Sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink workforce
Hundreds of employees waiting to get in stand in a line wrapped around the outside of the Health and Human Services headquarters building in Washington on Tuesday. Cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, senior leaders
BY CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press
Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department received notices Tuesday that their jobs were being eliminated, part of a sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink the agencies responsible for protecting and promoting Americans’ health
ä Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, says resignation of top vaccine regulator does not violate commitment from Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr PAGE 4A
The cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, leaving the federal government without many of the key experts who have long guided U.S. decisions on medical research, drug
approvals and other issues.
“The revolution begins today!” Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr wrote on social media as he celebrated the swearing-in of his latest hires: Dr Jay Bhattacharya, the new director of the National Institutes of Health, and Martin Makary, the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner Kennedy’s post came just hours after employees began receiving emailed layoff notices. He later wrote, “Our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs” but said that the department needs to be “recalibrated” to emphasize disease prevention. Kennedy announced a plan last
ä See LAYOFFS, page 4A
Amendments defeated by bipartisan opposition
Left-, right-leaning groups worked against proposals
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
A charismatic Pentecostal preacher A Grammy-winning singer and songwriter A former Republican state representative. A one-time Saints defensive star Leaders of groups that oppose putting children in adult prisons. An unlikely crew of people on both the left and the right on Saturday torpedoed Gov Jeff Landry’s effort to revamp Louisiana’s tax system and make three other changes to the state constitution.
Landry raised money for an expensive advertising campaign and stumped throughout Louisiana in particular for Amendment 2, a complicated measure that would have rewritten the state tax code to reduce the top individual tax rate and impose a cap on government spending. He supported the other three amendments, which would have created specialty courts, expanded the number of crimes that would put children in adult prisons and changed election dates for judicial vacancies. Each of the four amendments lost overwhelmingly, winning only 35% or so of the vote.
See AMENDMENTS, page 6A
FBI agents make immigration arrests in New Orleans
Department joins in Trump’s directive
BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
FBI agents are helping federal Department of Homeland Security officers carry out immigration arrests in New Orleans, part of the Trump administration’s redirec-
tion of law enforcement resources toward its sweeping immigration crackdown FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested two people on apparent immigration-related charges in New Orleans East last week, according to statements from law enforcement and an immigrant advocacy group. Union Migrante, the advocacy group, said the arrests happened Wednesday near a cluster of busi-
nesses on Crowder Boulevard.
In a statement and on social media, the FBI did not identify who had been detained or say what allegations prompted their arrests.
The FBI is helping immigration agents “arresting dangerous criminals and helping to keep our communities safe,” FBI spokesperson Lesley Hill said. FBI agents are joining the operations under a nationwide directive from Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi.
Hill referred additional questions to DHS, which did not respond to a request for comment.
The statement appears to be among the FBI’s first public acknowledgments of its agents’ role in Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda, which promises to deport 20 million people but has faced mounting logistical, legal and resource hurdles since the president’s inauguration in January
FBI agents have historically
played little role in immigration enforcement, according to Freddy Cleveland, a retired FBI agent who served in the New Orleans field office in the 1990s.
“We did none of it, as I recall, over my entire career,” Cleveland said. Such enforcement normally is the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, the umbrella agency over ICE and Customs
ä See FBI, page 6A
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
About 10,000 more people voted in New Orleans in Saturday’s election than in the governor’s race in October 2023.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By AMANDA SEITZ
Volcano erupts in southwestern Iceland GRINDAVIK, Iceland A volcano in southwestern Iceland that has erupted repeatedly for more than a year again belched lava and smoke into the air on Tuesday, just hours after authorities evacuated the few remaining residents of a nearby fishing village
The eruption began at 9:45 a.m local time, triggering warning sirens in the town of Grindavik where webcams showed molten rock spewing toward the community. It had subsided by late afternoon, though the volcano was still active, Iceland’s Met Office said.
Police and civil defense officials evacuated Grindavik and the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, one of Iceland’s biggest tourist attractions, after an early morning earthquake swarm suggested an eruption was imminent.
The community located on the Reykjanes Peninsula, was largely evacuated in November 2023 when the volcano came to life after lying dormant for some 800 years. About 40 homes were evacuated on Tuesday, though police reported that some residents refused to leave their homes.
Historic tree to be cut down at White House
WASHINGTON A tree that’s nearly two centuries old will be removed from the White House grounds because it’s deteriorating, President Donald Trump said Sunday The southern magnolia stands near the curved portico on the south side of the building It’s where foreign leaders are often welcomed for ceremonial visits, and where the president departs to board the Marine One helicopter According to the National Park Service website, “folklore tells us” that President Andrew Jackson brought the tree’s seeds from his home near Nashville, Tennessee It was apparently planted in honor of his wife Rachel, who died shortly before he took office in 1829.
“The bad news is that everything must come to an end, and this tree is in terrible condition, a very dangerous safety hazard, at the White House Entrance, no less, and must now be removed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. “This process will take place next week, and will be replaced by another, very beautiful tree.”
Trump said the wood from the tree “may be used for other high and noble purposes!!!”
6 people injured after truck crashes in Boston
BOSTON A box truck crashed into a building Tuesday afternoon in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood and hit several pedestrians before flipping onto its side, city officials said. The driver and five others were injured in what authorities said appears to have been an accident.
“At least at this preliminary juncture, we don’t have any reason to believe that this was an intentional act,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said at a news conference. “It may very well end up being a tragic accident.”
Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said four people were hospitalized. The driver and one pedestrian were in critical condition early on, but several hours later the driver’s condition had improved. Two others declined medical treatment at the scene. Cox and others noted that the outcome could have been far worse given the location.
“This is such a busy part of the city, right on the middle of the day, people going back and forth on their way to get lunch and support our small businesses,” Mayor Michelle Wu said. “And so it’s quite shocking to see the scene as it stands right now.”
The Boston Fire Department, on social media, said the Penske truck struck multiple poles and was wedged between a pole and the building Firefighters extracted the trapped driver from the cab of truck.
In a statement, Penske spokesman Randolph Ryerson said it was “aware of the incident” and was monitoring it closely
Search continues for quake survivors
BY DAVID RISING Associated Press
BANGKOK Rescue workers saved a 63-year-old woman from the rubble of a building in Myanmar’s capital on Tuesday, but hope was fading of finding many more survivors of the violent earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war
The fire department in Naypyitaw said the woman was successfully pulled from the rubble 91 hours after being buried when the building collapsed in the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit midday Friday. Experts say the likelihood of finding survivors drops dramatically after 72 hours.
The head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told a forum for relief donations in Naypyitaw that 2,719 people have now been found dead, with 4,521 others injured and 441 missing, Myanmar’s state MRTV television reported.
He said Friday’s earthquake was the second most powerful in the country’s recorded history after a magnitude 8 quake east of Mandalay in May 1912.
The casualty figures are widely expected to rise The earthquake hit a wide swath of the country, leaving many areas without power telephone or cell connections and damaging roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess Most of the reports so far have come from Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city which was near the epicenter of the earthquake, and Naypyitaw, the capital.
“The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour,” said Julia Rees, UNI-
CEF’s deputy representative for Myanmar Myanmar’s fire department said 403 people have been rescued in Mandalay and 259 bodies have been found so far
In one incident, 50 Buddhist monks who were taking a religious exam in a monastery were killed when the building collapsed, and 150 more are thought to be buried in the rubble. The World Health Organization said more than 10,000 buildings overall are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged by the quake.
The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing a high-rise building under construction to collapse and burying many workers.
Two bodies were pulled from the rubble Monday and another was recovered Tuesday, but dozens were still missing. Overall, there were 21 people killed and 34 injured in Bangkok, primarily at the construction site.
In Myanmar, search and rescue efforts across the affected area paused briefly at midday Tuesday as people stood for a minute in silent tribute to the dead.
Foreign aid workers have been arriving slowly to help in the rescue efforts but progress lagged due to a lack of heavy machinery in many places.
In one site in Naypyitaw on Tuesday, workers formed a human chain, passing chunks of brick and concrete out hand-byhand from the ruins of a collapsed building.
The state Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that a team of Chinese rescuers saved four people the day before from the ruins of an apartment complex. They included a 5-year-old and a pregnant woman who had been trapped for more than 60 hours.
Paraguay recalls ambassador to Brazil, suspends talks over espionage revelations
By The Associated Press
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay Paraguay announced Tuesday that it was recalling its ambassador to Brazil a day after Brazilian authorities acknowledged that their country’s intelligence agency spied on Paraguayan officials in 2022. Paraguay’s government also said it would suspend negotiations with Brazil over the massive hydroelectric dam it jointly operates with its more powerful neighbor.
Paraguay’s decision came after Brazil’s foreign ministry revealed that the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing predecessor of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had conducted espionage against the small South American nation.
Lula’s government insisted that it had halted the surveillance against Paraguay immediately after becoming aware of it, without elaborating on the nature of the operation or whom it targeted.
Brazilian news site UOL reported that the country’s intelligence agents had infiltrated Paraguayan computer systems to obtain intel on sensitive tariff negotiations related to the Itaipu dam on their shared border Paraguay on Monday said it would stop talks
that had been underway for months with Brazil over the costs of hydropower generation from the Itaipu dam until Brazil can clarify “the intelligence action ordered against our country.”
Paraguay’s Foreign Ministry said it had launched an investigation into what exactly occurred between June 2022 and March 2023, when the espionage operation reportedly took place under then-President Bolsonaro. Paraguayan authorities said they had not been aware of any such infiltration.
“It is a violation of international law, the interference in the internal affairs of one country in another,” Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Lezcano told journalists. “We are under
Vote to reverse tariffs on Canada tests GOP support
BY STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press
WASHINGTON With President Donald Trump’s socalled “Liberation Day” of tariff implementation fast approaching, Senate Democrats are putting Republican support for some of those plans to the test by forcing a vote to nullify the emergency declaration that underpins the tariffs on Canada.
Republi cans have watched with some unease as the president’s attempts to remake global trade have sent the stock market downward, but they have so far stood by Trump’s on-againoff-again threats to levy taxes on imported goods.
Even as the resolution from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, of Virginia, offered them a potential off-ramp to the tariffs levied on Canadian imports, Republican leaders were trying to keep senators in line by focusing on fentanyl that comes into the U.S. over its northern border It was yet another example of how Trump is not only reorienting global economics, but upending his party’s longtime support for ideas like free trade.
“I really relish giving my Republican colleagues the chance to not just say they’re concerned, but actually take an action to stop these tariffs,” Kaine told The Associated Press in an interview last week.
Kaine’s resolution would end the emergency declaration that Trump signed in February to implement tariffs on Canada as punishment for not doing enough to halt the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. If the Senate passes the resolution, it would still need to be taken up by the Republicancontrolled House.
A small fraction of the fentanyl that comes into the U.S. enters from Canada. Customs and Border Protection seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the northern border during the 2024 fiscal year and since January authorities have seized less than 1.5 pounds, according to federal data. Meanwhile,
at the southern border, authorities seized over 21,000 pounds last year Democrats warned that tariffs on Canadian goods would ripple through the economy, making it more expensive to build homes, outfit military ships and pay for daily goods.
“These tariffs are a tax increase on American families plain and simple,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York. He argued that the increased costs for American households were being done “simply to give a tax cut to Trump’s billionaire friends.” Schumer said he agrees with taking on China “which really has hurt us in trade every step of the way.” But the tariffs don’t make sense for an ally whose economy is so interconnected with the U.S. economy He added the tariffs are creating uncertainty with businesses and consumers. At a news conference Tuesday, Kaine said fentanyl trafficking is an emergency but that the emergency stems from China and Mexico, not Canada He said Trump invented a “made-up emergency” to help pay for extending tax cuts that he said primarily benefit the wealthy
“How are they going to pay for it? Massive cuts in programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and tariffs imposed on the backs of everyday Americans,” Kaine said Still, Trump has claimed that the amount of fentanyl coming from Canada is “massive” and pledged to follow through by executing tariffs Wednesday
“We are making progress to end this terrible Fentanyl Crisis, but Republicans in the Senate MUST vote to keep the National Emergency in place, so we can finish the job, and end the scourge,” Trump said on social media Tuesday Still, a few of Republicans have indicated they are considering voting for the legislation, which would need just a simple majority to pass the Senate.
constant attack, and the ministry is taking all necessary steps to defend our confidential information.”
Lezcano said the ministry was recalling Paraguay’s ambassador to Brazil and had also summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Paraguay to deliver a formal explanation about the cyber-spying campaign.
The move does not represent a permanent rupture in diplomatic relations, as Brazil’s Embassy in Paraguay will remain open.
But the discord does reflect a revival of historical tensions between the neighbors dating back to Brazil’s invasion of the country in the 1860s, which started a brutal war in which Paraguay lost a quarter of its territory and most of its male population.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
A rescuer works through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday’s earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Tuesday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By CHIANG yING-yING Paraguay Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano speaks during a press conference during his visit in Taipei, Taiwan, on Nov. 29
‘JFK’ director calls for reinvestigation of 1963 assassination
BY JOHN HANNA Associated Press
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, whose 1991 film “JFK” portrayed President John F. Kennedy’s assassination as the work of a shadowy government conspiracy, called Tuesday for a new congressional investigation of the killing during a hearing that aired conspiracy theories about it. The freewheeling hearing of the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, where partisan grievances were aired, followed last month’s release of thousands of pages of government documents related to the assassination.
The task force’s Republican chair opened the proceedings by questioning the Warren Commission investigation’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in fatally shooting Kennedy as his motorcade finished a parade route in downtown Dallas on Nov 22, 1963. Scholars say the files that President Donald Trump ordered to be released showed nothing undercutting the conclusion that a lone gunman killed Kennedy Many documents were previously released but contained newly removed redactions, including Social Security numbers, angering people whose personal information was disclosed Stone’s “JFK” was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture, and won two. It grossed more than $200 million but was also dogged by questions about its historical accuracy Stone told the committee that he believes decades of delays in releasing unredacted records had
prevented “clarity” about who killed JFK.
Stone also said a new investigation “outside all political considerations” should begin “at the scene of the crime” and reexamine all of the evidence from the day of the assassination. Scholars and historians have concluded that there’s strong evidence that Oswald, a 24-year-old former Marine, acted alone in killing Kennedy. “Can we return to a world where we can trust our government to level with us, the people for which this government exists?” Stone said. “This is our democracy This is our presidency It belongs to us.”
The task force’s chair, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, of Florida, said she thinks the federal government under previous administrations had engaged in “stonewalling.”
The task force also heard from a witness called by Democrats who criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the recent JFK document release. John Davisson, senior counsel for the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, called it “hurried” and suggested that the National Archives and Records Administration “simply ignored” procedures for protecting people’s privacy
The task force’s Democrats followed up on his comments by criticizing the Trump administration over a variety of other issues.
“What I find funny about this hearing is that the Republicans are here relitigating whether CIA agents lied 60 years ago,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett, whose Texas district includes part of Dallas.
Booker tops 23 hours in Senate speech
BY MIKE CATALINI and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press
WASHINGTON New Jersey
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held the Senate floor with a marathon speech that lasted all night and into Tuesday afternoon in a feat of endurance to show Democrats’ resistance to President Donald Trump’s sweeping actions.
Booker took to the Senate floor on Monday evening, saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.” More than 23 hours later the 55-yearold senator, a former football tight end, was plainly exhausted but still going. It was a remarkable show of stamina the second longest in Senate history — as Democrats try to show their frustrated supporters that they are doing everything possible to contest Trump’s agenda.
“These are not normal times in our nation,” Booker said as he launched into his speech. “And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”
Shifting his feet, then leaning on his podium, Booker railed for hours against cuts to Social Security offices led by Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency He listed the impacts of Trump’s early orders and spoke to concerns that broader cuts to the social safety net could be coming, though Republican lawmakers say the program won’t be touched.
Booker also read what he said were letters from constituents, donning and doffing his reading glasses. One writer was alarmed by the Republican president’s talk of annexing Greenland and Canada and a “looming constitutional crisis.”
Throughout the day Tuesday, Booker got help from
did not slip and inadvertently end his speech. He stayed standing to comply with Senate rules.
“Your strength, your fortitude, your clarity has just been nothing short of amazing and all of America is paying attention to what you’re saying,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said as he asked Booker a question on the Senate floor “All of America needs to know there’s so many problems, the disastrous actions of this administration.”
to support Booker “This is a very powerful and principled moment led” by Booker, Jeffries said. For his part, Booker called on his Democratic colleagues to look to their core values to find the resolve to counter the Republican president. “Moments like this require us to be more creative or more imaginative, or just more persistent and dogged and determined,” Booker said.
Democratic colleagues, who gave him a break from speaking to ask him a question and praise his performance. Booker yielded for questions but made sure to say he would not give up the floor He read that line from a piece of paper to ensure he
As Booker stood for hour after hour he appeared to have nothing more than a couple glasses of water to sustain him. Yet his voice grew strong with emotion as his speech stretched into the afternoon, and House members from the Congressional Black Caucus, including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, stood on the edge of the Senate floor
Booker’s cousin and brother, as well as Democratic aides watched from the chamber’s gallery Sen. Chris Murphy accompanied Booker on the Senate floor throughout the day and night. Murphy was returning the comradeship that Booker had given to him in 2016 when the Connecticut Democrat held the floor for almost 15 hours to argue for gun control legislation.
