or rebuild the organization, rebrand and hire an executive director

The board rebranded and hired me.

I’m very aware of the fact that the board and the organization want to see some major changes So, yes, change is slow and it takes time to do things the right way, but at the same time, there are so many quick wins that I’ve identified

In that respect, change is going to happen quickly over the course of the next six months or year Are there things that could potentially slow us down? Yes.

But I’m of the mindset that anything worth doing is probably not going to be easy to accomplish.

With a new organization in place, does LEAD have a new mission?

The mission, at its core, is the same — but we’ve tweaked a few things.

Essentially, we’re here to support economic development professionals and ensure they have the tools needed to be successful.

We’re working with the International Economic Development Council to create a pipeline from Louisiana into their programming so that professionals in Louisiana can become certified economic development developers at the national level.

We serve as a voice of the economic development professionals when it comes to policy and advocacy — making sure that our legislators know that economic development professionals are here and working really hard to grow our economy, but that they need support.

How is LEAD creating solutions in the state?

It goes back to our stance regarding policy work. Mandi Mitchell serves as the vice president of our board, and she’s also the chair of the policy committee.

She’s incredibly in tune with what’s going on with policy, and she’s very well connected and trusted by people across the state. When people are struggling with something or potentially need help in finding solutions, we want to become that trusted source for people.

As I’m talking to people around Louisiana, many of them are concerned about the future. Some people are looking at retirement, so we want to ensure a smooth transition from their retirement to the next generation of developers. A big part of what we’ll be focused on in the coming years is training our emerging professionals to make sure there’s no gap in service As a new person in a new role, do you

have any tips for people in the same situation?

This is not the first time I’ve stepped into a role where changes were needed. The way I approach it is that I know I’m really good at some things, and I also know what I’m not so good in. I focus on my weaknesses so that I can connect myself with people who do those things well. I try to surround myself with the best and brightest people, people who are much smarter than me, who I can lean on. We don’t know everything about everything, and that’s not something to be embarrassed about, so how do we collaborate with each other? How do we support each other and earn the trust and respect of other people who would be willing to support us? That, to me, is how you’re successful.

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

PROVIDED PHOTO

Stacy Romero is the executive director of the Louisiana Economic Alliance for Development, the leading organization dedicated to advancing economic development professionals across Louisiana.

FAITH & VALUES

U.S. Lutherans learn new Palestinian practice: Sumud

BY YONAT SHIMRON

Contributing writer

Lent is a time of reflection for many Christians, and each year a host of devotionals are published to bring insight and inspiration to the 40 days of contemplation leading to Easter For the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a liberal denomination of close to 3 million members, the Lenten offerings this year include one focusing on the plight of Palestinians. The devotional, called “Sumud,” an Arabic word meaning “steadfastness,” offers churches and individuals a six-week study with videos and reflections to raise awareness of and advocacy against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands and its military rule over Palestinians.

More than many other U.S. denominations, the ELCA has spoken boldly on the issue of Palestinian inequality and dispossession in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. That’s in part because the denomination partners with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and its six churches. The 2,000 members of those churches and their leaders have been especially vocal in opposing Israel’s war in Gaza — none more so than the Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, who has emerged as one of the leading champions for the Palestinian fight for justice and liberation in Gaza and for the 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is one U.S congregation heeding the call.

“It just seemed like if we were gonna focus on something that was faith-based, that was really listening to grassroots voices with intentionality during this penitential season, we would just sit with this,” said the Rev Clint Schnekloth, the pastor Over the course of Lent, mem-

bers of Good Shepherd Lutheran will gather for a parish meeting before services each Sunday to watch a video and read a reflection about seeking justice for Palestinians.

Schnekloth explained that ELCA Lutherans are in a unique position when it comes to Israel and Palestine. “We see the impact on our brothers and sisters who are Lutheran there, and that can sometimes convince people who might otherwise be pro-Israel that there’s another way of thinking about this based out of that experience.”

