The Acadiana Advocate 05-04-2025 by The Advocate

ALIFELINETO ASMALL TOWN

Debate over privatizingUSPScould affect La.’smostrural routes

BY JENNA ROSS |Staff writer

BRANCH The white Jeep Wrangler sprinting down the gravel road, stirring up dust in the early morning light, bore no markings of the U.S. Postal Service. No lights,nologos. But everyone in this corner of Acadiana knew who was inside: Aleke Kanonu Jr theonly mail carrierin town.

Kanonu covers100 miles aday,a thirdofthem dirt orgravel,delivering to more than 655 mailboxes, doorsteps and, prettyoften, people’s hands. On arecent morning, as he turned into Marla Taylor’slong, curved driveway,Taylorapproached him with awide smile,her arms extended.

As Washington types talk about remaking the postal service —moving it under the Commerce Department or privatizing it —people here worry about losing their little post ofﬁce and the daily delivery of the things they need. Not onlybills, checks and “crap my wife orders,” as one man put it, but medications, contact lenses and a“Hey,how’sit going?”onan otherwise quiet morning

“Amazon sends people from all over the country into ourhome, onto our property,” Taylor said, as her 2-year-old grandson scooted by on a pink toy tractor.“Ijustdon’tknow

ä See LIFELINE, page 16A

Louisiana has 1,305 ruralroutes,according to the carriers’ association. Nationally,Republicans and Democrats have signed onto aresolution that Congress shouldtake“all appropriate measures” to ensure that the USPS remains an independent government agencyand “is not subject to privatization.”

Hospitals in La.fear potential cutto Medicaid

Congress debateschanges to provider taxes

BY MARK BALLARD |Staff writer

WASHINGTON —AsRepublicansinCongressdebatepotential cuts or changesto Medicaid, one proposal could have aparticularly large impact on Louisiana, which has one of the highest rates of residents on the program Conservative lawmakers say provider taxes are artiﬁcially inﬂating how much the federal government pays andshouldbehalted. But Louisiana health care leadersfear stopping the taxes could leave many people,particularly in rural areas, without good health care coverage.

Higgins

Agroup of 20 conservatives, including Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, demanded in aletter Thursday that Congress “address the money laundering.” They are referring to provider taxes, which states impose on hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and other facilities.

ä See MEDICAID, page 7A

ä See LIGHT, page 7A

STAFF PHOTOSByLESLIE WESTBROOK

Mail carrier Aleke Kanonu picksupand drops offmail in the community of Branch. Kanonu covers 100 miles aday, athird of them dirt or gravel, delivering to more than 655 mailboxes, doorstepsand people’shands.

AlekeKanonu chats withMarla Taylorashedelivers apackageinthe community of Branch on April 17

Singapore’s long-ruling party wins election

SINGAPORE Singapore’s longruling People’s Action Party won another landslide in Saturday’s general elections, extending its 66-year unbroken rule in a huge boost for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took power a year ago. The Election Department announced the PAP won 82 Parliamentary seats after vote counting ended. The party had earlier won ﬁve seats uncontested, giving it 87 out of a total 97 seats

The opposition Workers Party maintained its 10 seats.

The PAP’s popular vote rose to 65.6%, up from a near-record low of 61% in 2020 polls

Jubilant supporters of the PAP, which had ruled Singapore since 1959, gathered in stadiums, waved ﬂags and cheered in celebration.

A U.S.-trained economist who is also finance minister, Wong’s appeal for a resounding mandate to steer trade-reliant Singapore through economic troubles following President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes has hit home. The government has lowered its growth forecast and warned of a possible recession.

Man accused of smuggling parakeets

SAN DIEGO A 54-year-old man was arrested and charged in San Diego federal court this week on allegations that he attempted to smuggle exotic parakeets across the U.S.-Mexico border by hiding the birds inside his cowboy boots. The alleged smuggler a Mexican citizen, was arrested on suspicion of hiding the birds in nylon stockings concealed inside his boots. He was charged with illegal importation and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, federal prosecutors said.

The arrest occurred shortly after the man crossed the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in a Jeep Grand Cherokee on Tuesday, according to the criminal complaint filed against him. After identifying himself as a Mexican citizen with a Global Entry card, the man told the border inspection officer that he had nothing to declare and that he was heading to San Diego, prosecutors said.

A computer-generated alert told the officer to send the man to a secondary inspection station, court documents read. While there, an officer noticed a bulge around the man’s ankles. During a pat down, the officer discovered six orange fronted parakeets hidden inside the man’s boots, prosecutors said.

A photo from the arrest shows the birds tightly wrapped in pantyhose that are sticking out the backside of the man’s boot above his right ankle.

Warren Buffett to retire at end of year

Revered investor shocks meeting with announcement

BY JOSH FUNK Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb Revered investor Warren Buffett shocked an arena full of his shareholders Saturday by announcing that he wants to retire at the end of the year

Buffett said he will recommend to Berkshire Hathaway’s board on Sunday that Vice Chair Greg Abel should replace him.

“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive ofﬁcer of the company at year end,” Buffett said.

Abel has been Buffett’s designated successor for years, and he already manages all of Berkshire’s noninsurance businesses. But it was always assumed that he would not take over until after Buffett’s death Previously the 94-year-old

Buffett always said he had no plans to retire

Buffett announced the news at the end of a ﬁve-hour question and answer period without taking any questions about it. He said the only board members who knew this was coming were his two children, Howard and Susie Buffett. Abel, who was sitting next to Buffett on stage, had no warning.

Abel returned an hour later without Buffett to conduct the company’s formal business meeting, and he responded to the news.

“I just want to say I couldn’t be more humbled and honored to be part of Berkshire as we go for-

ward,” Abel said.

Many investors have said they believe Abel will do a good job running Berkshire, but it remains to be seen how good he will be at investing Berkshire’s cash. Buffett endorsed him Saturday by pledging to keep his fortune invested in the company

“I have no intention — zero — of selling one share of Berkshire Hathaway I will give it away eventually,” Buffett said. “The decision to keep every share is an economic decision because I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg’s management than mine.”

Thousands of investors in the Omaha arena gave Buffett a prolonged standing ovation after his announcement in recognition of his 60 years leading the company

Pakistan test fires missile

BY MUNIR AHMED Associated Press

ISLAMABAD Pakistan test ﬁred a ballistic missile Saturday as tensions with India spiked over last month’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region.

The surface-to-surface missile has a range of about 280 miles, the Pakistani military said. There was no immediate comment about the launch from India, which blames Pakistan for the April 22 gun massacre in the resort town of Pahalgam, a charge Pakistan denies.

Pakistan’s military said the launch of the Abdali Weapon System was aimed at ensuring the “operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters,” including the missile’s advanced navigation system and enhanced maneuverability features.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime

Australian PM wins second 3-year term

BY ROD MCGUIRK and TRISTAN LAVELETTE Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia — Anthony Albanese claimed victory as the ﬁrst Australian prime minister to clinch a second consecutive term in 21 years on Saturday and suggested his government had increased its majority by not modeling itself on President Donald Trump’s administration.

position leader, “DOGE-y Dutton” and accused his conservative Liberal Party of mimicking Trump and his Department of Government

Efﬁciency

Dutton had earlier conceded his alliance of conservative parties had been defeated at the election and that he had lost his own parliamentary seat that he had held for 24 years.

“Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future,” Albanese told supporters in a victory speech in Sydney

“We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not seek our inspiration overseas.

We ﬁnd it right here in our values and in our people,” he added. His center-left Labor Party had branded Albanese’s rival Peter Dutton, the op-

Dutton’s plight parallels that of Canada’s opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat after Trump declared economic war on the U.S. neighbor to the north. Poilievre had previously been regarded as a shoo-in to become Canada’s next prime minister and shepherd his Conservative Party back into power for the ﬁrst time in a decade.

Analysts argue that mirroring Trump switched from a political positive for Australian conservatives to a negative after Trump imposed global tariffs.

CFRA research analyst Cathy Seifert said it had to be hard for Buffett to reach this decision to step down.

“This was probably a very tough decision for him, but better to leave on your own terms,” Seifert said.

“I think there will be an effort at maintaining a ‘business as usual’ environment at Berkshire. That is still to be determined.”

In many respects, Abel has already been running much of the company for years. But he hasn’t been managing Berkshire’s insurance operations or deciding where to invest all of its cash. He will now take those tasks on, but Vice Chair Ajit Jain will remain to help oversee the insurance companies.

Investment manager Omar Malik, of Hosking Partners in London, said before Buffett’s announce-

ment that he wasn’t worried about Berkshire’s future under Abel.

“Not really (worried). He’s had such a long time alongside Warren and a chance to know the businesses,” Malik said about Abel. “The question is will he allocate capital as dynamically as Warren? And the answer is no. But I think he’ll do a ﬁne job with the support of the others.”

Cole Smead of Smead Capital Management, said he wasn’t surprised Buffett is stepping down after watching him Saturday because the 94-year-old wasn’t as sharp as in past years. At one point, he made a basic math mistake in one of his answers. At other points, he got off track while telling stories about Berkshire and his investing without answering the question he was asked.

Abel is well regarded by Berkshire’s managers and Buffett has praised his business acumen for years. But he will have a hard time matching Buffett’s legendary performance, and since he doesn’t control 30% of Berkshire’s stock like Buffett does, he won’t have as much leeway

“I think the challenge he’s going to have is if anyone is going to give him Buffett or (former Vice Chair Charlie) Munger’s pass card? Not a chance in God’s name,” Smead said. Buffett always enjoyed a devoted following among shareholders. Buffett has said that Abel might even be a more hands-on manager than he is and get more out of Berkshire’s companies. Managers within the company say they have to be well prepared before talking to Abel because they know he will ask tough questions.

amid tensions with India

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By K.M. CHAUDARy

Pakistan’s Rangers soldiers, in black, and Indian Border Security Forces soldiers lower their flags Saturday during a daily closing ceremony at the Wagah, a joint post on the Pakistan and India border near Lahore, Pakistan.

Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated those behind the successful test Missiles are not ﬁred toward the border area with India; they are normally ﬁred into the Arabian Sea or the deserts of southwest Balochistan province.

had threatened to suspend a crucial water-sharing treaty

India’s navy said on April 27 that its vessels had successfully undertaken antiship firings to “revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long-range precision offensive strike.”

Ashok Malik, a former policy adviser in India’s Foreign Ministry, said there was anger across the country following the gun attack. The 26 victims came from 13 different states.

pressure and diplomatic space for a sharp, targeted, and limited response.”

The ongoing “muscle ﬂexing” by both countries’ troops was reﬂective of the tense mood and also apparent in the “unremitting hostilities” on the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing Kashmir he said. Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety

“Internationally, there is enormous sympathy for India and little patience with Pakistan,” said Malik. “I don’t believe anybody in India wants a full-ﬂedged war Even so, there is domestic

They have fought two of their three wars over the stunning Himalayan region and their ties have been shaped by conﬂict, aggressive diplomacy and mutual suspicion, mostly due to their competing claims over Kashmir

“The timing of this launch is critical in the current geopolitical context,” Ali told The Associated Press. He said the test was intended as a strategic signal to India after it

Islamabad-based security analyst Syed Muhammad Ali said Saturday’s missile was named after a prominent Muslim conqueror of India, underlining its symbolic significance.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By NATI HARNIK

Berkshire Hathaway Chair and CEO Warren Buffett announced Saturday that he plans to retire at the end of the year

Albanese

Russia and Ukraine clash over ceasefire proposals

Fighting continues to rage

BY HANNA ARHIROVA and ELISE MORTON Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine Ukraine and Russia are at odds over competing ceasefire proposals, as Moscow accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of threatening the safety of dignitaries attending Victory Day celebrations after he dismissed Russia’s unilateral 72-hour ceasefire. Zelenskyy instead renewed calls for a more substantial 30-day pause in hostilities, as the U.S. had initially proposed. He said the proposed ceasefire could start anytime as a meaningful step toward ending the three-year war. “Let’s be honest you can’t agree on anything serious in three, five, or seven days,” he said.

Zelenskyy said that Moscow’s announcement of a 72hour ceaseﬁre next week in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II is merely an attempt to create a “soft atmosphere” ahead of Russia’s annual celebrations. “It looks unserious,” he said, “so that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s guests on Red Square feel comfortable and safe.” He said that Ukraine cannot provide security assurances to foreign officials planning to visit Russia around May 9, warning that Moscow could stage provocations and later attempt to

blame Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said that some governments had approached Kyiv seeking safety reassurance while their delegations are in Russia

“Our position is very simple: we cannot take responsibility for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” he said. “They are the ones providing your security, and we will not be offering any guarantees.”

Zelenskyy said he had instructed Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry to advise against visiting Russia during this period “We must tell those who approach us: we do not recommend visiting the Russian Federation from a security standpoint. And if you choose to do so, don’t ask

us — it’s your personal decision.”

The Ukrainian leader reiterated that Kyiv’s military actions will remain “mirrorlike,” responding to Russia’s moves He acknowledged that implementing a complete front-line ceasefire without robust international monitoring remains nearly impossible but emphasized that the 30-day window offers a credible start

He conﬁrmed ongoing efforts to convene the next round of negotiations with the U.S. He also expressed hope that it could happen in Ukraine, saying it was a “positive sign” that such a gathering is under discussion despite recent personnel changes in Washington.

In response to Zelenskyy’s comments, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that he had “unequivocally threat-

ened the world leaders who are planning to arrive in Moscow on May 9.”

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said Saturday that nobody could guarantee Kyiv’s safety if Ukraine attacked Moscow celebrations on May 9.

“In the event of a real provocation on Victory Day, no one will guarantee that May 10 will come in Kyiv,” he wrote on Telegram.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia expects Kyiv to take steps to de-escalate before Victory Day

“We will, of course, expect (from) Kyiv not ambiguous, but final statements, and most importantly, actions aimed at de-escalating the conﬂict during the holidays,” Peskov told journalists.

Russia’s ceaseﬁre proposals, he said, were meant to “test Kyiv’s readiness to ﬁnd

ways for long-term sustainable peace between Russia and Ukraine.”

A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s secondlargest city wounded 47 people, officials said, and prompted another appeal from Zelenskyy for more decisive support from the country’s allies.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said drones hit 12 locations across the city late Friday, hitting residential buildings, civilian infrastructure and vehicles. The Kharkiv Prosecutor’s Ofﬁce said that Russian forces used drones with thermobaric warheads. In a statement on Telegram, it said thermobaric weapons create a powerful blast wave and a hot cloud of smoke, causing large-scale destruction The prosecutor said its use may indicate a deliberate violation of international humanitarian law

BY NICOLE WINFIELD

and JILL COLVIN

Associated Press

about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”

Italy’s left-leaning La Repubblica also featured the image on its homepage Saturday with a commentary accusing Trump of “pathological megalomania.”

Asked to respond to the criticism, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that, “President Trump flew to Italy to pay his respects for Pope Francis and attend his funeral, and he has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty.”

Jack Posobiec, a prominent far-right inﬂuencer and Trump ally who recently participated in a Catholic prayer event in March at Trump’s Florida resort, also defended the president.

“I’m Catholic. We’ve all

Trump draws criticism with AI image of himself as pope Moms Make the WorldGoRound

been making jokes about the upcoming Pope selection all week. It’s called a sense of humor,” he wrote on X.

NEW YORK President Donald Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself dressed as pope as the mourning of Pope Francis continues and just days before the conclave to elect his successor is set to begin. Trump’s action drew rebukes from a group representing Catholic bishops in New York and among Italians. The image, shared Friday night on Trump’s Truth Social site and later reposted by the White House on its official X account, raised eyebrows on social media and at the Vatican, which is still in the period of nine days of official mourning following Francis’ death on April 21 Catholic cardinals have been celebrating daily Masses in his memory and are due to open the conclave to elect his successor on Wednesday. The death of a pope and election of another is a matter of utmost solemnity for Catholics, for whom the pope is Christ’s vicar on Earth. That is all the more true in Italy, where the papacy is held in high esteem even by nonreligious Italians.

The image featuring Trump in a white cassock and pointed miter, or bishop’s hat, was the topic of several questions during the Vatican’s daily conclave brieﬁng Saturday Italian and Spanish news reports lamented its poor taste and said it was offensive, given that the period of ofﬁcial mourning is still underway

Left-leaning former Premier Matteo Renzi said the image was shameful. “This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around,” Renzi wrote on X. “Meanwhile, the U.S. economy risks recession and the dollar loses value. The sovereignists are doing damage, everywhere.”

The Vatican spokesperson, Matteo Bruni, declined to comment.

In the United States, the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops of the state in working with government, accused Trump of mockery

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President,” they wrote. “We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are

The episode comes after Trump joked last week about his interest in the vacancy “I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice,” the thrice married president, who is not Catholic, told reporters.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, piled on.

“I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility!” Graham, R-S.C., wrote on X. “The ﬁrst PopeU.S. President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke… Trump MMXXVIII!

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AtWomen’s&Children’sHospital,thestaffoften feelslikefamily–but forthree dedicatednurses, that bond is trulyintheir blood. AnnBroussard, Laborand Delivery NursingDirector, hasbeen with thehospitalsince 1981.Now,she shares hercalling with herdaughters:Stephanie King, aPregnancy Navigator, andLindsey Fourroux aNeonatalICU nurse. Together,theyhave turned thehospital’slegacyofcareintoatrue family tradition

“Nursing haschanged over theyears,and the optionsare so broadinterms of theworkyou cando,”Broussard said.“Iwas very thankful that they notonlywantedtobenurses, but to stay in maternal care.Weall have that in common.Nursing hasbeenverygoodtome, andI wasjust glad that they wanted to follow in my footstepsand experience thoserewards forthemselves.

Broussardand herdaughters didn’t always know theircareers wouldalign theway that they have.Kingattendedcosmetology school andworkedasa stylistbeforedecidingshe wanted to switch gearsand work in medicine

“I always knew Iwantedtoworkwithfamilies andbeabletomakea difference,”Kingsaid. “I felt like Iwas doingthatwhenI wasastylist,but when my sister started nursingschool, it made me thinkabout doingitmyself. Once Idecided on that,I knew theonlydepartmentI wanted to be in wasLabor andDelivery.”

In herroleasa Navigator, King workswith expectantmothers when testingindicates that theirbabymay need immediatetreatment or alengthy NICU stay upon birth. In theweeks leadinguptobirth,Kinghelps them prepare forthe months to come.The role allows her to form closebonds with parents-to-be, many of whom quicklyﬁnd they canrelyonher no matter what theirquestions are.

“There’s alot of preparationthatgoesinto thesesituations,”she said.“Ihavealot of them that willask if I’ll be in thedeliveryroomwhen it’s time forthe baby to come.Ialwaystellthem, ‘I willabsolutelybethere if youwantmethere.’ It makesmefeelgoodtoknowthatmypresence is helping them getthrough achallenging time.”

AlthoughFourrouxalwaysintendedtobecome anurse, sheinitially thoughtshe wouldalsobe in theLabor andDeliveryarea. However, once shebegan intensivetraining, sherealizedthat workingwiththe smallest babies in theNICU wouldbeher true calling.

“Wesometimes seebabiesthatare under apound,and we play abig role in theirNICU journey,”she said.“We become closewithall of thefamilieswhenweare treating theirbabies. It’s incredibly rewarding to seethose parents when theday finallycomes forthemtotake theirbabyhome.

ForBroussard,the opportunitytoworkalongside herdaughters hasreaffirmed that Women’s &Children’sHospitalisher true professional home.Althoughshe hasbeenwiththe hospital formorethanfourdecades,Broussard has also worked extensivelyasa travelnurse on months-longcontracts that have takenher to places such as Alaska andCalifornia. In more recent years, sheaccepted theroleofLabor and Delivery NursingDirectorﬁrstonaninterim basis, then as apermanent assignment

“It’struly afamilyaffairwhenthe threeofus areworking here at thesametime,”Broussard said.“I’ve hadthe opportunitytoworkinother states,but this hasalwaysfeltlikea good second home forme. IalwaysknewIwould end my career back here at Women’s&Children’s. Alot of thedoctors andother nurses have been here alongtimeaswell, so it feelscomfortabletome. It trulyisa blessing to be able to work with my daughtersinthisenvironment.” NowthatBroussard,Fourrouxand King have allestablished theirown strong careers in nursing, they have giventhought to what it takestosucceed in theprofession. Whilejob opportunitiesare plentiful, allthree women said that anynurse whowants to do truly meaningful work must thinkofthe role in much more personal terms.

“The most importantaspectofnursing is that your heart hastobeinit,”Fourrouxsaid. “You have to believethatyou aremakingadifference Youhave to have passionand empathyfor your patients andbecommitted to doingeverything in your powertohelpthem.”

OurLadyofLourdes Health is proudto celebratemorethan1,100 nurses on itsteam during National Nurses Week,May 5-12.Ready to make your ownmeaningfulimpact? Join Lourdes’ compassionateteam, ﬁndyourcalling andadvanceyournursing career.Learn more at fmolhs.org/careers

PHOTO PROVIDED By UKRAINIAN EMERGENCy SERVICE Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire Saturday following a Russian attack in Kharkiv Ukraine.

By Amanda McElfresh| amcelfresh@theadvocate.com

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Memo:Justice Department to switch focusonvoting

Agency to prioritize Trump’s electionsorder

BY NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press

The Justice Department unit that ensures compliance with voting rights laws will switch itsfocus to investigating voter fraud and ensuring elections are not marred by “suspicion,” according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press

The new mission statement for the voting section makes apassing reference to the historic Voting Rights Act, but no mention of typical enforcement of the provision through protecting people’s right to cast ballots or ensuring that lines for legislative maps do not divide voters by race. Instead, it redeﬁnesthe unit’smission aroundconspiracy theories pushed by Republican President Donald Trump to explain away his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Trump’sattorney general at the time, William Barr said therewas no evidence of widespreadfraudinthat election. Repeated recounts andaudits in the battleground states where Trump contested his loss, including some led by Republicans, afﬁrmed Biden’swin and found the election was run properly.Trump and his supporters also lost dozensofcourt cases trying to overturn the election results.

But in Trump’ssecond term, the attorney general is Pam Bondi, who backed his effort to reverse his 2020 loss. The president picked Harmeet Dhillon, aRepublicanPartylawyer andlong

ANDRES LEIGHTON

The JusticeDepartment unit that ensures compliance with votingrights laws will switch its focus to investigating voter fraud and ensuring elections are not marred by ‘suspicion,’ according to an internal memo.

timeally whoalso hasechoed some of Trump’sfalse claims about voting, to run the JusticeDepartment’sCivil Rights Division, where the voting sectionishoused.

“The Civil Rights Division has always worked to make sure Americans have access to the pollsand that their votesmatter,” said Stacey Young, an 18-year Department ofJusticeveteran who leftthat division days after Trump’sinauguration in Januaryand foundedJustice Connection, an organization supporting the agency’semployees. “The division’sjob is nottopromote thepolitically expedient ﬁction that voting fraud is widespread.” The department did notrespondto a requestfor comment.

Trump hasalreadydemonstrated hisinterest in using the Justice Department to pursue those who stood up for the 2020 election by directing thedepartment to investigate oneofhis former appointees who publicly vouched forthe safety and accuracy of the 2020 vote count.

“The mission of the Voting

RightsSection of theDOJ Civil Rights Divisionisto ensure free, fair,and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion,” the missionstatement declares. It adds thatthe unit will “vigorously enforce” Trump’sexecutiveorder seeking to reshape how elections are run. Parts of that order have been put on hold by ajudge.

The executive order signed latelastmonth calls for people to provide documented proof of U.S. citizenship each time they register to vote;would requireall mail ballotstobereceived by Election Day, whichiscounter to thelaw in 18 states; and directs an independent federal agency, theElection AssistanceCommission, to amend its guidelines for voting machines

Severallegal analysts say much of theorder is unconstitutional because only states and, for federal contests, Congress, can set election procedures. The Constitution providesnoprovision forthe president to set the rulesfor elections

Judgeblocksorder targetinglaw firm

BY ERIC TUCKER Associated Press

WASHINGTON Afederal judgeonFridaypermanently blocked aWhite House executive order targeting an elite law ﬁrm, dealing asetback to President Donald Trump’s campaign of retribution against the legal profession.

U.S. District Beryl Howell said the executive order against the ﬁrm of Perkins Coie amounted to “unconstitutional retaliation” as she ordered thatitbenullified and that the Trump administration halt any enforcement of it.

“No American President,” Howell wrote in her 102page order,“has ever before issued executive orders like

theone at issueinthislawsuit targeting aprominent law ﬁrm with adverse actions to be executedbyall Executive branch agencies but, in purpose and effect,thisaction draws from aplaybook as oldasShakespeare,who pennedthe phrase:‘The ﬁrst thing we do, let’skill all the lawyers.’”

The ruling was most deﬁnitive rejection to date of Trump’s spate of similarly worded executiveorders against someofthe country’s most elite law ﬁrms, part of a broader effort by the president to reshape American civil societybytargeting perceivedadversariesin hopesofextractingconcessions from them and bending them to his will. Several

SUNDAY NEWS SHOWS

of the ﬁrms singledout for sanction have either done legalworkthatTrump has opposed, or currently have or previously hadassociationswithprosecutorswho at onepoint investigated the president

The edicts have ordered that thesecurity clearances of attorneys at thetargeted ﬁrms be suspended, that federal contracts be terminated and that their employees be barred from federal buildings. The punished law ﬁrms have calledthe executive ordersanaffront to the legal system andatoddswiththe foundational principle that lawyers should be free to representwhomever they’d like withoutfear of government reprisal.

The new mission statement for the Civil Rights Division alsosaysthe voting unit will focusonensuring that “only American citizens vote in U.S.federal elections.”It’s already illegal for noncitizenstovote. People have to attesttheyare U.S.citizens when theyregister and attempts to vote by noncitizens can lead to felony charges and deportation. Repeated investigations have turnedupjustatiny

numberofnoncitizens casting ballots, often doing so accidentally,out of the hundredsofmillionsofvotes over recent contests. A proof-of-citizenship requirement in Kansasa little over a decadeago blocked 31,000 eligible U.S. citizens from registering to vote before it was overturned by the courts.

But Republicans, including Trump, have continued to insist theremust be farmore noncitizens casting votesand

are pushing to tighten election laws to screen them out. Notably,the roughly 200word statement on the voting rights sectionmentions ﬁghting “fraud” twice, as well as investigating “other forms of malfeasance.” The Department of Justice already investigatesand prosecutes voting fraud, but in aseparate division on the criminal side. The voting section is a civil unit that does not investigate potential crimes.

ABC’s“This Week”: ABC reporters and contributors discuss President Donald Trump’sﬁrst100 days back in ofﬁce and other events.

NBC’s“Meet the Press”: Trump

CNN’s“State of theUnion”: Sens Mark Warner,D-Va., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Rep.

Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa. CBS’ “Face the Nation”: Sen. Tammy Duckworth, DIll.; Rep. Mike Turner,ROhio; Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’sambassadorto the United States; KatherineMaher,CEO of NPR, and PaulaKerger,CEO of PBS;

H.R.McMaster,a former national security adviser

“Fox NewsSunday”: Reps. JodeyArrington, R-Texas, Jason Smith, R-Mo.,and Jim Himes, D-Conn.;Ken Martin, Democratic National Committee chair

TheAssociated Press

Asthe next-doorneighbortothe worldclass city of NewOrleans,JeffersonParishdoesnot dare to show up to theparty empty-handed.Whether it be shopping,dining, or an adrenalinerushyou areseeking,JeffersonParish’sofferings keep the good timesrolling Forajam-packedweekend of adventure, head to theWestbank! Just a15-minute driveand you canimmerse yourself in theelectricgreen of thecypress groves as youzoomthrough Bayou Segnette on oneofthe many airboattourofferings in theparish. If soakinginthe curiositiesofthe swamps at aleisurely pace is more your speed, checkout aswamp boat tour or theBarataria Preserve nature trails.Thiscolorfultapestryof wetlands is sure to give yougoosebumpsasyou spot an abundanceofalligators, Spanishmoss, and blue herons,along theway.For alistofairboat and swamptours availableinthe area,check out: www visitjeffersonparish.com/things-to-do/swampand-plantation-tour/ Bookingacabin in BayouSegnetteState Park is anothergreatway to breakout of theeveryday routineofcitylifeand relaxinthe naturalbeauty of theestuaries.Spend theday fishing, hiking,or canoeing with lovedones, andinthe eveningwatch thesunsetfromthe dock.Asduskrolls in,enjoy the nightlyperformanceoffireflies accompaniedbya chorus of frogsand cicadas. Formoreinformation or to make reservations,visit:www.lastateparks. com/parks-preserves/bayou-segnette-state-park. Whileyou’reonthe Westbank,takethe meaning of friendlycompetition to thenextlevel at NOLA MotorsportsPark. Kick up some dust by racing through30-acresofgokarttrack at 45 MPHor challengefriends to around of mini golf at NOLA Motorsports’ latest offering—Throttle &Swing This all-in-one social experience includes abar andcoffee bar, craftpizza options, andarcade games, alongwithan18-hole mini golf course Forinformation on pricingand hours, checkout: https://nolamotor.com/. If tameradventuresare callingyourname, a trip down thepicturesque Metairie Road will have youentertained allday.Catch themorning gloryofLongueVue House& Gardensand enjoy brunch at theiconicRubySlipper or Blue Line Sandwich Co.Grabalatte from MoxieCoffee & Espressobeforechecking outthe assortment of

trendy boutique clothing andaccessoriesshops At theend of theday,treatyourselftoa feastfor dinner.Italian,Greek,Indian, freshLouisiana seafood—Metairie Road hasitall andmore. Ourfashion forwardfriends will also want to stop by Lakeside Shopping Center,located 12 minutesfromdowntownNew Orleans. As thelargest andmostfrequentedmallinthe metropolitan area,Lakesideand thesurrounding streetshave much to offer visitors. Scoopupsome sweetdeals andtop it off with an iced boba tea from Kung Fu Teaora sugar-free indulgence from Todd’s Frozen Yogurt.You’llleave lookingand feelingglamourous!

Nothingcan quitecompare to thesunsets onecan witnessoverLakePontchartrain,and JeffersonParishhas milesofwell-kept lakeside trackfor walkersand cyclists.For agreat view visitBucktownHarborParkwhich features a new1,000-footboardwalk.Kenner’sLaketown is another excellentsunsetspot, andright next door youcan hitthe sandsofCoconut Beachto play afew rounds of volleyball with friends. To rent acourt,see:https://coconutbeachla.com/ Whetheryou’vebookedastayinaJefferson Parish hoteloryou’revisitingthe nearby downtown NewOrleans area,besuretoelevate your experience.Explore themanyfacetsthat make JeffersonParisha unique andinteresting place, andwhen allissaidand done,decideifit’s theglamour or thegoosebumpsfor you. Formoreinformation on JeffersonParish andits offerings,visit: https://www.visitjeffersonparish.com/

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By

By Stevie Cavalier Licciardi| stevie.licciardi@theadvocate.com

The federal government pays most of the costs of Medicaid, with the states kicking in part. When states use provider fees to increase how much they pay for Medicaid, that means the federal share of funding increases.

The state then pays the providers who are taxed to administer Medicaidservices. Initially approved by Congress in 1991,provider taxes have become aconservative cause célèbre. Restricting provider taxes could save thefederal government $600 billion over the next decade, according to the Paragon HealthInstitute, a conservative think tank, citing estimates from several organizations.

“The basictakeaway: The federal government permits states to engage in money laundering tactics leading to massive increasesinfederal funding ﬂowing into the states, much of which goes to higher Medicaid payments to providers,” Brian Blasé, Paragon’spresident, said in astatement. “This launderingundermines Medicaid’spurpose, inﬂates commercial health care

LIGHT

Continued from page1A

other property rights amicably or through expropriation. The councilvotedin December 2023 to allocate $250,000 for the project. Constructiononthe new Lafayette High School startedinSeptember 2023.

The $100 million, threestory new building will be able to accommodate 2,300 students, which is about 400 more than the current building.

A2022study conducted by engineering consultants

Neel-SchafferInc.indicated the light was needed “to have acceptable trafﬁc

costs, and increases theburdenonfederal taxpayers.”

House Energy andCommerce Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky,acknowledged to reporters last week that provider taxes are being discussed.

Many in Louisiana’shealth care industry oppose the idea. If thetaxes are eliminated, state government would havetopick up the tab —and, sincelawmakers are alreadygrapplingwith a tightbudget,thatcouldlead to the lossofMedicaidbeneﬁts for many.

“Any major cut to federal Medicaid funding would harm Louisiana patients and severely restrict state budgetoptions. With Louisiana’slow median income, taxpayers cannotreplace lost federal funds, risking deepcuts to health care and other services,” said Paul Salles, president andCEO of theLouisiana Hospital Association Medicaid provides health insurance to 83millionlowincome Americans. In Louisiana, 1.6 million people, or about athird ofthe state’s population, are on the program.

Cuttingprovidertaxes

The LHAcommissioned apollof600 Republican

operations.”Once construction is completed, most of theschools’ parkinglots, including studentand staff parking, will useMarieAntoinette Streetfor entryand exit.

The council’sordinance for thetrafﬁc signal allows forthe construction ofa trafﬁc light, sidewalks and curbramps. Some of the required right of way space neededisowned by private homeowners, accordingto aschematic included in the ordinance andLafayette Parish Property Accessor’s records.

By approvingthe ordinance, LCG’s team is now allowed to assess the value of the propertytheyneed and directly work withlandown-

voters in Louisiana in early April that found 78% of the voters who backedTrump last fallalso support Medicaid. Abouthalfofthose surveyed said they would be more likely to support preserving Medicaidfundingifhospitals payprovider taxes to help.

“Louisiana voters are concerned aboutlosing health care access, which could resultinhigher insurancepremiumsand the lossofskilled health care jobs,” Sallessaid.

About 39 states, according to the Government AccountabilityOfﬁce, use some provider taxes to shore up hospitals, particularlythose in ruraland inner-city areas that have ahigher-than-usual numberofMedicaidpatients. Medicaid pays far less than private insurancepays, and some of theprovider taxes are usedtohelpcash-poor inner-city andruralhospitals.

“Cutting provider taxes is cutting Medicaid,”said Ryan Cross, vice president of government affairsat Franciscan Missionariesof Our LadyHealth System, which operates OurLady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge and nine other hospitals in

Louisiana and Mississippi.

Forinstance, 45% of the patientsseen at OurLady of theAngels Hospital in Bogalusa are on Medicaid, Cross said. The hospital pays about $2 million a year in provider taxesbut receives about$11 million from the provider taxpayments. Still, the hospital comes up about $4 million short.

“Ending providertaxes shiftsthe burden to the state,whichmeans higher state andlocal taxes,” Crosssaid.

He said that, if patients areknocked off Medicaid rolls,the hospitals still have to provideemergency services even though they won’tget paid.

“People acrossLouisiana agree that providers should put skininthe game rather than putting it on thebacks of working people in Louisiana,” Cross added.

Rep. Troy Carter, D-NewOrleans and amember of the Housecommittee that oversees Medicaid, pointsout thatchanging the provider taxes— andmany of the other ideas being ﬂoated —basically would require states to paymore.

“Louisiana can’t afford to pay more,” Carter said, leaving state lawmakers with no other option than to reduce who can receive Medicaid coverage.

Congress lookingfor cuts Potential changestoMedicaid are on the table because Speaker of theHouse Mike Johnson is trying to pass a massive budget bill that would extend thetax cuts from President Donald Trump’sﬁrst term, turn intolaw many of Trump’sexecutive orders andreducespending by at least $1.5 trillion. After meetingTrump on Thursday,Johnson acknowledged ahiccup in advancing that push. The originalplanwas forthe House Energy and Commerce committee, which oversees Medicaid, to release its measure on Monday,but that deadline was pushed back.

vote margin to pass the bill. That means both moderate Republicans, who want to protect Medicaid beneﬁts, and conservatives, who want deeper cuts, each have enough supporters to scuttle the legislation. The committeeisreviewing several options upon which mostRepublicans can agree.

ana DepartmentofTransportation.

Johnson insists the House can still hold afloor vote on the “one, bigbeautiful bill” by Memorial Day Johnson has only athree-

Proposals being floated,according the Republican and Democraticrepresentatives on the committee, include requiring ablebodied Medicaid recipients to get a job; ensuring illegal immigrants arenot allowedto receive Medicaid; andcomparing rolls between the states to ensure nobody is receiving beneﬁtsinmore than one state. Thenonpartisan Congressional Budget Ofﬁce is still calculating just how much theseprogramswould save.But initial estimates indicate they would not save enough to meet the GOP’scurrent target,lawmakers on the committee say

Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate. com

ers on securing it,anLCG spokesperson said. The intersection at Marie Antoinette andWest Congress streetshas had several accidentsover theyears. Andnearlyasmanycars driveonCongressStreetas on Johnston Street, according to data from the Louisi-

Estimated trafﬁcvolumes indicate that about 920 cars will travel on West Congress Street in frontofLafayette High during peak morning hours —6:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m —and about125 cars will make the left-hand turn onto Marie Antoinette Street,according to the2022 study

The same estimation shows about940 cars will travel on West Congress Street during peak afternoonhours —2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. —and about 100 cars will makethe left-hand turn ontoMarie Antoinette Street. During thatsame time, trafﬁcturning either left or right ontoWest Congressfrom Marie Antoinette

Street is expected to nearly double morning predictions, withabout 75 carsestimated to make the left and 175 cars to makethe right. The new Lafayette High is being constructed on the property of the current school andwhile classesare in session. The 310,000-square-foot building will have more than 50 classrooms and labs, adedicated library,a600-seat concert hall and other athletic and specialty elective course spaces.

Construction is expected to be completed by spring 2026.

Email AshleyWhiteat ashley.white@theadvocate. com.

Feds halt study on vaccine trust in Black community

BY LAURAN NEERGAARD Associated Press

WASHINGTON Some Denver parents got texts during this winter’s brutal flu season with videos sharing why people in their neighborhoods chose ﬂu shots for their kids, an unusual study about trust and vaccines in a historically Black community

But no one will know how it worked out: The Trump administration canceled the project before the data could be analyzed — and researchers aren’t the only ones upset.

“For someone like me, from the Black community who income-wise is on the lower end, we don’t often have a voice,” said Denver mom Chantyl Busby, one of the study’s community advisers. “Having this funding taken away from this project sends a horrible, horrible message It’s almost like telling us all over again that our opinions don’t matter.”

How to talk about vaccines with parents — or anyone — is taking on new urgency: At least 216 U.S. children died of ﬂu this season, the worst pediatric toll in 15 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unvaccinated chil-

dren are fueling one of the country’s largest measles outbreaks in decades, and another vaccine-preventable disease whooping cough — is soaring, too.

At the same time

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr questions vaccines long proven to be safe and effective. Moves by the Trump administration are making it increasingly uncertain that COVID-19 vaccines will be available this fall. And the administration has slashed funding for public health and medical research, including abruptly stopping studies of vaccine hesitancy.

“We need to understand what it is that is creating this

challenge to vaccines and why,” said Michael Osterholm, who directs the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and worries the country is entering “scientiﬁc dark ages.”

At Denver Health, Dr Joshua Williams is a pediatrician who every day has vaccine conversations with confused or worried parents. Some even ask if they’ll get kicked out of his practice for refusing immunizations.

Nope, Williams says: Building trust takes time “The most satisfying vaccine-related encounters I have are the ones in families who had signiﬁcant concerns

EPA announces broad reorganization

BY MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced a broad reorganization as part of the Trump administration’s drive to cut costs that some activists worry will harm the agency’s independent scientific research.

Administrator Lee Zeldin announced changes that included creating a new unit within his office “to align research and put science at the forefront of the agency’s rulemakings.” He said the overall reorganization would boost efﬁciency and save at least $300 million annually, though he didn’t detail how the money would be saved.

Though Zeldin didn’t mention it by name, some scientists and activists saw it as an attack on EPA’s Office of Research and Development, which has long provided the scientific underpinnings for EPA’s mission to protect the environment and human health. The agency said it would shift “its scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices” that focus on major issues like air and water Separately on Friday, President Donald Trump unveiled a proposed budget to cut that office’s funding by $235 million.

Trump’s budget said the cut would put “an end to unrestrained research grants, radical environmental justice work, woke climate research, and skewed, overly-precautionary modeling that influences regulations none of which are authorized by law.” Agency researchers have improved air pollution monitoring, found high levels of PFAS in drinking water sources, provided flood prevention resources and made more information available on chemical safety EPA’s possible plans to lay off as many as 1,155 staffers in the office — as much as three-fourths of its workers — became public in March. Those cuts are part of a broader push by Zeldin to cut EPA’s budget by about

two-thirds.

The Office of Research and Development has 10 facilities across the country It was designed to be insulated from politics so it can produce essential science.

Camden Weber, climate and energy policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity said, “is a textbook move from the authoritarian playbook.”

“By gutting key institutions and driving away experts, this attack will endanger public health, clean air, and environmental progress,

while undermining independent scientific research in America,” Weber said.

“This is a reorganization, not a reduction in force,” EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said.

Zeldin’s announcement also included the creation of the Ofﬁce of State Air Partnerships to work “with, not against” states and other agencies to handle plans for pollution reduction by states. The EPA has long had authority to impose its own plan if states were seen as not doing enough to cut pollution.

for a long time, came to trust me over the years as I cared for broken arms and ear infections — and ultimately vaccinated their child,” he said.

But in the TikTok age, Williams wondered if digital storytelling — seeing and hearing what led other families to choose vaccination might help those decisions. He chose flu shots as the test case just under half of U.S. children got one this season. And Black children are among those most at risk of getting seriously ill from inﬂuenza.

With a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Williams partnered with Denver’s nonprofit Center for African American Health to host workshops bringing volunteers together to discuss how inﬂuenza and the flu vaccine had impacted their lives. Professionals

helped those who wanted to go the extra step turn them into 2- to 3-minute polished videos.

After two years of community engagement, ﬁve of those videos were part of the pilot study sending text messages to 200 families who get care at two Denver Health clinics.

In one video, a mother described getting her ﬁrst ﬂu vaccination along with her young daughter, making her own health decisions after leaving a controlling relationship.

In another a grandmother explained how she’ll never again miss a vaccine appointment after her grandson spent his 4th birthday hospitalized with the ﬂu.

Seeing “people that they look like, that they sound like, who have experiences they’ve been through that can go, ‘Hey, I felt like you

felt but this changed my life,’” is powerful, said Busby, who OK’d her kids’ flu vaccinations after questioning Williams during multiple family checkups. The study’s sudden cancellation means Williams can’t assess if the texted videos inﬂuenced families’ vaccine decisions lost data from more than two years of work and already-spent NIH dollars. It also jeopardizes the researchers’ careers. While considering next steps, Williams has asked permission of community members to use some of the videos in his own practice as he discusses vaccination. Williams gets personal, too, telling families that his kids are vaccinated and how his 95-year-old grandmother reminisces about the terror of polio during her own childhood before those vaccinations were developed.

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After making itsway down from thelakes of Minnesota, theMississippi Riverwinds itspath throughthe capitalcityofBaton Rouge—acity saturatedwithhistory andculture.Baton Rouge pulses to therhythmofthe riverand invites travelers to slow down andenjoy thesouthern charms thecityhas to offer.Whether youare lookingfor anight outonthe town with friends or afun-ﬁlled family weekend, avisit to Louisiana’s CapitalCitywillleave youinspiredand refreshed. BatonRouge is knownfor itsdiverse culinary scenewhich drawsfoodieinterestday or night. Checkout thePerkins Overpass District fora cool andcomfortable vibe forlunch.The area under theoverpasshas been creatively builtuptohost an arrayoffun,eclecticrestaurants rangingfrom quintessential LouisianajointslikeParrain’s SeafoodtoAsian fusion eateries like Chow Yum, whichservesupwhimsicalreimaginings of classicdishes.

If you’re lookingtoswapout your winter style with some summertime flair,Baton Rougehas plenty of shopping optionstocompleteyour wardrobe wish list.Withup-to-datewalkable shopping plazas such as TowneCenteratCedar Lodgeand world-classmalls like theMallof Louisiana, in BatonRouge youcan findgreat deals whileenjoyingthe leisure of having everything you need in onelocation.And it’s notall sundresses andflip-flops. BatonRouge hasnotable menswear boutiqueslikeCarriages Fine Clothier.Ifyou are lookingfor athleisure apparel,Massey’sand The Backpacker have excellentcollections to help you make themostofyourtimeadventuring in the summer sun.

TheFrenchtownConservationAreaand the Bluebonnet SwampNaturecenterare twoplaces whereyou canencounter themagniﬁcence of southern Louisianawildlifewithout having to travel far. Thereare well-kepthikingtrails, boardwalks,and facilities at both parks. Foroutdoor sports lovers,there areample golf anddiscgolfcourses around theBaton Rougearea. With twolocal collegiate teamstorootfor—LSU and Southern University—sports area part of thedaily lifeblood of BatonRouge.Thereare sporting events available nearly year-round,withboth tailgating andattending the

eventleaving youwithmemoriesfor yearstocome. FestivalscomingupinMay 2025,include the Soul Food Festival,Hot ArtCoolNights, andNight Market BTR, whichcelebratesAsian American and Paciﬁc Islander Heritage,alsobring people from allwalks of life together to celebratethe art,food, andmusic of thearea. Learningabout thehistory of BatonRouge andsoutheast Louisianaisanother great wayto connectwiththe city as youtravelbackintime. The CapitolParkMuseumwillhaveyou in aweasyou traverse itsgrandiose displays that commemorate thediverse people whohave made Louisianathe culturally rich tapestry that it is today. Forthe little ones,the KnockKnock Children’s Museum offers enticing andinteractive exhibits that willmake forgreatmemories—andpictures! Both capitolbuildings areopenfor toursand arefreetothe public.The currentLouisiana State Capitolbuilding, thetallest in thecountry,isopen 7daysaweek, andthe observationdeckonthe 27th ﬂoor provides amust-seeviewofthe city.The Old StateCapitol building,which is styled as amedieval castle,isalsorevered as aBaton Rougelandmark andisoperational 5daysa week as amuseum. As asimple“ISpy”challenge,keepaneye outfor the quatrefoil design whichishighlyfeaturedinthe gothic construction of this iconic building. Thequatrefoilisareoccurringmotif in much of thecity’sarchitecture, interior design elements andisfeaturedinthe jewelryand accessories made by localartisanslikeMimosaHandCraftedJewelry.The symbol perfectlyencapsulates thesophisticated,yet approachable nature of BatonRouge,and reminds visitors andlocalsthat thepastand presentare forever intertwinedinthis captivatingcity. Formoreinformation on BatonRouge exciting offerings, checkout:www visitbatonrouge.com.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By THOMAS PEIPERT

Dr Joshua Williams, a pediatrician whose federal funding for a vaccine awareness program was cut, examines 12-yearold patient Tiovian Darden on March 18 in Denver.

By Stevie Cavalier Licciardi| Stevie Cavalier Licciardi

This articleisbrought to youbyVisit BatonRouge

THE GULF COAST

Pensacola sign undergoes divisive

BY POET WOLFE Staff writer

For 65 years, an iconic midcentury modern sign in Gulf Breeze, Florida, welcomed drivers to veer east along the Gulf of Mexico for a scenic drive to Pensacola Beach

Featuring a cartoon sailﬁsh and encircled by palm trees, the sign has been restored multiple times since it was erected in 1960, mostly due to hurricane damage.