Cassidy says RFK Jr. hasn’t broken promises
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON U.S. Sen Bill Cassidy said Tuesday the abrupt resignation of the nation’s chief vaccines regulator did not violate his pact with health chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr a well-known skeptic of vaccinations.
“There’s nothing in that action that violates the commitment I received from Bobby Kennedy,” Cassidy R-Baton Rouge told local reporters in a phone news conference.
Cassidy played a key role in Kennedy’s confirmation Some fellow Republicans had been wary of confirming President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, and they looked for Cassidy’s lead as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee before backing Kennedy For years Kennedy fueled widespread suspicion, despite scientific consensus to the contrary, that
LAYOFFS
Continued from page 1A
week to remake the department, which, through its agencies, is responsible for tracking health trends and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, and monitoring the safety of food and medicine, as well as for administering health insurance programs for nearly half the country
The plan would consolidate agencies that oversee billions of dollars for addiction services and community health centers under a new office called the Administration for a Healthy America.
HHS said layoffs are expected to save $1.8 billion annually — about 0.1% — from the department’s $1.7 trillion budget, most of which is spent on Medicare and Medicaid health insurance coverage for millions of Americans.
The layoffs are expected to shrink HHS to 62,000 positions, lopping off nearly a quarter of its staff — 10,000 jobs through layoffs and another 10,000 workers who took early retirement and voluntary separation offers. Many of the jobs are based in the Washington area, but also in Atlanta, where the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based, and in smaller offices throughout the country
Some staffers began getting termination notices in their work inboxes at 5 a.m., while others found out their jobs had been eliminated after standing in long lines outside offices in Washington, Maryland and Atlanta to see if their badges still worked. Some gathered at local coffee shops and lunch spots after being turned away, finding out they had been eliminated after decades of service.
One wondered aloud if it was a cruel April Fools’ Day joke. At the NIH, cuts included at least four directors of the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers who were put on administrative leave, and nearly entire communications staffs were terminated, according to an agency senior leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.
An email viewed by The
childhood vaccines cause autism, prompting many in the Senate and the health community to oppose his nomination.
A physician and strong supporter of vaccinations, Cassidy said he was persuaded to support Kennedy by promises of “an unprecedented close collaborative working relationship,” including consultation and input in the agency’s personnel decisions. He also said Kennedy told him he would maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immuniza-
Associated Press shows some senior-level employees of the Bethesda, Maryland, campus who were placed on leave were offered a possible transfer to the Indian Health Service in locations including Alaska and given until the end of Wednesday to respond.
At least nine high-level CDC directors were placed on leave and were also offered reassignments to the Indian Health Service.
Some public health experts outside the agency saw it as a bid to get veteran agency leaders to resign.
At CDC, union officials said programs eliminated because of the layoffs focused on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and air quality, and occupational safety and health The entire office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests was shuttered Infectious disease programs took a hit, too, including programs that fight outbreaks in other countries and labs focused on HIV and hepatitis in the U.S and staff trying to eliminate tuberculosis.
At the FDA, dozens of staffers who regulate drugs, food medical devices and tobacco products received notices, including the entire office responsible for drafting new regulations for electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products. The notices came as the FDA’s tobacco chief was removed from his position. Elsewhere at the agency, more than a dozen press officers and communications supervisors were notified that their jobs would be eliminated.
“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed,” said former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf in an online post. Califf stepped down at the end of the Biden administration.
The layoff notices came just days after President Donald Trump moved to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights at HHS and other agencies throughout the government.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, of Washington, predicted the cuts will have ramifications when natural disasters strike or infectious diseases, like the ongoing measles outbreak spread.
“They may as well be re-
tion practices, recommendations and published statements that vaccines do not cause autism, he said.
Cassidy said Kennedy had called him before Friday’s announcement that Dr. Peter Marks would step down April 5 as the top vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration.
In a letter sent to acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner, Marks wrote he was “willing to work” with Kennedy on vaccine concerns.
“However, it has become clear
naming it the Department of Disease because their plan is putting lives in serious jeopardy,” Murray said Friday
The intent of cuts to the CDC seems to be to create “a much smaller, infectious disease agency,” but it is destroying a wide array of work and collaborations that have enabled local and national governments to be able to prevent deaths and respond to emergencies, said Dr Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
Cuts were less drastic at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where Trump’s Republican administration wants to avoid the appearance of debilitating the health insurance programs that cover roughly half of Americans, many of them poor, disabled and elderly But the impact will still be felt, with the department slashing much of the workforce at the Office of Minority Health.
Jeffrey Grant, a former CMS deputy director, said the office is not part of a diversity, equity and inclusion program the kind Trump’s Republican administration has sought to end.
“This is not a DEI initiative. This is meeting people where they are and meeting their specific health needs,” said Grant, who resigned last month and now helps place laid-off CMS employees into new jobs.
Beyond layoffs at federal health agencies, cuts are beginning at state and local health departments as a result of an HHS move last week to pull back more than $11 billion in COVID-19-related money Some health departments have identified hundreds of jobs that stand to be eliminated, “some of them overnight, some of them are already gone,” said Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
A coalition of state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, arguing the cuts are illegal, would reverse progress on the opioid crisis and would throw mental health systems into chaos.
HHS has not provided additional details or comments about Tuesday’s mass firings, but on Thursday it provided a breakdown of some
that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote. Marks reportedly by several sources was offered the choice of resigning or being fired. The agency on Tuesday began laying off about 10,000 of its roughly 80,000 employees, including everyone who works in vaccine promotion.
“Let’s wait and see who the replacement is. I think that is how this first decision should be judged,” Cassidy said.
He said that, if Marks’ replacement is “someone of similar academic qualifications, similar commitment to getting drug approvals and vaccine approvals through on a timely basis, then that’s the substitution of one good person with another good person. I’ve had reassurances that would be the case.”
Marks studied at Columbia University and New York University He joined the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in 2012 and became director in 2016. He played a role in the privatepublic effort to quickly develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
Earlier this month, Health and
Human Services officials announced that its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also began layoffs Tuesday would launch another study to examine if there are any links between autism and vaccinations.
“I’ll point out that has been clearly laid to rest,” Cassidy said. “The more resources we put toward that, we are not putting toward actually finding out what is the cause of autism.”
The numbers of children diagnosed with autism have increased dramatically from 1 in 150 children in 2000 to about 1 in 36, according to the CDC. Many scientists suspect the spike is because more parents and more physicians have become aware of the disorder But they’re not sure.
“My strong encouragement for the secretary and anyone else who really, really, really, as I do, wants to find out the reason for increasing incidence of autism,” Cassidy said, “we should be going into areas that have not been investigated as opposed to those things that have been put to rest.”
Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.
of the cuts.
n 3,500 jobs at the FDA, which inspects and sets safety standards for medications, medical devices and foods
n 2,400 jobs at the CDC, which monitors for infectious disease outbreaks and works with public health agencies nationwide n 1,200 jobs at the NIH,
the world’s leading medical research agency n 300 jobs at the CMS, which oversees the Affordable Care Act marketplace, Medicare and Medicaid.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ROD LAMKEy, JR.
After a string of successes, Landry suffered his worst defeat during his 15 months as governor Black voters turned out in bigger than expected numbers to vote “no,” after being reached through a grassroots digital media campaign and apparently motivated at least in part by opposition to Landry and President Donald Trump.
About 10,000 more people voted in liberal New Orleans in Saturday’s election than did in the governor’s race in October 2023 that elected Landry, and 91% of those who voted there on Saturday rejected all four amendments.
But the rejection was so decisive that the high Democratic turnout doesn’t tell the whole story the governor didn’t win over enough Republicans, analysts say.
Amendment 2 lost in 50 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes, said pollster and political analyst John Couvillon. The amendment passed in only 8 of the 28 Republican-held Senate districts and 27 of the 73 Republican-held House districts, he added.
“It was a collective middle finger to the governor,” said Ed Chervenak, a veteran pollster and political analyst at the University of New Orleans.
That’s not how Landry saw it.
“We do not see this as a failure,” he said in a statement immediately after the results where he blamed progressive billionaire George Soros and “far left liberals” for the result.
Landry’s statement offended ultraconservatives
FBI
Continued from page 1A
and Border Protection. But in February, Bondi issued a series of memos directing Justice Department employees to “use all available criminal statutes to combat the flood of illegal immigration that took place over the last four years.”
On Tuesday, there were few details available about the arrests reported by the FBI and migrant advocates over the weekend.
The Trump administration has frequently publicized immigration arrests without providing details, and has faced fierce criticism from immigration attorneys who say they’ve been unable to contact clients or even discern their whereabouts — after they’re arrested.
Union Migrante, which regularly sends advocates to fact-check reports of immigration enforcement through eyewitness accounts, in a statement said it had confirmed that FBI and ICE agents carried out arrests of “two individuals” on March 26 just after 8 a.m. The arrests occurred outside a nail salon and insur-
such as Woody Jenkins, a Republican who served 28 years in the state House representing Baton Rouge and now publishes the Central City News.
“The idea that Soros money defeated it is absurd,” Jenkins said Jenkins used his newspaper’s website to spread opposition to Amendment 2 because one of the many provisions in the measure would have taken the tax exemption for churches out of the constitution and let state legislators decide whether to keep or end it.
Hunter Lundy, a Pentecostal minister and former trial lawyer who finished fifth in the 2023 governor’s race, hammered away at that point with a self-financed ad campaign on the radio and digital media.
The Rev Tony Spell, a Pentecostal preacher in Baton Rouge, was the first prominent voice to oppose Amendment 2. He recorded videos that like-minded ministers and Jenkins spread on social media.
Landry met with Spell and Jenkins at the Governor’s Mansion on March 5 in an attempt to neutralize their opposition but failed Spell said he gave permission through Lyman White, a former LSU star linebacker who is program director of Professional Athletes Supporting Students, to a progressive group to use his anti-Amendment 2 material in their campaign. That group created the notothemall.org website that opposed all four amendments.
Outside of that, Spell and Jenkins on the right and the nonprofits on the left said they didn’t coordinate their campaigns against the amendments.
ance office on Crowder Boulevard, the group said
The FBI published two photos of the arrest One image shows a group of men wearing balaclavas and body armor surrounding a woman who appears to be detained. The other shows a group of FBI agents in green body armor and balaclavas standing in a circle in what appears to be a shopping center parking lot
“We regret that the New Orleans FBI is collaborating with ICE instead of helping with vehicle thefts, unsolved rape and sexual assault cases, murders, all after they totally failed to prevent the domestic terrorism attack that occurred on the first of this year,” Union Migrante said in a social media post, referring to the Jan. 1 vehicle-ramming attack on Bourbon Street.
Trump’s overhaul of the Justice Department had touched New Orleans in recent weeks with the reassignment of the local FBI field office’s special agent in charge and the administration’s appointment of a new acting U.S attorney In New Orleans’ federal courthouse, what attorneys describe as a growing stream of people from mostly Spanish-speaking countries have
The progressive groups say each of them started out opposing individual amendments, but they ended up joining forces to oppose all four
“We realized early on that if we got everybody under the same umbrella and had the same messaging, we could be more effective,” said Drew Prestridge, who handled communications for notothemall.org.
Added Peter RobinsBrown, executive director of Louisiana Progress: “It all came together to create a pretty overwhelming chorus.”
His group opposed Amendment 1, fearing it would allow the selection of unelected judges by conservative lawmakers to supersede the power of elected progressive judges in big cities. It also opposed Amendment 3, which would have allowed more children to be jailed in adult prisons.
Invest in Louisiana, a Baton Rouge-based group, focused on the anti-Amendment 2 message.
Taking the lead in opposing Amendment 3 was a recently created coalition called the Liberty and Dignity Campaign, led by Kristen Rome, of the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights; Sarah Omojola, of the Vera Institute of Justice; and Ashley Shelton, of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice.
“We don’t think that adult prison for 14-year-olds is the answer,” Shelton said.
The Vera Institute spent more than $400,000 opposing Amendment 3.
“We really understood that voters care, and they care more when you talked to them,” said Omojola. “So we talked to them. They showed up.”
appeared before federal judges in recent weeks to be arraigned on allegations that they entered or reentered the country illegally Federal prosecutors are making those cases amid pressure from atop the Justice Department to prosecute more immigration cases in federal criminal courts, as well as immigration courts.
“The new administration has placed an emphasis on two areas: violent crime, including guns and drugs, and immigration cases,” said Walter Becker, a veteran New Orleans white-collar defense attorney who spent two decades as a federal prosecutor
ICE has picked up a series of high-profile arrestees nationwide and shipped them in recent weeks to detention centers in Louisiana, which is home to the second-highest population of ICE detainees after Texas.
In New Orleans’ federal courthouse one recent Friday afternoon, prosecutors and defense lawyers waited for hours for a translator to arrive so the arraignment of a man from Honduras, picked up on a traffic violation and accused of illegal reentry into the United States, could proceed.
Step Up Louisiana canvassed voters, as did others.
About 17% of Black voters turned out on election day versus only 14% of White voters, an extraordinary result given that a higher percentage of White people almost always vote, said Couvillon.
Still, he added, “the amendments lost by such a large margin that the elevated Black turnout made it lose by 65% rather than 62%.”
The overall turnout was 21%. Landry was caught on a live mike in Washington, D.C., several days earlier saying he had expected a 12% turnout.
Malcolm Jenkins, a twotime Super Bowl champ who played safety for the Saints, told voters to reject Amendment 3.
Norris Henderson, executive director of Voters Organized to Educate, recruited John Legend, the Grammywinning singer and songwriter, to do a video calling on voters to oppose all four amendments.
So did such African American influencers as Joy Reid, Monique Pressley and Tiffany Cross. The push against the amendments especially resonated in New Orleans.
In one predominately African American neighborhood in the 9th Ward, all 147 people who voted opposed Amendment 2, the tax measure.
In another 9th Ward precinct, all 35 voters rejected it.
“There was significant outrage about what we’re seeing from Donald Trump and Jeff Landry,” said Davante Lewis, a member of the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, who represents New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
“These amendments provided the first opportunity to show their discontent with the direction of their state and of their country.”
Landry assembled an impressive coalition to support Amendment 2, including the Louisiana Federation
of Teachers, the Louisiana Association of Educators, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Americans for Prosperity and the Pelican Institute for Public Policy
Donald Trump Jr sent out a text message of support. Curtis Jackson, the rapper better known as 50 Cent who has business ties to Shreveport, cut a video for it.
Brent Littlefield, Landry’s chief media strategist, blamed the defeat on false statements and misrepresentations by opponents of Amendment 2.
“Conservative voters are happy with their legislators, the governor and the president,” Littlefield said. “There seemed to be more energy on the left than the right.”
State Sen. Jay Morris, RMonroe, sponsored the legislation that put Amendments 3 and 4 on the ballot.
“They just went down with the ship,” Morris said “I’m disheartened and disappointed.”
Trump’s pick for Joint Chiefs chair vows to be apolitical
BY TARA COPP and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, told senators Tuesday that he understands he is an unknown and unconventional nominee — but that the U.S. is facing unconventional and unprecedented threats and he is ready to serve in its defense. At his confirmation hearing to become the top U.S. military officer, he said he would be candid in his advice to Trump and vowed to be apolitical. While Caine stopped short of criticizing top leaders for using a Signal chat to discuss plans for an attack against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, he told senators during questioning that he always communicates in proper channels.
Caine, who was not part of the Signal chat and deferred on many questions about the controversy, said that if he
found himself in situations where classified information was being posted inappropriately, he “would weigh in and stop it.”
Caine was nominated after Trump fired Gen. CQ Brown Jr., seen by the administration as endorsing diversity, equity and inclusion contrary to the president’s agenda He had been the second Black general to serve as chair The firing raised concerns among Democrats that Trump was politicizing the military, and many of the questions Caine faced before the Senate Armed Services Committee centered on that topic.
He was asked how he would react if ordered to direct the military to do something potentially illegal, such as being used against civilians in domestic law enforcement. “Will you stand up and push back?” Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin asked.
“Senator, I think that’s the duty and the job that I have, yes,” Caine said.
Sen. Roger Wicker, Republican chair of the committee,
said he’s convinced Caine sees the job as nonpartisan.
“We can argue politics up here on the dais, but I expect General Caine to stay out of it no matter the subject,” he said.
Caine sought to assure lawmakers of his approach to readying the nation for future wars. He said his military experience, which included seeing fellow service members die, has shaped his views on when to use force and “the importance of carefully considering the use of that force.”
Caine also for the first time publicly denied that he had ever worn a MAGA hat. Trump has told a story about Caine saying he wore one of the hats when the two met some years ago.
When asked during the hearing, Caine said, “For 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission. And I have never worn any political merchandise.”
He said Trump must have been “talking about somebody else.”
Firefighters around the United States brace for wildfire risks
BY TY ONEIL and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — From the southwestern U.S. to Minnesota, Iowa and even parts of New Jersey, it seemed that winter never materialized.
Many communitie s marked their driest winters on record, snowpack was nearly nonexistent in some spots, and vegetation remains tinder dry — all ingredients for elevated wildfire risks.
More than 1,000 firefighters and fire managers recently participated in an annual wildfire academy in Arizona, where training covered everything from air operations to cutting back brush with chain saws and building fire lines. Academy officials say there is a consensus that crews will be busy as forecasts call for more warm and dry weather, particularly for the South-
west. The lack of moisture and warm temperatures can combine to increase the rate of spread and intensity of fire, said Roy Hall, the prescribed fire officer for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. He says it has been dry in his state for months.
