The Acadiana Advocate 05-03-2025

Lawmakers try again on tax revamp

Landry, allies seek to simplify overhaul

BY TYLER BRIDGES

Staff writer

“Voters said they

be able to vote on

forms

those elements,” said Richard Nelson, the revenue secretary and intellectual author of Amendment

La. DEQ chief leaves after months of controversy

WESTBROOK

STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE

Then-Gov.-elect Jeff Landry, left, introduces Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto, who he named to head Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality during a news conference Nov. 15, 2023, at Russo Park in Lafayette Giacometto is leaving her post for a job with a Washington, D.C., law firm after months of controversy from staffers upset over her management style.

Veteran staffer to take top job in department

BY DAVID J MITCHELL Staff writer

The embattled secretary of Louisiana’s environmental agency is leaving for a post with a Washington, D.C., law firm after months of controversy from staffers upset over her management style and amid highprofile departures.

Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has accepted a position with Earth and Water Law Firm, the Governor’s Office said Friday As the next secretary, Gov Jeff Landry named Courtney Burdette, a former 10-year DEQ staffer who left last year early in Giacometto’s tenure.

“I want to sincerely thank Aurelia for her dedicated service to our State and the Department of Environmental Quality Aurelia

prioritized environmental improvements to our air, land, and water, while also keeping a focus on the jobs and businesses that often suffer from red-tape and overregulation,” Landry said in a statement. “We are grateful for her actions to improve the Department and wish her the best in her next endeavor.”

Landry’s statement didn’t address Giacometto’s rocky tenure at DEQ, nor did Giacometto’s resignation letters to employees and the governor Giacometto, a former wildlife and fisheries director in President Donald Trump’s first term, came in with Landry’s initial cabinet promising to streamline DEQ and align it to promote economic development while still protecting the environment. But her leadership style rubbed employees the wrong way, triggering a state audit of the agency’s workplace culture.

In public statements responding to accusations, Giacometto argued the criticisms were false and part of the price she was paying from a few disgruntled employees to bring transformational change to the agency

“I was not appointed to take the easy or popular road. I am inspired daily by the dedication of LDEQ’s hard working employees, and I am not going to allow a few to undermine their great work and the success of this agency,” she said in a response to one scathing letter from a former agency human resources lawyer and ethics attorney several weeks ago.

According to Politico Pro, Giacometto had been in the running in early December for a new post as a deputy Interior secretary with the Trump administration, but the nomination went to one of her competitors, Kate MacGregor, in January

2. “This is responsive to that.”

Those changes would:

n Eliminate three education trust funds, pay off retirement debt and use much of the savings from that move to supplement salaries for teachers and support staff.

n Give parish governments the option of ending the property tax on business inventory

n Eliminate the Revenue Stabilization Fund and use the freed-up money to fill up the rainy day fund and cover the cost of phasing out

the inventory tax.

n Impose a limit on how much the state can increase spending each year on education, health care, prisons and all other government programs. Each of the various measures,

ä

Bradley Stracener went missing 5 years ago

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

It was a normal Wednesday in Vernon Parish on Oct. 30, 2019, said Toni James. Her son, Bradley Stracener, woke her up after cooking breakfast at her apartment southeast of the central Louisiana city of Leesville.

Stracener left her apartment at 1:47 p.m. to return his girlfriend’s car, a gray Ford Fusion, since his truck was not working. His girlfriend lived about 10 miles away At 2:30 p.m., she got a call

“That’s when (his girlfriend) started to call and wanting to know where he was at in her car,” James said. “Things caught Bradley’s attention. I didn’t think too much about it until she kept on calling.

“Then I started to worry.”

That was the last day James saw her son.

More than five years later, detectives with the Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office have been unsuccessful in chasing leads to find out what happened to him. Family members have been left to piece together what they can about his disappearance. Stracener was a kind, calm and reserved type. Not a fan of small talk, it would be common to see him on the outer edges of gatherings, James said. He left behind a son — Oliver, who is now 12 — and was an avid tinkerer with a knowledge of welding. He had struggles with drug addiction, which in 2016 landed him in jail in Tyler Texas, on possession charges. He carried an extensive criminal record in

ä See MISSING, page 3A ä See DEQ, page 3A

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Whooping cough cases are surging in Louisiana, a trend that “could result in a record high for 2025 — more than has been seen annually in the state for at least 35 years,” according to a news release Friday from the Louisiana Department of Health. The Health Department said it has identified 164 cases in just the first four months of the year, while there were 153 cases during all of 2024. “Two deaths have occurred among young infants hospitalized with whooping cough,” the Health Department said. “These were the first whooping cough deaths reported in Louisiana since 2018.” One of those deaths occurred in the latter half of 2024, and one occurred in the first two months of 2025, a spokesperson for the Health Department said. Louisiana’s increase in cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, mirrors national trends, according to the Health Department The spread of the illness is also leading to an

State identifies 164 cases so far this year ä See SURGE, page 4A

PROVIDED PHOTO Bradley Stracener went missing on Oct. 30, 2019.

See REVAMP, page 4A

Burdette

Trump re-ups threat to Harvard’s tax exemption

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Friday re-upped his threat to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status, escalating a showdown with the first major college that has defied the administration’s efforts to crack down on campus activism.

He’s underscoring that pledge even as federal law prohibits senior members of the executive branch from asking the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or an investigation. The White House has said any IRS actions will be conducted independently of the president.

“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” Trump wrote on his social media site Friday morning from Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend “It’s what they deserve!”

The president has questioned the fate of Harvard’s tax-exempt status — which a majority of U.S. colleges and universities have — ever since the school refused to comply with the administration’s demands for broad government and leadership changes, revisions to its admissions policy, and audits of how diversity is viewed on the campus That prompted the administration to block more than $2 billion in federal grants to the Cambridge, Massachusetts institution.

Harvard stressed Friday that there is “no legal basis” to revoke its tax-exempt status.

“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission,” the school said in a statement. “It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation. The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”

7 dead after collision near Yellowstone Park

BOISE, Idaho A pickup truck and a tour van collided on a highway leading to Yellowstone National Park, leaving seven people dead and eight others injured, Idaho State Police said The crash happened Thursday near Henry’s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho, police said in a news release. The state park is roughly 16 miles west of Yellowstone National Park. Authorities have not said what led up to the crash.

Both vehicles caught fire, the Idaho State Police said in a news release. The driver of the Dodge Ram pickup and six people inside the Mercedes passenger van died. The van was carrying a tour group of 14 people, and the surviving occupants were taken to hospitals with injuries, police spokesman Aaron Snell said.

Air ambulances and emergency paramedics responded to the collision, which remains under investigation.

Ill. man gets 53 years for killing Muslim boy

JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois landlord who killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy’s mother in a brutal hatecrime attack was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison. Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak sentenced Czuba to 30 years in the boy’s death and another 20 years consecutively for the attack on Shaheen. The judge also sentenced him to three years imprisonment for hate crimes.

Czuba did not speak during the sentencing. Czuba’s attorney declined to comment.

Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, prosecutors said during the trial.

The boy’s mother said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim Czuba’s wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war

Army plans military parade in D.C.

June 14 is its 250th anniversary — and also Trump’s birthday

BY LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Army on Friday confirmed there will be a military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June, as part of the celebrations around the service’s 250th birthday Plans for the parade, as first detailed by The Associated Press on Thursday, call for about 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 50 helicopters to follow a route from Arlington, Virginia, to the National Mall. Until recently the Army’s birthday festival plans did not include a massive parade, which officials say will cost tens of millions of dollars.

But Trump has long wanted a military parade, and discussions with the Pentagon about having one in conjunction with the birthday festival began less than two months ago

The Army’s 250th birthday happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday on June 14. In a statement Friday, Army spokesman Steve Warren said the Army’s birthday

celebration will include “a spectacular fireworks display, a parade, and a daylong festival on the National Mall.”

The pricey parade comes as Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency, run by Elon Musk, have slashed federal government departments, personnel and programs, with thousands of workers losing their jobs, including civilians in the Defense Department

In comments to Fox News Digital, White House officials confirmed a commemorative parade would take place and said it would be one of the first events to kick off a yearlong celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary

When asked about the parade Thursday the White House did not respond, and Army officials said no decision had been made. While officials said there has now been a formal decision to proceed with the parade, there is still no specific cost estimate.

Warren said that given the significance of the Army birthday, they

are looking at options “to make the celebration even bigger, with more capability demonstrations, additional displays of equipment, and more engagement with the community.”

Army planning documents, obtained this week by the AP and dated April 29 and 30, said the parade will include soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide.

They said it would involve a Stryker battalion with two companies of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion and two companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Paladin artillery vehicles, Howitzers and infantry vehicles.

The plans note that while the parade will begin near the Pentagon, the heavy tracked vehicles — which would include the Strykers — would be stationed near the Lincoln Memorial and join the procession there, so they will not go over the bridge from Virginia.

City officials, including D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, acknowledged in April that the administra-

Drones strike ship carrying aid to Gaza, organizers say

BY SAM MEDNICK AND RENATA BRITO

Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel Drones attacked a vessel carrying aid to Gaza on Friday in international waters off Malta, the group organizing the shipment said, in the latest confrontation over efforts to send assistance to the Palestinian territory devastated by nearly 19 months of war

A nearby tugboat responded to a distress call from the Conscience, which authorities said experienced a fire that was brought under control. The vessel was carrying 12 crew members and four civilians, the Maltese government said, adding that those aboard refused to leave the ship The group was safe and no serious injuries were reported, it said.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition accused Israel of attacking its ship. The group did not provide evidence for that claim or to show that the fire was caused by drones, but in a video it shared an explosion could be heard Another video showed a fire blazing.

The Israeli army did not respond to a request for comment. Israel has cut off Gaza from all imports, including food and medicine, since the beginning of March, leading to what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in the war with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.

Stranded in international waters

Video taken after the explosions showed two large holes in the ship’s deck, with thick smoke surrounding the vessel. The person recording the footage said the ship had been hit twice and was on fire about 14 miles from Malta. The video was provided by Codepink, a grassroots peace and social justice movement

The ship’s generator was badly damaged and will need to be repaired before continuing, said Charlie Andreasson, who has been involved with the Freedom Flotilla for more than a decade.

It’s unclear where the ship will be able to stop for repairs, said Tighe Barry, a Codepink member who was among a group of activists who took speedboats to the Conscience after the attack. The boats were turned away by Maltese authorities, he said, but one person made it aboard and spoke to the captain.

Barry said the nation of Palau revoked its flag from the Conscience prior to the attack, and authorities in Malta, Greece and Turkey have threatened to confiscate the ship if it comes to port. Barry said the ship is loaded with medicine and food supplies.

“To get a new flag will take months, so they’re just stuck out there,” Barry said of the crew

Man jailed days after winning Powerball

BY DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky Powerball winner was arrested and charged with kicking a police officer in Florida days after he won a $167 million jackpot

James S. Farthing, who goes by Shannon, found out Sunday that he won the state’s biggest ever jackpot after his mother called him, according to a media release from the Kentucky Lottery

The lottery said Farthing and his mother were splitting the winnings.

But Farthing, 50, was in a Florida jail by midweek, according to media reports.

He has been charged with battery of a police officer and resisting arrest after a Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy was attempting to break up a fight between Farthing and another person in a hotel when Farthing kicked the officer in the face, according to a police report written Tuesday The officer told Farthing to turn around put his hands behind his back, but Farthing attempted to flee, the police report said Farthing was booked into jail early

Wednesday morning and remained in

custody Friday, according to the county’s online jail records.

Farthing went to lottery headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday with his mother, Linda Grizzle, to claim their winnings.

“It’s going to be a good Mother’s Day,” Grizzle told lottery officials. “This is going to pay off my debt.” Grizzle said she called her son Sunday saying she thought they had the winning ticket. They rushed to the gas station where he bought the ticket to confirm it, the lottery said.

“I would have never dreamed it. It hasn’t sunken in yet,” she said.

In an interview with WKYT-TV that Sunday, Farthing said the winnings would help his mother

“I’ve caused a lot of stress on her, you know, I’ve made some bad decisions in life and, you know God’s been good because I’ve kept my faith and done right,” he told the news station.

Online court records in Kentucky show Farthing has been arrested several times in recent years on various charges, including assault and domestic violence.

tion reached out to the city about holding a parade on June 14. At the time, she said that tanks rolling through the city’s streets “would not be good.”

“If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads,” she said.

The Army birthday festival has been planned for more than a year and is slated to include displays of Army equipment, military demonstrations, musical performances and a fitness competition on the National Mall.

The late afternoon parade would be followed by a parachute jump by the Golden Knights, a concert and the fireworks.

During his first term, Trump proposed having a parade after seeing one in France on Bastille Day in 2017. Trump said that after watching the two-hour procession along the famed Champs-Elysees he wanted an even grander one on Pennsylvania Avenue.

That plan was ultimately dumped due to the huge costs — with one estimate of a $92 million price tag — and other logistical issues.

Administration asks court to let DOGE into Social Security system

BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to clear the way for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans. The emergency appeal comes after a judge in Maryland restricted the team’s access under federal privacy laws.

Social Security holds personal records on nearly everyone in the country, including school records, bank details, salary information and medical and mental health records for disability recipients, according to court documents.

Solicitor General John Sauer argued that the judge’s restrictions disrupt DOGE’s urgent work and inappropriately interfere with executive-branch functions. “Left undisturbed, this preliminary injunction will only invite further judicial incursions into internal agency decision-making,” he wrote. Musk insists reducing waste in the program is an important way to cut government spending. An appeals court refused to immediately to lift the block on DOGE access, though it split along ideological lines.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland that blocked DOGE from Social Security systems did allow staffers to access data that has been redacted or stripped of anything personally identifiable.

The government says the DOGE team needs access to target waste in the federal government, and asked the justices to put the lower court order on hold as the lawsuit over the issue plays out.

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This photo taken from the ship AEOLUS shows the Conscience on Friday after a drone struck the vessel carrying aid to Gaza off the coast of Malta.

Vernon Parish, according to the Vernon Parish Clerk of Court. His addiction brought with it a vulnerable shame, said Morgan Baggett, his exwife. The two were married for three years but divorced after his arrest in Texas.

“He was one of those people that always had the best of intentions,” Baggett said. “And 9 times out of 10, it turned out all wrong.”

Stracener would occasionally disappear, sometimes for a day or two, and even up to weeks, James said. But nearly every time, he kept in contact with her — which would be harder because a few days before his disappearance, Stracener’s phone broke.

On Nov 4, 2019, five days after Stracener was last seen, his girlfriend told James her car was found on Oct. 31 abandoned and unlocked with the keys inside on Bundicks Road south of Fort Johnson — a little over a mile from James’ apartment. Authorities did not run forensics on it until three months later, citing previous instances of Stracener falling off the radar James, who held out hope her son would return, called the Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, Nov 5, to report him as officially missing.

‘If I ever get answers’ Vernon Parish is different compared to most people’s idea of Louisiana Instead of swamps and flat terrain, there are rolling hills, winding and blind-turn country roads beneath the thick canopy of pine trees. Leesville, home to 5,408 people, sits about 20 miles west of the Kisatchie National Forest and 15 miles east of the Texas border

The Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office has about 50 deputies, which is smaller than neighboring Beauregard Parish but larger than Allen Parish’s force. The department had shrunk significantly since the mid-1990s and 2000s when it had more than double the number of deputies on hand.

James and Baggett believe that VPSO officials have not taken the case seriously. It’s led to Baggett seeking help from podcast hosts, social media followers and even a private investigator to find out what happened.

Baggett posted her first TikTok video on Stracener last October, close to the fourth anniversary of his disappearance. It had been more than a year since she

Continued from page 1A

At the time, the DEQ workplace audit, made public in late February, was still pending.

In the weeks before Friday’s announcement, Giacometto continued to make public appearances, recently testifying before a legislative panel this month on streamlining permits for nuclear reactors in the state.

In an email sent to employees on Friday Giacometto said it was “bittersweet” news to tell them she was leaving for her new job in Washington after her time at DEQ.

