The Acadiana Advocate 05-02-2025 by The Advocate

POWER THROUGH PRAYER

ABOVE: Attendees hold out their hands in praise Thursday during aNational Day of Prayer serviceatthe Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette. Theannualobservance is designated by Congress and heldonthe ﬁrst Thursday of May,when peopleare asked to pray and meditate. RIGHT: BishopJ.Douglas Deshotel speaks during theservice.

STAFF PHOTOSByLESLIE WESTBROOK

Former Hana GrillbuildinginLafayette sold

BY ADAM DAIGLE Acadiana business editor

Alocal groupbought the old Hana Grill in Lafayette with the hopes of opening arestaurant along the Vermilion River Agroup led by Lafayette business owner Jonathan Foreman bought the building at 1601 W. Pinhook Road for just under$1millionfrom aMississippi-based seller in adeal that closed Monday,according to landrecords. Foremanand hisbrother, Patrick, whoown an oil and gas equipment

rental business, are looking for arestaurateurtopartner on the project. The current building will be demolished in the coming weeks, they said, with the hopes of having arestaurant opened in two or three years.

“Wegrewuponthe river,” saidJessica Foreman, theowner’s sister whois handlingmarketing.“Becauseofthat, we seeitasa huge assetfor Lafayette andone that’sextremelyunderutilized We would lovetobeable to put more energy into it.”

The building has sat empty since the Hana Grill closed at thestartofthe coronavirus pandemic ﬁve years ago and never reopened.

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Bills to ban fluoride in the state’spublic watersystems andmakeivermectinavailable over the counter have so faradvanced swiftly through the Louisiana Legislature, easily passing the Republican-controlled Senate. The proposedchanges are linked to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who this year was appointedtorun the nation’s health department under PresidentDonaldTrump. And they come as some Republican state lawmakersand officials across the country hitch their wagons to Kennedy’sMake America HealthyAgain movement. Louisiana Surgeon General Dr.Ralph Abraham, the state’stop public health official anda vocal backer of Kennedy’shealth agenda, lobbied forboth bills during public testimony before theSenate Health andWelfare Committee. He said both are “patient freedom”issues. “Putting achemical in the water without the patient’sconsent is problematic forme as aphysician,” Abraham saidofproposed water fluoridation ban.

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is nominating national

Astronauts perform 5th all-female spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. An astronaut who missed out on the ﬁrst all-female spacewalk because of a spacesuit sizing issue got her chance six years later Thursday

NASA’s Anne McClain emerged from the International Space Station alongside Nichole Ayers. Both military officers and pilots, they launched to the orbiting lab in March to replace NASA’s two stuck astronauts, who are now back home. Outside for nearly six hours, the spacewalkers prepared the station for another new set of solar panels and moved an antenna on the 260-mile-high complex. They were welcomed back inside by the space station’s commander, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. “We are so happy to have you back, and your dinner is ready so don’t worry about it,” Onishi said The space station had to be raised into a slightly higher orbit to avoid space junk: part of a 20-year-old Chinese rocket.

McClain, an Army colonel and helicopter pilot, should have taken part in the first allfemale spacewalk in 2019, but there weren’t enough mediumsize suits. The first women-only spacewalk was by Christina Koch and Jessica Meir This was the first spacewalk for Ayers, an Air Force major and former fighter pilot, and the third for McClain.

‘60 Minutes’ Harris story nominated for an Emmy It got “60 Minutes” sued by the man who became president of the United States. Now it’s up for a major award — for precisely the same aspect of it that so enraged Donald Trump.

Last fall’s “60 Minutes” story on Kamala Harris the subject of Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS — was nominated for an Emmy Award Thursday for “outstanding edited interview.” Trump, in his lawsuit, complained that the interview was deceptively edited to make his Democratic election opponent look good.

The annual News & Documentary Emmys will be awarded in late June. “60 Minutes” is competing against interviews with singer Celine Dion, U.S Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Pope Francis and WNBA star Brittney Griner The fallout over the Harris interview still hangs over CBS News. The news division claims to have done nothing wrong, but its parent company, Paramount Global, is reportedly negotiating a settlement with Trump.

Many CBS News journalists oppose a settlement. Former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens, who has fought against such a deal, resigned last month. Owens cited in his resignation the corporate restrictions placed on him in the wake of the Harris story, which is also the subject of an investigation by President Trump’s FCC chairman.

Trump complained about the interview again on Wednesday in a Truth Social post. This time, his anger spread to The New York Times, which in a story on Tuesday said that “legal experts have called the suit baseless and an easy victory for CBS.”

“They don’t mean that, they just have a non curable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” the president wrote, saying he’s looking into potential legal action against the newspaper

“The New York Times will not be deterred by the administration’s intimidation tactics,” the newspaper said in response.

CORRECTIONS

An article published in The Advocate on Wednesday on solar energy regulation misidentiﬁed the afﬁliation of Don Caffrey He is the president of the Natural Resources Management Association. A Thursday story about a bill to reform the police civil service promotion process stated Lake Charles would be affected by the proposed law Although Lake Charles is included in the bill, changes would only affect the Lafayette Police Department. The Advocate regrets the errors.

Trump threatens sanctions against Iranian oil buyers

BY JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened sanctions on anyone who buys Iranian oil, a warning that came after planned talks over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program were postponed.

Trump wrote on social media, “All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW!” He said any country or person who buys those products from Iran will not be able to do business with the United States “in any way, shape, or form.”

It was unclear how Trump would implement such a ban as he threatened to levy secondary sanctions on nations that import Iranian oil.

But his statement risked further escalating tensions with China — Iran’s leading customer — at a time when the relationship is severely strained over the U.S. president’s tariffs.

Based on tanker tracking data, the U.S. Energy Information Ad-

ministration concluded in a report published last October that “China took nearly 90% of Iran’s crude oil and condensate exports in 2023.”

Trump has separately placed 145% tariffs on China as a way to raise federal revenues and rebalance global trade.

Trump’s social media threat came after Oman announced planned nuclear negotiations for this coming weekend had been postponed Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi made the announcement in a post on the social platform X. “For logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd,” he wrote. “New dates will be announced when mutually agreed.”

Al-Busaidi, who has mediated the talks through three rounds so far, did not elaborate.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei issued a statement describing the talks as being “postponed at the request of Oman’s foreign minister.” He said Iran remain committed to reach-

ing “a fair and lasting agreement.”

Meanwhile, a person familiar with the U.S. negotiators said America “had never conﬁrmed its participation” in a fourth round of talks in Rome. However, the person said the U.S expected the talks to occur “in the near future.” The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on a half-century of enmity The negotiations have been led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian ofﬁcials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

The U.S. president with his

Ukraine, Russia exchange drone strikes; 9 killed

U.S. and Ukraine approve deal for mineral rights

BY HANNA ARHIROVA and ELISE MORTON Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine A Ukrainian drone attack left at least seven people dead and a Russian strike on Odesa killed two people on Thursday, ofﬁcials said, just hours after Kyiv and Washington signed a long-anticipated agreement granting U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral resources.

The attack in the partially occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine, which struck a market in the town of Oleshky killed seven and wounded more than 20 people, Moscow-appointed Gov Vladimir Saldo said.

“At the time of the attack, there were many people in the market,” Saldo wrote on Telegram After the ﬁrst wave of strikes, he said, Ukraine sent further drones to “ﬁnish off” any survivors.

Meanwhile, a Russian drone strike on the Black Sea port city of Odesa early Thursday killed two people and injured 15 others, Ukrainian emergency services said.

Regional Gov Oleh Kiper said the barrage struck apartment buildings, private homes, a supermarket and a school.

Videos shared by Kiper on Telegram showed a high-rise building with a severely damaged facade, a shattered storefront and firefighters battling flames.

A drone struck and ignited a ﬁre at a petrol station in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov

Following the attacks, Ukrainian Presi-

dent Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had ignored a U.S. proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire for more than 50 days now

“There were also our proposals at the very least, to refrain from striking civilian infrastructure and to establish lasting silence in the sky, at sea, and on land,” he said. “Russia has responded to all this with new shelling and new assaults.”

Agreement on mineral wealth

The U.S. and Ukraine on Wednesday signed an agreement granting American access to Ukraine’s vast mineral resources, finalizing a deal months in the making that could enable continued military aid to Kyiv amid concerns that President Donald Trump might scale back support in ongoing peace negotiations with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy originally proposed such a deal last year as a way of helping to secure Ukraine’s future by tying it to U.S. interests. Ukrainian ofﬁcials said previous versions of the accord would have reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country’s resources, but that the version signed Wednesday was far more beneﬁcial to Ukraine.

During his nightly address, he said that, per the signed agreement, there were no debts to be paid from past U.S. aid to Kyiv He said the agreement will be sent to the parliament to be ratiﬁed

The deputy chair of Russia’s National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said that Trump had forced Ukraine to effectively “pay” for American military aid with its mineral resources.

Trump to speak at University of Alabama

BY KIM CHANDLER and MICHELLE L PRICE

Associated Press

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — President Donald Trump will travel to heavily Republican Alabama on Thursday to speak to graduating students at the University of Alabama, where he is expected to draw some protesters despite enjoying a deep well of support in the state.

Trump’s evening remarks in Tuscaloosa will be the Republican president’s ﬁrst address to graduates in his second term and will come as he has been celebrating the ﬁrst 100 days of his administration. The White House did not offer any details about Trump’s planned message. Alabama, where Trump won a commanding 64% of the vote in 2024, is where he has staged a number of his trademark

large rallies over the past decade.

While the White House has described Trump’s speech as a commencement address, it is actually a special event that was created before graduation ceremonies that begin Friday Graduating students have the option of attending the event, but it is not required. Former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban is also speaking at the event. Trump’s presence has drawn criticism from the Alabama NAACP and the University of Alabama College Democrats. College Democrats are countering with their own rally calling it “Tide Against Trump” — a play on the university’s nickname. The event will feature one-time presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke of Texas and former U.S Sen. Doug Jones, the last Democrat to hold statewide ofﬁce in Alabama.

threat on social media would be going after Iran’s major economic resource. It produced an average of 2.9 million barrels a day in 2023 of crude oil, according to the Energy Information Administration. Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers did limit Tehran’s program. However, Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, setting in motion years of attacks and tensions. The wider Middle East also remains on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues an airstrike campaign, called “Operation Rough Rider,” that has been targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who long have been backed by Iran. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth early Thursday warned Iran over the rebels.

“Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing,” he wrote “You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.”

Driver who killed 4 in Illinois may have had medical emergency

BY JOHN O’CONNOR Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The driver of a car that barreled through a building used for a popular after-school camp in central Illinois, killing three children and a teenager, was not under the inﬂuence of drugs or alcohol and may have had a medical emergency, police said Thursday No decisions have been made on whether to file charges against the 44-year-old driver, Illinois State Police Director Brendan F. Kelly said at a news conference. The driver is not in custody, Kelly said. Evidence that she may have had a medical emergency was “not conclusive” and the investigation is ongoing, Kelly said. The car went off the road Monday crossing a field and smashing into the side of the building in Chatham used by Youth Needing Other Things Outdoors, also known as YNOT It traveled through the building, striking people before exiting the other side.

Six other children were hospitalized. Four of them remained hospitalized, including one in critical condition, a state police spokesperson said after Thursday’s news conference. Those killed were Rylee Britton, 18, of Springﬁeld; Ainsley Johnson, 8; Kathryn Corley 7; and Alma Buhnerkempe, 7. All of the children were from Chatham, a community of about 15,000 outside the Illinois capital of Springﬁeld. The driver was not injured but was taken to a hospital for evaluation after the crash, Kelly said She voluntarily submitted blood and urine samples that tested negative for drugs and alcohol, he said. Security camera footage showed the vehicle was “a substantial distance” away when it left the roadway, said Jamie Loftus, founder of YNOT Outdoors. It crossed the field, a road, the sidewalk and YNOT’s parking lot before crashing through the building “with no apparent attempt to alter its direction,” Loftus said earlier this week.

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A rescuer helps evacuate residents from their damaged house Thursday following Russia’s air raid in Odesa, Ukraine.

Trump’s policies loom over May Day marches

BY THOMAS ADAMSON and YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press

PARIS French union leaders condemned the “Trumpization” of world politics, while in Italy, May Day protesters paraded a puppet of the American president through the streets of Turin.

Across continents, hundreds of thousands turned out for Thursday’s rallies marking International Workers’ Day, many united in anger over U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda — from aggressive tariffs stoking fears of global economic turmoil to immigration crackdowns.

In the United States, organizers framed this year’s protests as a pushback against what they called a sweeping assault on labor protections, diversity initiatives and federal employees.

In Germany, union leaders warned that extended workdays and rising antiimmigrant sentiment were dismantling labor protections. In Bern, Switzerland, thousands marched behind banners denouncing fascism and war — part of a wider backlash against the global surge of hard-right politics.

In France, union leaders predicted hundreds of thousands would join demonstrations across the country, fueled by anger over U.S. military and trade influence in Europe Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused the U.S. of pushing Europe toward conﬂict and economic subservience.

“If the North Americans don’t want our goods anymore, we can just sell them to others,” he said.

In Spain, thousands marched in Madrid, Barcelona and other cities, with demands ranging from a shorter workweek to answers for a historic power outage that blacked out the Iberian Peninsula earlier this week. Trump’s name also surfaced.

“The world has changed a bit with Trump’s arrival,” said Ángel López, 56, a worker from Madrid. “The arrival of the far right to a country like the United States is a major global shift.”

Economic fears in Asia

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te cited new U.S. tariffs under Trump as he pro-

moted a sweeping economic package aimed at shoring up jobs and industry In the Philippines, protest leader Mong Palatino warned that “tariff wars and policies of Trump” threatened local industries and people’s livelihoods. In Japan, Trump’s image loomed over the day — quite literally — as a truck in the Tokyo march carried a doll made to resemble him. Demonstrators there called for higher wages, gender equality, health care, disaster relief, a ceaseﬁre in Gaza, and an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Tadashi Ito, a union construction worker, said he feared the rising cost of imported raw materials.

“Everybody is fighting over work, and so the contracts tend to go where the wages are cheapest,” he said. “We think peace comes first. And we hope Trump will eradicate conflict and inequalities.”

Worries over U.S. tariffs

Under overcast skies, about 2,500 union members marched from the Taiwanese presidential ofﬁce in Taipei warning that Trump’s tariffs could lead to job losses.

“This is why we hope the government can propose plans to protect the rights of laborers,” said union leader Carlos Wang. An autoworkers’ union carried a cutout car topped with a photo of Trump.

In Manila, thousands of Filipino workers rallied near the presidential palace, where police blocked access with barricades. Protesters demanded wage hikes and stronger protections for local jobs and small businesses.

In Jakarta, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto addressed a cheering crowd at the National Monument Park.

“The government that I lead will work as hard as possible to eliminate poverty from Indonesia,” he said.

Roughly 200,000 workers were expected to take part in May Day rallies across Southeast Asia’s largest economy, according to Said Iqbal, president of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions.

Big rallies in Chicago, L.A

In Chicago, thousands of people rallied in a West Side park before marching through downtown streets to

the lakefront. Some played drums and danced while others chanted “No justice, no peace!” The crowd included union workers, immigrant rights advocates, pro-Palestinian activists and students calling for better-funded public schools.

Latrina Barnes, a 48-yearold certified nurses assistant, said worries that Medicaid and Medicare might be affected under the Trump administration inspired her to protest in a May Day rally for the ﬁrst time. “We need to stand up and ﬁght back,” she said. Some used humor to pro-

test, including a Trump puppet, an inﬂatable Trump baby chicken and a Trump pinata shaped like a bull.

Hoisting signs saying “Immigrants make America great,” “Migration is beautiful” and “It’s not the time to be silent,” thousands of demonstrators marched peacefully through downtown Los Angeles. With bands playing and ﬂags waving, the gathering had the feel of a celebration.

The march began after a number of speakers demanded elected officials protect workers’ and immigrants’ rights. With the slogan “One Struggle, One Fight Workers Unite,” the event was organized by the Los Angeles May Day Coalition, made up of labor unions and communitybased groups.

“We’re bringing the fight to the billionaires and politicians who are trying to divide us with fear and lies,” said April Verrett, president of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 2 million workers.

BY RICK PEARSON Chicago Tribune (TNS)

CHICAGO Four Democratic state chief executives on Tuesday night called for Democrats to mobilize and protest outside Republican congressional offices to oppose President Donald Trump’s administrative actions following his ﬁrst 100 days in ofﬁce.

“It’s time to ﬁght,” Illinois Gov JB Pritzker said during a virtual town hall. “Everybody has to get up, stand up, speak out, show up And if you can’t go somewhere to do that, well, go online and make sure you’re speaking up and showing up online And if you can’t do that, how about calling your congressperson, your senator to make your voice heard? Everybody has got to stand up for not only what’s best for themselves and their families, but also their neighbors and their friends.”

