The Times-Picayune 05-22-2025 by The Advocate

WHATTOLOOK FOR AS SAINTS HOLDFIRST

Archdiocese, abusevictims reachdeal

Settlement callsfor church to paynearly$180million

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

The Archdiocese of NewOrleans

has reached atentative settlement with hundreds of survivors of clergy sex abuse in its long-running bankruptcy case, agreeingtopay nearly $180 million in an effort to end the court battle thathas con-

sumed the local Roman Catholic Church forthe past ﬁve years.

According to anews releaseissued Wednesdaybythe court-appointed committee that negotiated the deal on behalf of some600 survivors, the archdiocese, its parishes and afﬁliated charities, and three of its four insurers would pay$179.2million into atrust to

beneﬁt survivors, an amount that

would be distributed after the church emerges from bankruptcy Money for the settlementwould come from avariety of sources.

The archdiocese, its 110 parishes and charitable organizations would all contribute funds, andadditional money would come from thesale of church-owned real estate.

It would be paid to atrust and then distributed to survivors, who would standtoreceive around $300,000 each if the funds were divided evenly

The figure does not include money that would comefromthe sale of Christopher Homes, aportfolio of 15 apartment complexes forlow-incomeseniors that is for saleand hasbeen estimatedby oneinterested buyer to be worth as much as $150 million.

Search forescapeescontinues

Twopeoplearrested, accused of aiding some of thefugitives

BY MISSY WILKINSON andJUSTIN MITCHELL Staff writers

Six days after10inmatesstaged abrazen escape from the Orleans Parishjail, half of them remained at large as multiple law enforcementagencies continued to sweep the city and the court systembegan processing those alreadycaptured Louisiana State Police arrested two women accused of aidingsome ofthe men after their escape, andthe ﬁve in custody as of Wednesday afternoon were ordered held without bail for being an “obvious

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR and SAM KARLIN Staff writers

Jack Montoucet, aformer secretary of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, was in-

ﬂight risk.

In Central City,anincreasingly familiar ritual played out as rifle-toting state troopers and armored vehicles arrived as thesun set in an attempttoflush out one of five remaining fugitives.

The previous nightsaw asuccessful apprehensioninthe 1400 block of IbervilleStreet,followed by afalse alarmin

St.Roch that sent helicopter searchlights roving and drones surveilling the neighborhood well into thenight

Residentswatched from nearby sidewalks anddoorsteps Wednesday as ofﬁcers poured into their neighborhood in a showofforce.

“‘Come outside, we have you surrounded’— Iheard that; it spooked me,” said Central CityresidentShainaSanabria.

“All of asudden(troopers) came from everywhere. Everywhere. Onelady had an AK-47. My heart dropped, for real. I

dicted Wednesday on charges that he participated in alucrative kickback scheme involving astate contract for online courses to resolve wildlife citations, an arrangement that unfolded over several years before unraveling in 2023.

The charges, ﬁledinLouisiana’s Western District,had been expected for months. Montoucet, along with Assistant District Attorney andLafayette city prosecutor Gary Haynes, was described—

Also not included in the settlement amount is acontribution from the remaining insurance carrier that is not party to the agreement. Thenews release indicatesthatthe agreementwould give survivors thelegal right to ﬁle their ownlawsuits against the company,which is not identiﬁed in the release.

If ﬁnalized, the settlement would

ä See DEAL, page 4A

didn’tknow what was going on.”

Within ahalf hour, however,policedispersed without making an arrest, presumably moving on tothe next lead.

Corvanntay Baptiste, 38, of Slidell, and Cortnie Harris, 32, New Orleans, were booked intothe Plaquemines Parish jail early Wednesday morning on afelony count each of accessory after the fact.

Harris is accused of transporting two escapees who are still on therun to multiple locations in New Orleans, State Police said. Investigatorsalso allege she useda phone to stayincontact with an at-large escapee beforethe jailbreak. Police did not namethe escapees she aided.

Investigators said Baptiste was in contact with 19-year-old Corey Boyd, who was found and arrested Tuesday night, before he ﬂed thejail. She also helped get

ä See SEARCH, page 4A

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Louisiana lawmakers learned Wednesday that they will have $139 millionmore to spend on next year’sbudget after economists said the state’srevenue outlook is in abit better shapethanpreviously forecast.

Thestate will also haveanadditional $130 million to spend during the current fiscal year that ends June 30, undera newofﬁcial forecast approved by the Revenue Estimating Conference, agroup of state leaders that approves ofﬁcial revenue projections which form the basis of spending plans built by lawmakers.

The additional funding could be spentonnextyear’sbudget in any number of ways, potentially including economicdevelopment initiatives, criminal justicesystem improvements,infrastructure, or restoring astatewidetutoring programthatwas recently removed from thelatestversionof the budget.

Greg Albrecht,the stateeconomist whocompiled the projections approvedWednesday,saidthe underlying base of the economy which includes factorslike income and employment —“is just alittle bit stronger than expected.”

Discussionsabout economicun-

ä See REVENUE, page 4A

but notidentifiedbyname —in the March 23, 2023, guiltyplea of Dusty Guidry,who handled pretrialdiversion programs forthe district attorneys in Lafayette and Baton Rouge. Guidry was also a gubernatorial appointeetothe Wildlife andFisheries Commission,a volunteerboard that helps setstate 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 tocommit money laundering. Don Cazayoux, an attorney representing Montoucet, didnot im-

mediately return amessage seeking comment Wednesday Haynes, 66, of Lafayette, was indicted by afederal grand jury in September and charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery,using his cellphone in furtherance of bribery,conspiracy to commitmoney laundering and obstruction of justice. Theindictment of Guidry and

ä See INDICT, page 5A

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Montoucet

BRIEFS

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

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.

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

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

Connolly

RICHMOND Va U.S. Rep Gerald “Gerry” 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

House Republicans with a 220-212 majority The spirited and at times bullheaded Fairfax Democrat became known for his voluble nature and willingness to engage in spirited debates.

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

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

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.

Trumpconfronts SouthAfrican leader

U.S. presidentmakes baseless claims of thesystematickilling of Whitefarmers

BY GERALD IMRAY and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump used aWhite House meeting to forcefully confront South African President CyrilRamaphosa,accusing the country of failing to address Trump’sbaseless claim of the systematickillingofWhite farmers.

Trump even dimmed the lightsof the Oval Ofﬁce to play avideo of a far-left politicianchantinga song that includes the lyrics “kill the farmer.” He also leafed through news articles to underscorehis point, saying the country’sWhite farmers have faced “death, death, death, horrible death.”

Trump had already cut all U.S. assistance to SouthAfricaand 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 returntoofﬁce, has launched aseries of accusations at South Africa’s Black-led government, claiming it is seizing land from Whitefarmers, enforcing anti-Whitepolicies and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy

ExpertsinSouth Africa say there is no evidence of Whites being targeted for theirrace, although farmers of all racesare victims of violent homeinvasions in acountry with ahigh crime rate.

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

President DonaldTrump greets South African PresidentCyril Ramaphosa at the White House in Washington on Wednesday

Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump’saccusation. The South African leader had sought to usethe meetingtoset therecord straight andsalvagehis country’srelationship with the United States. The bilateral relationship is at itslowest pointsince South Africaenforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.

“Weare completelyopposedto that,”Ramaphosa saidofthe behaviorallegedbyTrumpintheir exchange. He added, “that is not government policy”and “our government policyis completely, completely against what he was saying.”

Trump wasunmoved.

“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 alargeTVset to showaclip of an opposition party leader,Julius Malema, leading an old antiapartheid song

The songhas been contentious for years in the country because of its central lyrics “kill theBoer” and “shoot the Boer” —withBoer awordthat refers to aWhite farmer.Malema is not part of the country’sgoverning coalition.

Another clip played showed white crosses on theside of aroad, described as amemorial for White farmers who were killed. Ramaphosa seemed bafﬂed. “I’d like to know where thatis, because this I’ve never seen.”

Trumpkicked off the meeting by describing theSouth African presidentasa “truly respected man in many, many circles.”He added: “And in some circles he’s considered alittle controversial.”

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

Trumpissuedanexecutiveorder in February cutting all funding to South Africa over some of itsdomestic andforeign policies. The order criticized the South African

government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-White policiesathomeand supporting “badactors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.

Trump hasfalsely accusedthe South African government of rightsviolations against White Afrikaner farmers by seizing their land through anew expropriation law. No land has been seized and theSouth African government has pushed back,saying U.S. criticism is driven by misinformation.

The Trumpadministration’sreferences to the Afrikaner people who are descendants of Dutch and other European settlers —have alsoelevated previous claims made by Trump’sSouth 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 agenocide.

The administration’sconcerns aboutSouth African policies cut even deeper than the concerns about White farmers.

South Africa has also angered Trump over itsmovetobring 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’ssecond-largest telecom provider.Itowns nearly half of Irancell, ajoint venturelinked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ramaphosa served as board chair of MTN from 2002 to 2013.

Ramaphosa came into themeeting lookingtoavoid thesortof contentious engagement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy experienced during his February Oval Ofﬁcevisit,when theUkrainian leader found himself being berated by Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

“The problem in South Africa, it is notnecessarily about race, but it’s aboutcrime,” Losi said. “We are here to say how do we,both nations, work together to reset, to really talk about investment but also help …toreally address the levels of crime we have in our country.”

Muskalso attendedWednesday’s talks. He has been at the forefront of the criticism of his homeland, casting its afﬁrmative actionlaws as racist against Whites.

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

South African authorities say Starlink hasn’tformally applied. It can, but it would be bound by afﬁrmative action laws in the communications sectorthatrequire foreign companies to allow 30% of their South African subsidiaries to be owned by shareholders whoare Black or from other racial groups disadvantaged under apartheid.

TheSouth African government says itslong-standing afﬁrmative actionlaws areacornerstone of its efforts to right the injustices of the White minorityrule of apartheid, which denied opportunities to Blacks and other racial groups.

The South African president’s delegation included golfers Ernie Elsand Retief Goosen, agesture to the golf-obsessed U.S. president. Ramaphosa brought Trumpamassive book about South Africa’sgolf courses. He even told Trumpthat he’sbeen working on hisgolf game, seeming to angle foraninvitation to the links with the president. At one point, Ramaphosa called on Zingiswa Losi, the president of agroup of South African trade unions, who told Trump it is true that South Africa is a“violent nation foranumber of reasons.” But shetoldhim it wasimportant to understand that Blackmen and women in rural areas were also being targeted in heinous crimes.

DefenseDepartmentaccepts jetfromQatar forTrump’s use

BY LOLITAC.BALDOR Associated Press

WASHINGTON— Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted aluxury 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 theexpensive gift from a foreign nation.

The Defense Department will “work to ensure proper security measures” on the planetomakeitsafe 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 away to save tax dollars.

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

mediasite during thetrip.

Others,however,havesaid Trump’sacceptance of an aircraft that has been called a“palace in thesky” is aviolation of the Constitution’s prohibitiononforeign gifts. Democratshave been united in outrage, and evensomeof the Republican president’s GOP allies in Congress have expressed concerns.

“This unprecedented action is astain on theofﬁce of the presidency and cannot go unanswered,” said Senate Democratic LeaderChuck SchumerofNew York

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

Schumer has introduced legislationthatwould prohibitany foreignaircraft from being used as Air Force One andforbid use of taxpayermoney to modify or restore theaircraft

Critics also have noted the need to retroﬁtthe plane to meet security requirements, which would be costly and taketime.

“Far from saving money, this unconstitutionalaction will notonlycostour nation its dignity,but it will force taxpayers to wasteover $1 billionintaxpayerdollars to overhaul this particular aircraft when we currently have not one, but two fully operational and fully capable AirForce Oneaircraft,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.

She saidduringa hearing Tuesdaythatitisa “dangerous courseofaction” for the U.S. to accept the aircraft from theQatari ruling family Air Force Secretary Troy Meinktold senators that Hegsethhas ordered the service to start planning howtoupdate the jet to meet needed standards and acknowledgedthatthe plane will require “significant” modiﬁcations.

The Air Force, in astatement, said it is preparing to

JudgesaysU.S.governmentdidn’t follow courtorder on deportations

BYLINDSAYWHITEHURST, MICHAEL CASEY, REBECCA

SANTANA andTIM SULLIVAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The White House violated acourt order on deportations to third countries withaﬂight linked to the chaotic Africannation of South Sudan, afederal judge said Wednesday,hours after the Trump administration said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of violent crimes but refused to reveal where they would end up. Thejudge’sstatement was anotablystrong rebuke to the government’s deportation efforts.

In an emergency hearing he called to address reports thatimmigrants hadbeen sent to South Sudan, Judge BrianE.Murphy in Boston said the eight migrants aboard the plane werenot given ameaningful opportunity to object thatthe deportationcould putthemin 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’sorder,” Murphy said Wednesday, arguing that the deportees didn’thave “meaningful opportunity” to object to beingsenttoSouth Sudan. The group was ﬂown out of theUnited Statesjust hours aftergettingnotice, leavingthemnochanceto contact lawyers who could object in court. Government attorneysargued that the men had ahistory with theimmigration system,givingthemprior opportunities toexpress a fear of being deported to a country outside their homeland.Theyalso pointedout that the judge hadnot speciﬁed the exact time needed between notice and deportation,leaving room formisunderstanding. The migrants’homecountries —Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar,Vietnam and South Sudan —would not take themback, according to Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigrationand Customs Enforcement. He later said the migrants either

came from countries that oftendonot take back all their deported citizens or had other situations that meantthey could not be sent home.

“These represent the true national securitythreats,” Lyons said at anews conference. Behind himwas adisplay of photos of men he said had been convicted of rape, homicide, armedrobbery and other crimes.

Administration officials, who have repeatedly clashed with thecourts over their attemptstodeport large numbers of immigrants, made theirdispleasure 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 andwhile activist judges areonthe other side, ﬁghtingtoget them back onto the United States soil,” said Tricia McLaughlin, adepartmentspokesperson. She pointedtothe photographs and described them as “the monsters” that Murphy“is trying to protect.”

award acontract to modify a Boeing747 aircraft, but that any details are classiﬁed. Trumpwas asked about themove Wednesday.“They

are giving the United States Air Force ajet,” Trump said, bristling at being questioned about the giftbyareporter Trumpsaid it was given

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

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

him food while he was in hiding, State Police said.

If convicted, Harris and Baptiste could face ﬁnes of up to $500 or ﬁve years in prison, or both

“Those who choose to assist or conceal these individuals are violating the law and will be held accountable,” State Police Sgt. Kate Stegall said in a statement. “Harboring fugitives threatens the safety of our communities and will not be tolerated.”

Flight risk

The ﬁve inmates who have been recaptured so far — Kendall Myles, 20; Robert Moody 21; Dkenan Dennis, 24; Gary Price, 21; and Corey Boyd, 19 — appeared via Zoom before Magistrate Commissioner Jonathan Friedman on Wednesday afternoon.

All ﬁve have been rebooked on a single count of aggravated escape, and all appeared from Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola wearing shackles and white prison uniforms.

They are an “obvious ﬂight risk,” said Heather Hendrix, who was appearing for the Louisiana attorney general.

Public defender Bernadette Fox objected to the counts of aggravated escape, arguing the mass jailbreak didn’t “rise to the level of human life being in danger.” Friedman ordered them held without bail because of the ﬂight risk.

Murrill, Williams tour jail

The 10 inmates broke free from the New Orleans jail around 1 a.m. on May 16, climbing through a hole behind a toilet they pulled off a wall in a pod.

As of Wednesday evening, the other ﬁve missing inmates Antoine Massey, Lenton Vanburen, Jermaine Donald, Leo Tate and Derrick Groves were still on the run The latest arrest of the two women follows that of 33-year-old Sterling Williams, a maintenance worker at the jail who investigators allege cut water to the pod where the inmates escaped, allowing them to pull the toilet from the wall.

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also require the church, as previously agreed, to make public its full archive of records concerning sexual abuse.

“The Committee delivered on its commitment to provide survivors a settlement that provides fair compensation, transparency and, importantly unprecedented childprotection measures,” said Jim Stang, of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, which represented the survivors committee in the bankruptcy case. “We look forward to working with all survivors to bring this ﬁve-year bankruptcy case to an acceptable resolution.”

In a statement to New Orleans’ 500,000 Roman Catholics, Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he shared the news of the proposed settlement with local pastors earlier this week and has “great hope” for a success-

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certainty 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 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 projections. “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

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, who on Wednesday joined Attorney Gen-

ful resolution to the case.

“I am grateful to God for all who have worked to reach this agreement and that we may look to the future towards a path to healing for survivors and for our local church,” Aymond said. “To the survivors of abuse, please know that we hold you in our prayers and that I pray for you daily.”

Done deal?

The agreement marks a significant step in a case that is one of the longest-running and most expensive of the 40 abuse-related church bankruptcy cases filed in the U.S. over the past two decades. But the deal is tentative and still must overcome several hurdles. The most significant is gaining support — or overcoming opposition — of more than half a dozen plaintiff attorneys who represent individual abuse survivors and are asking U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Meredith Grabill to dismiss the case, which would enable them to bring

eral Liz Murrill to tour the crime scene at the jail, told a small crew of television reporters that “certainly more than one person” is responsible for the escape, and that he expects more arrests in the coming weeks.

Williams’ main goal, he said, was to see the crime scene for himself to determine “who all was involved in this jailbreak, who assisted, who knew, and when.”

state court suits against the church and potentially recover massive jury awards for their clients.

At least one abuse survivor, 58-year-old Richard Coon, said he would rather take his chances in state court than settle for what he feels is insufﬁcient compensation for decades of suffering.

“They’re getting closer, but it’s not enough,” said Coon, who was first abused by one priest as a 10-year-old and was raped at age 15 by another one. “I want to be optimistic, but I don’t trust this administration.”

Coon also resented that attorneys for the survivors committee announcing the proposed settlement before all survivors had been informed of the plan.

“It feels like it’s a done deal already,” he said. “We are just ﬁnding out about it on the news.”

The differing positions between the ofﬁcial committee, which, by law, represents the fiduciary interests of all abuse survivors in

After the tour, Murrill told reporters that the cell the inmates managed to escape from is no longer in use and the hole has been blocked off. She also urged the public “to continue to stay alert” and reach out to authorities if they feel unsafe.

The jailbreak has set up a battle between local and state leaders and Sheriff Susan Huston, who suspended her campaign for a sec-

the case, and certain attorneys and their clients sets up a potential showdown over the plan that will likely take center stage in the weeks and months to come.

Two-thirds of all claimants must vote to conﬁrm the settlement.

Brian Manix, 58, who was raped as a 10-year-old by Deacon George Brignac, said if the ballots went out tomorrow, he’d vote against it.

“It’s a joke,” he said. “No amount of money can compensate us for what we have been through.”

Next steps

Wednesday’s announcement comes as the judge has turned up the heat on attorneys to reach a settlement Earlier this month, she said she would decide in late June whether to dismiss the case, which has cost more than $45 million in legal fees alone, if she didn’t see evidence of substantial progress toward a resolution.

Last week attorneys for all sides in the case met for six hours in a

on the budget over the next few days ‘to hopefully have something

forward and get it to the governor’s desk.’

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 attracting 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 Louisi-

ana Department of Children and Family Services. He added that he’d like to “backﬁll” funding for high-dosage 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 sup-

ond term as sheriff Tuesday after apologizing earlier in the day at a New Orleans City Council meeting. The suspension also came after the revelations about Sterling Williams, the jail employee. Hutson, however, has also contended that the locks on a door that was forced open have long been an issue she’s been asking the city to ﬁx at the long-troubled jail, which is just 9 years old.

closed-door mediation in downtown New Orleans at the offices of the archdiocese’s attorney, Jones Walker, trying to finalize the outlines of the agreement announced Wednesday Court documents notifying Grabill of the agreement, which Aymond referred to in his letter as a memorandum of understanding, were expected to be filed late Wednesday Assuming talks between the two sides move forward, it will be weeks before a formal disclosure statement and reorganization plan are filed. Those documents will explain in detail where the settlement funds will come from and how the plan confirmation process will play out. In his letter, Aymond acknowledged “there remains much work to be done” to confirm the plan.

Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate. com.

port 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, 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 everybody’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.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Sen. Glen Womack, R-Harrisonburg, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said the Senate will be working

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Law enforcement personnel search for an escaped Orleans Parish prisoner in the 3600 block of Fourth Street in New Orleans on Wednesday.

National WeatherService cuts causingconcern

BY SETH BORENSTEIN AP science writer

WASHINGTON— As nasty tornadoes popped up from Kansas to Kentucky,adepleted National Weather Service wasinscramblemode.

The agency’soffice in Jackson, Kentucky,had begun closingnightly as deep cuts by Elon Musk’sDepartment of Government Efﬁciency began hitting. But the weather service kept staffers on overtime Friday night to stay on top of the deadly storms, which killed nearly 20 peopleinthe Jackson ofﬁce’sforecast area.

It’sascenario likelytoberepeated as the U.S. is on track to see more tornadoes this year than in 2024, which was the secondbusiest tornado year on record. Forecasters said there was at least a10% risk of tornadoesTuesday for10.6 million people in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Weather service veterans expressed concern about the agency’sability to keep up in the face of the cuts.

Rich Thompson,lead operations forecaster at the NWS Storm Prediction CenterinNorman, Oklahoma,saidthe jobis getting done. But he acknowl-

INDICT

Continued from page1A

several others unveiled a sprawling bribery scheme involving the Lafayette criminaljustice system andMontoucet’s statewide wildlife agency, which he oversaw after being tapped by formerGov.John Bel Edwards. Court documents, interviews and other federalrecords indicate that federal authorities had secured two wiretap orders in thecase in August 2021. Over afourmonthperiod,theylistened in on more than 6,000 calls, roughly 1,500 of which were describedas“incriminating.” One such call, in which Guidry discussed taking a$12,500 kickback froma 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 as well as with at least one vendor contracting with the Louisiana Departmentof Wildlife and Fisheries. The latter scheme netted Guidry $89,000, he has said.

The indictment issued Wednesday allegesMontoucet and Guidry set up a scheme to give astate contract to DGL1, acompany run by Lafayette businessman Leonard Franques, to provide onlineeducational courses that sportsmen

edged that staffing cutshave “madeitharder on us.”

“Ithas made it hard on thelocal ofﬁces just to make sure that we have all of ourimportant duties covered. But,Imean, most of the people take thoseimportant duties seriously,so we’regoing to do what it takes to cover it,” Thompson said.“Ihope we’renot in the same stafﬁng situation long term It would be hard to sustain this for months or years.”

NWS spokespersonErica Grow Cei said the Jackson office “remained fully staffed through the durationof the event using surge staffing”and hadsupport from neighboring ofﬁces.

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 grandjury, to accept and agreetokickbacks from Franquesinreturnfor being inﬂuenced inconnection with awarding astate contract to DGL1,” the Justice Department said in anewsrelease.

According to the indictment, from Nov.10, 2021, until June 10, 2022, Wildlife and Fisheries received $454,174 from thecontract signedbyMontoucet, of which $122,508 was held as akickbackfor Montoucet, to be paid after he leftofﬁce

The indictment alleges that Montoucet, Guidry and Franques agreed that after Montoucet’s retirement from the department,they would hire Montoucet and pay his kickbacks as apurported “signing bonus,” in orderto concealthe true nature of the funds

If convicted, Montoucet facesa sentence ofupto five years in prison on the conspiracy count,upto20 years in prisononthe wire fraud andmoney laundering counts, anda ﬁneofupto$1 million.

Resignations,guiltypleas

Franquespleaded guilty in January in federal court for his role in the scheme after being indictedinDecember Montoucet, an appointee of Edwards, alongtimepolitical ally,had beenexpected to leavehis Wildlifeand Fisheriespostatthe end ofEdwards’ secondterm, which

More extremeweather

The StormPrediction Center had tallied883 local tornado reports this year as of Monday,which was 35% higher than averagefor this time of year

Many former weather service employees,especially thoseﬁred by the Trump administration, remain connectedtothe agency’s innerworkings. They describe an agency that’ssomehow getting forecasts and warnings out in time, but is also near thebreaking point “They’llcontinuetoanswer the bell as long as they can, but you can only askpeople to work 80 hours or 120 hours aweek, you know for

wrapped up in January2024.

