The Advocate 12-17-2025

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Louisiana extends Medicaid contract

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Ex-Marine’s N.O. attack plan foiled, FBI says New Iberia man charged with threats in interstate commerce

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS

State Sens. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, left, and Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, share a word with each other during a Senate committee hearing at the State Capitol on Tuesday.

Officials, concerned about impact on patients and under pressure from legislators, add 90 days to agreement

A former U.S. Marine and New Iberia resident was arrested Friday as he drove to New Orleans with guns and a gas canister, allegedly to carry out a terrorist attack.

Micah James Legnon, 28, of Leona Drive in New Iberia, was being held as of Tuesday afternoon in the Iberia Parish Jail.

He is charged in federal court in Lafayette with threats in interstate commerce.

Legnon is suspected of being associated with the Turtle Island Legnon Liberation Front, described by federal officials as “a far-left, pro-Palestine, antigovernment and anti-capitalist group.”

Four members of that group were arrested recently in California for planning several New Year’s Eve terrorist attacks in the Los Angeles area, FBI Special Agent Paul Sellers wrote in a criminal complaint Friday against Legnon.

Someone in a group chat in which Legnon, using the name Kateri the Witch, was allegedly involved shared a Facebook post showing masked Border Patrol agents arresting an individual on a rooftop.

ä See ATTACK, page 8A

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN

Staff writer

Louisiana leaders agreed to extend a massive Medicaid contract with UnitedHealthcare by 90 days under pressure from legislators who grilled them about their decision not to renew that contract just a few weeks before it was set to expire.

Lawmakers said the abrupt change would cause chaos for patients, and that state officials had left them in the dark.

“Can you see the frustration, though, with the Legislature, when it comes to the consideration that could have taken place four, five, six months prior to this, and not three weeks before?” state Sen. Patrick McMath asked Attorney General Liz Murrill during a tense exchange at the State Capitol on Tuesday.

It is unclear whether UnitedHealthcare, whose contract was projected to be worth $4.2 billion for the 2026 calendar year, will agree to the extension, or whether the state, which has a pending lawsuit against the company, will keep the contract after the 90 days are up.

The health care giant provides coverage to over 300,000 people as part of Louisiana’s Medicaid program. It is one of six companies with which the state contracts for that program.

Altogether, those companies provide

WEATHER HIGH 66 LOW 58 PAGE 8B

Social media age verification law unconstitutional, judge rules

BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT and MATT BRUCE Staff writers

who said such a quick transition would be chaotic and could force some families to switch providers.

They called a joint meeting of the Senate health and insurance committees to air those concerns.

“The timeline is so compressed that there’s going to be gaps in coverage and care,” McMath, who chairs the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, said during the meeting.

A federal judge has blocked Louisiana from enforcing a 2023 law requiring social media companies to verify the age of users, obtain parental consent and provide parental controls, saying it violates the First Amendment.

Judge John deGravelles on Monday granted a motion for summary judgment sought by NetChoice — a trade association for social media companies like Nextdoor, Pinterest, Snapchat and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram — and granted a permanent injunction.

The Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act, passed in 2023, was designed to keep children safe from online predators and give parents more control over how kids use social media, state officials said.

ä See MEDICAID, page 10A

ä See AGE, page 8A

Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks alongside Department of Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein during Tuesday’s hearing. health insurance to about 1.4 million Medicaid users.

On Dec. 2, the Louisiana Department of Health sent UnitedHealthcare a letter saying it would not renew that company’s contract. That surprised lawmakers, who on Nov. 20 authorized the agency to extend the agreement.

The state had planned to move Medicaid users covered by UnitedHealthcare to its other five Medicaid contractors, alarming legislators

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Trump plans prime-time address Wednesday

President Donald Trump said he will deliver a prime-time speech from the White House on Wednesday night but gave no details on what the topic will be.

“My fellow Americans: I will be giving an address to the nation tomorrow night,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “I look forward to ‘seeing’ you then.”

The 8 p.m. speech will be the fourth such address since Trump returned to the White House for a second four-year term.

One of Trump’s previous Oval Office addresses marked the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk while another concerned the random murder of a woman on a train in Charlotte, N.C., in September. The first was a State of the Union-style address he gave in March.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the speech would be an end-ofyear wrapup detailing some of the president’s supposed achievements.

Hegseth won’t release strike video Unedited footage will be shown to committee members

BY STEPHEN GROVES, LISA MASCARO and BEN FINLEY Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the Pentagon will not publicly release unedited video of a U.S. military strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a boat allegedly carrying cocaine in the Caribbean, as questions mounted in Congress about the incident and the overall buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela.

Hegseth said members of the Armed Services Committee in the House and Senate would have an opportunity this week to review the video, but did not say whether all members of Congress would be allowed to see it as well.

“Of course we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited

Nobel laureate arrested, taken to hospital in Iran DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi was taken to a hospital emergency room twice after her arrest last week

by Iranian security forces, her family said Tuesday, following what they described as severe beatings during her detention in the city of Mashhad.

In a statement on social media, Mohammadi’s family said they spoke with her briefly by phone after the arrest and she described repeated blows that required emergency treatment.

Mohammadi, 53, was arrested Friday while attending a gathering connected to the death of human rights lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, according to the Narges Mohammadi Foundation. Images shared by supporters show her speaking to a crowd shortly before security forces moved in.

Others show her being taken for medical care.

Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on her family’s account, and did not respond to questions.

Mohammadi won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her decadeslong advocacy for human rights and women’s rights in Iran. She has repeatedly been jailed over her activism and previously had been released on medical grounds.

Powerball jackpot now second highest this year The Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1.25 billion after no one matched all six numbers for the 43rd drawing in a row Monday night, game officials announced.

Wednesday’s jackpot will be the second-largest Powerball prize this year, behind the $1.787 billion prize won in Missouri and Texas on Sept. 6, according to a Powerball news release. Wednesday’s jackpot has an estimated cash value of $572.1 million.

Two tickets were last sold in Missouri and Texas a few months ago that split the previous $1.787 billion prize.

On Monday, two tickets were sold in Arizona and California that matched all five white balls to win $1 million prizes, according to the release. Neither, however, matched the red Powerball number.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Brian Glenn engaged Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is engaged to Right Side Broadcasting Network personality Brian Glenn.

The pair announced their impending nuptials on social media with a photo showing the two enjoying dinner at a restaurant where the right-wing lawmaker showed off her new ring.

“She said ‘yes,’ ” Glenn captioned the photo on X. “Happily ever after!!! I love you @brianglenntv!!!” Greene responded to Glenn’s announcement.

The 51-year-old congresswoman announced last month she would leave the House of Representatives on Jan. 5.

She’d spent the past five years as a MAGA loyalist before falling out of favor with President Donald Trump.

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video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters as he exited a closed-door briefing with senators.

President Donald Trump’s Cabinet members overseeing national security were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to defend a campaign that has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Overall, they defended the campaign as a success, saying it has prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and they pushed back on concerns that it is stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the campaign is a “counter-drug mission” that is “focused on dismantling the infrastructure of these terrorist organizations that are are operating in our hemisphere, undermining the security of Americans, killing Americans, poisoning Americans.”

Lawmakers have been focused on the Sept. 2 attack on two survivors as they sift through the ra-

tionale for a broader U.S. military buildup in the region. On the eve of the briefings, the U.S. military said it attacked three more boats believed to have been smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing eight people.

Senators on both sides of the aisle said the officials left them in the dark about Trump’s goals when it comes to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro or sending U.S. forces directly to the nation.

“I want to address the question, is it the goal to take him out? If it’s not the goal to take him out, you’re making a mistake,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who defended the legality of the campaign and said he wanted to see Maduro removed from power.

The U.S. has deployed warships, flown fighter jets near Venezuelan airspace and seized an oil tanker as part of its campaign against Maduro, who has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office. Maduro said on a weekly state television show Monday that his government

BROWN UNIVERSITY

still does not know the whereabouts of the tanker’s crew. He criticized the United Nations for not speaking out against what he described as an “act of piracy” against “a private ship carrying Venezuelan oil.”

Trump’s Republican administration has not sought any authorization from Congress for action against Venezuela. The go-it-alone approach, experts say, has led to problematic military actions, none more so than the strike that killed two people who had climbed on top of part of a boat that had been partially destroyed in an initial attack.

“If it’s not a war against Venezuela, then we’re using armed force against civilians who are just committing crimes,” said John Yoo, a Berkeley Law professor who helped craft the George W. Bush administration’s legal arguments and justification for aggressive interrogation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “Then this question, this worry, becomes really pronounced. You know, you’re shooting civilians. There’s no military purpose for it.”

Trump adding 5 more countries to travel ban

BY REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROBERT F. BUKATy

Visitors kneel Tuesday at a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims outside the Engineering Research Center at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

Police fan out to schools with shooter still loose

BY KIMBERLEE KRUESI and LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Additional police were sent to Providence schools on Tuesday to reassure worried parents that their kids will be safe even with the Brown University shooter on the loose and no indication yet that investigators have zeroed in on a suspect.

Authorities on Monday released several new videos of the man suspected in Saturday’s mass shooting inside of a Brown classroom, which killed two students and wounded nine others. On Tuesday, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told MS NOW that an “enhanced photograph” would soon be released. “We have a good picture of the gunman’s route, but it’s not complete yet,” he said.

After releasing a person of interest in the case because the evidence pointed elsewhere, they once again pleaded with the public for any tips that might help them catch the attacker.

Tensions remain high in Providence.

Ten state troopers were assigned to support the local police sent to beef up security at schools, district Superintendent Javier Montañez said.

“We recognize that the tragic incident at Brown University, occurring so close to where many of our students and families live and learn, is deeply unsettling and frightening,” he wrote in an email to parents.

With the investigation in its third day Monday, officers were still knocking on doors and poring through dumpsters and

backyards near the Ivy League campus in search of additional video evidence or other clues.

But some locals expressed defiance.

“Of course it feels scary. But at the same time, I think that if the person really wanted to scare us, we shouldn’t allow him or her to win,” said Tatjana Stojanovic, a Providence parent who lives next door to the Brown campus. “Despite all of that, we should just go about our lives. I mean, obviously, you cannot forget this. But I think we shouldn’t cower and just sort of stop living despite what has happened.

In the five videos authorities have released of the suspect, he was wearing a mask or his face was turned. The FBI described him as about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with a stocky build.

The attack and the shooter’s escape have raised questions about campus security, including a lack of security cameras, and led to calls for better locks on campus doors. Others pushed back, though, saying such efforts do little to address the real issue.

“The issue isn’t the doors; it’s the guns,” said Zoe Kass, a senior who fled the engineering building as police stormed in Saturday. “And all of this, like, ‘Oh, the doors need to be locked.’ I get it, parents are scared. But any of us could have opened the door for the guy if the doors had been locked.”

After spending her life in schools where every door was locked and school shootings continued to persist, Kass said such security measures only created “the illusion of safety.”

MIT professor fatally shot at his home

By The Associated Press BROOKLINE, Mass. — A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was fatally shot at his home near Boston, and authorities said Tuesday they had launched a homicide investigation.

Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, was shot Monday night at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. He died at a local hospital on Tuesday, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

The prosecutor’s office said no suspects had been taken into custody as of Tuesday afternoon, and that its investigation was ongoing.

Loureiro, who joined MIT in 2016, was

named last year to lead MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where he aimed to advance clean energy technology and other research. The center, one of the school’s largest labs, had more than 250 people working across seven buildings when he took the helm.

Loureiro, who was married, grew up in Viseu, in central Portugal, and studied in Lisbon before earning a doctorate in London, according to MIT. “He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader, and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner,” Dennis Whyte, an engineering professor who previously led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, told a campus publication.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is expanding its travel ban to include five more countries and impose new limits on others.

The decision follows the arrest of an Afghan national suspect in the shooting of two National Guard troops over Thanksgiving weekend.

In June, President Donald Trump announced that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions.

At the time, the ban included Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

On Tuesday, the Republican administration announced it was expanding the list of countries whose citizens are banned from

entering the U.S. to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The administration also fully restricted travel on people with Palestinian Authorityissued travel documents.

An additional 15 countries are also being added to the list of countries facing partial restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Trump administration said in its announcement of the expanded travel ban that many of the countries from which it was restricting travel had “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records” that made it difficult to vet their citizens for travel to the U.S. It also said some countries had high rates of people overstaying their visas, refused to take back their citizens who the U.S. wished to deport or had a “general lack of stability and government control,” which made vetting difficult.

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4A ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Johnson rebuffs efforts to extend health care subsidies

BY KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO Associated Press

WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders are determined to push ahead with a GOP health care bill that excludes efforts to address the soaring monthly premiums millions of Americans will soon endure as pandemic-era tax credits for people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act expire at year’s end.

Speaker Mike Johnson had discussed the prospect of allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on their amendment that would temporarily extend pandemic-era subsidies for ACA coverage. But after days of private talks, leadership sided with the more conservative wing of the conference, which has assailed the subsidies as propping up a failed ACA marketplace.

“We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve,” Johnson, R-Benton, said Tuesday at the Capitol. “In the end, it was not — an agreement wasn’t made.”

The maneuvering surrounding the health care vote all but guarantees that many Americans will see substantially higher insurance costs in 2026. In the Senate, a bipartisan group was still trying to come up with a compromise to extend the subsidies, which fueled this year’s government shutdown.

But senators made clear that any potential legislation would likely

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton, meets with reporters Tuesday at the Capitol in Washington as Republicans struggle with a plan to address growing health care costs. wait until January, after the holiday break.

Instead, House Republicans will pursue their 100-plus-page health care package that focuses on longsought GOP proposals designed to expand insurance coverage options for small businesses and the self-employed. A test vote is expected Wednesday.

The Republicans’ package would clamp down on middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers who work to manage drug costs and process claims for insurance plans. The bill would also expand access to what’s referred to as association health plans, which would allow more small businesses

and self-employed individuals to band together and purchase health coverage.

An analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the package would decrease the number of people with health insurance by an average of 100,000 per year over a 2027-35 window, while reducing the federal deficit by $35.6 billion.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., blasted the leadership’s decision to not allow for a vote to temporarily extend the health insurance subsidies, saying it amounted to “political malpractice.”

Lawler, who hails from a competi-

tive district, noted that most people who get their health coverage through the Affordable Care Act live in states that President Donald Trump won and said the changes proposed for a temporary extension were “conservative reforms.”

He also criticized Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries for not pushing Democrats to support a pair of bipartisan extension efforts.

Still, the centrist Republicans indicated they would not try to block the Republican leadership’s measure from coming to a vote.

Johnson defended the House GOP’s bill, which includes priorities that Republicans have been working on for several years.

“We have a long list of things that we know will reduce premiums, increase access and quality of care,” Johnson said. “The Democrats have zero ideas, zero concepts and zero legislative plans on anything they’ll propose other than just subsidizing the broken system.”

Democrats said even if the bill passes the House, it will not pass the Senate, where it would need 60 votes and bipartisan support to advance. They said it was not a serious effort to address rising costs.

“Millions will be priced out of their coverage, and those who can still afford it will get less while paying more,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the House Democratic campaign arm. “Republicans are ignoring the pain, the pain we’re seeing across the country for everyday Americans.

And make no mistake, it is going

to cost them the majority.”

During Trump’s first term, his administration sought to expand access to association health plans that don’t have to offer the full menu of benefits required under current law. The option offers lower premiums for small businesses and self-employed people, but the policies are likely to cover fewer benefits. A federal judge who struck down the administration’s effort in 2018 said the plans were “clearly an end-run” around consumer protections required by the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The House Republican plan would also restore government funding for cost-sharing reductions, or CSRs, a type of financial help that insurers give to low-income ACA enrollees on silver-level plans that reduces their share of costs like deductibles and copays.

From 2014 until 2017, the federal government reimbursed insurance companies for CSRs — but in 2017, the Trump administration stopped making those payments.

To make up for the lost funds, insurance companies hiked premiums for silver-level plans — a complicated move that ended up increasing the financial assistance many enrollees get to help pay for premiums.

The provisions related to pharmacy benefit managers require the middlemen to disclose certain data about their operations to group health plans, with the hope that more transparency would reduce prescription drug costs.

Trump sues BBC for $10B, accusing it of defamation over editing of Jan. 6 speech

By The Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday seeking $10 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices.

The 33-page lawsuit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump,” calling it “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

It accused the BBC of “splicing together two entirely separate

parts of President Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021” in order to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.”

The lawsuit, filed in a Florida court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.

The BBC said it would defend the case.

The broadcaster apologized last month to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it had defamed him, after Trump threatened legal action.

BBC chairman Samir Shah had called it an “error of judgment,”

which triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.

The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.

The BBC had broadcast the hourlong documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared

to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

Trump said earlier Monday that he was suing the BBC “for putting words in my mouth.”

“They actually put terrible words in my mouth having to do with Jan. 6 that I didn’t say, and they’re beautiful words, that I said, right?” the president said unprompted during an appearance in the Oval Office. “They’re beautiful words, talking about patriotism and all of the good things that I

said. They didn’t say that, but they put terrible words.”

The president’s lawsuit was filed in Florida. Deadlines to bring the case in British courts expired more than a year ago.

Legal experts have brought up potential challenges to a case in the U.S. given that the documentary was not shown in the country.

The lawsuit alleges that people in the U.S. can watch the BBC’s original content, including the “Panorama” series, which included the documentary, by using the subscription streaming platform BritBox or a virtual private network service.

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Police: Shooting inspired by Islamic State

BY CHARLOTTE GRAHAMMCLAY and ROD MCGUIRK Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia — A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was “a terrorist attack inspired

by Islamic State,” Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Tuesday.

The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have said. The older man, whom state officials named as Sajid Akram, was shot dead. His son was being treated at a hospital.

A news conference by political and law enforcement leaders on Tuesday was the first time officials confirmed their beliefs about the suspects’ ideologies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the remarks were based on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.”

Indian police on Tuesday said the older suspect was originally from the southern city of Hyderabad and held an Indian passport. They said he married a woman of European origin and migrated to Australia in 1998 in search of employment opportunities, maintaining little contact

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK BAKER

Rabbi yossi Friedman speaks to people gathering at a flower memorial by the Bondi Pavilion Lifeguards praised The famous blue-shirted at Bondi Beach on Tuesday following Sunday’s shooting in Sydney, Australia. with his family in India.

“The family members have expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities, nor of the circumstances that led to his radicalization,” Telangana State Police Chief, B. Shivadhar Reddy said in a statement.

There are 25 people still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre, 10 of them in critical condition.

Three of them are patients

in a children’s hospital.

Also among them is Ahmed al Ahmed, who was captured on video tackling and disarming one assailant, before pointing the man’s weapon at him and then setting it on the ground.

Those killed ranged in age from 10 to 87 years old. They were attending a Hanukkah event at Australia’s most famous beach Sunday when the gunshots rang out.

lifeguards of Bondi Beach also attracted praise as more stories of their actions durAlbanese and the leaders ing the shooting emerged. of some of Australia’s states One duty lifeguard, idenhave pledged to tighten the tified by the organization’s country’s already strict Instagram account as Rory gun laws in what would be Davey, performed an ocean the most sweeping reforms rescue during the shootsince a shooter killed 35 ing after people fled, fully people in Port Arthur, Tas- clothed, into the sea.

Another lifeguard, Jackmania, in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have since son Doolan, posted to his been rare. social media a photo taken Officials divulged more as he sprinted, barefoot and

Calls for stricter gun laws

Trump orders blockade of ‘sanctioned oil tankers’

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy.

Trump’s escalation comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform.

“It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”

Pentagon officials referred all questions about the post to the White House.

The buildup has been accompanied by a series of

information as public questions and anger grew on the third day following the attack about how the suspects were able to plan and enact it and whether Australian Jews had been sufficiently protected from rising antisemitism.

Albanese announced plans to further restrict access to guns, in part because it emerged the older suspect had amassed his cache of six weapons legally.

“The suspected murderers, callous in how they allegedly coordinated their attack, appeared to have no regard for the age or ableness of their victims,” said Barrett. “It appears the alleged killers were interested only in a quest for a death tally.”

military strikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign, which has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among U.S. lawmakers, has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels.

The Trump administration has defended it as a success, saying it has prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and they pushed back on concerns that it is stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day, has long relied on oil revenue as a lifeblood of its economy.

Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.

The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezue-

la S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, has been locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount in the black market in China.

Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said about 850,000 barrels of the 1 million daily production is exported. Of that, he said, 80% goes to China, 15% to 17% goes to the U.S. through Chevron Corp., and the remainder goes to Cuba.

clutching a first aid kit, from Tamarama beach a mile away toward Bondi as the massacre continued.

Massive blood donations Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon visited the scene of the carnage on Tuesday and was welcomed by Jewish leaders.

“I’m not sure that my vocabulary is rich enough to express how I feel. My heart is torn apart because the Jewish community, the Australians of Jewish faith, the Jewish community is also my community,” Maimon said.

Thousands have visited Bondi from all walks of life to pay their respects and lay flowers on a mounting pile at an impromptu memorial site.

One of the visitors on Tuesday was former Prime Minister John Howard, who was responsible for the 1996 overhaul of gun laws and an associated buyback of newly outlawed weapons.

In the aftermath of Sunday’s shooting, a record number of Australians signed up to donate blood.

On Monday alone close to 50,000 appointments were booked, more than double the previous record, the national donation organization Lifeblood told The Associated Press.

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6A ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Statue of civil rights icon replaces Lee in U.S. Capitol Johns protested conditions at her segregated school

BY JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press

The U.S. Capitol on Tuesday began displaying a statue of a teenaged Barbara Rose Johns as she protested poor conditions at her segregated Virginia high school, a pointed replacement for a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was removed several years ago.

An unveiling ceremony of the statue representing Virginia in the Capitol took place in Emancipation Hall, featuring Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s congressional delegation and Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger.

Johnson, R-Benton, said ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN more than 200 members of Johns’ family were on hand, People take photos of a statue of Virginia civil listening on as the ceremony rights activist Barbara Rose Johns, whose statue included renditions of “How replaces one of Robert E. Lee as one of Virginia’s Great Thou Art,” “Ain’t Gonna two statues on display at the Capitol, at a Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round” dedication ceremony Tuesday in Washington. and “Total Praise” performed

by the Eastern Senior High School choir from Washington.

“We are here to honor one of America’s true trailblazers, a woman who embodied the essence of the American spirit in her fight for liberty and justice and equal treatment under the law, the indomitable Barbara Rose Johns,” Johnson said.

Johns was 16 years old in 1951 when she led a student strike for equal education at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. The students’ cause gained the support of NAACP lawyers, who filed a lawsuit that would become one of the five cases that the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed in Brown v. Board of Education.

The high court’s landmark 1954 decision declared “separate but equal” public schools unconstitutional.

Johns later married the Rev. William Powell and became Barbara Rose Johns Powell, raised five children and was a librarian in the Philadelphia Public Schools. She died at 56 in 1991.

The statue shows the young Johns standing to the side of a lectern, holding a tattered book over her head. Its pedestal is engraved with the words, “Are we going to just accept these conditions, or are we go-

ing to do something about it?”

It also features a quote from the Book of Isaiah, “And a little child shall lead them.”

The statue replaces one of Lee that was removed in December 2020 from the Capitol, where it had represented Virginia for 111 years. The Lee statue was relocated to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

“The Commonwealth of Virginia will now be properly represented by an actual patriot who embodied the principle of liberty and justice for all, and not a traitor who took up arms against the United States to preserve the brutal institution of chattel slavery,” Jeffries said at the ceremony.

Johns’ sister, Joan Johns Cobbs, read from a journal entry by Johns: “And then there were times I just prayed, ‘God, please grant us a new school, please let us have a warm place to stay where we won’t have to keep our coats on all day to stay warm. God, please help us. We are your children too.’ ” The Johns piece is part of the National Statuary Hall Collection at the Capitol, in which each state can contribute two statues. The other statue representing Virginia is of George

Washington.

National Statuary Hall displays 35 of the statues. Others are in the Crypt, the Hall of Columns and the Capitol Visitor Center. Johnson said the Johns statue will be placed in the Crypt.

Former Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam had requested the removal of the Lee statue. In December 2020, a state commission recommended replacing Lee’s statue with a statue of Johns.

The Johns statue, sculpted by Steven Weitzman of Maryland, received final approval from the Architect of the Capitol and the Joint Committee on the Library in July.

Johns is also featured in a sculpture at the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial outside the state Capitol in Richmond.

The former high school is now a National Historic Landmark and museum.

“It’s an incredibly profound moment, a moment to stand in a tar shack classroom with a hot potbelly stove as a heater, tar paper walls, shabby desks, right where 16-year-old Barbara Rose Johns courageously organized her schoolmates and stood up to the lie — the lie was separate but equal,” Youngkin said of the museum.

Judge says he’s inclined to deny preservationists’ request to halt ballroom project

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A federal judge said Tuesday he’s leaning toward denying a preservationist group’s request to temporarily halt President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, saying the organization failed to show that “irreparable harm” would be caused if the project moves forward.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said he could issue a final decision on the restraining order

by Wednesday. But Leon said he plans to hold another hearing in January on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s request to pause the ballroom project until it

goes through multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress.

In the meantime, Leon warned the administration to not make decisions on underground work, such as the routing of plumbing and gas lines, that would dictate the scope of future ballroom construction above ground. If that were to happen, Leon said, “the court will address it, I assure you of that.”

After the hearing Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed in a statement on social media that her department had “defeated an attempt to stop President Trump’s totally lawful East Wing Modernization and State Ballroom Project.” She characterized the Trust’s

lawsuit as another in a series of “bad-faith left-wing legal attacks” and said, “We will continue defending the President’s project in court in the coming weeks.”

Trump went ahead with the ballroom construction before seeking input from a pair of federal review panels, the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts. Trump has stocked the planning commission with allies, including the chairman, Will Scharf, who recently said he expected to receive the ballroom plans sometime this month.

Leon made a couple of references during the hearing to the administration having just two weeks to submit the plans. Adam

Gustafson, the principal deputy assistant attorney general, said the administration had “initiated outreach” to the panel to do just that, but no date had been set.

Trump recently dismissed all members of the fine arts panel. He has yet to name replacements.

Gustafson argued at the hearing that the Trust has no standing in the case to sue and that underground construction must continue for national security reasons that were not outlined in open court.

He also said Trump is exempt from federal laws the Trust said he has failed to follow.

Gustafson said the Trust cannot show “irreparable harm” because the ballroom plans have not been

finalized and construction above ground was not scheduled to begin until April at the earliest.

Tad Heuer, the attorney representing the Trust — a private, nonprofit organization — said that with every day that construction is allowed to proceed absent the independent reviews, the government gets to say “wait and find out” what the ballroom will look like.

The White House announced the ballroom project over the summer and by late October, Trump had demolished the East Wing of the White House to build in its place a ballroom that he said will be big enough to fit 999 people at an estimated cost of $300 million in private funding.

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Border Patrol leader in Chicago after La. sweeps Move likely sign enforcement ramping down in N.O. area

Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino walks alongside his agents after they detain an individual in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago on Tuesday.

BY POET WOLFE and ANDREA GALLO Staff writers

After more than two weeks overseeing a federal immigration crackdown in south Louisiana, video footage Tuesday showed Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino back in the Chicago area, a likely sign that Border Patrol enforcement is ramping down in New Orleans.

Bovino confirmed on social media Tuesday that he had returned to Chicago after he was seen with Border Patrol agents that morning detaining a person in Little Village, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. Earlier in the morning, a video circulated online showing multiple agents detaining a man outside a Walmart store in Cicero, a Chicago suburb.

“We are in Chicag- ho ho ho!!!!!” Bovino posted Tuesday afternoon on the social media website X, formerly known as Twitter.

While the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not confirmed that the immigration sweeps are winding down in Louisiana, the agency has historically stopped short of saying when its agents leave one of the locales where they are performing sweeps.

In Charlotte, for example, local officials confirmed last month that a federal immigration operation had ended. But after reports surfaced that Bovino had left Charlotte, DHS said reports were wrong that Border Patrol agents were leaving the city.

“Operation Charlotte’s Web isn’t ending anytime soon,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement at the time.

DHS did not respond to questions Tuesday from The Times-Picayune | The Advocate.

New Orleans is already home to a Border Patrol field office, meaning some agents will remain in the state regardless of whether Border Patrol agents more broadly head elsewhere.

Border Patrol agents descended on New Orleans the first week of December as part of an effort dubbed “Catahoula Crunch,” as President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to increase the number of deportations across the country.

Bovino, who was often seen in Kenner during the operation, alleged this week that the Louisiana immigration sweeps led to nearly 350 people being detained. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last week that the operation had netted 250 arrests.

Just 10% of those detained in south Louisiana

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ANTHONy VAZQUEZ

have criminal histories, according to arrest records that federal officials have detailed.

Those range from serious crimes, including aggravated kidnapping, to less serious offenses, including public urination.

The vast majority of arrestees do not have criminal records, and immigration advocates say many of them had work visas and other paperwork allowing them to temporarily stay in the United States.

In some cases, Border Patrol also detained U.S. citizens in their sweeps in New Orleans, held them for questioning and subsequently released them, according to interviews with witnesses and advocates.

Border Patrol agents last week expanded their sweeps into the Baton Rouge area, focusing in news releases on the subset of detainees with criminal records. Still, the number of detainees appeared to fall well short of an initial goal of 5,000.

“Operation Catahoula Crunch arrests even more criminal illegal alien rapists, thieves, gang members, human smugglers, and abusers,” said one headline of a news release.

Compared to Chicago and Charlotte, immigration sweeps in south Louisiana have been much quieter than the scenes of mass arrests in those cities, while protests in response have

also been more muted.

Still, immigration advocates and some local officials have criticized the sweeps and their tactics in New Orleans. Mayor-elect Helena Moreno described reports from other cities as “disturbing” and called for agents to remove their masks during raids.

The sweeps also had widespread impacts on businesses, who said they were struggling to hire workers; schools, who saw attendance decline; and Spanishlanguage church services, where clergy members said fewer people were gathering.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, a Republican, criticized the Border Patrol operation last week, saying the sweeps had hurt the economy and he was under pressure from business owners who were losing staff. But Republican Gov. Jeff Landry has welcomed the raids.

“We are proud to be working with Border Patrol to rid our communities of violent illegal aliens,” the governor said in a weekend post on social media.

During Bovino’s time in New Orleans, he said in interviews that Border Patrol sweeps in the area would continue “until the mission is accomplished.”

Staff writer James Finn contributed to this report.

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8A ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

ATTACK

Continued from page 1A That person wrote that it is “time to recreate Waco” with ICE. Border Patrol agents have been deployed in the New Orleans area, arresting and detaining immigrants and others.

