The Acadiana Advocate 05-05-2025

ACADIANAACADIANAACADIANA

APOWERFUL REMINDER OF COMMUNITY ANDTRADITIONS

Photoexhibit reflects on VietnamWar refugees in Louisiana—showing theirexperiences 50 yearslater

BY JOANNABROWN |Staff writer

Whenphotographer Lee BallarrivedinLouisiana from Washington,D.C., in 1981, he found himself shooting assignmentsthat were a farcry from thepoliticalnews he had been used to covering in the nation’s capital —orsohethought.

TheVietnam WarendedonApril 30, 1975, when North Vietnamese troopstook Saigon, South Vietnam’s capital city.The reverberations were felt all over the world, even in therural communities that Ball was documenting in Iberia Parishand across south Louisiana.

In places like Abbevilleand New Iberia, war refugees from Vietnam, Laos, Thailandand other southeast Asiannations began settling by the hundreds,largely thanks to sponsorship via theCatholic Church and other organizations.These communities expanded and put down roots, andnow formanimportant part of the culturalfabric of south Louisiana and the New Orleans area, particularly in theseafood industry

In the 1980s,these migrants were still making theirway in anew land, supporting each other in purchasing property, starting businesses andestablishing theirown religious communities. Ball was able to capture the humble beginnings of New Iberia’s Laotian Buddhistcommunityas theymet for services and cultural events in local homes.

“I would seethese monks in saffron robes going outshopping in New Iberia,” said Ball. “They came herewithnothing but theclothes on theirback, but brought all this kindness and generosity. They stuck together and persevered through alot of things to achieve what they have today.”

Thephotographs taken by Ball and othersservenow —50years after the endofthe Vietnam War—asa visual history forfuturegenerations of Vietnamese familiesand others in south Louisiana.

Plants get pass on pollution rules

2Louisiana power sitesare coal-fired

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL |Staff writer

President Donald Trumphas granted two Louisiana coal-firedpower plants two-year exemptions to new air pollution limits, delays thatcould signal more to comefor other industries as his administration seeks to boost energy production. Environmentalists and others say the coal plant exemptions allow the continuedrelease of pollutantsthatcause illness and death —and could be partofbroader plantoeliminate the new environmental rules permanently Aunit at Entergy Corp.’sRoy S. Nelsonplant in Westlake andanother at Brame Energy Center west of Alexandria, run and partially owned by Cleco, are among 68 U.S. plants granted exemptions to limits on fine particulates

Legislationwould give commissionerright to reject rate increases

BY TYLER BRIDGES |Staff writer

The biggest vote of the 3-week-old legislative sessioncame Wednesday when the House had to decide whether to side withGov.JeffLandry or Insurance Commissioner TimTemple and powerful business interests on abillthatwould affectcar insurance rates. Political insiders beforehand said the vote on House Bill 148 could go either way. The bill sought by Landry would give Temple theright to reject excessive rate increases without backing up his decision with hard data —anauthority he doesn’tnow have and doesn’twant.

Landry said the insurance commissioner needs moretools to hold downrates, adding it would be the commissioner’sfault if that didn’thappen after getting those powers.

FILEPHOTO By LEE BALL

AjarnDuangdee, the monk at left, is today’shead monk. The man wearing asash is Tha Xanamane.Inthe 1980s, before Lanexang Village and the temple of WatThammarattanaram were built in Coteau, Buddhist monksled services in asmall house at 211 Armand St.inNew Iberia. Moneywas collected to help purchase land along Melancon Road in Coteauand thesubdivision and temple were constructed

PHOTO By LEEBALL

The annual Lao Newyear is celebrated in April at the Lao community of Lanexang VillageinBroussard. AThak Baht ceremonywas held at the Lao temple of WatThammarattanarm.Nang Sang Khan,orthe Queen’s Parade, rolled through thevillage.

Hard-right hopeful wins round in Romania vote

BUCHAREST Romania Hard-right

nationalist George Simion secured a decisive win Sunday in the first round of Romania’s presidential election redo, nearly complete electoral data showed. The election took place months after an annulled vote plunged the European Union and NATO member country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, was far outpacing all other candidates in the polls with 40% of the vote, official electoral data shows, after 97% of votes were counted from Sunday’s vote.

Far behind in second place was Bucharest Mayor Nicusor

Dan with 20.67%, and in third place the governing coalition’s joint candidate, Crin Antonescu, with 20.62% — a gap that is expected to widen as the last votes from larger cities are counted

Eleven candidates vied for the presidency and a runoff will be held on May 18 between the top two candidates. By the time polls closed, about 9.57 million people — or 53.2% of eligible voters — had cast their ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau, with 973,000 votes cast at polling stations set up in other countries.

The rerun was held after Romania’s political landscape was shaken last year when a top court voided the previous election in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.

Police: 1 dead, 13 hurt in Houston shooting

HOUSTON At least one person was killed when 14 people were shot early Sunday during a party at a home in Houston, where police said gunfire broke out after an uninvited guest was asked to leave.

The Houston Police Department began receiving calls reporting shots fired around 12:50 a.m. at a home in southeast Houston, Assistant Police Chief Patricia Cantu said during a news briefing.

Officers reported hearing gunshots when they arrived minutes later, Cantu said. They saw multiple people wounded in the area outside the home.

Cantu said a family party was taking place and an uninvited guest was asked to leave the home. That person is believed to have started shooting, she said, which prompted others to draw guns and return fire.

News video from the shooting scene showed officers outside the home, where folding chairs and tables had been set up beneath a carport and a party tent outside. At least two tables had been overturned. Others had bottles of water and slices of cake on them.

The Houston Fire Department responded and began treating victims in the parking lot of a nearby restaurant. At least one person was confirmed dead, Cantu said, and multiple people among the 13 wounded were in critical condition and in surgery She said some victims transported themselves to area hospitals.

13 kidnapped Peruvian gold miners found dead

LIMA, Peru The bodies of 13 security guards kidnapped from a major Peruvian gold mine just over a week ago were found Sunday the mining company said, their deaths coming as violence escalates in the Andean nation’s crucial mining industry

The Peruvian company, La Poderosa said that a search-andrescue team had recovered the staff members’ remains Sunday.

It blamed their abduction on informal miners allegedly linked to criminal gangs that ambushed the gold mine on April 26 Peruvian police and the country’s Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

La Poderosa, a private firm based in Peru’s capital of Lima, said that criminal groups fighting for control of the mine in Peru’s remote northwestern city of Pataz have killed 39 of the company’s workers since it began extraction in 1980, including the latest 13.

Missile from Yemen halts flights in Israel

BY OHAD ZWIGENBERG and TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press

BEN-GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Israel A

missile launched by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at Israel’s main international airport on Sunday after its impact near an access road caused panic among passengers

The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify military operations in Gaza. The army was calling up tens of thousands of reserves, Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen.

Eyal Zamir said.

Israel’s army said it was the first time a missile struck the airport grounds since the war in Gaza began. The military said initial findings indicated the likely cause was a technical issue with the interceptor.

The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in solidarity with Palestinians Israel’s paramedic service Magen David Adom said four people were lightly wounded.

Multiple international airlines canceled or postponed flights. The war with Hamas in Gaza and then Hezbollah in Lebanon had led a wave of airlines to suspend flights to Israel. Many had resumed in recent months.

Houthi military spokesman Brig Gen. Yahya Saree said in a video statement that the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.

Houthi rebels have fired at Israel since the war with Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023.

The missiles have mostly been intercepted, although some have penetrated Israel’s missile defense systems, causing damage

Israel has struck back against the rebels in Yemen, and the U.S., Israel’s top ally, launched a campaign of strikes in March against them.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

said the U.S was supporting Israeli operations against the Houthis. “It’s not bang, bang and we’re done, but there will be bangs,” he said. In a later statement, he added Israel would respond to the Houthis “AND, at a time and place of our choosing to their Iranian terror masters.”

Netanyahu said the security Cabinet was meeting Sunday evening to vote on plans to expand the fighting in Gaza

“We will operate in additional areas and we will destroy all of the infrastructure above and below ground,” Zamir said.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told Israeli Army Radio he wanted to see a “powerful” expansion of the war, and demanded that Israel bomb “the food and electricity supplies” in Gaza.

An eight-week ceasefire with the Hamas militant group allowed more aid into Gaza and freed some Israeli hostages, but it collapsed in March when Israel resumed strikes. The military has since captured swaths of the coastal enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials.

Israel in March halted the entry of goods into Gaza as part of efforts to pressure Hamas to negotiate on Israel’s terms for a new ceasefire. That has plunged the territory of 2.3 million people into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis of the war Hunger has been widespread, and shortages have set off looting.

In a confrontation over efforts to support Gaza, Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, said his country had offered to send a marine surveyor to look into the damage caused to a ship said to be carrying aid and organized by pro-Palestinian activists. Abela said the captain refused.

The activists said Friday their vessel was struck by drones, blaming Israel. The ship remained in international waters off Malta. The Israeli military has not commented.

Putin says he hopes there will be no need to use nukes in Ukraine

By The Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen and that he hopes it will not

In comments aired Sunday in a film by Russian state television about his quarter of a century in power, Putin said Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion.”

Responding to a question about Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, Putin said: “There has been no need to use those (nuclear) weapons and I hope they will not be required.”

“We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires,” he said.

Putin signed a revamped version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine in November 2024, spelling out the circumstances that allow him to use Moscow’s atomic arsenal, the world’s largest That version lowered the bar, giving him that option in response to even a conventional attack backed by a nuclear power

In the film, Putin also said Russia did not launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine — what he called a “special military operation” — in 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea, because it was “practically unrealistic.”

“The country was not ready for such a frontal confrontation with the entire collective West,” he said. He claimed also that Russia “sincerely sought to solve the problem of Donbas by peaceful means.”

Putin said that reconciliation with Ukraine was “inevitable.” Russia and Ukraine, however, remain at odds over competing ceasefire proposals.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a ceasefire is possible “even from today” if Moscow is serious about ending the war

Speaking Sunday at a joint news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel, Zelenskyy noted that Russia has ignored a U.S. proposal for a full ceasefire for 54 days and thanked the Czech Republic for backing Ukraine’s call for a 30-day ceasefire.

“Putin is very eager to show off his tanks at the (Victory Day) parade,” Zelenskyy said, “but he should think about ending his war.” Zelenskyy again expressed deep skepticism over Russia’s proposal of a 72hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II, saying Moscow continues to launch hundreds of assaults despite publicly signaling interest in a partial truce.

“Even during Easter, despite promises — including to the United States — Russia carried out more than a hundred assaults,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian attacks during the 30-hour Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by Putin.

U.K. police arrest Iranian men over alleged attack plot

BY JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON British counterterrorism officers arrested four Iranian men over an alleged plot to attack an unspecified target and three others over a national security threat, police said Sunday The government called them the biggest “counter state threat and counterterrorism” operations for years.

The Metropolitan Police force said five men aged between 29 and 46 were detained Saturday in various parts of England under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of preparing “a terrorist act.”

Four are Iranian citizens and the nationality of the fifth was still being established.

Police said the attack plot targeted a single location that was not being named “for operational reasons.” It said the premises was being given “advice and support.”

All the suspects were being questioned at police stations and have not been

charged. Police said they are searching several properties in London, the Manchester area of northwest England and Swindon in western England.

Forensic officers in blue overalls were photographed at a house in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where one of the men was detained. Three of the counterterror arrests took place in the Greater Manchester area, one in London and one in Swindon. Rochdale resident Kyle Warren told Sky News he “heard a massive bang” and saw “20 or 30 police with guns” drag a man from a neighboring house.

“We’ve seen a man getting pulled out from the back, basically got dragged down the side entry and thrown into all the bushes and then handcuffed,” he said.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the force’s Counter Terrorism Command, said police are still working to establish a motive “as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public.”

2 booked over alleged plot targeting Lady Gaga concert in Brazil

By The Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO Police in Brazil said on Sunday that two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro.

The Rio event on Saturday was the biggest show of the pop star’s career that attracted an estimated 2.5 million fans to Copacabana Beach and had crowds screaming and dancing.

Felipe Cury, secretary of the Rio police, said authorities believed the suspects sought to target Brazil’s LGBTQ community

“They were clearly say-

ing that they were planning an attack at Lady Gaga’s concert motivated by sexual orientation,” Cury told a news conference on Sunday Rio Police Chief Luiz Lima said the group disseminated hate speech and violent content online “aimed at gaining notoriety in order to attract more viewers, more participants — most of them teenagers, many of them children.” Even as Brazilian authorities said they arrested suspects in the hours before Lady Gaga’s show, the event went ahead without disruption — leading some to question the seriousness of the threat.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By OHAD ZWIGENBERG

Israeli security forces inspect the site Sunday where Israeli officials said a missile fired by yemen’s Houthi rebels landed near Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv Israel.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EFREM LUKATSKy Municipal workers clean up around burnt cars on Sunday after Russia’s drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Trump says he doesn’t know if he backs due process

President gives wide-ranging interview on ‘Meet the Press’

BY AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Presi-

dent Donald Trump is circumspect about his duties to uphold due process rights laid out in the Constitution, saying in a new interview that he does not know whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike deserve that guarantee.

He also said he does not think military force will be needed to make Canada the “51st state” and played down the possibility he would look to run for a third term in the White House.

The comments in a wideranging, and at moments combative, interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” came as the Republican president’s efforts to quickly enact his agenda face sharper headwinds with Americans just as his second administration crossed the 100-day mark, according to a recent poll by The Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Trump, however, made clear that he is not backing away from a to-do list that he insists the American electorate broadly supported when they elected him in November Here are some of the highlights from the interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker that was taped Friday at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and aired Sunday

Due process

Critics on the left have tried to make the case that Trump is chipping away at due process in the United States. Most notably, they cite the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran

man who was living in Maryland when he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and imprisoned without communication.

Trump says Abrego Garcia is part of a violent transnational gang. The Republican president has sought to turn deportation into a test case for his campaign against illegal immigration despite a Supreme Court order saying the administration must work to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

Asked in the interview whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens both deserve due process as laid out in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, Trump was noncommittal.

“I don’t know I’m not, I’m not a lawyer I don’t know,” Trump said when pressed by Welker

The Fifth Amendment provides “due process of law,” meaning a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime. Also, the 14th Amendment says no state can “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Trump said he has “brilliant lawyers and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”

He said he was pushing to deport “some of the worst, most dangerous people on Earth,” but that courts are getting in his way

“I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it,” Trump said.

Canada

The president has repeatedly threatened that he intends to make Canada the “51st state.”

Before his White House meeting on Tuesday with newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump is not backing away from the rhetoric that has angered Canadians.

Trump, however, told NBC

President Donald

that it was “highly unlikely” that the U.S. would need to use military force to make Canada the 51st state.

He offered less certainty about whether his repeated calls for the U.S. to take over Greenland from NATO-ally Denmark can be achieved without military action.

“Something could happen with Greenland,” Trump said. “I’ll be honest, we need that for national and international security I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you.”

