The Acadiana Advocate 12-20-2025

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Thousands of Epstein files released

Department of Justice admits its disclosure incomplete

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department released thousands of files Friday from its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein even as it acknowledged that its documents disclosure about

the wealthy financier, known for his connections to President Donald Trump and other influential people, was incomplete.

The records arrived with public anticipation that they could offer the most detailed look yet at nearly two decades worth of government investigations into Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and underage girls. But it remained un-

clear how much substantive new information was included in the photos, call logs, grand jury testimony and interview transcripts, or how much if any additional insight might be gleaned about Epstein’s relationships with rich and powerful contacts.

The files were being released in accordance with a congressionally set deadline of Friday, but the Jus-

tice Department signaled that it would not fully meet that mark, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche telling Fox News Channel that he expected the department to release “several hundred thousand” records Epstein Friday and then several hundred thousand more in the coming weeks.

MOVING ON

Their release has long been demanded by a public hungry to learn whether any of Epstein’s rich and powerful associates knew about — or participated in — the abuse. Epstein’s accusers have also long sought answers about why federal authorities shut down their initial investigation into the allegations in 2008.

Bowing to political pressure from fellow Republicans, Trump

ä See EPSTEIN, page 5A

LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM

Touchet addresses forgeries probe District claims due diligence in investigation of alleged fraud

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

Lafayette Parish school system Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr. said the district did its due diligence in investigating possibly forged construction bids and that it was an isolated incident.

Touchet appeared on KPEL on Wednesday morning to answer questions after The Current reported this week that the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office was investigating.

Touchet A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office would neither confirm nor deny an investigation.

The Lafayette Police Department, which investigated the allegations at the request of LPSS, sent the Attorney General’s Office its files, LPD spokesperson Sgt. Robin Green said. She said LPD sharing its investigative files does not mean the Attorney General’s Office will investigate, and she

ABOVE: Graduates show off their diplomas during the University of Louisiana at Lafayette 2025 fall graduation ceremonies at the Cajundome on Friday.

RIGHT: Graduate Muzzamil Shahzad waves to his family after receiving his diploma during Friday’s ceremony.

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP

ä See PROBE, page 5A

Louisiana gets $15M federal grant to expand virtual tutoring Program will help students behind in reading

BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer

Thousands of Louisiana students will receive reading help from online tutors through a $15 million federal grant meant to expand intensive tutoring and study its impact on struggling readers.

The five-year grant will allow about 4,500 students in first and second grades who are behind in

WEATHER HIGH 76 LOW 44 PAGE 6A

reading to be tutored through Air Reading, a company that connects students with live tutors over video. Several Louisiana school districts already use the program, including Jefferson Parish, where a new study found that the tutoring significantly improved struggling readers’ test scores.

The Department of Education awarded the research grant to the Louisiana Department of Education, which will coordinate the tutoring and track student data.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University will evaluate the effort to see whether gains like those in Jefferson Parish can be replicated

on a larger scale — in rural and urban school districts, and in traditional and charter public schools.

If the virtual tutoring program proves effective at a large scale, it could be a valuable tool for school districts that struggle to recruit and pay for in-person tutors — especially those in more remote areas.

“These dollars are essentially the United States Department of Education showing their belief in Louisiana and our efforts and saying, ‘We want to learn more because this could be a model for the

ä See GRANT, page 5A

Business ......................3B Living............................5C Opinion ........................4B Classified .....................2B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Nation-World ................2A

As Louisiana looks to ramp up tutoring, some schools are experimenting with tutoring programs powered by artificial intelligence.

STAFF FILE PHOTO

By PATRICK WALL

101ST yEAR, NO. 173

2A ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Judge orders elections for Miss. Supreme Court

JACKSON, Miss. — A judge on Friday ordered special elections for the Mississippi Supreme Court after earlier finding that the electoral map used to select justices violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in August ordered Mississippi to redraw the map, which was enacted in 1987, concluding the current configuration dilutes the power of Black voters. The Friday ruling gives the Mississippi Legislature until the end of its 2026 regular session to redraw the map.

Section 2, which is the primary way plaintiffs can push back against racially discriminatory election practices, is currently being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Once the legislature approves a new map, Aycock wrote that she will move quickly to meet any deadlines necessary to hold the special elections in November 2026.

Aycock also wrote that she will defer deciding which seats will be subject to a special election until after the new map has been adopted.

The order follows a 2022 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued the current map cuts Mississippi’s Delta region — a historically Black area — in half, diminishing the Black vote in the Central District.

“Mississippi is nearly 40% Black, but has never had more than one Black Justice on the nine-member Court,” Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, wrote in a statement.

“We couldn’t be happier to see justice on the horizon.”

In her August ruling, Aycock noted only four Black people have served on Mississippi’s Supreme Court. All of them held the same seat in the Central District and were first appointed to the position by a sitting governor.

Israeli fire kills at least 5 Palestinians in Gaza DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops fired over the ceasefire line in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, killing at least five Palestinians, including a baby, according to a local hospital that received the casualties. The killings came as the tenuous IsraelHamas truce has stalled in recent weeks.

The five died in Tuffah, an eastern neighborhood in Gaza City, said Rami Mhanna, managing director of Shifa Hospital.

Israel’s military said troops identified “a number of suspicious individuals … in command structures west of the Yellow Line,” and fired at them. The incident is under review and the military “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals,” it added.

The Yellow Line divides the Israeli-held part of Gaza from the rest of the territory, and was drawn under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that went into effect in October.

U.S. says 2 strikes on alleged drug boats kill 5 WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said Thursday that it had conducted two more strikes against boats it said were smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five people.

U.S. Southern Command posted on social media, “Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narcotrafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” though it did not provide evidence. It posted videos of each boat speeding through water before being struck by an explosion.

The military said three people in one vessel and two in the other were killed.

The attacks brought the total number of known boat strikes to 28 while at least 104 people have been killed, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

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3 killed in Taiwan knife attack

By The Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A man with at least one knife and smoke grenades attacked crowds indiscriminately in Taiwan’s capital on Friday evening, killing at least three people and injuring nine others, according to the national news agency and the city government. The suspect later fell to his death from a department store building.

Police said that the suspect was declared dead at a hospital after jumping from the building’s sixth floor, the Central News Agency reported.

The suspect, identified as a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen, threw smoke grenades near an underground exit of the Taipei Main metro station, close to the city’s main train station, and randomly attacked people with a “sharp object,” sending pedestrians running, according to media reports.

He then headed north to a popular shopping district, where he threw smoke grenades and stabbed multiple people on the

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHIANGyING-yING

Police cordon off the scene at a metro station after a knife attack in Taipei, Taiwan, on Friday. first and fourth floors of the Eslite Spectrum Nanxi department store, primarily in the neck, the news agency said, citing police.

Police later revealed that the suspect, between the two scenes, took an underground path to a hotel, where he fetched some “lethal weapon” — or some kind of edged

weapon — before showing up at a road outside the Zhongshan metro station, near the department store, according to the news agency.

Police said they were yet to find any accomplice and were investigating possible motives. Police said they recovered some “lethal weapons” in both the suspect’s

rental home in Taipei and the hotel room where he had stayed for three nights near Zhongshan.

Video footage aired on local television networks showed the suspect, who was wearing a gas mask and clad in black, dropping at least two smoke grenades at the Taipei Main metro station. He was later seen near Eslite and entering the department store while attacking passersby.

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an told local media that a 57-year-old man immediately tried to stop the suspect at the metro station’s exit, but was fatally wounded. National Taiwan University Hospital told the news agency that the fatal wound was “a penetrating injury about five centimeters in length caused by a sharp object that reached from the right lung to the left atrium.”

Taipei Metro said that a staffer was hospitalized after he inhaled excessive smoke while responding to the attack.

Another man died after he was attacked near the department store, according to EBC News.

Fla. woman killed 2 ex-husbands on same day, police say

BY BRIAN NIEMIETZ

New york Daily News (TNS)

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JACQUELyN MARTIN

New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, is unveiled Friday on the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Trump’s name added to Kennedy Center building

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Kennedy Center on Friday quickly added Donald Trump’s name to the performing arts center Congress designated as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy, a day after the center’s board of trustees voted to make the change.

Blue tarps were hung in front of the building to obscure workers on scaffolding as they executed the transformation.

Hours later it had a new name: The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

The board of trustees, handpicked by Trump, voted unanimously Thursday to add his name to what was enshrined as a living memorial to the Democratic president. Trump, a Republican, also is the board’s chairman.

Critics of the vote, including Democratic members of Congress who are exofficio board members, as well as some historians, insist that only Congress can change the name.

“The Kennedy Center was named by law. To change the name would require a revision of that 1964 law,” Ray Smock, a former House historian, said in an email.

“The Kennedy Center board is not a lawmaking entity. Congress makes laws.”

Congress named the performing arts center as a living memorial to Kennedy in 1964, the year after he was assassinated. The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.

The Kennedy Center is the latest building in Washington to have Trump’s name added to it. The U.S. Institute of Peace was recently renamed after him.

Workplace rights agency’s chair urges White men to report discrimination

BY CLAIRE SAVAGE Associated Press

The head of the U.S. agency for enforcing workplace civil rights posted a social media call-out urging White men to come forward if they have experienced race or sex discrimination at work.

“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas, a vocal critic of diversity, equity and inclusion, wrote in an X post Wednesday evening with a video of herself.

The post urged eligible workers to reach out to Lucas the agency “as soon as possible” and referred users to the agency’s fact sheet on “DEI-related discrimination” for more information.

Lucas’ post, viewed millions of times, was shared about two hours after Vice President JD Vance posted an article he said “describes the evil of DEI and its consequences,” which also received millions of views. Lucas responded to Vance’s post saying: “Absolutely right @JDVance. And precisely because this widespread, systemic, unlawful discrimination primarily harmed white men, elites didn’t just turn a blind eye; they celebrated it. Absolutely unaccept-

able; unlawful; immoral.”

She added that the EEOC “won’t rest until this discrimination is eliminated.”

A representative for Vance did not respond to a request for comment.

Lucas said Thursday evening that “the gaslighting surrounding what DEI initiatives have entailed in practice ends now.

We can’t attack and remedy a problem if we refuse to call it out for what it is — race or sex discrimination — or acknowledge who is harmed.” She added that “the EEOC’s doors are open to all,” and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “protects everyone, including White men.”

Since being elevated to acting chair of the EEOC in January, Lucas has been shifting the agency’s focus to prioritize “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,” aligning with President Donald Trump’s own anti-DEI executive orders. Trump named Lucas as the agency’s chair in November.

Earlier this year, the EEOC along with the Department of Justice issued two “technical assistance” documents attempting to clarify what might constitute “DEI-related Discrimination at Work” and providing guidance on how workers can file complaints over such concerns. The documents took broad aim at practices such as training, employee resource groups and fellowship programs, warning such programs — depending on how they’re constructed — could run afoul of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race and gender.

A 48-year-old Florida woman is accused of killing both of her ex-husbands in separate incidents on the same day.

Manatee County authorities claim Susan Erica Avalon shot one of her victims two times shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday in Bradenton.

Detectives tracked Avalon down and found her at home cleaning her minivan with bleach and rags, according to Florida station WWSB. When authorities told her they had questions about her ex-husband, she reportedly asked, “Which one?”

That led investigators to her other alleged victim, whom they found fatally wounded by multiple gunshot wounds in Tampa.

The back door to his home showed signs of forced entry.

Police said they located

the suspect by reviewing video of her stealing food from the pickup window of a Panera Bread restaurant, which she brought to her first victim’s home.

When he opened the door, she allegedly opened fire.

The 54-year-old victim later died in an area hospital.

Avalon and the unidentified victim had reportedly been divorced for 11 years.

She was said to have been $4,000 behind in child support payments, which she was required to pay in part this month.

Authorities said the suspect had been involved in custody battles with both of her alleged victims.

Avalon was reportedly arrested on a child abuse charge in 2004, but other abuse cases against her were dropped. Avalon’s issues are believed to involve five children from her two marriages.

She was living with a boyfriend at the time of Wednesday’s murders.

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U.S. launches strikes in Syria against IS lll

also were used, one Hegseth says artillery official said. is not the beginning it’s ‘declaration of“This a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United of vengeance’ States of America, under President Trump’s leader-

BY KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, BEN FINLEY and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration launched military strikes Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American interpreter almost a week ago.

A U.S. official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.

Another U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.

The attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, the officials said. F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and HIMARS rocket

ship, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.

President Donald Trump had pledged “very serious retaliation” after the shooting in the Syrian desert, for which he blamed IS. The troops were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the terrorist group.

Trump in a social media post said the strikes were targeting IS “strongholds.”

He reiterated his support for Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who he said was “fully in support” of the U.S. effort to target the militant group.

Trump also offered an all-caps threat, warning the group against attacking U.S. personnel again.

“All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth salute Wednesday as carry teams move the transfer cases with the remains of two Iowa National Guard soldiers and a civilian interpreter who were killed in an attack in Syria during a casualty return at Dover Air Force Base, Del. THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE U.S.A.,” the president added.

The attack was a major test for the warming ties between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago. Trump has stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops and said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this

attack,” which came as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.

Syria’s foreign ministry in a statement on X following the launch of U.S. strikes said that last week’s attack “underscores the urgent necessity of strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in all its forms” and that Syria is committed “to fighting ISIS and ensuring that it has no safe

havens on Syrian territory and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat.”

IS has not claimed responsibility for the attack on the U.S. service members, but the group has claimed responsibility for two attacks on Syrian security forces since, one of which killed four Syrian soldiers in Idlib province. The group in its statements described alSharaa’s government and army as “apostates.” While al-Sharaa once led a group affiliated with al-Qaida, he has had a long-running enmity with IS. Syrian state television reported that the U.S. strikes hit targets in rural areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces and in the Jabal al-Amour area near Palmyra. It said they targeted “weapons storage sites and headquarters used by ISIS as launching points for its operations in the region.”

Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer,

a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring U.S. service members killed in action.

The guardsmen killed in Syria last Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian TorresTovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the U.S. Army. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed.

The shooting nearly a week ago also wounded three other U.S. troops as well as members of Syria’s security forces, and the gunman was killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned because of suspicions that he might be affiliated with IS, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba has said.

The man stormed a meeting between U.S. and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards.

When asked for further information, the Pentagon referred AP to Hegseth’s social media post.

Stefanik ends campaign for N.Y. governor, won’t seek reelection Representative had dustup with Speaker Johnson

BY ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. — Rep. Elise Stefanik announced Friday that she is suspending her campaign for New York governor and will not seek reelection to Congress, abruptly bowing out of what was expected to be a bruising Republican primary and ending a once-promising tenure in the House.

Stefanik, a Republican ally of President Donald Trump, said in a statement that she was confident of her chances in the primary against Bruce Blakeman, a Republican county official in New York City’s suburbs. But she said, “It is not an effective use of our time” to stay in the race, and that she instead wants to spend more time with her young son and family.

“I have thought deeply about this and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don’t further focus on my young son’s safety, growth, and happiness — particularly at his tender age,” she said.

Stefanik was set to have a tough Republican primary against Blakeman, with both politicians counting them-

ence in 2021.

First viewed as a moderate when she came to Washington, Stefanik became far more conservative as Trump began to dominate the party.

Once someone who refused to say Trump’s name, she became one of his top defenders during his first impeachment inquiry. She would go on to vote against certifying the 2020 election results, even after a violent mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Last year, Stefanik was ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JACQUELyN MARTIN tapped to become the presiPresident Donald Trump talks to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.y., dent’s ambassador to the second from right, while Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., far right, United Nations, though her nomination was later pulled

looks on during a bill signing ceremony with members of the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey team Dec. 12 in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. selves as allies of President Donald Trump and attempting to court his support.

Though, the president had seemed keen on avoiding picking a side in the race, telling reporters recently: “He’s great, and she’s great.

They’re both great people.”

On Friday, Trump, writing on his Truth Social media platform, called Stefanik a “fantastic person and congresswoman.”

“Elise is a tremendous talent, regardless of what she does. She will have GREAT success, and I am with her all the way!” Trump wrote.

Stefanik, who represents a conservative congressio-

nal district in northern New York, has been an intense critic of incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is also seeking reelection but faces a primary challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.

Stefanik was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress when she won her first campaign in 2014 at just 30 years old, representing a new generation of Republicans making inroads in Washington. She ultimately rose to her party’s leadership in the House when she became the chair of the House Republican Confer-

over concerns about her party’s narrow margins in the House. She then began to angle toward a run for governor.

Stefanik’s decision follows a clash with Speaker Mike Johnson, whom she accused of lying before embarking on a series of media interviews criticizing him. In one with The Wall Street Journal, she called Johnson a “political novice” and said he wouldn’t be reelected speaker if the vote were held today.

The tumultuous early December episode appeared to cool when Johnson said he and Stefanik had a “great

talk.”

“I called her and I said, ‘Why wouldn’t you just come to me, you know?’ ” Johnson said. “So we had some intense fellowship about that.”

Still, Stefanik, the chairwoman of the House Republican leadership, has not fully walked back her criticisms. A Dec. 2 social media post remains online in which, after a provision she championed was omitted from a defense authorization bill, Stefanik accused Johnson of falsely claiming he was unaware of it, calling it “more lies from the Speaker.”

Dream Address Awaits

Trump eliminates Space Council

BY SANA PASHANKAR and LOREN GRUSH Bloomberg News (TNS)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to return astronauts to the moon through NASA’s Artemis space program with an eye toward building a permanent lunar presence.

The directive reinforces NASA’s current plans for sending Americans back to the moon by 2028 and for Americans to begin establishing the outpost by 2030.

It also reaffirms NASA’s plans to develop nuclear power in space, including readying reactors for launch by 2030.

Thursday’s order also calls for the elimination of the National Space Council with plans to transition its authority to the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The National Space Council is a White House body first created in 1989 to advise the president on issues of space policy and implementation.

The order further seeks to develop next-generation missile-defense technology by 2028 as part of Trump’s Golden Dome project and calls for developing capabilities to detect and track threats to the U.S. from

low-Earth orbit and cislunar space.

The directive is a comprehensive plan that touches a number of aspects of space policy, including coming up with ways the government can reform how it acquires space assets and investing in technology areas. It envisions the U.S. attracting at least $50 billion of additional investment in American space markets by 2028.

Earlier this year, the administration proposed phasing out the current Artemis architecture for returning humans to the moon and replacing it with more costeffective commercial replacements.

A number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers have since rallied around the Artemis program, warning that cutting it would put the U.S. in a weaker position in its space race with China.

Beijing plans on sending its astronauts to the moon for the first time by the end of the decade.

NASA’s Artemis moonlanding program has been criticized by prominent figures like SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who was a billionaire fintech executive before joining the agency.

Both have argued that there are more cost-effective ways to return to the moon.

Artemis, which relies on Boeing Co.’s Space Launch System rocket and Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Orion crew capsule, is expected to cost $93 billion by 2025 and has only flown a single mission.

NASA has delayed the first Artemis moon landing several times, most recently announcing that the landing on the lunar surface won’t take place until 2027.

In July, Congress allocated nearly $10 billion to Artemis in Trump’s signature tax and spending package to help fund the fourth and fifth flights of SLS for the program, missions the administration had originally considered cutting and replacing with more economical commercial alternatives.

In his second confirmation hearing on Dec. 3, Isaacman reassured lawmakers that he believed the current Artemis architecture is the fastest way back to the moon.

Development of the Artemis architecture also supports tens of thousands of jobs in Republican-controlled states like Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

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BROWN UNIVERSITY/MIT SHOOTINGS

Autopsy: Suspect died 2 days before body was found

BY KIMBERLEE KRUESI, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press

An autopsy determined that the man suspected in last weekend’s attack at Brown University and the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor days later had been dead for two days when his body was found, New Hampshire’s attorney general’s office said Friday Authorities found Claudio Neves Valente dead at a New Hampshire storage facility on Thursday night.

The autopsy determined that Neves Valente, a Portuguese national who Nevas Valente had been living in the U.S., died on Tuesday, the same day that his countryman, MIT professor Nuno F. G . L o u - Loureiro reiro died at a hospital, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella’s office said in a statement. It didn’t note an exact time of death.

Authorities believe that after killing two students and wounding nine others last Saturday at Brown, where

according to his MIT faculty page. That same year, Neves Valente was let go from his temporary student support and faculty liaison position at the Lisbon university, according to an archive of a termination notice from the school’s president at the time.

Neves Valente, who was born in Torres Novas, Portugal, about 75 miles north of Lisbon, had come to Brown on a student visa. He eventually obtained legal permanent resident status in September 2017, Foley said. It wasn’t immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017. His last known residence was in ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROBERT F. BUKATy Miami.

Photos of Brown University shooting victims Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, left, and Ella There are still “a lot of Cook are seen among flowers at a makeshift memorial on Wednesday in Providence, R.I. unknowns” in regard to motive, Rhode Island Attorhe was a graduate student ity ended the nearly week- and the killing of Loureiro. ney General Peter Neronha during the 2000-01 school long hunt for the person Police in Portugal said they said. “We don’t know why year, Neves Valente shot who killed two students and were contacted by U.S. au- now, why Brown, why these Loureiro at his Boston-area wounded nine others in a thorities Thursday once students and why this classhome on Monday night.

Brown lecture hall last Sat- Neves Valente was named. room,” he said.

Investigators on Friday urday. Investigators believe Rangel said Portugal has were still trying to sort out the onetime Brown student provided “very broad coop- Tip helped solve case why Neves Valente alleged- killed Loureiro in his home eration” in the case.

Police credited a person who had several encounters ly opened fire on the campus in Brookline, a Boston subwith Neves Valente for prodecades after he dropped urb about 50 miles north Suspect’s history out and later killed Loureiro, of Providence, on Monday.

Neves Valente and Lou- viding a crucial tip that led whom he attended school Perez said as far as investi- reiro attended the same authorities to him. with in Portugal in the 1990s. gators know, Neves Valente academic program at a uniAfter police shared secuNeves Valente, 48, was acted alone. versity in Portugal between rity video of a person of infound dead Thursday night Portugal’s foreign minis- 1995 and 2000, U.S. attorney terest, the witness — known from a self-inflicted gunshot ter, Paulo Rangel, said Fri- for Massachusetts Leah B. only as “John” in a Proviwound, said Providence’s po- day that the government Foley said. Loureiro gradu- dence police affidavit — lice chief, Col. Oscar Perez. was taken aback by rev- ated from the physics pro- recognized him and posted The discovery of Neves elations that a Portuguese gram at Instituto Superior his suspicions on the social Valente’s body at a New man is the main suspect in Técnico, Portugal’s premier media forum Reddit. Reddit Hampshire storage facil- the mass shooting at Brown engineering school, in 2000, users urged him to tell the

FBI, and John said he did.

John said he encountered Neves Valente about two hours before the attack in a bathroom in the engineering building, which was where the shooting occurred, and noticed he was wearing inappropriate clothing for the weather, according to the affidavit. Still before the attack, he again bumped into Neves Valente a couple blocks away and saw him suddenly turn away from a Nissan sedan when he saw John.

“When you do crack it, you crack it. And that person led us to the car, which led us to the name,” Neronha said.

His tip pointed investigators to a Nissan Sentra with Florida plates. That enabled Providence police to tap into a network of more than 70 street cameras operated around the city by surveillance company Flock Safety.

Those cameras track license plates and other vehicle details.

After leaving Rhode Island, Providence officials said Neves Valente stuck a Maine license plate over his rental car’s plate to help conceal his identity.

Investigators found footage of Neves Valente entering an apartment building near Loureiro’s in a Boston suburb. About an hour later, Neves Valente was seen entering the Salem, New Hampshire, storage facility where he was found dead, Foley said. He had with him a satchel and two firearms, Neronha said.

Diversity visa program paused after Brown University shooting

BY REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Portuguese suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings came to the United States through a little-known pathway called the diversity immigrant visa.

That program makes up to 50,000 green cards available every year by lottery to people from countries that weren’t well represented in the numbers of immigrant admissions to the U.S. in recent years. The visas are given out in a lottery system, and for people hoping to come to the U.S. who have no other way in, it is akin to winning big.

On Thursday night, once the suspect’s identity became clear, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X that she was pausing the program and that the alleged shooter should have never been able to come to

the U.S. The suspension is the latest step by the Trump administration to restrict legal immigration following acts of violence and reexamine foreigners already in the U.S. The administration has repeatedly pointed to the difficulties of vetting those people as a reason for the restrictions. But experts say immigrants go through rigorous screening before they are allowed to enter the U.S. Critics say the measures to curtail legal immigration are a form of collective punishment.

Access to green cards The diversity visa was created by Congress in 1990 as a way to give people from countries that were underrepresented in the U.S. a chance to come.

The American Immigration Council wrote in a 2017 report that the U.S. immigration system tends to fa-

vor family connections or employers when it comes to determining who can qualify for visas.

“People who do not have U.S.-based eligible family members or employers able to sponsor their visas have very few opportunities for permanent, legal immigration to the United States — even if they have other promising attributes that could benefit the country,” the organization wrote.

Each year, the federal government looks at who’s entered the country in the past five years and where they’re from. Then the government sets aside visas for people from underrepresented regions or countries.

This year, 35,000 slots went to people from Africa, 15,000 to Asia, and 8,500 to Europeans.

Even if you win the diversity lottery, that’s not a guarantee that you get to come to the U.S. Applicants and their

ber that he wanted to see the diversity visa “gone.”

In a later interview with The Associated Press, Edlow said he supports a merit-based immigration system that’s designed to help the U.S. economy and that he didn’t think the diversity lottery fit into that.

“I’ve never really seen at this point the efficacy and the utility to continue the diversity visa. But ConProgram already a target gress has to determine what Joseph Edlow, the head of makes sense for them movU.S. Citizenship and Immi- ing forward,” he said.

It was not immediately gration Services, the agency tasked with processing and clear whether Congress has approving all immigration- any say in pausing the prorelated benefits such as gram, although experts say green cards, said in Septem- it likely would in the case of

families still have to apply and pass vetting by the U.S. government.

And like any lottery, it’s extremely difficult to win.

The State Department said last year nearly 21 million people applied during the 37-day application period.

About 130,000 were chosen — that includes the main person applying and their family members.

Administration will appeal judge’s order reversing federal funding cuts at Harvard

BY COLLIN BINKLEY Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will appeal a federal judge’s order reversing billions of dollars in funding cuts to Harvard University, extending a standoff over the White House’s demands for reforms at the Ivy League school.

The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal late on Thursday in a pair of consolidated lawsuits brought by Harvard and the American Association of University Professors. The case has test-

ed the government’s power to sway the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, which has resisted a pressure campaign targeting elite colleges around the country.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled in September that the Trump administration’s sweeping funding cuts violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights. The judge said the government put unconstitutional conditions on Harvard’s federal funding and failed to follow federal procedures allowing the government to sanction universities for civil rights

violations.

The Trump administration cut more than $2.6 billion from Harvard over allegations that it had been slow to deal with anti-Jewish bias on campus. Burroughs rejected that notion, saying the government was using antisemitism “as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”

The notice of appeal is a first step in the government’s effort to have the ruling overturned. It does not provide legal arguments behind the appeal.

REASON 91

Our business and innovation coverage looked at what Louisiana can learn from South Carolina’s booming economy.

a full suspension.

Trump also attacked the program during his first term, at one point saying it brings in “the worst of the worst.”

Critics have attacked this step and others that the Trump administration has taken, limiting immigration from certain countries as collective punishment.

“This is the latest instance of the administration leveraging an isolated evil action to advance its goal of dramatically reducing legal immigration,” said Myal Greene, head of World Relief, an aid group that also works to resettle refugees in the U.S.

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lll

EPSTEIN

Continued from page 1A on Nov. 19 signed a bill giving the Justice Department 30 days to release most of its files and communications related to Epstein, including information about the investigation into his death in a federal jail. The law’s passage was a remarkable display of bipartisanship that overcame months of opposition from Trump and Republican leadership.

That law allows for redactions about the victims or ongoing investigations but makes clear no records shall be withheld or redacted due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Nov. 14 that she had ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate Epstein’s ties to Trump’s political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.

Bondi acted after Trump pressed for such an inquiry, though he did not explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men Trump mentioned in a social media post demanding the investigation has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.

In July, Trump dismissed some of his own supporters as “weaklings” for falling for “the Jeffrey Epstein hoax.” But both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, RBenton, failed to prevent the legislation from coming to a vote.

Trump did a U-turn on the files once it became clear that congressional action was inevitable. He insisted that the Epstein matter had become a distraction to the Republican agenda and that releasing the

GRANT

Continued from page 1A nation,’ ” said state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley.

Louisiana has attracted national attention since the pandemic for its embrace of intensive or “high-dosage” tutoring, where trained tutors work with students multiple times each week.

The state Education Department launched an ongoing campaign to help every school offer the service, and the state Legislature allocated $30 million last year for high-dosage tutoring and passed a bill requiring that it be offered to students in grades K-5 who are behind in math or reading.

“Louisiana is way out in front of other states in the field of tutoring,” said Liz Cohen, an education researcher and author of a new book called “The Future of Tutoring.”

Driven by research showing that tutoring can be one of the most effective ways to boost student learning, thousands of school districts nationwide used emergency federal aid during the pandemic to launch tutoring programs to catch

PROBE

Continued from page 1A also could not confirm if the Attorney General’s Office had opened an investigation.

LPSS initially sent its investigation to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office, which told LPSS to forward the information to the Attorney General’s Office, Green said.

Touchet said when LPSS was alerted to the possibility of forged documents in the summer, it started its own investigation before handing things over to the Lafayette Police Department. He said LPSS has been transparent with investigators.

“We truly believe that we did our due diligence as far as doing what we can before we actually went (to LPD),” he said. “I truly believe this was an isolated incident that took place that we are now rectifying and doing corrective bids.”

LPD arrested former construction director Robert Gautreaux in August and charged him with injuring public records and filing false public records. An LPD spokesperson said Thursday morning that the investigation was concluded in Au-

PROVIDED PHOTO

This redacted photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lying across several people’s laps with Ghislaine Maxwell standing above. records was the best way to move on.

Police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein in 2005 after the family of a 14-yearold girl reported she had been molested at his mansion. The FBI joined the investigation, and authorities gathered testimony from multiple underage girls who said they had been hired to give Epstein sexual massages.

Ultimately, though, prosecutors gave Epstein a deal that allowed

him to avoid federal prosecution.

He pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges involving someone under age 18 and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Epstein’s accusers then spent years in civil litigation trying to get that plea deal set aside. One of those women, Virginia Giuffre, accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters, starting at age 17, with numerous other men, including billionaires, famous academics, U.S. politi-

up students who fell behind, Cohen noted. But she said Louisiana stands out for continuing to fund tutoring programs after the pandemic aid ended and by providing guidance, such as a list of approved vendors like Air Reading, in its push to make tutoring available to every elementary school student who needs it.

“They really put their money where their mouth is on tutoring,” said Cohen, who is vice president of policy at 50CAN, a national education advocacy group that promotes tutoring.

At Greenlawn Terrace Elementary School in Kenner, Principal Wilbert Pharr said he’s been impressed by the virtual tutoring program.

Three times a week, students in first, second and third grade pull on headsets, pop open their Chromebooks and start chatting with their Air Reading tutors. Pharr said the young students haven’t had trouble staying focused during the 30-minute video sessions.

“We thought it would be difficult for them to sustain their attention that long,” he said, “but they love it.”

Last year, about 30 Greenlawn Terrace students participated in the pilot program — and all improved

their reading scores, Pharr said. As a result, the school tripled the number of participating students this year.

Pharr attributes the success partly to the “phenomenal relationships” that students develop with the human tutors, even though they only meet through screens.

“It’s not like an algorithm,” he said. “This is much more engaging, and the quality of teaching is top-notch.”

Researchers at Johns Hopkins’ Center for Research and Reform in Education evaluated the Air Reading program in Jefferson Parish and a rural Texas school district. Both studies used randomized controlled trials, considered the gold standard in education research, to measure the tutors’ impact.

In the Texas district, the roughly 380 students who received one semester of tutoring made reading gains equivalent to a month and a half of learning, the researchers found. The impact was larger in Jefferson Parish, where 170 students at five elementary schools worked with Air Reading tutors throughout the 202425 school year.

Those students, who all started out behind in read-

gust and the details were sent to the District Attorney’s Office.

Gautreaux is currently working at the district’s career center as an agriculture teacher with a focus on welding. He was previously an assistant principal there before he took the district position.

Touchet said during his KPEL appearance that LPSS is “waiting for the investigation to actually conclude” before making decisions about Gautreaux’s employment with the district.

The alleged forgeries were discovered while the state licensing board for contractors was investigating a complaint against a contractor that was doing work with LPSS. The licensing board was investigating a complaint against Bosco Oilfield Services in Maurice and its work with the district. That investigation centered around an August 2024 drainage pipe replacement project worth $74,500 completed by Bosco, which allegedly submitted the lowest bid. It did not have the proper licensing for that project, the licensing board said.

LPSS received two other bids for that project, but those companies denied

ever submitting bids.

The owner of Clements Construction in Lafayette, which according to LPSS documents bid on the project, “adamantly stated that he did not submit a bid proposal for that project.”

The owner of the third company that allegedly bid on the project, Siema Construction of Scott, also told a state investigator his company applied earlier in the year for LPSS jobs but did not submit this particular bid. He noted that the bid submission format for the drainage project differed from the bids he previously submitted to LPSS for other work.

Bosco Oilfield Services, since January 2024, has been awarded more than $224,000 in LPSS work through purchase orders, The Current reported in May. Some of those projects required a contractor’s license, which the company did not have.

The school system has since implemented additional internal safeguards to protect the district’s bid process, a district spokesperson previously said.

Contact Ashley White at ashley.white@theadvocate. com.

cians and Andrew MountbattenWindsor, then known as Britain’s Prince Andrew.

All of those men denied the allegations. Prosecutors never brought charges in connection with Giuffre’s claims, but her account fueled conspiracy theories about supposed government plots to protect the powerful. Giuffre died by suicide at her farm in Western Australia in April at age 41.

Federal prosecutors in New York brought new sex trafficking charg-

ing, made gains that translate to more than four extra months of learning compared with similar peers who weren’t tutored, according to the study.

“That’s large by what we would expect in tutoring or virtual tutoring,” said Amanda Neitzel, the Johns Hopkins research professor who led the study, who noted that the sample size was relatively small.

Neitzel said the results

es against Epstein in 2019, but he killed himself in jail a month after his arrest. Prosecutors then charged Epstein’s longtime confidant, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, with recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse.

Maxwell was convicted in late 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence, though she was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed over the summer by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Her lawyers argued that she never should have been tried or convicted.

The Justice Department in July said it had not found any information that could support prosecuting anyone else.

After nearly two decades of court action and prying by reporters, a voluminous number of records related to Epstein is already public, including flight logs, address books, email correspondence, police reports, grand jury records, courtroom testimony and transcripts of depositions of his accusers, his staffers and others.

Yet, the public’s appetite for more records has been insatiable, particularly for anything related to Epstein’s associations with famous people including Trump, Mountbatten-Windsor and Clinton.

Trump was friends with Epstein for years before the two had a falling out. Neither he nor Clinton has ever been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and the mere inclusion of someone’s name in files from the investigation does not imply otherwise.

Mountbatten-Windsor denied ever having sex with Giuffre, but King Charles III stripped him of his royal titles this year after Giuffre’s memoir was published after she died.

are promising because they suggest that virtual tutoring, which typically is more affordable than in-person tutoring and offers more scheduling flexibility, can still be academically effective. She also noted that schools sometimes struggle to provide students enough tutoring “doses,” or weekly sessions, but the Jefferson Parish students still made reading gains even if they didn’t receive the recom-

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mended 56 or more sessions.

Now, through the federal grant, Neitzel and her colleagues will evaluate Louisiana’s expansion of virtual literacy tutoring to elementary schools across several districts, at least a quarter of which will be in rural areas.

“I’m interested to find out,” she said, “can tutoring move the needle when implemented across the entire state?”

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ALMANAC

AIR QUALITY

LAFAyETTE THROUGH 5 P.M. FRIDAy

YESTERDAY

TEMPERATURE

High/low Normal high/low Record high Record low

MODERATE

66°/44° 64°/45° 81° in 1978 20° in 1981

MAIN POLLUTANT Nitrogen oxide

READING 51

TODAY

PRECIPITATION

GOOD

24 hours through 5 p.m. Fri. Trace Month to date (normal) 7.02” (2.86”) year to date (normal) 71.85” (60.71”)

MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today

FIRST

7:00 a.m.

5:12 p.m.

7:43 a.m.

5:40 p.m.

DEC 27

SOURCE: AIRNOW.GOV

FULL

LAST

NEW

JAN 3

JAN 10

JAN 18

THE NATION AND WORLD Today City

LOUISIANA FORECAST

RIVER STAGES MISSISSIPPI

Monroe 71/59

Shreveport 75/61

Jackson 71/59

Longview 75/58

Many 75/61

Hattiesburg 73/57

Alexandria 74/63

Memphis Vidalia-Natchez Red River Landing Baton Rouge Donaldsonville Reserve New Orleans OHIO

Cairo COMITE

Near Olive

Baton Rouge 76/62 Beaumont 77/64

Port Arthur 74/64

Lafayette

AMITE

Near Darlington Denham Springs Port Vincent

New Orleans 74/62

Lake Charles 76/65

TICKFAW

Montpelier Holden

Houma 76/63

ATCHAFALAYA

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

TIDES HIGH

First FT. LOW

Lake Pontchartrain (Tchefuncte River) 7:07a 0.6 Shell Beach 1:09a 1.5 South Point, Marsh Island 6:19p 1.6 Cypremort Point 9:23p 1.6 Grand Isle (Barataria Pass) 9:31p 1.1 Mississippi River (Southwest Pass) 8:46p 1.4 Wine Island 10:39p 1.3

FT.

7:03p -0.2 12:47p -0.3 7:55a -0.7 11:53a -0.2 8:19a -0.5 6:29a -0.6 9:21a -0.6

HIGH

Second FT. LOW

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FT.

--------8:09p 1.5 -----------------

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

Simmesport Melville Krotz Springs Butte La Rose Bayou Sorrel Morgan City

FLOOD STAGE 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE

34 48 48 35 27 22 17

-6.80 12.20 16.80 6.60 4.20 2.90 2.50

-0.40 -0.70 -0.60 +0.10 +0.40 +0.02 +0.47

40

8.98

+1.05

19

-1.38

-0.02

18 29 8

-0.71 10.82 1.76

-0.20 -0.32 none

13 15

2.01 1.28

-0.26 -0.12

47 34 29 20 12 6

4.95 3.45 3.69 2.81 2.40 3.00

-0.43 -0.22 +0.21 -0.01 +0.50 +0.32

Austin Boston Dallas Fairbanks Honolulu Las Vegas Louisville Miami Nashville

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

Sunday

Hi

Lo

W

Hi

Lo

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City

76 40 76 -26 82 66 56 84 60

53 34 48 -40 73 49 32 70 40

pc pc s pc sh pc pc sh s

70 46 58 -30 82 69 44 84 54

55 24 52 -39 74 48 27 70 33

s c r s sh pc s s c

New Orleans Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Raleigh St. Louis San Diego Tampa

46 92 58 46 48 73 51 48 84 77 58

44 72 46 41 45 56 40 39 67 70 43

sh s sh c r pc sh c s pc pc

50 90 59 45 52 74 49 46 84 79 59

39 72 42 38 37 55 41 35 70 63 40

c s pc c c pc sh pc t pc pc

Kuwait City London Madrid Mexico City Montreal Moscow New Delhi Paris Rome Stockholm Tokyo

Hi

Today

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Lo

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74 77 40 78 47 53 55 64 76

62 56 34 53 29 35 27 50 60

c s pc s c s pc pc s

74 80 48 81 35 61 42 66 79

61 59 26 54 19 29 31 55 60

sh s pc s s s pc pc s

64 50 50 72 29 34 68 50 61 45 61

47 45 42 45 26 31 51 47 43 34 57

s pc sh pc pc c c c pc pc sh

66 50 46 71 33 34 69 51 60 40 65

47 46 32 49 9 32 51 44 49 28 47

s sh r pc c c pc r c s r

Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

-10

-0s

0s

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

SOLUNAR TABLE The solunar period schedule allows planning days so you will be fishing in good territory or hunting in good cover during those times. Major periods begin at the times shown and last for 1.5 to 2 hours. The minor periods are shorter.

Today Sun. Mon. Tue. Wed. Thu. Fri.

Major

Minor

Major

Minor

11:10a 4:57a 11:36p 5:23p 11:34a 5:50a ---- 6:16p 12:32a 6:45a 12:57p 7:10p 1:27a 7:39a 1:51p 8:03p 2:20a 8:32a 2:43p 8:55p 3:11a 9:23a 3:34p 9:45p 4:00a 10:11a 4:22p 10:33p

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

Rubio clear about challenges in Ukraine, Gaza

BY MATTHEW LEE and DAVID KLEPPER

Trump seesawing back and forth between offering support and encouragement for Ukraine and then seemingly sympathizing with Putin’s hard-line stances by pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to agree to territorial concessions. Kyiv has rejected that concession in return for security guarantees intended to protect Ukraine from future Russian incursions.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio was hopeful but clear about the challenges facing the Trump administration’s RussiaUkraine and Israel-Hamas peace efforts and defended increasing U.S. military pressure on Venezuela during a marathon end-of-year news conference Friday.

In a freewheeling exchange with reporters running more than two hours, Rubio offered no predictions for timing or success on any of those three issues. He also said he was proud of President Donald Trump’s radical overhaul in foreign assistance and that the administration was working to reach a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan in time for the new year.

Rubio’s rare and lengthy appearance in the State Department briefing room came as key meetings on Gaza and Russia-Ukraine are being held in Miami on Friday and Saturday after a tumultuous year in U.S. foreign policy. Rubio has assumed the additional role of national security adviser and emerged as a staunch defender of Trump’s “America First” priorities on issues ranging from visa restrictions to a shakeup of the State Department bureaucracy.

Talks on Ukraine, Gaza planned Rubio spoke about peace efforts as national security officials from Britain, France and Germany were taking part in talks in Florida with Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the latest iteration of Trump’s Ukraine-Russia peace proposal.

Defends policy toward Venezuela

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks Friday during a news conference at the State Department in Washington.

A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Witkoff and Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, also would see Egyptian, Turkish and Qatari officials Friday for talks on how to get to the next phase of Trump’s plan to end the IsraelHamas war in Gaza.

Progress on Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan has moved slowly since it was announced in October. U.S. officials have been pushing to get the plan implemented by setting up a “Board of Peace” that would oversee the territory after two years of war and create an international stabilization force that would police the area.

“I think we owe them a few more answers before we get there,” Rubio said when asked about contributions to the stabilization force.

In a whirlwind of diplomacy,

Witkoff and Kushner are also set to meet Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Kirill Dmitriev in Miami, officials said. Rubio, who will be at his home in Florida for the holidays, said he would probably attend the meeting.

But he said there would be no peace deal unless both Ukraine and Russia can agree to the terms, making it impossible for the U.S. to force a deal on anyone. Instead, the U.S. is trying to “figure out if we can nudge both sides to a common place.”

“We understand that you’re not going to have a deal unless both sides have to give, and both sides have to get,” Rubio said. “Both sides will have to make concessions if you’re going to have a deal.

You may not have a deal. We may not have a deal. It’s unfortunate.”

The U.S. proposal has been through numerous versions with

On Venezuela, Rubio has been a leading proponent of military operations against suspected drugrunning vessels targeted in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. The actions have ramped up pressure on leftist Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S. Rubio defended Trump’s prerogatives on Venezuela and said the administration believes “nothing has happened that requires us to notify Congress or get congressional approval or cross the threshold into war.” He added, “We have very strong legal opinions.”

In an NBC News interview Friday, Trump would not rule out a war with Venezuela. Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have publicly maintained that the current operations are directed at “narco-terrorists” trying to smuggle deadly drugs into the United States. Maduro has insisted the real purpose is to force him from office.

Rubio sidestepped a direct question about whether the U.S. wants “regime change in 2026” in the South American country.

“We have a regime that’s illegitimate, that cooperates with Iran,

that cooperates with Hezbollah, that cooperates with narco-trafficking and narco-terrorist organizations,” Rubio said, “including not just protecting their shipments and allowing them to operate with impunity, but also allows some of them to control territory.”

Other peace efforts at risk Trump has spoken of wanting to be remembered as a “peacemaker,” but ceasefires his administration helped craft are already in trouble due to renewed military action between Cambodia and Thailand as well as Rwanda and Congo. Rubio, however, said those deals created a list of commitments that can now be used to push the parties back to peace.

“Those commitments today are not being kept,” Rubio said of the Thailand-Cambodia conflict, which now threatens to reignite following Thai airstrikes. “The work now is to bring them back to the table.”

In a departure from his predecessors who often limited questions to just four, Rubio responded to queries, including a handful in Spanish, from nearly every reporter seated in the 59-seat briefing room, which has not been used since the State Department ended its twice-weekly press briefings in August.

Since taking over the department, Rubio has moved swiftly to implement Trump’s “America First” agenda, helping dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and reducing the size of the diplomatic corps through a significant reorganization. Previous administrations have distributed billions of dollars in foreign assistance over the past five decades through USAID.

Transportation secretary’s daughter calls TSA ‘unconstitutional’ after pat-down

By The Associated Press One of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s daughters said she experienced an “absurdly invasive” pat-down Thursday at an airport security checkpoint and suggested her father would limit or eliminate the Transportation Security Administration if it was under his authority.

Evita Duffy-Alfonso said on the social platform X that she nearly missed her flight after opting out of a body scan because she said she is pregnant and concerned

about radiation exposure. She said she waited 15 minutes for a patdown and that TSA agents were “rude” and “tried to pressure” her into walking through the scanner.

“All this for an unconstitutional agency that isn’t even good at its job,” she said.

TSA said in a statement Friday it is aware of Duffy-Alfonso’s complaint. “TSA takes complaints about airport security screening procedures seriously and investigates complaints thoroughly to ensure the correct procedures are applied,” the agency said.

In another post, Duffy-Alfonso said her father would “radically limit” or “lobby Congress to abolish” TSA if it was under his control.

Duffy’s Department of Transportation controls the Federal Aviation Administration and is charged with setting and enforcing safety regulations for all major modes of transportation, including air travel. But TSA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

TSA is responsible for screening passengers, bags and cargo for weapons or explosives. It was created after the Sept. 11, 2001,

terrorist attacks.

“The ‘golden age of transportation’ cannot begin until the TSA is gone,” Duffy-Alfonso said, a reference to her father’s broad campaign to make travel more family friendly and revive what he calls “the golden age of travel,” including a recent push encouraging passengers to dress more formally while flying.

The Transportation Department declined Friday to comment on Duffy-Alfonso’s complaints.

In a follow-up post on X, DuffyAlfonso clarified that she supports

President Donald Trump and Homeland Security, “but there needs to be more common sense around how we treat Americans exercising their right to travel,” she said.

According to TSA, passengers can request a private screening as an alternative to the body scanner.

The agency warns on its website that “sufficient pressure must be applied in order to ensure detection” because a “pat-down screening is conducted to determine whether prohibited items are concealed under clothing.”

METRO

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

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S at u r d ay, d e c e m b e r 20, 2025

1bN

CONGRATS, GRADS! ABOVE: Graduates wave to loved ones during South Louisiana Community College’s graduation ceremony at the Cajundome in Lafayette on Thursday. More than 900 graduates were recognized for earning technical diplomas, associate degrees, certificates of technical studies and high school equivalency diplomas. LEFT: Graduate Ametra Joseph blows kisses to an audience member during the graduation ceremony.

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE

La. court says AG can hire husband’s firm Attorneys would help defend death sentences

Murrill has stepped into partner to help the agency a host of post-conviction defend death sentences, cases involving death row the Louisiana Supreme prisoners since Louisiana Court ruled Tuesday. resumed executions in The decision in the case the spring after a 15-year of condemned inmate Darhiatus. The Republican rell Draughn of Caddo

BY JOHN SIMERMAN attorney general has said Parish clears the way for Staff writer she’s intent on speeding Murrill’s office to employ Murrill up their path to the execuAttorney General Liz Murrill’s the Taylor Porter firm in office can employ the Baton Rouge other capital post-conviction cases tion chamber, and a recent state law firm where her husband is a as well. law that Murrill supported forces

Garbage, transit changes planned for holidays

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR

Staff writer

Garbage collection and transit services in the city of Lafayette and unincorporated parts of the parish will be affected Christmas week and New Year’s week.

Lafayette Consolidated Government announced the following schedule adjustments for Dec. 24-25 and Jan. 1:

Garbage and recycling Acadiana Waste Services will not pick up garbage and recyclables on Dec. 25 (Christmas Day) or Jan. 1

ä See GARBAGE, page 2B

many long-dormant challenges forward.

With the ruling, Taylor Porter attorneys are expected to enroll in more capital post-conviction cases for the attorney general. The firm currently represents the state in four such cases, according to Murrill’s office, under a contract that allows it to charge up to $350 hourly.

Among them is the case of for-

‘I feel hopeless all the time’

enclosed in a space where everything is conLSU nursing grad detained trolled.

I have no power to do anything. I feel all the time. And nothing is moving

by ICE may self-deport soon hopeless to help me.”

BY HALEY MILLER

As a child, she had applied for asylum. She had requested a work permit, which she had been granted previously, when ICE agents Vilma Palacios had just graduated from the arrested her in June. She did not have any LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing criminal convictions.

“On June 26, 2025, DHS law enand accepted a job with Touro Infirforcement arrested Vilma Nicol Pamary when she was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcelacios-Fuentes, an illegal alien from Honduras,” Tricia McLaughlin, asment agents and sent to the processsistant secretary for public affairs of ing center in Basile — where she has the Department of Homeland Secubeen detained for six months.

Palacios, 22, said she was deemed rity, said in a statement. “She freely ineligible for release on bond and admitted to being in the U.S. illegally. may have no choice but to self-deport She will receive full due process. To to Honduras, a country she fled with Palacios be clear, work authorization does not her parents when she was 6 years old, confer legal status.” and continue waiting for a resolution of her Friends, family and advocates have protestcase. ed her detention, emphasizing her contribu“The only thing now that I want is my freeä See GRAD, page 2B dom back,” Palacios said. “I don’t want to be Staff writer

mer New Orleans Police Department officer Antoinette Frank, the only condemned woman in Louisiana.

Murrill’s husband, John Murrill, is one of about three dozen partners in the Taylor Porter firm.

Capital defense advocates argued that the arrangement amounts to a conflict of interest.

ä See FIRM, page 2B

ICE officer accused of sexual abuse

Suspect worked at Basile detention facility

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR

Staff writer

An officer at an ICE detention facility in Basile is accused in federal court of sexually abusing a detainee.

A bill of information was handed down Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Lafayette charging David Courvelle with one count of sexual abuse of a ward or individual in federal custody.

Courvelle was a detention officer at the Louisiana ICE Processing Center, a federal facility in Evangeline Parish,

ä See OFFICER, page 2B

2B ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Man gets 13 years in 2022 carjacking

citing his past crimi- sheriff’s deputy at the Cir- vehicle at the gas station He impersonated nalButconvictions, U.S. Dis- cle K in the 13700 block of on Perkins Road.

Deputies said the two Judge Brian Jackson Perkins Road near Siegen a police officer, trict characterized Ennis as a Lane. He told the deputy men were gone by the time had flashing lights “violent and dangerous he was driving on Metairie they arrived. One of the

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

Alkeyvin Ray Ennis outfitted his Kia Soul with red and blue police lights, flashed them at a motorist to pull them over, then got out of his car dressed in a police officer’s uniform with tactical gear.

Ennis, 33, was armed with a stolen gun and radioed for “backup” during what was supposedly a traffic stop.

But when the man he duped into pulling over realized Ennis wasn’t an actual law enforcement agent, he tried to get back in his car and leave the scene.

When the man refused to give up his Honda Accord, Ennis struck him over the head with the stolen pistol he brandished and zip-tied the man’s hands behind his back. He left the bloodied victim with a gash to the head as he peeled away.

Hours later, he was arrested after leading Baton Rouge police on a highspeed chase that ended with him crashing into an 88-year-old woman’s house, court records indicate.

On Thursday morning, Ennis stood before a federal judge and atoned for one of his crimes.

“I apologize, and I just hope that you can look out for me,” he said.

GRAD

Continued from page 1B tions to the community and passion for nursing during a national shortage in the field.

“She’s doing it for the right reasons — she’s doing it because she wants to care for people,” Matthew Reese, one of Palacios’ nursing instructors, said. “She’s naturally kind of caregiving and has a compassionate disposition.”

Martha Lowe, her immigration attorney, said Palacios feels depleted, which is why she agreed to voluntary deportation despite having few connections to Honduras.

“I’m a Republican, and this just isn’t flying with me,” Lowe said. “This is terrible.”

Six months in detention On June 26, Palacios was attempting to get her routine vehicle inspection sticker when she saw an unmarked car pull up behind her.

ICE agents approached and told her she was under arrest, she said. She was not aware her case had been placed back on the active docket, she said.

She texted her friend from nursing school, Fritza Moise, immediately — two quick messages with the information that she had been detained and was on the phone with her lawyer. “oh my god, are you by yourself?” Moise texted back, offering to help if she could. “I hope everything’s okay and if you can just give me an update” Soon after, Palacios’ phone was confiscated. Over the

person” and imposed a 158-month sentence. That amounts to 13 years and two months in federal lockup.

“You didn’t have to pistolwhip that man. You didn’t have to zip-tie that man,” Jackson said. “How you did what you did was completely unnecessary.”

The sentence was only for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a charge to which Ennis pleaded guilty during a Feb. 5 hearing inside the U.S. Middle District of Louisiana Courthouse.

He still has to answer at the state courthouse down the street to several more charges tied to the July 2022 carjacking. According to 19th Judicial District Court records, Ennis has an ongoing case with a slate of charges that include false impersonation of a police officer, armed robbery, aggravated second-degree battery, aggravated flight from an officer and false imprisonment while armed with a weapon.

Jackson ordered Ennis’ sentence to run concurrently with any time he receives in that case or an unrelated case in New Roads.

The carjacking and attack happened late on the night of July 7, 2022. The battered victim approached an East Baton Rouge Parish

following months, Palacios and her loved ones oscillated between hope, confusion and disappointment as her case encountered setbacks, Moise said.

“After that, it became a lot,” Moise said. “We went through so much in nursing school together, and for me to be starting off my career without her is just so hard.”

Palacios said she has reached a state of emotional exhaustion after months languishing at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center.

She does not have access to her belongings and spends her days in a dormitory with other detainees, she said.

On multiple occasions, she has had trouble accessing necessities like shampoo and menstrual products, with pads sometimes taking a week to be delivered after requesting them from officers, she said.

“There would be many circumstances like that where we ask for something that we need, and they would just deny it, or we would have to be constantly explaining why and asking them multiple times and asking different officers,” Palacios said.

In a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, McLaughlin denied the description of the conditions at the detention center.

“Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE facilities are FALSE,” McLaughlin said. “All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment — including access to menstrual products, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individu-

Drive in the Perkins Village subdivision when the suspect got behind him in a dark-colored Kia Soul SUV and flashed police lights at him. The victim eased his car to side of the road, believing he was being pulled over.

But he said the purported officer got out of his SUV brandishing a gun and pointing the weapon at him, according to an arrest affidavit.

He told deputies the fake officer, later determined to be Ennis, was wearing black pants, “police boots,” and a black vest that said “Police,” the report stated.

Ennis ordered the motorist into the back seat of the supposed police cruiser.

But the victim realized Ennis wasn’t a real officer and refused. He tried to get back into his Honda and leave the scene, but Ennis got on his walkie-talkie and radioed for “backup.”

Shortly after, another man wearing a ski mask showed up and pointed a gun at the victim. Ennis then struck the man over the head with his gun, deputies said. The victim fell to the ground, where Ennis used zip ties to bind his hands behind his back. The victim managed to wrestle away from one of the gunmen and ran until he noticed a deputy’s marked

als in our custody is a top priority at ICE.” A spokesperson for ICE said the agency is regularly audited and inspected.

“This is the best health care that many aliens have received in their entire lives,” a statement from the agency Friday said.

‘Unimaginable’ A spokesperson for ICE said Palacios has been granted voluntary departure and “will be scheduled for removal to her home in Honduras.” If nothing changes in her case, Palacios said she was told by the judge at her bond hearing that the action would occur before Jan. 14.

“It’s very terrifying trying to picture how my life

Email Matt Bruce at matt. bruce@theadvocate.com.

would be over there,” Palacios said. “It seems unimaginable.”

She and her family are still hoping for a miracle, she said.

“My dream and priority are still to be in this country and create my future here because it’s the only place I have called home,” Palacios said.

McLaughlin praised the self-deportation option at the end of her statement.

“We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home app,” McLaughlin said. “The American taxpayer is generously offering illegal aliens $1,000 and free flight home for the holidays.”

Continued from page 1B Ethics experts say state law requires a higher stake than John Murrill’s 2.7% share of Taylor Porter to amount to a conflict. The state Ethics Board agreed in an advisory opinion in June, which the high court cited in its opinion.

The Louisiana Supreme Court earlier this year cleared Murrill’s office to represent the state in capital post-conviction cases when a district attorney requests it.

Its ruling on Tuesday makes clear that the attorney general can outsource the work.

“Taylor Porter has been selected by the Attorney General pursuant to her clear statutory authority to hire private counsel to defend the warden and state.

There is little as fundamental to a litigant as one’s ability to select the counsel of your choice,” the court stated.

Murrill says the government work done by Taylor Porter has been carved out from their income since she took office early last year.

“Neither my husband nor I profit off of this work. We won’t be deterred from our mission to see that justice is served, despite frivolous bad faith attacks from antideath penalty lawyers,” Murrill said Tuesday in a

GARBAGE

Continued from page 1B

statement.

Defense advocates, however, point to reduced funding for capital defense and a higher workload under the deadlines of the new state law. They say the state is paying outside lawyers at three times the rate of capital appeals attorneys.

“It’s just outrageous,” said James Boren, immediate past president of the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

“What is absurd is after the attorney general and governor and Legislature decrease funding for capital defense, increase the workload, decrease the amount of time to do it, the attorney general’s husband’s law firm is awarded a contract for hundreds of thousands of dollars for less work.”

Prosecutors and capital defense attorneys both say it’s unusual to see a private law firm step into a postconviction proceeding for the state. Taylor Porter is one of three contractors doing post-conviction work for Murrill’s office, according to state records.

While the court freed the firm, one of its lawyers remains barred from representing Murrill’s office on those cases. The ethics board found that Grant Willis, who previously led appeals for the attorney general, must sit out for two years. The blackout period for Willis ends next month.

available Dec. 25 (Christmas Day). n Day transit service, Night Owl service and paratransit service will resume regular schedules on Dec. 26. n All services will follow regular schedules on Dec. 31 (New Year’s Eve). n LTS will not operate on Jan. 1 (New Year’s Day). n Normal operations resume on Jan. 2.

(New Year’s Day). Collections normally on those days of the week will be pushed back one day.

After each holiday, all residential customers in the city and unincorporated parts of the parish may place additional bags of household trash three feet from their cart for col- LCG compost facility lection on their next schedThe Dean Domingue compost facility at 400 uled service day.

Dugas Road will be closed Lafayette Transit System from 11 a.m. Dec. 24 and n LTS buses will run remain closed all day Dec. until 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 24 25.

It also will be closed on (Christmas Eve). n Night Owl services will Jan. 1. operate from 2:30 p.m. to LCG city-parish buildings 8:30 p.m. Christmas Eve. n Paratransit vehicles All city-parish buildings will operate from 5:45 a.m. will be closed beginning at to 8:30 p.m. on Christmas noon on Dec. 24 and will be Eve. closed all day on Dec. 25 n No transit services are and Jan. 1.

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OFFICER

ana ICE Processing Center in Basile subjected a womContinued from page 1B an and three transgender people to abuse from 2023 to 2025.

The facility is operated by according to the bill of inforGEO Group Inc. and houses mation.

From around March 1 to females and detainees of around July 30, the federal various gender identities.

The civil rights complaint document states, Courvelle engaged in sexual acts with specifically accuses former an individual detained at the assistant warden Manuel processing center “under Reyes of abusing detainees. the custodial supervision and disciplinary authority of Courvelle.”

LOTTERY He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Lafayette THURSDAY, on Dec. 29 for a plea hearing.

DEC. 18, 2025 A civil rights complaint PICK 3: 0-7-4 was filed in September with PICK 4: 1-8-9-2 the Department of Homeland Security alleging a PICK 5: 6-9-9-0-9 former assistant warden, Unofficial notification, prison officers, and ICE emkeep your tickets. ployees at the South Louisi-

men fled in Ennis’ Kia, and the other sped away in the victim’s car, witnesses reported. During Thursday’s sentencing, Jackson indicated authorities haven’t identified Ennis’ accomplice.

Hours later, a licenseplate camera reader on North Ardenwood Drive alerted authorities to the stolen Kia that Ennis used in the carjacking. Baton Rouge police nabbed him after a short chase, when Ennis crashed the Kia into a home on North 49th Street.

When captured, Ennis was wearing a leg holster and clothing matching the victim’s description of the robber. He had police-style lights, a handheld radio and a black “police style” vest in the car, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Two of Ennis’ family members sat in the courtroom Thursday, and he waved goodbye to them before U.S. marshals walked him out of the courtroom.

Jackson noted a handful of letters that loved ones wrote on Ennis’ behalf before the hearing.

“Despite your strong family support, you chose to live a life of crime, and from a particularly young age,” the judge said.

FIRM

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Public Notices

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

p minutes from the Novem‐ ber 6, 2025, meeting as written. Seconded by Councilman Roy, motion approved unanimously.

g adopt Ordinance 2025-11, An ordinance to create General, Sec. 14, Article IX. Landscaping mainte‐ nance on commercial and retail property of the Scott Municipal Code. No discussion. Seconded by Councilman Montoucet motion carried unani‐ mously.

PUBLIC NOTICE --MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING HELD AT SCOTT CITY HALL THURSDAY, December 4, 2025, AT 6:00 PM The Mayor and City Council Members met in Regular Session, Thurs‐ day, December 4, 2025.

Mayor Richard, all coun‐ cil members, was pre‐ sent.

Councilman Domingue the Prayer and led Pledge.

Councilman Boudreaux motioned to accept the

Councilman Boudreaux motioned to accept the October 2025, Financial Statement. Seconded by Domingue.

Councilman Motion carried unani‐ mously.

Mayor Richard an‐ nounced several commu‐ nity events scheduled in the upcoming month such as Scott Mardi Gras Parade and Christmas in Scott.

Chief Chad Leger pre‐ police officer sented Robert Battles, School Resource Officer at Aca‐ diana High School a life‐ saving award and medal.

Councilmember Domingue motioned to d di

Councilman Moreau mo‐ tioned to adopt Ordi‐ nance 2025-12, an Ordi‐ nance amending Appen‐ dix C of the Scott Munici‐ pal Code to revise, enact and adopt fines and penalties for traffic and misdemeanor violations committed withing the corporate limits of the City of Scott. Seconded

by Councilman Roy mo‐ carried unani‐ tion mously.

Councilman Montoucet motioned to adopt Ordi‐ nance 2025-13, an Ordi‐ nance amending the

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

g Scott Municipal Code to amend Chapter 30 Article Parades.

Mayor IIIstated the Richard included in‐ changes creasing the quantity of allowed floats from 60 to 80, eliminating cars only allowing regulation sized floats, and no changes to the route. Seconded by Councilman Boudreaux, motion carried unani‐ mously.

Councilman Montoucet motioned to award the bid for the I-10 South Frontage Road overlay and reconstruction to El‐ liott Construction in the amount of $969,161.50.

Mr. Mark Savoy with Engineering Groom’s stated that this project was funded by Capital Outlay Funds and will consist of the stretch be‐ tween Park West to Mills Road.

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min g ried unanimously.

Councilman Montoucet motioned to award sub‐ stantial completion for Apollo Road, the Lebesque Road, and Rue Des Amis Road overlays.

Glen Lege Construction completed the project with a final construction cost of $793,367.15. Sec‐ onded by Councilman Moreau, motion carried unanimously.

Councilman Domingue motioned to change the January 1, 2026, meeting to January 8, 2026. No discussion or comments.

Seconded by Councilman Boudreaux, motion car‐ ried unanimously.

Councilman Boudreaux motioned to change the February 5, 2026, meeting to February 12, 2026. No comments or discussion.

Seconded by Councilman Domingue, motion car‐

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at was 6:31pm. ____________________ Jan-Scott Richard, Mayor ____________________ Shelley M. Gautreau, City Clerk 171101 Dec. 20, 1t $80.25

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Sony buys majority stake in ‘Peanuts’

Sony is buying a 41% stake in the Charles M. Schulz comic “Peanuts” and its characters including Snoopy and Charlie Brown from Canada’s WildBrain in a $457 million deal, the two companies said Friday.

The deal adds to Sony’s existing 39% stake, bringing its shareholding to 80%, according to a joint statement. The Schulz family will continue to own the remaining 20%.

“Peanuts” made its debut Oct. 2, 1950, in seven newspapers. The travails of the “little round-headed kid” Charlie Brown and pals including Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty and his pet beagle Snoopy eventually expanded to more than 2,600 newspapers, reaching millions of readers in 75 countries.

The strip offers enduring images of kites stuck in trees, Charlie Brown trying to kick a football, tart-tongued Lucy handing out advice for a nickel and Snoopy taking the occasional flight of fancy to the skies. Phrases such as “security blanket,” “good grief” and “happiness is a warm puppy” are a part of the global vernacular. Schulz died in 2000.

Sony acquired its first stake in Peanuts Holdings LLC in 2018 from Toronto-based WildBrain Ltd. In Friday’s transaction, Sony’s music and movie arms signed a “definitive agreement” with WildBrain to buy its remaining stake for $457 million.

Markets rise as AI stocks turn higher NEW YORK — Stocks gained ground on Wall Street Friday for a second straight day, wiping away losses from earlier in the week.

Technology stocks were once again the main force behind the market’s broader moves, especially companies with a focus on artificial intelligence. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed out the week with gains, despite several stumbles early this week.

Nvidia was the biggest force driving the market higher, with a 3.9% gain. Broadcom jumped 3.2%.

The technology sector has been fueling Wall Street throughout the year as companies with outsized values like Nvidia exert more pressure on markets. But, those pricey stock values have come under more scrutiny from investors wondering whether they are justifiable.

Nike slumped 10.5%, as the impact from tariffs overshadowed an otherwise strong quarterly profit report. Frozen potato maker Lamb Weston fell 25.9%, despite also beating Wall Street’s profit and revenue forecasts.

Wi n n e b a g o I n d u s t r i e s jumped 8.4% after turning in profits and revenue for its latest quarter that easily beat analysts’ estimates.

A survey from the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment in December improved slightly from November, but is deeply diminished from a year ago.

Consumer confidence has been weakening throughout the year as persistent inflation squeezes consumers. The job market is also slowing while retail sales weaken.

Ford recalls 270K-plus electric, hybrid vehicles Ford is recalling more than 270,000 electric and hybrid vehicles in the U.S. because of a parking function problem that could lead to them rolling away.

The Detroit automaker said that the recall includes certain 2022-26 F-150 Lightning BEV, 2024-26 Mustang Mach-E, and 2025-26 Maverick vehicles. At issue is the integrated park module, which may fail to lock into the park position when the driver shifts into park.

Ford said that it will implement a park module software update for free.

Vehicle owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332 for additional information.

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Trump announces lower drug price deals they charged in other devel- patients who have no insurance launch in January and will allow Nine drugmakers to what coverage and little leverage to ne- people to buy drugs directly from oped countries.

As part of the deal, new drugs gotiate better deals on what they manufacturers. charge Medicaid what made by those companies will also pay. But even steep discounts of Companies such as Merck, GSK charged at the so-called “most- 50% found through the administra- and Bristol Myers Squibb also they charge in other be favored-nation” pricing across the tion’s website could still leave pa- agreed to donate significant supon any newly launched tients paying hundreds of dollars a plies of active pharmaceutical indeveloped countries country medications for all, including com- month for some prescriptions. gredients to a national reserve and

BY SALLY HO

mercial and cash pay markets as well as Medicare and Medicaid.

Drug prices for patients in the U.S. President Donald Trump an- U.S. can depend on a number of nounced Friday that nine drugmak- factors, including the competition ers have agreed to lower the cost of a treatment faces and insurance their prescription drugs in the U.S. coverage. Most people have coverPharmaceutical companies Am- age through work, the individual gen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boeh- insurance market or government ringer Ingelheim, Genentech, programs like Medicaid and MediGilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, care, which shield them from much Novartis and Sanofi will now rein of the cost. in Medicaid drug prices to match Lower drug prices also will help

Associated Press

William Padula, a pharmaceutical and health economics professor at USC, said Medicaid already has the most favorable drug rates which in some cases will be close to what the “most-favored-nation” price is so it remains to be seen what other impacts it could have, such as more research and development.

Trump administration officials said the drugmakers will also sell pharmacy-ready medicines on the TrumpRx platform, which is set to

to formulate and distribute them into medications such as antibiotics, rescue inhalers and blood thinners as needed in an emergency.

Bristol Myers Squibb further announced that it will be giving for free to the Medicaid program its signature blood thinner prescribed to reduce the risk of blood clots and stroke. Known as Eliquis, it is the company’s top prescribed drug as well as being one of Medicaid’s most widely-used medicines.

House backs bill to speed permitting Change to limit judicial review for new energy and infrastructure projects

BY MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The House approved legislation Thursday aimed at speeding up permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects that now take five or more years to complete, as lawmakers seek to meet growing demand for electricity and other forms of energy.

The bill, dubbed the SPEED Act, would also limit judicial review as Congress seeks to enact the most significant change in decades to the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental law that requires federal agencies to consider a project’s possible environmental impacts before it is approved.

The bill was approved, 221-196, and now goes to the Senate.

Republicans and many Democrats believe the 55-year-old environmental policy law has become mired in red tape that routinely results in years-long delays for major projects.

The law requires detailed analysis for major projects and allows for public comments before approvals are issued. A recent study found that environmental reviews often total nearly 600 pages and take nearly five years to complete.

The House bill would place statutory limits on environmental reviews, broaden the scope of actions that don’t require review and set clear deadlines. It also limits who can bring legal challenges and legal remedies that courts can impose.

“The SPEED Act is a focused, bipartisan effort to restore common sense and accountability to federal permitting,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, the bill’s chief sponsor.

Clearing a ‘bureaucratic bottleneck’ While NEPA was passed “with the best of intentions,” it has become unwieldly in the decades since, said Westerman, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee and has long pushed for permitting reform.

“Unfortunately, what was meant to facilitate responsible development has been twisted into a bureaucratic bottleneck that delays investments in the infrastructure and technologies that make our country run,” Westerman said Thursday on the House floor.

Democrats agreed that the permitting process has become unwieldy, but said the House bill does not address the real causes of delay and undercuts public input and participation while overly restricting judicial review.

“The SPEED Act treats environmental reviews as a nuisance rather than a tool to prevent costly, harmful mistakes,” said California

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By TED SHAFFREy

The House approved legislation Thursday aimed at speeding up permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects, such as data centers housing computer servers and hardware required to support modern internet use, including artificial intelligence.

Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the Natural Resources panel.

“Weakening environmental review won’t fix permitting challenges (and) won’t help us build the clean energy future that we need,” Huffman said. “Gutting NEPA only invites more risk, more mistakes, more litigation, more damage to communities that already face too many environmental burdens.”

Eleven Democrats voted for the bill, while one Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, opposed it.

Amendment would block offshore wind Huffman and other critics also complained that the bill could harm wind and solar projects that ae being shut down by the Trump administration. A last-minute change this week allows the administration to continue to block some offshore wind projects, bending to demands by conservatives who oppose offshore wind.

The American Clean Power Association, which represents wind developers, pulled its support for the bill because of the changes, which were demanded by Republican Reps.

Andy Harris of Maryland and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey.

The GOP amendment “fundamentally changed legislation that represented genuine bipartisan progress on permitting reform,” said Jason Grumet, the group’s CEO. “It’s disappointing that a partisan amendment .... has now jeopardized that progress, turning what should have been a win for American energy into another missed opportunity.”

Harris, who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus, defended the change, which he said “will protect legal actions the Trump administration has taken thus far to combat the Biden offshore wind agenda,” including a project in Maryland that the administration has moved to block.

Westerman called the change minor and said that without it, “we probably would not have gotten permitting reform done.”

Environmentalists raise alarm Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, hailed the vote.

“Permitting reform is not just a business issue — it is a national priority,” said Rodney Davis, senior vice president for government affairs.

“Delays in project approvals hinder economic development, increase costs for consumers and undermine America’s ability to build and maintain critical infrastructure,” Davis said. “Modernizing this process will enable timely construction of projects that deliver affordable and reliable energy ... expand broadband connectivity (and) strengthen our ability to compete in the global race for AI innovation.”

Environmental groups said the bill undermines a fundamental environmental law while empowering the Trump administration to quickly permit polluting projects without adequate review.

“We urgently need to build the infrastructure necessary to address the climate crisis and to transition to a clean energy economy, but this bill is not the solution,” said Stephen Schima, a senior lawyer for Earthjustice Action.

“Far from helping build the clean energy projects of the future, the SPEED Act will only result in an abundance of contaminated air and water, dirty projects and chronic illnesses, with fewer opportunities to hold polluters accountable in court,” he said.

House approval of the permitting measure shifts focus to the Senate, where a broader deal that includes changes to the Clean Water Act to facilitate pipeline projects and transmission lines is being considered.

Home sales rise, but down from 2024 as prices climb million units, the National Associa- year earlier to $409,200, an all-time than a year.

Average long-term tion of Realtors said Friday.

Even so, affordability remains a high for any November on data goSales fell 1% compared with No- ing back to 1999. challenge for many aspiring homemortgage rates Home prices have risen on an an- owners, especially first-time buyers vember last year. The latest sales holding near their low figure came in slightly below the nual basis for 29 months in a row, who don’t have equity from an existmillion pace economists were even as the housing market has ing home to put toward a new home point for the year 4.14 expecting, according to FactSet. been mired in a slump that began purchase.

BY ALEX VEIGA Associated Press

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in November from the previous month, but slowed compared to a year earlier for the first time since May despite average long-term mortgage rates holding near their low point for the year.

Existing home sales rose 0.5% in last month from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.13

Through the first 11 months of this year, home sales are down 0.5% compared to the same period last year.

“It’s possible that 2025, unless December (sales) figures really improve, we may be technically slightly down from one year ago,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

Despite sluggish sales, home prices continued to climb last month.

The national median sales price increased 1.2% in November from a

in 2022 when mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

Sales have been stuck at around a 4 million annual pace now going back to 2023. That’s well short of the 5.2 million annual pace that’s historically been the norm.

Home sales got a boost this fall as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage declined at the end of October to 6.17%, the lowest level in more

A shortage of homes for sale, especially in the more affordable end of the market, continues to weigh especially on first-time homebuyers.

They accounted for 30% of homes sales last month. Historically, they made up 40% of home sales.

An annual survey of homebuyers

by NAR showed first-time buyers accounted for an all-time low 21% of home purchases between July 2024 and June 2025, while the average age of such homebuyers rose to a record-high of 40.

OPINION

4B ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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

ANOTHER VIEW

A lot of things you didn’t know about Christmas Christmas is the most celebrated day of the year. But we sometimes forget the holiday’s fascinating milestones.

Did you know? Jesus Christ was born between 6 BC and 4 BC, according to most biblical scholars, but the first Christmas observance sprang up organically between the second and ninth centuries.

During this period, the celebration took form, varying by region, with specific liturgies.

Christmas trees go back to the ancient Romans and Egyptians, who used evergreens during the winter solstice to reRon mind them that spring would soon return.

Faucheux In the Middle Ages, Christmas festivities were often rowdy affairs — not unlike today’s Mardi Gras revelries. In 1223, St. Francis of Assisi assembled the first Nativity scene. Candy canes first made their appearance when they were used by a choirmaster to keep children quiet in church.

In 1863, American political cartoonist Thomas Nast created a heavyset, pipe-smoking, red-faced, whitebearded Santa Claus, based on the olden tales of Saint Nicholas of Myra, a secret gift-giver. A jollier, tidier image was popularized by Coca-Cola in 1931. The story of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” first appeared in 1939, the product of a Montgomery Ward department store copywriter.

Louisiana and Christmas? Alabama was the first state to declare Christmas a holiday in 1836 and Louisiana followed in 1838. It wasn’t until 1870 that President Ulysses Grant made it a national holiday.

In the 19th century, Santa Claus in Louisiana was often called Papa Noel, Kris Kringle or La Christianne.

In Acadiana, German settlers celebrated St. Nicholas Day in early December. In the Barataria region, Trappers Christmas wasn’t celebrated until February. Many French Catholics started Christmas celebration with midnight Mass, followed by a Réveillon Dinner.

X marks the spot? Long before Elon Musk or Twitter, the abbreviation of Christmas as “Xmas” was used.

Christianity was spelled “Xianity” and “X” was the Greek first letter of Christ.

Favorite holiday songs? Though Handel’s “Messiah” made its U.S. premier in 1818, a recent YouGov poll finds that the 10 most popular holiday songs in America are, in order: “Silent Night,” “All I Want for Christmas is You,” “O Holy Night,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “White Christmas,” “Carol of the Bells,” “The Christmas Song” (aka “chestnuts roasting…”), “Mary Did you Know,” “Little Drummer Boy” and “Jingle Bells.”

Jingle Bells started as a Thanksgiving song in the 19th century when it was called “One Horse Open Sleigh.”

The most recorded and copyrighted Christmas song is “Silent Night.” Among the most disliked holiday songs, according to the poll, are “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” “Santa Baby,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

The hits keep on coming. Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” recorded in 1958, finally hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 2023 — 65 years after it was released.

Other events that happened on Dec. 25: In 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Roman Emperor. In 1492, Christopher Columbus’ ship, the Santa Maria, sunk on the north coast of Hispaniola. W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, James Brown, Dean Martin and Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day — and Issac Newton, Humphrey Bogart, Justin Trudeau, Barbara Mandrell, Cab Calloway, Clara Barton and Jimmy Buffett were born.

General George Washington crossed the Delaware.

The Continental Army was struggling to hang on at the end of 1776. On Christmas Day, Washington led 2,400 troops on a perilous nighttime mission to cross the icy Delaware River. Washington’s forces made it and the next day attacked the Hessian encampment at Trenton, New Jersey.

The Hessians, hired by the British to help them fight, were not prepared for the raid, as they were still groggy from celebrating the holiday. Washington went on to win key battles, providing new hope for the exhausted Continental Army.

World War I’s Christmas truce. In 1914, German, British and French troops in Belgium called a spontaneous, unsanctioned cease-fire. Germans sang “Silent Night” and British troops sang “The First Noel.” They shook hands over bombed-out trenches, shared cigarettes and whiskey and played soccer. It was a rare example of fellowship during a time of war.

What a difference a day makes — especially this one.

Merry Christmas.

YOUR VIEWS

Texas directive on Turning Point USA has ominous echoes

Don’t turn back on those who helped after Katrina The intrusion of Border Patrol and ICE into the New Orleans area is a violation of the sovereignty of local governments to manage their communities.

But the deeper, gut-punching violation is of the bond between citizens and the immigrants who made it possible for New Orleans to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm in 2005, immigrants were the ones who jumped at the chance to work hard and rebuild our city.

Yes, there were men who gathered in Home Depot parking lots to find work, and there was a lot of work to be done.

While residents struggled to return, these men provided the

muscle to get things done.

In the first months following Katrina, there were predominantly men who arrived with little but a willingness to work hard, which was just what we needed.

Later, wives and children followed and changed the demographics of the area, enriching our population “gumbo” with new people from other countries. New Orleans has always celebrated diversity, and we owe a great debt to the brave men who rebuilt our city.

To think of Border Patrol and ICE prowling around parking lots and businesses to entrap hard-working people seems to be a woefully misguided mission.

Texas’ partnership with Turning Point USA to establish chapters in every Texas high school is reminiscent of Germany’s Hitler Youth, the sole official youth organization in Nazi Germany. Hitler Youth indoctrinated Germany’s youth in Aryanism, a racist philosophy that resulted in the incarceration and murder of millions. While espousing free speech, much of the Turning Point philosophy demonizes others, including Blacks, Hispanics and immigrants.

Gov. Greg Abbott promises “meaningful disciplinary action” against any opposition to Turning Point USA in Texas. Is the right to refuse to participate in a philosophy that many people find abhorrent permanently suspended in Texas?

BRIANN SHEAR Metairie

Scandinavian countries don’t get those freebies for nothing On Thanksgiving, you published a reader’s letter extolling the virtues of the welfare states in the demographically homogenous Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

In it, he implied that those countries have lower taxes on workers and higher corporate taxes than the U.S. In fact, the converse is true. To wit, all three countries have higher marginal income tax rates than the U.S., and rates are over 50% in two of them.

More importantly, those rates kick in at much lower income levels than here. Extrapolated to the U.S., the upper half of the middle class would be paying the highest marginal rate.

Regarding corporate taxes, the U.S. rate is 21% and, when combined with state and local taxes, averages 25.6%. The corporate rate is 22% in Denmark and Norway and 20.6 % in Sweden. How then do those countries complete funding for their single-payer health care and other systems? Like most channeling Bernie Sanders, he does not mention the Value Added Tax.

Ron Faucheux is a nonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer. A version of this column was first published in 2023.

DEIDRE CHARLOT New Orleans

Trump’s drug war full of contradictions

For the uninitiated, a VAT is a hidden sales tax baked into the price of goods during production rather than at the point of sale. All the countries have a VAT of 25%, which is more than double the highest combined state and local sales taxes in the U.S., e.g., Louisiana, California.

With regard to health care, all three countries have single payer, universal access and, like Canada, Britain and our VA system, they have implicit rationing through the queue and no direct access to specialists.

The dirty secret on health care is that no country can afford unlimited, high-tech health care on demand to all, so the question is not if you ration but how.

Single payer may be desirable in the U.S. and is probably inevitable given the inexorable ratcheting down Hayek’s “road to serfdom” from Obamacare and other entitlements, but the transition won’t be simple, easy or cheap and can’t involve personal choice.

I am confused about President Donald Trump’s fight with the drug lords. We are fighting Venezuela because it is sending drugs to the U.S. We are pardoning a convicted drug distributor from Honduras.

Did the sons of El Chapo plead guilty so they could be pardoned after two years? So what is the message we are sending the world?

PRATIVADI PRASANKUMAR Metairie

Take redistricting out of Legislature’s hands The time has come for the state Legislature to relinquish the responsibility of drawing the congressional redistricting map to an unbiased computer algorithm.

The computer program should be programmed to draw the districts based solely on the population of the entire contiguous parishes.

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S at u r d ay, d e c e m b e r 20, 2025

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1cN

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF

Retzlaff’s road to redemption had plenty of help Tulane QB credits N.O.’s Jewish community with easing transition ä Tulane at Ole Miss.

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

2:30 P.M. SATURDAy,TNT

When Jake Retzlaff moved to New Orleans this summer, he knew one person.

Tulane coach Jon Sumrall had recruited him for Troy University a few years ago when Retzlaff was a standout junior-college quarterback in California. Otherwise, Retzlaff knew no one.

As the first Jewish quarterback in Tulane modern football history, he was not a lonely stranger for long. He quickly made friends, ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By NIKKI BOERTMAN many of them through the city’s Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff, right, celebrates with defensive back Javion proud and extensive Jewish community.

White after the Green Wave beat Memphis on Nov. 7 in Memphis, Tenn.

The outreach was New Orleans

at its best, a vivid example of the city’s renowned hospitality and joie de vie. And it facilitated a transition more seamless than anyone could have imagined after Retzlaff’s controversial midsummer transfer from Brigham Young.

As a result, Retzlaff and Tulane have made history. Since winning the starting job in preseason camp, he’s led the Green Wave to an 11-2 record, the second American Conference championship in school annals and a landmark berth in the College Football Play-

JE T S AT SAIN T S • NOON SUNDAy • CBS

Spurned Saints

off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Ole Miss.

“God’s got a plan for me, and that’s extremely hard to realize when you’re in the middle of that horrible time and there’s so much uncertainty,” Retzlaff said. “But here we are now in the College Football Playoff, and I get to meet all these people and create all these relationships (at Tulane and around New Orleans). It’s made me feel like I have a real connection to New Orleans and been super impactful on me.”

Retzlaff arrived at Tulane in July after leaving BYU to avoid a suspension for violating the

ä See RETZLAFF, page 3C

White ejected as UL’s slide continues

Loss at Southern Miss is Cajuns’ 10th straight

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By PHELAN M. EBENHACK

New york Jets coach Aaron Glenn speaks during a news conference conference after Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Jacksonville, Fla. A former Saints assistant coach, Glenn will lead his new team against New Orleans on Sunday in the Caesars Superdome.

Glenn makes first trip to Dome after choosing Jets coaching job over N.O. Eleven months ago, Aaron Glenn had some people thinking the New Orleans Saints head coaching job was the worst one in the league.

That’s when Glenn, who played for the Saints and also served as an assistant coach in New Orleans, chose not to even do an in-person interview with the organization. He did a virtual interview, then accepted the gig with the New York Jets, the team that drafted him in 1994.

Choosing the Jets over the Saints stung for New Orleans, especially considering the Jets had missed the playoffs 14 seasons in a row. That’s the longest postseason drought in any of the four major sports. This year makes 15 straight for

Rod Walker the Jets, the team Glenn played for during his first eight NFL seasons.

Yet that was the job Glenn chose, leaving many Saints fans saying: “Dang, he chose the Jets over us?”

But at the time, the Saints were more than $50 million over the salary cap, had

a roster that was getting old and plenty of long-term uncertainty at quarterback with Derek Carr penciled in as the starter.

Glenn, who spent the past four seasons as defensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, was toward the top of Saints general manager Mickey Loomis’ wish list.

Loomis ended up hiring Kellen Moore, whose previous six seasons included offensive coordinator stints with the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles.

So which team ended up getting the best coach?

The answer to that question won’t be

ä See WALKER, page 3C

Borrego: Practice key to N.O.’s defensive uptick place in a Pelicans top Rockets took span of 23 days, included for third straight win which three sets of back-

BY LES EAST

Contributing writer The New Orleans Pelicans have won three games in a row for the first time this season.

It’s no coincidence that this stretch has come during the least condensed part of the schedule since James Borrego took over as interim head coach last month.

The first 13 games under Borrego (of which 12 were losses)

to-back games.

That left virtually no time for meaningful practices.

But since that Borrego stretch ended, 11 days have passed and Borrego has had six practices surrounding the three victories, including Friday’s workout that was squeezed between a dramatic 133-128 overtime victory against Houston on Thursday and the game against

ä Pacers at Pelicans.

6 P.M. SATURDAy, KNGC

Indiana at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Smoothie King Center.

“We spent a lot of time on the defensive end,” Borrego said before the game against the Rockets. “We’ve been bleeding on that end of the floor.”

Borrego cited “better communication in transition” and rebounding as two areas where the team has been “really digging in.”

“If we can stabilize those two areas, we’re going to have a chance

to guard,” he said. “We’re going to give ourselves a chance.”

Those areas of improvement were evident when New Orleans matched its second-lowest point total allowed this season in a 114104 victory at Chicago on Sunday.

The Pelicans outrebounded the Bulls 43-33, but Borrego was concerned about how the Pelicans would match up with the Rockets — the No. 1 team in the NBA in offensive rebounds, total rebounds and rebounding margin.

Houston easily won the

ä See PELICANS, page 3C

The frustration is starting to boil over for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns.

Hoping to avoid a 10-game losing streak in Thursday’s Sun Belt Conference opener at Southern Miss, the Cajuns were in position for a big victory only to fall 62-54 to the Golden Eagles at Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

First-year UL coach Quannas White didn’t finish the game on the bench because he was ejected with 2:04 left to play.

Down 50-44 at ä UL at the time, UL guard UL-Monroe.

De’Vion Lavergne 2 P.M. SATURDAy, drove to the basket ESPN+ and there was a lot of contact with no foul called.

“I apologize for the way I reacted, because you can’t react like that as a head coach,” White said.

“I let my emotions get the best of me. That’s the God honest truth.”

White had just watched 38 minutes of a game where his players were called for foul after foul without much contact. The result was Southern Miss shooting 39 free throws in the game to only 13 for the Cajuns.

“To come on the road and have my guys play and fight that hard,” White said. “These possessions are so important. And I thought, there were a couple of possessions where calls weren’t made by the particular ref that I had an issue with.

“Anyone can see that he got fouled. He got fouled. But you make no excuses. We have to get better.”

White erupted and was given a technical foul and quickly was ejected for a second technical, resulting in two free throws.

ä See WHITE, page 3C

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL coach Quannas White was ejected late in the Cajuns’ 62-54 loss to Southern Miss on Thursday night in Hattiesburg, Miss.

2C ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS On TV

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 11 a.m. Oakland vs. Michigan St. BTN 11:30 a.m. St. John’s vs. Kentucky CBS 11:30 a.m. Liberty at Dayton USA 1 p.m.

Colorado St. at Utah St. CBSSN 2 p.m.

North Carolina vs. Ohio St. CBS 3 p.m.

Memphis at Mississippi St. ESPN 3 p.m.

Northwestern vs. Butler Peacock 4:30 p.m. Houston vs.Arkansas CBS 5 p.m.

Bucknell at Iowa BTN 5 p.m.

Maryland at Virginia ESPN 5:30 p.m. Auburn vs. Purdue Peacock 7 p.m.

Penn at Rutgers BTN 7 p.m.

Duke vs.Texas Tech ESPN 7 p.m.

Stanford vs. Colorado ESPNU 7:30 p.m. Xavier at Georgetown FS1 7:30 p.m. Marquette at Creighton Peacock 9:30 p.m. San Diego St. vs.Arizona ESPN2 WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 10 a.m. Louisville vs.Tennessee Fox

12:30 p.m. Iowa vs. UConn Fox COLLEGE FOOTBALL 11 a.m. CFP: Miami at Texas A&M ABC, ESPN 2:30 p.m. CFP: Tulane at Mississippi TBS,TNT 3 p.m.

FCS semi.: Montana at Montana St. ABC 3 p.m.

D-II Champ.: Harding vs.Ferris St. ESPN2 6:30 p.m. FCS semi: Illinois St.atVillanova ESPN2 6:30 p.m. CFP: James Madison at Oregon TBS,TNT GOLF 3 a.m.

AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open Golf 1:30 p.m. PNC Championship NBC HORSE RACING 1:30 p.m. America’s Day at the Races FS1 NBA 4 p.m.

Houston at Denver NBATV 6 p.m.

Indiana at New Orleans KNGC 6:30 p.m. Charlotte at Detroit NBATV 9:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers at L.A. Clippers NBATV NBA G-LEAGUE 11 a.m. South Bay vs. Sioux Falls NBATV 1:30 p.m. Westchester vs. R.G.Valley NBATV

IN BRIEF

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

2:30 p.m. Capital City vs. Okla. City ESPNEWS 5 p.m.

Memphis vs.Windy City ESPNU 7:30 p.m. Motor City vs.Valley ESPNEWS NFL 4 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington Fox 7:20 p.m. Green Bay at Chicago Fox NHL 11:30 a.m. Detroit at Washington NHLN 6 p.m.

Vancouver at Boston NHLN SKIING/SNOWBOARDING 12:30 p.m. FIS: World Cup CNBC MEN’S SOCCER 6:25 a.m. Coventry City at Southampton CBSSN 6:30 a.m. Chelsea at Newcastle United USA 8:55 a.m. Middlesbrough at Bristol City CBSSN 9 a.m.

West Ham at Man. City USA 11:30 a.m. Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur NBC 2 p.m.

Crystal Palace at Leeds United USA TENNIS 10 a.m. Next Gen Finals: Semifinals Tennis

Angels settle lawsuit with family of pitcher Skaggs

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels reached a confidential settlement Friday with the family of late pitcher Tyler Skaggs after a lengthy trial that detailed drug use by players.

The two-month trial centered on whether the Angels bore responsibility for Skaggs’ 2019 overdose death on a team trip to Texas after he’d been given a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl by the team’s then-communications director, Eric Kay. The last-minute settlement was reached as jurors were nearing the end of their deliberations, they said.

The jury had concluded the Angels were negligent and had moved on to determining what percentage of responsibility the team shared for Skaggs’ death.

driver Keselowski Acadiana Senior Bowl to feature area stars NASCAR breaks right leg on ski trip

BY MIKE COPPAGE Contributing writer

For several years, Lafayette was home to the I-10 Bowl, a postseason high school football all-star game pitting players from the Lake Charles area against locals.

The Lake Charles contingent declined to keep participating, which got Lafayette Christian coaches Matt Standiford and Mitch Craft and Northside coach Cedric Figaro thinking about how they could put on a similar event but with all the players from this area.

That’s how the inaugural Acadiana Senior Bowl, which will be played at noon Saturday at Lafayette Christian, came to fruition.

“We wanted to put something on for the kids,” Standiford said.

“There is so much talent in this area that we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.”

The two squads — Team Legacy and Team Heritage — are divided into rosters of approximately 50 players each.

PREP REPORT Basketball Southside Tournament

Boys at Southside High

Wednesday’s Games

Plaquemine 47, Lafayette High 40 Zachary 67, St. Martinville 31 Ellender 47, David Thibodaux 42 Southside 78, Franklin 43

Thursday’s Games

Zachary 38, Evangel 38 Plaquemine 59, Captain Shreve 58 Ellender 51, St. Louis 48

Southside 47, Thibodaux 41

THIBODAUX (41) A. Holmes 8, J. Terrell 2, R. Tolbert 8, A. Randolph 6, Q. Wagner 4, C. Howard 6, A. Gautreaux 7.

SOUTHSIDE (47) Jon Armstrong 3, Jordan Armstrong 3, Ryder Jackson 27, Taylor Williams 5, T. Jones 9.

Thibodaux 10 13 8 10 – 41 Southside 14 11 8 14 – 47 3-pointers – THIB: Tolbert 1, Gautreaux 1; SOU: Jackson 4. Total Fouls: THIB 19, SOU 14.

Teurlings Round Robin Boys at Teurlings Catholic

Thursday’s Games

Parkview Baptist 58, Church Point 39 North Vermilion 60, Opelousas Catholic 54 East Iberville 65, Acadiana Renaissance 35

Teurlings 70, Westminster-Laf. 25

WESTMINSTER-LAFAYETTE (25) Zeph Prejean 4, Zade Prejean 3, Josh Rupert 5, Ben Andress 9, Landon Wilbanks 4. Totals: 8 (2) 3-4.

TEURLINGS (70) Brewer Cain 3, Tayerence Alfred 5, Jordan Sinegal 18, AJ Price 12, Grayson Moore 3, Gary LaBue 15, Riley Stout 2, DeVon Warren 7, Joshua Gaspard 2.

Totals: 22 (5) 8-15.

WCAL 7 9 4 3 — 25 Teurlings 18 23 19 10 — 70 3-pointers – TEUR: LaBue 3, AJ Price 1, Brewer Cain; WCAL: Andress 1, Zaid Prejean 1. Total Fouls: TEUR 3, WCAL 11.

Mamou 43, Comeaux 41

COMEAUX (41) Jakari Frank 6, Charles Lee 19, Khali Johnson 1, Amontee Abraham 1, Terrance Roy 12, Brayline Ward 2. Totals: 17 7-12.

MAMOU (43) Ernest Dugas 17, Zamaurri Brown 2, Jamison Viltz 12, Braxton Ardoin 6, Mattio Mazzea 6. Totals: 11 (5) 6-13.

Comeaux 10 12 8 11 — 41 Mamou 8 11 8 16 — 43 3-pointers – Mamou: Dugas 2, Viltz 1, Mazzea 2. Total Fouls: Comeaux 18, Mamou 12.

ESA 55, Loreauville 48

EPISCOPAL ACADIANA (55) Jesse LeJeune 25, Amson Meaux 6, Turner Gachasson 4,

ä Acadiana Senior Bowl NOON SATURDAy

Figaro will be the head coach for Team Legacy with Craft as the defensive coordinator, and LCA’s Tuskani Figaro as offensive coordinator. Team Heritage is coached

by Marquis Newsome (Comeaux) with coordinators Trev Faulk (Lafayette Renaissance) and James Shiver (St. Edmund).

“The coaches and coordinators drafted the kids into two teams,” Standiford said. “There is a ton of talent. I think there are seven or eight district MVPs.” Team Heritage has a loaded receiving corps in Jayden Lewis (Cecilia), Draylon August (LCA), Cameron Samuels (Abbeville) and Travis Gallien, who averaged 40 yards per catch and was first team all-district 3-5A. Defensive players to watch for Team Heritage include Jayden Arceneaux (LCA), Mason Lantz (Iota), Jahlil Charles (Erath),

Colby Huffman 2, Jackson Strain 9, Tripp Kordisch 8, Lewis White 3. Totals: 15 (5) 12-28.

LOREAUVILLE (48) Darrell Caesar 6, Steve Caesar 2, Zedric Giarratano 18, Blaise Romero 9, Caillou Polk 7, Dorrian Turner 2, Nyjil Nora 4. Totals: 15 (4) 6-8.

ESA 16 15 13 11 — 55 Loreauville 8 13 10 17 — 48 3-pointers – ESA: LeJeune 5; LOR: Polk 1, Giarratano 4. Total Fouls: ESA 13, LOR 25.

Friday’s Games

Jeanerette 59, Family Christian 36 Mamou 41, Ascension Episcopal 29 East Iberville 53, North Vermilion 38 Acadiana Renaissance vs. Teurlings Notre Dame vs. ESA, n Catholic-NI vs. Church Point, n

Westminster-Laf. 73, Loreauville 53

LOREAUVILLE (53) Darrell Ceasar 10, Steve Ceasar 2, Zedrick Giarratano 12, Christopher Jones 6, Blaise Romero 9, Caillou Polk 11, Quinton Taylor 3. Totals: 14 (8) 4-9.

WESTMINSTER-LAFAYETTE (73) Zade Prejean 22, Zeph Prejean 7, Zack Ortis 4, Josh Rupert 14, Ben Andress 19, Trey Peace 7. Totals: 17 (7) 18-25.

Loreauville 15 19 11 8 — 53 WCAL 16 16 25 16 — 73 3-pointers – WCAL: Peace 2, Andress 2, Rupert 4; LOR: Polk 1, Giarratano 4, Ceaser 3. Total Fouls: WCAL 9, LOR 19.

Saturday’s Games

11:30 a.m. – Loreauville vs. Family Christian 12:45 p.m. – East Iberville vs. Comeaux 2 p.m. – Ascension Episcopal vs. Jeanerette 3:15 p.m. – Mamou vs. North Vermilion 4:45 p.m. – Acadiana Renaissance vs.

Church Point 6 p.m. – Parkview Baptist vs. Catholic-NI 7:30 p.m. – Teurlings vs. Opelousas Catholic 8:45 p.m. – ESA vs. Westminster-Lafayette

Coca-Cola Classic

Boys at Lafayette Renaissance

Friday’s Games

Liberty vs. Patterson Westgate vs. Donaldsonville Terrebonne vs. Abbeville Hannan vs. Marksville Rayne vs. Lafayette Renaissance, n

Other boys games Thursday

Hackberry 55, Northside Christian 40 Lafayette Christian 46, Acadiana 41 Dunham 76, Westminster 25

St. Thomas More 44, Colonial 36

ST. THOMAS MORE (44) LG Carbo 4, John Michael Charbonnet 5, Mathew Cook 9, Ryan Robertson 14, Michael Lacour 10, Xarian Babineaux 2. Totals: 16 (2) 4-6.

COLONIAL (36) Jay Greenlief 6, Justin Risbrook 1, Nate Htet 2, Justin Sanjurjo 3, Tristen Ford 5, Jordyn Nichols 4, Nazir Nichols 12, Alex Htet 3. Totals: 10 (4) 4-10.

Shamar Broussard (Southside) and Nicholls State commitment Cameron Allen (Southside).

“We’re expecting a lively crowd that will bring the community together,” Standiford said. “With Baton Rouge, the River parishes and the I-20 Bowl all having games, there was no reason for us not to have one, considering how rich the football history is in the 337 (area code).”

For Team Legacy, offensive players to watch include Jarrison Reese (Church Point), Kev’on Johnson (Northwest), JaCourey Duhon (LRCA) and Nicholls State signee Chantz Babineaux (Carencro), the offensive MVP of District 3-5A and the area’s receiving leader.

On defense, Team Legacy has Jack Snyder (Teurlings Catholic), Wesley Duplechin (Notre Dame), Layton Mitchell (Catholic New Iberia), Peyton Boyd (Northside), Khyrie Francisco (St. Martinville) and Louisiana Tech signee Emanual Collins (Southside).

“The rules are that you can’t rush more than five players,” Standiford said. “On special teams, some of the rules will be like the NFL, like onside kicks.”

The game will be broadcast live on KVNTV. Nicholls State’s coaching staff has confirmed it will be present. Other colleges are expected to attend, and game footage will be sent to NCAA schools.

“We got a really good number of responses,” Standiford said. “Every school other than two or three in the 337 will have players in the game.”

Quarterbacks for Team Heritage are Da’Zavien Maze (Abbeville), Peyton Landry (New Iberia) and Montana Brown (Eunice).

Xander LaBauve (Catholic NI) and Luke Baudoin (Church Point) will be the signal-callers for Team Legacy. Standiford said LaBauve is cleared to play after he missed the Panthers’ playoff game at Bunkie and was only able to take a ceremonial snap in the quarterfinals at LCA.

STM 14 15 7 8 — 44 Colonial 7 5 13 11 – 36 3-pointers – STM: Charbonnet 1, Cook 1; COL: Htet 1, Greenlief 2, Sanjurjo 1. Total Fouls: COL 11, STM 13. Records: STM 4-3.

Welsh vs. St. Amant (girls), Lacassine vs.

Welsh (boys), Midland vs. Lacassine (girls), Midland vs. South Beauregard (boys)

Cathedral Prep 82, St. Thomas More

CATHEDRAL PREP (82) Ahmazi Horton 19, Ashton Lubun 16, Brady Samvarino 3, Nondo Mirarchy 33, Max Santiuan 2, Michael Timmujan 9. Totals 20 (12) 3-76.

ST. THOMAS MORE (81) Mack Tasman 2, Kyle Guillot 2, John Michael Charbonnet 2, Matthew Cook 2, Ryan Robertson 30, Davis Lerille 5, Michael Lacour 23, Xarian Babineaux 15. Totals: 29 (5) 8-10.

Cathedral Prep 16 28 35 4 — 82 St. Thomas More 20 15 23 23 — 81 3-pointers — CP: Horton 3, Lubun 2, Mirarchy 6, Timmujan 1; STM: Robertson 3, Lerilue 1, Babineaux 1. Total Fouls: CP 14, STM 11.

Friday

Carencro at Cecilia, Northside at New Iberia, Iota at Basile, St. Edmund at Vermilion Catholic.

Acadiana Tournament

Girls at Acadiana High, Lafayette Christian

Friday’s Games

Lafayette High vs. Buckeye Liberty vs. New Iberia Acadiana vs. Central Lafourche West Monroe vs. Woodlawn, n E.D. White 36, Barbe 33 Karr vs. Alexandria Lafayette Christian vs. Zachary, n

Saturday’s Games

9 a.m. — Lafayette High vs. West Monroe 10:20 a.m. — Zachary vs. Barbe 11:40 a.m. — Acadiana vs. East Iberville 1 p.m. — Buckeye vs. Karr 9 a.m. — New Iberia vs. E.D. White 10:20 a.m. — Tioga vs. Liberty 11:40 a.m. — Lafayette Christian vs. Woodlawn 1 p.m. — Central Lafourche vs. Cecilia

St. Landry Parish Tournament Boys, girls at Beau Chene High

Thursday’s Games

Eunice 61, Port Barre 35 (girls) North Central 55, Beau Chene 24 (girls) Port Barre vs. Eunice (boys) North Central 59, JS Clark 47 (boys)

Friday’s Games

Opelousas vs. N. Central (girls), JS Clark-PB vs. Northwest (girls), Opelousas-PB vs.

Beau Chene (boys), Northwest vs. game 7 winner (boys)

Saturday’s Games

11 a.m. – Welsh vs. Breaux Bridge (girls) 12:15 p.m. – Welsh vs. Breaux Bridge (boys) 1:30 p.m. – S. Beauregard vs. Crowley (boys) 2:45 p.m. – Midland vs. St. Amant (girls)

Other girls games Thursday

Hackberry 53, Northside Christian 12 Carencro 2, Washington-Marion 0 New Iberia 55, Westgate 36 Cecilia 37, St. Martinville 33 Comeaux 39, Tara 8 North Vermilion 59, Barbe 39 Rayne 35, Kaplan 33 Church Point 54, Lake Charles Prep 21 Franklin 64, Jeanerette 48 Pine Prairie 55, Opelousas Catholic 40

Friday

David Thibodaux 54, Pine Prairie 42 Acadiana Renaissance at Church Point Crowley at Catholic-NI Delcambre at Highland Baptist Lafayette Renaissance at St. Joseph Patterson at Ascension Episcopal St. Edmund at Vermilion Catholic

Boys Thursday’s Games

Beau Chene 3, Episcopal of Acadiana 1 Morgan City 3, Lafayette Christian 1 Grace 3, Westminster 0 Erath 7, Westminster-LAF 0 Parkview Baptist 7, Acadiana Renaissance 1 Cecilia 5, Washington-Marion 2 Opelousas 3, Peabody 1 Zachary 2, David Thibodaux 1 New Iberia 5, Glenmora 1 Prairieville 4, North Vermilion 0 Acadiana 2, Dutchtown 1 Lafayette 4, St. Amant 0 CE Byrd 1, Southside 0

Saturday’s Games

St. Thomas Aquinas at Acadiana Renaissance, Parkview Baptist at Kaplan.

Girls Thursday’s Games

Thursday’s Games

Friday’s Games

Livonia at Ascension Episcopal, Vermilion Catholic at Opelousas Catholic, Acadiana Renaissance at West Monroe, Southside at Neville.

Boys, girls at Midland High Lacassine 57, Crowley 56 (boys) Lacassine 68, Breaux Bridge 30 (girls) Breaux Bridge 65, Midland 47 (boys) Midland 56, Northside 52 (girls)

Royals reunite with Strahm after trade with Phillies

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals reunited with veteran lefthander Matt Strahm on Friday, acquiring the former All-Star from the Philadelphia Phillies in a trade for right-hander Jonathan Bowlan in a move that each club hopes will improve its bullpen.

The 34-year-old Strahm was drafted by the Royals in 2012 out of Neosho County Community College in Chanute, Kansas, and he went on to spend his first two big league seasons with them. Strahm has spent the past three years in Philadelphia.

“We’ve been saying all along we need to address our outfield and raise the floor of our outfield,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said, “but also on our list was our bullpen. We’ve been able to address it probably in a timetable quicker than we thought.”

Soccer

Episcopal of Acadiana 9, Kaplan 1 Lafayette Christian 8, Carencro 0 Grace 4, Westminster 0 David Thibodaux 2, Ouachita Parish 0 Opelousas 4, Peabody 2 CE Byrd 4, North Vermilion 0

Midland Spectacular

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski, a former series champion who is now co-owner of RFK Racing, broke his right leg while on a ski trip, the team announced Friday.

Keselowski underwent surgery Thursday and doctors have told him to expect a quick recovery that will have him back for the season-opening Daytona 500 in February. He is winless in 16 starts in the showcase race as he enters the final years of his driving career.

“Life has a way of reminding you to slow down,” Keselowski posted on social media with photos of him in the hospital surrounded by his wife and children, an image of the break and video of him using a walker.

Saturday’s games

Wawrinka announces next year to be his last on tour

Three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka says 2026 will be his last year on tour.

Since Wawrinka turned pro in 2002, the Swiss has won 16 tour singles titles. He beat the No.1-ranked player in the finals of the 2014 Australian Open (Rafael Nadal), 2015 French Open (Novak Djokovic) and 2016 U.S. Open (Djokovic).

“One last push,” Wawrinka wrote on social media on Friday. “Every book needs an ending. It’s time to write the final chapter of my career as a professional tennis player.

2026 will be my last year on tour.”

Wawrinka, 40, and Roger Federer won the 2008 Beijing Olympics doubles gold medal and helped Switzerland win its only Davis Cup in 2014.

LSU expects to hire D-line coach from SEC team Chiefs close to leaving

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

LSU football targeted South Carolina assistant coach Sterling Lucas and expects to hire him onto the defensive staff, multiple sources told The Advocate on Friday.

Though Lucas coached defensive ends and outside linebackers for the past four seasons at South Carolina, a source said he will coach the interior defensive line for the Tigers. LSU already has an edge rushers coach in Kevin Peoples, who’s entering his third season.

The terms of the deal are not yet known.

With LSU defensive line coach Kyle Williams expected to step away after one season as a college coach, LSU initially targeted Syracuse co-defensive coordinator

and defensive line coach Elijah Robinson. There was an expectation at one point that LSU would hire Robinson, a former Texas A&M defensive line coach, but it began interviewing other candidates over the past two weeks.

Lucas, a native of Orangeburg, South Carolina, played linebacker at NC State from 2008-12 before he began his coaching career. He spent six years in various roles with the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars before going to South Carolina. He also held the title of defensive run game coordinator last season.

During his time with the Gamecocks, Lucas coached standout defensive ends Dylan Stewart and Kyle Kennard, one of the most productive tandems in the country in 2024. Kennard won the Bronco Nagurski Award as the nation’s top defensive player

that season. Stewart, a former five-star recruit, has amassed 221/2 tackles for loss and 11 sacks over the past two years. He was a second-team All-SEC selection this fall.

Under new head coach Lane Kiffin, LSU retained most of its defensive staff after defensive coordinator Blake Baker turned down offers from Tulane and Memphis to stay at LSU with a new contract. With Baker returning, LSU is expected to keep Peoples, safeties coach Jake Olsen and cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond. A role is being discussed for Chris Kiffin, who coached linebackers at Ole Miss this past season.

If Lucas stays for a few years, he may provide continuity to the interior defensive line. LSU hasn’t kept the same defensive line coach in place for two full years in a decade, and it had a dif-

ferent coach at the position every season for the past six years.

Once the hire gets finalized, Lucas will have a rebuilding project on his hands. LSU has to replace three of its top four defensive linemen in sixth-year senior Jacobian Guillory, fifth-year senior Bernard Gooden and sophomore Ahmad Breaux. Guillory and Gooden exhausted their eligibility, and Breaux is entering the transfer portal.

LSU has two defensive tackles who played more than 100 snaps who can return in sophomore Dominick McKinley and freshman Walter Mathis. It has other young defensive tackles and signed five-star Richard Anderson and four-star Deuce Geralds.

But without much returning experience, LSU is expected to look in the transfer portal for defensive linemen.

for new home in Kansas

KANSAS CITY,Kan.— The Kansas City Chiefs appear to be mere days away from taking a big step toward a move across the state line and eventually leaving their longtime home at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri for a new and likely covered stadium in Kansas.

With a year-end deadline approaching, the Legislative Coordinating Council is scheduled to meet Monday in Topeka, Kansas, where it will consider approving bonds that would fund up to 70% of a stadium project to help lure the NFL franchise to the state.

The Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals have played for more than 50 years in side-by-side stadiums in Jackson County, Missouri. But those leases are due to expire in January 2031, and the two franchises have been working for years on their futures.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● 3C

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RETZLAFF

Continued from page 1C school’s honor code. His suspension followed allegations of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit that was later dismissed. Retzlaff’s admission that he had engaged in premarital sex, which BYU prohibits, created the domino effect that led him to Tulane.

His road to redemption was anything but smooth.

The late move forced him to walk on to the Tulane roster and created a compressed timeline to learn the offense and bond with teammates. He ingratiated himself with teammates and earned their respect through his work ethic and humble, earnest approach, personally conducting get-to-know-you sessions over meals with as many players as possible.

“Jake lives life by his own set of rules,” said his father, Steve Retzlaff. “He defines himself by his unbelievable personality, drive and ability. His teammates buy in because they see he genuinely cares and is really just a good guy. Of the many qualities that Jake has that help him be successful, none are more dominant than his leadership skills.”

Retzlaff won the starting job in a spirited competition with Brendan Sullivan in preseason camp but did not hit his stride until midseason. Along the way, there were subpar performances in ugly losses to Ole Miss (45-10) and Texas-San Antonio (48-26).

Since the UTSA loss, Retzlaff and Tulane have found their groove. The offense has averaged 34 points a game, and the Wave finished the year on a five-game winning streak.

Retzlaff finished the season with 2,862 yards passing and 14 touchdowns while also rushing for team-highs of 610 yards and 16 touchdowns, a school record for quarterbacks.

“Jake’s a seasoned guy,” Sumrall said. “He’s a tough, resilient, competitive dude. I’m very proud of the way Jake has handled himself as this season’s gone on, and he’s really been a great leader for us.”

Known as “B.Y.-Jew” during his celebrated tenure at Brigham Young, Retzlaff is proud of his Jewish heritage and wears a Star of David amulet on his necklace.

He scored a sponsorship deal last year with Manischewitz, the popular Jewish food and wine brand.

He has developed a cult following at Tulane, which has one of the largest Jewish enrollments in the nation, making up roughly 37% of the school’s 13,078 students. He’s a popular guest at the Chabad House, where he meets regularly with Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin.

His “Bayou Jew” and “Shabbat Shotgun” T-shirts are among the best sellers at the Campus

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff celebrates after scoring a touchdown against North Texas during the first half of the American Conference championship game on Dec. 5 at yulman Stadium. The Green Wave travels to play Ole Miss on Saturday in a first-round College Football Playoff game.

Connection, an off-campus merchandise shop. One of the school’s Jewish organizations even delivered a gift bag with a menorah before Hanukkah.

“The Jewish community in New Orleans has been unbelievable,” Steve Retzlaff said. “We had no idea. He went through some unfortunate things, and for him to enjoy such an extraordinary level of success is beyond imagination and truly a blessing. It’s challenging my own concepts about fate.”

The outreach of New Orleans’ Jewish community has enhanced Retzlaff’s Tulane experience.

Since arriving in town, he’s sat courtside at a Pelicans game with attorney Morris Bart and mingled in a luxury suite at the Superdome for a Saints-Buccaneers game with Tulane graduate Jill Glazer and her husband, Avie, whose family owns the Buccaneers.

There have been countless meals, including lunches with local business magnate Bill Goldring and a private dinner at Saba hosted by James Beard Awardwinning chef Alon Shaya.

“Anybody new moving to town deserves some introductions and support, whether you’re the quarterback of a football team or not,”

WALKER

Continued from page 1C known until years down the road, when we get a better sense of how the rebuilding projects in the Big Apple and the Big Easy have gone.

Both Moore and Glenn have gotten off to rough starts in their inaugural seasons.

The Saints are 4-10 but are seemingly trending slowly but surely in the right direction.

The Jets are 3-11 and have fired their defensive coordinator and traded away their two best defensive players (cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams) this season.

The Saints, with the emergence of rookie Tyler Shough, have at least figured out their quarterback situation.

The Jets still haven’t. They will start undrafted rookie Brady Cook on Sunday at Caesars Superdome in a game that is somewhat meaningless other than two bad teams jockeying for draft position.

The fact the Saints have found their quarterback of the future suggests that Loomis may have made the right hire. Would the Saints have their answer at quarterback if the defensive-minded Glenn was running the

PELICANS

Continued from page 1C rebounding battle, 58-41, on Thursday but the Pelicans held their own after a first half in which the Rockets were plus-15 on the boards and grabbed a 22-point halftime lead.

Additionally, after Houston took a 25-point lead one minute into the third quarter, New Orleans outscored the Rockets 86-56 the rest of the way.

“We were getting stops,” Borrego said Friday of the turnaround.

“Then we get out and run. It’s tough to score in transition if you’re not getting stops. Your pace is limited.

You’re taking it out, feeling sorry for yourself, heads are hanging.

“When you’re aggressive and

Shaya said. “That’s very much a Jewish community thing and very much a New Orleans thing.

I left my dinner with him thinking this guy has got what it takes from a leadership and confidence standpoint. I know this is just the beginning for him and what he’s going to do for the world.”

Retzlaff even returned the favor by hosting Goldring for Thanksgiving dinner at his Riverbend apartment last month. Goldring, a wealthy philanthropist and longtime Tulane donor, is the chairman of Sazerac Co., one of the largest liquor distributors in the nation.

The dinner, prepared by Jake’s father, was served on paper plates with plastic cutlery and featured beef brisket, roasted potatoes, carrots and asparagus.

The red wine was served in red Solo cups.

“I can’t imagine Bill has had many Thanksgivings like that,” Retzlaff said. “But that’s what I like about Bill. He’s just a normal dude. He’s awesome.”

The two met initially at a Super Bowl LIX event sponsored

by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft in New Orleans in February. Goldring was one of

the first people to contact Retzlaff after he committed to Tulane and moved to New Orleans.

“He’s just an impressive guy, one of those guys that you meet and you feel like you’ve known him a long time,” Goldring said.

“He gets the respect of the people he works with. He’s very confident but not arrogant. He’s a leader and just a wonderful guy.

“And, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving meal.”

Retzlaff said his New Orleans connections are just one of many things he’s thankful for this year.

When he steps on the field Saturday at Vaught Hemingway Stadium, he will become the first Jewish quarterback to play in a college football national championship or playoff game, a milestone in a sport that has included Jewish signal callers such as Benny Friedman, Sid Luckman, Jay Fielder and Josh Rosen. “(The CFP) spotlight gives me a platform where I can bring positivity in the Jewish faith and Jewish people, because frankly there’s not enough positive Jewish stories, period,” Retzlaff said. “I’m proud and confident in the Jewish people. We’ve been through a lot as it is — too much.”

especially from a defensive perspective,” Moore said. “Just the way they play. Play style, the effort, the ball attacking. They’ve had such a history of that going back to Detroit. When we’ve played him, it’s been a challenge.

“Obviously, he’s building something there.

And he’s building it the right way, and he’s going to build something really special.”

Saints defensive end Jonah Williams played in Detroit under Glenn last season.

“The first thing that stood out was his energy,” Williams said. “He’s so intense in the meetings, and he demanded a lot of his playSTAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD ers. I knew he was capable (of being a head coach) the way he led the room.”

Former Saints assistant coach Aaron Glenn Moore is more laid back. directs a drill during training camp on July 27, Saints defensive end Carl Granderson now 2018, in Metairie. has been around both. Glenn coached defensive backs for the Saints from 2016-20, and show?

Granderson was here for the last two years of Although this will be the first meeting bethat span.

“I think it’s a different type of energy between the first-year head coaches, they have faced off twice as coordinators. tween the two,” Granderson said. “Kellen’s Two seasons ago, when Moore was with the energy is more like a happy energy. AG’s Chargers and Glenn with the Lions, Detroit energy is more intense. That’s the only differwon 41-38. Three seasons ago when Moore ence.” was in Dallas, the Cowboys beat the Lions Inevitably, the only difference that will mat24-6. ter is wins and losses.

“I’ve always had a ton of respect for Aaron, Time will tell.

you’re getting stops and getting out and running, good stuff happens. We tend to share it more too when we’re getting stops. You tend to play more as a team when you’re getting stops.”

Herb Jones, a former NBA AllDefensive first-team selection, was the catalyst for the defensive turnaround. He had a career-high eight steals, which Borrego called “elite.” The steals not only prevented Houston from scoring on eight possessions but also led directly to 10 points for New Orleans.

“That’s a massive momentum swing,” Borrego said. “We can’t just steal the ball. We’re trying to convert those into easy points the other way, and we did that. Herb was phenomenal.”

The Pelicans tied a franchise

record by winning a game in which they trailed by as many as 25 points, and they overcame that margin in the second half for the first time in franchise history.

But Borrego noted the flip side to the historic comeback: “We’ve got to get off to better starts.”

“We take a punch and then we find our way back, which is a great characteristic to have in a team,” he said. “You want that resiliency, that toughness to be an elite team, which is where we want to get to. “(But) we want to be more steady. We want to be more consistent where we’re hitting them for 48 minutes, and we’re not just reacting when we’re down 15, 20, 25 points and then we become the aggressor. I don’t want to live in that world. That’s not sustainable.”

Borrego acknowledged that even in the game against Chicago the defense “still had some breakdowns.”

“One-on-one defense is one of the areas we’re really identifying for our guys where there’s accountability on guarding your guy oneon-one,” he said. “There’s no hiding from it. You can watch the video and say, did I guard my guy or did I not?

“And these guys are seeing their numbers there. There’s no excuse behind it. You’ve got to be able to guard one-on-one, and there’s got to be a pride in that one-on-one defense.”

The Pelicans (6-22) will try to extend their winning streak against the Pacers (6-21) before closing this three-game home stand against Dallas on Monday night.

The milestone CFP appearance will further burnish his legacy at Tulane — where he is the first Jewish quarterback to start since Dick Baumbach was under center in 1931 — and in the New Orleans Jewish community, a relationship that he plans to maintain long after he leaves town.

“I definitely dove into the deep end of New Orleans with all the people that make things go around here,” Retzlaff said. “It has actually been pretty crazy.

“A lot of transfers do this all over the country and feel like they’re just getting rented for a year, especially seniors. They’re going to get in and get out. It’s been anything but that for me.

This is a real impact on my life being in New Orleans.”

Retzlaff already has one thing going for him: He’s the first player ever to get Shaya to storm the field, which the chef did after Tulane’s win over North Texas in the American championship game two weeks ago.

“That’s a first for me,” Shaya said. “I went to culinary school.

We didn’t have a football team, so it’s meant so much going to games and watching him crush it.”

WHITE

Continued from page 1C Two more free throws on the next possession by Israel Hart pushed the Eagles’ lead to 54-44 with 1:59 left and Southern Miss never looked back.

“It’s hard to overcome that,” White said.

All the free throws awarded to the Eagles allowed Southern Miss to overcome shooting only 31% from the field. The Eagles also made six 3-pointers, including three from Hart to get him to 17 points.

Southern Miss also got 11 points from Tylik Weeks and Chiante Tramble in the win that moved the Eagles to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in league play.

The Cajuns shot 35% from the field and made only four 3-pointers, while making 10 of 13 attempts at the line.

“We have to get better,” White said. “We had some opportunities, and we didn’t take advantage of it, OK. We will be better, but I’m proud about the guys and the effort.”

UL battled on the boards, losing to the much bigger Eagles 40-38. Also, the Cajuns committed only 10 turnovers.

Dorian Finister led the Cajuns with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with seven rebounds. Jaxon Olvera had 12 points with seven boards.

Lavergne added nine points on 4-of-14 shooting and five rebounds. Jeremiah Evans fouled out with 5:30 left after scoring six points and grabbing two rebounds.

The Cajuns (1-11, 0-1) next will travel to UL-Monroe to play the Warhawks at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

4C ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Saints place emerging WR Vele on IR

BY LUKE JOHNSON, MATTHEW PARAS AND JEFF DUNCAN Staff writers

Just as he was starting to become a major piece of the New Orleans Saints offense, Devaughn Vele‘s 2025 season has come to a close.

The Saints placed Vele on injured reserve Friday, clearing a rosNotebook ter spot for kicker Charlie Smyth. The second-year wide receiver injured his shoulder during last week’s win against the Carolina Panthers.

Vele finished his season with 25 receptions for 293 yards and two touchdowns — production that, on the surface, does not match the price the Saints paid when they traded a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Denver Broncos to acquire Vele before the start of the season.

But in recent weeks, the 6-foot-5 Vele had looked worth the cost.

In the last three weeks, Vele caught 16 of his 19 targets for 202 yards and a touchdown — including an excellent performance in a losing effort against Miami when he caught eight passes for 93 yards and a score in the final two quarters to ignite a rally.

Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough clearly trusted Vele in crucial situations. Since Shough took over as the starter in Week 9, he’s completed five of his seven pass attempts intended for Vele on third down.

The only one of those completions that did not go for a first down

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Saints wide receiver Devaughn Vele catches the ball against the New England Patriots in the first half of a game in the Caesars Superdome on Oct. 12. Vele was place on injured reserve on Friday. came when Vele gained 15 yards on third and 17.

In general, Shough had a 111.3 passer rating when targeting Vele since he took over as a starter, completing 20 of 28 pass attempts for 254 yards with a touchdown and 15 first-down conversions.

Vele still has two years remaining on his rookie contract.

Kamara out again Running back Alvin Kamara will miss his fourth straight game Sunday after he and two other Saints players were ruled out ahead of

the team’s matchup with the New York Jets.

Kamara was listed with knee and ankle injuries, but coach Kellen Moore has said it’s the knee that is primarily bothering the veteran. The 30-year-old landed awkwardly in a Nov. 23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons and was limited to just 11 snaps.

In addition to Kamara’s absence, offensive linemen Cesar Ruiz and Asim Richards will miss the game with ankle injuries. Guard William Sherman is expected to start in Ruiz’s place, while Xavier Truss could be the team’s swing tackle in place of Richards — who’s out for the second straight week.

The Saints also listed wide receiver Mason Tipton (illness), defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd (anke and knee) and tight end Zaire MitchellPaden (knee) as questionable.

Safety Justin Reid will return from a two-game absence as he was cleared to play after a knee injury.

Though Kamara has been out for the last month, Moore defended the team’s decision not to place the running back on injured reserve — which would have cleared a roster spot and forced Kamara to miss a minimum of four games.

“We’re just keeping an eye on that one,” Moore said. “We’ll see how it progresses. Timelines are different for all these guys.”

Moore said Kamara’s injury hasn’t “necessarily” lasted longer than the Saints expected. With Kamara out, and backups Devin Neal and Kendre Miller done for the year,

running backs Audric Estime and Evan Hull are expected to take most of the carries against the Jets.

Smyth signs Smyth has signed a three-year contract with the Saints and has been elevated to the active roster, his agent, Paul Sheehy, said in a social-media post Friday.

Terms of the deal were not released.

Smyth, a 24-year-old native Northern Irishman, has made four of his five field goal attempts, with a long of 56, and each of his five extra points since taking over the starting kicking job from Blake Grupe in Week 13. His lone miss came from 48 yards in a driving rain in Tampa, Florida.

The Saints elevated Smyth from the practice squad for each of the last three games, making it necessary to sign him to the active roster because he is now out of elevation options.

Smyth entered the NFL through the International Player Pathway.

He is the second kicker to come from Northern Ireland through the IPP to kick in a game, joining Jude McAtamney, and the first to make the leap directly from Ireland without American college experience.

Smyth has spent his entire time with the Saints to this point on the practice squad — something that has been made possible because of the roster exemption the Saints have received because of Smyth’s status as an international player.

SCOREBOARD Odds Sports Betting Line NFL Saturday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Philadelphia 4½ 6½ (44½) at WASH Green Bay 3 1½ (46½) at CHICAGO

Sunday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Tampa Bay 2½ 3 (45½) at CAR at DALLAS 2½ 1½ (49½) LA Chargers Kansas City 11½ 3½ (37½) at TEN Buffalo 8½ 10½ (42½) at CLE Cincinnati 2½ 1½ (50½) at MIAMI at NO 2½ 4½ (40½) NY Jets Minnesota 1½ 2½ (43½) at GIANTS at DENVER 3 3 (45½) Jacksonville Atlanta 1½ 2½ (47½) at ARIZONA at DETROIT 6½ 6½ (50½) Pittsburgh at HOUSTN 11½ 14½ (37½) Las Vegas at BALT 2½ 2½ (47½) New Eng

Monday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG San Francisco 6½ 5½ (46½) at IND

College Football Saturday

CFP First Round — Game 2 FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Texas A&M 3½ 3½ (51½) Miami (FL) CFP First Round — Game 3 FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Ole Miss 16½ 17½ (56½) Tulane CFP First Round — Game 4 FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Oregon 20½ 21½ (49½) J. Madison

Monday

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U Utah State 1½ 2½ (52½) Tuesday Boca Raton Bowl FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U Louisville 9½ 7½ (44½) New Orleans Bowl FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U W. Kentucky 3½ 4½ (55½) Frisco Bowl FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNLV 3½ 4½ (62½)

UNDERDOG Wash St

at WASHINGTON -168 at N.Y RANGERS -136 at OTTAWA -262 at MINNESOTA -122 at BUFFALO -150 at FLORIDA -180 Toronto -126 at BOSTON -161 at MONTREAL -146 at TAMPA BAY OFF at ANAHEIM -114 Vegas -131 at SAN JOSE -115

Detroit Philadelphia Chicago Edmonton N.Y Islanders St. Louis at NASHVILLE Vancouver Pittsburgh Carolina Columbus at CALGARY Seattle

+141 +114 +211 +102 +126 +149 +105 +135 +122 OFF -106 +110 -105

Pro basketball NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division New York Toronto Boston Philadelphia Brooklyn

W 19 17 15 14 7

L 7 11 11 11 19

Pct .731 .607 .577 .560 .269

GB — 3 4 4½ 12

Orlando Miami Atlanta Charlotte Washington

W 15 15 15 9 4

L 12 12 13 18 21

Pct .556 .556 .536 .333 .160

GB — — ½ 6 10

Detroit Cleveland Chicago Milwaukee Indiana

W 21 15 11 11 6

L 6 13 15 17 21

Pct .778 .536 .423 .393 .222

GB — 6½ 9½ 10½ 15

Southeast Division

Central Division

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Southwest Division W 19 16 13 11 6

L 7 8 14 17 22

Pct .731 .667 .481 .393 .214

GB — 2 6½ 9 14

Oklahoma City Denver Minnesota Portland Utah

L 2 6 10 16 16

Pct .926 .769 .630 .407 .385

GB — 4½ 8 14 14½

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Pacific Division

W 25 20 17 11 10

Saturday

L.A. Lakers Phoenix Golden State Sacramento L.A. Clippers

W 19 15 13 6 6

L 7 12 15 21 21

Pct .731 .556 .464 .222 .222

GB — 4½ 7 13½ 13½

Wednesday

UNDERDOG S. Miss UNDERDOG Ohio

Hawai’i Bowl FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Cal 1½ 1½ (54½) Hawaii

FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG at LOUISVILLE 30½ Montana at MICHIGAN ST 20½ Oakland at KANSAS STATE 21½ South Dakota at DAYTON 9½ Liberty St. John’s 3½ at KENTUCKY at W. MICHIGAN 1 Buffalo at APPALACHIN ST 10½ Georgia State at OLD DOMINION 4½ Coastal Carolina at UTAH STATE 8½ Colorado State Miami (OH) 10½ at BALL STATE Kent State 1½ at UMASS at VIRGINIA TECH 14 Elon at TROY 4½ Marshall at N. ILLINOIS 2½ C. Michigan at N. COLORADO 9½ Denver North Carolina 3½ at OHIO STATE Louisiana 1½ at UL MONROE at TEXAS STATE 1½ South Alabama at OHIO 1½ Bowling Green at WYOMING 2½ Grand Canyon at BUTLER 1½ Northwestern at TENNESSEE TECH 1½ UT Martin at MISSISSIPPI ST 3½ Memphis at E. TENNESSEE ST 11½ Jacksonville St. at SYRACUSE 14½ Northeastern at TENNESSEE ST 1½ S. Missouri St Arkansas State 2½ at SOUTHERN MISS Morehead State 1½ at S. INDIANA at SANTA CLARA 17½ Loyola Chicago at GA SOUTHERN 2½ James Madison at WASHINGTON ST 7½ Mercer Houston 4½ at ARKANSAS at RICHMOND 20½ Citadel at VIRGINIA 16½ Maryland at PURDUE 8½ Auburn at UNLV 7½ Fresno State at UTAH 11½ E. Washington at TULANE 3½ Portland State at RUTGERS 11½ Pennsylvania at DUKE 8½ Texas Tech at COLORADO 2½ Stanford at CAL BAPTIST 13½ Sacramento St at ST. THOMAS 13½ UC Riverside at GEORGETOWN 4½ Xavier at CREIGHTON 7½ Marquette at NEW MEXICO 13½ San Jose State at WEBER STATE 4½ Utah Tech Rice 1½ at PEPPERDINE Boise State 3½ at NEVADA at ARIZONA 14½ San Diego State

NBA

Saturday

FAVORITE LINE at DENVER 1 at NEW ORLEANS 2½ at PHILADELPHIA OFF at TORONTO OFF at DETROIT OFF at MEMPHIS OFF at GOLDEN STATE 5½ at UTAH OFF at SACRAMENTO OFF at LA CLIPPERS OFF

NHL

Saturday

FAVORITE

LINE

O/U UNDERDOG (236½) Houston (235½) Indiana (OFF) Dallas (OFF) Boston (OFF) Charlotte (OFF) Washington (227½) Phoenix (OFF) Orlando (OFF) Portland (OFF) LA Lakers

UNDERDOG

LINE

Northwest Division

Thursday’s Games

Charlotte 133, Atlanta 126 New York 114, Indiana 113 Miami 106, Brooklyn 95 San Antonio 119, Washington 94 Oklahoma City 122, L.A. Clippers 101 Toronto 111, Milwaukee 105 New Orleans 133, Houston 128, OT Denver 126, Orlando 115 Dallas 116, Detroit 114, OT Phoenix 99, Golden State 98 L.A. Lakers 143, Utah 135 Portland 134, Sacramento 133, OT

Saturday’s Games

Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS 34:19 11-18 38:29 9-13 35:21 7-16 20:12 4-8

4-4 1-9 7-7 2-3 2-3 3-12 1-2 1-3

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .786 .714 .429 .214

PF 382 411 296 276

PA 276 324 324 397

Jacksonville Houston Indianapolis e-Tennessee

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

Pittsburgh Baltimore e-Cincinnati e-Cleveland

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 x-Denver 12 L.A. Chargers 10 e-Kansas City 6 e-Las Vegas 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

South

West

NATIONAL CONFERENCE East

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

W Tampa Bay 7 Carolina 7 e-Atlanta 5 e-New Orleans 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

W Chicago 10 Green Bay 9 Detroit 8 e-Minnesota 6

L 4 4 6 8

T 0 1 0 0

Pct .714 .679 .571 .429

PF 365 348 428 289

PA 338 281 345 307

W Seattle 12 x-L.A. Rams 11 San Francisco 10 e-Arizona 3

L 3 4 4 11

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .800 .733 .714 .214

PF 443 457 344 302

PA 279 299 293 388

Philadelphia Dallas e-Washington e-N.Y. Giants

South

1 2 3 4

0 2 4 0

29 27 16 9

kick), 6:27.

Sea_Smith-Njigba 4 pass from Darnold (Saubert pass from Darnold), 3:13.

A_68,853.

LAR Sea First downs 26 22 Total Net Yards 581 415 Rushes-yards 39-124 25-171 Passing 457 244 Punt Returns 1-31 1-58 Kickoff Returns 6-127 0-0 Interceptions Ret. 2-66 0-0 Comp-Att-Int 29-49-0 22-34-2 Sacked-Yards Lost 0-0 4-26 Punts 4-38.75 5-48.0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1 Penalties-Yards 8-54 5-40 Time of Possession 40:33 26:14 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING_L.A. Rams, K.Williams 23-70, Corum 14-48, Stafford 2-6. Seattle, Walker 11100, Charbonnet 9-32, Shaheed 1-31, Darnold 3-7, Barner 1-1.

PASSING_L.A. Rams, Stafford 29-49-0-457.

Seattle, Darnold 22-34-2-270.

RECEIVING_L.A. Rams, Nacua 12-225, Mumpfield 3-40, Ferguson 3-33, K.Williams 3-15, X.Smith 2-57, Allen 2-34, Parkinson 2-21, Whittington 1-19, Corum 1-13. Seattle, Smith-Njigba 8-96, Barner 4-49, Charbonnet 4-22, Walker 3-64, Kupp 3-39.

MISSED FIELD GOALS_L.A. Rams, Mevis 48.

College football Thursday’s game

Xbox Bowl Frisco, Texas Arkansas State 34, Missouri State 28

Friday’s games Myrtle Beach Bowl

Conway, S.C. Western Michigan 41, Kennesaw State 6

Gasparilla Bowl

Tampa, Fla. N.C. State 31, Memphis 7

College Football Playoff

First Round No. 11 Alabama at No. 8 Oklahoma, n Saturday’s games EAST FCS Semifinal 1 at Villanova, Pa.: Villanova (12-2) vs. Illinois St. (11-4), 7:30 p.m.

SOUTH

College Football Playoff First Round - Game 3 at Oxford, Miss.: Mississippi (11-1) vs.

Tulane (11-2), 3:30 p.m.

SOUTHWEST

College Football Playoff First Round - Game 2 at College Station, Texas: Texas A&M (111) vs. Miami (10-2), Noon

FAR WEST

FCS Semifinal 2 at Bozeman, Mont.: Montana St. (12-2) vs. Montana (13-1), 4 p.m.

College Football Playoff First Round - Game 4 at Eugene, Ore.: Oregon (11-1) vs. James Madison (12-1), 7:30 p.m.

College basketball State men’s schedule

Thursday’s games

Southern Miss 62, UL 54 Grambling 80, Norfolk State 68

Friday’s games

Saturday’s games

SUNO at Northwestern State, 1 p.m.

UL at UL-Monroe, 2 p.m.

Portland State at Tulane, 6:30 p.m.

Late Thursday SOUTHERN MISS 62, UL 54

Philadelphia at Washington, 4 p.m.

Green Bay at Chicago, 7:20 p.m.

UL

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 Games

San Francisco at Indianapolis, 7:15 p.m.

Late Thursday

Seattle 38, L.A. Rams 37, OT

L.A. Rams 3 10 10 7 7 — 37 Seattle 7 0 7 16 8 — 38 First Quarter Sea_Charbonnet 4 run (Myers kick), 7:09.

LAR_FG Mevis 23, 1:43.

Second Quarter LAR_FG Mevis 28, 12:45.

LAR_Ferguson 3 pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 3:43.

Third Quarter Sea_Walker 55 run (Myers kick), 12:57.

LAR_FG Mevis 41, 8:37.

LAR_Corum 1 run (Mevis kick), 6:30.

Fourth Quarter LAR_Nacua 1 pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 13:34.

Sea_Shaheed 58 punt return (Kupp pass from Darnold), 8:03.

Sea_Barner 26 pass from Darnold (Charbonnet run), 6:23.

First Overtime LAR_Nacua 41 pass from Stafford (Mevis

FG

FT

Team Rebounds: 4. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 5 (Izay 2, Weeks 2, C.Lewis).

Turnovers: 8 (Hart 3, Taveras 2, Brumfield, Tramble, Weeks).

Steals: 5 (Binet 2, Hart 2, Tramble).

Technical Fouls: None.

Louisiana 17 37 — 54 Southern Miss 24 38 — 62 A_2,606 (8,095).

State women’s schedule

Thursday’s games

UIW 79, UNO 68 Nicholls 70, Houston Christian 47 Baylor 77, Southern 60

Friday’s games None scheduled.

Saturday’s games

Delaware State at Tulane, noon UL-Monroe at Texas State, noon UL at Southern Miss, 1 p.m.

Memphis at Southeastern, 1 p.m.

Central Baptist at Louisiana Tech, 2 p.m.

Hockey NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division GP 35 34 35 34 33 33 33 33

W 19 18 20 18 18 16 15 15

L OT 13 3 12 4 15 0 13 3 13 2 13 4 13 5 14 4

Pts 41 40 40 39 38 36 35 34

GF 108 110 114 107 106 105 105 103

GP Carolina 33 Washington 34 N.Y. Islanders34 Philadelphia33 New Jersey 34 N.Y. Rangers 36 Pittsburgh 33 Columbus 34

W 22 19 19 17 19 17 14 14

L OT 9 2 11 4 12 3 10 6 14 1 15 4 10 9 14 6

Pts 46 42 41 40 39 38 37 34

GF GA 112 91 110 88 102 96 99 94 99 104 91 96 103 106 102 120

L OT 2 7 7 5 9 5 16 3 15 8 16 2 15 6 16 4

Pts 55 51 47 37 34 32 32 30

GF 133 120 109 111 88 98 94 93

Detroit Montreal Boston Tampa Bay Florida Ottawa Toronto Buffalo

Metropolitan Division

WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division

Colorado Dallas Minnesota Utah St. Louis Winnipeg Chicago Nashville

GP 33 35 35 36 36 33 34 33

W 24 23 21 17 13 15 13 13

Pacific Division

GA 115 118 109 90 103 104 108 112

GA 77 93 89 106 125 100 105 115

GP W L OT Pts GF GA Vegas 32 16 6 10 42 97 92 Anaheim 34 20 12 2 42 121 112 Edmonton 35 17 12 6 40 119 119 Los Angeles 34 15 10 9 39 88 90 San Jose 35 17 15 3 37 105 118 Calgary 35 14 17 4 32 91 105 Seattle 32 12 14 6 30 79 102 Vancouver 33 13 17 3 29 92 112 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.

Thursday’s Games

Grambling 81, Hampton 72 Southeastern at LSU, n

Seattle 38, L.A. Rams 37, OT

Sunday’s Games

Durant 42:41 12-15 4-4 0-7 2 2 32 Smith Jr. 44:08 5-18 1-2 4-12 2 4 12 Sengun 35:42 11-26 6-10 6-11 8 5 28 Okogie 30:10 3-7 3-3 3-4 3 1 10 Thompsn 40:36 11-14 1-1 3-6 4 2 23 Adams 27:49 2-10 2-5 6-10 3 3 6 Sheppard 26:57 4-12 0-0 0-4 7 1 11 Holiday 10:18 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 Capela 6:40 1-2 1-2 3-3 0 1 3 Totals 265 50-10718-2725-58 30 21 128 Percentages: FG .467, FT .667.

3-Point Goals: 10-32, .313 (Durant 4-6, Sheppard 3-10, Okogie 1-2, Holiday 1-3, Smith Jr. 1-6, Thompson 0-1, Sengun 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 14. Team Turnovers: 2.

Blocked Shots: 8 (Durant 4, Sengun 2, Adams, Thompson).

Turnovers: 18 (Durant 6, Smith Jr. 4, Thompson 4, Sengun 2, Adams, Capela).

Steals: 6 (Sengun 2, Adams, Durant, Sheppard, Thompson).

Technical Fouls: None.

FG FT Reb

NO

L 3 4 8 11

Saturday’s Games

Late Thursday New Orleans 133, Houston 128

Bey Murphy Queen Fears

W New England 11 Buffalo 10 e-Miami 6 e-N.Y. Jets 3

e-Eliminated from playoffs x-clinched playoff spot Thursday’s Games

Houston at Denver, 4 p.m.

Boston at Toronto, 6 p.m.

Dallas at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.

Indiana at New Orleans, 6 p.m.

Charlotte at Detroit, 6:30 p.m.

Washington at Memphis, 7 p.m.

Phoenix at Golden State, 7:30 p.m.

Orlando at Utah, 8:30 p.m.

Portland at Sacramento, 9 p.m.

L.A. Lakers at L.A. Clippers, 9:30 p.m.

FT

East

West

Friday’s Games

FG

NFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE

North

Miami at Boston, n Philadelphia at New York, n Chicago at Cleveland, n San Antonio at Atlanta, n Oklahoma City at Minnesota, n

HOU

Pro football

North

San Antonio Houston Memphis Dallas New Orleans

UNDERDOG Toledo

Jones 38:13 7-14 2-2 1-3 3 6 18 Alvarado 30:22 2-5 2-3 1-3 6 3 7 Poole 24:32 5-13 3-3 0-1 2 2 15 Willimsn 21:26 3-9 3-4 2-3 5 3 9 Matkovic 11:07 1-1 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 Missi 6:24 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 McGowns 4:35 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Totals 265 49-9724-2813-41 27 24 133 Percentages: FG .505, FT .857.

3-Point Goals: 11-27, .407 (Bey 3-5, Murphy III 2-2, Jones 2-6, Poole 2-7, Matkovic 1-1, Alvarado 1-3, Fears 0-1, Queen 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 7 (Queen 3, Jones, Matkovic, Murphy III, Williamson).

Turnovers: 12 (Queen 3, Poole 2, Williamson 2, Bey, Fears, Jones, Matkovic, Missi).

Steals: 15 (Jones 8, Poole 3, Bey 2, Alvarado, Murphy III).

Technical Fouls: None.

Houston 33 34 32 20 9 — 128 New Orleans 24 21 38 36 14 — 133 A_16,766 (16,867). T_2:39.

Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Jones 21 0-1 0-0 1-5 0 4 0 J.Lewis 19 3-6 0-0 0-2 0 4 7 Finister 33 6-12 7-9 0-7 0 2 20 Lavergne 38 4-14 0-0 0-5 1 2 9 Mejia 28 0-3 0-0 1-4 0 2 0 Olvera 27 5-14 1-2 2-7 1 3 12 Evans 13 2-2 2-2 0-2 0 5 6 Woodson 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Collins 5 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 Ratliff 5 0-1 0-0 1-3 0 1 0 Mouton 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Totals 200 20-5710-13 5-37 4 23 54 Percentages: FG .351, FT .769.

3-Point Goals: 4-17, .235 (Finister 1-2, Olvera 1-2, J.Lewis 1-3, Lavergne 1-5, Woodson 0-1, Collins 0-2, Mejia 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 1. Team Turnovers: 1.

Blocked Shots: 3 (Finister, J.Lewis, Woodson).

Turnovers: 9 (Olvera 5, Collins, Evans, J.Lewis, Mejia).

Steals: 7 (Mejia 4, Jones, Lavergne, Olvera).

Technical Fouls: None.

FG FT Reb

S. MISS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Binet 27 1-4 5-8 3-8 0 3 7 Weeks 30 4-10 3-5 1-7 0 4 11 Brumfield 28 2-5 5-8 0-1 4 2 9 C.Lewis 31 0-4 0-0 1-8 0 2 0 10 1-7 0-0 1-2 0 0 2 Taveras Tramble 30 3-7 2-4 0-2 1 0 11 Hart 19 3-6 8-9 0-5 0 0 17 Izay 13 0-1 1-2 0-2 0 0 1 Carruth 9 1-3 2-3 0-0 0 2 4 4 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0 Patino Totals 200 15-4826-39 7-36 5 13 62 Percentages: FG .313, FT .667.

3-Point Goals: 6-18, .333 (Hart 3-4, Tramble 3-6, Carruth 0-1, Patino 0-1, Taveras 0-1, Weeks 0-1, C.Lewis 0-4).

Washington 4, Toronto 0 Ottawa 4, Pittsburgh 0 Montreal 4, Chicago 1 Edmonton 3, Boston 1 Minnesota 5, Columbus 2 Los Angeles 2, Tampa Bay 1 Buffalo 5, Philadelphia 3 N.Y. Rangers 2, St. Louis 1, OT Calgary 4, Seattle 2 Dallas 5, San Jose 3

Friday’s Games

Carolina at Florida, n Vancouver at N.Y. Islanders, n New Jersey at Utah, n Winnipeg at Colorado, n Dallas at Anaheim, n

Saturday’s Games

Detroit at Washington, 11:30 a.m.

Philadelphia at N.Y. Rangers, 11:30 a.m.

Chicago at Ottawa, 2 p.m.

Edmonton at Minnesota, 2 p.m.

N.Y. Islanders at Buffalo, 4 p.m.

St. Louis at Florida, 5 p.m.

Carolina at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Montreal, 6 p.m.

Toronto at Nashville, 6 p.m.

Vancouver at Boston, 6 p.m.

Columbus at Anaheim, 9 p.m.

Seattle at San Jose, 9 p.m.

Transactions Major League Baseball

American League CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Hired Carlos Rodriguez as assistant general manager.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Acquired LHP Matt Strahm from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for RHP Jonathan Bowlan.

TAMPA BAY RAYS — Acquired C Caden Bodine, OF Slater de Brun, RHP Michael Forret, OF Austin Overn and a competitive balance round A selection (No. 33 overall) in the 2026 first-year player draft from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for RHP Shane Baz. National League ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Acquired OF Avery Owusu-Asiedu from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for LHP Kyle Backhus.

SAN DIEGO PADRES — Agreed to terms with RHP Michael King on a three-year contract.

LIVING

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

|

S at u r d ay, d e c e m b e r 20, 2025

5cN

Oscars will move to YouTube in 2029

BY JAKE COYLE

AP film writer

In a seismic shift for one of television’s marquee events, the Academy Awards will depart ABC and begin streaming on YouTube beginning in 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.

ABC will continue to broadcast the annual ceremony through 2028. That year will mark the 100th Oscars.

But starting in 2029, YouTube will retain global rights to streaming the Oscars through 2033. YouTube will effectively be the home to all things Oscars, including red-carpet coverage, the Governors Awards and the Oscar nominations announcement.

“We are thrilled to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube to be the future home of the Oscars and our year-round Academy programming,” said academy Chief Executive Bill Kramer and academy President Lynette Howell Taylor. “The Academy is an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible — which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the film community.”

While major award shows have added streaming partnerships, the YouTube deal marks the first of the big four — the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and Tonys — to completely jettison broadcast television. It puts one of the most watched nonNFL broadcasts in the hands of Google. YouTube boasts some 2 billion viewers.

The Academy Awards will stream for free worldwide on YouTube, in addition to YouTube TV subscribers. It will be available with audio tracks in many languages, in addition to closed captioning.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honoring excellence in storytelling and artistry,” said Neal Mohan, chief executive of YouTube. “Partnering with the academy to bring this celebration of art and entertainment to viewers all over the world will inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy.”

The Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC has been the broadcast home to the Oscars for almost its entire history. NBC first televised the Oscars in 1953, but ABC picked up the rights in 1961. Aside from a period between 1971 and 1975, when NBC again aired the show, the Oscars have been on ABC. “ABC has been the proud home to The Oscars for more than half a century,” the network said in a statement. “We look forward to the next three telecasts, including the show’s centennial celebration in 2028, and wish the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued success.”

The 2025 Academy Awards were watched by 19.7 million viewers on ABC, a slight increase from the year before.

That remains one of the biggest TV broadcasts of the year, though less than half of Oscar ratings at their peak. In 1999, more than 55 million watched James Cameron’s “Titanic” win best picture.

ä See OSCARS, page 6C

PROVIDED PHOTOS FROM LINDSEy SMITH

Actors interact with Lindsey Smith’s fabricated tobacco leaves in a tobacco auction scene in ‘Lynchburg at War.’

Historic perspective As design lead on Civil War documentary, BR artist tells history through craft

BY JOY HOLDEN

Staff writer

For Louisiana native Lindsey Shiflett Smith, art has always been her go-to for expression. Design and creativity comes naturally to her, and years of working in visual marketing have perfected her instincts into a well-honed craft.

Smith, who is from Baton Rouge but now lives in Lynchburg, Virginia, has parlayed her skills into a new venture: documentary production design.

Daniel Dixon, the producer of “Lynchburg at War,” asked Smith if she wanted to help out on set because he knew she loved history and had an art background. She helped on the first shoot, and now, she’s been around since February.

“When you’re doing a documentary, there’s an extra layer of responsibility and challenge to do things accurately,” Smith said.

“There’s so many small things within the larger scope of it that you have to dig in and figure out and make sure that it’s correct.

That’s the point of this thing, we’re telling these stories that have never been told before.”

Smith knew she was in deep when, by the second shoot, she was

Lindsey Smith visits the set of the documentary ‘Lynchburg at War.’ making 2,000 fake tobacco leaves for a tobacco auction scene.

Stepping into another century A Redemptorist High School alumna, Smith graduated from Louisiana Tech University in fashion merchandising and then went on to work for the Perkins Rowe Anthropology store as the visual merchandiser and visual manager.

“When you do that, you learn different techniques, like distress-

ing things and making things look old or other different processes,” Smith said. “When I started working on the documentary, it felt like coming back full circle to that. And I’ve been using a lot of those skills that I learned way back then on this project.”

Working on “Lynchburg at War” has allowed Smith to step into another century. By “sourcing fabric

ä See SMITH, page 6C

BR getting a new coffee shop and grocery spot Las Brujas Coffee & Grocery, pictured here on Wednesday, aims to open in February.

STAFF PHOTO By MADDIE SCOTT

BY MADDIE SCOTT

it’s also been a pop-up in places around the city like Red Stick Spice Co. and Iverstine Butcher.

“It’s going to be a great little boBetween Elsie’s Plate & Pie and Radio Bar, a vacant spot has new dega spot where you can hang out, signs hanging on the windows. do work, have business meetings, At 3101 Government St. in Ba- have a cup of coffee, get a loaf of ton Rouge, Las Brujas Coffee & bread and natural wine for dinGrocery aims to open in Febru- ner,” said owner David Villa. “It’ll ary once permitting is approved. really be a community spot.

The brick-and-mortar spot will The business began nine years ago, selling products online and serve a coffee menu with classics running a podcast called Coffee ä See LAS BRUJAS, page 6C Upside Down. In the past year, Staff writer

6C ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

RELIGION BRIEFS FROM STAFF REPORTS

Freeman Baptist holds Christmas service

Freeman Baptist Church, 4628 La. 955, Ethel, will host a special Christmas worship service at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

The guest speaker will be Hilton Rawls III, a 15-year-old prolific speaker, minister, orator and actor from Brooklyn, New York. All are welcome.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press Today is Saturday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2025. There are 11 days left in the year.

Today in history: On Dec. 20, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States.

Also on this date: In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union on a vote of delegates at a secession convention, emboldening other Southern states to follow suit and helping to trigger the American Civil War. In 1946, the classic holiday film “It’s a Wonderful Life” premiered at the Globe Theater in New York City.

In 1986, three Black men were attacked by a group of White youths in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York, resulting in the death of one of the men, Michael Griffith.

In 1987, more than 4,300 people were killed when the Doña Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island.

In 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of Gen. Manuel Noriega.

In 1995, American Airlines Flight 965 from Miami to Cali, Colombia, crashed into a mountain near Buga, Colombia, at night while descending into the Cali area, killing all but four of the 163 passengers and crew aboard.

In 2019, the United States Space Force was established when President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020.

In 2024, a car slammed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, killing six people and injuring more than 200. The suspect, who was arrested, was a doctor originally from Saudi Arabia who had expressed anti-Muslim views and support on social media for a far-right party.

Today’s birthdays: Rock drummer Peter Criss (Kiss) is 80. Producer Dick Wolf (“Law & Order”) is 79. Musician Alan Parsons is 77. Author Sandra Cisneros is 71. Actor Michael Badalucco is 71. Rock singer Chris Robinson (The Black Crowes) is 59. Filmmaker Todd Phillips is 55. Actor Jonah Hill is 42. Soccer player Kylian Mbappé is 27.

INVISION/AP FILE PHOTO

Oscar statuettes appear backstage at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles in 2016.

OSCARS

Continued from page 5C The film academy, in choosing YouTube over other options such as Netflix or NBC Universal/Peacock, selected a platform with a wide-ranging and massive audience but one without as much of an established production infrastructure.

Still, more people — especially young people — watch YouTube than any other streaming platform. According to Nielsen, YouTube accounted for 12.9% of all television and streaming content consumed in November. Netflix ranked second with an 8.3% market share.

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Weddings lead to too much scorekeeping where they all live. My son and Dear Miss Manners: In 2023, I gave my husband’s niece a lovely wed- his wife did not have a wedding shower. They do well themselves. ding shower at a restaurant. It My family came in from out of included lunch and mimosas. state and paid for their own hotel The luncheon was about $1,500 rooms, airfare and car with gratuity. I also paid rentals. My husband’s famfor the cake, favors and game prizes, to the tune of ily, niece included, drove another $500. I also gave to the wedding. a gift ($100). Later that My family, with less year, my husband gave the resources, still managed bride and groom another to give small gifts. Other Judith gift from their registry. than one nephew, none of Martin my husband’s family gave Our son (a cousin of the MISS bride) and his then-fiancée gifts. The wedding cost my MANNERS lived in the same town as son and his wife over $200 this couple, and they occaper person.

When opening gifts after the sionally had dinner together. Our honeymoon, my son and his wife son and his fiancée gave a wedwere hurt that the niece and her ding gift to the bride. husband gave nothing. But they The niece/bride is an attorney, had two gifts from the registry her husband is a social media influencer and they are worth mil- that didn’t have cards, so he lions. They live in a million-dollar called the niece and asked if eihome. ther of those were from the niece Fast-forward to our son’s wedand her husband.

The niece said, “No, we didn’t ding in 2024. It was in a town near

get you anything.”

So, fast-forward again: The niece is pregnant and is having a baby shower. It will be in her hometown, near my son. I do not plan to attend. I do not plan to give a gift.

I would like to say something to her about reciprocity, but don’t know if it is inappropriate, or if I should say something to the nephew (the one who gave a gift).

What do you think?

Gentle reader: That there is an awful lot of tallying up of who is owed what in this situation. And despite your repeatedly stating so, not enough fast-forwarding.

Reciprocity in giving presents is expected, but it is not obligatory.

The niece’s frank response, however, was rude. Miss Manners will therefore sign off on your not attending her baby shower or getting her a present. But please spare both the niece and the un-

Lindsey Smith, center, stands with actors for the batteaux scene of ‘Lynchburg at War.’

SMITH

Continued from page 5C that holds weight, building props that feel worn by time and framing scenes that echo with memory,” Smith wrote, she has “connected to the reverence for the handmade — history felt through craft.”

The documentary takes a critical look at untold stories from the city before, during and after the Civil War. The one-hour documentary was produced by Historic Sandusky, Lionheart Filmworks and the University of Lynchburg under the leadership of Dixon, the producer, and director Greg Starbuck.

Starbuck, the executive director of Historic Sandusky, has led historic preservation and restoration efforts there for more than 20 years. He also has a niche business that focuses on period and battle specific headwear for films and televisions. Dixon owns a construction company and raises cattle, but he also builds sets, oversees production and even acts in the documentary.

Lindsey Smith adjusts the costumes of an actor during filming of the ‘Lynchburg at War’ documentary.

duction designer, art director, key costumer and props artist.

“There’s just a synergy there,” Starbuck said. “She anticipates what we need, and she handles so many different aspects, from costuming to make up to logistics to being an actress to helping plan food for people to helping with set construction. She’ll get out there Thinking ahead and carry and build and use a hamStarbuck says Smith has raised mer or a paintbrush quicker than the bar on set, serving as the pro- some of the men.”

LAS BRUJAS

Continued from page 5C like espresso, Americano, blended cold brew and specialty lattes, as well as a selection of locally baked pastries with gluten-free options.

There’ll also be matcha, chai and organic loose-leaf hot teas.

The beans will be air-roasted in a fluidized bed of air rather than being turned on a drum roaster. This process roasts the coffee more evenly, Villa said, making it taste cleaner and sweeter.

“I just really want people to experience what amazing coffee can taste like and the difference in the air roasting,” he said. “I want all the ingredients that are in the cup to be thoughtful. First and foremost, the milk.”

Everything is made from scratch using organic ingredients, he said.

Milk options include A2 milk (a type of milk that’s easier to digest), goat milk and homemade coconut milk for those who are lactose intolerant.

The other half of the business is dedicated to selling grocery products to support community needs

witting nephew a lecture. The latter already behaved well, and the former does not care.

Dear Miss Manners: We have a close friend who gives gifts we are not wild about, but display anyway.

If she does not see her gift when here, she will ask about it: where is it, don’t you like it, etc.

She is a sweet lady, but so needy. So we take down art we enjoy and put up the cat-in-the-bathtub picture. No sense hurting her feelings, right? Your thoughts?

Gentle reader: That you are a rare, good friend. Consider that every time you have to look at the cat in the bathtub.

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.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Mina Otey, which cared for Confederate soldiers.

Two other lesser-known stories of Lynchburg included teenage girls, the Gunpowder Girls who worked in a munitions factory, and the enslaved Black men who operated the batteaux — boats for transporting tobacco down the James River. Smith was in charge of set design, costuming and props for these scenes.

The batteaux shoot involved filming on the river with three period-accurate batteau boats loaded down with 22 tobacco hogsheads.

“Lynchburg at War” is a labor of love for its crew — a love for history, Lynchburg and the common person who is not mentioned in the well-known military history.

Stories that center women and enslaved people are a large part of the film.

“We’re really excited about where this one is going,” Starbuck said. “We’ve gotten a lot more interest and support and involvement in this one. Our team is about putting out a good project, treating people well, and also, we have a lot of fun while we do it.”

Smith designed and fashioned the Buzzard’s Roost, a rough and seedy red light district in Civil War Lynchburg, which included a saloon and lots of costuming.

She designed and oversaw a set in a Civil War hospital, dressing the actors playing wounded soldiers, dressing the women acting as nurses and applying makeup to replicate wounds. This vignette tells the story of the Ladies Relief Email Joy Holden at joy.holden@ Hospital founded by Captain Lucy theadvocate.com.

with goods like fresh bread, local milk, pastured eggs, honey and natural wines. Currently, there are 12 vendors lined up to sell products, including St. Bruno Bread Co. and Bayou Sarah Farms.

The business name pays homage to Villa’s family farm, called Las Brujas, in Envigado, Colombia, where he was born. When he was 1, his family moved to Baton Rouge, where he was raised, or as he puts it, “smushed into the swamp.”

“I graduated from Baton Rouge High. I went to LSU,” Villa said.

“Mid City is all my people.”

The lease on the Government Street spot starts on Jan. 1, and Villa plans for the space to have a simple, cozy feel with incandescent lighting, thrifted furniture and a kids’ corner with a vintage wooden rocking chair. He also plans to sell ceramics, plants, art and apothecary items.

“Everything I do, I really want people to feel at home, warm,” Villa said. “It’ll be thrifted, vintage, woodwork, leather, plants, warm, not homogenous by any means.”

Hours are expected to be from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. six days a week, and may expand.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● 7C

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FrAnK And erneSt

bIG nAte

zItS

zodIAC SAGIttARIuS (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Pay attention to your surroundings. Don't overlook something you depend on deteriorating right before your eyes. Honesty and durability will lead to good results. cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Pick up the pace and do your own thing. Refuse to let anyone stand in your way or lead you astray. Make your own opportunities instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you.

AQuARIuS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Attend functions that offer insight into something that concerns you. Don't share your secrets or your plans with anyone until you have everything in place.

PIScES (Feb. 20-March 20) Put your energy to good use. Do your research, sign up for courses that keep you up to date, and put yourself on the short list for future advancement. It's how you play the game that counts. = ARIES (March 21-April 19) Make each moment count and every decision worthwhile. Use your intellect, talk to experts and get things right the first time. Clarify, simplify and go about your business. tAuRuS (April 20-May 20) You can bend a little, but don't give in when dealing with something that matters to you or affects your integrity. Attitude is everything when it comes to getting along with others.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) People who can lead you astray will capture your attention. Ask questions, proceed with cau-

tion and choose not to buy into or donate to something you know little about. cAncER (June 21-July 22) Give some thought to your prospects and consider what might help you fulfill your dreams. Be true to yourself, put your energy where it counts and explore what intrigues and excites you.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) It's up to you to initiate change. If you wait for someone to make the first move, you'll fall behind.

Your attitude and demeanor will set the tempo, and your actions will seal the deal.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Take flight.

Spending less time at home will provide insight into what isn't working in your personal or domestic lives. Embrace pastimes that elevate you and bring you in contact with like-minded people.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-oct. 23) Making a move or rearranging your surroundings to facilitate your pursuits will give you the push you need to follow through with your plans. You'll discover who is on your team by the help and support you receive.

ScoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Put a cap on your spending. Leave nothing to chance when working to get what you want. It's time to size up situations and make your move.

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: y EQuALS u

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

8C ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

CurTiS

Hi and LoiS

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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

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● 9C

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B.C.

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER Defense is the hardest part of the game, as we all know. But most pairs spend little time discussing it, preferring to concentrate on bidding.

If you feel your partner’s basic defense needs sharpening, buy her or him “Defensive Play at Bridge: A Quizbook”

by Barbara Seagram and David Bird (Master Point Press). This book is aimed at near-beginners and intermediates.

The book starts with 10 pages of basic instruction. Then there are four pages specifically about no-trump contracts, followed by 34 quiz questions on a righthand page with the full deal and answer on the next left-hand page. Next, there are two pages about suit contracts, followed by 30 quizzes. Finally, there is a glossary. In addition, there are valuable “points to remember” on each question and each answer page.

The book is excellent for its market.

Here is one of the no-trump questions.

Look only at the North and West hands.

South is in three no-trump. West leads the spade six. East wins with his queen and returns the spade 10, South playing the five and the eight. How should West defend?

South must be holding up the spade ace.

But it is the only unseen spade. So, West should overtake his partner’s 10 with the

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

king (or jack) and lead another spade to dislodge that ace. Then, with this layout, the contract can no longer be made.

If West does not overtake, East will have to shift. Then South has time to dislodge West’s diamond king and take one spade, three hearts, four diamonds and one club. © 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 — GREEDILy: GREED-ih-lee: Selfishly; with a desire for wealth

Bizarro

marmaduKe

and possessions.

Average mark 40 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find 57 or more words in GREEDILY? yEStERDAy’S WoRD — VAcuouSnESS vacuous vane vase venous acne cane canoe case cause cave census

cone cove coven cuss usance uvea oases ocean once onus ounce

oven sane sans sauce save scan scone season sensuous sone souse

suave nauseous nave ness nevus noes nova

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:1-2 Real Christians want to please the Lord by living for him. — G.E. Dean

10C ● Saturday, December 20, 2025 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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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.

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We’re asking our readers and the Acadiana 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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