“We would be remiss to not acknowledge that changes how we might see fire behavior come out of the blocks at the beginning and through fire season,” he said Experts with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information reported in early March that total winter precipitation in the U.S. was just shy of 6 inches — or nearly an inch below average. The period of December through the end of February what forecasters consider the meteorological winter — ranked the third driest on record.
Flagstaff, nestled in the
mountains south of the Grand Canyon, has long been on the list of quick escapes for desert dwellers looking to build snowmen or go sledding. The northern Arizona city finished the winter period with a 50-inch snowfall deficit. A major storm hit the area in mid-March, forcing the closure of Interstate 40 and stranding motorists for hours. It wasn’t enough to erase the shortfall.
In New Mexico, there were at least 17 sites that marked either their driest winters on record or tied previous records. Albuquerque set a new low by logging just 0.12 inches of precipitation over a three-month period.
“The tap just turned off and the drought conditions have been proceeding,” Andrew Mangham, a senior hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said during a recent call with state and federal drought experts.
Feds to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione in UHC CEO’s killing
BY MICHAEL R. SISAK and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press
NEW YORK
U.S Attorney
General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that she has directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, following through on the president’s campaign promise to vigorously pursue capital punishment.
It is the first time the Justice Department has sought to bring the death penalty since President Donald Trump returned to office in January with a vow to resume federal executions after they were halted under the previous administration.
“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson an in-
nocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement. She described Thompson’s killing as “an act of political violence.” Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family faces separate federal and state murder charges after authorities say he gunned down Thompson, 50, outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec 4 as the executive arrived for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference.
Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said Tuesday that in seeking the death penalty “the Justice Department has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric.”
Mangione “is caught in a high-stakes game of tugof-war between state and federal prosecutors, except the trophy is a young man’s life,” Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement, vowing to fight all charges against him.
The killing and ensuing five-day manhunt leading to Mangione’s arrest rattled the business community, with some health insurers hastily switching to remote work or online shareholder meetings It also galvanized health insurance critics — some of whom have rallied around Mangione as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind.
Last year,morethan7,100 children were served by the foster care system in Louisiana. Severalhundred of theseyouthwerefortunatetoalsoreceiveguidancefrom aCourt AppointedSpecial Advocate (CASA) volunteer. Theseadultsworkwiththe children during theirtime in foster care to provideastabilizing presence,evaluate andmakerecommendationsabout thechild’s physical emotionalandacademicneeds;andspeaktojudgesabout thestatusofthe case Studieshaveshown that children whohaveaCASA volunteerbytheir side aremorelikelytofind asafeand permanenthome, more likely to succeedinschool, and have significantlyhigherlevelsofhopefor theirfutures
However, therewereapproximately 1,500CASAvolunteersinLouisianalastyear,representingasignificantgap betweenchildrenwho need assistance andvolunteers whoare providingit.
“One thingIhearall thetimewhenI’m trying to recruit volunteersis,‘Ican’tdoitbecauseIwouldgettooinvested anditwouldbreakmyheart,’”saidAmandaMoody,executive directorofLouisianaCASA.“Weareactuallylookingfor people whocarethatmuch. This canbeaheartbreaking process,butthesekidsneedadedicatedadulttobealongside them.Asgut-wrenching as it canbefor adults,it’seven worsefor thechild whoisgoing throughthisprocess. If people thinktheyhavetoo bigofaheart for this work,I tell them they arethe people we need.” MoodysaideachCASAvolunteerapplicantundergoesan extensivevettingprocess,backgroundcheckand30hours ofinitialtraining,with12additionalhoursoftrainingeach year.Ratherthangivevolunteersatimeframe,Moody said localCASAprogramsask them to stay with each childthrough thelifeoftheir foster care case.Thatcan be ayearortwo,althoughthe time canvary. Most CASA volunteers work with onechild at atime, although some more experienced volunteers take on two, particularly if theyare siblings “One of thebiggest misconceptions is that we arethe DepartmentofChildrenandFamilyServices.Thatisnot thecase,”Moodysaid.“Eventhoughwearepartofthecourt system,weare notthe court. We areavolunteer-based independentnonprofit.Wedoexpectvolunteerstovisit withthechildatleastevery30days,writereportsforthe judgetoreviewand attend courthearingspertainingto that child’scase. Volunteers mayanswerquestions from thejudgeortheattorneys.But,wearenottheonesmaking thefinallegal decisions. KristenBeardfirstbecameaCASAvolunteerwithherlocal program,ChildAdvocacyServices,eightyearsagowhen shewas astudent-teacher andsaw firsthand theimpact thatabuseandneglecthadonchildren.Sadly,thosetypes of casescontinue. Last year,Louisiana officialsreceived more than 52,000 abuse/neglect reportsand conducted morethan21,500abuse/neglect investigations Beardsaidbeing aCASAvolunteer canbeanemotional experience.Thusfar,she hasworkedwithninechildren,
andhasnoticedthatdrug usewithinfamiliesisoneof themostcommonreasons childrenareplacedinfoster care.Inaddition, shehas workedwithchildrenwho have suffered physical, emotionalandsexualabuse. “Youdoseealotoftrauma butthe rewarding part is beingabletoserve as a constantpositiveinfluence forachildduringtheworst timeoftheirlife,”Beardsaid “Theyhavesomuchchangeintheir lives. Most of these kids arealwaysgoing to differenthomes andschools and families.It’snicetobethatconsistentpresenceand see thegrowththattheymake. EverycaseIhavehad prior tomycurrentonehasendedwiththekidgoingtoastable environmentwhereIknewtheywouldbeokay.There’sno better feelingthanthat. Beardwas namedthe Advocate of theYearlastyearat LouisianaCASA’sannualAwardsofExcellence. She said sheisthankfultohaveaflexible work schedule and asupportivefamily,includinghertwoteenagerswhotell herhow proudtheyare of theworkshe does.While being aCASAvolunteer does take time andeffort, Beardsaid shespendstwo to fivehours amonth on herCASAwork. “Ithinkthere’sastigmathatthisisasecondjobthattakes dozens of hourseachweek, butIhave neverfound that to be thecase,”she said.“It’s notsotime-consumingthat youdon’t have time forother things in your life.Iwould recommendthatpeoplewhose jobs don’thavebuilt-in flexibility speaktotheir bosses abouttakingoff forcourt dates, becausewedon’t have controloverthose.But,I wouldhopemostemployerswouldbeunderstandingand supportive of people whowanttovolunteer.”
Moodysaidshe hasnoticed more companiesbeing supportiveofemployeeswhowanttobeCASAvolunteers as businesses embracethe idea of giving back to their owncommunities.Inadditiontobeing passionate about supporting children,Moody said CASA volunteers also do well when they areorganized,detail-orientedand objectiveabout family backgrounds.
“Beingabletocollectandanalyzeinformationfromvarious sourcesandputthatintoacourtrecommendationisvery important,”Moodysaid. “Wealsolookfor people who arenon-biased, becauseweserve children of everyrace andnationality.However,Idothink themostimportant factoristohaveaheartforchildren.Ourstaffisavailable to assist andtrain individualsonthe work as long as the person is passionate abouthelping kids.” CASA volunteers areneededonanongoing basisinall regionsofthestate.Visitwww.louisianacasa.orgtolearn more aboutbeing avolunteer or to sign up today.
By Amanda McElfresh|
Volunteers aresworn in to be apartofVolunteersfor Youth JusticeCASA.
hearingloss has been linked to many health issues, including cognitivedeclineand dementia.1
We are hosting aSpecial Eventduring the month of March! During this event, we will be offering these FREE services:
•FREE Hearing Consultations
•FREE Video Otoscope Exam: Hearinglossorjust earwax?
•FREE Clean &Check on currenthearing aids
•FREE Baseline Audiogram Assessment
•FREE Familiar Voice Test
•FREE Demo of Audibel’s latest hearing technology!
AreYou or Anyone YouKnow Experiencing the Following?
1. Asking people to speak up or repeat themselves?
2. Turning theTVuploud tounderstandwhat is being said?
3. Ringing or noises in your ears?
4. Hearing but not understandingcertain words?
Audibelis NOW Offering...
•Hearingaids at NO COST to those who qualify!•
• That’s Right. No Co-Pay!NoExamFee! No AdjustmentFee! If youhavethiscard, youmay qualifyfor free hearing aids! Call today to verifyyour benefits
Simply call one of our officesbelow to scheduleyour FREE hearing test.
Appointments areavailable on afirst-come, first-served basis and thereisNOCOST for these services.
Suit targets justice of peace funding
Use of eviction fees violates Constitution, challenge claims
BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer
A recent class-action lawsuit argues that a Louisiana law allowing justices of the peace to pay for their salary and operating expenses via fees in eviction proceedings violates the 14th Amendment. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Loui-
siana, the Feb. 25 lawsuit was brought by resident Latoria George against Steven Sanders, the Ward 3 District 2 justice of the peace for East Baton Rouge Parish.
That court encompasses the southwestern portion of the parish, including Old Jefferson and part of Inniswold.
The lawsuit alleges that Sanders who it claims has a higher
salary than district, appellate and state Supreme Court justices — routinely charges landlords the maximum fee permitted for eviction proceedings before shifting those fees to tenants. The document alleges he then uses those fees to fund court operations and his salary which ranged from $197,000 to $266,000 between 2019 and 2023. Sanders, who is represented by
the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, declined to comment Tuesday George, who is facing eviction proceedings in Sanders’ court due to nonpayment of rent, is represented by attorneys with the Southern Poverty Law Center and National Housing Law Project, along with civil rights attorney Bill Quigley The case’s class encompasses all
tenants who will or are currently facing eviction proceedings in Sanders’ court. According to the case docket, a scheduling motion is pending.
State law doesn’t require justices of the peace to be lawyers It stipulates that they must be “of good moral character,” have a high school diploma, be able to read and write English correctly, be a resident of their district and be able to legally vote
See EVICTION, page 3B
CALL OF THE WILD
A red-winged blackbird calls from his perch Tuesday at Heymann Park in Lafayette.
Tulane University dismantles its gender, multicultural offices
Move comes as Trump targets DEI on college campuses
BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer
As President Donald Trump’s administration pressures colleges and universities to put a stop to diversity initiatives or risk funding cuts, Tulane University has dissolved two offices that provided support for LGBTQ+ students and students of color
Tulane shuttered the Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity, a longtime resource for LGBTQ+ students, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, which housed the Black Student Union and other student groups. The Carolyn Barber-Pierre Center for Intercultural Life, which provides services for “all students,” will absorb the two offices, a university spokesperson said.
All traces of both offices have been wiped from Tulane’s website and social media platforms.
See TULANE, page 2B
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Protesters honor Trans Day of Visibility and voice opposition Monday to Tulane’s decision to dissolve the Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity
Man accused of driving while impaired in fatal crash
A Lafayette man has been arrested, accused of driving while impaired in the death of a pedestrian Sunday in St. Martin Parish.
BLOTTER Advocate staff reports
Louisiana State Police responded about 8 p.m. Sunday to a single-vehicle crash involving a pedestrian on La 353, just north of Rookery Road. The crash claimed the life of 44-yearold Brad Madere, of St. Martinville.
A preliminary investigation revealed Madere was walking along
the highway near the southbound fog line.
At the same time, a 2019 Dodge Ram, driven by 58-year-old Troy Alfred, of Lafayette, was traveling south.
For reasons still under investigation, Madere entered the southbound lane as the truck approached.
Despite the driver taking evasive action to avoid a collision, Madere was struck. Madere suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. Alfred was properly restrained and uninjured during the crash.
See BLOTTER, page 3B
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
TULANE
The restructuring comes as the university overhauls its Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in response to threats by the Trump administration to pull funding from colleges that have programs or services that target students by race. Tulane officials said the crackdown could threaten the university’s $320 million in annual federal funding.
Another executive order by Trump instructed federal agencies to stop promoting and funding “gender ideology.”
Tulane’s move has rattled students, who have come to rely on the offices for resources and support.
The gender office was founded around 2012 after student leaders advocated for a full-time staff member and office dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ students, including through mentoring, advising and helping queer students navigate university life, according to the office’s former webpage. About 12% of Tulane’s freshman class identify as LGBTQ+.
“It’s a dark time,” a Tulane student said at a protest Monday in support of transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion. The student, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said the shuttered offices “were a support system for all kinds of students.”
It is not clear whether Tulane will continue the specific services offered by the gender and multicultural offices.
Tulane spokesperson Mike Strecker said that the Carolyn Barber-Pierre Center for Intercultural Life, which previously housed both offices, would provide services and programs “for all Tulane students.”
“This reorganization is part of our ongoing effort to ensure that every unit of the university remains equally accessible and supportive and that we continue to follow our core values,” Strecker said, “which include building a community in which everyone, regardless of their backgrounds, has an equal opportunity to achieve their dreams and contribute to our mission.”
Scott Nolan, a professor of practice in American politics at Tulane, said universities should push back against attacks on programs that support marginalized groups.
“In today’s political climate, pulling back from equity and inclusion efforts doesn’t place the university above the fray — it places us squarely in it,” he said in an email. “Universities must stand firm in defending access, fairness, em-
“In today’s political climate, pulling
SCOTT NOLAN, a professor of practice in American politics at
powerment, and the democratic values we teach every day.”
Diversity efforts targeted
The changes at Tulane come as the Trump administration has ordered higher education institutions around the country to end programs and practices that target students by race or face consequences, including cuts to federal funding. The administration has argued that support for minority students discriminates against other groups.
The university has already come under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Education in recent weeks Tulane was among 60 universities that the agency warned would face harsh sanctions if they did not sufficiently protect ish students from antisemi tism.
search opportunities aimed at LGBTQ+ students could be at risk and that identitybased student organizations could scale back their operations, the student said.
A now-deleted webpage for the Office of Multicultural Affairs said the office was founded in 1987 and uses critical race theory student development theories, social justice framework and a “traumainformed lens infused with radical love to counter the effects of oppression and empower students to thrive.”
Separately Tulane is among 45 universities under investigation for alleged racial discrimination for partnering with a nonprofit that supports Black, Hispanic and Native American graduate students.
In a message to the school community last month, Tulane leaders said the university would refashion its Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion into a new Office of Academic Excellence and Opportunity
The letter said the new office would provide equal opportunities for all, “without bias for or against any groups.”
Nolan said his students attribute the changes at Tulane to the Trump administration.
“My LGBTQ students, in particular, regularly acknowledge that the federal government actively works against their success (and their) physical and mental health,” he said in an email, adding that many have expressed “anger, sadness, and confusion” at Trump’s policies.
Support for students
Some students said the multicultural and the gender and sexual diversity offices offered a refuge for students from underrepresented groups. The offices brought in speakers and sponsored events and networking opportunities that helped students build community, said a junior public health major who asked to remain anonymous.
It’s unclear how programming will be impacted, but some students are concerned that housing and re-
Terms such as “critical race theory,” social justice and oppression long used been targeted by the Trump administration as tokens of woke ideology diversity now-deleted webpage said it aimed to “strengthen and enhance diversity at Tulane University by providing students of color and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, and allied students with advocacy services, mentoring, personal support, and cultural, social, and academic programming.”
In the decade since it was established, the office helped push Tulane to revise its anti-discrimination and equal opportunity statements to include gender identity and gender expression, made it easier for students to update their university identification to indicate preferred names and pronouns and institute gender-inclusive housing policy
Days into his second term, Trump issued an executive order that instructed federal agencies to stop promoting and funding “gender ideology.”
The order also rescinded a slew of Department of Education guidance for schools, including on building inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ students.
LOTTERY
MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2025
PICK 3: 1-6-5
PICK 4: 7-5-0-8
PICK 5: 7-0-7-3-3 POWERBALL: 12-41-4452-64 (25)
Unofficial notification, keep your tickets.
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Protesters gather Monday on a Freret Street sidewalk next to the Tulane University campus to honor Trans Day of Visibility and voice opposition to the university’s decision to dissolve the Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity, which they say diminishes support for LGBTQ+ students.
Fairgrounds first stop of 10-town tour
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer
Thousands of fans will gather at Livingston Parish Fairgrounds this weekend to sing along to rock hits such as “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock or “Rockstar” by Nickelback. The “Rock the Country” two-day concert is a huge milestone for Livingston Parish, as officials have said it is the biggest event the par-
EVICTION
Continued from page 1B
According to his website, Sanders has a law degree from LSU and was elected in 1996 for his first term as justice of the peace. District courts, city courts and justice of the peace courts each have different procedural rules Eviction proceedings can take place in any of them.
“A tenant in eviction proceedings before a justice of the peace in East Baton Rouge Parish does not have the same right to a formal trial, including the protections of the rules of evidence or an on-the-record hearing, as a tenant in eviction proceedings in the 19th Judicial District Court or in one of the city courts,” the attorneys wrote in the lawsuit against Sanders.
A portion of Sanders’ district shares jurisdiction with the Baton Rouge City Court, but Sanders’ court has a lower filing fee for eviction proceedings at $120, according to the lawsuit.
The attorneys also argue that a state law stipulating the appeals process for justice of the peace courts violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
“Limiting the appellate rights of tenants facing eviction before justices of the peace, but not the appellate
ish has hosted. The national tour is scheduled for 10 small towns, with Livingston Parish as the first stop. The shows Friday and Saturday will feature musicians such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gavin Adcock and Treaty Oak Revival, as well as Kid Rock and Nickelback, starting at 2:30 p.m. both days at the fairgrounds in the town of Livingston off Florida Boulevard
The concert is estimated to bring in about $10 million in new-visitor spending to the area, said Michael McBrayer, a director with the con-
rights of tenants facing eviction before a city or district court, is not rationally related to a legitimate government interest,” they wrote.
