The Acadiana Advocate 05-22-2025 by The Advocate

Feds indict former La. wildlife official

Montoucet charged in corruption probe out of Lafayette

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR and SAM KARLIN Staff writers

Jack Montoucet, a former secretary of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, was indicted Wednesday on charges that he participated in a lucrative kickback scheme involving a state con-

tract for online courses to resolve wildlife citations, an arrangement that unfolded over several years before unraveling in 2023. The charges, ﬁled in Louisiana’s Western District, had been expected for months. Montoucet, along with Assistant District Attorney and Lafayette city prosecutor Gary Haynes, was described —

but not identified by name — in the March 23, 2023, guilty plea of Dusty Guidry, who handled pretrial diversion programs for the district attorneys in Lafayette and Baton Rouge. Guidry was also a gubernatorial appointee to the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, a volunteer board that helps set state policy on some outdoors

issues. The grand jury, which met in Lafayette federal court Wednesday returned an indictment charging Montoucet with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Don Cazayoux, an attorney representing Montoucet, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday Haynes, 66, of Lafayette, was indicted by a federal grand jury in September and charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, using his cellphone in furtherance of bribery conspiracy to commit money laundering and

Setup is underway for the Cajun Heartland State Fair outside the Cajundome in Lafayette. The fair features rides, entertainment, food, free attractions and family oriented games. It opens Friday and runs through June 1.

ABOVE: Workers battle the rainy weather on Wednesday to assemble a ride.

RIGHT: Sophia Vasquez sets up a lemonade stand on Wednesday

State revenue on the rise

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Louisiana lawmakers learned Wednesday that they will have $139 million more to spend on next year’s budget after economists said the state’s revenue outlook is in a bit better shape than previously forecast.

The state will also have an additional $130 million to spend during the current fiscal year that ends June 30, under a new ofﬁcial forecast approved by the Revenue Estimating Conference, a group of state leaders that approves ofﬁcial revenue projections which form the basis of spending plans built by lawmakers.

The additional funding could be spent on next year’s budget in any number of ways, potentially including economic development initiatives, criminal justice system improvements, infrastructure, or restoring a statewide tutoring program that was recently removed from the latest version of the budget.

Greg Albrecht, the state economist who compiled the projections approved Wednesday, said the underlying base of the economy — which includes factors like income and employment — “is just a little bit stronger than expected.” Discussions about economic uncertainty occurring at the broader national and global levels, however, didn’t factor into the current analysis, he said.

“We haven’t seen it in the hard numbers,” Albrecht said of a possible recession. “Nobody’s actually

Federal spending bill could mean more coastal funds for La.

BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer

The “big, beautiful bill” making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives has further fueled the nation’s divisions, but one little-known aspect of it has managed to unite Louisianans from across the political spectrum. The federal spending bill as it stands now includes a provision that could increase the amount of money Louisiana receives from offshore oil and gas production — revenue that must be used for coastal protection and restoration. Estimates show Louisiana could see up to around $50 million per year extra over a decade not exactly a gold rush, but nothing to sneeze at either It’s a change long-sought by Louisiana political leaders, pushed for

years by former Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and taken up by the state’s current mainly Republican congressional delegation. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, was instrumental in including the measure in the bill. It has been among the topics discussed at this week’s State of the Coast conference in New Orleans, a large gathering of political leaders, policymakers and scientists

organized every two years by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana nonproﬁt Landrieu in particular, used her appearance to argue that the state was being shortchanged and must be given the resources to protect residents that work in the industries that have long beneﬁted the nation. State officials are reasonably confident the measure could remain in the House version of the

bill given its backing by Scalise and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, though there are no guarantees. The measure would then have to survive the U.S. Senate, where the outcome is cloudier One advantage the state has is that the change is so obscure when compared to other parts of the bill being angrily debated that it may

ä See COASTAL, page 5A

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Montoucet

Judge blocks firing of 2 on oversight board

A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s ﬁring of two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.

The ruling Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Reggie B Walton ends the lawsuit brought by two of the three ﬁred board members in February

The ﬁve-member board is an independent watchdog agency housed within the executive branch. Congress created the agency after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and tasked the board members with making sure the federal government’s counterterrorism policies are balanced against privacy and civil liberties

“The Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.” Walton said in the written ruling that allowing at-will removal of board members by the president would make the board “beholden to the very authority it is supposed to oversee on behalf of Congress and the American people.”

“To hold otherwise would be to bless the President’s obvious attempt to exercise power beyond that granted to him by the Constitution and shield the Executive Branch’s counterterrorism actions from independent oversight, public scrutiny, and bipartisan congressional insight regarding those actions,” Walton wrote.

Mars rover snaps selfie as dust devil blows by CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The latest selﬁe by NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars has captured an unexpected guest: a Martian dust devil.

Resembling a small pale puff, the twirling dust devil popped up 3 miles behind the rover during this month’s photo shoot. Released Wednesday, the selﬁe is a composite of 59 images taken by the camera on the end of the rover’s robotic arm, according to NASA.

It took an hour to perform all the arm movements necessary to gather the images, “but it’s worth it,” said Megan Wu, an imaging scientist from Malin Space Science Systems, which built the camera. “Having the dust devil in the background makes it a classic,” Wu said in a statement.

The picture which also shows the rover’s latest sample borehole on the surface — marks 1,500 sols or Martian days for Perseverance. That’s equivalent to 1,541 days on Earth.

Launched in 2020, Perseverance is collecting samples for eventual return to Earth from Jezero Crater, an ancient lakebed and river delta.

Johnson vows to push ahead on tax cuts

BY LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING, LEAH ASKARINAM and JOEY

CAPPELLETTI Associated Press

WASHINGTON Defying opposition within his ranks, House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted late Wednesday that Republicans would march ahead on their multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package after a lengthy White House meeting with GOP holdouts refusing to back the bill.

Johnson and his GOP leadership team appeared confident they would be able to stick to their schedule and shore up GOP support for final passage late Wednesday or Thursday following last-ditch talks to salvage the “big, beautiful bill.” But next steps are highly uncertain.

“We’re excited that we’re going to land this airplane,” Johnson, RBenton, said back at the Capitol.

But as evening hours set in, the upbeat tone stood at odds with the unwieldy scene at the Capitol. The Rules Committee has been grinding through a marathon session,

passing its 18th hour, as the process chugs along. Another Republican, Tennessee Rep. John Rose, announced his opposition to the GOP bill. And Democrats are using all available tools and impassioned speeches to press their opposition and capitalize on the GOP disarray

“We believe it’s one big, ugly bill that’s going to hurt the American people,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York as he and his team testiﬁed before the committee.

It’s a make-or-break moment for the president and his party in Congress They have invested much of their political capital during the crucial ﬁrst few months of Trump’s return to the White House on this legislation. If the House Republicans fall in line with the president, overcoming unified Democratic objections, the measure would next go to the Senate.

Trump had implored the lawmakers a day earlier at the Capitol to get it done, but the holdouts endured. It’s not at all clear what, exactly was agreed to or not during Wednesday’s meeting at the

White House. However, Johnson indicated afterward that Trump himself may be able to accomplish by executive actions some of the goals that Congress is unable to agree to in the legislative process.

A fresh analysis from the Congressional Budget Ofﬁce said the tax provisions would increase federal deﬁcits by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. The lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost, the CBO said.

At its core, the package is centered on extending the tax breaks approved during Trump’s ﬁrst term in 2017, while adding new ones.

To make up for some of the lost revenue, the Republicans are focused on spending cuts to federal safety net programs and a massive rollback of green energy tax breaks from the Biden-era Inﬂation Reduction Act.

Additionally the package tacks on $350 billion in new spending,

U.N. says aid has not reached Palestinians

BY WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza

Strip

The U.N. said

Wednesday it was trying to get the desperately needed aid that has entered Gaza this week into the hands of Palestinians amid delays because of fears of looting and Israeli military restrictions.

Israeli strikes pounded the territory, killing at least 86 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the country is days away from implementing a new aid system in Gaza, and that it later plans to create a “sterile zone” there, free of Hamas, where the population would be moved and receive supplies.

He also said he is ready to end the war as long as Hamas releases all hostages and steps down from power — and if President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate the territory’s population outside Gaza is implemented.

Under international pressure, Israel has allowed dozens of aid trucks into Gaza after blocking all food, medicine, fuel and other material for nearly three months. But the supplies have been sitting on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the majority of supplies that had

entered since Monday had been loaded onto U.N. trucks, but they could not take them out of the crossing area. He said the road the Israeli military had given them permission to use was too unsafe.

A U.N. ofﬁcial later said more than a dozen trucks that left the crossing area arrived at warehouses in central Gaza on Wednesday night. The ofﬁcial spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Israel said 100 trucks had crossed into Gaza on Wednesday

Food security experts have warned that Gaza risks falling into famine unless the blockade ends. Malnutrition and hunger have been mounting. Aid groups ran out of food to distribute weeks ago, and most of the population of around 2.3 million relies on communal kitchens whose supplies are nearly depleted.

At a kitchen in Gaza City, a charity group distributed watery lentil soup.

Somaia Abu Amsha scooped small portions for her family saying they have not had bread for over 10 days and she can’t afford rice or pasta.

“We don’t want anything other than that they end the war We don’t want charity kitchens. Even dogs wouldn’t eat this, let alone children,” she said.

Aid groups say the small amount of aid that Israel has allowed is far short of what is needed. About 600 trucks entered daily under the latest ceaseﬁre.

Va. Democratic congressman Gerry Connolly dies

BY OLIVIA DIAZ Associated Press/Report for America

RICHMOND Va U.S. Rep Gerald “Ger-

that he had esophageal cancer and said a few months later that he planned to retire from Congress. His death leaves

House Republicans with a 220-212 ma-

jority

position to ensure the federal bureaucracy is “a responsive, accountable instrument for the people we serve.”

with about $150 billion going to the Pentagon, including for the president’s new “Golden Dome” defense shield, and the rest for Trump’s mass deportation and border security agenda.

As Trump promised voters, the package proposes there would be no taxes on tips for certain workers, including those in some service industries; automobile loan interest; or some overtime pay

To cut spending, the package would impose new work requirements for many people who receive health care through Medicaid. Able-bodied adults without dependents would need to fulﬁll 80 hours a month on a job or in other community activities.

Older Americans up to age 64, rather than 54, who are able-bodied and without dependents would need to work or engage in the community programs for 80 hours a month. Additionally, some parents of children older than 7 years old would need to fulﬁll the work requirements; under current law, the requirement comes after children are 18.

Fire at historic church called intentionally set

BY ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. A fire that severely damaged a historic Black church that served as the headquarters for a 1968 sanitation workers’ strike, which brought the Rev Martin Luther King Jr to Memphis, was intentionally set, investigators said Wednesday The ﬁre at the Clayborn Temple, which was undergoing a yearslong renovation, was set in the interior of the church, the Memphis Fire Department said in a statement. Investigators are searching for a person suspected of being involved with the blaze.

Flames engulfed the downtown church in the early hours of April 28. Later that day Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat said the inside of the building was a total loss but there was still hope that some of the facade could be salvaged.

The ﬁre department said May 14 that the building had been stabilized and investigators would use specialized equipment to study the ﬁre’s cause.

Located just south of the iconic Beale Street, the Clayborn Temple was built in 1892 as the Second Presbyterian Church and originally served an all-White congregation. King was drawn to Memphis in 1968 to support some 1,300 predominantly Black sanitation workers who went on strike to protest inhumane treatment. Workers went on strike seeking to unionize and ﬁghting for higher pay and safer working conditions. City ofﬁcials declared the stoppage illegal and arrested scores of strikers and protesters. The Clayborn Temple hosted meetings during the strike, and the movement’s iconic “I AM A MAN” posters were made in its basement. The temple was also a staging point for marches to City Hall, including one on March 28, 1968, that was led by King and turned violent when police and protesters clashed on Beale Street. One person was killed King promised to lead a second, peaceful march in Memphis, but he was shot by a sniper April 4.

ry” Connolly, an outspoken Democrat who sought key reforms in the federal government while bringing transformational development to his populous Virginia district, died Wednesday Connolly, 75, who most recently held a prominent position as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, served in Congress for more than 16 years. He died at home in the company of family members, his family said in a statement. Connolly announced in 2024

The spirited and at times bullheaded Fairfax Democrat became known for his voluble nature and willingness to engage in spirited debates.

“If we insist the government must work for all of our citizens again, we cannot fail,” Connolly said.

Connolly was ﬁrst elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1995. On the county board, he steered the transition of northern Virginia’s Tysons Corner from a traffic-heavy mall area to a downtown business hub.

Connolly’s local government experience launched his congressional career He was elected in 2008 after ﬂipping an open Republican-held seat by nearly 42,000 votes In his victory speech, Connolly said he would use his

Connolly cosponsored the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act, which requires federal agencies to allow a portion of their employees to telework at least one day a week.

Connolly reached a new milestone late last year as he was chosen ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. He defeated Democratic Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the position. The victory came shortly after Connolly announced late last year that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and would undergo chemotherapy and immunotherapy

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHIOTO By OHAD ZWIGENBERG A truck loaded with humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip makes its way to the Kerem Shalom crossing Wednesday as border police officers prevent activists from blocking the road in southern Israel.

PHOTO PROVIDED By NASA

The Mars rover Perseverance takes a selfie on May 10.

Connolly

Trump confronts South African leader

U.S. president makes baseless claims of the systematic killing of White farmers

BY GERALD IMRAY and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump used a White House meeting to forcefully confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing the country of failing to address Trump’s baseless claim of the systematic killing of White farmers.

Trump even dimmed the lights of the Oval Ofﬁce to play a video of a far-left politician chanting a song that includes the lyrics “kill the farmer.” He also leafed through news articles to underscore his point, saying the country’s White farmers have faced “death, death, death, horrible death.”

Trump had already cut all U.S. assistance to South Africa and welcomed several dozen White South African farmers to the U.S. as refugees as he pressed the case that a “genocide” is underway in the country

The U.S. president, since his return to ofﬁce, has launched a series of accusations at South Africa’s Black-led government, claiming it is seizing land from White farmers, enforcing antiWhite policies and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy

Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of Whites being targeted for their race, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country with a high crime rate.

“People are ﬂeeing South Africa for their own safety,” Trump said. “Their land is being conﬁscated and in many cases they’re being killed.”

Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump’s accusation. The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country’s relationship with the United States. The bilateral relationship is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.

“We are completely opposed to that,” Ramaphosa said of the behavior alleged by Trump in their exchange. He added, “that is not government policy” and “our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying.”

Trump was unmoved.

“When they take the land, they kill the White farmer,” he said.

Trump appeared prepared to confront Ramaphosa at the start of the meeting while journalists were present. Videos were cued up on a large TV set to show a clip of an opposition party leader, Julius Malema, leading an old antiapartheid song

The song has been contentious for years in the country because of its central lyrics “kill the Boer” and “shoot the Boer” — with Boer a word that refers to a White farmer Malema is not part of the country’s governing coalition.

Another clip played showed white crosses on the side of a road, described as a memorial for White farmers who were killed. Ramaphosa seemed bafﬂed. “I’d like to know where that is, because this I’ve never seen.”

Trump kicked off the meeting by describing the South African president as a “truly respected man in many many circles.” He added: “And in some circles he’s considered a little controversial.”

Ramaphosa chimed in, playfully jabbing back. “We’re all like that,” Ramaphosa said.

Trump issued an executive order in February cutting all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the South African

government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing antiWhite policies at home and supporting “bad actors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.

Trump has falsely accused the South African government of rights violations against White Afrikaner farmers by seizing their land through a new expropriation law No land has been seized and the South African government has pushed back, saying U.S. criticism is driven by misinformation.

The Trump administration’s references to the Afrikaner people — who are descendants of Dutch and other European settlers — have also elevated previous claims made by Trump’s South Africanborn adviser Elon Musk and some conservative U.S. commentators that the South African government is allowing attacks on White farmers in what amounts to a genocide.

The administration’s concerns about South African policies cut even deeper than the concerns about White farmers.

South Africa has also angered Trump over its move to bring charges at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Ramaphosa has also faced scrutiny in Washington for his past connections to MTN Group, Iran’s second-largest telecom provider It owns nearly half of Irancell, a joint venture linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ramaphosa served as board chair of MTN from 2002 to 2013.

Ramaphosa came into the meeting looking to avoid the sort of contentious engagement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy experienced during his February Oval Ofﬁce visit, when the Ukrainian leader found himself being berated by Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

The South African president’s

delegation included golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, a gesture to the golf-obsessed U.S. president. Ramaphosa brought Trump a massive book about South Africa’s golf courses. He even told Trump that he’s been working on his golf game, seeming to angle for an invitation to the links with the president. At one point, Ramaphosa called on Zingiswa Losi, the president of a group of South African trade unions, who told Trump it is true that South Africa is a “violent nation for a number of reasons.” But she told him it was important to understand that Black men and women in rural areas were also being targeted in heinous crimes.

“The problem in South Africa, it is not necessarily about race, but it’s about crime,” Losi said. “We are here to say how do we, both nations, work together to reset, to really talk about investment but also help to really address the levels of crime we have in our country.”

Musk also attended Wednesday’s talks. He has been at the forefront of the criticism of his homeland, casting its afﬁrmative action laws as racist against Whites.

Musk has said on social media that his Starlink satellite internet service isn’t able to get a license to operate in South Africa because he is not Black.

South African authorities say Starlink hasn’t formally applied. It can, but it would be bound by afﬁrmative action laws in the communications sector that require foreign companies to allow 30% of their South African subsidiaries to be owned by shareholders who are Black or from other racial groups disadvantaged under apartheid.

The South African government says its long-standing afﬁrmative action laws are a cornerstone of its efforts to right the injustices of the White minority rule of apartheid, which denied opportunities to Blacks and other racial groups.

Defense Department accepts jet from Qatar for Trump’s use

BY LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press

WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar for President Donald Trump to use as Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday, despite ongoing questions about the ethics and legality of taking the expensive gift from a foreign nation.

The Defense Department will “work to ensure proper security measures” on the plane to make it safe for use by the president, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. He added that the plane was accepted “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.”

Trump has defended the gift, which came up during his recent Middle East trip, as a way to save tax dollars.

“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social

media site during the trip.

Others, however have said Trump’s acceptance of an aircraft that has been called a “palace in the sky” is a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on foreign gifts. Democrats have been united in outrage, and even some of the Republican president’s GOP allies in Congress have expressed concerns.

“This unprecedented action is a stain on the ofﬁce of the presidency and cannot go unanswered,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York

“Until Americans get transparency on this shady deal, which apparently includes a corrupt plot for Donald Trump to keep the plane at his library after leaving ofﬁce, I’ll continue to hold all Department of Justice political nominees.”

Schumer has introduced legislation that would prohibit any foreign aircraft from being used as Air Force One and forbid use of taxpayer money to modify or restore the aircraft

Critics also have noted the need to retroﬁt the plane to meet security requirements, which would be costly and take time.

“Far from saving money, this unconstitutional action will not only cost our nation its dignity, but it will force taxpayers to waste over $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to overhaul this particular aircraft when we currently have not one, but two fully operational and fully capable Air Force One aircraft,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.

She said during a hearing Tuesday that it is a “dangerous course of action” for the U.S. to accept the aircraft from the Qatari ruling family Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told senators that Hegseth has ordered the service to start planning how to update the jet to meet needed standards and acknowledged that the plane will require “significant” modiﬁcations.

The Air Force in a statement, said it is preparing to

Judge says U.S. government didn’t follow court order on deportations

BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST, MICHAEL CASEY, REBECCA SANTANA and TIM SULLIVAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a ﬂight linked to the chaotic African nation of South Sudan, a federal judge said Wednesday hours after the Trump administration said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of violent crimesbut refused to reveal where they would end up. The judge’s statement was a notably strong rebuke to the government’s deportation efforts. In an emergency hearing he called to address reports that immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston said the eight migrants aboard the plane were not given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger Minutes before the hearing, administration ofﬁcials accused “activist judges” of advocating the release of dangerous criminals.

“The department actions in this case are unquestionably in violation of this court’s order,” Murphy said Wednesday, arguing that the deportees didn’t have “meaningful opportunity” to object to being sent to South Sudan. The group was ﬂown out of the United States just hours after getting notice, leaving them no chance to contact lawyers who could object in court.

Government attorneys argued that the men had a history with the immigration system, giving them prior opportunities to express a fear of being deported to a country outside their homeland They also pointed out that the judge had not speciﬁed the exact time needed between notice and deportation, leaving room for misunderstanding. The migrants’ home countries — Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar Vietnam and South Sudan would not take them back, according to Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement He later said the migrants either

came from countries that often do not take back all their deported citizens or had other situations that meant they could not be sent home.

“These represent the true national security threats,” Lyons said at a news conference. Behind him was a display of photos of men he said had been convicted of rape, homicide, armed robbery and other crimes.

Administration officials, who have repeatedly clashed with the courts over their attempts to deport large numbers of immigrants, made their displeasure clear

Wednesday President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “are working every single day to get these vicious criminals off of American streets — and while activist judges are on the other side, ﬁghting to get them back onto the United States soil,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a department spokesperson. She pointed to the photographs and described them as “the monsters” that Murphy “is trying to protect.”

award a contract to modify a Boeing 747 aircraft, but that any details are classiﬁed. Trump was asked about the move Wednesday “They

are giving the United States Air Force a jet,” Trump said, bristling at being questioned about the gift by a reporter Trump said it was given

“not to me, to the United States Air Force, so they could help us out” and noted that “Boeing’s a little bit late, unfortunately.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON

President Donald Trump greets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House in Washington on Wednesday

DOJ drops civil rights accusations against La. State Police

BY JAMES FINN Staff writer

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday said it would throw out ﬁndings of a three-year investigation into Louisiana State Police, withdrawing allegations that state troopers violated Black drivers’ civil rights by beating and shocking them with Tasers during arrests.

The Department’s Civil Rights Division, which President Donald Trump’s appointees have gutted since he took office in January, moved to drop the investigation along with multiple Biden-era investigations of police departments in Louisville, Kentucky; Phoenix, Arizona; and several other cities.

The “pattern-or-practice” probe of Louisiana State Police was launched in 2022. It sought to explain how culture across the agency enabled widespread use of excessive force, focusing on a series of violent encounters between White state troopers and Black drivers over several years in rural north Louisiana.

The investigation also reviewed allegations of a wide-ranging cover-up by top State Police brass following the 2019 death of Ronald Greene, who was shocked with a Taser, beaten and forced onto his belly as he howled for mercy following a trafﬁc stop by state troopers in Union Parish, according to body camera video later published by The Associated Press.

to scrutiny faced by the New Orleans Police Department under its yearslong federal consent decree.

The future of the NOPD consent decree, too, is uncertain given Trump’s new priorities for the Justice Department.

“The Louisiana State Police continues to work diligently on improving our relationship with our communities, law enforcement partners, political leaders, and agency personnel,” Major Nick Manale, a State Police spokesperson, said in response to the decision.

Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, cheered the department’s decision Wednesday

New priorities

The Department of Justice issued a 32-page report on State Police days before Trump took ofﬁce in January, calling Greene’s death a “total failure” and accusing troopers of repeatedly using force on people who “do not pose a threat or a ﬂight risk.”

Dropping the investigation represents an end to the “failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments

with factually unjustiﬁed consent decrees,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement Wednesday

The move to revoke those ﬁndings underscores wide-reaching impacts to local agencies of Trump’s ongoing Department of Justice overhaul. Had the review remained active, Louisiana State Police might have found itself under years of federal oversight akin

Trump, who was charged by federal prosecutors before winning November’s presidential election, has installed loyalists atop the Department of Justice, ﬁred those who oppose him and gutted branches of the agency he deems at odds with his administration’s goals, including the Environmental Crimes, Public Corruption and Civil Rights Divisions.

The department has refocused on immigration, increasingly prosecuting low-level immigration-related felonies.

The focus of the Civil Rights Division has always “ebbed and ﬂowed” across presidential administrations, said Kenneth Polite, a white-collar criminal attorney and

former top DOJ ofﬁcial.

“But I can tell you that under this particular administration, those offices are also now storing the furniture of the Environmental Division,” after seeing so many cuts, said Polite, who was the U.S. attorney in New Orleans under former President Barack Obama. Family’s closure

The decision to throw out allegations against Louisiana State Police shuts the door on one potential source of closure sought by Greene’s family Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, had pushed for criminal charges for troopers involved in her son’s death. Hardin did not immediately respond to a phone message Wednesday

The cepartment issued its nowrevoked report on State Police days after federal prosecutors told Greene’s family in January that they would not seek criminal charges against any of those troopers.

State prosecutors secured charges against several troopers in December 2022. Prosecutors later dropped the most serious criminal charge against one of those troopers, Kory York, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge under a deal with the local district attorney

James Finn covers politics for The Times-Picayune

DOJ moves to end police reform settlements in Minneapolis, Louisville

BY STEVE KARNOWSKI and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

The Justice Department moved Wednesday to cancel settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville that called for an overhaul of their police departments following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor that became the catalyst for nationwide racial injustice protests in the summer of 2020.

The Trump administration also announced it was retracting the findings of Justice Department investigations into six other police departments that the Biden administration had accused of civil rights violations, including the Louisiana State Police.

The moves represent a dramatic about-face for a department that under Democratic President Joe Biden had aggressively pushed for federal oversight of local police forces it accused of widespread abuses. The Trump administration accused previous Justice Department leadership of using ﬂawed legal theories to judge police departments and pursuing costly and burdensome court-enforced settlements known as consent decrees to address alleged problems it argues are better dealt with at the local level.

“It’s our view at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration that federal micromanagement of local police should be a rare exception, and not the norm,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhil-

lon, the new leader of the division, told reporters.

The Justice Department announced its decision just before the five-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. Then-ofﬁcer Derek Chauvin used his knee on May 25, 2020, to pin the Black man to the pavement for 9½ minutes in a case that sparked protests around the world and a national reckoning with racism and police brutality.

The Biden administration launched pattern-or-practice investigations into police departments across the country, uncovering issues such as racial discrimination and excessive force. The Justice Department in the ﬁnal weeks of the previous administration reached consent decree agreements with Minneapolis and Louisville but the settlements had yet to be approved by a judge.

Police reform advocates denounced the move to walk away from the agreements, saying a lack of federal oversight will put communities at risk.

“This move isn’t just a policy reversal. It’s a moral retreat that sends a chilling message that accountability is optional when it comes to Black and Brown victims,” said the Rev Al. Sharpton, who worked with the Floyd and Taylor families to push for police accountability

“Trump’s decision to dismiss these lawsuits with prejudice solidiﬁes a dangerous political precedent that police departments are above scrutiny, even when they’ve clearly demonstrated a failure to protect the communities they’re sworn to serve.”

Kristen Clarke who led

the Civil Rights Division under the Biden administration, defended the ﬁndings of the police investigations of her office, noting that they were “led by career attorneys, based on data, body camera footage and information provided by ofﬁcers themselves.”

“To wholesale ignore and disregard these systemic violations, laid bare in well-documented and detailed public reports, shows patent disregard for our federal civil rights and the Constitution,” Clarke said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The Trump administration said it was also reviewing more than a dozen police consent decrees that remain in place across the U.S. The Justice Department would have to convince a judge to back away from those already-ﬁnalized settlements a move that some communities may oppose.

Dhillon, the Civil Rights Division chief, noted that both Louisville and Minneapolis are already taking action at the local level to make changes and impose oversight without the federal government’s help She cited the hefty cost on communities to comply with federal oversight — sometimes for more than a decade and what she described as problems and abuses in the consent decree monitoring system.

“There is a lack of accountability There is a lack of local control And there is an industry here that is, I think, ripping off the taxpayers and making citizens less safe,” Dhillon said.

The Minneapolis Police Department is operating

under a similar consent decree with the Minnesota Human Rights Department.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara pledged at a news conference Wednesday that the city will abide by the terms of the federal agreement as it was signed.

“We will comply with every sentence of every paragraph of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year,” said Frey “We will make sure that we are moving forward with every sentence of every paragraph of both the settlement around

the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, as well as the consent decree.”

In Kentucky, the city of Louisville had reached an agreement with the Justice Department to reform its police force after a federal probe that found Louisville police engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights and discrimination against the Black community

Louisville Mayor Mayor Craig Greenberg said the city remains committed to reforming its police force and will be soliciting appli-

cations from candidates who want to serve as an independent monitor

“Throughout all of that process, we never hesitated, we never delayed, we never took a step back in trying to learn how to do our jobs better and serve the community better,” said Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey “It’s not about these words on this paper, it’s about the work that the men and women of LMPD, the men and women of metro government and the community will do together in order to make us a safer, better place.”

INDICT

Continued from page 1A

obstruction of justice.

A wide-reaching scheme

The indictment of Guidry and several others unveiled a sprawling bribery scheme involving the Lafayette criminal justice system and Montoucet’s statewide wildlife agency, which he oversaw after being tapped by former Gov John Bel Edwards. Court documents, interviews and other federal records indicate that federal authorities had secured two wiretap orders in the case in August 2021. Over a fourmonth period, they listened in on more than 6,000 calls, roughly 1,500 of which were described as “incriminating.” One such call, in which Guidry discussed taking a $12,500 kickback from a vendor providing services to the diversion program, was cataloged in Guidry’s guilty plea. Overall, Guidry admitted taking more than $800,000 in kickbacks from vendors doing business with the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Ofﬁce whose jurisdiction includes Lafayette, Acadia and Vermilion parishes —

REVENUE

Continued from page 1A

seen it in the hard numbers enough to say we’re going to project and put out there publicly a downturn. Nobody’s doing that yet.”

Albrecht served as the chief economist for the Legislative Fiscal Ofﬁce for three decades and retired in 2022. He’s currently working as an economist for Legislative Fiscal Ofﬁce on a temporary basis

This round of revenue projections was the ﬁrst chance that state economists had to draw on data factoring in major changes to the state tax code that took effect Jan. 1 after a special session in November, when lawmakers slashed income tax rates and raised the sales tax rate

The Louisiana House approved a package of spending bills and sent those to the Senate last week. The new forecast means the Senate has more money to spend as part of the package being negotiated by the two chambers.

“We’ll take anything we can get,” Sen. Glen Womack, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said of the updated revenue projec-

Continued from page 1A

remain far under the radar for rancor

The state’s coastal leaders, who are facing a sharp decline in available revenue for projects in the years ahead, have been touting the potential change to part of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, commonly referred to as GOMESA.

“GOMESA is our largest source of recurring revenue (for coastal projects),” said Glenn Ledet, executive director of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority “And so this is the largest increase that we’ve obviously ever had to that funding source.”

Regardless of whether it passes, it will not be the end of the battle. Louisiana ofﬁcials will continue working to further increase the amount of offshore revenue through changes to other aspects of GOMESA. Their argument includes pointing to the far larger percentage of revenue Western states receive from mineral extraction on federal lands. They also note that investing in coastal restoration and storm protection now saves the nation later in disaster recovery funding Landrieu who was the prime mover behind the original GOMESA bill in 2006, said Scalise and Johnson deserve credit for including the change, but that the state must push for

as well as with at least one vendor contracting with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The latter scheme netted Guidry $89,000, he has said

The indictment issued Wednesday alleges Montoucet and Guidry set up a scheme to give a state contract to DGL1, a company run by Lafayette businessman Leonard Franques, to provide online educational courses that sportsmen used to resolve citations from Wildlife and Fisheries agents.

From 2020 to 2022, Montoucet “knowingly and unlawfully conspired with Guidry and Franques, and others known and unknown to the grand jury, to accept and agree to kickbacks from Franques in return for being inﬂuenced in connection with awarding a state contract to DGL1,” the Justice Department said in a news release.

According to the indictment, from Nov 10, 2021, until June 10, 2022, Wildlife and Fisheries received $454,174 from the contract signed by Montoucet, of which $122,508 was held as a kickback for Montoucet, to be paid after he left ofﬁce.

The indictment alleges that Montoucet, Guidry

tions. “However there’s a gumbo of things that’s still out needing money.” Womack said he didn’t want to comment in detail about the state budget plan passed by the House or the Senate’s next steps, but said his chamber will be working on it over the next few days “to hopefully have something that we can all work together and move forward and get it to the governor’s desk.”

The Senate Finance Committee meets Thursday to hear public testimony on budget proposals for the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year

“The REC numbers are basically what we expected, which is somewhat ﬂat,” said House Speaker Phillip DeVillier. “It’s always nice to know you have more money to be able to appropriate for infrastructure.”

Senate President Cameron Henry called the new projections “positive.”

He said he expects the Senate to fund more “criminal justice improvements” as well as “a significant amount of money” toward economic development initiatives so that Louisiana Economic Development has the year-round funding it needs to continue attract-

more. She also made the case that the state deserves its share considering the importance to the nation of the Gulf and Mississippi River

“So when I hear presidents talk about energy dominance, when I hear senators and House members talk about ‘we are going to be great,’ how about starting greatness at home on the energy coast that helps make us great?” she said

“We are a poor state Why put the burden on us? We have to get the nation to understand this, or we are doomed.”