The Palestinian fight for freedom is beginning to resonate more broadly On March 2, “No Other Land” won the Oscar for best docu-

mentary feature. The documentary jointly produced by Israelis and Palestinians, focuses on the Israeli military’s forced displacement of Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, a group of hamlets in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian plight has become front and center because of Israel’s 16-month war in Gaza following Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel The assault has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and leveled the oceanfront strip. But Israel has also been waging numerous raids across the occupied West Bank, accompanied by house demolitions, detentions without charge and near-daily attacks on Palestinians that have killed nearly 900 people since the start of the war on Gaza

in October 2023.

A Gallup poll conducted Feb. 3-16 found that less than half of Americans express support for Israel, the lowest percentage in 25 years of Gallup’s annual tracking of this measure. According to the poll, 46% of Americans expressed support for Israel and 33% of U.S. adults now said they sympathize with the Palestinians, up 6 percentage points from last year

The ELCA has long advocated for its sister churches in the Middle East through a program also called Sumud.

Maddi Froiland, Sumud’s program director, said the ELCA initiative is intended to help U.S. Lutherans better understand what their faith counterparts are expe-

riencing, not the least of which is extinction.

“I think we’ve had reports of 146 Christians who have left since Oct. 7 of two years ago,” she said. “This is something that is a dire circumstance in the Lutheran experience and the wider Palestinian Christian experience.”

The ELCA offers other Lenten devotionals, including one called “Dismantle: An Anti-White Supremacy Lenten Devotional.” Like many offered by other Christian communities during Lent, the devotionals speak to a theme of resistance against oppression and advocacy for the marginalized.

The Sumud Lenten devotional’s first video focuses on Mary the mother of Jesus, who remains an inspiration for Palestinian Christian women today as a sister in sumud, or perseverance. Others focus on the need for Christians to speak the truth and challenge society to fight injustice.

Bishop Meghan Johnston Aelabouni of the Rocky Mountain Synod of the ELCA said she was encouraging the use of the Sumud Lenten devotional.

Aelabouni, who until last year served as co-pastor for the English-speaking congregation of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem, is particularly close to the issue. She said the Lenten resource can provide an opportunity for those who have not traveled to the region to better understand Palestinians’ lived reality and potentially take steps toward advocacy of justice and peace.

“As faith-based communities, part of our work is engaging in civic life as citizens, and it is also in raising the deeper questions of humanity, of what does justice look like? Why do we believe it’s important? And yes, why do we believe it is biblical?” she said “I think we need an increase in awareness that there can be another way that there can be a different way.”

Teen authors at Tara High create children’s books

BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer

Twelve new children’s books were published last month in Baton Rouge but you won’t find them at Barnes & Noble. Their authors are teenagers, little older than the youngsters for whom they are writing.

These teenage creators showcased their new creative works on Feb. 26 in the library at Tara High School during the school’s Family Literacy Night.

Titles include “Esli’s Big Attitude,” “Not So Norman,” “The Glowing Remote,” “The Musical Incident” and “Runaway Robot.”

The storylines range from helping an annoying girl find her lost dog, to a boy who gets bullied when he enrolls in a new school, to an adventure tale involving pirates and treasure.

These Tara ninth graders have been working since October on their books, which feature a mix of text and illustrations.

Jama’rl Crockett served as team manager for the book “The Musical Incident,” a story about four children getting ready for a battle of the bands competition with a $1,000 prize to the winner He said his proud parents have been really excited about the project.

“They’re definitely going to staple it on the wall,” Crockett said Christopher Gage, father of Lyric Gage, said he has a prominent spot in mind to display his daughter’s book, “Runaway Robot.”

“If she doesn’t want it in her room, we have a centerpiece in the living room where we could put it,” said the father

It’s the third year in a row that the Baton Rouge high school has turned its Freshman Academy into a mini-publishing company

It’s part of an ongoing collaboration between Tara and the local educational nonprofit Humanities Amped. The nonprofit raised money and dedicated a nonprofit employee to the project.

Principal John Hayman said he’s hoping to train more of his teachers so they incorporate more student projects in their classes.

“It’s not about the content really It’s about working together to collaborate as part of a group,

because so much of college is about that,” Hayman said “So it gives them a little taste, which is good because they are not used to that.”