Conflicts of interest
The lawsuit shares similarities with a 2019 case, in which the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judges had “an institutional conflict of interest” in determining whether they can jail people who fail to pay fines and fees. Revenue from those fees had been used to pay staff and office expenses.
In the Baton Rouge case, the attorneys claim that Sanders oversees 300 to 400 eviction cases per month and heard between 28,000 and 38,000 petitions for eviction over an eight-year period. According to the lawsuit, between 85% and 97% of Sanders’ court revenue in 2019 through 2023 was obtained via court fees.
The suit claims that Sanders typically “shifts court costs and fees from the landlord to the tenant in his judgment.”
The attorneys argue the state law allowing eviction proceeding fees to fund salaries and court operations violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, because a judge who has a financial interest in the outcome of a case is not impartial and disinterested.
cert. This is based on studies of when “Rock the Country” was held in different parishes in the past.
McBrayer said attendance of 16,000 to 20,000 is expected per night.
The location was selected because it is between two large cities and is an underserved area with a majority of blue-collar workers “that needs musical entertainment,” he said.
Eric Edwards, executive director of the parish’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, said an event like this affects a variety of parish divi-
BLOTTER
Continued from page 1B
During the investigation, Alfred provided a breath sample that revealed a blood alcohol concentration over the legal limit and was processed into the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center on counts of driving while impaired and obstructed view through windshield/windows.
A standard toxicology sample was also collected from Madere and submitted for analysis.
This crash remains under investigation Woman arrested in fentanyl overdose
The Opelousas Police Department has arrested a woman in connection with a fatal overdose.
Raketra Tyler, of Opelousas, was booked on a count of seconddegree murder, accused of distributing drugs containing fentanyl to a woman who later died of an overdose in August, according to the Police Department.
Police were called to the 800 block of Lemoine Drive and found an unresponsive woman in an apartment.
Lifesaving efforts were
sions, including lodging, local dining, shopping and labor. Edwards said the parish has never hosted an event of this size
“It’s the first time for the parish,” he said. If the event goes over well, Livingston Parish could potentially host more events of the same size, Edwards said. “I think (the event) is the proving ground,” he said.
“We do have a lot of land available.”
Email Claire Grunewald at claire.grunewald@theadvocate. com.
not successful, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives found evidence of narcotic use in the apartment, according to police.
After talking to witnesses, police determined that Tyler provided drugs to the woman who died.
The drugs were believed to contain fentanyl.
Tyler was arrested Friday, and police said she admitted to providing the narcotics on the night of the victim’s death.
Police said the case is still being investigated and further arrests may be possible.
•
•
OUR VIEWS
End of landmark Denka lawsuit should not end discussion on environment
Amid a frenzy of changes as the new administration in Washington remakes government, one shift that deserves greater discussion is the recent Department of Justice decision to drop a federal lawsuit against the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in St. John the Baptist Parish.
The plant, which makes neoprene, a synthetic rubber used in wetsuits, automotive parts and the like, is owned by a Japan-based company that acquired it from DuPont in 2015. It has long been the target of concern by local residents, who say that emissions from the plant have affected their air quality and health
They were encouraged when the Environmental Protection Agency under President Joe Biden took an aggressive stance on the case. The plant sits in the Mississippi River corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, which is home to scores of petrochemical plants. The EPA referred the case to DOJ, which filed suit in the Eastern District of Louisiana in 2023, charging that the predominantly Black residents near the plant faced “imminent and substantial endangerment” as a result of the emissions. It promised to be a landmark case that would put the issue of environmental justice, or whether minority communities face disproportionate impact from polluters, front and center.
But on March 7, the Department of Justice dismissed the suit, saying in a statement that it was doing so to align with President Donald Trump’s executive order to curb diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government. New EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has vowed to root out environmental justice programs and has fired workers who focused on it. Gov. Jeff Landry and state Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Aurelia Giacometto cheered the end of the legal action.
As for Denka, it faces ongoing litigation over its chloroprene emissions. And that’s what we’d like to home in on.
It doesn’t matter if one believes in the goals of the environmental justice movement or if one agrees that the EPA’s efforts should be focused elsewhere. There remains a worrying state of affairs in St. John the Baptist The residents there still live in the census tract that faces the highest risk of cancer from air pollution in the nation, according to an EPA study The school district is preparing to close a school less than a half mile from the plant amid a discrimination case involving children’s exposure to the cancer-causing agent. Residents from groups like RISE St. James Louisiana and Concerned Citizens for St. John still keep a watchful eye on air quality Zeldin said that existing regulations can protect our communities “without stretching the bounds of the law.” We genuinely hope so And we urge both state and federal officials to show that by committing to stringent air quality monitoring in the area and holding Denka accountable for any lapses. We believe thriving industry and environmental protection can go hand in hand. But only if the government doesn’t abandon its role as referee.
OPINION
Americans must unite with democracy under threat
I ask everyone to stop for a moment and think not as a Republican or Democrat, but as an American. Ask yourself one simple question: If any president of the United States did the following, would you accept it?
n Allowed an unelected billionaire, with foreign business ties, to access classified government data — giving him influence over national security and public policy with no accountability
n Cut funding for veterans, Social Security and Medicaid, abandoning those who served our country, seniors who worked their entire lives and families struggling to make ends meet.
n Turned the White House into a personal marketplace, selling cars on the front lawn to benefit a private business associate — blurring the lines between public service and personal profit.
n Publicly praised a brutal dictator responsible for jailing and killing political opponents — while insulting and alienating NATO allies who have fought alongside us in war and kept global instability in check.
n Imposed reckless tariffs that crushed American farmers and busi-
nesses, causing layoffs and skyrocketing prices all while claiming it was part of a master plan.
n Fired inspectors general, the only watchdogs responsible for exposing fraud, waste and abuse — making it easier for corruption to flourish in the highest levels of government.
n Ignored the Constitution, checks and balances and the rule of law demanding personal loyalty over loyalty to the country If any president — any president — did these things, would you stand by and accept it? Would you justify it because of party loyalty? Would you stay silent while democracy crumbles before your eyes?
I ask these questions not to divide, but to demand reflection. Because if we wouldn’t accept these actions from one leader, we should never accept them from another Our nation was built on truth, accountability and justice — not blind loyalty to any one person or party. America is bigger than one individual. Democracy is worth fighting for The Constitution must be protected The question is, will you stand up before it’s too late?
U.S. REP TROY A CARTER SR. Louisiana’s Second Congressional District
La. should not be in lawsuit over 504 programs
I am pleading with Attorney
Emily Woodruff’s article on March 17 about Louisiana residents’ mistrust of vaccines following the COVID-19 pandemic fails to detail the connection. Recall briefly that Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx’s policy “recommendations” led to lockdowns and then lockouts if one didn’t get the shot. We were told natural immunity was impossible, that the vaccines would stop the spread and that the reported side effects blood clots, myocarditis and pericarditis, especially in young people who were least susceptible to dying were exaggerated. Is it any wonder that there is now public mistrust? But these restrictions and prevarications were not recounted, and instead, the article baldly alleges vaccine reluctance is the result of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nowabandoned speculation about autism, and that, as secretary, he had the chutzpah to “direct public health authorities to study” it. The account, of course, omitted the secretary’s more recent appeal for skeptical parents and adults to obtain MMR vaccinations for those who have never been vaccinated or who may need a booster
ties. 504 programs help these children. Elimination of 504 programs will leave disabled children behind to wither like an unwatered and unfed flower Decisions about these children’s opportunities and accommodations should be determined by doctors and educators, no one else. The class action lawsuit wants to get rid of the 504 program (not just the updates these states disagree with). Getting rid of the program would be like “throwing our precious babies out with the bath water.” This action would be disastrous for these disabled children and would undo 50 years of progress for our children, our future. Don’t sue the U.S government to exterminate 504. This isn’t right. These children deserve the same rights to education as their neurotypical peers. Murrill and Landry should do the right thing and remove Louisiana from this list of developmental assassins.
General Liz Murrill and Gov Jeff Landry as one of their constituents and to them as loving parents. Please remove Louisiana from the list of states asking for the discontinuation of 504 programs. These programs were developed and designed to protect children from being treated badly or unfairly because of their intellectual or developmental disabilities. Why are we wanting to get rid of these programs? If your child were disabled, would you not fight for their inalienable rights as an American? I have two beautiful granddaughters who will be directly affected by such a tragic action. These children cannot speak for themselves. In many cases, they cannot speak at all. These children (and consequentially, their parents/grandparents) have autism. They need special accommodations that would enable them to progress and survive in this world. Doctors must give clear information to people with these types of disabili-
The most galling aspect of the article is its very apparent dismay that postpandemic patients now question their doctors’ recommendations. To this writer that is probably the only positive outcome of the COVID-19 catastrophe — that patients no longer passively accept everything their care providers tell them. Oh, and for those who may have already jumped to their conclusions, I took the shots (my employer forced me to) but also got a Remdesivir infusion — after a long discussion with my doctor
GLENN SCHREIBER New Orleans LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’s city of residence The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com. TO SEND US A
TIM
CARLOS Baton Rouge
Many proponents of the death penalty assert that they are good Christians. However, they are not good enough. Jesus did not kill criminals but declared that they are worthy of his forgiveness and love. He said, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.” (Mt 21:31). This was one of his many reversal responses to the way his followers reasoned out justice. HERMAN JOHNSON New Orleans
Landry needs to slow down
The results of Saturday’s election weren’t a mandate.
About 21% of the state’s registered voters cast ballots in an election that analysts and politicos thought might bring out 10-12%, closer to normal for an off-cycle election. Then, after early voting results showed heavy Black and Democratic participation, the thinking was that there might be a 1518% turnout. Regardless, 79% of registered voters didn’t cast a ballot But still, what a clear message to Gov Jeff Landry
Unlike some, I’m not stunned by Saturday’s results. In the fall, I warned readers about Amendment 3, which would have given the Legislature the chance to add more crimes to put more of our children in prison and give them hard-to-remove felony records.
About six weeks ago, I thought the election would be competitive. Antiamendment advocates had developed a strategy that I thought was working At home, at coffee shops, at restaurants, at church, at events, I heard people talking about voting early, and voting and getting other people to vote “no.” Two weeks ago, I thought this might be more than a squeaker — if there were to be a strong Black turnout. New Orleans Black talk station WBOK talked about the amendments every day for weeks. If you had listened, you could’ve heard hosts and guests talk about how harmful the amendments would be And you could’ve heard the amendments read on the air Not the ballot language The actual amendments.
During early voting, things really picked up. I saw more “I voted” stickers When I voted early, there was a line of about 20 people ahead of me and another 10-15 behind me.
I knew the election was over for Landry and his ilk when they stopped talking about three amendments and focused on Amendment 2, the governor’s hide-and-seek, duck-and-dodge effort to further much-needed tax reform with lots of surprises that would be bad news for Louisiana, including houses of faith.
What made the news was the strong anti-amendment message — “Say No to All Four.”
The governor and allies saw things weren’t going well in the days leading up to election day so they put Curtis James Jackson — aka 50 Cent — up to
promote Amendment 2 with a video and used his name in a text. That’s when I knew Landry had given up on getting the three other amendments approved, focusing on Amendment 2, his “tax reform” measure that would have harmed so many people in so many ways. 50 got what he deserved — clapback, pushback and “you ain’t from here” comments.
Black Baton Rouge-based advocate Gary Chambers Jr was among a number of people who actively campaigned against all four amendments. The Rev. Torin Sanders of Sixth Baptist Church in New Orleans held a gathering about the harmful amendments at his church.
State Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, held an Instagram live session to pound the bad batch of amendments. Together New Orleans organized a campaign, including boots on the ground with door-knocking, calls and texts. The Power Coalition held town halls across the state, and Chambers joined them I went to one expecting 15-20 people. There were scores of people. Black and White. Professional and working class. They were there to hear more about the amendments and to help They picked up yard and neutral ground signs and flyers. They traded contact information to organize. Chambers attended all Power Coalition town halls. He saw Black and White people at each one, but for Narco, the only all Black event. “People are concerned about their money,” he shared with me Tuesday “People want
more opportunity, and people believe the Legislature needs to stand up and give them better.”
Chambers didn’t say “Black people want ...” He said “people.” All people. People voted “no” casting ballots saying, “Yes, we want more in our pockets, we want more from our tax dollars and we want better, guv.”
That’s what happened Saturday The last time there were four constitutional amendments on the ballot, Election Day turnout was 11%.
This time the Election Day turnout was 21%. Of the early voting turnout, 37% was Black. Majority White precincts rejected the amendments 53%43%. Majority Black precincts said no, 92%-8%. Orleans Parish turnout was 31% 10 points higher than the state turnout average — and Orleans voted no with 91%.
Most Black folks want a Landry reset. Most people want that, too.
Don’t mistake Saturday’s results as the end of Landry and the Republicancontrolled state Legislature. It wasn’t a mandate. It was a beatdown, a whipping. It was a clear, strong message: Paraphrasing Simon & Garfunkel, “Slow down. You move too fast. Make Louisiana last. We want to feel groovy.”
I’ll feel groovy when voices like yours and mine are a part of the process and when efforts like those who made it happen are better financed. Email Will Sutton at wsutton@ theadvocate.com.
Object to Trump or bend the knee
As part of his attempt to rule like an autocrat, President Donald Trump is threatening to destroy major law firms that dare oppose him. By caving to such pressure last week, one big firm — Paul Weiss — chose its own well-being over the survival of our democracy That may sound like hyperbole, but it is not. Thus far, the judiciary has been the only effective restraint on the Trump administration’s trampling of the law and the Constitution. With unprecedented executive orders targeting specific firms, Trump is sending a clear warning to lawyers who might dare to oppose him politically or in court: You could be next. Paul Weiss — the full name is Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is a 150-year-old New Yorkbased firm with more than 1,000 lawyers The firm has traditionally been seen as leaning toward the Democratic Party, just as some other big firms are viewed as inclining toward the GOP Paul Weiss’s longtime chairman, Brad Karp, was a prominent fundraiser for Kamala Harris during last year’s presidential campaign.
ington & Burling, which had done some work for the special counsel who prosecuted Trump, Jack Smith; and Perkins Coie, which had the temerity to represent Hillary Clinton during her 2016 campaign. Perkins Coie promptly marched into court and obtained a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of Trump’s edict, with U.S District Judge Beryl Howell noting that the Constitution prohibits “bills of attainder” imposing punishment without any trial or judicial hearing. She said the executive order against Perkins Coie “sends chills down my spine.”
paying corporate clients “perceived our firm as being persona non grata with the Administration.”
Columbia University at first appeared to have surrendered to President Donald Trump’s demands that the New York school stop coddling antisemitic and anti-Israel demonstrators. The school announced it was buckling, not on principle, but because it wants the $400 million in federal grants and contracts restored. Trump had frozen the money to get them to act against protesters. Now the protesters are protesting what Columbia’s then-interim president, Katrina Armstrong, who resigned last week, did to have the grant restored.
The New York Post reports: “The school’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, privately told faculty that Columbia has not, in fact, banned masks — even after it promised the White House that it would ban them. Yet Armstrong turned around Tuesday to insist Columbia’s promises to ban masks and make other changes are “real.”
As of Tuesday, face coverings were still on many protesters. There is a larger question emanating from the ongoing demonstrations on several college campuses since the Hamas attack on Israel and their seizing of hostages on Oct. 7, 2023. Why are so many of these elite schools, some of them with huge endowments and high tuition, receiving taxpayer money?
Among the top 20 universities receiving federal largesse are Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT and Dartmouth College. Their endowments range from more than $50 billion (Harvard) to nearly $8 billion (Dartmouth). Added together, the total for the top 20 is close to $2 trillion. In a new book, “Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education,” Richard K. Vedder of the Independent Institute writes: “Why are universities given special status not given to other providers of useful services such as used-car dealers or fast-food restaurants? Why have well-intentioned federal programs such as government-guaranteed student loans had an impact dramatically different than was intended when the legislation was passed?”
Good questions.
Vedder notes that enrollments at universities and colleges have been consistently falling since 2011, including fewer men attending for various reasons. Others believe the high cost does not guarantee jobs after graduating that will pay them enough to live on, much less pay back their student loans in a timely fashion. Then there’s the “woke” agenda at too many of these schools, along with courses that add little or nothing to one’s resume when graduates seek employment in the real world.
On March 14, Trump signed an executive order suspending all security clearances held by Paul Weiss lawyers and instructing federal agencies to begin canceling all contracts with the law firm or with contractors that employ the firm. Given that Paul Weiss has a long list of major corporate clients, the order created what Karp called “an existential crisis” for the firm.
Trump’s action was also likely unconstitutional. He had previously issued executive orders imposing similar punishments on two other big firms: Cov-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE
That sensation can only be experienced by those who have a spine. The leaders of Paul Weiss decided not to fight but to surrender Karp went to the White House last week and met with Trump to negotiate a settlement. According to a statement Trump issued Friday, the firm agreed to “adopting a policy of political neutrality with respect to client selection and attorney hiring; taking on a wide range of pro bono matters representing the full political spectrum; committing to merit-based hiring, promotion, and retention, instead of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies; dedicating the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services during my term in office to support causes including assisting our Nation’s veterans, fairness in the justice system, and combating anti-Semitism.”
In a lengthy email to Paul Weiss partners and employees Sunday, Karp wrote that he feared the firm might not survive even if it went to court and prevailed. The “fundamental problem,” he wrote, was that Paul Weiss’s high-
“We were hopeful that the legal industry would rally to our side,” Karp wrote. “Disappointingly, far from support, we learned that certain other firms were seeking to exploit our vulnerabilities by aggressively soliciting our clients and recruiting our attorneys.” It is hard to shed tears for highly paid lawyers, but I do recognize Karp’s plight. And I understand that partners have a fiduciary responsibility to their firms that may require making tough decisions. But Perkins Coie faced the same pressures and chose to fight — a decision I believe was not just more principled but also, in the long run, more pragmatic. Big Law needs to heed the warning Benjamin Franklin supposedly gave after signing the Declaration of Independence: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
If Trump can use an executive order of dubious constitutionality to cow one law firm into submission, what is to stop him from doing the same with any other firm he decides to target?
Trump-friendly firms that try to poach clients need to remember that what goes around does, indeed, come around. If Trump can impose the death penalty on firms that help the political opposition, a future Democratic president can do the same. All of these firms build their wealth and power upon the rule of law They have a duty to defend it.
Eugene Robinson is on X, @Eugene_ Robinson.
What about research conducted by many of these schools? Is the research tailored to outcomes the government wants because researchers want the money, or is it truly independent research that produces beneficial results and is not open-ended?
Government subsidies and bailouts, Vedder argues, are the leading cause for all the problems at today’s universities. His solution? “Americans should get rid of these third-party safety nets and allow the Schumpeterian phenomenon of ‘creative destruction’ to force colleges to fail or succeed.”
Joseph Schumpeter, (1883-1950), was an Austrian political economist. He believed in innovations in the manufacturing process that increase productivity, describing it as the “process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one.”
Why should wealthy American universities that are not providing the useful kinds of education they once did continue to receive the equivalent of life support from the federal government? Haven’t we seen how government involvement consistently drives up tuition and other costs, making a college education unaffordable for an increasing number of lower-income Americans? That some schools reduce or even waive tuition for certain categories of students (usually based on race or other external factors) adds to a feeling of inequity for certain demographic groups who face discrimination from many of these institutions.
There is money to be saved and possibly a real education to be revived should the DOGE people look at these subsidies and grants and the unfairness of providing money to these schools, money that isn’t available to any business, which must succeed or fail based on whether they produce goods and services the public wants to buy
Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
Will Sutton
Cal Thomas
Eugene Robinson
STAFF PHOTO By JILL PICKETT
Gov. Jeff Landry stumps for votes for Amendment 2 at the March 25 meeting of the Rotary Club of Shreveport.
Doing their ‘homework’
BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer
PALM BEACH,Fla.— Before he flew in for the NFL owners’ meetings, Kellen Moore already had logged plenty of travel.
Last week the Saints coach was at the University of Miami on Monday Two days later, he was spotted at Ohio State.
Then, on Saturday he was at Ole Miss.
Moore, leading his own team for the first time this offseason, was on the pro day circuit to observe prospects for the NFL draft later this month
And it wasn’t a coincidence those schools all had one type of prospect for Moore to see.
“We all know that I’m a quarterback guy,” Moore said.
The Saints appear to be doing heavy research on the top quarterbacks in this class, even after restructuring Derek Carr’s con-
tract to ensure he returns next season. Moore’s visits further reinforce the idea.
New Orleans has taken quarterbacks in back-to-back drafts in Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler. But this year, the Saints hold the ninth overall pick — their highest selection since 2008 — and have the kind of draft capital that could help them move up higher Drafting a rookie quarterback, particularly one in the first or second round, also would give Moore the chance to pick his own signal-caller after inheriting the others.
Moore, a former quarterback at Boise State and in the NFL, said the research isn’t out of the norm.
“Every team in the NFL is always trying to bring in quarterbacks and develop them under any circumstance,” Moore said. “And so everyone does homework every year on quarterbacks. It’s a very valuable position.
“So obviously, we feel like we have Derek — who’s played a
ton of football and we feel great about. Then certainly, our organization has invested in quarterbacks the last few years. “ Moore said where he visits in person is decided on by Jeff Ireland, the college scouting director and assistant general manag-
It had to be one of the easiest decisions David Griffin and his staff have made in his six seasons calling the shots for the New Orleans Pelicans. Monday’s decision to shut down Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum for the remainder of the season was a no-brainer In an ideal season, the Pelicans would be jockeying for playoff position during this final stretch. But as you know, nothing has been ideal this
and McCollum wouldn’t play again this season. “It was more of a collective talk from the front office, performance and medical (team), and obviously our players,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said after Tuesday’s practice. “They are both dealing with sorta some nagging injuries, so to finish up the season we felt like it was the smart way to go.”
was a
Mulkey explains why she keeps going in a ‘broken’ NCAA
BY REED DARCEY Staff writer
Kim Mulkey didn’t have much time to ruminate over a seasonending loss to UCLA in the women’s Elite Eight. The LSU women’s basketball coach told radio station WNXXFM 104.5-FM in Baton Rouge on Tuesday that she turned her attention toward next year before she and her team’s flight from Spokane, Washington, even landed in Baton Rouge on Sunday “I’m on the phone, on the plane,” Mulkey told hosts T-Bob ing to portal kids. We’ve got our own kids that’ll get in the portal. It’s just free agency, and you just never know.” Mulkey’s comments were part of a larger discussion about the transfer portal, the recruiting calendar, the state of college sports and when she may retire. She called the current state of affairs “tiring” and “broken.” Now, athletes can transfer between schools an unlimited number of times without losing any eligibility
For both men’s and women’s college basketball players, the transfer portal opened March 24 — right in between the second round of the NCAA Tournament and the Sweet 16. That timing forces coaches of teams still alive in the postseason to juggle the needs to both prepare for door-die games and recruit players from the portal.
Those teams, Mulkey said, are almost incentivized to lose early in the tournament. The ones who reach the second weekend risk falling behind in recruiting. “I don’t have an answer,”
BY
TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer
A big fish. That is what LSU men’s basketball coach Matt McMahon metaphorically caught Monday out of the transfer portal. UNLV point guard Dedan Thomas, the No. 4 player on 247Sports transfer portal rankings, is coming to Baton Rouge to don the purple and gold.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound point guard averaged 15.6 points, 4.7 assists and 1.9 turnovers per game during his sophomore season at UNLV. He shot 41.3% from the field and 35.3% from the 3-point line, and he was a two-time All-Mountain West Conference player The rising junior turns 20 years old in September and has two more seasons of eligibility remaining.
LSU’s acquisition of Thomas is the first major step in improving an offense that was ranked 132nd on KenPom. Gifted playmaker
LSU’s failures this season mainly were because of a dearth in talent. When you first watch Thomas’ game tape, his natural gift as a
Mulkey
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROGELIO V. SOLIS
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart looks to throw a ball during a passing drill at the school’s pro day on Friday in Oxford, Miss.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JESSICA TOBIAS
Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders interviews with the NFL Network during the Big 12 pro day on March 20 in Frisco, Texas.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MICHAEL LAUGHLIN
Miami quarterback Cam Ward throws during a drill at the school’s pro day on March 24 in Miami. Ward is considered by some pundits the top quarterback prospect in the upcoming NFL draft.
6
Gators carry big bite late in games
Florida continues trend of making comebacks
BY MARK LONG AP sportswriter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — These Gators bite, especially when they feel threatened.
Florida, which has shown a knack for wearing down opponents all season, has become the ultimate closer in the NCAA Tournament Late-game rallies against two-time reigning national champion UConn in the second round and against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight have the Gators (34-4) believing that no hole is too deep for this gritty group.
Coach Todd Golden pointed to confidence and maturity as the keys to his team’s penchant for comebacks. He also joked that having All-American guard Walter Clayton on the floor makes a huge difference.
“It’s our ability to not get too high or too low,” Golden said Tuesday Golden clearly would prefer to have his team get off to a better start when it faces fellow Southeastern Conference foe Auburn (32-5) — the Gators won their first meeting in February — to open the Final Four in San Antonio on Saturday But he’s seen enough to know there’s no reason to panic if Florida falls behind.
After all, these Gators have looked fairly harmless for the first 20, 30 or even 35 minutes of games before attacking with a frenzy
Just ask UConn or Texas Tech. Or Alabama, Georgia, LSU and South Carolina. The Gators overcame daunting deficits against all of them.
“Undying belief,” Clayton said. “It goes to show how together we all are.
“Many times (we) could easily just break, start pointing the finger, blaming each other for this and that. But we just stayed together through the end and stayed the course.” None of Florida’s rallies have been as impressive as its latest one.
ä MEN’S FINAL FOUR: Auburn vs. Florida, 5:09 P.M.SATURDAy,CBS; Duke vs. Houston, 7:49 P.M.,CBS
The Gators trailed Texas Tech 71-61 with 5:30 to play when Clayton took over The senior made three 3-pointers, a layup and two free throws down the stretch. He also dished out two assists by finding Thomas Haugh for open 3-pointers.
“Instead of letting our emotions get the best of us or pointing fingers, we did a good job staying the course,” Golden said. “Obviously our guys did a good job understanding it’s now or never and made every big play down the stretch.”
Added Haugh: “When you’ve got guards like these guys, the game’s never over It’s just wild.” Florida ranks second in the country in second-half scoring margin, a clear indication of the team’s coaching/talent/depth combination. The Gators wore down against Alabama and Tennessee in the SEC tournament last month and did the same to the
Huskies and Maryland in NCAA play
UConn led much of the game until Clayton stepped up in the closing minutes. The Terrapins held tough early — they trailed 40-38 at halftime before Florida made a few adjustments at halftime and dominated the second half.
It’s hardly anything new for Golden’s group, either
The Gators nearly beat Missouri in mid-January despite trailing by 19. They rallied to shock South Carolina a week later after being down 14 in the second half. Although less dramatic, they did something similar at LSU in late February Down eight in the second half, Florida flipped a switch and routed the Tigers the rest of the way Golden’s squad nearly pulled off another stunner three days later
After trailing by 26 in the first half, Florida fought back to take a lead at Georgia before Cain Blue hit a dagger 3 with a minute to play “Again, the consistency, the
maturity and their belief in each other is a big part of that,” Golden said.
Golden has spent three years rebuilding Florida, which is in the Final Four for the first time since 2014. He ended up with three senior guards — Clayton, Will Richard and Florida Atlantic transfer Alijah Martin — who comprise the core of the team. Each of them has made plays to spark comebacks, although Richard and Martin have so far taken a backseat to Clayton in the postseason Still, the trio is the main reason these Gators have won 10 in a row and have a shot at a third national title and first since going back-toback in 2006-07 And all of them have the potential to chomp, especially in crunch time
“Guys could just break apart during those moments,” Clayton said.
““We all stay the course, stay together And I think that just goes to show the togetherness of the team, the love we have for each other to get through those tough times.”
Auriemma caught off guard by underdog remark
BY CHUCK SCHILKEN Los Angeles Times (TNS)
Geno Auriemma seemed both amused and bemused. The legendary Connecticut women’s basketball coach described himself as “shocked” after ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt jokingly referred to the Huskies as “pesky underdogs” following their 78-64 victory over USC on Monday night. With the victory, Auriemma and UConn advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament for the 24th time since 1991 and the 21st time in the last 22 years in which the tournament was held (it was canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19). The Huskies, who will face UCLA on Friday in a national semifinal, have won the NCAA title 11 times, most recently in 2016. Van Pelt knew all that when he made what was clearly a tonguein-cheek reference to Connecticut being the only remaining team that didn’t enter the tournament as a No. 1 seed. Still, Auriemma seemed to be caught a bit off guard by the SportsCenter anchor’s comment during a postgame interview that took place with him on the court in Spokane, Washington, and Van Pelt in a Washington, D.C., studio.
“I was just calling you guys the ‘pesky underdogs,’ the only
two seed,” Van Pelt said to start the interview “Twenty-four of these, man, you’ve done it so often. What do you appreciate most about this team and this journey you’re on?” Auremma paused and chuckled slightly
“Well, you know, um, we’ve been um,” the coach said before chuckling a bit more “I’m still shocked at the word ‘underdogs’ and UConn coming out of your mouth at the same time.” Van Pelt answered: “I’m joking, Geno, I’m joking. You know me
better than that.”
“I know you are,” Auriemma said. “I just don’t hear that (very often), you know? It’s just funny.” It’s difficult to imagine a world where Auriemma, the winningest coach in all of college basketball, and UConn are truly considered underdogs. UCLA might be the top-seeded team in the tournament, but DraftKings and FanDuel each have the Huskies as 81/2-point favorites over the Bruins in the teams’ Final Four matchup. Both sites also have Connecti-
Ex-UL star Payton elected to LABC Hall of Fame
Former UL point guard Elfrid Payton has been selected to enter the Louisiana Basketball Hall of Fame. The award is voted on by a statewide panel of men’s college basketball head coaches. Payton came to the Ragin’ Cajuns out of John Ehret High in Jefferson Parish and shined for three seasons under coach Bob Marlin.
Payton will be inducted at the LABC’s awards banquet in Baton Rouge on May 3. In 2014, he led the Cajuns to the NCAA Tournament and a Sun Belt Tournament championship. Payton finished his collegiate career with 1,426 points, 486 assists and 197 steals. In 2014, Payton led the Sun Belt in points, assists, steals, minutes, free throws made and free throws attempted.
LSU’s Carter to participate in two Final Four events
LSU sharpshooter Cam Carter will participate in two Final Four events.
The senior was selected to be in the College 3-Point Contest and the National Association of Basketball Coaches College All-Star Game in San Antonio.
The 3-point shooting competition will be at 6 p.m. Thursday on ESPN and the all-star game is at 3:30 p.m. Friday on CBS Sports Network. The Final Four begins Saturday At LSU (14-18), Carter made 80 3-pointers, which is sixth on LSU’s all-time list, and the most since Marcus Thornton made 90 during the 2007-08 season. The Donaldsonville native averaged 16.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game this season.
Maryland hires Williams to coach men’s basketball Maryland has hired Buzz Williams as its men’s basketball coach.
The Terrapins quickly moved on after Kevin Willard left to take the Villanova job.
Maryland says it will introduce Williams at a news conference Wednesday Willard left for Villanova last weekend after leading the Terrapins to the Sweet 16. Williams arrives after six seasons at Texas A&M. He took the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament in the past three seasons. He previously was the head coach at Virginia Tech, Marquette and UNO. The 52-year-old Williams is one of 12 active Division I head coaches to win at least one NCAA Tournament game at three programs.
Pitcher Crochet receives 6-year, $170M contract
Ace left-hander Garrett Crochet has agreed to a record-breaking $170 million, six-year contract with the Boston Red Sox.
Crochet’s contract starts next year and he can opt out after the 2030 season. It is the largest deal ever for a pitcher with four-plus years of major league service time.
ä WOMEN’S FINAL FOUR: South Carolina vs. Texas, 6 P.M.FRIDAy ESPN; UCLA vs. UConn, 8:30 P.M. FRIDAy ESPN
cut as the favorite to win the national title (-165 odds on FanDuel, -150 on DraftKings), beating either Texas or South Carolina in the final.
The Huskies finished the regular season at 35-3 and 18-0 in the Big East, then won their conference tournament and claimed the No. 2 seed in the Spokane 4 regional.
The top-seeded USC lost one of the nation’s top players, JuJu Watkins, to a torn ACL in the second round. The Trojans overcome Kansas State in the Sweet 16 but were met with such headlines as The Los Angeles Times’ “Here is what USC needs to do to upset UConn, reach the Final Four” going into their matchup against the Huskies.
And for the second straight year, the Trojans were outmatched by Paige Bueckers and UConn in the Elite Eight.
“Today was a real challenge, playing against a team that was obviously missing a great great great, great player, JuJu,” Auriemma told Van Pelt. “It’s just a Connecticut thing, I hope, that when we get in these situations, we know how to win. And I’m really proud of that.”
The 25-year-old Crochet was acquired by Boston in a trade with the Chicago White Sox during the winter meetings in December and agreed to a $3.8 million, one-year contract for this season.
Crochet gets a $4 million signing bonus payable within 60 days of the deal’s approval by Major League Baseball, $24 million in 2026, $28 million in each of the following four seasons and $30 million in 2031.
Scherzer says sore thumb feeling better after shot TORONTO Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Max Scherzer said Tuesday he hopes to play catch in the next few days after a cortisone injection to treat his sore right thumb.
The three-time Cy Young award winner visited a hand specialist in the U.S. on Monday and received the injection before returning to Toronto, where he was in the dugout for a 5-2 win over Washington. Scherzer left his debut start with the Blue Jays against Baltimore on Saturday after three innings because of soreness in his right lat muscle. He said that his thumb issue was to blame for that soreness. On Tuesday, Scherzer said his lat soreness was gone. Toronto put Scherzer on the 15day injured list Sunday because of right thumb inflammation.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ
Florida coach Todd Golden does the Gator chomp when cutting down the net after the Gators defeated Texas Tech in the Elite Eight on Saturday in San Francisco.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JENNy KANE
UConn coach Geno Auriemma reacts to action during the second half against Southern California in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Monday night in Spokane, Wash.
N.O. plans return to team facility for camp
BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Saints plan to hold training camp at their team facility in Metairie this summer, coach Kellen Moore said Tuesday The Saints’ decision to practice back in the area comes after the team spent last year in Irvine, California. Team officials said then that the arrangement was temporary because the team’s cafeteria was under construction. The Saints finished the project in the fall, clearing the way — and the space — for camp to be held in the building.
Though most of camp will be in Louisiana, Moore also said they are exploring traveling for a “shorter period of time” to escape the heat.
That includes the possibility of having joint practices with an unspecified team, he said.
“We’ll spend some time in Louisiana,” Moore said at the NFL
owners’ meetings. “The exposure of the heat and all that stuff, we think there’ll be value to it Just getting accustomed to that. Training camp isn’t supposed to be the easiest thing in the world.
“There will be some challenges with the heat, but that’ll be a good thing for our team.”
The arrangement would mirror past camps. Under former coaches Sean Payton and Dennis Allen, New Orleans traveled regularly for joint practices. In 2023, the team spent two days in August practicing against the Los Angeles Chargers prior to their preseason game at SoFi Stadium. In 2022, New Orleans went to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where the Packers hosted the Saints for joint practices.
Real value
The Saints were active in free agency striking a balance between retaining their own players and making a splashy addition in the secondary with the signing of safety Justin Reid
Moore liked the strategy
The Saints coach said Tuesday
that the team added “real value” this offseason, later adding that he believes the franchise still has flexibility to make additional moves if need be. Over The Cap estimates the team has $28.3 million in cap space, putting the Saints in the upper half of the league.
The Saints’ biggest moves were to re-sign tight end Juwan Johnson to a three-year, $30.8 million contract and defensive end Chase Young to a three-year, $51 million contract.
New Orleans then poached Reid from the Kansas City Chiefs on a three-year $31.5 million deal.
Moore said he enjoyed getting to know his players in a “short period of time,” and the coach was involved in the process, such as when he laid out Johnson’s envisioned role in a late-night phone call with the tight end.
The first-year coach also appeared excited about Reid’s addition, calling the 28-year-old a “premier player” in the NFL. He recalled scouting the Louisiana native when he was preparing for the Super Bowl in February as of-
fensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles ahead of their win over the Chiefs.
“We nailed it when we were able to get Justin,” Moore said. “Obviously, you recognize there were a lot of other teams chasing after him, and so we feel really, really excited that ultimately he made a decision to come back to Louisiana. Watching him on film, he was one of those big impact players on the field.”
Moore said Reid’s signing wasn’t an either-or scenario. New Orleans agreed to terms with the safety after striking out on Charvarius Ward who signed a three-year $54 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts. Ward told an Indy radio station that he was close to signing with New Orleans before the Colts swooped in at the “last minute.” Saints’ tush push?
The future of the tush push will be decided at a later date. But if it were up to Moore, it wouldn’t be going anywhere. Moore said he felt “very comfortable” with keeping the play
SCOREBOARD
in place as the league debates the future of it
On Tuesday, NFL owners decided to table the Green Bay Packers’ proposal to ban the play deciding more discussion was needed before making a final decision. The next league meeting is scheduled for mid-May
Moore obviously learned the intricacies of the play which involves shoving the quarterback from behind — and ran it often last year as the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator So, if the play is still legal, will Moore run it in New Orleans? Or more specifically, does he have the personnel to run it?
“I don’t know,” Moore said. ”We’ll see. Obviously, I think other teams have tried to replicate it and have not had success. I think investment is (Eagles coach) Nick (Sirianni) has done a phenomenal job.
“It’s a huge investment to execute that play at a really high level, and they put a lot of time and effort into it.”
Email Matthew Paras at matt. paras@theadvocate.com
224. 5. Alex Bowman, 224. 6. Denny Hamlin, 218. 7. Tyler Reddick, 213. 8. Bubba Wallace, 208. 9. Joey Logano, 199. 10. Ryan Blaney, 193. 11. Chris Buescher, 177. 12. Chase Briscoe, 169. 13. Ross Chastain, 169. 14. Ryan Preece, 165. 15. Michael McDowell, 159. 16. Kyle Busch, 150. 17. John H. Nemechek, 148. 18. AJ Allmendinger, 148. 19.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KAREEM ELGAZZAR Texas two-step
Texas Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford is congratulated by teammate Adolis García after hitting a solo home run in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday in Cincinnati.
UNLV guard Dedan Thomas drives past Utah State center Isaac Johnson on Jan. 13, 2024, in Las Vegas. Thomas committed to transfer to LSU on Monday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By
IAN MAULE
fensive player facing him.
THOMAS
Continued from page 1C
lead playmaker instantly emerges.
He is a shifty ballhandler who is a blur going up and down the court. Thomas’ speed and fluidity as a dribbler aren’t only aesthetically pleasing but functional. He is a low-mistake player, averaging 1.9 turnovers per game, and unselfish teammate who took only 12.6 shots per game. Thomas reached the paint whenever he wanted to at UNLV, forcing defenses to collapse. These occurrences presented him with passing options, which he was adept at delivering to teammates.
The lefty has excellent court vision, throwing one-handed passes across the court, alley-oop passes and simple swing passes to nearby 3-point shooters.
Thomas should be an excellent pick-and-roll passer
SAINTS
Continued from page 1C
er of the Saints. And it would make sense for Ireland to lean on Moore’s particular area of expertise, even if the coach is also evaluating other positions.
At Miami, Moore was on hand to watch Cam Ward largely regarded as this class’ top quarterback Moore was part of a notable contingent sent by the Saints, including Ireland and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier
Speaking generally, Moore said he looks for a “certain threshold” and wants to understand how they grasp the “classroom” aspect of the game.
“You spend as much time with these guys as you can,” he said.
If the Saints want to draft Ward, they’ll almost certainly have to trade up to grab him. Ward is the favorite to go first overall to the Tennessee Titans, though Titans
MULKEY
Continued from page 1C
Mulkey said. “I just know that my generation of coaches they’re getting out. This is now what it’s supposed to be like. They’re not opposed to money They’re not opposed to young people making all that they can. It’s just that the transfer portal is not healthy in their eyes.”
In that breath, Mulkey mentioned Nick Saban, the legendary former LSU and Alabama football coach who retired after the 2023 season. After he stepped down, Saban, 73, told ESPN that he was not ending his coaching career because the sport had become too hard to manage, though he did say that “everybody is frustrated about it.” Mulkey, 62, also brought up Georgia Tech women’s basketball coach Nell Fortner, who retired on Monday two months after she agreed to a three-year contract extension.
In October, Tony Bennett abruptly resigned as the Virginia men’s basketball coach, citing a belief that he
for forward Jalen Reed, who played only eight games last season after tearing an ACL, and center Michael Nwoko, LSU’s first transfer portal addition from Mississippi State. “His vision on the court, unselfishness, and ability to throw the lob pass are fun to watch,” McMahon said in a news release. “I am really excited about his passion for player development and the opportunity to play at LSU.”
Thomas’ facilitation and knack for blowing by defenders are traits that were missing from LSU this season.
Scoring arsenal
His impressive quickness with the ball is blended with a craftiness to score around the paint. Thomas was ninth in the Mountain West in scoring and does most of his work from twopoint range.
Thomas has a nifty floater with his dominant left hand and is adept at creating
coach Brian Callahan didn’t dismiss the idea of trading the pick this week for the right offer
“We’re open to everything at this point,” Callahan told reporters. “If it’s something you feel is beyond the value you ever thought you could get, that’s one thing But you also have to look at what a potential quarterback could look like. Those guys, to me, are priceless.”
Elsewhere, Moore observed Ohio State’s Will Howard and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart — the latter of whom is often ranked right after Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. Both players have extended starting experience, a trait becoming more common in college football with longer periods of eligibility Howard, for instance, has 43 college starts 27 in four years with Kansas State and then 16 with Ohio State.
Moore believes there’s value in the additional reps, adding that he thinks quarterbacks don’t peak until their early 30s.
“Bo Nix was a great ex-
wasn’t suited to lead a team through the current landscape of college athletics.
Mulkey was then asked how she navigates the transfer portal and NIL and why she keeps coaching “What keeps me going?”
Mulkey said. “Sometimes I ask myself that question. Honestly, why do I keep doing this? I don’t need to win more championships to validate my resume or my career I never ever am motivated by money Money, yes, it’s great, but at the end of the day, if you’re frugal with your money through the years of working, you have enough.
Mulkey then said she feels a “sense of responsibility” to both LSU and the players she coaches. She views herself as the head of a company, she said, one with people who depend on her for their careers.
“I know that young people’s chief want in life,” Mulkey said, “is for somebody to push them to become what they’re capable of becoming. And maybe that’s my answer to your question, is when I don’t feel like that is still the truth and what I believe, then maybe that’s
space for his turnaround mid-ranger jumper If he is crowded, he doesn’t panic and shoot an impossible shot often. The 19-year-old still needs to improve his efficiency
The tendency to shoot inside the arc is reflected in his low 3-point shooting attempts. The volume is concerning, although he shot a solid 35.3% from 3-point range.
He will have to attempt more 3s to be a threat in a skilled SEC.
Defensive concerns
Thomas has a slight frame that makes his 185-pound listing seem generous. The reality of smaller players, especially those without length or strength, is that defending at the high-major level is grueling.
Game tape showed that he seemed to understand rotations, but he wasn’t physically capable of covering enough ground to make life harder for an of-
ample,” Moore said, referring to the Denver Broncos starter who thrived as a rookie after 61 college starts. “Older guy, but he’s played a lot of football.”
The Saints’ research on the position isn’t an indication they are ready for the Carr era to be over Again on Tuesday, Moore reiterated his excitement to coach the starter and said he believes those feelings are reciprocated even amid reports the 34-year-old was open to a change of scenery this offseason. Moore also spoke highly of Rattler, calling the 2024 fifth-rounder a “really good player” whom he’s excited to build up after a challenging first year
Even then, and even with other glaring needs on the roster, the Saints could take another swing at the position. That’s been their pattern as of late, and Moore presents a new set of eyes for the rest of the team’s brass.
“It’s a good class,” Moore said. “I think (there are) different skill sets. That’s the important aspect of it, is
when it’s time to retire.”
Mulkey is under contract with LSU through the 2033 season.
She and her staff recently signed the nation’s No. 1 freshman class four players who can each contribute to next season’s team.
On Monday, LSU lost starting forward Sa’Myah Smith to the transfer portal. So far, she’s the only Tiger who has left the program.
LSU star Aneesah Morrow exhausted her eligibility, but both Mikaylah Williams and Flau’jae Johnson can return next season. Johnson, however is age-eligible to declare for the 2025 WNBA Draft, and as of Tuesday afternoon, she hadn’t announced her plan for the future.
“They don’t get in the portal because they don’t like you or they’re not playing,” Mulkey said. “It’s, ‘Hey, got to go get some more money, some better NIL deals.’ It’s broken, guys.”
Email Reed Darcey at reed.darcey@theadvocate. com. For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate. com/lsunewsletter
Thomas also isn’t good at collecting steals, notching only a 1.2% steal rate.
For perspective, LSU’s 5-11, 185-pound fifth-year senior point guard Jordan Sears had a 3.4% rate for 1.5 steals per game this season.
When UNLV played Mississippi State, Thomas wasn’t assigned to defend star scorer Josh Hubbard. While Thomas has a slight edge in height over the 5-11 Hubbard, the new LSU point guard doesn’t have the physicality or lateral agility to bother a premier scorer
The bet that LSU is placing is that Thomas’ elite offensive skills will outweigh his defensive issues.
LSU is off to a good start with nabbing a point guard with top-notch traits to be an all-conference type player in the right situation.
The work in building a hopeful NCAA Tournament team is far from over
identifying stylistically how all of them play and what best suits them.”
Email Matthew Paras at matt.paras@theadvocate.
Continued from page 1C
worst records in the NBA. They currently have the fourth-worst record, which would give them about a 12.5% chance of landing the No. 1 pick at the May 12 lottery in Chicago. The teams with the three worst records (the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets) have a slightly better chance at 14% each.
For the Pelicans and their fans, it’s been another frustrating season. Injuries hit the team left and right, which is why Williamson, McCollum, Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy and Herb Jones will have missed a total of 196 games by the time the season is over in two weeks. The five of them never played a game together The foursome of Williamson, McCollum, Murphy and Murray played just five games together They went 2-3 together, including a one-point road loss to the Boston Celtics when a McCollum buzzer beater didn’t fall.
Williamson played in just 30 games this season, just one more than he played two seasons ago. Since being drafted, he’s missed more games than he played. Last season, he played in a career-high 70 games. It was a big reason the Pelicans won 49 games, tied for the most in franchise history
The Pelicans went 10-20 this season in game’s Williamson played and 11-34 without him in a year that saw him average a careerbest 5.3 assists and tie his career-high in rebounds (7.2)
“There’s no doubt about Z’s ability when he’s on the floor,” Green said.
“Everyone got a chance to see it. See him handle the ball, see him play in more pick and rolls as a screener He was incredible for the games he was on the
“Now the next step for us is going through the summer, getting healthy and re-evaluating our group and going from there.”
floor I think there is no doubt about where he is as a basketball player in terms of his ability on the floor
“Now the next step for us is going through the summer, getting healthy and re-evaluating our group and going from there.”
The key to it all will be Williamson, who looked to be in the best shape of his career this season.
Williamson missed 27 games with a hamstring injury, then played in 24 of 34 games after returning. Six of the games he missed were because of the Pelicans playing on back-to-back nights. If it was up to Williamson, he would have played. But those decisions were made by the team’s medical staff, which is being extra cautious with its most critical player Chances are, similar decisions will have to be made next season. That’s assuming the Pelicans run it back with Williamson again. He’s too talented not to. The best guess here is the team won’t risk moving on from Williamson and seeing him thrive elsewhere. They will instead keep their fingers crossed that the conditioning they saw this season will spill over into next season.
“We definitely want him to be able to maintain that,” Green said. “That’s a key factor, a key component.
“He knows it, and it’s something he has to stay committed to.”
While Williamson’s season is done, his commitment to the Pelicans and himself must continue.
WILLIE GREEN, Pelicans coach
Feeling lost at work?
Speak up.
Clarity and feedback
can put you on the right path
BY CATHY BUSSEWITZ
Associated Press
NEW YORK When Nikelle Inman started a new job coaching first-generation college students, she looked forward to meeting with them one-on-one to talk about how to surmount obstacles and find resources to succeed.
Instead, she and her fellow success coaches at a community college in North Carolina spent a year mired in paperwork, tasked with reviewing applications from aspiring undergraduates They never did get to meet with students.
“Admissions work kind of took over what we were supposed to do,” Inman, 34, said. “I felt disengaged with the position, more so because I just didn’t feel valued.”
It’s disorienting when a job turns out to be completely different than advertised or morphs into something we didn’t expect. But more U.S workers have reported feeling disconnected from their organization’s purpose and unclear on how to meet expectations since the coronavirus pandemic changed the way we work, according to a new Gallup analysis.
Just under half of U.S. employees who participated in a Gallup survey in November “strongly agreed” that they know what is expected of them at work, which is one of the factors the polling firm uses to measure employee engagement. In January 2020, the figure stood at 56%.
The new survey showed that new employees, younger employees, people in white-collar industries like technology insurance and finance, and those in hybrid work arrangements were especially likely to report that expectations for their roles weren’t clear
The findings make intuitive sense. Managers and employees have bushwhacked their way through disruptive changes since COVID-19 first upended public life five years ago. In late 2024, about one-quarter of employees with the ability to work remotely were doing so exclusively, up from around 1 in 10 in 2019, Gallup found Another 55% were working in the office some days and remotely the rest, according to the 2024 data, up from about one-third in 2019 More recently, layoffs at tech companies and in the government and other sectors have left organizations with fewer people to handle the load, and expectations aren’t always adjusted to the new realities.
“With all the rounds of layoffs, people’s scope and responsibilities are shifting constantly,” said Jeremy Guttenplan, an executive leadership trainer and coach based in New York.
“You think about the ones left behind and the work is just getting piled on them.” Here are some strategies for eliminating confusion when the scope and responsibilities of a job are ambiguous.
Establish expectations early Spell out or make sure you understand what a new role or project entails — along with any relevant deadlines or performance markers — from the beginning so everyone agrees on
‘A BETTER PRODUCT’
Lafayette to get cheesecake vending machine, courtesy of inventive local bakers
BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer
Seth Dahlen knows cheesecake, and he knows his customers.
The founder of LA Cheesecake Bakery shared a big announcement last week on social media. In just a few weeks, Seth and Ashley Dahlen are rolling their handcrafted cheesecakes out in a new location — a vending machine in the Acadiana Mall.
In a March 24 Facebook post, Seth Dahlen wrote, “As long as Ashley and I have been doing this, we’ve picked up on our general clientele base. 85% of our clientele is women between the ages of 25 and 65.
“THAT BEING SAID!!! We’re dropping the Cheesecake Vending Machine right in front of Victoria’s Secret!”
Seth Dahlen anticipates it will be about four more weeks un-
til cheesecake lovers can buy a fresh slice while they shop, and his announcement, while tonguein-cheek, is indicative of his cleareyed take on his customer base Lafayette’s restaurant industry, and what it takes to succeed when expansion comes with inevitable risk.
“We’ve been able to kind of watch from the background,” he said.
“With us starting out of our house, we didn’t have high risk involved.”
The Dahlens started selling New York-style cheesecakes (with a Southern twist, in the form of an exceptionally smooth and rich recipe) out of their home about nine years ago. On New Year’s Eve 2022, they moved into a storefront at 600 Guilbeau Road, Lafayette, making it easier for their customers to peruse the bakery’s rotating selection of classic and specialty cheesecakes.
“The first time I had cheesecake, I might have been maybe 11, and I fell in love,” he said. “Most bakeries don’t offer it, and if they do, it’s a really simple cheesecake, or out of a box. This one is tedious, it takes time. It’s creamy, it’s dense, it’s smooth. We use a lot of heavy
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Owners Seth and Ashley Dahlen stand inside their LA Cheesecake Bakery in Lafayette.
Turtle cheesecake bites are on offer at LA Cheesecake Bakery.
Cemetery suffers from stolen items
Dear Heloise: Our street is next to a large cemetery, and I’ve gotten to know the grounds manager well.
He has said that theft of the cemetery vases is a big problem due to their value from the copper content He has caught people turning in large quantities of vases at the local metal reclamation company The best way to combat this is for reclamation companies to refuse to accept these vases, which can be difficult because of the potential money to be made. — Phil V., via email
our daughter and her family in another state. It’s our responsibility to take care of ourselves. It’s our goal to be good friends, parents and grandparents not users. — C.D., in Claremont, California
Unsubscribing
Hints from Heloise
Visiting with friends, family
Dear Heloise. I just read the column about uninvited guests and the family letter that was sent out to discourage the same from happening again. I would think it highly rude, disrespectful and presumptive for people to simply show up and expect to be put up, fed, entertained, and/or think it acceptable to have a built-in babysitter!
We have close friends with a lakeside cabin in the Sierra mountains If we want to visit, we rent a condo or stay in a hotel, and we visit with our friends. We do the same thing when we want to see
Dear Heloise: I receive hundreds of emails each day that I have no interest in When I select unsubscribe, I’m taken to another screen to assure that this is what I want to do. It sounds simple, but one extra step for each email that is received could consume most of a person’s day Why can’t each email have an “unsubscribe” button in the body of the email, and once it’s been selected, it’s done? It doesn’t open another browser, and you no longer receive email from this source. And please don’t tell me that there is an app for this. — Steve W., in California Steve, this is an interesting point! How do my readers feel about this? Please let us know here at Heloise Central. — Heloise
Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.
TODAY IN HISTORY
By The Associated Press
Today is Wednesday April 2, the 92nd day of 2025. There are 273 days left in the year
Today in history:
On April 2, 2005, John Paul II, the Polish pope born Karol Józef Wojtyła, died in his Vatican apartment at age 84. The first non-Italian pope in over 450 years, John Paul II became one of the most influential leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries while playing a crucial role in the fall of communism in Europe. Also on this date:
In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.
In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after Union troops broke through Confederate lines in the Third Battle of Petersburg.
In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” (Congress declared war four days later.)
In 1982, Argentine troops seized the disputed Falkland Islands from the United Kingdom, sparking
the Falklands War. In 1992, mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life in prison without parole. (Gotti died in prison in 2002.) In 2007, in its first case on climate change, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were air pollutants under the Clean Air Act In 2012, a gunman killed seven people at Oikos University, a Christian school in Oakland California. (The gunman, One Goh, died in 2019 while serving a life prison sentence.) In 2020, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 1 million, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Today’s birthdays: Disc jockey Dr. Demento is 84. Actor Linda Hunt is 80. Musician Emmylou Harris is 78. Actor Christopher Meloni is 64. Tennis Hall of Famer Todd Woodbridge is 54. Actor Pedro Pascal is 50. Actor Adam Rodriguez is 50. Actor Michael Fassbender is 48. Country musician Chris Janson is 39. Actor Jesse Plemons is 37. Rapper Quavo is 34. Country musician Zach Bryan is 29.
like a White Chocolate Pistachio Maritozzo (brioche buns stuffed with cream), I opted for two I had never tried before: a lemon-blueberry Danish and a sourdough focaccia bread with squash and savory, melt-inyour-mouth bits of toasted cheese.
Each was as delicious as it looked and showed off Lucia’s attention to detail in the balance of flavors, texture and bold toppings that adorn this shop’s pastries. They open at 8 a.m. from Wednesday to Saturday so don’t be like me — plan ahead of time to get there early — Joanna Brown, staff writer Catch of the day
n Roberto’s River Road Restaurant, 1985 La. 75, Sunshine
Tucked away in a nearly 200-year-old building on River Road in the Iberville Parish town of Sunshine, located next to St. Gabriel, is Roberto’s River Road Restaurant. Open for lunch and dinner during the week, and only dinner on Saturdays, this spot is well-known among those who live and
WORK
Continued from page 5C
what’s realistic and wanted.
Writing it down in a shared document can help prevent future misunderstandings. When a successful real estate developer asked Amber Krasinski to film and produce 85 TikTok videos in three hours, she thought hard about whether she really wanted to take him on as a client. The job might be good exposure for her communications agency, IvyHill Stategies, but Krasinski knew it would be impossible to complete in so little time. She turned it down.
Krasinski regularly gives her client progress updates and tries to make a practice of asking clarifying questions before taking on new projects
“Any time I have a conversation with a prospective client, I have that in the back of my mind,” Krasinski said. “Avoiding that people-pleasing side that says, ‘You can figure it out, you can do it.’ You don’t want to let anybody
and somehow matched the joyous atmosphere of the restaurant.
Jennifer Brown, senior editor
The lamb burger
n J. Alexander’s Restaurant, 6457 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge
cream, and it makes it hard to work with, but it’s just a better product once you master the technique.”
On a recent weekday morning, the display case at LA Cheesecake Bakery was filled with options like turtle cheesecake bites, slices of Nutella, banana pudding and white chocolate blueberry cheesecake — and huge, cheesecake-filled strawber-
work in the area.
It’s also a relaxing evening drive if you live north of the area.
On this night, the stuffed catch of the day caught my eye. The fresh catch was striped bass stuffed with
down, but you also need to set yourself up for success.”
Seek frequent feedback
No one wants to spend all day in meetings But more frequent check-ins with a manager or supervisor may help staff members who are unsure if they are prioritizing their time appropriately or don’t know what they are supposed to be doing.
Organizations can explore different ways of building connection between employees and providing more opportunities for feedback, which can result in better understanding of workplace expectations. Brian Smith, founder and managing partner of IA Business Advisors, said his company hosts gratitude sessions for 30 minutes each week.
The first 20 minutes are led by a coach who advises attendees on issues such as how to effectively manage time or deal with challenging customers. Highlighting specific problems and strategies can help workers understand what’s expected of them. At the end of the session, participants have
ries that they only provide when the berries are enormous enough.
The shop also sells seasonal coffee flights. Over Mardi Gras, LA Cheesecake Bakery created a flight of latte specials with flavors like king cake, moon pie and amaretto walnut.
“There was no real overhead when we began. We’re already living there, paying the mortgage. We just kind of saw where it took us, starting off with a little hand mixer, and getting Kitchen Aid mixers and stuff like
a seafood dressing, baked, and then lightly covered with a beurre blanc sauce. It was served over creamy mashed potatoes and tender yet crisp green beans.
The fish was light, and the stuffing wasn’t too dense
an opportunity to share what they’re grateful for
Start the conversation
Workers don’t have to wait for a supervisor to seek feedback or clarify expectations. You can suggest a quick check-in at any point, if you’re unsure how to prioritize long-term goals or short-term deadlines.
“Managing upwards is going to make your life easier,” said Dale Whelehan, founder of 4 Day World, a think tank that explores new models of work. “Don’t assume that management has all the answers. They’re probably just as lost.”
However, in hierarchical organizations where questioning management may be viewed negatively, it’s important to be delicate, he said. To initiate a feedback discussion, you can ask to meet with a manager about a current project. Whelehan outlined how to approach the conversation if the meeting gets scheduled. Start by sharing what you understand your assignment to be. Then request the manager’s confirmation or clarification by say-
that over time. It built itself up to the point we got so big, we needed an actual bakery,” Seth Dahlen said.
During COVID, which hit food businesses especially hard, he saw how difficult it was to oversee two different locations while giving each enough attention to thrive.
“So we thought a vending machine might be a really good option to get a second location without the headaches, or overhead,” he said.
The LA Cheesecake Bakery vending machine will start with a yearlong lease
If you find yourself at J. Alexander’s when the lamb burger is a special, get it. The burger, which I requested to be cooked at medium temperature, was mouthwatering and juicy with tzatziki, shredded lettuce and purple onions. I had never had a lamb burger before this, but I thought it proved to be more tender than a regular burger The dish also came with thin, crunchy shoestring fries and ketchup.
— Lauren Cheramie, features coordinator
ing something such as, “I just want to make sure that there’s alignment here,” he advised. Ask about anything else you need to clarify and close out the conversation by saying, “From what I understand from this conversation, my role is this. Have I understood that correctly?” Follow up with an email restating what you agreed to, Whelehan said.
Trust your instincts With workplaces experiencing so many changes, employees can find themselves jumping from one assignment to the other distracted by new responsibilities picked up after colleagues were laid off, or adjusting to spending more time physically in the office. If it all feels too chaotic, take a moment to pause. Revisit your priorities. And then work on the most important task.
“If something doesn’t feel right, don’t just accept it,” Inman said. “Whatever that avenue is, if it’s staying and trying to make it better or leaving, just don’t give up on what you know is right.”
at the mall, and the team will see how it goes, just like they’ve been doing for almost a decade now While mall traffic has declined in recent years, Seth Dahlen isn’t too worried about the risk — because unlike picking the wrong spot for a second storefront, if cheesecakes don’t work out at the mall, “we’ll just put a vending machine somewhere else.”
Email Joanna Brown at joanna.brown@ theadvocate.com.
STAFF PHOTO By LAUREN CHERAMIE
The lamb burger special from J. Alexander’s in Baton Rouge
STAFF PHOTO By JENNIFER BROWN
ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Set yourself up for success. Take charge, be part of the team and remain focused on your objective. Ask like-minded people to join you in physical and mental activities.
tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Take care of personal paperwork, expiration dates and investments. How you handle your affairs will affect your lifestyle. Adopt change and turn it into something that benefits you.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) An inquisitive approach will help you make better choices. Be wary of inflated or misleading claims. Trust verified information that fits into your lifestyle and plans.
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Concentrate on your finances, reputation and meaningful relationships. Refuse to let temptation lead to excessive behavior. Trust what you see, not what you hear.
LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Let your creativity flow, and you'll develop a plan that attracts attention Emotional issues are best dealt with swiftly to avoid unnecessary anxiety and an inflated self-assessment.
VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Lend a helping hand, but don't let anyone take advantage of your kindness and consideration. Suggest alternatives and encouragement, but don't take the lead. Moderation and an empathetic attitude are your best choices.
LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Get firsthand information. Engage with your community and the issues that concern you. Your input can make a difference
that influences your life, environment and safety.
scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Set a budget, cap your spending and be cognizant of expenses that can set you back. Look for new outlets for your skills, experience and knowledge.
sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Focus on being creative and rearranging your living space to better suit your needs. Say no to temptation and excessive behavior. Examine what and who matters most to you.
cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Pay attention to detail. Joint ventures can be beneficial if solid agreements and designated plans are in place. Put time aside for someone you love or want to spend more time with.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Take time to reorganize your space. The more efficient you are, the easier it will be to get things done. Let your imagination explore new ventures that can help you bring in extra cash. Be a leader, not a follower.
PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Be moderate, stick to a budget and surround yourself with those offering support instead of temptation. A social event catered toward sports, the arts or cultural events will be entertaining and enlightening.
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.
toDAy's cLuE: Z EQuALs P
CeLebrItY CIpher
For better or For WorSe
FrAnK And erneSt
SALLY Forth
beetLe bAILeY
Mother GooSe And GrIMM
SherMAn’S LAGoon
bIG nAte
nea CroSSwordS
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
From “Romeo and Juliet,” we all know the line: “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
At the bridge table, sometimes it pays totaketimetosmellthehigh-cardpoints, which by any other name would be as important. How does that apply in today’s deal?
South is in four spades. West leads the heart 10 to declarer’s ace. How should South continue?
West applied the Law of Total Tricks for his jump to four hearts. In a competitive auction (or when you are confident your side does not have the high-card values for game), bid as high as your side’scombinednumberoftrumps.West knewabouta10-cardfit,sojumpedtothe 10-trick level.
South saw four potential losers: one spade, two diamonds and one club. It looked as though he needed the spade finesse to work. But since there were only 17 high-card points missing, declarer took time to learn who held the club ace. At trick two, he led his club king.
Westwonwithhisaceandshiftedtothe diamond nine, but now South won with hisaceandledthespadequeen,tempting West to cover if he unexpectedly had the king. However, after West played low, declarer called for dummy’s ace to drop
Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD = GOOD AFTERNOON
Previous answers:
word game
InstRuctIons: 1. Words must
toDAy’s
Average
Can
Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
BRIEFS FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Automakers report
stellar sales in March
The major car companies say sales rose sharply in March, with most reporting double-digit gains. For some companies, the strong performance last month helped make up for a sluggish start to the year
Automakers sold nearly 1.6 million vehicles in the U.S. in March, up 13.6%. That brought total sales for the first quarter to more than 3.9 million vehicles, Motorintelligence.com said Tuesday Almost all automakers saw a surge in sales of electric vehicles.
What future months hold for the automakers is uncertain. President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on auto imports that go into effect Thursday The tariffs are set to expand to applicable auto parts in the following weeks, through May 3. The tax hike means automakers could face higher costs and lower sales, though Trump argues that the tariffs will lead to more factories opening in the United States.
Overall U.S. sales for General Motors rose 17% during the first quarter on strong sales of fullsize pickups and SUVs. Ford Motor saw its sales increase 10% in March as strong sales of the F-150 pickup and electric vehicles helped offset a drop in sales of SUVs.
Hooters chain files for bankruptcy protection
Hooters is going bust.
The U.S. restaurant chain, known for chicken wings and its skimpy “Hooters Girls” waitstaff outfits, has filed for bankruptcy protection. HOA Restaurant Group filed the motion for Chapter 11 protection Monday in the North Texas Bankruptcy Court in Dallas
It’s the latest legacy restaurant chain to run into financial trouble amid high food and labor prices, changing customer tastes and growing competition from newer casual chains like Shake Shack. Under the Hooters bankruptcy plan, 100 company-owned U.S. restaurants would get sold to a group of Hooters franchisees. The franchisees, who include Hooters’ founders, currently operate 14 of the 30 highest-volume Hooters restaurants in the U.S., the company said.
“For many years now, the Hooters brand has been owned by private equity firms and other groups with no history or experience with the Hooters brand,” Neil Kiefer, CEO of the franchise group Hooters Inc., said in a statement. “As a result of these transactions, the Hooters brand will once again be in the hands of highly experienced Hooters franchisees, and we will be well-positioned to return this iconic brand to its historic success.”
Hooters said franchisees or licensing partners would continue to operate all existing locations, including those outside the U.S. There are more than 420 Hooters restaurants in 29 countries.
Trump eyes possible TikTok investors
President Donald Trump will hold a Wednesday meeting with aides about possible investors who could buy a stake in TikTok, a deal that could potentially stop the social media site from being banned in the United States.
The details of the meeting were confirmed by a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. There has been uncertainty about the popular video app after a law took effect on Jan. 19 requiring its China-based parent, ByteDance, to divest its ownership because of national security concerns After taking office, Trump gave TikTok a 75-day reprieve by signing an executive order that delayed until Saturday the enforcement of the law requiring a sale or effectively imposing a ban. Among the possible investors are the software company Oracle and the investment firm Blackstone.
THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business
Feb. U.S. job openings slip to 7.6M
BY PAUL WISEMAN AP economics writer
WASHINGTON — Employers posted 7.6 million job openings in February a sign that that the job market is slowing but remains healthy Layoffs of federal workers hit the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic slammed the economy in 2020, as Elon Musk’s job cuts start to show up in national jobs data.
The number of job vacancies fell slightly from a revised 7.8 million in January and from a 8.4 million a year earlier, the Labor Department reported Tuesday Openings have come down more or less steadily since peaking at 12.1 million in March 2022 when the economy was still roaring back from COVID-19 lockdowns.
Layoffs rose to 1.8 million in February from 1.7 million in January Federal agencies laid off 18,000 workers, most since October 2020. Retailers, cautious about the outlook for 2025, laid off 238,000 in February, the highest figure since April 2020 in the depths of the COVID-19 recession.
The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary showed that the overall number of people quitting their jobs a sign of confidence they can find better pay or working conditions elsewhere fell slightly in February
The American job market has proven surprisingly durable. But it has clearly lost momentum from the frantic hiring days of 20212023. And the outlook for hiring is
cloudy as President Donald Trump pursues trade wars, purges the federal workforce and promises to deport millions of immigrants working in the United States illegally That has begun to have an impact on the optimism that Americans hold about the job market and the economy Late last month, the University of Michigan released its updated consumer sentiment survey for March, which showed a sharp drop in Americans’ outlook for the economy The survey also found growing anxiety over inflation and jobs. Economists are worried that Trump’s trade wars — he is expected to announce sweeping tariffs on American trading partners Wednesday — will push up prices and stunt economic growth.
Businesses nationwide look for ways to offset tariffs
Steve Rad, CEO of toy maker Abacus Brands Inc., which designs science kits and other educational toys for older children, shows a new matte box, left, that will replace its black mold plastic material packaging insert with an improved cardboard material to help offset the costs of future tariffs in El Segundo, Calif.