There is reason for serious concern

Louisiana has used billions in proceeds from ﬁnes and settlements related to the 2010 BP oil spill to build large-scale coastal projects in recent years.

But that money expires in 2032, and there is nothing to replace it. The state’s 50-year coastal master plan calls for around a billion a year in investment to keep up with Louisiana’s needs, particularly as its land loss crisis accelerates and hurricanes intensify The provision at stake is part of a complicated formula that determines how much offshore revenue Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama receive each year By law, Louisiana must use the money for coastal projects.

It sets aside 37.5% of offshore oil and gas revenue to be shared among the four Gulf states, but the total amount is capped at $500 million per year Louisiana

and Franques agreed that after Montoucet’s retirement from the department, they would hire Montoucet and pay his kickbacks as a purported “signing bonus,” in order to conceal the true nature of the funds.

If convicted, Montoucet faces a sentence of up to ﬁve years in prison on the conspiracy count, up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud and money laundering counts, and a ﬁne of up to $1 million.

Resignations, guilty pleas Franques pleaded guilty in January in federal court for his role in the scheme after being indicted in December

Montoucet, an appointee of Edwards, a longtime political ally, had been expected to leave his Wildlife and Fisheries post at the end of Edwards’ second term, which wrapped up in January 2024. Instead, he resigned in April 2023 after news of the allegations in Guidry’s guilty plea emerged. Edwards said after Montoucet resigned that he was a “dear friend” and that it was “difﬁcult for me to believe that he engaged in anything improper.”

Taken together, the allegations against Montoucet

ing projects and businesses into the state.

Henry also said he wants to be sure the budget covers “basic needs” for agencies like Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.

He added that he’d like to “backﬁll” funding for highdosage tutoring that was previously removed from the budget by the House.

State board of education President Ronnie Morris said seeing the $30 million restored for high-dosage tutoring is among his biggest hopes for how additional funds lawmakers will choose to spend the extra money

High-dosage tutoring, which entails at least three small-group sessions per week, is “a critical support system” that schools rely on, Morris said. “Why are we going to change the strategy in the middle of the game?”

The Senate president, however also cautioned that some of the additional money will be used to fill two budget gaps left over from the November special session.

“The actual trued-up number for this year will be $95 million and next year will be $60 million,” Henry said,

receives the most of the four states, $156 million for the last ﬁscal year

The change included in the current bill would lift the cap to $650 million for the next decade. The amount of revenue does not reach the cap limit every year, but it has done so for the past three years in row

State officials estimate that Louisiana could stand to gain an extra $46 million per year, or $460 million over the next decade, if the cap is hit each of those years.

There is precedent for the change The cap was previously raised to $650 million for ﬁscal years 2020 and 2021, but the amount of revenue did not reach the limit during those pandemic years and no extra funds were received.

State leaders point in part to a 1920 law that grants Western states half of the revenue from onshore energy and mineral mining in arguing for larger changes. Louisiana’s congressional delegation has introduced two bills that would further increase the state’s share, but the legislation has stalled. Including the lifting of the cap in what is known as the “reconciliation” bill — what President Donald Trump has called the “big, beautiful bill” allows the state’s delegation to have it approved without separate legislation. If it makes it through the House and Senate, the higher cap would expire in a decade and return to $500 million The original GOMESA law however says the cap would be eliminated in 2056.

and the crimes Guidry has already admitted may make up the most signiﬁcant corruption scandal of Edwards’ tenure.

Court documents say the department contract in question was signed on Oct. 8, 2021, by Montoucet and DGL1. Another company owned by Franques was among four ﬁrms allegedly paying Guidry kickbacks related to the pretrial diversion scheme in the 15th Judicial District.

Long before Montoucet was implicated in the selfenrichment scheme, his handling of the contracts in question drew protests, a lawsuit and a whistleblower complaint that claimed he was “unethical” and “reckless” in running the agency A former contractor for Montoucet’s agency raised concerns that Montoucet allegedly pressured it to send a chunk of fees it collected to Franques’ company Another contractor complained that Montoucet picked Franques for a contract even though Franques’ bid sent far less money to the agency than the company already doing the work.

Diversion programs

Guidry, who worked as a contractor for 15th Judi-

instead of $130 million for current ﬁscal year and $139 million for next.

That’s because a tax dedicated for tourism promotion and a tax on telecommunications services are currently being funneled into the state general fund, but those taxes should be funneled into speciﬁc dedicated funds.

“We’ll adjust everybody’s budgets, everybody’s expectations on what we can do,” Henry said.

“Obviously we would have liked to have had some more money to put toward priorities. It didn’t work that way,” he said, adding that while people won’t be able to get everything they want, “we’ll be able to address ev-

cial District Attorney Don Landry, has said he worked with Haynes, who was an employee of the office, to steer defendants into diversion programs run by four companies.

Landry has said that Guidry and Haynes loosened the rules under which defendants could qualify for diversion — a process that allows a defendant to emerge with a clean criminal record provided they complete certain requirements that come at a price.

Landry has said he retightened the rules after the FBI raided the district attorney’s offices in May 2022 and said they were investigating the diversion program He let Guidry go at that time. Haynes has been on leave.

Joseph Prejean, of Church Point, owner of C&A Consulting, was charged in November 2023 with one count of conspiracy to defraud the federal government for conspiring with Guidry and Haynes who allegedly steered pretrial diversion defendants his way He pleaded guilty in December 2023.

Staff writers Sam Karlin, Gordon Russell and Kristin Askelson contributed to this report.

erybody’s needs.”

Department of Revenue

Secretary Richard Nelson explained that a bill-drafting error during the November special session resulted in the tourism promotion tax inadvertently going into the state general fund.

And a fund in the state treasury meant to collect the telecommunications services tax was not set up after a proposed constitutional amendment failed to pass in March. Nelson said that sending those two revenue streams to the correct accounts should be ﬁxed legislatively this session.

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

DEATHS continued from preceded death by herhusband, Adam Sturlese; her daughter, Trudy Sturlese Heflin; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. James B. (Myrtle LaBove) Savoie; her brothers Lynn, Rupert, Herbert L., and James R. "Sono" Savoie; and her sisters Olga S. Mudd, Marie S. Donahue, and LorraineS.Benoit. The family extends

Councilmemberseeks libraryboard ouster

Official wantsJudge removedafter actions

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Lafayette Parish Council Chair-

man A.B. Rubin wants controversial Lafayette PublicLibrary Board member Robert Judge removed.

“I think it’sfar time for us to get rid of him off the board,” Rubin said Tuesday at aParish Council

meeting.“We are responsible for puttinghim on there and Ithink it’sour responsibilitytoour library and constituentsto take him off.” The matter was not on thecouncil’s agenda. Rubin brought it up at the beginningofthe meeting as part of an agenda itemfor council memberannouncements, so there could be no voteTuesday

Judge Rubin

Rubin tied his comments to activityatMonday’s board meeting when, at the urging of Judge,the library board voted not to retire to executive sessionto considersettling alawsuit.

Thesettlementwould have dropped Lafayette Consolidated Government and everyone except Judge from afederal First Amend-

ment lawsuit ﬁled by two library constituents who formed Lafayette Citizens AgainstCensorship afterencountering attempts to censor booksand silence some speakers at board meetings. Oneofthe plaintiffs said Monday morethan $100,000 in legal fees against LCG would be waived with the settlement.

Going against its legal adviser, theboard voted against consideringthe settlementinexecutive session.

Judge’sterm on the board ex-

SHOWINGSOME GRAD-ITUDE

ABOVE: Graduate Londyn Amyrie Alexander celebrates after receiving her diplomas duringthe 2025 commencement ceremony forComeaux High School at the Cajundome in Lafayette on Wednesday RIGHT: Comeaux High School graduate Jaydon Darrell Roberson shows off his diploma duringthe commencement on Wednesday

STAFF PHOTOSByBRAD KEMP

Jeanerette

Ajudge sentenced a19-yearold Jeanerette man to 30 years in prison fora2023 driveby shooting that ended with a3-year-old shot in the head. Sammy Cheatham was sentenced on Tuesday by Judge Keith Comeaux, according to astatement from the Iberia Parish District Attorney’sOfﬁce. In February,Cheatham plead-

ed guilty to seven counts of attempted ﬁrst-degree murder The charges stem from an October2023 drive-by shootinginNew Iberia in the800 block of School Street.The shooting left a3-year-old in critical condition from agunshot wound to the head. Six other people wereinside the home during the shooting. The child was airlifted to a

hospitalwhere they underwent brain surgery and survived. Sy Landon Patout, 24 at the time, andCraig Derouen,18, were also arrested in connection with the shooting. Sincethe shooting occurred when Cheatham was 17, he will automatically be eligible for parole considerationafter serving 25 years. District AttorneyMichael Haik andAshley Hammonsprosecuted the case.

Lake Charles man accused of sexual abuse ALake Charles man was arrested Tuesday in connection with sexualabuse against ateenage girl. Detectives were dispatched to alocal high school to meet with an alleged victim, whodisclosed she wasrapedbya man, identiﬁed as 22-year-old Gerard

pires Sept. 30, but the Parish Councilcould appoint him to another term In February 2021, Judge was nominated to the board by thenParish Council member Josh Carlson, now astate legislator, and current council member John Guilbeau and Bryan Tabor Rubin and someresidents called forJudge to resign from the board in August 2023, to no avail. Judge did notimmediatelyreturn acall for comment on this story

Iberia Parish makes changesto airportbill

Proposed legislation wouldreplace commission

BY STEPHENMARCANTEL Staff writer

Aproposed bill in the state Legislature would create an independent boardtoreplace theAcadiana Regional Airport commission.

In its original form,House Bill 613 would have created aboard with membersappointed by thecitiesof New Iberia and Jeanerette, the parish and the district itself. Its creation would nothave require approvalof the Parish Council.

However,Parish President M. Larry Richard said he wascaught off guard by thebill andtook action to ensure control would remain in parish hands.

Richard worked with the bill’s sponsor,Rep. Gerald “Beau” Beaullieu, aRepublican fromNew Iberia, to amend the bill to allow the counciltoappoint allsix members of the board. In addition, creation of the board would be subject to council approval.

The Iberia Parish Airport Authorityasked for the creation of thelegislationaroundDecemberorJanuary, Beaullieu said.

“These independent districts are kind of like awavethathas been going throughout thecountry fora

Levy wassuspended from classroom

BYCLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer

The Louisiana SupremeCourt declined to hear alawsuit from LSU law professor Ken Levy,who was suspended from the classroom after making comments about President Donald Trumpand Gov.Jeff Landry in front of students.

The tenured law professor ﬁled a lawsuit in January against theLSU Board of Supervisors, claiming his suspension violated his free speech and due process rights and asked to be returned to the classroom. Previously,anEast Baton Rouge Parish district judgeruled forapreliminary injunction allowing Levy to return to the classroom and barred LSU from infringing on his constitutionally protected due process andfreespeech rights. However,thenanappeals court threw out the portion of the order that would have allowed him to

OPINION

OUR VIEWS

WilliamTate’s departurea loss andan opportunity forLSU

In four years at the helm of Louisiana’s ﬂagship university,William Tate IV has been animportant ﬁgure.

Tate will leave LSU on June 30 and take over as thetop administrator at RutgersUniversity in New Jersey,wherethe boardunanimouslyapprovedhis hiring Monday.Hewillbegin there July 1. Tate called the move a“distinctly difﬁcult decision” and said the LSU community hasbeen “incredibleand inspirational.”

Tate’shiring in 2021 was agroundbreaking one. He was the ﬁrst Black president of notjust LSU, butany school in the Southeastern Conference. He took over in theimmediate aftermath ofthe pandemic and with the university embroiled in a Title IX scandal in which university ofﬁcials were accusedoffailingtoprotect students whohad been the victimsofsexual misconduct. Theschool eventually settled alawsuitconcerning thelatter for nearly $2 million.

Tate’saccomplishments in Baton Rougeare signiﬁcant. Under his leadership, LSU hasenrolled record numbers of students, not just atthe main campus but around the state. That has included bringing in higher numbers of out-of-state students. Tate has, rightly, called LSU “thebiggest inmigrationtool in the state of Louisiana.”

In addition, Tate has helped ramp up LSU’s research proﬁle, with more than $540millionin research activity in the last academicyear,almost $200 million morethanthe school brought in 2020. An LSU-led coalition also won aNational Science Foundationgrant potentially worth $160million, thelargest federal agency grant ever In athletic arenas, under Tate,LSU hascelebrated national titles in baseball, women’s basketball and gymnastics

His performance has earned plaudits fromthe board, whichlast year gave him anew three-year contract that raised his base salary to $750,000.

Tate has had to navigate the tricky political transitionsatthe state and federal level, where threatened federal funding has led to ahiring freezeand some students receiving funding-dependent admissions. Gov.Jeff Landry,who took ofﬁceinJanuary 2024,has also criticized universitiesfor silencing conservatives.”

His tenure hasn’tbeen without controversies of its own. In the face of political pressure, LSU hasreduced the visibility of its efforts to promote diversity. The decision to suspend alaw professor overpolitical comments made in classprompted abacklash from academic freedom advocates.

Nevertheless, we believe Tate hasbeen an overall good forthe university and we are sadtosee him go. The board is now faced with achallenge.Several other top-level administrators, includingProvost RoyHaggerty,the system’s topacademic administrator,havealsostepped down in recentmonths Tate’sreplacement will have to build ateam on the ﬂy With that in mind, the recruitment process which should proceed transparently and expediently—isalso an opportunity forthe boardtoﬁnd aleadercapable of building on Tate’s gains while maintaining LSU’splace as ahaven offreeacademic inquiry

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupationand/or titleand the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet addressand phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SENDUS ALETTER, SCAN HERE

Transportation shouldn’tbe barriertogoodeducation

Transportation barriers silently undermine educational access for Louisiana’smost vulnerable youth. As an advocate working with CASA New Orleansand theLouisiana Department of Children and Family Services, I’ve witnessed this critical gap ﬁrsthand.

The data is alarming. The Louisiana Department of Education reports chronic absenteeism affected nearly 25% of all students in 2023-2024, but 37.1% of foster youth and 50.3% of studentsexperiencing homelessness. These numbers represent thousands of children whose futures hang in the balance.

Why are these rates so high? Asigniﬁcant factor is what researchers call “transport-related social exclusion.”

As detailed in recent studies of East Baton Rouge Parish,inadequate transportation preventsyoung people from participating in essential educational activities, reinforcing cycles of poverty and limiting their access to vital resources.

Asubcommittee of theLouisiana Court Improvement Program has documented these transportation challenges throughout the child welfare system.A2024 CIP survey of more than 80 participants across 50 parishes

Here’s

The article on wood pellet exports from rural Louisiana parishes is appreciated, but it omitsthe key fact of why those Europeans so favor wood pelletsover oil, natural gas or coal for heating their homes and generating their electricity Burning wood pelletsdoes not increase net atmospheric carbon dioxide

BEACH BOTTLE

highlighted acritical gap: inadequate transportation prevents students from maintaining stability and attending court proceedings and visitations and also hampers foster youth experiencing placement changes from consistently attending school

Ourtraditional yellow school bus system alone, while crucial,nolonger meets today’s diverse student needs. Louisianamust embrace innovative multimodal transportation that incorporates smaller vehicles, smarter routing and supplemental services. For children with disabilities and foster youthnavigating placementchanges, these innovations aren’tjust luxuries, they’re necessities.

As Louisianans, we all share responsibilityfor removing transportation barriers that research consistently shows impact educational success. Recognizing this critical need, state Sen. Stewart Cathey Jr.has introduced SenateBill 160 to chart apath forward. By implementing ﬂexible, multimodal transportation solutions that adapt to individual student needs, we can ensure every child has reliable access to education, afundamental right.

KAYANA BRADLEY NewOrleans

because thegrowing of that wood took carbon out of the air By contrast, burning oil, natural gas and coal introduces net carbon into theair that otherwise would lie undisturbed deep in the ground. That disturbed carbon goes into the air,thus increasing greenhouse gas, which increases storms and ﬂooding.

What? Ithought we werethe party of common sense. Criminalizing homelessness will notsolve theissue. It will only give thestate or city the legalabilitytohideaforever problem. This issuewill notbesolved, but it can be managed. Downtown is where theaction is Theywill return Do notplace agreater burdenonthe legalsystem or thetaxpayers fora community that hasnothing to lose. Setup, yardsapart, permanent, durable,cleanable,washing, bathing and toileting stations. Accommodatetheir lifestyle.You will notchange it Installa transparent, decorative, cleanablefence withsecured controlledunfettered access at either end forsafety This issuewill never be resolvedbut can be managed. Let thehomeless live their livesregardless of thecause. Encouragecitiestobemodelsof management, not metropolises that thepopulation, the state and thecountry will laugh at.

MICHAEL DIAZ Metairie

The harmfulcarbon from burning wood pellets is pulled (recycled) from the air in the 20-year growth cycle that creates the wood of the pellets. Those other burnable fuels are not recycling carbon, they are bringing carbon into the air

RAYMOND PIERCE Hammond

Howcool woulditbeto find amessageinabottle?Who would it be from and what woulditsay?Here’syour chancetoget creativeand letusknow. So,what’sgoing on in this cartoon? youtellme. Be witty,funny, crazy,absurd or snarky —just trytokeep it clean.There’snolimit on the numberofentries. Thewinning punchlinewill be lettered into theword balloon and runon Monday,May 26, in our printeditions and online. In addition, the winner will receiveasigned printofthe cartoon along with acool winner’sT-shirt! Some honorable mentions will also be listed.To enter,emailentries to cartooncontest@ theadvocate.com. DON’T FORGET!All entries must include your name,home address and phone number. Cell numbers are best.The deadlinefor allentries is midnightonThursday, May22. Good luck, folks! —Walt

ON THE RECORD WITH FRIDAy ELLIS

‘Innovationisinthe

Monroe mayor discussesbig Meta investment settotransform northeastLa.

heartlandofAmerica’

Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis sits in the centerofaregion on the cusp of change. Late last year, Meta announced investment in ahuge new data center in Holly Ridge, about 30 miles from Monroe. The $10 billion project also involves three new power plants in Richland Parish to support the data center Ellis appearedat the Big Towns summit in Lafayette last month, where small- and medium-sized cities celebrate successes and discuss the challenges they face. Hewas interviewed in asession called “What does the 21st Century economy mean for big towns?”by Arnessa Garrett, Deputy Editor for Opinion. Here are excerpts from their conversation edited for length and clarity

GARRETT: Can you start by telling us alittle about yourself?

ELLIS: Thank you for having me. This truly is an honor to be able to travel the state to talk about your community and why we love it so much. I’m afather of three. My wife and Iboth are people who deeply care about our community andwant to see it healthy.I’m a United States MarineCorps veteran. Ijoined just shortly after the events of 9/11 because Ifelt called to serve my country.And when it was time to come back home, it was that same callto serve your community My path to leadershipisvery unconventional.Iwas asmallbusiness owner —asamatterof fact, acigar shop owner.That’s where my journey in leadership began. People would always ask,“What does acigar shop owner know about running the largest business within your city?” But what they failed to realize is Ihad over six years of shared conversations over acigar —over acommonality —about different people’s hopes and dreams for their community,the potential thatwas not being met. And like withall things, when God puts something on your heart, the lastthing you need to do is say no. Iwas at that moment of “Send me. I’ll go.” And so, both feetin, Iran for mayor and have been serving since 2020.And it has been oneof thegreatest honors of my life to represent the people of Monroe and to shepherd them through this progress that we’re seeing, that we’ve all wished for and hoped for No secret sauce

GARRETT: Whenyou started, what were your goals for Monroe?

ELLIS: Well, selfishly,itall starts at home.You have three young kids at home that you hope havea future in your owncity.Wehear it in every community —you want to create aplace that starts first with its own citizens, aplace that they can be proud of andone where you can find opportunity for your children at home. What happens locally is so much more important than what’sgoing on in Washington, D.C.

GARRETT: Let’s talk about what’s going on locally —the huge data center that Meta is going to put near Monroe. Can you tell the audience alittle bit about that investment and how it came tobe?

ELLIS: Iwant to just kindofput Meta right here (gestures tothe side). We all know that beyond that, it has to startwith your established businesses to ensure that they’re healthy,right? It was alot of planning and alot of work, alot of realignment from permitting to create abetter business

environment, andthatstarted with direct feedback loops to your community to understand their hurdles. Andwhen you create that environment, people talk, developers talk. The economic developmentworld is avery small world, andyou can quickly earn areputation of whether or notyou’reaplace tobetodobusiness.

Now,let’stake theMeta development. There really is no secret sauce to this. It startedwithbeing open for business. We sawthat the Legislature passed serious rebates for datacentersand their equipment. Andsothatopened the doortokind oflookatLouisiana for these opportunities, and some wouldsay,“Why northeast Louisiana?”Weasked that question. Forthose who don’tknow,Meta decidedtobuild theﬁrst-of-itskind AI data center —it’sa $10 billiondata center —inrural RichlandParish.That’s where Igrew up. Fun fact, my family moved fromSikeston, Missouri, to sharecrop on that exact farm where it’sbeingbuilt.Somystory is tied directlytoRichland Parish and the site. It’s going to have 6,000 people on sitetobuild this thing. It’s massive. Thestate owned thesite, so it wasasite within the stateinventory.Wehad access to water,and we had access to cheap energy and then natural gas. They’re building three large natural gas turbines to power this. The winners in this arms race are going to be those who can produce cheap energy, haveaccess to water and availability of land. Andsothose are some of thereasons. Butultimately,when the site selectors cameand put their feet on that soil, they got to meet the peopleofRichland Parish.They

got to meet thepeople of Monroe, and the contractors will tell you today,“We have never met acommunitysohappy to see us here and just asking us what they can do for us versus what we can do for thecommunity.” It’sjust a testamenttothe strengthofour people and the appetite for new investment and the yearning for opportunities to plug our people in and to ﬁnd aliving wage and a career Deal of theyear

GARRETT: It does present atremendous opportunity,but it also, for some of thesesmall towns, presentssome risks and some stressors. Can you talk alittle bit about that?

ELLIS: If you look at Holly Ridge, that’s(atotal population of) 7,500 people, and they’re about to have 6,000 people on site. So it’sthe conversations with the McLemore, Jitney Jungle (grocery store) people. What kind of groceries are you going to have on the shelves? Right?

It sounds so trivial, but it’sabsolutely true because that is also an area that has food insecurity So what does that look like for a family that already has trouble ﬁnding fresh groceries?

Monroe, for you that don’tknow, is avibrant, historic riverfront community kind of nestled in the Mississippi Delta. We are thehub for about 10-parish region. We’re theeducation, healthcare and employment hub for theentire region. Andsowhen Itook ofﬁce, Ihad to realize that decisions that Imake affected an entire region.

GARRETT: Youalso mentioned working with state government to makethis happen. Howimportant is it to develop those relationships in state government?

ELLIS: What do they say,“If you’re not at thetable, you’re what? You’re on the menu.” So ﬁnd aseat at the table. Or if not, pull your lawn chair up. Youcannot sit back and wait forinvestment to come to you. It’sall built on relationships. Youneed someone to tell your story and why your communitydeserves this investment. And Idowant to say this: Igotta hand it to (Louisiana Economic Development) Secretary (Susan) Bourgeois forthis. Y’all, they landed in platinum deal of the year in North America for this investment in northeastLouisiana and ruralAmerica. Louisiana hasn’treally earned the reputation that we’ve always been easy to do business with. And for this to happen and to hear closeto$50 billioninnew investmentsinthe state of Louisiana. Youcan call them jobs. But Icall thatopportunities for families. These are generational income opportunities to change generational outcomes for our families. To the governor,Secretary Bourgeois, (Louisiana Workforce Commission) Secretary (Susana) Showen, Icould nothave asked for better partners. It takes awhole team of people to make something of this scale happen.

Lookingtothe future

GARRETT: What is the message thatyou want your residents to hear and whatdoyou want people around the state to hear about Monroe?

ELLIS: To the residents, this is the big game. This is what we’ve all been working for.It’sour time to lead. And look, I’ve got no doubt about my people. We’re going to rise to the challenge. We’re going to make it happen. Everybody’sso excited. Everybody is so anxious

to get plugged in and to help. I’ve never seen this type of community engagement to this scale before. Because everybody understands that this is the ﬁrst time we’ve seen external investment in decades in our region, and they want it to be successful. They want to earn that reputation that we’re worthyofthis investment To investors, Iwant you to realize that innovation doesn’tonly live on the East Coast or the West Coast or in capital cities. Innovation is in the heartland of America. Iwas in aroom full of large corporations talking about, “How do we strengthen the heartland?” But Icouldn’thelp but realize that it was these samecorporations that siphoned talent from the heartland. In asense, they were trying to solve foraproblem they already created. They all know where innovation lives and where talent lives. And so now it’sour time. With these investments that are coming to your communities —the new Hyundai Steel plant, the expansion forExxon —support those. Figure out ways that your people can get plugged in and ﬁnd an opportunity to grow their families, to earn aliving wage, to maybe send the next generation of young men and womeneither off to job training or off to school. Support their dreams. I’ve been fortunate to live in acommunity that has supported me and my family The Big Townssummitwas hosted by The Current andthe United WayofAcadiana. For more information, go to bigtowns.org

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

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE Monroe MayorFriday Ellis is interviewedduring the Big Townssummit recently at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in downtown Lafayette.

Arnessa Garrett

StateRep.KyleGreen

Jr.arrested aftercrash

Marrerolawmaker accusedofDWI with kids in car

BY KASEY BUBNASH Staff writer

State Rep. Kyle Green Jr was arrested Wednesday morning and accused of driving while intoxicated after he crashed acar into aconcrete barrierona Jefferson Parish highway with his three kids in the car, Louisiana State Police said. Green, aDemocrat who represents Marrero,was driving a2023 Honda Accord west on U.S. 90B near Ames Boulevard at about

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teach again. Levy then asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to review the appellate court’s decision. The top court in the state formally denied his request in adecision Tuesday This meansthat the Levy will remain out of the classroom pending LSU’sinvestigation, and the appellate court’sdecision still stands.

Justice Jefferson Hughes, who agreed with the rejection, said people canstand in apublic space and say whatever they want, and audience members can choosetostay or leave, but in aclassroom, the “dynamic

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while,” Beaullieu said.“It gives them alittle more flexibility when dealing with (Federal Aviation Administration) and trying to attract grants.”

Beaullieuintroduced the bill on April 4and later worked with Richard on theamendments. Thebill recently passed aHouse vote of 89 to 1. On theSenate side, the billwas passed out of the transportation committee.

“I said, ‘Look guys, this may not have been handled the right way from the beginning, but Iwant to make it right with y’all,’”Beaul-

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O. Bazile, of Lake Charles, according to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce. The victim said the sexual abuse had been occurring since approximately 2017 Authorities say the suspect conﬁrmed the allegationsto the detectives. He was arrested and bookedinto the Calcasieu Correctional Center and charged with aggravated crimes against nature. His bond was set at $1.5 million.

Ex-marshal to spend more time in jail

Former Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope will be spending at least another twomonths in jailaftera hearing to consider revoking his probation was delayed. Pope’sprobation hearing was delayed by ajudge Wednesday until July 21. Pope was arrested March 26 in connection with probation and parole violations He was incarceratedinthe Lafayette Parish Correctional Center Center until April 9when he was transferred to the Evangeline Parish Correctional Center Pope was convicted in 2018 on three counts of malfeasance in ofﬁce. Twoyears of his three-year sentence were suspended and Pope

2:30 a.m. when he swerved off theroad andhit thebarrier.Noone was injured, police said Re spond ing trooper sw ho thought Green might be impaired conducted field sobriety tests and arrested Green on scene, StatePolice said.

Green’s children were released to another family member

StatePolice said troopers brought Green to the Jefferson Parish jail, where he refused to provideabreath sample. An on-call judge issued awarrant allowing troopers to take blood sam-

of authority ﬁgureand captiveaudience is different,” accordingtothe decision’s documents Levy told The Advocate thatthe Supreme Court’s decision “was very disappointing.”

Theoriginal preliminary injunction from thedistrict court is only temporary, so Levy’slawyerswant to make the injunctionbarring LSU from infringingonhis constitutionally protected due processand free speech rightspermanent Bruce Warﬁeld Hamilton, the attorney representing Levy in theSupreme Court review,saidthe decision does notaffectthe injunctive reliefprohibitingLSU from infringing on his rights.

Hamilton said there will

lieu said. “I did not expect this level of opposition.”

On Monday, the council was expected to hold a vote to removethe airport authority chairman Pat Norris, but did not reach a quorum. Richard said he could not saywhether thelegislation is apositiveornegative for theairport, rather that the legislation seemed hastily puttogether without prior conversationswith council. As it stands, hesaid,the airport isn’t poorlyrun and hasproventobeabusiness magnet and money generator for theparish “It appears that this bill is going to pass regardless,” Richard said. “What you see right nowisthe Parish Council getting some things

was ordered to complywith conditions of his probation. Smith issued an arrest warrantMarch 26 when Pope did not show up in court for arevocation hearing. Probation and parole ofﬁcer Brandy Bonner, in an April 9motion to revoke Pope’s probation, said Pope missed probation appointments,missed payments forrestitutionand fees and failedtodocument that he completed 240 hours ofcommunity service work. The charges on which he was convicted were there-

ples, police said. Green was booked on counts of first-offense driving while impaired, three counts of child en da nge rme nt operating while impaired, careless operation of a vehicle andother traffic violations, according to online jailrecords. Green was being held without bail on twoofthe child endangerment counts as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to courtrecords EmailKasey Bubnash at kasey.bubnash@ theadvocate.com.

be an upcomingtrialdate to attempttomake that part of the injunction permanent.

Levy initiallyreceived a letter from the university informinghim he was suspended withfull pay pending an investigation into statements he made in the classroom,whichprompted the professor to sue, leading to amonthslong court battle across thestate.

LSU previously said in a statement thathis suspension doesn’t violaterights afforded by tenure and his comments weren’tprotected speech

Levy is still suspended fromLSU with pay, his lawyer conﬁrmed

Email Claire Grunewald at claire.grunewald@ theadvocate.com.

in thatbill thatcould allow thecouncil to have signiﬁcant input.”

Recent wins for the airport include $2 million in investment by theDelta RegionalAuthoritytocreatea200,000-square-foot airsafety maintenance facility on theairport’seast side in 2024. In 2022, Aviation Exteriors announced a $2.5 million expansion to its aircraft painting operation. Ohio-based First Solar,located next to theairport, invested $1.1 billion to create its solarpanel manufacturingfacilityinthe parish the largest investment the parish has ever seen.

Email StephenMarcantel at stephen.marcantel@ theadvocate.com.

sult of Popesupplementing hisincome by keeping court fees and reimbursements thatshould have gone to his ofﬁce.

TUESDAY,MAY 20, 2025

3: 2-9-2

4: 4-6-3-8

JosephVannerMillet, 74. Visitation willbeobserved at FountainMemorial Funeral Home in Lafayette, LA on Friday, May 23, 2025, from 9:00 am until the Funeral Service at 11:00 am. Online obituary and guest book may be viewed at www.fountainmemorialf uneralhome.com. Fountain Memorial Funeral Home and Cemetery, 1010 Pandora St. 337-981-7098 is in chargeofarrangements.

Sturlese,Mildred Savoie'Millie'

AMass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 10:00 AM at theCathedral of St.John theEvangelist in Lafayettefor Mildred "Millie"Savoie Sturlese, who passedaway peacefully on May 19, 2025, at the ageof98. Visitation willbe held at Martin &Castille Funeral Home DOWNTOWN on Thursday,May 22, 2025, from4:00 PM to 8:00 PM with aRosary prayed at 6:00 PM.Visitation willresume on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 8:00 AM at the Cathedral of St.John the Evangelist until thetime of thefuneralMass. Reverend Monsignor Keith J. DeRouenwillofficiatethe Mass and willconduct thefuneral services. Entombment willfollow in the Chapel of the Resurrection Mausoleum at St. John Cemetery. Millie was bornon November 6, 1926, in Creole,Louisiana,and

lived along, full life marked by faith, family, anda quietstrength that anchored those around her. Shewas adevoted wife, mother, grandmother,and friend- known for herwarm heartand gentle wit. Sheloved agood game of bridge andrarely missed bingonight at the Petroleum Club, especially when joined by hergrandchildren. Aproud world traveler, Millie cherished newplacesand experiences- always returning with stories andsouvenirs. Shetook great joyingatheringwith friends and familyatLafayette'slongtime favorite restaurants. She andAdamshareda love forclassic country music, often fillingtheir home and hearts with itsfamiliar melodies. Shewas deeply lovedand dotedonby Adam, andafter many years apart, shecouldn't wait to be by his side again.

For decades, she hosted large Christmas dinners for theentire family, cookingwith care andlove until well into her90s. The day always endedthe same way- with Millie stepping outside,whipinhand, cracking it witha grin as thegrandkidsgathered around to watch.She was also famouslycompetitive, known for holding theundefeatedfamilytitle in leg wrestlingwell into herlater years.

Sheissurvivedbyher children: Richard (Linda) Sturlese, Mona (Rand) SturleseTurner, Donna (Pat)SturleseMcDonald David (Sharon)Sturlese, andKathryn (Ferdie) SturleseDupuis. She is also survived by herson-in-law,

Bob Heflin, husband of her latedaughter Trudy SturleseHeflin Millie wasblessed with alarge andloving family, including 16 grandchildren; Chantell (Chris) Hebert, Kimberly (Jay) Seymour, Nicole (Troy) Arabie, Heather (Mike)Loessberg, Scott Guidry, Adam (Cathy) Turner,Liz (Mike)Henry, Trey (Skylar) Turner,Katie (Mike)Trahan, Nick McDonald,Hunter (Sarah) Sturlese, Adam (Anna Claire)Sturlese, Anna (Dan)Duhon,Kristen Fabacherand herlatehusbandLuke, Trey (Ashley) Dupuis, Will Dupuis, and step-granddaughter Lindsey Dupuis (Ben) Bledsoe. Millie also leaves behind 26 great-grandchildren and 3great-great-grandchildren -all of whom brought hergreat pride andjoy Shewas preceded in

SATURDAY5/24@3PM SUNDAY5/25 MONDAY5/26 TUESDAY5/27

Millet, Joseph Vanner

SPORTS

How important is winning SEC tourney to LSU?

The Southeastern Conference baseball tournament circa 2025 is now astrange duck when it comes to judgingits weight. It’simportance.

It still waddles like the SEC tournament, with virtually guaranteedweather delays. It quacks like the SEC tournament,with the ping of white leather-bound balls leaping off the aluminum alloy batstoward high blue outﬁeld walls.And it still has plenty of glove-wielding little kids swarming over the Hoover Met’soutﬁeld berms trying to snag aprized foul ball.

SEC tournament

But there’ssomething different this year.With the SEC having imported Texas and Oklahoma, the tariff that came withitwas asingle elimination format all the way through, withall 16 teams competing.Before this year,only the top12of the SEC’s14teams played in Hoover,Alabama. LSU coachJay Johnson, not surprisingly atraditionalist, not surprisingly voted againstthe format change. AsingleeliminationSEC baseball tournament now mirrors the format SEC softball has had in placefor years, but itisn’t“accordingtoHoyle” postseason baseball. That involves adouble-elimination format, which it must be said the oldSEC tourney only had for partofits run.

“I don’tobsess over thingsI can’t control,” said Johnson, aman who certainly obsesses over other baseball things.“Idid vote to keep the double-elimination format. Iwantthe playerstoplay. Iguess foreight of the teams previously it wassingle elimination. Youhad to play yourway to double elimination.”

The question becomes this:isthe SEC tournament still worth goingall out to win? Johnson said yes, but added the expected qualiﬁer

Rabalais ä See RABALAIS, page 3C

MO TED

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Obviously,UL’ssoftball record was nowhere near what the new coaching staff expected.

With that said, there were some aspects of this past season that were far better than ﬁrst-year coach Alyson Habetzever imagined.

“I’venever been apart of ateam that had zero, zero dramawhen it comes to thegirls,” Habetzsaid. “They were an incredible group to coach. The buy-in, thechemistry,the way they playedfor each other and with each other despite the adversity and everything that happened, I’m just so proud of them.”

In other words, only consider Habetz moremotivated than ever after theprogram’s ﬁrst season without an NCAA regional appearance since 1998. Discouragement isn’teven part of her mindset

“That just makes me even moremotivated to win and

Saints to hold ﬁrst of threeOrganized

What to look forwhen N.O. takesthe fieldfor first time undernew coachMoore

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

The New OrleansSaints’ schedule is locked in, the rookieshave had theirﬁrst taste of professional football, and now the realthing is starting to get under wayfor 2025.

The team will hold its ﬁrst of three Organized Team Activities (OTAs) this week, including asession that is open to themedia Thursday at their Metairie facility. NewOrleans will conduct aroughly 90-minute practice Thursday,offering the ﬁrst glimpse of new coach Kellen Moore

working with what should be most of his squad —the session is voluntaryfor players to attend,but most of the roster typically shows up forthese workouts. Here are some things we’llbewatching forwhenthe Saints take the ﬁeldasa team for theﬁrst time Thursday Welcomeback?

Will the Saintshave both of their top receivers back on the ﬁeld Thursday?

It seems like agood possibilitythatboth Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed will be present at Thursday’svoluntary session, basedonthe team’ssocial media postsfrom earlier off-season workouts. The team also has shared images of Olave catching passes in the team’sindoor facility. Both Olaveand Shaheedare coming off disappointing 2024 seasonsthat werecut short becauseofinjury.For Shaheed, it

get us where we need to be,” Habetz said. “They deserve to win, those kids, and the programdoes …soyes, I’m deﬁnitely motivated.

“Ohyeah,trustme, I’mmoremotivated than Iever havebeen to get this team and program back where it needstobefor sure.”

While it wasarefreshing changenot having adaily untelevised soap opera playing out in UL’s locker room, realitysays Cajuns’fansare only concerned about ﬁlling up thewin column once again.

In softball, that process always starts in the circle.

The good newsisULmay already have next year’sace on campus in Texas Tech transfer Sage Hoover.The Cajuns will lose seniors Tyra Clary andSam Ryan,however Hoover was in line to be the staff’s ﬁrst Fridaynight starter option,but wasn’tfully recovered from shoulder surgery until the second half of the season.

was atornmeniscusthatrequired season-ending surgery after six games. ForOlave, it wasaseries of concussionsthatforced him to missthe ﬁnal eight games.

The normal recovery timeline for Shaheed’s injuryshould have had him ready this spring, and Olavewas practicingwith the Saintsbythe endoflast year.The pair make up themost dynamic part of the Saintsoffense, and it would be good to seethem back in the fold. And, generally speaking, the receiver group will be interesting to watch. Freeagent signee Brandin Cooks adds aveteran elementtothe group, but he is asimilar type of player to Shaheed and Olave, both in terms of stature and what he does well.

STAFFPHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL coach Alyson Habetz has alreadybegun reshaping Cajuns’ roster in hopes of returning the program to NCAA regional

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK LSU coach JayJohnsonreturnstothe dugout after speaking with his players before the first pitch againstSoutheasternonApril 29 Alex Box Stadium

OKC’s Gilgeous-Alexander MVP

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

The case for Shai Gilgeous-

Alexander was simple. He’s the best player on an Oklahoma City Thunder team that had the best record this season and set a league mark for margin of victory If that wasn’t enough, he also won the scoring title.

That’s an MVP year

Gilgeous-Alexander was announced Wednesday as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, his first time winning the award.

It’s now seven straight years that a player born outside the U.S. won MVP, extending the longest such streak in league history

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists and five rebounds per game this season, leading the Thunder to a 68-14 record. The Thunder outscored teams by 12.9 points per game, the biggest margin in league history He becomes the second Canadian to win MVP; Steve Nash won it twice.

“His value is his confidence,” Oklahoma City’s Kenrich Williams said of Gilgeous-Alexander, his Thunder teammate for the last five seasons “His confidence that he has in himself and the confidence that he instills in every one of his teammates, including the coaches.”

Denver’s Nikola Jokic — a winner of three of the last four MVP awards — was second, despite a season for the ages. He averaged 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game, the first center to average a triple-double and the first player since all those stats were tracked to finish in the NBA’s top three in all three of those categories It was the sixth instance of a player finishing a season averaging a triple-double at least 10 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds per game. Russell Westbrook did it four times and Oscar Robertson once, but only one of those triple-double seasons led to an MVP win.

“He’s a special player,” Jokic said of Gilgeous-Alexander earlier this week when the Thunder eliminated the Nuggets in the

Western Conference semiﬁnals.

“His shot selection, his shot capability he’s always there. He’s a special player.”

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game, was third.

He started this run of international players winning MVP; Antetokounmpo, of Greek and Nigerian descent won in 2019 and 2020.

Jokic, a Serbian, won in 2021, 2022 and 2024. And Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon but since became a U.S. citizen, won the award in 2023.

Now, it’s Gilgeous-Alexander — a son of Ontario, where hockey reigns — carrying the MVP ﬂag. The MVP award, like most other NBA honors, was voted on by a global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league and cast ballots shortly before the start of the playoffs. The other awards that were part of that voting process and have already had their results unveiled: Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson winning coach of the year, Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels winning most improved player, San Antonio’s Stephon Castle winning rookie of the year, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley winning defensive

player of the year, New York’s Jalen Brunson winning clutch player of the year and Boston’s Payton Pritchard winning sixth man of the year Other awards announced by the league since the end of the regular season: Golden State’s Stephen Curry won the TwymanStokes teammate of the year award, Warriors teammate Draymond Green won the hustle award, Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti won executive of the year and Boston’s Jrue Holiday won the sportsmanship award for the second time in his career as well as the league’s social justice award.

Timberwolves seek answers to Thunder’s defense

BY CLIFF BRUNT AP sportswriter

OKLAHOMA CITY The Minnesota Timberwolves must solve Oklahoma City’s ‘AAU’ defense to avoid a 2-0 deﬁcit in the Western Conference ﬁnals.

Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards used the term to describe Oklahoma City’s young, aggressive unit after the Thunder held the Timberwolves to 34.9% shooting in a 114-88 victory in Game 1 on Tuesday

“I mean, it’s hard to process because it was different every time,” Edwards said after Game 1. “Heavy in the gaps, sometimes trap the ball screens sometimes don’t. Sometimes just run and jump. It’s kind of similar to like AAU They remind me of like an AAU defensive team. Just run and jump. Fly around It’s pretty good.” Edwards said the ﬁrst key for him is to be more aggressive. He didn’t like that he scored 18 points on just 13 shots in a Game 1 loss, well below his normal output. He said his adjustment for Game 2 on Thursday night will be a simple one.

“Play without the ball a little more, get a little more cardio in,” Edwards said. “Should be good.” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said there’s plenty of ways for the Timberwolves to improve. They made just 15 of 51 3-pointers in the opener and committed 17 turnovers.

“We’ve got to pick up our decision-making,” Finch said. “We’ve deﬁnitely got to play with more force. We’ve got to play with more pass-pass combinations. We got to go somewhere a little bit quicker.”

ä Timberwolves at Thunder 7:40 P.M.THURSDAy, ESPN

Oklahoma City leads the league in defensive rating by a large margin in the playoffs. The Thunder lead all playoff teams with 10.8 steals per game and an opponent ﬁeld-goal percentage of .407 in the postseason. Lu Dort and Alex Caruso are two of the league’s best on-ball defenders. Caruso is versatile enough to defend guards or a big like Denver’s Nikola Jokic, as he did last series. Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous Alexander are quick and strong and are good in passing

lanes Williams had ﬁve steals in Game 1 Cason Wallace is an exceptional athlete. That allows the Thunder to keep fresh bodies on an opponent’s best players. In the paint, Chet Holmgren has been one of the league’s top rim protectors and Isaiah Hartenstein has been one of its top rebounders. The result can be overwhelming. Several Minnesota players struggled with their shooting on Tuesday Mike Conley made 2 of 8 shots, Donte DiVincenzo made 3 of 14 and Nickeil Walker-Alexander made 3 of 11 Edwards said it was more about the Timberwolves than the Thunder

“They got great looks, just couldn’t make them,” Edwards said. “A lot of them went in and out. And that’s going to help us. That’s going to help me and Ju (Julius Randle) because they usually make those shots. So we’re not really worried about them making shots. We’ll be all right.” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault expects the Timberwolves to adjust.

“This is a really, really good team that’s got great resolve,” he said. “These are great players. They have a great coach, tactically. So they’re going to have the next pitch that we’re going have to hit. We are aware of that, so we have to get to work.”

N.O. native Verrett leaving ESPN after 25 years

Stan Verrett, the New Orleans native and longtime “SportsCenter” anchor, is reportedly leaving ESPN after 25 years at the worldwide leader in sports. The network does not plan to renew Verrett’s contract, Front Ofﬁce Sports reported on Wednesday ESPN declined to comment to FOS, but Verrett shared a brief statement on social media to stay tuned as to what the future holds. Verrett went to St Augustine High School before attending college at Howard University The Emmy Award-winner was named to the St. Augustine Hall of Fame in October of 2024. Verrett is also a former sports anchor at WDSU. He joined ESPN in 2000 as an ESPNEWS anchor In 2009, he became the co-host of the midnight edition of “SportsCenter Los Angeles.”

Kansas hires former NBA coach as assistant Kansas hired former All-American and NBA coach Jacque Vaughn to be an assistant on Bill Self’s staff Wednesday, bringing one of the most beloved and accomplished players in school history back to campus after nearly three decades. Vaughn will replace Norm Roberts, who announced his retirement after 37 years in coaching earlier this month. The 50-year-old Vaughn, who spent five-plus seasons as the head coach of the Orlando Magic and Brooklyn Nets, becomes the first former NBA coach to join a Jayhawks coaching staff. The Nets fired him in February 2024. Vaughn played under Roy Williams at Kansas from 199397 and finished his career as the school and Big Eight’s leader with 804 assists.

Fans who insulted Vinícius found guilty of hate crime

Five Valladolid fans who racially insulted Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior in 2022 have been found guilty in the ﬁrst ruling in Spain that condemns racist insults in a soccer stadium as a hate crime, the league said Wednesday A Valladolid court convicted the fans for their insults in a league match, sentencing them to one year in prison plus a ﬁne of up to $1,837.

The jail time is suspended on condition they don’t commit any offense or visit soccer stadiums for three years. Last year, three Valencia fans were handed eight-month prison sentences after pleading guilty to racially insulting Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior which was the ﬁrst conviction for racismrelated (non-hate-crime) cases in professional soccer in Spain.

Djokovic gets first win on clay by beating Fucsovics Novak Djokovic ﬁnally won a match on clay this season, beating Marton Fucsovics 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the rainy Geneva Open on Wednesday Djokovic lost his two previous matches on clay in the European spring season, and his next opponent at the last warmup event for the French Open is one of those players who already beat him. In the quarterﬁnals scheduled Thursday, the second-seeded Djokovic will play Matteo Arnaldi who earlier advanced past Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-6 (3). Arnaldi beat Djokovic in two sets at the Madrid Masters. The 24-time Grand Slam singles champion is seeking his 100th career title on the ATP Tour

Raiders’ Wilkins to remain out from broken foot

Raiders defensive tackle Christian Wilkins is facing an uncertain recovery process from a broken foot suffered last season and isn’t close to returning, Las Vegas coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday Wilkins was at organized team activities practice, but did not participate. He received extra work on the side afterward. Wilkins, 29, was the Raiders’ marquee free-agent signing last year, agreeing to a four-year, $110 million contract with $82.75 million guaranteed.

Wilkins had two sacks and 17 tackles in five games before injuring his foot, which required surgery He suffered a Jones fracture — a break of the bone that connects the pinkie toe to the base of the foot.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NATE BILLINGS

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drives against Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo during Game 1 of their playoff series Tuesday in Oklahoma City

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NATE BILLINGS

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards works the floor against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren during Game 1 of their playoff series on Tuesday in Oklahoma City

NFL teams can continue use of tush push

League owners vote down rule 22-10 to prohibit polarizing play

BY DAVE CAMPBELL AP pro football writer

EAGAN, Minn. — Facing stiff resistance around the NFL, the tush push managed to move the chains and gain a fresh set of downs.

League owners narrowly failed to pass a proposal to prohibit the polarizing short-yardage strategy at their spring meetings in Minnesota on Wednesday, keeping the rulebook as is and pleasing the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

The ban on offensive players from pushing, pulling, lifting, grasping or encircling a runner was supported by a 22-10 vote, according to a person with knowledge of the proceedings, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the details weren’t made public That’s two votes short of the three-quarters majority required by league bylaws to pass it.

The health and safety committees for both the players and the owners and the league’s competition committee all unanimously recommended the proposal, which was formally brought forward by the Green Bay Packers at the previous league meetings in Florida seven weeks ago and tabled for further discussion. Such a ban previously existed and was lifted 20 years ago because it was deemed too difﬁcult to consistently enforce.

“We don’t set a low bar,” said Atlanta Falcons chief executive ofﬁcer Rich McKay, the chairman of the competition committee.

“There was a lot of support for it, a lot of discussion about it. I’ve been in that room numerous times where we’ve had these types of discussions, where one team ends up being, in their mind, more impacted than others. It still takes 24 votes, and in this case those votes

were not there.”

The Eagles brought former center Jason Kelce, one of the players who fueled the success of the tush push, to the meetings to provide a ﬁrst-hand account of the play that assigns a teammate to push the backside of the quarterback for extra power behind a tight nine-man line. Blockers on the end sometimes pivot to try to pull the ball carrier past the marker, too.

Immediately after the vote, the Eagles posted a picture on social media of quarterback Jalen Hurts on the verge of a short-yardage attempt against the Packers with the caption, “Push on.” Then they posted to their YouTube page a 26-minute tush push highlight montage.

Kelce, a seven-time Pro Bowl pick who retired after the 2023 season, said recently he wasn’t as concerned about a ban of the tush push as he was about clearing up misconceptions it poses an injury

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

The Saints also have a group of players who were pressed into larger duty last year who are looking to catch the eye of the new staff, including Bub Means, Cedrick Wilson, Dante Pettis and Kevin Austin.

It still feels possible that the Saints look to add a possession receiver to that group this summer — unless recent signing Donovan Peoples-Jones is able to recreate what he did in 2022 with the Cleveland Browns.

The small QB details

One of the more interesting comments Moore made earlier this week at the Saints Hall of Fame Celebrity Golf Classic was about his quarterbacks and how he is evaluating them at this stage of the offseason.

“It’s going to be a lot on the process and less (about) some of the results as we go through this phase, because again, there’s not much competitiveness,” Moore said “We will do some seven-onseven, but a lot of it is their understanding, taking it from the classroom to the ﬁeld for the ﬁrst time. Most of the decision-making factors will come in training camp and preseason football.”

Translation: Don’t put too much stock in a quarterback ripping a post route or misdiagnosing a read that leads to an interception at least at this stage of the game

New Orleans has four quarterbacks on its roster with a combined total of seven NFL starts What Moore is saying is that the coaching staff is going to pay

close attention to the smaller details — how a quarterback gets the offense in and out of the huddle, what he is doing in the classroom and how he is operating the offense versus the highlightreel stuff that catches the eye.

Also asking . How are the offensive linemen lining up? During rookie minicamp, the Saints moved first-round pick Kelvin Banks all over the offensive line Will they continue to do that with Banks, a college left tackle whom some thought would be best at guard in the NFL? Will they also do it with one or both of last year’s starting tackles, Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning?

What are the Saints going to do with this defensive line? New Orleans returned almost its entire defensive front from last season, with the headline offseason move being a splashy new contract for defensive end Chase Young. But the Saints also have a new defensive coordinator who will do things a different way than longtime defensive play-caller Dennis Allen. Will we see Young and Carl Granderson — and Cam Jordan and Isaiah Foskey? — do some stand-up edge rushing? Will rookie Vernon Broughton play some 3-4 defensive end and switch inside for sub defensive packages?

Where does Velus Jones fit in the picture? The Saints took a low-risk flier on the former third-round pick this offseason, and though he was drafted as a receiver, he is currently listed as a running back on the Saints roster. Other teams have struggled to find a role for Jones, who has 20 career rushing attempts and 14 career receptions, so it will be interesting to see what Moore has in mind.

risk and was partially responsible for his decision to end his career

“I’ll come out of retirement today if you tell me all I’ve got to do is run 80 tush pushes to play in the NFL,” Kelce said on the New Heights podcast with his brother Travis Kelce. “I’ll do that gladly It’ll be the easiest job in the world.”

Kelce declined comment as he departed the meetings at the Omni Viking Lakes Hotel next to Vikings team headquarters, where Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie led an impassioned defense of the maneuver his team developed into a nearly unstoppable play with the coinciding arrival of Hurts in 2020. The NFL has no conclusive data supporting a connection between the tush push and an increased risk of injury, as Lurie has noted. He said he was pleased by the vote result by declined further comment.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said with a laugh in a brief interview

UL

Continued from page 1C

So for about three weeks, Habetz had to watch Hoover pitch without being able to utilize her

“Oh trust me, it was hard,” she said “That was very difficult to do. But as badly I wanted to do it for our seniors, we just couldn’t do that.”

In fact, Hoover is slated to pitch in a summer league to get finetuned for the fall with two years of eligibility remaining.

Senior Lexie Delbrey is now on the back end of her recovery from the same shoulder surgery and Habetz has high hopes she’ll be ready for next spring. If that works out, Mallory Wheeler will then be a strong third candidate for a weekend starter spot as a seasoned sophomore. Her next step is “more movement and being able to hit her spots at will.”

Habetz also plans on adding a transfer portal pitcher capable of competing for a weekend starter spot.

“If we’re healthy our pitching staff is going to be really good next season,” Habetz said.

Then there’s the hitting. The goal

RABALAIS

Continued from page 1C

“We’re going to play to win,” he said. “I would never ever want anybody to think we aren’t doing that. It’s a tournament. It’s competition. There’s a championship. We want to play great and be prepared to go play championship baseball. I don’t think you can go through it as a blow it off exercise.

“The NCAA tournament is the thing that matters. With that, there’s an argument for (the SEC format) being the best.”

Maybe then this is the most important question: is the SEC tournament still worth a team in LSU’s spot going all-out to win?

A team like Texas A&M, which came in as the No. 14 seed and ﬁghting for its NCAA tournament life, absolutely? But the Tigers, ranked No. 1 for the second straight week in all the major national polls, come in with a much different agenda once they ﬁnally get to play (LSU plays the last game Friday night, the 16th of 16 SEC teams to get into action).

All the national projections have LSU as a top-eight national seed, as of this writing on a surprisingly mild May 21 afternoon. Anywhere from No. 1 to No. 7.

phasize again the importance of officials declaring dead a play that develops into a scrum even if the mass of bodies prevents them from seeing if the runner is down.

“Blow the whistle,” McKay said. Division winners can stay home

The Detroit Lions withdrew their proposal to reseed teams for the playoffs in order of record rather than awarding the ﬁrst four spots to division winners — before a vote was taken.

Like the tush push ban, this is an issue that could well come up again in the near future, particularly if an 18-game regular-season schedule is implemented. Goodell said there was no discussion of the additional game, which players have vehemently opposed, during the meetings this week.

Onside kick tweak

In light of the drastic kickoff changes before last season that became permanent this year with some further alterations, owners approved Wednesday a tweak to the onside kick.

with reporters he had to make sure he was voting against the play and not just against the rival Eagles, emphasizing his belief that the debate was good for the game regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Buccaneers All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs, speaking from an event in Tampa, Florida, said he was against a ban out of respect for the Eagles and their success with it.

“If it was a cheat code, then everyone would do it,” Wirfs said, “but not everybody can.”

Commissioner Roger Goodell said he didn’t take a stance and was instead simply focusing on fostering a “full discussion” of the issue of aiding quarterbacks in their plunges into the line. The competition committee three years ago raised concern about the pushing and pulling of ball carriers further down the field, McKay said, and will em-

there is obvious.

“I deﬁnitely think we need a little more power in the lineup,” Habetz said.

Gone are senior position players Maddie Hayden, Sam Roe and Savannah White. With all the exit interviews completed, Habetz expects all the players on last year’s roster to return, except for injured freshman inﬁelder Raenna Liscano.

She’s the only player currently in the transfer portal.

In addition to Emily Smith returning as the team’s home run leader, Lily Knox is preparing to join the lineup as a redshirt freshman after missing all of last season because of injury

Elsewhere, Brooke Otto was originally going to start at third base and she missed the entire season injured as well. The rest of the inﬁeld is loaded with returning options.

The outﬁeld returns Dayzja Williams and Knox, but Chayne Allen remains a question mark because of injury

Habetz said her plan is to add two, perhaps three, position players from the transfer portal.

She doesn’t expect the rare 29win season to be a negative in recruiting.

Given that baseball is such an unpredictable sport, with the even the worst team able to beat the best team on any given day, it almost doesn’t matter where you’re ranked 1-8 when the NCAA tournament ﬁeld of 64 is revealed Monday

It does matter that you are one of those eight. Matters very much. Being one of the eight means you will get to host a regional and a super regional at home should you advance, greatly enhancing your hopes of getting to the College World Series, the holy grail for every college baseball team.

Is LSU safe as a top-eight seed despite what happens this week? Johnson said yes, but one wonders a bit where conﬁdence ends and politics begins.

With the goal of increasing the recovery rate, teams may now try them at any point in the game when trailing rather than just in the fourth quarter Kicking team players, other than the kicker can also move 1 yard forward to give them a better chance at the ball.

Leadership diversity program

The NFL took some heat for recently removing from the meeting lineup the latest edition of the accelerator program designed to increase diversity in the coaching ranks, but Goodell said he wasn’t concerned about the perception that the pause might have been for political reasons.

The program will return at the spring meetings next year while league ofﬁcials examine ways to make it more effective and efﬁcient, Goodell said, including the potential for increased interaction between coaching prospects and general managers.

“We’re still a big-time program in a mid-major conference,” Habetz said. “I think the history and the tradition of the program speak to that Once they get on campus and see exactly what this program is about, just see the fan base and support we have, I deﬁnitely believe we’re going to get some good, quality athletes.”

Moreover, Habetz said the program is in a better situation with NIL funds to attract some needed help to the program.

“Yes, it’s better and that’s defi nitely playing a role in all of this, definitely,” she said. Next year’s roster will also include six incoming freshmen signees, topped locally by the St. Thomas More duo of catcher Shyanne Irvin and infielder Kennedy Stutes.

The other four signees are Slidell pitcher Bailey Mackles, middle inﬁelder Haley Hart from Alabama, catcher Natalie Johnson from North Carolina and speedy inﬁelder Miki Watts from Loranger

“I’m excited about all the freshmen we’ve got coming in,” Habetz said. “I’m excited about it (offseason additions). I really am.”

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com.

national seed and we’ve earned that.”

Johnson should be right. LSU (42-13) slugged its way through a host of SEC heavyweights (five others are in the RPI top five, the Tigers played three) to finish third with a respectable 19-11 SEC record. LSU also has a combined 20 Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins, fifth-most in the country

“We’re going to play to win. I would never, ever want anybody to think we aren’t doing that. It’s a tournament It’s competition. There’s a championship. We want to play great and be prepared to go play championship baseball. I don’t think you can go through it as a blow it off exercise.”

JAy JOHNSON, LSU coach

“I think we’re for sure a topeight national seed,” he said. “I’m not on the committee, though. They’re smart people who look at this thing hard and make good decisions. But I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’re a top-eight

All that impressive résumé says that it shouldn’t matter whether the Tigers go one-and-done in the SEC tournament or win the whole thing (with the SEC’s automatic NCAA bid attached). Their fate, a positive one, should be sealed. Still, a win or two wouldn’t hurt the Tigers’ hopes one bit. And it would be nice to lift a trophy come Sunday But there are bigger wins, bigger trophies, to seek and ﬁnd. Hoover, Alabama, isn’t LSU’s ﬁnal duck pond by a long way For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Saints offensive tackle Kelvin Banks runs a drill during rookie minicamp on May 10 at the team’s indoor practice facility in Metairie.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By CHRIS SZAGOLA

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, center, and teammates run the tush push play during a playoff game against the Washington Commanders on Jan. 26 in Philadelphia.

Best season ever?

Catholic-New Iberia boys make claim for top athletic season in school history

BY MIKE COPPAGE

Contributing writer

Old-fashioned hard work and an ambitious senior class fueled Catholic High of New Iberia”s best athletic year ever in boys sports.

Led by dual-sport senior standouts Luke Landry, J.D. Hidalgo, Jack Romero and Gavin Roy, the Panthers won Division III select state titles in football and baseball.

“It’s really tough to win,” said retiring baseball coach David Jordan, who is staying as athletic director “There were a lot of tough teams in our division. There are a lot of ingredients that go into winning a state championship. One is talent. Another is good coaching, and you need breaks to go your way.”

Landry (quarterback), Hidalgo (linebacker), Romero (linebacker) and Roy (receiver) helped the Panthers win their third football title and ﬁrst since 2017. Catholic defeated Dunham in the baseball semiﬁnals and the football championship.

“Our senior class is the underlying reason we won a state championship,” said Jordan, whose team captured the baseball title in the ﬁrst year of the new LHSAA playoff format, which included bestof-three series in every round and semifinals at the higher-seeded school.

“The seniors had grit, determination and composure They learned a lot battling through the football playoffs They had to win the last three games on the road against the top three seeds. That makes it even tougher.”

Football coach Matt Desormeaux

said he wasn’t surprised that Jordan had the team in the weight room last week in the days leading up to the championship series against University Lab.

“It’s a long, grinding season,” he said “Strength and conditioning help toughen kids up to get that grit. It’s never easy to win a state championship, period. This is the only year we’ve won in two major sports.”

The Panthers lost in the basketball quarterﬁnals to eventual champion Country Day

On the girls side, the volleyball team lost in the semiﬁnals to topseeded Hannan, and the soccer team fell to eventual champion Newman in the quarterﬁnals.

“It’s awesome and great to see,” Desormeaux said of the success.

“As an alum, you’re a little jealous We had guys at the baseball state championship that graduated 15 to 30 years ago. It was great for our community.”

Jordan, who spoke with the administration about a “culture change” when he took the athletic director job a few years ago, reiterated Desormeaux’s comments about strength and conditioning.

“A stronger baseball player is a better player,” said Jordan, who oversaw his team’s workouts (same with Desormeaux and football). We also have routines. We try not to get away from those. We try to emphasize and develop a work ethic from start to ﬁnish.”

The athletic teams also beneﬁted from a supportive administration, which includes principal Kyle Bourque and Desormeaux, who ﬁrst returned to his alma mater as assistant principal and now holds dual roles.

“That makes all the difference in the world,” Jordan said. “I’ve had conversations with others who don’t have it as good as I do. They struggle At Catholic High, we all work very well together The focus on decisions is what ‘we think,’ not what ‘I think. ‘”

Though next year’s seniors will have big shoes to ﬁll, Jordan said he expects “just as much greatness.”

“That’s our goal,” he said.

Former Eunice baseball great Turner named coach

BY ERIC NARCISSE

Staff writer

Stuart Turner knows what it’s like to live away from home.

After starring at Eunice High and LSU-Eunice, Turner embarked on a baseball journey that took him through the minor leagues and then to the major leagues.

In that time, Turner lived in Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Arizona and Kentucky

But no matter where he lived, it wasn’t home. He always envisioned returning to Eunice.

“I got to experience living in other places and I had the ability to see other things,” Turner said.

“But home was always home I

can’t imagine not being in Eunice. Living away showed me how much Eunice meant to me.”

Turner was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 2013 draft and made his MLB debut with the Cincinnati Reds after making the opening-day roster in 2017.

While playing pro baseball was always a dream, so was being a high school baseball coach.

“My dream was to play pro baseball, but you don’t play professional baseball your whole life,” Turner said “But when I was in high school, I was having a conversation with (Eunice) coach Scott Phillips, and I told him I wanted to be a high school baseball coach.”

Turner returned to Eunice after

retiring in 2020 and has spent the past three years working as an assistant coach on Phillips’ staff.

With Phillips now retiring, Turner will another make dream come true as he’s been named Eunice’s baseball coach

“What makes me so excited is that I get to coach at a school that I love dearly,” Turner said. “I played here and had a lot of success here. I know what it is to be a Bobcat.” Phillips said he’s ecstatic about having Turner as his successor “Stuart is an excellent choice,” he said. “Stuart is going to work his tail off. He’s a solid guy, and he’s going to be ready to go. I’ve always admired him The kids respect him, and they love him. He’s

going to bring a lot to the table.”

Turner takes over a program that went 22-15 overall and lost in the second round of the Division II nonselect playoffs to top-seeded Brusly

“I wasn’t the only right person for the job,” Turner said. “There are plenty of qualiﬁed coaches out there. I know what it means to be a Bobcat. I understand the history I have the itch to keep the legacy going.”

Turner said he doesn’t feel any pressure replacing Phillips, who was two wins shy of 700 career victories, led the Bobcats to 32 consecutive playoff appearances, had 23 seasons with 20 wins or more and won 15 district championships.

“Success may not look like the success coach Phillips had,” Turner said. “I don’t feel pressure to win 20 games, district championships or make the playoffs. It’s absolutely part of the goals and plans. But the pressure is that I want him to look back and know the program is in good hands and I want him to be proud of the program.

“We’re going to continue to develop men, hold them accountable and continue to stress the importance of excellence on and off the ﬁeld,” he said. “The wins and losses are going to take care of themselves.”

Email Eric Narcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

game: No. 2 Oklahoma (48-7) vs.

15 Alabama (40-21), 4 p.m. Saturday’s game: Oklahoma vs Alabama, 2 p.m. x-Sunday’s game: Oklahoma vs. Alabama, TBA At Gainesville, Fla. Friday’s game: No. 3 Florida (46-14) vs. Georgia (34-21), 10 a.m. Saturday’s game: Florida vs. Georgia, 10 a.m. x-Sunday’s game: Florida vs. Georgia,

At Fayetteville, Ark. Friday’s game: No. 4 Arkansas (43-12) vs Mississippi (40-18), 7 p.m. Saturday’s game: Arkansas vs. Ole Miss, 8 p.m.

x-Sunday’s game: Arkansas vs. Ole Miss, TBA At Tallahassee, Fla.

Thursday’s game: No. 5 Florida St. (49-10) vs. No. 12 Texas Tech (48-12), 6 p.m. Friday’s game: Florida St. vs. Texas Tech, 2 p.m. x-Saturday’s game: Florida St. vs. Texas Tech, TBA At Austin, Texas Thursday’s game: No. 6 Texas (49-10) vs. No. 11 Clemson (47-12), 8 p.m. Friday’s game: Texas vs. Clemson, 8 p.m.

x-Saturday’s game: Texas vs. Clemson, TBA At Knoxville, Tenn. Friday’s game: No. 7 Tennessee (43-14) vs. Nebraska (42-13), 6 p.m. Saturday’s game: Tennessee vs.

English, 1,268. Scoring Average 1, Scottie Schefﬂer, 68.796. 2, Rory McIlroy 69.219. 3, Sepp Straka, 69.918. 4, Thorbjørn Olesen, 69.929. 5, Alex Smalley, 70.084. 6, Daniel Berger, 70.094. 7, Justin Thomas, 70.112. 8, Keith Mitchell, 70.122. 9, Ryan Gerard, 70.156. 10, Shane Lowry, 70.162. Driving Distance 1, Aldrich Potgieter, 323.9. 2, Niklas Norgaard, 320. 3, Rory McIlroy, 319.3. 4, Min Woo Lee, 316.2. 5, Michael Thorbjornsen, 316. 6, Kurt Kitayama, 314.7. 7, Jesper Svensson, 314.6. 8, Rasmus Højgaard, 314. 9, 2 tied with 313.6. Driving Accuracy Percentage 1, Aaron Rai, 73.13%. 2, Ben Kohles, 72.28%. 3, Collin Morikawa, 72.05%. 4, Takumi Kanaya, 71.37%. 5, Paul Peterson, 71.24%. 6, Lucas Glover, 69.97%. 7, Andrew Putnam, 69.01%. 8, Brice Garnett, 68.91%. 9, Daniel Berger, 68.01%. 10, Sungjae Im, 67.92%. Greens in Regulation Percentage 1, 10 tied with .00%.

Total Driving 1, Taylor Pendrith, 87. 2, Alex Smalley, 88. 3, Rico Hoey, 90. 4, Steven Fisk, 94. 5, Isaiah Salinda, 95. 6, J.J. Spaun, 96. 7, Kevin Roy, 97. 8, Michael Thorbjornsen, 98. 9, Thomas Rosenmueller, 99. 10, Victor Perez, 100. SG-Putting 1, Sam Burns, 1.068. 2, Sam Ryder, .876. 3, Jacob Bridgeman, .809. 4, Harry Hall, .784. 5, Brandt Snedeker, .780. 6, Nico Echavarria, .759. 7, Denny McCarthy, .689. 8, Rory McIlroy, .627. 9, Akshay Bhatia, .614. 10, Sami Valimaki, .610. Birdie Average 1, Justin Thomas, 4.8. 2, Sepp Straka, 4.74. 3, Collin

PHOTO By LEE BALL

Members of the Catholic High football team celebrate the Panthers’ state championship in football.

PHOTO By KIRK MECHE

Catholic-New Iberia’s J.D Hidalgo steps on home plate after hitting a three-run home run against University Lab that helped clinch the Division III nonselect championship on Saturday at McMurry Park in Sulphur

Go Italian with pesto chicken burger on ciabatta

BY LINDAGASSENHEIMER

Tribune News Service (TNS)

Here’s aburger with an Italian touch.

Tender,ground white meat chicken patties are generously topped with fragrant, rich pesto sauce and nestled between slices of rustic Italian Ciabatta bread.The traditional pesto is made with ablend of fresh basil, aromatic garlic, toasted pine nuts, premium olive oil and asprinkle of Parmesan cheese. This vibrant sauce is readily available in jars at your local supermarket.

The ciabatta bread, hailing from the Veneto region in Italy, boastsalight, airy texture with large, soft air pockets, perfectly complementing the burger with its delicate crunch. It’s easily found at most grocery stores

For aquick and refreshing side, pair your burger witha simple coleslaw made from ready-to-eat fresh coleslaw mix available in the produce section.

HELPFUL HINTS:

n Be sure to look for ground white meat chicken breast

n Any type of thick bread can be used instead of ciabatta bread.

n Once the burger is in the skillet, do not move it for 4 minutes to allow it to form a crust.

Pesto ChickenBurger

Yields 2servings. Recipe is by Linda Gassenheimer

¾ground chicken breast

4tablespoonsprepared pesto sauce, divided use Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2teaspoons olive oil 4slices ciabatta Olive oil spray 1medium sliced tomato 2lettuce leaves

1. Add ground chicken to a bowl with 2tablespoons prepared pesto sauce. Mix well to blend the two together.Add salt and black pepper to taste.

2. Shape into burgersabout 4 inches around and 1/2-inch thick.

3. Heat the oil in anonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Carefully move the burgers into theskillet. Asimple way to do this is with awide metalspatula.

4. Saute burgers for4minutes. Do not move the burgers until the4minutes are up. Turn the burgers over and saute another 4minutes. Ameat thermometer should read 165 to 170 F.

5. Meanwhile, spray cutsides of ciabatta with olive oil spray and toast in atoasterovenor under the broiler

6. Place cooked chickenburgers on cut side of 2breads. Spoon remaining 2tablespoons pestosauce on top of each burger.Place 1tomato slice on topof pesto sauce.Cover the tomato with lettuce leaves. Closewith topofroll and serve.

NUTRITION INFO PER SERVING: 511 calories (43 percent from fat), 24.4 gfat (3.8g saturated,11.4 gmonounsaturated), 131 mg cholesterol, 47.9 gprotein,29.2 gcarbohydrates, 3.6 gﬁber,655 mg sodium.

QuickColeslaw

Yields 2servings. Recipe is by Linda

Gassenheimer

2cups washed, ready-to-eat coleslaw mix ¼cup reduced fat salad dressing

1. Add coleslaw mix to abowl with the dressing. Toss well to combine all ingredients.

2. Divide in half and serve with the burgers.

NUTRITION INFO PER SERVING: 41 calories (44 percent from fat), 2.0 gfat (0.2 gsaturated,0.7 g monounsaturated), 2mgcholesterol, 1.0 gprotein, 5.4 gcarbohydrates, 1.8 gﬁber,22mg sodium.

Forafancy picnic,try Italiansandwiches, saladand cheesecake.Bring thecloth napkins.

Wedon’thave much occasion for picnics in summer,when it seemsso hot in south Louisiana. But whether it’s in apark, your deck or on aboat on the lake, acool meal is alwaysatreat. Thismeal makes agreat picnic, it keeps well on the go in acooler,and it is easytoserve and eat.

The salad is sturdy and hearty.Itiscrispy, tasty and versatile. If you wanted areally simple meal, you could add boiled shrimporchopped chicken and serve salad and dessert for the picnic, and pairitwith crackers or abig loaf of your favorite bread. This Fresh and Crispy Salad also works well on abuffet.

ä See AL FRESCO, page

Sandwiches

1. Slice the croissants open. Mix the pesto andchoppedcaperstogether. With aspoonspreadthe pesto mixture on the open sides of the croissant.

2. Add 2slices of prosciutto to the bottom of each croissant. Add 2or 3basil slices over the prosciutto Add 2slices of tomato to the sandwichover the basil leaves and add 2slices of provolone on top. Topthe sandwich with the other piece of the croissant. Wrap each sandwich with plastic wrap and pack it for transport to the picnic.

McKAY

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

TNS PHOTO By LINDAGASSENHEIMER

GRETCHEN

By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday,May 22,the 142nd day of 2025. There are 223 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On May 22, 1960, the strongest earthquake recorded struck southern Chile.The magnitude 9.5 quake claimed 1,655 lives, left2 millionhomelessand triggered atsunami responsible for over 230 additional deathsinHawaii, Japan and the Philippines.

On this date:

In 1939, the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy,Joachim vonRibbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed a“Pact of Steel” committing their two countries to amilitary and political alliance.

In 1962, Continental Airlines Flight 11, en route from Chicago to Kansas City,Missouri, crashed near Unionville, Missouri, after apassenger ignited dynamite on board the plane, killing all 45occupants of the Boeing 707.

In 1964, President LyndonB Johnson, speaking at the University of Michigan, outlined the goals of his “GreatSociety,” saying that it “rests on abundance and liberty for all”and “demands an end to povertyand racial injustice.”

In 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10, with Thomas P. Stafford andEugene Cernan aboard, ﬂew within nine miles of the moon’s surface in a“dress rehearsal” for the ﬁrst lunar landing.

In 1985, U.S.sailor Michael L. Walker was arrested aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, two days after his father,John A. Walker Jr., was apprehended by theFBI; both were later convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. (Michael Walker served 15 years in prisonand was released in 2000; JohnWalker Jr.died in prison in 2014.)

In 1992, after areign lasting nearly30years, Johnny Carson hosted hisﬁnalepisode of NBC’s “Tonight Show.” (Jay Leno took over as host three dayslater.)

In 2011, amassiveEF5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, with windsupto250 mph, killing at least 159 peopleand destroying about8,000 homes and businesses.

In 2017, asuicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device that killed 22 people and injured over 1,000 following an Ariana Grandeconcert in Manchester,England.

Today’sbirthdays: Actor-ﬁlmmaker Richard Benjamin is 87. Songwriter Bernie Taupinis75. Sen. LisaMurkowski,R-Alaska, is 68. Singer Morrissey is 66. Singer JohnnyGill (New Edition) is 59. Actor Brooke Smithis58. Model Naomi Campbell is 55. Actor Sean Gunnis51. Actor Ginnifer Goodwin is 47. Actor Maggie Qis46. Olympic speed skating gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohnois43. Tennisplayer Novak Djokovic is 38. Actor Peyton Elizabeth Lee is 21.

Ham, Cheese and Chive Muffins

Recipe is adapted from “You GotThis”byDiane Morrisey

2cups all-purpose flour

1tablespoon sugar

2½ teaspoons baking powder

1teaspoon garlic powder

½teaspoon baking soda

¼teaspoon salt

¼teaspoon smoked paprika

1cup buttermilk

4tablespoons unsalted butter,melted

1large egg, lightly beaten

1tablespoon Dijon mustard

1½ cup grated or shredded Gruyere

cheese

1cup chopped ham

¼cup finely chopped chives, or 1 scallion, white and green parts, chopped

1. Preheat ovento375 F.

2. Line 18 standard mufﬁn/cupcakecups or one 6-cup jumbo mufﬁn tin with paper liners.

3. In medium bowl, whisk together ﬂour,sugar,baking pow-

MUFFINS

Continued from page5C

temperature, and can be frozen in freezer bags for up to 2 months —just microwave until thawedand warm. This recipe is as versatile as it is satisfying. If you don’tlike Gruyere (a hard, nutty Swiss cheese), use sharpormild cheddar or another semi-hardcheese like cantal. Youalsocould swap out the ham for bacon or even make the mufﬁns completely vegetarian by adding chopped bell pepper instead.

Thehostpaysfor theparty, especiallyifthey’re theboss

Dear Miss Manners: One co-worker likes to host office parties with food-themed potlucks. She will suggest adish that she will cook and bring to share,such as trays of chicken wings or seafood pasta. Generally a lunch would have eight to 20 people. As she likes to make these meat- or seafoodbased dishes, she will then askfor financial contributions to pay for theingredients and keep her own costs down. Everyone else is welcome to additionally make or bring something to share Co-workers aren’thappy with her asking for money AND afood contribution to these lunches. They feel if theydoeither,that it fulfills their participation for the occasion, and thatshe should not be asking for money to make her dishes.

cover costs forher food;they feel thatshe’sunjustlyenrichingherself on their ﬁnancial contributions. We’retalking $5 to $12 per person for contributions to ofﬁce parties in general; she’s asked for$7to$10 on a few occasions forher food. What’sthe proper thing that should be happening?

increase their contributions is grotesque.

der,garlic powder,baking soda, salt andsmoked paprika.

4. In aseparate bowl,whisk together buttermilk,melted butter, eggand mustard.

5. Make awell in the center of thedry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and stir just until barely combined —itshould be a little lumpy

6. Add gratedorshredded cheese, chopped ham and chives, andfoldthem in. Do not overmix!

7. Divide thebatterevenlyin acupcake pan. (I had todotwo batches.)

8. Bakeuntil they’re golden and atoothpick inserted in the center comesout clean, about 25 minutes forstandardmufﬁns or 30 minutes forjumbo mufﬁns.

9. Let cool in pan for 5minutes, and remove from cupcake pan.

While they’reprobably considered breakfast food, mufﬁns can also can makeadecent light lunch served with soup and salad. Itried them several differentways—slathered with butter,drizzled withalittle hot honey andstuffed with afried egg to make aheartybreakfast sandwich. It’stough to say which was best since they allwent down easy Don’thave buttermilk? It’s easy to make at home. Simply pour 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice into ameasuring cup, then ﬁll the cup with regular milk. Stir to combine, and let the mixture rest for at least 5minutesbefore using.

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

Gentle reader: Why does Miss Manners feel anagging curiosity aboutyour place in all this —asifyou haveaposition of more authority in the group than you have mentioned?

If you ask because you are the boss —orHR—and werelooking to solve the problem,you are in luck: Youcan pay forthe party out of ofﬁce funds.

Dear Miss Manners: Whensitting at atable thatcan accommodateone persononeach side,whatisthe best way fortwo friends to sit? Is it different fora couple?Sitting acrossfromeach othermakes conversationeasier, but Ihavebeen told it is more “confrontational.”

Idon’thave aproblem with paying her money andcontributing food of my own.I’ve often even added more to have abetter party, because people do love a heartyplate. But some co-workers have refused to participate in any way because theyresent her asking to

She agrees with the co-workers who are refusing to participate —but not forthe reasons they give. Her belief is that if the boss wants to reward workers forajob well done, then they should either pay them more, send them home early (where they can socialize with their actual friends and family), or,ifthere must occasionally be an ofﬁce party,pay forthe refreshments out of ofﬁce funds.

Not being afan of forced socialization at work, she is even less afan of making the workers pay for it. That one co-worker is now demanding that her co-workers

It seemsmany romantic couples prefer to sit to the side of each other.Ordoes any of this even matter?

Gentle reader: Assuming both people stay moreorless in their own seats, Miss Manners is indifferent to whether they wish to gaze fondly into their beloved’seyes or ear during the soup course.

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

Mascarpone CheesecakeinaJar

Makes six half-cup mason jars of cheesecake.

1½ cups graham cracker or shortbread cookie crumbs

3tablespoons melted butter 18-ounce packageofmascarpone cheese at room temperature

1teaspoon almond extract 1pint heavy whipping cream sweetened with 2tablespoons sugar,whipped to soft peaks 12 tablespoons of agood prepared jam, I likestrawberry jam ½cup toasted sliced almonds

1. In abowl mix the cookie crumbs with the melted butter.They should be similartowet sand. If it feels toodry,add another tablespoon of

Fresh and CrispySalad

Serves 4to6

1cup peeled fresh edamame

1cucumber,seeded and chopped (You may peel the cucumber if you prefer)

1pint cherry heirloom tomatoes, each sliced in half 1jar artichokehearts in oil, drained and chopped coarsely 1fennel bulb chopped (reserve the leafy tops for another use.)

1cup fresh babyspinach leaves, chopped coarsely

2cups coarsely chopped fresh green cabbage ½cup chopped nuts 1cup avocado dressing (see following)

1. Mixtogether theedamame, cucumber,tomatoes, artichokehearts, fennel, spinach, and cabbage in a large bowl.Ifyou are preparing to eat this away fromyour home, package these thingstogether in aportable bowl witha lid. Otherwise place them in asalad bowl.

AL FRESCO

Continuedfrom page5C

TheItalian sandwiches are ironically madewith aFrench roll, a croissant. Thelaminated rolls don’t get soggy,they remain tender and absorb the ﬂavors well. Theﬂavors meld together,especially with the capers added to the pesto. Even wrappedfor hours, theyare tender andmemorable sandwiches.

The dessert is just plain fun. Youcan make the cheesecake differently every time, by choosing adifferent jam or jelly or even marmalade. Youcan use thejars over and over,sodon’tdiscard them even if you serve everythingonpaper plates.

If you are going on apicnic, be sure to pack all the partsand pieces on ice. Ilike to bring asecond cooler with ice and drinks. Youcan decide whether to use disposables, but sometimes it’s fun and feels more sophisticated to at least use plastic or metal plates. It is easy these days to ﬁnd nice-looking plastic wine glasses. Bringbottled water,including sparkling water.Cloth napkins and atablecloth or blanket can makeiteven morefestive.

Liz Williamsisfounder of the Southern Food &Beverage Museum in New Orleans.Listen to “Tip of theTongue,” Liz’s podcast about food, drink and culture, wherever you hear podcasts. EmailLiz at lizwillia@ gmail.com.

melted butter

2. Divide the cookie crumb mixtureinto6and place it in the bottom of each jar.Tamp it downwith amuddler or thebottom of asmall glass that ﬁts into the jar.Set them aside.

3. Place the room temperature cheese into amixing bowl Addthe almond extractand 1⁄3 of the whipped cream.With a whisk, gentlymix thewhipped cream and almond extract and the cheese. Thenadd therest of the whipped creamand fold it together gently.Divide the mixture evenlyamong thejarsover

the cookie mixture. Replace the lids andplace the jars into the freezer.After 2hours, place the jamina microwave safe bowl and heat for 1minute on high. Remove the containerand check to seeif the jam is melted. Add another 30 seconds if it is not, then check again. Remove the jars from the freezer,remove the lids, and add 2tablespoons to each jar. Spread the jam over the top. Return the lids to the jars andreturn the jars to the freezer 4. When ready to serve, sprinkle the tops of each jar with afew sliced almonds.

2. If you are taking thiswithyou, package the preparednuts in asmall sandwich bag. Place the Avocado Dressing in ajar.Bring more than acup in case anyone wants extra dressing.

3. If you are serving it on your patio or even at the dining room table, add the nuts and dressing and toss well. Serve extra dressing in asmallpitcher on thetable.

Avocado Dressing

Makes about 2cups.

1avocado, pitted and peeled

2anchovy fillets

¼cup gratedParmesan cheese

1cup basil leaves

½cup parsleyleaves

3cloves garlic

Zest of 2lemons Juice of 2lemons

1scallion, roughly chopped

1cup olive oil

½teaspoon salt

¼teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. Place allofthe ingredients into ablender and blend until smooth. If it is too thick, adda tablespoon or 2ofwater

2. Place in ajar and refrigerate until readyto use.

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/TNS PHOTO By GRETCHENMCKAy Ham, Cheese and ChiveMuffins

Williams

Liz Williams servesafresh and crispy salad.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Go withthe flow andmake the mostout of every interaction.Don't let uncertainty ruin your rhythm or sendyou down apaththat leadstofailure andlittlegain.

cANcER (June 21-July 22) Caution is necessarywhendealingwithcontracts,investments and professional moves. You may desireachange, but you should take a pass unless youreceive an ironclad offer or incentive.

LEo(July 23-Aug. 22) Letyourimagination runwild, andyourcreativityand energy will carry youforward. Put acap on your spending andconcentrateonwhat you want to achieve. Associate with people motivated by your words.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Takethe high road regardless of what others do. Letting others decide for you will leave you vulnerable. Think and act foryourself learnfromyour mistakes and set an example for the people you care about LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Discover what worksbest for you. Expand your mind and explore the possibilities. Don't fear change or taking the road less traveled. Follow your intuition's lead,and you'll discover what resonates withyou.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-Nov. 22) Pay attention to detail, and you'll find the quickestway to master your skills. Professional gain is apparent, but contracts will be complex to negotiate. Don't agree to anything withoutexpert input.

sAGIttARIus (Nov.23-Dec. 21) Plan to have fun or get things done. Your energy is mounting and will help you reach your

destination if you focus on your goals Relyonyourintelligenceand vigorto get you where you want to go.

cAPRIcoRN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Watch and wait. Observehow othershandle similar situations and consider your options. Refuse to let anyone convince you to make amove or decision if it doesn't feel right or will take youout of your comfort zone.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Keep pushing forward. Initiate the changesthat will make your life easier. It's time to get physical and mixsocializing with activitiesthatmakeyou think andact quickly.

PIscEs(Feb. 20-March 20) Revise your schedule to meet your needs. Takecare of responsibilitiesswiftlyand move on to something you find engaging. Be selective; if you try to jamtoo much intoyour agenda, you'll fallshort ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Be careful how you handle others. Patience is required whendealingwithpeoplewhodon'tshare your beliefs. Focus on thegood in every situationtohelpkeepthecommunication flowing without controversy.

tAuRus (April 20-May20) Decisive action is your key to success. Keep your emotions in check and your mind on what's realistic and essential to your long-term plans. Spend more time at home.

FAMILY CIrCUS

CeLebrItY CIpher

beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM

bIG

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 gridwith several given numbers. The object is to place thenumbers 1to9inthe empty squaressothat each row, each column and each 3x3 boxcontains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS CurTiS

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Alija Izetbegovic, the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said, “We play an active role and try to influence our destiny; we have our owntrump cards and we usethem.”

So far this week, we have been looking at defenses in no-trump contracts aided by placing declarer’shigh-card points based on the bidding andplay. Suitably assisted, one defender has knownwhich suit to attack to gain sufficient tricks to defeat the contract. Now let’s move to trump contracts.

South is in four spades. West leads the heart ace. How should East plan the defense?

Theauction given is using Standard. If youhave adopted two-over-one gameforcing, North would rebid three spades because the opener’s hand strengthis undefined. Then South wouldbid four spades to indicate aminimum.

East does not want hispartner to shift, so should signal withhis heart nine at trick one. West cashes theheart king and plays his thirdheart. After East wins with his queen, what does he do next?

East should count the points. South showed 12 to 14, the dummy has 13, West has already producedseven, and East has seven.Sinceall four jacks are onview,Westcannothaveanotherhonor card. The only chance for afourth trick lies in the trump suit.

wuzzles

East must lead hislast heart. Here, when West ruffs with the spadenine, it uppercutsdummy’squeenandpromotes aspade trick for East.

When you have taken every possible side-suit trick, give aruff-and-sluff. It might result in atrump promotion or an uppercut.

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 that acquire

thought

every one that said to me,Lord, shall enterinto the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

Construction starts on Ascension logistics park

Construction has started on Magnolia Ridge Logistics Park, a186-acreindustrialsubdivisioninGeismar

Magnolia Ridge is acollaboration between Alexandriabased Ratcliff Development and local private equity firm JRE Capital.

Developers have said the park,located at Industriplex Avenue and La. 30, could eventually include 2million square feet of mixed industrial-use space Trey Williams, managing partner of JRE Capital, said he’sheard from alot of interestedparties who are eying the parkfor space.

Magnolia Ridge will target potential tenants such as bulk distribution companies, light manufacturersand plant services businesses.

Evan Scroggs, of Lee &Associates,is the listing broker for thedevelopment. Lots ranging in size from 2to18acres, are expectedtobeavailableatthe end of the year.Asking prices will be between $6 to $7.50per squarefoot.

Metro Baton Rouge has been held back by alackofindustrialspace for the past few years, due to alack of speculative developments, Scroggs said. The local vacancy ratefor warehousespace is below 3%.

Thathas kept companies from moving into the market and local businesses from expanding. Wall Street tumbles on rising Treasuryyields

Wall Street slumped on Wednesday under the weight of pressure from the bond market, where Treasuryyields climbed on worries about the U.S.government’sspiraling debt and other concerns

The S&P 500 fell for asecond straight drop after breaking asix-day winning streak. The Dow JonesIndustrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also sank. Stocks had been drifting only modestlylower earlyinthe day, after Target and other retailers gave mixed forecasts for upcoming proﬁtsamid uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’strade war.The market then turned sharply lowerafter the U.S. governmentreleased the results for its latest auction of 20-year bonds. Thegovernmentregularly sells such bonds, which is how it borrows money to pay its bills. In this auction, theU.S. government had to pay ayield as high as 5.047% to attract enough buyers to lend it atotal of $16 billion over 20 years. That helped push up yields for all kinds of other Treasuries, including the more widely followed 10-year Treasury.Its yield climbed to 4.59% from 4.48% late Tuesday and from just 4.01% early lastmonth

Bitcoin hitsnew highs as industryscores wins

Bitcoin hit anew all-time high as the world’smost popular cryptocurrency reached price levels not seen since President Donald Trump’sinauguration. The digital asset traded above $109,400 Wednesday morning, a huge increase from recent lows of about $75,000 last month

Several other cryptocurrencies have seen similar large gains in recent days. That includes Trump’sofﬁcial meme coins, whichhavejumpedup about 75% in the lastmonth

Thepresident is set to have dinner Thursdaywith some of thememecoins’ biggest investors, amove that’sdrawn intensecriticism from some Democratswho say that Trump is improperly using the power of thepresidency to boost his personal wealth.

Bitcoin’sprice increase comesafter the crypto industry scored amajor winwith the U.S. Senate advancing legislation that creates afederal framework to regulate the stablecoins, afast-growing formofcryptocurrency whose values are often tied to the U.S dollar

Lumentosell fiberbusiness

lando, Phoenix and Seattle.

BY TIMOTHY BOONE Business editor

Lumen Technologies said it has reached adeal to sell its consumer

ﬁber business to AT&T for $5.75 billion, as theMonroe-based company shiftsits business toward artiﬁcialintelligence

Theall-cash deal was announced Wednesday afterthe markets closed. The acquisitiongives AT&T 1million more ﬁbercustomersand expands its presence in major markets such as Denver,Las Vegas, Or-

Kate Johnson, president andCEO of Lumen,saidina statement the deal allows the company to retain the core infrastructure for AI and to pay down $4.8 billion in debt

Thatwill trim annual interest expenses by more than $300 million annually

This givesthe companya “oncein-a-generation opportunity” to build adigital networking company to serve the needsofmajor customers, she said.

“This strategic decision is groundedinthe expansive critical infrastructure we’reretainingand the forward-thinking digital future we’rebuilding,” Johnson said.

Lumen,whichwas founded in 1930 as asmall regionaltelephone company,grew into atelecom giant in the 2000s when it was known as CenturyLink. But it had seen its fortunes slip in recent years. Peter Ricchiuti, aﬁnance professoratTulaneUniversity, saidLumen was “left for dead” when, in an attempttowhittle down a$20 billion mountain of debt, Lumen sold off its local telephone business and in 2022 dropped its quarterly dividend. The stock was trading at just $1.10 ashare at the end of June.

Things changed dramatically in late July,however,whenLumen’s partnership withMicrosoftwas announced. The software giant will

use Lumen’sﬁber products in its AI infrastructure. Afew weeks later,Lumenannounced it has signed $5 billion in connectivity contracts, including adeal withMicrosoft in which Lumen products would be used to expand its AI infrastructure. Lumensaid over the past year it has signed $8.5 billion in deals with clients such as Amazon WebServices and Google Cloud. The deal is expected to closein the ﬁrst half of 2026. Shares of Lumen were up 12% or 46 cents, in after-hours trading. Email TimothyBoone at tboone@theadvocate.com.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByJULIANIKHINSON

Klarna reportscustomers struggling

credit check or asoft creditcheck.

BY CORA LEWIS Associated Press

NEW YORK More Klarna customersare having trouble repaying their“buy now,pay later” loans, theshort-term lendersaidthis week

The disclosure corresponded with reports by lending platforms Bankrate and LendingTree, which citedanincreasing share of all “buy now, pay later” userssaying they had fallen behind on payments.

The late or missed installments area sign of faltering ﬁnancial health among asegment of the U.S. population, some analysts say,asthe nation’stotal consumer debt rises to arecord $18.2 trillionand the Trump administration moves to collect on federal student loans.

Shoppers who opt to finance purchases through BNPL services tend to be younger thanthe average consumer,and astudy from the FederalReserve last year said Black and Hispanic women were especially likely to use the plans, which customers of all incomelevels are increasingly adopting.

BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP business writer

NEWYORK Target’schallenge to revive salesand itsstatusasa cheap chic retailer just gotmore complicated The discounterannounced on Wednesday that sales fell more than expected in the ﬁrst quarter, and theretailerwarnedthey will slip for all of 2025 as itscustomers, worried over the impact of tariffs andthe economy,pull back on spending

Target alsosaid customerboycotts did some damage during the latest quarter.The company,long aﬁerce corporate advocatefor the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ peo-

“While BNPL provides credit to ﬁnancially vulnerable consumers, these same consumers may be overextending themselves,” the authorsofthe Federal Reserve studywrote.

“This concern is consistent with previous research thathas shown consumers spendmore when BNPL is offered when checkingout and that BNPL use leadstoanincrease in overdraft fees and credit card interest payments and fees.”

As Klarna grows itsuser base and revenue, theSwedish company saidits first-quarter consumer credit losses rose 17% compared withthe January-March period of lastyear,to $136 million.

Acompany spokesperson said in astatement that the increaselargely reﬂected the higher number of loans Klarna madeyear over year Thepercentageofits loansatagloballevel that went unpaid in the first quartergrew from 0.51% in 2024 to 0.54% this year,and the company sees “nosign of aweakened U.S. consumer,” he said. Buy now, pay laterplans generally let consumers split payments for purchases into four or fewer installments, often witha down paymentatcheckout. Theloans aretypically marketed as zero interest, andmost require no

ple, scaled back many diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in January after they came under attack by conservative activists and the White House. Target’sretreat created another backlash, with more customers angered by the retailer’sreduction of LGBTQ+themed merchandise for Pride Month. Shares fell 5.2% Wednesday Quarterlysales fell 2.8% from last year to $23.85 billion, and that was short of the $24.23 billion Wall Street expected, according to FactSet. Targetearned $1.04 billion, or $2.27 per share, for the period ended May 3. That compares with $942 million, or $2.03 per share, in theyear-ago period.

BNPL providers promote the plans as a saferalternativetotraditional credit cards when interest rates are high. The popularity of the deferredpayment plans, andthe expanding ways customers can use them, have also sparked public attention.

WhenKlarnaannounced apartnershipwith DoorDash in March, the news led to online comments about Americans taking out loans to buy takeout food. Similar skepticism emerged when Billboard revealed that more thanhalf of Coachella attendees used installment plans to ﬁnancetheirtickets to themusic festival.

An Aprilreport from LendingTree saidabout 4in10usersofbuy now, paylater plans said they hadmade late payments in the past year, up from 1in3 last year.According to aMay report from Bankrate, about 1in4users of the loanschose them because they were easierto getthantraditional creditcards.

Thesix largest BNPL providers —Afﬁrm, Afterpay,Klarna, PayPal,Sezzle, andZip originated about277.3 million loans for $33.8 billioninmerchandise in 2022, or an amount equaltoabout 1% of credit card spending that year,according to the ConsumerFinancial Protection Bureau

Target cut its annual sales projectionsWednesday.The company nowexpects alow-single digit decline for 2025 afterprojecting a 1% increase forsales in March. It also forecast annual per-share earningsof$7to$9, excluding gainsfrom legal settlements this year Forthe year,analystsexpect earnings per share of $8.34 on sales of $106.7 billion, on average. Comparable store sales, those from established stores and online channels, fell 3.8%.Thatincludes a5.7% drop in store sales and a 4.7% increase in online sales. That reverses acomparable store sales increase of 1.5% in the previous quarter

The number of transactions acrossonline andphysical stores fell 2.4%, and the average ticket dropped 1.4%.Targetsaidit couldn’treliably estimate the individual impact of each of thefactors that were hurting itsbusiness Target is also intensifying efforts to entice customers nervous about the economy.The retailer will offer 10,000 new items starting at $1 with the majority under $20. “We’re not satisﬁed with these results, so we’re moving with urgency to navigate through this period of volatility,” Target CEO BrianCornell told reporters on a call Tuesday.“We’vegot to drive trafﬁc back intoour stores or visits to our site.”