The Times-Picayune 01-06-2026

HAIL BACCHUS Actor Patrick Warburton to reign as celebrity king 1B SSAINTS STANDOUT YOUNG FINDS HOME IN N.O. 1C

N O L A.C O M

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

Violent crime in N.O. down again in 2025

Homicide numbers fall to lowest level in 50 years

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CDC reduces recommended childhood vaccinations Public health experts criticize policy changes

BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer

Moreno administration officials, who crafted a razor-thin $801 million general fund budget that didn’t anticipate unfunded New Orleans Police Department bonus obligations.

“That’s another $8 million now I’m going to need to figure out,” Moreno told reporters at a briefing Wednesday.

Although Moreno indicated she

Federal officials made sweeping changes to U.S. vaccine policy Monday, sharply cutting the number of recommended childhood immunizations, a move that could impact public 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 respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, hepatitis A and B, influenza, rotavirus, COVID-19 and meningococcal disease, as well as vaccines for dengue and meningococcal B in certain places will now be recommended only “Changing for high-risk groups or for the pediatric “shared clinical decision-makvaccine ing,” which means discussions between patients and providers. schedule “President Trump directed based on no us to examine how other develscientific oped nations protect their chilinput on dren and to take action if they safety risks are doing better,” said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, and little Jr., a vaccine skeptic who said transparency the move was made “after an will cause exhaustive review of the eviunnecessary dence.” fear for Trump administration officials said the overhaul, a move patients and long sought by Kennedy, won’t doctors, and result in families who want the will make vaccines losing access to them, America and said insurance will continue sicker.” to pay. But medical experts said the decision creates confusion SEN. BILL for parents and could increase CASSIDy, preventable diseases.

Among the critics of the move R-Baton Rouge 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

ä See BONUSES, page 7A

ä See VACCINE, page 5A

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick talks about the final 2025 crime statistics for the city at a news conference on Monday with members of the New Orleans Police Department command staff and New Orleans City Council member Eugene Green, left.

BY JULIA GUILBEAU and MARCO CARTOLANO Staff writers

Violent crime in New Orleans decreased again in 2025, continuing the steady decline in violence the city has experienced over the past three years and bringing homicides to a 50-year low, according to newly released data from the New Orleans Police Department.

In 2025, the city saw 121 murders compared with 125 the previous year, representing a 3% drop, NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters on Monday. Without the 14 deaths from the New Year’s Day terror attack on Bourbon Street, New Orleans’ 2025 murder rate would have seen a 14% drop compared with 2024, she said.

Nonfatal shootings also declined in 2025, dropping 3%, and armed robberies and carjackings fell by

ä See CRIME, page 7A

Murders in New Orleans, 1964-2025 1994 peak: 424

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2025: 121

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1964 1970

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Source: FBI, New Orleans Police Department

2020 Staff graphic

City can’t pay NOPD promised bonuses

BY BEN MYERS Staff writer

When a historic violent crime wave converged with a New Orleans police staffing crisis in 2022, Mayor LaToya Cantrell put $20 million in federal grants toward police bonuses in a bid to shore up the ranks.

Now the outgoing administration says the money is mostly spent, and there isn’t enough to pay $10,000

bonuses for officers who agreed to stick around for three years.

An estimated $8 million to $12 million is due to officers this month, but less than $4 million from the city’s appropriation of American Rescue Plan Act funds for the effort remains, according to a Dec. 23 email from a Cantrell administration official to Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, who takes office Jan. 12.

The revelation stunned incoming

Defiant Maduro pleads not guilty

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, LARRY NEUMEISTER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press

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 Venezuela.

“I was captured,” Maduro said in

WEATHER HIGH 78 LOW 62 PAGE 6B

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am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.” ä Cuba faces uncertain future after Maduro’s court appearance in U.S. topples Maduro. Page 2A Manhattan, his first since he and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized ä U.S. allies, adversaries critique from their Caracas home Saturday Venezuela actions at U.N. meeting. in a stunning middle-of-the-night Page 3A military operation, kicked off the U.S. government’s most consequential prosecution in decades Spanish as translated by a court- of a foreign head of state. She also room interpreter before being cut pleaded not guilty.

The criminal case is unfoldoff by the judge. Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated: ä See MADURO, page 5A “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I

IMAGE FROM WABC TV VIDEO

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

Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C

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2A ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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Jury selection begins in trial of ex-Uvalde officer

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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 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 before 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.”

Associated Press

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 Times-Picayune ✦ nola.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

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.

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.”

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.

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4A ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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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

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. 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.”

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 Shirley, 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 Democraticleaning 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 Republi-

cans 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.

Final pilgrims cross Holy Door Paris court finds 10 guilty of as Vatican claims Jubilee success cyberbullying French first lady

BY NICOLE WINFIELD and TRISHA THOMAS

BY SYLVIE CORBET

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.

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

Brigitte Macron didn’t PARIS — A Paris court on Monday found 10 people attend the two-day trial in guilty of cyberbullying October. Speaking on TF1 France’s first lady, Brigitte national television Sunday, she said that she Macron, by spreadlaunched legal proing false online claims about her ceedings to “set an gender and sexuality, example” in the including allegations fight against hathat she was born a rassment. male.

Her lawyer, Jean One defendant Ennochi, said Monwas sentenced to six B. Macron day that “what is months in prison, important is that while eight were handed sus- there are immediate cypended sentences between berbullying awareness four and eight months. All trainings, and for some of 10 were ordered to attend the defendants, a ban on cyberbullying awareness using their social media actraining. counts.”

The court pointed to “parHer daughter, Tiphaine ticularly 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 igder and a pedophile. nore the horrible things said “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, merous comments falsely received 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 Associated Press

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.

Among the last to cross 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.

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 eight-month 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.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting votes itself out of existence

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 encourage-

ment 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

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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.

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MADURO

Continued from page 1A ing 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.”

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

VACCINE

Continued from page 1A 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 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 Abra-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By STEFAN JEREMIAH

Protesters hold signs calling for the release of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro outside Manhattan Federal Court before his arraignment in New york on Monday. 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 much-disputed 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.

ham 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 rea-

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-year-old Pedro Rojas stood up and began speaking forcefully at him in Spanish.

Rojas said later that he had been imprisoned by the Venezuelan 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

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

Federal officials emphasized 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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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 illegiti-

mate 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 political stability,” Maduro Guerra said Also Monday, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting, 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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6A ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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BUSINESS N O L A.C O M/BIZ

DOW 48,977.18 594.79 1.23%

NASDAQ 23,395.82 160.19 0.69%

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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.

The Times-Picayune ✦ nola.com ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ 7A

lll

CRIME

that left several dead, including a Chicago tourist, a Bayou St. John artist, a Brennan’s chef and a patron of Kermit’s Treme Mother-inLaw Lounge.

Following the spree of violence, Landry asked the Trump administration to approve a federally funded deployment of 1,000 National Guard troops to New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. His request was granted in December, when Trump announced Louisiana Guardsmen would arrive in New Orleans and remain through Mardi Gras.

Continued from page 1A 28% and 35%, respectively.

Compared to 2022, when the city’s murder rate led the nation, New Orleans’ homicide rate decreased by 55%, according to officials.

The statistics echo counts released in December by crime analyst Jeff Asher’s Real-Time Crime Index and from the watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission.

They are the result, Kirkpatrick said, of the use of more precise policing techniques to find criminals — such as searching social media — instead of oldschool approaches, like conducting numerous stops in high-crime areas. She also credited police partnerships.

“We do not fish with a net where we just catch everybody, stop everybody,” Kirkpatrick said. “We fish with a spear gun.”

The news conference came days after Asher released data showing New Orleans had joined a group of other large metros — including Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Oakland, California — that were poised to record their lowest murder total in a half century.

Despite the declining crime rates, the city has faced sharp criticism from President Donald Trump and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry over the last year as calls mounted for a National Guard deployment to deal with crime, especially in the French Quarter.

Over the weekend, Trump said the National Guard’s recent deployment to New Orleans had significantly decreased crime during a news conference about the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Guard members have been in the city for only six days; accurate year-over-year or period-over-period comparisons are not yet available.

BONUSES

Continued from page 1A will honor Cantrell’s commitment to NOPD officers, it’s not clear how she will do that. Also unclear is how exactly the shortage happened — if, for example, the bonuses were more expensive than expected, additional funding never materialized or the federal grants were spent elsewhere.

“I’m in the process of trying to figure out how we got from A to B,” said incoming Chief Administrative Officer Joe Giarrusso. “ARPA funds that should have been there were not allocated for this. So how did that happen?

Where did the funds go and how do we solve it?”

The Cantrell administration did not respond to an inquiry.

The 2026 city budget already relies on reallocating $15 million in unspent ARPA funds, along with other new revenue from the Sewerage & Water Board, the Wisner Trust and new parking enforcement and collection measures. Moreno is also planning furloughs for more than 700 city employees and hiring freezes to cut back on expenses. She has characterized the budget as a work in progress that

Crime by district

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick talks about the final 2025 crime statistics for the city at a news conference on Monday.

What is causing the decline?

The drop was praised by Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, who said NOPD’s increased use of technology, forensics and ballistics has been a force multiplier for investigators solving crimes, despite the continued manpower crisis the department faces.

More crimes are being solved using video, cellphone data and social media trolling, according to Goyeneche, all things that can help bolster a case in court and ultimately keep offenders behind bars.

“It means that crime is down because the police department has done a better job in arresting the people responsible for crimes of violence,” he said.

Goyeneche also emphasized a growing rate in the number of arrests that lead to convictions, a statistic that he said suggests District

will need massaging as her administration learns more about the city’s financial condition.

It’s possible the bonuses could be paid from an emergency payroll fund that was set up in November after the Cantrell administration announced the city had run out of cash.

The fund was set up with $125 million in short-term revenue bonds that state officials approved on the condition that Louisiana Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack oversee it and approve weekly draws.

Waguespack said Monday he wasn’t prepared to say if the retention bonuses are an eligible use of the fund.

“It would have to be something we review and discuss with the new administration,” Waguespack said.

C l a u d e S c h l e s i n g e r, spokesperson for the local branch of the Fraternal Order of Police, said concerns surfaced during the cash crisis that upcoming retention bonuses could be slashed, but the Cantrell administration assured him they would be paid.

“My impression was the city wanted to honor its commitment,” he said.

Cantrell pushed multiple NOPD bonus packages through the Civil Service Commission and the City

Attorney Jason Williams’ office is doing a better job of prosecuting cases.

The crime commission found that the arrest to felony conviction rate rose from 20% in 2022 to 37% in 2024, though it still lags behind both the national average and the 44% achieved by former District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro in 2019.

Kirkpatrick also touted the department’s collaboration with both national and federal agencies, including Troop Nola and the National Guard, which was deployed to New Orleans for Bayou Classic during Thanksgiving weekend last year on the state’s dime.

“We work very well with everyone, so I will just say collectively we all have a role to play and we’re just grateful that crime is down,” Kirkpatrick said.

In 2024, NOPD and the Louisiana State Police set up the Troop Nola unit to tackle crime in New Orleans, adding additional officers

Council in 2022, when New Orleans’ murder rate led the nation and NOPD officers were leaving in droves. The NOPD ended that year with about 940 commissioned officers, the fewest since the 1950s.

The bonuses included cash payments for recruits, transfers and seasoned officers who maintained NOPD employment over certain periods of time. Among the various benefits were $10,000 retention bonuses for officers on the force as of October who maintained NOPD employment for three years.

