The Acadiana Advocate 03-29-2025 by The Advocate

LAST CALL

Demolition of longtime downtown restaurant nearly complete

Demolition of the former Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse in downtown Lafayette is nearly complete. The building, which dates back to 1934, was a popular destination for locals and visitors over the years. The building has been empty since the restaurant closed in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. An 83-room hotel is planned for the site.

OMV director resigns as computer issues continue

BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT

Staff writer

Dan Casey, commissioner of the Louisiana Ofﬁce of Motor Vehicles, is resigning amid an ongoing breakdown in the agency’s computer systems that has disrupted services across the state for weeks.

“I want to sincerely thank Dan Casey for stepping up to serve as the Commissioner of Ofﬁce of Motor Vehicles at a time when most people would shy away from the position,” Gov. Jeff Landry said Friday in a news release announcing Casey’s departure. “Dan faced nearly impossible circumstances including a system that was designed in

ä See OMV, page 7A

LSU

Measures include changes to state tax law, criminal justice system and elections

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Voters across Louisiana on Saturday will be asked to decide on four proposed amendments to the Louisiana Constitution.

If approved, they would impact the state’s courts, taxes, treatment of juveniles in the criminal justice system, and elections for judges. The Louisiana Legislature approved the amendments during a special session in November, but voters now have the ﬁnal say

Some voters also have local issues on their ballots.

ä Lafayette Parish will vote Saturday on two property tax renewals. PAGE

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Find your polling location and see what’s on your ballot at www.GeauxVote.com, on the GeauxVote mobile app or by calling the registrar of voters in your parish.

Here’s an overview of the amendments:

Amendment 1

State lawmakers would gain the power to create regional and statewide specialty courts, should this amendment pass. Currently, legislators can only create specialty courts within a parish or a judicial district Drug mental health and veterans courts are examples of these legal programs. Amendment 1 would also clarify that, under the Louisiana Constitution, the state Supreme Court has authority over disciplinary cases involving lawyer misconduct by out-of-state attorneys working in Louisiana. The constitution currently says the Supreme Court has authority over “disciplinary proceedings against a member of the bar.”

Proponents say this amendment will give state lawmakers ﬂexibility to set up needed legal forums like business courts, and it will empower the state to punish bad actors who don’t live in Louisiana. Opponents, however, say the real reason for the changes is unclear, and those pushing for them haven’t revealed why exactly the new courts are needed.

Amendment 2

This amendment restructures one of the 14 articles of the Louisiana Constitution that governs

ä See VOTE, page 6A

LSU announces hiring freeze

‘Unpredictable,

unprecedented federal funding changes’ cited

BY PATRICK WALL and ELLYN COUVILLION Staff writers

LSU will enact a universitywide hiring freeze and consider eliminating some positions as the Trump administration seeks to slash higher-education funding, LSU President William Tate IV said Friday In a letter to faculty and staff, Tate outlined belt-

tightening measures the public university will take in response to “unpredictable and unprecedented federal funding changes.” The school will pause hiring “with limited exceptions,” look for “redundant” positions to cut and explore using AI to take over some administrative tasks. Universities nationwide have announced hiring freezes, layoffs and other cost-cutting measures after the Trump administration said in February it would reduce federal research funding by an estimated $4 billion annually

ä See LSU, page 7A

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Demolition of Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse in downtown Lafayette continues on Wednesday.

A worker picks through the debris at the site of the former Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse on Wednesday.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

will enact a hiring freeze and consider eliminating some positions as the federal government seeks to slash funding for higher education

Utah bans fluoride in public drinking water

SALT LAKE CITY Utah has become the ﬁrst state to ban ﬂuoride in public drinking water, pushing past opposition from dentists and national health organizations who warn the move will lead to medical problems that disproportionately affect low-income communities.

Republican Gov Spencer Cox signed legislation Thursday barring cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral to their water systems.

Florida, Ohio and South Carolina are considering similar measures, while in New Hampshire, North Dakota and Tennessee, lawmakers have rejected them. A bill in Kentucky to make ﬂuoridation optional stalled in the state Senate.

The American Dental Association sharply criticized the Utah law, saying it showed “wanton disregard for the oral health and well-being of their constituents.”

Cavities are the most common chronic childhood disease, the ADA noted. Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The ban, effective May 7, brings into the mainstream concerns over ﬂuoridation that for decades were considered fringe opinions.

Khalil’s lawyers appear in New Jersey court

NEWARK, N.J Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, urged a federal judge on Friday to free their client from an immigration detention center in Louisiana, describing his imprisonment there as a “Kafkaesque” ploy to chill free speech.

“The longer we wait, the more chill there is,” defense attorney Baher Azmy said. “Everyone knows about this case and is wondering if they’re going to get picked off the street for opposing U.S. foreign policy.”

The parties appeared Friday morning before a judge in Newark, New Jersey, to debate where Khalil’s legal ﬁght to be released from federal custody should play out. An attorney for the Department of Justice, August Flentje, wants the dispute litigated in Louisiana, where Khalil was taken after his arrest, “for jurisdictional certainty.”

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said he would consider the “tricky” venue issues at play and issue a written decision soon. He declined to hear an argument for bail from Khalil’s attorneys, pointing to the need to settle the jurisdictional issue ﬁrst.

Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdallah, an American citizen who is due to give birth next month, sat in the front row of the courtroom, surrounded by supporters. Scores of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse on Friday morning, chanting, “Free Mahmoud,” and hoisting signs featuring his face.

Ship that collided with tanker towed to port

LONDON A badly damaged cargo ship which collided with a U.S. tanker in the North Sea earlier this month arrived in the Scottish port of Aberdeen Friday, following a ﬁre that lasted for nearly a week.

Following a tug-assisted journey that lasted a few days, the Portugal-ﬂagged Solong docked in Aberdeen for “safe berthing” and damage assessment.

The damage to the ship following its collision on March 10 with an anchored tanker, the MV Stena Immaculate, and the ensuing ﬁre, was clearly visible from the shore. The tanker was transporting jet fuel for the U.S. military in the North Sea.

“Salvage of the Solong has progressed to enable its relocation to the Port of Aberdeen for safe berthing,” said chief coastguard Paddy O’Callaghan. “The Stena Immaculate remains in a stable condition with salvage ongoing.”

A spokesperson for Ernt Russ, the company which owns the Solong, said the fire-stricken ship will be “fully assessed by specialist marine assessors and insurers” in Aberdeen.

Quake rocks Myanmar, Thailand

Hundreds feared dead

BY DAVID RISING and JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press

BANGKOK — A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar on Friday, causing extensive damage across a wide swath of one of the world’s poorest countries and prompting ofﬁcials to warn that the initial death toll — above 140 — was likely to grow in the days ahead.

In neighboring Thailand, at least 10 died in Bangkok, where a high-rise under construction collapsed.

The full extent of death, injury and destruction was not immediately clear — particularly in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled.

“The death toll and injuries are expected to rise,” the head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, said as he announced on television that at least 144 people were killed and 730 others were injured in his country

In Thailand, authorities in Bangkok said 10 people were killed, 16 injured and 101 missing from three construction sites, including the high-rise.

The 7.7-magnitude quake struck at midday, with an epicenter near Mandalay,

Patients are evacuated outdoors on Friday at a hospital in

Myanmar ’s second-largest city. Aftershocks followed, one of them measuring a strong 6.4 magnitude.

Myanmar is in an active earthquake belt, though many of the temblors happen in sparsely populated areas, not cities like those affected Friday The U.S. Geological Survey an American government science agency, estimated that the death toll could top 1,000.

In Mandalay the earthquake reportedly brought down multiple buildings, including one of the city’s largest monasteries Photos from the capital city of Naypyidaw showed rescue

Israel strikes Beirut

First such attack since ceasefire ended with Hezbollah

BY BASSEM MROUE Associated Press

BEIRUT Israel on Friday launched an attack on Lebanon’s capital for the ﬁrst time since a ceaseﬁre ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November

Associated Press reporters in Beirut heard a loud boom and witnessed smoke rising from an area in the city’s southern suburbs that Israel’s military had vowed to strike. It marked Israel’s ﬁrst strike on Beirut since a ceasefire took hold last November between it and the Hezbollah militant group, though Israel has attacked targets in southern Lebanon almost daily since then.

Israel’s army said it hit a Hezbollah drone storage facility in Dahiyeh, which it called a militant stronghold. The strike came after Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields, warned residents to evacuate the area.

The area struck is a residential and commercial area and is close to at least two schools

Israeli ofﬁcials said the attack was retaliation for rockets it said were ﬁred from Lebanon into northern Israel. They promised strikes on Beirut would continue unless Lebanon’s government worked to ensure such attacks ceased.

We will not allow ﬁring

at our communities, not even a trickle,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We will attack everywhere in Lebanon, against any threat to the State of Israel.”

Hezbollah denied ﬁring the rockets, and accused Israel of seeking a pretext to continue attacking Lebanon.

Lebanon’s government ordered all schools and universities in Beirut’s southern suburb of Hadath to close for the day. Residents were seen ﬂeeing the area in cars and on foot ahead of the strike.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel by its Hamas allies ignited the war in Gaza. Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 in Israel and abducted 251 others during the 2023 attack

The Israel-Hezbollah conﬂict exploded into allout war last September when Israel carried out 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.

Under the ceasefire, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January The deadline was extended to Feb. 18, but Israel has remained in five border locations while carrying out dozens of strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon. Last week, Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Lebanon killed six people.

crews pulling victims from the rubble of multiple buildings used to house civil servants.

Myanmar’s government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar was ready to accept assistance. The United Nations allocated $5 million to start relief efforts.

But amid images of buckled and cracked roads and reports of a collapsed bridge and a burst dam, there were concerns about how rescuers would even

reach some areas in a country already enduring a humanitarian crisis.

“We fear it may be weeks before we understand the full extent of destruction caused by this earthquake,” said Mohammed Riyas, the International Rescue Committee’s Myanmar director

Myanmar’s Englishlanguage state newspaper, Global New Light of Myanmar, said five cities and towns had seen building collapses and two bridges had fallen, including one on a key highway between Mandalay and Yangon. A photo on the newspaper’s website showed wreckage of a sign that read “EMERGENCY

DEPARTMENT,” which the caption said was part of the capital’s main 1,000-bed hospital.

Elsewhere, video posted online showed robed monks in a Mandalay street, shooting their own video of the multistory Ma Soe Yane monastery before it suddenly fell into the ground. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was harmed. Video also showed damage to the former royal palace.

Christian Aid said its partners and colleagues on the ground reported that a dam burst in the city, causing water levels to rise in the lowland areas. Residents of Yangon, the nation’s largest city rushed out of their homes when the quake struck. In Naypyitaw, some homes stood partly crumbled, while rescuers heaved away bricks from the piles of debris. An injured man reclined on a wheeled stretcher, while another man fanned him in the heat. In a country where many people already were struggling, “this disaster will have left people devastated,” said Julie Mehigan, who oversees Christian Aid’s work in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

“Even before this heartbreaking earthquake, we know conﬂict and displacement has left countless people in real need,” Mehigan said.

Trump asks Supreme Court to allow deportations to continue

President using 18th-century wartime law

BY MARK SHERMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court for permission to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law, while a court ﬁght continues.

The emergency appeal to the high court follows a rejection of the Republican administration’s plea to the federal appeals court in Washington. By a 2-1 vote, a panel of appellate judges left in place an order temporarily prohibiting deportations of the migrants under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act

The Justice Department argued in court papers that federal courts shouldn’t interfere with sensitive diplomatic negotiations. It also claimed that migrants should make their case in a federal court in Texas, where they are being detained.

The order temporarily blocking the deportations was issued by U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, the chief judge at the federal courthouse in Washington.

President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the ﬁrst time since World War II to justify the deportation of hundreds of people under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.

“Here, the district court’s orders have rebuffed the President’s judgments as to how to protect the Nation against foreign terrorist organizations and risk debilitating effects for delicate foreign negotiations,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in the court ﬁling.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union ﬁled the lawsuit on behalf of ﬁve Venezuelan noncitizens who were being held in Texas, hours

after the proclamation was made public.

The court set a Tuesday deadline for a response from the ACLU.

Lee Gelernt, the lead lawyer representing the migrants, said, “We will urge the Supreme Court to preserve the status quo to give the courts time to hear this case, so that more individuals are not sent off to a notorious foreign prison without any process, based on an unprecedented and unlawful use of a wartime authority.”

The case has become a

flashpoint amid escalating tension between the White House and the federal courts. Boasberg imposed a temporary halt on deportations and ordered planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants to return to the U.S. That did not happen. The judge has since vowed to determine whether the government deﬁed his order to turn the planes around. The administration has invoked a “state secrets privilege” and refused to give Boasberg any additional information about the deportations.

theadvocate.newsbank.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By TADCHAKORN KITCHAIPHON

Bangkok,Thailand, after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By HUSSEIN MALLA

A man stands next to a destroyed car on Friday at the site of an Israeli army strike that hit a building in the suburb of Dahiye, Beirut.

Vance claims Denmark underinvesting in Greenland

Trump presses for U.S. takeover

BY PHILIP CROWTHER, KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

NUUK, Greenland

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Friday that Denmark has “underinvested” in Greenland’s security and demanded that Denmark change its approach as President Donald Trump pushes to take over the Danish territory.

The pointed remarks came as Vance visited U.S. troops on Pitufﬁk Space Base on the mineral-rich, strategically critical island alongside his wife and other senior U.S. ofﬁcials for a trip that was ultimately scaled back after an uproar among Greenlanders and Danes who were not consulted about the original itinerary

“Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance said.

“You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change.”

Vance said the U.S. has “no option” but to take a signiﬁcant position to ensure the security of Greenland as he

encouraged a push in Greenland for independence from Denmark.

“I think that they ultimately will partner with the United States,” Vance said.

“We could make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think they’d fare a lot better economically as well.”

The reaction by members of Greenland’s parliament and residents has rendered that unlikely, with anger erupting over the Trump administration’s attempts to annex the vast Arctic island. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pushed back on Vance’s claim that Denmark isn’t doing enough for defense in the Arctic, calling her country “a good and strong ally.”

Soon after arriving, Vance briefly addressed U.S. troops stationed at the base as he and his wife sat down to lunch with them, saying that the Trump administration is very interested in “Arctic security.” He and his entourage, including national security adviser Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, later received brieﬁngs from military ofﬁcials.

It was minus-3 degrees when the delegation landed at the remote base 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

“It’s cold as s*** here. Nobody told me,” Vance said, prompting laughs. The revised trip to the

Trump has first call with Canada’s new PM

BY ROB GILLIES Associated Press

TORONTO U.S. President

Donald Trump said Friday that his ﬁrst call with new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was “extremely productive” and Carney said Trump respected Canada’s sovereignty both in private and public but added that the relationship has changed.

The call came as Trump has declared a trade war on Canada and has threatened to use economic coercion to make Canada the 51st U.S. state, a position that has infuriated Canadians Trump avoided any mention of that in his social media post and in public remarks later “We had a very good conversation. Mark called me,” Trump said. “We had a very very good talk. He’s going through an election. We’ll see what happens.” Trump didn’t refer to the prime minister as governor as he did with Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau.

The U.S. president, in his social media post, said the two sides “agree on many things and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States of America

and Canada.”

But Trump said more tariffs are coming. And Carney said Trump didn’t say he would pull back on tariffs on steel and aluminum, autos and other products.

“It is clear that the United States is no longer a reliable partner It is probable now that by negotiating we will able to restore an element of trust but we cannot go back,” Carney said. Carney previously said he would talk to Trump if he respected Canada’s sovereignty

“The president respected Canada’s sovereignty today both in his private and public comments,” Carney said.

He described the call as positive cordial and constructive

“Exactly what we want,” Carney said.

Carney said he will begin comprehensive negotiations for a “new economic and security relationship” immediately after the Canadian election on April 28.

Carney, who replaced Trudeau as Canada’s leader and the head of the Liberal Party is at the start of a ﬁveweek campaign.

“What we need is a new agreement and a new partnership with the United States because there are too many changes, to many tariffs and too many threats coming at us,” Carney said.

semi-autonomous Danish territory comes as relations between the U.S. and the Nordic country, a traditional U.S. ally and NATO member, have soured. Trump had repeatedly suggested that the United States should in some form control the island.

During his remarks at the end of the brief visit, Vance underscored that he did not think military force was ever going to be necessary as he pressed the idea of a dramatically enhanced American position on the island.

“Because we think the people of Greenland are rational and good, we think we’re going to have to cut a deal, Donald Trump style, to ensure

the security of this territory but also the United States of America,” Vance said while adding that the people of Greenland had the right to determine their own future.

In Washington, Trump on Friday said the U.S. “needs Greenland for international security.”

Trump, speaking to reporters soon after Vance’s arrival, alluded to the rising Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have opened up because of climate change.

“Greenland’s very important for the peace of the world,” Trump said. “And I think Denmark understands, and I think the European

Union understands it. And if they don’t, we’re going to have to explain it to them.”

After Vance’s speech, Frederiksen said Denmark was increasing its defense capabilities in the region, including new Arctic ships and long-range drones.

With Greenland part of NATO, she also emphasized the collective responsibility of the alliance to defend the Arctic in response to the Russian threat. After Denmark stood “side by side with Americans” in its war against terror, she said it was “not a fair way” for Vance to refer to Denmark.

Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., Jesper Møller Sø-

rensen, thanked Vance “for taking a closer look at Arctic security” and said both countries agree more could be done.

“Greenland & Denmark share a desire to strengthen our already incredibly close ties with our friend & ally,” he wrote on social media.

Ahead of Vance’s arrival, four of the five parties elected to Greenland’s parliament earlier this month signed an agreement to form a new, broad-based coalition government. The parties banded together in the face of Trump’s designs on the territory

“It is a time when we as a population are under pressure,” the prime ministerdesignate, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said before the accord was signed to applause and cheers in the capital, Nuuk.

He added that “we must stick together Together we are strongest,” Greenland broadcaster KNR reported. In a post on Instagram, Frederiksen congratulated Nielsen and his incoming government, and said, “I look forward to close cooperation in an unnecessarily conﬂictﬁlled time.”

Frederiksen said Tuesday that the U.S. visit, which was originally set for three days, created “unacceptable pressure.” She has said Denmark wants to work with the U.S. on defense and security, but Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.

By The Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Friday to temporarily put Ukraine under external governance as part of efforts to reach a peaceful settlement, in remarks that reflected the Kremlin leader’s determination to achieve his war goals. In televised remarks broadcast early Friday, Putin reafﬁrmed his claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose term expired last year lacks the legitimacy to sign a peace deal. Under Ukraine’s constitution it is illegal for the country to hold national elections while it’s under martial law Putin claimed that any agreement that is signed with the current Ukrainian government could be challenged by its successors and said new elections could be held under external governance.

“Under the auspices of the United Nations, with the United States, even with European countries, and, of course, with our partners and friends, we could discuss the possibility of introduction of temporary governance in Ukraine,” Putin said. He added that it would allow the country to “hold democratic elections, to bring to power a viable government that enjoys the trust of the people, and then begin negotiations with them on a peace treaty.

He said such external governance is just “one of the op-

tions,” without elaborating.

Zelenskyy dismissed Putin’s suggestions, describing them as a “reason not to end the war.”

“He is afraid of negotiations with Ukraine,” said Zelenskyy during a brieﬁng with journalists Friday. “He is afraid of negotiations with me personally, and by excluding Ukraine’s (govern-

ment), he is suggesting that Ukraine is not an independent actor for him.”

Putin’s remarks came hours after the conclusion of a summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron that considered plans to deploy troops to Ukraine to cement an eventual peace deal. Macron said “several” other nations want to be part of the force alongside France and Britain. Russia has warned it wouldn’t accept any troops from NATO members as part of a prospective peacekeeping force. Macron and other participants of the Paris summit on Thursday accused Russia of only pretending to want a negotiated settlement.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JIM WATSON

Vice President JD Vance arrives Friday at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland.

of island

EPA cutting $70M in funds for La.

Agencies, nonprofits to lose federal grants

BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer

The Environmental Protection Agency is cutting about $70 million in funding for Louisiana government agencies and nonproﬁts, as part of a far-reaching plan to cancel hundreds of federal grants nationwide, according to internal documents released by a U.S. Senate committee.

The records show that grants for air quality monitoring, disaster response and environmental education are being terminated.

The move is part of an effort to curb what the Trump administration has said is excessive federal spending, and to cut support for government programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion Earlier this month, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency was canceling hundreds of grants as part of a collaborative effort with the Department of Government Efﬁciency, led by President Donald Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk

Many of the Louisiana organizations named in a list of roughly 400 grants are decades-old environmental nonproﬁts, such as the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. But state agencies, such as the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, and commercial entities were also included.

The feds are seeking to trim around $1 million apiece from the state’s chief environmental agency, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and the Port of New Orleans, according to the records They also want to cancel a $20 million grant to Dillard University and eliminate another $20 million grant in partnership with the city’s Metro Bike Coalition for a “resilience hub” to support New Orleanians during storms

“It’s devastating to the organization,” said Chuck Morse the executive director of Thrive New Orleans, which received $1.5 million to promote environmental education for young people and small business development.

VOTE

Continued from page 1A

state taxes and ﬁnance.

The legislation is over 100 pages and includes dozens of changes. But at the broadest level, Amendment 2 would give state lawmakers more power to decide which revenue streams should fund government and how to spend those funds.

This would be accomplished by moving some of the state’s tax and budgeting policies out of the constitution, where any policy change requires voter approval, and into state statute, which can be changed by lawmakers without a vote of the people.

Many property tax exemption programs and special trust funds dedicated to certain spending priorities would be moved into statute, where they could be more easily adjusted.

Some constitutionally protected education trust funds would be liquidated, and approximately $2 billion would go to pay down a portion of debt in the Teacher’s Retirement System of Louisiana.

Savings from that debt payment would fund a $2,000 salary increase for teachers, and $1,000 salary increase for support staff.

It would be tougher for lawmakers to create new tax-break programs: they would need a two-thirds vote

The Democrats who published the list, including senators from Rhode Island, Delaware and California, said that the canceled grants are an illegal violation of EPA contracts, congressional acts and court orders. The group is calling on Zeldin to reinstate the grants and “desist further unlawful terminations.”

Port of New Orleans officials confirmed that the EPA has notified them about terminating an environmental justice program at the port. That initiative connects governments with nonprofit groups to address public health and environmental conditions in disproportionately burdened areas, according to the EPA Some of the eligible activities include developing disaster preparedness plans and mitigating pollution

According to the internal records, the EPA is targeting a $1 million grant awarded last summer to the state coastal agency titled, “Piloting Insurance Solutions to Increase Equitable Disaster Response in Coastal Louisiana.” CPRA declined to comment.

The records also show a $1 million environmental justice grant to the Louisiana Department of Health on the list The grant funds indoor air quality monitoring and home assessments with asthma specialists to “improve asthma outcomes in vulnerable Louisiana

of the Legislature, rather than a simple majority And new property tax exemptions would need a threefourths vote.

Amendment 2 would cap the state individual income tax rate at 3.75%, down from the current cap of 4.75%. It would also limit how much state government can increase spending from one year to the next.

Seniors age 65 and older would be able to double their standard income tax deduction

Groceries, residential utilities and prescription drugs would continue to be exempt from state sales tax under the constitution. And the homestead exemption would stay in the constitution, as would a property tax exemption for churches.

Proponents say Amendment 2 would streamline government and allow legislators to change economic development policies that are holding back the state. Opponents argue the policy changes will hurt the average individual taxpayer, and voters can’t understand the policy implications of the complicated amendment.

Amendment 3

This proposed amendment would empower state lawmakers to expand the list of crimes for which juveniles age 16 and younger can be treated as adults in the criminal court system.

communities,” according to the government’s spending tracker site, and supports a Center for Disease Control respiratory health tracking program.

One of the two Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality grants appearing on the list was a $1 million award for the state’s air monitoring project. Agency ofﬁcials said Thursday they had not received notice of any canceled EPA grants, and that they are analyzing the information.

The terminated EPA grants are not the first instance of environmental impacts to Louisiana since Trump began his second term Cuts to federal workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the country’s weather agency, affected scientists and researchers focused on coastal issues and hurricanes. And an earlier spending freeze put millions at stake for the New Orleans Ofﬁce of Resilience and Sustainability, as well as local nonproﬁts.

But the city thus far has not seen any cuts to its own EPA grants, a representative for the sustainability ofﬁce said Thursday For many of the community-based organizations targeted by the EPA, the canceled grants are having an abrupt impact on small nonproﬁts doing local work.

“There was zero notice,” said Morse, of Thrive New

Juveniles can only be charged as adults for 16 speciﬁc felonies listed in the constitution, most of which are violent offenses like murder and rape. Amendment 3 would throw out that list, and lawmakers could choose to have juveniles charged as adults for any felony offense.

Proponents say the change would help legislators respond more effectively to the state’s crime problems and make communities safer Opponents say that sending young people to adult prisons is not an effective crime prevention strategy

Amendment 4

This amendment would change the timeline for elections for vacant and newly created judgeships.

Currently, elections for those judicial seats must happen within 12 months. Amendment 4 would instead require them to happen during a gubernatorial or congressional election happening within 12 months, or on “on the election date first available pursuant to applicable law” passed by the Legislature.

Proponents say the change would potentially reduce the number of elections the state must hold and election administration costs Some opponents have said changes to election timelines should be made in statute rather than the constitution.

Orleans.

Organization officials had talked to their grant officer the day before, he said. In the termination notice, the EPA states that the grant is no longer consistent with the agency’s goals or funding priorities. One of these priorities is ensuring that grants do not conflict with “a policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence.”

Thrive New Orleans is a “bull’s-eye” target for the current administration, Morse said, because of its dual emphasis on racial equity and climate resilience.

The $1.5 million grant focused on educating high school students in mostly Black and Brown communities about climate change, while also seeking to address “brain drain,” Morse said, by creating infrastruc-

ture for young people to enter climate-related professions.

“It’s climate resilience, but also workforce and small business development,” Morse said.

On the other side of the state, another nonproﬁt focused on environmental education for disadvantaged areas was also targeted by the EPA cuts.

“With this grant, we were able — or we would have been able to expand the number of informed, educated civically empowered community members,” said Cynthia Robertson, who runs Micah Six Eight Mission in Calcasieu Parish.

Robertson’s organization began in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura and the midst of the Covid pandemic, providing food, health

information and clothing to residents in need.

Last summer, the organization received $150,000 from the EPA, and another grant from the Department of Energy, that focused on environmental and civic outreach in an area with high rates of environmental hazards and low rates of education, Robertson said. Both grants to the organization were canceled this week, effective immediately, according to the termination letters shared with The Times-Picayune.

Like Morse, Robertson believes her organization was targeted because of the Trump administration’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion, or policies that seek to ensure diverse workplaces and inclusive and equitable treatment. She said the diversity ban will have impacts on the community she serves, a predominantly low-income White area that supported Trump.

“If you target poor people of color, you also target poor White people because we all live in the same communities and work in the same kind of jobs,” she said. While the cuts have left some nonprofits reeling, others on the list will likely be much less impacted. The Pontchartrain Conservancy was also included in the feds’ list, even though the nonproﬁt had already completed an environmental justice program for a studentled green infrastructure project. As long as the EPA continues to offer grants — and the agency still has a few in the queue — the nonproﬁt will continue to apply, executive director Kristi Trail said. “We will continue on this work in the 16-parish region regardless of the title of the grant program,” she said. Email Josie Abugov at josie.abugov@theadvocate. com.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Drought, wind, storm debris stoking ﬁres

14,800 wildfires have burned 1,105 square miles so far this year

BY TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press

In North Carolina, wildfires stoked by unusually dry air and debris from last year’s Hurricane Helene are burning out of control. In Florida, there are dozens of blazes, including one that scorched about 42 square miles in MiamiDade County And they continue to burn in Oklahoma, where four people have died this month due to wind-driven ﬁres. Those states were just three of eight where large ﬁres were being reported on Friday

Some 14,800 wildfires have burned 1,105 square miles so far this year — well above the 10year average, according to data released Friday by the National Interagency Fire Center. Most devastating were the Los Angeles wildfires in January, fueled by dry vegetation and howling winds, that destroyed entire neighborhoods. Wildfires have happened with such frequency in recent years that many U.S. fire officials say there is no longer a “fire season,” which traditionally ran from late spring through the fall That is because climate change, caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline and coal, has raised average global temperatures creating drier conditions that allow wildfires, which are mostly caused by humans, to burn longer and more intensely

While major ﬁres often happen early in the year in February

2024, Texas experienced the largest wildﬁre in state history — this year is a bit unusual “because we’re seeing it happen in so many places,” said Brad Rippey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist who monitors drought.

This week, 45% of the country is in drought, when historically it’s around 20% at any given time, Rippey said. That dried out lots of fuel just waiting for a spark — from freeze-dried grasses in the southern Plains to downed trees and brush from hurricanes that ravaged parts of the southeast and

southern Appalachians in recent years. The National Interagency Fire Center’s significant wildfire outlook notes that several states still have debris from hurricanes Laura, Ida, Debby and Idalia in the past ﬁve years, as well as from ice storms and other severe weather Add in gusty winds and low humidity “and you’ve got a pretty ripe situation for wildfires,” Rippey said.

In Hurricane Helene-devastated North Carolina, power lines downed by strong winds have been

blamed for two of three large ﬁres

that have burned for more than a week in an area where the mean relative humidity this month has been the lowest on record, officials said Impassable areas and lots of toppled trees are making it difﬁcult to reach intense and erratic ﬁres that are spreading rapidly because of high winds and dry weather

Many roads have either been covered with storm debris or “they have just been completely washed away,” said North Carolina Forest Service spokesman Philip Jack-

son, who said the fire danger could plague the state for years as more debris dries out. Much of Florida also is in drought, contributing to an earlier-than-normal fire season that included a massive brush fire in Miami-Dade County that at one point hindered travel to and from the Florida Keys. That fire is 95% contained while dozens of smaller fires continue to burn, according to the Florida Forest Service. Many counties are under red flag warnings, meaning conditions are favorable for fires to occur West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina also report large wildfires.

The greatest wildfire potential is in the southeast and the southern Plains, and will be significant into April in most of Texas and parts of New Mexico and Arizona, as well as several southeastern states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center La Nina — a periodic cooling of the Pacific Ocean that can shift the jet stream and lead to cooler, drier air — might have affected conditions in the southern U.S., said Tim Brown, director of the Western Regional Climate Center

But there also has been longterm drying in the southwest as temperatures overall increase with global warming, said Rippey, who has monitored drought for more than 25 years. Warmer temperatures have led to more erratic precipitation that tends to fall more heavily in short periods, leading much of it to run off rather than soak into the ground.

“I do think that contributes to more wildﬁres,” he said.

A federal judge has paused the cuts to National Institutes of Health grants. But if they proceed, LSU could lose an estimated $12 million annually, Tate said last month, warning that research institutions like LSU would “face crippling ﬁnancial shortfalls.”

State funding also is uncertain. Louisiana was able to avoid drastic cuts to higher education by increasing sales taxes, but analysts say the state could face shortfalls in coming years. In his letter, Tate said the budget-cutting measures

OMV

Continued from page 1A

the 1970s, with the demands of the 21st century I am thankful for his leadership and wish him the best.”

The computer system that OMV ofﬁces use to process driver’s licenses, car registrations and other important paperwork has been crashing or freezing repeatedly, often multiple times a day That has disrupted appointments and lengthened wait times for customers at OMV

would help the university make the best use of its funding while accelerating recent gains in enrollment, research and student outcomes.

“By acting decisively today, we build a stronger, more resilient institution for the future,” he wrote. Trump has also threatened to pull federal funding from colleges and universities that run afoul of his efforts to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs and crack down on some student protesters. This month, his administration canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts at Columbia University for allegedly failing to address antisemitism on

ofﬁces and public tag agents across the state. Officials have said the problem is that multiple users may be trying to access the same records or group of records causing the system to lock up.

Landry last week declared a state of emergency that waives the $15 late fee for failing to renew a driver’s license. The order also allows the OMV to skip the six- to nine-month procurement process, accelerating the process of purchasing a new software system.

“Taxpayers should not and

campus.

Daniel Tirone, an LSU political science professor and president of the Baton Rouge campus’ faculty senate, blamed the hiring freeze and other measures on the “chaotic and haphazard actions of the federal government towards higher education.”

In an email, he said the Trump administration’s approach “leaves no room for a deliberate process,” and seems designed to “weaken the system of colleges and universities which has made the United States the global leader in academics and scientiﬁc research.”

Tate also announced other efforts Friday to “shore up” operations and protect re-

will not continue to foot the bill for failed government systems,” Landry said in a news release. “In the coming days I will name an Interim Secretary who will work to fulﬁll the mission of an OMV that works for the people.

Casey has said the software system is roughly 50 years old. The agency is close to selecting a new system, though it could take two and a half years to fully install it.

Email Matthew Albright at malbright@theadvocate. com.

sources in the LSU system, which educates more than 40,000 students across eight campuses.

Next ﬁscal year, LSU will withhold 2% of each department’s budget, the letter said. Most of the money will go into a “strategic fund” to provide competitive grants for academic and research projects. Departments can

also recover some funding by hitting annual goals.

The university’s procurement office will establish policies to promote “cost savings and operational efﬁciency,” the letter said.

And LSU will seek to expand its online courses to serve 10,000 students by 2030, about double the number who were enrolled last fall. “These strategic actions will help our university navigate financial challenges while advancing academic distinction, research innovation, and student success,” Tate wrote.

Email Ellyn Couvillion at ecouvillion@theadvocate. com.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALLISON JOyCE

The Black Cove Fire burns Wednesday in Saluda, N.C.

3 dead, more than 200 rescued after Texas storms

BY VALERIE GONZALEZ and JUAN LOZANO Associated Press

McALLEN, Texas — Drenching rain along the Texas-Mexico border let up Friday, but rescues were still ongoing a day after severe storms trapped residents in their homes, forced drivers to abandon their vehicles on flooded roads and shut down an airport. At least three people died.

Hidalgo County officials said in a statement that they did not immediately have more information about the three deaths except that they involved law enforcement efforts.

In Harlingen, ofﬁcials said their city received more than 21 inches of rain this week, with the heaviest rainfall on Thursday causing severe ﬂooding that had authorities rescuing more than 200 residents, with another 200 people still waiting to be rescued.

“This of course has been a historic and challenging event for the city But Harlingen is strong. We have faced adversity before and we will get through this together,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda said at a Friday afternoon news conference.

MARTINEZ

crowd of vehicles lies stranded Thursday on a frontage road by the McAllen Convention Center during a downpour in McAllen,Texas.

In Alamo, the police and ﬁre department responded to more than 100 water rescues, including people stranded in their vehicles and trapped in their homes, Fire Department Chief R.C. Flores said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

Ofﬁcials estimated a couple hundred homes in Alamo were flooded by the heavy rainfall.

Flores said Alamo was one of many cities in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas that were ﬂooded and had damage from Thursday’s thunderstorms but that all were working to help their residents.

“I assure the public that we are assessing the situation on the hour, every hour We’re constantly going out, not just in our city,” Flores said. “Just because the storm is over, it doesn’t mean that the emergencies and the disaster is over We are going to continue to work as long as we need to.”

Weslaco Mayor Adrian Gonzalez said his city was inundated with about 14 inches of rain, prompting 30 to 40 water rescues of stranded motorists and residents trapped in their homes by rising ﬂoodwaters.

Lawyer says Iranian student targeted for ‘national security concerns’ not protester

BY KIM CHANDLER and SAFIYAH RIDDLE Associated Press

TUSCALOOSA, Ala An Iranian doctoral student at the University of Alabama was arrested by immigration agents at his apartment in the middle of the night, even though his lawyer said he was allowed to stay in the country and — unlike some students targeted for deportation — never participated in campus protests. Alireza Doroudi, 32, was picked up because his visa

was revoked in 2023, one of the few points of agreement between U.S. ofﬁcials and the student’s representatives. David Rozas, a lawyer for Doroudi, said he didn’t know why his client’s visa was revoked but that he could stay in the United States while he remained a student, a status that immigration attorneys say is somewhat common.

“He has not been arrested for any crime, nor has he participated in any anti-government protests. He is legally present in the U.S., pursuing his American

dream by working towards his doctorate in mechanical engineering,” Rozas said.

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that immigration officials acted on the State Department’s visa revocation.

“This individual posed signiﬁcant national security concerns,” the department said. Officials declined to elaborate when asked why he is considered a threat. Rozas said he has not been informed of any allegations of security issues involving Doroudi.

Many

plans ...

Medicare doesn’tpay for dental care.1

That’s right. As good as Medicare is, it was never meanttocover everything That means if you want protection, you need to purchase individual insurance.

Early detection canprevent small problems from becoming expensive ones.

The best way to preventlarge dental bills is preventivecare. The American Dental Association recommends checkups twice ayear.

Treatment is expensive especially the servicespeople over 50 often need.

Consider these national average costs of treatment. $222 foracheckup .$190 for afilling $1,213

THE MONITOR PHOTO

JOEL

Air support

Helicopter, pilots, aviation technicians share possible careers with STEM students

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

Students at David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy were treated Tuesday with a variety of special guests, including a U.S. Army helicopter

More than 30 leaders and representatives spoke with juniors and seniors about potential career ﬁelds in every aspect of aviation, from being a commercial pilot to a drone operator to an aviation maintenance professional.

Alivia Guillory and Binea Joseph, both seniors on the technology track, were excited to learn more about the possibilities ahead of them and the connections they could make.

“Aviation is something that usually isn’t displayed as much as other jobs,” Guillory said. “People don’t realize that aviation can be a fun job because a lot people think that they have to have a job that makes a lot of money But it’s more than that.”

Guillory also takes machining and computer integrated manufacturing classes at the W.D. and Mary Baker Career Center and wants to pursue aviation manufacturing Joseph was interested in learning more about the coding components that go into planes and drones.

Showing students what pathways in aviation and aerospace exist is part of why AviNation, a national organization that wants to attract more students to the industry, wanted to host the event at David Thibodaux

“When the light bulb goes off above a student’s head, see their interest,” said AviNation organizer Tom Flavin. “They ask questions, build trust and learn their next steps.”

Students were able to connect with representatives from various ﬁelds including the armed forces, universities, Federal Aviation Administration, agricultural aviation, air trafﬁc control, commercial pilots, meteorologists, helicopter pilots and aviation technicians.

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

Luke Butler with FlyGuys drone services speaks to students at Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy in Lafayette on Tuesday.

“When the light bulb goes off above a student’s head, see their interest. They ask questions, build trust and learn their next steps.”

TOM FLAVIN,AviNation organizer

Two arrested in connection with alleged child rapes BY

Two people have been arrested and charged in connection with the alleged molestation of two children under the age of 12 in Calcasieu Parish, according to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce. Jared E. Moreno, 47, of Lake Charles, is charged with three counts of ﬁrst degree rape and aggravated rape, and Lova W Moreno, 49, of Lake Charles, is charged with failure to report the commission of certain felonies. Detectives with the CPSO Special Victims Unit began investigating Sunday after receiving a report of child rapes. During the initial

Voters to decide on property tax renewals

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Voters across Lafayette on Saturday will be asked to decide on the renewal

That

be used for services in the parish, including: 1.24 mills for parishwide drainage. 0.422 mills for ﬁre protection in unincorporated areas. 0.078 mills for roads and bridges.

ä See BALLOT, page 2B

United Way hosts ALICE summit

Training helps families with financial instability

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

After attending training on how to assist working families struggling with ﬁnancial instability and hearing that other states have hosted summits on the topic, Denise Durel, president and CEO of United Way of Southwest Louisiana, knew she wanted to bring one to the Lake Charles community On Wednesday, after six months of work, Durel and her staff hosted Louisiana’s ﬁrst ALICE Summit in Lake Charles for about 300 attendees. The ALICE moniker is used by United Way to describe “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed” families.

“We want our community to do better for the people who are ALICE and so it’s selﬁsh in a way,” Durel said “We really are here because we just want, as an organization, to do a better job, so that we can help more people in more creative ways.”

During the event, United For ALICE National Director Stephanie Hoopes

New arrests in cruelty to juvenile case

JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Two former deputies, woman also charged CRIME BLOTTER Advocate staff reports

ä See SUMMIT, page 2B ä See BLOTTER, page 2B ä See ARRESTS, page 2B

A former Rapides Parish deputy, a Lafayette Parish deputy and another woman were arrested and charged this week in connection with a cruelty to a juvenile case. The investigation by detectives with the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations began in Lafayette Parish with two arrests, one of them a Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s deputy On Thursday and Friday, the same two people were charged in Rapides Parish in connection with the case, along with a former Rapides Parish Sheriff’s deputy, State Police public information ofﬁcer Peggy Bourque said in a news release Matthew Frost, 28, of Lafayette, a deputy with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce, and Brittany Tullis, 28, were charged in Rapides Parish with obstruction of justice. Former Rapides Parish deputy

Tamiko Paulk also was charged in Rapides Parish with obstruction of justice and malfeasance in ofﬁce, Bourque wrote. In February, the Louisiana State Police was contacted by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce, she wrote, about allegations of cruelty to a juvenile involving one of its deputies The investigation found that Frost committed cruelty to a juvenile against one victim on two separate occasions, according to

Airline pilot Nathan Maki speaks to students during an aviation and aerospace career day on Tuesday.

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

A Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter lands on the Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy campus during an aviation and aerospace career day on Tuesday.

McNeese student manager gets star treatment

Amid NIL deals will he follow coach to N.C. State?

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

The national frenzy around McNeese State University men’s basketball team student manager has culminated with the boombox-toting, NIL-laden Amir Khan getting immortalized with a sports trading card and bobblehead.

The 22-year-old Lake Charles doze ness last dancing Cowboys locker a game media. college manager ments. Earlier Neese nin to victory

manager

deals with Topps, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, TurboTax, Fortnite, Buffalo Wild Wings, Insomnia Cookies and several other national brand companies.

As the Cowboys went to Rhode Island to play in the tournament, news broke that head coach Will Wade is headed to North Carolina State University to coach the basketball team there. Rumors swirled about Khan following Wade, but the student manager told The Advocate on Thursday he’s not yet decided on a possible college transfer Kahn is set to graduate

The Topps card was released March 21 and features Khan being splashed with water after the Cowboys beat Clemson 69-67 on March 20. As of Thursday Khan’s card was sold out on the Topps site.

On Tuesday, the Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum announced there will be a Khan bobblehead with him in a blue shirt with a boombox around his neck, just like he’s wearing in the viral video that sparked his meteoric rise, said Phil Sklar, CEO and co-founder of the hall of fame.

The bobblehead became available for preorder on $30 with exing in Septemhundred of ld in the ﬁrst said. hat once you’ve bobblehead, you’ve ofit,” Sklar said. those things a lot of difthings that you know he has card, but for us of people, it’s thing to have made in your

Khan said to be on a Topps card and have a bobblehead is “an insane feeling.”

“It means a lot to me, because I never expected any of this, especially as a manager,” Khan said.

“I just expected to do my part in helping the team, and hopefully that ends up getting me a job in the future. But to be recognized for what I’m doing as a manager it means a lot. I’m just so appreciative of everything that’s happened.”

Even though he has yet to decide on his immediate future, Khan said N.C. State is obviously an option He has been working for the Cowboys basketball team for two years, starting as a student manager when he ﬁrst heard that his favorite basketball coach, Wade, was coming to McNeese from LSU in 2023.

“If I can have the opportunity to continue working for him, it’s deﬁnitely going to be an option,” Khan said.

“But my mind is not made yet, so I guess we’ll ﬁgure it out in a few weeks.”

Email Courtney Pedersen at courtney.pedersen@ theadvocate.com.

Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputies wrangle 9-foot alligator

BY ELL Staff writer

if a someone’ day

Nicholas Bean were able get a rope around the alligator’s head, with one the ofﬁcers at one point standing on the kitchen isnd to get good traction on the rope. A video of the safe capture of the alligator, which made bold “death rolls” as it gripped a chair pillow in its ws was posted to the Sherfﬁce Facebook page. the help of a parish

resident volunteer, deputies got control of the alligator’s head, then used electrical tape to tape closed its mouth.

The incident took about five to 10 minutes, Steele said. Deputies measured the gator at 108 inches.

The team of three alligator wranglers can be seen in another Sheriff’s Ofﬁce Facebook post pulling and pushing the big gator to a dock on the canal, untaping

its mouth and releasing it back to its home.

“Livingston Parish has close to 400 nautical miles of waterways,” Sheriff Jason Ard said. “This isn’t our ﬁrst run-in with a gator and won’t be our last — it’s part of the job.”

The video of the dramatic alligator capture is tagged with the line, “Ya gotta be #Built Different to work in the LP, y’all!”

SUMMIT

ga help

ity be able walk

derstand ALICE families

“(ALICE) are households that earn above the federal poverty level but below a bare minimum household, what we call a household survival budget,” Hoopes said. “We calculate this for every county in the country, every parish in Louisiana and then we match it up with household income.”

In Calcasieu Parish, 44% of households are under the ALICE threshold. In Acadiana, Evangeline Parish has the highest rate of ALICE families St. summit

Continued fro

Continued from pag investigatio spoke who by Moreno two the also

pro Mo ofﬁcials Vo charged in sex

Charles, pre sentation on strengthening Louisiana’s workforce and panels on building post-hurricane resilience, housing and transportation challenges and a look at ALICE in Action.

Speakers from around the community, state and country spoke about the challenges ALICE families face, such as not being able to afford child care, health care, transportation, housing and other day-to-day expenses despite being employed.

summit, said she learned that her program should do more advocacy for its participants so people understand that they are ALICE.

“Several of the other nonproﬁts that spoke up said that sometimes people assume that the people you work with at a nonproﬁt or the people who need help are not working and maybe aren’t deserving of some of the services,” Semien said.

“But we need to make sure that we spread the word about all of the struggles that our program participants do have and all of the barriers that they have based on their economic situation.”

Durel said she hopes to make the event annual

BALLOT

Continued from page 1B

2.07 mills for public health units, mosquito control, animal control and expenses of the

ARRESTS

Continued from page 1B

the news release. Frost was charged with two felony counts of cruelty to a juvenile in Lafayette

coroner Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Find your polling location and see what’s on your ballot at www.GeauxVote.com, on the GeauxVote mobile app or by calling the registrar of voters in your parish.

Parish.

On March 21, Tullis was charged in Lafayette Parish with one count of child desertion and one count of cruelty to a juvenile, Bourque wrote. This investigation remains active and ongoing.

vid Thibodaux STEM Mag net Academy in Lafayette is facing child sex crime charges after alleged indecent behavior with a student. Ronald Naomi Jr was arrested Thursday and charged with indecent behavior with juveniles and prohibited sexual conduct between an educator and student. The Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce launched an investigation after a report of indecent behavior between the 54-year-old and a student at David Thibodaux. He is being held at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center

Marshal’s Office arrested two inmates after they allegedly started a fire at the Eunice City Jail. Jordan D. Victor, 20, and Kirmontae Venezia, 20, each face one count of aggravated arson, according to a state fire marshal announcement. Eunice Fire Department responded at 8:36 p.m. Wednesday to a reported fire at the Eunice City Jail. Victor and Venezia caused an electrical short to burn paper and cloth material. Jail employees extinguished the small fire before firefighters arrived The fire melted a water line inside

sen

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHARLES KRUPA McNeese State men’s basketball student

Consumers remain cautious about spending

Inﬂation picked up last month and consumers barely raised their spending, signs that the economy was already cooling even before most tariffs were imposed.

Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices increased 2.5% in February from a year earlier, matching January’s annual pace

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.8% compared with a year ago, higher than January’s ﬁgure of 2.7%.

Economists watch core prices because they are typically a better guide of where inﬂation is headed The core index has barely changed in the past year

Inﬂation remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, making it difficult for the central bank to cut its key interest rate anytime soon.

The report also showed that consumer spending rebounded last month after falling by the most in four years in January

Yet much of the additional spending reflected price increases, with inflation-adjusted spending barely rising. The weak figure suggests growth is rapidly slowing in the first three months of this year as consumers and businesses turn cautious amid sharp changes in government policies.

“Inﬂation too hot and spending too cold,” said Stephen Brown, an economist at Capital Economics, a consulting ﬁrm, in an email. “The Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates this year.”