Recession forecasts

Trump said the U.S. economy is in a “transition period” but he expects it to do “fantastically” despite the economic turmoil sparked by his tariffs.

He offered sharp pushback when Welker noted that some Wall Street analysts now say the chances of a recession are increasing.

“Well, you know, you say some people on Wall Street say,” Trump said. “Well, I tell you something else Some people on Wall Street say that we’re going to have the greatest economy in history.”

He also deflected blame for

the 0.3% decline in the U.S. economy in the first quarter

He said he was not responsible for it

“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” referring to his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.

Trump doubled down on his recent comments at a Cabinet meeting that children might have to have two dolls instead of 30, denying that is an acknowledgment his tariffs will lead to supply shortages.

“I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”

Third term

The president has repeatedly suggested he could seek a third term in the White House even though the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution says that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

Trump told NBC there is considerable support for him

to run for a third term.

“But this is not something I’m looking to do,” Trump said “I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward.”

Trump’s previous comments about a third term sometimes seem more about provoking outrage on the political left. The Trump Organization is even selling red caps with the words “Trump 2028.”

But at moments, he has suggested he was seriously looking into a third term. In a late March phone interview with NBC, Trump said, “I’m not joking. There are methods which you could do it.”

Potential successor

Trump said in the interview that Vice President JD Vance is doing a “fantastic job” and is “brilliant.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom Trump last week tasked to simultaneously serve as acting national security adviser, is “great,” the president said.

But Trump said it is “far too early” to begin talking about his potential successor He is confident that his

“Make America Great Again” movement will flourish beyond his time in the White House.

“You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic,” Trump said. “You look at — I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here. No, I think we have a tremendous party And you know what I can’t name? I can’t name one Democrat.” Hegseth

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been under fire for his participation in Signal text chains in which sensitive information about military planning was shared. But Trump said he is not looking to replace his Pentagon chief. “No. Not even a little bit. No. Pete’s going to be great,” Trump said. Hegseth’s job is “totally safe.”

The president also said his decision to nominate national security adviser Mike Waltz to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was not punishment for starting the chain to which Waltz inadvertently added a reporter “No. I just think he’ll do a nice job in the new position,” Trump said. He said his decision to have Rubio take over Waltz’s duties will likely be temporary “Marco’s very busy doing other things, so he’s not going to keep it long term. We’re going to put somebody else in,” Trump said, adding that it would nonetheless be possible to do both jobs indefinitely “You know, there’s a theory Henry Kissinger did both There’s a theory that you don’t need two people. But I think I have some really great people that could do a good job.”

One person he said he is not considering for the post? Top policy aide Stephen Miller

“Well, I’d love to have Stephen there, but that would be a downgrade,” he said. “Stephen is much higher on the totem pole than that, in my opinion.”

BY GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press

ROME At Masses in Rome’s housing projects and in the heart of its tourist district, the faithful prayed Sunday for the upcoming conclave that will elect Pope Francis ’ successor Whether in the squat 1980s concrete church of San Paolo della Croce, next to a notorious public housing project, or facing millennium-old golden mosaics in Santa Maria in Trastevere, Catholics shared two main hopes for the church’s future.

Young and old, Romans and migrants alike said they would like the next pontiff to make faith accessible to those on the margins and help bring peace to a world they see as teeming with dangers. Michele Cufaro said he prays the next pope will “focus on the poor, poverty, eliminate hatred meanness

and wars, and re-educate the youth who are getting totally lost.”

The glass and metalworker first lived in the Corviale projects across the street — a multistory grey public housing block that snakes on a hilltop for more than 3,100 feet when it was built in the early 1980s. He said he knows firsthand the reality of poverty, addiction and exclusion that continues to plague many of its residents.

“I come to entrust myself to a higher power, for the things that I can’t solve myself,” Cufaro said after Mass at San Paolo as tears welled in his eyes remembering Francis’ outreach.

The pontiff, who died on April 21 at age 88, visited the parish in 2018, and comforted a child worried about whether his recently deceased atheist father would be in in heaven.

“We needapope who comes to visit us, to see the situa-

tion,” said Ida Di Giovannantonio, who recalled meeting Francis on that visit

She said she cried every day when she moved to the projects four decades ago, when she was in her 40s, and only felt safe going to the parish.

“It’s been a place of refuge.

The poor need welcoming and love,” said Di Giovannantonio, who’s also volunteered with the church’s food bank. On Sunday, a shopping cart stood by the church’s entrance with a sign encouraging the faithful to leave food donations.

Less than 6 miles away but in a different socioeconomic world, at Santa Maria in the riverside neighborhood of Trastevere, Lisa Remondino said she hopes the next pope will continue Francis’ legacy, especially in helping migrants.

“I hope it will be a welcoming pope, and also a pope who has the courage to fight

for peace. He was the only voice we had against war, the powerful, and arms,” said the kindergarten teacher, who belongs to the Catholic charity Sant’Egidio that has worked closely with Francis to help migrants and refugees.

One of the cardinals considered top contenders to succeed him, the Rev Matteo Zuppi of Rome, has served in various capacities both at Sant’Egidio and close-by Santa Maria, whose foundation dates to the 3rd century

In the outside portico decorated with ancient marble inscriptions and swarming with tourists, Marta Finati said she hoped that the church would continue to respect dogmas, but also be open to the wider society.

The next pope should embrace a moral and political leadership for peace that would provide a “reference point” for non-Catholics too,

she added.

Rushing to change into an altar server robes at Sunday afternoon’s Mass at Santa Maria, Mathieu Dansoko, who came to Italy from Mali a decade ago, said coming to church is “like being with your family.”

“The next pope should have the basic courage to bring the neediest from the peripheries to the center,” he said.

Back on the periphery of Corviale, the parish priest, the Rev Roberto Cassano, said losing Francis was “a big blow” for his congregation because Pope Francis’ visit had “interrupted for a moment the marginalization of these people.”

“We need to get back a bit to God,” he added in the tidy rose garden between the church and the housing block that packs in more than 1,500 families. “So much meanness, so much egoism, so much selfishness is the

fruit also of the lack of God’s presence in people’s lives. Different social problems would still exist, but a little less acute.” At Sunday morning Mass, several faithful stopped by the last pew to greet an occasional visitor — Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India, who was in Rome for the conclave gatherings, though having turned 80 at the end of last year, he can no longer cast a vote. Upon election, each cardinal gets a “titular” parish in Rome, and on Sunday many celebrated Mass at theirs. In his homily, Gracias mentioned the different legacies of the last three popes — St. John Paul II’s “world-changing” geopolitical impacts, Benedict XVI’s scholarship, and Francis’ pastoral care. He urged the more than 100 faithful to “pray that the Holy Spirit may give us a pope who meets the needs of the times.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MANUEL BALCE CENETA

Trump arrives to give a commencement address Thursday at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

About 10 years after the first wave of postVietnam migrants arrived in the area, the Laotians that Ball met had purchased and cleared land along Melancon Road in Broussard. There they built Wat Thammarattanaram an ornate Buddhist temple structure that sits in the center of Lanexang Village, home to the annual Lao New Year Festival that brings visitors from across the country to this rural enclave off of U.S 90.

“One of the monks in the picture is still there,” Ball said. “He’s now the head monk at the temple There’s really not much difference in going to the festival today than going to the little rental house they had on Armand Street back in the day The service and the close knit community is the same.

“I was told they were planning this village out in the Coteau area, and they offered to bring me out to see it — they just dropped me out there in the middle of a field. It’s amazing to see what’s there now.”

One of the individuals Ball captured was Tha Xanamane, who arrived in the U.S. from Laos in 1982 following other members of his family His grandson, Phanat Xanamane, still lives in New Iberia and remains deeply involved in the communities and businesses that his family helped build.

“A lot of his family, my aunts and uncles, they got started working these low minimum-wage jobs peeling crawfish, picking peppers at the Tabasco factory,” Phanat Xanamane said. “Everyone pulled together to create opportunities and invest in the family, in a three-decade-long journey before he passed away.”

He remembers his grandfather growing vegetables commonly used in southeast Asian cooking, which they also sold in the Asia Market grocery business his parents owned in New Iberia from 1985 till 2005.

“All of his kids ended up being established business people and entrepreneurs with plant nurseries, grocery businesses, restaurants,” Xanamane said. “I ended up being the first of his grandchildren to graduate college He was there at my graduation, a couple of years before he passed away, and I know it was a proud moment for him to see that.”

Xanamane now works as a Lao-American cultural advocate and runs Iberia Market Garden, a community-minded urban farm and extension of his family’s work with plants.

“Seeing these photos make me feel more complete as a person, because the story of me and my people is a lot more clear to me,” he said. “It helps you appreciate how far they’ve journeyed I’m so excited that these exist, not only for my own knowledge, but the knowledge of generations to come.”

A few years before Ball started documenting the arrival of southeast Asian migrants in Acadiana, photographer Mark Sindler was on a similar assignment in New Orleans East. The young anthropology graduate was compelled by the way Vietnamese families transported their tight-knit cultural practices to their new home in the Versailles Arms complex, where many residents attended the nearby Mary Queen of Vietnam Church.

Sindler lived at Versailles Arms from 1978 to 1985, shooting weddings, fairs, funerals and the daily life of residents. The Sindler photos are on display now until Oct. 5 with The Historic New Orleans Collection, in an exhibition titled “Making It Home: From Vietnam to New Orleans.”

“The community seemed special to me when I moved in, but I had no idea it would become so important and so special,” Sindler said. “It became probably the most famous Vietnamese community in the U.S., because the population was so dense around the church It was an idyllic place to live.”

According to Xanamane, who attended the opening night of Sindler’s “Making it Home” exhibit, photographs like these are a powerful reminder of the community and traditions that have sustained his people, and other southeast Asian migrants, for the past 50 years.

I’ve realized how important these initial gatherings were to creating and strengthening community that has now, decades later, blossomed into multiple generations who are now part of the American story,” he said. “I have young nieces and nephews, and now we are starting to lose a lot of the history and traditions and culture We have these photographs to reference back to that is evidence of our journey.”

Email Joanna Brown at joanna.brown@ theadvocate.com.

PHOTO By LEE BALL Monks from across the United States await their procession to collect gifts during the annual Lao New year celebration at the Lao community of Lanexang Village in Broussard.

PHOTO PROVIDED By MARK SINDLER

A wedding reception is held in the carport at the home of groom Tien Van Nguyen’s family Versailles community New Orleans East,

1980. Image featured in The Historic New Orleans Collections’ exhibition ‘Making It Home: From Vietnam to New Orleans’ (which remains on view until Oct. 5th).

PHOTO PROVIDED By MARK SINDLER A woman gardens as a young child looks on in the Versailles community in New Orleans East.

PHOTO By LEE BALL

Traditional finger dancing is performed during Nang Sang Khan, or the Queen’s Parade, in Broussard

Temple warned that HB148 would give his office the right to rule arbitrarily. Business interests and numerous Republican legislators agreed, saying this possibility would discourage insurance companies from investing in Louisiana. The bill’s opponents would normally form a formidable political coalition. In fact, they had passed at least 16 pro-industry measures in the House in the preceding days

But Landry overpowered his opponents on the commissioner rate-setting bill, as the House passed the bill, 68-34.

The vote puts Landry in a commanding position to get the Legislature to approve the limited number of the pro-industry bills he supports — then blame Temple if the rates don’t go down Landry calls it a “balanced” approach to stop the sharp rise in car insurance rates that are among the highest in the country But Wednesday’s victory comes at a cost because it has put Landry at odds with a significant number of Republicans in the House for the first time and has prompted strong pushback from some influential conservatives.

Veteran commentator Rolfe McCollister wrote a column in the Baton Rouge Business Report blasting Landry as being too cozy with trial lawyers, noting that he met with several of them at an exclusive hunting lodge in Texas last month. Talk radio host Moon Griffon told his listeners that Landry was trying to make Temple “a scapegoat” with the rate-setting bill.

COAL

Continued from page 1A

from their coal-burning boilers, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency says.

The exemptions are the first of potentially several that the EPA is considering for industries facing stiffer pollution controls under changes finalized during the Biden administration.

Early in the new administration, Trump and Lee Zeldin, his EPA administrator, declared they might permanently rescind the rules

“At EPA, we are committed to protecting human health and the environment; we are opposed to shutting down clean, affordable and reliable energy for American families,” Zeldin said in a statement in March.

Business and industry groups have cheered the effort to unwind Biden-era limits as a needed corrective of regulatory overreach.

Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the administration has “answered the calls of manufacturers across the country to rebalance and reconsider burdensome federal regulations harming America’s ability to compete.”

Phasing out coal

The coal plant exemptions come as increased electrical demand is expected from a large data center planned in north Louisiana, a steel furnace planned near Donaldsonville and billions of dollars in industrial growth aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Yet Louisiana electric utilities say they are preparing for those energy demands while still turning away from coal in favor of natural gas or renewable energy sources.

Cleco and Entergy officials said their plants receiving the exemptions will stop using coal within five years: by October 2028 for Cleco’s unit in the Brame Energy Center and by 2030 for all of Entergy’s coal-fired generators.

Spokespeople for Entergy and Cleco said the utilities sought the exemption because they will be ending coal burning in a few years and don’t want to pass on to ratepayers the long-term costs of new pollution controls. They added that the EPA has said preexisting air quality rules

industry bill that year

Meanwhile, the vote exposed a deep rift between Landry and Republicans in the House, as they voted 3733 in favor of the bill. It took the unanimous support of Democrats to pass it

Before the vote, Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, the chair of the Insurance Committee and a strong Landry supporter, asked his colleagues to reject it.

“I think this bill has the potential to completely nullify all the good bills we may pass and the potential to negate all the property reforms we made last year,” Firment said in an interview the next day “It will send a chilling effect to the entire market. It could be catastrophic for our insurance market.”

Then-Sen. Ryan Gatti, RBossier City, said he analyzed that bill and concluded it wouldn’t reduce rates, despite the claims of industry supporters.

“My kids would come home from school with mailers given to them by friends sent to their parents saying I had voted against reducing rates,” Gatti said recently The pro-industry side also attacked then-Sen. John Milkovich, DShreveport.

“The bill did not require or mandate insurance companies to reduce their premiums a single penny,” Milkovich said recently “It cuts rights, not rates.”

has repeatedly pushed the industry’s agenda at the expense of Louisiana policyholders,” said Ben Riggs, the group’s executive director Temple has said his efforts will create greater incentives for insurance companies to come to Louisiana, which will reduce rates.

More than a dozen Republicans were elected to the House in 2023 after promising voters they would find a solution to rising car insurance rates. Many of the Republican freshmen were elected with money spent by the Louisiana Committee for a Conservative Majority and other conservative groups.

ing is House Bill 434 by Rep. Jason Dewitt, R-Alexandria. It would limit how much an injured driver could collect who does not have car insurance, which is mandated under state law

The governor also endorsed the rate-setting bill opposed by Temple.

