ABOVE: Katy and David Larson dancebefore riding in the Bayou MardiGras Association parade in New Iberia on Saturday TOP: The Bayou Mardi Gras Association parade rolls on Saturday RIGHT: Krewe memberssend throws to the crowd duringthe parade.
Nearly 32,000 missed screenings for breast, lungand colorectal cancer are projected in Louisianainthe first two years after newMedicaideligibility requirements take effect next year,according to anew analysispublishedlast week in the Journal of theAmerican MedicalAssociation Oncology Nationally,the studyprojects more than 1.1 million missedcancer screenings and about 155 preventable deaths over the first two years after thenew rules take effect. Applying the model to Louisiana’sMedicaid population, researchers estimate roughly 31,941 missed screenings, about 67 additional
Medicaid changesmay increase La.cancermortality
cancer cases,approximately nine excess late-stage diagnoses, and an estimated fivepreventabledeaths fromthese cancers over that period. Fivepreventable deaths,oncologists say,isonly thebeginning. The true toll of coverage losses is often felt through delayed diagnoses and more advanced disease rather than immediate shifts in mortality,saidDr. Adrian Diaz, asurgical oncologist and co-author of the study
LocalICE support draws questions
BY STEPHENMARCANTEL Staff writer
The fatal shooting of Minneapolis protester Renee Goodbyanimmigration enforcement officer hasprompted some communitiestoreevaluate local cooperation with the U.S. Immigration and CustomsEnforcement.
The Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office signed such an agreement on Dec. 11, allowing sheriff’s deputiestoquestion, detain andarrestpeople suspected of entering the country illegally underthe ICE287(g) program.The program delegates certainimmigration enforcementfunctions to trained state and local officers under federal supervision.
On Jan. 10, dozens of people showed up in front of the Sheriff’s Office and Lafayette Parish Correctional Center to voice their opposition to thecontinued federal crackdownonillegal immigration and the Sheriff’sOffice agreement with the federal agency
TheSheriff’s Office “isgoing to be working directlywithafederal organization that is ripping communitiesapart here in Acadiana,” said one protester whoidentified only as Richard.
Group says 3,919 killed during Iran protests
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates A U.S.-based activist agency said Sunday it has verified at least 3,919 deaths during a wave of protests that swept Iran and led to a bloody crackdown, and fears the number could be significantly higher
The Human Rights Activists News Agency posted the revised figure, up from the previous toll of 3,308. The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution.
The agency has been accurate throughout the years of demonstrations in Iran, relying on a network of activists inside the country that confirms all reported fatalities. The Associated Press has been unable to independently confirm the toll.
Iranian officials have not given a clear death toll, although on Saturday the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the protests had left “several thousand” people dead — and blamed the United States for the deaths. It was the first indication from an Iranian leader of the extent of the casualties from the wave of protests that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy
The Human Rights Activists News Agency says 24,669 protesters have been arrested in the crackdown.
Iranian officials have repeatedly accused the United States and Israel of fomenting unrest in the country
Fannie Mae ad uses AI for Trump’s voice NEW YORK What sounds like President Donald Trump narrating a new Fannie Mae ad actually is an AI-cloned voice reading text, according to a disclaimer in the video.
The voice in the ad, created with permission from the Trump administration, promises an “all new Fannie Mae” and calls the institution the “protector of the American Dream.” The ad comes as the administration is making a big push to show voters it is responding to their concerns about affordability, including in the housing market.
Trump plans to talk about housing at his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders and corporate executives meet this week.
This isn’t the first time a member of the Trump family has used AI to replicate their voice, first lady Melania Trump recently employed AI technology firm Eleven Labs to help voice the audio version of her memoir. It’s not known who cloned President Trump’s voice for the Fannie Mae ad.
Last month, Trump pledged in a prime-time address that he would roll out “some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history.”
Big purple star sapphire unveiled in Sri Lanka COLOMBO, Sri Lanka A purple star sapphire weighing 3,563 carats which is claimed to be the world’s biggest of its kind was unveiled on Saturday in the Sri Lankan capital by the owners, who are ready to sell the precious stone which is estimated to be worth at least $300 million.
The round shaped gem named “Star of Pure Land” is the world’s largest documented natural purple star sapphire, said Ashan Amarasinghe, a consultant gemologist.
“This is the largest purple star sapphire of its kind,” he told the media, adding that the gem “shows a well-defined asterism. It has six rays asterism. That’s something special out of all the other stones.”
The gem, which has been polished, is owned by the Star of Pure Land Team, who want to remain anonymous for security reasons.
One of the owners said the gem was found in a gem pit near the remote Sri Lankan town of Rathnapura, known as the “city of gems,” in 2023.
It was purchased together with other gems in 2023 and about two years later, the owners found that it was a special stone. They then got it certified by two laboratories
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By yUKI IWAMURA
People march Sunday during a protest near a post office in Minneapolis.
Mayor pans possible troop deployment
Minneapolis leader says sending soldiers to city would be unconstitutional
BY JACK BROOK and SARAH RAZA Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS The mayor of Minneapolis
said Sunday that sending active duty soldiers into Minnesota to help with an immigration crackdown is a ridiculous and unconstitutional idea as he urged protesters to remain peaceful so the president won’t see a need to send in the U.S. military
Daily protests have been ongoing throughout January since the Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers.
Three hotels where protesters have said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were staying in the area stopped taking reservations Sunday
In a diverse neighborhood where immigration officers have been seen frequently, U.S. postal workers marched through on Sunday, chanting: “Protect our routes. Get ICE out.”
Soldiers told to be ready
The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers based in Alaska who specialize in operating in arctic conditions to be ready in case of a possible deployment to Minnesota, two defense officials
said Sunday
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said two infantry battalions of the Army’s 11th Airborne Division have been given prepare-to-deploy orders.
One defense official said the troops are standing by to deploy to Minnesota should President Donald Trump invoke the Insurrection Act.
The rarely used 19th century law would allow the president to send military troops into Minnesota, where protesters have been confronting federal immigration agents for weeks. He has since backed off the threat, at least for now
It’s ridiculous, but we will not be intimidated by the actions of this federal government,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “It is not fair it’s not just, and it’s completely unconstitutional.”
Thousands of Minneapolis citizens are exercising their First Amendment rights and the protests have been peaceful, Frey said.
“We are not going to take the bait. We will not counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our
Florida
gets snow for
2nd year in a row
By The Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla A small part of Florida is the Snowy State for the second year in a row Snow briefly covered the grass and rooftops in parts of the western Florida Panhandle on Sunday morning as just enough frigid air rushed in behind a cold front to turn the last rain showers into snowflakes in the Sunshine State. Elsewhere, the winter weather promised to interfere with playoff football in places Boston and Chicago more accustomed to it, although the visiting teams come from warmer climes. And in the upper Midwest, residents braced for blizzard conditions. The southern snow wasn’t a once-in-alifetime thing. Less than a year ago, on Jan. 21, 2025, some of the same areas of Florida that briefly saw frosty lawns received up to 8 inches of snow in what was the most significant snowfall in many places since the late 1800s
own brand of chaos here,” Frey said.
Gov Tim Walz has mobilized the Minnesota National Guard, although no units have been deployed to the streets.
Hotels said to have housed ICE close
At least three hotels in Minneapolis-St. Paul that protesters said housed officers in the immigrant crackdown were not accepting reservations Sunday Rooms could not be booked online before early February at the Hilton DoubleTree and IHG InterContinental hotels in downtown St. Paul and at the Hilton Canopy hotel in Minneapolis.
Over the phone, an InterContinental hotel front desk employee said it was closing for the safety of the staff, but declined to comment on the specific concerns. The DoubleTree and InterContinental hotels had empty lobbies with signs out front saying they were “temporarily closed for business until further notice.” The Canopy hotel was open, but not accepting reservations.
The Canopy has been the site of noisy protests by anti-ICE demonstrators aimed to prevent agents from sleeping.
“The owner of the independently owned and operated InterContinental St. Paul has decided to temporarily close their hotels to prioritize the safety of guests and team members given ongoing safety concerns in the area,” IHG Hotels & Resorts spokesperson Taylor Solomon said in a statement Sunday. “All guests with existing reservations can contact the hotel team for assistance with alternative accommodations.”
Postal workers protest
Peter Noble joined dozens of other U.S. Post Office workers Sunday on their only day off from their mail routes to march against the immigration crackdown. They passed by the place where an immigration officer shot and killed Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, during a Jan. 7 confrontation.
“I’ve seen them driving recklessly around the streets while I am on my route, putting lives in danger,” Noble said.
Letter carrier Susan Becker said she came out to march on the coldest day since the crackdown started because it’s important to keep telling the federal government she thinks what it is doing is wrong. She said people on her route have reported ICE breaking into apartment buildings and tackling people in the parking lot of shopping centers.
“These people are by and large citizens and immigrants. But they’re citizens, and they deserve to be here; they’ve earned their place and they are good people,” Becker said.
A
Snow photos flooded social media. There were a few flakes on the beach and snow nestled into palm fronds. It was too warm to stick to the roads, but a dusting of snow sat on the grass for a little while before mostly melting. The rare snow in the South wasn’t just in Florida. Southeastern Alabama and southern Georgia also reported snow in some areas as they also celebrated a second winter wonderland in less than a year Snow covered the ground in Columbus and Macon, Georgia, and officials warned enough might fall to make travel treacherous in spots. Heavier snowfall was expected to hit New England. Three to 5 inches of afternoon and evening snow was predicted in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, where the New England Patriots were hosting the Houston Texans.
Europe warns of dangers of Trump’s Greenland threats
Countries caution of ‘dangerous downward spiral’
BY STEFANIE DAZIO, JILL LAWLESS and EMMA BURROWS Associated Press
BERLIN The eight European countries targeted by President Donald Trump for a 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland blasted the move Sunday, warning that his threats “undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
The joint statement by some of America’s closest allies signaled a possible turning point in the recent tensions over sovereignty and security nearly 24 hours after Trump’s threat.
It was also the most forceful rebuke of Trump from the European allies since he returned to the White House almost a year ago. In recent months, Europeans have mostly opted for diplomacy and flattery around him, even when seeking an end to the war in Ukraine. Sunday’s statement, as well as some European countries sending troops to Greenland for a Danish military training exercise, appeared to be a step away from that strategy
The unusually strong joint statement from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland said troops sent to Greenland for operation “Arctic Endurance” pose “no threat to anyone.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters in Oslo that a dialogue was opened with the U.S. last week and “we will not give up on that. So we will stay on track — unless U.S. decides differently.”
Added Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide at the same news conference: “We will not allow ourselves to be put under pressure, and those types of threats (of U.S. tariffs) are unacceptable between close allies.”
Six of the countries targeted are part of the 27-member European Union, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trade.
Following emergency talks among the EU’s national envoys Sunday, EU Council President Antonio Costa said the bloc’s leaders agree “that tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and are incompatible with the EU-U.S. trade agreement.”
They expressed “readiness to defend ourselves against any form of coercion,” Costa said in a statement. He is expected to convene a summit of the bloc’s leaders later this week.
Trump’s Saturday announcement sets up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe He appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to U.S. national security
“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland,” the group said. “Building on the process begun last week, we stand ready to engage in a dialogue based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind. Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
There are immediate questions about how the White House could implement tariffs against the EU. It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under U.S. law though he could cite emergency economic powers that are currently subject to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said China and Russia will benefit from divisions between the U.S. and Europe. She added on social media: “If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Holiday inserts ‘sanity, morality into troubling climate’
BY KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press
ATLANTA Against a backdrop of political division and upheaval, the Rev Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter said the holiday honoring her father’s legacy comes as “somewhat of a saving grace” this year
“I say that because it inserts a sense of sanity and morality into our very troubling climate right now,” the Rev Bernice King said in an interview with The Associated Press. “With everything going on, the one thing that I think Dr King reminds people of is hope and the ability to challenge injustice and inhumanity.”
The holiday comes as President Donald Trump is about to mark the first anniversary of his second term in office on Tuesday The “three evils” — poverty, racism and militarism — that the civil rights leader identified in a 1967 speech as threats to a democratic society “are very present and manifesting through a lot of what’s happening” under Trump’s leadership, Bernice King said.
King, CEO of the King Center in Atlanta, cited efforts to roll back diversity equity and inclusion initiatives; di-
rectives to scrub key parts of history from government websites and remove “improper ideology” from Smithsonian museums; and immigration enforcement operations in multiple cities that have turned violent and resulted in the separation of families.
“Everything President Trump does is in the best interest of the American people,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in an email “That includes rolling back harmful DEI agendas, deporting dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American communities, or ensuring we are being honest about our country’s great
history.”
Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, one of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights coalitions, said King’s words “ring more true today.”
“We’re at a period in our history where we literally have a regime actively working to erase the Civil Rights movement,” she said. “This has been an administration dismantling intentionally and with ideological fervor every advancement we have made since the Civil War.”
Wiley also recalled that King warned that “the prospect of war abroad was un-
Official says $1B gets permanent seat on ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza
Letter invite sent to India, others
BY CARA ANNA and JOSH BOAK Associated Press
At least seven more countries said Sunday the United States has invited them to join President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” a new body of world leaders meant to oversee next steps in Gaza that shows ambitions for a broader mandate in global affairs. Two countries, Hungary and Vietnam, said they have accepted A $1 billion contribution secures permanent membership on the Trump-led board instead of a three-year appointment, which has no contribution requirement, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity about the charter, which hasn’t been made public. The official said the money raised would go to rebuilding Gaza.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has accepted an invitation to join the board, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told state radio on Sunday Orbán is one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Europe. Vietnam’s Communist Party chief, To Lam, also has accepted, a foreign ministry statement said.
India has received an invitation, a senior government official with knowledge of the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information hadn’t been made public by authorities. Jordan, Greece, Cyprus and Pakistan also said Sunday they had received invitations. Canada, Turkey Egypt, Paraguay, Argentina and Albania have already said they were invited. It was not clear how many have been invited in all.
The U.S is expected to announce its official list of members in the coming days, likely during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Those on the board will oversee next steps in Gaza as the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10 moves into its challenging second phase. It
includes a new Palestinian committee in Gaza, the deployment of an international security force, disarmament of Hamas and reconstruction of the war-battered territory In letters sent Friday to world leaders inviting them to be “founding members,” Trump said the Board of Peace would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict.”
That could become a potential rival to the United Nations Security Council, the most powerful body of the global entity created in the wake of World War II. The 15-seat council has been blocked by U.S. vetoes from taking action to end the war in Gaza, while the U.N.’s clout has been diminished by major funding cuts by the Trump administration and other donors.
Video shows fires in Palestinian village during Israeli settler attack
BY JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press
JERUSALEM Israeli settlers rampaged through a Palestinian village in the West Bank, setting fire to a series of structures, according to security camera footage obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday, in an overnight onslaught that has become a common phenomenon in the occupied territory
In the video, time-stamped at about 10 p.m. Saturday, several structures in the village go up in flames as the sound of gunfire, screaming and barking echoes in the background. At one point in the video, the fires grow so large that they illuminate the bands of settlers, dressed in black, pacing freely through
the village Also Sunday, at least four more countries said they had been invited to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, the international body expected to oversee his Gaza ceasefire plan and perhaps other conflict resolutions
Meanwhile, an Israeli Cabinet minister said that he’d ordered officials to disconnect the water and electricity for facilities of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNRWA It’s the latest action in Israel’s long-running campaign to shut down the agency UNRWA fears the shutdown could hamper its work in east Jerusalem.
The footage obtained by the AP showed the moment
dozens of settlers descended on the small Bedouin hamlet of Khirbet al-Sidra, north of Jerusalem, attacking Palestinians and international activists and burning cars and homes, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem governate, which monitors Palestinian affairs in the area.
In a statement, it said that eight homes and at least two cars were burned in the attack.
Israel’s military said that soldiers dispatched to the village found an Israeli vehicle with clubs inside. It said that Palestinians, Israelis and foreign nationals were injured, and troops were searching the area to make arrests. As of Sunday afternoon, no arrests had been reported.
dermining to the beloved community globally and it was taking away from the ability for us to take care of all our people.” Trump’s administration has engaged in military strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats and captured Venezuela’s president in a surprise raid earlier this month.
Bernice King said she’s not sure what her father would make of the United States today, nearly six decades after his assassination.
