The Acadiana Advocate 02-12-2026 by The Advocate

Second Harvesthosts festive‘packingparty’

Volunteers DebbieRenfrow,left,and Mashaera Alexander pack up emergency groceryboxes withdonated food items during the Mardi Gras Mambo-themed food packing party on Wednesday at Second Harvest Food Bank

Volunteers celebrateMardi Gras while fillinggrocery boxes

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

As “Mardi Gras Mambo” wafted through the Second HarvestFood BankLafayetteDistribution Center,volunteers tapped their feet and repacked donateditems intoemergency grocery boxes.

There was king cake for the volunteers and purple, green and gold balloons. Volunteers took dance breaks whilethe Mardi Gras themed “packing party” continued.

The monthly celebrations are a way to thank the hundredsofvolunteers who spend their time working with Second Harvest of SouthLouisiana.

“Volunteers are the key to our success. It really helps us reach those rural parishes. It helpsextend our

Volunteersdance during the MardiGras Mambo-themed food packing party on WednesdayatSecondHarvest Food Bank in Lafayette. ä See PACKING, page 5A

Residents protest ICE regulations at meeting

Public commentshutdown as comments getcontentious

BY STEPHENMARCANTEL Staff writer

“Shame!” “Cowards!” “Wepay your salaries!”

Those were some of the comments yelled at the Lafayette Parish Council as council member Donald Richardended thepubliccommentsection abruptly at Tuesday’smeeting. Thejeers followed councilmembers as they walked off thechamber ﬂoor,beforereturning to resume public comment and listen to citizens’ continued calls for the city and parish to implementordinances that would limit and regulate Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities in theparishfollowinga signed agreement between the federalagencyand the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’sOfﬁce in December Richard took some time before public comment to explain the parish’sinability to exercise

ä See PROTEST, page 4A

BY MEGAN WYATT Staff writer

The trial of former DeRidder Mayor Misty Roberts,who was arrested in 2024 over allegations shehad sex with ateenboy,has been rescheduled forFeb. 23 after arecent attempt to take the case to trial ended in amistrial before jurors were seated.

Robertsresignedfromofﬁce days before her arrest, and faced felony charges of indecent behavior with ajuvenile and carnal knowledge of ajuvenile. Thecase was scheduled to go to trial

Flemingblastsrivalsfor Senate seat as qualifying begins

Candidates line up for significant races

BY TYLER BRIDGES andALYSE PFEIL Staff writers

StateTreasurer John Fleming had strong words for his two main Republican opponents in this year’s U.S. Senate race —Sen.Bill Cassidyand Rep. JuliaLetlow— as he qualified Wednesday for the May 16 primary Fleming said that Cassidy flipflops on key issues, while Letlow got into the raceonly because she received PresidentDonald Trump’sendorsement.

“The endorsement Iwant is from the people of Louisiana,”Fleming told reportersatthe Secretary of

State’s Ofﬁce in Baton Rouge after qualifying for the Senate election. Flemingdescribed thecontest as being between “two liberal Republican candidates” in Cassidy and Letlow,both R-BatonRouge,and himself, “theonly true conservativeinthis race.”

He went on to say that Trump’s endorsement of Letlow is a “scheme” of Gov.Jeff Landry aimed at eventually beneﬁting the governor’s future political aspirations.

“Jeff Landryhas been working on this,thisendorsement for over ayear.I’ve heard about it from a number ofpeople,” Fleming said.

Aspokesperson forLandry did not respond to arequest forcomment. Neither did the campaigns for Letlow and Cassidy Flemingwas oneofmanycan-

didates who qualiﬁed for races of statewide signiﬁcance, including U.S.Senate,the six congressional races, two electionstothe Public ServiceCommission, one election to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education andthree stateSupremeCourt races for the Democraticand Republican primaries on May 16. Fleming has been abystander in recentdayswhile Cassidy and Letlow have hoggedattention in theSenate race. Butthe treasurer came outswinging Wednesday while proclaiming himself the mostconservative candidate. He highlighted his opposition to injectingcarbon dioxide and othergreenhousegases deepunderground in aprocess knownas

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS Louisiana Treasurer John Flemingaddresses reporters as he signs up to runfor the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.

STAFF PHOTOSByLESLIE WESTBROOK

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Administration warns Peru about Chinese port LIMA, Peru The Trump administration warned that Peru is losing sovereignty over a Chineseowned port near its capital city after a local judge ruled that the port is exempt from some regulatory oversight.

The sprawling Chancay port on Peru’s Paciﬁc coast was conceived as a crucial new trade link between Asia and Latin America, but its status as a ﬂashpoint between Washington and Beijing is now intensifying, as Donald Trump seeks to project U.S. power across the Americas.

“Concerned about latest reports that Peru could be powerless to oversee Chancay, one of its largest ports, which is under jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners,” the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs wrote in a Wednesday post on X “Let this be a cautionary tale for the region and the world: cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty.”

The warning is the most direct criticism yet from the Trump administration of Peru’s close ties to China, which is the South American nation’s top trading partner followed by the U.S. At issue is the Chancay port which cost $1.3 billion to build and was inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2024. The port helps to expedite shipments to China from South America, and is operated by Chinese-owned Cosco Shipping Ports.

The local ruling states that infrastructure regulator Ositran does not have oversight over Chancay Ositran regulates Peru’s other major ports, which are on public land, but Chancay is a privately owned port

Federal worker raises U.S. flag at Stonewall

NEW YORK A federal parks worker on Wednesday afternoon raised an American ﬂag inside the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village, replacing the Pride ﬂag removed earlier this week after a Trump administration directive that sparked widespread outrage.

Local elected officials and activists have vowed to reraise the LGBTQ+ flag Thursday afternoon in defiance of the newly enforced federal policy that only U.S. flags can be flown at federal sites, with limited exceptions

Following orders from a Jan. 21 memo from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the large rainbow ﬂag was removed from the monument inside Christopher Park that pays tribute to the birth of the gay rights movement near the Stonewall Inn over the weekend.

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal on Tuesday said that he and other local, state and federal officials plan to raise a rainbow flag back up the flagpole in protest Thursday He noted the Trump administration previously removed references to transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument’s government website.

Kennedy Center head warns staff of cuts

As the Trump administration prepares to close the Kennedy Center for a two-year renovation, the head of Washington’s performing arts center has warned its staff about impending cuts that will leave “skeletal teams.”

In a Tuesday memo obtained by The Associated Press, Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell told staff that “departments will obviously function on a much smaller scale with some units totally reduced or on hold until we begin preparations to reopen in 2028,” promising “permanent or temporary adjustments for most everyone.”

A Kennedy Center spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday

The Kennedy Center is slated to close in early July Few details about what the renovations will look like have been released since President Donald Trump announced his plan at the beginning of February Neither Trump nor Grenell have provided evidence to support claims about the building being in disrepair, and last October, Trump had pledged it would remain open during renovations

FBI combs terrain for Guthrie clues

BY TY O’NEIL Associated Press

TUCSON,Ariz.— Fresh surveillance images from Nancy Guthrie’s porch the night she went missing, coupled with intense police activity across Arizona and the detention of a man had raised hopes that authorities were nearing a major break. But then the man was released after questioning, leaving it unclear Wednesday where the investigation stood into last week’s disappearance of Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie.

FBI agents fanned out across a neighborhood about a mile from Guthrie’s home on Wednesday morning, knocking on doors and searching through the dense desert terrain ﬁlled with cactus, bushes and boulders. Several hundred detectives and agents are now assigned to the investigation, which is expanding in the Tucson area, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said.

In a nearby neighborhood, two investigators walked out of daughter Annie Guthrie’s home with a paper grocery sack and a white trash bag. One, still wearing blue protective gloves, also took a stack of mail from the roadside mailbox. They drove away without speaking to reporters.

Barb Dutrow, who was jogging through a neighborhood where teams were searching, said an FBI agent told her they were looking for anything that might have been tossed from a car

Dutrow, who was visiting from Louisiana for a convention, said she “can’t imagine the feeling of the family of having their mother taken.”

A day earlier, authorities said they had stopped a man near the U.S.-Mexico

border, just hours after the FBI released videos of a person wearing a gun holster, ski mask and backpack and approaching Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson. The man told media outlets early Wednesday that he was released after several hours and had nothing to do with Guthrie’s disappearance last week.

Authorities have not said what led them to stop the man Tuesday but conﬁrmed he was released. The sheriff’s department said its deputies and FBI agents also searched a location in Rio Rico, a city south of Tucson where the man lives.

It was the latest twist in an investigation that has gripped the nation since Nancy Guthrie disappeared on Feb 1. Until Tuesday, it seemed authorities were making little headway in determining what happened to her or ﬁnding who was responsible.

The black and white images released by the FBI showing a masked person trying to cover a doorbell camera on Guthrie’s porch marked the ﬁrst signiﬁcant break in the case. But the images did not show what happened to her or help determine whether she is still alive.

FBI Director Kash Patel said investigators spent days trying to ﬁnd lost, corrupted or inaccessible images.

Even though the images do not show the person’s face, investigators are hopeful someone will know who was on the porch. More than 4,000 calls came into the Pima County sheriff’s tip line within the past 24 hours, the department said Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities have said for more than a week that they believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will She was last seen at home Jan. 31 and reported missing the next day DNA tests showed blood on her porch was hers, authorities said.

Pentagon let CBP use laser before FAA closed airspace, sources say

By The Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas — The Pentagon allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to use an anti-drone laser earlier this week, leading the Federal Aviation Administration to suddenly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.

The confusing arc of events began as the FAA announced it was shutting down all ﬂight trafﬁc over the city on the U.S.Mexico border for 10 days, stranding some travelers, but the closure ended up only lasting a few hours. The Trump administration said it stemmed from the FAA and Pentagon working to halt an incursion by Mexican cartel drones, which are not uncommon along the southern border

One of the people said the laser was deployed near Fort Bliss without coordinating with the FAA, which decided then to close the airspace to ensure commercial air safety Others familiar with the matter said the technology was used despite a meeting scheduled for later this month between the Pentagon and the FAA to discuss the issue.

While the restrictions were short-lived in the city of nearly 700,000 people, it is unusual for an entire airport to shut down even for a short time. Stranded travelers with luggage lined up at airline ticket counters and car rental desks before the order was lifted.

Normal flights resumed after seven arrivals and seven departures were canceled. Some medical evacuation ﬂights also had to be rerouted.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he would request a brieﬁng from the FAA on the incident.

Rep Veronica Escobar, a Democrat

whose district includes El Paso, said neither her ofﬁce nor local ofﬁcials received any advance notice of the closure. After it was lifted, she said “the information coming from the federal government does not add up.”

“I believe the FAA owes the community and the country an explanation as to why this happened so suddenly and abruptly and was lifted so suddenly and abruptly,” Escobar said at a news conference.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier that the airspace was closed as the Defense Department and the FAA halted an incursion by Mexican cartel drones and “the threat has been neutralized.”

Ofﬁcials at the Department of Homeland Security, FAA and Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Trump administration ofﬁcial insisted the agencies were in lockstep to protect national security and pointed to Duffy’s statement. The Pentagon said it had nothing to add to its statement that largely mirrored Duffy’s.

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose congressional district covers an area that stretches about 800 miles along Texas’ border with Mexico, said cartel drone sightings are common.

Steven Willoughby, deputy director of the counter-drone program at the Department of Homeland Security, told Congress in July that cartels are using drones nearly every day to transport drugs across the border and surveil Border Patrol agents. More than 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet of the southern border in the last six months of 2024, he said, mostly at night

Asked about the drone explanation provided by U.S. ofﬁcials, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had “no information about the use of drones on the border.”

‘Dawson’s Creek’ star James Van Der Beek,

48, dies

BY MARK KENNEDY Associated Press

NEWYORK James Van Der Beek a heartthrob who starred in coming-of-age dramas at the dawn of the new millennium, shooting to fame playing the titular character in “Dawson’s Creek” and in later years mocking his own hunky persona has died. He was 48.

“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his ﬁnal days with courage, faith and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come,” said a statement from the actor’s family posted on Instagram. “For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother and friend.”

“While James’ legacy will always live on, this is a huge loss to not just your family but the world,” Sarah Michelle Gellar wrote to his widow on Instagram. Katharine McPhee Foster added: “This is just beyond devastating news.” Others posting messages of mourning were Jenna Dewan and Olivia Munn. Van Der Beek sometimes struggled to get out from under the shadow of the show but eventually leaned into lampooning himself, like on Funny Or Die videos and on Kesha’s “Blow” music video, which included his laser gunbattle with the pop star in a nightclub and dead unicorns.

“It’s tough to compete with something that was the cultural phenomenon that ‘Dawson’s Creek’ was,” he told Vulture in 2013. “It ran for so long. That’s a lot of hours playing one character in front of people. So it’s natural that they associate you with that.”

Van Der Beek revealed in 2024 that he was being treated for colorectal cancer A one-time theater kid, Van Der Beek would star in the movie “Varsity Blues” and on TV in “CSI: Cyber” as FBI Special Agent Elijah Mundo, but was forever connected to “Dawson’s Creek,” which ran from 1998 to 2003 on The WB. The series followed a group of high school friends as they learned about falling in love, creating real friendships and ﬁnding their footing in life.

Van Der Beek, then 20, played 15-year-old Dawson Leery, who aspired to be a director of Steven Spielberg quality “Dawson’s Creek” helped deﬁne The WB as a haven for teens and young adults who related to its hyper-articulate dialogue and frank talk about sexuality And it made household names of Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.

While still on “Dawson’s Creek,” Van Der Beek hosted “Saturday Night Live” — the musical guest was Everlast — and landed a plumb role in “Varsity Blues,” playing a secondstring high school quarterback who leaps into the breach when the star suffers an injury Van Der Beek’s character, Mox, turns out to not be a football fanatic, preferring to read Kurt Vonnegut and yearning for the college education that will allow him to escape the jock mentality of his Texas town. In 2019, he made it to the semifinals of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” and played a balding, outof-shape ex-boyfriend on “How I Met Your Mother.”

“The more you make fun of yourself and don’t try to go for any kind of respect, the more people seem to respect you,” he told Vanity Fair in 2011. Van Der Beek is survived by his wife, Kimberly and six children, Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn and Jeremiah.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By Ty O’NEIL

Law enforcement agents check vegetation areas around Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday.

Van Der Beek

Bondi hearing turns into shouting match

Attorney general launches into defense of Trump

BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

WASHINGTON Attorney General Pam Bondi

launched into a passionate defense of President Donald Trump Wednesday as she tried to turn the page from relentless criticism of the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein ﬁles, repeatedly shouting at Democrats during a combative hearing in which she postured herself as the Republican president’s chief protector Besieged by questions over Epstein and accusations of a weaponized Justice Department, Bondi aggressively pivoted in an extraordinary speech in which she mocked her Democratic questioners, praised Trump over the performance of the stock market and openly aligned herself as in sync with a president whom she painted as a victim of past impeachments and investigations.

“You sit here and you attack the president and I’m not going to have it,” Bondi told lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee. “I am not going to put up with it.”

With victims of Epstein seated behind her in the hearing room, Bondi forcefully defended the department’s handling of the files related to the well-connected financier that have dogged her tenure. She accused Democrats of using the Epstein files to distract from Trump’s successes, when it was Republicans who initiated the furor over the files and Bondi herself fanned the flames by distributing binders to conservative influencers at the White House last year

The hearing quickly devolved into a partisan brawl,

Attorney General Pam Bondi is sworn in before a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.

with Bondi repeatedly lobbing insults at Democrats while insisting she was not “going to get in the gutter” with them.

In one particularly fiery exchange, Rep Jamie Raskin of Maryland accused Bondi of refusing to answer his questions, prompting the attorney general to call the top Democrat on the committee a “washed-up loser lawyer not even a lawyer.

Deflecting questions

Trying to help Bondi amid an onslaught of Democratic criticism, Republicans tried to keep the focus on breadand-butter law enforcement issues like violent crime and illegal immigration. Bondi repeatedly deﬂected questions from Democrats, responding instead with attacks seemingly gleaned from news headlines as she sought to paint them as uninterested about violence in their districts Democrats became exasperated as Bondi declined time and again to directly answer “This is pathetic. I am not asking trick questions,” said Becca Balint, D-Vt., who

tried to ask Bondi whether the Justice Department had questioned different Trump administration officials about their ties to Epstein. “The American people deserve to know.”

In her opening remarks, Bondi told Epstein victims to come forward to law enforcement with any information and about their abuse and said she was “deeply sorry” for what they had suffered. She told the survivors that “any accusation of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated.”

But she refused when pressed by Rep. Pramila Jayapal to turn and face the Epstein victims in the audience and apologize for what Trump’s Justice Department has “put them through” and accused the Democrat of “theatrics.”

Bondi’s appearance on Capitol Hill comes a year into her tumultuous tenure that has ampliﬁed concerns that the Justice Department is using its law enforcement powers to target political foes of the president Just a day earlier, the department sought to secure charges

against Democratic lawmakers who produced a video urging military service members not to follow “illegal orders.”

But a grand jury in Washington refused to return an indictment.

Support from Jordan

Turning aside criticism that the Justice Department under her watch has become politicized, Bondi touted the department’s work to reduce violent crime and said she was determined to restore the department to its core missions after what she described as “years of bloated bureaucracy and political weaponization.”

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan praised Bondi for undoing actions under President Joe Biden’s Justice Department that Republicans say unfairly targeted conservatives including Trump, who was charged in two criminal cases that were abandoned after his 2024 election victory

“What a difference a year makes,” Jordan said. “Under Attorney General Bondi, the DOJ has returned to its core missions — upholding the rule of law going after the bad guys and keeping Americans safe.”

Democrats, meanwhile, excoriated Bondi over haphazard redactions in the Epstein files that exposed intimate details about victims and also included nude photographs. A review by The Associated Press and other news organizations has found countless examples of sloppy inconsistent or nonexistent redactions that have revealed sensitive private information.

“You’re siding with the perpetrators and you’re ignoring the victims,” Raskin told Bondi in his opening statement. “That will be your legacy unless you act quickly to change the course. You’re running a massive Epstein cover-up right out of the Department of Justice.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who broke with his party to advance the legisla-

tion that forced the released of the Epstein ﬁles, also took Bondi to task for the release of victims’ personal information, telling her: “Literally the worst thing you could do to survivors, you did.”

Bondi told Massie that he was only focused on the ﬁles because Trump is mentioned in them, calling him a “hypocrite” with “Trump-derangement syndrome.”

Department ofﬁcials have said they took pains to pro-

tect survivors, but that errors were inevitable given the volume of the materials and the speed at which the department had to release them. Bondi told lawmakers that the Justice Department took down files when they were made aware that they included victims’ information and that staff had tried to do their “very best in the time frame allotted by the legislation” mandating the release of the ﬁles.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By TOM BRENNER

authority over an elected sheriff. The relationship the parish has with the sheriff is to maintain and pay to house inmates at the parish jail, he said.

“You guys put the sheriff in office,” said council member A.B Rubin. “I would recommend that you call him and get a meeting with him. Get a town hall with him. He has to answer to you guys. The ﬁrst resident to speak sought to inform the council of ordinances it could pass to regulate ICE activ-

QUALIFYING

Continued from page 1A

carbon capture sequestration. Residents near many sites of proposed carbon capture wells are increasingly concerned about their environmental impacts, land acquisition and safety risks, but Fleming’s position puts him at odds with trade groups that represent the oil and gas industry

Several other candidates dropped out of the race after Trump backed Letlow

Jamie Davis, a farmer in northeast Louisiana who served on the Tensas Parish Police Jury, qualiﬁed as a Democrat.

Qualifying also takes place on Thursday and Friday

U.S. House races

State Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, ﬁled to run for the 5th Congressional District seat that Letlow is vacating to challenge Cassidy The 5th District stretches from Baton Rouge up to Monroe and includes the Florida Parishes.

East Baton Rouge Mayor-

President Sid Edwards and St. George Mayor Dustin Yates both appeared at the Secretary of State’s Ofﬁce to show support for Edmonds.

Several candidates from north Louisiana have said they intend to run. After state Rep. Dixon McMakin, R-Baton Rouge, dropped out of the race earlier this week, Edmonds is the main candidate from the Baton Rouge region.

“I’m in this race to fight for the soul of America,” Edmonds said. “I echo the words of President Trump: ‘Fight, fight, fight.’” Edmonds said he would fight for “Louisiana values” and for the 5th District, a place that he said he knows “not from a distance” but “up close and personal.”

State Sen. Blake Miguez, a Republican from Erath, in Vermilion Parish, is also running in the 5th Congressional District and has Trump’s endorsement.

“I will never waver my support for President Trump’s MAGA agenda,” Miguez said after qualifying on Wednesday The other candidates criticized Miguez for not living in the district.

“Sen. Miguez lives closer to Beaumont than Baton Rouge,” Edmonds said in answer to a question.

Miguez said he’s had a res-

ity in the parish before Richard adjourned the meeting. The move was promptly followed by a chorus of residents urging the council to listen to its constituents’ concerns.

“You guys can’t pass an ordinance?” yelled a woman in the audience.

Under the recommendation of the city-parish attorney, council members returned less than a minute later to reopen public comment.

Community members told the council to pass rules that would stop ICE from racial proﬁling and the practice of wearing masks, and to sanction Lafayette Parish schools and bus stops as safe zones

from immigration enforcement.

“This council is the lawmaking body of the parish. The sheriff’s deputies are the law enforcers. And that distinction does matter, because the policies that you pass, the ordinances that you adopt, the guardrails that you might require can determine how those agreements are carried out and who is protected in the process,” said one speaker

The push for the council to respond to the signed 287(g) program agreement between LPSO and ICE has been building since it was ﬁrst reported in January

The agreement allows LPSO deputies to question, detain and arrest

people suspected of entering the country illegally

There have been a handful of protests and nightly vigils outside the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center in remembrance of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were both shot and killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis in January

The shootings have prompted national conversations about training standards for ICE agents and local law enforcement partners. Sheriff Mark Garber has said the agreement will allow his agency to access federal databases that were previously unavailable, thereby improving efﬁciency and safety in law enforcement.

idence in Baton Rouge since the late 1990s and graduated from LSU as an undergrad. He also graduated from Southern University Law School. He said he intends to move to Baton Rouge if he wins.

Miguez declined to specify the location of his property in Baton Rouge.

Also qualifying Wednesday was Misti Cordell, who owns a health care company in Monroe and was appointed by Landry to chair the state Board of Regents, which sets overall policy for Louisiana’s colleges and universities.

Cordell said Trump’s endorsement of Miguez “hasn’t deterred me one bit,” adding that she supports the president’s agenda.

“That includes continuing the ﬁght against illegal immigration, supporting small business, protecting the unborn fighting fraud and waste for lower taxes and stopping woke insanity like girls in boys’ sports,” she said.

State Sen. Stewart Cathey, R-Monroe, was considering a run for Letlow’s U.S. House seat but he announced Wednesday he decided against it.

“While I support President Trump, I believe his team endorsed the wrong candidate in this race,” Cathey said in a statement.

Other candidates who ﬁled for the Senate race included:

n Sammy Wyatt (R), chief compliance and risk management officer at LSU

Health in Shreveport

n Michael Mebruer (R) of St. Francisville

n Austin Magee (R) from Franklinton n Jessee Fleenor (D) a dairy farmer in Loranger in Tangipahoa Parish, who ran for the same seat in 2018, capturing 30% of the vote against U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham n Larry Foy (D), a selfdescribed theologian and social justice advocate from Winnsboro n Dan McKay (D), a lawyer from Bunkie.

Larry Davis, a member of the Livingston Parish Republican Executive Committee, signed up to run against U.S. Rep Cleo Fields, DBaton Rouge, in the 6th Congressional District.

Davis said he will fight “against the radical left agenda.”

“We saw a community and a whole representative district that’s not getting the resources that they need,” Davis said. “We’re talking about community centers that are not being taken care of, roads, just a whole district, just being ignored.”

Davis, who is Black, faces a signiﬁcant challenge running as a Republican in a heavily Democratic district that was drawn after a Voting Rights Act challenge. Two years ago, Fields defeated Republican Elbert Guillory 51% to 38%.

Two other Republicans qualified against Fields: Peter Williams from Lettsworth and Monique Ap-

peaning from St. George.

A proxy qualified for Fields, who was in Washington.

The 6th Congressional District stretches like a seat belt from Shreveport to Baton Rouge.

A proxy qualified for House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Benton in northeast Louisiana. Challenging him is Conrad Cable, a vegetable farmer from Farmerville who is

Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security will dictate how immigration enforcement is done in the parish, Garber said. He also reiterated that his agency does not intend to conduct immigration sweeps, introduce checkpoints or randomly question people.

“The Sheriff’s Ofﬁce determines in how and when and the manner in which we conduct enforcement activities. That includes any activities that we would be conducting under the 287(g) program,” Garber said at the time.

Email Stephen Marcantel at stephen.marcantel@ theadvocate.com.

a Democrat, and Joshua Morott, a Republican from Benton.

A proxy also ﬁled for U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, whose 2nd Congressional District is anchored in New Orleans and stretches up the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge.

Lauren Jewett, a Democrat and special education teacher qualiﬁed to run for the 1st Congressional District seat held by U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, the House Majority Leader Randall Arrington, a Republican, also qualiﬁed.

Two Democrats — John Day from Lake Charles and Tia LaBrun from Sulphur ﬁled to run for the 3rd Congressional District seat held by U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, who also qualiﬁed through a proxy

Public Service Commission

State Rep. Mark Wright, R-Covington, qualified for the Public Service Commission seat that Eric Skrmetta has held. Skrmetta is being forced out by term limits. The district includes the parishes around New Orleans. Also running are “Big John” Mason, a Republican from Metairie, and Connie Norris, a Democrat from Slidell.

Two Republicans — John Atkins, a Caddo Parish commissioner from Shreveport, and Aiden Joyner from West Monroe — ﬁled to run for the

Public Service Commission seat in north Louisiana held by Foster Campbell, who is termed out this year James Green, a Democrat who is a Shreveport City Council member, also ﬁled to run. Louisiana Supreme Court

Two Republican judges qualified for the state Supreme Court seat that Will Crain vacated when the U.S. Senate elevated him to be a federal trial judge. They are Blair Downing Edwards, an appeals court judge who lives in Independence, and William Burris, a trial court judge who lives in Franklinton. The district includes Livingston, Tangipahoa, Washington and St. Tammany parishes. Justice Cade Cole ﬁled to run for reelection to the Supreme Court for a district that includes the parishes in western Louisiana. Justice Jay McCallum qualified to run again for his seat, which includes most of north and central Louisiana.

BESE Joseph Cao, a Republican who was appointed to represent the First District of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in January, qualiﬁed to run for a full term. Also running is Ellie Schroeder, a Republican whose husband John, served in the state House from Covington and ran for governor in 2023.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

State Sen. Blake Miguez, R-Erath, signs paperwork to qualify to run for the 5th Congressional District seat at the Secretary of State’s Office on Wednesday.

bandwidth throughout Acadiana,” said Paul Scelfo, the chief regional ofﬁcer for the Acadiana area. “Every pound of food that we’re able to distribute is touched by one of our volunteers.”

In 2025, Second Harvest of South Louisiana distributed 12.5 million pounds of food to serve about 10 millionmealstofood-insecure families throughout Acadiana, he said. Food insecurity occurs when ahouseholdcannotaccess food because of alack of money andother essential resources.

About 16% of households in Lafayette Parish are food insecure, according to 2023data, the latest available by parish, from Feeding America. Data collected by Purdue University indicates that household food insecurity in the United States increased in 2025.

Mashaera Alexander said she’s been volunteeringsincehigh school and has always enjoyed it. She volunteered with Second Harvest while living in New Orleans and decided to keep working with the organizationafter moving back home to New Iberia.

Alexander,who worepurple, greenand gold stripedsocks,said she’d encourageanyoneinterested in joining a“packing party” at

TRIAL

Continued frompage1A

Jan. 27, but came to ahalt during jury selectionwhen the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal threw out one of the charges against Roberts saying it couldnot stand based on the recusal of two judges who oversaw the indictment.

The 3rd Circuit’srulingled to amistrial being declared at the district court on Jan. 30 by Judge Kent Savoie.

Savoie also sits on the 3rd Circuit, but is acting as an ad hoc district judge for the Roberts case becauseofthe recusals of the other district judges.

Neither the defense attorneysfor Roberts, nor the prosecutors in the case, agreed withthe mistrial ruling. Both filed writs with higher courts, using different argumentsinasking to letthe trial proceed.

Roberts’ defense argued the case could go forward on the single remaining chargethat the 3rd Circuit did not toss. Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that the case could proceedaslong as they ﬁled anew bill of information for the same two charges without therecused judges involved.

The Louisiana Supreme Court rejected both of those arguments, publishing their decision this week.

Meanwhile, the Beauregard District Attorney’sOfﬁce re-indicted Roberts on the same two charges, and she pleaded not guilty during aFeb. 4arraignment.

The case is also set for ahearing Thursday fora preliminary examinationof

SecondHarvest nottohesitateand just sign up.

“It’sagreat organization, very

welcoming,” shesaid, “andit’sa great atmosphere.”

Second Harvest was one of the

organizations impacted last year by adecrease in fundingtoU.S DepartmentofAgriculture pro-

Volunteer ValAnderson helps sort donated food items Wednesdayat Second Harvest Food Bank.

grams. The organization eliminated eight positions in Lafayette and Lake Charles.

Scelfo said Acadiana residents steppedupduring thattime with a ﬂood of donationsand volunteer hours.

Anyone interested in volunteering with SecondHarvest can visit no-hunger.org/volunteer.Anyone whoisfacing food insecurity can call232 Help, (337) 232-4357, for emergency food suppliesand to determine the location of their nearest food pantry

Contact AshleyWhite at ashley. white@theadvocate.com.

evidence.

Prosecutors have fileda motion to close that court hearing to the public —one exampleofhow many details of thecasehavebeen kept out of public view

Thejudge has not ruledyet on the motion to close the courthearing. The bulk of thecourt records forthe case are also sealed because thecase involves ajuvenile sex crime, andthe judge hasbarredattorneys from speakingwith the media.

The records that are availableshow Roberts isaccused of having sexwith a 16-year-old boy. She was42 at the time of her arrest.

Thecase has prompted interest and controversy in the small town where the prosecution is taking place.

The 3rd Circuit threw out an August 2025 indictment for indecent behavior with a juvenilebecausegrandjury proceedings wereoverseen by two 36th Judicial District judges who had been

recusedfromthe BeauregardParish case two months prior

Defense attorney Adam Johnsonarguedlast year that District Judges Martha O’Neal andC.Kerry Anderson in the 36th JDCwere each too biased to fairly handle thecase and asked to recuse them

Johnsonaccused both judges of authorizing more difﬁcult bond conditions for Roberts. O’Neal, whopresided over the case at thetime, then emailed thenew terms to Roberts’ ex-husband, Duncan Clanton, Johnson alleged.

O’Neal alsooversees the child custody case between Roberts and Clanton, an arrangementthat Clanton sought to modify after herarrest. As aresult, the $2,700 in monthly child support payments Roberts was receiving ended.

Johnson also said that O’Neal showed bias when she “voiced her frustrations

with having to ﬁeldnumerous calls on this case and indicated thatshe wanted the calls to stop.”

O’Neal andAndersonrejected the recusal demand from Roberts’ defense team in aFebruary2025 decision.

O’Neal called the request “inappropriate” and“misplaced.” Anderson,who had

signed Roberts’ arrest warrant afterher indictment, also declinedtorecuse, but conﬁrmed hiswifeand Clanton are third cousins, that he hunted twice withClanton and that Clanton is his insurance agent.

TheLouisiana Supreme Court said in aJune 2025 ruling that while there wasno

evidence O’Neal or Andersonhad acted with “actual bias,” thejudgesshouldbe recused. Recusal is required whenthe probability of actual bias is “too high to be constitutionally tolerable,” the court said. StaffwriterJohnSimermancontributedtothisreport.

Throughout theNorthshore, from the ruraltowns of Bush,Folsomand Lacombeto theMandevillelakefront to thesmall-town charmofPearl River, Slidell, Madisonville and Covington, MardiGrasisa party. Many of the elements arefamiliar— thethemedthrows, high school marchingbands,dancing krewes andofcourse, ﬂoatsofall shapes andsizes

What makesMardi Gras so specialinSt. TammanyParishisthatfriends,familiesand neighborscelebrate in theplace they call home Prideofplace with family-friendlythemes make foraneasy, stress-freeCarnival. There’s action—the light-up ﬂoats, signaturebeads andmarchingbands—but thevibeisfriendly, approachable andaccessible, making it easier forparents with little ones in towtorelax and have agreat time.And most events andafter partiesare free,makingMardi Gras easier on thewallet. Spectators should plan to park early andenjoy thepartybeforethe parade rolls, as many streetsare blockedatleast onehour before theofficial starttime.

In Covington, theKreweofBogue Falaya will make itsLundi Gras Second Line at 4p.m.Feb 16 from BogueFalayaParktoSouthernHotel

On FatTuesday,Feb.17, it’s an all-dayparty startingwiththe KreweofBogue Falaya’s procession of traditional ﬂoats, dancegroups, fair queens andmarchingbands,followedby

theCovington LionsCluband Mystic Krewe of Covington’shomemadeﬂoats,classic cars, Jeepsand dancetroupes.Immediately followingthe paradesisCarnivalinCovington, a free partyatthe CovingtonTrailhead with live music, food trucks,costume contests and funfor thekids. ThelastCovington parade of theseason, held on Sunday afterFat Tuesday, is MardiPaws, oneofthree canine-powered Northshore paradesthatserve as fundraisers forlocal animal welfareorganizations

Slidellwillbring thehometownfeeltocelebrations on MardiGrasDay with events hosted by theOldeTowne SlidellMerchants Association. Beginningat10a.m., visitors canenjoy akids’ wagonparadefeaturing over 100little walkersand theirwagons. Laterinthe daywill be ablock party, live musicand great food and funthroughoutthe historic district

Theparades in Bush (9 a.m. Feb. 14), Folsom (2 p.m. Feb. 17)and Lacombe(1p.m.Feb. 17) give abig shout-outtolocalbusinesses, ﬁrst respondersand communitygroupsduring thesecelebrationsofcivic prideand small town Louisiana. At everyparade, with everystringofbeads thrown into thecrowd,every brassbandin formation, everydance step,the senseof communityiswhat’sreallyrolling.Goto www.visitthenorthshore.com to learnmore.

STAFF PHOTOSByLESLIE WESTBROOK

Volunteer Debbie Renfrowadds another emergency grocerybox to apallet during the MardiGras Mambothemed foodpacking party WednesdayatSecond Harvest Food Bank.

Roberts

BlackCaucus, civilrightsleaders launch action plan

They want to push back on Trump’s domesticagenda

BY MATT BROWN Associated Press

WASHINGTON— The Congressional Black Caucus and major civil rights groups on Tuesday marked Black History Month by relaunching anational plan to mobilize against what they say are the Trump administration’seffortsto weaken legal protectionsfor minority communities.

The assembled leaders voiced outrage over the series of policy actions President Donald Trump has implementedsince his return to the White House, as well as the president’s personal conduct, but offered few concrete details about what they’reprepared to do in response to the administration.

“Over the past year,we have seenaconcerted effort to roll back civil rights underlying voting access,dismantle social programs and concentratepower in the hands of the wealthy and well-connected, at the expenseofour community,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

In rounds of free-ﬂowingmeetings on Capitol Hill, activistsand lawmakers divvied up outreach strategies and coordinatedpolicy platforms on educationand the teaching of history,health care, immigration enforcementand anti-discrimination policy

Attendees described theconversations as sobering but energizing.

Multiple sessions focused on how to protect voters’ access to the bal-

lot in the midtermsfrom potential intervention by federal agents, a fear that activists and Democratic lawmakers have increasingly raised since araidonanAtlantaarea electionscenter

Othersessions gamed outhow lawmakers couldrespond to an upcoming rulingfromthe Supreme Court that may strike down apivotal section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“It’sanall-hands-on-deck moment,and every tool available to the leadership collectively has got to be deployed to get this thing turned around,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told The Associated Press after the press conference.

Jeffries did not rule out mass protests, organizing boycotts and further legal action as potential steps that allies may take.

The leaders’ warnings come at a momentwhen theTrumpadministration hascontinuedits crusade against diversity,equity and inclusion across theU.S.government, in higher education and theprivate sector

At the start of hissecondterm, Trump signed multiple executive ordersbanningthe use of “illegal DEI” in government agencies, as well as organizations that interact with thefederal government. Trumphas threatened to withhold funds from major companies, nonprofit groups and stategovernmentsaspart of the administration’sefforts to ban DEI.

Theadministration hasalso sought to redeﬁne thenation’sculture and howhistory is taught in museums, classroomsand other educational settings. It also prioritizedinvestigating and prosecut-

ing civil rightscases of potential discrimination againstwhite people through both the Justice Department’sCivil Rights Division and theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission, among other agencies.

Civil rights leaders and Democratic lawmakers have already ﬁled dozensoflawsuits against the administration’santi-DEI policies.

Last month, theTrumpadministration dropped itslegal appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked itsefforts to withhold federal funding to schoolsand colleges over DEI policies.

Locked out of power in both chambers of Congress, Democratshave few ways to conduct oversight or limit the actions of the Trump administration.And civil rights leaders, whowere largely knocked on the back foot by adeluge of policy changes over thelast year,are attempting to regroupahead of this year’s midterm elections.

Alreadyunhappy with the administration’sentire agenda,civil rights leaders acknowledgeda frustrating irony to the moment.

Several advocates argued that the president’sagenda on immigration, voting rights, the economy and other issues is exploiting hard-won policies that activists had, for decades, used to ensure anti-discrimination and economic advancement forBlack communities

“This is about howthis administration is using the toolswebuilt as aBlack community to ensure that all of our people are protected,” said Maya Wiley,president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Progressive state leadersand

civil rights groups have stepped up their efforts elsewhere. A partnership of civil rightsgroups and Democratic attorneys general from fourteen states and the District of Columbia thismonth launched an effort to promote DEI and accessibility policies through moreaggressive legal action.

“State attorneys general are in aunique position to defend these fundamental rights, and this campaign will ensure everyone is heardand shielded from those who aim to weaken civil rights,” Illinois AttorneyGeneral Kwame Raoul said in astatement on Monday announcing the initiative.

The group intends to launch inquiries and ﬁle lawsuits across the country into instances where the leaders believe organizations may be violating anti-discrimination lawsinresponse to the rollback of DEI policies by major companies and the Trumpadministration.

The effort faces an uncertain and shifting legal landscape.

Federal courts are dividedover the use of race in hiring and antidiscrimination in the workplace. And the Supreme Court’sconservative-majority has ruled against the use of race in college admissions. Several justices have voiced skepticism about whether it should be legal to factor race and other characteristics intopolicymaking by government agencies andprivate institutions, even if apolicy wasmeanttocombat discrimination.

The assembled civil rights leadersrepeatedly acknowledged the uphill battle that their movement faced on multiple fronts. Some saidthat the administration’s policy decisions set up stark political battles in the coming years.

BY LISA MASCARO AP congressional correspondent

WASHINGTON House Republicans rushed to approve legislation on Wednesday that would impose strict new proof-of-citizenship requirements ahead of the midterm elections, along shot Trump administration prioritythat faces sharp blowback in the Senate. The bill, guard American bility,orS would require prove they they register through or birth also require identiﬁca can cast states al was approved party-line Republi islation voter fraud, warn it millions makingi Federal quires that al elections butthere to provide proof. Experts is extremely few noncitizens through than one don’thave ing they “Some

will call this voter suppression or Jim Crow 2.0,” said Rep.Bryan Steil, R-Wis. But he said“those allegations are false,” andhe argued the bill is needed to enforce existing laws, particularly those that bar immigrants who are not citizens from voting. TheGOP’ssuddenpush to change voting rules at the RulesCommittee,duringa hearing ahead of thefloor vote. “Republicans are pushingthe Save America Act because they wantfewer Americans to vote. It’sthat simple.”

Thelegislationisactually ado-over of asimilar bill the House approved lastyear, whichalsosought to clamp down on fraudulent voting, available. In the Senate, where Republicans alsohave majority control,theredoesnot appear to be enough support to push the bill past the chamber’s ﬁlibuster rules,which largely require60votes to advance legislation. That frustrationhas led

some Republicans, led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, to push foraprocess that would skip the60-vote threshold in this case,and allowthe bill to be debated through aso-called standing ﬁlibuster —aprocess that would open the door to potentially endless debate.

Lee madethe case to GOP senators at aclosed-door lunch this week, and some saidafterward they are mulling the concept. “I think most people’s minds areopen,” said Sen. John Kennedy,R-Madisonville. “My mind’scertainly open.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATTHEW BROWN

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.y.,speaks during anews conference of the Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights leaders on WednesdayinWashington.

Housevotes

BY LISA MASCARO and KEVINFREKING AssociatedPress

WASHINGTON The House voted Wednesday to slap back President Donald Trump’stariffs on Canada, arare if largelysymbolic rebuke of the White House agenda as Republicans joined Democrats over the objections of GOPleadership. The tally,219-211, was amongthe firsttimes the House, controlled by Republicans, has confronted the presidentover asignature policy,and drew instant recrimination from Trump himself.

The resolution seeksto endthe nationalemergency Trump declared to impose the tariffs, though actually undoing the policy would require support from the president, which is highly unlikely.The resolution next goes to the Senate.

Trump believes in the power of tariffs to forceU.S. trade partners to the negotiating table. But lawmakers arefacingunrestbackhome from businesses caught in the trade wars and constituents navigating pocketbook issues and high prices.

“Today’svote is simple, very simple: Will you vote to lower the cost of living forthe American family or will you keep prices high out of loyalty to one person —Donald J. Trump?” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who authored the resolution.

Within minutes, as thegavel struck, Trump ﬁred off a stern warningtothose in the Republican Party who would dare to cross him.

“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” the president posted on social media.

The high-stakes moment

providesasnapshot of the House’sunease with the president’sdirection, especially ahead of the midterm elections as economicissues resonate among voters.The Senatehas alreadyvoted to reject Trump’stariffs on Canada andother countries in ashow of displeasure. But both chambers would have to approve thetariff rollbacks, and send the resolution to Trump for thepresident’s signature —orveto. Trump recently threatened to impose a100% tariff on goodsimported from Canadaover that country’s proposed Chinatrade deal, intensifying afeudwith the longtimeU.S. ally andPrime MinisterMark Carney HouseSpeaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, triedtoprevent this showdown. Johnson insisted lawmakers wait for apending Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit about the tariffs. He engineered acomplicated ruleschange to prevent ﬂoor action.But Johnson’sstrategycollapsedlate Tuesday, as Republicans peeled off during aprocedural vote to ensure theDemocratic measure was able to advance “The president’s tradepolicies have been of greatbeneﬁt,” Johnson had said.“And I thinkthe sentimentisthatwe allowalittle more runway forthis to be workedout between theexecutive branch

and the judicial branch.”

Late Tuesday evening, Johnson could be seen speaking to holdout Republican lawmakers as the GOP leadership team struggled to shore up support during alengthy proceduralvote, but the numbers lined up against him.

“We’re disappointedin what the people have done,” Kevin Hassett, thedirector of theWhite House’sNational EconomicCouncil, told reportersatthe White House on Wednesday morning. “The president will makesure they don’trepeal his tariffs.”

The resolution put forward by Meekswould terminate the national emergency that Trumpdeclared ayear ago as one of his executive orders

The ad mi nistra tion claimedillicit drug flow from Canada constitutes an unusualand extraordinary threat that allows the president to slaptariffs on imported goodsoutside the terms of theU.S.-MexicoCanada trade agreement.

The Republican chairman of the HouseForeign Affairs Committee, Rep.Brian MastofFlorida, saidthe ﬂow of fentanyl into the U.S. is a dire national emergency and the policymust be left in place.

“Let’s be clear again about what this resolution is and what it’s not. It’snot adebateabout tariffs.You can talkabout those, but that’s not really what it is,”Mast said. “This is Democrats trying to ignorethat there is a fentanyl crisis.”

Experts say fentanyl produced by cartels in Mexico is largely smuggled into the U.S.fromland crossings in California and Arizona. Fentanyl is also madeinCanada and smuggled into theU.S., but to amuch lesser extent Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb said he was unpersuaded by Johnson’scall to wait until theSupremeCourt makes itsdecision about the legalityofTrump’s tariffs.He voted for passage.

AP PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton, speaks duringanewsconference at Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

School leader asks for layoff authority

Lafayette superintendent seeks power ahead of upcoming budget season

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

Lafayette Parish school system

Superintendent Francis Touchet

Jr is asking the School Board to allow him to authorize a reduction-in-force “if necessary” ahead of the upcoming 2026-27 budget season.

The board, per the district’s pol-

icy, must vote to allow the superintendent to implement layoffs. It will vote on the matter at its Thursday night meeting.

This is the second year in a row the superintendent has asked the board to approve a possible reduction-in-force.

District spokesperson Tracy Wirtz said the request comes after the district saw a nearly 1,000-stu-

dent decrease when comparing October 2025 with October 2024. The district may need to “adjust staffing as it relates to the student population,” she said. She said layoffs are not guaranteed, but that this request is necessary per district policy “We want to make the best de-

cisions for our students,” Wirtz said. “But we have to be ﬁscally responsible and spend money wisely.”

Last year, Touchet told certified teachers their jobs were secure, even though the policy states effectiveness is what ﬁrst determines who should be eliminated. Wirtz said that sentiment

stands and that the superintendent will follow district policy

Only one position was eliminated in last year’s reduction-in-force, Wirtz said It was not a teacher position.

Preliminary work for the budget has been underway since the fall. The first public budget meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. March 12 at the LPSS board room.

next will be at 5 p.m. on March

RAGIN’ FANATICS

LEFT: Player Will Taylor, left, signs the jacket of his little brother Dawson Rutledge while their mother, Kaddie Rutledge, center, watches during the University of Louisiana at Lafayette baseball fan day activities at M.L. Tigue Moore Field at Russo Park in Lafayette on Saturday. Fans got the chance to meet and get autographs from both players and coaches. Other activities included a home run derby and inter-squad game. BELOW: UL players Cody Brasch, from left, Parker Smith, Sawyer Pruitt and Chase Morgan sign posters for fans on Saturday STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

over man’s injuries in Cameron pipeline explosion

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

Funding should flow formajor riverstudy

Akey axiom of fiscally responsible budgeting is that it usually costs far less towardoff devastation from acrisis or disaster thantocleanup devastation after it hasoccurred. Andonceone takes the human toll (notjust financial costs) into account,the savings fromresponsible preparation are substantially greater It is therefore at least asmall step toward responsibility fiscal and otherwise, that thespending bill Congress passed lastmonth included$5 million forafederal study of theoft-conflicting future needs of shipping, flood control, drinking water quality and marsh replenishment related to the lower Mississippi River What began as a$25 million projectin2023 was halted last year by theTrumpadministration. It’sunclear how much money actually will be needed for the Army CorpsofEngineersto complete the assessment —almost certainly more than $5million —but atleast this new appropriation will restart it Frankly,the wholeamount,not just$5million, should be approved. In atotal federal budgetof well over $7 trillion, $25 million is arounding error. The Corps itself says every dollar spent on “construction, operation and maintenance” of flood-risk managementsystemssaves $114 in prevented damage. If this study can identify thebestofthose construction andmaintenance options, just imagine how hugethe long-run savings in dollars and heartaches. While Louisiana,home of theriver’smouth, obviously wouldbethe biggestbeneficiaryof the study,the whole analysis will assess needs and concerns in seven states. Onewould think that with membersfrom allthose states interested in the study,and withLouisianaboasting thetwo topofficers in theHouse (Speaker Mike Johnson and MajorityLeader SteveScalise), the fundingwould be easy to secure. As it is, though, the $5 million is betterthan nothing. Both of Louisiana’ssenators, John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy,released statements boasting of that funding as part of amuchlonger list of Louisiana water projectsapproved in last month’sbill. Kennedy,aschairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, directly oversawthe shaping of that part of the budget package Whoever put this $5 million down payment into thelarger spending bill deservestwo,ifnot three, cheers. When the study was(temporarily) halted last year,LSU geologist Sam Bentleytold this newspaper’sMike Smiththat it wasimportant “for the Corps to think about howtomanagethe riverfor the next 100 years. This was afabulous opportunity to begin workingonthe next generation” of Mississippi Riverprojects It still is afabulous opportunity. It ought to be fully funded.

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com. TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

Citizens voicingopposition to ICEare thetruepatriots

We live in dangerous times brought about by theextrememeasures of U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Supreme Court turned back theclock to pre-civil rightsdays to approve the search and arrests of people based on skin color and language. The demonization of immigrants, theattack on working families and people seeking citizenship are makingour communities unsafe. The focus on “illegal aliens” and the “worst of the worst”isjust acharade for grandstanding attacks in major cities.

Citizens across Louisianaand the rest of the country are reacting to thelawless actions of ICE threatening citizens, disrupting communities and killing citizens participating in First Amendment-protected legal activities.

All U.S. citizens need to be concerned about the attacks on the First Amendment’s constitutional freedoms of speech, press, religion. The rights to assemble and petition for redress are threatened. There

Ice hit our country hard recently

As Iwritethis, Footprint Project’s Gulf Coast response team is deploying mobile microgrids in NorthMississippi from our New Orleanshub.

Over 80 people have died from Winter Storm Fern, and in someof thepoorest, Brownest communities in the country,the power was projected tobeout for days. Those families, their neighbors and the responders working this stormhave along road ahead.

Andwe’ve all seen the videos from Minneapolis. The deadly storm up there is human.

The grid is still on, but businesses are closed, families are sheltering in place, and two U.S. citizens have been killed while exercising their First and Second Amendment rights. The number of U.S. citizens wrongfully arrested, detained and forcibly removed from Minnesota is unknown, as amutual aid network of lawyers, social workers and neighbors scramble to track the disappeared.

was no regard for thesacred Second Amendment in the killing of Alex Pretti legally carrying apermitted concealed weapon. ICEagents break intohouses and cars without ajudge-signed warrant with no regard for theFourth Amendment. All freedom-loving citizens need to understand how fast ourrights are being eroded. Now is the time for people of character and conscience to stand up and defend theConstitution. We are the patriots defending American values of democracy,liberty and justice.

Do not fall for thename-calling or labels of domestic terrorists or leftist radical scum. The people in the street are the patriotsstanding up for our values. Each generation is called to work for amore perfect union. Now is the time for courage, so stand up, speak up and show up. Our country depends on patriotic citizen advocates. Be apatriot! Your voice matters.

MELISSA S. FLOURNOY

boardchair,10,000 Women Louisiana

There is areason why rich White communities have already gotten their power restored after Winter Storm Fern, while legacy slave and sharecropper families shiver in the cold.

It’sthe samereason whyU.S.-born Brown kids are scared to leave their homes in Minnesota. Call it racism, call it injustice, greed, patriarchy, exploitation, supercapitalism, tyranny,call it whatever you want— you know it when you see it, and you know it’s wrong. As aWhite, Minneapolis-born man living in New Orleans, leading ahumanitarian relief orginization, Ifeel adutytorespond. These disasters are connected, and Iimplore other White men in positions of power to speak up, to organize, and to join the response. U.S. citizens are being tread on up North and shivering in the dark down South. They’re outofpower They need you. Respond

Iama regular reader of Cal Thomas’ column, and it pains me to tell him this, but he disproved his own argument in his column, “On the law,itdepends on where you stand,” when he referred to U.S. Immigration and CustomsEnforcement as a“legitimate authority.” They lost that legitimacy once they began breaking laws, including multiple amendments in the Bill of Rights, under the auspices of upholding the law.This type of action is actually called “principled disobedience,” and mostwould argue that it erodes democratically constructed law foundations.

So from his stance, or perspective, he sees an “anti-law enforcement attitude.” From my stance, Isee people protecting their rights as American citizens and protecting the foundations of democratically ratiﬁed laws, including those laws upon which this wonderful nation was founded, the Bill of Rights. Thomas needs to stop trying to dismantle the foundations of our Republic or at least do asmallamount of due diligence, so that he is not spreading misinformation. Principled disobedience is ﬁne forBatman or other comic book characters, not real-lifelaw enforcement.

THAD DAVIS NewOrleans

dollars?

Sometimeinthe future, America may elect an unscrupulous president who will sue afederal government departmentontrumped-up charges forbillions of dollars. Then, as president, direct that department to settle out of court, thus lining his/her pockets with billions of our hard-earned tax dollars. So, what should we do to prevent this scam?Pass alaw forbidding apresident from bringing such asuit?

My guess is that the SupremeCourt, in its present conﬁguration, would declare that law to be an unconstitutional curb on presidential power That far-off rumbling sound you hear is that of our Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves.

Project

WILLIAM HEEGAARD CEO, Footprint

MICHAEL MCCAUGHEY Baton Rouge

COMMENTARY

IN FOCUS MARDI GRAS

In recent years, avexing issue has arisen along Mardi Gras paraderoutes. In our efforttohelp bring attention to it,weare reprinting afavorite of ours expressing the frustration that many feel. Feel freetoclip and share with anyChad youencounter.

As theheart of Carnival arrives, so does theKrewe of

Chad

Kevin Allman GUEST COLUMNIST

In 2013, Ibecame annoyed with people spray-painting “their” territory on the Orleans Avenue neutral ground before theKreweofEndymionparade. So Ibegan takingphotos of the practice and posting it on the Gambit website. Turned out Iwasn’tthe only one who didn’tlike it. One of those painted squares was blocked off for the“Krewe of Chad,” and Will

Samuels —the latefounder of theKing Cake Hub —popularized the termonsocial media.

Now,Krewe of Chad has become aterm of art to describe Mardi Gras paradegoers who hog public space, makeladder walls on the street,get aggressive over beads, swipe throws from kids (!) and despoil thespirit of Mardi Gras by acting piggishly and antisocially

No one likes aton of rules, especially not at Mardi Gras. Butsome rules are needed. New Orleanians depend on thestreetcar to go to work and get around —impossible if Chads are camping on the tracks. Curb cuts are vital for people in wheelchairs, but we see Chads blockingthose as well before parades. The city bans private porto-lets on public property,but two years ago, there was a

photo of awall of “portable pop-up privacy tents” being used forprivate toilets —and blocking the neutral ground. Despite having New Orleans Police Department ofﬁcers on the route, the rules seem rarely enforced. Meanwhile, all that Chaddery inspired apoem. (Apologies to Dr.Seuss and readers.)

Kevin Allman is the former editor of Gambit.

Do youlikethe Krewe of Chad?

Idonot like them; they are bad.

Idonot like theirtarps and nets.

Idonot like theirport-o-lets.

Idonot like theirscaffoldshigh When Iwould like to just getby.

Idonot like thosedudes and bros

Idonot like them, eaux neaux neaux.

Idonot like theirspray-paint squares Idonot like theirrows of chairs; Idonot like the stakes theypound Into the public neutral ground.

Idonot like theirladderstall Idonot like theirladders’ sprawl Chained together,one and all. Theystartaﬁght, invitea brawl.

Idonot like them, not aone At Bacchus nor Endymion; AllthoseChads make me growgrim And make me screamand scram like Scrim. Idreadthe Chads;theyrun in packs They barricade the streetcar tracks With chairsand tents and tarps and snacks. Iwanttotell them, “Dudes: Relax!”

Idonot want to stop the fun

But the mayoralraceisnow alldone. LaToya’s gone; Helena’sin.

Andhere come friends and kith and kin. When Chads are bad and ﬂout the law

At Mardiand at Family Gras; They make our fun aliving hell

Lesli?Freddie? JP Morrell? At Lenttheyleave, and we’reall glad But they’ll be back, thoseChads so bad.

Idonot like to be this mad!

Idonot like you, KreweofChad!

Poem by KevinAllman |Illustration by Walt Handelsman

Checchio takes reins of N.O. archdiocese

He is city’s 15th archbishop

BY BOB WARREN Staff writer

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has a new leader

The Vatican announced Wednesday that the Most Rev James F. Checchio, who has served as coadjutor archbishop of the local Roman Catholic Church since September, has formally taken the reins from New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who is retiring.

Checchio, 59, arrived in New Orleans from Metuchen, New Jersey, last fall to begin the transition and serve alongside Aymond until Aymond officially retired. Checchio had been bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen since 2016.

Aymond, 76, has led the Catholic Church in New Orleans since 2009. The archdiocese said in a news release Wednesday that Pope Leo XIV had formally accepted Aymond’s resignation, elevating Checchio to become the 15th archbishop of New Orleans.

Aymond had served one year past the mandatory retirement age for bishops as he sought to ﬁnalize a settlement of the archdiocese’s long-running bankruptcy case before stepping down.

on his way to a reception following his Mass of Welcome on Nov. 18.

Known as an energetic leader that earned praise for his administrative and fundraising skills, Checchio will lead the nation’s second-oldest diocese, with more than 500,000 Catholics across eight southeast Louisiana parishes.

Despite recent parish closures and the continued aftermath of the global child sexual abuse crisis, the local church in historically Catholic south Louisiana remains an important institution in the region’s culture and politics, which Checchio will need to navigate.

In addition to the complicated and lengthy bankruptcy process that began in 2020 and is only now wrapping up with a $300 million settlement with abuse survivors, Checchio will be inheriting longrunning financial pressures as a falling overall population has

Graphic novel sparks library debate in Livingston Parish

Teen access to content topic of meeting

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD

Staff writer

A graphic novel published 12 years ago sparked a heated debate among 60 Livingston Parish residents about content minors should be able to access in libraries.

There is only one copy of the book in the ﬁve-branch Livingston Parish Library system. It is currently checked out, according to library records.

On Tuesday night, more than a dozen Livingston Parish residents, ranging from local pastors, teachers and library alliance members, debated whether the 2014 graphic novel

“This One Summer” by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki should remain in the teen section of the parish library

Many residents who attended the parish Library Board meeting called for the book to be moved due to its explicit language, including its mention of oral sex and the word “slut.”

Others argued that the book’s content failed to necessarily ap-

SUIT

Continued from page 1B

and is part of a new, ﬂoating LNG project approved by federal regulators last year Gutierrez was working as a contractor for the pipeline installation in Johnson Bayou, where existing infrastructure was being renovated for the Delﬁn LNG Project.

“Gutierrez was monitoring readings as part of an overall ‘pigging’ project, a ‘pig’ being a device that is inserted into a pipeline to inspect, clean, and perform maintenance on the inside,” the news release states. Louisiana State Police Troop D Public Information Officer

Trooper Roy Jones stated that, at 11:14 a.m. on Feb. 3, the inactive UTOS pipeline ruptured and ignited while undergoing cleaning and inspection in preparation for future use. He said four people were at the site that morning, with only one present at the time of the rupture. Roy said that the rupture’s cause remains under investigation. According to the lawsuit, Gutierrez was allegedly seated in his vehicle when the pipeline broke, causing at least two explosions.

Allegedly, Gutierrez’s vehicle was “violently jarred” by the explosions and then engulfed in

ply to the Louisiana law that deﬁnes minors’ access to sexually explicit materials, saying it did not meet the law’s description of graphic depictions.

Board member Trey Cowell championed moving the book and said the book “is giving the appearance of oral sex.”

Cowell also asked about children’s library card accounts, which allow parents to restrict their children’s access to certain materials.

“A taxpaying parent can walk in here, restrict their 13-year-old from the teen section, and they can’t even use the section that’s dedicated to them because we leave filth in the teen section,”

Cowell said

Board member Patricia Wilson said the board needed to set aside its personal opinions and look at the facts.

“The law in my opinion, is not detailed enough,” she said. “It’s not noted in the law: the foul language. What’s in this book is kind of a little gray area.”

Wilson eventually voted to move the book but commented that the move didn’t “align with the law.”

The board voted 6-3 to move the book from the teen section to the adult section

flames that led to “catastrophic injuries.”

The petition, which was provided by the law ﬁrm, alleges that Gutierrez’s injuries were caused by negligent, careless and reckless disregard from the co-defendants as well as failure to provide a safe work environment.

Delﬁn Offshore Pipeline, LLC; Delfin LNG, LLC; Delfin Midstream, Inc; Genesis Energy, LP; Genesis Offshore Holdings, LLC; GTM Offshore Operating Company, LLC; and Manta Ray Offshore Gathering Company, LLC are listed as the defendants.

The lawsuit is asking for “monetary damages including past, present and future medical care, pain and suffering, physical impairment and disﬁguration, loss of earnings and earning capacity, and more,” the release states.

The petition states that Gutierrez seeks more than $1 million, which would be decided by a jury.

“Although (Gutierrez) is lucky and thankful to be alive, he has a long, painful road of medical treatment ahead, and his quality of life will never be the same,” lawyer Kevin Haynes said in the release. “As tireless advocates for oil and gas workers we will aggressively prosecute this case and intend to hold the Defendants fully accountable while securing (Gutierrez) maximum recovery so he can begin to put the pieces of his life back together.”

for so long! The contributions of the many priests, religious men and women and the lay faithful over the years are a testament to the interconnectedness of faith in public life in our Archdiocese of New Orleans — something within which we should take great pride.”

Following the Vatican announcement on Wednesday morning, Checchio was at St. Louis No. 2 Cemetery in New Orleans, where he prayed over the grave of Henriette Delille. A French-speaking woman of African descent, Delille, who was born in 1813, grew up in the French Quarter and founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, which provided care and shelter for orphans. Delillie was 50 when she died of tuberculosis in 1862.

The Sisters of the Holy Family are among those working to help Delille gain sainthood. Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree in 2010 declaring Delille “venerable,” which put her a step closer in the lengthy journey toward canonization.

placed the archdiocese under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection six years ago amid the growing number of lawsuits stemming from allegations of clergy sexual abuse over the decades.

A federal judge approved a $300 million settlement between the archdiocese and hundreds of abuse survivors in December.

Before being named bishop, Checchio was rector of the Pontiﬁcal North American College in Rome from 2006 to 2016. He studied at North American College in Rome and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey in June of 1992.

Born in Camden in 1966, Checchio holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in business administration from LaSalle University in Philadelphia and a doctorate of canon law from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

strained some of his 104 parishes. Still, many others are thriving and remain community hubs, a point that Checchio highlighted in a prepared statement on Wednesday

“These three months since my arrival in New Orleans have gone by very quickly as I learn more about our local church and seek to understand how God is calling me to best serve this beautiful part of His vineyard,” Checchio said in a missive posted on the archdiocese’s website. “It is fascinating that the faith has been so active here in Southeastern Louisiana

ALUM

Continued from page 1B

run track early to build speed and endurance.

By high school, that training paid off.

“He was always dedicated to his craft,” said his mother, Toni Boutte. “We traveled as a family to track meets, creating core memories.”

Just before Super Bowl kickoff, Embrick sent a message of encouragement, reminding his son to trust the journey that brought him there Watching him play on football’s biggest stage, he said, meant everything.

Toni said she sends her son a personalized prayer before every game.

“If I’m not physically there, I am in spirit,” she said.

Westgate head football coach Ryan Antoine, who coached Boutte for four years, said his talent was evident from the start.

“You could tell even as a freshman that he was going to be special,” Antoine said in a previous interview “He was going against some of the best athletes in the state at an early age and holding his own.”

Boutte won a state championship in the 400-meter dash as a freshman, a performance his father said boosted his conﬁdence on the football ﬁeld.

“Track helped football, and football helped track,” Embrick said.

“Once he saw what he could do, his conﬁdence just grew.”

Mentors continued to guide Boutte through middle school, high school and LSU, where he became one of college football’s most dynamic receivers.

In three seasons at LSU, Boutte

BUDGET

Continued from page 1B

entire budget is available for public inspection from April 30 to May 14 and will be voted on for adoption at the May 14 board meeting. It will likely be another challenging budget cycle for LPSS. The district, like many other public school districts nationwide, is dealing with a decline in enrollment. The district is funded in part by a combination of federal and state grants, property and sales taxes, and per-pupil funding. Fewer students means less per-pupil funding LPSS has also struggled with rising insurance costs, a unique challenge for the district since it is self-funded.

The district made cuts last year to create a balanced $805 million budget for the 2025-26 ﬁscal year Those cuts were made through job consolidations and eliminations, a district optimization plan and other changes.

The district’s policy states that when circumstances necessitate

At the cemetery Checchio was joined by some of the members of the order He asked that they pray for him, blessing the start of his tenure as archbishop.

Since arriving in New Orleans, Checchio has been learning the ins and outs of the 232-year-old archdiocese. That has included a partial role in the bankruptcy case.

In November, he testified in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, promising to work to end clergy sexual abuse with “all my heart and energy I have.” Aymond

He has served as treasurer of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, the powerful organization of the 440 bishops in the United States. He is also chair of the group’s budget and finance committee.

The archdiocese said that Checchio will celebrate his ﬁrst Mass at St. Louis Cathedral as Archbishop of New Orleans at noon on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18

During that Mass, Checchio will be seated in the chair of the archbishop, the cathedra, for the ﬁrst time, the archdiocese said. Staff photographer Chris Granger contributed to this report.

had 131 catches for 1,782 yards and 16 touchdowns. As a freshman, he delivered one of the top singlegame performances in program history against Ole Miss, ﬁnishing with 14 receptions for 308 yards and three touchdowns. He later suffered a broken ankle during his sophomore year

Toni said she did not realize at the time how much the injury affected him but knew it was difﬁcult to overcome. She and Embrick focused on keeping him motivated.

“I just kept speaking life into him,” Embrick said “A small setback for a major comeback.”

In 2023, the Patriots selected Boutte in the NFL Draft, fulﬁlling a lifelong dream. After years of work behind the scenes, his family said the moment was emotional.

Season after season, Boutte continued working toward his ulti-

layoffs, the district must consider all feasible alternatives before considering a reduction-in-force. Teacher and administrator layoffs should be based “solely upon demand, performance and effectiveness,” meaning that the least effective teacher within a targeted subject area or area of certiﬁcation should be terminated ﬁrst. If two or more teachers have the same effectiveness level, other factors should be applied in the following order, according to the policy:

1. Certiﬁcation

2. Highly qualiﬁed status

Tenure

Seniority For employees who are not evaluated in the same manner as teachers, the order of termination should be based upon the performance and effectiveness as determined by their personnel evaluation plan and certiﬁcation or academic preparation. Seniority should not be used as the primary criterion when making decisions about those employees. The board meeting starts at

mate goal. This year, that journey led him to the Super Bowl.

Though the Patriots fell 29-13 to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, reaching football’s biggest stage at 23 marked another milestone in Boutte’s journey For his father, the result did little to overshadow the accomplishment.

“At 23, to experience the Super Bowl — some players never get that chance,” Embrick said. “If they make it back, they’ll be ready It can only get better.”

For his family, the moment still represented the fulfillment of a dream that began years ago on a ﬁeld in New Iberia.

“It truly feels full circle, from watching him play as a little kid to seeing him on the biggest stage in football,” Toni said. “It was all a dream.”

5:30 p.m. Thursday at the board’s main office, 202 Rue Iberville, Lafayette. The meetings are also livestreamed on the LPSS YouTube page. During the meeting, the board will also vote on directing funds to HVAC projects and installing hand dryers at schools, and selecting a construction manager at risk for wing additions at Westside Elementary and Milton ElementaryMiddle.

Email Ashley White at ashley white@theadvocate.com.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Crowds gather outside St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans as the next archbishop of New Orleans, James Checchio, walks through

PROVIDED PHOTO

Embrick Boutte, left, stands with his son Kayshon Boutte after a Patriots game.

SPORTS

GOOD VIBES

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

It wasn’talot of funaround Russo Park last year for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns. It wasn’tjust the losses. The attitude wasn’tright. The offensive aggres-

siveness wasn’tthere.The focus on the mound was lacking.

“It was agut punch,”saidULbaseball coach Matt Deggs,whoseCajuns open the newseason at 2p.m. Friday against Missouri State at Russo Park. “It’ll humbleyou.”

Theresult was 23 fewer three-run innings from 2024, a.388 slugging percentage and 32 caught stealings. On themound, there were 57 unearned runs, a5.53 ERAand awhopping WHIP

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The UL men’sbasketball team has won four games in arow and ﬁve of its last six.

TheRagin’ Cajuns also are part of asix-way tie in the loss column forfifthplace in the SunBelt standings heading into a7 p.m. Thursday showdown with Coastal Carolina at the Cajundome.

“Wejust have to stay humble and stay hungryand take one game at atime,” UL coach Quannas White said.

That is true, but how UL ﬁnishes over its final six league games could make abig difference in March.

If the Cajuns finish seventhor eighth, they’dskip the first two days of theSun Belt Tournament in Pensacola, Florida. If UL finishesasthe No.5or6seed, it would not have to play until the

Coastal Carolina at UL, 7P.M.THURSDAy,ESPN+

fourthday of the tournament.

Athird- orfourth-place ﬁnish wouldget UL allthe way to the ﬁfth day withoutplaying.

“There’sbeen aconversation the entiretime aboutthose kind of things,” White said. “I think you got to have abelief in whateveritisyou’re doing as theleader,and the head of it.I’ve always had conﬁdence in these guys.

“It’sgreat to see all the hard work come to fruition.”

UL already holdstiebreakerswithtwo otherteams involved in that six-way logjam— GeorgiaSouthernand GeorgiaState —and could pick up another one against the Chanticleers (15-11, 7-6)

BY TOYLOYBROWN III Staff writer

Scoring at all levels was achallenge for LSU against No. 21 Arkansas on Tuesday night

TheTigers shot aseason-low 30.9% from the field and 14.3% from 3-point range in their91-62 loss at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.LSU trailed by as many as 36 points and never led. What inspired the most groans from home fans were the times the team frequentlymissedshots around the basket. While Arkansas (18-6, 8-3 SEC) effectivelyused its length, tying aseason-high 10 blocks, LSU (14-10, 2-9) came up

ä LSU at Tennessee, 5P.M. SATURDAy,SEC NETWORK

empty on makeable shots. LSU forward Pablo Tamba,who had11pointsand seven rebounds, gave his perspective on therepeated misses. “It’sobviously disappointing because we work alot on our game, but Ithink it wasa thing of confidencetoday,” he said. “I think we weren’treally confident when we gottothe paint like what we did at theirplace. Ithink at their place we were much more aggressive and confident in that area. And I think that’swhat was missing to-

day.”

LSUfell to Arkansas 85-81 on the road Jan.24, but theTigers had starting point guardDedan Thomas in that loss. In thesecond matchup, the juniorwas out after reaggravating his left foot injury Jan. 28. Tambaand Marquel Sutton,who hada team-high 18 pointsand six rebounds, were asked wherethe team needs to improve themost.

“I thinkwegot to improvethe most (is) our conﬁdence,” Tamba said. “Weobviously had acouple guys going down throughout the season, and thatkind of affected us. And, youknow, youcan see on the court guys kind of like doubt

themselves, starting with me.

Youmight not have noticed, or maybe you did and are unwilling to admit it, but Mickey Loomis has had agood year.Avery good year,infact. If there wereaComeback of the Year award forNFL executives, Loomis might have won it. His 24th season at the helm of the Saints football operation wasone of his best. Granted, Loomis ultimately wasresponsible forputting the Saints in the position of needing ahugely successful offseason ayear ago. His ill-fated decisions to hire head coach Dennis Allen, sign quarterback Derek Carr and continue to mismanage the salary cap and roster led to the nosedive in 2024. He has to own them and did.

While it might seem illogical to praise Loomisafter the Saints finished 6-11 and missed the playoffs fora fifth consecutive season, it’simpossible to deny the team is trending in the right direction. And the reasons foroptimism are directly related to Loomis’ decisions. His fingerprints are all over them His biggest decision —the hiring of head coach Kellen Moore —looks like ashrewdone. Moore assembled asolid staffinhis rookie season and displayed asteady hand in the teeth of a1-8 start. Moore’sbiggest coup was the hiring of defensive coordinator Brandon Staley,the architect of a defensive turnaround. While Moore still has room to grow as aplay-caller and gamemanager,hehas shownan aptitude forimprovement, so there’s reason to believe he’ll get better with timeontask. From there, Loomis turned his attention to free agency.Here-signed Chase Young and Juwan Johnson to affordable, team-friendly deals, and both responded with career seasons. He let Paulson Adebo, Payton Turner,Willie Gay and Lucas Patrick walkinfree agency,and none of them mademuch of an impact with their respective teamsin2025. In fact, Adebo —who signed athree-year,$54 million deal with the Giants —was amajor disappointment in NewYork, grading as the 74th-ranked corner by Pro Football Focus last season.

The addition of free agent safety Justin Reid helped solidifythe secondary,and while the Brandin Cooks signing didn’twork out, Loomis moved on quickly when the time was appropriate.

Loomis saved his greatest feat for late April, when he deftly managed Carr’sshocking shoulder injury and subsequent “retirement.” Carr’s abrupt and strange decision had the potential to derail the entire organization. Loomis adroitly negotiated a settlement that worked forall parties. In fact, the Saints actually turned out better forit. Loomis’ handling of the situation was amaster class in crisis management.

Aweek later,Loomis oversaw the NFLdraft, where the Saints landed

“I thinkwegot to play with more confidence. Ithink we got to know whywe’re here, what we represent. Like we have each other’s backs… like (Arkansas)came outhere, like, really just hooping, playing their game, confident. That’swhat we have to do.We’ve donethat before, andIknowwe can do it. We just gotto find the right mindset and the right wayto approach the game so we can perform that way.

Sutton agreed with Tambabefore expounding.

“We’ve gottocome out with moreurgency,” Sutton said. “I feel like if we do that, it’sdeﬁnitely go-

ing to help us. And whenever they make arun or whatever,wecan’t lay down. We gotta ﬁght back.” CoachMatt McMahon wastold that his players mentioned alack of conﬁdence affecting their performance andwas askedfor his perspective. He said the poor shooting around the basket was because of execution.

“I’m not sure that it’sconfidence,” the fourth-year coach said. “I think it was(Arkansas’)rim protection, their abilityto ﬂyaround defensively and makeitreally difﬁcult on us to score, and so I’ve got to do abetter job getting us into

Loomis

On TV AUTO RACING

6p.m. NASCAR DaytonaDuel 1FS1

7:45p.m. NASCAR Daytona Duel 2FS1 MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

5:30 p.m. MTSU at Kennesaw St.CBSSN

6p.m. FortWayne at GreenBay ESPN2

6p.m. UNC-Asheville at Longwood ESPNU

7:30 p.m. La.Tech at Missouri St. CBSSN

8p.m. Memphis at NorthTexasESPN

8p.m. Oregon St. at San Francisco ESPN2

8p.m.UT-Arlington at Abilene Christ. ESPNU

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

5p.m. SMU at NorthCarolina ACCN

5:30 p.m. TexasA&M at Kentucky SECN

6p.m. TCUatBaylorESPN

6p.m. Penn St. at Maryland PEACOCK

7p.m. Georgia Tech at Clemson ACCN

7p.m. Nebraska at Minnesota BTN

8p.m. Michigan at NorthwesternPEACOCK

8p.m. Arkansas at Mississippi SECN

9p.m. Indiana at SouthernCal BTN COLLEGESOFTBALL

9a.m. Nebraska vs. LSU ESPN2

St. vs.Georgia SECN

2p.m.LSU vs. Oklahoma St.ESPN2 GOLF

2p.m.PGA Tour:Pebble Beach GOLF

7p.m.LIV Golf: The GrangeFS2 NBA BASKETBALL

6:30 p.m.Milwaukee at Oklahoma City PRIME

9p.m.DallasatL.A. LakersPRIME MEN’S SOCCER

4:50 p.m.CONCACAF U-17 Qualifier:FS2 Mexico vs.Trinidad &Tobago

EYES ON THETIGERS

Finalprojections forLSU’s starting lineup,weekend rotation headinginto2026season

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

With transfers brought in to ﬁll speciﬁcspots anda strong core of returning players, LSUbaseball does not enter 2026 with manyquestion marksinits starting lineup or pitchingstaff.

But even if much of the roster is set, coach Jay Johnson will still need to ﬁll out alineup card and set arotation ahead of Friday’sseason opener against Milwaukee (2 p.m., SECNetwork+). Here are The Advocate’s ﬁnal starting lineupand pitching rotation predictions ahead of the 2026 season.

Lineup

1. Chris Stanﬁeld, LF,Sr.

2. Derek Curiel, CF,So.

3. Steven Milam, SS, Jr

4. Jake Brown, LF,Jr.

5. Zach Yorke, 1B, Sr

6. Brayden Simpson, DH, Sr

7. Tanner Reaves, 2B, Sr

8. Trent Caraway, 3B, Jr

9. Cade Arrambide, C, So.

Bench: Seth Dardar,INF,Sr.;Mason Braun, 1B/OF,Fr.;John Pearson, INF,So.; Daniel Harden, OF, Jr.; Omar Serna, C, Fr.; William Patrick, OF,Fr.;Eddie Yamin, C, R-Jr.; Ethan Clauss, INF,Fr.;Jack Ruckert, INF,Fr.

Breakdown: Stanfield led off for much of the preseason. Johnson may have movedhim off center field, but his contact skills and speed make him astrong candidate to move up the order Reavesearns thestart atsecond in this exercise, but that’san educated guess at best. Matchups will determine who starts there on agiven day.Dardarand Simpson will see plentyoftime at second. Keep an eye on Braun as acontender to start at DH. He was the No. 1 ﬁrst baseman in the nation, per Perfect Game, andhas hit the cover off the ball this preseason. His left-handed bat gives LSU even more options at DH besides the right-handed Pearson, Dardar,Reaves and Simpson.

Starting rotation

Friday: Casan Evans, RHP, So. Saturday: Cooper Moore, RHP,Jr. Sunday: Cooper Williams, LHP, So. Midweek candidates/multi-inning options: Zac Cowan, RHP,Sr.;William Schmidt, RHP,So.; Gavin Guidry, RHP,R-Jr.; JadenNoot,

‘The

RHP,R-Jr.; Reagan Ricken, RHP, Fr.; Marcos Paz, RHP,Fr. Breakdown: Throughout thefall andintothe preseason, Moore was LSU’s best starting pitcher Evans wasn’t as sharp, but last year’strack recordsuggests that his spot was always going to be safe

Williamssneaks into the last spot over Cowan after dominating hitters inthe preseason with improved command of his four pitches. Cowan maystill crack the rotation, but Williams throwing 42/3 innings during ascrimmage

afew weeks back was atip-off to what Johnsonmay be thinking here.

Bullpen

High-leverage options: Mavrick Rizy, RHP,So.; Santiago Garcia, LHP, Jr; Danny Lachenmayer,LHP,So.; Ethan Plog, LHP,So.;Dax Dathe, RHP,Sr.;Deven Sheerin, RHP, R-So.; DJ Primeaux, LHP,R-Jr.; Cowan,Guidry,Noot, Schmidt, Paz,Ricken

Depth pieces: Connor Benge, RHP, Sr.; Grant Fontenot, RHP,Sr.; Zion Theophilus, RHP,Fr.;John

Shahrdar, RHP,Sr.;Jonah Aase, LHP,Fr. Breakdown: Rizy haslooked smoother moving down the mound this preseason after a dominant showing in the Cape Cod Baseball League. Sheerin is healthy —coming off atorn ACL —and is hurling the ball in the upper90s.Garcia and Lachenmayer were bigger names, but Plog adds athird intriguing lefthandedarm out of the bullpen. He hasalot of movement on his fastball and throws it from a unique slot.

Fighting Tiger’ ﬁtting forBreaux’sstory

Documentary captures greatness of ex-LSU gymcoach

It’seasy to overlook thefact that the LSU Tigers are actually the LSU Fighting Tigers.

Rangersbring backLHP

Montgomeryon1-year deal

JordanMontgomery has agreed on aone-year deal to rejoin the TexasRangers,three seasonsafter being part of their only World Series championship and while the left-handercontinues rehabbing from asecond elbow reconstruction surgery The deal is reportedly worth $1.25 million plus potential performance bonuses. Atrade-deadline acquisition fromSt. Louis in 2023, Montgomerywent4-2 with a2.79 ERA in 11 regular-season games for the Rangers before winning two AL Championship Series games. He went3-1 in six games that postseason. He then left in free agency and didn’tsign until late the following spring withthe Diamondbacks, going 8-7with a6.23 ERAin2024 before missing all of last season.

Opening day in doubt for Lindor aftersurgery

NewYorkMetsmanager Carlos Mendoza said he’soptimistic shortstop Francisco Lindor will recover foropening day after having surgery on Wednesday to repair abroken hamate bone in his left hand. Lindorwas evaluated by ahand specialist afterexperiencingsoreness in the area around his hand and wrist this week.

“People aresaying six weeks for return of play,” Mendoza said, referencing atimeline that could threaten Lindor’sstatus forthe start of the season.

Lindor, 32, hit .267 with 31 homers, 86 RBIsand 31 steals in 160 games with New York last year

The ﬁve-time All-Star was left off Puerto Rico’sroster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic over insurance coverage.

D-backs OF Carrollout of WorldBaseballClassic

ArizonaDiamondbacks outfielder CorbinCarroll will miss the World Baseball Classic after breaking the hamate bone in his right hand during batting practice. Carroll was set forsurgery Wednesdayand will miss signiﬁcanttime during spring training, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because theinjury has not been announced by the team It is not known whether Carroll, 25, will return in timefor opening day.Hehad been expected to play forTeam USAinthe WBC.

Carroll was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2023. He hit .259 with 31 home runs and 84 RBIs, and he stole 32 bases last season. He ledthe majors with 17 triples.

NBA suspends 4players 17 total games for fight

D-D Breaux doesn’tlet you forget. In fact, she epitomizes that nickname. When ESPN called and said it wanted to do a documentary on the legendary LSU gymnasticscoach as part of its superb “SEC Storied” series, “The Fighting Tiger” turned out to be theperfect title.

As the nearly hourlong documentary —which has its broadcast debutat9:30 p.m. Friday on the SEC Network —makes clear,Breaux was a ﬁghter through her entire 43year coaching careeratLSU. She had to be. If she wasn’tthen the LSU gymnastics program —its championship-winning,bannerhanging, NCAA attendance-leading program —literally wouldn’texist

“They wanted to drop the programtwice,” Breaux said Wednesday.“My superpower is my enthusiasm. Nothing great is achieved without enthusiasm. WhatIwant people to take away from this is that you have to be excited about yourself andwhat you are doing.”

Though the documentary doesn’t name names of early LSU athletic administrators who didn’tsupport gymnastics —itdoes name Carl Maddox, who hired the 24-year-old

Breaux in 1977 to take over the ﬂedglingprogram —itmakes plain the difﬁculty and downright hostility she faced as gymnastics triedtogain atoehold in LSU’s male-dominated athletic culture.

“Wereally keptitclean. If not for people like Pat Newman, Bill Bankhead,Ernie andKathy Hill” the program wouldn’thave made it,Breaux said, ticking off the namesofearly athletic department supporters. “When Skip (Bertman)became athleticdirector, all that changed.”

Bertman is featured in the documentaryand was among the hundreds who attended aFeb. 4 gala premiere.Intypical Breaux fashion, it was aglitzy,eye-popping event, with the documentary

played on the huge video boards thathang from the Pete Maravich Assembly Center ceiling. Also in the showisformer LSU football coach Nick Saban. Breaux said she approached Saban, a fellow Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer, at last year’sbanquet in Natchitoches to ask him to be in it.

“His wife (Terry)said, ‘Of course he will,’”Breaux said with alaugh. Alabama’sathletic media staff ﬁlmed Saban at his ofﬁce in Tuscaloosa and forwarded the footage to the documentarians working on the production in New York.

Filmmaker Nancy Stern Winters, who co-directed “The Fighting Tiger” with LisaLax, said ESPN came to their company Lookalike Productions,and asked

ä ‘The Fighting Tiger’ 9:30 P.M. FRIDAy,SEC NETWORK

themtoruminate about adocumentaryonasubject at LSU.

“Weworked on acouple of thingsand came up with D-D,” Winters said.“We thought it was ashameher story wasn’ttold.”

Winters saidBreaux made their job as ﬁlmmakers easy

“She’svery articulate, honest to thecore and wanted to participatetothe Nthdegree,” Winters said. “And she saved everything —all the documentation. As a documentary ﬁlmmaker,it’srare to have those kinds of gems.”

Filming for the documentary started sort of where Breaux’sstory with LSU gymnastics reaches its climax —atlast year’sseason openeronJan.3,2025, against Iowa State. It was that night that LSUraised its 2024 NCAA championship banner to the PMAC catwalk.

An NCAA title eluded Breaux before her retirement in 2020 —her LSU teams werenational runners-up four times. But as the documentary justly implies, LSU gymnastics’ greatest victory was Breaux’svictory as well.

It wouldn’thave happened at LSU—none of it —without her “Towatch someone tell that story and see that banner go up,” Breaux said, “it was amazing.”

The LSU home gymnastics meet with Auburn is set for 7:45 p.m. on the SEC Network, with“The Fighting Tiger” being shown immediately after the meet ends.Itwill also be available on demand on the SEC Networkpage of ESPN.com.

Detroit center Isaiah Stewart wassuspended seven games by the NBA on Wednesday,while three other players were also penalizedfor theirroles in afight during agame between the Pistons and Charlotte Hornets.

Hornets forwards Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabaté were each suspended four games for ﬁghting and escalating the altercation, while Pistons center Jalen Duren gottwo games for initiating the altercation and ﬁghting, theleague announced But the heaviest penalty wentto Stewart, withthe league saying it was based in part on his “repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.”

The league said he left the bench area,aggressively entered an oncourt altercation andfought during Monday night’sgame.

Charlie Woods, Tiger’sson, picks Florida St. for golf

The son of Tiger Woods is staying in state to pursue college golf Charlie Woods made averbal commitmentTuesday to playfor Florida State. Woods, ajunior at The BenjaminSchool in North Palm Beach, Florida,isNo. 21 in the American Junior Golf Association ranking. His lone AJGA victory came at the Team TaylorMade Invitational in May,and he tied forninth in the Junior PGA Championship last summer to boost his ranking and draw interest from top college golf programs. Woods will join Miles Russell, the No.1player in junior golf,who also committed to the Seminoles. Majorchampions who played at Florida State include Brooks Koepka, Paul Azinger andJeff Sluman

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARySCHEINUK

LSU coachD-D Breaux cheers as senior Lexie Priessman sticks the landing during her floor routine in an SECchampionship meet on March23, 2019, at the Smoothie King Center.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU right-handed pitcher Casan Evans throws apitch against UCLA at the CollegeWorld Series on June 17 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.LSU won9-5

Scott Rabalais

BASEBALL

of 1.57.

“Your building momentum there and you just weren’t able to sustain it,” Deggs said. “There were too many guys that shut it down. That’s not us it was so foreign to us.

“But this team, I think we’ve hit on a bunch of dudes that are hungry and love to compete.”

Now it’s time to see whether an improved mindset can make a big enough difference on the ﬁeld to put last year’s 27-31 campaign in the rearview mirror

“There’s a connection there,” Deggs said. “They’re all on the same page. They play and they love each other They’re loyal to each other, and they do whatever we ask.”

Deggs is an offensive-minded coach, so his ﬁrst priority was improving in the batter’s box.

“Intent,” he said. “I think that’s what we’ve always been known for get after the fastball and own the dish. Get your swings off on time, be able to execute on command and have a short memory.

“Wave after wave, we just keep coming. We’re getting back to that. We’ve done a pretty good job of it.”

Last year’s shortstop Drew Markle (.248, 2 HRs, 19 RBIs, 11 SBs) has moved to third base.

“Once he ﬁnds that consistency and learns how to manipulate and move his body to ﬁnd a barrel, I think you’re going really see him take off,” Deggs said of Markle. “We’ve seen flashes of it, then we break the hammy (hand last year).”

The plan is for new second baseman Rigoberto Hernandez to add mental toughness and efﬁciency to the inﬁeld.

There’s more power potential with Oklahoma State transfer Donovan LaSalle in right ﬁeld.

“I just want him to be able to relax and play and see if we can bring some of that pop we know he has in him,” Deggs said Another issue last season was re-

2026 UL BASEBALL SCHEDULE

lying on freshmen. That’s the case again this year — especially with Blaze Rodriguez at shortstop, Colt Brown at catcher and potentially Noah Lewis in center ﬁeld.

“The freshmen that we do have are all, for the most part, ready to play,” Deggs said. “I don’t know if that was the case a year ago as bad as we wanted to play them, but that kind of speaks to where we were on a depth and talent side.

A bigger overhaul took place on the mound, where new pitching coach Taylor Sandefur is incorporating a new approach.

“I’m a big advocate in throwing strikes,” Sandefur said. “I can be a bit over the top about it.”

That’s not a bad idea since UL pitchers walked 252 and hit 88 batters last season.

“You have to have the ability to compete inside the strike zone with at least two pitches,” Sandefur said. “If you have two pitches, we can have a role for you. Obviously, the more the better, but two bare minimum. If you can throw two pitches at a 60% clip or better we got a real chance to do something with you.”

Senior left-hander Andrew Herrmann said the loss of expected ace Chase Morgan was tough to hear about, but it also toughened up the staff.

“When adversity hits, you’re go-

ing to ﬁnd out who people really are,” Herrmann said. “It’s kind of made some people realize, ‘All right, I’ve got to step up for this season. I can’t go hide behind C-Mo (Morgan). I can’t just watch C-Mo throw 70, 80 innings and be a dog for us like he’s been.’

“I think it’s going to make for an even more dominant pitching staff.”

While San Jacinto Junior College conference pitcher of the year Ty Roman is expected to be the Friday night starter, better versions of Herrmann and JR Tollett really have the UL coaching staff excited.

“Oh my gosh, it’s night and day,” Deggs said of Tollett. “He was pretty good last year It was really good, but what Sandy’s done is add

LSU MEN

Continued from page 1C

some better positions to get some high-percentage shots there that we can shoot with conﬁdence.

“Execution wasn’t good enough to play with one of the best teams in the country tonight. I thought Arkansas, their defensive pressure and shot blocking, had a lot to do with that.”

a couple more weapons to his belt.”

While Deggs has expressed some worry about the depth in the bullpen if injuries crop up, he loves the talent.

“You’ll see some lefties having to get some righties out,” Deggs said “I’m a little more conﬁdent right now on that side of things with our depth.

“I think we’ve got three guys in the back of the pen that are going to be pretty formidable. I think (Garret) Carter proﬁles as a starter, (but) you’ll see him in that bullpen for now I think him and (Cody) Brasch and Pappy (Tyler Papenbrock) will be a pretty good combination.”

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

What also didn’t help was that Max Mackinnon, the leading scorer for LSU in Southeastern Conference play, injured his knee after playing only 20 minutes. McMahon said he doesn’t think it’s serious. Whether it’s conﬁdence or poor execution, LSU will have to deal with those problems before it plays Tennessee (16-7, 6-4) at 5 p.m. Saturday at ThompsonBoling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Tyler Shough, their franchise quarterback, and Kelvin Banks, their left tackle of the future, along with a handful of future starters and contributors in Jonas Sanker, Quincy Riley and Danny Stutsman

The selection of Shough alone would have made the draft a success. Historically teams don’t ﬁnd starting quarterbacks of Shough’s caliber in the second round. The entire rebuilding plan has been accelerated by this one decision.

All things considered, the 2025 draft haul was one of the best in recent Saints history exactly what the club needed during its time of transition.

Loomis wasn’t done. He also

UL MEN

Continued from page 1C

with a win Thursday

“No doubt, this game is very important,” White said. “All of our games are very important. We just to have stay focused.” The Cajuns (9-16, 6-6) are coming off an 85-80 win over Central Michigan in the Sun Belt/MAC Challenge in a game where UL’s defensive effort didn’t please White.

“I thought about James Madison, that was a complete 40-min-

enjoyed a high batting average on trades. Luke Fortner for Khalen Saunders, a player the Saints were planning to cut, was a clear win. The acquisition of Devaughn Vele didn’t come cheap, but he developed a strong connection with Shough before being injured last season and looks like a bona ﬁde third option in the receiver rotation.

Loomis shrewdly offset the lost draft capital from the Vele deal by trading Rashid Shaheed to Seattle. Shaheed’s departure hurt the receiving corps and return game in the short term, but the extra fourth- and ﬁfthround picks the team acquired are valuable assets.

Meanwhile, Loomis quietly and wisely bolstered the front ofﬁce by hiring Randy Mueller and Thomas Dimitroff. The under-the-radar moves didn’t garner much attention with

ute game from an effort standpoint,” he said. “I did not like how we started against Central Michigan in the ﬁrst half. Our defensive intensity and connectivity was not there in the ﬁrst half. We have to get that corrected.” Coastal Carolina needed some extra rest after surviving Massachusetts 94-91 in triple overtime on Saturday Prior to that, the Chanticleers lost to Arkansas State 70-66 and beat UL-Monroe 83-79.

“Coastal has a really good team,” White said. “They’re similar in a lot of ways to Georgia State where that’s a really good

fans, but the club’s scouting and roster management have been better for it.

All in all, it was a very good year for Loomis. He didn’t hit on every move, but he just might have nailed the important ones with head coach and quarterback.

Only a few months ago, Saints fans were calling for his head and begging him to retire. When Saints owner Gayle Benson defended Loomis in our November interview calling the notion of ﬁring him “ridiculous,” many were apoplectic. True to form, Loomis remained undaunted. He refused to overreact and quietly went about his work. Now, the pitchforks and torches have been stored away, and he’s enjoying the last laugh. As he approaches age 70, the NFL’s longest-tenured GM showed he still has his fastball.

“I thought about James Madison, that was a

game from an effort standpoint. I

3-point shooting team, and they got some really good players. (Rasheed) Jones can really shoot the ball and they also can beat you one on one. “They got four guys that they start that can

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

New UL pitching coach Taylor Sandefur, left, instructs pitcher JR Tollett, right, during a recent practice at Russo Park.

Saints president Dennis Lauscha, left, and general manager Mickey Loomis watch during

in Metairie on July 30.

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK LSU guard Max Mackinnon takes a shot as Arkansas guard Meleek Thomas defends at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday.

QUANNAS WHITE,

Puck drops on men’s hockey MI

SKATING AND WAITING: Jordan

Stolz won the first of what could be four gold medals at these Winter Olympics in men’s 1,000-meter speedskating

“It was just a feeling like,‘you finally did it,’ ” said the 21-year-old Stolz, who was trailing silver medalist Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands with 400 meters to go “It almost doesn’t seem real, right?”

The 21-year-old from Wisconsin set an Olympic record with his time but had to wait longer than usual for his victory to be confirmed because another skater was given a do-over after being bumped during his race When Joep Wennermars of the Netherlands failed to beat Stolz, it was time for the American to take a delayed victory lap.

FRENCH DUO TAKES GOLD, SILVER IN BIATHLON: Julia Simon became the first Frenchwoman to win an Olympic gold medal in the women’s 15-kilometer individual biathlon race and teammate Lou Jeanmonnot took silver at the the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday. Simon missed only one target and completed the course in 41 minutes, 15 seconds. Jeanmonnot missed two and finished 53 seconds behind “It feels like a dream right now,” Simon said after the race.“It’s amazing It’s a race I have dreamed of.

FLYING STAR: The halfpipe threepeat attempt began promisingly for Chloe Kim on Wednesday as she finished first in qualifying while wearing a shoulder brace.

After a shoulder injury disrupted her buildup to the Games, Kim credited her muscle memory and a “very well-behaved” shoulder for getting her through to the 12-athlete final on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the mountains, Elizabeth Lemley and Jaelin Kauf won gold and silver for the United States in women’s freestyle moguls skiing

Host nation Italy’s luge team won two gold medals in one evening first in the new event of women’s doubles, then an hour later in men’s doubles. That put the Italian medal count for the Milan Cortina Games at 13, tied with Norway for the most.The U.S has 12.

TEAM CANADA ‘HEARTBROKEN’

AFTER DEADLY SHOOTING: Canadian fans and athletes at the Milan Cortina Olympics woke up Wednesday to learn of a school shooting in British Columbia that left at least seven people dead and many others wounded.

Seven people were killed in Tuesday’s shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, while two more were found dead at a nearby home, Canadian authorities said.A woman believed by police to be the shooter was also found dead, apparently from a self-inflicted wound.

“It’s very unusual and tough to hear It’s not something you ever expect to hear anywhere in Canada, let alone a small community,”Winnipeg native Thomas Hepworth said near Milan’s historic Duomo cathedral.

BY STEPHEN WHYNO AP hockey writer

MILAN Martin Fehervary was still catching his breath. Fresh off the ice from playing in the ﬁrst men’s hockey game at the Milan Cortina Olympics, the defenseman from Slovakia knew he wasn’t in North America anymore

“The pace of the game was really fast,” Fehervary said. “I felt like it was even faster than in the NHL.”

The return of the best players in the world to the Olympics got off to a frantic fast-paced start Wednesday when Slovakia upset Finland in the first of 30 games in the tournament that will conclude with the gold medal final on Feb 22. The NHL is participating in the Games for the first time in 12 years going back to Sochi in 2014, ending a long wait for stars from all over the world.

“Had a tough time sleeping last night, and then just getting ready for this game,” 35-year-old ﬁrsttime Olympian Victor Hedman said after he scored an emptynet goal to help Sweden survive a scare from Italy and win 5-2. “Phenomenal. Nerves.”

Italy has no NHL players, and yet the host country got off to quite the start against heavily favored Sweden. Homegrown winger Luca Frigo, put Italy up 1-0 just a few minutes into the game, sparking chants of “Italia! Italia!” from the excited crowd.

“It was indescribable,” captain Thomas Larkin said. “The support we got when we scored that ﬁrst goal was absolutely unbelievable. It’s something that I’m sure I’ll remember for a long, long time.”

Matt Bradley, a Vancouver na-

Slovakia goalkeeper Samuel Hlavaj, right, makes a save against Finland’s Joel Armia, center and

Erik Haula during a match on Wednesday in Milan, Italy Slovakia won 4-1.

tive whose 95-year-old grandfather Guido Garzitto is from Italy, also scored after expressing motivation to show up in men’s hockey and make the country proud against some tough competition.

“A once-in-a-lifetime amazing feeling,” Bradley said. “Overjoyed with emotions for that.”

The tournament favorites get underway Thursday The U.S. faces Latvia, while Canada takes on Czechia.

“It’s been a long process, but we’re very excited to have a game,” U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said. “The players are really looking forward to it. They need a game. They want a game. Just really looking forward to getting started.”

French duo upsets USA’s Chock, Bates

NHL players back in fast, unpredictable beginning in Milan U.S. settles for silver as contoversy swirls

BY DAVE SKRETTA AP sportswriter

MILAN — Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron arrived at the Milan Cortina Olympics amid a swirl of controversy, with the French ice dancers hoping to upset the dominant American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates when it mattered most.

They will leave with a gold medal. Maybe a little bit more controversy too.

Beaudry and Cizeron answered a season-best free dance by Chock and Bates with a season best of their own Wednesday night, giving them 225.82 points and the top step of the podium. Chock and Bates finished with 224.39 and a bittersweet silver medal after having lost just four times in the four years since they finished fourth at the Beijing Games

“We’re still in shock,” said Cizeron, who also became the ﬁrst skater to win back-to-back ice dance gold with different partners, having won previously with Gabriella Papadakis. “Looking back a year ago, when we started

dreaming this, it’s pretty incredible.”

There were some who viewed their victory as unbelievable.

Cizeron made several mistakes, including a glaring one during his twizzle sequence while Chock and Bates were nearly perfect. Yet the French judge favored the French skaters by nearly eight points in the free dance, while ﬁve of the nine judges favored the American team. The other three that gave top marks to Guillaume and Cizeron did so by a slim margin.

“I feel like in life, sometimes you can feel like you do everything right and it doesn’t go your way, and that’s life in sports,” said Bates, who along with Chock won a second straight gold medal in the team event earlier in the Winter Games. “It’s a subjective sport. It is a judged sport. But I think one fact that is indisputable is that we delivered our best. We skated our best.”

The Canadian team of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier earned the bronze medal with 217.74 points, pulling away from the Italian team of Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri and the British duo of Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson with a deeply emotional free skate.

“I usually prefer Guillaume and Laurence,” Fabbri said, speaking candidly following the medal cer-

They got to sit and watch what it might be like to take center stage at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, which was nearly ﬁlled to the capacity of 11,600 by the time Finland’s Anton Lundell and Slovakia’s Adam Ruzicka lined up for the opening faceoff 20 minutes before 5 p.m. local time. The crowd roared in the opening moments when scoring chances materialized and gasped when Slovakia goaltender Samuel Hlavaj stopped a slap shot from point-blank range.

“It was awesome,” Hlavaj said after his team’s 4-1 win. “It felt like we were playing at the home rink.”

Juraj Slafkovsky scored the ﬁrst men’s hockey goal in Milan

for Slovakia just under eight minutes in, picking up where he left off in Beijing four years ago. He scored again in the third period, setting off a boisterous crowd that was wired from the start and even at one point did the wave. More importantly than that, the fans were loud and players noticed.

“I didn’t really expect anything like that (or) close it,” Slovakia defenseman and two-time Stanley Cup champion Erik Cernak said “They were amazing. It felt like we were playing at home.

“There was so many Slovakian fans and everybody, so I’m glad they came here and supported us and hopefully we gave them a great show.”

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France compete during the ice dancing free skate at the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, on Wednesday. They came away with the gold medal

emony “But today, in my opinion, they didn’t skate so well. So I think Madison and Evan would have deserved to win.”

Beaudry and Cizeron arrived at the Winter Games with controversy hanging over them stemming from their former partners.

This time last year, Beaudry was wondering whether she would even compete this season after Skate Canada banned her partner and longtime boyfriend, Nikolaj Sorensen, amid allegations of “sexual maltreatment.”

Cizeron stepped away from competition after the 2022 season, shortly after his Olympic triumph, and retired two years ago. But the chance to make a comeback with Beaudry, who was ninth with Sorensen at the Beijing Games, was too good to pass up. Beaudry and Cizeron won ev-

ery event they entered this season save the Grand Prix Final, when they finished second to Chock and Bates in their previous head-to-head meeting. But their smooth ride to Milan was shaken up when Papadakis wrote in her new memoir that Cizeron had been demanding, controlling and manipulative toward her accusations he called a “smear campaign.”

“It’s been quite a challenge that we set out to do,” Cizeron said. “I think from the beginning we tried to create a bubble where we really supported each other through everything, and we’ve been through some incredibly hard moments. But I think the love we have for each other and for the sport really draws through, and it kind of helped us keep our heads on our shoulders.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By PETR DAVID JOSEK

Finland’s

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BERNAT ARMANGUE

STMboysblank NewIberia to

BY NEAL McCLELLAND

Contributing writer

If Tuesday night’sDivision I

boys soccer playoff gameagainst New Iberia was aslowstart for St. Thomas More,then heavenhelp the team forcedtoendure afast one

The second-seeded Cougars scored four ﬁrst-half goalsfrom four players and shut out the No. 18 Yellow Jackets en route to a 6-0 win that propelled the Cougars (17-2-4) to the quarterﬁnals.

“I thought that we started off a little slow,” said senior midfielder Carter Schwarz, who had one of the first-half goals. “But we kept making chances andthen we got that first goaland it wasall downhill from there.”

Senior forward Luke Finleysaid he thought the start was normal.

Finley

“We’ve had games where we hadslow starts, but Ifelt that we had anormal start to this gameand we established ourselvespretty early,” said Finley,who had asecond-half goal that gave him ateamrecord 41 goals this season.

Coach Dane Adams agreed the game wasn’tout of the ordinary for STM.

“From the start, we like to let the balldothe work,” Adams said. “We like to connect passes, letthe defense do its work and put the ball in the back of the net

AREA PLAYOFFGLANCE

“Wehad 32 shots tonight and only six goals but we were able to score quickly anditgaveusa lot of freedom.” Adams said theteam’ssuccess comes down to grit,trust and choice.

“You eitherhave grit or you don’t,” he said. “Trust is trust in the team that youhaveand choice is thechoice to play or not. It’sbeen a whole team effort (with) an amazingstaff, and our senior leadership has been amazing this year.”

TheCougars will play thewinner of Thursday’smatch between No. 7Ben Franklin and No. 10 Neville.

“Wejust have to keep playing our game,”Schwarz said. “If we keep doing what we do, thenweshould be allright.Ifwedon’t make mistakes, we will be ﬁne.”

Austin Levin, right, kicks the ball up the

defender Ahmad

LSUsoftballrelishes step up in competition

BY JIM KLEINPETER Contributing writer

LSUsoftball jumped up four spots in theNational Fastpitch CoachesAssociationpoll, and after a6-0 weekend the No.12Tigers are jumping from the frying pan into the ﬁre Thursday The Tigers travel to the prestigious ClearwaterInvitational, where they will take on three Top 25 teams in ﬁve games and two other perennial powers through the weekend at Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater,Florida. First up is No.11Nebraska in a 9a.m. contest Thursday followed by OklahomaState at 2p.m.the same day.OnFriday,the Tigers playNo. 22 Duke at 3:30 p.m.; on Saturday,theyface CentralFlorida at 9a.m.; and they wrapupthe event at 9a.m.Sunday against No. 6UCLA. Nebraskaisoff to a3-2 start with avictory against reigning NCAA champion andNo. 1-ranked Texas. The Cornhuskers split two games with the Longhorns and twowithWashington whilealso defeating Texas-SanAntonio at the RoadrunnerClassic.

The Huskers are led by NFCA Player of the Year and All-America pitcher/ﬁrst baseman Jordy Frahm (formerly Jordy Bahl). She batted .462 with 23 homers and 66 RBIswhile dazzling in the circle with a26-8 record anda 1.56ERA last season. Shestruck out 286 batters in 2061/3 innings while leading the Huskers to a victoryinthe Baton Rouge Regional and aberth in the super regionals at Tennessee last season.

“What an awesome opportunityinfront of us to go and try to prove who we are and see some more things about ourselves,” LSUcoach Beth Torina said. “It’s nice to have it so early in the year that you can keep learning and

ä LSU vs. Nebraska 9A.M.THURSDAy,ESPN2

growing from it. We’ll be ready, we’ll be prepared and give it our best shot.”

The ﬁrst weekendwas encouraging with the Tigers winning via multiple ways.They got ahead early,rallied late, got aclutch walk-offhit in the bottom of the seventh, received shutout pitching and played solid defense.

“Wefaced somechallenges, a few walk-offsand some tight innings,”saidsophomore ﬁrst baseman Tori Edwards, whohit apair of three-run homers to pace a Sunday doubleheader sweep.“It was really good.Our pitchers had to workthrough somethings, our offense, too. It’s on to ournext challenge.”

The Tigers batted .313 with Sierra Daniel leading the waywith a.471 batting average. Pitching ace JaydenHeavener struck out 17 batters in 11 innings while winning twice.

With 11 newfaces amongthe 23-player roster,LSU appears ready to take astep up in class. The ﬁrst road tripisabig step for intangibles such as team bonding.

“Clearwater is always one of the most fun tournaments you can play in,” pitcher Tatum Cloptonsaid. “Wehavesome great competition. There’snot an easy day.It’sachallenge we’re all looking forward to. We don’twant it to be easy.We’re excited. It’s alwaysalearning moment,your ﬁrst road trip.

“We’ve got new people. I’m excited to see how we bond. Ithink we have alot of great chemistry working in our favor.We’ll try to out prep our opponent. That’sall we can focus on, ourown preparation. Be the best versions of ourselves.”

SPORTS 24/7

Teurlings’ frontcourt trio

too much for Westgate

Warren, Senegal, Price carry Rebels to district win

BY MIKE COPPAGE Contributing writer

Teurlings Catholic has a one-two

punch of big men that can rival any high school basketball team in the state. The tandem of 6-foot-8 seniors

De’Von Warren and Jordan Senegal combined for 34 points in a District 4-4A game against Westgate at home on Tuesday, but it was the third member of the Rebels frontcourt, A.J. Price, who led all scorers with 20 points in a 67-42 win.

“Everybody wants to concentrate on the big boys and rightfully so,” Rebels coach Jake Dueitt said. “They’re great players, but if you forget about A.J. he’ll make you pay.”

Price, a 6-foot-3 Millsaps University tight end signee, made five straight shots over a span that consumed parts of the second and third quarters. He went 6 for 6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter as the Rebels used a 10-0 run to build a 61-40 lead

“A.J. is one of the guys who does a lot of dirty work,” Dueitt said.

“He has a lot of minutes under his belt in basketball and football. He brings the toughness we need in this league.”

Warren had 18 points and Senegal added 16 for the Division I select No. 5 Rebels (18-5, 3-1), who are one spot ahead of rival St. Thomas More in the LHSAA power ratings. Warren made 4 of 5 ﬁeld goals to begin the game. Senegal shot 6 for 7, and the duo combined for four 3-pointers

“It was a great team win,” Warren said. “It wasn’t just the bigs or starters Even the bench had good energy I feel like the whole team together made our free throws.”

The Rebels, who sank 15 of 22 from the line, lost to Westgate 52-41 at the STM Sunkist Shootout. Teyerance Alfred came off the bench to score nine points in the rematch. The 6-2 senior was cleared to play on Dec. 1 after rehabbing from an injury

“Alfred’s play is not a shocker,” Dueitt said. “It took him a while

after being cleared to play Now you’re seeing the beneﬁts of him being in a routine and getting into shape.”

Westgate (15-5, 2-2) led 15-13 after the ﬁrst quarter as 6-4 sophomore Brock Mitchell scored six points. He was held to one point the rest of the way, however. Dakylon Joseph (13 points) and Antonio Quetel (12) were offensive leaders.

“We tried to get up on them and make them go to the basket,”

Dueitt said. “They’re so great at getting into the lane and kicking it out. We wanted to run them off the 3-point line and into our bigs and rim protectors.”

Joseph made consecutive 3-pointers and Shadon Lee’s basket completed an 8-0 run in the third quarter to pull WHS within 43-32

before the Rebels answered with a Warren 3-pointer and an Alfred free throw

“I think we handled the offensive and defensive boards,” Price said. “That led to good baskets at the rim. I think we played very physical compared to last time we played them. I just think our guys hustled.”

The Rebels are knocking on the door of 20 regular-season wins with four games remaining until the playoffs, including a rematch against STM. The Rebels beat the Cougars at home and will host again on Feb. 20.

“With our size, I feel like we can beat anybody,” Price said. “(Twenty wins) means a lot. I think the whole team recognizes this is a goal, and we can attain it.”

Midland girls clinch districtchampionship

Rebels defeat

Lafayette Christian to move to 6-0 in league

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

Midland’s senior basketball players are familiar with how it feels to win a district championship.

Just three seasons ago, the Rebels accomplished that feat, winning the district crown “for the first time in a very long time,” said coach Christy Daigle. That season, the Rebels weren’t in the same district as perennial power Lafayette Christian.

This season they are.

Behind MJ Thibodeaux and Camri Primeaux, the Rebels defeated the Knights 58-52 to clinch the District 6-2A title on Tuesday

“It is a big win for us,” said Daigle, whose team defeated the Knights twice this season.

“It means a lot to us to be able to secure the district title. I respect (LCA) coach (Errol) Rogers a lot. He was my coach in AAU, so to be able to beat him is big. We have taken a beating from them year after year, so to get two wins over them is big. The girls are proud.”

The Rebels (24-7, 6-0) played without star post player Tora Savoy who missed her second consecutive game.

“The girls have been doing it for Tora,” Daigle said. “They

know she wanted that district title in her senior year so it feels like they played even harder for her Everyone did a great job of stepping up. It was a total team effort to get this win.”

Thibodeaux and Primeaux combined for 40 of the Rebels’ 58 points. Thibodeaux had 21 points, while Primeaux added 19.

“Those two really do a great job of working together,” Daigle said. “MJ is only a sophomore, but she is the type of player that is going to do whatever it takes to win. Camri controls the tempo of the game. I haven’t seen anyone truly stop her She has really grown as a player.”

Despite not having Savoy’s height, the Rebels controlled the boards which led to several second-chance points.

“We knew coming in that we did a good job of rebounding against them the ﬁrst time we played,” Daigle said. “We knew they were going to work on it and focus on it, but our girls still went out there and battled and fought on the boards.”

LCA (19-8, 5-1) was by Paityn Dean, Shanna Simien and Logan Boutte. Dean ﬁnished with a team-high 13 points, Simien had 12 and Boutte added 11.

“Another key for us is that we had to keep switching up defenses until we found something that worked,” Daigle said. “We were tired, but not one player gave up.”

Email Eric Narcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

Christian 45 St. Thomas More 61, North Vermilion 40 NORTH VERMILION (40) Jayvin Gage 4, Zarian Gage 11, Jose Sotomayor 15, Eli Dubois 2, Kylon Martin 2, Mason Dauterive 4, Jaxsen Frederick 2. Totals: 7 (8) 2-6. ST THOMAS MORE (61) LG Carbo 6, Mack Tasman 3, Kyle Guillot 3, John Michael Charbonnet 4, Matthew Cook 11, Ryan Robertson 15, Xarian Babineaux 8, Landon Ortte 2, Grayson Jenkins 7, Brennon Moreno 2. Totals: 16 (6) 11-14. North Vermilion2121115—40 St. Thomas More191542361 3-pointers — NV: J. Gage 1, Z. Gage 3, Sotomayor 4; STM: Tasman 1, Cook 3, Charbonnet 1, Jenkins 1. Total Fouls: NV 12, STM 6. Girls basketball Tuesday’s scores Acadiana 61, Lafayette High 59

Sam Houston 60, Carencro 11 Barbe 51 New Iberia 43 Sulphur 50, Southside 24 North Vermilion 40, St. Thomas More 28 Livonia 59, Opelousas 52 Teurlings 70, Westgate 29 Vermilion Catholic 64, Abbeville 37 Oberlin 60, Crowley 10 Cecilia 33, Beau Chene 27 Northside 61, David Thibodaux 29 Basile 60, Erath 32 Iota 46, East Beauregard 39 DeRidder 37, Eunice 33 Comeaux 46, Rayne 30 Midland 38, Lafayette Christian 52 Highland Baptist 55, Westminster-Lafayette 30 Lake Charles College Prep 42, Lafayette Renaissance 19 Catholic-NI 40, Delcambre 20 Opelousas Catholic 55, Catholic-PC 26 St. Edmund 60, Westminster 50 Grand Lake 55, Northside Christian 18 Teurlings 70, Westgate 29

Halftime—Arkansas 42-27. 3-Point Goals—Arkansas 3-12 (Acuff 1-4, Brazile 1-4, M.Thomas 1-4), LSU 3-21 (Mosley 1-2, Carter 1-5, Sutton 1-5, Mackinnon 0-1, Tamba 0-1, Reece 0-3, King 0-4). Rebounds—Arkansas 35 (Brazile 12), LSU 40 (Nwoko 8). Assists—Arkansas 10 (Acuff 5), LSU 12 (Reece 7). Total Fouls—Arkansas 19, LSU 19. A—6,701 (13,215). Women’s state schedule Tuesday’s game East Carolina 65, Tulane 61 Thursday’s games UL-Monroe at Southern Miss, 5 p.m. Nicholls at

STAFF PHOTO By ROBIN MAy Lafayette Christian’s Shanna Siemien struggles to get a shot off against the Midland defense on Tuesday.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

Teurlings Catholic forward Jordan Senegal combined with teammate De’Von Warren to score 34 points in Tuesday’s win against Westgate.

You should eatmore beans

Here are3recipes to getyou started

BY BETH DOOLEY

Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS)

Cooking dried beans is much easier than you think.

First of all, you do not need to soakdried beans overnight.Second, beans cookedfrom scratch create their own broth to use in soups, stews and sauces Beans are immensely affordable uniquely adaptable and ﬂexible.

Categorized as both aprotein and avegetable, they’re nutritious, packed with antioxidants and heart-healthy ﬁbers, are farlower in calories than animal proteins, and contain no fat. Their beneﬁts also may be adietary key to along and healthy life, according to Blue Zone founder Dan Buettner

Howtocookbeans

When cooking beans,there are a few simple basics to remember:

n Put the beans into the pot and add enough water to cover them by about 3inches.

n Add about1tablespoon of salt to 1pound of beans.

n Add aromatics to the pot: afew cloves of garlic, asmall onion, bay leaf, herbs, afew peppercorns

n Do not add tomatoes oracids until the very end; they tend to harden the beans and slowthe cooking.

n Set the pot over high heat, bring to aboil, reduce the heat, cover,and simmer untildone. Start checking the beans after about 2hours, although they maytake longer.When they are tenderand creamy,remove from heat.

n Store cooked beans in their broth in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze.

n 1pound of dried beans will yield 5to6cups of cookedbeans, plus 2to3cups stock.

n 1can of beans is equalto1to2 cups cooked beans, depending on the size of the beans and thesize of the can.

Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili

Serves4 to 6. Recipe is from Beth Dooley

2to3tablespoons vegetable oil

1onion,finely chopped

2cloves garlic,smashed Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2tablespoons maple syrup

3teaspoons ground cumin

1cup bean stock,vegetable stock or water

2chipotles in adobo with their sauce, or to taste

1pound sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces

1(28-ounce)can diced fire-roasted tomatoes

2tablespoons fresh lime juice

Salt and freshly ground blackpepper,totaste

5cups cooked black beans

Choppedcilantro,for garnish

Sliced avocado,shredded Cheddar cheese, cornchips, for serving

1. Film alarge heavy potwiththe oil and set over medium heat. When the oil begins to ripple, add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper,and cook until translucent, about 2to3minutes.

2. Stir in the maple syrup,cumin and stock and bring to asimmer Add the chipotles and sauce, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and lime juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Increase the heat andbring to aboil.

3. Reduce the heat to asimmer coverthe pot, andcookuntil the sweet potatoes are tender,about 30 to 40 minutes; stir in the cooked beans and continue cookinganother 3to5 minutes.

4. Taste and adjust the seasonings.Servegarnished with the cilantro and pass the avocado, cheese and corn chips alongside.

PHOTOSByJOE DELTUFO

THEFLAVORS

OF CARNIVAL

From fluffy beignets to agoodroux, classic MardiGrasfoodstandsthe test of time

Standing onSt. Charles Avenue watching the ﬂoatsroll by,king cakecrumbs still clinging tomy shirt from breakfast, Ioften wonder what my grandmother would thinkofmodern Mardi Gras. Shecaughther ﬁrst beads in 1925, back when the crowds were smaller,the throws were fewer, andagood spot on the parade route didn’trequire arriving at dawnwith aladder and acooler full of po-boys.

TheMardiGras of acentury agowas adifferent beast entirely, though thespirit remained remarkablysimilar.Inthe 1920s, theold-line krewes like Rex and Comus dominated theseason, their exclusive balls thepinnacle of New Orleans society.The parades were grand but restrained by today’sstandards, with fewer ﬂoatsand throws that consisted mainly of simple trinkets What hasn’tchanged is thefood. Even then, families gathered for elaborate Mardi Gras feasts, thoughthe menu looked somewhat different. Red beans and rice on Mondaywas already sacred tradition, but theking cakes were simpler affairs —often just aring of sweet dough with a bean hiddeninside, nothing like thecream cheese-ﬁlled, pralinetopped extravaganzas we devour

BY GRETCHEN McKAY Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

Protein-rich, savory disheslike pan-sautéed pork chops areclassic cold-weather food because they don’tjust fill your belly with something incredibly satisfying —theyalso fill your kitchen with wonderful, comforting aromas. They’re especially flavorful when topped with apples and shallots simmered in butter and

today The Depression years brought leaner times to Mardi Gras, but New Orleanians refused to let hard times dampen their spirits. Families madedowith what they had, stretching ingredientsto feed crowds of neighbors and friends. Apot of gumbo could feed dozens, and jambalaya becamethe ultimatepartydish —rice, whatever meat you could afford, and the holy trinity of onions, celery and bell peppers transforming humble ingredients into something celebratory

My grandmother remembered her mother making beignets by thehundreds during Carnival season, thesmell of frying dough and powdered sugar abeacon of joy during difﬁcult times

Post-World WarIIMardi Gras exploded with new energy as soldiers returned homeand thecity’s

ä See BELTON, page 8C

perfumed withfresh sage. This recipe comes together in a ﬂash —less than 20 minutes making it aperfect dish for busy school nightsorafter along day in front of the computer For acomplete meal, the chops are served with another winter classic, awarm green cabbage slaw For thejuiciest chops, allow them to come up to room temperature for around 20 minutes after seasoning with salt and pepper.Also be sure to cook them to aproper internal temperature of 145 F. To shred cabbage by hand (mandolins are super scary!),

Beignets

Serves 8-10.

1cup warm water ¾cup sugar,divided 1(¼-ounce)packageactive dry yeast

2largeeggs, beaten

1¼ teaspoons kosher salt

1cup evaporated milk

6½cupsall-purpose flour,divided ¼cup shortening Vegetable oil,for frying

2cups powdered sugar

1. In the bowlofastand mixer, or in alarge bowl, combine water,¼cup sugar,and yeast and set aside for10minutes.

2. In aseparate bowl, whiskthe eggs,salt, milk and remaining sugar together.Add the egg mixture to the yeast starter

and stir. Add3 cups of flour and combine thoroughly.Cut in the shortening and continue to mix. Add remaining flour and mixtoform alarge dough ball.

3. On a ﬂoured work surface, knead the dough until smooth, about10minutes. Place dough into alarge bowl, cover andplace in a warm place to rise, about 2hours.

4. Preheat oil to 375 degrees.

5. Roll out the dough to a ¼-inch-thick rectangle and cutinto 2-inchsquares. Fry pieces to agolden brown, turning continuously.Removeand drain on papertowels. Sprinkle with powdered sugar

Kevin Belton

The

There’sathinlinebetween chatty andnosy

Should Iofferthemasandwich?

Dear Miss Manners: Iwas at the dentist last week and the hygienist, whom Ihad never metbefore, mentioned she had anew grandchild. I naturally congratulated her and asked the polite questions: sex, name, etc. Then she asked about my children, and Ireplied that I have one son. “Is he married?” No, but he’sina longterm relationship. “Any children?” No. “Don’tthey want children?” Crickets This is not the ﬁrsttime someone has asked me these things. Iwouldn’task my closest friend these questions about one of her children, let alone astranger!

BEANS

Continued frompage7C

Moroccan Bean, Squash and Tomato

Stew

Serves 4to6.Recipe is from BethDooley

2tablespoons olive oil

2mediumonions, halved and sliced

3cloves garlic, smashed

1/4 cup chopped parsley,plus more for garnish

1red pepper,seeded and cut into

2-inch pieces

1cup peeled,cubed butternut squash, sweet potato or carrot

2to3 tablespoons raselhanout (see tip below)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2cups bean or vegetable stock, more as needed

1/4 cup tomato paste

5to6cups cooked pinto or white beans

1to2tablespoons lemon juice, to taste Pepitas, for garnish

1. Film alarge deep potwith oil and set over mediumheat. Add the onions, garlic,parsley, red pepper,squash and rasel hanout,and season generously withsalt and pepper.

2. Stir the vegetables with the spices andcookuntil fragrant, about 3to5minutes. Stir in the stock and tomato paste,bring to aboil, then reduce the heat and simmer untilthe squash is tender,about 15 minutes.

3. Stir in the beans andlemon juiceand continue cooking until the ﬂavors havecombined and the beans are heatedthrough Taste and adjust the seasonings. Serve garnished with pepitas andadditional parsley

Tip: Substitute ras el hanout by using 2teaspoons ground cumin, 1teaspoon groundcoriander,1teaspoon paprika, 2teaspoons ground ginger,1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1teaspoon ground nutmegand agenerous pinch of cayenne or cloves.

LemonyPasta, White Beans and Olives

Serves 4to6.Recipe is from BethDooley

1pound pasta of choice

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

2largeshallots, thinly sliced 4cloves garlic, smashed

1/4 cup chopped kale

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper,plus more as needed Salt and freshly ground black pepper

5to6 cups cooked cannellini

1/2

1. Cook the pasta in alarge potofheavilysaltedwater until tender but still ﬁrm, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain and setaside.

2. Preheat the oven to 350F Generouslygrease abaking dish with oil.

3. Film alarge deep skillet with the 1/4 cup of oil and add the shallots, garlic,kale, red pepper ﬂakes and saltand pepper.Cook until the kale is wilted andtender,about 3to5minutes Stir in thebeansand toss to coat with the vegetables, thenstirin the stock and simmer for 3to5 minutes.

4. Add the lemon zest and juice, olives and parsley,then fold in the pasta, addingmore stock as needed. Fold in the cheese.

5. Transfer the pasta to the baking dish. Sprinklewith more Parmesan and bake until the cheese is nicely melted, about 3to4minutes. Serve garnished with adrizzle of oil and apinch of red pepper ﬂakes.

Ihad to return to the dentist the following week,and there was a different hygienist making small talk while we waited for the dentist. This time,Ikept my answers to “yes” and “no,” which felt rude. I’lladmit, Iamabit sensitive about the subject; Iwould love to have agrandchild, but it’snot in the cards for me. Still, wheredopeople get off asking such personalquestions?And better yet, what’sagood reply to shut them down?

Gentle reader: While Miss Manners agrees that this conversation jumpedthe rails, she does not understand why you were still holding on when itdid.

The hygienist’sprobing would havebeen insensitivewith any new acquaintance, but was even more out of place in aprofessional setting. The momentthe ﬁrst personal

BELTON

Continued from page7C

economy rebounded. The 1950s and’60s sawthe birth of many suburban krewes, democratizing Carnival beyond the old-line societies.

Suddenly, more people could participate in the magic of riding a ﬂoat and throwing beads to the crowdsbelow.The food culture expanded too, withrestaurants like Antoine’sand Galatoire’s becoming Mardi Gras institutions, their dining rooms packed with revelers in costumes, consumingoysters Rockefeller and pompano enpapillote between parade routes.

The1970s broughtBacchus, the ﬁrst superkrewe, forever changing the scale and spectacleofMardi Gras parades. Suddenly,celebritymonarchs and massive ﬂoatsbecame the norm, and the crowds swelled accordingly.Food vendors began appearing along parade routes, selling everything from Lucky Dogs to seafood pasta, turning the streets into one massive movable feast.

King cake became big business, with bakeries competing to create the most outrageous ﬂavors and ﬁllings. The simple cinnamon roll of yesteryear gave way to versions stuffed with cream cheese, pralines, strawberries, and eventually, anything the imagination could conjure.

HurricaneKatrina in 2005 threatened Mardi Gras as we knew it, butthe city’sdetermination to celebrate proved stronger than the storm. The 2006 Carnivalseason becameadeﬁant declaration that New Orleans would survive. The parades rolled, perhaps with fewer ﬂoats and smaller crowds, but with more heart than ever before.

Families who had lost everything still found ways to make king cake and gumbo, sharing what little they had because

FILLING

Continued from page7C

cut thehead in half from top to bottom and remove the core. Place the cabbage cut-side down on the cutting board and make a series of parallel vertical cuts; spacing depends on how ﬁnely sliced you want the slaw.Repeat with other half head.

Icooked the apples with the (well-washed) skinon, but you canpeel them for asmoother texture.

One-pot Pork Chops with Apples

and Slaw

Serves 4. Recipe is adapted from “Eat What YouLove Quick & Easy”byMarlene Koch. For slaw:

question was asked —assuming it was not part of astandard medical intake, performed in aprivate setting —was the momenttosmile graciously and ask wherethe bathroom was, or when the dentist would be ready to seeyou.

Dear Miss Manners: Isuffer from an invisible and unpredictable chronic pain issue. One day I’m out shopping with friends, walking from store to store, and the next I’m in bed. My closest friends understand this and are accommodating.

How do Irespond to invitations from people Idon’tknow as well?

Do Idecline an invitation to awedding, knowing thatthey need an accuratecount and that it’s possible Iwon’tbeable to attend? Do Icall and explain, and make them decide?

Idon’tlike bringing attention to

that’swhat Mardi Gras hasalways been about —community, resilience and joy in the face of adversity

Today’sMardi Gras is amagnificent hybrid of old and new traditions. We still have the exclusive balls of the old-line krewes, but we also have the irreverent satire of the Krewe of Muses and the walking clubs like the Krewe of Red Beans. The food scene has exploded beyond recognition —you can find everything from traditional muffulettas to Vietnamese-Creole fusion along theparade routes. Food trucks serve Korean tacos next to vendors selling cochon de lait po-boys, while king cake flavors have become so elaboratethat puristsshake their heads in dismay Yetsomehow,through all the changes, Mardi Gras remains essentially itself. We still gather with family and friends, still stake out our favoriteparade spots, still argue about which bakery makes thebest king cake. We still believe that agood roux can fixalmost anything, that there’snoproblem too big that it can’tbesolved over apot of gumbo, and that life is always better with alittle lagniappe.

As Iwatch another parade roll by,catching beads with one hand and holding aslice of king cake with the other,Ithink my greatgrandmother would recognize this celebration after all. The details may have changed, but thesoul of Mardi Gras —that beautiful, delicious, joyful chaos —remains eternal. Laissez les bons tempsrouler,indeed.

Kevin Belton is resident chef of WWL-TV and has taught classes in Louisiana cooking for 30 years. The most recent of his four cookbooks, “Kevin Belton’sCookin’ Louisiana: Flavors from theParishes of the Pelican State,” was published in 2021. Email Chef at chefkevinbelton@gmail com..

1small head green cabbage, slicedthin or shredded

1tablespoon butter or extravirgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1teaspoon celeryseed For pork chops:

4(3-ounce) center cut pork chops

Salt and pepper

3tablespoons butter,divided

1tablespoon fresh chopped sage

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2GrannySmith or other tartapple, cored and sliced into wedges

1small shallot, minced (about 2tablespoons)

1cup chicken broth or stock

1tablespoon cornstarchor flour

2teaspoons Dijon mustard

1. Prepare slaw.Heat butter or oil in alarge nonstick skillet over medium heat.

2. Add cabbage and toss with

my medical issues, especially this one, since it is private and hard to explain. ButIalso ﬁnd myself missing out on alot of the joys of life because Idonot want to cause problems for someone else.

Gentle reader: Although Miss Manners appreciates your concern for disappointed hosts, being sick is a legitimatereason for declining to attend an event at the last minute Illness of any kind is, by deﬁnition, unpredictable. If this happens, you are neither requirednor expected to give a detailed explanation, and those who doubt your word are not your friends.

Dear Miss Manners: When there are serviceproviders at my house (landscapers, plumbers, electricians,etc.) what, if anything, are my hostess obligations?

Aglass of iced tea? Is there adifferenceifthey areworking inside or outside my home?

Gentle reader: Youdonot have any hostess obligations, but youdohave the obligations of agood employer That means always treating employees with dignity and providing decent working conditions —which may include sandwichesand iced tea depending on the hours, the work andthe availability of food and drink in the area.

Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www missmanners.com; to heremail, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO 64106.

DryOven Roux

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On acookie sheet, place 3-4 cups all-purpose ﬂour, keeping 1inch awayfrom thesidesofthe pan. Place in thepan in the oven. Make sure to stir every 30 minutes.

Gumbo Base

If you cook for 2hours, this will be apeanut butter color,such as foranétouffeé.

If you cook for 4hours, this will be achocolate color, such as for gumbo. Once cooled, this must be sifted. Once sifted,store it the wayyou would store ﬂour

Serves 8-12. 3cups diced onions 1cup dicedcelery 1cup dicedgreen bell pepper 1cup dicedgreen onions 1cup vegetable oil 1cup all-purpose flour 1tablespoon chopped garlic 2tablespoonsCreole seasoning 8cups chicken stock 1. Place onions, celery,bell pepper and green onions in astock pot and set aside. 2. In astainless steel or cast-iron pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add ﬂour,and use awhisk to slowly stir,making sure to cover the entire bottom of the pan until ﬂour is achocolate color.Pour roux on top of vegetables in stock pot and stir Place pot over medium heat, add garlicand Creole seasoning, and stir for 2minutes. Add stock and bring to aboil. Usethis as the base forgumbo recipes of choice.

Okra Gumbo

Serves 8-12. 11/2 poundsandouille sausage, cut in halfand sliced 1pound okra, sliced 1recipe Gumbo Base 2pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined

tongs to coat.Cook for3-4 minutes, or until cabbage starts to slightly wilt.

3. Reduce heat to medium,add 1tablespoon water,cover with lid and cook for1minute.

4. Uncover skillet andadd celery seed. Continue to toss and cook foranother2-3 minutes, or until cabbage is softened and slightly translucent.

5. Season to taste withsaltand pepper, coverand setaside while you prepare pork chops.

6. Pat pork chops drywithpaper towels andseason well with salt and pepper

7. Add 1tablespoon butter to a large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Whensizzling, add chops and choppedsage andcook for2 minutes perside,or untillightly brownedwitha nice

sear

8. Remove chopstoaplate and

Cooked rice, to serve 1. Add andouille sausage and okra to astock pot of hot gumbo base,and simmerfor 20 minutes on medium heat. Add shrimp and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Serve over rice.

setaside while you cook apples.

9. Addremaining 2tablespoons butter to thepan and add the apples. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally,for 3-4 minutes, or until the apples are lightly browned.

10. Add chopped shallotand cook untilsoftand aromatic, about2 minutes.

11. In amedium bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch and mustard in amedium bowl. Pour into skilletwiththe apples andbring to asimmer.

12. Return chops to skillet, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for3minutes. Turn chops and cook until sauce is slightly thickenedand chops register 145 Fonaninstant-read thermometer

13.Transfer chops to aplatter or divide among 4plates. Topwith applesand sauce, andserve with warm cabbage slaw

By The Associated Press

TodayisThursday,Feb. 12, the 43rd day of 2026. There are 322 days leftinthe year

Todayinhistory: On Feb.12, 1999, the Senate votedtoacquit President Bill Clinton in hisimpeachment trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Also on this date: In 1554, LadyJane Grey,who hadclaimed the throne of England for nine days, and her husband, Guildford Dudley,were beheaded afterbeing condemned for hightreason

In 1809, Abraham Lincoln, the16th president of the United States, was born in alog cabin at Sinking Spring Farmnear Hodgenville, Kentucky

In 1909, theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in New York City. In 1912, Pu Yi,the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the QingDynasty

In 1914, groundbreaking took place for theLincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In 2002, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloševic went on trial in The Hague, charged

with genocide and warcrimes. (Miloševi died in 2006 before the trial could conclude).

In 2016, Pope Francis embraced Patriarch Kirill in the ﬁrst meeting between apontiff and the head of the RussianOrthodox Church. The meeting in Havana was alandmark development in the 1,000-year schism that has dividedChristianity In 2019, Mexico’smost notoriousdrug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, wasconvicted in New York of running an industrial-scaledrug smuggling operation, murderand money laundering. (Guzman is currently

serving alife sentence at the federal supermaxprison facility in Florence,Colorado.)

Today’sbirthdays: Film director Costa-Gavrasis93. Author Judy Blume is 88. Former Israeli PrimeMinister Ehud Barak is 84. Country singerMoe Bandy is 82. MusicianMichael McDonald is 74. Actor-talk showhost Arsenio Hall is 70. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is 61. Actor JoshBrolin is 58.

PHOTO By JOE DELTUFO

Kevin Belton uses adry oven roux as abase for okra gumbo.

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Direct your energy in a positive direction, and the returns will be satisfying. Stick to the straight and narrow, and let honesty, integrity and openness carry you to victory.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Takeamoment to reflect before you act. Emotions can twist your perception, leaving you vulnerable if you act in haste. Look inward and work on self-improvement instead of trying to change others.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Confusion is prevalent and can be emotionally and financially costly if you don't check your facts. Too much of anything will set you back. Choose modesty, simplicity and minimalism.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Avoid impulsive behavior The best results come from hard work, time, patience, dedication and desire. If you want to reach your objective, do so in an environment conducive to achievement.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Money talks. Refrain from spending money on items that promise the impossible. Recognize when someone is taking advantage of you and avoid sharing private information.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Look at the big picture and the possibilities, and don't rule something out because you cannot grasp the changes involved. It's time to grow and to try something new and exciting.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) You'll receive mixed emotions from whoever you

try to get information from. Do some research and verify what you discover before you move forward with your plans.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Size up situations, what's available and what's within your price range. Don't mix money and emotions. Social events will bring you closer to someone you love. LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Put your energy into something you enjoy doing. The time you spend working to perfect something you enjoy will encourage you to rearrange your schedule to include more pleasurable activities.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Take a break, rethink your plans and direct your energy accordingly. Let your intuition, intelligence and imagination guide you forward. Let your thoughts turn into action.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Balance your budget and see what's left. Once you set a budget for something you want, it will shape your outlook and help you move forward with your plans.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Set goals that excite you. Travel, educational pursuits and reuniting with people you enjoy being around will motivate you to take an active part in changing your life and manifesting your dreams.

Andrews McMeel Syndication

CIpher

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

toDAy's cLuE: G EQuALs y

FAMILY CIrCUS

CeLebrItY

For better or For WorSe peAnUtS

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Do youlikeovertricks?

The answerdepends upon circumstances.Ifyouareplayinginapairevent or aboard-a-matchteams,you usually try to gatherasmanyovertricks as possible.Butinotherformsofthegame,you shouldconcentrate on making your contract. True, if you can go after an overtrickwithout anyrisk, do so.However, tryingfor20or30morepointsandlosing a300-pointor500-pointgamebonusdoes notmakesense

In this deal,how should South play safelyinthreeno-trumpafterWestleads hisfourth-highest spade?

Southstartswitheighttoptricks:three spades, threediamonds andtwo clubs. The extra trickisbound to come from clubs. And if thatfinesse is working, there will be at least oneovertrickin South’s future.

Acareless declarer would look no further. He wouldtakethe first trick on the boardwith the spade queen and run the clubjack(orplayaclubtohisace,return to the boardinspades or diamonds, then take the finesse). Here, though, that ought to cost the contract. West should shift to the heartqueen, and the defenders can take one club and four hearts. With East on lead,dummy’s heart king is safe from attack.SoSouth should cash his two top clubs. Here the queen drops andSouthgetsthatovertrick.ButifEast started with queen-third or -fourth, the contract would be safe. ©2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is aword riddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. Forexample: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or

toDAy’sWoRD

DER-vish:

yEstERDAy’sWoRD —IGnoMInIous

Don’t neglect God’s salvation in Jesus Christ. Surrender your alltoHim today. G.E. Dean

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C. PiCKles hidato

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Stocks wobble on release of jobs report NEW YORK U.S. stocksfelt both the upside and downside Wednesday of asurprisingly strong report that said the nation’s unemployment rate improved last month. Treasury yields remained higher in the bond market after the Labor Department said U.S. employers added 130,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, more than economists expected. Stocks in the energy and rawmaterial industries jumped to some of the biggergainsinthe S&P 500,and their profits tend to be closely tied to the health of theeconomy Exxon Mobilclimbed 2.6%. SmurfitWestrock jumped 9.9% eventhough the packagingcompany reporteda weaker profit forthe latest quarter than analystsexpected. It gave financial targets for the next five years that some analysts found encouraging After Wednesday’sreport showed the tick down forthe U.S.unemployment rate,traders pushed back theirbets for when the Federal Reserve could begin cutting interest ratesagain,according to data fromCME Group. The bets slid further into the summer,aftera new Fed chair is set to take the helm. Moderna dropped 3.5% after saying the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is refusing to consider its application for a new fluvaccine made with Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology.It’sthe latest sign ofthe FDA’sheightened scrutiny of vaccines under Health Secretary Robert F. KennedyJr. McDonald’ssays focus on value is working McDonald’sfocus on value is paying off. The fast food giant said Wednesdaythatits global same-store sales— or sales at locations open at least ayear —jumped5.7% in the OctoberDecember period. That’sbetter thanthe 3.9% Wall Streetwas expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Chicago-based McDonald’s fourth quarter revenue and earningsalso beat analysts’ expectations. McDonald’scut prices on some U.S. combo meals in September.Those Extra Value Meal promotions came on top of discountsthat began earlier in 2025, including theMcValue menu. The price cuts came after years of steady declines in visits from customers with annual household incomes of $45,000 or less. In aconference call with investors last summer,McDonald’sCEO Chris Kempczinski warned that those consumers, in particular,nolonger sawMcDonald’sasagood value. McDonald’srevenuerose10% to $7.01 billion in the fourth quarter.That beat Wall Street’s forecast of $6.84 billion

Kraft Heinz pauses plans to split, it says Kraft Heinzsaid Wednesday it’spausing its plans to split into two companies.

Steve Cahillane, aformer Kellogg Co. chief who became CEO of Kraft Heinz on Jan. 1, saidhewants to ensurethat all of thecompany’s resources are focusedonprofitable growth. Kraft Heinz reported lower quarterlyand annualresults this week. Investors are likely concerned that Kraft Heinz believesits businesses aren’t strong enough to stand on their own,said Robert Moskow,an analyst with TD Cowen,ina research note.

Kraft Heinz announced in September it was splittinginto two companies adecadeafter amergerofthe brands created oneofthe biggest food manufacturers on the planet. The path to the merger of Kraft andHeinz began in 2013, whenbillionaire investor Warren Buffettteamed up with Brazilianinvestment firm 3G Capital to buy H.J. Heinz Co. At the time,the $23billion deal was themost expensive ever in the food industry

BY PAUL WISEMAN AP economics writer

WASHINGTON U.S. employers add-

ed asurprisingly strong 130,000 jobs last month, but government revisions cut 2024-25 U.S. payrolls by hundreds of thousands

Theunemploymentrate fell to 4.3%, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The reportincluded major re-

visions that reduced the number of jobs created lastyear to just 181,000, athird the previously reported584,000 and the weakest since thepandemic year of 2020.

Thejob market hasbeen sluggishfor monthseventhough theeconomy is registering solid growth. But the January numbers were much stronger than the75,000 economists had expected. Health care accounted for nearly 82,000, or more than 60%,oflast month’s newjobs. Factories added 5,000, snapping astreak of 13 straight

monthsofjob losses. The federal government shed 34,000 jobs.

Average hourly wages rose a solid 0.4% from December to January The unemploymentrate fell from 4.4% in Decemberasthe numberofemployed Americans rose andthe numberofunemployed fell.

“The surprisingly strong job gains in January were driven mainly by health care and social assistance,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union,wrote in acommentary

“But it is enough to stabilize the job market and send the unemploymentrate slightly lower …but it is stabilizing. That’sanencouraging sign to start the year,especially after the hiring recession in 2025.” Weak hiring over the past year reﬂects the lingering impact of the high interest rates the Federal Reserve engineered in 2022 and 2023 to countersurging inﬂation, as well as Elon Musk’s purgelastyearof the federal workforce. The chaos from President Donald Trump’s erratictrade policies also made businesses less willing to hire.

BY ALEXA ST.JOHN Associated Press

DETROIT

The build-out of electric vehicle

charging inthe U.S. has not stopped since President DonaldTrump returnedtoofﬁce.

Butthe administration and Congressare continuing to throw up new roadblocks.

Thoseinclude the administration withholdingcharger money to Democratic-controlled states and Congress slicing away at separate infrastructure funding across other states.

And this week,Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy decreed that chargersmust now be fully American-made —a difficult requirementthat is certain to delay them. Even as EV adoption in theU.S.stayed just about the samelast year as it did in 2024, fast-charging installations saw recordbreaking growth, according to ayear-end report from data ﬁrm Paren.

The industry added morethan 18,000 new fast-charging ports, amounting to a30% increase year-over-year

The expansionoffastcharging is especially important forEVdrivers taking longer trips or those without alternatives such as home charging, which can be done overnight or over alonger period of time.

But charging availability overallremains a concernfor U.S.drivers considering an EV purchase.

Slower charging options, known as Level 1 andLevel 2charging, have also grown.

Most recently,the Trump administration is attempting to withhold money for charging infrastructure from Democratic-controlled states, directingthe DepartmentofTransportation to cancel funds for California Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota.

Representatives for thefour governors’ ofﬁcestold TheAssociated Pressthisweek

BY QUEENIE WONG

Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Meta, TikTok and Snapwill be rated on theirteensafety efforts amid rising concern aboutwhether theworld’slargest social media platformsare doingenoughto protect the mentalhealthofyoung people The Mental Health Coalition,a collective of organizationsfocused on destigmatizingmentalhealthissues,saidTuesday that it is launching standards and anew rating systemfor online platforms. For the Safe Online Standards (S.O.S.) program, anindependent panelof global expertswill evaluatecompanies on parameters including safety rules, design, moderation

they had notyet received ofﬁcial notice of thecancellations.

Congress, meanwhile, has rescinded more than $800 million in separate, previously appropriated charger money for several other states in its recent budget bill decisions, including Texas and Florida.

Andanother wrench

This week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced thatstatesreceiving federal money for EV chargerswill have to install ones made entirely with U.S. parts. While yet to be ﬁnalized, therequirement was previously for 55% of the parts to be American

“Now we’re ensuring that if Congress wants to see these chargers built, we put America First,” Duffy said in astatement. ”Doing so will unleashAmerican manufacturing, protect our nationalsecurity,and prevent taxpayer dollarsfrom subsidizing our foreign adversaries.”

But experts saychargers of 100% U.S. partscould be nearly impossible with the current supply chain.

“By creating unreasonable standards and regulatory uncertaintyfor domestic manufacturers, such actions maycause supply chain disruptions, drive up costs, or cede market share to international competitors,” said Albert Gore, executive directorofthe ZeroEmission Transportation Association.

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, ranking member of the Senate’senvironment committee, said:“This administration’smessage is clear: don’tbuild.” It allgoesbacktoNEVI

The congressional cuts and Duffy’srule hamper theNational Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, bornout of the Biden

and mental health resources.

TikTok,Snapand Meta —the parent companyofFacebookand Instagram —will be the ﬁrst companies to be graded. Discord, YouTube,Pinterest, Roblox and Twitch have alsoagreed to participate, the coalition said in anews release.

“These standards provide the public withameaningful way to evaluate platform protections and hold companies accountable— and we look forward to more tech companies signingupfor theassessments,” AntigoneDavis, vice presidentand global headofsafety at Meta, said in astatement.

TikTok and Snap executives also expressedtheir commitment to online safety Parents, lawmakers and advo-

administration’sBipartisan Infrastructure Law that waspassed by Congress in 2021. It gave $5 billiontostates over ﬁve years in an attempt to ﬁll gaps in the nation’spublic EV charging, focusing on highway corridors and in other areas in need of infrastructure

Last February,the Trump administration directed states to stop spending thefunds forEVcharging.

In May,17ofthe states that received programfunds suedthe administration and challengedthe Federal HighwayAdministrationoverthe money,and afederal judge ruled they must release billions of dollars to 14 of the state recipients.

At the end of last year,16Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia launched asecondlawsuit over the withholding of $2 billion of the funding. In January,the same judge ruledthatthe administration must also release these funds.

Only afraction of whatwas obligated has been spentsofar givennot allofthe funds have been available, according to Loren McDonald, chief analyst at EV data ﬁrm Chargeonomics, which tracks the state awards.

Since his ﬁrst day back in the White House, Trump hastargeted severalpoliciesfriendly to cleaner cars andtrucks in favor of those promoting gasoline-powered vehicles.

In its tax and spending bill signed into law by Trump last summer,Congress eliminated federal taxcredits that saved buyers up to $7,500 off new and used electric vehicle purchases.

The administration has plans to weaken the rules set for how far automakers’ new vehicles must travel on average on agallon of gasoline, and is undermining the climate regulation at the core of auto tailpipe emissions.

The ratings will be color-coded, and companies that perform well on the tests will get ablue shield badge that signals they helpreduce harmfulcontentonthe platform and their rules are clear

Those that fall short will receive ared rating, indicating they’re not reliably blocking harmful content or lack proper rules.

Ratings in other colors indicate whether the platforms have partial protection or whether their evaluations haven’tbeen completed yet.

cacy groupshave criticized online platforms foryears over whether they’re protecting the safety of billions of users. Despite having rules around what contentusersaren’t allowed to post, they’ve grappled withmoderating harmful content aboutself-harm,eating disorders, drugs and more. The rise of artiﬁcial intelligencepowered chatbots hasheightened mental health concernsassome teens are turning to technology for companionship. Companies have also faced a ﬂurry of lawsuits over online safety Thenew ratingswerealso announced on Tuesday on SaferInternet Day,aglobal campaign that promotesusing technology responsibly,especially among young people. Companies on Tuesday, suchas Google, outlined someofthe work they’ve done around safety,including parental controls to set time limitsfor scrollingthrough short videos.