Though its message to take a picturesque route leading to the “world’s whitest beaches,” along with motels and restaurants, remained unchanged, until last week, when a single word was replaced.

The sign now invites travelers to “drive east along Gulf of America,” reflecting a January executive order issued by President Donald Trump to change the name, at least in the U.S., of what was known for centuries without much controversy as the Gulf of Mexico

Three months later, the renaming of the basin — which Trump said was part of his pledge to honor “American greatness” — continues to be a contentious subject across the nation. Polls collected by Harvard CAPS and Harris Poll in January found that 72% of registered voters oppose the executive order, while 28% back it

Along the Gulf Coast, Republican lawmakers are pushing to embrace it, especially in Florida — the ﬁrst state to formally recognize the new name after Gov Ron DeSantis signed two bills into law Days before Trump took any executive action to rename the Gulf, DeSantis referred to it as the Gulf of America while declaring a state of emergency in January.

Modifying the sign

The name changes issued by

Trump and DeSantis were ultimately what drove Mike Kohler, the chairman of Escambia County Commission, who also worked for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, to lead efforts in modifying the Pensacola Beach sign. Kohler discovered the change would cost the county $2,600. Re-

furbishing the sign has cost signiﬁcantly more in previous years, such as in 2019, when $263,000 was put into replacing it with a modernized version.

“I said go ahead and move forward with it,” Kohler recalled, “To be in alliance with the executive orders both from the president and

of State — about the sign remaining the same. Since its completion, Kohler said the commission has received mainly positive feedback.

Aside from residents, other commissioners of the county supported the change, including Ashlee Hoffberger, who Kohler said devised ﬁlling the word “America” with the patriotic colors of red, white and blue.

Hoffberger could not be reached for comment on Monday

A divisive name

The percentage of the Florida population who support the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico is unclear

A public opinion survey from the University of North Florida found that out of 871 registered voters, 58% opposed the renaming, while 31% supported it.

On social media, public opinion appears divided.

Sean Mullins, a photographer who runs a popular social media platform named Pensacola Vibes, posted an image on Facebook earlier this month that went viral for featuring “Gulf of Mexico” carved in the sand of Pensacola Beach.

In the comments section, the responses were divided some praising the name changing, others disapproving and many who resorted to referring to the body of water as the Gulf.

Political turmoil appeared again in the comments section when Mullins posted a photo of the modiﬁed Pensacola Beach sign.

“It’s just ‘the gulf’ to me,” one commenter wrote, “But I’ll call it

governor.” Kohler added that before the modiﬁcation, the commission was periodically hearing concerns from residents of Escambia County where nearly 47% of registered voters are Republican and about 30% are Democratic, according to the Florida Department

BY MORIAH BALINGIT AP education writer

HOUSTON Since her birth

10 years ago, Mackenzie

Holmes has rarely called one place home for long.

There was the house in Houston owned by her grandmother, Crystal Holmes. Then, after Holmes lost her Southwest Airlines job and the house, there was the trio of apartments in the suburbs and three evictions. Then another rental, and another eviction Then motels and her uncle’s onebedroom apartment, where Mackenzie and her grandmother slept on an inﬂatable mattress. Finally, Crystal Holmes secured a spot in a women’s shelter, so the two would no longer have to sleep on the ﬂoor With nearly every move came a new school, a new set of classmates, and new lessons to catch up on. Mackenzie only has one friend she’s known longer than a year, and she didn’t receive testing or a diagnosis for dyslexia until this year. She would often miss long stretches of class in between schools. Schoolchildren threatened with eviction are more likely to end up in another district or transfer to another school, often one with less funding, more poverty and lower test scores They’re more likely to miss school, and those who end up transferring are suspended more often. That’s according to an analysis from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, published in Sociology of Education, a peer-reviewed journal, and shared exclusively with The Associated Press’ Education Reporting Network.

Pairing court filings and student records from the Houston Independent School District, where Mackenzie started kindergarten, researchers identified more than 18,000 times between 2002 and 2016 when students lived in homes threatened with eviction filings. They found students facing eviction were absent more often. Even when they didn’t have to change schools, students

EDUCATION

SCHOOL ISSUES

threatened with eviction missed four more days in the following school year than their peers In all, researchers counted 13,197 children between 2002 and 2016 whose parents faced an eviction ﬁling. A quarter of those children faced repeated evictions.

Falling behind on rent

Neveah Barahona, a 17-year-old big sister to seven siblings, started kindergarten in Houston, but has moved schools half a dozen times. Her mother, Roxanne Abarca, knew moving can be disruptive. So whenever she fell behind on rent and the family was forced to move, she tried to let them finish the school year — even if it meant driving them great distances.

Neveah, a strong student who hopes to join the military, said the moves took a toll.

“It is kind of draining, meeting new people, meeting new teachers, getting on track with what they want to teach you and what you used to know,” Neveah said. Then there’s ﬁnding her way with new classmates A spate of bullying this year left her despondent until she got counseling.

Households with children are about twice as likely to face eviction than those without children, Eviction Lab research has shown. That’s 1.5 million children getting evicted every year and one in 20 children under 5 living in a rental home. Still, much of the discourse focuses on adults — the landlords and

grown-up tenants — rather than the kids caught in the middle, said Peter Hepburn, the study’s lead author “It’s worth reminding people that 40% of the people at risk of losing their homes through the eviction process are kids,” said Hepburn, a sociology professor at Rutgers University-Newark and associate director at the Eviction Lab.

Households often become more vulnerable to eviction because they fall behind when they have children. Only 5% of low-wage earners, who are especially vulnerable to housing instability, have access to paid parental leave. Under a federal law that

protects homeless students, districts are supposed to try to keep children in the same school if they lose their housing midyear, providing daily transportation But children who are evicted don’t always qualify for those services. Even those who do often fall through the cracks, because schools don’t know why children are leaving or where they’re headed.

Navigating boundaries In the sprawl of Houston, it can be especially challenging for transient students to stay on track. The metropolis bleeds seamlessly from the city limits to unincorporated parts of Harris County, which is divided into

24 other districts. It’s easy to leave Houston’s school district without realizing it

And despite the best efforts of parents and caretakers, kids can miss a lot of school in transition.

That’s what happened in January, when Mackenzie’s grandmother then staying in her son’s one-bedroom apartment with her granddaughter, got desperate. Fearful her son would get evicted for having family stay with him, Crystal Holmes — who had no home, no car and no cellphone service walked miles to a women’s shelter

The shelter, where she and Mackenzie now share a room, is in another district’s enrollment zone. She worried about Mackenzie being forced to move schools again — the ﬁfth grader had already missed the ﬁrst three weeks of the school year

Thankfully, the federal law kicked in, and Mackenzie’s school, Thornwood Elementary, now sends a car to fetch her and other students from the shelter Houston Independent School District did not respond to interview requests.

Millicent Brown lives in a public housing project in Houston, alongside an elevated highway so noisy she had to buy a louder doorbell. She and her daughter, Nova, 5, were forced to move last year when Nova’s father threatened to hurt Brown.

Nova had attended a charter school. But when she moved, the school said it

could only bus Nova from her new home if she waited on a street that Brown said was too dangerous. Instead, Nova missed a month of school before enrolling in a nearby public school. Brown grew up bouncing between schools and wants better for Nova. But she may have to move again: The state has plans to widen the highway It would wipe out her housing project — and Nova’s new school.

Nearly three years ago, Neveah and her family settled into a ranch-style home down a country road in Aldine. It’s brightly lit, with four bedrooms and a renovated kitchen. Neaveah adopted a neighborhood cat she named Bella. Then, last year, her mother once again began to fall behind on rent. Ultimately, Abarca received an eviction notice.

The mother was lucky At the courthouse, she met an employee tasked with helping families stay in their homes The employee connected her with a nonproﬁt

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ASHLEy LANDIS

Millicent Brown,

LOUISIANAPOLITICS

Grants canceled,operationstoclose with AmeriCorps cuts

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON —The Baton Rougebased Louisiana Delta Service Corps is joining agrowing resistance to President Donald Trump’s decisiontodismantle AmeriCorps, whichhelps fund thecommunitybased projects of local nonproﬁts across the state

Following the adviceofhis Department of Government Efﬁciency,orDOGE, Trump, on the night of April 2,5 eliminated $396.5 million in grants out of the $557 million CongressdirectedAmeriCorps to assign to stateand local programs.

The White House on Tuesday said more than$40 million AmeriCorps payments had paperwork snafus, such as miscoded expenses, and therefore were improper

The Trump administration’s move affects 1,031 organizations and 32,465 AmeriCorps members and senior volunteers. In Louisiana, AmeriCorps supports 3,107 members and volunteers whohelp roughly 50,000 people at 441 locations across the state with a$23.6 million budget.

The “members” are usually students, the recently graduated, and seniors, who are embedded in nonproﬁt and faith-based groups that help schools, food banks, homeless shelters, healthclinics, youthcenters and veterans’facilities.

“The grant cancellation essentially forces us to ﬁre 37 members and cease operations,” Maggie Conarro, program director of Serve Louisiana, said Wednesday

Part of Louisiana Delta Service Corps, Serve Louisiana oversees young adults who agree to work 11 months for pay enoughtocover living expenses at 18 nonproﬁts. Much of the grant helps the membersrepay student loans or further fund their educations.

Embedded in nonprofits, the members do jobs such as gatheringoyster shells from restaurants and recyclingthem to shore up coastal reefs from whichoysters

Keyhearings on Medicaid

delayed until May 12

CAPITOL BUZZ staff reports

House Republican leadership has again pushed back closelywatched hearings that will determine whether and how Medicaid could becut or altered,Politico reported The House Energy and Commerce Committee hasbeen tasked with ﬁnding $880 billion in budget cuts as part of negotiations over“reconciliation,” a process aimedat creating afederal budget while also passing many of President Donald Trump’stop priorities. Health care industryleaders and state budget ofﬁcials fear that could mean cuts to Medicaid, the federal-state partnership that

In Louisiana, AmeriCorps supports 3,107 members and volunteers who help roughly50,000 people at 441 locations across the state witha $23.6 million budget.

can be farmed, Conarro said.Other Serve Louisiana members help coordinate volunteers who install costly wheelchair ramps that become immediately necessary when someone becomes disabled.

Others work supporting programs that treat sexual assault victims, distribute food and provide housingfor thehomeless.

The 37 people will be let go with three months left in their terms, Conarro said.She and the other full-timestaffer will losetheir jobs.

“For every dollar invested in AmeriCorps, there is an estimated $34returnincommunityvalue,” Conarro said.“Thesefunds don’t get lost in bureaucracy— they go directly to local organizationssolvingreal problems.”

Mary’sHand NetworkinBaton Rouge is oneofthe agencies with Louisiana Serve members. The group provides guidance and support free of charge to pregnant women in astate where nearly two-thirds of the births are paid for by Medicaid, the state-federal healthcare program for those with low incomes.

provides health insurance to lowincome Americans.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Majority Leader

Steve Scalise, both Republicans from Louisiana, have insisted that Medicaidbeneﬁts won’tbecut, thoughthey have said they are takingaim at “waste, fraud and abuse” in theprogram.

Louisiana hasone of thehighestpercentages of residents on Medicaid, so cuts to theprogram could either reduce access to health care or cause serious problems for the state budget

Thecommittee was scheduled for budget markupthis week, but leadership rescheduled it for the week of May 12. U.S. Rep.Troy Carter,D-New Orleans, sits on the committee. Johnson is tryingtoresolve tensionsbetween ﬁscal hawks in hisparty,who wantsteep reductionsingovernment spending, and more moderatemembers whodon’t wanttosee steep cuts to Medicaid or similar problems. Republicans have avery narrow

“The service of AmeriCorps members, Breea and Marisa, has been nothing short of transformative,” said Madeline LeBlanc, MaryHand’sexecutive director “Our capacity more than doubled —supporting 87 mothers. Their absence is not just astaffing change —it’sadirect hit to families who depend on us.”

Thirteen active programs in Louisiana were impacted by the elimination of $2.6 million in state and local AmeriCorps grants,about 60% of the state’sgrant portfolio. The programs include theUniversityofLouisiana at Lafayette’s community service program, which lost $110,436and 30 members, mostlystudents, who were placed in the Habitat for Humanity,atMoncus Park, with the Pugh Family Foundation Accelerating Campus Excellenceprogram at two local elementaryschools, as well as other programs.

UL-Lafayette, like many of the impacted programs in Louisiana, avoided publicly commenting.

HowAmeriCorpsworks

Congress created AmeriCorps in

majority —they can afford to lose only three votes if Democrats stay united in opposition and every representative votes. Cassidy looks to increase affordable housing

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and a group of colleagues introduced a bipartisan bill this week aiming to increase affordable housing by expanding theLow-Income Housing Tax Credit, adecadesold federal program that awards tax credits to developers who agree to reserve a fraction of units for lower-income households.

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would increase thenumber of housing tax credits available to states, adjust how workforce housing projects are funded and update thehousing

the1990s to update and coordinate federal programs spread through the government that provided theservices independently.The agency has abudget of $975.5 million, congressionally appropriated in 2024, which are mostly grants distributed to state and local communityorganizations.

TheAmeriCorpsNationalCivilianCommunity Corps sent young adults, aged 18 to 26 years, to help with construction, often after hurricanes, and to participate in other community projects. But those teams were discharged twoweeks ago.

The regional office covering Louisiana’sNCCC teams, based in Vicksburg,Mississippi, forwarded requestsfor comment to the main ofﬁceinWashington,whichdid not respond.

About 85% of the AmeriCorps’ 500 full-time national workforce was placed on administrative leave in April.

Trump then terminated nearly half of the grants to state and local nonproﬁts, the largest single expenditure in AmeriCorps’ annual budget

Like many of the agencies across thenation, Serve Louisiana, the Louisiana Delta Service Corps agency,received an emailafter work hours last Fridaynight informing the two staff members that the grants would no longer be honored.

Cuts face pushback

LouisianaDelta ServiceCorps asked Baton Rouge’sfederal courtThursday to immediately suspend the order. The group argued, among other issues, that the Trump administration did not followestablishedprotocols.

Agrowing numberofsimilarly situated localagencies around the country are also ﬁling legal challenges

The largest lawsuit wasfiled Tuesday in Baltimore’s federal district court by the attorneys general in twodozen states, though notLouisiana. Theycontend, among other arguments, that the Trump administration has little authority to halt spending or-

credit program to better serve people whoare veterans, live in rural areas, Native Americans, victimsofdomestic violence or formerly homeless students.

The bill would also help build nearly 1.6 million homes over the next decade, Cassidy said in his announcement.

“Doing something to help someone buy ahome is consistent with President Trump’sgoal of helping working families,” Cassidy said in astatement. “Noone should be priced outofa roof over their heads.”

U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, spearheaded the legislation with Cassidy,saying that it would further leverage private sector investment to increase housing availability forfamilies.

Cassidy and Young werejoined by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell, DWashington;Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee; andRon Wyden, D-Oregon, in introducing the legislation. The ACTION Campaign and the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition also endorsed it.

deredbyCongress.

“Weare suing to stop this illegal dismantlingofAmeriCorps and preserve the spirit of community serviceinour stateand nation,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiserina statementtoThe Associated Press.

The two Democrats in Louisiana’seight-member congressional delegation spokeupand wrote a letter Tuesday to Trump asking him to reconsider

“These cuts will devastate the very fabric of support that helps lift underservedcommunitiesin New Orleans, across Louisiana, andthroughoutour nation,” said U.S. Rep. Troy Carter,D-NewOrleans.

Carter andU.S.Rep.CleoFields, D-Baton Rouge, wrote Trump that “these programsserve over 49,765 Louisianans annually,includingchildren, seniors, veterans, andlow-income families. Without them,these services will simply vanish.”

“The communities of Louisiana —and indeed the nation —rely on AmeriCorps to strengthen civic engagement, reduce poverty, and respond to disasters. Now more thanever, we cannot afford to abandon this missionorthe thousands of members whohave pledgedtoserve,” Fields said. Some Republicans also raised questions.

Louisiana Lt. Gov.Billy NungessertoldPolitico,apublication focusing on nationalpolitics, “I’m hoping thatthe president can look at it again. If they need to make cuts, letusdecide whatprograms areworthy.It’shardfor themto see from Washington what impact these programs have.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy,ofBaton Rouge,wrote April 25 on social media:“Isupport improving efﬁciency and eliminating waste,but Iwould have to object to cuttingAmeriCorps grants likethose that support Louisiana’s veterans and organizations that provide crucialsupport after hurricanes andnaturaldisasters.”

Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate.com.

More speciﬁcally,the Affordable Housing Credit ImprovementAct would:

n Increase the number of credits available to states by 50% for the next twoyears and makethe temporary 12.5% increase secured in 2018 permanent, which has already helped build more than 59,000 additional affordable housing units nationwide.

n Stabilize ﬁnancing forworkforce housing projects built using private activity bonds by decreasing the amount of private activity bonds needed to secure Housing Credit funding. As aresult, projects would have to carry less debt, and moreprojects would be eligible to receive funding.

n Improve the housing credit program to better serve veterans, victimsofdomestic violence, formerly homeless students, Native American communities, and rural Americans.

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act wasrecently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Cassidy

-Brenton F.

where they’re from and what they’re up to. Because we have children and grandchildren, right?”

She turned to Kanonu, smiling again. “But we get to know our local people.”

Earlier that morning, Kanonu joked with adelivery driver tossing the day’s mailinto abin outside the postoffice in this town of 400 people,some of whom had pinned ads to its bulletin board for horse training, senior care and $60-a-day barbecue pit rental.

The 50-year-old grew up seven miles away, in Rayne, where his mother is from andwhere he andhis wife are raising their teenage daughter.Heshares aname with his father,aNigerian musician,and for years he refereed local basketball baseball and football games, before adoctor amputated thelower part of his leg

So his nicknames include “Junior” and “the referee.” But after 22 years with the U.S. Postal Service, he said, grinning, “everyone just calls me the mailman.”

He’salso vice president of the Louisiana Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, the state chapter of anational union organizing protests across the country,including one last Sunday in Baton Rouge, warning that restructuring the postal service would most hurt the people who live along roads like these, some of them surrounded by crawﬁsh ponds. Anew push forprivatization

Over the decades, proposals to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, an independent federal agency older than the United States itself, havecome and gone.But lately,they have renewed strength: As head of the Department of Government Efficiency,Elon Muskhas backed the idea of privatizing the agency, according to The New York Times. In February,Trump said he was considering merging the agency with the Commerce Department. That department did not respond to interview requests.

Last month, citing six industryexecutives, The Washington Post reported that “private firms are preparing for apiecemeal government effort to outsource mail and package handling and long-haul trucking routes, while off-loading leasesfor unprofitable post offices.”

Some conservatives, including those at theHeritage Foundation,believe that private companies could more effectively run the postal service, which faces huge financial challenges, for lowercost.

‘Service with asmile’

Kanonu knows well the postal service’sstruggles When the price of astamp rises, he hears about it. When apackage arrives later than promised, he hears about it.When Louisiana’s surprise snowstorm held mail hostage,athubshundreds of miles away,customers on his routecalled their congressmen.

But he believes that mail delivery is bipartisan, or should be. “Everybody wants to pick ateam, and we shouldn’t, because it’sall about customer service,” he said. “Everybody wants to make it into abusiness,and Iunderstand some things need to be abusiness —but not everything, becausethis is aservice. That’sone of our mottos: Service with a smile.”

Like many rural carriers, Kanonu drives his own vehicle, laughing about the cracks in the windshield (“not that bad”), how often he has to replace his brake pads (“every 90 days”) and life before he bought arighthanded Jeep (“Every now and then, I’d be scratching up their mailboxes.”).

Wearing shorts, Kanonu works quickly with the goal of wrapping up his routein time for anap. But he will pause to move asnapping turtle to the side of the road or hop out to toss aball to a big dog named Rocco. At the end of aroad, where grass has overtaken gravel, lives retired doctor Michael

erything. Everybody looks forward to getting their mail everyday and talking to people. Youknow they’d cutback if they had to make aproﬁt.”

an open letter to the state’s congressionaldelegation.

“The people of thisstate andthe nation —are watchingtosee if youwillstand with rural communities or allowWallStreet to dismantle thePostalService for proﬁt.”

In March, Kanonu was amongthe ruralcarriers lobbying his representativesinD.C.And Sunday he was among those protesting in Baton Rouge.

But along his route, he’s just the mailman, whom his customers missed when he was gone

this property,which these days ﬂies abig Trump ﬂag.

At one point,the Sunday newspaper arrived on Sunday,and Bouget could sit outonher porch, reading andwatchingthe blue jays and cardinals. But now,the paper arrives by mail on Wednesday, if she’s lucky.Soshe appreciates even more

Kanonu’sstops six days a week.

“Weneed our rural carriers,” she said. Bouget “doesn’tdoalot of the internetstuff,”soshe relies on themailfor her bank statements, electric bills and political information. If Kanonu hasa package forher,he’ll often bring it up and place it in her hands.

Williams.Hebuilt abig, brickhome on 4acres because “nobodybothers me.” But he oftenvisits with —and sometimes texts with —Kanonu. On hot days, Williams leaves bottled water in themailbox.

The USPS has its troubles, Williamssaid, clutchingsolicitations from Ducks Unlimited andthe AudubonNature Center He recentlysentsomething overnight, viaPriorityMail Express service, and his daughter received it five days later.But privatizing thepostalservice is a“horrible” idea, he argued. “The bottom line wouldmeanev-

And Williams, who regularly did house calls, suspects that rural service would be cutﬁrst.

Postal fightinWashington Louisiana has 1,305 ruralroutes, according to thecarriers’ association. Nationally,Republicans andDemocrats—including U.S. Rep.Troy Carter D-New Orleans, and U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge—have signed onto aresolutionthatCongress should take “all appropriate measures”toensure that the USPS remains an independent government agency and“is notsubject to privatization.” Requests to interview U.S.Rep.ClayHiggins, RLafayette, who represents this part of the state, were notreturned.

“Louisiana is home to some of the most powerful voices in Washington,” the Louisiana carriers wrote in

Highways andbyways

Twoyears ago, while off work, Kanonu steppedon anail. It went throughhis sneaker,just barely,prickinghis foot. He cleaned the wound with peroxide and didn’tthink muchofit. But it turned black. The doctor hadbad news: tetanus. Amputate or risk losing your life.

“I cried for five days,” Kanonu said.

Six weeksafter the surgery,hewas back on the road.

Some of thoseroads are long and empty.A private drive, shaded by oaks. A bustling county highway Along the way,abody shop, aboys’ home, anda mother with aTikTokside hustle Along Pointe Noir Road is amailboxwith an American flag. For more than four decades, Bob and Gayle Bouget have trained horsesand raisedkids on

AlekeKanonu, left, watches as contractdriverGreg Dalcourtdrops off mailand packagesat the post office on April 17.

AlekeKanonu takes aload of packagesand other mail off a deliverytruck at the post office on April 17.

STAFF PHOTOSByLESLIE WESTBROOK

Mail carrier AlekeKanonu delivers mail to acustomer in the community of Branch on April 17.

AlekeKanonu chatswith GayleBouget, one of his postal customers in the community of Branch.

Aleke Kanonu, right, jokes with Dr Michael Williams while dropping off hismailon April17.

VaticaninstallsSistine Chapel stovefor conclave

BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

VATICAN CITY Vatican workers installed the simple stove in theSistine Chapel where ballots will be burned during the conclave to elect anew pope and began taking measures to block any electronic interference with theirdeliberations, as jockeying continued Saturday outside over whoamongthe cardinalswas in the running. The Holy Seereleaseda video Saturday of the preparationsfor Wednesday’s conclave, which included installing the stove and afalse ﬂoor in the frescoed Sistine Chapel to make it even. The footage also showed workers lining up simple wooden tables where the cardinals will sit and cast their votes starting Wednesday,and a ramp leading to the main seating area for any cardinal in awheelchair

The engineer overseeing the works, Silvio Screpanti, said workers were also deactivating all the electronic sensors that have been installed in the Sistine Chapel in recent years to help protect its precious frescoes. Such work is part of the technological blackout that accompanies aconclave to prevent bugging of the secret deliberations and ensure the cardinals have no contact with the outside world. In the coming days,all the windows of the Apostolic Palace facing the Sistine Chapel will be darkened.On the eve of the ﬁrst vote itself, some80seals will be erected around the perimeter of the space where the cardinals will live— between theirresidence and the Sistine Chapel —tokeep outsiders away,he said in comments posted on the site of the Vatican City state. On Friday,ﬁre crews were seen on thechapelroofattaching the chimney from which smoke signals will indicate whether apope has been elected.

The preparations are all leading up to the solemn pageantry of the start of the conclave to elect asuccessor to Pope Francis, history’sﬁrst Latin American pope, who died April 21 at age 88. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued anet denialof reports that one of the leading candidates, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had suffered health problems earlier in the week that required medicalattention. The reports, which spoke of ablood pressure issue, were carried by some Italianmedia and

Feds settle with Maineover fundingfreeze

By The Associated Press

PORTLAND,Maine President

Donald Trump’sadministration on Friday agreed to halt all efforts to freeze funds intended for aMaine child nutrition program after initially suspending thosedollars due to adisagreement between the state and Trump over transgender athletes

In response, the state will drop its lawsuit that hadbeen ﬁled against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced

“It’sunfortunate that my office had to resort to federal court just to get USDA to comply with the law and itsown regulations,”Frey said in astatement. “Butwe are pleased that the lawsuit hasnow been resolved and that Maine will continue to receive funds as directed by Congress to feed children and vulnerable adults.”

Aletter from Agriculture

Secretary Brooke Rollins explained that the decision stemmed from adisagreement betweenthe state and federal governments over whether Maine was complying with Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education basedonsex.

Trump had accused Maine of failingtocomply with his order barring transgender athletes from sports

is installed Fridayinsidethe Sistine Chapel at the Vaticanthat will release smokesignals blackorwhite—during the upcomingconclave,which starts Wednesday, indicating whether

elected.

picked up by some conservative U.S. sites, including Catholicvote.org, theU.S site headed by BrianBurch, the Trump administration’s choice to be ambassador to the Holy See. Speculation about apapal candidate’shealth is amainstay of conclave politics and maneuvering, as variousfactions try to torpedo or boost certain cardinals. Francis experienced thedynamic firsthand: When the votes were going his way in the 2013 conclave, one breathless cardinal asked him if it was truethathe hadonly one lung, as rumors had it. (Francislater recounted that he told the cardinal he had had the upper lobeofone lung removedasa young man.) He was elected ashort time later

Bruni also confirmed the namesoftwo cardinal electors whowill notbeparticipating for health reasons bringing the number down to 133: Cardinal Antonio CañizaresLlovera, the retired archbishop of Valencia, Spain, and the retired archbishop of Nairobi,Kenya, CardinalJohn Njue. Two more cardinals have yet to arrivein Rome

TheVatican saidSaturdaythatall cardinalswill

be asked to arrive at the mainVatican residence, DomusSanta Martahotel, or an adjacentresidence between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning to begin their sequester.They must be inplace before Mass on Wednesday morning in St. Peter’sBasilica celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, CardinalGiovanni Battista Re.Inthe afternoon afterlunch, theywill process into theSistine Chapel,hear ameditationand take their oaths before casting their ﬁrst ballots.

If no candidate reaches thenecessarytwo-thirds majority,or89votes, on the ﬁrst ballot,the paperswill be burned and black smoke will indicate to the world that no pope was elected.

The cardinals will go back to their Vatican residence forthe night andreturnto theSistine Chapel on Thursday morning to conduct two votes in the morning, two in the afternoon, until awinner is found.

The preparations areunderway as thecardinals meet privately in more informal sessions to discuss the needsofthe Catholic Churchgoing forwardand the type of pope who can lead it.

BY SAM MEDNICK and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

TELAVIV,Israel Armed groups and othershave lootedwarehouses of suppliesinnorthern Gazaas desperation spikes after more than two monthsof Israel’sblockade of the territory,locals and aid workerssaid Saturday as Israel’s latest airstrikes killed more thanadozen people.

Unidentiﬁedpeople,both armed andunarmed, have been lootingU.N. and aid groups’ warehouses, as well as bakeries andshops since Wednesday, according to witnesses, organizations in Gaza andmessages that were circulated among security officials for aid groups and were seen by The Associated Press.

Israel has blocked humanitarianaid from entering Gaza since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended the latest ceaseﬁre with HamasinMarch, throwingthe territory of over 2 million people intowhat is believed to be theworst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war

Israel has said the blockade and its renewed military campaign are intendedto pressure Hamas to release theremaining 59 hostages it still holds, most of them thought to be dead,and to disarmthe Palestinian militant group.

TheU.N. high commissioner forhumanrights pre-

viously warned that starving civilians as amilitary tactic is awar crime.

Aid groups have said Gaza’scivilian population is facing starvation, and there is concern that the desperationcould lead to abreakdown of law and order.Although there have been incidents of looting by armed gangs throughout the war, aid workers say this week’s looting marks an escalation, as it wasless organized and reached urban areas.

The ransacking in Gaza City began Wednesday evening afterreports that aid trucks had entered the north from the south, said one aid worker who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to address themedia. Asecurity report circulated among aid agencies that night saying agroup of armed people hadbrokenintoabakery, driven by rumors that it

held food supplies.

The storage was empty and the group then looted a soup kitchen affiliated with an aidgroup in the al-Shati camp, the report said. The United Nations Relief andWorksAgencysaidits staff were safely evacuated on Wednesday after thousands of Palestinians breached its Gaza City field office and took medications. Louise Wateridge, a senior emergency officer at UNRWA,called the looting “the direct result of unbearable and prolonged deprivation.”

The ransacking continuedthroughFriday night. Three witnesses told the AP that dozensofarmed men stormed into at least two U.N.warehouses, pushing past police and local security guards who were protecting the facilities. The warehouses were nearly empty before the menarrived.

Louisiana’scultural riches createtraveland economic opportunities forresidents and visitors alike

In honorofNationalTraveland Tourism Week, threeLouisiana tourismleaders joined together foraconversationabout theimpact that this industry hasthroughoutthe state andregion. Violet Peters,presidentand CEO of VisitJeffersonParish; Kelly Schulz,senior vice presidentofcommunicationsand public relationsfor NewOrleans &Co.;and Cody Gray,president andCEO of Louisiana’sCajun Bayou, were joined by host KimHolden. Their full discussion canbeviewedonlineatwww nola.com andwww.theadvocate.com

ansasa partytown, butwereallyworkhard to explainthe cultureand whyitissosacred andwhy passingthose traditions on from one generation to thenextissoimportant,” she said.“Thevisitorsare fascinated by that.” Thosevisitorsalsopower economic development andjob creation acrossLouisiana Schulz notedthatalmost100,000 people in NewOrleans have tourism-relatedjobs. In LafourcheParish, Gray said astrongtourism economysaves localresidents about$300per year in taxesand is responsible formorethan 1,200jobs.

Gray said visitors from around theworld are drawntoLafourche Parish forthe chance to have an authenticSouth Louisianaexperience, whethertheyare learningnew dances at a festival,ridinginanairboat during aswamp tour or eating thefreshestseafood around in alocally-owned restaurant

“InJeffersonParish, tourismisa$2billion industry,” Peters said.“Notonlydoes that mean jobs,but that investment from thevisitor into oureconomy is so vital. That helpsour smallbusinesses.

Silver &GoldPlated Bezel SetBangles

and

“Weare blessedtohavesomanynatural assets andthe unspoiledbeautyofthe bayou. Thebestway to experience that is to visit thepeoplewho live thereand connectwith generationsthathavebuilt theirlives there. Thoseauthentic andmeaningful experiences arewhattravelers arelooking fornow,” Gray said.“We’reveryfortunate to have so many institutions actively workingtopreserveour culture. Thebestsouvenir avisitor cantake back home is amemory.

Schulz said thestaff at many NewOrleans attractionshavebecomemoreintentional aboutexplainingtotouriststhe deeper meaningbehindexhibitsoractivities. Forexample visitors seeing MardiGrasIndiandisplays arelearningabout theirculturalsigniﬁcance, andtouristsatmusic-based locationshavea chance to delvedeeperintothe historyand legacies of performers.

“Manypeoplehaveanimage of NewOrle-

Forexample, Peters said that recent additions to attractionssuchasBucktownHarborPark, theAlarioCenter, Parc desFamilles, Gator Town,NOLAMotorsportsParkand Treasure ChestCasinoweremadepossibleinlarge part duetovisitor interest andtourism revenue.

“We’re blessedinJefferson Parish that officialsvalue tourismand understandwhatit brings to theeconomy,” shesaid. “The visitors arelifting some of theﬁnancialburden off of ourresidents andhelping to create places that visitors andlocalscan enjoy. National Travel andTourism Week is a campaign from theU.S.TravelAssociation to raiseawareness abouttourism trends and encouragemorepeopletotravelthrough therest of theyear. Thetravelindustryisa cornerstone of thenationaleconomy,witha$2.9trillion economic footprintthatsupports15million American jobs. Visitwww.explorelouisiana. comtolearn more abouttourism in Louisiana andplanyourtriptoday

PHOTO PROVIDED By VATICANMEDIA

Atemporarystove

anew pope has been

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByABDEL KAREEM HANA Palestinianchildren and women struggle to getdonated food on Saturday at acommunity kitchen in Khan younis, GazaStrip.

La. wood pellet industry growing

Controversial business gives owners of timberland hope for future

BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer

Glen Melton gazes upon his tow-

ering row of green spires, a tract of conifer forest about 20 miles south of the Arkansas border Fifty years after receiving a small plot of timberland from his uncle, the 73-yearold veterinary surgeon now owns more than 2,000 acres across northern Louisiana.

Event to aid mom after cancer battle

Costly reconstructive surgery would restore

appearance

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Working as a special events coordinator in Lafayette and managing her spare time as a full-time mother, Rachel Steen never imagined that visiting her dentist would change her life forever Steen was diagnosed in July 2022 with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer

After experiencing oral discomfort, she scheduled a dentist appointment, which led to the diagnosis of her cancer Her condition required extensive surgeries that removed signiﬁcant portions of her palate and part of her nose, severely impairing her speech. While lifesaving, her surgery left Steen unable to work and altered her social life.

“It has affected me severely I used to be so outgoing and involved in everything, but now I turn into myself, and rather be alone if it’s not my kid because of my physical appearance, feeling insecure,” Steen said.

Two years after the surgery that stopped the progression of the cancer, she has been authorized to get reconstructive surgery that will restore some of her facial structure and address nerve damage. The reconstructive surgery she needs to regain her speech and functionality will cost about $19,000, but it is not covered by her health insurance because it’s classiﬁed as “cosmetic.”

“My insurance said it’s cosmetic, but if you look at me or hear me speak, you can obviously see this is something major and it’s because of a cancer,” Steen said. The community has rallied around Steen to support her during her hardship. One local business, Pelican Rooﬁng Co., has committed to helping Steen by organizing a fundraising initiative to cover

ä See CANCER, page 2B

“Does money grow on trees?” he asked The way he looks at it, yes — just in small increments over time, like any conservative investment.

In fact, the Louisiana forestry industry contributes more than $14 billion to the state’s economy each year, making it the largest agricultural sector in the state. But lately, margins have been thin, Melton

On a cloudless April day, he waxed on the merits of sustainable forestry before giving a brief lesson on timber economics.

said, and the once thriving timber market in his small town of Bastrop has shrunk to a handful of options.

“I hate to see timberland that’s idle,” he said. Now, a growing renewable energy industry offers a hopeful alternative for landowners like Melton. Attracted by vast swathes of privately owned forestland bioenergy companies are building facilities in the South to manufacture wood pellets Millions of tons of the biomass are

then shipped to Europe and Asia, where they are burned for industrial-scale electricity.

In Louisiana — a state growing 70% more trees than it harvests — foresters see the new industry as a stabilizing force against volatile pulp and paper markets and a lifeline for shrinking rural communities.

“We have to keep the momentum going,” said Buck Vandersteen, executive director of the Louisiana

Forestry Association. “This keeps people in rural areas. It keeps them closer to home gives them good, high-paying jobs.”

Driven by European Union mandates to reduce greenhouse gases linked to climate change, the value of Louisiana’s wood pellet exports have jumped from nearly nothing in 2018 to over $800 million in 2023, based on data from the LSU Agricultural Center Skeptics, including environmental advocacy groups, argue the energy

TOP: Competitors from all over the world compete in the crawﬁsh eating contest during the Breaux Bridge Crawﬁsh Festival on Saturday ABOVE: The Cajun band Poisson Rouge entertains the crowd RIGHT: Riders on a Ferris wheel get a great view of the festival.

DON’T STOP MOVING

ä See WOOD, page 2B

PHOTOS By ROBIN MAy

is neither clean nor renewable,despitethe industrymarketingitself as such. They also say thesubsidydependentindustry won’t survive once key policies in Europe expire as early as 2027.

Findinga market

About a10-minute drive from Melton’splot, logging trucks dump loads of sawdust, wood chippings and “roundwood,” or youngtrees, at awood pellet manufacturing facility in Morehouse Parish ownedbythe Drax Group. Thecompany,based in the United Kingdom andpublicly valued at more than $2 billion,owns seven such facilities in the South, including asimilar operation in LaSalle Parish, and adozen more in Canada.

Often dubbed by both critics and proponents as the “bottom feeders” of theforestryindustry, Drax and most wood pellet manufacturers source much of their feedstock from the leftover residues of sawmills or forest cleanups thatotherwise would go to waste. About half of the rest at Drax’splants come from low-value roundwood from first thinnings —the fraction of trees in young forests that are cut down to reduce competition fornutrients and sunlight.

“Here, we’ve only got two viable markets for that ﬁrst thinning,” said Melton, the timberland owner.“One is Drax, the other is apaper mill in Monroe.”

After the woodisdumped, conveyor belts transport it to ahammermill that beats it down into small, uniform chips, while achipper strips intact logs of their bark. That bark is used to heat the chips at1,800 degrees in agiant rotating drum, drying the wood from its natural 50% moisture to around 10%. After more beating androtating, rollerspush the chips through pellet-sized holes like Play-Doh, creating aﬁnal product that resembles dog food

The effort, said Brad Mayhew, vice president of the company’s Southern operations,istomaximize the wood’scaloric density

“We’re tryingtoput as much energy as we can on the ship,” hesaid during atour of the facility

Environmentalconcerns

The process first drew scrutiny from environmental groups like EarthJustice in the 2010s, with Drax taking the worst of the flack In 2020, the company paid $2.5 million in fines for violations at its plant in Gloster,Mississippi, after testing revealed it released three times the legal threshold of aclass of pollutants, including carcinogens such as formaldehyde.

“They were basically lying through their teeth about what their emissions were,” said Patrick Anderson, an attorney who worked with the Environmental Integrity Project on theinitial settlement cases against Drax. Soon, the predominantly Black town became a poster child for environmental racism after aBrown University health survey revealed widespread respiratory issues there.

In Louisiana, Drax paid the state $3.2 million in pollution-related settlements for its two plants.

But proponents say the industry is improving its emissions-control technology, andDrax noteditselfreports third-partytestingofemissions to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality “Dotheyhit road bumpsfrom time to time?Absolutely,” Vander-

steen,ofthe Louisiana Forestry Association,said.“Sincethen, we have notheardanything negative.”

Drax has since installedadditional thermal oxidizers to burn mostof theexhaust but continues to exceed limits set by itsair emission permits, includingthose for mercury and methane.

The state environmental department is consideringwhether to designate the company a“major source”under Louisiana’sair toxics program,whichwould trigger stricter pollution controls forits pellet plants

“Wehave ongoing permit update processes across ourU.S. operations, andwecontinue to work with regulators to ensure we have the most appropriate permits and operate compliantly,” said Michelli Martin, aspokespersonfor Drax.

Lifeline forBastrop

At the centerofBastrop is asporting goods storethat doubles as alocally sourced burger joint. Over lunch, Melton is interrupted by just about everyone who walks through thedoor,a testament to thecloseknit charmhesaid drew himback to ruralLouisiana after graduating from LSU’sveterinary school in the 1970s

“There’sgood people everywhere, and there’ssorry people everywhere,” he said. The difference in Bastrop, he added,isthatyou can’t fake it.

Across the street is avacant lot, the former site of an International Paper mill. When the facility shuttered in 2008, thetown of nearly 12,000 suffered. After supplying wood to the pulpand paper industry for over acentury,Bastrop soon sawrail lines fall silent, abandoned timber equipment littered across its roads and, since 2008, almost aquarter of its population leave.

“You can say we lost our tax base,lost550 jobs,and yes we did,” Melton said. “But the biggest loss was ourintellectual capital. We lost folks that were interested in running for political ofﬁce, PTA, volunteering at the hospital. Those types of folks that areoftentimes the glue that holds the community together.”

“When you puteverythinginto one company,and that company closes, it’sdevastating,” saidKay King,CEO of Morehouse Economic Developmentfor the past 20 years.

“Wewere scrambling to try to ﬁgure out what to do ”

With just over 80 employees and notusing fully grown trees, Drax hasn’tﬁlled the void left by InternationalPaper,she said, but it has prevented amuch worse exodus

The company contributes nearly $60 million tothe parish’sgross domestic product andsponsors local charities,festivals and literacy programs. Before Drax began construction in 2012, she said, the town’srail lineconnecting Bastrop with thebroader South wasset to be dismantled as salvage by the Union Paciﬁc Railroad

“Drax saved that,” Kingsaid. “It’s hard to really envision what abig impactthis companyhad at atime when things were really bad.”

King said she is courting more sustainable-energy projects, as well as marketsfor mature trees.

“It’sjustpartofthe start,” she said. “Weare working hard to get a lumber mill here ”

Otheralternative energy companies arebeing drawnbythe state’s infrastructureand abundant wood waste. LouisianaGreen Fuels announced plans to open areﬁnery in Caldwell Parish by 2026, producing up to 32 million gallons of diesel and naphtha annually fromforestry byproducts, according to Louisiana

Economic Development.Meanwhile, Beaver Lake Renewables is set to begin converting aformer International Paper mill in Rapides Parish intoa green methanol plant thesameyear,also using wood waste as feedstock.

Ahazyfuture

Drax transports pellets from its Morehouse facility via rail to the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, where two white domes each store up to 40,000 metric tons of the material. The pelletsthen cross theAtlantic Ocean to apower stationinNorth Yorkshire, England. There, the same type of combustion that powers trendy pelletgrills from The Home Depot generates approximately 5% of the United Kingdom’s electricity,making Drax the world’s largest wood burner Ember,a climate-focused energy thinktank, reportsthatitisalso the country’slargest source of carbondioxide, despite receiving $717 million in cleanenergy subsidies in 2023.

Heather Hillaker,ofthe Southern Environmental Law Center,said European Unioncarbonrules only count emissions at U.S.harvest sites whileignoring combustion emissions in the U.K. —a system built on the false premise that replanted forestsimmediately offset emissions. This loophole, she argues, sustains atransoceanicsupply chain by incentivizing companies to ship U.S.-harvested wood pellets to Europe, where their emissions go unaccounted for in energy-sector reports.

“Weshouldn’tbeputting our public money into this industry at the expense of other industries,” Hillakersaid. “Especially if it’s being done because of some climate change agenda.”

Amid claims that wood pellets actually emitmore carbon than coal,some countries are beginning to change their policies. Drax’sexistingsubsidies in theU.K. are set to expire in 2027, but lawmakers agreed to keep funding anew bridge policy through at least2030, citing the country’senergy security needs.

Last year,Enviva, aU.S.-based ﬁrm and the world’slargest wood pellet manufacturer,ﬁledfor bankruptcy,citing operational failures at its facilities and market uncertainties following the collapse of wood pellet prices. After restructuring, the companyaims to launch anew Alabamamill sometime in May

CANCER

Continued from page1B

the costs of her surgery. “Wecall on the community to join us in this heartfelt effort. Your support can help restorenot just Rachel’sspeech but also herabilitytoleadamore normal life,” Pelican Roof-

ing saidinastatement Pelican Roofing’smascot,“Roofus,”ran a5K every dayfor 30 days to spread awareness and raise funds through a GoFundMe to support Steen.

The fundhad already reached $13,000 of its $19,000 goal as of Friday “It seemed that things were only getting more dif-

ﬁcult, but Iamsograteful to be uplifted by the communityand theaid that Pelican Rooﬁng has been for me,” Steen said. She added thatshe is hopeful thissurgery will give her independence back.

Email Ja’koriMadison at jakori.madison@ theadvocate.com.

“There is still alot of lifeleft,” saidWilliam Strauss, president and founder of FutureMetricsLLC, a leadingconsultancy in the wood pellet industry

While the United States hasn’t shownmuch sign of using the energy option, European andAsian countriesserious about climate change still see it as aviable waytostabilize grids when the sun doesn’tshine and winddoesn’t blow,hesaid. His ﬁrm predicts global demandfor wood pelletswill grow by over 2million metric tons annually through 2030.

The industry in its current form has a“clock ticking,” said Strauss, “but there is still abig future in somehow leveraging thatmaterial.”

Along thoselines, part of Drax’s agreementfor continuing its subsidies is to build acarbon sequestrationfacility at its U.K. power plant, in essence pumping and storing carbon dioxide deep underground —another promising, though controversial technologyitclaims wood pellets would power Arolefor forests

Back on his timber plot, Melton lazily dug his foot into the rich, loamy soil.

“A lotofparts of the country woulddie to havesoil like this,” he said.

The southeastern U.S. produces more wood products than anyother nation, accounting for 20% of the world’spulp and paper.The Southern yellow pine he grows can take just 20 years to reach full size, faster than western U.S. species. Trees areviewed as cropsinplac-

es like Bastrop, and Meltonsaidsustainability is bakedinto the business model: Cuttoo manytrees and he is outofbusiness.

“Sustainability,even though it’s the buzzword in Europe, it’s almost like it’sabasicconceptfor us,” he said.

Meltonhopeshis kids andgrandchildren will inherit his stewardship ethic alongwiththe land.

Butdoubts linger whether forests will remain economically viable. Vandersteen’sbiggest fear is pessimistic landowners swapping timberland for shopping malls.

While the jury is still outabout wood pellets, foresters see it as a hopeful start in reinventing one of humanity’soldest renewable —and ﬁnancial —partnerships.

“There will alwaysbearolefor foreststoplay,”Vandersteen said “Wejust have to provide that incentive to keep those forestsasforests.”

Email Aidan McCahill at aidan. mccahill@theadvocate.com.

LOTTERY FRIDAY, MAY2,2025 PICK 3: 2-9-1 PICK 4: 2-6-9-0 PICK 5: 1-3-2-6-9 MEGA MILLIONS: 14-37-40-41-68 MEGA BALL: 2

cedure andprocess changesincluding design andimplementationofim‐provementprojectsand participation in Hazard OperabilityStudies and ProcessHazards Analysis.Serve as ProcessSafety Management custo‐dian at plantinevaluationofmanufac‐turing process-relatedrisks andinci‐dents. Providetrainingasrequiredto manufacturing personnelinrelevant manufacturing processes; Communi‐cate as required with regional andcor‐porate counterpartstofacilitate con‐tinuous improvementand ongoing or‐ganizational learning;Support efforts to implementand maintain Responsi‐bleCare® Management System in line with therequirementsofRC14001® technicalspecification as applicable to thesite/region.Located in Franklin,LA. Requires:Bachelor'sdegreeorForeign Degree Equivalent in Chemical Engi‐neeringorrelated Engineeringdisci‐plineAND minimumof5 yearsofpro‐gressive engineeringexperiencein chemical plants.Requiresthe following experience:5 yearsofexperiencein Chemical Manufacturing;5 yearsofex‐perience utilizing technicalknowledge of processand producttechnology;5 yearsofexperienceapplying engineer‐ingprinciplesand theories;5 yearsof experience in ProcessSafety Manage‐ment andapplying Root CauseFailure Analysis;5 yearsofexperiencemanag‐ingand leadingprojects; 5years of ex‐perience managing andimplementing ENGINEERING SENIOR PROCESSENGINEER

PROVIDED PHOTO By RACHEL STEEN

Rachel Steen, whoisbattling ararecancer,ispictured with Pelican Roof fundraiser organizers.