“He’s not here. It’s a different world,” she said. “But what I can say is his teachings transcend time and he taught us, I think the way to address injustice through
his nonviolent philosophy and methodology.”
Nonviolence should be embraced not just by those who are protesting and fighting against what they believe are injustices, but should also be adopted by immigration agents and other law enforcement officers, she said. To that end, she added, the King Center previously developed a curriculum that it now plans to redevelop to help officers see that they can carry out their duties while also respecting people’s humanity Even amid the “troubling climate” in the country right now Bernice King said there is no question that “we have
made so much progress as a nation.” The civil rights movement that her parents helped lead brought more people into mainstream politics who have sensitivity and compassion, she said. Despite efforts to scrap DEI initiatives and the deportation of people from around the world, “the inevitability is we’re so far into our diversity you can’t put that back in a box,” she said.
To honor her father’s legacy this year, she urged people to look inward.
“I think we spend a lot of time looking at everybody else and what everybody else is not doing or doing, and we’re looking out the window at all the problems of the world and talking about how bad they are and we don’t spend a lot of time on ourselves personally,” she said.
King endorsed participation in service projects to observe the holiday because they foster connection, sensitize people to the struggles of others and help us to understand each other better. But she said people should also look at what they can do in the year to come to further her father’s teachings.
“I think we have the opportunity to use this as a measuring point from year to year in terms of what we’re doing to move our society in a more just, humane, equitable and peaceful way,” she said.
Shewas involved in extracurriculars andengaged in her classesatLandry-Walker HighSchoolinNew Orleans. Sheknewshe wanted to go to collegeand that shewantedtobecomea teacher. Butwhensenior year rolled around andshe beganapplyingtocolleges, shehit aroadblock
“I gotintoa lotofschools,but Ididn’t have the fundingtoactuallygoand attend,” sheexplains. “I wasasmart kid, butI just didn’t have themoney—my family didn’t have themoney to getmethrough.”
Thankfully, an academic advisorlet herknow aboutthe LouisianaEducate Program(LEP),a fouryear programatthe University of LouisianaatLafayette.It’sspecifically for students from low-income backgroundsinNew Orleanswho qualifyfor TOPS andPellGrants. It provides financial,academic, andsocialsupport—aswellasa shared dorm and studycenterfor allstudents in theprogram.Each LEPscholar also hastheir ownpersonaladvisor
ForHeaven, allthiswas incredibly helpful, building what shecalleda “community away from home.”
“Growing up,I wasveryindependent,and school usuallycamenaturally to me,” sheexplains. “College wasthe first time Ireallyhad to navigate something unfamiliar as afirst-generationstudent.Having advisors whosupported me—not just academically butinlife—wasincrediblymeaningful.
Heaven wasamong theearliestclasses of LEP students;the programlaunchedin2018. Today, thereare 156studentsenrolled. LEPscholarsare persisting throughcollege at arateof90%,wellabove thecollege persistenceratenationallyof78%.And
thegraduationrateofLEP’s student’s—60%--is farhigherthanthe 38%gradrateofPell-eligible students from theULSystem overall. ButLEP doesn’t just help students move throughcollege and graduate—italsohelps them preparefor theirnext stepsfor life aftercollege
ForHeaven, that meanthavingconsistentsupport as sheworkedtowardher teaching certification.Her LEPadvisor connectedher with tutoring and, during momentswhenshe felt overwhelmed, encouraged her to keep going. With that support, thecommunity of herclassmates, LEP’sfinancialaid package, andher ownhardworkand dedication,Heavenhad everythingshe needed to graduate from theUniversity of LouisianaatLafayette andlaunchher career Heaven graduatedwithher bachelor’s degree and a teachingcertificatein2025. Today, she’sa 10th grade Englishteacher at Carencro High School (CHS)in Lafayette—giving back to her communityjust afew milesfromwhere shegraduated.She wasrecently recognized as theNew Teacherofthe Year at CHS for building strong relationshipswithher students whileholding them to high expectations andhelping them succeed.
“LEP created an opportunity for me—a kidwho grew up poor—togotocollege andhaverealsupport,” sheexplains. “I hadpeopleIcould go to,peoplewho poured into me,encouragedme, andpushedme. They leveledthe playingfieldfor me,preparedmefor my teaching career,and taught me endurance—somethingI rely on everysingleday in theclassroom.I’m so thankful for that.”
The Rev. Bernice King the daughter of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks Wednesday during an interview in Atlanta.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MIKE STEWART
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEHAD ALSHRAFI
Displaced Palestinians warm themselves around a fire Sunday at a tent camp in Gaza City
This articleisbrought to youbyRosenthal Family Foundation.
Lawmakersaim to containTrump’s Greenlandaggression
BY STEPHENGROVES
Associated Press
WASHINGTON Republican lawmakers are scrambling to contain President Donald Trump’s threats of taking possession of Greenland, with some showing the most strident opposition to almost anything the Trump administration has done since taking office.
They gave floor speeches on theimportance of NATO last week. They introduced bills meant to prevent the U.S. from attacking Denmark. And several traveled to Copenhagen to meet with Danish counterparts. But it’snot clear that will be enough, as the president continues to insist that he will take control of the Arctic island. It’sraised fears of an end to NATO —adecades-old alliance that has been apillar of American strength in Europe and around the globe and raisedquestions on Capitol Hill and around the world about what Trump’saggressive, go-it-alone foreign policy will mean for world order
“When the most powerful military nation on earth threatens your territory through its president over and over and over again, you start to take it seriously,” Sen. Chris Coons told The Associated Press.
The Delaware Democrat organized the bipartisan trip to Denmark to “bring the temperature down a bit,” he said, as well as further talks about mutual military agreements in the Arctic. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska accompanied ahandful of Democrats on the trip.
Also, Republican lawmakers joined in meetings in Washington last week with the Danish foreign minister and
his Greenlandiccounterpart where they discussed security agreements. Yetit’sclear Trump has other ideas. He saidSaturday he will chargea 10% import tax starting in February on goods fromeight European nations because of theiropposition to his Greenlandplans.
Trump said on social media that because of modern weaponssystems“theneed to ACQUIRE is especially important.”
Thepushback
Key Republicans have made clear they thinkthat forcefully takingGreenland is outofthe question.But so far,they’ve avoideddirectly rebukingTrumpfor his talk of possessingthe island.
Tillis on social media called Trumps tariff plans “badfor America, bad for American businesses, and badfor America’sallies.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune,R-S D.,told reporters Thursdaythat “there’scertainly notanappetite here for some of the options that have been talked aboutorconsidered.”
In afloor speech, Thune’s predecessorasRepublican leader,Sen. Mitch McConnell, warned that an attempt to seize Greenland would “shatter the trust of allies” and tarnish Trump’slegacy with adisastrous foreign policy decision.
Republican and Democratic lawmakersalike see an obviouspathtobolsteringAmerican interests in Greenlandwhilekeeping therelationship withNATOally Denmark intact In ameetingwith lawmakers Thursday,Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and hisGreenlandic counterpartVivian Motzfeldtdiscussed how
Ukrainianstrikes cut powerinterritory occupied by Russia
the countries could work together to developcriticalmineral industries and military cooperation,Coons said. The diplomats also told thesenators thereisnoevidence of Chinese or Russian activity in Greenland.
Trumphas made the argument thatthe U.S. should takeGreenlandbefore China or Russia do, prompting worry across Europe. Troops from several nations have been sent to Greenland in support of Denmark.
Murkowskisaidonsocial media that “our NATO allies arebeing forced to divert attention and resources to Greenland, adynamic that plays directlyintoPutin’s hands by threatening the stability of the strongest coalition of democracies the world has ever seen.”
What canCongressdo?
Lawmakersare looking at afew options for taking
amilitaryattack on Greenlandoff the table. Still, the Trump administration has shown little if anywillingness to get congressional approval before takingmilitaryaction.
Lawmakers, including Republicanslike Murkowski, are pushing legislation that would prohibit Department of Defense funds from being used to attack or occupy territory that belongs to other NATO members without their consent.
The Alaska senatoralso suggested Congress could act to nullify Trump’stariffs. Murkowski and several other Republicans have already helped pass resolutionslast year meant to undo tariffs around theglobe, but those pieces of legislation didnot gain traction in theHouse. They wouldhavealsorequired Trump’ssignature or support from two-thirds of bothchambers to override
his veto.
Democrats have also found some tractionwith war powers resolutions meant to forcethe president to getcongressional approval before engaging in hostilities. Republicanslast weeknarrowly defeated one such resolution that would prohibit Trumpfrom attacking Venezuela again, and Democrats think there could potentially be more Republicans whowould support one applying to Greenland.
“What I’ve noticed is these warpowers resolutions, they do put somepressure on Republicans,”saidSen TimKaine, aVirginia Democrat who hasforced votes on several similar resolutions. He said the tactic has also compelled the Trump administration to provide lawmakerswithbriefings and commitmentstoget congressional approval before deploying troops.
Still, while dismissing the Venezuela warpowers resolution on Wednesday, Republican leaders made the argument that thelegislation should be ruled out of order because the Trumpadministration has said there are currently no U.S. troopson the ground in Venezuela. Thatargument may set aprecedentfor future war powers resolutions, giving Republicans away to avoid voting against Trump’swishes.
“If youdon’t have boots on theground, it’s amoot point,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, aSouth Dakota Republican, about war powers resolutions in general. He also arguedthatthe prospect of taking Greenland over the objections of Denmark is nothing “morethan ahypothetical.”
Other Republicans have expressed support for Trump’sinsistencethatthe U.S. possessGreenland, though theyhavedownplayed the idea that the U.S. would take it by force.
That’sleftthe strongest objections on the Republican side of the aisle coming from ahandful of lawmakerswho areleaving Congress next year
Rep. Don Bacon, aNebraska Republican, told The Omaha World Herald thatan invasion of Greenland would lead to Trump’simpeachment—something he would “lean” towards supporting. Tillis, another retiring Republican,has directed his criticism at Trumpadvisers like White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller “The fact that asmall handful of ‘advisers’ are actively pushing forcoercive action to seize territory of an ally is beyond stupid,” he said.
Trains
collideafter onederails in Spain, killingatleast 20
By The Associated Press
KYIV,Ukraine Ukrainian drone strikes damaged energy networks in Russiaoccupied parts of southern Ukraine,leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power on Sunday,according to Kremlin-installed authorities there. Meanwhile, Moscow has kept up its hammering of Ukraine’senergy grid in overnight attacks that killed at least two people, according to Ukrainian officials. More than 200,000 households in the Russia-held part of Ukraine’ssouthern Zaporizhzhia region had no electricity on Sunday,according to theKremlin-installed local governor In aTelegram post, Yevgeny Balitsky said that nearly
400 settlements have had their supply cut, because of damagetopower networksfrom Ukrainiandrone strikes Russiahas hammered Ukraine’spower grid,especially in winter,throughout the nearly four-year war Thestrikesaim to weaken Ukrainians’ will to resist in astrategy that Kyiv officials call “weaponizing winter.” Russiatargeted energy infrastructure in Odesaregion overnightonSunday,accordingtoUkraine’s Emergency Service.A firebrokeout and was promptly extinguished. At least six people were wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk region from Russian attacks, the emergency service said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyysaid in aTelegram postthatrepairingthe country’senergy systemremains challenging, “but we are doing everything we can to restore everything as quickly as possible ” He said that two people were killed in overnightat-
Fridayindowntown Kyiv,Ukraine. Moscow continues attack on Ukraine energy grid
DamagedRussian military vehicles sit covered
tacks acrossthe country that struckSumy,Kharkiv,Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa
In total, more than 1,300 attack drones,1,050 guided aerial bombs and 29 missiles of varioustypes were used by Russiatostrike Ukraine this week, Zelenskyy said.
“If Russia deliberately delays thediplomatic process, theworld’sresponse should be decisive:morehelp for Ukraine and more pressure on the aggressor,” Zelenskyy said.
He spoke the day after a Ukrainian delegation arrived in the United States for talks on aU.S.-led diplomatic push to end the war On Friday,Zelenskyy said that the delegation would
trytofinalize with U.S. officials documentsfor aproposed peace settlement that relate to postwarsecurity guarantees and economic recovery
If American officials approve the proposals, the U.S. and Ukraine could sign the documents next week at the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos,Switzerland, Zelenskyy said at aKyiv news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel. Trump plans to be in Davos, according to organizers.
Russia would still need to be consulted on theproposals
BY SUMAN NAISHADHAM and JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press
MADRID Ahigh-speed train derailed in southern Spain on Sunday,jumping onto the track in the opposite direction and hitting an oncoming train in an accident thatauthorities estimate left more than 20 peopledead and dozens injured.
The evening train between Malaga andMadrid went offthe rails andslammed intoa train coming from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city,according to the Spanish rail operator Adif
Antonio Sanz, regional health minister for the Andalusia province where thecrash happened, said officials toldhim they fear thedeath tollmay rise above 20.
Rescueoperationsare ongoing, he said, adding that 73 injured passengers have been taken to six different hospitals.
The regional Civil Protection chief, María Belén Moya Rojas, told Canal Sur the accident happened in an area that is hard to reach.
Local people were taking blankets andwater to the scene to help the victims, she said.
European Commission President Ursula vonder Leyensaidina post on X that she wasfollowing “the terrible news” from Cordoba.
“Tonight youare in my thoughts,” she wrote in Spanish.
ADIF said trainservices between Madrid and cities in Andalucia would notrun Monday
for the
1-800-960-6397
BY GHAITH ALSAYED and OMAR ALBAM Associated Press
RAQQA, Syria The Syrian government Sunday announced aceasefirewith the Syrian Democratic Forces, taking almost full controlof the country and dismantling the Kurdish-led forces that controlled the northeast for over adecade.
The announcement comes as tensions between government forces and the SDF boiled over earlier this month, eventually resulting in amajor push by government forces toward theeast. The SDF appeared to have largely retreated after initial clashes on atense front line area in eastern Aleppo province. Hours after the govern-
ment announced thedeal SDF leader MazloumAbdi confirmed itinavideo statement,sayingthe grouphad accepted the agreement, which stipulates theirwithdrawalfromRaqqa and Deir el-Zour provinces “to stop the bloodshed.”
“Wewill explain the terms of theagreement to our people in thecoming days,” he said.
Syria’sDefense Ministry said it orderedthe fighting to halt on the front linesafter the agreement wasannounced.
Syria’s newleaders, since toppling Bashar Assad in December 2024, have struggled to asserttheir full authority over thewar-torn country An agreement wasreached in March that would merge
the SDF with Damascus,but it didn’tgain traction as both sidesaccused each other of violating the deal.
Sincethe push, thegovernment haslargely asserted control of the Deir el-Zour and Raqqa provinces, critical areas under theSDF that include oiland gasfields, river dams along theEuphrates, and border crossings.
Syria’sstate-run news agency SANA showed President Ahmadal-Sharaa signing and holding the agreement.Abdi, who was scheduled to meet with the president in Damascus was not seen, though his signature appeared on the document. Al-Sharaa told journalists that Abdi could not travel due to bad weather andwill visit Damascus on Monday
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByEVGENIy MALOLETKA
People protest Saturdayagainst President Donald Trump’sdesire to takeoverGreenland in front of the U.S. consulate in Nuuk, Greenland.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EFREMLUKATSKy
in snow
For months, given the president’sdominant role in Republican politics, the biggest question in Louisiana politics has been whetherTrump would endorse Letlow,one of Cassidy’salready-announced challengers or stay neutral in the race. Letlow has been expected to get in onlyifTrump endorsed her Trump’sdecisionindicates that he has not forgiven Cassidy for voting to convict the president on impeachment charges for instigating the Jan. 6, 2021,assault on the Capitol by his supporters. Cassidy has tried to offset that by beingasteadfast supporterofTrump since he began his second terma year ago and has saidlately that the president would stay out of the race.
“I don’tunderstand the president’sdeal,” said Eddie Rispone, aBatonRouge business owner and major Republican fundraiser who was nearly elected governor in 2019 and is supporting Cassidy.“Ithink it’s prettyridiculous. Youhave agreat guy making adifference. He chairs amajor committee and is on the Finance Committee. She’sobviously asmart person, but she’snot even a seasoned congresswoman It doesn’tmake sense to me. They’re all running on one vote he made on impeachment.”
paign said it has $11 million in cash, while asupportive super PAC, LouisianaFreedom Fund, had another $2.4 million on hand as of July 30, when it last reported to theFederal Election Commission.