“Over the past 17 months, I have been privileged to lead this agency through transformative initiatives that have made a significant impact on our environment and communities. I am proud of what we have accomplished together and grateful for the support and collaboration I have experienced from each of you,” she wrote Giacometto also detailed her accomplishments: modernizing the department’s internal infrastructure, including a permit dashboard; cutting the agency’s budget by 2.5%, or $5 million, for the La. DOGE process; and creating teams to address long-standing environmental problems, including the dusty red mud ponds in Burnside.

In a statement Friday Roger Ward, now the for-

last spoke with law enforcement, and there were no updates to the case. Her first video netted her 2,000 followers, then 10,000 to now nearly 35,000. Millions have seen the video. All the while, Baggett still trekked around Leesville to ask residents if they knew anything about the day Stracener went missing and visiting sites of interest for any hint of a clue.

“The people of TikTok will dig and dig and dig and stop to no point of end until this case is solved,” Baggett said, “If I ever get answers, it is not coming from Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office.”

That’s when Baggett started thinking of other ways she could find out more about Stracener’s case. Her followers recommended a fundraiser to hire a private investigator. It garnered about $3,000, enough to put a private investigator who worked on the notorious Jeff Davis 8 case on retainer

Kirk Menard, the private investigator, said he is gathering interviews and information to hand over to Vernon Parish detectives. He’s also hoping to give his findings over to the state attorney general’s office, so its team can investigate.

It’s up to the Sheriff’s Office if they decide to use any of the information, he said.

“It’s not about finding his body,” Menard said. “It’s about finding who’s responsible.”

‘No evidence of a crime’

Vernon Parish Sheriff John “Sam” Craft and Detective David Vance said their office has done all they can to find out what happened. But five years of questioning numerous people yielded no credible leads, they said The only thing the office knows at this point is that the Stracener is likely dead; it’s only a matter of finding the body.

Neither would call it a homicide investigation

“We do not know at this time what has happened to Bradley,” Vance said. “Can we prove or say that anyone has done harm to Bradley? We cannot say that because we have no evidence of a crime.”

Craft’s department has not released case files, arguing that it’s an ongoing investigation The only available document is the initial missing person call to deputies It’s unclear if the investigation has always been active. A 2022 report in the local newspaper, the Leesville Leader, indicated Craft considered it cold, but he maintained it has always been active.

Leads have surfaced over the years. Two acquaintances of Stracener were of early interest to detectives. They lived in the Shady Oaks trailer park off Pitkin Road, less than a mile from where the car was found, and are believed to be the last people to see Stracener Deputies searched their home and woods behind the trailer park and questioned the two but found no evidence they were involved. Detectives also found nothing of note inside the car Stracener drove that day Another surfaced in 2022 when a man admitted to killing Stracener Vance said. The office determined that the man was in California for work at the time of Stracener’s disappearance.

Then, a year later, a woman, Astin O’Banion, said she was with Stracener when he was taken into an abandoned home, shot and wrapped up in cloth and later dumped off a bridge in the nearby Sabine River Deputies followed up on her statement and ran forensics on the home. A dive team searched the area of the Sabine River but came up with nothing.

O’Banion, a lead that Baggett found to be key to finding out what happened that day, died from a drug overdose less than a month

mer human resources lawyer who sent a critical letter about Giacometto to media outlets earlier this month when he resigned, called her departure “long overdue but fantastic news for DEQ and its employees” after the “nightmare” of her tenure.

“The damage she has done to the agency is immense and it is a shame that it took so many complaints and departures to finally get the governor to address her egregious and narcissistic behavior,” Ward wrote.

He added that employees are thrilled with the appointment of Burdette, praising her for her smarts and “temperament to lead the agency.”

Before Burdette’s time at DEQ, she was previously an attorney with the Louisiana Board of Ethics and an assis-

tant attorney general with the Louisiana Department of Justice handling civil cases.

“Courtney has played a pivotal role at LDEQ for a decade, and it is exciting to bring her leadership and experience back to the Department,” Landry said in his statement. “I am confident that Courtney will continue to move the department in a direction that protects our environment while also fighting for Louisiana businesses over bureaucracy.”

Burdette earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Howard University and her law degree from LSU, the Governor’s Office said. She is married and has two children.

David J. Mitchell can be reached at dmitchell@ theadvocate.com.

after giving her testimony Baggett said she is considering legal action to force the sheriff’s office to release Stracener’s case records.

“Honestly, I may not know until I see it,” Baggett said. “Will it show that they have been working on it more than I realize? Would it prove that they hardly have anything on the case? Where’s the proof, the paper trail? Why are you protecting it? We have zero contact and zero trust. If you are really working on it, then why can’t people see that?”

Baggett will continue to advocate for Stracener, seeing his case as one that deputies let fall through the cracks. She continues for their child, Oliver, and the ability to bring closure to a case that has taken away a part of her life.

“I can’t imagine Oliver growing up still not knowing any answers,” she said.

“So Oliver doesn’t grow up and does the same thing I’m doing right now That would break my heart. I’ve thought about just moving on with my life, but when somebody goes missing, how can you do that?”

Stephen Marcantel writes for The Acadiana Advocate as a Report for America corps member Email him at stephen. marcantel@theadvocate. com.

BY SETH BORENSTEIN AP science writer

WASHINGTON Two major scientific societies on Friday said they will try to fill the void from the Trump administration’s dismissal of scientists writing a cornerstone federal report on what climate change is doing to the United States.

The American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union said they will work together to produce peerreviewed research documents assessing the current and future national impacts of climate change because a science-based report required by law is suddenly in question under President Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, Trump’s Republican administration told about 400 scientists working on the National Climate Assessment that they were no longer needed and that the report was being reevaluated. That report, coming once every four to five years, is required by a 1990 federal law and was due out around 2027. Preliminary budget documents show slashing funding or eliminating offices involved in coordinating that report, scientists and activists said.

“We are filling in a gap in the scientific process,” AGU President Brandon Jones said. “It’s more about ensuring that science continues.

Meteorological society past president Anjuli Bamzi, a retired federal atmospheric scientist who has worked on previous National Climate Assessments, said one of the most important parts of the federal report is that it projects 25 and 100 years into

the future.

With the assessment “we’re better equipped to deal with the future,” Bamzi said. “We can’t be an ostrich and put our head in the sand and let it go.” Texas Tech University climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, also chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, said the two organizations joining to do this report “is a testament to how important it is that the latest science be summarized and available.” Hayhoe, who was a lead author of reports in 2009, 2018 and 2023, said “people are not aware of how climate change is impacting the decisions that they are making today, whether it’s the size of the storm sewer pipes they’re installing, whether it is the expansion of the flood zone where people are building, whether it is the increases in extreme heat.”

They need that knowledge to figure out how to adapt to harms in the future and even the present, Hayhoe said. The national assessment, unlike global United Nations documents, highlights what’s happening to weather not just in the nation but at regional and local levels.

Jones said he hopes the societies’ work can be done in just one year

The last climate assessment report, released in 2023, said that climate change is ”harming physical, mental, spiritual, and community health and well-being through the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events, increasing cases of infectious and vector-borne diseases, and declines in food and water quality and security.”

PHOTO PROVIDED By MORGAN BAGGETT

Bradley Stracener went missing on Oct. 30, 2019.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary

Aurelia Giacometto speaks July 1, 2024, at the Denka Performance Elastomers plant in LaPlace.

Following the defeat of Amendment 2onthe March 29 ballot, Louisiana lawmakers are planning to breakout theparts of thetax revampamendment intosmallerparts.

REVAMP

Continued from page1A

if approved by the Legislature, would go before voters individually in 2026 and takeeffectonlywithvoter approval.

“It’smore easily digestible,” said state Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro,who sponsored the bill that became Amendment 2. “Many, many people called me (after the March 29 vote)and saidthey liked the concepts, but it was too much.”

No major opposition has emerged yet to the four proposals as they begin to work their way through the Legislature.

Landry and Nelson believed that Amendment2 contained so many good provisionsthat voters would overlook the parts they didn’tlike. The strategy failed, and now Landry and hislegislative allies are pushingonly the individual changes that they think voterswould accept.

Dead and buried is acontroversial part of Amendment 2that wouldhave made it somewhat easier to remove property tax exemptions by taking them out of the constitution and giving the Legislature that decision. Religious-minded conservatives contributed to the defeat of Amendment 2by campaigning against it becauseofthat provision.

Anotherelementof Amendment 2that is not being revived: aprovision to enshrine alower individual income tax rate in theconstitution.The current rate allowedis4.75%, but the Legislature lastyear imposed alower 3% rate. Without alower constitutionallimit,the Legislature in theory could raise the rate to 4.75%. Emerson, who authored the bill that became Amendment 2, is back with two of the bite-sized pieces.

Her House Bill 473 would

liquidate threeeducation trust funds and use the$2billion in those accounts to retire achunk of the debt owed by the TeachersRetirement System of Louisiana. Paying offthat debt in turn would freeup$320millioninpaymentsthat thestate andlocal school boards have been making every year

Of thatmoney,Emerson, Landry and legislative leaders have said they would use $200 million to allow local school districtstoturn a $2,000 one-year payment to teachers —and a$1,000 payment to supportstaff —into an annual pay raise.

The $2 billioninthe trust funds has been generating $50million ayear to provide early childhood education for about 2,000 kids and cover other annual education costs. Lawmakers have said they would have plenty of moneytopay for those programs becausepaying the teachers andsupport staff more would take only $200 million of the$325 million inannualsavings from no longer making the debt payments.

“Thisisreally about trying to make smarter financial decisions and pay our teachers as well,”Emersontold colleagues.

Rep. DarylDeshotel,RHessmer, is sponsoring House Bill 366 to give parishes theright to decide whether to abolish the property tax on business inventory. Eliminatingthattax hasbeena longtime goal of business interests but one that parishes have resisted because of thetax revenue they would lose.

The Landry administration believes that about 40 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes wouldget ridofthe inventory tax

Deshotel’sbill includesa sweetener to makeparishes want to opt out —they would receive up to $15 million, based on their collections, to makeupfor thelost property tax revenue. The money for the par-

isheswould come fromthe moneythat would be freed up by foldingthe Revenue Stabilization Fund into the rainy day fund. That’swhatEmerson is proposing to do through House Bill 678. Emerson toldmembersof theWays andMeans Committee on Monday that the Revenue StabilizationFund has so much money in it ($2.7 billion) that lawmakers can put it to better use. Under current law, all corporatetax revenue collected above $600 million each year flows into thatfund, so theamount in it has grown rapidly in recent years. Under Emerson’sbill, about$2billionofthe $3 billion would be usedtofill up the rainy dayfund, which currently has $1.1 billion in it. Another$265 million or so from repealing the Revenue Stabilization Fund would go to the40orsoparishes that opt out of the inventorytax. Eliminating theRevenue Stabilization Fund would not only createmoney for these one-time spending proposals. It wouldalsoallow corporate tax revenue over $600 millionper year that has been flowing intothat fund to be available for spending on popular government programs.Corporate tax revenue in 2025 is projected to be $1.2 billion, so eliminatingthe Revenue Stabilization Fund is expected to generate hundredsofmillions of dollars for the general spending fund.

As part of Emerson’s HB678, if voters approve eliminating the Revenue Stabilization Fund, Louisiana’s income taxwould drop from 3% to 2.75% and the standard deduction for people over 65 would double.

In the same vein, under Emerson’sHouse Bill 578, Louisiana’ssales tax,which is the country’shighest, would drop from an average 10.12% to 9.87%, still the highest Rep. Phillip Tarver,RLake Charles, is sponsoring

House Bill 295, which would attempt to rein in the growth of governmentspending on an ongoing basis. Acomplex formula wouldestablish the limit, butitwouldnot affect spending on one-time programs.

“The basic idea is we don’t wantgovernmentspending to grow at arate faster than inflation or thestate’s population,” Tarver said. “If we keep losing people, it shouldn’ttake more money to serve fewer people.”

Underhis bill,the Legislature could spend above thegrowthlimit with atwothirds vote. His amendment would notaffect aseparate restriction on government spending knownasthe expenditure limit.That limit affects both annual and onetimespending.

Email TylerBridges at tbridges@theadvocate. com.

SURGE

Continued from page1A

increase in reported hospitalizations and deaths.

“Since September 2024, 40 people in Louisiana have been hospitalized with whooping cough,” the Health Department said. “Seventy percent of those hospitalizations have occurred among babies younger than 1year old.”

Whooping cough is arespiratory illness that’svery contagious. It’scaused by bacteria that spreads from person to person in the air through coughing, sneezing and close contact.

Early symptoms may look like the common cold and include arunny or stuffy nose,low-grade fever and mild cough, according to theU.S.Centers forDisease Control and Prevention. Aweek or two after symptoms begin,coughing fits can start. Coughing fits canlastaslittleasone week and as long as 10 weeks.

In babies, early symptoms may include life-threatening pauses in breathing, andwhoopingcough may appear like thecommon coldfor the entire illness, according to the CDC.

Pertussis can spread from person to person once symptoms startand “forat least2 weeksaftercoughing begins,”according to the CDC.

“Infantsunderthe ageof 1year are most affected by whooping cough, showing the highest reported rates of infection and the greatest

ADVERTISEMENT

pertussis bacteria, which causes whooping cough, is examined through an electron microscope.

likelihood of severe complications and death,” according to the Louisiana Department of Health. “The bacteria that cause whooping cough are often unknowingly spread to infants by close family or caregivers.” The Health Department hasoffered sometipson how to handle whooping cough:

n Vaccination is the best way to prevent serious complications from illness, but protection from the vaccine fades over time. The DTaP vaccine —for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis —is for childrenyoungerthan 7. The Tdapvaccine is for olderchildren, teens, and adults, and is abooster dose protecting against the same diseases.

n Infants can’treceive a pertussis-containing vaccine until they are 2months old. That canleaveyoung babiesathigh risk forsevere disease.

n “The best way to protect newborns from whooping cough is forpregnant women to receive aTdap vaccine during each pregnancy,”accordingtoHealth Department guidance. “Pregnant women should also get the Tdap vaccine during the third trimester of any pregnancy.Evidence shows that infants are less likely to developpertussis early in life if theirmother received the Tdap vaccine during pregnancy

n Review your and your children’simmunization history.Contact your health care provider about any questions related to the DTaP and Tdap vaccines.

Many Americans are fortunate to havedental coverage fortheirentire working life,through employer-provided benefits.When those benefits endwithretirement, paying dental bills out-of-pocket can come as a shock,leading people to put off or even go without care Simply put— without dentalinsurance, there may be an importantgap in your healthcare coverage.

...

Medicare doesn’tpay for dental care.1

That’sright. As good as Medicare is, it wasnever meanttocovereverything. Thatmeans if you wantprotection,you need to purchase individual insurance.

Early detection canprevent small problems from becoming expensive ones.

The best waytopreventlarge dental bills is preventivecare. TheAmerican Dental Association recommends checkups twice ayear.

STAFF FILEPHOTO By HILARySCHEINUK

Trump budget seeks sharp spending cuts

BY LISA MASCARO and JOSH BOAK Associated Press

WASHINGTON The White House released President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget proposal Friday, hoping to slash, if not zero out, spending on many government programs. It seeks a sweeping restructuring of the nation’s domestic priorities reflective of the president’s first 100 days in office and sudden firing of federal workers.

Trump’s plan aims for steep cuts to child care, disease research, renewable energy and peacekeeping abroad, many already underway through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, all while pumping up billions for the administration’s mass deportations agenda. The budget drafters echo Trump’s promises to end “woke programs,” including preschool grants to states with diversity programs. And they reflect his vow to stop the “weaponization of government” by slashing the Internal Revenue Service, even as critics accuse him of using the levers of power to punish people and institutions he disfavors.

Overall it’s a sizable reduction in domestic accounts

Budget

BY RICHARD TRIBOU Orlando Sentinel (TNS)

— of nearly 23%, the White House said. At the same time the White House said it is relying on Congress to unleash $375 billion in new money for the Homeland Security and Defense departments as part of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” of tax cuts and spending reductions.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, welcomed the proposal as “a bold blueprint that reflects

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget looks to end the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and Gateway space station central to NASA’s existing Artemis program — but only after a successful moon landing as the nation remains in a race with China

A preliminary overview of the White House’s planned 2026 discretionary budget released Friday dubbed SLS and Orion as “grossly expensive and delayed,” citing that

the values of hardworking Americans and the commitment to American strength and prosperity.”