STAFFPHOTOSByTIM MUELLER

Drax spent $30 million on twodomes and other equipment and facilities to shipwood pelletsout of the Port of Greater Baton Rouge.

Wood pellets flow into aDrax facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. The wood pellets will be shipped to the United Kingdom for use as afuel source for powerplants.

Cajunroots broughttoHollywood

John Foster goes from plate lunchesto primetime

BY JANRISHER Staff writer

On any given Monday, the daily lunch special at Benoit’sCountry Meat Block in Addis is meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and dessert for $10.99, but these days, every plate lunch comes with aheaping side of John Foster pride.

Located, as the crow ﬂies, about ahalf mile from the Mississippi River,Benoit’s Country Meat Block’sroots aredeep in Cajun country.The store is owned by “American Idol” sensation John Foster’sfamily,whose grandparents hail from Church Point and Lawtell. When Foster showed up forhis “AmericanIdol” audition in Nashville, he brought care packages of boudin, Benoit’sseasoning and beef jerky from his family’sbusiness in Addis, where they sell the full range of Cajun delicacies: hog head cheese, tasso, hot tamales, three types of gumbo, grillades, alligator and 78 other items.

“John Foster loves the beef jerky,” his grandmother,Verbie Benoit, said “And somebody at ‘American Idol’ loves the seasoning because they ordereda bunch thatIdelivered the last time we were out there. That’swhat Luke Bryan was licking off his ﬁngers because he said it was so good.”

At 75, Benoit says she never anticipated “all of this” and admits that the foofarawaround her grandson is, at times, overwhelming. Even so, she’sready for the show,inevery sense.

“Every week, it’sbetter and better,” she said. “I didn’tknow he had more talent to show us, buthedoes.”

She has her suitcase ready and arosary in her

‘American

purse. She is heading back to Hollywood, alongwith31 family members, to watch John Foster Sundaynight in the “Top Ten” show of the ABC singing competition They willall be in theaudience cheeringhim on, but hisgrandmother will also be praying “I pray for him —not necessarily for him to win,”she said,“but for Godtobewith him.”

Benoit saysshe’snot worried that all of the fame will go to her grandson’shead. She saw thespark early in him and recognizedwhen he was4 years oldthathe hadbright lights and abig future ahead

He’scontinuinghis second semester at LSUstudying biology,doing classes online. He’sstill gotdreams of becominga doctor one day. Hisgrandmothersays he wantstobeanoncologist

“He has such agood head on his shoulders that Idon’t think that he couldever strayfromanything good,” she said. “He’sjustthat kid.”

Yes, he’ssmart, shesaid —co-valedictorian of his graduating class last year Yes, he’stalented —top 10 on “American Idol.” But

what his grandmother is mostproud of is that “he’sa good Christian boy.”

She had thoughts regarding one of his middle school teachers who saidshe always thought Foster would becomegovernor of Louisiana one day

“Wealways told him to be president,”his grandmother said.

Behind themeatcounter Back in Addis, the folks behind the meat counter have their own stories to tell.

RickBourgoyne has worked at Benoit’sCountry Meat Block since 1988, and he has amessage for people: John Foster is astage name. His full name is John Foster Benoit.

“I was tellinghis daddy Isaid, ‘I hope people don’t think that’shis last name because he is aBenoit,and this (thestore) is Benoit’s,’” Bourgoyne saidabout Foster. “His middle name is Foster,justlikehis daddy and his grandfather’s. He’s thethird.”

BlakeSarradet has worked at the store for 17 years.

The twohave watched Foster grow up. “He works here some

during the Christmasholidays,” Sarradet said. “But we’ve also watched him perform locally.Weknew he was good, but he keeps gettingbetter.”

They both give some of thecredit to his uncle, Gaylen Martin, who is alocal musician, for introducing John Foster to performing.

Regina DeBenedetto has only worked at Benoit’sfor twoyears, but she’s all-in for Foster on “American Idol.” She voted forhim 30 times Monday night by texting the number13to21523. She said she encourages everyone else to do thesame.

“He’sagreat person. I’ve seen, sinceI’ve watched the show, thathelistens to what they say,”DeBenedetto said. “The coaches will tell himtodosomething,and he listenstoit, andthenhe brings it on stage.”

Whether he ends up a superstarora doctor,the folks at Benoit’sknow one thing for sure: John Foster Benoit will remain one of their own. They’ve always known he’s gotthe right ingredients —talent, humility anda dash of Cajun seasoning.

Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate.com.

Couple ID’d in apparent murder-suicide

Incident happened outsideLafayette bar, police say

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

ASunsetman shot his partner andthen turned thegun on himselfina murder-suicide in the parking lot of aLafayette

bar, policereported Saturday JonovanDauphine, 30, is believedtohave shot his partner,27-year-old Samantha Breaux,ofChurch Point. Ofﬁcers responded around 8:15a.m.tothe

scene outsideLegends in the 4500 blockofJohnson Street, police said in a news release Dauphine and Breaux were in arelationship,policesaid.

Theinvestigation is on-

going, andanyone with details of the incident should reach outtopoliceat(337) 291-8600 or Lafayette Crime Stoppers at (337) 232-8477.

Email Quinn Coffman at quinn.coffman@ theadvocate.com.

Ammoniaplant hearingdraws residents

Concerns, supportmark planned Ascension site

BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer

Advocacy groups warning of environmental and health risks and industry lobbyists promoting job growth descended upon DonaldsonvilleonThursday evening to play their respective roles in apermit hearing foraproposed ammonia facility north of the city Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality hearings follow aspeciﬁc structure. The company presents an overview,followedby comments from residents and officials, then anyone who supports the permit and ﬁnally,anyone who opposes it. At Thursday’shearing for Clean Hydrogen Works, which proposes a$7.5 billion ammonia facility between Donaldsonville and the unincorporatedcommunity of Modeste, some later comments came from New Orleans advocacy groups and Baton Rouge business lobbyists. Roughly aquarter of the audience left after supportersofthe permitfinished speaking.

Yetamong these various interestgroups satthe locals, who both worried about potential environmental impacts and expressed hopes for jobs. For thesmall community, people withclose connections sometimes took opposing views.

Mayor LeroySullivan, who worked for CF Industries for many years and was severely injured in an accident there, saidhe supported the permit becauseofthe plant’s economic potential. Butheacknowledged the divide within the community

“There arepeople here that areonthe opposite side of the way that Ifeel about industry.There’speople that Ilove, there’speoplethat I respect,”hesaid. “That love and respect will always be there.”

At its peak output,the plant willproduce an estimated 7.2 milliontonsofammoniaper year,according to the company.The CF Industries facility in Donaldsonville is the world’slargest ammoniaproduction facility,and that company wantsto buildanother facility near the proposed Clean Hydrogen Works site. Modeste residents such as Sherry White raised that as a concern.

“Theworst-case scenario is an ammoniaplume,like the school evacuation at Donaldsonville,” she said.

In late 2022, an ammonia leak at the CF Industries plant causedthe Donaldsonville Primary School, which teaches around 460 children, to temporarily evacuate.Officials reported no injuries from the incident.

The company argues it will safely produce ammonia and has been working with the community to listen to concerns.

“Webelieve in direct, open communication with community stakeholders,”Senior Vice President of Project Development VeeGodley saidin his opening remarks.

Godley,industryleaders and localofﬁcials said the facility will bring jobs to Donaldsonville and surrounding areas. According to recent U.S.CensusBureau estimates, the city has apoverty rate near 50%.

TamikoFrancis Garrison, ajustice of thepeace in Donaldsonville with family connections in Modeste,supported the permit.

“Donaldsonville has been a community,inthe words of my latefather,held together by duct tapeand wood,” she said.

“I’m excited to see the engagement of industry in our community,which would assist with lowering our poverty level,decreasing (the) unemployment rate, thepotential to hire our children and grandchildrensothey don’t

AMemorialMass will be held on Tuesday, May6, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Holy CrossCatholic Church in Lafayette for Anna Emerite Perret Bacque,age 85, who passedawayonApril 26, 2025 at herLafayette residence.

Reverend Bryce Sibley will be theCelebrant of the Memorial Mass and officiate theservices. Survivors include three daughters, Marie Angelle Jordan and herhusband Thomas Pace, Suzanne Bacque, andRené MacQuinn andher husband Robert W. MacQuinn; threegrandchildren, Lindsay Jordan, Rebecca Jordan,and Anna Turner; andone great granddaughter, AviaJordan. Shewas preceded in death by herhusband, JamesRay Bacque;parents, Dr.Norbert Earl Perret Sr.and Emerite OlivierPerret; andbrother, Dr.Norbert Earl Perret Jr Anna Perret Bacque known by all wholoved her as Anne,was aproud 1958 graduate of theAcademy of theSacredHeartin Grand Coteau,Louisiana. Shecherishedand remained close withher SacredHeart sistersfor therest of herlife. Shecontinued hereducation at Loyola University in NewOrleans,where she majored in music. Her beautiful operaticvoice earned herthe nickname "Puccini" among herclassmates. WhilelivinginNew Orleans, Anne met the love of herlife, JamesBacque from Scott, Louisiana. They marriedin1964 in her hometown of Jeanerette andspent 47 wonderful years together. Anne and Jamesbuilt a happy life in Lafayette, wheretheyraised three daughters. Sheloved dancing, traveling, entertaining, andmakingmemories with familyand friends. Anne's passion for music never faded. Shesharedher singing andpiano talents generouslywith those around her.

Herlifewas deeply rooted in faith, prayer,and devotion to herfamily. She also gave hertimefreely as theadministratorof multiple familyestates, communicatingregularly with over 100 Perret heirs. Anne touched manylives with herkindness, her faith, andher music, leavingbehinda legacy of love andservice

Honorary Pallbearers will be Norbert Earl Perret III,BarryPerret, Paul Perret,AlbertPerret, Brian Comboy, andReggie Lormand.

The familyrequeststhat visitation be observedon Tuesday, May6,2025 at Holy CrossCatholic Church in Lafayette from 9:00 AM untiltimeofservices. A Rosary will be recitedon Tuesday, May6,2025 at 10:00 AM at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Lafayette.

Funeral serviceswillbe held on Monday, May5 2025 at an 11:00 AM Service in La ChapelledeMartin& Castille for Lessleen Clendenen Owen,age 96, whopassed away on Monday April 7, 2025.

Intermentwill be held in Lafayette Memorial Park Cemetery

Pastor John Cannon, Pastor of AsburyUnited Methodist Church, willofficiate at theservices. Survivors include three daughters, Cristie Owen Adams, JamieOwen Parkerson andher husband, CharlesParkerson, andLaurie Owen Kraemer andher husband, Eugene KraemerIII;10grandchildren and 21 great grandchildrenwith the22nd on theway Preceded in death by herhusband, JamesPorter Owen, Jr.; herparents John HarleyClendenen and Leslie Gantt Clendenen; onedaughter, Leslie Owen Hayes; two brothers, John H. Clendenen,Jr. andWade Clendenen andher in-laws, JamesPorterOwen, Sr.and Corita Crist Owen. LessleenattendedSMU andUSL,now ULL, and was ahomemaker for most of herlife. Shemade significant contributions as areal estate professional with J.Y. Foreman Real Estate andStirling Properties. A dedicatedmember of Asbury United Methodist Church, sheserved as treasurer for theChallenger Sunday School Class. Her leadership extendedtothe Junior LeagueofLafayette, whereshe proudlyserved as past president. Shehad apassion for travel, enjoyed playingcards and cherished momentsspent with lovedones. Shewill be deeply missed. Pallbearers will be ChristopherHayes, Jonathan Hayes(Rachael), Creighton Crain (Lori), EugeneKraemer IV,Taylor Hayes(Callie)and Mark Broussard (Carolyn). Honorary Pallbearers will be JamesA.Hayes, Charles Parkerson,Eugene KraemerIII,Dr. JimG Adams, the lateGeorge L. Crain, Jr., Robert Kroiss (Erin), Taylor Tassos (Amy), DylanKuon (Corita) andDrake Randall (Katie). The familyrequeststhat visitation be observedon Monday, May5,2025, from 9:00 A.M.untiltimeofservices. Memorial contributions canbemade in Lessleen Owen'sname to the American Heart Association,POBox 840692, Dallas, TX 752840692 or to Asbury United Methodist Church, 101 Live Oak Dr,Lafayette, LA 70503. View theobituaryand guestbook online at www.mourning.com Martin& Castille Funeral HomeDOWNTOWN, 330 St LandryStreet, Lafayette, Louisiana 70506, 337-2342311

have to leavethe city,parish and stateofLouisiana as Idid in the 1990s, and it will foster employment for generations to come,” she added.

The company’s website states the project will generateroughly 350 newpermanent jobs with an average annual wage of $116,375 plus beneﬁts.

This isn’tnew history for the parish. Decades ago, Geismar residentshad similardiscussions as industries established large petrochemicalplants there.

Malaika Favorite, aGeismar resident and Louisiana Environmental ActionNetwork board member,previously told TheAdvocate residents felt excited by job prospects at the time.

“Everybody was excited because it meantjobs, you know,thiswas like arealjob desert around here,”she said.

While the plants didbring jobs, she felt it didn’tsigniﬁcantly improve the quality of life for residents.

Amos Favorite, herfather andaprominent community activist, wassignificantly involvedinworkingwith employees during the BASF lockout in the 1980s and campaigning to incorporate Geismar, so the area could obtain tax revenue from the industries. The movement faltered after 11 chemicalcompanies successfully blocked it in court.

Thefamilywould like to extendspecial thanks to Southern GraceHospice andLourdes Home Health for thelove andcare given to Anne andher family. View theobituaryand guestbook online at www.mourning.com

Martin& SOUTHSID Road,Lafayette, 70508, 337-984-281

PROVIDED PHOTO

Idol’judges, seated, from left, commentonJohn Foster’sperformance on Mondaynight’s show.

Bacque, Anna Perret

OPINION

OUR

VIEWS

Medicaid is vital to La., andcuts should bemade carefully

In the coming weeks, Republicans in Congress, led by Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, willtake up sweeping budget measures that, theyhope, will highlight conservative priorities suchastightenedborder security,tax cuts and defensewhile reducing spending in other areas.

But it’sthe latter categorythathas us worried.Yes, improving government efﬁciencyisa laudable goal, but to get to their spending target, more than $1.5 trillion in cuts are targeted. That includes up to $880 billionoverten yearsfrom the committeethatoversees Medicaid and energyprograms.

Louisiana, which is astate with one of the highestproportions of Medicaidrecipients— approximately1.6 million stateresidents rely upon it —could be especially hardhit. The cuts are needed, proponents argue, becausethere is too much waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid. Andtobefair, Medicaid fraud is a problem, just as it is in any programthatadministers hundreds of billions of dollars.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, highlighted this when he argued last month that Medicaid scammers have taken beneﬁts fromthose who are “duly owed.”

“Wehave to eliminate, for example, on Medicaid people who are not eligible to be there,” he added.

But studies from government watchdog agencies have shown the biggestsources of Medicaid fraud are not those whostealmonthlypayments from the system, but rather employees at medical clinics, nursing homes, pharmaciesand doctors whoinﬂate the amount or types of treatment provided. Even morecomes from poorly, improperly or inaccurately ﬁlled-out documentation. Regardless of the nature of the fraud discussed or the amounts in question, we are certain that Louisiana legislators are anxiously watching the developments in Washington. Medicaid is a program where federal and state sources share costs.InLouisiana, for instance, of about $21 billion in Medicaid funding, the state provided about $3.2 billion.

One of the proposals being discussedistoask states topick up more of the tab. If thatisthe route chosen,itwould create anotheryawning budget gap state lawmakers would have to address. Therewould likely be dire consequences, especially for the state’spoorer and ruralresidents. Many rural medical centers rely on Medicaid funding to remain open

We are fortunate that Louisiana will have three powerful advocates in Congress as theyundertake this debate. In additiontoJohnson,Jefferson’sSteve Scalise, the second highest ranking Republican in the House, and New Orleans’ Troy Carter,aDemocratwho sits on the committee that oversees Medicaid,will be key to theprogram’sfuture.

We certainly recognize the desire and the need to make government as efficient as possible Androoting out scammersand cheats is always aworthy aim. But we urge our leaders,asthey undertake this important debate,toconsider modernizing and investing in Medicaid to make it more efficient without cutting benefits.Wealso hope they will weigh whetherthe political benefit of being seen as budget-cutters outstrips thepotential that fellow Louisianans, through no fault of their own, will lose thisimportant service

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE

WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com.

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

TrumptoAmerica:Get busy begatting

”Befruitful and multiply and ﬁll the Earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

President Donald Trump is going God one better.God told Adamand Eve to start having children. The president is considering adding an incentive —paying couples $5,000 to begat. The fertility rateinthe U.S. has been declining for thelast decade. In 2023 it dropped to 1.6 births per woman, the lowest in acentury. There are many reasons.The mostobvious is abortion.The Pew Research Center cites ﬁgures from the CDC: “The last year for which the CDC reported ayearly national totalfor abortions is 2021. It found there were625,978 abortions in the DistrictofColumbia and the 46 states withavailable data that year,upfrom 597,355 in thosestates andD.C. in 2020. The corresponding ﬁgure for 2019 was 607,720.” Stopping or severely restricting abortions would go along way towardsolving the birth dearth. Absent thatpossibilityweare down to the reasons people can’t, or won’t, have children. Can’tisusually biologi-

cal. Won’tismorelikely psychological. Perhaps the most frequent reason given by won’tcouplesincludes the expense of having children, the supposed restrictions on parents’ travel, general freedom, thedisappointments and pain thatcan come when kids rebel againsttheir parents, or the consequencesshould parents divorce.

Ihave suffered from rebellious children, even the death of an adult child. None of it cancels the joyofholding ababy in my arms thatIhelped produce, hearing thatchild later tell me he or she lovesme, and seeing even the spiritually truant come back to faith and settheir lives aright.

Deciding not to have children, for some, creates the pain of regret. Never will they have descendants with their DNA,their values and aset of accomplishments that will make them proud. Never will theyknow what their children might have become, or contributedtothe world. Their family tree will lack branches. Having apet is not the same.

Parenting is morethan biological. It’s not like Elon Musk, who has at least 14

children by four different women. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Musk has warned: “’civilization is going to crumble’ if people don’tstart having more children, aview popularized as pronatalism in right-wing circles. The pronatalism movement is composed of people concerned about the birthrate and eager to implement policy and cultural solutions to the problem.”

Musk wants to populate this planet and possibly Mars with children of high intelligence. If this sounds vaguely familiar,it should. Musk is not the ﬁrst to think this way.Itisanoutgrowth of aworldview that is materialistic and places humans in the place of God. President Trump’ssuggestion that $5,000 payments would help produce more children reduces the value of a child to materialistic levels. An appeal made on the level of more important things (see above) might work better, producing not only more babies, but even good parents and ahealthier society

Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@ tribpub.com

Tips from public aidour journalism

All news organizations appreciate when the public provides tips on stories thatmay need investigating. Sometimes these tips come in letterstothe editor,but we do have adedicated email address, newstips@theadvocate. com, just to receive suchinformation.

While we cannot print allegations of wrongdoing without doing our own reporting, Ido forward your news tips to the appropriateeditor for further investigation if necessary.Newsrooms have limited eyes and ears, so it’sgreat when the public sees itself as part of our journalism. Some of the best stories I’ve worked on in my career started as tips from the public. When sending news tips to us, it’s important to be speciﬁc. Adding names, dates and places —oreven video and audio evidence —help us quickly verify thatyour tip is credible. Also,ifyou have any supporting documentation you have gathered or can point us to,that will help our reporters.

TOWN SQUARE

Arnessa Garrett

Sometimes knowing what documents to request and what questions to ask of whom is half thebattle forjournalists. Vague allegations can be harder to follow up on. And secondhand knowledge of wrongdoing is less likely to get our attention. It’s always good for tipsters to have deep knowledge of the problem they want us to investigate Of course,many tipsters want to remain anonymous. And we understand that. Lives and livelihoods could be on the line. We always protect our sources. We appreciatehow harditisfor some to comeforwardwhen they may face retaliation. So we will do everything to make sure the information that is shared anonymously remains so Going to our letters inbox, Ican give you an account of the ﬁrst half of April.

From April 3-10, we received 66 letters. Of those,nationalpolitics wasstill the hottest topic, with 12 letters on the subject.Next, we received seven let-

ters on the Hands Off! protest, with all wanting to see more coverage of the opposition to President Donald Trump. Lastly,tariffs are increasingly drawing interest, and we received ﬁve letters on that subject.

For the weekofApril 10-17, we received 63 letters. Outside of national politics (10 letters), immigration was the hot topic, with ﬁve of you writing to us about issues surrounding recent detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The next most popular topic wasinsurance reform, currently being debated in the Legislature. Four of you wrote to us about that. And then we also had four letters with questions about our news coverage of recent events. For questions about coverage decisions, we do forward your concerns to the appropriate editor.Your feedback is valued, so keep sending it in along with those tips.

Arnessa Garrett is Deputy Editor | OpinionPageEditor.Emailher at arnessa.garrett@theadvocate.com.

Foranupcoming feature, we asked youtoconsider matters of religious faith. We want to know: How important is your faith to your daily life, and what role, if any, should it playinpublic life? Send responses to letters@theadvocate.com.We will publisha selectionofthe best responses in afuture edition.

Cal Thomas

COMMENTARY

Legislatorsshouldlistentodemandfor scholarships

The huge demand for thenew LA GATOR ScholarshipProgram should teach lawmakers two things. First, they should come as close as possibletofullyfunding the program. Second,parents want, and deserve, the largest say in their children’seducation and in their children’supbringing in general. Families submitted more than 39,000 applications for LA GATOR between March 1and April 15, with all but about 5,000 of them deemed eligible. If each one of the eligible applicants actually were awarded scholarships —animpossibility due to budget constraints —thenit would more than sextuple the current Louisiana Scholarship Program.

pies, textbooks andcurricula, dual enrollmentcourses, and uniforms.” Priority is given to families with lower incomes.

Gov.Jeff Landry wants legislators to appropriate $93 million for some 12,000 recipients, but legislative leadersare balkingat anything above $50 million The program provides what the Louisiana Department of Education describes as “state-funded accounts for school tuition and fees, tutoring, educational thera-

Let’s notget into the weeds of thestate budget orhow many schools will open scholarship spots. The larger point here isn’t to parse thedetails, but to see the bigpicture. The level of parental interest in LA GATOR is phenomenal. This interest in nonpublic-school scholarships comes even as Louisianapublic schools are signiﬁcantly improving —acredit to the current leadership’s“back to basics” approach —and even as about 150 public charter schools also operate in Louisiana, with many of them thriving.

What matters to individual parents, therefore, isn’t so much the aggregate statistics as it is the perception of what is best for the individual needs oftheir children. Except at the margins or in extremecases, this primary authority regarding children absolutely should be the parents’ prerogative. Even if you think “it takes a village to raise achild,” what that saying should mean is that thriv-

ing communities provide backup assistance and webs of extended family,churches and other “intermediary institutions” to provide safetyand opportunity for children. It should not mean that the village supersedes theparents, shoves them aside or dictates their choices.

This doesn’tmean public money should be exempt from public accountability,but it does mean public money that carefully boostsparental choice is desirable. The school choice movement writ large is aresponse to what had becomeastultifying system in which children were assigned to public schools regardless of individual needs.

And, it must be said, anumber of public school boards across the country essentially told parentsto shut up and buttout when parents objected to curricula or other policies. The election of Republican Glenn Youngkin as governor of otherwise Democratic-leaning Virginia in 2021 owed much to a parental backlash against heavyhanded school boards there while Democratic former governor Terry McAuliffe, trying for a

comeback, was pilloried by Republicans forrepeatedly saying “I don’tthink parents should be tellingschools what they should teach.”

In asserting maternal and paternal prerogatives (in general, not just withregard to school choice), parentsare acting in concert with along common-law history incorporated into original understandings of theU.S. Constitution. That’swhy in the 1923 case of Meyer v. Nebraska the Supreme Court recognized “the right of parentstocontrol the upbringing of their child as they see ﬁt,” and why the high court followed in the1925 case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters by ruling that parents have anatural right to direct their children’seducation.

Of course, nobody yet knows if LA GATOR will turn out to be agood choice forthousands of Louisiana parents. Parents, though, deserve the option of seeking better discipline via one school, or better foreign-language instruction via another school, or agreater focus on the arts via a third—orwhatever

Nationwide, the success of both public-school andprivate-school

choice, including of voucher-like programs, depends on awide variety of factors including program design and local customs. Louisiana parents, however,can look at the success stories and see hope.

On April 22, forexample, researchers at the Urban Institute —far from aconservative enclave —reported that students whoused Ohio’svoucher scholarship program were“substantially morelikely to enroll in college” and “earn four-year degrees.” Moreover,the beneﬁcial effects “were strongest formale students, Black students, students with below-median test scores before leaving public school, and students from the lowest-income families.”

Louisiana legislators should embrace the hope that nearly 40,000 Bayou State families are expressing by applying forLAGATOR. Nobody is suggesting that the state lacks important, competing priorities. Among all the options, though, LA GATOR should be near the top of the list.

Quin Hillyer canbereached at quin.hillyer@theadvocate.com.

MAGA mightlikeanAfrican pope more than BlackCatholics do

One of the world’smost important elections is taking place next month, and no Louisianans will vote. With the death of Pope Francis, out of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, only 135 cardinals are eligible to weighinwith asecret ballot.

There are no Louisiana cardinals Hundredsof thousands bidthe pope goodbye afew days ago. He was buried at St. Mary Major Basilica Alifelong Catholic, Kathleen Bellow wasn’tinattendance as the pope lay in state or as he was buried. Still, her grief is real. She was saddened by the April 21 death of the man who led her church for 12 years. Though she disagreed with him on anumber of things, she appreciatedand respected him for his humane, inclusive approachtopastoring and leading. “I’m still grieving,” shetold me. Bellow has been active with Xavier University of Louisiana’s Institute for Black Catholic Studies since she was aXavier student decades ago. Today,she leadsthe institute. She is adie-hard Catholic, but Bellow told me, “Men in the churchrun the other way when they see me coming.” Sheremembers the days when Catholic women had to wear hairpieces and couldn’t participateinministries. She refusesto go back According to Pew research, about half of all United States

Catholics are Republicans or they lean Republican and 44% are Democrats or they lean Democrat. Catholics in our country are more liberal than Catholics elsewhere, though younger Catholics have been more conservative in recent years.

In 14 months, the number of Republicans identifying themselves as MAGA has gone from 40% to 71%, accordingtoaMarch NBC News Poll.

Black Catholics like Bellow are about4%ofthe American Catholic population. They are among 200 million Catholics who are of African descent across the globe.

More than 170 million of them are African As American diocese and parish populations shrink, thenumber of Catholics is booming in Africa, Asia and South America. Some Catholics say if ever there were a time for an African pope, thetime is now Black Catholics might like that melanin connection, but most might not like theMake America Great Again philosophies.

Generally,African cardinals are conservative. As agroup, they oppose abortion and same-sex marriages and they opposemass immigration. There’snowiggle

room for IVForincest abortions for some. Though Francis didn’t endorse same-sex marriage or same-sex unions, he madeitOK to bless the people in the couple.

“Who am Itojudge?” he said once. Some African cardinals hated that. Somesupport keeping immigrants out, even urging them to stay home.

It seems conservative cardinals have some papal candidate favorites, including African Cardinal Robert Sarah from Guinea in West Africa.

Other African cardinals on someunofﬁcial lists are Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana.

Bellow met Cardinal Turkson when he visited Xavier to deliver abusiness school symposium speech. Shelikes him.She thinks he would be agood spiritual leader

There is hope among conservativeCatholics that one of their own can return the church to traditional values. There is hope among others that the next pope will build on the small progressive steps PopeFrancis made. Bellow understands the conservative connection to masssaid in Latin,novenas and other oldschool Catholictraditions. But she doesn’t wanttogoback.

“I don’tthink the church is ready togoback to an ultraconservative, Euro-centric ways,” she said.

She’snot alone.

“Pope Francis did morefor LGBTQ Catholics than all of his predecessors combined,” Jesuit

Fr.James Martin, apriest and author of Building aBridge,abook about the church and its connections with LGBTQ Catholics, told the National Catholic Reporter recently.“Doctrinally nothing has changed, but pastorally agreat deal has.”

After Pope Emeritus Benedict XVIdied in December 2022, Ralph E. Moore Jr., acolumnist forthe Afro American whowrites foranumber of publications, shared somehistory and his thoughts with the Black Catholic Messenger only days later

Though there are debates about whether Africans from northern Africa were Black, church records show that Pope Victor Iled the church from 189-199, Pope Miltiades was pope 311-314 and Pope Gelasius Ihad his papal tenure 492-496. Somecall them Black. Somesay they werelikely Black.

“As we mourn the pope emeritus, let us also say this: long live Pope Francis, and may he be followed one day by the fourth African pope —whomever that may be,” Moore wrote.

MAGACatholics might like the political philosophies of some conservative African cardinals morethan progressive Black Catholics do. Somesoften their approaches. Pope Francis had a social justice focus, pulling all closer

Maybe when the white smoke waftsfrom the Sistine Chapel, indicating there’sanew pope, word will come that he is Black.

Email Will Sutton at wsutton@ theadvocate.com.

Ihave been deep in conversation with ChatGPT,askingall kinds of questions. Are there direct ﬂights between the U.S. and Queretaro, Mexico? Will Apple give me credit for a2014 iMac? What color goes with teal? What was France’sGDP in 1998? My fascination with ChatGPT has become a household joke. “All right, Froma,” we imagine Chatsaying. “What do you want now? Do you think you’re the only one around here?” But the real question is where our relationship started cooling. Chatdutifully listed what goes well with the blue-green color and then asked, “Are you thinking about clothes, decor,design or something else?” Chat was getting nosy,asking for information rather than just

giving it out. And so Ilied and said “decor.”Chatcame back with someroom coloroptions. One, that teal with mustard yellow is “vibrant and eclectic, like acoolboutique hotel,” soundedlike my old friend Kate. ButChat isn’tKate. It’snot even human. It is an AI chatbot powered byproprietarygenerativepretrained transformers. It’sasupercomputer, onesourceexplains, “equipped with 285,000 processorcores 10,000 GPUs,and 400 gigabitsper second of connectivityfor each graphicscard server.”

Iwas having alifelike conversationwith acomputer in West Des Moines,Iowa,not the guy next door. Other AI chatbots are Google’sGemini, Microsoft’sCopilotand DeepSeekinChina. DevelopedbyOpenAI and backedbyMicrosoft,the super-

computer runs hotand so must consume massive amounts of water.The site was chosen for its proximity to the watershedofthe Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers. That’swhy Microsoft choseIowa for this project ratherthan Arizona,where it has data centers.

It’s astounding how well ChatGPT can answer detailed questions, though all AI tools have glitches One is “hallucinations,” that is, theyproduce nonsensical answers due to problematic training data. ChatGPT has been well-trained to sound buddy-buddy to users. Also to ﬂatterthem.

Irecently asked ChatGPT to provide antonyms for the word“dollop.” “Great word choice!”Chat exclaimed beforelisting words thatmean the opposite of “dollop.” For about 10 insane seconds, I congratulated myself for sounding smart. Then Ipulled myself together

Iwas not about to be emotionally manipulatedbya machine. People arebad enough. When asked what Broadway musical hadthe song “Hernando’s Hideaway,” Chat’sanswer was professorial: “Ah, Isee! ‘Hernando’sHideaway’ is asong from the 1954 musical ‘The PajamaGame.”’

Iﬁnally asked ChatGPT what ChatGPT was, and it bragged about being “a really smart assistant that can help with awide range of tasks, including ” Afriend was curious about getting aketamine treatment for depression. To help out, Iasked ChatGPT for the side effects. Afterlisting them, Chat asked, “Are you experiencing fatigue after a session?” Iignored the impertinent question. Icared notthat Chat might infer my affectionfor the color teal but began to fret about other personal info Ihad shared. For example, I

asked it to interpret aradiologist’s report on an X-rayofmycervical spine.

Achatbot is aginormous language model that analyzes patterns across human-written text. And so, whatyou tell it about you gets thrown into the pot. Among things we should not reveal are our Social Security number,date of birth and driver’slicense information. Some chatbots are more sensitive to privacy issues than others.

ChatGPT is indeed ahelpful assistant able to instantly inform on piping plover habitats, the meaning of dreams and the value of Greenland’snatural resources. Like me,you two mayspend a lot of timetogether.Just don’tconfuse an AI chatbot with afriend. Froma Harrop is on X, @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com

Quin Hillyer

Will Sutton

Froma Harrop

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Clergytaketheir seats ahead of the funeral of Pope FrancisinSt. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on April 26

Shown

those benefits endwith retirement, paying dental bills out-of-pocket can come as a shock, leading people to put offoreven go without care

Simply put—without dental insurance, theremay be an importantgap in your healthcare coverage.

SPORTS

Sovereigntyoutduels Journalism

Sovereignty, ridden by Junior Alvarado, crosses the finish line to win the 151st running of the Kentucky Derbyon Saturdayin Louisville, Ky

AP PHOTO By JEFF ROBERSON

UL softball’s late surge resultsin SBC3seed

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Perhaps it was expecting abit much for the UL pitching staff to hold Southern Mississippi to zero runs for the entire weekend series. But after the Golden Eagles finally broke through with apair of two-outRBI singles in the top of thefifthonSaturday,the Cajuns managed athree-run response in thebottom of the fifth to securethe series sweep with a4-2 victory overSouthern Miss at Lamson Park

“Justlikewealwayssay,‘They score two we score three,’ ”ULsenior centerﬁelder Maddie Hayden said. “Wejustkeep doing what we’redoing. We’ve been hitting the ballall weekend. We know we’re going to get hits. It’sjust time to put it together.”

The Cajuns ﬁnished the regular season2824 overall and 14-10 in league play.Southern Miss dropped to 23-28 and 10-13. With Texas State sweeping UL-Monroe this weekend, the Bobcats ﬁnish as theSun Belt regular-season champions and UL enters the Sun Belt Tournament as the No. 3 seed.

UL won nine of its last 10 SunBelt games to go from 11th placeonApril12 to third place.

“Wejust didn’twant to lose at home,” UL coach Alyson Habetz said. “Thesefansdeserve to see wins.”

Heading into the fourth inning, only four runs had been scored in the entire series— all by UL. In the bottom half of that inning, the Cajuns loaded the bases with nobody out. The Cajuns managed just an RBIinfield single from Laney Credeurfor a1-0 lead In the fifth, the Eagles finally gotto UL starter Mallory Wheeler when Hannah Christian and Carrie Green both delivered two-out RBI singles fora 2-1SouthernMiss lead.

But the Cajunsweren’t going to letthis gameslipaway.Gabbie Stutessingled through the right side and advancedonMia Liscano’s sacriﬁce bunt in the bottomhalf of the inning. Hayden made it a3-for-3day with asingle to put runners on thecorners. Duringher senior weekend, Hayden was 7for 8atthe plate with awalk

“Thisweekend,I wasjustreally focused on it being my last weekend at home,”

ä See UL, page 3C

Jockey Alvarado ridescolt to victoryinmuddyDerby

BY BETHHARRIS AP racingwriter

LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Sovereignty outdueled 3-1

favorite Journalism down the stretch to win the 151st Kentucky Derby in thesloponSaturday,putting trainer Bill Mott in thewinner’scircle without delay and snapping an 0 for 13 skid by owner Godolphin.

Mottwon his first Derby in 2019, also run on asloppy track, when Country House was elevated to first after Maximum Security crossed the finish line first but was disqualified during a22-minute delay.

This time, Mott had no doubt his 3-year-old colt earned the garland of roses.

“This one got there the right way,”Mott said. “I mean, he’sdone well, he’sagreat horse, he comes from agreat organization, andIcan’t say enough aboutthe horse and the organization thatstarted him out and madethis happen.”

Godolphin is the racing stable of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

It wasquite aweekend forthe sheikh. His ﬁlly,Good Cheer,won the Kentucky Oaks on Fridayand earlierSaturday, Ruling Court— ason of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify —won the 2,000 Guineas in Britain.

ARMS RACE

young quarterbacks shinefor Ragin’ Cajuns during spring game

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

COLLEGE STATION,Texas— When ZacCowan entersthe game, LSU fans typically can exhale. It was thebottom of the seventh inning and the Tigers were tied 1-1with Texas A&M. This was abig situation for thejuniorright-hander, but it wasone he was used to facing. Cowan entered Saturday’scontestwith a1.07 ERA and ﬁve saves in 251/3 innings in Southeastern Conference play,but he surrendereda leadoff triple to second baseman BenRoyo beforeapinch-hit run-scoring single to Hayden Schott that

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The UL football spring game on Saturday was pretty clean with just afew penalties and no turnovers.

But the thing that hadULcoach Michael Desormeauxthe most excited after watching the red team hold off the white squad 21-16 at Cajun Field was that it was areal football game.

The team playedtwo 20-minute halves instead of the controlled practice drill format of somepast spring games that was necessitated because of injuries.

“It was awesome,” Desormeaux said. “Thatmakes abig difference. We’reoff theﬁeldand they’vegot to go play.Wheneverit’s threeplays here and there, then you can coach things up in between —it’sall real controlled. This is thebest way we can do it.Thisis what we were hoping foratthe beginning of spring. We felt likewe hadthe depth to do it.”

The quarterbacks also were fair game like their teammates,as they were throughout the spring.

“It’s as close as you get to the real thing,” Desormeaux said. “I thinkthere’sa lot of value in having to go out there and compete in those situations.”

The biggest story in the spring and mostlikely the fall is the inexperienced quarterback room, but all ﬁve quarterbacks had

ä See CAJUNS, page 3C

gave Texas A&M a2-1 lead. Schott’ssingle proved to be the difference in Texas A&M’s3-1 winover LSU in the ﬁrst game of Saturday’sdoubleheader at BlueBell Park. The victory handed the Aggies a1-0 lead in the three-game series. “I thought we played areally good game,” LSU sophomore left-handed starter Kade Anderson said, “(it’s) just when we hadtocome up with those hits, it didn’t happen.” Cowan gave up another single in the seventh before exitingwithone outand runners on the corners forfreshman left-

hander Cooper Williams. The former TexasA&M (26-19, 9-13 SEC) commitment forced aflyball to center field, but junior center fielder Chris Stanfield dropped theball foranerror to allowa runtoscore. An earned run still was charged to Cowan since acatch by Stanfield would have resulted in asacrifice fly Freshman right-hander Mavrick Rizy replacedWilliams withtwo runners in scoring positionand kept LSU’sdeficit at 3-1 by striking out the next twohitters. Saturday wasarguablyRizy’smost impressive outing as aTiger.Hestruck out

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

UL quarterback Walker Howard unleashes apass during the Cajuns’ spring game SaturdayatCajun Field.

a.m.

Pro Swim Series * CNBC 1:30 p.m. TyR: Pro Swim Series * CNBC TENNIS

8:30 a.m. WTA: Madrid-doubles final Tennis 11:30 a.m. ATP: Madrid singles final Tennis TRACK AND FIELD

2 p.m.

a.m.

Oge leads STM back to state ﬁnal

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

SULPHUR It’s not that things came easy for St. Thomas More’s Margaret Oge in her ﬁrst two seasons.

She just made it look that way.

Oge helped lead the Cougars to a state championship as a freshman and showed last year she was one of the best pitchers in the state.

This year, things have been a little more difﬁcult. While the talent is still evident, Oge and coach Andria Waguespack attributed her struggles to a lack of consistency

“Margaret is being counted on more this year,” Waguespack said. “She’s not being asked to pitch three innings anymore. She’s being asked to pitch seven. But she’s learning to make adjustments.”

Oge delivered Saturday in a Division I select semiﬁnal game at Frasch Park

After allowing two hits and a run in the ﬁrst inning, Oge settled down and quieted Mount Carmel’s offense during a 6-1 win

“Margaret did a phenomenal job,” Waguespack said. “She allowed her defense to play behind her and that’s what it takes to play for state championships.”

The Cougars advanced to the state ﬁnal for the ﬁrst time since 2023 when they won the championship. STM will face John Curtis at 3 p.m Sunday on Field 17 at Frasch Park in Sulphur

Oge allowed one earned run on nine hits, two walks and two hit batters in seven innings.

“We just did so well as a team,” Oge said. “I’m not a big strikeout pitcher anyway, but my teammates did a good job behind me. Waguespack was impressed by how well Oge hit her spots.

“Margaret really did a great job of throwing her off-speed pitches for strikes,” Waguespack said. “She used both sides of the plate and earlier this year she struggled with that, but she has gotten better and better.”

When she is attacking both sides of the plate with strikes, Waguespack said Oge “is tough to hit.” With Oge dealing in the circle, the Cougars’ offense provided more than enough run support in the ﬁrst inning in which the Cougars scored four runs to take a 4-1 lead

“We had some really good at-bats,” Waguespack said. “They didn’t all turn into hits, but we had some really good swings on balls.”

STM (25-7) was led by Logan Raupp and Kennedy Stutes. Raupp ﬁnished 2 for 3 with a double and three RBIs, while Stutes went 2 for 3 with two doubles and two runs scored

“We played really well as a team,” Oge said. “I feel like we are coming together at the right time.”

6 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOLS

Slam Track: Day 3 CW

FOOTBALL LEAGUE

at Michigan ESPN2 3 p.m.

Antonio at Birmingham Fox WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL 8 p.m. Columbus at Vegas CBSSN WNBA PRESEASON

HICKMAN

Opelousas Catholic pitcher Ashley Little pitched a no-hitter and struck out 17 in a 4-0 victory against St. John of Plaquemine in a Division IV select semifinal game Saturday in Sulphur

Little surprise

Pitching star powers Opelousas Catholic back to state final

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

SULPHUR It’s been said that big-time players step up in big-time games. Considering Opelousas Catholic pitcher Ashley Little is one of the best in the state, it was no surprise to see her rise to the challenge during Saturday’s state softball tournament.

Little was nothing short of spectacular, dominating St. John of Plaquemine in leading the Vikings to a 1-0 win Saturday in a Division IV select semiﬁnal game.

“Ashley was phenomenal,” Vikings coach Cullen Matherne said. “She walked a few early on, but once she locked in, she was locked in. She did a great job.”

With the win, the secondseeded Vikings (24-8) will get the opportunity to defend their state championship when they face No. 5 Menard (21-11) in the ﬁnal at 3 p.m. Sunday on Field 15 at Frasch Park in Sulphur

“It feels good to be back in the state ﬁnal,” Matherne said. “Especially getting back with a new crew of players. Last year, we were senior heavy and this year we only have two seniors. To make it back is huge and I’m extremely happy for our girls.” Little, a Nicholls State commitment, pitched a no-hitter, walking four and striking out 17 in seven innings.

“She allowed no hits and struck out 17, what more could I ask for,” Matherne said. “I can’t ask for more than that.” Little was able to get ahead in the count on most St. John batters.

“Ashley did a great job getting ahead of hitters,” said Matherne, whose Vikings extended their winning streak to 11 games “Once she got ahead, she has so many good pitches she can go to and strike you out.”

With Little cruising inside the circle, Matherne knew his Vikings needed to find

a way to get one run on the board. And they did. With the game scoreless in the bottom of the ﬁfth inning, freshman center ﬁelder Remi Bihm delivered an RBI single to score second baseman Madison Ludeau to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Ludeau was 2 for 2 with a double and a run scored.

“The moment wasn’t too big for our young girls and that’s what we were hoping,” Matherne said. “Our only run of the game was driven in by a freshman. That was huge and I’m so happy for our young girls.”

It was another memorable performance for Little, who has had a career ﬁlled with stellar outings.

“Nothing Ashley does surprises me,” Matherne said.

“I coach softball and football and Ashley is one of my favorite athletes that I’ve ever coached. She is super dedicated and in top of that she is one of the best people you’ll ever meet. I’m so happy for her.”

LSU adds Israeli guard Zipper from pro league

Ron Zipper, 22, committed to LSU after playing professionally in Israel, according to a source within the program.

The 6-foot-4 guard is the Tigers’ 13th scholarship player, the eighth new addition not from high school and the only player added to the team not from the transfer portal this offseason.

He will also be the ﬁrst overseas pro who didn’t play in college that coach Matt McMahon, entering his fourth season, will have at LSU. In 24 games in the Israeli Winner League, Zipper averaged 11.1 points in 19.7 minutes per game. He shot 41.9% from the ﬁeld and 38.2% from 3-point range. He played in the same league as former NBA guards Patrick Beverly and Antonio Blakeney, a former LSU player

LSU softball shut out in regular-season finale

The No. 10 LSU softball team capped off its regular season with a 6-0 loss to No. 8 Arkansas on Saturday in Fayetteville, Arkansas, leaving the Tigers at 40-13 overall and 12-12 in league play

Arkansas (38-11, 14-10) starting pitcher Payton Burnham held LSU to just four hits. McKenzie Redoutey collected two singles for LSU, while Jalia Lassister and Sierra Daniel each managed a double.

Arkansas scored single runs off of LSU starter Tatum Clopton in both the first and third innings. Clopton was relieved by Sydney Berzon with two outs in the third. The Razorbacks added a run in the fourth and three runs in the ﬁfth off of Berzon, although all four of the runs were unearned.

Man who fell from wall at Pirates game is awake PITTSBURGH The man who fell from the top of a 21-foot-high wall onto the warning track at PNC Park during a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night is awake and alert.

The organizer of a GoFundMe page for Kavan Markwood, the 20-year-old who slipped off a railing and onto the ﬁeld during the seventh inning of Pittsburgh’s 4-3 win over the Cubs, shared an update Saturday that Markwood is improving. According to Jennifer Phillips, who is organizing the fundraiser, Markwood has made significant progress since being admitted to the trauma center at Allegheny General Hospital on Wednesday in critical condition.

NBC’s Tirico leaves Derby coverage with nut allergy

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — NBC Sports host Mike Tirico said on social media he hates being a “late scratch” from Saturday’s 151st Kentucky Derby because of a “signiﬁcant” nut allergy reaction during coverage of the marquee race at Churchill Downs.

Ahmed Fareed took over coverage for the veteran broadcaster, who was scheduled to host coverage of the ﬁrst jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown for the ninth time.

Tirico left the storied track in the late afternoon and returned to his hotel, an NBC Sports spokesman said.

Tirico referred to the allergy on his ofﬁcial account on X and added that, “If you have one you know how it can knock you down.”

BY NICK FONTENOT

Contributing writer

It took a couple of innings for the Teurlings Catholic bats to wake up in Friday’s Division II select quarterﬁnal game against visiting Shaw

But once they did, it was a full-on explosion — three runs in the third inning, four in the fourth and eight in the fifth. The top-seeded Rebels rolled to a 15-2 mercy-rule win over No. 8 Shaw in five innings, punching their ticket to the state semifinals.