The potential 2028 presidential aspirant continued:

“If you’re not out there protesting in front of a Republican congressman’s ofﬁce, or out in the street making your voice heard, or calling your friends in another state to have them do it, or showing up in Washington, D.C., in front of their ofﬁces, those Republican congressmen, then you’re not doing what’s necessary to put pressure on them to vote the right way.” Pritzker was joined by Govs. Tim Walz of Minnesota the unsuccessful 2024 vice presidential nominee, Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Kathy Hochul of New York in an hourlong, livestreamed question-andanswer event hosted by the

MeidasTouch Network. The online site has used its social media platforms and other channels to sharply criticize Trump and Elon Musk, the presidential adviser who heads up the “Department of Governmental Efﬁciency.”

The governors were asked about formulating a new messaging strategy following the party’s poor showing last November and current public polling indicating dissatisfaction with Democrats for failing to address kitchen table issues and for not helping working families — once a core constituency

The forum comes as Democrats also are trying to reconcile divisions between the party’s progressive wing and more moderate Democrats who feel the party’s leftward drift was a major factor to last year’s election results.

Of the three other governors, Hochul was the most vocal in echoing Pritzker’s call for Democrats to take their objections of Trump and Musk directly to members of the Republican-controlled House — with an eye toward the 2026 midterm elections.

“I believe that we all ought to be mobilizing. The best way for us to get across what we really believe is that you show up at your Republican congressman’s office and let them know: Quit shutting down veteran services. Quit taking away Social Security and Medicaid — and we know that’s what they’re about to do,” the New York governor said.

Walz, who was on the losing Democratic ticket in November with presidential nominee Kamala Harris, said the country knew what it was

getting with a second Trump presidency and referred to his tenure so far as “100 days of crap” and Pritzker called it “disastrous,” while Healey said that, on the economy, “the one thing that he ran on, he has been an abysmal failure” over his on-again, off-again tariff policies.

“Donald Trump killed a lot of things,” Hochul added “What he killed was killing our economy He’s killing education. He’s killing health care But you know what? He’s also killed complacency.”

“I don’t think there’s an American alive right now who’s watching what is unfolding over these last 100 days and there’s 1,362 more to go — that are feeling complacent or apathetic and are going to sit on the sidelines,” she said. “No. No. No. They are energized. They’re mobilized. They’re ready to organize.”

The event occurred after Pritzker gained national attention for a ﬁery weekend speech before New Hampshire Democrats in which he declared that Republicans “cannot know a moment of peace” as he called for “mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption” in telling Democrats they “must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.”

While his rhetoric drew criticism from the White House, his address also called out “do-nothing Democrats” who “want to blame our losses on our defense of Black people, of trans kids, of immigrants, instead of their own lack of guts and gumption.”

Pritzker was not asked

about his Democratic criticisms during the web event.

But Walz defended progressive policies and urged Democrats to speak out for and push such an agenda.

“You can’t appease authoritarianism. Call out their crap and just know that that’s who they are,” the Minnesota governor said. “Stand proud on our progressive values. Stand proud that we’re feeding children. Stand proud that we care about the environment. Stand proud and get out there.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA Demonstrators march to the White House during a May Day protest Thursday in Washington.

AP PHOTO By HADI MIZBAN

A supporter of the Iraqi Communist Party waves with a symbolic hammer and sickle and the communist flags Thursday at a May Day celebration in Baghdad, Iraq.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By AHN yOUNG-JOON

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions gather Thursday to attend a rally on May Day in Seoul, South Korea. The letters read ‘Let’s win basic labor rights.

Dentists raise concern about fluoride bill

Experts caution of more cavities, tooth decay

BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer

The efforts underway by Louisiana lawmakers to ban ﬂuoride from public drinking water are bringing warnings from dentists and health experts, who said Thursday that the mineral has improved dental health and that removing it from water supplies is likely to lead to more cavities and tooth decay

Senate Bill 2, which passed the Louisiana Senate and is now headed to the House, would repeal the state’s ﬂuoridation program and prohibit any public water system from adding the mineral.

Fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral in water soil and food, strengthens tooth enamel. Since the 1940s, many U.S. communities have added ﬂuoride to their water supplies for that purpose, and it is largely celebrated as a win for public health. Research suggests that drinking water with added ﬂuoride can reduce cavities by up to 25 percent.

Dr Felicia Rabito, an epidemiologist at Tulane University, said its benefits for oral health are well-established

“There is a robust body of evidence that shows these programs work,” she said, pointing to studies that showed how cavities rose in other cities and states that ended ﬂuoridation programs.

The Canadian city of Calgary stopped ﬂuoridating its water in

2011, and by 2019, elementary students saw a rise in cavities in baby teeth to 64.8%, compared with 55.1% in Edmonton, which kept ﬂuoridation. Decay in permanent teeth more than doubled.

cording to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

tion of childhood tooth decay.”

Both bills advanced out of the Senate committee on a partyline vote, with its six Republican members voting yes and three Democratic members voting no

The full Senate passed the bills nearly along partisan lines, with just a few members breaking ranks. The measures now head to the House, which is also controlled by a Republican supermajority

No more fluoride?

Senate Bill 2 would outlaw ﬂuoridation of Louisiana’s public water systems. But it would give residents serviced by local water systems the option to petition and hold an election to opt-in to ﬂuoridation.

The fluoride ban would take effect Jan. 1 should the bill pass and win Gov Jeff Landry’s signature.

“Informed consent is the major thing,” said bill sponsor Sen. Mike Fesi, R-Houma. “You’re being forced to take something into your body that you may not want.” Dentists and other health professionals have opposed eliminating ﬂuoride from water systems, saying it has dramatically reduced tooth decay and that there is no evidence fluoride causes health problems.

The Centers for Disease Control currently says on its website, “The safety and benefits of fluoride are well documented and have been reviewed comprehensively by several scientific and public health organizations.”

In Wisconsin, cavity rates increased by 200% in second graders within ﬁve years of stopping ﬂuoridation in 1960

Both cities ultimately voted to resume ﬂuoridation in response to the rise in tooth decay

“This has been a low-cost, very successful program for communities throughout the country,” Rabito said. “The children that are at greatest risk are those who don’t have access to good oral care.”

Fluoridated water, like vaccines and processed foods, has been a longstanding focus of skepticism for U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the position has been taken up by some conservative Republicans.

Kennedy has claimed it is linked to various health issues, including reduced IQ in children.

And while some studies have shown an association of ﬂuoride levels with lower IQ in children, it is only at much higher levels than what is allowed in the U.S. water supply said Rabito.

“It absolutely had no evidence at all of these associations at the levels that we have in community fluoridation programs,” Rabito said.

Louisiana’s fluoridation policies

In Louisiana only 38% of the population is served by systems that ﬂuoridate water, well below the national average of 72%, ac-

Kennedy last month told The Associated Press that he plans to tell the CDC, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, to stop recommending water ﬂuoridation.

“We’re talking about make America healthy again. This is a nonpartisan, bipartisan issue, with Secretary Bobby Kennedy, who is a Democrat,” said Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, of the ﬂuoride ban.

Lawmakers in Utah and Florida this spring passed legislation banning the addition of ﬂuoride to public water systems.

Ivermectin

Fesi is also sponsoring SB19, which would allow pharmacists to dispense ivermectin to patients over the counter, meaning a doctor’s prescription would not be necessary Ivermectin is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat some parasitic worms and some skin conditions like rosacea.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some people began using ivermectin to treat the virus.

“When I caught COVID, I took ivermectin for two days, got better quickly My whole family took ivermectin,” Fesi said. “I think it’s important for us to get it over the counter.”

Abraham said that, “every day in a physician’s practice, drugs are used off-label.”

“Ivermectin has been shown to have some quite impressive antiviral qualities, and that’s why some of us, including myself, started using it during the COVID epidemic,” Abraham said.

The FDA currently says it has “not authorized or approved iver-

In 2008, Louisiana lawmakers passed the Community Water Fluoridation Act, which required public water systems with more than 5,000 service connections to fluoridate their water, but only if the state could find funding for it. Only a handful of water systems in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Shreveport fluoridate the water beyond what is naturally occurring.

New Orleans water ﬂuoridation began in June of 1974, according to the Sewerage & Water Board. Dentists sound the alarm

Some dentists are sharply critical of the state’s move to eliminate ﬂuoridation entirely

“If this passes, we’re going to see a huge increase in childhood cavities, especially in areas with low access to care,” said Dr Jacob Dent, a Lake Charles-based dentist who also has a practice in Baton Rouge.

He said that while some parents may consider relying on ﬂuoride varnishes or other treatments, those measures don’t replace systemic ﬂuoride intake.

“If you take the ﬂuoride out of the water, what are you going to do to supplement it so we don’t have a downturn in oral health?” he said. “I haven’t seen anything proposed to ﬁll that gap.”

Dr Gregory Guerra, president of the New Orleans Dental Association, said he sees children with tooth decay regularly

“There’s so much disease out there, and it’s totally preventable,” he said. “Fluoridation is a major contributor to the preven-

mectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals,” and has “determined that currently available clinical trial data do not demonstrate that ivermectin is effective against COVID-19 in humans.”

Kennedy in a social media post last fall included ivermectin in a list of items that he said were subject to “aggressive suppression” by the FDA. The Idaho Legislature recently passed a law making ivermectin available over the counter, and other states like Alabama have weighed similar measures.

Louisiana House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, said, “I look forward to the conversations” in the House on both issues. DeVillier said he expects to see debate on allowing for a local vote to opt-in to ﬂuoridation of public water systems.

And he said he expects the ivermectin proposal to “be fully discussed by House members,” adding that, “personally I support the ability to dispense ivermectin without a prescription.”

Make America Healthy Again

While ivermectin has receded from spotlight in debates tied to Kennedy’s MAHA movement, ﬂuoride is ﬁrmly on the MAHA agenda, which in Louisiana is being championed by Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington.

Perhaps the centerpiece of the effort in Louisiana is SB14, sweeping nutrition legislation McMath is sponsoring that would ban ultra-processed food in schools and seek to restrict the purchase of sugary drinks using SNAP beneﬁts, among other provisions.

Tooth decay causes kids to miss school and parents to miss work for dentist appointments. Untreated decay can lead to infection, systemic illness and problems with the alignment of permanent teeth.

He also warned that switching to a fluoride toothpaste or inoffice fluoride treatments alone isn’t a sufficient replacement.

“The fluoride is incorporated into the teeth while they’re forming in utero and early in life,” Guerra said. “That’s a window of opportunity you’ll miss if kids don’t get it.”

The American Dental Association criticized Louisiana Surgeon General Dr Ralph Abraham for supporting the bill. The Louisiana Dental Association and the New Orleans Department of Health also oppose the ﬂuoride ban.

What happens next

If passed by the House and signed into law by Gov Jeff Landry, Louisiana’s ﬂuoride ban would take effect Jan. 1.

Under the bill, public water systems would only be allowed to add ﬂuoride back if at least 15% of registered voters in the affected area sign a petition requesting ﬂuoridation, and a majority votes to approve the measure in an election.

No similar election can have occurred in the previous four years.

Residents can check their water system’s fluoridation levels at the CDC’s My Water’s Fluoride Website.

Email Emily Woodruff at ewoodruff@theadvocate.com.

McMath this week said 30 state legislatures across the country are debating measures that are part of the MAHA movement.

“I think for the ﬁrst time in a very long time, and perhaps maybe ever Americans (and) Louisianians, are paying close attention to what our individual health outcomes are,” he said.

McMath has Abraham’s backing as well as that of Landry who recently invited Kennedy to return to Louisiana for a visit. Landry in 2021 when he was attorney general hosted Kennedy as a guest. Kennedy at the time told state lawmakers the COVID-19 vaccine “is the deadliest vaccine ever made.”

On Thursday, Landry announced an executive order directing the state’s Department of Children and Family Services, which administers Louisiana’s SNAP program, to ask the federal government for a waiver to exclude soft drinks and candy from eligibility for SNAP purchases.

The order also urges the Legislature to pass SB14.

In a video on social media, Landry said he listened to testimony from moms, doctors and community leaders supporting McMath’s “incredibly important Make America Healthy Again bill.”

“Our nation is stronger when we are healthier,” he said. “And I’m committed to working alongside President Trump and Secretary Kennedy to bring the Make America Healthy Again movement to every corner of our state.”

Email Alyse Pfeil at alyse. pfeil@theadvocate.com.

“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations. From his time in uniform on the battleﬁeld in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests ﬁrst,” Trump wrote on social media.

“In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department. Together, we will continue to ﬁght tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN.”

There is precedent for the secretary of state to serve simultaneously as national security adviser Henry Kissinger held both positions from 1973 to 1975.

It’s not clear how long Rubio will hold both roles.

But he’ll be doing double duty at a moment when the Trump administration is facing no shortage of foreign policy challenges the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and an uncertain world economy in the midst of Trump’s global tariff war Waltz came under searing criticism in March after revelations that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on an encrypted messaging app that was used to discuss planning for a sensitive military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.

Trump’s decision to move Waltz to the U.N comes weeks after he pulled his pick for the job, Rep. Elise Stefanik, of New York, from consideration over fears about Republicans’ tight voting margins in the U.S. House.

“I’m deeply honored to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation,” Waltz said Thursday. His shift from national security adviser to U.N. ambassador nominee means he will now have to face a Senate conﬁrmation hearing

HANA

Continued from page 1A

The building is in poor shape, one real estate agent noted, and needs to be demolished. That restaurant, and its predecessor Tokyo Live, did not utilize the river and the scenic outlook, Patrick Foreman noted.

It’s been years, possibly since the Vermilion Landing Restaurant that opened in 1974, that a restaurant at that site incorporated the river into its business concept, he said. The owners want the building to have outdoor vibes with covered seating and live music.

“The vibe (of the recent restaurants) wasn’t right for it to be on the river,” he said. “You’d go inside, and you don’t feel like you’re on the river.”

It’s the second time the building has changed hands since Hana Grill closed. The seller, an LLC registered to Shaggy’s restaurants partner Rimmer Covington Jr bought the building in 2022 for just over $1 million, according to land records. Shaggy’s has multiple locations along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and one in Pensacola, Florida but the owners never developed the Lafayette site.

The Gleason Group represented both sides of the sale.

Email Adam Daigle at adaigle@ theadvocate.com.

Judge in South Texas bars deportations of Venezuelans

Case would head to N.O. circuit if appealed

BY NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press

A federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans from South Texas under an 18th-century wartime law and said President Donald Trump’s invocation of it was “unlawful.”

U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr is the ﬁrst judge to rule that the Alien Enemies Act cannot be used against people who, the Republican administration claims, are gang members invading the United States.

“Neither the Court nor the parties question that the Executive Branch can direct the detention and removal of aliens who engage in criminal activity in the United States,” wrote Rodriguez, who was nominated by Trump in 2018. But, the judge said, “the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.”

In March, Trump issued a proclamation claiming that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was invading the U.S. He said he had special powers to deport immigrants, identified by his administration as gang members, without the usual court proceedings.

“The Court concludes that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful,” Rodriguez wrote.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

BY LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press

WASHINGTON The number of sexual assaults reported across the U.S. military dipped by nearly 4% last year, fueled by a signiﬁcant drop in the Army, according to a new Pentagon report It was the second year in a row with a decrease, reversing a troubling trend that has plagued the Defense Department for more than a decade.

Senior defense officials said that while the decline is a good sign, the number of reported assaults is still too high and the military needs to do more to get victims to report the often undisclosed crime. According to the report, there were 8,195 reported sexual assaults in 2024 involving members of the military compared with 8,515 in 2023. In 2022, there were 8,942 reported sexual assaults, a spike that triggered widespread alarm and led to new programs and an infusion of funding to try to combat the problem. The overall decrease was

The chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, DN.Y., said in a statement the judge had made clear “what we all knew to be true: The Trump administration illegally used the Alien Enemies Act to deport people without due process.”

The Alien Enemies Act has only been used three times before in U.S. history most recently during World War II, when it was cited to intern Japanese-Americans.

The proclamation triggered a ﬂurry of litigation as the administration tried to ship migrants it claimed were gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador Rodriguez’s ruling is significant because it is the first formal permanent injunction against the administration using the AEA and contends the president is misusing the law “Congress never meant for this law to be used in this manner,” said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU lawyer who argued the case, in response to the ruling Rodriguez agreed, noting that the provision has only

due to a 13% drop in reported sexual assaults across the Army, which is the largest military service. All the other services saw increases. The Navy had the largest jump of 4.3%, while the Air Force had a 2.2% increase and the Marine Corps rose by less than 1% Of the 8,195 total, there were 512 service members who reported an assault that happened before they entered the military The Pentagon encourages reporting so that victims can get any support they need. In addition, 641 were civilians who said they were assaulted by a member of the military Speaking to reporters Thursday, Nate Galbreath, director of the Pentagon’s sexual assault prevention and response ofﬁce, said it’s still not clear how the Trump administration’s personnel and budget cuts will affect these programs He said ofﬁcials are asking for details on the number of assault prevention staff who have been laid off or who took any of the early retirement offers.

Andra Tharp, director of the command climate ofﬁce,

been used during the two World Wars and the War of 1812. Trump claimed Tren de Aragua was acting at the behest of the Venezuelan government, but Rodriguez found that the activities the administration accused it of did not amount to an invasion or “predatory incursion,” as the statute requires.