Budgets do not become law but serve as a touchstone for the coming fiscal year debates. Often considered a statement of values, this first budget since Trump’s return to the White House carries the added weight of defining the Republican president’s secondterm pursuits, alongside his

party in Congress.

It comes as Trump has unilaterally imposed what could be hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases in the form of tariffs, setting off a trade war that has consumers, CEOs and foreign leaders worried about a possible economic downturn.

Democrats assailed the budget as a devastating foreshadowing of Trump’s vision for the country

“President Trump has

made his priorities clear as day: he wants to outright defund programs that help working Americans,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. This, she said, “while he shovels massive tax breaks at billionaires like himself and raises taxes on middleclass Americans with his reckless tariffs.”

The White House Office of Management and Budget, headed by Russell Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025 from the conservative Heritage Foundation, provided contours of a so-called skinny version of topline numbers only

It covers only the federal government’s discretionary spending, now about $1.83 trillion a year on defense and nondefense accounts.

Trump’s team drops that spending by $163 billion, to $1.69 trillion, a portion of the nation’s nearly $7 trillion budget that includes far more programs and services.

each launch costs the government $4 billion and the program overall is 140% over budget.

It’s among billions in cuts for the overall $18.8 billion proposed budget for NASA, which for the current fiscal year is nearly $25 billion. Ultimately Congress will pass a budget and it often counters presidential proposals.

The Trump administration looks to drop funds toward Artemis’ future launches by $879 million with a goal of ending them after the Artemis III flight. “The budget funds a program to

replace SLS and Orion flights to the moon with more cost-effective commercial systems that would support more ambitious subsequent lunar missions,” the White House proposal stated “The budget also proposes to terminate the Gateway a small lunar space station in development with international partners, which would have been used to support future SLS and Orion missions.”

NASA flew the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission that orbited the moon in 2022 and has its first crewed mission, Artemis II,

Public broadcasting chiefs vow to fight order cutting PBS, NPR’s federal funding

BY DAVID BAUDER

AP media writer

The head of PBS said Friday that President Donald Trump’s executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to public broadcasting institutions PBS and NPR was blatantly unlawful Public Broadcasting Service CEO Paula Kerger said the Republican president’s order “threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years.”

“We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans,” Kerger said.

Trump signed the order late Thursday, alleging “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting. The order instructs the Corporation for

Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies to “cease Federal funding” for PBS and National Public Radio and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations.

The White House, in a social media posting announcing the signing, said the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funnels public funding to the two services, said that it is not a federal executive agency subject to Trump’s orders. The president earlier this week said he was firing three of the five remaining CPB board members threatening its ability to do any work — and was immediately sued by the CPB to stop it.

The corporation distributes roughly a half-billion dollars of congressionallyappropriated money to PBS, NPR and its local stations. In creating CPB, Congress forbade any federal agency or employee from direct control over educational television or broadcasting, said Patricia Harrison, its president and CEO.

NPR’s president and CEO also promised Friday to contest the decision as well.

“We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public,” Katherine Maher said.

The vast majority of public money for the services goes directly to its hundreds of local stations, which operate on a combination of government funding, donations and philanthropic grants.

Among some of the White House’s proposed highlights: The State Department and international programs would lose 84% of their money and receive $9.6 billion reflecting deep cuts already underway, including to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Health and Human Services Department would be cut by $33.3 billion and the Education Department’s spending would be reduced by $12 billion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health would all face steep reductions. The Defense Department would get an additional $113.3 billion and Homeland Security would receive $42.3 billion more. Much of that is contingent on Congress approving Trump’s big bill. Congress is already deep into the slog of drafting of Trump’s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered funds for the administration’s mass deportation effort a package that, unlike the budget plan, would carry the force of law

Federal budgets have been climbing steadily, as have annual deficits that are fast approaching $2 trillion with annual interest payments on the debt almost $1 trillion That’s thanks mostly to the spike in emergency COVID-19 pandemic spending, changes in the tax code that reduced revenues and the climbing costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. The nation’s debt load, at $36 trillion, is ballooning.

gearing up to fly around the moon no later than April. Artemis III, still on NASA’s calendar for summer 2027, would return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The Trump budget proposal looks to keep the human exploration budget the highest line item with more than $7 billion — including $1 billion in new investments to pursue Mars-focused programs

That’s the only program with a proposed increase.

The biggest loser in the proposed budget is space science with cuts

of more than $2.2 billion followed by more than $1.1 billion in cuts to Earth science, mission support and more than $500 million from space technology

“In line with the administration’s objectives of returning to the moon before China and putting a man on Mars, the budget would reduce lower priority research and terminate unaffordable missions such as the Mars Sample Return mission that is grossly overbudget and whose goals would be achieved by human missions to Mars,” the proposal stated.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, speaks as President Donald Trump, right, listens Thursday during a National Day of Prayer event at the White House in Washington.

BY BETH HARRIS Associated Press

LOS ANGELES RuthBuzzi, who rose to fame as the frumpy and bitter Gladys Ormphby on the groundbreaking sketchcomedy series “Rowan &Martin’sLaughIn” and made over 200television appearances during a45-year career,died Thursday.She was 88. Buzzi died at her home in Texas, her agent Mike Eisenstadt said. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’sand was in hospice care. Shortlybeforeher death, herhusband Kent Perkins, had posteda statement on Buzzi’sFacebook page, thanking her many fans and telling them: “She wants you to know she probably had morefun doing those shows than you had watching them.”

Buzzi won aGolden Globe and

wasa two-time Emmy nomineefor theNBC show that ranfrom1968 to 1973. She wasthe onlyregularto appear inall six seasons, including thepilot.

“RuthBuzzi was acomedic genius,” Nancy Sinatra postedonX

“Working alongside her on LaughIn was the most fun Ieverhad working.I treasured herfriendship and Iamheartbroken to wake up to the news thatshe is gone.I love you,Ruthie.”

Buzzi was first spottedby “Laugh-In” creator andproducer George Schlatter playing various characters on “The Steve Allen ComedyHour.”

Schlatter was holding auditions for “Laugh-In” when he received apicture in the mailofBuzzi in herOrmphby costume, sittingina wire mesh trash barrel. The character was clad in drab brown with

left, HenryGibson, Ruth Buzzi and Gary Owenspose for the mediain2002 in Hollywood

her bun covered by ahairnet knotted in themiddle of her forehead. “I think Ihired her becauseof

Ruth Buzzi, sketch player on ‘Laugh-In,’dies

my passion forGladys Ormphby,” he wroteinhis 2023 memoir“Still Laughing ALife in Comedy.”“I must admit that the hairnet and therolled-down stockings did light my fire.” BornRuth Ann Buzzi on July 24, 1936, in Westerly,Rhode Island, she was the daughter of Angelo Buzzi, anationally known stone sculptor Buzzi gother national television break on “The Garry Moore Show” in 1964. She played Shakundala the Silent,abumbling magician’sassistant to DomDeLuise’scharacter Dominic the Great.

She was asemi-regular on “That Girl” as Marlo Thomas’ friend.

Buzzi appeared in music videos with“WeirdAl” Yankovic,the B-52’sand thePresidents of the United States of America.

She did hundreds of guest voices

in cartoon series including “Pound Puppies,” “Berenstain Bears,” “The Smurfs” and“TheAngry Beavers.” She wasEmmy nominated forher six-year run as shopkeeper Ruthie on “Sesame Street.” Her movie credits included “FreakyFriday,”“Chu Chu andthe Philly Flash,” “The North Avenue Irregulars” and “The Apple Dumpling GangRides Again.” Buzzi wasactive on social media andhad thousands of followers whom she rewarded with such oneliners as “I have never faked asarcasm” and“Scientists saythe universe is made up entirelyofneurons, protons and electrons. They seem to have missed morons.” Buzzi retired from acting in 2021 and suffered aseries of strokesthe following year.Her husbandtold The Dallas Morning News in 2023 that she had dementia.

Ill. governor whohaltedexecutions, went to prison dies

BY CHRISTOPHER WILLS andJOHN O’CONNOR Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD,Ill. Former Illinois

Gov.George Ryan, disgraced bya corruption scandal that landed him in prison yet heralded by some for clearing the state’sdeath row, has died. He was 91. Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner,afamily friend, said Ryan died Friday afternoon at his home in Kankakee. Ryan started out asmall-town pharmacist but wound up running one of the country’slargest states. Along the way,the tough-on-crime Republican experiencedaconver-

sion on the death penalty and won international praise by halting executions as governor and, eventually,emptyingdeath row He served only one term as governor,from 1999 to 2003, that ended amid accusations he used governmentoffices to reward friends, win electionsand hide corruption that played arole in the fiery deathsofsix children. Eventually, Ryan wasconvicted of corruption charges andsentenced to 61/2 years in federal prison. During hismore than five years behind bars,Ryanworkedasa carpenter and befriended fellow inmates, many of whom addressed him as “governor.” He was re-

leased in January 2013, weeksbefore his 79th birthday

He’d been defiant heading to prison. The night before he went in, Ryaninsisted he was innocent andwould prove it. But when Ryan asked President GeorgeW.Bush to grant him clemency in 2008, he saidheaccepted the verdict againsthim andfelt“deep shame.” Ryan was still serving his sentencewhenhis wife, Lura Lynn, died in June 2011. Born in Iowa and raisedin Kankakee, Ryan married his high school sweetheart, followed his father in becoming apharmacist and had six children. In 1968, Ryan was appointedto

fill an unexpired term on the county board, beginning aquick rise in politics. Eventually,heserved as speaker of theIllinois House, lieutenant governor,secretary of state and, finally,governor Aglad-handing politician from the old school, Ryan emphasized pragmatism over ideology.His willingnesstoset aside partyorthodoxysometimes put himat odds with more conservative Republicans. In 2000, after signing off on the execution of one killer,hedecided not to carry outany more. In virtuallyhis last actasgovernor,he emptied death row with pardons and commutations in 2003.

“Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious —and therefore immoral —I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death,” Ryan said. Before year’s end, he would be charged withtaking payoffs,gifts and vacations in return for steering government contracts and leases to cronies, as well as lying to investigators and cheating on his taxes. Much of the illegal activity took place duringRyan’stwo termsas Illinois secretaryofstate, including the 1994 deaths of six children. Theyburned to death after their minivanstruck apart that had fallen off atruck whosedrivergot his license illegally from Ryan’soffice.

Singer-songwriterJillSobule, knownfor ‘I Kissed aGirl,’diesinfire

BY HALLIE GOLDEN Associated Press

Jill Sobule, the award-winning singer-songwriter whose witty and poignant writing first attracted widespreadattention with the gay-themed song “I KissedaGirl,” died in ahouse fire Thursday.She was 66. Her death was confirmed by her publicist, David Elkin, in an email Thursday afternoon. It was not immediately clear how the fire in Woodbury,Minnesota, started.

“Jill Sobule was aforce of nature andhuman rightsadvocatewhose musiciswoven into our culture,” JohnPorter,her manager,said in a statement. “I hope her music, memory,& legacy continuetolive on and inspire others.”

Duringher more than three decades of recording, Sobule released 12 albumsthat addressed such complex topics as the

deathpenalty,anorexia nervosa, reproduction and LGBTQ+ issues. Her first album, “Things Here AreDifferent,” was released in 1990.Five yearslater,she received widespreadattention forher hit singles, “Supermodel,” from the movie “Clueless,” and “I Kissed A Girl,” which, despite being banned on severalSouthernradio stations, madeitintothe Billboard Top20.

In 2008, after two major record companiesdumpedher andtwo indielabelswent bankrupt beneath her, Sobule raised tens of thou-

sandsofdollars fromfanssoshe could make anew album.

“The oldkind of paradigm, where you’ve alwayswaited forother people to do things, you’d have your manager and your agent,” she said at the time. “You’d wait for the big recordcompany to give you money to do things andtheytellyou what to do.This is so great. Iwanttodo everything like this.” Born in Denver,Colorado, on Jan. 16,1959, Sobule described herself as ashy childwho preferred observing over participating.

Sobule was known for playing dozens of shows ayear anddescribedher live performances as vulnerable experiences. She said she often doesn’thave aset list and wings it.

“In agood way, Ifeel like I’mstill arookie,”she told TheAssociated Press in 2023. “There’ssomuch moretodoand Ihaven’t done my best yet.”

She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law,James and Mary Ellen Sobule, along with her nephews and cousins.

AP FILE PHOTO By NICKUT

‘Rowan &Martin’sLaugh-In’ cast members, from

Company seeks dismissal of lawsuit

Acadian Ambulance cybersecurity breach leaked sensitive info, suit alleges

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL

Staff writer

Lawyers representing Acadian

Ambulance want a federal judge to dismiss a class-action lawsuit

filed against the company, claiming victims haven’t proved they were harmed by a data breach

The lawsuit, which was consolidated from 10 other class actions,

claims that the July 2024 data breach of the company led to sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers, of 2.9 million people being leaked onto the dark web

Federal Magistrate Judge Carol Whitehurst said during a Wednesday hearing that she would rule on the request at a later date.

Attorneys first filed to dismiss

the case in late January, according to online records.

Acadian Ambulance’s main thrust is that data breach victims have given no proof that they were actually harmed by the leak, claiming that “zero damages multiplied across an alleged class of 2.9 million is still zero dollars” and that plaintiffs “cut-and-pasted” their alleged injuries from recent class actions.

Attorneys of the plaintiffs stood by their victims’ claims. They added that they only needed to show that a criminal group was involved in the leak and that personal information like Social Security numbers were stolen, giving victims a sense of imminent harm.

Daixin, a hacker group, in July stole personal information of potentially millions of patients. The lawsuit claims that 2.9 million people were affected, but Acadian Ambulance said the number of victims was much smaller The company also said that private

The company, which operates air and ground ambulance services in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee, issued a news release in June announcing it had been the victim of a cyberattack.

JUST ADD WATER

Silton Jack, of Professional Pools and Spas, power washes a lifeguard chair in the swimming pool at Girard Park in Lafayette on Friday. Jamie Boudreaux, chief communications officer for Lafayette Consolidated Government, said the Girard Park pool, which has been closed for quite some time, as well as the pool at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, is set to reopen May 22. Lafayette Consolidated Government is seeking lifeguards and other pool employees. Those interested can visit lafayettela.gov and navigate to applications on the non-civil service careers page.

‘American Idol’ hopeful got his start at dive bars

WBR locals say they knew he’d make it big one day

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

Side Porch Daiquiris, a beloved local bar off La. 1 in Addis, was quiet Wednesday morning except for the chatter of the radio and the whirring of the

daiquiri machines. But just weeks ago, the atmosphere at the dive was electric when Louisiana native and now Top 10 “American Idol” contestant John Foster played his final concert at his hometown bar

“I always had a feeling he’d be too big for us one day,” said Side Porch manager Brady Creighton, who started booking then-high school student Foster

ä See HOPEFUL, page 2B

Proposed law would create new way to pay for policing

Lake Charles city marshal’s salary would cover payments

BY MEGAN WYATT Staff writer

A proposed state law that would allow the Lake Charles city marshal to spend a portion of his salary on community policing passed its first hurdle this week in the Legislature. House Bill 134 by Rep. Wilford Carter Sr., D-Lake Charles, would create a new avenue for the city marshal to pay deputies extra money for community policing. Existing law allows him to pay deputies additional money with a portion of the marshal’s salary that comes from civil fee collections. The bill would allow the city marshal to use that same, feedriven portion of his salary to also supplement payments to deputies for community policing outside of their regular shifts. The department has more than 50 reserve

deputy marshals.

“He wants to be able to use this money from this account to pay part-time reserve deputies that work for him on special events like festivals and parades,” Carter said Wednesday as he testified before the House Judiciary Committee. The bill received unanimous support from the committee and will head next to the full House.