“I love what we do and how we can support Tara,” said Niagee Butler, classroom program coordinator with Humanities Amped.

Butler’s background is in business and math, not creative writing. She ended up focusing on helping students with their illustrations.

“I have three children so I have some experience,” Butler said, with a laugh. “But it was a little intimidating.”

She said she helped the students but let them take the lead.

She said the project took a long time and they were “stretched out of their comfort zones.”

“They were excited to get it done,” Butler said. “They all pitched in to help each other meet the deadline.”

A total of 75 Tara ninth graders participated. Their teacher, Barry Jackson divided them into teams ranging from four to seven students each Their roles on the team included serving as author, illustrator, editor or manager of the project.

To get the creative juices flowing, the students gathered in a circle at the outset and shared challenges they have. These challenges became the wellspring of the stories they ended up telling.

“It was a new experience and most, if not all of them, are glad they did it at the end of the day,” said Jackson, who also coaches softball and volleyball at Tara.

Aleia Thomas said it’s hard to keep the story going.

“We do one page, and then I don’t remember what to do for the next or not know what to do,”

Thomas said Addison Mitchell, who managed the six-person team that created “Not So Norman,” said one student was the main writer, but several team members helped work out the story It grew out of the story of someone she knew in elementary school who suffered from vitiligo, a depigmenting skin disease. The children’s story focused on a boy with vitiligo who moves from a small town to a big city and gets bullied.

“Then another character in the

story stands up for him,” Mitchell said “And he’s like, ‘Why’d you stand up for me?’ And she’s like, ‘I remember being new too.’” Illustrations proved to be perhaps the biggest challenge The bulk of the images were generated via artificial intelligence. Some tried hand-drawn illustrations but gave up.

“Some of (the students) are really like artists, but then they became a little overwhelmed,” said Butler. AI, however posed special challenges. For instance it was hard to achieve consistent results when AI tried to draw characters for stories. Mitchell has regrets about reverting to AI

“Some of the pages don’t have pictures because we were rushing so much because of that serious backstep,” she said.

Addison’s mom, Jessica Mitchell, is an assistant principal at Tara. She said she’s proud of the growth she’s seen in her daughter.

“Just to see her flourish this year and come out of her shell and take risks, it’s been an honor to watch her,” said the mother

one

The final part of the project is still to come. The students take their new books back to their old elementary schools and read them to the children there. Last year Tara was unable to schedule those elementary school readings due to standardized testing, something Hayman regretted because it’s his favorite part of the project. “It’s just cool to see them read for little kids,” he said. “Yeah, and kind of be a little kid.” Crockett went to Audubon Elementary and is anxious to see how the children there react.

“I’m a little bit nervous,” he said, “but I really want to overcome that challenge, and I think I very much could.”

Email Charles Lussier at clussier@theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Middle East Ready Bench gathers in Chicago in February to discuss Sumud and how the church can mobilize for justice in the Holy Land.

Andrew Kuo reads

of the books written by Tara High freshmen to his son Jonah, 5.

PHOTOS By APRIL BUFFINGTON

Supporters of Tara High’s freshmen authors read their books at Family Literacy Night.

SUNDAY, MArch 23, 2025

CURTIS / by Ray Billingsley

SLYLOCK FOX / by Bob Weber Jr

GET FUZZY / by Darby Conley

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE / by Chris Browne

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM / by Mike Peters

ZIGGY / by Tom Wilson

ZITS / by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

SALLY FORTH / by Francesco Marciuliano & Jim Keefe

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE / by Stephan Pastis

grams

directions: Make a 2- to 7-letter word from the letters in each row Add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value All the words are in the Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, 5th Edition.

word game

instructions: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

todAY's Word — cArPoLoGY: car-POLoh-jee: A branch of biology dealing with the structure of fruit and seeds.

Average mark 45 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find 57 or more words in CARPOLOGY?

ken ken

instructions: 1 - Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 through 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating 2 The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners.

3 - Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

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 Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

directions: Complete the grid so that numbers 1–132 connect horizontally, vertically or diagonally

Sudoku

wuzzLes

A kind deck

North’s jump to four hearts denied anything useful — certainly no ace or king — so perhaps South should have passed right there.

South bid on, however. He had a wonderful hand and he was hoping to catch enough in dummy to give him a reasonable play for 12 tricks.

Southruffedtheopeningspade lead with the 10 of hearts, saving his lower trumps as entries to dummy. He cashed the ace and king of hearts, then led the eight of hearts to dummy’s nine. A losing diamond finesse at this point would leave him needing East to have a doubleton king of clubs. He wouldn’t have enough entries to dummy to take two club finesses. He judged that it was better to take the club finesse, so he tried a club to his queen.

Had that lost to the king, he would still be able to ruff the fourth club in dummy, even if the clubs split 3-3, and take the diamond finesse. The club finesse won, however, and there was no reason to think that West might have ducked with the king. South now simply played the ace, king, and another diamond. He ruffed the spade continuation high and led the six of hearts to dummy’s seven He

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Leave nothing to chance. Put your energy into completing what you start and promoting your skills and ideas. High energy, desire and making a difference will help motivate you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Invest more time in learning, traveling and exploring new possibilities. Changing your lifestyle or direction will give you hope for a brighter future. It’s time to shine.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Use your talents, skills and experience to help a cause or someone in need. A kind gesture will start a trend.

discarded a club on the jack of diamonds and repeated the club finesse for his contract. This was a lovely line of play. It would have been an unkind deck of cards that would not have rewarded him with his slam bonus.

Tannah Hirsch welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency Inc., 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207. E-mail responses may be sent to gorenbridge@ aol.com. © 2025 Tribune Content Agency

Personal gain and interesting opportunities are heading in your direction.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Pay attention to how you look, feel and handle responsibilities. Taking an interest in others and what they do will provide insight and encourage you to adjust how you deal with changes. LEO (July 23-Aug 22) A healthy attitude and schedule will be energizing and appealing to positive people eager to be part of your circle. To be active is attractive, and it can shape an exhilarating lifestyle.

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

super Quiz

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) A change will give you a positive perspective on life, love and how to become more active in your community. Reach out, see what’s happening. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Reach across the table and introduce yourself to others. Make your voice heard and your presence known. Show compassion and be grateful for your life. Don’t be shy! SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) If you want something, make it happen. Fuel the fire and embark on what interests you. Take your wisdom

and skills and contribute what you can; something good will transpire.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23-Dec 21) Change how you handle your money to ward off someone trying to take advantage of you. Establish a financial safety net to get the most out of any partnership.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Converse and socialize Get in the game of life and see what transpires. Align yourself with people you share the most with mentally, emotionally and financially.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Pour your energyintosomethingworthwhile. Put a limit on how much you spend and the number of promises you make. Trust your instincts and adjust as you move forward.

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

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Push your way forward and participate in what excites you most. Refuse to let changes that others make interfere with your plans. Proceed in the direction that brings you the most comfort and greatest joy.

goren Bridge

Answers to puzzles

super quiz

1. Liar: rail. 2. Bard: drab. 3. Deer: reed 4. Stun: nuts. 5. Evil: live. 6. Reel: leer. 7 Tuba: abut. 8. Tide: edit. 9. Wolf: flow 10. Gnat: tang 11. Repel: leper 12. Devil: lived. 13. Regal: lager. 14. Diaper: repaid. 15. Recap: pacer.

SCORING: 24 to 30 points — congratulations, doctor; 18 to 23 points honors graduate; 13 to 17 points — you’re plenty smart, but no grind; 5 to 12 points — you really should hit the books harder; 1 point to 4 points — enroll in remedial courses immediately; 0 points — who reads the questions to you?

Cryptoquote Answer

Saturday's Cryptoquote: I don't need you to remind me of my age. I have a bladder to do that for me. — Stephen Fry

word GAme Answer

sudoKu Answer jumble Answer

Crossword Answers

sCrAbble Answers wuzzles Answers Ken Ken Answers hidAto Answers

jeFF mACnelly’s shoe / by Gary Brookins & Susie MacNelly

FoXtrot / by Bill Amend

dustin / by Steve Kelley & Jeff Parker