Instead, he resignedinApril 2023 after newsofthe allegationsinGuidry’sguiltyplea emerged. Edwards said afterMontoucet resigned that he was a“dear friend” and that it was “difficult forme to believe that he engaged in anything improper.” Taken together,the allegations against Montoucet andthe crimes Guidry has already admittedmay make up the mostsignificant corruption scandal of Edwards’ tenure. Court documentssay the departmentcontract in question was signed on Oct. 8, 2021,byMontoucet 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 lawsuitand awhistleblower complaintthatclaimed he was “unethical” and“reckless” in running theagency Aformer contractor for

so long,”said Elbert “Joe” Friday, aformer weatherservicedirector. “They maybesobleary-eyed, they can’tidentifywhat’sgoing on on theradar.”

TomDiLiberto, aweather service meteorologistand spokesman who was fired in earlier rounds of thejob cuts, said the situation is likeaboat with leaks “and you have acertainamount of pieces of duct tape and you keep moving duct tapetodifferent holes. At somepoint, you can’t.”

As of March, someofthe weather service ofﬁces issuing tornado warnings Friday and Sunday were above the 20% vacancy levels that outsideexperts have said is acritical threshold. Those include Jackson, with a25% vacancy rate, Louisville, Kentucky,witha 29% vacancy rate, and Wichita, Kansas, with a32% vacancy rate, according to data compiled by weather serviceemployeesand obtained by theAP.

Technologies used to predict tornadoes have signiﬁcantly improved, but radarcan’t replace awell-rested staff that has to ﬁgure outhow nasty or long-lasting stormswill be and how to getinformation to the public, said Karen Kosiba, managingdirector of the Flexible Array of Mesonetsand Radars (FARM) facility, a network of weather equipment used for research

“There really are not enough people to handle everything,” said University of Oklahomameteorology professor Howard Bluestein, who chased six tornadoes Sunday

Montoucet’sagency raised concerns thatMontoucet allegedlypressured it to send achunk of fees it collected to Franques’ company.Another contractor complained that Montoucet picked Franques for acontract even though Franques’ bidsentfar less money to the agency than the company already doing the work.

Diversionprograms

Guidry,who worked as acontractor for 15th JudicialDistrict AttorneyDon Landry,has said he worked withHaynes, who was an

“Ifthe station is understaffed, that could affect the quality of forecasts.”

Cuts hitindifferent ways

Former weather serviceDirector Louis Uccellini said budget cuts have drastically reduced the number of weather balloonlaunches, which provide critical information for forecasts. And weather service workers aren’tbeing allowed to travel to help train local disaster officials for what to do whenthey get dangerous weather warnings, he said.

Though thenumberoftornadoes is nearly at arecord pace, Thompson and other experts said the tornado outbreak of the last fewdays is mostlynormal forthistime of year For tornadoes to form,the atmosphere needsa collisionofwarm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and storm systemschugging through via the jet stream,the river of airthatbrings weatherfronts from west to east, said Thompson, Bluestein and Harold Brooks of the weather service’sNational Severe Storm Laboratory

“The moisture that we’re getting from the Gulf of Mexico is a lot morethan we used to get,” said Bluestein. “That makes thelikelihood that we’re getting astronger storm higher and that’spretty unusual.”

Temperatures in the Gulf are a couple of degrees warmer than usual forthis timeofyear,according to the weather service.

employeeofthe office, to steer defendants into diversion programsrun by four companies.

Landry has said that Guidry and Haynes loosened therulesunder which defendants could qualify for diversion —aprocess that allows adefendant to emerge witha clean criminal record provided they completecertain requirements that come at aprice.

Landry has said he retightened the rules after the FBI raidedthe districtattorney’s ofﬁces in May 2022 and said they were investigating

the diversion program.He letGuidry go at that time. Haynes has been on leave. Joseph Prejean, of Church Point, ownerofC&A Consulting, waschargedinNovember 2023 with one count of conspiracy to defraud thefederal government for conspiring with Guidry andHayneswho 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.

BRIEFS

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

BYTIMOTHYBOONE 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-

lando, Phoenix and Seattle. 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.

BYCORA LEWIS Associated Press

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

The disclosure corresponded withreportsby lendingplatforms 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 Trumpadministration moves to collect on federal student loans.

Shoppers who opt to finance purchases through BNPL services tend to be younger than the average consumer,and astudy from the FederalReservelast yearsaidBlack 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 study wrote “This concernisconsistent with previous research that has shown consumers spend more when BNPL is offered when checkingout and that BNPL use leadstoanincrease in overdraft feesand 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 last year,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.

AnAprilreportfromLendingTreesaidabout 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 wereeasierto 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.”

BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer

The “big, beautiful bill” making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives has further fueled the nation’sdivisions, butone little-known aspect of it has managedtounite Louisianans from across the political spectrum. The federal spending bill as it stands now includes aprovision 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 adecade not exactly agold rush,but nothing to sneeze at either It’sachange long-sought by Louisiana political leaders, pushed for years by formerDemocratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and taken up by the state’scurrent, mainly Republican congressional delegation. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, RJefferson, was instrumental in including the measure in the bill. It has been among the top-

ics discussed at this week’s State of the Coastconference in New Orleans, alargegathering of political leaders, policymakers andscientists organized every two years by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana nonproﬁt Landrieu, in particular,used herappearancetoarguethat thestate was being shortchanged and must be given the resources to protect residents that workinthe industries that have long beneﬁted the nation.

State ofﬁcials are reasonably conﬁdent themeasure could remain in the House version of the bill given its backing by Scaliseand House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, though there are noguarantees. The measure would then have to survive the U.S. Senate, where theoutcome is cloudier

One advantagethe state hasisthatthe change is so obscure when compared to other partsofthe bill being angrilydebated that it may remain farunder theradar for rancor

Thestate’scoastal leaders, who are facing asharp declineinavailable revenue for projects in theyears ahead,have been touting the

potential change to partof the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, commonly referred to as GOMESA.

“GOMESA is our largest source of recurringrevenue (for coastal projects),” said GlennLedet, executivedirectorofthe state’sCoastal Protection and Restoration Authority.“And so thisisthe largest increase that we’ve obviously ever had to that funding source.”

‘Helps make us great’

Regardless of whether it passes, it will not be the endofthe battle. Louisiana ofﬁcialswill continue working to further increasethe amount of offshore revenue through changes toother aspectsofGOMESA.

Their argument includes pointing to the far larger percentageofrevenue Westernstatesreceive from mineral extraction on federal lands.Theyalsonote that investingincoastal restoration andstormprotection now saves thenation later in disaster recovery funding.

Landrieu,who wasthe prime mover behind the originalGOMESA bill in 2006, saidScalise and Johnson deserve credit for

including the change,but that the state must push for more. She also madethe case that thestate deserves its share considering the importance tothe nation of the Gulf and Mississippi River

“So when Ihear presidents talk aboutenergy dominance, when Ihear senators and House members talk about‘we are going to be great ’how about starting greatness at homeonthe energycoast that helps make us great?” she said.

“Weare apoor state. Why put the burdenonus? We have to get the nation to understand this, or we are doomed.”

Declineinfunding

There is reason for serious concern.

Louisiana hasused billions in proceedsfromﬁnes and settlements relatedto the2010 BP oil spill to build large-scalecoastal 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 abillion a year in investment to keep up with Louisiana’sneeds, particularly as its land loss

crisis accelerates and hurricanes intensify

Theprovision at stake is part of acomplicated formula that determineshow much offshore revenue Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi andAlabama 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 receives the most of the four states, $156 millionfor the last ﬁscal year The change includedinthe 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 officialsestimate that Louisiana could stand to gain an extra $46 millionper year, or $460 millionover the next decade, if the cap is hit each of those years.

There is precedent for thechange. Thecap was previously raisedto$650 millionfor ﬁscal years2020 and2021, but theamount of revenue did not reach the

limit during those pandemic years and no extra funds were received. State leaders point in part to a1920law that grants Western states half of the revenue from onshore energy and mineral mining in arguingfor larger changes. Louisiana’s congressional delegation has introduced two bills that would further increase the state’sshare, but the legislation has stalled. Including the lifting of the cap in what is knownasthe “reconciliation”bill —what President Donald Trump has calledthe “big, beautiful bill” —allows the state’sdelegation to have it approved without separate legislation. If it makesitthrough the House and Senate, the higher cap would expire in adecade and return to $500 million. The original GOMESA law, however, says the cap would be eliminated in 2056. Email Mike Smith at msmith@theadvocate.com or followhim on Twitter,@ MikeJSmith504. Hiswork is supported withagrant from theWalton Family Foundation, administered by theBaton Rouge Area Foundation.

Presidential task forcelooks at dismantlingFEMA

Trumpgroup seekstostart over with agency

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON FEMA needs to be eliminated and reopened undera newname that better reflects anew role in handling disasters, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday to anew presidential task force charged with recommending changes in the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency

“The president has said to me many timesthathe believes that FEMA should be eliminated as it exists,” Noem told the FEMA Review Council’sinaugural meeting.

“What that means is that Ineedyou to reimagine this agency.Ifwedowhat the president has tasked us to do, Ibelieve this agency needs to be renamed,” Noem added.

“Ourgoalis for states to manage their emergenciesand we come in and support them.”

For instance, she saidthat, after major disasters, states should receive aset sum of money,called block grants, rather than have most expenses paid by the federal government. State and local ofﬁcials better understand needs and can get the money into the right hands much quicker

Noem co-chairs the task force with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who did not attend Tuesday’sfirst meeting of the Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency

PresidentDonaldTrump has repeatedly calledfor an endtoFEMA. He established what’scalled theFEMAReview Council with an executive order on Jan. 24 —a few days after taking ofﬁce. The future of FEMA is particularly importantto hurricane-prone Louisiana. Since2003, Louisiana has received nearly $47 billion for 28 disasters —more thanany other state—that helped 3.5 million householdsand nearly43,000 public assistance projects.

Noem has agreed with Trumpthat thebeleaguered federalagency is slow to deliverrelief, costs federal taxpayers too much and operates under rules that clip stateand local governments’ ability to handle reliefand recovery after disasters such as hurricanes, ﬂoods, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildﬁres and thelike.

In 2024 alone, FEMA responded tomore than 100 disasters, including two catastrophichurricanes, that required Congress in December to approve billions of dollars in additional relief funds.

Over thepast four years, FEMA has provided more than $12 billion to individualsand $133 billion to state and local governments, tribal nations, territories and somenonprofits to helpin recovery efforts.

Thecouncil is to make recommendations for changes by summer.

“I don’twant you to go into this thinking that we’ll make alittle tweak here, a little delegation of authority over here. That we’re going to maybe to cut some dollars from somewhere. No, FEMA

should no longer exist as it is. He wants this to be anew agency,” Noem said.

Former Mississippi Gov Phil Bryant, who servesas an assistant chair,told his panel colleagues that FEMA is “goingtohavetobetorn down”completely andrebuilt.Hesaid the council membersshould go intothis exercise with thinking that differsfromthe traditional reliance on the federal government and reorient to something more akin to a partnership.

States, for instance, should tap their “rainy day” funds —createdfor down economic times— to help provide disaster relief for their citizens, Bryant said.

“FEMA is slowand clunky,” agreed TexasGov Greg Abbott, amember of thecouncil. “Wehave to streamline their effort.”

Trump hasbeen moving toward adramatic makeover of the agency since the campaign.

The administration’sproposed budget for thenext fiscal year cuts FEMA’s funding by $646 million. FEMA also has suspended or stoppedtaking applications forseveral programs aimed at mitigating disaster damage through infrastructure improvements, such as strengthening levees and raising structures.

The administration’sﬁrst pick to run theagency,Cameron Hamilton, lost his job theday after he testified before aHouse subcommittee that FEMA should not be eliminated.

The 2025 hurricane season begins June 1, and weather experts arepredicting up to 18 named storms, 10 of

whichshouldbesigniﬁcant andasmanysix hitting the U.S. mainland.

FEMA was established in 1979 at the insistence of Southerngovernors who wanted amore coordinated federal relief effort. Almost from the beginning, Congress respondedtocomplaints by noncoastal states by imposing tighter fiscal controls and expandingthe agency’smission.

In addition to Abbott and Bryant,the council includes Mark Cooper,who was formerchief of staff for Democratic Gov.JohnBel

Edwards and director of the Governor’sOfﬁcefor Homeland Security under Republican Gov.Bobby Jindal. Other membersofthe council include:

n Jane Castor, mayorof Tampa, Florida.

n Rosie Cordero-Stutz, sheriffofMiami-Dade County,Florida.

n Robert Fenton Jr., Region 9administrator and former acting administrator of FEMA.

n EvanGreenberg, CEO of insurancecompanyChubb Limited.

n Kevin Guthrie, execu-

tive director of theFlorida DivisionofEmergency Management.

n W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas DivisionofEmergency Management. n Michael Whatley,chair of the Republican National Committee. n Virginia Gov.Glenn Youngkin.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.

DOJdrops civilrightsaccusations againstLa. StatePolice

BY JAMES FINN Staff writer

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

The Department’sCivil Rights Division, which President Donald Trump’sappointees havegutted 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 launchedin2022. It sought to explain howculture across the agency en-

abled widespread useofexcessive force, focusing on a seriesofviolent encounters between Whitestate troopers and Black drivers over several years in rural north Louisiana

The investigation also reviewed allegations of awideranging cover-up by top State Policebrass following the 2019 death of Ronald Greene, whowas shocked with aTaser,beaten and forced ontohis belly as he howled for mercy following atrafﬁc stop by state troopers in Union Parish,according to body camera video later published by The Associated Press. The Departmentof Justiceissued a32-page report on State Police days before Trump tookofﬁce in January,callingGreene’s death a“totalfailure” and accusingtroopersof repeatedly using force on people who “do not pose a

threat or aﬂight risk.”

Dropping the investigation represents an endto the “failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders andpolice departmentswith factually unjustiﬁedconsent decrees,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillonsaid in astatement Wednesday

The move to revoke those ﬁndings underscores widereaching impacts to local agencies of Trump’songoing Department of Justice overhaul. Had the review remained active, Louisiana State Police might have found itself underyearsof federal oversight akin to scrutiny faced by theNew OrleansPolice Department under itsyearslong federal consent decree.

The future of theNOPD consent decree, too, is uncertain given Trump’snew priorities for theJustice Department.

“The Louisiana State Police continues to work diligently on improving our relationshipwith ourcommunities, law enforcement partners, political leaders, and agency personnel,” Major Nick Manale, aState Police spokesperson, said in responsetothe decision.

Louisiana Gov.Jeff Landry and AttorneyGeneral Liz Murrill, both Republicans, cheered the department’s decision Wednesday Newpriorities

Trump, who was charged by federal prosecutors beforewinning November’s presidential election, has installedloyalists atop the Department of Justice, ﬁred those who oppose him and gutted branches of the agency he deems at odds with his administration’sgoals,including the Environmental Crimes, Public Corruption and Civil RightsDivisions.

Thedepartmenthas refocused on immigration, increasingly prosecuting lowlevelimmigration-related felonies.

The focus of the Civil Rights Divisionhas always “ebbedand ﬂowed” across presidentialadministrations, said Kenneth Polite, awhite-collarcriminal attorney and former top DOJ ofﬁcial.

“But Ican tell you that under this particular administration,those offices are also now storing the furniture of the Environmental Division,” after seeing so manycuts, said Polite, who wasthe U.S. attorneyinNew Orleans underformer President Barack Obama.

Family’s closure

The decisiontothrowout allegations against Louisiana State Police shuts the door on onepotential source of closure sought by

Greene’s family.Greene’s mother,Mona Hardin, had pushed forcriminal charges for troopers involved in her son’s death.Hardin did not immediately respond to a phone message Wednesday The cepartmentissuedits now-revoked report on State Policedays after federal prosecutors toldGreene’s family in January that they would notseek criminal charges against any of those troopers. State prosecutors secured chargesagainst several troopers in December 2022. Prosecutorslater dropped the most serious criminal charge against one of those troopers, Kory York, who pleaded guilty to alesser charge under adeal with the local district attorney James Finncovers politics forThe Times-Picayune | Nola.com. Email himat jﬁnn@theadvocate.com.

DOJmoves to endpolicereformsettlements in Minneapolis, Louisville

BY STEVE KARNOWSKIand

ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

The Justice Department moved Wednesday to cancelsettlements with Minneapolisand 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 racialinjustice protestsin the summerof2020.

The Trump administration also announced it was retracting the findingsof 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 localpoliceforcesitaccused of widespread abuses.The Trump administration accused previous Justice Department leadershipofusing ﬂawed legal theories to judge police departmentsand pursuing costly and burdensome court-enforced settlements knownasconsent decrees to address alleged problems it argues arebetterdealt with at the local level.

“It’sour 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. Dhillon, thenew leader of the division, told reporters.

The Justice Department announced its decision just before thefive-yearanniversary ofthe murder of

George Floyd. Then-ofﬁcer

Derek Chauvin usedhis knee on May 25, 2020, topin the Black mantothe pavement for9½ minutesina case that sparked protests around the world and anational reckoning with racism and police brutality

The Bidenadministration launched pattern-or-practice investigations intopolice departments acrossthe 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 andLouisville but the settlements had yet to be approved by ajudge.

KristenClarke, who led theCivil RightsDivision under theBiden administration,defended the ﬁndings of thepoliceinvestigations of heroffice, noting that they were “ledbycareer at-

torneys,based on data, body camera footage and information providedbyofﬁcers themselves.”

“Towholesale ignore and disregard these systemic violations, laid bare in well-documented and detailed public reports, shows patent disregard forour federalcivil rights andthe Constitution,” Clarke said in astatementto The Associated Press.

The Trump administration saiditwas also reviewing morethan adozen police consentdecrees that remain in place across theU.S.The Justice Departmentwould have to convince ajudge to back away from thosealready-ﬁnalized settlements —a move that some communities may oppose.

Dhillon, the Civil Rights Division chief, noted that both Louisville andMinneapolis arealready taking action at the local level to makechanges and impose

oversight without the federal government’shelp. She cited the hefty cost on communitiestocomply withfederal oversight —sometimes formore than adecade and what she described as problemsand abuses in the consent decree monitoring system

“There is alack of accountability.There is alack 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 underasimilarconsent decree with the Minnesota HumanRights Department. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara pledged at anews conference Wednesday that the city will abide by the terms of the federalagreementasitwas signed.

“Wewillcomplywith ev-

erysentenceofevery paragraph of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year,” said Frey.“We will makesure that we are movingforward withevery sentence of every paragraph of both the settlement around the MinnesotaDepartment of Human Rights, as well as the consent decree.” In Kentucky,the city of Louisville hadreached an agreement with the Justice Department to reform its policeforce after afederal probe thatfound Louisville police engaged in apattern of violating constitutional rights anddiscrimination against the Black community Louisville Mayor Mayor Craig Greenberg said the city remains committed to reforming its police force andwill be soliciting applications from candidates who want to serve as an independent monitor

ThePearl is amonthlymagazine showcasing the bestofNew Orleans FASHION, LIFE,and DESIGN.From curated trend storiestoprofiles on local leadersand creatives, residents and visitorsalikewill benefitfrom thisstylishguide. readers, in Gambit +Times-Picayune —morethanany lifestyle magazine in NewOrleans.

232,000 THE PEARL’S REACH: INCL UDING

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FA SH

Firefighters seek higher pay

Nearly 100 pack Jefferson Parish meeting

BY LARA NICHOLSON Staff writer

Firefighters from Jefferson Parish’s east bank are once again beating the drum on a yearslong feud with the parish administration over their pay scale

Nearly 100 ﬁreﬁghters from the East Bank Consolidated Fire Department packed into the Parish Council chambers in Gretna

Shifting UNO to LSU system costly

La. would pay $80M over next five years

BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer

A plan to make the University of New Orleans part of the LSU system could cost the state more than $80 million over the next ﬁve years — and the move won’t happen unless state legislators secure the funds. The plan would have UNO leave the University of Louisiana system and move back to the LSU system, which governed the university from its founding until 2011. The move would set the state back more than $81 million over five years, including more than $40 million next ﬁscal year to pay off UNO’s debt, cover transition costs and pay for some deferred maintenance, according to estimates that LSU gave the Legislature.

A bill by Sen. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, that would clear the way for the move has made it through two state Senate committees and is expected to come up for a vote next week. It was amended to say that the plan will move

ä See SHIFTING, page 3B

on Wednesday to pressure the administration to increase their pay, saying the starting wage of $10.53 per hour fails to adequately compensate them or support their families.

The ﬁreﬁghters have also taken shots directly at Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng, both in Wednesday’s meeting and in social media posts, to accuse her of ignoring their pleas and stalling negotiations with pay stud-

ies. The issue of firefighter pay, however, predates Lee Sheng’s administration by decades. Lee Sheng said the $10.53 hourly wage is a mischaracterization of their actual take-home pay, as firefighters are also given supplemental pay from the state and guaranteed overtime. Altogether, she says the actual starting pay for a firefighter is

ä See FIREFIGHTERS, page 2B

Robert Burkett, president of the Jefferson Parish Firefighters Association of Louisiana Local 1374, speaks during a Jefferson Parish Council meeting in Gretna on Wednesday.

A broader vision of care

BY KASEY BUBNASH Staff writer

See GREEN, page 3B

BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer

BY JOHN POPE Contributing writer

Gene Bourg, a New Orleans journalist who, after a career writing and editing newspaper stories, achieved national recognition as a food writer for books and magazines, died Saturday at Winnﬁeld Nursing and Rehabilitation Center He was 86. The Rev Louis Sklar who visited Bourg regularly, conﬁrmed the death. Bourg donated his body to science, Sklar said.

A native

“He fell right into it,” said Charles A. Ferguson, Bourg’s editor, who likened Bourg to M.F.K. Fisher, the renowned food writer, because Bourg’s reviews covered much more than food. Case in point: a 1989 review of Galatoire’s, in which Bourg not only demonstrated an encyclopedic knowledge of the menu offerings but also conveyed the distinctive ambience of the 120-year-old French Quarter bistro. Galatoire’s, he wrote, possesses “unstudied Creole elegance, the atmosphere of a timeless Parisian grand cafe and the conviviality of a marvelous cocktail party.”

“He was a gifted writer, so he wasn’t just a pedantic scribe,” said

Archie Manning and his son, Cooper, left, look at their notes before stepping on stage as they help host a luncheon at Manning Family Children’s in New Orleans on Wednesday.

STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER

Retired NFL quarterback Archie Manning, center, smiles with pride as he walks off the stage after sharing his family’s appreciation for Manning Family Children’s in New Orleans on Wednesday.

STAFF PHOTO

BRETT DUKE

N.O.-areaflood protection boardunabletoholdmeeting

Panelhas faced wave of resignations

BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer

The New Orleans areaﬂood protection authority failed to hold its scheduled meeting Wednesday after board President Roy Carubba said he had aschedulingconﬂict, leaving it without aquorumand unable to approve the agency’shurricane plan days before the start of storm season.

The board has been left with only five of nine members after four resigned in protest ofchanges pursued by Gov.Jeff Landry and unofficial adviser Shane Guidry It needed all ﬁve present to meet quorum, and Carubba’sabsence

left just four,causingthe meetingto be canceled.

The boardwill meet next in June, after the official start of hurricane season.

Carubba, who said he could notmake the meetingbecause he was servingasan expert witness in alegal proceeding, downplayedthe urgency of the vote.

“There’snothing on our agenda that is so mission-critical that we hadtohave ameeting,” he said.

On the agenda was arevised version of the agency’semergency management plan, which outlines staff responsibilities during a storm. Without aquorum, the board couldn’tapprove it, leaving the

SouthLouisiana Flood Protection Authority-East withoutanofﬁcially sanctioned version of theplanas hurricane season begins June 1.