“I know it’s increasingly difficult for all of these cities and municipalities that are hosting the parades, Mardi Gras and all of this,” said Rep. Jeremy LaCombe, R-New Roads. “They’re all having trouble getting additional security So it’s a good bill, and I appreciate him doing this out of his own sack of money, essentially to help the community.”

Lake Charles Ward 3 Marshal Nathan Keller said community policing has been a priority since he took office in 2021. The marshal’s salary is supplemented by fees collected by his office for civil matters, which include serving court orders or eviction notices. The amount collected varies from year to year The marshal’s salary was

$165,000 in 2023, with the civil fees totaling about $82,000 that year, or about half of his salary according to the agency’s most recent Louisiana Legislative Auditor report. The existing law already allows Keller to use those fees to pay extra to his deputies to compete with rates paid by other law enforcement agencies in Calcasieu Parish.

Many deputies work off-duty security gigs, which can lead to extra pay Keller said. But he said many part-time reserve deputies also volunteer their time to work with children and senior citizens in underserved communities.

This bill would allow him to offer them compensation for that type of community policing as well.

“This way we can actually pay them some type of stipend to go out and assist,” Keller said. “And it now frees up Lake Charles City Police and the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office because the average parade may take 30 to 100 people for us to make that route safe.”

Email Megan Wyatt at mwyatt@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

PROVIDED PHOTO American Idol’s John Foster plays a show at Side Porch Daiquiris in Addis.

ä See LAWSUIT, page 2B

Officials: Manshot, killed by NOPD officers

Anotherperson wasalsohit by car fleeingscene

BY MARCO CARTOLANO and POET WOLFE Staff writer

New Orleans police shot and killed aman Friday at the Walmart Supercenter in the Lower Garden District after he ran overa female officerand another person with his car, officials said.

At about10:50 a.m., the New Orleans Police Department responded to a call of an officerinjured at 1901 Tchoupitoulas St., according to Superinten-

dent AnneKirkpatrick. The officer was working a detail at theWalmart and was flagged down by abystander who saidaman appeared to be overdosing in avehicle.

The officer administered Narcantothe man, and when he awoke, he began acting“erratically,” Kirkpatrick said. He proceeded to speed off while theofficer was partially in the car dragging her with him.

“Here our officer was trying to give aid to someone to trytohelpthem and save them and it turnedon adime,” Kirkpatrick said.

The driver then hitabystander and atruck parked on thesideofthe street. The officer,who landed

underneath the truck, fired at leastone gunshotatthe man, striking him on the side of the chest.Kirkpatricksaid the officer was in a“lifeand death situation.”

Despite being shot, the man continueddriving down the street until he crashed.

After thecrash, alieutenant cut the air bags inside the car so the man could receive medical assistance. Another responding officer administered first aid.

Kirkpatrick saidthe injuredofficer was stable andalert andthe bystander,though injured, was alive. Theirconditions are currently unknown.

According to the department,the officer has been

placed on administrative reassignment per standard protocol pending theoutcomeofthe investigation.

At the Walmart, customers had to pause their shopping while dozens of police officers investigated the scene, roping off thearea surrounding the big box store

Oneshopper,Harry Gilbert of New Orleans, said he was there with aneighbor when his car was damaged by theman’svehicle before the officer arrived.

Gilbertsaw twopolice officers head to thescene to check on the driver.He then saw theman reverse his car and quickly pull out,dragging the officer as she held on to the door.

Gilbert didnot seethe shooting after the car left the Walmart lot, but he heardtwo shots andsaid policeswarmedonto the scene.

“It was like an Al Pacino movie with action all morning,” Gilbert said. “They started shooting, people were screaming, alady was hit in the leg by the car.”

Gilbert said his car’s bumper and right fender cameoff as aresult of the crash.

“There’salot of work for me to do to pick up the car get it fixed,” Gilbert said. “But, I’ll make it through.”

Email Poet Wolfe at poet. wolfe@theadvocate.com.

Grad studentsuesTulaneUniversity, officer

Suit alleges protestarrest misrepresented

BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer

ATulane University graduate student sued the school and aformer member of its police force,alleging that the policeofficer misrepresented the student’sactions when he was arrested followinga pro-Palestinian protest at the school last year,according to court records. Khalif Birden, a26-yearold graduate anthropology student, wasarrestedseveral days after protesters set up an encampment on Tulane’scampus on April 29, 2024.

According to the lawsuit, during the protest, Tulane

police officer Nathaniel Wolf was standing on a tent that Birden attempted to pull away,and Wolf fell to theground.The lawsuit alleges that Wolf was uninjured and acknowledged he fellonhis own, but then later swore out anaffidavit against Birden thatdidn’t reflect what happened. Birden was booked with resisting apolice officer with force, which is a felony, and “remainingin placesorland after being forbidden,” amisdemeanor ANew Orleans judge later foundBirden not guilty on all counts. He hasnot been allowed back on campus,however,because the school found he had violated its conduct standards, and he has not been able to complete his doctoral studies. His attorney said his conduct hearings with theschool are ongoing.

In his lawsuit, Birden alleges thatWolf, whono longer works for the university,made “material misrepresentation”ofthe incidentthatled to Birden’s arrest. The lawsuit arguesthat Tulane,which trains university police officers according to Louisianastandards, should also be held liable Birden is seekingcompensation for “general andspecial damages,” but did notspecify an amount, along with attorney fees andother legalcosts.

Mike Strecker,aspokespersonfor the university, declined to commenton thecase butsaid in astatement that although Tulane “fundamentally respects the right to protest and regularly supports lawful demonstrations on campus” it does not “tolerate behaviorthatviolates universityconduct policies

and/or thelaw.”

Strecker confirmed that Wolf is no longeremployed by the university Attempts to reach Wolf on Friday were unsuccessful. Students acrossthe country who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at college campusesover thepast year continue to face consequences, rangingfromdiscipline by theirschools to, in some cases, detainment by federal agents. At Tulane, seven studentswho took part in apeacefulprotest this March are under investigation by theuniversity andsome could face suspension or expulsion. In New Orleans, dozens of studentsand local activists staged protests on Tulane’s campus last year before pitching tents on acampus lawn alongSt. Charles Avenue. The encampmentstayed in place

for about aday until law enforcement officers, including Louisiana State Police troopers, dismantled it and arrested 14 people, including five Tulane students and two Loyola Universitystudents. Allhavesincebeen acquitted of the charges, whichweremisdemeanor counts of remaining in a place that they were orderedtoleave. Matt McLaren, aNew Orleans attorney representing Birden in the criminalcaseand thelawsuit, declined to comment on the specificsofthe case, but said that while theconsequences that Birden and other student protesters have faced raise similar free-speech issues, “we believe Mr.Birden’s case is significantlydifferent than just an infringement on his First Amendment rights.”

Times-Picayune | TheAdvocatewins‘Newspaperofthe Year’

Louisiana Press Association

awards announced

Thursday

BY ANDREA GALLO Staff writer

The Times-Picayune|

The Advocate was named “Newspaper of the Year” and won the Freedom of Information Award at the Louisiana Press Association’sannual Better Newspaper Contest. The awards, which were announced Thursday evening, included honors for news, sports, feature and opinion writing as well as photography,headline writing and more. The newspaper won the Freedom of Information Awardfor itscoverageof an attempt in the Louisiana

LAWSUIT

Continued from page1B

employee data, including Social Security numbers, were not compromised. The hacker group,hold-

HOPEFUL

Continued from page1B

right after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Westside bar,restaurant and festival circuit served as atraining ground for the 18-year-old country musician, who continues to advance in season 23 of the singing competition airing on ABC. His stage presence and sound seemed developed even at the beginning of his career,locals said.

“That’sthe same voice he’shad since he was 16, 17,” Creighton said.

RegularsatCharlie’s

Legislature to repeal the state’spublic records laws, which ultimately failed.

“Wepublished many stories detailing thelaw’s potential impact, and we highlightedhow publicrecordshelpedtoexpose major coverups in Louisiana history,” thenewspaper wrote its contest entryletter

The newspaper also swept the investigative reporting categoryinits division. Judges honored reporters Joseph Cranney andJeff Adelsonfor their ”Broken City”series on infrastructure failuresin New Orleans; reporter AndreaGallo for her stories on child welfare failures across Louisiana; and reporter Sam Karlin for his ”Breaking Point” series on thepropertyinsurance crisis along the coast. The Acadiana Advocate andSt. Tammany Farmer,

ing the data ransom, asked for $7 million for itsrelease to the company.Acadian Ambulance refusedto pay Thelawsuit allegesAcadian Ambulance failed to properly secure plaintiffs’ and class action members’

Lounge, another barplayed by Foster,all had stories to shareabout the young singer.Local Gary Tullier said he only got betterashe watched himplay over the years.

When Foster was starting out, he played Feast on the Levee, afestival inBrusly where Tullier saw him perform.

“Whenhegot offthe stage, Isaid, ‘Man, you did excellent. Youneed to go on ‘American Idol,’”Tullier said Sitting around the bar, residentsalso praisedFosterfor being an old soul, in both his music and how he interacts with others. “He’sanhonest, genuine,

whichare judged in different divisions, also won variety of awards. They include:

n First place for best headline, Chris Martin

n First place for best breaking news story,Claire Taylor and Stephen Marcantel

n First place for best news story,Alena Maschke

n First place for best single editorial, Arnessa Garrett

n First place, best layout anddesign(Gary Hebert Award), staff

n First place, best front page, St.Tammany Farmer staff

n First place, best breakingnews story,St. Tammany Farmer staff

n First place, best feature story,Kim Chatelain

n First place, best news story,Jessica Saggio

n Firstplace, regularcolumn (Sam Hanna Award), Jessica Saggio

personally identifiable information and personal health information despite warnings in recent years of cybersecuritythreats particularly aimed at medical institutions and patient information. Thebreach puts custom-

probably the mostrespectful person his age I’ve ever met in my life,” Ryan Comeauxsaid. “I mean, I gotta tell him to quit calling me sir.”

Before he traveled to Hollywood for “American Idol,”Foster already had several gigs scheduled for

LOTTERY

n First place, best investigativereporting (Gibbs Adams Award), Alex Lubben

n First place, best sports story,Joseph Halm

n First place, best sports column, Joseph Halm

n First place, best news photo, Grant Therkildsen

n First place, best feature photo, Grant Therkildsen

n First place, best news video, Joseph Halm

n First place, general excellence, St.Tammany Farmer

Otheraward winners from The Times-Picayune | The Advocateinclude:

n First place for best front page, staff

n First place for best headline, Andrea Daniel

n First place for best breaking news story Charles Lussier

n First place for best feature story,Jan Risher

n First place for best news story,Tyler Bridges

ersand employees at currentand ongoingriskof fraud and identitytheft, according to the lawsuit. Plaintiffs’ attorneys allege the victims have spent considerable timeand money trying to mitigate the effects of thebreach,such

this year in various West BatonRouge venues.Locals weren’tsure whether he could keep thosecommitments,but they said

n First place for best regularcolumn (Sam Hanna Award), Stephanie Grace

n First place forbest investigative reporting (Gibbs Adams Award), Joseph Cranney andJeff Adelson

n First place forbest sports story,Wilson Alexander

n First place forbest sports column,Scott Rabalais

n First place forbest newsphoto, Javier Gallegos n First place forbest featurephoto,Michael Johnson

n First place forbest news video, Chelsea Shannon, Ian McNulty and Chris Granger The newspaper’sadvertising department won first-place awards for staff-generatedads,ad campaigns and in-paper promotions.

as closing outaccountsand monitoring financial data almost constantly

Staff writer ClaireTaylor contributed to this article.

Email Stephen Marcantel at stephen.marcantel@ theadvocate.com.

they wouldn’tblame him for breaking them

Fornow,the act“John Foster” stays on the music lineup board at Charlie’s.

BRIEFS

FROM STAFFAND WIRE REPORTS

Wall Street extends its gains, reclaiming losses

Wall Street extended its gains to aninth straight dayFriday, marking the stock market’slongest winning streaksince 2004 andreclaiming the ground it haslost since President Donald Trump escalated his trade war in early April.

The rally was spurredbya better-than-expected reporton the U.S. job market and resurgent hope for aratcheting down in the U.S. trade showdown with China.

The S&P 500, DowJones Industrial Average andthe Nasdaq composite all climbed The gains were broad. Roughly 90% of stocks and every sector in the S&P 500 advanced. Technology stocks were among the companies doing the heaviest lifting. Microsoft rose 2.3% and Nvidia rose 2.5%. Apple, however,fell 3.7% after the iPhone maker estimated that tariffs will cost it $900 million Banks andother financial companies also made solid gains. JPMorgan Chase rose 2.3% and Visa closed 1.5% higher

Profits at Exxon Mobil and Chevron fall Exxon Mobil’sfirstquarter profit slumped to the lowest level in years, stung by weaker crude prices and higher costs

The oil and gas giant earned $7.71 billion, or $1.76 per share, for the three months ended March 31. It earned $8.22 billion, or $2.06 per share, in the yearago period.

The results topped Wall Street expectations, but Exxondoes not adjust its reported resultsbased on one-time events such as asset sales. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research expected earnings of $1.74 per share. Chevron also reported its lowest first-quarter profits in years, with per-share adjusted profit falling to $2.18 per shareonrevenue of $47.61 billion.Similar to Exxon, Chevrondoesnot adjust its reported results based on onetime events such as assetsales Analysts predicted earningsof $2.15 pershare on revenue of $48.66 billion.

The last time first-quarter profits were this low for Exxon was in 2022 and for Chevron, in 2021. This week, abarrel of U.S benchmark crudefellbelow $60, alevel at which many producers can no longer turn aprofit. U.S. benchmark crude is down 18% this year and Brent, the international benchmark,isright about there as well. This week, BP and Shell also reported falling first quarter profits.

Microsoft hikes Xbox prices worldwide

Amid abackdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty,moreand more gamers are facing price hikes.

Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consolesand controllersaround the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. —up$80 fromthe $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020.And itsmore powerful Xbox Series Xwill be $599.99 going forward, a$100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing.

“Weunderstand that these changes are challenging,” Microsoft wrote in aThursday Xbox support update andsubsequent statement sent to The Associated Press. The tech giant didn’tpoint to tariffs specifically,but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” The price hikes arrive during aturbulentand uncertain time for the gaming industry,largely due to new tariffs implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump —and respondingretaliation fromtargeted countries,notably China. And Xbox players aren’tthe first gamers to feel impacts amid these ongoing trade wars. Preorders for Nintendo’shighly-anticipatedSwitch 2were also delayed in April as retailersassessed the potential impact of tariffs. Nintendo later confirmed that some Switch 2accessorieswould see price adjustments.

AirProductsdelaysAscension plant

MenezessaidThursdayduringa quarterly earnings call with analysts.

side wouldopen by 2026.

BY TIMOTHYBOONE Business editor

Air Products said it is delaying the startup of its $8 billion blue hydrogen manufacturing complex in Ascension Parish and won’tmove forward with theproject until it sells offthe facility’s carboncapture and ammonia portions

The earliest the facility will begin productionwon’t be until 2028 or 2029, Air Products CEO Eduardo

“Tobeclear,Air Productsisan industrial gases company anddoes not intend to be aretailmarketer of ammonia,” Menezessaid. Menezes, who took over as CEO in February, said thecompany hadmoved away from itscore businesses in search of growth.

Air Products halted spending on the blue hydrogen manufacturing plant,Menezes said. He said the companyhas hadongoing negotiations withother companies about handling thecarboncapture and ammonia divestiture.

Air Products announced plans for the clean energy facility in October 2021 and said the facilitynear Burn-

The company plans to produce “blue hydrogen” at theplant, which is created by extracting methane from natural gas. Customers would useblue hydrogen to generate electricity and power vehicles.At thetime of the announcement, Air Products officialssaid the facility would produce more than750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen —enough to power 3million cars. The carbon dioxide from that production process would be captured, transported down a37mile pipelinetoLakeMaurepas and injected deep underground. But theproject has raised the ire of nearbyresidents, whoare concerned aboutemissionsand the proximity of the plant to Sorrento

Primary School,and environmental groups, who say the plant will have little climatebenefits andcost taxpayers billionsbecause of thefederal tax credits for carbon capture andstorage. Community groups and environmentalists said they were pleased with the decision to delay the plant.