Those payments are in process this month, but “there are not currently sufficient remaining funds in the ARPA appropriation,” according to the Dec. 23 email from Abigail Vienne, director of governmental affairs for Cantrell’s chief administrative office.

Vienne projected that between $8 million and $12 million is needed to make the three-year payment, but the precise figure hadn’t been confirmed. A city dashboard shows $3.6 million remaining from a $20.8 million ARPA appropriation for NOPD recruitment and retention.

In her email, Vienne said she wanted to alert incoming leadership “for both cash-

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on the ground as a supplement to NOPD’s dwindling numbers. Troop Nola accounted for 5% of all felony arrests in the city in 2024, the commission found, though no 2025 figure had been released as of Monday evening. Troop Nola officials did not immediately respond to a request for data.

Deadliest months January was the deadliest month last year in New Orleans, with 20 homicides — 14 of which were attributed to the deadly terror attack.

But in September, the second deadliest month, 13 people were killed, more than triple the number killed in September 2024. August, October and December all saw 12 homicides each.

The end of September and the beginning of October also saw one of the worst stretches of violence in the city last year, a seven-day stretch of high-profile homicides

flow and budgetary considerations.”

Cantrell’s plans overcame skepticism from some council members and others who questioned whether the bonuses were either legal or advisable. Police officials estimated the bonuses would

Homicides fell or stayed static across a majority of NOPD’s eight police districts, including in New Orleans East, an area where residents have long complained of violence. The district still saw the most homicides at 32, but its murder rate stayed flat.

The exceptions were District 1, which includes portions of MidCity, Bayou St. John, Treme and the 7th Ward, and District 8, which largely consists of the French Quarter and downtown.

District 1’s homicide rate more than doubled in 2025, increasing from five in 2024 to 11. District 8, which was heavily impacted by the Bourbon Street attack, saw 22 homicides in 2025 and 13 in 2024, a 69% increase.

Without the terrorist attack, District 8 would have seen a 38% drop in homicides.

Kirkpatrick said the downtown and French Quarter areas are an entertainment environment where people come out to have fun, which carries risk factors. But she said locals and tourists should still feel safe in the French Quarter. She also said the Louisiana National Guard’s presence downtown has been a welcome addition.

“Come to New Orleans. I think you can have a great sense of confidence that you can come to the French Quarter and the other entertainment districts in New Orleans,” Kirkpatrick said.

swell the ranks to 1,075 by the end of 2025.

Violent crime has sharply abated since then, with a 55% decline in murders over the past three years and similar declines in other categories, according to NOPD statistics. Attrition

has also slowed, but staffing hasn’t improved: The number of commissioned officers has consistently hovered around 900 over the past three years, according to a City Council dashboard.

There were 910 as of Sunday.

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‘An honor of my professional career’ 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.

Judge Will Crain moves to federal court

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

The longtime jurist from Bogalu-

sa surrendered his seat on the state high court days before Christmas.

L a s t M o n d a y, Crain took a fresh oath of office from U.S. District Judge Crain 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 Boggs Federal Building overlooking the federal appeals court. “And it does come with the added benefit of not having to be elected, 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, pro-death 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.

A committee of the American Bar Association that conducts peer reviews of federal judicial candidates found Crain “well 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

ä See CRAIN, page 2B

ä See RISHER, page 2B

Aymond to meet with abuse survivors

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Judge Mark Shea looks around his renovated courtroom as he gets settled inside the remodeled New Orleans Municipal and Traffic Court on South Broad Street on Monday.

Back on Broad

Sessions with N.O. archbishop part of $230M settlement

Shea, who was the first to take the sagging ceiling and puddles dotTraffic and municipal Mark the bench Monday after a rebuild that ting the halls. cost more than $50 million.

The temporary location was far building heavily “It’s now bright and shiny. It’s state from ideal, Shea said. the art.”

For more than a month last year, an damaged in Ida ofThe overhaul to the 1964 court electrical outage forced the court to

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,

ä See AYMOND, page 2B

building adjacent to the former New Orleans Police Department headquarters ends a run of more than four years in temporary city digs at 1601 Staff writers Perdido St. Ida ripped off portions of the Broad The Municipal and Traffic Court of New Orleans reopened Monday at its Street building’s roof and sent water original South Broad Street location streaming into its courtrooms. A video for the first time since Hurricane Ida published by WDSU-TV in September destroyed the building’s roof more 2021, a little over a week after Ida’s catastrophic landfall, shows mold than four years ago.

“When they come in, they’re going blanketing walls and furniture inside to be pleasantly surprised,” said Judge the courthouse, water dripping from

BY KASEY BUBNASH and JOHN SIMERMAN

vacate that temporary location for yet another one: two tiny meeting rooms in Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.

Last month, court was canceled at Perdido Street ahead of a cold front that brought a brief bout of freezing temperatures due to insufficient heating. The courthouse closed again in late December for electrical repairs after a power outage over the Christmas holiday.

ä See COURT, page 2B

Patrick Warburton Candidate disqualified from state House election named Bacchus king Judge rules against contender David Cook

BY JONI HESS Staff writer

An Orleans Parish judge has disqualified a legislative contender from the Feb. 7 special election, citing his failure to file state tax returns over the past five years.

In his ruling Monday, Civil District Court Judge Sidney Cates IV found that David Cook, a private investigator, lacked evidence to support his claim

that he wasn’t required to file taxes because of his income.

That narrows the field to two candidates vying for the House 97 seat previously held by former state Rep. and incoming City Council member Jason Hughes: Eugene Green III, a property management consultant and the son of sitting council member Eugene Green II, and Ed T. Murray, an attorney and the son of longtime former Sen. Edwin R. Murray.

Cook said he plans to appeal the ruling, which comes after Green II’s chief

ä See CANDIDATE, page 2B

Actor known for role as David Puddy on ‘Seinfeld’

route.

Wa r b u rton may be best known for his role as the stoic, earnest David Puddy, the Warburton

BY DOUG MacCASH boyfriend of the frenetic Staff writer character Elaine, played by All hail actor Patrick Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the Warburton, who will reign 1990s sitcom “Seinfeld.”

Warburton also played as king of the 2026 Bacchus Carnival parade that rolls the starring role “The Tick” at 5:15 p.m. Feb. 15 along the St. Charles Avenue ä See BACCHUS, page 2B

2B ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

lll

CRAIN

Continued from page 1B 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,” Crain said of his concerns. “And so, for me, being a little bit cautious on the elective side, I said, you know, I just can’t.

I said, I’m 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.

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Former Louisiana Supreme Court Judge Will Crain gets settled into his new office as a federal judge at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans on December 23.

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

COURT

RISHER

“We had vagrants in there.

Rats. We had leaks. We had issues with power,” he said.

“Perdido should have been condemned.”

Those days are over, after a gut-and-rebuild that had been planned long before, Shea said. A combination of Federal Emergency Management Agency money, long-held sheriff’s bond funds and more recent capital dollars from the city bankrolled the project.

The work included a new roof, air system, asbestos and mold remediation, along with a technology overhaul that will make it easier for patrons to navigate.

Judicial administrator Monique Boissiere announced Sunday that the long defunct building at 727 S. Broad St. will operate weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“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

Continued from page 1B

Email Kasey Bubnash at kasey.bubnash@ theadvocate.com.

BACCHUS

Continued from page 1B in the television series, and characters on “Rules of Engagement,” “NewsRadio” and “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” He has had roles in several motion pictures, including voicing the character Kronk in the Disney film “The Emperor’s New Groove,” and is currently the comedic spokesman in Barefoot Wine television commercials keyed to football broadcasts.

Bacchus is one of New Orleans’ most spectacular parades. At its inception in 1969, the founders established a new tradition by crowning a nationally known celebrity as monarch instead of a member of New Orleans society.

The first king was entertainer Danny Kaye, and the most recent basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal. Along the way, Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas, William Shatner, Henry Winkler, Larry King, Hulk Hogan, Anthony Mackie, Drew Brees and dozens of other luminaries wore the crown.

The 2026 Bacchus parade theme is a tribute to America’s 250th anniversary and will feature floats depicting historical events, such as the Roaring ’20s, World War I, World War II, pioneering women and the national parks.

Email Doug MacCash at dmaccash@theadvocate. com.

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, prioritizing a dedicated seat for the area as he led a redraft last year of Supreme Court district lines.

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.

Continued from page 1B

CANDIDATE

Continued from page 1B of staff Sandra Thomas sued Dec. 29 to challenge his candidacy. He said the challenge was maneuvered by the city’s “political machines.”

“I think that that’s what happens when you have second-, third- and fourthgeneration people in office who are inefficient. Power just accumulates,” he said.

Thomas, a district resident, on Monday said she filed the suit independently of Green’s office.

“I think the judgment

STAFF PHOTOS By JAN RISHER

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

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.

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.

from Judge Cates says it all,” she said.

The district covers Gentilly and Pontchartrain Park, parts of Bayou St. John, the Lakefront and Mid-City.

The lawsuit alleged that Cook failed to timely file his tax returns or request a filing extension, and it was based on a public records request Thomas filed days earlier to the state Department of Revenue that found no record of previous filings.

Thomas previously lodged a similar case in July against former District D council candidate Kevin-Griffith Clark who

was later disqualified for failure to pay taxes.

In his defense, Cook said his income never met the state’s threshold required to file taxes, having relied largely on monthly Social Security disability benefits.

With Cook out of the running, the race between Murray and Green will continue to take shape in coming weeks as both candidates seek endorsements and financial support. Former Gov. John Bel Edwards on Monday announced a Thursday fundraiser on Murray’s behalf. Green has not notched much financial support yet, he said.

The House District 97 race is one of three legislative races to be settled Feb. 7. Also up for grabs is the Senate District 3 seat, which will see just four contenders compete after former Criminal District Court Clerk and state Rep. Arthur Morrell recently withdrew his candidacy.

Candidates will also face off for the House District 100 seat, minus longtime education advocate Eric Jones, who withdrew after qualifying.

District residents had filed no candidacy challenges in either of those races as of Monday. Early voting in the race runs Jan. 24-31.

Peggy Giglio, left, and daughter Kellen Giglio, both of Lafayette, show off their completed vision boards.

AYMOND

Continued from page 1B 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, sanctioned 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, parish center, 6220 LaSalle Place; 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.

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

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New Orleans Area Deaths Badalamenti, Louis Blanchard, Earline Farber, George LaCombe, Mary Langlois, Stacie Ordes, Barbara Pyke, Lynn Ryan, Kathryn

New Orleans Greenwood

Pyke, Lynn Lake Lawn Metairie Farber, George LaCombe, Mary

St Tammany EJ Fielding Ordes, Barbara

West Bank Mothe Badalamenti, Louis Blanchard, Earline

Obituaries Badalamenti, Louis Michael

Louis Michael Badala‐ menti was born on October 2, 1964, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and entered into eternal rest on Friday, Jan‐ uary 2, 2026. He was a long‐ time resident of Belle Chasse, Louisiana. He was the beloved father of Bai‐ ley Badalamenti Thi‐ bodeaux and Tina Louise Badalamenti. Louis was the cherished son of the late Michael C. Badalamenti and Gladys Lucas Badala‐ menti. He was a loving brother of Frances Stewart and Michael Badalamenti.

He is also survived by his sons-in-law, Trey Thi‐ bodeaux and Barrett Her‐ nandez; his treasured grandsons, Trace Thi‐ bodeaux, Liam Thi‐ bodeaux, and Ashton Berg‐ eron; along with many nieces, nephews, and close family and friends. A proud Italian man, Louis deeply valued his heritage and found great joy in cooking for his family and friends.

He also enjoyed fishing and hunting. He was a ded‐ icated member of the Ital‐ ian American Marching Club, where he proudly served as King, an honor he cherished greatly. Louis also served his community as a former Plaquemines Parish police officer. He was a well-respected busi‐ nessman and construction contractor. As the owner of LMB Services, he was known for his strong work ethic, integrity, and com‐ mitment to quality. He will be truly missed. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the visitation at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church & International Shrine of St. Jude, 411 N Rampart St, New Orleans, LA, on Janu‐ ary 10, 2026, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. A Mass will begin at 11:00 am, with in‐ terment to follow immedi‐ ately at Our Lady of Per‐ petual Help Cemetery in Belle Chasse, LA. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Friends and family may offer condolences at moth‐ efuneral.com.

Blanchard, Earline B.

Earline B. Blanchard passed away unexpectedly on December 23, 2025, at the age of 74. Her passing was sudden, and words cannot fully express the depth of grief felt by her family and all who knew and loved her. She was born on October 23, 1951,

in Franklin, Louisiana, and was a proud graduate of Archbishop Blenk High School, Class of 1969. A woman of unwavering faith, Earline lived her life deeply rooted in her love for God. She was a spec‐ tacular woman whose heart overflowed with kindness, generosity, and compassion. Beautiful in‐ side and out, she carried herself with grace, and her radiant smile had a way of lighting up every room she entered. The world feels a little dimmer without her light, but her spirit and ex‐ ample will endure. Earline also found great joy and purpose in fitness and movement. As an aerobics and spinning instructor, she inspired countless oth‐ ers with her energy, disci‐ pline, and encouragement.

The gym was more than a place to work out—it was a community she helped build, one rooted in con‐ nection, support, and joy.

Through fitness, she up‐ lifted others and created lasting bonds that ex‐ tended far beyond the stu‐ dio. She is survived by her husband of 54 years, Randy Blanchard; her daughter, Kelly Blanchard; her sib‐ lings: Diane Baughman (Frank), Mary Ann Buquoi (Thomas), Gail Boone (Larry), O’Neill Boudreaux Jr., and Shirley Leonard (Eugene); her brothersand sisters-in-law: Patricia Blanchard, Ryan Blanchard (Barbara), Royce Blan‐ chard, Rhonda Barbier, Rory Blanchard (Karen), Rudy Blanchard (Bernie), and Rennis Blanchard (Kitty); as well as many nieces, nephews, greatnieces and great-nephews, cousins, and other rela‐ tives and dear friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, O’Neill Boudreaux Sr. and Melba T. Boudreaux; her in-laws, Robert Blanchard Sr. and Rena B. Blanchard; her brothers-in-law, Robert Blanchard Jr. and James Barbier; and her sister-inlaw, Priscilla Blanchard.

Services will be held on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at Immaculate Conception Church in Marrero. Visita‐ tion will begin at 9:00 a.m., followed by Mass at 11:00 a.m. Inurnment will occur at a later date. Earline will always be remembered for her strong faith, joyful spirit, and the boundless love she shared with the world.

Farber, George Allan

George A. Farber, Sr. M.D., passed away peacefully December 31, 2025, at the age of 91. He was born on January 4, 1934, in Coral Gables, Florida and was a longtime resident of the New Orleans area. He was known for his sense of humor, his love of storytelling, and the warmth he showed to everyone he met. He had a special way of making people feel welcome, and his presence filled any room with laughter.

He is preceded in death by his first wife, Nancy Rae Graves Farber, parents, Charles R. and Clara Milman Farber, and siblings, Louis A. Farber and Stuart J. Farber. He is survived by his second wife, Maria Rosario Pinto and his children, George A. Farber Jr. (Leah), Michael G. Farber, Jeffrey N. Farber (Laurie), Guy C. Farber (Elizabeth), and Scott Q. Farber (Laura). He is also survived by his beloved grandchildren, Allan, Tim, Veronica, Campbell, Shawn (Erica), Garrett, Brandon (Madeline), Samantha (Dimitri), Nathan, Charles (Yumena), William, Laine (Vincent), Emory, Siena, and Bianca, great-grandchildren, Lilith, Amalia, and Lodan, and his siblings, Robert Farber (Jane) and Sally Farber Holister.

Dr. Farber graduated from St. Petersburg High School and attended University of Florida. He later graduated from Louisiana State University and completed his medical training at LSU Medical School. He also graduated from the School of Aviation Medicine at the Aerospace Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, in September 1960. He served as a clinical professor at Tulane Medical School from 1970-1983. Dr. Farber was a board- certified Dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon, dedicated to his patients and the medical profession. He also proudly served as a team

doctor at St. Martin's Episcopal School.

Dr. Farber honorably served his country as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force (Retired). His military decorations include the Bronze Star, Combat Medal Air Medal with two clusters for service in Vietnam (1966- 1967), and Cuban Expeditionary Medal (1961).

A pioneer and leader in his profession, Dr. Farber's major credentials and accomplishments include being a co-founder of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery in 1971, the American Association of Cosmetic Surgery in 1974, and the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery in 1981.

He was also the cofounder, trustee, and past president of American Academy of Aesthetic and Restorative Surgery (NAACRS) in 1991, and founder of the American Medical Detective.

Family meant everything to George Farber. His love, warmth, and laughter will live on through those who were fortunate to call him family.

A funeral service will be held on Friday, January 9, 2026, at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd.

New Orleans, LA. Visitation will be held from 12PM 2PM with a service to begin at 2PM. Interment will follow in Metairie Cemetery.

An online guestbook is available at www.lakelawn metairie.com

LaCombe, Mary Catherine Ebbermann

Mary Catherine Ebbermann LaCombe, passed away on Sunday, January 4, 2026 at the age of 88. She was the beloved wife of the late, Camile LaCombe; daughter of the late, Helen Hale Ebbermann and Joseph Ebbermann, Sr. She is the mother of the late Helen LaCombe and the mother of Gregory LaCombe (Liz), Mark LaCombe (Christi) and Michael LaCombe (Kathryn); Mary is the grandmother of Taylor Naccari (Chris), Blake LaCombe (Rachel), Chase LaCombe (Ashley), Reese LaCombe (Haley) and Ethan LaCombe. The family would like to thank the caregivers at Our Lady of Wisdom for their continuous support and care. The family had a sense of comfort knowing she was taken care of. Relatives and friends are invited to attend services for Mary held at St Philip Neri Church, 6500 Kawanee Ave, Metairie, LA on Friday, January 9, 2026. Visitation will be from 11am until Mass begins at 12pm.

Interment will follow in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA.

Ordes, Barbara Ann Boudoin

Barbara Ann Boudoin Ordes went to be with her heavenly Father on Mon‐ day, December 22, 2025 at 4:34 p.m., surrounded by her loved ones in her home in Slidell, Louisiana. Bar‐ bara was born in New Or‐ leans, Louisiana, on August 24, 1938, to Wilson and Jeanne Boudoin as the youngest sibling to Geral‐ dine Boudoin and Wilson Boudoin Jr. Just fifteen short years later, in late December 1953, Barbara met Alvin Ordes on the dance floor at the St. Louis Cathedral Dance, where they fell in love dancing the night away. She spent the next 72 years loving Alvin fully and completely, while creating a legacy full of family and memories that would live on forever.

Barbara and Alvin married on June 10, 1956, at St. Maurice Catholic Church.

They welcomed three chil‐ dren to this world: Little Al, Gwen, and Steve. Barbara supported her children at every football, basketball, tumbling, dance, girl scouts, and educational event, always encouraging her children and providing them with every opportu‐ nity to find what would bring them joy. As the years passed and her chil‐ dren started families of their own, Mama became Maw-Maw, and her dedica‐ tion to her family only strengthened.

These grandchildren provided her with three great-grandchil‐ dren which she fondly called her “Hearts.” MawMaw became “Heart” and her love only grew. She was proud of every child, grandchild, and “beautiful” great-granddaughter she had, loving them with her whole heart every moment of her life. Barbara is lov‐ ingly remembered by her husband, Alvin Ordes; their three children, Alvin Ordes Jr., Gwen Ordes Hoselle (Stephen Hoselle), and Steven Ordes (Shannon Lavender Ordes); five grandchildren, Britt Ordes (Alisha Olive Ordes), Chad Hoselle, Chase Hoselle (Ashley Kidd Hoselle), Bailee Ordes Zardon (Daniel Zardon), and Blaike-Lee Ordes; and three great-grandchildren, Emma Claire Hoselle, Bradie Elaine Ordes, and Charlotte Marie Zardon.

Barbara was a woman of unwavering Catholic faith and was deeply devoted to St. Jude who she called upon in times of worry and trouble in addition to times of gratitude and answered prayers. Through her faith, she embodied the true def‐ inition of matriarch and dedicated each day of her life to her family, a true in‐ spiration to all women around her. She would want those who come after her to remember these wise words from St. Jude, “Pray More, Worry Less.”

Barbara’s family invites you to join them in cele‐ brating her life on Thurs‐ day, January 8, 2026 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Slidell, Louisiana.

The visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with a Mass being held in her honor at noon. Follow‐ ing Mass, Barbara will be laid to rest in her final rest‐ ing place at St. Roch Ceme‐ tery in New Orleans, Louisiana. Memories and condolences may be ex‐ pressed at www.Audubon FuneralHome.com

Langlois, Stacie Anne

Pyke, Lynn Eugene

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

On December 28, 2025, Lynn Eugene Pyke passed away peacefully at home, two days after his 75th birthday. Born December 26, 1950 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania to Harold and Myrle Pyke, he was the fourth of five children; with siblings Carolyn (Robert) Mann, Lyle (Jeanne) Pyke, Neal (Carol) Pyke, and Larry Pyke. He proudly graduated from Penn State– sorry, THE Pennsyl‐ vania State University– be‐ fore venturing to Botswana to serve two years in the

Peace Corps teaching math. His sense of adven‐ ture (and somewhat inex‐ plicable love of math) led him to New Orleans in 1974 where he began the actu‐ arial career to which he would dedicate himself for the next 45 years, boasting titles such as Enrolled Ac‐ tuary, Fellow of the Confer‐ ence of Consulting Actuar‐ ies, and President of AEBP (twice!). In 2002 he would indulge his entrepreneurial spirit by founding Gulf Ben‐ efit Consultants, with heartfelt thanks to Pam Reinhardt for her unwaver‐ ing commitment to the en‐ deavor. More importantly, it was also in New Orleans that he met and married Dr. Teresa Santa Coloma, by whom he is survived along with their children Alexandra (Matthew) Lip‐ pert and Austin Pyke; and their grandchildren Maxim, Maggie, Nolan, and Carson Lippert. In addition to being a successful busi‐ nessman, Lynn was also (affectionately, we believe) known on his block as the “Mayor of Octavia” for his steadfast support of his community, from clearing catch basins to tutoring math to installing smoke detectors with the Red Cross. He treated his end‐ less stream of home im‐ provement efforts as art projects, and he lovingly kept a native plant garden in his yard. He was an avid traveler, Saints fan, and dessert enthusiast. His wit was razor-sharp, and he liked to make his opinions known: you may have en‐ countered one of his vari‐ ous Times-Picayune opeds, penned under his own name as well as cheeky pseudonyms. As Lynn bat‐ tled lymphoma since 2021, the family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to Benson Cancer Center (to which Lynn him‐ self also donated gener‐ ously). Alternatively or ad‐ ditionally, mourners can donate blood in honor of Lynn’s long-held habit of donating blood whenever possible. There will be a fu‐ neral service held at the Tulane Catholic Center on January 10, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Condolences and trib‐ utes can be shared at greenwoodfh.com.

Ryan, Kathryn Irene 'Kit'

Kathryn Irene Ryan Kathryn "Kit" Irene Ryan, 78, of New Orleans, Mandeville, and Slidell Louisiana, passed away on December 30, 2025.

Born on December 5, 1947, in Metairie Louisiana, she was the daughter of Eileen and Richard Ryan.

She grew up alongside her six brothers—Ricky, Dennis, Jerry, Patrick, Timothy and Roger Ryan—and was a devoted mother to her identical twin sons Ryan Cook and Chase Cook who she loved very much.

Kathryn graduated from Chapelle Catholic High School in 1966. In 1969, she began her career as a stewardess with Eastern Airlines. She later pursued professional modeling in Las Vegas, Nevada, before returning to Louisiana to explore other ventures and to be closer to her parents.

Kathryn is survived by her loving family, including her twin sons, Ryan and Chase Cook, and her brothers, Ricky Dennis, Jerry, Patrick, and Roger Ryan.

She will be remembered with deep affection and respect by her family and friends, and by all who admired her beautiful soul and big heart.

The family will share details of her memorial service with friends and loved ones at a later date.

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4B ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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OPINION N O L A.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.

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.

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YOUR VIEWS

Archdiocese needs to listen to abuse survivors I attended the second-to-last day of the bankruptcy trial of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and listened to survivors of sexualized violence from clergy, other religious and adults. It’s grievous that no other religious leaders from my schools, namely Brother Martin High School, came to witness the truth of the survivors’ testimony.

I told one brother there last year I was assaulted and groomed on an altar boys’ retreat when I attended St. Francis Cabrini School. It would have meant so much if they had come to show concern and hear the suffering of others; indeed, a spiritual work of mercy. This is the problem — failing to listen to survivors when they are talking.

Notre Dame Seminary is poisoned by what transpired there in the 1970s and 1980s. Just sell it. Seminarians can get a good Jesuit education at Loyola and learn about Black spirituality at Xavier. The archbishop doesn’t need a townhouse. He can live in rectories

around the archdiocese and hold dinners for dignitaries where the wealth of the church is studied at Xavier and Loyola universities.

All religious and clerics should read the testimonies from these survivors.

They should take a yearly class on sexualized, spiritualized, physical, emotional and verbal violence, including these testimonies. A truth commission would allow all survivors to speak. This pattern of sex abuse has been an issue with Roman Catholic clergy since the Council of Elvira 305 CE. The clerical system’s secrets promote sex abuse and are a murderer of souls. Pope Francis told la Repubblica in 2013: “Clericalism should not have anything to do with Christianity. St. Paul ... was the first to teach us that.”

Thank you to the reporters — keep on reporting — to the lawyers who stand by the survivors and to the survivors whose lives continue to bear witness.

HENRI ANDRE FOURROUX III

City and state need to get behind the revitalization of Canal Street As founder of Celebrate Canal, the citizen-led initiative leading its revitalization, I am proud of the first year’s results, bringing families back to Canal Street. We are grateful for the support of so many citizens and Mayor-elect Helena Moreno and the City Council as we move forward. We have developed a doable economic development plan that will have positive ripple effects throughout the city and state.

The major projects include higher retail and family attractions, with an overriding theme that reflects our history and culture. Importantly, they can begin almost immediately.

Other cities’ revitalizations have in common the recognition that revitalization is economic development.

They tout the resulting increases in jobs, population and taxes, creating additional resources to spend on other important needs.

We applaud Gov. Jeff Landry’s economic development incentives of $600 million to Hyundai in Donaldsonville and $800 million to the Meta plant in

Richland Parish. Our plan requests a comparatively modest incentive package of $260 million that will fund five to 10 major projects requiring at least $100 million to $200 million in investments each, thus guaranteeing private investments of up to $2 billion.

The incentive for each would be $20 million with no funds released until the projects are completed or well underway. The plan also includes new facades for decaying buildings and a new streetscape with landscaping and storm drainage. Talks with property owners and developers are well underway.

Canal Street is known throughout the world. The announcement by Landry and Moreno of this revitalization would be welcomed internationally and will assist Gayle Benson in luring the Super Bowl in 2031.

We thank the people of New Orleans and ask you to continue supporting this game-changing plan for the future of New Orleans.

SANDRA THOMPSON HERMAN founder, Celebrate Canal Coalition

Citizens must resist efforts to normalize intimidation of immigrants Is this what we are supposed to believe is normal now? Front-page photos of Gregory Bovino, head of President Donald Trump’s own secret police, strutting into our cities with his masked, armed thugs striking fear into our lives, ripping hard-working parents away from little children, zip-tying small children and using violent intimidation tactics?

If Trump and his boot-licking minions cared about legal immigration, why is he canceling legal naturalization ceremonies? This is not about protecting us from immigrants who are just trying to build better lives for their families; it’s about a desperate, failing wanna-be dictator using armed thugs against U.S. citizens.

As we watch the GOP collapse and run like rats leaving their sinking ship, I applaud the millions and millions of people who have joined the resistance against this evil cruelty.

Our numbers are growing daily and election by election. Call our cowardly legislators and demand to know how much treason they are willing to commit and condone as they remain complicit with this corrupt, bungling, evil administration. Blow a whistle if you see these thugs trying to grab people. Be loud and draw a crowd. Film it with your phone and share these atrocities with your neighbors. Stay strong. Stand up for democracy!

SHERRI WILDER New Orleans

Washington politics seems upside down 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.

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TO SEND US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

6B ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

lll

with meteorologist Damon Singleton

TODAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Sunny to partly cloudy

Partly sunny and warm

Some afternoon showers

Warm; shower, t-storm

Mainly cloudy and less humid

Clouds and sunshine

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

HIGH

HIGH

78°

62° 77° 65°

LOW

LOW

79° 67°

LOW

77° 60°

HIGH

LOW

70° 50°

HIGH

We’ll wake to patchy fog in parts of Southeast Louisiana this morning. Expect more fog each morning for the rest of the week. Otherwise, on this the first day of Mardi Gras 2026, expect a mostly sunny, warm, humid and breezy day.

Temperatures this afternoon will rise to the midto upper 70s. Winds are out of the southwest at 5 to 10 mph, so humidity is high. Rain chances today are at zero. Expect warm and humid conditions for the rest of the week. Rain will return Thursday and Friday.

LOW

60° 43°

YESTERDAY

TODAY

READING 62 MAIN POLLUTANT Nitrogen oxide

MAIN POLLUTANT Nitrogen oxide

New Orleans through 5 p.m. Monday

TEMPERATURE

Monroe 76/53

Shreveport 79/50 Longview 78/47

High/low Normal high Normal low Record high Record low

Jackson 74/58

FLOOD MON. 24-HOUR

Port Arthur 76/62

Baton Rouge 79/63

Lafayette 79/63

Beaumont 79/62

New Orleans 78/62

Lake Charles 76/61 Houma 80/62

Shown is today’s weather.

Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

City

Austin Boston Dallas Denver Fairbanks Honolulu Las Vegas Louisville Miami

Hi

TODAY

Lo W

84 54 pc 36 34 c 76 47 s 58 34 s -3 -15 sn 80 72 sh 58 43 pc 60 41 c 82 64 pc

Hi

WED.

Lo W

80 65 c 42 33 r 77 62 pc 57 29 c -12 -34 sn 81 69 sh 59 42 pc 56 42 s 81 66 pc

City

PRECIPITATION

24-hour total Month to date Normal month to date year to date Normal year to date

0.00” 0.02” 0.92” 0.02” 0.92”

GOOD

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

Hattiesburg 78/62

Alexandria 76/60

Many 75/56

71°/50° 62° 46° 78° in 2009 27° in 1980

MODERATE

Nashville Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Raleigh St. Louis San Diego Tampa

Hi

TODAY

65 81 46 71 49 66 57 68 76

Lo W

45 c 56 s 40 c 53 c 37 r 49 pc 35 pc 55 pc 62 s

Hi

62 79 53 63 41 70 61 67 77

WED.

Lo W

46 s 58 pc 35 pc 51 r 34 c 42 pc 48 s 56 pc 62 pc

MISSISSIPPI STAGE 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 OHIO Cairo 40 13.97 +0.21 COMITE Near Olive 19 -1.43 none AMITE Near Darlington 18 -0.97 +0.04 Denham Springs 29 10.10 -0.02 Port Vincent 8 1.35 +0.35 TICKFAW Montpelier 13 1.63 -0.03 Holden 15 0.81 -0.01 ATCHAFALAYA Simmesport 47 5.97 -0.31 Melville 34 3.81 -0.33 Krotz Springs 29 3.64 -0.14 Butte La Rose 20 2.53 -0.49 Bayou Sorrel 12 3.00 +0.50 Morgan City 6 1.92 -0.82

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

data as of 7 a.m. Monday

TODAY’S TIDES Lake Pontchartrain (Tchefuncte River) Shell Beach South Point, Marsh Island Cypremort Point Grand Isle (Barataria Pass) Mississippi River (Southwest Pass) Wine Island

Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today

HIGH

FT.

LOW

FT.

9:29a 0.5 9:12p -0.2 3:49a 1.3 2:24p -0.4 3:37a 1.3 10:15a -0.7 10:26p 1.0 2:11p -0.6 11:54p 0.6 10:26a -0.4 11:07p 0.8 8:38a -0.5 12:25a 1.0 11:28a -0.5

6:58 a.m.

5:16 p.m.

9:02 p.m.

9:32 a.m.

LAST

NEW

FIRST

FULL

JAN 10

JAN 18

JAN 25

FEB 1

HIGH

FT.

Today 1:29a 7:42a Wednesday 2:24a 8:35a Thursday 3:14a 9:25a Friday 4:00a 10:10a Saturday 4:42a 10:53a Sunday 5:23a 11:34a Monday 6:04a 12:15p

1:54p 8:06p 2:47p 8:58p 3:35p 9:46p 4:20p 10:31p 5:03p 11:13p 5:45p ---6:27p ----

Forecasts and graphics, except Damon’s Outlook, provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2026

Scan to download

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FT.

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.

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ONE great state Scan to download

LOW

--- ----- ----- ----- --7:56p 1.2 11:23p 0.9 --- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

SPORTS N O L A.C O M

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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

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.

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

ä Lakers at Pelicans, 7 P.M. TUESDAy, WVUE 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,”

ä See PELICANS, 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.

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.

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

ä See LSU MEN, page 5C

2C ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

lll

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 WVUE 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.

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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 Times-Picayune ✦ nola.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 Sunday’s

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.”

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 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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Hoosiers’ ground game churning out yards

BY MICHAEL MAROT

AP sportswriter

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

INDIANAPOLIS — Fernando Mendoza spent all season stealing headlines and collecting awards.

Indiana running backs Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black were content doing the dirty work in the shadows of their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, propelling the top-ranked Hoosiers into college football’s version of the Final Four.

Now, less than a week after dominating Alabama on the ground, the Hoosiers dynamic duo hopes to replicate that performance against No. 5 Oregon in Friday night’s Peach Bowl.

“You see the guys we have upfront, they work really hard and they make my job and Kaelon’s job really easy,” Hemby said Monday. “We just try to outphysical our opponents. We really want to make it a fourquarter fight to where we kind of impose our will and, at some point in the game, we feel like we could potentially break the defense or make that play that helps us win.”

The surprise, to some, has been just how much the third-highest scoring FBS offense (41.6 points per game) actually has relied on the running game.

While Mendoza and the passing attack certainly have driven this season’s narrative, Indiana’s ground game sometimes went unnoticed.

The Hoosiers rush for 220.7 yards per game — 10th nationally and No. 1 among the teams still fighting for a national championship. They’ve topped the 300yard mark six times and had two more with more than 200, including the 215 it logged in last week’s 38-3 rout over No. 9 Alabama.

It’s also a big reason the undefeated Hoosiers have the nation’s top third-down conversion percentage at 56.5%. Perhaps more importantly, Indiana has only one fumble all season.

“It just comes from wanting to be better,” Black said, referring to the backfield’s internal motivation. “Being around a great group of guys, a great group of teammates, you just have to want to be better in your life and also on the football field.

And now that we’re in this position, we have no choice but to be better.”

Still, Hemby and Black are hardly household names.

Hemby played four seasons at Maryland, averaging 4.9 yards per carry while rushing for 2,347 yards. This year, he’s at 5.2 yards and topped the 1,000-yard mark for the first time with an 8-yard gain against the Crimson Tide.

He earned a third team all-Big Ten selection from the media but not the coaches.

Black was solid, not spectacular, in four seasons at James

AP PHOTO By MARK J. TERRILL

Indiana running back Roman Hemby scores a rushing touchdown during the second half of the Rose Bowl quarterfinal game against Alabama on Thursday in Pasadena, Calif. ä Peach Bowl.

6:30 P.M. FRIDAy, ESPN Madison but blossomed after following coach Curt Cignetti to Bloomington. This season, he has 157 carries, 898 yards and eight TDs — all career bests with the Hoosiers (14-0). Yet he was left off the all-conference list.

The two backs already understand the challenge Oregon (13-1) poses. In their first meeting, Indiana ran 27 times for a paltry 111 yards or 3.0 yards per carry, their third-lowest single game average all season. And on tape, they think Oregon looks even better now.

The Hoosiers had the upper hand in a 30-20 victory in over Oregon in October, holding the Ducks to 81 yards rushing on 30 carries. Indiana knows the rematch could prove more difficult.

But for two offenses that have thrived through the air with star quarterbacks and a deep stable of prominent receivers, the path to Miami and the Jan. 19 national championship likely will be determined on the ground.

“It’s one of those things where we had to keep working toward it to get where we want to be and, obviously, we’re still not where we want to be,” Hemby said when asked about the improvement in Indiana’s ground game this season. “I don’t know if we’ve changed people’s minds, we’re not really in the business of trying to do that.

Hopefully we did. But at the end of the day, if we’re winning games, we’ll take it however we can.”.

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 Times-Picayune ✦ nola.com ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ 5C

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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 — the kind of misses the L S U ä LSU at Georgia, women’s 5:30 P.M. THURSDAy, SECN+ b a s ketball 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 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, featur-

ing 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 topfour 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 FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Tulane coach Ron Hunter is animated against the Samford Bulldogs during a game at Devlin Fieldhouse on Nov. 3.

Hunter thanks Florida Atlantic for classy gesture about Glenn

BY GUERRY SMITH Contributing writer

A few minutes after Tulane’s emotional 69-66 home win against Florida Atlantic on Sunday, men’s basketball coach Ron Hunter delayed talking about the big result when he addressed reporters.

First, he praised the Owls coaching staff and players for their kind gesture after Green Wave center Gregg ä Tulane at UTSA, G l e n n ’ s 4 P.M. SATURDAy, ESPN+ drowning death off the coast of Florida in late July. All of their coaches and players sent personalized letters offering their condolences.

“It’s one of the nicest things I’ve ever had anyone do for me or my team,” Hunter said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I just want to publicly say thank you to the Florida Atlantic community for doing that. I’ve waited this long to be able to say that. Our kids in the program truly appreciate that.”

Glenn, a Pompano Beach, Florida, native who would have been a senior this season, still has an untouched locker at Devlin Fieldhouse. He started all 34 games last season — averaging 10.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists as Hunter’s prototypical versatile big man — and was the clear team leader entering this season. His popularity extended well beyond his teammates and certainly to a program in south Florida.

“That kid is from 20 minutes down the road from FAU,” said second-year Owls coach John

Jakus, who added Glenn had been very close with Brenen Lorient, a member of FAU’s 2022-23 Final Four team. “He’s friends with a lot of people in our area and was a fantastic player and person. If you are from our area and you play basketball, you know exactly who he is.”

The written notes were a way to make sure the messages got through a maze of well-wishers.

“Ron was probably inundated with thousands of things at one time, so we just felt like a handwritten note from everybody on the team would really stand out,” Jakus said. “We wanted to do something a little bit different where he could sit and read and know that he’s prayed for and loved. That moment is much bigger than basketball.”

Although the game between prospective American Conference contenders was intense, it played out in good spirits. During what felt like a five-minute replay review in the first half to determine whether a ball went out of bounds off of Tulane or Florida Atlantic, Hunter approached Jakus and shared a moment of frustrated laughter at the long delay.

“I really respect coach (Hunter),” Jakus said. “Even as he coaches on the side, he does it with joy and he interacts with you. It’s a very rare thing. Everything is so awkward at times because you’re competing against each other. He has a heart to get through that and is a good man.”

Tulane won behind a bevy of big plays on both ends of the floor from

holdover guards Rowan Brumbaugh and Asher Woods in the final few minutes, rallying from a seven-point deficit. The duo accounted for 36 of the Wave’s 69 points, but Florida Atlantic will get a chance for revenge at home on Jan. 21 in a matchup Hunter considers worthy of a semifinal or final in the conference tournament.

Jakus returned the compliment, saying he voted Tulane first or second in the coaches’ preseason American Conference poll because of Brumbaugh and Woods’ veteran presence. If he is true to his word, he tabbed the Wave second because it received zero firstplace votes while ranking third overall behind Memphis and South Florida.

“With 75% of our league going to a new location (players transferring), they had by far the best retention,” Jakus said. “Getting your starting 1 and 2 man back is almost rare in our league. Down the stretch they were able to do a couple of things.”

Lagniappe Brumbaugh made the American Conference weekly honor roll after averaging 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists as the Wave started 2-0 in league play, rallying past East Carolina on the road before beating Florida Atlantic. … Tulane has its first of two open dates this midweek before traveling to Texas-San Antonio (4-10, 0-2) on Saturday. With Tulsa’s loss to North Texas on Sunday night, Tulane is one of only three 2-0 teams in the league, joining Memphis and Temple.

LSU MEN

Continued from page 1C 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.

PELICANS

Continued from page 1C 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 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.”

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 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

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. 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.

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 fifth-year senior Marquel Sutton, who is averaging 13.4 points and 9.3 rebounds on the season. He had just three points on 0-of-4 shooting and five rebounds in 29 minutes Satur-

day. 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 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

lll

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 Odds Sports Betting Line NFL FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG LA Rams 10½ 10½ (46½) at CAR at CHICAGO 1½ 1 (46) Green Bay 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

COLLEGE BASKETBALL Tuesday

NBA

Tuesday

O/U UNDERDOG (235½) at INDIANA (234½) at WASH (OFF) LA Lakers (237½) at MEMPHIS (237½) Miami (OFF) Dallas

NHL

Tuesday

LINE +155 +105 +129 +110 +106 +100 -108 +144 +105 +106

NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE 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

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

W 30

L 6

Pct .833

Northwest Division

W 22 21 19 12 8

L 11 14 17 22 28

Pct GB .667 — .600 2 .528 4½ .353 10½ .222 15½

Sunday’s Games

6½ 7 14 17

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

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

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

y-New England x-Buffalo e-Miami e-N.Y. Jets

South

GB —

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.

A_65,400.

Detroit 121, New York 90 Boston 115, Chicago 101 Chicago at Boston, n Charlotte at Oklahoma City, n Phoenix at Houston, n Denver at Philadelphia, n Golden State at L.A. Clippers, n Utah at Portland, n

PA 320 365 424 503

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

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

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.

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.

Wild-card Playoffs Saturday’s games

L.A Rams at Carolina, 3:30 p.m. (FOX) Green Bay at Chicago, 7 p.m. (AMAZON PRIME VIDEO)

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

y-Chicago x-Green Bay e-Minnesota e-Detroit

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

Conference Championships winners, 5:30 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

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

College Football Playoff

North

West

East

South

North

Pro basketball

Southeast Division

L.A. Lakers Phoenix Golden State L.A. Clippers Sacramento

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

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

Atlantic Division

.657 .639 .444 .353

Tuesday’s Games

LINE UNDERDOG 3½ UMass 12½ W. Michigan 1½ at LOUISVILLE 3½ at BUTLER 24½ at PENN ST 3½ Cincinnati 7½ Georgia 7 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.

FAVORITE LINE Cleveland 7 Orlando 8 at NEW ORLEANS OFF San Antonio 5 at MINNESOTA 6½ at SACRAMENTO OFF

12 13 20 22

Monday’s Games

Peach Bowl FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Indiana 4 3½ (46½) Oregon

FAVORITE at OHIO at MIAMI (OH) Duke St. John’s Michigan at W. VIRGINIA at FLORIDA at LSU 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

23 23 16 12

Pacific Division

Saturday

Sunday

Denver Minnesota Portland Utah

West

*-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

0

14

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.

College football Bowl glance Quarterfinals Wednesday At Cotton Bowl, Arlington, Texas No. 10 Miami 24, No. 3 Ohio St. 14

Monday Frisco, Texas Illinois State (12-4) vs. Montana State (13-2), n

College basketball Men’s state scores, schedule Friday’s games

McNeese 82, Lamar 70 Middle Tennessee 88, Louisiana Tech 51

Saturday’s games

Late Sunday

3

Houston at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. (ESPN/ABC)

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

7

Monday’s games

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

Sunday’s Games

Baltimore

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)

Thursday At Orange Bowl, Miami Gardens, Fla. No. 5 Oregon 23, No. 4 Texas Tech 0

Tampa Bay 16, Carolina 14 Seattle 13, San Francisco 3

Pittsburgh 26, Baltimore 24

Sunday’s games

—

24

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

Vegas at Winnipeg, 7 p.m.

Nashville at Edmonton, 8 p.m.

Boston at Seattle, 9 p.m.

Transactions

Sunday’s games

Major League Baseball

Tulane 69, Florida Atlantic 66 Western Kentucky 66, Louisiana Tech 61

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.

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

FOOTBALL

Women’s state scores, schedule Saturday’s games

Arkansas State 89, UL-Monroe 71 McNeese 65, Lamar 57 Northwestern State 50, Nicholls 46 Stephen F. Austin 87, Southeastern 72.

Grambling 85, Prairie View 60 Tulane 70, Wichita State 60 Southern 64, Texas Southern 45 East Texas A&M 72, UNO 63 South Alabama 81, UL 56

Sunday’s game

Vanderbilt 65, LSU 61

Monday’s games None scheduled.

Tuesday’s game

Tulsa at Tulane, 6:30 p.m.

Women’s national scores Monday’s games EAST

Brown 88, Yale 72

MIDWEST

Youngstown State 81, Oakland 58

Hockey NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Tampa Bay Montreal Detroit Florida Buffalo Boston Ottawa Toronto

GP W L OT Pts GF 41 25 13 3 53 142 42 23 13 6 52 141 43 24 15 4 52 131 41 22 16 3 47 129 40 21 15 4 46 125 42 22 18 2 46 133 40 20 15 5 45 133 41 19 15 7 45 137

GA 110 141 138 130 126 136 129 138

Carolina N.Y. Islanders Philadelphia Pittsburgh Washington New Jersey N.Y. Rangers Columbus

GP W L OT Pts GF 42 25 14 3 53 141 42 23 15 4 50 120 40 21 12 7 49 124 41 20 12 9 49 135 42 21 15 6 48 135 42 22 18 2 46 114 43 20 18 5 45 114 41 18 16 7 43 127

GA 128 120 116 131 121 124 117 137

Metropolitan Division

WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division Colorado Dallas Minnesota Nashville St. Louis Utah Chicago Winnipeg

GP W L OT Pts GF 41 31 3 7 69 165 42 25 9 8 58 146 43 25 10 8 58 138 41 19 18 4 42 118 43 17 18 8 42 107 42 19 20 3 41 127 42 17 18 7 41 118 40 15 21 4 34 115

Pacific Division

GA 93 117 115 136 146 122 134 126

GP W L OT Pts GF GA Vegas 40 17 11 12 46 124 126 Edmonton 42 20 16 6 46 139 143 Anaheim 41 21 17 3 45 139 146 Seattle 39 18 14 7 43 103 115 Los Angeles 40 17 14 9 43 107 111 San Jose 41 20 18 3 43 127 146 Calgary 41 18 19 4 40 111 121 Vancouver 41 16 20 5 37 117 143 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.

Sunday’s Games

Montreal 4, Dallas 3, OT Pittsburgh 5, Columbus 4, OT Florida 2, Colorado 1 Chicago 3, Vegas 2, OT Carolina 3, New Jersey 1

Monday’s Games

Anaheim at Washington, 6 p.m.

Utah at N.Y. Rangers, 6 p.m.

Detroit at Ottawa, 6:30 p.m.

Seattle at Calgary, 8:30 p.m.

Minnesota at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s Games

Anaheim at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.

Colorado at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.

Dallas at Carolina, 6 p.m.

Vancouver at Buffalo, 6 p.m.

Florida at Toronto, 6:30 p.m.

New Jersey at N.Y. Islanders, 6:30 p.m.

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.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Signed WRs Dontae Fleming, Joaquin Davis and Jeshaun Jones, S Kahlef Hailassie, LB Josh Ross, G Vershon Lee, T Caleb Etienne and TE Bryson Nesbit to reserve/futures contracts.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS — Waived CB Tre Flowers.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Signed CB Keydrain Calligan, LBs Nate Lynn and Cam Riley, DE David Ebuka Agoha, G Clay Webb, NT Isaiah Raikes, WRs Hal Presley III and Xavier Restrepo, DT Timmy Horne, RB Blake Watson and TE Joel Wilson to reserve/futures contracts.

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS — Signed G Sala Aumavae-Laulu, DT Ricky Barber, WRs Ja’Corey Brooks and Jacoby Jones, CBs Tre Hawkins, Darius Rush and Car’lin Vigers, DEs D.J. Johnson and TJ Maguranyanga, S Rob McDaniel and T Tim McKay to reserve/ futures contracts.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League CALGARY FLAMES — Recalled F William Strömgren.

DALLAS STARS — Reinstated G Casey DeSmith from the non-roster list. Reinstated F Nathan Bastian from his conditioning assignment. Sent G Remi Poirier to Texas (AHL).

MINNESOTA WILD — Recalled D David Jiricek from Iowa (AHL).

NASHVILLE PREDATORS — Signed G Justus Annunen to a two-year contract.

SAN JOSE SHARKS — Recalled F Patrick Giles from San Jose (AHL). Placed D John Klingberg on injured reserve.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING — Sent F Maxim Groshev to Syracuse (AHL).

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS — Recalled D Marshall Rifai from Toronto (AHL). Placed F William Nylander on injured reserve.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer FC DALLAS — Signed Fs Jaidyn Contreras, Ds Kaka Scabin and Slade Starnes and M Caleb Swann to two-year contracts.

MINNESOTA UNITED — Acquired an international roster spot from Toronto FC in exchange for $300,000 in general allocation money.

LIVING

N O L A.C O M

|

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

1dn

Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Ala., was one of the first industrial sites preserved and designated as a National Historic Landmark. The blast furnace produced pig iron from 1882 to 1971.

PHOTOS BY MARY ANN STERNBERG

ALL ABOARD! I took Amtrak’s 27-hour train ride from D.C. to New Orleans. Here’s how it went.

BY MARY ANN STERNBERG | Contributing writer

The sunset just west of Meridian, Mississippi, glowed fiery-orange, the sky draped with wisps of pink clouds above a silhouette of treetops and geometric rooflines. It was an award-winning photograph, I thought, but couldn’t find the right angle for the shot through the window of my train compartment.

I contented myself with simply enjoying the scene — one among so many as the kinetic panorama of the South passed by. I began to consider it an old lady’s version of video entertainment.

The engine on the The Crescent train travels from Union Station in Washington, D.C., to Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans.

As a child in the 1950s, I often rode the fabled Illinois Central roundtrip between New Orleans and Memphis to visit my grandparents, and on to Chicago in the summers.

Since then, however, I’d become a devoted frequent flyer, replacing long overnight train rides with air travel.

When my anxiety about flying home from Washington, D.C., flared during the government shutdown, I wondered if there might be train service home instead.

Which is how I found myself ensconced for 27 hours aboard The Crescent from Union Station in Washington to Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, aboard the latest iteration of a passenger rail service that has run the New

Orleans-to-New York route since 1925.

Room B, Car 1910 I booked my reservation through the Amtrak website and sought the most comfortable possible accommodation — a “room” rather than a “roomette” or a coach seat.

The room was a bit pricier, but I wanted to have a private bathroom. I was also entitled to four meals and a glass of wine with dinners.

The little metal homebase inside of Room B, Car 1910, was mine.

A heavy sliding glass door opened from the hallway into the L-shaped compartment.

The door was backed with a

ä See TRAIN, page 2D

‘I FIND THE SOUND BATH BRINGS YOU TO ANOTHER LEVEL OF EXISTENCE.’

Faith leaders embrace new method of healing People partake in a sound bath at Temple Emanuel on Dec. 6 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

By ALLISON DINNER

BY DEEPA BHARATH Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — With eyes closed and a small mallet in hand, the Rev. Kyohei Mikawa gently struck the bronze Himalayan singing bowl resting in his palm and bathed the Buddhist sanctuary in a resonant hum.

Mikawa spent the next 45 minutes skimming bowls, playing a tongue drum and chanting to create an immersive experience called a sound bath as he sat facing a dozen people relaxing or meditating on yoga mats.

Sometimes known as sound

healing or sound meditation, sound baths have surged in popularity over the past decade, driven by growing public interest in mental health and wellness. But sound baths are no longer confined to yoga centers, crystal healing studios or other new age spaces. They have crossed over to mainstream worship spaces, including churches, temples and synagogues.

Faith leaders like Mikawa, who oversees Rissho Kosei Kai Buddhist Center in Los Angeles’ largely Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights, are increasingly embracing sound baths. They

see it as a way to reach out to their neighbors who may not be affiliated with a religion, but still want to be in community with others seeking spiritual experiences. They have also found ways to make this practice mesh with their respective faith traditions.

Practice and sound baths The sounds that punctuated Mikawa’s session emanated from centuries of Buddhist tradition and practice, energizing and calming the mind at once,

ä See HEALING, page 2D

2D ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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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

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-

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 vic-

HEALING

Continued from page 1D he said. A chant at the end of the sound bath, he said, means: “Seek refuge in the true spirit of who you are.”

“The goal is not to become a Buddhist, but a Buddha — the best version of who we are,” he said.

Rabbi Jonathan Aaron, who leads Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, a Reform synagogue, performs a sound bath the first Saturday of each month at the end of the Shabbat service, during a ceremony called the Havdalah. As part of this ritual, blessings are offered over wine, sweet spices and a multi-wicked candle while participants reflect on the difference between the sacred and the ordinary.

Aaron says a rejuvenating sound bath fits perfectly with the sensory nature of the Havdalah, preparing attendees for the week ahead.

The rabbi works with a practitioner who uses crystal bowls, gongs, rain sticks and an ocean drum, which mimics the sound of waves, to create a relaxing, meditative atmosphere.

He believes that while a sound bath might not be inherently Jewish, it lends itself well to Jewish heritage, thought and prayer. Aaron points out that the first chapter of Genesis describes God creating the world through sound by speaking the words: “Let there be light.” Hearing, listening, and sacred sounds, including the call of the shofar that heralds the Jewish new year, are all important aspects of the faith, he said.

“I’m not trying to make the sound bath Jewish,” he said.

“But I’m trying to bring Jewish energy and an experience by creating this environment that has a sound bath as part of it.”

Anna Reyner, a member who attended the sound bath, said the synagogue is a perfect space for it because it builds community — often a main purpose of a house of worship.

“When you are in this intricate sound wave experience with others, you feel a sense of community and a connection to the source of holiness,” she said.

Connecting with neighbors The Rev. Paul Capetz, pastor of Christ Church by the

tory. 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 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 exhusband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, went to

Sea, a United Methodist congregation in Newport Beach, California, said their monthly sound bath sessions, performed by a local practitioner, are drawing people “who would never otherwise darken the door of a church.”

“I find the sound bath brings you to another level of existence,” Capetz said.

“It’s almost hypnotic, but it’s not a drug. You’re experiencing it in real time that leaves you with a feeling of such serenity.”

The goal of having practices like sound bath and meditation in the church is not to convert, but to relate to others in the community who may be spiritual but not religious, the pastor said.

Churches are naturally conducive to sound baths because of their sense of history, sanctity, reverence and, often, pristine acoustics, said Lynda Arnold, a longtime sound healer who has performed at Episcopal churches in Los Angeles.

“We talk about wanting to bring people into a state of deep listening, contemplation, prayer and intention,” she said. “In this church environment, there is an endless amount of creativity that can happen with sound and music.”

While sound baths are a more recent phenomenon, the power of sound has been harnessed for healing and spirituality for millennia.

Alexandre Tannous, a New York-based sound researcher and sound therapist who has done these sessions around the U.S. and abroad, said many religions and cultures believe in the primordial nature of sound.

In Eastern religions, “aum” is believed to be the primordial sound or vibration from which the entire universe was created and is sustained. In Egyptian mythology and the Hermetic tradition, the universe is believed to have been created through the power of the spoken word, also known as Logos. The concept of the universe being “sung” into existence or created by sound is a common motif found in several ancient and Indigenous traditions and mythologies.

“In Western science, how do we believe the universe started?” Tannous said.

“With a Big Bang, right?”

The instruments used in a sound bath — such as gongs,

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.

TRAIN

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press

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-

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.

singing bowls, bells, chimes, didgeridoos — all provide vibrations and grounding harmony that help a person quiet the mind and become focused, he said.

“Those notes between the notes have the power to quiet the multitasking monkey mind,” said Tannous, referring to the unadulterated harmonics produced by these instruments.

The science of sound Ramesh Balasubramaniam, professor of cognitive science at the University of California, Merced, has looked into how the brain resonates with and responds to sounds — particularly in some frequencies that could induce a deep, meditative state. A sound bath, he says, is one of the routes to get there.

“When you hear a sound wave that oscillates four times a second, you’re going to facilitate brain waves in the same frequency range by a process known as entrainment,” Balasubramaniam said. “We have 100 billion neurons and they all sing in concert in the same frequency, producing this collective effect like a crowd chanting in a football game.”

Jazmin Morales, who lives near the Rissho Kosei Kai Buddhist Center, has been attending Mikawa’s weekly sound baths for several weeks. She doesn’t know the science behind it. She just knows it works for her.

“I’ve always had trouble focusing when I meditate,” she said. “But a sound bath helps me focus. It’s helped me sleep when I was unable to sleep. It’s helped me let go of emotion. It’s even sparked my creativity.”

For Ridge Gonzalez, who practices yoga and meditation, it was her first time in a sound bath.

“It was amazing,” she said.

“I could visualize the sound as if it were being sprinkled.

I could see and feel it. When you’re meditating, you feel a sense of clarity. The sound bath feels like just another way of extending that practice.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Continued from page 1D navy, pleated curtain that Velcroed to each side for privacy. Seating was on a comfortable blue bench that made up into the bed.

The upper berth included railed spaces for storage, plus small windows for viewing the passing scenery while still under the covers. There were two closets, a small sink and a metal storage cabinet.

A sliding door to the next compartment, locked for me, would have offered easy access to the adjoining room if family or friends traveled with me.

Justin, the attendant assigned to my car, told me that the staff, save conductors and engineers, were based in New Orleans and worked round trips — sometimes back-to-back, other times with several days between runs.

A smooth trip Not long after we eased out of Washington into the night, Justin presented me with the menu for our trip, including breakfast, lunch and dinner choices. I could eat either in the dining car at a selected time or have meals delivered to my room. I chose the former.

The dining car was contiguous to my car 1910, so I had only swaying gangway connection to pass — that familiar balancing challenge between train cars.

Overall, though, the entire trip was quite smooth — rocking, rather than bumpy, with the occasional lurch that produced metallic-sounding jolts and clacks. Even in my compartment the rattle and clicks of the metal components were not intrusive.

Even the frequent blares of our horn came as muted.

The dining car combined the heritage train dining I remembered with a fast food ethos: white tablecloths on the table overlaid white paper place mats, real stainless flatware wrapped in navy cloth napkins and vases of red and white carnations on each table. But the food was prepackaged, served in plastic containers

PHOTO By MARy ANN STERNBERG

Mary Ann Sternberg stayed in Room B, Car 1910, on The Crescent train ride. that had been microwaved in the small galley.

For my first dinner, I ordered salmon. It came in a tasty sauce with rice, vegetables and a small salad, along with a warm roll. The entree was good enough that I ordered it again the next night.

A brief stop When I returned from dinner, Justin had made up my room — the lower berth ready, the upper berth down so I could heave my suitcase upon it, so as not to command too much of the minimal floor space in the dark.

The bed was comfortable so that when Justin knocked at my door at 8 a.m. to ask if I was going to breakfast, he surprised me. I’d just been lolling under the covers, looking out of the windows.

When I sat down in the dining car, I talked across the aisle with Bernard, formerly Navy according to his jacket emblem, who was also dining alone. His wife had remained in D.C. with family, he said, but he was ready to get home to his acreage outside Meridian, Miss., that his family had proudly owned since the 1890s.

The Crescent stopped in Atlanta long enough for long-distance passengers to step off for fresh air and a short walk. I took advantage of all such stops.

At Birmingham, Ala., I strolled to the front of the train to see The Crescent’s two sleek engines, nose to tail, and also found our two engineers. They explained that five, two-person teams divide up the route from

New York to New Orleans.

They also noted that, while our train can reach a speed of 79 miles per hour on straight track, more often we are slowed by curves and traffic.

Spotting history The day aboard passed happily. I ate, slept, read, chatted on the phone and spent an inordinate amount of time looking out of the windows.

Fall color splotched the forests all the way into southern Mississippi. We sped through tiny towns with lines of old, redbrick storefronts facing the tracks and past churches, warehouses, industrial sites, fields and ravines.

Twice I spied history trackside. In Birmingham, it was Sloss Furnaces, a rusty old blast furnace that produced pig iron from 1882 to 1971 that became one of the first industrial sites preserved and designated a national historic landmark.

In Meridian, it was the mustard-colored passenger cars of the Bigbee Railroad.

Train travel in the United States has increased noticeably, not only in a popular northeastern corridor. I now know why and have joined the ranks of new Amtrak supporters.

I hope to take The Crescent on its reverse route someday, especially to see the scenery I missed that we passed at night or to deboard in one or more interesting stops along the route to stay for a visit.

And next time I ride the rails, I’ll know exactly what to expect.

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The Times-Picayune ✦ nola.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

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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

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4D ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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

THe wiZard oF id

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The Times-Picayune ✦ nola.com ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ 5D

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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 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

muttS

roSe iS roSe

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Scrabble GramS dIrectIons: make a 2- to 7-letter word from the letters in each row. add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus.

“Blanks” used as any letter have no point value. all the words are in the Official sCraBBlE® players Dictionary, 5th Edition.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

jump Start

For more information on tournaments and clubs, email naspa – north american sCraBBlE players association: info@scrabbleplayers.org. Visit our website: www.scrabbleplayers.org. For puzzle inquiries contact scrgrams@gmail.com.

Get fuzzy

Hasbro and its logo sCraBBlE associated logo, the design of the distinctive sCraBBlE brand game card, and the distinctive letter tile designs are trademarks of Hasbro in the United states and Canada. ©2021 Hasbro. all rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content agency, llC.

ken ken

animal crackerS

DuStin

InstructIons: 1 - Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 thorugh 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating.

2 - The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners.

3 - Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

Wallace the brave

Drabble

WiShinG Well breWSter rockit

luann

HErE is a plEasanT liTTlE gamE that will give you a message every day. it’s a numerical puzzle designed to spell out your fortune. Count the letters in your first name. if the number of letters is 6 or more, subtract 4. if the number is less than 6, add 3. The result is your key number. start at the upper left-hand corner and check each of your key numbers, left to right. Then read the message the checked figures give you.

The Times-Picayune ✦ nola.com ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ 7D

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classifieds.nola.com Search & Place Ads Ads Onlines at classifieds.nola.com • Call Monday Us Monday - Friday 8AM - 5PMatat(504) (504)636-7435 636-7435 Search & Place Onlines at classifieds.nola.com - Friday 8AM - 5PM

New Orleans Real Estate For Sale

Announcements

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of the heirs of Teddy Johansen, Jr., who previously resided at 2752 Jared Lane, Marrero, LA 70072, please contact attorney Ronald L. Faia, Jr., at 6565 Vicksburg St., New Orleans, LA 70124; Phone: 504-9089328; Email: rfaiajr@gmail.com.

172778-1/6-7-8-3t $133.00 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Victor S. Vess, Jr. a/k/a Victor Vess, Jr. a/k/a Victor S. Vess a/k/a Victor Vess, who previously resided at 2744 Corrine Dr., Marrero, LA 70072, please contact attorney Ronald L. Faia, Jr., at 6565 Vicksburg St., New Orleans, LA 70124; Phone: 504-908-9328; Email: rfaiajr@gmail.com.

172730-1/6-7-8-3t $157.00 Two Hot Chicks and Two Guys d/b/a Grande Krewe Fine Wine & Spirits is applying to the Office of Alcohol & Tobacco Control of the State of Louisiana for a permit to sell beverages of high and low alcohol content at retail in Orleans Parish at the following address: 2305 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA, 70113 Two Hot Chicks and Two Guys Grande Krewe Fine Wine & Spirits Members: Jane Cooper, George Heaps, Carla & Roy Arriola 172728-1/6-1t $118.90

JEWELRY/WATCHES Ladies beautiful 10k gold diamond wishbone ring. $300. 504-994-7385

GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS

On your phone.

On the go.

New Orleans Rental

Precious Raised Cottage between Met Rd & railroad tracks.

2BD/1BA. Lrg Liv Rm w/wd flrs.

Wooden fence separating home f/ N. Labarre for privacy. Gated Yd. Refrig/Oven + W&D are available.

Sandy Ward * 504-259-2616.

Re/Max Living * 504-475-1011. Ea ofc indpntly owned & operated.

METAIRIE

GENTILLY 2544 ALLEN TOUSSAINT BLVD. NEWLY RENOVATED!!!

1-2 Bdrm Apts * From $800/mo Parking * Sec Gate 504-250-1446 * 504-454-1333

PUBLIC NOTICE --ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

CATS RAGAMUFFIN & RAGDOLL KITTENS www.CatsByFrancy.com/kittens $700up! Reg. Shots & Guaranty 337-230-3150 CATS Young Male Cat, Gray Colors, Have too many cats, Looking for another home for him. Please call 504-861-9617 ($50)

METAIRIE 3201 RICHLAND AVENUE 1/2 Block off Vets * by Paretti Jaguar 1 Bed * Prkg * Pool * Rent $675/mo 504-320-6958 * 504-454-1333 METAIRIE 3513 EDENBORN AVENUE Lrg 2 Bed, 1 Bath * $925 * Off St Prkg Blocks from Lakeside 504-982-4040 * 504-885-8060 504-454-1333

NEWS 24/7 ON

DOGS Shih Tzu pups, 3 M 9wks $400, 1 F 4mos $400 Cash Only. Call 504-418-3046

Participation by minority and female-owned busi‐ nesses is encouraged.

Hurricane Fence and Home Improvement is Your JellyFish Lighting Dealer All In One Exterior Lighting Solution Controlled from your smart device anywhere Security-Accent-Holiday-Game Day Lighting Trim - Patio - Landscaping FREE ESTIMATE • 504-466-3712 1 yr no interest financing

171090-jan 6-13-2t $25.04

For Lease...

1, 2, 3, Bedrooms 504-455-3939 METAIRIE HOLIDAY SPECIAL!!!

Luxury/Spacious Safe/Quiet 3207 Belmont Place, Apt 106. 2/1 1st Flr, $1,000..Price Ends 1/4/26.

New Price will be $1300 * Patio, Fenced Yd, Off St Prkg, Wtr Paid.

NO Smoking or Pets. 700+Credit Score. 504.442.1873 * 504.237.5200

PUBLIC NOTICE --Advocate

DOGS Teacup POODLES POMS MALTIPOOS YORKIES miniature/Toy GOLDENDOO‐ DLES CAVALIERS - 504-259-2222 2yr guarantee UTD S/W Tcups $995 up $495.00 up

Automotive

NEW ORLEANS EAST 4518 Lafon Dr., 4BR/2BA, W/D HU, Off St. Pkg., Sec 8 acc. 504-577-5833

NEW ORLEANS EAST LITTLE WOODS SPECIAL 7819 SANDS STREET * 3 BD/2 BA Central A & H * Fenced Backyard Sec 8 Welcome. No Deposit. $1,200 504-241-6189 * 504-430-1162

SIGN UP TODAY

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, January 27, 2026 ** Refer to www.centerl inebidconnect.com for bid submission instruc‐ tions. All bids must be submitted via email to lsubids@lsu.edu ** ANY PERSON REQUIRING SPECIAL ACCOMMODA‐ TIONS SHALL NOTIFY LOUISIANA STATE UNI‐ VERSITY, OFFICE OF PUR‐ CHASING OF THE TYPE(S) OF ACCOMMODATION RE‐ QUIRED NOT LESS THAN SEVEN (7) DAYS BEFORE THE BID OPENING.

IMPORT CARS 2013 Lexus LS 460 Exc Cond, $16,950, Dk Blue Int, 130k+mi, appt (504) 915-2440

“Connecting You to the Soul of New Orleans One Home, One Neighborhood, One Passion at a Time!”

m 504.239.1481

o 504.861.7575

corinne.fox@compass.com www.compass.com/agents/corinne-fox

7934 Maple St. New Orleans, LA 70118 Licensed by the State of Louisiana

ABLE TREE SERVICE AB R CE

Tree Trimming & Removal Storm Preparedness & Storm Removals

We recycle W l your trees t

A1 accredited ditt d BBB

504-828-1532 49 years local service 504-628-3558 ABLETREEFORME.COM Licensed i d arborist b and fully insured.

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 f l

FOR: Furnish Labor and Materials for Tiger Park HVAC Modifications LSU SOLICITATION NUM‐ BER: RFQ-0000002677

Public Notices Bids/Proposals y pp 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 7, 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 thirty (30) days after re‐ ceipt of bids, except under the provisions of LA. R.S. 38:2214.

The Owner reserves the right to reject any and all bids for just cause. In ac‐ cordance with La. R.S. 38:2212 (A)(1)(b), the pro‐ visions and requirements of this Section, those stated in the advertise‐ ment for bids, and those required on the bid form shall not be considered as informalities and shall not be waived by any public entity.

When this project is fi‐ nanced either partially or entirely with State Bonds or federal funds, the award of this Contract is

CEMENT AND BRICK

CONTRACTOR NO JOB TOO SMALL!

SIDEWALKS & DRIVEWAYS

504-236-2375 TRIPLE BBB

CONSTRUCTION CO. INC. Pool Enclosures • Patio Covers • Roofing Siding • Glass Rooms • Screen Rooms Soffit • Fascia • Windows & Screens

JAMES H. BALL, SR.

P R ES I D E N T 2158 Kenner Ave. Kenner, LA 70062

504-467-6998 Fax 504-467-6708

o D e e ct o

r

Tr

GET READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS Make your holidays a lot easier with the Versa Lift Attic Elevator Prices start at $2795 12 month no interest financing available CALL 504-466-3712 Hurricane Fence and Home Improvement

All bids must be accom‐ panied by bid security equal to five percent (5%) of the sum of the base bid and all alter‐ nates, and must be in the form of a certified check, cashier’s check or Bid Bond Form written by a surety company licensed to do business in Louisiana, signed by the surety’s agency or attor‐ ney-in-fact. Surety must be listed on the current U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Man‐ agement Service list of approved bonding com‐ panies as approved for an amount equal to or greater than the amount for which it obligates it‐ self in the Bond, or must be a Louisiana domiciled insurance company with at least an A- rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide. If surety qualifies by virtue of its Best’s list‐ ing, the amount of the Bond may not exceed ten percent of policyholders’ surplus as shown in the latest A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide. The Bid Bond shall be in favor of the Louisiana State Uni‐ versity and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and shall be accompa‐ nied by appropriate power of attorney. No Bid Bond indicating an oblig‐ ation of less than five percent (5%) by any method is acceptable.

Tom Doster Director of Purchasing & Procurement

REALTOR®

504-466-3712

YKH Consulting, LLC 3701 Hessmer Ave. Metairie, Louisiana 70002 Phone: 504.231.3231 Contact: Joseph Garon Email:jgaron@ykhcons ulting.com

IFB # 3398 – FS Diverted Commodity Processing Bid packet may be picked up from the Purchasing Department at 501 Man‐ hattan Boulevard, Suite 2200, Harvey, LA 70058, call (504) 349-7667, or email a request to thomas.doster@ jpschools.org.

Corinne Fox

www.hurricanefenceneworleans.com All types of Fences Exclusive Pre-Stained Cedar Fences

Contractors unable to access bidding docu‐ ments at www.centerl inebidconnect.com should contact

Sealed bids will be re‐ ceived by the Jefferson Parish School Board, 501 Manhattan Boulevard, Suite 2200, Harvey, LA 70058 until 11:00 a.m. on January 27, 2026 and shall be opened and read aloud for:

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

METAIRIE

10,000 Apt Homes and 75 Locations with Studio, 1, 2 & 3 Bedrooms Pools, Access Gates, Garages (504) 360-9347

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.

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

ALGIERS 5708 A-Tullis Dr., 4BR/2BA, ADA Compliant, w/d hkup, ref, stove, Off St. Pk, 504-454-3847 504-512-2814

Subscribe today Scan the QR code Cancel anytime

Pets

518 N. LABARRE RD $1,600/Mo 2203 John Raphael Jr. Lg 2 BR/1BA, W/D On bus line. $999. 504-915-2440

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices

CENTRAL CITY

WALK THRU MARDI GRAS. Lead horses through New Orleans Mardi Gras Parades.

Call 504-891-2246 for more info.

Merchandise

METAIRIE

Tree Trimming & Removal • Stump Grinding 504 -570 - 6683

3030 Lausat Street, Metairie, Louisiana 70001 Website: twomenandatruck.com/neworleans Licensed, Bonded and fully Insured with a 96.5% approval rating

To advertise here, please call (225) 383-0111

*Must Dial Area Code*

504-341-2006 FREE ESTIMATES!

License and Insured and Professionally trained

GONZALES CONCRETE

Any size job Servicing New Orleans & Northshore area

Sidewalks, Patios, Driveways, etc.

Ray Gonzales 504-458-7278

8D ✦ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

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.

q their ability to execute the services in accor‐ dance with the Scope of contained Services within the request for proposals (RFP). Specifi‐ cally, proposals must demonstrate their previ‐ ous experience, qualifi‐ cations, and other fac‐ tors, to perform the ser‐ vices outlined in the RFP.

pp hand corner on the out‐ side of the envelope when submitting propos‐ als: Company Name Company Address RFP Name and Number Date and Time responses are due

AD RUN DATES: December 16 and 23, 2025 January 6, 2026 170086-dec 16-23-jan 6-3t $203.37 PUBLIC NOTICE --HOUSING AUTHORITY OF NEW ORLEANS REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME VERIFICATION SERVICES RFP #25-914-27 The Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) is proposals requesting from qualified and expe‐ professional rienced companies to provide in‐ come verification ser‐ vices for roughly 22,000 families for regularly scheduled annual reex‐ aminations of income and family composition, interim reexaminations, and determining initial eligibility for HANO’s Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP), Project Based Voucher (PBV) and Public Program, Housing Program.

Contractors must submit proposals that outline their qualifications and h i bili

Single copies of the RFP package may be down‐ from HANO’s loaded website at www.hano. org. The RFP package will be available on Tuesday, December 23, 2025.

Sealed responses to this solicitation will be re‐ ceived by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) in the Depart‐ ment of Procurement and Contracts until 2:00 p.m., CST, on January 26, 2026.

Deliver four (4) complete sets (one original clearly or stamped marked “original”, and three (3) copies) of the required submittals, in a sealed envelope or box clearly marked with the words “RFP Documents”, to the Department of Procure‐ ment and Contracts at the following address: Housing Authority of New Orleans Procurement and Contracts Department Trudy Jackson, Contract Administrator 1555 Poydras, Suite 1800 New Orleans, Louisiana 70112 Place the following infor‐ mation in the upper, lefth d h

All responses submitted are subject to these In‐ structions and Supple‐ mental Instructions to Offerors, General and Condi‐ Supplemental tions, and all other re‐ contained quirements herein, all of which are made a part of this Re‐ quest for Proposal by ref‐ erence.

The Housing Authority of New Orleans reserves the right to reject any or all proposals for just cause and to waive any informalities in the sub‐ mission process, if it is in the best interest of the Housing Authority to do so.

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Electronic Responses to Request for Qualifica‐ tions relative to the above will be received via email submission to the Purchasing Depart‐ ment for the Orleans Parish School Board (“OPSB” or “the District”) at 2401 Westbend Park‐ way, Suite 5055, New Or‐ leans, Louisiana 70114 until 10:00 A.M. (CST) on Wednesday, January 21, 2026.

Specifications and quali‐ fications documents may be obtained by visiting the District’s website at www.nolapublicschools. com; or by contacting the Procurement Depart‐ ment at procurement@ nolapublicschools.com.

The District will host a Virtual Pre-Qualifications meeting to be held on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, at 10:00 A.M. (CST).

The Virtual link can be found below:

171855-dec 23-30-jan 6-3t $134.89

Register in advance for this meeting:

PUBLIC NOTICE ---

https://us06web.zoom. us/meeting/register/mSH OKYNcSGSdDb5vUAyXTw

ORLEANS PARISH SCHOOL BOARD Purchasing Department 2401 Westbend Parkway, Suite 5055 New Orleans, Louisiana 70114 ADVERTISEMENT REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS NO. 26-0080 PROFESSIONAL MOVING SERVICES

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing infor‐ mation about joining the meeting.

The District reserves the right to reject any or all Responses to Request for Qualifications whenever such rejection is in its best interest in accor‐ dance with law. The pro‐ visions and requirements of this advertisement

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

shall not be waived.

Paul A. Lucius Executive Director of Procurement FIRST INSERTION DATE: Tuesday, December 30, 2025 SECOND INSERTION DATE: Tuesday, January 6, 2026 171632 Dec. 30, 2026, Jan. 6, 2026, 2t $83.72

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE --(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 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.

172565-JAN 5-6-2T $168.76

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE --Forest Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation is an Equal Opportunity Em‐ ployer. We recruit, hire, train and employ without discrimination due to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, an‐ cestry, disability, marital obligation to status, serve in the Armed Forces of the United States, or any other char‐ acteristic protected by applicable Federal or State law.

172729 Jan. 6-8, 2026 3t $179.41 PUBLIC NOTICE --HERITAGE MANOR OF SLIDELL IS AN EQUAL OP‐ PORTUNITY EMPLOYER. WE RECRUIT, HIRE, TRAIN, AND EMPLOY WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION DUE TO RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, AGE, NATIONAL ORIGIN, ANCESTRY, DISABILITY, SEX, MARITAL STATUS, OBLIGATION TO SERVE IN THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES , OR ANY OTHER CHARACTER‐ ISTIC PROTECTED BY AP‐ PLICABLE FEDERAL OR STATE LAW. 172756-jan 6-8-3t $194.74 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‐

Legal Notices

partment of Insurance, located at 1702 North Street, Baton Third 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 Licensing" "Company 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‐ vided therein on the date and time stated above.

Timothy J. Temple Commissioner of Insurance Louisiana Department of Insurance 172005-jan 5-6-7-3t $66.31 PUBLIC NOTICE --THAT PORTION OF GROUND, BEARING MUNICIPAL 7524 Tricia Court New Orleans, La 70128., this city, in the matter entitled NOME FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, now GTE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION vs. LATESSIA D. BROWN, A/K/A LATESSIA

Legal Notices

D. BROWN McCLELLAN First City Court for The City of New Orleans Constable, Parish of Orleans Case No: 1996-56507 By virtue of a writ of Fieri Facias to me directed by the Honorable The First City Court for the City of New Orleans, in the above entitled cause, I will proceed to sell by public auction, on the ground floor of the Civil District Court Building, 421 Loyola Avenue, in the First District of the City on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at 12:00 o'clock noon, the following de‐ scribed property to wit: The undivided one-half (1/2) interest if Latessia Brown, a/k/a Latessia Brown McClellan in and to the property in the Third District, Briarwood Subdivision, Phase III, Square “D”, designated as Lot 26, bearing the Municipal No. 7524 Tricia Court, St., New Orleans, La 70128. Acquired Octo‐ ber 9, 2007, by act regis‐ tered in C.I.N.# 374799.

Legal Notices

y sonal Checks.

Atty: Richard Dimitry 205-790-4977 TP/Advocate, Date(s) : Dec 8, 2025 Jan 6,2026 La. Weekly Date(s): Dec. 8,2025 Jan. 6, 2026 Lambert C. Boissiere, Jr Constable, Parish of Orleans 169228-dec 8-jan 6-2t

Reporting you can trust on stories that matter

WRIT AMOUNT: $3994.13 Seized in the above suit, TERMS-CASH. The pur‐ chaser at the moment of adjudication to make a deposit of ten percent of the purchase price, and the balance within thirty days thereafter.(unless cash on spot) Note: All deposits must Cash, Cashier's be Check, Certified Check or Money Order; No Per‐ l h k

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