“The Proclamation makes no reference to and in no manner suggests that a threat exists of an organized, armed group of individuals entering the United States at the direction of Venezuela to conquer the country or assume control over a portion of the nation,” Rodriguez wrote. “Thus, the Proclamation’s language cannot be read as describing conduct that falls within the meaning of ‘invasion’ for purposes of the AEA.”

If the administration appeals, it would go ﬁrst to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals. That is among the nation’s most conservative appeals courts and it also has ruled against what it saw as overreach on immigration mat-

added that “when the hiring freeze went into effect, there were about 300 prevention workforce positions posted on USA jobs that are essentially on hold.” But, she said, some departments have been able to get exemptions.

While reported assaults decreased, the number of sexual harassment complaints went from 2,980 in 2023 to 3,014 last year Most were ﬁled by female service members, and the vast majority of those accused were male.

The number of cases in which misconduct was substantiated increased a bit last year over the 2023 total. The number of discharges and administrative actions against alleged perpetrators continued to increase, and court-martial charges declined — both trends going back several years.

Ofﬁcials noted that nearly three-quarters of the courtmartial cases ended in convictions, a slight increase over the previous year As in previous years, most sexual assault reports are ﬁled by those between ages 18 and 24 and involve lowerranking service members.

Supreme Court asked to strip legal protections from Venezuelans

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to strip temporary legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to being deported.

The Justice Department asked the high court to put on hold a ruling from a

ters by both the Obama and Biden administrations In those cases, Democratic administrations had sought to make it easier for immigrants to remain in the U.S.

federal judge in San Francisco that kept in place Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans that would have otherwise expired last month. A federal appeals court had earlier rejected the administration’s request.

President Donald Trump’s administration has moved aggressively to withdraw various protec-

The administration, as it has in other cases challenging its expansive view of presidential power, could turn to appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, in the form of an emergency motion for a stay pending an appeal.

tions that have allowed immigrants to remain in the country including ending TPS for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians. TPS is granted in 18-month increments to people already in the U.S. whose countries are deemed unsafe for return due to natural disaster or civil strife.

The Supreme Court already has weighed in once on the issue of deportations under the AEA. The justices held that migrants alleged to be gang members must be given “reasonable time” to contest their removal from the country The court has not specified the length of time. It’s possible that the losing side in the 5th Circuit would file an emergency appeal with the justices that also would ask them to shortcircuit lower court action in favor of a deﬁnitive ruling from the nation’s highest court. Such a decision would be months away, at least.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ARIANA CUBILLOS

The relatives of Venezuelan migrants in the U.S protest April 9 outside the United Nations building in Caracas, Venezuela. The migrants were flown to a prison in El Salvador by the U.S government who alleged they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang

BRIEFS FROM STAFFAND WIRE REPORTS

McDonald’sstore traffic falls unexpectedly

McDonald’sstore trafﬁc fell further than expected in the ﬁrst quarter as economic uncertainty weighed on diners.

The trouble was particularlyacute in the U.S., where same-store sales —orsales at locations open at least ayear —slumped 3.6%. That wasthe biggest U.S. decline McDonald’s hasseen since 2020, whena pandemic shuttered stores and restaurants and other public spaces nationwide

McDonald’sChairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski said lower-and middle-incomeconsumers, worried aboutinﬂation and the economic outlook, cut back on fast food duringthe January-March period.

Industrywide traffic from consumers making$45,000 per year or less wasdownbydouble-digit percentages, he said, and traffic from middle-incomeconsumers was down nearly as much. Only traffic from those making $100,000 or more remainedsolid,hesaid.

McDonald’srivals have reported similar downturns. Yum Brands, which owns the Taco Bell,KFC, Habit Burger & Grilland PizzaHut brands, said Wednesday that itsU.S.samestore sales fell 2% in the first quarter. Chipotle also reported weaker-than-expected samestore sales in the ﬁrst quarter

Ninja-branded pressure cookersrecalled

SharkNinja is recallingmore than 2million pressure cookers sold in the U.S. and Canada after consumers reported more than 100 burn injuries spanning from ahazard that can cause hot food to spew out. According to arecall notice published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissionon Thursday,Ninja-branded“Foodi OP300 Series Multi-Function Pressure Cookers” havealid that can be opened while the cooker is in use. That can cause hotcontentstoescapefromthe product, posing serious burn risks.

SharkNinja has received106 reports of burn injuries in the U.S. —including more than 50 reports of second or third-degreeburns to the face or body, per theCPSC, which adds that 26 lawsuits have been filed as aresult. No additional injuries have been reported in Canada, according to an accompanying notice from Health Canada. Those in possession of the now-recalled cookers are urged to immediately stop using the pressure-cooking function and contact Massachusetts-based SharkNinja for afree replacement lid. But you can still use the cookers’ other functions, including air frying, which are not affected by the recall

The multiuse cookers were made in China and sold between early 2019 and the spring of 2025 at major retailers like Walmart Costco, Sam’sClub, Amazon and Target, as well as Ninjakitchen com, for about $200.

Average 30-year mortgage rate eases

The average rate on a30-year mortgage in the U.S. easedagain this week, modest relief for prospective home shoppers during what’straditionally the busiest time of the year for the housing market.

The rate fell to 6.76% from 6.81% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday Ayear ago, the rate averaged 7.22%.

Borrowing costson15-year fixed-rate mortgages,popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell. The average rate dropped to 5.92% from 5.94% last week. It’sdown from 6.47% ayear ago, Freddie Mac said. After climbing to ajustabove 7% in mid-January,the average rate on a30-year mortgage has remained above 6.62%, whereit was just three weeks ago. It then spiked above 6.8% the next two weeks, reﬂecting volatilityinthe 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders useasaguide to pricing home loans.

Microsoft, Meta boostWallStreet

BigTechcompanies report bigger profits

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEWYORK Microsoft and Meta

Platforms led Wall Street higher Thursday after theBig Tech companiesreported profitsfor the start of the year that were even bigger than analysts expected.

The S&P 500 rose for an eighth straight gain, its longest winning streak since August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also climbed.

Microsoft rallied 7.6% after the software giant said strength in its cloud computingand artiﬁcial intelligencebusinessesdrove its

overall revenue up 13% from a year earlier Meta, theparent company of Facebook andInstagram, also topped analysts’ targets for revenue and profit in the latestquarter.Itsaid AI tools helped boost its advertising revenue, and its stock climbed 4.2%. They’re two of themost influential stocks within the S&P 500 andother indexesbecause of their massive sizes, andtheyweren’t alone. CVSHealth, Carrier Global and abevy of other companies also joined the stream of betterthan-expected profit reports that have helped steadyWall Street

over thelastweek. TheS&P 500 is backtowithin9%ofits record setearlier thisyear,after brieﬂy dropping nearly 20% below the mark.

Still, plenty of uncertainty remains about whetherPresident Donald Trump’strade warwill force the economy into arecession. Even though companies have been reportingbetter proﬁtsfor theﬁrst three months of the year than analysts expected, manyCEOs are remaining cautious about the rest of the year

General Motors cut its forecast for proﬁt in 2025, forexample.It said it’sassuming it will feel ahit of $4 billion to $5 billion because of tariffs, and it expects to offset at least 30% of it. GM’s stock slipped

0.4%. The uncertainty has already shown up in surveys of consumers, which say pessimism is shooting higher about where the economy heading. On Thursday,acouple reports aboutthe economy came in mixed, following up on several recent updates that suggested it’s weakening.

The first of the reports said more U.S. workers filed for unemploymentbenefits last week than economists had forecast, setting the stage for amore comprehensive report on the job market arriving Friday

But alater update said U.S. manufacturing activity wasbetter last month than economists had feared, though it still contracted again.

BYANNE D’INNOCENZIO and

DIDI

TANG Associated Press

NEWYORK Consumers can expecthigher prices and delivery delayswhen theTrumpadministration ends aduty-free exemption on low-value imports from ChinaonFriday

Theexpiration of the so-called de minimis rule that has allowed as many as 4million low-value parcels to come into theU.S every day —mostlyfrom China —isalso forcing businesses that have built their models on sourcing production in China to rethinktheir practices in order to keeptheircosts down. Butsomemight actually beneﬁtfrom thetermination of the duty exemption. For instance, companies that make their goods in the U.S. mayfeel relief from the competition of cheap Chinese

It’llbeVenture Global’s second plant

imports, andlikelyexperience a brighter sales outlook.

Themove, which appliesto goods originating from mainland China and Hong Kong, comes on top of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs totaling 145% on China. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs of 125% on theU.S., fueling atrade war between the world’stwo largest economies. Sellers are already seeing cautiousconsumers.

On Wednesday, Trumpcalled thedeminimis exemption “a big scam going on against our country,against really small businesses.

Introduced in 1938, thedeminimis exception was intended to facilitate the ﬂowofsmall packages valued at no more than $5, the equivalent of about $109 today. The threshold rose to $800 in 2016. Butthe rapid rise of crossbordere-commerce, drivenby

China,has challengedthe intent of the decades-old customs exception rule.

Chineseexports of low-value packages soared to $66 billion in 2023, up from $5.3 billionin2018, according to aFebruary report by the Congressional Research Service. And the U.S. market has been amajor destination.

Consumerswill face higher prices and delivery delays now that parcels will go through a more complicated customs process to enterthe U.S. involving declaration andduty payment.

Businesses could factor tariffs into the ﬁnal price, or they can list them separatelyinthe same way as sales taxes. For instance, Temu,which is owned by the Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings, now lists “import charges” that have reportedly doubled manyitems’ prices. (The retailer also hasa “local ware-

house” option for someproducts, which are shippedfrom within the U.S. and therefore avoids the import charge.)

Parcel carriers will be burdened with collecting duties, and the paperwork to comply with the newrule could result notonly in higher prices but also delays and even disruptions to delivery, said Ram Ben Tzion of the vetting platform Publican.

Major commercial carriers such as UPSand FedEx have saidthey are well-equipped and preparedtocollect dutieson internationalparcels in compliance with local laws, including the new U.S. rule.

Commercial carriers will be collecting 145%tariffs on declared values. The U.S. Postal Service, agovernment agency that offers international mail service, can choose either to charge a120% tariff on low-value packages or aﬂat feeof$100 per shipment, which is set to rise to $200 on June 1.

VentureGlobal saidithas pur-

chase agreements with companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and ChinaGas for the LNG produced at theplant. TheLNG export business has been booming in Louisiana since at least 2010, when Cheniere Energy ﬁrst appliedtoshipthe fuel from its then-planned Sabine Pass terminalinsouthwest Louisiana. Threeother LNG terminals have opened in the state since then, mostrecently Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG, whichstarted production in December.Venture

Global announced plans in March for an $18 billion expansion of Plaquemines LNG, which would make it the largest exporter in North America. Earlierthis week,Woodside Energy madeaﬁnal investment decision to go ahead withthe Louisiana LNGproductionand export facility in Calcasieu Parish. The $17.5 billion facility is expected to start production in 2029.

Email TimothyBoone at tboone@theadvocate.com.

JusticeDepartmentsues4statesoverclimate actions

BY ALEXA ST.JOHN Associated Press

DETROIT— The U.S. Justice Department filed lawsuits against four states this week, claiming their climate actions conflict with federal authority and President Donald Trump’senergy dominance agenda.

The DOJ on Wednesday filed lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan over their planned legal action against fossil fuel companies for harms caused by climate change. On Thursday,the DOJ sued New York and Vermont, challenging their climate superfund laws that would forcefossil fuel companies to pay into state-based fundsbased on previous greenhouse gas emissions.

The suits,which legal experts say are unprecedented, mark the latestof the Trump administration’s

attacks on environmental work and raises concern over states’ abilities to retain the power to take climate action withoutfederal opposition

DOJ’scourt filings said thestates’ plans and policies “impermissiblyregulate out-of-stategreenhouse gasemissions andobstruct theClean Air Act’scomprehensive federal-state framework andEPA’s regulatory discretion.”

TheDOJ saidthe Clean Air Act —a federallaw authorizingthe Environmental Protection Agency to regulate air emissions —creates “a program for regulating airpollution in the United States and “displaces” the abilityofStatestoregulate greenhousegas emissions beyond their borders.”

DOJ argued Wednesday that Hawaiiand Michigan areviolating theintentof the act that enables theEPA

authoritytoset nationwide standards forgreenhouse gases, citing the states’ pending litigation against oil and gas companies for alleged climate damage.

Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel last year tapped privatelaw ﬁrms to go after thefossil fuel industry for negatively affectingthe state’sclimate and environment.

Meanwhile, Democratic HawaiiGovernorJosh Green planstotargetfossil fuel companies that he said should take responsibility for their roleinthe state’s climate impacts, including 2023’sdeadly Lahaina wildﬁre.

“This lawsuit is at best frivolous andarguably sanctionable,” Nessel said in a statement, which notedthat Michigan hasn’tﬁled alawsuit. “If the White House or Big Oil wish to challenge our claims, they can do so when

our lawsuit is ﬁled; they will notsucceed in anyattempt to preemptively bar our accesstomake our claimsin the courts. Iremain undeterred in my intention toﬁle this lawsuit the President and his Big Oil donors so fear.”

Green’s office andthe Hawaii Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Meanwhile,Thursday’s ﬁlings called the Superfund Act —a federal law enacted to address theharm associated with hazardous waste sites —“atransparent monetary-extractionscheme.”

Trump hassuggested thesuperfund laws “extort”payments from energy entities.

“By purporting to regulate theeffectofgreenhouse gasemissions on climate change,the Actnecessarily reaches far beyond” the states of New York and

Vermont, theDOJ argued, saying it incorrectlylooks to regulate nationwide and global airspace.

“At atime when States should be contributing to anational effort to secure reliable sources of domestic energy,” all four states are choosing “to stand in the way,”all four ﬁlings said.

In itsﬁlings, the DOJrepeated the Republican president’sclaims of America’s energy emergency and crisis.

But legalexperts raised concern over the government’sarguments.

Michael Gerrard, founder and faculty director of the Columbia University Sabin Center forClimate Change Law, saidusual procedure is the DOJ asking acourt to intervene in pending environmental litigation —as is the case in some instances across the country While this week’ssuits

are consistent with Trump’s plans to oppose state actions thatinterfere with energy dominance, “it’shighly unusual,” Gerrard told The Associated Press. “What we expectedistheywould intervene in the pending lawsuits, not to try to preempt or prevent alawsuit from being filed. It’sanaggressive moveinsupport of the fossil fuel industry

“Itraises all kinds of eyebrows,” he added. “It’san intimidation tactic, and it’s telling the fossil fuel companies how much Trumploves them.”

Trump’sadministration hasaggressively targeted climate policy in the name of fossil fuel investment. Federal agencies have announced plans to bolster coal power,roll back landmark water andair regulations, block renewable energy sources and double down on oil and gas expansion.

BY SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. The Republican-controlled U.S. House voted Thursday to block California from enforcing first-in-the-nation rules phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The move comes aday after the chamber votedto halt California standards to cut tailpipe emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, as well as curb smogforming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks.

“The passage of these resolutions is avictory for Americans who will not be forced into purchasing costly EVs because of California’sunworkable mandates,” Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Morgan Grifﬁth R-Va.,said in astatement

“If not repealed, the California waivers would leadto higher prices for both new and used vehicles, increase our reliance on China, and strain our electric grid.”

California for decades has been given the authority to adopt vehicle emissions standards that arestricter than the federal government’s. Democratic Gov Gavin Newsom in 2020 announced plans to ban the sale of all new gas-powered vehiclesinthe state by 2035, as part of an aggressive effort to lower emissions from the transportationsector Plug-in hybrids and used gas cars couldstill be sold.

State regulators then formalized the rules, some other states announced plansto follow them, and the Biden administration approvedthe state’swaiver to implement them in December,amonth before President Donald Trump returned to ofﬁce This week’sHouse votes fell largely along party lines, though someDemocrats joined Republicansto advance them. That would

make their waywestbound on Interstate 80 across the San Francisco-Oakland

be against the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian, who sides with the U.S.General AccountabilityOffice in saying California’spolicies are not subject tothe review mechanism used by the House.

Republicansused theCongressional Review Act, alaw aimed at improvingcongressional oversight of actions by federal agencies,totry to block the rules. The Trump administrationin2019 revoked California’sability to enforce its own emissions standards, but Biden later restored the state’sauthority

Butthe California standards cannot legally be blocked using the Congressional Review Act, theU.S GovernmentAccountability Office, anonpartisan congressional watchdog, wrote in aletter to Congress in March.

Newsom said theeffortis another signal of Republicans’ideological shiftover thedecades from an era in which former presidents RichardNixon and Ronald Reagan signed landmark environmental lawstoone in which Trump is pushing for environmental rollbacks

“Clean air didn’tused to be political,”Newsomsaidina statement. “Ourvehicles

program helps clean the air for all Californians, and we’ll continue defending it.”

Aspokesperson for the California AirResources Board, whichpassed the vehicle emissionstandards, said theagency “will continue itsmissiontoprotect the public health of Californians impacted by harmful air pollution.”

It is unclear what will happen in theSenate. The SenateParliamentarian in Aprilreafﬁrmed the GAO’s findings that California’s Clean Air Actwaivers are notsubject to theCongressional Review Act, according to California Sen. Adam Schiff’s ofﬁce.