“This is great news forall the groups and community members who have been fighting this illconceived project from thestart,” Corinne VanDalen, senior attorney for Earthjustice, said in astatement.

Air Products has promoted the economic benefits of the plant, whichwould create 170 permanent jobs, and said it will help reduce carbon emissionsbymakinghydrogen andammonia.

materialize this year forAmerican workers and potentially,Trump

BY PAUL WISEMAN AP economics writer

WASHINGTON— American employers added asurprising 177,000 jobs in April as the job market showed resilienceinthe face of President Donald Trump’s trade wars. Hiring fell slightly from arevised 185,000 in March, but thatisabove economistprojections of 135,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained at alow 4.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Trump’saggressive and unpredictablepolicies —includingmassiveimporttaxes —have clouded the outlook forthe economy andthe jobmarket and raised fears thatthe American economy is headedtoward recession.

Friday’sreport showed employment, one of the strongest aspects of the U.S. economy remains solid, yet manyeconomistsanticipate that anegative impact from trade wars will

“Politicians can count theirlucky stars that companies areholding on to their workers despite the storm clouds forming thatcould slow the economyfurtherinthe second half of the year,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at fwdbonds, afinancial markets research firm.

Transportation and warehousing companies added 29,000 jobs lastmonth, suggesting companies have built up inventory before imported goods are hitwith newtariffs. Health care companies addednearly51,000jobs and bars, restaurants almost 17,000 and construction firms11,000. Factories lost 1,000jobs. Labor Departmentrevisionsshaved 58,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.

Average hourly earnings ticked up 0.2% from March and 3.8% from ayear ago, nearingthe 3.5%thateconomistsview as consistent with the 2% inflation theFederalReserve wants to see.

Trump’smassive taxes on importstothe U.S. are likely to raise costs for Americans

and American businesses thatdependon supplies from overseas. They also threaten to slow economic growth.His immigration crackdown threatens to makeitmore difficultfor hotels, restaurants and construction firms to filljob openings.Bypurging federal workers and canceling federal contracts, Elon Musk’sDepartment of Government Efficiency risks wiping out jobs inside thegovernment and out.

Still, Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, called the jobs report “reassuringly normal.The fearsofasofter labor market due to tariffuncertainty went unrealized last month …There are signs that businesses are reininginplansfor hiringand capital spending and that consumers are turning more cautious toward discretionary spending.” Americanworkers have at least onething going forthem. Despite the uncertainty about falloutfromTrump’s policies,manyemployers don’twant to risk letting employees go notafter struggling to bring people back from themassive but short-livedlayoffs from the pandemic.

BY ALEX VEIGA AP business writer

LOSANGELES Homeownership is receding further out of reach for most Americans as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices stretch thelimits of what buyers can afford Ahomebuyer now needs to earn at least $114,000 ayear to afford a $431,250 home —the national median listing price in April, accordingtodatareleased Thursday by Realtor.com. The analysis assumes that a

homebuyer will make a20% down payment, financethe rest of the purchase witha30-year fixed-rate mortgage, andthatthe buyer’s housing costswon’texceed 30% of their gross monthly income —an often-used barometer of housing affordability Based off the latest U.S. median homelisting price, homebuyers need to earn $47,000 more ayear to afford ahome than they would have just six years ago. Back then, themedian U.S. home listing price was $314,950, and the average rate on a30-year mortgagehovered around 4.1%.Thisweek,the rate averaged 6.76%. The annual incomerequired to afforda median-pricedU.S. home first crossed intothe six figures in May2022 andhasn’tdropped be-

lowthatlevel since. Medianhousehold income was about $80,600 annually in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In several metro areas, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, NewYork andBoston, theannual income needed to afford amedianpriced home tops $200,000. In San Jose, it’smore than $370,000. Rock-bottom mortgage rates turbocharged the housing marketduring the pandemic, fueling bidding warsfor homes that pushed up sale prices sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars above aseller’sinitial asking price. U.S.home prices soared more than 50% between 2019 and 2024.

TheU.S. housing market has been in asales slump since2022, when mortgage rates began to

climb from their pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homesfelllast year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. In March, they postedtheir largest monthly drop since November 2022. It’s not all bad newsfor prospective homebuyers.

Home prices are rising much more slowly than during the pandemic housing market frenzy.The national median sales priceofa previously occupiedU.S. home rose 2.7% in Marchfromayear earlierto$403,700, an all-time high forMarch, but the smallest annual increase since August.

In April, the medianprice of a home listed for sale rose only 0.3% from ayear earlier,according to Realtor.com

KASTER

OPINION

Watching thepapacy in transition

The papacy is onceagain big news. The coming conclave to pick Pope Francis’ successorisstirring interest worldwide and in Louisiana,astate with deep roots in Catholicism.

The popeheadsa church with1.4 billionfollowers, holding aposition of global leadership. Leo XIII, for example, stood upfor labor and improved working conditions after decades of industrialization; John PaulIIplayed amajor role in defeating Soviet communism.

The first pope was Peter,picked by Christ. He was the “rock”uponwhich thechurch was built. Of all 266 popes, 83 have been canonized as saints, including the first 35 (most of whomwere martyred). Three modern popes —John XXIII, Paul VI andJohn Paul II —have been canonized. Though allmen, popes come withavariety of other traits. Twowere believed to be teenagers. Onewas thought to be over100, butmodern research has cast doubt on that fact. Boniface VI, installedat90, is often considered to have been theoldest pope when elected.

Italy has produced the most popes (216); 16 were from France and sixfrom Germany.The Borgia family supplied three popes, the Contis fourand the Medicis four.Six popes were marriedatsome point in theirlives, but only one, Adrian II, wasprobably married while pope.

One pope (Urban VI) served only 13 days. Peter served the longest, about 34years. In 1276, therewere four popes at different times. In 1409, three popes served at the same time (twowere “antipopes”). Benedict IX, the youngestpope,served three nonconsecutive stretches between 1032 and 1048

While papal history goes back 2,000 years, information on earlypopes is scattered andoftenunreliable. To best understand the modern papacy,let’sfocus a moment on the 20 most recent popes whoserved between1740and 2025

The average length of service of these20popes was 14 years. Their average age at election was64, and their average age at theend of their tenureswas 78. To compare,Francis waselected at 76, he served for 12 years and his pontificate endedwhenhewas 88

LeoXIIIdiedinoffice at 93,makinghim theoldest sitting pope of the recent 20.The threeoldest popes at the time of theirelections were BenedictXVI at 78, John XXIII at 76 and Francis at 76. In 2013, Benedict became the sixth pope toofficially resign. He died in 2022 at 95. The longest-serving recent pope was Pius IX, 31 years;the shortest tenure wasJohn Paul I’s32days.

Current papal prospects mentioned in themedia range in age from60to80.

Sometimes popesare selected to makea change, but sometimes they’re elected specifically notto make changes. Italians have asaying:“Aftera fat pope,athinone.” After Francis, what? Ayounger pope? An Asian or African pope? AFrenchorAmerican pope? Amore conservativepope?

The longest papal election took nearly threeyears, 1268-1271, leaving the church without apope for that long. Let’shope this never happensagain

To put papal events into an American historical context —Pius VI was in office whenthe Declaration of Independence was signed, Pius IX waspope during the Civil War, Benedict XV during World War I, Pius XI during the Great Depression andPius XII during World WarII.

Popes are sometimes remembered forwhatthey did: Peter for guiding Christianity through atime of danger and uncertainty;Gregory Ifor helping the poor; Urban II for launching theFirst Crusade; Innocent XIIfor stampingout nepotism; andJohn XXIII for launching Vatican II.Somepopes,particularly during the MiddleAges, are remembered for lessthanhonorable pursuits, from torturingopposition cardinals and immoralbehaviortoprofligate spending and the selling of indulgences.Some, more recently,have been criticized for what they didn’tdo, especiallyrelated to the Holocaust andthe sexabuse scandals.

Being pope is difficult.The next one will have his hands full steering the church into the future.Let’s wait for the white smoke

Ron Faucheux isanonpartisanpoliticalanalyst, writer and pollster from Louisiana.

‘One

Door’initiativewill modernizeLa. workforce

Asa U.S. senator representing the great stateofLouisiana, I’m proud to support theimportantwork of Reps. Stephanie Berault and Kim Carver to advance Gov.Jeff Landry’s“One Door” initiative. This is acommonsense, forward-thinking approach to modernize Louisiana’sworkforce.

The OneDoor model, already proven successful in Utah, creates a coordinated, streamlined path that connects support services with job training and employment. It makes it easier for all Louisianans to access theresources they need to find highpaying jobs, support their families and contribute to our state’seconomy This has been apriorityfor Landry, and Iappreciatehis leadership.

Louisianaranks near thetop nationally in poverty rates, while only 58% of adults are working. At thesame time, we have opportunities in health care, energy and manufacturing that are going unfilled. The status quo is not working. We need to reform our workforce system so people have the resources they need to succeed in their careers and achieve the American dream. That’swhat One Door seeks toaccomplish.

Ourgovernor and state Legislature are taking important steps to fix our

state’sworkforce system.Tobuild on this,Congress needs to reverse bureaucratic hurdles in the federal government that are making it difficult to implement these kinds of reforms. Under current law,states are not allowed to use federal workforce grants to implement flexible models to address workers’ individual needs.

That is why,aschairman of the U.S. Senate’scommittee overseeing labor, Iamchampioning the One Door to Work Act as Congress works to reauthorize theWorkforce Innovation and OpportunityAct. This would unlock resources and better empower states like Louisianatoimplement and build on their OneDoor programs.

Ilook forward to working with President Donald Trump and my colleagues in Congress to advance these policies. Icommend Landry alongside Berault and Carver fortheir leadership in improving Louisiana’sworkforce system.I’m looking forward to the stateLegislature advancing these bills and am committed to assisting their efforts in the U.S. Congress. Working together,wecan increase opportunity and make the American dream areality for all Louisianans.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY serving La. in the Senate since2015

We must have couragetostopassault on ourrights

And then they came for therest of us.

n Rümeysa Öztürk, aTufts University student snatched off aBoston street March 25, by masked men, was taken without due process to afederal facility in Louisiana for the crime of speaking out.

n KilmarAbrego Garcia, aMaryland man with protected legalstatus, a U.S.citizenwifeand a5-year-old child was “mistakenly” deported to anotoriousconcentration camp in El Salvador, alongwith 238 migrants, many with no U.S.criminal records, according to CBS News andBloomberg.com. n Mahmoud Kahlil, an expectant father,college student, legal U.S resident married to aU.S.citizen,was illegally kidnappedbyICE,and held in the federal immigration facility in Jena. His “crime?” Speakingout against the brutalwar in Gaza. We have the right to free speech and should allbeshouting outrageatthe humanrights abusesofU.S.leaders. Don’t think you’re safe from having your rights strippedfrom you. If

youthink they only comefor Brown people —think again. First, they came for immigrants. Thenfor transpeople. Then they came for pregnant women. Then, the oldand the disabled. Whentheycomefor you, no one will be left to save you because you were afraidtospeak out. We should all be afraid of our governmentofbillionaires. But out of fear comes courage. Witness the April 5Hands Offrallies, massive crowds morally opposed to the abuses of this administration. Together we’ll stop their assault on ourconstitutional rights. But we can’t waittospeak up. Call legislators, tell them their weak cowering is wrong. Jointhe growing number of Americansinthe streets exercising our right to free speech. Millions of people are acting —you aren’t alone. But you are running out of time. Have courage. Speak out now before they comefor you.

SHERRI WILDER NewOrleans

Ijust received my Tulane reunion reminder.Asagraduate of Tulane (‘05) and the law school (‘10), Louisiana native and NewOrleans local, Iwas excited to participate in the reunion activities. However,I recently read the coverage of Tulane’squiet acquiescence to President Donald Trump’sthreats. Ioppose Tulane’sdismantling of the gender and multicultural affairs office and any efforts to roll back DEI. It is simple: The opposite of DEIispatriarchy and White supremacy It is willfully being ignorant and taking a“colorblind” view of the world. It fails to uphold historical contributions by those whoare not White, hetero, able-bodied males. Tulane’sPRspin is meaningless and its silence is deafening. It’s clear that Tulane is folding and along with it goes a vibrant, dynamic exchange of ideas and teachings and critical thinking. If this liberal arts institution that has historically prided itself in diversity is so easily capitulating to illegal and racist threats of this administration, Iwill no longer take part in celebrating it. Tulane should stand boldly and fight these racist threats and protect its students. If it will not, that’s shameful, and I’ll take no part in it.

MEGAN SNIDER NewOrleans

Golfisnot my thing, but Ifollowed Scott Rabalais’ reporting on the attempted Saudi takeover of the PGA, an American institution. He is to be commended forfair and balanced reporting.

CATHY HIGHTOWER Metairie

Ron Faucheux

RAIN,RAIN, GO AWAY

LSUatTexas A&Mgame

postponed;Saturdaydoubleheader to beginat2p.m.onSECN+

Cajuns’annualspringgameset forSaturday

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The importance of spring games vary dependingonhow much of atransition season is expected.

So for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns, the annual Red-White game is more significantthan most with many critical areastosortout andbuild upon.

“We’vehad areally good spring,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. “For us, thefirst four weeks is where the bulk of the

work wasdone. Gettingback(from spring break), it’sbeen aboutgetting back, ready to go perform on Saturday.”

This year’sspring game is expected to be moreofa“game” thaninyears past.

Theplanisfor two 20-minutehalveswith a15-minute halftime awards ceremony in between.

Weather permitting, thegamewill be played at Cajun Field. Admission is free for fans, who will be seating on the East side and entering on the Northeast gate.

Parking for the gamewill be on the East and North end zone lots.

The clear bag policy will be in effect.

151stKentuckyDerby • Post time:5:57p.m.Saturday • NBC

Amudder’sdelight

Rain forecast couldmuckupracefor horses,festive attendees

BYBETH HARRIS AP racing writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky —The Kentucky Derbyistough to win, with ahuge field of stampeding horses and150,000screaming fans in the stands.Tossinarainyforecastthatcould turn the ChurchillDownsdirt stripintosomethingresembling peanut butter and it gets trickier

Afield of 19 3-year-olds is set to run 11/4 miles for a$3.1 million prize and the garlandofred rosesonSaturday. Mucking things up is aforecast of 65 degrees (18 degrees Celsius)with a90% chance of rain

The soggy weather isn’tjusta bummerfor those wanting

thefairest of track conditions. The Derbyisalsoa big party and fashion show,and rain meanspulling out ponchos —no umbrellas allowed —toprotect the huge hats andfloral dresses. Thirteen of theDerby contenders —including early3-1 favorite Journalism —have neverraced on awet track. Clods of flying mudhitting their faces could be aturnoff. “I may go through three pairs of goggles,” said Brian Hernandez Jr., who will be aboard Burnham Square. Sixlongshots have experience in themuck, with four winning. Coal Battle is 2for 2, while Japan-based Luxor Cafe is

ä See DERBY, page 3C

Wheeler tosses first no-hitterasULbeats USM

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

It wouldn’thave taken muchofanimagination for Southern Miss to get two hits in the fifth inning.

But first pitcher MalloryWheeler somehowwithstood aball up themiddle taking her glove offtoget the first out andthen first baseman Emily Smith followed that with aleaping stab of another linedrive

The result was Wheeler was able to toss her first collegiate no-hitter in a2-0 victory over the Golden EaglesonThursday at Lamson Park.

“Itwon’tbevery long,” Desormeaux said. “The idea is to get back in the groove alittle bit —get back to playing good football.” Loosely, the matchup will square off the No. 1defense withthe No.2offense on the White team against the Red squad comprised of the No. 1offense ad the No. 2defense.

“With athree-QB race, one guy with the 2s but none of that is indicative of anything,” Desormeaux said.“It’sjust to make sure guys get the samereps.”