“It’skind of like theBible,” board member Clay Cossé said of the plan. Heemphasized, however,that theboard’sapproval was largely procedural, and the agency was prepared for storm season regardless.

“Our guys are all over that,” he said. “They’re on top of it.”

Carubba also emphasizedthat the agency was preparedfor hurricane season. He stressed that he was in direct communication with theagency’sstaff andwas assured of their preparedness.

“Inkeeping with my duties as president, Iwenttothe back and met with ourmaintenancepeople again,”hesaid. “I thinkit’sextremely important that people know thatthe men that have to go outand do this job arebeing attended to the way they should’ve been before.”

The four board members resigned as Carubba pursued changes at the agency that involved elevating the role of itspolicechief, Joshua Rondeno. In aresignation letter,three saidthey had seen “morale, readinessand focuson flood protection” diminish under Carubba’sleadership.

Meanwhile,abill is making its waythrough thelegislaturethat would give the Coastal Protection andRestoration Authority aseat on the committee that nominates

members to the board. Aprevious version of that bill proposed to do away with the nominating committee entirely and given the governor more control over appointments. Some of thechangesbeing pursued have raised concerns that reformsput in place at the agency afterHurricane Katrinawerebeing eroded.Pushback in thestate Legislature has helped ease some of those concerns. As he has in previous interviews, Carubba asked areporter to runhis statements by Guidry before publishing them. Though Guidry holds no ofﬁcialrolewith the agency,Carubba has said he reports to him. Guidry didnot immediatelyrespond to aphonecallonWednesday Email AlexLubbenatalex. lubben@theadvocate.com.

specialists to treatcomplex conditions so children do nothaveto leave Louisiana for care andincorporating health care intoschools andthe community

“Today we are here to reintroduce ourselves,” said Children’s CEO Lou Fragoso, citing years of work by LCMC Health CEO Greg Feirn and the Board of Trustees and a$350 million renovation of the decades-old campus. That work, he said, has led to the recruitment of 200new physicians, the development of 40 multidisciplinary clinics and the establishment of one of the only sickle cell gene therapy treatment centers for kids in the world. The hospital also invested more than $50 million in community programs last year

Officialsmadeclear that the hospital’sreintroduction is part of abroader effort to solidifyits position as the state’s leading provider of pediatric care —especially as Ochsner breaks ground on its children’shospital less than 4miles awayonits Jefferson Highway campus

Despite Manning Family Children’sgrowth and investment, Fragoso said the hospital still faces challenges in distinguishing itself in the public eye,particularly as competition in pediatriccare increases.

“What we haven’tdone is enough to tell the story and to make sure that you …know the story,” said Fragoso. “That you knowthe difference between acomprehensive children’shospitaland the bou-

LouFragoso, center, presidentand CEO of Manning Family Children’s, shakes handswithDr. Mark Kline, chief medicalofficerand physician in chief, during apanel discussionatManning Family Children’sinNew Orleans on Wednesday. The hospital hosted the event to mark its 70-year historyand to hear from guestspeakers Archie Manning and his son, Cooper.Children’sHospitalNew Orleans wasrenamed Manning Family Children’s earlier thisyear,marking the first time in its long historyithas taken on apatron’sname.

tiquedepartmentofpediatrics that is runbyanadult hospital.You all know who I’m talking about,” he added,promptingscatteredlaughter from the audience.

ArchieManning delivereda keynotethat echoedthe hospital’s goalsofkeeping children in Louisiana for treatment and deepening its roots in the community.

“AsI begin my fourthquarterat age 76, itbrings me great joy to be

aligning our family and our name to the mission of Children’sHospital in this newchapterasManning Family Children’s,” he said.

Family banter between Archie andCooper Manningfollowed as Cooper Manning moderated twopanels of physicians who described theirwork and patients.

“I askedCooperhow he wanted to be introduced —asthe smartest Manning, the wealthiest Man-

dituresgotoward personnel services, including salary and beneﬁts, according to the 2025 parish budget

$16.97 per hour Lee Sheng said 49 Fire Department employees out of 294 make less than $50,000 per year,while 127 employees make $50,000$100,000 annually.Another 95 employees make $100-150,000 per year,and 23 make over $150,000 per year

“My points about the financial aspect should in no way be taken as asign that their work is not valued or that I’m not personally grateful for what they do for us every single day,” Lee Sheng said. “This is simply adiscussion of the data and the finances of that department.” She added that state law requires any changes to the bottom of the payscale be matched all the way to the top, making increases to starting pay for firefighters aloftygoal to achieve financially

The East Bank ConsolidatedFire Department is mostlyfundedbya property tax of 23.76 mills, which generates about $50.1 million per year About 78% of budgeted expen-

Afirefighter pay study analyzing compensation from 2020-22 found that the starting salary is below market rate, butthatmidlevel career firefightersreceive higher paythan neighboring areas.

The parishapproved a5%raise forall firefighters in 2023, and LeeSheng requested another pay study to analyzethe department’s competitiveness under the current rate. The new studyisexpected to be complete in thecoming weeks.

Robert Burkett, president of the JeffersonFirefighters’ Association, wants the parish to increase base pay to $18 an hour,and believes Lee Sheng canﬁnd money to do so withoutincreasing the department’sproperty tax.

He also argues that alarge portion of firefighters’ wages are taken up by insurance costs, and that surrounding parishes’ fire departments offerworkers thesame state supplemental pay and other benefits, but with ahigher hourly wage. In OrleansParish,entry-level fire recruits receive$15 per hour

Firefighters and their supporters stand as RobertBurkett, presidentofthe Jefferson Parish Firefighters Association of Louisiana Local 1374, speaks during a Jefferson Parish Council meeting in Gretna on Wednesday.

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT

DUKE

“All we ask is that these men andwomen on adepartmentwho protect our citizens be paid fairly andadequatelyand compensated forthe hours thatwework,”Burkettsaid. “Wewould need almost a$3-per-hour increase acrossthe board just to make up the difference in health insurance cost per family.”

JeffersonParishfirefighters receive the same insurance as all other parish employees.

The Jefferson Parish firefighters stood in solidarity as each one approached the dais to air their grievances.

Stephen Orkus Jr., aﬁreﬁghter of eight years, saidhetakes home $1,100 per paycheck after paying $600 forhis family’shealthinsurance. “I can’teven afford ahouse or mortgage in Jefferson Parish off that salary,” Orkus said. “I can work another job, and Ido. Iactually work two more jobs. We all do, because we’re hardworking, bluecollared Americans.”

Debates about firefighter pay date as far back as 1989, when ﬁreﬁghters stormedformer

over failed pay negotiations.

ning, the best-looking Manning —and he said all of the above,” Archie Manning said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Eight providers shared stories of patient care that highlighted the hospital’scollaborative model.

Dr.Megan Campbell, achild psychiatrist, recounted the case of a14-year-old girl who suddenly began hallucinating and exhibit-

ing severe psychiatric symptoms. Labwork ultimatelyrevealed autoimmune brain inﬂammation caused by atumoronher ovaries, an often-missed diagnosis that the team caught within ﬁve days.

“Itusuallytakes months to get this diagnosis,” Campbell said.

Dr.Brett King, director of oral and maxillofacial surgery,described treating agirl who lost her upper lip and part of her cheek afterbeing impaledbya street sign during acar crash. She was ﬁrst treated at another hospital in Louisiana, but surgeonsat Manning Family Children’shad to revise that work before reconstructing herface through multiple operations.

“There are dentists involved, maxillofacial surgeons, plastic andreconstructive surgeons, orthodontists, all these different specialtiesare employed in this onehospital to provide thiscare,” King said.

Beyond expanding medical specialties,hospital leadersemphasized abroader vision of care that includes tackling trauma, behavioral health and other social factors that affect children’sfutures through Thrive Kids,a community-basedprogram thatbrings health care into schools.

“Wedon’tjust treat life-threatening diseases,” Fragoso said. “Wetreat future-threatening diseases too. Because if we’re only solving medical problems and ignoring the social ones —trauma, grief, mental health, suicide, violence —then we’re not changing health.We’re just treating symptoms.”

Email Emily Woodruff at ewoodruff@theadvocate.com.

Carubba Cossé

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

N.O. manfound guilty of rape,trafficking children

Jury: Welty groomed, druggedand abused kids

BY MICHELLEHUNTER Staff writer

ANew Orleans man accused of grooming and drugging two teenage girls and sexually abusing them

—raping one victim and allowing men to do thesame in exchange for narcotics —was found guilty Tuesday after afour-day trial, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’sOfﬁce said. Thomas Welty,46, formerly of Metairie,was convicted of trafficking children for sexual purposes, second-degree rape, indecent behavior witha juvenile, sexual battery and contributing to the delinquency of ajuvenile.

Welty is accused of targeting his victims and plying them with drugs such as methamphetamine and

BOURG

Continued from page1B

of The Times-Picayune. “He was just scrupulously interested in detail that would drive him into arestroom in themiddleofamealto record what afellow diner said about the crabmeat ravigote.”

After reviewing restaurants for the newspaperfor eight years, Bourg left the newspaper to freelance. He won aNational Magazine Award for a2007story he wrote for Saveur about Cajun food and culture, and he collaborated with the restaurateur Ralph Brennan on “Ralph Brennan’sNew Orleans Seafood Cookbook ” with Greg Cowman on “Secrets of aNew Orleans Chef: Recipes from TomCowman’sCookbook” and with Alain Gayot on “Gayot The Best of New Orleans Guidebook.”

“He was so worldly and sophisticated and so urban,” said Jack Davis, whose sto-

GREEN

Continued from page1B

gamma-hydroxybutyrate acid, also known as the date rape drug GHB The victims in the case, now adults, were both15 whenWelty began abusingthem, the District Attorney’s Office said. Both teens were known to Welty and not strangers, according to authorities. The firstvictim told JeffersonParish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce investigators that Welty gave her alcohol while they were inthe FrenchQuarter duringthe 2019 Carnival season,the District Attorney’sOfﬁce said. The girl passed out, and Welty brought hertohis North WilsonStreet home in Metairiewhere he injected her with meth, authorities said.

been able to identify the men.

casionsand GHBonthree occasions, authorities said.

Welty continued togive the girl meth as he raped her,the ofﬁce said, and she developed an addiction to thedrug. When thegirl was 16, her grandmother discovered it was Weltywho was providing the drugs thatfueled heraddiction, according to the Sheriff’s Ofﬁce.

Thegirl’sgrandmother reported WeltyinJuly 2020. Detectives foundphotos of the victim in bed with Welty during acellphone search, the Sheriff’sOfﬁce said.

The girlwas able to beat her addiction after going to rehab, the District Attorney’sOfﬁce said.

During those visits, Welty was accused of inappropriately touching the girl.

In July 2020, the girl told investigators that she passed out in abedroom at Welty’shomeafterhe gave herGHB, the Sheriff’sOfﬁce said. When she regained consciousness, she was in ashower with Welty,who wasnaked and holdingher inappropriately,according to authorities.

Thegirlnever returned to his house after that, the District Attorney’sOffice said.

“Weltywas grooming her,” Assistant District Attorney LaShanda Webb toldjurors.Groomers, she said, “are strategically taking theirtime to study who they wanttoattack.”

NewOrleans Area Deaths Obituaries

Albe,Yelva

Batt Jr., John BerriganIII, Joseph Brooks Jr., Charles Clarke,Pauline

Cooper, Hilrie Creel,Nancy

Davis, Joyce Dorsey,Stella Hardy-Ventress, Tawanna

Holmes, Patricia

Welty raped thegirl and then allowed two alleged drug dealers to sexually assault the girl in exchange for narcotics, the District Attorney’s Ofﬁce said. Investigators have never

ries Bourg edited at The States-Item. “He enjoyed being in other places like Paris and New York, but he was really happy in New Orleans.”

Bourg attended De La Salle High SchoolinUptown New Orleans,and he got an apartment in the city when he was 19.

Writingabout foodcame naturally,Bourg told roadtripnation. “I’mfroma Creole-Acadian family. My mother wasawonderful, wonderful cook. Igrew up with good food. Ithink that’s important if you really want to write about food.”

Alsohelpful werethe two years he spent in France, where the Army sent him afterhegraduated from Tulane University.“This was when Ireally learned toeat,” he said in theroadtripnation interview

When Bourgreturned from Europe,heworked in Tulane’sDevelopment Ofﬁceuntil he gota callin1969 urging him to contact The States-Item, New Orleans’ afternoon newspaper,be-

The secondvictim met Welty in 2019 through school friends, according to theSheriff’s Ofﬁce. She told investigators that she would hang out with others at Welty’shome where he gave hermethonﬁve oc-

cause it had been given editorial independence from TheTimes-Picayune, with Ferguson in charge of the editorial page.

Bourg washired and assignedtocover the historic 1969-70 mayor’s race, when Moon Landrieu won with a coalition of Black and White voters. Bourg wrote extensivelyabout therace, with profilesofthe candidates and coverage of the emerging Black political groups. On the night of the runoff, in whichLandrieu faced James Fitzmorris, Landrieu invited Bourg to watch the returns on television with him in hisJung Hotel room.When Landrieu was proclaimed the victor, Bourg went withhim to the hotel’sballroom,where “a huge roar wentupfrom the crowd It waslikea wind had hit him. Therewere hundreds of Black hands reaching up and cheering. .Itwas very emotional,” Bourg said in an interview with Loyola University’shistory department After Landrieu tookofﬁce,

swervedoff the road and hit the barrier.Noone was injured, police said. Respondingtroopers who thought Green might be impaired conducted field sobriety tests and arrested Green on scene, State Police said. Green’schildren were releasedto another family member State Police saidtroopers brought Greentothe Jefferson Parish jail, where he refused to provide a breath sample. An on-call judgeissueda warrant allowing troopers to take blood samples, policesaid. Green was booked on countsoffirst-offense driving while impaired, three counts of child endangerment operating while impaired, careless operation of avehicle and other trafﬁc violations, ac-

SHIFTING

Continued from page1B

forward only if the Legislature allocates the necessary funding. On Tuesday,Harris said the funding had not yet been “lockeddown.” The pricey plan comes as the federal and state governments are attempting to slash spending. Gov. Jeff Landry has proposed a“standstill” state budget that keeps spending, including on higher education,as close to last year’slevels as possible. On Wednesday,new revenue forecasts showed the state has $139 million more available next ﬁscal year than initially projected —funding that many statelawmakers and agencies will want apiece of.

Costly shift

Lawmakers saythey hope the shift willrevitalize the university,whichhas been credited with helpingbuild New Orleans’ middle class but has struggled with dropping enrollment since Hurricane Katrina. Before the storm, enrollment peaked around 17,000 students. This fall, the university had fewer than 6,000 students.

John Walters, LSU’sVice President of External Affairs, told the Senate Education Committee earlier this month that enrollment at LSU’scampuses has grown

to record levels and the same could happen at UNO. Increased enrollment would bring theschool more revenue.

“UNO’s enrollment has fallena bit,and we’regoing to do everything in our power to make sure that enrollment grows back up,” Walters said, noting apotential partnership between UNO and the LSU Health Sciences Center indowntown New Orleans.

But the move wouldbeexpensive. One of the biggest costs would be eliminating UNO’sdeficit. Theuniversity has taken steps over the past year to balance its budget, including by furloughing staff and enacting hiring and spending freezes,but state officialssay thedeficitcould still be as high as $30 million. Other transition costs could include expenses related to accreditation and academic affairs, transferring UNO property to the LSUboard and hiring a consultant to help with affiliated foundations andother matters, according to the cost estimate. The projections assume tuitionatUNO would not change after the transition.

An amendment to the bill says theLegislaturecan place“reasonableconditions”ongranting the money,such as completing a transition plan. The proposed lawalsopreventsthe UL systemfrom

blockingthe transfer,taking away assets, adding debt, cutting fundingormaking staff changeswithout approvalfrom theLSU system It also requires thestate to coverthe transfer costs and protects bothboardsfrom legal issues.

Plan sparks concerns

Despite supportfromlegislative leadersand aslew of New Orleans-arealawmakers, some have raised concerns aboutthe proposed move.

Julie Stokes,a former state representative who sits on theULsystem board, toldthe SenateEducationCommitteethatshe was concerned thetransitionwas rushed. If passed, the bill would initiatethe transfer months before LSU submitsaplan.

Stokessaidmanyofthe UL system’snine schools face declining enrollment and financial struggles similar to UNO’s.Rather than move one university to anew system, sheurged legislatorstoexplore ways to streamline operations acrosscollege systems and look for inefﬁciencies, such duplicative courses at neighboring schools.

“What can we do to make thedelivery of higher ed moreefficient in this state?” shesaid. At aSenate Finance Committee meeting on Monday stateSen.ThomasPressly

Jurors deliberated for aboutthreehours before voting to convict Welty Sentencing is scheduledfor June 12.

Email Michelle Hunter at mhunter@theadvocate.com

Bourg was assignedtocover his administrationand was givena column, “CityHall Report.”Healso was aregular on “City Desk,” theweekly public-affairs program on WYES-TV that Ferguson hosted, and later becamean assistant city editorand an editorial department editor Butin1985, Bourg told Fergusonhewanted a change.

“He said, ‘Weneed arestaurant reviewer,’”Bourg recalledtoroadtripnation. “I said ‘Why don’twestop right there?’

Putting Bourg on that beat was “one of the best moves Ihad ever made,” Ferguson saidinaninterview.“Gene was agem.”

Bourg moved to Winnﬁeld in theearly 2020s because relatives decided he needed full-time care, saidDavid Owens,anephew Survivors include nieces and nephews Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

ContactJohn Pope at pinckelopes@gmail.com.

cordingtoonline jail records. Green wasbeing held without bail on twoofthe child endangerment counts as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to court records.

EmailKasey Bubnash at kasey.bubnash@ theadvocate.com.

expressed concernthat LSU’s twocampuses in northwest Louisiana, Eunice and Alexandria, would be deprioritized in favor of helping UNO

“Obviously we want to make sure all the institutionsare taken careof,” Presslysaid, notinghedid not outright oppose the transition Walters, of LSU, said the LSU BoardofSupervisors has been “very speciﬁc and intentional” in theirdecisiontotake on UNO.He saidthe LSUsystem plans to involve theNew Orleans community as it aims to increase enrollment.

“Weunderstand that UNO has been veryimportant in New Orleans,veryimportanttothe region for avery long time, and thelast few yearshave not been great,” he said.“Butifyou look at LSU admissions, ourenrollment for everycampus that we have hasthe best admissions it’shad.”

LOTTERY

TUESDAY,MAY 20, 2025

PICK 3: 2-9-2

PICK 4: 4-6-3-8

PICK 5: 2-1-2-5-1

MEGA MILLIONS: 18-30-33-55-64

MEGA BALL: 11 Unof

Jordan,Jude Kashimawo,Hakeem Keasley, Stella LeeSr.,Miller Lewis, Belencia Pichon Sr., Ronald Scott, Elizabeth Stumpf,Mary Thompson, Letitia Turner, Lucille Vaughn Sr., Kenneth VinetJr.,Christopher Washington, Perry Williams,Antoinette Wright,Wayne

Garden of Memories

Jordan,Jude NewOrleans

Boyd Family

Davis, Joyce Dorsey,Stella Keasley, Stella Charbonnet

Albe,Yelva Petithory

YelvaPetithory Albe passedaway peacefullyon themorning of May14, 2025 at the age of 90. Yelva wasbornDecember5,1934 in NewOrleans Louisiana. ShemarriedAlvin Robert Albe Sr.onSeptember 28th 1952. They were eachotherslifelongcompanions for thepast 71 years until hisdeathonFebruary 15 2024. YelvaattendedF.T. Nicholls highschool, wasa loving wife and mother, andinlater years worked as asecretary at Annunciation Catholic School andSt. Cecilia grammar school in New Orleans. After working at several schools she workedasa receptionist and fileclerk at several doctor offices. Yelvawas preceded in death by her loving husband Alvin Robert Albe Sr., and her parents YelvaBriant Petithory andHenryJules Petithory.Yelva is survived by herchildren: Alvin R. Albe Jr.(Virginia),Linda Albe Reeg(Frank), Robert H. Albe andDonna Albe Shepherd(David). Seven grandchildren: Jennifer Albe Miller,Lauren Albe Jumper, Leslie Albe Field, Karen Reeg Oliveri, Steven Reeg, Sean Busby and RachelShepherd.Eight great grandchildren: Jackson,Madison, Abby, Lily, Frank V, Alexandra, Carter and Liam. Yelva lived along andfulfilled life. In hergolden years she loved goingoncruises with herfamilyand visiting casinos with herhusband. Visitation will be May 24th at 10am and service will begin at 11am at Lake LawnMetairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd., NewOrleans Louisiana 70124. Burial to follow at Greenwood Cemetery &Mausoleum, 5190 Canal Blvd New Orleans, Louisiana 70124. Receptionwill follow at Rocky andCarlo's Restaurant Sicilian Room 613 W. St.BernardHwy Chalmette,LA70043.

Clarke,Pauline Batt Jr., John August

Hardy-Ventress, Tawanna

Holmes, Patricia Turner, Lucille Williams,Antoinette

DW Rhodes

Lewis, Belencia

Thompson, Letitia Vaughn Sr., Kenneth Wright,Wayne

Estelle JWilson

Brooks Jr., Charles

Gertrude Geddes

LeeSr.,Miller

Washington, Perry

JacobSchoen

BerriganIII, Joseph Creel,Nancy

Lake Lawn Metairie

Albe,Yelva

Batt Jr., John

Majestic Mortuary

Scott, Elizabeth West Bank

DavisMortuary

Kashimawo,Hakeem

Mothe

Stumpf,Mary

Robinson FH

VinetJr.,Christopher

John August Batt, Jr principal and directorof Biltmore Property Group, husband of 30 years to Andrée, father,beloved friendtomany, and native NewOrleanian, died Monday, May19, 2024, at age 64. "Jay," as he was known to all whom he encountered, hadnumerous passions: hisfamily, his friends, hiswork, andbettering thelives of others Jay will be remembered and cherished as someone whogreeted strangers and friends alike with awarm smileand affectionate embrace.A true gentleman of impeccablesartorial style, Jay, alongwith hisbusiness partners,developed numerousfranchisesthat spanned throughoutthe Southeast,including Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Lilly Pulitzer, Ruth's Chris Steak Houseand J.W.Bell. He attended Sewanee: The Universityofthe South, andin1983, he graduated from TulaneUniversity wherehewas amember of theSigma AlphaEpsilon (SAE)social fraternity Oneoftwo sons, Jay was an "allgirls" dad.His pride and joywerehis threegirls, Andrée and theirdaughters, Bailey and Kelly. AllattendedSacred Heart, with Bailey attendingthe University of Alabama, andKelly the University of South Carolina. Jay started his professional career as a bankeratFirst National Bank of Commerceuntilhe embarked upona successful real estate development career.Helaunched hisdebut into retailwith Jos. A. Bank Clothiers on CarondeletStreet, where Jaywas ever-presentand greetedhis customers with both ajovial smile

Welty

4B ✦ Thursday, May22, 2025

and agood joke (albeit some abit off-color). Most recently areal estate consultant with McEnery Residential, Jay was perfectly positioned for this role, being the people-person he was. His passionto help create abetter New Orleans motivated him to run for the City Council where he tirelessly served the residents of DistrictA When Hurricane Katrina struck,Jay was unyielding in his efforts to bring his neighbors and constituents home to New Orleans to see their flooded homes, including his own. An avid sports fan, Jay was amember of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Committee, where he served as President and as amember of its Executive Committee. He led with great pride the annual Sugar Bowl parade for many years. Jay also presided over the New Orleans City Park Commission, as its President, and was Chairman of the Board of Crimestoppers, Chairman of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee and the Orleans Parish Republican Executive Committee. Jay excelled in connecting people to facilitate conversations across the aislefor the better good. Jay wasa member of several social and Carnivalorganizations. He joyfully and enthusiastically supported the acting career of his talented brother, Bryan, and greatly valued time with his family in his second home in Asheville, North Carolina. Jay was truly gifted in making people feel welcomed, cherished and loved. Jay is predeceased by his mother, Gayle Mackenroth Batt, and his father, John August Batt. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Andrée Wood Batt, daughters, Bailey Batt Kelleher (Kell) and Kelly Manning Batt, his brother, Bryan Mackenroth Batt (Tom), and father-in-law, Harry Eldon Wood (Gayle) Visitation will be held at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, Saturday, May 24, 2025, beginning at 11:00 a.m., followedbya memorial service at 1:00 p.m., for all who wish to celebrate his life. Private interment will be held for the familyinMetairie Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the familyrequests memorial gifts to City Park Conservancyor Crimestoppers. To view and sign the online guest book, please visitwww.lak elawnmetairie.com.

