The Acadiana Advocate 02-16-2026 by The Advocate

UL BOUNCES BACK TO SALVAGE GAME IN OPENING SERIES 1C

PartialgovernmentshutdownoverDHS fundingcontinues

WhiteHouse and lawmakersclash on oversight

BY AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH,Fla. Lawmakersand the White House offered no signs of compromiseSunday in their battleoveroversightof federal immigration ofﬁcers that has led to apause in funding for the Department of Homeland Security Apartial government shutdown began Saturday after

congressionalDemocratsand President Donald Trump’steam failedtoreach adeal on legislationtofund the department through September. Democrats are demanding changes to how immigration operations are conducted afterthe fatalshootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and ReneeGoodbyfederal ofﬁcers in Minneapolis last month Congress is on recess until Feb. 23, and both sides appear dug into their positions. Theimpasseaffects agenciessuchas theTransportation Security Administration, the FederalEmergency Management Agency,U.S. Coast Guard,the Secret Service,

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, andU.S.Customs and Border Protection

Thework at ICE and CBP goes on unabated because Trump’stax and spending cutlaw from 2025 provided billions more to those agencies thatcan be tapped for deportation operations

About90% of DHSemployees were to continue working during the shutdown, butdosowithoutpay —and missedpaychecks could mean financial hardships. Last year there was arecord 43-daygovernment shutdown.

White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration was unwilling to agree to Democrats’ demands that federal officers clearly identify themselves, remove masks during operations and display unique ID numbers.

“I don’tlike the masks, either,” Homan said, But,hesaid, “These men andwomen have to protect themselves.” Democrats also want to require immigration agents to wear body

ä See SHUTDOWN, page 5A

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

Cameras will now record what happens in specialeducation classrooms in public schools across Louisiana undera newlaw meanttoprotect students with disabilities that required the cameras to start rolling this month.

Act 479, which the state Legislature passed in 2025, requires public schools to put at least one camera in each classroom where most students receive special education services foratleast half of the day.Feb. 1was the deadline for school districts to install the devices.

Families will be able to request footage if they believe their child has been abused or neglected while in the school’scare.

The push for classroom cameras beganafter aSt. Tammany Parish parent said hernonverbal5-yearoldson wasverbally andphysically abused by school staffers.

The family sued the school district andworkedwithlawmakers to introduce legislation in 2022 requiring districts to install cameras in special educationclassrooms if aparentrequested them

However,some parents said their requests weredenied or schoolstook longer to respond than the legislation allowed, saidAshley McReynolds, program director at The Arc of Louisiana, an organization that advocates

ä See CAMERAS, page 5A

Cardssent, names publishedfor alert aboutregistration

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

More than 47,000 people registered to vote in Lafayette Parish may be purged from the voting rolls before the next federal election for Congress. Before every federal election, inactive voters in all 64 parishes in Louisiana mayberemoved fromvotinglists, Charlene Menard, Lafayette Parish registrar of voters, said. In 2019, for example, Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin publisheda list of 5,715 people registered to vote in Lafayette Parish who are considered inactive. Some of thevotersidentified haven’tvoted in over 10 years,

ä See VOTERS, page 5A

TheKrewe of Bonaparte shows the crowdsome‘Love’asitrolls in Lafayette on Saturday.

ABOVE: Paradegoers reach for throws at the Krewe of Bonaparte parade on Saturday. RIGHT: Riders celebrateand makethrows during the parade.

Homan

U.S. military boards

another oil tanker

WASHINGTON U.S. military forces boarded another sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said Sunday Venezuela had faced U.S. sanctions on its oil for several years relying on a shadow ﬂeet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. President Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to pressure then-President Nicolás Maduro before Maduro was apprehended in January during an American military operation.

Several tankers ﬂed the Venezuelan coast in the wake of the raid, including the ship that was boarded in the Indian Ocean overnight. The Defense Department said in a post on X that U.S. forces boarded the Veronica III, conducting “a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.”

“The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine hoping to slip away,” the Pentagon said. “We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down.” Video posted by the Pentagon shows U.S. troops boarding the tanker The Veronica III is a Panamanian-flagged vessel under U.S. sanctions related to Iran, according to the website of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Panama Maritime Authority said Sunday in a brief statement that the ship was no longer registered there and had been canceled in December 2024.

The Veronica III left Venezuela on Jan. 3, the same day as Maduro’s capture, with nearly 2 million barrels of crude and fuel oil, TankerTrackers.com posted Sunday on X.

Trump: Board of Peace to unveil Gaza pledges

WEST PALM BEACH,Fla.— President Donald Trump said Sunday that members of his newly created Board of Peace have pledged $5 billion toward rebuilding warravaged Gaza and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the territory

The pledges will be formally announced when board members gather in Washington on Thursday for their ﬁrst meeting, he said.

“The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential International Body in History, and it is my honor to serve as its Chairman,” Trump said in a social media posting announcing the pledges.

He did not detail which member nations were making the pledges for reconstruction or would contribute personnel to the stabilization force. But Indonesia’s military said Sunday that up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for a potential deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission It’s the ﬁrst firm commitment that the Republican president has received.

Brazilian town throws Carnival mud party

PARATY, Brazil Revelers heading to Carnival parties in Brazil typically don colorful, skimpy outﬁts and splatter glitter everywhere, but near an old colonial town in the south of the country people cover themselves in something very different — mud

Partakers in this unusual Carnival party in Paraty drape gray sludge on themselves and roll around in the silty shallows of a beach, forming a uniﬁed mass.

“Everyone is kind of the same. Those who have money and those who don’t: everyone comes here to jump into the mud,” said Charles Garcia Pessoa, a 37-yearold entrepreneur Under a blazing sun, the mudcovered partygoers danced and grunted cavemen chants

“Uga! Uga!” — while marching along the sand, accompanied by musicians.

The tradition started in 1986, according to Paraty’s tourism site. Friends were playing in the mangroves at Jabaquara Beach, and realized they weren’t recognizable. They went strolling into the city’s historic center and caused a stir

Guthrie’s mother

FBI eyes glove found near Guthrie’s home

Authorities say DNA matches that from masked person

BY JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press

A glove containing DNA found about two miles from the house of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother appears to match those worn by a masked person outside her front door in Tucson the night she vanished, the FBI said Sunday

The glove, discovered in a field beside a road, was sent for DNA testing. The FBI said in a statement that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation The development comes as law enforcement gathers more potential evidence as the search for Guthrie’s mother heads into its third week. Authorities had previously said they had not identified a suspect

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her Arizona home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch Purported ransom notes were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.

The discovery was revealed days after investigators had released surveillance videos of the masked person outside Guthrie’s front door A porch camera recorded video of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.

On Thursday, the FBI called the person

a suspect. It described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build. The agency said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.

Late Friday night, law enforcement agents sealed off a road about two miles from Guthrie’s home as part of their investigation. A series of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock.

The investigators also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby restaurant parking lot late Friday The sheriff’s department later said the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation but no arrests were made.

On Tuesday, sheriff deputies detained a person for questioning during a trafﬁc stop south of Tucson. Authorities didn’t say what led them to stop the man but confirmed he was released. The same day, deputies and FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of the city.

Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

Earlier in the investigation, authorities had said they had collected DNA from Nancy Guthrie’s property which doesn’t belong to Guthrie or those in close contact with her Investigators were working to identify who it belongs to.

The FBI also has said approximately 16 gloves were found in various spots near the house, most of which were searchers’ gloves that had been discarded.

Storm system sweeps across southeastern U.S.

Northeast gets reprieve from bitter cold

By The Associated Press

ATLANTA A weekend storm system sweeping across the Southeast brought tornado warnings to Mississippi and Louisiana, and then took aim at parts of Georgia and Florida, as people in the Northeast were ﬁnally getting a reprieve from weeks of bitterly cold temperatures.

Some of the fiercest weather in the South was reported near Lake Charles, where high winds from a thunderstorm overturned a horse trailer and a Mardi Gras ﬂoat, damaged an airport jet bridge and ﬂung the metal awning from a house into power lines. The damage was documented by National Weather Service employees who surveyed the area.

Power poles were snapped and toppled near Jena, Cheneyville and Donaldsonville, the weather service reported.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported, but the damage reports came as the storm system continued into parts of south Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, which were under tornado watches on Sunday.

The storms led to some power outages across southern states, but nowhere near the massive number of outages caused by ice storms late last month in northern Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee. By late Sunday afternoon, around 11,000 customers were without electricity in Texas and more than 9,000 had no service in northern Florida, according to PowerOutage. us, which tracks outages nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Northeast was beginning to thaw after a weekslong stretch of uncommonly cold weather

Boston was running nearly 7 degrees below average for February last week, and the city was on pace for its coldest winter in more than a decade. Boston re-

HERALD-PALLADIUM

Ice covers a navigational beacon at the end of the South Pier on Friday along Lake Michigan in St. Joseph, Mich.

mained cold on Sunday but this week’s forecast called for temperatures climbing into the high 30s and low 40s, which is closer to the seasonal average.

On the West Coast, much of California braced for a powerful winter storm that was expected to bring drenching thunderstorms, damaging winds and heavy snow in mountain areas. Jacob Spender a weather service meteorologist in Sacramento, urged people to take precautions in the coming days.

“So if they are traveling, packing winter safety kits. Anything to be prepared. This is a bigger system, and a major system,” Spender said.

Rain that began Sunday in the San Francisco Bay Area was forecast to intensify throughout the day and overnight, bringing the risk of ﬂooding. Forecasters said the Sierra Nevada, including ski resorts around Lake Tahoe could see up to seven feet of snow before the storm moves through late Wednesday

To the south, Los Angeles area residents in some neighborhoods scarred by last year’s devastating wildﬁres were under an evacuation warning through Tuesday because of the potential for mud and debris ﬂows. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she’s ordered emergency crews and city departments to prepare to respond to any problems.

Homan: ‘Small’ security force to stay in Minn.

Border czar says more immigration agents to depart Twin Cities

BY BEN FINLEY Associated Press

WASHINGTON White House border czar Tom Homan

said Sunday that more than 1,000 immigration agents have left Minnesota’s Twin Cities area and hundreds more will depart in the days ahead as part of the Trump administration’s drawdown of its immigration enforcement surge.

A “small” security force will stay for a short period to protect remaining immigration agents and will respond “when our agents are out and they get surrounded by agitators and things got out of control,” Homan told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He did not deﬁne “small.”

He also said agents will keep investigating fraud allegations as well as the anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church service.

“We already removed well over 1,000 people, and as of Monday Tuesday, we’ll remove several hundred more,” Homan said. “We’ll get back to the original footprint.”

Thousands of officers were sent to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Metro Surge.” The Department of Homeland Security said it was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and proved successful. But the crackdown came under increasing criticism as the situation grew more volatile and two U.S. citizens were killed.

Protests became common. A network of residents worked to help immigrants, warn of approaching agents or film immigration officers’ actions. The shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers drew condemnation and raised questions over officers’ conduct, prompting changes to the operation. Homan announced last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but that still left more than 2,000 in the state. He said Thursday that a “significant drawdown” was already underway and would continue through this week. Homan said enforcement would not stop in the Twin Cities and that mass deportations will continue across the country Officers leaving Minnesota will report back to their stations or be assigned elsewhere. When asked if future deployments could match the scale of the Twin Cities operation, Homan said “it depends on the situation.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By Ty ONEIL

Pima County sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents work Saturday on a Range Rover in a Culver’s parking lot in Tucson, Ariz., as the search continues for ‘Today’ show host Savannah

STAR TRIBUNE PHOTO By LEILA NAVIDI

White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference Thursday at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis.

PHOTO By DON CAMPBELL

Iraniandiplomattoattend‘indirect’talks with U.S.

Statemedia says meeting to be held in Geneva

By The Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates— Iran’stop diplomat wastraveling SundayfromTehran to Geneva, where the second round of nuclear negotiations with the U.S. will take place, Iranian state media reported.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation left for the Swiss city after the first round of indirect talks took place in Oman last week. Oman will mediate the talks in Geneva, the IRNA state-run news agency reported on its Telegram channel.

Similar talks last year broke down afterIsrael launched what became a12day war on Iran, that included the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclearsites.

President Donald Trump hasrepeatedlythreatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has said it would respond with an attack of its own. Trump has also threatened Iran over its deadly crackdown on recent nationwideprotests.

GulfArabcountrieshave warned that any attack couldspiral into another regional conﬂict. TheTrumpadministration hasmaintained that Iran can have no uranium enrichment under any detail, which Tehran saysitwill not agree to.

Irancontinues toinsist that itsnuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but ofﬁcials however have increasingly threatened to pursue anuclear weapon. Before the war in June, Iran had beenenriching uranium up to 60% purity,just ashort technical step away from weapons-gradelevels.

Araghchi is also expected to meet with his Swiss and Omani counterparts, as well as thedirectorgeneral of the U.N.’satomic watchdog, the International Atomic EnergyAgency

EarlieronSunday,U.S. Secretary of StateMarco Rubiosaid Washington remains interested in adiplomatic solution to ending its differences with Tehran, and that President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were currently travelingfor thenew round of talks.

Trump said Friday the USSGeraldR.Ford, the world’slargest aircraftcar-

rier,was being sent fromthe Caribbean to the Mideast to join other militaryassets the U.S. hasbuilt up in theregion.Healsosaid achange in power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen.”

Rubio said recent military

deploymentsinthe Middle East were aprotectivemeasure aimed at shoring up thedefenses of U.S. facilities and interests. Iranhas threatenedtoattack U.S. bases in the region if Washington decides to strike. Tehran in June attacked the

Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, thoughnoAmericanorQatari personnelwereharmed.

“Noone’s been abletodo asuccessful deal withIran, but we’re gonna try,” said Rubio at anews conference after meeting with Slovakian PrimeMinister Robert

Fico in Bratislava. “Weare focused on negotiations.” Trumpinrecentweeks has suggested that his priority is forIrantoscale back its nuclear program,while Iran has said it wants talks to solelyfocusonthe nuclear program.But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier this week met with TrumpinWashington, has been pressing for a deal that would neutralize Iran’sballisticmissile program andend itsfunding forproxy groups such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Israeli prime minister said in aspeech Sunday that any deal between the U.S. and Iran must make sure that “all enriched material has to leave Iran.” It remains unclear how much inﬂuenceNetanyahu will have over Trump’spolicy on Iran. Trump initially threatened to take military action over Iran’sbloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, but then shiftedtoa pressurecampaign in recent weeks to try to get Tehran to makeadeal over its nuclear program Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Areej Hazboun in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Ukrainiandrone strike sparks firesatRussian BlackSea port

By The Associated Press

AUkrainian drone strike

ignitedfires at oneofRussia’sBlack Sea ports, ofﬁcials said Sunday,ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war Twopeople werewounded in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, whichdamaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, accordingto regional Gov.VeniaminKondratyev Meanwhile, falling debris

from Russian drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, ofﬁcials said, causing disruption to the powerand water supply.