Muchofthe focuswill be on the threeman quarterbackbattle between Ole Miss redshirt juniortransfer WalkerHoward, redshirt sophomore LunchWinfield and

Inside wild Saints-Carr shoulder injury saga timeline

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

Derek Carrand theNew Orleans Saints are in agreement: The 34-year-old has a shoulder injury

But so much else has been leftunanswered, even with theparties recently addressing the situation.

Carr saidata LasVegaschurch sermon that he hasanMRI to provethe injury, ripping critics whoexpressed skepticism over the injury.Saintsgeneral manager Mickey Loomis said New Orleans was awaiting clarityonthe situation, stillunsure whether Carr can playnextseason.And the developmentscome amidthe backdrop of the Saints’ drafting the quarterback’spotential successor: Louisville’sTyler Shough. Is everything fine between the Saints and Carr? Did he want atrade? Does he want out? The drama seems to get more bizarre by the day.And withsomany updates, it can be hard to keep track of. Here is an exhaustive timeline of everything that has happened from the moment thatCarrsufferedhis season-ending broken hand last season —whenthis wild saga truly began.

Dec. 8, 2024: Carr exits after injuring his left, non-throwing hand and suffersaconcussion when attempting to leap for the first down with four minutes left in awin over the New York Giants. He’slater diagnosed with abroken hand.

Dec. 9: Despite areport from the NFLNetwork that Carr suffered a“significant fracture” that was “almostcertainly” seasonending, interim coach Darren Rizzi leaves thedoor open forthe quarterback to return. The “reports out there werea little bit false,” Rizzi says. Dec. 13-14: Carr entersthe finalstepofthe concussion protocol but is later listed as doubtfuland thensubsequently ruledout forNew Orleans’ Dec. 15 showdown against the Washington Commanders.

Dec.18-21: The NFLNetwork’s IanRapoport doubles downonhis original report, reportingitis“very unlikely” Carr returns, as he’s

page 3C

“There wasn’treally anything going through my mind,” Wheelersaidofthe defensiveplay.“Itell my team the whole time,‘I’dratherthe ball be hit back hard at me,because youdon’thavetothink.’ So as soon as my glove cameoff, Ijust saw the ball andpickeditupand threw it to first.” It was asmoothno-hitter with no Southern Miss baserunners gettingthe second base.Wheeler faced the minimum in six of theseven innings.

tournament. I’vebeen so close abunch of times,sotofinally get one is great.” Wheeler walkedthe leadoff batter in thesecond and then coaxed back-to-back force outs at second before aflyout to escape the only thing close to athreat.

“It’shuge,” Wheeler said of the no-hitter. “It helps me have areally good confidenceboost goingintothe (Sun Belt)

“I think was my stuff was just moving really good today just getting abunch of weak contact,”saidWheeler,whose birthday was Monday Wheeler walked one and struck out two in 92 pitches. It was UL’s first no-hitter sinceSam Landry no-hit Cal in six innings on Feb. 9, 2024. The last seven-inning nohitterwas KarlyHeath againstTexas

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

The three-man battle to be UL’s starting quarterback between Walker Howard, from left to right, Lunch Winfield and Daniel Beale will heat in Saturday’s springgame.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHARLIE RIEDEL

Horses workout at Churchill Downs ahead of therunning of the 151st Kentucky Derby on Friday in Louisville, Ky

Popovich retires after 29 seasons

The NBA’s all-time wins leader steps down as coach for the San Antonio Spurs

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

Gregg Popovich stepped down as coach of the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, ending a three-decade run that saw him lead the team to five NBA championships, become the league’s all-time wins leader and earn induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

“While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” Popovich said. He will remain as team president. Mitch Johnson, a Spurs assistant who filled in for Popovich for the season’s final 77 games, becomes the team’s head coach Popovich, 76, missed all but five games this season after having a stroke at the team’s arena on Nov 2. He has not spoken publicly since, though had addressed his team at least once and released a statement in late March saying that he hoped to return to coaching. That won’t be happening

“I’m forever grateful to the wonderful players, coaches, staff and fans who allowed me to serve them as the Spurs head coach and am excited for the opportunity to continue to support the organization, community and city that are so meaningful to me,” Popovich said.

Popovich’s career ends with a record of 1,422-869, which does include the 77 games — 32 wins and 45 losses that were coached by Johnson this season. He also won 170 playoff games with the Spurs, the most by any coach with any one team and the third-most overall behind only Phil Jackson’s 229 and Pat Riley’s 171.

“The best there ever was,” Spurs great Manu Ginobili said last year of Popovich.

An NBA and Olympic champion Popovich was a three-time coach of the year led the U.S to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and coached six Hall of Famers in San Antonio — Ginobili, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Dominique Wilkins and Pau Gasol. He went up against 170 different coaches during his time in the NBA and there have been 303 coaching changes made in the league, including interim moves, during the Popovich era.

“I’ve got a video on my phone that’s, like, priceless,” said Chris Paul, who played for the Spurs this past season — going there, in large part, because of the lure of

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO CHARLIE NEIBERGALL

United States players put a gold medal on head coach Gregg Popovich during the 2020 Summer Olympics on Aug. 7, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.

playing for Popovich. “It was us in Oklahoma City, before shootaround, and Pop is doing ballhandling stuff. All these years I’ve always seen Pop coaching in a suit, but I didn’t know how hard of a worker he was when it comes to training.”

That work ethic, Paul said, carried over into this year after the stroke and Popovich’s commitment to his rehabilitation process.

He took over in 1996

Popovich, in his role as general manager of the Spurs, made the move to fire coach Bob Hill and promote himself into that job on Dec. 10, 1996. The timing seemed, at best, awkward. The Spurs were 3-15 at that point, having played all 18 of those games without Robinson, who was just about to come back from injury Popovich took over on the day that Robinson returned to the lineup.

“A change in direction was necessary,” Popovich said that day

The Spurs hadn’t changed direction again since.

“Coach Pop’s extraordinary impact on our family, San Antonio, the Spurs and the game of basketball is profound,” Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt said. “His accolades and awards don’t do justice to the impact he has had on so many people. He is truly one-ofone as a person, leader and coach.

Our entire family, alongside fans from across the globe, are grateful for his remarkable 29-year run as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.”

The fortunes changed — Duncan was picked No. 1 overall in the 1997 draft – but the direction under Popovich always stayed the same.

The first championship came in 1999; others followed in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014. In his first 22 seasons as head coach, the Spurs had 22 winning records, the first 20 of those seasons winning at least 60% of the time.

His decision to step away now comes with the Spurs having just completed the second year of a rebuild around French star Victor Wembanyama, who arrived touted as the next San Antonio great and has done nothing to suggest he won’t live up to that billing.

“Gregg Popovich’s sustained success as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs is incomparable. There are few people in the basketball community as beloved and revered as Coach Pop,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.

How he started

Popovich played at the U.S. Air Force Academy famously wasn’t picked in a bid to make the 1972 U.S. Olympic team — some still say he merited a spot on that

team — and wound up becoming a coach who might have been perfectly content to run PomonaPitzer, a Division III program in California, for the entirety of his professional life.

That school had lost 88 consecutive conference games when he arrived; it didn’t take long for Popovich to deliver a conference championship.

Eventually the NBA called. In time, Popovich would be paired with Robinson, then the patriarch of a dynasty fueled by Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. And out of that, Popovich put together a career like none other

“Everyone knows the amazing job he’s done and all the accomplishments,” longtime coach Larry Brown said in 2021. “I wish more people really could know the type of person that he is.”

He was famously grumpy liked to clash with reporters, rarely offered any details of his basketball or private life other than what was necessary It was simultaneously real and an act; Popovich has a much softer side as well — he quietly championed causes like the San Antonio Food Bank for years and wasn’t afraid to make his political views known. And those lucky enough to know him find him hilarious.

A loss in the 2013 NBA Finals crushed Popovich, whose Spurs were in position to close out the Miami Heat in six games, lost Game 6 in overtime after Ray Allen’s 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds remaining in regulation kept the Heat alive, then fell in Game 7.

But in the moments after the final horn, as Miami coach Erik Spoelstra embraced his staff, Popovich joined the hug with a wide smile.

Spoelstra, who became head coach of the Heat in 2008, now becomes the league’s longest-tenured in his current position.

“He’s always just been an incredible example of class, dignity,” Spoelstra said of Popovich “To be able to do that after wins or losses, I just think it’s a great example that you can still have class regardless of how the outcome comes during a game.”

When the Spurs beat the Heat for the title in a finals rematch in 2014, it was Spoelstra who felt the sting of losing.

And once again, it was Popovich who sent congratulations on a job well done.

“There is no one out there like Pop,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.

Coach calls lack of free throws ‘crazy’ after Game 6 loss

ä Clippers at Nuggets.

Verstappen delighted at birth of his first child

Four-time reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen arrived at the Miami Grand Prix on Friday as a first-time father after announcing he and partner Kelly Piquet had welcomed a daughter Verstappen had skipped Thursday activities at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix to be with Piquet, the daughter of three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet. The couple released no details about the birth, including when his daughter was born. Verstappen and Piquet went public in 2021, and Piquet has a daughter, Penelope, with driver Daniil Kvyat that Verstappen is very close with but this is the first child for Verstappen.

Verstappen joins Nico Hülkenberg as the only active drivers this season with children.

Iisalo hired as coach after interim appointment

Tuomas Iisalo, who was appointed interim coach of the Memphis Grizzlies in the waning days of the regular season, was given the fulltime job on Friday and becomes the first Finnish-born coach in the NBA.

The team announced the hiring on Friday but terms of Iisalo’s contract were not released. He joined the Grizzlies as the lead assistant this past season.

Iisalo took over the team on March 28 after the Grizzlies returned home from an 0-5 road trip, the last loss coming at Oklahoma City The road trip led to the firing of Taylor Jenkins the winningest coach in Grizzlies franchise history Iisalo, a native of Finland, was 4-5 in the final nine games of the regular season.

Ruud beats Cerundolo to reach final against Draper With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday Ruud will face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semifinal to make his third final of the year

Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before going out on the court He said he “felt it in nearly every shot, especially the serve.”

Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court.

The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine.

Formula 1 signs 10-year extension with Miami GP

Formula 1 announced a 10-year extension with the Miami Grand Prix on Friday that will ensure the event remains on the calendar through 2041.

The race debuted in 2022 as the second F1 race in the United States on the schedule.

Sunday’s running will be the fourth in what was originally a 10-year contract between Miami promoters and F1.

There are now three F1 races in the U.S. every year

Las Vegas was added to the schedule in 2023 and F1 also makes a stop at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

F1 president Stefano Domenicali stressed how vital Miami is to the series’ portfolio as it continues to grow dramatically in the U.S.

Rangers hire Sullivan after split with Penguins

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

INGLEWOOD, Calif Denver Nuggets interim coach David Adelman was dismayed and angered by the amount of contact the officials allowed while the Los Angeles Clippers defended Nikola Jokic in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series on Thursday night. The Clippers’ physical defense is a prime reason Denver is headed home to play yet another Game 7. Adelman and Jokic are confident the Nuggets will fight back with their season back on the brink. Adelman decried the lenient officiating standards in Denver’s 111-105 loss in Game 6. Jokic shot

only two free throws, and the Nuggets went to the line only nine times compared to the Clippers’ 15 free throws while both teams appeared to be allowed to play physically

6:30 P.M. SATURDAy NBATV Preview

“Nikola gets fouled a lot,” Adelman said. “I’m not sure what was happening tonight, but for him to shoot two free throws with the amount of contact that was going on out there was absolutely crazy

“They put smalls on him Those smalls were allowed to do whatever they want, so I’m really excited for Saturday that we’re going to be able to do the same thing with their best players, because if that’s the physicality we’re allowed to play with, we’ll react to it, and we will go there in Game 7.”

The group of “smalls” guarding the 6-foot-11 Jokic included

6-foot-8 Nicolas Batum, whose second-half effort played a major role in turning Game 6 in the Clippers’ favor Batum and Ivica Zubac teamed up for an effective effort against Jokic, who scored only five of his 25 points in the second half while going 2 for 9 from the field.

But even Adelman knew the officials didn’t decide another close game in a series between two teams that finished the regular season with the same record.

“This is what I expected, to be honest,” Adelman said. “This felt like a seven-game series. It’s an evenly matched series. There’s so many good players out there, guys

that can have nights.” Nobody had a night for the Nuggets in Game 6, and that’s why they’re headed to Game 7.

Closeout games have been mostly a nightmare for the Nuggets since winning the franchise’s only championship two seasons ago. They’ve lost four of their last five closeout opportunities, including two games in last year’s secondround series with Minnesota. The Nuggets had a 3-2 lead in that series, only to get thrashed by 45 points in Game 6 before losing Game 7 in their home arena the same place they’ll play the Clippers on Saturday Denver has lost four of its past five potential closeout games, beating only the Lakers in the first round last season but only after losing Game 4 with a 3-0 series lead.

The New York Rangers have hired Mike Sullivan as coach, days after he and the Pittsburgh Penguins agreed to part ways.

General manager Chris Drury announced the move Friday, bringing in the organization’s top candidate who was out of work for less than a full business week.

Sullivan replaces Peter Laviolette, who was fired after the Rangers missed the playoffs following a trip to the Eastern Conference final last year Sullivan, who coached Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup back to back in 2016 and ’17, is tasked with trying to turn the Rangers back into an immediate contender

Drury made the move to get Sullivan not long after receiving a multiyear contract extension of his own.

Coal Battle is one of Derby’s best underdog stories

72-year-old Louisiana

trainer running colt in first Kentucky Derby

BY JOHN CLAY Lexington Herald-Leader (TNS)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Lonnie Briley had been a thoroughbred trainer for over three decades before he finally entered a horse in a graded stakes race. Three months later, the 72-yearold Louisianan is in his first Kentucky Derby

“There’s a lot of people from Louisiana that’s calling and leaving text messages and things of that nature. They’re pretty excited,” said Briley, who added he never expected to be in the Kentucky Derby And yet here he is with Coal Battle, one of the Kentucky Derby 151’s best underdog stories, the colt having won three consecutive Kentucky Derby prep races, including the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn on Feb. 23 — Briley’s

first graded stakes before the son of Coal Front finished third in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on March 29 at Oaklawn.

“My rider kind of pulled the trigger a little too soon at the half-mile pole instead of waiting,” Briley said of the Arkansas Derby. “He got a little heavy and ran third, he still ran good. We were real proud of him.”

With good reason. Co-bred by Hume Wornall of Paris and Jay Adcock of Coushatta, Louisiana, Coal Battle sold for $70,000 at the 2023 Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sales to Briley on behalf of owner Robbie Norman.

“He was always a pretty genuine foal, and he always just kind of stood out,” said Wornall, whose Beech Spring Farm in Bourbon County is where Coal Battle was born and raised. “He would just always come to you, and if the others took off, he would cut a rug and catch up and be on top right before you knew it.”

“I probably looked at about 20 horses,” Briley said of the Texas sale “I kept looking him over and

UL pitcher

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A&M-Corpus Christi. Feb 26, 2023.

“The more she’s out there, she gets more and more confidence,” UL coach Alyson Habetz said “Coming off Texas State, you could just tell in the circle, she just got her swag back. After she struck out their best hitter, she grew six inches. You could see it

“And her defense too, wow.” Emily Smith said she knew Wheeler had a no-hitter going when she made the stellar defensive play for the second out in the fifth.

“I knew that any ball that came my way, I had to put my body on the line and give all the effort for her so she could keep that and have a great night,” Smith said “Off the bat, it was spinning like really a lot. I went to jump and then it wasn’t there yet, so then I had to stop and keep jumping.

“Right off the bat, I didn’t know if I was going to get it and then I caught it.”

The Cajuns improved to 26-24 overall and 12-10 in Sun Belt play with the win, while Southern Miss fell to 23-26 and 10-11. Game 2 of the series is slated for 6 p.m. Friday UL entered Friday’s play in a

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still weeks away from being able to withstand contact. A day later, Rizzi again disputes the report and said Carr is “frustrated” over the reporting. He said Carr is “working his tail off” to return from his hand injury He is then ruled out prior to New Orleans’ Monday Night Football game against the Green Bay Packers

Dec.

27-29: After Rizzi says Carr’s grip strength was gradually improving, the Saints still rule out the quarterback ahead of that weekend’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Carr’s former team The quarterback was spotted without a cast that Sunday Dec. 30-Jan.3: Rizzi reveals that Carr had participated in a “simulated game” in the week prior to test his grip strength and functionality, with the goal for Carr to do so again before returning to practice sometime that week. But Carr never returns and is ruled out for the Week 18 season finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jan. 6: Carr says he’s “fully confident” he’ll be back with the Saints next season, telling reporters he’s “absolutely” happy in New Orleans. “I love it here,” he said Carr tells reporters he still needs to get healthy but expects to be cleared in the next few weeks

In an interview with ESPN, Carr

then I just kept going back to Coal Battle and I figured he was the one I wanted. He’s a nice colt, a good looking colt, a pretty head on him and a good eye, good long neck, good hip, shoulder a good walk on him. All the tools to be a racehorse.”

Briley knows a thing or two about the anatomy of a horse. He started out working in the Louisiana oil fields, working with horses on the side, until Eclipse Award-winning owner John Franks hired Briley to be his farm manager Briley began training full time in 1991.

Only once (2021) had Briley’s horses earned over $600,000 until Coal Battle ($1.18 million in earnings) came along. The colt won his debut at Evangeline Downs last July before Briley took him to Kentucky Downs last September to run on the turf. A fourth-place finish there was followed by a seventh-place finish in an allowance race at Keeneland in October

It wasn’t until Briley took the colt to Louisiana that Coal Battle found his form. He won the Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs on

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3 for 4. The others are Neoequos and American Promise, trained by 89-year-old D. Wayne Lukas.

The last Derby run on a sloppy track was in 2019, when Country House won via a disqualification that had nothing to do with the weather The last muddy track was in 1989, when Sunday Silence won.

Nov 28. Next came a victory in the Remington Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park in Oklahoma on Dec. 13 for his first Derby qualifying points. Coal Battle won the Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 4 at Oaklawn, followed by the Rebel Stakes victory at 12-1 in which he bested fellow Kentucky Derby entrants Sandman (third), Publisher (fourth) and Tiztastic (fifth).

Sandman turned the tables in the Arkansas Derby, with Publisher running second. “He was a little fresh that day,” Briley said of Coal Battle.

Briley isn’t expecting any problems at Churchill Downs on Saturday “The weather’s real nice and he’s taken to the track real nice and been training hard,” said Briley, whose jockey, Juan Vargas, will be riding in his first Derby. “He’s never been a big work horse, but his works have improved every time he’s worked over here. And it seems like he’s matured a lot more since the Arkansas Derby.” Meanwhile, back in Paris, the town is thrilled with Coal Battle’s

No horse has won from the No. 1 post since Ferdinand in 1986. Baffert’s other horse, Rodriguez, was scratched Thursday with a bruised foot, moving Baeza into the field. Trainer Todd Pletcher’s only entry, Grande, was scratched Friday for the same reason.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen tries to snap an 0 for 26 Derby losing streak with a pair of 20-1 shots: Publisher and Tiztastic. Both are next to each other in the starting gate.

success, Beech Spring Farm having been in the Wornall family for six generations.

“It’s a very humbling experience, I can assure you that,” said Wornall, who will be at Churchill Downs on Saturday “Everybody said, ‘Are you going to go?’ and I said the dam of Coal Battle (Wolfblade) is due to foal and I’m not going unless she has foaled. Well, she foaled Tuesday night. So I’m good to go.”

If Coal Battle finishes first on Saturday, Briley would tie Frank Childs (72 with Tomy Lee in 1958) as the third-oldest trainer to win the race, behind Art Sherman (77 with California Chrome in 2024) and Charlie Whittingham (76 with Sunday Silence in 1989).

But can a $70,000 yearling, sold in Texas, with a first-time trainer and jockey, win the Kentucky Derby?

“Today, the way horses are bred, I think anybody can come up with a runner,” Briley said.

But not anybody can come up with a runner in the Kentucky Derby

PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

four-way tie for fourth place in the Sun Belt race.

“We all know that this weekend means the most,” Smith said. “We want to bring the momentum into the conference tournament, so we’re looking to win every game this series. Starting off strong with a win is awesome and hopefully we can keep it going for the next two games.”

With Wheeler in control, the question was if the Cajuns’ offense could score. It did, but with a little help from the Eagles.

Maddie Hayden got the decisive inning going with a one-out single. When Dayzja Williams followed with an infield single of her own, Eagles’ first baseman Ryanna Valdivia tossed the ball to an uncovered first base.

“We talked about it, the third baseman is in your grill now,” Habetz said. “So anything that’s in front here, she’s getting that. It needs to be a hard bunt to first base and she did it twice.”

That chased Hayden home with the first run, before Smith’s line single to left chased home Williams home with the second run.

“In the pregame meeting, coach Aly was talking about capitalizing on our momentum and I think we did a great job with that tonight,” Smith said “We had those two great plays and we had the momentum and then we capitalized on it and scored two runs.”

is adamant he would not take a paycut “especially with what I put on tape,” he says. Carr says he would be open to a restructure but wouldn’t “take anything less” than the $40 million he is set to earn.

Feb. 13: At his introductory news conference, new coach Kellen Moore gives several noncommittal answers about whether Carr would be back with the team next season. He says he is excited to go through “this process” but demurs when asked if Carr would be the starter

Feb.26: The Saints’ brass confirms they plan to stick with Carr in 2025, though they acknowledge they will address his contract in some way.

“I feel like we’ve got a guy we can win with,” Loomis says. Moore says the Saints feels “fortunate” to have Carr calling him a “big-time quarterback.”

March 8: The Saints do a simple restructure of Carr’s contract — a move that does not require the quarterback’s permission. The team converts all but the league minimum of Carr’s $30 million base salary, as well as his $10 million roster bonus, to clear up more than $30 million in salary cap space.

ESPN reports that before the transaction Carr was open to testing the market, “possibly filling a void with a quarterback-needy team before free agency.”

March 10: Days after the Saints restructured Carr’s contract, Moore says he anticipated the quarter-

Trainer Bob Baffert goes for a record-setting seventh victory in his return from a three-year suspension. He’ll saddle Citizen Bull, last year’s 2-year-old champion. The colt breaks from the dreaded No. 1 post, leaving him little choice but to get to the front before the rest of the field comes over, potentially cutting him off.

“We’re going to tell him to get out of there like he just robbed a bank,” Baffert said.

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redshirt freshman Daniel Beale.

“The big thing for me is the three guys who are all in the mix get the same amount of series the same amount of opportunities,” Desormeaux said. “Those guys will rotate.”

Sam Altmann and Adryan Lara will also get some series.

For Winfield, the spring has especially been enjoyable after missing most of last season with a shoulder injury

“Coach Des told me the day I got injured and having surgery, ‘Just stay in the play book, stay cheered up everybody here is for you. This is a family I was always straight with it,’ ” Winfield said.

“It’s been great getting back into football and being around my peers and being on the field with them.”

Through the process, the 6-foot1, 221-pound has felt more comfortable with each rep.

back being the team’s starter when he took the job “We felt really comfortable with him,” Moore says, adding they have confidence about the “environment” they can create for Carr

April 1: At the NFL owners’ meetings, Moore is asked whether Carr is bought in amid previous rumors that he was open to a trade. “Yeah, we’re excited to team up,” Moore says. The coach, who makes no mention of an injury, tells reporters that he expects to see Carr for the start of New Orleans’ offseason program on April 14.

April 11: News of Carr’s potentially season-ending shoulder injury breaks, three days before the start of the Saints’ offseason program. A source with knowledge of the situation tells the Times-Picayune that Carr’s injury stemmed from an old shoulder injury and did not occur against the New York Giants, something Carr’s brother David would later refute.

April 14: Carr does not attend the beginning of the voluntary portion of the Saints’ offseason program. The quarterback is among a handful of players to not show up. But that same day Carr is featured in a video with his brother David on their YouTube channel in which they review a $500,000 RollsRoyce Spectre.

Also that day, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini says on a podcast that people around the league are viewing Carr’s injury with skepticism and wonder if it is being used as

Sovereignty, the early 5-1 second choice, won at Churchill Downs last fall. He’ll try to snap an 0 for 13 Derby skid for Godolphin, the racing stable of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

“I know he loves this track,” jockey Junior Alvarado said, “so I’m sitting on a good run with him now.”

Conversely, 30-1 shot Chunk of Gold was bought for $2,500.

“There’s been a lot of expensive horses not pan out and there’s been a lot of cheap ones that have panned out,” Chunk of Gold trainer Ethan West said. “It’s not like he’s a big, robust, grand-looking animal He’s very good-looking, but he doesn’t look like Journalism, that’s for sure.” Journalism looked the part of the Derbyfavoritewhiletrainingduring a mostly rain-free week on the track and breaks from the No. 8 post.

“The history of the Derby is usually a pretty vibrant opening quarter-mile,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. ”He’ll be part of that, probably just back off the speed.”

The Southern California-based colt’s mother’s name is Mopotism and wanting a name ending in “ism,” co-owner Aron Wellman took inspiration from his old gig as sports editor of the Beverly Hills High School newspaper

Sandman, the early 6-1 third choice, is the most expensive horse in the field at $1.2 million

“I’ve been in the offense going on three years now,” Winfield said.

“It’s slowed down for me now Everything is simple 1-2-3, it’s very simple now

“I always stayed around those guys (Ben Wooldridge and Chandler Fields). Those guys took me under their wings. Any questions I had, they told me everything I needed to know to make sure I was getting it and not just sitting around injured.”

The spring has been a unique quarterback scenario because none of the three candidates sport a ton of actual playing time.

“It’s just been us learning,” Winfield said. “At the beginning of spring, we went back to the basics. He told all the QBs that nobody had gametime reps, so we went back to the basics.

“It was about running the offense, commanding the offense and just getting everything down pat. It’s just been a great competition.”

The second most significant position that needed addressing in the spring is middle linebacker after

“an excuse” after he wasn’t traded.

April 16: Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports other teams were under the impression Carr wanted out from New Orleans and that Carr’s camp has told people that the injury stems from the 2023 season, when he suffered an AC sprain in Week 3 against the Green Bay Packers.

April 23: Loomis acknowledges Carr has a shoulder injury but refuses to elaborate on any other details about the situation. He says the Saints were hoping to get clarity on Carr “in the near future.”

April 24: David Carr, Derek’s brother and former quarterback, says on the NFL Network that the Saints starter believes he suffered the shoulder injury on the December play against the New York Giants not in 2023. He says the Saints were aware of the injury from the “moment it happened” and confirms the quarterback is weighing whether to get surgery

“He’s trying to find the answers,” David Carr says.

“After the adrenaline wears off, you don’t really throw,” David says. “You don’t really throw a ball at game-level tempo after that, because he was trying to get back from that injury So, by the time they were able to go throw the ball again, it was still there, the shoulder was still bothering him, so you start to go through, ‘What do we have to do to get it right?’”{/span}

Earlier that day Breer had reported that Carr also sought a

the loss of leading tackler KC Ossai.

One of the potential solutions is moving senior Jaden Dugger to inside linebacker after the Georgetown transfer moved from safety to outside linebacker last spring.

“Compared to last year, I would say I’m more comfortable,” Dugger said. “Moving back to off ball allows me to do what I’ve been used to. It hasn’t been too hard of a transition back to off ball.” With Ossai’s departure, the move didn’t surprise Dugger

“They try to get the best guys on the field,” Dugger said. “KC was a big help seeing him play the position. I watched a lot of his film. He helped me learn the playbook and the scheme itself.”

Listed at 6-foot-5 and 239 pounds, Dugger said he’s confident he’s ready for the physical demands of the inside linebacker position and he’s developed a stronger bond with second-year defensive coordinator Jim Salgado.

“We communicate a lot more,” Dugger said. “I’m excited about the move. I think I’m ready for it.”

raise from the Saints earlier in the offseason and then a trade before the team restructured his contract.

April 26: After drafting Shough with the 40th overall pick, Loomis says he expects the Saints to have a quarterback competition next season — but only if Carr is unavailable. “Derek’s the starter if he’s healthy,” the general manager says, adding there was no update on Carr’s status. April 28: Video circulates of Carr speaking publicly about the injury for the first time During a Las Vegas church service, the quarterback accuses “people lying about me” and having to deal with “nonsense” over apparent skepticism of his shoulder injury “You never know what someone is going through,” Carr says. “So why do we continually try to attack people? And I would say, maybe trying to attack people who I would say are doing things the right way.” Carr says he has an MRI to prove his shoulder injury, adding he and the Saints are “figuring it out.” Carr also reveals that over the last few months, his wife had been having health problems that included a miscarriage. Carr said he and his wife didn’t know she was pregnant but had to rush her to the emergency room one day “I say all that to say: Let’s be a people that doesn’t judge, point out and think the worst when you don’t really know what people are going through,” Carr says.

STAFF

Mallory Wheeler hurled a no-hitter at Southern Miss in Thursday’s 2-0 win at Lamson Park.

Slow down, gather more information andsuspend judgement

As ayoung therapist, my mentor,Dan Jurek —alicensed professional counselor and licensed marriage and family therapist —was always reminding me: “Serve no intervention before it’stime.”

“At its core,” Jurek said,“the principle emphasizes both discernment and timing.”

Toooften in both therapy and in life, we think we fullyunderstand aperson, problem or a situation, when we don’t.

As ayoung therapist, Iwanted to be helpful,and Iwanted to help people quickly

One of the many times I’ve learned this lesson was when Iwas an intern working witha teen and his parents. The teen was very fond of gaming and could spend hours on endgaming. After the first session, I recommended limiting gaming to weekends only Youmay think that’sa great, reasonable “intervention” or recommendation. But it was a disaster What Ihadn’ttaken the time to learn was that “gaming” was more about connecting with his friends thanitwas playing thegame. Within aweek of the parents implementing my suggestion, the teen was isolated and depressed.

I’d failed to fully understand the problem. Ihadn’tgotten to know the teen, his parents or theirfamily dynamics. Irushed to offer asolution, which was making me feel better,but it wasn’thelpful to this family

This happens in all our lives in various ways. I’ve seen countlesstimes friends who meet someone and are infatuatedand make relational commitments without really getting to knowthe other person. (It’sworth noting that it takes at least ayear to really know someone. People change withthe seasons,and usually in ayear,you get to see how the other person responds to various life events).

ä See PETITFILS, page 6C

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

BEFORE JOHN FOSTER, 8LA. SINGERS EXCELLED ON ‘AMERICANIDOL,’ INCLUDING ONEWINNER

ICONIC MEMORIES

BY JUDYBERGERON| Staff writer

Louisiana and “American Idol”sharealengthy history, starting with the singing competition series’ third season and continuing to its current23rd go-round.

Addisteen John Foster has reached “Idol’s”top 10. Fans are hoping Foster,18, will be Louisiana’snext “Idol” winner.In2019, Livingston’sLaine Hardy became the state’sfirst contestant to bringhome the title.

Here’saglimpse at past “American Idol” finalists hailing from Louisiana:

Season 3(2004): GeorgeHuffJr.,ofNew Orleans, finished in fifthplace. Coincidentally,the final song he performed in the competition was fellowNew Orleanian Louis Armstrong’s“What aWonderful World.”Huff, now agospel and rhythm and blues singer-songwriter,has sung background vocalsfor fellow“Idol” alumJennifer Hudson.

Season 4(2005): Lindsey Cardinale, of Ponchatoula, was the 12th-place finisher, while now-“Idol” judge Carrie Under-

BY JOYHOLDEN Staff writer

wood won the title.Cardinale returned to the showlastweek for abrief spot featuring someofthe contestants from her season.Awife andmotheroftwo sons, shecontinues to perform, and some of her TikTok videos singing alongside one of her sons have gone viral.

Season 11 (2012): Westlake’s Joshua Ledet was thethird-place winner.The soulful singercontinues to record and perform, including at theWhite House in 2013. He’s also headlinedthe Java Jazz ä See 'IDOL', page 6C

‘AMERICAN IDOL’

TIME: 7p.m. Sunday and MondayonABC

SUNDAY: “Ladies’ Night,”performances celebrating iconic women of music; mentor,Miranda Lambert.

MONDAY: “Judges’ Song Contest,”the top 8performing songs secretly selectedbyLuke Bryan, LionelRichie or Carrie Underwood.

INFO: americanidol.com

Roy Petitfils

Lognion

GEORGE HUFF

LINDSEY CARDINALE

JOSHUALEDET

BURNELL TAYLOR

QUENTIN ALEXANDER

LAINE HARDY

JOVIN WEBB

MACKENZIEBOURG

Corralling children’s toys

Dear Heloise: We travel with two young children who get bored if they don’thave afew toys to play with. However, our car looks so messy with toys scattered everywhere.Help! —Sherri, in Michigan Sherri, hang ashoe storage bag over the passenger seat and, in the compartments for shoes, put toys they can play with. At the end of the day, put themawayagain in the compartments. —Heloise Asureseal

it properly. By the way,I’m the woman in my group offriends with the big bag. Anything you need, Iprobably have it! —H.D., in Louisiana

Uniquely shaped cookies

Hints from Heloise

Dear Heloise: If I’m out and about and notice that Ihave abutton coming undone, Ihave afix: I dab someclear nailpolishonthe button, and this holds it in place until Ican get home and reattach

Dear Heloise: When the grandkids visit,webake sugar cookies. We have funimprinting patterns on the cookies using ordinary kitchen items: acitrus juicer,a coolingrack,anapple corer,the bottom of aglass, abottle cap, a drinking straw,a fork, uncooked bowtie pasta— anything with a pretty pattern or texture. The cookies come out beautiful anddelicious! —M.S in Pittsburgh Send ahint to heloise@heloise. com.

TODAYINHISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Saturday,May 3, the 123rd day of 2025. There are242 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On May 3, 1999, the Bridge Creek–Moore tornado struck the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, causing 41 deathsand nearly 600 injuries; the tornado’s top wind speed of 321 miles per hour was the highest ever recorded on earth.

On this date:

In 1802, Washington, D.C., was incorporated as acity

In 1937, MargaretMitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, “Gone with the Wind.”

In 1948, the SupremeCourt, in Shelley v. Kraemer,ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to Blacks or members of other racialgroups were legally unenforceable.

In 1986, aboard the longshot horseFerdinand, BillShoemaker became the oldest jockey towin the Kentucky Derby at age 54. In 2003, the “Old Man of the Mountain,” a40-foot-tallgranite outcropping in Franconia, N.H. that bore the resemblance of a human face in profile, collapsed

despite decades of preservation efforts.

In 2015, two gunmen were killed by aSWATteam in Garland, Texas, after theyopened fire outsidea purposely provocativecontest for cartoon depictions of theProphet Muhammad.

In 2016, in astunningtriumph forapolitical outsider,Donald Trump all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination with aresounding victory in the Indiana primary election that knocked rival TedCruz out of the race.

In 2018,afederal grand juryin Detroitindictedformer VolkswagenCEO Martin Winterkorn on charges stemming fromthe company’sdiesel emissions cheating scandal. (UnderGermany’sconstitution, he could not be extraditedtothe U.S. to face charges.)

Today’sbirthdays: Singer Frankie Valli is 91. Sen. Jim Risch, RIdaho, is 82. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is 76. Singer Christopher Cross is 74. Actor Amy Ryan is 57. Actor BobbyCannavale is 55. Music executive-entrepreneur Damon Dash is 54. Actor ChristinaHendricksis50. Actor Dule Hill is 50. Country musician Eric Churchis48. Golfer Brooks Koepkais35.

RELIGION BRIEFS FROM STAFFREPORTS

Jewish congregation to host remembrance

The Unified Jewish Congregation Baton Rouge, 3354 Kleinert Ave., will observe YomHaShoah 2025 (the 80th anniversaryofliberation) at 2p.m. Sunday

The Holocaust remembrance program will include aconversation with Bill Kongable,veteran of the 89th Infantry Division. The U.S. troops liberated Ohrdurf, the first Nazi concentration camp,on April 4, 1945.

Among those being recognized is the late Lee Berg, father of Lee Michael Berg and partofthe 102nd Infantry Division which liberated Dachau concentration camp.

To register for the event, go to https://ujcbr.shulcloud.com/.

Nathaniel Baptist holds Mother’sDay service

Nathaniel Baptist Church,5032 Highway 33S, Centreville, Mississippi, will host aMother’sDay worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday,May 11.

Guest pastor will be John Thompson of St. Francisville. All

MARKET

Continued from page5C

the land is an ideal spot for acommunity festival because there is awooded area behind the church that provides shade, alargeopen lot in front of the church and plenty of spacefor parking. The church’slocation alsoserves as a bridge between Baton Rougeand St.George, sinceitisnearthe boundary line.

Lognion, who lives in Spanish Town and works primarily downtown, has enjoyed getting to know people and artists out in the St. George area.

“It’sabeautiful network,” he said. “I found one thing that I absolutely love about the Baton Rouge area is people want other people to succeed. They want to see somethinghappen.Ifyou want to make adifference in this area, you will haveanarmybehind you helping you along the way.”

Although Mayor Dustin Yates

Nightmarehouse guest shouldn’tbeinvited back

Dear Miss Manners: Afriend, who professes to loveme, behaved irrationally on atwo-day visit to my house. He says he is always in alot of pain due to fibromyalgia, neuropathy and atendon missing in his shoulder Ihave two disintegrating discs pressing on nerves in my lower back, which is very painful. During his visit,Iwaited on him hand and foot while he lollygagged on asofa.

He went to take ashower in my guest bath, and apparently the shower did not work well. He screamed and yelled at the top of his lungs, slammed thebathroom door and then slammed thedoor to theguest bedroom.Hedid not come out till the next morning, when he told me thetoilet in the guest bathwas plugged up and ordered me to takecare of it. Iwas livid and told him to take care of it himself. Ifelt completely disrespected and felt he treated my home like ahotel. He could have used theshower in my bathroom,but didn’tbother asking. He also complained because there were no tissues in the bath, but Ihave extra boxes and

could have fetched one. Iwould be interested in your thoughts.

are invited NazareneBaptist 2nd anniversarycelebration

Nazarene Baptist Church, 2322 ChamberlainAve., Baker,will celebrate its secondchurch anniversary at 2p.m. Sunday, June 22.

Thecelebration will be ledby theRev.Roy Miller,pastor Allfamilies and friends are invited

Gloryland Baptist summer enrichmentprogram

GlorylandBaptist Church, 6745 Greenwell Springs Road, Baton Rouge, will host itssummerenrichment program from 8a.m. to 3p.m. Monday-Friday,June 3-July 25.

Aftercare will be available until 6p.m.

Open to pre-K through eighth grade students, theprogram includes reading,math, music, cultural andsocial activities, library visits, exercise, robotics and swim lessons.

For more information, call the church office at (225) 928-0436.

supportsthe St. George Culture Scene, the city is not sponsoring or directly benefitingfrom the monthlymarket.

L’Auberge Casino Hotel, Guaranty Media andOak Point Market are sponsors of theevent Organizers planfor theevent to be acelebration of both Baton Rouge and St.George coming togethertohave agood time. The market invites residents and visitors to experience the creative energy of agrowing community in acasual, family-friendly setting

“Wewant this festival to be a place where people can come and have agood time, to celebrate a new city,” saidDillon. “One of the prayers Ilove to say is, ‘Lord, we pray for thingswhich have never happenedbefore,’ and Ibelieve that this is something that has never happened before. We want to be part of bringing people together rather than dividing people.”

Email Joy Holden at joy holden@theadvocate.com.

Gentlereader: This is avery volatile relationship. If it survives this visit and you are willing to try again, Miss Manners suggests you sit your friend downand explainthat while you know he is in pain, his behavior at your house wasunacceptable. If he wants to stay with you, you would be happy to give him a tour of where everything is andhow it works, but that you will not tolerate screaming and slamming if things go awry Miss Manners further advises that this conversation will go better if you resist the urge to competeover your respective pain and injuries. Dear Miss Manners: Afriend of minehas been keeping in touch with me by sending text messages that contain one sentence only: “How are you, Jen?” He never shares anything about himself, nor does he show any interest in my life beyond asking that one question.

In frustration, Itexted him that Iamdelighted and eager to

hear from him any time he has something meaningful to share, but that going forward, Iwill no longer respond to one-sentence text messages. He wasangry at this and Ihave not heard from him since.

What do you think of this behavior? Iamstill abit mystified by it and would like your opinion.

Gentle reader: In aworld where long, rambling text messages and lack of interest in others prevails, it seemstoMiss Manners that your friend’stexts were both succinct and empathetic. Unless you are not providing her with the whole scenario.

Once you tell him how you are and ask him how he is, does he then go silent? If it really is just the one sentence and then crickets, Miss Manners will justify— and share —your mystification. But it still does not warrant the tirade you unleashed upon him

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mailtoMiss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO 64106.

contestant John Foster

and Roll Hall of Fame episode.

‘IDOL’

Continuedfrom page5C

Festival in Indonesia, where he has astrong following.

Season 12 (2013): Burnell Taylor,another New Orleans native, sung hisway into seventh place. He worksas an independent singer-songwriter and was honored by theEssence Festivalasone of themost impactful people in New Orleans.In 2013, Nicki Minaj brought Taylor on stage during atourstop in his hometown.

Season 14 (2015): Quentin Alexander,also of New Orleans, reached sixth place in the competition. A rhythm-and-blues/soul recording artist, his four-song EP “SiGH”

PETITFILS

Continuedfrom page5C

We can have differing motivationswhen we “rush” intosituations, giving advice or judgments. Rushing is always about what’s going on inside of us, not the other person. Sometimes we rush because we’ve been hurt.Werush to judgment because we’re aching for anew friend or relationship and aren’tsure how much longer we can wait. Other times, too quickly judging helps us manageour anxiety about the potential unknowns in another person. There’sa part in all of us that wants to box people in —not for them, but because it helps us manageour anxietyabout who that person might be, may become and how they may change.

was released in January

Season 15 (2016): MacKenzie Bourg, of Lafayette, finished the show in fourth place. He continuesworking in the music field, releasing singlesincluding “Little Moon,” “Roses,” “Heartbeat” andmore recently,“Heavy.” He performs often andhas an often-humorous presence on Instagram Season 17 (2019): It wasthe year Louisiana’s Laine Hardy putLivingston on the map,bringing homethe “Idol” title. Sincethen, the country artist has toured the nation, performed for the troops overseas, been Louisiana’stourism ambassador,performed at theWhiteHouse for PBS’ “A Capitol Fourth” and released albums,EPs andsingles— thelatest being “Back of My Mind” in January.He’salso engagedand

This can be an especially strong impulse when we’ve been too trusting, or too naive, and have been hurt. It can be away of protecting ourselves.

In my case, working with the teen and his parents, Irushed because helpingthem quickly made my egofeel good. The instances where I’ve prematurely judged someone, both positively andnegatively,are too numerous to list. I’ve prematurely judged people without understanding them, what they’ve been through or are going through. Agood friendsays, “It’svery hard for me to judge someone or even not like them,when I’ve heard their story and understand what they’ve been through.”

Somequestionswecan ask ourselves when considering new situations, opportunities and relationships are:

recently becameafather with the arrival of son Hollis James Hardy in February Season 18 (2020): Jovin Webb,Gonzales, reached thetop 12 before beingeliminated in abatch of four finalists. Webb’stime on “Idol” wasunique in that the entire season wasfilmed remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Now based in Baton Rouge, Webb signed to Blind Pig Records, which released his debut album, “Drifter,”inOctober 2024. The album highlights his powerful blues, rock, gospel and old-fashionedrock ‘n’rollsounds, and reached No. 2onthe iTunes charts. He still doesliveshows in the Baton Rouge area regularly Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate.com.

n How well do Ireally know this person?

n Do Ihave all or enough information needed to makethis decision?

n Is this the best timetodothis or recommendthis?

n What would it cost me to discern, wait abit longer?

n How much time do Ihave to makethis decision?

n Is there any other viewpoint or perspective that would add to a fuller picture? If so, from whom?

n Who do Itrust to help me discern this?

There’saline from the Peace Prayer that says, “Let me seek first to understand, then be understood.” This line can be ahelpful mantra or prayer,reminding us to slow down, gather moreinformation, suspend judgment and move moreconscientiously into new relationships, experiences and opportunities.

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

PROVIDED PHOTOByERIC McCANDLESS/DISNEy

Louisiana ‘Idol’

performs hisinterpretation of Elvis’‘Jailhouse Rock’ for the show’sRock

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Take on whatever you encounter and turn anegative interactioninto apositive one. Your gratitude will inspire others and encourage them to take advantageof their attributes and good fortune.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) What you learn and the skills you master will help guide you in apositive direction that offers long-term benefits. Group eventswill offer unique and unexpected prospects.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Uncover new possibilities. Focus on what interests and concerns you most,and you'lldiscover how to counter what you don't like and enhance what you cherish.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Put pressure where needed to ensure youget what you want when you want it. Use positive tactics that motivate rather than deplete people you're counting on for support.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-sept.22) An open mind will help you gather and retain information. Learningand flexibility will bring about positive change. Invest in yourself,and you'll gainstability.

LIBRA (sept. 23-Oct. 23) Build momentum andbecome the driving force. Don'tsit back waiting for someone else to makethe first move. Show everyone howefficientand hardworking you can be

scORPIO (Oct. 24-nov. 22) Problems will surface if you are stubborn, possessive or take aggressive action. Turn your

attention inward and critique yourself rather than condemning others.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Get to know someone whointerests you. Communication, sharing knowledge andintentions, andmakingproposals will leaveyou in acushy position that offers security and stability.

cAPRIcORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Put ahalt on plans if you don't have everything in place. Putyourtime andeffort into preparation and locatingthe best help you can receive. Listen, ask questions and verify facts before you proceed.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Payattention to where your money goes. Work with abudget you can livewith and make aplan that addresses your essential needs.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Refuse to let your cravings take charge; they will lead only to indulgent behavior or expenses you cannot afford. Stick close to friends and family whosupport and look out for you.

ARIEs (March 21-April19) Rev your engine and start an adventure. Whether you travel, socialize or challenge yourself mentally,physically or otherwise, fill your day with excitement and joy.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. ©2025 by NEA, Inc.,dist. By Andrews

McMeel Syndication

SALLYForth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

bIG

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Jack Benny, when talking aboutcomedy, said, “It’snot so much knowing when to speak, as when to pause.” That is so true —timing is everything. And it applies to many bridge deals, not just for declarer but also forthe defenders. In today’s deal, whoshouldcome out ahead in four hearts afterWest leads his fourth-highest club?

South opened with atextbook weak two-bid:a six-card suit containing two of the top three or threeofthe topfive honors, and 6to10high-card points. North jumped to game, hoping his side would not immediately lose four blacksuit tricks. Note West’s lead. Fourth-highest applies not onlyinno-trump but also in atrump contract when you have at least one honor in that suit.

South has four potential losers: one spade, one heart and two clubs. If either major-suit finesse wins, he is safe. Or if he can draw trumps,hemight be able to discardhislowspadeondummy’sfourth diamond.

East, though, should wonder where the defenders can get four tricks. He should hope for two club winners. He can see a trump trick. So his side musttake one spade. West will not have the ace and king, because then he would have led thespade ace, not the lowclub. If West has the spade ace, there will be no problems. But if he has the king, there isn’t amoment to lose. East mustwin with his club ace and shift to the spade eight (high denying an honorinthe suit). Then the contract must fail. No other defense works.

Leading back partner’s suitisusually right in no-trump, but muchless often in atrump contract.

©2025 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is aword riddle which createsa disguisedword, phrase,name,place, saying, etc. For example: NOONGOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

InstRuctIOns: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,”are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by

tODAy’sWORD QuADRuPLE: kwa-DROO-pul: To make four times as great or as many.

Average mark 38 words

“you are worthy, OLord, to receive glory and honorand power: foryou have createdall things, and foryourpleasure theyare and were created.” Revelation4:11

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.