Economist warns tariffs could add vehicle costs

Noted economist Arthur Laffer warns in a new analysis that President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on auto imports could add $4,711 to the cost of a vehicle and says the proposed taxes could weaken the ability of U.S. automakers to compete with their foreign counterparts

In the 21-page analysis obtained by The Associated Press, Laffer whom Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019 for his contributions to economics, says the auto industry would be in a better position if the Republican president preserved the supply chain rules with Canada and Mexico from his own 2019 USMCA trade pact.

“Without this exemption, the proposed tariff risks causing irreparable damage to the industry, contradicting the administration’s goals of strengthening U.S. manufacturing and economic stability,” Laffer writes in the analysis. “A 25% tariff would not only shrink, or possibly eliminate, proﬁt margins for U.S. manufacturers but also weaken their ability to compete with international rivals.” Laffer said the report had caused a “kerfuffle” and cautioned that it only applied to the economics, rather than Trump’s negotiating skills and strategic approach to trade.

Javice convicted of defrauding JPMorgan

Charlie Javice, the charismatic founder of a startup company that claimed to be revolutionizing the way college students apply for ﬁnancial aid, was convicted on Friday of defrauding one of the largest U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase, out of $175 million by exaggerating her customer base by 10 times.

Javice, 32, faces the possibility of a lengthy prison term.

Javice was in her mid-20s when she founded Frank, a company with software that promised to simplify the process of ﬁlling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a complex government form used by students to apply for aid for college or graduate school.

The company promoted itself as a way for financially needy students to obtain more aid faster, in return for a few hundred dollars in fees.

JPMorgan executives testiﬁed that she told them she had over four million clients and would have about 10 million by year’s end, but it turned out there were only about 300,000 customers.

Inflation, tariff fears sink Wall St.

U.S. consumers more pessimistic about future finances

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK Another wipeout walloped

Wall Street on Friday. Worries are building about a potentially toxic mix of worsening inﬂation and a U.S. economy slowing because of households afraid to spend due to the global trade war

The S&P 500 had one of its worst days in the past two years. It thudded to its ﬁfth losing week in the last six after wiping out what had been a big gain to start the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also sank.

Lululemon Athletica led the market lower with a drop of 14.2%, even though the seller of athletic apparel reported a stronger proﬁt for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It warned that its revenue growth may slow this upcoming year,

in part because “consumers are spending less due to increased concerns about inﬂation and the economy,” said CEO Calvin McDonald. Oxford Industries, the company behind the Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer brands, likewise reported stronger results for the latest quarter than expected but still saw its stock fall 5.7% CEO Tom Chubb said it saw a “deterioration in consumer sentiment that also weighed on demand” beginning in January, which accelerated into February

They’re discouraging data points when one of the main worries hitting Wall Street is that President Donald Trump’s escalating tariffs may cause U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending Even if the tariffs end up being less painful than feared, all the uncertainty may ﬁlter into changed behaviors that hurt the economy

A report on Friday showed all types of U.S. consumers are getting more pessimistic about their future ﬁnances. Two out of three expect unemployment to worsen in the year ahead, according to a survey by the University of Michigan. That’s the

highest reading since 2009, and it raises worries about a job market that’s been a linchpin keeping the U.S. economy solid.

A separate report also showed that an underlying measure of how much income Americans are making, which excludes government social benefits and some other items, “has been treading water for the last three months,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.

“Households aren’t in a good place to absorb a little tariff pain,” he said. “The Fed isn’t likely to run to the rescue either as inﬂation moved up more than expected in February.”

The Fed could return to cutting interest rates, like it was doing late last year, in order to give the economy and ﬁnancial markets a boost. But such cuts would also push upward on inﬂation, which has been sticking above the Fed’s 2% target.

The economy and job market have been holding up so far, but if they were to weaken while inflation stays high, it would produce a worst-case scenario called “stagflation.” Policy makers in Washington have few good tools to fix it.

Federal judge blocks offshore lease sale

Claims feds failed to consider impacts on Rice’s whales

BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer

A federal judge on Thursday blocked an oil and gas lease sale in Gulf waters off the coast of Louisiana, ﬁnding that a federal agency didn’t adequately take into account how new offshore drilling would impact the highly endangered Rice’s whale.

The ruling from Judge Amit Mehta in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will require the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management, which oversees the sale of oil and gas leases in federal waters, to conduct additional environmental reviews before the lease sale proceeds The current lease sale is not canceled but will be subject to additional environmental review

The court also ruled that BOEM did not fully take into account the impact of greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the new oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, also referred to as the Gulf of America after President Donald Trump moved to rename it via executive order

“BOEM acted arbitrarily by failing to address the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS’s) de-

termination that the whale’s habitat range extends into the western and central Gulf,” Mehta wrote in his ruling.

The lawsuit, brought in 2023 by a handful of environmental organizations over lease sale number 259, alleged that the federal government didn’t take into account the potential risk of future oil spills, or the disproportionate effects that the lease sale could have on low-income and minority communities.

On those issues, the court sided with the government, ruling that those issues were adequately taken into account.

“What a great victory this decision is for Gulf communities and wildlife, who’ve been living in a polluted sacrifice zone for far too long,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the environmental groups that sued over the lease sales.

Scott Lauermann, a spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute which sided with the federal government in the lawsuit, said that the blocking of the lease sale was “yet another example of activists weaponizing the [National Environmental Policy Act] process in the courts to block critical access for exploration, underscoring how permitting reform is essential to ensuring access to affordable, reliable energy.”

He added that his group would

be reviewing the court’s decision and evaluating its legal options going forward.

BOEM referred questions on the ruling to its parent agency, the U.S. Department of the Interior A spokesperson for that agency said that its policy is not to comment on litigation.

Recently, the agency issued a statement celebrating the results of other oil and gas lease sales on federal lands, which Secretary Doug Burghum said “demonstrate Interior’s unwavering commitment to fostering American Energy Dominance.”

97% of oil and gas production

The lawsuit, filed by Healthy Gulf, Bayou City Waterkeeper, the Center for Biological Diversity Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, alleged that BOEM did not properly evaluate the environmental impacts of the lease sale

The Biden administration had sought to limit offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters. During his last month in ofﬁce, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that banned drilling in most federal waters but left waters off Louisiana open to new and existing oil and gas operations.

President Donald Trump has swiftly reversed course, promising to “unleash American energy” on his ﬁrst day in ofﬁce, in part by

encouraging offshore oil and gas development.

The federal government sells leases to private energy companies that allow them to drill offshore in the Gulf The vast majority of U.S. oil and gas production — about 97%, according to BOEM occurs in the Gulf of Mexico.

The ruling by Mehta, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, does not permanently bar the federal government from eventually proceeding with the oil and gas lease sales. Rather, it delays any lease sale until the government is able to provide additional environmental reviews.

The environmental groups have also challenged Gulf lease sale 261, which took place in December 2023, on the same grounds

The ruling issued Thursday only applies to the lease in question, according to George Torgun, an attorney for Earthjustice who was involved with the litigation. He said that the ruling should apply to all oil and gas leasing in the Gulf.

The Rice’s whale lives in Gulf waters and nowhere else — and was only discovered to be a distinct species a few years ago. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association recently estimated that there could be as few as 51 Rice’s whales left in the wild.

Email Alex Lubben at alex. lubben@theadvocate.com.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RICHARD DREW Traders work on the floor of the New york Stock Exchange on March 12.

A way to escape the madness of March

Like many people, March Madness was driving me bonkers. I needed something to change my emotions after the few ups and downs I was experiencing. Wait, I should clarify here. I’m not talking about the all-eyes-on-college-basketball run for the national championship No, I’m talking about the nutso scary stuff happening in Washington, D.C., with the folks running our nation. I’ve lost count of the technical fouls involving events there.

Things ﬁnally turned around a few days ago for me when I hugged someone I had not seen in decades. Seeing Ruby Coleman’s smile made most of the madness evaporate at least for a while Here’s why. Many years ago, my dad was dealing with multiple strokes that left him conﬁned to a wheelchair He lived with me for a while, but being the independent person he was, he decided to be on his own

We shopped around and found an assisted living facility that he liked. Always the talker, in a few months, he had become a member of the facility’s community room in-crowd.

For the most part, he was able to dress himself. Nurses would come by to check on him, and he found the independent lifestyle to his liking

One day, a shy young woman came to visit her grandmother who lived in the building While there, she met my dad, and they talked a bit.

Over time, she would stop to see him when she visited her grandmother My dad became her unofﬁcial grandfather She would run errands for him and make sure he took his medicine.

Ruby never asked for nor accepted a dime

Sometimes, Ruby would help straighten up the apartment, but mostly, she and he would sit outside and chat. When I dropped by, we all would have a good time Ruby liked to hear my dad and me talk about anything.

“He always tickled me with what he talked about,” she said.

Ruby was not there every day, but every day she was there was special. She would encourage him to take his medicine and she would know if he had not been out visiting with the other residents.

When his health declined and my dad had to enter a full-time nursing facility, she would drop in when she could. “That was my buddy. I had to see him,” she said. When my dad died, I tried to reach out to her but I couldn’t ﬁnd her That’s when I realized I didn’t know that much about Ruby When my family and I were walking out of church at my dad’s funeral, a young woman was standing in a corner with her face in her hands, crying. It was Ruby I went over to comfort her, then told her to ride in the family car to the gravesite. It lifted her spirits. When we came back to the church, I waved goodbye with the idea that I would try to keep up with her Sadly, that didn’t happen Flash forward around 20 years. A church member told me a few months ago that after church, she went to a local store and a clerk who worked there asked her what church she attended “When I told her, she asked if Ed Pratt went there?” she told me Ruby gave her some background on how she knew me But how did she remember that’s the church I attended?

I was stunned and excited when my church member passed the information to me. When I walked in and saw her last week, she knew immediately who I was and we hugged I told her again how much I appreciated what she did for my dad, and said that it was so good seeing her She smiled and said again, “That was my buddy.” We took a photo and hugged, and I got her phone number because she will be a part of my family Ruby who also works with preschool children, promised, “I’ll come by as long as y’all don’t have a dog,” she laughed. On the way home, I promised myself that I would reach out more regularly to Ruby She was, and is, a blessing.

Yep, the emotions of March Madness, both of them, don’t stand a chance against Ruby Coleman’s genuine goodness, kindness and thoughtfulness.

Email Edward Pratt, a former newspaperman, at epratt1972@yahoo.com.

Edward Pratt

SPORTS

SWEET AS EVER

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

SPOKANE,Wash. — All that stood between the LSU women’s basketball team and a third consecutive appearance in the Elite Eight was North Carolina State, a No. 2 seed that the Tigers already had routed back in November On Friday, the two teams met in a much tighter battle in the Sweet 16. The No. 3-seeded Tigers still grabbed enough offensive rebounds and hit enough fourth-quarter shots to prevail, sending themselves back to the doorstep of the Final Four with an 80-73 win.

After tight battle, LSU closes strong to reach third straight Elite Eight ä See LSU, page 3C

Aneesah Morrow finished with 30 points and 19 re-

Johnson not a backer of wooden bats in college

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

The long ball has become an integral part of modern college baseball. Granted, this isn’t a new development. Home runs were plentiful in the late 1990s with the rise of “Geauxrilla Ball.” But the implementation of BBCOR standard bats in 2011, which were meant to lower the “trampoline effect” of metal bats reduced home run totals drastically The change made that season one of the hardest for Jay Johnson as a coach. “It was so drastically different of a game,” the current LSU coach said. But the new sticks only temporarily curbed home runs. With pitchers throwing harder than ever before and hitters getting

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY

Because of inclement weather LSU-Mississippi State ended after this edition went to press. To stay up to date on baseball coverage, visit theadvocate.com

much stronger, home runs are a major part of the sport again, especially in the Southeastern Conference. Johnson said the uptick in homers has led some SEC coaches to believe the college game should transition to using wooden bats. Johnson is not among them. He argues home runs and high scores have helped the sport become more popular Abnormally high run totals are a hallmark of the sport and a true differentiator from the professional ranks.

“I think it’s something that makes

See JOHNSON, page 3C

bounds after shooting 12 of 25 from the field. Sa’Myah Smith added 21 points and 11 boards in another impressive tournament performance, and Mikaylah Williams notched 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists after finding a groove down the stretch in the fourth quarter In November, LSU used a large edge on the glass to win by 17. On Friday it grabbed eight more offensive rebounds and took seven more field goals than NC State, a dangerous offensive team that shot only 37% from the field and 32% from beyond the arc in another loss to the Tigers. At the 4:29 mark of the fourth, the Wolfpack led 69-64.

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL outfielders Conor Higgs, Brooks Wright, back, and Mark Collins celebrate their 5-2 victory over James Madison on Friday.

page 3C

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JENNy KANE

LSU forward Sa’Myah Smith, left, hugs guard Kailyn Gilbert after their Sweet 16 victory against North Carolina State on Friday in Spokane,Wash.

Ravens extend coach Harbaugh by three years

OWING MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens extended coach John Harbaugh’s contract by three years, taking him through the 2028 season.

The 62-year-old Harbaugh is the Ravens’ all-time winningest coach with a 172-104 record over 17 seasons, not including going 13-11 in the playoffs along with him being the second-longest tenured active coach behind Mike Tomlin, who has been the Pittsburgh Steelers coach for nearly 18 years.

Baltimore has made the playoffs 12 times under Harbaugh, who even coached the Ravens to the Super Bowl title in their 2012 season.

Before renewing his deal with Baltimore, Harbaugh was entering the ﬁnal year of his contract.

Sanders’ contract at Colorado extended

Grizzlies fire team’s winningest coach

BY TERESA M. WALKER

The Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins, their winningest coach, on Friday with the team struggling down the stretch and at risk of losing home-court advantage for the postseason.

Still sitting at No. 5 in the Western Conference standings, the Grizzlies decided to dump Jenkins anyway without immediately announcing an interim coach Jenkins led the Grizzlies for six seasons. He was let go with the team on the verge of playing three home games in a four-day span starting Saturday — ﬁrst the Lakers, then Boston on Monday, then Golden State on Tuesday

That starts a stretch where eight of Memphis’ ﬁnal nine opponents are either playoff clubs or contending for a play-in spot But it’s still possible, at least mathematically, that Memphis could get back to No. 2 in the West, and it’s highly unlikely that the Grizzlies will fall into the play-in tournament range.

Still, Memphis decided it was time for a change.

“This was a difficult decision, given the consistent and tangible development of our players and overall success under Taylor’s leadership,” Zach Kleiman, the Grizzlies’ president and general manager of basketball operations, said in a statement.

The Grizzlies did not practice Friday and announced no media availability

Jenkins was the fifth longesttenured coach with his current club in the league, behind only San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra Golden State’s Steve Kerr and Denver’s Michael Malone — all of them having won NBA titles.

Results against the league’s best teams so far this season weren’t a good sign for Jenkins

The Grizzlies were 0-4 against Oklahoma City, losing those games by 24, 13, 17 and 21 points. They’re 3-6 so far this season against Houston, Denver and the Lakers, the next three teams ahead of them in the West. And that’s been a trend all season for Memphis. The Grizzlies were really good against the sub500 teams, but struggled mightily against the winning clubs. Against the 13 other teams that currently are over .500, the Grizzlies are 11-20 this season and getting outscored by 77 points.

Against the 16 clubs at .500 or worse, the Grizzlies are 33-9, outscoring those opponents by 462

points. Jenkins, with a career record of 250-214, passed Lionel Hollins for most wins in franchise history Nov 20 with a victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. He also coached the most games in Grizzlies’ history, with the franchise launching in 1995. He took Memphis to the postseason three times during his tenure but only got to the second round once. In the 2021-22 season, the team won 56 games for the Grizzlies’ most in a season under Jenkins. The Grizzlies captured the Southwest Division and were a No. 2 seed in the West. They ousted the Minnesota Timberwolves in the

opening round, but lost to Golden State in the second with star Ja Morant dealing with an injury Jenkins replaced J.B. Bickerstaff, who was ﬁred after failing to make the playoffs in the 2018-19 season. He had served as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks, both working for coach Mike Budenholzer

He also served a stint in the San Antonio Spurs organization, eventually becoming head coach of the Spurs G League team in Austin. Jenkins’ arrival in Memphis coincided with the Grizzlies drafting Morant with the No 2 overall pick in 2019. Memphis made the postseason three straight seasons from 2021 to 2023. Then the Grizzlies went through a season plagued with injuries to major players.

Morant played only nine games because of a 25-game league suspension and a right shoulder injury that ended his season. Fellow guard Desmond Bane missed considerable time with a left ankle sprain and frontline reserve Brandon Clarke managed only six games because of a left Achilles tendon tear That left Jenkins to manage the season with forward Jaren Jackson Jr and a bunch of makeshift lineups, eventually ﬁnishing 27-55.

This season, Jenkins turned over his coaching staff and brought in a new offense based on spacing. Despite being plagued with turnovers, Memphis spent a large part of the season second in the West. Other teams surged as the Grizzlies’ rough patch dropped them to ﬁfth place.

Again, Jenkins spent another season piecing together lineups around Morant limited to 43 games with various illnesses, soreness, contusions and sprains. Morant missed Thursday night’s game, his sixth straight, with a strained hamstring.

Ex-coach sues NCAA after becoming ‘sacriﬁcial lamb’

BY TERESA M.WALKER

AP sportswriter

Jeremy Pruitt is suing the NCAA for $100 million for lost and future wages, accusing the organization of conspiring with of Tennessee to make the “last coach in punished for impermissi

beneﬁts.”

Pruitt’s lawsuit was day in DeKalb County Court in northeast Alaba 170 miles south of lawsuit also accuses the NCAA of negligence and Tennessee of limiting the investigation into rules violations before his hiring.

members reached agreements with the NCAA’s enforcement staff and were given show-cause orders

“Jeremy Pruitt is one of the coaches who has been subject to an unfair, wrongful, and inconsistent NCAA investigation and ruling with potentially career-ending penalties,” according to the lawsuit.

“The NCAA conspired with the University of Tennessee (“UT”) and others to make Jeremy the sacriﬁcial lamb for conduct that long preceded his tenure at UT.”

When the NCAA punished Tennessee in July 2023, the sprawling report speciﬁcally called out Pruitt for his personal involvement and that “the former head coach violated head coach responsibility rules.” Four of his former staff

“NCAA rules are proposed and adopted by member schools and penalties for violans are imposed a committee of representatives from NCAA member schools and conferences as well as individufrom the pubwho have legal training,” the NCAA said in a statement Thursday “In this case, the Committee on Infractions found violations and assigned penalties, both of which were afﬁrmed by the Infractions Appeals Committee.”

Tennessee ﬁred Pruitt and nine others Jan. 18, 2021, for cause after an internal investigation found what the university chancellor called “serious violations of NCAA rules.” Chancellor Donde Plowman said Pruitt was responsible for overseeing the program.

Tennessee had been conducting an internal investigation since a tip Nov 13 about alleged recruiting violations. Plowman called the infractions “serious violations of NCAA rules” at a news conference. Pruitt’s lawsuit claims Plowman told him Jan. 18 that “Jeremy, we

know you haven’t done anything wrong.” He was hired in December 2017 after a tumultuous search cost athletic director John Currie his job with former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer taking over Pruitt’s lawsuit alleges the new coach learned less than one week after being hired “that payments were being made to some players” despite being against NCAA rules at that time. Pruitt reported what he learned to Fulmer, and the lawsuit states Fulmer told Pruitt that “he would handle it” and deal with the compliance department

The lawsuit also alleges that Pruitt learned after being fired that one or more people inside the Tennessee athletic departments or boosters “had systematically engaged in making payments to players at a time when NCAA rules did not allow such payments.”

The NCAA found that Pruitt or his wife, Casey, were involved in impermissible payments to two prospects who later signed with Tennessee. The mother of one player received $6,000 from Pruitt’s wife as a down payment on a car Pruitt’s lawsuit accuses the NCAA and Tennessee of a “farcical hearing” to determine if Pruitt violated any rules when the NCAA had a “direct ﬁnancial stake” in the

outcome with Tennessee’s “vested interest in the pre-determined outcome of the one-sided ‘investigation’ so that it could justify its failure to pay Jeremy the millions of dollars due under his buyout and other incentives stipulated in his contract.”

An attorney originally promised a lawsuit in October 2021 over the $12.6 million buyout in the coach’s contract. Tennessee never paid the buyout, telling the NCAA that Pruitt and the others ﬁred “repeatedly deceived” administrators and compliance staff overseeing the program.

In July 2023, the NCAA ﬁned Tennessee more than $8 million and issued a scathing report outlining more than 200 infractions during Pruitt’s three-year tenure. The Volunteers escaped a postseason ban. The sprawling report of more than 80 pages said Tennessee committed 18 Level I violations the most severe, and said most involved recruiting infractions beneﬁts that totaled approximately $60,000.

Pruitt was given a six-year show cause penalty He spent 2021 as a senior defensive assistant with the NFL’s New York Giants. He returned to his high school alma mater in July 2023 to teach physical education and coach junior high basketball.

Deion Sanders brought back the glitter — and the wins — to a downtrodden program in just two seasons.

For that, the Colorado Buffaloes rewarded the charismatic coach with a contract extension through the 2029 season, making him the highest-paid football coach in the Big 12 Conference and among the most lucratively paid across the country

His ﬁve-year $54 million extension includes $10 million in each of the ﬁrst two seasons, $11 million in the next two and $12 million in Year 5.

The deal was reached with three years remaining on Sanders’ existing ﬁve-year, $29.5 million deal he signed when he was brought in from Jackson State.

Jets sign veteran WR Reynolds to one-year deal

The New York Jets signed veteran Josh Reynolds to a one-year deal Thursday adding depth to their wide receivers group. The 30-year-old Reynolds, who spent last season with Denver and Jacksonville, is reunited with Jets coach Aaron Glenn and offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand with whom he worked during three seasons in Detroit.

Reynolds joins a Jets wide receivers room that includes Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, Xavier Gipson, Malachi Corley, Irvin Charles and Tyler Johnson, who was also signed as a free agent this offseason. New York released wide receiver Davante Adams, who later signed with the Los Angeles Rams. Reynolds could end up replacing Lazard, who could be traded or released.

Cunningham misses third game with bruised calf

DETROIT Detroit Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham missed his third straight game with a bruised calf. The Pistons announced Cunningham would not play against the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night, adding that the All-NBA candidate is day to day

He hurt his left calf last week in a game at Dallas. Cunningham has been the key player during Detroit’s turnaround, leading a team vying for home-court advantage in the ﬁrst round of the NBA playoffs after having the league’s worst record the previous two seasons.

The Pistons set a single-season record with 28 straight losses last year and ﬁnished with 14 wins, a year after winning just 17 games.

Djokovic advances to Miami Open final

Novak Djokovic cruised into the Miami Open ﬁnal by routing 14thseeded Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-3 on Friday at Hard Rock Stadium. The fourth-seeded Djokovic is trying for his seventh Miami Open title in his ﬁrst appearance in the event since 2019. The 37-year-old Djokovic, who won six times at the tournament’s previous venue at Key Biscayne, also is going for his 100th professional title. He has been out of form this year, starting with an injury retirement at the Australian Open in January Earlier this month, he lost his first

AP sportswriter

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROB GRAy

Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins looks during a game against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday in Salt Lake City

college baseball unique,” Johnson said on his radio show Monday “And I think we’re in a really popular spot right now There’s more talent in college baseball, meaning more talent in the SEC, probably than ever before because of the contraction of the minor leagues, the contraction of the draft.

“It’s pretty marketable right now At least in our league, everybody’s going all in on baseball. It’s forcing us to have to hustle, to keep up and keep where you want it to be. And I think the aluminum bat thing is unique.”

Junior Jared Jones agrees with his coach, even if the slugger is used to hitting with wooden bats, having played in wooden bat leagues growing up.

“Obviously summer ball is wood bat as well. So, I think it’d be interesting,” Jones said. “(But) I think metal bats make college a little bit more exciting, a little bit more fun, but we’ll see.”

Sophomore Steven Milam is more open to playing with wooden bats. He used wooden bats last summer while playing for the U.S. Collegiate National Team.

“Wood would be cool, I’d say,” Milamsaid.“AtUSA,itwasreallycool to play with wood again and just kind of get the natural feel back.”

It’s no accident that the best teams in the sport over the last few seasons were also ones that could consistently hit the ball out of the park.

En route to winning its ﬁrst national championship last season, Tennessee broke its program home run record by blasting 184.

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU ﬁrst baseman Jared Jones

hits a solo home run in the ﬁrst inning against UNO on March 18 at Alex Box Stadium. College baseball has used aluminum bats since the 2011 season.

The Volunteers became the ﬁrst program in NCAA history to have ﬁve players with 20 or more homers and were just four long balls shy of reaching LSU’s single-season home run record set in 1997.

The year before, when LSU won its seventh national title, it had eight players with double-digit homers and hit 144 on the season.

The Tigers entered Thursday’s game against Mississippi State only 18th in the country in homers, but they hit three Thursday in an 8-6 comeback win over the Bulldogs. To keep up with the times, they’ll need to have more nights like that for a return to Omaha.

“I was talking to somebody yesterday that is a fan, not like a baseball person,” Johnson said.

“And they were telling me how much they love it. Like it’s so much more exciting when it’s 1311 as opposed to 2-1.”

Email Koki Riley at Koki Riley@theadvocate.com.

CAJUNS

Continued from page 1C

bat today,” Higgs said. “I’m thankful for it.”

The Cajuns improved to 12-15 overall and 4-3 in league play with the win while James Madison dropped to 9-17 and 4-3.

“I don’t know if Higgs capped it or he hit it good, I don’t know,” UL coach Matt Deggs said. “It looked like an angel grabbed it we needed that one. This is just a crazy game. That’s why it’s addictive. People love it.”

It was UL’s first win against James Madison after losing the ﬁrst four meetings. The second game of the series is slated for 4 p.m. Saturday

“When he started sprinting forward, we all knew he was dropping that ball,” UL starting pitcher Chase Morgan said. “It was crazy. I was on the mound and my hat kept almost blowing off.”

The bottom of the eighth started out without much room for hope for UL. James Madison southpaw reliever Max Kuhle struck out the ﬁrst two batters of the inning. That’s when fortune started favoring the Cajuns. First, Brooks Wright ﬂoated a bunt in front of the mound that backed up like a Jack Nicklaus approach shot for a bunt single.

“It checked up like a little pitching wedge,” Higgs said. “That kid (Wright) is talented. He’s special and has a really bright future ahead of him.” Mark Collins then walked after Wright narrowly stole second base after numerous pickoff attempts at ﬁrst base

After Higgs’ two-run triple, Caleb Stelly hit a comebacker to the mound that Kuhle kicked twice and never made a throw to get Higgs home for a two-run lead

“We just stayed composed,”

South Carolina holds off Maryland

Gamecocks set to face Duke in Elite Eight

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 23 points, including a go-ahead layup with 2:22 left, and Chloe Kitts added 15 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 1 seed South Carolina beat fourth-seeded Maryland 71-67 on Friday in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

The reigning national champion Gamecocks went back-and-forth with the Terrapins all game before finally doing enough in the final few minutes to put it away

South Carolina will face Duke in the Elite Eight on Sunday The Blue Devils beat Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina 47-38 earlier Friday

Dawn Staley’s team trailed 60-59 with 3:25 left before holding Maryland without a point over the next three minutes. Fulwiley’s layup began the 7-0 run that gave the Gamecocks (33-3) just enough of a cushion. Kitts added three free throws during the spurt and Fulwiley scored on a coast-to-coast drive.

ers. I thought she was no question the most valuable player in this game. She played 20 minutes and had 23 points. We had no answer for her That’s how elite she is with her speed.”

Kaylene Smikle scored 17 points to lead Maryland (25-8) before fouling out.

Neither team could get into an offensive flow in the first three quarters. South Carolina trailed 43-39 late in the third before closing out the period with a 13-7 run that was capped by a spectacular transition basket by Fulwiley, who went behind her back and then hit a pull-up shot.

The two teams had met once previously in the NCAA Tournament, an 86-75 win for South Carolina in the Elite Eight in 2023.

South Carolina avoided becoming the first reigning champion to lose this early in the tournament since Louisville knocked off Brittney Griner and Baylor in 2013 in the Sweet 16.

shutout. I felt pretty good we could score at some point.”

That didn’t come until the fourminute mark of the first, when Jordan Wood drew a foul and made one of two free throws.

Okananwa, a reserve, scored 10 of her 12 points in the ﬁrst half and had 10 rebounds. Duke (29-7) got 26 points from its bench compared to North Carolina’s six. Ashlon Jackson ﬁnished with 10 points, and Toby Fournier, Duke’s leading scorer this season who was sidelined for the Blue Devils’ second-round win over Oregon with an illness, was held to three points.

Fifth-year senior Alyssa Ustby had nine points on 3-of-10 shooting for the third-seeded Tar Heels (29-8), who were seeking their ﬁrst Elite Eight appearance since 2014. Led by Ustby, who averaged 10.9 points per game, the Tar Heels had reached their second Sweet 16 in the past four years.

Higgs said. “You’re going to get barrels and they’re not going to fall sometimes, and that’s OK. That’s just the game It’s a tough game and it’s wrapped around failure.”

After a walk to Lee Amedee, Owen Galt got his second hit of the game to make it a 5-2 lead.

That misfortune gave James Madison starter Jackson Logar a hard-luck no-decision after he gave up one unearned run on one hit, four walks and four strikeouts in seven innings and 107 pitches.

“I don’t know what to say,” Deggs said. “We got two really good pitching performances if you’re into that. Their guy pitched his butt off, put on a clinic.

“And C-Mo (Morgan) matched him pitch for pitch. We’ve got to come get a groundball Other than that, I don’t know if they score today.”

The Dukes scored their two runs in the third. Reece Moody beat out an infield single and then Eli Steadman walked. One scored on Maddux Fleck’s sacriﬁce ﬂy and the other on Coleman Calabreese’s two-out single. Morgan had a similar fate with a no-decision after allowing only two runs on five hits, one walk and four strikeouts in 94 pitches.

“I’m feeling good,” Morgan said. “My body feels good, my arm feels good. When I had that break with that little thing in my arm, think it affected my body a little bit. I felt a little heavy today, but my arm feels great, so that’s the main thing.”

Tate Hess pitched the ﬁnal two innings for UL to get the win, yielding no runs on one hit, no walks and one strikeout.

“I thought he was outstanding,” Deggs said of Hess (2-2) “He ﬁlled it up with strikes, had a couple of two or three different pitches and had good ride on his fastball today.”

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com

The Gamecocks were up 66-60 with 25 seconds left when Saylor Poffenbarger ended Maryland’s scoring drought with a 3-pointer

But the Terps couldn’t get closer as the Gamecocks made ﬁve of six free throws down the stretch, including two by Fulwiley with 10.9 seconds left that made it 71-65.

“No one in the country has anyone to match that type of speed,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said of Fulwiley “We were trying to corral her with two or three play-

Continued from page 1C

Then Williams hit a mid-range jumper and scooped in a driving layup, giving LSU two buckets it used to cut the deficit to one. Williams scored two more baskets, including a layup with 1:07 left to give LSU a 74-73 edge after a key block by Kailyn Gilbert on the other end. Smith and Williams combined to make six free throws in the final minute to seal the victory LSU rocketed through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament by scoring at least 100 points in both of its games. Through the first quarter of action Friday it appeared that the Tigers’ red-hot shooting followed them to the Pacific Northwest. But LSU gave away an early 11-point lead as part of a challenging second quarter NC State started to catch fire from 3-point range, and the zone defense it deployed halfway through the quarter forced the Tigers out of rhythm. Two LSU starters had at least 10 points by halftime, but Flau’jae Johnson was scoreless, Williams had only six points and the Wolfpack led 40-36.

The Tigers also struggled to contain NC State guard Zamareya Jones, a 5-foot-7 freshman who scored 11 of her 13 points in the second quarter

DUKE 47, NORTH CAROLINA 38: Oluchi Okananwa had her third doubledouble of the season and Duke beat Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina in a grind-it-out defensive battle.

The second-seeded Blue Devils climbed out of an early 11-0 hole to advance to the 12th regional ﬁnal in program history and ﬁrst since 2013.

“I’ll be honest. I was a little worried down 11-0 and we hadn’t scored at all in the game,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. “But I don’t think there’s ever been a

“Sitting up here after a loss is disappointing,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said, “especially when you hold your third straight tournament team below 50 points and you don’t win the game.”

Neither team shot the ball well. The 85 points were the fewest combined ever in a regional semiﬁnal. Duke shot 31% after missing its first nine attempts. North Carolina shot 28% from the ﬁeld. The last time a team won in the women’s tournament with just 47 points was in the 2008 Final Four when Tennessee beat LSU 47-46. That was also the previous lowestscoring game in the Sweet 16 or later

Things started to shift again in the third LSU missed 11 shots but grabbed six offensive rebounds, creating looks around the rim that propelled it back in front. By the start of the fourth, NC State coach Wes Moore was telling the ESPN broadcast that his team had no answer for Morrow, and LSU led 57-53. Once NC State took a ﬁve-point, fourth-quarter lead, LSU answered with a 16-4 run to close out the game. Johnson ﬁnished with only three points on 1-of-8 shooting. Williams scored eight of the Tigers’ 10 during a crucial stretch of the fourth.

On Monday, LSU assisted on 29 shots in a 30-point, second-round win over No. 6 seed Florida State. But on Friday the Tigers tallied only 14 assists on 32 ﬁeld-goal makes. Mulkey-coached teams are now 13-5 in the Sweet 16. Because it won on Friday, LSU will make its 11th trip to the Elite Eight, the only round of the NCAA Tournament in which Mulkey’s teams have a losing record

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL relief pitcher Tate Hess delivers a pitch in the eighth inning against James Madison during their game Friday at Russo Park.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By yOUNG KWAK North Carolina State guard Zoe Brooks, left, shoots while pressured by LSU guard Mikaylah Williams during the ﬁrst half of their Sweet 16 game on Friday in Spokane,Wash.

The Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GERALD HERBERT

South Carolina guard Raven Johnson, right, and forward Joyce Edwards leap for a rebound against Maryland forward Christina Dalce, left, during the second half of their Sweet 16 game on Friday in Birmingham,Ala.

Flower Fest brings ﬂoral art, sculpture to BR

BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer

Baton Rouge ﬂorists are go-

ing “Under the Sea” in April for Flower Fest, the unconventional ﬂoral design challenge that doubles as a St. Jude fundraiser

The gala will take place 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. April 4, and the festival will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m April 5-6 at PointeMarie, 14200 River Road, Baton Rouge. Tickets for the gala are $175, and tickets for the festival are $20, available for purchase on Eventbrite.

Flower Fest founder Amy Vandiver was inspired to create the event after she was inspired by the Netflix show “The Big Flower Fight,” which displayed ﬂoral talents from around the world through challenges and competition. When Vandiver had the idea, it was 2020, and the pandemic was affecting the ﬂower industry because of the decrease in events.

“Yet all the ﬂowers were still harvested just like any kind of crop,” Vandiver said, “so back then people were bringing ﬂowers to nursing homes, hospitals and airports because they had to do something with them. The idea grew from that and watching the show.”

A florist designed a phone booth to make a ‘bird call’ at Flower Fest 2024.

A View of the Soul

The LSU Textile & Costume Museum uses joy of color to present fashion through a different lens

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

Vandiver credits being the daughter of an art teacher and a festival-loving Louisiana girl for her instincts to start and plan a flower festival: food, music, something to do and the things she enjoys.

In 2021, Vandiver launched the ﬁrst Flower Fest. Since then, the fundraiser has worked with Louisiana ﬂorists who compete to create thematic designs in two days within a certain budget.

“They’re given an amount to go and splurge,” said Ericka Poole, event chair for Flower Fest “A lot of them end up coming out of their own pockets because they need extra. They place orders for the most beautiful, exotic flowers, and then they bring them all out there, and they start building on Wednesday and Thursday.”

During the event, guests receive tickets to vote for their favorite floral designs Some of the categories include “Most Instagrammable” and “Favorite Theme.” In addition to the ﬂoral competition, Vandiver wanted to use the event to give to a worthy cause. Over the past four years, Flower Fest has raised over $300,000 for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital while celebrating the talent and ingenuity of floral artists and hosting market vendors, food trucks and other creatives This year’s Flower Fest is sponsored by Capitol Wellness.

Honoring St. Jude’s

The ﬂoral sculptures may draw the crowds, but Flower Fest is really about the people — the children who have battled cancer, PROVIDED

Michael Mamp can’t contain his smile when walking into the LSU Textile & Costume Museum main gallery which proves Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky right.

“Color is a power which directly inﬂuences the soul,” Kandinsky said That’s certainly the case with Mamp, the museum’s director His smile grows bigger while surveying the museum’s newest exhibit, “Color Me Fashion,” where Kandinsky’s quote is displayed within a splash of orange and blue among more than 45 designs categorized by complementary colors.

Welcoming spring

The show opened March 23, joining the azaleas, wisteria and regional Holi festivals’ colorful celebrations in welcoming springtime to

The ‘Color Me Fashion’ show represents a century of fashion between 1890 to 1990, which is grouped in categories of complementary colors.

Louisiana. It runs through Aug. 15.

Mamp, assisted by curatorial graduate students Morgan Strzynski and Katherine Bankhead, chose pieces from the museum’s permanent collection. The designs and their related accessories use color to explore fashion history between 1890 and 1990.

And though Mamp knows every stitch and thread in this room, he’s still amazed at how the barrage of color, as Kandinsky would say, inﬂuences his soul.

Color affirms joy

“To me, color is one of those lifeafﬁrming things,” he said. “I study fashion because it’s joyful, and I think that color is a way to be immersed in that joy I want people to come in here and experience that kind of joy.”

ä See EXHIBIT, page 6C

BY SERENA PUANG

STAFF PHOTOS By ROBIN MILLER

The LSU Textile & Costume Museum’s exhibit,‘Color Me Fashion,’ uses color to explore fashion history. More than 45 pieces from the museum’s permanent collection are on display through Aug. 15.

Get screened early for Parkinson’s at free event

Staff report

Mission for Movement will host a Parkinson’s screening event from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the ExxonMobil YMCA, 7717 Howell Blvd. in Baton Rouge. The free screening event will provide an opportunity for individuals to be tested for early signs of Parkinson’s disease and take proactive steps toward their health Early detection plays a crucial role in improving quality of life, Mission for Movement stresses. Appointmentsarerecommended, butwalk-insarewelcome.Toscheduleatime,emailCarmenHigginsat cghiggins1955@gmail.com.

The screening will include a movement assessment and vital symptom check.

“With knowledge and resources, people with PD can live long, productive lives,” says Randy LeBlanc, founder and co-director of the Mission for Movement “I was diagnosed 20 years ago and have spent much of my time trying to stay ahead of this disease and help others to do the same.”

Mission for Movement is a Baton Rouge-based nonprofit that provides resources, support and connections for individuals living with Parkinson’s. For more info, go to themissionformovement. org

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Saturday, March 29, the 88th day of 2025. There are 277 days left in the year Today in history

On March 29, 1974, a group of Chinese farmers digging a well struck fragments of terra-cotta buried underground; archaeologists would ultimately discover terra-cotta sculptures of more than 8,000 soldiers and other ﬁgures. The “Terra-cotta Army” would become one of the most signiﬁcant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century

On this date:

In 1943, World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese began, limiting American consumers to store purchases of an average of about 2 pounds a week for beef, pork, lamb and mutton using a coupon system.

In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in New York of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. (They were executed in June 1953.)

In 1961, the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratiﬁed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections.

In 1971, Army Lt. William L Calley Jr was convicted of murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians in the 1968 My Lai massacre. (Initially sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor, Calley’s sentence would ultimately be commuted by President Richard Nixon to three years of house arrest.)

In 1971, a jury in Los Angeles

recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders. (The sentences were commuted when the California state Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972.)

In 1973, the last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America’s direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.

In 1984, under the cover of early morning darkness, the Baltimore Colts football team left its home city of three decades, sending the team’s equipment to Indianapolis in moving trucks without informing Baltimore city or Maryland state ofﬁcials.

In 2004, President George W. Bush welcomed seven former Soviet-bloc nations (Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia) into NATO during a White House ceremony. Today’s birthdays: Comedian Eric Idle is 82. Former British Prime Minister John Major is 82. Basketball Hall of Famer Walt Frazier is 80. Football Hall of Famer Earl Campbell is 70. Actor Brendan Gleeson is 70. Actor Christopher Lambert is 68 Actor Annabella Sciorra is 65. Comedian-actor Amy Sedaris is 64. Model Elle Macpherson is 61. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, is 61. Actor Lucy Lawless is 57. Tennis Hall of Famer Jennifer Capriati is 49. Musician-author Michelle Zauner is 36.

RELIGION BRIEFS

FROM STAFF REPORTS

St. Joseph Cathedral

observes Laetare Sunday

St. Joseph Cathedral, 401 Main St., will observe Laetare Sunday this weekend, marking a moment of joy during Lent.

Masses will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, and 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday The Anointing of the Sick will follow the 10:30 Mass, offered to those who are ill, preparing for surgery or seeking healing. The rite includes anointing with sacred oil and a blessing with relics of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos. For more information, contact Cathedral Pastoral Services at (225) 387-5928 or office@cathedralbr.org.

Freeman Baptist Church

5th Sunday Fellowship

Freeman Baptist Church, 4628 La. 955, Ethel, will host its 5th Sunday Fellowship Service at

BLAZIN

Continued from page 5C

and one in Shreveport, both set to open by this summer she said Blazin’s chicken comes in six different spice levels: “country, mild, medium, hot, xtra hot and blazin’ hot.” These blends contain the Trinidad Scorpion pepper and the Carolina Reaper pepper respectively, two of the hottest peppers in the world. If one wants to order menu items at the xtra hot or blazin’ hot level, they are asked to sign a waiver

“I acknowledge that eating the ‘BLAZIN HOT’ or ‘XTRA HOT’ sandwich and/or chicken tenders can cause me harm, including but not limited to bodily harm, property damage, emotional distress, or even death,” a portion of the waiver reads.

8:30 a.m

Guest pastor John Bowman and Beech Grove Baptist Church will lead the service. All are invited to worship.

Gospel singing on the calendar in Tickfaw

The Rev Mike Vaughn will lead a Quartet & Southern Gospel Fest on Friday April 4, at Good News Fellowship Church, 13101 La. 442 West, Tickfaw Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and singing will start at 6:30 p.m. with Kelly Barber & Friends. Vaughn will sing at 7 p.m. and The Revelations Quartet from Brandon, Mississippi, special guest artists, will sing at 8 p.m. This is a free concert, but a love offering will be received. A concession stand will serve desserts, and there also will be a cakewalk.

For further information, contact Barbara Vaughn at (985) 9740507 or mvmgoodnews.com.

The waiver also affirms that the person is consuming the food willingly and is not intoxicated.

According to manager Dennis Collins, for a customer’s ﬁrst time in, “the best thing to go with is anything.” But his personal favorites are the jumbo sliders (Number 1 on the menu) and the Mac & Cheese Crunchwrap (Number 4).

“We have the total, all-around experience, and we don’t like to let down customers,” Collins said. “If you’re into spice, there’s no reason you should not come here.”

Blazin’ Hot Chicken, 4075 Nicholson Drive, Baton Rouge. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday to Wednesday and from 10 a.m to 3:30 a.m. Thursday to Saturday

Email Serena Puang at serena. puang@theadvocate.com.

EXHIBIT

Continued from page 5C

Each piece in the exhibit has its own story, whether it’s tied to a designer, the person who wore it, an ancient way of stitching or Marilyn Monroe.

The iconic Hollywood legend factors into the shades of pink and pantone, the former being this year’s “it” color among home and clothing designers. The pinks take the spotlight in glass cases at the center of the room with William Travilla’s design highlighted near the front Meet Marilyn’s designer Travilla designed costumes and dresses for ﬁlm stars during Hollywood’s golden era, one being the “shocking pink” gown worn by Monroe while singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in the 1953 ﬁlm “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”

Monroe never wore Travilla’s dress design in LSU’s exhibit, though it looks like it was made for her Gold sequins drip from its low cut bodice, oozing on its pink, chiffon, ﬂouncy skirt.

The dress’ combination of gold and pink also is an example of Mamp’s mindfulness of grouping complementary colors.

“In the world of color, opposites attract, and unlike humans, opposites often work really well together in the fashion color world,” he said. “In December of 2024, Vogue magazine did a special issue that was edited by guest designer Marc Jacobs. And on the cover of that month’s issue was a model dressed in vibrant color and a background in vibrant color So, I took that as a starting point for this exhibit.”

Whereas blue and orange are opposites on the color spectrum, they work well together in the ﬁrst grouping of designs that include pieces by Oscar de la Renta and Emanuel Ungaro, as well as a dress from the 1920s with a handpainted bodice in blues and golds.

FLOWER

Continued from page 5C

their families and the guests of honor who have raised money for St. Jude. St Jude survivors get into the festival for free.

The organizers of Flower Fest choose a St. Jude Child of the Year who is recognized along with their family at the gala.

“Their family gets to come up on the stage and tell their story,” said Poole. “And this year, we’re doing a St. Jude tent solely for St. Jude families and survivors, which will be like a VIP area for them to relax Saturday and Sunday.”

The Flower Fest Gala also recognizes 12 honorees from the community who have raised money for St. Jude. The honorees work with one of the florists to have a floral component added to their outfit.

“This isn’t your grandma’s gala,” said Vandiver, as she described an artsy crowd that dresses in high fashion, themed costumes or ﬂoral cocktail attire.

Flower market and more

The attractions don’t stop at the sculptural installations. Vandiver

more than 45

Sudoku

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

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER

Carl Hiaasen, a columnist and novelist, said, “My books are shelved in different places, depending on the bookstore. Sometimes they can be found in the Mystery section, sometimes in the Humor department, and occasionally even in the Literature aisle, which is somewhat astounding.”

At the bridge table, we try to find lines of play or defense that are favorites to succeed. We accommodate likely distributions. However, occasionally we must allow for an unlikely scenario to maximize our chances.

In this example, South is in three notrump. West leads the heart queen. What is the best defense? How should South then try to make his contract?

First,Eastmustovertakewithhisheart king at trick one. South will duck, hoping the king is a singleton, but East returns his second heart.

Let’s assume declarer plays low again. West wins and leads a third heart, East discarding a spade.

South starts with seven top tricks: three spades, one heart, two diamonds and one club. The other two winners obviously will come from the club suit. But if West gets on play with the club king, he will cash his last two hearts to defeat the contract.

Declarer must work to keep West off the lead.

After winning the third trick, South should play a spade to the board, then lead the club queen, encouraging East to cover if he has the king. But when East plays low South should put up his ace. If the king does not fall, declarer leads another club, hoping East has to take the trick. Here, though, the king tumbles

loCKhorNs

Memorize Bible verses. It will help you to overcome temptation. G.E. Dean

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

The Acadiana Advocate 03-29-2025

LAST CALL

OMV director resigns as computer issues continue

LSU announces hiring freeze

Quake rocks Myanmar, Thailand

Hundreds feared dead

Israel strikes Beirut

Trump asks Supreme Court to allow deportations to continue

President using 18th-century wartime law

Vance claims Denmark underinvesting in Greenland

Trump has first call with Canada’s new PM

EPA cutting $70M in funds for La.

Agencies, nonprofits to lose federal grants

VOTE

Drought, wind, storm debris stoking ﬁres

OMV

3 dead, more than 200 rescued after Texas storms

ADVERTISEMENT

Air support

Helicopter, pilots, aviation technicians share possible careers with STEM students

Voters to decide on property tax renewals

United Way hosts ALICE summit

New arrests in cruelty to juvenile case

McNeese student manager gets star treatment

Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputies wrangle 9-foot alligator

SUMMIT

BALLOT

ARRESTS

Inflation, tariff fears sink Wall St.

Federal judge blocks offshore lease sale

A way to escape the madness of March

SPORTS

SWEET AS EVER

Grizzlies fire team’s winningest coach

CAJUNS

South Carolina holds off Maryland

Gamecocks set to face Duke in Elite Eight

Flower Fest brings ﬂoral art, sculpture to BR

A View of the Soul

Get screened early for Parkinson’s at free event

TODAY IN HISTORY

RELIGION BRIEFS

BLAZIN

EXHIBIT

FLOWER

Sudoku