Ukraine’slong-range drone strikes on Russian energy sitesaim to deprive Moscow of theoil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russiawantsto cripplethe Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv ofﬁcials say is an attempt to

“weaponizewinter.”

The attacks came ahead of another round of U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday andWednesday in Geneva, just beforethe fourthanniversary of the allout Russianinvasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24.

Speaking at theMunich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday,Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested there were still questions remaining over future security guar-

Indian Health Servicetophase out useoffillings containing mercury

BY GRAHAM LEE BREWER and SAVANNAH PETERS Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE,N.M. The federal agency that provides healthcare to Native Americans and Alaska Natives has announced it will phase out the use of dental ﬁllings containing mercury The Indian Health Service has used fillings, known as dental amalgams, that contain elemental mercuryto treat decayedand otherwise damaged teeth for decades Native American rights and industry advocates have called for an end to the practice, arguing it exposes patients who may not have access to private dentistry to a harmful neurotoxin.

The use of mercurycontaining amalgams, also known as “silverfillings” due to theirappearance, has declined sharply since 2009 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reclas-

siﬁed the devices from low to moderate risk. Theindustry haslargely abandoned them in favorofplastic resin alternatives, whichare also preferredfor aesthetic reasons

The Indian Health Service says it will fully implement the move to mercury-free alternativesby2027. Already, thepercentage of the Indian Health Service’sroughly 2.8 million patient user population receivingthem has declined from 12% in 2005 to 2% in 2023,the latest year of available data, agency documents show.

The U.S. Department of Healthand HumanServices, which oversees IHS,said growing environmental and health concerns about mercury exposure, and global effortstoreduce materialscontaining thehazardous heavy metal prompted thechange announced this month.

“This is acommon sense step that protects patients

and prevents harm before it starts,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.said in astatement.

The agency’sswitch to mercury-free alternatives also upholds legal responsibilities the U.S. government has to the 575 federally recognized tribes, he said.

According to theU.S. Food andDrug Administration, dental amalgam ﬁllings can release small amountsof mercury vapor during placement, removal,teeth grinding and gum chewing. It recommends that certainpeople at high riskfor adverse effectsofmercury exposure, including pregnant women, childrenunder6,and those withexisting neurological conditions avoid the ﬁllings. But the administration,along withthe AmericanDental Association, says available evidencedoes notlink mercury-containing fillings to long-termnegative health outcomes

antees for his country.Zelenskyy alsoquestioned how theconcept of afree trade zone —proposed by the U.S —would workinthe Donbas region, which Russia insists Kyiv mustgive up for peace. He said the Americans wantpeace as quickly as possible andthatthe U.S. team wants to sign all the agreementsonUkraine at the same time,whereas Ukraine wantsguarantees for the country’sfuture security signed ﬁrst. Zelenskyy’sconcerns

were echoed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, aranking member of theU.S.SenateForeign Relations Committee.

“Unless we have real security guarantees on whatever peace agreement is ultimately determined, we are going to be here again, because oneofthe things we know is that Russia hasgeared up notjust for Ukraine, but to go beyond Ukraine,” she told reporters in Munich on Sunday European Unionforeign policychief KajaKallas

said Russia was hoping to win diplomatically what it had failedtoachieveonthe battleﬁeld, and was banking on theU.S.todeliver concessions at the negotiating table. But Kallastold the Munich conference Sunday that keyRussian demands —including theliftingof sanctionsand unfreezing of assets —were decisions for Europe.

“Ifwewant asustainable peace then we need concessions also from theRussian side,” she said.

BY RYAN PEARSON and PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press

LOS ANGELES Casey Wasserman, the chair of the 2028 Los AngelesOlympics organizing committee, is selling his eponymous talent agency in the wake of the release of emails betweenhimself and Ghislaine Maxwell. Wasserman’semails with Maxwell were revealed by his appearance in recently released government files on Jeffrey Epstein. Wasserman, whose agency represents some of the top pop music artists in the world, has not been accused of any wrongdoing The recentlyreleased documents revealed that in

2003 he swapped ﬂirtatious emails with Maxwell, who wouldyears laterbeaccused of helpingEpstein recruit and sexually abuse his victims. Wasserman said in aFriday evening memo to his staff that he has begun the processofsellingthe company,according to a companyspokesperson who provided the memo to The Associated Press. Wasserman’smemo to staff said that he felt he had become adistractionto the company’s work. “During this time,Mike Watts will assume day-today control of the business while Idevote my full attention to delivering Los Angeles an Olympic Games in 2028 that is worthy ofthis

outstanding city,” the memo stated.

The memo arrived days after the LA28board’sexecutive committee met to discuss Wasserman’sappearance in the Epstein ﬁles Thecommittee said it andan outside legal ﬁrm conducted areview of Wasserman’sinteractionswithEpsteinand Maxwell with Wasserman’s full cooperation. The committee saidina statement: “Wefound Mr Wasserman’srelationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has alreadybeenpubliclydocumented.” The statement also said Wasserman “should continue to lead LA28 and delivera safe and successful games.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByVAHID SALEMI

Acleric and other people attend an annual rally marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution on WednesdayinTehran, Iran.

TheKrewe of Bonaparte spreads the ‘Love’asitrolls SaturdayinLafayette.

Ayoung paradegoer wavesfor athrowonSaturday

Revelers wave for beads during the parade on Saturday

TheKrewe of Bonaparte Parade rolls through Lafayette.

TheKrewe of Bonaparte parade rollsthrough Lafayette witharecord 31 floats and 1,015 riders.

Hospital security disputeescalates in Gaza

Ultra-Orthodox protests eruptover Israelimilitary servicelaws

BY SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press

CAIRO— One of Gaza’slast functioning large hospitals condemned the decision by Doctors Without Borders to pull out of operations over concerns about armed men, claiming on Sunday that thefacility had installed civilian policefor security The rare public friction between two well-known health care providers in Gaza came as the Palestinian death toll since the current ceaseﬁre surpassed 600. At least 11 Palestinians were killedbyIsraeli ﬁre in the last 24 hours, hospitals said.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its acronym MSF,said in astatement Saturday thatall its noncritical medical operations at Nasser Hospital were suspended due to security breaches that posed “serious” threats to its teams and patients. MSF said there had been an increaseinpatients and staff seeingarmed meninparts of the compound since the U.S.-brokered October ceaseﬁre was reached

Nasser Hospital said Sunday the increase in armed men was due to acivilian police presenceaimed at protecting patients and staff and said MSF’s“allegations are factually incorrect, irresponsible and pose aserious risk to aprotected civilian medical facility.”

Hundreds of patients and warwounded have been treated daily

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for people with disabilities.

Now,the new law requires cameras in all special education classrooms, regardless of whether parents request them.

“There was no reason for districts to be denyingparental requests,” McReynolds said, “so we came back with asolidmandate.”

Schools have had since June to put up the cameras. They were able to tap$8million in state funds provided by the 2022 law

Even before the new law passed, some districts already had taken the initiative to place cameras in every special educationclass-

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cameras and mandate judicial warrants for arrests on private property

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer,D-N.Y., said Democrats are only askingfor federal agentsto abide by rules followedby law enforcement agencies around thecountry

“And the question that

VOTERS

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Menard said. The majorityofthem have moved and haven’tupdated the address on their voter registration. Officials first canvassed voters, matching voter registration records against postal service addresses. If the mail address and voter registrationaddress didn’t match, Menard said, her ofﬁce tried to contact the person at both addresses.

If the person didn’trespond, they were sent an inactive voter card.

The names and addresses of all inactive voters were published Feb. 6inThe Acadiana Advocate, the newspaper of record for Lafayette Parish.

TheSecretary of State’s Office also sent out acard reminding people what they need to know before theygo to the polls to vote,she said “If it came backtothem, we had to make you inac-

at Nasser Hospitalinthe southern city ofKhan Younis, and the facility wasahub forPalestinianprisoners released by Israel in exchange for Israelihostages as part of the current ceaseﬁredeal.

MSF said its teams had reported “a pattern of unacceptable acts including the presence of armed men, intimidation, arbitrary arrestsofpatientsand arecent situation of suspicionofmovement of weapons.” The suspension occurred in January but was only recently announced.

Nasser Hospitalstaff saythat in recent months it has beenrepeatedlyattacked by masked, armed men and militias,which is why the presence of an armed civilian police force is crucial.

Hamas remains the dominant force in areas of Gazanot under Israelicontrol, including the area where Nasser Hospital is located.

Butother armedgroupshave mushroomedasaresultofthe war, including groups backed by Israel’sarmy in the Israeli-controlled part of the strip

Israel’s military said it had intelligence that Nasser Hospital is being used as aheadquarters and military postfor senior Hamas ofﬁcials, withoutproviding evidence. It called MSF’smove “an important decision,but one that comes too late.”

Throughoutthe war,which began withthe Hamas-ledattack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has repeatedlystruck hospitals,including Nasser,accusing the militant group ofoperatinginoraround them. Hamas security men often have beenseen inside hospitals, blocking accesstosome areas

Some hostages released from Gaza have said they spent time during captivity in ahospital, in-

according to Gaza health ofﬁcials. The ministry,which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give abreakdown of civilians and militants.

cluding NasserHospital.

At least 11 Palestinians were killedSundaybyIsraeli fire in Gaza, hospital authorities said. The dead include five men in their 20s who were killed in the eastern partofKhan Younis, according to NasserHospital, which received the bodies. The strike hita groupofpeopleclose to the Yellow Line thatseparates Israelicontrolledareas from the rest of Gaza, it said.

Rami Shaqrasaid his son, alBaraa, was among the militants securing the area from potential attacks by Israeli forces or Israelibacked armed groups when they were hit.Hesaid they were killed by an airstrike “They were in the area they say is safe,” Shaqra said.

Associated Pressfootage from the morgue showed at leasttwo of the men had headbands denoting membership in the QassamBri-

gades, the militant arm of Hamas.

In northern Gaza, adrone strike hit agroup of peopleinthe Falluja area of Jabaliya refugee camp, killing five people, according to Shifa Hospital. Aseparate drone strike killed aman in Gaza City according to the hospital Israel’smilitary said it had carried out multiplestrikes in response to several ceasefire violations near theYellowLine,including militants attempting to hide in debrisand others who attempted to crossthe line while armed The U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect Oct. 10 attempted to halt morethan twoyears of war between Israeland Hamas. While the heaviest fighting hassubsided, the ceasefire has seen almostdaily Israeli fire. Israeli forces have carriedout repeated airstrikes andfrequently fire on Palestinians near militaryheld zones, killing 602 Palestinians,

Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Four Israelisoldiers have been killed. In Israel, two female Israeli soldiers were rescued from riots in theultra-OrthodoxcityofBnei Brak. Footageshows twosoldiers being hurried away by policefrom thousandsofultra-Orthodoxmen running after them andyelling. Many in Israel’sultra-Orthodox communityare furiousover laws that mayforce them to serve in the Israeli military,holding frequent protests.

Israeli police said the soldiers were performing awelfare visit but had not coordinated it with police. At least 22 peoplewere arrested as protesters set police motorcycles on ﬁre,attacked ofﬁcers, threw trash and overturned apolicecar,policesaid.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemned the attack on the soldiers but blamed an “extremistminority” forthe violence.

Roughly1.3 millionultra-Orthodox Jewsmakeupabout 13% of Israel’s populationand oppose enlistment because they believe studyingfull time in religious seminaries is their mostimportant duty.The broad exemptions from mandatorymilitaryservice have reopened adeep divideinthe country and infuriated much of the generalpublic,especially during the war in Gaza.

room, even without parental requests, McReynolds said. Others just recently completed theinstallations.

Around 1,600 classrooms across the state were expected to needthe devices Jefferson Parish schools spent$4millioninstalling cameras in 300 of its classrooms, adistrict spokesperson toldVerite News. New Orleansspent $514,000 on cameras throughout its 66 charter schools, aNOLA Public Schools spokesperson said.

What thelaw requires

All Louisiana public schools, including charter schools, must install at least onemicrophone-equipped camera in every special education classroom that is required to be recording at

Americans are asking is, ‘Why aren’t Republicans going alongwith these commonsense proposals?’”Schumer said.

“They’re not crazy They’re not way out They’re what every police department in Americadoes.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said he could back Democrats calls to equip immigration officers with body cameras and would

all times

Each district must establish its own camerapolicies, including how to protect students’ privacy andwho can access the recording and underwhatcircumstances School systemsmustsubmit their policies to thestate Education Department

The law prohibits cameras from beingplaced inside restroomsorany areaswhere students may change or remove clothing. Schoolsare required to hold onto the footage for 30 days, and administratorsmust let parents know if acameraisexpected to be outofcommission for more than two consecutive days.

The lawdoesn’t require that thecameras be constantly monitored, but says each school’sprincipal or other

Schumer

support efforts to bolster training. But he balked at their demands that federal ofﬁcersremovemasks and clearly identify themselves, noting some officers taking part in immigrationenforcement operations have faced doxing andother harassment.

“Whatare you going to do, exposetheir faces so you can intimidate their

governing authority must “verify periodically” thatthe cameras areworking.

Usingfootage

Onlysuperintendents or their designees, astudent’s legal guardian or lawenforcement can requestto view recordings.

School districts get to determineunder what circumstances parentscan request the footage. Forexample in PlaqueminesParish, eligible partiescan asktosee the footage when they suspect a student has been neglected or abused, physically or sexually,including by adistrict employee.

Anyone who watches thefootage andsuspectsit shows violations of state or federal law is requiredto report the incident to the

families?”Mullins said. “Whatwewant is ICE to be able to do theirjob. Andwe would love for local law enforcementand for states to cooperate with us.”

RepublicanSen.Katie Britt of Alabama, aTrump ally who had pushed for atwo-week extension of DHS funding while negotiations continued, said it was “shortsighted of Democrats to walkaway” from talks. Trumpmade enforcement of the nation’simmi-

appropriate agency

Withoutactuallysharing the footage with staff members, school administrators could potentially incorporate lessons learnedfrom recorded incidents into staff training, McReynolds said. Cameras “open up an opportunity for education and additional professionaldevelopment around de-escalation techniquesand behavior intervention strategies,” she said.

Incident reports

The law goes far beyond requiring classroom cameras. It also mandates that school employeesfile detailed incident reports whenever achild with disabilitiesisrestrained, bans the use of “mechanical re-

grationlawsacenterpiece of his 2024 campaign for the White House andhe promised to be aggressive in detaining anddeporting people living in theUnited States without legal permission.

DHS reports it has deported more than 675,000 migrants since Trump’sreturn to ofﬁcelastyear and claims some 2.2millionothers have “self-deported” as the Republican president hasmadehis immigration

straints” such as strapsand handcuffs, and requires that aschool nurse or other qualiﬁed employee visit with any student who hasbeen secluded.

School staffers also must be trained in howtode-escalate conﬂicts, determine when studentsare at risk of harming themselves or others and how to safely restrain students.

State Rep. Shane Mack, R-Livingston, who authored the bill, said the aim is to ensure that there are “good policiesand procedures” in place to protect some of Louisiana’s most vulnerable students.

“As aparent,” he said, “you just love your children more than anythinginlife and want what’sbest for them.”

crackdown apriority

“President Trumpisnot going to back away from the mission, the mission that American people said theywanted him to complete,and thatissecuring our border and making sure that we actually do interior enforcement,” Britt said. Homan was on CBS’ “Face theNation,”Schumer and Mullin appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and Britt was interviewed on “FoxNewsSunday.”

tive,” Menard said The problem could be something simple, she said, like the lack of an apartment numberinthe address.

In Iberia Parish, nearly 6,500 votersmay be purged, Registrar of VotersKristie Blanchard said. By comparison, thelast purge list of inactivevoters there was about 1,000.

“So many people have moved” to Youngsville and Broussard,Blanchard said.

“Somanyhaveleftthe parishand haven’tupdated” their voter registration Louisiana residentscan update their voter registration status onlineatgeauxvote.com or by visiting the Registrar of Voters Ofﬁce in their parish.

Even if you’ve been classified as an inactive voter, Blanchard said, you may still be able to vote in the congressionalelectionby ﬁlling out aform at your polling site and conﬁrmingyour address. Voterpurges have been controversial.

Over the past two decades, jurisdictions have substantially increased therate at which they purge voter rolls. According to theU.S. Election Assistance Commission, more than 19 millionvoters were removed fromthe rolls between 2020 and2022. That’sa 21% increasecomparedwith 2014-16,which was already an increase of 33% over 2006 and2008. Election denialgroups have been challenging voters’ eligibility on amassive scaleand pressuringofficialstoinvestigate large numbers of voters basedon outdated or unreliable information, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. ContactClaire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

Specialneeds cadetgraduates academy

Elijah Duplechain,student knownfor viralvideos, makeshistory

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Whether Elijah Duplechain is hugging police officers, singing in church, cracking jokes or simply spreading joy,hehas become a light in his community Elijah, who has Down syndrome, is an eighth graderatOpelousas Junior High. He recently made history as the first Opelousas Police Department Junior Police Academygraduate with special needs. But many know him best for his viral videos,especially with local officer Yolonda Lewis, whose friendship with Elijah has cap-

turedmany hearts on social media

Today, Elijahhas more than 100,000 followers on TikTok and over 300,000 on Facebook,where viewers regularly share his videos and say they brighten their day

His growing popularity recently led to anomination for aSouthern TeaAward, aLouisianaevent that honors individuals for their dedication and talents in their communities

“He hassuch ajoyful spirit,” Lewis said. “Even as achild with Down syndrome, he shows love anda natural abilitytobring people together,reminding me and those aroundhim that joy hasno

Applications break records at LSU

Most from outofstate, officialssay

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

In the past decade, thenumberof students applying to LSU has nearly tripled —and the number of applicants from out of state has soared.

More than 62,000 potential incoming freshmen have applied this cycle, university ofﬁcialssay,compared with 29,000 in 2020.

While the pool of applicants swells, so does the proportion of out-of-state students interested in becomingTigers. A staggering 82% of applications came from non-Louisiana residents, up from 49% in 2017.

“That is atrend across all institution types, whether it’saregional, public or aﬂagship, even private institutions,seeing more students choose to come to the Southeast than everbefore,”LSU Vice President for Enrollment Management Emmett Brown said. “This region, in general, is growing. We happentoboth be the type of institution that’sgrown the most but also in aregion that’s in demand.”

Officials say LSU benefits from aconfluence of factors which mighthelp it head off the dreaded “demographic cliff” that is worryingother universities as the number of high school graduates in the U.S. ebbs due to population decline.

The appeal of the SEC, the university’s resources as aﬂagship institution anda vibrantstudent experience attract the “best and brightest” from Louisiana and other states, they said.

“If they’re not from the stateorfrom theregion, they see us on ESPN on a Saturday night,” Brown said. “There’s someofthat big brand piece thatexists there. But then theyturn around and they seethat we have hundreds of student organizations, they seethat we have phenomenal leadershippreparation with our student government, with our Greek life.”

While the numberofout-of-stateapplicants has soared, amajority of the students who actually attend arefrom Louisiana. For the class that entered in 2025, 78% of applicants were from out of state, but out-of-state students made up only 37% of those who enrolled Still, the percentage of students who enroll from out of state has increased in recent years, officials say As out-of-state interest grows, LSU continues to market itself with an increasingly national brand. Under newsystem PresidentWade Rousse and Chancellor Jim Dalton, the university has initiated an extensive reorganization, swapping out high-level executives and integrating Pennington Biomedical Research Center,the LSU AgCenter and the health sciences centers in Shreveport and New Orleans into the flagship.Their maingoal for the reorganization is to achieve “top 50” researchuniversity status from the National Science Foundation and elevate its national profile.

“Weare on track to not only continue but increase our recruitmentofand attraction of literally the top talent,not only just within the state of Louisiana but also across the country,” LSU Provost Troy Blanchard said

limits.”

Beyond law enforcement and social media, Elijah stays busy

He is a4.0 student, plays drums in the school band, loves bowling and is fascinated by thesolar system. He is alsoactiveatHoly Ghost Catholic Church,where he sings in the choir and recentlyreceivedhis first Communionand conﬁrmation.

“Everyone really openstheir arms to Elijah,” said Elijah’smom, ElizabethDuplechain. “It warms my heart to see alot of people don’t treat him any differently.”

TheJunior Police Academy, held last summer, includedphysi-

cal training, marching drills, guest speakersand mentorship from ofﬁcers. At graduation, Elijah had amoment his mother will never forget.

Instead of just walking off with his diploma, he raised it up to the audience like, “I did it!” she said. That moment carried extra meaning for Duplechain, whoremembers theearly challenges her son faced. Elijah did notbegin walking until he was 5years old and struggled withbalance as ayoung child.

“Elijah had ameaningful impact on me being apartofthe OPD

PAWS ON PARADE

TOP: Tessa Gorisson andher dog, Gator, followed by Miranda Purnell andMolly,walk in thePawdi Gras Dog ParadeonSaturday at Adopted Dog Brewing in Lafayette. RIGHT: Acostumed Dalmatian investigates thecamera.

LEFT: Akrewe with a Valentine’sDay theme marchesinthe Pawdi Gras Dog Parade.

STAFFPHOTOSByBRAD BOWIE

PROVIDED PHOTO

ElijahDuplechain and his mom,

Elizabeth Duplechain

ä See CADET, page 4B

Cajunculture is welcoming becauseof ourhistory,so don’t forget it

Iwas 16 when Ivisited the beach where my ancestors were deported hundreds of years before.

During the Grand Derangement 10,000-plus Acadians were removed from their home in Nova Scotia, or Acadie, when the landswitched from French to British rule.

They didn’tsign aloyaltyoath to thenew rulers, and they were kickedout because of it. An unassuming cross still marks the spot where the boats set sail. Of those whosurvived, many eventually made anew home forthemselves in the French colony of Louisiana. Cajuns know the trauma of deportation in our bones. We know theanxiety and faith thataccompanies the journey torebuild alife.

We know that caring for our neighbors is the way we all survive and thrive, probably going back to the ﬁrst Acadians arrivinginsouth Louisiana after the deportation from Canada. Or,at least, we used to. Iamappalled witnessing ICE sweep across the nation, terrorizing communities, killing people, even using apreschooler as bait to “catch” hisfather.Iamdisgusted by the administration telling us that the people who’ve died in the past month caused their own demise.

As aCajun, Iwas raised to welcome the stranger,both ﬁguratively and literally,usually over a good meal. Like any group, we aren’ta monolith and certainly have political disagreements. But some valuesseem elemental. The desire for abetter life for your kids is not monopolized by U.S. citizens.

The courage to start again somewhere new so you and your family can live in freedom, the courage that the Acadian deportees carried in the 1700s, is the same courage that all immigrants carry today.Acadians were given achance and made aculture known globally for its welcoming spirit. Where is that spirit now?

AMANDARICHEY Baton Rouge

D-DBreaux’slegacywillnever be forgottenbythose whoknewher

Iwas one of D-D Breaux’steachers at Donaldsonville High School. To be truthful, the faculty would discussour studentsin the teacher’slounge and knew this student was destined for greatness. She loved all of us, namely our principal, Conrade Goette, and teachers Keith Falcon, Lynn Bouchereau, Sidney Marchand, Sarah Savoia, Floyd Boutte andMary Chauff. Some years ago, the cityofDonaldsonville paid tribute to herwith abanquet and parade down Railroad Avenue. My son Michael was so proud to carry her in the rumble seat of our 31 Model “A”Ford.Itisapicturewehave at home that we cherish.

When giving her talkatthe banquet that was given in her honor,she acknowledged me in the crowd as her teacher,“Mr.Fly High.” This was aslogan Iused when Iran for political ofﬁce with a4-foot by 8-foot sign on ahill by theSunshine Bridge, “Fly High with Cy.” We all know what shedid at LSU with

gymnastics andatthe start when the program was shaky,onthe streets of Baton Rouge, giving outticketsfor free to the events.

What agreat woman who deserves every accolade shecan get. We are proud to say shewas from Donaldsonville and Bayou Lafourche, not only that, her mother,father, Mr.and Mrs. VanP.Breaux, an eye doctor,was one of theﬁnestpeople you would know.Don’tlet anyone forget, she was a product of Donaldsonville High School and theAscension Parish School System, notto mention LSU.

My wife, Marie, and Iare graduates as are ason, Charles and two grandchildren, Michael and Joey.Toyou, again D-D, we love you, love LSU and theaccomplishments you made in coaching there. Irelinquish my title; you arethe one who ﬂew high. Your only surviving high school teacher, VINCENT “CY” TORTORICH Donaldsonville

Trump’sstrengths oftenoverlooked

Arecentletter on the Opinion Pageasks us to listen to President Donald Trump’swords. In every speech he brags, insults, whines andlies. The writer asks if that is “what we wanttobe?”

Trump’swords indicateother qualities. He rambles and is long-winded.

He has abig egoand is conﬁdent He is afamily man and religious. He listens and is compassionate. He is fun-loving and entertaining. He is assertive and goal-oriented. At times Iﬁnd Trumpoff-putting and wish that he wouldbemore gentlemanly.But since we are all human and should be fair in our evaluations of others, perhaps the complete list of personality traits should be

considered.

This makes me question what is important in apolitical ﬁgure.

Areelections moreofapopularity contest or for choosing someone to servethe people?

Should we focus on the abrasive parts of a personalityorwhether we are being governed to ensure our life, liberty andpursuit of happiness?

Do we value deportment or safety,security and acomfortable life?

In judging apolitician, it seems that both behavior and accomplishments should be considered.

Butthat’s awhole other topic.

CATHY BROUILLETTE Baton Rouge

School choice respects parents’ rights

School choice is aright, not a privilege. Sen. Cameron Henry is wrong and perhaps miseducated. Hopefully it’snot amatter of being beholden to anyone. First, the money used to educate our children is our money,not the government’s. So we the parents should get to spend it where we deem it most beneﬁcial forour children; not where the progressive teachers’ union tells the government schools to do so.

Second, the primary responsibility and authority for the rearing and education of our children reside with us, the parents, not the government. There is no constitutional authority forthe government to usurp this responsibility and authority from parents. Yes, the general citizenry has an interest in the rearing and education of children, but the outcomes and primary responsibility remain with their parents. School choice and the use of our tax monies in the education of our children is aconstitutional right not aprivilege. It is our money and our children. Also, Idonot think you really wanttoargue about outcomes when it comes to our current government school system; especially in regards to its cost per student compared to other nations and its current success rate in community outreach programs.

GREG ARDOIN Lafayette

Unconstitutional election takeover shouldn’teven be proposed

President Donald Trumprecently stated that the federal government should take over elections in states where he has lost in previous elections.

Article I, Section 4ofthe U.S. Constitution, knownasthe Elections Clause, empowers state legislatures to prescribe the times, places, and manner of holding federal elections forSenators and Representatives. It grants Congress the authority to makeoralter these regulations at any time, except forthe places of choosing Senators.

Trumpiseither ignorant of the Constitution or he simply doesn’t care about the Constitution.

PHILIP FRADY NewOrleans

OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SEND US ALETTER, SCAN HERE

KillingsinMinnesota must lead to change

Theunlawful killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis while protecting from federal agents awoman who was engaged in lawful protest reminds us of the killing of Jimmy LeeJackson in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.

Jimmie Lee Jackson and members of his family were marching for theright to vote. The march was broken up by law enforcement ofﬁcers and later while protecting his mother,Jackson was killed by an Alabama state trooper

The1965 Selma, Alabama killings of Jackson, Rev.James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo led to

President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress passing theVoting RightsAct of 1965.

What will thekillings of AlexPretti and Renee Good in 2026 Minneapolislead to?

Athorough investigation of theirkillings?

Professional and safe law enforcementtactics by ICE and U.S. Border Patrol? Passage of acomprehensive immigration law by the president and Congress?

People are waiting and history is watching. ARTHUR L. HUNTERJR. NewOrleans

We won’tbescared into silence

We know the truth and we will never be silenced. Those whohide behind their lies are not strong; they are cowards. Martin Luther King Jr said, “Our lives begin to end the day we becomesilent about things that matter.” Speak up. Speak the truth so that all voices matter and may be heard.

MARYFLOWERS Baton Rouge

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Former LSU coach D-DBreaux pumps her fist at the LSU crowd followingthe NCAAGymnastics Championships in 2024 where LSU wonits first NCAAgymnastics title.

COMMENTARY

THE BEST MARDI GRAS IS IN yOUR CITy

Mardi Gras isn’t justinNew Orleans, as we all know.It’sastatewideand evenregional party that everycommunity puts their ownspin on. So we invited some expertstoweigh in on afriendlydebate on whose local Mardi Gras celebrations outside of theCrescent City’sreign supreme.Allopinions, of course, are completely biased.

ACADIANA

More festivities than youcan chaseachicken at

Acadiana’sMardi Gras takes the gold. Purple, green and gold, actually Thisfrom someone who was born and raised in New Orleans.

Ispent my early Februarys on awooden bench on top of aladder,soaking in the Carnival.

As Igrew older,Ibranched out into attending Mardi Gras balls, dragging the Quarter,even riding in the parades giving progress reports. When Imoved to Acadiana after college, Ithought I’d lost Mardi Gras as Iknew it forever.But I waswrong

BATONROUGE

Louisiana’s politiciansget skewered at SpanishTown

Acadiana’sMardi Gras is so diverse —there’ssomething for everyone. Take for example, the earliest manifestation of the season: king cakes. There’s one foreverytaste, the doughnut ones, the brioche ones, the fancy ones, the unusual ﬂavors. Imean, aboudin kingcake?! (Eternally grateful, Bob Karriker!)

Then there’sthe parties. Not just balls, but concerts,festivals withcarnival rides, private parties, king caketasteoffs, festivities of every shape and size. Parades? Acadiana’sgot ’em, and again, so many colors and ﬂavors to savor Each community puts on their own version, New Iberia to Kaplan and beyond.

There are walking parades,children’s parades, independent parades,Chick aLa Pie! Mardi Gras Indians struttheir stuff in exquisite intricate costumes, and in rural regions like Mamou and Basile, the medieval French tradition of theCourir de Mardi Gras rides —withanAcadiana twist, naturally Horsemen in cone-shaped hats called capuchons along with wire masks and colorful costumes ride through thetown, singing and begging for ingredients for acommunal gumbo. Then in thebig ﬁnale, they chase alive chicken through theﬁelds to claim the star gumbo component and become the king or queen of the day We hold acourir every year at Vermilionville to honor thehistory (sans the horses in thehistoricvillage, but plentyofgumbo and achicken to chase!)

Youwon’tﬁnd that anywhereelse. So yes, Acadiana’s Mardi Gras takes theking cake baby,the crown, the chicken and the best beads ever caught midair Happy Mardi Gras, mes amis!

Ellen Fucich is director of marketingand communications at Vermilionville, ahistoric village designed to teach appreciation for the culture of theregion.

SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY

Allthe flavor,style andsoulof Carnival,and no hassles

If Mardi Gras is about connection, culture and community,thenShreveportBossier may be Louisiana’sbestkept Carnival secret In northwest Louisiana, Mardi Gras isn’tconfined to one laneor one tradition, it’safull expression of who we are. Twocities. One heart. Shreveport-Bossier’scelebration reflects the same values that define our destinationyearround: inclusivity,authenticityand adeep sense of belonging.Here, Mardi Gras isn’tsomethingyou watch from the sidelines. It’s something you’re welcomed into Our parade lineup alone tellsthe story. Traditional Krewes likeGeminiand Centaur deliver the classic pomp,pageantry and throws that Carnivallovers expect, while the historic HighlandParadehonors one of Louisiana’smost culturally significant neighborhoods, where creativity community pride and grassrootscelebration take center stage. It’sareminderthat Mardi Gras has always belonged to the people. That spirit shines just as brightlyinour culturally rich Krewes. Krewe of Sobek and Krewe of Harambee celebrate African American heritage and artistry,showcasing how Mardi Gras continuestoevolve while honoring its roots. And for animal lovers and families,KreweofBarkusand

Meow demonstrates that joy comes in all forms —sometimes on four legs and dressed in costume.

Baton Rouge is an amalgamation of all thingsgreat in Louisiana. As theCapital City,weare not too Cajun, too Creole, too redneck,too Black or too White. We are alittle bit of everything.And our Mardi Gras is no different Almostall of our 10 parades have already rolled, including Orion,Artemis,LeKrewe Mystique de la Capitale, Orion and Mid CityGras. On Friday,the thefamilycentered Krewe of Southdowns, in which Ihad the pleasure of riding for many years rolled. Sunday,there was the Zachary Mardi Gras; and Monday is the Krewe of Shenandoah, which is the City of St. George’sﬁrst krewe. Butwhat really makes Mardi Gras special in Baton Rouge is the irreverent, irresponsible, indiscriminate, irrepressible, insane, irritating and, above all else, entertaining (especially forthe riders!) Spanish Town Mardi Gras. It is not for thesqueamish, prudish or socially sensitive. It’sfor the fun-loving, fun-seeking souls withsenses of humor,atolerance for bad taste and adelight in seeing public ofﬁcials and issues of the day skewered and defamed in clever and artistic ways. It also doubles as afundraiser for

manygood causes in the community This year’sthemewas applicable to any year:” Pink, Proud and Provocative.” It promised to poke, prod, pounce upon and pummel public people from the federal, state and local level. The Mystic Krewe forthe Preservation of Lagniappe in Louisiana never fails to draw thousands to the narrow streets of Spanish Town There is one caveat. We brought our young sons to the parade before they could read. Once they understood the English language, there was ahiatus of several years. Consider yourself warned. One of the highlights of my career in public lifewas serving foranumber of years as ajudge (alongside the late, great Smiley Anders) and attending the judges’ bribery party where fairness and impartiality somewhat reigned. The revelry of Spanish Town is Baton Rouge’sannual letting downofthe hair and casting aside of inhibitions. All in the spirit of Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Jay Dardenne is aformer Louisiana state senator,secretary of state, lieutenant governor andcommissioner of administration

MOBILE,ALA.

‘People’sParade’ andMoonPiesbring thecrowds

This is Shreveport-Bossier at its best: enough ﬂavor,style and soul for two cities. From locally owned restaurants serving Cajun and Creole favorites to live music and neighborhood celebrations, Mardi Gras here feels personal, not overwhelming. For visitors who want thefull experience without the guesswork,Visit Shreveport-Bossier hosts theannual Red River Mardi Gras Bash –a ticketed event designed to make celebrating effortless. Hosted duringthe Centaur and Gemini parades,the Bash offers aprivatevenue and viewing area alongthe parade route, aLouisiana cuisinebuffet, live music, games, beer and wine and access to private restrooms. It’s our way of saying: come celebrate withus —we’vegot everything covered. That accessibility is what sets Shreveport-Bossier apart. Visitors from south Louisiana,Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee can make an easy driveand enjoy an affordable, familyfriendly Mardi Gras that still delivers the fullness of Louisiana tradition.

Serena Gray is vice president of marketing and communications withVisit Shreveport-Bossier

Growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we thought most of the Mardi Gras action was in New Orleans. But amere 40 miles east, “The Mother of theMystics” provided adifferent take on the celebration it began and towhich it still jealously lays claim.

Different cities’ Mardi Gras are like your children they’re all wonderful in their own way,soit’snot fair to be comparative.

is dedicated to Joseph Stillwell Cain Jr., the man whobrought the party back to the Azalea City following the Civil War, dressed as the ﬁctional Chickasaw chief Slacabamorinico.

ButifIhad to assign apersonalitytoit, Mobile’sCarnival is that child who’sgoing to sneak out the back door just before the cops arrive. We like to say it’smore “family friendly,” but that only applies if your family is alittle on the wild side. Someofwhat makes us different is the food —welove throwing and catching it.

Joe Cain Day is “the People’s Parade.”

The ﬂoats are decidedly homemadeand even the city’sbluebloods bow to the proletariat for aday.It’safeast for the senses and moreofa marathon than a sprint. The day begins early at Church Street Graveyard with Cain’sMerry Widowswailing over his grave and arguing over who he loved most. Why so manywidows? Nobody knows.

MoonPies, Star Crunches, ramen noodles and even the occasional ice cream sandwich are theprizes. You may not be eating healthy at aMobile Mardi Gras parade, but you’re eating.

The biggest difference between Mobile’sMardi Gras and all others, though, can be summed up in three short words —Joe Cain Day.

The Sunday before Mardi Gras Day

In more recent years, Joe Cain’sMistresses, adorned in saucy red dresses and veiled hats —JCmust have been a busy man —give the widowsarun for their money Control of carnival reverts to the traditional mystic organizations to ﬁnish out The Gras, but it is Joe Cain Day, twodays before the actual Tuesday of Carnival, that sets the markfor agreat Mobile Mardi Gras.

RobHolbert is co-publisherof Lagniappe WeeklyofMobile

Ellen Fucich GUEST COLUMNIST

Serena Gray GUEST COLUMNIST

BY CHARLESLUSSIER Staff writer

Twodecades ago,the East Feliciana Parish school district shifted to afour-day school week. Seven years later,the district discontinued it and reverted to a traditional ﬁve-day school week. After a13-year hiatus,it is trying the four-day week once again. Starting in August, classes will run Tuesday through Friday,with Mondays off. Each school day will be an hour longer Back in 2006, the only four-daydistrict in Louisiana was neighboring St. Helena Parish. Ahandful of individual schools across the state also had shortened weekly schedules, but alot has changed in thepast 20 years. Currently,15school districts hold classes only four days each week. That’s nearly aquarter of the districts in Louisiana They tend to be smaller, rural school systems. They range from Catahoula Parish, home to about 800 students, to Acadia Parish, with about 9,000 students.

LikeEast Feliciana Parish, districts such as Avoyelles and Evangeline parishes have repeatedly swung back and forth.

Keepingteachershappy

Four-day school weeks have clearly increased in popularity nationwide since the COVID pandemic. For instance, in Texas, the number of schools using such aweekincreased from 30 pre-pandemic to morethan500 today

In Louisiana, all but three of the 15 districts withfourdayweeks have adopted them since 2020. Manyof themdid so to attract and

LSU

Continued from page1B

Regional trends

LSU officials said the steady application and enrollment growth is both speciﬁc to LSU and in line with broader demographicshifts, which show studentsﬂocking to the South in droves.

“More students from the North are now actually coming to the SEC thanever before,” said state Rep. Dixon McMakin, R-Baton Rouge who is the Tiger Stadium announcer.“Ithink that reason is because of the quality education where they’re not going to be indoctrinated like they might be in the North, and of course, the atmosphere we have andthe fun times that you can have.”

Brown said sports culture might serve as the introduction to LSU for many out-ofstate students,but they end up impressed by the academic opportunities and array of student organizations and extracurriculars

“We’re really lucky to be in aposition where the kind of education that we offer is in high demand,” Brown said. “We’ve also reached out further to focus in on our neighboring states and reallyall aroundthe country where we see interest to try and engage with those students earlier and more often.”

retainteachersduringa time of historic teacher shortages.

In aDecember 2023 poll, Education Week foundthat two-thirdsof the educators responding would be more willing to accepta jobofferfrom adistrict that operated undera four-day workweek

That attractivenessfor teachers and other school employees is akey reason behind East Feliciana’sreversion to afour-dayweek.

“ThisMonday makesa difference. It makes adifference forustoget things in orderthatneed to be in order,”said Schokeata Matthews.

Matthews, aveteran ﬁfth grade teacher,spoke at the Feb. 3parish School Board meetingwhere theshift to four days aweek was approved.She saidshe’s worked both the traditional andthe shortened week.

In responsetoshortages, almost every school district in thestate hasboosted pay over the past few years. Forinstance, in 2024, East Felicianaapproved a$7,000 teacher payraise, making it more competitive in the Baton Rouge region.But school leadersdecided they needed to do more Megan Phillips, principal of Jackson Elementary School,usedtooppose a four-day week, but now supports the idea.She recalls that she andother school staffin2013 supported going back to aﬁveday week.

“The reason I’m in favor this time (of afour-day week) is the very last time Ihad 100% certiﬁed teacherswas the last year before the change,” Phillipssaid “I did notfully understand how powerfulitwas for teacher recruitment.”

‘Student-centered’

The research over the pastfew decades on the impact of afour-dayweek hasbeen mixed In areview of 11 studies

The focus on out-of-state recruitment is partlydriven by the need to insulateLSU from looming “demographic cliffs” that threatenuniversitiesacrossthe country, he said.

“That really just means that we’regoing to be seeing, for the next 10 to 15 years, fewer high school graduatesnationally,” Brown said. “That’smajor demographic trends that arestemmingfrom theﬁnancialcrisisinthe late 2000s.”

Ofﬁcials emphasized that in-statestudentswill notbe sidelined even as the universityassumes agreater national proﬁle.

Blanchard said LSU always starts with in-state recruitment

“That’s atop priority for us,” Blanchard said.“We wantthe bestand the brightest in Louisiana to stay in Louisiana.”

McMakinsaiditisa “win overall” forBaton Rouge, LSU and Louisiana the more students the university can enroll —residentsand nonresidentsalike

“I look forwardtothose numbersjust keep going up and people wanting to come and be apartofour culture,” McMakin said.

Theuniversity balances theburgeoning applica tionpool with re stitutional capaci said. The accept will likely bel the 2026 fall semester

publishedinJune, the University of Oregon found that overall“therewas no evidence of large positive effects.” The schools that fared best, though, did not cutbackonoveralltime in class.

“Maintaining instructional hours is important for minimizing negative impacts on student achievement,”accordingtothe analysis East Feliciana Parish’s newly approved 2026-27 school calendar has students return from summer break aday laterthan they would otherwise —Tuesday,Aug.11— andstudents endtheir year aweeklater —Thursday,May 28.

Students will be in class for 1,480 fewerinstructionalminutes —about 24 hours—thantheywould have under afive-day-aweek calendar.Yet they will still receive 1,600 more minutes of classtime —almost 27 hours— than the state minimum.

“Everything we aregoing to sharewith youtonight is student-centered,with students in mind,” said East Feliciana Parish Superintendent KeishaNetterville when she presented the four-day schedule at the Feb. 3meeting.

The new bell schedule calls for students to start classat7:15 a.m.—15 minutes earlier than now —and finish up the day at 3:45 p.m. —45minutes later thannow.Netterville saidthe current school day is tooshort to “make sure that students have those foundationalstandards that they need to be successful.

“We’re cramming things in.We’re trying to cram in Tier 1(curricula),” Netterville said.“We’re trying to cram in interventions.And we runout of time.”

EchoingNetterville, East Feliciana High School Principal Candace Bailey said the change should help teachersavoid falling

than in years past, which hovered around 70%, he said.

Growing enrollment and increased selectivity are good news for thestate, he added.

“Oneofthe thingsthat we really pride ourselves on is there are not as many organizations like this that importtalent from outside the state,” Brown said. “That’s something we reallywant to do. We wanttobebringing the best andbrightest students, yes, in our home state, absolutely,but also importing great, talented studentsfrom acrossthe country to fill Louisiana’s workforce.”

behind. She said it’scommon fora one-daylesson to stretchacross two days.

“We’re always fighting against the calendar,the pacing guide,” Bailey said.

Saving money?

Saving money is also a common reason school districts shift to afour-day week. Thesavings come largely from reduced student transportation and energyconsumption.

Cost savings was aprimary driver in 2006 when East Feliciana first madethat shift. In 2013, whenitwent back to aﬁve-dayweek, the district estimated it would cost an additional $150,000 ayear.District leaders estimate that the latest change would bring “minor operational cost savings in transportation and facilities.”

Amajor reason for the limited savings is that Mondays in East Feliciana will remain an active day, even though kids won’t be in class.

Six Mondays —three each semester —will be full-day staffdevelopment days. Netterville expressed hope that these days will be more productivethan traditional staffdevelopment,which typically occurs at thebeginning or end of semesters or duringhalf-days when teachers teach the first half of the day.

AlsoonMondays,the district will useits federal after-school funding to provide free“high-qualityenrichment programming,” complete with breakfast and lunch. East Feliciana students will alsoparticipate in truancy,disciplineand credit recovery programs that day each week.

Creative calendar

TheRed River and St. Helena parish school districts have developed customcalendarsfor theirrespective districts.

In 2020, Red River adopted acalendar where its school year ended amonth later thanits peers. That means ashorter summer but alsolongerfall and spring breaks. The shorter six-week summer break is meant to curb summer learning loss, especially amongchildrenliving in poverty.Suchcalendars aresometimes called “full year” calendars. Red River, however,leadersprefer to call it a“balanced” calendar

St.Helena Parish dropped the four-day school week about adecade ago. LongtimeSuperintendent Kelli Joseph said she was unhappy with theresulting long school days that began at 7:30 a.m. and ran until 4:30 p.m

“That was way too long for kids to be in school like that, especially for little kids,” Joseph said.

Instead, Joseph has slowly developed aSt. Helena calendar that looks like none of its neighbors.

In 2021, Joseph dropped spring break in favor of multiple Fridays off, giving employees aseries of long weekends.In2023, she added acomplementary series of Mondays off from August through October November and December, however,remainﬁve days aweek.

Theschool day is from 8a.m.to3:30 p.m., about 30 minutes longer than your average school, but not as long as it waspreviously Joseph said she continues to tinker with the calendar to give teachers more days off, but not going too far

“We’re meeting thestate requirements, I’mensuring that our kids have quality instruction, and I’m ensuring that teachers get what they’ve requested,” Joseph said.

Email Charles Lussier at clussier@theadvocate. com.

Junior Cadet Program, said Lewis.“His presence inspireda deeper understanding of serving others, reinforcing why programslike JuniorCadets matter.”

He is also knownfor his famous one-liners, which have turnedeveryday moments into online favorites. Fans often repeat his sassy,drawn-out “Neva!” catch phrase or laugh whenheplayfully declares,“Don’tsay my name no more!” which are usually delivered with aCajun twang and a grin. While someviewers assume the videos are rehearsed, Duplechainsaid that’snot the case.

“Yeah, Ijust turn the camera on and he starts,” she said. “Nobody tells him what to say.” As Elijah’svisibility has grown, so has his role as an advocate, even if he doesn’trealize it, his mothersaid. Duplechain wants people to better understand individuals with Down syndrome.

“Kids with special needscan communicate. They are conscious and human too,” she said. “Their brains process at a different speed, but they can learn. Just take the timetolisten.”

That message has resonatedsowidely that a recent socialmedia post calling for Elijah to receive akey to the city on hisbirthday, May16, has been shared hundreds of times. The ideahas grown to include apossible citywide celebration in his honor Duplechain said she was surprised by the attention but hopes any recognition can shine alight on other childrenwith disabilities as well. “That would touch my heart, showcasing another child everyyear,” she said. “It’sbigger than Elijah.It’sadvocacyfor the next child.”

SERIES SWEEP

LSUtests lineup changesinblowout winoverMilwaukee

BY KOKI RILEY

Staff writer

LSU coach Jay Johnson has never beenafraid to make changes to his lineup,but Sunday wassomething different.

Senior Chris Stanfield didn’tplay.High Point transfer Brayden Simpson played his first collegiate game in the outfield. SophomoreJohn Pearsonstartedatthird base, while Oregon State transfer Trent Caraway,who had only played third base in college, moved to second.

Therevisions didn’tmake amajorimpact on the outcome, a21-7 drubbingfor LSUover Milwaukee in seven innings at Alex Box Stadium. But they did demonstrate alevel of ﬂexibilitywiththe position player groupthat hadn’tseemed possible before.

“I think we have alot of versatilitywith this team, alot of keyhole matchups,”Johnson said.“AndI think today was agood indication of what andhow we coulddowhat we want to do.”

LSU (3-0) scored three runs in the second inning, six

runs in the third andeight in the fourthtopull away from the Panthers. JuniorJakeBrownhit two homeruns, a 420-foot blast off theright ﬁeld scoreboard and agrand slam in theﬁfth. Sophomore Cade Arrambide continued his early-season tear withtwo more hits.Kansas State transfer SethDardar hit his secondhomer of the year despitenot starting.

Discoveringmore power has been an emphasisfor Brown heading into his thirdseason.

“Just alot of work in the weight room, getting bigger, faster,stronger,” Brown said. “I think not just me, but across the board.”

It was thekind of afternoon where any lineup conﬁguration would have resulted in runs.But Simpson had a hit,and Caraway drove in ﬁve runs,three of which came on abases-clearing triple.

“Great gamefor Trent. He’s agood inﬁelder,” Johnson said. “Wehad him over at shortstop (at the endofthe game) because we believe he can play shortstop, too. And

ä See SERIES, page 4C

LSU’sstruggles to win tightmatchupscontinue

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

She hit the ﬂoor with athud. Then she spread her arms and tooka few deep breaths. Flau’jae Johnson wasworn down, but now she needed to summon whatever energy she had left and channel it into two free throws. Johnson hadalready piledup21points. On the prior possession, she had snared three offensive reboundsherself, giving theLSU women’s basketball teama third and fourth chance to score.The star senior didn’twant to lose to South Carolina.Not again. What happened next put the Tigers back into afrustratinglyfamiliar position. Johnson missed both herfreethrows,giving the Gamecocks achance to put the ﬁnishing touches on what they had built in the second half. All they needed wasalayup, astop and acouple of free throws to seal their 18th straight win over LSU— a79-72 Valentine’sDay heartbreaker

“Wegotta be better,” Johnson said.

LSU has nowlost three of fourclose gamesplayed this season. Kentucky beat the Tigers on abuzzer-beater.Vanderbilt knocked them off with apair of latebuckets from its star guard. South Carolina defeated LSU because its offense kept churning out high-percentagelooks, even as the contest tightened up late in thefourth.

The No. 6Tigers (22-4, 8-4 SEC) did win a close battle with No. 4Texas on Jan.11. But because LSU lost those other three matchups, it’snow essentially out of the race for an NCAA Tournament No. 1seed.

The NCAA selection committeerevealed Saturdaythat it had LSU penciled intothe last No. 2seed of thebracket andpaired at thetop of aregionwithcurrentNo. 1 overall seed UConn. Then the Tigers felltothe Gamecocks, suffering aloss thatcould drop theminto one of the No. 3seeds —atleast for now. LSUhas beengiven oneofthose NCAA Tournament seeds in each of the past four seasons.

UL earns ﬁrst win of season

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Apparently,not very much gets to UL

nior right-hander JR Tollett. He happened to be the starting pitcher the day after the Ragin’ Cajuns receiveda gut-punch 11-inning loss to Missouri State, despite leading by sevenrunsafter seven innings. Tollett was off to ashaky start, giving up three runs in the

inning of Sunday’s game. The Rustonnative quickly steadiedthe ship to help lead UL to a9-7 redemption win over Missouri State forthe Cajuns’ ﬁrst win of the season Sunday at Russo Park. “Wejust really tryand take everyday as anew day,” Tollett said. “I thinkour coaches do such agood job of preaching that, and I think the guys arebought into it. Youwake up, new day …win or lose. Youdon’twant your highs to be toohigh. Your lows to be too low.”

And that’sexactlyhow Tollett threw to get his first winofthe season. The game’sfirst batterwas apop-up on the infield that fell for asingle because of the shift. Later in the inning, Curry Sutherland

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

One night afteradisappointing effort at the plate in alosstoPrairie View,UL’soffense took control early in Sunday’s23-0 demolition of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday at Lamson Park. The Ragin’Cajuns exploded for10runs on 10 hits in the ﬁrst inning to take acom-

triples, a homer and four RBIs. “I wasn’table to get it done in the first opening weekend, but to be able to just go back to work and be able to get another chance and just show them what Ican do,I just give it to God,” Norwood said. It wasthe largest margin of victory since winning23-0inthe 2022 opener against UAB. Thewin was also theprogram’s first five-inning run-rule win sincebeating Baylor 13-0 in the 2024 NCAA regional. It fell short of the school record for hits

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson stands at the edgeofthe courtasagame against South Carolina nears itsend on Saturdayatthe Pete Maravich Assembly Center.LSU lost 79-72.

BRAD KEMP

catcher Mia Norwood gets her first of two triples to go along with ahome runinthe Cajuns’ 23-0 win overthe Islanders on Sunday.

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

LSU outfielder Jake Brown, right, is greeted by teammates Zach yorkeand Cade Arrambide after hitting ahomerun against Milwaukee in the thirdinning of their game on Sunday at Alex Box Stadium.LSU won21-7.

Reddick wins Daytona 500 on final lap

Car owned by Michael Jordan wins after Elliott’s late crash

BY JENNA FRYER Associated Press

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tyler Red-

dick won the Daytona 500 in a car owned by Michael Jordan when Chase Elliott crashed as he and Reddick were battling for the win.

Reddick, in a Toyota for 23XI Racing, led only one lap on Sunday: the one to the checkered ﬂag for the team owned by the NBA Hall of Famer and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.

“Just incredible how it all played out. Just true Daytona madness,” Reddick said “I’ve already lost my voice from screaming. Never thought I’d be Daytona 500 champion.”

Neither did Jordan, who met

Reddick in victory lane for a bear hug and the two then jointly hoisted the Harley J. Earl trophy into the air Jordan, who turns 63 on Tuesday will get a Daytona 500 ring for his birthday and made it known in victory lane he wears a size 13.

“It feels like I won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won’t even know,” Jordan said.

It was a celebration that included multiple stars of NASCAR as Reddick is teammates with Bubba Wallace, who went to victory lane in tears after dominating a huge chunk of the race but finished 10th.

Jordan wrapped his arms around Wallace from behind and spoke closely into Wallace’s ear in a brief speech of encouragement.

“I don’t want my emotions to take away from the monumental day they just accomplished. Happy birthday, MJ. That’s a massive birthday present,” Wallace said.

“I thought this was our week the best 500 I’ve ever had, and come up short, sucks.

“Led a lot of laps, lap leader, I

believe. It was a good day for us, but damn. Try again next year.” Hamlin was also in victory lane after finishing 31st and falling short in his bid to become the third four-time Daytona 500 winner Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, was involved in the final caution when he and teammate Christopher Bell collided with nine laps remaining. It set up the final push to the finish over the final four laps. Elliott had control on the final lap after leader Carson Hocevar was spun off the track and it appeared the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott would finally win his first Daytona 500. Instead, Reddick made a huge surge, hit Elliott to cause Elliott to crash and sailed past to take Jordan to the Daytona International Speedway victory lane Jordan was the face of the December federal antitrust lawsuit that NASCAR settled on the ninth day of trial. The settlement changed the revenue-sharing model in the United States’ top

motorsports series The victory marked a Daytona sweep for three team owners heavily involved in the trial. Bob Jenkins, who joined 23XI in suing NASCAR, opened the weekend with a victory when Chandler Smith won the Truck Series opener on Friday night for Front Row Motorsports. Richard Childress, who testiﬁed on behalf of 23XI and Front Row and was the subject of disparaging text messages by since-departed NASCAR chairman Steve Phelps, was the winning team owner Saturday when Austin Hill won. Then came “The Great American Race” and Jordan and Hamlin, the two front-facing litigants, got their ﬁrst Daytona 500 victory. Former race winners Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Joey Logano finished second and third as Toyota, Chevrolet and Ford each placed a driver on the podium. Elliott wound up fourth and sat dejected and in disbelief on the outside wall of the track after climbing from his car

Kim wins in Australia in remarkable career comeback

By The Associated Press

ADELAIDE, Australia Anthony Kim walked out of a PGA Tour scoring trailer at Quail Hollow and straight to the parking lot on May 4, 2012. He put his clubs in the trunk and drove away, vanishing from golf and from the public view for 12 years. Kim was all the way back Sunday in Australia, full of swagger and energy as he capped off a stunning rally — not just in the ﬁnal round of LIV Golf Adelaide but in life. Five shots behind Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, he closed with a 9-under 63 for his ﬁrst win in nearly 16 years. He put on an electric show with leg-kicking, fist-throwing reactions for his four straight birdies before LIV’s largest and loudest gallery of the season.

“I’m too old to be reacting like that because I think I pulled something in my hip,” the 40-year-old Kim said to laughter. “But I will say that was all the lows I went through in my life that I got to dig out of. Every putt that went I felt the struggle and I was overcoming it. It was therapeutic out there to ﬁght through it and come out on top.” Those struggles include drug and alcohol addiction so severe Kim considers it a minor miracle he is still alive. He is married with a 4-year-old daughter, Bella, who raced onto the 18th green at The Grange Golf Club and into his arms.

“To be able to share this moment — even though Bella won’t understand it, one day she will — and for her to be able to run on the green and see her dad isn’t a loser was one of the most special

moments of my life,” Kim said. LIV Golf took a chance on Kim in 2024 when he played as a wild card, often finishing at the bottom of the small ﬁelds. Last season wasn’t much better, though he showed signs of the progress 1% better each day is his motto — late last season. He was relegated out of the Saudi-funded league. He tied for ﬁfth in the Saudi International. He had to play a qualifying tournament last month just to get another season on the LIV Tour

Perhaps the ﬁnal boost of confidence: Dustin Johnson signed Kim to his 4 Aces team when former University High standout Patrick Reed decided to leave the league. The three-shot victory over

Rahm was as big as any moment on LIV, at a time when the league lost two of its bigger names in Brooks Koepka and Reed. All that mattered to Kim was coming full circle.

“I know the mainstream media is not going to pick it up,” said Kim, winning amid the Winter Olympics, the Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star Game.

“But for the people that do hear about it, I want to be a good example,” he said. “I would say that I wasn’t the best person, the best partner the best whatever you want to call it, the best son I could be when I was younger But who I am today is a completely different person. With God, my family my sobriety being the key things to my life, I can go as far

Raiders coach Kubiak quickly filling out staff

HENDERSON, Nev New Las Vegas Raiders coach Klint Kubiak wasted little time in choosing his offensive and defensive coordinators since being hired less than a week ago.

Raiders defensive line coach and run game coordinator Rob Leonard was ofﬁcially elevated to defensive coordinator on Sunday Seahawks quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko will follow Kubiak from Seattle to be the offensive coordinator, a person with knowledge of the hiring process said Sunday Kubiak did what the two previous Las Vegas coaches did in selecting a defensive coordinator — look within the staff. Leonard was the defensive line coach the past three seasons and added the title of run game coordinator in 2025 under then-coach Pete Carroll.

Providence F suspended two games after fight NEW YORK Providence forward Duncan Powell was suspended two additional games by the Big East on Sunday meaning he will miss three games for his ﬂagrant foul that sparked a ﬁght in a game against St. John’s.

Powell already faced an automatic one-game ban for fighting by NCAA rules, but the conference tacked on an additional penalty stemming from the 17th-ranked Red Storm’s 79-69 victory Saturday that featured seven ejections. It started when Powell flagrantly fouled Bryce Hopkins — who played three seasons in Providence — from behind as he went up for a fast-break layup. Powell was automatically ejected for the flagrant 2 foul.

Arizona pitcher’s contract defers full payout until ’34

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Newly signed right-hander Zac Gallen will not receive his full payment on his new $22.025 million, one-year deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks until 2034, as more than half of the contract is deferred.

According to details of the deal obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday, $14.025 million of Gallen’s contract is deferred and will be paid in three installments of $4.675 million each July 1 from 2032-34.

Gallen turned down a qualifying offer of the same value from the Diamondbacks in November, but that original offer did not include deferred payments. The Diamondbacks cleared a spot for Gallen on Sunday by placing right-hander Corbin Burnes on the 60-day injured list.

Braves starting pitcher Waldrep may need surgery

as I want.”

Playing in black shorts — with black calf-length socks and white shoes in front of a large crowd on a sunny day at The Grange, Kim caught up to Rahm after nine holes and pulled away Thousands of spectators followed behind him in the 18th fairway when he capped off his amazing day

It was his ﬁrst victory since the 2010 Houston Open, the last of his three titles on the PGA Tour He had not ﬁnished higher than a tie for 22nd on LIV, last week in Saudi Arabia He won $4 million — he made just over $4.6 million in his best season on the PGA Tour Rahm closed with a 71 and DeChambeau shot 74 on a day the average score was 69.8.

Kim reached as high as No. 6 in the world in 2008, the year he played in his only Ryder Cup at Valhalla and needed only 14 holes to beat Sergio Garcia in singles. He moves to just outside the top 200 now that LIV gets world ranking points.

As big a win as it was for Kim, it was popular among the players he beat.

“I cried,” Lucas Herbert said.

“Man, he was a gun,” said Marc Leishman, whose rookie season on the PGA Tour coincided with Kim’s peak years. “He almost had an aura about him, somewhat for his golf, somewhat for his partying I mean, to see where he’s come from I’ve actually spoken to him a fair bit over the last couple of years about a few of his experiences.

“It’s an unbelievable story, the place he got to and how close he was to not being here. I’m not talking about in Adelaide, I’m talking about not being on this planet.”

NORTH PORT, Fla. — The Atlanta Braves’ rotation took another hit Sunday when manager Walt Weiss said right-hander Hurston Waldrep may need surgery to remove “loose bodies” found in his arm. Waldrep complained of discomfort after throwing batting practice. Weiss said an MRI showed no ligament damage, but the team is waiting to learn more after Waldrep has additional tests.

“There’s some things in there that shouldn’t be there, I guess,” Weiss said, adding: “I think it’s fairly common with pitchers. I don’t want to elaborate. Probably needs to be dealt with.”

A possible surgery leaves the Braves facing the loss of a second starting pitcher in ﬁve days. Righthander Spencer Schwellenbach landed on the 60-day injured list on Tuesday because of inﬂammation in his right elbow

Cavan Biggio signs minor league deal with Astros

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Versatile player Cavan Biggio is expected to join the Houston Astros’ spring training camp as a non-roster player on Sunday after signing a minor league deal with the team. Biggio, 30, has hit .223 in seven major league seasons with four teams. He made his debut in the majors with Toronto in 2019. Biggio appeared in 37 games with Kansas City in 2025. He played first base, second base, third base, two outﬁeld positions and designated hitter He hit .174 in 69 at-bats.

Biggio is a son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, who played for the Astros from 1988-2007.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHARLES LABERGE

Anthony Kim celebrates after his putt on the 18th green on Sunday during the final round of the LIV Golf Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MIKE STEWART

Tyler Reddick and his son Beau celebrate with the team after winning the Daytona 500 on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

MI LA N CO RT IN A OL YM PI CS

Tkachuk, U.S. defeat Germany

Canada scores 10 goals in win over France

By The Associated Press

MILAN Matthew Tkachuk in-

COLD GOLD! BRITAIN WINS FIRST OLYMPIC GOLD ON SNOW: Move over Torvill and Dean, Britain has a great new Winter Olympics pairing Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won the first gold medal on snow in the country’s 102-year history at the Winter Games after crossing the line first on Sunday in the wild sport of mixed snowboardcross.

“It’s unbelievable,” Nightingale said.“GB on a whole is doing great on the snowboard side. We want to keep it going and inspire little kids to do it as well, and maybe one day they can get a gold medal.” In mixed snowboardcross,the first set of riders goes down the mountain four-wide,while the second set waits at the top of the hill in something resembling a relay race.Whichever team crosses the line first in the fourteam final gets gold.

ODINE STROEM WINS 2ND GOLD IN WOMEN’S LARGE HILL SKI JUMP DEBUT: Anna Odine Stroem made the Olympic debut of women’s large hill ski jumping a night to remember for Norway Stroem sailed to her second gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games as Norway took the top two spots, with Eirin Maria Kvandal winning silver Slovenian favorite Nika Prevc settled for bronze.

Women’s ski jumping on the normal hill was first included in the 2014 Sochi Games,but until this year,the contest on the large hill had been limited in the Olympics to men. Stroem won with a final jump of 433 feet. Kvandal’s jump was 438 feet, but Stroem made up for it in style points from the judges and compensation points for wind.

RECORD NINTH GOLD MEDAL FOR NORWEGIAN SKIER: Klaebo stands alone as the most successful Winter Olympian of all time after winning his ninth career gold medal in cross-country skiing

Norway’s prime minister was watching as the 29-year-old anchored his team’s relay gold on Sunday.That broke a tie on eight gold medals with three other Norwegians: cross-country skiers Marit Bjoergen and Bjoern Daehlie and biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. Klaebo could get into double figures by the end of the Milan Cortina Games. His next chances for a 10th gold are in the team sprint on Wednesday or the 50-kilometer race on Saturday.

MORE CONTROVERSY ROCKS

CURLING: The typically calm world of curling is being rocked by a controversy over double-touching, and it broadened Sunday as the British men’s team had a stone removed for the violation.

Until now, the Canadian men’s and women’s teams had been the focus of scrutiny.An expletive-laden outburst by Canada’s Marc Kennedy after an accusation of a double touch against Sweden on Friday highlighted the problem.A double touch is when a player touches a stone again after releasing it.

sists he and his U.S. teammates were only focused on beating Germany in their preliminary round ﬁnale and never worried about scoring enough goals to pass Canada for the top seed at the Olympics.

“We never talked once about the top seed at all,” Tkachuk said. “None of that seeding stuff. All that handles itself.”

It’s handled now, after the U.S. defeated Germany 5-1 on Sunday night behind two goals and an assist from captain Auston Matthews and 23 saves from Connor Hellebuyck. The Americans finished group play unbeaten to clinch the second seed in the knockout round.

“The conﬁdence just continues to grow within our group,” Matthews said. “Each game I think we’ve taken steps in the right direction of where we want to grow our game going into the quarterfinals and it’s good to see.”

Canada put such a beatdown on France, winning 10-2, that the U.S. would have had to run up the score and beat Germany by 10 goals to pass the tournament favorite.

The North American rivals cannot meet until the gold medal game.

They have to get there first

The U.S. is set to face the winner of the qualification round game Tuesday between Sweden and Latvia, while Canada plays Czechia or Denmark in the quarterfinals on Wednesday

Sweden is the only European team at the Olympics with a full roster of NHL players, won two of its three preliminary round games and only dropped to seventh because of a goal differential tiebreaker

he’s a guy that’s going to protect our guys and do whatever it takes for our team.”

found a way It was a huge win against a really good team.”

Crosby, Canada crush France

Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid each had a goal and two assists in a clinical, businesslike 10-2 dismantling of France. Canada ﬁnished round robin play undefeated, outscoring opponents by 17 goals over three games.

“We did what we came to do,” said McDavid, who leads all scorers in Milan. “We came to win a hockey game and continue to get better.”

The blowout also included Tom Wilson fighting the player who delivered a forearm to Nathan MacKinnon’s face a couple of minutes earlier MacKinnon returned and Wilson was ejected, since ﬁghting is a game misconduct under international rules, but the already popular teammate earned even more respect inside Canada’s locker room.

“He’s going to stick up for his guys,” forward Sam Bennett said. “He’s a leader on this team and

Macklin Celebrini, Canada’s youngest player at 19, scored on a penalty shot and on the power play against France to give him four goals in three games. Wilson, picked by coach Jon Cooper to ride shotgun on the top line on McDavid’s right wing, also had a goal, an assist and some big hits.

Switzerland wins one for Fial Rallying around the absence of injured winger Kevin Fiala, Switzerland beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime to give itself an easy path to the quarterﬁnals.

Winning the preliminary round ﬁnale means captain Roman Josi’s team next faces winless host Italy in the qualiﬁcation playoffs Tuesday

“We knew it was a big game,” said Josi, the Nashville Predators defenseman who scored Switzerland’s first goal by banking the puck off Radko Gudas’ left skate and in. “Obviously a lot of up and downs in that third period but

Former Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan scored the overtime winner In 172 NHL regular-season and playoff games, he had just six goals and ranked this one top three in his career

Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils and Pius Suter of the St. Louis Blues also scored for Switzerland, and 38-year-old national team goaltender Leonardo Genoni stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced.

Andersen helps Denmark to win Longtime NHL goaltender Frederik Andersen made 33 saves on 35 shots to give Denmark its first victory in Milan, 4-2 over Latvia.

Winning by two on an emptynetter also put Denmark ahead in the seeding, leaving Latvia to be 10th and face No. 7 Sweden in the qualiﬁcation round Tuesday “There’s no easy teams, but we wanted to give our best shot at whatever comes next,” Andersen said.

Kok, Leerdam win medals in speedskating’s 500

BY HOWARD FENDRICH AP national writer

MILAN Everyone expected Femke Kok to win the 500-meter speedskating gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Even her Dutch teammate, Jutta Leerdam, the woman who beat Kok in the 1,000. Even the defending champion, Erin Jackson.

And, well, Kok did, too. Embracing those expectations rather than ﬁghting them, Kok extended her two-year-plus unbeaten streak at her sport’s shortest distance Sunday, adding a gold medal and the Olympic record to her world mark, beating Jackson head-to-head in the ﬁnal heat and relegating Leerdam to the silver

“I really wanted to prove to everyone that I could do it,” said Kok, who reversed the result from the 1,000 meters on Monday, when she got the silver “I knew for myself the only thing that mattered was gold.” Kok powered through the ﬁnal turn of the 500 and easily pulled away from Jackson, ﬁnishing in 36.49 seconds — a whopping 0.66 seconds ahead of teammate Leerdam

“We’re a really small country,” Kok said about the Netherlands and its population of under 20 million, “but we can do speedskating.”

Miho Takagi of Japan was third in 37.27, picking up her second bronze of these Winter Games and ninth career Olympic medal. Her totals: two golds, four silvers and three bronzes.

Jackson was ﬁfth in 37.32, four years after her 500 triumph for the United States made her the ﬁrst Black woman to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics in any sport.

“Femke has been the person to chase for the past few years.

She’s just been amazing,” Jackson said. “If I have the perfect race, I could probably give her a run for her money.”

But Jackson didn’t have a perfect race: Sure, her start was terriﬁc, but she stumbled a bit at one point, losing crucial time.

“I was coming closer and closer and closer,” Kok said, “and then I knew, ‘OK, I’m going fast.’” As she usually does in the 500, an event she last lost in February 2024. When Kok crossed the line Sunday, she threw her arms overhead to the delight of the many many Dutch spectators, then skated a little more before covering her face with both hands.

That was quite a contrast to Leerdam’s reaction after she temporarily took the lead in the 12th of 15 heats.

She got off to something of a slugging start and was behind Takagi’s pace after 100 meters. While Leerdam did manage to better that time, she let out a big exhale afterward and didn’t look particularly pleased.

“She deserves it, for sure. She’s super good in the 500,” Leerdam said about Kok. “Silver in the 500 is such a win for me. I already felt complete after the win in the 1,000 — and now I have this one.” Kok prevented Leerdam from becoming just the third female speedskater to win the 500 and 1,000 at the same Olympics.

“We pushed each other the last couple of years to a higher level,” Kok said. “She’s doing her own thing; I’m doing my own thing. We have a lot of respect for each other She’s doing it her way; I’m doing it my way.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ANTONIO CALANNI

Femke Kok of the Netherlands, left, celebrates winning a gold medal with silver medalist Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands, right, in the women’s 500 meters speedskating race on Sunday in Milan, Italy

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CAROLyN KASTER

United States hockey players react after winning a preliminary round game against Germany on Sunday in Milan, Italy Team USA secured first place in Group C and the second overall seed in the tournament.

SCOREBOARD

Southeastern 3, St. Thomas 2, Game 2 Nicholls 1, Georgia State 0, Game 1 Nicholls 6, New Mexico 1, Game 2

Sunday’s games UCLA 8, LSU 0 (6 inn.) Nicholls 4, SIUE 3 (8 inn.) Southern vs. Virginia State, cancelled UL 23, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0 (5 inn.

Monday’s games None scheduled.

College basketball

Men’s state schedule

Saturday’s games Florida International 77, Louisiana Tech 64 Texas State 95, UL-Monroe 84 Northwestern State 69, Southeastern 66 Houston Christian 61, UNO 60 Nicholls 91, Incarnate Word 83 Texas Southern 82, Grambling State 79 Southern 85, Prairie View A&M 80 McNeese 97, East Texas A&M 54 Tennessee 73, LSU 63

Sunday’s games Tulane 55, UAB 54

Monday’s games

Southeastern at East Texas A&M, 1 p.m. UNO at Incarnate Word, 5 p.m.

Grambling at Prairie View A&M, 6 p.m.

McNeese at Northwestern State, 6:30 p.m

Nicholls at Houston Christian, 7 p.m.

Southern at Texas Southern, 7 p.m.

Men’s national scores

Sunday’s games

LSU

Continued from page 1C

How did LSU get back in that spot?

Start with the fact that it’s struggled to win close games this year

So far, the Tigers have played four games decided by seven points or fewer In the last three minutes of those games their opponents have outscored them a combined 38-21. They’ve shot only 5 of 24 from the ﬁeld (21%) in those 12 minutes, and they’ve given up two different fourthquarter leads.

LSU did not have an edge in the last quarter of its loss to South Carolina on Saturday. But it did pull within one point of the Gamecocks three times in the fourth quarter alone, coming agonizingly close to earning an upper hand on a team it still hasn’t beaten in nearly 15 years.

Johnson was the only contributor who made more than one shot in the fourth, but she missed three free throws in that frame.

Guards Jada Richard and MiLaysia Fulwiley missed each of the last seven ﬁeld goals attempted.

Star junior Mikaylah Williams made four of her first five looks but came up empty on five of her last six.

The Tigers had plenty of chances. They grabbed a whopping 12 offensive boards in the fourth quarter alone, which allowed them to take more than twice as many shots in the frame as the Gamecocks did. South Carolina, though, was much more efﬁcient, and it drained all eight free throws it took in the fourth.

“Some of us have to just look in the mirror,” Williams said, “and down the stretch, bow our neck and stop dropping these close games. Doing what we need to do early in the game, so it doesn’t come down to two free throws at the end of the game.”

LSU, however, can take solace in the fact that it minimized

EAST Loyola (Md) 83, Holy Cross 73 Manhattan 69, Canisius 65 Merrimack 56, Quinnipiac 49 Niagara 70, Iona 68

its turnovers (nine), won the rebounding battle (46-37) and earned plenty of trips to the freethrow line (23), putting stars such as sophomore forward Joyce Edwards and senior guard Ta’Niya Latson in foul trouble. They combined to score only 18 points on Saturday

But the Tigers still fell just short again. Five of their last six meetings with South Carolina have been decided by 10 points or fewer South Carolina has won the ﬁnal three minutes of the last four matchups 31-17. LSU shot 5 of 28 from the ﬁeld (18%) in those 12 minutes, while the Gamecocks shot 8 of 16 (50%).

“We’re not in there celebrating,” coach Kim Mulkey said.

“I hope (the) kids are hurting I hope that if you’re a competitor, you’re hurting individually And then collectively, it’s our job as coaches when we get back on that practice ﬂoor to make sure we get them back in the right mindset to keep winning a few more basketball games.”

LSU has four games left in the regular season. Two of those matchups are against AP-ranked opponents, including a road battle with No. 14 Ole Miss set to tip off at 8 p.m. Thursday (ESPN).

The Tigers haven’t dropped back-to-back games twice in the same season since Mulkey’s tenure began in 2021.

A win over the Rebels would keep that streak alive, while also moving LSU closer to earning a double bye in the SEC Tournament — a right it can earn by ﬁnishing the regular season in the top four of the league’s standings.

As of Sunday, the Tigers are in sixth place, below South Carolina (11-1), Vanderbilt (10-2), Tennessee (8-2), Texas (8-3) and Ole Miss (7-3).

Will they bounce back from another close, frustrating loss?

And can they win the next tight contest they encounter?

“We’ll see,” Mulkey said.

“They’ve done it all year, so I hope that they’ll continue to do it as we ﬁnish February and head into March Madness.”

0-0 0, Tournebize 1-2 0-0 2, Makeer 2-7 0-0 5, McDowell 1-3 0-0 2, Totals 28-66 15-17 79 LSU (22-4) Joyner 4-9 0-1 8, Flau’jae Johnson 9-18 2-6

ZaKiyah Johnson 3-6 1-2 7, Richard

5-6 7, Williams 5-12 0-0 11, Knox 2-3

0-0 2-2 2, Fulwiley 1-8 4-4 6, Hines 3-4 0-0 6 Totals 28-70 14-23 72 SouthCarolina16251919—79 LSU21191517—72 3-Point Goals—South Carolina 8-17 (R.Johnson 3-5, T.Johnson 4-5, Latson 0-2, Dauda 0-1, Makeer 1-3, McDowell 0-1), LSU 2-12 (F.Johnson 1-3, Richard 0-2, Williams 1-3, Fulwiley 0-3, Hines 0-1). Assists—South Carolina 11 (R.Johnson 6), LSU 12 (Fulwiley 3, Richard 3). Fouled Out—South Carolina Edwards. Rebounds—South Carolina 37 (Okot 17), LSU 46 (Joyner 13). Total Fouls—South

Carolina 20, LSU 14. Technical Fouls—None A—13,200. Women’s national scores Sunday’s games EAST Miami (FL) 82, Boston College 70 Monmouth 69, Charleston 57 Northeastern 73, Stony Brook 60 Penn State 81, Northwestern 71 Syracuse 68, Clemson 64 SOUTH Baylor 93, UCF 63 Belmont 77, Valparaiso 37 Campbell 54, UNC Wilmington 52 Duke 72, North Carolina 68 Georgia 76, Vanderbilt 74 Hofstra 60, North Carolina A&T 51 Kentucky 74, Ole Miss 57 Louisville 88, Florida

got a two-run triple to left in and out of the glove against the wall.

Then in the ﬁfth, two slowly hit ground balls with two outs preceded a two-run triple to center on another ball that could have been caught.

“I was proud of the adjustment that I made after the ﬁrst inning,” said Tollett, who allowed ﬁve runs on seven hits, one walk and struck out eight.

“(New pitching coach Taylor Sandefur) Coach Sandy has just been a true blessing for me, and he’s helped my arsenal,” Tollett added. “I’ve never been as swing and miss as I was today I needed it, because wind’s blowing out, and we’re trying to keep the ball out of air and just up in the strikeouts, it just helps.”

Still, the day wouldn’t have ended with smiles for the Cajuns without plenty of offensive help.

Spalitta’s RBI ground out.

It was a theme throughout the game, getting productive outs to score baserunners.

“The approach today was to have fun don’t try to be the hero,” said second baseman Rigoberto Hernandez, who was 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. “It’s just more about making plays for the team teammates, at bats, teammates, everything.”

In the second inning, Lee Amedee doubled and scored on Drew Markle’s single up the middle.

Two innings later, Hernandez led off with a solo homer to left, followed by another home run to left from Amedee into the wind.

“I knew the wind was blowing that way, but like after my first at-bat, I didn’t try to do too much — just hit the ball, go back to the middle, and do your job,” Hernandez said. “Don’t try to be the hero in this game because that doesn’t matter So I was just trying to hit the ball and it went down, it went out.”

so if you can play shortstop, you can deﬁnitely play second base.”

Defensively, Caraway, Simpson and Pearson were never tested.

LSU’s first six outs of the game came via strikeout, and by the fourth inning, Johnson substituted Simpson for freshman outfielder Mason Braun and moved Caraway back to third base after Dardar replaced Pearson and went to second.

“(There’s) things we’ve been looking at during practice time

and practice settings that give us a little more versatility,” Johnson said “Like (with) John, I like the way he’s swinging the bat. I think he was the third or fourth leading hitter in the (preseason).”

As for Stanﬁeld, he sat out after he bruised his hand sliding into home on Saturday Johnson said he may be available to play on Monday against Kent State.

“I just felt like it was good to let the swelling go down and not reaggravate it,” Johnson said.

The timing for the changes made sense. LSU’s offense struggled on Saturday generating just one extra-base hit through the ﬁrst seven

Immediately, UL responded with three in the ﬁrst, behind Blaze Rodriguez’s RBI single and Steven

Griffin Hebert followed with a double and scored on Markle’s groundout.

The Cajuns scratched across two

CAJUNS

Continued from page 1C

(27 vs. Samford in 1995) and runs (35 vs. Southern in 2000), but it was a good rebound after Saturday’s 6-5 loss to Prairie View

“That’s not even our team last night — that I would say,” Norwood said. “We came in today, and we knew that we had a job and we had something to show We could either just come in, hang our heads, and allow the emotional side to run in today, but we were able to step on their throats and show what our offense is about.”

The Cajuns ﬁnished with 22 hits — batting around three times in four innings. Haley Hart was 4-for-4 with three RBIs, and Brooke Otto was 2-for-3 with a homer and four RBIs.

Norwood hit her triples to right

innings. And if there’s ever a good time to experiment with the order, now would be it — the third game of the season against an overmatched opponent. Sunday’s game was competitive before the bottom of the third inning. In the top of the third, Milwaukee (0-3) had tied the game 3-3 after scoring two runs off LSU starter and right-handed sophomore William Schmidt.

The two-run single Schmidt allowed was a low point in an upand-down afternoon He had nine strikeouts but also walked three hitters, hit a batter and gave up a solo home run in the ﬁrst inning

ﬁeld and the homer to left.

“I’ve seen that a lot, they were throwing a lot out(side), and I was like, ‘OK, that’s my pitch, so I’m going to go with it,’ ” Norwood said. “That’s the pitch I was looking for Then my last at-bat, they kind of got a hint of that and they started throwing me in, so I just turned on it.”

The 10-run ﬁrst inning included two RBI singles from Madyson Manning and a three-run triple from Norwood.

UL added six runs in the second, highlighted by Otto’s three-run home run.

The beneficiary of all that offense was senior right-hander

Bethaney Noble in her season debut. After being the featured senior family to be honored in a pregame ceremony, Noble responded with ﬁve shutout innings for her ﬁrst win of the season.

“I think the best thing I did was just moving the ball,” Noble said.

on a fastball left up and over the plate. His day ended after 91 pitches through four innings.

“I thought he handled small adversity very well today, and that’s my main take from this,” Johnson said. “Obviously, you can see the stuff, the electricity of it. He’s going to be in a good spot as he keeps developing.” In relief of Schmidt, LSU turned to Oregon transfer Santiago Garcia, redshirt sophomore right-hander Deven Sheerin and freshman right-hander Marcos Paz. Garcia struggled, allowing a three-run home run, but Sheerin dominated hitters with a fastball

more runs in the ﬁfth behind Hernandez’s run-scoring inﬁeld single.

But on Saturday, 12 runs weren’t enough in 11 innings, so it was up to the bullpen to make nine runs stand. After the hard-luck ﬁve runs Tollett yielded, true freshman Cole Flanagan only allowed a two-out solo homer to left from Jackson Beaman.

Parker Smith followed with a perfect inning in the seventh and true freshman Hayden Pearson got two outs in the eighth, before handing it over to Garret Carter for the save. “Our pitching coach has really changed the makeup and mentality of the staff,” UL coach Matt Deggs said. “He (Smith) was a kid who was here a year ago, and he’s a different guy (Andrew Herrmann) Herm’s a different guy, too. All of those guys have grown a lot.” Cartergaveuparunintheninth,but got two strikeouts to secure the win. “Smitty coming in there, banging the sliders, and then the young freshman, Hayden Pearson, coming in, just dotting that fastball,” Deggs said. “That’s big for us. Like I said, it’s just a matter of us ﬁguring out where these guys ﬁt.” UL

“Not trying to do too much when I was doing too much, just letting it go, and just spinning the ball.”

The result of that approach was scattering six hits, walking two and striking out three over 89 pitches.

“Honestly, today was very emotional for me, so I had to learn how to bring down the emotions and just take a deep breath,” Noble said. “So I thought not let the stress overly affect me and just give it all to God, so it felt really great.”

UL coach Alyson Habetz relished the good pitching all weekend.

“I was very impressed with the pitching this weekend,” Habetz said. “Everything starts in the circle. We have to keep the ball in the ballpark. Yes, we need to at least have pitchers who give us a chance to win, and they have done that in, like, spades this weekend. So I’m very impressed with that group and the progress that was made this weekend.”

that was up to 99 mph.

Paz allowed a run in two innings in his return from Tommy John surgery. Sunday was also Sheerin’s ﬁrst appearance for LSU after missing all of last year recovering from a

Taking home bronze

Making of coveted BAFTAmask trophies an intricatetask

BY HILARYFOX Associated Press

LONDON Those winning aprize at the upcoming BritishAcademy Film Awards willbag acoveted bronze mask trophy —and get abit of an arm workout taking it home. Along with the honor of being named the best of the year in the industry,winners at the BAFTAceremony on Feb. 22 willbeawardedone of thedozens of the 6.6-pound prizes.

This year the cast and crew of “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” and “Sentimental Value” are in the running for the trophies at the EE BAFTA ceremony,tobeheld at London’sRoyal Festival Hall. As with many things in show business, all that glitters is not gold. The BAFTAmasksare made of phosphor bronze, polished to amirror ﬁnish that will reﬂect the happy face of its new owner

INVISION PHOTO By SCOTT AGARFITT

Completed British AcademyFilm Awards masks are lined up at the FSE FoundryinBraintree, England.

Craftsmen at the AATi Foundry in Braintree, about 50 miles northeast of London, usea sandcasting technique tomake about 350 bronze trophies each year for all the BAFTAceremonies —covering the ﬁlm,televisionand gaming industries.

They arecreated in batches, and making one from start to ﬁnishtakesarounda week,the foundry’s director Hugh Bisset said Tuesday

The process starts with apattern by the tooling team, often outoftimber or 3D printing. That tool moves to the molding team which uses sand to make two recessed impressions ofthe mask, one each side. They are then closed together,ready for molten hot bronze —upto 2,192 Fahrenheit —tobepoured into it. The metal takesabout threeor fourhours to cool down, whenit can then be removed from the sand. The masks’ surfaces look dull andabit rougharoundthe edges at this stage, but after fettling, threading and polishing they are ready to be assembled before being checked over extremely carefully

Bisset says it’simportantthat the masks areshiny and haveno polish left on them.

“The thing I’m always conscious of is that these amazing actors and actresses, they pick up their awards and my big concern is that asmudge ofpolish will end up over their lovely, beautiful white dress,” he said.

ä See BRONZE, page 6C

MIXITUP

From lump crab to cinnamon buns, home bakers getcreativewithkingcakes

BY MATTHEW HAINES

Contributing writer

“Why would anyone bake aking cake when local bakeriesare turning themout by the thousands every morning from now until Mardi Gras?” an articleinthe Jan.15, 1987, edition of TheTimes-Picayune asked.

Nearly 40 years later,with theavailability of kingcakes proliferating in previously unimaginable shapes, sizesand ﬂavors, the question is still relevant. Butthe New Orleans appetite is endless.Now amateurbakers aregetting creative, too, and king cakebaking competitions have been cropping up across thecity.

Some home bakerssay they enjoy expressing thecity’ssweet tradition in adifferent way,while others see it as an opportunity to build community. Caitlion Hunter,anenvironmental justicelawyer who is vegan, wanted their daughter to see adifferent side of her mother

“I entered my ﬁrst amateur king cake competition at the Humane Society Louisiana last year,” theysaid. “Itwas abig deal for me because my baby was only afew months old,and Ihadn’tdoneanythingcreative for awhile.”

“I was so proud to enter the competition,” Hunteradded, “and to bring my baby along with me and show her that her mom is also a badass chef!” Hunter bakes anew,creative king cake each year forfamily and friends at their annualMardi Gras parties.

ä See MIX, page 6C

BobSaget documentaryinthe works

BY ELIZABETH WELLINGTON

The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

PHILADELPHIA Old City-based 9.14

Pictures is working on an untitled documentary aboutcomedian Bob Saget, the Philly-bred funny man who rose to fame in the 1980s as the affable Danny Tanner on the ABC sitcom “Full House.” Deadlineﬁrstreported the news. Theannouncement comes on theheels of thestudio’ssuccessful projects centering on celebrities with local ties including Disney+’s “Taylor Swift:The EndofanEra” andPrimeVideo’smost watched

documentary,“Kelce.”Bothwere directed by the studio’sowners Don Argottand Sheena M. Joyce. According to Deadline, Argott andJoyce will direct this piece, too. The directors, Deadline reports, were given access to Saget’s rare homevideos and tonever-before-seen footage about theactor “The ﬁlm will reveal the complex life,devastating losses andenduring kindness behind the laughter,” thearticle stated. Thedocumentary will ultimately help viewers understand how and why Saget’s comedy turned so darkand raunchy beforehis

untimely death in 2022 at aRitzCarlton hotelinOrlando, Florida, fromwhat medical examiners said was an accidental blow to the head. He was 65 years old. Saget, who also hosted “America’sFunniest Home Videos” for eightseasons, wasbornin Mount Airy,moved to Virginia, andmoved back to theareawhen he wasateenager.Hegraduated from Abington Senior High and went on to attend Temple University, where he studied ﬁlm While at Temple University,he

STAFFPHOTO By ENAN CHEDIAK

Carla Pesono judges apiece of king cakeduring the BakeitTill youMakeItcompetitionatSecond Line Brewing in New Orleans on Jan. 23.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Marielle Pichon’sgallette des rois

FILE PHOTO

OldCity-based 9.14 Pictures is working on an untitled documentaryabout comedian Bob Saget, whodied in 2022. ä See SAGET, page 6C

Last year,for example,they made abloody mary-inspired king cake.

“I am the type of person who looks at store-bought items, whether it is vegan cheese,plant-based meat, or king cake, andthinks, ‘I could totally make that myself,’” they said.

Building community

Marielle Pichon is aspecial education English language arts teacher in New Orleans. Growing up in Houston in aCatholic familywith dual French-American citizenship, her French father wouldpickup the popular French version of king cake, agalette des rois, forTwelfth Night from alocal bakery

Her father has since passed away, but Pichon has fond memories of the family gatheringtodivvy up slices of the almond paste-filled galette to see who would getthe porcelain fève and be crowned king or queen of the party

Nowliving in NewOrleans, Pichon makes her own galettes des rois during Carnival season.

“It’sthe most beautiful thing I know how to bake, so it’sfun to impress my friends withit,”she laughed, before adding, “but it is also an opportunity to take this childhood tradition with my family and memory of my dad and share it with my New Orleans community.”

Building community seems to be amajor theme among those baking king cakes at home. They yearnto share their seasonal creations with friends, familyand co-workers.

At Second Line Brewing, co-owner Mark Logansaid they arealways looking for new ways to make their brewery acenter for the neighborhood andcity.One waythey’ve donethat is with amateur baking contests throughout the year

“Weliked the baking approach given that we liveina city obsessed with food and everyone has their grandmother’srecipe for étouffée or gumbo or whatever,” Logan said.

“Home brewers have abig community and we thought it would be fun to help buildthat same community for home bakers.”

Tellingstories throughbaking

Agood recipe often tells the story of its creator.When, for example, the Honduran-owned Norma’s Sweets Bakery in Mid-City wanted

SAGET

Continued from page5C

practiced his stand-up at then Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr’sQueen VillageClub. He also won astudent Oscar in 1978 for his 11-minute documentary, “Through Adam’sEyes,” the story of an 11-year-old boy who underwentagrueling facial surgery After Temple, he moved to the West Coast and attended

BRONZE

Continued from page5C

“There’slots of things we need to think about.”

to make aking cake, it made sense that theirs would have guava and cream cheesefilling, common in Honduran pastries.

Babka king cakes at Saba from Alon Shaya —who grew up eating babka with his grandparents in Israel before eventually falling in love with thekingcake tradition in Louisiana —orasushi king cake at Rock-n-Sake both are additionalexamples that king cakes are an avenue for autobiographyand homage. Thesame is truefor theking cakes of amateurbakersinNew Orleans.

Local Fox 8news anchorShelby Latino was born in Louisiana and saidshe hasbeen bakingkingcakes

theUniversity of Southern California’sﬁlm school, but dropped outtodostand-up.

For the next seven years, he was the emcee at the Comedy Store, working among such comedians as David Letterman and Robin Williams, Michael Keaton, Billy Crystal, Jay Leno,Johnny Carsonand Richard Pryor.

He also warmed up the crowd before tapingsof “Bosom Buddies,” the Tom Hanks-Peter Scolari sitcom.

Theproducer later hired Saget to play Danny Tanner

since she was in high school.

“In additiontotasting allofthe city’s amazing king cakes —I’m aManny Randazzo girl—Itry to makea kingcakeofmyown each year,” she said. “It’ssucha special Carnival tradition.”

Latino said herhusband’s grandfather,Bernie,was agreat baker, and though he passed away,she found herself thinking about his sticky buns often.

“Sticky buns are closetocinnamon rolls, and cinnamon rolls are sometimeslike king cake,” Latino said, “soIdecided to make aking cake inspired by Bernie’srecipe.” She adds soft sprinkles instead of colored sugar to emulate aManny

on “Full House,” on which he portrayed amorning TV host in San Francisco.

Before Saget turned38, he’d lostone sister to arare autoimmune disease and anothertoabrain aneurysm, he told thePhiladelphiaInquirer in a1994 article. Those losses, he said, helped him prioritize his life and led to his maudlin sense of humor

The Bob Sagetdocumentary will be produced by Story Syndicate, Revue Studios, and 9.14 Pictures.

Randazzo’sking cake, but because her husband loves Dong Phuong, Shelby incorporates acream cheese and heavy cream icing She added, “I love that Ican take this special tradition and incorporate family nostalgiaand abit of copycatting, too!”

Growingtradition

AlisihiaBigelowhas taken her desire to be part of the king cake tradition even astep further “I have been taking pottery classes for nine years at The London Clayworks,” she said, “so last year Isculpted and glazed my own baby to stick in the king cakefor Mardi Gras day.”

It was ahit.Sadly,things didn’t workout as well thesecondtime around.

“I accidentally decapitatedita few days ago, so there will be no baby this year,” sheconceded. Bigelow experiments with avariety of flavors, fromcinnamon sugar to caramelized onionswith bacon and Gruyere. This year she is experimenting witha sourdough king cake.

“People are impressed when I bring akingcake to aCarnival party,”she said.“My husbandisa musician and Itell him that this is my version of people clapping for me after asong.”

Scott Crawford can relate to how good that approval can feel. He saidheremembers, growing up in New Orleans, when it was his turn to bring aking cake to school, his mothersent him withanenormous one from McKenzie’sPastry Shoppes.

“I would walk into class with a king cakesomassive the cardboard carrying it was the size of afull sheet of plywood,” he said. “Itfelt like Iwas entering as aconquering hero.”

Today,when he brings his housemade savory jumbo lump crab king cake —ﬁlled and topped with two pounds of lump crab meat mixed withlemon butter sauce, Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs —Crawford said he gets that sameheroic feeling.

He appreciates theattention, and thenostalgia around thetradition

But thatisn’twhy he makes his signature king cake for parties each year

“It’sloosely modeledafter one of my favorite dishes, the Rickey Jackson crabﬁngersfromImpastato’s in Metairie,” he said. “The best part about makingthis kingcake is knowing Iwill get to eat it.”

By The Associated Press

Today is Monday,Feb. 16, the 47th day of 2026. There are 318 days left in the year

Todayinhistory: On Feb. 16, 1959, Fidel Castro was sworn in as premier of Cuba, six weeks after dictator Fulgencio Batista wasoverthrown and ﬂed the country into exile. Castro’srise to power marked the start of Cuba’stransformation into acommunist nation.

Also on this date: In 1862, the Civil WarBattle of Fort DonelsoninTennessee ended with the surrender of some 12,000 Confederate soldiers; UnionGen. UlyssesS Grant’svictory earned him the moniker “Unconditional Surrender Grant.” In 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’srecently unearthed tomb wasunsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter

In 1960, the nuclear submarine USS Triton departed New London, Connecticut, on the ﬁrst submerged circumnavigation of the globe by avessel.

In 1996, 11 people were killed in aﬁery collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Maryland commutertrain in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In 2018, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies on charges of staging an elaborate plot to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election via asocial media trolling campaign, aimed in part at helping Donald Trump win the presidency In 2024, Russia’sprison agency announced that Alexei Navalny, activist and Russian opposition leader,had died in the Arctic penal colony where he wasserving a19-year sentence on charges of extremism; Navalny’sdeath brought outrage and criticism from world leaders toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. Today’sbirthdays: Businessman Carl Icahn is 90. Author Eckhart Tolle is 78. Actor William Katt is 75. Actor LeVar Burton is 69. Actor-rapper Ice-T is 68. Tennis Hall of Famer John McEnroe is 67. Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis is 54. Olympic track and ﬁeld gold medalist Cathy Freeman is 53.

Bisset reckons the diligence and care that his skilled team puts intothe making of the masks reﬂects the hard work of the winning ﬁlmmakersand movie stars. And while it’sstill unknown if favorites Jessie Buckley, Timothée Chalamet and Teyana Taylor will get theglory on Sunday, whoever does win willtake home something worthmorethan its heavy weight in bronze.

“a lot of time and love being put intoit,” Bisset said.

“There’salot of metalin it,” but each maskalso has

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Choose the path that opens your mind to ahost of newideas and opportunities. Put your strength, courage anddiscipline to work for you. Self-improvement will encouragenew beginnings.

PIscEs(Feb.20-March 20) Take careof unfinished business before youstart something new. You'llgaininsight into what's possible if you devoteyour undividedattention to what's next

ARIEs(March 21-April 19) Putyour time and energy intohelping others. Don't donate money; offer your time,skills andpatience to those in need, and the rewardswillbemoregratifyingthan youcan imagine.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Don't let ego getinthe way. You'll make gains if you put your energy and skills to work. Your efforts will lead to greater security and abetterqualityoflife

GEMInI (May21-June 20) Get the facts, pay attention to detail and honor your promises. You'll gain insight by helping others andlearningthrough research, travel andeducational pursuits.

cAncER(June 21-July 22) Sticktowhatyou know. Act on your own behalf. How you respond to others will affect how much information people share with you. Be kind, considerate and willing to help.

LEo(July 23-Aug.22) It's OK to dream, butdon't fall short on your promises. Offer only what'sfeasible. Alack of practicality regardingmoney, debt and

howyou distribute what youearn will lead to complications.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Pay attention, nurture meaningful relationships and rethink your work-play ratio. Apartnershipwill help you bring about positive change in your life LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Put moreeffort into making your home user-friendly, and you will find it easier to reach your goals. Size up situations and figure out what you can do to make things better andhow much it will cost to complete your mission.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Thinkmatters through before you implement change. Not everyone will be on thesame page as you. Getapproval and the support you require to reach your destination.

sAGIttARIus (nov.23-Dec. 21) Spend more time acting and lesstime hyping up what you intend to do next. Actions speak louder than words and helpkeep criticism at bay. Follow your instincts not someone else's lead.

cAPRIcoRn(Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Refuse to let anyone talk you into something you don't need or cannotafford. Well-thought-out change and doing thelegwork yourself will pay off and lead to new opportunities.

CeLebrItY CIpher

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

nea CroSSwordS

Sudoku

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

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

TimeS CroSSword

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

By PHILLIP ALDER

Wayne Gretzky, the ice hockey superstarwho surprisingly won the Stanley Cuponly four times (the recordfor a player is 11, held by Henri Richard of the MontrealCanadiens),said,“Youmiss100 percent of the shots you never take.”

Experts carry afairnumber of percentages around in theirheads. Less capable players know afew. This means that when two lines of play present themselves, theexpertcan usually calculate which is mathematically better But someone else might have to rely on instinct.

In this example, how should South play in three no-trump after West leads the club queen?

North might have used Stayman to try to find a4-4 major-suit fit. However, with his points in his short suits, it was reasonable to raise to three no-trump.

UsingStayman is fine when you have a4-4 major-suit fit and game in that suit makes. But when you do not have afit, employing Stayman just gives the defenders extra informationabout declarer’s hand. South starts with seven top tricks: one spade,oneheart,threediamondsandtwo clubs. If declarer can take five diamond tricks, he will be home. But should he cashthetophonorsorstartwithafinesse of dummy’s 10?

Apriori, a3-3 split has aprobability of 35.53 percent. Most players know that.

But few will be aware that the finessing line will work 42 percent of the time, making it the preferable choice.

Winthe first trick with your club ace,

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

is aword riddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters.