The Acadiana Advocate 01-24-2026 by The Advocate

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Landry seeksmoremoney forvouchers

Legislatorsexpress skepticism on expandingprivate school tuitionprogram

BY ALYSE PFEILand PATRICK WALL Staff writers

Gov.Jeff Landry’sadministration on Friday said it will askthe Legislature to roughly double Louisiana’s spendingonits LA GATOR voucher program, which gives parents taxpayermoney to pay private schooltuition, poten-

tiallyrepeating oneoflastyear’s biggestpolitical battles.

“It’s always been apriority of Gov. Landry to expand ourGATOR program,” Landry’stop budget ofﬁcial, Commissioner of Administration Taylor Barras, told state lawmakersFriday during ameeting about the governor’sbudget proposal for next ﬁscal year

ButSenate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie,who last year led the legislative opposition to Landry’spush formore LA GATOR funding, said he continues to have serious doubtsabout the program. In particular,hesaidhe does notwantfamilies to use the public dollarstopay fortuition at low-performing private schools

an apparentreference to Louisiana’sprevious voucher program, where participating students had lowertestscoresthantheir peers in public school.

“You can’tjustgive them money to stay in the school they’re in now,”hesaid. “The goal is foryou to get out of thebad school.” The request forGATOR funding is perhaps the mostcontroversial piece of Landry’splanfor state spending. Forthe most part, the administration is asking agencies to hold theirspending to roughly the same level as the current ﬁscal year,though it also highlighted new or increased funding it wants forahandful of areas.

Chance of icelow in Lafayette

Gabriel Gonzalez, right, and Humberto Espinoza with Paradise Plantscapes coverplants at ahomeonWestBayou ParkwayonFridayahead of freezing temperatures

School closures announced

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

There is asmall chance that trace amounts of ice could accumulateon trees, power lines and roadways in Lafayette and areas along the Interstate 10 corridor this weekend as acold front moves through late Saturday Even if Lafayette avoidsthe ice

that could cause power outages and road closures,all of Acadiana should prepare for record-breaking, pipebursting cold temperatures Sunday night into Monday morning and againMonday nightintoTuesday morning, said Donald Jones, ameteorologist with theNational Weather ServiceinLakeCharles.

Lafayette is expected to avoid the worst of awinter storm forecast to bring snow andice to alargeswath of thenation this weekend.

Chances of snow in Louisiana are “nonexistent,” Jones said,but north

andcentral Louisiana face an elevated risk of freezing rain and ice accumulation.

In aFacebook update Friday morning, Jones cautioned that smallshifts in thestorm trackcould signiﬁcantly affect conditions.

“A couple of dozen miles oneway or another is going to make ahuge difference to somepeople,” he said Areas along and north of theU.S. 190 corridor —which runs east to west through Opelousas,Eunice,

The Legislature will use Landry’s planasthe starting point forthe

Governor says he wasinon Greenland negotiations

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

President Donald Trump’sunexpected announcement just before Christmas that Gov.Jeff Landry would be hisspecial envoy to Greenland suddenly thrust Landry into apotentiallyhighproﬁle international position. It also elevated his visibility within Trump’s MAGAmovement.

But what is the governor’srole after Trumpannounced on Wednesday that he had reached the “framework” of adeal with NATO over Greenland?

“No one has called and said, ‘You have done agreat job We don’tneed you anymore,’” Landry said in an interview Friday

He addedthatheattended a series of high-level meetings on Thursdayand Fridaylast weekinWashington, D.C., with Secretary of StateMarco Rubio and other senior ofﬁcials, including the U.S. ambassador to Denmark.

“There wereanumber of conversations we had surrounding it,” Landry said. He declined to providedetails but saida strongerrelationship betweenGreenland and the United States could lead to more jobs and investment in both countries.

“No one has calledand said, ‘You have done a great job. We don’tneed you anymore.’”

GOV. JEFF LANDRy

Until now,there’sbeen littleevidence that Landry has played ameaningful role in the Trump administration’s policiestoward thegiant island nation, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark. Greenland is bigger than Mexico in size but has apopulation of 56,000 —giving it only afew thousand moreresidents than Kenner

Trumpannounced the framework of adeal on TruthSocialonWednesday after meeting withthe

ä See ICE, page 4A ä See GREENLAND, page 4A

Murrillmakes stance on cockﬁghtingclear in

BYJOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

“Cockﬁghting remains illegal in Louisiana.”

LouisianaAttorney General

Liz Murrilldidn’tmince words in asocial media post from her ofﬁcial government Xaccount on Thursday. After St. Landry

parishcouncil members on Wednesdayvoted unanimously to draft arequest for Murrill’s ofﬁce to issueanopinion on the constitutionality of the state’s cockﬁghting ban, Murrill preempted any formalrequestby issuing the brief statement in whichshe made clear her intention to denyany formal request

caseofdelivery

issued by parish ofﬁcials. “It’sthe long-standing policy of the Louisiana Department of Justice nottoissue opinions on the constitutionality of State laws,” Murrill postedonX.Attached to the post was an image of the statute Louisiana legislators passed in 2007 banning cockﬁghting.

Council members had also discussedpetitioning state Rep. DustinMiller,who represents portionsofSt. Landry Parish, to introduce legislation to change thestatute to which Murrill alludedtoinher post. The vote failed, however,with sevenmembers of the13-member chamber voting against it.

The council instead elected to send awritten request to Murrill’soffice to assess the constitutionality of the statute, which was to be writtenbycouncil memberTimmy LeJeune, who first put forward the cockfighting discussion, and the parish’s

Murrill ä See MURRILL, page 4A

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

U.S. carries out strike on alleged drug boat

WASHINGTON The U.S. military said Friday that it has carried out a deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first known attack since the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor It said it notiﬁed the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that person.

A video accompanying the post announcing the latest strike shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in ﬂames. The U.S. military has focused lately on seizing sanctioned oil tankers with connections to Venezuela since the Trump administration launched an audacious raid to capture Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug trafﬁcking charges.

With the latest military action, there have been 36 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September that killed at least 117 people, according to announcements from the U.S. military and Trump. The majority of those of strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea.

Complaint against singer Iglesias dropped

MADRID Spanish state prosecutors said Friday they were shelving an initial investigation into accusations of sexual assault by Julio Iglesias in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic after concluding that Spain’s National Court lacked jurisdiction to judge the matter Earlier this month, Spanish prosecutors had opened an investigation studying allegations that the Grammy-winning singer had sexually assaulted two former employees at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Iglesias denied the accusations, writing on social media that: “With deep sorrow, I respond to the accusations made by two people who previously worked at my home. I deny having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman These accusations are absolutely false and cause me great sadness.

‘Let Politicians Lie Act’ struck down in Missouri

The Missouri Supreme Court on Friday unanimously struck down a state law deployed by Republicans to fight abortion access, a sweeping ruling that wrestles power away from top statewide ofﬁcials.

The law signed by Republican Gov Mike Kehoe last year, marked a key tool in Republican ofﬁcials’ yearslong effort to halt abortions. It severely restricted judges from rewriting misleading ballot questions and gave the state’s attorney general the ability to appeal temporary court decisions.

Together, those provisions led to the law’s downfall. The state’s highest court ruled that the law called SB22, violated the Missouri Constitution’s requirement that lawmakers cannot amend bills to change the legislation’s original purpose.

“SB22 as enacted violated its original purpose,” Chief Justice W. Brent Powell wrote in the majority opinion. “The power (the law) grants to the attorney general goes beyond SB22’s initial purpose related to ballot summaries.”

The law which critics dubbed the “Let Politicians Lie Act,” has played a central role in a series of courtroom battles over abortion. It provided the Missouri Secretary of State’s Ofﬁce and the Attorney General’s Office, both led by staunch anti-abortion Republicans, newfound powers over court rulings and ballot measures they disagree with.

In recent months, the law allowed Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins two shots at writing his own ballot question for a proposed abortion ban that will appear on the ballot in 2026. Hoskins’ language, which did not mention the ban, was ultimately struck down.

Iran denies claim about protesters

Trump’s statement about halting 800 hangings ‘false,’ prosecutor says

BY JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Iran’s top prosecutor on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he halted the hangings of 800 detained protesters there “completely false.”

Meanwhile, the overall death toll from a bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 5,032, activists said.

Tensions remain high between the United States and Iran as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East, something Trump likened to an “armada” in comments to journalists late Thursday

Analysts say a military buildup could give Trump the option to carry out strikes, though so far he’s avoided that despite repeated warnings to Tehran.

“While President Trump now appears to have backtracked, likely under pressure from regional leaders and cognizant that airstrikes alone would be insufﬁcient

to implode the regime, military assets continue to be moved into the region, indicating kinetic action may still happen,” New Yorkbased think tank the Soufan Center said in an analysis Friday Prosecutor denies Trump claim Trump has repeatedly said Iran halted the execution of 800 people detained in the protests, without elaborating on the source of the claim. On Friday, Iran’s top prosecutor Mohammad Movahedi strongly denied that in comments carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency “This claim is completely false; no such number exists, nor has the judiciary made any such decision,” Movahedi said.

A White House ofﬁcial disputed Movahedi’s assertion later Friday and reasserted that planned executions were called off as a result of Trump’s warnings. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, underscored that Trump was watching the situation in Iran closely and “all op-

tions are on the table if the regime executes protesters.” But the ofﬁcial did not provide any evidence or details backing Trump’s claim. Iranian judiciary ofﬁcials have called some of those being held “mohareb” — or “enemies of God.”

That charge carries the death penalty It had been used along with others to carry out mass executions in 1988 that reportedly killed at least 5,000 people.

Mohammad Javad Haji Ali Akbari, the Friday prayer leader in Tehran, mocked Trump as a “yellow-faced, yellow-haired and disgraced man” who is “like a dog that only barks.”

Death toll rises

The latest death toll was given by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which reported that more than 4,700 of the dead were demonstrators. It added that more than 27,600 people had been detained.

The group’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest and rely on a network of activists in

Vance, at March for Life, touts anti-abortion actions

BY MEG KINNARD Associated Press

Vice President JD Vance on Friday encouraged anti-abortion activists to “take heart in how far we’ve come” on the quest to limit the practice, listing the Trump administration’s accomplishments including an expansion of a ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services.

“There is still much road ahead to travel together,” Vance told attendees at the annual March for Life demonstration, which draws tens of thousands of people annually to Washington Attendees rallied on the National Mall before heading to the Supreme Court.

Vance, a Republican, has spent years passionately advocating for Americans to have more children. He repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates as he launched his political career in 2021 with a successful bid for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, and as vice president he has continued on that mission.

Vance cited the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, calling it “the most important Supreme Court decision of my lifetime.”

He said President Donald Trump’s leadership and appointment of conservative jurists “put a deﬁnitive end to the tyranny of judicial rule on the question of human life.”

He also lauded the “historic expansion

of the Mexico City policy,” the broadening of a ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services, to include assistance going to international and domestic organizations and agencies that promote gender identity as well as diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“We believe that every country in the world has the duty to protect life,” Vance said, to a sea of supporters.

“It’s not our job as the United States of America to promote radical gender ideology,” he said. “It’s our job to promote families and human ﬂourishing.”

From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV — the ﬁrst U.S.-born pope — sent a message of support to participants in the march.

“I would encourage you, especially the young people, to continue striving to ensure that life is respected in all of its stages,” Leo wrote in a letter shown on a video at the march. “May Jesus, who promised to be with us always, accompany you today as you courageously and peacefully march on behalf of unborn children.”

On Thursday an ofﬁcial said the Trump administration was implementing new rules, halting foreign assistance from going not only to groups that provide abortion as a method of family planning but also to those that advocate “gender ideology” and DEI. The ofﬁcial spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the rules’ publication in the Federal Register on Friday

Haiti’s transitional council ousts PM

BY EVENS SANON and DÁNICA COTO Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti

Haiti’s long-running political crisis deepened Friday when the country’s transitional presidential council announced it had voted to ﬁre Prime Minister Alix Didier FilsAimé, just two weeks before the panel is supposed to step down.

Edgard Leblanc Fils made the announcement at a news conference alongside fellow council member Leslie Voltaire, saying a majority of the panel took the step in a vote Thursday, defying calls from the U.S. government to maintain stability in the Caribbean country’s leadership. No other members of the panel were at the news conference.

The U.S State Department said in a statement late Thursday that keeping Fils-Aimé on in the position was “integral” to Haiti’s efforts to overcome the gangs

terrorizing the country, and warned that any politicians supporting the “vicious gangs” would pay a steep cost

Leblanc did not elaborate on the reasons why council members had turned against Fils-Aimé, who they chose for the position in November 2024. But Leblanc said the council would secure a replacement within 30 days “to ﬁnd the way to fully restore security and stability and enter a cycle of development, correct the mistakes of the past and look ahead.”

Voltaire said the council chose FilsAimé in the ﬁrst place “it wasn’t the Whites who chose Didier” — and that the council also would choose his successor, as well as a new government, free of foreign interference.

“Everyone is looking for a Haitian solution to the crisis, but when we start to ﬁnd a Haitian solution to the crisis, the international community comes in with all its claws,” Voltaire said.

Iran to verify deaths.

Iran’s government offered its ﬁrst death toll Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It added that 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began Dec. 28 were civilians and security forces, with the rest being “terrorists.”

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll.

U.S. warships on the move

The American military meanwhile has moved more military assets toward the Mideast, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated warships traveling with it from the South China Sea.

A U.S. Navy ofﬁcial, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Thursday the Lincoln strike group is in the Indian Ocean.

Trump said Thursday aboard Air Force One that the U.S. is moving the ships toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action.

“We have a massive ﬂeet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Trump said.

Illinois surgeon pleads not guilty to killings

By The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio An Illinois doctor indicted on murder charges in the December shooting deaths of his ex-wife and her dentist husband in their Columbus home pleaded not guilty to the killings in an Ohio courtroom on Friday Michael David McKee, 39, appeared remotely on camera from jail for his arraignment in Franklin County, where he faced four aggravated murder counts and one count of aggravated burglary while using a firearm suppressor in connection with the Dec. 30 double homicide of Monique Tepe, 39, and Dr Spencer Tepe, 37. He was garbed in prison attire and did not speak during the brief hearing Defense attorney Diane Menashe waived a request for bond, at least for now

The mystery that first surrounded the case — which featured no forced entry, no weapon and no obvious signs of theft, additional violence or a motive

— drew national attention. McKee, of Chicago, was arrested 11 days later near his workplace in Rockford, Illinois. He was returned to Ohio on Tuesday to face the charges against him. McKee and Monique Sabaturski married in Columbus in August 2015 but were living apart by the time Monique filed to end in the marriage in May 2017, court records show Their divorce was granted that June. McKee was living in Virginia at the time, court and address records show McKee is accused of illegally entering the Tepes’ home with a firearm equipped with a silencer, shooting the Tepes whose bodies were found in a second-floor bedroom — and leaving the property along a dark alley alongside the house. McKee is charged with two aggravated murder counts for each homicide, one for prior calculation and design and one for committing the crime, as well as facing the aggravated burglary count.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By STEPHANIE SCARBROUGH Vice President JD Vance speaks at a rally Friday at the March for Life in Washington. BRIEFS

Thousands rally against ICE in Minnesota

BY GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO, SARAH RAZA and JACK BROOK Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS Police arrested about 100 clergy demonstrating against immigration enforcement at Minnesota’s largest airport Friday, and thousands gathered in downtown Minneapolis despite arctic temperatures to protest the Trump administration’s crackdown

The protests are part of a broader movement against President Donald Trump’s increased immigration enforcement across the state, with labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urging Minnesotans to stay away from work, school and even shops.

Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea said the clergy were issued misdemeanor citations of trespassing and failure to comply with a peace ofﬁcer and were then released. They were arrested outside the main terminal at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport because they went beyond the reach of their permit for demonstrating and disrupted airline operations, he said

The Rev Mariah Furness Tollgaard of Hamline Church in St. Paul said police ordered them to leave but she and others decided to stay and be arrested to show support for migrants, including members of her congregation who are afraid to leave their homes. She planned to go back to her church after her brief detention to hold a prayer vigil.

“We cannot abide living under this federal occupation of Minnesota,” Tollgaard said.

Protesters demand ICE leave

The Rev Elizabeth Barish Browne traveled from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to participate in the rally in downtown Minneapolis, where the high temperature was minus 9

degrees despite a bright sun.

“What’s happening here is clearly immoral,” the Unitarian Universalist minister said “It’s deﬁnitely chilly, but the kind of ice that’s dangerous to us is not the weather.”

Protesters have gathered daily in the Twin Cities since Jan 7, when 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Federal law enforcement ofﬁcers have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists who track their movements.

Organizers said Friday morning that more than 700 businesses statewide have closed in solidarity with the movement, from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near

the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.

“We’re achieving something historic,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of the more than 100 participating groups.

Children ages 2, 5 detained

A 2-year-old named Chloe was detained with her father as they drove home from a grocery store in South Minneapolis on Thursday, according to a GoFundMe page created by Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez.

Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Border Patrol arrested Elvis Tipan Echeverria of Ecuador and that the toddler’s mother refused to take her so

she was reunited with her father at a federal detention facility

According to an emergency petition ﬁled in federal court, a district judge granted an emergency injunction ordering Chloe’s release into the custody of her lawyer The child, a citizen of Ecuador who was brought to Minneapolis as a newborn, has a pending asylum application and is not subject to a ﬁnal order of removal.

DHS repeated its allegation Friday that the father of 5-yearold Liam Ramos abandoned him during his arrest by immigration officers in Columbia Heights on Tuesday, leading to the child being detained, too.

Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Liam was de-

tained because his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, “ﬂed from the scene.” The two are detained together at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, which is intended to hold families. McLaughlin said Liam’s mother refused to accept custody

The family’s attorney Marc Prokosch said he thinks the mother refused to open the door to the ICE officers because she was afraid she would be detained. Columbia Heights district superintendent Zena Stenvik said Liam was “used as bait.” Prokosch found nothing in state records to suggest Liam’s father has a criminal history

On Friday, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino sought to shift the narrative by attacking the news media for, in his view, insufficient coverage of children who have lost parents to violence by people in the country illegally After briefly mentioning the 5-yearold during a news conference, he talked about a mother of five who was killed in August 2023. Details from Good’s autopsy

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner posted an initial autopsy report online for Good that classiﬁed her death as a homicide and determined she died from “multiple gunshot wounds.”

A more detailed independent autopsy commissioned by Good’s family said one bullet pierced the left side her head and exited on the right side This autopsy, released Wednesday through the Romanucci & Blandin law firm, said bullets also struck her in the arm and breast, although those injuries weren’t immediately lifethreatening.

An attorney for the family said in a statement that the family is still awaiting the full report from the medical examiner

Activist releases video of arrest after White House posts false image

BY JACK BROOK and SARAH RAZA Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota activist who was charged for her role in an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a church released her own video of her arrest Friday after the White House posted a manipulated image online

The White House on Thursday posted a picture on its X page of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong crying with her hands behind her back as she was escorted by a blurred person wearing a badge. The photo was captioned in all caps: “Arrested far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.”

A photo posted by Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem’s account

showed the same image with Levy Armstrong wearing a neutral expression Levy Armstrong, who was arrested with at least two others Thursday for an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church where an ICE ofﬁcial also serves as a pastor, released her own video. Levy Armstrong is out of jail, said Jordan Kushner, who represented her in court Thursday He declined to comment further The video shot by Levy Armstrong’s husband, Marques Armstrong, shows several federal agents approaching to arrest her

“I’m asking you to please treat me with dignity and respect,” she said to the agents

“We have to put you in handcuffs,” one agent said, while another held up a phone and appeared to re-

cord a video.

“Why are you recording?”

Levy Armstrong asked “I would ask that you not record.”

“It’s not going to be on Twitter,” the agent filming said “It’s not going to be on anything like that.”

“We don’t want to create a false narrative,” the agent said.

At no point in the more than seven-minute video which shows Levy Armstrong being handcuffed and led into a government vehicle did Levy Armstrong appear to cry Instead, she talked with agents about her arrest

“You know that this is a signiﬁcant abuse of power,” she said “Because I refuse to be silent in the face of brutality from ICE.”

“I’m not in here to get in a political debate,” the agent ﬁlming said.

In an audio message that

Prosecutors allege gang members tried to kill judge to derail domestic abuse trial

BY TODD RICHMOND Associated Press

Members of a motorcycle club and a street gang worked together in an attempt to kill an Indiana judge in hopes of derailing a domestic abuse case against one of their own, prosecutors alleged Friday, hours after police announced they had arrested ﬁve people in connection with the investigation. Steven Meyer, a Tippecanoe County Superior Court judge, and his wife, Kimberly Meyer, were injured Sunday afternoon in the attack at their Lafayette home. Steven Meyer suffered an injury to his arm and Kimberly Meyer an injury to her hip, according to authorities.

Probable cause afﬁdavits unsealed Friday paint a sordid picture of a plan to attack the judge that unfolded over several weeks and how surveillance video, a trail of discarded clothing and a tip from a restaurant helped investigators piece the case together At the center of it all is Thomas Gregory Moss, 43, of Lafayette. The documents describe him as high-ranking member of Phantom MC, a Detroit-based motorcycle club with ties to the Vice Lords street gang. Court records show Moss

was charged in 2024 with beating his ex-girlfriend and ﬁring a gun in her home. He was set to stand trial in that case Tuesday in front of Meyer

A Lafayette woman named Amanda Milsap allegedly approached Moss’ ex-girlfriend at her home in Pennsylvania several weeks prior to Sunday’s attack. She told her that Moss and the Vice Lords wanted to pay her $10,000 not to testify against him. Moss’ ex-girlfriend refused to accept the money Raylen Ferguson, an afﬁliate of the Almighty Vice Lord Nation gang, and the woman he lives with, Zenada Greer, then traveled to Lafayette from Lexington, Kentucky, several days before the shooting, prosecutors allege. Ferguson traveled to the Meyers’ home on Jan 16 and knocked on the door saying he had a food delivery but left, the records said. He returned to the home on Sunday afternoon, police said. The home’s surveillance video shows he was wearing a mask and carrying a shotgun. Investigators later determined that another Phantom MC member, Blake Smith, had purchased the gun in early January, according to the records. Ferguson knocked on the Meyers’ door and said

he was looking for his dog.

When Steven Meyer told him that he didn’t have his dog, Ferguson opened fire through the door, according to the records.

Police using a search dog later found the shotgun and Ferguson’s mask and clothes discarded near the Meyers’ home. Analysts matched DNA found on the mask to Ferguson.

Investigators used the home surveillance video to zero in on the food Ferguson brought to the Meyers’ house on Jan. 16 and tracked it to restaurant where Ferguson had bought it. The restaurant’s surveillance video showed a person who was dressed and walked like Ferguson leaving the restaurant.

Police from Indiana, Pennsylvania and Kentucky as well as U.S. marshals and the FBI worked on the case before the Lafayette Police Department ﬁnally announced late Thursday that Ferguson, Moss, Smith, Milsap and Greer all had been arrested. Moss, 43, Ferguson, 38, and Smith, 32, each face attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder battery and intimidation counts. Milsap, 45, faces bribery and obstruction counts. Greer, 61, was charged with helping a criminal and obstruction.

Levy Armstrong’s spokesperson shared with The Associated Press, Levy Armstrong said the video of her arrest exposes that the Trump administration had used AI to manipulate im-

ages of her arrest.

“We are being politically persecuted for speaking out against authoritarianism, fascism and the tyranny of the Trump administration,” said Levy Armstrong, who

recorded the message Friday morning during a call with her husband from jail.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ABBIE PARR

Protesters gather Friday in downtown Minneapolis.

Basile and Kinder — have a 50% to 70% chance of measurable ice accumulation Saturday and Sunday, Jones said. Those areas, including Evangeline, Rapides and Vernon parishes, could see one-quarter to one-half inch of ice, enough to cause power outages, down trees and close roads.

Between U.S. 190 and I-10, there is a 10% to 25% chance of about one-tenth of an inch of ice accumulation, which could affect elevated bridges and lead to isolated outages. South of I-10, ice chances drop to 20% or less.

Rain is expected to move into Acadiana on Saturday and may transition to freezing rain as temperatures drop around sunset Freezing rain is liquid precipitation that freezes on contact Rain chances are expected to decrease Sunday, Jones said.

Temperatures are forecast to fall into the 20s Sunday night into Monday morning and could drop as low as 15 degrees Monday night into Tuesday morning The cold is expected to linger long enough to freeze and burst unprotected pipes Windy conditions through the weekend and early next week will make it feel even colder By early Monday morning, wind chills could make temperatures feel as cold as 8 degrees, Jones said

Temperatures are expected to rise slightly during daylight hours Monday but remain below freezing until a brief thaw around midday

Temperatures will fall again Monday evening, dipping to around 24 degrees, before dropping to about 19 degrees early Tuesday morning

Highs on Tuesday are expected to reach the mid-30s

Residents are advised to dress in layers and wear gloves and hats.

Pet owners should bring animals indoors or provide a warm, dry shelter and ensure access to un-

GREENLAND

Continued from page 1A

NATO general secretary The post didn’t mention Landry. It did mention another special envoy, real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, who has been handling Russia, the Middle East and Ukraine, as being one of those responsible for the negotiations.

Nor was Landry included in a meeting at the White House on Greenland on Jan. 14 that involved Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland. The governor traveled to Washington the following day for the meetings he mentioned. Before traveling to Washington, Landry told Fox News that he had been invited to attend a dogsledding race in Greenland in March.

“They tell me they like to hunt, they like to ﬁsh, they like to have a good time I’m like, y’all belong in Louisiana,” he said then. “I’m going to call it culinary diplomacy.” But the Greenland Dogsledding Association complained that “political pressure is being exerted from outside.”

On Tuesday, Landry was disinvited from the dog sledding competition.

MURRILL

Continued from page 1A

legal adviser Garrett Duplechain LeJeune declined to comment on Murrill’s post.

LeJeune, who first placed the cockfighting discussion on the

VOUCHERS

Continued from page 1A

budget it builds during the legislative session that begins in March. The new budget year begins July 1.

LA GATOR would get about $88 million under Landry’s plan, up from $43.5 million this ﬁscal year

About 5,600 students received LA GATOR grants this school year — a fraction of the nearly 40,000 students whose families applied for the money, which can go toward private school tuition or homeschooling expenses like enrichment classes and textbooks.

Erin Bendily, senior vice president at the Pelican Institute, a conservative think tank that has championed LA GATOR, said she is “really excited and thankful” that Landry wants to ramp up funding.

“That will certainly go a long way in helping to serve the thousands of families who have been on a wait-

frozen drinking water

Warming centers

Heated shelters will be open across Acadiana for people who don’t have access to adequate heat.

In Lafayette Parish, the Dupuis Recreation Center will open at 6 p.m. Saturday and will remain open through 10 a.m. Tuesday Second Harvest is preparing meal service for Saturday dinner, Sunday and Monday lunch and dinner, and Tuesday lunch.

In St. Landry Parish, Indian Hills Country Club at 1141 E. Prudhomme St. in Opelousas will be open from Saturday through Tuesday

In Vermilion Parish, Faith Hope Christian Fellowship Church in Abbeville at 301 BK Stevens Drive will be open from 10 a.m. Saturday through noon Tuesday Kaplan

“I think it is really disappointing,” Landry said during the interview “I don’t think we would disinvite anyone from Greenland to attend the Super Bowl or any big event in New Orleans. It just seems inhospitable given that we had been working with someone who is a native of Greenland.”

He said he hoped another travel opportunity would arise, adding that he has discussed the idea with Alaska Gov Mike Dunleavy

“I would love to put a group of governors together and maybe even business folks or sports recreation folks, folks who like to hunt and ﬁsh, or engage in outdoor activity, to travel to Greenland,”

Landry said “We don’t know what kinds of opportunities there are.

This was on nobody’s radar until the president mentioned it.”

Trump has expressed concerns that Russia or China could grab a foothold on Greenland to strengthen their military or to gain access to valuable minerals. European ofﬁcials have scoffed at the idea.

Landry’s appointment has left foreign policy pros scratching their heads.

“It was a very strange appointment. Nobody can make any sense of it,” said Troy Bouffart, a professor of Arctic Security at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“There were plenty of other good options.”

Wednesday agenda following a request by famed cockfighter James Demoruelle at a December council meeting reiterated previous claims that legal cockﬁghting would bring needed revenue to the parish.

Home Association Hall (formerly the KC Hall) in Kaplan will open at 3 p.m. Sunday In Iberia Parish, the Robert B. Green Veteran’s Memorial Building, 1201 Field St., New Iberia, will open from 5 p.m. Sunday through 11 a.m. Tuesday

School closures

Some schools in Acadiana, including Lafayette Parish public schools, announced closures for early next week in anticipation of icy roadways.

Lafayette Parish schools ofﬁcials announced school closures due to the record-breaking freezing temperatures beginning on Monday

To ensure students remain warm and safe and to allow time for families to make arrangements, LPSS schools will be closed on Monday

Landry served one term in the U.S. House but has lived almost his entire life in Acadiana and has no experience in foreign affairs or diplomacy

However, the governor has the one thing that seems to matter the most to Trump: He has been a strong supporter of the president’s controversial policies and has entered Trump’s orbit through relationships with Donald Trump Jr and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“It’s prestigious to have the president of the United States think so highly of the governor of Louisiana that he says, ‘Hey, would you help me do this?’ knowing that there could be great opportunities for Louisiana,” Landry said.

The State Department referred a query about Landry to the White House, which didn’t respond to a comment. The Danish foreign ministry also did not respond.

Landry expressed excitement upon getting the appointment following a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 21.

“It’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S,” Landry said in a post on X addressed to Trump that day

Landry softened his goal in an interview with The Times-Picayune | The Advocate nine days later saying, “This is an opportunity

“We know that we need the revenue. Nobody in this parish can say that we don’t This is an opportunity to generate revenue,” LeJeune said. “This is going to be the same thing as the racing industry It’s not going to be a cockﬁght in the backyard of somebody’s house or in the neighborhood. It’s going to be monitored by the state”. Cockﬁghting has a long history in Louisiana which was the last state to ban the practice in 2008.

ing list,” she said. Barras said that, according to Department of Education estimates, the additional $44 million could pay for vouchers for another 4,000 to 5,000 students. But it’s far from certain that the Legislature will go along with Landry’s plan. Last year he faced stiff resistance from some lawmakers — particularly Henry — who raised concerns about the cost and the poor academic outcomes of the state’s previous school voucher program. The Legislature ultimately agreedtogiveLAGATORabouthalf the funding that Landry wanted. Henry said Friday he is still waiting for education ofﬁcials to give him information about how families who sign up for the LA GATOR program can spend that money

If you’re gonna double this program every single year, what are we getting for it?” he asked.

Louisiana Department of Education spokesperson Ted Beasley said in a statement that the department

has consistently provided timely and accurate information to lawmakers about LA GATOR, including during several presentations to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, of which Henry is a member

“As the state agency responsible for administering LA GATOR, we will continue to operate this program in alignment with state law,” Beasley said.

Louisiana’s proposed total budget, including federal funds, is $47 billion.

But lawmakers largely only control part of that $12.6 billion of state money

Landry wants them to put an additional $17.5 million toward the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

“It’s funding an increase of about 688 offenders. This will also add an additional 150 positions to support those offenders,” said Colleen Gil, state director of the ofﬁce of planning and budget. “Angola’s

The closure will also allow facilities teams to inspect campuses for any cold-weather impacts.

LPSS will continue monitoring conditions and will make a decision about school on Tuesday no later than noon on Monday

Updates will be shared through the JCampus app, text message, email and the LPSS Facebook page.

Vermilion Parish and St Martin Parish schools also be closed on Monday

Freezing pipes

With prolonged freezing temperatures, Lafayette Utilities System is advising residents to take measures to keep their pipes from freezing.

The following tips are provided to help protect your home or business:

to go talk to some folks and say, ‘Hey would y’all be interested in engaging in a relationship with the United States that’s better than the one you have in Europe?’”

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has consistently rejected Trump’s plans to take over Greenland, saying on Jan. 1, “In the past year, we have had to pay attention to a lot. Threats. Pressure. Derogatory language. From our closest ally for a lifetime. About wanting to take over another country another people. As if it was something you could buy and own.”

In the Dec. 30 interview, Landry said his experience as a Cajun helps him understand the situation for the residents of Greenland living under Denmark’s authority

“My family, my wife’s family, thousands of other families in Louisiana, are the only families that have lived under multiple flags here on the continental United States,” he said. “We bring a great perspective to that.”

That’s not enough for the envoy role, said Dennis Jett, who served as U.S ambassador to Mozambique and Peru and who taught international relations at Penn State.

“You have to know something about diplomacy and what motivates the people from the country you’re dealing with,” Jett said.

Recently, cockfighting enthusiasts in St. Landry Parish have renewed arguments that the practice is constitutionally protected and that its continued prevalence across parts of rural Acadiana is proof of its important cultural connection to Cajun heritage. Arrests for cockfighting have

currently seeing increases in their population right now.”

Barras said the funds are not for federal immigration detention.

The Department of Children and Family Services could get $12 million to put toward a “modernization” of the child welfare agency’s program, though budget ofﬁcials didn’t provide information about what that would entail.

DCFS did not respond to a question about how the money would be used by the time of publication.

Landry also wants $75 million for a business incentive program run by Louisiana Economic Development called the High Impact Jobs Program, which gives grants to companies that create new jobs that pay above average wage in a parish.

State lawmakers will also get to decide how to spend $577 million of surplus funds leftover from the 2025 budget year that ended last year on June 30. They are legally required to put

n Open indoor cabinet doors under sinks to allow warm air to circulate around pipes.

n Locate your home and/or business’s hand cutoff valve in case of an emergency, which is usually located 1-2 feet from the water meter going to the house or business.

n Insulate exposed pipes outside, in the attic, and beneath your home and/or business.

n Cover outdoor faucets.

n Maintain your home and/or business’s temperature between 60 and 68 degrees.

A warm-up is expected Wednesday with a high near 47, according to the NWS online forecast. Temperatures are expected to fall into the 20s again Wednesday night. Contact Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

“What Landry doesn’t understand and what Trump refuses to accept is that these people want no part of the United States.”

Jett said it was noteworthy that Landry was excluded from last week’s White House meeting on Greenland.

“If he had any inﬂuence on policy, he would have been there,” Jett said.

Landry shrugged off the criticism, saying he’s been given an assignment that’s similar to a trade mission he undertook to South Korea in late 2024 that helped lead Hyundai to announce months later that it wants to build a steel mill in Ascension Parish.

“If you’re not at the table, you miss the meal,” he said.

Michael Henderson, an LSU political science professor, said Landry’s role could boost his popularity among Trump’s fans in Louisiana.

