The Advocate 01-06-2026

DEFENSIVE STANDOUT CHASE YOUNG FINDS HOME IN N.O. 1C D

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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

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T u e s d ay, J a n u a ry 6, 2026

HOMICIDES IN EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH

94 2025

149 113 2021 2024

(record)

Homicides in 2025 fall below 100 in BR Decrease reflects return to pre-pandemic levels

$2.00X

BR leaders learn from Detroit’s success

Blight removal process impresses visiting officials

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer

DETROIT — Standing in a freshly renovated living room on Detroit’s east side Monday afternoon, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards listened to Detroit leaders talk about how they transformed the crumbling, centuryold house into an affordable home in a revitalizing neighborhood.

Edwards believes Baton Rouge has much to learn “We’re holding from how Detroit takes con- ourselves back.” trol of blighted properties SID EDWARDS, and moves them quickly to East Baton Rouge redevelopment.

Parish “We’re holding ourselves back,” Edwards said. mayor-president The mayor arrived in Detroit on Sunday to find out how the city has been able to reduce its number of blighted homes from 47,000 to 942 since 2014.

Tackling blight in Baton Rouge remains a major priority for Edwards.

After meeting with Motown leaders Monday, it is apparent that Detroit’s blight removal process moves much faster than it does in Baton Rouge.

It takes about six months on average for Detroit to take control of a blighted property and tear it down, local officials said. That’s a much quicker timeline than what officials are used to back in Baton Rouge.

“It’s pretty shocking, just knowing what we deal with, that something can be done at that speed here,” said Mason Batts, executive director for Edwards’ office. “That’s miracle speed compared to us.”

Batts; the mayor’s chief adviser, Christel Slaughter; Office of Community Development Director Kelly LeDuff; Assistant Chief Administrative

ä See DETROIT, page 7A STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Homicides in Baton Rouge fell back to pre-pandemic levels in 2025.

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

For the first time since the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, East Baton Rouge Parish saw fewer than 100 homicides in a year.

With a final tally of 94 reported in 2025, the parish broke a run of homicide totals that had remained stubbornly high even as much of the rest of the country saw post-pandemic reductions in killings.

“I think we’re actually trending in a good direction, although the numbers are still unacceptable,” District

Attorney Hillar Moore said.

In 2024, 113 homicides were reported, bookending a period that included four of the parish’s five deadliest years on record; 2021 remains the parish’s high watermark with 149.

The 2025 reduction in reported homicides moves the parish closer to matching national trends.

“In general, we’re seeing a massive (national) drop in murder right now,” said Jeff Asher, a New Orleans-based crime analyst who operates the Real Time Crime Index. “We have it at like 20%, so even account-

ing for some uncertainty, you’re still probably looking at the largest oneyear drop ever recorded.”

But for East Baton Rouge, 2025’s reduction is more modest, not quite returning the parish to the sub-90 homicide totals it saw consistently in the 2010s.

For Moore, the drop in homicides was not as steep as he had hoped. For him, based on Baton Rouge’s population, the number of annual homicides should be nearly half what it is now.

ä See HOMICIDES, page 7A

CDC cuts vaccine recommendations

Defiant Maduro pleads not guilty to drug charges

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, LARRY NEUMEISTER and ERIC TUCKER

Health experts criticize childhood policy changes

health and vaccination rates in Louisiana.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reduced the number of vaccines recommended for all children from 17 to 11. Vaccines for reBY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer spiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, hepatitis A and B, influFederal officials made sweep- enza, rotavirus, COVID-19 and ing changes to U.S. vaccine meningococcal disease, as well policy Monday, sharply cutting as vaccines for dengue and methe number of recommended ningococcal B in certain places childhood immunizations, a ä See VACCINE, page 7A move that could impact public

WEATHER HIGH 79 LOW 63 PAGE 6B

STAFF PHOTO By PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER

East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards listens to a presentation by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation on Monday in Detroit.

Associated Press

IMAGE FROM WABC TV VIDEO

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is taken off a helicopter on his way to Manhattan Federal Court on Monday.

INSIDE ä Cuba faces uncertain future after U.S. topples Maduro. Page 2A ä U.S. allies, adversaries critique Venezuela actions at U.N. meeting.

Page 3A ä Congressional leaders briefed on attack. Page 5A

NEW YORK — A defiant Nicolás Maduro declared himself “the president of my country” as he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty Monday to federal drug trafficking charges that the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power in Ven- courtroom interpreter before beezuela. ing cut off by the judge. Asked “I was captured,” Maduro said ä See MADURO, page 5A in Spanish as translated by a

Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................6D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-5D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C

101ST yEAR, NO. 190

2A ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Jury selection begins in trial of ex-Uvalde officer

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Child, her uncle killed in Israeli strike in Gaza

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike in Gaza on Monday hit a tent housing displaced people, killing a 5-year-old girl and her uncle and wounding two other children, hospital officials said.

The strike took place in the Muwasi area northwest of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, officials at Nasser Hospital said. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify those details. Family members wept over the bodies as they were brought to the hospital.

The dead are among the more than 400 people killed in Gaza since an October ceasefire began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said on social media it struck a Hamas militant who planned an imminent attack on Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip. It said the strike complied with the ceasefire agreement, and was done in a targeted way to mitigate civilian harm.

It was not immediately clear if the statement referred to the fatal tent strike. The military also said that, because of continued ceasefire violations, it had begun striking Hezbollah and Hamas terror targets in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Hegseth censures Sen. Kelly over video

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday that he censured Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over the former Navy pilot’s participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.

Hegseth said the censure — by itself simply a formal letter with little practical consequence — was “a necessary process step” to proceedings that could result in a demotion from Kelly’s retired rank of captain and subsequent reduction in retirement pay.

Investigating and now punishing a sitting U.S. senator is an extraordinary move for the Pentagon, which until President Donald Trump’s second term had usually gone out of its way to act and appear apolitical. A legal expert says the choice to go after a lawmaker will complicate an already unique case.

In a lengthy post on social media, Kelly said he “never expected” what he called an “attack” from Trump and Hegseth, recounting his 25 years of Navy service as well as combat and space missions.

Calling Hegseth’s move “outrageous” and “un-American,” Kelly said he would fight the censure “with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.”

The censure comes after Kelly participated in a video in November with five other Democratic lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — in which they called on troops to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.”

Trump, a Republican, accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days later.

Swiss police identify all 116 injured in bar fire

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Swiss police said Monday they’ve identified all the people who were injured in the fire that tore through a New Year’s celebration in a crowded bar. They put the total at 116, more than two-thirds still in hospitals.

Authorities had previously given a figure of 119 injured, on top of the 40 people killed.

But police said Monday that three people admitted to hospitals on the night of the disaster in Crans-Montana had been linked in error to the blaze at the crowded Le Constellation bar.

The injured include 68 Swiss citizens, 21 French nationals, 10 Italians, four Serbs, two Poles and one person each from Australia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Portugal and the Republic of Congo, according to a police statement. There were also four dual nationals: of France and Finland, France and Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, and Italy and the Philippines.

Among the potential witMan charged nesses are FBI agents, with the Texas Deover response to rangers partment of Public Safety, employees and famschool shooting school ily members of the victims.

BY VALERIE GONZALEZ

Associated Press ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RAMON ESPINOSA

Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-mast on Monday at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. embassy in Havana in memory of Cubans who died two days earlier in Caracas, Venezuela, during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.

Cuba sees uncertainty after Venezuela attack Country mourns officers officials say were killed when U.S. captured Maduro

BY DÁNICA COTO and ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press

HAVANA — Cuban officials on Monday lowered flags before dawn to mourn 32 security officers they say were killed in the U.S. weekend strike in Venezuela, the island nation’s closest ally, as residents here wonder what the capture of President Nicolás Maduro means for their future.

The two governments are so close that Cuban soldiers and security agents were often the Venezuelan president’s bodyguards, and Venezuela’s petroleum has kept the economically ailing island limping along for years. Cuban authorities over the weekend said the 32 had been killed in the surprise attack “after fierce resistance in direct combat against the attackers, or as a result of the bombing of the facilities.”

The Trump administration has warned outright that toppling Maduro will help advance another decadeslong goal: Dealing a blow to the Cuban government. Severing Cuba from Venezuela could have disastrous consequences for its leaders, who on Saturday called for the international community to stand up to “state terrorism.”

On Saturday, Trump said the ailing Cuban economy will be further battered by Maduro’s ouster.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba.

“It’s going down for the count.”

Many observers say Cuba, an island of about 10 million people, exerted a remarkable degree of influence over Venezuela, an oil-rich nation with three times as many people. At the same time, Cubans have long been tormented by constant blackouts and shortages of basic foods. And after the attack, they woke to the once-unimaginable possibility of an even grimmer future.

“I can’t talk. I have no words,” 75-yearold Berta Luz Sierra Molina said as she sobbed and placed a hand over her face.

Even though 63-year-old Regina Méndez is too old to join the Cuban military, she said that “we have to stand strong.”

“Give me a rifle, and I’ll go fight,” Méndez said.

Maduro’s government was shipping an average of 35,000 barrels of oil daily over

the last three months, about a quarter of total demand, said Jorge Piñón, a Cuban energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute.

“The question to which we don’t have an answer, which is critical: Is the U.S. going to allow Venezuela to continue supplying Cuba with oil?” he said.

Piñón noted that Mexico once supplied Cuba with 22,000 barrels of oil a day before it dropped to 7,000 barrels after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Mexico City in early September.

“I don’t see Mexico jumping in right now,” Piñón said. “The U.S. government would go bonkers.”

Ricardo Torres, a Cuban economist at American University in Washington, said that “blackouts have been significant, and that is with Venezuela still sending some oil.”

“Imagine a future now in the short term losing that,” he said. “It’s a catastrophe.”

Piñón noted that Cuba doesn’t have the money to buy oil on the international market.

“The only ally that they have left out there with oil is Russia,” he said, noting that it sends Cuba about 2 million barrels a year.

“Russia has the capability to fill the gap.

Do they have the political commitment, or the political desire to do so? I don’t know,” he said.

Torres also questioned whether Russia would extend a hand.

“Meddling with Cuba could jeopardize your negotiation with the U.S. around Ukraine. Why would you do it? Ukraine is far more important,” he said.

Torres said Cuba should open its doors to the private sector and market and reduce its public sector, moves that could help prompt China to step in and help Cuba.

“Do they have an alternative? I don’t think they do,” he said.

On Monday, Trump told NBC News in an interview that the U.S. government could reimburse oil companies making investments in Venezuela to maintain and increase oil production in that country.

He suggested that the necessary rebuilding of the country’s neglected infrastructure for extracting and shipping oil could happen in less than 18 months.

“I think we can do it in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money,” Trump said. “A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.”

Man detained, accused of breaking windows at Vance’s Ohio home

BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and KATHY MCCORMACK Associated Press

A man who broke windows at Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home and caused other property damage was detained early Monday, the U.S. Secret Service said.

The man was detained shortly after midnight by Secret Service agents assigned to Vance’s home, east of downtown Cincinnati, agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. The vice president and his family were not at home, having returned to Washington on Sunday after a weekend there, his office said.

The Secret Service heard a loud noise at the house around midnight and found a person who had broken a window with a hammer and was trying to get in, according to two law enforcement officials who were not publicly authorized to discuss the investigation into what happened and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The man had also vandalized a Secret Service vehicle on his way up the home’s driveway, one of the officials said.

A law enforcement official identified the suspect as William Defoor, 26, who public records list as living in Cincinnati. Calls to the listings for possible relatives and an attorney who previously represented

IMAGE FROM WCPO 9 NEWS VIDEO

Officials inspect broken windows and other property damage at Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home on Monday in eastern Cincinnati.

Defoor were not immediately returned.

Defoor is set to be arraigned Tuesday on misdemeanor charges of vandalism, criminal trespass, criminal damaging and obstruction of official business, court records show.

Vance expressed gratitude to the Secret Service and Cincinnati police for responding quickly to the incident in a post on the social platform X. “I appreciate everyone’s well wishes about the attack at our home,” Vance tweeted. “As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows.”

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Texas judge seated a jury Monday in the trial of a former school police officer in Uvalde who was part of the hesitant law enforcement response to one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history and has been charged with failing to protect children from the gunman.

Adrian Gonzales, one of the first officers to respond to the 2022 attack, is charged with 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment in a rare prosecution of an officer accused of not doing more to save lives. Authorities waited more than an hour to confront the teenage shooter who killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary.

Gonzales has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney has said the officer tried to save children that day.

The panel of 12 jurors and four alternates were seated Monday evening by Judge Sid Harle, after hundreds of prospective jurors were asked what they knew about the response and their impressions of what happened.

The judge had said the court was not looking for jurors who knew nothing about the shooting but wanted those who could be impartial.

About 100 people were dismissed after saying they already formed opinions.

One man said more officers should be on trial, while a teacher said she would throw herself in front of her students to protect them.

Bill Turner, a special prosecutor, told potential jurors they would need to consider whether the inaction of the officer proved harmful.

“If there is a duty to act and you fail to act, that’s child endangerment,” he said.

The judge said the trial was expected to last about two weeks.

Nearly 400 officers from state, local and federal law enforcement agencies responded to the school, but 77 minutes passed from the time authorities arrived until a tactical team breached the classroom and killed the shooter, Salvador Ramos. An investigation later showed that Ramos was obsessed with violence and notoriety in the months leading up to the attack.

Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo were among the first on the scene, and they are the only two officers to face criminal charges over the response.

Arredondo’s trial has not been scheduled.

The charges against Gonzales carry up to two years in prison if he is convicted.

Police and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott initially said swift law enforcement action killed Ramos and saved lives. But that version quickly unraveled as families described begging police to go into the building and 911 calls emerged from students pleading for help.

The indictment alleges Gonzales placed children in “imminent danger” of injury or death by failing to engage, distract or delay the shooter and by not following his active shooter training. The allegations also say he did not advance toward the gunfire despite hearing shots and being told where the shooter was.

State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.

According to the state review, Gonzales told investigators that once police realized there were students still sitting in other classrooms, he helped evacuate them.

Some family members of the victims have said more officers should be indicted.

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 3A

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U.S. allies, adversaries critique Venezuela strike tion,” said Christina Markus U.N. meets Lassen, Danish ambassador the U.N. to discuss attack, toShe also defended Venezusovereignty, saying “no Maduro capture ela’s state should seek to influence

BY FARNOUSH AMIRI and JENNIFER PELTZ

Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — Both allies and adversaries of the United States on Monday used an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to voice opposition to the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro.

Before the U.N.’s most powerful body, countries critiqued — if sometimes obliquely — President Donald Trump’s intervention in the South American country and his recent comments signaling the possibility of expanding military action to countries like Colombia and Mexico over drug trafficking accusations. The Republican president also has re-upped his threat to take over the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests.

Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the mineral-rich island, carefully denounced U.S. prospects for taking over Greenland without mentioning its NATO ally by name.

“The inviolability of borders is not up for negotia-

political outcomes in Venezuela through the use of threat of force or through other means inconsistent with international law.”

While French President Emmanuel Macron recently endorsed Maduro’s capture, its U.N. envoy was slightly more critical Monday, saying any violations of international law by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which include the U.S., erodes “the very foundation of the international order.”

“The military operation that has led to the capture of Maduro runs counter to the principle of peace dispute resolution and runs counter to the principle of nonuse of force,” said Jay Dharmadhikari, deputy French ambassador to the U.N. U.S. envoy Mike Waltz defended the operation in Venezuela as a justified and Waltz “surgical law enforcement operation,” calling out the 15-member council for criticizing the targeting of Maduro.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FRANK FRANKLIN II

People listen as Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada speaks Monday during a meeting of the Security Council at U.N. headquarters.

“If the United Nations in this body confers legitimacy on an illegitimate narco-terrorist with the same treatment in this charter of a democratically elected president or head of state, what kind of organization is this?” said Waltz, who is Trump’s former national security adviser.

Maduro’s 2024 reelection was widely disputed.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he is “deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected with regard to the 3 January military action.”

He said the “grave” action by the U.S. could set a precedent for how future relations

between nations unfold.

Even with the strong support for Venezuela’s sovereignty, its envoy called on the U.N. to go beyond veiled comments and condemnation. Ambassador Samuel Moncada urged the Security Council to demand that Washington release Maduro and his wife.

“If the kidnapping of a head of state, the bombing of a sovereign country and the open threat of further armed action are tolerated or downplayed, the message sent to the world is a devastating one: namely that the law is optional, and that force is the true arbiter of international

Danish PM warns U.S. takeover of Greenland would mark end of NATO

BY ANDERS KONGSHAUG, CLAUDIA CIOBANU and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. Her comments came in response to President Donald Trump’s renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island to come under U.S. control in the aftermath of the weekend military operation in Venezuela.

The dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas to capture leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife early Saturday left the world stunned, and heightened concerns in Denmark and Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of the Danish kingdom and

thus part of NATO. Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens Frederik Nielsen, blasted the president’s comments and warned of catastrophic consequences. Numerous European leaders expressed solidarity with them.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Monday. “That is, including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.” Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the island. His comments Sunday, including telling reporters “let’s talk about

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Greenland in 20 days,” further deepened fears that the U.S. was planning an intervention in Greenland in the near future.

Frederiksen also said Trump “should be taken seriously” when he says he wants Greenland. “We will not accept a situation where we and Greenland are threatened in this way,” she added.

Nielsen, in a news conference Monday, said Greenland cannot be compared to Venezuela. He urged his constituents to stay calm and united.

“We are not in a situation where we think that there might be a takeover of the country overnight and that is why we are insisting that we want good cooperation,” he said.

Nielsen added: “The situation is not such that the United States can simply conquer Greenland.”

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Zelenskyy replaces Ukraine’s security chief, hires Canadian economic adviser

BY ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced the head of Ukraine’s security service Monday, continuing a top-level reshuffle ahead of a trip to Paris where he hoped to finalize agreements with allies on how to ensure that Russia doesn’t repeat its invasion if a peace agreement is signed.

Zelenskyy is trying to revamp his administration as the grinding war of attrition with Russia marks its fourth anniversary next month. He is keen to keep up the momentum of U.S.-led peace talks as well as sharpen Ukraine’s focus on defense if those efforts collapse.

The Paris talks are expected to include the leaders of about 30 countries, dubbed the “coalition of the willing,” which are ready to provide security guarantees to keep Ukraine safe in the future.

Key issues include whether countries are prepared to deploy troops inside or close to Ukraine and what the remit of any force overseeing a ceasefire might be. Russia has said it won’t accept troops from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil.

Zelenskyy also announced the appointment of Canada’s former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland as Ukraine’s economic development adviser, describing her as an expert on the issues with “significant experience in attracting in-

vestment and carrying out economic transformations.”

Amid Ukraine’s biggest top-level reshuffle in about six months, Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service, announced his resignation on the agency’s website.

Zelenskyy published a decree on the presidential website appointing Ievhen Khmara, former head of the “A” Special Operations Center of the Security Service, as the agency’s acting head.

Under Maliuk, the SBU produced some stunning successes against Russia, including Operation Spiderweb, which Ukraine said damaged or destroyed 41 Russian military aircraft in coordinated strikes on four air bases.

relations,” Moncada said.

He warned that other countries can’t afford to look away: “Accepting such a logic would mean to open the door to a deeply unstable world.”

Neighboring Colombia described the raid as reminiscent of “the worst interference in our area in the past.”

“Democracy cannot be defended or promoted through violence and coercion, and it cannot be superseded, either, by economic interests,” Ambassador Leonor Zalabata said.

The biggest critics of U.S. foreign policy, China and Russia, which are also per-

manent members of the Security Council, called for the U.N. body to unite in rejecting America turning back to an “era of lawlessness.”

Maduro, like his predecessor, forged a close relationship with Russia, while China was the main destination for most Venezuelan oil.

“We cannot allow the United States to proclaim itself as some kind of a supreme judge, which alone bears the right to invade any country, to label culprits, to hand down and to enforce punishments irrespective of notions of international law, sovereignty and nonintervention,” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said.

His own country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has drawn widespread condemnation within the U.N. and from the U.S., although the Trump administration is engaging with Russia in hopes of brokering an end to the fighting.

The U.S. seized Maduro and his wife early Saturday from their home on a military base and put them aboard a U.S. warship to face prosecution in New York in a Justice Department indictment accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy. Maduro declared his innocence during his first appearance in a Manhattan courthouse Monday.

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Walz drops bid for 3rd term as Minnesota governor

BY STEVE KARNOWSKI and BILL BARROW Associated Press

ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Democrats’ 2024 candidate for vice president, is ending his bid for a third term amid President Donald Trump’s relentless focus on a fraud investigation into the state’s child care programs and its Somali community.

Less than four months after announcing his reelection campaign, Walz said Monday that negative attention and Republican attacks have contributed to an “extraordinarily difficult year for our state,” making it impossible for him to serve full time as governor while also being a candidate to keep his job.

“Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who want to prey on our differences,” Walz said at the state capitol. “So I’ve decided to step out of this race, and I’ll let others worry about the election while I focus on the work that’s in front of me for the next year.”

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO PHOTO By KEREM yÜCEL

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz holds a news conference Monday at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn.

Walz did not take questions from reporters after speaking for about seven minutes, much of which involved repeating his earlier written statement announcing his decision.

“Donald Trump and his allies — in Washington, in St. Paul and online — want to make our state a colder, meaner place,” Walz said, referring to the Trump administration withholding funds for the programs and the Republican president’s attacks

on Somali immigrants in Minnesota.

Walz did not explicitly acknowledge the impact of a viral video from a right-wing influencer who claimed he’d found rampant fraud at day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis. But the Trump administration has cited the video in its decision to cut off certain federal funding streams, and the video’s creator, Nick Shir-

ley, was happy to take credit for the governor’s decision.

“I ENDED TIM WALZ,” Shirley posted Monday on social media.

Trump wrote on social media that Walz was not running “because he was caught, REDHANDED” with “stealing Tens of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars,” an accusation against the governor that lacked evidence despite widely acknowledged fraud problems. The president said Walz “has destroyed the State of Minnesota.”

Walz’s exit scrambles the contest in a Democratic-leaning state that Republicans have insisted they can win. Democrats hold 24 of 50 governor’s seats nationwide, with 36 seats, including Minnesota’s, on the ballot this year.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is considering entering the Minnesota race, according to a person close to her. The person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the senator, who ran for president in 2020, has not made a final decision.

Around a dozen Republicans are already running. They include MyPillow founder and chief executive Mike Lindell, an election denier who is close to Trump. They

also include Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring; Dr. Scott Jensen, a former state senator from Chaska who was the party’s 2022 candidate; state Rep. Kristin Robbins, of Maple Grove; defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor Chris Madel; former executive Kendall Qualls; and former Minnesota GOP Chair David Hann.

A military veteran, union supporter and former high school educator and coach, Walz helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state, including sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families.

Kamala Harris picked Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election after his attack line against Trump and his running mate, then-Ohio Sen. JD Vance — “These guys are just weird” — spread widely.

Walz continued building his national profile since his and Harris’ defeat in November. He was a sharp critic of Trump as he toured early caucus and primary states.

In May, he called on Democrats in South Carolina to stand up to the Republican president, saying, “Maybe it’s time for us to be a little meaner.”

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Paris court finds 10 guilty of cyberbullying French first lady board votes to dissolve organization

BY SYLVIE CORBET

to pedophilia. Some of the Associated Press posts were viewed tens of thousands of times.

PARIS — A Paris court on Brigitte Macron didn’t atMonday found 10 people tend the two-day trial in Ocguilty of cyberbullying tober. Speaking on TF1 naFrance’s first lady, Brigitte tional television Sunday, she Macron, by spreading false said that she launched legal online claims about proceedings to “set her gender and sexuan example” in the fight against harassality, including allement. gations that she was Her lawyer, Jean born a male.

Ennochi, said MonOne defendant was sentenced to six day that “what is immonths in prison, portant is that there while eight were B. Macron are immediate cyhanded suspended berbullying awaresentences between four and ness trainings, and for some eight months. All 10 were of the defendants, a ban on ordered to attend cyberbul- using their social media accounts.” lying awareness training.

Her daughter, Tiphaine The court pointed to “particularly degrading, insult- Auzière, testified about what ing, and malicious” com- she described as the “deteriments referring to false oration” of her mother’s life claims suggesting that Bri- since the online harassment gitte Macron was transgen- intensified. “She cannot ignore the horrible things said der and a pedophile.

“Repeated publications about her,” Auzière told the have had cumulative harm- court. She said the impact has extended to the entire ful effects,” the court said.

The defendants, eight men family, including Macron’s and two women ranging in grandchildren.

One of the defendants, a age from 41 to 65, were accused of having posted nu- property asset manager, remerous comments falsely ceived a six-month prison claiming that the wife of sentence. Under French law, President Emmanuel Ma- the sentence may be served cron was born male and lik- at home, possibly while ening their 24-year age gap wearing an ankle monitor

or following other requirements set by a judge.

Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, who is known as Amandine Roy and describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered to have played a major role in spreading the rumor after she released a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021. She was given a six-month prison sentence.

The X account of Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations. Poirson-Atlan was given an eightmonth prison sentence, along with another defendant, a gallery owner.

The one defendant not given a prison sentence was a teacher, who apologized during the trial. He will have to attend the cyberbullying awareness training.

Several will see their online access suspended for six months on the social media where they made their posts.

All 10 were also sentenced to jointly pay $11,675 in compensation to Brigitte Macron for moral damage.

The sentences were proportional to the seriousness of the comments, the court stressed.

By The Associated Press

Leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency that has steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, voted Monday to dissolve the organization that was created in 1967.

CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last summer to defund its operations at the encouragement of President Donald Trump. Its board of directors chose Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell.

“CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks,” said Patricia Harrison, the organization’s president and CEO. Many Republicans have long accused public broadcasting, particularly its news programming, of being biased toward liberals but it wasn’t until the second Trump administration —- with full GOP control of Congress — that those criticisms were turned into action.

Ruby Calvert, head of CPB’s board of directors, said the federal defunding of public media has been devastating.

“Even at this moment, I am convinced that public media will survive, and that a new Congress will address public media’s role in our country because it is critical to our children’s education, our history, culture and democracy to do so,” Calvert said.

CPB said it was financially supporting the American Archive of Public Broadcasting in its effort to preserve historic content, and is working with the University of Maryland to maintain its own records.

BIG WIRELESS COVERAGE, Final pilgrims cross Holy Door as Vatican claims Jubilee success WITHOUT BIG WIRELESS COST.

BY NICOLE WINFIELD and TRISHA THOMAS Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — The final pilgrims of the 2025 Holy Year passed through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica late Monday, as the Vatican claimed success after more than 33 million people participated in this the rarest of Jubilees: opened by one pope and closed by another.

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday will officially close out the Holy Year by shutting the basilica’s Holy Door, capping a dizzying year of special audiences, Masses and meetings that dominated his first months as pope and in many ways put his own agenda on hold.

For the Vatican, a Holy Year is a centuries-old tradition of the faithful making pilgrimages to Rome every 25 years to visit the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and receive indulgences for the forgiveness of their sins if they pass through the Holy Door.

For Rome, it’s a chance to take advantage of some $4.3 billion in public funds to carry out long-delayed projects to lift the city out of years of neglect and bring it up to modern, European standards.

Among the last to cross

Plans start at $20/Month.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALESSANDRA TARANTINO

Natalie Turner and her son Phillip cross the Holy Door on Monday in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on the last day of its public opening. the threshold of St. Peter’s was Natalie Turner, a public defender from Birmingham, England, who was pushed in a wheelchair along the pilgrim route, across cobblestones and up ramps, by her son, Philip.

Turner, who needs a wheelchair because of her severe arthritis, said she was thrilled to make it through at the last minute and said she believes it will give her and her son “special graces and blessings.”

She said the trip to the Vatican, her first, “is a great way of grounding me, and helping me to realize that as bad as those things are that I see, God has it. He is

in control, and I cannot take it all, I can only do as much as I can do.”

“Wonderful. Unique. Something I will never experience again, probably,” she said as she passed through the door.

The Vatican on Monday said 33,475,369 pilgrims had participated and Italy, the U.S. and Spain were the top nationalities represented.

But at a news conference, the Vatican’s Holy Year organizer, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, acknowledged the number was only an estimate and could include double counting. There was no breakdown between Holy Year pilgrims and Rome’s overall tourism numbers.

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 5A

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Congressional leaders briefed on Venezuela attack

BY LISA MASCARO, JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MATT BROWN Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the striking military operation in Venezuela amid mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation of lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.

Republican leaders entered the closed-door session at the Capitol largely supportive of Trump’s decision to forcibly remove Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro from power, but many Democrats emerged with more questions as Trump maintains a fleet of naval vessels off the Venezuelan coast and urges U.S. companies to reinvest in the country’s underperforming oil industry.

A war powers resolution that would prohibit U.S. military action in Venezuela without approval from Congress is heading for a vote this week in the Senate.

“We don’t expect troops on the ground,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, said afterward.

He said Venezuela’s new leadership cannot be allowed to engage in narcoterrorism or the trafficking of drugs into the U.S., which sparked Trump’s initial campaign of deadly boat strikes that have killed more than 115 people.

“This is not a regime change.

This is demand for a change in behavior,” Johnson said. “We don’t expect direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the new, the interim government, to get that going.”

Johnson added, “We have a way of persuasion — because their oil exports as you know have been seized, and I think that will bring the country to a new governance in very short order,” he said.

MADURO

Continued from page 1A later for his plea to the charges, he stated: “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.”

Maduro’s court appearance in Manhattan, his first since he and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized from their Caracas home Saturday in a stunning middle-ofthe-night military operation, kicked off the U.S. government’s most consequential prosecution in decades of a foreign head of state. She also pleaded not guilty.

The criminal case is unfolding against a broader diplomatic backdrop of an audacious U.S.-engineered regime change that President Donald Trump has said will enable his administration to “run” the South American country.

Maduro, 63, was brought to court under heavy security early Monday — flown by helicopter to Manhattan from Brooklyn, where he is jailed, and then driven to the courthouse in an armored vehicle.

He and Flores were led into court just before noon.

Both were in leg shackles and jail-issued garb, and both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceeding as it was translated into Spanish.

As Maduro left the courtroom, a man in the audience denounced him as an “illegitimate” president.

As a criminal defendant in the U.S. legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person charged with a crime in the country — including the right to jury trial. But, given the circumstances of his arrest and the geopolitical stakes at play, he’ll also be nearly — but not quite — unique.

That was made clear from the outset as Maduro, who took copious notes throughout the proceedings and wished Happy New Year to reporters as he entered the courtroom, repeatedly pressed his case that he had been unlawfully abducted.

“I am here kidnapped since Jan. 3, Saturday,” Maduro said, standing and leaning his tall frame toward a tabletop microphone. “I was captured at my home in Caracas.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JACQUELyN MARTIN

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives at the Capitol on Monday to brief top lawmakers after President Donald Trump directed U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

But Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, emerged saying, “There are still many more questions that need to be answered.”

“What is the cost? How much is this going to cost the United States of America?” Rep. Gregory Meeks, of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said afterward.

The briefing, which stretched for two hours, came days after the surprise military action that few, if any, of the congressional leaders, knew about until after it was underway — a remarkable delay in informing Congress, which has ultimate say over matters of war.

Administration officials fielded a range of questions — from further involvement of U.S. troops on the

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old jurist who was appointed to the federal bench in 1998

by Bill Clinton, interrupted him, saying: “There will be a time and place to go into all of this.” Hellerstein added that Maduro’s lawyer could do so later.

“At this point in time, I only want to know one thing: Are you Nicolás Maduro Moros?”

“I am Nicolás Maduro Moros,” the defendant responded.

Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said he expects to contest the legality of his “military abduction.”

Pollack, a prominent Washington lawyer whose clients have included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, said Maduro is “head of a sovereign state and is entitled to the privileges and immunities that go with that office.”

Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega unsuccessfully tried the same immunity defense after the U.S. captured him in a similar military invasion in 1990.

But the U.S. doesn’t recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state — particularly after a muchdisputed 2024 reelection.

Flores, who identified herself to the judge as “first lady of the Republic of Venezuela,” had bandages on her forehead and right temple.

Her lawyer, Mark Donnelly, said she suffered “significant injuries” during her capture.

A 25-page indictment accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. They could face life in prison if convicted.

Among other things, the indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money or undermined their drug trafficking operation. That included the killing of a local drug boss in Caracas, the indictment said.

Outside the courthouse, police separated those protesting the U.S. military action from pro-intervention demonstrators. Inside the courtroom, as the proceeding wrapped up and Maduro prepared to leave, 33-yearold Pedro Rojas stood up and began speaking forcefully at him in Spanish.

Rojas said later that he had been imprisoned by the Vene-

ground to the role of the Venezuelan opposition leadership that appeared to have been sidelined by the Trump administration as the country’s vice president, Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez, swiftly became the country’s interim president.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who brought drug trafficking charges against Maduro, all joined the classified session. It was intended for the called “gang of eight” leaders, which includes Intelligence committee leadership as well as the chairmen and ranking lawmakers on the national security committees.

Asked afterward if he had any more clarity about who is actu-

zuelan regime. As deputy U.S. marshals led Maduro from the courtroom, the deposed leader looked directly at the man and shot back in Spanish: “I am a kidnapped president.

I am a prisoner of war.”

Trump said Saturday the U.S. would “run” Venezuela temporarily and reiterated Sunday night that “we’re in charge,” telling reporters “we’re going to run it, fix it.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to strike a more cautious tone, telling Sunday morning talk shows that the U.S. would not govern the country day-to-day other than enforcing an existing ” oil quarantine.”

Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed U.S. hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.

Trump has suggested that removing Maduro would enable more oil to flow out of Venezuela, but oil prices rose 1.7% on Monday. There are uncertainties about how fast oil production can be ramped up in Venezuela after years of neglect, as well as questions about governance and oversight of the sector.

Venezuela’s new interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has demanded that the U.S. return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking — although late Sunday she struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with Trump and “respectful relations” with the U.S. Rodríguez was sworn in on Monday by her brother, National Assembly leader Jorge Rodríguez.

“I come with sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people following an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland,” she said with her right hand up. “I come with sorrow for the kidnapping of two heroes.”

Maduro’s son and Venezuelan congressman Nicolás Maduro Guerra warned on Monday that his father’s capture could set a dangerous precedent globally and demanded that his parents be returned.

“If we normalize the kidnapping of a head of state, no country is safe. Today it’s Venezuela. Tomorrow it could be any nation that refuses to submit. This is not a regional problem. It is a direct threat to global

ally running Venezuela, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said, “I wish I could tell you yes, but I can’t.”

Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Republican chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, and ranking Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin, of Illinois — said they should have been included in the classified briefing, arguing they have oversight of the Justice Department under Bondi.

Earlier in the day, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned that Trump’s action in Venezuela is only the beginning of a dangerous approach to foreign policy as the president publicly signals his interests in Colombia, Cuba and Greenland.

“The American people did not

political stability,” Maduro Guerra said Also Monday, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meet-

sign up for another round of endless wars,” Schumer said.

Afterward, Schumer said the briefing, “while extensive and long, posed far more questions than it answered.”

Republicans hold mixed views reflective of the deepening schism within Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement as the president, who vowed to put America first, ventures toward overseas entanglements many lawmakers in both parties want to avoid — particularly after the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Next steps in the country, and calls for elections in Venezuela, are uncertain.

The Trump administration had been in talks with Rodríguez, who took the place of her ally Maduro and offered “to collaborate” with the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Trump has been dismissive of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who last month won the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her nation.

Trump has said Machado lacks the “support” or “respect” to run the country.

But Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a staunch Trump ally, said he plans to speak soon with Machado, and called her “very popular if you look at what happened in the last election.”

“She eventually, I think, will be the president of Venezuela,” Scott said. “You know, this is going to be a process to get to a democracy.

It’s not easy. There’s a lot of bad people still there, so it’s going to take time. They are going to have an election and I think she will get elected.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been a leading critic of the Trump campaign of boat strikes against suspected drug smugglers, said there are probably a dozen leaders around the world who the U.S. could say are in violation of an international law or human rights law.

ing, with the top U.N. official warning that America may have violated international law with its unilateral action. The world body also

spotlighted the profound humanitarian needs in Venezuela. Its people have endured a yearslong, complex economic crisis.

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

DOW 48,977.18 594.79 1.23%

NASDAQ 23,395.82 160.19 0.69%

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FROM WIRE REPORTS

U.S.-based companies to be exempt from deal

WASHINGTON — U.S. multinational corporations will be exempted from paying more corporate taxes overseas in a deal finalized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD announced Monday that nearly 150 countries have agreed on the plan, initially crafted in 2021, to stop large global companies from shifting profits to low-tax countries, no matter where they operate in the world.

The amended version excludes large U.S.-based multinational corporations from the 15% global minimum tax after negotiations between President Donald Trump’s administration and other members of the Group of Seven wealthy nations.

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said in a statement that the agreement is a “landmark decision in international tax co-operation” and “enhances tax certainty, reduces complexity, and protects tax bases.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the agreement “a historic victory in preserving U.S. sovereignty and protecting American workers and businesses from extraterritorial overreach.”

The most recent version of the deal waters down a landmark 2021 agreement that set a minimum global corporate tax of 15%.

S&P 500 6,902.05 43.58 0.64%

EURO 1.1721 0.0000 0.00%

CRUDE OIL 58.32 1.00 1.74%

GOLD 4,436.90 122.50 2.84%

6-MO T-BILLS 3.59 -0.02 -0.55%

30-YR T-BONDS 4.84 -0.03 -0.62%

Oil stocks see sharp increase

BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN Associated Press

Shares of major U.S. companies in the energy sector were sharply higher Monday after President Donald Trump announced plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry, saying that it would be American companies helping to revitalize it following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.

While the U.S. action is unlikely to have an immediate impact on crude prices given the current glut in the market, it could upend en-

ergy markets and have an impact on the geopolitical landscape.

The shale oil revolution made the U.S. the world’s largest crude producer. Recent, massive oil finds off the coast of Guyana are largely controlled by ExxonMobil and Chevron. U.S. control of the Venezuelan energy industry, which sits on the world’s largest oil reserves, could “reshape the balance of power in international energy markets,” analysts with JP Morgan wrote Monday.

“The combined total could position the US as a leading holder

of global oil reserves, potentially accounting for about 30% of the world’s total if these figures are consolidated under US influence,” JP Morgan wrote. “This would mark a notable shift in global energy dynamics.”

Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair after years of neglect and international sanctions. Yet some oil industry analysts believe that Venezuela could double or triple its current output of about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day and return the nation to historic production levels relatively quickly.

“With greater access to and influence over a substantial portion of global reserves, the US could potentially exert more control over oil market trends, helping to stabilize prices and keep them within historically lower ranges,” according to JP Morgan. “This increased leverage would not only enhance U.S. energy security but could also reshape the balance of power in international energy markets.”

If or when that would happen, however, is more complex. Many energy analysts see a longer and more difficult road ahead.

FAA picks 2 firms to replace radar systems The federal government has picked two companies to replace 612 radar systems nationwide that date back to the 1980s as part of a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the nation’s air traffic control system.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that contractors RTX and Spanish firm Indra will replace the radar systems by the summer of 2028. The administration set an ambitious goal of completing the overhaul by the end of 2028 near the conclusion of President Donald Trump’s current term in office.

“Our radar network is outdated and long overdue for replacement. Many of the units have exceeded their intended service life, making them increasingly expensive to maintain and difficult to support,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said.

The FAA has been spending most of its $3 billion equipment budget just maintaining the fragile old system that still relies on floppy disks in places. Some of the equipment is old and isn’t manufactured anymore, so the FAA sometimes has to search for spare parts on eBay. Technical failures twice knocked out the radar for air traffic controllers managing planes around Newark Liberty International Airport last spring, and those problems led to thousands of cancellations and delays at the major hub airport.

Comcast spins off E!, CNBC and MS NOW Comcast has officially spun off its cable channels, including CNBC and MS NOW, into a separate company, Versant Media Group.

The transaction was completed late Friday. On Monday, Versant took a major tumble in its stock market debut — providing a key test of investors’ willingness to hold onto legacy cable channels.

The initial outlook wasn’t pretty, providing awkward moments for CNBC anchors reporting the story.

Comcast opted to cast off the still-profitable cable channels, except for the perennially popular Bravo!, as Wall Street has soured on the business, which has been contracting amid a consumer shift to streaming.

Versant’s market performance will be closely watched as Warner Bros. Discovery attempts to separate its cable channels from the Warner Bros. studios and HBO later this year.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL PHOTO By MADELINE CARTER

Marissa Steingold shows off a Tombot dog Sunday during CES Unveiled at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Robotic puppy, AI, wearable tech on display at CES media preview

BY RICHARD N. VELOTTA

Las Vegas Review-Journal (TNS)

Hundreds of the roughly 4,000 media members attending CES 2026 got an early look Sunday at some of the thousands of consumer electronics gadgets that will dominate multiple trade show floors across the city this week.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show, sponsored by the Virginia-based Consumer Technology Association opens Tuesday, but media members got a preview at CES Unveiled Sunday at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

The four-day trade show, annually Las Vegas’ second-largest convention event with an estimated attendance of 140,000 people, runs through Friday and is open only to technology professionals and not the public.

“CES 2026 is where innovators show up — to connect, forge partnerships, and do business on a global scale,” said Gary Shapiro, executive chair and CEO of the 1,200-member association.

“All signs point to a phenomenal CES with thousands of exhibitors, a record 3,600-plus

Innovation Award submissions, and innovation across 13 venues and 2.6 million net square feet. This is an exciting time for innovation and CES 2026 will have the latest tech in AI, robotics, digital health, mobility, enterprise, energy, immersive entertainment, accessibility and more.”

Shapiro will join Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Steve Hill, Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson, who chairs the LVCVA board of directors, and CTA President Kinsey Fabrizio on Monday to formally open the newly renovated Las Vegas Convention Center.

CES 2026 will be the first trade show to take advantage of the $600 million renovations that include bringing the convention center’s North, Central and South halls up to the same standards as the $1 billion West Hall.

While the convention center, The Venetian Expo and the Aria convention halls are the largest venues for CES, the show will introduce its first-ever CES Foundry at Fontainebleau uniting innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, government officials and media to explore how artificial intelligence and quantum technologies are defining the next

era of innovation.

Among the more than 100 companies participating at CES Unveiled was Santa Clarita, California-based Tombot, which drew large crowds gathering to meet Jennie, a lifelike robotic Labrador puppy.

Jennie was designed to comfort seniors and individuals living with dementia, anxiety, loneliness, autism and PTSD. The robotic dog responds to voice commands and responds like an 8- to 10-week-old puppy.

Company representatives said there already more than 18,000 global preorders for Jennie.

Wearable technology is expected to be popular at this year’s show and health-tech company Fourth Frontier of Austin, Texas, was showing its new line of heart-monitoring devices.

The company’s lightweight Frontier X monitor straps across the chest and synchronizes via Bluetooth to Apple Health and Garmin devices, producing a continuous electrocardiogram.

The monitor also produces an alarm when it detects the user is pushing too hard during an activity.

Wall Street gains ground as energy, bank stocks rise

BY DAMIAN J. TROISE Associated Press

NEW YORK — Stocks gained ground on Wall Street on Monday to kick off their first full week of the new year.

The gains were broad, with particularly big jumps for energy companies and banks. Elsewhere, industrial companies and retailers joined in to help boost major indexes.

The S&P 500 rose 43.58 points, or 0.6%, to 6,902.05. The benchmark index is just below its record set in late December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record, rising 594.79 points, or

1.2%, to 48,977.18.

The Nasdaq composite rose 160.19 points, or 0.7%, to 23,395.82.

Smaller company stocks had a particularly strong day, outpacing other indexes, in a sign of broader investor confidence. The Russell 2000 rose 1.6%.

Markets in Europe also gained ground.

Big banks also made solid gains.

JPMorgan Chase rose 2.6% and Bank of America jumped 1.7%.

Wall Street is also watching the technology sector as the industry kicks off its annual CES trade show in Las Vegas. Nvidia fell 0.4% and Applied Materials jumped 5.7%.

Investors are particularly focused on advancements in artificial intelligence.

The sector led the broader market to a series of records in 2025 on expectations that AI will continue to drive advancements and profits for a wide range of technology companies.

The latest updates on AI from influential technology companies could help shed more light on whether the big investments are worth the potential financial risks.

Companies like Nvidia have been heavily investing in the technology, while investors on Wall Street have made those companies among the most valuable

in the world. Their outsized valuations now drive much of the movement for major indexes, including the record run for major indexes in 2025.

The broader market is poised to gain even more ground as last year’s momentum continues with growing corporate earnings and several other factors, according to Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide.

“The market’s broad, confident and consistent march upward, and the absence of emotion-based selling, tells you we’re starting the year on pretty solid footing,” Hackett wrote, in a note to investors.

H

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DETROIT

Continued from page 1A Officer William Daniel; and East Baton Rouge Metro Council member Jen Racca joined Edwards on the trip.

The group met with the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, representatives of the city’s land bank authority and various developers who worked with the city to redevelop blighted properties into homes.

Edwards noted that Baton Rouge’s blight problem isn’t an exact mirror of Detroit’s. But both have roots in deeper issues such as crime, low property values and

HOMICIDES

Continued from page 1A “If you compare us to cities that are kind of like equally in poor shape when it comes to education, health care, poverty, when you look at all of those indicators of potential crime, we should be at 65,” he said.

Throughout the year, The Advocate tracks homicides in the parish, checking the total against figures from the Baton Rouge Police Department, the Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office.

Not included in the total are any killings that were deemed justified or negligent by law enforcement.

For this reason, totals are subject to change.

While the beginning of the year showed the amount of violent crime staying consistent with the pandemic era, deaths began to slow by summer.

By September, homicides were down to five or fewer each month.

“One of the things we noticed, especially at the first quarter of the year, we were still seeing some of the same trends with our

VACCINE

Continued from page 1A will now be recommended only for high-risk groups or for “shared clinical decisionmaking,” which means discussions between patients and providers.

“President Trump directed us to examine how other developed nations protect their children and to take action if they are doing better,” said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vaccine skeptic who said the move was made “after an exhaustive review of the evidence.”

Trump administration officials said the overhaul, a move long sought by Kennedy, won’t result in families who want the vaccines losing access to them, and said insurance will continue to pay. But medical experts said the decision creates confusion for parents and could increase preventable diseases.

Among the critics of the move was U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician trained in treating liver disease, which can be caused by hepatitis B, one of the vaccines removed from the recommended schedule. Cassidy, who voted to confirm Kennedy, spoke out against the decision on social media Monday.

“Changing the pediatric vaccine schedule based on no scientific input on safety risks and little transparency will cause unnecessary fear for patients and doctors, and will make America sicker,” Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, said.

The Louisiana Department of Health has followed CDC recommendations related to childhood vaccination schedules in the past. In an email, Health Department spokesperson Emma Herrock said the agency would “continue to follow CDC guidance,” suggesting that it would reduce the number of vaccines recommended to all children.

Louisiana’s recently appointed surgeon general, Dr. Evelyn Griffin — an obstetrician-gynecologist named to the post by Gov. Jeff Landry in December — is expected to play a central role in the state’s vaccine policy.

Griffin was appointed last year to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices by Kennedy after

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 7A

more, which is why it’s important to understand how Detroit turned things around.

“When I hear the numbers of what they’ve done here, it’s astonishing,” Edwards said.

In Detroit, adjudicated properties that a court has formally transferred to government ownership do not have to go through the city’s council body. In Baton Rouge, condemnations need Metro Council approval. Another major difference is Detroit’s Land Bank, who has a team dedicated to taking legal action against owners of vacant, blighted or dangerous properties.

Those procedural differences — and the faster pace of blight removal that resulted — have led the

mayor’s team to believe it may be time to reexamine Baton Rouge’s condemnation process.

“We’re seeing processes all over the place that are bogged down because we just do it the same way we’ve always done it without examining it,” Slaughter said. “It’s just ‘Well, we’ve always done it this way.’”

On Tuesday, Edwards’ staff will meet with the Detroit City Council, as well as the city’s demolition department. Edwards will return to Baton Rouge to give his state of the city address Wednesday.

“They’ve done it in Detroit, and they’re continuing to do it. So, why not us?” Edwards said. “There’s no reason we can’t do the exact same thing.”

East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards, left, and Office of Community Development Director Kelly LeDuff, center, view redeveloped homes in a once-blighted Detroit neighborhood on Monday.

retaliation-type shootings and gang-type motive shootings, but those this year started dying off,” Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse said.

The Police Department responded to 71 homicides, around 12% fewer than last year.

A dozen of this year’s killings were domestic violence-related, including multiple stabbings, murder-suicides and one infanticide.

While this number is on par with parish numbers from 2024, there was a rash of domestic homicides near the end of the year.

Five overdose deaths were also classified as homicides in 2025, a number Moore said is growing.

The factors of gang activity and younger offenders were highlighted by both Morse and Moore earlier this year as key in determining how violent 2025 would be.

One explanation for the reduction in violence is that both of these factors have improved compared to last year.

“We also have arrested fewer juveniles involved in shootings this year,” Morse said. “Last year, we had 16 juveniles that we arrested for homicide. This year, 11. So you know it’s five, but five is a big deal,

when you’re talking about … the lives of kids.”

The vast majority of homicide victims and suspects were adults, and Black men remained the most likely demographic to be homicide victims.

Both Morse and Moore agreed that the best way to protect juveniles is to improve truancy, involve more teenagers in summer job opportunities, and to intervene in the lives of young men with gun possession charges before they can take a life.

For gang-based retaliatory killings, the chief and district attorney again agreed that the most important deterrent is to make early arrests and set high bail amounts for suspects with multiple violent priors and who might be motivated to kill for revenge.

“I think the police and sheriff focusing on those folks that are the most prolific trigger-pullers … concentrating on those is where the difference has been made,” Moore said.

The 94 homicides in 2025 encompassed a demographically diverse mix of victims.

In April, James “Uncle Pig” Williams, 80, was shot at close range

while sitting on the front porch of his Avenue E home. In July, Kimberly Martin, a 29-year-old pregnant mother of three, was shot in the chest at her Highland Road apartment complex. Both she and her unborn child died.

Like with the Williams and Martin deaths, guns were used in the vast majority of 2025 Baton Rouge homicides. But two of the most notable killings from the past year didn’t involve gunfire at all.

In February, at a hazing ritual held at a flooring warehouse, 20-year-old Southern University student Caleb Wilson died trying to join the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

He collapsed after allegedly being punched four times by a pledge as part of the ritual. He was declared dead at a hospital. Five men were ultimately indicted in his death on charges including felony hazing and manslaughter.

In June, a motorman with the Baton Rouge Police Department, Sgt. Caleb Eisworth, was driving his motorcycle on Joor Road when he was run down by a driver in a pickup. The decorated officer spent eight weeks in the hospital before dying from his injuries. Police have charged someone they

“Changing the pediatric vaccine schedule based on no scientific input on safety risks and little transparency will cause unnecessary fear for patients and doctors, and will make America sicker.”

SEN. BILL CASSIDy, R-Baton Rouge he removed all 17 sitting members of the panel. She was among those who voted to end the longstanding universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination at birth in December, a move that drew national attention and criticism.

Dr. John Schieffelin, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Manning Family Children’s in New Orleans, said in an interview Monday that vaccines for diseases that the CDC no longer universally recommends, such as influenza, RSV and rotavirus, have reduced the burden at his hospital in recent years, which were often “jam-packed” with kids with those illnesses every winter.

“If this recommendation is put in place and it’s followed, then over the next few years we’re just going to see a really, really large number of kids sick with these diseases that are preventable,” Schieffelin said.

“Unfortunately, we’ll see several additional pediatric deaths every year.”

Louisiana has at times outpaced the entire country for flu and RSV rates. The state’s childhood vaccination rates have dropped several percentage points since 2019, and state health officials have recently reversed policies aimed at broadening the number of people who receive vaccines.

Last year, then Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham stopped mass vaccinations, such as drive-thru flu fairs, and told Health Department employees they should not recommend specific vaccines. In December, Abraham was sworn in by Kennedy as the principal deputy director of the CDC. Louisiana’s vaccination rate declines have come amid a wave of state legislation aimed at weakening vaccine requirements. Questioning some vaccines can affect uptake of others as well, Schieffelin said.

“If the government is questioning its utility and

safety, then the general public does as well, and we’re going to see a real significant drop in vaccination coverage,” he said.

Another concern is the removal of the vaccine for hepatitis A, where transmission has historically been linked to raw seafood.

Louisiana had an outbreak in 2018 and 2019.

“For Louisiana, that one is really of concern,” Scheiffelin said. “We have a lot of people who love raw oysters.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the overhaul was in response to a request from President Donald Trump in December. Trump asked the agency to review how peer nations approach vaccine recommendations and consider revising U.S. guidance accordingly.

HHS said its comparison with 20 peer nations found that the U.S. was an “outlier” in both the number of vaccinations and the number of doses it recommended to all children. Officials with the agency framed the change as a way to increase public trust by recommending only the most important vaccinations for children to receive.

“This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health,” Kennedy said in a statement Monday.

Trump, reacting to the news on his Truth Social platform, said the new schedule is “far more reasonable” and “finally aligns the United States with other Developed Nations around the World.”

Among those left on the recommended-for-everyone list are vaccines against measles, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, chickenpox and human papillomavirus, or HPV. The guidance reduces the number of recommended vaccine doses against HPV from two or three shots depending on age to one for most children.

Medical experts said Monday’s changes without what they said was public discussion or a transparent review of the data would put children at risk.

“Abandoning recommendations for vaccines that prevent influenza, hepatitis and rotavirus, and changing the recommendation for HPV without a public process to weigh the risks and benefits, will lead to

STAFF PHOTO By PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER

more hospitalizations and preventable deaths among American children,” said Michael Osterholm, of the Vaccine Integrity Project, based at the University of Minnesota.

Federal officials em-

say is a suspect. The 41-year-old Baton Rouge man, Gad Black, faces a first-degree murder charge in the case.

Morse is loathe to say the city has been “quiet” even in the context of a successful year of policing, but he is proud of his detectives, who he said are doing great work despite facing the same understaffing his uniformed patrol officers are.

In 2025, the Police Department’s clearance rate for homicide cases was 62%, higher than the national average of an arrest being made in roughly half of homicide cases.

And while Morse and Moore have local realities to point to for possible reasons homicides have dropped in East Baton Rouge, Asher stressed that no one factor can explain why the murder rate might rise or fall.

“It’s probably a complicated explanation that doesn’t have just one or two factors involved in it,” Asher said. “Criminologists are still not sure why murder fell in the ’90s, so it’s not something that I think we can answer with a ton of confidence right now.”

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

phasized that all vaccines included under the prior schedule will remain available and fully covered by government insurance programs, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the

Vaccines for Children program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Email Emily Woodruff at ewoodruff@theadvocate. com.

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

Jan Risher LOUISIANA AT LARGE

Hosting a vision board brunch For five years, I’ve spent the first Saturday of the year hosting a vision board brunch for dozens of women. With our house fire in August, I wasn’t sure I would be able to pull it off in the small home we’ve rented, but on Saturday, 37 women showed up to focus on their visions for the new year.

Our small home was wall-towall women — sitting criss-crossapplesauce on the floor, in chairs, on the sofa and joyfully spilling out into the backyard.

The event is simple to organize.

I provide Champagne to toast the new year, poster boards, glue sticks, scissors and a few magazines. They brought more magazines, ephemera and a table full of food to share.

The event reminds me that wonderful conversations, cooperation and good things happen when people are task-focused and busy with their hands.

An hour into the vision board process, this group of women, many of whom had never met, were helping each other — working individually and together.

“I’m looking for pictures of dogs,” one woman said.

“I’m looking for a large G,” another one said.

My new friend, Rebecca DeLatin, who lives next door to our rental home, said she loved how flipping through a random magazine would cause a phrase or photo to jump out at her.

“I found the phrase ‘happy place’ that was a perfect positive encapsulation of all my decluttering and organization goals,” she said. “I enjoyed hearing from my neighboring vision boarders, ‘I’m looking for a fork,’ or ‘I’m looking for books,’ and then suddenly they’d appear in my magazine.”

Sara Kleinpeter, of Baton Rouge, said the process helps her to close out the prior year with reflection and to build upon it in the new year.

Peggy Giglio, from Lafayette, drove over with her 15-year-old daughter, Kellen, to join the vision board party.

“Even with the best of intentions, I rarely give myself meaningful space and time to reflect and set thoughtful intentions,” Giglio said. “I don’t think too much while scanning the magazines. I tend to act on impulse and feeling. I don’t get to do that in life very often as an attorney.”

Giglio keeps her vision board up in her kitchen throughout the year. She looks at it every day of the year — and says she appreciates that it feels honest.

Watching the mother and daughter sit in the light of our open front door working on vision boards was a beautiful thing.

Kellen Giglio said her board was more about life in general than the upcoming year. She had visions of New York City and all sorts of other goal-oriented images and words.

“It shows a lot of my future aspirations, and I will use it to remind myself to become the person I want to be through hard work and focusing on myself,” Kellen Giglio said.

For those working outside, the tiny pieces of cut paper occasionally blew away, causing one woman to lose “radical feminism” for at least an hour. She recovered it by the end of the day.

A cut-out “2026” blew into another woman’s mimosa. She found another “2026,” but I thought the orange-juice-soaked one was too nice not to use. So, I put it on my vision board. Another young woman said, “Scratch and sniff.”

In general, those working outside were much quieter than the raucous group inside.

ä See RISHER, page 2B

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T u e s d ay, J a n u a ry 6, 2026

1Bn

Shot fired in car outside bank One hospitalized; police searching for 2 others

BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer

Police swarmed the area surrounding Towne Center on Monday afternoon after a shot was fired inside a vehicle parked outside Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Company.

One person inside the vehicle

was shot and taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, according to Baton Rouge police spokesperson Lt. L’Jean McKneely. Police were called to the scene in the 7300 block of Jefferson Highway shortly before 2 p.m. Monday.

Just before the shooting, McKneely said a Baton Rouge officer was investigating a suspicious person inside the bank. The officer then learned of three other people connected to the person, sitting inside a blue SUV parked

Baton Rouge Police Department officers inspect a vehicle Monday in which one person was shot outside Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Company in Baton Rouge.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

ä See BANK, page 2B

STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Members of the United Riderz Bike Club of Baton Rouge ride along Railroad Avenue during the Krewe of D’ville’s 2026 Mardi Gras parade on Sunday in Donaldsonville.

LET’S ROLL

King Chul ‘Charles’ Jang raises his glass as the royal court stops for a toast.

Man ruled mentally fit for trial

has been restored. those siblings, according to famDefendant accused competency Donald Johnson, the 19th Judi- ily members.

Now he faces the prospect of a District Court’s chief judge, in father’s ’23 killing cial in turn ruled that the 32-year-old mandatory life sentence if he’s

BY MATT BRUCE

Staff writer

It’s been more than two years since an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury indicted Douglas Joseph Brown on second-degree murder and weapons charges tied to his father’s fatal shooting.

In that span, Brown has been ordered to the state mental hospital and declared mentally incompetent.

On Monday, prosecutors and defense lawyers concurred with doctors’ reports that Brown’s

Baton Rouge man is now fit to proceed to trial.

That put the case back in motion.

According to Baton Rouge police, Brown killed his 79-year-old father, John Henry Brown Sr., inside the single-story brick home in the 12200 block of Leonidas Drive where they lived together.

Investigators said the Sept. 9, 2023, fatal shooting may have been financially motivated.

Brown Sr. was a great-grandfather who had seven adult children. Brown was the youngest of

convicted of second-degree murder in his father’s death.

Ad hoc Judge Mike McDonald appointed a sanity commission and ordered two doctors to evaluate Brown in December 2024.

Five months later, attorneys on both sides agreed a third doctor needed to examine Brown and ad hoc Judge Jewel Welch appointed Tulane University behavioral health neuropsychiatrist Sarah Deland.

An Aug. 28 report from the

ä See RULED, page 2B

BR to get 1st Warby Parker store

BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer

Eyewear brand Warby Parker will open its first Baton Rouge location in Perkins Rowe.

The brand will move into its 1,894-square-foot shop in the former Bumble Lane Beauty Bar suite, near Kendra Scott, by the end of the quarter. Warby Parker sells prescription eyewear starting

ä See WARBY, page 2B

2B ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Supreme Court judge moves to federal court

A committee of the American Crain said of his concerns. “And prioritizing a dedicated seat for Federal Building over‘An honor of my Boggs looking the federal appeals court. Bar Association that conducts so, for me, being a little bit cau- the area as he led a redraft last it does come with the added peer reviews of federal judicial tious on the elective side, I said, year of Supreme Court district professional career’ “And benefit of not having to be elected, candidates found Crain “well you know, I just can’t. I said, I’m lines.

BY JOHN SIMERMAN

Staff writer

As job moves go, the one Judge Will Crain made over the holidays didn’t require too much travel.

The trip from the venerable Louisiana Supreme Court building in the French Quarter to the federal courthouse on Poydras Street is only 10 blocks.

Crain, 64, called Crain it his ultimate career move, after the U.S. Senate confirmed him last month to a lifetime federal judgeship.

The longtime jurist from Bogalusa surrendered his seat on the state high court days before Christmas. Last Monday, Crain took a fresh oath of office from U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry, who made the same move from the Louisiana Supreme Court to the federal bench in 2019.

“This is an honor of my professional career,” Crain said from his bare-walled office in the Hale

so I don’t have to start in January raising money. And I’ve had a number of friends who’ve reminded me of that.”

Crain will be the fourth judge nominated by President Donald Trump to the 12-judge bench for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which handles federal criminal and civil cases across a 13-parish area of southeast Louisiana.

He’s the first nominee of Trump’s second term, filling the seat of Judge Eldon Fallon, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton who assumed “senior status” on the court a year ago.

The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared Crain on a 12-10 vote, and the full Senate confirmed him 49-46.

Crain campaigned for state judge as a blunt anti-abortion, prodeath penalty conservative. His nomination to the federal bench drew opposition from groups that support abortion rights .

The National Women’s Law Center called Crain an “extremist” on abortion, while others point to a record on criminal cases they say tilts heavily for the government.

qualified” for the post.

Crain received significant campaign contributions from oil and gas interests in his run for high office that also stirred some controversy in a state where Supreme Court races often play out against the backdrop of multibillion-dollar lawsuits over coastal damage from industry.

Backing from U.S. Sen. John Kennedy and others helped Crain emerge unscathed from a partisan Senate vote, though the timing of his formal nomination drew some fire, arriving a day before Crain appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Crain said he had no influence over the timing, though he said he was concerned that broadcasting his interest in the federal judgeship would spark jockeying for his spot on the Supreme Court.

He raised his concerns with Kennedy, who spearheads judicial nominations in New Orleans and had forwarded Crain’s name to the White House last spring.

“They would have been lining up for my seat on the Supreme Court while I am pursuing an end that is completely uncertain,”

not going to go through that type of vetting process.”

Kennedy, who has described Crain as “rock solid,” led friendly questioning of Crain in the Senate.

The two go way back. Crain’s father, Hillary, a former St. Tammany Parish judge, chaired the Louisiana Gaming Control Board while Kennedy was on it.

Crain got started in politics as an aide to state Sen. Sixty Rayburn, a populist Democrat who represented Washington Parish for almost half a century.

Crain graduated from LSU law school and worked as a private attorney in Covington for 23 years before reaching the 22nd Judicial District Court bench in 2009.

Crain said he commissioned a map painting with the St. Tammany Parish courthouse on it.

“That was the end for me. That was my center. I was 47 years old, and that is where I wanted to be,” he said.

Four years later, though, Crain ran for the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge, then for the high court in 2018.

Crain said he left a northshore imprint on the state high court,

Crain said he’s now the only northshore-born judge on the federal district court bench. It was a selling point he pitched to Kennedy, who hails from Madisonville and sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, soon after Trump returned to office in January.

Crain said his outlook is different than at the Supreme Court, where he came with a bit of an agenda.

“There’s no great secret that when I got to the Supreme Court, there were some things that I wanted to do. I felt that we could elevate our profession, and I will be part of making a difference.

And I think we have,” Crain said.

“My goal on the federal bench is to leave the federal government exactly as I found it.”

Crain said the positives outweigh what he gave up: a chance at a second 10-year term, and a future as chief justice based on seniority.

He described his rise up the judicial ranks as unexpected, though he never did finish an elected term in office.

“I plan on finishing this one,” he quipped.

Aymond to meet with abuse survivors Sessions with N.O. archbishop part of $230M settlement

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has announced a schedule of 10 group meetings for survivors of clergy sexual abuse hosted

by Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

The purpose of the meetings, which will be held over several days in February at parishes throughout the archdiocese, is to give abuse survivors an opportunity to listen, question and freely share their experiences with Aymond, according to a statement from the archdiocese issued Monday.

The meetings with Aymond are among several nonmonetary provisions that are part of the $230 million settlement that

the archdiocese finalized last month with hundreds of clergy abuse survivors, ending a contentious and costly bankruptcy case after more than 51/2 years.

The meetings are open to anyone who experienced sexual abuse by a person in ministry in the Archdiocese of New Orleans only, not another archdiocese elsewhere in the country, spokesperson Sarah McDonald said. The meetings will not be open to the media, members of the public or family and friends of survivors.

The announcement of the meeting schedule follows a public, written apology from Aymond to abuse survivors that the archdiocese released over the weekend. In the apology, which also was a provision of the bankruptcy settlement, Aymond said the archdiocese takes responsibility for the abuse suffered by victims and “pledges to keep children and all vulnerable people safe in our ministry.”

Gag order ruling U.S. bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill confirmed the bankruptcy settlement on Dec. 8 after a nearly three-week hearing, bringing to a close one of the most sordid and painful chapters in the nearly 230-year history of the nation’s secondoldest Roman Catholic diocese.

The plan went into effect Dec. 26. More than 600 survivors who filed claims in the case could begin receiving a portion of their share of the settlement trust as soon as this spring.

While the case is now behind the archdiocese, much work rebuilding trust — and parish coffers — remains.

In a related development last week, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $400,000 judgment against one of the key attorneys in the case, Richard Trahant, who was accused by Grabill of violating a protective order early in the case, sanc-

tioned and fined.

Trahant, who represented dozens of abuse survivors and had access to sealed information about abusive clergy, notified the principal at Brother Martin High School about abuse claims against the school’s chaplain at the time, the Rev. Paul Hart.

He also allegedly tipped off a news reporter about the situation with Hart, a claim he denied.

Trahant appealed Grabill’s sanctions to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District, which upheld the ruling. The 5th Circuit concurred with the lower courts, saying, “Trahant’s failure to come forward ‘created waste, disrupted the progress in this case, and delayed resolution of this particular matter for months.’ ” Trahant did not respond to a request seeking comment Monday. But last week, he told WWL-TV that “I did what I had to do to keep a child predator away from children.”

He added he would “go to my grave knowing I didn’t violate the protective order.”

The archdiocese declined to comment on the ruling.

The schedule of upcoming survivor meetings with Aymond are as follows: n Feb. 6: Noon, Holy Name of Jesus, 6367 St. Charles Ave.; and 7 p.m., St. Peter Claver office, 1910 Ursulines Ave. n Feb. 7: 3 p.m., St. Philip Neri, 6500 Kawanee Ave., Metairie; and 6:30 p.m., St. Charles Borromeo, 13396 River Road, Destrehan n Feb. 8: Noon, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, 2320 Paris Road, Chalmette; and 3 p.m., St. Maria Goretti, 7300 Crowder Blvd. n Feb. 9: 8:30 a.m., St. Andrew the Apostle, 3101 Eton St.; and 6:30 p.m., Visitation of Our Lady Parish, 3500 Ames Blvd., Marrero n Feb. 10: Noon, St. Luke the Evangelist, 910 Cross Gates Blvd., Slidell; and 6 p.m., Most Holy Trinity, 501 Holy Trinity Drive, Covington.

RISHER

Continued from page 1B Lori Rushing Petrie, who is originally from Baton Rouge but lives in Opelousas now, said she found it very meditative to be in her thoughts but surrounded by people. She described the process as a “good mind reset.”

Petrie sat on the edge of our deck, surrounded by fallen bad lemons from the little lemon tree in the backyard that grew from below the graft, creating the worst-tasting lemons I’ve ever met.

Annette Sisco, of New Orleans, sat near Petrie among the bad lemons.

“It was freeing to pay attention to images and words that simply tugged at my heart or made me curious,” Sisco said. “The vision board was a simple and intuitive way to pause and hear that inner voice that is nudging us to move in the right direction. What better time to listen than the new year?”

By late afternoon, the floor was freckled with scraps and the house had gone quiet again. A few vision boards leaned against walls and chairs, waiting to be carried home.

What has stayed with me most wasn’t what anyone cut out or glued down, but the generosity of showing up — sitting with other women, working with our hands and giving ourselves permission, together, to imagine what might come next.

BANK

Continued from page 1B outside the bank. When the officer approached the car, a shot was fired inside the vehicle.

Law enforcement is still searching for two other people believed to be in the car.

A heavy police presence, including a helicopter, drones and a K-9 unit were searching the area at 3 p.m.

RULED

Continued from page 1B trio of doctors indicated Brown lacked the capacity to proceed. Johnson, who’s currently presiding over the case, declared him incompetent and ordered Brown to be detained at the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System.

Brown received medication and underwent competency restoration sessions at the Parish Prison while awaiting admission to the state mental hospital in Jackson, Alana Bishop, the mental health system’s forensic district coordinator, told Johnson during Monday’s sanity hearing. Those sessions restored him to the point he can now comprehend the proceedings and help his court-appointed lawyers defend him at trial, two doctors concluded in their reports.