That group chat threat, Sellers wrote, is seen as Legnon’s intention “to convey a threat through interstate commerce.”

In 1993, federal law enforcement agencies had a 51-day standoff in Waco at a religious compound of the Branch Davidians. The com-

AGE

Continued from page 1A But, citing numerous rulings from federal appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, deGravelles wrote in his ruling that most social media use, even by minors, is protected by the First Amendment. That means the government can only intervene in narrowly tailored circumstances — and Louisiana’s law was too broad and vague, deGravelles said.

“Ambiguity vests the Division with a worrisome amount of discretion,” he wrote in his 94-page ruling, referencing the Public Protection Division of the Louisiana of Justice, which was responsible for enforcing the law.

DeGravelles cited a 2011 Supreme Court ruling on a California law restricting violent video games: While states “possess legitimate power to protect children from harm, that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed.”

In addition to ruling the law unconstitutional and blocking Louisiana from enforcing the measures, deGravelles also ordered the Attorney General’s Office and the Louisiana Department of Justice’s Public Protection Division to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees — those were the two state

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pound was set on fire by members.

More than 70 of them died, many from gunshot wounds by fellow cult members, Sellers wrote.

Legnon was under FBI surveillance due to his affiliation with those plotting the terrorist attacks in Los Angeles, four of whom were arrested recently.

Around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, FBI agents observed Legnon loading what appeared to be an assault rifle and body armor into his vehicle at his residence.

Also on Friday in a Signal group chat, “Order of the Black Lotus,” DarkWitch She/Her, who Sellers believed to be Legnon, chatted with others, writing that he was on

“Today, the First Amendment prevailed in Louisiana. The government lacks authority to restrict access to lawful speech it does not like.”

PAUL TASKE, co-director of NetChoice’s Litigation Center

agencies listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

“Today, the First Amendment prevailed in Louisiana,” Paul Taske, co-director of NetChoice’s Litigation Center, said in a statement.

“The government lacks authority to restrict access to lawful speech it does not like.

As the district court recognized, the First Amendment forbids the government from posting ID checks outside the library door — and the same is true when it comes to social media.”

In a statement of her own, Attorney General Liz Murrill blasted the ruling.

“The assault on children by online predators is an allhands-on-deck problem,” Murrill said in a statement.

“It’s unfortunate that the court chose to protect huge corporations that facilitate child exploitation over the legislative policy to require simple age verification mechanisms.”

Murrill said she intends to appeal the ruling.

Louisiana lawmakers have

his way to New Orleans and would be there in about two hours. Video showed a gun and bulletproof vest on the car seat.

Sellers wrote that he believes Legnon intended to travel to New Orleans to carry out an attack and noted he is a former member of the Marines with combat training.

Legnon was also employed by the New Iberia Police Department, KATC reported.

He was hired by the police department in August 2019 after being honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps. He was placed on administrative leave by the police department in May 2022 and resigned in September 2022, records show.

recently pursued more rigorous regulations on social media companies in an effort to protect underage users from the detrimental impacts of the online apps.

This year, lawmakers passed a new law requiring app stores to age-verify users. If a user is under 18, the app store must link their account to a parent account, which in turn would need to sign off on any app downloads.

Murrill in August sued Roblox, a popular online video game, alleging the company has failed to take steps to protect children from predators in pursuit of profits.

Act 456 would have restricted targeted marketing ads aimed at Louisiana teens, and prohibited adult users from sending direct messages to underage subscribers unless they were already connected on the respective platforms. The law was also poised to bolster parental controls that guardians could use to monitor their children’s online activity.

The Louisiana Department of Justice’s Public Protection Division would have been able to impose administrative fines up to $2,500 on social media companies if they violated the law. And Murrill’s office could have hit sites with more than a million account holders with civil penalties up to $10,000 if they were caught targeting ads toward

On Friday, Sellers wrote, he and others with the FBI executed a federal search warrant on Legnon’s New Iberia residence, where they found sniper training manuals, SWAT training manuals, assault rifles and multiple rounds of ammunition.

FBI agents stopped Legnon as he traveled east on U.S. 90 toward New Orleans. They found an assault rifle, a pistol, a gas canister and body armor, similar to the items shown in the Signal group chat by DarkWitch.

Agents, also on Friday using a federal search warrant, searched Legnon’s cellphone.

“It’s extremely disturbing to find

teens and children.

NetChoice argued that restricting minors’ access to protected online speech is unconstitutional and said in its lawsuit that age-verification requirements amount to First Amendment violations because they force users to give up too much personal information just to gain access. The lobby group also

out that someone from Louisiana was arrested for his role in planning an attack on federal immigration enforcement agents in New Orleans,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement Tuesday. “While the FBI is the lead on this investigation, if state charges can be lodged, we will seek them. I’m grateful for the extraordinary work by FBI Director Kash Patel and his agents to keep America safe from extremists and terrorists who want to inflict harm on immigration enforcement agents and the American people.”

Email Claire Taylor at ctaylor@ theadvocate.com.

claimed Louisiana lawmakers failed to clearly define which social media companies were subject to the regulatory demands.

Taske said Monday’s decision follows permanent injunctions the trade association has won in federal court, preventing similar social media restrictions in Ohio and Arkansas.

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“Louisiana’s law would have done more than chill speech,” he said. “It would have created a massive privacy risk for Louisianans like those playing out in real time in countries without a First Amendment, like the U.K. Parents, not the government, are best suited to decide how their families use the internet.”

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MEDICAID

Continued from page 1A Secretary of Health Bruce Greenstein said the agency had a plan to make the transition by the new year, but the extra 90 days would give officials time to do a more thorough job.

“We have a very sound plan right now that delivers the mechanics of an orderly transition,” he said. “We can pull that off competently, but just like writing a research paper, more time would probably turn over a better-quality product.”

In moving Medicaid users to other plans, the department is trying to keep families on the same plan and prioritize putting people on plans that do not require them to switch providers, Greenstein said.

The state Health Department yanked UnitedHealthcare’s contract at Murrill’s behest amid an ongoing legal battle between the state and the company. In a 2022 lawsuit, Louisiana accused the company of exploiting the complex prescription drug supply chain to inflate prices and overcharge the state’s Medicaid program for drugs. Murrill alleged Tuesday that the company fell out of compliance with its contractual obligations by failing to hand over records.

“UnitedHealthcare has always maintained compliance with Louisiana law and our Medicaid contract and have been consistently responsive to the State’s request for data records and documentation,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “We will con-

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, speaks during a Senate committee hearing at the State Capitol on Tuesday. tinue to demonstrate our compliance with the State and remain committed to working with the Louisiana Department of Health to help provide a smooth transition for our members.”

The court case has been mired in procedural battles. On Tuesday, Murrill said she believed UnitedHealthcare won’t give the state certain records because “the documents show that we are entitled to a whole bunch of money back.”

Lawmakers who felt blindsided by the state’s decision not to extend its Medicaid contract with the company asked Murrill and Greenstein why they weren’t given more notice.

In part, Murrill and Greenstein attributed the issue to a miscom-

munication between the Louisiana Department of Health and the Attorney General’s Office. Murrill said she was unaware of the meeting at which legislators gave the state permission to renew the contract.

“You weren’t aware that (a legislative panel) was considering the extension of five of the largest contracts with the state of Louisiana?”

McMath asked her.

“Nope,” Murrill said. “I wasn’t invited to that hearing.”

Later in the meeting, Murrill said: “It’s just a miscommunication. I’ve got one train on the track and you’ve got a different train on the track, and those trains weren’t tracking at the same time.”

Murrill also said she may have been unable to bring the issue up

earlier because the state and UnitedHealthcare were in mediation talks in October. During the mediation, she warned the company she would recommend against a contract renewal if they could not reach a settlement, she said.

The negotiations did not result in any settlement, Murrill added.

After the meeting, Murrill said the state would settle several lawsuits against a different health care company, CVS Health. That firm owns Aetna, which also has a Medicaid contract with the state.

“They’re settling everything,” Murrill said. “I haven’t papered everything yet, but I will confirm it’s in the vicinity of $50 million.”

Murrill said the settlements had not yet been fully approved and no decision has been made on how the state would spend the $50 million.

In a statement, CVS said it had an “agreement in principle” with Murrill’s office.

“Once finalized, the settlement will enable us to maintain our focus on lowering health care costs and providing community pharmacy access to Louisiana residents,” the statement said. “The agreement is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing by CVS and is expected to be signed soon.”

Murrill’s office filed three different lawsuits against the company this year as part of a broader battle over pharmacy benefits managers, which act as middlemen in negotiating drug prices for large health care plans.

One lawsuit accused CVS, which has both drug stores and a pharmacy benefits manager arm that has done business with state government, of using its size and influence to push out competition

“We have a very sound plan right now that delivers the mechanics of an orderly transition. We can pull that off competently, but just like writing a research paper, more time would probably turn over a better-quality product.”

BRUCE GREENSTEIN, Lousiana secretary of health

and drive up drug prices. Another accuses the company of harming independent pharmacies with unfair fees and low reimbursements.

Court filings last week showed the state and CVS were close to a settlement on those cases. But Murrill said Tuesday that a settlement was also imminent in a third lawsuit, which accused the company of improperly using customer data when it sent out a flurry of text messages urging residents to contact legislators in opposition to a bill in this year’s legislative session.

Also this month, the Louisiana Department of Health had told Aetna it would yank its Medicaid contract, but the state reversed course on that decision about a week later. Murrill told reporters Tuesday that the state was able to move forward with that contract because CVS settled the lawsuits.

The state could maintain its contract with UnitedHealthcare if that firm comes to a settlement agreement, Murrill said. She did not provide specifics about what such a settlement would look like.

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Reiners’ son to be charged with 2 counts of murder

BY ANDREW DALTON and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles prosecutors said Tuesday that Nick Reiner, the son of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, which stunned their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics, where both were widely beloved.

Nick Reiner, 32, is suspected in the deaths of the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

Prosecutors plan to file the charges, two counts of first degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders, later Tuesday.

They will also include a special allegation that he used a dangerous weapon, a knife.

“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said. “We will continue to support the Reiner family and ensure that every step forward is taken with care, dignity and resolve.”

The announcement of the charges came two days after the couple was found dead

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAMIAN DOVARGANES

Flowers cover the Walk of Fame star for Rob Reiner on Monday in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood.

Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles from the crime scene, police said.

Reiner had been expected to make an initial court appearance earlier Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance would not come before Wednesday.

An email sent to his attor-

ney after the charges were announced was not immediately answered, and Nick Reiner has not yet entered a plea.

Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally...” and “The Princess Bride.” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades.

Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

Representatives for the Reiner family did not re-

spond to requests for comment. Police haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings.

Nick Reiner is being held in jail without bail. He was arrested several hours after his parents were found dead in their home on Sunday, police said.

Jackson, the defendant’s attorney, is a high-profile lawyer who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her trial in Massachusetts.

Investigators believe Rob and Michele Singer Reiner died from stab wounds, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, could not publicly discuss the details and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The killings were especially shocking given the warm comic legacy of the family.

Rob Reiner was the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 at age 98.

Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar as the star of Rob Reiner’s 1990 film “Misery,” was among those paying tribute to the couple.

“I loved Rob,” Bates said in a statement. “He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michele was a gifted photographer.”

Bill Clinton called the couple “good, generous people who made everyone who knew them better.”

Nick Reiner had spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction, cycling in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness in between through his teen years. Rob and Nick Reiner explored their relationship

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Coin collectors doled out millions for the final pennies circulated in the U.S. before the government ended the cent’s production back in November.

The U.S. Mint sold 232 three-cent sets for a whopping sum of $16.76 million at an auction Thursday hosted

by Stack’s Bowers Galleries.

The 232nd set — containing the last three pen-

nies ever made — sold for $800,000. That bidder also got the three dies that struck those Lincoln cents.

John Kraljevich, director of numismatic Americana at Stack’s Bowers, said it was the kind of auction where you don’t know the items’ market value until people make their bids.

“I’ve been going to coin auctions for 40 years, and I can tell you, I’ve never seen anything like this, because there’s never been anything

like this,” Kraljevich said.

Stack’s Bowers President Brian Kendrella said: “They captured the public imagination like few rare coins we’ve ever handled.”

Each set comprised 2025 pennies struck at the Philadelphia Mint, the Denver Mint and a 24-karat gold penny. Each cent also bore a unique Omega symbol.

There were 232 grouplets to reflect each year the coin had been embedded in American culture.

through the making of the 2016 film, “Being Charlie.”

Nick Reiner co-wrote and Rob Reiner directed the film about the struggles of an addicted son and a famous father. It was not autobiographical but included several elements of their lives.

“It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP in 2016. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already.’ ” Rob Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood.

He met Michele Singer Reiner on the set of “When Harry Met Sally...,” and their meeting would inspire the film’s shift to a happy ending, with stars Billy Crystal — one of Reiner’s closest friends for decades — and Meg Ryan ending up together on New Year’s Eve.

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Missing hiker’s body apparently found in Calif.

BY JACK DOLAN

Los Angeles Times (TNS) LOS ANGELES — The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday it had recovered the body of a young male hiker that fits the description of Joseph Brambila, who disappeared on California’s Mount Whitney in early November.

Brambila, 21, has been the subject of searches in the last month, and his family waged a desperate campaign on social media asking for help finding him.

The body was removed from the 99 Switchbacks area high on the mountain — the tallest in the United States outside of Alaska — by helicopter Monday, ac-

cording to Lindsey Stine, the Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

Hikers had spotted the body, but previous attempts to find and recover it were stymied by heavy snow.

Searches from the air by helicopter and on the ground with a cadaver dog were unsuccessful, and it was feared the remains might not be recovered until the Brambila spring thaw.

Brambila’s disappearance was the focus of a Los Angeles Times story last week.

Interviews with people close to him and hikers who

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met him on the trail and his self-shot YouTube videos painted a picture of a funny, self-deprecating young man from southeast Los Angeles County who still was learning his way in the mountains, which he had grown to love.

A video from an aborted attempt to climb Mount Whitney in April 2024 began with Brambila chiding himself for forgetting his trekking poles in the car.

Then he went over a gear checklist posted at the trailhead: emergency blanket, first aid kit, headlamp and extra batteries, map and compass. He tapped each item, saying, “Nope, nope, nope, nope.”

As he turned and started heading up the trail he

quipped, “So I think we’re pretty qualified for the hike.”

His adventure bogged down as soon as he reached the snow line and realized the trail was completely buried.

His first successful climb of Whitney was in June. During the descent he filmed himself sliding down a 1,500foot snow slope on his butt.

He had none of the usual safety equipment for such a slide, known to mountaineers as a “glissade” — no helmet and, crucially, no ice ax, which is used as a brake to avoid picking up too much speed and hurtling into a catastrophic fall.

But he was lucky. It was

Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia — The Trump administration on Tuesday designated another Latin American drug cartel as a foreign terrorist organization, increasing financial pressure on its members and opening the door to potential military action against them.

The U.S. State Department said Clan del Golfo, which is based in Colombia, has been listed both as a foreign and a global terrorist group, calling it a “violent and powerful criminal organization” that uses cocaine trafficking to fund violent activities.

“Clan del Golfo is responsible for terrorist attacks against public officials, law enforcement and military personnel, and civilians in Colombia,” the statement said.

The designation comes after the Trump administration in September added Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in almost 30 years. It was a stinging rebuke to a traditional U.S. ally that reflects a recent surge in cocaine production and fraying ties between the White House and the country’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro.

The United States also sanctioned Petro

CLASSIFIEDS continued from Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

PUBLIC NOTICE --GREATER BATON ROUGE PORT COMMISSION Commission Meeting 5:00 p.m. Thursday, November 20, 2025 The Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission met in regular session at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, No‐ vember 20, 2025 at the maritime Security Opera‐ tions Center meeting room in West Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Following the Call to Order and the Pledge of Allegiance, the roll was called.

PRESENT Mr. Johnny B. Bradberry Ms. Rebecca A. Cunard Mr. Brad J. Daigle Mr. Shelton C. Dixon Mr. Ted H. Glaser Mr. Bob Kelly Mr. Troy S. LeBoeuf Mr. Wally McMakin Mr. Jessel M. Ourso, III Ms. Lynn Robertson Mr. Bobby Watts ABSENT Mr. Michael D. DeLaune Ms. Brenda R. Hurst Mr. Keith E. Morris Mr. Travis M. Medine Ms. Lynnel B. Ruckert Mr. Donald M. Schexnayder Agenda Item 5 - Approval of minutes of a Commis‐ sion meeting held on Thursday, October 23, 2025.

On a motion by Mr. Jes‐ sel Ourso, seconded by Mr. Shelton Dixon, the were unani‐ minutes mously approved.

Agenda Item 6 - Monthly Engineering Report Mr. Cortney White pre‐ sented the monthly engi‐ neering report, as out‐ lined in documentation presented to all Board members.

A. Discussion and appro‐ priate action regarding the Guaranteed Maxi‐ mum Price (GMP) offered by the Construction Man‐ ager at Risk (CMAR) con‐ tractor and execution of a construction contract for the Grain Elevator Im‐ provements Phase 3 Con‐ veyance Project contin‐ gent upon concurrence by the LA Division of Ad‐ ministration.

Mr. Cortney White ad‐ dressed the Board by stating that we have re‐ approximately ceived $5.5M Guaranteed Maxi‐ mum Price (GMP) on the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) contractor.

Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) agreed to the price and asked us to execute a construction contract ac‐ cording to the CMAR process contingent upon concurrence by the LA Division of Administra‐ tion in order to use Capi‐ tal Outlay funds. Mr. White and Port staff rec‐ ommend approval.

Following a discussion, on a motion by Mr. Bob Kelly, seconded by Mr. Johnny Bradberry, the unani‐ Commission approved to mously move the Grain Elevator Improvements Phase 3 Conveyance Project for‐ ward and execute a con‐ struction contract, con‐ tingent with concurrence from Louis Dreyfus Com‐ pany (LDC) and the Louisiana Division of Ad‐ ministration.

B. Discussion and appro‐ priate action regarding proceeding to engineer‐ ing on the Grain Elevator Rail Improvements Pro‐ ject contingent upon ap‐ proval of the LA Division of Administration.

Mr. Cortney White ad‐ dressed the Board by stating that Louis Drey‐ fus Company would like to use the balance of Capital Outlay funding towards engineering for h i il j

in October over accusations that he had allowed drug cartels in the South American nation to “flourish” and export cocaine to the U.S. — accusations that he vehemently denied, arguing that Colombia is intercepting record levels of cocaine shipments without killing suspected smugglers.

With an estimated 9,000 fighters, Clan del Golfo is one of Colombia’s most powerful armed groups. Also known by its Spanish acronym AGC, the group evolved from rightwing paramilitary squads that fought Marxist guerrillas in Colombia in the 1990s and 2000s.

A report published last year by the Human Rights Defender’s Office, a public agency, said that AGC is present in about a third of Colombia’s municipalities, where it extorts local businesses and has also been accused of recruiting children.

Clan del Golfo has been involved in peace talks with Colombia’s government since September, which could lead to the disarmament of its fighters in exchange for reduced sentences for its leadership.

Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Tuesday’s designation could be a message to the Colombian government to take a tougher stance against the group.

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

ceeded expectations.

The Executive Committee recommended a 7% rate increase effective the first pay period in Janu‐ ary 2026 and a two-year contract for Mr. Hard‐ man, as outlined in docu‐ mentation presented to all Board members.

The newly elected offi‐ cers for 2026 are Mr. Don‐ ald Schexnayder, Presi‐ dent; Mr. Troy LeBoeuf, Vice President; Mr. Ted Glaser, Secretary, and Mr. Shelton Dixon, Trea‐ surer.

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Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

SUMMARY FOR PUBLICATION:

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min g g their rail project. Mr. White and Port staff rec‐ ommend approval.

Following a discussion, on a motion by Mr. Ted Glaser, seconded by Mr. Johnny Bradberry, the unani‐ Commission mously approved pro‐ ceeding to engineering on the Grain Elevator Rail Project Improvements upon ap‐ contingent proval of the LA Division of Administration.

Agenda Item 7 - Discus‐ sion and appropriate ac‐ tion pertaining to the up‐ grade of audio/visual equipment for the Mar‐ itime Security Operations Center (MSOC) / Board‐ room for approximately $75K. Mr. Hardman addressed the Commission by stat‐ ing that we have had dis‐ cussions on providing for the microphones Commissioners use dur‐ ing the meetings to allow for a better speaking presentation. The system would be wireless with on and off capabilities on each individual micro‐ phone as well as the per‐ son conducing the meet‐ ing having the same ca‐ pabilities on each micro‐ phone. The equipment for the system is on state contract. Mr. Hardman and Port staff recom‐ mend approval.

On a motion by Mr. Ted Glaser, seconded by Mr. Shelton Dixon, the Com‐ mission unanimously ap‐ proved purchasing and setting up audio equip‐ ment for the Maritime Security Operations Cen‐ ter (MSOC) Boardroom not to exceed $75K. Agenda Item 8 - Consid‐ eration and appropriate action regarding extend‐ ing Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel’s lease for prop‐ erty adjacent to its exist‐ ing lease.

Mr. Jay Hardman ad‐ dressed the Commission by stating that Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel have been a contract awarded through the Comite Di‐ version project to receive approximately one mil‐ lion tons of rock. They have averaged for the last four to five years ap‐ proximately 400,000 tons of rock. Their existing lease cannot handle two locations. off-loading Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel are interested in prop‐ erty adjacent to their ex‐ isting lease. There is a drainage divide that runs through the property. We are cur‐ in discussions rently with Pine Bluff on cul‐ verting and filling in the ditch and making the site level. The lease grants them 19 months, begin‐ ning December 1, 2025, as outlined in documen‐ tation presented to all Board members.

Following a discussion, on a motion by Mr. Bob Kelly, seconded by Mr. Bobby Watts, the Com‐ mission unanimously ap‐ proved extending Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel’s lease for property adja‐ cent to its existing lease, as outlined in documen‐ tation presented to all Board members.

Agenda Item 9 - Financial Report Ms. Katie LeBlanc pre‐ sented the monthly fi‐ nancial report. No action was required.

Agenda Item 10 - Discus‐ sion and appropriate ac‐ tion concerning annual compensa‐ evaluation, tion and contract of the executive director.

Ms. Lynn Robertson ad‐ dressed the Commission by stating that the Exec‐ utive Committee met No‐ vember 13, 2025 and the evaluations submitted by the Board members for Mr. Hardman were re‐ viewed. The evaluations submitted stated that Mr. Hardman met or ex‐

day was a bit south of the spot where hikers typically glissade — on a steep, icy section of trail known as the 99 Switchbacks, according to Stine. Another hiker slipped and fell to his death there in October.

The Sheriff’s Office is holding off on releasing the young man’s name until the county coroner positively identifies the body, which had extensive injuries and no ID, Stine said. But she said Brambila’s family has been notified, and someone close to him indicated the clothes on the body resemble what Brambila was believed to be wearing.

Protection your loved ones deserve ...

Another cartel labeled a terrorist group

BY MANUEL RUEDA

a warm, sunny day and the snow was so forgiving that, to stop, he just needed to dig his heels into the soft slush.

Brambila returned to Mount Whitney on Nov. 11, two days after his 21st birthday. At that time of year the weather can change without warning, quickly turning a soft slope into something harder, faster and much more dangerous.

One of the last people to see Brambila — Luis Buenrostro, a fellow solo hiker who met him on the summit that day — told The Times that Brambila indicated he was going to glissade again.

But the body found Mon-

PUBLIC NOTICE

Following a discussion, on a motion by Mr. Troy LeBoeuf, seconded by Mr. Jessel Ourso, the unani‐ Commission mously approved a 7% rate increase and a twoyear contract for Mr. Hardman, as outlined in pre‐ documentation sented to all Board mem‐ bers.

Agenda Item 11 - Nomi‐ nation and election of of‐ ficers for 2026.

Mr. Bob Kelly opened the floor to advance the offi‐ cers to the next position available.

Agenda Item 12 - Other matters Mr. Jay Hardman ad‐ dressed the Board, for in‐ purposes formational only, by stating that the December meetings will be held on December 4th and 11th. The Commis‐ sioners Christmas dinner will be after the Decem‐ ber 11th Commission meeting in the Port’s ad‐ building’s ministration boardroom. There will be a photographer present to take pictures of the Commissioners and new officers for a press re‐ lease.

THE PROPOSED BUDGET IS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION AT THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, 5TH FLOOR, 222 ST. LOUIS STREET, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70802. CONTACT LINDA PITCHER. A SUMMARY OF THE BUDGET IS SHOWN BELOW

Reporting you can trust

DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATED BUDGET SUMMARY YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2026 GENERAL FUND

on stories that matter

Agenda Item 13 - Ad‐ journment

SPECIAL REVENUE FUND

PTI FUND

ESTIMATED FUND BALANCES BEGINNING OF THE YEAR

542,520

-

151,818

ESTIMATED REVENUE RECURRING OPERATING INTERGOVERNMENTAL

1,535,000 15,350,000

600,000 -

4,800 1,300,000

Date approved: December 11, 2025

TOTAL REVENUE

16,885,000

600,000

1,304,800

170588 Dec. 17, 1t $135.95

ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES RECURRING OPERATING CAPITAL EXPENDITURES

15,439,792 85,500

629,200 -

1,250,000 5,000

TOTAL EXPENDITURES

15,525,292

629,200

1,255,000

INTERFUND TRANSFER

100,000

-

(100,000)

On a motion by Ms. Cu‐ nard, seconded by Mr. Troy LeBoeuf, the Com‐ mission unanimously ap‐ proved to move Mr. Don‐ ald Schexnayder from Vice President to Presi‐ dent, Mr. Troy LeBoeuf from Secretary to Vice President, and Mr. Ted Glaser from Treasurer to Secretary.

On a motion by Mr. Shel‐ ton Dixon, seconded by Mr. Brad Daigle, the meeting adjourned.

The Board unanimously elected the officers as nominated.

Mr. Ted Glaser nomi‐ nated Mr. Shelton Dixon for Treasurer, seconded

by Ms. Cunard, and the Board unanimously ap‐ proved Mr. Shelton Dixon as Treasurer.

THE 2026 PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THE GENERAL, SPECIAL REVENUE, AND PTI FUNDS OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT WILL BE DISCUSSED IN A PUBLIC HEARING TO BE HELD AT 10:00 A.M., ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2025, IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, 5TH FLOOR, 222 ST. LOUIS STREET, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70802. ELECTRONIC OR ALTERNATE MEANS OF PARTICIPATION OR INSPECTION MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE, UPON REQUEST.

Secretary: Troy S. LeBoeuf President: Lynn Robertson

NEWS 24/7 ON

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

PUBLIC NOTICE

ESTIMATED FUND BALANCES END OF THE YEAR

1,973,028

101,618

West Feliciana Parish GUD #1 The purpose of this message is to inform the public that the West Feliciana Parish GUD #1 has buried gas pipelines throughout the gas service area that provide safe reliable energy to its customers.

The West Feliciana Parish GUD #1 maintains these pipelines to a high standard, and they are considered reliable. A Damage Control Program (line markers) and an Emergency Plan for responding to an emergency has been established and the gas district works closely with Fire and Emergency Response Personnel. Prior to any excavation in and around any gas facilities contact either of the numbers below.

One-Call System 1 (800) 272-3020 or 811 Help Us Keep You Safe How to Recognize a Natural Gas Leak Natural gas leaks may be detected by one of the following indications on or near our pipelines right-of-way: 1. A gaseous or hydrocarbon odor. (Smell of rotten eggs) 2. A blowing or hissing sound.

3. Dust blowing from a hole in the ground.

4. Continuous bubbling in one spot in wet or flooded area.

5. Dead vegetation (grass, shrubs, or trees.)

6. Abnormally dry or hardened soil.

7. Fire apparently coming from the ground or burning above the ground.

SUMMARY FOR PUBLICATION: PUBLIC NOTICE THE 2025 AMENDED BUDGET FOR THE GENERAL, SPECIAL REVENUE, AND PTI FUNDS OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT WILL BE DISCUSSED IN A PUBLIC HEARING TO BE HELD AT 10:00 A.M., ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2025, IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, 5TH FLOOR, 222 ST. LOUIS STREET, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70802. ELECTRONIC OR ALTERNATE MEANS OF PARTICIPATION OR INSPECTION MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE, UPON REQUEST. THE AMENDED BUDGET IS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION AT THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, 5TH FLOOR, 222 ST. LOUIS STREET, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70802. CONTACT LINDA PITCHER. A SUMMARY OF THE BUDGET IS SHOWN BELOW DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATED BUDGET SUMMARY YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2025 GENERAL FUND

SPECIAL REVENUE FUND

PTI FUND

ESTIMATED FUND BALANCES BEGINNING OF THE YEAR

557,058

-

89,976

ESTIMATED REVENUE RECURRING OPERATING INTERGOVERNMENTAL

1,503,240 13,050,000

600,000 -

11,943 1,214,135

NOTE: The West Feliciana Parish GUD #1 does not maintain buried piping between the gas meter and the house or business. The customer is responsible for maintaining and repairing this section of gas piping from leakage. These buried gas lines should be checked periodically for leakage.

TOTAL REVENUE

14,553,240

600,000

1,226,078

ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES RECURRING OPERATING CAPITAL EXPENDITURES

14,611,400 24,350

627,728 -

1,068,536 -

If you need additional information, suspect a natural gas leak or in case of an emergency concerning a West Feliciana Parish GUD #1 System gas main or service line, immediately call:

TOTAL EXPENDITURES

14,635,750

627,728

1,068,536

INTERFUND TRANSFER

95,700

-

(95,700)

ESTIMATED FUND BALANCES END OF THE YEAR

542,520

CAUTION: Gas that has accumulated in a confined space is subject to EXPLOSION. Please stay away from immediate area of any suspected gas leak and contact the West Feliciana Parish GUD #1 Gas Maintenance Department! Never turn on or off switches or use a flashlight or phone in the presence of a gas smell.

West Feliciana GUD #1 (225) 635-3590 170284-594675-Dec. 17-1t $ 630.00

170245-594568-dec 15-167-17-3t $ 609.84

151,818

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 13A

lll

45 WORDS

that forge our belief that reporting the truth – for our readers, for our city – is a responsibility we must fulfill no matter the cost.

We need your help.

We’re asking our readers and the Baton Rouge community at large to help us reach our $100,000 fundraising goal by the end of the year. Your tax-deductible donation goes solely to our public service reporters, editors and photographers in the field.

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14A ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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White House chief of staff opines on Trump Wiles also criticizes AG’s handling of Epstein case

agreements. We agree on much more than we disagree, but I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States, and that makes her the best White House chief of staff that I think the president could ask for,” Vance said.

He said his takeaway was that the administration “should be giving fewer interviews to mainstream media outlets.”

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE, DARLENE SUPERVILLE and BILL BARROW Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s understated but influential chief of staff, criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and offered an unvarnished take on her boss and those in his orbit in interviews published Tuesday in Vanity Fair that sent the West Wing into damage control.

The startlingly candid remarks from Wiles, the first woman to ever hold her current post, included describing the president as someone with “an alcoholic’s personality,” and Vice President JD Vance as a calculating “conspiracy theorist.”

The observations from Wiles, who rarely speaks publicly given the behind-the-scenes nature of her job running the White House, prompted questions about whether the chief of staff might be on her way out.

Wiles pushed back after the piece’s publication, describing it as a “hit piece” that lacked context, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the “entire Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her.”

As for Trump, he told the New York Post that he hadn’t read the piece. When asked if he retained confidence in Wiles, he said, “Oh, she’s fantastic.”

Trump also agreed that he does have the personality of an alcoholic, describing himself as having “a very possessive personality.”

A senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal thinking, dismissed the notion that Wiles might leave because of the profile, saying if they were rattled by negative news coverage “none of us would work here.”

Wiles’ candor was so unusual that Rahm Emanuel, who served as chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, said that when he first read her comments, he thought it was a spoof. He said

Criticizes the attorney general

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles listens as President Donald Trump meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 4. he could not recall a chief of staff giving such a candid interview, at least “not while you hold the title.”

Emanuel said the role often involves public remarks that promote the president’s agenda, but not sharing personal views about “everything, everybody” in the White House.

His advice to Wiles: “Next time there’s a meal, bring a food taster.”

Candor from the ‘ice maiden’ The interviews with Vanity Fair were themselves uncharacteristic for Wiles, who cut her reputation as someone who brought order to the president’s chaotic style and shunned the spotlight so much that at Trump’s 2024 election night victory party, she repeatedly shook her head and avoided the microphone as Trump tried to coax her to speak to the crowd.

“Susie likes to stay sort of in the back,” said Trump, who has repeatedly referred to her as the “ice maiden.”

Most members of his Cabinet, along with former and current White House officials, posted statements praising Wiles and criticiz-

ing the media as dishonest.

But neither Wiles nor the members of the administration who came to her defense Tuesday disputed any details in the two-part profile, including areas where she conceded mistakes and seemed to contradict the administration’s official reasoning for its bombing of alleged drug boats in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.

Though the Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., Wiles appeared to confirm that the campaign is part of a push to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, saying Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

Pushback but not denial After the comments were published, Wiles disparaged it as a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.”

“Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story,”

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she wrote in a social media post. “I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.”

Trump, in an interview with the New York Post, said he was not offended by Wiles’ remarks, including her description of him as someone with “an alcoholic’s personality” that she recognizes from her father, the famous sports broadcaster Pat Summerall.

The president, who is a teetotaler and had a brother who struggled with alcohol, said: “I’ve said that many times about myself. I’m fortunate I’m not a drinker. If I did, I could very well, because I’ve said that — what’s the word? Not possessive — possessive and addictive type personality. Oh, I’ve said it many times, many times before.”

Vance, speaking in Pennsylvania on Tuesday about the president’s economic agenda, said he hadn’t read the Vanity Fair piece. But he defended Wiles and joked, “I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true.”

“Susie Wiles, we have our dis-

Wiles, over the series of interviews, described the president behind the scenes very much as he presents himself in public: an intense figure who thinks in broad strokes yet is often not concerned with the details of process and policy. She added, though, that he has not been as angry or temperamental as is often suggested, even as she affirmed his ruthlessness and determination to achieve retribution against those he considers his political enemies.

Wiles described much of her job as channeling Trump’s energy, whims and desired policy outcomes — including managing his desire for vengeance against his political opponents, anyone he blames for his 2020 electoral defeat and those who pursued criminal cases against him after his first term.

On Epstein, Wiles told the magazine that she underestimated the scandal involving the disgraced financier, but she sharply criticized how Bondi managed the case and the public’s expectations.

Wiles criticized Bondi’s handling of the matter, going back to earlier in the year when she distributed binders to a group of social media influencers that included no new information about Epstein.

That led to even more calls from Trump’s base for the files to be released.

“I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this,” Wiles said of Bondi.

“First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk.”

Bondi did not address the criticism when she released a statement supporting Wiles.

BATON ROUGE • ASCENSION • LIVINGSTON • FELICIANAS WEST BATON ROUGE • TANGIPAHOA • IBERVILLE

METRO

T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M

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W e d n e s d ay, d e c e m b e r 17, 2025

1bn

School Board attorney gets extension

BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer

The lead attorney for the East Baton Rouge Parish school system is staying on the job for at least two more years and will make $68,000 more a year annually, courtesy of his bosses on the School Board.

In a split vote, the board approved a two-year contract extension and pay raise for general counsel Gwynn Shamlin at a special meeting Monday night. Board members in opposition expressed

Elayn Hunt warden resigns

concerns about the size of the raise as well as the late-inthe-year push to get it approved.

The contract renewal came 16 days before ShamShamlin lin’s current contract was set to expire at the end of the year.

Since starting with the school district in 1994, Shamlin has worked in many roles, including six years as director of the I Care

EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH

anti-drug and crisis counseling service. In 2018, then-Superintendent Warren Drake tapped Shamlin, who was no longer practicing much as an attorney, to return to become the top legal official after the departure of longtime general counsel Domoine Rutledge.

Shamlin did not attend Monday’s meeting; local attorney Dennis Blunt sat in as general counsel instead. Shamlin did not respond to a

subsequent request for comment.

Superintendent LaMont Cole was also absent from the meeting.

Monday’s vote is the second time the board has voted to keep Shamlin in that job.

In 2022, the board renewed his contract, increasing his salary by more than $18,000 a year as well as giving him 3% annual increases.

This time, Shamlin’s salary is increasing from about $170,000

to $238,000 a year. That makes him the second-highest paid administrator in the school district.

His salary is now slightly higher than the salary earned by Deputy Superintendent Adam Smith, but less than the $285,000 a year that Cole makes.

Board President Shashonnie Steward said the figure was settled on after she researched how much lead school attorneys are making in other larger urban school

ä See ATTORNEY, page 2B

Sick tricks

7th inmate since September found dead

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

The warden at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel has resigned from his job at the prison, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections said.

Keithe Turner gave his notice Monday, a day before another inmate was found dead in the prison, the seventh since Turner September.

Turner took the job in April. In a post to Facebook at the time, corrections Secretary Gary Westcott said, “Warden Turner brings more than 30 years of dedicated service to this leadership role.”

Turner is expected to retire in February, allowing the department time to plan for his succession, a Tuesday statement said. He will continue to serve as warden until then.

According to the statement, Turner issued his letter of resignation to corrections leadership on Monday.

The following morning, Calvin

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

A bike rider lands a jump as kids watch at the Perkins Road Community Skate Park on Saturday in Baton Rouge.

ä See WARDEN, page 2B

1st Circuit reverses Ascension St. James Parish plant to extract rare minerals court on self-defense claim ‘Red mud’ waste to Man accused in deadly 2022 Prairieville shooting

BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer

The Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal recently reversed an Ascension Parish court decision that blocked a man charged with murder from claiming selfdefense.

Judge Cody Martin had granted a motion brought by the 23rd Judicial District Court in August, minutes before the trial for Prairieville resident Jerome Lilly was set to begin.

Lilly, 40, is accused of seconddegree murder in connection with the July 2022 shooting of Tarrence Williams, another Prairieville resident. Lilly is being held in the Ascension Parish jail with bail set at $500,000, according to the inmate database.

The appellate court sent the case back to the 23rd Judicial

District Court, stating in the order that a “criminal defendant has the constitutional right to present a defense.”

A spokesperson for the 23rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on the decision.

Alex Laird, an attorney representing Lilly along with attorney Bobby Hjortsberg, said in a statement that the 1st Circuit’s ruling was “not surprising to us.”

“What is surprising is that the District Attorney raised this issue in the first place on the morning of Mr. Lilly’s trial, knowing it was a losing frivolous argument that would not survive on appeal,” he said.

The reversed order concerned a 2024 state law, which requires any defendant intending to argue self-defense to notify the district attorney in writing within 10 days of the state moving for discovery.

On Aug. 27, Laird filed a motion stating they intended to argue Lilly acted in self-defense.

“Defense orally communi-

cated its intention (to) use selfdefense to the prosecutor, Brant Mayer, throughout the past 2 years,” Laird wrote. “We intend to argue that Jerome Lilly used deadly force against Terrence Williams to protect himself, his home, and his family.”

According to a court transcript, Hjortsberg alleged the 23rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office knew Lilly’s attorneys would use a self-defense argument.

“This has been out there for a year plus, and the State never said a single word about it,” he said, according to the transcript.

That same day, Mayer filed a motion to exclude from the trial all “insinuation, evidence, and/or testimony” related to the claim of self-defense. He cited the recent law, stating that the state moved for discovery on April 6, 2023.

The law took effect more than a year later, in August 2024. No one at the hearing mentioned the

ä See COURT, page 2B

be processed

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer

A Texas company will move forward with plans to build an $850 million plant to extract rare earth minerals from contaminated mining waste lying in hundreds of acres along the Mississippi River near Gramercy, state and company officials said.

Following four years of refinement, ElementUSA plans to build a demonstration plant near the Atlantic Alumina plant and have production underway by mid-2028 to extract minerals critical to the U.S. supply chain and military readiness, Louisiana Economic Development officials said. Details on the size of the demonstration plant and how many people will work there were not released.

The facility also presents a way to reduce the long-standing waste piles near Gramercy that have been a source of chronic dust complaints and, more recently, caustic

liquid leaks into the Blind River and the swamps around it.

Leaks from the storage areas have recently triggered a lawsuit from an environmental group and state enforcement action that risks fines for Atlantic Alumina, also known as Atalco.

ElementUSA plans to extract “gallium, scandium, iron and other critical minerals from more than 30 million tons” of mining byproducts.

The rare elements, particularly gallium and scandium, are used in semiconductors, aerospace alloys and communication technologies, according to mining industry estimates, and aren’t produced in the United States.

In late November, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded ElementUSA a $29.9 million Defense Production Act grant to build the demonstration plant near Gramercy and do development work at the company’s Critical Resource Accelerator in Cedar Park, Texas.

Gov. Jeff Landry said Louisiana

ä See PLANT, page 2B

2B ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

ATTORNEY

Continued from page 1B districts across the country.

Steward said she received help from the Washington, D.C.-based Council of Great City Schools. There are lawyers in other school districts making much more than Shamlin is now making, she said.

“So I felt like it wasn’t bad,” Steward said.

In addition to the pay raise, Shamlin will begin receiving a $3,600-a-year car allowance. Also new for him is district-funded electronic devices and cell service.

Shamlin, though, will no longer receive annual pay raises under the new con-

WARDEN

Continued from page 1B Campbell, 41, was reported dead at the prison, marking the seventh “unexpected” incustody death at Elayn Hunt in the past three months In a statement, Westcott said Campbell died at 7:34 a.m. Tuesday and that an autopsy has been requested.

A little over a week ago, on

lll

tract.

The vote to renew was 5-3, with board members Mark Bellue, Patrick Martin V and Emily Soulé voting no.

Board member Nathan Rust was absent.

Bellue, Martin and Soulé all complimented Shamlin but objected to the renewal, arguing it was hastily done and the pay increase is too generous, especially as the district is considering but has yet to approve employee pay raises for next year.

“I would be happy to support an extension at the current salary,” Martin said.

“To me, the salary increase is way too much.”

“I think very highly of Mr. Shamlin. He’s done a terrific job,” Bellue said. “I don’t support the big pay raise.”

Monday’s meeting was called late last week, and the meeting room was almost empty. Ordinarily, the board would have held its regular meeting this Thursday, but it opted instead to hold just one meeting this month on Dec. 4. That meeting had just one item, Cole’s annual evaluation.

In an online comment, James Finney, a board watcher, questioned the rush.

“This item could and should have been handled in the regular course of business, without need for a special meeting,” Finney said.

Soulé expressed concern about typos in the draft contract; they were corrected Monday via an amendment to the motion to approve.

“I think we’re doing this too fast … the fact that that contract has not been read in detail by all nine of us,” she said.

Board member Dadrius Lanus countered that his fellow board members had “ample time” to assist in the contract negotiations starting more than a month ago when they were invited, but several opted not to.

As far as waiting for an employee pay raise, Lanus said in May 2023, the board was presented with a large proposed employee pay raise but passed on the idea; several board members were unhappy with its proposed financing.

“Let’s not use this moment and this time to try to conflict and contradict what

Dec. 7, inmate Justin Rice, 37, died at the prison. Since September, five other inmates have also died there, according to the corrections department: a 30-year-old prisoner in November; two other inmates, ages 22 and 65 in October; and a 45-year-old inmate in September. The age and identity of the seventh inmate are unknown.

At least one of these inmates’ deaths occurred after a fight with another inmate.

Westcott said in his statement that two of those recent deaths were medically related and not due to drug use.

The department is awaiting autopsy results in the other five deaths that have occurred at the facility since September.

“In an effort to keep the public informed regarding the recent deaths at (Elayn Hunt), the Department acknowledges that the correctional facility has seen

an uptick in unexpected deaths over the last several months,” the department said in a statement.

According to officials, there has been a total of 45 deaths at Elayn Hunt so far in 2025, with 30 of those deaths being categorized as “expected” by corrections.

Autopsies have been requested for the 15 remaining deaths, the statement read.

In 2024, a total of 53 deaths were recorded at

PLANT

Continued from page 1B is “delivering on projects that turn” President Donald Trump’s vision of “strengthening America’s industrial base” into a reality.

“This project advances essential mineral production in the United States and positions Louisiana’s workers and communities at the forefront of a rapidly growing industry,” Landry said in a statement.

ElementUSA officials said the company had done a far smaller demonstration at LAlumina’s red mud ponds in Burnside as a research project for iron extraction a few years ago, but this demonstration plant would be an actual production facility to produce gallium and scandium for a Defense Department contract.

The full-scale plant will include iron and “other valuable critical minerals,” officials said.

ElementUSA’s business plan might be new for Louisiana but has been seen as an option as the United States seeks out new sources in a global competition with China for the rare minerals.

In an August paper published in Science magazine, Colorado School of Mines researchers analyzed federal data and concluded the nation “could meet much of its demand for critical minerals by recovering materials currently discarded in mining waste,” according to a Mining.com report.

For years, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network has been tracking waste piles in the river corridor left behind by Atalco and other processing plants, which are permitted to be

PHOTO PROVIDED By LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITy

Red-tinted runoff flows into a waterway north of the Atalco bauxite refinery in St. James Parish. taller that most buildings in the state.

Marylee Orr, director of the regional environmental group, said reuse would initially seem to be the best long-term solution to a difficult problem, but the details and enforcement matter.

“The idea of further processing waste to extract valuable constituents sounds positive,” she said.

“As always, though, the reality of adequate regulation and enforcement looms large. As Atalco has shown, permits and regulations are only as good as the facility’s ability and willingness to follow the rules.”

State and company officials didn’t say when a full plant would be built but said the overall project is expected to create 200 permanent direct jobs and 554 indirect jobs, not including temporary construction jobs.

Known as “red mud,” the

wastes are left from refining red bauxite ore into alumina, a white chemical that is a precursor to the critical industrial metal aluminum as well as other chemical products.

Stored in what are called “ponds” or “lakes” set off by levees, the red dirt is laced with heavy metals, like mercury and arsenic, and low-level radioactive isotopes that naturally occur in the ore mined in Jamaica and shipped to St. James Parish.

Those leftover constituents and other aspects of the dirt have made red mud difficult to reuse.

Ellis Sullivan, CEO of ElementUSA, called his company’s plans on Tuesday “a solution” to this long-standing problem.

“We will be recovering bauxite residue from Atalco storage impoundments and delivering it to a new off-

COURT

we are here to do,” Lanus said.

Shamlin’s renewed contract expires in December 2027. Like his previous contract, the board has to alert him in writing six months ahead of that expiration date if it intends not to renew his contract. If it fails to do so, the contract continues for another year. That is what happened this past go-around.

Board member Cliff Lewis said now is not the time to train a new general counsel.

“I don’t think we need a rookie helping us navigate what we’ve got to navigate,” Lewis said.

Continued from page 1B date the law took effect, according to a transcript.

Martin granted Mayer’s motion and also granted a stay in the case so Lilly’s attorneys could appeal the decision.

In its order overturning Martin’s decision, the 1st Circuit found no indication that the failure to file written notice “was a delay tactic that would prejudice the State.”

“Furthermore, the purpose of Article 390 is to put the State on notice prior to trial of the defendant’s intent to raise the justification of self-defense,” the order stated.

“Here, the record shows the State does not dispute that it was aware of relator’s intent to argue selfdefense at trial.”

Email Charles Lussier at clussier@theadvocate. com.

Elayn Hunt, according to the statement, with 33 of those being categorized as “unexpected.”

Iberville Parish Sheriff Brett Stassi said he was notified by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections of the inmate’s death.

Reporter Ellyn Couvillion contributed to this story.

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

company expects.

Greg Langley, an agency spokesman, said Tuesday he was checking to see if a permit had been filed but not yet entered into the online system.

Sullivan said low-level radioactive isotopes and other remaining trace contaminants that wouldn’t be extracted would be contained and wouldn’t be further concentrated into a “secondary waste stream” as a result of his company’s process.

He said the materials are expected to qualify “as nonhazardous industrial materials rather than hazardous waste,” and radiation levels will be monitored to ensure they remain at acceptable background and worker limits.

St. James Parish President Pete Dufresne said the project enhances the operations of Atalco, itself the sole U.S. source of a critical material for aerospace and other applications. The alumina production process creates red mud waste, so waste storage area is a key to continued operations.

“Enhancing the United States’ only alumina processing facility, providing roughly 40% of the country’s alumina, is a critical investment in our nation’s future,” he said.

The rare elements in the waste tailings make up only a tiny amount of the entire volume of red mud, according to past company testing.

It wasn’t immediately clear how ElementUSA would incorporate or otherwise deal with the rest of the reprocessed red mud once the sought-after minerals were extracted.

site processing facility,” he said in a statement. “After a short demonstration phase, the bauxite residue will be permanently removed over time from the Atalco site and converted into valueadded mineral products that are critical to U.S. national defense and industrial infrastructure.”

He added that once removal starts, the company will employ measures to control dust.

“During excavation and loading, we will implement robust dust-control measures, including moisture management, covered transport and controlled handling procedures designed to prevent airborne emissions,” Sullivan said.

Online records show ElementUSA has not filed for an air permit with the state Department of Environmental David J. Mitchell can be Quality, so it is not yet clear reached at dmitchell@ what kind of emissions the theadvocate.com.

Unofficial notification, keep your tickets.

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06/02/1966 BLACK / FEMALE 5’04 / 115 LBS BLACK HAIR / BROWN EYES FELONY THEFT, ILLEGAL TRANSMISSION OF MONETARY FUNDS & ACCESS DEVICE FRAUD

JOCOBE GRAY

07/02/2003 BLACK / MALE 5’09 / 125 LBS BLACK HAIR / BROWN EYES SIMPLE BURGLARY OF AN INHABITED DWELLING & THEFT (MISD)

RODNEY JAMES

06/08/1998 BLACK / MALE 6’00 / 120 LBS BLACK HAIR / BROWN EYES FELONY THEFT & MONETARY INSTRUMENT ABUSE Warrants active as of 12/16/25

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If you have any information on these fugitives contact: CRIME STOPPERS at 344-STOP (7867), submit a tip anonymously from our website www.crimestoppersbr.com, or download the free anonymous P3 Tips App. REMEMBER YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE YOUR NAME TO COLLECT THIS OR ANY CRIME STOPPERS REWARD BUT YOU MUST CALL CRIME STOPPERS.

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BUSINESS

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 3B

T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M/news/business

DOW 48,114.26 -302.30 -0.62%

NASDAQ 23,111.46 54.05 0.23%

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Wall Street slips as oil prices keep dropping

NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market drifted through a mixed day of trading Tuesday after reports on the economy did little to clear uncertainty about where interest rates may be heading.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market after one report said the U.S. unemployment rate was at its worst level since 2021, but employers also added more jobs last month than economists expected. A separate report, meanwhile, said an underlying measure of strength for revenue at U.S. retailers grew more in October than economists expected.

On Wall Street, the sharpest losses came from companies in the oil business as prices for crude kept sliding.

Expectations that companies are pumping more than enough oil to meet the world’s demand have sent the price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude to its lowest level since 2021. It fell 2.7% Monday, as did Brent crude, the international standard. U.S. crude settled at $55.27 per barrel, while Brent settled at $58.92.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Pfizer fell 3.4% after giving a forecast for profit in 2026 that was below what some analysts expected. Its forecast for revenue next year was close to analysts’ expectations.

Kraft Heinz added 0.7% after saying Steve Cahillane, who was most recently CEO of Kellanova, will join as CEO on Jan. 1. After Kraft Heinz splits into two companies, which is expected to happen in the second half of 2026, Cahillane will lead the one that will hold onto the Heinz, Philadelphia and Kraft Mac & Cheese brands.

Netflix, iHeartMedia announce podcast deal LOS ANGELES — Netflix and iHeartMedia announced Tuesday they have an exclusive video partnership deal to bring more than 15 original podcasts, including “The Breakfast Club,” true crime podcast “My Favorite Murder” and Chelsea Handler’s “Dear Chelsea” to the subscription streaming service.

The multiyear deal, which launches in early 2026, includes new episodes from the podcasts and some library episodes. Netflix and iHeart declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal. Netflix is adding more video podcasts to its lineup to diversify the content on its streaming service and better compete with YouTube.

EU moves to ease ban on internal combustion FRANKFURT, Germany — European officials on Tuesday moved to ease their ban on sales of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035, responding to pressure from governments and automakers who argued that the industry needed more flexibility in finding ways to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and help achieve EU climate goals.

The proposal from the EU’s executive commission would change provisions of 2023 legislation requiring average emissions in new cars to equal zero, or a 100% reduction from 2021 levels. The new proposal would require a 90% emissions reduction.

The less-stringent limit would leave room for automakers to continue selling some plug-in hybrids, which have both electric and internal combustion engines and can use the combustion engine to recharge the battery without the need to find a charging station. The new limit proposal was accompanied by measures to promote European battery production and small electric cars.

Industry representatives say charging infrastructure is not being built quickly enough to persuade consumers to switch from gasoline and diesel models to electric cars. Other factors are also blamed for slowing the increase in demand for electric cars such as the cancellation of purchase subsidies by the German government and higher prices for European-made electric cars.

S&P 500 6,800.26 -16.25 -0.24%

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CRUDE OIL 55.27 -1.55 -2.73%

GOLD 4,304.50 -2.20 -0.05%

6-MO T-BILLS 3.6 -0.01 -0.28%

30-YR T-BONDS 4.82 -0.03 -0.66%

U.S. gained Artificial Christmas 64K jobs in tree prices are up November, lost 105K in October Unemployment rate at 4.6%

BY PAUL WISEMAN

AP economics writer

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By TERRy CHEA

Mac Harman, founder and CEO of Balsam Hill, looks at artificial Christmas trees at the company’s outlet store in Burlingame, Calif.

Popular American decoration is mostly made outside U.S.

BY DEE-ANN DURBIN AP business writer

On a recent December day, Mark Latino and a handful of his workers spun sheets of vinyl into tinsel for Christmas tree branches. They worked on a custom-made machine that’s nearly a century old, churning out strands of bright silver tinsel along its 35-foot length.

Latino is the CEO of Lee Display, a Fairfield, California-based company that his great-grandfather founded in 1902. Back then, it specialized in handmade velvet and silk flowers for hats.

Now, it’s one of the only companies in the United States that still makes artificial Christmas trees, producing around 10,000 each year.

Tariffs shone a twinkling light this year on fake Christmas trees — and the extent to which America depends on other countries for its plastic fir trees.

Prices for fake trees rose 10% to 15% this year due to the new import taxes, according to the American Christmas Tree Association, a trade group. Tree sellers cut their orders and paid higher tariffs for the stock they brought in.

Despite those issues, tree companies say they aren’t likely to shift large-scale production back to the U.S. after decades in Asia. Fake trees are labor-intensive and require holiday lights and other components the U.S. doesn’t make, said Chris Butler, CEO of the National Tree Co., which sells more than 1 million

artificial trees each year.

Americans are also very pricesensitive when it comes to holiday décor, Butler said.

“Putting a ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ sticker on the box won’t do any good if it’s twice as expensive,” Butler said. “If it’s 20% more expensive, it won’t sell.”

About 80% of the U.S. residents who put up a Christmas tree this year planned to use a fake one, according to the American Christmas Tree Association. That percentage has been unchanged for at least 15 years.

Mac Harman, the founder and CEO of Balsam Brands, which sells hundreds of thousands of Balsam Hill trees each year, said Americans like to set up their trees on Thanksgiving and leave them up for weeks, which dries out fresh-cut trees. Others prefer fake trees because they’re allergic to the mold spores on real trees, he said.

Americans also like convenience; 80% of the fake trees sold each year have the lights already strung on them, Butler said.

That preference is one reason artificial tree production shifted away from the U.S., first to Thailand in the early 1990s and to China about a decade later. Winding lights around the branches is time-consuming and tedious, Harman said.

“Where are we going to get 15,000 people in America who want to string lights on Christmas trees?” Harman said.

It takes an hour or two to make an artificial Christmas tree, from molding and cutting the needles to tying branches together and attaching the lights, Butler said.

Workers in China, where 90% of fake trees are made, are paid $1.50 to $2 per hour, he said.

Harman said the workers who wrap the lights on Balsam Hill’s trees are so efficient “it’s like watching an Olympian.”

Balsam Brands, which is based in Redwood City, California, studied whether it could

make faux trees in Ohio during the first Trump administration, when President Donald Trump threatened — but eventually delayed — tariffs on imported Christmas décor, Harman said.

The company hired consultants and considered automating some work. But it concluded a tree that currently sells for $800 would cost $3,000 if it was made in the U.S. Harman said Balsam couldn’t even find a U.S. company to make the pair of gloves it includes in each box for fluffing out branches.

Lee Display employs three or four people for most of the year, adding more during the holiday rush to help with installations and displays. About half its business is making custom displays for companies such as Macy’s, while the other half is selling directly to consumers.

Latino said he likes that he can produce an order quickly instead of waiting for it to ship from overseas.

“You have more control over it. I like to think that everything here is either my fault or my mistake or my careful planning and skill,” he said.

The tariffs still affected Lee Display. Latino’s son James, who leads business development and marketing, said the company didn’t import lights or decorations from China this year and relied on items it already had in stock. It’s getting low on lights, so next year it will have to pay more to import them, he said.

Butler said his company imported fewer trees this year and also raised prices by 10%. He said he used a lot of the money to offer customer discounts since demand was weak because of consumer worries about the economy.

Balsam Brands cut its workforce by 10%, canceled travel, froze raises and even stopped serving lunch in the office once a week to absorb the impact of tariffs, Harman said. It also raised tree prices by 10%.

WASHINGTON — The United States gained a decent 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as federal workers departed after cutbacks by the Trump administration, the government said in delayed reports.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% last month, the highest since 2021.

The November job gains were higher than the 40,000 economists had forecast.

The October job losses were caused by a 162,000 drop in federal workers, many of whom resigned at the end of fiscal year 2025 on Sept. 30 under pressure from billionaire Elon Musk’s purge of U.S. government payrolls.

Labor Department revisions also knocked 33,000 jobs off August and September payrolls.

Hiring has clearly lost momentum, hobbled by uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of the high interest rates the Fed engineered in 2022 and 2023 to rein in an outburst of inflation. Since March, job creation has fallen to an average 35,000 a month, compared to 71,000 in the year ended in March.

Worries about the job market were enough to nudge the Federal Reserve into cutting its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point last week for the third time this year. But three Fed officials refused to go along with the move, the most dissents in six years.

Tuesday’s report shows that “the labor market remains weak, but the pace of deterioration probably is too slow to spur the (Fed) to ease again in January, Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a commentary. The Fed holds its next policy meeting Jan. 27-28.

The unemployment rate, though still modest by historical standards, has risen since bottoming out at a 54-year low of 3.4% in April 2023. It rose from 4.4% in September, and the number of people in the labor force — those working or looking for work — increased 323,000 from September. A rate for October was not available because of the shutdown.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said that those pickups likely reflect former federal workers searching for new jobs.

Health care employers added more than 46,000 jobs in November, accounting for more than two-thirds of the 69,000 private sector jobs created last month. Construction companies added 28,000 jobs. Manufacturing shed jobs for the seventh straight month, losing 5,000 jobs in November.

Because of the government shutdown, many agencies are playing catch-up with economic data.

The Labor Department finally put out the September jobs report on Nov. 20, seven weeks late. It published some of the October data — including a count of the jobs created that month by businesses, nonprofits and government agencies — along with the November report Tuesday.

FDA: Baby formula not pulled fast enough after recall

BY JONEL ALECCIA AP health writer

Four of the nation’s top retail stores failed to promptly pull contaminated infant formula tied to a dangerous botulism outbreak from their shelves, federal health officials said in warning letters posted Monday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent letters to leaders at Walmart, Target, Kroger and Albertsons, saying the companies continued to sell ByHeart infant formula for days or weeks, despite a Nov. 11 recall of all products in the outbreak that has sickened more than 50 babies in 19 states.

“As a participant in the supply chain, your firm should take prompt and effective action when

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

ByHeart recently recalled its baby formula after it was tied to a botulism outbreak.

notified of a product recall,” FDA officials said in warning letters sent to the companies Friday and posted online Monday.

The formula was found at Target stores in 20 states “well after the recall was initiated,” one letter

said. In addition, it was sold at a Target store in New Hampshire on Nov. 16, despite an electronic block on the product’s sales code, the FDA noted. And at a Target store in Arkansas, single-serve packs of ByHeart formula were promoted with a “Sale!” sign and a $2 discount from Nov. 16 to Nov. 22.

Information from state and local health officials said ByHeart formula was found at Walmart stores in 21 states Nov. 12-26. The formula was found in Albertsons stores in 11 states Nov. 12-19, and at Kroger stores in 10 states Nov. 12-19.

In addition, the companies failed to provide FDA with evidence that corrective actions have been put in place, despite multiple requests, the agency said. The companies

have 15 working days to respond to the letters.

Walmart officials said in a statement that no ByHeart formula was sold after cash registers were blocked from selling the formula following the recall.

Albertsons officials said the company worked closely with suppliers and regulators to identify and remove the products and communicate to customers.

All of the babies in the outbreak have been hospitalized and treated with an IV medication to stop the progress of the disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded the outbreak to include all babies treated for botulism after consuming ByHeart formula since it was first produced in 2023.

4B ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Tech companies team up with UL students Project helping to train the next generation

BY ANGELINE MATHEWS

Contributing writer

The Lafayette Regional Technology Council recently showcased the next generation of local tech talent as University of Louisiana at Lafayette seniors presented the real-world technology solutions they developed this semester alongside industry mentors.

The event marks the culmination of the group’s Project-Based Learning Program, a collaborative initiative with UL that pairs senior computer science and informatics students with professionals from Lafayette-based companies CGI, Stuller and S1 Technology.

“We each developed a project, and students got to pick which one they wanted to work on,” said Kylie Miller, a senior consultant at CGI. “Each company provided mentors who are professionals in the tech industry who came in for 15 weeks and helped the students throughout their projects.”

The program is designed to give students hands-on experience in solving authentic industry challenges while strengthening the region’s growing tech workforce pipeline.

“All my other classes are very useful, but this was the first class where I had a big project that you might see in the real world,” student Haythram Alrashidi said. “It was very useful, especially with the men-

STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Vehicles enter the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway’s toll plaza in Mandeville. The Causeway will open a third dedicated tag-only lane starting at 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Causeway’s 3rd tag lane opens PROVIDED PHOTO By THE UNIVERSITy OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAyETTE

Kylie Adams speaks during the event with the Lafayette Regional Technology Council. tors we were given, because working with people that have been in the tech field for years pushed us and challenged us. Going through this, I feel like I’m a lot better as a computer science student.”

Throughout the semester, each student group worked directly with mentors from participating companies, gaining insight into industry workflows, refining their technical skills and developing practical solutions in a low-stakes, innovation-friendly environment.

“I graduated from the program in 2015, so seeing how much it has changed over the past 10 years was really cool,” said Mitchell Sistrunk, a program mentor who works for the web development team at Stuller. “I was very lucky to have a group of students

who were on their A-game and who I was able to guide on industry standards.”

Organizers say the partnership not only strengthens student career readiness but also helps local businesses connect earlier with emerging talent.

“For students, these are projects that they’ve never done before, so we challenge them to use new technology while building web and mobile applications,” Miller said. “They’re getting as much real-world experience as we can provide and preparing them for the workforce. For members of the tech council, they’re not only giving back to the community, but also training the next generation while they’re still in college.”

Email Adam Daigle at adaigle@theadvocate.com.

Officials hope switch eases congestion

BY BOB WARREN Staff writer

Morning commutes across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway are typically orderly affairs — two lanes of vehicles driving the 24 miles over water.

But getting onto the bridge’s southbound span for the trip to the south shore can make drivers feel like they’re in the “Frogger” video game, as vehicles arriving at the toll plaza in Mandeville jockey for one of the two tag-only lanes.

Hoping to improve the flow of traffic entering the southbound span on weekday mornings, the Causeway will open a third dedicated lane for the bridge’s nearly 75,000 toll tag holders starting at 4 a.m.

Wednesday. Lane 4 at the toll plaza will become a

tag-only lane between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“Hopefully, we’ll get people onto the bridge a little quicker and easier,” Causeway General Manager Carlton Dufrechou said, noting that nearly 20,000 vehicles are driven across the lake on some busy mornings.

Five lanes are typically open at the toll plaza on weekday mornings. As drivers pass through the toll plaza, the lanes are funneled into the two lanes of the southbound span.

While all lanes at the plaza can read toll tags, for years, only two have been dedicated solely to toll tag holders. But now lanes 2, 4 and 5 will be dedicated to tag users alone.

The new lane configuration will not only help to get vehicles onto the span quicker, it might also spur additional drivers to obtain toll tags. There are two advantages to having a toll tag: It allows entry onto the Causeway without

2 more booked in hazing death

having to stop and pay the toll, and it drastically cuts the cost of the trip across Lake Pontchartrain.

For most vehicles, the Causeway toll is $6. Tag users cross for $3.40.

“That’s not insignificant,” Dufrechou said.

“If you’re still using cash, please, please consider getting a tag.”

Dufrechou said Thursdays have become the heaviest traffic day on the bridge, with around 19,000 vehicles passing through the toll plaza for the trip south. But weekends have also gotten busier, he said, with around 13,000 vehicles on Saturdays.

Tolls are collected only for vehicles entering the southbound span. Northbound tolls were discontinued in 1999.

Dufrechou said additional people will be on hand this week at the Causeway offices in Mandeville and Metairie to help drivers who want toll tags. Call (985) 674-3641 or visit thecauseway.us for more information.

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McCray, 24, and Kyle ThurWilson and eight other 5 officially man, 25, were arrested in pledges were allegedly March for their alleged role made to change into gray indicted in in the Omega Psi Phi hazing sweats and to line up by Southern incident ritual Wilson died during. height to receive the punch-

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All five of the men indicted in the hazing death of Southern University student Caleb Wilson have now been booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

Jadyn Landrum, 24, was booked into prison just before 9 a.m. Tuesday on a count each of principal to felony hazing and obstruction of justice.

Landrum, alongside the fourth named suspect, Winston Craig Sanders, 22, had their arrest warrants signed by Commissioner Nicole Robinson Wednesday after they were indicted in Wilson’s case.

The three other suspects, Isaiah Earl Smith, 29, Caleb

The three Baton Rouge men were each indicted on felony hazing charges. In addition, McCray was indicted on a charge of manslaughter, Smith was indicted on principal to manslaughter and obstruction of justice, and Thurman was indicted on obstruction of justice.

The grand jury also indicted Smith, Thurman, Sanders and Landrum on nine misdemeanor counts of hazing apiece. McCray received seven of the misdemeanor indictments.

Wilson died the morning of Feb. 27, following a hazing ritual at a warehouse off Greenwell Springs Road which involved him and other pledges being punched four times in the chest with boxing gloves.

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Police have said that McCray landed the final blow on Wilson, causing him to collapse and die from commotio cordis, an uncommon condition that occurs when blunt force trauma disrupts the heart’s electrical signals, causing it to suddenly stop beating.

Rather than contact authorities, Wilson’s clothes were changed and he was driven to a local Baton Rouge hospital, police have previously said. The fraternity brothers allegedly told hospital staff that Wilson was injured during a basketball game at a local park.

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Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church at 11am.

Obituaries Chaney, Courtland Merlyn

Bettye Baskin Wood Jr. Endowed Professorship. He also co-founded Human Resource Management Associates, Inc. (HRMA) in 1984.

Above all else, Courtland was a wonderful husband and a devoted father.

His family was the center of his world, and he filled their home with love, laughter, and unwavering support. He embraced life fully and brought that same warmth to his work.

Those who knew him will remember him not only for his intellect but for his rare ability to make the complex simple. This talent, combined with his refined wit, genuine warmth, and effortless humor, made him an extraordinary teacher and an unforgettable presence. We will miss him.

He is survived by his wife, Colette Chaney, and his son, Christopher Laurence Chaney. He was preceded in death by his parents, Merlyn Thompson Chaney and Virginia May Slocum Chaney.

Courtland donated his body to the LSU Health Sciences Center to help educate future doctors in Louisiana. A memorial service will be held at a later date.

Higginbotham, Darrel Paul

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Courtland Merlyn Chaney of Baton Rouge on December 14, 2015, at the age of 73. A lifelong resident of the city, he graduated from Istrouma High School in 1970 and earned a Doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology in 1980 from Louisiana State University.

He was a licensed psychologist and certified Senior Professional in Human Resources.

Dr. Chaney joined the LSU Department of Management as an instructor in 1983, where he also designed and conducted supervisory and management development programs through LSU's Continuing Education and Executive Development divisions. He remained on the faculty until his retirement in December 2010, holding the J. Trigg and

Heaven's gate swung gently open, The Master called softly, "Come," and you, dear one, took the Master's hand, and your work on earth was done.

We'll never cease to miss you, and shed many silent tears, because we cannot share with you our hopes, our joys, our fears.

But one day, in God's garden, when the Master calls us to come. You'll be at the gates with open arms and say to us, "Welcome Home!"

Darrel Paul Higginbotham bid farewell to his earthly life at 70 years of

age on December 12, 2025.

He was born in New Roads, LA to Calvin Higginbotham and Fannie Jarreau; and a long time resident of Denham Springs, LA. He worked in the oil and gas industry for over 50 years.

In that time he learned multiple trades, and retired as a crane operator.

He was affectionately known as 'Old Higg' to many of his friends and coworkers. He has been a long time supporter of St. Jude Children's Research hospital and volunteered his time to the church's building committee. He was a loving father and husband who never failed to support his family. He was such a great man that many people looked up to him as the father or grandfather figure in their lives.

He leaves behind his wife of 43 years, Brenda Higginbotham; Their four children Jason Higginbotham, Lacy Pope, Samantha Cropsey, and Tiffney Carroll and Son-In-Law Victor Carroll. His grandchildren Jordan Kinchen and wife Carolyn, Tyler Kinchen, Devon Higginbotham and wife Elizabecca, Conner Higginbotham, Jocelyn Mayhone, David Poole, Mahala Cropsey, Annaliese Pope and Kaysen Higginbotham. His great grandchildren Everett Kinchen and Sterling Kinchen. His step mother Sammy Higginbotham and siblings Donald Higginbotham and wife Linda, Dorothy Taylor, Novelyn Broom, Linda Lassiter and husband Adam, and Joseph Higginbotham and wife Amanda. Along with many loving nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by parents Calvin Higginbotham and Fannie Jarreau; daughterin-law Carissa Higginbotham, and brothers-in-law Ronnie Taylor and Glen Broom. Services will be held December 20, 2025 at Gray's Creek Baptist Church in Denham Springs, LA. The wake will begin at noon and service begins at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers Darrel has asked that donations be made to St. Jude's Children's Research.

Messer, Todd Alton

Todd Alton Messer, a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, passed away Friday, December 12, 2025,

at the age of 73. He was born August 1, 1952, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Lester and Catherine Messer. Todd attended The University of Southern Mississippi where he received a Bachelor of Business Administration. He worked many years at Shell Chemical Geismar Facility. Todd attended St. Margaret's Episcopal Church and volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul Bishop Ott Men's Shelter.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Lester and Catherine Messer; and his companion, Gail Vittur, who passed away earlier this year.

He is survived by his brother, David M. Messer.

The family would like to give special thanks to all of his friends at the Bishop Ott Homeless Shelter (3rd Friday Crew).

The family wishes to hold a private service at this time.

Friends and family may sign the online guestbook at www.resthavenbatonro uge.com.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 5B law, Yvonne Savoy, grandparents Reeve and Eloise Barrow, Edna Mae Brady and Earl Baker. She is survived by her husband of 36 years, Daniel Lee Savoy, three children: Bobbie Savoy Cockburn (Matthew), Pete Savoy and Corrie Savoy (Christian); five grandchildren: Blayke, Jude, Leigh, Kasen and Scottie Grace; her parents Susan Matlock and Phil Baker, Sr. (Sheila), brother, Phil Baker, Jr., sisters: Brandi Baker and Brittani Johnson. She is also survived by her father-in-law, Carlton Savoy, sister-inlaw, Valerie Belleu (Craig), brother-in-law, Mark Savoy, and her beloved dog, Bugsy. Pallbearers are Mark Savoy, Jack Belleu, Cade Belleu, Murphy Savoy, Cooper Savoy and Todd Barrow.

Visitation will be at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 44450 LA429, St. Amant, LA 70774, on Thursday 12/18/25, from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, with mass to follow. The family would like to thank Brandi Baker with Hospice Specialist of Louisiana and The Phoenix at Hammond.

Smith, Barbara Jean Savoy, Suzy Baker

Suzy Baker Savoy was born on June 19,1969, a Dutchtown native, and resident of Meadville, Mississippi. She passed away on December 13, 2025, at the age of 56, after a long battle with Alzheimer's. She was a 1987 graduate of East Ascension High School. She married the love of her life, Danny Savoy and raised her family in St. Amant, Louisiana.

Suzy loved her family, a good book, fishing with Danny, and spending time with her children and grandchildren at their home in Mississippi. She will be most remembered for her humility, unselfishness and charitable nature. Suzy is preceded in death by her mother-in-

Barbara Jean Smith was born on December 26, 1954, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to the late John Henry Smith and Dorothy Mae Broaden Smith. She peacefully transitioned from this life at her home on December 10, 2025.

Barbara began her education in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, graduating from Baker High School. She later attended Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a brief time.

She dedicated much of her professional life to the food service industry. Barbara was employed with R Enterprises, where she served as a manager with Popeyes Fried Chicken for nearly 20 years. She later retired after eight years of

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service with Valluzzo Companies, where she worked as a manager with McDonald's.

Throughout her life, Barbara was known as a diligent and committed worker who touched the lives of many with her compassion, kindness, and warm sense of humor.

She brought light and joy to those fortunate enough to know her, always offering support and comfort in times of need.

Barbara's legacy of love and generosity will continue to inspire her family, friends, and all whose lives she enriched. Though her presence will be deeply missed, the impact of her kindness will forever remain in the hearts of those who loved her. Barbara Jean Smith's memory is a treasured gift to all.

She leaves to cherish her loving memories her son, DeAngelo Smith, and daughter-in-law, Chantell Raphael Smith, of Gonzales, Louisiana; grandchildren, Delon (Simone) Smith of Addis, Louisiana, ZaMyria Smith of Baker, Louisiana, and Dylan August of Gonzales, Louisiana; great-grandchildren, Noah and Natalie Smith of Addis, Louisiana, and Autumn Smith of Baker, Louisiana; siblings, John Broaden of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Larry Smith of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; along with a host of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. Her spirit will live on through the stories and memories shared by all who knew her.

She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Dorothy Smith; grandparents, Boysie and Maggie Smith and Henry and Luebertha Broaden; and siblings, James Broaden, Gwendolyn Smith, and Bruce Smith. A funeral service will be held on 12-1725 at Winnfield F. H. of B. R., 7221 Plank Rd. Visitation at 9am, Service at 11am.

OPINION

6B ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M/opinions

OUR VIEWS

In leveling up, LSU must not forget its core mission The last two years have certainly been a time of transition at Louisiana State University.

Apart from headline-grabbing news in the athletics department, there has been plenty of leadership turnover as Gov. Jeff Landry and his allies have sought to remake the university for the future after the departure of former President William Tate earlier this year.

In Tate’s place, LSU’s board hired two men: Wade Rousse as system president and James Dalton as executive vice president and chancellor of the Baton Rouge campus. And last week, both new leaders had their incentive-heavy contracts approved.

Now comes the hard work of taking LSU to a higher level, as the new leaders and board members have said they are seeking to do.

Judging by Rousse’s contract, LSU’s path to greater achievement is through improving its research reputation, increasing revenue from both public and private sources and retaining a higher proportion of freshmen.

In addition to his $750,000 base salary, Rousse can earn $20,000 for a half-percentage point improvement in the freshman retention rate and $75,000 if state funding for infrastructure reaches $50 million. He could earn a bonus if the system signs a $10 million, four-year agreement with Louisiana Economic Development.

Dalton, who will serve as the LSU system’s chief academic officer, has incentives in the deal that focus on research and faculty success, including $25,000 extra if research spending goes up by 10% in a single year.

The goal, board members have said, is to make LSU a Top 50 research university in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research & Development survey.

Rousse and Dalton are also tasked with a reorganization of the system that will include changing the titles of some research unit leaders from chancellor to senior vice chancellor, including at LSU’s medical school in Shreveport.

Some legislators, including state. Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, have signaled unease on this point, worrying that it will diminish the autonomy and local responsiveness of units outside of Baton Rouge or New Orleans. Pressly called the decision “very disappointing” and said it was done without communicating with local community and system leaders.

We share some of Pressly’s concerns.

We hope the new leaders will remember that LSU is not a single school based in Baton Rouge, it is a sprawling statewide system that serves and educates people in every corner of Louisiana — from future farmers and doctors to our future political leaders.

Rousse and Dalton must keep that broad responsibility in mind. We are all for lifting LSU to a higher level. But only if it brings the rest of Louisiana along with it.

This is at the very heart of LSU’s mission. Only by doing that can it truly call itself the state’s flagship university.

CORRECTIONS n Quin Hillyer’s Sunday column on the TulaneLSU game said the 1972 game was played in Tiger Stadium, but it actually was before a sellout crowd at Tulane Stadium. n An editorial published Tuesday misstated the name of the group that conducted a report on Louisiana’s wetlands. It is the Natural Resources Defense Council, not the National Resources Defense Council.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME:

Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’s city of residence. The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor, The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com.

YOUR VIEWS

Border Patrol destroys immigrant communities The actions of Border Patrol in New Orleans should gravely disturb every person.

Based on the lie that immigrants make America worse (they make vital contributions to our culture and economy), that their communities are rife with “criminals” (their crime rate is far lower than that of the general population) and that they are somehow ruining our “American way of life” (especially galling in the cultural melting pot that is New Orleans, rebuilt after Katrina by immigrant labor), the U.S. is fostering cruel, inhumane policies.

Being here illegally is a civil, not criminal violation.

Furthermore, many immigrants now in detention came here legally and applied for asylum, yet due to abysmally underfunded immigrations courts, are forced to wait years to have their cases adjudicated (New Orleans has only three immigration judges). All of these human beings working, contributing to Social Security and paying taxes are

Governance structure leaves BR fighting for resources

subject to detention to fulfill the quotas desired by a heartless administration.

Forget “dangerous criminals.” Instead, we have teenagers being deported alone to violent countries they don’t remember, college students yanked off planes in shackles or nursing mothers ripped away from their infants and incarcerated. How did our country fall so low morally? How does Louisiana contribute to this problem, with entire local economies dependent on for-profit prisons used to house detainees?

The loss of immigrants will hurt our economy, our community, but most importantly, our moral character. Christ was crystal clear: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” He was also crystal clear in His warning: “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:35-43).

William Brown of St. George recently opined that the governance of the city of Baton Rouge and the parish of East Baton Rouge should be unlinked. I concur, but not for the reasons he cited and, certainly, not in the manner he proposed, a “council of mayors.”

With the growth of Zachary and incorporation of Central and St. George, there are about 150,000 people who do not live in Baton Rouge but get to vote for the mayor of Baton Rouge and for the council that governs Baton Rouge, but nobody in BR gets to vote for the mayor or council in Baker, Central, Zachary or St. George.

That is fundamentally wrong.

The proposed “council of mayors” would simply result in the small city mayors starving Baton Rouge to their benefit and is not true separate municipal and parish government.

We should have an EBR parish president and council, solely focused on parish obligations and a Baton Rouge mayor and council solely focused on municipal obligations. We should not be blending parish issues: EMS, libraries and criminal courts, with city issues, including Baton Rouge police and fire departments. Just as the other cities in EBR control themselves, Baton Rouge should control Baton Rouge. It works in the rest of the state.

Mayor-President Sid Edwards should focus on solving this problem and ask people who understand the law, obligations and structures of Louisiana local government to help him. The Metro Council should empanel a charter commission to write separate charters for EBR and the city of Baton Rouge. State law already identifies parish vs. municipal obligations.

Also, we should request that the Legislature repeal RS 47:337.5.1, which makes EBR the only parish in the state that cannot levy a truly parishwide sales tax. This law is the reason the incorporation of St. George is hurting EBR’s finances. A municipal incorporation does not hurt any other parish in the state.

JANE HILL Slidell

Burden display misses important message Louisiana Lights at Burden Museum and Gardens (“Where the Holidays Shine”) is an extraordinary display, absolutely spectacular! As amazing as the light display is, it is just as amazing that the sponsors of Louisiana Lights eliminated any reference to Christmas itself.

There are no nativity scenes, no shepherds, no angels, no magi, no Mary, Joseph or baby Jesus.

There is no mention, that I remember, of the actual name of the holiday, which is, of course, Christmas. While there are many secular holiday songs like “Jingle Bells,” there is no “Silent

Night,” no “O Holy Night,” no “Hark!

The Herald Angels Sing,” no “Joy to the World,” no “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

The name of the holiday is Christmas.

It celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.

In 2013, Time Magazine ranked “The 100 Most Significant Figures in History.” They ranked Jesus Christ No. 1. We should celebrate the man whose birth was proclaimed with the angelic declaration, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of goodwill” (Luke 2:14).

JOHN DRISCOLL Baton Rouge

Ralph Abraham not likely to do better at CDC Two interesting front-page headlines recently. From Nov. 26: “Abraham named to CDC post … to be second in command.”

As Louisiana’s surgeon general, he has come under scrutiny for ending mass vaccinations in our state. Looking

back at the headline that same week, “Flu levels in Louisiana highest in the nation,” makes it hard to believe Abraham will actually help “Make America Healthy Again.”

KEN MUSICK Baton Rouge

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 7B

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COMMENTARY Why Warner Bros., anyway? it? At least what you expect to make Break out the popcorn and a jumbo from it, right? Otherwise, you’d keep it box of Raisinets, because just when we yourself and continue collecting all that thought the Warner Bros. Discovery lovely money. drama was over, it turned out we had To buy a company, you need to pay barely gotten started. The suspense more than the shareholders exover the company’s pending sale is mounting, and new questions pect to make right now. Which are developing faster than writmeans you need to make those assets more profitable or less ers can resolve old ones. Which costly to operate. In the mergers suitor will shareholders choose? and acquisitions trade, this goes Will regulators block the deal? by the name of “synergies.”

Will any of these characters find Megan ega What are synergies, exactly? a happily ever after?

McArdle You might as well ask me to deIf you remember, Netflix beat out Comcast and David Ellison’s fine true love or ask the pope to Paramount Skydance to buy WBD — or diagram the mystical inner workings of at least its studio and streaming busithe Holy Trinity. Synergies are not some boring, concrete item you can describe, ness, which are the bits everyone really like a garbage can; they are the essence wants. If you kept following the show, of things hoped for, the evidence of you’ve seen the action heat up: Ellison profits unseen, the promise of a sweet has launched a hostile bid for WBD, hereafter in which workers are more arguing that its shareholders would do better by taking $30 per share from him productive, assets are more valuable, costs are less irksome and customers to buy the whole company, including its multiply like bacteria. cable television stations — CNN, TNT, Sometimes the faithful are rewarded TBS and lifestyle outlets such as HGTV — than by getting $27.75 per share from with higher profits. But often, they are Netflix for just the studio and streaming. not. Many studies suggest that most Spoiler alert: Cord-cutting is decimat- mergers destroy more value than they create. Mergers are time-consuming, ing the cable business so rapidly that and uniting two disparate corporate culthis is a reasonable argument, even though the cable stations currently tures is hard. Also, acquiring firms fregenerate higher revenue and gross mar- quently overpay. Warner’s track record gins than streaming or studio. Between is hardly encouraging.

I wouldn’t call the 1990 merger beWBD’s debt and declining cable subscribers, there’s just not much future tween Warner and Time Inc. a disaster, value left in those assets. just somewhat meh. For “disaster,” we So stay tuned for more twists and turn to the 2001 merger between Time turns! Eventually, writers might resolve Warner and AOL, one of the worst ideas the biggest mystery: Why does anyone in corporate history. The merger’s arwant to buy this company, anyway? chitects theorized massive synergies That might seem like a crazy quesfrom pumping Time Warner content tion. WBD has HBO Max! It has “Harry down AOL’s pipes. In reality, the two companies had little in common, and the Potter” and “Batman” movies! It has merged entity became bogged down in “Casablanca” and “Bugs Bunny”! This culture clashes and execution stumbles, is valuable intellectual property!

Sure, but if you owned all that IP, what generating few synergies that couldn’t have been achieved by simply licenswould you charge someone else to buy

ing Time Warner content to AOL users.

This misbegotten giant nonetheless limped along for eight years before corporate bosses recognized it would never work, and split the company again.

Why will this time be different? I can tell a story where the promised synergies finally materialize. But then, I can tell a story where aliens invade Earth, and mankind repels the attack by pelting them with marshmallows. Saying the words doesn’t make my story true, or even plausible.

What’s left, if the synergies don’t pan out? Synergy’s less popular cousin: market consolidation. The theatrical feature film business is likely to shrink further, if not disappear, meaning some studios probably have to die or merge. As do some of the streamers, because though that market is booming, it remains too fragmented.

Netflix and YouTube are raking in cash, but other services are just beginning to taste some profits, and it’s unlikely that the industry can support so many players for the long term. Consumers don’t want to pay for a dozen streaming services or hunt for what they want through so many different portals. Internet economics — which reward scale — work best in a much more consolidated industry.

But that’s not an argument designed to please key parties such as Hollywood creatives, who want as many bidders as possible for their services. Or regulators, who tend to frown on firms merging to increase their market power. So even if you believe there will be synergies galore in the end, you should expect this drama to have a long run, with some action-packed fight sequences and probably more plot twists, before our heroes finally reach the promised land.

Megan McArdle in on X, @asymmetricinfo.

‘Reverse migration’ an idea without a future After an Afghan national was charged in the shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington just before Thanksgiving, President Trump’s administration revived his earlier calls for something that to many Americans sounded, at best, puzzling: “reverse migration.”

Clarence Or, in shortened form, Page “remigration.”

For many Black Americans, “reverse migration” describes the widespread movement back to the South after civil rights reforms undid the Jim Crow segregation laws that spurred many, including my ancestors, to move north.

In this sense, reverse migration carries a connotation of social healing.

Yet, as gratified as I am by how smoothly Americans of all races have become accustomed to getting along, in ways that would have been scarcely imaginable even in my youth, I am dismayed by giant steps backward being advocated for by the new Trump generation of right-wingers.

Trump’s embrace of “reverse migration” is central to the ascendancy of populist white nationalists in the Republican Party — the folks who 10 years ago we knew as the “alt right” but who now practically comprise the American right in its entirety.

The concept of “remigration” is well known in Europe as a “lite” version of ethnic cleansing, the systematic and forceful removal of an ethnic, cultural, racial, or religious group from a given territory, with the goal of making that area ethnically homogeneous.

In the worst circumstances, when violent and terror-inspiring means are used, ethnic cleansing is a war crime, and Europe saw plenty of this in the long, bloody 20th century.

However, in the euphemistic usage of European far right, the concept of remigration implies choice on the part of the subject, but make no mistake: This is forced repatriation of immigrants.

The “identitarian” movement, an umbrella term for European populist antiimmigrant and White nationalist parties, has helped to popularize the concept of remigration, and any other effort that moves in the opposite direction from diversity, in the United States.

Trump began using the terms remigration and reverse migration frequently in the 2024 election campaign, and he explicitly promised to remove millions of immigrants from the U.S., including some who are in the country illegally and potentially some others who have legal

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CLIFF OWEN

Flowers and an American flag, placed at the scene a day after two National Guard soldiers were shot near the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26. status.

Who can forget his slander against Haitian refugees living in Ohio?

Trump has shown himself willing to subordinate all governing values to the desire to rid our nation of immigrants who don’t look like us or pray like us.

His attitude toward the program that brought Afghan refugees to the U.S., including those who served alongside our troops, all risking their lives in Afghanistan, is perhaps the clearest example.

Unfortunately, the recent attack against the National Guard soldiers, in which one died and the other was hospitalized, only gave Trump an opportunity to frame all of the Afghans who have risked their lives and limbs for our military mission as security risks and poorly vetted. So he froze their asylum claims and ended protections like Temporary Protected Status for Afghans.

Most Americans understand and appreciate that bringing Afghan allies to the U.S. after the war was a clear and simple humanitarian duty. And most of us understand that collective punishment is unjust.

But to Trump, identitarian values trump American values.

To me, today’s identitarian movement seems like a depressing revival of the neo-Klan or neo-Nazi “white power” groups I covered in Chicago in past decades dating back to the 1970s.

But there’s a key difference. These racist groups now have the president of the United States adopting their racist code words and empowering them to join federal agencies to run amok among immigrant communities.

Trump vowed that his administration will “permanently pause” migration from all “Third World countries” following the National Guard attacks, even

as he has opened the door wide to white South Africans to emigrate.

As we have seen in the immigration raids staged by agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the process of forcibly removing immigrants from our country will be slow, inefficient, violent and in many cases unjust. And, coincidentally, largely unpopular among Americans.

And that is why it’s not going to work.

Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are here for overwhelmingly economic reasons. The United States remains the land of opportunity for those who want to work and thrive.

The benefits of our current immigration arrangement flow not only to immigrants but also to all of us. Immigration, hate it or love it, is a key component of our economy. Take immigrants out of the picture — at huge expense, as Trump is attempting — and you will have a different economy, one you may not prefer.

Economic studies continue to show that making life tough for immigrants does not necessarily translate into more jobs for the rest of us. Yet one really gets the sense that Trump’s and the right wing’s animus against immigrants has little to do with economics and much to do with racism.

For decades, U.S. immigration policy has been far from perfect. For one thing, a status quo that involves ignoring the letter of the law undermines the norms of the nation.

Experience should have taught Trump and the rest of us that populist grandstanding about immigration does nothing but make the legal issues around it more intractable. But some people seem to insist on learning the same lessons over and over again.

Yes, revive the Monroe Doctrine President Donald Trump likes putting his name on things, so maybe it was inevitable he’d get his own corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

Truth be told, what the president’s justreleased national security strategy sets out as a new proposition is really a restatement of the Lodge Corollary, named after Senator Henry Cabot Lodge in 1912. That proviso prohibited any foreign power or interest — not just European governments — from gaining “practical power of control” in the Western Hemisphere.

Naming rights aside, the treatment of our hemisphere is a Rich strong element of the strategy.

Lowry The so-called Trump corollary aims to assert U.S. preeminence in the hemisphere and keep non-hemispheric actors from creating threats or controlling strategically vital assets here. It is, in the words of the strategy, “a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.”

We should, by all means, breathe new life into a Monroe Doctrine that in recent decades has become a museum curiosity.

The precipitating crisis for the making of the doctrine was an 1821 declaration by the Russians that they’d prohibit foreign shipping within 115 miles of their holdings on the Pacific coast. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams rebuffed the edict in terms anticipating the doctrine.

The bigger issue was that the Spanish empire was disintegrating. The end of its grip in the Western Hemisphere catalyzed the birth of Latin American republics and presented the risk of interventions by ambitious, illiberal continental Europeans states.

What to do? The British, who didn’t want to get locked out of Latin American markets by other European countries and viewed the U.S. as a potential partner, suggested a joint declaration that continental powers should steer clear.

We strung the Brits along and then President Monroe issued, on his own, what would become his eponymous doctrine in an annual message to Congress in 1823.

He asserted that “the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”

New European footholds in the Western Hemisphere were thought to represent not just security, but territorial, demographic and ideological threats.

Metternich, the Austrian statesman, took great umbrage. He called it an “act of revolt,” and pronounced it “fully as audacious” and “no less dangerous” than the American Revolution.

Czar Alexander said that “it merits only the most profound contempt.” But Russia backed off its 1821 power play.

Initially, we weren’t close to being militarily capable of contesting European encroachments and we relied on the British, in effect, to enforce our declaration.

Still, the Monroe Doctrine became a predicate of American geopolitical power by avoiding major challenges to our hegemony in our own hemisphere. When we had the means, we enforced it ourselves. Once we were no longer distracted by the Civil War, we pressured France to end its intervention in Mexico in the 1860s. We got Germany to stand down during the Venezuela crisis of 1902 (this event led to the Roosevelt Corollary, named after President Teddy Roosevelt, stipulating the U.S. could deploy “an international police power” when Latin American countries were failing).

Since the 1990s, though, we’ve let down our guard. China is now Latin America’s second largest trading partner after the United States, and has expanded its influence in the region on all fronts. Russia has relationships with Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, and has increased its covert operations in Mexico. Hezbollah has a notable presence in Latin America.

Trump’s focus on countering these malign actors could be seen in his successful effort earlier this year to get Panama to pull out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and is evident now in his pressure campaign against a Maduro regime in Venezuela that is aligned with China, Russia and Iran.

Trump’s actions often feel new and different, but here, his strategic departure is returning to a traditional American approach to our side of the Atlantic.

Rich Lowry is on Twitter @RichLowry

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8B ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Baton Rouge Weather TODAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

Occasional showers - 20%

Isolated T-Showers - 30%

Sunny

Mostly Sunny

Isolated T-Storms - 30%

Spotty T-Storms - 20%

HIGH

HIGH

HIGH

HIGH

HIGH

LOW

66° 58°

LOW

75° 43°

HIGH

LOW

61° 42°

LOW

72° 58°

ALMANAC

LOW

78° 60°

LOW

77° 60°

TEMPERATURE

63°/28° 64°/43° 85° in 1908 18° in 1901

PRECIPITATION

THE NATION

Longview 62/58

TODAY

MODERATE

GOOD

READING 82 MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

FLOOD STAGE 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE Memphis 34 -7.88 -0.10 Vidalia-Natchez 48 14.15 -0.22 Red River Landing 48 18.41 -0.19 Baton Rouge 35 6.86 -0.34 Donaldsonville 27 4.02 -0.28 Reserve 22 3.13 +0.06 New Orleans 17 2.45 -0.01 MISSISSIPPI

OHIO 40

10.85

+1.61

19

-1.03

+0.16

18 29 8

-0.02 11.15 1.66

+0.60 -0.29 +0.34

13 15

3.18 1.40

+0.15 -0.01

47 34 29 20 12 6

5.18 3.35 3.34 2.53 1.90 2.37

-0.15 +0.06 +0.48 +0.06 none +1.50

COMITE

Near Olive AMITE

Near Darlington Denham Springs Port Vincent TICKFAW

Montpelier Holden ATCHAFALAYA

Port Arthur 65/60

Simmesport Melville Krotz Springs Butte La Rose Bayou Sorrel Morgan City

New Orleans 64/60

Lake Charles 67/57

Shown are areas of precipitation and high temperatures for the day.

Houma 67/60

Forecasts and graphics, except WBRZ forecasts, provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2025

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

TIDES HIGH

FT.

Lake Pontchartrain (Tchefuncte River) 5:16a 0.6 Shell Beach 11:33p 1.4 South Point, Marsh Island 4:39p 1.7 Cypremort Point 7:14p 1.6 Grand Isle (Barataria Pass) 7:27p 1.0 Mississippi River (Southwest Pass) 6:48p 1.4 Wine Island 8:35p 1.3

LOW

FT.

5:08p -0.2 10:24a -0.2 6:22a -0.6 10:06a -0.1 6:16a -0.4 4:34a -0.4 7:18a -0.5

SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today NEW

10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s

Baton Rouge 66/58

Lafayette 66/58

Beaumont 67/59

RIVER STAGES

0s

Hattiesburg 66/56

Alexandria 64/56

Many 61/55

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

-0s

Jackson 64/55

AIR QUALITY YESTERDAY

-10

Monroe 62/55

Shreveport 62/58

24 hours through 5 p.m. Tue. 0.00” Month to date (normal) 5.88” (2.47”) year to date (normal) 59.18” (59.09”)

Cairo

Clouds will persist through much of Wednesday with the arrival of an upper-level disturbance. This feature may trigger a handful of showers, but dry air aloft will prevent some raindrops from reaching the surface, keeping the activity light. Aside from running windshield wipers a time or two, rain will be fairly insignificant. In spite of clouds and the occasional sprinkle, the warming trend will continue with highs topping the mid-60s. Additional warming will take place into Thursday morning as lows jump into the 50s. While the day might start off with lingering low clouds, sunshine will eventually emerge, pushing highs into the mid-70s. A few showers will also be possible, until a cold front swipes the moisture away late.

AROUND THE REGION

BATON ROUGE THROUGH 5 P.M. TUESDAy

High/low Normal high/low Record high Record low

Weather News by Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

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FT.

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Hi

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Austin Boston Dallas Fairbanks Honolulu Houston Las Vegas Louisville Miami Minneapolis

66 60 pc 44 31 pc 68 57 pc -28 -42 pc 79 71 sh 69 62 t 69 47 s 52 41 c 79 72 s 38 33 c

77 40 s 46 40 pc 66 38 s -32 -39 pc 79 68 sh 77 44 t 70 48 s 60 25 r 82 71 pc 37 -1 sn

Amsterdam Bangkok Barcelona Berlin Brussels Cairo Dublin Frankfurt Havana Hong Kong Jerusalem

50 92 62 42 50 68 54 45 83 77 50

53 89 61 50 53 70 50 50 83 76 56

SOLUNAR TABLE

6:55 a.m.

5:06 p.m.

4:56 a.m.

3:08 p.m.

FIRST

FULL

LAST

DEC 19 DEC 27

JAN 3

JAN 10

MAJOR

8:40a 9:25a 10:14a 11:06a 11:30a 12:28a 1:23a

MINOR

MAJOR

2:28a 9:04p 3:13a 9:50p 4:01a 10:40p 4:53a 11:32p 5:46a ---6:41a 12:53p 7:35a 1:47p

TODAY City

Nashville New Orleans Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Raleigh St. Louis San Diego Tampa

Lo W

Hi

Lo W

53 64 75 45 77 43 54 50 66 77

46 pc 60 c 59 pc 28 pc 50 s 30 c 36 pc 46 pc 49 pc 64 pc

60 74 81 49 78 53 57 55 71 80

28 r 51 t 66 pc 47 pc 51 s 31 c 55 r 22 r 52 s 67 r

MINOR

2:52p 3:38p 4:27p 5:19p 6:12p 7:06p 7:59p

45 c 74 c 47 s 38 s 45 c 50 pc 42 r 40 c 68 s 66 s 34 s

48 r 74 c 50 s 39 pc 49 c 52 pc 42 r 38 c 68 pc 65 s 42 s

Kuwait City London Madrid Mexico City Montreal Moscow New Delhi Paris Rome Stockholm Tokyo

66 50 57 69 38 36 72 51 64 45 55

51 sh 49 c 41 c 46 sh 17 sn 30 c 51 pc 46 c 48 sh 34 c 45 s

56 54 54 70 38 35 69 57 64 43 55

50 sh 43 r 40 c 47 s 36 c 29 c 50 pc 49 c 45 pc 40 c 42 s

Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

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W e d n e s d ay, d e c e m b e r 17, 2025

1cn

LSU feeds off crowd’s ‘energy’ Tigers easily defeat Morgan State as BR-area schoolchildren cheer on

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

LSU guard MiLaysia Fulwiley drives to the basket during a game against Morgan State on Tuesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU defeated Morgan State 91-33.

year in front of thousands of schoolchildren from the Baton Rouge metro area.

“Definitely one of the loudest games I feel like I’ve been in,” freshman forward Grace Knox said, “and I’ve been in pretty full arenas. But I just love the energy of the kids.

They brought a fun-ness to the game that I

BY REED DARCEY hadn’t really felt in a minute.”

Staff writer LSU did not hit the century mark Tuesday A dozen teams have tried to slow down like it did in nine of its first 11 games. But the LSU women’s basketball team’s record- the No. 5 Tigers (12-0) still pieced together setting offense, and a dozen of them have another balanced, efficient offensive perfailed. formance — just like they have against evThat group now includes Morgan State, ery other nonconference opponent they’ve the 1-12 team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic faced so far.

Conference that visited the Pete Maravich Against the Bears, the Tigers shot 56% Assembly Center on Tuesday afternoon and from the field and drained 5 of 16 3-point found itself on the business end of a 91-33 attempts. Eight contributors scored at least rout. The matchup doubled as the Tigers’ five points, and no one finished with more field-trip game, the contest they play every than 14.

LSU’s two leading scorers were star guards Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams. Johnson tallied 14 points, four rebounds and two steals while Williams scored 14 points, grabbed four boards and assisted three shots. Both played 20 minutes.

Junior South Carolina transfer guard MiLaysia Fulwiley added 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Knox chipped in 10 points and seven boards, and sophomore point guard Jada Richard notched 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

On the defensive end, the Tigers allowed Morgan State to convert only 25% of its shots. The Bears made only four field goals in the entire second half.

But Mulkey still sees room for LSU to

ä See LSU, page 4C

FILM REVIEW

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PL AYOFF

T U L A N E A T O L E M I S S • 2 : 3 0 P. M . S A T U R D A y • T N T

AT TOP SPEED Tulane RB Jamauri McClure

STAFF PHOTO

By SOPHIA GERMER

Tulane RB McClure emerges as potent force since last Ole Miss game

BY GUERRY SMITH Contributing writer

Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who arrived on campus in late July, cannot stop talking about running back Jamauri McClure’s total transformation in less than four months.

McClure, an uber-talented redshirt freshman from Goshen, Alabama, has gone from a fifth-string afterthought in September to the Green Wave’s bellwether back entering its College Football Playoff first-round game at Ole Miss on Saturday (2:30 p.m., TNT).

Considering how vulnerable Ole Miss has been versus the run, a heavy dose of McClure could cure what ailed

the Wave in its 45-10 loss on Sept. 20 at Vaught Hemingway Stadium. Three opponents rushed for more than 200 yards against the Rebels, including Mississippi State’s 262 yards on 43 carries in the Egg Bowl on Nov. 28.

“He’s a completely different guy than he was for (the opener against) Northwestern,” Retzlaff said of McClure. “His maturing throughout this season has been so incredible to watch. If he made a mistake earlier in the year, he was down in the dumps. I had a couple of great conversations with him about what this takes to be a great player in this sport, and he took that to heart and improved day to day. That attention to detail shows.”

ä See TULANE, page 5C

Poole adds juice after missing 18 games Pelicans guard playing well in return from injury

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

Jordan Poole admits it wasn’t easy missing 18 games while dealing with a quadricep strain.

Poole was often seen holding a basketball or dribbling one during timeouts as he was relegated to just watching in street clothes from the bench.

ä Rockets at Pelicans 7 P.M.THURSDAy,WAFB weeks.

“I didn’t like it,” Poole said. “I didn’t like it at all. But I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Poole is now two games into his return after playing Thursday against the Portland Trail Blazers and then again Sunday against the Chicago Bulls. The Pelicans are 2-0 since Poole came back. In fact, they are 3-0 in the last three games he’s played. They beat the Charlotte Hornets in early November, his last game before the injury that sidelined him for five

Poole said he also was dealing with an injury in the first seven games he played to start the season.

“It’s one of those things where no matter what I did or no matter what treatment or recovery work that I did, the injury itself just needed time,” Poole said. “I was basically doing 24 hours around the clock of treatment and recovery trying to make the most of the opportunity of having time off. But also pushing myself

ä See PELICANS, page 4C

Shough starting to punish blitzing opponents

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

On the first drive of Sunday’s game, the Carolina Panthers sent a creative blitz against the New Orleans Saints on third and 6, resulting in a throw under pressure that sailed over the receivers and forced a three-and-out.

The Panthers sent six rushers on the play.

Two linebackers performed a “Cross Dog” blitz, in which they try to ä Jets at confuse the offensive line by Saints NOON crossing sides at the snap and rushing through the A gaps.

SUNDAy, CBS Safety Tre’von Moehrig also looped between the left tackle and left guard, and he came unblocked to deliver a hit on Saints rookie Tyler Shough.

That play was notable because it happened a lot: Carolina blitzed Shough on 71.4% of his third-down drop backs, the highest rate in the league in Week 15, according to Next Gen Stats, and 39.5% of his drop backs overall.

It was also notable because it was the last time the ball would hit the ground in the game when the Panthers sent extra rushers.

Shough completed his last 10 passes against the blitz Sunday, with those throws going for 110 yards and a touchdown. On third down specifically, Shough completed 5-of-6 attempts overall against the blitz for 59 yards, and all but one of those completions resulted in a first down or a score — two of them on third and 6, and two on third and 13.

It is worth noting that the Panthers recorded three of their five sacks while blitzing. This is still an area where Shough needs to improve. Since he took over as the starter in Week 9, he’s been sacked 20 times — more than all but four quarterbacks.

But the important thing is, more often than not, Shough and the Saints had an answer ready for pressure.

The offensive line and running backs deserve some credit. Take Shough’s fourthquarter touchdown pass to Chris Olave as

ä See SAINTS, page 4C

Saints QB Tyler Shough STAFF PHOTO

By BRETT DUKE

2C ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

lll

IN BRIEF

BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS On TV MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 5:30 p.m. Creighton at Xavier FS1 5:30 p.m. Saint Francis at Florida SECN 6 p.m.

Vanderbilt at Memphis ESPN2 7:30 p.m. Georgetown at Marquette FS1 8 p.m.

UTSA at Southern Cal BTN 9 p.m.

Air Force at San Diego St. CBSSN 9:30 p.m. Arizona St. at UCLA FS1 10 p.m. Portland at Oregon BTN

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL E. Kentucky at Louisville ACCN Marquette at UConn PEACOCK UNC-Wilmington at N. Carolina ACCN UNLV at Grand Canyon CBSSN Northwestern St. at Texas SECN COLLEGE FOOTBALL 4 p.m.

Old Dominion vs. South Florida ESPN 6 p.m.

Hutchinson vs. Iowa Western ESPNU 7:30 p.m.Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Delaware ESPN

5 p.m.

6 p.m.

7 p.m.

7 p.m.

8 p.m.

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

GOLF 6:30 p.m. Optum Golf Channel Games GOLF NBA BASKETBALL 7 p.m.

L.A. Clippers at Oklahoma City NBATV NHL HOCKEY 6:30 p.m. Utah at Detroit TNT 9 p.m.

New Jersey at Vegas TNT WOMEN’S SOCCER 1:55 p.m. Saint-Germain at Benfica CBSSN TENNIS 10 a.m. Next Gen Finals TENNIS

Blue blood coaches overcome critics

BY CLIFF BRUNT AP sportswriter

NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma’s Brent Venables and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer have lived under intense microscopes at blue blood programs.

Both replaced highly successful coaches — DeBoer is in his second season with the Crimson Tide after stepping in for the retired Nick Saban and Venables is in his fourth year leading the Sooners following Lincoln Riley’s departure.

Both had impeccable credentials. DeBoer led Washington to the national title game. Venables had won three national titles as a defensive coordinator — one at Oklahoma and two at Clemson — before returning to Oklahoma with great fanfare.

Both have let their teams stumble at times in the views of their insatiable supporters, leading to criticism. And now, both have a chance to bring their programs the kind of success those rabid fans crave. Eighth-seeded Oklahoma (10-2) will host ninth-seeded Alabama (10-3) in a College Football Playoff matchup on Friday night.

Venables said it’s all been worth it to reach his first playoff game as a head coach.

“I don’t mind to be judged in front of people and failing in front of the world,” Venables said. “But you also (can) be put back together in front of those who broke you as well. And so there’s that.”

Venables was the darling Sooners fans wanted after Riley stunned them and left for Southern California. Venables had helped Oklahoma win the national title in 2000 as a co-defensive coordinator. As he later helped Clemson win two national championships as defensive coordinator, Oklahoma’s fans clamored for his return.

OF García finalizes $10M contract with Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — Outfielder Adolis García and the Philadelphia Phillies finalized a $10 million, one-year contract on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old is expected to start in right field for the Phillies in place of Nick Castellanos, who has held the spot for four seasons.

Garcia had career bests in home runs (39), RBIs (107), OPS (.836), OPS+ (127), runs (108) and walks (65) in 2023 when he helped lead Texas to its first World Series title.

He was selected the ALCS MVP after hitting five homers with 15 RBIs and a 1.293 OPS against Houston, including two home runs and five RBIs in the Rangers’ Game 7 win.

García this year batted .227 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs. He had a .675 OPS over the past two seasons to rank 117th among 123 qualified hitters.

Reliever Rogers, Blue Jays reach three-year contract

AP PHOTO By BUTCH DILL

Alabama head coach Kalen ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALONZO ADAMS DeBoer reacts after a win Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, left, celebrates with linebacker against Auburn on Nov. 29 in Kip Lewis, right, after defeating LSU on Nov. 29 in Norman, Okla.

Auburn, Ala. ä Alabama at Oklahoma. FRIDAy 7

P.M., ABC.

He had big shoes to fill. In just five years, Riley went 55-10 with three playoff appearances with Heisman winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

Sooners fans learned that kind of success is tough to duplicate, and the welcome mat was yanked from under Venables when the Sooners went 6-7 his first year.

Oklahoma went 10-3 in 2023, but fell to 6-7 again last season, leading critics to wonder if he was the right man for the job.

Venables directly addressed the media, some of whom raised questions about his status before the season. He said he embraced doubters.

“There’s several people here — you’re doing your jobs, you’ve had to say the bad things, too — about us, about me, and that’s cool,” he said. “I don’t hold on to it. I remember, but I don’t hold on to it.

But that just comes with it too.

You sign up for that.”

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione’s patience has been rewarded. This season hasn’t been pretty, but the Sooners have mostly won on the strength of a stout defense, gritty quarterback John Mateer and excellent special teams play led by Lou Groza Award-winning kicker Tate Sandell.

It’s a team that reflects its fans.

“There’s not a more passionate, well-versed, educated fan base in all of college football,” Venables said. “And so they know what they want it to look like. And so do we.

And there’s an alignment there.”

DeBoer faced the unenviable task of replacing Saban, who won six national titles at Alabama. The Crimson Tide missed the playoff last season after surprise losses to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, drawing ire of supporters who expect championships.

DeBoer felt the future was bright, and as he expected, the Crimson Tide bounced back this season. His success led to rumors

that he’d be a contender for the Michigan opening. He put out a statement squashing them on Sunday, saying he is happy where he is.

“I have not spoken and have no interest in speaking with anyone else about any other job,” DeBoer’s statement said.

“I am fully committed to this program and look forward to continuing as the head football coach at the University of Alabama.”

DeBoer said he put out the statement to help his team focus. But having to deal with chatter has been a way of life at Alabama for years.

“Our guys, if there’s any distraction, I haven’t seen it, haven’t felt it,” DeBoer said.

“And so I’m really proud of the way they’ve handled whatever noise that’s out there.

And again, we’ve probably, all season long, dealt with enough noise to where it doesn’t surprise me on how they’ve handled this.”

Miami QB Beck on quest for his third championship

TORONTO — Sidearming right-hander Tyler Rogers and the American League champion Toronto Blue Jays finalized a $37 million, threeyear contract on Monday.

Rogers gets a $5 million signing bonus, payable within 30 days of the deal’s approval by Major League Baseball, and salaries of $7 million next year and $12 million in each of the following two seasons.

His deal includes a $12 million vesting option for 2029 that would become guaranteed if he has 60 regular-season games pitched in 2028 or 110 in 2027-28 combined, and he passes a physical at the end of the 2028 season.

If the vesting option is not triggered, the contract includes a $9 million team option for 2029 with a $1 million buyout.

Injured Rams receiver Adams not ruled out for Thursday

LOS ANGELES — Receiver Davante Adams has not been ruled out for the Los Angeles Rams’ showdown at Seattle on Thursday night despite his hamstring injury.

Coach Sean McVay said the NFCleading Rams (11-3) likely will wait until game time to make a final decision on the availability of the NFL’s touchdown receptions leader.

The team remains hopeful Adams can play, although he won’t participate in their practice Tuesday.

“I’m not ruling anyone out,” McVay said Tuesday. Adams aggravated his hamstring injury while running a long route in the fourth quarter of the Rams’ 41-34 comeback win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. The 32-year-old has dealt with hamstring problems twice previously this season.

BY TIM REYNOLDS

AP sportswriter

It was back in late September, Miami had just beaten Florida, and someone told Hurricanes star Carson Beck that he was just the third quarterback in 30 years to go 3-0 as a starter against the Gators.

Beck smiled politely. He didn’t care.

“I’m here for something more important,” Beck said.

Nothing more really needed to be said. What Beck — a member of two national championship teams at Georgia — meant was clear. He chose Miami as the transfer destination for his final season of college football because he wanted to compete for another national title.

And, by the slimmest of margins, he and the Hurricanes have that opportunity. Miami, the No. 10 seed in the College Football Playoff, will travel to face seventh-seeded Texas A&M (11-1) in a first-round game on Saturday. The Hurricanes (10-2) were the final at-large team selected for the CFP field; No. 11 Tulane and No. 12 James Madison are ranked below Miami but got in as conference champions.

“This team is excited to compete,” Beck said. “We’re excited to go out there and show the product and the brand of what ‘The U’ is and what it stands for and the culture of who we are. We’ve been preparing our butt off and we’re ready to go compete.”

Among active players with at least 15 starts, nobody in major college football has a better record than Beck’s mark of 34-5.

With 10,984 yards so far in his career, he’s the leader among active players at the FBS level. Among FBS quarterbacks with more than 50 passes attempted this season, Beck was No. 2 nationally in completion percentage. He connected on 74.7% of his throws; Ohio State’s Julian Sayin completed 78.4% for the top spot. And Beck put up those numbers even after a midseason

Manning’s dad says he’s returning to Texas in ‘26

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT FREED

Miami quarterback Carson Beck throws during a game against Pittsburgh on Nov. 29 in Pittsburgh. ä Miami at Texas A&M. SATURDAy

11A.M., ESPN.

slump of sorts where he threw six interceptions — not all his fault — in losses to Louisville and SMU. It’s sometimes hard to remember that at this time last year, Beck was facing a most uncertain future. He was preparing for major surgery that would basically rebuild his elbow. He had to decide between entering the NFL draft or picking a new school for this year, since it was no secret that he and Georgia would be parting ways. And when he came to Miami, he had to wait months before he could do any throwing.

Over the four-game winning streak that got Miami into the playoff, Beck completed 79.5% of his throws for 1,125 yards, 11 touchdowns and one meaningless interception.

“To see a guy that came in under so much scrutiny and having to recover from surgery and everything else to grow like he’s grown — and now come down to the end playing his best football down the stretch, I think it’s awesome,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.

“It’s awesome to see how he approaches each and every day.

He is really, really driven. His practices have been outstanding.

Happy for these guys, but happy in the sense that I got to push him more.”

Beck will shatter the Miami record for single-season completion percentage (he could go 0 for 39 against Texas A&M and still be ahead of the school-record pace that No. 1 draft pick Cam Ward set last year). He set another school record with 24 consecutive completions. Now, he has a chance to do something that no Hurricanes quarterback since Ken Dorsey did

in 2001. He has a chance to lead Miami to a national championship.

“It’s crazy how much can happen in a year,” Beck said. “Here we are, right? It’s been one hell of a year and there’s been a lot of adversity that we’ve had to face as a team that I’ve had to face individually.”

Texas A&M’s defense doesn’t give up much, ranking 19th nationally in yards allowed (eight spots behind Miami on that list).

And Kyle Field, the Aggies’ home, is notoriously difficult for visiting teams.

But Beck has seen just about everything, which gives Miami tons of confidence.

“He’s been in big games. This is nothing that he hasn’t been in,” Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “I do think that that matters. And so, his poise is going to be basically contagious through the whole group.”

Looks like Arch Manning isn’t done in Austin yet.

The highly touted Longhorns quarterback and former Newman prep standout will return to Texas for 2026, according to reports from ESPN and Horns247 late Monday night. Manning was eligible to enter the draft after this season, but as a redshirt sophomore he still has two years of college eligibility left.

Manning’s father, Cooper, told ESPN that “Arch is playing football at Texas next year” on Monday night. Team officials also told ESPN that the expectation was for Manning to return in 2026.

The sophomore finished the year with 2,942 yards and 25 touchdowns passing to go along with seven interceptions. He added 244 yards and eight touchdowns.

Cignetti first back-to-back winner of AP coach award

Indiana’s Curt Cignetti exceeded expectations again this season and it earned him a second consecutive honor as The Associated Press coach of the year in college football.

Cignetti is the first coach to win the award in back-to-back years since it was first presented in 1998. He is the fourth coach to win it twice, joining Brian Kelly, Gary Patterson and Nick Saban.

The 64-year-old Cignetti is 24-2 while leading the Hoosiers to unprecedented heights in his two seasons since leaving James Madison of the Championship Subdivision to take over what had been the losingest program in major college football.

Cignetti was a landslide winner for coach of the year in voting by the nationwide panel of 52 media members who cover college football.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 3C

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Zachary puts away Southern Lab in 4th quarter Bell, Raymond post 12 points each as Broncos stay perfect

BY JACKSON REYES Staff writer

Zachary and Southern Lab headed into the fourth quarter deadlocked at 28 points apiece.

Broncos sophomore Asia Bell got the ball to open the final quarter. She drove to the cup and put the ball in for a layup. Her score sparked a 14-2 run over the next four minutes of play that gave Zachary a 42-30 lead.

The Kittens made a late push, but the Broncos (8-0) held on to win 43-37 at the Havoc House at Zachary High School on Tuesday night.

“It’s a big one for us,” Broncos coach Tami McClure said.

“They’re a great team. (Southern Lab coach) Krystal (Flowers) always has them prepared.”

The Broncos’ fourth-quarter run

was fueled by the play of Bell, senior Ava Raymond and freshman Marcia Robinson.

Raymond scored a big layup for Zachary’s second score after Robinson managed a block on the other end. After drawing consecutive fouls, Robinson hit four free throws to stretch the run.

Southern Lab (8-2) senior Asia Patin scored four points late to make it close, but the Kittens failed to convert on late possessions to claw all of the way back.

Bell and Raymond each scored 12 points in the win. Patin scored 17 points in the loss for Southern Lab. The Kittens held a 12-9 lead after the first quarter. McClure said her side needed to adjust defensively to deal with Patin, who is a McNeese State commitment along with Raymond.

“Mad respect for her,” McClure said of Patin. “We had to take the ball out of her hands the best we could. We had to make that adjustment, coming up and doubling on her.”

Patin scored four points in the first quarter, but she was held scoreless in the second quarter.

Zachary held Southern Lab to just two points in the quarter, outscoring the Kittens 10-2 to take a 19-14 lead into halftime.

“I thought the girls did a good job ... putting that together,” McClure said. “That was the difference. We got back on the momentum and had some turnovers going our way.”

Patin got going again in the second half, using isolation plays to score six points in the third quarter. She also dished out two assists. Raymond and Bell scored six of the Broncos’ nine points in the quarter.

Zachary’s big run in the fourth helped the Broncos take a lead they’d never give up. Fastbreak points played a key role in the run.

“We had to control the boards,” McClure said. “In the first half, we weren’t rebounding well. We told them to win this ball game, you’ve got to get the boards, and you’ve got to play good defense.”

PHOTO By APRIL BUFFINGTON

Zachary’s Asia Bell goes up for a shot over Southern Lab’s Brie’aile Clark during their game on Tuesday at Zachary High.

Hot shooting lifts undefeated Central boys to win over Walker

BY WILLIAM WEATHERS

Contributing writer

Central was a basketball team that played for the Division I nonselect state championship nine months ago, falling short to Zachary.

The Wildcats don’t have an abundance of returning starters — two in all — but maintained their winning ways in a 70-36 road victory Tuesday over Walker.

“They got a taste of that, and they execute and focus as if they want to get back there,” Walker coach Anthony Schiro said. “Central has that grit and grind, that determination. The experience they had last year is definitely part of that.”

Central (7-0) had three doubledigit scorers led by Jace Conrad with 24 points. The senior guard, who went over the 1,000-careerpoints mark last weekend, was part of a red-hot shooting effort of 62% (29 of 47) with 10 3-pointers.

Sophomore guard Sam Giles, who filled in for starter Jalen

they need to,” Giles said. “If someone else helps and kicks it, we find the open teammate who can knock down shots like I did and a couple of my teammates did tonight.”

Walker (6-4), which shot 35% (14 of 40) overall, was led by guard Nicholas Cornelius with 13 points on the strength of three 3-pointers.

“I was a little bit worried about missing Jalen because of his rebounding and executing on offense because he’s so experienced,” Central coach Scott Osborne said.

“Sam Giles steps up, makes every open shot. The strength of this team is our ability to make outside shots, and at the same time, we’ve got some guys that are pretty crafty at getting to the goal. You PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS have to kind of pick your poison.”

Central built a double-digit lead Central’s Jace Conrad goes up for a score on Tuesday in Walker. Conrad six minutes into the game and was led in scoring with 24 points. never seriously threatened. Five 3-pointers were the catalyst in that Thomas (illness), had a team-high “We have great guards that can early run with Eli Cutrer’s 3-pointthree 3-pointers with 14 points, control the game and create op- er off an inbounds play making it while senior Keith Womack added portunities for other players who 19-9.

12.

Conrad reached double figures can get to the goal and score when

by the end of the first quarter after Central gained possession on a charging call. His driving layup accounted for a 25-9 advantage and a 7-0 start to the second quarter pushed the lead to 32-12 at the 5:45 mark on Conrad’s drive to the goal.

Central took a 39-21 lead into the third quarter and made 7 of 8 shots, including three 3s. Womack’s inside basket made it 46-21, and the visiting Wildcats closed the quarter with nine straight points for a 55-26 lead on Giles’ drive.

Central, which made 81.2% (13 of 16) of its shots in the second half, extended its run to 14-0 with a 3-pointer from Gavin Douglas and Womack’s driving layup for a 60-28 margin. They opened a pair of 36-point leads, the latter taking place on a driving layup from Avrey Estess with 1:03 to go.

“They’re fundamentally correct in everything they do,” Schiro said of Central. “They grind it out. They shoot the ball well, they defend well.”

COMMENTARY

No question Scheffler would win PGA Tour player of the year again

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU gymnast Lexi Zeiss celebrates with her teammates following her routine on uneven bars on Feb. 28 at the Raising Cane’s River Center.

LSU gymnastics team to start season No. 2

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

The LSU gymnastics team finished the 2025 regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation.

The Tigers will start the 2026 season only one spot below that.

The Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) released its preseason poll Tuesday, putting LSU at No. 2 behind only Oklahoma. The Southeastern Conference rivals have won the past four NCAA championships, with the Tigers claiming their first in 2024.

LSU got 1,859 points and five first-place votes. Oklahoma had 1,960 points and 39 first-place votes, while No. 3 Florida had 1,804 points and four first-place votes.

The Tigers are led by junior Konnor McClain, the 2021 U.S. national all-around champion; 2025 NCAA vault champion Kailin Chio, a sophomore; and sophomore Kaliya Lincoln, a 2024 U.S. Olympic team alternate.

LSU will face a rugged schedule, with eight of its opponents ranked in the top 10 and all of them ranked in the top 26 nationally.

The Tigers begin the regular season Jan. 10 in the Sprouts Farmers Market Intercollegiate Quad in West Valley City, Utah, against Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah.

LSU then begins SEC competi-

WCGA PRESEASON TOP 10

1. Oklahoma (1,960 points, 39 first-place votes) 2. LSU (1,859, 5) 3. Florida (1,804, 4) 4. UCLA (1,784, 4) 5. Utah (1,751, 1) 6. Michigan State (1,638) 7. Missouri (1,589, 2) 8. Alabama (1,518) 9. Kentucky (1,434) 10. Arkansas (1,433)

tion Jan. 16 at No. 12 Georgia. The Tigers’ home opener is Jan. 23 against No. 9 Kentucky, followed by a trip Jan. 30 to No. 7 Missouri.

LSU hosts No. 26 Penn State on Feb. 6 in its only nonconference meet at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU also hosts No. 11 Auburn on Feb. 13, then goes to Oklahoma for an SEC meet on Feb. 20.

The Tigers return home to host No. 8 Alabama on Feb. 27. Bama will be back in Baton Rouge along with No. 24 North Carolina on March 1 for the Podium Challenge at the Raising Cane’s River Center.

LSU then goes back on the road to Florida on March 8 and wraps up the regular season at home March 13 against No. 10 Arkansas. The SEC championship meet is March 21 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before LSU hosts an NCAA regional April 3-5 at the PMAC. Email Scott Rabalais at srabalais@theadvocate.com

For the first time in three years, the PGA Tour did not release the voting percentage when Scottie Scheffler won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the tour’s best player. It brings to mind the catchphrase from his famous soliloquy this summer at the British Open.

What’s the point?

This outcome Doug was as predictFerguson able as 10 of the 11 times Tiger Woods won the award. It had all the drama of Scheffler winning a major (he has led by at least four shots walking up to the 18th green in all four of his major wins).

Rory McIlroy produced the biggest moment, for him and for golf, when he won the Masters for the career Grand Slam in a final round that rivals any of the previous thrillers at Augusta National. It was the best year of his golfing life.

The best golf? Numbers usually tell the most complete stories, and a few of them stand out in Scheffler’s astonishing season: n The final 15 tournaments of the season without finishing worse than a tie for eighth n 21 consecutive rounds in the 60s n Two majors The only time a double major winner was not voted PGA Tour player of the year was Nick Faldo in 1990, the year the award began with players doing the voting. There was a simple explanation for that and it was nothing personal: Faldo wasn’t on the ballot because he wasn’t a member.

Scheffler won six times this year on tour, twice as many as McIlroy, who at least won the year on emotion and style points.

Of course, the most wins doesn’t guarantee the Jack Nicklaus Award. It was only two years ago when Jon Rahm won four times, including the Masters, and Scheffler won the award based on his staggering consistency. There also was that small matter of

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By PETER MORRISON

Scottie Scheffler holds the Claret Jug trophy after winning the British Open at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland on July 20.

Rahm defecting to Saudi-funded LIV Golf halfway through the two-week voting period.

The tour said Scheffler won with 38% of the vote in 2023. It did not mention what percentage of the vote Rahm received.

The reason votes were released in percentages was because the tour would rather not disclose how many players — or how few — actually voted.

One snapshot of that was a particularly close race for rookie of the year between McIlroy and Rickie Fowler in 2010. Fowler won the award without having won a tournament. Asked for his reaction the day after the result was announced, Dustin Johnson said, “Man, that’s a tough one.

I’m not sure who I’m going to vote for.” Um, never mind.

There is nothing terribly flashy about Scheffler except the numbers he compiles, whether it’s six victories, matching the PGA Tour’s 72-hole scoring record or leading in 17 of the 28 scoring categories the PGA Tour keeps.

He finished in the top five in all but five of them.

“Overall the thing that I’m most proud of when I look at the last couple years is just consistency,” Scheffler said Monday. “It’s not very easy to just show up and fin-

ish in the top 10 each week.”

He makes it look that way. The key to what happens Thursday through Saturday is the dedication to be ready during those days he’s not at a tournament.

Scheffler doesn’t get too caught up in statistics. He said they confirm what he already feels in his game, what’s working and what needs to be polished. But if there was one he found particularly pleasing, it would be leading the tour in scoring average in each of the four rounds.

The last player to do that was Woods in 2000.

Scheffler was paired with Woods in the final round of the 2020 Masters when both were miles out of contention. It was a pivotal moment for him, watching Woods — with nothing left to prove in his career — giving each shot his utmost attention.

“I felt like early in my career I wasn’t bringing the proper intensity to the first few rounds of the tournament,” he said. “It was almost like when the lights came on on the weekend I was better than I was earlier in the week when there almost was lower stakes. A lot of that has just been trying to bring that same intensity to each round and every shot, which is a lot easier said than done.”

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SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By LINDSEy WASSON

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers, center, throws during a game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in Seattle.

Rivers’ inspiring NFL return proves age just a number

BY ARNIE STAPLETON AP pro football writer

The “Gridiron Grandpa” thrilled both young and old alike with his return to the NFL 1,800 days after last throwing a touchdown pass.

Philip Rivers nearly helped the injury-riddled Colts (8-6) pull off the upset at Seattle, completing 18 of 27 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown with one sack and an interception in an 18-16 loss to the 11-win Seahawks.

“I was just thankful — grateful — that I was out there,” said Rivers, whose pick came on his final pass as he tried to force the ball down the field in the closing seconds. “And it was a blast — it was a blast — but obviously the emotions now are disappointment.

This isn’t about me. We have a team scrapping like crazy to try and stay alive and get into the postseason.”

For much of the NFL, it was all about Rivers, who admitted he wasn’t even sure how he’d play coming out of retirement as a Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist.

“There is doubt, and it’s real,” Rivers said. “The guaranteed safe bet is to go home or to not go for it, and the other one is, ‘Shoot, let’s see what happens.’ I hope in that sense that can be a positive to some young boys, or young people.”

The high school team that Rivers coaches in his native Alabama, the St. Michael Catholic Cardinals, who finished 13-1 this season, gathered at a local restaurant in Fairhope for a watch party and went wild when Rivers threw a touchdown pass to Josh Downs that put Indianapolis ahead 13-3.

And you can bet plenty of grayhaired football fans were just as thrilled as those teenagers to

see “Old Man Rivers” slinging it again and joining other sports greats who returned from retirement with less hair or more gray, including the likes of Michael Jordan, George Foreman, Mario Lemieux and Magic Johnson.

Rivers definitely has a dad bod, and last week he couldn’t even tell reporters what his weight was, only that it was certainly higher than when he walked away after the 2020 season.

For nearly five years, Rivers’ seemingly final touchdown toss was caught by tight end Jack Doyle in Indy’s 27-24 loss to the Buffalo Bills in an AFC wild-card game on Jan. 9, 2021.

The one he threw to Downs on Sunday was Rivers’ 438th career touchdown toss, counting the playoffs, and few could have been more thrilling.

Rivers was the butt of plenty of old-man jokes and the subject of innumerable social media memes after the Colts called him out of retirement to try to salvage a oncepromising season that’s been sabotaged by injuries, including the one to starting quarterback Daniel Jones, whose stirring comeback season ended with a torn Achilles.

Rivers did nothing to embarrass himself Sunday, not even when he slipped down without contact on one drop-back before scrambling to his feet and darting up the middle.

Rivers insisted he enjoyed the few hard hits he took from the Seahawks’ stout defense, saying, “I never minded that part of it. My wife always tells me I’m crazy because there’s been times in the last three or four years I said, ‘I wish I could just throw one and get hit — hard.’ ” Tim Hasselbeck, the 47-year-old ex-NFL QB turned ESPN analyst

who recently became head football coach at The Ensworth High School in Nashville, was thoroughly impressed by the way Rivers handled himself after just one short week of practice with the Colts.

“That’s something that people need to understand, too,” Hasselbeck said on the “Scott Van Pelt Show,” stressing that Rivers risked not just his health but his reputation by returning to the gridiron.

“He’s been out of the game for nearly five years. The risk associated with (returning to the NFL): getting hurt, tearing your knee up, blowing out an Achilles — and then more honestly — humiliating yourself by playing,” Hasselbeck said. “There were risks associated with what he’s doing.”

“I work with colleagues that were just flat wrong,” Van Pelt concurred, “that acted like it was embarrassing that this guy was going to go do this. No, it wasn’t.

They lost by two points to one of the best teams in football.”

Colts coach Shane Steichen on Monday confirmed that Rivers will be the Colts’ starter against the San Francisco 49ers (10-4) next Monday night.

If he stays upright and keeps the starting job, it won’t get any easier for Rivers, who would have to face the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4) on a short Christmas week before a trip to Houston (9-5) to close out the regular season.

Yet, if Rivers can lead them to a couple of wins, the topsy-turvy AFC playoff picture that’s missing Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow might very well feature the 44-year-old gridiron grandpa who last won a playoff game in 2018 with the then-San Diego Chargers.

LSU

Odds and ends

n I loved the creativity from coach Kellen Moore on the Saints’ first touchdown. Rookie left tackle Kelvin Banks lined up as a tight end on the play over right tackle Taliese Fuaga’s right Email Luke Johnson at shoulder. New Orleans then pro- ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Pelicans guard Jordan Poole gets past the Portland Trail Blazers defense for two points during the second half on Thursday at the Smoothie King Center. Poole scored 22 points against Portland.

Continued from page 1C improve how it plays defense — something she’s emphasized ever since the Tigers allowed Duke to score 77 points on Dec. 4.

“We got face-cut several times,” Mulkey said. “We got a long way to go, and we have to learn. It’s not their fault. It’s the schedule somewhat, but you have to learn (that) no matter who you play, you have to be fundamentally sound in these games because this is like practice. You’re going to play teams that are just, night in and night out, so good.”

Mulkey mixed up her starting lineup again Monday. When LSU beat Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Knox and sophomore Notre Dame transfer Kate Koval started next to Johnson, Williams and Richard.

On Tuesday, Mulkey slotted freshman ZaKiyah Johnson and senior East Carolina transfer Amiya Joyner into her two starting frontcourt spots. ZaKiyah Johnson and Joyner combined to score 14 points and grab 13 rebounds. Koval scored nine points and grabbed five steals.

Mulkey said Tuesday that she expects to start different combinations of frontcourt players throughout SEC play. The matchup, she said, likely will dictate which post players start and which ones come off the bench.

“We’re not playing the top teams right now,” ZaKiyah Johnson said, “but it’s coming eventually, and we have to be ready for when it does come. So we’re just continuing to build better habits for later on in the season.”

an example.

On that play, a third and 6 from the 12-yard line, Carolina sent a “zero” blitz — meaning they sent seven rushers with four players in coverage. New Orleans picked up the pressure, with a key block from running back Audric Estime, who popped Moehrig. Shough had to get rid of the ball quickly, but he had a textbook clean pocket to operate from. Shough and his pass catchers had to do the rest.

Olave was isolated on the left side of the formation against the Panthers top corner, JayCee Horn. At first glance, Horn looked to be taking away what the Saints wanted to do. Olave was running a slant route, and Horn was playing with inside leverage — meaning he was shaded toward the middle of the field, trying to take away an in-breaker.

Olave beat him anyway, and Shough delivered a perfect pass beyond a diving Horn’s fingertips for the game-tying score.

Sunday’s performance represented yet another area where Shough has taken massive strides in six career starts. In his fi rst three starts, he completed just 6 of 20 against the blitz.

But in his last three games, Shough is 19 of 25 for 189 yards and two touchdowns against the blitz. That is good for a 123.6 passer rating. The Saints have gone as Shough has, winning two of those three games and nearly pulling off a comeback in the loss.

ceeded to run Devin Neal behind its two best offensive linemen on a 4-yard touchdown. Banks drove Panthers edge rusher Nic Scourton into the end zone. n Something that probably isn’t talked about enough: Davon Godchaux has had a big impact on this team. There’s a reason the Saints are suddenly a stout defense on third- or fourth-and-1 situations, and the big veteran in the middle eating up blocks and making plays is a big part of that.

After coming up with yet another stop on fourth and 1 against the Panthers — the Saints’ fifth such stop this season — they now are tied for seventh among NFL teams in first-down percentage when facing a third- or fourthand-1 situation this season, having allowed 20 first downs on 38 attempts (52.6%). That’s nearly a 10 percentage point improvement over last season. n If there’s one area of concern from the game, it is what Bryce Young accomplished as a scrambler. He rushed for a season-high 49 yards against New Orleans, and three of his scrambles converted third downs — including conversions on third and 9 and third and 10. n Danny Stutsman has had a relatively quiet rookie season while playing limited defensive snaps behind starters Pete Werner and Demario Davis. But he seems to do something every game that catches your eye, and Sunday it was a monster hit in punt coverage. n This game will not be remembered as one of Quincy Riley’s best, but he still showed up in a couple of crucial moments.

His breakup of a pass intended for Tetairoa McMillan in the end zone was a great example of why the Saints rave about his ball skills. Riley got his hand in at the last second and deflected a sure touchdown. He also made a critical open-field tackle on Carolina’s final drive.

PELICANS

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

Morgan State guard Ja’la Bannerman drives to the basket as LSU center Kate Koval, left, and guard Mikaylah Williams defend in the first half of their game Tuesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

“We’re not playing the top teams right now, but it’s coming eventually, and we have to be ready for when it does come. So we’re just continuing to build better habits for later on in the season.”

ZAKIyAH JOHNSON, LSU forward LSU next will host Texas-Arlington at 1 p.m. Sunday before taking a week off and wrapping up the nonconference slate with a game against Alabama State on Dec. 28.

SEC play won’t begin for the

Tigers until Jan. 1, when No. 12 Kentucky is scheduled to visit the PMAC. Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com.

player,” Poole said. “I know how important it is to have the crowd Continued from page 1C on our side. I know how important it is to have them engaged.

We have fans who love to watch that when I come back, I’m able hoops. Obviously, we have to give them something to cheer for. It’s to make an impact.”

Poole scored 22 points against a two-way street.”

While Poole’s return has made the Blazers and 16 against the Bulls. He came off the bench in an impact, he’s still waiting for both games, just like he did in his 3-point shot to come back three of the seven games to start around. He’s made just 5 of 20 from long distance in his two the season. games back. He’ll Poole, acquired “He’s just a savvy try to get back on in the offseason in track Thursday the CJ McCollum scorer. He just when the Pelicans trade, is averaging knows how to (5-22) host the 17.7 points and 3.4 score. ... He keeps Houston Rockets assists in the nine games he’s played constant pressure (16-7).

Even when his since arriving in on the defense. shot isn’t falling, New Orleans.

You can just feel Poole helps in other “ H e ’s j u s t a him out there. He’s ways. s a v v y s c o r e r, ” “I think just his Pelicans interim always live.” overall impact on coach James BorJAMES BORREGO, the game is trerego said. “He mendous,” Borjust knows how to Pelicans interim coach rego said. “He can score. Gets to the go on a big run by free-throw line.

Gets downhill. Makes plays. himself. He can turn a two-point Steadies the gym when it needs game into a six-point or eightto be steadied. He keeps constant point game quickly on both ends pressure on the defense. You can of the floor. He’s coming with just feel him out there. He’s al- the right mentality. He’s not trying to force it. He’s trying to ways live.”

And he’s always trying to make play within our system and be sure the crowd is live, too. After a team guy and that’s what we making a layup midway through need.”

Poole is just glad to be playing the fourth quarter against the Blazers, Poole was waving his ball again.

“It was the first time in my arms and yelling to the crowd to career that I sat out that many “come on.”

“I’ve always been that type of games,” he said. “I’m back.”

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 5C

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Report: LSU interim coach Wilson heading to Ole Miss Coach will join Rebels after Texas Bowl

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

Frank Wilson has one more game left at LSU. Wilson is expected to get hired at Ole Miss after the Texas Bowl, according to a report Tuesday night from CBS Sports.

Wilson informed the team earlier Tuesday he will leave after the Dec. 27 bowl game, sources confirmed to The Advocate.

It has been known it would be LSU’s last game with the current offensive staff after new LSU coach Lane Kiffin brought several

assistant coaches with him from Ole Miss, but there was uncertainty around Wilson’s future with an opening for a running backs coach.

Wilson has known new Ole Miss coach Pete Golding for at least a decade. When Wilson was named the head coach at Texas-San Antonio in 2016, he hired Golding as his defensive coordinator. Golding went on to become a defensive coordinator at Alabama and Ole Miss, where he was recently promoted after Kiffin left for LSU. Wilson, a New Orleans native, coached running backs and special teams at Ole Miss from 200507 under former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron.

In his second stint at LSU, Wilson has been the LSU running backs

LSU interim coach Frank Wilson talks with running back Caden Durham before a game against Arkansas on Nov. 15 at Tiger Stadium.

coach and a key figure in recruiting the past four years. He was named interim head coach Oct. 26 after LSU fired Brian Kelly.

After Kiffin’s arrival, Wilson’s future at LSU became unclear. Kiffin brought most of his offensive staff with him from Ole Miss, but Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith has not yet followed him to LSU. They have coached together for eight of the past nine seasons, and Kiffin has not yet filled the last opening on his offensive staff.

At the end of the regular season, Wilson expressed a desire to stay at LSU under the new head coach, who had not yet been hired. After speaking with Kiffin, he later said he expected clarity on his future after the Texas Bowl.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

TULANE NOTEBOOK

Tulane assistants press on without future certainty

BY GUERRY SMITH Contributing writer STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Tulane running back Jamauri McClure scores a touchdown against North Texas during the first half of the American Conference championship on Dec. 5 at yulman Stadium.

TULANE

Continued from page 1C McClure has rushed for 406 yards on 60 carries (6.8 yards per carry) in the past four games after gaining 50 yards total through the first nine games. He capped off the torrid stretch with a careerhigh 22 attempts for 121 yards and a touchdown as Tulane dispatched North Texas in the American Conference title matchup.

It took time for him to earn the coaches’ trust. Coach Jon Sumrall screamed at him for several seconds when he fumbled in a preseason scrimmage — a mistake that clearly resonated more than his long touchdown run a little later that day. Given a rare early carry in the Wave’s American opener at Tulsa, he coughed up the ball without being touched on a spin move in the red zone and was banished to the bench for another three games.

His big breakthrough came Nov. 15 against Florida Atlantic. Inserted during the second quarter, he broke off a 26-yard run that led to a touchdown. He scored on his own in the third quarter, finishing with 10 carries for 94 yards in what was then the season-high total for a Tulane running back.

“Really it was just about consistency,” he said. “I just had to work on being consistent even if I wasn’t getting my opportunity, keep my head down and be positive.”

The next week, he entered for the second series at Temple and rushed for 122 yards on 17 carries. That performance earned him his first career start against Charlotte in the Wave’s regularseason finale, and he followed that with his huge night against North Texas.

His explosiveness was evident

from the beginning. He ripped off long runs in preseason scrimmages last year, and, while being redshirted, gained 84 yards on 10 carries in garbage time of a 71-20 blowout of UAB. Still, he languished behind the more experienced Maurice Turner, Arnold Barnes, Zuberi Mobley and even true freshman Javin Gordon as his second season unfolded.

“Jamauri’s such a talented athlete,” Sumrall said. “There’s always been that flash, like ... this guy’s got a chance to be really good, but the consistency was not there. He’s invested in his preparation and his craft and become a more serious-minded guy with a detailed approach.”

Consistency and confidence are the buzzwords around McClure. When he put those things together, he became a beast who packs a much bigger wallop than his 5-foot-10, 190-pound frame suggests.

“Jamauri is just a relentless, tough, physical runner,” Retzlaff said. “You gotta get him down for him to be down. He’s fun to hand the ball off to. He’s a stud.”

At Ole Miss in September, McClure’s first touch came when the Wave trailed 45-3 in the fourth quarter. He is fully capable of a touchdown on the first possession of the rematch, showing the Rebels what they missed when they offered him a scholarship out of high school before not following up at all.

He chose Tulane over Troy, UAB and South Alabama because he trusted the coaches like a family. Now they finally trust him.

“Being able to play at all really just means a lot to me,” he said.

“I want to make the most out of it.

I’m ready to get our revenge. We weren’t really at our top performance when we played them (the Rebels) the first time. I’m ready for this game.”

While Tulane coach Jon Sumrall is working two jobs at the same time, some of his assistants do not have any guaranteed ones going forward.

Defensive coordinator GregGasparato — who could accompany Sumrall to Florida with a lesser title, stay with the Green Wave in the same role or head elsewhere — insisted Tuesday his up-in-the-air status has not been a distraction in preparation for Saturday’s College Football Playoff game at Ole Miss (2:30 p.m., TNT).

“You hear it all the time, be where your feet are, and you can’t tell that to kids and then not do it yourself,” he said. “It’s always been about the players — putting everything we have into them. We didn’t come this far just to get a participation trophy. We want to win every game we play, and this is the first time I’ve ever been a part of a College Football Playoff game.

“There’s not a whole lot of people in the country who get an opportunity to do this. We know at the end of this game we are going to be a part of history one way or the other, and we get to choose what side of history we are on.”

That means not worrying about his future until the season is over.

“I’ve been in this position multiple times in my career, which has probably helped prepare me for it,” he said. “If you take care of business and treat people right, good things end up happening for you and your family.”

Gasparato faces a tough task getting his guys ready for Ole Miss and quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting. The Rebels rank third in the FBS in yards (498.1 average) and 11th in scoring (37.3 points). They had touchdowns on their first five drives against No. 3 playoff seed Georgia, which is 11th nationally in scoring defense and will face the winner of Ole Miss-Tulane in the Sugar Bowl.

Linebacker Sam Howard said he has noticed no difference in Gasparato since Sumrall took the Florida job.

“We started as a family and we’re going to end as a family,” Howard said. “This season is not over yet, and we don’t plan for it to be over soon. Everyone is doing their job so we can be in the best position to

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Tulane defensive coordinator Greg Gasparato, center, reacts after a play during practice on March 21, 2024, at yulman Stadium. win this game.”

No Kiffin effect

Rebels’ 241 yards rushing and 548 total yards are the most the Wave allowed this season.

“We just remember the feeling we all had coming out that stadium and getting on the plane,” said defensive end Harvey Dyson, who leads the Wave with seven sacks but had none against Ole Miss. “It was a feeling nobody wants to experience again, so that’s the fire we have been bringing every day in practice.”

Senior safety Bailey Despanie agreed.

“Nobody likes to lose,” he said.

“If you do like to lose, I don’t want you around me. Not taking a shot at those guys, and as competitors everybody likes to win, and we didn’t get that outcome last time.”

It is a matter of pride.

“I feel like we didn’t show up as a team at all (in the first meeting),” Howard said. “We weren’t us. I just want to go out there and be us.

When we are at our best, we are hard to stop.”

Although the numbers do not bear it out this season, former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has a reputation for being hyper-aggressive offensively. A pivotal question entering Saturday’s matchup is whether or not new coach Pete Golding, formerly the Ole Miss defensive coordinator, will change that approach.

“When you are in the fight, a lot of people go back to what they’re comfortable with,” Gasparato said.

“That’s the thing with having a new (decision-maker) is you don’t know exactly what he’s comfortable with versus what Lane was comfortable with. We’re not going to chase ghosts. I don’t think they are going to add a bunch of different schemes and plays.”

Ole Miss, which led the FBS in fourth-down conversion attempts in 2021 and was among the leaders the next two years as well, backed off that approach the past two Lagniappe years under Kiffin. The Rebels’ 27 Tulane bookended the season tries (18 successful) this season by forcing five turnovers against rank tied for 46th.

Northwestern and North Texas, but Ole Miss has turned it over only Extra incentive 12 times, tied for the 20th fewest Playoff games are huge no mat- in the FBS, and never more than ter what, but Tulane defenders ad- twice. … The Rebels have gained mitted they were even more mo- more than 400 yards against every tivated to prove the dismal 45-10 opponent but Georgia (their lone loss at Ole Miss in September did loss) and have surpassed 500 in not represent the real them. The their past three games.

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SCOREBOARD High school basketball

Monday

FAVORITE San Fran

Boys

College Football

Tuesday

McDonogh 35 82, Lutcher 46 Plaquemine 63, Dutchtown 47 GEO Next Generation 50, Albany 38 Denham Springs 72, Livonia 36 Central 70, Walker 36 Port Allen 72, Tara 55 St. Amant 71, Bonnabel 54 Slaughter Community Charter 48, White Castle 45 Glen Oaks 72, Jehovah-Jireh 39

Central 70, Walker 36

Central 25 11 19 15 —70 Walker 12 9 5 10 —36 SCORING: CENTRAL: Jace Conrad 24, Sam Giles 15, Keith Womack 12, Shaun Washington 6, Gavin Douglas 5, Eli Cutrer 3, Jayden Garnett 2, Avrey Estess 2; WALKER: Nicholas Cornelius 13, Derrick Talbert 9, Kam Rheams 7, Jordan Scott 5, C.J. Mitchell 2 3-POINT GOALS: Central: 10 (Giles 3, Washington 2, Conrad 2, Douglas 2, Cutrer); Walker: (Cornelius 3, Scott) RECORDS: Central 7-0, Walker 6-4

Wednesday

TBA at Ascension Christian, 4:30 p.m.

Tara at Helix Mentorship Academy at Sports Academy, 5 p.m.

North Iberville at Collegiate Baton Rouge, 5 p.m.

Belaire at Live Oak, 5 p.m.

Bogalusa at East Ascension, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday

TBA at Ascension Christian, 4:30 p.m.

French Settlement at White Castle, 5:30 p.m.

Southern Lab at Scotlandville, 5:30 p.m.

Istrouma at Woodlawn, 6 p.m.

Westminster Christian at Dunham, 6 p.m.

Baker at Thrive Academy, 6 p.m.

Girls

Tuesday

Prairieville 73, Plaquemine 34 Denham Springs 57, Glen Oaks 25 Northeast 44, Broadmoor 40 Zachary 43, Southern Lab 37 St. Amant at Ascension Catholic Madison Prep at Mentorship Academy Baker 55, Port Allen 10 Livonia at Scotlandville Central 44, Tara 22

Wednesday

Livonia at Capitol, 5:30 p.m.

Madison Prep at Istrouma, 5:30 p.m.

Lafayette Renaissance at Port Allen, 6 p.m.

Thursday

TBA at Walker, 4 p.m.

GEO Next Generation at Live Oak, 5 p.m.

Glen Oaks at East Ascension, 5:30 p.m.

Northeast at Belaire, 5:30 p.m.

Central Catholic at Donaldsonville, 5:30 p.m.

Liberty at East Iberville, 6 p.m.

St. Katherine Drexel at Broadmoor, 6 p.m.

Covenant Christian at Ascension Catholic, 6 p.m.

Baker at Collegiate Baton Rouge, 6 p.m.

Odds NFL Thursday

FAVORITE LA Rams

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 6½ 5½ (46½) at INDY

Saturday

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ 1½ (44½) at SEATTLE

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Philadelphia4½ 6½ (44½) at WASH Green Bay 3 1½ (46½) at CHICAGO

Sunday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY Minnesota 1½ 2½ Kansas City 11½ 3½ Cincinnati 2½ 1½ Tampa Bay 2½ 3 Buffalo 8½ 10½ at DALLAS 2½ 1½ at NO 2½ 4½ Atlanta 1½ 2½ at DENVER 3 3 at HOUSTON11½ 14½ at DETROIT 6½ 6½ at BAL 2½ 2½

O/U UNDERDOG (43½) at GIANTS (37½) at TEN (50½) at MIAMI (45½)at CAROLINA (42½) at CLE (49½) LA Chargers (40½) NY Jets (47½) at ARIZONA (45½) Jacksonville (37½) Las Vegas (50½) Pittsburgh (47½)New England

Wednesday

Cure Bowl Orlando, Fla. FAVORITE OPEN South Florida 5½ 68 Ventures Bowl Mobile, Ala. FAVORITE OPEN Louisiana 2½

Thursday

TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 2½ (53½) Old Dom TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 2½ (61½) Delaware

XBox Bowl Frisco, Texas FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Arkansas St 2½ 1½ (54½) Miz St

Friday

Myrtle Beach Bowl Conway, S.C. FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG W. Michigan 1½ 3½ (49½) Kenne. St Gasparilla Bowl Tampa, Fla. FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG NC State 1½ 4½ (58½) Memphis College Football Playoff First Round — Game 1 Norman, Okla.

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Alabama 2½ 1½ (40½)Oklahoma

Saturday

College Football Playoff First Round — Game 2 College Station, Texas FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Texas A&M 3½ 3½ (51½)Miami(FL) College Football Playoff First Round — Game 3 Oxford, Miss.

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Ole Miss 16½ 17½ (56½) Tulane College Football Playoff First Round — Game 4 Eugene, Ore. FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Oregon 20½ 21½ (49½)J. Madison

Monday

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Boise, Idaho FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Utah State 1½ 2½ (52½) Wash. St

Tuesday

Boca Raton Bowl Boca Raton, Fla. FAVORITE OPEN Louisville 9½ New Orleans Bowl New Orleans FAVORITE OPEN W. Kentucky 3½ Frisco Bowl Frisco, Texas FAVORITE OPEN UNLV 3½

TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 7½ (44½) Toledo TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 4½ (55½) Sou. Miss TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 4½ (62½) Ohio

College Basketball Wednesday

FAVORITE Northern Iowa at XAVIER at UCF Vanderbilt at WICHITA STATE at TULANE at ALABAMA at MARQUETTE at COLORADO at SANTA CLARA at GONZAGA at USC at OREGON STATE at SAN FRANCISCO at SAN DIEGO STATE at STANFORD at UCLA at OREGON

LINE 4½ 2½ 13 7½ 12 3½ 15½ 3½ 17½ 9½ 36½ 23½ 2½ 13½ 23½ 12½ 9½ 17½

UNDERDOG at UIC Creighton Mercer at MEMPHIS Wofford Louisiana Tech South Florida Georgetown Portland State North Texas Campbell UTSA Sam Houston Loyola Chicago Air Force UT Arlington Arizona State Portland

Pro football NFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE East

W 11 10 6 3

New England Buffalo e-Miami e-N.Y. Jets

L 3 4 8 11

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .786 .714 .429 .214

PF 382 411 296 276

PA 276 324 324 397

South

Sacked-Yards Lost 4-31 3-23 Punts 4-48.5 5-46.2 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 6-31 4-25 Time of Possession 26:27 33:33 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—Miami, Achane 12-60, Wright 1-2, Tagovailoa 1-1, Gordon 2-0. Pittsburgh, Gainwell 13-80, Warren 12-33, Smith 1-14, Johnson 2-4, Co.Heyward 4-4.

PASSING—Miami, Tagovailoa 22-28-1-253.

Pittsburgh, Rodgers 23-27-0-224.

RECEIVING—Miami, Waller 7-66, Achane 6-67, Dulcich 2-46, Waddle 2-26, J.Hill 2-25, M.Washington 1-10, Wright 1-9, Ingold 1-4.

Pittsburgh, Gainwell 7-46, Metcalf 3-55, Freiermuth 3-45, Washington 3-25, Warren 3-15, Smith 2-12, Valdes-Scantling 1-19, Thielen 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.

W 10 9 8 2

L 4 5 6 12

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .714 .643 .571 .143

PF 376 323 392 225

PA 292 228 303 394

W 8 7 4 3

L 6 7 10 11

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .571 .500 .286 .214

PF 336 335 314 226

PA 326 320 437 332

W 12 10 6 2

L 2 4 8 12

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .857 .714 .429 .143

PF 342 315 328 196

PA 261 284 268 363

W 9 6 4 2

L 5 7 10 12

T 0 1 0 0

Pct .643 .464 .286 .143

PF 320 407 291 300

PA 271 420 375 396

Pro basketball

W 7 7 5 4

L 7 7 9 10

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .500 .500 .357 .286

PF 327 264 281 226

PA 354 317 341 332

T 0 1 0 0

Pct .714 .679 .571 .429

PF 365 348 428 289

PA 338 281 345 307

W L T x-L.A. Rams 11 3 0 Seattle 11 3 0 San Francisco 10 4 0 e-Arizona 3 11 0 e-eliminated from playoffs x-clinched playoff spot

Pct .786 .786 .714 .214

PF 420 405 344 302

PA 261 242 293 388

W New York 18 Toronto 16 Boston 15 Philadelphia 14 Brooklyn 7 Southeast Division W Orlando 15 Atlanta 15 Miami 14 Charlotte 8 Washington 4 Central Division W Detroit 21 Cleveland 15 Milwaukee 11 Chicago 10 Indiana 6

Jacksonville Houston Indianapolis e-Tennessee North Pittsburgh Baltimore e-Cincinnati e-Cleveland West x-Denver L.A. Chargers e-Kansas City e-Las Vegas

NATIONAL CONFERENCE East

Philadelphia Dallas e-Washington e-N.Y. Giants South Tampa Bay Carolina e-Atlanta e-New Orleans North Chicago Green Bay Detroit e-Minnesota West

W 10 9 8 6

L 4 4 6 8

Monday’s game

EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division

L 7 11 11 11 18

Pct .720 .593 .577 .560 .280

GB — 3 3½ 4 11

L 11 12 12 18 20

Pct .577 .556 .538 .308 .167

GB — ½ 1 7 10

L 5 12 16 15 20

Pct .808 .556 .407 .400 .231

GB — 6½ 10½ 10½ 15

L 7 7 14 17 22

Pct .720 .696 .462 .370 .185

GB — 1 6½ 9 14

L 2 6 9 15 16

Pct .923 .760 .654 .400 .385

GB — 4½ 7 13½ 14

L 7 12 14 20 20

Pct .720 .538 .481 .231 .231

GB — 4½ 6 12½ 12½

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Pittsburgh 28, Miami 15

Southwest Division W San Antonio 18 Houston 16 Memphis 12 Dallas 10 New Orleans 5 Northwest Division W Oklahoma City 24 Denver 19 Minnesota 17 Utah 10 Portland 10 Pacific Division W L.A. Lakers 18 Phoenix 14 Golden State 13 Sacramento 6 L.A. Clippers 6

Thursday’s game

L.A. Rams at Seattle, 7:15 p.m.

Saturday’s games

Philadelphia at Washington, 4 p.m.

Green Bay at Chicago, 7:20 p.m.

Sunday’s games

Buffalo at Cleveland, noon Cincinnati at Miami, noon Kansas City at Tennessee, noon L.A. Chargers at Dallas, noon Minnesota at N.Y. Giants, noon N.Y. Jets at New Orleans, noon Tampa Bay at Carolina, noon Atlanta at Arizona, 3:05 p.m.

Jacksonville at Denver, 3:05 p.m.

Las Vegas at Houston, 3:25 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Detroit, 3:25 p.m.

New England at Baltimore, 7:20 p.m.

Monday’s game

San Francisco at Indianapolis, 7:15 p.m.

Monday’s games

LATE MONDAY

Pittsburgh 28, Miami 15

NBA

Miami 0 3 0 12 — 15 Pittsburgh 0 7 14 7 — 28 Second Quarter Mia—FG Patterson 54, 5:11.

Pit—Co.Heyward 1 run (Boswell kick), :21.

Third Quarter Pit—Valdes-Scantling 19 pass from Rodgers (Boswell kick), 11:25.

Pit—Metcalf 28 pass from Rodgers (Boswell kick), 5:06.

Fourth Quarter Pit—J.Smith 14 run (Boswell kick), 13:06.

Mia—Waller 6 pass from Tagovailoa (pass failed), 9:41.

Mia—Waller 13 pass from Tagovailoa (pass failed), 2:32.

A—65,663.

Mia Pit First downs 16 22 Total Net Yards 285 336 Rushes-yards 16-63 32-135 Passing 222 201 Punt Returns 2-14 3-9 Kickoff Returns 3-74 2-54 Interceptions Ret. 0-0 1-0 Comp-Att-Int 22-28-1 23-27-0

Detroit 112, Boston 105 Toronto 106, Miami 96 Utah 140, Dallas 133, OT Denver 128, Houston 125, OT Memphis 121, L.A. Clippers 103

Tuesday’s games

New York 124, San Antonio 113

Wednesday’s games

Cleveland at Chicago, 7 p.m.

Memphis at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

College football Tuesday’s game

Salute to Veterans Bowl Montgomery, Ala. Jacksonville St. (8-5) vs. Troy (8-5), n

College basketball State men’s schedule Tuesday’s games

Southern at California Baptist, n

Wednesday’s games

Houston Christian at Nicholls, 6:30 p.m.

Louisiana Tech at Tulane, 6:30 p.m.

South Alabama at UL-Monroe, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday’s games

UL at Southern Miss, 7:30 p.m.

Grambling vs. Norfolk State at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.

Men’s national scores Tuesday’s games

EAST Dartmouth 89, Holy Cross 64 Delaware 65, Rider 57 Howard 74, Drexel 66 Rhode Island 62, Canisius 45 St. John’s 79, DePaul 66 UMass Lowell 87, Sacred Heart 82 SOUTH Clemson 68, South Carolina 61 Duke 97, Lipscomb 73 Georgia Tech 87, Marist 76 Miami (FL) 98, Florida International 81 Mississippi State 87, LIU 83 Morehead State 78, Little Rock 64 North Carolina A&T 71, UNC Greensboro 65 Tarleton State 88, Mississippi Valley State 64 Tennessee 83, Louisville 62 UNC Asheville 83, Kentucky Christian 73 USC Upstate 78, South Carolina State 72 MIDWEST Belmont 83, Evansville 78 Bowling Green 76, Chicago State 55 Dayton 97, Florida State 69 Miami (OH) 83, Wright State 76 Michigan State 92, Toledo 69 Northern Illinois 112, East-West 64 Northwestern 86, Valparaiso 70 SOUTHWEST Oklahoma 89, Kansas City 67 Texas Rio Grande Valley 83, Lamar 72

State women’s schedule Tuesday’s games

LSU 91, Morgan State 33 Incarnate Word 54, Nicholls 52

Wednesday’s games

UL-Monroe at Arkansas State, 2 p.m.

Rice at Grambling, 2 p.m.

Tulane at Alabama, 4 p.m.

UL at Texas State, 5 p.m.

Central Arkansas at Louisiana Tech, 6:30 p.m.

Northwestern State at Texas, 8 p.m.

Thursday’s games

UIW at UNO, 6:30 p.m.

Houston Christian at Nicholls, 6:30 p.m.

Southern at Baylor, 7 p.m.

No. 5 LSU 91, Morgan St. 33

MORGAN ST. (1-12): Nash 2-4 1-4 5, Woodson 2-9 0-0 4, Butler 0-2 0-0 0, Bannerman 2-10 3-4 8, Hayes 2-4 0-0 5, Prysock 0-3 0-0 0, Bogans 2-7 4-4 8, James 1-5 0-0 3, Totals 11-44 8-12 33 LSU (12-0): Joyner 2-3 2-4 6, ZaKiyah Johnson 2-5 4-7 8, Flau’Jae Johnson 6-9 0-0 14, Richard 4-7 2-4 10, Williams 5-7 2-2 14, Knox 4-6 2-3 10, Koval 3-4 3-4 9, Yarnevich 2-5 0-0 4, Bourrage 1-3 0-0 2, Fulwiley 5-8 1-2 11, Hines 1-6 0-0 3, Totals 35-63 16-26 91 Morgan St. 9 8 8 8 — 33 LSU 30 22 22 17 — 91 3-Point Goals—Morgan St. 3-14 (Nash 0-2, Woodson 0-1, Bannerman 1-4, Hayes 1-2, Bogans 0-1, James 1-4), LSU 5-16 (F.Johnson 2-4, Richard 0-2, Williams 2-4, Fulwiley 0-2, Hines 1-4). Assists—Morgan St. 6 (Hayes 2), LSU 16 (Fulwiley 4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds— Morgan St. 18 (Prysock 5), LSU 48 (Z.Johnson 7, Knox 7). Total Fouls—Morgan St. 23, LSU 15. Technical Fouls—None. A—8,743.

Women’s national scores Tuesday’s games

SOUTH Alabama 73, Sam Houston 36 Auburn 68, Middle Tennessee 52 Little Rock 76, Morehead State 63 Richmond 81, Bethune-Cookman 45 VCU 69, American 63 MIDWEST Bowling Green 74, Le Moyne 46 Cleveland State 74, Northern Kentucky 56 Howard 66, Cincinnati 64 Wichita State 79, Oral Roberts 65 Youngstown State 65, Wright State 46 SOUTHWEST Houston 60, Montana 54 TCU 109, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 54 FAR WEST Cal State Bakersfield 67, Cal State East

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W e d n e s d ay, d e c e m b e r 17, 2025

1dn

THE BEST THINGS WE ATE THIS WEEK

STAFF PHOTO By LAUREN CHERAMIE

Caesar chicken wrap and fries from Mid City Beer Garden in Baton Rouge

Dishes hit the flavor balance Staff report

Caesar chicken wrap and fries

n Mid City Beer Garden, 3808 Gov-

ernment St., Baton Rouge

No matter if it’s cold or hot outside, the Caesar chicken wrap from Mid City Beer Garden satisfies the palate. With the option to order grilled or fried chicken, the wrap comes in a soft flour tortilla that includes house Caesar dressing, chopped romaine lettuce, sun-dried tomatoes and crunchy croutons.

Each bite is refreshing, bright and a little different from the last.

The kitchen does a great job at balancing the flavors and the contents of the wrap — there’s not too much lettuce and not enough chicken or too much chicken and not enough lettuce. Plus, the sundried tomatoes are a nice touch that not many chicken wraps have.

— Lauren Cheramie, features coordinator

Grilled pork spring rolls

n Bao Vietnamese Kitchen, 8342

Perkins Road, Baton Rouge

I stopped by Bao Vietnamese Kitchen for a late lunch on my way to carpool. I ordered grilled pork spring rolls for an appetizer and shrimp fried rice for my entree.

The spring rolls were massive and full of large pieces of grilled pork. The flavor of the grilled pork was the best I have ever had in a spring roll, and the freshness of the other ingredients added a nice balance to the pork. The side of hoisin peanut dipping sauce, garnished with pickled carrots and peanuts, was worth the cost of the roll itself. I know a spring roll can be found in many places

STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Ken Wang vigorously stretches noodle dough by hand before portioning them out in their finished shape at Noodle Bowl in July. The Sherwood Forest restaurant opened this year.

OPEN & SHUT 38 restaurants debuted this year in Baton Rouge while 11 closed their doors

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

As Christmas rounds the corner and the new year is on the horizon, the yearend lists start piling up. Just like that, 2025 is wrapping to a close. For the newspaper’s features team, this is a time to reflect on what was, arguably, the best year for food in Baton Rouge.

Cocktail professional Alan Walter was named Baton Rouge’s first-ever James Beard semifinalist. Al Noor, Couyons, Dempsey’s, Elsie’s Plate and Pie, Iverstine Butcher and Phil’s Oyster Bar were featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.” The Michelin Guide tapped Elsie’s Plate & Pie in Baton Rouge and the St. Francisville Inn & Restaurant in St. Francisville as “recommended” restaurants.

The city’s dining scene is thriving.

This year, 38 restaurants and three coffee shops opened in Baton Rouge.

We tried them all — including the crispy fish tacos at Veracruz, which opened in March, and the pork belly burnt ends at Salt Pepper Oak, which opened in April.

ä See OPEN, page 2D

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Owner Vincent Hunt shows off a batch of smoked meats on the smoker in June at Salt Pepper Oak.

ä See BEST, page 3D

One less thing to do on Christmas

Here are 9 places to order take-out meals in Baton Rouge

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

Christmas is one of the best times of the year but also one of the busiest.

Crossing cooking the main meal — or elements of it — off the to-do list might help. Pre-ordering a holiday feast for the family. Luckily, Baton Rouge has many places offering full family dinners to-go fit for feeding all of Whoville: n Juban’s Restaurant & Bar (3739 Perkins Road): Orders will be packaged cold with heating instructions, and options include prime rib with au jus, mashed

potatoes, creamed spinach, pies, cornbread dressing, smothered green beans and more. Orders can be made by phone at (225) 346-8422 or completed online by Thursday. Pickup dates are Dec. 22-23. n Texas de Brazil (10155 Perkins Rowe): Holiday to-go meal options include slow-cooked bone-in beef rib, Brazilian cheese bread, chimichurri sauce and more. Orders can be made online.

Pickup or delivery dates are Dec. 24 through Dec. 31. n Salt Pepper Oak (6721 Exchequer Drive): Smoked and chilled meats, sides and sweets are available in packages or a

la carte. Options include turkey, brisket, pork shoulder, cheddar sausage, fire-roasted elote, smoked gouda grits, creamy maple napa slaw, spiced pecan bread pudding and lots more. Orders can be made online, and pickup is Dec. 23-24. n Elsie’s Plate & Pie (3145 Government St.): Christmas pies available for pickup on Dec. 23, including apple, pecan, Eye of the Tiger, turtle, chocolate cream, Lemon Icebox, Christmas Cookie, Triple Berry Streusel, Almond Joy, gingerbread, coconut cream and s’mores.

ä See TAKE-OUT, page 2D

City Pork is one local restaurant that offers take-home options that work for holiday meals.

STAFF FILE PHOTO

By EMMA DISCHER

2D ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

lll

Show kindness this holiday season OPEN

Dear Heloise: It’s at this time of year that so many people feel a sense of grief during the holidays.

While so many of us are enjoying family and friends durHints from ing the holiHeloise days, there are thousands of people who wish desperately for someone to take them shopping or call them a couple of times a week, even if it’s just to say “hello” and show some sincere interest and kindness.

If your parents live out of state, a visit or a card with a letter inside is

TAKE-OUT

Continued from page 1D Orders can be made online and must be done by Friday. n City Pork (all locations): Holiday packages include bone-in ham and choice of two sides. Sides include boudin rice dressing, creamed spinach, green beans, cauliflower au gratin and more. Pickup dates are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 22-24. Order online by noon Friday. n Maxwell’s Market (Perkins Road and Corporate Boulevard locations): Starters, mains and sides are available for ordering. Beef tenderloin,

always fun to get. If you have family or friends who are going through a difficult time, invite them to dinner or lunch. Most of all, stay in contact! The world can look very dark to anyone who has lost a child, a partner or even a pet.

Sometimes we can’t give advice; we can only listen but show interest and assure them that we are there to support them as they grapple with their sadness. The words “what can I do to help you” can mean the world to another person. If at all possible, get them out of the house, visit friends together, or see a movie or a play.

You can have them help

you with something such as a garage sale or with donating books to a hospital or nursing home. Try to get them engaged in activities and in their lives. It may be that your company and kindness is the best gift they’ll receive this holiday season.

Heloise, thank you for your contributions, hints, and all you do to help others with your column.

— Retired Dr. J.K.M., in New York, New York Dr. J.K.M., thank you for reminding all of us that the season of joy can also be a season of sadness for others. — Heloise

turkey breast, prime rib roast, bourbon sweet potato casserole, spinach Maxwell, gravy and yeast rolls are some options. Pickup dates are during business hours Dec. 22-23 and until 1 p.m. on Dec. 24. n Iverstine Butcher (7731 Perkins Road): A wide variety of meat cuts are available for pre-order as well as sides and desserts, including boudin rice or cornbread dressing, spinach madeline, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, lasagna with Italian sausage, turkey and andouille gumbo, pies, red velvet cake roll and more. Pickup dates are Dec. 21-24. n Cracker Barrel (10250 Plaza Americana Drive): Heat-andserve dinner or breakfast

meals are available, including ham, prime rib, mac and cheese, green beans, rolls, dressing, hashbrown casserole and more. Orders can be made online, and pickup dates are Dec. 21-28. n Gourmet Girls (1660 Lobdell Ave.): The boutique catering company has a variety of dishes available for pre-order. The holiday catering menu has crab and brie soup, Champagne seafood pasta, spinach katia, pepper-seared beef tenderloin, pesto-roasted carrots, Christmas potatoes and more. There are also breakfast options. Pickup dates are noon to 2 p.m. on Dec. 23, and orders must be made online or by phone at (225) 252-0999.

Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press Today is Wednesday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2025. There are 14 days left in the year.

Today in history: On Dec. 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted the first successful manned, powered airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer.

Also on this date: In 1777, France becomes one of the first nations to officially recognize the independence of the United States.

In 1933, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21 in the first NFL championship game.

In 1944, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Henry C. Pratt rescinded incarceration orders for people of Japanese ancestry during World War II; more than 110,000 people, about two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, had been forced into camps after a February 1942 executive order

by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Clean Air Act into law; it was the first federal legislation targeting the control of air pollution.

In 1975, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford in Sacramento, California. (She was paroled in August 2009.)

In 1979, Arthur McDuffie, a Black insurance broker and former Marine, was beaten by police after leading them on a chase with his motorcycle in Miami. McDuffie died four days later. (Four White police officers accused of beating McDuffie were acquitted in 2000, sparking riots in Miami that led to several deaths and millions of dollars in damages.)

In 1989, “The Simpsons” debuts on Fox television; it has become the longestrunning animated U.S. TV series.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies; NAFTA went into effect in 2004 and was replaced by the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement in 2020.

In 2014, the United States and Cuba announced they would restore diplomatic relations, which had been

severed in 1961 after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution overthrew a U.S.-backed government. Full diplomatic relations resumed in 2015.

In 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, a senior Russian general, was killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service accused him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons in Russia’s war in Ukraine. A Ukrainian official said the service carried out the attack in which Kirillov’s assistant also died.

Today’s birthdays: Actor Armin Mueller-Stahl is 95. Actor Ernie Hudson is 80. Political commentator Chris Matthews is 80.

Comedian-actor Eugene Levy is 79. Actor Wes Studi is 78. Rock singer Paul Rodgers is 76. Actor Bill Pullman is 72. Filmmaker Peter Farrelly is 69. Rock musician Mike Mills (R.E.M.) is 67. Country singer Tracy Byrd is 59.

Actor Laurie Holden is 56.

Actor Claire Forlani is 54.

Filmmaker Rian Johnson is 52. Actor Sarah Paulson is 51. Actor Giovanni Ribisi is 51. Actor Milla Jovovich is 50. Boxer Manny Pacquiao is 47. Actor Emma Bell is 39. Actorsinger Nat Wolff is 31.

Continued from page 1D We visited Modesto’s swanky expansion, a mezcaleria, and watched as Eloise Market and Cakery threw a Taylor Swiftthemed party for its grand opening on Perkins Road.

This year saw 11 restaurant closures, a number less than half of the 21 restaurants Baton Rouge lost in 2024.

We will miss three Perkins Road spots, including Habaneros, which closed PROVIDED PHOTO in March, Vars Pizza, which Butter chicken from Gunpowder Indian Cuisine, which closed in October, and opened this year on Highland Road Southfin, which closed in November. n Cozy Griddle, 11445 n Dutch Bros, 625 FrogAs the 2026 New Year’s resolutions come about, Coursey Blvd. more Drive n Pura Vida, 4005 Nicholn Cherrybomb Coffee Co., think about Baton Rouge’s culinary landscape, and try son Drive 136 W. Chimes St. n Blue Iguana, 5252 S. n Stir Coffee House, something you’ve never had before.

Sherwood Forest Blvd.

15405 Airline Highway n Blazin’ Hot Chicken, Restaurants that opened: 4075 Nicholson Drive Restaurants that closed: n Lagniappe Steak and n Court to Table, 477 Burn Drago’s Seafood RestauSeafood, 5454 Bluebonnet bank Drive rant, 4580 Constitution Ave. n Drago’s Seafood Restaun Habaneros, 10155 PerBlvd. n Marco’s Pizza, 9402 Bur- rant, 10111 Perkins Rowe kins Rowe n Alexa’s Dulceria & Marn Chicken Salad Chick, bank Drive n Veracruz, 3510 Drusilla 801 Frogmore Drive ket, 5201 Nicholson Drive n Seoul Stop, 7920 Florida n Roux 61 Seafood & Grill, Lane n Gunpowder, 4410 HighBlvd.

8322 Bluebonnet Blvd. n Wagyulicious, 11950 n Panda House, 7474 Corland Road n KPot, 7620 Andrea Cloverland Ave. porate Blvd. n Spicy Rico, 3332 Lake n Bengal Tap Room, 421 Drive n Boba ParTea, 10190 St. N. Third St. n Bayes Oyster Bar, 315 n Vars Pizza, 3030 Perkins Celtic Drive n Waffle House, 885 FrogNorth Blvd.

Road n Dr. Feel Good, 19970 n Prima Apres, 4225 Nichmore Drive n Chicky Sandos, 12555 Highland Road olson Drive n Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, n Outback Steakhouse, Airline Highway n Panda Express, 6310 4343 S. Sherwood Forest 5280 Jones Creek Road n Piccadilly, 5179 Plank Blvd.

Siegen Lane n Dave’s Hot Chicken, 640 n Cluckin Delicious, 4762 Road n Southfin, 4321 Perkins Arlington Creek Centre Plank Road n Aroma Indian Grill, 320 n Noodle Bowl, 2648 S. Road Lee Drive Sherwood Forest Blvd. n Loft18, 4580 Constitun City Slice, 4225 Nichol- Coming soon: tion Ave. son Drive n Spanish Town Market n Smash City, 159 W. State n Legend Pot, 2159 Starand Cafe, 701 Spanish Town St. ing Lane n Cheesecake Lab, 7970 n Buffet of Louisiana, Road n Southern Chicks Café Jefferson Highway 9626 Airline Highway n Dumpling and Bao, 6212 n Vals, 7242 Perkins Road & Daiquiris, 7112 Florida n Buns, 7004 Siegen Lane Blvd.

Siegen Lane n Tacos del Cartel, 10155 n Danny’s Dive Bar and n Fleur de Lis Pizza, 5655 Perkins Rowe Grill, 151 Third St. Government St. n Salt Pepper Oak, 6721 n Lee’s Chicken & CrackExchequer Drive Did we miss one? Email lins, 320 Lee Drive n Starbox Falafel, 4353 S. Maddie Scott at madison.

Coffee shops that opened: scott@theadvocate.com.

Sherwood Forest Blvd.

Book Your Afternoon Tea Service PlantryCafe.com | 5454 Bluebonnet Blvd. info@plantrycafe.com | 225-505-7411

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 3D

Should diner have picked up bill? lll

Dear Miss Manners: We went to breakfast this morning with four people total, and I informed the waitress beforehand that we’d like separate, individual checks.

Judith One of the Martin participants MISS piped up MANNERS when I said that, saying that he’d like one single bill instead.

I assumed he meant that he would take care of the entire bill for all four of us. I sincerely believe that was his intention.

When the bill came, everybody save one took out their wallets and offered, out of politeness, to pay cash toward the entire bill.

It is my understanding

that, in such a situation, the one who offered to pay the entire bill should politely decline, and instead pick up the bill in full.

He didn’t. Instead, he accepted the cash from others as offered. This was disruptive to at least one person, who had anticipated paying their separate check via a card, and who didn’t therefore bring cash.

I am very confused.

Miss Manners, how ought things to go in such a situation?

Gentle reader: Well, not that way. Even if the hapless host now assures the cashless participant that he will pay, that person has already been embarrassed.

And now the two whose cash he just accepted will also feel ill-used.

Miss Manners does not understand why people are so eager to speak about money at all the wrong times, but are suddenly shy when it is perfectly proper. When asking for a single check, the host should have said, “Please let me get this.”

You and the fourth guest were fine to protest when the bill came, but he should have turned you down. And if the other guest had then apologized for not having cash, he could have used that as a gracious excuse to win the argument.

Dear Miss Manners: About trying to get a head count for a party, would it be rude to say: “The party is on Feb. 15. Please let us know by the 7th if you will be coming. If we don’t hear from you by then, we

will assume you will not be attending. If you cannot know your plans by the 7th, please let me know that, too, and maybe we can work something out.”

That should get the invitees to respond in a timely fashion one way or another. To me, the above doesn’t seem too much to expect of an invitee, and the party-giver has a better chance of not ending up with too many or too few around her table. The host/hostess has set it up in such a way that the response, or lack of it, tells him/her what is needed for setting up for a party.

Gentle reader: This sounds like a theoretical exercise for you, so while Miss Manners agrees that it should not be too much trouble for people to respond to invitations, she

suggests you check back when you have experiential data.

Asking people to respond by a given date is neither rude nor new, but suggesting they would be inconsiderate enough not to respond is both — and is also inconsistent with your otherwise charmingly optimistic appraisal

of humanity.

Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners. com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail. com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

100+ years of LSU Football history in a hardcover book

ONLY

$39.95 LSU.PICTORIALBOOK.COM YEARS

THE ART OF

C E L E B R AT I O N

TONIGHT 7PM

WLPB 27

STAFF PHOTO By JOy HOLDEN

Grilled pork spring rolls and peanut dipping sauce from Bao Vietnamese Kitchen

www.lpb.org

ww

es t /liv g r .o lpb w.

m rea

BEST

Continued from page 1D in Baton Rouge, but Bao has particularly good ones.

The shrimp fried rice was comforting. I was impressed by the size of the shrimp and their robust taste. The menu has so many offerings, and I already have an idea of what to get next time.

— Joy Holden, features writer

Pastries from Lizzie’s

n Lizzie’s, 105 E. Main St., New

Iberia

STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN

Have you ever tried kouign-amann? This laminated French pastry is similar to a croissant, with a caramelized sugar crust that melts in your mouth.

It’s available alongside cinnamon rolls, almond croissants, cakes, cookies and other treats during the morning and lunch service

Kouign-amann and cinnamon roll pastries from Lizzie’s in New Iberia at Lizzie’s in New Iberia.

This spot, which opened this year, also offers an exciting dinner menu of local favorites with a twist, like a fish and chips entree that transforms a dish everyone thinks they already know,

with boundless Louisiana flavor. Lizzie’s is a treat any time of day — but for getting your day started right, try these expertly crafted pastries first.

— Joanna Brown, staff writer

The American Red Cross of Louisiana is here all year.

Make Spirits Bright …

… with Thoughtful Gifts f and Decor

Local support. Local impact.

The American Red Cross in Louisiana

serves 4.65 million residents across all 64 parishes and extends hope to communities across the nation and around the world. When you support your local Red Cross, you make a direct impact in your community.

Powered by generosity.

The Red Cross is not a government agency. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that relies on the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors to carry out our humanitarian mission.

Red Cross supporters provide a beacon of hope. From helping during disasters, to providing lifesaving training and supporting military communities, the Red Cross is there when help can’t wait.

Located in Towne Center and Denham Springs 7450 0 Jefferson Hwy Hwy, Baton Rouge

225-383-8383 3-8383

121 Bass Pro Blvd Ste A A, Denham Spri Springs

225-665-5181 225-665

www.rickeyheromans.com

Be the help Louisiana needs. redcross.org/louisiana

4D ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

FrAnK And erneSt

bIG nAte

zItS

lll

zodIAC SAGIttARIuS (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Stay on course and stick to the basics, and you'll flawlessly move forward with ease.

Knowing your capabilities and doing what you do best will take you far.

CAPRICoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You'll gain insight into something you want to pursue. Ask questions and monitor what's said to ensure you get an honest assessment of situations and the possibilities that exist.

AQuARIuS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Don't buy into someone else's dream; invest in yourself, your attributes and your future.

A change will take you by surprise and encourage you to push forward with enthusiasm.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Believe what you see, verify what you hear and pursue what excites you. Participate in events that broaden your perspective and encourage you to learn something new.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Choose what you wish to participate in and tally up how much it will cost. Taking care of the expenses that come with the festive season and events in advance will reduce stress and encourage you to relax. tAuRuS (April 20-May 20) Take care of an offer that requires your attention before the year ends. Take advantage of an offer you're eligible for. The compensation you receive will have a positive impact on your lifestyle.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Change can be good if you embrace it wholeheartedly and engage in talks and events that offer a platform to share your thoughts.

Think big.

CAnCER (June 21-July 22) Look at the big picture when dealing with professional matters and prospects. Setting yourself up for success will put your mind at ease and money in the bank.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Attend events that allow you to show off your skills and expertise. Reconnecting with past associates will open doors to new beginnings. A partnership has potential.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Distance yourself from drama and people trying to involve you in a situation that doesn't include you. Do what's necessary to maintain personal stability.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-oct. 23) Communication is in your best interest. Let your charm lead the way while you share your ideas; you'll get a grasp on what others might expect and want from you.

SCoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Focus on personal improvement to boost your confidence and prepare for the upcoming festivities. Someone may try to make you look incompetent by pointing you in the wrong direction.

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

For better or For WorSe WonderWord

peAnUtS

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY CeLebrItY CIpher Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

toDAy'S CLuE: S EQuALS D

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 5D

lll

CurTiS

Hi and LoiS

Sudoku InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers.

The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BaBY BLueS

BLondie

THe wiZard oF id

nea CroSSwordS

La TimeS CroSSword

6D ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

lll

B.C.

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER David Bird from England has written more than 100 bridge books. He specializes in humor, particularly about the monks of St. Titus. But now he has published a second book about the staff and pupils of Cholmeley School, “The Headmaster, the Matron and the Scissors Coup” (Weidenfeld & Nicolson).

Mixed in with the humorous stories are instructive deals, many sent to Bird by Tim Bourke from Australia.

In this deal from the book, how should the play and defense go in four spades?

West leads the heart ace and continues with the heart king.

East’s weak two-heart opening would not please a purist, because it has two first-round controls. But nowadays, everyone pre-empts with the faintest excuse, and here East was hoping he might shut out the spade suit. However, South jumped to four spades, the contract he hoped he could make.

West led the heart ace and continued with the heart king. South, the Headmaster, ruffed, cashed the spade ace, and led the spade queen. West, the Matron, won with her king and paused. Her partner had discarded the club two and club five, discouraging in that suit. So West shifted to a diamond. East won with his ace and led another heart, which promoted West’s spade 10 to the setting trick. East spotted how the contract could have been

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

made. At trick two, South should have discarded his diamond king, cutting the communications between the defenders — a textbook Scissors Coup.

And now you know the deal that begat the title of the book.

Books mentioned this week can be purchased at Baron Barclay Bridge Supply (800-274-2221; baronbarclay.com). © 2025 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

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

PiCKles

Previous answers:

mallard fillmore

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

Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAy’S WoRD — GnAtHIC: NATH-ik: Of or relating to the jaw.

Bizarro

marmaduKe

Average mark 26 words Time limit 30 minutes Can you find 31 or more words in GNATHIC? yEStERDAy’S WoRD — ALIMony lain layin limn limo limy lion loam loamy loan

loin inlay inly mail main mainly manly many moan

oilman oily only nail

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.”

1 Chronicles 28:9 Every son needs a father like this. — G.E. Dean

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, December 17, 2025 ■ 7D

lll

CAMPING GEAR Camp Tent 9x9 Dome, Canopy, Slp Bag, 2 Lant, 2 Burner Stv, 48qt Ice Chest & All Access. Retail for $375 selling for $275 225-610-8411 after 2:00pm

FIREWOOD Dry seasoned firewood (225) 5293133 $100-300 (225) 224-5651

FOOD PRODUCTS Fruitcake-Old Fashioned moist fruitcake made with lots nuts and fruits - 1lb $15.00 (225)933-5254

classifieds.theadvocate.com | 225-383-0111 Announcements 8G8AH212919 Ford is stored at 6440 Rawlins St., Baton Rouge, La. 70805.

If all current charges are not paid and vehicle claimed by the owner by 01/04/2026 a Permit to Sell may be obtained.

For Official Parish Journals, Please visit: https://www.sos.la.gov/ouroffice/pu 170527-Dec 17-18, 2t $124 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of any heirs of Mary Jean Peeples contact Laura Tracy:(504)-275-6308.

170813-Dec 17-19, 3t $73 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of any heirs of Tangier Thompson contact Laura Tracy:(504)-275-6308 170853-12/17-18-19-3t $73.00 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Priscilla A. Holmes or any of her children or heirs, please contact Attorney Elzie Alford, Jr at (212)8039184.

170313-12/15-16-17-3t $97.00

Fast Stop Pluss LLC d/b/a Fast Stop Plus 1 is applying to the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control of the State of Louisiana for a permit to sell beverages of high and low alcoholic content at retail for offpremise consumption in the Parish of Iberville, at the following address: 24505 LA-1 Plaquemine, Louisiana 70764 Fast Stop Pluss LLC d/b/a Fast Stop Plus 1 Members: Rami Maree and Mahmoud Ziadeh

Baton Rouge Real Estate For Sale

Merchandise

WANT TO BUY I buy old bourbon bottles. Wild Turkey, Weller, Old Grand Dad etc.

Call or text $300 (225)456-3434

Place a Classified ad?

EARLY DEADLINES FOR OUR ADVERTISEMENTS

DEADLINE..........RUN DATE Thurs., Dec 18 - 3pm .......... Wed., Dec 24 Fri., Dec 19 - 3pm............... Thurs., Dec 25 Fri., Dec 19 - 3pm............... Fri., Dec 26 Tues, Dec 23-3pm ............... Sat/Sun Dec 27, 28 Wed., Dec 24 - 3pm ............ Mon., Dec 29 Fri., Dec 26 - 3pm............... Tues., Dec 30

DISPLAY ADS 24 HOURS EARLIER

You may place your ad 7 days a week, 24 hours a day online at www.theadvocate.com or call Monday-Friday 8am-5pm

225-383-0111 Public Notices

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

PUBLIC NOTICE --ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Bids will be received by the Office of Purchasing, Room 213 Thomas Boyd Hall, Louisiana State Uni‐ versity and Agricultural and Mechanical College 70803 until 11:00 AM on Thursday, January 22, 2026 ** Refer to www.centerlinebidco nnect.com for bid sub‐ mission instructions. All bids must be submitted via email to lsubids@lsu. edu ** ANY PERSON REQUIRING SPECIAL ACCOMMODA‐ TIONS SHALL NOTIFY LOUISIANA STATE UNI‐ VERSITY, OFFICE OF PUR‐ CHASING OF THE TYPE(S) OF ACCOMMODATION RE‐ QUIRED NOT LESS THAN SEVEN (7) DAYS BEFORE THE BID OPENING. FOR: Furnish Labor and Materials for SVM Large Animal Hospital Refinish Flooring LSU SOLICITATION NUMBER: RFQ-0000002668 Complete Bidding Docu‐ ments for this project may be obtained from: www.centerlinebidco nnect.com.

Printed copies are not available from the Designer, but arrangements can be made to obtain them through most repro‐ graphic firms.

Contractors unable to access bidding docu‐ ments at www.centerl inebidconnect.com should contact Tipton Associates 449 Westmoreland Drive Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70806 Phone: 225.387.0101 Email:shigdon@tiptonassociates.com All bids must be accom‐ panied by bid security equal to five percent (5%) of the sum of the base bid and all alter‐ nates, and must be in the form of a certified check, cashier’s check or Bid Bond Form written by a surety company licensed to do business in Louisiana, signed by the surety’s agency or attor‐ ney-in-fact. Surety must be listed on the current U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Man‐ agement Service list of approved bonding com‐ panies as approved for an amount equal to or greater than the amount for which it obligates it‐ self in the Bond, or must be a Louisiana domiciled insurance company with at least an A- rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide. If surety qualifies by virtue of its Best’s list‐ ing, the amount of the Bond may not exceed ten percent of policyholders’ surplus as shown in the latest A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide. The Bid Bond shall be in favor of the Louisiana State Uni‐ versity and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and shall be accompa‐ nied by appropriate power of attorney. No Bid Bond indicating an oblig‐ ation of less than five percent (5%) by any method is acceptable.

The successful Bidder shall be required to fur‐ nish a Performance and Payment Bond written by a company licensed to do business in Louisiana, in an amount equal to 100% of the Contract amount. Surety must be listed currently on the U.S. Department of Trea‐ sury Financial manage‐ ment Service List (Trea‐ sury List) as approved for an amount equal to or greater than the con‐ tract amount, or must be

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

an insurance company domiciled in Louisiana or owned by Louisiana resi‐ dents. If surety is quali‐ fied other than by listing on the Treasury list, the contract amount may not exceed fifteen percent of policyholders’ surplus as shown by surety’s most recent financial state‐ ments filed with the Louisiana Department of Insurance and may not exceed the amount of $500,000.

However, a Louisiana domiciled in‐ surance company with at least an A- rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide shall not be subject to the $500,000 limitation, provided that the con‐ tract amount does not exceed ten percent of policyholders’ surplus as shown in the latest A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide nor fifteen percent of policyholder’s surplus as shown by surety’s most recent financial state‐ ments filed with the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

The Bond shall be signed by the surety’s agent or attor‐ ney-in-fact.

The right is reserved to reject any or all bids and to waive informalities.

An Equal Opportunity/Af‐ Action Em‐ firmative ployer. By: Lorna Rawls, Interim Director of Pur‐ chasing and Materials Management.

Tuesday, January 6, 2026, 10:00AM LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Building (Main Lobby) Skip Bertman Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70803 Bids shall be accepted from Contractors who are licensed under LA. R.S. 37:2150-2163 for the classification of BUILD‐ ING CONSTRUCTION. Bid‐ der is required to comply with provisions and re‐ quirements of LA R.S. 38:2212 (A)(1)(c). No bid may be withdrawn for a period of thirty (30) days after receipt of bids, ex‐ cept under the provi‐ sions of LA. R.S. 38:2214.

The Owner reserves the right to reject any and all bids for just cause. In ac‐ cordance with La. R.S. 38:2212 (A)(1)(b), the pro‐ visions and requirements of this Section, those stated in the advertise‐ ment for bids, and those required on the bid form shall not be considered as informalities and shall not be waived by any public entity.

When this project is fi‐ nanced either partially or entirely with State Bonds or federal funds, the award of this Contract is contingent upon the granting of lines of credit, the sale of bonds by the Bond Commission or the commitment of federal funds. The Uni‐ versity shall incur no obligation to the Con‐ tractor until the Contract Between Owner and Con‐ tractor is fully executed.

AD RUN DATES: December 10 and 17, 2025 January 5, 2026 169535 Dec. 10, 17, 2025 Jan. 5, 2026, 3t $203.37

PUBLIC NOTICE --ADVERTISEMENT FOR PROPOSALS Sealed Proposals will be received by the Purchas‐ ing office.

Louisiana State University Health Science Center in Shreve‐ port, LA, 1501 Kings High‐ way, Room G-22A, Shreveport, LA 71103, until 2:00 PM for the fol‐ lowing: December 18th, 2025: RFQ #007281 - EFFLUENT DECONTAMINATION SYS‐ TEM at which time and place the proposals will be opened and read. Specifi‐ cations may be obtained from the Purchasing Of‐ fice.

Evidence of authority to submit the bid shall be required in accordance with R.S. 39:1594 (C) (4).

166878-nov 18-dec 18 $394.88 PUBLIC NOTICE --REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS Airport District No. 1 of Jefferson Davis Parish Notice is hereby given that the Airport District No. 1 of Jefferson Davis Parish is requesting sub‐ mittal of qualification statements from Aviation Planning firms interested in performing planning services for the following project for the Jennings Airport, Jennings, Louisiana: 1. Airport Master Plan SCOPE OF PROJECT: The proposed tasks include aviation planning, sur‐ veying and related pro‐ fessional services for the above-mentioned project at the Jennings Airport.

The services will be per‐ formed as funds become available.

SCOPE OF SERVICES: The scope of services in‐ cludes development of an Airport Master Plan / ALP in accordance with Federal Aviation Admin‐ istration (FAA) Advisory Circular (AC) 150/50706B, and develop an Ex‐ hibit “A” Airport Property Map in accordance with ARP SOP No. 3.00.

GENERAL: Firms inter‐ ested in performing these services shall fur‐ nish statements of quali‐ fications on Standard Form 330 (SF 330). The criteria and weighting factors to be used by the Selection Committee in evaluating responses will be as follows: Resumes of the pro‐ posed project team ( weight value of 4 ) Example projects which best illustrate the pro‐ posed team’s qualifica‐ tions (weight value of 6) Firm size as related to project magnitude (weight value of 4) Knowledge of FAA and LDOTD Aviation proce‐ dures, policies and regu‐ lations (weight value of 4) The selection criteria shall be based on a nu‐ merical scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest possible score. The score for each criterion will be multi‐ plied by its weight factor, which indicates the im‐ portance of each crite‐ rion as it relates to this contract.

Following the evaluation of qualified applicants, the Sponsor will place the applicants in a final ranking based on qualifi‐ cations. The sponsor will then enter fee negotia‐ tions with the top-ranked firm for the contract, with the unsuccessful firms being notified ac‐ cordingly. Should these negotiations be unsuc‐ cessful, the Sponsor shall enter negotiations with the next-highestranked firm, and so on.

The Sponsor reserves the right to reject all appli‐ cants and re-advertise for the contract.

Following the successful negotiation of fees with the Sponsor, the suc‐ cessful firm will be re‐ quired to execute a stan‐ dard contract with the Airport District No. 1 of Jefferson Davis Parish.

The Airport District No. 1 of Jefferson Davis Parish encourages participation

by Disadvantaged Busi‐ ness Enterprise firms in all proposals to the maxi‐ ibl

FREE RENT 225-351-7449 AREA 4 NO CREDIT CHECK/LEASE! Fully furnished apartments ALL BILLS PAID including premium cable & WIFI. Pet Friendly. Stay where you're appreciated! Call 225-434-4161

Applications for the wait list will be accepted starting December 22, 2025, at 8:00 AM (CT).

The EBRPHA will stop accepting applications on December 26, 2025, at 4:30 PM (CT).

Apply online at https://www.ebrpha.org.

Applications will ONLY be accepted during the period the Waiting Lists are open. Applications will NOT be accepted in person, via mail, or fax.

Do not call the local Housing Authority to apply! Applications are processed in date/time order received.

AREA 6

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The East Baton Rouge Housing Authority is administered in compliance with the EBRPHA’s Administrative Plan and HUD’s rules and regulations. g

MOBILE HOME 1, 2 & 3 BR mobile homes, $675 & up 6061 Plank Rd. CALL 225-978-4653 ROOMS FOR RENT Furnished Rooms. $125/wk. $500/mo.

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PLACE YOUR PET SERVICES INFORMATION IN THE PET SERVICES DIRECTORY TODAY! • IT IS FAST AND EASY! • CALL 225-383-0111 DOGS Bluetick Coonhound - Old-Fashioned Bluetick Coonhound puppies. Should meet Gascon standards. Born 9/27/2025. Available 1st week in De‐ cember. $400 /512-228-6073

DOGS CKC YORKIES or SHORKIES - (yorkies are with papers) all are vet checked w/shot and worming, will meet in Gulf‐ port $700 (334) 467-3416

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Public Notices Bids/Proposals

A PRE-BID CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD

AREA 5 Doctors, Lawyers & Hunters; Form your own club, 1100acres of prime hunting land near Baton Rouge, Hunt mink to alligators, ducks to trophy deer. Comprehensive road network, price is $4.2 million, potential carbon credits or wetland mitigation credits. Text 225-4453108.

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AREA 5 655 North St. Subsidized eff Apts cpabr.org 225-383-5551.

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WANT TO BUY Old Records 33's, 45's & 78's. All types of music. Call 985-259-1889

The Classified Advertising Department will be closed on Thursday, December 25 to observe the Christmas holiday

5364 Jackson 2BR's 1BA, Rent $500, Dep $300 225-357-6436

AREA 5 1BR $550, 2BR $650 Tigerland. $500 Deposit. 225-475-1737

170764-Dec 17,1t $125.16

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of the children or any heirs of Vincent J. Sotile, Jr, please contact Attorney Elzie Alford, Jr at (212)8039184.

170325-12/15-16-17-3t $97.00

Kelly Terrace *999 Rosenwald Rd. Baton Rouge, La 70807 Zion Terrace *5958 Cadillac St. Baton Rouge, La 70811 Sharlo Terrace *4915 Alvin Dark Dr. Baton Rouge, La 70820 Capital Square *700 N. 17th St. Baton Rouge, La 70802 Duane St. *1701 Duane St. Baton Rouge, La 70802 Scotlandvilla *10666 Scotland Ave. Baton Rouge, La 70807 Monte Sano Village *3002 E. Mason Ave. Baton Rouge, La 70805 Wood Plaza *9990 Ave J. Baton Rouge, La 70807 Clarksdale *801 Swan Ave. Baton Rouge La 70807

AREA 3

AREA 5 1 & 2 BR Apts, W/D, C A/H, Starting at $850/mo Deps vary 225-315-0930

170761-Dec 17, 1t $125.16 Fast Stop Pluss LLC d/b/a Fast Stop Plus 2 is applying to the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control of the State of Louisiana for a permit to sell beverages of high and low alcoholic content at retail for offpremise consumption in the Parish of Ascension, at the following address: 202 Marchand Drive Donaldsonville, Louisiana 70346 Fast Stop Pluss LLC d/b/a Fast Stop Plus 2 Members: Rami Maree and Mahmoud Ziadeh

WAITLIST OPENING The EBRPHA will accept applications on December 22, 2025, for the following communities:

Baton Rouge Rental

Public Notices Bids/Proposals p p mum extent possible.

The statement of qualifi‐ cations form SF-330, shall be mailed to the Jen‐ nings Airport, P.O. Box 745, Jennings, Louisiana 70546 or delivered to 900 Airport Rd., Jennings, LA 70546.

Statement of qualifica‐ tions will be accepted until 2:00 PM on January 14, 2026.

Questions regarding this project should be ad‐ dressed to Mr. Dwayne Bebee, Airport Manager, Phone (337) 824-1567 or ricelandav@aol.com.

Firms wishing to apply must submit a fully com‐ pleted SF-330 Form. Fail‐ ure to provide all infor‐ mation requested may result in the submission being considered non-re‐ sponsive and the firm will not be given a final score in the evaluation process.

Doug Hollier, Chairman Airport District No. 1 of Jefferson Davis Parish Publish Dates: December 10, 2025 December 17, 2025 169681 Dec. 10, 17, 2t $138.30

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE (NOTICE OF INTENTION TO INTRODUCE RETIREMENT BILL – HLS 26RS-259) Public notice is hereby given, as provided by Section 29(C), Article X of the Constitution of Louisiana, that there will be introduced at the forthcoming session of the Legislature of Louisiana, to be con‐ vened on March 9, 2026, a bill relative to the Teach‐ ers' Retirement System of Louisiana; to provide relative to the reemploy‐ ment of a retiree through a contract; to provide rel‐ ative to benefits; to pro‐ vide relative to service credit; to provide for re‐ porting to the Depart‐ ment of Education; and to provide for related matters.

170407 Dec. 16, 17, 2t $42.82 PUBLIC NOTICE --Notice is hereby given that Air Products Blue Energy, LLC has applied for a 401 Water Quality Certification to clear, grade, excavate, and place fill to construct a facility to produce lowcarbon hydrogen and low-carbon ammonia on the bank of the Missis‐ sippi River off Highway 44 and Old Highway 22 near Burnside and Sor‐ rento and south of Gon‐ zales in Ascension Parish. In addition, a car‐ bon dioxide pipeline, a hydrogen pipeline, and a natural gas pipeline will be constructed. The car‐ bon dioxide pipeline will transport captured car‐ bon dioxide from the pro‐ duction facility to a car‐ bon sequestration site in Lake Maurepas and tra‐ verse Ascension, St. James, and St. John the Baptist Parishes. The hy‐ drogen pipeline would transport hydrogen from the production facility to Air Products’ existing pipeline network in As‐ cension Parish. The nat‐ ural gas pipeline will begin at a tie-point ap‐ proximately 5 miles north of Gramercy and will be located in St. John the Baptist and Tangipa‐ hoa Parishes. The natural gas pipeline will provide energy for the proposed sequestration facilities in Lake Maurepas. A carbon sequestration site will be constructed in Lake Mau‐ repas in Livingston, i h d h

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Legal Notices

p g Tangipahoa, and St. John the Baptist Parishes. Air Products plans to con‐ struct up to ten injection wells for permanent car‐ bon dioxide sequestra‐ tion. Deep monitoring wells would be installed in Lake Maurepas to manage the sequestra‐ tion. Two above confining zone wells will be in‐ stalled in Lake Maurepas for additional water sam‐ pling and monitoring and will be collocated with the deep monitoring wells. Additional infra‐ structure, including lay‐ down yards and tempo‐ rary workspaces, will also be constructed. Air Products Blue Energy, LLC is applying to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Environmental Services for a Water Quality Certification in accordance with statu‐ tory authority contained in the LAC 33:IX. 1 507.A-E and provisions of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. Comments concerning this application can be filed with the Water Per‐ mits Division within ten days of this notice by ref‐ erencing WQC 25 1 1 1 101, Al 23321 1 to the fol‐ lowing address: Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Water Permits Division P.O. Box 4313 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4313 Attn: Water Quality Certifications Comments may be sub‐ mitted by email to DEQWaterQualityCertifica‐ tions@la.gov.

A copy of the application is available for inspec‐ tion and review at the LDEQ Public Records Center at 602 North Fifth Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The available information can also be accessed electronically on the Electronic Docu‐ ment Management Sys‐ tem (EDMS) on the LDEQ public website at www. deq.louisiana.gov.

170837 Dec. 17, 1t $352.10

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

PUBLIC NOTICE --Central Community Schools School Board Meeting 11/10/2025 06:00 PM Central Administrative Office 11576 Sullivan Road Central, LA 70818 MEETING MINUTES _______________ Attendance ___________ Voting Members Roxanne Atkinson, Board President Michael Hooper, Vice President Jason Leaphart, Board Member Dr. G. David Walker, Board Member Nick Carmena, Board Member Carol Norwood, Board Member ______________ 1. Call to Order Chairperson Roxanne Atkinson called to order the Regular School Board Meeting of the Central Community School Board on Monday, November 10, 2025, at the Central Administrative Office, at 6:00 P.M. 2. Prayer Prayer led by Reverend Jeff Stanfill of Covenant Community Church 3. Pledge 4. Roll Call Tracy Barnes conducted a roll call. The following persons were present: ki i k

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p p Roxanne Atkinson, Nick Carmena, Michael Hooper, Jason Leaphart, Carol Norwood and David Walker. Mike Davis was absent. A quorum was present.

g p is already making a very positive impact on our services. She is actively growing the CCSS Child Nutrition page on Face‐ book. I would encourage our parents and commu‐ nity members to follow their page. We are very excited to welcome Mrs. Campbell. We are con‐ cluding a very successful fall athletic season. Our boys and girls cross country teams just com‐ pleted regional competi‐ tions and our boys are moving on to the state competition. Our Volley‐ ball team completed an outstanding season as well. They defeated Pon‐ chatoula in the first round of the playoffs and lost to the #1 seed last Saturday. There are great things ahead for Volley‐ ball. Of course, football moves into the playoffs this Friday against Dutchtown. We would love to see a packed Wildcat Stadium this Fri‐ day night! Central Middle School held an outstand‐ ing Veterans Day pro‐ gram last Friday, and the City of Central will hold their Veterans Day pro‐ gram tomorrow night (Tuesday) in the Central Intermediate Cafeteria.

Jambalaya will be served at 6:00, followed by the program at 6:30. The pro‐ gram will feature many CCSS students, including the CHS ROTC, CHS jazz band, and the CMS choir.

Central Middle School has a busy week with their Book Fair and their Fall Family Night this Thursday. Check Face‐ book and the CCSS app for more information about either of those events. Second Quarter Progress Reports will be sent home this Wednes‐ day, November 12th.

Thanksgiving Holidays will be Monday, Novem‐ ber 24th – Friday, Novem‐ ber 28th. Students and staff will return on Mon‐ day, December 1st. Our next Committee Meet‐ ings will be Monday, De‐ cember 1st. Our next board meeting will be on Monday, December 8th.

p the laws of the State of Louisiana and particu‐ larly Title 30 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 as amended, provisions of Statewide Order 29-M (LAC 43:XVII, Subp No. 29M-3 (LAC 43:XVII, Subpart 5), and Statewide Order No. 29-M-5 (LAC 43:XVII, Subpart 7), notice is hereby given that the Secretary has prepared three Draft Permits (Or‐ ders) for the referenced applications and that the Secretary will conduct a public hearing to solicit comments on the Draft Permits. The hearing will be held in the Ward 7 Recreation gym and Community Center, 1615 Horridge Street, Vinton, Louisiana, 70668 on Janu‐ ary 27, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.

g Compliance, Engineering Division, Rm. 817, of the LaSalle Building, 617 North 3rd Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. The Draft Permit and fact sheet are also available for inspection at the fol‐ lowing locations: Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, 1015 Pithon Street, Lake Charles, LA 70601 and Calcasieu Public Li‐ brary Vinton Branch, 1601 Loree Street, Vinton, LA 70668. In addition, the application package is available on theLouisiana Department of Conserva‐ tion and Energy website.

5. To consider approval of the minutes from the Regular School Board Meeting held on Monday, October 13, 2025 and take appropriate action.

A motion was made by Ms. Norwood and sec‐ onded by Mr. Carmena to approve the minutes from the Regular School Board Meeting held on Monday, October 13, 2025. There being no ob‐ jections, the motion passed.

6. To receive the Superin‐ tendent's report on per‐ sonnel. (Dr. Fountain) Board members received a report of one (1) Retire‐ ment. This was a report only and required no ac‐ tion.

Board members received a report of three (3) Res‐ ignations. This was a re‐ port only and required no action.

Board members received a report of three (3) Ap‐ pointments. This was a report only and required no action.

7. To receive a report from the Finance Com‐ mittee Meeting held on Monday, October 27, 2025 and take appropriate ac‐ tion regarding the follow‐ ing: a. Renewal of Employee Benefits Plans The committee recom‐ mended approval of the 2026 Employee Health Benefits as presented by the staff. A motion was made by Mr. Hooper to approve the committee's recommendation. There being no objections, the motion passed.

8. To consider awarding the bid for the Greenwell Springs Park Arena Reno‐ vations and take appro‐ priate action. (Dr. Foun‐ tain) A motion was made by Dr. Walker and seconded

by Mr. Hooper to approve awarding the bid for the Greenwell Springs Park Arena Renovations to McLin Construction with a base bid of $1,077,000.00 an Additive Alternate 2 Bid of $6,500.00, and an Additive Alternative 3 Bid of $18,600.00. This would bring the total bid, in‐ cluding Additive Alterna‐ tives to $1,102,100. There being no objections, the motion passed.

9. To consider approval of Hearing Procedures for Employee Discipline and a list of Qualified Disciplinary Hearing Offi‐ cers and take appropri‐ ate action. (Dr. Fountain) A motion was made by Mr. Carmena and sec‐ onded by Ms. Norwood to approve the Hearing Pro‐ cedures for Employee Discipline and a list of Qualified Disciplinary Hearing Officers. There being no objections, the motion passed.

10. To consider approval of an Out-of-State Field Trip request and take ap‐ propriate action. (Dr. Fountain) A motion was made by Mr. Leaphart and sec‐ onded by Ms. Norwood to approve the Out-of-State Field Trip request from Central High School.

There being no objec‐ tions, the motion passed.

11. Superintendent's Report April Kurtz, our long-time Child Nutrition Supervi‐ sor, will be retiring in De‐ cember. We will say more about that at a later date, but we have hired her replacement.

We are super-excited to welcome Mrs. Lorrie Campbell to our school system. She has been working in the Child Nu‐ trition department with EBR for 28 years. She brings a wealth of knowl‐ edge to the position, and ki i l d

12. Announcements a. Committee Meetings Monday, December 1st b. Next Regular School Board Meeting will be held on Monday, Decem‐ ber 8th 13. Adjourn A motion was made by Dr. Walker to adjourn the meeting. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

170807 Dec. 17, 1t $95.73 PUBLIC NOTICE Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy Office of Permitting and Compliance Vinton Dome Storage Hub, LLC (V032) Vinton Salt Dome Calcasieu Parish Docket No. UIC 2026-02 Application Nos. 44015, 44016, 44030, 44031, 44037, 44038 Pursuant to provisions of h l f h f

At such hearing, the Sec‐ retary or his designated representative will give any interested person the opportunity to pre‐ sent testimony, facts, or oral or written comments relative to the three Draft Permits prepared in re‐ sponse to an application by: Vinton Dome Storage Hub, LLC 2417 Shell Beach Drive Lake Charles, LA 70601 On December 7, 2025, Vinton Dome Storage Hub, LLC (VDSH) submit‐ ted applications to amend the original appli‐ cations received by the Department of Conserva‐ tion and Energy (for‐ merly the Department of Natural Resources) on March 16, 2023, for ap‐ proval to drill and oper‐ ate two Class III SolutionMining wells and future conversion to Class II Hy‐ drocarbon or Class V Hy‐ drogen Storage wells and to establish Class II, III, and V area permits.

VDSH published a Notice of Intent to file an appli‐ cation in The Advocate on November 6, 2025, and The Lake Charles Ameri‐ can Press, on November 7, 2025. The proposed wells will be identified as GED Storage Well No. 004 and GED Storage Well No. 005 and located in the Vinton salt dome in Sec‐ tion 33, Township 10 South, Range 12 West, of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Solution min‐ ing is proposed to occur initially at an approxi‐ mate depth of 7,500 feet below ground level. The base of the lowermost underground source of drinking water (USDW) at this location occurs at an approxi‐ mate depth of 850 feet BGL. A copy of the Draft Per‐ mit, fact sheet, or other information concerning the application may be obtained by writing to Gavin Broussard, Of‐ fice of Permitting and Compliance, Engineering Division, 617 North 3rd Street, 8th Floor, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, by phone at (225) 3425515, or by email to info@la.gov. The Draft Permit and factsheet are available for inspection between 8:00 A.M. and 4:30 P.M., Monday through Friday in the Of‐ fice of Permitting and li i i

Interested parties may submit written com‐ ments on the applica‐ tions. Written comments concerning the applica‐ tions must be received by the Office of Permit‐ ting and Compliance no later than 4:30 P.M., Janu‐ ary 28, 2026. Submit all comments to: Gavin Broussard, Office of Per‐ mitting and Compliance, Engineering Division, 617 North 3rd Street, 8th Floor, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. Comments may also be e-mailed to info@ la.gov. Please reference: VDSH - Class II, III, and V Permits, Docket No. UIC 2026-02.

All persons having inter‐ est in the aforesaid shall take notice thereof.

By order of: Dustin H. Davidson Department of Conservation and Energy In accordance with Act 393 of the 2023 Louisiana Regular Section, accom‐ modations will be pro‐ vided uponrequest to people with disabilities in order to access this public hearing. To re‐ quest an accommodation for this hearing, please contact Maranda.Rispone2@la. gov.

170829 Dec. 17, 1t $533.29

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