“However, if voters were ever to ﬁnd reason to feel that things weren’t going well in Louisiana, then such action could become a liability,” Henderson said. “This is essentially what happened in the case of former Gov Bobby Jindal. Louisianans — including Republicans, Democrats and independents — began to sour on the governor as they came to believe his attention was focused more on the prospect of a presidential run.”

continued to be an issue in recent years in St. Landry Parish, with multiple ongoing investigations and arrests in Arnaudville and Opelousas.

Before the ban, the Sunset Recreation Game Club in Sunset was known as the “cockﬁghting capital of the world” and hosted prestigious ﬁghting events.

$144 million of that money into a rainy-day savings account for the state and another $144 million toward paying off debt.

The remaining $289 million can go also toward transportation, capital outlay and coastal restoration projects, though Barras said “a great deal” of the funds will likely go to transportation.

Lawmakers also have $293 million more they can spend in the current budget year after economists in December updated the forecast for how much revenue the state is likely to bring in this year

After covering any budget shortfalls in agencies like Department of Corrections, Louisiana State Police, DCFS and the Governor’s Ofﬁce of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Landry wants that extra money to go to infrastructure.

Barras also said economic development, IT improvements and a new voting system are also priorities.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

A digital sign warns motorists not to park on the upper level of the Taft Street parking garage on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus due to a potential ice hazard.

SlaveryexhibitsinPhiladelphiaremoved

Trumporder affectsdisplay by Independence Hall

BY FALLON ROTH and MAGGIE PROSSER

The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

PHILADELPHIA TheNational Park Service has started dismantling exhibits about slavery at the President’s HouseinIndependenceNational Historical Park.

The President’sHouse, which serves as amemorial to the nine people George Washington enslaved there during the founding of America, has come under increased scrutiny by President Donald Trump’sadministration. The president andInterior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered content at national parks that “inappropriately disparage” the U.S. to be reviewed and potentially removed.

Around 3p.m. Thursday,anIndependence Park employee told an Inquirer reporter that his supervisor instructed him to take down all the displays at the iconic site earlierthat day Twoother individualslater joined the employee to help remove the educational exhibits.The ﬁnal displaywas removed at 4:30, the whole process taking about an hour and ahalf. The displays were then loaded intothe back of white Park Service pickup truck.

“I’m just following my orders,” the employee repeatedly said, refusing to say whether he was tasked with removing the displays be-

National Park Serviceworkers removethe displays at the President’sHouse site in Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia on Thursday.Morethan adozen displaysabout slaverywere flagged for the Trumpadministration’sreview, withthe House coming under particularscrutiny.

causeofthe executive order.

The demolition Thursday, with wrenches and crude crowbars, elicited questions —and exclamations,like “thisiscrazy” and “damn shame —from afew passersby.Atleast one asked if the exhibits are coming down “because of this administration.”

Another,Jali Wicker,74, was walking through the Mall when he stoppedand asked whythe exhibitswere beingremoved. Wicker,who stopped to record as NPS workers unscrewed bolts from the brick walls, said the sight overwhelmed and disturbed him.

“You can try to erase our history,but we’re still going to survive,” Wicker said. “History hasshown that, slaveryhas shown that. Andyou want to go back?”

Michael Coard, leader of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition which has helped lead an efforttoprotect thePresident’s Housefrom theTrumpadministration said in an interview Thursday that theremoval of the displays is an “abomination,” adding that Trump is a“monstrosity in theWhite House.”

“It’sadisgrace andthat’s an understatement,”Coard said. “I cannot say what I’m thinking because as acrimi-

nal defense attorney,Iknow better. What’sgoing on now is absolutely unheard of in the history of the United States of America.”

Aspokesperson for the Department of Interior or the National Park Service didnot immediatelyreturn arequest for comment.

The move comes in advanceofthe 250th anniversary of thefoundingof the United States on July 4 where Philadelphia and its historic exhibits will be in thenational spotlight.

Thefateofexhibitsatthe President’sHouse have been in limbo for several months since the DepartmentofInteriorsignaled it would re-

view andpotentially remove ﬂagged displays.

More than adozen displays about slavery were ﬂagged forthe Trump administration’sreview,with the President’sHouse coming under particularscrutiny,The Inquirer reported. Removal of noncompliant displays was initially slated to comeon Sept. 17.

But that didn’thappen until now

Instead, Philadelphians continued to fuel their advocacy and efforts to protect the President’sHouse. Leading the charge is the President’sHouse/Slavery MemorialAlliancespearheaded by ATAC and otherstakeholders who helped shapethe site in the early 2000s.

Coard said Thursday that histeam anticipated something like this happening and that “wehave aplan.”

Electedofﬁcials, including Gov.Josh Shapiro and members of Philadelphia City Council, also condemned

the sanitization of historical exhibits. IndependenceParkemployees weretasked with evaluating displaysfor contentthat“inappropriately disparage Americans past or living,” according to Trump’sMarch 2025 executive order Atotal of 13 items across sixexhibitsatthe President’sHouse wereflagged forthe Trump administration’sreview

This includedparts of displays entitled: “Life UnderSlavery,” “History Lost &Found,” “The Executive Branch,” “The Dirty Business of Slavery,” “The House and the People Who Worked &LivedInIt,” andanillustration with the words “An Act respecting fugitives from Justice.”

Other exhibits across the park were flagged for review,but it’sunclear if there are plans forpark employees to also remove those displays.

Ukraine, Russia,U.S.todiscuss territorialconcessions

BY KAMILA HRABCHUK and KOSTYAMANENKOV Associated Press

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the future of Ukraine’seastern Donbas region will be akey focus as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States meet in Abu Dhabi onFriday for talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.

TheUAE’s foreignministry said the talks commenced on Friday and are scheduled to continue overtwo days “as part of ongoing efforts to promote dialogue and identify political solutions to the crisis.”

The White House described the talks as productive and said conversations wouldcontinueonSaturday

The three-way talks come hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump’senvoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushnerduringmarathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insisted that to reach apeace deal, Kyivmust withdraw itstroops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but never

U.K.

BY PANPYLAS Associated Press

LONDON British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signaled Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump should apologize for his false assertion that troops from non-U.S. NATO countries avoided the front line during the Afghanistan War, describingTrump’sremarks as “insulting” and “frankly appalling.” Trump’scomment that he wasn’tsure the other 31 nations in NATO would be there to support the United States if andwhenrequested, provoked outrage and distress across the United Kingdom. regardless of individuals’ political persuasion.

“We’ve never needed them, we have neverreally asked anything of them,” Trump said of non-US troops in an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.“You know,they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that,and they did —they stayed alittle back, a little off the front lines.” That view stands at odds with the reality that in October 2001, nearly amonth afterthe Sept.11attacks,

fully captured Zelenskyy said after meeting with Trump that while the future statusoflandineastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia remains unresolved, the peace proposals are “nearly ready.”

He also reiterated hisopenness to establishing afree-tradezoneunder Ukraine’scontrol in the country’seast, addingthat he discussed theproposal with TrumpinDavos, Switzerland, on Thursday: “I think it will be positive for our business,” Zelenskyy told reporters.

Friday is the ﬁrst known time that ofﬁcials from theTrump administration simultaneouslymeet with negotiatorsfrombothUkraine and Russia. While it’sunclear how the talkswill unfold andmany obstacles to peaceremain, some see it as asign that the parties aremaking headway in closingadeal.

‘Solving territorialissue’

“Today’smeetingwill be in the format of Ukraine, Russia and the United States, and afterwardthe Europeans will certainly receive feedback from us,” Zelenskyy told journalists in aWhatsApp audio message.

The Kremlin offered little detail beyond calling Friday’smeeting a “working group on securityissues.”

Kremlin spokesmanDmitryPeskovreafﬁrmed Friday that Russia’s demandfor theUkrainian troops’ withdrawal from the eastern Donbas region is an “important condition,” adding thatthere are also other“nuances” on thetalks agenda thathewouldn’tspecify Kremlinforeign affairsadviser Yuri Ushakov,who participated in Putin’smeeting withWitkoff and Kushner,said “it was reafﬁrmed that reaching along-term settlementcan’tbeexpected without solving the territorial issue.” He describedthe talks with the U.S. as “frank, constructive”and “fruitful.”

Russia’sstate Tass news agency reported that the discussions includedpossible bufferzones and control measures.

Trump’smeeting with Zelenskyy Hoursbefore the Kremlin talks, Zelenskyy met with Trumpbehind closeddoors for aboutanhourat the World Economic Forum in Davos,describing themeeting as “productive and meaningful.”

Speaking to reporters aboardAir Force One as he ﬂew back to Washington from Davos, Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy went well, adding thatboth Putin and Zelenskyy wanttoreach adeal and that “everyone’smaking concessions” to trytoend the war. He said the sticking points in talks remain thesame as they’ve been during talks held during the past six or seven months, noting “boundaries”was akey issue. “The main holdup is the same things that’sbeen holding it up forthe last year,” he said.

Russia’s bigger army has managed to capture about 20%of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of 2022. But the battleﬁeld gains along the roughly 600-mile front line have been costly for Moscow, andthe Russianeconomy is feeling theconsequences of the war and international sanctions. Ukraine is short of money and, despite signiﬁcantly boosting its own arms manufacturing, still needs Western weaponry.Itisalso short-handed on the front line.Its defense minister last week reported some 200,000troop desertions,

and draft-dodging by about 2million Ukrainians.

ZelenskyyblastsEuropeanallies Addressing the World Economic Forum on Thursday after meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy listed a litany of grievances and criticisms of Europe.

He chided Europe for being slow to act on keydecisions, spending too little on defense, failing to stop Russia’s“shadow ﬂeet” of oil tankers that are breaking international sanctions, andbalking at using its frozenassets in Europe to ﬁnance Ukraine, among other things.

“Europe lookslost,” Zelenskyy said in his speech. He contrasted Europe’sresponse with Washington’sboldsteps in Venezuelaand Iran.

The former actor referred to the movie “Groundhog Day,” in which the main character mustrelive the sameday over and over again.

“Just last year,here in Davos, I endedmyspeech with the words: Europe needs to know how to defend itself. Ayear has passed. And nothing has changed. We are still in asituation where Imust say the samewords again,” Zelenskyy said.

theU.S. led an international coalition in Afghanistanto destroy al-Qaida, which had usedthe countryasits base, andthe group’sTaliban hosts. Alongside the U.S. were troops from dozens of countries,including from NATO, whose mutual-defense mandate had been triggered after theattacks on New York and Washington. In the U.K., thereaction to Trump’scommentswas raw Starmer paid tributetothe 457 British personnel who died and to those have been left withprofoundlifelong injuries.

“I will never forget their courage, their bravery and the sacriﬁce they made for their country,” Starmer said. “I consider President Trump’sremarks to be insulting and franklyappalling andI am notsurprisedthey have caused such hurttothe lovedones of those who were killedorinjuredand, in fact, across thecountry ” After 9/11, then-Prime MinisterTony Blair said that theU.K. would “stand shoulder to shoulder” with the U.S. in response to thealQaida attacks. British troops took akey role in many operations duringthe Afghan war particularly in Helmand

Province, untiltheir withdrawal from combat operations in 2014. British troops remained, in asupport role, alongside the U.S. military until thechaotic withdrawal in 2021 when the Taliban returned to power

More than 150,000 British troops served in Afghanistan in the years after the invasion,the largest contingent after theAmerican one. Trumpreceived adefermentthat allowed him to not serveinVietnam because of bone spurs, but he has been unable to remember in which foot,leading to accusations of draft dodging.

It wasn’tthe ﬁrst time that Trump downplayedthe commitmentofNATOcountries over the past few days. It has been oneofhis pivotal lines of attack as he escalated his threats to seize Greenland, asemiautonomous territory belonging to Denmark

Trump’sallegation that NATO countries won’t be therewhen requested stands in stark contrast to reality

The only time Article 5of NATO’sfounding treaty has been usedwas in response to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. The article is the key mutual defense clause, obligingall membercountriestocome

to the aid of another member whose sovereigntyor territorial integrity might be under threat

“When America needed us after 9/11 we were there,” former Danish platoon commander Martin Tamm Andersen said.

Denmark has been astal-

wart ally of the U.S. in Afghanistan, with 44 Danish soldiers killed there —the highest per capita death tollamong coalition forces Eight moredied in Iraq. Trump threatened to slap tariffs on European nations opposed to his ambitionstoannexGreenland,

which raised questions over the future of NATO. And though Trumpbacked down after ameeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in which he said they formedthe “framework” for adeal over Arctic security trans-Atlantic relations have taken ahit.

PHILADELPHIAINQUIRER PHOTO By ELIZABETH ROBERTSON

PHILADELPHIAINQUIRERPHOTO By TOMGRALISH National Park Service employees remove apanel titled ‘The DirtyBusiness of Slavery’ at IndependenceNational HistoricalPark in Philadelphia on Thursday.

BY EMILIE MEGNIEN,

JEFF AMY andJAMIE STENGLE

Associated Press

DALLAS Freezing rain was falling in parts of Texas on Friday as ahuge, dayslong winter stormbegan atrek that threatened tobring snow,sleet,ice andbone-chilling temperatures as well as extensive power outages to about half the U.S. population.

Forecasterswarned that catastrophic damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival a hurricane. Schools in Chicago and other Midwestern cities called off classes Friday,airlines canceled thousands of weekendflights, churches moved Sunday services online andthe GrandOle Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, decided to hold its Saturday night radio performance without fans.

At least 182 million people were under watches or warnings for iceand snow and more than 210 million were under cold weather advisoriesorwarnings.Inmany places, those overlapped. Utility companiesbracedfor poweroutages because ice-coated trees and powerlines can keep falling long after astorm has passed.

through theweekend. Her plans:

“Staying in,just being out of the way.”

Aftersliding into theSouth with ice andsleet, thestorm was expected to move into theNortheast, dumpingabout afoot of snow from Washington, D.C., through New York and Boston,the National Weather Service predicted.

Arctic airwas firstpiece in place

Arctic air that spilled down from Canada prompted schoolsthroughoutthe Midwesttocancel classes Friday.Withwindchillsaslow as minus 40 degrees frostbite could set in within 10 minutes, making it too dangerous to walk to school or wait for the bus.

In Bismarck, North Dakota, where thewindchill was minus41, Colin Cross cleaned out an empty unitfor theapartment complex where he works.

“I’ve been here awhile and my brain stopped working,” said Cross,bundledupinlongjohns, two long-sleeved shirts, ajacket, hat,hood, gloves and boots.

Nationwide, more than 1,000 ﬂights weredelayed or canceled Friday,with well over half of them in Dallas, accordingtothe ﬂight tracking website FlightAware.

“It’sgoing to be abig storm,” Maricela Resendiz said as she picked up chicken,eggs and pizzasataDallas store to gether,her 5-year-old sonand herboyfriend

In Oklahoma, Department of Transportation workers pretreated roadswithsaltbrine while the Highway Patrol canceled troopers’

BY SOPHIE BATES Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. Animal advocates raced to rescue morethan 200 dogs from a rural Mississippi property before amassive winter stormhit thecountry Friday Paws of War, aNew Yorkbased nonproﬁt thatrescues animals and places them with veterans and first responders, is helping to lead the charge. Robert Misseri, the organization’sco-founder,said his team arrived at the property,located in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Wednesday

He described it as a“house of horrors,” with the skeletal remains of dogs decomposing in the yard and feces everywhere. The dogs, he said,

were livingbothinside and outside of ahome.

“It’srewarding seeing themcome offthe property for the ﬁrst time,knowing that they will ultimately wind up on someone’scouch. But to think thattheysuffered up there forall these years in silence,” Misseri said before trailing off.

Misseri said the Lee County Sheriff’s Officeasked Paws of Warfor help with rehoming the animals. As of Thursday evening, nine shelters hadtaken about 60 dogs. Paws of Warhas sent several trucks to the property to bring45dogsback to New York.

Thirteen of thedogsare now at the Northshore Humane Societyin Covington The humane society’steam

walks by avehicle that was plowedinbysnowinGrand Rapids Mich., on Friday

days off.

The federalgovernment put nearly 30 search and rescue teams on standby.Officials have more than 7million meals,600,000 blankets and 300 generators placed throughout thearea thestormwas expected to cross,according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Icecould take down powerlines

Once iceand snowend, the frigid air from the north will head south and east. It will take awhile to thaw out, an especially danger-

ous prospect because ice can add hundreds of pounds to power lines and branches and make them more susceptible to snapping, especially if it’swindy Aseverecoldsnapﬁve yearsago took down much of the power grid in Texas, leaving millions without power for days and resulting in hundreds of deaths. Gov.Greg Abbottsaid Thursday that won’t happen again,and utility companies were bringing in thousands of employees to help keep the power on. Pipes are also at risk. In Atlanta, where temperatures

tion: Tupelo Tails.”

could dip to 10 degrees Fahrenheit and stay below freezing for 36 hours, M. Cary &Daughters Plumbing co-ownerMelissa Cary orderedall thepipeand repair suppliesshe could get. Shesaidher daily calls could go from about40 to several hundred.

“We’re outthere;wecan’t feel ourﬁngers, ourtoes; we’re soaking wet,” Cary said. “I keep the hot chocolate and soup coming.” People arehunkering down Stephen McDonald, whohasn’t had ahome in three years, was hoping to getout of the coldin Jackson, Mississippi. But the Shower Power homeless shelter wasadding sprayfoam insulation and ceiling heaters, keeping it closed until Saturday Friday night’sforecast calledfor lows near freezing. “Your hands get frozensolid, andthey hurt real bad,” said McDonald. “It’snot good.”

At the University of Georgia in Athens, sophomore Eden England was staying on campus to ride out the weather with her friends, even as the school encouraged students to leavedorms andgohome because of concerns about losing power

“I was texting my parents and we kindofjustrealized that whether I’mhereorathome, it’s going to suck either way,”England said. More than half

“A lot of these dogs have scars on theirfaces, which is evidencethattheywere probably sparring withthe other dogs for food,” said Scott Bernier, Northshore Humane Society’sCEO.

“So it’s abad condition. Not something we ever like to see.”

ScoutCannizzaro, aveterinary technician at the Northshore Humane Society,said some of the dogs had upper respiratory infections and skin conditions. Bernier said he also expects some of the dogs to have heart worm. The humane society is now trying to get as many dogs as possible into foster homes because their building is old and doesn’tretain heat well. However,Bernier said any

animals left at the shelter when the storm hits will be warm and safe. The Paws of Warwill be working overnight trying to ﬁnd shelters forthe remaining dogs before the storm hits, Misseri said.His team is also still searching the area forskittish dogs that ranaway, andhesaid the number of dogs needing to be rescued could reach 300. He said no matter what happens, he will not allow thedogstobeleft outside during the storm.Heisaskingother shelters to come forward and take someof the dogs.

“Weweren’tpreparedfor this,” he said. The Lee County Sheriff’s Ofﬁce did not immediately return amessage Thursday

traversed more than 300 miles to the Tupelo, Mississippi, area on Wednesday for what theydubbed “Opera-

KALAMAZOO GAZETTE PHOTO By JOEL BISSELL

Aperson

New eatery opensin former mall

Localdeveloper plans sports barnext

BY ADAM DAIGLE Acadiana business editor

Jalessa Dixon andLulu Carter becamebest friends over cooking.

SKATE CREATE

KAT REA AND

Lafayetteentrepreneurturns skateboardsintofurniture,functional artinone-of-a-kind workshop

Ex-teacher indicted in St.Mary Parish

Womanaccused of attempting to entice student

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Aformer St. Mary Parish teacher was indicted by afederal grand jury in Lafayette on Dec. 17 after allegedly attempting to entice a student to have sex with her Katherine Albaradowas charged with attemptedenticement of aminor,the U.S. Attorney’sOfﬁce said in anews release. Shepleaded notguiltyduring aJan.5 arraignmentinfederal court, accordingtodocuments, and was ordered releasedona $15,000 unsecured appearance bond.

BY JA’KORIMADISON Staff writer

From transforming used skateboards into handcrafted furnituretobuilding amobile workshop inside ashipping container,Daniel Barousse livesbyasimple principle: You canbea consumer or acreator

Through his business, Barousse Works, the Lafayette native turns discarded skateboards intofunctional art —chairs, tables,bowls and heirloom pieces madeentirely from skateboards, often preserved for their sentimental or historical value.

In January2025, Barousse completed aworkshop built inside ashipping container.The mobile workspace has traveled as far as Costa Rica and is now back in Lafayette,allowing him to workalmost anywhere.

“It’snot where Iwork every day,but it reminds me that creativity isn’tabout the location,” Barousse said, “it’sabout the intention you bring to it.”

Before craftingfurniture for clients that include actor Jason Momoa, New Orleans rapper Juvenile and professional skateboarders, Barousse wasn’t sure where his own path was headed.

At onepoint, he lived out of avan,travelingthe country and debating whether to stay in theskateboardingindustry or walk away.That uncertainty led him to a1,000-mile solo bike ride from Denver to

ä See CREATE, page 2B

Renowned artist dies in Lafayette

Bryant Benoit explored La experience

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

Bryant Benoit, aLafayette visualartist known for work that explores the African diaspora and Louisiana experience, died Tuesday after atwo-year ﬁght with colon cancer He was 54. Benoit, whosold his work out of his gallery,BenoitArtwork Indigenous Art, worked primarily in collage anddocumented the area’sCreole and Black culture, highlighting layersofemotionand authentic experience in his ﬁnely detailed pieces. He opened his gallery in 2013 andhad aspace alongJefferson Street in downtown Lafayette, but he later moved to a building on University Avenue Benoit, whogrewupinthe Washington Heights neighborhood in north Lafayette, started his career in construction

FILEPHOTO By ROBIN MAy

Bryant Benoit, atalented Lafayette visual artist whoexplored the African diaspora andLouisiana culture through hisdetailed collagework, has died.

after studying architecture at the UniversityofLouisiana at Lafayette.Hebegan working as avisual artist around 2009, and transitioned full time to creating pieces that were

sought by collectorsand frequently displayed in his hometown and beyond. In 2018, he was commissioned

Dixon had been cooking lamb chops for years but started offering it at Carter’sdowntown establishment, Bliss Cocktail Lounge. She grew the menu and worked with Carter to eventually go out on her own. On Wednesday,Dixon opened herown location,JD’sUrban Eatery,atthe oldfoodcourt area inside theformerNorthgate Mall which has been rebranded as The Hub.

It comes less than amonth since Carter,40, died after being fatally shot at aprivate residence in Scott.

“She did everything for me to get to this point,” Dixon said. “(We were) best friends,like asister She helped me come up with it, to orchestrate it.I’vebeen working on this for the last four or ﬁve months.”

Dixon will offer lamb chops alongwith rib-eyes, salmon, pasta and other items. She’sthe latest to move into what was Lafayette’s first mallsince it was bought by

Three

arrested in alleged sexcrimes

Investigations uncovermultiple abuseallegations

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

The St.Landry Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce reported three arrests Monday in twoseparate investigations involving alleged sexual abuse. Anna Mauldin, 22, of Church Point, was arrested on acharge of carnal knowledgeofajuvenile. SheriffBobby Guidroz said the alleged incident occurred Aug. 19 and was initially investigated by the Acadia Parish Sheriff’sOfﬁce. The case was transferredtoSt. Landry Parish in December after investigators determined the incident occurred there.

Guidroz saidthe investigation found evidenceofsexualactsinvolving ajuvenile underthe age of 17. In aseparatecase, 47-year-old Nicholas Lalonde, of Arnaudville, wasarrestedonthree counts of sexual battery, two countsof ﬁrst-degree rape and one count of

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Arib-eye and pasta plate made at JD’sUrban EateryatNorthgate MallinLafayette on Wednesday.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Barousse Works’ first preorderdining table design is made from 100% recycled skateboards.

ä See EATERY, page 2B

Aknife and cutting board designed by Daniel Barousse is made from recycled skateboards.

Trial begins in BR nightclub shooting

Defense questions state’s evidence

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

Testimony began Thursday in the murder trial of a man accused of killing someone during a shooting outside a Baton Rouge nightclub.

Michael Robinson, 25, is being tried for second-degree murder and illegal possession of a ﬁrearm by a convicted felon in the October 2024 shooting that left 35-year-old Dexter Cormier dead and ﬁve others wounded.

Shortly before dawn on Oct 20, 2024, a volley of gunshots crackled through the early morning air outside the Sunrise All Entertainment Event Center, an after-hours night club nestled in a strip mall in the 9700 block of Greenwell Springs Road. The site has since been converted into a church.

Dozens of revelers who were gathered in the parking lot scrambled away and made mad dashes to their vehicles to escape the property BRPD Lt. L’Jean McKneely was

among four uniformed Baton Rouge ofﬁcers hired to work an extra security detail for the concert event.

He described it as a “chaotic scene”

while testifying in court Thursday

He was directing trafﬁc and providing crowd control when he heard the gunshots ring out on the opposite side of the parking lot.

Prosecutors played McKneely’s body camera footage in court Thursday It showed officers trying to maintain order and secure the scene in the aftermath of the shooting. Partygoers could be heard shouting and crying out for help over the blaring sounds of car alarms, vehicle horns and police sirens.

One woman seen on the bodyworn footage was on her knees performing CPR on a victim lying on the ground between parked cars.

“Stay with, stay with me. C’mon, stay with,” she pleaded desperately as she feverishly administered chest compressions.

Cormier was rushed to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where he died hours after the shooting from multiple gunshot wounds.

NAACP Baton Rouge names new president

Staff writer

A new president has been named for the NAACP Baton Rouge branch, the nonproﬁt organization said in a news release this week.

Rebecca Perloff previously served as an administrator for the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus

“As I step into the role of president of the NAACP Baton Rouge Branch, my focus is on strengthening the branch, supporting our members, and staying grounded

ARRESTED

Continued from page 1B

aggravated crime against nature. His wife, Wendy Lalonde, 46, was arrested on charges of failure to report the alleged crimes.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the alleged abuse involved the couple’s adopted child and was first reported to a school counselor, who notified authorities. The investigation was conducted with assistance

EATERY

Continued from page 1B

local developer Jacoby Landry last summer She was granted a certiﬁcate of occupancy recently by Lafayette Consolidated Government.

“I figured more people would want to come out and enjoy food,” Dixon said. “Some people don’t want to just come to a club and eat. So I said, ‘You know what? Why not do it in the mall?’ And Jacoby came up with this idea with the mall It’s deﬁnitely coming together.” Landry has been adding tenants to what was Lafayette’s ﬁrst shopping mall but is in negotiations with an Atlanta developer to put a sports bar in one of the larger spaces facing Castille Avenue, he said. The project would be valued at $350,000.

Other upcoming tenants include a field office for U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields and a tag and title ofﬁce, both of which will be located in the mall’s west side, Landry said. The med spa, located in the former Planet Fitness space, will have a grand opening Feb. 1. Also, the Home Sweet Home store, which has been in the Northgate Mall for decades, is under new ownership after longtime owner Buddie Lee Gray handed it to local realtor and business owner Ganga “Gee” Dhakal, Gray said. Also, Landry got approval

INDICTED

Continued from page 1B

Albarado, according to information presented in court, taught at a St Mary Parish high school in May of 2022 when she used her personal email account to send sexually explicit messages to a 16-year-old student that she taught

McKneely told jurors he spotted two suspicious men near a silver pickup truck and radioed for other ofﬁcers arriving on scene to detain the men after he saw them place black objects inside a toolbox in the bed of the truck. McKneely believed the items were guns.

Seconds later, he saw a third man retrieve the items from the truck’s toolbox, then get in a vehicle to leave the scene. McKneely drew his shotgun and ordered that man out of the SUV himself and had ofﬁcers detain him. Police found three weapons in the front passenger’s side seat of the SUV, McKneely testiﬁed. Two of the guns had extended magazines.

The man in the SUV told officers he swiped the guns from the pickup after he saw the first two men place them in the toolbox. He described it as “spotting a lick,” a slang term that indicated the man intended to sell the stolen guns to make money, McKneely testified.

Police arrested the other two men spotted near the pickup. Tyrelle Jabari Hamilton, 31, was charged with obstruction of justice — tampering with evidence Court records show he is set to accept a plea deal

Perloff

in the NAACP mission, protecting civil rights and advancing fairness and opportunity across Baton Rouge,” Perloff said in a statement. “As a strong and steady leader, she brings a people-ﬁrst approach rooted in unity, accountability and results,” the local branch of the NAACP stated.

from the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services and uncovered allegations of abuse over several years.

“I strongly encourage anyone with information about possible abuse to notify the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce immediately,” Guidroz said. “Rapid intervention is absolutely critical in these cases.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office at (337) 948-6516.

from the Lafayette City Council on Tuesday for a restorative tax abatement for the mall. The measure will also require state approval, and Landry filed for the tax break earlier this year with the office of Louisiana Economic Development. The restorative tax abatement freezes the assessed value on the building for at least five years with the option for another five.

“We’re diversifying the customer base,” Landry said. “A lot of people didn’t know the mall existed or even came on the mall property People here have been so supportive. Some people, it’s just prayers, but it gives me hope.”

in the ongoing case next Wednesday, Jan. 28. Robinson originally was indicted on ﬁve counts of attempted seconddegree murder in addition to the weapons and murder charges he is being tried on this week. Prosecutors dismissed the attempted murder counts Jan. 15, according to court records.

On the night of the shooting, food tents were set up in the parking lot for the event Police said Robinson admitted to shooting Cormier “after hearing someone shoot as he was waiting for his food at the food tent,” according to his charging afﬁdavit.

Investigators reviewed footage from four surveillance cameras at surrounding businesses to identify Robinson as the shooter, court records show Robinson’s fate will be decided by a jury panel composed of 11 women and three men. He sat at the defendant’s table with his head tilted down during opening statements Thursday but lifted his gaze toward the jurors as his public defender, Melissa Walker made her opening salvo.

Continued from page 1B

Austin a journey he describes as physically demanding and mentally clarifying.

“I used that time to plan my life,” he said. “I asked myself what I would do if money wasn’t a concern.”

Not long before the ride, Barousse converted a Sprinter van into a tiny home, an experience that introduced him to woodworking and the patience it demands. The answer became clear during the trip: He would combine skateboarding and woodworking — the two forces that had shaped him.

Barousse grew up in a family of carpenters and is a ﬁfthgeneration woodworker though woodworking was never the plan. Skateboarding was. He began skating at 11 and structured much of his life around the sport, eventually landing what he considered a dream job in action sports after college. When the company was sold and he was laid off, he chose to build something new.

“That ride changed everything,” he said. “It showed me I could design my life instead of reacting to it.”

Barousse Works grew out of that realization. Each piece is handcrafted and can take dozens to hundreds of hours to complete. Barousse works closely with longtime collaborator Leo Navio, shaping seven-ply maple

Continued from page 1B

by the African American History Foundation to create their first commemorative poster, “Let Freedom Ring,” and one of his pieces can be seen on an ArtBox in the McComb-Veazy neighborhood of Lafayette, in a piece called “Livin’ on the Land” at the corner of Pinhook and Surrey Streets. A Benoit piece called “Louisiana Sugar Mill” can also be viewed in Youngsville, in the Youngsville Sports Complex.

As a 2024 ArtSpark grant recipient with Acadiana Center for the Arts and the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, Benoit received a grant to create a series of portraits of inﬂuential Black leaders and cultural pioneers. His death was announced by Creole Culture, an organization that he partnered with last year to create the ﬁrst artwork for Creole Culture Day According to Creole Culture Day co-founder Milton Arceneaux, Benoit was “a friend, a culture bearer, and one of the few people the community relied on to represent Creole culture authentically and unapologetically.”

“While he was a globally recognized visual artist, he never separated recognition from responsibility,” he wrote. “And he never strayed from community He showed the culture as it was with pride, intention, and truth.”

Benoit Gallery operated in downtown Lafayette until 2020, and is currently located at 1402 N. University Ave. Open by appointment only, the space displays Benoit’s immense range of art and is managed by the artist’s wife, Joey Benoit. Shannon Ozene said ﬁrst met Benoit when she and others held a protest of police brutality in downtown Lafayette and someone mentioned she should visit his gallery

A relationship grew she recalled, and they became such good friends that people sometimes mistook them for siblings. When Benoit moved his gallery to University Avenue, he opened space in the building for Ozene’s business, Kokomaa Wellness. She recalled once in 2019 when Benoit, on his birthday, rented a van to take her and seven others to dinner at Charlie G’s and then on a ride to look at Christmas lights.

skateboards into raw lumber and ﬁnished designs.

About 60% of his business comes from custom orders, with most of the remainder split between pre-made product lines and creative exploration. Because of the labor-intensive process, custom projects are typically booked three to eight months out.

“Every board already has a story,” Barousse said.

Beyond the shop, Barousse continues to support the skateboarding community, donating thousands of dollars’ worth of boards to children across the Gulf Coast.

“Giving back isn’t just about handing someone a board,” he said. “It’s about showing them that what you create can last — and mean something.”

Email Ja’kori Madison at jakori.madison@theadvocate. com.

Over the course of a month, Albarado allegedly tried to persuade the student to engage in sexual activity with her, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Ofﬁce. Albarado is accused of describing to the student the sexual acts she wanted to do and sent a video of herself undressing, according to the news release. If convicted, Albarado faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in a federal prison. Albarado was arrested in June 2025 by the Morgan City Police Department and charged with sexual conduct between an educator and student and indecent behavior with juveniles, according to the Police Department’s Facebook page. The St. Mary Parish School Board contacted MCPD after learning about the inappropriate behavior the post states. Albarado was placed on administrative leave and later resigned. She was listed by MCPD at the time of her arrest as 30 years old and a resident of Keith Street in Morgan City The FBI and Morgan City Police Department investigated the case. email Claire Taylor at ctaylor@ theadvocate.com

“That was very selﬂess of him to give that to us even though it was his birthday,” Ozene said. “I’ve been with him and his wife to events in different places in Louisiana. He would meet a random artist. He might buy three pieces just from this random artist — and he’s never met them before just to support them.”

Leigha Porter said she first met Benoit about eight years ago while visiting his gallery downtown. Later when she opened up the community arts center at Parc Village in north Lafayette, his work the second exhibit there.

Bryant mentored boys through her mentoring program, Creole Garcon, and taught them artistry skills but also business skills Benoit’s art, she recalled, often spoke from a historical, storytelling side which every detail told a story She bought one piece from him that told the story of the area’s zydeco legends but incorporated real people.

“It reminded me of my Louisiana roots,” Porter said “It reminded me of being a little girl and dancing with my grandfather who was a trail rider and putting my feet on top of his feet with the cowboy boots in the living room. It was the power of his work that spoke to you not now but from the past.”

Funeral services will be Saturday at St. Anthony Catholic Church 615 Edison St with visitation at 8 a.m and Mass at 11 a.m. His work will be on display afterward at the community center at Progressive Baptist Church, 2001 E. Simcoe St. Benoit is survived by his wife, Joey; a son, C.J. Washington; and a granddaughter, Aryanna Washington.

Email Joanna Brown at joanna.brown@theadvocate. com.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Designer and artist Daniel Barousse, who owns Barousse Works, sits in a chair he created from used skateboards.

A bowl designed by Barousse made from 100% recycled skateboards.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Owner Jalessa Dixon stands outside of JD’s Urban Eatery at Northgate Mall in Lafayette on Wednesday.

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Intel tumbles and gold’s price rises

NEWYORK The U.S. stock market drifted through mixed trading Friday, as a zigzag week punctuated by loud threats and pullbacks finished with a quiet and tentative close. The majority of stocks on Wall Street fell, and Intel weighed on the market after tumbling 17%. The chip company reported better results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected. But investors focused instead on its forecast for the first three months of this year, which fell short of Wall Street’s expectations Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said shortages of supplies are affecting the entire industry, and Intel expects available supply to hit a bottom early this year before improving in the spring and beyond. Gold rose to another record Friday and neared $5,000 per ounce in a signal that investors are still looking for something safer to own. It’s already up nearly 15% for the year so far

On Wall Street, Capital One Financial sank 7.6% after reporting a weaker proﬁt for the end of 2025 than analysts expected It also said it was buying Brex, which helps businesses issue corporate credit cards, for $5.15 billion in cash and stock. Clorox gained 1.1% after saying it was buying the maker of Purell, GOJO Industries, for $2.25 billion in cash.

A survey of U.S. consumers said expectations for inﬂation in the upcoming year improved to 4%. That’s the lowest such reading in a year, according to the University of Michigan’s survey, even it remains well above the 2% inﬂation that the Federal Reserve targets CSX profit slips 2%; shipping demand weak

CSX said Thursday that its proﬁt slipped 2% in the fourth quarter as the railroad dealt with weak demand and severance costs from layoffs that new CEO Steve Angel carried out last fall

The Jacksonville, Floridabased railroad said it earned $720 million, or 39 cents per share, in the quarter That’s down from $733 million, or 38 cents per share

But the results were weighed down by about $50 million in one-time costs that dragged down profits by 2 cents per share. Without that, the numbers would have been in line with the 41 cents per share that the analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had predicted Heading into 2026, the railroad is focused on improving productivity while limiting costs. Angel said he expects only modest economic growth this year amid all the uncertainty He predicted that CSX will see revenue grow only by low single digits.

Last fall CSX wrapped up the two major construction projects that disrupted its network and limited the railroad’s ﬂexibility CSX completed a major tunnel renovation in Baltimore and repairs from Hurricane Helene That helped raise its trains’ average speed to 19.6 mph in the fourth quarter while delivering 87% of its shipments on time.

Meta pauses teen access to AI characters

Meta is halting teens’ access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily the company said in a blog post Friday Meta Platforms Inc., which own Instagram and WhatsApp, said that starting in the “coming weeks,” teens will no longer be able to access AI characters “until the updated experience is ready.” This applies to anyone who gave Meta a birthday that makes them a minor, as well as “people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology.”

Teens will still be able to access Meta’s AI assistant, just not the characters

BUSINESS

THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business

TikTok finalizes a deal for American entity

Company avoids looming ban in the U.S.

BY KAITLYN HUAMANI AP Technology Reporter

TikTok has ﬁnalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years on the platform now used by more than 200 million Americans.

The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment ﬁrm MGX to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture. The new version will operate under “deﬁned safeguards that protect national

security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users,” the company said in a statement Thursday American TikTok users can continue using the same app. President Donald Trump praised the deal in a Truth Social post, thanking Chinese leader Xi Jinping specifically “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” Trump add that he hopes “that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.”

Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of

directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew

The deal ends years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not ﬁnd a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company

The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law But the U.S. regulation passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties — speciﬁcally the algorithm — with ByteDance. Under the terms of this deal, ByteDance would license the algorithm to the U.S. entity for retraining.

Apart from an emphasis on data protection, with U.S. user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle, the joint venture will also focus on TikTok’s algorithm. The content recommendation formula, which feeds users speciﬁc videos tailored to their preferences and interests, will be retrained, tested and updated on U.S. user data, the company said in its announcement.

What weather apps can miss

They might not be as accurate about dangerous winter storm conditions

BY SETH BORENSTEIN and TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press

Smartphone weather apps that summarize their forecasts with eye-popping numbers and bright icons may be handy during mild weather but meteorologists say it’s better to listen to human expertise during multi-faceted, dangerous winter storms like the one blowing through the U.S.

The multistate storm’s combination of heavy snow treacherous ice and subzero temperatures shows why it’s best to seek out forecasters who can explain its nuances via local TV or radio newscasts, online livestreams or detailed websites, said meteorologists interviewed by The Associated Press. The data is changing rapidly before and during the storm, and the distance of a few miles can mean the difference between snow, sleet or dangerous freezing rain.

“Weather apps are really bad at storms that have multiple types of precipitation and it really makes messaging hard,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd, a past president of the American Meteorological Society. “Apps don’t understand the details of why snow, sleet or freezing rain happens.”

University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado and other experts said humans are important in these cases, especially those with local expertise.

“For extreme weather events, it is especially important to know there are human forecasters interpreting the data and making the best localized forecasts for your area,” Furtado said. “Unfortunately many of the weather forecast apps use AI methods to either make the forecast or ‘interpolate’ from larger grids to your hometown, introducing the potential for significant errors.”

But some apps can be useful, especially those that pair National Weather Service data with meteorologists’ expertise, forecasters said. And they are deﬁnitely getting used right about now

The Weather Channel app, which is seeing booming trafﬁc this week, uses numerous models, data sources, weather observers and staff, said James Belanger, vice president of its parent company, which also owns the Weather Channel and weather.com. That level of proﬁciency matters, he said.

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck kind of approach that we take,” Belanger said, adding that “not all weather apps are created equal.”

People walk on an ice covered beach along the shore of Lake Michigan on Friday in Chicago. Smartphone weather apps that summarize their forecasts with eye-popping numbers and bright icons may be handy during mild weather, but meteorologists say it’s better to listen to human expertise during multi-faceted, dangerous winter storms like the one blowing through the U.S

What apps can and can’t do Apps get much of their information from the National Weather Service and some companies augment it with proprietary information and the well-regarded European forecast models. Many offer forecasts by ZIP code or geographic areas far from weather stations by using software that focuses broader regional forecasts to where the phone is located.

While there are good apps, especially those displaying National Weather Service warnings and information, many “oversimplify uncertainty and present highly precise-looking numbers that imply more conﬁdence than actually exists,” said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini This type of storm is where apps are weakest because they don’t get nuances, he said.

Weather apps are good for forecasting nice warm summer days, but not days like much of the country is facing now, said Steven DiMartino of NY NJ PA Weather The paid online subscription service touts its human expertise with the slogan “Meteorology Not Modelology.”

“The problem with the weather app is that it just provides data, but not explanation,” DiMartino said “Anyone can look at data, but you need a meteorologist, you need that human touch to look at it and say, ‘Hmm, that looks like an error; we’re gonna tweak this.’”

The popular Weather Channel app uses information from many sources, including the weather service and more than 100 weather models, including those from the U.S. and

Europe and their own distinct model. They augment it with input from over 100,000 citizens to help forecast weather events, said The Weather Company’s Belanger And it’s all synthesized by artiﬁcial intelligence to come up with a forecast, he said.

That’s more accurate than relying on a single model or provider he said, because AI is able to learn which models are the most accurate in different conditions to help “create that optimal forecast.”

Even so, humans, including a team of more than 100 meteorologists, always have the ﬁnal say about what goes on the app, Belanger said.

“One of the things that has been a lesson and a principle that we’ve adopted is that it’s the combination of advancements in technology with the human oversight,” that allows the company to provide the best forecasts — especially in situations like the current winter storm, Belanger said.

Be careful with social media

Forecasters also warn against another quick ﬁx for weather information: social media, where hype, misinformation and short takes can spread quickly

While social media can help amplify ofﬁcial sources like the weather service, “it’s also where misinformation spreads fastest,” Gensini wrote in an email.

“Weather is complex, and social media tends to reward conﬁdence and drama, not nuance,” Gensini said. “That mismatch is a real challenge during major events like this.”

CEOs leave Davos warning Europe to shape up

ALBERTINA TORSOLI and JAN-HENRIK FÖRSTER Bloomberg News (TNS)

Whether it’s in pharmaceuticals, artiﬁcial intelligence, or defense, executives attending the World Economic Forum in Davos this week had a stark warning for Europe: Get your house in order or lose out to the U.S and China

Citing everything from overregulation and clunky bureaucracies to the inability of the continent to leverage its market of about 450 million people, the executives said Europe risks being left behind in many of the industries of the future, and called on the region to present a uniﬁed front and pool resources to drive its competitiveness.

“It makes no sense to build an

Italian corvette ship, a French corvette ship, a Spanish corvette ship, a Swedish corvette ship, a German corvette ship and a UK corvette ship,” Pierroberto Folgiero, chief executive officer of defense firm Fincantieri SpA, said in an interview in Davos. “We need to spend more in defense but we need to spend better We must share platforms and projects.”

Although these issues have hurt European business for a long time, things are coming to a head as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and intensifying competition from China across many of Europe’s key industrial sectors are adding greater urgency, with the CEOs saying a change in the narrative is critical. At stake are economic growth, jobs and social cohesion

in Europe. The WEF in Davos gathered more than 800 executives from all over the world this week, with businesses seeking clarity on pressing issues including high energy costs, the AI race, supply chains amid military conﬂicts and a shifting new world order Leaders in several industries echoed the sentiment that Europe may fall behind, with Novartis AG CEO Vas Narasimhan saying innovative drug launches were being hindered in some European countries as the U.S. puts pressure on drug prices.

“If Europe wants to attract investment like the U.S. and China right now, it has to step up,” Narasimhan said, citing the ease of doing business in the U.S., where his company

is plowing billions of dollars into new plants and research and development. ” In the drugs industry, shorter supply chains will mean Europe needs to shore up the availability of key ingredients as global trade tensions mount, said Michael Sen, the CEO of German health care company Fresenius SE. After years of outsourcing production, Europe has developed an “unhealthy” dependence on China for so-called active pharmaceutical ingredients, he said in an interview Monday in Davos. That carries the risk of a “weaponization of active drug ingredients in this new world order,” he said. “You are in deep trouble if you have shortages of key drugs. Drugs can be used as a power play.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KIICHIRO SATO

OPINION

Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race is complicated

Louisiana’srace for U.S.Senatehas begun. The last shoe to dropwas PresidentDonald Trump’sendorsement of U.S. Rep. JuliaLetlow over incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy andothers. Battle lines arehardening. Votingstarts in less than four months.

Before we can makesense of this election, wemust ﬁrst understand how Louisiana’s new closedprimarylaw will change the rules of the game. In somecases, you may ﬁnd yourself voting three times— in apartyprimary,runoff and general election.

TheNov.3 generalelection, in which everybody can vote, is theoretically the main eventofthe election; but practically, that may be the Republican primary,asits winnerwillbefavored towin the general election. Republicans have wonthe 11 most recent statewide elections in Louisiana

To see howthe newclosed primary law will impact the Senate contest, pictureLouisiana voters sorted into six boxes, each with its ownpolitical dynamics. Campaigns will targetdifferent messages —TVads, mailers, texts, calls, socialmedia— to each box. So here are the boxes. Whichone are you in?

1) Registered Republicans(1,052,000 voters). They’re eligibletovote in the May16Republican primaryand, if needed, in aJune 27 runoff.

2) Registered Democrats (1,080,000voters). They’re eligible to vote in the May16Democratic primary and, if needed, in aJune 27 runoff.

3) Registered third-party voters, about 25,000. Libertarians, Greens and other minor-party registrants cannot vote in either the Democratic or the Republican primary. They will have to wait until the generalelection.

4) Voters registered without party afﬁliationwho choose to vote in the Republican primary

5) Voters registered withoutparty afﬁliationwho choose to vote in the Democratic primary

6) Voters registered without party afﬁliationwho skip bothprimaries. By choice,theycan sitout theprimaries and wait for the general election

Keepinmind that Louisiana hasa total of 808,000registered voters without party afﬁliation, including many formerly registered as “independents.” They can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary. If Republican primary competition is hotand Democratic competition isn’t—asseems likely —expectfar more “no party” voters to cast ballots on the Republicanside.

To win reelection, Cassidy must ﬁrstwin his party’sprimary —which will be thicklypopulatedwith Republicans who stillresent his vote to convict Trump in the2021 impeachment trial. To offset them, Cassidy needs the biggest possible number of “no party” voters to cast ballots in the GOP primary

It’snow too late for Cassidy to drop his Republican affiliation andrun withouta partyinthe general election, as some have suggested. Thedeadline to submit petitions to do that was Jan. 14. Trump endorsedLetlowjust days afterthe deadline, when that optionwas already shut down. RegisteredDemocrats who wanttovote for Cassidy won’tget the chance if he losesthe Republican primary. To vote for Cassidy in the primary,Democrats wouldhave to reregister as either “no party” or Republican by April 15. The race starts with plenty ofunknowns, voter turnout beingone of them We also don’tyet know what kind of statewide candidate Letlow will be or whether Trump’scurrent controversies will diminish his ability toboosther candidacy.And we don’tknowwhether Cassidy’ssupport ofTrump’scongressional agenda over thepast year has damaged hiscredibilityamong many voters he now needs Another unknown: How will Trump’sendorsement of Letlow impact other Republican candidates,suchasstate Treasurer John Fleming,state Sen. Blake Miguezand PublicService Commissioner Eric Skrmetta?State Rep. Julie Emerson has already droppedout. Will others follow? One more critical point: The closedprimaryapplies only to federal elections and afew state offices (Supreme Court, Public Service Commission, and BESE). Other races —for governor,mayor, sheriff,city council, state Legislature, and more —will still usethe openprimary.In electionswithbothtypes ofofficesonthe ballot, openand closed primary rules willapply That’salot to take in Don’tjust show up at thepolls onMay 16.Find out beforehand which primary,ifany,you’reeligible to vote in and decide which primary, if any,you want to vote in Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landryand her office have been working overtime to retoolvoting systems and explain how all this works; the job she has is no easy lift. Fordetails, including videos explaining closed primariesand how to checkorchange your registrationstatus, visit geauxvote.com.

Ron Faucheux is anonpartisan political analyst, pollster andwriter based in Louisiana.

La. on frontlines of Alzheimer’sfight

The state of Louisiana offers rich culture: festivals like Jazz Fest, amazingfood from gumbo to trout amandine, vibrant music from zydeco tojazz, great sportsteams from the Saints to theTigers. But, there is one fact of our state unknown to many: Louisianahas 95,000 individuals living with Alzheimer’s, and as manyashalf are not diagnosed. However,anearly and accurate diagnosis can improve the quality of life and reduce the ﬁnancial impact of the disease.

Early detection and diagnosis would allow individuals to enroll in aclinical trial.

Louisianaishome base to outstanding medical research facilities, including Tulane, LSU, Pennington and Tandem Early detection and diagnosis would allow the opportunity for individuals to access treatments that would be mosteffective.

As an advocate for the Alzheimer’sAssociation, Ihave met individuals living with Alzheimer’s, Ihave talked to caregivers working valiantly to take care of afamily member with

Alzheimer’s, and Ihave heard personal testimonyofindividuals seeking aclinical trial. As aresult, Iunderstand theimportance of early detection and diagnosis.

Thankfully,Majority Leader Steve Scalise can play an importantrole in accelerating access to blood biomarker tests and earlier detection of Alzheimer’s and other dementia in Louisiana and across thenation.

The bipartisan ASAP (Alzheimer’sScreening and Prevention Act) creates apathway for Medicare coverage of FDA-approved dementiablood biomarker screening tests. ASAP would not only improve patient care, but also help facilitate smoother transitions from primary care physicianstospecialists.

Pleasejoin me, and the Alzheimer’s Association, in encouraging Scalisetosupport the bipartisan ASAP act HOLLYH.ABBOTT advocate and ambassador, Alzheimer’sAssociation, Louisiana Chapter

Pardon of ex-Honduran president, Maduro’s captureatodds

Venezuela’sPresident Nicolas Maduro wascaptured and will be held accountable forhis narco-terrorism crimes. No doubt, Maduro is abad guy

Considering the huge amount of American intelligence and military resources that were expended planning and executing this operation and the signiﬁcant operational risk exposure, it would seem that ﬁghting narco-terrorism is ahigh priority forthe current administration.

Why then did the president pardon Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras and convicted narco-terrorist?

MICHAEL COLEMAN NewOrleans

Michael Chol’srecent letter treats “illegal” as if it ends themoral analysis. However, Christianshave never believed that legalityequals righteousness. In fact, thecentral ﬁgure of Christianity died as aconvicted criminal under thelaws and procedures of the state. Rome labeled Jesus alawbreaker,and in fact he broke Rome’slaws. The authorities processed his case, and the government executed him. YetChristiansworship him precisely becausethe state’s “legal” outcome still produced aprofoundinjustice.

So when we hear calls for “standing, legal law” as the ﬁnal measure of right and wrong, we should pause. Law can serve justice, but law can also miss it. Moreover,abishop offering adispensation in amoment of fear does not “aid and abet” crime. Instead, he exercises pastoral care to prevent panic,

family separation and harm especially when people worry that simply showing up in public could expose them to enforcement actions.

Christian scripturealso containsa warning about this posture of constant accusation. The word “Satan”functions as “the accuser” in the biblicaltradition —someone who prosecutes and condemns. That image matters because it reminds believers that faith is not primarily about hunting for violations. It’s about mercy,repentance and human dignity, even when someone’s status is imperfect.

Finally,ifwewant immigration handled responsibly,we should demandpolicies that are bothlawful and humane. We can uphold order without losing compassion. The Church should not be mocked for trying to do both.

PAUL SAPUTO NewOrleans

There’snomore reason to have password protection anymore, good people of Louisiana. Secretary of State Nancy Landry says that it’sA-OK to hand over our full name, address, birthday,driver’slicense number and the last four digits of our Social Security numbers to the Department of Justice. Idon’tremember agreeing to this. The DOJ requested, and she said no problem This is aclear violation of privacy laws. There is no clear reason fordoing this except to intimidate voters.

Once again, leadership is failing in Louisiana.

New Orleans has ICE, the National Guard, and now,soon, the federal government will have our private information. If ever adiscussion was needed, it’snow

SUSAN BENSINGER NewOrleans

from thepeople

Iwonder if congressmen and congresswomen have read the Constitution. From their comments every time President Donald Trumpdoes something, forthe most part their comments show alack of understanding of basic constitutional laws. Furthermore, do they not understand he did not walkinto the Oval Ofﬁce? He was elected.

MILLIE GALLO Baton Rouge

Ron Faucheux

SPORTS

Lead by example

BY TOYLOYBROWN III Staff writer

“Wedon’thavetime to feel sorry for ourselves. We got to getbetter.

What LSU coach Matt McMahon said on Jan. 13 remains applicable as his basketball team has dropped ﬁve of six games in the Southeastern Conference

Despite an injury that sidelined pointguard Dedan Thomasfor the ﬁrst ﬁveSEC contests, theteam’spriority is to do whatever is necessary tomake the NCAA Tournament.

Urgency is LSU’smindset. McMahon expectsthat from everybody,includingJaden Bobbett,a walk-onwho has played six total minutes this season.

The contributions of the ﬁfth-year seniortransfer from Indiana won’tappear in thebox score, but his presence is felt in every other way behindthe scenes

BY EDDIE PELLS and ERIC OLSON AP sportswriters

The College Football Playoff resolveda fewofits thorny issues Friday —includinghow to deal withNotreDame —but left the toughest one unresolved, staying at12 teams for next year and failing to expand the postseason to 16 or more teams. The CFP’smanagement committee made the announcement that the 12-team format would stay the same for next season, with executive director Rich Clark sellingthatas away for the conferences to “betterassess the need for potential change.”

That conclusion became obviousover last weekend, whenthe commissionerscame out of their last scheduled meetingbefore Friday’sdeadline with no agreement.

The most notable changestheyagreedto are guaranteeing Notre Dame aspot in the ﬁeldifitﬁnishesinthe top 12inthe rankings and holding automatic spots for the champions of the PowerFour conferences —Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12.

The bracketinthe just-completed playoff excluded theACC champion, Duke, along with Notre Dame, which ﬁnished 11thbut

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

UL baseballcoach

Matt Deggs received another reminder last season about the unpredictability of the sport.

The varianceofoutcomes grows even larger with more young players playing prominent roles.

So while Deggs is trying to temper his optimism,helikes what he’s watchingduring preseason camp.

“The guys have embraced and bought in to everything we do here,” said Deggs, whose Cajuns take on Missouri State at 2p.m. Feb. 13 in the season opener.“We’re hungry to getthis taste outofour mouth fromlast year.”

One year after winning the Sun Belt Conference championship and securing athird straight NCAA regional berth, the Cajuns endureda27-31 season ayearago with a team ﬁlled with new starters and freshmen at key positions.

“The leadership andthe intangibleshave been great,” Deggs said. “The guys that came back want to be here andwant to representthe university in theright way, but you never know until you start playing. You’ve got to cross that bridge.”

“I’ll be thevoice when people need to speak up,”Bobbett said.“At theend of theday,I think alot of guys know when it comes fromme, it’s notbecause I’mtryingto steal their minutes. It’sjust becauseIwant to win.” Bobbett said his team’s closeness won’twaver over playing time, andMcMahon repeatedly hassaid he loves his players’ camaraderie. The fourth-year coach knows his last addition in the offseason is afactor in that.

“He’sbeen an unbelievable teammate, as good ateammate as I’ve been around in my30years in the game,” McMahon said Nov.5 about Bobbett. “His energy on the benchwas contagious. Comes to work every day. Since thesummer,he’smade over 11,000 3s in his workouts. He just wantstodoanything he can to help the team.”

Thenextgamefor LSU(13-6,1-5 SEC) is againstNo. 20 Arkansas (14-5, 4-2) at 4p.m. Saturday at BudWalton

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Jay Johnsondismissed the possibility entirely

There was no way Chris Stanfield would return to LSU in 2026. As the starting center fielder forthe national champions —and as an Auburn transfer whoset career-highs in doubles, batting average and on-base plus slugging percentage last season —Johnson didn’tsee apath where Stanfield would return to Baton Rouge foranother year

“My entire staff wastelling me last year ‘There’sagood chance we’re gonna get Chrisback,’ ”Johnson saidFriday.“And I’m like, ‘You guys are (wrong). No,we’re not getting him back.’ ” Johnson’sstaff ended up being right. Despite Stanfield telling Johnson that he intended to move on to professional baseball after the 2025 season, he’sback at LSU for asecond year.Teams called Stanﬁeld and showed interest in picking him in the MLB draft, but no opportunity enticed him enough to leave.

“It wasatough decision,” Stanﬁeld said. “… It just wasn’tthe right time. It wasn’tthe right thing.And Italked to alot of people, prayed andtalked to my family.And once coach Johnson said he wantedmeback, that

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU guard JadenBobbettcheers on thebench in the first half of agameagainst PrairieViewonDec. 22 at thePete Maravich Assembly Center

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL middle infield newcomers Blaze Rodriguez, left,and Rigoberto Hernandez figure to play major roles forthe Ragin’ Cajuns thisspring

6 p.m. Mitsubishi

Nola to pitch for Italy in World Baseball Classic

Aaron Nola is pitching in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, but not for the United States. Nola, a Baton Rouge native and Philadelphia Phillies starter, will pitch for Italy in this spring’s international tournament.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson announced the decision Wednesday at the annual Philadelphia Sports Writers Association banquet, as reported by PhilliesNation.

Despite being born and raised in the U.S., Nola has Italian heritage and could potentially take the mound for Italy when it starts tournament play against Brazil on March 7 in Houston.

6:30 p.m.

HOCKEY

5 p.m. Minnesota at Michigan BTN

7:30 p.m. Penn St. at Wisconsin BTN FIGURE SKATING

6 a.m. Four Continents Championships E! GOLF

3 p.m. The American Express Golf

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Alcaraz tops Moutet in third round

Sabalenka, Gauff advance on women’s side

BY JOHN PYE Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia Carlos Alcaraz had to acknowledge that while he won the third-round match, he lost the battle of the drop shots against Corentin Moutet.

That could be a first for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who grew up relentlessly practicing his drop shots and is now at the Australian Open chasing a career Grand Slam.

The left-handed Moutet mixed things up for Alcaraz in an almost festive vibe on Friday at Rod Laver Arena, his blend of drop shots, slice, lobs, tweeners, volleys and even an underarm serve keeping the world’s No.1-ranked player on his toes.

“When you play someone like Corentin, you don’t know what’s going to be next,” Alcaraz said after his 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over the No. 32 seed “I had so much fun on the court As you could see, we both pulled off great shots. Great points.”

Late in the ﬁrst set, he said he was already fed up with tracking down drop shots and told his support team “I’m not going to run to get those.”

“I thought we were in a dropshot competition,” Alcaraz added, laughing, “but he won!” Ever the showman, Alcaraz chimed in with some of his own tricks and tweeners.

In the ﬁrst round, Moutet was booed by the crowd for his underarm serve on match point. For his main arena debut, there was much more love from the crowd.

After a winning volley late in the match, he celebrated by extravagantly dofﬁng his cap.

Alcaraz will next play Sunday against No. 19 Tommy Paul, who advanced when Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired with an injury after dropping the ﬁrst two sets 6-1, 6-1. In night matches, No. 3 Alexander Zverev, the runner-up here last year, advanced 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 over Cameron Norrie and No 6 Alex de Minaur ousted Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

Sabalenka, Gauff advance No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Coco Gauff had tough routes through the third round.

Sabalenka said there were times she felt like her head, her hands and her racket were not connected but she still had just

enough to squeeze past Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).

Gauff weathered early trouble against Hailey Baptiste before advancing 3-6, 6-0-6-3, cutting down her unforced errors and not serving any double-faults in the second set. She next plays No. 19 Karolina Muchova. Sabalenka, chasing her third Australian Open title in four years, led 6-5 and 40-0 in her opening set but Potapova saved all three set points to send it to a tiebreaker In the second set, Potapova recovered two service breaks and again force a tiebreaker She then had three set points but Sabalenka rallied when the pressure was on. “She played incredible tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I was always on the back foot There are days

where you just have to ﬁght it was such a ﬁght.”

Sabalenka won the Australian Open title in 2023 and 2024 and was the runner-up a year ago to Madison Keys.

She next faces 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, who was one of three teenagers advancing on Day 6.

Djokovic’s advice

The 18-year-old Iva Jovic beat No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 7-6 (3), after getting some advice from 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic.

“He gave me some very attentive tips for my game,” the American said “That was one of the things in the forefront of my mind, because I think when Novak gives you some advice, you follow it.”

No. 25 Miami (Ohio) makes history with 20-0 start

BY JOE REEDY Associated Press

Travis Steele was conﬁdent his Miami (Ohio) University squad would be a contender in the MidAmerican Conference going into the season. The 25th-ranked RedHawks have not only proven their coach right but also got off to a historic start and are making national headlines. Besides breaking into the AP Top 25 for the first time in 27 years, Miami is off to the best start in conference history At 200, it is one of three unbeaten Division I teams It is also the ﬁrst time since 2019, when Buffalo got as high as 14th, that a MAC program has been ranked. This national recognition is especially meaningful for Wally Szczerbiak, who led Miami to the Sweet 16 in 1999 before a decadelong NBA career “Miami is playing as good as any team in the country They weren’t able to get a tough schedule, because they tried. Nobody would play them. So you can only play the games that your schedule

allows you to play,” said Szczerbiak, who is a commentator for CBS Sports Network. “To win 20 straight games in a row that is very hard. To bring it at that level every single night, it’s really impressive to the culture, the routine that Travis Steele has built there within that locker room.” Steele’s squad featured 10 returning players from last season, a team that set a program record with 25 wins and reached the MAC Tournament ﬁnal Heading into this year, Miami was ranked second in the MAC preseason poll, just behind defending champion Akron. Key returnees include senior Peter Suder, Miami’s first first-

team All-MAC selection since 2012, and MAC Freshman of the Year Brant Byers. Byers leads the team with 15.3 points per game, while Suder is averaging 14.1 points.

“We only had one guy in the transfer portal, which I think probably speaks to the conﬁdence level of the guys that I had returning,” Steele said. “Some guys were in lesser roles last year when they were freshmen, but I knew that they could take a huge jump.”

Junior Eian Elmer is one of two players to start all 20 games and has averaged 11 points, while point guard Evan Ipsaro was scoring 13.9 per game before being sidelined by a shoulder injury

“I’m still holding on to the little bit of the old model of development. Development matters,” said Steele, who is in his fourth season at Miami. “You look at a guy like Elmer, who’s continued to get better throughout his college career All of these guys have continued to get better.”

Miami’s next game isn’t until Tuesday, when the RedHawks host UMass before playing Northern Illinois on Jan. 31.

The 2014 National Pitcher of the Year at LSU, the Phillies selected Nola with the No. 7 pick of the 2014 MLB Draft.

Manning has ‘minor’ foot surgery, to return in spring AUSTIN, Texas Texas quarterback Arch Manning had foot surgery this week and will be limited in offseason workouts, the school announced Friday He is expected to return for spring practice. Texas officials called the procedure “minor” and said it was a “preventative measure to address a previous injury.” The school provided no other details.

Manning passed for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns and ran for 10 touchdowns last season, his ﬁrst as the Longhorns’ full-time starter Texas was the preseason No. 1 and finished ranked No. 12. The Longhorns missed the College Football Playoff and went 10-3 with a Citrus Bowl win over Michigan that included Manning’s 60-yard game-clinching touchdown run.

Mendoza declares for NFL draft, could be No. 1 pick BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Las Vegas Raiders are on the clock, and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is ofﬁcially available. Mendoza formally declared for the NFL draft Friday and could be headed to the Raiders with the No 1 pick in April Mendoza led Indiana to a 16-0 season and its ﬁrst national championship with a 27-21 victory against Miami on Monday night.

The junior completed 72% of his passes this season for 3,535 yards, with 41 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Mendoza is Indiana’s ﬁrst Heisman winner He capped what some called the greatest two-year turnaround in college football history Mendoza also is the third Latino player to win the Heisman.

Bieniemy returning to Kansas City as Chiefs OC KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are bringing back Eric Bieniemy to serve as their offensive coordinator next season.

Bieniemy, 56, spent a decade working alongside coach Andy Reid in Kansas City first over five seasons as the running backs coach and then five seasons as the offensive coordinator He was part of the braintrust that helped turn Patrick Mahomes into one of the NFL’s biggest stars Bieniemy took over Friday for Matt Nagy Bieniemy left the Chiefs in 2023 to become assistant head coach and offensive coordinator in Washington. But after a disappointing season, Bieniemy was not retained and wound up at UCLA as the associate head coach and offensive coordinator

Alabama to play 7-footer who turned pro in 2023

TUSCALOOSA,Ala.— Charles Bediako will play against Tennessee on Saturday, Alabama coach Nate Oats said Friday, even while calling the NCAA system that allowed professional players to return to college “broken.”

“We are planning to play him,” Oats said. “He’s eligible to play We’re going to follow the court orders.”

Bediako, 23, practiced with the 17th-ranked Crimson Tide a day after a judge in Tuscaloosa temporarily reinstated the player’s college eligibility and blocked the NCAA from retaliating for his return. Bediako entered the NBA draft in 2023 but was not selected. The 7-footer has signed several

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ASANKA BRENDON RATNAyAKE

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain plays a backhand return to Corentin Moutet of France during their third-round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne,Australia, on Friday

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVID DERMER Miami (Ohio) forward Eian Elmer celebrates after being fouled and making a basket against Kent State on Tuesday in Kent, Ohio.

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore lookstopass duringthe first half of the OrangeBowlagainstTexas Tech on Jan. 1inMiami Gardens, Fla. This season, Oregon traveled morethan 11,500miles to playinthe OrangeBowl(quarterfinals)and Peach Bowl (semifinals).

Continued from page1C

was passed over by Miami. Two Group of Five champions —Tulane and James Madison —were ranked higher than the Blue Devils and got the spots under last year’sformat.

But the key issue of expansion remains unresolved. The SEC and most of the other conferences favored moving to 16 teams, with an emphasis on at-large berths. The Big Tenwanted 24 or more with alargegroup of automatic qualiﬁers —a system thatwould further diminish the value of conference title games in exchange for play-in games for second, third and fourth place.

Perthe CFP agreement,the SEC and Big Ten hold all the cards in this negotiation and remained stuck, meaning ESPN’ssix-year, $7.8 billion deal to carry the playoff will start next season with 12 teams, the same as it’s been the last two years

This season, Oregon traveled more than 11,500 miles to play in theOrangeBowl (quarterﬁnals) andPeach Bowl (semiﬁnals).

Before the Orange Bowl, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said “we have to examine” bringing quarterfinals to campus where thecrowds and the games have hadamore electric (and jam-packed) atmosphere than the quarterﬁnal games —but no decisionwas reached

The biggest winner coming outofthe smallchanges is Notre Dame. When theIrish were leapfrogged by Miami in the last rankings, they found themselves on theoutside —pushed out by two lower-ranked conference champions and the Hurricanes. Athleticdirector Pete Bevacqua complained the ACC’slobbying for Miami amounted to an unfair tipping of theplaying ﬁeld.

“Whilethey all agree the current format has brought more excitement to college football and has givenmore schools arealshot in the postseason, another year of evaluation will be helpful.”

RICH CLARK, CFP executivedirector

The ACC —or any struggling Power Four conference —got avictory of sorts with theguarantee that their champion gets in regardless of ranking.

REPEAT

was really it.”

Stanﬁeld’sreturn puts LSU in an enviable position heading into this season. The samestarting outﬁeld theTigers had in their run to an eighthnational title is running it back in 2026.

Alongwith Stanﬁeld, sophomore Derek Curiel returns after posting a.990 OPS and nearly walking as many times as he struck out last year.JuniorJakeBrown rounds out the trio after aseason in which he feasted on right-handed pitching and had a.935 OPS

“It’s huge to have Chris Stanﬁeld back andJakeBrown, it means a lot,” Curiel said. “We’re all very close friends. We hang out alot.”

Not everything aboutthe outfield will be acarbon copy of last year Stanfield, despite his speed and numerousdiving catches,isswitching positions with Curiel. Stanfield will startinleftfield whileCuriel is set to patrol center

The plan all along, Johnson said, hadbeenfor Curiel to spend his freshmanyearinleftbefore transitioning to center.He’dplayed the positionfor years before arriving at LSU.

Adjustments willneed to be made —whetherit’sStanfield adjusting to the new angles he’ll seeinleft or Brown getting used to patrollingthe outﬁeldnextto Curiel —but Johnson has no worriesabout the state of his outﬁeld defense.

“Wehave three center fielders in the outfield, and it’s pretty cool that all three of them have already playedcenter field here at LSU,” Johnson said, referring to Brown’s time in center field as afreshman. “Whata great thing to have those guys. So Idon’texpect and haven’t seen any struggle with (theposi-

tional changes).” LSU didn’thavethis luxury the last time it triedtodefenda national title. The Tigers in 2024 had just onereturning starter in the outﬁeld —JoshPearson in left—and lost their best positionalplayerin center ﬁelder Dylan Crews.

LSUwillhaveits fair share of fresh facesthisseason.It’ll have new starters at ﬁrst, second, third, designated hitter and catcher.But bringing back its starting outﬁeld,

the fastest guy on the team.Hecan go get it andhecan throw.”

whichincludes two of its top-ﬁve hitters in termsofOPS, gives the Tigers abetter chance to repeat as champions. Even if this wasascenario Johnson couldn’tenvision in June. “Glad Iwas wrong,” he said. Email Koki Rileyatkoki.riley@ theadvocate.com. For more LSU sports updates,signupfor our newsletter at theadvocate.com/ lsunewsletter

“While theyall agree thecurrent format has brought more excitement to college football andhas givenmore schools areal shot in the postseason, another year of evaluation will be helpful,” Clark said. Also unchangedwas theformat. The openingroundofgames, featuring the fifth through 12th seeds, willbeplayedoncampus, with the final three rounds going to traditional bowl sites. Next season’sfinal is set for Las Vegas on Jan. 25, 2027

That amounts to alossfor the Group of Five teams, though James Madison and Tulane didn’t do that group any favors by losing their twoplayoff games by a combined score of 92-44.

Themovealsogives conferences achance to evaluate how moving to nine league games will impact their strengthofschedules andother factors related to selection. The SEC, Big 12 and most ACC teamsare transitioning to nine-game schedules for 2026, while theBig Tenhas been there for adecade.

Last year’steam included alarge freshman class of 18, as wellas severalolder teammates starting for theﬁrst time.

“You can use adversitytomake you hungrier,” Deggs said. “It’s been over ayear since Icould say, ‘Oh, I’m excited to seethis team go outand compete.’ Ilove watching them play.Ilike it when guys love to compete, and Isee that in these guys.”

Relying on freshmenremains part of this team’s story. In fact, as many as three freshmen could startonopening day in Colt Brown fromSeguin, Texas, at catcher, Noah Lewis from Baton Rouge in center ﬁeld, and Blaze Rodriguez from Slidell at shortstop.

Brown’srole may depend on whether veteran catcher Jose Torresisavailable after suffering a preseason injury,but all three are expected to play major roles.

“He’s got everytool,” Deggs said of Brown.

Lewis is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds and “looks like afreesafety.He’s

Twoyears after shortstop Kyle DeBargewas taken in thefirst round of the MLB draft, Rodriguez is “built like DeBo at the same age. He’sbaseball mature. He plays at a (Blake) Trahan pace. Ihaven’t seen it be too fast forhim On the ﬂipside, there’sveteran LeeAmedee (.285, 2HRs, 35 RBIs) at ﬁrst base.

“This is the year it kind of comes together forhim,”Deggs saidof Amedee. “WhenLee’saggressive he’sgood, andI’veseenthat.He’s in aleadership position. Iappreciate him being here andwhatthis place means to him.”

Despite have manyfreshmen andnewcomers in the picture, Deggsisn’t expecting to do aton of experimenting in the ﬁrst month of theseason.

Senior transfer Rigoberto Hernandez at second base and Drew Markle at third are likely to round out the inﬁeld.

Joining Lewis in outfield is OklahomaState transfer Donovan Lasalle in right field, and there could be arotation in leftfield.

“I think we’re pretty close to where we’re going to be,” Deggs

said. “I think this is agroup that knowswho we are and knowswho they are and knowswhat’sexpected of them.”

Pitching is the biggest question, but theearlyreturns have been good there as well.

While returning starter Chase Morgan is likely out for the season, there’sanother tall left-hander from Texas in junior Ty Roman from San Jacinto JuniorCollege who could have aprominent role. He’ll likely be joined by twofamiliar faces in JR Tollett and Andrew Herrmann in the weekend rotation.

“The job that Taylor Sandefur’s done with ourpitchers hasjust been unbelievable,” Deggs said. “JR was really good last year,but he lookseven better.Herm’s not throwing 80 anymore, he’sthrowing 90 now.”

There’s hope in the bullpen with Cody Brasch, Garrett Carter and Tyler Papenbrock anchoring the group.

“Our issueslastyear weredefense up the middle and our inability to throw strikes,” Deggs said. “So far,we’re markedly better in thoseareas.But again, you’ve got to do it on the ﬁeld when it counts.”

Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Unsung leader

LSU players’ basketball homework includes making500 shots and more than 100 free throws each week outside of team practices. There’saleaderboard that shows which players have donethe most. Bobbett routinely ranks in the top ﬁve. The 24-year-old from Rye, New Hampshire, knows his extra jumpers won’tamount to playing time, but this is how he leads by example. It’salso ammunitionto motivate his teammates.

“I go in thelockerroomand be like, ‘I beat you this week,’ and they say,‘What, awalk-onbeat me,’ ” Bobbett said. “They kind of get mad, and they go back in the gym and just continue that competitiveness.”

Associate head coach David Patrick said those kind of playful interactions matter

“He knows who he is, which I think is not normal in this day and age,” Patricksaid. “I thinkit’sinvaluable for him to do that, because coming from him is different than coming from the coaching staff.”

Patrick said Bobbett possesses acerebral basketball mind and knowshow to approach teammates differently,which has been “vital” as abridge between the staff and aroster with12other newplayers.Thomas, who is back from his lower leg injury,said Bobbett is essentially another coach.

Mike Nwoko, who is Bobbett’s roommate for road games, seeks his input. Bobbett, a6-foot-1 guard whostarted his career at Division

III Middlebury College, doesn’tsugarcoat his opinions, which Nwoko appreciates.

Allofthisisunsurprisingto James Cormier,Bobbett’shigh school coach at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts.HesaidBobbett’ssocial intelligence was beyond hisyears in high school. Cormier doesn’tassign captains on his teams because he wants everyone to feel emboldened to lead Bobbett was an exception.

“Jaden was one of those guys that Ifeltitwas so clear andso earned that Iappointedhim captain ”Cormiersaid. “That’swho we’re going to leanon, andwe’re

going to follow his lead.”

That has only happened two other times under Cormier

The way Bobbett leads during games at LSU is through constant conversations on the bench. When playersinthe rotation check out, they ask for his insights.

“He’snaturally going to bring people withhim and just raise the standard of excellence in anyroom that he’sin,”Cormier said.

‘Lightsuparoom’

Losingstreakscan breed frustration.McMahon and players were openabout their disappointments, especially after falling to

UPDATED GAME TIME FOR LSU-ARKANSAS

LSU’sroad game againstNo. 20 Arkansas on Saturdayhas been moved to 4p.m., the men’sbasketball program announced Friday. Thetipoff time was changed because of thewinter storm that will affect severalstates,including Arkansas. The Tigers originally were set to playthe Razorbacks at 7:30 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The game will remain televised on the SEC Network at the newtime. Northwest Arkansas is forecastto have 8-12 inches of sleet and snow. Thiscontest was one of four in the SEC that has arevised starttime Saturday because of the weather LSU (13-5, 1-5SEC) is coming off a 79-61 road loss to No. 16 Florida on Tuesday.Arkansas (14-5, 5-1) is coming off a93-68 home victoryagainst No. 15 Vanderbilt on Tuesday. Toyloy Brown III

Kentucky at home on adramatic

buzzer-beating shot last week.

The mood in the locker room after heartbreaks hasn’tcarried over to practice, and Bobbett is abig reason forthat because his presence injects joy Every practice, he’s among the loudest in the gym,yelling “eight” when it’sthat manyseconds on the shot clock. Whenrewatching game ﬁlmfeelsmonotonousfor players and coaches alike,Bobbett’spersonalityand engagement level energizes them.

“He comes in andlightsupa room,” Patrick said. “Rain, sleet or snow or if he’shad abad day,

he comes in with the same consistent energy,which Ithink (echoes) through the program.”

Player development staff member and former LSU star Marcus Thornton works closely with Bobbett when they organize the scout team, which is the group that copies the tendenciesofupcoming opponents to prepare LSU in practices. Thornton, an eight-year NBA player, marvels at the spirit Bobbett brings. That includes encouraging teammates such as top shooter MaxMackinnonafter an 0-of-9 shooting performance against Texas Tech.

“GuyslikeJB, man, youdon’t ﬁndtoo often,” Thorntonsaid. “You have to cherish them while they’re here.He’sbeengreat, man. Can’t say enough good things about JB.” Bobbett’steammates knowhe won’tallow aslow conference start to dampen their mood

“Ever since he stepped in Baton Rouge, he’sbeen bringing everything he can to the table,” Pablo Tamba said. “All about energy,effort in practice. Everything you need, you can really ask JB. And you can ask anybody on the team about JB, he’sateam guy.Coach McMahonloves that, andweall love that.” Bobbett knowshis contributions are meaningful. Before he launches apotential coaching career,he wants to makethe mostofhis ﬁnal season andservethe program to the best of his ability

“You can’t winalone,” he said. “Can’thave everybody be a 1,000-point scorer,and not everyone’sgonna get 1,000 rebounds. Butyou can be that person that makes adifference, be theX-factor,bethe person that guys just love to be around, that keepsthe team together.”

STAFF FILEPHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU guard Jaden Bobbett looks to pass the ball during pregame warmups before agameagainst Prairie View on Dec.22atthe Pete Maravich Assembly Center

STAFF FILE

PHOTOByHILARy SCHEINUK

LSU outfielder Chris Stanfield takes off on atwo-run single in the fourth inning against Coastal Carolaina on June 22 at the CollegeWorld Series finals in Omaha, Neb

AP PHOTO By LyNNESLADKy

Starkey makes it easier for Mulkey to step away

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

Coach Kim Mulkey stepped away from the LSU women’s basketball team between its road wins over Oklahoma and Texas A&M so she could spend time with her family in Texas.

Mulkey, as she told the SEC Network on Thursday, had to help her 7-year-old grandson recover from a ruptured appendix he suffered last weekend So she turned a week of practice over to associate head coach Bob Starkey, and he led the No. 6 Tigers (18-2, 4-2 SEC) through preparation for a game against the Aggies that they wound up winning by 44 points.

“I’ve said it many times,” Mulkey said. “(Starkey) should be in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. He’s the only associate head coach in the women’s game that’s ever taken a team to a Final Four He has extended my career. He talks my language. We teach the same way “So, it does matter when you take yourself away from your team for four days like I did. I would do it

LSU associate head coach Bob Starkey holds up a framed jersey as

with any team I’m with. My family comes ﬁrst. But I never doubted that he would have our team ready to play.”

Starkey is a longtime assistant coach who’s four years into his second stint at LSU. He’s worked under both Dale Brown and Sue Gunter, and he guided the LSU

women to the Final Four in 2007 after then-coach Pokey Chatman resigned shortly before the NCAA Tournament amid allegations that she had an inappropriate relationship with a player Mulkey has turned her team over to Starkey before.

Last season, when an unexpected

death in Mulkey’s family pulled her away from the Tigers shortly before the SEC Tournament, Starkey served as acting head coach both before and during their quarterfinal win over Florida Mulkey rejoined the team in time for that matchup but decided to coach from a spot farther down the LSU bench Starkey handled most ingame decisions. On Thursday Mulkey met the Tigers in College Station, Texas, and coached like she normally does. Her team then turned in one of its sharpest performances of the season. LSU assisted 22 of 36 field-goal makes, forced Texas A&M into 25 turnovers and converted all 20 free throws it took, tying a 38-yearold program record for the most makes at the stripe without a miss. Stars Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams combined to score only 10 points, but the Tigers still finished with 98 enough to match their fifth-highest scoring output in games they’ve played against SEC opponents since 2021. South Carolina transfer guard MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 23 of LSU’s 47 bench points. She said that the practices ahead of the contest against the Aggies (8-7, 1-5) didn’t feel much different without Mulkey

SCOREBOARD

“It was the same,” Fulwiley said. “I mean, I think our goal was the same, and we all come into practice each and every day just wanting to get better, so I think (Starkey) emphasized that We gotta get better We can’t overlook this team.”

Since she hired Starkey in 2022, Mulkey repeatedly has lobbied for his induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She did so again earlier this season, after a game in which the program recognized Starkey for the 25 years he’s now spent at LSU. That quartercentury run includes all six trips the women’s basketball program has made to the Final Four A seventh appearance could come as early as this season, especially if the Tigers keep stacking victories like the one they picked up Thursday after Mulkey met them on the road.

“I have no hesitation,” Mulkey said, “when something unexpected happens like it happened after the (Oklahoma) game to go and be with my family

“But who makes it really work are those kids, my players, and I told them what was going on and hugged every one of them and told them if things go accordingly I’ll see them at (Texas) A&M, and they did.”

High schools Boys basketball Lafayette 47, Abbeville 45 St. Martinville 65, Rayne 42 Westminster-LAF 69, St. Joseph’s 45 Friday’s games Crowley at Acadiana, Carencro at HL Bourgeois, Westgate at New Iberia, St. Thomas More at Southside, Cecilia at Beau Chene, North Vermilion at Breaux Bridge, David Thibodaux at Northwest, Eunice at Ville Platte, Livonia at Opelousas, Abbeville at Erath, Kaplan at Acadiana Renaissance, Church Point at LaGrange, Iota at Mamou, St. Martinville at Morgan City, Delcambre at Catholic-NI, Lafayette Christian at Midland Donaldsonville at Lafayette Renaissance, Houma Christian at Loreauville, Dunham at Ascension Episcopal, Westminster-LAF at Highland Baptist, Central Private at Jeanerette, North Central at Berchmans, Opelousas Catholic at St. Edmund, Sacred Heart at Westminster, Episcopal of Acadiana at Gueydan, Reeves at Northside Christian Girls basketball JS Clark 40, Scotlandville 38 St. Joseph’s 44, Westminster-LAF 26 Friday’s games Acadiana at Sam Houston, Southside at Carencro, New Iberia at Lafayette, Cecilia at Beau Chene, Comeaux at David Thibodaux, Westgate at North Vermilion, Teurlings at Northside, Livonia at Opelousas, Rayne at St. Thomas More, Abbeville at Erath, Kaplan at Acadiana Renaissance, Church Point at LaGrange, Crowley at Northwest, Iota at Mamou, Delcambre at Catholic-NI, Lafayette Christian at Midland, Patterson at Lafayette Renaissance, Dunham at Ascension Episcopal, Westminster-LAF at Highland Baptist, JS Clark at Catholic-PC, North Central at St. Joseph’s, Opelousas Catholic at St. Edmund, Sacred Heart at Westminster, Reeves at Northside Christian. Boys soccer Lafayette Christian 4, Highland Baptist 1 Westminster 6, Lafayette Renaissance 0 David Thibodaux 7, Acadiana Renaissance 0 Cecilia 4, Port Allen 1 Kaplan 5, St. Martinville 1 Beau Chene 4, Morgan City 3 Carencro 1, Comeaux 1 Friday’s games Lafayette High at Acadiana, Jesuit at Teurlings, David Thibodaux at Ascension Episcopal, Westminster-Lafayette at St. Charles, Cecilia at Erath, Westgate at Comeaux, St Thomas More at Captain Shreve, Southside at Sulphur. Saturday’s games Ascension Episcopal at Acadiana Renaissance, Episcopal of Acadiana at Catholic-NI, DeRidder at Beau Chene, Menard at North Vermilion, St. Thomas More at CE Byrd, Washington-Marion at Westgate. Girls soccer Ascension Episcopal 8, Erath 0 North Vermilion 2, Catholic-NI 1 Highland Baptist 5, Lafayette Christian

STATE COLLEGE BASKETBALL STANDINGS

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Mulkey

MATTERS

Thepopular faith-based Life Surge conference is coming to BR

The Surge is coming to Baton Rouge. Life Surge, anational faithbased, large-scale conference combining worship, biblical teaching and ﬁnancial principles, will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 6p.m. Feb. 7atthe Raising Cane’sRiver Center

“Life Surge represents the intersection of faith and real life. It’sjust helping people fully surrender every area of their life to Christ, including their ﬁnances and career inﬂuences,” said Life Surge President Shawn Marcell, aLafayette native.“Idon’tsee Life Surge just as an event. Isee it as acallingto equip believers to live boldly wisely and generously in every aspect of theirlives.”

Dancers in the Big Buddyenrichment program at Progress ElementarySchool runthrough their routine for Of Moving Colors’ production ‘Love Revolution,’taking place at 6p.m.Thursday, Jan. 29, at the ManshipTheatre.

Headline speakers include Priscilla Shirer,nationally renowned Bible teacher; TimTebow, the former national college football champion and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Florida; evangelist Nick Vujicic; Craig Groeschel, pastor and bestselling author; and “Duck Dynasty” personalities Willie and Korie Robertson.

“This year’slineup is truly special,” Marcell said. “Each speakerbrings aunique voice and testimony and just unwaveringcommitment totheir platforms.”

Vujicic —who has tetra-amelia syndrome, a condition characterized by the absence of arms and legs —isone of the top motivational speakers in the country

“Nick is just apowerful reminder that limitationsdo not deﬁne God’s purpose. His life is atestimony that speaks of hope when you’re facing adversity,” Marcell said.

Worship will open the conference, with special guests Paul and Hannah McClureofthe 11time Dove Award-winning and Grammy-nominated worship collective Bethel Music. Marcell believes that the praiseand worship experience helpsothers to receive what God “wants to do both in and throughevery person that comes.”

Founded in 2019 in Florida, Life Surge emphasizes thekey W’sofkingdom impact: worship, wisdom, workand wealth.

“Webelieve that the scriptures speak to all four areas, yet many people compartmentalize their faith,” Marcell said “Whenthese areas align under Christ, we believe that people will experienceclarity anda greater impact —not just personally but generationally.”

Sessions during the all-day event will address topics such as ﬁnancial stewardship, entrepreneurship, investments and leadership.

“Life Surge is helping people lead in their daily decisions, not just their Sundays,” Marcell said Life Surge is personal to Marcell, 53. He spent 22 years in full-time vocational

LABOR OF LOVE

Smilingkidsand companydancers to take the stagefor ‘LoveRevolution’ in BatonRouge

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

The dancersfreeze in place at Alyseia Darby’scommand, all eyes on her as she turns from thewalllength mirror to face them.

“Smile,” theinstructor said. “Don’tmove. Iwant to see everyone smiling.”

Thedancers suddenly realize they’ve droppedtheir smiles somewhereinthe counts of one-twothree to Jon Batiste’s“Freedom” whiletryingtorememberwhat steps go where.

As of this particular Saturday morning, they have only two weeks until they take theManshipTheatre’sstage in Of Moving Colors’ “Love Revolution.”

Being dancers, smiling is a necessary part of the show.Still, there’sa lot for these elementary school kids to remember Part of BigBuddy program

The dancers are students at Progress Elementary.For thethird year in arow,OfMoving Colors is partnering with theBig Buddyprogram, working withmore than 50

Ayoung dancer waits for the signal for the danceroutine to beginduring rehearsal for Of MovingColors’ upcoming production,‘Love Revolution.’ The dance companyispartnering with BigBuddyinstaging the show.

childrenfromProgress Elementary,Highland Elementaryand St. Francis Xavier Catholic School. The professional contemporary dance company’spartnership with Big Buddy changed the format of the program, formerly known as “Kick It Out,”which included

young dancers from throughout the community Now,with Big Buddy,the show focusesonstudentsparticipating in thenonproﬁt program, whonot only have been attending Saturday

ä See DANCE, page 6C

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

AtticTrash andTreasure,a Baton Rouge nonproﬁt that sells secondhand items anddonates theproceeds to local charities, is back. The group announced that the 2026 sale starts at 8a.m.Friday, March6,and will rununtil Sunday,March 8, at the43,000 square-foot Town and Country Furniture locationat6545

TerryRobinson

STAFF PHOTOSByROBIN MILLER

Guestsbegrudginglyfollowinstructions

Dear Miss Manners: Igot married recently.Itisasecond marriage for both of us, but our ﬁrst weddings were two decades ago, and we wanted to have aspecial event that really felt like awedding. We paid for the whole thing ourselves. It was simple and relatively small, but it wasdeﬁnitely and unambiguously awedding: We sentpaper invitations, had acatered meal and an open bar,and Iworeabig white wedding gown. On our wedding website,and when asked in person, we said, “No gifts, please” (we have plenty of stuff!), but we alsoprovideda

By The Associated Press

Todayinhistory:

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

list of ourfavoritenonproﬁts if anyone wanted to make adonation. We also planned to make donationsinhonor of ourguests, in lieu of favors, and will share that with folks in our thank-you cards. As expected, some peoplegavegiftsanyway, some madedonations and some wrote lovely cards. All good, right? Not quite. What has us absolutely befuddled is the numberofguestswho did nothing at all. These guests spanned generations, so it couldn’t be chalked up to “kids thesedays”orany sort of age-related etiquette. Many of these are the kindsoffolks who

DANCE

Continued from page5C

Today is Saturday,Jan. 24, the 24th day of 2026. There are 341 days left in the year

On Jan. 24, 1848, James W. Marshallfound agold nugget at Sutter’sMill in northern California, adiscoverythat sparked the California gold rush. Also on this date:

In 1835, amajor slaverebellion began in Bahia, Brazil, leading to the deaths of dozens of enslaved people in clasheswith troops, police and armed civilians in the provincial capital of Salvador.The uprising was seen as inﬂuential in helping to bring about an end to slavery inthe country decades later

In 1945, Associated Press war correspondent Joseph Morton was among agroup of captives executed by German soldiers at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria.

In 1978, anuclear-powered Soviet satellite, Kosmos 954, plunged through Earth’satmosphere and disintegrated,scattering radioactive debrisover parts of northern Canada.

In 1984, Apple Computer began selling its ﬁrst Macintosh model, which boasted abuilt-in 9-inch monochrome display,a clock rate of 8megahertz and 128k of RAM.

In 2003, former Pennsylvania Gov.Tom Ridge was sworn as the ﬁrst secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security

In 2013,President Barack Obama’sDefense Secretary LeonPanetta announced the lifting of aban on women serving in direct ground combat roles.

In 2018, former sports doctor Larry Nassar,who had admitted to molesting some of the United States’top gymnastsfor years under the guise of medical treatment, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.

In 2023, afarmworker killed seven people in back-to-back shootings in acaseof“workplace violence” at two Northern California mushroom farms. It marked the state’s third mass killing in just over aweek Today’sbirthdays: Cajun musician Doug Kershawis90. Singersongwriter Ray Stevens is 87. Singer-songwriterNeil Diamond is 85. Singer Aaron Neville is 85. Physicist Michio Kaku is 79. Actor Daniel Auteuil is 76. Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 75. Actor William Allen Young is 72. Musician Jools Holland is 68. Actor Nastassja Kinski is 65. Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Mary Lou Retton is 58. Actor Matthew Lillardis56. Musician Beth Hartis54. Actor Ed Helms is 52. Actor-comedian Kristen Schaal is 48. Actor Tatyana Ali is 47. Actor Carrie Coonis45.

MATTERS

Continued from page5C

ministry,including 11 in his hometownofLafayette, before shifting to marketplace ministry in 2016. He was named president in 2024.

“Over time, my conviction of how God’speople should impact every sphere of inﬂuence really began to evolve, andthat transformation helped me take offinleadership, not as aposition but as aresponsibility,” he said. The conference is the ﬁfth of 29 Life Surge events scheduled nationwide in 2026. For more information and ticket details, go to LifeSurge.com.

Contact Terry Robinson at terryrobinson622@gmail.com

regularly writecards and give gifts. It’s enough people that we genuinely wondered whether a pile of cards got lost at the end of thenight.

Iknow we probably just need to let this go, but it rankles. Icannot imagine showing up completely empty-handed to any party much less awedding! —and not even taking the time to write a basic congratulatory message. We truly and absolutely do not want gifts, but is it wrong to want people to takeﬁve minutes to write acard? Is there any polite way to ﬁgure out what the heck happened (andifmaybe cards did get lost)? Andifnot, or if it turns out awhole lot of friends and family just failed to do even the

mostminimal thing to honor our wedding (and marriage), how do we get over this?

Gentlereader: Tryreally,really hard. Your guests followed your explicit instructions. And as insulting as you seem to ﬁnd it that they did not also guess at your unstated ones, you have not convinced Miss Manners that acrime was committed.

Perhaps, however,she can ease your mind by offering some reasonableexplanations: Some people do not wish to makea donation in someone else’sname to someone else’scharity.Some people are not card writers. And somepeoplesaw “Nogifts” and stopped reading entirely

Rather than focus on your very good friends and family whounderstood the subliminal messaging, you are intent on admonishing the ones whodid not. Please get over that.

But if you cannot, the good news is that you seem to have found a lifepartner whofeels similarly May you twohave along and happy lifetogether focusing on your various grudges.

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mailtoMiss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO 64106.

rehearsals at theYWCA Women’s EmpowermentCenter at Mid City Gardens but also after-school practice hosted by Big Buddy

All of which will culminate in the production, “Love Revolution,” at 6p.m. Jan. 29 inthe Manship Theatre. Theshowwillfeature 11 numbers with students and professionaldancers, saidGarland Goodwin Wilson, Of Moving Colors’ artistic director

Nobody’s perfect

Thoughgirls from Progress Elementary will take thespotlight to Batiste’s soulfulbeats,Darby doesn’texpect them to be perfect

She understands that they’re not professionals.

But as their instructor and apast companydancer for Of Moving Colors, she knows they need to be aware of where and whattodoon stage, andthat includes big, bright smiles.

The dancersnot only need to translatejoy to the audience, but they need to look like they’re having fun —which isn’ta problem, because their smiles are followed by giggles, and their giggles loosen up their dance steps.

Suddenly,the steps comenaturally,asdotheir smiles.

“OK, let’stake itfrom the top,”

Darby said Later,she’ll rehearse asecond group of Progress Elementary dancers, followed by the third and youngest group. Each group’s entrance is layered into Batiste’s verses until, finally,all of the groups stand on stageasasingle unit.

Afamilyaffair

Wilson says sheappreciates the family atmosphere that hascarried over from Kick It Out.

“There arefamilymembers dancing together in numbers, and I love that, and Ihope their families come tothe show to seethem and have agood time,” she said.

All dancers will be dressed outin costumes designed for each number, and the show will be enhanced by former companymemberturned-choreographer Carl Rowe, who will restage adance to “Ne me quitte pas.”

“The song’s title translates to ‘Don’tTouch’ in English, and that’s what his dance is all about,” Wilson said.“Carldoesthe entire danceon achair,and he never touches the ﬂoor.Hedid it at one of our shows several years ago, and he said he’d never do it again.”

But, as Rowe quickly learned, never saynever

“I begged him to bring it back for

SALE

Continued from page5C

president ofthe AtticTrash and Treasure organization, who turns 90 this year,continues to show up to help volunteers sort through the trinkets.

Every silver platter is polished, each linenset is measuredand grouped by size and color,each piece of jewelry is analyzed, and alltechnologies(coffee makers, speakers, record players, etc.) are tested to see that they work.

All in the name of quality,secondhandtreasures.

Once partofthe InnerWheel Women’sGroup, anational charitable organization,Attic Trash and Treasure is now acompletely local and self-sustainingcharity for Baton Rougeprograms

All of the proceeds from the saleare split between ﬁve Baton Rouge charities (with avery small amountofthe proceeds taken out to provide boxes, tape andsupplies for thefollowing year’ssale). In 2025, the saleraised $210,000 that the organization split evenly

Dancers in the Big Buddyenrichment program

production,‘Love Revolution.’The dance

this show,” Wilson said. “I told him it would be the perfect dance to do for thekids, becauseit’ssomuch fun. So, he agreed.”

As the rehearsal begins to wrap up, Wilson points thekids to the YWCA’s lobby,where pizza awaits. After that, JaydenKing, Big Buddy’sstrategic initiatives coordina-

tor,will direct them to buses that will carry them home. King hasbeen by Wilson’sside during the entire process, taking care of all of the logistics outside of rehearsals.

Growingthrough BigBuddy

The students in this program are

for localcharities.

among Baton Rouge Children’s Advocacy Center,Brave Heartof Louisiana, Providence Road Outreach Mission, St. LillianAcademy andThe ArcofBaton Rouge. Each year,the charity board

meets to decide whichﬁve charitiestodonate the proﬁts to from thelarge sale. “It breaksour heart to say no to anyone,”saidJulie Terrelllast year,the 2025 AtticTrash and

able to learn something they’re interested while also having fun. If they don’tenjoy one program, they can try another “But we’ve had alot of repeat dancers in thisprogram,and it’s great to be able to build these relationships with them,” King said. King added that “Love Revolution” is a“building block” for the Dancing forBig Buddy fundraiser featuring localcelebrity dancers in April. They’ll use somedance numbers and students from “Love Revolution” forthe fundraiser “Thisismysecondyear,”King said, “and I’ve seen these girls reallygrowthroughthis program, and that it one of the points of this enrichment program —toshow thesestudentsthatthere aredifferent things they can learn and have fundoing.”

“Love Revoution,” Of Moving Colors’ production in partnership with Big Buddy,will be at 6p.m Jan. 29 at the Manship Theatre in the Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St., Baton Rouge. Admission is $26. Visit manshiptheatre.org.

Email RobinMilleratromiller@ theadvocate.com.

Treasure president. “But we want to make sure each charity gets as much as possible.” This year,the proceeds of the event will go to these charities:

n BatonRouge Children’sAdvocacyCenter, aprogram that helps children and families after physical abuse, sexualabuse or aviolent crime.

n Brave Heart of Louisiana, a nonproﬁt program that helps youth transition out of foster care.

n Capital Area Family Justice Center,aprogram that provides assistance to domestic violence victims.

n Louisiana ParoleProject, a nonproﬁt organization that helps formerly incarcerated men and women rebuild their lives.

n Louisiana Mental Health Association, aprogram to help adults with chronic mental illnesses.

Those who would like to contribute money to the local nonproﬁts are advised to mail checks to P.O. Box 84306, Baton Rouge, LA 70884.

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@theadvocate. com.

Ayoung dancer practices her routine at the beginning of rehearsal for Of Moving Colors’ upcoming show

PROVIDED PHOTOByDIANA RAFFRAy

Jess Shaffett, fromleft, Marilyn Grake,Mae Shaffettand Tara Radoni polish silver until it shines at Attics Trash andTreasure aheadofthe annual Baton Rouge sale

STAFF PHOTOSByROBIN MILLER

rehearse their routine for Of Moving Colors’upcoming

company is partnering with BigBuddytobring the showtothe stage.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You'll be well on your way to reachingwhatever goal youset if you get things done on time. Achance to change your lifestyle, raise your income or invest wisely will offer peace of mind

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) You'll have additional discipline and aunique insight into applying your knowledge and skills toward self-improvementand personal growth.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Sign up forsomething that movesyou, and it will change how you feel about your life.Participating in an event that can makeadifference to acausedeartoyourheartwill lead to newpossibilities.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You may want to take abreak. Rethink your strategy, currentworkanddomesticsituation,and considerhowtoimproveyourstatusquo. Check intocourses, services, grants or incentives.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) You are overdue forapositive change. It's time to evaluate and redirect your energy into something that inspires you. Recognize who you can trustand share only with people who offer sound advice.

CANCER(June 21-July 22) Bounceyour ideas off someone familiar withrules, regulations, protocol or costs, and it will keep you out of trouble. Review your documentsand investments to avoidlate fees or penalties

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Be your ownadvocate. Step into the spotlight andcharm your way into the hearts of everyoneyou

encounter today. Your attitude, gratitude andgenerosity will make others gravitate toward you. Love and personal growth are favored.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Check out what's going on in your community. Participate in events that offerinsight and seek out introductions that can enhance your life. Explore anew hobby.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Alifestyle change will push you in apositive direction. Concentrate on healthylivingand developingnewskills.Socializingorentertaining will lead to unexpected complimentsand gestures. Romance is favored.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) How you act, respond to and treat others will be key. Honesty will playarole, along with your ability to show compassion and understanding. Refuse to let anger set thetone forwhat's to come.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov.23-Dec. 21) Setyour sights on what youcan change, notwhat youcan't.Concentrate on howyou deal withmoneyandcancelunnecessarysubscriptionsandservices.Reviseorupdate your resume. Romance is favored.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Avoid mixing money and emotions. Trying to buy favorsortolift your spirits by making unnecessary purchases will lead to regret. Invest in yourself and your future

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present.Each letter in thecipher stands for another.

TODAy'S CLUE:Z EQUALS y

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLYForth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

LAGoon

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with severalgiven numbers. The object is to place thenumbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 boxcontains thesamenumber only once. Thedifficultylevel of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS CurTiS

BY PHILLIPALDER

NiccoloMachiavelli, an Italian who is famous forwriting “The Prince,” said, “Ambition is so powerful apassion in thehumanbreast that however high we reach,weare never satisfied.”

Atthebridgetable,wemustdecidehow high we wish to reach. In this deal, North opensone diamond, Southresponds one spade, and North raises to three spades (yes, he might bid four spades). Now Southnormally hasthree choices. He can pass with no interest in game. He canraise to fourspades.Any other suit bid shows interest in aslam Here, four diamonds is acontrol-bid (cue-bid), usually indicating theace However, since it is partner’s first-bid suit, South might have only thediamond kingwhen he does not have theclub ace.

(Do not make your first control-bid with ashortage —void or singleton —inpartner’s second suit.)

North then control-bid four hearts. (If North-SouthhadbeenusingRomanKeyCard Blackwood, North would have bid four no-trump.)

ThisallowedSouth to use Blackwood twice before jumping to seven spades.

(Yes, South mighthave bid seven notrump.) West leads the club queen. After winning trick one withhis king, South cashes thespade ace, getting thebad news.Now he crosses to dummy’s club ace and plays the spade nine, capturing East’s10with his king. Back to the board with aheart, another spade through East picks up his trumps and allows declarer to claim

Each Wuzzle is aword riddle whichcreates adisguised word, phrase,name, place, saying, etc. For example: