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“Libraries are evolving in how they’re being used. The library will also have more centralized student services.” PAUL FAVALORO, LSU executive director of planning, design and construction

LSU to break ground on new $154M library

$2.00X

McGlinchey shutdown shuffles legal landscape Law firms try to snag top talent before competition does

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

The decision by McGlinchey Stafford PLLC leaders this week to shutter their powerhouse law firm after more than 50 years sent shock waves across south Louisiana’s legal community, and even took some of the firm’s attorneys by surprise. It also began reshaping the local legal landscape. In the days since the announcement, at least two firms have announced that McGlinchey attorneys will be joining them, bringing lucrative practices and longtime clients along. New Orleans-based Adams and Reese said Thursday it is hiring nearly a third of McGlinchey’s Baton Rouge office — 11 attorneys and two paralegals — from the real estate and corporate transactions group. More announcements are expected to follow, as firms try to snag top McGlinchey talent before the competition does. Amid the reshuffling, the full picture of what caused McGlinchey’s partners who own the firm, known as equity members, to vote to dissolve is starting to emerge. According to attorneys familiar with the situation and a statement from the

ä See MCGLINCHEY, page 5A

RENDERING PROVIDED By LSU PLANNING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

A rendering shows the new LSU Library, which officials say will create a ‘hub for student engagement.’

Project aims for 2027 start, opening in fall 2029 BY HALEY MILLER

creasingly southward orientation and will create a “hub for student engagement,” Favaloro said. “The library location was in a place Utility work is kicking off for the construction of a long-awaited, $154 that was considered more centric million library on the LSU campus, to the university, but now with our master plan, things but students still Dalrymple are moving toward have a few years to the south,” Favaloro go before they’ll be Tiger Stadium said. “This reposiable to hit the books in the new space. tions that library to According to Paul a better location.” Stadiu Favaloro, executive The new library mD r. director of planwill be 198,000 square feet and conning, design and construction, the plan tain three levels. It Sout h Qu ad is to break ground will be able to hold New in spring 2027, with between 1.6 million LSU Burbank doors opening in fall and 2 million books Dr. library 2029. The new buildand media. In addition to pubing will sit at the cor- Staff map ner of Field House lications, the library Drive and South Stadium Drive and will house a cafe and numerous stureplace the LSU Main Library, for- dent support services. LSU is strivmerly known as Middleton Library. ing to build the “modern library,” The project aligns with LSU’s in- Favaloro said. Staff writer

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“Libraries are evolving in how they’re being used,” Favaloro said. “The library will also have more centralized student services.” The project will be funded through a mix of state and donor funds. The LSU Foundation has set a $35 million fundraising goal, with nearly $12 million contributed to date, according to a foundation spokesperson. The former Middleton Library, built in 1958, will continue to be operational until the new building opens, Favaloro said. He described the building as too costly to justify renovating, with air conditioning, electrical, utility and moisture issues. “It’s had modernizations here and there, but couple that with today’s library needs and deferred maintenance needs, it would take really a gut renovation to make it meet today’s standards,” Favaloro said. “It’s

ä See LIBRARY, page 5A

Alito recuses from coastal lawsuit case Supreme Court arguments set to begin Monday

BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer

On the eve of oral arguments in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that could determine the fate of dozens of lawsuits that seek billions in damages to repair Louisiana’s eroding coastline, Justice Samuel Alito has recused himself, citing a ﬁnancial conﬂict of interest. The Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish case will determine whether the lawsuits, brought by Louisiana parishes against oil companies, belong in state or federal court. The high court’s ruling could determine whether a jury’s $745 million verdict in Plaquemines Parish stands. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Monday. Alito has frequently recused himself from cases involving companies in which he owns stock. In a letter to the parties involved in the case, the Supreme Court clerk, Scott Harris, wrote that

ä See ALITO, page 4A

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U.S. intercepts 5th sanctioned tanker at sea

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First Superman comic book sells for $15M

A rare copy of the comic book that introduced the world to Superman and also was once stolen from the home of actor Nicolas Cage has been sold for a record $15 million. The private deal for “Action Comics No. 1” was announced Friday. It eclipses the previous record price for a comic book, set last November when a copy of “Superman No. 1” was at sold at auction for $9.12 million. The Action Comics sale was negotiated by Manhattan-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, which said the comic book’s owner and the buyer wished to remain anonymous. The comic — which sold for 10 cents when it came out in 1938 — was an anthology of tales about mostly now little-known characters. But over a few panels, it told the origin story of Superman’s birth on a dying planet, his journey to Earth and his decision as an adult to “turn his titanic strength into channels that would beneﬁt mankind.” Its publication marked the beginning of the superhero genre. About 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 are known to exist, according to Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect President Vincent Zurzolo. “This is among the Holy Grail of comic books. Without Superman and his popularity, there would be no Batman or other superhero comic book legends,” Zurzolo said. “It’s importance in the comic book community shows with this deal, as it obliterates the previous record,” Zurzolo said.

Skulls, body parts found in grave robbery case

Bones and skulls visible in the back seat of a car near an abandoned cemetery on Philadelphia’s outskirts led police to a basement filled with body parts, which authorities say were hoarded by a man now accused of stealing about 100 sets of human remains. Officers say a Tuesday night arrest culminated a monthslong investigation into break-ins at Mount Moriah Cemetery, where at least 26 mausoleums and vaults had been forced open since early November. Investigators later searched the Ephrata home and storage unit of Jonathan Christ Gerlach, 34, and reported finding more than 100 human skulls, long bones, mummified hands and feet, two decomposing torsos and other skeletal items. “They were in various states. Some of them were hanging, as it were. Some of them were pieced together, some were just skulls on a shelf,” Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said. Most were in the basement, authorities said, and they also recovered jewelry believed to be linked to the graves. In one case, a pacemaker was still attached. Police say Gerlach targeted mausoleums and underground vaults at the 1855 cemetery. It’s considered the country’s largest abandoned burial ground, according to Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery, which helps maintain the 160-acre landmark in Yeadon that’s home to an estimated 150,000 grave sites.

Shark kills woman in U.S. Virgin Islands

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — A shark attacked and killed an American woman along a beach in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, ofﬁcials said Friday. Police identiﬁed the victim as 56-year-old Arlene Lillis, of Minnesota. A hometown wasn’t immediately available. Authorities said the attack occurred close to shore on western St. Croix on Thursday afternoon. Police and other emergency crews responded to the beach, where crews worked “swiftly and professionally under very extreme and difficult circumstances” to treat Lillis, said Daryl Jaschen, director of the Virgin Islands’ emergency management agency. Lillis, who was a frequent visitor to the U.S. territory, was taken to a hospital for further treatment but died from her injuries, according to Lt. Gov. Tregenza A. Roach.

PROVIDED IMAGE FROM VIDEO VIA AP

An image from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people blocking an intersection Thursday during a protest in Tehran, Iran.

Iran’s leader signals protest crackdown

ers chanting against Iran’s government Khamenei says around bonfires as debris littered the demonstrators ‘ruining their streets in the capital, Tehran, and other areas into Friday morning. own streets’ for Trump Iranian state media alleged “terrorist

BY JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — European leaders urged Iran late Friday to allow its citizens to demonstrate without reprisal after Tehran signaled security forces would crack down on the protesters whom U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to support. At least 62 people have been killed in the protests that began in late December over Iran’s ailing economy and have morphed into the most significant challenge to the government in years. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Trump as having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians” as his supporters shouted “Death to America!” in footage aired by Iranian state television. State media later referred to the demonstrators as “terrorists,” setting the stage for a violent crackdown as in other protests in recent years. Protesters are “ruining their own streets ... in order to please the president of the United States,” the 86-year-old Khamenei said to a crowd at his compound in Tehran. “Because he said that he would come to their aid. He should pay attention to the state of his own country instead.” Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei separately vowed that punishment for protesters “will be decisive, maximum and without any legal leniency.” Late Friday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron issued a joint statement condemning reported deadly violence against the protesters, and urged Iran to allow its citizens to express themselves without fear of reprisal. The Associated Press could not independently confirm local media reports that state forces had opened fire on protesters in Tehran on Friday. There was no immediate response from Washington, though Trump has repeatedly pledged to strike Iran if protesters are killed, a threat that has taken on greater significance after the U.S. military raid that seized Venezuela’s former President Nicolás Maduro. Despite Iran’s theocracy cutting off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls, short online videos shared by activists purported to show protest-

agents” of the U.S. and Israel set fires and sparked violence. It also said there were “casualties,” without elaborating. The full scope of the demonstrations that began Dec. 28 couldn’t be immediately determined due to the communications blackout. The protests also represented the first test of whether the Iranian public could be swayed by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Pahlavi, who called for the protests Thursday night, similarly has called for demonstrations at 8 p.m. Friday. Demonstrations have included cries in support of the shah, something that could bring a death sentence in the past but now underlines the anger fueling the protests that began over Iran’s ailing economy. So far, violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 62 people while more than 2,300 others have been detained, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. “What turned the tide of the protests was former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s calls for Iranians to take to the streets at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday,” said Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Per social media posts, it became clear that Iranians had delivered and were taking the call seriously to protest in order to oust the Islamic Republic.” “This is exactly why the internet was shut down: to prevent the world from seeing the protests. Unfortunately, it also likely provided cover for security forces to kill protesters.” When the clock struck 8 p.m. Thursday, neighborhoods across Tehran erupted in chanting, witnesses said. The chants included “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the Islamic Republic!” Others praised the shah, shouting: “This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!” Thousands could be seen on the streets before all communication to Iran cut out. On Friday, Pahlavi called on Trump to help the protesters, saying Khamenei “wants to use this blackout to murder these young heroes.” “You have proven and I know you are a man of peace and a man of your word,” he said in a statement. “Please be prepared to intervene to help the people of Iran.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pahlavi’s appeal to Trump.

Israeli strikes kill at least 13 in Gaza

The process has moved slowly since a Trump expected to ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect three months ago. announce Board of Peace The nearly U.S. official and another official

BY WAFAA SHURAFA

Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed at least 13 people, according to health officials, as President Donald Trump was expected to announce his Board of Peace to oversee the fragile ceasefire. Health officials and family members said at least one child was among the dead in northern Gaza following several strikes there as well as east of Gaza City. All 13 people were killed on Thursday. Israel’s army said Friday that it struck Hamas infrastructure and fighters in southern and northern Gaza in response to a failed projectile launched by militants from the Gaza City area. The phased ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains in its initial stage as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final Israeli hostage in Gaza. Officials say that Trump is expected to announce next week his appointments to his Board of Peace, which he has said he will head, marking an important step forward for his Middle East peace plan.

spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov would be the board’s “designated” director-general. Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as the U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the U.N. Mideast peace envoy from 2015-2020. During that time, he had good working relations with Israel and frequently worked to ease Israel-Hamas tensions. Under Trump’s plan, the board would supervise a new technocratic Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and reconstruction. The U.S. has reported little progress on any of these fronts so far. On Thursday, Egyptian and European Union leaders met in Cairo and urged the deployment of the international stabilization force. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Hamas still refused to disarm and called the situation “extremely severe.”

Washington exerts control over Venezuelan oil distribution

BY KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, AAMER MADHANI and MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press

WASHINGTON — U.S. forces boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, the U.S. military said, as the Trump administration targets sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela as part of a broader effort to take control of the South American country’s oil. The predawn raid was carried out by Marines and Navy sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, part of the extensive force the U.S. has built up in the Caribbean in recent months, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the tanker called the Olina. The Coast Guard then took control of the vessel, officials said. Southern Command and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem both posted unclassified footage on social media Friday morning of a U.S. helicopter landing on the vessel and U.S. personnel conducting a search of the deck and tossing what appeared to be an explosive device in front of a door leading to inside the ship. In her post, Noem said the ship was “another ‘ghost ﬂeet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil” and it had departed Venezuela “attempting to evade U.S. forces.” The Olina is the ﬁfth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil

products following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid. In a post on his social media network later in the day, Trump said the seizure was conducted “in coordination with the Interim Authorities of Venezuela” but offered no elaboration. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for more details. Venezuela’s government acknowledged in a statement that it was working with U.S. authorities to return the tanker, “which set sail without payment or authorization from the Venezuelan authorities,” to the South American nation. “Thanks to this first successful joint operation, the ship is sailing back to Venezuelan waters for its protection and relevant actions,” according to the statement. Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships from conducting trade. The Olina was among that flotilla. U.S. government records show that the Olina was sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M, and flagged in Panama. While records show the Olina is now flying the flag of Timor-Leste, it is listed in the international shipping registry as having a false flag, meaning the registration it is claiming is not valid. In July, the owner and manager of the ship on its registration was changed to a company in Hong Kong. According to ship tracking databases, the Olina last transmitted its location in November in the Caribbean, north of the Venezuelan coast. Since then, however, the ship has been running dark with its location beacon turned off.

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Video shows fatal ICE shooting from officer’s perspective Release brings fresh scrutiny to Minnesota killing

BY REBECCA SANTANA, TIM SULLIVAN and GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer. The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents. The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. A new, 47-second video that was published online by a Minnesota-based conservative news site, Alpha News, and later reposted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows the shooting from the perspective of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots. Sirens blaring in the background, he approaches Good’s vehicle in the middle of the road while apparently filming on his cellphone. At the same time, Good’s wife also was recording the encounter and can be seen walking around the vehicle and approaching the officer.

A series of exchanges occurred: “That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,” Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window. “U.S. citizen, former f****** veteran,” says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. “You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch big boy.” Other officers at the scene are approaching the driver’s side of the car at about the same time and one says: “Get out of the car, get out of the f****** car.” Good reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as she drives ahead and Ross opens fire. The camera becomes unsteady and points toward the sky and then returns to the street view showing Good’s SUV careening away. “F****** b****,” someone at the scene says. A crashing sound is heard as Good’s vehicle smashes into others parked on the street. Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required. Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate bodyworn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ADAM BETTCHER

A supporter of Immigration and Customs Enforcement argues with a counterprotester on Friday outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis. kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras. Meanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration’s decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Good’s killing. She also said the officer who shot Good in the head does not have complete legal immunity, as Vice President JD Vance declared. “We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “It does not matter that

it was a federal law enforcement agent.” Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn’t sure what legal outcome submissions might produce. Good’s wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.” “On Wednesday, Jan. 7, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,” Becca Good said. “I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote. The reaction to Good’s shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting

scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution and offering an online option through Feb. 12. On Thursday night, hundreds marched in freezing rain down a major thoroughfare, chanting “ICE out now!” And on Friday, protesters were outside a federal facility serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Portland shooting happened outside a hospital Thursday. A federal border ofﬁcer shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras. Police said they were in stable condition Friday after surgery, with DHS saying Nico Moncada was taken into FBI custody Just as it did following

Good’s shooting, DHS defended the actions of its officers in Portland, saying the shooting occurred after the driver with alleged gang ties tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit them. It said no officers were injured. Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed that the two people shot had “some nexus” to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Day said they came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects. The chief said any gang affiliation did not necessarily justify the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol. The Oregon Department of Justice said it would investigate. The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests. Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since President Donald Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, with protests planned for this weekend, according to Indivisible, a group formed to resist the Trump administration. Noem, Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.

Documents: Immigration officers leaving La. for Minn. crackdown BY JACK BROOK Associated Press/ Report for America

Federal immigration officers are pulling out of a Louisiana crackdown and heading to Minneapolis in an abrupt pivot from an operation that drew protests around New Orleans and aimed to make thousands of arrests, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The shift appeared to signal a wind-down of the Louisiana deployment that was dubbed “Catahoula Crunch” and began in December with the arrival of more than 200 ofﬁcers. The operation had been expected to last into February and swiftly raised fears in immigrant communities. The Trump administration has been surging thousands of federal ofﬁcers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers are taking part in what the Department of Homeland Security has called the biggest immigration enforce-

ment operation ever. The officers in Minneapolis have been met with demonstrations and anger after an ICE officer fatally shot a woman on Wednesday. Documents obtained by the AP indicated that federal officers stationed in Louisiana were continuing to depart for Minneapolis late this week. “For the safety of our law enforcement, we do not disclose operational details while they are underway,” DHS said Friday in response to questions about whether the Louisiana deployment was ending in order to send officers to Minnesota. In December, DHS deployed more than 200 federal officers to New Orleans to carry out a monthslong sweep in and around the city under Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who was also the face of aggressive operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina. Bovino has been seen in Minneapolis this past week. “Catahoula Crunch” began with a target of 5,000 arrests, the AP first reported. The operation had resulted in about 370 arrests as of Dec. 18, according to DHS.

Documents previously re- they feared would be racial- regardless of their legal sta- cently announced they were viewed by AP showed the ly profiled by federal officers tus. Some restaurants re- reopening. majority of people arrested in the Louisiana crackdown’s first days lacked criminal records and that authorities tracked online criticism and protests against the deployMONTHS ment. INTEREST Republican Louisiana Gov. Family owned and operated since 1957 Jeff Landry welcomed the >>>> OR <<<< crackdown. But New Orleans’ Democratic leaders called the 5,000-arrest target unrealistic and criticized DISCOUNT AND videos that showed agents 6 MONTHS NO arresting or trying to detain residents, including a clip of See store for details a U.S. citizen being chased down the street by masked men near her house. New Orleans’ Democratic leaders have been more welcoming of a National Guard deployment that President Donald Trump authorized after Landry asked for help fighting crime. The troops arrived just before the New Year’s Day anniversary of a truck attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people. In the Hispanic enclave *Other pieces sale priced of Kenner just outside New Orleans, many immigrantRegular $ $ run businesses temporarily 1819 closed during the operation to protect customers whom

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Trump promises oil ﬁrms safety in Venezuela BY JOSH BOAK and AAMER MADHANI

need government money. But they need government protection.” The president said the security guarantee would come from working with Venezuelan leaders and their people, instead of deploying U.S. forces. He also said the companies would “bring over some security.” Trump played up the potential for major oil companies to strike big, while acknowledging that the oil executives were sharp people who were in the business of taking risk, a quiet nod to the reality that he’s asking for big investment in Venezuela at a moment when the country is teetering and economic collapse is not out of the question. Trump welcomed the oil execu-

tives to the White House after U.S. forces earlier Friday seized their fifth tanker over the past month that has been linked to Venezuelan oil. The action reflected the determination of the U.S. to fully control the exporting, refining and production of Venezuelan petroleum. It’s all part of a broader push by Trump to keep gasoline prices low. At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices. The White House said it invited oil executives from 17 companies, including Chevron, which still

operates in Venezuela, as well as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, which both had oil projects in the country that were lost as part of a 2007 nationalization of private businesses under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez. While some wildcatters and other companies expressed enthusiasm for going into Venezuela, others spoke with a degree of carefulness about the legal and political barriers that still exist. “If we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it’s un-investable,” said Darren Woods, the ExxonMobil CEO. “And so significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system, there has to be durable investment protections and there has to be change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country.” Other companies invited included Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Singapore-based Trafigura, Italy-based Eni and Spain-based Repsol as well as a vast swath of domestic and international companies with interests ranging from construction to the commodity markets. Large U.S. oil companies have so far largely refrained from affirming investments in Venezuela as contracts and guarantees need to be in place. Trump has suggested that the U.S. would help to backstop any investments. Venezuela’s oil production has slumped below one million bar-

The case will be argued before the remaining eight justices. If they tie 4-4, the lower court’s ruling will be upheld and the case will remain in state court. Chevron and ExxonMobil have asked the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling that the cases belong in state court. The companies have long argued that their actions on the coast were related to the production of aviation fuel during World War II. Because the production of aviation fuel was part of a federal war effort, the companies argue the cases belong in federal court. But a 2024 U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the cases

belong in state court cleared the way for last year’s jury trial in Plaquemines Parish that resulted in a verdict ordering Chevron to pay $745 million in damages to repair a section of the coast. If the high court rules that the case belongs in federal court, a federal judge could vacate the state court’s ruling. The Supreme Court’s decision in this case could affect dozens of others. Since 2013, coastal parishes, represented by Baton Rouge law ﬁrm Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello, have ﬁled more than 40 lawsuits alleging that oil and gas companies polluted areas of the coast and contributed to Louisiana’s land loss

crisis. The Supreme Court’s ruling will likely determine whether these cases belong in state or federal court, a venue seen as friendlier to the oil companies. Together, those cases allege billions in damages to the coast. The ruling would likely have ripple effects for other cases nationwide, too, determining whether local juries can hold large corporations accountable for environmental damage, or whether those cases belong in federal court. The companies argue that some of the operations in question occurred before a law they are accused of violating took effect in 1980. They also say the lawsuits

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday called on oil executives to rush back into Venezuela as the White House looks to quickly secure $100 billion in investments to revive the country’s ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum. Since the U.S. military raid to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as a newfound economic opportunity for the U.S., seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, and saying the U.S. is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil and will be controlling sales worldwide indeﬁnitely. Trump used the meeting with oil industry executives to publicly assure them that they need not be skeptical of quickly investing in and, in some cases, returning to the South American country with a history of state asset seizures as well as ongoing U.S. sanctions and decades of political uncertainty. “You have total safety,” Trump told the executives. “You’re dealing with us directly and not dealing with Venezuela at all. We don’t want you to deal with Venezuela.” Trump added: “Our giant oil companies will be spending at least $100 billion of their money, not the government’s money. They don’t

ALITO

Continued from page 1A “Justice Alito has determined that he will not continue to participate in this case because of a ﬁnancial interest in ConocoPhillips, the parent corporation for Burlington Resources Oil and Gas Company.” Burlington Resources and ConocoPhillips had previously told the court that the companies were no longer parties to the case, but Harris noted that in further brieﬁngs, it was determined the companies were still parties in the underlying state court proceedings.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALEX BRANDON

President Donald Trump listens to Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting with oil executives on Friday at the White House.

rels a day. At the heart of Trump’s challenge to turning that around is convincing oil companies that his administration has a stable relationship with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez, and can provide protections for companies entering the market. Trump, however, is confident that Big Oil is ready to take the plunge, but allowed that it’s not without risk. “You know, these are not babies,” Trump said of the oil industry executives. “These are people that drill oil in some pretty rough places. I can say a couple of those places make Venezuela look like a picnic.” The president also offered a new rationale for ousting Maduro and demanding the U.S. maintain oversight of its Venezuelan oil industry, saying, “One thing I think everyone has to know is that if we didn’t do this, China or Russia would have done it.” While Rodriguez has publicly denounced Trump and the ouster of Maduro, the U.S. president has said that to date Venezuela’s interim leader has been cooperating behind the scenes with his administration. Tyson Slocum, director of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen’s energy program, criticized the gathering and called the U.S. military’s removal of Maduro “violent imperialism.” Slocum added that Trump’s goal appears to be to “hand billionaires control over Venezuela’s oil.”

will unnecessarily hurt employment and energy production. The cases have pitted Louisiana Republicans against the Trump administration, which has sided with the oil companies. In a statement Friday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill reemphasized her position. “These cases belong in state court,” she said. “Evidence in one case alone showed that 4 billion gallons of toxic production wastewater was continually dumped into our marsh and that it caused long-term damage.” Email Alex Lubben at alex. lubben@theadvocate.com.

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LIBRARY

The current LSU Library, which was opened in 1958, will continue to be operational until the new building opens. It will then be demolished, opening up the LSU Quad.

Continued from page 1A more feasible to build a new one.” The old library will be demolished, opening up the LSU Quad. Favaloro said the arrangement will be more true to the original quad design. The new space will require a handful of buildings already on the site to be razed, but plans are in place to relocate those departments, Favaloro said. Electrical engineering, for example, will be moved to Jesse Coates Hall. “There’s some relocation and some modern renovations being performed to relocate some of the other buildings that are on the site as well,” Favaloro said. “Those are underway, are getting started this month.” Project leaders also met this week to kick off utility work. Utility lines will need to be rerouted to prepare the site for construction, Favaloro said. Mock-ups of the exterior design have been released, though some decisions are still being made. “The library itself is still in design,” Favaloro said. “We’re somewhere roughly in the middle of that, getting ready to start the ﬁnal phase of design in the next week or so.”

MCGLINCHEY

Continued from page 1A

firm’s managing partner, Michael Ferachi, McGlinchey had been struggling for a while. It had lost several highly skilled attorneys that had lucrative client lists, according to announcements from rival firms, and departures had accelerated in recent months. Now, dozens of secretaries and back-office staff are scrambling for positions, according to social media posts. Some younger attorneys or attorneys without large books of business are also looking for work. Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino said they’ll be doing so in a Louisiana legal market that’s more competitive and less lucrative than it used to be. “Big cases with high billable hours are fewer and father between than 30 or 40 years ago because we don’t have the big companies that generated that kind of work,” said Ciolino. “As the business community goes, so goes the legal community.”

Big dreams It’s not unusual for midsized law firms like McGlinchey to experience ups and downs, lose groups of attorneys and merge or sell to other firms. But according to 10 other attorneys in New Orleans and Baton Rouge who agreed to be interviewed for this story but declined to give their names, it was surprising that McGlinchey’s owners voted to dissolve. The New Orleans-based firm was among the most aspirational and aggressive in the city when it was founded in 1974. Back then, the city’s legal community was dominated by a handful of oldline firms populated by socially prominent attorneys. McGlinchey sought to be different. Founding partners Graham Stafford and Dermott McGlinchey were young, ambitious and smart, those who knew them remember. They wanted their firm to be taken seriously, setting up offices in One Shell Square, now the Hancock Whitney Center, then the city’s newest and tallest skyscraper. The firm started out doing mostly insurance defense, which bills at a lower hourly rate and isn’t as prestigious as corporate transactions. But it quickly expanded as attorneys logged long hours and pursued out-of-state clients, which was less common then than today. They

also sought to recruit the best and brightest young talent coming out of law school. By the late 1980s, the firm had bought its own office building on Magazine Street in the newly trendy Warehouse District. In a nod to the New York-style firms it sought to emulate, McGlinchey had its own cafeteria, gym and showers, signaling that its attorneys were expected to live at the office. Both founding partners died young. Stafford in 1987; McGlinchey, at age 60, in 1993. The firm continued to grow in their absence, but some longtime competitors said it didn’t hum with the same intensity.

String of departures In a statement released Tuesday, Ferachi, a Baton Rouge-based commercial litigation specialist who became the firm’s managing member in 2021, said that no single factor had led to the vote to dissolve. Rather, troubles had been building. “This is not because of any specific attorney’s departure, or any individual financial decision or leadership action that led us to this point,” he said. “This is the result of a combination of market factors, such as lagging collections, compounded with various internal factors over several years.” The statement also said the firm’s leaders made the decision after “assessing several strategic alternatives.” Ferachi declined to make additional comment or respond to additional questions. His predecessor, Rudy Aguilar, also a Baton Rouge attorney who is leading the group going to Adams and Reese, also did not respond to requests seeking comment. Prominent departures have been ongoing for at least a decade and began building in recent months. In 2015, two prominent attorneys in the real estate and commercial transactions division took their practice to Kean Miller, according to an announcement from Kean Miller at the time. In 2020, five partners from McGlinchey’s consumer finance litigation practice went to Hinshaw, a national firm based in Chicago with more than 500 attorneys across the country, according to a release from Hinshaw. Around the same time, the firm downsized its footprint in the Pan American Life Center in New Orleans, where it had moved in 2008 after vacating the Magazine Street building, according to

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

real estate sources familiar with the move. According to Law.com, an online trade publication for the legal industry, the firm’s head count declined from 199 in 2016 to 37 in 2021, though it was back up to between 150 and 160 attorneys the time of the announcement. In 2024, defense attorney Ally Byrd left McGlinchey for Jones Walker. More recently, in late November 2025, Deirdre McGlinchey, daughter of the late founding partner, moved her successful corporate litigation practice, which represented national clients and included three attorneys, to Jones Walker. By then, the Baton Rouge McGlinchey office was already in serious talks with Adams and Reese, according to a statement from Adams and Reese. On Jan. 2, three days before the McGlinchey vote, Hinshaw announced it had hired four attorneys from McGlinchey’s Washington, D.C, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, offices, the firm announced. All specialize in defending consumer financial services companies in high stakes lawsuits. At the same time it was losing some of its top rainmakers, the firm was continuing to sign new leases for offices. In 2023, it moved its Boston office into One Beacon Street, among the city’s most prestigious office towers, with estimated rents of near $50 per square foot. In May, it moved its Baton Rouge offices from their longtime headquarters in One American Place to the newly renovated II Rivermark Centre down the street. Late last year, the firm announced it had created four new administrative positions, hiring from within. The move, the firm said at the time, was designed to strengthen and improve back-office functions. The firm had also “reconfigured its governance structure and compensation system,” Ferachi said in his statement.

‘Dignity and grace’ The effect of McGlinchey’s closure is already reverberating across the markets where it operated. Adams and Reese Managing Partner Gyf Thornton said bringing on McGlinchey’s real estate practice in Baton Rouge will not only benefit the individual attorneys from both firms but create new opportunities. “With these kinds of combinations, we have found

that we typically get a one plus one equals three,” he said. “We start with their current book of business and together we grow to something bigger than the sum of the two parts.” Partners may bring their associates and paralegals with them when they move, though they don’t typically bring back-ofﬁce staff. In a LinkedIn post, McGlinchey’s Chief Business Development Ofﬁcer Heath-

C R E D I T

er Morse posted on behalf of her colleagues, saying “There are people, the #McGlinchey Family, who need to ﬁnd their next beginning. Many of us are blessed with wide networks, but others are not.” She tagged 20 colleagues from the ﬁrm’s administrative staff, noting she also was “open to new opportunities.” There’s no word on how long the wind down will

take, but Ferachi said the firm “was committed to comporting ourselves with dignity and grace during this process.” Ciolino said it’s hard to say what exactly the departure of McGlinchey will mean for the market, noting it “does seem odd the way it all went down.” Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@ theadvocate.com.

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Russia uses new ballistic missile in attack on Ukraine BY SAMYA KULLAB and ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a largescale overnight attack, officials said Friday, killing at least four people in the capital. For only the second time in the nearly 4-year-old war, it used a powerful, new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies. The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile came days after Ukraine and its allies reported major progress toward agreeing on how to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck. Europe’s leaders condemned the attack as “escalatory and unacceptable,” and the European Union’s top foreign policy envoy said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reply to diplomacy was “more missiles and destruction.” The attack also coincides with a new chill in relations between Moscow and Washington after Russia condemned the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker in the North Atlantic. It comes as President Donald Trump signaled he is on board with a hardhitting sanctions package meant to economically cripple Moscow, which has given no public signal it

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EFREM LUKATSKy

A residential building burns Friday after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine. is willing to budge from its maximalist demands on Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said four people were killed and at least 25 wounded in Kyiv as apartment buildings were struck overnight. Those killed included an emergency medical aid worker, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. Four doctors and one police ofﬁcer were injured while responding to the attacks, authorities said. About half of snowy Kyiv’s apart-

ment buildings — nearly 6,000 — were left without heat amid daytime temperatures of about 17.6 degrees, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Water supplies also were disrupted. Municipal services restored power and heat to public facilities, including hospitals and maternity wards, using portable boiler units, he said The attack damaged the Qatari Embassy in Kyiv, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who noted that Qatar has played a

key role in mediating the exchange of prisoners of war. He called for a “clear response” from the international community, particularly from the U.S., which he said Russia takes seriously. Ukraine’s Security Service said it identiﬁed debris from the Oreshnik missile in the Lviv region in the country’s west. It was ﬁred from Russia’s Kapustin Yar test range near the Caspian Sea in southwestern Russia and targeted civilian infrastructure, investigators said. “I heard a loud, shocking explosion, and it’s normal at this time of the war to hear these things here,” said Lviv resident Kristofer Chokhovich, who said he was an American. “I just want everyone in the world to know that Ukraine is strong and we don’t care how many missiles you send.” Another resident, Ulyana Fedun, described the attack as “very unpleasant” but not scary because “we’ve been living in this state for four years.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack was a retaliation to what Moscow claimed was a Ukrainian drone strike on one of Putin’s residences last month. Both Trump and Ukraine rejected the Russian claim. Moscow didn’t say where the Oreshnik hit, but Russian media and military bloggers said it targeted an underground natural gas storage facility in the Lviv re-

gion. Western military aid ﬂows to Ukraine from a supply hub in Poland just across the border. Putin has previously said the Oreshnik streaks to its target at Mach 10, “like a meteorite,” and is immune to any missile defense system. Several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack, according to Putin, who has warned the West that Russia could use it against allies of Kyiv that allow it to strike inside Russia with longerrange missiles. Ukrainian intelligence says the missile has six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. Russia first used the Oreshnik missile on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024. Analysts say it gives Russia a new element of psychological warfare, unnerving Ukrainians and intimidating Western countries that aid Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine would be initiating international action in response to the use of the missile, including an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council and a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council. “Such a strike close to EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community. We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” he said in a post on X.

Swiss bar owner put in pretrial detention over deadly blaze By The Associated Press MARTIGNY, Switzerland — Switzerland held a national day of mourning on Friday for the 40 people who died in an Alpine bar fire during a New Year’s Eve celebration, as prosecutors requested one of the managers to be placed in pretrial detention. Valais region’s chief prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a statement the detention of the man was needed to avoid a “risk of ﬂight.” The man’s wife and co-manager will remain free under judicial supervision, the statement said. A Swiss business register lists

French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti as the owners of Le Constellation bar, in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana, where a ﬁre broke out less than two hours after midnight on Jan. 1. As well as the fatalities, 116 people were injured, many of them seriously. Local media reported that Moretti was being held in custody pending the court’s decision after the couple were questioned by prosecutors in Sion on Friday morning. Swiss authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the owners, who are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm

and involuntarily causing a fire. A memorial service and a minute’s silence marked Friday’s national homage, while church bells across Switzerland rang out for five minutes, beginning at 2 p.m. Across the country, people gathered to light candles, put down flowers for the victims and followed the national ceremony that was livestreamed on public television. Speaking at the memorial ceremony in Martigny, Swiss President Guy Parmelin said that “the memory of that terrible night illuminates the faces of the 156 victims, their happy

days, their carefree spirit.” He added: “Our country is appalled by this tragedy. It bows before the memory of those who are no longer with us. It stands by the bedside of those who are about to embark on a long road to recovery.” Investigators have said they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the ﬁre when they came too close to the ceiling. Authorities are looking into whether soundprooﬁng material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar. Fire safety inspections hadn’t been carried out since 2019.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By LAURENT GILLIERON

A victim with burned hands and relatives attend the official commemorative ceremony Friday for the victims of the deadly fire at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, in Martigny, Switzerland.

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Mangione’s trial could start before end of year Man accused of killing health care CEO

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione’s federal death penalty trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson could begin before the end of the year, a judge said Friday while weighing a defense bid to bar the government from making it a capital case. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said she expects Mangione’s trial to begin in December — or possibly January 2027, as federal prosecutors suggested — if the death penalty is still on the table. If not, she said, Mangione could stand trial in October. Either way, Garnett said, she expects jury selection to begin around Sept. 8. No trial date has been scheduled in Mangione’s parallel state murder case. Prosecutors previously said they anticipated the state trial to be ﬁrst. Garnett said she would issue a written schedule after looking at her calendar and reviewing notes of conversations she’s had with the court’s jury coordinator. The judge said she would rule at a later date on the defense’s requests to prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, throw out some charges and exclude

jail uniform, was attentive a health insurance executive. but didn’t speak once durGarnett said she is not ing the nearly three-hour inclined to hold a separate proceeding. After entering hearing on the evidence isthe courtroom, he greeted sue like one last month that his lead attorneys, Karen took three weeks in ManFriedman Agnifilo and Marc gione’s state murder case. Agnifilo, with handshakes. The judge in that case said He nodded along while read- he won’t rule until May. Prosecutors contend poing documents, sometimes sipping from a plastic water lice were justified in searchbottle. ing the backpack to make In addition to the death sure there were no dangerpenalty issue, Garnett is ous items and that the gun, weighing a defense request notebook and other evidence — similar to one in his state would have eventually been case — to bar the govern- found anyway. Thompson, 50, was killed ment from using certain items found in a backpack Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to during his arrest. The de- a Manhattan hotel for Unitfense argues that the search edHealth Group’s annual inIMAGE By ELIZABETH WILLIAMS was illegal because police vestor conference. SurveilIn a courtroom sketch, Luigi Mangione, center, is flanked by his attorneys Karen Agnifilo, left, had not yet obtained a war- lance video showed a masked and Marc Agnifilo on Friday during his appearance in Manhattan federal court in New york. rant. gunman shooting him from Those items include a gun behind. Police say “delay,” certain evidence. Another charge is legally sufficient green clothing and carried that police said matched the “deny” and “depose” were pretrial conference is sched- and that “pretrial publicity, signs such as “Free Luigi” one used to kill Thompson written on the ammunition, even when intense” is hardly and “No Death For Luigi and a notebook in which mimicking a phrase used to uled for Jan. 30. Mangione purportedly de- describe how insurers avoid Mangione’s lawyers con- a constitutional crisis. Any Mangione.” Mangione, wearing a beige scribed his intent to “wack” paying claims. tend that authorities preju- concerns about public perdiced his case by turning his ceptions can be alleviated December 2024 arrest into by carefully questioning a “Marvel movie” spectacle prospective jurors about and by publicly declaring their knowledge of the case, their desire to see him ex- prosecutors wrote in a court ecuted even before he was filing. Mangione has pleaded not formally indicted. At the same time, they guilty to federal and state are asking Garnett to throw murder charges, which carVisit us today and take the first step toward finding your perfect address. out two of the four charges ry the possibility of life in against him, including the prison. murder by firearm charge Friday’s hearing was Manthat has enabled the gov- gione’s first trip to Manhaternment to seek the death tan federal court since his penalty. They argue that it is April 25 arraignment. A cause célèbre for people legally flawed. Federal prosecutors say upset with the health insurMangione’s lawyers are ance industry, Mangione wrong on both fronts, coun- again drew supporters to tering that the murder the courthouse. Some wore

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Lawmakers push DOJ to comply with Epstein disclosure law BY RYAN TARINELLI CQ-Roll Call (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers sought to ensure the release of more information about Jeffrey Epstein this week, after the Justice Department last month blew through a statutory deadline for the production of documents about the deceased sex offender. Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, DCalif., main backers of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, asked a judge to appoint a “Special Master and/or Independent Monitor” to compel the further release of Epstein-related files, pointing to the department’s public noncompliance with the law. “Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” the lawmakers wrote. Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee called for Attorney General Pamela Bondi to testify on the topic. And the same panel secured a subpoena for Les Wexner, a billionaire businessman who Democrats say was a longtime benefactor of Epstein. Rep. Robert Garcia, of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said Fri-

day that the Justice Department’s handling of the rollout has been illegal, sloppy and disgraceful. Blowing past the December release deadline has been a failure of the DOJ and the Trump administration, he added. “Why the cover-up? Who are we covering for? We want to know who the co-conspirators are,” Garcia said. In November, Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation ordering the release of documents by a mid-December deadline. The department released a trove of investigative documents on the deadline date and published further documents afterward but hasn’t met the statute’s demands that all the records be released by the December deadline. The rolling document release has been plagued with issues that have exacerbated questions about the department’s efforts. In particular, Massie and Khanna wrote in their letter that the department has missed the deadline, overly redacted documents and is asserting privileges that the law doesn’t allow for. Department ofﬁcials told a judge earlier this week that they have released approximately 12,285 of the potentially 2 million documents

that could potentially be covered by the statute Congress passed last year. Massie and Khanna wrote to the judge to ensure the documents are released under the terms of the statute. “The conduct by the DOJ is not only a ﬂagrant violation of the mandatory disclosure obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but as this Court has recognized in its previous rulings, the behavior by the DOJ has caused serious trauma to survivors,” the lawmakers wrote. The department, the letter said, had also not complied with a provision of the law that requires the department to submit a report to both Judiciary committees “identifying the categories of records released and withheld and summarizing all redactions and their legal bases.” “To date, no such report has been provided. Without it, there is no authoritative accounting of what records exist, what has been withheld, or why, making effective oversight and judicial review far more difficult,” the letter states. Garcia’s office said the Wexner subpoena would direct him to sit for a deposition before the House Oversight panel.

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8A ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Baton Rouge Weather TODAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

T-storms, lower temps - 70%

Mostly cloudy, cooler

Clouds, some sun

Chilly start!

Mostly cloudy 10%

Another chill

HIGH

LOW

68° 42°

LOW

59° 35°

LOW

HIGH

56° 34°

LOW

59° 43°

ALMANAC

LOW

62° 38°

LOW

53° 33°

TEMPERATURE

High/low Normal high/low Record high Record low

80°/70° 62°/41° 83° in 1937 17° in 1979

24 hours through 5 p.m. Fri. Month to date (normal) year to date (normal)

1.56” 1.56” (1.85”) 1.56” (1.85”)

PRECIPITATION

THE NATION

TODAY

MODERATE

GOOD

READING 52 MAIN POLLUTANT Nitrogen oxide

MAIN POLLUTANT Nitrogen oxide

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

RIVER STAGES FLOOD STAGE 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE Memphis 34 -4.00 -0.83 Vidalia-Natchez 48 15.10 +0.04 Red River Landing 48 18.30 +0.20 Baton Rouge 35 6.80 +0.50 Donaldsonville 27 3.70 +0.20 Reserve 22 2.75 +0.34 New Orleans 17 2.20 +0.03 MISSISSIPPI

OHIO 40

9.88

-1.34

-1.43

none

18 29 8

-1.00 10.07 1.59

-0.01 -0.02 +0.02

13 15

2.67 0.77

none none

47 34 29 20 12 6

6.26 4.19 3.79 2.91 2.60 1.77

+0.16 +0.14 +0.15 +0.11 -0.10 +0.13

COMITE AMITE

Near Darlington Denham Springs Port Vincent TICKFAW

Montpelier Holden ATCHAFALAYA

Simmesport Melville Krotz Springs Butte La Rose Bayou Sorrel Morgan City

-10

Monroe 63/40

Shreveport 61/40 Longview 58/34

-0s

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

Jackson 67/40

Baton Rouge 68/42

Lafayette 69/44

Beaumont 65/42 Port Arthur 66/45

Hattiesburg 75/42

Alexandria 65/39

Many 61/37

AIR QUALITY YESTERDAY

Near Olive

A cold front will start to press on the Capital Area around dawn Saturday. One final push of showers and thunderstorms will accompany this front, likely in some form of squall line. This round will also be capable of gusty winds and downpours. By late morning and early afternoon, rain will taper and winds will turn northerly, dragging temperatures down through the 60s during the day. Clouds will remain fairly persistent. Clouds will linger into Sunday too. you will feel much lower temperatures in the low 40s at dawn and upper 50s in the afternoon. Skies are not expected to fully flush clouds through the first half of next week. A mix of thick high clouds and a few low clouds may occasionally give way to some breaks of sunshine.

AROUND THE REGION

BATON ROUGE THROUGH 5 P.M. FRIDAy

Cairo

Weather News by Chief Meteorologist Dr. Josh Eachus

New Orleans 73/49

Lake Charles 67/43

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

Houma 75/48

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

TIDES FT.

LOW

FT.

HIGH

Lake Pontchartrain (Tchefuncte River) 2:34a 0.2 Shell Beach 7:58p 0.7 South Point, Marsh Island 12:02p 0.8 Cypremort Point 3:00p 0.5 Grand Isle (Barataria Pass) 4:12p 0.5 Mississippi River (Southwest Pass) 3:20p 0.6 Wine Island 5:20p 0.6

HIGH

3:07p 6:37a 2:53a 6:21a 3:42a 2:33a 4:44a

0.0 0.0 0.0 -0.2 -0.1 -0.1 -0.1

--------8:55p 0.9 10:26p 0.6 -------------

SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today

FT.

LOW

FT.

--------2:47p 0.8 5:30p 0.4 -------------

TODAY City

SUNDAY

Austin Boston Dallas Fairbanks Honolulu Houston Las Vegas Louisville Miami Minneapolis

Lo W

58 45 56 -2 81 60 56 59 82 23

38 pc 38 r 37 s -9 sn 68 sh 43 c 37 s 30 sh 71 s 15 sn

62 37 pc 44 27 r 59 39 s -5 -37 sn 81 71 sh 63 42 pc 60 40 s 36 27 c 83 66 pc 28 24 c

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

29 84 58 27 31 69 42 36 85 70 53

21 sn 66 pc 40 s 17 pc 25 sn 54 pc 39 c 19 c 62 pc 58 s 44 sh

32 84 55 26 34 70 55 30 83 71 59

SOLUNAR TABLE

7:03 a.m. 5:22 p.m. none 11:29 a.m.

LAST

NEW

FIRST

FULL

JAN 10

JAN 18

JAN 25

FEB 1

MAJOR

4:46a 5:27a 6:08a 6:50a 7:33a 8:18a 9:05a

MINOR

10:57a 11:38a 12:19p 12:38a 1:20a 2:05a 2:51a

MAJOR

TODAY City

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

SUNDAY

Lo W

64 73 83 44 65 51 75 47 69 80

35 sh 49 r 61 pc 40 r 43 s 28 r 47 sh 25 sh 43 s 64 s

43 60 78 44 71 32 52 40 72 76

27 s 42 pc 49 pc 32 pc 47 s 25 sf 29 pc 29 s 45 s 50 c

68 39 50 72 32 25 65 41 53 25 60

48 pc 29 pc 29 s 46 pc 26 c 8 pc 43 pc 29 c 33 sh 18 s 53 s

67 49 50 63 38 19 64 39 54 24 60

42 pc 44 r 35 s 41 c 12 sn 17 sn 41 pc 35 c 30 s 15 c 36 pc

THE WORLD

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

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

Lo W

MINOR

5:07p 11:17p 5:49p ---6:31p ---7:13p 1:02p 7:57p 1:45p 8:43p 2:30p 9:31p 3:18p

29 c 68 pc 40 pc 10 s 31 c 54 pc 47 r 23 pc 66 pc 59 s 44 s

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

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

Winter storm slams U.K., France Cold snap spreads across Europe

BY DANICA KIRKA and SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press

LONDON — Thousands of homes and businesses across northern France and southern England were without power Friday morning and residents faced widespread travel delays after a storm swept in off the Atlantic, bringing high winds, rain and snow to the region. The low-pressure system, named Storm Goretti, pummeled the Isles of Scilly overnight, with wind gusts up to 99 mph recorded in the archipelago off the southwestern tip of England. Local government ofﬁcials reported blocked roads, unstable buildings and power outages that left some people without water.

More than 57,000 were without power across southwestern England, the Midlands and Wales, according to National Grid, which runs the country’s electricity transmission network. As the storm moved across the United Kingdom, it collided with an existing mass of Arctic air, bringing snow to northern areas and heavy rain to the south. That extended the misery in northern Scotland, where snowplows have been working overtime to keep roads open after more than about 20 inches of snow fell earlier in the week. More than 250 schools across Scotland were closed on Friday, with some remaining shut for a ﬁfth straight day. National Rail warned people across the U.K. to check before traveling, because the storm had disrupted services across England, Scotland and Wales. Birmingham Airport, which closed brieﬂy because of snow, said that it had re-

opened with “reduced runway operations.” The disruptions came after the Met Ofﬁce, Britain’s national weather service, issued a rare red weather warning — its highest — in southwestern England for Thursday evening. Red warnings are issued when the forecaster considers it “very likely” that there will be life-threatening conditions.

High wind gust in France Strong winds from Storm Goretti also battered northwestern France on Friday. No major damage was reported, but some 320,000 homes were still without power at midday, down from 380,000 earlier, national power grid operator Enedis said. Most of the outages were concentrated in the Normandy region. France’s national weather service, Météo-France, had issued weather warnings before the storm, urging

residents to remain home. An overnight wind gust of up to 132 mph was recorded in Gatteville-le-Phare in Normandy. Regional train services were suspended across northwestern France, with disruptions expected to last at least until Friday afternoon. High-speed rail services were operating, and authorities said they anticipated minimal impact on ﬂights at Paris airports.

Central, Eastern Europe A cold spell was still gripping the broader continent on Friday, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, where temperatures in some places dropped to doubledigit negatives at night. Heavy snowfall on Friday morning that hit Prague and western parts of the Czech Republic caused trafﬁc disruptions in the capital and elsewhere. Some flights have been delayed, and others were canceled, at Prague

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By PETR DAVID JOSEK

People cross the medieval Charles Bridge on Friday after a heavy snowfall in Prague, Czech Republic. Vaclav Havel Airport. The major D5 highway that leads from Prague to Germany was blocked by trucks at two places near the German border for hours while public transportation in the Czech capital came to a standstill in some parts of the city. In neighboring Germany, rail operator Deutsche Bahn halted its long-distance rail service for the north of the country stranding thousands of travelers. Many roads and rail connections elsewhere

in the country were also affected by high winds and heavy snowfall. Public bus transportation was canceled in many regions and schools stayed shut in some areas. Two people died in a headon collision between two cars in Bavaria, when one of the cars skidded, presumably because of the winter weather. In the Upper Palatinate region, a driver was killed when his car veered off the road and crashed into a tree, news agency dpa reported.

Judge to block effort to end protections Trial begins for Stanford students for relatives of citizens, green card holders for occupying offices during protest BY MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press

BOSTON — A federal judge said Friday that she expects to temporarily block efforts by the Trump administration to end a program that offered temporary legal protections for more than 10,000 family members of citizens and green card holders. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said at a hearing that she planned to issue a temporary restraining order but did not say when it would be issued. This case is part of a broader effort by the administration to end temporary legal protection for numerous groups and comes just over a week since another judge ruled that hundreds of people from South Sudan may live and work in the United States legally. “The government, having invited people to apply, is

now laying traps between those people and getting the green card,” Justin Cox, an attorney who works with Justice Action Center and who argued the case for the plaintiffs, said. “That is incredibly inequitable.” This case involved a program called Family Reuniﬁcation Parole, or FRP, and impacts people from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras. Most of them are set to lose their legal protections, which were put in place during the Biden administration, by Jan. 14. The Department of Homeland Security terminated protections late last year. The case involves five plaintiffs but lawyers are seeking to have any ruling cover everyone that is part of the program. “Although in a temporary status, these parolees did

not come temporarily; they came to get a jump-start on their new lives in the United States, typically bringing immediate family members with them,” plaintiffs wrote in their motion. “Since they arrived, FRP parolees have gotten employment authorization documents, jobs, and enrolled their kids in school.” The government, in its brief and in court, argued Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has the authority to terminate any parole program and gave adequate notice by publishing the termination in the federal registry. It also argued that the program’s termination was necessary on national security grounds because the people had not been property vetted. It also said resources to maintain this program would be better used in other immigration programs.

BY OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — A trial began Friday for ﬁve current and former Stanford University students who occupied the university president’s offices during a pro-Palestinian protest in 2024 — in a rare instance of demonstrators facing trial for actions from the wave of campus protests that year. Authorities initially arrested and charged 12 people after demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the president and provost’s offices for several hours on June 5, 2024, the last day of spring classes at the university in California’s Silicon Valley. One defendant, a 21-yearold man, pleaded no contest under an agreement that

allows eligible youth to have their cases dismissed and records sealed if they successfully complete probation. He testified for the prosecution that led to the grand jury indictment in October of the 11 others on felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass charges. Six of the 11 accepted pretrial plea deals or diversion programs, while the five on trial pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecutors accused the demonstrators of spraypainting on the building, breaking windows and furniture, disabling security cameras and splattering a red liquid described as fake blood on items throughout the offices. The university is seeking $329,000 in restitution. Avi Singh, an attorney

representing Stanford student Germán González, said González decided to exercise his right to a jury trial. “Germán González and the other four defendants are exercising their constitutional right to have a jury trial, and demand the district attorney prove everything that is required for a conviction,” including whether they planned to trespass and what their intent was, he said. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said last year when announcing his decision to charge the group that the protesters went too far when they damaged the building. “Speech is protected by the First Amendment. Vandalism is prosecuted under the penal code,” he said.

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

METRO

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

S at u r d ay, J a n u a ry 10, 2026

1Bn

Ascension, DEMCO split utility costs Dispute concerned power lines near road construction BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer

A yearslong legal dispute between Ascension Parish and DEMCO over who will pay to move power lines that get in the way of road construction is nearing an end after the Parish Council voted this week to approve a settlement. The lawsuit concerned the cost of moving utilities for multiple road projects in the parish, such as widening and roundabout construction.

Dixie Electric Membership Corp. filed the suit in August 2022 when tensions arose between parish officials and the company. After a closed executive session, the Parish Council agreed to split equally the costs of moving all utilities located within 25 feet of a road’s centerline. “After three-plus years, I’m glad that we finally reached a very fair deal between DEMCO and Ascension Parish,” Council Chair Chase Melancon said.

For utilities located farther from a road’s centerline, from 25 to 30 feet, the parish will pay 65% of the costs to move utilities, instead of 50%. The parish will pay in full for anything beyond 30 feet, he said. “Most of our utilities are within those 25 feet from the centerline of a road or highway,” he said. Additionally, Melancon said DEMCO will drop its rider case with the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Last year, the company proposed a $5.55 fee for Ascension Par-

ish residents to help cover the cost to move the utilities. “It’s going to save that $4 or $5 a month for the customers, and it’s very fair and equitable between the parish and DEMCO,” he added. Attorneys for DEMCO did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The lawsuit stemmed from road improvements near Prairieville High School as part of the parish’s Move Ascension program, which aims to relieve trafﬁc congestion through various widenings, turn lanes, roundabouts and signalization projects. The program is fund-

ed by a mix of federal, state and local taxes and local road impact fees. Melancon said the estimated combined cost to move the utilities from when the lawsuit began is in the millions of dollars. However, he said he didn’t have a precise ﬁgure for what the parish might pay in the settlement. Both sides have litigated the issue for more than four years. Last year, the parish submitted a partial motion of summary judgment, which is a request for a court to decide speciﬁc claims in the case without those claims going to trial. However, a judge denied the request.

ON THE MOVE

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

A bike rider navigates East Lakeshore Drive in Baton Rouge as several Canada geese cross the road on Friday.

Woman arrested in 18-year-old’s shooting A woman has been arrested in the fatal shooting of an 18-yearold Thursday in a domestic-related incident, Baton Rouge police said. CRIME The suspect, BLOTTER Paulasia Banks, 19, turned herstaff self in to police, reports accompanied by her attorney, and was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on a count of first-degree murder, police said. The shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday in the 1700 block of Columbus Dunn Drive. The victim, Kassidy Jackson, 18, was found suffering from a gunshot wound. She was transported to the hospital, where she later died, police said. The investigation is ongoing.

Suspect in fatal Baton Rouge shooting arrested The suspect in a fatal shooting

ä See BLOTTER, page 2B

Bear hunting season ends in La.

16 killed in state, with biggest weighing 565 pounds BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer

Louisiana’s second iteration of its newly restarted black bear hunting season has ended with 16 bears killed, with the biggest weighing in at 565 pounds, the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said. The state opted to allow a highly restricted hunting season for black bear starting in 2024 after the species expanded in population after having previously been decimated. The hunt is limited in duration and restricted to specific regions of the state. Hunters, who must be Louisiana residents, are chosen through a lottery. The 2024 season was the ﬁrst in more than 35 years. The second iteration was held from Dec. 6 to Dec. 21 in three regions, located in swaths of south, central and northeast Louisiana. Twenty-six tags, or permits, were issued. Ten males and six female bears were killed, the department said. n Eight were killed in Area 4, which includes all or portions

LIVINGSTON PARISH

Opioid settlements to expand services Parish Council OKs contracts with nonprofits, police

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD

Staff writer

Area 1, which includes a long list of south Louisiana parishes. In 2024, hunters killed 10 bears, including one that weighed nearly 700 pounds. The department said population estimates and other data were used to determine the number of permits issued. Cubs

Groups that help residents battling drug addiction will be able to expand their treatment services after the Livingston Parish Council approved plans to dole out more money from Louisiana’s opioid settlement funds. The Parish Council unanimously approved contracts Thursday with local nonprofit Fellowship Ministries, behavioral health nonproﬁt Merakey and the Denham Springs Police Department. Melissa Jones, director of

ä See SEASON, page 2B

ä See SETTLEMENTS, page 2B

PHOTO PROVIDED By DERON SANTINy

Deron Santiny poses with a 696-pound black bear that he hunted in the 2024 hunting season. of the following northeastern parishes: East Carroll, Madison, Tensas, West Carroll, Catahoula, Franklin and Richland. The largest bear was killed here. n Three bears were killed in Area 2, which includes all or portions of Pointe Coupee, West Feliciana, Iberville, Landry, St. Martin and West Baton Rouge. n Five bears were killed in

2B ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Angola program inspires DA drops charges in McNeese hazing case New Orleans rodeo event BY MEGAN WYATT Staff writer

BY ANTHONY McAULEY

Staff writer

For a rodeo built around spectacle and scale, the idea that most captured the imagination of Hondo Rodeo Fest’s founders during their early planning for New Orleans came from a place few outsiders ever see: the dirt arena inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Last October, Hondo co-founders James Trawick and Blake Cody made their first visit to the Angola Prison Rodeo — the inmaterun spectacle long billed as “The Wildest Show in the South” — expecting little more than research. What they found instead was a six-decade-old institution that had become world-famous not only as entertainment, but as a behavioral incentive and rehabilitation program inside one of the country’s most notorious prisons. That visit has now become the most unexpected and distinctly Louisiana element of Hondo Rodeo Fest’s inaugural New Orleans run, set for April 10-13 at the Caesars Superdome. Organizers say a select group of top-performing Angola rodeo participants will be brought to New Orleans under state supervision to compete in their own rodeo segment on the Superdome ﬂoor — a rare and high-proﬁle moment for a prison program that typically plays to crowds of 10,000 to 12,000 spectators in rural West Feliciana Parish. “We went out there just curious and had no idea what we were walking into,” said Trawick, a former professional rodeo competitor who now serves as Hondo’s CEO. “Not just any inmate gets to compete. You earn your way there through behavior, and then you earn your way again through performance. It’s structured around accountability.”

A Superdome stage Under the plan, eight Angola participants will compete in a stand-alone rodeo segment lasting roughly 30 minutes each night, staged after Hondo’s professional rodeo events and before the evening concerts. Organizers say the Angola competition will feature two to three disciplines per night, likely focused on rough-stock events such as bull riding and bronc riding. Prize money earned during those competitions will be split evenly, with half going to Louisiana’s Victims Impact Fund and the remainder earmarked for the inmates, with the stated intention of supporting their families. “There’s the victim, and then there are the families left behind — kids who had nothing to do with what happened,” said Cody, an Alabama native and former professional musician, in an interview Friday. “This is about creating purpose and dignity where it’s been earned, while still honoring responsibility.” The logistics, Cody and Trawick say, have been vetted at the highest levels of state government, including the prison’s warden and Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration. Inmates would be transported under strict supervision and will not compete directly against Hondo’s professional athletes. Landry spokesperson Kate Kelly said the governor planned a formal announcement on the initiative and declined to comment Friday. Angola Warden Darrell Vannoy didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. To prepare the Angola participants for the scale of a Superdome crowd — potentially exceeding 40,000 spectators — Hondo plans to send professional rodeo athletes to the facility in advance to walk them through the format and production demands of a major league event.

SEASON

Continued from page 1B and females with cubs cannot be killed. “Our second bear hunting season proved to be successful and a tribute to the conservation effort of our department, private landowners, hunters and other partners who helped bring back the Louisiana black bear,” department Secretary Tyler Bosworth said. “We’re pleased to give our state hunters a chance to enjoy this special season. And the lottery revenue which comes from

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Blake Cody and James Trawick, co-founders of the Hondo Rodeo Fest, speak with members of the media during the Hondo Rodeo Fest lunch and learn event at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Friday.

An inmate rides a horse bareback during the Angola Prison Rodeo on Oct. 12, 2025. STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

“We don’t want to throw anyone out there unprepared,” Trawick said. “This is about respect for the athletes and the moment.”

A hybrid built for scale Hondo Rodeo Fest is not a legacy rodeo brand but a deliberately engineered entertainment product, launched in Phoenix in 2024 with the goal of pairing elite-level rodeo with arena-scale music production. Trawick has described the concept as an attempt to solve what he sees as a long-standing problem in rodeo: inconsistent quality from event to event. “In most professional sports, you know you’re seeing the best in the world every night,” he said. “We’re trying to create that same consistency — the same elite level of competition every single ride, every single run.” Hondo’s professional roster features a cast of roughly 76 top-ranked competitors per city, designed to be recognizable and repeatable as the brand expands. The concert lineup for New Orleans, now confirmed, underscores Hondo’s ambition to operate at the scale of a major touring festival. It will feature Jason Aldean and Lynyrd Skynyrd on Friday; Cody Johnson and Old Dominion on Saturday; and Creed and Bailey Zimmerman on Sunday. Cody, who spent years touring as a professional musician, said the booking strategy deliberately blends stadium-level headliners with regional and local acts that reﬂect each host city. “We’re also going to feature local artists,” he said. “I’ve got longstanding relationships in places like New Orleans — including musicians like Trombone Shorty — and we want this to feel connected to the local music culture, not parachuted in.” Local artists are expected to open each night’s show, creating what organizers describe as a bridge between the rodeo crowd and the city’s broader music scene.

Filling a spring gap

unexpectedly lost WrestleMania, which had been slated for the same spring window and promised one of the decade’s biggest tourism spikes. In response, the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and state tourism officials began searching for a multiday replacement capable of delivering comparable hotel demand. Hondo fit the profile: three days of professional rodeo, paired with nightly stadium concerts by major national acts, all inside the weatherproof Superdome. The state has committed $2 million from Louisiana’s Major Events Fund to secure the event, with economic development officials viewing it as a platform not unlike Super Bowl LIX, which was used last year to court potential investors and business relocations. Gov. Landry and his economic development chief, Susan Bourgeois, have both signaled hopes that Hondo could become an annual spring fixture, filling a gap between Carnival season and summer conventions. “This is exactly the kind of event that drives tourism, supports local businesses, and gives us a national stage to showcase Louisiana,” Landry said when the event was announced. Jay Cicero, president of GNOSF, said the governor has taken a personal interest in both the Angola and economic development aspects of the weekend. “The governor understands how meaningful the Angola story is to Louisiana, and at the same time how important it is to bring in events that generate real economic impact,” Cicero said. “Hondo checks both boxes.” For now, Hondo’s New Orleans debut is a one-year booking. But state officials and GNOSF have made clear that a successful 2026 run could lock in multiple future dates. If that happens, the Angola Prison Rodeo partnership may become one of the defining features of the New Orleans stop. New Orleans may have lost WrestleMania. But with bulls, broncs, stadium rock, and a prison rodeo that has quietly shaped lives for 60 years, officials are betting Hondo Rodeo Fest can fill the Superdome — and the spring tourism calendar — in a way few other cities could replicate.

While the Angola component provides a powerful local hook, Hondo Rodeo Fest is also a calculated bet by state and city ofﬁcials seeking to plug a conspicuous hole in New Orleans’ spring 2026 tourism calendar. The event was ﬁrst announced Email Anthony McAuley at last October after New Orleans tmcauley@theadvocate.com.

the hunt helps to make sure the Louisiana black bear thrives.” All black bear lottery fees and license revenue is reinvested into the Louisiana Black Bear Program, which includes annual live trapping and radio-collaring, winter den checks to monitor reproductive rates and noninvasive hair sampling to monitor range expansion, the department said. The state considers the black bear a conservation success story. The species was removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2016. But it remains controversial for some. For many farmers, the bear population’s revival has become a

nuisance, but there are also concerns that the bear population remains tenuous and that it is too soon to allow hunts. The Louisiana black bear was given protected status and listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1992. Hunting and habitat loss took a heavy toll on the species, with as few as between 80 and 120 bears in Louisiana by the 1950s, according to some estimates. Bear hunting nonetheless remained legal in parts of Louisiana through the late 1980s. Email Mike Smith at msmith@ theadvocate.com.

The Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office will not pursue charges against two McNeese State University students who were arrested last fall over hazing complaints at Kappa Sigma fraternity. The McNeese Police Department arrested the students in October on one misdemeanor count each of criminal hazing. University records described the case as being based on “physical, psychological and emotional hazing” with alcohol involved. But attorneys for the two students — whom The Advocate is not naming since they are not being prosecuted — say the case against them was weak from the start. “Our clients should never have been arrested, had their phones seized, or seen their names splashed across the news and social media,” said attorneys Adam Johnson and Andy Leonards in a statement. “The complaint in this case, from a less than reputable source, alleged waterboarding and hazing — claims that were demonstrably false.” “Once that proof was presented to the court, the judge agreed and the search warrants were quashed,” the attorneys’ statement continued. “All charges were then timely rejected by the state. McNeese likewise concluded that my clients were not guilty. My clients love McNeese to their core and will continue to represent their families, their community and their university with integrity.” Bethany Bryant, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, confirmed that the charges have been dropped and her office will not prosecute the case. A McNeese investigation determined that the fraternity did not violate the anti-hazing policy, but the organization was found responsible for violating the standards of conduct outlined for student organizations. McNeese issued sanctions

SETTLEMENTS Continued from page 1B

opioid prevention, said the parish is working on increasing community awareness of substance use treatment services. “You don’t always know what’s available, so that has been the biggest challenge,” she said. “It’s really hard to find what’s on the ground and what’s really working here in Livingston Parish … everybody says they service our area, but not everybody’s services are here physically.” Merakey will receive $304,490, which will allow it to establish a presence in Livingston Parish by leasing space in the parish government offices and a mobile unit that can transport residents to treatment appointments and other services, said Cathleen Hyde, a director at Merakey and Livingston Parish resident. The mobile unit will allow an experienced specialist to go out and actually pick people up from their homes, Hyde said. Merakey, a national nonprofit, has several brick-and-mortar locations in Louisiana, including Baton Rouge and Hammond, but it does not currently have any established in Livingston Parish.

BLOTTER

Continued from page 1B

on Alaska Street in Baton Rouge was captured in Tangipahoa Parish by sheriff’s deputies and released to Baton Rouge police, BRPD said in a news release Friday morning. The victim, Alfred Webster Hyams, 27, was found dead at the scene in the 2800 block of Alaska Street at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, police said. Police believe the shooting was related to a domestic physical altercation. The investigation remains ongoing, BRPD said.

Police: Teen killed in accidental shooting A 16-year-old boy was killed Thursday night after he stepped in front of the gun an acquaintance was holding when they were startled by a noise, according to Baton Rouge police. Charleston Wright was found

against Kappa Sigma, including suspending its chapter and requiring all its members to complete at least three hours of anti-hazing training, along with 40 hours of community service during the spring semester. The fraternity may be eligible for reinstatement in April. The punishment from McNeese went further than the fraternity’s proposed plan of action in the wake of the incident, which recommended suspending everyone involved but not the fraternity as a whole. The fraternity also proposed an increase in training and community service. “Along with these self-proposed immediate steps, we are undergoing and conducting an internal investigation into the matter in order to identify practices and actions contrary to the Kappa Sigma Code of Conduct and the values of this beloved fraternity,” the acting fraternity president wrote in its proposed action plan. “We realize fully the gravity of such a situation and it is our sincere hope that through this commitment to restoration we can rebuild our trust with the community, McNeese State University and those individuals affected by these events.” The Oct. 2 incident that prompted the investigation involved pledges being forced to eat an unknown mixture of items until they were nauseated, as well as pledges being hosed down with water, according to documents. The Advocate obtained through a public records request. The university did not provide The Advocate with videos or photos included in complaints. Court records show that 14th Judicial District Judge Bobby Holmes recalled search warrants that the court had previously issued after reviewing 10 videos and concluding they did not depict hazing under the deﬁnition of state law. Three videos that Johnson, one of the students’ attorneys, shared with The Advocate offer a glimpse into the Kappa Sigma initiation.

Hyde said the site will provide parish residents with psychiatric evaluation, medication management, counseling, peer support and other services. “The goal is to reduce the burden that addiction causes in the community,” she said. Fellowship Ministries will receive $50 per day for each individual served. This local religious recovery and transitional living program helps homeless men, those with substance abuse issues and former inmates by providing housing, meals and support. Jones said there “is so many criteria that keeps people from being successful leaving jail or staying off drugs” and the Fellowship Center helps with those obstacles. The center has been operating solely off donations. Denham Springs police will receive $51,500 to enact an extension of the “One pill can kill” community initiative in the parish. Police will use the money to educate residents about the risks associated with opioid drug use. Council member Ricky Goff praised all the entities in the parish doing substance use treatment work on a local level. “The beneﬁts are going to be seen from this opioid money,” Goff said.

by police when officers responded to a call in the 3800 block of Ozark Street around 9:35 p.m. Wright was transported to a local hospital, where he died. Jerry Smith, 24, and Wright were standing outside when they heard a noise, police said. Smith drew a handgun and pointed toward the noise. Wright stepped in front of the gun where Smith fired it and was shot. Wright and Smith knew each other but it is not confirmed if they were related. Smith was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison following an investigation. Smith has been charged with negligent homicide.

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Funerals Today

Bonvillian Sr., Christopher Greenoaks Funeral Home, Florida Boulevard, at 11 a.m.

Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church at noon.

9595

Boudreaux, Frank

Greater New Galilee Baptist Church, 9185 Wilbur Street, at 11 a.m.

Bouvay Jr., Velton

Plymouth Rock BC 58830 Iron Farm Rd, Plaquemine, La at 11am.

Carter, LaRhonda

Zion Travelers Baptist Church in New Roads, Louisiana at 11am.

Williams, Calvin

New Light Missionary Baptist Church on Blount Road at 11 a.m.

Young, Maxine

Pilgrim Baptist Church, 2114 Reverend Richard Wilson Drive in Kenner, at 11 a.m.

Obituaries Gipson, Clarence

Cason, Ted

Harry McKneely & Son Funeral Home, 2000 N. Morrison Boulevard in Hammond, at 11 a.m.

Chambers, Jason

Greenwell Springs Baptist Church at 11am.

Collins, Jerry

New Mt. Olive Baptist Church, 76625 Garner Ln., Grosse Tete, La at 1pm.

Dudley, Greg

Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church at noon.

Gipson, Clarence

Mt. Triumph Baptist Church, 206 W. 10th Street in Donaldsonville, at 11 a.m.

Hamilton, William

University United Methodist Church at 11am.

Hives, Joshua

Hall’s Celebration Center, 9348 Scenic Highway, Baton Rouge, LA at 1pm.

Howie, Milham

St. George Catholic Church at 11 a.m.

Jackson, Sisley

Asbury United Methodist Church at 11am.

Kubricht, Dorotha

St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 8833 Goodwood Boulevard, at 1:30 p.m.

Langley, Marlyn

Grace Funeral Home, 450 Holy Trinity Drive in Covington, at 1 p.m.

Lefleur, Patricia

Rabenhorst Funeral Home & Crematory East, 11000 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA at 11am.

Michael, George

Ethel Baptist Church in Ethel at 10 a.m.

Moore, Dewey

Greenoaks Memorial Park, 9595 Florida Boulevard, at 2 p.m.

O'Bannon, Douglas

First Baptist Church, St. Francisville, LA at 11am.

Peltier, Mary

Rabenhorst East Funeral Home at 10:30am.

Rea, Patsy

Crosspoint Baptist Church, 14965 Airline Hwy., Baton Rouge, LA 3pm.

Schofield, Geraldine

Hall's of Port Allen, 1160 Louisiana Ave., Port Allen, LA at 1pm.

Scott, Patricia

Mount Gideon Baptist Church, 77700 West Oak Lane, Maringouin, LA at 11am.

Sensley, Tyler

Faith, Hope & Love Worship Center at 11 a.m.

Clarence Gipson, Jr., a Donaldsonville resident, departed this life on Christmas Day at Lane Regional Medical Center. He was 79 years old. Born to the late Olevia and Clarence Gipson, Sr., he was a 1964 graduate of Lowery High School. He was enlisted in the United States Air Force from 19641968. He later attended trade school and worked at Ormet Aluminum Corporation and Texaco for many years. He is survived by his wife, Joyce Jackson Gipson of Donaldsonville;children, Aaron Gipson, Sr. (Stacey) of Lakeland, Tn, Moniqueka Gipson of Donaldsonville, La, Danyell (Wilton) Walker of Gonzales, La, and Joycelyn Gipson of Donaldsonville, La; grandchildren, Ariel Gipson, Terrell Gipson, and Aaron Gipson, Jr.; four great-grandchildren; sisters, Cheryl (Royal)Forcell, Sandra Perry, Muriel (Phillip) Feast, and Drue (Kenneth) Ford; brothers, Kevin (Ashley) Gomez and Courtney (Cathlyn) Gaines; and Goddaughter, Antoinette Johnson. He is also survived by aunts, an uncle, and a host of other relatives. He is preceded in death by his parents, Olevia and Clarence Gipson, Sr.; brother, Carl Michael Gipson; nephews, Robert and Daren (Godson) Taylor and Damico Gipson; brother-inlaw, Earl Perry, Jr.; and sister-in-law, Cheryl Skinner Visitation will be January 10, 2026 at Mt. Triumph Baptist Church, 206 W. 10th St. Donaldsonville, La starting at 10:00 until funeral service at 11:00 am. Burial will follow at Mt. Triumph Baptist Church.

Hayes, Russell Edward

Smith, Marlon

Wesley United Methodist Church, 544 Government Street, at 11 a.m.

Spencer, Robert

Rabenhorst Funeral Home & Crematory, 825 Government St., Baton Rouge, LA at 11:30am.

Thompson, Angelique

Broadway Mission Baptist Church, 121 Alvin Callender Street in New Orleans, at 11 a.m.

Walker, Joseph

Word of Truth New Life Center, 57360 CPL Herman Brown Jr. Street in Bayou Goula, at 11 a.m.

Russell Edward Hayes, 87, of Baton Rouge, passed peacefully while in Hospice Care on December 28, 2025. Russell was born on December 9, 1938, in Cleveland, Ohio to mother C. Phyllis (nee Hayes) Gaydos, and was raised by his

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loving Grandparents Myron and Anna Hayes. Russell was preceded in death by his mother, grandparents, son Michael E Hayes, grandson Jonathen Russo, sister Phyllis Gayle Gaydos, and brother Martin Dale Gaydos. Russell was U.S. Army veteran where he worked with Nike Ajax and Hercules missiles. And then attended Cleveland State University on the GI Bill, where he obtained Associates of both Arts and Sciences degrees in night school while working fulltime and raising a family, with his children attending his graduation. Russell worked at various welding and manufacturing positions in Cleveland and Baton Rouge, including Airco, Yaun William Bucket Company and lastly retiring as an Inspector in the Engineering Department at Albemarle Corp (formerly Ethyl). Russell was an avid hunter, fished, was an accomplished marksman and skilled Gunsmith, running a home business providing repair and custom gun services for many years. Russell also enjoyed scuba diving into his seventies. Being a skilled craftsman, Russell could build or repair just about anything. He is survived by his wife Carol (nee Hebert) Hayes, his first wife, Martha Jo (nee Kurela) Pekarek (mother of his children), daughter Laura (nee Hayes) (Sam) Russo, son Russell V (Connie) Hayes; grandchildren - Kindra Berteau (Scott) Beckett, Brittany Troullier (fiancé Jake Borne), Aimee (BJ) Sylvas, John (Nicolle) Drennan, Elizabeth (Andrew) Nielson, Clayton Hayes, William and Jordan Jewell, and seven great grandchildren; Aubrey, Landon, Ethan, Evan, Piper, Alivia, Zella and Wyatt. A memorial service will be held later to celebrate Russell's life with family and friends.

Little, Clyde

Clyde Little, a patient, simple, man of faith and a hard-working man, passed away on December 30, 2025, at the age of 87. Born on February 11, 1938, Clyde was a resident of Port Allen, Louisiana. Clyde was married for 67 years to his beloved wife, Shirley Little. He is survived by his children, Jerome Little and Jennifer Little Ardis, as well as his siblings, Bill Little and Joan Porche. He leaves behind a legacy through his 5 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Clyde was also a dear friend to Michelle Rivet. He was preceded in death by his parents, Johnney and Harriet Little, and daughter, Donna Blanche

Sonnier. The pallbearers will be Justin Ardis, Gerald Porche, Robert Decuir, Carlos Decuir, Eddie Robertson and Paul Chustz. Relatives and friends are invited to St. Joseph Cathedral, 412 North Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 on Monday January 12, 2026, for a visitation beginning at 8:30AM until a Rosary beginning at 10:40AM with a Mass beginning at 11:00AM conducted by Father Jason Palermo. A burial is to follow at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Cemetery. The family extends special thanks to West Towne Assisted Living and Bridgeway Healthcare and Hospice for their care and support. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to West Towne Assisted Living, Bridgeway Healthcare and Hospice or St. Vincent De Paul.

Post, Bryan Simmons

Bryan Simmons Post was born in Baton Rouge on May 22, 1941 and passed away on January 5, 2026 due to complications from Alzheimer's disease. A devoted wife, mother, and teacher, Bryan left a mark on generations of her students. She was preceded in death by her husband, Raymond G. "Skipper" Post Jr., her father, Dr. William McHugh "Mac" Simmons, her mother, Phoebe Bryan Simmons, her sister, Laurie Simmons Plaisance, and her brother, William "Bill" McHugh Simmons, Jr. She is survived by her son, Raymond G. Post III (Jenny), her daughter, Wendy Martin (Patrick), and her cherished grandchildren, Raymond O. Post (Gaby), Mia Martin, Jordan Post, and Andrew Post, as well as her sister, Suzanne Homan. Her sister-in-law, Antoinette "Toni" Post, also mourns her passing. Bryan was widely known as the wife of architect and AIA President Skipper Post, and served him well in support of his ambitions. She married the "tall Catholic boy," whom she first asked out in 8th grade. She was as devoted to him as he was to her, and they shared a long and happy life together. Bryan's own professional calling was teaching. In 1963, immediately after graduating from LSU and just four years after graduating from Baton Rouge High School herself, Bryan began teaching physical education at BRHS. A year later, she moved to Broadmoor High and began teaching math before taking a few years off to raise Ray and Wendy. When they started school, she returned to her alma mater, where she taught advanced math to Baton Rouge's brightest students

for 25 years. In 1982, she was inducted into the BRHS Hall of Fame. After taking a short break upon retiring from BRHS, she returned to teaching in 2003, spending several years at Episcopal High and Bishop Sullivan before retiring for good after 37 years of teaching. She often said, "I love teaching, I really do. It never crossed my mind to do anything else." In addition to her teaching career, Bryan was an active civic leader, serving with distinction in the Junior League and many other charitable organizations. Bryan was known throughout Baton Rouge as a superb hostess, regularly entertaining their friends at the home that she and Skipper designed and built, and where they raised their children. Bryan was also an avid outdoors enthusiast, whether boating, skiing, or hiking in the mountains. More than anything, she loved being a grandmother to Raymond, Jordan, Andrew, and Mia. Visitation Monday, January 12 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government Street, and Tuesday, January 13 from 9:00am to 10:00am at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church, with a funeral mass immediately following. Burial will follow at Greenoaks Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Hospice of Baton Rouge or Baton Rouge High School Foundation.

Thompson, Angelique

Angelique Thompson, 52, of New Orleans, LA, passed away peacefully on December 27, 2025. Born on January 21, 1973, she was known for making people feel seen, heard, and cared for through her words, laughter, and her presence. She is survived by her devoted partner Gregory Williams, sisters: Sarah Swington Goffney, Mary Swington Hobson, Wilesta Swington Shaw, and Hope Swington, and a host of family and friends. Service will be held at Broadway Mission Baptist Church, 121 Alvin Callender Street, New Orleans, LA 70118 on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at 11:00 a.m., with Visitation at 10:00 a.m., She will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her. Arrangements entrusted to Dennis Funeral Home, Personal Dignified Service, (504) 899-8252.

Sensley, Tyler

Tyler Sensley, born December 15, 2002, was called home, leaving behind cherished memories and a lasting impact on all who knew and loved him. Tyler will be remembered for his kind heart, joyful spirit, and the love he shared with family and friends. Though his time on earth was brief, his life was a blessing, and his love will continue to live on through those he touched. We find comfort in knowing he now rests in God's eternal care. A celebration of Tyler's life will be held at Faith, Hope & Love Worship Center on January 10, 2026, at 11:00 a.m., with viewing beginning at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that Tyler be honored through acts of kindness and love in his memory.

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How to place a Memorial Ad An “In Memory Of” ad, is a way to pay tribute to your loved one. This remembrance is often printed on the anniversary of a loved one’s death. The deadline is two days prior to the day you want your ad to appear. TO PLACE A MEMORIAL AD GO TO: obituaries.theadvocate.com, click submit an obituary and select create a memoriam.

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BUSINESS

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ 5B

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

DOW 49,504.07

1,121.68

NASDAQ 23,671.35

2.32%

1.88%

BRIEFS

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Ride-share drivers protest Waymo cars

SAN FRANCISCO — Drivers for Lyft and Uber protested selfdriving Waymo taxis in San Francisco on Friday, urging state regulators to exercise greater oversight of autonomous vehicles, given recent events in which the cars killed pets and blocked trafﬁc. About two dozen drivers and supporters spoke or held up signs calling for safer streets and greater accountability outside the ofﬁces of the California Public Utilities Commission, which met Friday to consider further regulations on autonomous vehicles. A steady stream of Waymo cars drove past the protest, a testament to the growing ubiquity of the white cars in San Francisco.

Elon Musk’s xAI to build $20 billion data center JACKSON, Miss. — Elon Musk’s artiﬁcial intelligence company xAI is set to spend $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday, calling it the largest private investment in the state’s history. The data center, called MACROHARDRR, is being built in Mississippi’s DeSoto County near Memphis, Tennessee. It will be the company’s third data center in the greater Memphis area. xAI CFO Anthony Armstrong said the cluster of data centers will house “the world’s largest supercomputer” with 2 gigawatts of computing power. The announcement comes as xAI faces scrutiny over its data center projects in the Memphis area. The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center have raised concerns over air pollution generated by xAI’s supercomputer facility located near predominantly Black communities in Memphis. A petition by the Safe and Sound Coalition, a Southaven group opposing xAI’s developments, calls for shutting down xAI’s operations in the area and has received more than 900 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. xAI did not immediately respond when asked for comment about environmental concerns. A fact sheet released by the Mississippi governor’s office said environmental responsibility is a “core commitment” for xAI.

GM hit with charges as EV incentives cut General Motors will be hit with charges of about $6 billion as sales of electric vehicles sputter after the U.S. cut tax incentives to buy them and also eased auto emissions standards. Shares slid almost 3% Friday. The charges that will be recorded in the fourth quarter follow an announcement in October that the Detroit automaker would take a $1.6 billion charge for the same reason in the previous quarter, with automakers forced to reconsider ambitious plans to convert their fleets to electric power. The EV tax credit ended in September. The clean vehicle tax credit was worth $7,500 for new EVs and up to $4,000 for used ones. GM, which had been the most ambitious among all U.S. automakers with plans to replace internal combustion engines, said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday that the $6 billion in charges includes noncash impairments and other noncash charges of about $1.8 billion as well as supplier commercial settlements, contract cancellation fees, and other charges of approximately $4.2 billion. EVs have been considered to be the future of the US automotive industry. GM announced in 2020 that it was going to invest $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles over the next five years, a 35% increase over plans made before the pandemic.

435.72

S&P 500 6,966.28

107.81

1.57%

EURO 1.1634

-0.0094

-0.80%

CRUDE OIL 58.78

1.46

2.55%

GOLD 4,473.00

158.60

3.68%

6-MO T-BILLS 3.6 -0.28

-0.01

30-YR T-BONDS 4.814

-0.056

-1.15

Wall Street rises to records Unemployment rate improves

BY STAN CHOE

Associated Press

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks hit records Friday following a mixed report on the U.S. job market, one that may delay another cut to interest rates by the Federal Reserve but does not slam the door on it. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% and topped its prior all-time high set earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 237 points, or 0.5%, and likewise set a record, while

the Nasdaq composite led the market with a 0.8% gain. The moves came after the U.S. Labor Department said employers hired fewer workers during December than economists expected, though the unemployment rate improved and was better than expected. It reinforced how the U.S. job market may be in a “low-hire, lowﬁre” state and may hopefully avoid a recession. On Wall Street, power company Vistra soared 10.5% to help lead the market after signing a 20-year deal to provide electricity from three of its nuclear plants to Meta Platforms. Big Tech companies have been sign-

ing a string of such deals to electrify the data centers powering their moves into artificial-intelligence technology. Oklo jumped 7.9% after saying it also signed a deal with Meta Platforms that will help it secure nuclear fuel and advance its project to build a facility in Pike County, Ohio. Homebuilders and other companies involved in the housing market were strong in their first trading after President Donald Trump announced a plan to lower mortgage rates. Trump on late Thursday called for the purchase of $200 billion in mortgage bonds, similar to how the Fed in the past has bought bonds

backed by mortgages to bring down mortgage rates. Builders FirstSource, a supplier of building products, jumped 12% for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 along with Vistra. Among homebuilders, Lennar rallied 8.9%, D.R. Horton climbed 7.8% and PulteGroup rose 7.3%. WD-40 tumbled 6.6% after reporting a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Chief Financial Officer Sara Hyzer said the soft numbers were primarily because of timing issues, not weaker demand from end customers, and the company stood by its financial forecasts for the upcoming year.

Unemployment slips to 4.4% Sluggish hiring closes out a frustrating year for job seekers

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP economics writer

WASHINGTON — Sluggish December hiring concluded a year of weak employment gains that have frustrated job seekers even though layoffs and unemployment remained low. Employers added just 50,000 jobs last month, nearly unchanged from a downwardly revised figure of 56,000 in November, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate slipped to 4.4%, its first decline since June, from 4.5% in November, a figure also revised lower. The data suggests a reluctance by businesses to add workers even as economic growth has picked up. Many companies hired aggressively after the pandemic and no longer need to fill more jobs. Others have held back due to widespread uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies, elevated inflation, and the spread of artificial intelligence, which could alter or even replace some jobs. Still, economists were encouraged by the lower unemployment rate, which had risen in the previous four straight reports. Weakening employment raised alarms at the Federal Reserve, which cut its key interest rate three times last year. “The labor market looks to have stabilized, but at a slower pace of employment growth,” Blerina Uruci, chief economist at T. Rowe Price, said. “There is no urgency for the Fed to cut rates further, for now.” Some Federal Reserve officials are concerned that inflation hasn’t improved since 2024 and remains above their target of 2% annual growth. They support keeping rates where they are to combat inflation. Others, however, have grown worried that hiring has nearly ground to a halt and have supported lowering borrowing costs to spur spending and growth. November’s job gain was revised slightly lower, from 64,000 to 56,000, while October’s now shows a much steeper drop, with a loss of 173,000 positions, down from previous estimates of a 105,000 decline. The government revises the jobs figures as it receives more survey responses from businesses. Nearly all the jobs added in December were in the health care and restaurant and hotel industries. Health care added 38,500 jobs, while restaurants and hotels gained 47,000. Governments — mostly at the state and local level — added 13,000.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By CHARLIE RIEDEL

Maintenance technician Liz Cardenas replaces a conveyor belt roller at a training area in a Walmart distribution center in Bentonville, Ark. Manufacturing, construction and retail companies all shed jobs. Retailers cut 25,000 positions, a sign that holiday hiring has been weaker than previous years. Manufacturers have shed jobs every month since April, when Trump announced sweeping tariffs intended to boost manufacturing. Wall Street and Washington are looking closely at Friday’s report as it’s the first clean reading on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12. Job gains have been subdued all year, particularly after April’s “liberation day” tariff announcement by Trump. The economy gained just 584,000 jobs in 2025, sharply lower than that more than 2 million added in 2024. It’s the smallest annual gain since the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the job market in 2020. Outside of recessions, it’s the smallest annual increase since 2003. Still, Trump boasted on social media late Thursday that since January, all the new jobs have been in the private sector, while government jobs have declined. Yet his figures included December’s jobs numbers as well as revisions to previous months, which the White House receives Thursday afternoon, before the figures are publicly released. Trump’s post on Truth Social said that 654,000 jobs were added by businesses since January, while government jobs declined 181,000, so it wouldn’t have been immediately clear that the post had new information from December. But

new jobs data are generally closely guarded since they can move financial markets. The hiring slowdown reflects more than just a reluctance by companies to add jobs. With an aging population and a sharp drop in immigration, the economy doesn’t need to create as many jobs as it has in the past to keep the unemployment rate steady. As a result, a gain of 50,000 jobs is not as clear a sign of weakness as it would have been in previous years. And layoffs are still low, a sign firms aren’t rapidly cutting jobs, as typically happens in a recession. The “low-hire, low-fire” job market does mean workers have some job security, though it’s become harder to find new work. Ernesto Castro, 44, has applied for hundreds of jobs since leaving his last in May. Yet the Los Angeles resident has had just three initial interviews, and only one follow-up, after which he heard nothing. With nearly a decade of experience providing customer support for software companies, Castro expected to find a new job pretty quickly as in the past. “It’s been awful,” he said. He worries that more companies are turning to artificial intelligence to help clients learn to use new software. He hears ads from tech companies that urge companies to slash workers like him in favor of AI. His contacts in the industry say that employees are increasingly reluctant to switch jobs amid all the uncertainty, which means fewer open jobs for others. He is now looking into starting his own software company, and is also exploring project management roles.

Chatbot restricts image generation after global backlash Elon Musk’s Grok created sexualized deepfakes BY KELVIN CHAN AP business writer

LONDON — Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is preventing nonpaying users from generating or editing images after a global backlash erupted over sexualized deepfakes of people, but the change has not satisﬁed authorities in Europe. The chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has in the past few weeks been granting a wave of what researchers say are malicious user requests to modify images, including putting women in bikinis or in

sexually explicit positions. Researchers have warned that in a few cases, some images appeared to depict children. Governments around the world have condemned the platform and opened investigations. On Friday, Grok responded to image altering requests with the message: “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features.” While subscriber numbers for Grok aren’t publicly available, there was a noticeable decline Friday in the number of explicit deepfakes that Grok is now generating compared with just days earlier. Grok was still granting image requests but only from X users with blue checkmarks given to premium subscriber who pay $8 a month for

features including higher usage limits for the chatbot. The Associated Press on Friday confirmed Friday afternoon that the image editing tool was still available to free users on the standalone Grok website and app. An X spokesperson didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. The restrictions for users save for paying subscribers did not appear to change the opinions of leaders or regulators in Europe. “This doesn’t change our fundamental issue. Paid subscription or nonpaid subscription, we don’t want to see such images. It’s as simple as that,” said Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Union’s executive Commission. The Commission had earlier slammed Grok for “illegal” and “appalling”

behavior. The British government was also unsatisﬁed. Grok’s changes are “not a solution,” said Geraint Ellis, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who on Thursday had threatened unspeciﬁed action against X. “In fact, it is insulting to the victims of misogyny and sexual violence,” he said, noting that it shows that X “can move swiftly when it wants to do so.” “We expect rapid action,” he said, adding that “all options are on the table.” Starmer, speaking to Greatest Hits radio, had said that X needs to “get their act together and get this material down. We will take action on this because it’s simply not tolerable.”

OPINION

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

ANOTHER VIEW

Measuring the country’s populist mood Populism — at least on the campaign trail and across the podcast universe — is on the rise, loud enough to rattle the windows of American politics. But it isn’t new. Versions of it have been around since Andrew Jackson, the Hero of New Orleans, and later Huey Long, Louisiana’s Depressionera firebrand who made “Every Man a King” a rallying cry. Populism runs on outrage. It sets “the people” against “the elites.” It’s less an ideology than a political style, and it can flourish on both ends of the spectrum. Today, President Donald Trump has shaped his own brand of populism on the right. It targets the cultural and political establishment as the enemy, including media gateRon keepers, academics, bureaucrats, Hollywood Faucheux moguls, nonprofits, think tanks and politically correct corporations. Trump casts it in highly personal terms: “They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you. I’m just standing in their way.” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani represent populism on the left; they call it “democratic socialism.” They see the concentration of wealth and economic inequality as the central problem. Their villain is “the oligarchy” — a small class of billionaires and heartless corporations they believe control government. Sanders puts it this way: “We are moving rapidly away from our democratic heritage into an oligarchic form of society … [with] government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires.” Ideology and partisanship aside, how populist are Americans, really? An Economist/YouGov poll offers an answer, and it may surprise you. Overwhelming majorities of U.S. voters nationwide — 86% and 88% — agree with two core populist beliefs: that “political institutions have been captured by the rich and powerful” and that “elites are out of touch with everyday life.” While these ideas are widely held across demographic groups, Americans 45 and older endorse them to a greater degree than do those 44 and younger. More than 8 in 10 voters also agree that the “most important decisions in politics happen behind closed doors, without public accountability” — a classic expression of populist distrust — and that “graduating from a top university doesn’t automatically make someone better qualified to govern.” Again, older Americans are more likely to agree. Another mark of populism is suspicion of expertise: 65% of voters say “the people, not experts or elites, should make most political decisions,” and 64% say “common sense is more important than expert analysis for deciding what the government should do.” Conservatives are much more likely to distrust experts than liberals. But populism has its limits and internal contradictions. For example, 60% of voters agree that “complex societal problems need professional, organized government institutions to address them effectively.” Likewise, 59% say that “for many policies, ordinary people lack the information necessary to make good decisions.” In other words: yes, experts can be arrogant and wrong — but no, you don’t necessarily want your neighbor running monetary or foreign policy. Here’s a populist belief with broad support that’s often thrown out the window: 78% of voters say “leaders who come from ordinary backgrounds better represent people like me.” More than three-fourths of Trump voters agree with this statement, even though Trump’s background is anything but ordinary — an Ivy League education, inherited wealth, hobnobbing with the rich and famous. That gap is telling. A deep emotional connection with voters can sometimes overshadow a politician’s upper-crust background. Trump, John Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt — all elite by upbringing — have had that connection. Between them, they won seven presidential elections and lost one. Other politicians with privileged backgrounds, such as Mitt Romney and George H.W. Bush, haven’t had the connection; between them, they won one presidential election and lost four. Interestingly, a 55% majority of voters believes “bipartisan agreement usually signals that a policy is reasonable and well thought out.” Populism may reject backroom dealing, but voters nevertheless want politicians to work together and find common ground. Americans are largely populists who are skeptical of concentrated power in the hands of a sheltered few. They want politicians to listen and understand their needs. They want what Lincoln promised: a government of, by and for the people. But when it comes to governing, even voters with populist instincts still want results and competence. That’s the winning combination for today’s politics. Ron Faucheux is a nonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana.

YOUR VIEWS

AI can’t compare to Santa

Don’t fall for lie that illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes I am writing in response to recent claims suggesting that undocumented immigrants “do not pay taxes.” This is a common misconception. In fact, undocumented immigrants contribute significantly to our federal, state and local tax base. Many pay payroll taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers or borrowed Social Security numbers. They also pay sales taxes on everyday purchases and property taxes, either directly as homeowners or indirectly through rent. According to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars every year in state and local taxes. Some argue that undocumented immigrants avoid paying payroll taxes because some work for cash. While this does occur, it is far from the whole story. Millions work regular jobs where taxes are withheld just like anyone else. And even those paid in cash still pay sales, gas and property taxes through rent. Importantly, many natural-born American citizens also work for cash in fields like

We just returned from a brief Christmas visit with our sons in Shreveport and got around to reading our Christmas newspaper. I quickly spotted the editorial cartoon. It shows a child on Santa’s lap, tugging on his beard and saying, “Just checking to make sure that you’re not an AI scam.” I can identify. For over 20 years, I’ve posed as Santa for dozens of schools, hospitals, nursing homes, scout troops and others. I’ve helped raise money for a variety of causes. I’ve proudly been a Santa for the newspaper’s own Doll and Toy Fund giveaway, and I’ve appeared for about a dozen years on Christmas Eve on WWL Radio, answering kids’ last-minute requests. And I’ve had my (real) beard tugged by curious and challenging kids. Artiﬁcial intelligence is here. And it’s challenging much of our world. But so far at least, it’s never come up with a way to replace Santa’s lap.

construction, child care, lawn care, food service and home repair. Yet we do not question their value or accuse them of “not contributing.” Singling out undocumented immigrants for criticism, while ignoring the same practice among citizens, reflects bias rather than fact. Others ask how children of undocumented immigrants can attend public schools if their parents do not pay taxes. Public education is funded by local property taxes, state income and sales taxes and federal dollars. Undocumented immigrants contribute to all those revenue streams. It is also worth noting that undocumented immigrants pay into Social Security and Medicare through payroll taxes, yet are not eligible to receive benefits. They help support programs and services that benefit citizens without being allowed to draw from them. Public debate should be based on accurate information, not assumptions. Undocumented immigrants are part of our tax base.

RUSS WISE LaPlace

KYLE WATERS II Baton Rouge

Central political tension is rights vs. responsibility

Humor is window to our leaders’ souls “Trump does not like satire, obviously.” This off-the-cuff remark by great cartoonist Walt Handelsman (see Commentary page, “People in Louisiana have a great sense of humor,” published Dec. 19) tells us all we need to know about President Donald Trump. But do his die-hard supporters get it? Probably not. So let me explain. Every great leader this country ever had could take a joke. And cartoons making fun of our leaders are as old as the republic. Trump stands alone in being unable to tolerate criticism, much less laugh when the joke is on him. He can

dish it out, but he can’t take it. At some point, even the dullest people will get bored with Trump’s self-centered blather and constant flow of lies. Reality will sink in when a six-pack of beer costs $15 and a pound of chop meat is $12. Folks will switch the channel and flip the page when it’s about him. They’ll throw away their red MAGA hats and overpriced Trump novelty items. Our wonderful cartoonists, like Walt Handelsman, will be able to make fun of POTUS in the finest tradition of our country. We can all just relax and have fun.

The main difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats enjoy pretty much unrestricted rights free of any individual responsibility, whereas Republicans are saddled with massive responsibility devoid of hardly any rights.

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

Vandy will be tough test for Tigers looking to regroup

S at u r d ay, J a n u a ry 10, 2026

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S P R O U T S C O L L E G I A T E S Q U A D • 3 P. M . S A T U R D A y • A B C

LSU men tackling SEC matchup with urgency

BY TOYLOY BROWN III

Staff writer

The practice court isn’t the first focus for LSU basketball after games. That would be the film room. Preparation for coach Matt McMahon’s team usually starts with a rewatch of parts of its last game and clips of ä LSU at the upcoming opponent. Not Vanderbilt many players truly know NOON SATURDAy, the value of film study better than Pablo Tamba. The SEC NETWORK graduate student’s journey involves him representing his native Spain in international competition and three other college stops, including junior college, before coming to Baton Rouge. Following Tuesday’s 78-68 loss to South Carolina, where LSU trailed by as many as 28 points, the 22-year-old starting forward was clear about one of the things he was most looking forward to. “I can’t wait to go back and watch the film, see kind of what went wrong,” said Tamba, who had 10 points and five rebounds. Fixing the problems it faced will be essential for LSU (12-3, 0-2 SEC) before a noon contest on Saturday against No. 11 Vanderbilt (15-0, 2-0) at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee. The Commodores are the highest-ranked Southeastern

ä See LSU, page 4C

LSU gymnastics team using last season’s success and disappointment as fuel for the pursuit of glory

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU forward Pablo Tamba looks to pass the ball against South Carolina in the first half their game on Tuesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Pelicans beat Wizards to snap 9-game losing skid BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

Derik Queen grew up in Baltimore, just 40 miles away from Capital Arena in Washington D.C. The New Orleans Pelicans’ rookie made the most of his first trip back to his backyard. Queen recorded his second triple-double as the Pelicans rolled to a 128-107 victory over the Washington Wizards to end a ninegame losing streak. Queen finished with 14 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists. The rebounds and assists were career highs for Queen, who played at the University of Maryland. “It means a lot,” Queen said. “I only come here once a year, so just being here and putting on a show. Hopefully it’s memorable. Just looking forward to next year also.” Queen, who recorded his first triple-double in December against the San Antonio Spurs, is just the second rookie in franchise

ä See PELICANS, page 4C

FIRED UP T

BY SCOTT RABALAISB Staff writer

he 2026 LSU gymnasts are ready to embody the ancient Greek quote — they’re ready to be a fire to be kindled. The Tigers’ 2025 season was filled to the brim with accomplishments: Southeastern Conference regular season and championship meet titles, the program’s first-ever No. 1 overall seed in the

NCAA championships, plus an individual NCAA vault title for freshman sensation Kailin Chio. But it was all made somewhat hollow by the fact that LSU, the 2024 NCAA team champion, came

up just short of the ﬁnal, not with a bad performance but with an average one by the program’s lofty standards.

ä See GYMNASTICS, page 5C

LSU gymnasts from top left, Kailin Chio, Kaliya Lincoln, Kylie Coen and Konnor McClain. STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON

S i t QB Shough Saints Sh h has h room to grow in offseason Saints QB Tyler Shough AP PHOTO

Rookie quarterback looking to improve sack percentage rate

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

Tyler Shough plans on staying in New Orleans for most of the offseason. The Saints quarterback and his wife are expecting the birth of their son next month. And as a “makeshift New Orleanian,” the 26-year-old is looking forward to his first Mardi Gras. He even wants to ride on a float, baby permitting. Shough will take some deserved time off. But after wrapping up a whirlwind first season, the signal-caller already knows what he wants to work on for Year 2. “It’s just continual reps of the offense, mastering it, making sure my footwork is dialed (in),” Shough said. Even though he didn’t start for his first eight games, Shough progressed faster than

the Saints expected. The rate of improvement, as well as his overall play, is why the Saints can’t wait to see how the quarterback grows ahead of his second season. As promising as Shough looked, there are areas he needs to improve. Notably, Shough took 31 sacks — 29 of which came in his nine starts. That rate would have put him on pace to ﬁnish with 55 sacks, tying him with Las Vegas’ Geno Smith and Tennessee’s Cam Ward for most in the league. There’s context behind the volume of Shough’s sacks, of course. The interior of his offensive line was affected by injuries and a trade, and tackles Taliese Fuaga and Kelvin Banks were banged up for smaller stretches. The Saints also found themselves trailing for a good chunk of Shough’s starts, putting them in more obvious passing situations that allowed defensive lines to tee off. Even Shough’s aggressive play style arguably opens him up for a higher sack rate,

ä See SAINTS, page 2C

2C ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS On TV MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 11 a.m. NC State at Florida St. ACCN 11 a.m. Nebraska at Indiana BTN 11 a.m. Boston College at Louisville CW 11 a.m. Tennessee at Florida ESPN 11 a.m. Georgia Tech at Miami ESPN2 11 a.m. VCU at George Mason ESPNU 11 a.m. Kansas at West Virginia FOX 11 a.m. Fordham at St. Bonaventure USA 11:30 a.m. DePaul at UConn TNT NOON Wisconsin at Michigan CBS NOON Houston at Baylor PEACOCK NOON LSU at Vanderbilt SECN 1 p.m. Syracuse at Pittsburgh ACCN 1 p.m. Penn St. at Purdue BTN 1 p.m. SMU at Duke ESPN 1 p.m. Georgia at South Carolina ESPN2 1 p.m. Ga. Southern at S. Alabama ESPNU 1 p.m. St. John’s at Creighton FS1 1 p.m. Rhode Island at Davidson USA 1:15 p.m. Stanford at Virginia CW 1:30 p.m. Villanova at Marquette TNT 2 p.m. Loyola of Chicago at GWU CBSSN

2 p.m. Kansas St. at Arizona St. PEACOCK 2:30 p.m. Oklahoma at Texas A&M SECN 3 p.m. California at Virginia Tech ACCN 3 p.m. Arizona at TCU ESPN 3 p.m. Oklahoma St. at Iowa St. ESPN2 3 p.m. Jackson St. at Alabama St. ESPNU 3 p.m. Providence at Xavier FS1 3 p.m. Saint Louis at La Salle USA 5 p.m. Wake Forest at North Carolina ACCN 5 p.m. Arkansas at Auburn ESPN 5 p.m. Clemson at Notre Dame ESPN2 5 p.m. N. Iowa at Bradley ESPNU 5 p.m. Seton Hall at Georgetown FS1 5 p.m. Missouri at Mississippi SECN 6 p.m. Texas Tech at Colorado CBSSN 7 p.m. Texas at Alabama ESPN 7 p.m. MTSU at New Mexico St. ESPNU 7 p.m. Maryland at UCLA FOX 7:30 p.m. Mississippi St. at Kentucky SECN 8 p.m. Utah St. at Boise St. CBSSN 9 p.m. ByU at Utah ESPN 10 p.m. Fresno St. at San Diego St. CBSSN MEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY 5 p.m. Minnesota at Penn St. BTN

IN BRIEF

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WOMEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY 7:30 p.m. Minnesota St. at Minnesota BTN COLLEGE WRESTLING 3 p.m. Rutgers at Penn St. BTN CROSS COUNTRY 9 a.m. World Athletics Championships CNBC FIGURE SKATING 7 p.m. Winter Olympic Trials NBC GOLF 9 a.m. LIV GOLF Promotions FS1 HORSE RACING 2 p.m. America’s Day at the Races FS2 NBA NOON Minnesota at Cleveland PRIME NFL 3:30 p.m. L.A. Rams at Carolina FOX 7 p.m. Green Bay at Chicago PRIME NHL NOON N.y. Rangers at Boston ABC 6 p.m. Florida at Ottawa NHLN MEN’S SOCCER 9 a.m. Cardiff City at Leyton Orient CBSSN TENNIS 10 p.m. Auckland-WTA Singles Final TENNIS

Lake could be key to Rams’ run L.A. eager for safety’s return from injury

ä Rams at Panthers. 3:30 P.M. SATURDAy, FOX.

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

LOS ANGELES — When the Los Angeles Rams lost Quentin Lake to a dislocated elbow in mid-November, their defense suffered and slumped. Lake is returning for the wildcard round, and the Rams (12-5) are hoping he’s a key to a long playoff run. As for Lake himself, he’s just eager to get back to work as the do-itall defensive back who has become the unlikely engine driving a precocious young defense. “I’m ready to go throw my elbow in there, have fun, fly around and help this team win again,” Lake said Thursday. After several weeks to recover from surgery, Lake will be back in uniform when the Rams visit the Carolina Panthers (8-9) on Saturday in the first game of the NFL postseason. He wasn’t in uniform Nov. 30 when the Rams made their first trip to Charlotte, and his absence was felt in that game — and in every game the Rams have played since he went down nearly two months ago. “He’s got this presence where you just feel better,” coach Sean McVay said. Lake’s job is big and complicated, but the former sixth-round pick from UCLA has grown into the role

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KyUSUNG GONG

Los Angeles Rams safety Quentin Lake jogs back to the locker room before a game against the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 16 in Inglewood, Calif. Lake has been out since mid-November with a dislocated elbow. ﬁlled by Jalen Ramsey during Los Angeles’ Super Bowl championship run four years ago. Lake usually plays the “star” position in the schemes utilized by McVay and his past three defensive coordinators. The job requires him to line up frequently as a slot cornerback in coverage, but also to contribute heavily to the Rams’ run defense in the box. He earns his “Captain Q” nickname by leading the defense on the ﬁeld, making sure his teammates on the NFL’s least expensive defense are lined up correctly — and keeping a cool head amid the late-game pressure that will only be ratcheted up in the postseason. “It’s extremely important,” de-

fensive coordinator Chris Shula said of Lake’s return. “He’s a great player, whether you’re just talking about scheme-wise or all the things that he does for us. Really what he brings to the team as far as from a physicality, from communication and the questions he’s asking, it’s awesome to have him back.” Lake’s importance can be measured by what happened while he was out. The Rams fell to the bottom quarter of the NFL in scoring defense, yards allowed per play and big plays allowed, among several metrics. Los Angeles yielded 28 points per game in its ﬁnal six outings, dropping the defense into the middle of the pack in the ﬁnal NFL

standings. Lake showed his leadership qualities when asked about the Rams’ defensive play during his absence. Los Angeles went 3-3 in its ﬁnal six games. “We had a lot of guys come in for my spot that did great things,” Lake said. “At the same time, my job is, how can I come back and really help this team? That’s it. I don’t really look at, hey, what was happening when I was out, what wasn’t happening, the difference between when I was in and when I wasn’t. I was just focused on getting back, and luckily the team gave me a shot to come back and play meaningful football.” Lake has known about big-time football pressure his whole life: His father, Carnell, played on several playoff teams and reached the Super Bowl during his decade as a dominant defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Quentin Lake made 23 tackles in his ﬁrst three playoff games, and he believes that the Rams’ experience will matter in Charlotte and beyond. “The playoff atmosphere is amazing,” Lake said. “Guys either rise to the occasion, or they sink to the level of their training, and I know we have a lot of guys that are built for it. Guys that when the pressure and the moment is big, they rise to the occasion.”

Dolphins ﬁnalizing deal for GM Sullivan By The Associated Press MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Jon-Eric Sullivan is ﬁnalizing a deal to join the Dolphins as their general manager, making the former Green Bay Packers executive the first key piece in Miami’s organizational reboot, a person with knowledge of the hiring told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not made an announcement. Sullivan, the Packers’ vice president of player personnel, completed an in-person interview this week with the Dolphins, who were expected to move swiftly in hiring a new general manager after parting ways with longtime GM Chris

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C which the quarterback is willing to risk because he hit on a number of big plays. But the quarterback can also do a better job. According to charting from Pro Football Focus, eight of Shough’s 31 sacks were his fault. That’s 25.8%. “I think it’s just a collective thing,” coach Kellen Moore said. “Does Tyler want to get better? Absolutely. Can we get better from a protection standpoint, play-calling standpoint? Obviously, there’s plenty of statistical things we can look at, and say, ‘Hey, let’s get better here.’ ” Shough was sacked on 8.7% of his dropbacks, the eighth-highest rate in the league. And while that doesn’t

Grier during the season. ESPN ﬁrst reported the deal. Sullivan spent 22 seasons with Green Bay Packers, beginning as a scouting intern in 2003 before earning a full-time position with the team’s football operations department in 2004. In 2022, he was named vice president of player personnel, with the Packers making the playoffs in three of the last four seasons. Green Bay is currently set to face Chicago on Saturday in a wild-card game. He is the son of Jerry Sullivan, a longtime NFL and college coach who was Miami’s receivers coach in 2004. He was also the wide receivers coach at LSU from 1984-90 and returned as the team’s passing game coordinator in 2018.

Sullivan grew up in Baton Rouge and attended Catholic High — playing football with future NFL star Warrick Dunn — while his father coached in his first stint at LSU. Sullivan’s first task in Miami will be finding a new head coach. Mike McDaniel was fired Thursday after four seasons following a 7-10 campaign in which the Dolphins missed the playoffs for the second straight year. The Dolphins have been linked to former Ravens coach John Harbaugh, although the organization has reportedly not yet pursued him heavily. Other potential candidates who have a connection with Sullivan include Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley; Mike McCarthy, who coached the Packers for

more than a decade; and Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, Green Bay’s linebackers coach in 2024. Campanile also coached Miami’s linebackers from 2020-23. Sullivan will also need to figure out what to do with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was benched the final three games of the season because of poor play. Tagovailoa is guaranteed $54 million for 2026, and the Dolphins would incur significant hits to the salary cap by releasing him. Releasing him next year would result in a $99 million dead cap charge. If the move is designated as a postJune 1 release, those charges are split over two years, with $67.4 million allocated to the 2026 cap.

necessarily indicate the quality of a quarterback — New England’s Drake Maye is an MVP candidate while carrying an 8.7% sack percentage — Shough’s percentage was surprising in part because he did an excellent job in college at avoiding sacks. And in his ﬁrst year in the NFL, he also showed creativity in making plays outside the pocket and control when stepping up in the pocket when the edges collapsed around him. Shough’s navigation of the pocket, even with the heavy amount of sacks taken in Year 1, is perhaps a big reason why those numbers could improve next fall. Moore and his staff saw rapid growth from Shough as he navigated the scout team in the lead-up to him becoming a starter. Another full offseason, combined with his experience from his rookie year, should help Shough grow even

more comfortable. Coincidentally, the Saints would likely be thrilled if Shough made similar strides to the ones taken by Spencer Rattler last summer. Rattler initially won the starting job over Shough because of an improved feel for oncoming pressure from his rookie season. When the season began, Rattler dramatically cut down on his sack rate and often made smart decisions with the ball until a string of turnovers in back-toback games sent him to the bench. Still, Rattler ﬁnished the year with a sack rate of 6.5% — much improved over his 8.8% as a rookie. The Saints, too, could help Shough out by how they go about filling out the roster. A better rushing attack would help Shough avoid as many obvious passing situations as possible. General manager Mickey Loomis acknowledged the interior of the offensive

line would be an area the Saints would pay “a lot of attention” to this offseason. “The number one thing there is we’ve got to stay healthy,” Loomis said. “Erik McCoy is a really good player, but he’s been injured the last few years, so we have to examine that. … How can we correct that and not let that happen? Cesar (Ruiz) is a really good player, and yet, we’ve got to get more out of him as well.” But Shough will focus on his own growth, independent of what moves the Saints make. “I feel like we’re barely scratching the surface, and there’s so much room to (grow),” Shough said. “That’s the biggest thing — I’m only 26 and I feel like the best, at least at my position, comes into your late 30s. I feel like there’s so much room to grow. “That’s my job and my focus.”

NBC’s return to MLB starts with a doubleheader

NEW YORK — NBC’s return to broadcasting Major League Baseball games will start with an openingday doubleheader on March 26. Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes of LSU and the Pittsburgh Pirates will face Juan Soto and the New York Mets at noon on NBC and Peacock. At 7 p.m., the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the scheduled primetime game for that day. NBC announced its “Sunday Night Baseball” and “MLB Sunday Leadoff” games on Friday. The Dodgers, Boston and San Diego will each make four primetime appearances. The Yankees, Philadelphia, Detroit and Seattle will have three appearances apiece.

Chiefs WR Rice accused of domestic violence

DALLAS — The NFL said Thursday it is looking into allegations of domestic violence made on social media by the ex-girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice. A spokesperson for the league told The Dallas Morning News it will review the matter under its personal conduct policy. In a statement, the Chiefs said they are aware of the allegations and have spoken with the league. Last year, Rice was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ﬁve years of probation following a highspeed crash that injured several people. The NFL has shown before a willingness to take action on players without formal charges being ﬁled.

PGA drops Mississippi, Napa from schedule

The PGA Tour released its FedEx Cup fall schedule of eight tournaments — one that moves from the spring — but loses two events, including one in Mississippi that began the year before the modern tour began. The fall will include new tournaments in Asheville, North Carolina, and Austin, Texas. They replace the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi that had been played every year since 1968, and the Procore Championship in Napa, California, a tournament that dates to the start of the FedEx Cup era in 2007. The title sponsorship in Mississippi was not renewed, and Sanderson Farms extended its support an additional year for 2025.

Michigan RB Haynes enters the transfer portal

Michigan running back Justice Haynes is returning for another year of college football but not with the Wolverines. Haynes, in an Instagram post on Friday, announced he is entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal. His decision comes after Jordan Marshall, who led the Wolverines in rushing last season after Haynes suffered a season-ending foot injury, announced his return. Five-star running back Savion Hiter is joining Michigan’s running back room, along with Oklahoma transfer Taylor Tatum, who was added this week. Haynes’ decision comes after several Michigan defensive backs entered their names in the transfer portal in the last two days.

OF Kepler suspended following positive drug test

NEW YORK — Free agent outﬁelder Max Kepler was suspended for 80 games on Friday following a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s drug program. Kepler tested positive for Epitrenbolone, a substance that led to a suspension in 2018 for boxer Manuel Charr. Epitrenbolone is a metabolite of Trenbolone, which is contained in some products used in body-building stores and had been used in products to promote cattle growth. Kepler is the ﬁrst player suspended by MLB for the substance since public announcements of the penalty details began in 2005. There was no immediate comment from the players’ association or his agency.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ 3C

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LSU lands former Vols edge rusher Ross BY WILSON ALEXANDER AND KOKI RILEY Staff writers

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Dunham’s Elijah Haven drives the ball between Jeremy Mitchell and David Dickerson on Friday at The Dunham School.

Dunham starts fast, blasts Episcopal BY JACKSON REYES Staff writer

Dunham needed just seconds to begin building its lead against Episcopal. Tigers guard AJ Olivier drove to the rim for a layup. After a quick defensive stop, forward Elijah Haven got the ball and dished it to forward Jarvis Washington for a dunk. Seconds later, guard Khris Thomas stole the ball and tossed an assist to forward Gavin Blanton for a layup. Dunham built a 6-0 lead in just two minutes. The lead continued to swell as the Tigers never trailed the Knights in the contest. The Tigers (9-0) defeated Episcopal 84-54 on Friday night at Dunham to keep their record perfect. “We came out with energy,” Dunham coach Chad Myers said. “We let our defense (help create an) easy offense. The approach was really key tonight. Happy with that.” Olivier led Dunham in scoring with 21 points. Blanton ﬁnished with 17 points. Myers and Washington each tallied 12 points each and Haven scored 11 points.

“It’s a matured group,” Myers said about his squad that has played more than 100 games together. “They’re getting excited for each other. Nothing fazes them, and it shows.” The win marks Dunham’s eighth of the season by double digits. The game was also the second time the Tigers have scored more than 80 points in a game this season. Episcopal’s Brantley Carney ended the early Tigers’ run with a layup. Dunham answered with a 12-2 run to take an 18-4 lead. The run was started by a monstrous follow dunk by Washington. Olivier and Charlie Myers hit 3-pointers to highlight the run. Episcopal fought back with four free throws to trail 24-11 after one quarter. The Knights (8-8) scored ﬁrst to begin the second quarter on a Jeremy Mitchell layup. Haven scored two points from the free-throw line to spark a 9-0 run to put the hosts up by 20 points. Blanton scored nine points in the second quarter. He continually found openings to slash toward the lane, scoring off three layups. He also nailed a 3-pointer late in the quarter.

Dunham led 45-21 at halftime. The Tigers outscored Episcopal 12-6 to start the second half. Washington got going with a dunk early. He later stole the ball near midcourt and raced down for another dunk. Washington stretched the lead to 30 with a 3-pointer from the corner. Haven and Charlie Myers each scored five points late in the third quarter to help make it 70-40 after three quarters. The Tigers and Knights traded baskets in the fourth quarter, but Episcopal failed to string together enough stops to chip away at the deficit. Dunham had to wait for several football players to join the team to have a full roster. Myers said the team has had just five practices together as a full team. Despite that wait, the Tigers remain unblemished after Friday night’s win. “AJ Olivier has led us,” Myers said. “The ball is in his hands a lot.” Now at full strength, Myers said it’s been a full contribution. “It’s a different guy every night,” Myers said. “You can just tell, it’s just the nucleus and the chemistry has been there for a while.”

Parkview Baptist able to pull away from Plaquemine in second half BY CHARLES SALZER Contributing writer

The light came on for Parkview Baptist late in the third quarter of Friday’s nondistrict boys basketball game with Plaquemine, and it meant lights out for the Green Devils. Parkview Baptist extended a two-point lead to 10 entering the fourth quarter, and the Eagles didn’t look back as they went on to post a 54-42 win at Parkview. “(Plaquemine) is a team that’s known for being incredible on defense, working as one and moving together,” Parkview coach Brad Voight said. “They’re very quick and you have to make fast decisions. In the second half, I thought we did that a little bit better than we did in the ﬁrst half.” Kaden Irwin led the way for Parkview (16-3) with 15 points, and was also a defensive presence with three blocks and three steals. “How (Irwin) goes is how we go,”

Voight said. “He has the ability to change the game because he can play above the rim. And he’s a little bit longer so he can make plays not everyone on our roster can. When he gets going it sparks all of us.” The win was Parkview’s eighth consecutive and its 10th in 11 games. “It’s big,” Voight said. “If you had told me before the season that we’d be sitting at 16-3 through 19 games, I wouldn’t have believed you. We have a lot of youthful pieces on our roster and we’re going through growing pains. We’re getting better every day.” Parkview (16-4) was shooting 34% from the field through the first five minutes of the second quarter. It was enough for the Eagles to forge a 28-26 lead, but they took their shooting to another level to close out the half. Parkview made five of its last six shots and led 3828 at the break. In the second half, the Eagles kept the pressure on, making

7 of 12 shots. They opened the third quarter with an 11-3 run and never let Plaquemine get closer than 12 points the rest of the way. Parkview took its largest lead of the game at 54-35 when Miles Brumfield made a 3-pointer with two minutes left in the game. Brumfield made two of Parkview’s five 3-pointers and finished with 10 points. Plaquemine (12-6) pulled down 20 offensive rebounds, but the Green Devils’ shooting was off all game. They made just 16 of 55 shots from the field, and 8 of 20 free throws. Roderick Bingham topped the Green Devils with 11 points and Chris Griffin added 10. “In the second half, once we got a little bit of a lead, Plaquemine had to come out and play more man (defense),” Voight said. “We just handled the ball better. We attacked the paint, and we made a couple of outside shots.”

LSU has signed Tennessee edge rusher Jordan Ross, a former five-star recruit, as the Tigers continued to address one of their biggest positions of need in the transfer portal, sources conﬁrmed Friday with The Advocate. Ross, who’s from Birmingham, Alabama, was ranked as the No. 22 overall prospect and the third-best edge rusher in the 2024 class, according to the 247Sports composite. He played in 22 games over the past two seasons, and he has two more years of eligibility. Ross earned freshman All-SEC honors after recording three tackles and 1 1/ 2 tackles for loss. He also blocked a punt that he returned for a touchdown. As his playing time increased this past season, he had 23 tackles, 31/ 2 tackles for loss and 11/ 2 sacks. On3 ranked him as the No. 41 overall player available in the transfer portal. LSU needed to find several defensive linemen in the transfer portal without many returning starters or proven depth. It has added Clemson defensive tackle Stephiylan Green, Auburn defensive lineman Malik Blocton and South Carolina edge rusher Jaylen Brown. Defensive coordinator Blake Baker and his staff may continue to add new players upfront. Last year, LSU signed three transfer edge rushers all with one more year of eligibility. They played critical roles on an improved defense, but with them gone, LSU has to replace a lot of snaps and production at defensive end. LSU can bring back promising sophomore Gabriel Reliford, who was part of the rotation until he underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in September. It has three other defensive ends who have not entered the transfer portal, and it signed four-star edge rusher Trenton Henderson in the 2026 recruiting class.

on social media Friday. Elzy had 16 catches for 213 yards and two touchdowns across three seasons at Illinois. He entered the portal after grabbing seven receptions for 84 yards this past season. He was a four-star recruit and the No. 4 player in Illinois in the Class of 2023, according to the 247Sports Composite. His lead recruiter at the time was George McDonald, who is now LSU’s wide receivers coach. Jackson had 20 catches for 258 yards as a redshirt freshman at McNeese this past fall. He attended St. Augustine High and was a three-star recruit and the No. 18 overall player in Louisiana’s 2024 class. He spent his freshman season redshirting at UAB before transferring to McNeese this season. The Tigers have added six wideouts from the portal, including Hawaii transfer Jackson Harris, Florida transfer Eugene Wilson, Old Dominion transfer Tre Brown and Kansas State transfer Jayce Brown. LSU has also received a visit from West Florida wideout Tyree Holloway.

Southern safety lands at LSU

Southern starting safety Treylan James is transferring to LSU, he announced on social media on Friday. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound redshirt sophomore from Baton Rouge will have two years of eligibility remaining. He entered the transfer portal on Dec. 3, two days after Southern welcomed its new coach, Marshall Faulk. James, who has also played cornerback, spent a season with the Jaguars after starting his career at Prairie View. Coach Lane Kiffin’s newest addition had 39 total tackles (23 solo), six pass breakups and three tackles for loss in 12 games playing mostly Southwestern Athletic Conference opponents. His six pass deﬂections were tied for the second most on Southern (2-10, 1-7 SWAC). James, a former Madison Prep standout, is the 20th player LSU Tigers add two receivers has added out of the transfer Illinois junior wide receiver portal since the portal opened on Malik Elzy and McNeese State wide- Jan. 2, continuing to surpass the out Josh Jackson are transferring to Tigers’ total number of transfers LSU, both receivers announced from a year ago.

Southern QB Woods transfers to Hampton BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

Former Southern starting quarterback Jalen Woods will transfer to Hampton, he announced on social media on Friday. The redshirt sophomore entered the transfer portal on Monday and will have three years of eligibility after appearing in two games during the 2025 season. He didn’t play again after suffering a concussion against Mississippi Valley State. Hampton is an HBCU program that is a member of the Coastal Athletic Association. Last season, the team went 2-10 overall and 0-8 in the CAA. Woods, an Atlanta native, played in eight games and made three starts in his Southern career. He was the starting quarterback in Southern’s 24-14 win over Grambling in the 2024 Bayou Classic. In his only 2025 start in Southern’s 34-29 win at MVSU, he completed 9 of 13 passes for 61 yards. For the season, he completed 13 of 18 passes for 79 yards. In 2024, he completed 38 of 66 passes for 541 passing yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions in six appearances. In his two starts, Southern was victorious. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound quarterback last played in the second

game of the 2025 season. His injury occurred when he was hit on the front of his helmet while sliding after an 8-yard run with 12:46 left in the second quarter against MVSU on Aug. 30. Woods remained on the ground for several minutes and was put on a stretcher and driven to a hospital. About two hours after the game, Southern athletics posted a statement on social media saying Woods had his full range of motion and was in good condition. The team said it placed him in concussion protocol due to a neck and head injury. Then-Southern coach Terrence Graves said Woods returned to practice during the week of Oct. 27, but he never played in a game for the remainder of the year. Woods entered the season with the expectation that he was the likely starting quarterback, with coaches saying in the offseason that it was his “job to lose.” Jackson State transfer Cam’Ron McCoy started in the team’s season-opening loss to North Carolina Central. Woods played the ﬁnal 6:12 of the game. Southern’s 2025 quarterbacks who have not entered the transfer portal are juniors McCoy and Ashton Strother, a Coahoma Community College transfer, and freshman Dillon Compton from Bunkie High School.

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Johnson shows grit, assures ‘sky is not falling’ LSU senior stepped ä Texas at LSU, 2 P.M. SUNDAy, ESPN up in win over Georgia the Wildcats that her star senior BY REED DARCEY

Staff writer

Once the fourth quarter rolled around on Thursday, the LSU women’s basketball team found itself in that familiar situation. It held an eight-point lead over Georgia. The Tigers had similar edges in their first two SEC games. Kentucky trailed by seven at the start of the fourth last Thursday. So did Vanderbilt on Sunday. LSU had gotten control of both contests at those critical junctures, but it wound up losing each time. “I had kind of put in my head,” Flau’jae Johnson said. “I was like, ‘I’m not letting us lose another lead.’ ” Ten minutes later, Johnson had a season-high 25 points, and the No. 12 Tigers (15-2, 1-2 SEC) had their ﬁrst win over a conference foe this season — a 21-point road victory over the Bulldogs that they can use to lend credence to their belief that the “sky’s not falling” after their first 0-2 start to SEC play under coach Kim Mulkey. “The sky would be falling if I looked out there,” Mulkey said, “and I didn’t have talent. Then I would be like, ‘Uh oh.’ But no, we’re very talented. We’re just so young and new, and that’s why so much is required of (Johnson) and Mikaylah (Williams). They’re your older players that have been in this system.” The problem, in the first two games of SEC play, was that Johnson wasn’t giving LSU what it requires of her. Mulkey made a point to note after the loss to

had grabbed only one rebound. Then she said after the loss to the Commodores that she wished she could’ve used Johnson’s ankle injury as an excuse for why she went scoreless. Mulkey could not. Johnson just wasn’t herself. But she was on Thursday, when LSU bounced back and beat Georgia. Johnson looked more like the player who first ascended to stardom late in her sophomore season. The one who cemented her status as one of the top players in the country with an impressive junior year. Johnson shot 9 of 13 from the field and pulled down four rebounds while assisting two field goals and blocking two others. She used her footwork to set up midrange jumpers. Finished difficult layups through contact. Capped her transition chances and drained her open 3-pointers. Through three quarters, Johnson had 10 points. Then she converted all five shots she took in the fourth quarter, adding another 15 points to her scoring tally and making sure LSU wouldn’t blow another lead. The senior hasn’t notched that many points since she finished with 28 last year in an Elite Eight loss to UCLA — the night she nearly willed the Tigers back into the Final Four. “She needs to continue to lead,” Mulkey said. “She’s not going to score 25 every night. “(Johnson and Williams) just gotta lead us. They can only do so much on that bench over there, but when it gets to game time, you’re the one on that floor, and you’ve got to be the one that takes us over that

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson drives past Kentucky guard Jordan Obi on Jan. 1 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. In a win over Georgia, Johnson had a season-high 25 points. hump when it’s a tight game.” LSU isn’t finished playing tight games. It’s still in the thick of the toughest stretch it has encountered across the past five seasons, and it won’t reach the end of the gauntlet until after it faces No. 5 Oklahoma on the road Jan. 18. Before they can think about the Sooners, the Tigers must first tussle with No. 2 Texas at home on Sunday. The undefeated Long-

horns have already beaten No. 3 South Carolina and No. 4 UCLA. They’ll enter their game in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as the only Division I team with multiple wins over top-ﬁve opponents. LSU still hasn’t beaten an AP top-ﬁve SEC team under Mulkey. Now — because Johnson shook off a slow start, rediscovered her scoring touch and closed out

a tight game — it has a chance to use its win over a Georgia as a springboard into its ﬁrst such victory. “The sky is not falling,” Johnson said. “We’re going to be OK. It is January. It’s the beginning of January. We got a lot of basketball to play.” Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com.

Southern men look to put Prairie View loss behind them Jaguars head to Florida for two SWAC games

ä Southern at Florida A&M.

BY CHARLES SALZER Contributing writer

For the Southern men’s basketball team, if there is a silver lining to Monday’s 89-85 loss to Prairie View, it’s that the Jaguars had a chance to win the game in the ﬁnal seconds despite turning in one of their worst defensive performances of the season. If nothing else, it provided Southern with some food for thought as it takes to the road this weekend for Southwestern Athletic Conference games at Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman. Southern (5-10 overall, 1-1 SWAC) will play FAMU at 5 p.m. Saturday before heading to Bethune-Cookman for a 6 p.m. game on Monday. The league’s two Florida teams are led by coaches who made a name for themselves in different venues. Florida A&M is led by former Florida State Heisman trophy winner Charlie Ward, who is in his ﬁrst season with the Rattlers (3-9, 0-1). Former NBA AllStar Reggie Theus is in his sixth

PELICANS

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percent from the field, they’ll be hard to beat,” Johnson said. “Again, I go back to our defense, but it was still a one-possession season leading Bethune-Cookman game. That’s what is tough.” Against Florida A&M, Southern (4-10, 1-0). “Bethune was picked to win the will have a chance to get its deSWAC, and they have the most fense back on track against one of talented team in the league from the conference’s lowest-rated oftop to bottom,” Southern coach fenses. The Rattlers average 68.0 Kevin Johnson said. “They are points and have shot only 42.2% extremely talented, but FAMU from the field this season. almost beat them the other night. Bethune-Cookman will feaFAMU is much ture one of the improved, and S WA C ’s m o s t “I knew we’d come back. I they’re playing efficient playknew we’d fight. ... You have ers in 6-foot-6 good basketto put that behind you. These forward Jakobi ball.” For Southern games come up pretty quick, Heady. He avto come back so we’ll take time to learn erages 50.4% from Monday’s from it, but then we’ve got to from the field loss, the Jagand 78.1% at the let it go.” free-throw line, uars will need and leads the to rededicate KEVIN JOHNSON, themselves to Southern coach, on Prairie View loss Wildcats at 16.1 points per game. defense. Prairie Heady’s numView’s point total tied for the most bers will likely allowed by Southern in SWAC put the spotlight on Southern’s play since Johnson took over the defense again. The Jaguars held STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON program two years ago. the lead for less than four min- Southern guard Michael Jacobs makes a move past Prairie View guard Michael Jacobs scored a career- utes against Prairie View, a staDontae Horne, right, in the first half of their game Monday at the F.G. high 30 points in the game, but tistic they will look to improve on. Prairie View had three players “I knew we’d come back. I knew Clark Activity Center. Prairie View won 89-85. combine to score 70 points. Over- we’d fight,” Johnson said of the all, the Panthers shot 56 percent Prairie View game. “One thing were some untimely turnovers at pretty quick, so we’ll take time to about our team is we share the the end. You have to put that be- learn from it, but then we’ve got from the field. “Any time a team is around 50 ball and we can score, but there hind you. These games come up to let it go.” 5 P.M. SATURDAy

victory over the Dallas Mavericks. This latest win came against a team the Pels have had some recent success against. The Pels have now won their past five games against the Wizards (10-27) and six of their last seven. Williamson and Murphy got off to fast starts, combining for 34 points in the first half to give the Pels a 60-50 lead at the break. The lead came despite the Pels committing 13 first-half turnovers. The Pelicans began pulling away in the third quarter. “I thought there was more value on every possession,” Borrego said about the second half. “In the first half, there was not that and we were turning it over left and right, not valuing possessions and not getting to our spots and sloppy execution. I thought we flipped it there.” Jeremiah Fears scored 21 points. But the star of the night was Queen. “I’m super proud of him,” Murphy said. “He’s been performing the whole year and it was nothing different than what he’s been doing.”

history to record two triple-doubles. He joins Chris Paul. “Queen was fantastic,” said Pelicans’ interim head coach James Borrego. “Great energy. Big time performance on the glass. Shared the ball. Had a massive impact out there. Especially to do it here in front of his hometown was really special.” Queen had plenty of help. Trey Murphy and Zion Williamson combined for 66 points. Murphy finished with 35 points and knocked down 7 of 16 3-pointers to go with eight rebounds. Williamson ﬁnished with 31 points, shooting 12 of 14 from the floor. He could have scored more, but missed six of his 13 free throws. “Murph and Z are playing at a high level and they trust each other,” Borrego said. “We had a little two-man game going and they are taking on more leadership and responsibility there. I trust them. We trust them to make the right plays.” The Pelicans (9-31) won for Email Rod Walker at the ﬁrst time since a Dec. 22 rwalker@theadvocate.com.

LSU

Continued from page 1C Conference team in the AP Poll and one of six undefeated teams left in the country before Friday’s games. Before film studying occurred, Tamba and McMahon had a sense of what led to the team’s abysmal start most recently. Part of why LSU trailed 24-5 after about 6 minutes was because South Carolina’s center made four 3-pointers. Tamba said that South Carolina’s 9-of-9 shooting start was due to an unaggressive mentality. McMahon’s way of saying the same thing was a lack of “urgency.” “For whatever reason, I didn’t have us ready to go with the activity and urgency you got to play with on the defensive side of the ball,” the fourth-year coach said. More important than ﬁguring out what caused its SEC home opener disappointment is preventing that issue from recurring on a team that only has one returning player in the rotation, following Jalen Reed’s season-ending Achilles injury. Luck hasn’t been on LSU’s side when it comes to injuries, as each conference game gains importance by the day. The Tigers will play arguably their toughest matchup for the rest

“He’s made tremendous progress since he suffered the non-contact injury on Friday. ... Now, he’s out of the boot, moving around. Just being transparent, I still think he has a little ways to go before he’s able to play basketball again. But he’s anxious to get back.” MATT McMAHON, LSU coach, on guard Dedan Thomas of the regular season without star point guard Dedan Thomas, who is day-to-day with a lower leg injury he suffered in practice on Jan. 2, the day before the SEC opener, McMahon said. “He’s made tremendous progress since he suffered the noncontact injury on Friday,” McMahon said. “Really, couldn’t walk the ﬁrst couple of days. Now, he’s out of the boot, moving around. Just being transparent, I still think he has a little ways to go before he’s able to play basketball again. But he’s anxious to get back. He’s living in the training room 24/7, doing everything in his power to get back to the team. I wish I could

give you a better timeline.” Thomas’ teammates understand the challenge of missing the SEC assist leader (7.1) and their leading scorer (16.2) for a potential third straight game. However, they are conﬁdent in his replacement in the starting lineup: freshman point guard Jalen Reece. “Huge impact on our team,” Tamba said on Thomas’ absence. “I think we’re a versatile team as well, and we should be able to deal with that way better than that, you know. We obviously miss DJ and it would be a different result if we had him. But we work. I mean, Reece, he’s a great point guard for us.” Reece has 6 points on 3 of 13 shooting, 13 assists and six turnovers in his last two games combined. His next test will be his toughest so far, as he’ll face Vanderbilt point guard Tyler Tanner. The sophomore is averaging 17.1 points on 52.8% shooting overall, 5.6 assists and 2.6 steals per game. Slowing the Commodores’ star will be a team effort. More important than any scheme or an electric scoring game by an LSU player will be the team’s mindset. A failure in urgency is how the Tigers guarantee not only a 0-3 start in SEC play but a blowout loss that hurts their analytical case for the NCAA Tournament.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ 5C

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LSU GYMNASTICS

Five Tigers to watch this season Meet ﬁve LSU gymnasts to watch going into 2026. The No. 2-ranked Tigers open the season at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad on ABC:

Kailin Chio • Sophomore Coming off one of the best freshman seasons in LSU history, Chio won 23 individual titles, including the NCAA vault title, en route to SEC freshman of the year honors and seven All-America awards. Goes into this season as one of the nation’s top all-arounders.

Amari Drayton • Junior Drayton competed on vault and floor for the second straight season in 2025 and is poised to build on her repertoire in 2026. Drayton earned All-America honors on floor as a sophomore, recording season highs of 9.95 on that event and vault. Owns three individual titles (two vault, one floor).

Kaliya Lincoln • Sophomore

Konnor McClain • Junior

Madison Ulrich • Junior

Competed in nine meets in her freshman campaign before being shut down by a shoulder injury. Underwent offseason shoulder surgery and is ready to compete full go. An explosive gymnast who was a 2024 U.S. Olympic alternate, she had highs of 9.95 (vault) and 9.925 (ﬂoor) in 2025.

The 2022 U.S. nationals allaround champion, McClain has never competed on vault for the Tigers. This season, the talented McClain is expected to be counted on as one of LSU’s top gymnasts. Has 14 career individual titles (including 2024 SEC beam title) with three perfect 10s.

A transfer from the University of Denver, Ulrich was a three-time All-American with the Pioneers, competing in the all-around in every meet both seasons there. In the 2025 NCAA championships, she ﬁnished sixth individually in the all-around, seventh on beam and eighth on bars.

GYMNASTICS Continued from page 1C

The Tigers have dealt with that hurt and disappointment, storing it until it could serve them this season. “At the end of the day,” junior Konnor McClain said, “we were SEC champions. We were such an amazing team, but we know we were capable of so much more.” Starting No. 2 in the preseason coaches’ poll, the Tigers know what more means for them this season, a season that begins Saturday with the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad (3 p.m., ABC). LSU will take on No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah, a Daytona 500-like meet at the beginning of the season that could well be a preview of this season’s NCAA final in April. “We think we have a team that can be in that position again,” LSU coach Jay Clark said. “I’m encouraged by the way they’ve conducted themselves.” As all college teams do, the Tigers lost some key pieces from 2025, namely two-time NCAA champion and former national gymnast of the STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON year Haleigh Bryant, now an LSU LSU gymnastics members from left, Kylie Coen, Kailin Chio, Kaliya assistant coach, and 2024 Olympian Lincoln and Konnor McClain pose for a photo on Dec. 15. LSU Aleah Finnegan. For the returning Tigers and the gymnastics will kick off its season on Saturday at the Sprouts Collegiate newcomers, the flame still burns. Squad meet in West Valley City, Utah. “The fire dimmed for a little bit,” McClain said. “But over the sum- 2026 LSU gymnastics schedule Saturday Sprouts Collegiate Quad* 3 p.m. ABC mer, we came together as a team Jan. 16 at Georgia 6 p.m. SEC Network Jan. 23 Kentucky 6:30 p.m. ESPN2 and we’ve been building this fire. Jan. 30 at Missouri 6 p.m. ESPN2 “We’re ready to light it now.” Feb. 6 Penn State 7:30 p.m. SECNetwork+ Meet four key returning Tigers Feb. 13 Auburn 7:45 p.m. SEC Network 20 at Oklahoma 8 p.m. ESPN2 expected to play key roles in LSU’s Feb. Feb. 27 Alabama 8:30 p.m. SEC Network quest for more championships in March 1 Podium Challenge# 4 p.m. March 8 at Florida 5 p.m. SEC Network 2026:

Kailin Chio The numbers still boggle the mind. As a freshman, the Henderson, Nevada, native won 23 individual titles, including that NCAA vault crown, earned seven All-American honors and was SEC freshman of the year. By comparison, Bryant, arguably LSU’s best gymnast ever, won 14 individual events as a freshman in 2021 (also including the NCAA vault crown) and six All-American honors. “She’s just mature beyond her years,” Clark said of Chio, “as a competitor and the way she can speak and articulate her points. “She seems to have a good head on her shoulders about it. If she does what she’s doing in the gym, it’s going to be amazing.” Clark has cautioned Chio against trying to outdo herself as a sophomore. She appears to be listening. “Freshman year,” Chio said, “was very unexpected. Honestly,

March 13 Arkansas 7:30 p.m. SECNetwork+ March 21 SEC Championships% TBA SEC Network April 3-5 NCAA Regional (PMAC) TBA ESPN+ April 16-18 NCAA Championships TBA ESPN/ABC *-at West Valley City, Utah #-at Raising Cane’s River Center %-at Tulsa, Oklahoma All times Central

this year it all stays the same. Nothing more, nothing less. “That (2025) is in the past now. I want to keep building off of it, but each year starts fresh.” Chio competed as an all-arounder in every meet except the NCAA regional ﬁnal at Penn State when she did three events. Arriving as she did in a year when collegiate scoring was more unpredictable than in the past, 41 of Chio’s 59 scores were 9.90 or better, including 16 of 9.95 or better (with one perfect 10). “She doesn’t just wow you with one thing,” Clark said, “that you’re waiting for that one skill. It’s just everything she does is so right.”

in Bedford, Texas, Coen wanted to be a Tiger. “My (team) didn’t go for LSU,” Coen said, “They were for Oklahoma. I was like the turning point in my gym.” She remembers going to watch the Tigers compete in the Metroplex Challenge at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, pulling for LSU gymnasts like Ashleigh Gnat and Jessie Jordan. “I was so excited, hoping I would be here,” Coen said. After performing three exhibition routines as a freshman, Coen competed in 13 meets this past season on balance beam and ﬂoor. Now, as a junior, Clark ﬁgures the Kylie Coen team will count on Coen to lead on From the time she was a little and off the mat. “She’s very mature,” he said, girl doing gymnastics back home

TOP LEFT: LSU gymnast Konnor McClain performs a beam routine on Feb. 28 at the Raising Cane’s River Center. TOP: LSU gymnast Kaliya Lincoln performs her floor routine during an SEC meet against Oklahoma on Feb. 14 at the PMAC. ABOVE: LSU gymnast Amari Drayton performs her floor routine in the NCAA team semifinals on April 17 at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. STAFF FILE PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON

“a caretaker for the team. She’s looked to by a lot of her teammates as that person they can rely on. A pillar of stability.” LSU needs someone who can replace former Tiger Sierra Ballard in the lead-off spot on beam, a crucial table-setting position in a tension-invoking event. Clark ﬁgures Coen can be that gymnast. “Her level of consistency is so high you know what you’re going to get,” Clark said. Coen said the Tigers have a close bond, something that cuts through the weekly competition for those precious few 24 routines on vault, bars, beam and ﬂoor.

Kaliya Lincoln After earning alternate status on the uber-competitive U.S. gymnastics team for the 2024 Olympics, Lincoln came to LSU for her 2025 freshman season as only a shadow of herself physically. Limited by a shoulder injury, the Frisco, Texas, native performed just 11 routines on vault and floor in nine meets before being shut down in early March. Surgery repaired Lincoln’s shoulder and gave her an entirely new outlook for 2026. “It was definitely hard to decide to cut my season short,” Lincoln said. “But I knew it would give me a better chance to be ready for this year.” Though just 5-foot-1, few if any gymnasts on the LSU roster pack so much energy and potential into their routines than Lincoln. “Of all the athletes I’ve ever coached,” Clark said, “she’s the most physically explosive and quick. Everything she does is just … bigger. She’s so small and compact, but she’s so powerful. “Again, health will be the key. So it’s cross your fingers, take your vitamins and say your prayers.” Lincoln said she’s altered her floor and vault routines for this season and has been working on adding beam to her repertoire, something she didn’t do at all as a freshman because of her shoulder. “I’m excited to be showing my dynamic side, getting to compete more than last year,” Lincoln said. Though Lincoln was reduced to a spectator’s role by the 2025 NCAA championships, like her teammates, she’s using this past year’s NCAA semifinals as motivation. “We want to show everyone it was a one-time thing,” Lincoln said.

Konnor McClain Perhaps no gymnast ever came to LSU with more impressive credentials than McClain, who won the 2022 all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. But hers is one of the most physically demanding sports, and the

ﬁrst two years of McClain’s LSU career were hampered by injuries. That included an Achilles tendon tear in May 2024 at a pre-Olympic meet that scuttled her dreams of making the U.S. team. “I feel like I haven’t reached the level I’m capable of yet in college,” the Las Vegas native said. “It would be so nice this year to put it all out there and do what I want to do.” After offseason wrist surgery, McClain said she feels better physically than she has in at least five years. Perhaps even more importantly, she’s happier doing gymnastics than she’s been in years as well. “This year I really have found the joy in gymnastics,” McClain said. “That was my goal in college. I’ve got the happy part down. This is the ﬁrst time I’ve walked into the gym and I feel at peace. These are my best friends, my sisters. “It’s not, ‘Ugh, I have to go into the gym.’ It’s always like, ‘Finally, I’m at practice.’ ” Clark has noticed the upward trend in McClain’s physical and mental well-being. “Her body is in the best place it’s been,” he said. “If we can keep her healthy, that’s always the unknown. “But she has the potential to be as impactful a four-eventer as we’ve seen.”

Other gymnasts Junior Amari Drayton is expected to be a major contributor to the Tigers after competing on vault and floor in every meet this past season. The Tigers also have a big crop of newcomers, led by junior transfer Maddie Ulrich, a threetime All-American at Denver. “Maddie will be an all-arounder,” Clark said. “Really clean gymnastics. Hyper competitive. You can tell when the lights come on, she’ll show up.” Washington transfer Emily Innes, a senior, will likely be a beam and floor specialist, Clark said. Courtney Blackson has come to LSU after sitting out the 2025 season in “retirement” after four years at Boise State, where she competed on vault, uneven bars and floor. Of LSU’s freshman class, Nina Ballou is expected to make the biggest impact. “She has great showmanship on three events,” Clark said. “She’ll be a fan favorite.” After the Sprouts meet on Saturday in West Valley City, Utah, LSU opens SEC competition Friday at Georgia before the Tigers have their home opener Jan. 23 against Kentucky. LSU will wrap up the home schedule by hosting an NCAA regional — April 3-5 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center — for the first time since 2019.

6C ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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SCOREBOARD

CFP Bound

Boys basketball Wednesday’s scores University 55, Catholic High 52 McKinley at Madison Prep, 5 p.m. Central Private 58, Albany 54 Tara 81, Amite 38 Catholic High-PC 42, North Iberville 22 West Feliciana 48, Northeast 32 Dunham 66, Capitol 38 Belaire 55, Glen Oaks 32 Ascension Catholic 51, Riverside 37

EAST

Monmouth 52, UNC Wilmington 50 North Carolina A&T 84, Northeastern 83, 2OT Stony Brook 57, Drexel 53 Towson 47, Hofstra 46

SOUTH

Belmont 78, Drake 69 Campbell 62, Elon 52 Charleston 62, William & Mary 60 Murray State 75, Northern Iowa 71

SOUTHWEST

Tulsa 94, Temple 82

Thursday’s games

Hockey

Catholic-PC 35, St. John 18 Jehovah-Jireh Christian 45, North Iberville 44

NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE

Friday’s games

Madison Prep 54, Central 53 Dunham 84, Episcopal 54 Broadmoor 60, Baker 47 St. Amant 70, Scotlandville 51 Parkview Baptist 54, Plaquemine 42 Dutchtown 52, Livonia 31 Capitol 60, Prairieville 48

Atlantic Division

Parkview 54, Plaquemine 42 Plaquemine 10 10 8 14 — 42 Parkview Baptist 13 10 15 16 — 54 Scoring — PLAQUEMINE: Roderick Bingham 11, Chris Griffin 10, Jerome Royal 9, Damani James 6, Tyrinn Henderson 4, Isaiah Georgetown 2. PARKVIEW BAPTIST: Kaden Irwin 15, Miles Brumfield 10, Nick Dixon 9, Max Montgomery 7, Colby Evans 6, Will Goza 5, Trey Williams 2. 3-pointers — Plaquemine 2 (Griffin, Bingham). Parkview Baptist 5 (Brumfield 2, Montgomery, Goza, Dixon). Team records: Parkview 16-3, Plaquemine 12-6

Wednesday’s scores

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MIKE STEWART

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza carries against Oregon during the second half of the Peach Bowl on Friday in Atlanta. Indiana beat Oregon 56-22 to advance to the College Football Playoff title game against Miami. at TORONTO Tampa Bay at CAROLINA at MINNESOTA at NASHVILLE at EDMONTON at VEGAS

Friday’s games

Fontainebleau 45, Glen Oaks 37 Dutchtown 56, Livonia 43 St. Joseph 66, McGehee 16 Zachary 65, Istrouma 12

Saturday

Sunday

Atlantic Division

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 10½ 10½ (46) at CAROLINA 1½ 1½ (44½) at CHICAGO

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Buffalo 1½ 1 (51½) at JAX at PHILA 3½ 5½ (44½) San Fran at NEW ENG 3½ 3½ (45½) LA Chargers

Monday FAVORITE Houston

NBA

Saturday

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 3 3 (38) at PIT

FAVORITE at CLEVELAND at INDIANA at DETROIT at BOSTON at CHICAGO at UTAH

LINE OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF

O/U (OFF) (OFF) (OFF) (OFF) (OFF) (OFF)

COLLEGE BASKETBALL Saturday

FAVORITE at MIAMI (FL) at LOUISVILLE VCU at INDIANA Kansas at FLORIDA at UCONN at MICHIGAN at VANDERBILT Houston Georgia at DUKE at PURDUE St. John’s Syracuse at VIRGINIA Villanova at ARIZONA ST at TEXAS A&M at IOWA STATE at VIRGINIA TECH Providence Arizona Clemson Arkansas Missouri at UNC Seton Hall Texas Tech at UCLA at ALABAMA at KENTUCKY BYU

NHL

Saturday

FAVORITE LINE at BOSTON -132 at PITTSBURGH -152 at COLORADO -287 Dallas -185 at MONTREAL -140 at OTTAWA -112 at BUFFALO -148

UNDERDOG Minnesota Miami LA Clippers San Antonio Dallas Charlotte

LINE UNDERDOG 12½ Georgia Tech 22½ Boston College 1½ at G. MASON 3½ Nebraska 4½ at W. VIRGINIA 5 Tennessee 19½ DePaul 19 Wisconsin 13½ LSU 4½ at BAYLOR 3½ at S. CAROLINA 12 SMU 22 Penn State 1½ at CREIGHTON 1½ at PITTSBURGH 11½ Stanford 5½ at MARQUETTE 1½ Kansas State 4½ Oklahoma 19 Oklahoma St. 5½ Cal 2½ at XAVIER 7 at TCU 2½ at NOTRE DAME 1½ at AUBURN 1½ at OLE MISS 10 Wake Forest 2½ at GEORGETOWN 5½ at COLORADO 11½ Maryland 13½ Texas 12½ Mississippi St. 14½ at UTAH

UNDERDOG N.Y Rangers Calgary Columbus at SAN JOSE Detroit Florida Anaheim

LINE +110 +127 +231 +153 +118 -107 +124

New York Boston Toronto Philadelphia Brooklyn

Pct GB .649 — .639 ½ .605 1½ .571 3 .324 11½

Orlando Miami Atlanta Charlotte Washington

W 21 20 18 13 10

L 17 17 21 25 26

Pct .553 .541 .462 .342 .278

Detroit Cleveland Chicago Milwaukee Indiana

W 28 21 17 16 7

L 9 18 20 21 31

Pct GB .757 — .538 8 .459 11 .432 12 .184 21½

WESTERN CONFERENCE Southwest Division

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)

Divisional Playoffs Saturday, Jan. 17 and Sunday, Jan. 18 L 13 13 15 15 23

Central Division

Sunday, Jan. 11

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

W 24 23 23 20 11

Southeast Division

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

Monday, Jan. 12

NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE

Sports Betting Line NFL FAVORITE LA Rams Green Bay

-169 Vancouver +141 -149at PHILADELPHIA +124 -295 Seattle +238 -181 N.Y Islanders +151 -198 Chicago +164 -179 Los Angeles +149 -258 St. Louis +210

Pro basketball

Odds

GP Carolina 44 N.Y. Islanders 44 Philadelphia 42 Pittsburgh 42 Washington 44 New Jersey 44 N.Y. Rangers 45 Columbus 43

W 27 24 22 21 22 22 20 18

L OT Pts GF GA 14 3 57 152 133 15 5 53 130 122 12 8 52 130 120 12 9 51 139 132 16 6 50 143 129 20 2 46 115 137 19 6 46 118 125 18 7 43 132 147

Central Division

Girls basketball

Live Oak 64, East Iberville 5 University 62, Plaquemine 23 Dutchtown 65, Northeast 30 Livonia 40, GEO Next Generation 39 Hammond 45, East Ascension 15 St. Amant 50, Lutcher 40 Covington 52, Glen Oaks 39 Central 54, West Feliciana 41

L OT Pts GF GA 13 6 56 151 144 15 4 56 141 142 13 3 55 146 112 15 4 50 135 131 15 7 49 143 140 19 2 48 141 144 18 3 47 132 140 18 5 45 139 145

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Thrive Academy at Ascension Catholic, 4 p.m. White Castle at Plaquemine, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday’s games

W 25 26 26 23 21 23 22 20

Metropolitan Division

Saturday’s games

Prairieville 67, Hammond 24 White Castle 52, Live Oak 49

GP 44 45 42 42 43 44 43 43

Montreal Detroit Tampa Bay Buffalo Toronto Boston Florida Ottawa

GB — ½ 3½ 8 10

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.

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

College football College Football Playoff

San Antonio Houston Memphis Dallas New Orleans

W 26 22 16 14 8

L 11 12 21 24 31

Pct GB .703 — .647 2½ .432 10 .368 12½ .205 19

Oklahoma City Denver Minnesota Portland Utah

W 31 25 25 18 13

L 7 12 13 20 24

Pct GB .816 — .676 5½ .658 6 .474 13 .351 17½

National Championship

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

W 23 22 20 13 8

L 12 15 18 23 29

Pct GB .657 — .595 2 .526 4½ .361 10½ .216 16

Monday Frisco, Texas Montana State 35, Illinois State 34

Northwest Division

Paciﬁc Division

Thursday’s Games

Indiana 114, Charlotte 112 Minnesota 131, Cleveland 122 Utah 116, Dallas 114 Miami at Chicago, ppd

Semiﬁnals

Thursday Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz. No. 10 Miami 31, No. 6 Ole Miss 27 Friday Peach Bowl, Atlanta No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 5 Oregon, n

Miami Jan. 19 Semiﬁnal winners, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN)

FCS glance

National Championship

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

Liberty 72, Louisiana Tech 56 UL 85, UL-Monroe 79

Saturday’s games

Friday’s Games

Troy at UL, noon LSU at Vanderbilt, noon UL-Monroe at Southern Miss, 2 p.m. Delaware at Louisiana Tech, 2 p.m. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 3:30 p.m. Southeastern at McNeese, 4 p.m. Tulane at Texas-San Antonio, 4 p.m. Grambling at Bethune-Cookman, 4:30 p.m. Southern at Florida A&M, 5 p.m. Nicholls at UNO, 5 p.m.

Boston 125, Toronto 117 New Orleans 128, Washington 107 Philadelphia 103, Orlando 91 L.A. Clippers 121, Brooklyn 105 Oklahoma City 117, Memphis 116 Atlanta at Denver, n New York at Phoenix, n Houston at Portland, n Sacramento at Golden State, n Milwaukee at L.A. Lakers, n

Sunday’s games

Saturday’s Games

No games scheduled.

Minnesota at Cleveland, noon Miami at Indiana, 6 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Detroit, 6:30 p.m. Dallas at Chicago, 7 p.m. San Antonio at Boston, 7 p.m. Charlotte at Utah, 8:30 p.m.

Monday’s games

Grambling at Florida A&M, TBA Southern at Bethune-Cookman, 6 p.m. UNO at Southeastern, 6 p.m. Nicholls at McNeese, 6:30 p.m. Texas-Rio Grande Valley at Northwestern State, 6:30 p.m.

Pro football

Men’s national scores

Wild-card Playoffs Saturday, Jan. 10

EAST

Bloomsburg 73, Cheyney Wolves 67, OT Canisius 70, Manhattan 64 Colby 76, Connecticut College 67 Daemen 85, District of Columbia 47 Fairﬁeld 68, Rider 62 Hobart 86, Skidmore 70 Iona 71, Niagara 53 Ithaca 101, RIT 72 Keuka 105, Sage College of Albany 100 Lehman 69, City College of New York 50 Marist 76, Sacred Heart 72 Merrimack 63, Siena 59 Mount St Marys 70, Saint Peter’s 65 SUNY-Cortland 78, SUNY-New Paltz 48 SUNY-Oneonta 105, SUNY-Morrisville 80 SUNY-Oswego 91, SUNY-Potsdam 58 SUNY-Plattsburgh 76, SUNY-Canton 63 SUNY-Polytechnic 60, Alfred 55 St. John Fisher 77, SUNY-Brockport 63 Staten Island 77, D’Youville 70 Trinity College 79, Middlebury 62 Tufts 81, Bowdoin 69 Union (NY) 76, RPI 59 Utica 65, Houghton 59 Vassar 56, Clarkson 54 Wesleyan (CT) 84, Williams College 71 York College (NY) 66, Hunter 64

SOUTH

Converse 77, Shorter 69 Johnson & Wales (NC) 94, Virginia-Lynchburg 82 Mary Baldwin 65, William Peace 55 Pfeiffer 89, Southern Virginia 63

MIDWEST

Concordia-St. Paul 102, Minnesota State Moorhead 89 Green Bay 75, IU Indianapolis 59 Jamestown 87, Augustana University 77 Miami (OH) 87, Toledo 73 Minnesota State 68, University of Mary 65 Minnesota-Crookston 67, Winona State 62 Northern Kentucky 85, Milwaukee 67 Oakland 97, Cleveland State 74 Sioux Falls 93, Minnesota-Duluth 89 Southwest Minnesota State 85, Bemidji State 55 St Cloud State 71, Minot State 57 Wayne State (NE) 86, Northern State 79 Wright State 84, Detroit Mercy 82 Youngstown State 99, Bryant and Stratton Bobcats (OH) 61

SOUTHWEST

Centenary 94, Mcmurry 89 Concordia (TX) 129, Hendrix 54 Schreiner 93, LeTourneau 88 St Thomas (TX) 76, Dallas 62 Texas Lutheran 106, Ozarks 92

FAR WEST

Colorado College 87, Austin 69

Women’s state schedule Thursday’s games

UL-Monroe 61, UL 51 LSU 80, Georgia 59 Louisiana Tech 65, Delaware 50 UNO 64, Southeastern 63 Southern 61, Bethune-Cookman 50 McNeese 62, Nicholls 51 Northwestern 79, UTRGV 47 Florida A&M 59, Grambling 55

GP 43 44 45 44 43 43 44 42

Paciﬁc Division

W 32 26 26 21 20 18 17 15

L OT Pts GF GA 4 7 71 175 99 10 8 60 153 124 11 8 60 143 121 20 3 45 133 125 19 4 44 122 143 18 7 43 125 137 19 8 42 110 153 22 5 35 121 134

GP W L OT Pts GF GA Vegas 42 19 11 12 50 133 132 Edmonton 44 22 16 6 50 149 148 Seattle 42 20 14 8 48 117 123 San Jose 43 22 18 3 47 136 151 Los Angeles 42 18 14 10 46 114 117 Anaheim 44 21 20 3 45 147 163 Calgary 44 18 22 4 40 114 134 Vancouver 43 16 22 5 37 121 153 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.

Thursday’s Games

Detroit 5, Vancouver 1 Boston 4, Calgary 1 Carolina 5, Anaheim 2 Toronto 2, Philadelphia 1, OT Pittsburgh 4, New Jersey 1 Montreal 6, Florida 2 Buffalo 5, N.Y. Rangers 2 Edmonton 4, Winnipeg 3 Nashville 2, N.Y. Islanders 1, SO Colorado 8, Ottawa 2 Minnesota 3, Seattle 2, OT Vegas 5, Columbus 3

Friday’s Games

Los Angeles at Winnipeg, n Washington at Chicago, n St. Louis at Utah, n

Saturday’s Games

N.Y. Rangers at Boston, noon Calgary at Pittsburgh, 2:30 p.m. Columbus at Colorado, 3 p.m. Dallas at San Jose, 3 p.m. Anaheim at Buffalo, 6 p.m. Detroit at Montreal, 6 p.m. Florida at Ottawa, 6 p.m. Seattle at Carolina, 6 p.m. Tampa Bay at Philadelphia, 6 p.m. Vancouver at Toronto, 6 p.m. Chicago at Nashville, 7 p.m. N.Y. Islanders at Minnesota, 7 p.m. Los Angeles at Edmonton, 9 p.m. St. Louis at Vegas, 9 p.m.

Transactions Major League Baseball

MLB — Suspended OF Max Kepler 80 games for testing positive for a performance enhancing substance. American League BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Sent OF Will Robertson outright to Norfolk (IL). NEW YORK YANKEES — Claimed RHP Kaleb Ort off waivers from the Houston Astros. TEXAS RANGERS — Claimed RHP Zak Kent off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals. National League ATLANTA BRAVES — Claimed RHP George Soriano from the Baltimore Orioles. LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Claimed 3B Ryan Fitzgerald off waivers from the Minnesota Twins. WASHINGTON NATIONALS — Waived RHP Sauryn Lao. Claimed RHP Paxton Schultz off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association WASHINGTON WIZARDS — Acquired G Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for G CJ McCollum and F Corey Kispert.

FOOTBALL

Saturday’s games

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Northwestern State, 1 p.m. Southeastern at McNeese, 1 p.m. North Texas at Tulane, 2 p.m. Nicholls at UNO, 2 p.m. UL-Monroe at South Alabama, 2 p.m. Grambling at Bethune-Cookman, 3 p.m. Texas State at UL, 3 p.m. Southern at Florida A&M, 3 p.m.

Sunday’s games

Louisiana Tech at Liberty, noon Texas at LSU, 2 p.m.

Women’s national scores Friday’s games

Amherst 71, Bates 50

Colorado Dallas Minnesota Utah Nashville Chicago St. Louis Winnipeg

National Football League CAROLINA PANTHERS — Activated G Robert Hunt from injured reserve. CLEVELAND BROWNS — Signed P Nik Constantinou and WR Isaiah Wooden to reserve/futures contracts. MIAMI DOLPHINS — Hired Jon-Eric Sullivan as general manager. Signed DT Keith Cooper Jr., OL Braeden Daniels, TE Cole Turner. and OL Carter Warren to reserve/futures contracts. Released DT Simeon Barrow, DB Jack Henderson, TE Chris Myarick, and OT Kadeem Telfort. PITTSBURGH STEELERS — Designated DT Isaiahh Loudermilk to return from injured reserve.

SATURDAY’S FAIR GROUNDS ENTRIES Post Time: 12:45PM First Race, Purse $30,000, Starters allowance $50,000, 4 yo’s & up One And One Sixteenth Miles-Turf 01 Just Bernie (C McMahon) 8-1 02 Flamingproposition (I Castillo) 5-1 03 Arthur’s Court (M Pedroza, Jr.) 8-1 04 Main Beach (J Ortiz) 5-2 05 You Belong Here (J Loveberry) 8-1 06 White Whale (J Torres) 6-1 07 Django (B Hernandez, Jr.) 2-1 Second Race, Purse $19,000, SOC $10,000$5,000, 4 yo’s & up, F & M (ﬁllies and mares) Six Furlongs-Dirt 01 Crusin Like a Cat (E Nieves) 6-1 02 Berlaine (D Magnon) 5-2 03 Hittin My Stride (D Cannon) 7-2 04 Slam Diego (J Torres) 2-1 05 Mamba Out (M Murrill) 10-1 06 Unbridled Lunar (M Pedroza, Jr.) 20-1 07 Diamonds Joy (P Lopez) 4-1 08 Chaparrita (C McMahon) 20-1 Third Race, Purse $22,000, Claiming $15,000,

4 yo’s & up, F & M (ﬁllies and mares) One Mile Seventy Yards-Dirt 01 Im Singled Up (J Mudd) 8-1 02 Cincy’s Anna (M Pedroza, Jr.) 7-2 03 Lady Jeopardy (P Lopez) 4-1 04 Lofty Heights (R Hernandez) 15-1 05 Sally’s Suprise (M Murrill) 6-1 06 Pickin Ana Grinnin (I Castillo) 6-1 07 Blueberry Eyes (C McMahon) 6-1 08 Izzy’s Monster (J Ortiz) 3-1 Fourth Race, Purse $54,000, Maiden special weight, 3 yo, F (ﬁllies) One Mile-Turf 01 Authentic Beauty (B Hernandez, Jr.) 10-1 02 Strada Del Sogno (C McMahon) 8-1 03 Adorable Moments (J Loveberry) 12-1 04 Angelic Katie (I Castillo) 8-1 05 Champagne Party (P Lopez) 8-1 06 Speightress (F Geroux) 12-1 07 Harpermarie (D Cannon) 10-1 08 Ocala Gala (J Ortiz) 9-5 09 Mo Town Renee (E Murray) 8-1 10 Bugs Malone (M Murrill) 20-1 11 Lewinsky (M Pedroza, Jr.) 6-1

12 She’s an Earner (J Graham) 12-1 13 Mothertwotheblues (I Castillo) 12-1 14 Abilene (F Geroux) 7-2 15 Real Drama (J Loveberry) 5-1 16 Powered by Family (J Ortiz) 6-1 Fifth Race, Purse $100,000, Stakes, 4 yo’s & up, F & M (ﬁllies and mares) Six FurlongsDirt 01 Blue Fire (J Ortiz) 9-5 02 Beleout (E Murray) 15-1 03 Hopeitsmyluckyday (M Murrill) 30-1 04 Custom Design (C Hernandez) 20-1 05 Secret Faith (C McMahon) 3-5 06 Six String (F Geroux) 6-1 Sixth Race, Purse $55,000, Allowance, 4 yo’s & up, F & M (ﬁllies and mares) Five And A Half Furlongs-Turf 01 Watering (H Rea) 12-1 02 Miss Lonelle (D Magnon) 12-1 03 Something Stronger (J Graham) 4-1 04 Betty’s Dance (P Lopez) 9-2 05 Dashin’ Diva (I Castillo) 8-1 06 Swoonatra (C McMahon) 10-1

07 Get Back Loretta (M Pedroza, Jr.) 10-1 08 Custom Design (C Hernandez) 15-1 09 I’m Mo Joke (B Hernandez, Jr.) 7-2 10 Lovely Emma (J Ortiz) 5-1 11 Bet Towinit (F Geroux) 6-1 12 Annie’s Joy (R Hernandez) 6-1 13 September Magic (D Cannon) 6-1 14 You’ll Be Back (J Ortiz) 3-1 15 Sweet Darlin (I Castillo) 4-1 Seventh Race, Purse $55,000, Allowance, 4 yo’s & up, F & M (fillies and mares) One Mile Seventy Yards-Dirt 01 Bundle (P Lopez) 5-1 02 Rising Inflation (I Castillo) 5-2 03 La Reynita (J Ortiz) 20-1 04 Anonima (C Hernandez) 9-2 05 Clearly a Test (H Hernandez) 10-1 06 Sierra November (B Hernandez, Jr.) 5-1 07 Chasten (F Geroux) 3-1 08 Union Mist (D Cannon) 10-1 Eighth Race, Purse $100,000, Stakes, 4 yo’s & up, F & M (fillies and mares) Five And A Half Furlongs-Turf

01 Big Trouble (D Cannon) 3-1 02 Serving Time (GB) (J Ortiz) 8-1 03 Banterra (P Lopez) 10-1 04 Party Pauline (M Murrill) 10-1 05 Rue Lala (I Castillo) 8-1 06 Harbor Springs (J Loveberry) 6-1 07 Sporting Lady (J Torres) 15-1 08 Gavea (GER) (M Pedroza, Jr.) 6-1 09 Lotsandlotsofcandy (B Hernandez, Jr.) 5-2 Ninth Race, Purse $100,000, Stakes, 4 yo’s & up Six Furlongs-Dirt 01 Benoit (J Graham) 6-1 02 Sir Wellington (P Lopez) 20-1 03 Bron and Brow (I Castillo) 15-1 04 Hay Jude (J Ortiz) 6-1 05 El Dinero (J Loveberry) 5-2 06 Geaux Sugar (M Murrill) 2-1 07 Strong Promise (F Geroux) 10-1 08 He’s Late Again (B Hernandez, Jr.) 12-1 09 Carpis (S Vives) 12-1 10 Sounds Like Power (M Pedroza, Jr.) 15-1

FRIDAY’S FAIR GROUNDS RESULTS First Race - $14,000, Maiden Claiming $10,000, 4 yo’s & up, Five And A Half Furlongs Roadside Banker (H. Hernandez) $12.20 $5.00 $3.60 Runner Runner (J. Mudd) $5.00 $3.80 Ocean Voyager (E. Murray) $9.00 Finish Time: 1:07.43 Exacta (2-5) $31.70; Superfecta (2-5-1-8) $164.20; Trifecta (2-5-1) $162.50 Late Scratches: Aticus Aurelius Second Race - $22,000, Maiden Claiming $30,000, 3 yo, One And One Sixteenth Miles Amazing Lady (F. Geroux) $27.00 $13.40 $5.80 Stress Test (P. Lopez) $5.40 $3.00 Honor Azteca (J. Graham) $3.00 Finish Time: 1:45.18 Daily Double (2-8) $106.90; Exacta (8-2) $58.90; Superfecta (8-2-4-5) $96.14; Trifecta (8-2-4) $143.20 Late Scratches: Pipinna Third Race - $15,000, Maiden Claiming $12,500, 4 yo’s &

up, Six Furlongs Lost in the Sauce (D. Cannon) $13.00 $6.60 $3.80 Miracle On Central (M. Pedroza, Jr.) $4.00 $3.00 Spielman (J. Graham) $2.60 Finish Time: 1:12.58 Daily Double (8-7) $107.70; Exacta (7-6) $21.50; Superfecta (7-6-5-3) $14.94; Trifecta (7-6-5) $20.90; Pic 3 (2-8-7) $286.15 Late Scratches: Daredevil Doug Fourth Race - $55,000, AOC $12,500, 4 yo’s & up, One Mile Canal Street (A. Concepcion) $6.00 $4.20 $2.80 Snazzy Gal (J. Ortiz) $5.00 $3.60 Factor of Time (M. Murrill) $4.40 Finish Time: 1:37.45 Daily Double (7-8) $19.70; Exacta (8-3) $17.70; Superfecta (8-3-10-12) $52.98; Trifecta (8-3-10) $57.30; Pic 3 (8-7-8) $330.10 Late Scratches: Lady Star, Awree, Desert Glow Fifth Race - $57,000, AOC $35,000, 4 yo’s & up, One Mile

Seventy Yards Sippin On Gin (A. Concepcion) $3.60 $2.60 $2.10 Mangum (P. Lopez) $6.20 $4.20 Cosmic Train (J. Ortiz) $3.40 Finish Time: 1:41.28 Daily Double (8-2) $8.70; Exacta (2-6) $9.60; Superfecta (2-6-1-3) $9.71; Trifecta (2-6-1) $14.05; Pic 3 (7-8-2) $17.25; Pic 4 (8-7-2/7/8/11-2) $470.95; Pic 5 (2-8-7-2/7/8/11-2) $5,336.20 Sixth Race - $56,000, AOC $50,000, 4 yo’s & up, One And One Sixteenth Miles Bless the Broken (F. Geroux) $6.00 $2.60 $2.40 Being Myself (J. Ortiz) $2.40 $2.20 Amalﬁ Drive (B. Hernandez, Jr.) $3.20 Finish Time: 1:43.10 Daily Double (2-6) $4.30; Exacta (6-2) $6.50; Superfecta (6-2-5-7) $6.53; Trifecta (6-2-5) $18.30; Pic 3 (8-2-6) $9.75 Seventh Race - $56,000, AOC $50,000, 4 yo’s & up, Five And A Half Furlongs

Shining Star (CHI) (J. Ortiz) $2.80 $2.10 $2.10 Cairo Dream (J. Loveberry) $3.40 $2.60 Aldora (D. Magnon) $8.80 Finish Time: 1:02.63 Daily Double (6-8) $5.20; Exacta (8-2) $5.30; Superfecta (8-2-3-5) $11.93; Trifecta (8-2-3) $20.85; Pic 3 (2-6-8) $2.65 Late Scratches: Quantum Burst Eighth Race - $15,000, Claiming $5,000, 4 yo’s & up, One And One Sixteenth Miles Hey Boss (J. Loveberry) $9.60 $4.00 $3.40 Little Ditty (P. Lopez) $4.20 $3.20 Ben Dreaming (J. Graham) $4.80 Finish Time: 1:45.65 Daily Double (8-1) $6.60; Exacta (1-4) $30.80; Superfecta (1-4-9-3) $133.62; Trifecta (1-4-9) $73.10; Pic 3 (6-8-1) $18.70; Pic 4 (2-6-4/8-1) $24.75; Pic 5 (2/7/8/11-2-6-4/8-1) $111.25; (7-2/7/8/11-2-6-4/8-1) $121.26 Late Scratches: Daryl’s Bolt, Prichard, Background

LIVING

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

S at u r d ay, J a n u a ry 10, 2026

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Terry Robinson FAITH MATTERS

Start the year by watching your words, showing compassion One of my greatest hopes for the new year and beyond is that the church — the true believers and followers of Jesus Christ — will recommit to showing the grace, love and compassion that are true to his teachings. Sadly, too many believers are increasingly joining the world in clashes over partisan loyalties, ideology, identity and culture. Instead of hiding God’s word in our hearts, many are hiding behind keyboards to spew hatred and division and call names on social media. Instead of being disciples of Christ, we have become devoted to TV and radio news talk shows, social media influencers and algorithms that cater to our anger, biases and prejudices. Instead of seeing others as our neighbors, brothers or sisters, we see them as outsiders, opponents or “the left” or “the right.” Few things are as disheartening as seeing fellow believers joining in the harsh Gregory chorus of the world in the name of their gospel truth. What has happened to the gospel of Christ? Those thoughts profoundly touched my heart after I recently listened to an old sermon by Joel Gregory, one of the greatest preachers of our time. To hear Gregory preach is like hearing the voice of God. The baritone orator is a longtime professor at Baylor University and former pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. He has preached to churches and conferences — large or small, Black or White — for more than 50 years. I first heard him while visiting The Church Without Walls in Houston about five years ago, and I’ve followed him since. At the 1988 Southern Baptist Convention in San Antonio, Gregory preached a powerful message titled “The Castle and the Wall.” In it, Gregory warned those who were defending orthodoxy with hatred instead of love. Gregory opened with a story

Brandi Catoire and her uncle John Canatella are co-owners of Coffee Call.

TRADITION LIVES ON

Baton Rouge’s premiere beignet spot turns 50 this year — and they’re ready to celebrate

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

ary “Beignet” Mikell has been a regular at Baton Rouge’s Coffee Call for over 20 years. “In fact, it’s been dubbed my office,” Mikell said. “People know I’m there and like to come by. I might get a couple of emails written or a letter written.” Mikell is one of the many locals who visit the coffee-and-beignet spot routinely. She’s there at least three times a week ordering a café au lait and sometimes a lunch special. It’s a comfortable place to gather with friends and family, she said. It’s been a community hub for almost 50 years since ﬁrst opening its doors in Baton Rouge in 1976 at the now-demolished Village Square Shopping Center, roughly where the College Drive Walmart is. “The people who come to Coffee Call are nice,” Mikell said. “Nobody’s in a hurry. Everybody comes to have a good time with their friends, with their family, with folks from out of town.” On any given day, the College Drive community institution sees couples hover over a plate of beignet ﬁngers, children swing on the front counter’s brass railing and employees survey powdered sug-

ä See MATTERS, page 3D

Mardi Gras is coming! Send us your ball stories and photos

The Advocate will publish Mardi Gras ball stories from Carnival krewes in and around the Baton Rouge area. Stories and photos should be emailed at least two weeks before the ball to mardigras@theadvocate.com. Stories should include the names of the ball captain, court and the ball’s theme. No costume descriptions will be included. Provide one photograph of the king, queen and ball captain, and photos of the court in groups of three or more. We will do our best but cannot guarantee date of publishing. Photos should be jpg attachments with a resolution of 300 dpi or more. Those in photo(s) should be identiﬁed from left to right. Do not send more than three photos in a single email. Also, please include contact name and phone number.

STAFF PHOTOS By JOHN BALLANCE

Clarence Barber, a 15-year employee of Coffee Call, dusts beignets with powdered sugar. ar-blanketed tables with a rag in hand. Sometimes, somebody will celebrate a birthday and the whole room bursts into song. And there’s Mikell, sitting at one of the ice cream parlor-style tables, laptop open, sipping coffee and wearing a white paint-splattered jacket resembling powdered sugar. It’s her volunteer jacket when

working at Habitat for Humanity. After wearing it enough, staff nicknamed her Beignet. At the heart of the Coffee Call community is founder Vincent Cannatella, who passed away in June, and he remains the most important inﬂuence on the business.

ä See CALL, page 3D

Council for a Better Louisiana names 2026 class Staff report Since 1989, Council for a Better Louisiana’s Leadership Louisiana program has equipped community leaders from all job sectors and parishes with knowledge of the state’s top issues, industries and ofﬁcials. There have been more than 1,600 professionals who have completed the program since its inception.

The goal of Leadership Louisiana is to create more informed and engaged citizens. Past participants include past mayor-president Sharon Weston Broome, senator Bill Cassidy, attorney Mary Terrell Joseph and Monroe mayor Friday Ellis. This year, the 38th cohort for the 2026 class of Leadership Louisiana includes 52 emerging and established leaders from across

the state, representing sectors such as public service, business, healthcare, education, civic engagement and nonproﬁt leadership. Participants will engage in a year-long curriculum, beginning in January and concluding in November. The 2026 class includes: n Thad Angelloz, director of grants and communications, Greater Lafourche Port Commission,

Thibodaux/Cut Off n Lance Armentor, MHA, president and CEO, Opelousas General Health System, Sunset/Opelousas n Abbey Bain, M.Ed., Ph.D., vice chancellor for student engagement, LSUAlexandria, Bunkie/ Alexandria n Elizabeth Bentley-Smith, MS, MA, deputy commissioner for ﬁnance

ä See CLASS, page 2D

2D ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Parents scale back party for New courses in allegedly spoiled daughter Jewish legal history As per usual, we received Dear Miss Manners: Our dear the annual party invitation, friends Hank and Bridget have been married for more and my wife called Bridget than 35 years. Each had been to discuss what potluck items to bring. At that point, married previously and had Bridget informed one child each, and her that there was a they have a child change of plans and together. That child is there would not be now a married adult. a potluck meal, just Here is the rub. dessert. She said Since her two halfher daughter felt siblings are each Judith that since she had more than 10-15 Martin given birth about years older, she has two months ago (her MISS been treated like an MANNERS third child), she only child and given (the daughter) and every opportunity her husband would feel too not afforded to the othoverwhelmed with everyers. This has caused some consternation between her one at the parents’ house to and her siblings, which has enjoy a party. spilled over to any friends My wife and I are dumbher parents associate with founded! Wouldn’t the on a regular basis. daughter and her husband Case in point: For the last be just as overwhelmed 20 years, we have celebrat- with several people ated a holiday with Hank and tending for dessert as they Bridget and their friends at would be for a dinner partheir vacation house with a ty? We don’t get what the barbecue and drinks. Their difference would be! vacation home is about two We have discussed this hours away, so we always situation, and have come to rent a hotel for the night the agreement that driving rather than drive home in two hours and paying for a holiday trafﬁc. hotel are too much for just

having dessert. How should we proceed? Gentle reader: By not going. But please do not explain why. Telling your dear friends that they have spoiled and indulged their only mutual child into being a dictator who eschews the culinary needs of their guests for her own temperamental whims will not be the antidote to their problem that you think it will. Miss Manners will also counter by asking what the real difference to you is between driving two hours for dinner or for dessert — the point is to see your friends, is it not? (You could pack a picnic or get drive-thru on the way.) But ﬁnding a solution is not really the point here. This is about control. And you have just as much ability to exercise yours as your friends’ child does. As long as you do so politely. Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com.

Donating older, unwanted photos Many people who Dear Heloise: If own older homes you are sorting or businesses through older would truly value photos (especially a glimpse of what of buildings) and their properties are tempted to toss Hints from looked like in the them out, consider Heloise past. The same is mailing them to true for old letters the city or county that describe life at the where they were taken.

CLASS

Continued from page 1D and administration, Louisiana Board of Regents, Baton Rouge n Pilar Blanco-Eble, Ed.D, MA, vice chancellor for advancement and executive director of the BRCC Foundation, Baton Rouge Community College, Lafayette/Baton Rouge n Dani Borel, JD, partner, Breazeale Sachse Wilson, Baton Rouge n Brett Brown, senior ﬁnancial analyst, BRF, Shreveport n Eddie Buttross, MBA, Vice President, Commercial Relationship Manager, First Horizon Bank, Lafayette n David Carter, MBA, MA, principal, Emergent Method, Baton Rouge n Justin Centanni, assessor, Lafayette Parish Assessor’s Ofﬁce, Lafayette n Steven Ceulemans, D.Sc., MS, president and CEO, Baton Rouge Health District, Baton Rouge n Kalli Christ, CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Acadiana, Lafayette n Hardeman Cordell, president, Central Oil & Supply, Monroe n Lyla Corkern, MA, owner/ CEO, Finding Solace, Cahoun/West Monroe n Martha Crenshaw,JD, general counsel, Roy O Martin, Alexandria n Shannan Cvitanovic, executive director, Friends of New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans

n Anna deTiege, MBA, MS, director of innovation capital, LA.IO/Louisiana Innovation, a Division of LED, Metairie/ Baton Rouge n Megan Duhon, MBA, director of economic development, One Acadiana, Crowley/Lafayette n Karla Edwards, HR business partner, Sasol, Lake Charles/ Westlake n Bobby Fruge, MBA, owner/ founder, Radix, Lafayette n Jill Galmarini, MPA, director of civic initiatives, Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana, Lake Charles n Kate Griener, Ph.D., senior community affairs advisor, Woodside Energy, Folsom/ Sulphur n Judd Jeansonne, executive director, Volunteer Louisiana — Ofﬁce of the Lt. Governor, Baton Rouge n Viveca Johnson, MS, owner/ clinical administrator, Forward Moving Counseling Services, Baton Rouge n Chris Joseph, Jr., JD, associate, Adams and Reese, LLP, Prairieville/Baton Rouge n Heather Kleinpeter, director of strategic projects, Corporate Mobile Housing, Baton Rouge/Monroe n Deanna Lafont, MS, parish administrator, Lafourche Parish Government, Thibodaux n Ryan LaGrange, MBA, director of workforce development, LEDA, Broussard/ Lafayette n Matthew Lee, JD, member, Bradley Murchison, Shreveport n Christina Lord, MD, regional medical director for the Of-

time of writing. (A quick email to a local museum, library or genealogy website before mailing would be appreciated by these organizations.) — Myra, in Albany, Oregon Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.

fice of Public Health, Louisiana Department of Health, Leesville/Alexandria n Justin Marocco, JD, partner, Jones Walker, Baton Rouge n Pamela Matassa, deputy chief administrative officer and communications director, Ascension Parish Government, Baton Rouge/Gonzales n Samantha McKee, assistant treasurer, Cleco, Pineville n Ethan Melancon, MPA, government affairs director, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Baton Rouge/ New Orleans n Jennifer Messina, vice president of development, Habitat for Humanity St. Tammany West, Mandeville n Kim Montie, executive director, Port of Cameron, Bell City/Cameron n Bailey Morse, JD, chief legal officer, Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency, Mandeville/Covington n Ana Nanney, D.Ed., MA, vice chancellor for enrollment and student development, Fletcher Technical Community College, Destrehan/Schriever n James O’Quinn, II, executive director, Louisiana Troopers Association, Mandeville/Baton Rouge n Ryan Page, CMO, Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana, Houma n Emily Fenet Parker, director of marketing, L’Auberge, Lake Charles n Nga Quinlan, M.Ed., MHA, partner and chief experience officer, Hippo Technologies, Baton Rouge n Paula Shepherd, JD, MBA, executive vice president, Health Plan Operations &

Explore 1,200 years of Jewish legal history through real-life cases in a new six-week course led by Rabbi Peretz Kazen of Chabad at LSU & Greater Baton Rouge. The course begins on Monday, Jan. 26, with inperson classes at 11 a.m. at the Main Library at Goodwood, 7711 Goodwood Blvd., Baton Rouge, and Zoom sessions at 6 p.m. Presented by the Rohr

RELIGION BRIEFS FROM STAFF REPORTS

Jewish Learning Institute, this CLE-accredited course examines how rabbis throughout history addressed complex ethical, legal and societal issues, from medieval times to modern-day dilemmas. The course is open to all, with no prior experience needed. Register at ChabadBR.com/JLI or call (225) 267-7048.

brary, 5131 Greenwell Springs Road in Baton Rouge, will host a free “Parenting Wisely” class series from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Jan. 15, 22 and 29. This three-week series is designed to help parents increase conﬁdence, reduce stress, strengthen relationships and improve child behavior through positive discipline and effective communication strategies. All parents and caregivEden Park Branch Li- ers are welcome to attend.

Parenting class at Eden Park library

TODAY IN HISTORY By The Associated Press Today is Saturday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2026. There are 355 days left in the year. Today in history: On Jan. 10, 1982, San Francisco 49ers receiver Dwight Clark caught a touchdown pass from Joe Montana with 58 seconds left in the NFC Championship Game; one of the most famous plays in NFL history, “The Catch” led the 49ers to a 28-27 victory over the Dallas Cowboys and a berth in Super Bowl XVI, where they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals for their ﬁrst Super Bowl victory. Also on this date: In 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published his inﬂuential pamphlet, “Common Sense,” which argued for American independence from British rule. In 1860, the Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts, collapsed and

caught fire, killing as many as 145 people. In 1863, the London Underground was born when the Metropolitan Railway, the world’s first underground passenger railway, opened to the public with service between Paddington and Farringdon Street. In 1920, the League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect. In 1946, the United Nations convened its first General Assembly session in London with 51 nations represented. The proceedings defined the scope and purpose of the world body. In 1973, at least 40 workers were killed in an explosion and collapse of a large liquefied natural gas tank that was undergoing routine cleaning and maintenance in the New York City borough of Staten Island. In 2013, a series of bomb blasts in Pakistan killed more than 100 people, in-

cluding dozens who died in a sectarian attack in the southwest city of Quetta. Hundreds of others were injured. In 2017, President Barack Obama delivered his farewell address in Chicago, in which the two-term Democrat urged national unity and highlighted achievements of his presidency including the Affordable Care Act. Republican Donald Trump took ofﬁce days later after a 2016 election in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. Today’s birthdays: Olympic decathlon gold medalist Bill Toomey is 87. Singer Rod Stewart is 81. Rock singermusician Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) is 78. Singer Pat Benatar is 73. Hall of Fame racing driver and team owner Bobby Rahal is 73. Actor-comedian Jemaine Clement is 52. Actor Sarah Shahi is 46. Business owner Jared Kushner is 45.

Technology, Louisiana Blue, Slaughter/Baton Rouge n Ronald Simpson, director, community engagement and public affairs, Ochsner Health, Mandeville/Covington n Blake Stanfill, MBA, MF, executive vice president and COO, Finance New Orleans, New Orleans n ShannonWarren,MA, campus president, Unitech Training

Academy — West Monroe Campus, West Monroe n Jesse Watson, Ph.D, M.Ed, MPA, director of community engagement and partnerships, Discovery Schools, Kenner n Liz Webb Hebert, senior director of business development/city council member, Surgery Partners/Lafayette Consolidated Government, Lafayette n Tifferney White, MBA, CEO,

Louisiana Children’s Museum, New Orleans n Matthew Woodard, CPA, CFO, Hunt, Guillot and Associates, Ruston n Tony Zanders, president/ CEO, Nexus Louisiana, founder/CEO, SkillType, Baton Rouge n Kristin Zatta, customer service manager, Entergy, Greenwell Springs/Denham Springs

YEARS

ALL-NEW DRAMAS BEGIN ON LPB SUNDAY SEASON 6 PREMIERE Sunday, January 11 at 7PM

SEASON 6 PREMIERE Sunday, January 11 at 8PM

SERIES PREMIERE Sunday, January 11 at 9PM LPB PASSPORT members can binge all of these programs beginning on premiere night. This extended streaming beneﬁt is our way of saying “thank you” for supporting LPB.

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Places of Worship Directory Places of Worship Baha'i Faith Baton Rouge Baha'i Faith Public Informational Meeting 2nd Sunday of Each month @ 2:30-3:30 pm Goodwood Library Room B Visit bahai.org, bahai.us and bahai-br.us

When you need the news. Wherever you read the news. Subscribe today Scan the QR code

Baptist

Bapt-Southern

Mount Zion First Baptist Church Dr. Rene’ F. Brown, Pastor 356 T. J. Jemison Blvd. Sunday School: 8:30 am Sun. Service: 9:30am Wednesday Bible Study: 12 noon & 7:15 pm Communion Service First Sunday: 6pm Broadcast: 11am 106.5 FM www.mtzionﬁrstbaptist.com

TRUE LIGHT CHURCH Rev.BAPTIST Dennis R. Hebert, Pastor 3836 North Street Phone 383-3912 Sunday School – Sunday Worship – 9:00 10:00A.M. Wed. Prayer Service &A.M. Bible Study – 6:00 P.M. Communion Service 2nd Sunday 10:00 A.M.– CLASSIFIEDS.THEADVOCATE.COM

Methodist

930 North Boulevard (Corner of North & T.J. Jemison) 225-383-4777 Rev Brady Whitton Senior Pastor www.ﬁrstmethodist.org

Presbyterian

Quakers

UNIVERSITY PRESBYTERIAN Dalrymple @ State St www.upcbr.org Church School 9:30 Worship 11:00 In person and on Facebook

B.R. FRIENDS MEETING Worship 11:30 AM SUNDAYS Information 225-665-3560

Facebook.com/universitypresbyterian

Sunday Worship Sanctuary 8:30 AM & 11:00 AM America Street - 9:45 AM First Baptist Church Baton Rouge 529 Convention Street Sunday School 9:15 am Sunday Worship 10:45 am. Broadcast live stream of Sunday Worship on Youtube and Facebook. Wednesday Prayer meeting and Bible Study 5:30 pm www.fbcbr.com

Sunday School (for all ages) - 9:40 AM Services Broadcast Sunday 9:30 AM WBXH (Cox Channel 16, Digital Channel 39, Dish TV Ch. 39) 10:30 AM WAFB Channel 9 Radio Broadcast 5:30 AM- WYNK 101.5 FM 8:00 AM- THE RIVER 96.1 FM

– SINCE I842 –

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ 3D

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CALL

po-boys with house-made bread, hearty chili soup and chicken and sausage gumbo.

Continued from page 1D

Longtime staff Vincent Cannatella was known for his acts of community support, whether by feeding hungry families after Hurricane Katrina or hiring formerly incarcerated individuals. Those who work there still speak to the inﬂuence his spirit has on the business.

Michelle Miles, 61, is responsible for managing the soups and sandwiches. She has worked there for 45 years, since she was 17 years old in 1982. Her friends worked at Coffee Call at the time, and when she came in for a job interview, she was hired on the spot and started working that same day. Down memory lane She’s been there ever since. Miles does a little bit of everyVincent Cannatella’s wife, Marie Cannatella, is the woman who thing in the business and is halfwas there for it all. She describes jokingly described as the staff Coffee Call as a place for tradition, therapist and recognizes customjust like the slogan her husband ers’ names and faces even if they crafted: Start a tradition. haven’t visited in decades. Tradition manifests as babies’ It’s the family atmosphere that’s first beignets, wedding celebramade her stay, whether that’s custions, club meetings and birthdays. tomers celebrating birthdays or “(Vincent Cannatella) wouldn’t children eating their first beignet. have told you this,” she said. “UnThese are memories that they come and share at Coffee Call, she said. derneath, he always helped people. “I’m a family person, so I enjoy We don’t even know who he helped. the family atmosphere, the memoIt was amazing.” Debbie Cannatella, Vincent and ries I get the chance to see,” Miles STAFF PHOTOS By JOHN BALLANCE Marie Cannatella’s daughter, cursaid. Her favorite memories from the rently lives in Kentucky, but she Michelle Miles, an employee of Coffee Call for over 44 years, prepares food for the lunch crowd. Coffee Call past 45 years all had one thing in loves her visits back home. She sells soups, salads and po-boys. common: Vincent Cannatella and describes Coffee Call as her home how he ran the place. Today, she base. It’s where she saw her chilJohn Cannatella was just 6 years tables for the first time to make a enjoys working for the new genold when Coffee Call opened. He quick buck (literally, a buck) so she dren grow up. “Watching them learn how to ma- started helping out at 12, bussing could watch dollar movies at the eration of Cannatellas. theater. The 1989-released “Honey, “They help you in any kind of neuver a beignet for the first time. tables for pocket money. The business provided many I Shrunk the Kids” was the poster way,” Miles said. “They have comThat’s my favorite,” Debbie Canfirst jobs for the family. Hourly that caught her eye. natella said. passion, patience.” John Cannatella and Catoire These days, John Cannatella, the wages paid for first cars and other With a laugh, Catoire said some Cannatellas’ son, works with Bran- milestones, like John Cannatella’s come in just about every day. They days are full of more compassion spend a lot of time in the coffee and patience than others, but the di Catoire, Debbie Cannatella’s first bass guitar when he was 16. Catoire remembers cleaning room roasting beans, managing time the three have spent together daughter, to manage the business. staff and catching up with regulars. Beignets are fried at Coffee Call in indicates that, by blood or not, they Debbie Cannatella said she’s Baton Rouge. share a family bond. proud that her daughter co-runs the place, adding that her brother unable to ship the mix for months. Mark the calendar has the same energy her dad had. So, the Cannatellas took matters On May 20, Coffee Call is planShe said that if he doesn’t see an into their own hands. ning an all-day 50th birthday celelderly customer for a while, he “We had to literally go into my ebration. Once details are fleshed makes some calls to check in on dad’s safe, where there was a let- out, they’ll be posted on the Coffee them, just like their dad used to do. ter that he sent himself back in the Call Facebook page. “My brother, John, has definitely ’80s or ’70s,” John said. “It was a Until then, John Cannatella, inherited that spirit that my dad handwritten letter of the recipe Brandi Catoire and the rest of the had,” Debbie said. “He’s certainly so he could prove that it was his staff continue to work side by side continuing on that legacy.” behind the counter, roasting beans, recipe.” They grabbed the recipe from managing staff and greeting reguSecret recipe the safe, located the ingredients lars by name. Some mornings are Coffee Call’s beignet recipe has (one of which was a “secret ingre- louder than others. Some days renever changed since Vincent Can- dient”) and mixed it themselves quire more patience. The doors still open early. Pownatella developed it when the busi- — and that’s how Coffee Call surness opened. The recipe’s continu- vived the aftermath of Katrina. dered sugar still drifts across the In addition to serving beignets tables. And Coffee Call keeps doity was most vulnerable after Hurricane Katrina hit, and the New and coffee, the menu also in- ing what it has done for nearly 50 Coffee Call gets their coffee beans from South America and roasts them Orleans facility that pre-mixed cludes weekday lunch specials years — offering a place where the beignet dry mix was flooded, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., including people come back, again and again. in house to get the freshest coffee.

MATTERS

Continued from page 1D about Castlereagh, a stunning Irish estate that fell into disrepair. The castle’s sole surviving heir, Lord Londonderry, ordered an agent to build a protective 6-foot stone wall around it to stop the local peasants from scavenging the stones. A few years later, Lord Londonderry returned to ﬁnd the wall standing strong but no castle. The agent told Lord Londonderry that the stones for the wall were taken from the castle. As the parable spoke to the convention dealing with internal strife back then, it also speaks to the body of believers and our nation in 2026. In trying to defend our truth, we can lose our wit-

ness and tear down the church. “There have been, for years, many of us who felt that a wall of orthodoxy had to be built around the Southern Baptist Convention castle,” Gregory said. “We watched with concern lest the predatory peasants strip our castle of its stone with a theological liberalism, so we built a wall around the castle.” It’s possible to build the wall and have a castle “if we turn from personal animosity and imitate the kindness and forgiveness of God,” Gregory stressed. He admits that churches can survive disagreement but not sustained hostility. Neither can our nation. Today, in our zeal to defend our rights or politics, we often forget about love, grace, compassion and the

a prohibition and an admonition. “The prohibition in the authorized version is very clear: let no, no, no corrupt communication come out of your mouth,” he said. “The admonition is to speak only those things that build up and edify and minister grace. … Our very words are supposed to be vehicles for the grace of Almighty God. They are supposed to be adorned with grace.” What a word for all of us to start the year. Watch our words and speech. Watch our tone. Be kind. Forgive. Have some compassion. And, most importantly, imitate God. “To imitate God is to be kind,” Gregory said. “We must return to kindness to one another, along with that tenderheartedness, a sweetness that desires not

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word of God. A takeaway from Gregory’s message and what should be our goal, especially as believers, comes from his focus scripture in Ephesians 4:29-32: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may beneﬁt those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Building a wall and keeping a castle begins with consecrating our conversation, he said, noting that Ephesians 4:29 contains both

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Each office independently owned and operated.

Commercial or Residential Opportunity in Mid-City

For more information, gregoryministries.org. Contact Terry Robinson at terryrobinson622@gmail. com.

PR AIR IEVILLE

OAKLAND CROSSING SUBDIVISION

38182 EMERY LANE • $619,900

• 4 Years Young • 4 Beds / 3 Full Baths 2,354 SqFt • Separate Office Space • Chef’s Kitchen w/ Walk in Pantry • Fully Equipped Outdoor Kitchen • Whole House Generator • Gutters • Completely Fenced Yard • Inside & Outside Refrigerators To Remain

18658 OAKLAND CROSSING BLVD OPEN SUNDAY 1 - 3

CUSTOM BUILT BY RABALAIS HOMES • $670,000

• 3 Bed / 2.5 Bath • Open Floor Plan • Features An Office & Chefs Kitchen

Check out this 4-bedroom, 3-bath home in a great neighborhood! Open floor plan, large rooms, plenty of closet space, no carpet, and a fenced backyard. No flood insurance required. Call me to schedule your showing! $315,000

DEBBIE ANDERSON, REALTOR CRS, ABR

to hurt.” In 2026, it’s high time that believers imitate God in all that we say and do — in person and online. We can only hope.

Dianne 225.806.8979 Adams Find us on Instagram

COLLEGE TOWN

Charisse Hanchey REALTOR®,CRS, ABR

225.315.0512

www.charissehanchey.com

5078 Capital Heights Avenue, Baton Rouge

Great location in Mid-City! This property consists of two 3-bedroom homes that were professionally renovated and joined for commercial use. Currently arranged for 3 separate businesses but could also be used as a residence or rental property. Call for more details! $439,866

Lisa Busceme, REALTOR

David Palmer, ASSOCIATE BROKER

225-931-4112

225-317-3230

Coldwell Banker ONE

lisab@coldwellbankerone.com

Coldwell Banker Commercial ONE dpalmer@coldwellbankerone.com

225-615-7755

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Each office independently owned and operated Licensed REALTORs in the State of Louisiana

114 LSU AVENUE UPDATED

4 Bedrooms - 3 Bathrooms - 3,401 Living Sq. Ft.

List Price - $600,000.00

Baarbara Anne Eaton Eaton, CRS, CRS GRI GRI, SRS Asssociate Broker • 225-733-6874

Thank you to all of my clients, friends, and family for trusting me with your real estate needs. I love what I do, and I would be honored to help you. If you are looking to buy or sell, please call me!

4D ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

FrAnK And erneSt

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zodIAC CAPRICoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Listen carefully. Someone will exaggerate or inflate information or the cost of something to throw you off guard. Be the one to take control and protect your reputation, assets and possessions. AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Keep a close watch. Focus on domestic improvements and making sure you are on the same page as those you live with or are in proximity to before you move forward with your plans. PIsCEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Stay away from organizations determined to part you from your money, and avoid entertainment that has hidden costs. Protect your interests, meaningful relationships and long-term plans. ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Neglecting your domestic duties will cause friction. Stay focused on what's necessary and refuse to let anyone goad you into committing to something you cannot deliver. tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Explore the possibilities. Get in touch with your inner self and consider what you want to pursue. Common sense is necessary if you intend to come out on top. GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Put some thought into how you want to use your attributes, skills and experience. Focus your energy on motivating others to trust and believe in you. CAnCER (June 21-July 22) Address emotional issues before someone backs you into a corner. You'll have more leverage

if you are straightforward and relay your concerns to those influenced by your choices. LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Live up to your personal commitments and abide by rules and regulations. You'll be subject to scammers and people trying to take advantage of you and your generosity. VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Look for new ways to use your skills. Social events will turn into a platform to test your plans. Don't overspend on entertainment or let excess and indulgence tempt you. LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Take a breather; relax, reflect and give your thoughts a chance to settle. Making the wrong choice can be costly. Use common sense and take it easy until you feel comfortable. sCoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Draw on your experience to get you moving in the right direction. You have plenty to gain if you take the initiative, start talks and organize plans to bring about positive change. sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Be aware of what's happening at home. Question expenses, do your homework and hire only those who offer good references. Your best alternative is to rely on yourself to do what you can. The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

For better or For WorSe WonderWord

peAnUtS

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY CeLebrItY CIpher Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

toDAy's CLuE: o EQuALs y

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ 5D

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CurTiS

Hi and LoiS

Sudoku InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday. Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BaBY BLueS

BLondie

THe wiZard oF id

nea CroSSwordS

La TimeS CroSSword

6D ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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B.C.

Bridge By PHILLIP ALDER In yesterday’s deal, declarer had to take three club finesses with Q-9-3 opposite A-J-10-2. This required running the nine, the lower “high” card, first, so that he could repeat the finesse two more times without needing an extra entry. I thought that was standard technique — until I saw this deal. South gets to five clubs. West leads the spade king. How should South approach the play? North might have bid one no-trump, but two clubs was preferable. If South had interest in three no-trump, he could have cue-bid in spades. Also, if South had something like queen-doubleton of spades, he ought to have been the notrump declarer, not North. South has two losers in the black suits. So he must find East with both red-suit kings, unlikely as that might seem. And being in the dummy for the last time, declarer has to take three finesses, two in diamonds and one in hearts. How? If South runs the diamond nine, what does he do next? If he leads dummy’s diamond 10, he will be stuck in his hand with the jack. And if he plays the queen, East can cover with the king to put South into his hand. Instead, declarer must start with dummy’s diamond queen. If East covers, South wins, plays a diamond to dummy’s

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

nine, and takes the heart finesse. Or, if East plays low, South unblocks his jack, then continues with the diamond nine. He can take all three finesses and make his contract. Bridge retains its appeal primarily because you can rarely use the words “always” and “never.” © 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 — soPHoMoRIC: sof-MOR-ik: Immature.

Bizarro

marmaduKe

Average mark 27 words Time limit 55 minutes Can you find 47 or more words in SOPHOMORIC? yEstERDAy’s WoRD — tRAnsIt taint tarn tart tint titan train trait trans tsar rain rani

rant riant anti artist astir saint sari sarin satin sitar snit

stain stair star start stat statin stint stir strain strait stria

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “Chasten your son while there is hope, and let not your soul spare for his crying.” Proverbs 19:18

Consistent loving discipline is what every child needs. — G.E. Dean

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ 7D

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classifieds.theadvocate.com Search Search& &Place PlaceAds AdsOnline Onlineatatclassifieds.theadvocate.com classifieds.theadvocate.com* Call * Call -Friday Us Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM at 225-383-0111 8AM-5PM at 225-383-0111

Announcements Anyone knowing the whereabouts of any succession representative, known or unknown heirs of Mary Singleton, please contact Kendra L. Harris, Attorney, (225) 200-8999. 173481-1/10-11-12-3t $97.00 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Clinton W. Broussard, please contact Attorney Jason May at (225) 955-7255. 173333-1/10-11-12-3t $85.00 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Jamesean Dunbar please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 9060050. 173093-Jan 9-11, 3t $85 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of John W Augustus please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 9060050. 173084-Jan 9-11, 3t $85 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Jude Warren Moran please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 173089-Jan 9-11, 3t $85

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Marcus Anderson please contact attorney Larry McAlpine at 225-3171956. 173004-Jan 8-10, 3t $85 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of of Linda Brooks and Jerry Brooks Jr please contact Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 173098-Jan 9-11, 3t $85 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Reginald Gatlin, Kenneth Lemar Gatlin, Kimla Gatlin, Jason Lee and Robin Hayes please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 173100-Jan 9-11, 3t $97 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of the Succession of Alex Banks Sr and Bessie Banks please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 9060050. 173088-Jan 9-11, 3t $97 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Tony's Rental Properties LLC please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 173095-Jan 9-11, 3t $85 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Wilson Morgan Morris please call attorney Larry McAlpine at 225-3171956 173081-1/8-9-10-3t $85.00 ICE AND CHILL 2 LLC dba Ice and Chill is applying to the Ofﬁce of Alcohol and Tobacco Control of the state of Louisiana for a permit to sell beverages of high and low alcohol content at retail in parish of East Baton Rouge at the following address 12891 Coursey Blvd Baton Rouge, LA 70816

beverages of low alcohol content at retail in the Parish of East Baton Rouge at the following address: 3275 Highland Road, Baton Rouge LA 70802 Ra Shop 3 LLC Ra Shop Members: Gary L Bettencourtt III 173560-1/10-1t $106.38

Employment ADMINISTRATIVE Clerk of City Court/ Judicial Administrator The City-Parish Government has an opening for Clerk of City Court/Judicial Administrator. This is a full time, un‐ classified professional court adminis‐ trative, supervisory and record keeping / management position in the Baton Rouge City Court. The full job descrip‐ tion can be found at: https://city.brla.gov/dept/hr/occdesc. asp?GetTitle=7930 Desirable Qualifications: Juris Doctorate Degree and at least six years of progressively responsible ex‐ perience in an administrative/profes‐ sional capacity; or an advanced degree and ten years of progressively respon‐ sible court administration experience, including seven years of supervisory experience in a court system. A certi‐ fied court management certificate may be substituted in lieu of minimum ex‐ perience and training. Louisiana Li‐ censed Attorney preferred.

PUBLIC NOTICE --- 1LAKE BISTINEAU AND WOODARDVILLE FIELDS 26-29 thru 26-31 LEGAL NOTICE STATE OF LOUISIANA, DE‐ PARTMENT OF CONSER‐ VATION AND ENERGY, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA. In accordance with the laws of the State of Louisiana, and with par‐ ticular reference to the provisions of Title 30 of Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, a public hearing will be held in the Hearing Room, 1st Floor, LaSalle Building, 617 North 3rd Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at 9:00 a.m. on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2026, upon the application of AETHON ENERGY OPER‐ ATING LLC. At such hearing the De‐ partment of Conserva‐ tion and Energy will con‐ sider evidence relative to the issuance of Orders pertaining to the follow‐ ing matters relating to the Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, in the Lake Bistineau and Woodard‐ ville Fields, Bienville Parish, Louisiana. 1. To authorize Applicant to drill, designate and utilize four cross unit horizontal wells to serve as alternate unit wells for HA RA SUXX, HA RA SUYY and HA RA SUKK, at the locations and in the general manner shown on the plat submitted with the application, or at any other legal loca‐ tions within such units, and to approve excep‐ tions to the spacing pro‐ visions of the Depart‐ ment of Conservation and Energy Order No. 287-F, effective December 16, 2008, (Lake Bistineau Field) and Order No. 990D, effective July 15, 2008 (Woodardville Field), as to the common bound‐ aries of the units which will be served by the cross unit horizontal wells, provided that said cross unit horizontal wells will be perforated no closer than 330’ from any unit boundary, other than the common bound‐ aries between the af‐ fected units, except as requested in Paragraph 2 below. 2. In addition to the re‐ quest for exceptional lo‐ cations as to the com‐ mon boundaries between the affected units, the applicant requests an ex‐ ception to the well spac‐ ing provisions in Order Nos. 287-F and 990-D to allow the ﬁrst and last perforation point or take point in the proposed cross unit horizontal wells to be located no closer than 100’ from the north and south unit lines and no closer than 200’ to any well on a i i i

MISC FOR SALE ANTIQUES GALORE IN STORAGE UNIT!! MUST SEE TO APPRECIATE!! MAKE OFFER! $35 UP 225-272-6026 MISC FOR SALE GOLD SEQUINED DRESS SIZE 12 AND GOLD SHOES SIZE 7 TO 8 $40.00 225272-6026

SHIPPING CONTAINER Shipping container for sale 45’x102” tall excellent condition $4500.00 call (225) 316-4148 ask for David

Baton Rouge Real Estate For Sale AREA 2 5723 Hartford Ave. Glen Oaks Area Off Greenwell St., Comp. Updated! 3BR 1.5BA, w/New C H/A New Light Fixtures & Windows Freshly Painted Int/Ext, & Ceramic FLR throughout Call Charles for your showing @ 225-266-4078 Roy Carter Realty 225-357-6436 AREA 4

Application Information: Applications accepted through 5:00 p.m. January 2 - 31, 2026. Submit cover letter with resume showing education and judicial / court administration ex‐ perience, including 3 references to:

AUCTIONS PUBLIC AUCTION Truist Bank & Regional Acceptance Thursday, January 29, 2025 at 9:00 AM

Dept of Human Resources Recruiting Division 1755 Florida Street Baton Rouge, LA 70802 Office: (225) 389-3132 Fax: (225) 389-4962

Offer includes: 2021 BMW 4 SERIES Vin WBA73AP09MCF13463

16849 Monitor Avenue Newly Updated! A Must See! Lg 4BR/2.5BA w/New Vanity Counter Top Cent H/A, Painted Int & Ext, Ceramic FL Thru out, Den w/FP Kit Cab w/New Cook Top & DW, New Light Fix & Doors Rear Dbl Carport & Lg Fenced b.y. Call Charles for your showing @ 225-266-4078 Roy Carter Realty, 225-357-6436

AREA 7 57728 Grove Rd, 3BR 2BA, 2200sqft, Sml Apt in back, Upgrades, $200k+ (pending apprais) (225) 776-0404

America’s Auto Auction Baton Rouge 3960 Blount Road, Baton Rouge, LA, 70807 For more sale registration, sale attendance, or other sale related information, please contact

On your phone. On the go.

Scan the QR code Cancel anytime

DOGS AKC Golden Retriever's, S&W, Parents on site. (601) 303-3627

Public Notices Conservation y competitive unit com‐ pleted in, drilling to, or for which a permit has been granted to drill to the Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A. 3. To find that the pro‐ posed horizontal wells are necessary to effi‐ ciently and economically drain a portion of the Haynesville Zone under‐ lying the units on which it is proposed to be drilled which cannot be efficiently and economi‐ cally drained by any ex‐ isting well on such units, will prevent waste, avoid the drilling of unneces‐ sary wells, protect cor‐ relative rights and pro‐ mote the full and effi‐ cient development of the natural resources of this state. 4. To provide that if the horizontal portion of a well is cased and ce‐ mented back above the top of the Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, the distance to any unit boundary and offset well(s) will be calculated based on the distance to the nearest perforation in the well and not on the penetration point or ter‐ minus of the well in the Haynesville Zone, Reser‐ voir A. 5. To provide that pro‐ duction from the pro‐ posed wells shall be sep‐ arated and metered indi‐ vidually and that this in‐ formation shall be re‐ ported in the manner prescribed by the De‐ partment of Conserva‐ tion and Energy. 6. To provide that the unit allowables for the units to be served by the pro‐ posed wells may be pro‐ duced from the unit well, from any alternate unit well, or from any combi‐ nation of such wells serving the unit, at the discretion of the opera‐ tor. 7. To provide that pro‐ duction from a cross unit horizontal well shall be allocated to each unit penetrated by the well in the same proportion as the perforated length of the lateral in each such unit bears to the total length of the perforated lateral as determined by an “as drilled” survey performed after the well has been drilled and completed. 8. Except insofar as set forth above, to confirm and continue in full force and effect the provisions of Order No. 287-F, effec‐ tive December 16, 2008, as amended and supple‐ mented by the 287-F Se‐ ries of Orders, and Order No. 990-D, effective July 15, 2008, as amended and supplemented by the 990-D Series of Orders, units created the thereby, and of all applic‐ able Statewide Orders. 9. To consider such other matters as may be perti‐ nent. The Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, in the Lake Bistineau Field, was de‐ fined in Order No. 287-F, effective December 16, 2008. The Haynesville Zone, i i h

Public Notices Conservation y Reservoir A, in the Woodardville Field, was deﬁned in Order No. 990D, effective July 15, 2008. A plat is available for in‐ spection in the Depart‐ ment of Conservation and Energy in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, Louisiana. http://dnr.louisiana.gov/ conshearings All parties having inter‐ est therein shall take no‐ tice thereof. BY ORDER OF: DEPARTMENT OF CON‐ SERVATION AND ENERGY Baton Rouge, 1/7/26;1/10/26 S lck

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CONTACT THE DEPARTMENT OF CON‐ SERVATION AND ENERGY AT P.O. BOX 94275, BATON ROUGE, LA 70804-9275 IN WRITING WITHIN TEN (10) WORKING DAYS OF THE HEARING DATE. 173374 Jan. 10, 1t $92.79 PUBLIC NOTICE ---1SAN MIGUEL CREEK AND GROGAN FIELDS 26-32 thru 26-34 LEGAL NOTICE STATE OF LOUISIANA, DE‐ PARTMENT OF CONSER‐ VATION AND ENERGY, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA. In accordance with the laws of the State of Louisiana, and with par‐ ticular reference to the provisions of Title 30 of Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, a public hearing will be held in the Hearing Room, 1st Floor, LaSalle Building, 617 North 3rd Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at 9:00 a.m. on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2026, upon the application of APEX NATURAL GAS, LLC. At such hearing the De‐ partment of Conserva‐ tion and Energy will con‐ sider evidence relative to the issuance of Orders pertaining to the follow‐ ing matters relating to the Jurassic Zone, Reser‐ voir A and Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, in the San Miguel Creek and Grogan Fields, Sabine Parish, Louisiana. 1. To recognize and con‐ ﬁrm the authority of Ap‐ plicant to utilize and des‐ ignate its CDM 4&16-9-11 HC No. 1 Well (SN 255121) as a cross unit horizontal substitute unit well for JUR RA SUL and HA RA SUA and as a cross unit horizontal unit well for JUR RA SUA, at the asdrilled location shown on the plat submitted with the application, in excep‐ tion to the spacing provi‐ sions of the 1165-H, 1165K, and 955-G Series of De‐ partment of Conserva‐ tion and Energy Orders, which was previously ap‐ proved to be perforated i hi f h

p p within 330’ of the com‐ mon unit boundaries be‐ tween said units by Order Nos. 955-G-20, 1165-K-49 and 1165-H-3, all effective August 5, 2025. 2. To the extent neces‐ sary and appropriate, to approve the respective as-drilled location of said cross unit horizontal well as exceptional to the field spacing rules for the Jurassic Zone, Reser‐ voir A and Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, in ac‐ cordance with LAC 43:XIX.4307, et seq. 3. To find that the afore‐ mentioned as-drilled hor‐ izontal well for JUR RA SUL, JUR RA SUA and HA RA SUA is necessary to efficiently and economi‐ cally drain a portion of the Jurassic Zone, Reser‐ voir A and Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, under‐ lying said units, which will prevent waste and cannot be efficiently and economically drained by any existing well within such units. 4. To confirm and con‐ tinue in force and effect, except to the extent con‐ trary herewith, the perti‐ nent provisions of Order No. 1165-H, effective Jan‐ uary 23, 2008, as amended and supple‐ mented by the 1165-H Se‐ ries of Orders, Order No. 1165-K, effective October 28, 2008, as amended and supplemented by the 1165-K Series of Orders, and Order No. 955-G, ef‐ fective January 23, 2008, as amended and supple‐ mented by the 955-G Se‐ ries of Orders, and all ap‐ plicable Statewide Or‐ ders. 5. To consider such other matters as may be perti‐ nent. The Jurassic Zone, Reser‐ voir A, in the Grogan Field, was defined in Order No. 955-G, effective January 23, 2008, the Jurassic Zone, Reservoir A, in the San Miguel Creek Field, was defined in Order No. 1165-H, ef‐ fective January 23, 2008. The Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, in the San Miguel Creek Field, was defined in Order No. 1165-K, effective October 28, 2008. A plat is available for in‐ spection in the Depart‐ ment of Conservation and Energy in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, Louisiana. http://dnr.louisiana.gov/ conshearings All parties having inter‐ est therein shall take no‐ tice thereof. BY ORDER OF: DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND ENERGY Baton Rouge, 1/7/26;1/10/26 S lck

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CONTACT THE DEPARTMENT OF CON‐ SERVATION AND ENERGY AT P.O. BOX 94275, BATON

RUN DATE

Public Notices Conservation

ROUGE, LA 70804-9275 IN WRITING WITHIN TEN (10) WORKING DAYS OF THE HEARING DATE. 173360 Jan. 10, 1t $74.21

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE ---2BETHANY-LONGSTREET FIELD 26-35 thru 26-37 LEGAL NOTICE STATE OF LOUISIANA, DE‐ PARTMENT OF CONSER‐ VATION AND ENERGY, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA. In accordance with the laws of the State of Louisiana, and with par‐ ticular reference to the provisions of Title 30 of Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, a public hearing will be held in the Hearing Room, 1st Floor, LaSalle Building, 617 North 3rd Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at 9:00 a.m. on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2026, upon the application of EX‐ PAND OPERATING, LLC. At such hearing the De‐ partment of Conserva‐ tion and Energy will con‐ sider evidence relative to the issuance of Orders pertaining to the follow‐ ing matters relating to the Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, in the Bethany-Longstreet Field, Caddo Parish, Louisiana. 1. To permit said appli‐ cant to drill, designate and utilize two cross unit horizontal wells as alter‐ nate unit wells for HA RA SU87, HA RA SU97, and HA RA SU98, at the loca‐ tions and in the general manner shown on the plat submitted with the application and made a part hereof, in exception to the spacing provisions of the 289-R Series of the Department of Conserva‐ tion and Energy Orders. 2. To ﬁnd that the pro‐ posed alternate unit wells are necessary to efﬁciently and economi‐ cally drain a portion of the Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, underlying HA RA SU87, HA RA SU97, and HA RA SU98, which cannot be so drained by any existing well within such units, including por‐ tions of the participating units that are contained within 100’ of either side of the common unit boundaries between such units. 3. To provide that with re‐ spect to horizontal wells drilled to the Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A, within or to serve HA RA SU87, HA RA SU97, and HA RA SU98, where the horizon‐ tal portion of the well is cased and cemented back above the top of the Haynesville Zone, Reser‐ voir A, the distance to any unit boundary and any offset well(s) should b l l d b d

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Tuesday, Jan. 20........Thursday, Jan. 15 - 2pm Wednesday, Jan. 21...Thursday, Jan. 15 - 2pm

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Monday – Friday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

225-383-0111 • 504-636-7435 337-234-0174

OPEN HOUSE EACH OFFICE IS INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED AGENT IS LICENSED IN THE STATE OF LOUISIANA

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

DOGS CKC Reg. Teddy Roosevelt Terrier Pup‐ pies, $200 call (225)-251-2380

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In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., The Advocate’s ClassifiedAdvertising Departmentwill be closed on Monday, January 19th.

AREA 4

DOGS Belgian Malinois - Dogs hail from work‐ ing lines, OFA certified for hips and el‐ bows, solid, black and sable pups ready to go. Parents on premises. Call 504-220-2980. $1800

Public Notices Conservation

DOMESTIC TRUCKS 2018 Ford F150 XLT For Sale. Everything works $9999! 225-445-2981

MOBILE HOME 1, 2 & 3 BR mobile homes, $675 & up 6061 Plank Rd. CALL 225-978-4653

AREA 3 3Br 2Ba cnt a/h, w/d conn $1050 2Br 1Ba utils pd $950. + Dep 225-810-0775

Pets / Pet Services Directory DOGS 1 Male & 1 Female Yorkie. De-wormed. Ready to go! 225-394-0367

Automotive

FORD F900 Ford F900, 1990, 7.8 L, auto trans, runs great, $4K (225) 225-316-4148 David

AREA 4 NO CREDIT CHECK/LEASE! Fully furnished apartments ALL BILLS PAID including premium cable & WIFI. Pet Friendly. Stay where you're appreciated! Call 225-434-4161

FURNITURE Lexington Bedroom Set, Must Sell, Look & Make Offer 225-369-1675

CATS RAGAMUFFIN & RAGDOLL KITTENS www.CatsByFrancy.com/kittens $700up! Reg. Shots & Guaranty 337-230-3150

AREA 5 655 North St. Subsidized eff Apts cpabr.org 225-383-5551. TDD/TTY /711RELAY

FREE RENT 225-351-7449

America’s Auto Auction Baton Rouge 225-778-3737

Subscribe today

AREA 5 1BR $550, 2BR $650 Tigerland. $500 Deposit. 225-475-1737

Baton Rouge Rental

Sale open to the public on listed vehicle(s) only

GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS

ROOMS FOR RENT Furnished Rooms. $125/wk. $500/mo. 225-933-7560

MISC FOR SALE SMALL SOLID BLACK THROW PILLOWS MANY AVAILABLE! EACH $5 225-752-7273

GENERAL HELP The Diocese of B.R. Child Nutrition Pro‐ gram is seeking FT school Cafeteria Mgrs., Cooks, & Porters. HS Diploma or Equiv. and BG Check req. Apply at www.cnpbr.org/employment

Merchandise

AREA 5 1 & 2 BR Apts, W/D, C A/H, Starting at $850/mo Deps vary 225-315-0930

MISC FOR SALE NAME BRAND WOMENS SHOES “EILEEN FISHER” AND MORE TO SEE!!! $20 A PAIR 225-272-6026

PLACE YOUR PET SERVICES INFORMATION IN THE PET SERVICES DIRECTORY TODAY! • IT IS FAST AND EASY! • CALL 225-383-0111

Ra Shop 3 LLC d/b/a Ra Shop LLC is applying to the Ofﬁce of Alcohol & Tobacco Control of the State of Louisiana for a permit to sell

Public Notices Conservation

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. Please click “apply” to submit your resume for immediate consideration or email re‐ sume to: resume68@gmail.com

CAMPING GEAR Camp Tent 9x9 Dome, Canopy, Slp Bag, 2 Lant, 2 Burner Stv, 48qt Ice Chest & All Access. Retail for $375 selling for $275 225-610-8411 after 2:00pm

PETS • SUPPLIES • SERVICES • OBITUARIES • LOST & FOUND

If anyone has knowledge of the whereabouts of Norma Jean Henderson Williams (possible last known address(s): 9174 Sharon Hills St, Baton Rouge, LA 70811) who is afﬁliated with Zerling Williams, then please contact Attorney Raven Jamerson via email at cavalierlawofﬁce@gmail.com or via telephone at (225) 757-5483. 173504-JN 10-12, 3T $157

Public Notices

Working hours are Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., however, some flexi‐ bility is possible. The company offers a comfortable work environment with a competitive compensation and bene‐ fits package, commensurate with ex‐ perience.

Salary: $73,836 - $123,392 Excellent Benefits Package

Ice and Chill 2 LLC dba: Ice and Chill Members: Majd Awad 173323-Jan 10, 1t $112.64

OFFICE CLERICAL Law firm of less than 20 attorneys seeks an in-house legal Billing Clerk for full time employment in either its Baton Rouge (downtown) or Alexandria of‐ fice. This person will be responsible for billing and collections including duties of data entry in billing software, inter‐ facing with multiple types of billing portals, generating invoices through various means (i.e., U.S.mail, email, and uploading online), running reports in‐ cluding accounts receivable and taking appropriate steps to secure follow-up on overdue invoices.

COMMUNITY 1 BEECHWOOD 2365 DESOTO DRIVE, BATON ROUGE, LA 70807

OPENSUNDAY TODAY OPEN 11:00AM - 1:00PM 11:00AM-1:00PM

Affordable 3-bed/1-bath brick PRICED TO SELL! Move-InReady home sits on a quiet culde-sac. Features include a newer roof, tile floors throughout, no carpet, appliances included, large fenced backyard, Flood Zone X, and convenient access to I-110, shopping, and parks.

$109,000

KAREN EUBANKSSANDERS 225-286-9003 FATHOM REALTY LA 888-455-6040

NEWS 24/7 ON

Legal Notices

y be calculated based on the distance to the near‐ est perforation in the well and not based on the penetration point or terminus, and that the perforated length of lat‐ eral in the proposed cross unit horizontal wells should be located in accordance with the spacing provisions of Statewide Order No. 29-S. 4. To permit the unit op‐ erator of HA RA SU87, HA RA SU97, and HA RA SU98 to produce the unit al‐ lowable for each of the units from the respective unit wells, any alternate unit well, or from any combination thereof, at its discretion. 5. To find that unit pro‐ duction from the pro‐ posed cross unit horizon‐ tal wells should be allo‐ cated to each of the units from which they produce in the same pro‐ portion as the perforated length of the lateral in each such unit bears to the total length of the perforated lateral as de‐ termined by an “as drilled” survey per‐ formed after such alter‐ nate unit wells are drilled and completed, and that unit production should continue to be shared on a surface acreage basis. 6. To continue in full force and effect, except to the extent contrary herewith, the pertinent provisions of Order No. 289-R, effective April 1, 2008, as amended and supplemented by the 289-R Series of Orders, Statewide Order No. 29-S, and all other applicable Statewide Orders. 7. To consider such other matters as may be perti‐ nent. The Haynesville Zone, Reservoir A was origi‐ nally defined in Order No. 289-R, effective April 1, 2008, and was redefined in Order No. 289-R-3, ef‐ fective June 25, 2008. A plat is available for in‐ spection in the Depart‐ ment of Conservation and Energy in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, Louisiana. http://dnr.louisiana.gov/ conshearings All parties having inter‐ est therein shall take no‐ tice thereof. BY ORDER OF: DEPARTMENT OF CON‐ SERVATION AND ENERGY Baton Rouge, 1/7/26;1/10/26 S lck

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Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE --CSAL Charter Schools, Inc. January, 2026 Board of Directors Meeting Virtual Link by Zoom Platform Monday, January 12, 2026 6:00 pm Join CSAL, Inc. Board of Director’s Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom. us/j/82818375215? pwd=vjfrb7sC04mH91d a19i0XME7GKeQIC.1 Meeting ID: 828 1837 5215 Passcode: 716108 --One tap mobile +13052241968,,8281837521 US +13092053325,,8281837521 US Join instructions https://us06web.zoom. us/meetings/ 82818375215/invitations? signature=Zkw5kAT6I61 P98bse1M-gtkAV1WEHJg U9DlCp_3eBCA 173286-jan 10-1t $92.28 PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE OF LIQUIDATION OF MITCHELL-JOHNSON LLC TO: Creditors of MitchellJohnson LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an out-ofcourt voluntary dissolu‐ tion proceeding has taken effect for MitchellJohnson LLC, a Louisiana limited liability company. Any person or entity having claims against Mitchell-Johnson LLC, are notiﬁed to present their claims in writing and in detail to the appointed Liquidator, Kenneth J. Johnson, at 29 Mid‐ dleridge Lane South, Rolling Hills, California 90274, within six (6) months of the date of this notice. /s/ Kenneth J. Johnson KENNETH J. JOHNSON, Liquidator Date: 1-3-26 173206-jan 10-17-2t $219.78 PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE the La. Dept. of Conservation and Energy, Ofﬁce of Permitting and Compliance (OPC) has received the following application(s) for a Coastal Use Permit (CUP) in accordance with the State and Local Coastal Resources Management Act of 1978, as amended, (La. R.S. 49:214.21-214.41), and the rules and regula‐ tions of the Coastal Re‐ sources Program. Appli‐ cations for the proposed work may be inspected at 617 North 3rd Street, Room 1078, Baton Rouge, h b

Legal Notices

g LA or on the OPC web page at: http://dnr. louisiana.gov/index.cfm? md=pagebuilder& tmp=home&pid=591. Copies may be obtained upon payment of cost of copying. Written com‐ ments, including sugges‐ tions for modifications or objections to the pro‐ posed work and stating the reasons thereof, are being solicited from the public. Comments must be received within 25 days of the date of publi‐ cation of this notice. Comments should be up‐ loaded to our electronic record, but may be mailed or emailed to the designated OPC Re‐ viewer. All comments must contain the appro‐ priate application num‐ ber and the commenter's full name and contact in‐ formation. Any person may request, in writing, within the comment pe‐ riod specified in this no‐ tice, that a State or Fed‐ eral public hearing be held to consider this ap‐ plication. Requests for public hearings shall state, with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing and must contain the name and contact information of the requester. Below are the referenced applica‐ tion(s): *********OPC; P. O. Box 44487, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-4487; *********OPC; P. O. Box 44487, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-4487; Phone: (225) 342-9083; Email: melissa. sherman2@la.gov; OPC Reviewer: Melissa Sher‐ CUP NUMBER: man; P20250966 Name: Cameron Land Ventures, Llc c/o Erm 555 17TH STREET SUITE 1700 DEN‐ VER, CO 80202 Attn: Alissa Ingham Location: Cameron Parish, LA; Lat 29-46-35.92N, Long 93-183.95W; 259 Beach Road Cameron, 70631 Descrip‐ tion: Proposed facility improvements and addi‐ tions that include 2-4 feet of soil stabilization , 8 inches of gravel, and Stormwater basins. Ap‐ prox. 5040 cy of material will be excavated and placed onsite, 37752 cy of crushed stone and 26858 cy of Portland cement slurry will be used as fill.

py g the listed Public-School Academies will be avail‐ able at the school of‐ ﬁces.

173349 Jan. 10, 1t $28.34 PUBLIC NOTICE --Public Budget Hearings will be held for the fol‐ lowing Public-School Academies: Advantage-14740 Plank Road, Baker-225-7743111-January 23, 9am Willow-14740 Plank Road, Baker-225-774-3111-Janu‐ ary 23, 9am Inspire-5454 N. Foster Drive, Baton Rouge-225356-3936-January 26, 9am A copy of the Budgets for h li d bli h l

173227-jan 10-1t $91.77 PUBLIC NOTICE --Request for Scenic River Permit on Soap & Tallow Branch The Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) as Administrator of the Louisiana Natural and Scenic Rivers System is currently considering the application of Rousseau Group, LLC for a permit to construct a 3.25 acre dry detention pond to service Phase 2A-1 of Terra Bella on Soap & Tallow Branch, St. Parish, Tammany Louisiana. Copies of the application can be reviewed by the public at the LDWF main ofﬁce, 2000 Quail Drive, Baton Rouge, LA. The public is invited to com‐ ment on this permit re‐ quest for a period of forty-ﬁve (45) days. Re‐ sponses should be mailed to LDWF Scenic Rivers Program, 2000 Quail Drive, Room 432, Baton Rouge, LA 70808. 173219-jan 10-1t $124.95

PUBLIC NOTICE --Ronald Andrews, M.D. of‐ fice closure in Baton Rouge after 25 years ef‐ fective February 25, 2026. After Feburary 25, 2026 patients will no longer be seen at 10608 Coursey Blvd. Suite B Baton Rouge, LA 70816. Records will be maintained elec‐ tronically and may be ob‐ tained by sending with sign authorized release to DrAndrewsrecords@ gmail.com. Thank you for allowing me to care for you and your family all of these years. 172939-jan 7-14-8t PUBLIC NOTICE --STATE OF LOUISIANA HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES Baton Rouge PROCLAMATION WHEREAS, a vacancy ex‐ ists in the office of State Representative, District 69, parish of East Baton Rouge, due to the resig‐ nation of Representative Paula P. Davis on Decem‐ ber 30, 2025; to become effective on 11:59 p.m. on January 9, 2026. WHEREAS, Louisiana Re‐ vised Statutes 18:601 provides that such va‐ cancy shall be filled by special election called by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

8D ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ 9D

lll

Legal Notices

Jury Type: Petit

Judge: Alvin Batiste Jr.

Legal Notices

Date: Monday, February 9, 2026

ALBERADO JR, JOHN ANDREW

25446 HWY 1 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7513

ALFRED, MARY ELIZA

5020 IBERVILLE ST ST GABRIEL, LA 70776

ALLAIN, JOHN BRENT

60170 LAFOURCHE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4635

ALLRED, ERIC

450 SOUTH CLUB AVE ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4441

ALTAZAN, DYLAN KERRI

32360 MAGGIO ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2430

ARBONEAUX, TRENT AARON

77180 ROCKFORD ST MARINGOUIN, LA 70757-3706

ARNOLD, GEORGE

23990 HARMASON ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3016

ARNOLD, JULIA LYNETTE

23985 JACKSON ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3029

AUSBON, GARY LEEREASE

2155 BAYOU PAUL LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4932

BAILEY, CHARMELLE T

25710 TAREK LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764

BANKS, JORDAN RACHELLE

1445 PIN OAK DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776

BARBER, DARRELL D

24720 HEBERT ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4034

BATTISTE, EDUARDO BALTAZAR

24675 PECAN PLACE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3804

BAYHAM, EDWARD CHRIS

76135 ROSEDALE RD ROSEDALE, LA 70772

BECKWOOD, DEONTRAE JAWAUN

76539 CENTER ST ROSEDALE, LA 70772

BELL, VALERIA D

25905 TENANT RD # C-10 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6593

BELLUE, TONYA SHEREE

59173 MAPLE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3815

BERRIGAN, KENNETH STEPHEN

180 POLITZ AVE ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4442

BERTHELOT, JOSHUA PAUL

20280 SALLIE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5323

BEVENS, MARY ELLEN

29910 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6109

BLANCHARD, RODNEY JOSEPH

60125 LAFOURCHE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4635

BOOTH, REBECCA FITZGERALD

1961 MEADOW OAK DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5217

BOSLEY III, KEVIN

25400 PATUREAU LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764

BOSLEY, NICOLE YEVETTE

33166 BOWIE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2713

BOUDREAUX SR, BRIAN ANTHONY

36300 HWY 69 # TRLR 8 WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-4746

BOURGOYNE, CATHY WIGGINS

33075 GRACIE LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7137

BRADFORD, RHONDA LEJEUNE

20205 DANIEL LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5304

BREAUX, KEVIN MICHAEL

20185 SALLIE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5322

BROWN III, ROBERT JOHN

1322 AGATHA ST SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3219

Legal Notices

JACKSON, RITA LYNN

58350 BAYOU RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2602

JAMES, ALANI ARIEL

57963 CENTER ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4363

JAMES, DEQUANDA DECHELLE

58125 DIVISION ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2505

JAMES, YAKEDRA K

58715 COOLIDGE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3946

JARREAU, JARROD ALLEN

62790 BAYOU RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5920

JOHNSON, ALISA K

500 BAYOU PAUL LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5404

JOHNSON, NICHOLAS ONEIL

1940 ROLLINGWOOD DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5358

JONES, MONICA

575 BAYOU PAUL LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5409

JOSEPH JR, JOHNELL

875 BAYOU PAUL LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5412

KIRKLAND, CARL MITCH

58225 ELM ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3153

KIRKLAND, TONI C

20560 CHARLES ORY DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5316

KLEINPETER, MELANIE A

18605 SIDNEY RD GROSSE TETE, LA 70740-3206

KOLDER, KASE MICHAEL

24715 NUTTALL RD PLAQUEMINE , LA 70764-5500

LANDRY, CRYSTAL PREJEAN

38640 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7727

LANDRY, JEFFERY JOSEPH

22855 TALBOT DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5221

LANDRY, JOSEPH MICHAEL

1660 SAN MIGUEL DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5340

LATINO, MAX ANTHONY

20525 CHARLES ORY DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764

LEBLANC, RENEE MAGNOLIA

59735 DERRICK RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6592

LECLERCQ, TINA LYNN

23130 NADLER ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2421

LITTLE, TAVONTATE

59010 MARTIN LUTHER KING BLVD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3034

LITTLES, KENZIE DEMOND

77075 GARNER LN # C GROSSE TETE, LA 70740

MARKINS, JENNIFER GOURGUES

59570 KEMBER DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6558

MARKS, ANDREW MICHAEL

1860 OAK WOOD RD ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5349

MCPHATE, KRISTI

23685 HWY 386 GROSSE TETE, LA 70740

MICHELLI, SAMANTHA ALLEN

25625 SPRING ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6319

MILLER, MARTIE LYNN

1620 SAN MIGUEL DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5340

MILLER, POLLY VERRET

25630 SUMMER ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6320

MILLER, SHADARA NAQUIN

4925 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR PKWY ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4214

MOLDEN, FREDRICK KEITH

56754 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR # A BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3152

MORALES, STEVEN ANDREW

23010 WARREN ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2341

MORRIS, REGINALD RENAUD

32310 LEONA AVE WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2400

MOSBY, GARY

58281 PLAQUEMINE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2629

MOSBY, TYQUENCHIA LASHAWN

1720 RAVIER LN SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3518

MULMORE, CRYSTAL WADE

23025 TALBOT DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5223

NELSON, JEFFREY PAUL

59525 MYRTLE GROVE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7438

NOEL JR, MICHAEL DURAND

24220 SEBASTIAN ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3542

ODWYER, JOSH ANTHONY

59013 OBIER AVE PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3427

PALERMO, KATHLEEN S

29875 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6108

PATTERSON, CARLTON JOSEPH

58636 JETSON AVE PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4236

PICARD, PATSY LEE

24120 EDEN ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3713

BUTLER, MICHAEL LYNN

1840-A BESSON LN SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3534

CALLEGAN, RAYMOND P

37305 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7714

CANELLA, TROY VICTOR

26102 TENANT RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6540

CANNELLA SR, DONALD J

28715 INTRACOASTAL RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5809

CARLINE, BARRY S

59109 MAPLE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3815

CASE, CALEB LUKE

23010 WARREN ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2341

CASE, CHRISTINE C

64245 BAYOU RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5945

CHERAMIE, TAMI HOWARD

58180 FORT ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3224

CLARKE, SAMANTHA M

25125 GASPER ST # LOT 5 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4346

COBB III, HENRY RIGHTOR

980 ARGRAVE LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5508

COLLIER, CHARLES MITCHELL

39089 BAYOU PIGEON RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7745

COLLIER, TREYVEON

23725 GRACE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2811

CONNOR, SHARON A

59354 EVANGELINE AVE PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3418

COUTY, CHRISTOPHER JAMES

20425 CHARLES ORY DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5315

CUMMINGS, CHARNELL RENEE

77055 SALARIE LN GROSSE TETE, LA 70740

DANIEL, KAREN JEAN

4789 MARYLAND ST ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4249

DAVENPORT, CATHERYN SAM

77055-B SALARIE LN GROSSE TETE, LA 70740

DAVENPORT, HOWARD WAYNE

77225 LANDRY DR # 4 MARINGOUIN, LA 70757-3236

DENNIS, ALBERT CHUCK

32080 DORCY RD WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-3550

DIXON, ALICIA GAYLE

10400 GROSSE TETE DR MARINGOUIN, LA 70757

DOIRON, MATTHEW TODD

20185 CHARLES ORY DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5312

DORSEY, EDDIE M

78270 KARL RD ROSEDALE, LA 70772

DORSEY, ERIC D

59209-D AUGUSTA RD WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-3218

DOUGHTY JR, HARRY J

23830 SEMINARY ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3356

DUFOUR, CHASE M

1835 PINEGLEN DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776

DUNN, DAINO QUINTELL

58335 HOMESTEAD DR # TRLR D PLAQUEMINE, LA 707645224

DUPLESSIS, KIASHA RANAY

57732 TRUE HOPE LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4500

SAVOIA II, CHARLES CORTE

35445 HWY 69 WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-4444

DUPREE, SUSAN MARIE

33140 GRACIE LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7117

SCOTT, TYNESIA LYNELL

77160 LANDRY DR MARINGOUIN, LA 70757-3206

DWYER, MARILYN ANN

34809 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7216

SEALS, JAHAD HAMHED

58457 MERIAM ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2851

EDWARDS, GARY GARRARD

57985 BELAIRE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4303

SIMIEN, THADIUS

10735 RAILROAD DR MARINGOUIN, LA 70757

EDWARDS, JOYCE MARIE

56600 BREAUX ST BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3032

SLAYTON, GLENDA SUE

1406 HWY 75 SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3208

ENDRES, CHERYL T

33410-B HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7111

SMITH, KAYLA ROCHANDA

58673 MERIAM ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2941

EVANS, COURTNEY

1535 BAYOU PAUL LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4926

SMITH, LAJAREN JERMAINE

57910 FORT ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3326

PRIGNANO, ABBIE MARIE

25905-A WINTER ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6326

RACHEL, CARLOS ANTHONY

280 SOUTH CLUB AVE ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4439

RANDLE, MARGARET ROBILLARD

23920 BAYTOWN ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3008

RAWLINSON, TRISHA COMEAUX

57975 MCDANIEL ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2039

RHONE, ANTONE DENEAL

24721 FERDINAND ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4027

RICE, KAYLIN

470 CLOCK TOWER DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776

RICKS, CYNTHIA JACKSON

4645 MARYLAND ST ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4248

RILEY JR, BARRY DWANE

58855 ISLAND DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7440

RINEHEART, CORINA GLYN

65635 J R DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7307

RINGSWALD, JOSEPH A

10370 HWY 77 MARINGOUIN, LA 70757

ROBERTSON, AKEJA DESHEIL

32635 LEONA AVE WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2515

ROBERTSON, MARIE IRMA

57905 TROSCLAIR ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2335

ROYAL JR, JEROME D

58120 DIVISION ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2506

SAUCIER, TINA MCQUISTON

36595 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7706

SAURAGE, KAREN ELLIS

62460 BAYOU RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5917

FALCON, MCKALYN RENEE

36955 HWY 69 WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-4710

SMITH JR, RAYMOND

32415 DOC DEAN ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2042

FAVORITE, CEOLIA

57200 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3121

SMITH, TAMMY YOUNG

59355 RIVER WEST DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6553

FAVROTH, AMARIEN TYRESE

58245 SHERBURNE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4015

SNELL, WILLIE SEIFERTH

76300 GRIFFIN DR ROSEDALE, LA 70772-3834

FORD, JAREL LOUIS

5605 OAK TRACE DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4718

SNELSON IV, JAMES A

1817 HWY 75 SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3413

FORET, RHONDA ELIZABETH

25710 TENANT RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6536

FOSTER, RANDY JOSEPH

32430 CHAIRMONTE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2022

FRAZIER, ALEXIS DANIELLE

4870 LANDRY ST ST GABRIEL, LA 70776

GILBERT, JAMES KEITH

18410 HWY 77 GROSSE TETE, LA 70740

GILBERT, SHIRL KELLER

32034 DORCY RD WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-3550

GRANIER, BESSIE P

33450 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7201

GRASS, TORY PALMER

58555 VILLAGE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7421

GREEN, BOBBY RAY

1550 RAVIER LN SUNSHINE, LA 70780

GREEN, EARL EVANS

35240 HWY 69 WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-4442

GREEN, KAREN S

13415 HWY 411 MARINGOUIN, LA 70757

GREEN, LISA EILEEN

5405 SMITH ST ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4240

GREEN, LORETTA D

58650 WARE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4250

GRIFFIN, JERRICA ROMANIQUE

63280 BAYOU JACOB RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764

GRIFFIN, JOYCE WILLIAMS

33405 BAYOU SORREL RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7130

GUILLOT, KELLI LYNN

59124 MAPLE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3816

HANDY-BENNETT, JENNIFER

22800 JADE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5230

HARDIN, KEVIN LEE EDWARD

23435 RICH ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2643

HARMASON, KRISTIN TORREZ

57731 REVILLETOWN DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7502

HARRIS, LEONARD

76545 CENTER ST ROSEDALE, LA 70772

HAYDEL SR, KELLY JOSEPH

27290 HWY 405 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6906

HAYES, ANDREW LEE

52510 STEWART ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6955

HAYMOND, CAROLYN J

5465 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR PKWY CARVILLE, LA 70721

HEARNS, VENTRIS BROWN

22780 JADE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5229

HEBERT, DEREK MICHAEL

SPRIGGS, LINDA C

24243 BOURGEOIS ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3748

STARNS JR, RAYMOND HENRY

24010 HWY 386 GROSSE TETE, LA 70740-3709

STASSI, CONNOR BRALYN

17050 THOMAS LN GROSSE TETE, LA 70740

STEWART, MARLON R

1390 ST FRANCIS LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4916

STEWART JR, WILLIE

1865 PINEGLEN DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4618

SUAREZ, MARK SAMUEL

22990 TALBOT DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5222

SUTER, YRRAH EDWARD

58540 ST CLEMENT AVE PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3532

TAYLOR, ASHLEY HARRIS

17070 ROBERT LN GROSSE TETE, LA 70740-3025

TAYLOR, SHONDRA

58642 JETSON AVE PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4236

TIRCUIT, MONICA CELINE

1441 HWY 75 SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3213

TOUPS, STEVEN GERARD

37315 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7714

TRAIGLE, JAMISON

32550 FRANCISE ST # A WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2226

VAUGHN SR, RORY JOHN

20555 CHARLES ORY DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5316

VENTRESS, WANDA SPEARS

11960 BOSSOM LN MARINGOUIN, LA 70757

WALLS, MARCUS JOHNELL

56670 BREAUX ST # LOT A BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3032

WASHINGTON, CLAUDETTE MARIE

23715 BOURGOYNE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2862

WASHINGTON, NETTY

57652 TRUE HOPE LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4541

WEBB, CORI L

25333 FENNER ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4425

WHITE, JOEL W

63915 BAYOU RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5933

WHITE, LORI FOLSE

58265 RANDOLPHS DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7431

WILLIAMS, ALEXIS JONES

32610 BOWIE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2610

WILLIAMS JR, MANDRILL LAWRENCE

2023 RAVIER LN SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3535

WILLIAMS, MEYOKA A

5530 MAGNOLIA SPRINGS PKWY #A CARVILLE, LA 707212101

65210 MENDOZA DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6222

WILLIAMS, ROBIN

39093 BAYOU PIGEON RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7745

HEBERT, GARY JOSEPH

3481 LUCY LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4847

WILSON, BIANCHI DANIELLA

58110 WASHINGTON ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4056

HEBERT, JACQUELYN ANN

37475 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7715

WILSON, MARGARET ALLEN

33670 BOUDREAUX ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2728

HEBERT, MELISSA LYONS

27015 BRADY LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5949

WOODS, KIMBERLY LAUREN

1499 TASAJILLO DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5337

HEBERT, TRAVIS ALLEN

31115 HWY 1 WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-3113

WRIGHT, MEGAN S

10830 VENTRESS DR MARINGOUIN, LA 70757

HENSON, WENDI CAROLE LAZZARO

24320 DES GLAISES ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4630

YOUNG, ANTONECIA JERSHA

23958 BAYTOWN ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3008

HERNANDEZ, CARMEN C

57715 BELLEVIEW RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4109

YOUNG, TAMRYA HAYES

16155 DEER BUCK RUN ROSEDALE, LA 70772-3830

HOFFMAN, TRISTAN BLAIR

23630 HWY 386 GROSSE TETE, LA 70740-3705

HOLMES, YOLANDA MARIE

56780 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3116

HRACEK, LISA MORALES

27584 HWY 405 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6909

HUGHES, MARY SAIZON

22240 HWY 386 GROSSE TETE, LA 70740-3605

HUNT, RONISHA R

1895 RAVIER LN SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3516

HYMEL, MELVA RAMAGOS

1137 RIVER RD SUNSHINE, LA 70780-3103

JACKSON, ADORIA DENISE

58235 SMITH ALY PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2822

JACKSON, LATOSHA MARIE

23710 SEMINARY ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3353

Juror Count: 200

173123-603868-jan 10-1t $ 831.60

10D ■ Saturday, January 10, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

lll

Legal Notices

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Phillip R. DeVillier, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana, issue this notice, call, and proclamation for a special primary and spe‐ cial general election to be held throughout the jurisdiction of Represen‐ tative District 69, parish of East Baton Rouge, for the purpose of electing a State Representative.

ing Title 18 of the Revised Louisiana Statutes of 1950.

have hereunto set my hand ofﬁcially and caused to be afﬁxed the Seal of the House of Rep‐ resentatives, at the Capi‐ tol, in the city of Baton this Rouge, on _________ day of Janu‐ ary, 2026.

HEWES SURVEY 12-12 Improvements thereon bear Municipal No. 8241 Bueche Road, Erwinville, LA 70729

Any qualified person de‐ siring to become a candi‐ date for the office shall file the notice of candi‐ dacy, accompanied ei‐ ther by a qualifying fee or a nominating petition, as required or authorized by law, with the appro‐ priate election official in the manner and form and pursuant to the pro‐ cedures and conditions provided by Subpart B of Part IV of Chapter 5, or any other applicable pro‐ vision, of Title 18 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, during the period commencing on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 and ending at 4:30 pm on Friday, Janu‐ ary 30, 2026. The election herein called, noticed, provided for, and proclaimed shall be held and conducted under the applicable pro‐ visions of the Louisiana Election Code, constitut‐

I hereby ﬁx the date of the primary election for Saturday, March 14, 2026, and the date for the gen‐ eral election for Satur‐ day, April 18, 2026, and at the times and places, and in the manner pre‐ scribed by law. Accordingly, I now autho‐ rize, request, direct, and empower the Secretary of State, the Commis‐ sioner of Elections, the Parish Boards of Elec‐ tions Supervisors for the parish of East Baton Rouge, the clerks of court for the parish of East Baton Rouge, the registrars of voters for the parish of East Baton Rouge, and all other per‐ sons charged with any power, function, right, duty, or responsibility in conducting elections in the jurisdiction of Repre‐ sentative District 69, parish of East Baton Rouge, to exercise any lawful function, do every act necessary to conduct elections, cause the re‐ turns thereof to be made, and in general, to per‐ form all related and inci‐ dental functions neces‐ sary to canvass and pro‐ mulgate the results thereof. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I

__________________ Phillip R. DeVillier Speaker of the House of Representatives ATTEST BY THE CLERK Michelle D. Fontenot Clerk of the House of Representatives 173378-jan 10-1t $41.78 PUBLIC NOTICE --THIS NOTICE BY PUBLICA‐ TION IS NOTIFICATION THAT YOUR RIGHTS OR INTEREST IN THE FOL‐ LOWING DESCRIBED PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE PARISH OF WEST BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA MAY BE TER‐ MINATED BY OPERATION OF LAW IF YOU DO NOT TAKE FURTHER ACTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW: Tax Bill 061200001200 Occupant/Tenant; Heirs and Estate of Ronald Har‐ vey Watkins & Edna Guil‐ lard Watkins; -- LOT V-1 CONT 5.962 AC

TAX SALE TITLE TO THE ABOVE-DESCRIBED PROP‐ ERTY HAS BEEN SOLD FOR FAILURE TO PAY TAXES. YOU HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A PERSON WHO MAY HAVE AN IN‐ TEREST IN THIS PROP‐ ERTY. YOUR INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY WILL BE TER‐ MINATED IF YOU DO NOT REDEEM THE PROPERTY BY MAKING ALL RE‐ QUIRED PAYMENTS TO THE TAX COLLECTOR LISTED BELOW OR FILE A LAWSUIT IN ACCOR‐ DANCE WITH LAW WITHIN 60 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUB‐ LICATION OF THIS NO‐ TICE, OR THE RECORDING OF AN ACT TRANSFER‐ RING OWNERSHIP, IF LATER. WEST BATON ROUGE SHERIFF’S OFFICE 850 8TH ST PORT ALLEN, LA 70767 (225) 343-9234 173176 Jan. 10, 17, 2t $342.28

CLASSIFIEDS.THEADVOCATE.COM

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE --THIS NOTICE BY PUBLICA‐ TION IS NOTIFICATION THAT YOUR RIGHTS OR INTEREST IN THE FOL‐ LOWING DESCRIBED PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE PARISH OF WEST BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA MAY BE TER‐ MINATED BY OPERATION OF LAW IF YOU DO NOT TAKE FURTHER ACTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW: Tax Bill 061200001201 Occupant/Tenant; Heirs and Estate of Ronald Har‐ vey Watkins & Edna Guil‐ lard Watkins; -- LOT V-2 CONT 3.991 AC HEWES SURVEY 12-12A Improvements thereon bear Municipal No. 8330 Bueche Road, Erwinville, LA 70729 TAX SALE TITLE TO THE ABOVE-DESCRIBED PROP‐ ERTY HAS BEEN SOLD FOR FAILURE TO PAY TAXES. YOU HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A PERSON WHO MAY HAVE AN IN‐ TEREST IN THIS PROP‐ ERTY. YOUR INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY WILL BE TER‐ MINATED IF YOU DO NOT REDEEM THE PROPERTY BY MAKING ALL RE‐ QUIRED PAYMENTS TO THE TAX COLLECTOR LISTED BELOW OR FILE A LAWSUIT IN ACCOR‐ DANCE WITH LAW

Legal Notices

WITHIN 60 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUB‐ LICATION OF THIS NO‐ TICE, OR THE RECORDING OF AN ACT TRANSFER‐ RING OWNERSHIP, IF LATER.

FOR FAILURE TO PAY TAXES. YOU HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A PERSON WHO MAY HAVE AN IN‐ TEREST IN THIS PROP‐ ERTY. YOUR INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY WILL BE TER‐ MINATED IF YOU DO NOT REDEEM THE PROPERTY BY MAKING ALL RE‐ QUIRED PAYMENTS TO THE TAX COLLECTOR LISTED BELOW OR FILE A LAWSUIT IN ACCOR‐ DANCE WITH LAW WITHIN 60 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUB‐ LICATION OF THIS NO‐ TICE, OR THE RECORDING OF AN ACT TRANSFER‐ RING OWNERSHIP, IF LATER.

WEST BATON ROUGE SHERIFF’S OFFICE 850 8TH ST PORT ALLEN, LA 70767 173177 Jan. 10, 17, 2t $337.18 PUBLIC NOTICE --THIS NOTICE BY PUBLICA‐ TION IS NOTIFICATION THAT YOUR RIGHTS OR INTEREST IN THE FOL‐ LOWING DESCRIBED PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE PARISH OF WEST BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA MAY BE TER‐ MINATED BY OPERATION OF LAW IF YOU DO NOT TAKE FURTHER ACTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW: Tax Bill 061200001201 Occupant/Tenant; Heirs and Estate of Ronald Har‐ vey Watkins & Edna Guil‐ lard Watkins; -- LOT V-2 CONT 3.991 AC HEWES SURVEY 12-12A Improvements thereon bear Municipal No. 8330 Bueche Road, Erwinville, LA 70729 TAX SALE TITLE TO THE ABOVE-DESCRIBED PROP‐ ERTY HAS BEEN SOLD

WEST BATON ROUGE SHERIFF’S OFFICE 850 8TH ST PORT ALLEN, LA 70767 (225) 343-9234 173223-jan 10-17-2t $342.28

Public Notices Successions

PUBLIC NOTICE --NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT FOR THE PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE

Public Notices Successions

STATE OF LOUISIANA DOCKET NO. P-116966 DIV. 32 SUCCESSION OF CAR‐ OLYN A. TUGWELL FILED_____ ___________ DEPUTY CLERK NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR AUTHORITY TO SELL IMMOVABLE PROPERTY NOTICE IS GIVEN that Judith H. Bassett and Janice H Charrier, Co- Ex‐ ecutrixes of the Succes‐ sion of Carolyn A. Tug‐ well are applying for au‐ thority to sell at private sale, on terms of Three Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Dollas ($325,000) cash, the im‐ movable property owned by the Succession of Car‐ olyn A. Tugwell described as follows; That certain tract or par‐ cel of land, together with all the rights, ways, privi‐ leges, servitudes, appur‐ tenances, and advan‐ tages thereunto belong‐ ing, or in anyway apper‐ taining to, located; In the Parish of East Baton Rouge, in the Broadmore Subdivision, Lot 219, 5th Filing.

Public Notices Successions

Having the municipal ad‐ dress of 10429 Firelight Avenue, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70815. An order authorizing Ju‐ dith H. Bassett and Jan‐ ice H Charrier to sell this property may be issued after seven days from the date of second publi‐ cation of this notice. An opposition to the appli‐ cation may be ﬁled at any time prior to the is‐ suance of such an order. By Order of the Court, ______________ CLERK OF COURT ATTORNEY: Wayne J. Jablonowski (LSBN 23141) PUBLICATION: The Advocate, Baton Rouge ADDRESS: 3705 Pontchartrain Drive Slidell, Louisiana 70458 TELEPHONE: (985)646-1300 171346 Dec. 20, 2025, Jan. 10, 2026 2t $87.00

CLASSIFIEDS

WORK

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