The American Petroleum Instituteand theAmerican Fueland Petrochemical Manufacturersapplauded Thursday’svote, calling it a“huge win for U.S. consumers.”

“California’sunlawful ban should never have been authorized, andGovernor Newsom should never have been allowed toseize this much control over the American vehicle market,” MikeSommers, theinstitute’spresident andCEO, and Chet Thompson,the manufacturers group’spresident andCEO, said in ajoint statement

May Day Strong protest comes to Lafayette

People

join downtown demonstration for worker, immigrant, LGBTQ+ rights

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

The rights of workers, immigrants and others brought about 30 people to downtown Lafayette on Thursday for a May Day Strong protest

The local protest at noon at the intersection of Jefferson and Convent streets was organized by Indivisible Acadiana and was in conjunction with a nationwide event by 50501, a grassroots movement that said it is focused on holding the U.S. government accountable.

“50501 wanted it to be a weekday to be disruptive,” Matthew Isaak of Indivisible Acadiana said. “We have to get past being shackled to capitalism, shackled to our jobs. Eventually, we need a national strike.”

Jefferson Street was busy with motorists, some who honked their horns and gave a thumbs-up to the protesters. Others stared straight ahead, not making eye contact. One woman yelled out her open window, “Yea Trump!” Lafayette resident Patti Daigle held up two signs stating, “All of my outrage can’t ﬁt on this sign” and “I cry liberal tears for humanity and democracy.”

Daigle said she was protesting to

See PROTEST, page 4B

“I want my grandchildren to know I wasn’t complacent. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be afraid of my government.”

PATTI DAIGLE, Lafayette resident, on why she felt compelled to protest

Storms in Lafayette possible through weekend

Chance of rain begins Friday afternoon

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

A week after heavy thun-

started moving through the area Thurs-

day and will continue into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Lake Charles. The area is forecast to see a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m. Friday with highs near 86. The change of heavy

chance of showers and thunderstorms are also expected to occur before 10 p.m., then a slight chance of showers between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. The chance of precipitation is 20%. The thunderstorms come a week after Lafayette ofﬁcials had to close 23 roads that ﬂooded early Thursday morning. Some Lafayette residents’

homes took on water, and some businesses, particularly in downtown Lafayette, flooded due to the heavy rain. Parts of the city and parish got as much as 6 inches of rain during that time. In the event of flash flooding across Acadiana, officials ask that motorists, “Turn around, don’t drown when encountering flooded roads.”

Email Ja’kori Madison at jakori.madison@theadvocate. com.

Bill would require pregnancy resources in schools

Information would share where to find adoption services, prenatal care

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

Public college and high school health clinics would have to share information with pregnant students about where they can ﬁnd adoption services or pregnancy care under a new bill that critics say could direct young women to unlicensed medical providers. The legislation, House Bill 478 proposed by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Houghton, requires waiting rooms in school health clinics to carry pamphlets and display signs pointing patients to the pregnancy page on the state’s Department of Health website. The website provides information about the risks of pregnancy and resources for pregnant women, as well as the number of an “abortion alternatives hotline.” It also refers to “the unborn child,” a term

A bill proposed by state Rep.

R-Haughton, right, would require public high schools and colleges to share certain information with pregnant students, including a list of agencies that provide neonatal care but not abortions. Critics worry the proposal would direct students to largely unregulated, faith-based clinics.

River

for fall Costs led to decision, organizers say

Staff report

Rhythms on the River, a free outdoor concert event in River Ranch Town Square, is pausing in the fall. A letter was sent from the River Ranch Homeowners Association to residents stating that the cost of the event has led to the decision Ofﬁcials in the letter said the event lost over $40,000 in 2024 and is projected to lose another $20,000 this spring.

“Because we are unable to afford both Rhythms and resident-only events, the board has decided to pause Rhythms for the 2025 fall season, meaning Rhythms will not take place this fall. Instead, we will focus on resident-only events for the rest of 2025,” the letter stated. Although the event started as a resident event, it’s open to the public and has been able to entertain the community with help from sponsors. Residents’ annual dues also play a major role in paying for Rhythms On The River and other community events. With the potential of “signiﬁcantly” increased dues, residents are asked to vote on whether to bring back the event, according to the letter states. The spring lineup will continue as planned. The Good Dudes and Mid-City Maven will headline the last performance at 5:30 p.m. Thursday

STAFF PHOTO By TRAVIS SPRADLING

Dodie Horton,

The local protest was organized by Indivisible Acadiana and was in conjunction with a nationwide event by 50501, a grassroots movement.

STAFF PHOTOS By CLAIRE TAyLOR

Protesters gather at noon Thursday in downtown Lafayette for a May Day Strong protest.

OPINION

Tulane must speakout,protect internationalstudents

Stan Oklobdzija GUEST COLUMNIST

The United States is once again proving that the only nation strong enoughtoundermine us is ourselves. The Trump administration’s recent attacks on foreign students have made our institutions of higher educationfar less attractive placestostudy and work. If American university presidents do not forcefully denounce these unconstitutional and unAmerican actions, our universities will soon be shells of their formerselves, like their counterparts in Russia, Hungary and other nations that have lapsed into authoritarian rule.

Tulane University —one of 60 universities speciﬁcally targeted by the Trump administration last month for alleged Civil Rights Act violations —ought to be among theﬁrst to draw aline in the sand and place itself on the right side of history America’suniversities are by far the best of any nation, pre-

Andrew Leber GUEST COLUMNIST

cisely because the best from other nations choose our universities over their own.Foreignborn scientists at American universitieshave won 90 Nobel Prizes and comprise 22% of faculty

Many of these eminent thinkers work in America because they came to study in America In the past several weeks, more than1,500 of these students— including at least two from Tulane —have found themselves the subject of both summary revocationoftheir legal residency status or imprisonment in ICE facilities thousands of miles from theirhomes —many just afew hours away in Jena.

In some of these cases, video footage has emerged of plainclothed ICE agentsforcing these students into unmarked cars in scenes thatwould not be out of place in police states like Russia, Egypt or China. Though the Trump administration caved

to legal pressure and moved to restore some of these visas on April25, officials told The New York Times that visa revocations would continue in the future. The official justification by several Trump administration figures is that some of these students’ legal statuses were revoked becausetheyparticipated in protests againstthe Israeli invasion of Gaza. While some of these protests indeed turned violent,none of the students detained was accused of specific criminal behavior such as assault or property destruction For those like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, it was enough that these studentswere “a participant in those movements” to warranttheir summary deportation The First Amendment does not just protect speech the government agrees with or speech by just onepreferred group of people. Rather,the First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of political speech to everyone standing on American soil.

University administrators are slowly beginning to speak out. Arecent letter signed by hun-

Amendments’failure offers cluestowhatcomes next

The defeat of all four constitutional amendments on the ballot in March came as asurprise to most political pundits. Particularly the margin of defeat and the size of the turnoutwhich, albeit small —21% —was certainly more than expected. Aquick look at electoral history shows that voters have been discerning when it comes to votingon constitutional amendments. Since enacting the Constitution in 1974, there have been more than 500 proposedamendments. Before this election, 321 had passed and221 had failed. That’sabout a60% pass rate,a failing grade by most standards. One of the challenges facingbill drafters is crafting “concise andunbiased” language to go on the ballot.These brief summaries are allavoter may know about an amendment. For example, Amendment 1was described as allowingthe Louisiana Supreme Court to disciplineout-of-state attorneys (this is already allowed bylaw). The ballot language added “andallowing the Legislature to create new specialty courts.” The latter provision wasseemingly the real purposeofthe bill. Voters either decided we have enough courts or they adopted the “vote no on everything” mentality and killed this otherwiseuncontroversialproposal.

to death,” legislatorsand supporters obviously believed the good outweighed the bad. Thepublic felt otherwise.

dreds of college anduniversity presidents —but notTulane’s —openly opposes “undue government intrusion in the livesof those wholearn, live,and work on our campuses.” This response heeds PastorMartin Niemoller’s famous aphorism of life in the early days of Nazi rule:Ifyou do not speak out, there will soon be no one left to speak out for you.

Universitieslike Tulane are respected institutions both in their own communitiesand throughout their expansive alumni networks. When we speak as one, we command attention andreafﬁrm our shared commitment to the moral foundations on which both democracy andacademicinquiry are based.

Moreimportantly,joining together now givesusstrength in numbers. As Benjamin Franklin supposedly said at the signing of theDeclarationofIndependence, “Wemustall hang together,or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

We urge President Michael Fitts and others in the Tulane administration to unequivocally and publicly denouncethe Trump

administration’ssummary revocations of students’ andscholars’ legalstatus. We further urge Tulane’s administrationtojoin otheruniversitiesinlegal action to enjoin the government and its agents from arresting, detaining or deporting university students, staff andfaculty for their political speech

Finally,weurge Tulane’sadministrationtopublicly pledge nottodivulge anypersonal informationofstudents, staff or faculty to Immigration and Customs Enforcementorany other federal agencies forpurposes of carrying outdeportations.

Many othercolleagues are currently at work helping noncitizen students navigate ahostile political landscapeand an uncertain future.

We encourage Tulane University to lead by example and show the nationwhatittruly means to act “Notfor oneself, but for one’s own.”

StanOklobdzija andAndrew Leber areassistantprofessors in Tulane University’sDepartment of PoliticalScience.

Anew modelisneeded with TOPS fallingshort

Legislatorsare looking into waysto improve TOPS to retain the state’sbest and brightest.

Jay Dardenne GUEST COLUMNIST

Contrary to somecommentary in the aftermath of thevote, this was not awatershed moment for Democrats. The party occupies no statewide ofﬁce and struggles under asuper majority of Republicans in the legislature. The state remains redder than abottle of hot sauce. Nor was this aSoros-led repudiation of Republican initiatives Left-leaning groups spent money, but not as much as those supporting Amendment 2. The amendmentswere trounced everywhere, including normally Republican strongholds.

Louisianans arenot “conditioned for failure” as thegovernor inappropriately suggested. Voterssimply were unwilling to accept this “one size ﬁts all” approach.

TOPS is an achievement-based scholarship. Studentsneed to earn aminimum ACT score of 20 to qualify for aTOPSaward. According to thelatest Board of Regents legislative report, the average ACT score is 24.5 and 38% of these high achievers earn abachelor’sin4.4 years, while 62% complete in six years, mostly after high school. The report also shows TOPS Tech students take 3.7 years to complete atwo-year degree after high school.

More to thepoint was the language summarizing Amendment 2. Thiswas avirtuallyimpossible task sincethe amendment was acomplete rewrite of Article VII dealing with taxation. Anything dealing with taxes gets the voters’ attention. The summary led with apermanentpay raise for teachers and areduction in income tax. It described all of the “good”but omitted the provisions that wouldbeg formore information.

The amendment embraced many of the reforms that had been advocated foryears by good government groups; however, it also included some problematic changes that resulted from tryingtoaccomplish an entire rewrite in asingle amendment(the state’sversion of “one bigbeautifulbill”). The legislative instrumentcreating Amendment 2asintroduced was not nearly as far-reaching as the115-page end result. The complexity resulted from numerous amendments.Asone legislator observed years ago, amendinga billrepeatedly is “loving it to death,” i.e.,making it so lengthy and unwieldy that it fails to pass. Although Amendment 2was “loved

Gov.Jeff Landry was wise to impose a hiring freezeinthe wake of Amendment 2’sfailure and the cloud of uncertainty hanging over thestate as aresult of the DOGE initiative and the anticipated revenueshortfall in the upcoming year.The next Revenue Estimating Conference will hopefully adopt aconservative forecast, as has been the case for anumber of years. It is particularly important to do so this year,based on the speculative nature of theﬁscal notes created to compare reducing income tax and increasing sales tax, which thelegislature did last year Thehope is that they offset, but thepossibility exists that they won’t.

As the Legislature ponders its next move,it would be wise to do several things: de-linkand separate thecompetingobjectives that were rolled into one bill; put the purposed amendments on a fall ballot when turnout would be higher; focusonreforms like gradually reducing and eliminating thebusiness inventory tax with some concession to thefew local governments which arelargely dependent on this revenue source; provide easier legislative access to therelatively new Revenue Stabilization Fund but protect the Rainy Day Fund in its present form

Iamconﬁdent that the Legislature will give voters another opportunity to make necessary changes in the constitution in smaller and more understandable bites.

Jay Dardenne is aformer state senator, secretaryofstate, lieutenant governor and commissioner of administration.

lege classes, either.Students must meet the sameacademic expectations of any other college students, placing “college ready” on the Accuplacer assessment and/or having aqualiﬁed GPAtostart taking college-level classes. We provide remediation support to those who do not meet these standards. And students are rising to the challenge.

Kevin Teasley GUEST COLUMNIST

What can we learn from this? Is the amount of the TOPS scholarship the issue or could it be something else?

At GEO Next Generation High School, we are seeing atrend that is worthy of consideration.

It’snot only leading to better student outcomes but also saving big money for thestate and its families.

This year’sgraduating class continues to prove thevalue proposition the school makes to its students— do your part and theschool will do its part to maximize time and money,making sure you earn a college degree debt-free before graduating from high school.

The student population at the northeast-side open enrollment charter school is 100% minority and nearly100% low-income. The “B” state-rated school created aunique partnership with Baton Rouge CommunityCollege, placing nearly 50% of itshigh school students on the college campus every day.Studentsstartasearly as ninth grade taking college classes. They learn critical soft skills college professors expect, such as time management, self-discipline and how to workwith others. In short, they gain theknowledge, conﬁdence and grit they need to be successful in college—all while earning ahigh school diplomaand college credential simultaneously This doesn’thappen without areal commitment from school leaders. GEO’s staff provides academic, social and emotional support to ensure students succeed at the college level. After all, mostare theﬁrst in theirfamilies to go to college. We don’trequire aminimum ACT score for studentstostart taking col-

Six (10%) earned their associate’sdegree in our ﬁrst graduating class. Fourteen (20%) completed their associate’sdegree last year And 20 (30%) of our 2025 graduates completed their associate degree beﬁre graduating from high school this year This is apositive trend. The impact of GEO’smodel extends beyond earning an associate degree in high school, too. This year,two of our six 2023 associate degree earners are completing their bachelor’sdegree from Xavier and LSUA, respectively,just two years out of high school. Three more will complete their bachelor’sfrom LSU next year,just three years removed from high school. Here is the real kicker.These students are earning these degrees without TOPS funding. GEOcovers 100% of all college costs incurred by our students while they are in our high school —tuition, textbooks and transportation —with the samestate funds provided to traditional public schools. There are no additional state costs.

GEO’smodel blurs the line between high school and college. We are improving high school graduation rates, accelerating time of college degree completion rates, using existing taxpayer resources (BRCC) and, perhaps most importantly,weare preparing students to enter the workforce and becometaxpaying citizens earlier in life.

TOPS is an important part of Louisiana’sfuture.

However,the Board of Regents notes that participation rates by minorities are moving too slowly to close achievementgaps fast enough. Hopefully,GEO has introduced anew,promising strategy to strengthen Louisiana’sfuture for all to consider

KevinTeasleyisfounder of the GEO Academy charter schoolsinBaton Rouge.

COMMENTARY

ROOM FOR DEBATE THE DEMOCRATS

After Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in thepresidential election, Democrats have struggled to define the direction of their party.Recent movesbytwo Illinois Democrats, however, maygivesomeindication.After serving 44 yearsinCongress,Sen. Dick Durbin announced he will not be running for asixthterm, opening anew leadership spotfor Democrats in the Senate.Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker,widely considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028, gave a fieryspeech in NewHampshire urging Democratsto fight the Trump administration with everything they’ve got.Are these changes asign that the party is readytowelcomea newmessage and anew slateofleaders? Here are twoperspectives:

Durbin’s departurestirs ascramblefor Dems

As President Donald Trump’spolling takes atumble 100 days into his second term —and Dick Durbin,the Senate’s second ranking Democrat,announces his retirement —avery oldhit tune by Ethel Waters comes to mind:

“There’ll be some changes made.”

I’m gonna change my wayof livin’, and that ain’tnobluff

Why,I’m thinkin’ aboutchangin’ the way Igottastrut my stuff

Because nobody wants you when you’re old and gray

There’sgonna be some changes made today

sue— including inﬂation.

“Voters remain gloomyabout the economy,as71% rate economic conditionsnegatively and 55% say it is getting worse for their family,” Fox reported.

Clarence Page

Oh, really? Democrats havebeen grappling with their own version of thatresolution, especially ever since the disastrous defeat of their party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, in November

“Ifyou’rehonest aboutyourself and your reputation, you want to leave when you can still walk outthe front door and not be carried out the back door,” said Durbin, the top Democrat on theSenate’s powerful JudiciaryCommitteeafter three decades in the upper body.

The “Biden Effect” is the label Rutgers University political scientist Ross Baker applied to the wave of goodbyes now rolling through the Senate, as some longtime stalwarts show signs of gettingtoo long in thetooth.

Having covered Durbin numerous times during his tenure, I’ll miss him. He had amasterful commandofthe issues, whether Iagreed with him or not, andI often learned alot from him —which is more than Ican say foralot of other lawmakers in the Machiavellian mud wrestling that too often getsinthe wayofthe government’sability to help real people with real problems.

However,Ialso ﬁnd alot of agreement with those who say too manysenior lawmakers are simply too reluctantorstubborn to step aside and give some of the younger whippersnappers achance

If there were acomplaintaboutDurbin that resonated with me, it washis reluctance to put pressureonSupremeCourt justices for some questionable ethical practices. If nothing else, Durbin wasan institutionalist, which is notalways bad but also has its limits when changes need to be made. His exit comes at atime when thetide seems to be turning against Trump.

Even Fox News, known for ﬁnding even the tiniest silverlining in any Trump tempest, offered little reliefto the president’sMAGA supporters in light of recent polls. Asthe 100thday of his second term approached,a FoxNews survey found voters approvedofthe job Trump was doing on border security,but displeased on just about every otheris-

Voters’ assessmentsofthe economy have improved slightly since December,before Trumptook ofﬁce, but only 28% felt like thingswere improving under Trump, while ahuge majority —bya22-point margin —think Trump’spolicies are further damaging theeconomy

Theyounger generation, as my own parentsand grandparentssoon learned, can bea lot less patient withthe problems their elders tolerate.

Forexample, about half of Americans approved of the job Trumpwas doing a week after he took ofﬁce, according to TheNew York Times averageofdozens of leading polls. About 40 %disapproved.

However,bythe 100-day mark, his approval ratinghad fallen to around 45% and more than half of the country disapproved of his performance.

Trumpmanages to eke out anet positive rating among voters on border security (55%), but on immigration voters disapprove at arate of 48%-47%. On the economy generally,his showing is 38% approveto56% disapprove.

“His worst ratings,”Fox concluded, “are on inﬂation (33% approve, 59% disapprove), followed by tariffs (33%-58%), foreign policy (40%-54%), taxes (38%53%), and guns (41%-44%).”

With much moredramacomingdown the pike in Trump’sglobal trade war, and as the deleterious effects of DOGE’s monkeywrenching of the federal government begin to dawn on the public, it’shard to imagine that voters will look more favorably on Trumporonthe Republican majorities in Congress that have let him operate unchecked

Yetwhat voters need to hear is aclear and persuasive alternative to Trump’s framing of theproblemsfacingthe nation. The Democrats seem still to be struggling with strategic direction: Shouldthey revive the“resistance” or (to quote Clintonista James Carville) “playdead?” Young Democratic insurgentshave suggested awave of primaryingtoget rid of feckless incumbents, and the old guardhas bitten back.

In short, both parties show signs of unease with their current leadership. We mayneed anew generation of leaders to step in, but, ﬁrst, we need to look for ways to give them some help.

Email Clarence Page at clarence47@ pagegmail.com.

Pritzker is theangriest Democrat in theroom

JB Pritzker,the billionaire hotel heir who since 2019 has served as governor of Illinois, wants to be president. Like manyDemocrats, Pritzker believes his partyhas not been tough enough in opposing President Donald Trump. Now,heisurging them to taketothe streetstoengage in massprotests,mobilization and disruption so that Republicans “never know amoment of peace.”Itisnot clear how far Pritzker wants Democrats to go in their disruptive activism, but when you vow that your adversary will “never know amoment of peace,” you probably mean just that, whatever ugly measures it might entail.

Sugarbush ski resort in Vermont who

denounced Vice President JD Vance before avisit there in which protests forced Vance and his family to relocate.

That wasanother reference to the ongoing debate Democrats are having about the 2024 loss.

Pritzker madethe vow in aspeech to Democrats in New Hampshire. Akey part of his address was to push back against members of his own party who say Democrats have gone too farleft and should moderate their positions in order to reconnect with morevoters.

First,Pritzker touted someofhis accomplishments in Illinois: “Weenshrined reproductive rights into law,” he said. “Welegalized cannabis. We protected labor rights. We joined the U.S. Climate Alliance.” Abortion, pot, minimum wage and climate —maybe that’snot acomprehensive platform, but it’s what Pritzker highlighted. And then he declared: “Wemay have to ﬁx our messaging and our strategy, but our values are exactly where they ought to be —and we will never join so manyRepublicans in the special place in hell reserved for quislings and cowards.”

It is common for aparty,following a painful defeat,tohave adebate about whether its beliefs and policies were theproblem,orwhether party leaders simply failed to communicate to voters how wonderful they were. The people who prefer themessaging explanation often prevail, because their solution moreand better spin —doesn’trequire any introspection.

So Pritzker was tellingthe New Hampshire crowd: Youdon’thave to change athing —just fight, fight, fight. SomeDemocrats really like that. Pritzker focused on thestories of three Americans he admires forfighting back against the Trump administration.“

He discussed Andi Smith,anEdwardsville, Illinois, woman who formed aTrumpprotestgroup; Gavin Carpenter,aYosemite National Park employee who supplied an American ﬂag displayed upside down as aprotestagainst Elon Musk and DOGE; and Lucy Welch, an employee of the

“Listen, Iunderstand the tendency to give in to despair right now,” Pritzker continued. “But despair is an indulgence that we cannot afford in the times upon which history turns. Never before in my lifehave Icalled formass protests, formobilization, fordisruption. But Iamnow.” With that the audience burst into applause, and one man in the audience yelled, “Yes!” Pritzker wenton: “These Republicans cannot know amoment of peace. They have to understand that we will ﬁght their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soap box and then punish them at the ballot box.”

If you get the sense that JB Pritzker likes to condemn people to everlasting punishment, you’re right. And if you get the sense that his talk will eventually end up where such talk always does, by likening President Trumpand his supporters to Adolf Hitler and Nazis well, Pritzker does that, too. He did not mention Nazis in his New Hampshire speech, but in aFebruary speech to the Illinois state legislature, he denounced the Trumpadministration and added, “Ifyou think I’moverreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes to dismantle aconstitutional republic.”

Later,inatelevision interview,Pritzker said of the Nazi reference, “I’m not suggesting that’sexactly where we’re going.” But of course, that wasexactly what he was suggesting.

The 2028 Democratic race will be in the newsfrom now until anominee is chosen. Lately,we’ve heard alot about NewYork Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez and the big crowds she and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have attracted in their private-jet “Fighting Oligarchy Tour.” But don’tforget JB Pritzker,who can match AOC radical idea forradical idea, whohas afew billion dollars in personal fortune to run as long as he likes —and whocan make sure Republicans never know amomentofpeace.

Email byronyork@yorkcomm.com.

Byron York

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByREBASALDANHA

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

Lafayettepolice: Manarrestedafter pursuit

Lafayette police arrested aman on vehicleand drug counts after acar chase.

Dedrick Senegal, 28, of Lafayette, was booked on counts of aggravated ﬂight, improper equipment, no driver’slicense, possession with intent to distribute Schedule Idrugs, resisting an officer and monies derived from drug proceeds, according to the Lafayette Police Department.

The Lafayette Police Narcotics Street Team attempted to initiate atraffic stop last week in the 2800 blockof Louisiana Avenue because of an obstructed license plate, police said. Senegal, the driver, refused to stop and made aU-turn on Louisiana Avenue, where he drove northbound at high speed and entered oncoming

PROTEST

Continued from page1B

save humanity,Social Security,Medicare and Medicaid, which some fear may be cut by PresidentDonald Trump and Republicans in Congress.

“I want my grandchildren to know Iwasn’tcomplacent,” she offered for whyshe feltcompelled to protest. “I never in my

BILL

Continued from page1B

favored by anti-abortion groups.

The pamphlets would also include alist of public and private agencies that offer pregnancy care, adoption services and care for newborns.

Those in favor of the proposal, alsoknownas the Signs of Hope Act, say it would be beneficialto young expectant mothers, especially those who don’t have strong supportsystems. But opponents say the bill does not require that the listed agencies be licensed health care professionals, raising concerns that students willbe directed to unlicensed providers.

Lawmakersonthe House education committee voted 11-0 Tuesday to advance the bill.

Horton, aconservative lawmaker whose previousbillsrequiredpublic schools to display the Ten Commandmentsand the U.S. motto “In God We Trust,” told the committee Tuesday that her aim is to let pregnant students know their options. She pointed out that before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, triggering astatewide ban on abortionsatall stages of pregnancy,Louisianaabortion clinicswere required by lawtohandout similar pamphlets.

“Praise God, we don’t have those anymore,” Horton said, referring to the clinics. She said she wanted to create similar pamphlets that students can takehome with themfrom school health centers.

Rebecca Bolen, aproponent of thebill, told the committee that having outside support and access to resources whenshe discovered she was pregnanther senior year of highschool in St. Tammany Parish allowed her to continue her education.

trafﬁc, police said. Senegal got out of the car on Maryview FarmRoadand ran from police, theysaid.He was apprehended shortly thereafter Inside his car, police found 195 grams of marijuana and $1,037. There were also active warrantsfor thearrest of Senegal,who is accused of being a drug dealer.

Asearch of Senegal’shome led to the seizure of an additional 8poundsofmarijuana and one pound of methamphetamines, police said.

Senegalisbeing held at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.Bail information is unavailable

Man sentenced in store robberies

ASt. Landry Parish man

wildest dreamsthought I wouldbeafraid of my government.”

Othersadded theirvoices to theprotest to ﬁght for therightsofthose in the LGBTQ+ community,who also are atarget of Trump and Republicans. Anne Hollier,ofLafayette, saidittook her whole life to ﬁnd the womanshe loves and married. Now she’s concerned about many things, including the loss of SocialSecurity and

She pointed to datathat shows pregnancyisone of the leading reasons teenage girls and young women fail to ﬁnish their education.

“These statistics representreal lives andlost opportunities, andIwas almost oneofthem,” Bolen said. Girls “deserve to know that their dreams don’thave to end with pregnancy.”

However,critics who spoke against Horton’sbill expressed concern that the required pamphletscould steer young peopletoclinicsthatare notmedically licensed, including to socalled“crisis pregnancy centers.” Those are faithbased nonproﬁtsthat critics say employmanipulativetactics to convince women to keep their pregnancies.

Michelle Erenberg, executivedirector of Lift Louisiana, anonprofit reproductive rightsorganization, said the bill “opens the door” topromotional material for crisis pregnancy centers.

“Public educational institutions have aconstitutional obligationtoremainneutral in matters of deeply personal and political signiﬁcance,” saidErenberg who signed up to speak on her own behalfnot her organization’s. “Requiringschoolstopromotethe viewpoints of nonmedical, religiously motivatedorganizations threatens this neutrality and exposes institutionstopotential legal challenges.”

Several medical associations say the centers are not heldtothe samesafety standardsasother medical facilities, warning that they sometimes useuntested procedures, such as abortion pill “reversals,” for which there is little scientiﬁcevidence of their safety andefﬁcacy In a2020 National InstitutesofHealthreport,researchers who examined thewebsites of 348 crisis pregnancy centers nationwidefound that 80%

pleaded guilty to agun charge in the robbery of two convenience stores in Vinton, holdups that ended in apolice chase across the state line, prosecutors said.

Bracelon Charles,22, of Sunset, was sentenced to 12 years and11monthsinprison, followed by five years of supervisedrelease, after pleading guiltytousing a firearm during acrime of violence, according to anews releasefrom the U.S. Attorney’sOfﬁce of the Western DistrictofLouisiana.

In October2023, Charles and ajuvenile drove to Vintonina2018 Kia stolen from aLafayette home, the news releasestated. Thetwo enteredTiger Mart,a gas station and convenience store, brandished firearms and demanded money from the clerk.

The clerk complied, giving them $400, andCharles and

funds in her 401(k) retirementsince Trump’stariffs tanked thestock market.

Lafayette Congressman Clay Higgins,aRepublican, who strongly supports Trumpand his policies, embarrasses her,Hollier said.

“Louisiana needs to wake up,” she said. “Wecan do better than that.”

Louisiana andLafayette Parishstrongly supported Trump during the 2024 presidential election. May Day,orInternation-

provided “at leastone false or misleading piece of information” regarding pregnancy, including some that falselylinkedabortion to adverse mentalhealth impacts,breastcancer and future infertility.Many also failed to provide transparent information about staffers’ medical training.

Horton declined to comment on the criticisms and redirected questions to the state’sDepartment of Health, whichwill be charged withprinting and distributingthe signsand pamphlets. The DepartmentofHealth did not immediately respond to arequest for comment.

Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge, expressed concern that medical providers may interpret the bill’swording as arequirement that they hand each patient abooklet, rather thansimply offer the information to those who wantit.

She successfully petitioned to add an amendment removing alinefrom the bill stating thathealth carestaff “shall offer a booklet to each pregnant patient.” The committee approvedthe amendedbill.

The legislation’sfiscal note projects it would cost taxpayers just over $270,000 during the202526 ﬁscal year and $128,000 each year after,though Horton told the committee those are estimates and thatshe expects the actual

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the juvenile left,authorities said. Minuteslater,the two enteredanother convenience store, demanding money from the clerkatgunpoint, the release said. The clerk handed over $400. Charles and thejuvenile then traveled into Texas before lawenforcementofficers engagedthemina high-speed chaseback into Louisiana,where they were subsequently apprehended, the release says. Trafficenforcement continues on road

TheLafayette Police Department’sTrafﬁcUnit announced it will continue its traffic violations enforcement efforts on awellknown cut-through road. Enforcementefforts will be periodically conducted throughout the day on

al Workers Day,stretches backtothe 1880s when unions in the U.S. were pushing for better workplace conditions, according to The Associated Press.

In May 1886, aChicago laborrally turned deadly when abomb was thrown and police retaliated with gunﬁre. Several labor activists, most of them immigrants, were convicted of conspiracy to incite violence, among other charges. Fourwere hanged.

costwill be lower once the state determines howmany pamphlets need to be printed

An outspoken abortion opponent, Hortonvoted last year against abill that would have allowed minors who are victimsofincest or rapetoterminate their pregnancies

She also expressed support last year for abill im-

South College Road to Ambassador Caffery Parkway corridor.Last week, over a four-day period, trafﬁc ofﬁcers issued 45 citationsin the area, the Police Departmentsaid.

The violations included speeding andrunning stop signs. “This enforcement is a direct response to observed trafﬁc violations that pose a risk to public safety in this heavily traveled area,” stated anews release.

From March 11 to April 11,the Police Department conducted acampaign that focused on reducing crashes at intersections and red lights. Officers issued 407 citations.

Thedepartmentsaidthe effort alongthe corridor will continue until asigniﬁcant reduction in citations indicates improveddriver compliance.

Unions later recommended that the workers be honored every May 1.

Thursday’sprotests came thesame week Trumpmarked 100 days in ofﬁce. During aspeech celebrating that time,Trump touted mass deportations andboasted abouthis tariff policy,according to NPR.

Email Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate. com.

posing harsher penalties on thosewho provide abortion pills to apregnant person without the individual’s knowledge or consent, and she co-authored another bill designating June as “Sanctity of Preborn Life Month.”

EmailElyse Carmosino at ecarmosino@ theadvocate.com.

DG NG

Different approach needed for UL’s road series

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Dickinson’sjourney to LSUwas alongand windingroad. Buthedidn’tget therealone.

aniel Dickinson remembers allof thesports-related mechanisms he playedwith every summerasakid There was abasketballhoop inthe driveway and goalposts and akickingtee in thebackyard. He hadtennis balls to throw against thegarage door and they owned apitchback net, adevice that allowed him to ﬁeldgrounders and line drives

Forhours, he’d hit abaseballtetheredtotwo strings that were connected to apole. Every time he’dhit theball, it would wrap around thepostbefore slowly unwinding and whipping back into apositionwhere he couldswing at it again.

“I was never an inside guy,” Dickinson said, “andI would never play video games.”

It was ahealthy and active lifestyle for akid growing up in the Tri-Cities area in southeast Washington. There was only one problem: He was often alone.

“It did get sad at times,” Dickinson said. “At times you would justfeel lonely.You’d be like ‘I have to go outsideand just throw aball off of agarage.’ But,I mean, it was good. It was ﬁne. Ihave no complaints, that’sfor sure.”

But for Dickinson to get to where he is today —a top-60 prospect in thisyear’s MLB draft, amember of last summer’s U.S. Collegiate National Team and a first-team All-WAC selection at Utah Valley before transferring to LSU in July —heneeded some guidance. Dickinson was raised by his mother and two dedicated coaches, mentors who helpedturn asweet andsensitive kid into

ahard-nosedsecond baseman eager to lead LSU into College Station, Texas, fora three-game series with Texas A&M starting on Friday (6 p.m., SEC Network+)

Sometimes he was lonely,but he was never aloneinhis journey to BatonRouge.

“It’sbeen thevillage that hasultimately taken over,” said Steven Whitehead, Dickinson’slongtime trainer,“to help guide this young man.”

Amother, afatherand afriend

It was aquestionhe’d often get,but Dickinson’sanswer stayed the same.

“A lot of people ask me, ‘Oh, where’s your dad?’ And Iwas like, ‘I don’thave one,’ “Dickinsonsaid. “And they’d (say), ‘Oh, you have adad.’And Iwas like, ‘I do, but technically Idon’tatthe sametime.’ ” Dickinson was artiﬁcially inseminated

from an anonymousdonor.His mother, Sharee, had Daniel as asingle parent and has remained single to this day

Sharee knew the donor’smaternal and paternal family medical historyand basic physical features, among other pieces of background information, but she does not know his name or have a picture of him

“I don’tthink it’sweird, Idon’tthinkit’s odd,”Danielsaid. “I knowit’snot common, but it was just kind of my reality.”

Daniel’suncle, Dennis, lived with Sharee and Daniel for afew years. His other uncle, Brian,has been aclose supporter of theirs.And Daniel’sgrandmother —who turns 92 this year —ﬂew outto Baton Rouge to watch him play against

ä See LSU, page 4C

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

The Kentucky Derbywill be run for the 151st time on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky Journalism has been installedasthe 3-1 morning line favorite to take homethe $3.1 millionﬁrst-place purse. Butthat might not be agood thing. Since 2000, just 29.1% of morning line oddsfavorites (7 of 24) have won theRun for the Roses. In thepast two decades alone, four horses have won the Derby with odds of 50-1or higher, including81-1RichStrike in 2022 Mystik Dan won last year’sDerby at 18-1 odds. New Orleans is home to some of the top horse racing experts in the nation. Each year Icorral agroup of them to handicap the race. This year’slineup is excellent, as always. Withoutfurther ado, analysisand selectionsfor the 151th Kentucky Derby:

 TOMAMOSS’ SELECTIONS

Twenty horses in the starting gate, all tryingtonavigate the shortest trip home to win.Welcome to theKentucky Derby!

The Derbyisnodifferent than trying to navigate rushhour trafficonAirline Highway. If youget stuckbehind slowercars, it doesn’t matter if you’re drivingaFerrari.

No one gets to see what that Ferrari can do.Jockeys, like drivers, have to makethe right split-second decisions, or theymay getstuck in traffic.This year marks the 151st running of the Kentucky Derbyand we have aFerrari in the field. His name is Journalism 1. Journalism (3-1): He’snot only my pick to win, I believe he has the ability to dominate the field. Coming into the race after winning the Santa Anita Derby, Journalism has looked brilliant over the Churchill Downs racetrack in the morning workouts.And he has something else, call it focus, athleticism, the “it” factor or as Iliketocall it “thelook.”you see it in special athletes.This horse is special. 2. Sovereignty(5-1): He comes from Florida, where he was second in his last start,the Florida Derbyfrom an extreme outside post position. It was abetter race than it

The signs of progress are certainly there forthe UL baseball team

The challenge this weekend when the Ragin’ Cajuns travel to meet Georgia State in Atlanta, however,isavery unique one. The Georgia State baseball complex is ﬁttingly the launching pad of the Sun Belt Conference.

ä UL at Georgia State 5P.M. FRIDAy,ESPN+

“We’re going to have to hit somelong balls, Ican tell you that,” said UL coach Matt Deggs, whose Cajuns open the series at 5p.m. Friday “You’vegot to be able to match some of what they do, but also you don’twant to give up twoand three-run jacks over there,” Deggs said. “Limit the damage—solo homers areOK. Play good baseball.”

Abrief glance at the statistics clearly show what Deggs means.

The Panthers’ offense hascollected176 extra-base hits in 45 gamesthisseason, including 75 homeruns.

By comparison, UL’s offensehas 112extra-base hits with only 31 homers. Conor Higgs leads the team with 14, but Caleb Stelly is next with ﬁve andnoother Cajun hitter has morethan two. Georgia State’spower numbers are led by KalebFreeman (.348, 13 HRs, 40 RBIs), Jesse Donohoe(.286, 12 HRs, 35 RBIs) and Colin Hynek (.237, 17 HRs, 42 RBIs). On theflip side,the Panthers’ pitching staff has a6.35 ERA but does sport ahigh

Steadier defensiveplay, Markle’s return givesCajuns an edge over Panthers ä See UL,

appears on paper.IfJournalismencounters traffictrouble, Sovereignty has the chance to beathim. But Ithink that’s

givesthe opportunity for ahorse that conserveshis energytopick up the pieces at the end of the race, and Burnham Square has abig chance to do that. .Havingjust wonThe Bluegrass StakesatKeeneland coming from well back, look for himrunning late to possibly complete the exacta. (TomAmossisoneoftheleadingthoroughbredtrainers inNorthAmerica.TheNewOrleansnativeisalsoa longtimeracinganalystatFoxSports.)

 MICHAEL BEYCHOK’S SELECTIONS I’m holdinga60-1

AP PHOTO By CHARLIE RIEDEL

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL second baseman DrewMarkle is back to playingakey rolefor the Cajuns after missing 12 games with ahand injury

page 4C

Cubs take Skenes deep thrice; Suzuki homers twice

PITTSBURGH Dansby Swanson, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki all took Pirates ace Paul Skenes deep in the ﬁfth inning as the Cubs pulled away for an 8-3 victory on Thursday Suzuki later added a two-run shot off reliever Kyle Nicolas as Chicago took two of three from the last-place Pirates.

Skenes (3-3), fresh off a masterful performance in a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last Friday, labored through his shortest start of the season.

The 22-year-old reigning National League Rookie of the Year lasted just ﬁve innings.

LeBron uncertain about NBA future

Lakers bounced from playoffs by Timberwolves

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

LOS ANGELES LeBron James

wasn’t ready to make any decisions about his future in the painful moments immediately after his 22nd NBA season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round playoff exit.

“I don’t have the answer to that,” James said Wednesday night when asked how long he will continue to play “Something I’ll sit down with my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it, and see what happens. Just have conversations with myself on how long I want to continue to play I don’t know the answer to that right now, to be honest.

The 40-year-old James has given no public indication he is thinking about retirement this summer, but Lakers fans will be holding their breath until the top scorer in NBA history makes his plans ofﬁcial. James provided no hints after recording 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the Lakers’ 103-96 loss to Minnesota.

“It’s up to me if I’m going to continue to play or how long I’m going to continue to play,” James said. “It’s ultimately up to me, so it has nothing to do with anybody else.”

Most observers think the fourtime champion is planning to return for a 23rd season, which would break the NBA longevity record he currently shares with Vince Carter He is also just 49 regular-season games behind Robert Parish, who holds the NBA record

with 1,611 games played. James already holds the league record for career playoff games with 292. But his seventh season with the Lakers is over after the Timberwolves’ 4-1 series victory Los Angeles didn’t build a winning dynamic quickly enough to the midseason arrival of Luka Doncic in a seismic trade for Anthony Davis James’ Lakers have advanced in the postseason just once in the ﬁve years since their championship in the Florida bubble — but if James returns, he’s coming back to a completely reconﬁgured team built around his new partnership with Doncic. James and Doncic played only 21 games together after the deal, and it wasn’t enough to maximize their potential team-

work. Another full year together could raise their partnership to formidable levels, and James still seems intrigued by the prospect of playing a full year or more alongside the Slovenian superstar he has described as his favorite active player

“Anytime you make a big acquisition in the middle of the season, it’s always going to be challenging, not only for me, but for (Austin Reaves) and the rest of the group,” James said “There were times where we obviously didn’t look so well, but I think we kind of ﬁgured it out later in the season, the more games we had. I still don’t think we had enough time to mesh, but for the time that we had, I thought we ended the regular season very well

to be top three in the West.”

Doncic isn’t the only teammate who could compel James to return: His 20-year-old son, Bronny, is coming off a surprisingly solid rookie season with the Lakers in which they became the ﬁrst father and son to play together in NBA history

Bronny James is hoping to carve out a bigger role alongside his father next season after getting sporadic playing time this year LeBron said the chance to work alongside Bronny this season was the “No. 1” accomplishment of his career

An eighth consecutive season with the Lakers would be the longest stretch of his career with one team, surpassing his first seven seasons with Cleveland — although he returned for four more years and a championship with the Cavaliers.

James’ level of play remained high in his 22nd season, confounding all previous notions of basketball longevity He averaged 24.4 points per game along with 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds. James remained the Lakers’ heart while they won 52 games and the Paciﬁc Division title despite the midseason roster upheaval.

Every signiﬁcant contributor on this season’s roster is under contract for 2025-26 except for Dorian Finney-Smith, who has a $15.3 million player option, and inconsistent center Jaxson Hayes.

In a moment of reﬂection near his 40th birthday last December, James speculated that he could continue to play at this level for five to seven more years. He doesn’t intend to stick around that long, however

Scheffler returns to hometown, takes lead

BY SCHUYLER DIXON AP sportswriter

McKINNEY, Texas Scottie Schefﬂer is happy to be back at his hometown event and showed it.

Cameron Champ isn’t far from familiar territory either which is a good thing considering he got the call that he was in the Byron Nelson as an alternate about 18 hours before his tee time.

Schefﬂer made the turn in 29 on his way to a 10-under 61 for a twoshot lead over Rico Hoey and Jhonattan Vegas, with Champ among six players another shot back at 64. Defending champion Taylor Pendrith shot 67 with players allowed to lift, clean and replace their shots in the fairways after the par-71 TPC Craig Ranch got heavy rainfall Wednesday

The top-ranked Scheffler outshined fellow hometown star Jordan Spieth with the former Texas Longhorns paired together along with Si Woo Kim, a South Korean who also calls Dallas home and was showcased in an event sponsored by CJ Group, a conglomerate based in his home country Kim shot 67, capping his round with a lofty chip-in for eagle at the par-5 18th and rolling onto his back in celebration. Spieth is 2 under Vegas, another Texas alum, had a bogey-free round along with Schefﬂer and Hoey The others at 7 under with

Champ are Stephan Jaeger, Michael Thorbjornsen, Eric Cole, Andrew Putnam and Patton Kizzire.

Scheffler missed last year’s event in Dallas’ northern suburb of McKinney for the birth of his ﬁrst child, son Bennett.

“Jordan and I love playing here.

This tournament has meant a lot to us over the years,” Schefﬂer said.

“Obviously last year I was missing for some pretty good reasons. I wasn’t too sad about what was going on in my life at the time.”

Back then, he had 10 wins combined before May over a threeyear stretch, including the Masters and Players Championship twice each. Now, Schefﬂer is still seeking the ﬁrst victory of 2025.

Not that he was playing poorly before posting his lowest round of the year Scheffler finished fourth as the defending champion at Augusta and has four other top-10 finishes this year

“I wouldn’t say anxious or eager, anything like that,” the 13-time winner said of seeking his ﬁrst victory in 2025 “I got off to a pretty good start today, and there’s three more days of the tournament Just focused on going home and getting some rest.”

Schefﬂer birdied four consecutive holes on the front nine and added one more before putting his approach at the par-5 ninth inside 5 feet for an eagle to get to 7 under

A chip for birdie stopped on the

lip at the par-4 11th the second of three consecutive pars before he pulled even with Hoey with a birdie at 13. Schefﬂer took the lead by putting his tee shot on the stadium hole the par-3 17th inside 3 feet.

Hoey, a 29-year-old from the Philippines seeking his first PGA Tour victory, started with eight pars on the back nine before an eagle on 18 triggered an 8-under finish over his final 10 holes. His 63 tied his career low on the PGA Tour Hoey’s best finish this year also was in Texas, a tie for 11th at the Houston Open.

“It’s been up and down, but from the start of the last season and comparing it, I think I’m doing a way better job,” said Hoey, who

LHSAA SOFTBALL SCHEDULE

won on the Canadian tour in 2017 and the Korn Ferry circuit two years ago. “Just feel like there are rounds I’ve been clicking; other rounds I haven’t put it up. Kind of nice to get the momentum rolling now.”

Champ, who lives in Houston and played at Texas A&M, was home when he got the call that he was replacing Gary Woodland, who withdrew He made it to the Dallas area Wednesday night and countered two bogeys in his ﬁrst three holes with nine birdies.

The 29-year-old from California won three times from 2019-21 but missed 35 of 55 cuts over the previous two years. This is just his fourth start of 2025.

His four walks matched his total on the season coming in and the aggressive Cubs pounced in the ﬁfth to turn a two-run deﬁcit into a 3-2 lead.

Verstappen skips Thursday in Miami awaiting childbirth

Four-time reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen skipped Thursday activities at the Miami Grand Prix to be with his partner as she awaits the birth of their ﬁrst child.

It is not clear when Kelly Piquet is due and Red Bull only announced Thursday morning that Verstappen would not attend media activities. The team said no further details would be released and that Verstappen is expected in Miami in time for Friday on-track action.Verstappen, who has 64 career victories, has won the last four F1 titles He’s won just once this season as McLaren has shown an early edge over Red Bull headed into Sunday’s race, the sixth of the season He is third in the series standings.

Gauff routs Swiatek reaching Madrid final

Coco Gauff overpowered defending champion Iga Swiatek 6-1, 6-1 to reach the Madrid Open singles final for the first time Thursday Gauff broke Swiatek’s serve three times in the ﬁrst set and twice in the second to cruise to a 64-minute semiﬁnal victory over the second-ranked Swiatek at the clay-court tournament.

It was Gauff’s ﬁrst win over Swiatek on clay Swiatek had recovered from losing the ﬁrst set 0-6 to Madison Keys on Wednesday “I couldn’t really get my level up,” the four-time French Open champion said. “Coco played good, but I think it’s on me.” The last time Swiatek won only two or fewer games in a match was a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Jelena Ostapenko in Birmingham in 2019.

Mich. St.’s Haller leaves; Izzo to be co-interim AD

Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller is leaving the school and deputy athletic director Jennifer Smith and men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo will serve as cointerim ADs, university president Kevin Guskiewicz announced Thursday Haller’s last day will be May 11. Guskiewicz did not disclose the reason for Haller’s exit. Haller played football and ran track at Michigan State and later worked 13 years in the school’s Department of Police and Public Safety. He joined the athletic department in 2010 and had a number of roles.

Under Haller, the Spartans won Big Ten championships in men’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s gymnastics, men’s hockey and women’s cross country

Yankees’ Stanton injured; OF De La Cruz claimed

The New York Yankees transferred outfielder and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton to the 60day injured list on Thursday while claiming outfielder Bryan De La Cruz off waivers from the Atlanta Braves. Stanton is rehabbing from torn tendons in both of his elbows and hopes to be back sometime in June. He began doing some on-ﬁeld hitting about a week ago with the Yankees, who open a series against the Rays on Friday night

The 28-year-old De La Cruz, who was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre, was hitting .191 for the Braves this season.

He was sent to their Triple-A

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK J TERRILL

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James looks up toward the scoreboard in the closing seconds in Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

ASSOCIATED

Mississippi State and stayed forevery inningofthe latenight series.

But outside of that short period living with hisuncle Dennis,itwas just Daniel and Sharee at home.

“We’ve had alot of sacriﬁces, but we don’tthinkof them as sacriﬁces,” Sharee said, “because we were able to do what we wanted to do, what we needed to do. We were always together.”

Sharee wasn’tjust Daniel’s mother,shewasalsohisfriend and his father figure. They were teammates as much as they were parent and child.

Daniel remembers the phone callsthey’d have trying to organize their schedules and ﬁguring out ways to get him where he needed to go, whether it was Little League practice or school.

“I just remember multiple phonecalls of just ‘Hey,we have to do this. What time? Do youhave to walk? Do you have to ride your bike?’ “ Daniel said. “And it was just kind of ateamwork thing ” And there were arangeof activities Daniel needed to get to back then, whether it was jazz band, spellingbees, drama and singing, to sports like roller skating, ice skating, snowboarding, basketball or football.

But none of those activities ever captured Daniel’s attentionquitelikebaseball. By the time he started to walk, Sharee remembers how he’d swing alittle plastic bat to smack plastic balls off awater baseball tee.

“He had atoy baseball tee that you hooked up to the garden hose,and so the water would come up through thetee, and you’d set the ball on top of the tee, (and)the ball would oscillate and go up and down,” Sharee said. “ I think that was one of his ﬁrst things that helped him with hand-eye coordination.”

Baseball quicklybecame the center of Daniel’sworld

Sharee remembers Daniel always watching the College World Seriesathome, calling her while she was at work about the games and leaving numerous voicemails on her phone.

“When Iwould get home, we’d have endlessconversations about howthe different teams are doing and who’swinningandwho’sdoing well,” Sharee said. “... So when the different coaches actually appeared on his phone (when he entered the portal), he was like, ‘Oh my gosh, mom! Look who this is!’ ” As baseball became Daniel’stop priority,the sport became Sharee’spriority as well. She’d play catch with Daniel and throw himsoft toss in the batting cages as recently as last year

Last Mother’sDay,her only request was to play catch withher son.

“I almost want to saywe played catch for well over an hour,” Shareesaid.

Shareehas never missed a game Daniel’splayed in,going as farasretiring early from her careerasanengineer to make sure she could go watch himplayatUtah Valley Her presence at games was something Daniel used to take for granted before college. But now,it’ssomething he deeply appreciates.

“She’sthe mother that all of us want,” Whitehead said “... They’ve been lockstep and key the entire way.He hasn’thad agreater support in his life than her.”

Howthe hotdog is made Daniel isn’tafraid to tell the story When he was in eighth

UL

Continued from page1C

strikeout total with 397 with 382.2 innings. The expected weekend rotation is right-hander Caleb White (5-4, 6.04ERA) on Friday,lefty Jake Hembree (1-1, 5.35) on Saturday and righty Ross Norman (4-6, 6.88) for Sunday Georgia State is regrouping from getting sweptby Arkansas State last weekend, losing 6-4, 6-5 and 13-4.

“They’ve had their good

grade, he was a5-foot-4, 160 pound “short, slow,fat kid” who rananeight second 60yard dash.Hewanted to be agreat athlete but hisbody didn’t allow him to become the player he wanted to be.

He could barely lift any weights.

“Mostkids that had his skill set at that agedon’t want to be good and already put themselves to theback,” Whiteheadsaid. “So he wanted to beatthe front. Hisathletic ability just wouldn’tallow him to do so at that time.”

GettingDaniel to where he wanted to be physically is where Whiteheadplayed an integral role. As the owner and founder of Elite Athletics Training,hebegan training Daniel when he was no older than 12.

Twotothreetimesa week, Danieland three otherathleteswould workout together under Whitehead’sguidance. The problem for Daniel was that he waslightyears behind his peers physically

“These guys are dead lifting 400 pounds at 15 years old,” Daniel said.“And I’m like, ‘How is that even fair?’ ”

He had alot of catching up to do and Whitehead wouldn’t slow down for him.

He was his trainer,but Whitehead played justas large of aroleincrafting Daniel’smental makeup. He became astern fatherﬁgure who never took nofor an answer

WorkingwithWhitehead was as much of amental test for Daniel as it was aphysical one.

“It was just like the father that is always on theirkid, is always pushing them to work harder,but in amore stern and kind of manly way than amom would,” Daniel said.“Becauseassoon as my momwould get on me,she would feel bad just because she’samom. Andthen Steven brought the kind ofhard working, ‘F-you’mentality to whoIamasaperson now.”

As Daniel began to work on hisbody, he alsostarted taking hitting lessons with Nate Holdren, eventually playing forhim and his River City Athleticstravel baseballprogram at 14

SimilartoWhitehead, Holdren also brought a mentaltoughness element to coaching Daniel that has stuck with him to this day.

“I had full authority as his baseballcoach through hisyears hanging around me to where Iwould ride himhard,”Holdren said. “I wouldget after him. He’d ﬁght back with me. I’d ﬁght back with him just because I saw something that he didn’t knowhehad.”

WorkingwithWhitehead and playing forHoldren isn’tsupposedtobeeasy

Holdren believesthey’ve lost kids because of their “tough love” coachingstyle, andthey both say thatmany parentsand playersinthe Tri-Citiesarea aren’twilling to go through the grind that’s necessary to become an elite athlete.

“I tell(parents) all ofthe time, I’mlike, Youdon’t want to see how ahot dog is made. Youjustwanttoeat it,’ “Whitehead said, “... If you’re really tryingtoget a kid to where he’strying to go, you have to break them down andbuild them back up. And most parentsdon’t want to seetheir kids brokendown.”

Holdren and Whitehead understand whatittakes to become aprofessional athlete. Holdrenplayedbaseball and football at Michigan and reached Double-Aasa first baseman in the Colorado Rockies organization. Whitehead is in theMcNeese State HallofFame andparticipatedintraining camp with the NewOrleans Saints in 2009. He later

moments and they’ve had moments likethispast weekend when it wastough,” Deggs said. “I’ve watched them play severaltimes andthey’ve got alot of talent. Iknow this frombeing there and watching them over the years, they’regood in that park.”

The Cajuns’improved play of late is largely because of steadier defensive playfroma more consistent lineup, including Drew Markle atsecondbase.

“Boy,I don’tknow if I’ve ever seen anybody with the sheerrangethat Markle has at second and center ﬁeld,”

played in theArena Football League in Alaska before ﬁnishing his football career in theTri-Cities.

“Stevewas notanNFL Hall-of-Famer.I was notan MLB Hall-of-Famer.But we got close,” Holdren said. “Wegot closer than basically everybody in our community that ever tried.So, ﬁrst of all, you know what kind of hard work it is. (But the) biggestthing is you know what else is out there.”

By his junior year of high school,Daniel’sbody had finally developed to apoint where he could realistically play collegeball. His late development didn’t resultinany Division Ischolarship offers, but he had started to garner interest from juniorcolleges.

Daniel was locked intoa commitmentwith Ottawa University,anNAIA school, by the time he was asenior. And by the endofthatseason,hereceived awalk-on spot at Utah Valley

The long hours with Whitehead andHoldrenwere finally paying off.

“The biggest thing probably starts with (Sharee),” Holdren said.“Themother trusting Steve, and what he was tryingtodotohelpher son, and trusting me, and what Iwas trying to do to help her son.

“At theend of the day,what we’re trying toteach her son are really life lessons of how you want tobeasa man that directly translates to you as an athlete. Hard work and determination. Thosewho workthe hardest are the mostdetermined to succeed and usually do.

Gettingthe call

Daniel was in Massachusetts playing in the Cape Cod Baseball League when he got acall from hiscoach at Utah Valley,Eddie Smith.

Daniel had madeTeam USA. The kid who didn’t make Kennewick’svarsity baseball team until his juniorseason would be representing his countryjust four years later

“It’sjust the highest level of college achievement in my opinion,” Daniel said. “There’sobviouslyawards in season andstuff, but being able to be recognized nationally and play for your country is pretty special.”

Dickinson spenttwo weeks in North Carolina playing with thebest rising sophomores and juniors in the country.Hebecame friends with Wake Forest shortstopMarek Houston, Texas outﬁelder Max Belyeu and Vanderbilt outﬁelder RJ Austin, all of whom recruited him to enter the portal and join their respective schools.

The conﬁdence he gained in his timewearing the stars and stripes —hehad adouble anda stolen base in one game —became amajor factorinhis decision to transfer and eventually land at LSU.

“The light switch kind of came on (and) he was like, ‘I can do this,’ “Shareesaid. “

‘I wanttodothis. Iwantto compete at this level. Iwant to competewiththe best. I want to go to Omaha.’ “

In his first season in the SEC, Dickinsonhas a1.046 on-base plus slugging percentagewith eight home runs and more walks than strikeouts.

But the workisfar from over.He’sstill eager to start his professional baseball career,enough so that he had to convince Shareetoallow him to change his major and lethim spend more time and energy on baseball as he becomes draft-eligible this year

“Myjob is deﬁnitely baseball right now,”Danielsaid. “And Ican’twait until it’s actually my job in pro ball, and Ican wake up and Ican lift andI can hit, andthen

Deggs said. “It’salmostlike he’s playing ahybrid position right now.”

The other half of thatequation is agreater reliance on starting pitchers Chase Morgan(4-1, 2.91), Andrew Herrmann (2-3, 4.26) and JR Tollett (4-4, 3.26).

To illustrate, Deggs drew parallels to how Larry Dierker managed theAstros’ rotation in thelast 1990s.

“Allofthoseguys gotout of their own mess and that’s what we’vebeen trying to do with these guys and Ithink we’ve had alevel of success with it too,” Deggs said.

DERBY

Continuedfrom page1C

up forhim.There appears to be too manyhorses that want to go to the front— likeRodriguez —which will compromisehis chances to win, so I’ll look in another direction forthe winner 1.Final Gambit (30-1): Final Gambit has runfourraces,and in all fourhehas passed horses fromstart to ﬁnish.Iexpect the pace to be hot and the horses whohaveproventhey canpass horses through trafﬁctobe the ones to beat.This is BradCox’s onlytrainee in the race after having multiple horses on the Derbytrail.Final Gambit —a gray —will be along price buta good chancetomakeitinthe money.

2. Chunk of Gold(30-1): AFair Grounds-based horse whoran second in both the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby, Chunk of Gold has caught my eyethis week. He is another whohas shown he can pass horses but possesses abit more early speed than the topchoice, meaningChunk of Goldcould getthe jump on the deep closers. Another whowill be averybig price, so we are hoping foraninthe money ﬁnish.

3. Burnham Square (12-1): This one impressed me early in the spring,and that race in Florida may have taken alot out of him,but he has rebounded nicely lately.Hewill be coming frombehind —doyou sense atrend here? —and has Brian Hernandez, Jr last year’sKentucky Derbywinner,guiding him through trafﬁc Long shot —Luxor Café(15-1): Iwould be remiss if Ididn’t mention aJapanese horse, since I’vepicked one the last twoyears, and Luxor Cafécertainly has the credentials to winthis. His races have been eyecatching,but younever really know whoisrunning behind him. He’s another long shot to keep an eyeon and throwinto those deep trifecta and superfecta boxes.

(MichaelBeychokisasenior partnerofOursoBeychokInc., anaward-winningnational politicalconsultingﬁrmbasedin Louisiana,andthe2012National HandicappingChampionshipand 2012EclipseAwardwinnerforbest handicapper.)

 KEVIN KILROY’S SELECTIONS

1. Burnham Square (12-1): He’s been kicking down his stall in Ian Wilkes’ barn, gallopingwith his neck bowed, full of energyinevery way, I have no doubt that Burnham Square came out of his hugeeffortinthe

Blue Grass Stakesreadytorun the bestrace of hiscareer.Myspeed figureshavehis best effort right there with Journalism. Louisiana’s ownBrian Hernandez Jr.will be in the irons, looking for back-to-back Derbywins. Iwill takea swingwith a winbet on Burnham Square at 8-1 or higher 2. Luxor Café (15-1): Though he did not win, the besteffortinlast year’sDerbyundoubtedly came from Foreveryoung.Hewas awell-hyped horse that was on everyone’sradars, butLuxor Cafe, thisyear’sJapanese invader with top credentials, is flying under the radar.He’satouch slower on the speed figures, butno other horse in the field has been as impressive visually in hisraces. He canput himselfina mid-pack position and then accelerate with an electric turnoffoot. Iwill be betting himtowin at 12-1 or higher 3. Journalism (3-1): Ilivetofade afavorite, and Idobelieve there is aslight case to be made against Journalism. He’sbeen facing small fields made up of horses whocould not getthe distance, and in the Santa Anita Derbyherolled late down the center of the track on a daywhen inside speed was dying on the vine. Still, he’snot onlythe provenfastesthorse in the field, he is also impressivephysically and energetically.Heisshowing allthe signs that he is in top form, and I do believe he will getapiece of the Derbypie.

Longshot–Flying Mohawk (30-1) and Final Gambit (15-1): We sawFlyingMohawk winover the Stall-Wilson turf course at Fair Grounds this winter before he shipped to Turfwayand ran second in the Jeff Ruby Stakesoverthe synthetic course. Racingondirtis the question mark, buthehas never been outworked on adirttrack, including an impressive move going better than Honor Mariethispast week.Trainer Whit Beckman has been pushing himinthe mornings, and he looks readytostep up.Final Gambitwill be finding hisbeststride when other runners are waving the white flag.Although not alegitimate wincontender,I think hisjockey Luan Machado will have himrolling late. (KevinKilroyisaracinganalystat theFairGroundsRaceCourseand ChurchillDowns.Heisatwo-time NationalHorseplayersChampionship qualifier,finishing21stin2021.)

 PATRICK MCGOEY’S SELECTIONS

1. Journalism (3-1): Ithink he will be very difﬁcult to beat. He has the highest speed rating of anyhorse in the ﬁeld, is breadtogoa mile and a quarter,and he encountered alot of

trouble in hislast race and still won. His works leadinguptothe Derby look great, and Ithink he will only improve at this distance. If he breaks clean, he shouldget

Longshot—Flying Mohawk (30-1): Another horse that is ascendingatthe right time.Trainer Whit Beckman is one of the most underrated trainers in the sport.

Double the fun

TheLouisiana Art&ScienceMuseum, 100 S. River Road, will celebrateStar Wars Day: “Maythe Fourth Be With you” and AstronomyDay from 1p.m. to 5p.m. Sunday. Includes hands-on “StarWars”-themed craftsand activities, $5 astronomy shows, and demonstrations. It’s alsoFreeFirst Sunday. lasm.org

Southern bluesman to kick off

U.S. tour in Louisiana

Staff report

DevonAllman’s“BluesSummit U.S. Tour” will open Aug. 7 at the Raising Cane’sRiver Center in Baton Rouge. Allman andRuf Records announced the tour along withthe release of anew album titled “Blues Summit,” due out this summer. Allman, 52, has been immersed in the world of blues and rock his entire life.Asthe son of the legendary Gregg Allman, he grew up surrounded by the rich musical legacy of the Allman Brothers Band, agroup that played a pivotal role in shaping the Southern rock and blues sound Led by Devon Allman and backed by TheDevon Allman Project Band,the tour brings together an all-star lineup including Jimmy Hall, Larry McCray andSierra Green and “promises to bringahigh-energy celebrationofblues music across the country,” arelease from Big HassleMediastates.

Meanwhile, the album features all-starappearances from Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Robert Randolph, Hall, McCray, Green and more The tour will wrap up Sept.12 at Colorado’sTelluride Blues & Brews festival. For tour updates, visit devonallmanproject.com

MEALS& MEMORIES

Do youremember Piccadilly in its heyday?Wewantto hear from you.

Did yougrowupeating at Piccadilly? Do youhavecherished memories of favorite foods at the restaurant? Maybe youstill eat thereonthe regular.Wewant to hear about your connection to the Baton Rouge-based cafeteria-style institution.

Send us your stories about Piccadilly in its heyday. Do you remember watching the restaurant grow from ahometown success to achain across the South? Please email us your storytoSerena. Puang@theadvocate.com. Include your name and town, and (not for publication) adaytime phone number

TEACHING THEBLUES

BY JOHN WIRT Contributing writer

The youngest band to perform at the recentBaton Rouge Blues Festival, the Juke Joint Juniors feature middle and high school students enrolled in the West Baton Rouge Museum’sBlues After School program Blues After School connects young people to the music andhistory of West BatonRougeParish and neighboring parishes. The Juke Joint Juniors’ repertoireincludes “Rainin’ In My Heart” by Slim Harpo— thesinger,harmonica player and songwriter from Mulatto Bend who releasednational hits in the 1960s —and non-Louisiana songs suchasBen E. King’s“Stand

West Baton Rouge Parish

By Me,” B.B. King’s“The Thrill is Gone” and Tracy Chapman’s“Give Me One Reason.” ChristopherNeal Collins,ajunior at Port Allen High School, joined the BluesAfter School programin2019, its firstyear. Adrummer, he keepsthe bluesbeat for the Juke Joint Juniors.

“I’m proud of howfar everyone has come,” Collins said of theband’s musical progress. “Wehavesome people whostartedthis year,some who started lastyear.They grew to be very good musicians in theshort time we’ve had them here.”

Giventhe opportunitytoplaythe blues festival, Jeannie Luckett, di-

rector of programsatthe museum, said, “the kids wereoncloud nine.”

The museum in Port Allenisa natural spot for ablues school. In addition to Harpo, other noted musiciansfrom thearea include the Neal family from Erwinville and Buddy Guy from Pointe Coupee Parish. Across the river in East Baton Rouge Parish, Tabby Thomas operated Tabby’sBlues Box and Heritage Hall. For decades, Thomas, his Grammy-winning son, Chris Thomas King, Henry Grayand manymore played the Blues Box. The Juke Joint Juniors and recreation of ajukejointonmuseum grounds were inspiredbytwo museum exhibits, 2005’s“Blues

ä See BLUES, page 6C

PearlJam’s long historyinNew Orleans

Vedder

aT-shirt thatsays‘Defend

Gleason’

BY KEITH SPERA Staff writer

Butﬁrst, alook back at

PROVIDED PHOTO

front row, from left, Hazel Austin, Gerico Del Rosario,

Blount; back row,Aylana Brown and De’Anna Johnson.

FRIDAY

LIVE MUSIC: Cane River Pecan Company Pie Bar, New Iberia, 5 p.m.

DOWNTOWN ALIVE! FEA-

TURING NICK PARR AND

THE SELFLESS LOVERS: Parc Sans Souci, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

KEVIN AND VALERIE: Adopted Dog Brewing, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Jim Deggy’s Brick Oven Pizza & Brewery, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m.

YVETTE LANDRY TRIO: Buck & Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

JAMBALAYA TRIO: Randol’s Cajun Restaurant, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6 p.m.

PYNK BEARD WITH BREAD 4 SALE AND OM

JOHARI: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Cowboys Nightclub, Scott, 10 p.m.

SATURDAY SATURDAY MORNING

JAM SESSIONS: The Savoy Music Center, Eunice, 9 a.m.

CAJUN JAM: Moncus Park, Lafayette, 9 a.m.

GENO DELAFOSE & FRENCH ROCKIN’ BOOGIE: Buck & Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 8 a.m.

DON FONTENOT BAND: Fred’s, Mamou, 8 a.m.

CAJUN JAM: Tante Marie Breaux Bridge, 11 a.m.

CAJUN FRENCH MUSIC

JAM: Vermilionville Lafayette, 1 p.m.

SWAMPLAND STRING

BAND: Bayou Teche Brewing, Arnaudville 4 p.m

MAYRUNNER/HEATH AND THE HOLDOUTS/ THE MINTLLY ILLBILLIES: Adopted Dog Brewing, 6 p.m.

CAJUN FIRE: Randol’s

Cajun Restaurant, Breaux Bridge, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Jim Deggy’s Brick Oven Pizza & Brewery, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Friday, May 2, the 122nd day of 2025. There are 243 days left in the year Today in history: On May 2, 1994, Nelson Mandela claimed victory in the wake of South Africa’s ﬁrst democratic elections.

On this date:

In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate Gen Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Virginia; he died eight days later In 1997, Tony Blair, whose Labour Party crushed John Major’s long-reigning Conservatives in a national election, became Britain’s youngest prime minister in 185 years, at age 43.

In 2011, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who’d been killed hours earlier in a raid by American forces at his Pakistan compound, was buried at sea.

In 2017, Michael Slager, a White former police ofﬁcer whose killing of Walter Scott, an unarmed Black man running from a trafﬁc stop, was captured on cellphone video, pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges in Charleston, South Carolina. (Slager would be sentenced to 20 years in prison.)

In 2018, in a Fox News interview, attorney Rudy Giuliani

BLUES

Continued from page 5C

Heritage of West Baton Rouge” and 2015’s “Neal Family Blues.” Grammy nominee Kenny Neal suggested the museum follow the Neal family exhibit with something less transitory, Luckett recalled. “Kenny said, ‘We’re so grateful for the exhibit that honors our local music heritage — but what are you going to do next?’ And then he said, ‘Y’all need a juke joint.’ ” Modeled after traditional Southern juke joints, it opened on the museum’s oak-tree-graced grounds in 2018. Luckett soon realized that the bluesiﬁed former Boy Scout hut was an ideal space for music classes.

The museum’s budget and a community partnership grant from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation fund the tuition-free Blues After School. Michael Blount and Brady George from the Rockin’ Mozart Music Academy are the music instructors.

Some students in the program, like Collins, knew about blues music before they enrolled in Blues After School.

“I was raised in a household of blues and soul music,” Collins said. “My great-grandmother she played a lot of blues music. My grandmother and my mom, they grew up on soul music. But all of it goes back to blues.” Collins appreciates Blues After School’s mix of music and history

“Not only do we play blues, we learn where this music came from, why people created it,” he said. Although Emma Lindsly, 13, bassist in the Juke Joint Juniors, describes herself as a theater kid, she enjoys the entirely different kind of music taught at Blues After School.

“I thought blues was like sad soul music,” Lindsly said. “Once I started taking the program, I

PROVIDED PHOTO FROM NIK PARR.COM

Nik Parr and the Selfless Lovers will perform for Downtown Alive! at 6 p.m. Friday at Parc Sans Souci in Lafayette.

LIVE MUSIC: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m

PEARL JAM

Continued from page 5C

said President Donald Trump had reimbursed Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for $130,000 in hush money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election, comments that appeared to contradict Trump’s past claims that he didn’t know the source of the money

In 2022, a draft was leaked of a Supreme Court ruling throwing out the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling that had stood for a half-century The court cautioned that the draft was not ﬁnal. (The decision would be released in essentially the same form the following month.)

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Engelbert Humperdinck is 89. Actor David Suchet is 79. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is 78. Singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin is 77. Rock singer Lou Gramm (Foreigner) is 75. Actor Christine Baranski is 73. Basketball Hall of Famer Jamaal Wilkes is 72. Fashion designer Donatella Versace is 70. Filmmaker Stephen Daldry is 65. Country singer Ty Herndon is 63. Actor-wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is 53. Former soccer player David Beckham is 50. Actor Kumail Nanjiani is 47. Actor Ellie Kemper is 45. Singer Lily Allen is 40. NASCAR driver Kyle Busch is 40. Olympic ﬁgure skating gold medalist Sarah Hughes is 40.

realized that blues is so much more.”

De’Anna Johnson, 17, played piano even before jazz musician

Wessell Anderson, a Blues After School guest instructor, placed an alto saxophone in her hands.

“That was it,” said De’Anna’s mother, Bridget Johnson.

“De’Anna was like ‘I want to play the sax.’ It has been history from then on.”

Aylana Brown, 19, graduated from Blues After School and Brusly High School last year

She’s now a part-time tour guide at the museum and Blues After School mentor Brown enrolled in Blues After School in 2020, a few weeks after her family’s move from Lubbock, Texas.

“I didn’t know anybody and I didn’t know anything about Louisiana,” she said. “My mom found this place on Facebook. I went the ﬁrst day and I fell in love. It let me meet new people, it let me meet my museum family.”

Bridget Johnson has seen the Juke Joint Juniors’ confidence grow during her daughter’s years in the group.

“The more they do, the more comfortable they get performing,” she said “Even as one seems nervous, the others come together and encourage them. They’re always checking on one another. If one doesn’t come to class, they’ll ask ‘What happened to you last week? Are you OK?

Can we do anything to help?’ The camaraderie here is exceptional.”

Lindsly enjoys the music and the friendship

“From this class, I’ve gained so many friendships,” she said. “It also brought me closer to music and helped me learn about where our original music comes from. I love this program, I love music.”

Information about the West Baton Rouge Museum’s Blues After School program is available by calling the museum at (225) 3362422.

Email John Wirt at j_wirt@msn. com.

LIVE MUSIC: Tap Room, Lafayette, 6:30 p.m.

CHRIS HIMEL DUO: Buck & Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

CARNELIAN JULIE ELODY/ PHANTUM SUN: Freetown Boom Boom Room, Lafayette, 8 p.m.

THE DARKEST HOUR

COMEDY SHOW: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8 p.m.

CHRIS BREAUX & SIX

STRING RODEO: Lakeview Park, Eunice, 8 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Cowboys Nightclub, Scott, 10 p.m.

SUNDAY

SATURDAY MORNING

JAM SESSIONS: The Savoy Music Center, Eunice, 9 a.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Tante Marie, Breaux Bridge, 11 a.m.

JAMBALAYA ACOUSTIC

MUSIC JAM: Tom’s Fiddle & Bow, Arnaudville, 12:30 p.m.

LE BAL DU DIMANCHE —

CEDRIC WATSON & BIJOU

CREOLE: Vermilionville, Lafayette, 1 p.m.

CAJUN JAM: Bayou Teche

Municipal Auditorium the band’s website incorrectly lists the venue as the State Palace Theater — opening for headliner the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Smashing Pumpkins.

NOV. 16-19, 1993

A triple gig and trouble

Soon after “Vs.,” Pearl Jam’s second album, solidiﬁed the band’s status atop rock’s hierarchy, Vedder and company arrived in New Orleans for an action-packed, and infamous, few days. They played sold-out shows at the UNO Lakefront Arena on Nov 16-17 and Nov 19. They spent time at U2 producer Daniel Lanois’ Kingsway Studio inside an Esplanade Avenue mansion working on songs destined for the band’s third album, “Vitalogy,” including “Tremor Christ” and “Nothingman.”

In the wee hours following the second UNO show, Vedder and his buddy Jack McDowell, a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, got into an altercation with a bouncer and another man outside the Crystal nightclub on lower Decatur Street. Shoving and spitting escalated to punches. McDowell was knocked unconscious and went to the hospital for stitches. Vedder went to jail.

He posted a $600 cash bail and was released. The incident was splashed across the front of The Times-Picayune under the headline “Slam Jam” on Nov 19. That night, Pearl Jam played its third show at the Lakefront Arena.

AUG. 16, 1994

Vedder’s day in court

In a sport coat and slacks, Eddie Vedder turned up in Division C of Orleans Parish Municipal Court to stand trial for the simple battery charge that resulted from his brawl the previous November Right after the prosecution rested, Judge John Shea dismissed the charge against Vedder, citing the witnesses’ lack of credibility. The defense didn’t even present its case, much to Vedder’s disappointment.

APRIL 8, 2003

Another arena epic

PJ returned to the New Orleans Arena during the “Riot Act” tour with Sleater-Kinney opening. Once again, the set list was extensive: 19 songs in the ﬁrst section, then 10 more across two encores. The ﬁnale? “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

This concert was also released as an “ofﬁcial bootleg” double-CD and digital download.

MAY 1, 2010

Post-oil spill venting

Days before the 2010 Jazz Fest opened, BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf blew up, killing 11 men and spilling millions of gallons of oil. The smell of petroleum wafting over New Orleans reportedly caused Aretha Franklin to bail on her scheduled Jazz Fest show at the last minute. Pearl Jam played the Fair Grounds as scheduled on May 1, but Vedder didn’t let the disaster pass without comment He suggested from the stage that BP executives should vacation on the Louisiana coast: “Send your sons and daughters to clean up your f****** mess.” (Imagine the awkwardness had the blown oil rig

Brewing, Arnaudville, 2 p.m.

STEVE RILEY AND THE MAMOU PLAYBOYS: Cypress Cove Landing, Breaux Bridge, 3 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

MONDAY

PATRICIO LATINO SOLO: Cafe Habana City, Lafayette, 11 a.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m. “MR. EXCITEMENT”

PATRICK HENRY AND THE LIBERATION BAND: The Brass Room, Lafayette, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY

JAMS-N-BISCUITS: Tante Marie, Breaux Bridge, 11 a.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

TERRY HUVAL & FRIENDS: Prejean’s Restaurant, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

DULCIMER JAM: St. Landry Visitors Center, Opelousas, 10 a.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Park Bistro, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Tap Room, Lafayette, 6:30 p.m.

CAJUN JAM: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8 p.m.

THURSDAY

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m.

Compiled by Marchaund Jones. Want your venue’s music listed? Email info/photos to showstowatch@ theadvocate.com. The deadline is noon FRIDAY for the following Friday’s paper.

belonged to Jazz Fest title sponsor Shell.)

Another indication Vedder knew where he was: He wore a T-shirt featuring the stop-action “Saturday Night Live” character “Mr Bill,” whose creator was from New Orleans.

MAY 3, 2012

Buffett fills in for Vedder

In 2011, Eddie Vedder released “Ukulele Songs,” an album of original compositions and covers. Jazz Fest producer/director Quint Davis reached out to Pearl Jam’s booking agent to see if Vedder wanted to play ukulele songs at the festival. He did. Vedder even booked a 13city theater tour around his May 3 Jazz Fest date.

But in early April, he canceled the Jazz Fest appearance and postponed the tour because of an arm injury

A few days earlier, Davis had watched his buddy Jimmy Buffett improvise an unplanned acoustic segment during a free Coral Reefer Band concert at Woldenberg Park for the NCAA Men’s Final Four festivities. Davis recruited Buffett to play a similar unplugged set at Jazz Fest as Vedder’s replacement. The swap made sense “artistically and geometrically,” Davis said at the time.

At one point during his Thursday evening ﬁll-in gig at Jazz Fest, Buffett cracked, “It’s not Pearl Jam, but it’s as close as we can come.” He also wished Vedder a speedy recovery.

NOV. 4, 2012

Gleason Gras jamming

Former Saints special teams star Steve Gleason, now immobilized and conﬁned to a wheelchair by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, grew up in Seattle, where he befriended the members of Pearl Jam. He’s especially close with guitarist Mike McCready McCready turned up at the 2012 Gleason Gras beneﬁt at Champions Square, which raises money for Gleason’s foundation. The guitarist sat in with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and the hardrockin’ Supagroup.

Three months later, McCready returned to play “The Star Spangled Banner” at the start of the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon in downtown New Orleans on Feb. 24, 2013.

NOV. 1, 2013

Voodoo with Gleason

Steve Gleason served as an honorary band member for Pearl Jam’s stellar performance at the 2013 Voodoo Music & Arts Festival in City Park.

Gleason helped write the hitsladen Voodoo set list and introduced the band using eye-tracking computer software and a synthe-

sized voice. During the ﬁnal “Yellow Ledbetter,” Mike McCready walked to the back corner of the stage where Gleason sat, immobilized. McCready locked eyes with Gleason and serenaded him with the elegiac guitar passage that concludes the song. It was a remarkably emotional and intimate gesture in front of thousands of onlookers.

APRIL 23, 2016

Jazz Fest redux

For the band’s 2016 return to the Fair Grounds, Gleason again introduced his buddies Vedder wore a “Team Gleason” T-shirt.

Acknowledging Prince’s death two days earlier, Pearl Jam played “Even Flow,” which Prince had covered with his band 3rdEyeGirl. A local horn section goosed a cover of The Who anthem “The Real Me.” For the concluding “Rockin’ in the Free World,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith gleefully thrashed away on drums while his then-bandmate Josh Klinghoffer — who, since 2021, has been a touring member of Pearl Jam — helped out on guitar 24 hours before the Chili Peppers’ Jazz Fest show Kings of Leon’s Nathan Followill joined in on tambourine.

It was a gloriously messy, euphoric moment of rock ’n’ roll excess with a bit of poignancy — much like the two hours that preceded it.

MAY 3, 2025

‘Dark Matter’ at Jazz Fest

Pearl Jam will make its third Jazz Fest appearance as part of the 2025 leg of the tour for last year’s “Dark Matter” album.

“Dark Matter” was produced by Andrew Watt, who specializes in helping veteran rock bands rediscover their mojo. Watt produced the Rolling Stones’ excellent 2023 album “Hackney Diamonds,” making Mick Jagger and company sound crackling and fresh while still true to their sound.

Watt performed a similar service for Pearl Jam. Following the band’s debut and its masterpiece “Vs.,” Pearl Jam albums often favored manic energy over melody Vedder and company still raise a racket on “Dark Matter,” but the music has room to breathe. And in “Wreckage,” they crafted a melodic gem. How much of “Dark Matter” will they play Saturday at the Fair Grounds? Will Vedder reminisce about Orleans Parish Prison? Will he note the 15th anniversary of the BP oil spill? Will special guests sit in?

All will be revealed as Pearl Jam writes another chapter of its New Orleans history

Email Keith Spera at kspera@ theadvocate.com.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MATTHEW HINTON

Steve Gleason, his wife Michel and his son Rivers Gleason introduce Pearl Jam at the 2016 Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

TAURUS (April20-May20) Take careof responsibilities before someonecriticizes or complains.Efficiency is your keytokeeping the momentum flowing and your social plans from being altered.

GEMINI(May 21-June20) Step outside your comfort zone and expand your mind and pursuits. Showing all sides of your personality and your ability to accept achallenge will give you acompetitiveedge.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Think before yousay somethingyou will regret. Emotions are running high, and calmingthe storm brewing within isn'teasy when dealingwith people who don'tshare your beliefs and values.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Let your actions, discipline anddedicationspeak for you, andfinish what you start before you move on to more enjoyable pastimes. Apersonal pick-me-up will feed your ego.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Distance yourselffrompeoplecreating havoc or confusion. Achange will do yougood. Study, research and test drive something you are considering or want to pursue.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Alignyourself with people whohave something to offer. An opportunity to travel, learn or expand your interests will open doors to individualswho canclear up any misconceptionordoubt you have.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Get out and see what life has to offer. Engage in events

or activities thatprovide insight into whatothers think and do to overcome boredom or to harness and employ their gifts, skills andpassion.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Fix your surroundings to accommodate what you want to work toward and share your thoughts with someone youlove. Take the input you receive to heart.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Pay attention to what's happening at home. Adomesticshift can be beneficial if youare true to yourself andthose you live with. It's best to handleanemotional issuebefore it becomes unmanageable.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20-Feb. 19) Agentle nudge, compliment andsound alternative will help you gain approval. Choose physical activity over getting involved in ano-win situation.

PISCES(Feb. 20-March 20) Streamline your plans. Refrain from overdoing it or letting someone take advantage of your kindnessand generosity.Aconversation with someone offering alternative suggestions will spark your imagination.

ARIES(March 21-April 19) An emotional challenge will surface if youget into a scuffle.Focus on activities thatdepend on putting yourtime and energytoward self-improvement, healthand livingthe life thatmakes you feel good.

CelebrityCipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people,pastand present. Each letter in the cipher stands foranother.

TODAy'S CLUE:N EQUALS B

CeLebrItY CIpher

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

LAGoon

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squaressothat each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the samenumber only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Puzzle Answer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS CurTiS

Bridge

BY PHILLIP ALDER

Robert Orben,who is primarily acomedy writer, said, “Thereare days when it takes allyou’ve got just to keep up with the losers.”

He wasnot thinking about bridge, but he could have been. When you are in atrump contract, you should start by counting your losers. Then, if there are not more than you can afford, you should drawtrumps as quickly as possible. But if the loser count is too high, you must calculate howtoreduce the number.

In this deal, how should South plan the play in four hearts? Westleads the club queen.

AfterSouthopenstwohearts,showinga decent six-card suit and 6to10high-card points, some players would be unable to resist responding two spades. But when youknowofa nine-cardmajor-suit fit, why look elsewhere? Also, South’s hand will probably be useful only with hearts as trumps. North’s high cardswill still be worth tricksinhearts

South should seefour losers: one in each suit. It will be impossible to avoid conceding tricks to the missing aces,so declarer must concentrateonthatclub loser.

Note that if South immediately plays a trump, he should go down, Eastwinning with his aceand returning aclub.

wuzzles

Declarerwouldliketoestablishhisdiamond suit, but he has no fast hand entry. Instead, he must lead dummy’s spade king at trick two.East wins andplays a club, but South takes that on the board and cashes the spade queen, discarding his last club. Then he draws trumps as quickly as possible. ©2025 by NEA, Inc.,dist. By AndrewsMcMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzleisaword riddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name,place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be

thought

they sung anew song, saying, You are worthytotake thebook, andtoopenthe sealsthereof:for you were slain, and have redeemed us to Godbyyourblood outofevery

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

hidato