But Landry, who received big contributions from trial lawyers when he was elected governor in 2023, has said he would support only a few of the pro-industry bills, saying no one could guarantee that passage of the other measures would bring down rates.

Landry is under fire from Republicans after supporting four amendments to the state constitution that voters overwhelmingly rejected on March 29.

Now that the car insurance bills have passed the House, attention will shift to the Senate, where the pro-industry measures have had less success in the past. That will put a spotlight on the next step in the political process, Judiciary A Committee, and its chair, Sen. Greg Miller, R-Norco.

Miller said he expects his committee to hear the car insurance bills on May 13 The stakes are high for consumers and legislators.

Senators targeted The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the Louisiana Committee for a Conservative Majority targeted two senators running for reelection in 2019 with attack ads because they had voted against a pro-

protect public health and the environment.

“This extension gives us time to responsibly plan for the future of the unit without placing undue financial burdens on customers,” said Brandon Scardigli, an Entergy spokesperson.

Cleco’s Dolet Hills coal plant in DeSoto Parish was closed in 2021 and is being converted into a solar farm.

The state’s other coal power plant, Big Cajun II east of New Roads, was not granted the two-year exemption, according to an EPA list. The plant was scheduled to transition the second of its three coal-burning boilers to natural gas this month. Under a 2012 EPA consent decree to lower air pollution, Big Cajun II switched another boiler to natural gas in 2015, state permit papers show Officials at Big Cajun II declined to comment about whether they sought the exemption. The plant is owned byaprivateinvestmentgroup transitioning other coal plants it owns to renewable fuels.

Mercury, other toxics

The exemption applies to a Biden-era revision known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule. The change, now paused for about a fifth of all coal plants nationwide, cuts the federal limit on particulate emission rates by two-thirds.

The rule also holds plants using a dirtier form of coal, lignite, to the same mercury pollution standard other coal plants have had for years.

The power plants emit not only carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, but also particulates that include toxic heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, chromium and arsenic, along with the “acid gases” hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride, according to the EPA.

Mercury builds up in the food web and is deposited in fish and other animals people eat, and can cause neurological damage. Some particulates cause heart and breathing problems.

One Louisiana environmental group called the coal exemption a “free pass” to pollute from the Trump administration

“Our communities have raised their voices over and over again to demand clean air to breathe and clean water to drink but this administration is only listening to cor-

Both men, despite being staunch opponents of abortion, were defeated by Republicans.

The trial lawyers also wield considerable political clout on matters known inside the Capitol as tort reform.

“We have had tort reform since 1975, and not once has there been a reduction in rates,” said Brian Katz, a New Orleans trial lawyer who is president this year of the Louisiana Association for Justice. “These measures will not reduce rates either They are selling the citizens of Louisiana a bill of goods.”

Contributions for Temple

Real Reform Louisiana, which describes itself as “a consumer protection group focused on policyholders,” has begun to put political heat on Temple by publicizing an analysis showing that of the campaign money Temple raised during the 15 months after his election in 2023, nearly 75% came from insurance industry sources.

“Commissioner Temple

porate polluters,” said Margie Vicknair-Pray, conservation coordinator with the Sierra Club’s Delta Chapter “These plants could still choose to curb how much they pollute, and we fully intend to hold them accountable if they do not.”

The long game?

A former EPA official claims the two-year exemptions improperly shortcut federal rulemaking and came after a federal appellate court and the Supreme Court late last year refused to halt legal challenges by industry groups and some states.

Joseph Goffman, a former assistant administrator for air and radiation under President Joe Biden, said the coal and other exemptions may be the first in a two-step process to eliminate the new rules on toxins without forcing companies to comply

He noted coal exemptions were offered under a Clean Air Act provision tied to national security and whether plants face technological challenges in meeting new rules. At the same time, he said, Trump EPA officials framed their broader review of the new rules on toxins as “major deregulatory” initiatives. Goffman asserts that “gave away the game.”

“By the time we get to the end of the two-year extension, I think it’s a safe bet they will have repealed the underlying rules,” he said. “This is setting the stage for communities not to see a single pound more in reductions of toxic air emissions.”

Half of the nearly 300 coal plants the EPA reviewed already hit particulate emissions rates that were 60% below the new standard. Agency officials suggested about a dozen plants would need major capital upgrades. The total cost would be an estimated $880 million between 2028 and 2037 and return an estimated $390 million in health and other benefits, the EPA calculated.

Another potential two-year exemption significant to Louisiana would be to sweeping emissions limits and monitoring requirements on six common air toxins in the state: ethylene oxide, chloroprene, butadiene, vinyl chloride, ethylene dichloride and benzene. Those limits affect 51 facilities in Louisiana.

In March, trade groups

Over the past six months, the freshmen developed a series of bills while working with Temple; Firment; Speaker Pro Tem Mike Johnson, R-Pineville; and insurance industry advocates. Those became the measures passed by the House in the past week that supporters say would lead to fewer claims and fewer big payouts while tilting the courts away from trial lawyers and their injured clients.

What Landry is supporting

When the governor appeared on Griffon’s program Tuesday he endorsed House Bill 450 by Rep. Michael Melerine, R-Shreveport. The bill would reverse a Louisiana Supreme Court judicial precedent which says that if evidence points to a causal connection between a crash and an injury when symptoms appear after an accident, then it’s presumed the accident caused the symptoms.

“I’ll guarantee you that if the people’s auto insurance rates go up, there’s only one person allowing them to go up,” he told Griffon’s listeners. “It’s not the lawyers. It would be the commissioner.”

Landry was facing a problem with the rate-setting bill. It was sponsored by Rep. Robby Carter D-Greensburg, and, after it won committee approval, House Republicans voted in their caucus to support only car insurance bills authored by Republicans.

Wiley’s role

Landry also said he is supporting House Bill 519 by Rep. Brian Glorioso, R-Slidell. The bill would allow drivers to use their cellphones only hands free.

Also getting Landry’s back-

American Chemistry Council and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers asked the EPA for a two-year exemption to that rule for “all

On Tuesday, Rep. Jeff Wiley, R-Maurepas, said he told Glorioso that he could support the Carter House Bill 576. That set in motion a plan to take language in Carter’s bill and drop it into Wiley’s HB148. “I’m certain if I talked to 10 people at Walmart about insurance premiums and would they think it’s a good idea to increase the authority of the commissioner on rates, they would say yes,” Wiley said in an interview later, adding that the governor offered him nothing in return for his move.

Glorioso agreed to sponsor the amendment to effectively turn Carter’s bill into

sources.”

Late last year according to state records, several Louisiana chemical facilities asked the EPA for compliance ex-

Wiley’s HB148. Several hours before Wednesday’s vote, first Temple and then Landry separately explained their positions to Republicans meeting in the Capitol basement. When it came time to vote, the governor won a 2-1 majority But he lost not only Firment but two other committee chairs who would normally vote with him: Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, and Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles. Rep. Mark Wright, R-Covington, the party caucus chair also voted against Landry In supporting the bill, Glorioso broke ranks with a group of 15 House freshmen who had been working together to pass bills that Temple and the insurance industry supported. Glorioso said afterward that he got Landry to agree to remove a provision from Carter’s bill that would have allowed the insurance commissioner to set rates instead of just disallow them. “It’s a tough situation,” Glorioso said after the vote. “No one has wanted to be in the middle of a political fight between the commissioner and the governor This bill allows the commissioner to reject rates and insurance companies can appeal the decision.” The 31 Democrats could have torpedoed the bill if they had voted against it since only 37 Republicans voted for it, 16 short of what was needed.

“The people of Louisiana really need relief from high and unaffordable car insurance,” Rep. Matthew Willard of New Orleans, the Democratic caucus chair said afterward. “We think the commissioner should have that authority to protect rate payers.”

Email Tyler Bridges at tbridges@theadvocate. com.

tensions and were denied. The EPA, then under Biden, said the rule already had a time extension for compliance built into it.

Firment

Melerine

Fluoride ban won’t impact Lafayette

Proposed state legislation would remove substance from public water

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

The possible passage of state legislation that would ban fluoride in public water systems will have no impact on Lafayette Utilities System customers.

LUS does not add fluoride to its drinking water, Director Jeffrey Stewart said Friday The water does contain some minute levels of naturally occurring fluoride, according to LUS water reports.

Report says La. air quality worsening

Dust storms, fires affecting local conditions

BY DAVID J MITCHELL Staff writer

Air quality worsened in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette and Lake Charles over a recent threeyear period affected by global external factors like Saharan dust storms, Canadian wildfires and rising temperatures, the American Lung Association says in a new annual report.

No metro areas in Louisiana ranked in the top 25 nationally for the worst air quality, but the Baton Rouge metro area was the worst in the southeast for ozone pollution, according to the nonprofit advocacy group.

The report on the nation’s air from the association, which advocates for lung health and clean air, looked at government measurements of ground-level ozone, or smog, and two kinds of fine particulate measures from monitors located in about a third of the state’s parishes.

The association gave a three-year letter grade for daily ozone and particulate measures but a “pass” or “fail” grade for annual particulate measures over the same threeyear period.

The association found that the New Orleans area saw higher levels of ozone and fine particulate pollution after 10 consecutive years of being among the cleanest in the nation for that pollutant. Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. John were the only parishes in that metro area with a “C” grade. And Lake Charles saw its air quality worsen on all three measures the association considered, though the drops were from positions of top air quality grades from the previous year’s report. However, neither of those metro areas compared with the rankings for the Baton Rouge area, which had East Baton Rouge Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes with failing grades and several others with a “C” for one pollutant or the other West Baton Rouge Parish was the only parish in the state to receive two failing grades, one each for two different pollution measures.

In the association’s 2024 report, only Iberville Parish had received a failing grade for ozone in the Baton Rouge metro area. In contrast to the failing grades in Baton Rouge, the worst rating for Lake Charles’ Calcasieu Parish was a “C” for daily ozone levels, down from a “B” between 2020 and 2022. Ozone and fine particulates are two of several so-called “criteria pollutants” that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must monitor and regulate under the U.S. Clean Air Act The category of pollutants is widely shared across the nation and is known to cause respiratory cardiovascular, and other health impacts for tens of millions of Americans.

Ozone and particulates can come from the combustion of fossil fuels

Communities that purchase LUS drinking water include Youngsville, Broussard, Scott, Water District North, Water District South and the Milton Water System.

The city-owned utility system has not for a long time, if ever, added fluoride to drinking water, Stewart said, nor do the communities it sells water to add fluoride.

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that helps prevent cavities

and strengthen teeth. Dentists have expressed concern about eliminating fluoride in drinking water

Adding fluoride to community drinking water systems started in 1945 and was common by the 1960s. Proponents of eliminating additional fluoride from public drinking water are concerned about the potential health risks and forcing residents to ingest fluoride against their wishes.

The Louisiana Senate on April 30

passed Senate Bill 2 largely along political party lines. The bill would outlaw the addition of fluoride to public drinking water The bill now goes to the state House of Representatives for consideration.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump, is pushing to ban fluoride in drinking water Louisiana Surgeon General Dr Ralph Abraham, the state’s top pub-

lic health official and a vocal backer of Kennedy’s health agenda, lobbied for the bill during public testimony before the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. The state bill as proposed, would give local water system customers the option to petition local government to hold an election that would allow them to vote on whether they want fluoride added to their drinking water

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

‘LEGACy OF LEADERSHIP’

New historical marker honors trailblazer in diplomacy, education

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

A new historical marker is honoring the life of New Iberia native and diplomacy and education trailblazer Ambassador Wilbert Le Melle.

The marker was unveiled Saturday at St. Edward Catholic Church during a celebration spearheaded by the Iberia African American Historical Society that focused on his lasting impact and service in the community and included reflections from his family

Before his death at 71, Le Melle served as a distinguished diplomat author and academic, advancing from his hometown to the global stage as a U.S. ambassador to Kenya and Seychelles.

“This event not only celebrates Ambassador Le Melle’s achievements but also inspires us to carry forward his legacy of leadership and commitment to public service,” the society said in a news release.

Born on Nov 11, 1931, he was raised as one of eight children by his parents in New Iberia. Le Melle’s journey began on a path toward priesthood and he earned his bachelor’s and master’s

the event.

degrees from Notre Dame Seminary

At 24, Le Melle joined the Army and served from 1957 to 1959. After that, he obtained a Ph.D. in political science and international relations.

He worked as an assistant professor and research associate before joining the Ford Foundation, a private organization that focuses on advancing human welfare. While with the foundation, he was a program director, deputy director and director of several African programs.

President Jimmy Carter appointed

Le Melle as the U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Kenya and the Republic of Seychelles from 1977 to 1980.

Following his diplomatic service, Le Melle took on educational leadership roles, serving as the vice chancellor and president of two colleges in New York.

From 1990 until 2000, Le Melle led the Phelps Stokes Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to creating connections between leaders and organizations across Africa

ä See LEGACY, page 4B

Lake Charles man sentenced to life

DNA identified when evidence retested

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

A Lake Charles man has re-

ceived a life sentence for a 1988 case in which he broke into a woman’s home and beat and raped her Dartanyan Breaux, 59, was sentenced to life in prison on a

count of aggravated rape, according to a news release from the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office. He had been found guilty by a jury on April 11. In 1988, the assailant broke into the woman’s Lake Charles home through her bedroom window, “brutally beat the victim and raped her,” the release states. No one was charged in the case at that time However, fol-

in 1988 attack

lowing a 2023 retesting of the rape kit, analysts identified DNA from Breaux, according to the release. He was subsequently arrested.

District Attorney Stephen Dwight said advancements in DNA technology made it possible to prosecute Breaux.

“The successful prosecution of this cold case reinforces our unwavering commitment to seeking justice, no matter how much time has passed,”

Dwight said in the release. “We are grateful that the victim now has the closure she so rightfully deserves, and that this predator is finally being held accountable for his heinous crimes.” Breaux’s sentence is without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension, the release states.

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

The Rev. Donald Bernard, from left, Dr Phebe Hayes and Patrice Le Melle talk at

PHOTOS By LEE BALL

Wilbert J Le Melle’s children and grandchildren

stand Saturday with his historic marker after it was unveiled by the Iberia African American Historical Society at Ambassador Wilbert J. Le Melle Drive in New Iberia. Le Melle served as ambassador of the United States to Kenya and Seychelles and also was president of Mercy College and the Phelps Stokes Fund

Judges being targeted for just doing theirjobs

We have been experiencing a surge of criticism of the federal district court judges who have granted injunctions temporarily delaying anumber of the president’sexecutive orders. Federal district court judges are the first stop for plaintiffswho may be citizens, businesses, nonprofit organizationsorstate governments.

All constitutional matters begin with acase filed in district court, the only judicial forum that hears the facts in acase. Higher courts can only consider how the law has been applied. The judge does not file cases that challenge the constitutionality of apresidential executive order or any other federal government action. Plaintiffs bring cases to the judge. When adistrict court judge grants atemporary injunction to temporarily stopa presidential executive order,the judge has determined that the party filing has enough facts to merit afurther acourt hearing. The judge may rule apause tohalt any damage that could result from the executive order. There canbeatrial on the factsand appeals, which lead to afinalresolution. The judge is areferee,not alitigant. Currently,there seem to be many national injunctions by variouscourts.Itisthe result of the surprisingly large number of executive orders issued recently. Presidential executive orders have been typical in our democracy for decades. If district court judges are barred from granting nationalinjunctions, cases with the same facts would be filedin multiple courts, thus clogging thedockets.

Members of our Congressional delegation now support legislation to stop “nationwide injunctions” and target the judges who have granted them. Congress should draft legislation that meets the needs of its citizens rather than attack the judicial system and take away the citizens’ right to challenge potentially unconstitutional measures. Contact Congress if you agree. LINDAM.WALKER NewOrleans

YOUR VIEWS

Dean of the CollegeofCardinals Giovanni

Pope gave Catholics whodrifted away hope

GrowingupaRoman Catholic who has constantly faced an inner battle with faith andtraditional religious beliefs, Pope Francis’ death sits with me. Ihave struggled with theinnerturmoil of my religious beliefs my entire life, and Ihave found myself driftingfurtheraway from my faith due to my differingbeliefs with thechurch, but Pope Francisalways served as alight of sorts. Overall, herepresented something that Itoo closely believe in, love and kindness to all and aservant leader mindset.Pope Francis showed us that the traditions of the Catholic Church arenot the end-all be-all. He showed kindness and love to those who neededit, taking up his name for theimpoverished,helping to move the catholic church toward aplace of acceptance for same-sex marriage, showinglove and acceptance to nonbelievers, and preaching the importance of servingand helping others. Pope Francis

practiced what he preached in manyways.

Idon’tbelieve Ican ever call myself a Catholic in good faith as my viewsrun contrary to thechurch in most ways, but Pope Francis did show that alife of acceptance, love and service are the core tenets we should follow.I’m deeply saddened by his passing. Ibelieve Pope Francis was helping movethe church in the right direction and was building amore loving andaccepting religious environment.

Iworry now his successor will movethe church back to its moretraditional, rigid, conservative ways, pushing morepeople, like myself, away from faithand service. I will continue to help and serve others, lift my communityand love and acceptthose around me, andIhope others, both religious and nonreligious, can do thesame.

ROYRANCANTORE JR. NewOrleans

Iagree with Quin Hillyer that Louisiana’ssales tax is too high. I do not, however,think that this is bad policy in need of rebalancing in favor of property taxes.

Hillyer argues that sales taxes do not provide stable funding in times of economic turbulence and that property taxes provide amore stable source of revenue.

Stable forwho? Government? Government should not be shielded from tough economic times that its citizens must endure. Aperson who loses his job in arecession pays less in incometaxes because he makes less income. He pays less in sales taxes because he consumes less. He has to pay the sameamount (or morefollowing reassessment) in property taxes even when his situation is precarious. How is this fair and equitable? As forsales taxes being regressive and harming the poor more, even renters pay property taxes. The renter might not pay it directly, but rents certainly increase when the owner’scosts go up. The key is keeping all rates —income, sales and property taxes as low as possible.

This is arebuttal to the thoughts expressed in the April 15 letter by Scott“Alex”Peyton of Opelousas.

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR

AREWELCOME.HEREARE

OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SEND US ALETTER, SCAN HERE

Peyton is correct in saying that the Catholic Church runsonthe financial support of its members, but beyond that, his logic is completely offbase. Churchgoing Catholics do financially support thechurch, but we, as well as thepresent-day clergy,have demanded andreceived real reform from theunfortunatemistakes of the past clergy who have since died or been purged from our church. The Catholic Church was forced to legally try to protect itself from theactions of the attorneyswho represent theunfortunate individuals who have been abused by former clergy. Thechurch has spent just shyof$50 millionofsavings and from divested assets on attorney fees fighting thegreedy attorneys of the abusedwho madeunreal promises to their clients —like they could each be awarded about $1 million. Although Iques-

tion if any amount of financialaward could ever adequately compensate the abused individuals, thelegal cost to the Catholic Church to datewould have amounted to about $100,000 per abused individual.

Well over 80 years ago, when Iwould complain about somethingthat seemed to injure me or be unfair,mymother would repeat to me that in this life, oftentimes the good have to suffer for the bad. Unfortunately, that couldn’tbemore true than in the case of these sexually abused individuals. On the other hand, our church recently celebrated Holy Week, which of course, included Good Friday.AsIwritethis letter,I wonder where theCatholic Church, we churchgoers or even these abused individuals would be if Our LordJesus Christ had filed alawsuit against theJews and Romanstopreventhis passion and horrible death on thecross. LEON TOUPS Metairie Catholicswho

Ithink tenure should be abolished. It’s aridiculous situation where theinstitution loses control of theemployee, and they know it Theemployee can then begin takingadvantageofthe situation. It’sastupid position for employers to put themselves in What we don’tneed in our colleges and universities are professors pushing their own thoughtsonthe way this world should run instead of teaching the subject they are beingpaidtoteach. Agood example is Robert Mann, who is aleft-wing, politically correct liberal who was well known for his actions. Having to listen to his political thoughtsin class cheated his students out of aproper ed-

ucation. Andsince he was tenured, it would have been difficult to get rid of him.Thank goodnesshequit Aguest columninthe paper on April 14 by Suzanne Marchand and Eugene Turner toutingthe benefitsoftenure madeitsound like agreat thing. What really happens is it gives theperson achance to back off from agood job they may have been doing and gives them the opportunity to slow downand possibly insert someoftheir ideas into their classroom teachings. If the management didn’tlike it, they would have ahard time correcting the situation.

TOMLINGONI JR. Marrero

Insurancelobbying behind closed doors is more of thesame

It looks like Gov. Jeff Landry is catering to the trial lawyers just like every other Louisiana governor (and Legislature) fordecades. Sorry,Landry,but we average citizens can’tlobby you forcommonsense, affordable auto insurance at the exclusive private clubs, luxury restaurants and lavish hunting camps. We’re just trying to live from paycheck to paycheck. And you know what’sreally sad? Landry and his minions in the Legislature think the people of Louisiana are stupid. Maybe they are right because we keep electing turkeys.

PAUL FORBES Hammond

Ihave aconservative estimate of my homevalue at $400,000, and my insurance payment is about $2,500 annually.For my automobile, which is 13 years old, my coverage is $3,000 annually.Does that make any sense?!

GARRETT MONTI Luling

PRESS PHOTO

Battista Re spreads incense around the cof

nof Pope Francis during his funeral in St. Peter’sSquare at the Vatican on April 26

PATRICIA‘PATSY’ TIMOTHY Covington

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS Gov. Jeff Landrylistens during a House committee meeting on insuranceatthe State Capitol on April16.

COMMENTARY

POTHOLE LIFEGUARD

There have been endless examples of people decorating the potholes we allnavigate regularly.In2023, some folks in the French Quarteractually took adip in one. Looks like this mom’staken it to ahigher level.What’sshe telling thesekids? youtell me. Be witty,funny, crazy,absurd or snarky —justtry to keep it clean.There’sno limitonthe number of entries.

Thewinningpunchline will be letteredinto the word balloon and runonMonday, May12, in ourprint editions and online. In addition, the winner will receivea signed print of the cartoonalong with acool winner’s T-shirt!Somehonorable mentions will alsobelisted. To enter,emailentries to cartooncontest@theadvocate.com

Allentries mustinclude aname, homeaddress and phone number. Cellnumbers are best.

Thedeadline for all entries is on midnight,Thursday, May8

Have fun, folks! —Walt

Mid-Baratariapermitcontroversy raises existentialquestionfor SouthLa.

Last month’snews thatthe Army Corps of Engineers had pulled the permit for the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion was disappointing for many reasons.

But it may also be the final push the state needs to face critical coastal questions already fast approaching due to increasing climateimpacts: Is it still possible to have a functionaland habitable large coastal zone, or is it time to turn our effortsto amanagedretreat south of U.S. 90 and reducing risks due to storm surge north of there?

The corps alleges the state“deliberatelywithheld information” during the permitting process.

The “whistle blower” is the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority installed by Gov. Jeff Landry,which went to the corps with documents supporting its claims that thecostswere underestimated by theprevious administration of Gov.John Bel Edwards. Edwards issued astatement calling theclaims misleading and politically motivated by Landry

If proven, the corps’ claim will damage the plan’s scientific credibility Landry and team have been supporters of the project’smain opponents, some in the fishing industry.They oppose the plan because the amount of river water needed to move marshbuilding sediment will drop salinity levels, pushing their brackish water target species southward. They would rather see the marsh rebuilt by just pumping mud from the river,aprocess that would not dramatically change salinities.

They say the more than$300 million setaside to help them make the transition is too little.

That’saself-defeating position.

The dredge-and-fill method will not stop the increase in marsh salinitylevelsthat have been climbing as the Gulf drowns the sinkingmarshes. Louisianaresearch shows thatasbrackish marshes become salty,the production of estuarine shrimp, oysters and fish species such as speckled trout and redfishfalls.

It’swhy the daily limit for speckled trout in Texas and Florida has been

favorofdredge-and-

three for years.

That’salsowhy we’ve spent millions over decades on projects bringing river water into those oyster grounds at the request of the industry. In fact, these opponents still want adiversion —but only large enough to help oyster reefs, not large enough to build and maintain marshes. So, while today’sfisherspushtomake as muchmoney as long as they can, their success likely means theirgrandchildren will havemuch lesstofish for Finally,the project includes funds to buildlevees and raise roadsincommunitiesaround theedge of the Barataria Basin. Thatcould also be lost. Killing the project largely over the economic hit to onestakeholder group would be foolish, especially after almost half of its estimated $3 billion cost has already been spent —and the state might have to pay back $1 billion of that.

Yes, the diversion is an experiment Butit’sone needed to verify what years of research suggestisthe only sustainable way to maintain functional, habitable wetlands— even if they will need to be further north than they are today Which brings us back to that critical question facing the state: Is it already

too latefor most of the landscape south U.S. 90?

That´s becausethe major cause pushing thecoastal zonetoextinction —the fossil fuel emissions driving therecord acceleration of sea levels —still has not been effectively addressed. The average elevation of our coastal wetlands is 2.5 to 3feet. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration saysthe worst-case scenario for our coast in just 25 years is 1.5 to 2feet of rise, not including therate of subsidence. Butwiththe Trump administration declaring war on all climateregulations,that worst-case has become more certain. Is there enough time or sediment and funding to keep ahead of that pace over alarge enough area of the coast to make adifference? Or should we start moving communities south of U.S.90, and begin building higher floodwalls north of there to reduce theriskofstorm surge, and perhaps insurance premiums?

Thesequestionsmustbeaddressed.

Bob Marshall, aPulitzer Prizewinning Louisiana environmental journalist,can be reached at bmarshallenviro@gmail.com, and followed on X, @BMarshallEnviro

On Feb. 21, Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth B. Murrill, along with the attorneys general forTexas and Mississippi, sent arequest to President Donald Trump and Secretary of Interior DougBurgum to suspend and revoke recent amended federal regulations on offshore oil and gas production in federal waters. The rules were implemented after several high-profile bankruptcies and their multibillion-dollar fallouts leftthe American government behind other creditors in bankruptcy proceedings to decommission the orphaned platforms, unplugged wells and subsea pipelines leftbehind. Between 2009-2018, there were 22 bankruptcies impacting 490 properties on the outer continental shelf Eligibility to acquire aOCS lease is to have apulse and an American signatory,in no particular order.(It is noteworthy that the eligibility foroffshore wind operators is considerably higher,and it includes financial capability to decommission future offshore wind projects.)

Because essentially any firm can acquire a lease, the American government must determine and reduce risk after the fact. It’s like athemepark that does not establish height limits at its roller coasters, but instead parks ambulances outside each ride.

In the request, Murrill said, “the American taxpayer did not absorb asingle cent of decommissioning liability,” from recent bankruptcies, but just last year the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement spent millions in contracts to plug nine wells off the coast of Texas. Those samewells produced millions of dollars fortheir owners, and now you are paying to clean them up. The rules were the result of amultiyear effort, and above all else, anegotiated compromise to protect the American public from the risk of these defaults. When companies enter an OCS lease contract with the American government, they contractually agree to permanently remove and secure infrastructure and clear the seafloor of all associated obstructions.

Lessees must also acquire abase bond and furnish additional security if the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management determines it is necessary.IfCompany Asells its lease to Company B, Company Aremains “jointly and severally liable” forthose decommissioning obligations in perpetuity In several of the recent bankruptcies, the Government’sauthority to “move up the chain” meantthat the companies that had previously mademoney from these wells were ordered to clean up. The other option wasthe federal treasury But what if there are no other doors to knock on? Enter “sole liability” properties. Asubstantial amount of offshore liability, approximately $14.6 billion, is associated with these types of companies. The new financial assurance rules look at companies’ credit ratings and proved reserves (remaining production on their leases) and require additional security if either metric is found lacking.

Just as abank might require mortgage insurance forarisky borrower,sotoo, did the Department of Interior establish new standards based on the level of risk presented by the firmsthemselves. Again, these rules constituted acompromise.

Murrill claims that the repeal of these regulations would “create and maintain highpaying American blue collar jobs,” but that claim falls short. First, companies extracting oil and gas do not employ as manypeople as they once did, with Louisianans losing 20,000 upstream jobs in the last ten years alone. Second, removing no longer in use infrastructure creates morejobs. A2021 National Ocean Industry Association study estimated over 200 job categories to carry out offshore decommissioning.

Whether you call it the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America, the American outer continental shelf is sovereign American territory.Nolaw forces private companies to conduct business in American federal waters. Youhave the freedom to not enter this market. Meanwhile, the American federal government has the authority and obligation to set the termsand conditions of that market to maximize the benefit to the American public.

MeganMillikenBiven is the founder of True Transition, whichadvocates for energy workers.

PHOTO FROM LOUISANA LEGISLATURE VIDEO

Gov. Jeff Landryoutlines his plans to dropthe $3 billionMid-Barataria Sediment Diversionproject in

fill marsh creationprojects at ahearing of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Bob Marshall

Megan Milliken Biven GUEST COLUMNIST

Bill couldadd hundreds of millions of dollars

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON Louisiana could be in line to receive hundreds of millions of dollars more for allowing offshore energy exploration and production in federal waters off the coast.

The House Natural Resources Committee attached wording in legislation that will go into the “one, big beautiful bill,” or reconciliationbill, currentlybeing drafted. The measure has along way to go before it is passed intolaw andthe money is in pocket.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, has been trying for years to change the caps on what the federal government paysunder the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. GOMESA incentivizesstatestoallow for oil and gas production in

QUALITY

Continued frompage1B

and from chemical, petroleumand electrical power plants, as well as other industrial processes and fires.

Heat and sunlight play a critical roleinthe formation of ozone.Particulates can also include dust from other sources that don’tinvolve burning something.

In the annual report, the Lung Association said failing grades for ozone were a rough indicator thatparishes withthosegrades were no longer “in attainment” for EPAstandards, though it acknowledged under its grading methodthat some could still be in attainment with an “F.”

The Baton Rouge area has struggled to meet the federal ozone standard over the past 25 years but was deemed to be in attainment for several years after aseries of measures to cut emissions.

TheLungAssociation also didn’t look at toxic air emissions, adifferent category of pollutant that is aparticular concern for Louisiana’s industrial zones between Baton Rouge and New Orleans andinthe Lake Charles area.

In the analysis, the group also applied anew annual fine particulate standard adoptedinthe last year of the Biden administration. The current EPAadministrator,Lee Zeldin, has said it will get another look and possible revision as part of abroad deregulatory push announced in mid-March

‘A true picture?’

Eric Weinzettle,Louisiana director of advocacy for the Lung Association, explained that global events and extremeheat

LEGACY

Continued from page1B

federal waters. Scalisewas able to get wording putinthe bill that will include legislative initiatives sought by President Donald Trump, suchasadditional border security,anextension of his2017 tax cuts and$1.5trillioninreduced federal spending

Exactly how muchmore funds Louisianareceives if the reconciliationbill becomes law can’tbedetermined. The amounts are set by acomplex formulathat considers the number of platforms in the Gulf.

Butapplyingthe proposed formula to historical numbers, areasonable estimate could be$600 million to$800 millionmore over a10-year period, legislative aides say Louisiana’s2024 cutwas $163.5 million, which was split between state and parish governments.Most of the money goes to fund hurricaneprotection and coastal restoration projects. Texas, Mississippiand Alabamaalsoreceive money from their GOMESA shares.

“Asa longtime champion

of coastalrestoration and floodprotection, I’mglad thatmylanguage to increase thecurrent cap of GOMESA funding thatgoestothe states is included in this reconciliation bill,”Scalise said Friday.“Ifought to include this revenuesharing language in the bill becauseit is critical forour nation’senergy and economic security that energy producingstates are able to properly and fairly share in the revenues collected from drilling.”

Lafourche Parish President ArchieChaisson said, “Revenue sharing dollars from ouroffshore energyindustry are vital to rebuilding Louisiana’scoast and building lifesaving flood protectionprojectsinLafourche Parishand all throughout SouthLouisiana.”

Until 2006, Louisiana and the other Gulf statesgot none of that money because theoil andnaturalgas was being produced in U.S. territorial waters that begin roughly nine nautical miles offshore.WhenGOMESA was passed, it created arev-

Uneven grades for Louisiana air Louisiana air wasn't among the worst in the nation butsaw some failing grades in recent years.

HIGHPARTICLE

enue sharing framework to offset localimpacts of an activity that raises significant moneyfor the federal government

About 2million barrels of oil per dayare produced in thefederal waters off the coastofAlabama, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi alone. That’sabout 700 million barrels annually close to 20% of allU.S. oil production, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,Regulation and Enforcement.

“Thanks to this effortby Leader Scalise,” saidGordon Dove, who chairs the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority,“Louisiana and our coastal communities havethe opportunity to increase our State’s share of funds generated by Louisiana’soffshore energy industry to fund lifesaving flood andhurricaneprotection projectsthroughout the state.”

Butdon’tcount the money yet

Eleven House committees arecharged withfind-

ing savings for the reconciliation bill. Each of the 11 “titles” will be merged into asinglebillthat then must clear the Rules Committeeand receive afavorable vote on theHouse floor withthe language intact. That’sfar from asure thing as Republicans are split on the amount and method for cutting spending on

If approvedbythe

the legislation would need to clearSenatecommittees and be approved by amajorityof the senators.

Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate. com.

HIGHOZONE DAYS 2021-23

Sources: American Lung Association; Louisiana Department of EnvironmentalQuality monitoirng network

affected airqualitymeasurementsnationally in the latest three-year period. In Louisiana, they also exacerbated“tough localconditions” createdbya myriad existing sources, including the state’slarge industrial base He argued that the findings suggest “a mindset shift” needed to occurover therole climatechange could be playing in these “exceptionalevents” and, as aresult,how thestate regulates industry and other emissionssources that could be helping to make them a“littleless exceptional and alittle more normal, unfortunately.”

“Wecan’tblame these

“His lifeand career were marked by aprofound dedicationtoeducation, diplomacy,and service, making lasting contributions bothat home and internationally,” accordingtohis biography Le Melle’smarker is the fifth by the society,which is dedicated to highlighting thecontributionsofAfrican Americanswho haveshaped NewIberia.

EmailJa’koriMadison at jakori.madison@ theadvocate.com

industriesfor thingsthey don’thave controlover, but …it’staking actionable stepswherewecan that is something we do have control over and not letting them offthe hook whenever we’re talking about the idea that our climate is becoming worse and we are seeing these exceptional eventsmorefrequently,” he said.

In light of the data, Weinzettle added, the EPA and other regulatorsdon’t need to reduce airand other pollution standards. The group contends the existing EPAozonestandard and particulatestandards are insufficient In astandard practice

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POLLUTIONDAYS2021-23 24-hourAnnual Parish GradeGrade Pass/Fail and the Americas. He also served on the boards of several major institutions including Borden, the Public Broadcasting Service and Chase NBW National Bank of Westchester. He was also amember of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

predating the current federal and state administrations, DEQ officials petitioned the EPAlast year to exclude the effect that Saharan dust storms in 2022 andCanadianwildfiresin 2023 —what arecalled “exceptional events”— had on particulatepollution.

Theyblamed the two eventsonhigh particulate measurements in 2022 and 2023 that exceeded thefederal standard at aPort Allen air monitor.Inlight of that, former DEQSecretary Aurelia Giacometto asked the EPAinFebruary to declare that West Baton Rouge Parish remains “in attainment” for particulates andnot face heightened regulation Giacometto left her role with theDEQ on Friday, and Courtney Burdette, a former 10-year staffer at theagency,was named secretary

Weinzettle said theassociation’s analysis doesn’t exclude those events becausethe association wants to give the public “a true picture of the air they’re breathing.”

In addition to including those events, the associationalso applies adifferent calculation method than the EPAand DEQ do in examining poor airquality andarguesits methods provide a better picture.

With ozone, for example, the EPAlooks at the fourth worst day in each of three years. TheLungAssociation looked at thetotal number of badair days forozone or particulates annually for threeyears, weighted them based on how severe the ozone was on agiven “bad” day and came up with afinal figure that correlatedto alettergrade

The association argued theweighted average providesa clearer picture of theseverity of bad air days.

‘Takea deep breath’

Through several administrations, DEQofficialshave pointed out their efforts to broadly and gradually reduce ozone, toxic emissions and other pollution.

In astatement, Giacometto, the DEQ secretary at the timethe report was published, said the agency strictly adherestoEPA rules and uses its air monitoring network to take action when thresholds areexceeded She also acknowledged the likelihood of changesundernew EPAAdministrator Zeldin.

In March, Giacometto announced she would be asking the EPAtoreconsider the Biden EPA’sannual particulaterule usedinthe association’s analysis, as costly to businesses with little health benefit.

“As the EPAfinalizes implementation of its revised standards, LDEQ will make any necessary adjustments in our Air Planning &Assessment and Enforcement programs to remain in full compliance,” she said. Giacometto also faulted howthe Lung Association madeits gradingcalculationsfor notfollowing the EPAmethods andfor the association’sfailure to exclude exceptional events.

Arepresentative of Louisiana Makes, an industry advocacy group, read the Lung Association report as a positive statement about the state’sair qualitybecause no metro area wasinthe 25 worst forthe nation, atrend thathas been in place for several years.

“The states and cities listed for the most polluted places have the strictest ‘clean’ air standards and the leastamountofindustry. This tellsmethat Louisiana’sstandards and Louisiana’s industry areonthe

righttrack —increasing productivity while decreasingemissionsand greenhousegases.Louisiana is still winning, so everyone take adeep breathand celebrate,” said Desiree Lemoine, campaign manager for Louisiana Makes. Lemoine didn’tidentify anystate or city she might have been referencing. Perhaps to herpoint,five of the top 10 worst cities in the nation for ozone were in California, which often takes a nation-leading role in environmental regulation. The nation’sworstozone wasinLos Angeles, aspreadout desert city knownfor its driving culture, perennially sunny skiesand smogtrapping coastal mountains. Houston, Texas, ahub of heavyindustry,was also in the top 10 for the worst ozone.

Theonlyother parish in the state with afailing grade was Caddo Parish for annual particulate pollution, but the Shreveport-area monitor that collected those measurementsthrough 2023 was moved this fall due to data concerns,according to astate letter to the EPA. The state Department of EnvironmentalQualitytoldthe EPAin2014 andagain in 2023 that the monitor was likelyhaving itsmeasurements skewed. The air monitor was next to agravel parking lot for an industrial operation with heavy truck traffic. Uncut vegetation also caused concerns for measurement accuracy,DEQ said.

David J. Mitchellcan be reached at dmitchell@ theadvocate.com.

Staffgraphic

PROMISING PREVIEW

They didn’tdisappoint

There was no secret what thevast majority of UL fans were hopingto see in Saturday’s annual springgame.

Of the seven transfer portal additions, two names topped themall —quarterback Walker Howard from Ole Miss and wide receiver Shelton Sampson from LSU.

“Shelton did areally good job,”ULcoach Michael Desormeaux said. “He winsone-on-ones.Walker made some great throws andShelton madesome great catches

“Between the twoofthem, it wasfun to seethatconnection starting to happeninsome big critical moments —third downs, touchdowns, things like that. That’s when players havetoshowup. Youhave to make critical plays.”

Howard was athreat withhis arm and legs, while Sampson caught a5050 pass for atouchdown and looked comfortable catching slants and sideline routes from his new quarterback. With anew quarterback group and aton of new receivers, that communication is going to be critical to speed up thelearning curve in the fall.

“Red zone, gold zones, thirddowns, it’sgoing to be bang, bang plays,”Desormeaux said. “There are no wide-open throws. It’sgot to be eliteball placement and it’sgot to be contested catches.”

Redshirt junior Jaydon Johnson also showed signsof being ready for alarger role.

“He’schanged everything,”Desormeaux said. “He’s

BY GARYB.GRAVES Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Sovereignty’sKentucky Derbyvictory in the muck at Churchill Downssparkedcuriosity overwhetherthe colt can build on his signature win over a possibly drier,faster surface on the Triple Crown trail.

The question now is whether that test will come sooner or later Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott didn’t sound like someonepreparing Sovereignty foratrip to Baltimore to runin the 150th Preakness Stakes on May 17 at Pimlico Race course,offering acautious approach Sunday.Hementioned asmall scrape on the horse’sright front pastern, likely resulting from clipping heels with

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The weekend UL coach Matt Deggs has been waiting forall season wasfinalized with an exclamationpoint Sunday when the Ragin’ Cajuns blasted Georgia State for the third straight game 10-4 at the GSU Baseball Complex in Atlanta. TheCajuns scored 28 runsinthe threegame series, while out-homering thePanthers 8-3. Georgia State entered the weekendwith44morehomers thanULonthe season. UL is now 25-24 overall and 15-9inSun Belt play,while Georgia State dropped to 24-25 and 9-15.

The Cajuns are now one game behind third-place Troy (16-8) andthreegames above Texas State (12-12) with six games lefttoplay UL will next play at second-place Southern Miss starting 6p.m.Friday in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

The Cajuns’ offense pounded out 15 hits in Sunday’swin, highlighted by asix-run fifth inning to pull away from the Panthers. Before that decisive inning, Lee Amedee doubled and scored on Caleb Stelly’sRBI single in thesecond. Amedeeenjoyeda 4-for-5 day at the plate.

In the third, Maddox Mandino reached on an error and scored on Luke Yuhasz’stworun homer.Yuhasz was2for 5with ahomer and four RBIsinthe game. BrooksWright beganthe explosive fifth with asingle ahead of Drew Markle’s double.Yuhasz drove both runners in with a two-run single.

Conor Higgs kept the rally going with a

another horse coming outofthe gate,but said it wasn’tserious.

“The great thing about the Triple Crown is that notmanyhorses are abletodoit,” Mott said, referring to American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. “I believe that he’s abig, strong horse and if you’re ever going to look at one and say,OK, if that’syour goal and the goal of the owner,it’sstill in the best interestofthe horse.But we’re going to look long term.”

Theimmediatefuturesfor horseswho finished just behind Sovereignty or skipped theDerby altogetherremainedmuddy,as well.

Two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer BobBaffert returned to ChurchillDowns after afour-year suspension with twoentriesbut scratchedWoodMemorialwinner Rodriguez, pointing him toward the Preakness rather than Citizen Bull, whofinished 15th.FellowHallofFamer Todd Pletcher scratched his lone Derby entrant, Grande,

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

UL running back Steven Blancocarriesthe ball duringthe Cajuns’ annual spring game Saturday.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

Lee Amedee was 4-for-5 at the plate

the Cajuns to a10-4 road win

3p.m.

6p.m.*

8:30 p.m.DenveratOklahoma

6p.m.NHL

Piastriismakinginroads

F1 driver wins at Miamiafter finishingsecond-to-lastthere twoyears ago

BY JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer

MIAMI GARDENS,Fla. The first time OscarPiastri arrived at the Miami Grand Prix as aFormula 1driver he was in the slowest car in the field and only narrowly avoided finishinglast.

Fast-forward twoyears andPiastri and McLaren Racing have come full circle.

Piastri maintained hisadvantage in the F1 championship fight by winning at Miami on Sunday for his fourth win through six racesthis season. Piastri has won three consecutive F1 races for McLarenRacing, whereheand teammate Lando Norrisare trying to dethrone four-time defending champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

McLaren has won Miamithe last two years, with Norris on top last season for his first career F1 victory “It’sjust incredible, the hard work that’s gone in,” Piastrisaid of McLaren. “I remember two years ago here in Miami,we were genuinely the slowest team Ithink we got lapped twiceand to now have won the Grand Prix by over 35 secondstothird is an unbelievable resultofthe hard work of every single person.”

Piastri is the first McLaren driver to win three consecutive F1 races in 28 years; Mika Hakkinen did it with awin in the 1997 season finale and then victories in the first two races of 1998. He widened his lead over Norris in the driver standings to 16 points, while Verstappen trails Piastri by 32 points.

Norris’ win at Miami last season

Celtics’ Holiday expected back for Game 1vs. Knicks

BOSTON Celtics guard Jrue Holidayisexpected to return from a strainedright hamstring when Boston opens itsEastern Conference finals series againstthe Knicks on Monday night.

No Celtics players were listed on the injury report Sunday,meaning they could be at full strength when Game 1tips off. It’s thefirst time Holiday hasn’t beenonthe injury report sincehemissedthe final three games of Boston’sfirstround series win over Orlando in five games.

Coach Joe Mazzulla said Holiday was able to “work on everything he wanted to work on” during Boston’spractice session Saturday Holidayaveraged 10 points and 5.5 assists in the opening two games of the Magic series.

Ruud to climb rankings after winning at Madrid

MADRID Casper Ruud hasbecome the first Norwegian to win aMasters 1000 titleafter beating Jack Draper 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in the Madrid Open final on Sunday

The former second-ranked Ruud rallied from 5-3 down in the first set and sealed the victory after capitalizing on his lone break at 2-2 in the third.

snapped Verstappen’stwo-year winning streak at thecourse surrounding Hard Rock Stadium Norrisalso won the sprint race on Saturday—Piastridominatedbut alatesafetycar cost him thevictory— but Verstappen won the pole in qualifying.

Verstappen, who announced the birth of his first child Friday morning, has been determined to disprove themyth thatfatherhood would make him amore conservativedriver. It wasevident as he darted away at the start and then aggressively held offNorris’ challenge for the lead.

TheRed Bull and McLaren were side-by-side andNorris

was trying to edge ahead of the Dutchman, but he ran off track andlost fourspots. Norrissaid Verstappenforced him off track and there was nothing he could do but try to avoid running into awall —but F1 took no action against Verstappen.

“What can Isay? If Idon’tgo for it, people complain. If Igofor it,people complain,” Norris said.

“You can’twin. Butitreally just how it is withMax —it’scrash or theirpass.”

Verstappenwas unapologetic after fading to fourth andinsisted he raced within the rules

“I mean,Ihad nothing to lose, so Ialsowanted to have abit of fun out there,” Verstappen said, addingMcLaren’sstrong starttothe season is “not frustrating at all.”

“Weare here to winand today we weremiles off that, so it

doesn’t really matter,”Verstappen said. Norris recoveredfromthe early incident and picked his way back toward the front, but not before Piastri took control away from Verstappen on the 14thof57 laps.McLaren has decided it will allow Piastri and Norris to race each other cleanly without team orders, andNorriswas cleared to challenge his Australian teammate for the victory In the waning laps, Norris was able to close the gap but could never catch Piastri and settledfor second in a1-2 finishfor McLaren. The twoheld a nearly 40-secondadvantage over GeorgeRussell of Mercedes,who finished third. AlexAlbon of Williams was fifth, Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes was sixth andCharlesLeclerc was seventhafter Ferrari ordered Lewis Hamiltontogive his teammate theposition in theclosing laps.Hamilton was eighth. Carlos SainzJr. was ninth for Williams andYukiTsunoda was 10th for Red Bull.

Jack Doohan ranintoanother car on the opening lap and then crashed on the second lap —a showingthatwon’t quietchatter the rookieisonthe verge of being replaced at Alpine by Franco Colapinto. There havebeen media reports in Argentina thatColapinto will replace Doohan at F1’snext race, later this month in Italy.It was dismissed at the start of the MiamiweekendbyAlpine team principal OliverOakes, who indicated “as it is today” the Australian wouldstill be in theseat at Imola.

Logano gets 1stwin this season

He gets victoryafter restart anddespite leadingfor 7laps

BYSTEPHEN HAWKINS

AP sportswriter

FORTWORTH,Texas ReigningNASCAR Sprint Cup champion Joey Logano stayed in front on arestart in overtime at Texas on Sunday to get his first victory this season. Logano led only seven of the 271 laps, four more thanscheduledatthe 11/2-mile track. He had started 27th in the 11th race this year It came aweek after Team Pen-

NASCAR

ske teammate Austin Cindric’s win at Talladega, whereLogano hadafifth-place finish thatbecame 39thafter apostrace inspection foundanissue with the spoileronhis No. 22 Ford. There wasalso Logano’sexpletive-laden rant on the radio toward his teammate in themiddleofthatrace that the two smoothed out during theweek On the final restart after the 12th caution, Logano wasonthe inside of his other teammate, Ryan Blaney,but surgedahead going on the backstretch and stayed easily in front thefinal 11/2 laps. Ross ChastainthenpassedBlaney to finish second ahead of him Logano gothis 37th career victory,getting thelead for the first timeonlap 264. He went low to complete apassofMichael Mc-

Dowell, who on acaution with 47 laps left took only twotires and moved up 15 spotstosecond. McDowellgot loose afew laps after that being passed by Logano andcrashed to bring out the caution that sent the race to overtime. He finished 26th.

DennyHamlinhad finishedon thelead lap in 21 consecutive races, but afiery finish on lap 75 ended thatstreak thathad matched theeighth-longestinNASCAR history.Hewas the first car out of therace.

After theNo. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lost power,something blew up when Hamlin recycled the engine. There wereflames coming out from under thecar anditwas engulfed in smoke by time it rolledtoastop on the inside of thetrack and Hamlin

climbed out unharmed. Carson Hocevar,the 22-year-old driver who is McDowell’steammate with Spire Motorsports, was the youngesttoget thepoleever in Texas. He led only the first 22 laps of the race, losing it while pitting during the first caution. He finished 24th after alate accident. Both in-race stages finished under caution. Cindric wonStage 1 after Hamlin’sissues and Kyle Larson took the second after a yellow flagcameout because of debris on the track after the right rear tire on Chris Buescher’scar came apart. Larson got his 68th overallstage win and his sixth at Texas, with bothmarks being records. He has won astageineach of the last five Cup races at Texas, starting in his 2021 win there.

Ryupulls away forawire-to-wirewin

By The Associated Press

The 26-year-old Ruud yelled andthrust both arms into the air after clinching the winonhis first match point on theCaja Mágica clay court.

The 15th-ranked Ruud will reach No.7inthe rankings on Monday

The 13-time tour champion is the first NorwegiantoliftaMasters 1000 trophy since the series was introduced in 1990, according to the ATP.

Struggling Rangers fire offensive coordinator

ARLINGTON,Texas The Texas Rangers have fired offensive coordinatorDonnie Eckerafterthe team’s extended struggles scoring runs. The decision was announced after the Rangers won 8-1onSunday in theirseriesfinale against AL West-leading Seattle. Even with that outburst, the Rangers were last in the American League with 113 runs.

Before the win over the Mariners, the Rangers hadscored just 30 runs during a2-9 stretch, and half of those runs came when they hada season-high 15 against Oakland on Tuesday.They opened the series against Seattle with losses of 13-1 and 2-1.

The39-year-old Eckerwas in hisfourth season as the club’soffensive coordinatorafterbeing hired on Nov.1,2021. He helped the Rangers wintheir only World Series title in 2023.

White Sox’sBenintendi leaves game with injury

CHICAGO ChicagoWhite Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi left Sunday’swin over the HoustonAstros because of leftcalf tightness. Benintendi went 0for 3, but he reached on an error in the fifth. He scored on Josh Rojas’ bases-loaded walk with twodown.

BrooksBaldwin hitfor Benintendi in the sixth, then remained in the gameasthe leftfielder Benintendi is day to day.Heis batting .224 with five homers and 12 RBIsin24games.

LPGA

IVINS,Utah HaeranRyu made an 8-foot eagle putt duringa flawless back nine that allowed her to pull away Sunday with an 8-under 64, giving hera five-shot victory at the inaugural Black Desert Championship in the LPGA Tour’sreturn to Utahafter a61year absence.

Ryu became the second player to go wire-to-wire on the LPGA Tour this year,and it was her second time winning anew event. She won the FM Championship at the TPC Boston last year

She was coming offa rough finish at the Chevron Championship last week, sharingthe 54-hole lead at the first major of the year until closing witha76. This one was closerthan the five-shot margin indicated. Ryu was clinging to aone-shot lead over Esther Henseleit of Germany goingintothe back nine. She missed a6-foot birdieputton the 10th —her third straightmiss from short range for birdie. But then she made a15-foot

birdie putt at the 11th, and her eagle at the13th puther ahead by four shots.

“Incredible day,” saidRyu, who now has won at least one tournament thepast seven years dating to her first win as an 18-year-old on theKorea LPGA.

Henseleit, whostarted three shotsbehind, went out in 31 to get within one shot. She cooled off on theback nine, not making another birdie until the18th hole for a66. She tied for second with Ruoning Yin(67), the finalchallenge to Ryu. “Started outgreat on thefront

nineand thencouldn’tquite keep up on the back,” Henseleit said.

“Haeran played amazing and she really deserved to winittoday.”

Yin, whogot back into the mix with a62onSaturday, was four shots behind at the turn. She ran offfourstraightbirdies starting at the11th, all of them inside 8 feet. The last one got her to within three shotsofRyu.

The South Korean responded withanapproachwithin 3feet on the 15th for abirdie to restore her lead to four shots, and Yinfell back with adouble bogeyfromthe bunker on the16th.

“I play70good holes,” Yinsaid.

“I madeatriple on the first day and then adouble on 16 today.But overall, Ithink my game is really solid.”

YanLiu closed with a65tofinish alone in fourth.

Stephanie Kyriacou of Australia finished with the shot of the day afairway metal on the par-5 18th that rolled in foranalbatross, giving her a67totie forsixth.

Ryu is the 10th winnerin10 tournaments on theLPGA Tour this season.

Sunday’sgamewas cut short by rain in the seventh inning. The White Sox won 5-4 to secure their first series win over Houston since 2021.

Mets OF leaves game after hurting armonthrow

ST.LOUIS Mets left fielderJesse Winker had an MRI after leaving the first game of New York’sdoubleheader at St. Louis with right side discomfort.

Manager Carlos Mendoza said Winker wasinjured while making athrow in the third inning of Sunday’s6-5 loss.

Mendoza acknowledgedthere’s always concern whenthe word oblique is mentioned.

The31-year-oldWinker was making his first start in left field this season. He had played just two innings in left this year while serving mainly as adesignated hitter.

Winkerhad awalkand asacrifice fly in histwo plate appearances.

He’shitting .239 this season with one homerand 10 RBIsin24 games.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CANDICEWARD

Haeran Ryu hits fromthe ninth tee during the final round of the LPGA’s BlackDesertChampionship on Sunday in Ivins, Utah.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By REBECCA BLACKWELL

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri stands on top of his car after winning the Formula One MiamiGrand Prix on Sundayin Miami Gardens. Fla.

Piastri

Continued from page1C

changed the way he does everything.He’sa4.0 this semester in school. His accountability isat an all-time high. He’smadeall these changes and guess what happens? The guy has had his most consistent spring.

“The best of what he is is really good and that’swhat we’ve gotten every day.”

Speedy sophomoreRahji Dennis showed the ability to be more than just adeep threat.

Howard is impressed withhis new targets.

“These guys are willingto work every single day,” he said. “Theyhit my phone up andwant to throw.When you have receivers hitting you up, there’snobetter feeling.

“It’sjust connection —the offseason is going to be big.We have to continue to get better and we will.They want to get better,Weall want to win.”

The progress from the young quarterback room began with the staff’s decision for thequarterbackstowear the same jersey with no restrictions.

“I think one of the best things we did this spring is make our quarterbacks live,” Desormeaux said. “A guy like Walker and aguy like Lunch, that’sabig part of their game. Those two, it’sapart of their game. I’m alittle bit partial

Continued from page1C

two-run home run. Amedee singled and stole two bases and scored on a Jose Torres RBI single.

Casey Artigues added a10th run with asacrifice fly in the seventh.

Enjoying all of that offense was UL starter JR Tollett for achange after suffering multiple hardluck losses this season because

PREAKNESS

Continued from page1C

on Friday.There’salsoalarge group of hopefuls who earned Derby points duringqualifying and could try other Triple Crown stops.

The Preakness is the shortest race at 13/16 mile, butits quicktwoweek turnaroundfrom the 11/4mile Derby often gives pause for trainers and ownership groups. With the Belmont Stakes set for June 7, fiveweeks afterthe Derby and separated threeweeks from the Preakness,that race is viewed by many as apreferred option. That final jewel of theTriple Crown, takingplace at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York for asecond consecutiveyear, features the same distance as the Derby because of theshape of thetrack instead of its traditional 11/2-miles.

Redemption might be in order for Derby runner-up Journalism, who fell short as the 3-1 favorite. Trainer MichaelMcCarthysaidina news releasethat

“We’ve got no complaints” and praised his colt’s effortto rally into the lead brieflybefore Sovereignty,the 7-1 third choice, overtook him in the stretch and

to that, becausewhenever I played quarterback, we were never live and Ialways felt like Iwas at adisadvantage becauseofthat.”

With transfer Dre’lyn Washington no longer in thepicture, theprogress of redshirt freshman StevenBlanco and true freshman Darrell Smith was very encouraging.

“I think he’sgot anatural tempo andpatience,”Desormeaux said of Blanco. “He’shad agreat spring andIthought (Saturday) he was reallygood.”

Smith has stoodout with “the mental capacity as afreshman gettinghere in January has been the biggestsurprise in how well he understands it.”

Seniordefensive endJordan Lawson also thinksthe spring showed the defense’spotential to elevate in defensive coordinator Jim Salgado’ssecond season in Lafayette.

“There’snot alot of reteaching going on,”Lawson said. “Last year, when he cameininthe spring, he kind of had to figure outthe whole defense —what we wanted to change, what he wanted to keep,what he wanted to bring in from what he’sdoes in the past.

“This year,healready knew what hewanted to do—just less trial and error.Last year,we were still trying to figure out our identity.”

Email Kevin Footeat kfoote@theadvocate.com.

of alack of run support.

Tollett improved to 5-4 after allowing two runs on four hits, two walks and six strikeouts in five innings

Dylan Theut pitched thenext 1.2 innings, surrendering two runs (one earned),fourhits and onewalk over 32 pitches.

BlakeMcGehee finisheditoff with 2.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

Email KevinFoote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com

won by 11/2 lengths.

“With afieldthissizeina race like this, it’sall about the trip, McCarthysaid. “Itdidn’tquite work out the waywehoped,but he ran agood race against a good horse.”

Baeza finished third but trainer JohnShirreffs pointed to the Belmont for his California-based horse. Final Gambit charged from last to finish fourth among 19 horses, and trainer Brad Cox said,“This gives us confidence to try afast dirt surface in the future.”

Mott and Godolphin LLC ownership group representative Michael Banahan expressed the same faith in Sovereignty for his next step.

The newestDerby champion emerged brieflyonthe shed row for media and onlookers, and hishandlers felt good aboutthe horse’s initialcondition. They plantowatch him thenext few days before making adecision about theimmediate part of his bright future.

“We’rejust doing theright thing for the horse, what he needs to do,” Banahan said. “He has a big year,hopefully to continue down theroad here. There’san awfullot of nice races that you’d like to put onhis resume, as well. So,we’re just doing the right thing for him.”

PROVIDED PHOTOByLSU ATHLETICS

LSUfalls to TexasA&M, Aggies earn series win

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

COLLEGE STATION, Texas Twoweak hitsand ablast. That’sall it took for Sundayafternoon’sgame to flip on its head for LSU.The Tigers were an out away from escaping it, leading 4-2 in the eighthinning of Sunday’s rubber match with Texas A&M. Ultimately,itwas Texas A&M right fielder Caden Sorrell’sthreerunhome runwithtwo outs in the eighth thatgavethe Aggies a6-4 winand was thedifferencebetween aseries victory and aseries defeat for LSUatBlue Bell Park.

“Towin in this league, you win when your best playersplaygood,” LSUcoach Jay Johnson said, “and that’swhathappenedfor them today.”

To start the eighthinning, LSU redshirtsophomoreright-hander Chase Shores got apair of strikeouts but came out with arunner on thirdbasefor junior left-hander Conner Ware. Ware,inthe game to face Aggies left-handed slugger Jace LaViolette, surrendered an infield single that drove in arun, cuttingthe LSUleadto4-3 before exiting for junior right-hander Zac Cowan.

Cowan alloweda bloop single that put two runners on base and let Sorrell come to theplate. Sorrell, who has 10 homers in 22 games, worked thecount to 2-1 and then blasted aball over the wall in left field.

After allowingjustfourearned runs in Southeastern Conference play before this weekend, Cowan surrendered three runs andrecorded just twoouts in twoappearances against the Aggies (27-20, 10-14 SEC).

“Zac’sTrevor Hoffman to me, (he’s) one of the mostreliable guys youcan have,” Johnson said. “We obviouslyworked ourtailoff to get the ball to him in that situation, and he’sbeen amazing for us allyear long.”

LSU (38-11, 15-9) had originally

taken the lead on atwo-run homer in the sixth inning from senior Luis Hernandez, handing them a4-2 advantage. Hernandezwas thelone Tigerwith multiple hitsonSunday.

“I was looking fastball but he gave me aslider down the middle,” Hernandez said regarding his homer.“Igot agood swing and it went out.”

BeforeHernandez’sblast, LSU’s offense got off to aslow start, not scoringthrough thefirstthree innings and failing to drive in arunner in scoring position in the first and third.

The Tigers wouldn’tbreak through at the plate until the fourth inning when they took advantage of some poor Texas A&M defense to plate apair of runs. With arunner on and twoouts, Hernandez ripped adouble off the top of the top of the wall in left-center field to drive in senior Michael Braswell from first base. Braswell would’ve been easily thrownout at the plate, but Texas A&M catcher Bear Harrison dropped the ball at homeand couldn’tcorral it in time to tag Braswell. Hernandez then scored three pitches later on arun-scoring single from sophomore Steven Milam. He alsowould’ve been out at the plate by ahealthy margin if it weren’t for third baseman Wyatt Henseler dropping left fielder Terrence Kiel’sthrow on the relay towards home.

Both runshanded LSU a2-0 lead. Tigers third base coach Josh Jordan madethe aggressive decision to send Braswell home, but he had thestopsign up forHernandez. The veteran just missedthe late signal.

It was the third time in the series in whichLSU was aggressive in sending arunner homewith two outs.

“Hitsinthe series weretough to come by,” Johnson said. “So sometimes it’sbetter to roll the diceon making them makeaplay than expecting your next guy to get ahit with two outs.”

LSU’soffense hadanotherquiet

day overall. The Tigers had just seven hits, two walks and went 3 for11with runners on base. However,they did excel with twoouts, scoring all four of their runs in those scenarios.

“Wewanttoexecute alittlebetter,play alittle better with acompetitive mindset (that) is one of a team that’scapable of accomplishing alot of things,” Johnson said. Freshmanright-handerCasan Evans made his second career start on Sunday and it was an odd one. The Texas native allowed just one earned run butheonly lasted 31/3 innings, throwing aseason-high 93 pitches.

Evans walked three batters, surrendered three hits and only recorded twostrikeouts. After he allowed arun-scoring single with one out in the fourth, he exited the gamefor redshirt sophomore lefthander DJ Primeaux. Primeaux was on the mound to face LaViolette and struck him out before redshirt sophomore righthander Jaden Noot ended the inning with afielder’schoice groundout. Noot allowed asolo homer in the fifth inning but lasted until thesixth. He was replaced with oneout andtwo on by freshman left-hander Cooper Williamssohe could also face LaViolette. Williamsstruckout LaViolette and then handed theballtoShores. Shores hit the first batter he faced to load the bases, but he forced a fly out to left field on a100 mph fastball to end the sixth.

“I think they mayhave changed the dynamic of ourteamtoday,” Johnson said when asked about the bullpen, “with someofthe guys taking astep forward the way that they did.”

LSUfaces Grambling State for its final midweek gameofthe year on Tuesday.First pitch from Alex Box Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be available to stream on SEC Network+.

Email Koki Rileyat Koki.Riley@theadvocate.com.

LSU pitcher Chase Shores throws apitch during agame against Texas A&M on Sunday at Blue Bell Park in CollegeStation, Texas.

Opelousas Catholic falls short in state title game

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

SULPHUR Opelousas Catholic

head softball coach Cullen Matherne was more than pleased with the way the Vikings swung the bats against Holy Savior Menard at Frasch Park in Sulphur on Sunday

Unfortunately for Matherne and the Vikings, those good swings didn’t materialize into many hits as OC loss 4-1 to Menard in the Division IV select state finals

“We hit the ball, but we hit the ball right at them,” Matherne said “Sometimes that is life They played extremely well. They made the plays that needed to be made to win the game.”

And when the Vikings made mistakes, Menard took advantage.

“We made two errors on the day and they scored off of both of them,” Matherne said. “Every mistake we made, they capitalized on them. So, credit to Men-

ard. They made the plays.”

Senior pitcher Ashley Little was the losing pitcher after allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks, while striking out 13.

“She left her heart out on that field,” Matherne said of Little.

“She’s human and they got a few good swings off of her. As great as she is, she is human.

“But what she has done for this program is amazing,” Matherne continued. “I wish we could have sent her off in a better way.”

Offensively, the Vikings recorded four singles by Little Grace Luna, Madison Ludeau and Millie Richard.

“I just told the girls that is life,” Matherne said. “Sometimes you can hit the ball really hard and it is an out. Then sometimes you can hit it really soft and it is a bad hit. We struck out once all day In the end, I’m proud of how far we came.”

Email Eric Narcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

y

Cougars strand 14 runners in title loss to John Curtis

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

SULPHUR Sometimes, it just isn’t your day

That’s the take St. Thomas More head coach Andria Waguespack had following the Cougars’ 2-0 loss to John Curtis in the Division I select state finals on Sunday at Frasch Park in Sulphur

And offensively, it wasn’t the Cougars’ day

The Cougars left 14 runners on base, including 12 in scoring position.

“When you leave 12 runners in scoring position, it is tough to win a game at this point in the season,” Waguespack said. “We had our opportunities. We had our chances, but we just couldn’t find a hole.”

The Cougars (25-8) had only four hits against Patriots pitcher Makayla Escude, but had a lot of traffic on the bases due to drawing seven walks in the game.

“Their pitcher threw an outstanding game,” Waguespack

said. “We created some opportunities, but when you get to this point in the year against these good teams, you have to get a break. You have to get a passed ball, a clutch hit or something to be able to take advantage of the opportunities. But their pitcher threw really well when she needed to and her defense played great behind her.”

The break that Waguespack and the Cougars were looking for is exactly what the Patriots received in the top of the sixth inning with the game tied 0-0.

After a one-out double by the Patriots’ Kensley McInnis, Gracey Hebert singled to center McInnis made a big turn around third, but the Cougars’ Emma Bailey threw the ball to pitcher Margaret Oge and caught McInnis in a run down Oge threw the ball to third baseman Ava Segura, who proceeded to chase McInnis towards home plate. Unfortunately for the Cougars, McInnis reached home plate before the tag was applied for a

SCOREBOARD

1-0 lead.

During the rundown, Hebert took second and third base before scoring when the ball rolled toward the pitcher’s circle to extend the Patriots’ lead to 2-0.

“They are athletic and we knew they were going to fight, scratch and claw,” Waguespack said of the Patriots. “They got hits when they needed to win the game. They created chaos when they needed to create chaos. We had an opportunity and we couldn’t pull it off.”

Oge was the losing pitcher despite turning in arguably her best performance of the season. Oge allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks, while striking out two in seven innings of work.

“Definitely top three,” Waguespack said when asked if this was Oge’s best performance. “She was outstanding and she gave us every opportunity to win.”

Email Eric Narcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

St. Thomas More pitcher Margaret Oge lets the ball fl

against John Curtis in the third inning of the Division I select championship on Sunday at Frasch Park in Sulphur

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Opelousas Catholic pitcher Ashley Little fires a ground ball to first to tag a Holy Savior Menard runner in the third inning of their Division IV select championship game on Sunday at Frasch Park in Sulphur

Smashhit

Pickleball is here to stay.Why

this sportismore than just atrend

BY AVERYNEWMARK

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)

ATLANTA— Pickleball isn’t just a passingtrend —it’safull-blown wellness movement,bringing people together like never before.

Since its pandemic-eraboom,the sport has more thantripled, with almost20million Americansenjoying its physical and mental benefits in 2024, according to theSports & Fitness Industry Association

ChrisWolfe, director of pickleball operations at Pickle andSocial in Gwinnett County,Georgia, has been at the heart of the Atlanta pickleball scenefor morethana decade. Aco-founder of the AtlantaOpen, he startedplaying in 2011and hassince helpedorganize some of the country’s earliest leagues and tournaments

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution caught upwith Wolfe tochatabout what makes pickleball sospecial, who he’smost excited to watch play and the best tips for beginners lookingtoget in on thefun.

Whyeveryoneloves pickleball

Pickleball may have startedasa

favorite pastimefor retirees, but it hassinceevolvedinto agame for everyone. Today,playersofall agesare hitting thecourts, with the average age now around 35.

“Anyone can pickitupquickly,” Wolfesaid. “The paddle’s small, scoring is uncomplicated,and you don’thave to run long distances like in tennis.”

The sport blends elements of tennis, badminton and Ping-Pong, offering afun,low-impact workout that’seasyonthe joints —perfect for players of all ages.

Physical health benefits

Experts agree that pickleball’s

accessibility is amajor draw.A 2018 study from Western Colorado University found that regular play canboostcardiorespiratory fitness by 12%, lowerbloodpressureand improve cholesterol levels. Plus, it strengthens muscles and sharpens hand-eye coordination.

Mental wellness on thecourt

But thebenefits aren’tjust physical. Wolfe credits pickleball with helping his mental health, too.

“Getting on the court helps me disconnect from life’sstresses,” he explained. “It’s been ahuge

ä See PICKLEBALL, page 6C

You’re alwaysclose to your opponents.That makesit natural to chat, joke around and build connections while youplay.”

CHRIS WOLFE,director

of pickleball operations at Pickle and Social in Georgia

WatchLouisiana actoron‘Good American Family’

BY JUDYBERGERON Staff writer

Have you seen “Good American Family” yet?

The Hulu drama starsMetairie native Mark Duplass (“The Morning Show,” “Room104,” “The Long Long Night”) alongside “Grey’sAnatomy’s” Ellen Pompeo, and relative newcomer Imogen Faith Reid.

Alzheimer’s advocates shinelight on those who need help most

What is an Alzheimer’sadvocate?

Alzheimer’sadvocates play an important role in improving the quality of care and quality of lifefor people with Alzheimer’sdisease and their families by conveying their message to elected officials at the federal, state and local levels. David, forinstance, is a Louisiana caregiver whotakes care of his wife.David wasmet with twochallenges through her Alzheimer’sjourney: getting an official diagnosis of her condition (which took him almost seven years), and finding financial help forher care and general support forhim For David, and mostcaregivers like him,hefound it very difficult to navigate on his own the myriad available resources that he could use. According to the 2025 Alzheimer’sAssociation Facts and Figures, Louisiana has around 168,000 caregivers like David trying to navigate the services available fortheir loved ones. Louisiana caregivers forthose living with dementia spend 256 million hours caring fortheir loved ones, and morethan 50% navigate their own chronic health conditions. Currently,roughly 94,700 people live with Alzheimer’s, and Louisiana has aprojected increase between 17.4% and 22.6% in the number of people with Alzheimer’sdisease between 2020 and 2025. For David and other overwhelmedcaregivers in Louisiana, Alzheimer’sadvocates are crucial not only to assist in the journey but, more importantly to be apublic voice for those who are not able. Advocacy raises awareness and can improve care and support for individuals living with the disease and their families. Advocate volunteers can also help influence policies, regulations and public opinion to create amore supportive environment for those affected by the disease.

The miniseries is inspired by real-life eventssurroundingthe case of Ukrainian-born Natalia Grace Mans, born with dwarfism, adopted by an American family in 2010 at age 7, and allegedly abandoned by themthe next year But there’smuch more to the real story and “Good American Family,”which unfolds from multiple points of view “As they begin to raise her (Natalya) alongside their three

ä See TV NOTES, page 6C

ImogenFaith Reid stars opposite Louisiana actor Mark Duplass in the Huludrama miniseries ‘Good AmericanFamily.’

PROVIDED PHOTOBy SER BAFFO/DISNEy

The focus of advocacy this year at the State Advocacy Day on Tuesday is the push to establish aDementia Care Specialist Program by the Alzheimer’sAssociation/LA Chapter.Families facing this diagnosis fortheir loved one often encounter isolation and alack of coordinated support systems. ADementia Care Specialist Program is vital to support the caregivers and connect loved ones to community resources. Additionally,education plays acrucial role in mitigating the risk and impact of Alzheimer’s disease. It empowers individuals to manage their condition moreeffectively,including caregiving, understanding treatment options, looking at financial considerations and having opportunities to participate in research. Educational components would also be a part of the Dementia Care Specialist Program. The Alzheimer’sand Related Dementias Awareness Dayin Louisiana is designated by a

STAFF FILEPHOTO By MATTHEWPERSCHALL

David Maheu sendsthe balloverthe net duringa pickleball tournament at the ExchangeinNew Orleans.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Members playpickleball at the LafayettePickleball ClubinLafayette.

Poor balance? Treadmillexercisenot recommended

Dear Doctors: Iaman85-year-old man with congestive heart failure. Ihave almosttotallylost my balance. My treadmill quit working and my daughter,aphysical therapist, thinks Idonot need to replace it. She thinks it is dangerous for me. My only alternative is awalker.Can you address this issue?

Dear reader: Your daughter is correct that in certain circumstances,exercising on atreadmill can pose dangers. This is true for someone withpoor balance, for people living with certain heart conditions and for older adults who are frail or who are not physically fit. In the personal information you have shared, you appear to fit into those categories. That said, there is also evidence that, when used with medical su-

TV NOTES

Continued from page5C

biological children, mystery emerges aroundher age and background, and they slowly start to suspect she may not be who she says she is,” a Hulu synopsisstates. “As they defend their family from the daughter they’ve grown to believeisa threat, she fights her own battle to confront her past and what herfuture holds, in ashowdown that ultimately plays out in the tabloids and the courtroom.”

Dulé Hill (“The West Wing,” “Psych”), Christina Hendricks (“Mad Men”), Sarayu Blue (“Blockers”) and Jenny O’Hara (“Transparent”) are recurring guest stars. All episodes are now available for streaming.

Nowcasting If you’regoingtobein southern California in the next few weeks,aspot on the syndicated game show “Let’s Make aDeal” could be yours, as well as cars, cash and trips.

PICKLEBALL

Continued from page5C

anxiety reliever for me.”

Research backs him up. Studies show pickleballcan help reduce anxiety and depression, making it as much amental health boost as it is aworkout.

Abuilt-insocialscene

Beyond the fitness benefits, pickleball is naturally social. With smaller courts and alaid-back vibe, it’seasy to strike up aconversation betweenpoints.

ADVOCATES

Continued from page5C

Senate resolution, and advocates will meet with state lawmakers and officials to highlight critical priorities for supporting people living with Alzheimer’s.

Key details include:

n Location: Louisiana State Capitol.

n Purpose: To raise awareness and advocate for better services and support for

ByThe Associated Press

Today is Monday,May 5, the 125th day of 2025.There are 240 days left in the year

Todayinhistory: On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr.became America’sfirst space traveler as he made a15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsuleFreedom 7. On this date: In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena. In 1862, Mexican troops repelledFrench attacks on the city of Puebla de los Ángeles in the Battle of Puebla, also known as the Battle of Cinco de Mayo. In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating astate law that prohibited

Dr.Elizabeth Ko

Dr.Eve Glazier

ASK THE DOCTORS

pervisionand in addition to other types ofequipment, walking on a treadmill can be helpful. We’ll return to that in amoment. Butfirst, let’slook at whya home treadmill maynolonger beanappropriate option for you

Atreadmill is anarrow,motorized walkway that moves continuously beneath theuser’sfeet. For someone with poor balance, walking on something that dictates

your pace can lead toafall. The danger of the resulting impact is compounded by the chance of becoming entangled in the stillmoving mechanism. Falls area major cause of injury and disability in older adults, particularly those who are frail. It’strue that many treadmills include handrails; however,using those alters the mechanics of walking. This can adversely affect the alignment of the spine, exacerbate back pain and have an adverse effect on balance. The perpetually flat surface of atreadmill alsoremoves an important factor in balance training, which is the small andconstant changes we encounter when walking on natural terrain. Finally,for people living with congestive heart failure, exercising on atreadmill can

PROVIDED PHOTO By SER BAFFO/DISNEy

In the fourthepisode,‘Right There in Black and White,’of Hulu’s‘Good AmericanFamily,’ Michael (Louisiana-born Mark Duplass) and Kristine’s (Ellen Pompeo)marriagereaches abreaking pointastheir differing perspectives on adopted daughter Natalia threatentotear them apart.

The casting agency says there will be more chances to play,asthe audience will be smaller.There’stwo months of taping remaining for the season. Applicants cannot havedone another game show in thepast year or “Let’sMakeaDeal” in the last three years. To apply,gotofremantle. formstack.com/forms/ frem ant le_game show _2024_sp.

“You’re always close to your opponents,”Wolfe explained. “That makes it natural to chat, joke around and build connectionswhile you play.”

Socializing is made even easier at venues like Pickle andSocial, combining food, drinks and livemusic with indoor and outdoor pickleball courts.

“It’simpossible notto have fun,” Wolfe said.“Nobody’s worried about being the best. It’s aboutgettingout there, enjoying yourself and meeting new people.”

Stayingsafeonthe court

While pickleballisbegin-

thoseimpacted by dementia.

n Activities: Advocates andvolunteers will meet with state lawmakers and officials.

n Involved:The Alzheimer’sAssociation/LA Chapter,Alzheimer’sImpact Movement (AIM) and other advocates.

n Contact: TatianaGonzales Quiroga, tgquiroga@ alz.org;(504) 662-9314 ext. 1965E. n Wear purple, theofficial color of Alzheimer’sawareness.

TODAYINHISTORY

teaching thetheory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty,but hisconviction was later set aside.) In 1945, in the only fatal attack on theU.S.mainland during World WarII, aJapanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing apregnant woman and five children In 1973, Secretariat won the KentuckyDerby, the first of his Triple Crown victories, in atime of 1:59.4 arecord that still stands. In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died atage 27 at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland on his 66thday withoutfood

In 1994, Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, aday after the sentence was re-

Casting is alsotaking place for anew competition series for long-lost families of three or more.

Alarge cash prize goes to thewinners. To apply,visit pitman castinginc.formstack.com/ forms/family_gameshow

Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate. com.

ner-friendly,Wolfe hasa few safetytips.

“A lot of injuries happen because players aren’t used to moving backward,” he said. “Start slow,learn the basics, and give your body time to adjust.”

Whether you’re looking for anew workout, asocial hobby or just away to shake off stress, pickleball might be exactly what you need.

And if you’re readytotake it to thenextlevel, Wolfe suggestskeeping an eye on rising stars like Anna Leigh Waters —a sign that thefuture of pickleball is just gettingstarted.

Other volunteer opportunities are available at Alzheimer’sServices of the Capital Area, alzbr.org, and theAlzheimer’sFoundation of America, alzfdn.org.

Dana Territo is an Alzheimer’s advocate and author of “What My Grandchildren Taught Me About Alzheimer’s Disease. She hosts“The Memory Whisperer.” Emailher at thememorywhisperer@ gmail.com.

duced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton.

In 2016, Lonnie Franklin Jr.was convicted of 10 counts of murder in the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings in Los Angeles that targeted poor,young Black women over two decades. Today’sbirthdays: Actor Lance Henriksen is 85. Comedianactor Michael Palin is 82. Actor Richard E. Grant is 68. R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn is 50. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 46. Actor Danielle Fishel is 44. Actor Henry Cavill is 42. Singersongwriter Adele is 37. R&B singer Chris Brown is 36. Tennis player Aryna Sabalenka is 27. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Nathan Chen is 26. Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz is 22.

Youare fortunate to have a physical therapist in the family —perhaps she’swilling to help you explore someofthe options discussed here. Youmay be able to do the treadmill exercise you desire and also give her peace of mind.

Send yourquestions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla edu, or write: Ask theDoctors, c/oUCLA HealthSciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd.,Suite 1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

worsen symptomssuch as fatigue and shortness of breath. That brings us to the topic of medical supervision. If you are determined to incorporate atreadmillinto your exercise routine, first talk to your cardiologist.They will let you know if it is an option. If so, you would move forward with aphysical therapist who specializes in cardiac rehabilitation. They would schedule regular sessionsinwhich your treadmill use, along with your vital signs —including heart rate, blood pressure and breathing would be carefully monitored. Aharness to allow an upright posture during exercise may be incorporated into the therapy Studies have shown that regular sessions of medically supervised treadmill exercise can be helpful in building up the leg, hip and core strength needed for older adults to improve their balance. When the exercise program included the use of awalker or acane, the study participants showed even greater improvement.

Wannabe‘healer’ needstobackoff

Miss Manners: There is arelatively nice person who works near me in a busy financial office. They are talented and smart, but they have an annoying habit of interjecting a constant stream of unsolicited advice and warnings about healthintoevery single conversation. They will warn me of theplastic in tea bags as they watch me make a cup of tea, or the danger of using medical-grade masks to avoid viruses. They blurt out, “Milk instant inflammation!” as I put cream in mycoffee. They issue warnings of thedangers of tap water while Ipour myself a glass, warnings about overthe-counter painkillers while Itake one for aheadache, and warnings about vaccines when Imention gettingaCOVID booster (gee, ever heard of tetanus or polio?). After adental appointment, Igot to hear about the hazardous chemicals used in modern dentistry.Ihave been told about the nanoparticles in every item ever manufactured, and the risks of every medication ever made The advice is not without

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

merit, but it is constant, interruptive, unsolicited and negative. It’s also become really annoying, and I’m contemplating avoiding this person. They have made an educational journey to become ahealer after retirement, and Ican see how they might have somesuccess because of their desire to help people. But not in the office, thank you. Iwish they would save the warnings fortheir future paying clients. What can Isay in ashort, humorous or simple way to stop this stream of warnings about every single moveI make?

Gentle reader: All right, here is your acting assignment: At each warning, throw your arms up in an “I surrender” position, widen your eyes and say “UHOH!” After you hold the pose foraminute, you can break into asmile.

Three such performances should do it. If your colleague is nice —even “relatively nice” —Miss Manners predicts that you will get areturn smile and fewerwarnings.

Dear Miss Manners: Iwas seated in front of two men

at ahockey game, and every other word they said wasthe F-word. Iwanted to say something, but wondered what would be the best way to address them.

Ithought about saying something like, “Hey,you look like smart guys, but your vocabulary makes you sound less than intelligent.”

Do you have asuggestion, or wasignoring them the route to take? That is what Idid.

Gentle reader: Thereby avoiding the likely response, which would be to F-off. As offensive as that would be, Miss Manners cannot help seeing that it would come from alegitimateobjection. First, that they were having aprivate conversation, even if you couldn’thelp overhearing it. And second, that it is rude, not to mention ineffective, to go around correcting strangers.

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

Neighbor overlooksdog attack

Dear Harriette: Iwas out for awalk with my dog when out of nowhere, my neighbor’sdog came charging towardus. He had slipped out of his collar and was clearly not under control. He lunged at me and my dog, growling and snapping. Ihad to shield my dog and myself, and for amoment, Igenuinely thought we were going to get seriously hurt What shocked me almost as much as the attack itself was my neighbor’sreaction.Hejust stood there, frozen, doing absolutely nothing to intervene. He didn’tcall the dog back, didn’trun over,didn’teven

speak. Eventually,the dog calmed downand ran back to him,but Iwas leftangry and confused. Ihad afew scratches, but thankfully nothing major,and my dog wasn’t seriously injured either; it could have been much worse. Since then, I haven’tspoken to my neighbor about the incident because I’mhonestly not sure what to say.I don’twant to escalate things, but Ialso feel like Ideserve some kind of acknowledgment or apology.Should Iconfront my neighbor? —Bad Dog

Sendquestions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com or c/oAndrewsMcMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St.,Kansas City,MO 64106.

DearBad Dog: Youmust speak to your neighbor State how frightened you were whenhis dog charged at you and your dog. Tell him you are surprised and disappointed that he didn’t do anything in the moment or reach out to make sure you were OK or to apologize for the incident. Acknowledge that it seemed the dog had somehow gotten free of his collar,soyou know the neighbor wasn’t intentionally negligent, but you still feel unsettled with his lack of closure. Make sure he has aplan for if this happens again.

Flattencurly parchmentpaper

Dear Heloise: Ilike to use parchment paper when baking, especially when somethingmight bubble over ontoa baking pan. However,the paper is difficult to lay without it curling up. My solution is to just crumble it up abit, straighten it out, and lay it on the baking sheet.The wrinkles don’tmatter.Then after you’re done, just pick thepaper up and throw it away.It’svery helpful when lining the bottoms of

loaf pans. —MarlynW., in Hedgesville,West Virginia Marlyn, Ilike to use paper weights when Ican to hold down curly parchment paper —Heloise Healthyplants

Dear Heloise: Itried your hint of placing coffee grounds in my potted plants, and it really seemed to makethem grow.I used to plant catnip formycats, but the plants struggled to stay alive. After mixing in coffee grounds, the catnip

plants seemed to take root and thrive. My geraniums are doing better,and my hostas are lush, full greenleafed plants. Many thanks for this wonderful hint and the many other hints in your column. —Lisa W.,inSan Antonio Sendahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

Dear

Harriette Cole SENSE AND SENSITIVITy

Hints from Heloise

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Take refuge in spaces that allow you the freedom to work without someone looking over your shoulder or criticizingeverything youdo. Leavenothing to chance.

GEMInI(May21-June 20) Look at documents involving institutions or your possessions, assets or joint ownership situations.Aim to broaden your perspective and enhance your opportunities.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Slow down. Breathe deep,consider your situation andtakeapassifsomething appears sketchy. Focusinward, hone your skills and adjust your talents to accommodate what you want to pursue.

LEo(July 23-Aug. 22) Liveand learn. Concentrate on what matters to you andwhatyou must do to fulfill your dreams. Learn new skills and associatewith people who have similar interests andgoals

VIRGo(Aug. 23-sept. 22) Achange may be in order, but micromanagement is necessary to avoidexcessivebehavior andlettingotherstake advantage of you. Make decisions guidedbycommonsense,not by emotions.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Hold what and whoyou love close andmanufacture an environment around you conducive to independence andachieving your goals. Fuel business or personal relationships with endless possibilities.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Settle down andsettle in for the longhaul. Change begins with you. Discipline and apas-

sionate attitude will give you the edge in competitive situations.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec.21) Leap forward. Refuse to let fear stifle your plans. Invest in yourself andfind a path leading to monetary rewards andsatisfaction.Makehome improvements and ahealthy lifestyle your priorities.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Be carefulwhat you say and do. Take care of emotional or health issuesbeforethey have achance to wreak havoc on your life. Putyourself first AQuARIus(Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Beingproactive can lead to good or bad, depending on your approach. An opportunity is apparent if you network. Attend events, travel and gather information thatcan help youadvanceyour interests. PIscEs (Feb. 20-March20) Making big decisions will backfire unless you've done the proper legwork to ensure your plan is solid and fair. If you embellish or take on too much, your strategywill crumble.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Aphysical challenge will motivateyou to take better care of yourself and become more active in your community or group functions. Do your part, and you won'tbedisappointed.

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

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, pastand present.Each letterinthe cipher stands foranother. toDAy'scLuE: yEQuALs D

FAMILYCIrCUS

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe AndGrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The objectistoplace thenumbers 1to9inthe empty squaressothat each row, each column and each 3x3 box containsthe samenumber onlyonce.The difficulty levelofthe Sudoku increasesfromMonday to Sunday.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Bridge has survivedall these decades for several reasons. For example,there aredeals, like thisone, that do not follow anormal course. What would atextbook advise West to lead againstfour spades? Butwhatwould he lead if he could see all52cards?

When adefender hasfourtrumps, it is usually best to trytomakedeclarer ruff something. The defender hopes to reducedeclarer’s trump length down to his own, or, even better, shorter than his.Hewants declarer to losetrump control

Thinkingalongthoselines,Westledthe heartace. When East signaled enthusiastically with the nine, West led another heart. South trieddummy’s queen, but East covered with the king. After ruffing, South was tempted to play on trumps, but he mused about West’s lead. West surely had not started with ace-doubleton. Andifnot,itwas a dangerous lead, suggesting that he had long trumps.

Declarer cashed his diamond ace, ruffed adiamond on the board,led a club to his king, and ruffedhis lastdiamond.

Thenheplayed atrump. West won and led another heart, but South ruffed, cashed his two top trumps, and played on clubs, still having one trumptoretain control.Declarer lost only one heart and two spades.

wuzzles

Onthisdeal,Westhastoleadhissingletontodefeatthecontract.Then,ifdeclarerattackstrumps,Westwinsandreturns the suit. Or,ifSouth exits with aheart before or after ruffing adiamond on the board, East wins and gives his partnera club ruff. ThenWestcashes the spade ace and plays another spade.

©2025 by NEA, Inc., dist.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

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

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls

garfield

B.C.