The decision on whether any candidatewill run must come soon because qualifying forthe race occurs Feb. 1113.The closed-party primary is on May 16, and under new election rules, thetop two finishers would vie for the Republican nomination on June27 to face the topDemocrat in the fall.
of the number of elected
officials who have been eyeing her House seat if shejumpedintothe Senate campaign.
In the minds of many political analysts, Trump’sendorsement makes Letlow aformidable candidate.
Republican campaign operative.
If Letlow does indeed announce her candidacy,Cassidy’schallengers —state Treasurer John Fleming, state Sen. BlakeMiguez, state Rep. Julie Emerson and Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta —must then decide whether to stay in the race.
Cassidy also facesthat decision, although he has a massive fundraising advantage over his Republican opponents and Letlow, at least at this point. His cam-
QUESTIONS
Continued from page1A
On Tuesday,the Lafayette chapter of the NAACP asked the Sheriff’s Officetoend its agreements with ICE. Lafayette NAACP President Ravis Martinez ina statement asked the Lafayette Parish mayor-president and the parish and city councils to intervene in any way to slow downthe already-signed agreements.
“Public safety and civil rights are not opposites. In Lafayette, our history teaches us they must stand together,” Martinez wrote. “As President of the Lafayette NAACP,Iwant to be clear: this moment is not about politics or rhetoric it is about civil rights, due process, and the soulofour Parish. The letter goes on to state
CHANGES
Peoplewho spoke to Cassidy on Sunday said he has no plans to getout.
“I’m proudly running for reelection as aprincipled conservative who gets things done for the people of Louisiana,”Cassidysaid in a statement Saturday evening. “I am confident Iwill winif Congresswoman Letlowdecides to run ScramblingLa. politics
Letlow’slikely entry into therace also will scramble Louisianapolitics because
that Lafayette should not participate in or enablefederal immigration enforcement practices that“undermine trust, fracture families, or erodeconstitutional rights.”
“Wesay NO toICE in our Parish,” Martinez wrote.
Training,de-escalation
It remainsunclearwhat enforcement of the ICE agreementswill look likeinLafayette Parish Aspokesperson said the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t intend to knock down doors and raidkitchens and hotels for staff suspected of being in the countryillegally.The day-to-day lives of its deputies would notfundamentally change, the spokesperson said, and enforcement would occur insituationssuch as trafficstops and domestic disputes.
News about the Sheriff’s Office’ssigned agreement
Formerly asenior official at theUniversity of Louisiana at Monroe, she has been elected to the House twiceafter taking over for herhusband, Luke, who died from COVID in December 2020 just after winning the seat.Last year, shemoved from northeast LouisianatoBaton Rouge withher twochildren.
In December,Julia Letlow,44, got engaged at the White House to Kevin Ainsworth, aBaton Rouge lawyer and lobbyist Trumpcalled them up to thestage to congratulate them andinhis Truth Social post Saturday night wrote, “Should she decide to enter this Race, Julia Letlow has my Completeand Total Endorsement.”
She’s in an enviable position,saidScottWilfong, a
“Now it’s perfect timing for her to comeinand say, ‘I can’tignore the call from the greatest president of ourlifetime and the people from the greatest state in the country,’ ”said Wilfong. “The race maybeover. How do you beat the personendorsed by Trump? She has acompelling life story.She lost her husband. I’m just objectivelytalking. She will be asuper candidate.”
Letlow had been expected to announce herplansby Jan. 28, when Washington Mardi Gras —anannual extravaganza with parties and fundraisers for Louisiana’s political world —kicks off.
“It’sgoing to make an interesting lineofconversationinWashington Mardi Gras, with the buzz that’s always there,” saidRodneyAlexander, alobbyist who formerly held Letlow’s congressional seat.“There arealways alot of influential people in business and politics together there at one time.”
Asurpriseannouncement
Republican insiders have been complaining privately for weeks about Letlow’sinaction over whether to run for afull third term in the Houseorgiveupthatseat andchallenge Cassidy,as qualifyingfor theSenate and congressional races grew closer
Rumorsheated up during theChristmasholidaysthat she would takeonCassidy, but that talk died down.
It was not abig topic of discussion Friday night when Gov.JeffLandry held areception at theGovernor’s Mansion for members of the Republican State Central Committee, said two people who attended —nor at the committee’squarterly meeting on SaturdayinBaton Rouge.
That Trump announced the decision Saturday night caught mostpeople by surprise.
Landry,Fleming, Miguez and Emerson were all attending an annual fundraising gala for Louisiana Right to Life at Le Pavillion in Lafayette whennews broke.Word spread like wildfire in the room. (Cassidy had attended the group’sgala event in New Orleans the night before.)
Some stillbackCassidy
Trump’sendorsement came as an odd juxtaposition to amajor fundraiser Cassidy held at the BatonRouge Renaissance Hotel,where Senate Majority Leader John Thune, of South Dakota, was the star attraction.
Cassidy’steam said he raised $650,000 that night.
Rispone introduced Cassidy to the big crowd.Other heavy-hitters who showed their support forCassidy were BatonRouge business owner Lane Grigsby,Baton Rouge trial attorney Gordon McKernan andstate Senate President Cameron Henry R-Metairie.
“Itdoes not change my support (of Cassidy),” Henry said Sunday,referring to Trump’s endorsement. Richard Lipsey, another
Baton Rouge business owner and major fundraiser,echoed Henry’sstatement.
Cassidy “has done alot for the state andour country He’smade afabulous publicservant formanyyears,” Lipsey said,addingthathe also is afan of Letlow James Davison,amajor business owner and donor in Ruston, said he had thought Trumpwould stay neutral.
“I like her alot and am close to her,” Davison said, adding, “I think Cassidy has done a lot for us. I’m all right either way. Ihate to see twoRepublicansrunning against each other whoare strong.”
On Sunday,Fleming said in atextthathe’sstaying in the race and that pollsshowhim thumping Cassidy head-tohead in aRepublican Party runoff.
Miguez and Emerson have both been touting themselves as young MAGA warriors. They didn’trespond to texts on Sunday Skrmetta hasn’traisedany money,leading to doubts that he’ll actually qualify.But on Sunday,hesaid he is about to hold his first fundraiser Kathy Seiden, afirst-term St. TammanyParish Council member,announced in October that she’salsochallenging Cassidy Three little-known Democrats have saidthey planto run as well. If Letlow runs for the Senate, that will create awideopen racefor her5th Congressional District, which was based in northeast LouisianawhenLetlowwas first seated in 2021 but has been reconfigured and now includes the Florida Parishes andpredominantlyWhite precincts in Baton Rouge.
State Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, on Sunday said he would run, while state Rep. DixonMcMakin, R-Baton Rouge, texted an advertising logo he has already designed forhis campaign.
State Sen. Stewart Cathey, R-Monroe;state Rep. Daryl Deshotel, R-Hessmer; and state Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, all said on Sunday theyare considering the race
Continued from page1A
“Patients don’treceivea cancer diagnosis and then succumb to their disease weekslater,” Diaz said.“If youwere to extrapolate this out over time, Iexpect the numbers to be much, much larger.” The analysis relied on historical data from Arkansas’ short-lived Medicaid work requirement experiment and the nationwide Medicaid eligibility “unwinding” that followedthe end of pandemic-era protections.
Newrequirements
The new requirements arepart of President Donald Trump’sbudget and tax package approved by Congress last year,which mandates that statesverify Medicaid enrollees’ workor school status at least every sixmonths, though states may check more frequently. The changes are projected
to reduce Louisiana’sMedicaid rolls by 190,000 to 300,000 people, accordingto recent estimates. About 1in 3Louisianans is enrolled in Medicaid —one ofthe highest rates in thenation. Supporters of the changes say the rules are intendedto rein in risingMedicaid costs and encourage employment. Critics warn they could lead to widespreadadministrative churn, causing people who remain eligible to lose coverage after missing paperwork deadlines or reporting windows.
More surgeries
Cancer mortality in Louisiana ranks among thehighest in thenation, with an overall cancer death rate ofabout 218 deaths per 100,000 residents, compared with roughly146 per 100,000 nationally.Lung, breast and colorectal cancers account for the largest share of those deaths.
Dr.Shalini Kulasingam, a cancer screening researcher at Tulane University,said disruptions in screening tend to
came aday beforethe Minneapolis shooting, in which an ICE agent fired three shotsinto Good’svehicle. Federal officials have claimed the shooting was in selfdefense.
The incident has prompted national conversations about training standards for ICE agents and locallaw enforcement partners. Advocates and civil rights groups are questioningwhatthattraining includes, particularly whether it emphasizes deescalation tactics during arrestsand protests, and how officers are instructed to respond when bystanders or observers attempttointervene or document enforcementactivity
It has also renewed scrutiny of how local law enforcement agencies that partner with ICEunderfederal agreements prepare deputies for public interactions andcrowd dynamics.Critics
compound over time.
“Wewouldstill expect to continuetosee theramificationsofthis decision well beyond those two years,”Kulasingam said.
The analysis did notinclude other cancersLouisianahas highincidence ratesof, such as cervical cancer,she noted.
“They only looked at thebig cancers —breast,colorectal and lung —but there will be others that are impacted by this,”Kulasingam said.
Catching patients at alater date through symptomsrather than screening will also lead to treatments that are harderonpatients: more invasive surgeries and harsher chemotherapy,Diaz said. Oncologists are “preparing mentally” for harder conversations andbleaker outcomes, he said.
“We’re almost certainly going to seeaninflux of patients present at amore advanced stagewith cancersthat are manifesting with physical exams that otherwise would have been caught on surveillance,”Diaz said.
argue that unclear guidance on citizen involvement and intervention risksescalating encounters, whilelaw enforcement agencies sayofficer safety and operational control remain priorities.
TheAcadiana Advocatehas requested an interview withLafayette ParishSheriff Mark Garber but has yet to schedule one.
“There are so manyfactors goingonright now,” saidJames Pastor,aformer Chicagopoliceofficer and law enforcement expert. “There’ssomuch emotion. Ithink it’s avery volatile situation that, youknow,it’s becoming quitedangerous.”
Pastor said danger exists on both sides, whether it’scivilians being injured by agents or thethreats on agents’ safety
“Something has to tamp it down, andI don’tsee that happening,”headded.
Reimbursementincentives
TheSheriff’s Office’s agreement with ICE isn’tthe first in thestate,and it isn’t the first in Acadiana.Nearly 30 agencies from the state to the city level have signed agreements with ICEunder President Donald Trump’s first year back in office. In Acadiana,the Gueydanand Arnaudville policedepartmentshavesigned agreements.
The Lafayette PoliceDepartment has no agreements with ICE. Lafayette Police Chief Paul Trouard reiterated earlier in theweekthat he has no intention of signing any agreements with the agency but will assist it if requested.
ParticipationinICE’s 287(g) program has grown rapidly,with more than 1,000 agreements signed by September,according to ICE. Under President Barack Obama, only 32 state and local law enforcement agencies participated in the
program,according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
As aresult of Trump’sOne Big Beautiful Bill, agencies have been abletoreceive reimbursement for theirefforts to help the agency capture and detain the “worst of theworst,” accordingtothe Department of Homeland Security’swebsite. Starting in October,ICE will fully reimburse participating agencies for the annual salary and benefits of each eligible trainedofficer, includingovertime coverage up to 25% of the officer’sannual salary.The participating agency will be eligible for quarterlymonetary performance awards based on the “successful location of illegalaliens providedbyICE,” up to $1,000 per eligible task force officer
As of last week, fewer than 20 Lafayette sheriff’s deputies have signedupunderthe task force model, and fewer than 10 are signed up for the warrant servicemodel.
Martinez
Garber
STAFF FILE PHOTO By JILLPICKETT
President DonaldTrump endorsed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlowfor Louisiana’sSenate race over Sen.Bill Cassidy.
Trump Cassidy
USDA says UL lab violated rules
PETA seeks investigation into animal welfare practices
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said a University of Louisiana at Lafayette research facility in New Iberia failed to follow federal regulations when it shipped monkeys.
The document, obtained by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, asked the facility to cor-
Board
sides with employee over job posting
Lafayette Fire Department dispatcher says he missed chance at promotion
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL
Staff writer
The Lafayette Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board said the Lafayette Fire Department did not follow the law when it failed to post an upcoming test on a bulletin board.
The board unanimously agreed with a dispatcher that the Fire Department improperly notified employees about a job advancement test in June 2023.
Attorney Daniel Landry argued that Chester Bergeron may have been passed up for a promotion when the Fire Department relied on email to issue a notice for a job advancement test.
“We will open lines of discussion with the city to see how we’re going to resolve (relief), and it could result in litigation,” Landry said.
Lafayette Consolidated Government does not plan to appeal the decision Civil service departments are
Scott home a total loss in fire
Staff report
The Scott Fire Department responded to a report of a house fire in the 6800 block of Cameron Street about 9:15 p.m. Saturday Upon arrival,
crews found an abandoned home fully engulfed in flames. Five fire engines were used to combat the
while two 3,000-gallon water tanker trucks were dispatched to shuttle water from nearby hydrants in order to maintain an adequate water supply for firefighting efforts. Crews were able to bring the fire under control after about 30 minutes, according to a statement from the Fire Department. Because of the extensive damage, investigators were unable to determine the exact cause of the fire However, fire officials said a displaced person or people may have lit a fire inside the house during the cold weather that ultimately spread out of control.
The structure was deemed a total loss. No firefighters or civilians were injured in the incident. Aid was provided by the Duson and Judice fire departments.
rect its actions moving forward after it shipped dozens of primates without obtaining valid health certificates, risking the spread of tuberculosis.
“The University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) are committed to the highest standards of animal care, following all federal and state rules and regulations,” said a university spokesperson.
In September, PETA called on the federal agency to investigate the research center, alleging that it and a trucking company violated the Animal Welfare Act when they shipped 34 long-tailed macaques to a facility in Reno, Nevada, in January 2025. The New Iberia center conducted a routine health screening on Dec. 12, 2024, before shipping, but regulations require that no pri-
mate be shipped more than 10 days past its inspection date.
Additionally, the federal agency found that on Jan. 27, 2025, the research facility transported 19 macaques to another facility in Louisiana, 18 days past initial inspection.
The university called the incident a “clerical error,” and stated that the research center adhered to all USDA rules and regulations
governing transportation and that a USDA-accredited vet inspected and approved the animals for transportation on Jan. 6, 2025.
“As tuberculosis swirled around U.S. laboratories, the New Iberia Research Center sent monkeys across multiple state lines, risking the safety of the monkeys and every human they came across,” wrote Lisa Jones-Engel, PETA senior science adviser for primate issues.
Timely inspection helps reduce
TOP SKILLS
Lafayette schools chief garners recognition
Staff report Lafayette Parish schools Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr was named one of 30 superintendents to watch by the National School Public Relations Association. The organization annually recognizes superintendents in their first five years who demonstrate
dynamic leadership and a strong commitment to effective, strategic communication. Honorees are recognized for using clear, innovative communication practices to engage stakeholders,
STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE
learns
World Tour’ makes
stop at the Cajundome on Friday in Lafayette.
Globie the mascot greets fans by giving running high-fives.
Thoseharmed in Bourbon Street terror attack deserve compensation
On theone-year anniversary of the Bourbon Street attack, our hearts went out to the innocent victimsand their families. They, like thevictims in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, became the targets of aterrorist attack simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Bourbon Street victims, no less than the 9/11 victims, should be compensated by our nation. Ipropose that afund similar to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund be created to compensate the BourbonStreet attack victims.
Congress created the VCF shortly after 9/11 to compensate the9/11 victims with federal monies with the quid pro quo they would not file lawsuits against the airline corporations involved.
Like 9/11, this was an act of terrorism against the United States. The perpetrator was aHouston resident who chose New Orleans as thelocus of his attack only because it presented asoft target with large pedestrian crowds. In videos posted minutes before the attack, theterrorist pledged his allegiance to ISIS and stated that he wanted his act to highlight the “war between the believers and thedisbelievers”.
Asimilar VCF should be created to compensate the Bourbon Street attack victims and their familieswith the quid pro quo of their agreement to dismiss their lawsuits against the City of New Orleans and its contractors. This fund would provide immediate compensation and closure to the victimsand their families instead of years of uncertain litigation.
This bill should be coauthored by U.S. Rep. Troy Carter and U.S.Rep. SteveScalise, bothof whom represent New Orleans in Congress.
Even in today’shighly polarized political environment, this is abill that all Americans can unitebehind, just as we all united after the 9/11 attacks.
THOMAS MILLINER NewOrleans
YOUR VIEWS
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By EMILIO MORENATTI
TheNorthernLights shimmer over homes in Nuuk, Greenland, in February.
Greenlandright to balk if Landry is themessenger
Putting oneself in another person’sshoes is agood way to seetheir point of view.The followingishow Greenlanders might see Greenlandbecoming an American colony, territory,state, district or whatever:
Gov. Jeff Landry,since President Donald Trump chose you as the envoy,hemust wantGreenlanders to use your stateofLouisiana to represent what Americabrings. We acceptTrump’sdecision. Like Louisiana, Greenland has poverty and hunger,but we worktoeliminate those deficiencies rather than burdenand hinder support to those in need. And we certainly wouldnot trade our free healthcarefor America’shigh-cost and Louisiana’sthird worst-in-America systems Greenland is pristine. We have no interest in Louisiana’sand Trump’spursuit of polluting industrieswhile deregulating pollution controls. Greenland doesn’twant arecreation of Louisiana’s“cancer alley.”
By comparison, our public education is excellent, and we seenoway to reconcile yours with ours. Then thereisthe sensitive
subject of image. Greenland’stourism is growing. Visitorsencounter afriendly,relaxed, free, safe atmosphere. Greenlanders don’twant the intimidating, chilling image of nameless, masked, armed personnel roaming our cities that you and Trump promote. Plus,weare terrifiedbyLouisiana’s and America’sgun violence, which would bring Greenlanders extinction. Yearly,American gun deaths equal 85% of Greenland’spopulation. 85%! Greenland is an independent territory of Denmarkwithdiverse native ethnicities. We bask in Denmark’sworldwide image and reputation of inclusion, respect and peace. America’spervasive bigotries and Trump’sdenigrations and aggressions towardcitizens, immigrants, neighbors, allies (and us!) are not in line withDenmark’simage and reputation.Nor Greenland’s. Gov.Landry, Greenlandersare flattered by America’sinterest, though unrequited. So, as Louisiana youths say,“We good.” CHARLES MOSLEY Morgan City
Louisiananeeds to prioritize amodernizedonlinevoter portal
Iamwriting to express concern about the Louisianasecretary of state’soffice not providing online access to voter address of record information. This lack of digital accessibility creates unnecessary barriers for Louisiana citizens trying to verify their voter registration details.
theadministrative burden on the secretary of state’soffice by reducing phone and in-person inquiries. Third, it would bring Louisianainline with modern standards of government transparency and digital service delivery that citizens have come to expect.
Recognitionof work wastruly moving for Louisianan of year finalist
Iamhonored to be afinalist forLouisianan of the Year.Our state is full of people whoquietly give their timeand hearts to others, and to be listed among them is humbling. Still, if Icould hand back every bit of recognition foreven one momentofpeace forour libraries and the people whowork in them,I would.
Our libraries and their staffhave been under constant attack. These are the samepeople whohelp children learn to read, support families, connect neighbors to information and create places where everyone belongs. They deserve respect and gratitude, not mistrust. Igrew up on “Reading Rainbow,” Jesus and “SesameStreet.” Ilearned to love my neighbor,stand with the underdog and defend the Constitution. That is what Iamtrying to do. What moves me mostabout this honor is being mentioned alongside first responders. They are true heroes. When my husband washit by adrunk driver, first responders were there. They brought calm, compassion and courage when everything felt uncertain. They walk toward danger so the rest of us can live our lives, often forfar less pay than their service deserves. In my book, they are the Louisianans of the Year every year
If this recognition shines even asmall light on the people whokeep our communities safeand supported, in our libraries and in our emergency services, that will be the greatest honor of all.
In rush to builddata centers, we must respect waterresources
OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SEND US ALETTER, SCAN HERE
In an era where most states offer robust online voter portals, Louisianavoters must resort to phone calls, in-person visits or written requests to confirm their registered address. This is particularly problematic given that address accuracy is crucial for receiving election materials and ensuring one votes at the correct polling location.
Online access to one’sown voter registration information,includingaddress of record, would provide several benefits: First, it would allow voters to quickly verify their information is current and correct, reducing the risk of Election Day complications. Second, it would decrease
Many states have successfully implemented secure online voter portalsthat allow individuals to access their ownregistration information while protecting privacy and security. Louisianashould follow this example and invest in providing this basic digital service to itscitizens.
Iurge thesecretary of state’soffice to prioritize thedevelopment of an online voter information portal that includes address of record access. Louisiana voters deserve thesame convenient, transparent access to their registration information that citizens in other states already enjoy
DAVID LEVY chair,IberiaParish Democratic Party
Whynot tunnel underMississippi instead?
Why can’tthe state of Louisiana build atunnel under the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge instead of abridge that will destroy the historic cypress forests? Many countries worldwide have built large underwater tunnels able to handle large amountsoftrafficand not destroy the environment
New York City built one in thecity and did not disrupt traffic.
Isuggestthe LouisianaDepartment of Transportation or someonetake the time to explorethis method of crossing the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge.
DAVID RUBENSTEIN NewOrleans
It is my opinion that any large facility with the capability of affecting Louisiana residents’ health and well-being needs to have awater management plan. Ialso believe that this project has a great enough scale that the residents should be allowed to learn about how it could affect their access to water.This is especially true in this age of misinformation curated by social media. At the Monroe facility where Iwork, we are required by federal, state and local jurisdictions to have amanagementplan that incorporates remediation when the status quo is upset. These management plans and records are monitored continuously.This is something that Ihope our state will continue to monitor after the initial five years mentioned in the original article. Water is the mostbasic resource forlife. I challenge us as Louisiana residents not take it forgranted.
Currently being aRichland Parish resident, Ihave driven through the Meta site in Holly Ridge. It gave me hope to see different retention ponds and measures taken to manage water effectively.Region 8isapredominantly rural area with people drawing water using personal wells on their property Iguarantee the majority of these wells are not deep enough to support astain on the Mississippi alluvial aquifer.This is just another cost that residents will incur to be able to access the mostbasic resource. From the rivers to the marsh, we have benefited from water; it is ingrained in our heritage. It has always provided us, so let us protect and respect it.
JOSHUAFLOYD Rayville
COMMENTARY
IN FOCUS MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
On Martin Luther King Day, we asked for reflections from around the state on the life of the civil rightsleader and the lessons he left for us today.
Adream,anightmare,aburning house
Martin Luther King Jr.didn’tjust have adream;hebuilt one. It was forged in the pews of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where faith and strategy met. It took shape in the halls of Morehouse College, where Benjamin Mays taught him that religion without action is just noise. It wastested in asegregated America determined to break him before he ever spoke aword. That’swhat made his dream powerful. It wasn’twishful thinking; it was the disciplinedbelief that organized people could bend injustice until it cracked.
Honoring King’s legacy requires courage
erty,the war in Vietnam draining young lives and anation eager to quote him on Sunday while betraying his message by Monday.His “nightmare” wasn’tdespair; it was clarity.America wanted his poetry, not his pressure. Then camethe warning that echoes today: “I fear Ihave integrated my people into aburning house.”
By 1967, King began sayingwhatfew wanted to hear: The dream was turning into anightmare. He saw Black families boxed intopov-
He didn’tregret the struggle. He meant America’shouse, its systems of greed, racism and war,was on fire. Equalitywithout transformation would only let us burn together in comfort. Kingdidn’tstop dreaming; he realized freedom had to mean more than access.Ithad to mean healing anation’s soul. Baton Rouge helped teach that lesson early.In1953, ayoungwoman named Martha White
refused to give up her seat
The Rev.T.J. Jemison helped turn that courage into strategy,building acarpool network that hit thebus system where it hurt, in its profits, and proved protest could be organized.
Twoyears later,when Montgomery rose, King called Jemison for advice. He later cametoBaton Rouge himself, acknowledging that what was tested here helped light thepath for the wider movement. King’sdream never died; it demanded moreofus, right now
The question isn’twhether we remember it.It’swhether we are ready to fight thefire he warned us about Eugene Collinsisacommunity advocate and aformer presidentofthe NAACP Baton Rouge chapter
MLK’swords should stillsearustoday
Idon’tremember learningaboutMartinLutherKing Jr
He was just like the lyrics toThe Temptations’ “My Girl.” Ijust woke up one day already knowing. And that familiarity makes it easy to take his greatness for granted.
I’m sure I’m not alone. My entire life, his birthday was a holiday.Streets in every city bear his name. Every February, like clockwork, the firstperson we’d talk about in school was MLK. Honoring him was natural, almost automatic. Because of that, it never crossed my mind that his birthday would not be a holiday or that his image would be used for partyflyers and comical AI renderings, yet here we are. He’sbecome so common that we don’trealize how uncommon he truly was
The 1979 Iranian Revolution was one of the most stingingU.S setbacks of the Cold War era. Alongtime ally that the U.S. depended on as apillar of regionalsecurity, the shah, gave way to a theocratic regime based on hostility to America.
Honoring and continuing to observe Martin Luther King Jr.’sbirthday remains essential because it is not merely ahistorical observance; it functions as amoral checkpoint for the nation. MLK Daycalls each generation to examine whether the country is moving closer to the ideals King championed or drifting further from them.The day carries ongoing relevance because he represented unfinished work, not a completed victory King wasassassinated while organizing foreconomic justice, labor rights and opposition to militarism.His lifeand death underscore that civil rights were never “solved” in the 1960s. Persistent challenges such as racial inequality,voter access, wealth gaps, massincarceration, housing discrimination and educational inequity remain unresolved. Observing his birthday keeps these realities in clear view and prevents society from treating progress as final when significant work remains. He modeled moral courage and disciplined nonviolence. In an era marked by hostility, backlash and personal risk, King maintained that nonviolence wasnot only amoral conviction but also astrategic force. His example affirmsthat how justice is pursued matters just as much as whether it is pursued.
King did not only advocate policy reform; he challenged the nation’sconscience. He called foratransformation of values. Observing his birthday reinforces the truth that democracy requires ethical participation, empathy and responsibility from everyday citizens, not solely from elected officials. Collective memoryshapes collective behavior.When societies lose sight of their truthtellers, they often repeat the sameinjustices. MLK Dayserves as asafeguard against historical amnesia and against the temptation to sanitize or oversimplifythe past.
Acursoryeducation teaches us that King spearheaded the Civil Rights Movement and, of course, everyone knows his “I Have aDream” speech. But takeamoment to dive deeper Kingwasn’tdoing these things easily.His work was not always welcomed or widely embraced at thetime. Despite how he now stands as asymbol of peace, many thought of him then as radical, disruptive, dangerous and a threat.
This year,aswecelebrate Martin Luther King Day,try viewing it through adifferent lens than we’re used to.
Yes, remember the Nobel Peace Prize andthe marches, but also remember how controversial that award and those actionswere at the time. Read his wordsbeyondthe sound bites. Listen to themessage for what it is and not as
history has softened it
Reflect on how far this country has come because of people like King, but recognize these struggles aren’tancient history.Progress is indeed fragile, and, without collective courage to stand up and fight injustices, regression is apossibility. Anyone of us could be amodern Civil Rightsleader
Andifsomeone tells you you’re being too radical, remember that they said that to King, too. Martin Luther KingJr. is not just a figurehead of atime passed. He’s areminder that the fight continues today As we remember him, we are reminded of the responsibility we’ve inherited to continue to build abetter tomorrow, just as he helped build for us today
Keah Moffett workswith theOffice of AlumniAffairs at Hampton University She is amember of the New Orleans Baby Doll Ladies.
The revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy and seized our diplomatic personnelinNovember1979. If that wasn’tenough of anational embarrassment, adramatic rescue attempt by the U.S. military in April 1980 ended in abject failure at astaging area in Iran dubbed Desert One.
As the Islamic Republic totters on the precipice, struggling to put down country-wide proteststhat aremore threatening than anyit has ever faced, it is possible to imagine that we could be about to experience abookend, from 1979
to 2026. The first Iranian revolution cameinthe context of a U.S.brought low by its exit from Vietnam, of a hollow U.S. military, of the advance of our enemies aroundthe world (from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to theSandinista takeover in Nicaragua), and of afeckless president in the person of Jimmy Carter, whose administration was associatedwith U.S. retreat.
AsecondIranian revolution, which is obviously not aguarantee, would underline the opposite dynamic onall counts.
It’snot truethat Jimmy Carter threw the shah overboard. The Iranian ruler’sown incompetence and indecisiondid him in.He couldn’t decide tosuppress or placate theprotest movement, and provedunabletodoeither By some estimates, it was —as
a share of the population —the largest revolutionary movement in modernhistory.Inechoes of thecurrent situation in Iran, rampant inflation, regimeselfdealing, middle-class disaffection,and ideological and regional priorities that didn’talign with what most Iranians wanted fueled therevolt.
In acrucial dynamic that we haven’tyet seen in contemporary Iran, themilitary began to melt away,and it wasn’tclear if the shah had tried toshoot his way into stayinginpower,how many troops would have been ready to carry out their orders.
Once in charge, themullahs undertook alow-level, ongoing war against theUnited States via terrorist proxies and spread its maligntentacles throughout the Middle East in abid for regional dominance.
U.S. administrations tended to believe that it was too difficult to
This year,King’slegacy can be considered through three important lenses. First, nonviolence in an age of outrage and dehumanization. Today’sclimate, shaped by social media, misinformation and political hostility,often rewards outrage over understanding. King’s philosophy calls for resisting dehumanization and pursuing justice without surrendering our humanity.Second, interconnected struggles. King increasingly emphasized globaljustice and solidarity across race, class and national boundaries, reinforcing the truth thatinjustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere. Third, civic responsibility.Heconsistently taught that lasting change is driven by everyday people Honoring his life should prompt reflection on voting, organizing, learning, serving and speaking up, even whenuncomfortable Observing King’sbirthday also requires honest self-examination. It asks whether society is choosing comfort over justice, mistaking symbolic progress forstructural change and whether citizens are willing to be, as King said, “creatively maladjusted” to injustice. To honor King rightly is not merely to praise his dream,but to wrestle with his demands and decide what action is required now
StateRep.Adrian Fisher,D-Monroe, represents District 16. He is co-pastorof LivingWater Ministries withhis wife in Monroe.
domuch about this, and Barack Obama actively sought to accommodate Iranian power
Now,though, the dynamic has changed. As Trumphas said in a different context, thehunter has becomethe hunted.
After Oct. 7, the Israelis systematically neutered Iran’sproxies, and Tehran lost asignificant ally with the fall of Bashar alAssad.
Whereas Iran humiliated us in 1979 with the embassy seizure, we humiliated Iran last year with thestrikes on its nuclear sites that made the regime’spainful, decades-longeffort to get anuke seem acostly misadventure.
The contrast in U.S. military proficiency,itisworth noting, between Operation Eagle Claw, theaborted Delta Force operation in 1980, and Operation Midnight Hammer couldn’tbestarker At thesame time, the U.S. has apresident very different from
Jimmy Carter
No one will ever find Donald Trumpwearing asweater and talking to the nation about malaise. Trump’smode is pure assertion, based on an impulse toward personal and national dominance alien to Carter
The Iranians may be able to cajole Trumpinto negotiations, but they will never be able to push him around, and they disregard his threats at their peril. If the regimeactually falls and is replaced by an allied or nonhostile government in Iran, it would movealarge piece off the strategic chessboard forour enemies, and change the geopolitical balance of the Middle East. As much as the 1979 revolution was adebacle fthe West, afavorable 2026 revolution would be aboon —tothe Iranians and to us and our allies.
Rich Lowry is on X, @RichLowry
Rich Lowry
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
From left to right,the Revs. T.J. Jemison,ofBaton Rouge; C.K. Steele, of Tallahassee, Fla.; F.L. Shuttlesworth, of Birmingham, Ala.; andMartin Luther King,Jr.,lead aconference of SouthernBlack leaders studying busintegration on Jan. 11, 1957, in Atlanta.
Adrian Fisher GUEST
N.O. mayorapologizesfor spending cuts comments
Sponsors sought to payDJs for GallierHall Carnival events
BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer
Mayor Helena Moreno is seeking sponsors to pay musicians and DJs to perform at Gallier Hall for Carnival celebrations after her administration’s announcement last week thatitwould cut spending on musical entertainment drew criticism from the industry. In avideo posted to Instagram on Saturday afternoon, Moreno apologizedto anyone who felt disrespected by her administration’s comments and said she wanted to “make it right” by raising private donations to pay performers
“Let me be clear: Music, culture, our musicians, our DJs, you name it —you are all so important to me. You mean theworld to me,” Moreno said in the video.
“I understand how hard your work is and Iunderstand how important you
aretothe city of New Orleans, whichiswhy I’veincluded so many of you for my events over theyears. andcompensated you.”
Speaking before the City Council last week, Chief Administrative Officer Joe Giarrusso singled out the city’sspending on DJs last year while announcing cuts to the city’s budget for the Carnival celebration.
Former Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration spent $240,000 in 2025, while Moreno plans to spend$40,000, hesaid “Wewerepaying $15,000 on DJs for two weeks,” Giarrusso said. “So what are we goingtodo? We’re going to have guest DJs.We’re going to have people from acrossthe city andwelcome yourinput.” Giarrussoalsoasked councilmembersto start curating Spotify playlists theycan plug in and play Michael Hecht, the CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc., has also agreed to DJ for free under hisstage name, DJ El Camino.
The comments sparked apassionate reaction online. Some performerssaid they’d happily volunteerto perform. Othersnoted that
$15,000 isn’t abad deal for two weeks of music and said it was disrespectfulto suggestDJs workfor free.
“I’m all for volunteering to help your favorite local nonprofit,” DJ Soul Sister wroteonInstagram. “But City Hall isn’tanonprofit organization. Even more, CityHall should respect (and pay for) the work and skills of all its citizens. I’mcrossing my fingers forCityHall (broke or not). ...”
Moreno in Saturday’s videopointed to hertrack record of supporting New Orleansmusicians.On the CityCouncil, she authored an ordinance that requires the city to pay musicians at least $200 per hour
Moreno also raised private donations to pay for musicianstoperform at last week’sinauguration. That event featured 442 performers, allofwhom were compensated, with the exception of Trombone Shorty,who donated his time,and the Marine Corps ReserveBand.
“I’ve said it in the past Iamnot aperfect person. We do not have aperfect administration, and when
we do make mistakes,we’ll admit themand we’ll apologize. So Iapologize, but in apologizing, Iwill also
make it right,” Moreno said in the video. The Times-Picayune submitted apublic records
requestonSaturday for a costbreakdownofspending for the city’sGallier Hall Carnival celebration.
Film high school seekspermanent BatonRouge location
Academyaimsto preparestudents forcareers in TV, movieproduction
BY CHARLESLUSSIER Staff writer
Along-planned film school for Baton Rouge teenagers is conducting alast-minute hunt for aplace to hold classes when it opens this fall.
“The goal is to have asolid location by Jan. 31,” said Fallon Buckner Ward, executive director of the Louisiana Academy of Production
Thespecializedhigh school originally was set to settle at Celtic Studios, but more recently it had shifted to Baton Rouge Community College’sFrazier campus as its likely home. The 555 Julia St. property,7miles east of Celtic and just south of downtown, was vacated a year ago and is up for sale Before that sale can go through, though, the Legislature has to approve it. This year’slegislative session runs from March 9toJune 1.
“We’re notgoing to be able to renovate that building by August,” Ward said.
The new school is part of a wave of public high schools preparing teenagers for careers in theproduction side of film and television, including postproduction,technical, craft and business jobs in the industry
The first was the Roybal Film and Television Magnet SchoolinLos Angeles. It opened in fall 2022 and hasa bevy of prominent backers, including actors Don Cheadle and George Clooney Similar schools have since opened in New York City and in nearby Yonkers, New York. Unlike those other schools,
BOARD
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which are all part of tradi-
tional school districts,the Louisiana AcademyofProductionisanindependent charter school.Its charter, approved by state educational leaders in October 2024, allows it to enrollstudentsnot only from Baton Rouge but from anywhere in Louisiana.
Celtic origins
PatrickMulhearn,who guided Celtic Studios from 2009 to 2017, led the prospective film school early on. He saidthe ideagrew out of efforts to revive and solidify Louisiana’sfilm industry after its downturn in 2015, when the state reduced the generosity of itsfilm tax credits.
“You can’tdepend upon Hollywood to send you work,” Mulhearn concluded. “You need to be able to create yourown.”
One obstacletosuchindependence hasbeen the state’s difficulty in building its own film crews and providing them with enough work to remaininLouisiana.
Mulhearn said he first thought ofcreating the Louisiana AcademyofProduction afterreading anews story about thenew film school in Los Angeles. He said he mentioned it during ameetinghehad withnewly appointed Baton Rouge Area Foundation CEO Chris Meyer,who expressed interest Mulhearn said he then reached outto Bryan Lourd, aNew Iberianative who is now CEO and co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency CAAisaninfluential talent agency in Los Angeles that represents top Hollywood talent, including Clooney Lourd is also abacker of the Roybal school in Los Angeles.Hewas immediately on board.
“I was justtalking with George (Clooney)about
how this would be perfect forLouisiana,” Mulhearn recalled Lourdsaying. “Could you set up acall?”
“So we set up this call,” Mulhearn continued. “It became obviousthatBaton Rouge checked allthe boxes.”
Less Celtic
The originalcharterapplication called for the productionschool to locate on available property at Celtic’slarge campus off Airline Highway.Mulhearn, however,departed in summer 2024 after his initial contract expiredwith school funder,New Schools for Baton Rouge.
Ward replaced him,and not long after,the idea of locating at Celtic was dropped.
“Wewould have been in a smaller building thatwould have only housed us for two years,” Ward explained. To growtocapacity,the school wouldhaveneeded to add temporarybuildings to the site, she said.
Instead, theschool is forging apartnership where students will visitCeltic weekly to learn theirrespective crafts.
Cory Parker, Celtic’scurrent executive director, said the door remains open for thefilm school to locate at Celtic,but he is readyto work with thenew school to give its students true work experience.
“The goal is not just have them in class learning about the industry,but have them here, actually have peoplehere,learningonthe ground,”Parker said.
Search forahome
TheLouisianaAcademy of Production’sinitial opening in August—ayear later than originally planned —will include only ninth graders, about 75 of them. Consequently,the school
needs limited space for that first year
It will need more space over time. It plans to add agrade at atime until it has all the traditionalhigh school grades by fall 2029 It plans to reach capacity by 2033, withabout 600 students.
For that first year,Ward said she is looking for a school willing to share its extra space.
Afterthat, the vacant BRCCFrazier campus is likely thenext, perhaps the permanent, home for the charter school.
Building 1onthe BRCC property is two stories tall and 50,700 square feet. It hasclassrooms,offices, labs, aconference room andstudent support areas. Building 2is an 11,310-square-foot, single-story metal building. It housedanautomotive training center and was renovated in 2014 for arts classes.
“There’s alot of transformational areas in thatparticular building,” Ward said. Transforming it won’tbe cheap. The film school is hoping to raise $9 million over thenext seven years, much of which will pay for renovating and outfitting theplace.
“We’re talking about afilm and televisionproduction facility,” shesaid. “That’s a prettyexpensive endeavor.”
Louisianapotential
Akey goal of the new high school is to supply Celtic and otherstudios with the skilled workforce they will need to workonfuture productions. Parker said he sawthe potential for suchworkforce development during avisit to the Roybal school in Los Angeles after it opened.
“Intheir English class, they were breaking down scripts. In math, theywere drawingupbudgets,” Parker recalled. “Itwas pretty cool. Iwas jealous.”
He said the plans he has seen so far showthe Louisiana school could prove to be an even better training ground.
“I think it’sgoing to be a lotmore involvedand alot more intense forthe students,” Parker said. “They are going to feel like they are filmmakers when they graduate, or ready to be.”
This is Ward’sfirst time running aschool. She arrives with avaried background. She got her start working as atelevisionnews producer in several cities, includingBatonRouge and NewOrleans. She then shifted to schools, working as ateacher andgirls’basketballcoach at Lutcher High. She went on to work with the Louisiana High School Athletic Association andSpecial Olympics Louisiana.
Students will learnvia project-based learning and can graduate with not only adiploma, but also an industry-based credential. Ward said the school will offer some traditional high school sports, including basketball, volleyball, crosscountry,track and field, and will add moredown the road as the school adds grades and students.
“It’s not just aschoolfor kids who are interested in film and production,” she said. “It’sschool forall kids. It’s just amore focused direction.”
Email Charles Lussier at clussier@theadvocate. com.
required to post all promotionalorcompetitivetests through official notice on a bulletin board, according to Louisiana statute. Although Bergeronhas adepartment-issued email address, he toldthe board it is not regularly monitored and thathewas never officiallynotifiedofthe test. The FireDepartment’s attorney, Michael Corry, argued that email communication should suffice in the digital era. It didn’t appear to swaythe board, which sidedwith the statute.
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the spread of tuberculosis among primate populations. PETA, in the August report, said the cases arerising among monkeys imported to the United States.
Former Lafayette Fire Chief Robert Benoit, who
retiredinAugust, attended the board meetingand defended the department. Additionally, theboard voted 3-1 to nullify the 2023 advancementtest taken by oneemployee, who waslater promoted. Theemployee retains herposition
Email StephenMarcantel at stephen.marcantel@ theadvocate.com.
Stop Animal Exploitation Now! claimed the universityhad a“history of breaking federal law” andhad paid finesofupto$100,000 in 2017.The university has paid threeother federal fines since 2007.
The deathswere classified as a“critical” noncompliance incident, and the universityreceived an official warning.
In 2021, an Ohio-based animal rightsorganization calledfor federal fines to be levied against the university after fiveinfant monkeys died due to dehydration at the New Iberia facility
Email Stephen Marcantel at stephen.marcantel@ theadvocate.com.
NewOrleans MayorHelena Moreno’sadministration is slashing its budgetfor MardiGras festivities at Gallier Hall, wherethe city sets up viewing stands where offi
SPORTS
Orgeron: ‘I want to coachagain’
Former LSUcoach on life afterhis firing —and whyhewants to return to thesidelines
BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer
MIAMI BEACH,Fla. Ed Orgeron walked shirtless with his wife through the crowds, past bright yellow and pink restaurant awnings and the nearby ocean. They made their way down acement path thattraces the shoreline Saturday morning, then circled back behind the workout equipment and volleyball courts on Muscle Beach Orgeron peeled his shirtback on before he satdowninNews Cafe,pointingout it’s the restaurant where designerGianni Versace ate before he was murderedonhis way home in 1997. Orgeron stops by every weekend when he’sintown. It’swithin walking
‘They’re areally connected group’
distance of thehigh-risewhereheand his wife, Brandy,lived until last month,acondo on the37th floor that overlooksthe ocean
Thewaiter knows him.
“Whadda ya say, my friend?” Orgeron said. “How you doing?”
“All good, capitán,” the waiter said. “I love this guy.”
Orgeron, 64, and his wife moved back to Baton Rouge when their lease ended in early December,thinking he might getajob for thefirst time since LSUfired him in 2021. He started looking for work over the past year, but nothing has materialized. Lane Kiffin never called about coming back to LSU. He spoke to the Arkansas athletic directoronce about the head coach opening. He said some
people may be interestedinhiring himasan NFL defensive line coach. In the meantime,Orgeron cameback to Miami this weekend for his twinsons, Parker andCody. They areanalysts with theHurricanes,and they’ll coach Mondaynightin the national championship game (6:30 p.m. CT,ESPN) against Indiana. Histhird son, Tyler Spotts-Orgeron, also reached the College FootballPlayoff as an offensiveanalyst at Tulane.Orgeron spent the past month watching his sons win the American Conference title and make aCFP run “I couldn’tdraw it up better,” Orgeron said.
BY TOYLOYBROWN III
Staff writer
The entire LSU rostergot apiece of Max Mackinnon’shead or shoulders.
ä LSU at Florida 6P.M.
TUESDAy,ESPN2
The 6-foot-6 guard wasswarmed by his basketball teammates when he removed the headphonesfor his interview with analysts on the SEC Network. The teambarely could restrain its excitement to celebrate his 20-point performance and his team’s78-70 win against Missouri Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center
“Really neat for me as a coach, to see them all huddled up around Max forthe post-game interview on SEC Network,” coach Matt McMahon said. “That’sareally close-knit group.”
Unbridled joy was displayed earlier.As the final buzzer sounded,Mazi Mosleyran toward Marquel Sutton, who had26points, to exchange achest bump. Assistant coach andformerLSU player Jalen Courtney-Williams chanted L-S-U with araucous student sectionafter walkingthrough theend-ofgame handshake line.
The team’sbond wasondisplay because of the joyous occasion. However,its closeness as agroup of 13 new players remained intact during the low moments as it struggled without its injured top player,Dedan Thomas. LSU’stogetherness took shape starting in the summer,and it’sa reason why players stayed ready to meet the moment and win three days after adramatic 75-74 home loss to Kentucky on Wednesday
“You can see this group behind me,” Mackinnon said on the SECNetwork. “We’re all super connected. We’relike brothers, it’s abrotherhood here, and it showed today.”
McMahon said thewin against Missouriis theproduct of hisdiligentpreparationand mentalfortitude after losingtoKentucky on agame-winning shot as time expired
“I’ll start by just saying how proud Iam of our team coming off the heartbreaking game earlier this week,”the fourth-year
‘Brotherhood’carries LSU throughtough losses,big wins ä See BOND, page 3C
BY REED DARCEY Staff writer
Once the LSU women’s basketball team knocked off Texas, it couldn’t breathe easy. Another matchup with one of the SEC’stop teams wasondeck.And this one was on the road. But the No. 6Tigers handled it well. They played crisp, clean offense andsharp, disruptive defense on Sundayin a91-72 win over Oklahoma —a victory that can propel them even farther past their 0-2 start toSEC play The No. 13 Sooners kept battling. Theypulledwithin 13 points of LSUatthe 5:28 markofthe fourth.
ThenMiLaysia Fulwileyput away the game for good, sparking aquick 9-0 run by pickpocketing aSooner ballhandler on back-to-back possessions.She scored a layup and afree throw off those giveaways. Mikaylah Williamsthen lasered apass downtosophomore center Kate Koval, whobanked in alayup that pushed the Tigers’ lead back up to 20.
“I feel like we did agood job of running timeoff the
When Tito Chikere leftKempner High in Sugarland, Texas,asathree-star recruit, he headed to Fresno State withvery high hopes for his college career,asall promising athletes do. But akneeinjury and acoaching change begana longerjourney than the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Chikere ever imagined.
Chikere is hoping his final and best stop will be in Lafayette after signing with the Ragin’ Cajuns on Friday
“It didn’ttake too long to overcomethe injury,” Chikere said. “I feel like theproblem at Fresno was just the staff. It wasn’t thestaff that recruited me. WhenIgot there, it was awhole brand new staff, so I came into abad situation.
“It didn’tend up working out there, so I came back to Houston.” Chikere transferred to Prairie View A&M,but only played in five games over two seasons there. Hisnext stop wasEast Texas A&M of the Southland Conference.
“I just wanted afresh start, kind of a clean slate,” Chikere said of his move to East Texas A&M.“Ijust wanted to build my love for the game back up.” It was his best collegiate season with 34 tackles, onequarterback sackand 21/2 stops in 11 games.
“I still feel like Ileft alot on the table,” Chikere said. “Itwas my best season production-wise. Ihad agood, solid year,but frankly,I’ve got higher expectations for myself. Iwas alittle frustrated with my performance at times.
“But really,I’m not an outcome-oriented guy.I’m process-oriented. Ifeel like my processes werethe same. Ifeel like I’ve learned the lessons God wanted me to learn. Nowit’stimetomake the mostof this opportunity.”
So the big step forward convinced Chikere it wastimetoventure back to the FCS level again.
MICHAEL JOHNSON
STAFFPHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Ed Orgeron watches Tulane footballtakeon
South FloridaonSept. 28, 2024, at yulman Stadium. Orgeron is open to returning to work in college football.
See ORGERON, page 3C
PROVIDED PHOTOByKRISTEN yOUNG/LSU ATHLETICS
LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson takes ashot during agameagainst Oklahoma on Sunday at Lloyd Norman Center in Norman, Okla. LSUwon 91-72.
College football’s surprise
Miami and Indiana meet for a title matchup nobody saw coming
BY EDDIE PELLS AP national writer
MIAMI GARDENS Fla. One program long lived with the distinction of losing more games in the history of college football than anyone. The other has enjoyed its fair share of glory and contempt albeit all of it old enough to be packaged in grainy documentaries, or retold among the tall tales of an era long gone by. Indiana and Miami are playing for the national title Monday night, and if that has you scratching your head thinking “Who?” or “What?” then you are not alone.
Even though a new world of paying players and rapid-fire transfers from school to school has shuffled the deck in college sports, nobody thought it would get mixed up this much. And even though both schools have been trending upward of late, both were listed as 100-1 long shots to win the championship at some point this season.
“When I got here,” explained Indiana’s second-year coach and turnaround artist Curt Cignetti, “I was trying to figure out if the fan base was dead or just on life support.” Who could blame them?
Before Cignetti’s arrival to start the 2024 season, the Hoosiers had compiled 713 losses over 130-plus years of football. For some, buying seats for football was a walletsqueezing requirement to gain access to tickets for the basketball games coached by Bob Knight and a string of successors — a much better team and better draw Cignetti, whose resume looks like a Delta Airlines departures board, arrived with virtually zero fanfare, at least on a national level.
Asked different versions of the same question time and again at a signing-day news conference in his first season that surprised many for how good it was, Cignetti landed the punch that will end up on his tombstone: “It’s pretty simple I win. Google me.”
In one way, the Indiana resurgence is a product of the new era of college football, in which players get paid and move freely between schools. Cignetti started this resurgence by bringing 13 players with him from his former job, at James Madison. In another way, this is about a coach commandeering a program
ä Miami vs Indiana. 6:30 P.M. MONDAy, ESPN
and rebuilding it the old-fashioned way
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza moved from Cal to Indiana last year because “I felt like Coach Cignetti could help me get to where it thought I could be as a quarterback.” A two-star recruit out of high school, he won the Heisman Trophy this season The Hoosiers, who call themselves the “misfits,” have, at most, two fourstar recruits on their roster “I’ve never looked at a star in my life,” Cignetti said of the imprecise ranking system that means nothing until those players put on pads. “If a guy can play hard and has the right stuff and the intangibles, we can work with him and he’ll develop.”
Indiana does claim the world’s largest living alumni base, several thousand of whom are gobbling up what’s turning out to be potentially the toughest ticket ever for a title game that will, ironically be played on Miami’s home field. They also have Mark Cuban, who has added multiple millions to the effort. Indiana’s football budget has grown from $24 million to $61 million since 2021.
“It takes a village and there’s money,” Cignetti said. “But it’s not all about money.”
Same story, different blueprint
To some extent, Miami would agree with that.
This is a program with deep, colorful roots. The 2018 ESPN documentary about the Notre DameMiami rivalry is called “Catholics vs. Convicts.” Notre Dame is the Catholic school.
Names from the ‘80s and ’90s — Michael Irvin, Jimmy Johnson, Bernie Kosar and infamous booster Nevin Shapiro — faded away to be replaced by essentially nothing.
Not until a product of that ‘80s and ’90s heyday, Mario Cristobal, arrived in 2021 did things start looking up again for the ‘Canes.
“I thought we were a group of guys who nobody believed in who changed history by playing with unbelievable effort,” Cristobal said of his old teams. “It was a little wild, a little edgy, but no one could question the brotherhood.”
Like Indiana, the ‘Canes are a product of the new name-imagelikeness era in college football, combined with some tough love from a coach who was around long before that started.
“Absolutely zero,” Cristobal said
when asked what he changed as a coach once the dollars started flowing and the players started moving.
“If you have to change the way you coach because you’re afraid of the portal, you’re not doing it right to begin with,” he said. “You have to push people be demanding but not demeaning, don’t compromise. I don’t believe that has to change.”
The biggest portal stories involving Miami are about players who came, not left.
A year ago, in two episodes that felt revolutionary at the time but are now more like business as usual, quarterback Carson Beck and defensive back Xavier Lucas left their old schools for Miami.
Beck raised eyebrows because he was leaving Georgia — a perennial contender to play a fifth season at a school that hadn’t sniffed a title in decades. The reported $4 million in NIL probably helped.
Lucas became a litmus test of sorts when his old school, Wisconsin, sued Miami, alleging Cristobal’s staff induced the freshman into breaching his NIL contract with the Badgers.
“I didn’t pay attention to any of it,” said Lucas, who grew up in nearby Pompano Beach. “I just wanted to come back and help the fellas win.”
Sabalenka, Alcaraz advance on an opening day of records at the Australian Open
BY JOHN PYE AP sportswriter
MELBOURNE, Australia Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz fulfilled expectations on opening night of the Australian Open, the No. 1 seeds advancing in straight sets in a Sunday session that started with tennis royalty Rod Laver and Roger Federer in the crowd. Rod Laver Arena was heaving for their first-round matches, capping a day when a record total of 100,763 fans packed into Melbourne Park.
The 45-year-old Venus Williams set a record, too, becoming the oldest player ever in the women’s singles draw at the Australian Open. Out on John Cain Arena, the socalled People’s Court because it’s open to fans with ground passes, Williams was up two service breaks at 4-0 in the third set before Olga Danilovic rallied to win six straight games in a 6-7 (5), 6-3,
6-4 victory
The seven-time major winner, playing on a wild-card entry in the singles in just her second major since returning to the tour last year, plans to continue in doubles.
“I’m really proud of my effort today because I’m playing better with each match, getting to the places that I want to get to,” she said. “Right now I’m just going to have to keep going forward and working on myself.”
Sabalenka fended off left-handed wild-card entry Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, 6-4 6-1 after dropping the opening service game.
“I didn’t start my best. She showed up. Fired on. She was playing great,” said Sabalenka, who won the Australian title in 2023 and ’24 and was runner-up last year “It was a tricky start.”
Sabalenka prepared for the first major of the season with a title in Brisbane but was a little more nervous than usual because La-
ver, the Australian great, and 20time major winner Federer were watching.
“I’m a huge fan I wanted to show great tennis so you guys enjoyed watching me play,” she said. “There was definitely a lot of pressure. I was walking, thinking ‘don’t look there, don’t look there!’ Her next round is against Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan, who outlasted 2021 French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (10) in a 2-hour, 43-minute match No. 28 Emma Raducanu, who could potentially meet Sabalenka in the third round, beat Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1. Day 1 of a scheduled 15 closed with Alcaraz winning 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-2 over Adam Walton, beginning his bid to set a record for being the youngest player to complete a career Grand Slam.
Zverev advances Alexander Zverev, runner-up
Ticket prices remain hot for CFP title game
Ticket prices for Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship game between Indiana and Miami have dropped only slightly from their peaks, with supply obviously low and demand obviously high.
Ticketdata, which tracks resale pricing of tickets across major marketplaces, said the lowest getin price for the game at Hard Rock Stadium was $3,652 at midday Sunday That number based on a two-ticket purchase, including fees — was down about 8% from where it was at midday Saturday
Many sites still showed some tickets topping $10,000 apiece in the best sections of the lower bowl of the stadium, and some parking passes no game ticket included — were topping $1,000 online, though a few could be found in remote lots for as little as $100 or so.
NBA spectator in London: ‘Leave Greenland alone!’ LONDON Mounting tensions between Europe and the United States moved into the sporting arena on Sunday when a member of the crowd disrupted the U.S. national anthem during an NBA game.
A spectator yelled, “Leave Greenland alone!” while songstress Vanessa Williams sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before tipoff between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic at O2 Arena.
U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in U.S. hands would be “unacceptable.”
Elvira capitalizes on errors to win Dubai Invitational
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Nacho Elvira benefitted from dramatic final-hole mishaps by Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry to win the Dubai Invitational by one shot on Sunday, securing his third title on the European tour
The 190th-ranked Elvira did what the two Ryder Cup stars couldn’t and kept out of the trouble down No. 18, making a stress-free par and shooting 69 to finish on 10 under in the first tournament of 2026.
“It means the world,” said Elvira, whose wife and children ran onto the green to celebrate with the 38-year-old Spaniard. “You tell me on Tuesday I would be winning this, I’d never believe you.
“Anything that happens after this, nothing can compare.”
RHP Cavalli, Nationals agree to $870K contract
WASHINGTON Right-hander Cade Cavalli and the Washington National avoided salary arbitration Sunday when they agreed to a one-year contract worth $870,000, a deal that includes a 2027 team option.
When the sides exchanged proposed arbitration salaries on Jan 8, Cavalli asked for $900,000 and the Nationals offered $825,000. The $75,000 gap was the smallest among the 18 players who failed to reach agreements with their clubs on the swap day
His agreement calls for an $862,500 salary this year the midpoint between the filing numbers. The team option is for $4 million with a $7,500 buyout.
here last year to Jannik Sinner, shrugged off a sluggish start to beat Gabriel Diallo 6-7 (7) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round at Melbourne Park for the 10th straight year
“Definitely, when I saw the draw, wasn’t too happy to be honest,” Zverev said of the tricky challenge presented by No. 41-ranked Diallo. “He’s very young, very talented. Unbelievably aggressive.” No. 10 Alexander Bublik advanced over Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, No. 29 Frances Tiafoe overpowered Jason Kubler 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 and Michael Zheng fended off Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (0), 6-3 in an all-American first-rounder Zheng, a college star at Columbia who advanced through qualifying to make his tour-level debut, will next face No. 32 Corentin Moutet, who was booed after his underarm serve on match point in a 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3 win over Tristan Schoolkate.
Pulcini wins Latin America Amateur in a playoff LIMA, Peru Mateo Pulcini made a pair of big par putts over the final hour and finished with a 3-foot par save on the second playoff hole to win the Latin America Amateur Championship on Sunday, earning the Argentine a spot in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. Pulcini, at 25 the oldest winner of the Latin America Amateur since it began in 2015, closed with a 2-under 68 and outlasted Missouri senior Virgilio Paz, who was trying to become the first winner from Venezuela.
“We dream to play and to win this,” Pulcini said. “I have no words right now I’m so happy, and so grateful for the people around me.” Pulcini is the third Argentine winner
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHRIS CARLSON
Miami head coach Mario Cristobal and Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti pose with the trophy after a press conference ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship between Miami and Indiana on Sunday in Miami. The game will be played on Monday
He had conversations with Sacramento State, Eastern Kentucky and Louisiana Tech once he entered the portal, but his only visit was to UL.
It wasn’t his first trip to Lafayette. He visited a camp in Cajun Country with his high school buddy Cameron Whitfield. Whitfield ended up signing with UL, but Chikere wasn’t offered, so he ended up going to Fresno State.
“I wasn’t too salty about it,” Chikere laughed. “When I saw coach Mike G (Guiliani) when I visited, I showed him a picture and he said, ‘I remember you, dog.’ It just felt like family right away.”
During his previous three collegiate stops, Chikere has played every position from defensive tackle to defensive end to outside linebacker
The Cajuns are envisioning him potentially replacing Whitfield at outside linebacker
PROVIDED PHOTO
Defensive end Tito Chikere is hoping to finish off his collegiate career in style by transferring to the UL Ragin’ Cajuns.
Chikere is convinced he’s ready to make his final collegiate season his best yet.
ORGERON
Continued from page 1C
Orgeron wanted to help his sons get their own careers started after he was fired, so he told Cody to come with him when he spoke at Miami’s coaches clinic in 2022. Cody had finished his career as McNeese State’s quarterback a year earlier Orgeron knew Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, who played offensive line when Orgeron was the Hurricanes’ defensive line coach from 1988-92.
You got a spot for my boy?” Orgeron asked Cristobal.
“Let me spend a day with him,” he recalled Cristobal saying Cristobal offered a spot, and Cody spent the past four years helping with the quarterbacks and the running backs. Parker joined two years ago after stints at UL and Baylor During games, he sits in the box identifying offensive personnel packages. Meanwhile, Tyler has been at Tulane for three seasons They all want to be coordinators one day “Coach Orgeron, to me, was very special,” Cristobal said. “He was the D-line coach when I was a player at Miami. He used to always just annihilate us. I was on the scout team as an offensive lineman. He was hard on us, tough on us and I learned a lot from him. His sons have that DNA as well.”
There have been “growing pains” as the twins learn what it takes to be a coach, Orgeron said. They’re 27 years old, so they’re doing a lot of things for the first time. They’ve gotten chewed out They had to adjust to long days at the office without much sleep. Orgeron encouraged them to find role models in the profession, but otherwise, he has tried to stay out of the way unless they ask for advice. He knows they want to move up the ladder faster He tells them to be patient.
“It’s a bigger stage and a better team and culture around me here,” Chikere said. “I just know
I’m going to flourish. When I started this journey I was a kid.
I’ve matured and now I just know I’m ready It’s something in my spirit. It’s something in my heart, passionately I just know that this year is going to be a big breakout year for me.”
“Not everybody here is a football fan,” Brandy said. “Living here is like a foreign vacation. We go to The Fontainebleau and yes, he’s getting stopped every five steps asking for pictures because that’s where all the tourists are. But down on South Beach, he’ll get people that know but it’s not like we’re in Louisiana, where you can’t take five steps.”
They have a daily routine. Orgeron wakes up at 5:15 a.m before going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He said he has been sober for 26 years. Brandy attends a hot pilates class while he’s there, then he works out at the condo.
After that, he rides a Peloton bike. They have a 4.2-mile route through South Beach that they walk or jog, and Orgeron usually gets another workout in the sand.
Orgeron said he would feel content to keep living this way, but if Brandy is out of town visiting her two children, there are times when he wants to get back into football as he jogs by himself along the beach. He does not miss the long hours that come with coaching, but he longs for the intensity and the feeling on game day
“I want to coach again if it’s the right situation,” Orgeron said. “In five years, I’ll be 70. Instead of sitting here for five years and trying to get a job at 70 — I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think I’m still marketable. Not as marketable as I was. But I think there’s still a good shot at getting a good job.”
With his children in stable jobs, Orgeron thought now was the right time to get back to work. Two other things also happened within the past year The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that he owed his ex-wife, Kelly Orgeron, $8.13 million from his LSU buyout, and the school sent his last payment in December. Though Orgeron said he “saved most of my money,” he admitted the court ruling contributed to why he wants to coach again
“It’s that competitive nature in
“You know, like a pregnant woman, they’re ready to have the baby,” Orgeron said. “And they are. They’ve been there, they’re ready to coach their positions.” At the same time, Orgeron is ready to get back into coaching himself. He has enjoyed his life for the past four years. He got remarried. He and Brandy moved to Miami Beach, an area Orgeron was already familiar with. They thought about settling in Destin, Florida, but they enjoy the relative anonymity here. While people recognize Orgeron, not as many of them say “Roll Tide” or “Hotty Toddy” to him.
BOND
Continued from page 1C
coach said. “I think lesser men would have folded up shop, and I think our guys really responded the right way I’ve told you from Day 1, we have great people in our locker room. They’re a really connected group.”
That connection was evident immediately on the defensive end on Saturday. LSU opened the game ahead 10-0 after five minutes. Defenders were wellpositioned and in sync, communicating assignments as Missouri struggled to get quality looks.
Not only did LSU’s fast start mirror how it opened against Kentucky but the Tigers similarly faced a furious comeback from Missouri, which chipped away in the second half.
With 8:49 remaining in the contest, LSU only led 55-52. When the Tigers, who led by as many as 14 points, needed a score late in the shot clock, Pablo Tamba drove to the hoop around the restricted area and kicked the ball out to King, who made a left-wing 3-pointer with less than a second on the shot clock. That was followed by a Mike Nwoko block
that inspired a fastbreak layup McMahon said that was one of the most important sequences of the game.
“Especially coming off the way the game finished in the second half the other night, it’s just human nature thinking, ‘Here we go again,’ McMahon said. “We had a 10-point lead, it’s down to three. How are you going to respond in that situation? And Rashad King made some big shots for us late in the shot clock.”
LSU protected the ball against more intense second-half pressure, finishing with seven in total. Other possessions it hustled for back-to-back offensive rebounds, which ran the clock and resulted in a Mackinnon score and a sixpoint lead with just under three minutes remaining Those moments were crucial to LSU’s first conference success, and the happiness followed suit. That pleasure shouldn’t be misconstrued for satisfaction.
“We got to keep building,” McMahon said. “We got to get a lot better and keep improving as we go hit the road here in league play.”
LSU’s next game is against Florida (13-5, 4-1) at 6 p.m Tuesday at the Stephen C O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida.
me,” Orgeron said. “It does have something to do with it, no question. It did motivate me to say, ‘Hey you know what? You’re not getting paid. Your bank account went from there to there If you just live off of that, obviously, that’s going to go down. But if you let it grow back and you go back to work, you’re going to be set.’
Orgeron would take a job as a defensive line coach or recruiting coordinator He doesn’t have to be a head coach again, but nothing has come together He thought Kiffin might offer a spot. They have known each other for two decades after coaching together at Southern Cal and Tennessee. Orgeron wanted to hire Kiffin as his first offensive coordinator at LSU before Kiffin took a head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.
“I also understand that when you get the head (coach) job,” Orgeron said, “you got to get it the way you want it now, and if it don’t fit, it don’t fit.”
After he talked to Arkansas’ athletic director Orgeron familiarized himself with what it takes to build a roster these days. It has changed since he coached at LSU because of direct player compensation and the transfer portal Working with an agent who lives in his complex, he designed a graph for what every position should make.
“If the right situation comes in coaching, I’m going to go get after it again,” Orgeron said. “Now, do I expect to be a national championship coach? I’m not expecting that. I’m not expecting to be a head coach. I was happy being a defensive line coach. I loved it. I love coaching football. I love being retired. Either one would be fine.”
At the moment, Orgeron and his wife are living in U-Club. He’ll keep looking for work, and if he doesn’t get another job, they plan to move back to Miami Beach. They turned left as they left the restaurant to finish their walk for the day. They had dinner plans that night with friends, and they looked forward to watching his sons try to win their own championship.
“I can stay retired,” Orgeron said. “I’m fine. I have enough money We’re all set. Just like my kids, I’m going to practice patience. And if nothing comes, I’ll be on South Beach.”
LSU
Continued from page 1C
clock,” Flau’jae Johnson said, “and even a good job of making them run their sets. I feel like a lot of the easy baskets they got were in transition, but in the halfcourt, we really made them run their sets.”
LSU and Oklahoma are two of the nation’s best offensive teams. Both know how to score around the rim. Both like to play in transition. When the two teams met in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center last season, they each scored 100 points, and the Tigers won after Williams drained a pull-up 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter Sunday’s matchup initially looked like it’d follow a similar script. The Sooners (14-2, 2-3 SEC) buried three fast-break 3-pointers in just the first two minutes of the game.
Then the Tigers (17-2, 3-2) settled in on offense and limited Oklahoma’s transition opportunities, quickly turning a nine-point first-quarter deficit into a 12-point second-quarter lead. Star forward Raegan Beers picked up two early fouls, which allowed LSU to start attacking the rim. The Sooners made eight more 3s than the Tigers, but the Tigers converted 21 more free throws than the Sooners. Johnson finished with 23 points after converting nine of her 15 field-goal attempts and three of her five 3-point tries. She also grabbed 10 rebounds, assisted three shots and blocked three others. Sophomore point guard Jada Richard chipped in a careerhigh 21 points, to pair with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Freshman forward Grace Knox added 13, and Fulwiley added 12.
Williams tallied a shot, only 1 of 8 from the field, but she still earned eight trips to the stripe, corralled six rebounds and assisted five buckets. Koval had nine points and seven rebounds.
“It was kind of reminiscent of our game with Duke,” associate head coach Bob Starkey said “We got off to a slow start. I thought (Johnson) really did a great job
when we were struggling to score, to make some buckets for us, hit some tough shots and get some 3s.”
In the first half, LSU fell into an 11-2 hole but climbed out of it by bridging a 20-3 run across the last five minutes of the first and closing the second on a 10-4 run. Johnson scored eight of those points.
Oklahoma then began to rediscover its long-range shooting touch. The Sooners drained three more 3s in the third, but they couldn’t pair those shots with easy looks for center Raegan Beers around the rim. She took only two field goals in that frame, and she was even whistled for her third foul with just under two minutes left until the fourth. The Tigers took their largest lead of the game three minutes later when Knox converted a layup to give them a 76-52 edge. Oklahoma guard Payton Verhulst, a fifth-year senior, scored a season-high 21 points after she hit five of her 11 3-pointers. Beers scored only 10 points on 5 of 8 shooting and pulled down only two offensive boards. Star freshman Aaliyah Chavez shot just 3 of 14 from the field.
LSU is now 5-7 in regular-season league games against AP top-15 teams under coach Kim Mulkey The Tigers last defeated ranked opponents in consecutive contests in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, when they knocked off No. 4 Virginia Tech and No. 2 Iowa in the Final Four to win their first national championship.
LSU took on four AP top-15 opponents in its first five games of SEC play Now the schedule will lighten up. Each of the next three games the Tigers will play, starting Thursday on the road against Texas A&M, is against an unranked team. They won’t face another ranked opponent until they begin February with a home contest against No. 21 Alabama and a road matchup with No. 4 Texas. Mulkey did not speak to reporters after the game because she had to attend to a personal family matter, an LSU spokesperson said.
Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com.
LSU guard Max Mackinnon looks to finish a layup past Missouri center Shawn Phillips in the first half of their game on Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ASHLEy LANDIS
Houston Rockets center Steven Adams fouls Pelicans center yves Missi during the first half of their game on Sunday at the Toyota Center in Houston The Pelicans’ road game ended after this edition went to press. For complete game coverage, visit theadvocate.com.
Patriots top Texans to advance to AFC title game
BY KYLE HIGHTOWER AP sportswriter
FOXBOROUGH, Mass Drake Maye
threw three touchdown passes, Marcus Jones returned one of C.J. Stroud’s four interceptions for a score and the New England Patriots defeated the Houston Texans 28-16 on Sunday to advance to the AFC championship game for the first time in seven years.
In Mike Vrabel’s first season as coach, the Patriots (16-3) will take on the Broncos (15-3) in Denver next Sunday, with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl.
The Patriots will make their 16th conference championship game appearance and first since their run to their sixth Super Bowl title under Bill Belichick in the 2018 season. New England has won its last nine divisional round games.
Maye finished 16 of 27 for 179 yards, but had an interception and fumbled four times, losing two in cold conditions in which snow and rain fell throughout the game. One of Maye’s fumbles set up Houston’s first touchdown.
“Just proud of the guys,” Maye said. “Battled the elements. This is New England. This is what we’re trying to embrace and we want to embrace all season long. Props to our defense, played a hell of a game. We’ve got to protect the football better but we made enough plays to win it.”
Carlton Davis III had two interceptions for New England. Craig Woodson added an interception and fumble recovery
“They bring it every week,” Maye said of his defense. “It’s fun to watch. And we could help them out some more, but just proud of the guys. Enjoy this one, and we’re
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROBERT F BUKATy
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye looks to make a pass against the Houston Texans during the second half of a divisional playoff game on Sunday in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots won 28-16.
back on the road.”
The eight combined turnovers — Woody Marks also lost a fumble for Houston were the most in a playoff game since 2015 when the Cardinals and Panthers combined for eight in the NFC championship game.
The Texans (13-6) have lost in the divisional round in three straight seasons under coach DeMeco Ryans. The franchise is now 0-7 alltime in this round
Stroud finished 20 of 47 with a TD pass. All of his interceptions came in the first half as he became the first player with five or more
INTs and five or more fumbles in a single postseason. Will Anderson forced two fumbles for the Texans.
Leading 21-16 in the fourth quarter, the Patriots stretched their lead to 27-16 when Kayshon Boutte got behind Derek Stingley Jr and pulled in a diving, onehand catch in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
The Texans had the ball with 5:48 to play but punted on fourthand-18 at their own 21 with 4:18 remaining.
New England’s next drive took the clock under two minutes But the Texans turned it over
PREP REPORT
on downs when Stroud’s fourthdown pass to Xavier Hutchinson was batted down by Robert Spillane.
Early action
With the Patriots leading 7-3
early, a series of miscues produced the next two scores. Maye was strip-sacked by Danielle Hunter deep in Patriots territory but left tackle Will Campbell fell on the ball and the Patriots punted.
The Texans gave it right back when Stroud’s deep pass along the sideline was intercepted by
Davis III.
Maye fumbled again when he attempted to run on a busted play and had the ball stripped by Tommy Togiai and recovered by Azeez Al-Shaair. Six plays later, Stroud linked up with Christian Kirk on a 10-yard touchdown pass. But on Houston’s next drive, Stroud was rushed up the middle by K’Lavon Chaisson and he lofted a pass that was intercepted by Jones and returned for the score to put New England back in front. Later in the quarter the Patriots’ lead increased to 21-10 when they capped a five-play, 56-yard drive with a 7-yard TD pass from Maye to Stefon Diggs.
Mr. Pick-6
Jones scored on an interception return for the second time this season. It was the first of his career in the playoffs and first for New England in the postseason since Asante Samuel had one vs. Indianapolis on Jan. 21, 2007, in the AFC championship game.
Injuries
Texans: TE Dalton Schultz (calf) left in the first quarter and didn’t return. LG Tytus Howard limped off and RB Woody Marks exited with a shoulder injury in the second quarter TE Cade Stover left in the fourth with a knee injury and didn’t return.
Patriots: LB Robert Spillane left in the first quarter with a thumb injury, but returned. RB TreVeyon Henderson was shaken up after a second quarter run before jogging off. S Craig Woodson exited after his INT with a head injury, but returned. RB Rhamondre Stevenson left in the second quarter with an eye issue. Davis left in the fourth quarter with a head injury
SCOREBOARD
LOUISIANA CLASSIC RESULTS
Final results from the Louisiana Classic wrestling tournament held Saturday at Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales. MD (major decision); DEC (decision); TF (technical fall); F (forfeit); UTB (ultimate tie-breaker). Boys
106 pounds: W. Fontenot, Brother Martin over P. Evans, Catholic High, MD (13-3)
113: C. Ayala, St. Paul’s over J. Thiele, Rummel MD (10-2)
120: Z. Blanchard, Southern Lab over M. Barnett, DEC (5-4)
126: A. Rozas, Teurlings Catholic over C Kirk, Catholic High, TF (4:42)
132: F. Peterson, St. Thomas More over A. Oubre, Holy Cross, Dec (7-0)
138: O. Gray Acadiana over M. Evans, Catholic High F (3-0)
144: J. Rebstock, St. Thomas More over M. Krail, Holy Cross, DEC (2-1)
150: D. Durham, Rummel over J. Lara, Brother Martin, MD (10-2)
157: D Kizer, Del City over K. Scott, Catholic High, DEC (12-5)
165: B. Stewart, East Ascension over M. Asevado, St. Amant, TF (5:12)
175: Z. Cestia, St. Thomas More over R. Reeves, Holy Cross UTB (7-6)
190: C. Shartle, St. Paul’s over C. Macha,
Teurlings Catholic, DEC (11-7)
215: B. Edmonston, Live Oak over J. Martinez, St. Paul’s, Dec (15-8)
285: W. Berry, Jesuit over J. Hollins, Slidell, Dec (9-2)
Girls
100 pounds: A. Jackson, East Ascension over S. Gagliano, Lakeshore, F (4:42)
107: C. Booty, Central over L. Higgins, Riverside TF (18-3)
114: L. Johnson, Dutchtown over M. Thomas, MD (13-1)
120: R. Blanchard, Lafayette over M. Penberthy, Niceville, Dec (7-3)
126: Q. Guevara-Tapia, Lafayette over A. Wade, Benton, Dec (8-3)
132: L. Griffin, Live Oak over S. Bolton, Del City, F (1:41)
138: L. Guillory, East Ascension over O Maxie, Baton Rouge High, F (5:35)
145: S. Camarata, Albany over S. Cervenka, South Beauregard, MD (18-7)
152: A. Dial, Del City over M. Stutes, Acadiana F (3:15)
165: S. High, Del City over B. Arbic, Niceville, F (0:26)
185: C. Daniels, Del City over I. Harrison, Brusly, Dec (7-6)
235: Z. Williams, Dutchtown over A. Flores Hernandez, Baton Rouge High, F (2:31)
(0), 6-3. Alexander Zverev (3), Germany, def. Gabriel Diallo, Canada, 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Francisco Comesana, Argentina, def. Patrick Kypson, United States, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzegovina, def. Liam Draxl, Canada, 7-5, 6-0, 6-4. Emilio Nava, United States, def. Kyrian Jacquet, France, 6-2, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6). Frances Tiafoe (29), United States, def. Jason Kubler, Australia, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. Michael Zheng, United States, def. Sebastian Korda, United States, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (0), 6-3. Marton Fucsovics, Hungary, def. Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Argentina, 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-2. Jaime Faria, Portugal, def. Alexander Blockx, Belgium, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Yannick Hanfmann, Germany, def. Zachary Svajda, United States, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3). Alexander Bublik (10), Kazakhstan, def. Jenson Brooksby, United States, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Cameron Norrie (26), Britain, def. Benjamin Bonzi, France, 6-0, 6-7 (2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Carlos Alcaraz (1), Spain, def. Adam Walton, Australia, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-2. Women’s Singles First Round Talia Gibson, Australia, def. Anna Blinkova, Russia, 6-1, 6-3. Jasmine Paolini (7), Italy, def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Belarus, 6-1, 6-2. Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Romania, def. Dayana Yastremska (26), Ukraine, 6-4, 7-5. Maria Sakkari, Greece, def. Leolia Jeanjean, France, 6-4, 6-2. Yulia Putintseva, Kazakhstan, def. Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazil, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Caty McNally, United States, def. Himeno Sakatsume, Japan, 6-3, 6-1. Elina Svitolina (12), Ukraine, def. Cristina Bucsa, Spain, 6-4, 6-1. Hailey Baptiste, United States, def. Taylor Townsend, United States, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3. Elsa Jacquemot, France, def. Marta Kostyuk (20), Ukraine, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7). Zeynep Sonmez, Turkiye, def. Ekaterina Alexandrova (11), Russia, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Polina Kudermetova, Russia, def. Guiomar Maristany Zuleta de Reales, Spain, 6-2, 6-3. Aryna Sabalenka (1), Belarus, def. Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah, France, 6-4, 6-1.
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FROM THENEW
Officials of the Kennedy-Johnson Voters League in 1960 are, from left,A. P.Tureaud, the Rev.AveryAlexander,Ellis Hull, Katie E.Whickam, unidentified and Jackson V.Acox.
Before Martin Luther King Jr. becamea Civil Rightsicon with his likeness fixed in stoneor bronze, he developed adeep affinity for New Orleans—its food, andespecially its people
Tammy C. Barney
When King cametothe cityin thelate 1950s,hefounda network of locals working diligently,believing thatchangecould be built in churches and diningrooms, in whispered strategy,and in shared risks taken after nightfall.
As we observe the King holiday this week,weshould also remember the organizers, churchleaders andeveryday activists whose work mightnot carry King’siconic recognition, butwho nonetheless carried the CivilRights Movement forward In February 1957, Kingarrived at Central City’s New Zion BaptistChurch fresh from the triumph of the Montgomery bus boycott, joined by other Black ministers determinedtobuild on that momentum. By the meeting’send, theyhad established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King
BRyAN S. BERTEAUX
Dr.T.J.Jemison, left, then president of the National Baptist Convention, speaks at Union Bethel AME Church in NewOrleans.
waselected president,while New Zion’spastor,Abraham Lincoln
“A.L.” Davis, was named second vice president —apairing that reflected the movement’sreliance on strong local leadership. Davis worked closely with King to shape theSCLC’searly strategy,linking local churches across theSouth to push for national change through nonviolent protest. In New Orleans, Davis’
leadership extended beyond strategy.In1963, he led amarch on CityHall to protestsegregation and was later arrested during a sit-in. Beforehis deathin1978, he became New Orleans’ first Black CityCouncil member sinceReconstruction.
Davis was one of many Black ministers whose local battles
ä See ACTIVISTS, page 6C
Mattel adds autistic Barbie to doll line
BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP retail
aBarbie and a Ken with vitiligo, and other models the toymakeradded to make its fashion dolls more inclusive. Mattel said it developedthe autistic doll overmorethan 18 months in partnershipwith the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, anonprofit organization that advocates for therights andbettermediarepresentation of people with autism. The goal:tocreate aBarbie that
reflected some of the ways autistic people may experience and process the world around them, accordingtoaMattel news release. Thatwas achallenge because autism encompasses abroad range of behaviors and difficultiesthat vary widely in degree, andmanyofthe traits associated with the disorder arenot immediately visible, according to Noor Pervez,who is the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s community engagement manager andworked closely with Mattel on the Barbieprototype Likemany disabilities, “autism doesn’tlook any oneway,” Pervez said “But we can try and show
ä See DOLL, page 6C
The term “aromatherapy” originated in 1928 with RenéMaurice Gattefossé, aFrench chemist whodiscovered by accident that lavender oil had a healing effect on burns. However,the use of essential oils really dates back as faras the Egyptians, whoentombed their Pharaohs with jars of essential oils foruse in the afterlife. Essentially,aromatherapy is the use of aromatic plant oils, including essential oils, forpsychological and/or physical well-being. Sometimes the term can be misleading, since it is not necessarily the aroma of oils used that creates the desired effect, but rather adirect effect that the oils have on the body,i.e., contact with the lungs (breathing), or the skin (massage or body oils and lotions). Aging and Alzheimer’sordementia can diminish the olfactory sense; however,since adirect pharmacological effect of the oils is responsible forthe healing effects, adiminished sense of smell should not be a concern when considering aromatherapy Professor Elaine Perry with the Institute of Aging and Health in Newcastle conducted studies in the use of aromatherapy and found that all aromatherapy treatments forpsychiatric disorders and Alzheimer’sdisease and related dementia resulted in significant benefits, including reductions in agitation, sleeplessness, wandering and unsociable behavior
SomeofPerry’sfindings of the use of essential oils and lotions included:
n Lemon balm oil and lavender aroma increased functional abilities and communication and reduced difficult behaviors;
n Lavender aroma (massaged lotion in the skin), significantly reduced frequency or excessive motor behaviors; n Lemon balm lotion showed reductions in social withdrawal and an increase in constructive activities;
n Lavender,marjoram, patchouli and vetiver applied as acream or lotion increased alertness and scores on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Essential oils are most commonly inhaled and absorbed into the linings of the lungs and can also be applied directly to, and absorbed through, the skin. Care should be exercised whenusing and administering essential oils as only diluted oils should be directly applied to the skin. Additionally,since aromatherapy potentially affects all systems of the body,itisimperative to develop an awareness of which essential oils do, or do not, have contraindications (something, as asymptom or condition, that makes aparticular treatment or procedure inadvisable) that interact with other medications.
FILEPHOTO By
Certainfoods mayeasehangoversymptoms
Dr.Elizabeth Ko
Dr.Eve Glazier
ASK THE DOCTORS
Dear Doctors: My brother says the hangover foods that people swear by don’treallyhelp. Ihaveto disagree. When I’ve had too much to drink and am paying theprice the next day,afew tacos always make me feelbetter.Isthere any science behind either of our views on this? Dear Reader: Would it surprise you to learn that you are bothright? To understand why,weneed to begin with the dreaded hangover. For anyone fortunate enough never to have had one, ahangover is aunique set of symptoms that result from drinking too much alcohol. It usually involvesnausea, headache, dry mouth, dizziness and fatigue. Rapid heartbeat, anxiety,low mood, disturbed sleep andincreased sensitivity tosound andlightare also possible. For some people, just aglass of wine can lead to arough morning after. Othersonlyfeel theeffects after anight of heavy drinking. Regardless of the amount of alcohol consumed, theunderlying culprits are thesame. Chief amongthem is acetaldehyde, atoxicbyproduct made by the liver as it metabolizes alcohol for removal from thebody.
ACTIVISTS
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helped inform King’sbroader vision. In Baton Rouge, the Rev.Theodore Judson “T.J.” Jemison had already made history,leadingthe 1953 Baton Rouge busboycott. As King prepared for Montgomery,itwas Jemison he turned to for guidance In “Stride Toward Freedom,” published in 1958, King called Jemison’s “painstaking description of the Baton Rouge experience” an invaluableguide. For more than five decades, Jemison shepherded his Mount Zion First Baptist Church congregation, but it was his work as SCLC secretary that deepened his bond with King. Beyond marches and meetings, King also relied on women whose professional networks became engines of political power.
Kathleen“Katie” Whickam helped thousands of Black Americans gain the right to vote as abeautician. She served as president of the National Beauty Culturists’ League and co-founded the Metropolitan Women’sVoters League, national platforms that brought her into King’scircle.
Black beauticians occupied arare position of independence in the Jim Crow era, historian Tiffany Gill notes, operating salons and schools beyond White controlwhere Black women could speak freely and organize safely. Katie’sSchool of Beauty Culture and Barbering became
DOLL
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some of the ways that autism expressesitself.”
For example, the eyes of thenew Barbie shift slightly to the side to represent how some people with autism sometimesavoid direct eye contact, he said. The dollalso was given articulated elbows and wrists to acknowledge stimming, hand flapping and other gestures that some autistic people use to processsensory information or to express excitement, according to Mattel.
The development team debated whether to dress the doll in atight or aloosefitting outfit, Pervez said. Some autistic peoplewear looseclothes becausethey aresensitivetothe feel of fabric seams, while others wear figure-hugginggarments to give them asense of where their bodies are, he said.
The team endedupchoosing an A-line dresswith short sleevesand aflowy skirt that provides less
THERAPY
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Beekley Medical (www beekley.com) has recently developed aromatabs for use in clinical and longterm care settings and the company has been seeing positive results in the use of these aromatabs in individuals with Alzheimer’s or dementia. These selfadhesive tabs are 100%
after being jailed for their part in sitdown demonstrations against segregated lunch counters in 1960.
one of those havens, allowing Whickam to mobilize thousands of Black voters. Just as beauty shopsand schools became organizing hubs, so too didinformal spaces where activists gathered,planned andrestored their spirits. Whenever King cameto New Orleans, hestopped at DookyChase’sRestaurant. Chef Leah Chase told WDSU-TV that King would dine in aprivateupstairs room, wherehestrategized with other activistswhile eatinggumboand shrimp or oyster po-boys.
“They would come here and eat after they went to jail, and Iwould say,‘Go take abath,’”Chase recalled. “I feel in some way inthis restaurant, people changed the
fabric-to-skin contact. The doll alsowears flatshoes to promote stability and ease of movement,according to Mattel.
Each dollcomes with a pink fingerclip fidget spinner, noise-cancelingheadphones and apink tablet modeled after the devices some autistic people who struggle to speak use to communicate.
The additionofthe autistic doll to the Barbie Fashionistas line also became an occasion forMattel to create adoll with facial features inspired by the company’s employeesinIndiaand mood boards reflecting a range of women withIndian backgrounds. Pervez said it was important to have the doll represent asegment of theautistic community that is generally underrepresented Mattel introducedits first doll with Down syndromein 2023 and brought out aBarbie representing aperson with Type 1diabetes last summer.The Fashionistas also includeaBarbieand a Ken with aprostheticleg, and aBarbie withhearing aids, but the line also encom-
pure essential oils andare placedonthe clothing on the individual’supperchest andthe effectiveness lasts up to eighthours.The lavender and lavender/sandalwood promotes relaxation, comfort andsleep andthe orange/peppermintuplifts, energizes, andcan soothe queasiness.
More research is needed to fully access thevalueof aromatherapyinindividuals with Alzheimer’sdisease or dementia in order
Although theliver converts acetaldehydeintoharmless acetate in the end, that process takes time. When we drink alcohol faster than the liver can complete that conversion —about onedrink perhour —acetaldehydebuilds up. This contributestoinflammationinthe liver,pancreas, gastrointestinal tract and brain, thebiologicalbasis of hangoversymptoms. Alcohol is also adiuretic, adding to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. Theselead to headache, fatigue anddizzinessthe next day Which brings us to thefood question. Your brother is correct that nothing you eat, whether before, during or after drinking, can speed up how fast theliver processes alcohol. Butyou are also correct that the right food
course of America.”
If Dooky Chase’snourished the movement’s body,others preserved its memory. The Rev.Samson “Skip” Alexander used his camera to capture King’s life —playful moments at apool table, and the solemn grief of CorettaScottKing with her daughter at her husband’s1968 funeral.
Though thatimage is often credited to Ebony photographer MonetaSleet Jr., Alexander was the only person allowed inside withacamera, atestament to the trust he earned in thestruggle. Together,leaders like Chase, Davis, Jemison, Whickam and Alexander formed thebackbone of amovement too often reduced to asingle name. They built networks, nurtured communities and risked livelihoods —and lives —toadvance justice. The civil rights movement was never thework of one man alone. It was forged in local struggle, sustained by collective courage, and carried forward by people whose names deserve to stand alongside King’s.
Tammy C. Barney is an award-winning columnist and veteran journalist whosework has been shaped by alifelong connectiontoNew Orleans.Agraduateof McDonogh No. 35, Loyola University,and Tulane University,she spent the bulk of her newspaper career telling stories at The Times-Picayune and The Orlando Sentinel
passes tall, petite and curvy body types andnumerous hair types and skin colors.
“Barbie has always strived to reflect the world kids see andthe possibilitiesthey imagine, and we’re proud to introduceour first autistic Barbie as part of that ongoingwork,”Jamie Cygielman,Mattel’sglobal head of dolls, said in astatement.
Thedollwas expected to be available at Mattel’s online shop and at Target stores starting Monday for asuggestedretailprice of $11.87. Walmartstoresare expected to startcarrying the newBarbie in March, Mattel said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedlastyear that theestimated prevalence of autism among8-year-old children in the U.S. was 1in31. The estimate from theCDC’sAutism andDevelopmental Disabilities Monitoring Network said Black,Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander childreninthe U.S.weremore likely than white children to have adiagnosis, and the prevalence more thanthree times higher among boys than girls.
to give people thechance to makeinformed choices between conventional medicine and aromatherapy, based on reliable evidence.
Dana Territo is an Alzheimer’s advocate and author of “What My Grandchildren Taught Me About Alzheimer’s Disease.” She hosts“The Memory Whisperer.” Emailher at thememorywhisperer@ gmail.com.
and fluids can help ease the discomfort that follows. The tacos you crave hit the hangover food trifecta: salt, fatand protein. Salt helps retainfluids and replenish electrolytes. Fat slowsstomach emptying. Protein helps blood sugar levelsstay stable, which can dip after drinking alcohol. Otherfoods people have found to be helpful include eggs, which contain cysteine,anamino acid. Researchers have found this amino acid helps the liver process alcohol. Broth-based soups offer asuperfood boost of fluids, salt, minerals and other nutrients in a way the body can absorb easily Fruits, whichare already high in needed water,are also rich in antioxidants. These can help with the inflammation that comes with a
By The Associated Press
Today is Monday Jan. 19, the 19th day of 2026. There are 346 days left in the year
Todayinhistory: On Jan. 19, 1937, Howard Hughes set anew transcontinental speed record in his H-1 Racer aircraft, flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey,in seven hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
Also on this date:
In 1853, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Il trovatore” premiered in Rome.
In 1861, Georgia became thefifth state to secede from theUnion; it would join theConfederacy the following month.
In 1942, aGerman submarine sank the Canadian liner RMS Lady Hawkins off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, killing 251 people; 71 survived.
In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower held the first televised presidential news conference.
In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected to her first term as primeminister of India.
hangover.Berries are particularly high in antioxidants, and bananas will give youapotassium boost. And speaking of water,staying hydrated before, during and after drinking alcohol is also key Despiteaquest that dates back millennia, there is still no cure fora hangover. There remains onlyone waytopreventone,whichisnot to drink. The food youeat andbeverages youdrink can’t change how fast alcohol leaves your system Buttheymay helpease the landing.
Sendyour questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla. edu, or write: Ask theDoctors c/oUCLA HealthSciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd.,Suite1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.
In 1987, H. GuyHunt becameAlabama’sfirst Republican governor since 1874 as he wassworninto office, succeeding Democrat George C. Wallace.
In 2012, Rupert Murdoch’smedia empire apologized and agreed to cash payouts to 37 people whose telephones had been hacked by its tabloid press.
In 2024, Japan became the fifth country to reach the moon when its unmanned spacecraft touched downonthe lunar surface with apinpoint landing. The milestone put Japan in aclub previously occupied by the United States, the Soviet Union, India and China.
Today’sbirthdays: Actor Tippi Hedren is 96. Actor-singer Michael Crawford is 84. Actor ShelleyFabares is 82. Country musicianDolly Parton is 80.
Katey Sagalis72. Comedian Paul Rodriguezis71. Basketball coach andcommentator Jeff VanGundy
FILE PHOTO By JOHN BOSS
The Rev.T. J. Jemison, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, accompanies MaryBriscoe, left,and Sandra Ann Jones, twoSouthernUniversity students released on bond
Actor
cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Turn up the volume and dance your way into thelife you want to live.It's up to you to take advantage of opportunities. Discipline and ingenuity will help you complete your mission.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Turn your words into actions, andmakethings happen. Get fit,find your niche anddiscover new people, places andpossibilities. Romance is in the stars.
PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Set goals and work to reach them. Ask experts for guidance and use theinformation to learn andexperiment. What youaccomplish will boost yourconfidenceand encourage you to use your strengths in rewardingways.
ARIEs (March21-April 19) Lend ahelping hand. Do what you can to make adifference. Giving back will make you feel goodandbringyouincontactwithpeople you'll wanttoget to know better. Sayno to temptation and excessivebehavior.
tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Rely on your speed,accuracyandintelligence,andyou will comeout on top. Implement domestic changesthatgive youthe space you need to do thebest jobpossible. Choose apath and march forward
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Avoid letting anyone drain your energy. Focus on whatyou can do to keep up financially andprofessionally. Update your look to enhance your appeal.
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Set yoursights on whatgivesyou themost relief from stress. Don't wait for someone else to
step in and take charge; ownthe solution, process and result.When opportunity arises, run to meet it.
LEo (July 23-Aug.22) Letyour actions lead theway.Akind gesture can make adifference and change someone's life. Do your part, and the rewardswill be just as life-altering foryou.Give-and-take is your ticket to better relationshipsand peace of mind.
VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept.22) Setacourse and forge ahead.Work your magic at events that offer introductions to peoplewho can give you something you need. Be willing to go thedistance, meet demands andcomplete your mission.
LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) What youdowill have moreofanimpact than what you say or acknowledge. Size up what's possible, set abudgetand proceed with the changes that will bringthe highest returns.
scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Pay attention to detail; mapout apath that offers information, connects you withothersand sparks your imagination. Ashort trip or learningexpedition will turn into an excitingjourney.
sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) It's timeto shake things up and to initiate change. Procrastination will lead to trouble and regret. Setyoursights on what interests youand head in that direction
Celebrity Cipher cryptogramsare created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Eachletterinthe cipher stands for another.
toDAy'scLuE: WEQuALs V
CeLebrItY CIpher
For better or For WorSe
beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM
Sudoku
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9inthe empty squaressothat each row, each column and each 3x3 boxcontains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Saturday’s Puzzle Answer
THewiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS
CurTiS
Bridge
By PHILLIP ALDER
Phyllis Dillersaid, “We spend the first 12 months of ourchildren’s livesteachingthem to walk andtalk and the next 12 telling them to sit down and shut up.”
At thebridge table, some players are scared of 12 —the number of tricks needed for asmall slam. Otherszoom that high whenever there is the faintest aromaofslaminthe air.But the ideal is between those twoextremes.This week, let’s study some of the factorsfor accurate slam bidding.
First,when two balanced hands face each other, combined point-count is a surprisinglyreliable indicator.Some years ago, Iran acomputer analysis. I gave the partnership’s hands no fivecard suit and no 4-4 fit. Ifound that when thetotalpoint-countwas33,sixno-trump was afavorite; but when it was only 32, that slam was an underdog.
Here is an easy example for the bidding, but not so simple in the play. How can South make sixno-trump after West leads the club 10?
South’s two-no-trump rebid shows a balanced hand with 18, 19 or apoor 20 points. It is in principle forcing to game and does not deny fourspades.South cannotriskanonforcingone-spaderebid with that strong ahand.
South has 11 top tricks: three spades, four hearts, two diamonds and twoclubs.