Brown is next set to appear in court March 5. No date was set for his trial during Monday’s hearing.

WARBY

Continued from page 1B at $95, as well as sunglasses, contacts and offers eye exams.

This will be Warby Parker’s third Louisiana location, with the others in Metairie’s Lakeside Shopping Center and on Magazine Street in New Orleans.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Warby Parker to Perkins Rowe and celebrate their first Baton Rouge location,” Bryan LeBlanc, general manager of Perkins Rowe, said in a release. “They bring a fresh, accessible approach to eyewear that we know our community will love.”

Warby Parker is headquartered in New York City and has over 330 locations across the United States and Canada.

LOTTERY

SUNDAY, JAN. 4, 2026 PICK 3: 2-3-2 PICK 4: 8-4-7-1 PICK 5: 1-3-1-5-5 STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER

Women create vision boards at Jan Risher’s annual new year’s vision board brunch in Baton Rouge on Saturday.

Unofficial notification, keep your tickets.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 3B

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Funerals Today Folse, Raymond

St. Anne Catholic Napoleonville at 11 a.m.

Church

in

King, Richard

Second Baptist Church in Jackson at 11 a.m.

Obituaries Armwood, Corneaka

Armwood, Corneaka Michelle :Boom" Entered into eternal rest at Lane Regional Medical Center on December 25, 2025. She was a 39-year old native and resident of Zachary, Louisiana.

A viewing will be held at Miller & Daughter Mortuary on Wednesday, January 7, 2025 from 4-6 pm; viewing resumes at Redwood Baptist Church at 9:00 am until Celebration of Life Service at 11:30 am conducted by Pastor Dale Flowers; interment at Louisiana National Cemetery. Survivors include her husband, Andre T. Armwood; parents, Gene and Martha Jackson; bonus son, Brycen Armwood; sisters, Kistala Jackson(Emory Hill) and JaVona Sanchez(Wendell); mother -in-law, Latonia Armwood; an aunt; other relatives and friends.

Badeaux, Elias Joseph

He was stationed in Korea and Fort Lee Virginia. EJ was preceded in death by his loving wife Judy Thibodaux Badeaux after 65 wonderful years of marriage, parents Fred and Celeste Badeaux, brother John Badeaux, brother-inlaw Gerald Bourque, brother-in-law Richard Thibodeaux, and sister-in-law Janice Moreaux. He has one loving daughter Mikelyn Marcomb and her husband Roger who he considered his son, as well as his grandchildren Blake Marcomb and Alaina (Brennen) Reed. He is survived by his sister Vernice Sierra, brother in laws Morris Thibodeaux, Ronald (Stephanie) Segura, Bobby (Maggie) Wilson, Levi (Lori) Wilson, and sister in laws Linda Wilson, Verdis (Bob) Whitesel, and Lillian Thibodeaux. Elias will be greatly missed. He loved his family dearly and was always ready for any family get together. As a young father he loved camping, fishing, boiling crawfish, frying fish, square dancing, trips to the beach, and any reason to get together with family and friends.

Once he became a grandfather he loved taking his family camping and never missed his grand kids baseball games, soccer games, dance recitals, piano recitals, gym meets, and basketball games. He was known by everyone for his honesty and fairness. Pallbearers will be Blake Marcomb, Brennen Reed, Bret Badeaux, Rod Thibodeaux, Thad Badeaux, and Jimmy Segura. Honorary pallbearers will be JJ Bourque and Bruce Watson. A visitation will be held at Seale Funeral Home in Denham Springs, Louisiana on Thursday, January 8, 2026 from 9:00am to 12:00pm with a funeral mass starting at 12:00pm. Burial will follow in Evergreen Memorial Park Mausoleum.

Bryant, Shirley

Elias Joseph (EJ) Badeaux passed away peacefully on January 2, 2026. Born in New Iberia Louisiana January 30, 1941, he was 84 years old. He was the parts manager for Duplessis Cadillac and retired after more than 45 years of service to the automotive industry. He was a veteran of the United States Army (SP4 (E-4)(T).

Shirley Bryant, 90, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana peacefully passed away at her home surrounded by family on December 21st, 2025. She was born on October 18th, 1935 in Fern-

wood, Mississippi.

In 1976, Shirley opened the famous Happy Note Lounge off of Florida Boulevard. The Happy Note quickly became a local institution but more importantly became a home away from home for so many. Shirley was a beautiful person who was not only hardworking, but generous in everything she did. Her devotion to her friends and family was unwavering. Shirley was also a lover of all animals, but especially her dogs. Most would joke that if they came back in another life, they would want to come back as one of her pets.

Shirley lived an incredible life full of laughter, wonderful memories with friends, and all things sparkly, but what she deemed most important was her faith in God. Shirley is survived by her loving sons, Sam Bryant Jr. (Terry) and Alan Bryant (Kathy); her two granddaughters, Sally Anne Spence and Katelyn Bryant; her two greatgrandchildren, Jacie Spence and Jonathan "Nathan" Spence; her sister, Billie Wissner; and numerous nieces and nephews along with friends who became family. Preceded in death by her husband, SJ Bryant; her parents, Elmer Parsons and Fannie Joe Page; and her brother, Ray Parsons.

tion will be from 10:00 AM until Service time. Burial will follow in Zoar Cemetery. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to the American Cancer Society.

Park. Services are entrusted to Hall Davis and Son Funeral Services.

Knighton, Alma Whitley

Jones, Augusta Lenora

Augusta L. Jones, age 68, passed away on Saturday, January 3, 2026. She was a native of Centreville, Mississippi and a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at Greater New Guide Baptist Church, 3445 Fairfields Ave, Baton Rouge, LA, from 11:00 a.m. until the funeral service at 12:00 p.m., with Rev. Mark Thomas officiating. Interment will follow at Greenoaks Memorial

Alma Whitley Knighton transitioned from earthly life into eternal rest on December 28, 2025. Though deeply missed, she leaves behind a legacy of love, faith, and service. She was born on October 29, 1934, in Zachary, Louisiana, to Viola Hayes Whitley and Charley Buckner Whitley.

Alma was raised in a Christian home and was a devoted lifelong member of First Presbyterian Church of Scotlandville.

On June 10, 1962, Alma was united in marriage to Don Knighton, Jr. From this union were born two children, Minty Shyrelle Knighton and Weldon Cordell Knighton. She was also a loving and devoted grandmother to Aydon Pierce Knighton. She cher-

ished her family and was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend.

Alma graduated from Southern University Laboratory School, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and a Master of Education with additional graduate studies from Southern University.

Alma completed further professional training at Louisiana State University, Spencer College, and Loyola University. Her career spanned teaching, supervision, consulting, higher education instruction, and educational leadership, serving students, families, and communities across multiple parishes.

Alma is survived by her daughter, Minty S. Knighton of Zachary, Louisiana, her son, Weldon C. Knighton, daughter-inlaw, Petrina Johnson Knighton, and her grandson, Aydon P. Knighton, all of Allen, Texas; her sister, Bernice Whitley of Zachary, Louisiana; her brother, Sterling Whitley of Grand Rapids, Michigan; and a host of devoted nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends.

See more DEATHS, page

A private graveside service will be held at a later date.

Fritts, Tammy Martinez

Tammy Martinez Fritts, passed peacefully into her forever home on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, at the age of 66. She is survived by her husband of 37 years, Robert "Bob" Fritts and one son Tanner J. Fritts. Tammy was the sister of Brenda Boshears (Jim), Molly Link (Pat) and Kathy Curry (Mike), along with 3 nieces, 2 nephews, 4 great nieces and 6 great nephews.

Tammy was predeceased by her father and mother, J. Herbert and Loucille Martinez. Tammy was a very caring and giving person. She was a member of Zoar Baptist Church for the past 10 years and worked in Managed Care at Women's Hospital.

Family and friends are invited to attend a funeral service to be held at Zoar Baptist Church, 11848 Hooper Rd, Baton Rouge, LA 70818 on Thursday, January 8th, 2026, at 11:00 AM. Visita-

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OPINION

4B ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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

OUR VIEWS

New fines for distracted driving a good step to reduce accidents Along with the new year came a raft of new Louisiana laws, many of which will garner little public attention.

But we’d like to highlight one change connected to an existing law: Those caught using a cellphone or other device in their hands while their car is moving can now be fined $100, or $250 if the violation occurs in a school or construction zone.

The law under which the fines were enacted actually took effect Aug. 1, but the Legislature gave residents until Jan. 1 as a grace period, during which only warnings were issued.

Distraction was a major factor in almost a quarter of fatal crashes in Louisiana in 2023, according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. A higher percentage of serious injuries, 32%, were attributable to inattention or distracted driving. The commission includes distracted driving among its “Deadly 4” factors in crashes, along with not using seat belts, impaired driving and aggressive driving.

Under the provisions of the new law, tickets for using a cellphone while driving can only be issued as secondary violations, meaning a motorist cannot be stopped solely for cellphone use unless in a school or construction zone. And hands-free functions, such as voice-text, loudspeaker calls and GPS functions, can still be used.

The law only applies while the vehicle is moving, so drivers who are parked or at a red light can still have the device in their hand. And there are exceptions, such as to report a crime, accident or medical emergency.

Slidell Republican Rep. Brian Glorioso, who sponsored the bill, said his goal was to help educate drivers and reduce the number of accidents from distracted driving. Several other states have enacted similar statutes, Glorioso noted last year.

Beyond the laudable benefit of reducing injuries and deaths, Glorioso and Gov. Jeff Landry pointed to the possibility for insurance rate reductions as a result of the new law.

“If you quit texting and driving, there’s less accidents,” Landry said.

Obviously, both of these outcomes would be welcome.

We are glad to see the new law take full effect, and we hope enforcement is both firm and fair.

Sending texts, checking apps or looking at messages while behind the wheel will be a hard habit for many of us to break. We hope the new law will educate people about the dangers, and even persuade them not to pick up their phones in the first place. The prospect of a fine could also help folks learn to wait.

That sting is far less painful than confronting a crippling injury or the death of a loved one because somebody was glancing at a screen instead of keeping their eyes on the road.

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identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’s city of residence.

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

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YOUR VIEWS

Immigration enforcement that goes after workers counterproductive

National debt column should spark change, but it won’t My compliments to David Thomas on his guest column of Nov. 21, titled “National debt is the biggest risk U.S. faces.” He provided some startling statistics: The interest on the current, nearly $40 trillion, debt is $900 billion annually, and at the historic rate of growth, the debt will be $80 trillion in 2035 and $160 trillion in 2044.

Regardless of what you may think of Elon Musk, he was correct in stating that our country can and will go bankrupt if dramatic action is not taken and taken soon. Attempts by other countries to print money to resolve financial problems have resulted in catastrophic hyperinflation.

Thomas rightly noted that both political parties participate in spending beyond our means. Fiscal responsibility requires asking people to pay for the government programs they believe are needed or telling them no. There is no collective political will to do either; the focus is all short-term on gaining or retaining power in the next election, largely through promises that will result in more debt.

While eliminating fraud and waste should always be vigorously pursued, avoiding bankruptcy will require “we the people” to consent to both spending cuts and tax increases.

The spending cuts will principally involve eliminating federal funding for non-governmental organizations, quickly phasing out federal funding for programs that should be state and local responsibilities and instituting full-time work requirements, without waivers, for working-age citizens receiving public assistance — Medicaid, SNAP, public housing, etc. Taxes will need to be increased primarily to save Social Security and Medicare for current and future generations. Since “we the people” are unlikely to consent, federal bankruptcy seems inevitable.

Under those circumstances, spending cuts and tax increases will happen anyway, but with much greater pain.

Perhaps Thomas will provide another column with advice on how we can prepare.

I thank you for your coverage of Operation Catahoula Crunch. I am very concerned about the manner in which arrests and detentions are being made. I am in favor of identifying illegal immigrants among those arrested for a felony and processing these persons for deportation. But it is not productive to our nation or economy to take deportation action against persons simply working here. Please stop arresting people working in health care, agriculture, construction or otherwise; we need these workers. Rather than going to worksites to arrest people, how about sending federal resources to help the workers needing to gain legal status?

The current operations by Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in south Louisiana are creating fear and terror among mostly law-abiding persons.

I would welcome an investigation by our Louisiana representatives in Congress. I know we can do better.

ERIC KALIVODA Baton Rouge

Repeating myths about immigrants and taxes betrays larger bias By all means, give facts about undocumented immigrants and taxes. A letter presents well-worn falsehoods about undocumented immigrants’ tax and financial status.

Jessie LeBlanc asserts wrongly that: 1. Because they are not citizens, many do not pay the 6.2% FICA tax, and employers do not pay the matching 6.2% FICA tax. This results in them not contributing 12.4% to our Social Security coffers.

2. In many cases, illegal immigrants pay no local, state or federal income taxes.

3. A large part of the income they make returns to their country of origin.

Many undocumented immigrants in the U.S. pay Social Security taxes through payroll deductions, but they are generally ineligible to receive Social Security benefits.

The writer ignores that some citizens avoid paying into the Social Security system, and it is well known.

Yes, undocumented immigrants are legally required to pay federal and state income taxes on income earned in the U.S., and many do. They also pay

C. RAY HALLIBURTON JR. Baton Rouge

Washington politics seems upside down

sales tax and property taxes.

No, undocumented immigrants don’t send most of their U.S. earnings back home; on average, remittances are around 15% of earnings, with the majority (85%) staying in the U.S. to support local economies, buy goods and cover living expenses, though percentages vary by individual and country.

While remittances are crucial for families abroad, most money earned stays in the U.S., and undocumented workers pay significant state and local taxes, contributing to local economies.

Undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes annually, even though they are generally ineligible for most public benefits funded by those taxes.

LeBlanc’s letter is, at best, misinformed, at worst, an appeal to emotion rather than logic, aiming to create fear or hatred toward a group by substituting facts with emotional triggers, often through biased assertions or half-truths to sway public opinion without real evidence, in other words, propaganda.

I have some questions.

Speaker Mike Johnson tells us that we do not have a king because if we did, there would be no Congress. If one man tells Congress what to do, how to do it and when to do it and they do it, is there really a Congress?

The president tells us food prices are going down. When is the last time, if ever, he went grocery shopping?

Are any of the “great patriots” from Jan. 6 (who were convicted and pardoned) employed as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents?

Just asking.

JOYCE TRACEY Mandeville

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COMMENTARY The diversity overcorrection employers started discriminating Everyone in media, academia and against them to make their institutions entertainment knew it was happening. “look like America.”

A number of them had qualms.

If you want to understand the Almost none spoke up. And now backlash to diversity, equity and that someone has said someinclusion, you need to underthing, many are pretending they didn’t see it happen with stand how bad that math was their own eyes. This is incredfor a certain class of educated millennial men. You also need to ible, in every sense of the word.

Megan ega recognize that a lot of this math I am talking about how for McArdle was bad, period. years, at many institutions, For some mysterious reason, there was a hiring preference for anyone but White, straight men. As people consistently overestimate the minority share of the population, which Jacob Savage argues convincingly in made the Whiteness of newsrooms, a recent essay for Compact magazine, Hollywood studios and academic dethis most affected one group: younger White men who hadn’t had time to gain partments look more unfair than it the skills and experience that might was. To be clear, there was plenty of have compensated for their melanin unfairness — Black people and women deficiency. were less likely to be hired in past eras Savage cites data that suggest exthan White men, regardless of qualitreme declines in the number of White fications, and that discrimination is males getting entry-level jobs at some reflected in those organizations today. elite institutions — junior screenwritBut even if that hadn’t been the case, ers going from 48% White male to 12%, newsrooms, writer’s rooms and classfrom 39% of tenure-track humanities rooms would have been very White positions at Harvard University to 18%. because most Americans born in the This happened over the last decade.

1960s, 1970s and 1980s were White.

You may be tempted to argue that I suspect people forgot about these this reflects demographic shifts in the cohort effects because so much of the hiring pool, but no, demographics don’t DEI discourse came up around college change that fast. It took 50 years after admissions, where diversity can be the immigration reforms of 1965 for achieved relatively speedily: admit a the White share of the population to go racially balanced class four years in a from 84% to 62%. And while for obvirow, and voilà, you “look like America.”

But a large corporate employer often ous reasons that change is more prohas a workforce spanning 40 years, not nounced in younger generations (peofour. Rebalancing that through repreple who were White in 1965 are still White today), in 2020, White Americans sentative hiring would take decades. remained over half the population of The DEI champions didn’t want to wait early-career workers. that long.

Young White males were about a So the correction turned into an quarter of college graduates in 2022, overcorrection. Upper management so we’d have expected them to avertoo White and male? Offset that with new hires who are neither. But of age about a quarter of new hires for course, offsetting a few decades worth various elite professions. They didn’t drop to 12% of junior television writers of employees with a few years’ worth of hiring meant the share of young because of demographics, or because studios stopped discriminating against White males had to fall by a lot. It’s not that literally none of them got jobs as other groups. They dropped because

screenwriters or journalists. But in many fields and companies, their odds dropped significantly.

And so what, one might argue. For too long White men were the beneficiaries of discrimination against other groups. Turnabout is fair play. Or, a little more charitably, one could say of course it’s unfair, but repairing the legacy of slavery and sexism is a hard problem, and sometimes hard problems have unfair solutions. It wasn’t fair to round up huge numbers of men born between 1914 and 1927 and send them off to fight the Nazis, but that was the only way to win.

One might argue that, but I haven’t seen anyone do so. No one seems brave enough to state baldly that we should penalize White men born in 1988 for hiring decisions that were made in 1985 by another White guy who was born in 1930. Instead what I’ve seen is a lot of deflection.

People who know how hiring decisions were made during the “Great Awokening” nonetheless imply that this is all the fantasy of mediocre White men who can’t admit they didn’t measure up or entitled White men who can’t stand to compete on an even playing field. And sure, in some cases, that’s undoubtedly true.

But it’s also true that as a group, young White men weren’t competing on an even playing field with the rest of us. They were forced to play a much harder game that offered many fewer prizes. It’s one thing to ask them nicely to do this, as an unfortunately necessary sacrifice for the greater good. It’s quite another to make fun of them because they failed to win a contest that was rigged against them. And if you choose the latter course, don’t be surprised if they curse out the referees or decline to keep playing by your rules.

Megan McArdle is on X, @asymmetricinfo.

How old is too old in Maine?

PORTLAND, Maine — An entrenched senator distrusted by both parties. A governor born just six months after 79-year-old Donald Trump. An oyster farmer who for years walked around with a Nazi symbol tattoo. Anti-gay remarks in a state generally regarded as welcoming to LGBTQ+ people. Pockets of deep Trump loyalty in a state that he lost three times. Traditional resistance to outsiders and the likelihood of a flood of out-of-state spending.

Maine is about to hold one of the hardest-fought, David dramatic, gripShribman colorful, ping, emotional, bitter, idiosyncratic, thesaurusbusting Senate races of the age. Also maybe the most consequential.

Welcome to Susan Collins versus Janet Mills. Or maybe Susan Collins versus Graham Platner. Surely Susan Collins versus a cascade of campaign spending. Maybe a dash of Susan Collins versus Donald Trump. Pretty much Susan Collins against the world.

Collins, who is now 73, is the only incumbent Republican senator running for reelection in a state that Trump lost in 2024. The longest-serving woman in the Senate, she is the lawmaker disdained by almost everyone. She entered the chamber in 1997, a year before Bill Clinton was impeached — the political equivalent of the Paleozoic age.

Since then, she’s disappointed conservatives (by resisting multiple Republican initiatives and entreaties by GOP presidents) and infuriated liberals (by providing part of the confirmation victories to judicial and Cabinet nominations from Brett Kavanaugh to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.).

She’s challenging the gray seal — reviled by mariners as threats to the fish harvest and to their livelihood, beloved by naturalists and sentimentalists — as the most controversial mammal in Maine.

Now enter, from stage left, both Mills and Platner.

She’s the two-term governor who sparked praise for standing up to Trump on gender issues. He is the oyster farmer who wants a more vigorous attack on the president and who, unburdened by any political experience, has some explaining to do when it comes to gender issues. She’s supported by the Democratic establishment, he by the sort of insurgent forces that made

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, departs the chamber at the Capitol in Washington, on July 24.

Zohran Mamdani mayor-elect in New York.

Of course, both Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont are involved. Of course, they back different Democrats for the nomination against Collins, who has a gift for survival — making her, from one point of view, the equivalent of a shark (they can survive for 400 years) and, from another viewpoint, a cockroach (they survived the asteroid attack that wiped out the dinosaurs). Neither species is beloved.

Both women are well-known in this state. Neither offers much potential for surprise. The senator raises hopes and fears she will buck Mr. Trump only to back his priorities at crucial junctures.

The governor is a standard-issue establishment politician with the standardissue reputation for competence that Maine leaders from Edmund Muskie (governor, senator, secretary of state) and George Mitchell (judge, Senate majority leader) to Bill Cohen (House member, senator, Secretary of State) and Angus King (Independent governor, college professor, senator) have possessed.

Platner is the campaign’s outsider — he’s outside the political world with positions outside the usual fare.

He’s younger (41), feistier (more prone to views just short of extreme), more unconventional (conducting an insurgency as much as a candidacy).

Connecticut may consider itself the

Land of Steady Habits, but that description also applies to the Pine Tree State, the pine being able to resist climate, drought, and insect infestation (though admittedly it can be regarded as a bit top-heavy).

The biggest outsiders in Maine in the past three-quarters of a century haven’t been its two Independent governors (Jim Langley and King) but conventional figures like Muskie (who had the temerity to be only the second Democrat to win the governor’s office in more than three decades) and Paul LePage (a businessman-governor who boasted of being Donald Trump before Donald Trump). As for real rebels, there was Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican who spent 33 years in the House (1940-49) and Senate (1949-73) and took on red-baiting Joseph McCarthy and, well, no one else.

“There’s a huge hankering to be rid of Susan Collins,” said G. Calvin Mackenzie, an emeritus political scientist at Colby College, in Waterville, Maine.

“Democrats may like Janet Mills just fine, but at her age, it doesn’t make sense. There’s a sprawling discomfort with old political figures.

Mackenzie is the author of an important book titled “The Liberal Hour.” Can a liberal hour be dawning in the place where dawn comes first in the United States?

Australia acts to protect children online Australia’s approach to protecting children from the potential dangers of popular social media platforms — blocking access to kids younger than 16 — may seem ham-fisted to critics, but it sure beats what some elected leaders in D.C. are doing, which is slightly north of nothing.

The ban, which went into effect recently, was partly prompted by the suicide of 14-year-old Ollie Hughes, who was bullied on social media.

Algorithms, which are programmed to engage children for as long as possible including by providing increasingly toxic material, flooded his feed with body-shaming videos and tips on extreme dieting. Ollie’s weight dropped significantly.

He was diagnosed with anorexia just before Christmas in 2023 and took his life on Jan. 9, 2024. His mom, Mia Bannister, Kathleen launched a crusade, testifying before Australia’s lawmakers.

Parker Mia’s mission is familiar to thousands of American parents waging the same war. In California, hundreds of personal injury lawsuits have been consolidated against companies such as ByteDance, Google, Meta and Snap. Most have been filed on behalf of children who developed addiction, anxiety or eating disorders, or who attempted or died by suicide. Lawsuits are also popping up from school districts and state attorneys general in what is seen as one of the most important mass tort cases of the decade.

As fast as these cases stack up, Big Tech companies continue to drop millions of dollars into campaign coffers and congressional committees, while lawmakers considering solutions argue about potential privacy violations and impact on industry innovation. Two of the top lobbying spenders so far this year are Meta at just shy of $20 million and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, at roughly $12 million, according to the research group OpenSecrets.

Surely there’s a way to protect children without sending tech billionaires to the bread line.

Ample scientific research shows social media, mobile phones and video games can lead to childhood addictions. The consequences for mental health range from low self-esteem and depression to self-harm and suicide. A study published in June by JAMA followed more than 4,000 children for four years. It found that addictive social media and phone use was associated with higher risks of suicidal thoughts.

Nevertheless, a House subcommittee gutted the duty-of-care clause in the proposed Kids Online Safety Act that would have held platforms liable for addictive algorithms that can encourage cyberbullying, sexual behavior, drugs and suicide. The Senate passed the measure in a 91-3 vote in July 2024.

Maurine Molak’s son, David, died by suicide in 2016 in San Antonio at age 16 after brutal cyberbullying. Maurine is in D.C. on her 16th trip to speak to legislators and told me David’s heartbreaking story. An Eagle Scout who loved to hunt and fish, he turned to online gaming while recovering from an injury and became addicted. When a classmate posted insults online, a mob quickly formed. Hundreds of people David didn’t know piled on, his mother said, telling him he looked like a monkey and should be in a coffin. Despite the pain these hits caused, David couldn’t look away. “He knew he had a problem, but he was addicted,” his mom said. Even after changing schools, the mob pursued him. Finally, David sought refuge in death.

Since finding her lifeless son in her backyard, Maurine has relentlessly pursued legislative action in Texas and D.C. to protect young children and teens. A self-described conservative Republican, she said she can’t understand what’s going on in Congress. “What they’re doing doesn’t align with my values,” she said about the legislative inaction.

And President Donald Trump? Nada. But he did take time to sign an executive order placing a moratorium on state regulation of artificial intelligence — a big, beautiful Christmas gift for the tech industry.

Meanwhile, Congress has an opportunity to do something important and hugely popular.

Pew Research Center found in October that 81% of American adults support requiring parental consent for kids under 18 to create social media accounts. Fifty-eight percent support an Australia-style ban, according to a survey by the Family Online Safety Institute.

Given public sentiment, it’s a wonder Republicans aren’t galloping en masse to the White House for the president’s signature on the online safety bill, which Democrats support. If they don’t do it soon, House Republicans will pay dearly when parents hit the polls next fall.

What a tragedy, meanwhile, that more children may die because of their dereliction of duty — to care.

Email Kathleen Parker at kathleenparker@ washpost.com.

Email David Shribman at dshribman@ post-gazette.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the

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

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

6B ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Baton Rouge Weather TODAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Mix of clouds/ sun

Mostly cloudy

Scattered showers - 50%

Numerous t-storms - 70%

Mostly cloudy 10%

Sun, high clouds

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79° 63°

LOW

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80° 66°

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76° 55°

ALMANAC

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63° 40°

Weather News by Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

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59° 35°

AROUND THE REGION

THE NATION

BATON ROUGE THROUGH 5 P.M. MONDAy

TEMPERATURE

High/low Normal high/low Record high Record low

72°/46° 62°/42° 81° in 2025 20° in 1999

PRECIPITATION

Longview 78/47

TODAY

MODERATE

GOOD

READING 87 MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

RIVER STAGES FLOOD STAGE 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE Memphis 34 -2.30 -0.21 Vidalia-Natchez 48 14.40 -0.19 Red River Landing 48 17.50 -0.95 Baton Rouge 35 6.50 -0.22 Donaldsonville 27 4.10 -0.01 Reserve 22 2.29 -0.13 New Orleans 17 2.70 -0.11 MISSISSIPPI

OHIO 40

13.97

+0.21

19

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-0.97 10.10 1.35

+0.04 -0.02 +0.35

13 15

2.68 0.81

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47 34 29 20 12 6

5.97 3.81 3.64 2.53 3.00 1.92

-0.31 -0.33 -0.14 -0.49 +0.50 -0.82

COMITE

Near Olive AMITE

Near Darlington Denham Springs Port Vincent TICKFAW

Montpelier Holden ATCHAFALAYA

Simmesport Melville Krotz Springs Butte La Rose Bayou Sorrel Morgan City

DEATHS continued from Langlois, Stacie Anne

Stacie Anne Langlois, a vibrant spirit who lived her life with as much gusto as a New Orleans jazz band, has taken her final bow on December 2, 2025. Born in the town of New Roads, La., on May 16, 1959, Stacie's zest for life was evident from her early days, and she carried that exuberance into every moment until she departed this world, at the age of 66.

A celebration of life will be held from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM on January 8, 2026, at Seale Funeral Home, 1720 South Range Ave., Denham Springs.

Please see her full obituary @ sealefuneral.com

McCann, Leslie Stewart

Leslie Stewart McCann, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, passed away on Monday, December 8, 2025, at the age of 63. Born on February 20, 1963, in Tokyo, Japan, Leslie was the beloved daughter of Henry and Fusako Stewart. At just two years old, she moved with her family to St. Tammany Parish, where they made their home in Lacombe, Louisiana—a place that always remained part of her story. After graduating from Mandeville High School in 1981, Leslie moved to Baton Rouge, where she built a life centered on family, service, and care. She married and was blessed with two children, who became the heart of her world. Leslie pursued her calling in

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Jackson 74/58

Baton Rouge 79/63

Lafayette 79/63

Beaumont 79/62 Port Arthur 76/62

Hattiesburg 78/62

Alexandria 76/60

Many 75/56

AIR QUALITY YESTERDAY

-10

Monroe 76/53

Shreveport 79/50

24 hours through 5 p.m. Mon. 0.00” Month to date (normal) Trace (1.01”) year to date (normal) Trace (1.01”)

Cairo

An onshore wind will drive a muggier air mass inland on Tuesday.

Higher temperatures will accompany it with highs soaring into the upper 70s despite a partly to mostly cloudy sky. The record for the date is 80, and highs will come close to that. Into Wednesday and Thursday, patchy and occasionally widespread morning fog will be a possibility. With students returning to the classrooms this week, be extra cautious in foggy spots while keeping an eye out for school buses. Afternoons will be unseasonably high, flirting with the 80-degree mark. As soon as Thursday afternoon, be prepared to face scattered showers. A more substantial round of showers and storms will arrive sometime on Friday as a cold front marches into the region.

New Orleans 78/62

Lake Charles 76/61

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

Houma 80/62

Forecasts and graphics, except WBRZ forecasts, provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2026

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

TIDES HIGH

FT.

Lake Pontchartrain (Tchefuncte River) 9:29a 0.5 Shell Beach 3:49a 1.3 South Point, Marsh Island 3:37a 1.3 Cypremort Point 10:26p 1.0 Grand Isle (Barataria Pass) 11:54p 0.6 Mississippi River (Southwest Pass) 11:07p 0.8 Wine Island 12:25a 1.0

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O'Bannon, Douglas Wood

Doug went home to be with our Lord, Jesus Christ on January 1, 2026 following a multi-year illness.

Family surrounded him as he passed peacefully at home. We celebrate the fact that he can once again see, hear and walk and in

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

36 89 50 28 34 72 41 32 82 63 60

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THE WORLD

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 Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun. Mon.

Lo W

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SOLUNAR TABLE

7:03 a.m.

5:18 p.m.

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healthcare at Our Lady of the Lake College and was named valedictorian of her associate's program in Surgical Technology in 1996—an achievement that reflected her determination, intelligence, and work ethic. Leslie devoted her life to caring for others.

Her career in healthcare was more than a profession; it was an extension of who she was. She showed strength and resilience throughout her life, always placing the needs of others before her own. Whether caring for patients, supporting friends, or loving her family, Leslie gave of herself fully and without hesitation.

Outside of work, Leslie found her greatest joy in time spent with those she loved. She is survived by her children, Molly McCann Lemieux and Kelley McCann; her cherished grandchildren, Grant Baldwin and Charlee Lemieux; her sisters, Patricia Stewart Boudreaux and Susan Stewart Johannsen; and her brothers, Johnny and Don Stewart. She was deeply devoted to her children and grandchildren and treasured every moment shared with family and friends. Leslie will be remembered for her contagious smile, her unmistakable laugh, and the genuine kindness she showed to everyone she met. Her presence brought comfort, warmth, and light, and her absence will be deeply felt by all who knew her. The family would like to extend heartfelt gratitude for the love and support shown by friends and family, and a special thank you to the ICU team at Baton Rouge General for their compassion and dedication in caring for Leslie. Please join her family in a tribute to celebrate her life on February 21, 2026 at The River Room located at 222 Laurel Street, Baton Rouge, La 70810 from 2-5pm.

FT.

9:12p -0.2 2:24p -0.4 10:15a -0.7 2:11p -0.6 10:26a -0.4 8:38a -0.5 11:28a -0.5

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1:58p 8:10p 2:51p 9:02p 3:39p 9:50p 4:24p 10:35p 5:07p 11:17p 5:49p ---6:31p ----

31 sn 70 s 32 pc 21 c 28 sn 53 pc 34 pc 22 pc 59 s 52 s 40 pc

33 sn 68 s 38 c 15 s 31 sn 57 pc 35 sh 28 pc 62 s 54 s 47 pc

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

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

the presence of Jesus. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Goldie M. O'Bannon, his brother Ernest and wife Mina, his son Paul O'Bannon and his wife Marcy, three grandsons Austin, Sean and Mason O'Bannon, four great grandchildren and one great-great grandson. He was preceded in death by his sister Emily and son Patrick O'Bannon. A visitation time will take place with family and friends from 10:00 to 11:00, immediately followed by a celebration of life from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM on 2026-0110 at First Baptist Church St. Francisville, 12404 LA10.

Ragusa, Ben P.

Ben P. Ragusa, Jr attended Sacred Heart Elementary School and Baton Rouge High School. He played baseball and football, until all the other guys were bigger than he was.

As a young child, Ben worked in his father's grocery store, eventually working as a butcher in the store.

Ben Jr left high school and enlisted in the Navy, earning his high school diploma while at sea. Ben Jr was stationed on aircraft carriers as a flight deck signal man. He spent months at sea In the Cuban blockade. Ben was on shore leave in Norfolk, VA when President Kennedy was assassinated...The chaos of MP's rounding up ALL the sailors in the bars and establishments in Norfolk and the resulting flood of ships leaving the docks with or without tugboat assistance was surreal.

Ben returned to Baton Rouge and opened his own neighborhood grocery store.

Ben met Patti Thomas on a blind date and told her that he was going to marry her at the end of their first date.

Ben started to look for a sales career. IBM and Xerox both wanted to hire

him, but required a college degree, both offered to pay for the education. Ben could not take time to go to school; he had a growing family to support. Ben took an Interview with a company called Lanier.

The opportunity sounded right! Ben accepted the copier sales job with Lanier in late 1967. Ben quickly became the #2 sales rep for Lanier in the U.S., he never could beat Chuck Foreman, in Florida, they became great friends.

Ben ascended the ranks of Lanier winding up at the Atlanta HQ in the fall of 1977. Ben eventually left the company as Exec VP of Worldwide Sales (#3 in the Company).

In 1988, Ben and George DeBenedetto founded OMNI Business Products, a Toshiba copier dealer, in Atlanta. Jeff dropped out of LSU to Join the family business and Ed Doyle left Lanier and moved from New Jersey to Join OMNI. In 1994, Ben sold OMNI to Toshiba and Ben, Ed, & Jeff founded Applied Business Concepts, (ABC) in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. ABC now employs over 30 people and operates in all of South Louisiana with locations in Baton Rouge, Kenner, and Lafayette.

Ben supported Cure SMA, Tunnel to Towers, Folds of Honor, Wounded Warrior Project, Samaritan's Purse, St. Jude Hospital, and The Cannata Gala, as well as several Local Charities, Churches, and Schools.

Ben is preceded in death by his Beloved Wife, of 59 years, Patricia Thomas Ragusa. His Parents: Ben P Ragusa, Sr and Mary Ann Grasso Ragusa. His Siblings: Peter Anthony Ragusa and Angie Ann Ragusa Cates. Ben is Survived by His Siblings: Phillip Manuel Ragusa and Myrtle Jean Ragusa David.

His Children: Jeffrey Wayne Ragusa, Sr (57) and Stephanie Ragusa Charpentier (54) His Grandchildren: Madeline (28), Elizabeth (28), Jeffrey, Jr (27), Patricia (26), & Megan (24).

Relatives and friends are invited to Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 for a visitation beginning at 10:00 AM until a Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 AM followed by a committal service at

Resthaven Memory.

Gardens

of

Spencer, Capt. Robert W. 'Sonny'

Capt.

Robert W. Spencer, USN (Ret.) "Sonny" passed away on December 31, 2025, at the age of 96. He died peacefully at his home in Geismar, Louisiana (his residence since 2016) surrounded by his entire family and friends whether in mind, body, or spirit. He was born October 28, 1929, in Columbus, Georgia to Milton and Sadie (Webb) Spencer.

At age 18 Robert Webb Spencer joined the Naval Reserves. Flying was always his passion, and he received his wings at age 21. During his 31 years in the Navy, he was a flight instructor for both fixed wing and helicopters, flew off of 7 different aircraft carriers, was designated as the first Commanding Officer of Navy Light Helicopter Attack Squadron HA(L)3 "Seawolves" in Vietnam, and is a veteran of the Korean War and Vietnam War serving two tours with each. He was most proud of his Seawolves. Awards and commendations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, 10 Air Medals, Ground Combat Award (rare for a pilot), listed in Who's Who for Naval Aviation, and was inducted into the Baton Rouge High School Hall of Fame as the most decorated military personnel to have graduated from there.

Family life was most important to him. He was married to Patricia Ledet Spencer (deceased) for 27 years and together they raised five beautiful children: Robert Webb Spencer, Jr, deceased

(Sandra), Stacy Spencer Rowbal (Bob), Steven Ledet Spencer (Renae), Kathy Lynne Spencer and Karen Spencer Osborne who were his entire heart.

In the next chapter of his life, he married Patti Meehl Spencer (deceased) with whom he traveled, explored, and loved for over 30 years. Patti went into their marriage with four children: Kim Avery Henderson (Donald Ray), G. Aybyn Avery, Jr (Kim), Donna Avery Flynn (Stephen), and Angela Avery Robinson (Wyatt) who he helped nurture, advise, guide, and loved unconditionally. He brought together 9 young adults and made an incredibly beautiful family.

He was blessed with 15 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

Capt. Robert W. Spencer was a patriot who left his undeniable impact on all who were fortunate enough to know him, work with him, learn from him, appreciate and love him.

He truly made his mark on the world and will be incredibly missed.

A visitation will be held at Rabenhorst Funeral Home & Crematory, located at 825 Government Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, on January 10, 2026, beginning at 10:00AM until the service beginning at 11:30AM with a Graveside with Military Honors at Roselawn Cemetery immediately following. Pallbearers will be: Steven Ledet Spencer, Donald Ray Henderson, Wyatt Samuel Robinson, Robert Roy Rowbal, Russell R. Robinson and Horace Aubrey Lofton III. In lieu of flowers please send memorials to the organization Capt. Spencer supported most passionately for decades: St. Jude Children's Hospital. One of his great grandchildren is a childhood cancer survivor.

SPORTS

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

|

T u e s d ay, J a n u a ry 6, 2026

1Cn

LSU turns attention to new QB portal target

BY WILSON ALEXANDER

Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Saints defensive end Chase young, center, is congratulated after recovering a fumble during the second half against the New york Jets at the Caesars Superdome on Dec. 21.

Chasing greatness Saints pass rusher young emerges from ‘dark’ as bright light

BY LUKE JOHNSON

Staff writer

The sack that cemented his bona fides as a premier pass rusher got the attention, but it was the very next play that better illustrates this fully realized version of Chase Young with the New Orleans Saints.

Young just had beaten left tackle Jake Matthews like a drum to drop quarterback Kirk Cousins for an 8-yard loss — a massive play on first down with the Saints trailing the Falcons by six in the fourth quarter Sunday. On the next play, Atlanta tried to recoup some of the yardage by dialing up a screen to star running back Bijan Robinson.

The problem was the Falcons threw the screen in Young’s direction. He diagnosed the play, beat Matthews’ block, then mirrored Robinson’s movements before dropping him for a 5-yard loss.

Two plays resulted in a net loss of 13 yards for the Falcons in a crucial situation, with Young on the delivering end of both. That is the game-wrecking stuff everyone thought Young was capable of

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DANNy KARNIK

Saints defensive end Chase young wraps up Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins ä See SAINTS, page 3C in the first half on Sunday in Atlanta.

LSU has to continue searching for a starting quarterback in the transfer portal after former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby committed Sunday night to Texas Tech, and the Tigers quickly scheduled a visit from another top target.

Sorsby was considered one of the best available players in the transfer portal regardless of position, and LSU made him a priority. He visited Baton Rouge over the weekend, but after taking his first trip to Texas Tech when the transfer portal opened Friday, he chose to play for the Red Raiders with his last season of eligibility.

LSU then hosted Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt for a visit that began Monday afternoon, sources told The Advocate. Leavitt, another one of the top players on the market, also has gone to Kentucky as he looks for a new school.

He reportedly did not take a planned trip Sunday to Texas Tech.

LSU does not have a scholarship quarterback set to return next year, so it is trying to add multiple transfers before the first season under new head coach Lane Kiffin. It was expected to pursue Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss if he entered the transfer portal, but Chambliss agreed to a new deal with Ole Miss contingent upon him receiving an additional sixth year of eligibility.

Leavitt, an Oregon native, spent one season at Michigan State before transferring to Arizona State. Along with star running back Cam Skattebo, he led the Sun Devils to the 2024 Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff in his first year as a starter, throwing for 2,885 yards with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also ran for 443 yards and five scores, showing mobility that would make him an ideal fit for LSU’s offensive scheme.

Leavitt was viewed as one of the top quarterbacks in the country entering his redshirt sophomore season this past year, but he suffered a foot injury early in September and eventually underwent

ä See LSU FOOTBALL, page 4C

Rebounding, PG play keys for LSU vs. South Carolina

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CAMDEN HALL

LSU forward Zakiyah Johnson, right, and Vanderbilt guard Jada Brown battle for the ball on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.

Mulkey questions her squad’s ‘toughness’

BY REED DARCEY

Staff writer

The first offensive rebound set up an open 3-pointer. The second led to a driving layup. Both shots originated from errant free throws ä LSU at Georgia, — the 5:30 P.M. THURSDAy, SECN+ kind of misses the LSU women’s basketball team normally cleans up.

But not on Sunday against Vanderbilt. Late in the fourth quarter of their 65-61 road loss, the Tigers let two more crucial boards slip away, leaving coach

Kim Mulkey questioning their “toughness” and wondering how she can instill more fight into her team before it’s too late.

“Some of that I can attribute to inexperience,” Mulkey said. “But that’s making an excuse, honestly.

If you’re a baller, you gotta have it internally that, ‘I’m gonna do my job, and if I do my job, my teammate will do her job, and that snowballs.’

“We’re not there yet. We’re not there yet.”

Suddenly, the No. 12 Tigers (142, 0-2 SEC) are in a precarious

ä See LSU WOMEN, page 5C

Dwelling on Southeastern Conference losses is not a habit the LSU basketball team wants to develop.

Coach Matt McMahon was disappointed by the three-point road loss to Texas A&M on Saturday but felt encouraged by the competitive spirit LSU (12-2, 0-1 SEC) displayed, esä South Carolina pecially with the absence of at LSU, 6 P.M. TUESDAy, ESPNU injured point guard Dedan Thomas.

Now LSU is preparing to play South Carolina (9-5, 0-1) at 6 p.m.

Tuesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Gamecocks are the lowest-rated SEC team on KenPom, sitting 90th in the country. LSU is ninth in the conference and 37th overall.

Thomas was ruled out of Tuesday’s game on the SEC availability report Monday night. Thomas is day-to-day after reaggravating a lower leg injury he had years prior, McMahon said on his radio show Monday night.

“He’s making great progress,” McMahon said. “It’s a lower leg injury that he had several years ago.

He’s reaggravated it. So, you know, no one wants to play more than DJ Thomas, I can assure you. The guy

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

LSU forwards Pablo Tamba, left, Robert Miller, center, and Marquel Sutton play defense as SMU guard Jaron Pierre jumps to score at the Smoothie King Center on Dec. 13. is a warrior and all about the team.

So he’s anxious to get back with us, and he’s progressing well with his rehab. So we’ll see how he goes here, as he is day-to-day moving forward.”

The junior was seen wearing a boot on his left foot on the bench Saturday. Without him, LSU has to focus on three areas to prevent an 0-2 start in SEC play.

Rebounding This was the one area McMahon especially was displeased with after the Texas A&M game.

“The one disappointing stat to me,” the fourth-year coach said, “(was) the offensive rebounding.

You know, we knew coming in, in A&M’s five Power Five games to date, they’ve averaged 15 (offensive) boards a game, and we wanted to limit that. They got 15 again today. I thought it was a big difference in the game.”

LSU lost the rebounding battle by eight, which was the exact differential on the offensive glass.

The Tigers played hard on

ä See LSU MEN, page 5C

2C ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS On TV MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 5 p.m.

UMass at Ohio CBSSN 6 p.m.

Syracuse at Georgia Tech ACCN 6 p.m.

Duke at Louisville ESPN 6 p.m.

Cincinnati at West Virginia ESPN2 6 p.m.

South Carolina at LSU ESPNU 6 p.m.

Michigan at Penn St. FS1 6 p.m.

St. John’s at Butler Peacock 6 p.m.

Georgia at Florida SECN 7 p.m.

Iowa at Minnesota BTN 7 p.m.

George Washington at Dayton CBSSN

7 p.m.

Georgetown at DePaul TRUTV 8 p.m.

NC State at Boston College ACCN 8 p.m.

TCU at Kansas ESPN 8 p.m.

Texas at Tennessee ESPN2 8 p.m.

Texas Tech at Houston FS1 8 p.m.

UCLA at Wisconsin Peacock 8 p.m.

Texas A&M at Auburn SECN 9 p.m.

UNLV at Wyoming CBSSN 10 p.m. San Diego St. at Nevada FS1 WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 9 p.m.

Oregon at Southern Cal BTN GOLF 4 p.m.

Bay Golf Club vs. Atlanta Drive ESPN

IN BRIEF

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

NBA Miami at Minnesota NBC Peacock LA Lakers at New Orleans WAFB Dallas at Sacramento NBC, Peacock NHL 6:30 p.m. Florida at Toronto TNT MEN’S SOCCER 1:55 p.m. Aberdeen at Rangers CBSSN 2 p.m.

Nottingham Forest at West Ham USA TENNIS 5 a.m.

United Cup, ATP, WTA Tennis 5:30 p.m. United Cup, ATP, WTA Tennis 7 p.m.

7 p.m.

10 p.m.

LSU women fall out of AP top 10 Staff and wire reports Kentucky and Vanderbilt made major jumps in The Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 on Monday after four of the top 10 teams lost last week, causing a shakeup in the poll.

This was the first week since the end of November that a new school had entered the top 10 this season.

The first four remained unchanged with UConn still No. 1, receiving 28 first-place votes and No. 2 Texas getting the other four.

South Carolina and UCLA followed while Oklahoma moved up to fifth, the Sooners’ highest ranking since they were fourth in the final poll of 2009.

Kentucky and Vanderbilt each rose five spots to sixth and seventh, respectively, after each knocked off then-No. 5 LSU in consecutive games. The Wildcats edged LSU 80-78 on a last-second shot.

The Tigers, one of seven unbeaten teams to lose over the past week, plummeted to 12th after the two losses.

LSU’s loss to Vanderbilt marked the first time a Kim Mulkey-coached team has started 0-2 in conference play. The Tigers have dropped back-toback games just four times since Mulkey’s tenure began in 2021.

Vanderbilt had not been in the top 10 since it was seventh on March 12, 2007. Vandy’s 65-61 win over LSU on Sunday was its first against a top five team in 17 years.

Maryland fell one spot to eighth after losing to Illinois, its first defeat of the season. Michigan dropped two places to ninth after a loss at Washington, which reentered the Top 25 at No. 23.

Louisville moved up three spots to 10th. TCU dropped to 13th after losing its first game of the season to Utah in overtime.

There are only four undefeated teams left: UConn, Texas, Vanderbilt and No. 17 Texas Tech.

Unbeaten no more Besides LSU, Maryland and TCU losing for the first time this season, No. 11 Iowa State, Arizona State, Alabama and Georgia also all suffered their first losses.

LOS ANGELES — Wanna bet? If the wager involved Shohei Ohtani, the answer from gamblers was yes more often than it was for any other player in any sport last year, according to data from BetMGM. When betting on game results in 2025, gamblers placed the most wagers on NFL games. However, when betting on individual athletes, gamblers placed the most wagers on Ohtani, the two-way superstar for the World Series champion Dodgers and National League MVP. Saquon Barkley, the running back for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, ranked second.

That data considered only BetMGM wagers that involved individual players — sometimes for awards such as MVP, a spokesman said, but most often for prop bets.

Mavericks, Rockets set for preseason games in China

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU forward Amiya Joyner taps her fist to her forehead in the fourth quarter against Kentucky on Thursday at the PMAC.

AP WOMEN’S TOP 25 POLL Rec.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CAMDEN HALL

Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes celebrates after making a 3-point shot against LSU on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.

Pts.

Prv.

1. UConn (28) 15-0 796 1 2. Texas (4) 17-0 772 2 3. South Carolina 15-1 725 3 4. UCLA 14-1 715 4 5. Oklahoma 14-1 654 8 6. Kentucky 15-1 625 11 7. Vanderbilt 15-0 621 12 8. Maryland 15-1 537 7 9. Michigan 11-2 517 6 10. Louisville 14-3 485 13 11. Iowa St. 14-1 462 10 12. LSU 14-2 456 5 13. TCU 14-1 454 8 14. Iowa 12-2 403 14 15. Michigan St. 14-1 280 24 16. Baylor 13-3 278 22 17. Texas Tech 16-0 263 21 18. Mississippi 14-3 243 15 19. Ohio St. 13-2 237 19 20. Tennessee 10-3 162 23 21. Southern Cal 10-4 150 17 22. North Carolina 13-4 129 16 23. Washington 12-2 117 24. Princeton 13-1 91 25 25. Nebraska 13-2 65 20 Others receiving votes: Illinois 58, Notre Dame 27, Stanford 25, NC State 22, Alabama 13, West Virginia 9, Georgia 5, Duke 3, Oklahoma St. 1.

Falling Irish

Milestone wins

Game of the week

Notre Dame’s run of 85 straight appearances in the Top 25 ended after the Irish (10-4) lost to Georgia Tech and Duke. It was the third-longest active streak, trailing UConn (615) and South Carolina (257) going back to Nov. 29, 2021.

Louisville coach Jeff Walz and Miami coach Tricia Cullop recorded twin milestones. Both coaches earned their 500th career victories last week, doing so in back-to-back games against Virginia Tech.

No. 2 Texas at No. 12 LSU, Sunday. The Tigers will have a chance to rebound from the tough week with a game against the Longhorns. A victory would get LSU back in the SEC regular-season title race.

Arizona stays at No. 1 over Michigan by a hair AP MEN’S TOP 25

BY DAVE SKRETTA

Associated Press

Arizona held on to No. 1 by a single point over fast-closing Michigan in the AP Top 25 on Monday, making it one of the closest races for the top spot in the 78-year history of the men’s college basketball poll.

The Wildcats received 32 of 61 first-place votes and had 1,494 points, while the Wolverines scooped up the other 29 first-place votes from the national media panel.

The one-point difference kept the first poll of 2026 from becoming the second ever with a tie for No. 1; Oregon State and Virginia shared the top spot on Jan. 26, 1981.

Arizona has been on top for the past five polls, but the Wolverines have been able to make up ground, thanks in part to becoming the first team in the poll era to win three consecutive games against ranked opponents by at least 30 points apiece. Michigan was 20 points behind Arizona in the last poll.

The top six remained unchanged Monday from the final poll of 2025: Arizona and Michigan were followed by undefeated Iowa State, UConn, Purdue and Duke, while Houston jumped Gonzaga and BYU and Nebraska rounded out the top 10.

The Huskers, who are riding a nation-best 18-game winning streak dating to last season and are off to the best start in school

Ohtani was most popular player for bets last year

Rec.

Prv.

initial top 25 of the new year.

LSU continued to receive votes, earning 14 this week.

Rising and sliding

On the doorstep

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By TyLER TATE

Arizona guard Brayden Burries passes during a game against Utah on Saturday in Salt Lake City. history, are in the top 10 for the first time since climbing to No. 9 on Feb. 28, 1966. Their latest win was a 58-56 slugfest with then-No. 9 Michigan State.

Vanderbilt, another program with scant men’s basketball success, remained right behind the Huskers at No. 11. That is the highest the unbeaten Commodores have been since they were No. 7 in the preseason poll for the 2011-12 season.

Michigan State fell three spots to No. 12 following its loss to Nebraska, while No. 13 Alabama was followed by Texas Tech and Arkansas in this week’s poll. Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Iowa and Louisville rounded out the top 20, while Tennessee, Kansas, Virginia, SMU and UCF completed the

Pts.

1. Arizona (32) 14-0 1494 1 2. Michigan (29) 13-0 1493 2 3. Iowa St. 14-0 1390 3 4. UConn 14-1 1343 4 5. Purdue 13-1 1254 5 6. Duke 13-1 1206 6 7. Houston 13-1 1113 8 8. Gonzaga 16-1 1101 7 9. BYU 13-1 1039 10 10. Nebraska 14-0 998 13 11. Vanderbilt 14-0 936 11 12. Michigan St. 12-2 834 9 13. Alabama 11-3 782 14 14. Texas Tech 11-3 676 15 15. Arkansas 11-3 659 18 16. Illinois 11-3 602 20 17. North Carolina 13-2 557 12 18. Georgia 13-1 378 23 19. Iowa 12-2 340 25 20. Louisville 11-3 336 16 21. Tennessee 10-4 277 19 22. Kansas 10-4 208 17 23. Virginia 12-2 183 21 24. SMU 12-2 142 25. UCF 12-1 132 Others receiving votes: Villanova 127, Seton Hall 31, Southern Cal 28, Utah St. 27, Miami (Ohio) 22, Clemson 21, St. Louis 14, LSU 14, Texas 12, Florida 11, St. Mary’s 10, Kentucky 9, California 8, Miami 5, Indiana 4, Auburn 3, TCU 2, UCLA 2, Virginia Tech 2.

Iowa made the biggest move by climbing six spots to No. 19 following its win over UCLA on Saturday, while Georgia jumped five spots to No. 18. Kansas and North Carolina, which lost to SMU on Saturday, each fell five spots but remained in the poll.

In and out No. 24 SMU is ranked for the first time since finishing No. 11 in the final poll of the 2016-17 season.

The Mustangs and UCF joined the Top 25 at the expense of USC and Florida, which lost 76-74 to Missouri on Saturday night.

Villanova was the first team outside the Top 25, five points back of UCF. Also on the rise are Utah State and Miami (Ohio), which at 15-0 is the only unbeaten still outside the poll.

Conference watch The Big 12 led the way with seven ranked teams, including four in the top 10, while the Big Ten had six in the Top 25 and three in the top 10. The ACC and SEC had five ranked teams apiece, and the West Coast and Big East each had one.

The NBA is going back to China next season, as expected, announcing Monday that the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets will play a pair of preseason games at the gambling hub of Macao in October.

The games, like the preseason ones this season between Brooklyn and Phoenix, will be played at Macao’s Venetian Arena, which is owned by the Sands Corp. — a casino operator there as well. Sands president and chief operating officer Patrick Dumont is governor of the Mavericks, which made Dallas a logical pick to play in the China games before too long.

Houston was another logical pick to play in China. The Rockets have long had enormous popularity in that nation, largely because of eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming.

Djokovic withdraws from Australian Open tuneup

Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Australian Open tuneup tournament in Adelaide, saying Monday that he isn’t prepared to return to competition ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam event.

“To all my fans in Adelaide, unfortunately I’m not quite physically ready to compete in the Adelaide International next week,” Djokovic posted on social media.

“It’s personally very disappointing to me, as I have such great memories of winning the title there two years ago. I was really excited about returning as it truly felt like playing at home.”

Djokovic, a 38-year-old with a men’s-record 24 major singles championships, has not played an official match in nearly two full months.

Mattingly joins Phillies as Thomson’s bench coach

PHILADELPHIA — Don Mattingly made up his mind that 2025 would be his last season in baseball. The 1985 AL MVP and former manager would retire after one final season as a bench coach in Toronto, with or without the World Series ring he’s fruitlessly chased since his rookie season with the New York Yankees in 1983.

Mattingly, 64, reversed course because of talks with his son.

No, not Preston Mattingly, the Phillies GM who is now his dad’s boss after Donnie Baseball signed a multi-year deal to serve under Rob Thomson as bench coach.

Give 11-year-old son Louis Mattingly the bulk of the credit for flipping dad’s decision. “(He) was kind of like, ‘Dad, you can’t stop. You’ve got to keep going,’ ” Mattingly said with a laugh.

Hockey Hall of Fame player, exec Pulford dies

Bob Pulford, a Hockey Hall of Fame player who went on to a lengthy career in the NHL as a coach and general manager, has died. He was 89.

A tough, dependable forward, Pulford helped the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup four times during his 14-year stretch with them from 1956-70.

He was picked for five All-Star games and led the league in shorthanded goals three times. After recording 694 points in 1,168 regularseason and playoff games, Pulford was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.

Pulford was the first president of the players union. He ran the Chicago Blackhawks’ front office from 1977-2007, going behind the bench to coach four times in that span.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 3C

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NFL NOTEBOOK

SAINTS NOTEBOOK

Carroll out after dismal 3-14 season with Raiders

Olave in good spirits despite blood clot

HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders fired Pete Carroll on Monday after just one year, meaning they will enter their third consecutive season with a new coach in charge.

Carroll expressed high hopes upon taking over, saying he was used to doubledigit victories and expected the same in Las Vegas. But the Raiders went 3-14, going on a 10game losing streak before finishing with a 14-12 vic- Carroll tory over Kansas City on Sunday.

Now the question is where the Raiders head next under the direction of owner Mark Davis, minority owner Tom Brady and general manager John Spytek. Davis said in a statement that Spytek would work with Brady to find the next coach.

The Raiders own the first pick in this year’s draft and are projected to have the third-most cap space at more than $100 million, according to overthecap.com.

Browns fire Stefanski, a two-time coach of the year BEREA, Ohio — Kevin Stefanski led the Cleveland Browns to two playoff appearances in his first four seasons as head coach.

However, with only eight wins the past two seasons, owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam will be making their sixth coaching hire since purchasing the franchise in 2012.

Stefanski was dismissed Monday morning after six seasons. The Browns won their final two games to finish 5-12.

The Haslams are not doing a total housecleaning, announcing that Andrew Berry will remain as general manager. Berry joined the Browns in 2019 and was named GM the following year. Stefanski and Berry signed multiyear contract extensions in June 2024.

The 43-year-old Stefanski, a twotime AP NFL Coach of the Year, went 46-58. He guided Cleveland to playoff berths in 2020 and 2023.

The Browns’ 48-37 wild-card win over Pittsburgh in the 2020 season was the franchise’s first since 1994.

Cardinals fire Gannon after three losing seasons TEMPE, Ariz. — Jonathan Gannon’s once-promising head coaching tenure with the Arizona Cardinals is done following a dismal third season that started with high expectations but quickly collapsed thanks to injuries, embarrassing gaffes and a long string of losses that became increasingly noncompetitive.

Now the franchise is preparing for a rebuild — again.

The Cardinals parted ways with Gannon on Monday, one day after a 37-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

It was the team’s ninth straight loss and 14th setback in 15 games.

N o w a n e w Gannon coaching staff gets the chance to rebuild a franchise that will have the No. 3 overall pick in April, but has been to the playoffs just once since 2016.

Gannon, 43, finished his tenure with a 15-36 record, including 3-14 this season. Gannon expressed optimism in recent weeks that he would return for a fourth season, but Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill had other ideas, opting to look for the franchise’s 13th head coach since moving to Arizona in 1988.

Schoen returning as GM of New York Giants EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Joe Schoen is returning as general manager of the New York Giants, owners John Mara and Steve Tisch announced Monday, giving the executive they hired four years ago another chance to turn around the beleaguered franchise.

The team is 22-45-1 since Schoen took over, making the playoffs in the first year at 9-7-1 and missing the following three. Assembling talent by drafting receiver and former LSU standout Malik Nabers, running back Cam Skattebo, pass rusher Abdul Carter and, most importantly, potential franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart paved the way for Schoen to keep his job and oversee the search for the next coach.

Mara and Tisch gave Schoen a vote of confidence in November when firing coach Brian Daboll.

The Giants were 2-8 at that time, then lost five of their final seven games under interim coach Mike Kafka to finish with a 4-13 record.

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

Chris Olave initially thought he had a bruised rib.

The New Orleans Saints wide receiver said he was so sore after facing the Tennessee Titans on Dec. 28 that it made it tough to roll over in his sleep. Two days later when the issue worsened, the team’s doctors suggested he go to the hospital for a CT scan.

That’s where his blood clot was found.

“I feel good right now,” Olave said.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he was diagnosed, Olave on Monday said doctors told him “right away” that his prognosis for the long term was good after the blood clot caused him to miss Sunday’s season finale against the Atlanta Falcons.

He said the doctors were not sure how the issue developed, noting they’re still trying to determine the answer.

Although Olave missed the season finale, the 25-year-old was pleased with his season and how he bounced back, given the uncertainty surrounding his career. The former first-round pick went from contemplating retirement after his concussion issues in 2024 to establishing himself as a premier receiver in 2025.

In 16 games, Olave caught 100 passes for 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns — all personal bests.

“I feel like I’m in a good place,” Olave said. “I feel like I had a good year to my standard. I feel like I left some yards out there, but I feel like I had a good year, and we finished the year off strong, especially with Tyler (Shough) back there.

I’m excited for next year.”

The production also bodes well for a potential contract extension.

Olave will enter 2026 in the final year of his deal, but he has said he and the Saints have had discussions about an extension.

Taylor buzz Alontae Taylor will be a free agent for the first time in his career if he and the New Orleans Saints can’t reach an extension before his contract expires in March.

But the cornerback said Monday his focus is elsewhere: He’s expecting his daughter to be born any day now.

“I’m really thankful that’s a distraction that I have,” Taylor said with a smile, “to take my mind

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ERIN HOOLEy

Saints wide receiver Chris Olave pulls in a long pass past Chicago Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson on Oct. 19 in Chicago. Olave spoke publicly about his recently discovered blood clot for the first time Monday. off the free agency side of things.

But right now, I’m just looking forward to being a dad.”

Taylor said there will be a time when he and his agent discuss his options, whether that’s with the Saints or elsewhere. The 2022 second-round pick said he’s already spoken with Demario Davis and Tyrann Mathieu for advice on what to expect during the process.

He could be in high demand.

The Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts were among the teams rumored to be interested in Taylor at the NFL trade deadline, but the Saints opted to hold onto the 27-year-old.

Taylor said he wants to stay with the Saints but isn’t sure how it’ll unfold.

“The Saints gave me an opportunity,” he said. “They drafted me, gave me a chance to show my talents week in and week out. And so, if I end up going somewhere else, it’s going to hurt. I built a great relationship with these guys here. It’s been a great four years.

I love this city.

“It feels good whenever I go around the community and I see kids doing my thumbs down celebration. To leave, if that’s what it comes down to, it would be tough, but at the end of the day, I have

to make the best decision for my family.”

Taylor finished third among the Saints in defensive snaps this season, right behind Davis and KoolAid McKinstry. Taylor recorded two interceptions and two sacks in 16 games as the nickel cornerback, an important role in defensive coordinator Brandon Staley‘s system.

Taylor said he and the Saints had conversations about a new contract in August but weren’t able to reach an agreement.

“I think there will be a lot of buzz, a lot of interest,” he said.

Rattler support

“I don’t feel like there’s 32 quarterbacks better than him.”

Olave’s words were not a shot at Shough, who replaced Rattler after eight games and whom the wide receiver has campaigned to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Rather, Olave stuck up for the 2024 fifth-rounder who has perhaps become overlooked in light of Shough’s emergence.

Olave said Rattler handled the switch like a pro. Rattler started eight games for the Saints, throwing for 1,586 yards with eight touchdowns and five interceptions this season.

It remains to be seen whether the Saints keep Rattler as a backup or explore moving him.

“The way he handled himself when being benched, I’m always going to be a Spencer fan,” Olave said. “He never talked down on nobody.”

“It wasn’t all his fault,” Olave said later, noting crucial drops by himself and others that affected the outcome of several games.

“People pointed the finger that it was his fault, but like I said, it was on all of us. I told him that right when the situation went down.”

Unprompted near the end of his media availability Monday, Olave had something he wanted to tell reporters.

He wanted people to know he still believes in Spencer Rattler.

“Spencer’s a great quarterback.

I don’t believe he’s a backup quarterback in this league,” Olave said. “In this world nowadays, everybody wants to point the finger if something is going wrong.

I feel like Spencer’s done a great job when he was back there starting at quarterback. He deserves another opportunity to be able to be a starting quarterback in this Email Matthew Paras at matt. league. paras@theadvocate.com

Metcalf relieved to be in playoffs after suspension

By The Associated Press

ä Texans at Steelers.

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf returned to work on Monday, relieved that his team’s season is still alive following his two-game suspension for making contact with a fan in Detroit last month.

The Steelers won the AFC North with a heart-stopping 26-24 win over Baltimore on Sunday night.

Metcalf watched from afar, riding the “roller coaster” during a back-and-forth affair that had four fourth-quarter lead changes. Pittsburgh won the division title when Baltimore kicker Tyler Loop’s potential game-winning kick drifted wide right, setting up a meeting with fifth-seeded Houston (12-5)

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C supplying. To get there, Young had to emerge from the “dark place” he said he’d occupied earlier in his career.

He found the light in New Orleans.

“It’s like he always just wanted to have a home, and now he’s got a home, and he’s made it his own,” veteran Cam Jordan said. “This year, he’s coming to his own, and he’s lived up to every piece of hype that he’s ever had around him.”

After signing a team-friendly three-year extension this offseason, Young delivered his finest season as a professional. Still just 26 years old, Young is a central component of the Saints’ rebuild, a player everyone else gets built around.

For the first time in his career, Young recorded double-digit sacks this season — a feat he managed despite missing the first five games with a calf injury. The milestone clearly meant something to Young, who counted to 10 with his fingers after dropping Cousins in

next Monday at Acrisure Stadium.

“My teammates gave me another opportunity to come back,” Metcalf said. “So just big shout out to them.”

Metcalf declined to get into specifics about what led to his exchange with Ryan Kennedy during the first half of Pittsburgh’s victory at Detroit on Dec. 21.

Metcalf approached the stands and had a brief exchange with Kennedy that ended with Metcalf taking a swipe at the blue wigwearing Kennedy.

The league suspended Metcalf for two games, a decision that was

held up on appeal, which Metcalf said surprised him, though he did not elaborate on why.

“I can’t say nothing about it,” Metcalf said.

The Steelers offense stumbled in a loss to Cleveland on Dec. 28 that would have wrapped up the AFC North with a week to go. It took a chaotic fourth quarter during the 272nd and final game of the NFL’s regular season for Pittsburgh to advance.

Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards in the win, the last 26 coming on a pass to a wide-open Calvin Austin.

While Metcalf said he takes “full responsibility” for his actions, he also didn’t think his absence

would prevent the team from securing a playoff berth. To think that way would be disrespectful.

“I’ve got the utmost respect and confidence in my teammates for still going out there and performing to the best of their abilities,” Metcalf said.

Now the Steelers (10-7) head into the postseason with a bit of momentum. Pittsburgh has won four of five since a midseason swoon.

Rodgers averaged 258 yards passing with four touchdowns and no picks in the past three games with Metcalf in the lineup.

“We were definitely starting to hit our stride as an offense,” Metcalf said. “I think we found our groove and hoping we can pick that back up.”

Sunday’s season finale.

But his contributions as a pass rusher were not the full measure of his impact on the defense, and that’s where his stop of Robinson on the screen comes in. Not only did Young have a career year in terms of sacks but he also was a plus player at the point of attack in the run game.

“He jokes around, like, ‘Yeah, I’m getting off the stack. I’m stopping the run,’ ” Jordan said.

“And you can see he’s starting to get excited. I said, ‘Now you set a standard for yourself.’ And he’s met that standard each game this year.”

For years, Young’s story could not be told without the word potential. Sometimes he delivered, as was the case during his Defensive Rookie of the Year season in 2020.

Often, it was about unrealized potential. There were injuries, a lack of production and questions about his effort — the reasons he was available for the Saints in free agency and signed an incentiveladen one-year deal prior to the start of the 2024 season.

But when Saints linebacker Demario Davis heard the team was recruiting Young in free agency, there was no hesitation in his mind

that the team should bring him in.

“Just go get him,” Davis recalled thinking at the time.

“When he came in, the first thing I noticed was his hunger for greatness,” Davis said.

What Young was missing in the early phase of his career was an example to follow. After arriving in New Orleans, he began to watch what Davis and Jordan did to stay productive into their mid30s. Young joked that he has a 36-year-old cousin who “can’t do nothing,” and yet here were Davis and Jordan playing at a high level in a young man’s game.

So he began to take notes, watching Jordan arrive at the facility at the same time every day to go through the same routine. And he began to ask questions.

“He was somebody that just kind of came to me right away and was just like, ‘Man, whatever you got, I want it. However you train in the offseason, I want to know. However you take care of your body, I want to know about it,’ ” Davis said. “And that stood out. It was just like, you know, he got it. He got it.”

Young said Davis told him he needed “a stamina for greatness,” meaning a willingness to do all the

difficult and often boring things greatness requires — and to do it relentlessly. He saw them doing it in their mid-30s, and he thought, “I’m 26. If they can do this, like, what am I doing?”

That’s what informed Young he’d found a home with the Saints.

“God put me in a place with two veteran players that could kind of teach me the ways, you know? I came into the league, I didn’t really have that,” Young said. “... When you got people like that leading the way, you have to hold yourself to a certain standard, because you see it every day.”

Davis and Jordan both said they saw things start to click into place for Young last year, before it all fully came together in 2025. They watched him setting the standard and demanding more out of himself, and they heard him demanding to be held accountable.

What happened in 2025 was a byproduct of the small battles won on a day-to-day basis when the cameras weren’t rolling.

“Man, he won all those battles in the dark,” Davis said. “I think everybody is seeing the type of player that Chase Young is capable of being, but it’s because of what he’s done in the dark.”

7:15 P.M. MONDAy, ESPN/ABC

4C ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Source: Southern to land ex-Madison Prep quarterback Chriss

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROBERT SIMMONS

Old Dominion wide receiver Tre Brown responds to Virginia Tech fans during a game on Sept. 13 in Blacksburg, Va.

LSU adds three players from transfer portal

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

LSU added three transfers Monday, and two players entered the portal.

The Tigers gained commitments from Utah running back Raycine Guillory, Pittsburgh tight end Malachi Thomas and Old Dominion wide receiver Tre Brown. As the roster continues to take shape, freshman defensive tackle Zion Williams and sophomore kicker Aeron Burrell entered the transfer portal.

After beginning his career at a junior college, Brown caught 38 passes for 762 yards and four touchdowns in his one season at Old Dominion. He averaged 20.1 yards per catch, which ranked seventh in the country. He has two more years of eligibility and also received interest from Ohio State.

LSU has to rebuild its wide receiver room after all but two of the Tigers’ scholarship wide receivers — redshirt junior Nic Anderson and freshman Phillip Wright — exhausted their eligibility, declared for the NFL draft or entered the transfer portal. LSU signed three

incoming freshmen, and Brown became the second transfer wide receiver to commit to the Tigers.

Guillory was a three-star recruit and the No. 478 overall player in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He redshirted during his freshman season at Utah, giving him four more years of eligibility.

Coming out of Aledo High School in Texas, Guillory took a visit to Ole Miss when new LSU coach Lane Kiffin and running backs coach Kevin Smith were still with the Rebels. Guillory, who’s listed at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds, had one carry for 4 yards this past season.

LSU has only one scholarship running back, freshman Harlem Berry, who has remained with the team during the coaching change.

As it looks for multiple transfer running backs to rebuild the position, it recently hosted former UC Davis running back Carter Vargas.

Thomas joined the Panthers in 2024 as a three-star recruit, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He played primarily on special teams as a freshman before he caught 13 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns this

past season.

At LSU, Thomas will work alongside Trey’Dez Green, the star tight end who has reportedly agreed to return for his junior season.

Thomas is a 6-4, 225-pound native of Thomasville, Georgia. LSU also has redshirt freshman JD LaFleur and incoming four-star recruit JC Anderson at tight end.

LSU now has added four transfers since the portal opened Friday with Brown, Guillory, Thomas and Hawaii wide receiver Jackson Harris. They are the first additions to an offense that has to be rebuilt

by Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. Burrell, a Bossier City native, entered the transfer portal after two years as LSU’s kickoff specialist. He earned second-team AllSEC honors as a freshman when he ranked third in the country with an 89.19 touchback percentage, but that dropped to 63.8% this past season. Burrell never attempted a field goal for LSU. Williams was one of four defensive linemen who signed with LSU in the 2025 class. He appeared in five games this past season. He did not record a tackle.

Miami’s Beck, Ole Miss’ Chambliss take different paths to College Football Playoff

Houston quarterback Zeon Chriss is expected to transfer to Southern under new football coach Marshall Faulk, a university official confirmed to The Advocate on Monday. That person also confirmed the Jaguars will play at Houston during the 2026 season.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Chriss announced he was entering the portal on Dec. 31 after playing two years with the Cougars.

Chriss has one year of college eligibility remaining after spending his first two seasons at UL, redshirting his true freshman year, after playing at Madison Prep.

Hours after it was reported that Chriss was coming to Baton Rouge, former Southern starting quarterback Jalen Woods announced he was entering the portal.

Woods, a redshirt sophomore, said in his post that he will have three years of eligibility after appearing in only two games in 2025 before suffering a concussion.

Chriss played six games last season, completing 10 of 21 passes for 108 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed 12 times for 79 yards.

In 2024, he started seven times and played in 11 of 12 games. He completed 83 of 130 passes for 824 yards, four touchdowns and eight interceptions. He had 114 carries for 388 yards and four touchdowns.

During his redshirt freshman year in 2023 at UL, he played in eight games. He had 1,222 yards passing, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions, completing a career-high 66.7% of his passes.

He also rushed 73 times for 492 yards and six touchdowns.

Chriss has completed 204 of 319 passes for 2,263 yards and rushed for 10 touchdowns in 29 total games.

He was a three-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class and the second-highest rated quarterback prospect in Louisiana, according to 247Sports.

As a junior, he threw for 2,005 yards and 25 touchdowns while leading Madison Prep to a state championship.

Southern’s primary quarterbacks last season — Ashton Strother and Cam’Ron McCoy — have not entered the transfer portal. True freshman Dillon Compton, who went to Bunkie High School, didn’t play in any game and hasn’t entered the portal.

Woods entered the season with the expectation that he was the likely starting quarterback, with coaches saying in the offseason that it was his “job to lose.”

AP PHOTO By CHARLIE RIEDEL

Houston quarterback Zeon Chriss looks to pass during the first half of a game against Kansas on Oct. 19, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. Chriss plans to transfer to Southern for the 2026 season, according to a Southern source.

“I am incredibly grateful for Southern University and the opportunity it provided me to grow, compete, and represent this program,” Woods posted on X. “Thank you to the coaching staff, and most importantly, my teammates for pushing me every day and creating memories that will stay with me forever. After much prayer, reflection, and conversations with my family, I have made the decision to enter the transfer portal. This was not an easy choice, but I believe it is truly what’s best for me and my family at this point in my journey.”

The Atlanta native played in eight games and made three starts in his Southern career. He was the starting quarterback in Southern’s 24-14 win over Grambling in the 2024 Bayou Classic.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder last played in the second game of the 2025 season. His injury occurred when he was hit on the front of his helmet while sliding after an 8-yard run against Mississippi Valley State on Aug. 30.

Woods remained on the ground for several minutes and was put on a stretcher and driven to a hospital. About two hours after the game, Southern posted a statement on social media saying Woods had his full range of motion and was in good condition. The team said it placed him in concussion protocol because of a neck and head injury.

Then-Southern coach Terrence Graves said Woods returned to practice during the week of Oct. 27, but he never played in a game for the remainder of the year.

BY JOHN MARSHALL AP sportswriter

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Miami’s Carson Beck is the prototypical powerprogram quarterback, a former four-star prospect with a massive NIL portfolio who knows what it’s like to play on the big stage.

Mississippi’s Trinidad Chambliss nearly gave up football, won a Division II national championship and has shined since being unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight.

Their paths will converge in the desert at ThursBeck day’s Fiesta Bowl, with a spot in the national championship game on the line.

“Only four teams have the opportunity to go play this week,” Beck said. “I’m super grateful for that.”

Beck has been building toward this since starring as a high schooler in Jacksonville, Florida.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound prostyle passer won a national championship in 2022 — the Bulldogs’ second straight — as a backup to Stetson Bennett IV, learning as he went. Beck took those lessons onto the field, throwing for more than 7,000 yards and 52 touchdowns in the next two seasons while leading Georgia to 24 wins.

A knee injury kept Beck out of the Bulldogs’ College Football Playoff loss against Notre Dame in early 2025 and, after initially declaring for the NFL draft, he opted to transfer to Miami, a school with a potent offense and plenty of NIL cash to throw around.

He’s been a perfect fit.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATHEW HINTON

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss celebrates after the Sugar Bowl victory against Georgia on Thursday at the Caesars Superdome. Ole Miss next faces Miami. ä Fiesta Bowl.

6:30 P.M. THURSDAy, ESPN Poised and steady, Beck has thrown for 3,313 yards and 27 touchdowns on 74% passing with 10 interceptions. He led the Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed) to wins over Texas A&M and Ohio State in the playoffs and is 36-5 as a starter as he winds down his college career.

“He’s very experienced, he’s been successful everywhere he’s been,” Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said.

“He’s always had his teams competing at a championship level and being in the playoffs.”

Chambliss’ career took a different trajectory.

With no Division I offers out of high school, the quarterback from Grand Rapids, Michigan, opted to play at Ferris State, where he redshirted the first two seasons — the second due to respiratory issues.

He considered transferring to a

Division III school to give college basketball a try, but chose to give football one more shot.

Good decision.

Chambliss led the Bulldogs to the Division II national championship in 2024, leading to offers from numerous Division I programs. He chose to play at Ole Miss, figuring he would be a backup but at least have the DI experience.

Chambliss’ fate changed when starter Austin Simmons went down with an ankle injury during the second game of the season.

Chambliss took off and kept going, throwing for 353 yards against Arkansas in his first start and playing so well he kept the starting job once Simmons was healthy.

The dual-threat quarterback put pressure on defenses all season, rocketing passes into tight windows with his strong arm while extending plays with his legs.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ROSS D. FRANKLIN

Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt warms up prior to a game against Northern Arizona on Aug. 30 in Tempe, Ariz.

LSU FOOTBALL Continued from page 1C

season-ending surgery. Leavitt finished with 1,628 yards passing, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. He added another 306 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

LSU has to find a new starting quarterback after fifth-year senior Garrett Nussmeier exhausted his eligibility. Nussmeier started for most of the past two seasons before he sat out the last four games because of an abdominal injury that first occurred during preseason camp.

Michael Van Buren replaced Nussmeier as the starter, burn-

ing his redshirt in the process.

Though Van Buren said twice he wanted to return amid the coaching change, he plans to enter the transfer portal with two years of eligibility remaining. Redshirt freshman Colin Hurley also entered the transfer portal, temporarily leaving LSU without a scholarship quarterback.

Kiffin and his staff are in the process of rebuilding the offense, which averaged 22.8 points per game this past season. Only a handful of offensive starters have not left for the NFL draft or entered the transfer portal, so LSU will sign a large transfer class. It needs to almost completely restock at quarterback, running back, wide receiver and offensive line.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 5C

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Pels unsure if injured guard Murray will return this season

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray tore his Achilles last season on the final day of January.

How close is Murray to returning, and will he return at all this season?

Interim Pelicans coach James Borrego gave an update on Murray on Sunday prior to the Pelicans’ road game against the Miami Heat.

“He’s making a lot of progress,” Borrego said. “We hope to get him back in our building here soon. He’s doing a lot of work getting ready to get back here. I say in the next month we’ll have a little bit more clarity on where he’s at. But he’s made a lot of progress. Significant progress.”

Borrego joked that Murray and Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum are racing to see who can return sooner. Tatum tore his Achilles in May in the second round of the playoffs.

Murray played in 31 games for the Pelicans last season, his first with the team after being acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks. He fractured his left hand in the season opener and missed the next 17 games.

He played in 30 more before the season-ending injury against the Celtics in the Smoothie King Center.

Murray last spoke to the media in September at the team’s media day.

“It’s been great,” Murray said when asked about his rehab.

“Just taking it one day at a time.

Making sure the mental is there and obviously all the physical things and just attacking it like no other. You just have to make sure the body and mind are on the

ä Lakers at Pelicans, 7 P.M. TUESDAy, WAFB

same page.”

At the time, Murray said he was making the most of his rehab.

“Having fun with it, trying to turn a negative into a positive,” he said. “It’s been just that. It was a challenge, and I accepted it and I’m just continuing to stay on the right road.”

Borrego was asked whether he anticipates Murray playing this season.

“I can’t say for sure,” Borrego said. “I can’t go there. We just don’t know until we see him live on the court. That would be the goal, but I can’t say for sure. We’ll just have to see for sure once he’s back in our building, and once we get our eyes on him once he gets on the court.

“It’s going to be a collective decision. What’s best for Dejounte moving forward. We’ll make that (decision) collectively.”

In Murray’s absence, the Pelicans have counted on rookie Jeremiah Fears at point guard. Fears, drafted with the seventh overall pick, is averaging 14.5 points and 3.1 assists.

Murray averaged 17.5 points and 7.4 assists in his 31 games last season. His best game as a Pelican came against the Utah Jazz when he scored 26 points to go with 11 assists and nine rebounds.

“I feel like when you go through so much — for a man like myself that believes in God, everything happens for a reason,” Murray said at media day. “Everything I went through is for a reason, and I think I’m going to come out on top.”

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray reacts after hitting a 3-pointer against the Utah Jazz at the Smoothie King Center on Jan. 20.

LSU WOMEN Continued from page 1C

position. They’ve lost to the first two ranked opponents they’ve played, and two of their next three contests are against top-10 teams. No LSU player has faced a situation quite like this one. Neither has Mulkey, who in 26 years as a head coach never has had a team lose its first two conference matchups. Until now.

“We’re not tough enough,” Mulkey said. “And toughness is, you either have it or you don’t.

And we’re not tough enough, and that’s all (the) players in that locker room tonight. You’re not tough enough to make a play when you need it. You’re not tough enough to get that rebound when we need it.

“It’s not just one or two. It’s the whole locker room at different times.”

The Tigers allowed Kentucky to pull down 17 offensive rebounds on Thursday. On Sunday, they turned the ball over 22 times and missed 12 layups against the Commodores.

The No. 6 Wildcats outscored LSU 11-3 in the last four minutes of the game. The same stretch of the game against the No. 7 Commodores was more even, featuring two ties and five lead changes.

The Tigers’ turnover issues just kept getting in the way.

MiLaysia Fulwiley ran into a defender and lost possession.

Then Mikaylah Williams dribbled the ball off of her knee, sending it bouncing out of bounds and into the LSU bench. Mulkey kicked out her leg in frustration.

“I’m telling you,” Mulkey said, “the majority of (the turnovers) were done from upperclassmen who just, for whatever reason, turned it over.”

Vanderbilt shot 35% from the field Sunday. LSU ordinarily wins when it forces that many misses.

Before Sunday, the Tigers were 31-3 in Mulkey-era regular-season league games in which their opponent converted less than 40% of its shots.

Before it faced the Commodores, LSU was 32-1 when its SEC opponent scored 65 points or fewer.

The Tigers couldn’t overcome that mark Sunday, even though they recently completed their most dominant nonconference slate of the last five years. LSU scored more than 100 points in 11 of 14 nonconference games and finished that stretch of the season averaging 108 points per game on 55% shooting. Both marks led Division I. Now the Tigers aren’t cleaning the glass, taking care of the ball or finding ways to win close games — and the season’s most challenging games haven’t arrived yet.

LSU still must play its homeand-home series with No. 2 Texas, its Jan. 18 road game against No. 5 Oklahoma and its annual showdown with No. 3 South Carolina, which is set to tip off Feb. 14 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Tigers won at least 12 SEC games in each of Mulkey’s first four seasons, but now they’re in danger of falling below that mark — and possibly losing out on a top-four NCAA Tournament seed as a result.

“I think we can make it better,” Mulkey said. “But I don’t know if you can just all of a sudden run a bunch of drills or do a bunch of stuff in practice and go, ‘OK, we fixed that. They’re now tough.’

“Toughness is mental. You’ve got mental toughness, you’ve got physical toughness. It’s just who you are. It’s your demeanor.”

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Southern forward DaMariee Jones looks to finish a shot between Prairie View guards Tai’Reon Joseph, left, and Lance Williams in the second half on Monday at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

Southern men fall as Joseph comes up big for Prairie View

BY CHARLES SALZER Contributing writer

With the game on the line, Baton Rouge native Tai’Reon Joseph was at his best Monday night.

Joseph scored Prairie View’s final seven points as the Panthers rallied late to down Southern 8985 in Southwestern Athletic Conference action at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

The game featured the SWAC’s top two scorers, Joseph and Southern’s Michael Jacobs, and they turned in memorable performances. Jacobs set a career high with 30 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Joseph, who finished with 32.

The loss gave Southern (5-10, 1-1) a split in its opening weekend of conference play. Prairie View (6-9, 1-1) shot 56.9% from the field but had to withstand a second-half rally by the Jaguars, who led by as many as five points in the second half.

In addition to Joseph, Prairie View relied on Dontae Horne (21 points) and Cory Wells (17) for the bulk of its scoring.

“I was never comfortable with our defense all night,” Southern coach Kevin Johnson said. “I thought our one-on-one defense was awful. They got 70 points

from three guys, and I don’t think it was anything special that they ran. It just came down to some (isolations), and we got whipped on them.”

Southern trailed 87-85 with 22 seconds left but came up empty on its last chance. Jacobs worked his way into the lane before kicking the ball out to Joe Manning, who passed on an open jumper before losing the ball when he drove into the lane.

Joseph, who went to high school at Scotlandville, dunked the ball as time ran out.

“Coach told me, ‘It’s your time.

We need you to be the player you’ve been all year,’ ” Joseph said of the final minutes. “I wanted to do it for my teammates. I was in foul trouble, and they held it together while I was on the bench.”

Southern trailed 77-72 with 5:26 remaining but put together a 9-3 run to take a one-point lead. After Prairie View’s Hassane Diallo made two free throws, Jacobs connected on a jumper that gave Southern its final lead at 83-82.

Joseph then scored twice on drives to the left-hand side of the basket. He added a free throw with 22 seconds left for an 87-85 Panthers lead.

“I thought we didn’t do a good job executing the game plan on (Jo-

seph),” Johnson said. “He’s a guy you don’t ever want to get to his strong hand, and there were times we let him get to the left hand.”

Joining Jacobs in double figures for Southern were Malek Abdelgowad (14) and Jones (13), who also had eight rebounds. The Jaguars shot 41.7% from the field and outrebounded Prairie View 38-32.

The Panthers made 8 of 12 shots from the field to open the game as they raced out to a 19-5 lead. Joseph had a hand in most of it, making his first five shots, including three 3-pointers. On the other end, Southern had four early turnovers and made just 2 of 6 shots before climbing back into the game.

A.J. Barnes, Fazl Oshodi and Abdelgowad each made 3-pointers as the Jaguars made 5 of 10 from behind the arc. Jacobs hit two free throws with 4:16 left in the half to pull Southern within 34-33, but Prairie View scored the next seven points.

Horne scored on a drive and added two free throws, helping Prairie View take a 45-38 halftime lead.

Next up for Southern is its conference swing through Florida.

The Jaguars will play BethuneCookman in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday followed by a visit to Florida A&M in Tallahassee on Monday.

LSU MEN

Continued from page 1C defense, but there were several moments when players were out of position for long rebounds after missed 3-pointers. Other times, they were outmuscled.

LSU cannot afford to give teams extra possessions. The team has preached that it wants to have an identity centered on physicality in the paint. This includes interior scoring and glass cleaning.

South Carolina is averaging seven offensive rebounds in its five high-major games.

Offensive execution LSU’s overhauled roster only can be fully actualized with a top-notch facilitator.

Thomas, who leads the SEC with 7.1 assists per game while averaging 16.2 points, is the centerpiece of the offense. Without him against Texas A&M, LSU had an uptick in stalled possessions and a seasonhigh 16 turnovers against constant full-court pressure.

If LSU wants to beat South Carolina, it has to manufacture more easy shots. Without the dribble penetration of Thomas, LSU will need someone else to carry that load.

Jalen Reece is the backup point guard who will have to create opportunities and limit mistakes.

The freshman finished with four points, a career-high seven assists and three turnovers in 36 minutes against the Aggies. The most playing time he had previously was 23 minutes against Prairie View.

McMahon appreciated the effort of Reece in his first career start, but avoiding late-game turnovers will be paramount against South Carolina.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

LSU center Mike Nwoko scores against SMU during the second half at the Smoothie King Center on Dec. 13. LSU will host South Carolina on Tuesday night.

Third scorer Mike Nwoko, a hyper-efficient center, and Max Mackinnon, a dead-eye 3-point shooter, combined for 41 of LSU’s 72 points against Texas A&M. While they excelled, LSU didn’t get enough from fifthyear senior Marquel Sutton, who is averaging 13.4 points and 9.3 rebounds on the season.

He had just three points on 0-of4 shooting and five rebounds in 29 minutes Saturday. While his three steals and one block were positives, LSU needs scoring and rebounding from him.

McMahon said Sutton will learn from the experience against a heavy-pressure defense and will be called on for a stronger performance vs.

South Carolina.

“Marquel has done an incredible job making this transition from a post player to the wing, but that’s the first time in his life he’s ever faced something like that,” McMahon said on the LSU sports radio network Saturday. “I thought it disrupted his rhythm a little bit, but he’ll learn from it and get better. It’s going to be a big part of winning on Tuesday.”

6C ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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LSU GYMNASTICS NOTEBOOK

LSU gymnastics establishes season mantra

BY SCOTT RABALAIS

performed on only uneven bars in LSU’s exhibition meet Friday without attempting a landing.

Clark said Chio, the 2025 NCAA vault champion and SEC freshman of the year, is penciled in to do vault and bars Saturday, but the coaching staff is exercising caution.

“She will probably try to do everything (Tuesday) for the first time,” Clark said. “We’ll add beam and floor. Right now she’s in a good spot.”

Staff writer

The LSU gymnastics team goes on a retreat every August before school starts. Among the goals is creating a team mantra for the coming season.

“They came up with ‘Clear path,’ ” LSU coach Jay Clark said Monday.

“For them it’s about clearing the clutter, getting outside the noise and expectations to accomplish the goals they’ve put in front of themselves.”

The goals for this season haven’t changed from the past few seasons for the Tigers, who have become one of the perennial power programs in the nation.

LSU won its first NCAA championship in 2024, won the Southeastern Conference regular-season title and championship meet in 2025 and was the No. 1 overall seed for the first time.

Expectations are again high. Despite having lost arguably the program’s best gymnast ever — Haleigh Bryant, now an LSU assistant coach — and 2024 Olympian Aleah Finnegan, the Tigers are ranked No. 2 in the preseason coaches poll.

The Tigers will have a great chance to see how they measure up to that lofty ranking right away. LSU opens the regular season in the Sprouts Farmers Market Intercollegiate Quad at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.

LSU will compete against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah, and the meet will be tele-

Innes ready to go One of LSU’s three key transfers for this season is senior Emily Innes, a floor, vault and balance beam specialist from Washington. A 2025 All-Big Ten selection and a 2024 NCAA regional floor title champion, Innes said she is ready to compete for the Tigers in multiple events.

“I feel I can use my experience to give this team as well as the other transfers a different perspective,” the Pittsburgh native said.

“Coming from where I was, LSU is very different. Being a senior on the team, I’m learning from them as well.”

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Travel plans

The Tigers will fly Tuesday to Utah, practicing and training in Park City for three days to get acclimated to a higher altitude bevised on ABC. fore going “downhill” to the Salt Clark said. “We think we’re in Chio ankle update “We’re excited about the oppor- that conversation, and it’s time Lake City area for the meet.

Park City is at about 7,000 feet tunity in front of us to compete to start proving that to ourselves Sophomore All-American Kailin right out of the gate with three and see where we can go from Chio has been nursing a slight ankle while West Valley City is about of the best teams in the country,” there.” injury from preseason camp and 4,300 feet.

LSU gymnast Emily Innes performs her floor routine during the Gymnastics 101/Open Mike Night exhibition meet on Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Innes transferred to LSU from Washington.

SCOREBOARD High school basketball Boys basketball Monday

Istrouma 50, East Feliciana 45 East Iberville 55, Baker 39 Dunham 75, Tara 35 Central 55, Douglass 23.

Central Private 68, Family Christian 43

Tuesday

Helix Mentorship Academy at Prairieville, 5 p.m.

East Feliciana at Catholic-PC, 5 p.m.

Denham Springs at Zachary, 5 p.m.

Episcopal at West Feliciana, 5 p.m.

Livonia at Northeast, 5 p.m.

Acadiana at GEO Next Generation, 5:30 p.m.

Catholic at Liberty, 5:30 p.m.

Scotlandville at Live Oak, 5:30 p.m.

Ponchatoula at Dutchtown, 5:30 p.m.

Broadmoor at Thrive Academy, 6 p.m.

White Castle at Parkview Baptist, 6:15 p.m.

Franklin at Port Allen, 6:30 p.m.

Girls basketball Monday

Prairieville 57, St. Michael 48 Woodlawn 71, East Ascension 9 E.D. White 55, Donaldsonville 19 Istrouma 55, Baker 19 White Castle 46, Brusly 41 Northeast 62, Independence 28

Tuesday

Denham Springs at Parkview Baptist, 4 p.m.

Scotlandville at Plaquemine, 5 p.m.

St. John at Episcopal, 5 p.m.

Ponchatoula at University High, 5:30 p.m.

Port Allen at Capitol, 5:30 p.m.

East Ascension at Donaldsonville, 5:30 p.m.

East Jefferson at Collegiate Baton Rouge, 5:45 p.m.

Liberty at Istrouma at Old Capitol High School, 6 p.m.

Thibodaux at Glen Oaks, 6 p.m.

Ascension Catholic at Dunham, 6 p.m.

Ascension Christian at Family Christian Academy, 6 p.m..

Central 55, Douglass 23

Douglass 6 7 5 5 — 23 Central 14 15 10 16 — 55 Scoring: CHS: Jace Conrad 12, Keith Womack 10, Gavin Douglas 9, Jaylen Thomas 6, Eli Cutrer 5, Sam Giles 5, Luke Comeaux 3, Avery Estess 3, Laken Jones 3; DOUGLASS: Kein Franklin 6, Tavari Charles 5, Jermaine Bias 3, Jayden Mann 3, Kyren Joseph 3, Wyatt Simons 2, Brennan Bruno 3-Point Goals: Central: 5 (Conrad 1, Womack 1, Estess 1, Comeaux 1, Cutrer 1); Douglass: 4 (Franklin 2, Mann 1, Joseph 1) Records: Central 13-1, Douglas 9-8 Junior Varsity: Douglass 41, Central 36

Ascension Catholic 56, Central Lafourche 48

Ascension Catholic 13 15 9 19 — 56 Central Lafourche 7 18 9 14 — 48 Scoring: ASCENSION CATHOLIC: K. Schnexnayder 21, T. Simon 21, C. Anthens 6, J. Julian 6, J. Verna 2; CENTRAL LAFOURCHE: J. Cleveland 20, C. Bourgeois 9, C. Tolbert 7, M. Nives 6, T. Crandle 4, C. Lanegrasse 3 3-Point Goals: ASCENSION CATHOLIC 2 (Schnexnayder); CENTRAL LAFOURCHE 3 (Lanegrasse, Bourgeois, Cleveland) Records: Ascension Catholic 3-1; Central Lafourche 5-10 Junior Varsity: Central Lafourche 38, Ascension Catholic 20

Odds Sports Betting Line NFL

FAVORITE Buffalo at PHILA at NE

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ 1½ (51½) at JAX 3½ 3½ (45½) San Fran 3½ 3½ (46) Chargers

FAVORITE Houston

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 3 3½ (39½) at PIT

Monday

College Football Thursday

Fiesta Bowl FAVORITE OPEN TODAY Miami (FL) 3 3

Friday

O/U UNDERDOG (52) Ole Miss

Peach Bowl OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG FAVORITE Indiana 4 3½ (46½) Oregon

COLLEGE BASKETBALL Tuesday

FAVORITE at OHIO at MIAMI (OH) Duke St. John’s Michigan at W. VIRGINIA at FLORIDA at LSU

LINE 3½ 12½ 1½ 3½ 24½ 3½ 7½ 7

NBA

UNDERDOG UMass W. Michigan at LOUISVILLE at BUTLER at PENN ST Cincinnati Georgia South Carolina

1½ E. Michigan 1½ Bowling Green 3½ at GA TECH 6½ at MINNESOTA 3½ G. Washington 3½ UCF 6½ at N. ILLINOIS 2½ Georgetown 1½ at S.EDWRDVLLE 7½ TCU 2½ UCLA 6½ Texas Tech 2½ New Mexico 6½ Texas A&M 11½ at B. COLLEGE 10½ Texas 3½ UNLV 1½ San Diego St.

Tuesday

FAVORITE LINE Cleveland 7 Orlando 8 at NEW ORLEANS OFF San Antonio 5 at MINNESOTA 6½ at SACRAMENTO OFF

O/U UNDERDOG (235½) at INDIANA (234½) at WASH (OFF) LA Lakers (237½) at MEMPHIS (237½) Miami (OFF) Dallas

NHL

Tuesday

FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG at BUFFALO -187 Vancouver Colorado -125 at TAMPA BAY at PHILADELPHIA -154 Anaheim at CAROLINA -132 Dallas Florida -126 at TORONTO New Jersey -120at N.Y ISLANDERS Vegas -112 at WINNIPEG at EDMONTON -172 Nashville Columbus -125 at SAN JOSE Boston -126 at SEATTLE

LINE +155 +105 +129 +110 +106 +100 -108 +144 +105 +106

Pro basketball

Atlantic Division New York Boston Toronto Philadelphia Brooklyn

W 23 22 21 19 11

L 12 12 15 14 22

Pct .657 .647 .583 .576 .333

GB — ½ 2½ 3 11

Orlando Miami Atlanta Charlotte Washington

W 20 20 17 12 9

L 16 16 20 23 25

Pct .556 .556 .459 .343 .265

GB — — 3½ 7½ 10

Detroit Cleveland Chicago Milwaukee Indiana

W 26 20 17 16 6

L 9 17 18 20 30

Pct GB .743 — .541 7 .486 9 .444 10½ .167 20½

Southeast Division

Central Division

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Southwest Division San Antonio Houston Memphis Dallas New Orleans

W 25 21 15 13 8

L 10 11 20 23 29

Pct GB .714 — .656 2½ .429 10 .361 12½ .216 18

Oklahoma City Denver Minnesota Portland Utah

W 30 23 23 16 12

L 6 12 13 20 22

Pct .833 .657 .639 .444 .353

L.A. Lakers Phoenix Golden State L.A. Clippers Sacramento

W 22 21 19 12 8

L 11 14 17 22 28

Pct GB .667 — .600 2 .528 4½ .353 10½ .222 15½

Northwest Division

Sunday’s Games

Detroit 114, Cleveland 110 Orlando 135, Indiana 127 Brooklyn 127, Denver 115 Miami 125, New Orleans 106 Minnesota 141, Washington 115 Phoenix 108, Oklahoma City 105 Milwaukee 115, Sacramento 98 L.A. Lakers 120, Memphis 114

Monday’s Games

Detroit 121, New York 90 Boston 115, Chicago 101 Toronto 118, Atlanta 100 Charlotte 124, Oklahoma City 97 Houston 100, Phoenix 97 Denver at Philadelphia, n Golden State at L.A. Clippers, n Utah at Portland, n

Tuesday’s Games

Cleveland at Indiana, 6 p.m.

Orlando at Washington, 6 p.m.

L.A. Lakers at New Orleans, 7 p.m.

Miami at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

San Antonio at Memphis, 7 p.m.

Dallas at Sacramento, 10 p.m.

Pro football NFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE East y-New England x-Buffalo e-Miami e-N.Y. Jets

W L T Pct PF 14 3 0 .824 490 12 5 0 .706 481 7 10 0 .412 347 3 14 0 .176 300

PA 320 365 424 503

y-Jacksonville x-Houston e-Indianapolis e-Tennessee

W L T Pct PF 13 4 0 .765 474 12 5 0 .706 404 8 9 0 .471 466 3 14 0 .176 284

PA 336 295 412 478

y-Pittsburgh e-Baltimore e-Cincinnati e-Cleveland

W L T Pct PF 10 7 0 .588 397 8 9 0 .471 424 6 11 0 .353 414 5 12 0 .294 279

PA 387 398 492 379

*-Denver x-L.A. Chargers e-Kansas City e-Las Vegas

W L T Pct PF 14 3 0 .824 401 11 6 0 .647 368 6 11 0 .353 362 3 14 0 .176 241

PA 311 340 328 432

y-Philadelphia e-Dallas e-Washington e-N.Y. Giants

W L T Pct PF 11 6 0 .647 379 7 9 1 .441 471 5 12 0 .294 356 4 13 0 .235 381

PA 325 511 451 439

y-Carolina e-Tampa Bay e-Atlanta e-New Orleans

W L T Pct PF 8 9 0 .471 311 8 9 0 .471 380 8 9 0 .471 353 6 11 0 .353 306

PA 380 411 401 383

South

North

West

NATIONAL CONFERENCE East

South

North

NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE

Pacific Division

Saturday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG LA Rams 10½ 10½ (46½) at CAR at CHICAGO 1½ 1 (46) Green Bay

Sunday

at BALL STATE at KENT STATE Syracuse Iowa at DAYTON at OKLAHOMA ST Toledo at DEPAUL Lindenwood at KANSAS at WISCONSIN at HOUSTON at COLORADO ST at AUBURN NC State at TENNESSEE at WYOMING at NEVADA

GB — 6½ 7 14 17

y-Chicago x-Green Bay e-Minnesota e-Detroit

West

W L T Pct PF 11 6 0 .647 441 9 7 1 .559 391 9 8 0 .529 344 9 8 0 .529 481

PA 415 360 333 413

W L T Pct PF 14 3 0 .824 483 12 5 0 .706 518 12 5 0 .706 437 3 14 0 .176 355

PA 292 346 371 488

*-Seattle x-L.A. Rams x-San Francisco e-Arizona

e-Eliminated from playoffs x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division *-clinched home-field advantage Saturday’s Games Tampa Bay 16, Carolina 14 Seattle 13, San Francisco 3

Sunday’s Games

L.A Rams at Carolina, 3:30 p.m. (FOX) Green Bay at Chicago, 7 p.m. (AMAZON PRIME VIDEO)

Sunday’s games

Buffalo at Jacksonville, noon (CBS) San Francisco at Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m.

(FOX) L.A Chargers at New England, 7 p.m. (NBC/ Peacock)

Monday’s games

Houston at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. (ESPN/ABC)

Divisional Playoffs

Saturday, Jan. 17 and Sunday, Jan. 18

AFC lowest remaining seed at Denver, TBD NFC lowest remaining seed at Seattle, TBD AFC two remaining seeds at higher seed, TBD NFC two remaining seeds at higher seed, TBD

Conference Championships Sunday, Jan. 25 AFC

AFC lowest remaining seed at AFC highest remaining seed

NFC

NFC lowest remaining seed at NFC highest remaining seed

Super Bowl LIX Sunday, Feb. 8 At Santa Clara.

South Alabama 81, UL 56

Sunday’s game

Vanderbilt 65, LSU 61

Monday’s games None scheduled.

Women’s national scores Monday’s games EAST

Brown 88, Yale 72

Youngstown State 81, Oakland 58

MIDWEST

College Football Playoff

Quarterfinals Wednesday At Cotton Bowl, Arlington, Texas No. 10 Miami 24, No. 3 Ohio St. 14 Thursday At Orange Bowl, Miami Gardens, Fla. No. 5 Oregon 23, No. 4 Texas Tech 0 At Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif.

No. 1 Indiana 38, No. 11 Alabama 3 At Sugar Bowl, New Orleans No. 6 Ole Miss 39, No. 2 Georgia 34

McNeese 82, Lamar 70 Middle Tennessee 88, Louisiana Tech 51

Saturday’s games

First downs Total Net Yards Rushes-yards Passing Punt Returns Kickoff Returns Interceptions Ret. Comp-Att-Int Sacked-Yards Lost Punts Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards Time of Possession INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING_Baltimore, Henry 20-126, L.Jackson 4-9, Mitchell 2-2, Ali 1-0. Pittsburgh, Warren 14-66, Rodgers 1-20, Gainwell 5-10, Smith 1-2, Co.Heyward 3-2.

Women’s state scores, schedule3

College football

Men’s state scores, schedule

Pit 24 390 24-100 290 2-11 3-91 1-0 31-47-0 2-4 3-39.667 0-0 5-45 34:11

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Dixon 11 2-2 0-0 1-2 0 3 4 Jones 26 5-11 3-6 4-8 1 2 13 Hardy 16 0-1 0-0 1-4 1 3 0 Jacobs 39 8-1813-14 1-5 4 2 30 Manning 18 1-4 0-0 0-2 2 2 3 Abdelgowd 25 3-6 7-10 1-6 0 3 14 Amboree 25 1-6 4-4 3-3 3 5 7 Oshodi 22 3-5 0-0 0-2 1 2 8 Barnes 13 2-6 1-1 1-2 0 2 6 Magee 5 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Totals 200 25-6028-3512-35 12 24 85 Percentages: FG .417, FT .800.

3-Point Goals: 7-15, .467 (Oshodi 2-4, Abdelgowad 1-1, Amboree 1-2, Jacobs 1-2, Barnes 1-3, Manning 1-3).

Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 4 (Dixon 2, Abdelgowad, Jones).

Turnovers: 13 (Amboree 3, Jones 3, Abdelgowad 2, Jacobs 2, Barnes, Dixon, Hardy).

Steals: 6 (Jacobs 2, Abdelgowad, Hardy, Manning, Oshodi).

Technical Fouls: None.

Prairie View A&M 45 44 — 89 Southern University 38 47 — 85 A_3,876 (7,500).

Bowl glance

Friday’s games

Baltimore 7 3 0 14 — 24 Pittsburgh 0 3 10 13 — 26 First Quarter Bal_Walker 38 pass from L.Jackson (Loop kick), 10:54.

Second Quarter Bal_FG Loop 40, 13:33.

Pit_FG Boswell 57, 8:52.

Third Quarter Pit_Co.Heyward 1 run (Boswell kick), 8:23.

Pit_FG Boswell 25, 4:28.

Fourth Quarter Bal_Z.Flowers 50 pass from L.Jackson (Loop kick), 8:42.

Pit_Gainwell 2 run (Boswell kick), 3:49.

Bal_Z.Flowers 64 pass from L.Jackson (Loop kick), 2:20.

Pit_Austin 26 pass from Rodgers (kick blocked), :55.

SU

Tulsa at Tulane, 6:30 p.m.

Conference Championships winners, 5:30 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

College basketball

Pittsburgh 26, Baltimore 24

Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 9 (Diallo 4, Mason 3, Wells 2).

Turnovers: 13 (Joseph 4, Diallo 3, Horne 2, Williams 2, Mason, Wells).

Steals: 4 (Joseph 2, Diallo, Dunning).

Technical Fouls: None.

FG FT Reb

Tuesday’s game

Monday Frisco, Texas Montana State 35, Illinois State 34

Late Sunday

Bal 12 359 27-137 222 0-0 5-130 0-0 11-18-1 3-16 4-47.75 0-0 9-78 25:49

Wild-card Playoffs

Saturday’s games

FCS glance Final

Atlanta 19, New Orleans 17 Cleveland 20, Cincinnati 18 Houston 38, Indianapolis 30 Jacksonville 41, Tennessee 7 Minnesota 16, Green Bay 3 N.Y. Giants 34, Dallas 17 Buffalo 35, N.Y. Jets 8 Denver 19, L.A. Chargers 3 Detroit 19, Chicago 16 L.A. Rams 37, Arizona 20 Las Vegas 14, Kansas City 12 New England 38, Miami 10 Washington 24, Philadelphia 17 Pittsburgh 26, Baltimore 24

A_65,400.

PASSING_Baltimore, L.Jackson 11-18-1-238.

Pittsburgh, Rodgers 31-47-0-294.

RECEIVING_Baltimore, Flowers 4-138, Walker 2-46, Likely 2-32, Andrews 2-14, Ricard 1-8.

Pittsburgh, Gainwell 8-64, Valdes-Scantling 5-34, Warren 5-33, Austin 3-55, Freiermuth 3-51, Thielen 3-43, Miller 2-9, Co.Heyward 1-3, Smith 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS_Baltimore, Loop 44.

Southern Miss 74, UL 67 Texas State 84, UL-Monroe 79 Texas A&M 75, LSU 72 Nicholls 80, East Texas A&M 58 Stephen F. Austin 73, Southeastern 63 Northwestern State 74, UNO 68 Grambling 76, Prairie View A&M 72 Southern 84, Texas Southern 73

Sunday’s games

Tulane 69, Florida Atlantic 66 Western Kentucky 66, Louisiana Tech 61

Monday’s games

Southeastern 60, Lamar 52 Prairie View A&M 89, Southern 85 McNeese 66, Stephen F. Austin 64 Nicholls 74, NW State 72 Grambling 84, Texas Southern 67 UNO 83, East Texas A&M 73

Tuesday’s game

South Carolina at LSU, 6 p.m.

Men’s national scores Monday’s games

EAST Columbia 104, Cornell 99

PRAIRIE VIEW 89, SOUTHERN 85 PV

FG

FT

Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Dunning 11 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 3 0 32 7-16 2-3 0-6 3 5 17 Wells Horne 36 8-14 5-6 2-4 2 2 21 Joseph 3712-19 4-7 2-5 0 3 32 38 3-5 2-2 0-3 5 3 9 Williams Mason 24 1-2 1-2 1-5 0 5 3 Diallo 11 2-2 3-4 0-2 0 4 7 Madimba 8 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Thomas 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 20033-5917-245-27 10 25 89 Percentages: FG .559, FT .708.

3-Point Goals: 6-15, .400 (Joseph 4-7, Wells 1-2, Williams 1-2, Horne 0-4).

Transactions Major League Baseball

American League BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Claimed OF Jhonkensy Noel off waivers from Cleveland.

Designated RHP George Soriano for assignment.

National League MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Named Spencer Allen first base coach, Guillermo Martinez and Daniel Vogelbach hitting coaches and Juan Sandoval assistant pitching coach.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS — Agreed to terms with RHP Tyler Mahle on a one-year major league contract.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS — Claimed OF Joey Wiemer off waivers from San Francisco.

FOOTBALL

National Football League ARIZONA CARDINALS — Fired head coach Jonathan Gannon.

ATLANTA FALCONS — Signed WR Chris Blair, P Trenton Gill, DBs Tysheem Johnson and A.J. Woods, DT Ben Stille, OT Andrew Stueber and RB Carlos Washington to reserve/ futures contracts.

CINCINNATI BENGALS — Signed LBs Liam Anderson and Antwaun Powell-Ryland, C Jacob Bayer, RB Gary Brightwell, QB Sean Clifford, Ts Andrew Coker and Javon Foster, DT Howard Cross III, WRs Xavier Johnson and Jordan Moore, CBs Jalen Kimber and Bralyn Lux and S Russ Yeast to reserve/futures contracts. Signed DE Isaiah Foskey, LBs Joe Giles-Harris and Shaka Heyward , TE Cam Grandy, S PJ Jules and WR Mitch Tinsley to one-year contract extensions.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Fired head coach Kevin Stefanski. Signed TEs Sal Cannella and Caden Prieskorn, G Jack Conley, WR Luke Floriea, RB Ahmani Marshall and T Tyre Phillips to reserve/futures contracts.

DETROIT LIONS — Signed OLs Devin Cochran and Mason Miller, WRs Malik Cunningham and Jackson Meeks, DE Ahmed Hassanein, TE Zach Horton, RB Jabari Small, DL Chris Smith and S Loren Strickland to reserve/futures contracts. Re-signed OL Michael Niese, RB Jacob Saylors and CB Nick Whiteside.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed LB Austin Ajiake to a one-year contract extension.

Signed RB Ulysses Bentley IV, QB Seth Henigan, T Bayron Matos, C Jimmy Morrissey, CB Wyett Ekeler, DT Tim Smith, TE Sean McKeon, Gs LaDarius Henderson, Bill Murray and Josh Sills, DEs Viliami Fehoko Jr. and Durell Nchami, Ss Ben Nikkel and Trey Washington and WRs Coleman Owen and Eli Pancol to futures contracts.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS — Fired head coach Pete Carroll. Signed RB Chris Collier, Gs McClendon Curtis and Layden Robinson, LB Jamin Davis, WRs Phillip Dorsett II, Brenden Rice and Justin Shorter, DT Treven Ma’ae, Ts Joshua Miles and Dalton Wagner, TE Albert Okwuegbunam and OL Laki Tasi to reserve/ futures contracts.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS — Signed G Ben Cleveland to the practice squad. Waived S Marcus Maye.

LIVING

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

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T u e s d ay, J a n u a ry 6, 2026

1dn

BEAUTIFUL, EVERGREEN SASANQUAS

Give overlooked camellia species a chance With the old year behind us and a new one just begun, it’s a good time to think about making some changes in the garden.

While you’re pondering your 2026 landscape GARDEN upgrades, NEWS LSU AgCenter horticulturist Jason Stagg hopes you’ll give consideration to one of his favorite plants: the sasanqua, a species of camellia.

“I don’t believe that this shrub gets enough attention,” Stagg said. “It really deserves to be recognized and planted more.”

So, what makes this plant so great? Native to southern Japan, sasanquas (Camellia sasanqua) have long been an element of gardens in the southern United States. With their year-round, glossy, green foliage, they’re useful building blocks of landscapes.

LSU AGCENTER PHOTO

By OLIVIA McCLURE

Sasanquas provide important winter forage for pollinators.

Each fall and early winter, these shrubs treat us to a dazzling display of fragrant flowers that usually are 2 to 3 inches across. Depending on the cultivar, sasanquas can start blooming as early as late October. They often peak in December and can continue pushing blooms through January, when their better-known Camellia japonica cousins begin to flower.

“These plants are great for the landscape because they are tough, look beautiful and they’re evergreen,” Stagg said.

“But to me, most importantly, they provide valuable winter forage for bees and other pollinators at a time when we simply don’t have a lot available for them.”

Winter provides the ideal conditions for planting shrubs like sasanquas. If you want to add some to your landscape, you’ll find a good selection at your local garden center this time of year.

You can take your pick from

STAFF PHOTO By MADDIE SCOTT

The Blackwater Conservation Area is home to 58 acres, including this manmade lake initially carved for gravel mining.

A MOMENT OF ZEN

Visit peaceful places, parks in the area for reflection into the new year

T

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

he new year — a time when annual recaps plaster publications from all over and loved ones inquire about each others’ resolutions.

Reflection is key to new discoveries, growth and balance. Where else better to ponder new beginnings other than Mother Nature herself? Out with the old and in with the new.

Baton Rouge has a plethora of beautiful scenes making the perfect backdrop to your meditations and goal-planning for 2026. Here are five places in the area to check out.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL DUNLAP

Perkins Road Community Park

Katherine King places plants on a cart at PlantFest! at the LSU Hilltop Arboretum on Oct. 1. The annual celebration features over 3,000 plants and more than 300 species of native and traditional trees, shrubs, Perkins Road Community Park is a good spot for a scene with perennials, vines, ferns, succulents, and grasses.

increased foot traffic. In late November, I sat at one of many red picnic tables next to the skate rink where skaters surfed on wheels, children sped on scooters and rollerbladers were one with the wind.

The lot also holds a rock wall, indoor basketball court, playground, BMX and bike tracks and much more.

Since it was buzzing with activity, the park chimed with happy

ambience. My favorite sound came from one man belting a love song as he walked off into the distance. I wonder what his New

ä See REFLECTION, page 2D

ä See SASANQUAS, page 2D

Revive your love of books for 20266

BY ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN AP writer

NEW YORK — People stop reading in adulthood for lots of reasons.

But it’s never too late to turn the page on old habits and start again.

Curling up with a good book can reduce stress, increase creativity and boost empathy. A recent analysis of U.S. government data found that the percentage of Americans who read for pleasure

D Dong Phuong king cakes return to BR

BY MADDIE SCOTT B

MARDI Carnival season is back, GRAS baby, and so are Dong 2026 Phuong king cakes. That

Staff writer S

during an average day has falllen to 16% in 2023 from 28% in 20 004.

That includes not just books but audiobooks, e-books and perio odicals like magazines.

Some people say they’re fa atigued from years of assigned d reading in school. Others don’’t have the time or would rathe er zone out by doom-scrolling on social media. And many just got

ä See BOOKS, pagee 2D

GETTy IMAGES PHOTO

i if you can get your hands is, on one.

The legendary New Orlleans Vietnamese bakery, Dong Phuong, started sellD iing the cakes in 2008, and 10 years later, was awarded 1 tthe James Beard American

FOR MORE,

THEADVOCATE.COM

Classic Award, given to restaurants “distinguished by their timeless appeal, quality eats, and local character,”

ä See KING CAKE, page 2D

2D ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

lll

The lamentations of the January baby accept that e-cards or emails with Dear Miss Manners: My birthday “happy birthday” messages are is a few days after the new year. here to stay.

It’s a very easy date to miss alIn the past year, a few together in the shadow of people who used to schedDecember and New Year’s celebrations. Growing up, ule e-cards for delivery I often received “combo” on my birthday are now holiday and birthday presscheduling them for delivents. I was taught to thank ery on New Year’s Day. relatives and friends I am an adult, not a Judith and not complain that it 5-year-old, but is there a Martin way to remind friends of “wasn’t fair.”

MISS Nowadays, an e-card my actual birthday withMANNERS can be scheduled for out coming across as petty auto-delivery to someone’s or ungrateful that they inbox months in advance, so it’s “remembered” me at all? not even necessary to remember Last year, I waited the few days someone’s birthday. A birthday after New Year’s to send thankcard with a brief handwritten you’s on my actual birthday, with note that I can display on a living a note that my birthday plans got room table for a few days to look washed out “today” (it usually at would be my preference, but I rains on my birthday), but I still

REFLECTION

Continued from page 1D Year’s resolution is.

Hilltop Arboretum Across 14 acres, this LSUowned botanical garden offers a few short hiking trails around a footbridgeenclosed pond. A wildflower meadow adds to the tranquil scene, pollinated by the onsite bee farm.

Just to the left of the parking lot is an outdoor market of plants for sale, including flowers, herbs, trees and bulbs. Maybe start the new year with a new plant that will grow with you! Behind the nursery are a couple of buildings, one of which houses a gift shop.

This spot is great because the trails are pretty short but packed with lots of scenic views, so it’s the perfect walk with little ones.

I hiked one of the trails in heels during my lunch break while sipping on some coffee. It was a nice pick-me-up.

ter regaining the ability to breathe through both nostrils. On Dec. 12, it had just rained, and smelling the earthy, post-rain aroma had never been so joyous.

Owned by BREC, the Blackwater Conservation Area opened in 2002 and is home to almost 58 acres, containing hiking trails and two man-made lakes initially carved for gravel mining.

Though located in Central, the serene views make the drive worth it.

I hiked halfway around the lake and stood on a little dock where I met two lizards who I admired the waterfront view with.

LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens

My best friend was visiting from out of town, and our two-mile trek at the LSU Botanic Gardens was the perfect site for a much-needed bestie debrief. Clutching our coffees, we began our trek on the lot spanning a 440 whopping acres.

There’s a lot to see here.

We passed fruit trees, walked through a rose garden, almost tripped on a snake and had too much fun on the playground seesaw.

After being bedridden for Are two 22-year-old women days from the flu, this was too old for seesaws? Probthe first place I visited af- ably, but not on this day.

Blackwater Conservation Area

BOOKS

Continued from page 1D

eList which suggests “readalikes” for various books and authors.

Set a reading routine out of the habit.

“It’s difficult for people who are really tired and busy to think about getting into reading if it’s not something they’re used to,” said Jacqueline Rammer, director of Menomonee Falls Public Library in Wisconsin.

For those looking to set reading goals or resolutions in 2026, here’s how to get back into the habit.

Choose the right book When picking your next book, avoid dense nonfiction or a 500-page doorstop.

“Your first book should be something that you think will be joyful,” said Jocelyn Luizzi, a software engineer from Chicago who blogs about books.

Everyone’s taste is different, so get recommendations from a variety of places including friends, booksellers and online communities like BookTok. Rammer and her staff ask library visitors: What was the last book, TV show or movie that you really enjoyed? Then, they look for similar genres or themes.

Many libraries offer access to a service called Nov-

SASANQUAS

Continued from page 1D the huge variety of bloom colors on the market today.

Sasanquas can be found in numerous shades of white, pink and red.

Stagg is partial to a redflowered cultivar called Yuletide. Setsugekka is a popular cultivar with white blooms. If you prefer pink flowers, try Pink Snow.

Sparkling Burgundy sports darker pink to rose pink double flowers, and Leslie Ann, which features bicol-

To create a habit that sticks, “start by scheduling reading into your day,” said Gloria Mark, an attention span expert with the University of California, Irvine.

Read five pages during a lunch break or right before bed.

If you’re reading a physical book, Mark said to avoid distractions by keeping phones and laptops out of sight.

But experimenting with other formats can make reading more convenient.

E-books are portable and audiobooks are a good candidate to accompany chores or the morning commute. You can likely access both for free by downloading an app called Libby and signing in with a library card.

Try to read in a quiet setting, but don’t be afraid to make it a social activity.

Many cities in the U.S. and around the world host silent book clubs where people read their own books together in coffee shops and libraries.

Setting a reading goal for the year or joining a local library’s winter reading challenge can help with mo-

ored white and pink flowers, is a Louisiana Super Plant selection.

There’s a wide range of shapes and sizes to choose from, too. Some sasanqua cultivars are upright and column-like while others have a looser, more spreading growth habit.

“Some cultivars, especially some of the older ones, can get up to 8, 10, even 12 feet tall and can be used as wonderful evergreen hedges,” Stagg said.

Looking for something shorter? Go for one of the newer dwarf cultivars, which top out at just 2 to 3

enjoyed myself, and then I mention what I did to celebrate.

Apparently that was too subtle, because this year I continued to receive e-cards and emails on New Year’s Day (and even one on New Year’s Eve), some with notes that they hoped my birthday “today” is a good one. Any suggestions, or should I just let it go?

Gentle reader: Shortchanging a child on holidays is mean, and Miss Manners finds it sad that it has left you dissatisfied with the birthday acknowledgments you get now.

But you are grown up, and well aware that these are now generated mechanically. It is not as though your well-wishers — and they are well-wishers — are freshly moved each year to con-

If you’re someone who enjoys stopping and reading plaques, there are several here for the random information admirers.

Milford Wampold Memorial Park With the University Lakes restoration project, lots of construction has been underway here. But the new year is all about development and improvement, so I decided to include this spot that’s near and dear to my heart.

The Milford Wampold Memorial Park is a place I frequented in college for picnics, strolls and reflections. Before construction, there was a small dock that stretched out onto the water, benches and a playground for littles. The area was also riddled with geese, so it was fun to watch them waddle around.

But don’t let the heavy machinery and temporary fences deter a trip here. The area is still walkable, and I saw plenty of joggers and dogwalkers around on New Year’s Eve. The restoration aims to finish at the end of 2026, assuming there are no setbacks. So as we work toward our resolution objectives, this quaint park will grow alongside us.

tivation — but if it feels like added pressure, don’t do it.

Shannon Whitehead Smith, a book blogger from the Atlanta area who also works in marketing, says scrolling through lists of other people’s reads on social media and trackers like StoryGraph encourages her to keep the habit.

“Seeing all these other people reading motivates me to put my phone down and pick up this book that’s sitting beside me,” she said.

Feel free to skip a read If a book feels particularly sluggish, it’s OK to put it down and start another.

Reading “shouldn’t feel like a burden,” said Jess Bone with University College London, who analyzed the survey data about American adults reading for pleasure.

Routine readers say the habit helps them stay curious and release the stress of the day. Rammer, the library director, reads mysteries rife with twists and turns, and romances that cycle through roller coasters of emotions.

Most of all, she likes books that end with a “happily ever after.”

“I think the guarantee of knowing that things are going to end up OK is really reassuring,” Rammer said.

feet tall and wide.

Growing sasanquas is pretty easy. They can thrive in almost any soil type, preferring a neutral or slightly acidic pH. “The main thing you want to remember is to provide them with good drainage,” Stagg said, adding that sasanquas are notorious for disliking “wet feet.”

Unlike shade-loving camellia japonicas, sasanquas can handle full sun. They can be planted in partially shaded locations as well.

“But you’ll get the best bloom in full sun,” Stagg said.

gratulate you. Somehow a mixup has occurred, perhaps even without their realizing it. Nor are they scrutinizing your response enough to make the change.

These are the most casual of gestures, not comparable to relatives hurting a child. If someone very close to you forgets your birthday, you can mention that you are sensitive about this because of your childhood experience.

But to those who only send ecards — please do let it go.

Dear Miss Manners: My mother just earned her Ph.D. She holds many other professional titles, as well.

I would like to give her a desk nameplate, but I’m unsure how to approach it.

Should the first line on the plate read her name only, with all cre-

dentials underneath? Or should the first line contain her name and “Ph.D.,” then the other credentials underneath? There are four titles to include.

Gentle reader: You can use the title “Dr.” and put the others below — but please assure Miss Manners that this is intended for your mother’s home desk, and not an office, where her colleagues might find all that alphabet soup laughable — if not arrogant.

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.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press Today is Tuesday, Jan. 6, the sixth day of 2026. There are 359 days left in the year.

Today in history: On Jan. 6, 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump, fueled by his false claims of a stolen election, assaulted police and stormed into the U.S. Capitol to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, forcing lawmakers into hiding. A Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by police as she tried to breach a barricaded doorway inside the Capitol.

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, injured while confronting the rioters, suffered a stroke the next day and died from natural causes. Congress reconvened hours later to finish certifying Biden’s victory.

In January 2025 — on the first day of his second term — Trump granted blanket clemency to more than 1,500 people convicted or

awaiting trial or sentencing for Jan. 6 offenses.

Also on this date: In 1919, former President Theodore Roosevelt died in Oyster Bay, New York, at age 60.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of “Four Freedoms” — human rights worthy of defending universally: freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in one’s own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

In 1974, year-round daylight saving time began in the United States on a trial basis as a fuel-saving measure in response to the OPEC oil embargo. The country, however, returned to standard time in October, effectively ending the experiment.

In 1982, truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of 10 of the “Freeway Killer” slayings of young men and boys. (Bonin was later convicted of four other killings;

he was executed in 1996.)

In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Detroit’s Cobo Arena; four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, went to prison for their roles in the attack. (Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution but denied any advance knowledge about the assault.)

In 2005, former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was indicted on murder charges 41 years after three civil rights workers were killed in Mississippi.

(Killen was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison; he died in prison in 2018.)

Today’s birthdays: Actorcomedian Rowan Atkinson is 71. Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez is 69. TV chef Nigella Lawson is 66. Football Hall of Famer Howie Long is 66. Football Hall of Famer Charles Haley is 62. Actor Norman Reedus is 57. TV personality Julie Chen Moonves is 56.

KING CAKE

Continued from page 1D according to the James Beard Foundation.

The cake is made of brioche dough, and the top is coated in cream cheese icing and Mardi Gras-colored sugar. Flavors include original cinnamon, cream cheese, pecan, strawberry, coconut, almond and durian.

Loyal followers of Dong Phuong king cakes have been known to wrap lines around buildings for a taste, and it’s no different this year. Online orders are booked for the 2026 Carnival season, but some customers are able to find the delicacy if they arrive early enough at specific retail locations around Louisiana and two locations in Mississippi.

Customers can also visit the storefront at 14207 Chef Menteur Highway, New Orleans, to pick up a king cake starting at 8 a.m. every day except Tuesday. Patrons are

STAFF FILE PHOTO By IAN McNULTy

A king cake from New Orleans bakery Dong Phuong is a prized find at Carnival time. This one is filled with cream cheese. limited to three king cakes per person.

In and around Baton Rouge, Dong Phuong king cakes are available for purchase at the following locations: n Saigon Hong Kong Seafood Market: 1295 N. Sherwood Forest Drive, Suite J, Baton Rouge n Pho Café: 3851 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., Baton

Rouge n Sweet Society: 4957 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge n John and Anna Coffee Bean: 8080 Bluebonnet Blvd., No. 1300, Baton Rouge n Bao Asian Market & Deli: 17316 Airline Hwy, Prairieville.

For a full list of authorized resellers, visit kingcake.dpbakery.com.

YEARS

BEGINS TONIGHT•7PM

WLPB 27

www.lpb.org

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 3D

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FrAnK And erneSt

bIG nAte

zItS

zodIAC CAPRICoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take pride in what you do. Sticking to the basics and setting a budget are necessary if you want to get ahead. Challenge yourself first before questioning others.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Dream on, but when it comes to enforcing change, you're best off taking a wait-and-see approach. Your gestures will buy favors when you are in need yourself.

PIsCEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Spontaneity can lead to trouble. Don't make promises you cannot deliver. Participate in groups or events that allow you to promote your beliefs or skills, and something good will come of it.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Authenticity will help you bring about much-needed change. An opportunity is within reach, but it's up to you to set things off. Stop talking and start doing. tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Keep up with technology and the latest upgrades in your field of service. Whether you are pursuing knowledge, working hard to earn a living or are retired, it's important not to lose sight of your advancement.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) You may crave change, but before making a bold move, consider the consequences. Emotions will lead you down the wrong path, offering less than you anticipate with little recourse.

CAnCER (June 21-July 22) Take the plunge and adjust whatever isn't living up to your expectations. Set standards that

make you feel proud and can help you reach your target.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Be a leader and put your energy and effort into something that will benefit you. Refuse to get wrapped up in someone else's dreams or be talked into something you don't want or need.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Step up and make a difference. Your insight and ability to find solutions will give you the edge you need in competitive situations. Someone you encounter will pique your interest.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Keep a close watch, note what others are doing and put your energy where it matters most.

Consider what you need to know or learn in order to do your best. sCoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) A level head and an open mind will help you navigate your way through sticky situations. Time and money are essential; wasting either will put you in a precarious position. sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Trust yourself, not what others tell you. Say no to people offering the impossible or making empty promises. Taking on a minimalist lifestyle will ease your mind and give you more time to do what you enjoy most.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 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: I EQuALs V

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

4D ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

CurTiS

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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

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 5D

lll

B.C.

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER Hosea Ballou, a clergyman and theological writer who died in 1852, said, “Education commences at the mother’s knee, and every word spoken within the hearing of little children tends towards the formation of character.”

We bridge players were all weaned on our mother’s or grandmother’s knee to count losers in a suit contract. If she was a taskmaster, she would have told us also to count winners. Sometimes, the right direction is clearer when we check winners.

In this deal, for example, South is in four spades. West cashes two top diamonds, then shifts to the heart king. How should declarer proceed?

North’s redouble promised at least 10 points and denied four or more spades.

East, with a definite preference among the unbid suits, was allowed to advance with two diamonds, even holding no points. From the logic of the auction, his hand had to be weak. Then, when North rebid three spades, South bid game, hoping for the best.

Declarer has four losers: two hearts and two diamonds. He has only seven top tricks: five spades, one heart and one club. To make his contract, he must win four club tricks. But that might require taking three club finesses. And to do that, South needs three hand entries. After

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

taking the third trick with his heart ace, he must take an immediate club finesse — there is no time to lose.

When the finesse wins, declarer cashes dummy’s spade queen, plays a spade to his king, and takes a second club finesse.

After a spade to the ace, South takes the third club finesse and claims. © 2026 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 — sERIAL: SERE-ee-ul: Appearing in successive parts or

Bizarro

marmaduKe

numbers.

Average mark 16 words Time limit 20 minutes Can you find 20 or more words in SERIAL? yEstERDAy’s WoRD — PEttIER peer

tier

retie

pert

tire

ripe

peter

titer

rite

petite

tree

petter

trip

pier

tripe

pitter

trite

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”

2 Corinthians 4:16 It is amazing what the grace of God can do for the human soul. Praise the Lord! — G.E. Dean

6D ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

lll

classifieds.theadvocate.com Search Search& &Place PlaceAds AdsOnline Onlineatatclassifieds.theadvocate.com classifieds.theadvocate.com* Call * Call -Friday Us Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM at 225-383-0111 8AM-5PM at 225-383-0111

Announcements Seeking Financial Sponsors & Sales Professionals, Envirosult, a Non Profit. Email or Text CEO at michaelgreen@envirosult.com, 337-224-0987. Lead Poisonings, PFAS, Other Chemicals, Small USA Communities!

ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of Betty Jean Williams or Joe Young Williams or the Heir of Betty Jean Williams or Joe Young Williams, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 906-0435.

172639-1/5-6-7-3t $121.00

ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of Connie Brown, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 906-0435.

172633-1/5-6-7-3t $97.00 ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of CRYSTAL RACHELLE HOLLIDAY AND CHAVELLE TYRAY HOLLIDAY, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 906-0435.

172635-1/5-6-7-3t $109.00

ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of F. GRAHAM TRANSPORATION LLC, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 906-0435.

172637-1/5-6-7-3t $97.00

Public Notices

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

PUBLIC NOTICE --ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Bids will be received by the Office of Purchasing, Room 213 Thomas Boyd Hall, Louisiana State Uni‐ versity and Agricultural and Mechanical College 70803 until 11:00 AM on Tuesday, February 10, 2026 Refer to www.centerlineb idconnect.com for bid submission instructions.

All bids must be submit‐ ted via email to lsubids@ lsu.edu ANY PERSON REQUIRING SPECIAL ACCOMMODA‐ TIONS SHALL NOTIFY LOUISIANA STATE UNI‐ VERSITY, OFFICE OF PUR‐ CHASING OF THE TYPE(S) OF ACCOMMODATION RE‐ QUIRED NOT LESS THAN SEVEN (7) DAYS BEFORE THE BID OPENING. FOR: Furnish Labor and Materials for Tiger Park HVAC Modifications LSU SOLICITATION NUMBER: RFQ-0000002677 Complete Bidding Docu‐ ments for this project may be obtained from: www.centerlinebidco nnect.com.

Printed copies are not available from the Designer, but arrangements can be made to obtain them through most repro‐ graphic firms.

Contractors unable to access bidding docu‐ ments at www.centerl inebidconnect.com should contact YKH Consulting, LLC 3701 Hessmer Ave. Metairie, Louisiana 70002 Phone: 504.231.3231 Contact: Joseph Garon Email:jgaron@ykhcons ulting.com All bids must be accom‐ panied by bid security equal to five percent (5%) of the sum of the base bid and all alter‐ nates, and must be in the form of a certified check, cashier’s check or Bid Bond Form written by a surety company licensed to do business in Louisiana, signed by the surety’s agency or attor‐ ney-in-fact. Surety must be listed on the current U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Man‐ agement Service list of approved bonding com‐ panies as approved for an amount equal to or greater than the amount for which it obligates it‐ self in the Bond, or must be a Louisiana domiciled insurance company with l i i

ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of Gladys Cade or a Heir of Gladys Cade, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 9060435.

172634-1/5-6-7-3t $109.00

ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of Gloria Atkins Davis, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 906-0435.

172665-1/5-6-7-3t $97.00

ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of James C. Seymore, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 906-0435.

172640-1/5-6-7-3t $97.00 ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of KIMBERLY ROCHELLE DUNCAN, A/K/A KIMBERLY ROCHELLE DUNCAN SHROPSHIRE, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 9060435.

172636-1/5-6-7-3t $121.00

ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of Marquis Zarick Williams, or his/her relatives or descendants please contact Ethel Clay, Attorney at Law, (225) 906-0435.

172638-1/5-6-7-3t $97.00

CLASSIFIEDS.THEADVOCATE.COM

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

p y at least an A- rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide. If surety qualifies by virtue of its Best’s list‐ ing, the amount of the Bond may not exceed ten percent of policyholders’ surplus as shown in the latest A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide. The Bid Bond shall be in favor of the Louisiana State Uni‐ versity and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and shall be accompa‐ nied by appropriate power of attorney. No Bid Bond indicating an oblig‐ ation of less than five percent (5%) by any method is acceptable.

p thirty (30) days after re‐ ceipt of bids, except under the provisions of LA. R.S. 38:2214.

The successful Bidder shall be required to fur‐ nish a Performance and Payment Bond written by a company licensed to do business in Louisiana, in an amount equal to 100% of the Contract amount. Surety must be listed currently on the U.S. Department of Trea‐ sury Financial manage‐ ment Service List (Trea‐ sury List) as approved for an amount equal to or greater than the con‐ tract amount, or must be an insurance company domiciled in Louisiana or owned by Louisiana resi‐ dents. If surety is quali‐ fied other than by listing on the Treasury list, the contract amount may not exceed fifteen percent of policyholders’ surplus as shown by surety’s most recent financial state‐ ments filed with the Louisiana Department of Insurance and may not exceed the amount of $500,000.

However, a Louisiana domiciled in‐ surance company with at least an A- rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide shall not be subject to the $500,000 limitation, provided that the con‐ tract amount does not exceed ten percent of policyholders’ surplus as shown in the latest A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide nor fifteen percent of policyholder’s surplus as shown by surety’s most recent financial state‐ ments filed with the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

The Bond shall be signed by the surety’s agent or attor‐ ney-in-fact.

A PRE-BID CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD Wednesday, January 21, 2026, 1:30PM Tiger Park East Lot (Southeast Corner) Skip Bertman Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70803 Bids shall be accepted from Contractors who are licensed under LA. R.S. 37:2150-2163 for the ME‐ classification of CHANICAL. Bidder is re‐ quired to comply with provisions and require‐ ments of LA R.S. 38:2212 (A)(1)(c). No bid may be withdrawn for a period of hi ( ) d f

The Owner reserves the right to reject any and all bids for just cause. In ac‐ cordance with La. R.S. 38:2212 (A)(1)(b), the pro‐ visions and requirements of this Section, those stated in the advertise‐ ment for bids, and those required on the bid form shall not be considered as informalities and shall not be waived by any public entity.

When this project is fi‐ nanced either partially or entirely with State Bonds or federal funds, the award of this Contract is contingent upon the granting of lines of credit, the sale of bonds by the Bond Commission or the commitment of federal funds. The Uni‐ versity shall incur no obligation to the Con‐ tractor until the Contract Between Owner and Con‐ tractor is fully executed.

AD RUN DATES: January 6, 13 and 20 2026 172090-jan 6-13-20 $203.28

Clemency I, BILLY ROBINSON, DOC #113928 have applied for clemency for my conviction of SECOND DEGREE MURDER; ILLEGAL POSSESSION STOLEN THINGS. If you have any comments, contact the Board of Pardons (225)342-5421.

172477 - JAN 4-6 3T $310 I, JAMIE MEJIA, DOC #720413 have applied for clemency for my conviction of MANSLAUGHTER. If you have any comments, contact the Board of Pardons (225)342-5421.

172769 - JAN 6-8 3T $310

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE ---

AREA 5 1BR $550, 2BR $650 Tigerland. $500 Deposit. 225-475-1737

Merchandise FURNITURE Lexington Bedroom Set, Must Sell, Look & Make Offer 225-369-1675 CAMPING GEAR Camp Tent 9x9 Dome, Canopy, Slp Bag, 2 Lant, 2 Burner Stv, 48qt Ice Chest & All Access. Retail for $375 selling for $275 225-610-8411 after 2:00pm

PETS • SUPPLIES • SERVICES • OBITUARIES • LOST & FOUND

AREA 3

PLACE YOUR PET SERVICES INFORMATION IN THE PET SERVICES DIRECTORY TODAY! • IT IS FAST AND EASY! • CALL 225-383-0111

5364 Jackson 2BR's 1BA, Rent $500, Dep $300 225-357-6436

DOGS AKC Beautiful Mini Schnauzer Female pups. Vet Chk'd, Guar (985) 320-5288

AREA 7 57728 Grove Rd, 3BR 2BA, 2200sqft, Sml Apt in back, Upgrades, $200k+ (pending apprais) (225) 776-0404

Baton Rouge Rental AREA 5 1 & 2 BR Apts, W/D, C A/H, Starting at $850/mo Deps vary 225-315-0930

172562-jan 5-6-2t $168.76 PUBLIC NOTICE --(NOTICE OF INTENTION TO INTRODUCE RETIRE‐ MENT BILL – HLS 26RS295) Public notice is hereby given, as provided by Section 29(C), Article X of the Constitution of Louisiana, that there will be introduced at the forthcoming session of the Legislature of Louisiana, to be con‐ vened on March 9, 2026, a bill relative to unfunded accrued liability of state retirement systems; to provide relative to appli‐ cation of nonrecurring state monies to such debt; to provide for re‐ strictions; and to provide for related matters.

172478-JAN 5-6-2T $41.68 PUBLIC NOTICE --(NOTICE OF INTENTION TO INTRODUCE RETIRE‐ MENT BILL – HLS 26RS318) Public notice is hereby given, as provided by Section 29(C), Article X of the Constitution of Louisiana, that there will be introduced at the forthcoming session of the Legislature of Louisiana, to be con‐ vened on March 9, 2026, a bill relative to the Fire‐ fighters' Retirement Sys‐ tem and the Municipal Police Employees' Retire‐ ment System; to provide relative to membership in the systems; to pro‐ vide relative to full or partial dissolution; to provide relative to pay‐ ment of unfunded ac‐ crued liability; and to provide for related mat‐ ters.

172539-JAN 5-6-2T $44.54

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City Court; to provide for the membership of cer‐ tain position(s) within the office of the Consta‐ ble of the New Orleans Second City Court; to provide for an effective date; and to provide for related matters.

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SHIPPING CONTAINER Shipping container for sale 45’x102” tall excellent condition $4500.00 call (225) 316-4148 ask for David

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MOBILE HOME 1, 2 & 3 BR mobile homes, $675 & up 6061 Plank Rd. CALL 225-978-4653 ROOMS FOR RENT Furnished Rooms. $125/wk. $500/mo.

225-933-7560

DOGS CKC YORKIES or SHORKIES - (yorkies are with papers) all are vet checked with shot and worming, shorkies $450 will meet in Gulfport yorkies $600 (334) 467-3416

CATS RAGAMUFFIN & RAGDOLL KITTENS www.CatsByFrancy.com/kittens $700up! Reg. Shots & Guaranty 337-230-3150

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE ---

Legal Notices

Brian Wilson, Assessor East Baton Rouge Parish

(NOTICE OF INTENTION TO INTRODUCE RETIRE‐ MENT BILL – HLS 26RS317)

BW/awp Attest:

Public notice is hereby given, as provided by Section 29(C), Article X of the Constitution of Louisiana, that there will be introduced at the forthcoming session of the Legislature of Louisiana, to be con‐ vened on March 9, 2026, a bill relative to the Munic‐ ipal Police Employees' Retirement System; to provide relative to disso‐ lution and partial disso‐ lution and the circum‐ stances under which an employer is deemed dis‐ solved or partially dis‐ solved; to provide rela‐ tive to the assessment, calculation, payment, collection, and enforce‐ ment of any related un‐ funded accrued liability charges and financial penalties; to provide for definitions; to provide for venue and prescription; and to provide for re‐ lated matters.

172544-JAN 5-6-2T $48.54 PUBLIC NOTICE --December 29, 2025 Mrs. Ann Piazza Dear Mrs. Piazza: Whereas the proposed 2026 budget for the East Baton Rouge Parish As‐ sessor’s Office provides for the maintenance of a reasonable and neces‐ sary level of services, and, Whereas the proposed level of expenditures is within the amount of an‐ ticipated funds available, and Whereas no members of the public attended the hearing to make recom‐ mendations and/or ad‐ justments to said bud‐ get, I hereby accept and in‐ struct you to implement the proposed budget as the 2026 budget for the Assessor’s Office.

Finalized and adopted at Baton Rouge, Louisiana the 29th day of Decem‐ ber 2025.

Sincerely,

(NOTICE OF INTENTION TO INTRODUCE BILL) Public notice is hereby given that there may be introduced at the session of the Legislature to be convened on March 9, 2026, a bill relative to a local, state, or statewide retirement system; to provide for the member‐ ship of the Constable of the New Orleans Second

AREA 5 655 North St. Subsidized eff Apts cpabr.org 225-383-5551.

TDD/TTY /711RELAY

172508-jan 6-1t $41.90 PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING City of Baker, Louisiana In accordance with the Open Meetings Law at R.S. 42:26, et seq.

The Mayor and Council of the City of Baker, Louisiana, will meet on January 13, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. at the Baker City Hall in the Council Cham‐ bers, 3325 Groom Road, Baker, Louisiana 70714 and via www.youtube. com/@bakerforward, at which time a public meeting will be held for adoption of the follow‐ ing: Ordinance 2025-23, an or‐ dinance providing for the levy of a sales and use tax of one percent (1%) within the Baker Main Street Economic Devel‐ opment District for the City of Baker, Louisiana; and for other matters with respect thereto on all taxable property (Murphy) (Introduced 12/16/2025) can be Ordinances viewed in full at City Hall, 3325 Groom Road, Baker, Louisiana 70714, Monday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

In accordance with the rules of conduct of the Baker City Council meet‐ ings, any person desiring to be heard relative to any of these ordinances and matters for public hearing may contact the Clerk of the Baker City Council, City of Baker, Louisiana, P. O. Box 707, Baker, Louisiana, 70704-0707, in writing, and an opportunity will be offered to speak dur‐ ing this public hearing.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabili‐ ties Act, if you need spe‐ cial assistance, please contact Ashley Williams at 225-778-0300, describ‐ ing the assistance that is necessary.

Angela Canady Wall, LCMC,

REQUISITION 11297716 NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DECLARE ADJUDICATED TAX PROPERTY SURPLUS AND TO SELL SAME UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF LSAR.S. 33:4720.10 ET SEQ AND LSA-R.S. 33:4712.

Authorizing the Metropolitan Council to declare the following properties previously adjudicated to East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, surplus property, and to authorize the sale of said properties to the indicated persons, their agents or assigns for the consideration mentioned (Minimum Bid Amount), or to the highest offeror who submits their offer with a certified check or money order in the amount indicated: Lot 31-34, Square 11, Bank 69th Avenue Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Shenika Williams

Lot 6 & 7, Square 52, Bank 68th Avenue Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Telford Williams

$ 100.00 $ 950.00

$ 100.00 $ 650.00

Lot 4+, Square 52, Bank 2936 68th Avenue Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Telford Williams

Lot 17, Alsen Heights Alsen Heights Pkwy Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Rickey D Griffin

Lot 52 & 53, Square 2, Victory Place 2830 Erie Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

$ 100.00 $ 500.00

$ 100.00 $ 500.00 Anthony Redd $ 1,000.00 $ 650.00

Lot 13, Square A, Victory Place Ontario Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Kenneth Christian

Lot 3, Square 52, Fortune Cadillac Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Imani Hudson

Lot 4, Square 52, Fortune Cadillac Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Latasha Long

Lot 41, Square 14, South Baton Rouge 2010 Kentucky Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Whitaker Investments LLC

$ 100.00 $ 950.00

$ 100.00 $ 950.00

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1-800-960-6397

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Legal Notices

Legal Notices

Legal Notices

Clerk of Council City of Baker, Louisiana

g p vided therein on the date and time stated above.

cc: Mayor and Council Members Department Heads City Attorney Advocate

Timothy J. Temple Commissioner of Insurance Louisiana Department of Insurance

171303-dec 17-1t $28.35

172003-jan 5-6-7-3t

y g and Parish of East Baton Rouge, as contained in and made part of the “Unified Development Code “, as amended so as to change the zoning on the property located at 17501 Florida Boule‐ vard To rezone from Commercial Warehous‐ ing and Rural to Light In‐ dustrial (M1) on property located on the north side of Florida Boulevard, south of Riverside Park Drive, on property now or formerly known as a por‐ tion of 12.5 Acre Tract.

Section 70, T7S, R2E, GLD, EBRP, LA (Council District 4 - Moak) Case 53-25

PUBLIC NOTICE --Pursuant to La. R.S. 22:691.4.E.(2) notice is hereby given that on Monday, January 26, 2026, the Louisiana De‐ partment of Insurance, located at 1702 North Third Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, will hold a public hearing con‐ cerning the acquisition of The Gray Casualty & Surety Company by Palo‐ mar Holdings, Inc. The Hearing will begin at 10:00 AM in the Poydras Hearing room located on the first floor.

Any written comments or questions must be sub‐ mitted to the above ad‐ dress marked attention "Company Licensing" and be received no later than two days before the Hearing date. Email com‐ ments or questions can be submitted to public‐ comments@ldi.la.gov.

Interested parties may also participate electron‐ ically by going to ldi.la. gov/public-hearings and clicking on the link pro‐ id d h i h d

Reporting you can trust on stories that matter

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PUBLIC NOTICE --REQUISITION 11297718 OFFICIAL PUBLIC NOTICE OF THE REGULAR ZONING MEETING OF THE METROPOLITAN COUNCIL OF THE PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE AND THE CITY OF BATON ROUGE Notice is hereby given to all citizens of the City of Baton Rouge, Parish of East Baton Rouge and to all other interested per‐ sons, of the introduction at the regular meeting of the Metropolitan Council of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, held on De‐ cember 10, 2025, of the proposed ordinances, the titles of which are set forth hereinafter, and that public hearing will be held thereon by the Metropolitan Council at 4:00 P.M., Wednesday, January 21, 2026, in the Council Chambers (Room 348) on the third floor of the City-Parish Govern‐ mental Building in this City, these proposed or‐ dinances being entitled as follows: ORDINANCE Amending the Compre‐ hensive Zoning Map of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, as contained in and made part of the “Unified Development Code “, as amended so as to change the zoning on the property located at 17501 Florida Boule‐ vard To amend the Com‐ prehensive Land Use Plan from Agricultural Rural to Industrial, lo‐ cated on the north side of Florida Boulevard, south of Riverside Park Drive, on property now or formerly known as a por‐ tion of 12.5 Acre Tract.

Section 70, T7S, R2E, GLD, EBRP, LA (Council District 4 - Moak) PA-7-25 ORDINANCE Amending the Compre‐ hensive Zoning Map of the City of Baton Rouge d i h f

Lot 26, Square 163, South Baton Rouge West Garfield Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds): Lot 7-10, Square 6, Paradise 2768 Tanner Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

ORDINANCE Amending the Compre‐ hensive Zoning Map of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, as contained in and made part of the “Unified Development Code “, as amended so as to change the zoning on the property located at 6601 Joor Road To amend the Comprehen‐ sive Land Use Plan from Residential Neighbor‐ hood to Compact Neigh‐ borhood, located on the north side of Mickens Road, west of Joor Road, on property now or for‐ merly known as a portion of Undesignated Tract of the Nell P. ET AL. Stipe Property. Section 43, T6S, R1E, GLD, EBRP, LA (Coun‐ cil District 5 - Hurst) PA8-25 ORDINANCE Amending the Compre‐ hensive Zoning Map of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, as contained in and made part of the “Unified Development Code “, as amended so as to change the zoning on the property located at Joor Crossing (6601 Joor Road) To rezone from Planned Unit Devel‐ opment (PUD) to PUD on property located on the north side of Mickens Road, west of Joor Road, on property now or for‐ merly known as a portion of Undesignated Tract of the Nell P. ET AL. Stipe Property. Section 43, T6S, R1E, GLD, EBRP, LA (Coun‐ cil District 5 - Hurst) PUD2-25 ORDINANCE Amending the Compre‐ hensive Zoning Map of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, as contained in and made part of the ifi d l

Whitaker Investments LLC $ 100.00 $ 855.00 Levi Black $ 500.00 $ 950.00

Lot 8+, Square 28, Greenville Extension N. 46th Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Dud Hines Jr

Lot 259+, Belfair Homes 2065 W Belfair Drive Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

17th & Banks LLC

Lot 51, Greenway Place 3681 Greentree Drive Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Jerome Verrett

Lot 12, Square L, Fairfields 2960 Madison Avenue Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

17th & Banks LLC

Lot 9, East Fairlane 5711 Hartford Avenue Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

$ 500.00 $ 950.00

$ 100.00 $ 500.00

$ 200.00 $ 500.00

$ 100.00 $ 500.00 17th & Banks LLC $ 100.00 $ 500.00

Lot 62, Greenway Place 3367 Greentree Drive Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Jerome Verrett

Lot 69, West Fairfields 3835 Eaton Street Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Jerome Verrett

Lot 38, Fairlane 7262 Poinsettia Drive Initial Bid Amount Advanced costs required (certified funds):

Through His Eyes Ministry

$ 200.00 $ 500.00

$ 100.00 $ 500.00

In My Father’s House $ 200.00

$ 100.00 $ 950.00

$ 100.00 $ 500.00

170352-594892-Jan. 6, 13, 20, 2026-3t $ 607.11

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 7D

lll

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No Job Too Big or Too Small James Wells DBA

Big Jim Construction

New Roofs Roof N R f or Repairs R i on Any A Type T R f Roofing • Painting • Carpentry

Over 50 Years Experience

225.338.6809

All Work Warrantied

Brothers Carpentry and Flooring LLC

ATTIC STAIRS • DOORS • Installation & Replacement • Fully Insulated Units • Licensed & Insured • FREE Estimates • Senior & Military Discounts

CALL TODAY! [225-252-8331]

FIREWOOD W Burns Farm | Seasoned firewood

Chimney Cleaning • Pest Guards New Chimney Cap Installation • Fire Box Crack Repair Insured

10% OFF 225-503-5681

E J’s Masonry To advertise here, please call (225) 383-0111

225-290-1980 / 225-993-9204

tree trimming/flower bed clean up/flower bed designs/irrigation/ lighting pathways/prune & mulch/weeding/drainage/sod/pergola deck/power washing/stump grinding/consulting available

All work 35+ years of guaranteed experience No job to locally! big or small • Flashing • Gutters • Siding • Tree Pruning • Carpentry • Fences

Call 225.925.0610

(225) 603-2125

DISCOUNT FOR FIRST RESPONDERS

FIND AND FIX LEAKS ON ANY ROOF

Member of the BBB Licensed & Insured FREE Verbal Estimates to BR Residents 50 Years Experience Pruning & Trimming of Large Trees Small Tree Removal

Denham Springs & Gonzales

LIGHTING 15% OFF! READY FOR GAME DAYS!

LEAK SPECIALIST

tree service

Doors & Door Hardware

Install & Repair Commercial • Residential Call Daniel 225-436-2759

WINTER SPECIAL YEAR-ROUND HOLIDAY

THE COMPUTER DOCTORx

Quality Work

Brick  Block  Concrete Stucco Work Carpentry  Clean-up & Haul Debris Roofing  Pressure Washing & Restriping Parking Lots  Painting No job too small!

225-229-0963

Gerald Burns 28630 Juban Rd., Denham Springs LA 70726 225-937-3112

LAGNIAPPE SERVICES, LLC

Year-Round Lawn Care South Baton Rouge

One Time, Some Time, Any Time or Every Time... We don't mind!

Residential & Commercial Grass Cutting, Gutter Cleaning, SPRING Clean-Up & Bush Trimming

Gerard “Gaston” Gravois

(225) 329-8737

To advertise here, please call (225) 383-0111

8D ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

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WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

West Baton Rouge Parish Fire Department 5 - Year Capital Outlay Plan 2026

2027

$10,000.00

Payment to Parish

$214,588.00

Station rentovations

$200,000.00

Radios

$50,000.00

Ambulance Powerload Strtechers

$280,000.00

ESO Software

$37,000.00

Fire Engine

$950,000.00

Ambulance Remount

$250,000.00

Training Center

2028 2029

2030

SCBA

$200,000.00 $150,000.00

Ladder Truck Air Packs

$300,000.00

Haz-Mat Truck

$700,000.00

Fire Engine

$950,000.00

WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH COUNCIL BUDGET ESTIMATES AND REQUESTS YEAR 2026 FUND: MUSEUM (005)

ACCOUNT NUMBER: DESCRIPTION

PRIOR YEAR Actual 2024

CURRENT YEAR Budget 2025

CURRENT YEAR Estimate REQUESTED 2025 2026

TAXES 3110.00

AD VALOREM TAX (780,000) $ 1,487,579 $ 1,640,000 $ 1,600,000 2MILLS TOTAL TAXES

$ 1,487,579 $ 1,640,000 $ 1,600,000 -------------- -------------- --------------

$ 1,560,000 $ 1,560,000 --------------

INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVENUE 3310.00 3315.15

PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES REVENUE SHARING STATE

TOTAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVENUE

3460.00 3450.00 3330.00 3345.00 3600.00 3400.00 3700.00

**********

100-120A 100-150 200-210 200-220 200-230 200-240 200-250 200-260 200-170 200-280 200-290 300-320

300-330 300-340 300-310 400-410 600-630

600-650

600-690 700-730 700-760 700-750

**********

OTHER REVENUE MISC CULTURE & RECREATIONAL GRANTS GRANTS - LOCAL SugarFest Grants INTEREST EARNINGS FEES AND CHARGES **DONATION FROM PRIVATE SECTOR** Advertising Reimbursement TOTAL OTHER REVENUE

TOTAL REVENUE

DISBURSEMENTS OPERATING EXPENSES SALARIES & WAGES EMPLOYEE BENEFITS ADVERTISING, DUES, SUBSCRIPTION PRINTING, DUPLICATION, TYPING POSTAGE UTILITIES EXPENSE COMMUNICATION RENTALS MAINT PROPERTY & EQUIPMENT MAINT. (CONTRACTUAL) PROFESSIONAL SERVICES INSURANCE & SURETY BUILDING INSURANCE (PROPERTY & LIABILITY) OPERATING SUPPLIES GIFT SHOP EXPENSE SugarFest MATERIALS $ - $ SMALL TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT OFFICE SUPPLIES TRAVEL IMPROVEMENTS Juke Joint upgrades, Shed for Sugar Tache ACQUISITION OF EQUIPMENT BUILDINGS & INFRASTRUCTURE OUTLAY WBR PENSION FUND DEDUCTION BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS, LIBRARY RETIREMENT FROM TAX GRANTS PAYROLL PROCESSING CHARGES TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES

TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS BEGINNING FUND BALANCE(CASH & INVESTMENTS) PLUS: REVENUE LESS: DISBURSEMENTS ESTIMATED ENDING FUND BALANCE

$ 6,579

$ 6,227

-------------- -------------- --------------

$ 6,227

--------------

$ 6,227

$ 6,227

$ 6,227

$ 6,579

$ 6,227

-------------- -------------- --------------

--------------

$ 5,000

$ 5,000

$ 6,000

$ 30,500 $$ 3,812 $ 68,818 $ 50,467

$ 20,000

$ 20,000

$ 7,500

$ 5,000 $ 40,000 $ 30,000

$ 5,000 $ 40,000 $ 30,000

$ 5,000 $ 50,000 $ 25,000

$ 1,810

$ 1,000

$ 1,000

$ 1,000

$ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 181,303 $ 121,000 $ 121,000 -------------- -------------- --------------

$ 10,000 $ 104,500 --------------

$ 1,675,109 $ 1,767,227 $ 1,727,579 ========= ========= =========

$ 1,670,727 =========

$ 688,946 $ 224,000

$ 796,000 2 PT to FT $ 249,000

$ 55,124

$ 55,000

$ 55,000

$ 53,707

$ 14,334

$ 5,000

$ 5,000

$ 6,000

$ 823 $ 24,811 $ 18,602 $ 5,893

$ 1,800 $ 25,000 $ 25,000 $ 9,000

$ 1,800 $ 26,153 $ 25,000 $ 9,000

$ 1,800 $ 27,000 $ 20,000 $ 6,000

$ 18,665

$ 45,000

$ 45,000

$ 35,000

$ 60,990 $ 107,126 $ 36,969

$ 60,000 $ 130,104 $ 39,420

$ 60,000 $ 115,625 $ 36,340

$ 60,000 $ 100,000 $ 39,420

$ 75,000 $ 4,000 $ 50,000

$ 70,000 $ 4,835 $ 50,000

$$ 71,675 $ 6,983 $ 43,104

$-

$$ 1,871 $ 25,014 $-

$$ 4,000 $ 20,000 $ 175,000

$ 3,000 $ 20,000 $ 175,000

$$ 51,334

$ 67,500 $ 6,000 $ 40,000

$ 3,000 $ 20,000 $ 80,000

$$ 6,000

$ 6,000

$ 19,300

$$ 49,637

$ 41,000

$ 54,867

$ 40,000

$ 120

$ 500

$ 500

$ 500

4 new computers & Video Kiosk Website Header & Licenses

$$$-

$-

$-

$ 1,441,676 $ 1,723,197 $ 1,676,066

$ 1,670,227

-------------- -------------- --------------

--------------

$ 1,441,676 $ 1,723,197 $ 1,676,066 ========= ========= =========

$ 1,670,227 =========

$ 881,952 $ 1,115,385 $ 1,115,385

$ 1,166,897

$ 1,675,109 $ 1,767,227 $ 1,727,579 $ 1,441,676 $ 1,723,197 $ 1,676,066

$ 1,670,727 $ 1,670,227

$ 1,115,385 $ 1,159,415 $ 1,166,897

$ 1,167,397

$$ 2,500 $ 200,000 $ 30,000 $ 515,436

$$ 10,000 $$ 4,480 $ 110,585

$$ 10,000 $$ 3,000 $-

$$ 10,000 $$$ 645

$$ 10,000 $$$-

$ 1,586,111 $ 1,610,981 ========= =========

$ 1,582,936 =========

$$ 12,000 $$$ 530

$ 50,000 $ 23,000 $$ 15,000 $ 6,000

$ 124,884

$ 200,000

$ 328,455

$ 200,000

$$ 8,535

$$ 8,500

$$-

$$-

$ 226,911 $$ 198,616 $ 20,000 $ 28,785 $ 794,437

$ 200,000 $$ 200,000 $ 20,000 $$ 711,500

$ 200,000 $$ 200,000 $ 10,000 $$ 750,985

$ 200,000 $$ 200,000 $ 10,000

$ 387,372 $ 28,846 $ 81,361 $ 5,618

$ 475,000 $ 35,000 $ 90,000 $ 6,000

$ 362,274 $ 30,771 $ 76,457 $ 10,644

$ 494,000 $ 36,400 $ 90,000 $ 10,000

$ 25,798 $ 37,295 $ 102,895

$$ 40,000 $ 75,000

$$ 44,174 $ 75,000

$$ 45,000 $ 100,000

$ 19,500 $ 41,027 $ 11,586 $ 91,617

$ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 5,000 $ 80,000

$ 20,000 $ 48,169 $ 17,365 $ 75,780

$ 20,000 $ 50,000 $ 20,000 $ 98,000

$ 210,727 $ 8,049 $ 21,092

$ 200,000 $ 2,000 $ 50,000

$ 200,000 $ 2,000 $ 20,000

$ 250,000 $ 8,000 $ 50,000

$ 2,685 $ 15,000 $ 17,500 $ 90 $ 120 $ 120 $ 444 $ 5,000 $-------------- -------------- --------------

$ 18,000 $ 120 $ 5,000 --------------

$ 1,076,002 =========

$ 1,138,120 $ 1,000,254 ========= =========

$ 1,294,520 =========

-------------- -------------- -------------$$$========= ========= =========

-------------$=========

GRAND TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS

$ 1,870,440

$ 1,849,620

$ 1,751,239

$ 1,998,520

BEGINNING FUND BALANCE ( CASH + INVESTMENTS) PLUS: REVENUES LESS: DISBURSEMENTS LESS: RESERVE FOR DEBT RETIREMENT ENDING FUND BALANCE (CASH+ INVESTMENTS)

$ 3,073,380

$ 3,169,495

$ 3,169,495

$ 3,029,237

$ 1,966,554 $ 1,870,440

$ 1,586,111 $ 1,849,620

$ 1,610,981 $ 1,751,239

$ 1,582,936 $ 1,998,520

$ 3,169,495

$ 2,905,986

$ 3,029,237

$ 2,613,653

***********

$ 719,040 $ 233,333

$$ 2,400 $ 200,000 $ 30,000 $ 515,436

$ 50,000 $ 17,000 $$ 15,000 $ 1,000

TOTAL GENERAL FUND (B)

$ 658,928 $ 189,673

$$ 4,000 $ 200,000 $ 50,000 $ 515,436

$$ 22,612 $$ 8,599 $ 5,198

$$ 5,896

$$ 5,789 $ 334,919 $ 31,269 $ 544,293

$-

GENERAL FUND (B) WAGES AND SALARIES EMPLOYER PAID TAXES RELATED BENEFITS RELATED BENEFITS (OUTSIDE PAYROLL SERVICE FEES) CAPITOL OUTLAYS UTILITIES & TELEPHONE BUILDING/GROUNDS/OFFICE EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE SUPPLIES & POSTAGE INSURANCE CONTINGENCIES AUDIT & ACCOUNTING& BANK CHARGES CONFERENCE CENTER EXPENSES SPECIAL EVENTS TOURIST PROMOTION & ADVERTISING LEASED ITEMS ATM MACHINE COMPUTER & OFFICE EQUIPMENT

REVENUES

ACCOUNT DESCRIPTION NUMBER:

REVENUE BUILDING SETTLEMENT (A) ENTERPRISE FUND (A) HOTEL/MOTEL TAX (B) INTEREST INCOME(A) INTEREST INCOME (B)

PRIOR YEAR Actual 2024

CURRENT YEAR Budget 2025

CURRENT YEAR Estimate 2025

REQUESTED 2026

$ 773,971 $ 111,339 $ 39,911

$ 743,675 $ 50,000 $ 10,000

$ 650,000 $ 79,800 $ 122,700

$ 700,000 $ 50,000 $ 75,000

$ 704,000

2026 WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH COUNCIL 5 YEAR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE BUDGET 2026 EXPENDITURES DESCRIPTION COUNCIL ROOM ADDITIONAL MEETING ROOM AND COUNCIL CHAMBER EQUIP JUDGE’S OFFICE SOFTWARE RENEWAL CORONER COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, ACCESS CONTROLS, CAMERAS, ETC REG OF VOTERS EQUIP UPGRADES ADMINISTRATION COMPUTERS AND SOFTWARES IT EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE UPGRADES PLANNING AND ZONNING EQUIP UPGRADES, GIS , PERMIT SOFTWARE, ETC BUILDING MAINTENANCE - TRUCK, TOOLS, DRAIN CLEANER, TRUCK BED, AC CIVIL DEFENSE - COMPUTER UPGRADES ENGINEERING- AUTOCAD AND MONITOR DRAINAGE STUDY ADDIS AREA DRAINAGE STUDY NORTH END ANIMAL CONTROL - VAN, COMPUTERS, CAMERA, TECH, ETC MOSQUITO CONTROL- SPRAY RIG, TECH, CAMERAS, PHONES, ETC KWBRB- MISC EQUIP.

FUND AMOUNT

TOTAL BY FUND

001

$ 80,000

2026

001

$ 15,500

2026

001

$ 36,500

2026

001 001 001

$ 10,500 $ 9,900 $ 620,900

2026 2026 2026

001

$ 63,500

2026

001

$ 97,500

2026

001 001 001 001

$ 1,000 $ 3,000 $ 47,000 $ 70,000

2026 2026 2026 2026

001

$ 81,800

2026

001

$ 66,700

2026

001

$ 2,000 $ 1,205,800 $ 35,000 $ 18,000 $ 4,000 $ 5,500 $ 2,000

2026

TRIMBLE PIN GRABBER COUPLER CLEANOUT BUCKET TRAILER COMPUTER

004 004 004 004 004

STBG PROJECTS ROAD OVERLAYS PANEL CHANGEOUTS/GRAVEL/REPAIRS ADDIS TO CHOCTOAW ROAD COURT STREET PROJECT ACADIAN TRAIL S WESTPORT GUARDRAILS 415/ROSEDALE TURNING LANE NORTHBOUND EMILY DR TURN LANE CAPITAL OUTLAY LA1/415 CONNECTOR

065 $ 150,000 065 $ 306,480 065 $ 200,000 065 $ 1,250,000 065 $ 979,610 065 $ 530,147 065 $ 21,970 065 $ 299,000 065 $ 500,000 065 $ 10,400,000

WATER SECTOR PROJECT SEWER CONSOLIDATION BATHROOM UPDATES SOFTWASH COURTHOUSE ROOF COURTOOM B/C AV EQUIPMENT COURTHOUSE ROOF COURTHOUSE CELLPHONE BOOSTER NEW STORAGE/WORKSHOP BUILDING- OLD FAIRGROUNDS IT ANNEX CELLPHONE BOOSTER NEW ANIMAL CONTROL BUILDING GOVERNMENTAL BUILDING CELLPHONE BOOSER

066 066 066 066 066 066 066

$ 1,254,040 $ 5,100,000 $ 10,000 $ 14,000 $ 50,000 $ 15,000 $ 12,000

066

$ 100,000

2026

066 066 066

$ 9,000 $ 440,000 $ 9,000 $ 7,013,040

2026 2026 2026

TOTAL GENERAL FUND FUNDING WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH COUNCIL BUDGET ESTIMATES AND REQUESTS YEAR 2026 FUND: WBRCVB

WBR Legal Notices

$ 150,297

ENTERPRISE FUND (A) CONTINGENCIES DUES & SUBSCRIPTIONS STRATEGIC PLANNING MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS SUPPLIES/POSTAGE/BANK CHARGES CAPITAL OUTLAY- GROUNDS AND BUILDING RENOVATIONS COVID-19 SUPPLIES RURAL TOURISM CONFERENCE/LA BYWAYS CONFERENCE ADVERTISING MARKETING SOUTHEAST LA GUMBO GROUP SPECIAL EVENTS GRANT EXPENSES WBRCVB BOND TOTAL FUND (A)

$2,200,000.00

WBR Legal Notices

$ 1,966,554 =========

TOURISM REVIVAL FUND- 3 YEAR FED GRANT

$1,200,000.00

Trucks

WBR Legal Notices

MISCELLANEOUS INCOME (A) MISCELLANEOUS INCOME (B) CONFERENCE CENTER INCOME SPECIAL EVENTS TRANSFER FROM RESERVE (STATE ENTERPRISE FUNDS) LEASE/BUILDING RENTAL GRANTS SOUTHEAST LA GUMBO GROUP RURAL TOURISM CONFERENCE TOURISM REVIVAL FUND- 3 YEAR FED GRANT ************** TOTAL REVENUE *

2026 Computers

WBR Legal Notices

PARK EQUIPMENT PRESSURE WASHER, MOWERS, DRAG MACHINES, GATORS, ROTARIES, SPRAYERS, ETC PORT ALLEN COMMUNITY CENTER OUTDOOR PICKLEBALL FACILITY ERWINVILLE PARK OUTDOOR PICKLEBALL FACILITY WALKING TRACK EXTENSION CONCRETE FOR SHADE STRUCTURES GRAVEL PARKING LOT NEW BLEACHERS SHADE STRUCTURES RIVAULT PARK SHADE STRUCTURES

$ 64,500

$ 14,637,207

2026 2026 2026 2026 2026

2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026

2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026

$ 22,920,547

008

$ 279,700

2026

061

$ 85,042

2026

061 061 061 061 061 061

$ 85,042 $ 55,000 $ 15,000 $ 50,000 $ 75,000 $ 70,000

2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026

061

$ 130,000

2026

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ 9D

lll

WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

CONCRETE FOR SHADE STRUCTURES NEW BLEACHERS ALEXANDER PARK OUTDOOR PICKLEBALL FACILITY SHADE STRUCTURES CONCRETE FOR SHADE STRUCTURES NEW BLEACHERS LUKEVILLE PARK SHADE STRUCTURES CONCRETE FOR SHADE STRUCTURES W&L PARK BASKETBALL GOAL UPGRADE SHADE STRUCTURES CONCRETE FOR SHADE STRUCTURES WALKING TRACK EXTENSION MYHAND SHADE STRUCTURES CONCRETE FOR SHADE STRUCTURES NEW BLEACHERS LOBDELL PARK STORAGE BUILDING EXPANSION SOCCER COMPLEX GOAL REPLACEMENTS ARENA PANEL & CHUTE UPGRADES EXISTING SYSTEM TOTAL RECREATION FUND FUNDING

WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

061 061

$ 10,000 $ 85,000

2026 2026

061 061 061 061

$ 170,083 $ 100,000 $ 15,000 $ 90,000

2026 2026 2026 2026

061 061

$ 15,000 $ 30,000

2026 2026

061 061 061 061

$ 5,000 $ 20,000 $ 65,000 $ 30,000

2026 2026 2026 2026

061 061 061

$ 125,000 $ 65,000 $ 10,000

2026 2026 2026

061

$ 128,000

2026

061

$ 15,200

2026

061

$ 8,000

ACCESS POINT CAMERAS 6135M TRACTOR CUTTER MINI EXCAVATOR CAT326 ATTACHMENTS ELECTRIC HOIST 12FT CHOPPERS CASE 250LR PLUMBING SMARTBOARD TV PILE DRIVER 2 TRUCKS COMPUTERS TOTAL DRAINAGE FUND FUNDING

010 010 010 010 010 010 010 010 010 010 010 010 010

$ 1,500 $ 30,000 $ 130,000 $ 12,000 $ 175,000 $ 30,000 $ 15,000 $ 18,000 $ 25,000 $ 7,000 $ 180,000 $ 95,000 $ 2,000

911-EQUIPMENT UPGRADES TOTAL E-911 FUNDING

015

$ 139,000

VFW RENOVATIONS, UPGRADES OR ADDITIONS ERWINVILLE COMMUNITY CTR RENOVATIONS, UPGRADES OR ADDITIONS WILLIAM AND LEE CENTER ADDIS COMMUNITY CTR RENOVATIONS, UPGRADES OR ADDITIONS PORT ALLEN COMMUNITY CTR RENOVATIONS, UPGRADES OR ADDITIONS PORT ALLEN ARTS AND CRAFTS PORT ALLEN PAVILION TOTAL COMMUNITY CTR FUNDING

030

$ 54,000

2026

030

$ 25,000

2026

030

$ 40,400

2026

030

$ 125,000

2026

2026

$ 1,831,066

2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026

$ 720,500

2026

$ 139,000

030

$ 100,400

2026

030 030

$ 5,000 $ 17,000

2026 2026

PARISH ROAD OVERLAY/CONSTRUCTION TOTAL VIDEO POKER FUNDING

065

$ 1,356,020

CONTROL SYSTEM SOFTWARE & HARDWARE CAMERA SYSTEM UPGRADE WATER PROOFING PARKING LOT AND PERIMTER LIGHTS ELECTRICAL UPGRADE PROCESSING CENTER PAINTING DORMS AND ISOLATION METAL WORK & PAITNING EXTERIOR MULE MISC TOOLS TRANSFER SWITCH 023 $ 72,400 2026 ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD SOFTWARE/ HARDWARE CLEANING MACHINE WELDER UPGRADE 2 PORTABLE BOILERS

023 023 023 023 023 023 023 023 023

$ 310,779 $ 823,260 $ 28,300 $ 32,500 $ 7,500 $ 325,000 $ 5,000 $ 25,000 $ 5,000

023

$ 100,000

2026

023 023 023

$ 35,000 $ 3,500 $ 60,000

2026 2026 2026

WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH COUNCIL REVENUE SOURCES:

TAXES AD VALOREM TAX SALES TAX ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE TAX HOTEL MOTEL LICENSES AND PERMITS OCCUPATIONAL BUILDING INTERGOVERNMENTAL STATE REVENUE SHARING SEVERANCE VIDEO POKER FEDERAL GRANTS STATE GRANTS INMATE HOUSING OTHER

TOTAL EXPENDITURES:

SHSP GRANT EMPG GRANT FIRE STATE SURPLUS LAND ACQUISITION- FIRE TOWER FUEL PUMPS GRANT & LOAN FUNDING

$ 35,000 $ 1,500 $ 1,200 $ 11,000

038

$ 291,500

025 025 031 035 035

FUND $ 1,000,000 $ 125,000 $ 100,000 $ 1,800,000 $ 115,000 $ 30,000 $ 175,000 $ 78,000 $ 18,000 $ 45,000 $ 30,000 $ 5,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 39,000

YEAR 65 2027 4 2027 10 2027 61 2027 4 2027 10 2027 8 2027 8 2027 1 2027 1 2027 1 2027 1 2027 1 2027 1 2027 8 2027

LA1/415 CONNECTOR 3 SCAG MOWERS TRACTOR W/ MOWERS TRACTOR W/ MOWERS TRAILER- BLD MAINT GENERATOR REPLACEMENTS SPRAY RIG, SIDE BY SIDE, TRAILER, GRANULAR APPLICATOR MOSQUITO LAB REPLACEMENT DART GUN SPRAY RIG TRUCK- MOSQUITO CONTROL TRUCK- ANIMAL CONTROL PARK UPGRADES

$ 1,000,000 $ 30,000 $ 100,000 $ 100,000 $ 5,000 $ 30,000 $ 38,000 $ 15,000 $ 3,000 $ 14,000 $ 45,000 $ 50,000 $ 200,000

65 8 4 10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 61

2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028

LA1/415 CONNECTOR TRACTOR W/ MOWERS TRACTOR W/ MOWERS GENERATOR REPLACEMENTS 3/4 TON PICK-UP MOWERS AND GATORS FORKLIFT TRAILER COMPUTERS SPRAY RIG, SIDE BY SIDE, TRAILER, GRANULAR APPLICATOR, TRAILER DRONE SPRAYING SYSTEM NET GUN KENNELS

$ 1,000,000 $ 100,000 $ 100,000 $ 30,000 $ 50,000 $ 50,000 $ 40,000 $ 6,000 $ 25,000 $ 41,000 $ 40,000 $ 5,000 $ 40,000

65 4 10 1 1 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029

$ 140,000 $ 38,000 $ 45,000 $ 80,000 $ 25,000 $ 30,000 $ 100,000 $ 38,000 $ 15,000 $ 125,000 $ 100,000 $ 50,000 $ 50,000

8 8 8 1 1 8 4 1 1 10 10 10 4

2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 2030 203

CENTRAL COMM

FIRE DISTRICT

038

300

30,000# EXCAVATOR 3/4 TON PICK-UP 4X4 50,000# TANDUM AXLE TRAILER DRONE FOR MOSQUITO CONTROL DRONE SURVEY SYSTEM 3 SCAG MOWERS TRACTOR W/ MOWERS SPRAY RIG, SIDE BY SIDE, TRAILER, GRANULAR APPLICATOR KENNELS DUMP TRUCK TRACTORS WITH MOWERS 4X4 TRUCKS 4X4 TRUCKS

2026 BUDGETS

E-911

JUVENILE DET.

CRIMINAL COURT

PUBLIC ALERT

DETEN. CENTER

DEBT SINKING

DEBT RES.

CAPITAL OUTLAY

ROAD TRUST

V.P./LIGHT DIST TRUST

GRANT FUNDS

PUBLIC UTILITIES

2026

001

004

008

010

005

006

030

015

016

017

007

023

097,102

022,035

1,560,000

555,000

1,480,000

009,014,021, 025 031, 032, 037

301

4,588,000

061,065 066

012

2,960,000

086,098 103

34,000

6,227

11,000

33,000

18,629,661 0 2,900,574 4,072,887 200,000 3,057,187 8,146,059 1,499,323 1,025,414 89,577 3,099,136 1,570,927 1,798,520 0 2,592,405 1,811,424 75,000 83,000 3,064,638 23,266,113 0 129,000 28,786 3,610 70,013,484 155,057,909 85,428,060 131,460,901 155,057,909 61,831,052

290,000

50,000

1,587,500 515,436

2,870,000 296,216 100,000

60,000

32,000

70,000

LIBRARY

3,116,000

24,557,747

753,853 3,000,000

8,340,166

290,000

850

700,000

60,000

10,000

0

1,480,000

4,606,662

185,000

2,500

6,200

150,000

45,000

11,000

80,000

200,000

125,000 230,000

88,000

1,000

160,000

168,000

100

60,000

6,700

1,400,000

8,012,400

137,500

6,000

139,000

36,000

2,030,574 64,500

100,000

2,965,074 0 2,965,074

3,334,500 1,106,750 4,441,250

340,000

300,000

11,600

161,396 4,912,000 -107,672 4,804,328

1,670,727 -500 1,670,227

871,000 197,596 1,068,596

1,752,000 444,003 2,196,003

400,850 -39,275 361,575

32,000 118,000 150,000

370,000 -231,000 139,000

11,600 8,946,978 20,400 2,052,618 32,000 10,999,596

161,396 0 161,396

25,097,633 521,636 -5,000 516,636

515,436

0

57,995,546 0 57,995,546

150,000 -150,000 0

1,632,500 763,520 2,396,020

3,764,853 1,118,600 4,883,453

8,213,400 297,834 8,511,234

1,582,936 415,584 1,998,520

3,270,800 63,336 3,334,136

1,640,000 199,098 1,839,098

6,419,662 758,778 7,178,440

1,525,716

6,334,881

313,382 1,839,098 3,098,261 1,640,000 1,839,098 2,899,163

843,559 7,178,440 3,918,679 6,419,662 7,178,440 3,159,901

139,000

1,285,214

200,693 2,900,574

150,000

32,000

8,916,157

185,000

4,072,887

200,000

3,057,187 890,447

608,876

1,025,414

8,146,059

89,577

3,099,136

1,570,927

1,798,520

2,592,405 75,000 83,000 2,548,002 21,714,747

37,415,781 31,268,287 20,841,443 37,415,781 14,693,949

WBR CVB

5,410,762

225,000

80,000

$ 1,923,966

2027 TO 2030 LA1/415 CONNECTOR TRACTOR & MOWER 15,000# EXCAVATOR ALL PARKS LIGHTS 12 YD DUMP TRUCK 3/4 TON PICK-UP TRACTOR TRAILER TRUCK LOWBOY TRAILER SPRAY RIG TRUCK- MOSQUITO CONTROL KENNELS WASHER/DRYER- ANIMAL CONTROL WASHING TUB-ANIMAL CONTROL CORRAL SHELTER REPLACEMENT 3/4 TON 4X4 TRUCK

COMM. CENTERS

137,000

2026 2026 2026 2026 2026

$31,431,338

HEALTH UNIT

0

2026

OVERALL 2026 TOTAL CAPITAL OUTLAY

MUSEUM

12,500

2026 2026 2026 2026

$ 1,881,939

$ 32,582 $ 51,384 $ 1,000,000 $ 300,000 $ 540,000

DRAIN. DEPT.

270,000 600,000

WBR Legal Notices

$ 291,500

REC.

1,811,424 0

1,551,366

64,500 2,965,074 0 2,965,074 2,965,074 0

297,479 4,441,250 1,903,824 3,334,500 4,441,250 797,074

731,441 4,804,328 5,360,672 4,912,000 4,804,328 5,468,344

99,300 1,670,227 1,166,897 1,670,727 1,670,227 1,167,397

43,182 1,068,596 1,683,924 871,000 1,068,596 1,486,328

384,579 2,196,003 1,739,965 1,752,000 2,196,003 1,295,962

160,882 361,575 1,297,612 400,850 361,575 1,336,887

150,000 756,769 32,000 150,000 638,769

139,000 2,099,714 370,000 139,000 2,330,714

Utilities 5 Year Outlay

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

REPLACING EQUIPMENT, UPS SYSTEM, EMD, BADE MACHINE, CALL SYSTEM, ETC TOTAL CENTRAL COMMUNICATION FUNDING

023 023 023 023

ROADS DEPT.

142,950 1,000 0 8,012,400 3,070,187 3,070,187 15,000 15,000 0 282,500 11,600 2,247,700 165,000 0 0 334,800 334,800 0 2,807,406 0 25,376,722 214,589 0 TOTAL REVENUE: 131,460,901 20,841,443 EST. USE OF FUND BAL. 23,597,008 16,574,338 TOT. FUNDING AVAILABLE 155,057,909 37,415,781 EXPENDITURES: LEGISLATURE 540,000 540,000 JUDICIAL 1,285,227 1,146,227 ELECTIONS 345,842 345,842 GENERAL GOVERNMENT/ IT 2,575,484 2,575,484 PLANNING AND ZONING 722,779 722,779 GENERAL BUILDING MAINT. 2,431,852 2,431,852

EST. BEGINNING FUND BAL. EST. REVENUE EST. EXPENSES EST. ENDING FUND BAL.

2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026

FOOD CARTS AUTOMATIC ROLLUP DOOR OPENER PORTABLE PLASMA CUTTER PROCESS SHACK 400AMP SWITCH TOTAL DETENTION CTR FUNDING

WBR Legal Notices

GENERAL FUND

MISC. REVENUE PUBLIC WORK FEES PUBLIC UTILITIES REVENUE SOLID WASTE COLLECTIONS WEED & GRASS CUTTING CULTURE AND RECR. RECREATION REVENUES FEES,FINES,CHARGES FEES,FINES,CHARGES,COMM. OFF TRACK BETTING FEE HEALTH & WELFARE HEALTH & WELFARE FEES TRANSFERS OPERATING TRANSFERS -IN CAPITAL TRANSFERS -IN TRANSFER FROM PORT ALLEN

PUBLIC SAFETY PUBLIC WORKS ROADS MAINTENANCE DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE LIGHTING DISTRICTS GARBAGE COLLECTIONS PUBLIC UTILITIES OPERATION HEALTH AND WELFARE HEALTH UNIT OPERATIONS CSBG - OPERATIONS LIBRARY OPERATION MUSEUM OPERATION TOURIST COMMISSION OPER. TOURIST COMM. RIVERFRONT RECREATION COMMUNITY CTR OPERATION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARISH FARM AGENT OPERATING TRANS.-OUT CAP. OUTLAY TRANS.-OUT DEBT SERVICE: PRINCIPLE INTEREST PAYING AGENT FEE CAPITAL OUTLAY EXPENSE

2026

$ 1,356,020

WBR Legal Notices

TOTAL BUDGET

18,343,800 2,604,800 20,265,516 10,248,092 26,000 26,000 0 0 1,150,000 1,150,000 150,000 150,000 0 1,348,227 49,000 610,000 10,000 1,587,500 1,173,853 195,000 29,472,058 1,376,375 2,870,000 8,638,882 0 3,162,200 1,100,000 361,600 131,600 0 0

USE OF MONEY& PROP. INTEREST EARNINGS RENT & ROYALTY REVENUE SALES AT AUCTION

$ 366,800

WBR Legal Notices

Trucks Gas Smart Meters & Skid Steer Meters Computers Cameras Pump Replacements Track Trencher Telemetry Computers Trucks Water Line Upgrades Water Tower Rehab Addis Backhoe Computers Trucks WaterLineUpgrades Gas Smart Meters Trucks Computers WaterLine Upgrades Smart Meter Trencher Water Tower Rehab Trucks Computers Excavator Water Line Uphgrade

AMOUNT

YEAR

$ 80,000 $ 85,000 $ 50,000 $ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 50,000 $ 25,000 $ 30,000 $ 10,000 $ 125,000 $ 100,000 $ 300,000 $ 80,000 $ 15,000 $ 120,000 $ 125,000 $ 100,000 $ 120,000 $ 15,000 $ 100,000 $ 80,000 $ 85,000 $ 325,000 $ 135,000 $ 15,000 $ 75,000 $ 100,000

2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2026 2027 2027 2027 2027 2027 2027 2027 2028 2028 2028 2028 2028 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2029 2030 2030 2030

516,636

32,000 3,581 11,600 32,000 -16,819

2,083,439 10,999,596 8,094,403 8,946,978 10,999,596 6,041,785

28 29

129,000 28,786 3,610 161,396 0 161,396 161,396 0

516,636 137,904 521,636 516,636 142,904

0

57,995,546 57,995,546 0 57,995,546 57,995,546 0

0 4,725,951 150,000 0 4,875,951

2,196,020 2,396,020 1,313,623 1,632,500 2,396,020 550,103

4,000,000 4,883,453 1,431,658 3,764,853 4,883,453 313,058

365,175 8,511,234 6,764,290 8,213,400 8,511,234 6,466,456

Trucks Backhoe

200,000 1,998,520 3,029,237 1,582,936 1,998,520 2,613,653

235,000 3,334,136 5,632,809 3,270,800 3,334,136 5,569,473

$ 125,000 $ 95,000

2030 2030

WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH COUNCIL BUDGET ESTIMATES AND REQUESTS YEAR 2026 FUND: LIBRARY

DESCRIPTION

PRIOR YEAR CURRENT YEAR CURRENT YEAR REQUESTED Actual 2024 Budget 2025 Estimate 2025 2026

REVENUES AD VALOREM STATE GRANTS STATE SHARED REVENUE PHOTOCOPY FINES & LOST BOOK MONEY INTEREST EARNINGS GIFTS MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE LANDRY INTEREST TOTAL REVENUES

$ 3,043,780 $ 500,000 $ 58,022 $ 9,602 $ 1,094 $ 270,975 $3 $ 1,741 $ 10,628 $ 3,895,845 =========

$ 1,115,275

$ 2,772,000 0 $ 60,000 $ 6,000 $ 700 $ 80,000 $ 100 $ 8,000 $ 2,926,800 =========

$ 3,000,000 $$ 53,825 $ 9,000 $ 700 $ 115,000 $ 5,100 $$ 9,000 $ 3,192,625 =========

$ 3,116,000 0 $ 60,000 $ 6,000 $ 700 $ 80,000 $ 100 $$ 8,000 $ 3,270,800 =========

$ 1,295,936

$ 1,242,774

$ 1,391,236

DISBURSEMENTS SALARIES

10D ■ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS OPERATING SERVICES MATERIALS & SUPPLIES BOOKS, ETC. GRANTS TRAVEL & TRAINING INTERGOVERNMENTAL EXPENDITURES CAPITAL PROJECTS TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS

lll

WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

WBR Legal Notices

$ 389,150 $ 525,145 $ 60,113 $ 339,045 $ 689 $ 19,137 $ 98,761

$ 436,200 $ 535,500 $ 90,500 $ 203,000

$ 404,100 $ 483,150 $ 71,500 $ 160,000

$ 496,900 $ 563,500 $ 121,000 $ 175,000

$ 17,000 $ 120,000

$ 9,500 $ 99,000

$ 20,000 $ 120,000

$ 796,525 $ 3,343,840 =========

$ 185,000 $ 2,883,136 =========

$ 60,000 $ 2,530,024 =========

$ 235,000 $ 3,122,636 =========

STREET NAME ANTONIO RD NORTH WINTERVILLE RD BURNSIDE RD PARKER LANE RANDALL GAY STREET PAULS LANE SUGGS RD TREUIL RD ADDIS TO CHOCTAW CONNECTING ROAD- ROW ACQUISITION ADDIS TO CHOCTAW CONNECTING ROAD ROAD REPAIRS AND CONSTRUCTION MATCH ON 415 CONNECTOR PECAN STREET WALNUT STREET WILLOW STREET CYPRESS STREET OAK STREET PECAN GROVE STREET ELM GROVE STREET ROAD REPAIRS AND CONSTRUCTION ROAD REPAIRS AND CONSTRUCTION MATCH ON 415 CONNECTOR LANDSDOWN DR ROBIN DR METRO DR LIBERTY DR ROSELAND DR ROSEWOOD CT ROSEPETAL DR ROSEBUD DR ROAD REPAIRS AND CONSTRUCTION MATCH ON 415 CONNECTOR BYRD AVE ASHLAND WESTWOOD BLVD/WESTWIND/WESTDALE CANE BAYOU RD E. HUGH LOOP RD PAYNE RD ROAD REPAIRS AND CONSTRUCTION MATCH ON 415 CONNECTOR BALIS ST COFFIELD ST REV. MANUEL RED HAT RD SMITHFIELD RD ROAD REPAIRS AND CONSTRUCTION MATCH ON 415 CONNECTOR

REVENUE COLLECTIONS

NET REVENUE COLLECTIONS

BEGINNING FUND BALANCE* PLUS: REVENUES LESS: DISBURSEMENTS ENDING FUND BALANCE*

$ 4,418,203 $ 3,895,845 $ (3,343,840) $ 4,970,208

13,607,821 13,607,821

11,000,000 11,000,000

11,001,300 11,001,300

11,000,000 11,000,000

6,803,911

5,500,000

5,500,650

5,500,000

6,227,739 13,607,821

4,400,000 11,000,000

4,695,900 11,001,300

4,695,900 11,000,000

13,396,916

10,860,000

10,862,500

10,860,000

1,328,072

2,750,000

2,750,550

2,750,000

67,854 68,647,956 1,292,965 0 785,757

60,000 56,570,000 900,000 0 755,000

67,700 56,881,200 1,170,400 0 689,600

65,000 56,870,900 950,000 0 685,000

148,364

100,000

112,150

103,000

(2,221)

(1,800)

(2,031)

(1,950)

(31,251)

(24,825)

(27,900)

(24,525)

____________

____________ ____________

$ 70,841,571

$ 58,298,375

$ 58,823,419 $ 58,582,425

=========

=========

=========

0.49%

=========

DISBURSEMENTS

Legal Notices

p “Unified Development Code “, as amended so as to change the zoning on the property located at 8261 Ned Avenue To re‐ zone from Rural to Lim‐ ited Residential (A3.1) on property located on the north side of Ned Av‐ enue, west of Starboard Drive, on property now or formerly known as Lot 12 of Riverland Subdivision, First Filing. Section 41, T8S, R1E, GLD, EBRP, LA (Council District 3 Gaudet) Case 51-25 ORDINANCE Amending the Compre‐ hensive Zoning Map of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, as contained in and made part of the “Unified Development Code “, as amended so as to change the zoning on the property located at 683 and 709 East Air‐ port Avenue To rezone from Transition (B1) to Light Commercial Three (LC3) on property located on the east side of east Airport Avenue, north of Goodwood Boulevard, on property now or formerly known as Lot 20-C and 21-C of Professional Of‐ fice Park Independence Park. Section 83, T7S, R1E, GLD, EBRP, LA (Coun‐ cil District 7 - Harris) Case 52-25 ORDINANCE Amending the Compre‐ hensive Zoning Map of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton

484,640

579,960

528,185

609,050 7 EMPL

101,870

138,450

115,933

154,000

1,006 55,220 6,812 0 14146.44 1,191

1,310 63,800 8,410 0 8,500 1,500

1,105 58,100 7,448 0 7,600 1,220

1,360 67,000 8,835 0 8,500 1,500

Legal Notices

Rouge, as contained in and made part of the “Unified Development Code “, as amended so as to change the zoning on the property located at 12201 Coursey Boule‐ vard To rezone from Rural to Light Commer‐ cial Two (LC2) on prop‐ erty located on the north side of Coursey Boule‐ vard, east of Lake Sher‐ wood Avenue, on prop‐ erty now or formerly known as a Lot 49-A-1-A of Coursey Village, Third Filing. Section 51, T7S, R2E, GLD, EBRP, LA (Coun‐ cil District 8 - Amoroso) Case 54-25 ORDINANCE Amending the Compre‐ hensive Zoning Map of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, as contained in and made part of the “Unified Development Code “, as amended so as to change the zoning on the property located at 555 South Kenilworth Parkway To rezone from Rural to Light Commer‐ cial One (LC1) on prop‐ erty located on the south side of South Kenilworth Parkway, west of Bur‐ bank Drive, on property now or formerly known as Tract X-1-A of Chatsworth Plantation.

Section 5, T8S, R1E, GLD, EBRP, LA (Council District 12 - Racca) Case 55-25 ORDINANCE Bocage Canal Revocation k

Legal Notices

g A request to revoke 60 feet of the Bocage Canal 120 foot right-of-way, lo‐ cated on the north side of Corporate Boulevard and west of Commerce Circle, Tract 1-A of the Towne Center Business Park (Council District 11 Adams) RV-7-25 170361 Jan. 6, 13, 20, 2026 3t $308.14

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

PUBLIC NOTICE --City of Baker School Board Board Meeting Agenda Tuesday, January 6, 2026, 6:00 P.M. School Board Office Monique Butler, President – Presiding “Every decision we make should open a door for a child.”

A. Meeting Commencement 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Silent Meditation 4. Pledge of Allegiance B. Welcome of Visitors C. Recognitions D. Approval of Agenda (Action) E. Action Items-The public may comment on i bli

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min p y Action Items.

Public Comment is limited to 2 minutes per individual.

1. Election of Board Offi‐ cers 2. Consideration and Ap‐ proval of Minutes from the School Board Meet‐ ing of 12-2-2025.

3. Consideration and Ac‐ ceptance of Monthly Fi‐ nancial Reports including Budget to Actual Com‐ parisons for the Period Ending November 30, 2025.

4. Consideration and pos‐ sible adoption of a reso‐ lution pursuant to Act 354 to change the City of Baker School Board elec‐ tion cycle from the con‐ gressional election cycle to the fall gubernatorial election cycle beginning with the 2031 fall guber‐ natorial election.

F. Information Items 1. Report from Helix 2. Policy Review a. A-5.3 Term of Office (Tied to Act 354) b. B-6 Bonded Members c. D-5 Bonded Employees d. D-6.1 Accounting System e. B-12.8, Public Participation in School Board Meetings f. KLG-Relations with Law Enforcement (New policy) G. Announcements 1. Date of Next Meeting – February 3, 2026 H. Adjournment (Action) 172727 Jan. 6, 1t $25.99

WBR Legal Notices

$ 4,970,208 $ 5,632,809 $ 3,192,625 $ 3,270,800 $ (2,530,024) $ (3,122,636) $ 5,632,809 $ 5,780,973

FUND FOR 2029

FUND FOR 2030

LAST OVERLAYED

2014 2008 2012 2011 2011 2008 2014

2013 2013 2012 2013 2003 2003 2003

105,000 70,000 70,000 140,000 122,500 245,000 364,000 200,000 200,000 1,000,000

2015

175,000 52,500 52,500 70,000 214,200 35,000 17,500 34,440 200,000

2018 2013 2013 2013

2008 2004

122,500 245,000 171,500 122,500 35,000 70,000 200,000

2008

2013 2013 2011 2011 2011

52,500 52,500 210,000 175,000 157,500 200,000

2,889

3,500

2,990

3,500

12,422 3,248

16,000 12,000

14,300 4,860

16,000 10,000

2,535

6,000

4,050

6,000

2,095 56,984 1,655 13,000 4,852

45,000 55,000 3,000 13,000 10,000

13,780 47,440 2,380 13,000 7,300

45,000 55,000 3,500 13,000 10,000

0

52,000

0

0

5,020 0

5,400 31,000

5,271 26,970

5,850 21,900

$ 769,586

$ 1,053,830

$ 861,932

=========

=========

=========

=========

6,401,610 6,353,951 6,722,120 1,249,070 0 65,634 4,907,837 2,535,324 6,689,759 6,139,588 26,678,850

5,151,250 5,111,655 5,409,159 886,500 58,200 3,950,958 2,039,686 5,383,087 4,309,159 21,496,636

5,170,376 5,112,717 5,429,242 1,152,844 0 65,669 3,990,819 2,036,183 5,406,874 4,624,492 21,578,169

5,152,777 47.61% 5,095,315 47.09% 5,410,762 935,750 0 63,050 3,977,235 2,029,252 5,388,470 4,606,662 21,503,050

1,097,578

2,704,580

2,714,846

2,705,381

773,971

743,675

679,256

674,725

$ 1,039,995 -1.31%

TAX DISBURSEMENTS

TOTAL TAX DISBURSEMENTS $ 69,615,292 * =========

$ 57,244,545

$ 57,961,487 $ 57,542,430

=========

=========

0.52%

=========

GRAND TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS

$ 70,384,877

$ 58,298,375

$ 58,823,419 $ 58,582,425

=========

=========

=========

BEGINNING FUND BALANCE PLUS: REVENUES LESS: DISBURSEMENTS ENDING FUND BALANCE *

$ 4,519,112 $ 70,841,571 $ 70,384,877 $ 4,975,805

$ 4,975,805 $ 58,298,375 $ 58,298,375 $ 4,975,805

$ 4,975,805 $ 4,975,805 $ 58,823,419 $ 58,582,425 $ 58,823,419 $ 58,582,425 $ 4,975,805 $ 4,975,806

=========

=========

=========

OPERATING EXPENSES SALARIES & SEVERANCE PAY HOSPITALIZATION INSURANCE LIFE INSURANCE RETIREMENT MEDICARE/SOC.SEC. TAXES WORKERS COMPENSATION POSTAGE TELEPHONE

$ 4,970,208 $ 2,926,800 $ (2,883,136) $ 5,013,872

FUND FOR 2028

PARISH SALES TAX DISTRICT SALES TAX CORRECTIONS TAX OCCUP. LICENSES OFF TRACK BETTING RIVERVIEW EDD CITY OF PORT ALLEN TOWN OF BRUSLY TOWN OF ADDIS FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT 1 SCHOOL BOARD 18TH JUDICIAL ENFORCEMENT DISTRICT WBRP TOURIST COMMISSION

$____________

FUND FOR 2027

TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES * 0.53%

WBR Legal Notices

Approved by the Library Board of Control on September 16, 2025 * Includes Landry account, of which $1,097,860 is restricted principal.

OFFICE SUPPLIES AND FORMS COMPUTER OPERATIONS TRAVEL CONFERENCES & MEMBERSHIPS LEGAL/ COURT COSTS CONTRACT SERVICES MISCELLANEOUS OTHER INTERGOV’T. - OFFICE SPACE OFFICE EQUIPMENT COMPUTER SYSTEM (REPLACE STS) TECNOLOGY - ONLINE FILING IT COST

PRIOR YEAR CURRENT YEAR CURRENT YEAR REQUESTED Actual 2024 Budget 2025 Estimate 2025 2026

PARISH SALES TAX SALES TAX DISTRICT # 1 CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES SALES TAX FIRE PROTECTION SALES TAX SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT EDUCATION FACILITIES DISTRICT 18TH JUDICIAL ENFORCEMENT DISTRICT RIVERVIEW EDD SUB TOTAL - SALES TAX OCCUPATIONAL LICENSE TAX OFF TRACK BETTING HOTEL MOTEL TAX INTEREST ON BANK ACCOUNT LESS COLLECTION COST FOR RIVERVIEW EDD LESS: COLLECTION FEES FOR OLT,OTB,H-M REPLACE OLT SYSTEM RESERVE FOR REFUND CONTINGENCY RESERVE FOR BOND INDEBTEDNESS

WBR Legal Notices

2026 CAPITAL ROAD PROGRAM ( 5 YEAR PROGRAM) WORK TO FUND FOR BE DONE YEAR LENGTH 2026 2026 0.55 192,500 2026 1.10 385,000 2026 1.20 420,000 2026 0.10 35,000 2026 0.25 87,500 2026 0.55 192,500 2026 0.15 52,500 2026 0.85 297,500 CONSTRUCTION 2026 250,000 CONSTRUCTION 2026 1,000,000 CONSTRUCTION 2026 200,000 CONSTRUCTION 2026 1,260,000 OVERLAY 2027 0.30 OVERLAY 2027 0.20 OVERLAY 2027 0.20 OVERLAY 2027 0.40 OVERLAY 2027 0.35 OVERLAY 2027 0.70 OVERLAY 2027 1.04 CONSTRUCTION 2027 CONSTRUCTION 2027 CONSTRUCTION 2027 OVERLAY 2028 0.50 OVERLAY 2028 0.15 OVERLAY 2028 0.15 OVERLAY 2028 0.20 OVERLAY 2028 0.61 OVERLAY 2028 0.10 OVERLAY 2028 0.05 OVERLAY 2028 0.10 CONSTRUCTION 2028 CONSTRUCTION 2028 OVERLAY 2029 0.35 OVERLAY 2029 0.70 OVERLAY 2029 0.49 OVERLAY 2029 0.35 OVERLAY 2029 0.10 OVERLAY 2029 0.20 CONSTRUCTION 2029 CONSTRUCTION 2029 OVERLAY 2030 0.15 OVERLAY 2030 0.15 OVERLAY 2030 0.60 OVERLAY 2030 0.50 OVERLAY 2030 0.45 CONSTRUCTION 2030 CONSTRUCTION 2030

WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH COUNCIL BUDGET ESTIMATES AND REQUESTS YEAR 2026 FUND: SALES TAX

DESCRIPTION

WBR Legal Notices

=========

=========

171024-597012-Dec. 30, Jan. 6-2t $ 4,615.38

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

PUBLIC NOTICE --VBR-232 Lafayette, Inc. (Public Benefit Corporation) December 11, 2025 A scheduled meeting of VBR-232 Lafayette, Inc. was held on Thursday, December 11, 2025 at 359 Third Street at 11:00 a.m.

Present: Scott Michelet Mary Stein Gary Jupiter Claude Reynaud Marty Engquist Present but not partici‐ pating in formal action: Jill Kidder, Staff Lauralyn Maranto, Staff Danielle Prejean, Staff Jeremy Fontenot, Board Member Gary Patureau, Board Member Stephen Hightower, Board Member Chuck Elkins, Legal Coun‐ sel Mack Gregorie, Legal Counsel Lisa Nice, GFP Architec‐ ture & Design Shaun Toups, Govern‐ ment Consultants, Inc. Kelly Longwell, Longwell Riess, via Zoom Scott Michelet called the meeting to order and opened the meeting for public comment.

A motion was made by Gary Jupiter, seconded

by Mary Stein to adopt the November 13, 2025

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min

minutes as presented.

Motion passed.

In a public hearing, Danielle Prejean updated the board regarding the 2026 Proposed Budget re‐ flecting a change from 10.75% to 10% for Design Fees. A motion was made

by Claude Reynaud, sec‐ onded by Mary Stein to adopt the 2026 Proposed Budget as present.

Motion passed.

Lisa Nice presented an overview relating to the production schedule re‐ lating to construction, design fee amendment, Part II drawings for SHPO, and an update on the asbestos and lead paint abatement.

Mack Gregorie reported that the tax credits and bond documents are in draft form in preparation for closing.

Discussion was held re‐ garding access to the staging lot and parking during construction.

CPRT has granted Visit Baton Rouge use of the staging lot during the construction phase as well as usage of the servitude. Mack Gregorie is working on an agree‐ ment between Visit Baton Rouge and CPRT. As discussed, the only access to the staging lot is through Tony Clayton’s ki l idd

Public Notices Meet/Hear/Min g y y parking lot. Ms. Kidder stated that Mr. Clayton is willing to work with Visit Baton Rouge. Lisa Nice reported that the con‐ struction documents will note that an agreement would be between Tony Clayton and the con‐ struction company for usage as well as for any additional parking needs.

It will be also written in the construction docu‐ ments that the contrac‐ tor would add both Visit Baton Rouge and CPRT as additional insurers and that the parking and staging lots would be left in their original condi‐ tion.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

172756-JAN 6-1T $38.35

Public Notices Successions

PUBLIC NOTICE --19th JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE STATE OF LOUISIANA PROBATE NO.117156 IN THE MATTER OF THE SUCCESSION OF GERTRUDE CANIZARO RAMIREZ

Public Notices Successions

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR AUTHORITY TO SELL IMMOVABLE PROPERTY AT PRIVATE SALE NOTICE IS GIVEN that the Executor of this suc‐ cession has petitioned this Court for authority to sell immovable prop‐ erty of the deceased at a private sale in accor‐ dance with the provi‐ sions of Article 3281 of the Code of Civil Proce‐ dure for the Estate’s in‐ terest in said property described below and for the consideration for the following described property, to wit: A certain Condominium Unit, together with all the improvements thereon, situated in the Parish of East Baton Rouge, State of Louisiana, being a por‐ tion of the Condominium Property submitted to the Condominium Regime of VILLAGE WOODS RETIREMENT COMMUNITY, A CONDO‐ MINIUM, under the Con‐ dominium Declaration filed as Original 610, Bun‐ dle 9591 and in Original 655, Bundle 9668, official records of the Parish of East Baton Rouge, Louisiana; which Condo‐ minium is shown on Ex‐ hibits to the original Dec‐ laration as UNIT NUMBER V-201, and having such measurements as shown thereon; together with an undivided share in the Common and Limited Common elements ap‐ pertaining to said units under the terms and pro‐ i i f id l

Public Notices Successions p visions of said Declara‐ tion; and subject to all of the restrictions, obliga‐ tions, charges and other provisions of said Decla‐ ration.

Said property described hereinabove bearing mu‐ nicipal address of 5323 Blair Lane, Unit V-201, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809 Said selling $110,000.00.

price

is

Any heir or creditor who opposes the proposed sale must file an opposi‐ tion within Seven (7) days from the day on which the last publica‐ tion of this notice ap‐ pears.

BY ORDER OF THE COURT DOUG WELBORN Honorable Clerk of Court East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana 170623 Dec. 16, 2025, Jan. 6, 2026, 2t $93.16

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