The Rebels, who won 7-1 on Thursday swept the best-of-three series 2-0. They will next face No. 5 Vandebilt Catholic in a threegame series starting 4 p.m May 8 in Sulphur

“Our guys did a nice job of staying focused and playing a

complete game,” coach Brooks Badeaux said. “I felt like we gave away a few at-bats in the ﬁrst two innings and then after that we just kept the pressure on. We just want to have productive at-bats one through nine and keep pressure on the pitcher, hopefully we get our break.” Teurlings racked up 11 hits, but none felt bigger than the ones off Will Power’s bat. Power went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and delivered in key moments.

“I get up in those spots and I just have a goal of having an unselﬁsh at-bat,” Power said “The main objective is to score the runs, drive it the other way and just have a quality at-bat.”

Badeaux said Power thrives in the two hole, where the lineup naturally gives him chances to

come through. The bottom of the order helped set the table by going 4 of 6.

“The lineup is set up to where we’re hoping to get some production from the top and turn that lineup over,” Badeaux said. “The bottom sets that table obviously, and that puts Will and the three and four hitters in some RBI situations.

“They capitalized today.”

Ryan Berard added a 2-for-3 day with an RBI, and Jack Purser matched that line with four RBIs.

On the mound, the Rebels didn’t give up a hit until the ﬁfth inning — by then, the outcome was already decided. Shaw pushed two runs across, as Badeaux emphasized how important it is to cut down on walks.

“We have to eliminate the free bases,” he said “Luckily, (starting pitcher) Jace (Garber) did a great job in the ﬁrst four and then,

you know, just kind of lost a little rhythm. Still did a great job in all and put us in a great situation to win the game.”

“When you give those free passes, you never know One bad-hop error one little blooper leads to two and three runs versus just one.

“It didn’t hurt us today, but we have to limit the walks.”

As for the idea that Teurlings is playing its best baseball, Badeaux isn’t buying it.

“Hopefully we just get better every day,” he said. “We want to play our brand of ball and that’s it. Every day we get out there and play against the standard that we set for ourselves.

“We want to play a good game and hopefully come up ahead on the scoreboard. That’s not the case every time, but we control what we can control and see what happens at the end of each game.”

Sabalenka beats Gauff to win Madrid Open, 20th title

MADRID No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka beat No. 4 Coco Gauff in straight sets to win her recordtying third Madrid Open and 20th career title on Saturday Sabalenka powered through the ﬁrst set and edged the American in a tiebreaker for a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win on the Caja Mágica clay court. Sabalenka added to titles in Madrid in 2021 and 2023 and equaled Petra Kvitova’s tournament record. It was also Sabalenka’s tourleading third title of the year after Brisbane and Miami. She also pulled level with Gauff on head-tohead with ﬁve wins apiece. Gauff could have risen to No. 2 with a victory The 2023 U.S. Open champion lost only one

wins in 11.

FILE PHOTO By RICK

four batters in 12/3 innings, and his fastball was up to 99 mph

“Hewas commanding the ball today,and when you throw 98 at (6-foot-8), it’shard to hit,” Andersonsaid. “So he’sgot such abright future. And Ithinkthat’sthe start that everyone was waiting for.”

LSU(37-10, 14-8) hadopportunities before and afterthe seventh inning to score runs but couldn’t cash in. The Tigers had two runners on base with one out in the ninth and failed to drive in arun.

UL

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Hayden said. “Just taking every moment in and not trying to do too much —playing with that freedom and trusting my teammates.”

Dayzja Williams bounced back to pitcherJana Lee, who threw high to the plate to allow Stutes to score. Emily Smith then singled home two runs to set the ﬁnal score

“It was alittlefar outside, so Idid everything Icould to get my barrel to it,”Smith said of the pitch she hit. “I want to be in those situations, all the time.” Smith said she was motivated by it being the last game for the seven seniors.

CAJUNS

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their moments Saturday The most was expected out of Ole Miss transfer Walker Howard, and he delivered. Theformer St Thomas More standout was 7-of-10passingfor 84 yards and atouchdown.Healso ran four times for 32 yards and ascore.

“I thought everyone did very well overall,” Howard said. “Our receiversdid really good; our running backs did really good. The O-line did an unbelievable job —I don’tthink Igot touched behind the line of scrimmage, which is awesome.

“It was awonderful day.I hadfunandIlovebeinghere.”

LSU transfer receiver Shelton Sampson caught ﬁve passes for 56 yards anda touchdown, all from Howard. There was an obvious connection between the duo, especially on a13-yard touchdown connection anda 9-yard ﬁrst-down gain near the sideline on their second possession.

“He’sanunbelievable player,” Howard said of Sampson. “Both transfers, both trying to prove ourselves —trying to be the guy.Ithink he’sdone an unbelievable job. He’sstepped up to the plate,and he’sdone everything our coaches have asked him to do.” Sampson added a14-yard reception to set up aBill Davis 1-yard TD plunge to give the red team a21-10 lead with 5:02 lefttoplay

“It felt great,” Sampson said. “Honestly,itjust felt amazing. That’sthe only way Ican really describe it. Ifeel

They also loaded the baseswith two outs in the eighth, but junior pinch-hitter Ethan Frey ﬂewout to right ﬁeld to endthe threat.

Before the Aggies’ big inning, LSU triedtotake thelead in the top of theseventhwhen thirdbase coach Josh Jordan sentsophomore Steven Milam home from first base on atwo-out double by Stanﬁeld.Milamwas easily thrown out at theplate to end the inning and keep thescore tied at 1-1. TheTigers ﬁnishedthe game 2 for14withrunnersonbaseand 0 for 5with runners in scoring position.

“Weput ourselves in asituation to win, and the hitters didn’texe-

“Wewere just sayingtodo it for the seniors,” she said. “This is their last time playing on this ﬁeld, so we wanted to doitfor theseven girls that weren’tgoing to be able to play onthisﬁeldagain.

Despite theone roughinning, Wheeler got everyout exceptthe ﬁnal one, allowingtwo runs on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts to run herrecord to 12-8 on the season

“It’shard to get asweep, but it’salways hard to beat ateam twice,” Habetz said. “That’sdifﬁcult to do, especially whenyou pitch seven full inningsthe ﬁrst night. They havea lotofat-bats againsther.Justa tremendous job by her,for afreshman, too.”

The onlyout Wheeler

likeit(spring) went as Iexpected it to go.I got adjusted pretty quickly and was able to go out and playfastand have fun.”

Howard also displayed his speed with a22-yard run to the2that set up his2-yard touchdown run.

“I need to get in the end zone on that one,” Howard said. “I’m going to go watch some tape onitand figure out what Ineed to do to get in the end zoneonthat and make it easier for my team.

I’ve got to ﬁnish. I’ve gotto work on my speed in the offseason.I’ve got tobefaster.”

Desormeaux was impressed with both Howard andSampson.

“I think Sheltonhas been pretty natural with everybody,” Desormeaux said.

“He’sbeenreally good for us this spring

“I think Walker dida fantasticjob today moving the football. He madeplays down the ﬁeld. He operated really well. Certainly there’s acouple things we’re going to coach up and do, but the big thing is youhave to move your team downthe ﬁeld.”

By nomeans was it atwomanshowoffensively

Daniel Beale was 4-of-8 passingfor 32 yardswith four carries for 17 yards.

D’Wanye Winfield was 3-of-4 passingfor 22 yards while running it ﬁvetimes for 20 yards.

Sam Altmann led the white team ona seven-play, 70-yard drivein2:00,completing5 of 6passes for 68 yards and atouchdown. He also ran it twice for 15 yards.

Adryan Laragot thelongest completion of thegame —a 41-yarder to KeDarius Wade —and hit onhalf of his four attempts for 50 yards.

cute,” Anderson said. “But they’ve held their own and helped us out a lot of times this year.Soyou don’t put any blame(on them).”

The only run that separated the two sides through five innings came in the second. With two outs and arunner at first,Royo hit afly ball to shallow center field that was misread by Stanfield.

Stanﬁeld nearly recovered from his mistake, diving after the ball in shallow center after he inititally believed that it was going over his head, but he couldn’tcome up with thecatch and the runnerfrom ﬁrst scored.

The run was chargedtoAnderson since the hit was ruled adou-

didn’tget was the ﬁnal one.

That onewas reserved for senior Tyra Clary, whosaw Liscano make adiving grab for thelast out.

Habetzsaid finishing off thesweep was about mental toughness.

“It’sjust agrittiness that we’re going to refuse to lose on our field,” she said. “You knowthatweshould beat them, so figureitout and find away.Itultimatelycomes down to adecision. I’m just competitive enough that I’m going to findaway to get on base and you’re not going to beat me.

“If everyone has thatmentality,then you’re not going to be beat.”

Email KevinFooteat kfoote@theadvocate.com.

“Sam Altmannisareally good football player,” Desormeauxsaid. “He’s got plentyofarm strength,he’s smart,he’sintelligent,he’s tough, he cares.

“Thatdrive thatSam put together,reallythattouchdown throw,hecheckedto. That’s part of the system, but that’syour freshman quarterback in the fourthposition thatchecks to adouble move down there andgets atouchdown.That’sprettyimpressive. That’sgood stuff.”

Wade had threereceptions for 69 yards and ascore. Reserve tight end Teddy Gawlik also raised some eyebrows as apotential receivingoption with three catches for 49 yards.

“I think he has askill set thathecan be,” Desormeaux saidofGawlik. “He’sstill a very young player.Weneed him to do it consistently.He and (transfer tight end) Trey Miller are very similar type players.

“We’ve gottoget oneof those guys to ﬁllthat rolea little bit.”

Asfortherunninggame,the white team ranfor 115 yards andthe redsquadfor 113.

Redshirtfreshman Steven Blanco had eight carries for 28 yards and ascore. Davis hadseven carriesfor 39 yards, while Zylan Perry collected 40 yards on eight tries. Hutch Swilley added 18 yards on four carries.

“I thought StevenBlanco was really good today,” Desormeaux said. “Hemaximized theopportunities that he had. Ithought his run ﬁts were really good.

“I think Zylan Perry was exceptional today.Hejust makes yards when they’re not there.There’shuge value in that.”

ble. Otherwise, he was lights out through six innings and 113 pitches. He surrenderedjustthree hits and had 12 strikeouts.

“I thought that it wasaniffy outing,”Anderson said.“Ithought that Iwalked acouple of guys but kind of hunginthere and put our team in asituation where we could have won thegame.”

LSU was ice coldatthe plate through the first fiveinnings. The Tigers hadonlytwo hits —afirstinning double fromseniorJosh Pearsonand asingle from Milam in thefifth —and hadtrouble squaring up Texas A&M left-handed starter Ryan Prager’shigh fastball.

LSU kept getting under Prager’s pitches, ﬂying out nine times against him

“You give credit to their pitcher, and he’saveteran,” Anderson said.

“He’spitched for four years here, andI thinkthathedid agood job of keeping the hitters offbalance.”

No Tiger could square up apitch untilthe sixth inning when junior Jared Jones blasted his 16th home runofthe year.The soloshottoleft ﬁeld tied thegame at oneand was the 58th homer of his LSU career, tying Dylan Crews for fourth alltimeatLSU

Email Koki RileyatKoki.Riley@ theadvocate.com.

Sovereignty,ridden

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Sovereigntysplashed through 11/4 miles in 2:02.31 and paid $17.96 to win at 7-1 odds.

Journalism didn’thave thecleanestoftripsin the 19-horse ﬁeld but still battled. He found trouble in the ﬁrst turn and jockey Umberto Rispoli swung him to theoutsidetoget himin the clear.Sovereigntyand jockey Junior Alvarado followed them. The twocolts hooked up at theeighth pole

for athrilling battle before Sovereignty pulled away Baeza— who got into the race on Friday after another horse wasscratched

—took third. Final Gambit was fourth andOwen Almighty finished fifth. CitizenBull, thelone entry forsix-time Derbywinning trainer Bob Baffert, setthe pace. Baffert was back for the first time after serving athree-year suspension by Churchill Downsafter Medina Spirit crossed thefinish linefirst in 2021 and failed apostrace drug test. Rain madefor asoggy day,with the Churchill Downs dirt strip listedas sloppy and fans protecting their fancy hats and clothing with plastic ponchos.

‘Two-Headed Doctor’

Book explores Dr. John’s persona and New Orleans musical influence

BY RIEN FERTEL Contributing writer

“Two-Headed Doctor: Listening for Ghosts in Dr John’s Gris-Gris” by David Toop, Strange Attractor Press, 264 pages

It’s an age-old question: Can we, and furthermore, should we, separate the art from the artist?

What do we do about great art by problematic people? Or troublesome art by saintly souls?

Take Dr John, who is not the ﬁrst artist that comes to mind when considering the art-versusartist dilemma. But in his scholarly and spirited “Two-Headed Doctor,” David Toop, a wide-ranging, contemplative English writer and musician with over a dozen books and two dozen albums to his name, begs to differ Dr John’s debut album “Gris-Gris,” he claims, is one problematic piece of work. The album transformed a teenage Toop.

“Not long after my ﬁrst hearing,” Toop writes, “I began to think of it as both puzzle and inﬁnitely problematic hoax.”

Clocking in at just 33 minutes and 19 seconds, the album’s seven songs became “one of the signiﬁcant markers of a life spent investigating music, sound and listening,” he continues. “The record has haunted me ever since.”

Dr John’s haunting hoax of a concept album, Toop argues, is rife with “problems of authenticity and appropriation.” Like many White artists of his era — or any era, for that matter the man born as Mac Rebennack generously pilfered from Black culture, in the case of “Gris-Gris,” voodoo, hoodoo and other arcane matters of spiritualist dimensions. Much of Dr John’s knowledge of such matters, it appears, was inspired from literary sources of highly dubious scholarly merit written by ﬁrst-rate mythologizers of

New Orleans history like George Cable, Robert Tallant and Herbert Asbury For Toop, the Dr John persona was a delicately crafted bit of musical and theatrical ventriloquism an imaginary leap of two-headedness by a New Orleans rock and roller-turned-Los Angeles session musician. An act so perfectly stylized that he came with his own subtitle: “the Night Tripper,” a wholly New Orleans character that only could have

been invented in Hollywood. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has listened to a Dr John album, especially those ﬁrst records, the output of a hipster, in the Norman Mailer sense, ne plus ultra. No matter how much you or I might love Dr John’s early work, it always sounds like he’s trying a bit too hard — that gravelly voice garbling its way across often hilarious, absurdist wordplay and unintelligible lyrics.

Those hoots, howls and growls that evidently are meant to sound as if they’re emanating from the darkest, wettest recesses of Louisiana’s swamplands were made in a Los Angeles studio. The druggy references, mesmerizing cover art, and, most of all, his mystifying costumes: feathers, turbans and animal-print everything! Released in January of 1968, “Gris-Gris” confounded listeners. Atlantic Records bigwig Ahmet Ertegun reportedly remarked, “How can we market this boogaloo crap?” The label settled on a half-page ad in “Rolling Stone” magazine that cluelessly proclaimed “The Sound of CajunRock!” had arrived.

“No ancient black from the bayous,” a critic in the “New York Times” wrote, “Dr John is, in fact, the imaginary creation of a young, white studio musician currently working in California with lily-white pop singers, like Sonny & Cher.”

The genius visionary behind “Gris-Gris,” Toop makes the case, was Harold Battiste, the musical polymath who put Sonny & Cher on the map, as well as Sam Cooke and fellow New Orleanians like Ellis Marsalis and Lee Dorsey Battiste traced Dr John’s sound back to a series of recordings he made with his stable of R&B singers earlier in the decade.

“The arrangement was an African/New Orleans/Congo Square type of spiritual thing that you can only ﬁnd here,” Battiste said in an interview “Mac eventually made that sound commercial.”

Like Dr John, Toop obviously also loves a good tale, no matter how far the narrative nuggets he unearths diverge from his main story Zora Neale Hurston and Ishmael Reed pop up to inform his reading of voodoo. Sun Ra appears again and again as a foil of sorts, a genuine weirdo to Dr John’s cosmic hamminess.

L.A.’s Gold Star Studios, where Dr John and company put “GrisGris” to tape, also saw the recording of most of Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” sessions, as well as records by Charles Manson and Alvin & the Chipmunks. The key to the studio’s echo chamber sound might have been the lead-based paint that dripped from its walls.

There, Battiste’s “Gris-Gris” backup band included a bevy of New Orleans musical standouts, including Shirley Goodman, Tami Lynn and the one-hit wonder vocalist and percussionist Jessie Hill, who is listed in the album’s liner notes as “Dr Poo Pah Doo of Destine Tambourine.” Fellow percussionist Richard “Didymus” Washington receives some of the book’s best lines.

“A dope ﬁend, like the rest of us,” according to Dr John. Washington died not soon after the recording of “Gris-Gris” from a cabbage juice diet meant to heal his stomach ulcers.

Battiste produced Dr John’s follow-up, 1969’s “Babylon,” before their partnership ended. David Toop admits to losing interest in Dr John’s output soon thereafter

“A constructed identity is almost impossible to sustain over a lifetime,” he writes. But Mac Rebennack mostly enjoyed a long and triumphant career wearing the Dr John mask until his death in 2019 at the age of 77.

“Two-Headed Doctor” is, like Dr John, more than a little bewildering, a touch overwrought, and sure to incite plenty of debate. But Toop has crafted a tremendously readable Mac Rebennack guidebook, a ﬁtting tribute that proves that criticism is its own love language, a book that will have you revisiting Dr John’s classic albums with new ears.

Rien Fertel is the author of four books, including, most recently, “Brown Pelican.”

‘The Memoir’ offers detailed, introspective look at Cher’s life

BY DEANNA B NARVESON

Staff writer

When I was a little kid Cher’s 1998 “Believe” album — the one that popularized the stylistic use of AutoTune technology — was playing in stores everywhere, but it wasn’t until I saw her on tour in 2019 that I understood why she’d been a part of pop culture for decades.

I became enamored.

Celebrity memoirs are intriguing because they offer a glimpse behind the curtain into the minds and lives of those we see on screens and hear on speakers Cher’s autobiography, “The Memoir: Part One,” is no exception.

Published in November 2024, the book begins before Cher’s birth and spans her life up to her Las Vegas residency in the late 1970s. She tells her story in a casual voice, often interjecting humorous asides, but she doesn’t gloss over difﬁcult subjects such as abortion, addiction and domestic violence. While the writing is solid, and Cher’s introspection about her life is captivating, the book is very detailed and longer for its genre, which might bog down or deter some readers. Each chapter title is the name of a song Cher likes that relates to the part of her life she’s describing, such as “I Will Always Love You” about her marriage to Sonny Bono. In the audiobook version, Cher reads the ﬁrst part of

each chapter before stage actor Stephanie J. Block takes over for the rest. At the start of the audiobook Cher notes that her dyslexia makes reading out loud difﬁcult, so Block’s role was a compromise.

Born Cherilyn Sarkisian

In “The Memoir: Part One,” Cher chronicles how she went from a Los Angeles-area teenager to an international star while touching on the impact of trauma and addiction, how she found her own independence, and how she’s lived with lasting fears and anxieties that stemmed from her tumultuous childhood. She describes complicated, often fraught, relationships with her family members and partners, extending grace to them as she recounts painful events, even when they’ve wronged her Born Cherilyn Sarkisian in 1946, Cher’s childhood was a bumpy road. Her father, an Armenian American with a heroin addiction, was not around much, while her mother Georgia Holt, chased dreams of stardom. They moved around a lot, with Cher and her sister attending several schools across the Los Angeles area. Her mother married multiple times. At one point, Holt was forced to place Cher in a Catholic children’s home while she worked night shifts to make ends meet. Cher describes how she was inspired to write the 2000 single, “Sisters of Mercy,” by pulling from her mother’s experience with the Catholic church as Holt tried to

regain custody of her daughter

She also writes about the heat of spotlight and stage fright, even though she’d known from the ﬁrst time she saw Elvis Presley at age 10 that she wanted to perform. Cher moved out when she was a teenager and her iconic partnership with Bono began when she was just 16. Initially, their relationship was platonic, but they fell for each other Bono’s job in music production led to Cher’s ﬁrst recordings, and then to the two of them becoming “Sonny & Cher.” Their success took off, with songs like “I Got You Babe” and a popular television variety show Cher writes that the “Babe” in “I Got You Babe” came from her mother, who used the word to

refer to others so often that Cher and Bono had picked it up.

In 1965, when Cher was 19 years old, she and Bono performed in New Orleans at the Municipal Auditorium. The couple returned in 1969 and played The Blue Room at The Roosevelt Hotel. Later, Bono told The Times-Picayune that The Blue Room was special to them.

“We broke in our nightclub act here at the Blue Room the ﬁrst time we tried humor, kidding each other around,” he said. “We consider this our lucky town.”

Behind the scenes, Bono and Cher’s marriage was fraught with control issues and emotional turmoil. Cher delves into her personal challenges, including her contemplation of suicide during her divorce from Sonny which is something she has spoken about before.

Bono and Cher divorced in 1975, and she did her ﬁrst solo tour in 1979.

In 1999 for the “Believe” tour and in 2002 for her “farewell” tour called “Living Proof,” Cher played the New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center) — both times with Cyndi Lauper as an opening act.

‘I’m a little tardy’

There were several moments described in her book that shed light on things I love about Cher She says her signature strut originated from an injury sustained while jumping off a swing set, describes how she met renowned designer Bob Mackie and devel-

oped her sense of style and recounts her meetings with numerous celebrities. Did you know that Cher loves to draw?

Woven into the narrative are also dozens of references to 20thcentury American history Her grandparents’ and mother’s survival of the Great Depression, the impact of McCarthyism on Hollywood, the British Invasion, the Civil Rights Movement, multiple U.S. presidencies and more are all touched on throughout the book.

Cher notes how these touchstones impacted the people she knew and her own life, and it was sometimes reminiscent of “Forrest Gump,” in which we see history through the eyes of the main character

The book ends with a chance meeting after a Las Vegas show that marked a career shift after she’d been trying to break into acting for years. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, and it’s unknown if Cher will write a part two.

In January, she appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” where she told Kimmel that she “hadn’t even started” part two, adding that she was late with part one.

“I ﬁnished it when they had to publish it,” she told Kimmel.

On Amazon, the release date for the second installment of her autobiography is scheduled for Nov 18, 2025. On the late-night show, Kimmel asked if the book would be ready by then.

“I’m a little tardy,” Cher said, “but I think I’ll be better this time.”

TRAVEL

Make waveson adolphin cruise at Panama City Beach

BY HUNTER BOYCE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)

The weather has warmed up. The wildlife are waking up. Travelers, it’stime for an awesome outdoor adventure.

Sailing through the seas off Florida’sPanama Beach, Island Time Sailing has earned aﬁvestar rating on Tripadvisor with cruises dedicated to showing off wild dolphins, snorkeling for seashells and classic “fun in the sun” relaxation. It might be oneofthe best ways to break into summer this year

What is Island Time Sailing?

Found at the Lagoon Pontoons Marina in PanamaCity Beach, Florida,Island Time Sailing is acatamaran cruise company

Catamarans are different from ordinary sail boats in afew ways. They feature two hulls, making them more spacious and are more stable on the water. The company uses two catamarans to conduct its cruises: the Island Time and the Island Time II. The Island Time is a50-footlong vessel, while the Island Time II is three feet longer.Each boat takes amaximum of 65 passengers each trip and bothhave two bathrooms below deck. Whichever boat passengers ﬁnd themselves on, the cruises’ focus will be the same: dolphins.

What is theretodo?

Island Time Sailing has two packages on offer: Shell Island Snorkel &Sail andthe Dolphin

TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

By ChristopherElliott

Sunset Cruise.

TheShell Island Snorkel &Sail package is athree-hour cruise with classic “fun in thesun” on offer

Visitors will sail on the“Island Time” catamaran across St.Andrews Bay for dolphin watching along Panama CityBeach. The boat will then drop anchor at Shell Island so patronscan snorkel, hunt for seashells and relax for about an hour

“Snorkeling on Island Time is an unforgettable experience,” according to the company’swebsite. “The calm, warmwaters of thegulf areperfect for bothbeginnersand experienced snorkelers. Take an adventure searching through thevibrant marine life near Shell Island

“Around Shell Island you may find starfish,seashells, and all different fish. Our knowledgeable crew will guide you through

thefun and interesting sights while answering anyquestions you may have.”

The boat will then set sail for theGulf of Mexicofor some more dolphin watching. Thenit’s back to Panama City Beach for some of Island Time Sailing’sfamous rumpunch.

“Wealwayshopethe conditions will line up just right andit’s pretty rare nottosee dolphins, but theitinerary is basedonthe

weather andconditions foryour safety andenjoyment,” the website notes. “The cruise back to the dock is afun sailing party at Panama City Beach with upbeat music, gamesand dancing.”

The Dolphin Sunset Cruise is shorter, relaxing andmore family-friendly.The two-hour cruise takesvisitors by St. Andrews State Park andthenonward to the Gulf of Mexicoand back alltosee Panama City Beach’s famous ﬂippered friends.

“The dolphins areusually plentiful during oursunset dolphin tours, andwesometimes catch aglimpse of themleaping out of water or seeababyswimming alongside mom,” according to the website. “Even our locallybasedcrewgetsexcited for those special occasions! If the Gulf is a little rough, ourdolphin watching sailing cruise headsthrough St. Andrews Bay, plentiful with dolphins andbrilliant sunsets over the water.”

Howmuchdoesitcost?

The Shell Island Snorkel &Sail package, which includessnorkel gear,costs $49 for people 13 and older, $35 for children3to12and $10 for infants up to 2yearsold. The Dolphin Sunset Cruise costs $49 for people 13 and older and $35 for youngerchildren.

Two-dollarsnacksand nonalcoholic drinks will be available through eitherpackage, as well as stocked bars for alcoholic drinks. To book,visit islandtimesailing.com/catamaran-sailingtrip-rates/

Airlinechanges flight,ruins plansand won’trefundmoney

Christopher Elliott

arefund would be no problem, so I submitted arequest through their online form.To my dismay,American Airlines rejected my refund request and only offered me a flight credit that expires in ayear Given that Ihad to buy awhole new ticket because of their unannounced schedule change, is there anyway Ican getafull refund from American Airlines? —Erica Remer, Beachwood, Ohio

Youshould have received clear and timely notiﬁcation about your

ﬂight change. According to AmericanAirlines’conditions of carriage, the legal agreement between you and the airline, you’re entitledtoafull refund if the carrier reschedules your ﬂight by more than four hours.

Theairline shouldhave notified you of the schedule change well in advance of your departure. While they notified you of the first, minor change, the lack of communication about the second, more drastic change, is unacceptable.

When you contacted AmericanAirlinestoaddress the issue, the agent should have sent you a written conﬁrmation of your refund eligibility. Instead, you received averbal assurance —followed by awritten denial.

While nonrefundable airline tickets generally don’t qualify for cash refunds, signiﬁcant schedule changes, especially those involving internationalﬂights, often warrant exceptions. TheDepartmentof Transportation mandates airlines toissue refunds

for “signiﬁcant”delays. Under its new consumer protections adopted last year,that’s deﬁned as any change exceedingsix hoursfrom theoriginal departure or arrival times.

Butthis doesn’tapply to canceled flights, and alook at your itinerary suggests American canceled your flight and rebooked you on adifferent one. For a canceled flight, you always have theoption of afull refund.

Bottom line: American can’tkeep your money and offer you an expiring ﬂight credit. Abrief, polite email to oneofthe American Airlines executives Ilist on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org, may have helped you get what you deserved. As Ireview your correspondence, it looks like you werestuck talking to an AI bot Icontacted American Airlines on your behalf.

The airline reviewed your case and issued afull refund of your original ﬂight to your credit card, which is what you requested Toobad it took my team’s intervention to achieve this

LasVegas to welcomenew horror convention in October

BYJASON BRACELIN

Las VegasReview-Journal (TNS)

LAS VEGAS From the bloodred, blood-thirsty ’58 Plymouth Fury in “Christine” to Ash Williams’ dented ’73 Oldsmobile Delta 88 in “The Evil Dead” series to the Ghostbusters’iconic hearse/ ambulance hybrid, carsand horror ﬂicks go together like rubber and asphalt.

Isn’titabout time, then, for something that caters to fans of both?

Answering in the afﬁrmative is Nightmare in Vegas, which will debutatthe Silverton on Oct. 4-5asanovel combinationofahorrorconvention and classic car show

Though Vegas already hosts the popular “Days of the Dead” horrorcon at the Plaza in January,this willbe the city’sﬁrst outdoor gathering of its kind. It all began last year, when friendsand

NightmareinVegas founders Darlene Seguin and Amy Acevedobegan kicking aroundthe ideaofdeveloping anew event predicated upon their shared loveof horror

“Wewere like, ‘That’dbe so great if wehad ahorror con in Vegas,’ because we attendalot of horror conventions in theL.A.area, in California, and we love haunts,”

Seguin said. “So we said, ‘Let’sdosomething different. We’re in Vegas; Vegas is thecityofentertainment, andwelove classic cars.’ Classiccars and horrorjust kind ofgotogether.”

Theidea is to make a Nightmare in Vegasafull-on festival of frights.

“We’llhave food trucks, differentvendors,celebrity guest signings from, like, old slasher movies, like ‘Friday the 13th’ormaybe someof thecast from ‘Halloween,’

Seguin said. “We’re still lining up alot of people.We’re goingtohavea stage with bands, andit’sgoing to be a variety of rock music, metal some rap.”

Seguin sees Nightmare in Vegas becoming an annual event.

Vegas alreadyboastsa solid andgrowing horrorrelated infrastructure, from local shops like Cemetery Pulp andBlaspheme Boutique, abevyofimmersive attractionslike “Experience It” and“EscapeBlair Witch” andthe forthcomingUniversal Horror Unleashed coming to Area15 late thisyear

“Wejust want topromote small businesses and really put Vegasonthe map when it comes to thehorrorcommunity,”Seguin said.. “Vegas —you know what? one day we’regonna be the horror entertainmentcapital world.

outcome. If you’re ever in this situation again, remember to cite the airline’s contract of carriage and DOT rules to get what you deserve.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, anonproﬁt organization that helps consumerssolve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him on his site.

The homemade dolmas that live on and on

BY YVONNE BAHRY

CABALLERO Contributing writer

Having traveled from the hills of Lebanon to the United States in the late 1800s, my grandparents, John and Rose Bahry, and other Lebanese families established a mercantile community in Donaldsonville.

Human Condition

My grandmother (Sietie) and grandfather (Jedo) had five surviving children. My father Ede, was the oldest son, his brother Ellis the youngest It was my Uncle Ellis who started planting grapevines, first in the backyard of the family business and then in the yard of his nephews and nieces. Where he got the first plant is unknown. There was not a vine at the Chetimaches Street house, the first home of my grandparents nor at the homes of the other Lebanese families. And,

there was no plant nursery nearby Maybe that ﬁrst plant was acquired on one

‘STAR WARS’

Continued from page 1D

A 7-year-old Kaufman saw himself, as many that summer did, as the hero of the story with a fascination for science, astronomy and Western ﬁlms.

“That remote part of the galaxy shattered my perception of what the world is and what the world is to be,” Kaufman said. “It was one of the most profound things to happen to me as a kid.” He then turned to his parish library and devoured every science ﬁction novel he could ﬁnd.

Now, Kaufman has children, nieces, nephews, family and friends with whom he can enjoy his fandom.

In 2015, when “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” came out, Kaufman rented out a Lafayette theater for his friends and family to watch with him.

“All of a sudden,” Kaufman said. “I was worried I wouldn’t have enough tickets. Every single seat in that theater was filled.” Although Kaufman is a traditionalist and loves the first three films, he enjoys having new experiences with his children, who are now young adults, and seeing the universe expand — especially with his favorite character, Han Solo.

“‘Star Wars’ is just silly, easy fun,” he said. “I’m a big, giant ‘Star Wars’ nerd. I accept. I acknowledge, and I am proud of it.” Taking the force global Scott Jarreau, 29, is a prequel baby His love for “Star Wars” came about in 1999 when the second iteration of ﬁlms hit the theaters. Jarreau’s love for the universe never stopped.

“I have vivid memories of seeing the pod race scene and ‘The Phantom Menace’ and the Darth Maul fight at the end,” Jarreau said “I could almost recall the whole movie as an adult.” In April 2025, the Star Wars Celebration conference in Japan hosted nearly 100,000 “Star Wars” fanatics to meet actors, listen in on talks about the franchise and get the latest on the universe’s new lore. Jarreau has been to many of these celebrations, but

this year, he was chosen to give a presentation on midichlorians at the conference in Japan. Midi-chlorians are the microscopic, sentient lifeforms that connect living beings to the Force in the “Star Wars” universe.

His extensive knowledge and research that he presents on his YouTube channel and podcast, “Bombadcast,” made him the perfect presenter to fans from around the world The channel’s most viral video featured Jarreau in tears after watching the trailer for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” with over 6 million views.

“Our podcast is a little bit more niche in the sense that we look at the obscure and weird things in ‘Star Wars,’” Jarreau said. “The things that most people, most very common fans, don’t acknowledge or recognize.”

His 176-slide, dissertation-level, one-hour presentation was titled “Midichlorians: An Alliance of Science, Mythology and Magic.”

“I analyzed the topic of midi-chlorians from a philosophical, a metaphorical, a biological and a lower point of view as well. I really broke down the subject in terms of what George Lucas intended for it to be,” Jarreau said The panel room in Japan was packed with just under 200 people. Jarreau even provided translations for the Japanese fans in attendance. At the conference, where Jarreau was joined with his wife, he launched a self-published book about the topic as well.

“It was quite an experience for me,” Jarreau said. “Something that I had worked on in private and put a lot of work into and debuted there, which is a perfect place to debut a book among all ‘Star Wars’ fans.”

For the last six years, the Baton Rouge native has taught at St. Theresa Middle School, instructing a ﬁlm studies class where he focuses on cinema and the history of special effects.

“I’m showing them why I love it,” Jarreau said. “In the technicality of how these things get made.”

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com

of his motorcycle jaunts to other states.

As a teenager, I remember riding down the La. 308 side of Bayou Lafourche until Sietie spotted a wild vine growing in the trees. My Aunt Mary John would stop the car, we’d get out and pull the vine down and take the “gold” home. Leaves from that wild grape vine would be used the next day for dolmas, stuffed grape leaves. Fast forward to the early 1950s. Uncle Ellis has purchased a first grapevine plant and positioned it in the backyard of the structure that housed the family business on the first floor and living quarters on the second floor The vine grows under his loving care. A year later, his mother has a supply of grape leaves from the vine in her backyard and no longer has to go “on a hunt” for grape leaves.

CURIOUS

Continued from page 1D

credited with the invention of the Bowie knife and Alamo heroics in ﬁghting for Texas’ independence from Mexico alongside Davy Crockett and William Travis.

If Wells’ name sounds familiar, it was his family who bred the racehorse Lecomte in Smith’s Landing, which would be renamed the champion equine in 1854.

More men in the fight

“But there were more men in that ﬁght,” Whipp said. “Who were they and what is the real story of how the ﬁght started?”

Central Louisiana historian Michael Wynne has spent the last two years searching for this answer His interest was piqued several years ago after purchasing a pamphlet about the brawl in a Natchez antiques store.

“I’d read reviews on the back of the pamphlet that said it was the best account of the ﬁght ever written, but it left so much unanswered,” the Alexandria resident said.

So, he started his own search, first finding the names of all the men in that Sept. 19, 1827, fight, then hunting down their personal stories from that day Stories matched up

Wynne discovered that their stories actually matched up. In fact, he gathered so much information that he was able to piece together the entire story into a book, “’What’s Murder Among Friends ‘: The True Story of the Great Sand Bar Duel of 1827, And Jim Bowie too!”

What started it all? Politics. It’s as simple as that.

“Politics hasn’t changed,” Wynne said, laughing. “Neither has people’s reactions to it.”

Seventeen men brawled that day

“Problems were solved back then by duel, not by arguments, lawsuits or mediation,” Wynne said.

“The ﬁrst place named for the duel was Burr’s Ferry on the Sabine River in what was long known as the neutral strip. It was changed to the sandbar because of fear of roaming bandits on the Sabine River.”

Dueling was outlawed in both Louisiana and Mississippi, but the sandbar supposedly belonged to neither state, with its location in the river

“The river has shifted since then, and the location of the sandbar is no longer

AT RANDOM

Continued from page 1D

Then, Uncle Ellis begins to root plants from cuttings of that original vine. As the cuttings establish roots and grow into starter vines, he travels to the home of a niece or nephew, selects a sunny spot in their backyard and plants it. This “sharing of plants” from the original vine continued into the next generation.

My daughter Adrien has one of Uncle Ellis’ vines that has traveled to at least three different locations as she and her family moved from one home to another over the years. She has rooted plants from cuttings of her vine and shared with her siblings. Adrien’s vine continues to ﬂourish and is the source of leaves for making dolmas for her family

My daughter Alicia left a vine growing on the fence at a previous residence that continues to thrive. She vis-

its, with permission of the present residents, at that location to pick grape leaves for the next pot of dolmas for her family

And, there is a vine, also a cutting from the original vine, in Pierre Part at the home of my son Kyle. By the way, one of my uncle’s original plantings survives in the yard of my sister Peggy in Donaldsonville and also at my brother’s home in Plaquemine. My Uncle Ellis would be proud to see that his vines live on. — Caballero lives in Baton Rouge. Human Condition submissions of 600 words or fewer may be emailed to features@theadvocate. com. Stories will be kept on ﬁle and publication is not guaranteed. There is no payment for Human Condition.

City

there,” Wynne said.

What caused the ruckus?

Now comes the big question: What caused the ruckus?

“Newcomers to Central Louisiana in the 1820s vigorously attacked the power base of the old established planters,” Wynne said. “Politics, banking, money, land and honor were all hotly contested. These two factions, newcomers versus longestablished families, each sided with the prominent political parties of the day.”

The newcomers sided with the Jacksonian Democrats led by presidential candidate Gen. Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans. The old liners were on the side of Whig Party whose presidential candidate was John Quincy Adams.

“The two factions had grown so bitter toward each other that they would not even frequent the same Alexandria beer taverns,” Wynne said. “To make matters worse, the presidential election of 1824 remained in doubt for some time. Congress had to ﬁnally resolve the issue.” Adams was ultimately sworn into ofﬁce. Jackson eventually would beat Adams in 1828, but tempers re-

a kind of theater that thrives in Louisiana until summer drives us inside to air conditioning, Netﬂix, and a cool corner with a good book while we keep a vigil for fall. I know that weeks are coming when I’ll mostly spot my neighbors as we wearily wave to each other from behind lawnmowers, leaf blowers or the nozzles of garden hoses on days with little rain. Our small

mained hot until that time.

Add to that local politics, a late Whig Party sheriff was replaced through the sketchy political appointment of Democrat Norris Wright. Wright was also the director of the bank in Alexandria and used this power to refuse loan applications submitted by opposing political party members, including Bowie, who was a friend of the previous sheriff.

It’s complicated

“The sandbar free-forall was not just two political factions squaring off against each other,” Wynne said. “The causes of the sandbar duel and the subsequent bloody ﬁght were complicated and highly emotional in nature. Each person that traveled to Natchez from Alexandria had a personal ax to grind or grudge to settle with at least one member of the opposition group.”

On the list of brawlers with Bowie were Samuel Levi Wells III, who would be elected Rapides Parish sheriff in 1840, then to the Louisiana House of Representatives; Concordia Parish District Judge George McWhorter, later Louisiana State Treasurer and Baton Rouge newspaper publisher; medical doctors Richard

part of the world will also grow quieter as families go on vacation, the neighborhood gripped in its deep spell of sleep until school bells stir everyone awake.

Cuny, Thomas Maddox, James Denny William Cox and William Provan; Louisiana Militia Adjutant Gen. Samuel Cuny; plantation owner and horse breeder Thomas Wells, who bred Lecomte; plantation owners Robert Crain, William Barnard and Carey Blanchard; Alfred Blanchard, who assisted in running Cary Blanchard’s plantation; Mississippi State Rep. John Nevitt; Sheriff Norris Wright; and failed grocery store owner David Wood. Maddox and Samuel Wells were the initial duelists, each ﬁring four bullets and missing. Just when it seemed differences were settled, Bowie, Cuny and Thomas Wells jumped into the fray to settle their own disagreements. Then the free-for-all began.

Bowie suffers injuries

“Bowie was stabbed and shot a total of ﬁve times,” Wynne said. “He wasn’t expected to survive, but he recuperated in Natchez. Wright and Cuny died from their wounds.” Even though dueling was against the law, no one was prosecuted for these deaths.

“The sandbar duel is considered the second most noteworthy duel in the nation,” Wynne said. “The best known was Aaron Burr’s 1804 duel with Alexander Hamilton, who died.” Unlike Hamilton, there are no musicals dedicated to the sandbar ﬁght.

“But it would make a great movie,” Wynne said.

Do you have a question about something in Louisiana that’s got you curious? Email your question to curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and the city where you live.

With any luck, we won’t have any hurricanes this summer to test our neighborhood’s resolve. It’s good to know, though, that I live among neighbors I also count as friends. The country is frayed in many places and repairing what’s broken will be hard. Maybe we should start by connecting with the folks next door

Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman. com.

PROVIDED IMAGE By MICHAEL D. WyNNE

Michael Wynne found this newspaper illustration in his research showing the aftermath of the duel which turned into a brawl on a sandbar between Vidalia and Natchez, Miss. The incident became known as the Sandbar Fight and involved 15 prominent men, with Alamo hero Jim Bowie among them

PROVIDED PHOTO By HISTORICAL MARKER DATABASE

The

of Vidalia’s marker commemorating the Sandbar Fight is located on Front Street near the U.S Post Office.

PROVIDED PHOTO By HENRy KAUFMAN

family of Henry Kaufman dressed up as Star Wars characters for their friends and family premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015.

Unsolicitedgreetinginterruptschewing

Dear Miss Manners: From theﬁles of “good manners run amok,” is it ever impolite to be friendly?

Iwork in abustling environment where my sole 30-minute break is in a sharedbreak room, where Iliketoread or just eatquietly and enjoythe peacefulness. One colleague comes in daily to usethe microwaveand always announces her entrance with avery loud and cheerful, “Hello, everybody!”

that she is, in fact, the one committing theerror in etiquette?

Gentle reader: Oh,please. Greeting colleagues is rude because it interferes with chewing?

Miss Mannersisafraid that whatever time you spent working remotely has warped your idea of collegial behavior

mirror What would be theproper way to respond?

Gentlereader: “Really?” in atone of extreme surprise, and with ahand up to your hair.Miss Manners would probably add, “Do you have amirror Icould borrow?”

By The Associated Press

Today is Sunday,May 4, the 124th day of 2025. There are 241 days leftinthe year

Todayinhistory

On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened ﬁre on student demonstrators during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

Twominutes later,having made no other conversation, she leaves withan equally boisterous, “Have agood afternoon,everybody!”

When she makes these announcements, most people choose to interrupt their conversations, their chewing or their quiet activities to respond in kind …twice. It feels rudenot to. I, however,ignore her well-meaning but general and, in my opinion, disruptive salutations and remain silent. But it has become adailyannoyance to me, as Ican’tshake the feeling that Iamobligated to reply

Is it impolite to ignore such untargeted greetings, or am Icorrect in thinking

It is true that having to treat co-workersasdear friends was afarce that may now be recognized as such.

Youneedn’tengage in conversations unrelated to work or socialize with them after hours.

Butyou dohave to observe the decency of recognizing their presence. Even if it means sacriﬁcing thereading time it takes you to say hello.

Dear Miss Manners: Iaminmylate 20s but have been goinggray since preschool. My hairisnow about 95% gray.Ilike it, andget many compliments aboutit, to which Ialwayssay thank you and answer anyquestions.

What confuses me is that at leastonce amonth,I getaskedbyastranger if I knowthat Ihave gray hair.Not if it’s natural,orwhat age Iwent gray,but “Do youknow youhave gray hair?”

This boggles my mind—yes, Iam aware of my own hair color.Ihave mirrors. It’salso long enough that Ican see it comingdownmyshoulders without a

Butfor those wanting less drama, perhaps “Thank you for lettingmeknow.”

Or just “Thank you,” with the presumption that it must be meantasacompliment

Dear Miss Manners: My husband andI are invited to our neighbor’shigh school graduation next month.The neighbor’s last name starts with aCand my husband suggested that we depart theceremony after our neighbor crosses the stage. Iﬁnd this rude, but Ialso understand these ceremonies are lengthy and this is asenior class of 450. What’syour opinion on this?

Gentlereader: That you should leave either after Zorbefore A. By the latter solution, Miss Manners meansdeclining theinvitation, with warm congratulationstothe neighbors.

Send questions to Miss Mannersather website, www.missmanners.com or to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail. com.

On this date: In 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, alabor demonstration foran8-hour workday turned into adeadly riot when abomb exploded, killing seven police ofﬁcers and at least four civilians.

In 1904, the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal from France. In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the ﬁrst naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircrafts, began in the Paciﬁc during World War II. (The outcome wasconsidered atactical victory forJapan, but ultimately astrategic victory forthe Allies.)

In 1961, the ﬁrst group of “Freedom Riders” leftWashington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.

In 1998, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski wasgiven four lifesentences plus 30 years by afederal judge in Sacramento, California, under aplea agreement that spared him the death penalty

In 2006, afederal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to lifeinprison forhis role in the 9/11 attacks, telling the convicted terrorist, “You will die with awhimper.”

Dear Heloise: Robert L.B., inVermont, wrote about aceramicwax cleaner that was newer and awesome, buthedidn’t give the name of theproduct. Iwould liketoknow what it is. Thankyou! —T.K., in Nebraska T.K., the author of the letter did not mention the name. However,you can type in “ceramic wax”online and see if there is one that you can order.Oryou can ask an antique dealerorastore that sells ceramicswhat they recommend Heloise

Thelaststraw

Dear Heloise: Regarding theperson reusing straws, do you think if you put them in the dishwasher to clean them thatthe inside of the straw is goingtobewashed and clean? All kinds of germs will stay insidethe straw.Plus, most dishwashers will melt the straw in the drying cycle. Bestre-

gards! —D.M., in Texas

D.M., they now makemetal straws, and I’vebought heavy-duty straws made from thick plastic.

Youmight be able toﬁnd them in agrocery store or online. To clean them, just soak them in an oblong dish of warm, soapy water,then run warm water througheach straw Shouldyou sterilize the straws? No. However,they will be clean this way

Heloise

Acoupleofhints

Dear Heloise: Iwanted to add acouple additional thoughtsoncracked/dry hands and straws: My manicurist says rubbing olive oil into your hands, especially at bedtime, is the best thing to use. Isave used straws for ﬂower beds and potstostake up plants. Iespecially like the green ones from my favorite coffee shop. Speaking of coffee, I’m still waiting to see additional uses for used coffee

grounds. My coffee shop alsooffers their used grounds and nicely packages them. —Susi E., in Oklahoma Susi, areader wrote in recently about his uses for coffee grounds. Here it is: Coffee ground uses

Dear Heloise: Every year,Ihad problems with ticks and ﬂeas until aneighbor gave me asimple trick that actually worked. He told me to sprinkle coffee grounds all over my yard. It can be fresh or used grounds.I saved used coffee grounds in aplastic bag until Iasked theowner of a local coffee shop to let me have his used grounds.He’d dump them in aplastic grocery bag, which Iwould pick up a couple of times aweek.

I’ve found that my ticks and ﬂeas vanished once Istarted doing this early on every spring. Iusually do it every other month now,and Istill don’thave those disease-carrying little pests. —JasonF., in Houston Send ahinttoheloise@heloise.com.

In 2011, President Barack Obamasaid he had decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden because their graphic nature could incite violence and create national security risks. Officials told The Associated Press that the NavySEALs whostormed bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan shot and killed him after they saw him appear to reach foraweapon. In 2023, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the farright extremist group wereconvicted of aplot to attack the U.S. Capitol in adesperate bid to keep Donald Trumpinpower after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election. (Tarrio waslater sentenced to 22 years in prison, but waspardoned by TrumponJan. 20, 2025, the first day of Trump’ssecond term in office.)

Today’sbirthdays: Jazz musician Ron Carter is 88. Pulitzer Prize-winning political commentator George Will is 84. Actor Richard Jenkins is 78. Country singer Randy Travis is 66. Comedian Ana Gasteyer is 58. Actor Will Arnett is 55. Basketball Hall of Famer Dawn Staley is 55. Rock musician Mike Dirnt (Green Day) is 53. Designer and TV personality Kimora Lee Simmonsis50. Sportscaster/TV host Erin Andrewsis47. Singer Lance Bass (NSYNC) is 46. Actor Ruth Negga is 44. Golfer Rory McIlroy is 36.

DININGSCENE

Onelastvisit to innovative MoPhoand Maypop

Owners make thecall to shutteramid business declines

By the time the chickenwings arrived, gleaming with alemongrass andginger ﬁsh sauce caramel, the lunch crowd at MoPho had packed the room. It felt like the old days. But there was abackbeat of sadness to the bustle; people have been coming out because these are its lastdays. Afew hours later Iturned up for a very early dinner reservation at Maypop, the more upscale downtownNew Orleans sibling restaurant to MoPho. It was thesame storyhere —a full house, ajostling bar,and the knowledge that this was the last waltz.

WHAT S COOKING Ian WHAT’S

McNulty

This was deadline dining. Both restaurants will close after service on Sunday (May 4), chef Michael Gulotta and his business partner Jeff Bybee announced last week. Business has been sliding at both restaurants, and this boost at the end doesn’tchange theoverall outlook. With summer coming, they made the call Whythey’re closing

For Maypop, the drop in business was dramatically abetted by the partial collapse of the historic building directly across the street. That happened in mid-December. All these months later,the block is open to trafﬁc but heavily obscured by barriers in the road, making it look like a contested border crossing.That makes it easier to forget aboutthe restaurant, and many people did. Not even the Super Bowl brought much of abump.

MoPho is an anytime-casual spot that seemed to be work into people’shabits and patterns, embedded in the Mid-City dining circuit. But habits can change and many of them did through the pandemic. The restaurant’s ﬁnances neverreallyrecovered, the partners told me. Then there’s the bifurcated

announced it will close.

compulsion that comes with following ourrestaurant scene. There is always something new comingalong and sometimes these join our regular list. And yetwestill try to make time (and room in ourdining budgets) for placesthat speak to us withconsistent satisfaction through the years.

Sometimes we only rememberhow much we likeaplace when we hear that its days are numbered. I’m certain thereare many local restaurants on the

edge right now.Don’tthink for a second that your business won’t makeadifference, especially as summer sinks itsteeth in again.

More than fusion

The shorthand for what MoPho and Maypop do could be called fusion, but their food has always been about more than riffing on Southeast Asian influences. It’s about chasing flavor with an opendoor policy for theingredients and techniques that get thejob done. These are ambitious,af-

fable restaurants with their own cuisine, created by the talent that has contributed to their stories through the years. Maypop was high on my list of recommendations forpeople with adventurous palates who want something truly different. MoPho is where I’ve parked my own comfort food cravings, not necessarily for the same thing all the time, but for atrusted house style.

Pho is abig part of the menu, but this has never been the place to go head-to-head with your favorite Vietnamese noodle parlor.It’salways been about using the trove of ﬂavors from Southeast Asian cooking to create something fresh and compelling and still approachable when you’ve gotthe kids along or it’sjust aMonday and you want someone else to cook and pour a glass of wine. Closing arestaurant is no happy affair,and it can be anguishing for people whohave devoted themselves to the venture. But when the time comes, someways to do it are better than others. We’ve seen cases where people, including staff, turn up to ﬁnd locked doors.

MoPho and Maypop have done it the rightway.When the own-

ARTS &CULTURE

ers madetheir decision, they let people know ahead of time. It gives staffsome time to figure out what’snext. And it gives fans achance to come back, maybe send them off in somewhat better shape and get alast taste. Last meals, long memories At Maypop there were the annatto-flavored rolls with afunky shellfish jam to spread along with the butter; the chaat salad, seemingly simple but asignature under the crunch of acashew crepe; the house-made garganelli pasta, tender and toothsome with gravy mixing crawfish tails and Italian nduja sausage; and amiso butterscotch panna cotta with ajiggle to its texture and adepth of flavor At MoPho, those chicken wings, almost candied but also salty and meatyand sour,led to the lemon grass queso dip with cracklin’ to dredge and herbs to brighten and then lambinagreen curry with “trail mix” of salty crunch.

Aversion of MoPho does persist at the airport, where in the concourse, there’saMoPho operated under license by the master concessionaire.

And someofthe sameDNA resides at TANA (2919 Metairie Road, 504-533-8262), the upscale Italian restaurant Gulotta and Bybee opened with partners in 2023. Here, the chef points his culinary creativity at his family roots (in Sicily) and early training (in Liguria).

The menumixes the simplicity of fresh pasta and robust sauce next to morecomplex dishes that build layers of ﬂavor Maypop and MoPho were popular restaurants, evidenced in part by the number of people whohave been in my ear about the newsoftheir closing and who showed up forlast meals. But popular is not the sameasbusy, not when it’stimetopay the bills and when those bills seem ever rising.

Still, these restaurants were both successful in creating something original and memorable; hopefully,the people whoworked there and whomade them that way can take that success into what they do next.

Email Ian McNultyat imcnulty@theadvocate.com.

Vietnamese-AmericanexperienceisexploredatN.O.museum

The Republic of Vietnam fell 50 years and afew days ago, launching adiaspora spanning decades. For many,the ﬂight to safety began aboard perilously overcrowded boats. Others followed the exodus years later

An exhibit at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, “Hoa Tay(Flower Hands),” on view through Sept. 21, marksthe anniversary with worksbyVietnamese American artists from throughout the South, adestination for many due to the region’ssubtropical climate, its shrimping and ﬁshing industries, and the sponsorship of Catholic Charities. TheLouisiana population of those with Vietnamese lineage is estimated to exceed 30,000.

“Flower Hands” is aVietnamese expression for achild with distinctive ﬁngerprint whirls, said to be asign of artistic talent. The piece on the exhibit’stitle wall, “Kiss My Grits” by MyLoan Dinh, is apair of boxing gloves with askin of eggshells. Its title comes from the character Flo on the 1970s sitcom “Alice” and is “a deeply Southern expression of deﬁance,” says the text there.

“Wedeﬁnitely wanted this piece to be front and center of the show,” said collaborating curator Uyen Dinh. “It just represents to me alot about the resilience of the Vietnamese people.

“MyLoan is from NorthCarolina.She wasactuallyarefugee, and one thing we likeabout this

show alot is that there’sareally wide range of experiences in the show.You have artists who areborn and raised in Vietnam and then moved here when they were, like, 25. Youhave artists like MyLoan, who is one of the Boat People. And you have children of the Boat People.

“We’ve got alot of layers of experience in that way.”

Detached representationsofwar Aclockwisejourney through theexhibit (which includes several pieces outside of the main gallery) continues withtwo pieces (by Louisiana artists Christian

Dinh and Kimberly Ha)that subtlyaddress the Vietnamese presence in the nail-salonbusiness.

Afollowing photo collage by Texas artist BrandonTho Harrisalsoreferences the nail-salon theme.

The piece’s dominant image is ahand with extraordinarily long, embellished nails. Elsewhere in thepiece, archivalVietnam War photos mixwith family portraits.

“A lot of these arearchival images he collected throughout the yearsbut areobviously incorporated with very idiosyncratic marks of individuality,” curator Dinh said.

“The artist is very young. Alot of the artists in this exhibition are really young, but they have to reconcile withunderstanding this verypublic warthat is only given to them through images and familial trauma that sort of trickled down

“AndIthink Brandon is really trying to question: What does it mean to viewsomething so personal through such adetached lens and detached representationsofthe war?”

Midway through the exhibit, a multimedia piece by Lien Truong of North Carolina addresses the gloriﬁcation of empire Andrew Jacksonand U.S. Grant are amongthe recognizable ﬁgures. Also present are a16th-century Spanish fort in Puerto Rico anda swatch of the green curtain dress from “Gone with the Wind.”

“In this piece, she’s …pushing back against those colonial perspectives —obscuring some of it but combining themaswell in a really interesting way,”saidSelina McKane,curatorial and exhibitions manager at the Ogden. “It’sone of the more complicated pieces in terms of narrative becausethere’s so muchshe’s touching on.”

Also,giventhe necessary contemplation, agreat location for a bench.

No-NoBoy

The exhibition concludes with a videoinstallationbyNo-No Boy, aproject of the husband-andwife team JulianLinh Saporiti andEmilia Halvorsen Saporiti. Amusic-and-scholarship hybrid thatproduced two albums(the ﬁrst titled1975) andtwo national performance tours, No-No Boyis representedinthe exhibit with videos for two songs, “Mekong Baby” and“Tell Hanoi ILove Her.”

Centeredbetween the screens is astage jacket,doneinthe style of Nudie suits for country stars, made by Emilia forJulian. He’s wearing it in the “Tell Hanoi ILoveHer”video, which Emilia directed On the jacket’s back,adragon battlesa bald eagle. On the front arescenes from Vietnam (where Julian’smotherlived until 1968) as well as scenes from Julian’s childhood as “a half-Vietnamese kid in Nashville”(his fatherwas amarketing executive forWarnerBros. Records).

“Through war andloss, we keep living, keep doing our best,” Julianwritesinexplanatory text. “Weare notﬂat people, not blackand-white photosofour most traumatic eras,not just ‘refugees.’ I’m in aweofmymother, hersisterand their mom. They have livedwith instructional grace andperseverance. They have handleddeath, displacement andbrokenfamilies with art, faith andlove.”

Dave Walkerfocuses on behindthe-scenes coverage of the region’s many museumshere and at www.themuseumgoer com. Email Daveatdwalkertp@ gmail.com.

Miso butterscotchpanna cotta finishes ameal at Maypop.

STAFF PHOTOSByIAN MCNULTy

Chef Michael Gulotta talks at MoPho with Pauline Patterson, in town visiting during the week the restaurant

PROVIDED PHOTO By OGDENMUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART

In amultimedia piece by Lien Truong on the glorification of empire, AndrewJackson and U.S. Grant are among the recognizable figures.

Dave Walker

Over 100years andthrough multiple generations, afamily-owned Louisianalumberbusinesstransformed into

BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer

The averagelife spanofa family-owned business is about 24 years,according to industry studies.

BY TIMOTHY BOONE Business editor

The recent sale of aportionofBon Carré Technology Parkfor $9.4 million is the latest step in the evolution of the 800,000-square-footbusiness center, which was built on the site of the ﬁrst indoor shopping mall in Baton Rouge. DartPoints, aDallas-based data center operator,boughtanearly 90,000-squarefoot portionofthe propertythatincludes the two datacenters it operates for $9.4 million. The seller,EdgePWR, paid $8 million when it bought the entire building less than ﬁve years ago. The deal underscores the growing demand for data centers, which have been around for acouple of decadesbut are increasingly important to companies whose massive stores of datacontinue

to multiply.U.S.global data center capacity isprojected to grow by nearly 55% between 2024 and 2027, according to real estate investmentfirm JLL, and even that isn’texpected to keep up with thedemand. DartPoints hasbeeninthe localmarketsince 2023, when it acquiredVenyu, aBaton Rouge-based data center operatorand cloud service provider.Venyu’s twodata centers in Bon Carré take up about 55,000 square feet on the ground floorofthe massive building. Andre van Zijl, chiefrevenue officer forDartPoints, said 20 people workat theBaton Rouge data center,whose clientsinclude health care providers, insurancecompanies andlegal firms Most of the customers are basedwithin

ä See DATA CENTER, page 2E

ä See LUMBER, page 2E

TheRobinsonLumberCo., a south Louisiana stalwart, has that number beat by more than a century The132-year-old New Orleansbasedwood manufacturer and wholesaler predates several venerable institutions in itshometown, including LoyolaUniversity and theSaengerTheatre. Despite its advancedage, the global venture is reporting its highest-ever annual revenues roughly$100million—boosted by apost-pandemic spike in

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK Bon CarréTechnologyPark in Baton Rougehas undergone decades of reinvention.

STAFFPHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Garner Robinson is chair and CEO of Robinson Lumber Co., founded in 1893 by Charles WesleyRobinson to sell American longleaf pine. The nowglobal venture is reporting its highest-everannual revenues —roughly $100 million— boosted by apost-pandemic spikeinlumber prices and strategic movesfrom the fifth generation of the family,which is promoting the sustainability of its company’sproduct line.

Toto and Wesley Robinson pose with aframed portrait of C.W Robinson, founder of their 132-year-old family company.

STAFF PHOTO By RICH COLLINS

Average property tax bill in Louisiana up 10%

The average property tax bill on a single-family home in Louisiana rose 10% last year but was still about a third of the average tax bill in Texas, data shows.

In 2024, the average Louisiana property tax bill was $1,585, the third straight increase driven by rising property values, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.

The average property tax bill in Texas was $4,298, which was a decrease for the second straight year, data shows.

The average effective tax rate was 0.66% in Louisiana, which was up for the second straight year In Texas, the average rate last year was 1.11%, which was down for the second straight year In Lafayette Parish, the average property tax bill was $1,509, putting it in the top third of parishes.

The three highest property tax parishes were Orleans ($3,781), St. Tammany ($2,584) and East Baton Rouge ($2,104).

Louisiana ranked in the bottom third among states with the lowest average tax bill, while Texas was in 14th. Texas was second in the country in total property taxes collected at $35.2 billion, behind only California and a fraction of the $2.2 billion collected in Louisiana, data shows.

One Acadiana lands grant to fund training course

One Acadiana landed a $5,000 grant to pilot a workforce training program to prepare inmates for careers in construction and other skilled trades through the Lafayette-based Master’s Guild Association.

The grant will fund one class of 10-15 participants and include a 10-hour introduction course developed by MGA as a practical, low-cost and low-risk way for employers to connect with motivated people set to re-enter the workforce, One Acadiana ofﬁcials announced Monday

Participants will be introduced to foundational skills in construction — including measurement, tool use, blueprint reading and industry vocabulary — and get coached by local contractors.

Graduates can be placed on job sites as soon as they are eligible to work after release.

Drone logistics company

to open office downtown

A company specializing in drone logistics that will deliver timesensitive supplies plans to open an ofﬁce in Lafayette.

Blueﬂite will set up shop in the Opportunity Machine downtown and become part of the region’s

health care and technology ecosystem connecting with the local tech and aerospace technology experts, ofﬁcials with the Lafayette Economic Development Authority announced Friday

The company is being backed by a $250,000 investment from Ochsner Louisiana Innovation Fund, a $10 million fund established by Ochsner Health, in partnership with Louisiana Economic Development via the State Small Business Credit Initiative to support early-stage health companies in Louisiana.

The move is part of a broader growth trajectory for Blueflite, which is headquartered outside of Detroit, and local leaders say additional and increasingly stronger partnerships will follow as it scales from its base of support in Louisiana.

“We’re excited about this investment, which positions Blueflite to transform medical logistics,”

Blueﬂite CEO Frank Noppel said.

“Our drone technology delivers critical supplies like blood and medications with unmatched speed, precision and reliability, improving health care delivery and saving lives.”

Blueﬂite established a partnership with Acadian Ambulance in 2023 for the drone-based system to offer delivery of blood products and medical tools to crash victims

and emergency responders.

“Blueﬂite’s advanced logistics technology will strengthen and contribute to the ongoing growth of our local innovation ecosystem,” LEDA President and CEO Mandi Mitchell said. “We fully embrace pioneering technology companies in Lafayette, and we’re especially excited about Blueﬂite as their business model crosses multiple of our target industry sectors — logistics, aviation and aerospace, technology and health care.”

Catalyst Bank has drop in net income in Q1

A turbulent market nationally led to a 6.3% drop in net income for Opelousas-based Catalyst Bank in the ﬁrst quarter

Catalyst Bancorp, its parent company, reported a net income of $586,000, down from the $626,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024, ofﬁcials announced.

For the quarter loans totaled $166 million, which was down slightly from the fourth quarter, with the strongest gain coming from industrial equipment and multi-family housing projects, data shows.

Total deposits were $180.6 million as of March 31, down $5.1 million, or 3%, from the previous quarter

About half of Robinson Lumber Co.’s worldwide team works out of an office building on a

company operates in 70 countries.

LUMBER

Continued from page 1E

lumber prices and strategic moves from the ﬁfth generation of the family, which is promoting the sustainability of its company’s product line.

“Wood is good,” Wes Robinson, the company’s hardwood lumber manager, said during a group interview last week in his ofﬁce, where the walls are covered in Honduras pitch pine. “A sustainably managed forest provides wood products to meet global demand, while also sequestering carbon for hundreds of years.” Today, Robinson Lumber has customers in 70 countries and 75 employees worldwide. About half of them work out of an ofﬁce building on a tree-lined lot off Tchoupitoulas Street, just upriver from Barracuda Taco Stand and a few yards away from colorful shipping containers stacked high at the Port of New Orleans.

Robinson family members attribute the company’s longevity to its ability to evolve and pivot over the years, as changing economic conditions warranted They also credit a strategy that has helped them avoid common challenges many family-owned businesses encounter

“We’re really proud that the company has never been inherited,” said Garner Robinson, the company’s 42-year-old CEO. “It’s always been sold from one working generation to another There are a lot of family businesses that don’t have a succession plan in place, and that creates a lot of uncertainty for customers, suppliers, employees and banks.” 19th-century roots

Indiana railroad builder and banker Charles Wesley Robinson founded his namesake company in 1893 to sell American longleaf pine to customers in the U.S. Four years later, he exported his ﬁrst shipment to the Caribbean, which remains a strong market for the company to this day

Continued from page 1E

100 miles of Baton Rouge, but there are some clients in Atlanta and Cincinnati.

“There’s a demand and need for AI at the enterprise level to grow and manage larger workloads,” he said.

Good intentions, failed efforts

Bon Carré was repurposed from Bon Marché, a shopping center that opened at the corner of Florida and Lobdell boulevards in 1960. The center was expanded and enclosed in 1974 in an attempt to get ahead of Cortana Mall, which had started construction about two miles east on Florida.

But that didn’t work. Cortana slowly strangled Bon Marché, as customers flocked to the newer, larger mall. Complicating matters was a pattern of disinvestment along the Florida Boulevard corridor By 1993, Bon Marché was less than 50% occupied.

In 1999, a California developer announced an ambitious $40 million plan to convert Bon Marché into Bon Carré, a mixed-use center with retail, residential and commercial space. There was even talk of putting an ice skating rink that the Baton Rouge Kingﬁsh, the local minor league hockey team, could use as a practice facility

One of the early tenants in Bon Carré was a commercial data center for Houston-based Solid Systems Inc. Bon Carré also became home to the Louisiana Technology Park, a business incubator The state agreed to spend $37.2 million to underwrite the development of the data center portion.

But work on Bon Carré began slowing in the fall of 2001 and came to a halt later that year after one of the investors in the project pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a Ponzi scheme. Though the wrongdoing did not involve Bon Carré, the remaining owners said the scandal wrecked their chances of getting a second round of ﬁnancing for the business park.

Brought back to life?

In 2003, Commercial Properties Realty Trust, the for-proﬁt, real estate arm of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, purchased the 43-acre site in an effort to revitalize the Florida Boulevard corridor and stimulate economic development in the area.

Over the years, it invested heavily in the property as it tried to reposition the development as a hub for research and tech activity in Baton Rouge’s budding entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Robinson Lumber Co. Chair and CEO Garner Robinson holds biochar, a carbon-rich material made from lumber industry byproducts that can be used for soil amendment, wastewater treatment and air filtration.

In the late 1930s, after longleaf pine had become scarce from overexploitation, Robinson’s son

Robert Gibson Robinson opened the company’s ﬁrst international pine manufacturing facility in Nicaragua, which helped supply wood to construct Higgins boats used in World War II and then met demand in a rebuilding Europe

The third and fourth generations of the family continued to scale up, selling more types of wood in more places.

Toto Robinson, a member of the fourth generation and still a company executive, was a key player in the European expansion over the last four decades.

Court Robinson, a company vice president and cousin of Garner and Wes, said the legwork of his predecessors continues to pay off.

“A lot of our customers are still the same 70 years later,” he said.

Leaner operation

At one point, Robinson Lumber owned and operated facilities in Brazil, Honduras and other countries. In 2009, it employed more than 400 employees globally It even owned several ships to transport cargo. But no more.

“There was a time for Americans to do that, but now we’re just not as necessary,” Garner Robinson said. “The world economy is more sophisticated.”

The volatility and shock of the 2008 housing crisis, which caused a slowdown in home building, was one factor that led to a

leaner strategy Ultimately, over the last 15 years, the company chose to focus on manufacturing and wholesaling and to get out of distribution, which required keeping expensive inventory in multiple locations. The company ceased operations at a facility in Chalmette in 2012.

“We prefer to have signiﬁcant foreign partners, but we don’t own factories overseas,” Garner Robinson said “In many cases, we might have just as much capital at risk; it’s just a different kind of risk.”

Robinson said the company has strived to replace ﬁxed costs with variable costs.

“I’d rather you own the warehouse, and I’ll pay you $500 every time we ship something in and out — even if that’s going to cost me more than owning the warehouse myself,” he said. “Because when our volumes go down by 50%, I want to be able to just pay 50% less.”

From Indiana to the world

Today, about a third of the Robinson Lumber’s revenue comes from manufacturing American hardwoods like white oak, which is used for ﬂooring, furniture and millwork.

At the company’s 8-acre facility in New Albany, Indiana, workers dry, sort and process about 6 million feet of lumber from about two dozen regional sawmills for buyers worldwide

The other two-thirds of Robinson’s business is wholesale, which requires buying, selling and shipping lumber from hubs overseas.

“We have many niche customers,” Garner Robinson said “It could be a Danish flooring factory an Italian window factory or scores of Vietnamese furniture factories.”

An important part of the business model, dating back to the company’s origin, is ﬁnancing the time it takes for lumber to dry and be ready for use — and taking on the risk of price changes in the process. “If you’re running a business and you have to keep six months

of raw material sitting out under the sun, that’s a lot of ﬁnancing,”

Garner Robinson said. “We can pay you right now We’ll put it in our yard, and we have the global customer base.”

Over the years, the company has had to adjust its strategy based on changes in market conditions, whether it was the 2008 housing crisis or the 2018 trade war

In 2015, it opened a lumber yard in Winchester, Virginia, with the intention of selling hardwoods to a growing Chinese market, but demand plummeted after tariffs enacted by the first Trump administration in 2018. U.S lumber industry volume dropped signiﬁcantly, and there were no exemptions or subsidies

“It was like accelerating into a brick wall,” Garner Robinson said. “After a few months, once the industry was destroyed, the Chinese happily came back in and bought. They paid the 25% tariff, still pocketing a 25% discount off the old price.”

‘Wood is good

Robinson Lumber’s leaders think their industry needs to do a better job educating consumers that wood is a sustainable product, especially compared with competing options — like composite decking or vinyl ﬂooring, both of which contain plastic.

In a new sustainability initiative, the company has been developing a plan to create and sell wood carbon, a material made from lumber industry byproducts that can be used for soil amendment, wastewater treatment and air ﬁltration.

The company has a production site under contract in Kentucky which may be operational later this year

“Wood carbon has been around for a while, but it’s never really taken off because no one in the States has done it at industrial scale,” Garner Robinson said. “We think we’ll be the ﬁrst ones.” Email Rich Collins at rich. collins@theadvocate.com.

But in 2018, the ﬁrm reached an agreement to transfer the property back to its lender, after defaulting on a 2007 loan that, at the time, amounted to $39 million. Charles Landry, the attorney who represented Commercial Properties, said at the time that several factors led to the default, including the departure of some tenants and the expiration of a lucrative 10-year tax break, which caused Bon Carré’s property taxes to skyrocket from $80,000 to $796,000 a year In December 2020, EdgePWR of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, bought Bon Carré from the bank with fresh plans to remake the star-crossed development. The company specializes in data centers in second- and third-tier markets such as Charleston, South Carolina, and Omaha, Nebraska. At the time of the sale, Jim La Marche, a principal with EdgePWR, said the company’s goal was to make Bon Carré “a focal point of the city again.”

The company spent $10 million to upgrade Bon Carré, painting the property, replacing the roof and adding landscaping.

Open to ideas

Over the past two years, leasing agents have had fresh success attracting new tenants, including the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services, The Volunteers of America and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. Occupancy rates are up 15%, according to Scott Macdonald, of Stirling, who handles leasing for the center along with Ben Graham.

Though the occupancy rate in Bon Carré is still below 50%, EdgePWR is “very pleased where things are right now,” Macdonald said. He said the DartPoints sale will hopefully lead to more traction on the leasing side.

“We’re open to a wide variety of tenants,” Macdonald said. “Not just retail or professional ofﬁce uses.”

One idea that has been discussed is putting a pickleball facility inside Bon Carré After all, the courts are a trendy feature.

“We’re open to being creative,” Macdonald said.

Email Timothy Boone at tboone@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTOS By BRETT DUKE

tree-lined lot off Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans The

TALKING BUSINESS WITH KATHARINE KAy

CapitalOne market presidenteyeslending trends

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

By her own admission, Katharine Kay,Capital One’snew market president forNew Orleans, comes from modest means.

Her family moved to New Orleans from Puerto Rico in the late 1970s, when she was 10, settling in aNew Orleans East neighborhood where she attended apublic elementary school. Neither of her parents had acollege degree. Hers camefrom the Universityof New Orleans.

Kay began her career as a credit analyst in the mid-1990s at Hibernia National Bank, which was NewOrleans’ largest bank at the time and was later acquired by Capital One. She worked her way up thecorporate ladder and last month was tapped to succeed Karen DeBlieux, who retired after more than 30 years as local market president.

Kay’sappointmentcomes at achallenging timefor lenders, who are clamping down on credit amidrisinginterest rates, economic uncertainty and market volatility.But Kay is optimistic about the local market and whatshe believes are Capital One’sopportunities to make adifference in New Orleans, where it is the largest bank, with nearly aquarter of all deposits —about 25% ahead of Hancock Whitney and JPMorgan Chase Bank.

In this week’sTalking Business, Kay discusses herpriorities in her new role and the bank’srecent investments in affordable housing and other programs designed to address economic disparities.

Interview has been editedfor length and clarity

When you beganyour banking career,Hibernia wasone of three regional banks based in New Orleans.That has all changed, as businessesand corporate headquarters have left and local banks have been acquired by big national play-

PROVIDED PHOTO

Katharine Kay, whobegan hercareer as acreditanalyst in the mid-1990satHiberniaNational Bank, which wasNew Orleans’ largest bank at the time and was later acquired by Capital One, worked her wayupthe corporate ladder and last month was namedCapital One’s newmarket president for New Orleans.

erslikeCapitalOne. Whatdoes this mean to local lending decisions and to thefuture of the local economy?

The longstanding history we have here is really important, andwecontinue to have ameaningfulpresencehere. The headofour middlemarket corporate banksits in New Orleans. Oneofour chief credit officers sits in NewOrleans So,Iwill tellyou thatwecontinue to make decisions about this market here locally But certainly,the NewOrleans markethas changed alot since you gotinto banking Yes, but Ithink that the business landscape and environment ofthe Greater New Orleans area is generally very strong.The middlemarket companies that we have had the beneﬁt of working with, in some cases for decades, are a diverse and resilient group,

including manufacturing and distribution, health care, energy, highered. What would you sayare the greatest challenges they are facing?

Afew yearsago,there were supply chain issues and staffingissues, which seem to have evened out abit. Today,there are challenges around how best to expand. WhenI visit with CFOs and CEOs, they wantto talk about howtheycan grow They want to makesure that we’re going to be theretocontinuetosupport themthrough the cycles. So while it’strue that some M&Aactivityhas slowed, we’re still seeingsome of it. When Italk to CEOs and developers, Ihear about thechallenges of getting credit, commercial real estate loans in particular.Havey’alltightened the reins? Based on thelongevity of the

bors areliving in poverty,and there is ashortageofaffordable housing units —55,000 fewer units than we need. When Ithink about the fact that there arepeople who have livedhere along timewho may not be able to stay because of the affordability challenge, that is a real problem. During thelunch, we announced $1 millioninCDFIs, speciﬁcally thoseworking in the New Orleansmarket. So thatismoney thatisgoing to stayinNew Orleans.

No disrespect, but howmuch can you do with$1million,especially spread out among variousinstitutions?

We are continuing to gather ideas and really get abetter understanding of what the needs are. We’regoing to be working withthose partner institutions on howthatmoney is going to be rolledout

But it’spart of amuch larger investment we have made across the country.Just in the last couple of years, we’ve invested over $200 million in Low IncomeHousing TaxCredit dealsacrossthe country

What are some of the local projects Capital One is proud of?

clients we have, they’re strong. We have neverstopped lending. We continue to support our clients in every way Youmentiondevelopers, and one of the things we are really excited about is the work we are doing to create more affordable housingthrough public-private partnerships, anddevelopers areahuge part of that. They are the ones who are coming to theCommunity DevelopmentFinancingInstitutions, or CDFIs (banks, credit unionsand otherinstitutions that provide ﬁnancialproducts andservicestolow-income communities). We are one of the top community development lendersinthe country On that topic, CapitalOne recently heldaluncheon meeting withcommunity leaders to talk about affordable housing.What wasthe goal? Twenty percent of ourneigh-

In late April, we were part of the ribbon-cutting at St. Bernard Circle Apartments by the Circle Food Mart at the corner of St. Bernard (Avenue) in the 7thWard. This wasablank lot, and, with Capital One’sﬁnancing and other partners involved, there is now a51-unit apartment building, 40 units of which are low-income, and they are going to be lowincome for 99 years. Most LIHTEC programs are good for 15 or 30 years. This is a99-year commitment,whichishuge Tivoli Place, a163-unit historic building on St. Charles Avenue, and Celeste Landing, in the Lower Garden District, aretwo otherrecentprojects thatwehelpedmakepossible

Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@ theadvocate.com.

Fool Take: Realty Income for dividends

verysensitive to interest rates

Realty Income (NYSE: O) is one of the largest real estate investment trusts.It owns about 15,600 propertiesinthe U.S. and Europe, most of which are occupiedby retailersthat operate recessionresistant (but not recession-proof) businesses. Toptenants include Dollar General, Walgreens, Wynn Resorts, FedEx,BJ’s Wholesale Club, Tractor Supply, Home Depot and Walmart. Convenience stores, grocery stores and drugstores areamong the top tenant types. Tenants sign long-term leases thatrequire them to pay taxes, insurance and most maintenance expenses for the properties Over the past 15 years, Realty Income’sstock has generated an average annual return of about 7.4%. It has also raised its dividend for 110 consecutive quarters, illustratingthe power of its steady and predictably growing rental incomestream. Realty Income’sdividend yield was recently ahefty 5.5% —and it pays out its dividends monthly, unlike most companies, which pay quarterly Realty Income was recently down by about10% fromits 52-week highand about 27% from its all-time high.However, this isn’tbecause of anything wrong with the business itself —this steady compounderis

Another cohort of high school students will headoff to college in afew months.

Iwonder what they and their parents have learned fromthe cautionary tales of those who came before, now shackled by student debt and dreamsdeferred?

Are they listening to the warning cries of the millions who will soon have to squeeze monthly student loanpayments back into their monthly budgets?

After aﬁve-year pandemicrelated payment freeze, the Education Department announced it will resume collections on defaulted federal student loans on Monday

Here are some sobering facts:

More than 5million borrowers have not made amonthlypayment in over ayear,withmany in default for more than seven years. An additional 4millionare seriously delinquent by three to six months

The government has signiﬁcant debt collection power.Thiswill result in some borrowers seeing areduction in their Social Security payments, wage garnishments, or adecline in their credit scores.

“There could be almost 10 million borrowers in default in a few months,” the department statement said. “When this happens, almost 25% of the federal student loanportfolio will be in default.”

If this were ahorror movie trailer,that would be the line to get folks to rushtosee the ﬁnancial carnage. But every single kid and parent

That means it could also beneﬁt if ratesfall overthe next few years. Now couldbeagreat time forlong-term investors to buy shares.(The Motley Fool owns shares of andrecommends Realty Income.)

Fool’sSchool: You’llneed awithdrawal strategy

If you approach and enter retirement withoutagood withdrawalstrategy, youmight drain your nest egg tooquickly or take money out toocautiously,enjoying retirement less. There’s no single best withdrawalstrategyfor everyone. For many years, acommon guideline wasthe “4% rule.” It suggestedtaking out 4% of your nestegg in your first year of retirement andthen adjusting each subsequent year’s withdrawalfor inflation. So with a $500,000 nestegg, you’d take out $20,000 in yearone,and if inflationwas 3% thatyear,you’d take out$20,600 in year two. And so on But the 4% rule is imperfect For starters, much depends on when you startretirement. For example, if youretireright before abig market crash, your 4% withdrawalwill end up beinga bigger chunk of your newly4% shrunken portfolio.And the 4% rule andother withdrawal guidelinesare arrived at by lookingat pastreturns. In the next 30 or 50 years, stocks and/orbonds may perform differently than they did in the past. The 4% rule (and some others)

also aimtomakeanestegg last for 30 years.But what if you’re retiring at 58 andyourfamily tends to liveinto their 90s? Your retirement might last40 years. Or,ifyou’reinpoor health andretiring at 70, youmight notneed your money to last30 years. Whatshouldyou do?Well, read up on safewithdrawal rates, and don’tbeafraid to consulta financial adviser. Youcan find feeonly advisers near youatnapfa. organd garrettplanningnetwork. com. Meanwhile,prepare to be flexibleinmakingwithdrawals throughout your retirement. You might look to variousstudies for guidance, but don’trigidly follow onerule. For example, when theeconomy is booming, youmight withdrawmore; when it’s down or struggling, you’d withdrawless.Thisapproach is especially important in the early yearsofyourretirement, when youmight spend more on hobbiesand travel.

Ask the Fool:Money market differences

What aremoney market accountsand money market funds? —C.W., Baton Rouge

Amoney marketaccount is abankaccount that’stypically insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or theNational Credit Union Administration. Suchaccounts have features of both savings andcheckingaccounts, often permitting afew checksper billingperiod while paying more in interest than a

standard savings account. Beforeopening amoney market account, verify theinsuranceand the amount protected (it’soften $250,000).

Amoney market fund is amutual fund thatinvests primarily in short-term U.S. Treasury securities, municipalbonds or corporate bonds and bank debt securities. Suchfunds are consideredextra-safe places to parkyour dollars, but theygenerally offer lower returns than more risky investments. Unlike money market accounts, they’re not FDIC- or NCUA-insured. You’renot likely to getrich— or poor —with money market accounts or funds. But they’re a great place to park your shortterm money,and some money market funds were recently yielding more than4%.

What’scapitalism, exactly? —F.E., Greensburg, Pennsylvania

It’saneconomicsystem in which individuals and private organizations ownbusinesses that are operated for proﬁt, with prices setbysupply and demand (that is, what people are willing to pay). The thinking is that these businesses will compete with each other,often leading to betterprices for consumers.

Capitalism is sometimes referred to as afree-market economy or free enterprise. It’sasystem where there are incentives forinnovation and efﬁciency,and where some people and businesses can amass alot of wealth. Income inequality is common, though, and there can be boom andbust cycles.

My Smartest Investment: Did well, post-divorce

My smartest investment? After divorcing my husband at age40, Idecidedthat as asingle woman in chargeofmy finances, I’dbetter startsaving formyretirement big-time! Icontributed heavilyto401(k) accounts, alwaysgetting apercentageas an employermatch, and sometimes Igot profit-sharing money,too.WhenIstarted working foraninvestmentcompany11 years before Iretired, Irolled everything into asingle IRA. Most importantly,I never took adistributionuntil 10 years after retiring.Good investment advice and working part-time in retirement have enabled that money to continue to grow.— M.C., online Congratulations! Divorce or no divorce, anyone whose workplace offers a401(k) or other tax-advantaged retirement account would be wise to participate.

It’s especially heartening that you’ve done so wellasasingle woman,because women tend to be worse-prepared forretirement; they have generally earned less than men and have often been out of the workforce forafew or manyyears, caring forfamily members.

Youwere smart to save enough in your 401(k)s to collect available “matching” dollars as that’s free money.Working alittle in retirement is agood idea, too, as it can provide extra incomeand can give your saved dollars more timetogrow foryou.

Do you have asmart or regrettableinvestmentmove to share withus? Email it to tmfshare@fool.com.

MichelleSingletary THE COLOR OF MONEy

who will sign apromissory note for tuition and/or room and board this summer needstounderstand howserious thisis. And it’s not just families that will be affected —the entireeconomy could get hitbythe “looming tsunamiof student loandelinquenciesand defaults,”warned arecent report from the Bipartisan Policy Center,citing the expected drop in consumer spending and savings. Howdid we gethere?

There is, of course, the costof attendance —tuition, ever-rising fees, books, room and board. Without adequate funds from savings, scholarships or grants, parents and students have felt they had no choice but to take out loans.

According to the New York Federal Reserve, the total outstanding student debt in the United States was $1.62 trillion at the end of 2024.

So,before you or your child accepts adebt sentence, read ablog series recently released by the New York Fed.

One asks: Is College Still Worth It?

The other blog is titled: When College Might NotBeWorth It. Let’sstart with the debate about acollege degree.

The median college graduate with just abachelor’sdegree earned about $80,000 annually, compared with $47,000 for the median worker with only ahigh school diploma, according to the New York Fed.

If you looked at the return of college as an investment, it would be an annual 12.5%, “a rate well above the threshold for a sound investment,” the New York Fed concluded.

Given such awage premium, “it is easy to seewhy the return to college remains so substantial,” the report said. “Over an entire working life of more than 40 years, such apremium adds up to abeneﬁt well in excess of the costs.”

OK,soyou may be thinking that proves the debt is worththe struggle.

But wait. Let’slook at the conclusion from the second report. It seemssoobvious, yet many studentsand their parentsfail to comprehend it.

The economic value of acollege degree isn’talways aguaranteed return. Factorssuchasthe cost of tuition, the time to graduate, the ﬁeld of study and the earning potential after graduation signiﬁcantly impact whether college is worth the accumulation of debt that could take decades to pay off.

“As many as aquarter of college graduates appear to end up in relatively low-paying jobs, and for them, acollege degree may notbeworth it, at least in terms of the economic payoff,” the Fed researchers said.

Before you sign on that dotted line, let’sdosomething Ilike to call the “Stop, Drop and Roll” of student loans.

Stop!Just. Stop

Don’tsign asingle loan document until you calculate how much debt it will take to completethe degree —and how much in earnings will be needed to service the debt.

Don’taccept that afour-year universityisthe only choice. Community college can be aviable way to cut costs, and many are recruiting top students from high school by providing generous scholarships and aclear pathwaytoafour-year university —aneconomical way to take basic courses at adiscount.

Transferring credits from a community college to afour-year school is still not seamless, but it is getting easier,sodosomeresearch to determine what credits transfer and to which schools.

In many states, community college students who obtain an associate’sdegree and/or maintain a certain grade-point average after acertain number of credit hours are automatically accepted to a stateschool.

Drop thesnobbery!

Drop this whole elitist attitude that abrand-name college deﬁnes people’sworth to all employers.

Yes, some companies want to recruit only from certain elite colleges, but more often employers are looking for students who have gained job experience while in college.

Seriously,folks, the student makes the difference, not just the college name on the diploma. Or as the researchers in the New York Fed report put it:

“Some of what we estimate as the beneﬁt to college maynot be aconsequence of the knowledge and skills acquired while in school but rather could reﬂect innate abilities possessed by those who complete college.”

Roll your eyes

Every timesomeone says a student loan is good debt, Iroll my eyes.

I’ve spoken to individuals, many approaching or already in retirement, who are still burdened by student loans long after earning adegree. They were once told this debt was a“good” investment —asteppingstone to alucrative career.Infact, at the end of 2024, 2.8 millionborrowers were 62 or older and were carrying student loan debt totaling $121.5 billion, according to the Education Department. Framing these loans in such optimistic terms overlooks an unfortunate truth: When the debt becomes too large, it can derail a person’sﬁnancial future. If you don’tbelieve me,ask any of the millions of borrowers facing default and signiﬁcant damage to their credit histories. Many of them are having buyer’s remorse. The debt isn’tlooking so good right about now EmailMichelle Singletary at michelle.singletary@washpost. com.

Tulane fundraising veteran to lead LSU Health Foundation

BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer

The LSU Health Foundation has plucked a top executive from its competitor across town, Tulane University, to lead its fundraising efforts as it seeks to secure a prestigious National Cancer Institute designation. Katie Acuff, Tulane’s associate vice president for advancement, will take over as president and CEO of the LSU Health Foundation on May 19

The organization is the primary fundraiser for the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans which encompasses six schools — including medical, nursing and dental programs — that educate nearly 3,000 students annually and provide care for more than 1 million patients.

The organization’s board of directors said she was selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants

During her 15-year fundraising career at Tulane, Acuff is credited with raising more than $100 million in philanthropic support for the school. She also led the creation of the Tulane Innovation Institute, which launched in 2022 to help innovators build businesses and raise funds.

“Having a strong foundation for the state’s ﬂagship institution in this city is important,” Acuff said in a phone interview Wednesday “I think I’ve got the skillset and ability to lead the organization, which plays a very important role in education and health care in this state.”

Acuff’s appointment comes as LSU and its health care and education partners are seeking NCI designation, the highest federal rating a cancer center can receive. It’s a yearslong process that could create more access to federal funding and opportunities to participate in clinical trials. She will support the efforts of Steve Nelson, who last year was named permanent chancellor of LSU Health last year

The

after serving on an interim basis since 2021.

“The No. 1 priority is NCI designation, which requires a certain level of funding for research annually and thresholds of philanthropic support,” Acuff said.

The foundation also raises funds for LSU Health’s Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation, which opened in 2023 in downtown New Orleans to provide high-tech training for medical and nursing students. The foundation also supports research, professorships, scholarships and other institutional needs.

Acuff, a South Carolina native, said she got pulled into professional fundraising while she was still an undergraduate at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She continued to work in the school’s development ofﬁce while earning her law degree via night classes.

In 2010, she accepted a job offer from Tulane, where then-Executive Vice President Yvette Jones was leading a capital campaign that’s raised nearly $2 billion over the past 15 years.

Acuff said her success at Tulane was the result of teamwork

“It’s rare in any situation in development that it’s one person doing this work,” she said.

“There’s a writing team helping to put together a great proposal, a donor relations team making sure the gifts are spent properly and updating the donor on results of giving. It’s a multifaceted, complex approach.”

She said she didn’t want to leave her workplace of the past 15 years, but she couldn’t turn down the opportunity to lead at an impactful organization.

She’ll be moving from a private university with a $2 billion endowment to a public institution with about one-tenth of the assets. Tulane has about 40 full-time fundraisers on staff. The foundation’s total staff is about 20 people.

Acuff has thoughts about how to grow it.

“This should be a donor-centric organization,” she said. “If we are working with our donors well, serving them well, helping them achieve their philanthropic goals and meeting the needs of the institution at same time, we’re doing the job.”

Email Rich Collins at rich. collins@theadvocate.com.

Issued April 16-29

Commercial alterations

MEDICAL: 310 Youngsville Highway, description, build a 2,500-squarefoot expansion to provide a 62-bed behavioral health hospital for Oceans Behavioral Health-Acadiana; applicant and contractor, The Lemoine Co.; $13.8 million.

MEDICAL: 2900 E. Milton Ave., description, corporate dentist ofﬁce to be built next to Rouses Market; applicant, none listed; contractor, BET Construction; $1.2 million.

SCHOOL: 483 Albertson Parkway Broussard, description, none listed; applicant, Gifted Minds Daycare; contractor, Chase Group Construction; $756,300.

APARTMENTS: 411 Woodvale Ave., description, repair 60 patios and porches at Woodvale Place Apartments; applicant, Bradberry Construction; contractor, Bradberry Construction & Design; $680,000.

OFFICE: 214 Jefferson St., description, buildout for LFT Fiber to include ofﬁce space renovation, removal of existing walls and other improvements; applicant, Vermilion Architects; contractor, S1 Construction; $400,000.

OTHER: 212 W. Bend Ridge, description, convert building to commercial use to repair, reﬁnish and build ﬁrearms for local gun stores and customers; applicant and contractor, Bull Gun Co.; $5,000.

OTHER: 516 St. Antoine St., description, transitional house for women with six to eight beds; applicant and contractor, Warrior House; $1,600.

OFFICE: 935 Camellia Blvd. Suite 103, description, interior renovation to existing ofﬁce space; applicant, Ackal Architects; contractor, Royston Construction Co.; $40,000. New commercial

RETAIL: 2610 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, description, new build for Street King tire shop; applicant, SPEC LLC; contractor, Patricia Pullin Malcombe Contractors; $1 million.

TECH: 401 Ranch Road D, Duson, description, build cell tower, install antennas and cable and lay concrete pad for diesel generator; AT&T Mobility; contractor, Skytel Contractors; $32,833.

Commercial demolition

RETAIL: 3617 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, description, demo former Bed Bath & Beyond space for future site of Urban Air Adventure Park; applicant and contractor, Planet Construction J2911; $35,000

New residential 910 MALAPART ROAD: Manuel Builders, $183,420. 201 FILLMORE WAY: Manuel Build-

ers, $226,800.

205 FILLMORE WAY: Manuel Builders, $221,130.

408 FLORES COURT: Manuel Builders, $228,690. 109 GOSLING WAY: Manuel Builders, $225,180.

108 GUN RUNNER DRIVE, CARENCRO: Manuel Builders, $217,260. 226 CAMERONS COVE, CARENCRO: Manuel Builders, $166,950. 4200 MOSS ST.: Manuel Builders, $268,740. 114 BLUSHING GROOM DRIVE, CARENCRO: Manuel Builders, $200,160. 210 CENTRAL VILLAGE WAY YOUNGSVILLE: Manuel Builders, $190,000.

105 EMBARK LANE, YOUNGSVILLE: Manuel Builders, $180,000.

507 JUDICE LANE, DUSON: DSLD $210,420.

506 JUDICE LANE, DUSON: DSLD, $215,820.

120 BRATTLE COURT: DSLD $167,940.

119 BRATTLE COURT: DSLD, $201,510.

120 GARDEN MEADOWS DRIVE: DSLD, $311,940.

202 BRADDISH COURT: DSLD, $215,820.

704 SUMMER ST., BROUSSARD: DSLD, $127,550.

703 SUMMER ST., BROUSSARD: DSLD, $140,650.

230 OAK HEIGHTS DRIVE, DUSON: DR Horton, $179,010.

232 OAK HEIGHTS DRIVE, DUSON: DR Horton, $215,010.

237 OAK HEIGHTS DRIVE, DUSON: DR Horton, $215,100.

125 LAKE RIDGE DRIVE, BROUSSARD: DR Horton, $146,986.

127 LAKE RIDGE DRIVE, BROUSSARD: DR Horton, $131,050.

126 LAKE RIDGE DRIVE, BROUSSARD: DR Horton, $133,895.

103 CASTLE VINE WAY: Braniff Construction, $466,920.

202 CASTLE VINE WAY: Acadiana Dream Home, $472,230.

332 BRIGHTWOOD DRIVE: self-contractor, $443,070.

101 RAYLAND ST. C: Reliance Real Estate Group, $120,690.

625 LANGLINAIS ROAD, YOUNGSVILLE: United Tile of Lafayette, $306,000.

106 MANOR HOUSE LANE: Level Construction & Development; $249,390.

110 SOUNDVIEW WAY, YOUNGSVILLE: Van Alan Homes, $510,882. 105 AMSTERDAM AVE., YOUNGSVILLE: Andries Builders, $315,000. 845 DÉTENTE ROAD, YOUNGSVILLE: Acadiana Holdings, $412,000.

104 CAPE TOWN AVE., YOUNGSVILLE: Gulf South Builders, $480,000.

Anchored in advocacy: Blaine Braddock champions menhaden industry while balancing family,career and community

By Amanda McElfresh

amcelfresh@theadvocate.com

Thisarticle is brought to youby the Louisiana CommercialFishing Coalition LLC

Blaine Braddock fulfills severalroles on adaily basis.The Belle Chaseresidentand professional financial advisor at Nielsen Investments is alsoamother to twoyoung girls and the wifeofJames Braddock, acaptain on oneofthe dozens of menhadenfishing vessels thatwork in the Gulf formonths at a time each year After adecade-long career in Nuclear Medicine, Blaine joined her father at Nielsen Investments in 2022. She focuses her businessonfaith-based investing and has a reputation as atrusted financial advisor in her community. Communityinvolvement has always been apriority, which is whyyou will find her serving on manylocal boards and panels within PlaqueminesParish. Inspired by the dedication of her own husband as well as other captains,Braddock is alsoavocal advocate forthe menhaden industry in Louisiana.She has testified before both the Houseand Senate NaturalResources Committeeonbehalf of Westbank Fishing. She has firsthand knowledgeofwhatthe menhaden industry means to employees families and the communityatlarge

“I feel thatadvocating forthis industry is really importanttoensurethatwehavea seat at thetable, especially when anylegislative action is being discussed,”Braddock said. “It empowers other communitymemberstotake prideinour work and preservethis unique heritagefor futuregenerations.”

Here, Braddock shares moreabout what the menhadenindustry means to the region and local families likeher own.

Whatinspired youtobecome a strong advocate for this ﬁshery?

My husband and Ihavebeen married for 15 yearsthis year.Going through lifetogether means sharing ambitions and goals,aswell as overcoming challenges.Myhusband always wanted to be amenhaden captain and he loves his jobsomuch. It’simportanttometostep up to protect not onlyour familyand his job, but other captains and their families as well. Ispent11yearsworking in nuclear medicine, then changed careerstoﬁnancial advising. I discoveredthatgavememorefreedom and opportunities to be aprofessional on my ownwhile alsospeaking up forthe menhaden industry

In your experience,whatimpact does the menhaden industry have on the local economy?

Ithink it is acornerstone forthe economy in all of South Louisiana,not just Plaquemines Parish. There aresomanylocal businesses thatrelyonthe industry.One greatexample is alocal grocery storeinPort Sulphur that handles the food supplyfor manyofthe boats aswellasthe docks. Other smallstoresand gasstations serveusaswell. It createsaripple effect through the entireeconomy. Whatare some of the mostcommon misconceptions aboutthe industry?

One is thatthe industry is not environmentally-friendly, or thatthe way the ﬁshing is done has anegativeimpact on other ﬁsh species and the Louisiana coastline. Thoseperceptions arevery much false. The

captains and companies go to greatlengths to implementnew tactics and technologies every year to protect Louisiana and help us remain the Sportsman’sParadise

Another misconception is that menhaden companies arenot involved in the communities.Theyare actually giving back to local schoolsand nonproﬁts all year long. We’recontinuing to work hardtoraise awarenessabout this work and foster a greaterappreciation forthesecompanies’ contributions to their communities Whatislife likeasthe wife of amenhadencaptain?

It is deﬁnitely not forthe faintofheart

Women aretrulya glue in this industry.Our husbands areonfishing vessels six months out of the year.Theyare usually home on weekends,but thatisnot aguaranteeevery week. Most of us women areworking mothers who areinthe office during the day, then running households and helping our kids with their extracurricular activities in the evenings. At the same time, Ihavealot of gratitude becausemyhusband’scareeristhe biggest reason we areable to raiseour children in the waywefeel is best.Myoldest daughter goes to aprivateschool thatfits her needs.My youngest is in competitivecheer and dance. We cangivethem thoseopportunities because of the sacrifices my husband makes and the work he does in the menhaden industry

As the wifeofa menhaden captain, what have youlearned about howhardtheywork?

It is adangerous job, and being acaptain is even morestressful.Theyare responsible for 15 other men on the boatand their families My husband takes it very much to heart.He

really focuses on givingmen an opportunity to provide fortheir ownfamilies andmaking decisions to protect their livelihoods.That’s alsotrue of all the other captains Iknow. Theyare always thinkingabout others, not just themselves Howdothe families of menhaden ﬁshermen support each other, especially during the season?

One of the thingsI pride myself one is thatwenow have aclub forthe wives of the captains in the companysowecan be a support systemfor one another.Noone else really understands whatwegothrough on a daily basis during the season. Thereisalso an overall family environment. My husband’s brother and both of my daughters’godfathers arecaptains. It’sraretoﬁnd someone who doesn’thaveatleast one family member in the industry.Everyone supports one another and offersadvice or help and steps in if we seea family needs us Whatdoyou hope is the future of the menhaden industry?

Every time we have the blessing of the fleet to start the season, yousee little kids on the dockslookinguptotheir grandfathers, fathersand uncles with admiration. Ihope that inspires them to preservethis industry I’dalwayslovetosee morepeople in the younger generations with an interest in menhaden fishing, but it is greattosee alot of kids getting afirsthand viewand hopefully wanting to do it themselves one day. I’dalso liketosee us have opportunities to work with the local school systems morefrequently to talk to kids about whatacareer in fishing could look likefor them.

Acuff

FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL DEMOCKER

LSU Health Foundation is the primary fundraiser for the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, which encompasses six schools — including medical, nursing and dental programs — that educate nearly 3,000 students annually and provide care for more than 1 million patients.

20 professionals who have demonstrated avisionand leadership toward making abetter futureinAcadiana.

SUNDAY MAy4,2025

ANDREA AMOS

Co-owner of Parc De OaksFood Truck Park

Tell me aboutyourlifegrowing up.Where areyou from,and whowereyourbiggest inﬂuences on your life?

I’mfromthe smalltownofPatterson.Growing up in asmall town is auniqueexperience. It’s ﬁlled with close-knit community ties,a slower pace of life,and asense of everyone knowing everyone.Mygrandmother is my biggest inﬂuence. My brotherand Ispent alot of time with hergrowing up. Shewould pick us up afterschool andtakecareofuswhile my parentswere working. Shetaughtmethe importance of kindness andpatience, andI believethose values have shaped my characterintowhatitistoday.

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? Take more risks. I’ve always been thetypetoplayitsafebecause of the“what ifs”.Since my husbandalready hada landscapingcompany,heinspiredmetodothingsI maynot have considered on my own. If youwould have told me aftergraduatingfromthe University of LouisianaatLafayette that I’dbemakinga difference in my community by developing Parc De Oaks,joining Leadership InstituteofAcadianaand beingrecognizedasa Top20Under 40 honoree, Iprobablywould have laughedand said,“Yeah,right.” Life deﬁnitely hasa wayof leadingusdownunexpectedpaths,and it’s allbecause we took abig risk.Tosee Parc De Oaks thriving andacceptedbythe community is very rewardingand makesitall worthit.

Tell me aboutyourjourney with your husband, Chris, andthe food truckpark. It’s been almost twoyears,right?Whathas been thebiggest thingyou’velearned during that time? It’s been quitea journey. Almost twoyears in,and everystephas been alearningexperience. When Chrisand Istarted Parc De Oaks,weknewwe wanted to create somethingspecial forthe northsideofLafayette,somewhere that brings people together and ﬁlls arealneedinthe community. Oneofthe biggest things we’velearned is howmuchperseveranceittakes to buildsomething from thegroundup. Therehavebeenchallenges,but seeing theparkcometolifeand become agathering placefor families makesitall worthit. We’vealsolearned just howmuchpeoplecrave community Whetherit’sthrough oureventsorjustfamiliescomingout to enjoygood food underthe oaks,it’sbeenincredibletowitness. Chrisand Iloveworking together,and we’reproud of what we’rebuildingnot just forourselves,but forthe community

Youand your husbandalsomadethe news last year from afertility clinic in Lafayette to help with starting ajourney toward parenthood.Whathas happenedwiththatprocess sincethen?

Winning theGiftofHopeIVF GrantfromFertility Answerswas ahugeblessing, especially sincewehad just opened Parc De Oaks ayearprior.Starting abusinessisa major financialcommitment, andaffording fertilitytreatmentsonour ownwould have been arealchallenge. Winning this grantnot only provides financialreliefbut also renewedhopetobecomeparents.Since then,we’ve startedworking with Dr.JohnStormentand histeamto beginIVF andwe’re stillinthe processofnavigatingit. It’s definitely ajourney of patience andfaith,and we’retaking it onestepata time

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere? Theculture keepsmehereinLafayette.It’sunlikeanywhereelseinthe world. Lafayettehas awelcoming atmosphere andmakes it easy to feel at home.Fromthe food to thefestivals,there’s always alocal eventthatbringspeopletogether. There’ssomething specialabout this city that makesit hard to leave. Lafayettecan make itself more attractive to youngprofessionals by focusing on areasthatwillenhance theirquality of life andmake them want to stay/movehere. Mainly focusing on expandingcareeropportunitiesormakingiteasierfor them to starta smallbusiness. Theyoung professionalsthese days arefocused on creating abetterworkand life balance. Making Lafayettea placewhere they canboththriveprofessionally and enjoya fulﬁlling lifestylewould help attractyoung professional here.

EZRAANGELLE

Owner of Motiér LafayetteCothing Store

Tell me aboutyourlifegrowingup. Whereare youfrom, andwho were thebiggest inﬂuences on your life?

IgrewupinCecilia,a smallcommunity wherefamilyand values mean everything.My parentswereincrediblydedicated,driving me to Lafayetteevery morningsoIcould attend aCatholicschool andget thebesteducation possible.Thatsacriﬁce taught me thevalue of hard work andthe importance of making themostofevery opportunity. Thebiggest inﬂuences in my life have been my dad, my uncleMikeMaraist,ReeceTheriot andGeoffrey Stewart. Each of them instilledinmethe importance of integrity, determination, building real relationshipsand,mostimportantly,topursuesomething in life that Iwould enjoy. Each of theseindividuals played acriticalroleinshaping thepersonand professional Iamtoday

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? Oneofthe biggest lessonsI’velearned is that successisnot abouthavingeverything ﬁgured outbeforeyou start. It’s aboutbeingwilling to learn, adaptand grow alongthe way. When Iwas younger, Ithought Ineededtohaveall theanswers,but starting Motiér taught me that mistakes andchallenges arewhere therealgrowthhappens.Every setbackhas been an opportunitytolearn somethingvaluable, andI’vecometorealize that embracingthe process is just as importantasthe results. If Icould go back,I’d tell my youngerselftotrust the journey,bepatient andknowthatthe hard work will payoff

I’ve read howyourbusiness, Motiér Lafayette, started when youboughta bunchofhoodies to sell. Canyou give me more detailsabout howyourbusinesscametobe? It startedwitha boxof40hoodies, butthe idea hadbeeninmyheadfor years. Icameupwiththe name Motiér long before IknewwhatI wanted to do with it.In2018, Idecided to take theleap. Igrewuparounda t-shirtprintingbusinessthatdid embroidery andscreenprinting, so Iunderstood howtoget started. Idesignedthe hoodies, gotthemprinted andsoldall 40 of them outofmyroom within aday.Itstarted small, butpeople connected with thebrand.Thatgavemethe drivetokeepgoing.Fromthere,I learnedhow to source fabricsand buildfullproductsfromscratch.In 2020,I opened our ﬁrstretailstore,and it hasgrown steadily ever since. What beganasanideaturnedintosomething Iget to buildand believein everysingleday

Smallbusinessownerscan often pointtoa time in theirhistory as aturning point, akindofwe-ﬁnally-made-itmoment. When do youthink you hitthatpoint andwhy?

If Ihad to pointtoa turningpoint,itwas probably when Istarted to settle in andreallyfocus on creating unique products from scratch. Our ﬁrst golf collection, thesummer2022dropwithour custom paisleypattern,and theCloudKnit pieces we made in 2023 allfeltlikemoments wherethings startedtoshift.Wewerecreatingthingsthatfeltoriginaland true to thebrand.Thencamelocal collaborations like Judice Innand Borden’s IceCream andour pop-up at Festival Internationallastyear. Thosemoments showed that what we were building mattered to people here.Fromthere,I just kept my head down andfocused on creating andbuildinga team around me.I stillcarry that underdog mindset. Idon’t feel like I’ve made it yet

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

What keepsmeinLafayette is thesense of community.It’sa city that trulysupportsits people,whether throughlocal collaborationsorloyal customerswho believeinwhatwe’re doing. Lafayettehas givenmethe spacetogrowpersonallyand professionally,surroundedbypeoplewho inspire me everyday.Tomakeitmoreattractivetoyoung professionals, Ithink we need to focusonfostering opportunitiesfor growth andinnovation.That meanscreatingspacesand resourcesthatencourage entrepreneurship,collaboration andcreativity. By investinginthese areas, Lafayettecan show youngprofessionalsthatthisisa placewhere theirdreamsand ideascan become areality.

LARRYANGELLE JR.

Library operationsmanager for theLafayette Parish Library

Tell me aboutyourlifegrowing up.Where areyou from,and whowerethe biggest inﬂuences on your life?

Iwas born andraisedinLafayette.Growing up wasalwaysexcitingand interestingsince Ihavesix sistersand onebrother.There wasalwayssomething happening in my family, andbeing somewhereinthe middleinbirth orderallowedmetolearn from both my older siblings andmyyounger siblings.Myfatherowned aresidential construction companywhile my mother raised eightchildren. My parentstaughtusall to work hard forwhatwewanted, to take care of each otherand to appreciate what we earned

Thosewho hadthe biggest inﬂuences on my life aremyfamily, my wife,school teachers, coaches, neighborhood friendsand mentors/supervisorsduringmycareer.

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger?

Plan aheadand be patient, positive andwilling to learnasitwilltaketimetogainthe experience to getwhere youwanttobe.

Youearneda master’s degree in libraryand informationscience.Whatled youtopursue that degree after earninga bachelor’s degree in science?

Aftergraduatingfromthe University of LouisianaatLafayette with an undergraduatedegree in finance, amaster’sdegreeinlibrary andinformation sciencewas neveronmyradar. AfterI beganmycareeratLayette Consolidated Government in the financedepartment, a jobopening fora budget analystpositionopenedupatthe LafayettePublicLibrary.I knew very little aboutpubliclibraries,but thepositionaligned with my government experiences and degree.I appliedasitwas apromotion opportunity. Over theyears,after workingunder librarydirectors,managingthe budget andthenbeing promotedtothe position of libraryoperationsmanager,I begantoappreciate thelibrary profession andthe good they do forour community.I also realizedthatifI wanted to consider anyfutureopportunitiesinthe profession,I’d likely need themaster’sdegree. Idecided to go foritand,withthe support of my wife,I wasableto finish thedegreein2021.

Sometimes people whoworkinlocal government geta badrap from thepublic. What do youlikemostabout workinginthatspace?

I understand that thecomplexitiesand thepaceofgovernmentmay be frustratingtothe publicattimes.But over theyears I’ve growntoappreciate the process. Ihavelearned howand whymanyofthe processesare waytheyare andwhatregulations andlawsgovernthe processestobetter ensurechecksand balances.I’veenjoyed thechallenges of workinginlocal government.I’vealsoenjoyed workingwithmanydifferent departmentsof Lafayette Consolidated Government andlearningmoreabout what they do andwhy.Ithas really expanded my understandingand importance of local government. It hasbeenmostrewarding seeing thepublicenjoy thefacilitiesand services that Iama part of helpingprovide

Whatkeepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere? Familyand cultureare themainreasons IhavestayedinLafayette.Lafayette should continue itsefforts in attracting businessesthatbring awide range of jobopportunitieswhile marketingthe unique cultural elements.I feel theLafayette Economic DevelopmentAuthority andother local organizations have done agreat jobatattractingbusinessesand diversifying opportunities. Additional investmentsintoour schools, recreation and infrastructurewould likely also attractyoung professionals, families andbusinesses.

BLAIR BLANCHARD

Business Relations Ofﬁcerand aCertiﬁed Credit Union Development Educator with Advancial Federal Credit Union

Tell me aboutyourlifegrowing up.Where areyou from?Who were thebiggest inﬂuences on your life?

IgrewupinNew Iberia andwas shaped by theunwaveringsupport andvaluesinstilledbymy family.Myparents,who demonstrated an unshakable work ethic, taught me theimportanceof perseverance,dedicationand integrity— qualitiesthathaveguidedmethroughoutmycareer. My sister andmy ﬁrstbestfriend, Lacey, have always been my safe space, remindingmeof my strength even in thetoughestmoments.Myjourney throughWestgateHighSchool,the University of LouisianaatLafayette andinternships at KATC andKANERadio laid thefoundation formycareerinPR, marketingand business relations. However, my greatest transformation came throughmysons, Wyattand Tatum. They’vegiven me arenewed perspective, unconditionallove andthe motivation to live life to thefullest.Theymakemebetterevery day.

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger?

I’ve learnedthatevery success, setbackand unexpected turn is part of God’sintentional plan,leading me exactlywhere I’mmeant to be.Early in my career,I oftenfeltI wasn’t moving fast enough or that Iwas falling behind.But Inow seethatevery experience —good andbad —has shaped me into the person andprofessional Iamtoday.Mostimportantly,I’verealizedthere is no ﬁnaldestination.I will always keep going, learning,transforming, failingand succeeding.There is always more meantfor me, more to accomplish,moretogiveand more to become.TrustingGod’s plan meansembracing every step of thejourney,knowing that each chapterispreparing me forwhat’snext.

Younoted your CUDE designationasa majoraccomplishmentinyourcareer within the ﬁnancialindustry. What hasthatunlockedfor youasa professional andfor Advancialwiththe work it does in thecommunity?

Thecreditunion mantra– “Peoplehelping people”– is at theheart of everything we do.Earning my CUDE (CreditUnion DevelopmentEducator) designation wasa keymilestone,allowing me to advocate for financialeducation when ourcommunities need it most.Thisworkaddresseschallenges like credit, budgetingand financialinsecurityacrossgenerations.Mydesignation hasdeepenedmyunderstanding of theseissues andequippedmetodrive meaningful change.For Advancial, it strengthensour commitment to educatingand empowering membersbeyondtraditional banking. It also fosterscollaborationwith like-mindedprofessionals, expandingour outreach.Ultimately, CUDE reinforces ourmission,providing thetoolsand knowledgetohelpindividuals and families buildstronger financialfutures whilemakinga lastingimpactinour communities fyou have an opportunitytooffer financialadvicetoa room full of youngadults, what wouldyou advise them to do?And why? Financialadviceisn’t one-size-fits-all. Everyone’s financialprofile is unique,likea fingerprint. No twoare exactlyalike.Society conditions us to fitintolabels like rich,poor or middle-class, buttrue financialhealthisn’t aboutlabels. It’s aboutbuildinga foundation that supportsyourpersonalgoals.I encourageyoung adults to focusontheir own financialjourney.Prioritizesaving, invest consistently andunderstandthe difference betweenbeing financiallyhealthy andbeing financiallywealthy.Avoid lifestyleinflationand theurgetobeconstantlyinfluenced.Alwayslivewithinyourmeans.Financial stabilityisn’t about fittingintoa category;it’sabout creating opportunitiesand long-termsecurity. Educateyourself, askquestions andadapt as your goalsevolve. Financialwellnessisnot a finaldestination buta lifelong journeyoflearning, planning andmakinginformeddecisions that will empoweryou to thrive.The earlieryou start, thestronger your financialfuturewillbe.

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere? Lafayette’scharm extendsbeyondthe city itself.Acadiana’ssmall towns, villagesand parishes each offeruniquelandmarks andtraditions. Yet, what truly keepsmehereisthe cultural gravityweall share. Thepeople, hospitality, food,music anddeep-rooted traditions create an unmatchedsense of community. To attractmoreyoung professionals, Lafayettemustcontinueevolvingwhile ensuring youngergenerations feel heardand valued.Providing forums forfresh ideas, encouragingyoung leaders to step into public ofﬁce andfostering inclusiveand progressive spaces will drivegrowth. Investingincareeropportunities, business developmentand safercommunities will make Lafayettenot only agreat placetoworkbut also to raisea family.Byblendingtradition with innovation,Lafayette cansecureits future as athrivinghub foryoung professionals.

JILLIAN BLANCHARD

Senior marketing manager for Rudick Construction.

Tell me aboutyourlifegrowing up.Where areyou from,and whowerethe biggest inﬂuences on your life?

Iamfortunate to be from Lafayette. My biggest influences, firstand foremost,are my parents. Beingthe youngest of three, with adecadeofage difference betweenmyselfand my siblings,I gotlucky with veteranparents whoalwaysshoweduptoshowtheir support of me.Thisalsomeant higher expectations andmoreaccountability, buttheir goalsfor me were neverjustabout oneareaoflife. They always wished formetobewell-rounded. My siblings come in second,which they’d happily accept.Theyhad differentwaysofbeing influential. Witnessing theiraccomplishments wassucha gift formeinmyyounger years. They setthe bar. I’mjusttryingtoraise it

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? JamesClear,authorof“Atomic Habits”, wrote, “Liferarelychanges in apositiveway without an increase in responsibility.” Ithought Iunderstood this in my early20s,but my perspective of responsibility hasevolved.Prioritiesshift,goals change andnew pathsemerge. I’ve learned that growth oftencomes from embracingunexpectedopportunities, even when they don’t alignwiththe original plan.Bydoing so,I’veachievedmyprofessional goalsinwaysI never anticipated. WhileI’m incredibly grateful andfulﬁlled, I’malsoexcited forthe next chapter andthe opportunitiesahead

Your mentionedhow your father’s deathimpacted your time at UL whilepursuingyour MBA. Couldyou tellmemoreabout himand your relationship,and howmuchofanaccomplishment wasthatMBA foryou despitethe adversity? My dadhas always been my hero.Hewas thehardest-working person Iknew. He wasmyconﬁdant,alwayssupportingmycareeraspirations.After nearly 40 yearsasa landmanand business owner, he wasonthe vergeofretirementwhenhewas diagnosedwithcancer. When he fell ill, Ihad just startedmyMBA aftergraduatingwithmybachelor’searly.Ashis youngest,I know it pained himtoknowhewouldn’tsee me complete my master’s Though determined to continue,I chosetopause andfocus on our ﬁnalmoments together.Three months later, Iresumed andgraduated on time in 2021 on thetwo-yearanniversaryofhis passing.Thatbittersweet moment,seeingthe date on my diploma, made it allworth it.

Tell me more aboutyourrolewithRudickand theprojectstheydo. What makesthema brandthatyou noted you“trulybelieve in”?

Asthe senior marketingmanager,I overseemarketing andbrandingstrategyacrossour Lafayette, Dallas, Austin andHouston offices. Our firm prioritizesclientrelationships firstwithexpertise in commercial, health care,institutional,manufacturing andinfrastructureconstruction. Since openingour Dallasoffice in 2017 underCEO Clay Rudick’s leadership,wehaveseensignificant growth in Texas. However, ourrootsinLafayette rundeepand stand firm,datingbackto1983whenClay’sfather, Gary,founded thecompany.Ina constantly evolving –and sometimesunrelenting –industry, ourdecades of dedicatedleadershipand ambitiousvisionare what have steeredgrowth. Forthatreason, Iamsoproud to be part of a companythatremains committed to qualityalwaysfor ourpeople, partnerships andprojects.

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere? Lafayette’speopleare what keep me here.Our community is vibrant, welcomingand full of support.Beyondmyfamily, Ican countonsomanypeople —bothpersonallyand professionally —who make this placetruly special. When people move here,theyfeelthatimmediately. I’mexcited aboutthe city’s infrastructure growth andparkexpansionsunder Mayor-PresidentMonique Boulet’s leadership.Theyare game-changersfor attracting young professionals. Also,I can’ttellyou howmanytimes I’ve metsomeone wholandedinLafayette becauseoflove. Ioften joke that Ishouldcreatea marketingcampaignthatgoesbeyondtargeting boomerangs to includethose whomoved here aftermarryinga Cajun.

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Onecrucial lessonI wish Ihad embraced earlieristhe signiﬁcanceofcollaboration and networking.Early in my career,I focusedprimarily on my individual contributions, believing that diligencealone wouldleadtosuccess. However, Isoondiscoveredthatcultivating relationshipsand collaborating with others fostersinnovation andgrowth. Engaging with peersand mentorsopens doorstounexpectedopportunitiesand valuable insights that can signiﬁcantly enhanceprofessional development. Recognizingthe importance of teamwork and actively seekingguidancefromotherswould have acceleratedmyprogressand enabledmeto make amoresubstantial impact earlierinmycareer.

In your bio, youmention youwere11whenyourmom wasleftparalyzed after acar accident and19whenshe died.Can youtellmeabout your momand howdid that experience affect youasa childand later as ayoung adult?

My mother wasanextraordinary woman, full of life,loveand unwavering strength.Her accident profoundly impacted my childhood,compelling me to mature quicklyasI navigatedher care andthe accompanying challenges.Thisexperiencetaughtmeresilienceand empathyasI witnessed herstruggleand determinationtomaintainher independence.Losingher at 19 wasa transformative moment that deepened my commitmentto advocate forindividuals with disabilities.Her journeyhas notonlyinspiredmycareerpathbut also fueled my dedication to ensuring others receivethe compassionatecareand support they deserve.

Youmentioned your work with raisingawareness forfamilies affected by disabilities.Whatisone thingthatcan make abig difference forthose families that people maynot be awareof?

Oneoften-overlooked aspect is thecriticalneedfor emotionalsupport forfamiliesaffectedbydisabilities. Whilepractical assistance such as ﬁnancial resourcesand access to health care areessential, theemotional burden canbeoverwhelming. Providingfamilieswithcounselingservices, support groups andcommunity connections cansigniﬁcantly enhancetheir overallwell-being. By creating an environmentwhere families feel understood andsupported,weempower them to navigate challenges more effectively andadvocatefor theirloved ones.Raising awarenessabout theemotional dimensions of caregiving canfostermorecompassionate responsesfromsociety.

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

Lafayetteholds aspecial signiﬁcancefor me duetoits rich culture, strong senseofcommunity andcommitmenttomutualsupport.Manyofmyfamily membershaverelocated here,allowingmyson to grow up alongsidehis cousins. Thewarm, welcomingatmosphereand robust support systemsare keyattractions.Toenhance itsappeal to youngprofessionals,Lafayette couldpromote jobopportunitiesacrossdiverse industries andinvestinongoing educationworkshops tailored forprofessionals. Additionally,establishingnetworkingeventsand mentorship programs wouldfacilitateconnections betweennewcomers andestablished professionals, showcasing thecollaborative spirit of ourcommunity andencouraging youngtalenttothrivehere.

Charities of Acadiana

ou from,and whowerethe biggestinﬂuences

te hasalwaysfeltlikehome. My mother is from erevisitingmygrandmother.In2002, drawn ome. From an earlyage,I foundinspiration demonstrated heroic virtue andunwavering arginalized. Theircourage,resilienceand urpose,shaping my personal values and as models of perseverance andagentsof

rprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? IwishI hadunderstood earlierthatmistakesare notfailuresbut areinvaluablelearning experiences. Earlyinmycareer, Iput immensepressure on myself to avoidmistakes, which oftenmademeoverlycautiousand risk-averse. I’ve come to realizethatstepping outsideofmy comfortzone, taking calculated risksand learning from setbacks areessentialtogrowth. Some of thegreatestlessons I’ve learnedcamefrommoments in whichthingsdidn’tgoasplanned. NowI embracethose opportunitiesfor developmentand don’tfearthem.

Most folkshaveanideaofwhatCatholicCharities does andthe vulnerable populationsit supports. Couldyou tell me onething theorganizationdoesthatmostpeoplemight not know aboutbut should?

ManypeopleassociateCatholicCharities with St.JosephDiner andour emergencyshelters, butour work extendsfar beyond immediaterelief. We are committed to addressing both thesymptomsand root causes of poverty, offering awiderange of programs that empowerindividuals andfamiliestoward stability anddignity.Fromdisasterresponsetohousing rehabilitation andtransitionalhousing forveterans, CCAprovidesholisticsupport that meets peoplewhere they arewhile guidingthemtowardlong-term stability. At theheart of everything we do is Catholic Social Teaching,the foundation of our mission.Webelieve in theinherentdignity of everyhuman person,the call to solidarity andthe responsibility to servethe commongood

Whatwas your motivation behind pursuing alaw degree?And howhaveyou been able to do that whilestill workingand parentingfourchildren?

For me,pursuinga lawdegreehas been ajourney of discernment, adeepening of knowledgeand skillinservice of thosewho aremostvulnerable. I haveseenhow legaland systemic barrierscan keep individualstrappedincyclesofpoverty andinstability.I felt calledtoequip myself with thetools toadvocatemoreeffectively,navigatecomplex policies andhelpbring aboutmeaningfulchangefor thosewho oftenhavenovoice in thesesystems. Balancing lawschool with work andfamilylifehas only been possible throughthe graceofGod andthe unwavering support of my husband, family and professional community.I am also intentionalabout creating structureand settingboundariestoensurethatmytimeisspent whereitmatters most.I prioritizeschool events,homework, family dinnerand bedtimewithmychildren. Thoseare my non-negotiables. By implementing efﬁcientsystems and blockingoff dedicatedtimefor work,study andfamily, Ican be fullypresent in each role.

Whatkeepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette makeitselfmoreattractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

Whatkeeps me here is thedeep-rooted cultureand strong senseofcommunity.The Acadian-French traditions andfaith,hospitality andvibrant local spiritmakeita unique andenriching placetocallhome. There’sa warmth here that extendsbeyondfamily. It’s ashared senseofbelonging that makes Lafayette trulyspecial.Toattract andretainyoung professionals, Lafayettebusinessesmustdomorethanjustoffer competitivesalaries. We need to investintheir growth.Creatingstructureddevelopment pathsand mentorship opportunitiesallows youngtalenttosee afuturehere, notjusta job. By takingchances on emerging professionalsand equipping them with theskills andexperiencetoadvance,westrengthenour workforceand builda more innovative,dynamic economy. When youngprofessionalssee real career mobility,they’ll choosetostay, contribute andlead.

LINDSEY FAULK

Director

of Events and special programmingfor One

Acadiana

Tell me aboutyourlifegrowing up.Where areyou from,and whowerethe biggest inﬂuences on your life?

Iwas born andraisedinLafayette as an only child, whichbuilt astrongsense of independence in me from an earlyage.Mygrandmother introduced me to therichculture of Lafayette— itsevents, traditions,and senseofcommunity.She helped instillinmea deep appreciation forwhere I’mfrom. My momemphasizedthe importance of carvingmyown path andbuildingmeaningfulrelationships andalwaysempowered me to choosehow deeply Iwantedtobeinvolvedindifferent activities,which Ibelieve shaped my leadership style. As I’ve grownolder,I oftenreﬂectonmyclose friendsand colleagueswho have hadanimpact on me.We’re constantly inﬂuenced by thepeoplearoundus.

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? I’dremindmyselfthatlifeisfullofdifferent seasonsand phases andbepreparedto encounternew versions of yourself.Youraspirations foryourcareer, your life andyour desire forhow youwanttoleave an impact on your community will evolve over time,but that doesn’tchangewho youare.I’d tell myself that it’s OK to feel uncertain, especially after reaching certainmilestonesorgoals,whenyou may ﬁnd yourself asking,“What’s next?” But this is allpartofthe process. Embracethe changesand be open to listeningtoyourinner voiceasitguidesyou throughthese transitions. Aboveall, I’dencourage myself to trustand have conﬁdenceineachstage of my growth

Youwerethe main person behind theLeadershipExchangetrips with OneAcadiana. That’s no easy task.How much preparationgoesintoeachtrip, andhow arethose tripsrewarding foryou? It’s ateameffortwithclose collaboration betweenmyselfand 1A’s vice presidentofpolicyand strategicinitiatives.Eachtriptypically requires afull year of planning to outlinelogistics,curatethe rightpartnersand select keydetails that ensure thetripisasimpactful as possible. What’s most rewardingfor me happens behind thescenes. Ihavethe privilegeofwitnessingconversations unfold as leadersfromdifferent sectorscometogether, shareinsightsand collaborate.While there’ssometimes amisconception that collaboration isn’thappening across Acadiana,whatmanydon’t realize is just howmuchthese leadersare engaging with oneanother to driverealchange. Seeing thoseconnections form andwatchingpartnerships ﬂourish is incredibly gratifying forthe future of ourcommunity.

I’mcurious aboutyourbackgroundwitha bachelor’s degree in speechlanguagepathology.How didyou land on that andhow didyourcareer pivot from that?

Growingup, my interestswerealwaysevolving. So Ichose ablend of themedical andcommunication fields at UL.Bymylastsemester, Irealizedmy skillset mightbebettersuitedfor somethingoutside my degree.SoI enrolledina fewPRand musicbusinessclassestoexplore newoptions whileI completedmydegree. Ithenturnedtointernships to figure outhow to pursuemynextsteps.Despite having little experience,I remember my first internship interviewata localmarketing andpublicrelations agency.Itwentsomething like,“I’meager to learnand if yougivemea chance,I’lldo what it takestocatch on quickly.”Thatchanged thedirection of my career.Internships were crucialfor my professional growth.Theytaughtmethat thepathyou take isn’talwayslinear.

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

My husbandworks in Acadia Parish as athird-generationriceand crawﬁsh farmer.I oftenjokethatyou can’tpickupour business andmove it anywhere else.Ontop of that,Lafayette is whereour family andfriends are. It’s home.I left between2018and 2020 seekinggreater career opportunities. ButwhatI’venoticed is that Lafayetteisactivelyworking to create thoseopportunitiesright here.I’m proofofthat. I’ve boomeranged back,drawn by thegrowing potentialinthiscommunity.There’s aphrasethat’scatchingonhere: “Businessfollows talent.Talentfollows place.” Lafayetteneeds to continue fosteringanenvironment whereinnovation andopportunitythrivewhile maintainingits distinctiveculture.The more we canbuild on both,the more attractive Lafayettewillbe.

founder of the BAREWalls Art Subscription Service

.Where areyou from,and whowereyourbiggest

ou town of Galliano. Most of my youngeryears were gand drawing. My parentsnoticed my artistic talent at supportersfromthe start. They were andstill aremy artteachersand professors.

ed foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one onal that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? goalsintobothmybusinessand personal life would ng.Ofcourse, Ihad goals, butthe path wasn’t as clear. llywrote down what Iwantedinlife, I ﬁnallystarted to achievemoreand more success.

Your biomentioned your talentswerediscoveredata very youngage.Atwhatpoint in thoseearly yearsdid yourealize youcould make alivingout of your talent?

Itook my talentsfor grantedinthose earlyyears thinking anyone couldpaint or draw.I believemy firstpaidportraitcommission came when Iwas in the fifthgrade andremember thinking,“Wow! Someonewould paymetodoart forthem?”The thoughtofmaking aliving from my artnever impededmypursuit to become an artist.I wasjustpassionateabout creating andifI were to find away to make alivingfrommyart,thenthatwould just be a bonus. Onething Ihad to accept that they didn’t teachmeinart school is that beinganartist also makesyou an entrepreneur.

Give me thestory behind the BARE Walls projectthatbegan in 2017.Whatwas thecatalysttoget that established, andwhatissomeofthe feedback you’ve gotten over theyears?

BARE Walls came outofmultiplediscussions with ClareCook from thelackofart salesinthe BasinArtsgallery.Wewantedtosee if localbusinesses wouldbeinterestedinleasing artworkthatwerotateevery threemonths, giving afresh look foremployees andcustomers whilehelping sustainsome incomefor localartists.We fine-tuned thedetails of theprogram andwereawarded seed moneythrough the24HourCitizen Project. Theprogram continues to grow significantly,and theclients andartists remind me everyrotationhow much they love beinga part of theprogram.Everyone benefits from having localartwork in more spaces in ourcommunity

Whatkeepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

I fell in love with this area when I ﬁrstmoved here.The culturewas so unique,and Iwas easily drawntothe art, musicand food to just name afew These qualitiesare also what keep me here,where my wife andI decidedtosettledownand have children whilestaying closetofamily. Ibelieve that Lafayette canattract more youngprofessionals by utilizingour cultureand qualityoflife. Foranareathatreliessoheavily on thearts, Istill thinkthat itisanundervalued commodity.Ifwecan leverage theartsasone of ourmostvaluableassets,thenI believewecan create opportunitiesfor people to moveherewhile also keepingtalenthereinLafayette.

thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? Onething I’ve learnedasa professional that IwishI knew when Iwas youngeristojustdo it anyway.Doitscared, do it even if youdon’t feel qualiﬁed,doitevenifyou don’tknow anyone in theroom.Thatmindset is what ledmetowhere Iamtoday.I’velearned to move unapologetically andtrust that Ibelonginevery spaceI enter. Opportunitiesdon’t always wait untilyou’reready.You have to take theleapand believeinyourselfalong theway.That’s somethingI hope to continue embracingand encouraginginothersasI grow professionally.

Youspent yearsineducation at otheruniversitiesthroughoutthe southern U.S. before arriving in Lafayettethree yearsago.Whatmadethe jobatULattractive foryou?

What made thejob at UL Lafayettesoattractivetomewas theincrediblesupport system Ifound both at theuniversityand in theLafayette community. From dayone,I felt welcomed andvalued. I’ve been able to buildgenuine relationshipsinevery spaceI’vebeeninvited into,and that sense of connectionhas made allthe difference.The amazingstudentsI gettoworkwithconstantlyinspire me,and theculture here is so vibrantbetween thefood, musicand lively atmosphere.It’struly oneofa kind.ULLafayette felt like home from thestart,and Iknewitwas aplace whereI couldgrow personally andprofessionallywhile making an impact

Alot of people mightlookbackontheir ﬁrsttwo yearsofcollege andrealize they mighthavemademistakes. What kind of things do youfocus on with students,and especially ﬁrst-generation college students,duringthose years?

When workingwithstudents, especially first-generation college students,I focusonhelping them buildconfidence, find community andunderstand that mistakes arepartofthe growth process. Iremindthemthatit’sOKnot to have everything figuredout andthataskingfor help is asignofstrength andnot weakness. We talk abouttimemanagement, usingcampus resourcesand gettinginvolvedinwaysthatalign with theirgoals andpassions. I also emphasizethe importance of advocating forthemselvesand embracingtheir identity andbackgroundasa source of strength.Ultimately, Iwant them to know they belong here,they’re notalone andtheir journeyisvalid –mistakesand all.

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

What keepsmeinLafayette is theculture,the people andthe constant opportunitytolearn somethingnew.Whether it’s discoveringa localfestival, trying anew dish or connectingwithsomeone whosharestheir story, there’salwayssomething that deepensmyappreciation forthiscity. Thesense of community here is strong,and I’ve felt supportedbothprofessionally andpersonally. To make Lafayettemoreattractivetoyoung professionals, Ithink it’s importanttocontinuecreatinginclusive spaces wherepeoplefeelseen, valued andconnected.Promoting opportunitiesfor growth, networking andcommunity engagement,especiallyoutside of work,can go alongway in helpingyoung professionalsnot just move here buttruly feel at home

en’sMuseum of Acadiana

.Where areyou from,and whowerethe biggest

ts movedbackhometoLafayette when Iwas 2because, ew up on thenorth side of town in theMccombarea, efor Lafayettebegan.Myparents immersed me in tilleda deep senseofpride andencouragedme nces were my family andteacherswho taught me the rvice. My mother showed me thepower of kindness rtured my creativity andcuriosity,and thoselessons do today.

ed foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s onething youhavelearned as aprofessional that youwishyou knew when youwere younger?

Onething I’ve learnedasa professional IwishI hadknown when Iwas youngeristhatit’s OK to make mistakes.That’show we learnand grow.It’sperfectly ﬁne nottohaveall the answers. SometimesI stillstrugglewiththis. Growth comesfromtakingchances,learning from failures andcontinuouslypushing forward. Thekey is to stay curious, askquestions, take notesand observethe wisdom of othercommunity leaders. Thereisalwayssomething to learnfromthose around you, andthe more youlistenand engage,the better equipped youwillbetofacechallenges head-onand create theimpactyou strive for. Also,sometimes remember to take your ownadvice.

You’ve been with TheChildren’sMuseumfor severalyears now. Howdid youlandthere waybackwhen?

If we’regoing wayback, my involvementwithCMA startedin1996 as aguest.Professionally, I’ve been with CMAsince 2010,beginning as ahighschool volunteerwitha strong passionfor giving back.After graduating in 2012,I knew exactlywhere Iwantedtowork. Ispent ayearatthe museum but decidedtoexplore otheropportunities.However,I always knew theCMA waswhere Ibelonged. Ireturnedin2016, workinginevery position until 2022, when Ibecameexecutive director (something Ihad always dreamedof).Now in my second year as executivedirector, Ihaveanincredibleteam, and we aremakingsigniﬁcant stridestowardcreatinganevenbettermuseumfor ourcommunity.

Tellmemoreabout this museum’s recent growth processthat’sled to arecord-breaking attendancelevels. What is fuelingthatgrowth? Withthe CMAapproachingits 30th anniversary, my team andour boardtook astepbacktoevaluateour mission andensureweprovide ahighquality experience foreveryoneasa nonproﬁtorganization. It’s been alot of work,and we’restill evolving,but Iattribute oursigniﬁcant growth to reimagining exhibits andfocusingonSTEAM (science,technology, engineering, arts andmath),artsand cultureprogramming.We’ve also prioritized accessibility andcommunity engagement throughvarious initiatives. Collaborationswithlocal organizations, schoolsand community groups have alsohelpedusconnect with abroader audience,creatinga senseofsharedownership andbelonging,which hasfueledour growth andled to recordbreakingattendance.

Whatkeepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

The cultureinLafayette is unmatched, andnomatterwhere Igo, Iknowthere’s nothinglikeit. Thepersonaland professional relationshipsI’ve built here keep me grounded andmotivated to make an impact.Lafayette needstocontinueinvesting in community spaces anddiverse career opportunitiestoattract more youngprofessionals. It’s importanttobring youthtothe tablewhere decisionsare made,ensuringtheir voices are heard in shapingthe future of ourcommunity.Wealsoneedmoreaffordablelivingoptions in walkable areas. As someonewho works, livesand plays downtown, Ithrivehere. We should showcase this vibrantlifestyle to others so they canexperiencethe appeal of Lafayetteand discover alovefor our culture.

CHRIS

Senior

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thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? Onething IwishI knew when Iwas youngerwould be that nothingisimpossible. Those larger-than-life dreams Ihad as achild arepossible, andittakes onestepata time to make them come to fruition.I also wish Iwould have knownthatlearningdoesn’t stop when you leavethe classroom.Asa youngprofessional,I thinkI enjoythatpartabout life themost. That feelingofalwayslearninginall itsdifferent forms– whetherit’sabout theworld or myself as apersonorasa leader –putslifeintoperspective.

OneAcadiana’saward forLarge Chamberofthe Year wasa notableaccomplishment.How bigofa deal is that?And what kind of work didyou allput into that?

This awardgives OneAcadiana’sroleasthe LafayetteChamber of Commercecenterstage throughout thestate.Chambersare well-knownfor beingtrusted business-oriented organizationsthatexist to serveour localbusinesscommunities OneAcadianaisnot only alocal chamber. It is also Acadiana’s regional economic developmentorganization, andthe awardgives OneAcadianaunique footingasa leader in both thechamber andeconomicdevelopment industries.Preparing theapplicationfor theaward gave us theability to look at real tangible outcomes of theimpactwe’ve hadonAcadianaand highlightsomeofthe work we do day-in andday-out forour community.Thisaward is atruetestament to OneAcadiana’scommitmenttomakingLafayette andAcadianathe best placeinthe southern U.S. forbusinessand talent.

Youmentioned youhelplocal businessesgrowtoreach theirpotential.Isthere acommonthing yousee newbusinessesoften stumblewithor maybestruggleinthose ﬁrstyears that aresomewhateasilyavoidable? Themostcommontheme when meetingwithbusinessesisthe overwhelming desire to increase theirpresenceinthe community.Lafayette is unique in that effective marketingcan oftencomedowntoword-of-mouth marketingbeing most effective. Ioften sayifyou’reinbusiness, then you’re in thebusinessofbuildingrelationships.Asa tight-knit community,relationshipbuildingisvital in ensuring your brandistrusted,and that generatessupport andlong-term credibility. Onething I’ve come to know andcherish is that theAcadianabusinesscommunity will rallytosupport anew business when that business also takesanactivepartingivingback. No business exists as asilo, buteachbusinessexistsaspartofthe larger ecosystemthatinturnmakes Lafayette andAcadianaone of thebestplacestocallhome.

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette makeitselfmoreattractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

Lafayettewas always thebig city to me growingup. Aftermovingtoherein2018, Ibelieve it’s primarilyfamilythatkeeps me here.Being employed at OneAcadianahas also provided me with theopportunitytobeconstantlysurroundedbythose movers andshakers whoare really workinghardto capitalize on themostuniqueparts of ourcommunity.TocontinuemakingLafayette attractive to youngtalent, we must trynew things,testdifferent ideasand pushthe boundaries in allaspects of business andcommunity development. My mindsetisthis: If Ican play anypartinbringingthose visionsofLafayette to fruition,it’smydutytodoso.

Acadiana

eyou from,and whowerethe biggest

ette.I graduatedfromTeurlings Catholic High yofLouisiana at Lafayetteand in 2023 earned thebiggest inﬂuences in my life growingup e2023. He taught me that therealmeasure of butthe impact we make on thelives of others families in northLafayette have aplace to call rtunities. In hisretirement, he volunteeredhis venthoughheisnot physically here to seeit, I service. Imisshim everyday.

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? Onething that Ihavelearned as aprofessional is theimportanceofstaying positive and trusting that things will work out. When you’re optimistic,you’remoreopentobrainstorming ideas, seekingout newsolutions andcollaborating with others to overcome obstacles. Challenges andsetbacksare inevitable in anyjob,but maintaininga positive mindsethelps youbouncebackquickly.Whenyou trustthatthingswilleventuallyworkout,you’remore likely to stay motivatedand focusedon ﬁndingsolutions.I trulybelieve that stayingpositive notonlyhelps youfeelbetterbut youalsoperform better andhandlechallenges more effectively.

Most folksknowwhatthe Boys andGirls Clubsdo, butwhatisone thingthatthe agency does that people mightnot know about?

Onething that many people maynot know aboutthe Boys &Girls Clubsisthe wide rangeofprogramsweoffer that go beyond just recreational activities.While theclubs arewell-knownfor providinga safe andfun spacefor kids to hang out, we also focusheavily on education, career developmentand leadership programs.Our clubsoffer programs designed to help kids with theiracademicskills,STEMinitiatives andcollege readiness. TheBoys& GirlsClubs constantly aimtohelpkidsand teensinAcadianathrivebyproviding them with thetools, opportunitiesand support they need to succeed socially andemotionally.Wewantevery member whoentersour doorstogrowintoresponsible,self-conﬁdent and successfuladults.

Couldyou tellmemoreabout your BGCA Leadership Institute? Wouldyou have anysuccess storiestoshare? BGCA Leadership Instituteisdesignedtoempower andupliftthe youthinAcadiana. It offers acomprehensive experience forteens throughthree intensivepathwaysabout fosteringself-confidence, teamwork,publicspeaking, community involvement, resume building andcommunication skills. Thegoalissimplytocreatewell-roundedyoung people readytomakea difference in theircommunities andbeyond. In 2024,morethan80teens participated in theprogram.One of themostimpactful events this past year wasLegislative Dayatthe StateCapitol.Thisevent gave ourteens a first-hand look at howlawsare passedand provided them with thechancetoadvocatefor issues that matter most to them.For many,itwas a powerful introduction to civicengagementand theimportanceofusing theirvoicestodrive change.Theyalsohad visitedthe STEM NOLA eventat theSuperdome, explorethe AudubonAquariumand have an unforgettable fieldexperienceduringthe NewOrleans Bowl.I am incredibly proudof what theLeadershipInstitute hasachievedsofar.

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

Lafayetteisonthe righttrack to become an increasingly attractive destinationfor youngprofessionals. With itsgrowing economy, diversecareer opportunitiesand vibrantculturalscene,the city is evolving into aplace whereinnovation andcreativitycan thrive.I believethatLafayette is taking thenecessary stepstomeetthe needsofthe next generation of leadersand entrepreneurs. As thecitycontinues to invest in itsgrowthand development, it’s becoming clearthatLafayette offers an idealenvironment foryoung professionalslookingtolive, work andbuild afuture.

JOwner

Te in Ig va wi Sh Als –p of in up

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? IwishI hadknown thepower of settingboundaries. Earlyinmycareer, Ibelievedthat saying yestoeverythingwas thekey to success. However, I’ve come to understand that protecting my time,energyand mental well-beingisjustasimportant as my dedication to servingothers. Boundaries allowmetoshowupfully andeffectively in my work without experiencing burnout. I’ve learnedthatprioritizingself-care doesn’tmeanneglectingothers. It meansensuringthatI cancontinuetogivemybest. If Ihad embraced this earlier, Iwould have been more intentionalabout balance, rest andpreservingmypassion forhelping others

Your position as president-electofthe LouisianaCounselorsfor Social Justicesoundslike greatopportunity. Whyisequityand inclusionsoimportant in your industry?

Equity andinclusion areessentialinthe counseling profession becausementalhealthservicesshouldbeaccessible, afﬁrmingand effectivefor allregardlessoftheir background.Ascounselors, we work with diversepopulations,eachbringinguniqueexperiences shaped by race,culture, socioeconomicstatusand identity.Without equity,marginalizedcommunities mayfacebarrierstoreceiving qualitycare, leadingtodisparities in mental health outcomes.Inclusion ensuresthatclients feel seen,heard andvaluedintherapeutic spaces.Aspresident-elect of LouisianaCounselors forSocialJustice,I am committed to advocating forpolicies, training andpractices that addresssystemicinequities.Whenweprioritizeequityand inclusion, we create aprofessionthattruly serves andempowersall people,fostering healingand long-termchange.

Tell me aboutyourroleasanadjunct at UL teachingmulticultural andcommunity counseling.What’sitliketowatch your students grow and make apositiveimpactintheir communities?

Teaching multiculturaland community counseling at UL hasbeenanincrediblyrewarding experience.I have theprivilege of preparingfuture counselors to servediverse populationswithculturalhumility, empathy, andcompetence. Watching my students grow both professionally and personally is inspiring. Isee them challengetheir perspectives,develop critical skills,and gain conﬁdenceintheir abilitytomakea difference.The most fulﬁlling part is seeing them take what they learninthe classroom andapplyittoreal-worldsettings, advocating forunderserved communities andpromoting mental wellness. KnowingthatI play asmall role in shapingcompassionate,sociallyresponsible counselors motivatesme. Their passion andcommitmentreassuremethatthe future of thecounselingprofession is in good hands. What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

My daughter,Joi,isone of thebiggest reasonsI stay in Lafayette. Iwanther to grow up in acommunity whereshe feelssupported,valued, and surrounded by opportunitiestothrive. Lafayettehas auniqueblend of culture, community,and traditionthatmakes it feel like home.The strong senseofconnectionhere, alongwithmyability to make an impact throughmycounselingpracticeand teaching,keeps me rooted.However,toattract more youngprofessionals,Lafayette must continue investingincareeropportunities, diversity, andquality-of-life initiatives. Expandingprofessional networks,offeringmentorshipprograms, andenhancing cultural andsocialactivitieswould make thecityevenmoreappealing. Youngprofessionals want aplace wheretheycan grow,feelincluded, andbuild ameaningfulfuture.

Snd co-owner of TheBougieBar

areyou from,and whowerethe biggest

nBaton Rougeand Lafayette, surrounded by lenges,but thoseexperiences made me whoIam Rougetoexperiencethe bigcityand live on my randmother,Paula Witty. Though we lost herat as always poised andcomposednomatterthe econversationwithher now. Shewould often we shared some of thesamelovefor styleand have always felt like they were in my blood

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? Oneofthe biggest lessons I’ve learnedisnot to rush things.Good decisionstaketime. Quick choicesoften lead to regrets. I’ve also learnedpatienceasa leader.Running BourbonRoyalty Candle Companyand TheBougieBar taught me that growth takestime. Noteveryonewill performat100% immediately, andit’simportant to help shapethatdevelopment.IfI could give my youngerselfadvice, I’dsay to preparefor theunexpectedand always have abackup plan.Flexibility andreadiness arekey in both business andlife.

TheBougieBar opened aboutsix yearsago andisstill goingstrong. What were those ﬁrst yearslikegetting established, andhow arethingswithitnow?

The Bougie Bar’sjourney over thepastsix yearshas been incredible.Whenwe firststarted,itwas just Rustyand me.Wehad no staffand worked every singleparty during ourinitial three-monthpop-uptotestthe concept. It wasexhaustingbut so rewardingbecause we saw firsthandhow much people loved theexperience. Once we officially opened,the challengewas gettingthe word outand refining ourprocess to keep guests coming back.But the responsewas amazing, andwegreworganically.Now TheBougieBar is stronger than ever.We’ve expanded ourofferings,built aloyal community and evenopeneda second location in BatonRouge.Whatstarted as an idea hasbecomea go-toexperience, andwe’re incredibly proudofhow farwe’ve come.

You hada career in cybersecurityand were recognized in that ﬁeld. What gotyou interested in that?And wasithardtoleave that behind? Cybersecurity wasn’t somethingI originally setout to do,but lookingback, technology wasalwaysa part of my life.I grew up in ahousehold where mydad wasintotechnologyand engineering. We always hadthe latest gadgets, andI lovedlearninghow things worked.Thatcuriosity naturallyled metoroles whereI couldblend technology with strategy,and when Ihad theopportunitytobuild acybersecurity awarenessprogram,I sawhow powerfuleducation couldbeinprotectingpeopleand businesses. Seeing that programgrowand wina global awardwas incredibly rewarding. Leaving thatcareerwasn’teasy. Ihad putinyears of work andtruly enjoyedit. ButI’vealwayshad an entrepreneurialspirit, andwhenthe opportunitycame totakethe leap of faithastheysay,I knew Ihad to take it.Cybersecurity andbusinessownership have alot in common. Both require adaptability,risk managementand thinking ahead.

Whatkeepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere? Lafayette’s food,culture,and strong senseofcommunity areunmatched.I’vetraveledtomanyplaces, butthere’s an energy andhospitality here that makeitspecial.The relationshipsI’vebuilt with localbusinessesand thecommunity have played ahugeroleinmysuccess, andthat’swhatkeeps me here. To continue attracting youngprofessionals, Lafayetteshouldkeepinvesting in innovation,entrepreneurshipand career growth opportunities. Wealready have greatmentorshipprogramsand business resources, butexpanding work-play-live spaces like Downtown Lafayette’sinitiatives will makethe city even more appealing. .

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? First, always be yourself.Showupasyourauthentic self andbeopentolearning, growing andevolving. When youdothat, you’ll always endupwhere youare meanttobe. So many of theopportunitiesI’vehad came becausethe people around me sawsomething that I didn’t seeinmyself. Theirbeliefinmehelpedgrowmeintothe person Iamtoday.Second, everything is temporary. Thetough times– when youfeellikeyou arebarelyhanging on –won’tlastforever.Justkeepgoing onestepata time.But thesamegoesfor thegood times. When things aregreat,bepresent andsoakitin. Learning to embracebothhighs andlows makesall thedifference.

Youmentioned your work in thespace of helpingveteransinthe workplace. Whyisthissoimportant to you, andwhy do youthink should companieshireveterans?

My husbandisa veteranand even though he served before we married,I’veknown himsince Iwas 15.WhenI gotinvolvedwithAcadianaSHRM andstarted supportingour localnonproﬁts,I connected with Acadiana VeteranAlliance anditjustclicked.The more Ilearned aboutthe challenges veterans andmilitaryspouses face in theworkforce,the more Irealizedhow much talent companiesweremissing outon. Veterans bringsomuch to thetable –leadership, discipline,timemanagement, perseverance –fromtheir military service. Some industries recognizethis, butmanystill overlook thevalue veterans canbring.Ina time when companiesare struggling to ﬁll roles, veterans areanuntappedtalentpool.Hiringthemisn’t justthe rightthing to do.It’sa smartbusinessdecision.

Youwerenamed the2024Ambassadorofthe Year forOne Acadiana.Can youtellmewhatthatwas to receivethathonor?

It wassuchanhonor.I became an ambassadorbecause of my role with NFP. Business development, brandbuildingand relationship building arehuge partsofwhatI do.But once Igot involved,I sawhow much more OneAcadianawas about. Theirmission,resources andimpactonthe community made me excitedtobea part of it.I wasn’t doinganythingout of theordinary. Iwas just outthere connectingwithpeopleand championingour localbusinesscommunity.Toberecognizedfor somethingI love doingwas theicing on thecake. ButI don’tsee it just as my award. Everything I’ve accomplished with NFPissomething Ishare with my team.I couldn’t do it withouttheir support.

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

Thereare so many things that keep me in Lafayette, butatthe heartisfamily. Iamlucky to have such astrong, close-knit support system.Evenif we don’ttalkevery dayorspend everyholiday together,I know we arealwaysthere foreachother.The same goes formyfriends andthe Acadiana community. Theculture here is special. To attractyoung professionals, Lafayetteneeds to focusonwhattheyare lookingfor.We’re alreadya great placetoraise afamily, butthatisnot everyyoung professional’s path.It’simportant forbusinessesleaders to take astepback, listen andunderstand what youngprofessionalsneedand then take action

TYLER ROBERTSON

Chief Operating Ofﬁcer at Rader Solutions

Tell me aboutyourlifegrowing up.Where areyou from,and whowerethe biggest inﬂuences on your life?

Iwas born andraisedhereinLafayette.After high school,I spent12years away pursuing college andcareeropportunities, living in differentstatesand visiting othercountries.I can saywith ﬁrst-hand knowledgethatnowhere else compares to theculture andcommunity we have here in Acadiana.Two of themostimpactful people in my life were LafayetteHigh teachers John Kellerand MelindaMangham.Bothwerewise, wonderfuleducators who taught me lessons that extended farbeyondtheir classrooms. Mr.Kellerexposed me to the worldthrough hisworkwithEFEducational Tours; Ms.Mangham’s guidance throughthe college applicationprocess ledtomyacceptanceatGeorgia Tech.I know many others had similarlyimpactful experienceswiththem.

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s onething youhavelearned as aprofessional that youwishyou knew when youwere younger?

Thereare so many things IwishI hadknown when Iwas younger, butI also believethatthe mistakes Imadealong theway were just as valuable –ifnot more so –inshaping my path to success. That said,there arethree pieces of advice Ihavefound to be especially important: Find mentors. Identify thosewho have successfullyachievedwhatyou want to achieveand learneverythingyou canfromthem. Neverstoplearning. Read booksconstantly, listen to podcasts,staycurious andcontinuegrowing.Ask questions.Questions lead to clarity, connections,and solutions.

You soundlikeone of thoseLafayette boomerangs,moved away andfound your wayback. What took youawayfromLafayette anddid youalways intendtoreturn?

Itwas abit of awinding road.I left Lafayetteafter high school to studybiomedicalengineering at GeorgiaTech, unsure if or when Iwould return. After atough firstyear, Ifailedout andstayedinAtlanta fora coupleyears before enlistinginthe Marine CorpsasanArabiclinguist. Workingadjacent tocyber operatorsinthe intelligence fieldled me to pursuea degree in cybersecurity. During that time,mywifeand Ihad threeofour four children and felt agrowing desire to come home.Serendipitously,mywifemet ChrisRader on a flight,and that conversation eventually ledtoanoffer formeto workatRader Solutionsand apathtomovebacktoLafayette.

Yourcompany is knowninthe techcircles in Lafayette. What do youthink couldbedonebyeithertechcompany leadersand/orgovernment leaders to grow thetechsectorand create more jobs?

Startingwithbusinessleaders in thetechsector, we should continue to collaborate with theUniversityofLouisiana at Lafayette, SouthLouisiana Community College,Unitech andother educationalinstitutionstoreinforce theschool-to-work pipeline with internships, apprenticeshipsand realworld projects that give students valuable experience whileencouraging them to stay in Acadiana post-graduation. Meanwhile, government leaders can help by encouragingbusinessestoinvestintheir IT infrastructure andadopt stronger cybersecuritypractices.Manysmall- to medium-sized businessesstruggletoaffordsufﬁcientITorpropersecurity. Grants or subsidiescould offsetthose costswhile supportinglocal tech ﬁrms. It’s awinwin:strengthenour localeconomy,build amoreresilient business community andshowcaseLafayette as ahub forinnovation andtalent.

Whatkeepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere?

Whatkeeps me in Lafayetteiswhatbrought me back in the ﬁrstplace:family, culture, community andquality of life.I canraise my kids here with a strongsense of identity surrounded by people whogenuinely care aboutone another. To make Lafayettemoreattractivetoyoung professionals, we needtokeepinvesting in vibrantdowntownspaces, affordable housingand astrongentrepreneurial ecosystemwhile showcasing what alreadymakes thisplace special: thefood,the festivalsand thehospitality.Whenyou seethatyou canbuild ameaningfullifeand career here,you want to stay –or comebacklikeI did.

CALVARYSAMPSON

Teen and adult therapistand owner of CalvaryDe’Rosa Counseling and Consulting

Tell me aboutyourlifegrowing up.Where areyou from,and whowerethe biggest inﬂuences on your life?

I’mfromNew Orleans, andmyjourney hasbeenshapedbyboththe beauty andchallenges of my upbringing. Growingup, my biggestinﬂuencewas my experience with Hurricane Katrina. Beingdisplaced at such ayoung ageand having to rebuildmylifeinLafayette changedmy perspectiveonresilience, community andmentalhealth. It made me realizehow deeply life transitionscan impact aperson, whichultimatelyled me to my career as atherapist. My family andfaith also played ahugeroleinshaping me.Theyinstilledinmethe values of perseverance andcompassion, andI strive everyday to be thekindofsupport Ineeded when Iwas younger.

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? Oneofthe most valuable lessons I’ve learnedisthatgrowthcomes from discomfort.Early in my career,I oftenfearedmakingmistakesornot having allthe answers. Over time Irealized that stepping outsidemycomfort zone —whether taking on newleadershiproles,starting my ownpracticeoradvocatingfor mental health —has been whereI’vegrown themost. I wish Ihad knownsooner that it’s OK to nothaveeverything ﬁguredout as long as you’re willing to learnand adapt. Conﬁdencedoesn’t come from perfection.Itcomes from trusting yourself andyourability to navigate challenges.

Youstarted theReady,Set, College!Support groupand TheCollege Transition Journal. What ledyou to startthese projects?And whydid youtargetcollege students?

Iwas a ﬁrst-generation college student, andmytransitiontocollege wasnot easy.I faceduncertainty,anxiety anda lack of resourcesthatcould have helped me navigate that pivotaltime. Personally andprofessionally,I understand howoverwhelmingthistransitioncan be,and Iwantedtocreatethe kind of support system IwishI had. Ideveloped TheCollege Transition Journaltoprovide students with knowledge, resourcesand thetools to thrive academically andemotionally.Thisled to thecreationofReady,Set,College!, asupport groupdesignedtohelpincomingfreshmenbuild conﬁdence, developessentialskills andconnect with acommunity that understandstheir journey. My goal is to ensure students feel equipped, supported and empoweredastheystepintothisnew chapteroftheir lives.

You’re establishedinthe mental health ﬁeld, andyou noted that therestill remains astigmasurrounding mental health.How caneverydaypeople kind of chip away at that stigma over time forthe next generation?

Oneofthe most powerful ways to breakthe stigma around mental health is througheverydayconversations.Whenweopenlytalkabout our emotions,struggles andmentalwell-being, we create aculture in whichseeking help is normalized.Itstartswithsmall shifts –checkinginon afriend, validating someone’sfeelingsorevenchallengingoutdatedbeliefs within ourown families.Representationalsomatters.SeeingBlack therapists,men in therapyorevenpublic ﬁguresopenlydiscussing mental health helpsbreak down misconceptions.Education is key, too, by understandingthattherapy isn’tjustfor crisis momentsbut atool forgrowthand healing. If we continue to lead with compassion,vulnerability and open dialogue,wecan make mental wellnessa standard part of life forthe next generation

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere? It’s theculture.It’sa city that thrivesonfood,festivals anda strong senseofcommunity.I love that forus. ButwhenI thinkabout what trulymakes aplace feel like home,it’sabout connection. Aftermovingbackpost-undergrad, my church family,professional organizationsand Sorors helped me feelrooted again. That senseofbelonging is what makesLafayette special. To attractand retain youngprofessionals, Lafayetteneeds to go beyond ouramazing festivalsand create more consistent opportunitiesfor meaningful connection. We need intentionalspaceslikecoworking hubs that encouragecollaboration, silent book clubsfor introverts lookingtobuild community in theirown wayand recurring social or professional groups that foster long-termrelationships.Sharedinterestcommunities —whether focusedonwellness, entrepreneurship or thearts— help create atruesupport system

oodwill Acadiana

nd whowerethe biggest inﬂuences

essedwithgreat friendsand Idon’t view that in aclicheway). rd work,intelligenceand kindness nd,AustinJohnson.Hepassed ic,hetaughtmethe importance of morand positivity,tobethankful that youlovethemevery chance

Youand 19 others arebeing recognized foryourprofessional accomplishments. What’s one thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger? IwishI knew theimportanceofemotional intelligence. Ibelieve it’s oneofthe most important things youcan developfor yourself andhow youinteractwithothers. When youdevelop your emotionalintelligence, almost everything becomeseasier. You’re able to better identify andregulateyouremotions, you’re able to better navigate relationshipsand interactions and it reducesoverall stress, anxietyand thepersonalbarriersthatyou subconsciously place betweenyourselfand what youwanttoachieve.Combining emotionalintelligencewithstrong interpersonalskills,being comfortablewithbeing uncomfortableand abidingbythe quote“It’s notthingsthatupset us butour judgmentsabout them”islikea superpower.Growthcomes from beinguncomfortable.Control what youcan control.

Tellmeabout your work behind your Greater Good Donation Drivethatnetted over 3,000 pounds of food in oneweek.How didyou pull that off? The idea forthe GreaterGood Donation Drivecamefroma desire to better connect to University of LouisianaatLafayette students andprovide them withopportunitiestoimpactour community whileadding afun,competitive dynamictothe initiative.Overtwo to threemonths, Ispent countless hours planning thelogistics,communicating to partners,student organizations, andparticipantsand conducting marketingefforts such as social media promotions, yard signs, presentationstostudent organizationsand campus tablings.The drivewas amassive success, with over 20 studentorganizations donating3,252 pounds of items– 163% of my 2,000-poundgoal– allthe whilehavingfun andimpacting livesinAcadiana. I’msogratefulfor everyone’s participation andsupport,and Ilookforward to making thedrive an annual event.

Whatdoyou enjoymostabout workingwithGoodwill Acadiana?Whatare some of thethingsitdoesthatpeoplemay notknowabout butshould? While Igenuinely love everything aboutGoodwill Acadiana –our team members, leadership,culture,clients,community impact,etc.– what Ienjoy mostisthatI gettodowhatI love (marketing)while directly impactingthe community that Ilovethrough my work.I gettomeetthe people we impact through ourservicesand know that my funand creative marketingprojectshelpthemreceive thesupport they need.There area lotofmisconceptions about Goodwill andthingsthatpeopledon’t know (check outour website’sMythbusters sectionfor more info), butI love telling people aboutour services. From educationand employment services to affordable housingand crisis assistance,wetruly transformlives in ourcommunity,and I’m honored to play apart.

Whatkeepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette makeitselfmoreattractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere? The community andthe abilitytotruly leavea legacy andtransform livesare what keep me in Lafayette. Lafayetteisa city of asingleconnection, meaning at alltimes you’re only asingleconnection, asingleperson, from everyone else in thecityand from absolutely changing your life andthe livesof those around you. Lafayettecan make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalsthrough leaningintocommunity andthe abilityfor someonetomake animpact. We cancreatea stronger social fabric betweeneducational institutions,businessesand organizationstobetterconnect people to each other and allowfor theirinternallovefor this city to ﬂourish.Wejustneedtobuild thesocialroads,and people will driveonthem.

CHIARA

Te in Iw wa an gr ke my so

thingyou have learnedasa professional that youwishyou knew when youwereyounger?

As Igrowinmyprofession,I oftenreﬂectonmyyounger self.One thingI wish Ihad known is to give myself more graceand reassurance. When we’reyoung,wefeelpressuredto have everything ﬁguredout,but thetruth is growth takestime. Iwould tell my younger self to slow down,embrace thejourney andunderstandthatthe challenges,lessons and achievements alongthe wayare allpartofthe process.

Youmentioned that youoversaw anddeveloped SouthwestLouisiana Area Health EducationCenter’shealthequityand social justicedepartment. What’s thestory behind that,and what have been some of theoutcomesyou’veseen so far?

TheHealthEquityDepartmentwas developedbymerging some of theworkI wasalready doingwithSouthwest LA AHEC andWell-AheadLA. Creating this department allowedmetobemoreintentional andfocused on addressing the speciﬁcneeds of thecommunities Iserve.One of ourmaingoals hasbeentolisten— trulyunderstandwhatthe community needsand wants— rather than assuming or imposing solutions. Sinceits inception, we have builtstrongerconnections with minority andunderserved communities,reaching hundreds,eventhousands,ofindividuals.We’ve provided support in areaslikehighblood pressure management andreferrals,diabetesprevention andmanagement, vaccinations,HIV/STI testing, healthyeatingand exercise,mentalhealthresources andmore. It’s been incredible to seethe direct impact of theseefforts,and Iamproud to continue this work in partnershipwiththe communities we serve.

Tell me aboutsomeofthe underservedareas of southwestLouisiana youworkwithand theissuetheyfacethatpeoplemight notknowabout. What issues arethose folksare facing?

Although my work spansmuchofLouisiana,myheart is deeply rooted in southwestLouisiana andAcadiana. Growinguponthe northsideof Lafayette, it’s painfultosee thepersistentlackofresources,limited growth,and signiﬁcant health disparitiesthatstill existtoday.Manycommunities face food insecurity,highrates of preventablechronic diseases andlimited access to essentialservices. My goal is to be aresource, an advocate anda drivingforce forchangebyhelping to bridge thesegapsand support ashift toward healthier, longer livesfor thepeopleinthese communities

What keepsyou here in Lafayette?How canLafayette make itself more attractive to youngprofessionalstowanttostayhere? Lafayetteishome. It’s wheremyrootsare.The senseofcommunity andculture keepsmehere. Istaybecause Iwanttobepartofthe change,working to improvethe health andwell-beingofthe people whomakethiscitysospecial.There’s so much potentialhere, andI believeininvesting in theplace that raised me.Toattract more youngprofessionals, Lafayetteneeds to continue fosteringopportunitiesfor career growth,community engagement andinnovation.Expanding access to qualityjobs, affordable housingand inclusivespaceswhere youngprofessionalscan thrive is key. Investingin diversity, supportingsmall businessesand enhancingwork-life balancethrough vibrantsocialand cultural will help make Lafayettea placewhere the next generation wantstostayand buildtheir futures.

to Our Sponsors!

Called to Serve, Committed to Excellence aleaderfor acadiana

Sarah Clement leads with adeepconviction thattofollow Christisto serve with excellence, integrity,and unwavering compassion. In her role at CatholicCharities of Acadiana, she brings thatbelieftolife, advancing amission grounded in the values of dignity,hospitality, humility,and collaboration.

Her recognition as a Top20Under40 honoree is atestament not only to herleadership,but to the tireless workofa committed team anda broader communityansweringthe Gospel call to love throughaction. This honorbestoweduponher reﬂects asharedcommitment to do good—and to do it well—forthose who needitmost.

With gratitudetoall who labor forjustice, mercy, and healing—this recognition is sharedwith you.

WithgratitudetoBroussard, David, &Moroux for sponsoring thistribute to leadershipatCatholicCharities of Acadiana.

LIVING WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Monitoring, diligence, lifestyle changes help people as cases rise

BY MARGARET DELANEY and JAN RISHER Staff writers

At age 8, Elizabeth Bennett was sick for two weeks. She lost weight. She couldn’t get off the sofa by herself She missed school.

Her family in Houma couldn’t tell what was wrong with her The family doctor sent her to New Orleans for further tests.

“My blood sugar was so high that they couldn’t get a reading,” Bennett said.

In November 1969, Bennett was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. After her diagnosis, she stayed in the hospital for a week.

“They were trying the strangest things,” Bennett said. “If my blood sugar would go down, they gave me a full glass of sugarcoated grape juice.”

Doctors at the hospital placed an orange at her bedside and told Bennett she couldn’t go home until she learned how to inject herself with insulin — practicing on the orange. Once she left the hospital, Bennett gave herself an injection once a day until high school. Bennett is not alone in her experience.

In 2017, 7-month-old Alia Riojas was sick No one could ﬁgure out what was wrong. For one thing, her oxygen level was low and dropping.

Her mother Nikki Kinsey Riojas remembers being in an emergency room in Corpus Christi, Texas. Seven doctors were hovering over her infant daughter who “was turning greener and greener.” The doctors were preparing to do

Engineers develop tiny pacemaker

BY LISA SCHENCKER Chicago Tribune (TNS)

CHICAGO A new, tiny pacemaker — smaller than a grain of rice developed at Northwestern University could play a sizable role in the future of medicine, according to the engineers who developed it.

Researchers unveiled the device, which they say is the smallest pacemaker in the world, in a study published in the peerreviewed journal Nature.

Though the device is still years away from being used in humans, it could eventually be useful for infants with congenital heart defects and also for adults, the researchers say “I think it’s really exciting technology that will change how electrical stimulation is done,” said Igor Eﬁmov, a Northwestern experimental cardiologist who co-led the study The device can be inserted with a catheter or syringe. After it is placed in or on the heart, it’s paired with another small, patch-like device worn on the patient’s chest. When the device on the chest detects irregular heartbeats, it emits pulses of light into the chest that activate the pacemaker, delivering electrical stimulation to the heart.

The device is designed for patients who need a pacemaker only temporarily It dissolves into the patient’s body once it’s no longer needed.

Engineers were initially inspired to create the device for infants with congenital heart defects. About 40,000 babies in the U.S. are born with heart defects each year, and about a fourth of those “generally need surgery or other procedures in their ﬁrst year of life,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After surgery, the infants typically need a pacemaker for about a week while their hearts heal.

Some adults also need temporary pacemakers, such as after an aortic valve replacement or bypass surgery, Eﬁmov said. In such cases, surgeons now must often sew a wire onto the heart that’s attached

See PACEMAKER, page 2X

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITy/TNS

By JOHN A.

Northwestern engineers unveiled what they say is the smallest pacemaker in the world. Though the device is still years away from being used in humans, it could eventually be useful for infants with congenital heart defects, as well as adults, the researchers say. The pacemaker can be inserted with a catheter or syringe.

Elizabeth Bennett takes her morning walk. In 1969 at age 8, Bennett was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Toddler Alia Riojas wears her continuous glucose monitor Alia was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 7 months old.

PHOTO

ROGERS

HEALTH MAKER

La. leader in N.O. wants nurses to have a voice

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

Murdock

Tiffany Murdock is from Sims, Alabama, a small town outside Mobile. Both of her parents were in the health care space growing up, so Murdock wanted to follow in their footsteps. She worked as a licensed practical nurse in a liver transplant unit and spinal cord injuries in Jacksonville, Florida, while getting her master’s in nursing at Jacksonville University and master’s in business for health care administration.

Murdock moved to Sonoma, California, for her ﬁrst administrative role in nursing and has never looked back. After a few years on the West Coast (including a stint in Oregon, the birth of two children and a doctorate from the University of San Francisco), Murdock and her husband moved their family closer to relatives in Gulfport, Mississippi In 2023, Murdock moved to New Orleans to become the chief nursing ofﬁcer for the Ochsner Health System overseeing over 10,000 nurses around the world What inspired you to become a nurse?

Continued from page 1X

an invasive surgery to try to determine what was wrong. Things were not looking good. Her husband Andrew Riojas remembers a doctor they had never seen before walking in the room and saying, “Did you check her glucose levels?”

Someone said, “No.”

As the doctor, whose name they don’t know and whom they never saw again, was walking out of the room, he said, “You might want to check that.”

They did — and discovered that, at 7 months old, little Alia was one of the youngest Type 1 diabetes patients ever Sometimes the Riojas family wonders if that doctor was an angel. They had just moved from Scott to Texas. For the next few years, ﬁguring out their infant’s care plan was a challenge.

Alia turned 8 in March. Now, she wears a continuous glucose monitor on the back of her arm. She, along with her parents, on a near constant basis, monitor her carb intake and blood sugar

”Even since she was diagnosed, technology has advanced substantially,” Nikki Riojas said from her home in Lubbock, Texas. “We were lucky we could get her on an insulin pump when she turned one.”

At that time, the young parents would go to her insulin pump and plug in the information to determine how much insulin she needed.

”We thought it was amazing that we could give her insulin through that. Now

I thought I wanted to go into med school, so I got a soccer scholarship and a biomedical scholarship. I ended up going on a medical mission trip to Guatemala with a group of nurses that changed my life in multiple ways. The nurses there were incredible the amount of time that they spent with human nature and the humanity of taking care of people who have nothing. It was really beautiful. When I came back, my mom was diagnosed — she was 40 years old — with

it’s attached to our phones, and we can see her blood sugar numbers at any time,”

Nikki Riojas said “Alia has a master phone that needs to be within 15 feet of her at any given time. It feeds us the readings every five minutes.”

In second grade, Alia is into cheer and many other things her classmates and friends do, but she also calculates how many carbs she eats.

At school, she visits the nurse and uses her phone to administer her own insulin.

“That gives her a lot of ownership,” Nikki Riojas said. “She’s been checking her numbers since she was 4 years old Now, she can essentially take care of herself though we stay very involved.

In 2022, when the Riojas family went to see the Pixar movie, “Turning Red,” little Alia was thrilled to see two of the characters wearing monitors on their arms like she does.

”The movie never addressed it,” Nikki Riojas said, “but Alia noticed them right away and said, ‘Oh, they’re wearing it like me.’”

On the rise

According to the American Diabetes Association, an estimated 18,000 children and adolescents under the age of 20 are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes each year in the United States.

The number of new cases of Type 1 diabetes diagnosed in a given year rose from 19.5 per 100,000 people under the age of 20 in 2002 to 2003, to 22.2 per 100,000 in 2017 to 2018 — an increase of more than 2% each year, according to research published in 2023 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Stage 4 colon cancer It had metastasized everywhere. She had to go in for a procedure, and she never made it out. I was able to experience her care team and to work with the nurses in Guatemala. I felt that the health care workers at the bedside needed advocacy to take care of patients. That perspective changed my life. I knew from that moment on I was going to be able to sit at tables and have conversations and to ensure that no one would ever have to walk out of a hospital again

Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition.

In this condition, the pancreas makes little or no insulin, which is a hormone the body uses to allow sugar, or glucose, to enter cells to produce energy, according to the Mayo Clinic. Different factors, such as genetics and some viruses, may cause Type 1 diabetes Although Type 1 diabetes usually appears during childhood or adolescence, it can develop in adults.

Even after years of research, Type 1 diabetes has no cure — though glimpses of potential promise are out there Treatment is directed toward managing the amount of sugar in the blood using insulin, diet and lifestyle to prevent complications.

The first signs of Type 1 diabetes typically present itself in early childhood, like Bennett’s case, with common symptoms like:

n Feeling more thirsty than usual

n Urinating a lot

n Bed-wetting in children who have never wet the bed during the night

feeling the way my dad and I did.

My motto and purpose is that health care providers can leave a legacy on people’s life at the most important times, the hardest points of their lives. My goal is to make sure that the nurses in my life have the tools they need to make sure it’s only a positive legacy

How did your previous experience as a nurse impact your leadership in the administration side of nursing?

I always feel like I’m a nurse first That’s been my motto: nurse first, patient first.

Not that administrators with no clinical background don’t put patients ﬁrst, but nurses have a slightly different brain.

Since you’re leading a staff that is 90% clinicians, it’s also great to have perspective in the health space. Some people have a nervous breakdown about spreadsheets and meetings. My perspective is that the people here are saving people’s lives every day It’s our job to stay calm and do the best we can to support them.

The people we are serving, they are the real game

When Alia Riojas was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 7 months old, her parents went on an all-out carb count, marking each box of baby food with the number of carbs to help monitor their young daughter’s blood sugar and insulin requirements.

n Feeling very hungry

n Breathing rapidly

n Feeling nauseous

n Losing weight without trying

n Feeling irritable or having other mood changes

n Feeling tired and weak

n Having blurry vision.

Type 1 diabetes can appear at any age, but it seems to peak in two noticeable age groups — the first in children between 4 and 7 years old and the second between 10 and 14 years old.

Sara Duncan, a certified diabetes care and education specialist in Louisiana, was diagnosed at 9.

“Twenty years ago, I think the medical community only thought that autoimmune Type 1 diabetes was diagnosed in children,” Duncan said. “But more recently, we ﬁnd that you can be diagnosed with autoimmune diabetes at any point in life.”

Duncan has seen diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes in

changers. It’s important to remember that sometimes. What drew you to Louisiana? What are your visions for the nursing community here?

The vision that our CEO and COO had for nursing clinicians really intrigued me about Louisiana. After working in Mississippi for eight years as the CEO of the Singing River Health Center in Gulfport, my husband and I decided to take the leap and move to Louisiana. I told my husband, “If we’re going to do this, and we’re going to move to Louisiana, we’re going to go all in. We’re going to the middle of New Orleans, and the kids are going to love it.” It’s been amazing so far — probably one of the best decisions of my life. Here in New Orleans, we’re looking to get back to quality in general. Getting back to make sure all voices are at the table, at the board

to an external box that delivers a current to control the heart’s rhythm. When the pacemaker is no longer needed, surgeons must remove the wire from the heart, which can introduce complications such as bleeding, damage to the heart muscle and infection. Such a complication contributed to the death of astronaut Neil Armstrong in 2012, when he started bleeding internally as wires of a temporary pacemaker were being removed, The New

York Times reported. “Even though it’s exceedingly rare, it could be lethal,” Eﬁmov said of complications of removing traditional, temporary pacemakers. “We wanted to create a pacemaker which would be, ﬁrst of all, much, much smaller compared to what it is now, fully implantable so there’s nothing external, so there’s no risk of infections, but more importantly, it’s transient. It serves a purpose for whatever number of days or weeks it’s required, and after that it will dissolve.” The study showed how researchers have used the small, implantable device so

far in mice, rats, a dog and in hearts from deceased humans and pigs. Eventually, the team hopes to get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin clinical trials in humans. Eﬁmov and Northwestern bioelectrics expert John Rogers, who coauthored the study and led development of the device, co-founded a company at Northwestern called NuSera Biosystems that will work to further develop the device and eventually bring it to market.

Dr Gaurav Upadhyay, an electrophysiologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of

Chicago, called the study “exciting.” Upadhyay was not involved in the device’s development or the study The new pacemaker is

“impressively smaller than anything else we have available,” Upadhyay said. “If this can be conﬁrmed in clinical trials, I think that there

patients as old as 70 years old to those as young as 13 months old.

A different life

Diet and exercise, as well as insulin management, play a large role in Type 1 diabetes management.

Bennett, once she reached high school, discovered that exercise helped her feel great, even after increasing her dosage from one insulin injection a day to six. She would bike for miles and miles after school with her friend in Houma. Since discovering her love for exercise, Bennett has walked at least a mile a day since she was 15. Duncan encourages her patients to keep a consistent routine.

The majority of diet management is related to how much insulin is required to keep the pancreas working after eating food. Type 1 diabetes patients have a different blood sugar rise and fall when eating either whole grains or pure sugar, like candies.

According to the Mayo Clinic, in order to delay or prevent complications, the goal for a person with Type 1 diabetes is to keep the blood sugar level as close to normal as possible — generally striving to keep daytime blood sugar levels before meals between 80 and 130 and two hours after-meal numbers no higher than 180. However, there are risks with such stringent blood sugar goals.

“There is a higher prevalence of eating disorders in people who have Type 1 diabetes,” Duncan said. “We are aware of that when we are coaching people through managing their diabetes. We don’t want to be strict.”

are incredible applications for short-term pacing requirements, which will have the potential to be used in a variety of clinical settings.”

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

The Louisiana Health section is focused on providing in-depth, personal accounts of health in the state.This section looks at medical innovations, health discoveries, state and national health statistics and reexamining tried and true methods on ways to live well.

Health editions will also profile people who are advancing health for the state of Louisiana.

Do you have a health story? We want to hear from you.

Email margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com to submit health questions, stories and more.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Tiffany Murdock, front right in orange, poses with Ochsner nurses representing multiple departments at Ochsner’s 2025 Nurse Leadership Retreat.

Elizabeth Bennett has lunch in Fairhope, Ala., in 2024.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Eat Fit LiveFit

de Mayo

Iloveagoodparty—especiallyonethat celebratesculturewithﬂavorandﬂair. CincodeMayocommemoratesBattleof Pueblain1862inMexico.Formanyofus,it hasalsobecomesynonymouswithpitchers ofmargaritasthatcan,regrettably,leaveus feelinglessthanoptimalonMay6.

Here’sasmarterspinthatswapsthe spiritsandkeepstheheat—soyoucan raiseaglass(ortwo)andstillfeelyour besttomorrow.

Azero-prooftakeonTequila

Fromtheearthyﬂavortothecleanheat andsmokyaroma,zero-prooftequilas candeliverallthetastewithnoneofthe alcohol,andthey’regettingeasiertoﬁnd. Lookforlow-andno-sugaroptionslike RitualZeroProofNon-AlcoholicTequilaat TotalWineoryourlocalliquorstore.

Fromourbook,“CRAFT:TheEatFit GuidetoZeroProofCocktails,”the Tequila-freeGhostRitawascreatedby mixologistNathanWalkerforTchoup’s MidCitySmokehouseinLafayette.Ithas everythingwewantinamargarita,and thensome:theheat,thesweet,thedrama.Everynotebuildsinterestandkeeps uscomingbackformore.Thefactthatit’s alsolowinsugarmeansthepossibilityof aguilt-freesecondroundisverymuchon thetable.

Realtalkonsimplesyrups Sugaristhenutritionaldownfallof

manyacocktail,zeroprooforotherwise. Althoughthestrategicuseofsweeteners canbeessentialforcreatingabalanced cocktail,addedsugarshavethepotentialtobemoredetrimentalthanwemay realize.Beyondcaloriesandweightgain, addedsugarscontributetowhole-bodyinﬂammationandcansetusonabloodsugarrollercoaster,causingandperpetuating cravingsformorecarbsandmoresugars. Andsimplesyrupisacommonculprit.

Madefromsugarandwater,traditional simplesyrupscanpack80caloriesand20 gramsofaddedsugarintoeveryounce notideal,tosaytheleast.So,it’sagood ideatohaveanalternativeonhand.

Tostart,forgeteverythingyouknow aboutsugarfreeingredients.Foryears, themainsweetenersusedinsugarfree simplesyrupswereartiﬁcialsweetenerslikeaspartame(Equal)andsucralose (Splenda),bothofwhichhaveasynthetic ﬂavorandsharpaftertaste.

Zero-caloriesweetenershavecomea longwayinrecentyears.Thevarietyof plant-basedoptionsnowavailable—from steviaandmonkfruittoalluloseand sugaralcohols—havemadeitacinchto replicatetheﬂavor,sweetnessleveland mouthfeeloftraditionalsimplesyrups.

OurGhostRitarecipeincludesinstructionsforusingalluloseandSwerveto makeyourownsimplesyrupandzesty orangeoleosaccharum.

MollyKimball,RD,CSSD,isaregistereddietitian withOchsnerHealthandfounderofOchsner’sEatFit nonproﬁtinitiative.Formorewellnesscontent,tuneinto Molly’spodcast,FUELEDWellness+Nutrition,andfollow @MollykimballRDand@EatFitOchsneronsocialmedia. Emailnutrition@ochsner.orgtoconnectwithMollyor scheduleaconsultwithherteam.

BY THENUMBERS

DATA:LA. HASFOURTHHIGHEST RATE FORHIGHBLOOD PRESSURE IN U.S.

GhostRita

Makes1serving 1limewedge,torimglass Seasalt,torimglass 2ounceszeroproofTequila 1/2tablespoonEatFitsimplesyrup(recipebelow) 2tablespoonsoleosaccharum(recipebelow) 1tablespoonlimejuice

2slicesfreshjalapeño,reserve1sliceforgarnish Ice-preferablyasinglelargecube Limewheel(grilledortorched),forgarnish Bamboopick

Rimhalfofyourglassofchoicebyrunningthelimewedgealongtheedge,thendipintosalt. Shakeoffanyexcessbeforeaddingthedrink.Combineallliquidingredientsandonesliceof jalapeñoinasmallshakerwithice.Shakeanddoublestrainovericeintoglass.Garnishwitha jalapenosliceandagrilledlimewheellayeredonbamboopick.

Perserving:10calories,0fat,0saturatedfat,170mgsodium,18gramscarbohydrate(4grams netcarbs),0ﬁber,1gramsugar(0addedsugar),0protein

EatFitsimplesyrup

Makesapproximately1cup 1cupwater 1/2cupSwervegranularor11/2cupsgranularallulose

Inasaucepan,bringwatertoaboil.Reducetomedium-highheatandaddsweetener.Stirto dissolveandcontinuetoheatfor10minutes.Pourintoheat-safeglasscontainerandrefrigerate tochill.Storeunusedportioninairtightcontainerinrefrigeratorforuptofourweeks.

Oleosaccharum

Makesapproximately1/4cup 1cuporangepeels(approximately3orangesworthofpeels) Zestof2oranges 1/3cupgranularallulose

Juiceof1orange

Inamediummixingbowl,combineorangepeels,orangezestandallulose.Muddleevery fewminutesforapproximately15minutes.Topwiththejuiceofoneorangeandmuddle periodicallyforanother15minutes.Doublestrainbeforeusing.Refrigerateunusedportionina sealedairtightcontainerforuptofourweeks.

TimeSaver:Theprocessofmakingoleosaccharumisnotforthefaintofheart.Ifyou’re pressedfortime,youcangetbywithsimplyaddingatablespoonofEatFitsimplesyrupanda tablespoonoforangejuiceinstead.

Researcherssay stress affects drivingdecisions

BY JANA HOLLINGSWORTH

The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS)

Nearly half of all Louisiana adults reported having high blood pressure, according to 2023 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released in 2025.

In the United States, an average of 34% of adults reported having high blood pressure, according to America’sHealth Rankings. Louisiana hadthe fourth highest rate of high blood pressure, with 43.3% of adults reporting thecondition diagnoses by ahealth professional, the CDC-based data says.

High blood pressure (or hypertension) is amajor risk factor forheartdisease and stroke, which are the leading and fifth-leading causes of death in the United States.

In 2022, nearly 690,000 deaths in the U.S. were caused by complications of

hypertension, according to the CDC. Although the number of people in America with high blood pressure is high, around 1in4adults —27million people— have their highblood pressure under control.

These states had the lowest ratesof highblood pressure: n Colorado with 27.3% n Utah with 27.3% n California with 30.6% n Washington with 30.6% n Massachusetts with 31%.

These states, all located in the South, hadthe highestrates of highblood pressure: n Mississippi with 46% n West Virginia with 45.1% n Alabama with 44.7%

DULUTH, Minn. When a Jeep cut me off and then slowed to several notches below thespeed limit, Iﬁrst gaspedand then gestured wildly,swearing. These thingsIremember

But asensor Iwas wearingtocapturemyheart rate and electrical changes in my skin, along withavehicle “black box,”revealed more:aggressive braking and accelerating and arapidly beating heart. It didn’t help thatitwas in the middle of the workday,when I am almost always stressed.

“This one was clear that when you werea little more flustered, the driving was definitely bad,”said Turuna Seecharan,anassistant professor in the engineering department of the UniversityofMinnesota Duluth. Ishould find ways tocalm myself before driving to news conferences and interviews, Seecharan said, so that stress doesn’tinfluence my choices on the road.

She and graduatestudent Md Sakibul Hasan Nahid are researching the role emotions like stress play in driving. Is thereacorrelation?

Iworea sensorfor several days to better understand the research. My data showed Iwas less stressed when Iwasn’tinthe middle of aworkday,even if something unexpected happened on the roadway

The study could be useful for driver training programs, or lead to technology that warns drivers of stress levels before they getbehind thewheel, Seecharan andNahidsaid, becausestress, fatigue and anger can all cloud decision-making while driving

“Just like youshouldn’t get into acar if you’re too tired or you shouldn’tget into acar if you’re drunk, it’s thesame thing,”Seecharan said. “Pay attention to your emotional state.”

The researchers have recorded more than 100 driving sessions for 25 drivers aged 18-30 so far.

The National Highway TrafﬁcSafety Administration says drivers aged 15 to 20 are involved in more fatal crashes than anyother group. In 2020, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of unintentional death for drivers between 15 and 24, according to the administration.

The data collection method the UMD researchers usedissimilartowhat car insurance companies use to determine how safely someone drives, but it also factors in emotional state by starting with baseline physiological data. Braking and accelerating behavior is gauged, anddrivers submit mood data before, dur-

ing andafter each driving trip. The researchers found that electrodermal activity (changes in skin from sweating) can be helpful in predicting emotional states and aggressive driving. The moreyou sweat, the higher the electrodermal activity More physiological measureswould improve research,Nahid said, with mathematical models so farshowing 60% to 70% accuracy in predicting how emotional arousal affects a driving score. Ultimately,driving schools could educate young drivers on how stress andother strongemotions can affect their driving, he said, andteach them techniques to calm themselves “sotheyhaveaclear head before driving.”

UMD recently earned aCarnegie classification as aresearch college and university,based on its annual expenses. More than $25 millionwas spent on research in ﬁscal year 2023.

THEMINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE PHOTOByJANA HOLLINGSWORTH Researchers at the University of Minnesota Duluth are using sensors to monitor drivers to determine the role emotions likestress play

BROUGH TT OY OU BY

Molly Kimball RD,CSSD

Acting early

Addressing risk factors during teen yearscan prevent heart-relatedissuesinadulthood

By American HeartAssociation News (TNS)

Toooften, young people in the U.S. just on the threshold of adulthood face cardiovascular challenges.

By the time they’re 18, many teenagers will have heart disease risk factors such as obesity,high cholesterol, high blood pressure or Type 2diabetes. Somewill already haveheart problems.

Use of tobacco products remains aconcern. So isa lack of healthinsurance

Anew scientiﬁc statement from the AmericanHeart Association outlinessuch health challenges, highlights some underlying causes and explores ways to help this population, still young in years, remainphysically young at heart. The report was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“Emerging adults”— a term for people age 18 through their mid- to late 20s —face ahost of life changes as they begin to experience greater independence, develop their careers, forge new personal bonds and chart their life course, Dr Jewel Scott, chair of the report’swriting group,said in anews release

“This pivotal phase is also an ideal time to establish health practices that support lifelong heart health,” said Scott, an assistant professor of biobehavioral health and nursing science in the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

Young adults’ growing responsibilities in education, work and family can disrupt healthy eating, make getting sufficient sleep difficult and displace beneﬁcial

activities such as athletics, according to the statement. Increasesinsedentarybehavior andweight are common in this age group. Also, research shows that from 2002 through2018, thepercentage of peopleages 18 through23who started usingtobacco, primarily e-cigarettes, more than doubled.

Andwhen young people leave pediatric health care behind, standard medical “checkpoints” —such as appointmentsfor vaccines or sports physicals —fade into the past.Soopportunitiesdwindle for health care professionals to measure bloodpressure, blood sugar andcholesterol,and to help headoff anythreats to heart health

“Young adults may not reengagewith care until after they’ve developed aheart disease riskfactor,” Scott said.

Pregnancy poses its own challengestocardiovascular health. Heart-conscious care before and between pregnanciescan helpprotect the patient’sfuture cardiovascular health andprevent pregnancycomplications such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and preterm birth, accordingtothe statement

Various social circumstances can also influence cardiovascularhealth in young adulthood and beyond, the report said. For example, higher education is linked to better heart health, while other factors are linked to poorer hearthealth. These include:

n Neighborhoods that are segregated, have fewer resources,lack safe spaces for physical activity and have less access to cleanair and water;

n Aperson’slack of positive social connection and

support; and n Economic instability, whichcan reduce access to health care and nutritious foods.

To address these socialfactors, thereport’sauthorssuggest incorporating the essentialsofheart health in early education through college or vocational school; working to reduce isolation among young adults; and promoting public policiesthataddress socialand economic inequities, improveaccess to safe recreational areas, and fill health insuranceaccess gaps acrossthe life span.

Emerging adults make up thelargest share of the 27 million uninsured adults in the U.S., the report said. Many lose coverage from their parents’ healthinsurance when theyturn 26. AndMedicaid eligibility for young adults withlow incomescan depend on whether the state they live in has expanded Medicaid access. Even if they’re insured, young adultsmight avoid health care because they’re unfamiliarwith services, have had negative experiences withhealthcare or are put offbyother issues

such as long wait times, the authors wrote. Harnessing social media andother digital toolsmay help connect young adults with needed care, the statementsaid. Theauthors also urgedresearchers, health care professionals and public health experts to think creatively aboutlife settings where they might reach young adults —atcommunity colleges or universities, in the military or through veteransservices,orinplaces they commonly work, such as in the hospitality ﬁeld. Scott called on health care

professionals to makeheart health apriority for young adultsduringany office visit.

“Wemay see theirblood pressure is alittle high, but we don’taddress it because they came in with an ear infection or sprained ankle or something else that needs immediate attention,” she said.

“Wemay missthe opportunity to let them know that they are in the elevated blood pressure range and ways theycan take action. We need to have these conversations.”

Anew scientificstatement from the American HeartAssociation outlines suchhealth challenges, highlights

causes and explores ways to help this population, still young in years, remainphysically young at heart.

Ochsner Healthtransforms the nursingexperience through innovation, supportand collaboration

By Amanda McElfresh amcelfresh@theadvocate.com

Thisstory is brought to you by OchsnerHealth.

Asaleading healthcareprovider in Louisiana, Ochsner Health has morethan 10,000 nurses caring forpatients at its 46 hospitalsand more than 370health and urgent care centers acrossthe Gulf South. Ochsner nursesare involved in every aspect of the health system. Theyparticipate in executiveleadership,deliver babies, assist in complexsurgeries,contributeideas and build innovations thateasedemands on administrators

“Nursing has changed signiﬁcantly throughthe years. We arenot waiting for direction. Nurses have aseatatthe table, driving healthcareand promoting change,” said Ruth Sagastume, chief nursing officer of Ochsner Medical Center –New Orleans.“We areempoweredtomakedecisions that impact the futureofboth patients and nurses.”

Ochsner nurseshelped care formorethan 1 million patients from every state in the nation and 63 countries last year alone. Ochsner invested heavily in its electronic medical records platforms,embedding technological safeguards thatalsohelp nursesstreamline their work.

comprehensiveinstructions with patients and their families via video call, allowing uninterrupted time to answerquestions and create asmooth transition from the hospital to their home. Meanwhile, nursesatthe patient’s bedside canfocus on direct patientcare. Pairing bedside and virtual discharge nursesisalready decreasing readmissions and is receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from patients and staff

“The virtual nurse is able to spend one-on-one time with the patienttoeducate them about the medications theyneed, assistwith upcoming appointments and makesurethe patient canget home safely,” said Dianne Teal, chief nursing officer at Ochsner Medical Center –BatonRouge.“By having theseconversations with patients and their families,wecan help prevent issues thatmightlead to a return to the hospital after theygohome. We seethis as having signiﬁcantbeneﬁts forour nurses, patients and families.”

“Technologyhas really evolvedduring my career,” said Renee Delahoussaye,chief nursing officer of Ochsner LafayetteGeneral “Today, nurseselectronically document patientassessments andcommunicatewith one another and physicians electronically We have tools thatallowustodocument information at apatient’sbedside, rather than on paper at the nurses’ desk. It has deﬁnitelyenhanced the workﬂow fornurses, helping them to be moreefficientand has createda saferenvironmenttoensure patientsreceive the care theydeserve.”

Ochsner is alsoexpanding its virtual nursing program, particularly to assist patients beingdischarged. In the program, experienced, off-sitenursesreview

balance is truly importantinhealthcare.

Creating opportunities fornursestofocus on self-care and their ownmental well-being is alsoatop priority at Ochsner.Teal said thathas become an even stronger focus since the COVID-19pandemic.

In addition, some Ochsner locations nowhaveorare piloting self-scheduling software for nurses, allowing them to choosethe times and days when theywanttobeonduty.

“We’ve made it aprioritytogivenurses the schedule of their choice because we’veseen howimportantitistothem, Sagastume said. “Self-scheduling takes place through an electronic platform. Nurses have an opportunitytoselect their preferred shifts,and the nursing leaders then balance the full schedule to makesure all shifts arecovered. It’sahugemilestone forusand something we consider areal win forour nursing teams We feel thatself-scheduling supports whatisimportant to our nurses. Theywantwork-lifebalance thatmeets notjust the needs of the nurse and their families,but alsofulﬁlls emotional requirements thatmakeour work so special and rewarding. This ownership of work-life

“Wenow have an online wellnessportal with access to group therapy, one-on-one therapy, self-careactivities and other resources,” Teal said. “Our career centerhelps Ochsner employees identifythe rightcareer path and nowhas asocial worker and communityhealth worker to assist in overcoming barrierstheymay have in their personal lives.Werecognizethatnurseshavealife outsideofthesebuildings,andthepressuresthat communities arefacing arealsohappening to ourstaff.It’simportanttousfor them to have the rightsupport to navigate through that.” Delahoussaye said the emphasis on nurses’ well-being starts from their ﬁrst months on the joband continues throughout their career with accesstomanyemployeesupport programs,counselorsand more. However, one of the most importantresources has proven to be creating opportunities fornursesto connect with one another and other clinicians to sharetheir emotions around challenging experiences

“When youare working a12-hour shift,you don’talwayshavealot of downtime to talk with your coworkers,”Delahoussaye said. “Wemakesuretheyhave time setaside to talk about what’sbeen happening in their world. It’sall about creating the space forthem to do that.

Through all theseevolutions,Sagastume said she is most proud of the fact thatnursesatOchsner are encouraged to takeonleadership roles as newchanges arediscussedand implemented.

“Our physician partnersand healthcareleaderstruly respect nurses. It’samagniﬁcentrelationship with alot of collaboration,”she said. “Theyare always inviting us to shareour input becausetheyrecognizehow valuable our opinion is and howcloseweare to the patients.We respect thatclinical teams have greatideas,and they understand thatwhen it comes to putting alot of this work into action, nurseswill be the driving forceand takeittothe next level. We makethingshappen!”

Carethat keeps you moving

BeccaB.andJohnC. |OrthopedicsPatients

AtOchsnerLafayetteGeneralOrthopedics&SportsMedicineInstitute,we understandtheimportanceofgettingyoubackinthegameoflife.Whether yourinjuryisminororsomethingmorecomplex,ourmultidisciplinaryteamof orthopedicsandsportsmedicineproviderswillworkwithyoutodevelopa customizedcareplantoﬁtyourneeds.Equippedwiththelatesttechnology andenrichedbyDr.Andrews’expertknowledge,weareinnovatingour approachtosportsmedicinecareandrecoveryrighthereinAcadiana.

Formoreinformationvisitochsner.org/lafayetteortho

SWEET STUDIES

BYELLYN COUVILLION Staff writer

When Zachary High’sagriculture students learned they’d be studying bees ﬁrsthand, they weren’t so sure about it. They worked with chickens and goats, raised vegetables and ﬂowers and tended fruit trees, butbees?

“The studentswere alittle scared,” said MelissaBrumbaugh, who with her husband, Bubba Brumbaugh, teaches the ZacharyHigh ag classes. “Nowthey say,‘Can we please go to the bees?’”

The study of bees took ﬂight at the high school in 2023, after it applied for andreceived a$10,000 grantfrom the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry that provided bees,hives, beekeeping suits, hoods, gloves and classroom books The25juniorsand seniors who take the classes, either asarequiredscience or an elective, have becomeexperienced beekeeperssince then. Every month they check on thesix beehives that are kept on the nearby campus of Port HudsonAcademy andcollect honey twice ayear for the studentsto bottle and hand out at school district events.

The name of the honey is “Z-Hive

JanRisher LONG STORy SHORT

Everyday bids for connection

Whenmyhusband asked if I’d watched the video he sent, Isaid no —I’d seen it, meant to and thenforgot.

“You should watch it,” he said. So,Idid.

He hadsenta video on how basketball defense has evolved since the 1960s It turns out, these small moments —evena videoabout the history of basketball defense —may matter more than we realize

Background: He hassat with me through enough basketball gamestohear me go on and on abouthow Idon’t understand howplayers getaway with what theydo. Like abroken record, I keep saying, “That should be a foul,” as players without the ball push andshove eachother Perhaps he wasgently trying to getmetoconsider that Ican’t watch 2025 basketball with 1985 eyes —whateverhis motive, he knewIwould be interested.

Learning aboutthe Gottman Institute research on “bids for connection” really resonated with me. “Bids for connection” aredeﬁnedasgesturesfrom one partnertoanotherseeking attention, affection or engagement. The research explains that the “bids” can be small —like a simple questionorlarger,like an outright request forhelp.

With decades of research as evidence, many believe that the way apartnerresponds to these bids determinesthe tenor of arelationship. When someone consistently turns toward the bid andacknowledgesitproperly, the relationship typically grows in apositive direction.

Zacharystudents addbeekeeping, honeycollection to their high school experience

Honey,”aname voted on by the Zacharycommunity “Wetalked about selling it,but we don’twanttocompetewithlocal beekeepers,” said Joseph Bassett Jr., a student in the programand ajunior at Zachary High. “Wegive it out at every-

thing we go to.” This year,asecond, $10,000 grant awarded to the school from the Louisiana DepartmentofEducation will boost the numberofhives to 11, allow-

See BEES, page 2Y

Forexample,ifone partner says to another, “Check out thatview,”a partner“moving toward” the bid for connection would look at the view and respond alongthe linesof, “Wow, that’samazing!” Apartnerwho “turns away” from the bid doesn’tlook up and responds with something along the linesof“mm-hmm.”

And apartnerwho “turns against” the bid responds with, “Really,you hadmelook up for that?”

Overtime,the responses add up. Not to paint toorosy apicture —myhusband andIdrive each othercrazy sometimes —but scrolling through his messages, Irealizedthese little nuggets he oftensharesare apartofthe way he seeksconnection.

Forexample,hesent aphoto of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile spottedoutside BLDG 5, a callback to the Route 66 road trip he andItook in September 2020, when we were on the same path as the Wienermobile for four straight days —atCadillac Ranchoutside Amarillo,standing on acornerinWinslow,Arizona, at the WigwamHotel in Holbrook,Arizona andmore. We found ourselves at the same hotels andlandmarks over and over again. We came to be on a ﬁrst name basis with the drivers. The Wienermobile was areminder of howsharedexperiences, no matterhow quirky,continue to bind us. We laughedabout it then, andwestill laugh about it now.

Individual tiny threads of relationships bind together to make a stronger fabric.

Thenthere is the video he sent of the president of Mexico getting “la limpia,” atype of cleansing with plants and smoke considered atraditional healing ritualthataims to cleanse the body andsoulofnegative energy,

PROVIDED PHOTO

ZacharyHigh students, from left, Savannah Franklin and Melissa Nolan, check the frames in abeehive. The beekeepingprogram at the school started in 2023 with astate grant.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

The queen bee of the hiveismarked with awhite dot, middle right, made by apaint pen to easily be able to spot it at Janway FarmsonMarch 12.

The bonsai tree creates connections in New Orleans

Hundreds of years and counting in Japanese practice

BY LAUREN CHERAMIE Staff writer

Carl Gilbert, president of the Greater New Orleans Bonsai Society, found his love for bonsai trees while he was in Japan serving in the U.S. Navy He joined the society to learn from other bonsai enthusiasts in the area

Gilbert takes pride and joy in caring for his trees, and he has worked with some of the best bonsai artists in the country The bonsai society boasts visiting artists, lectures and demonstrations, workshops, study groups, and its annual bonsai auction and sale.

How did the Bonsai Society get its start?

In 1972, Vaughn Banting, Johnny Martinez and Randy Bennett chose to start the Greater New Orleans Bonsai Society, and it’s been going ever since.

Does the society host events and programs for its members?

We’re trying to have a guest artist come in every couple of months to do a demonstration on Fridays and a lecture on Saturday Then we would do a workshop where we put that demonstration and lecture into practice, making a new tree species we don’t normally work with, so people get to hone their skills.

What is the fascination with bonsai trees that would prompt a society in their name?

The bonsai tree has been around for hundreds of years.

The original idea was to bring nature into the home once larger cities started to develop. Today, a lot of those standards are kept

BEES

Continued from page 1y

ing sophomores to take part in the program too, Melissa Brumbaugh said.

“We’ll start getting those students involved now, so the subject isn’t brand-new next school year,” she said.

Melissa Brumbaugh will teach about bees in the classroom, but the experienced beekeeper juniors and seniors will help teach the sophomores in the ﬁeld how to check the hives for unwelcome insects and make sure the queen bees and hives look healthy

“I truly think kids learn better from each other,” she said. Even the students are excited about passing the torch.

“For me, being a senior and leaving, it’s great to know there are people coming in behind me,” said Kaylea Marionneaux, a student in the beekeeping program who will graduate from Zachary High in May

This year’s grant funds will also provide participating schools with an extractor, a piece of equipment that spins a hive’s removable frames, where bees build their honeycombs, to extract the honey Meanwhile, Zachary High has been able to borrow an extractor from a student’s grandfather “Beekeeping is an expensive hobby, but it’s so beneﬁcial for our planet and the environment,” Melissa Brumbaugh said “The students have become advocates for bees.”

Mike Strain, commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said the grants are funded by federal monies that ﬁrst became available to Louisiana high schools in 2019, with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of specialty crops and encouraging the longterm growth of the beekeeping industry

in practice in Japan and, really around the world.

Here, we try to practice some of the traditional skills, but also some of the newer skills that have been applied over the last couple of hundred years to keep some of the traditions alive.

When you say skills, what do you mean by that?

There’s different techniques we use for bending branches or wiring a tree to get the branches where we want them to go. The other would be the horticulture of keeping a tree alive in a small tray

It’s not just as simple as throw it in a tray and it’ll take care of itself forever

They have to be repotted every couple of years, and the roots have to be trimmed. So, there is a decent amount of maintenance work that goes into the trees.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned about bonsai trees from being in this society?

I’m a veteran who struggled with PTSD for a long time For me, working on a tree brings me in the moment, keeps me present in what I’m doing. I hear that from a lot of other members. It brings you focus It teaches you patience and a new skill.

How has the group fostered a sense of community within New Orleans?

We do the City Park Garden Show twice a year, in spring and fall. We also do the Destrehan Spring Garden Show We put trees on display for people who want to come see them. Anyone is welcome to come, check it out and get insight on what you can create by learning a skill.

Sometimes, our club goes to other garden clubs around town to do a lecture and display trees for them. We do that a couple of times a year For me, personally, it has taught me that there’s a diverse group of people who are interested in hobbies like this. Our oldest

for

members are around 80-88 years old, and our youngest member is 19, so everybody in between that brings a different personality to the group. It’s not just working on trees, it’s meeting new people and ﬁguring out what this person likes compared to what another person likes how one person does things compared to someone else. It’s fun meeting new people and giving them the information.

Some people say, “Oh, I saw trees in ‘The Karate Kid.’” These don’t look anything like that.

How can people join the New Orleans Bonsai Society? We have a website, gnobs.org.

School on Feb 13.

Like the students at Zachary High, the schools were “reluctant at ﬁrst because it was bees,” said Strain, who is a beekeeper himself

Covington High School was the ﬁrst school to break the ice and apply for the 2019 grant, Strain said. Since then, students at nine other Louisiana high schools, including Zachary’s, have become bee experts, he said “They’re learning about bees from A to Z,” Strain said. Zachary High has another bonus for its bee program: The ex-

tour of the ag department

pertise of volunteers Vaughn and Sienna Benoit, who have worked with bees for many years.

Melissa Brumbaugh reached out to the Benoits, the grandparents of Zachary High graduate Claire Chandler — who’s now studying animal science in college — and asked if they might be available to help coach the students on-site at the hives.

“Sure,” said the Benoits, now called Pop and Mimi by the students.

The Benoits meet the students at the hives every month at the Port Hudson Academy campus,

where the hives have plenty of room, undisturbed, on a big ﬁeld where there’s a water source and wildﬂowers growing.

“The students are very attentive,” Sienna Benoit said. “It’s amazing what they can do.”

Vaugn Benoit noted that the students are learning a valuable skill. They are able to take what they learn and make a product out of it.

“We need future beekeepers,” Sienna Benoit said. “If we get just one beekeeper out of this group, it’s one more than there would have been.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP: VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

We meet on the second Tuesday of the month at the American Legion Hall at 1225 Hickory Ave., in Harahan. Our next meeting is May 18, and we’re doing a lecture on deciduous trees. On Aug. 9, we have our annual bonsai auction. We have bargain tables with items from 50 cents or $1, and then there are proper bonsai trees that are auctioned off. They can go anywhere from $50 to $1,000. It’s quite a wide selection of trees.

Email Lauren Cheramie at lauren.cheramie@theadvocate. com.

RISHER

Continued from page 1y

bad vibrations. When we were in Mexico City in January, I got one too. He also sent a story about the trunk of a dead 110-yearold cottonwood tree in Idaho that was transformed into a Little Free Library He knows I adore Little Free Libraries and became friends with Todd Bol who started them in 2009. I wrote a piece about them shortly thereafter, and Bol made a trip to Louisiana and ended up coming to our house for dinner

I’m not sure how my husband ﬁnds some of the things he sends me, but they help keep the conversation going 31 years into marriage. Most of the time, I naturally “turn toward” the bid for connection, but sometimes I’m busy or have a lot on my plate or I just forget — and I don’t give those efforts the attention they deserve.

But when I do, I realize that he knows me well, and it makes my heart ﬂutter just a tiny bit. Each bid, whether a quirky photo, an intriguing article or a shared memory, is a way of him saying, “I see you.” Those moments are also a reminder that bids for connection can go both ways. Sending the note or tidbit to a friend or cousin or husband because I know it strikes a chord that they will appreciate it — is probably a good idea.

The ways that we respond to the people we care about add up. In my relationship with my husband, these little messages, as opposed to the grand gestures, help us keep liking each other

These are the ways we turn toward each another again and again.

Louisiana Inspired highlights volunteer opportunities across south Louisiana If your organization has speciﬁc volunteer opportunities, please email us at lainspired @theadvocate.com with details on the volunteer opportunity, organization and the contact/registration information volunteers would need.

Acadiana

The Lafayette Community Health Care Clinic, 1317 Jefferson St., Lafayette, is a nonprofit organization that provides quality outpatient health care for the eligible working uninsured and develops and provides programs to address community health care needs through collaborative partnerships. For volunteer opportunities, visit cajunaaa.org

Baton Rouge

The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, 10600 Choctaw Drive, Baton Rouge, has a mission to feed the hungry in Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes by providing food and educational outreach through faith-based and other community partners With community support, the agency has served the hungry in its 11-parish service area for more than 35 years. Volunteers are needed for sorting and packaging Visit brfoodbank.org

New Orleans

Senior Medicare Patrol — AdviseWell, Inc., 201 St Charles Ave., New Orleans, helps Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries prevent, detect and report health care fraud. In doing so, the agency not only protects older persons but also helps preserve the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. For volunteer opportunities, visit stopmedicarefraud.org

PROVIDED PHOTO

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Randy Bennett trims a bald cypress bonsai tree

a cypress forest in the works.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Teacher Melissa Brumbaugh walks past the gardens during a

at Zachary High

DuobehindBRaddiction recovery housekeeps it

BY JOYHOLDEN Staff writer

When she was 19 years old, Emily Tilley started going to O’Brien House, aBaton Rouge residential treatment center, to visit hermother.Her mother,Shirley Cormier George, was arecovering addict who had ﬁnished 42 days in rehab and then moved into the O’Brien House for a90-day recoveryin residence. Because O’Brien House does not require client fees, an alcoholic or addict can walk in without money and ﬁnd aplace to stay and receive treatment. The center relies on Medicaid, grants and donations to pay for all the needs.

Once Georgegraduated from the program, she continued to volunteer and support the residential treatmentcenteruntil shepassed away in 2015. For Tilley,who now has amaster’sinsocial work, a master’sinpublic administration and adoctorate in social work, O’Brien House was the placethat gave her her mother back. Now,asthe executive director, it’sthe place that Tilley calls her family

“I remember comingonthe weekendstovisit her,and Ifelt love,” Tilley said. “It’salways just been afamily place.The mission is really what it is,savinglives and families.”

Afamily atmosphere

O’Brien House has served the community for 53 years, and Tilley said it’sthe family atmosphere that brings people back to volunteer even when they leave or graduate.

Founded in 1971 by John Camp, the center is named after PaulS.“Pat” O’Brien, who spent 53 years of his life working with recovering alcoholics and educating the public about alcoholism.

The goal of O’Brien Houseisto help recovering alcoholics and drug addicts develop and/or restore strength, hope and stability to their lives, so that they become healthy,productive citizens.

O’Brien House, a501(c)(3) nonproﬁt organization, offers athreemonth comprehensive residential program that includes:a structured environment withindividual and group counseling by qualiﬁed professionals, housingfacilities for men and women, nutritionally balanced meals, involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous andother 12-Step programsand alifeskills programwhichincludes career counseling, job readiness training and job placement assistance.

The facility has acapacity for 53 residents, butitcurrently has 36. Tilley says O’Brien House is on astrict budget becausethey only get $85 per resident per day from Medicaid, but it takes us at least $175 perpersonper dayfor staffing, residence costs, cooked meals, toiletries and laundry

“Wecover allthose things,” Tilley said. “So it takes alot to run this.Wehave sixbuildings on this campus that we havetopay for the lights, thewater,the internet and everything.”

To cover theremaining costs, O’Brien Househostsanannual fundraiser breakfast in the fall, receives United Wayfunds,utilizes donations and operates on agrant from the previousmayor’sofﬁce.

In addition to the residential program, O’Brien House alsooffers intensive outpatient therapy, an adult substance education program and aveterans support group. Once clients have graduated but do not yet have aplace to live,O’BrienHouse has singleresidence occupancy apartments for clients to get on their feet in a safe, supportive environment.

Astaff that cares

Tilly became acounselor at O’Brien House 12 years ago,and after afew years, she became clinical director.In2022, she was namedthe executivedirector.She also teaches online social work classesatLSU and Southern to help develop futureleaders in theﬁeld.

As executive director,Tilley oversees the operations of the organization, writesgrants and contracts, deals with insurance andmanages the finances and budget. Because she has theclinical expertise, she consults with

the clinical director,Karla Alexander,about theprogram.

Even though Tilley’sposition requiresfull focus, she still makes time to do orientationwithnew residents, visitswiththem during meal times and takes time to get to knowthem when she hasthe opportunity.

“I want them to know everybody cares,” Tilley said. “We’re notthe TajMahal, but we’re also not the Alamo. Theymay notget the best sheets and all that, but they knowthatthe people here love them.” Alexander started as an addiction counselor at O’Brien House in 2019 and became clinical directorin2022. Originally fromNew Iberia like Tilley, O’Brien House has been Alexander’sonly job since she moved to BatonRouge. She overseesthe treatment

team to make sure that the clientsare receiving quality care, that allthe services arewithin the O’BrienHouse standard,and that staff is credentialed andtrained.

“As clinical director,Iprobably do more groups than Ishould,” said Alexander,“but Iwas acounselor formany years, so helping out the clients is within me.”

She says O’Brien House’sclientsmake abig commitment and sacriﬁce to be there, away from their families and away from jobs, but it’sworth it. She wants each person to feel loved, cared forand worthwhile

“Their sobrietyistheirs,” she said. “Their recoveryistheirs. We aresimplyassisting them on their journey if they allow us to. Thestaff heregenuinely cares aboutthem. Everybody goes aboutita differentway in show-

ing thatcare andconcern,but we all have their best interest at heart.”

Tilley andAlexanderwork hand-in-hand to make sure each personatO’Brien Househas what they need. All of the staff memberscollaborate on leading the way to recovery for every person whowalks through the door

“We’re blessed,” said Tilley “Wedon’t have everything we want, but we have everything that we need. The lights have never gone off. The staff hasgotten paid by the skin of ourteeth. But you know,the people who work here, we do the best that we can with what we have.”

For more information, visit obrienhouse.org.

Email Joy Holdenatjoy.holden@ theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Executivedirector of O’Brien House Emily Tilley, left, stands with the clinicaldirector, KarlaAlexander

FAITH & VALUES

Baptists provide home-repair lifeline after Helene

Many in North Carolina lost their livelihoods to the hurricane

BY YONAT SHIMRON Contributing writer

A kerosene heater still sits in the middle of Mack and Lucille Thomason’s living room, a testament to the trauma they and others in their rural Yancey County North Carolina community experienced when Hurricane Helene unleashed its raging waters last fall.

The Thomasons, retired in their 70s, saw 4 feet of water slosh up to the door of their doublewide trailer destroying the ﬂoor, furnace, back porch and most of their kitchen appliances. The hurricane also damaged their well, leaving them without water For weeks, Mack Thomason had to walk to the creek behind the house to collect water in 5-gallon buckets so he and wife could ﬂush the toilet.

They were nearly despondent and living in a borrowed camper when their daughter told them she found someone who could help with repairs. That someone was Keith Ashe, the site coordinator for Baptists on Mission in Burnsville, a town about 7 miles north of Pensacola, where the Thomasons live.

“He said he’d be back, so I looked for him and, true to his word, they’ve been here,” Thomason, 77, said Hurricane Helene caused unprecedented damage in the mountain region of Western North Carolina, where hurricane-level rainfall is rare and only 4% of residents have flood insurance. The September storm destroyed about 4,400 homes and damaged 185,000.

Gov Josh Stein estimated the damage at $60 billion, with about $15 billion needed for housing On April 14, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied North Carolina’s request to continue matching 100% of the state’s spending on Hurricane Helene recovery

Six months later, that recovery has just begun Securing funding and contractors for home repairs has been a huge challenge for many homeowners, especially those with limited means The Thomasons — he worked third shift at a textile factory, and she was a housekeeper at a nursing home — were lucky Baptists on Mission, an auxiliary of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, came to their rescue on Jan 21.

Volunteers installed two ductless heating and cooling systems, called mini-splits, rebuilt the back deck, hung two new doors and surrounded the raised trailer home with new vinyl skirting Best of all, one volunteer, a well drilling specialist from Texas, was able to repair the well.

Samaritan’s Purse, another Christian humanitarian relief organization, provided the couple with a new refrigerator, dishwasher and freezer to replace the ones the ﬂood rusted

The two Christian groups are among a slew of faith-based organizations that rushed to help in the wake of the storm. About half a dozen are still there, but Baptists on Mission and Samaritan’s Purse — both based in North Carolina — have made a long-term commitment to remain. The two organizations plan to help homeowners there, costfree, for as long as it takes likely another ﬁve years.

Samaritan’s Purse is the bigger of the two organizations and has provided 111 campers for people whose homes were uninhabitable, 179 new vehicles, numerous appliances and other household goods, said Luther Harrison, the organization’s vice president of North American ministries.

Based in Boone, it also plans to build new homes from scratch: 36 have been approved and 10 are under construction. The organization has budgeted $523 million — all from private donations — to help with Hurricane Helene recovery Of that it has already spent $61 million.

“This hit our backyard, this hit

people that we work with, people that we know, and it has really opened the eyes of the community to what Samaritan’s Purse is able to do in these communities and just show them that God loves them,” Harrison said.

But when it comes to home repairs, many have turned to Baptists on Mission. To date, the organization has completed repairs on 203 homes damaged by the hurricane. It’s working on an additional 230 and has 500 more homes on a waiting list.

In Helene’s aftermath, it perfected its rapid repair method, which aims to make a home livable quickly, even if cabinets have yet to be installed or the trim around the doors isn’t complete. The idea is to get people back into homes and then return later to complete the ﬁnishing touches.

Baptists on Mission has six rebuild centers in Western North Carolina, where its thousands of volunteers can sleep for a week or a weekend while they work on homes The organization feeds them three meals a day and provides the tools and materials to work on homes.

Many volunteers are skilled at construction trades; others work alongside a team leader who guides them. The volunteers, young and old, come from Baptist churches, not only in North Carolina but across the country

“People ask me all the time, why am I a Southern Baptist?” said Stan Jenkins, a pastor from Henderson, North Carolina, about 260 miles away who brought half a dozen church members to volunteer in Burnsville last month. “Here’s the reason I always give: I don’t know any other denomination that does mission work like we do. I mean, we take mission work seriously.”

Baptists on Mission has proved itself during past disasters. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it rebuilt 720 homes in Gulfport, Mississippi.

After hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018, the North Carolina legislature took notice of their work. In 2023, the North Caro-

lina General Assembly awarded it $5 million for future disasters in the state. This January, the governor announced he was giving the group another $3 million for Hurricane Helene assistance. And last month, North Carolina’s leaders approved an additional $524 million for Helene recovery Baptists on Mission might get a small slice of that, too.

The organization is mainly funded by Baptist churches across the state.

This year’s budget from church donations is $1.6 million. Government funding pays for construction materials that will help put people back in homes faster

“We didn’t use any state funds or federal funds to set up and manage our rebuild centers or to pay to coordinate our leadership,” said Richard Brunson, its executive director “We’re just using federal funds and state funds for building materials.”

To avoid endangering volunteers, Baptists on Mission typically doesn’t repair roofs. Homeowners who receive money from FEMA must use those funds before Baptists on Mission will help. Typically, money from FEMA is not enough to cover all the necessary repairs, Ashe said. The type of ﬁxes Baptists on Mission undertakes are typically no more than $40,000.

Ashe, the Burnsville site coordinator, had been volunteering for Baptists on Mission for some 15 years.

He is a pastor at Coweeta Baptist Church, about 110 miles south of Burnsville near the Georgia state line, and taught vocational trades at a community college for 10 years before moving on to ministry full time.

But when he came up to survey the damage from Helene on Oct. 3, 2024, he decided to join the staff. He now trades off weeks in Burnsville and back home tending to his church.

“Just seeing the people, how humble people were — every one of them would say ‘Go check on my neighbor, he’s worse off than I am’

— and then to see their faces turned from hopelessness to hope after we offered them assistance, that’s just worth it all,” he said.

Last month, Ashe visited several sites where volunteers were working. At one of the homes, volunteers were laying new vinyl flooring to replace hardwood ﬂoors damaged when the hurricane caused a mudslide, shattering windows and causing an electrical surge that killed all their appliances.

Christy Fox, who owns the home with her husband, Jeff, recalled how Baptists on Mission came over one bitterly cold day this past winter Her husband showed them the house while she stayed in the car

“My husband came out and he was like, ‘Well, they can’t help with the roof, but they can help with ’ — and he started naming off all these things that we were trying to do ourselves. And I said, ‘Really?’” Christy Fox said. “’When are they gonna start?’ Because so many places have long waiting lists. And he said, ‘Monday.’ And I said, ‘Are you serious?’” Jeff Howell, who retired last month as Yancey County emergency management coordinator, said he had a good relationship with Baptists on Mission and was impressed with their operation.

“There were a lot of shady people that came in and some really weird stuff that started happening” after the hurricane, Howell said. “It was not good, but it was very comforting to know that we always had Samaritan’s Purse and Baptists on Mission right there.”

And he added, for homeowners, there’s an extra level of comfort: “Having local people that talk like we do, it just kind of puts people at ease,” Howell said. For the Fox family as for the Thomasons, the assistance has been a blessing.

“Just seeing progress in your home, that helps a lot,” Christy Fox said. “They’ve made it a whole lot easier.”

Wisconsin landowners learn to live with beavers

Opting for coexistence

BY BENNET GOLDSTEIN

Solutions Journalism Network

Editor’s note: This story, created by Bennet Goldstein for the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is part of the Solutions Journalism Network. Louisiana Inspired features solutions journalism stories that provide tangible evidence that positive change is happening in other places and in our own communities solutions that can be adopted around the world.

Katie McCullough moved to Wisconsin in 2021 Her COVID pandemic purchase of 36 acres near the village of Rio in the southcentral part of the state was exactly what she was looking for She had purchased the property, sight unseen.

“I don’t regret it at all,” McCullough, 56, said with a laugh. She soon met the neighbors — about 10 furry lodge dwellers. McCullough realized she had a beaver problem that made several acres of her property inaccessible. They live atop a small muddy island and constructed a dam roughly a decade ago. Cattails grow across its 20-foot breadth. The dam left a once-lovely creek bone dry

Backed-up water enlarged the surrounding marsh and pond, where sandhill cranes, geese and ducks meander Rooted in sodden ground, tall oaks — some more than 100 years old withered and toppled.

Friends, family and locals recommended trapping the rodents and blowing the dam sky-high with Tannerite.

The solution seemed dramatic and destructive.

“We’re all here for a purpose, right? To think that beavers are just born a nuisance,” McCullough said. “It’s tough because some populations do have to be controlled if there aren’t natural predators But I’m not good at being a natural predator.” Surely, other options besides trapping or bystanding existed.

Damming behavior

Beavers once numbered between 60 million and 400 million across North America, but development and unregulated hunting nearly

decimated them. Twentieth-century conservation efforts helped beavers recover somewhat — to a fraction of their historical population.

Conflicts with humans ensued as beavers returned to their former ranges: chewing trees, plugging culverts, flooding roads and farm fields.

Few studies quantify the costs of beaver damage, and the limited data are decades old. One pinned annual timber losses in Mississippi at $621 million, adjusted for inﬂation.

Traditional responses involve trapping and dam breaching, but generally, these interventions require regular enforcement because new beavers move in.

And an expanding body of research showcasing beavers’ ecosystem and economic benefits is drawing attention to the drawbacks of removal.

When beavers remain on the landscape, they create wetlands, which mitigate climate change impacts like drought, wildfires and flooding — problems increasingly seen in the Midwest Other wildlife also depends on the habitat.

Advocates and ecological consultants are popularizing ﬂow control devices, a solution to beaver ﬂooding problems. They limit beavers’ damming behavior and reduce impacts on human infrastructure.

Hand-constructed with flexible plastic pipes and wire fencing, several types exist: pond levelers, culvert fences and decoy dams. Some bear trademarks like Beaver Deceiver and Castor Master They aim to reduce the desirability of potential dam sites, redirect beavers’ attention or “sneak” pond water away unnoticed.

McCullough opted for coexistence.

State wildlife agencies generally regulate a trapping season to manage beaver populations and minimize property damage. Wisconsin’s forestry and ﬁsheries divisions, dozens of municipalities, railroad companies and some tribal governments also contract with the U.S Department of Agriculture to remove beavers and dams from designated lands and waters.

The state imposes few restrictions for handling nuisance beavers on private property

People may hunt or trap beavers and remove their dams on their property without obtaining a license.

If a beaver dam causes damage to

a neighboring property, the injured party may legally enter the property where the dam lies and remove it.

There also are risks to ignoring one’s beavers.

People who own or lease beaveroccupied land and don’t allow their neighbors to remove them are liable for damages.

Ditching dynamite

But Wisconsin wildlife managers recommend people consider alternatives before killing the animals, including flow devices like pond levelers.

They date to at least the 1920s when USDA Chief Field Naturalist Vernon Bailey proposed using an “entirely successful” drainage pipe constructed with logs and threaded through the dam.

Subsequent testing indicated that early levelers sometimes failed, but the concept has evolved.

Modern devices control water height using a ﬂexible plastic tube resting on a pond’s bottom. A cage surrounds the intake and prevents beavers from swimming close enough to detect flowing water, which researchers believe triggers their building itch. The other end of the tube passes through the dam, forming a permanent leak.

Installers say levelers, which cost $2,000 to $4,000, function for about 10 years and require little maintenance. They can modify setups to accommodate ﬁsh passage, narrow and shallow streams, large ponds and downstream beaver dams. “The best solutions obviously are

going to be ones that work for the beavers and that work for us,” said Massachusetts-based Beaver Solutions owner Mike Callahan, who has installed more than 2,000 ﬂow devices and trains consultants.

States throughout the Mississippi River basin, including Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota and Missouri, recommend ﬂow devices, but with varying awareness of best practices.

Pond levelers uncommon

Wisconsin residents have constructed beaver pond levelers, as have the Department of Natural Resources and USDA. But state natural resources staff say they rarely receive inquiries.

Despite their simple design, obtaining state authorization to install a flow device often takes longer than other activities like smallscale dredging and riprap installation because Wisconsin lacks a standard pond leveler permit.

Projects can vary across designs, siting and placement, with potentially signiﬁcant impacts to where and how pond water flows, said Crystal vonHoldt, department waterways policy coordinator The law requires employees to evaluate impacts to water quality, navigation, wildlife, scenic beauty and public access to boating and ﬁshing.

A department staff member told McCullough’s contractor and restoration ecologist Clay Frazer — who has overseen multiple beaver-related projects in Wisconsin like mock

beaver dams that many landowners opt not to install them after learning of the challenges.

Hiring a consultant to navigate the process can be cost-prohibitive. McCullough’s bill exceeded $10,000, but a grant offset it.

Proponents say the requirements usher landowners toward a lethal resolution, which Wisconsin’s beaver trapping rules seemingly favor Community levels with beavers Billerica, Massachusetts, had a ﬂooding problem.

The town’s troubles followed a 1996 statewide voter referendum that banned foothold traps Conﬂicts increased as the beavers expanded into the community, home to more than 42,000 residents along with wetlands streams and two rivers. Prime habitat.

Things came to a head in 2000, and the town contracted with Callahan to address the problem nonlethally At 43 locations where the town traditionally utilized trapping, he installed ﬂow devices.

“They’re kind of instrumental in preventing certain culverts and major roads here in town from getting ﬂooded,” said Isabel Tourkantonis, the town’s director of environmental affairs.

Trapping continued at another 12 sites because the devices either failed or the landscape made their use untenable.

Non-lethal management saved Billerica taxpayers $7,740 annually in avoided trapping and dam removal costs, according to a town analysis. The number of beavers killed dropped more than ﬁvefold.

Maintaining 380 acres of beavercreated wetlands provided an estimated $2 million of free services each year, including water ﬁltration, ﬂood reduction and plant and wildlife habitat.

“If there’s a way to coexist with an important animal population, that’s, I would think, the goal,” Tourkantonis said.

Massachusetts landowners navigate a different permitting process for ﬂow devices.

They only need to obtain approval from a local health board or conservation commission generally at little cost. It takes a few days.

Tourkantonis said such procedures cut “through the red tape and make it a little bit easier for folks to address an immediate public safety hazard.”

PROVIDED PHOTO By CLAy FRAZER

Dan Fuhs, co-owner of Native Range Ecological, installs a pond leveler in October 2023, near the village of Rio.

SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2025

CURTIS / by Ray Billingsley

SLYLOCK FOX / by Bob Weber Jr

GET FUZZY / by Darby Conley

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE / by Chris Browne

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM / by Mike Peters

ZIGGY / by Tom Wilson

ZITS / by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

SALLY FORTH / by Francesco Marciuliano & Jim Keefe

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE /byStephan Pastis

scrabble grams wonderword

directions: Make a 2- to 7-letter word from the letters in each row Add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value All the words are in the Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, 5th Edition.

word game

instructions: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

todAY's Word — MisLAYinG: mis-LAYing: Putting in an unremembered place; losing.

Average mark 34 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find 55 or more words in MISLAYING?

ken ken

instructions: 1 -Each rowand each column must contain thenumbers 1through4 (easy) or 1through6 (challenging) without repeating 2 -The numbers within the heavily outlinedboxes, called cages, must combine using thegiven operation (inany order)toproduce the target numbersinthe top-left corners. 3 -Freebies: Fillinthe single-boxcages withthe numberinthe top-left corner

instructions: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 gridwith several given numbers. The object is to placethe numbers 1to 9in theempty squares so that each row,each column and each 3x3 boxcontains the same number only once. The difficultylevel of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

directions: Complete thegridso that numbers 1–132 connect horizontally, vertically or diagonally

Sudoku

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

By KeLLy

amanda CooK

Tommy would be proud

North’sfour-diamondbidwould notbeeveryone’schoice,butitled toagoodslamcontract.Southwas

Patryk Patreuha, from Poland. South won the opening spade lead with dummy’s ace and led the king of clubs. West won with the ace and led another spade to dummy’s king. South cashed the queen of diamonds, feeling pretty good about things, and was sick when West showed out. South did not give up. He cashed the queen of clubs, discarding a heart from his hand, and ruffed a club. He cashed his queen of spades, shedding a low heart from dummy, then cashed the ace of hearts and ruffed a heart. This was the position, with the lead in dummy:

South led a club from dummy and over-ruffed East’s nine of diamonds with the ace. He ruffed his heart with dummy’s jack of trumps and led another club. He picked up East’s last two trumps with a trump coup. Beautifully done!

wuzzLes

super Quiz

Tannah Hirsch welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency inc., 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, Ny 14207. E-mail responses may be sent to gorenbridge@ aol.com. © 2025 Tribune Content Agency goren Bridge

TAURUS

the lead will only worsen matters Stick close to home or go to a safe place to release tension.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Press forward enthusiastically, and your actions will encourage others. Turn your home into your preferred comfort zone using restorative components

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Plan to do something that brings you joy and makes you feel good. Today is about purpose, kindness and grati-

tude for what you have. When you are at peace with yourself, you exude happiness and hope. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Lock into a group offering insight into something you want to pursue. Learn and reach out to experts for answers to questions that can help you reach your objective.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Take time to get your finances in order and map out an investment plan that helps you budget for something that enhances your life Changing your environment will offer insight into new possibilities and potential moves.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Take whatever you want to achieve to the next level. Your energy vision and connections will collectively give you the edge necessary to get things done.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) When in doubt, observe. Stepping away from uncertainty will give you a different perspective regarding what’s possible and the best way to get things done to your liking.

Take this Super Quiz to a Ph.D. Score 1 point for each correct answer on the Freshman Level, 2 points on the graduate Level and 3 points on the Ph.D. Level.

SUBJECT: PRO Each answer is a sevenletter word that starts with “pro.” (e.g., To supply or make available. Answer: Provide.)

FRESHMAN LEVEL 1. Muhammad, for example.

Answer________

2. “All that glitters is not gold,” for example.

Answer________

3. “She,” “they” and “you,” for example.

Answer________

To succeed, especially in one’s finances. Answer________

To make a strong objection.

Answer________ 10. Showing a lack of respect for God or religion.

Answer________

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Make domestic changes that offer peace of mind and comfort for you and your loved ones. A move, renovation or upgrade that reduces utility costs will pay off.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Refuse to let anyone box you into a corner Call the shots, make the decisions and stick to a game plan that suits your objective. Feeling your best will help you go the distance.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Trust your instincts, speak on your own behalf and refuse to let anyone undermine or belittle you. Take hold of your investments, protect your assets and build opportunities that help you secure your position.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Don’t underestimate your talent, insight or ability to bring about positive change. Distance yourself from negative people and suggestions. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. ARIES (March 21-April 19) Set your mind free. Use your creative imagination, and you’ll discover ways to make your life more meaningful through thought-provoking activities, friendships and events.

1. Prophet. 2. Proverb.3.Pronoun. 4. Problem. 5. Promise. 6. Protect.7.Proceed. 8. Prosper. 9. Protest. 10.Profane. 11. Probate. 12. Prodigy 13. Promote. 14. Profile. 15. Provoke.

SCORING: 24 to 30 points —congratulations, doctor; 18 to 23 points—honorsgraduate; 13 to 17 points —you’replenty smart, but no grind; 5to12points —you really shouldhit the booksharder;1point to 4points —enroll in remedial courses immediately; 0points who reads thequestions to you?

Saturday's Cryptoquote: If people think youare this amazing, ownit. —David Chang

jeFF mACnelly’sshoe/ by Gary Brookins &Susie MacNelly

FoXtrot/ by BillAmend

/bySteve Kelley&JeffParker