Thinner packaging, no batteries and more assembly at home would help reduce costs ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO DAMIAN DOVARGANES
BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP retail writer
NEW YORK Gadgets sold without batteries. Toys sold in slimmed-down boxes or no packaging at all. More household goods that shoppers need to assemble themselves. These are some of the ways consumer product companies are retooling their wares to reduce costs and avoid raising prices as President Donald Trump levies new import taxes on key trading partners as well as some materials used by American manufacturers. The economic environment in which the president has imposed, threatened and occasionally postponed repeated rounds of tariffs is more precarious than during his first term U.S. consumers are feeling tapped out after several years of inflation. Businesses say tariffs add to their expenses and eat into their profits, but they are wary of losing sales if they try to pass all of the increase on to customers. Instead, some companies are exploring cost-cutting options, both ones that consumers likely would notice in time — remem-
ber “shrinkflation?” — and ones that exist too far down the supply chain for them to see The changes may help minimize price increases yet won’t be enough in every case to offset them completely For many companies, evaluating which components or details they can remove from their products or replace with less expensive ones is the go-to move for absorbing the potential financial hit from tariffs.
Los Angeles-based toy company Abacus Brands Inc., which designs science kits and other educational toys, has most of its products made in China. By using slightly thinner paper in an 80-page project book that comes with two of its kits, the company expects to avert a $10 retail price increase, President Steve Rad said.
“Three or 4 cents here,” Rad said. “Seven or 6 cents there. Two more pennies over there All of a sudden, you’ve made up the difference.”
To further reduce its production costs, Abacus Brands is thinking of switching from plastic to cardboard for the package inserts that keep toy parts in place. Cardboard trays cost
7 cents per unit compared with 30 cents for the plastic version, according to Rad.
The change requires finding a new factory to make the inserts, a move that did not make financial sense before now he said. The various tariff-related modifications should be effective for fall and holiday deliveries to stores, Rad said.
“The compromises we’re making are things that do not matter to the consumer,” he said.
Shoppers will likely have to assemble more of their products at home as companies look to reduce shipping costs, according to Kimberly Kirkendall, president of supply-chain consulting firm International Resource Development.
Companies also are reevaluating the pieces of their products that are essential or extra.
Chris Bajda, managing partner at online wedding gift retailer
Groomsday said accessories like batteries and decorative gift boxes may end up in the latter category
“We now carefully assess what’s truly necessary and avoid including items that don’t serve a functional purpose for the customer,” Bajda said.
“The jobs market remains the economy’s bulwark, and while it’s eroding slowly, it’s not showing cracks that foreshadow recession,” Robert Frick, economist with Navy Federal Credit Union said in a commentary on the job openings report “How it holds up to assaults from tariffs’ effects on consumers and businesses is the crucial question, and one that won’t be answered until later this year.” On Friday, the Labor Department issues the jobs report for March According to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet, it is expected to show that employers added 125,000 jobs last month, down from 151,000 in February and an average 168,000 a month in 2024. The unemployment rate is forecast to tick up to a still-low 4.2%.
More swerves hit Wall Street
BY STAN CHOE AP business
writer
NEW YORK U.S. stocks swerved through another shaky day of trading Tuesday, with uncertainty still high about just what President Donald Trump will announce about tariffs on his “Liberation Day” coming Wednesday
The S&P 500 rose after roaring back from an early drop of 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down slightly, after pinging between a loss of 480 points and a gain of nearly 140, while the Nasdaq composite closed higher Wall Street has been particularly shaky recently, and momentum has been swinging not just day to day but also hour to hour because of uncertainty about what Trump will do with tariffs — and by how much they could worsen inflation and grind down growth for economies. On Monday, for example, the S&P 500 careened from an early loss of 1.7% to a gain of 0.7%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields sank after a report said U.S. manufacturing activity contracted last month, breaking a two-month streak of growth. Companies are saying they’re already feeling effects from Trump’s trade war, even with the main event potentially coming Wednesday when the president will announce a sweeping set of tariffs.
“Customers are pulling in orders due to anxiety about continued tariffs and pricing pressures,” one computer and electronic products company told the Institute for Supply Management in its monthly manufacturers’ survey “Starting to see slower-thannormal sales in Canada, and concerns of Canadians boycotting U.S. products could become a reality,” a manufacturer in the food, beverage and tobacco products industry said in the ISM’s survey The U.S. economy is still growing, to be sure, and the job market has remained relatively solid even with February’s slightly weaker-than-expected job openings. But one of the worries hitting the market is that even if Trump announces less-punishing tariffs than feared on Wednesday, the stop-and-start rollout of his trade strategy may by itself cause U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending, which would damage the economy Trump has pushed for tariffs in part to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States from other countries. All the nervousness in the market has helped push the price of gold to records, and it briefly topped $3,175 per ounce Tuesday That’s up from less than $2,700 at the start of the year
Dan Gill is a retired consumer horticulture specialist with the LSU AgCenter. He hosts the “Garden Show” on WWL-AM Saturdays at 9 a.m. Email gardening questions to gnogardening@agcenter.lsu.edu.
Spring Green
Spring is an important time when it comes to lawn care. We first apply fertilizer to our lawns in late March through early April. Fertilizer provides the mineral nutrients your lawn needs to grow vigorously and have a rich, green color. A vigorous lawn is thicker and more resistant to weeds and foot traffic.
You may use any lawn fertilizer following package directions Look at the fertilizer analysis (a series of three numbers on the label). The first number, which represents the amount of nitrogen in the fertilizer, should be higher than the other two
Be sure you apply the fertilizer, at the recommended rates, using a spreader to ensure even greening. Make a second fertilizer application in July.
If cool-season weeds are an issue, you may apply a weed and feed product (fertilizer/weed killer combination) to fertilize the grass and control the weeds in one step
After having the winter off, we are starting to mow again. Even before the grass starts growing, you may need to mow occasionally to cut down cool-season weeds. Mowing them suppresses their grow and helps prevent flowering and seed formation –reducing weeds next cool-season.
When it comes to mowing, sharp blades are important to making clean cuts and keeping the grass attractive and healthy. Sharpen your mower blades or have them sharpened.
A common mistake is not mowing frequently enough. Grass can grow rapidly in summer, especially if we get lots of rain or lawns are regularly irrigated. It is unhealthy to allow the grass to grow tall and then mow it back short
As a rule of thumb, you should not cut more that one-third the
length of the grass blades when you mow. The smaller clipping will sift down into the grass and decay, so you don’t necessarily have to bag grass clippings if you mow frequently enough.
Also, make sure your mower is adjusted to mow at the right height. St. Augustine is mowed at 2 to 3 inches, centipede and zoysia are mowed at 1 to 2 inches and bermuda at 1 to 11/2 inches
As the grass greens up in spring, you may notice you have damage to your lawn, such as areas of dead grass or bare patches This may be due to insect or disease problems last summer or loss over the winter.
April and May are good months to assess and repair this damage if needed. With fertilization and good care, surrounding grass may grow over and fill in small areas of damage. If the areas are wider than a foot or two, repair is recommended by laying sod in the damaged areas
If there are large areas of dead grass, remove the dead grass before laying the sod. If areas are bare, the soil has likely become compacted. Loosen it up with a shovel or garden fork, rake it smooth and then lay the sod. Late April and May are a good time to lay sod to repair damage, although it can be done all summer through October
Gill’syear-roundguidetoabeautifullawn
Turf War
Weeds make the lawn look bad and can crowd out and damage desirable turf grass. Lawn weeds are divided into cool-season weeds that grow in our lawns from October through May They disappear once it gets hot, and warm-season weeds grow in our lawns from April to November
Currently, most of the weeds you see in your lawn are cool-season weeds. Some of the leading cool-season weeds include dollarweed, clover, annual bluegrass, burweed/sticker weed and chickweed.
Dollarweed is a perennial weed and the most destructive of the cool-season weeds. It can crowd out areas of lawn grass, so control is recommended. Clover is also a perennial. Dollarweed and clover can be tough to control, but Atrazine and MSM Turf (metsulfuron) will do an excellent job taking out these weeds
The rest of the cool-season weeds are annuals. If you mow them back occasionally to suppress growth and seed production, they will die off once it gets hot. But if you decide you want to control them, any lawn weed killer should do a good job
Applying a weed killer would be especially important if you have had a problem with sticker weed in your lawn. The stickers are formed when the weeds, which have been growing in the lawn all winter, bloom and form spiny seed pods in spring. You must control sticker weed before the spiny seed pods form.
This may be done by applying a preemergence lawn weed killer in October. This kills the germinating sticker weed seeds (and most other cool-season weeds) preventing them from showing up. You can also control sticker weed by applying a lawn weed killer in January, February or March. If you have had sticker weed problems in the past, you should treat immediately at this point and, hopefully, kill them before the spiny seed pods form. Warm-season weeds begin growing in spring infesting the lawn all summer into the fall. They include Virginia buttonweed, lespedeza, spurge, sedges (like nutsedge and kyllinga) and grassy weeds like bahiagrass. A common mistake in controlling these weeds is not applying a weed killer early in the season. Many gardeners wait until late summer when the weeds become very noticeable and have invaded large areas of the lawn before decid-
ing to so something.
These weeds begin to grow in spring and are present in the lawn through the summer. It is far more effective to treat for these weeds in May or June when they are younger and have not caused major issues in the lawn.
Virginia buttonweed is the leading weed in summer lawns
You should not wait to treat until late summer when it becomes very noticeable. Even though not as visible in early summer, it is there. This perennial weed is tough to control, but weed killers work better on younger plants
If you had a problem with Virginia buttonweed last summer, apply a lawn weed killer in April or May. Metsulfuron (MSM Turf ) is one of the more effective lawn weed killers for Virginia buttonweed control (as well as the other common summer lawn weeds). Then, monitor your lawn carefully through the summer looking for small areas of Virginia button weed. If needed, make additional herbicide applications in summer
We must be careful what lawn herbicides we apply to our lawns in summer. High temperatures above 90 degrees make it more likely that many common lawn weed killers we use in spring when temperatures are cooler may damage the grass.
Two lawn weed killers may be used during summer despite the heat – MSM Turf and Celsius. You may use these through the summer, and they will effectively control a wide variety of summer weeds. Metsulfuron will also control bahiagrass.
Most lawn weed killers do not effectively control sedges like nutsedge or kyllinga. When they are an issue, use halosulfuron (Sedgehammer) or imazaquin (Image Kills Nutsedge).
Remember that proper lawn care, including fertilization, mowing, pest control and irrigation, will make your lawn thicker, healthier and more resistant to weeds
DanGill’syear-roundguidetoabeautifullawn
PetalP wer
People enjoy colorful landscapes, and that color can be provided a variety of ways. People often first think of beds of colorful bedding plants, and they do provide a powerful punch of color whether planted in beds or large containers. But they must be replanted seasonally. Color can also be provided by perennial plants and summer flowering bulbs. These plants live for many years and don’t have to be replanted each year like bedding plants.
And don’t forget that trees and shrubs can also contribute color to the landscape during their blooming seasons
Visit any nursery now and you will be overwhelmed by blooming bedding plants. They come in a wide variety of colors and heights, and there are sun-loving and shade-loving types for every situation except dense shade.
Bedding plants are divided into two categories – cool-season bedding plants (grown from October to May) and warm-season bedding plants (grown from March to November).
What you may see blooming so beautifully in flower beds now are cool-season bedding plants, like pansy, dianthus, viola and snapdragon. They are often planted in fall, and they bloom through the winter with a big display in late March, April and early May
You may still get your money’s worth planting them as late as February. But, despite how wonderful they look in April, they will fade as daytime highs start hitting the 90s next month and are not your best choice for planting now
If you currently have beds of cool-season bedding plants blooming beautifully, enjoy them – there is no hurry to replace them. As the weather gets hotter and they begin to go downhill in late May, you can replace them then.
Select and plant warm-season bedding plants in your flower beds now. The nurseries are full of a wonderful selection.
Some warm-season bedding plants, such as coleus, impatiens, periwinkles, blue daze, pentas and begonias, are actually tender
perennials rather than true annuals. They can bloom for more than one year here if mild winters occur. But these plants are generally grown as summer annuals because they do not reliably survive winter freezes.
The advantage of planting these tender perennials is that they have more stamina than true annuals. They have excellent longevity in the summer flower garden, often blooming from late spring until cold weather arrives in fall. True annuals rarely make it all the way through our exceptionally long summer growing season.
Choose bedding plants well suited to the light conditions provided by the location where they will be planted. While many need full sun (at least eight hours of direct sun) to part sun (about six hours of direct sun), there are also those that thrive in part shade (about four hours of direct morning sun) or shade (about two hours of direct morning sun or dappled light).
Flower beds are not low maintenance, and you should keep in mind the care that they will need through the long, hot summer when deciding where, how large and how many beds you will plant. Mulch will reduce problems with weeds, but regular weeding will still be necessary. Regular watering, pest control and grooming (removing dead flowers and unattractive leaves) will keep them looking their best. In containers, hanging baskets and window boxes annuals need regular watering and fertilization
While bedding plants must be replaced seasonally, long lived hardy perennials and trees and shrubs can provide color with less effort – particularly when using flowering trees and shrubs
Hardy perennials and summer flowering bulbs
Plant rudbeckia, yarrow, hardy hibiscus, Louisiana iris, salvia, ligularia (Farfugium japonicum), jewels of Opar, Chinese ground orchid, phlox, native butterfly weed, gingers, lilies, coneflower, beebalm, Stokes aster and goldenrod.
Trees
Plant crape myrtle, vitex, redbud, fringe tree, Japanese magnolia, Taiwan flowering cherry, Parsley haw, mayhaw, Southern crabapple and snowbell.
Shrubs
Some good choices include azaleas, roses, loropetalum, star magnolia gardenia, camellia, sasanqua, star bush (Illicium) and spirea.
DanGill’syear-roundguidetoabeautifullawn
Branchingout
Asking a horticulturist to recommend a good shade tree is like walking into a shoe store and asking the salesperson to recommend a good pair of shoes. Without knowing your shoe size, what you will be doing in them, your taste, your budget and a variety of other factors, the salesperson won’t be able to help you select the right shoes
1 2 3 4 5
Choosing
Other characteristics that need to be determined before deciding the best tree for your landscape include:
Should the tree be evergreen or deciduous?
Should it grow more upright or is a spreading habit more desirable?
Are you interested in any special characteristics such as flowers or colorful fall foliage?
What about fragrance or the production of food for wildlife?
Are there nearby powerlines or concrete surfaces (sidewalk, driveway) that need to be considered? This will affect where the tree is planted and the mature size.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
DanGill’syear-roundguidetoabeautifullawn
Branchingout
Live oak (Quercus virginiana)
One of the most popular and reliable trees, the live oak is widely planted. Growing up to 60 feet tall with a spread 100 feet or more, make sure you have room for this tree. Live oaks often require extensive pruning through their lives to lift the canopy. Long-lived and one of our most hurricane resistant trees, live oaks are semi-evergreen.
More upright growing oaks that do not spread like the live oak are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in smaller urban and suburban yards. Consider the Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii), Nutall oak (Quercus nuttallii) and the willow oak (Quercus phellos). They all grow to be 60 to 80 feet tall with a spread of 40 feet and are deciduous
Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)
A popular large tree that is resilient and long-lived. The large, lustrous, dark green leaves are evergreen, although magnolias drop their old leaves in late spring so there is still raking to do. The large white flowers produced in summer are richly fragrant. Mature size is about 60 feet tall and 30 to 40 feet wide. Dwarf forms like Little Gem or Teddy Bear are suitable for smaller yards
Drummond Red Maple (Acer rubrum var. drummondii)
Native to swampy areas, Drummond red maples are also perfectly happy in average landscapes. Trees grow to be about 40 feet tall and 30 feet wide. They are relatively fast growing, and some years produce nice fall color
Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum)
The upright, conical shape of bald cypresses make them a real standout in the landscape. Growing to be about 80 feet tall and 20 to 30 feet wide, they are deciduous and drop their needles in fall. Extremely hurricane resistant, they are best planted into well-drained yards to reduce the production of knees, which can be a nuisance in lawns
SMALLERTREES
Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)
A popular tree with a long summer flowering season, crape myrtles come in a variety of colors and sizes. In addition to selecting the color you want, do be aware of the wide variety of sizes of different varieties, ranging from 10 to 30 feet at maturity. These deciduous trees also often produce decent fall color
Japanese magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana)
An early spring flowering tree that produces large, tulip-shaped flowers in shades of white to dark purple, these trees mature at about 25 feet tall and 10 feet wide. These trees are deciduous, and the flowers emerge before the leaves making the floral display especially striking.
Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus)
A small, summer flowering tree that produces spikes of lavender blue in June/July and again in late summer. Maturing at 15 feet tall and wide, this deciduous tree is tough and drought tolerant.
Eagleston Holly (Ilex x attenuata“Eagleston”)
This evergreen small tree is a natural hybrid of Dahoon holly and American holly, and is known for its dense, pyramidal growth habit glossy green leaves, and bright red berries. Growing about 15 to 25 feet tall with a spread of about 10 to 15 feet, it’s a good choice for privacy screens
Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
A nice understory tree that will take some shade or grow in full sun, redbuds produce a profusion of tiny pinkish purple flowers in midspring. These deciduous native trees need excellent drainage and grow to be 15 to 20 feet tall and wide.