BerriganIII,Joseph Edward 'Joey'

Joseph Edward (Joey)

thebeloved sonofMildred Knight Brooksand thelate Charles BrooksSr. Anative ofNew Orleans, LA June was educated in theOr‐leans Parish School Sys‐tem.He laterdedicated manyyears of service working at Asher'sDry Cleaners, where he was known forhis strong work ethic anddependable spirit. June wasa quiet, kind-heartedman who deeply valued family.He was adevoted father to his daughterFelicia Jackson, and alovingbrother to his three sisters: Alma An‐drews,CassaundraBrooks, and ElfredaBrooks. He also leavesbehinda host of nieces, nephews, greatnieces, andgreat-nephews who will cherishhis mem‐ory always.Hewas pre‐ceded in deathbyhis fa‐ther, CharlesBrooksSr. and hisbrothersDarryl Brooksand Gerald Brooks Relatives andfriends are invited to attend theFu‐neral ServiceonSaturday May 24,2025, at EstelleJ Wilson FuneralHome, 2715 Danneel Street,New Or‐leans,LA70113. Visitation willbegin at 9:00 a.m. fol‐lowed by theservice at 10:00 a.m. Rev. Bobby Williams Jr.ofﬁciating. In‐terment:HoltCemetery 527 City Park Ave. NewOr‐leans,La. 70119.Arrange‐ments EntrustedToEstelle J.WilsonFuneralHome, Inc. 2715 DanneelSt. NOLA 70113. Information: (504) 895-4903. To sign online guest book please visit www.estellejwilsonfh.com

It is with profound sad‐nessthatweannouncethe passing of PaulineLang ClarkeonTuesday,May 13, 2025. Mrs. Clarke wasa beloved wife,mother, grandmother,sisterand devoted member of her community.BornonMay 11, 1936, in BaySt. Louis, MS, Paulinewas thecher‐ished daughter andsecond child of thelateRobertand MaryDavis Lang.She grew upin NewOrleans,LA where sheattendedJoseph S.Clark High School,be‐foreearning herB.S.inBi‐ology from Xavier Univer‐sityin1958 andM.Ed. from SouthernUniversityin Baton Rougein1963. In De‐cember1958, Paulinemar‐riedthe love of herlife, the lateThomasCarlClarke, Sr. andtogether,theybuilt a beautifulfamily. In addi‐tiontoher parents, sheis alsoprecededindeath by sons, Thomas,Jr. andTim‐othy; great-grandchildren, Zaydenand Bliss; brothers Vontelleand Meheather. Survivors includeher daughter, Toya Clarke La‐Bostrie (Jacksonville, FL); siblings, RobertinaJack‐son,EdnaLang, Levesia Lang, BettyJeanLang, Ar‐linderLand, Gaydelle Lang, Deonne Lang andBobby Lang; daughter-in-law, RenaSmith.Pauline’s love and wisdom also extended toher grandchildren, Byron,Alyssa, Justin, ThomasS.and Tracey;ten great-grandchildren,who willalsocarry forwardher legacyofkindness, perse‐verance andfaith.A Mass ofChristian burial honor‐ing thelifeand legacy of the late PaulineLang ClarkewillbeheldatSt. Paulthe ApostleCatholic Church,6828 Chef Menteur Highway,New Orleans, LA 70126 on Saturday,May 24, 2025 at 10 am.Interment Mount Olivet Cemetery Visitation9 am in the church.Pleasesignonline guestbook at www.cha rbonnetfuneralhome.com. Charbonnet LabatGlapion, Directors (504) 581-4411.

thehappy union of thelate Philip Cooper, Jr. and Joyce AlverisCooper, on February 25, 1965. He was thefiancéeofThoris Kelly, belovedbrother of Philip Cooper, III(Linda), Tawanna C. Gross (Pastor Thomas, Sr.), Era C. Hawkins (BishopGeraldH Sr.),Fleta C. Stirgus (Elder Jeff, Jr.), OliviaCooper, MichaelJ.Cooper, Sr ElderJonathon Cooper, Sr (Terratey), Estelle J. Cooper-Lee, and IraJ Cooper, Sr.(Toya). At an earlyage he acceptedthe Lord as his Saviorand was baptized under thedirectionofhis Late Pastor,Elder Percy Casberry at theAlgiers Church of God in Christ (COGIC). He was educated in NewOrleans Public Schools and graduated fromL.B.Landry High School in 1986. At thetime of his death; he worked as aChefatThe RiverOaks Hospital. He also worked as aChefOffshore with J Ray Mc Dermott.Heenjoyed working withhis older brotherPhilipwhom he affectionately, called Phil or "Boss Hog"restoring houses. He was aformer member of theNew Orleans Bicycle Club and competed in many races. He was aprolificdrummer throughout the Churches of God in Christ.Heloved playing musicinthe church. At thetime of his death, he was amember of Living Witness COGIC, underthe directionofhis Pastor,Superintendent John Pierre. Elder Cooper was awalking encyclopediaofthe wordofGod.He enjoyed fishing and hanging out with his friends. Most of all, he enjoyed and lovedhis family and was always thelifeofthe party. He willbegreatlyand dearly missed by all. He leaves to cherish his memory, IvaG.Green, his fiancée,his entirefamily, and friends. Living Witness COGIC, Living Faith Christian Fellowship,South Central Louisiana Jurisdiction, Algiers and Upper Room Cathedral COGIC, Louisiana East Second Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, all neighboring churches, L. B. Landry High School Class of 1986, and employees of The RiverOaks Hospital, are invitedtoattend thefuneral servicethatwillhonor his life.Viewing willbegin at 9:00 AM and theService will beginat10:00 AM on May 24, 2025 at the ThompsonTemple COGIC, 1515 Whitney Avenue, Gretna, Louisiana 70053. Superintendent John Pierre,Officiating Interment:McDonoghville Cemetery, Gretna, Louisiana70053. Services are entrusted to Cross MemorialMortuary.

Morrison, Martha Grace Morrison, Ledger Steven‐son,Rhett Stevenson, and Henry Lewis. Nancywas precededindeath by her beloved husband,Larry Creel,and herparents JohnCarlton andSally Joyce Lyle.A servicecele‐brating Nancy’slifewillbe heldatRayne Memorial UnitedMethodist Church in New OrleansonSunday, May 25, 2025, at 1:30 p.m., withfellowshiptofollow. In lieu of ﬂowers, consider a donation in Nancy’s memorytoMagnoliaCom‐munity Services or to the Rev.Larry Creel andNancy LyleCreel Endowmentfor Ministerial Scholarships through theMississippi UnitedMethodist Founda‐tion. Arrangements by Jacob Schoen &Son Fu‐neral Home.Condolences may be left at www schoenfh.com.

JoyceD.Davis:Decem‐ber 9, 1933 –May 15, 2025

Chicago, IL,twenty-four grandchildren,forty-six great grandchildrenand twenty-four greatgreat grandchildren.Relatives and friendsare invitedto attend theCelebration of LifeService on Saturday, May 24, 2025, for10:00 a.m. atTrueVineMissionary Baptist Church,2008 Marigny Street,New Or‐leans,LA70117. Visitation willbegin at 9:00 a.m. Rev. Dr. Donald C. Jeanjacques Sr.,ofﬁciating. Interment willfollowatMount Olivet Cemeteryand Mausoleum, New Orleans, LA.Guest‐book Online:www.anewtra ditionbegins.com(504)2820600. Linear Brooks Boyd and DonavinD.BoydOwn‐ers/Funeral Directors.

Hardy-Ventress, Tawanna Loletha

Holmes,Patricia AnnBriggs

BerriganIII died on Mon‐day,May 12, 2025 at 3:15 p.m.age 69 years. Beloved son of thelateKathleen Weiss Berriganand Joseph E.BerriganJr. Stepsonof the late HonorableHelen (Ginger)Berriganofthe Eastern District of Louisiana.Brother of Kath‐leen,Laura,Michael and Melanie Berrigan. Also sur‐vived by nieces and nephews.Relatives and friends of thefamilyare in‐vited to attend afuneral service on Saturday May 24, 2025 at theJ.Garic SchoenChapelofJacob Schoen& SonFuneral Home, 3827 CanalSt.,New Orleans LA 70119at11:00 a.m.withvisitationbegin‐ningat10:00 a.m. Inter‐mentwillfollowinSt. Roch No. 2Cemetery. To view and sign theguestbook visit www.schoenfh.com. Dorsey,StellaBeamon

tember 26,1959, andwas

NancyLyleCreel,a de‐voted educator,beloved wife, mother,and grand‐mother, passedaway peacefullyonMay 19, 2025, atthe ageof74. Born on July6,1950, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi,Nancy wasthe daughterofJohnCarlton and Sally JoyceLyle. She earnedbothher Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Education from theUniver‐sityofSouthernMissis‐sippi anddedicated herlife toserving others.Her ca‐reer wasspent supporting individuals with disabili‐ties—ﬁrstasa compas‐sionate classroom teacher, and laterasa grouphome supervisor. In 1971, she married theRev.Larry Creel,beginning apartner‐shipgrounded in faith,ser‐vice, andlove. As aUnited Methodist minister’s spouse, Nancyembraced the ministry with grace and warmth,supporting congregations across Mis‐sissippi alongsideLarry for morethanfourdecades Her role in church life was one shetreasured deeply Nancy’s greatest joywas her family. Shewas alov‐ing mother to AmyCreel and Adam Creel,and ade‐voted mother-in-lawtoEric Bisschop. Shewas espe‐cially proudofher grand‐sons, Samuel andDavid Bisschop, who broughther immensehappiness. Sheis alsosurvivedbya large and close-knit extended family: hersiblingsTommy (Liz) Lyle,Bob (Dana) Lyle Becky (Jim)Stevenson,and Anita (Steve)Lewis;nieces and nephewsKaren Lyle Marion(Cooper)Morrison, Allen Lyle,Courtney(Ran‐dall) Sanders, Erin Alford, Grant (Nikki)Stevenson TheaStevenson,Connor (Kayla) Lewis, andCaroline (Jacob) Duke;and greatniecesand nephewsLyle Sanders, Liam Alford,Gray

Joyce DejanDavis entered eternal rest peacefully at LafonNursing Facility on Thursday,May 15, 2025, at the ageof91. Joycewas the loving daughter of the lateElmoreDejan and MaryBurns Dejan. Joyce was thebeloved wife of the late Norwood Davis. Joyce leaves to cherishher memories, oneloving brother LeroyDejan,Sr., (late)Ann JohnsonDejan, nephewLeroy DejanJr. niece Charlotte Dejan, great niece: Simone Dejan Luke(Norman), andher aunt DoloresWarrenwith whomshe wasasclose as a sister.Joyce wasloving, kind, always smilingand willingtohelp. Joyceat‐tendedValenaC.Jones Ele‐mentary School and JosephS.Clark Senior High School.She received a BachelorofArtsDegreein BusinessEducation from SouthernUniversityin Baton Rouge. Joycewas employedfor 35 yearsasa teacher andCooperative Ofﬁce Educationinstructor for theNew OrleansParish School system.Joyce was employedatJosephS Clark,Alcee Fortierand L.B. Landryhighschools. She was christened anda life‐longmemberatSt. Paul LutheranChurch.Joyce servedasSecretary -Voter Assembly,Board of Trustees Expansion Fund Committee, shewas a weekly fundscounter,va‐cationbible school teacher and active in variouscom‐mittees throughout her years at St.Paul. Joycewas a member of theDelta Sigma ThetaSorority, Inc., Alpha TauChapter,United TeachersofNew Orleans, and Pete SanchezRecre‐ation Center.Relatives, friends,co-workers, and church membersare in‐vited to attend herHome‐going ServiceonFriday, May 23, 2025, for11:00 a.m. atSt. Paul Lutheran Church,1625 Annette St., New Orleans, LA 70116. Vis‐itation will beginat10:00 a.m.PastorCollisParham, ofﬁciating. Intermentwill followatMount Olivet Cemetery, 4000 Norman Mayer Ave.,New Orleans, LA70122. Guestbook On‐line: www.anewtraditionbe gins.com(504) 282-0600 LinearBrooksBoydand Donavin D. Boyd Own‐ers/FuneralDirectors

Tawanna LolethaHardyVentress, affectionately known as “Too-Too,” re‐ceivedher heavenly wings onSunday, May11, 2025 at the graceful ageof50. Tawanna wasbornonJune 12, 1974 in NewOrleans LA, to Edward J. Hardyand the late Mary WoodingHardy.Beloved wife of Lon‐nie C. Ventress. In addition toher mother,Tawanna is alsoprecededindeath by a brother, AlvinE.Hardy She is also lovingly remem‐bered by brothers,AlbertE Hardy,Sr. (Martha) and MitchellJ.Hardy.Alsosur‐vived by ahostofnieces, nephews,extendedfamily and countless dear friends. Tawanna accepted Christ and wasbaptizedatan early age, laying thefoun‐dationfor aliferootedin faith andservice.A proud graduateofEleanor Mc‐MainMagnetHighSchool Class of 1992, shefur‐theredher educationatTu‐lane, Herzingand North‐eastern Universities,earn‐ing degrees in Public Rela‐tions/Marketing,Web De‐signand ProjectManage‐ment. Together with her lovinghusband,Lonnie, she co-managed LV Cater‐ing,bringingwarmthand joy to countless gather‐ings. Herlovefor family and communitywas unwa‐veringand herspiritbound everyonetogether. Whethertraveling with Lonnie, herniece Ava, or friends,Tawanna livedwith purpose andanadventur‐ous heart. Shewillbere‐memberedfor herradiant smile,welcoming spirit and therareabilityto makeeveryonefeel valued Her legacy is oneoflove, laughterand quiet strength. Shedevoted her lifetothose sheloved and leavesbehinda rich tapes‐try of memories andim‐pact. ACelebration service honoringthe life and legacyofthe late Tawanna Loletha Hardy-Ventress will beheldatNew Orleans Bible Fellowship Baptist Church,4430 BundyRoad, New Orleans, LA 70127 on Saturday, May24, 2025 at 11am, Rev. LeonardM Parker, Jr Ofﬁciating. In‐terment OakGrove Mis‐sionary BaptistChurch Cemetery, 85 OakGrove Road, Monticello,MS 39654. Visitation 9amin the church.Pleasesignon‐lineguestbook at www.cha rbonnetfuneralhome.com. Charbonnet LabatGlapion Directors (504) 581-4411.

Patricia AnnBriggs Holmes, age71, passed awaypeacefully at North OaksMedical Center in Hammond,LAonTuesday May 6, 2025, surrounded by her loving family. Shewas bornonMarch 3, 1954 in New Orleans, LA to thelate Isaac andBarbara Johnson Briggs.Mrs.Holmesleaves tocherish precious memo‐ries, herlovinghusband, RobertHenry Holmes,Sr.; daughters,Dione,Shan‐non,Andrianne and Daphne;stepchildren, Robin andRobert, Jr.; God‐children, Nicole,Craig and Kenneth,Jr.;siblings, Ken‐neth, TommyKeith,Gary, Lillian,Antoinette and Karen,the late Barbara JeanJones andDon Isaac Briggs;brothersand sis‐ters-in-law,Freddie, James, Jr.,Darrel, Williamand Quintelus,Brenda, Kim, Yvonne,Vanessa andMin‐nie;seventeen grandchil‐dren, thirty twogreat grandchildren,a host of nieces, nephews, otherex‐tendedfamilyand support‐ive friendswho will miss her dearly.A Celebration service honoring thelife and legacy of thelatePa‐triciaA.BriggsHolmeswill beheldinthe Chapel of CharbonnetLabat Glapion FuneralHome, 1615 St PhilipStreet,New Orleans, LA70116 on Saturday,May 24, 2025 at 1pm. Interment Private.Visitation12noon inthe chapel.Pleasesign onlineguestbook at www charbonnetfuneralhome com. Charbonnet Labat Glapion,Directors (504) 581-4411.

Jude "Judy" Abadie Jor‐dan,bornJuly12, 1940, passedawayfromlym‐phoma at herhomein Metairieonthe morningof May 6, 2025. Shewas 84 Judywas alifelongpractic‐ing Catholic anda woman oftremendousfaith in God and SaintJude. Shewas alsoa contributing mem‐ber to theShrinefor the BlessedFrancis Xavier See‐los.Judywas born in New Orleans andraisedinthe FrenchQuarter.She at‐tendedhighschool at Holy Angelsand latergraduated fromAnnunciationin1958 Judyattended mass regu‐larly at theSaint Louis Cathedral andlater theIm‐maculateConception Church whenshe worked downtownasa bookkeeper forFirst NBCBank. After gettingmarried in 1963, andlater moving to Jefferson Parish,Judybe‐camea housewifeand homemaker forher three children. Sheenjoyed gar‐dening, readingthe news‐paper,cooking, doing word-search puzzles, and watchingclassic Western T.V.shows.Judyispre‐ceded in deathbyher fa‐ther, Alphonse Abadie, mother, Esther Abadie,and husband,Pedro Jordan She is survived by hersis‐ter,Maria Hattier(Patrick), brother,ArthurAbadie (Joanne), andthree chil‐dren, PeterJordan, Stephanie Jordan,and Aaron Jordan.Relatives and friendsare invitedto attend thememorialser‐viceonThursday,May 22 2025, at Garden of Memo‐

Davis, JoyceDejan

Clarke,PaulineLang

Jordan,Jude Abadie 'Judy'

Creel,Nancy Lyle

ries FuneralHome, 4900 Airline Drive, Metairie Louisiana 70001. Visitation willbegin at 10:00 am,with a Mass starting at 11:30 am. Inurnmentwillfollow after services in Garden of MemoriesCemetery. In lieu of ﬂowers, Judy askedthat contributions be made to the Shrine forthe Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos,the restoration andupkeep of the SaintLouis Cathedral, orhaveCatholicmasses saidonher behalf.Tooffer the familyonlinecondo‐lences, please visit, www gardenofmemoriesmetairi e.com

Hakeem Kolawole

Kashimawo,age 73, passed awaypeacefully on May17, 2025, surrounded by the loveand comfortofhis family, at hishomeinHar‐vey,LA. Abeloved hus‐band, father,and friend to many, Kola touchedthe lives of many with hisun‐canny humor,wisdom, and unwavering dedication to his family. Born on July 18 1951, in Lagos,Nigeria Kolawas theeldestof seven children.Hegradu‐atedfromFlorida Memorial College,Miami,FLwitha degreeinaccountingand wentontoearnhis mas‐ter’s in business adminis‐tration (MBA)inFinance fromSt. Thomas Univer‐sity, Miami, FL.For more thana decade,Kolaserved asCounselor at FloridaDe‐partmentofJuvenile, Chil‐drenand Family Services Prior to this,Kolaworked asStore Managerfor vari‐ous Department Stores in Miami,FL. In hispersonal life, Kola found joyincook‐ing,took prideindoing ac‐tivitieswithhis kids,and watchinghistoricalNFL and NBAgames on cable. Hewas aman of few words,but he spokewith meaning whenoccasion demands.His laughter,es‐peciallywhenwatchingold TVprogramsormovies, was warm andcontagious. Kolaspent hisretirement years honing hisculinary skills. AlifelongChristian, KolaacceptedChristinhis lifeand wasbaptizedin 1992, at Christ Apostolic Church,Miami,FL. Kola was amemberofseveral socio-culturalcivic organi‐zations such OldSchool of Miami,FL, andEgbeOmo YorubaofGreater Baton Rouge.Heissurvivedby his belovedwifeof36 years,LutiKashimawo their twochildrenRachel TeniKashimawo andEs‐therTomiKashimawo,by sisters Muyibat Kashimawo Onyekwelu (Fidel),Shakirat Kashimawo Quadri (Kamil) and Tawakalitu Olorunfemi Kashimawo.Bybrothers Wasiu Kayode Kashimawo, Kazeem Kashimawo(Modi‐nat), HamedAbiodun Kashimawo (Miriam),his uncle Dr.TadeKashimawo, his aunt Sinatu Kashimawo and hismother-in-law Sim‐biatAnimashaun. Kola was precededindeath by his parents Ligali Olanrewaju Kashimawo andOsenatFo‐lashade Kashimawo, and his father in-law Mutairu AkanbiAnimashaun. He is fondlyrememberedbyhis manybrothers-in-law,sis‐ters-in-law,nieces, nephews,cousins,friends and colleagues.Relatives and friendsofthe family are invitedtoattend the Celebration of Life at Davis MortuaryService,230 Mon‐roe Street,Gretna, LA on Friday, May23, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. Visitation will begin at 8:00 a.m. until ser‐vicetime. Interment: West‐lawnCemetery, Gretna,LA. RepastwillfollowatTar‐avella Manor, 5240 Tar‐avella Road,Marrero,LA where friendsand family are invitedtoshare their stories andmemories. In lieuof ﬂowers, thefamily kindlyrequestsdonations bemadetothe Ochsner ChildrenHospital. Kola was gratefulfor thecarepro‐vided by OchsnerHospitals and HospiceSpecialists of Louisiana.Hakeem Kola Kashimawo livedwithhu‐mility, anddeep love for his family,siblings, in-laws, and friends. Hismemory willforever be ablessing. ArrangementsbyDavis MortuaryService,230 Mon‐roe St., Gretna,LAToview and sign theguestbook, pleasegotowww.davismo rtuaryservice.com.Face masks arerecommended

Keasley, Stella Olivia

Sis. Stella Olivia Keasley was born on September1, 1940, to theunion of Mr IrvinDickerson,Sr. andRe‐becca DickersoninNew Orleans,LA. Stella wased‐ucatedinthe New Orleans publicschoolsand wasa graduateofJosephS.Clark HighSchool.Stellaisthe wifeofthe late LeonardA Keasley,Sr. andthe mother ofLeonard A. Keasley, Jr., Linda AnnKeasley,Wanda Thompson, KeithKeasley, ShandaKeasley andthe lateYolanda Falls, andsis‐ter of thelateDorothy Tay‐lor,Larry Dickerson, RonaldLewis,and Walter Jones.Sis.Keasley favorite scripture wasJohn3:16 and herfavoritehymnwas Let JesusFix It ForYou Stella Keasleyservedasa faithfulmemberonthe Deaconess BoardatTrue VineB.C.for many years until herhealthwould not let herattend theservice Precededindeath by her parents Irvinand Rebecca Dickerson,sisterDorothy Taylor, andthree brothers: IrvinDickerson,Jr.,Ronald Lewis,and Walter Jones and herdaughterYolanda Falls,and hersister Dorothy Taylor.She leaves tocherish hermemoriesto Linda Keasley, Wanda Thompson(Avery),Shanda Keasley andtwo sons: Leonard Keasley, Jr.and Keith Keasley, brother Larry Dickerson, 14 grand‐childrenand 12 greatgrandchildren anda host ofother relatives. Family and friendsare invitedto attendthe Homegoing Cel‐ebrationonFriday, May23, 2025, at True Vine B.C.,2008 Marigny Street,New Or‐leans,LAfor 10:00a.m.Vis‐itation will beginat9:00 a.m.Rev.DonaldC.Jean‐jacques,Sr. ofﬁciating. In‐terment will follow at Rest‐lawnCemetery, Avondale LA. Guestbook Online: www.anewtraditionbegins. com (504)282-0600. Linear BrooksBoydand Donavin D.BoydOwners/FuneralDi‐rectors

LeeSr.,Miller

Miller Lee, Sr aka "Jelly",age 86, abeloved husband,father, grandfa‐ther, andgreat-grandfa‐therwas born on March19, 1939 in Sicily Island, Louisiana.Hepassedaway peacefullyathis home on Sunday, May11, 2025 Millerwas educated in the New Orleanspublicschool system. He wasa con‐struction worker andalso a self taught carpenter. He loved to spendhis spare timewatchingold movies and making thebestpoboy sandwiches. He leaves tocherish hismemoryand love, to hislovingand de‐voted wife Rosa Bradley Lee. Belovedfatherof MillerG.Lee, Jr.(Angela) and KirbyD.Lee,Sr. (Jacqueline). Loving brother of Maudie Gal‐loway.Hewas also sur‐vived by ﬁve grandchil‐dren, sevenstep-grandchil‐dren, tengreat-grandchil‐dren, anda host of nieces nephews,cousins,family and friends. Miller waspre‐ceded in deathbyhis par‐entsElmoLee and Ida Glasper Lee; twobrothers, Elvin Leeand Stemmie Cooper,and twosisters EllaLee and Luretha Humphrey. Relativesand friends of thefamilyare in‐vited to attend theHome‐going CelebrationService onSaturday, May24, 2025 atGreater Bright Morning StarBaptist Church,4253 DaleStreet, New Orleans, LA70126 at 10:00a.m.Visi‐tationfrom9:00a.m.until 10:00 a.m. IntermentMount OlivetCemetery, 4000 Nor‐man MayerAvenue, New Orleans,LA70122.You may signthe guestbookon http://www.gertrudeged deswillis.com. Gertrude GeddesWillisFuneral Home, Inc, in charge,(504) 522-2525.

Belencia Dunham

Lewis,

Belencia Dunham Lewis departedthislifeonTues‐day,May 6, 2025 at theage of66. BelovedMotherof Ade’Lewis andgrand‐motherofBaileyHavard. Relatives andfriends of the familyare invitedtoattend the FuneralService at D. W. RhodesFuneralHome, 3933 WashingtonAve., NewOr‐leans,LA70125 on Thurs‐day,May 22, 2025 at 10: 00 am. Visitation will beginat 9:00am. Arrangements by D.W.RhodesFuneral Home. Please visitwww rhodesfuneral.comtosign the online guestbook

It is with aheavyheart to announce that Mr. RonaldJames Pichon Sr. has passed away duetoa heart attack on May 9th, 2025 .Wewillhavefuneral services providedbyBoyd FamilyFuneral located at 5001 ChefMenteur Hwy, NewOrleans, La 70119 at 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The burialwillbehosted at HoltCemetery located at 527 City Park Ave.,New Orleans, La 70119. Please join us in the homecoming of our lovedone.

ElizabethAnn Scotten‐tered this worldonSunday, January 26, 1958, to Annie Mae Scottand Collins Scott Sr.She enteredinto restonTuesday,May 13, 2025. Atrueray of sun‐shine,Elizabeth left alast‐ing impression on every‐one shemet.She accepted Jesus Christ as herLord and Savior as ayoung child and wasbaptizedatIs‐raelite BaptistChurch.A woman of deep faith,Eliza‐bethbegan teaching Sun‐day School as ayoung adult andloved sharing her knowledgeofBible verseswithjoy andpas‐sion. Shewas adevoted nurturerwho served as a Patient Care Technician at Touro Inﬁrmaryfor 45 years.Eveninretirement, Elizabeth’s caring spirit en‐dured—she continuedto support thoseinneed by sitting with former pa‐tients, offering them com‐fortand companionship. Elizabeth found joyinpam‐peringherself,shopping, and transforming her house into awarmand welcoming home.Nomat‐ter thetimeofyear, her homereﬂectedthe season she took prideindecorat‐ing forevery holiday, mak‐ing each celebrationfeel special.She cherishedcon‐versationswithfriends and familyand lovedtraveling and creating memories withthem. To herfamily, Elizabeth wasthe glue that heldthemtogethera con‐stant source of strength, comfort,and unconditional love. Elizabethwas pre‐cededindeath by her

belovedparents,Annie Mae Scottand Collins Scott Sr.She leaves to cherish hermemory, her devoted children,Schwann Scott-Harris (TerrenceHar‐ris)and Calvin Scott; her treasured grandchildren, Paris Scott, Pharez Scott, and Tekiesaine Brown; and her adored great-grand‐children, MichaelBatiste III and BlissSteward.She is alsosurvivedbyher loving siblings, ClaraScott, Collins ScottJr.,and David Scott; hergodchild, Durell Matthews; anda host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear friendswho will forever remember her kindness, laughter,and un‐waveringlove. Elizabeth’s legacylives on in thelove she gave,the livesshe touched,and thefamily she held together.Though she hasgonehometobe withthe Lord,her spirit re‐mains ever presentinthe warmthoffamily, in quiet moments of reflection,and inthe joyofeachholiday she once made so special. Relatives,friends of the family, andstaff at Touro InfirmaryHospitalare in‐vited to attend theFuneral ServicesatIsraelite Baptist Church,2100 Martin L. King Boulevard,New Orleans, LA70113 on Saturday,May 24, 2025: viewing9:00a.m.–10:00 a.m.;Service 10:00 a.m.ReverendFredrick MatthewsofNew Mount BethelBaptist Church,Offi‐ciating.Interment in Mount OlivetCemetery, 4000 Nor‐man MayerAve., NewOr‐leans,LA70122. Profes‐sionalarrangementsen‐trusted to Majestic Mortu‐ary Service, Inc.,New Or‐leans,LA, (504) 523-5872.

Mary FrancesHenricks Stumpf, born on December 7,1945, passedaway peacefullyofnatural causesonApril 29, 2025 at the ageof79. "Frankie" was theproud mother of AshleyBorges(Mack), Harry C. “Clancy” Stumpf Jr. (Brittany), andthe late Piper Decareaux, andwas a loving grandmotherto Jackand CharlieBorges, Ianand AbigailDecareaux, and Sydney,Jordan, and Harry C. Stumpf,III. Mary Frances grew up in Gretna and wasthe beloved daughterofthe late Charles A. Henricks,Jr. and the late Henrietta Richards Henricks. Precedingher in death areher grandpar‐entsBenjaminand Frances Richardsand Charlesand Emma Carbides Henricks, and infantolder brother Charles A. Henricks,III. A lifelongresidentofthe Westbank, Mary Frances attendedHolyNameof Marygrammarschool until the 5thgrade,and then the Academy of theSacred Heart at GrandCoteau, graduatingin1963. She earnedher degree in edu‐cationfromLoyolaUniver‐sityNew Orleansin1966 and spenther earlycareer teachingAmericanHistory and EnglishLiterature. She devoted herlifetobeing anenthusiastic, involved mother, andwas also an activevolunteer and fundraiser formany school,community and civic organizationsfor which sheheldnumerous leadershiproles.Frankie's relatives andfriends will rememberher forher gen‐erosity,sense of humor,in‐telligenceand spirited per‐sonality. Shehad asoft spotinher heartand was verysupportivetoSt. Jude Children'sResearchHospi‐tal andThe Academyofthe SacredHeart,Sodalityof the Children of Mary,New Orleans.Inlieuof ﬂowers, pleaseconsiderdonations tothe aboveorganizations, ora charityofyourchoice. Aprivate serviceand in‐

ternment will take placeat a laterdateatWestlawn MemorialParkCemetery, Gretna. MotheFuneral Homes handledarrange‐ments

Thompson,Letitia

LetitiaThompsonde‐partedthislifefor her heavenlyand eternalrest withthe Lord on April27, 2025 at theage of 89. She was preceded in deathby her parentsFredBurke,Sr. and Beatrice Burke, eleven brothersand sisters, hus‐bandGeorgeThompson and ason,Van,inheaven atbirth.Letitia wasthe beloved mother of heronly daughter, Kimberly John‐son (Carl) ,who sheleaves tocherish hermemoryand followher exampleof strengthand faith,along withfourgenerations of niecesand nephews. She graduated from Joseph S Clark High School and SouthernUniversityofNew Orleans.Letitia then went ontobecomeaneducator inthe OrleansParish School System forover25 years.Relatives and friends of thefamilyare in‐vited to attend theFuneral MassofChristian Burial at St. MariaGoretti Catholic Church,7300 CrowderBlvd. NOLA, 70127 on May24at 11:00 am.Visitationand Rosarywillbegin at 10:00 am. Interment: St.Louis Cemetery#3, 3421 Es‐planade Ave, NOLA,70119 Arrangement by D. W. RhodesFuneral Home,3933 WashingtonAve.Please visit www.rhodesfuneral com to sign theonline guestbook.Inlieuof ﬂow‐ers,pleasedonatea memorialgiftinhonor of Letitia Thompson to The NationalFederationofthe Blind,NFB.org or St.Jude Children'sResearchHospi‐tal,www.StJude.org.

LucilleConey Turner age 92, passedaway peacefully on Friday,April 25, 2025. Devotedwifeof Rev.RobertTurner, Sr.Lov‐ing mother of Patricia, Robertand Katrice. Also survivedbytwo sisters, eight grandchildren, four great-grandchildren,other relatives andfriends.A Celebration servicehonor‐ing thelifeand legacy of the late Lucille C. Turner willbeheldatSt. Mark's FourthBaptist Church,2130 Perdido Street,New Or‐leans,LA70112 on Satur‐day,May 24, 2025 at 10 am IntermentRestlawn, Avon‐dale, LA.Visitation9 am in the church.Pleasesignon‐lineguestbook at www.cha rbonnetfuneralhome.com. Charbonnet LabatGlapion Directors (504) 581-4411.

KennethD.Vaughn, Sr entered into eternalrest onThursday, May15, 2025 atthe ageof76. Beloved husband of thelateAlice Warrick Vaughn; Sonofthe lateEvelynVaughnand Rufus Durall;FatherofKen‐nethD.Vaughn, II (Loretta) and Quiana V. Brown(Ken‐neth);Brother of Linda Warren, Shelia Keller, Carl Taylor, YolandaGibson, WilbertGibson, Jr Patricia Gibsonand thelateAn‐thony Howard,Marion Cooper, RaymondTaylor and Paul Taylor;grandfa‐therofMorgan, Taylor, Tyraand KennethD Vaughn, III. Devoteduncle ofChristian andPhillip Warrick.Alsosurvivedby brothersand sisters-inlaw,nieces, nephews, cousinsand otherrelatives

October31, 1982 -May 22, 2021 It’s hard to believe youhavebeengone 4years.Weknowyourspiritiswithusall thetime. We miss youevery singleday! We love you, Mom, Dad, Eric andMichael

Turner,Lucille Coney

Kashimawo, Hakeem Kolawole

PichonSr.,Ronald James'Train

Vaughn Sr., Kenneth D.

Stumpf,Mary FrancesHenricks

Scott, ElizabethAnn

See more DEATHS page

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 professoroverpolitical comments made in class prompteda backlash fromacademicfreedom advocates. Nevertheless,webelieve Tate has been 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

YOUR VIEWS

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

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

We need better solutionsto manage homelessness

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

Here’s whyburning wood pelletsisabetterheating alternative

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

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.

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

COMMENTARY

ON THE RECORD WITH FRIDAy ELLIS

‘Innovationisinthe

Monroe mayor discussesbig Meta investment settotransform northeastLa.

heartlandofAmerica’

Arnessa Garrett

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.

NewOrleans Forecast

andfriends.Relatives and friends of thefamily, Pas‐torsand membersofFaith LifeMinistries; employees ofOchsner Foundation Hospital, JeffersonParish, 24thJudicialDistrictCourt, and FrisardTruckingare in‐vited to attend thefuneral servicesatD.W.RhodesFu‐neral Home,1020Virgil Street,Gretna, La on Satur‐day,May 24, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.Visitationwillbegin at 9:00a.m.Ofﬁciating: Rev CarlA Taylor.Interment: Mount Olivet Cemetery

VinetJr.,Christopher Joseph 'CJ'

ChristopherJoseph Vinet Jr.(C.J.), 46, of Laﬁtte, LA ,passedaway onMay 14, 2025. Christo‐pherwas born in NewOr‐leans,LatoChristopher J. Vinet Sr., andMaryLabit Pellegalleand stepsonof AdrienK.Pellegalle Christopher wasthe loving fatherofKyndall Vinet, Kynsley Vinetand Tatiana. Christopher is also sur‐vived by 9brothersand sisters:AshleyVinet AmandaV Cheramie (Brad), Adrien PVerdin (Keith),Mindy Pellegalle, Micki Pellegalle (Dan), Joshua Pellegalle,DaviPel‐legalle (Sandy), Timothy Pellegalleand Clarissa Ochoa,3 god children,20 niecesand nephews, 18 great nieces andnephews and ahostofaunts, uncles and cousins. Christopher was alovingfather, son, brother anduncle.Hehad a heartofgoldand hada lovefor kids like no other. Preceding Christoper in death arehis grandpar‐entsMarcelVinet Jr,Mary Vinet,MaryKellam, Walter (Sam) Kellam,and Wade Labit Jr,Nanny Katherine Gobertand ParinEm‐manuelLabit.Heisalso survivedbya host of cousins,other relatives and devotedfriends.Rela‐tivesand friendsofthe

DEATHS continued from familyare invitedtoattend the celebrationoflifeser‐vicewhich will be held on Friday, May23, 2025, at One Accord Ministries located at713 SJamie Blvd,Avon‐dale, La 70037.Visitation willbegin at 2p.m., andthe service will beginat4 p.m. PastorAndyPellerano ofﬁ‐ciating andinterment will beprivate.Funeralplan‐ningentrusted to Robinson FamilyFuneral Home 9611 LA- 23, BelleChasse,LA 70037 (504) 208- 2119. For onlinecondolences please visit www.robinsonfamilyf uneralhome.com

Washington,Perry

Perry Washington,age 74, wasbornonJune 15 1950 in NewOrleans, Louisiana andrearedinSt. Bernard Parish.Perry was the loving andfaithfulfa‐therofMaryamWashing‐ton White(Troy White)and Perry Rufﬁn, loving grand‐fatherofDerrick (Ja’Lisa) Ceaser, PrincetonWhite and proudgreat grandfa‐ther of Caiden Ceaser Perry leaves hisbrothers EdwardWashington (Lena), MichaelWashing‐ton (Alleaner),Wallace Washington, hissisters Claudia Brown(Arthur), MaryE.Phoenix,Carol Bentley (Mickey),Lynette Rhome (Rodney),Patricia Phoenix,JackieJackson (Andrew), Sandra Washing‐ton,devoted cousin Mil‐dredVail, devotednephew KirkBrown (Shavaun), Aunts/GodmotherBessie Nogess, Everlina Washing‐ton,MildredWashington and ahostofnieces, nephews,familyand friends to cherishunfor‐gettablememories. He was precededindeath by his lovingand devotedwife Estelle Ceaser Washington; parents Walter Washington Sr. andDaisy Phoenix Washington; brothers Wal‐ter Washington Sr (Char‐lene), Robert Washington

(Melissa), Rickey Washing‐ton andhis sister Betty WagnerHunter,auntsMar‐guerite Phoenix, Dorothy Chandler, Lovena Washing‐ton Hughes,LillieMay and brothers-in-law William (Glenda)and Larry Ceaser Relatives andfriends of the familyare invitedtoattend the CelebrationofLifeSer‐viceonSaturday, May24, 2025 at Gertrude Geddes Willis FuneralHome, 2120 Jackson Avenue,New Or‐leans,LA70113 at 12:30 p.m.Visitationfrom11:30 a.m.until 12:30 pm.Inter‐mentMount Olivet Ceme‐tery, 4000 Norman Mayer Avenue,New Orleans, LA 70122. Youmay sign the guest book on www.ger trudegeddeswillis.com Gertrude Geddes Willis Fu‐neral Home,Inc.incharge (504) 522-2525.

Williams,Antoinette Nealy

Antoinette Nealy Williams,age 64, entered eternal rest on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Beloved daughterofthe late Ed‐wardand Corella Scott Nealy.Beloved wife of the lateGaryWilliams. An‐toinette leaves to cherish her memory,children, Ron‐dellCharles Williams Michael Williams,Sr. (Resha) andSherita Williams Pruitt; siblings, AngelaNealy Taylor,Ed‐wardand Raymon Nealy (Tameeka);seven grand‐children; onegreat-grand‐child;aunts, PennyScott and AlbertaLewis;uncle WarrenNealy,aswellasa hostofnieces, nephews, cousins,other relatives and friends. Family,friends and employees of City Hall and Hibernia bank arein‐vited to attend thefuneral A Celebrationservice hon‐oring thelifeand legacy of the late Antoinette Nealy

Williams will be held at New Home Family Worship Center, 13800 HayneBlvd. New Orleans, LA 70128 on Saturday,May 24, 2025 at

10 a.m. IntermentMount OlivetCemetery. Visitation 9 am in thechurch.Please signonlineguestbook at www.charbonnetfuneralho me.com. Charbonnet Labat Glapion,Directors (504) 581-4411.

WayneErrol Wright.De‐cember27, 1944 -May 13 2025. Waynewas born De‐cember27, 1944 to Walter C.Wrightand GertrueAllen Wright; andhewas theel‐destofhis siblings –his brother Eric AllenWright and sister Genelle Wright Gibson. He attended ValenaC.Jones Elementary School andRiversFreder‐ick Jr.HighSchool.He graduated from St.Augus‐tineHighSchool in 1962 After completing High School,Wayne enlisted in the United States AirForce and served from 1963-1967 Uponhis return from the military, Wayneworkedfor the Railroad while attend‐ing Southern University at New Orleans{SUNO). He graduated from SUNO earning aBachelor’sDe‐greeinBusinessAdminis‐tration.Wayne married Winifred Dejoie,and fa‐theredone son, Walter Frederick Wright –named for hisfraternal andmater‐nal grandparents.Hewas the proudgrandfather of his namesake andbeloved grandson, WayneMichael Wright. Waynebegan his businesscareer with a brief tenureasa Pharma‐ceuticalSales Representa‐tivefor Ciba Geigy, before joining thestaff at Lock‐heed Martin Defenseand Aerospace where he be‐camethe Smalland Minor‐ity Business Administrator. WhileatLockheed Martin, Wayne wasanactivemem‐ber of theGulfSouth Mi‐norityPurchasingCouncil where he became Presi‐dentofthe Council. During thissameperiod, Wayne focusedhis energies and

worked untiringly with the SUNOFoundationadvanc‐ing fundraisingand Alumni support,aswellasfor the Friends of St.Augustine HighSchool organization which he wasa founding memberand Treasurer. Wayne wasa member of the Staggs Club andThe TownsmenClubInc., of which hisfatherwas a foundingmember, andhis son continuesthe family legacyasa 3rdgeneration member. Upon retirement fromLockheed Martin Wayne beganworking for the localofﬁce of Con‐gressmanCedricRich‐mond. He supportedthis ofﬁce in thecapacityof Small andMinorityBusi‐nessDevelopment Liaison. Heremainedinthisposi‐tionthrough 2020. Wayne enjoyed traveling, live music,diningwithfriends and familygatherings. Familyand friendsall knew Wayne as thewitty story‐tellerwho couldappear veryserious andhave everyonefalling over in laughter. Family,friends, and colleagues will miss him dearly.Wayne has been sorely missedfrom familygatheringsoverthe pastyeardue to his lengthy illnessbut will al‐waysbeinour hearts.Rel‐ativesand friendsofthe family, also priest and parishionersofStLeo/St. Raymond Catholic Church are invitedtoattenda Fu‐neral Mass of Christian BurialatSt. Leo/ St.Ray‐mondCatholicChurch, 29136 ParisAve,New Or‐leans,Louisiana 70119 at 10:00am.Visitationwill begin at 9:00am until 10:00am.Interment:Mount OlivetCemetery. Arrange‐ments by DuplainW RhodesFuneral Home,3933 WashingtonAve,New Or‐leans, Louisiana70125.

Please visithttps://pre miermemories.net/users/ MTYwMzI0LVdheW5lIEV ycm9s/home.htmland www.rhodesfuneral.com to signthe online guestbook, share memories,and con‐dolencestothe family.

Wright,Wayne Errol

How important is winning SEC tourney to LSU?

TheSoutheasternConference baseball tournament circa 2025 is now astrange duck when it comes to judging itsweight. It’simportance.

THE FIELD

It still waddles like the SEC tournament, with virtually guaranteed weather 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 overthe Hoover Met’soutﬁeld berms trying to snag aprized foul ball. But there’ssomething different this year.With the SEC havingimported Texas and Oklahoma, the tariff that camewithitwas 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 old SEC 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 going allout to win? Johnson said yes, but added the expected qualiﬁer

RABALAIS, page 4C

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

The New Orleans Saints’schedule is locked in, the rookies have had theirﬁrst taste of professionalfootball, and now thereal thing is starting to get under way for 2025.

The team will hold itsfirst of three Organized Team Activities(OTAs) this week,including asession that is open to the media Thursday at their Metairie facility New Orleans will conduct aroughly 90-minute practice Thursday,offering thefirst glimpseofnew coach Kellen Moore workingwith what should be most of his squad —the session is voluntary forplayers to attend, but most of the rostertypically showsupfor these workouts Here are some things we’ll be watching for when the Saints takethe field as ateam for the first time Thursday Welcomeback?

Will the Saints have both of their topreceivers back on theﬁeld Thursday? It seemslikeagood possibilitythatboth Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed will be present at Thursday’svoluntarysession,based on theteam’ssocialmedia posts

fromearlier off-season workouts. Theteam also has shared imagesofOlave catching passesinthe team’s indoor facility Both Olave and Shaheed are coming off disappointing 2024 seasons that werecut short because of injury.For Shaheed,itwas atorn meniscus that required seasonending surgery after six games. For Olave,itwas aseries of concussions thatforced him to missthe ﬁnaleight games.

The normal recovery timeline forShaheed’sinjury should have had him ready this spring, andOlave was practicing with the Saints by the end of last year.The pair make up the most dynamic part of the Saints offense, and it would be good to see them back in the fold. And, generallyspeaking,the receiver group willbe interesting to watch.Free-agentsignee BrandinCooks adds aveteran element to the group, but he is asimilar type of player to Shaheed and Olave, both in terms of stature andwhathedoes well. The Saintsalsohavea group of players whowere pressed into larger duty last year who are looking to catch the eye of the new staff, including Bub Means, Cedrick Wilson, DantePettis and Kevin Austin.

Loyola headed to ﬁrst NAIA WorldSeries

BY SPENCERURQUHART

Staff writer

The Loyola University baseball program has finally had its breakthrough moment, reaching the NAIA World Series for the first time in school history after comingclose in recent seasons. The World Series trip comes after Loyola (41-16) appeared in an opening round regional in four of thepastfive seasonsunder head coach JeremyKennedy.Loyola wasfacing elimination after aone-run loss to AveMaria last Wednesday but bounced back against the same AveMaria squad the next day with an 8-4 win toadvance. Loyola is ranked No. 13 nationallyand is

theNo. 8seedinthe NAIA World Series, which begins Friday in Lewiston, Idaho.ExperienceisonLoyola’sside with atotal of 16 seniors and graduatestudentsontheirroster

“We’ve been working toward (the NAIA WorldSeries) for afew years,”Kennedy said.“It was fun to get over the hump. We’ve got aveteran team. We hadsome season-ending injuries, but we hadguys stepin. They’ve beenstepping it up and getting it done.”

Loyola’spitching staff has faced injuries but found stabilityatthe front of the rotation with junior left-handed pitcher Thomas Hakimian and junior right-handed pitcher BradyBowen leading theway.Fourrelief pitchers have combined for 20 saves. Junior right-handedpitcherColeBordes

threw 6.2 innings in the Thursday win against AveMaria. ARummel graduate whotransferred to Loyolafrom Nunez,Bordes has managed to pitch withapartially torn UCL.

“Wehavea trainerwho’s greatattaping my arm up,” Bordessaid.“My catcher and coaches called agreat gamefor me. Iestablished my curveballearly,and Ihad conﬁdence in my slider when Ineeded it.”

“(Bordes) wanted the ball,” Kennedy said. “He’sa bulldog. We were hoping fortwo or three innings outofhim,but he went into the7th.He’sbattling an injury but has been guttingitout.”

Senior secondbaseman Brandon Mooney hasthrived as Loyola’sleadoffhitter.A Mandevillegraduate whotransferredto Loyola from LSU-Eunice, Mooney is hitting .378 with ateam-high 77 runs scored.

PROVIDED PHOTOByLOyOLAATHLETICS

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Johnson showed early signs of stardom

Former LSU, WNBA guard to be inducted into N.O. Sports HOF

Staff report

Temeka Johnson’s budding stardom was noticed before well before attending Bonnabel High School.

“I ﬁrst saw her play when she was in third grade (at Greenlawn Terrace),” Bonnabel coach Lee MacAlester said. “Every day I’d tell her, ‘Don’t forget me at Bonnabel.’ “ Johnson didn’t forget and went on to star at Bonnabel, LSU and then the WNBA.

One of the best basketball players in New Orleans history, she will be inducted into the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025 during a ceremony on Aug. 2.

At Bonnabel, the 5-foot-3 Johnson was a four-time all-state selection and led the Bruins a 111-20 record.

“She was an unbelievable player, and a better person,” MacAlester said. “After a while, you just got used to seeing extraordinary.”

At LSU, Johnson started 127 straight games, ﬁnishing her career with the SEC record for career assists and as the only player in school history with 1,000 points, 500 assists and 500 rebounds. She was named the Nancy Lieberman Award winner as the top point guard in the nation as a senior

Rouge when I was playing, helping to grow women’s basketball. I’m proud to have played my position as small as I was to the best of my ability, to give other people hope.”

Johnson was then selected No. 6 overall in the 2005 WNBA Draft and earned Rookie of the Year for the Washington Mystics. She played 11 years in the WNBA, scoring 2,620 points to go with 1,382 assists, 889 rebounds and 317 steals in 327 games.

“One of my proudest moments was winning the WNBA championship in Phoenix (in 2009),”

Johnson said. “I lost my grandmother the year before. Watching the woman that I spent so much of my life with being ill and there was nothing I could do to help her was very challenging and gave me a different perspective. I very much considered retiring early, but then I decided to play and dedicate my next season to her. I signed with Phoenix and we won the championship. That meant so much to me to do that in her memory.”

Johnson also played professionally overseas, spending seasons in Israel, Poland, Russia, and Spain. She won the FIBA Euro Cup championship in 2012 while playing for Russia’s Dynamo Kursk. She retired following an Achilles injury during the 2017-18 season in Spain.

Johnson will be recognized during a banquet with other Crescent City greats in New Orleans.

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

The dynamic Johnson proved herself to be at her best in critical situations. The 5-foot-3 guard registered a career-best 28 points in LSU’s SEC title-clinching victory over Arkansas and then dished a school-record 17 assists against Georgia in the SEC Tournament.

“We saw the leadership gene in Temeka, she was not just an individual player with a great skillset, but she made all the players around her better,” said longtime LSU assistant coach Bob Starkey, who was heavily involved in her recruitment. “She may have been short in stature, but she was big in the way she played; she was physical and aggressive. Her size didn’t bother her so it didn’t bother us.”

“I was small and always came up against so many people that always told me what I couldn’t do,” Johnson said. “That has made me feel that every area of my life is a success. Graduating from LSU, having an opportunity to play with some of the best, being able to play for (legendary LSU coach) Sue Gunter, helping to bring excitement and energy to Baton

“I was just having fun doing what I love to do,” Johnson said about her success. “For me, success is being the best version of yourself that you can be. That’s an everyday challenge. It’s an everyday journey to become the best version of yourself. Accomplishing that every day, one day at a time, is the key to success.”

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.” 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.”

Thunde r coach Mark Daigneault expects the Timberwolves to adjust.

OKC’S GILGEOUSALEXANDER MVP

The case for Shai GilgeousAlexander 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.

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.”

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

By The Associated Press

“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.” IN BRIEF

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.

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.

Colts’ music-loving owner

Irsay dies at age 65

Jim Irsay, the Indianapolis Colts’ owner who leveraged the popularity of Peyton Manning into a new stadium and a Super Bowl title, died Wednesday at age 65. Pete Ward, the teams chief operating ofﬁcer, made the announcement in a statement from the team. He said Irsay died peacefully in his sleep. With Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian, Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy and Manning, Irsay helped turn the Colts from a laughingstock into a perennial title contender Irsay began his football life as a ball boy after his late father Robert, acquired the team in a trade. The younger Irsay then worked his way up, becoming the youngest general manager in NFL history at age 24, and succeeding

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MARK SALTZ

LSU’s Temeka Johnson drives past Vanderbilt’s Jenn Hall on Feb 19, 2004 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Penske fires top three after cheating scandal

BY JENNA FRYER AP auto racing writer

INDIANAPOLIS Roger Penske at-

tempted to close the latest cheating scandal engulfing his race team — this one at his beloved Indianapolis 500 — by ﬁring his top three executives at Team Penske after two of the Penske cars were found to be illegal Penske fired team president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer on Wednesday in the wake of this Indianapolis 500 cheating scandal

“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” Penske said in a statement. “We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.” Penske is owner of the three-car team, IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500. He has won the Indy 500 a record 20 times.

The firings and Penske’s statement have been his first public reaction since two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden and teammate Will Power were found to have an illegally modified spec part on their cars ahead of Sunday’s final round of qualifications for the 109th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Penske after the firings were announced held a team owner’s meeting remotely in which he took responsibility for his team’s actions. Some who dialed-in told The Associated Press the meeting lasted 20 minutes and the owners were satisfied with the outcome; no owners called for the Penske cars to be kicked out of the race, and the only questions asked were about how IndyCar moves on from the scandal ahead of the biggest race in the world

“What he did in ﬁring three people is a big deal,” Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan told The Associated Press. “I think everyone recognized how big of a deal this is to Roger and now it’s just a question of how to move on and how to make sure tech doesn’t miss these things again.” Neither Newgarden or Power were allowed to qualify Sunday when rivals pointed out the ille-

gal modification. Both drivers on Monday were dropped to the back of the field and will start 32nd and 33rd Rival teams have been arguing it was not enough since it’s the second cheating scandal in two seasons and potentially illegal cars bumped Jacob Abel of Dale Coyne Racing from the field.

Newgarden is attempting to become the ﬁrst driver in history to win three consecutive Indy 500s; no driver has ever won starting from the last row

Cindric and Ruzewski had already been suspended by IndyCar for the race and both teams fined $100,000. It is the second consecutive year Cindric and Ruzewski were suspended from the Indy 500.

The trouble for Team Penske began before the fast 12 shootout on Sunday, when rival team owner Chip Ganassi was among a chorus of competitors who accused it of cheating. They noticed unapproved changes had been made to the rear attenuator, a safety device designed to absorb and reduce the force of impacts, and the assumption was the modiﬁcations would have given the two Team Penske cars an aerodynamic advantage in their four-lap qualify-

ing runs. Further investigation showed Newgarden’s winning car from last year that is displayed in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum has the same illegal modiﬁcation, as did the car Team Penske brought to the White House last month. Rivals claim to have photos indicating the modiﬁcation has been in place for some time.

Cindric is the biggest name to fall in this scandal. He’s a member of the Team Penske Hall of Fame and has been with the organization since 2000 as President of Penske Racing Inc. He’s been long assumed to be Penske’s successor on the racing part of Penske’s empire.

Cindric was elevated to the role of President of Penske Performance in 2005 and, until February, essentially ran the day-to-day operations of all of Penske’s racing properties. But Penske’s right-hand man in February was stripped of most of his roles although he said he chose to step back as the overall leader of the organization. He remained president of the IndyCar program.

Cindric is the father of NASCAR driver Austin Cindric.

Shanks vows to make race Fox Sports’ biggest event of the year

BY JENNA FRYER

AP auto racing writer

INDIANAPOLIS As an Indiana na-

tive, Eric Shanks can’t remember exactly when the rite of passage began of traveling to Indianapolis Motor Speedway His ﬁrst Indianapolis 500 memory is of the 1985 race, Danny Sullivan’s “Spin and Win” 1985 victory, when Shanks was around 14 and had fully embraced the way his home state played such a role in American culture.

“I think everybody takes pride in there being a spotlight on this part of the country,” Shanks said. “The Pacers are only in the playoffs when they are in the playoffs, the Colts aren’t always in. But this is a guarantee every year.”

When he became CEO of Fox Sports in 2010, Shanks had a wish list of events he wanted for the network. Always at the top was the Indianapolis 500, a property Fox Sports finally landed this year The network is in its first year of a new broadcast deal with IndyCar and on Sunday televises its ﬁrst Indy 500. Shanks from the start has vowed the production will be the biggest of the year for Fox Sports a lofty promise for a network that also carries the Super Bowl and the World Series, among other major sporting events.

“We are going to blow the doors off of Indy We’re going to bring everything that Fox has to bear,” he said. He’s been relentless in pursuing his promise and has spent the ﬁrst ﬁve IndyCar races of the year working out early-season glitches that ranged from an unstable graphics package, issues delivering timing and scoring, a mid-race

loss of transmission, and enough bumps to drive Shanks nuts as he strives for a perfect production.

The work has gone on at the same time Fox Sports televised the ﬁrst 16 races of the NASCAR season, a run that culminated last Sunday night with the All-Star race.

Only four of the NASCAR races were on Fox, and even with the rain-effected season-opening Daytona 500, that quartet averaged 4,986,000 viewers.

Fox promised IndyCar its entire 17-race slate will be aired on broadcast — including both days of last weekend’s qualifying — but the numbers have been sporadic and unable to keep pace with NASCAR.

Fox Sports last week made several changes to races later this season (mainly start times) to ensure IndyCar and NASCAR do not go directly head-to-hear, something that happened several times earlier this year when the network juggled both racing series.

But Shanks told The Associated Press he is not considering moving IndyCar off of Fox to Fox Sports or another property if the ratings don’t improve over the next few weeks.

Instead, his focus is on ensuring the glitches through the first five races don’t happen during the 109th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” or the rest of the season “In each race, it actually has been something different,” Shanks said. “You fix one thing and then there’s something else to fix. There’s a lot of different systems talking to each other and we’re on the receiving end of a lot of it. So we’re figure it out and we’re trying to do more.”

Scheffler goes for third straight win at Colonial

BY SCHUYLER DIXON AP sportswriter

FORT WORTH, Texas Scottie Schef-

ﬂer is skipping some of his usual prep work for the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial after winning the PGA Championship last weekend.

The world No. 1 doesn’t want an emphasis on rest and recovery to be misunderstood.

“I didn’t just show up here to Fort Worth to just walk around and celebrate last week,” Schefﬂer said Wednesday “I’m here for a reason, and that’s not to just play a couple of ceremonious rounds and then ride off in the sunset. I’m here for a reason. That’s to compete.”

Schefﬂer’s third major also set him up to be the ﬁrst player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three consecutive PGA Tour starts.

He won his hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson north of Dallas two weeks before the PGA, then skipped the $20 million signature event at the Truist Championship before winning at Quail Hollow

Colonial isn’t quite on the level of the Nelson for Scheffler, who attended that event for years as a kid and made his pro debut there 11 years ago.

Still, Colonial is in Texas, and not far from family and friends in Dallas.

“I think any time I can sleep in my own bed and play a golf tournament, it’s a nice thing,” said Schefﬂer, who has ﬁnished in the top three with a pair of runner-ups the past three years at Colonial. “I love the golf course here. I think it’s a great test. That’s also one of the big reasons I try to come to this event each year is just for the golf course.”

Davis Riley is the defending Colonial champion and coming off his best finish at a major, tied for second behind Scheffler at the PGA. His first tour victory came in the debut of a renovation of the 7,289yard, par-70 Colonial course made famous by Ben Hogan, the only back-to-back winner in Fort Worth

(he did it in 1946-47 and 1952-53).

“It was really firm because it was brand new,” Riley, who is the same age as Scheffler at 28, said of last year’s conditions. “It softened up. I think the fairways are maybe a little bit softer, more grown in I would say the rough is a little bit up, but I think the greens, the quickness and the firmness will be very similar as to what we saw last year.”

Jordan Spieth is the other hometown favorite alongside Schefﬂer And while his fellow Texas alum beat him to the ﬁrst victory at the Nelson, Spieth is the one with his name on the wall of champions along the No. 1 tee box at Colonial. He won in 2016.

Spieth missed the cut at the PGA in pursuit of the career grand slam He ﬁnished 19 under at the Nelson, 12 shots behind Schefﬂer, who won by eight while tying the PGA Tour scoring record of 253.

This is the fourth time Schefﬂer has had a chance to win three consecutive starts, all since 2022. Another signiﬁcant feat in that span is joining Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players with 15 victories before turning 29.

Johnson’s three-peat in 2017 included the Genesis Invitational, WGC-Mexico Championship and WGC-Dell Technologies Match

Play Now that he’s back in his football-mad home state, Scheffler was asked if his rare show of raw emotion in slamming his cap on the green after winning the PGA was his version of a football spike.

“When I played football, I didn’t score very many touchdowns, so I wasn’t too experienced in that,” Schefﬂer said. “I don’t really have much to say on that. I think I just kind of let my emotions out a little bit, and I guess that’s where my brain decided it wanted to go at the time. I really have absolutely no explanation for it at all.”

Only one player has celebrated on the 18th green of the Byron Nelson and Colonial in the same year: Hogan in 1946.

New innovation

Fox Sports is compensating through new innovation, including the image of a “ghost car” graphic used in qualifying that showed how a car making a run tracked against the current leader And he’s bringing in major talent for Sunday, including Tom Brady for the ceremonial “Fastest Seat in Sports” car, which will be driven by Jimmie Johnson; Michael Strahan, Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart and Super Bowl-winning tight end Rob Gronkowski as the Snake Pit grand marshal.

Fox Sports has a ton of material to work with, including a race-consuming cheating scandal involving Team Penske, the marquee team in IndyCar It involves two-time defending winner Josef Newgarden, who is seeking to become the ﬁrst driver in history to win three consecutive 500s.

Gambling Added to Indy 500

He also achieved a goal in adding a gambling element to Sunday, something he’s wanted to do for months.

“I really want to turn the Indy 500 into more of a Kentucky Derby day from a wagering standpoint. It’s hard to understand how to wager on motorsports,” he said The solution was a partnership with DraftKings, which will have 20 or more trifectas that people can pick from. Fox Sports analyst James Hinchcliffe will pick one trifecta that will be promoted by Fox.

“I think that’s element to this event, and motorsports in general, that if we can start to kind of like add that layer of interest for people, I think it can only be helpful to viewership,” Shanks said.”

Pro tennis tours ﬁle motion to dismiss antitrust lawsuit

BY HOWARD FENDRICH AP tennis writer

The professional tennis tours and two other defendants jointly ﬁled a motion in federal court in New York to dismiss the class-action antitrust lawsuit brought by the Professional Tennis Players’ Association, a group co-founded by Novak Djokovic.

“The PTPA is not a proper plaintiff in this lawsuit. The PTPA lacks associational standing and antitrust standing, and the PTPA’s presence in this lawsuit is not only redundant, but also an improper attempt to circumvent class-action requirements,” Tuesday’s ﬁling concludes “The PTPA should be dismissed as a plaintiff.”

The PTPA sued the WTA women’s tour, the ATP men’s tour, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which oversees anti-doping and anticorruption efforts in the sport, in March, calling them a “cartel.”

The players are seeking a greater share of revenues and raised various other complaints about how tennis is structured, including limits on prize money and a lack of competition from rival tours or tournaments

The PTPA was started several years ago by 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil with the aim of representing players who are independent contractors in a largely individual sport.

The group repeatedly has made clear it is not a full-ﬂedged union, does not have members and does not collect dues — all of which are

pointed to in the motion as reasons why the PTPA should not be allowed to be a plaintiff in the case.

“The PTPA is improperly conﬂating its ‘membership’ with the population of top players on whose behalf the PTPA purportedly advocates, some of whom have already publicly disagreed with the PTPA’s advocacy,” the ﬁling reads.

“Because the PTPA has failed to plead that these players are actually its members, and in the absence of an alleged injury to any actual PTPA member the PTPA has no standing.”

That motion came from all four defendants.

A separate motion, filed only by the WTA on Tuesday with the same court, says that the male plaintiffs — 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios, Reilly Opelka and Tennys Sandgren were among those named should not be suing the women’s tour, and also argues that the female plaintiffs who include Sorana Cirstea and Varvara Gracheva — should be compelled to go to binding arbitration instead of pursuing the court case.

That filing says WTA players agree each to follow the tour’s rulebook, “which broadly states that ‘Any Dispute’ shall be ‘submitted exclusively’ to the American Arbitration Association for a single arbitrator proceeding.” In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday the PTPA said: “There is nothing surprising in their motions We’ve researched all the issues at length, before ﬁling our case, and look forward to responding in due course and having the judge decide.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVID J PHILLIP Scottie Scheffler hits from the fairway on the 15th hole during the PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club on Sunday in Charlotte, N.C.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MICHAEL CONROy

President of Team Penske,Tim Cindric, left, and driver Josef Newgarden wait during practice Wednesday for Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 in Indianapolis.

WCWS shapingupto

be an SEC showcase

BY CLIFF BRUNT AP sportswriter

OKLAHOMA CITY Softball’ssuper regionals are looking alot like a Southeastern Conferencetournament.

Liberty knocked out top overall seed Texas A&M, an SEC member,inthe regional round. Even without the Aggies, nine of the 16 remaining teams are fromthe powerhouse conference andcould qualify for the Women’sCollege WorldSeriesbywinning two of three in super regionalsthis weekend.

First-year SEC member Oklahoma, the No. 2seed and four-time reigning national champion, will host SEC member Alabamawitha World Series spot at stake.

Alabama, seeded 15th, hosted the Sooners in April and took two of three. But Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso said she thinks her team is on theriseheading into the Norman super regional opener on Friday.

“I’ve said to you that this team hasn’tpeaked,” Gasso said after the clinching regional win against California. “I’m starting to feel something right now,and it’spretty exciting. Icould notbe more pleased right nowthat this team is starting to hit on all their cylinders.”

Third-seeded Florida faces Georgia and No. 4Arkansas hostsOle Miss in other matchups between SEC teams.

The conferenceisguaranteed three World Series entries and could take six of the eight slots in Oklahoma City next week

More SEC

In other matchups involving SEC teams, No. 6Texas,the national runner-up last season,faces ACC member Clemson; No. 8 South Carolina plays newBig Ten member UCLA and No. 7Tennessee faces Big TenmemberNebraska.

The best-of-three super regionals begin Thursday and Friday

LOYOLA

Continued from page 1C

“Every year I’ve been here (at Loyola), I’ve seen agradualincrease in the talent and culture,” Mooney said. “It’sbeen along time coming. We’ve been gradually getting there and ﬁnally got what we’ve been working for.”

Graduate students Garrett Felix and Cole Romero have been consistent presences in the top half of the lineup. Felix leads Loyola with a .402 batting average, and Romero has a team-high 11 home runsand 71 RBIs

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ALONZO ADAMS Oklahoma’sKasidi Pickering celebrates ahomerun against Texas during Game 2ofthe Women’s CollegeWorld Series championship series on June 5inOklahomaCity

Elitecoaches

Gasso andAlabama’sPatrick Murphy will face offinamatchup of coachingroyalty.

Gasso has won eight national championships and willlead the U.S.Olympic team in 2028.

Murphy’sCrimson Tide won the nationaltitle in 2012. He is aﬁvetime SECcoach of the year NiJareeCanady

Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady lifted Stanford to the World Series the past two years, and now the reigning USA Softball collegiate playerofthe yearistwo wins from bringing hernew teamtothe event.

Canady transferred in the offseasonafter helpingStanford reach thenational semiﬁnals twice. She signed a$1millionNIL deal with Texas Tech, and then dominated. She has a28-5 record and is second nationally with a0.92 ERA.

The Red Raiders will visit No. 5 Florida State, the highest remainingseed outside the SEC, starting Thursday night.The Atlantic Coast Conference member won the national title in 2018 and was runnerup in 2021 and2023.

(ofthe order) all year and have had sucha huge impact.”

Loyola’sfirst matchupinthe NAIA World Series, which features 10 teamsand is doubleelimination, is set for 5p.m. on Friday againstNo. 3-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan.

“It’sbeen along time coming.We’ve beengradually getting there and ﬁnally got what we’ve been working for.”

BRANDON MOONEy Loyola second baseman

“The offense is able todoa bunch of things,” Kennedy said. “We’ve got afew guys that can hit it out, and we’ve got almost 200 stolen bases as ateam These guys have hit at the top

“(Tennessee-Wesleyan’s) top arm is one of the best, so we’ll have ourhands full,” Kennedy said. “We’ve been playinggood teams over the last month, so we feel up to the challenge.” Mo oney and Brodes are among theLoyolaplayers with ties to the New Orleans area looking to bring home anational championship.

“I’ve gotten alot of phone calls from back home,” Mooney said.

“Itfeels good to be apartof something local. We’re going to go handlebusiness and hopefully bringithome.”

Tulane turningto leftyFladdatoslow down Roadrunners

BY GUERRYSMITH

Contributing writer

As the only team nottothrow its normal Friday starter on the opening day of the American Athletic Conference baseball tournament, Tulane will enjoy that luxury in Thursday’swinner’sbracket game against top-seeded Texas San Antonio (noon, ESPN+).

It is up to senior LucFladda to makethe advantage pay off.

Fladda (4-6, 6.53 ERA) has been hit hard for most of the year,yielding 20 doubles and12 home runs amongthe 91 hits he hasallowed in 712/3 innings, but he blanked Nicholls State over eight innings in his last postseasonappearanceatthe 2024 Corvallis (Oregon)regional.Healso pitched 12/3 scoreless innings of relief against Wichita State to earn the win in the AAC championship game.

Coach JayUhlman is banking on Fladda’sexperience to keep the Green Wave (31-24) in the game against theexplosive Roadrunners (43-11), who rank sixth nationally with a.321 batting average and 12th in scoring with nine runs per game. They scored seven in ﬁve-plus innings off him in San Antonio in April, but the Wave trailed only 6-4 entering the sixth at aplace where UTSA went 25-2 this season.

TheRoadrunners will counter withjunior Zach Royce (8-4, 5.08), who opposed Fladda in that ﬁrst meeting, allowing four runs on seven hits in six innings. Royce was hammeredbyRice in his last outing as UTSA fell behind 7-0 early before rallying to win15-7.

This could be Tulane’shighest hurdle to clear in its three-year run in Clearwater,Florida, under Uhlman. UTSA,which went 23-4 in league play,boasts the best conference winning percentage in the 12-year history of the AAC. The Roadrunners erupted for 24 runs in threeinnings during last month’sseries ﬁnale againstthe Wave.

Acematchup

Runs could be hard to comeby when Tennessee hostsNebraska.

Tennessee’sKarlynPickens and Nebraska’sJordyBahl, two of the nation’sbest pitchers, will face off in aseries that begins Friday in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Pickens, who was clocked at a NCAA-record 78.2 milesper hour in March, leadsthe nation with a 0.90 ERA andissixth nationally with 252 strikeouts.

Bahl, who won two national titles with Oklahoma, is sixth nationally with a1.50ERA andﬁfthwith 270 strikeouts.

Liberty’sshocker

Liberty had never even won aregional game, much less advanced. There wasnoluckinvolved the Lady Flames played the Aggies three times.

Liberty defeatedTexas A&M 8-5 lastSaturday,then lost14-11 in eightinnings in Sunday’sﬁrst game. Liberty won the winnertake-all game 6-5 on Sunday night.

Liberty will visit No. 16 seed Oregon in super regionals, starting Friday

RABALAIS

Continuedfrom page1C

“We’regoing to play to win,” he said. “I would never,ever want anybody to think we aren’tdoing that. It’s atournament.It’scompetition. There’sa championship. We want to play great and be prepared to go play championship baseball. Idon’tthink you can go through it as ablow it off exercise.

“The NCAAtournament is the thingthat matters. With that, there’sanargument for (the SEC format) being thebest.”

Maybe then this is the most important question: is the SEC tournamentstill worth ateam in LSU’sspot going all-out towin?

Ateam like Texas A&M, which came in as the No. 14 seed and ﬁghting for itsNCAA tournament life, absolutely? But theTigers, ranked No. 1for the second straight week in all the major national polls, come in with amuch different agenda once they ﬁnally get to play (LSUplays the last

TULANE NOTEBOOK

moreWave magic in Clearwater, and he lived up to that goal almost right away in Tulane’s6-3 victory on Tuesday againstFlorida Atlantic.

Schulz drove in the tying run with atwo-out triple to center ﬁeld in thethirdinning. Histwoout single in the fifth started a three-runoutburstthatmadeit 5-1.

At that point, he was17for 32 (.531) at BayCare Ballpark since the start of 2023.

“I kidded himbeforethe game andsaid,‘Well, (Tulane teammates) Teo (Banks)and Jackson (Linn) got(tournament) MVPs,” Uhlman said. “I said you’ve been here this long,it’sabout time.Hesmashed that ball to center to tieitand kind of loosen us up alittle bit.

More Lombardi?

All-AAC pitcher MichaelLombardi, anormal closer who threw 105 pitchesover acareer-long seven inningsina dominant start on Tuesday,would love to return if Tulane is still in the tournament by the weekend. He addedhewould notbedumb about it.

“I will do whatever it takes to makesure my body is ready to go,” he said afterstriking out 11 while allowing only twohits.

“One thing Ideﬁnitely won’tdois if I’m not recovered, I’m not going to force it just to tell you that Ican be atough guy and get back out there if someone else fresh is going to be more effective than me.”

The most likely scenario is Lombardi being available for Sunday’schampionshipgame if Tulane gets there.

“I’m ready do whatever it takes to win,” he said. “I’mgoing to takethe next four or five days extremely seriously so hopefully I’mready to go and contribute to us winning this thing.”

Lagniappe

Still, Tulane beat them 5-3inthe previous game andis9-1 at Bayside Ballpark since 2023. Fladda, making his 30th start over the past twoyears, will try to maintain that momentum

Still hot

Senior designated hitter Gavin Schulz said he wantedtocreate

Despite its dominant regular season, UTSA is trying to buck history.Only one top seed—East Carolina in 2022 —won in the 10 previous editions of the AAC tournament. …The Tulane-UTSA loser will face Florida Atlantic at noon Friday in an elimination game. The winner will advance to the championship round on Saturday.…Tulane freshman leadoff hitter JasonWachs is batting .416 (32 for77) in the past 21 games.

gameFriday night, the 16th of 16 SEC teams to get into action).

All thenational projections have LSUasatop-eight national seed, as of this writing on asurprisingly mild May 21 afternoon. Anywherefrom No. 1toNo. 7. Given that baseball is such an unpredictable sport, with the even the worst team able to beat thebest team on any given day, it almost doesn’tmatter 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 meansyou will get to host aregional and asuper regional at homeshould you advance, greatly enhancing your hopes of getting to theCollege World Series, the holy grail forevery college baseball team. Is LSU safeasatop-eight seed despitewhat happens this week?

Johnson said yes, but one wonders abit where conﬁdence ends and politics begins. “I think we’re forsureatop-eight

national seed,” he said. “I’m not on thecommittee, though. They’re smart peoplewho look at thisthing hard andmakegood decisions. But Idon’t have adoubt in my mind that we’re atop-eight national seed andwe’veearned that.” Johnson should be right. LSU (42-13) slugged its way through ahost of SEC heavyweights (five others are in the RPI top five, the Tigers played three) to finish third with arespectable 19-11 SEC record. LSU also has acombined 20 Quad 1and Quad 2wins, fifth-most in the country All that impressive résumésays that it shouldn’tmatter whether the Tigers go one-and-done in the SEC tournament or winthe whole thing (with the SEC’sautomatic NCAA bid attached). Their fate, a positive one, should be sealed. Still, awin or two wouldn’thurt the Tigers’ hopes one bit. And it would be nice to liftatrophy come Sunday.But there are bigger wins, bigger trophies, to seek and find. Hoover,Alabama, isn’t LSU’s final duck pond by along way

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MIKE BUSCHER

Tennessee pitcher KarlynPickens warms up before agame againstDelaware State on Feb. 28 in Knoxville,Tenn. Pickens and Nebraska’sJordyBahl, twoofthe nation’sbest pitchers, will face off in aseriesthat begins Friday.

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

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO CAROLyN KASTER

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow speaks at a news conference on Tuesday in Cincinnati.

QB Burrow credits Peyton Manning for involvement in

BY JOE REEDY AP sportswriter

CINCINNATI Joe Burrow’s desire for privacy might be on the same level as his drive to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL That is why it was a surprise when Netflix announced in late March that the Cincinnati Bengals’ star was going to be featured on the second season of the hit “Quarterback” series. After joking that they “caught me on the right day I guess,” Burrow pointed out that Peyton Manning’s involvement in the series made the opportunity too good to pass up.

“I have a lot of respect for him. When that guy reaches out to you and asks you to do something, then most of the time I’m going to say yeah,” Burrow said of Manning. “I probably wouldn’t have done it if he wasn’t involved, but I have a lot of trust and faith in him to not do anything that would hurt me or the team.” Even though Burrow lamented the loss of privacy after his home was broken into last December, he did make a high-proﬁle appearance at The Met Gala in New York two weeks ago. That came on the heels of last year’s appearance for Vogue at Paris Fashion Week with friend and former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson.

“It’s a new experience. It was fun,” Burrow said about The Met Gala. “It’s about five minutes of taking pictures, and then it’s just a little dinner party So it was good people, good vibes. I was happy that I was able to go. Maybe we’ll go again. I don’t know We’ll see how we play it by ear.” Burrow led the league with 4,918

passing yards and 43 touchdowns, but had his house broken into in December while the Bengals were in Dallas facing the Cowboys in a Monday night game.

“That was deﬁnitely a curveball

I didn’t quite expect throughout the whole process, but the people involved in it, working on it day to day, were great and weren’t too intrusive,” Burrow said about the break-in and how that was handled on both series.

The Netﬂix series is a joint production between NFL Films, Manning’s Omaha Productions and Patrick Mahomes’ 2PM Productions Burrow and the Bengals were also part of last year’s “Hard Knocks” in-season series that focused on the AFC North.

Burrow added he has screened a couple of episodes of the upcoming season of “Quarterback” to provide input to Manning and producers, but likely would not watch the entire series when it is released in July

Coach Zac Taylor said that despite having two series following the team and his star quarterback around late last season, the film crews did a good job blending in.

Atlanta’s Kirk Cousins and Detroit’s Jared Goff will also be featured on the series.

“Part of the quarterback show is just behind the scenes playing quarterback. It’s not necessarily the home life and the off ﬁeld. I’m sure there’s a little bit of that, but for the most part, it’s just a respect for the game,” he said “I hope people get an appreciation of what they go through every single day of game week and over the course of the season and how their role can evolve.”

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

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-

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 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.

NFL taps Bills for ‘Hard Knocks’ debut during training camp

BY DAVE CAMPBELL

AP pro football writer

EAGAN, Minn. — The reigning NFL MVP will be a featured attraction this season on the league’s training camp documentary, with the Buffalo Bills making their ﬁrst appearance on “Hard Knocks.”

The New York Giants will get another shot, too, after their uncomfortable debut.

The NFL announced Wednesday at the spring owners meetings that the Bills, led by quarterback Josh Allen, were selected for the behind-the-scenes show on HBO that’s in its 25th year. The five-part series will air on Tuesdays beginning on Aug. 5.

The NFC East was also picked as the featured division on the in-season show, with filming of the Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders and defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles set to air in December The league reached a new multi-year deal with HBO to continue to broadcast the show

The Bills, who hold their training camp off-site at St. John Fisher University outside of Rochester, New York, have entered their

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

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.

ninth year under head coach Sean McDermott. Still seeking their first championship, having not appeared in the Super Bowl since their fourth consecutive loss following the 1993 season, the Bills have won five straight AFC East titles and qualified for the playoffs in seven of the past eight years.

Allen has been a driver of that success, entering his eighth season and coming off his ﬁrst MVP award. The Bills return a majority of their offense from a team that finished second in the NFL in scoring in the 2024 season. They retooled their defense, starting with the addition in free agency of edge rusher Joey Bosa.

The NFL revamped its rules last year around “Hard Knocks” appearances, previously allowing teams that made the playoffs within the previous two seasons to decline to participate. Such an opt-out is no longer an option. Teams now ineligible for selection include those with a first-year head coach, those that have appeared on the training camp version of the show in the past eight sea-

sons, and those picked for the in-season version focusing on one division.

The Chicago Bears were a ﬁrsttime “Hard Knocks” participant last season during training camp. HBO and co-producer NFL Films last year added the in-season show, filming around the four AFC North teams, and an offseason version that premiered — and perhaps ended — with a focus on the Giants.

The awkward goodbye between running back Saquon Barkley and general manager Joe Schoen was a prominent part of that series, which has so far not been renewed.

Barkley, who signed with the rival Eagles and went on to win the Super Bowl, later complained that his side of the conversation with Schoen was recorded and aired without his consent.

Schoen’s informing Barkley that the Giants would not make him a contract offer or put the franchise tag on him and thus let him become a free agent became a must-see scene, along with a pained reaction from owner John Mara about losing a popular player

Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning?

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,

“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 sevenon-seven, 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.”

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 doesVelus 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.

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.

Go Italian with pesto chicken burger on ciabatta

BY LINDAGASSENHEIMER

(TNS)

Tribune News Service

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.

LIVING

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.

See AL FRESCO, page 2D

Italian Sandwiches

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

2. Add 2slicesofprosciutto to the bottom of each croissant. Add 2or 3basil slices overthe 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.

STAFFPHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

TNS PHOTO By LINDAGASSENHEIMER BY GRETCHEN McKAY

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 Got This” by DianeMorrisey

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 page1D

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

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

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? 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

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.”

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 fromyourhome, package these thingstogether in aportable bowl witha lid. Otherwise place them in asalad bowl.

AL FRESCO

Continuedfrom page1D

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.

destination if you focus on your goals

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Go with the flow and make the most outofevery interaction. Don't let uncertainty ruin your rhythm or send you down apath that leads to failureand little gain.

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

LEo (July 23-Aug.22) Letyourimagination run wild, andyourcreativity and energy will carry you forward. Put acap on your spending and concentrate on what you want to achieve. Associate with people motivated by your words

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Take the high road regardless of what others do. Letting others decide foryou will leave you vulnerable. Think andact foryourself, learn from your mistakes and set an example for the peopleyou care about.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Discover what works best for you. Expand your mind and explore the possibilities. Don'tfear change or taking the road less traveled. Followyour intuition's lead, and you'll discover what resonates with you.

scoRPIo(oct. 24-Nov. 22) Pay attention to detail, andyou'll find the quickestway to master your skills. Professional gain is apparent, but contracts will be complex to negotiate. Don't agree to anything without expert input

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

Rely on your intelligence and vigor to get you whereyou want to go.

cAPRIcoRN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Watch and wait. Observe how others handle 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 you out of your comfort zone.

AQuARIus(Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Keep pushing forward.Initiatethe changesthat will makeyourlife easier. It's time to get physical and mixsocializingwith activities that make youthink and act quickly.

PIscEs (Feb.20-March 20) Reviseyour schedule to meet your needs.Take care of responsibilitiesswiftlyand move on to somethingyou find engaging. Be selective; if you try to jam too much into your agenda, you'll fall short.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Be careful how youhandleothers. Patience is required whendealingwithpeoplewhodon'tshare your beliefs.Focus on the good in every situationtohelpkeepthecommunication flowing without controversy.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Decisiveaction is your keytosuccess. Keep your emotionsincheck andyourmindonwhat's realistic and essential to your long-term plans.Spend more time at home.

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place thenumbers1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box containsthe same number only once. The difficulty level of thesudoku increases from monday to sunday.

Yesterday’sPuzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER

Alija Izetbegovic, the first president of Bosnia andHerzegovina,said, “Weplay an active role and try to influenceour destiny; we have our own trump cards andweuse them.”

So far this week, we have been looking at defenses in no-trump contracts aided by placing declarer’s high-card points based on the biddingand play. Suitably assisted,one defender hasknown which suit to attack to gainsufficienttricks to defeat the contract. Now let’s move to trump contracts.

South is in fourspades.West leads the heart ace. Howshould East planthe defense?

The auction given is using Standard. If youhaveadoptedtwo-over-one gameforcing, North wouldrebid three spades because the opener’s hand strengthis undefined. Then South would bid four spades to indicate aminimum.

East does notwant his partner to shift, so should signalwithhis heart nine at trick one. West cashes the heartking and plays his third heart. After Eastwins with his queen,what does he do next?

East should countthe points. South showed 12 to 14, the dummy has13, West hasalreadyproducedseven, and East hasseven.Since all four jacks are onview,Westcannothaveanotherhonor card.The only chance for afourth trick lies in the trumpsuit

wuzzles

Eastmustlead his lastheart. Here, when Westruffs with the spade nine, it uppercutsdummy’squeenandpromotes aspade trick for East. When you have taken everypossible side-suit trick, give aruff-and-sluff. It might result in atrump promotion or an uppercut.

EachWuzzle is aword riddle whichcreates adisguisedword,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 four lettersbythe addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAy’s WoRD LIMELIGHt: LIME-lite: The center of public attention.

Average mark 22 words

Timelimit

Can you find 28 or more words in LIMELIGHT?

yEstERDAy’s WoRD —REMNANt

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

dIrectIons: make a2-to 7-letter word from theletters in each row. add pointsof each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus “Blanks”used as any letter have no point value. allthe words are in theOfficial sCraBBlE® players Dictionary, 5th Edition. Formoreinformation on tournaments and clubs, email naspa –north

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

info@scrabbleplayers.org.Visit

ken ken

InstructIons: 1 -Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1thorugh4(easy) or 1through 6 (challenging) without repeating. 2 -The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners. 3 -Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

WiShinG Well

HErE is aplEasanT liTTlE

the numberoflettersis6ormore,

left

Scrabble GramS

Get fuzzy

jump Start

roSe iS roSe animal crackerS

DuStin

This approval andcorre‐sponding documentation is availableathttps:// www.epa.gov/pcbs/eparegion-6-polychlorinatedbiphenyls. Forquestions regardingthisapproval please contactMs. Courtney Allenat214665-6630 or allen. courtney@epa.gov AVISOPÚBLICO AGENCIADEPROTECCIÓN AMBIENTALDEESTADOS UNIDOS REGIÓN 6, DALLAS TEXAS. APROBACIÓN PARA LA DELINEACIÓNY LIMPIEZA DE BIFENILOS POLICLORADOS (PCB)EN EL SITIODELAADMINIS‐TRACIÓNNACIONALDE AERONÁUTICAY EL ESPA‐CIO (NASA),INSTA‐LACIÓN DE ENSAMBLAJE MICHOUD, 13800 OLD GENTILLY ROAD,NEW OR‐LEANS, LOUISIANA La United States Environ‐mental Protection Agency (EPA oAgencia de protección ambiental de EstadosUnidos) Región 6estáentregando la notiﬁcación de aprobación para lastar‐easdelimpiezapropues‐tasenuna propiedadde la NASA ubicadaenel 13800 OldGentillyRoad, NewOrleans,Louisiana La MAF(porsus siglas en inglés)seutiliza para la instalacióndecompo‐nentes delNASAGeorge C. Marshall SpaceFlight Center (Centrodevuelo espacial George C. Mar‐shalldelaNASA),con sede en Huntsville,Al‐abama. Unaserie de in‐vestigacionesllevadas a cabo entre1998 y2022 determinaron eidentiﬁ‐caronsuelosafectados porbifenilos policlorados (PCB,por lassiglasen inglés). En febrerode 2025, la NASA entregó a ó

g laEPA Región6 un Plan de limpieza de PCB para su aprobación ylaEPA está aprobandolasolici‐tud. La EPAhaestable‐cido queelnivel de limpieza necesariopara recuperarellugar para su usolibre de restric‐ciones es de 1parte por millón (ppm)dePCB o menos. La EPAtiene au‐toridadparala aprobación de lasRiskBasedOn-Site Remedia‐tion of PCB(Tareas de limpieza basadasenel riesgo de PCB) conforme alaToxic Substance Con‐trol Act(TSCA oLey de controldesustancias tóxicas) yalartículo40§ 761.61(c) delCFR (Código de regulaciones fed‐erales). LosPCB se emplearon normalmentecomo ﬂui‐dosdieléctricosen equiposeléctricos. En 1979, se prohibió la fabri‐cación de estos ﬂuidos dieléctricos para limitar la liberación de PCBen lagos oquebradas por losdaños quepuede causar su consumode‐bido alaposible bioacu‐mulación en la cadena alimentariadeproductos de pescadeportiva.Los PCBhan sido asociados a dañosenelhígadoy los riñonesdeingerirse en altasconcentraciones duranteextensos períodos

Esta aprobación ylos documentos correspon‐dientesestán disponiblesenhttps:// www.epa.gov/pcbs/eparegion-6-polychlorinatedbiphenyls. Para consul‐tassobreestetema, por f i

don’t miss don’t miss don’t miss

noma at night

Immerse yourself in the vibrant and colorful culture of India at 6 p.m. Friday at the New Orleans Museum or Art. The India Arts Circle of New Orleans celebrates the food, music and arts of the subcontinent, with dance performances by NOLA Garba Group and Sanjukta. Also ﬁne cocktails and a happy hour menu by Café NOMA, a documentary and Mehndi tattooing. General admission is $30. 1 Collins Diboll Circle, City Park. noma.org.

marigny home & garden tour

Check out the ﬁnesse and funk of dwellings in the Faubourg Marigny on Sunday for the Improvement Association’s annual perambulation through some of the architectural treasures of Marigny Triangle. Nine homes will run the gamut from historic restoration to new constructions and reimagined spaces. Check in at Doerr Furniture, 914 Elysian Fields Ave., for the selfguided map. Tickets start at $25. foubourgmarigny.org.

ogden nite market

Head downtown to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art at 6 p.m. Thursday in commemoration of “Hoa Tay (Flower Hands): Southern Artists of Vietnamese Diaspora.” Features include lion and Vietnamese fan dance performances, food trucks, merchandise and craft-making, plus author E.M. Tran will sign her book, “Daughters of the New Year.” Tickets start at $15. The museum is located at 925 Camp St. ogdenmuseum.org.

LAGNIAPPE STAFF

The Lagniappe section is published each Thursday by The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate. All inquiries about Lagniappe should be directed to the editor.

LAGNIAPPE EDITOR: Annette Sisco, asisco@theadvocate.com

COVER DESIGN: Andrea Daniel

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Victor Andrews, Doug MacCash, Chelsea Shannon, Dean M. Shapiro, Keith Spera

GET LISTED IN LAGNIAPPE

Submit events to Lagniappe at least two weeks in advance by sending an email to events@theadvocate.com.

ON THE COVER

The ofﬁcial 50th Greek Festival ofﬁcial poster by James Michalopoulos. Doug MacCash previews this weekend’s festivities on Page 8.

‘Kiss My Grits,’ by MyLoan Dinh

don’t miss don’t miss don’t miss

bromeliad show and sale memorial day commemoration

The National WWII Museum, 945 Magazine St., will host a remembrance for military personnel who died in service to the country at 11 a.m. Monday in the U.S. Freedom Pavilion that will include Gold Star family members, performances by the Victory Belles and the American Legion Post 377 band, and a missing man table by the Civil Air Patrol. nationalww2museum.org.

The diverse beauty and variety of bromeliads will be on display Friday through Sunday at Lakeside Shopping Center on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie for River Ridge Bromeliad Society’s annual event. Look under the skylight of the mall for options to purchase, as well as plants that have won honors. The sale is noon to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday. The show is from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Presented by TIMBER ANDPEGGY FLOYD

stages stages stages

Laugh

stages stages stages

DANCE. OPERA LIG E

R . T.

Italian ‘Verismo’production turnsupthe drama

It’salmost summertime andthe stagesare busy.

It’sopera and open season (sort of)onlocal stages as Marigny Opera House unveils aproduction blending several art forms and Mandeville’s30byNinety plans apacked season of shows.

Edward Spots and Adrienne Simmons rehearse dance elements for ‘Verismo,’ opening at Marigny OperaHouse Tuesda perfor

PROVID

PHOTOS

Victor Andrews

Operainthe house

Billed as “a fusion of operatic performance, dance andcuttingedgevisual art,” MarignyOpera House in New Orleans will turn up the passion anddrama,Italian-style, for “Verismo” on Tuesdayand May 29.

The performances will combine traditional operatic vocals withcontemporary danceand projections and includeworksbyGiuseppe

Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni and Ruggero Leoncavallo.

“Wewanted to create something that honors the incredible emotional depth of Italian verismo while bringing afresh visual perspectivethrough movement and light,” said Bogdan Mynka, the Ukrainian-born director of the production andtenor.“The combination of powerful vocal performances with dance and live projectionscreates atruly unforgettable theatrical experience.”

Dancer and choreographer Edward Spots is joined by Adrienne Simmons; soprano Taylor Witherspoon, of Louisiana; pianist Brandon Banks; andMynka. Monica Rose Kelly will create the live light painting.

The hourlong performances will be at 725 St. Ferdinand St. Tickets start at $25 and the doors open at 7:30 p.m.Visit marignyoperahouse.org.

Aseasononstage

From Berlin nightclubs to Texas whorehouses and arock ’n’ roll class, 30 by Ninety Theatre in Mandeville announces arollicking season of musicalsand plays with appeal forthe entire

Livelight painting by Monica Rose Kelly will be part of the production ‘Verismo’ at Marigny OperaHouse opening Tuesday.

stages stages stages

family.

Eight productions will be the bill of fare at the 880 Lafayette St playhouse, starting in August, marking the theater’s 12th season.

n “School of Rock,” Aug. 9-24, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and a book by Julian Fellows (“Downton Abbey”), is a musical about a substitute teacher and his efforts to turn his class into a band. Production is set for Aug 9-24.

n “Tuesdays with Morrie,” Sept. 12-21, is based on the memoir of author Mitch Albom and his visits with his former professor who is dying of ALS.

n “The Miss Firecracker Contest,” Oct 1116, by Beth Henley (“Crimes of the Heart”) is a Southern comedy about a tarnished title holder desperate to salvage her reputation.

n “The 7th Annual A Very Merry Christmas Spectacular,” Dec. 5-14, features local talent in a seasonal celebration that grows each year

n “Cabaret,” Jan. 17 to Feb 1, issues its “Willkommen” with Kander and Ebb’s look at prewar Berlin and the goings-

on in the lives of denizens of the Kit Kat Klub. The theater will perform the 1998 version.

n “The Nerd,” Jan. 15 to Feb. 1, is a farce about mistaken identity, misplaced priorities and bizarre dining habits.

n “The Laramie Project,” April 18 to May 3, is a moving, documentary-style work about the Wyoming town thrust into global attention after the tragic death of Matthew Shephard.

n “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” June 13-28, is the musical romp through the infamous Chicken Ranch about a madame, a sheriff, Aggies, the governor, a television crusader and “nothin’ dirty going on.”

For information on the season, visit 30byninety.com.

Onstage this week

”CLOWN BAR 2”: 7 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Monday and selected days and times through June 6; AllWays Lounge, 1040 Marigny St. The second installment of Adam Szymkowics’ comedy, two years after the ﬁrst, the clown-crime boss

Happy Mahoney is missing and foul play (duh) is suspected. Two cops go undercover to solve the mystery Tickets start at $20. nolaproject.com.

“DEBBIE WITH A D’S TENNESSEE WITH THE TEA”: 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday; Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts, 325 Minor St., in Kenner The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company with Debbie and a few other drag artists take six of Williams’ plays and one short story compiled into an “oversized storybook ﬁlled with locally adapted summaries” with readings and lip-sync performances inspired by the works. Tickets start at $30. twtheatrenola. com.

“POUF”: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Cutting Edge Center for the Arts, 767 Robert Blvd., in Slidell. A 1950s housewife, unsuccessful in starting a family, is not permitted to work outside the home by her husband. With the encouragement of her sister, she sets up a secret in-home salon and along the way, she teases, sets and pins change to the lives of her neighbors, with lots

of laughs and shellacking of style. Tickets start at $34. Visit cuttingedgetheater.com.

“SOMETHING ROTTEN”: 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, and 2 p.m. Saturday (added) and Sunday; Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts, 325 Minor St., Kenner Tony-nominated musical comedy about a pair of brother playwrights trying to achieve success with a musical against the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon when he’s at the peak of his Renaissance popularity in 1500s London. Tickets start at $41. rivertowntheaters.com.

“TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS”: 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday; Marquette Theater at Loyola University, 6363 St. Charles Ave. Crescent City Stage’s four-person show based on Cheryl Strayed’s book of the same title, about “advice on love and life from Dear Sugar.” Tickets start at $10. crescentcitystage.com.

Email Victor Andrews at vandrews@ theadvocate.com.

SPECIAL EXHIBIT

NOWOPEN

DISCOVER THE ONLY WWII CAMPAIGN FOUGHT ON NORTH AMERICAN SOIL

This newexhibit examines the often-overlooked Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands in Alaskaand the subsequent efforts to repulse the only seizureofNorth American soil that occurred during World WarII.

RIGHT: Elefthezios Vassilas, of Metairie, checksthe progress of lamb cookingonaspit atthe 22nd GreekFestivalonthe grounds of the GreekOrthodox Cathedralofthe Holy Trinity along BayouSt. John.

FILE PHOTO

CENTER: The Hellenic Dancers performduring the 2019 New Orleans GreekFest. Dancelessons will be offeredthis year.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SCOTT THRELKELD

event event events

Gold standard

ForGreek Fest,turning 50 means celebrating themainstays, bringing back some old favoritesand expanding offerings

It’sgoingtobeagolden time at theHoly Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral this MemorialDay weekend, as Greek Fest celebrates its 50th anniversary.

If you’re among theroughly 19,000 folkswho ﬁnd their way to the fest each year,you can expect the usual attractions: the breezes off Bayou St. John, thebuoyant bouzouki music, Hellenic dancing, succulent roast lamb, ouzo liqueur andthe sublime sweetness of baklava pastry.

But Greek Fest’shalf-century markcan’tpass without some special features, said Vickie Catsulis, festival executivecommittee member.

The Midas Touch cocktail, for instance, an ouzo-spiked lemonade is sprinkled with ﬂakes of edible gold in honor of the golden anniversary Likewise, the baklava will be served in goldfoil cups.

In the pastry department, look for

ä See GREEK FEST, page 10

STAFF FILEPHOTO By SCOTT THRELKELD Festgoers line up for Greek food.

STAFF FILEPHOTO By EMILyKASK Kayakers pass Greek Fest where attendees sitalong the banks of BayouSt. John.

Doug MacCash

From left, Holy TrinityArchive Committee members Maggie Maag,Connie Tiliakos, GinnyZissis and GeorgiaZervoudis showoff icons being prepared for sale during the Greek Festival at the church.

SACRED HISTORY

Icon replicas beneﬁt work of church’s archivists

BY ANNETTE SISCO Staff writer

Preparation forthe 50th New OrleansGreek Festival began in February, ﬁlling theHellenic Cultural Center on Bayou St. John with volunteers and the fragrance of the parish’s famous homemade Greek food.

Butthere’sanother side to thefestival, focused in ahushed set of roomson thesecond ﬂoor,where historic church artifacts line theshelves andyellowed

Mother of God icon, reproduction of apainting by Konstandinos of Lesvos from1872 ä See ICON, page 10

STAFF PHOTOSByANNETTE SISCO

events events events

GREEK FEST 2025

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 1200 Allen Toussaint Blvd., near Lake Pontchartrain

CASH ACCEPTED: Though the festival prefers credit card purchases, cash is welcome THE GREEK FESTIVAL RUN/ WALK RACE: 8:30 a.m.

Saturday, with exclusive early festival access from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.; call (504) 304-2326 for registration.

GREEK FEST

Continued from page 8

5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday

DANCE PERFORMANCES:

Friday, 6 p.m. in the auditorium, followed by an outside performance, and 9 p.m.; Saturday, 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., followed by an outside performance, and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 1:30 p.m., followed by an outside

Portokalopita, an orange-ﬂavored phyllodough and yogurt cake.

The 2025 fest also marks the return of feta fries, a combination of fried potatoes, feta cheese and a squeeze of lemon that hasn’t been available at the fest since before the pandemic. Take it from those of us who have experienced Greek Fest feta fries — they are divine. In 2025, the Athenian Playground kids activity area will be enlarged to include a craftmaking tent, a hair braiding station and pixie dust, which Catsulis said is glittery makeup

And wear your dancing shoes, because between performances this year, the Hellenic dancers will be giving lessons.

Between outdoor music sets, local composer Sebastian St. John will play prerecorded passages of traditional music from various regions of Greece, at dusk, operatic vocalist Irini Kyriakidou will sing Sunset Serenades of Greek love songs. Catsulis suggests attendees buy a bottle of wine, recline in the grass by the bayou and be swept away in the romance.

Email Doug MacCash at dmaccash@ theadvocate.com.

Adults, $10 per day or $25 for a weekend pass; children under 12, free. Service animals only, no other pets allowed. Parking is free.

performance, and 6 p.m.

CATHEDRAL TOURS: 7 p.m. Friday; 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday; and 2 and 4 p.m. Sunday

HISTORICAL DISPLAYS: The festival will celebrate its 50-year history and the people who created it with photographs

and text displayed around the church campus.The festival was the brainchild of then-church president Denis Georges.The rest of the leaders from that first year were George Zissis, George Pappas, Charlie Malachias and Spiro Bouzon. INFORMATION: gfno.com

The Athenian Playground kids activity area at Greek Fest will be enlarged this year at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

FILE PHOTO

MICHAEL DEMOCKER

A simple communion chalice of painted wood is believed to have been used in services at the first Orthodox church in New Orleans in the late 1800s.

ICON

Continued from page 9

sacramental records, handwritten in Greek, are preserved in clear folders.

This is the workspace of the Holy Trinity Archives Committee, whose 14 members conserve artifacts such as icons, documents, photos and vestments. The treasured objects range from a simple wooden chalice, believed to have been used by parishioners at an earlier location of Holy Trinity, to elaborate silverframed icons sent by Russian czars. Visitors will have a chance to learn about Orthodox icons and purchase small replicas, complete with a backstory from a member of the Archives Committee, in the indoor shopping area at the Greek Festival this weekend.

Passed down through the years

Holy Trinity was established in 1864, making it the ﬁrst Greek Orthodox church in North and South America. In 1980, the parish moved from Treme to the landmark brick complex on Bayou St. John, the church’s third location.

In 1992, an archival committee was established, and parishioners Karen Clark and Ilya Malachias began identifying key pieces for restoration.

STAFF PHOTO By ANNETTE SISCO

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

The New Orleans Greek Festival is famed for its baklava and other pastries.

Kyriakidou

FILE PHOTO By CHUCK COOK Friends toast with their shots of ouzo during the 33rd Greek Fest in 2006.

events events events

In 2004, working with the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, Clark directed the Angels Project, pairing a team of conservators with 30 volunteers from the church to photograph and properly store about 400 artifacts.

“I fell in love with the work when I realized what we had,” said Magdalene “Maggie” Spirros Maag, current chair of the Archives Committee “I was retired, and it was something I could get involved with. We were very fortunate in that the community supported us ﬁnancially when they realized that there was a committee that was active and engaged.”

While Hurricane Katrina ﬂooded the cathedral in 2005, parishioners who returned early cleaned the church and rescued artifacts with the help of a Greek Orthodox military chaplain and a team of sailors.

With an eye to one day displaying the items in a church museum, today’s Archives Committee continues to team with conservators and analysts to glean historical facts from bits of pigment and wood.

“We want to be able to say with certitude that that particular priestly garment (for example) was worn by one of the ﬁrst priests, in the 1800s,” Maag said. Icons that tell stories

The Byzantine splendor of the Orthodox Church gleams in its icons, paintings of holy ﬁgures ﬁlled with

lies in the parish often display icons in their homes.

For about the past 10 years, the Archives Committee has set up shop during the Greek Festival to sell icons — mostly reproductions of paintings, mounted on varnished wood.

Last week, in the ﬁnal stretch of preparations, committee members Maag, Connie Tiliakos, Ginny Zissis and Georgia Zervoudis worked at a table in the church’s entrance, hand-inscribing the backs of donated icons. “Mother of God,” one such legend read, “approved print of original icon of the Holy Mother of Jesus. Original painted by Konstandinos of Lesvos, Greece, 1872.”

Finished icons were wrapped in tissue paper and stacked nearby, ready for the festival and priced from $3 to $25. Proceeds go back into the Archive Committee to pay for supplies and services.

The committee members view the sale not just as a chance to raise money, but also as an opportunity to share the community’s beliefs and history. Studying the icons is a way to delve deeper into their ancient faith, committee members said.

The icons are more than paintings, said Tiliakos. “The icon is history They are written, and they tell a story,” she said.

symbolism. Icons are everywhere inside the cathedral, which is open for tours during Greek Fest. Fami-

Email Annette Sisco at asisco@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By SCOTT THRELKELD

In Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, gleaming icons depict saints and stories from the New Testament.

food food food

Bodega Falling for

New Uptown spot puts focus on drawing in the community

BY CHELSEA SHANNON Staff writer

Uptown has a new, simple restaurant producing ﬂavorful food from a self-taught chef.

After building a small following for his catering business, Jaryd Kase opened Bodega New Orleans this year.

Kase said he wanted to be a respite for people in his neighborhood to get a good meal or to pick up some ingredients to make something at home, akin to the bodegas in his home state of New York.

“I just always like that concept that you go in, and there are all these interesting things that you can get,” Kase said.

I ﬁrst encountered the restaurant when looking for restaurants open during the historic January snowstorm and found a photo of matzo ball soup shared by Bodega I packed my backpack, which broke halfway through my 2-mile journey, and made a trek through the snow

I slipped a couple of times and fell once on the ice in front of La Petite Grocery, but the warm duck broth soup that tasted homemade was worth the danger.

A bold move

Kase does not have a traditional culinary background. He worked mostly front-ofhouse positions at places like Commander’s Palace and Bar Frances, but he would watch how the food was prepared by chefs leading the kitchens.

He took home new tricks and honed his own cooking skills.

BODEGA NEW ORLEANS

3633

Annunciation St.

11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m Saturday and Sunday

Jaryd Kase’s menu at Bodega incorporates not only his family recipes, which are rooted in his Eastern European Jewish family heritage, but also Chilean, Senegalese, French and other cultural influences.

His Bodega menu incorporates not only his family recipes, which are rooted in his Eastern European Jewish family heritage, but also Chilean, Senegalese, French and other cultural inﬂuences.

The blending is evident in dishes like the king’s eggs for breakfast, which adds a latke — which is a type of potato pancake — topped with goat cheese, ratatouille and poached eggs.

The space inside Bodega is sparse. But what it lacks in decor, it makes up for with its offerings of fresh-made dishes, graband-go dinners, retail ingredients on the back wall or a pre-ordered full Shabbat

dinner.

“If you come here, ﬁrst off, you know that you’re going to get something reliably good,” Kase said amid the snowstorm. And that promise continues to be delivered through my multiple visits since to Bodega.

Grabbing lunch

On a recent visit, while I waited for my Cabo chicken sandwich on Bellegarde bread with grilled chicken, turkey bacon, goat cheese, Manchego cheese, jalapeño, artichoke hearts and ﬁg jam, a conversation with Kase revealed a coincidence that tied us together.

While my path to ﬁnding a new restaurant in January was nearly stalled by a fall, a fall in 2021 is what put Kase on the path to opening a new restaurant.

Kase said his ladder broke as he tried to get something out of his attic across the street from the shuttered Barcia’s Grocery on Annunciation Street. After settling a lawsuit with the ladder company, Kase decided to make his dream of having his own spot to serve tasty and nutritious food a reality

I would’ve never thought that a couple of falls would lead to one of my favorite new restaurants, but here we are.

Email Chelsea Shannon at cshannon@ theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By CHELSEA SHANNON Bodega in New Orleans serves sandwiches like the Cabo chicken with bread from Bellegarde Bakery.

GAMBIT FILE PHOTO By CHERyL GERBER

music music music

‘THERE’S A LOT OF FREEDOM’

Lyrica Baroque ends 10th season with an injection of jazz and Duke Ellington

BY DEAN M. SHAPIRO

Contributing writer

Wrapping up its 10th season with its annual Summer Concert, Lyrica Baroque will be venturing into new territory as it dips into jazz for two days with a tribute to Duke Ellington plus a mix of original pieces.

“Our theme for programming this year was Louisiana and New Orleans,” said Jaren Atherholt, one of the co-founders of Lyrica Baroque. “Everything we’ve been doing is to highlight New Orleans and Louisiana composers, music and musicians, so we deﬁnitely had to do a program that paid homage to jazz that originated in our city.

“Baroque music is kind of like the old form of jazz,” the classically trained Atherholt added. “There’s so much improvisation and ornamentation.

“There’s a lot of freedom in Baroque music like there is in jazz, so there’s a very natural parallel between them. Our program will be a blending of classical and jazz.”

Jazz ensemble collaborates

Performances will be staged Wednesday at the New Orleans Jazz Museum in the French Quarter and on the following night at the Algiers Music and Artist Studio on the West Bank. Collaborating with Atherholt, who will be playing oboe, are all ﬁve

members of the Amina Scott Quintet, a New Orleans-based jazz ensemble.

Leading off the performances will be the world premiere of a commissioned piece composed by Grammy Award-winning composer and pianist Alex Brown titled “Sonata for Oboe,” performed in four movements by Atherholt on oboe, Amina Scott on bass and Oscar Rossignoli on piano. Although not performing, Brown will be in attendance to hear the unveiling of his new work.

Brown’s four-movement work is “more jazz than baroque, but I don’t have to improvise. So it is also classical,” Atherholt said. “It’s an awesome, really incredible piece. I’m beyond excited about premiering and playing it.”

Other works on the program include two movements from Ellington’s 1970 composition “New Orleans Suite,” arranged by Scott and paying tribute to Jean Laﬁtte and the late Louisiana-born “slap bassist,” Wellman Braud, who played with the Ellington orchestra.

The Ellington work will feature Atherholt, Scott and Rossignoli, plus Rex Gregory on saxophone and ﬂute, Stephen Lands on trumpet and Gerald Watkins on drums.

Rounding out the program will be two original compositions by Scott performed by her namesake quintet consisting of herself Gregory, Lands, Rossignoli and Watkins.

Musical showcase

Scott, an Oakland, California, native, arrived in New Orleans 14 years ago and majored in music at Loyola University, where she studied with renowned bassist Roland Guerin. Her role in the concerts as a composer, arranger and performer is to showcase Louisiana and also bring in elements of classical and more improvised music, she said.

She also pointed out that the Ellington work was commissioned by New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival founder George Wein. The premiere performance was staged in 1970 at the ﬁrst festival. “So that’s its connection to New Orleans,” Scott said.

Although Scott termed her two pieces, titled “Persistence” and “Praise,” as “more jazzy than classical, they also include other elements because I am inspired by a lot of different kinds of music, including classical. They’re not like your typical swinging pieces.”

Summing up the season and the upcoming concerts, Atherholt said, “I am really excited. I’m grateful to all the musicians who are collaborating on this project and helping us celebrate 10 years of chamber music and education.

“All of the musicians involved in this project are very high-level musicians, and it’s inspiring to be around them and to make music with them.”

LYRICA BAROQUE SUMMER CONCERT

WHO: Lyrica Baroque chamber orchestra and the Amina Scott Quintet WHAT: Two concerts highlighting New Orleans and Louisiana music WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 28 at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, Old U.S. Mint, 400 Esplanade Ave., and 7 p.m. May 29 at the Algiers Music and Artist Studio, 935 Teche St., Algiers

TICKETS: Free. Suggested donation $25 INFO: lyricabaroque.com

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Grammy Award-winning composer and pianist Alex Brown, left, was commissioned to compose ‘Sonata for Oboe.’ The piece will be performed in four movements by Jaren Atherholt, second from left, on oboe, Amina Scott on bass and Oscar Rossignoli on piano.

music music music

Keith Spera SOUND CHECK

SUNDAY,TIPITINA’S

Livemusic in NewOrleansfor the week of May22-28 includes aTom Petty tribute, amilestoneanniversary for alocal fusion band and numerous club-level touring acts.

Lovefor Scott Aiges.”

Scott Aiges has donemany things throughout the New Orleans music community. In theearly 1990s,hewas The Times-Picayune’s ﬁrst full-time pop music critic. He later managed the Continental Drifters, RoyalFingerbowl, Astral Project and other bands. Workingfor theNew Orleans Jazz&HeritageFoundation, he producedthe Crescent City Blues&BBQ Festival. He played guitar in Jamaican Me Breakfast Club,whichdid reggae versions of ’80s New Wave hits.

Aiges, 62, is now battling glioblastoma, an especially aggressive form of brain cancer.On Sunday, Tipitina’swill host abeneﬁt concert called “Rock ForAiges: ANight of

Given that Scott is abig TomPetty fan, Samantha Fish, theContinental Drifters’ Susan Cowsill, Vicki Peterson and Robert Mache’, Paul Sanchez, CC Adcock, John “Papa” Gros, Jim McCormick, John Cowsill, AaronWilkinson, Rob Savoy,Johnny Sanchez and Andy Neubauer will allperform Petty favorites

Doors open at 7p.m. The show kicks off at 8p.m. with a rare set by thereunited Royal Fingerbowl featuring original guitarist/vocalist Alex McMurray and bassist Andy Wolf, plus drummer Andre Bohren. There is also asilent auction. Tickets are $25 at the door.Advance tickets purchased online are subject to additional fees.

WOODENHEAD 50TH ANNIVERSARY

SUNDAY,THE BROADSIDE

Jimmy Robinson was aclassical guitar student at Loyola University when he founded Woodenhead in 1975. His blueprint was the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s ambitious fusion of rock, classical and jazz, with its odd meters, complex arrangements and high-ﬂying improvisation. Robinson and his bandmates opened local shows for theMahavishnu Orchestra, as well as the Dixie Dregs, Spyro Gyra, Bill Bruford andBilly Cobham.The Woodenhead lineup eventually solidiﬁed around Robinson, keyboardist Fran Comiskey,bassist Paul Clement and drummer Mark Whitaker.Tocommemorate 50 years of cranking out complex “instrumental rock,” Woodenhead is rereleasing remastered versions of the band’sseven albums. Woodenhead is also performing a 50th anniversary show at the Broadside on Sunday night with special guest keyboardistJohn “Papa” Gros and theBonerama Horns. Advance tickets are $20 plus fees.

Email Keith Spera at kspera@ theadvocate. com.

‘ROCKFOR AIGES’ TOMPETTY TRIBUTEAND SCOTTAIGES BENEFIT

Samantha Fish

CC Adcock

John ‘Papa’ Gros

Scott Aiges

Woodenhead

music music music

OTHER NOTEWORTHY SHOWS

THURSDAY

The Broadside’s indoor Pavilion hosts “Songs & Stories from the Crescent City,” an acoustic show with Johnny Sansone, Mia Borders,Alex McMurray and Gregg Hill at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.

Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie swing into Rock’ N’ Bowl for the weekly Zydeco Night ($15).

New Orleans smooth jazz saxophonist Clarence Johnson III leads his quartet at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ($30).

The Wrecks bring their “Inside Outside Tour” to the House of Blues; tickets start at $31.

It’s Americana and Country Night at Chickie Wah Wah with Olivia Wolf, Rose Vaughn and Rainy Eyes ($23).

FRIDAY

One sure sign that school is out and summer is upon us: the start of Tipitina’s annual summertime “Free Fridays” series of no-cover concerts. The 2025 edition kicks off this Friday with headliner the Brass-A-Holics. Electric Ramble opens the show at 9 p.m. Admission is free.

Classic New Orleans blues singer Thais Clark celebrates her birthday with her combo, the Jazzsters, at Snug Harbor at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ($30).

Sweet Crude headlines a beneﬁt for the

Laﬁtte Greenway in celebration of its 10th anniversary. The show is at the Broadside, which is near the Greenway. Tickets are $25.

At Chickie Wah Wah, Jason Ricci & The Bad Kind share a bill with the Tyron Benoit Band ($27).

Durand Bernarr brings his “You Gon’ Grow, Too! Tour” to the House of Blues; tickets start at $25.

The horn-powered Bucktown Allstars ﬁre up crowd-pleasing rock, soul and funk favorites at Rock ’N’ Bowl ($15).

SATURDAY

Vivant then closes out the picnic with a set starting at 1:30 p.m. Advance tickets are $12; tickets at the door are $15. Kids under 12 admitted for free.

Later on Sunday, Woodenhead celebrates its 50th anniversary at the Broadside.

Cuban-born, New Orleans-based trumpeter David Navarro fronts his Tropical Jazz Secret at Snug Harbor at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ($30).

MONDAY

Jules Boult plays a free show at Chickie Wah Wah starting at 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY

Galactic drummer Stanton Moore and his jazz trio are at Snug Harbor at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ($30).

WEDNESDAY

Reverend Horton Heat storms Tipitina’s with his revved up punkabilly trio. Louisiana’s own Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas open the show at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $34.

Alabama rock ’n’ soul singer and guitarist Lamont Landers built a fanbase via “America’s Got Talent,” “Showtime At the Apollo” and TikTok. Hear him Wednesday at Chickie Wah Wah ($27). Ryan Bingham & the Texas Gentlemen are at the Fillmore; tickets start at $32. Bassist Richard Moten plays a free show at Snug Harbor at 5 p.m. Later, trumpeter John Gray leads the Uptown Jazz Orchestra at Snug at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ($45).

To commemorate Bob Dylan’s 84th birthday, a bevy of New Orleans artists will sing his songs at the Broadside. The roster for this second annual Bob Dylan Birthday Tribute includes Brian Stoltz, Papa Mali, Susan Cowsill, Johnny Sansone, Alex McMurray, Billy Iuso, Layla Musselwhite, Jake Eckert,Aaron Wilkinson, Dave Jordan, Mia Borders, Eric Johanson, Gal Holiday, Blake Quick, Gregg Hill, Ken Swartz and Rurik Nunan They’ll be backed by a house band featuring Sam Price, Keiko Komaki, Danny Abel and Ethan Shorter. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets start at $25.

Master New Orleans drummer Herlin Riley powers a jazz quartet at Snug Harbor at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ($45).

The Crane Wives’ “Beyond Beyond Beyond Tour” stops at Tipitina’s with Cristina Vane opening. Tickets are $34. Rockin’ Dopsie Jr straps on his rubboard at Rock ’N’ Bowl ($15).

SUNDAY

On Sunday, the Broadside continues its daytime “Broadside Picnic” series. Doors open at 11:30 a.m., followed by a performance by Americana/ folk ensemble Ever More Nest at noon. Bon Bon

Reverend Horton Heat

Clark

Sweet Crude

MAGNOLIA BALL

Celebratingthe exhibition, HoaTay (Flower Hands): SouthernArtists of the Vietnamese Diaspora

SATURDAY,JUNE7|7-11P.M.

Join Ogden Museum of SouthernArt for Magnolia Ball 2025, an annual event thatsupportsthe Museum’s uniqueeducationalmission, exhibitions and awardwinning programming.The festive evening featuresafter-hoursaccess to the Museum’s galleries, live entertainment, DJs,local cuisine and exclusivesilent auction items from Southernartists and local businesses.

///Lien Truong, That Mimetic Waltz of the Moirai (Detail), 2018, Oil, silk,acrylic,antique 24k gold-leafobi thread, embroidery by Vu VanGioi, linen on canvas,96x72inches, Courtesy of theartist andGalerieQuynh