The Acadiana Advocate 02-18-2026 by The Advocate

REV. JESSEJACKSON

COLORFUL COURIR

in the

On Mardi Gras in Eunice, participants take to the streets early in the morning on horseback or on foot and wind through the countryside. Wearing colorful, handmade costumes, which include masks and tall, pointed hats, known as capuchins, they paradepast farms, stopping to playfully ‘beg’for food anddrinks. At differentpoints along theway,the leader,referred to as thecapitaine, releases achicken for thefrenziedrevelers to runafter When the entourage arrives back in town mid-afternoon,they partake ina communal gumbo.

MARDI GRAS 2026 INSIDE, 1B THEADVOCATE. COM

ABOVE: Amasked reveler applies face paint to MiaBundick on TuesdayinEunice.

RIGHT: Dre Courville holds up his catch during theCourirdeMardi Gras on TuesdayinEunice.

OCT.8,1941 —FEB.17, 2026

‘A servant leader’ JesseJackson,who ledthe CivilRights Movement fordecades afterKing, dies

BY SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press

CHICAGO The Rev.Jesse L. Jackson, aprotege of Martin Luther King Jr.and two-time presidential candidate wholed the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader’sassassination, died Tuesday.Hewas 84. As ayoung organizerinChicago, Jackson wascalled to meet with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before King was killed, and he publicly positioned himself thereafter as King’ssuccessor Santita Jackson conﬁrmed that her father,who had arare neurological disorder, diedathome in Chicago, surrounded by family Jackson led alifetime of crusades in the UnitedStates and abroad, advocating forthe poor and underrepresented on issues, including voting rights, job opportunities, educationand health care. He scoreddiplomatic victories with world leaders, andthrough his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries forBlack pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms,pressuring executives to make America amore open and equitable society Andwhenhedeclared, “I am Somebody,” in apoem he often repeated, he soughttoreach people of all colors. “I may be poor,but IamSomebody; Imay be young; butI am Somebody; Imay be on

ä See JACKSON, page 4A

DixieMafia terrorized N.O.,Mississippi Gulf Coastfor decades

Keyplayerran scams, orderedhitswhile behind bars at Angola

BY POET WOLFE Staff writer

On aspring day in 1971, a shackled Kirksey Nix walked into aLouisiana courtroomwith abullet lodged in his side. Then 28, he was accused of being one of three armed intruders who forced their way into thehome of FrankCorso, aNew Orleansgrocer,setting off an Easternight gunﬁght that left Corso dead and Nixwounded —the bullet too dangerous to remove, according to courtrecords. Three years later,heand his accomplices weresentenced to life in prison atthe Louisiana StatePenitentiary at Angola.

The son of an Oklahoma judge, Nix was more than aconvicted murderer.Hewas akey player in the Dixie Mafia, aloose criminalnetwork that operated across theSouth— including parts of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Louisiana—from the late 1960s through the 1980s. Even behind bars, Nix contin-

ued operating as acon artist, all while orchestrating ascheme out of his jail cell that led to the murder of aprominent Biloxi, Mississippi, couple, Vincent andMargaret Sherry,and contributedtothe downfall of alocalmayor whoauthorities later said was entangled with the Dixie Maﬁa.

ä See DIXIE, page 7A

Kirksey Nixwas a keyplayerduring the Dixie Mafiaera, even operating as acon artist while behind bars.

SUN HERALD FILE PHOTO

STAFF PHOTOSByLESLIE WESTBROOK

Revelersdance

streetduring atraditional CourirdeMardi Gras hostedbyLeVieux MardiGrasdeCajuns on TuesdayinEunice.

Revelers divefor aloose chicken during Tuesday’s Courir de Mardi Gras.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS FILEPHOTO

The Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses the crowd at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

BRIEFS

Man who ran toward Capitol building arrested

WASHINGTON U.S. Capitol Police in Washington, D.C., arrested an 18-year-old man Tuesday after he ran from his vehicle toward the west side of the Capitol Building armed with a shotgun.

Capital Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the unidentified man parked a Mercedes SUV near the Capitol, got out and ran “several hundred yards” toward the building before ofﬁcers intercepted him and ordered him to the ground.

Speaking at a news conference following the arrest, Sullivan said the gunman was wearing a tactical vest and gloves and had a Kevlar helmet and gas mask in the vehicle.

The shotgun was loaded and he had additional rounds on him, the chief said.

Sullivan said the motive was under investigation, including whether members of Congress were the target. Congress is not in session.

Sullivan said the department has video footage, but he asked the public for any footage they might have of the incident.

“Who knows what would have happened if we wouldn’t have officers standing here?” the chief said, adding that the department had run active shooter drills in almost the identical spot in recent months.

Sullivan said the young man was not known to authorities and described him as not being from the area. The chief said the vehicle was not registered to the suspect, who has multiple addresses.

Tuesday’s arrest comes one week before President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address before Congress Sullivan said the incident does not change the agency’s plans. “We take the State of the Union very very seriously,” he said.

Costa Rican authorities probe U.S. man’s death

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica Costa Rican authorities said Monday they were investigating the killing of a U.S. citizen in an apparent robbery

Kurt Van Dyke, a 66-year-old Costa Rica resident and local hotel owner in Puerto Viejo on the country’s Caribbean coast, was killed Saturday, according to the Judicial Investigation Agency His body showed signs of strangulation and stab wounds and was undergoing an autopsy, the statement said.

Two men armed with at least one gun had threatened Van Dyke and a woman, stolen objects from the home and apparently a vehicle, authorities said The woman escaped without serious injuries.

Van Dyke was part of a wellknown California surﬁng family

A 2021 obituary of his mother Betty Van Dyke said that she was part of a pioneering group of early female surfers and her first husband Gene Van Dyke was also a well-known northern California surfer

N.Y. church explosion injures 5 people

BOONVILLE, N.Y A fiery explosion that ripped through a church in upstate New York on Tuesday injured five people, including the pastor and firefighters who responded to a report of a gas odor in the building, officials said.

New York State Police were investigating the blast, which sent thick plumes of black smoke into the air around 10:30 a.m. at the Abundant Life Church in Boonville.

The church, about 50 miles northeast of Syracuse, was reportedly heated by propane cylinders, according to troopers.

Local firefighters were dispatched to the church, and four people were in the basement when the furnace turned on, triggering an explosion. A firefighter on the first floor trying to ventilate the building was thrown against a wall by the blast, according to a preliminary investigation.

The Rev Brandon Pitts, 43, and four members of the Boonville Fire Department, aged 43 to 71, were sent to area hospitals with injuries.

All ﬁve were listed in critical but stable condition, according to police.

Iran closes Strait of Hormuz

Temporary shutdown comes as it holds indirect talks with U.S.

BY JAMEY KEATEN and STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN Associated Press

GENEVA Iran announced the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday for live ﬁre drills in a rare show of force as its negotiators held another round of indirect talks with the United States over the Islamic Republic’s disputed nuclear program.

It was the first time Iran has announced the closure of the key international waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, since the U.S. began threatening Iran and rushing military assets to the region. It was not immediately clear if the strait had been closed, but such a rare and perhaps unprecedented move

could further escalate tensions that threaten to ignite another war in the Middle East.

As the talks began, Iran’s state media announced that Iranian forces had ﬁred live missiles toward the strait and would close it for several hours for “safety and maritime concerns.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meanwhile warned that “the strongest army in the world might sometimes receive such a slap that it cannot get back on its feet.”

Iran’s foreign minister later adopted a different tone, expressing optimism about the talks and saying “a new window has opened” for reaching an agreement.

“We are hopeful that negotiations will lead to a sustainable and negotiated solution which can

serve the interests of relevant parties and the broader region,” Abbas Araghchi told a U.N. disarmament conference after leading the Iranian delegation at the talks held in Geneva.

He added that Iran “remains fully prepared to defend itself against any threat or act of aggression,” and that the consequences of any attack on Iran would not be conﬁned to its borders.

He made no speciﬁc mention of the military drills or the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S President Donald Trump, who scrapped an earlier nuclear agreement with Iran during his ﬁrst term, has repeatedly threatened 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 the killing of protesters.

Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, led the U.S. delegation at the latest indirect

talks, held inside the residence of the Omani envoy to Geneva. Oman, a longtime regional mediator, had hosted an earlier round on Feb. 6. There was progress in the talks but many details remained to be discussed, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity The Iranian delegation said they would present more detailed proposals in the next two weeks to narrow gaps, the ofﬁcial said.

Araghchi, who led the Iranian side, also said he met with Director-General Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday in Geneva. The Iranian minister said they discussed the agency’s role in helping to achieve an agreement.

Trump said Monday he planned to be involved in the talks, at least indirectly “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” he told reporters.

Festivities usher in the Year of the Horse

People celebrate Lunar New year with prayers, fireworks and more

BY KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press

BEIJING — Traditional prayers, ﬁreworks and fairs marked the Lunar New Year on Tuesday — alongside 21st-century humanoid robots.

The activities ushered in the Year of the Horse, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, succeeding the Year of the Snake.

Thousands of people in Beijing jammed into the former Temple of Earth to buy snacks, toys and trinkets from stalls. Sun Jing, who brought her parents to the capital for the holiday, said the atmosphere was as lively as in her childhood

“I haven’t felt such a strong sense of Lunar New Year festivity in a very, very long time,” she said. Crowds descended on popular temples to burn incense and pray for happiness and success in the coming year The Lunar New Year is the most important annual holiday in China and some other East Asian nations and is celebrated outside the region, too.

As every year, China celebrated the Lunar New Year with a TV show and once again the humanoid robots were a central part of the performance Monday night.

One of the highlights of the

CCTV Spring Festival gala was a martial arts performance by children and robots. For several minutes, humanoids from Unitree Robotics showed different sequences and even brandished swords.

The performance showed China’s push to develop more advanced robots powered by improved AI capabilities.

Viewers applauded the robots, with one saying they give good guidance and direction for young people. One man, though, said that while China’s advances in robotics are great, they detracted from his experience.

“It lacks a bit of the New Year atmosphere,” Li Bo said. “It’s not as enjoyable as when I was little watching the gala.”

Incense smoke wafted into the air at a temple in Hong Kong where people line up every year to make wishes for the new year at midnight. Holding up a cluster of incense sticks, many bowed their heads several times before planting the sticks in containers placed in front of a temple hall.

Entertainers in Vietnam sang at an outdoor countdown event before multiple ﬁreworks shows

Legislators in N.M. launch investigation into Epstein ranch

BY MORGAN LEE Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. — State legislators in New Mexico launched an investigation Tuesday into past activity at a secluded desert ranch where ﬁnancier and sex offender

Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests and whether local authorities looked the other way

A bipartisan, four-member panel of state House representatives is investigating allegations that the ranch may have facilitated sexual abuse and sex trafficking New Mexico lawmakers also say they want to know why Epstein was not registered as a sex offender after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl and whether there was corruption among public ofﬁcials.

Democratic state Rep. Marianna Anaya of Albuquerque, a member of the truth commission, urged people during a news conference Tuesday to come forward with information about any abuse at the ranch linked to Epstein and other people who may have it possible.

“That perpetrator could not act alone. They could not run a sex ring alone, they could not commit these types of ﬁnancial crimes alone. So we know as a commission that enablers must also be held accountable, including the state itself, if needed,” said Anaya. “If you do want to share, we’ll be here and we will be operating with conﬁdentiality.”

Revelations of ties to Epstein have led to the departure or ousting of multiple high-proﬁle people in recent days.

Epstein purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch in New Mexico in 1993 from former Democratic Gov Bruce King and built a 26,700-square-foot hilltop mansion with a private runway

The property was sold by Epstein’s

estate in 2023 — with proceeds going toward creditors to the family of Don Hufﬁnes, a Republican candidate in Texas for election to the ofﬁce of state comptroller In a social media post on X, Huffines said the property has been renamed San Rafael Ranch after a saint associated with healing and that his family plans to operate a Christian retreat there.

Hufﬁnes said any request by law enforcement for access would be met with immediate and full cooperation.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that he sexually abused and trafﬁcked dozens of underage girls.

Truth commission chairwoman and state Rep. Andrea Romero of Santa Fe has said that several survivors of Epstein’s abuse have signaled that sex trafficking activity extended to the ranch, which is about 35 miles south of Santa Fe. “We’ve heard years of allegations and rumors about Epstein’s activities here. But unfortunately, federal investigations have failed to put together an official record,” Romero said Tuesday “This truth commission will finally fill in the gaps of what we need to know.”

at several cities in the Southeast Asian nation, where the festival is called Tet.

Light shows lit up bridges and skyscrapers as the ﬁreworks went off and crowds clapped in rhythm to live pop music performances.

People sampled Chinese cuisine from stalls and strolled along snowy streets decorated with red lanterns and dragons as two weeks of events got underway Monday at various venues in the Russian capital.

The third annual Lunar New Year celebration comes at time of warming relations between China and Russia — ties that have frustrated many European governments because of the war in Ukraine.

The solemn peal of a temple bell rang out 108 times — an auspicious number — as people ﬂocked to the Baoan Temple in Taipei on Tuesday morning.

They lit incense sticks, bowed their heads and left offerings of colorful flower bouquets on outdoor tables on the temple grounds in Taiwan’s capital city In New York City, crowds gathered in Manhattan’s Chinatown to celebrate.

The 28th annual Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival was held in Sara D Roosevelt Park, where lion dancers performed. The event culminated with a massive amount of firecrackers being set off to scare away bad spirits.

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The San Rafael Ranch, which was previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein and called the Zorro Ranch, is located near Stanley, N.M.

Khamenei

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By VINCENT THIAN

Dancers in colorful costumes perform yingge Dance, a traditional folk dance from southern China, during Lunar New year celebrations in Beijing on Tuesday.

Strikeson 3alleged drug boatskill11, U.S. says

2wereinPacific, one wasinCaribbean

BY BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The U.S.military said Tuesday that it carried out strikes on three boats accused of smuggling drugs in Latin American waters,killing 11 people in one of the deadliest days of the Trump administration’smonthslong campaign against alleged trafﬁckers. The series of strikes conducted Mondaybrought the death toll to at least 145people since theadministration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists”insmall vessels sinceearly September

Likemost of themilitary’sstatements onthe 42known strikes, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug trafﬁckers along known smuggling routes. It said two vessels carrying fourpeople eachwere struck in the eastern Paciﬁc Ocean,while athird boat with three people was hit in the Caribbean Sea. Themilitary didnot provide evidence that thevesselswere ferrying drugs but posted videos on X that showed boats beingdestroyed.

The videos posted by Southern Commandshowthe boatseither moving or bobbing in the water before theexplosionsengulf them in ﬂames. People can be seen sitting in twoofthe small, open vessels before they’redestroyed.

President DonaldTrump has said

theU.S. is in “armed conﬂict” with cartels in LatinAmerica and has justified the attacks as anecessary escalation to stem the ﬂow of drugs.

Critics have questioned the overalllegality of thestrikesas well as their effectiveness, in part because thefentanyl behind many fataloverdoses is typicallytrafﬁcked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals importedfromChina and India.

The boat strikes also drew intensecriticism following the revelation that the military killed survivors of the very ﬁrst boat attack withafollow-up strike.The Trump administration and many Republican lawmakers said it was legal andnecessary,while Democratic

ROURKE

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By MATT

Demonstrators gather to protest removalofexplanatorypanels that were part of an exhibit on slaveryatthe President’sHouse Site in Philadelphia on Feb. 10.

Trumpadministrationerasing history, science, lawsuitargues

Park Servicealso sued over Stonewall flag

BY MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

WASHINGTON— Conservation andhistorical organizations

sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over National Park Service policies that the groups say erasehistory and sciencefrom America’s national parks.

Alawsuit filed in Boston says orders by President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have forced park service staff to remove or censor exhibits that share factually accurate andrelevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change.

Separately,LGBTQ+ rights advocatesand historic preservationistssued the park service Tuesday for removing arainbow Pride ﬂag from the Stonewall National Monument, the New York site that commemorates afoundational moment in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

The changes at exhibits came in response to aTrump executive order “restoring truth andsanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and land-

marks. It directed theInterior Department to ensure those sitesdonot display elements that “inappropriately disparageAmericans past or living.” Burgum later directedremoval of “improper partisan ideology” from museums, monuments, landmarks andother public exhibits under federal control.

Thegroupsbehindthe lawsuit saidthat afederal campaigntoreview interpretive materials has escalated in recent weeks, leadingto the removal of numerous exhibits that discuss the history of slavery and enslaved people, civil rights, treatmentofIndigenous peoples, climate science, and other “core elements of the American experience.

The suit was ﬁled by acoalition that includes the National ParksConservation Association, AmericanAssociation for State and Local History,Association of National Park Rangers and Union of Concerned Scientists.

It comes as afederal judge on Monday ordered that an exhibit about nine people enslaved by George Washington must be restored at his former home in Philadelphia

Thepark service removed explanatory panels last month from Independence National Historical Park,

thesitewhere George and Martha Washington lived withnine of their slaves in the1790s,when Philadelphia was brieﬂy thenation’s capital.

The judge ordered the exhibits restored on Presidents Day,the federal holiday honoring Washington’s legacy

Besidesthe Philadelphia case, the park service has flagged for removal interpretive materials describing key moments in the civil rights movement, the groups said. For example, at the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama, officialshave flagged about80items for removal.

Thepermanentexhibit at Brownv.Board of Education National Historical Park in Kansas has been ﬂagged because it mentions “equity,” the lawsuit says. Signage that hasdisappeared from Grand Canyon National Parksaid settlers pushed Native American tribes “off their land” for the park to be established and “exploited” the landscapefor mining and grazing.

At Glacier National Park in Montana, ParkService ofﬁcials ordered removal of materialsdescribing the effect of climate change on the park andits roleindriving thedisappearance of glaciers, thesuit said.

lawmakers and legal experts said thekillings were murder,ifnot a war crime.

The attacks followedthe Trump administration beginningone of the largest buildups of U.S. military might in Latin America in generations as part of apressure campaign that culminated with the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was brought to theU.S.toface drug trafﬁcking chargesaftera Jan.3 raid by American forces.

Theworld’slargest aircraft carrier was ordered to the Caribbean late last year and told last weekto head to the Middle East as tensions between theU.S. and Iran grow USS GeraldR.Ford andthree accompanying destroyers were in themid-Atlantic on Tuesday

and no longer in the U.S. Southern Command’sareaofoperations, according to aNavyofﬁcial, who spoke on condition of anonymity in ordertodiscuss sensitive ship movements.

The Ford will bolster an array of U.S. warships in the Middle East that includes theUSS Abraham Lincoln aircraftcarrier Since Maduro’scapture, the U.S. military has reported several boat strikes, while American forces also have seized oil tankers connected withVenezuelaaspart of the Trumpadministration’sbroader efforts to take control of the South American country’soil. Republicans in Congress have defeated Democratic-ledefforts to rein in Trump’sabilitytoconduct further attacks in Venezuela.

BY ED WHITE Associated Press

DNA from gloves found a few miles from the Arizona home of Nancy Guthriedid not match anyentries in a national database, authorities saidTuesday,the 17th day of her disappearance.

“There were no DNA hits in CODIS,” thePima County Sheriff’s Department said, referring to the national Combined DNA IndexSystem.

“At this point,therehave been no confirmed CODIS matchesinthis investigation,” the department said, suggesting that other DNA samples had been put through the system.

CODIS is astorehouse of DNA taken from crime suspects or people with convictions. Anyhitscould

identify possible suspects in Guthrie’sdisappearance. Investigators, meanwhile, wereseeninspectingexterior cameras at aneighbor’s house Tuesday.Vehicles were also arriving and departing from Guthrie’sTucson-area home while athick line of news media watched from the street.

The 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie wasreported missing fromher home on Feb. 1after spending the previous nightwithfamily, police said. Her blood was detected on the porch.

Aporch camera recorded videoofa man witha backpack who waswearing aski mask, long pants, ajacket and gloves. The FBI said the suspect is about 5feet, 9inchestallwith amedium build.

Gloves were found about 2 miles from Guthrie’shome. TheFBI hassaidthatthe gloves appeared to match thosewornbythe man in the video.

“There is additionalDNA evidence that was found at theresidence,and that is also being analyzed,” the sheriff’s department said. In addition, the department said it’sworking with experts to try to locate Guthrie by detecting her heart pacemaker Parsons Corp.saidits BlueFly device, which weighs lessthana pound and has arange of up to 218 yards can detect signals from wearable electronics andmedical devices. The company said the technology has been used from the air and on the ground in Arizona. SavannahGuthrieposted an InstagramvideoSunday in which she issued an appeal to anyone with information about what happenedto her mother “It is never too late to do the right thing,” she said. “And we are here. Andwe believe in the essential goodness of everyhumanbeing, that it’snever too late.”

welfare, butIamSomebody,” Jackson intoned. It was amessage he took literally and personally,havingrisenfrom obscurity in the segregated South to become America’sbest-known civil rights activist since King

“Ourfather was aservant leader —not only to our family,but to the oppressed,the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson familysaid in astatement posted online. “Weshared him withthe world, and in return, the worldbecame part of our extended family.”

Fellowcivil rights activist the Rev.AlSharpton said his mentor “was not simply acivil rights leader; he was amovement unto himself.”

“He taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is notseasonal, it is daily work,” Sharpton wroteinastatement, adding that Jackson taught “tryingisasimportant as triumph. That you do not waitfor thedream to come true; you work to make it real.”

Despite profound health challenges in his final years, including the disorder that affected his ability to move and speak, Jackson continued protesting against racial injustice into the era of Black Lives Matter.In2024, he appeared at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and at aCity Councilmeetingtoshowsupport for aresolution backinga ceaseﬁre in the Israel-Hamas war “Even if we win,” he told marchers in Minneapolis before theofﬁcer whose knee keptGeorge Floyd frombreathing wasconvicted of murder, “it’s relief, not victory. They’restill killing ourpeople. Stop the violence, save the children. Keep hope alive.”

Callstoaction

Jackson’svoice,infused with the stirring cadencesand powerful insistence of the Black church, demanded attention. On the campaigntrail and elsewhere, he used rhyming and sloganssuchas “Hope not dope” and “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it, then Ican achieveit,” to deliver hismessages.

Jackson had his share of critics, both within and outsideofthe Black community.Someconsid-

Jackson wore aturtleneck he said wassoaked with King’sblood for twodays,includingata King memorial service held by the Chicago City Council, where he said: “I come here with aheavy heart because on my chest is the stain of blood from Dr.King’shead.”

However,several King aides, including speechwriter Alfred Duckett, questioned whether Jackson could have gotten King’sblood on his clothing. There are no images of Jackson in pictures taken shortly after theassassination.

In 1971,Jackson brokewiththe Southern Christian Leadership Conference to form Operation PUSH,originallynamed People United to Save Humanity.The organization based on Chicago’s SouthSide declared asweeping mission, from diversifying workforces to registering votersin communities of color nationwide.

Using lawsuits and threats of boycotts,Jacksonpressuredtop corporations to spend millions and publicly committohiring more diverse employees.

dency twice and redefine what was possible;itraised the lid for womenand other people of color,” he told the AP.“Part of my job was to sow seeds of the possibilities.”

Obama acknowledged Jackson’s efforts, saying he ledsome of the most significant movements for change in human history

Michelle Obama “got her first glimpse of political organizing at theJacksons’ kitchen table when she wasateenager,” Obamawrote on X. “And in his twohistoric runs for president, he laid the foundation formyown campaign to the highest ofﬁce in the world.”

Jackson “was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect,” the post read.

Jackson also pushed forcultural change, joining callsbyNAACP members andother movement leaders in thelate 1980stoidentify Black people in the United States as African Americans.

ered him agrandstander, too eager to seekthe spotlight. Lookingback on his life andlegacy, Jackson told TheAssociated Press in 2011 that he feltblessed to be able to continue the service of other leaders before himand to lay afoundation for those to come.

“A part of our life’swork was to tear down wallsand build bridges, andina half century of work, we’ve basically torn down walls,” Jackson said. “Sometimes when you tear downwalls,you’re scarred by falling debris, but your missionis to openupholes so others behindyou can runthrough.

In hisfinal months, as he received 24-hour care, he communicated withfamily andvisitorsby holding their hands and squeezing.

“I get very emotional knowing thatthese speeches belong to the ages now,” his son,Jesse Jackson Jr., told theAPinOctober

Drawntothe movement

Jesse Louis Jackson was born Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, the son of high school student Helen Burns and Noah Louis Robinson, amarried man who lived next door.Jackson was later adoptedbyCharles Henry Jackson, whomarried his mother Jacksonwas astar quarterback on the footballteam at Sterling High School in Greenville,and he accepted afootball scholarship from the University of Illinois.But

after reportedly being toldthat Black people couldn’tplay quarterback, he transferredtoNorth Carolina A&T in Greensboro, where he became the ﬁrst-string quarterback,anhonor student in sociology and economics, and student body president

Arriving on thehistorically Black campus in 1960, just months after students there launched sitins at aWhites-only lunch counter, Jackson immersed himself in the blossoming Civil Rights Movement. By 1965, he joined the voting rights march Kingled from SelmatoMontgomery,Alabama. King dispatched him to Chicago to launch Operation Breadbasket, aSouthern Christian Leadership Conference efforttopressure companies to hire Black workers. Jackson called histime with King “a phenomenal four years of work.”

Jackson was withKing on April 4, 1968, when the civil rights leader was slain. Jackson’saccount of theassassination was that King died in his arms. Sharpton saidhe“always wondered how much trauma that must have been” for Jackson towitness King’sdeath. “Henever would talk about it too much, but it drove him,”Sharpton said Tuesday.“He said, ‘We’ve got to keep Dr.King’s legacy alive.’” With his ﬂair for thedramatic,

The constant campaigns often left hiswife, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, the collegesweethearthe married in 1963, taking the lead in raising their ﬁve children: Santita Jackson, YusefDuBoisJackson Jacqueline LaviniaJackson Jr., and twofuture members of Congress, U.S. Rep. Jonathan Luther Jacksonand JesseL.Jackson Jr., whoresigned in 2012 but is seeking reelection in the 2026 midterms.

Theelder Jackson, who wasordained as aBaptist ministerin1968 andearnedhis master’s of divinity degree in 2000, also acknowledged fatheringa child, AshleyJackson, with one of his employees at Rainbow/PUSH, Karen L. Stanford. He said he understood what it means to be born outofwedlock and supported her emotionally and ﬁnancially

Politicalaspirations fall short

Despiteonce telling aBlack audience he would not run forpresident “because White people are incapable of appreciating me,” Jacksonran twice and did better than any Black politician had before President Barack Obama, winning 13 primaries and caucuses forthe Democratic nomination in 1988, fouryears after his ﬁrst failed attempt. His successes left supporters chanting another Jackson slogan, “Keep hope alive.”

“I was able to run for the presi-

Featherweight Scooter

Jackson’swords sometimes got him in trouble. In 1984, he apologized forwhat he thought were private comments to areporter in whichhecalled New York City “Hymietown,” a derogatory referencetoits large Jewish population. And in 2008, he made headlines when he complained that Obama was “talking downtoBlack people” in comments captured by amicrophone he didn’tknow wasonduring a break in atelevision taping.

Still, when Jackson joined the jubilant crowdinChicago’sGrant Park to greet Obama that election night, he had tears streaming downhis face.

“I wish foramoment that Dr King or (slain civil rights leader) MedgarEvers could’ve just been there for 30 seconds to see the fruits of their labor,” he told the AP years later.“Ibecame overwhelmed. It was the joy and the journey.”

Jacksonalsohad influence abroad,meeting world leaders and scoring diplomatic victories, including the releaseofNavyLt. Robert Goodman from Syria in 1984, as well as the 1990 release of more than 700foreign women andchildren held after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In 1999, he won the freedom of three Americans imprisoned by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

In 2000,President BillClinton awardedJacksonthe Presidential Medal of Freedom,the country’s highest civilian honor

STAFF FILEPHOTO By DAVIDGRUNFELD

The Rev. Al Sharpton,left, Abfullsh Muflahi, owner of Triple SFood Mart, right, andthe Rev. Jesse Jackson meet during Alton Sterling’s funeral at theF.G. Clark ActivityCenter on the SouthernUniversity campus in Baton RougeonJuly 15, 2016.

CBSlawyers pulled candidateinterview,Colbert says

Networksaysit could violateFCC’s equal-time rule

BY MEG KINNARD,JIM VERTUNO and JOHN HANNA Associated Press

AUSTIN,Texas Late-nighthost Stephen Colbert said his interview with Democratic TexasSenate candidate James Talarico was pulled from Monday night’sbroadcast over network fearsit would violate regulatory guidance from the Trump administration on giving equal time to political candidates.

Colbert’sstatements overshadowed Tuesday’s startofearly voting for Texas primariesthat feature aheated Democratic race between Talarico and U.S. Rep. JasmineCrockett.

Four-term Republican Sen. John Cornyn also faces the ﬁght of his long career against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtonand U.S.

Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Colbert said CBS lawyers said in “nouncertain terms” that Talarico could not appear on “The Late Show with Step hen Colbert” broadcast because the network feared violating guidance from theTrump administration.

could triggerthe Federal Communications Commission’sequaltime rule.

gerouskind of cancelculture, the kind that comes fromthe top.”

Colbert nevertheless interviewed Talarico for nearly 15 minutes and posted the video on YouTube, because online materialdoes notfall under theequal-time rule

“Then Iwas told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could Inot have himon. Icould not mention me not having him on,” Colbert said. “And becausemy network clearly doesn’twant us to talk about this, let’stalk about this.”

CBS disputed Colbert’saccount saying its attorneys only “provided legal guidance” that broadcasting an interview with Talarico

Crockett expressed skepticismabout the “mania” playing outonthe ﬁrst day of earlyvoting, “which feels kind of convenient.”

Both Talarico andCrockett have built nat ional proﬁlesthrough viral social media clips as media organizations have navigated around changing broadcast guidance issuedunder President Donald Trump governing how they interview political candidates.

Talaricoposted anearly minutelong clip of his interview with Colbert on X, calling it “the interview DonaldTrumpdidn’twantyou to see.”

“I think Donald Trump is worried we’re abouttoflip Texas,” Talarico toldColbertduring their interview.“This is themostdan-

Crockettsuggested that Colbert could haveavoidedanissuewith the FCCbyhaving heronthe show, as he hasinthe past. Both sheand Talarico also have appeared on ABC’sdaytime show,“The View.”

She toldreporters aftervoting early in Dallas that she still was looking into the situation but added,“I’vedone Colbert anumber of times. I’ve done ‘The View’ anumber of times. I’ve done (Jimmy) Kimmel anumber(of times).I’ve done all of these shows anumber of times.”

On theRepublican side, Paxton stepped up what hadbeen alowkey campaign with arally Monday evening in Tylerineastern Texas, whileCornyn hadhis own rally TuesdayinAustin. Hunt released anew televisionadonTuesday Broadcast networks have been requiredtogive equal timeto political candidates, but thatrule hasn’ttraditionallybeen appliedto talk shows

In January,the Federal Com-

munications Commission issued new guidance warning late-night anddaytime hoststhattheyneed to give political candidates equal time.

FCCChairman BrendanCarr,a Trumpappointee,questionedthe talkshow exemption and posited that hostswere“motivated by partisan purposes.”

The public notice said the FCC hadnot seen evidencethattalk shows would qualify foranexemption from the rule for “bona ﬁde news.” Carr has often criticized network talk shows, suggesting last year that probing “The View” —whose hosts have frequently been critical of Trump —overthe exemption might be “worthwhile.”

The FCC did not immediately respondTuesday to amessageseeking comment. Colbert’sdaysashostare limited,following CBS’ announcement last year that it was canceling his show this May for ﬁnancial reasons, shuttering adecades-old TV institution in achanging media landscape.

Though Biloxi served as a home base for Nix and his crew, the Dixie Mafia targeted scores of poor Southern towns. Its members inﬁltrated law enforcement through bribery and patronage, uncovering the lawlessness and political corruption that dominated parts of the Gulf Coast. The group also exposed rot within Southern institutions, including the Harrison County Sheriff’s Ofﬁce designated a criminal enterprise by authorities in 1983 — and in Angola prison whose practices remain controversial today

And though the criminal ring has been disbanded for decades, its presence still haunts the Gulf Coast region. Old strip clubs and illegal gambling halls were closed and torn down to make way for new development near the Biloxi beach.

The history of the criminal organization is often republished in news articles And Nix — who is still alive — is often featured in documentaries and podcasts about the Dixie Mafia, including a newly released episode of “Forgotten History” with more than 550,000 views on YouTube.

So how did it all begin six decades ago? Reports from that time show the operation across New Orleans and south Mississippi started with theft and drug trade, before metastasizing into a criminal enterprise that exploited the region’s vulnerabilities.

‘Anything for a buck’

When they forced their way inside of Corso’s home on the New Orleans lakefront in 1971, Nix and his accomplices were searching for money earned from his French Quarter grocery store and jewelry — a familiar pattern for Nix, who had previously served time for another robbery on Mardi Gras in 1968.

That year, he and several accomplices stole thousands of dollars from a group operating vendor trucks along a parade route. They tied up several people, and one woman was killed during the theft.

Shortly after he was identiﬁed as a perpetrator, Nix turned himself in at the Georgia State Penitentiary. Though he had previously escaped from the prison while serving time for a lesser offense, reports from the period were unclear about whether he completed that sentence or escaped again before the Corso robbery

By 1970, the Dixie Maﬁa’s presence had expanded across the South, particularly in Mississippi, where state and national authorities launched a special unit dedicated solely to investigating organized crime in a region that leaders described as being “ripe with criminality.”

The organization soon moved into the illegal drug trade. Dilaudid — an opioid used to treat severe pain and, in some cases, to enhance the performance of

racehorses flooded the streets in the late 1970s, drawing the attention of the Dixie Maﬁa.

“They’ll do anything for a buck,” an investigator said in a 1978 interview “These people started getting into drugs because they found that if they burglarized a drugstore they could get more money for the drugs than if they broke into a safe somewhere.”

The ‘lonely hearts’ scam

Meanwhile, in Angola, Nix was running a far larger operation: a “lonely hearts” scam that targeted gay men across the country, bilked victims of thousands of dollars and ultimately led to the Sherrys’ killings — a hit prosecutors said was ordered from behind bars.

For at least four years, Nix ran the scam in hopes of amassing enough money to buy his way out of prison, aided by fellow inmates and outside accomplices, including businessman Mike Gillich Jr., a trusted member of the Dixie Maﬁa who owned two Biloxi clubs along a nightlife district known as the Strip.

Nix was later named in 74 counts in grand jury indictments. He — along with Peter Mule, who was also serving a life sentence for Corso’s killing — was removed from Angola because authorities said they threatened inmates and others who participated in the investigation.

Investigators later determined the inmates paid guards to use prison phones. Nix placed as many as 80 calls a day to run advertisements in gay magazines and newspapers nationwide, Stan Branton, an assistant district attorney in West Feliciana Parish, said in 1989.

When men responded, Nix answered with photographs of a male model, posing as the suitor and claiming he was looking for a friend but ﬁrst needed money to be released from prison. Some inmates would eventually confess the scam and extort more money by threatening to out the victims, the FBI said Between 1988 and 1989, the respondents sent airfare,

money orders or checks worth up to $200,000. None of the victims met Nix or the other inmates involved in the scheme.

Nix arranged for the money to be sent to his girlfriend and his attorney, Pete Halat, who later served as Biloxi’s mayor Halat was in office after the 1987 killings of the Sherrys. After leaving office, he was sentenced to prison for his role in the murders.

The Sherry murders

Two days after the couple was shot to death with a .22-caliber pistol, Halat found the bodies at their Biloxi home. His former law partner, Vincent Sherry, was in the den and his wife, a former City Council member, was in the bedroom.

At the funeral, Halat delivered the eulogy and the investigation went nowhere. The case was revived years later when the Sherry family hired a private detective. As rumors circulated among locals about Halat’s involvement, he vehemently denied the allegation at a news conference, calling it an “outright lie” and claiming he only had a professional relationship with Nix. Investigators found that wasn’t true. Halat had been entrusted with money through the “lonely hearts” scheme. When it came time to hand over the proceeds to Nix and his associates, Halat falsely claimed Vincent Sherry had taken the money to cover the fact that he had spent it himself.

The Dixie Mafia then ordered a $2,000 hit on the Sherrys.

In 1996, three years after he completed his time as mayor, Halat and four aides were charged with murder conspiracy, racketeering and other federal charges in the killings. Halat was sentenced to 18 years in prison, while Nix and the hitman who killed the Sherrys received life sentences Gillich was sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping to plot the murders.

Where are they now?

Nix, now 82, has spent nearly half of his life in prison.

While he was incarcerated at the

tional Center in El Reno, Oklahoma, records show

Nix sought a compassionate release due to his health decline, including congestive heart failure, diabetes, sleep apnea and mobility issues. The request was denied, and he is serving the remainder of his sentence at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springﬁeld, Missouri, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Records show Halat was released in 2013 and currently lives in Ocean Springs. He has maintained his innocence in interviews with local news outlets. Gillich was released in 2000, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said. He died in 2012 at 83. While many of its members are dead or behind bars, the legacy of the Dixie Maﬁa lives

Federal Correc-

The bodies of Vincent and Margaret Sherry are removed from their Biloxi, Mississippi home

crime scene investigators for the Biloxi Police Department.

of the destruction, loss or theft of anyBond,and (2) thereisdelivered to the Issuer and the Paying Agent such security or indemnity as may be required by them to save each of them harmless, then, in the absence of notice to the Issuer or the Paying Agent that

of any new Bond under this Section, the Issuer may requirethe payment by the Owner of asum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge that may be imposed in relation thereto and anyother expenses (including the fees and expenses of the Paying Agent) connected therewith. Every

is hereby confirmed and approved. The Issuer reserves the right to appoint asuccessor Paying Agent by (a) filing with the Person then performing such function acertified copy of aresolutionorResolutiongiving notice of the termination of the Agreement and appointing asuccessor

supervision or examination by Federal or State authority.The Executive Officer is hereby authorized and directed to execute an appropriate Agreement with the Paying Agent for and on behalf of the Issuer in such form as may be satisfactory to said officers, the signatures of said officers on such Agreement

PARTY GRAS

It was anything but anormal Tuesday around Lafayette.On MardiGras, theKingGabriel parade was ﬁrst to make itsway through the streets of Lafayette. Crowds lined up along theroute to catch beads,aswell as to get aglimpseofthe king. Gabriel was followed by the Lafayette Mardi Gras Festival parade and the Independent parade, all of which ended at CajunField. There, theparty continued

rides, food and more.

KING GABRIEL’S: Revelersreach forbeads during the parade as it rolls down VermilionStreet on Mardi Gras. STAFFPHOTO By BRAD KEMP

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

KINGGABRIEL’S: King Gabriel LXXXVII John Bordelon looks over theparade crowd

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

KING GABRIEL’S: Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet, center,rides with the Lafayette Police Department’sMounted Unitduring the parade.

STAFF PHOTO By BRADKEMP

KINGGABRIEL’S: A float rider enjoys riding down Vermilion Street.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

LAFAYETTE MARDI GRAS FESTIVAL: Krewe members make throws as the parade rolls on Mardi Gras in Lafayette.

STAFF PHOTO By BRADBOWIE

LAFAYETTE MARDI GRAS FESTIVAL: Members of the Creole Mardi Gras Indians marchalong the parade route

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

LAFAYETTE MARDI GRAS FESTIVAL: Royalty is recognized in the parade.

STAFFPHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

LAFAYETTE MARDI GRAS FESTIVAL: Queen Suzanne Simonne LXVIII, Ja’Naya Anae Williams, prepares to throwapair of flip-flopstothe crowd.

with

Editor’snote:This editorial, slightlymodiﬁed, has appeared on previous Ash Wednesdays in this newspaper

To get a“black mark,” we understand from thecommon lexicon,isn’tagood thing —except on Ash Wednesday,when many Christians observe the beginningofLent with asmudge of ash on their foreheads as areminder of their mortality

The message is more relevant than ever: “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” as the Ash Wednesday admonition goes, asomber recognition that in the great cycle of earthly life, none of us is here for very long.

It’sareality that resonates among those of all faiths, or even those withno particular religious faith at all, although our culture does much to deny it.

Cosmetics and fashion falsely promise eternal youth, and politics promotes the equally hollow promise of power as apermanent commodity,asifour smallestdesires might be attained by legislationordecree.

Ash Wednesday points us to adifferent and healthier —perspective on the human condition, one that acknowledges the limitsof personalambition, the boundaries of earthly human life itself.

Lent reminds us how small we are in the scheme of things, awelcome corrective tothe narcissism of our politics, the narrowness of ourgenerosity,the nastiness of realityTVand the darker corners of social media.

The start of Lent today also means another chance to embrace the cause of personal improvement, aprospect that couldn’tcome at a better time.

This is the point of the year,after all, when many of us realize that those well-meaning New Year’sresolutions haven’tcome tovery much.

Many people use Lent as aseason toeither give up some small pleasure, like chocolate or cake, or resolve to do something extra, like helping aneighbor or volunteering at afood bank. The hope is that these small personal disciplines will help deepenour spiritual resolve for bigger challenges. As we move through a divisive time in our country,wealsohope that ourLenten practices help us lessen the vitriol rampant in our society andelevateour political discourse.

At the very least, Lent brings the news that although we remain imperfect in ayear still young, there’sanew opportunitytobecome a little thinner,alittle stronger,maybe even a little kinder

And with Friday ﬁsh fries and crawﬁsh boils, Easter and Lent are also linked in aspirit of fellowship.

Although Lent isn’tmeant tobeajollytime,it serves as abridge between winter and spring. The march of Lent is taking us, slowly but surely,toawarmer place, adestination softened by pastel skies, greening lawns, aﬂowering landscape.

Anew season, blessedly,isjust around the corner

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

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

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

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

This is in reply to theletter “A landowner’scase for Louisiana’seconomic future,”byRobert Crosby Crosby overlooks theresponsibility that we as large landowners owe to our neighbors and our communities. LikeCrosby,myfamily has been in thetimber business over ahundred years. We have tried to be good stewards and good neighbors.

Carbon capture is not good for our neighbors, nor our community Crosby overlooks thefact that decisions he makes on his land affect his neighbors and the community as a whole. Ruining thedrinking water from acarbon capture spill affects everyone. The timber companies are only worried about their dollars, not how our communities will be in 10, 20 or 100 years from now.The timber companies even came to our parish police jury and asked them not to pave roads, to leavethem dustybecause they were tired of ﬁxing paved roads. They couldn’tcare less about

Iamapolice ofﬁcer.Iworked hard to achieve my goal. Iamfrom Oak Brook,Illinois;from Elyria, Ohio; from Metairie. Iamsworn to uphold thelaw.But I’m not local. I’m alaw enforcement ofﬁcer of the federal government,ofwhich Iamproud. AndIamunder attack. In thefreezing temperatures of Minneapolis,Iwas an alien. Iwas yelled at by people on the street. The protesters heretried to trip me, punch me and spit at me. Iamsworn in to enforce thelaws of the U.S. government —their government It was cold. Bitter cold. Yetthey wouldn’tlet me buyacup of coffee at the local convenience stores.

My fellow ofﬁcersand Istayed in local motels.But we couldn’tget a good night’s sleep because the antagonists or protesters, whatever they are, yelled outside on the street. It got me stressed. It made me almost delirious.Why do they hateme? I was only doing what my job is: to enforce immigration law.That’s my

thecommunity

We,asresponsible landowners, take stewardship of the lands seriously We are not driven by the almighty dollar,and carbon capture is not good for our community.Don’tbemisled into thinking carbon capture will makeeverybody rich. Only the oil companies will truly beneﬁt. Take a stand toprotect our rural community.Oppose carbon capture, if not for you, for your kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. Remember that both times ahazardous waste dump was proposed for St. Helena Parish,itwas the large timber companies whowould sell them the land. Yes, the timber companies pay alittle property tax, but that is it. They don’tcontribute to our school athletes, ourlittle league, our churches and other civic organizations. Remember,tothem it is all about the dollar REP. ROBERT J. CARTER state representative, District72 Greensburg

job

IamanICU nurse in Minneapolis.

Ihate President Donald Trump, and Ihated the federal Nazis who were arresting innocentpeople who are justtrying to makeabetterlife for themselves in theU.S. Maybe Ishould have gone back down to supportthem. Last timeI went,Ispit at U.S. Immigrationand Customs Enforcement ofﬁcers and kicked out one of their taillights. It felt good!

Iamaspectator,anAmerican citizen who lives in Mandeville.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agentsshould nothave to ﬁght U.S. citizens and protesters in order to do theirjobs, to enforce the law. If we don’tagree withthe laws of this country,they need to be changed. Theonly way to do thatisthrough Congress. It is not to ﬁght law enforcement in thestreets. What’s wrong with us?

JONATHAN SHERMAN Mandeville

Recently,I watched the local TV newsatnoon. Most of the commercials werefor ambulance chasers. Their billboards are also ubiquitous. Such advertising requires asigniﬁcant cost. Looks like the PACcan afford only atwentieth of the TV advertising of the chasers. Ever see the billboards by these ﬁrmsbragging about getting $100 million fortheir clients? Car accident lawyers have arather lucrative gig. Although their take can be higher, mostcommonly their take is athird of the settlement. So, when you see abillboard bragging about getting $100 million fortheir clients, what you should realize is that the lawyers pocketed $33 million. And where does the $33 million come from? It comes from the insurance companies. And where do the insurance companies get the coin to cover these settlements? Who pays for this largess? Yeah, that would be the shmucks required to buy car insurance.

Think of one-third of your car insurance premium as being adonation to line the pockets of folks that give us all these billboards and TV advertisements. If you get rear-ended, don’tfret. Think of it as your lottery ticket to two-thirds of the spoils. As forthe rest of us, let’sjust enjoy the commercials and billboards and hope that we can afford our car insurance.

DAVE WHIDDON NewOrleans

The difference between President Donald Trump2.0 and 1.0 is dramatic. During Trump1.0, the president wasmerely annoying and embarrassing. Now,one year into 2.0, the president has been bestowed with unprecedented personal power,and his impulse is to abuse it.

MICHAEL COLEMAN NewOrleans

Bewarethe bullypromising a‘soft touch’

Forcasual observers of U.S. politics, an interview President Donald Trump gave to “NBC Nightly News” might have suggested achange of tone in the federal government’sstandoff in Minnesota.

Speaking of the bruteforce operations federal agents have conducted there rounding up undocumented immigrants in that state, Trumptold anchor TomLlamas: “I learned that maybe we could use alittle bitofa softer touch. But youstill have to be tough.”

To make sense of Trump,it’smore important to pay attention towhathedoes than what he says —because what he says is often misdirection, andislikely to be contradicted by what hesaysor does aday,aweek or amonth later. “We’re dealing with really hard criminals,” Trump told Llamas, adding, “Look, I’ve called the people. I’vecalled the governor. I’ve called the mayor Spoke to ‘em. Had great conversations with them. And then Isee them rantingand raving outthere. Literally as though acall wasn’tmade.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol are not“dealing with” alot of criminals —which is to say,undocumented immigrantswho have committed violent crime in our country —although they have arrested afew.And theconservative Cato Institute estimatesthatof those arrested in all DHS operations since Oct. 1, 73% have no priorcriminal convictions, andonly5%have had a violent criminal conviction

So it strains credibility tocontend that federal agents are in Minnesota to riditofdangerous aliens. And judging by reportsonsocial media from those involved, ICE andBorder Patrol agents have not de-escalated effortstoarrest immigrants and Minnesotans observing and documentingtheir operations. Federal agents continuetopullguns on citizen observers, threaten them verbally,rough them up, arrest them and publish their mugshots on social media with the intention of inﬂicting personal repercussions. All because these citizens engage in constitutionally protected activity that Trumpand DHS don’tlike.

Minnesota Gov.Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey,both Democrats, have strongly condemned Trump’simmigration raids, andhave called on the president to de-escalate Yetthe true intentions of theTrump

administration can be seen in theletter U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote to Walz shortly after the shooting death of asecond protester,Alex Pretti, on thestreets of Minneapolis. Bondi toldWalz that he could “bring an end to the chaos” by, among other things,turning over thestate’svoter data to the Justice Department. How are voter rolls related to immigration enforcement? This is where casual observers of U.S. politics need to start payingattention.

Under Trump, theJustice Department has aggressively sought statevoter data, andhas sued at least 24 states andterritories to get it. Eleven states have complied, but manyhave resisted, including Minnesota, where complying would actually break state law Trump, youwill recall, infamously claimed the2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden,was stolen. Andalthough he and his allies mounted more than 60 lawsuits alleging voter fraud, all of them failed butone, an inconsequential case in Pennsylvania. Yethis supporters wentontostormthe U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the Electoral College vote from beingcertiﬁed, one of the most shameful days in recent U.S. political history

As Ipointed out not long ago, Trump views the2026 midterms as existential. If heloses themajority in either house of Congress, he faces investigations, roadblockstogovern and possibly impeachment. No surprise, then, that

Trumprecently said he might not “ac-

cept” the midterm poll results. He wants to “nationalize” voting so his federal agencies can control it. And make no mistake, themidterms areshaping up to be adisaster for Republicans,and they know it.The violence committed in Trump’sDHS raids has seriously undercut support for the president and his party in public opinion polls.

YetTrumpand Co. continue their effortstointimidate, hoping their fortunes will change.

Bullying hasbeen afruitful strategy for Trump in his second term.Hehas used every lever of government to amassgreat personal power and wealth, to cow and extortand threaten people and institutions he has deemed as rivals.

Butwhen he turned on ordinary Minnesotans —and Angelenos and Chicagoans before that —and they stood up and fought back, it forced all of America to confront the possibilitythat our democracy is slouching towardtyranny and that we too need to stand up.

It’soutrageous to thinkthat Americans are ﬁghting our own president —risking arrest, injury and even death —touphold thebasic rights theConstitution grantstoall of us. But Trump has plunged us intoaneedless, destructivenational crisis, and it may get alot worse before it gets better

Email Clarence Page at clarence47page@gmail.com.

ACOVID realitycheck forAIhype

COVID-19 gave everyoneaharsh lesson in the power of exponentials, and that memory haunts any analysis of artificial intelligence. Sure, everything looks fine now.But then, everything also looked fine in early March 2020. By the end of the month,we were locked in our houses with our strategic reserves of toilet paper In aviral essay on Xthis week, Otherside AI founder MattShumer draws the parallel explicitly.“Ithink we’re in the ‘this seems overblown’ phase of something much, much bigger than COVID,” he writes, before launching into adescription of what’s already here for coders: AI agents building “usuallyperfect” software from a plain-English description. He’spredictingaworld sooninwhich AIblows up software development andmoves on to every other profession.

WhenPresident Donald Trump claims there hasbeen “voter fraud” in previous elections, whatusually comes to my mind is non-U.S. citizens casting ballots. That is against the law. There have been afew such instances,but no credible proof that they were enough to change the outcomeofan election. There is anotherkind of voterfraud which has escaped the attention—whether accidentally or deliberately —of the media. PeterSchweizer writes aboutitinhis newbook “The Invisible Coup: How American Elitesand Foreign Powers Use Immigrationasa Weapon.”

In achaptertitled“Voter Mills,” Schweizer notes that1.2 millionnew citizens were sworn in during the 1996 election year “threetimesthe numberprocessed by the INS (Immigrationand NaturalizationService) the previous year.” Schweizer makes astrong andwell-documented case that the Clintonadministration (and later the Biden administration) violated immigration law by rushing through people fromother countriestobecome citizens and then rapidly registering themtovote, mostly for Democrats.

Citing aJusticeDepartment Inspector General InvestigationofCitizenship USA discovered by The Daily Caller,Schweizer writes thatRahmEmanuel, thenanassistant to the president for political affairs, “took midnight trips to INS headquarters to meet with (then-Commissioner Daniel Meissner) to speed-up the process of granting citizenship to foreigners.”

Schweizer says, “As avote generator, it worked: eighty-ﬁve percentofthis populationvoted for Clinton-Gore.” Schweizer writes the same strategy was usedbythe Bidenadministration, which he suggests was amajor reason Biden refused to control the southern border during his four years in ofﬁce.

The waytoreverse this type of voter fraud andprevent it from happening in the future is to revoke the naturalizedcitizenship of those who circumvented the requirements for becoming U.S. citizens.

“I know the next two to ﬁve years are going to be disorienting in ways most people aren’tprepared for,”hewrites. “This is already happening in my world. It’scoming to yours.”

By Friday,the post had 80 million views, and Xhad been divided intotwo warring camps, each astounded by the other’snaiveté: skeptics whosaw this as more false hype, and AI boomers and doomers who think we’re on thecuspof the biggest social and economic transformation since at least the Industrial Revolution, and possibly thetamingof ﬁre. Is it time to freak out? Well, don’t panic, but you should be concerned Though not becausethe economy as we know it will end in two years, or ﬁve.

As readers of this column know,I’m closer to aboomer than askeptic. I’ve watched AI get steadily better at doing partsofmyjob (though not thewriting, every word of which has been lovingly

handcrafted by ahuman). I’m also paying attention to what people from AI World are saying —and not just the executives, who can be suspectedofhyping their product as they raise vast sums of capital to build moredata centers. Dismiss them if you will, but pay attention to thepeople who are leaving the major AI platforms, declaring we’re on the verge of recursive self-improvement (machines building better and better versions of themselves). Or else murmuring about ﬁnding something else to dointhe brave new world, like studying poetry.All this makes me inclined to believethat Shumer is directionally correct. Even if theimprovement stalls well short of superintelligence, aworld of merely very intelligent machines is apt to get really weird for agood long while. Though probably not assoon as AI World thinks. It often seems to extrapolatefromthe pace of changeinthe software industry,which is undergoing astaggering transformation.

Butmost of the economy is not the software industry.Tech ﬁrmsare best positioned to innovate in thebusiness they understandbest. As AI spreads beyond those borders, thepace of advancementshould slow Electricity,chips and the growing political pushback will becomeproblems as AI expands. But leaving those constraints aside, AI will face steeper challenges in industries that work with people, or physical objects, rather than electrons.

What percentage of jobs can be automatedbyAI? Hard to say,but takethe maximalistcase: every job that was done overZoom in 2021. In that year, accordingtothe Census Bureau, 17.9% of workers were working primarily from home. That means more than

80% of jobs required someone’sphysical presence, which implies they were doing something that cannot easily be replaced by avirtual worker

Yeteven that 17.9% probably overstates the potential, at least in thenear term. Having spent ﬁve years working in IT,Ican attest that software engineers adopt new technical tools much quicker,and withconsiderably less pain, than any other user Many other constraintsdon’texist in the software industry but abound outside it. Take drug discovery,which has captured alot of imaginations cures for cancer,ondemand! Even if every other part of the process was turbocharged by AI, drug companies would still be required by law to test inventions in thousands of human subjects.However much AI improves that process, it will not enable you to administer a12-week course of anew drug to fewer than the required number of subjects, or in less than 12 weeks.

Almostevery sector outside of software has many such constraints —cultural, physical and regulatory. Maybe one day we’ll get so good at modeling biological processes that we can skip theclinical trials. But probably not in ﬁve years, and given how glacially bureaucracies move, maybe not in 50

So while there are afew industries where everything might go sideways in thenext ﬁve years (journalism,alas, is one of them), in most jobs, you should expect things to be mostly business as usual come2030. That said, remember COVID, and don’tlet the apparent normalcy blind you to what’scoming. If you’re in awhite-collar job, you’ve probably got time. Butitwon’tdoyou much good unless you use it to prepare for what’scoming.

MeganMcArdle in on X, @asymmetricinfo.

Whatdoes the lawrequire of people who wish to become citizens of the UnitedStates andgainthe right to vote?The U.S. Citizenship andImmigrationServices describes it: “Toqualify forU.S. naturalized citizenship, applicants must generally be at least 18, alawfulpermanent resident (green card holder) for5 years(or 3ifmarried to aU.S. citizen), demonstrate good moral character, andpossess basic English proﬁciency along with knowledge of U.S. history and government.”

If an immigrant violates the law, what are supposedtobethe consequences?” Aperson is subject to revocation of naturalization if he or she procured naturalization illegally.” Schweizer writes“...with pressure from the (Clinton) White House,the INS did not properly enforce the English language requirement of naturalization.” Many INS workers, he says, reported that they “regularly encountered applicants who presented passing certiﬁcates but who could notspeak even simple English. TheybecameU.S. citizens anyway.”And instant voters.

In view of this illegal strategy by Democrats, it could be argued that amajor reason for anti-ICE demonstrations in Minneapolis is thatthe left wants to maintain their harvest of newDemocrat voters for future electioncycles.

President Trump, the Justice Department andthe INS should launch an investigation into those who violatedthe requirements for becoming American citizens.

If proven theyviolatedthe law, they should be stripped of their citizenship, along with their right to vote,driver’slicenses andpassports anddeported to the countries from which theycame. Otherwise,the law is made amockeryand those who followed the lawtobecome citizens will rightfully be angry abouta systemthat treats law-abidersand lawbreakersthe same

Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditorstribpub. com.

ega McArdle M n

Cal Thomas

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTOByABBIE PARR Federalimmigration officers deploypepper sprayatprotesters after ashooting on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis.

Clarence Page

Shia LaBeoufaccused of batteryinN.O.bar brawl

Police:Actor was aggressive, restrainedby patrons

From staff and wire reports

Shia LaBeouf was arrested after punching two people, one of the victims repeatedly,ataRoyal Street bar in the early morning hours of Mardi Gras, leading to patrons holdingdown the actor until authorities arrived, accordingtothe New Orleans Police Department.

LaBeouf, 39, was arrested on two counts of simple battery after receiving treatment for injuries suffered in the brawl at an area hospital.

NOPD officers were called to RBar,at1431 Royal St., around 12:45 a.m. after receiving areport of two male victims being assaulted.

Police say LaBeouf, who had been celebrating Mardi Grasin New Orleans over theweekend, was “reportedly causing adisturbance and becoming increasingly aggressive.” The “Transformers” and “Holes” star allegedly then punched an R Bar staff member trying to eject him from the bar due to his behavior

LaBeoufleft after theﬁrst incident,police said, but came back to the bar “actingeven more aggressive.”

NOPD said multiple bar patrons attempted to hold LaBeouf down, but let him go in hopes he’d leave and not return.

He cameback again,strikingthe same staff member againmultiple times, according to arelease from police,and punchedanother man in the nose.

The starwas reportedly held down again until NOPD arrived.

Court and jail records didnot list an attorney who couldspeak on behalf of LaBeouf. Emails to LaBeouf’spublicists were not immediately returned.

LaBeouf has had several run-ins with the lawduringhis career,including an early 2017 New York arrest for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct that was captured on alivestream video. He was sent to courtmandated rehabilitation.

Laterthatsummer, he was arrested in Georgia for public drunkennessand accused of disorderly conduct and obstruction, when he was on location ﬁlming “The Peanut Butter Falcon” and sentenced toprobation. In 2020, hewas charged with misdemeanor battery and petty theft in Los Angeles. That year,the English

singerand actor FKA Twigs, whose legalnameis TahliahBarnett, also filed alawsuit alleging LaBeouf was physically andemotionally abusive to herduring theirrelationship, which they settled in July

Barnett said LaBeouf put herinaconstant state of fear and humiliation, once slammed her intoacar tried to strangleher and knowingly gave herasexually transmitted disease.

LaBeouf apologized in a statementafter the lawsuit wasﬁled. He also denied the accusations in the lawsuit in a2021 ﬁling, saying any injuries done or damages incurred by Barnett were not his doing.

LaBeouf is not astranger to Louisiana. He is of Cajun descent and is known to love Mardi Gras. He was spotted at aSlidell parade last year and attended the 2026 Bacchus parade on Sunday

2026

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

KING GABRIEL’S: Arider tossesastuffed fish to the crowd during the parade as it rolls down Vermilion StreetonMardiGras. STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

GABRIEL’S: Astuffed lion is tossed from a float. STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

Crowdmembers vie for throws as the parade rolls on Mardi Gras.

as theyreturntothe

FIRSTIMPRESSIONS

Starting pitching raises eyebrowduring impressive opening week forLSU

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

It wasn’talways pretty,but LSU baseball has started the 2026 season with a perfect record.

The Tigers are 4-0 after sweeping Milwaukee over the weekend andtaking down Kent State on Monday.LSU won 15-5 on Friday,5-3 on Saturday,21-7 on Sunday and 10-7 on Monday

Here are five takeawaysfrom LSU’s

ANALYSIS

ﬁrst four games of the year ahead of a 1p.m. Wednesday matchup with Nicholls State at AlexBox Stadium.

Slow starters

LSU starting pitchers combined to post a6.06 ERA in 161/3 innings, walking eight batters and allowing three home runs. These numbers would be worrying, but

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVIDZALUBOWSKI

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham,front, reacts afterforward Tobias Harris,back, madeabasketagainst the Denver Nuggets in the second half of agame on Jan. 27 in Denver.

understandable, in Southeastern Conference play.But Milwaukee had a24-35 recordlastseason.KentState has apowerful offense, but theGolden Flashes aren’t ArkansasorTennessee.

The only starter who excelledwas Kansas transfer right-hander Cooper Moore. He shut down the Panthers for six innings, allowing just one earned run with 11 strikeouts

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

As February began, the UL women’s basketball team seemed to be fading.

Fatigue through the burdenofall the losses and so few players having to playsomany minuteswas wearing on coach Garry Brodhead’sclub.

ä Southern Miss at UL, 6P.M.WEDNESDAy ESPN+

Then came last week when twoencouraging performances have the veteran coach wondering whether a strong ﬁnish is possible after all. The next chance to fan that flame comes at 6p.m. Wednesday against Southern Mississippi in the Cajundome. “Wewerebehind an eight ball whenwe started the season,” Brodhead said. “Wecould tell they weren’tready,sowestarteddoing someconditioning. We did so much of it thatwelooked really tiredand stuff, but Ithink it paid off. Ithink it’spayingoff nowthatthey’re in better condition”

The first game last week was a71-55 road loss to league-leading Troy.Inthat game,the Cajuns cuta21-point deficit to six in the second half before slipping late It wasamuchbetterperformance than an 80-54 loss to Troy in the first meeting.

In thesecondgamelastweek, UL won57-54 at South Alabama–the same team thatbeat the Cajuns 81-56 on Jan 3inLafayette. The Cajuns are now4-22 overalland 2-13 in Sun Belt play “I thoughtweplayeda more consistent game,” Brodhead said. “I think the freshmen(Imani Daniel, AmijahPrice) showed up and played really well along withMK(Mikaylah Manley).Theyoutreboundedus, but it wasn’tasbad as I thought it wasgoing to be.

“Wedid abetter joboftaking care of the ball. Ithink the turnovers were the key.”

UL only committed11turnovers in the win, compared to 22 for the Jaguars.

Manleycontinuedher recenthot streak with23points, four rebounds, five steals and three assists. The

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

The Detroit Pistons had the worst record in franchise history at the All-Star break four years ago. And two years ago, their record at the break was even worse. Lookatthem now When the NBA startspost-AllStar play on Thursday,the Pistons —afranchise that last won aplayoff series in 2008 —will start the night with the best record in the league, asmidge ahead of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.Detroit is 40-13, Oklahoma City 42-14.

TheThunder is expectedto be here. ThePistons probably weren’t. How Detroit ﬁnishes, and if it can holdontothat top spot, is oneofthe intriguing storylines for the stretch runofthe NBAseason —with two-thirds of theyear completeand teams now set to sprint toward theplayoffsorsprint toward the bottom in search of better lottery odds.

“We’re just going to run our race,” Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham said. “Welikewhere we’re at, and we’re going to continuetotry tofinish our season

Doug Ferguson

LOSANGELES Anthony Kim sharedthis much with Tiger Woods:The longer they stayed away,the morethe legend grew The difference was theamount of highlights to ﬁll thevoid and what kept themaway Kim’svictory in LIV Golf Adelaide lastweekend, beforethe largest crowd on the LIV circuit and in the early morning hours in most parts of America, was nothing short of astonishing because of how long he had been away —12yearsin the primeofhis career —and his struggleswith drug and alcohol addiction thatmade him thankful to even be alive, much lessplaying golf.

“Who Iamtoday is acompletely different person,” Kim said. “With God, my family,mysobrietybeing the key thingstomy life, Ican go as far as Iwant.”

What stands out about this return is the time lapse. Has there been another athlete from any other sportwho disappeared for so long and came back to win? Perhaps even moreremarkable is thathewas in the ﬁnal group, ﬁve shots behind Jon Rahm and BrysonDeChambeau, and didn’t missa shotonhis way to a63.

Kim’smantraistoget 1% bettereach day.That’s what it took to get him back. The question going forward is whether that percentage can increasegiven theshot of conﬁdence that comes from winning.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByCHARLES LABERGE

The talent was neverinquestion. Woodswas playing apractice round for the2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills when, during awaitonthe sixthtee, he walked over to theside of the tee boxand asked unprompted, “What do youthink of Anthony Kim?” Woodsnever missed anything going on in golf.

Ayearlater,Kim wonbyﬁve shots at QuailHollowand closed with a65towin at Congressionalinthe AT&T National Adding to theaura— as if the bling andbeltbucklesand the strut weren’t enough —was his takedown of Sergio Garciainthe 2008 Ryder Cup. They bothhit shots into 2feet on the ﬁrst hole at Valhalla

“Good-good?” Garcia said to Kim, suggesting theyconcedethe putts, acommon practice. “Let’sputtthem,” Kim replied

without looking at him. Kim was so wiredthatday that he walkedoff to the 15thtee after winning anotherholeonly to see the Spaniard waiting to shake his hand on the 14thgreen.Kim didn’t realize the match was over Ayear lateratthe Presidents Cup, reports surfaced thatKim was outpartying in the streetsof SanFranciscountil dawn before the ﬁnalround. Robert Allenby sharedthese tales, acurious decisionbecause this was afterKim needed only 15 holestobeat him in Sundaysingles. And before long, Kim wasgone. Athumb injury kept him offthe 2010 RyderCup team. There was pain in his left elbow, his wrist. There were missedcuts andWDs. His game was so badthatKim said his mother told him acaddie at agolfclub in LosAngeles was

AnthonyKim reacts to his made putt on the 18th green during the final round of the LIV Golf Adelaide at GrangeGolfClubinAdelaide, Australia, on Sunday ä See GOLF, page 3C

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU catcher Cade Arrambide, left, speaks withstarting pitcher CasanEvans

dugout after thethirdinning against Milwaukeeonopening dayFriday at Alex Box Stadium

ä See UL WOMEN, page 3C

ä See LSU BASEBALL, page 5C

Source: Clark intends to resign

Head of MLB Players Association to leave union position

BY RONALD BLUM AP baseball writer

TAMPA, Fla. Tony Clark intends to resign as head of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a person familiar with the union’s deliberations said Tuesday The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because his decision, ﬁrst reported by ESPN, had not been announced The person said an announcement was likely later Tuesday Clark’s decision took place during an investigation by the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, into One Team Partners, a licensing company founded by the union, the NFL Players Association and RedBird Capital Partners in 2019.

“A lot of people have known that the investigation has been going on,” said the New York Mets’ Marcus Semien, a member of the union’s eight-man executive subcommittee. “I think that this happening during the investigation is not like, as a subcommittee, is not like overly surprising, but it still hurts and it’s still something I’m processing.”

Deputy executive director Bruce Meyer is set to be the primary negotiator in the upcoming labor talks, as he was in 2021-22. After Clark and Rick Shapiro led the 2016 negotiations, Meyer was hired in August 2018 as senior director of collective bargaining and legal and was promoted to his current role in July 2022.

Semien believes Clark is leaving to deal with the probe.

“I think so,” he said, “because up to this point, before any investigations, I’ve had the ultimate conﬁdence in Tony Clark to lead this player group. I’ve had the ultimate confidence in Bruce Meyer to be the lead negotiator for this player group.”

The decision was made ahead of an expected start of collective

bargaining in April for an agreement to replace the ﬁve-year labor contract that expires Dec. 1. Management appears on track to propose a salary cap, which possibly could lead to a work stoppage that causes regular-season games to be canceled for the ﬁrst time since 1995.

Adam L. Braverman, a former U.S. associate deputy attorney general and U.S attorney in Los Angeles, was hired by the union’s executive subcommittee as outside counsel, two people familiar with the group’s action told the AP They spoke on condition of anonymity because the union hadn’t announced that.

The union on Monday canceled Tuesday’s scheduled start of the staff’s annual tour of the 30 spring training camps which was to have begun with the Cleveland Guardians in the morning and the Chicago White Sox in the afternoon.

Clark, 53, is a former All-Star first baseman who became the ﬁrst player to head the union.

He played from 1995-2009, becoming a union leader shortly

after going to his ﬁrst executive board meeting in 1999.

Clark was hired as the union’s director of player relations in 2010 and was promoted to deputy executive director in July 2013, when union head Michael Weiner’s health declined because of a brain tumor Weiner died that November and Clark was elevated to executive director, following Marvin Miller, Kenneth Moffett, Donald Fehr and Wiener as union head.

Clark led players through negotiations that led to an agreement in December 2016, about 3 1/2 hours before the prior deal was set to expire, and another in March 2022 after a 99-day lockout.

Meyer, 64, spent 30 years at Weil, Gotshal & Manges before joining the NHL Players Association in 2016 as senior director of collective bargaining, policy and legal.

Three members of the subcommittee, Jack Flaherty, Lucas Giolito and Ian Happ, were among the players who in March 2024 advocated for the ouster

of Meyer in an effort led by former union lawyer Harry Marino. Clark backed Meyer, the effort failed and those three players were dropped off the subcommittee that December

The subcommittee voted 8-0 against approving the 2022 labor contract and Meyer had advocated pushing management for a deal more favorable to the union. Team player representatives, the overall group supervising negotiations, voted 26-4 in favor, leaving the overall ballot at 26-12 for ratiﬁcation.

In addition to Semien, the current subcommittee includes Chris Bassitt, Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Cedric Mullins, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Brent Suter OneTeam says since its formation that it added, among others, the players’ associations of the WNBA, MLS, NWSL and the U.S. women’s soccer national team. RedBird sold its stake in 2019 to HPS Investment Partners, Atlantic Park Strategic Capital Fund and Morgan Stanley Tactical Value.

Owner Cohen says Mets won’t have captain

PORT ST LUCIE, Fla. — New York

Mets owner Steve Cohen likes the vibe in a revamped clubhouse, and says he’ll never have a captain in charge of that scene.

“As long as I’m owning the team, there will never be a team captain,” Cohen said in his ﬁrst meeting with reporters at spring training Monday “That was my decision. My view is the locker room is unique And let the locker room sort it out, year in, year out.” New York said goodbye to popular slugger Pete Alonso, star closer Edwin Díaz and two other Mets stalwarts before Christmas, but added free agent Bo Bichette and traded for All-Star pitcher Freddy Peralta.

The Mets are going into their third season with manager Carlos Mendoza after they missed the playoffs following a run to the 2024 NL championship series.

“I just was in that locker room and in the meeting and I sense an energy that really is exciting,” Cohen said on the day of the team’s first full-squad workout. “These are new faces, fresh faces that I think our fans are really going to enjoy watch playing It’s different And I think we’ll play a different type of baseball, and I think that’s great.”

The rival Yankees had Derek Jeter, known simply as the “the captain,” for all 20 of the Hall of Famer’s seasons. Becoming an owner in the same city won’t sway Cohen, whose view might also keep the Mets from having a tricky choice between two of their biggest stars, Francisco Lindor and

problem with their approach, while drawing laughter from reporters by saying the billionaire hedgefund manager could spend big, too. Cohen also didn’t sound opposed to a salary cap, which ﬁgures to be the primary point of contention during collective bargaining talks that could jeopardize the 2027 season.

“Obviously, I’m listening to all the arguments,” Cohen said. “But I’ve always been a league-first owner So I’m listening to all the sides and I haven’t made up my mind yet. We’ll see where it goes. Sometimes I put the league’s interests above my own interests.”

Tuckered out

Although the Mets pivoted with the signing of Bichette and the trade for Peralta, they thought they were going to land the biggest prize in free agency before four-time All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker signed with those free-spending Dodgers.

Source: LSU safeties coach

Olsen decides to stay put LSU safeties coach Jake Olsen has decided to stay with the Tigers after he was in advanced talks with the Washington Commanders, a source conﬁrmed Monday night with The Advocate.

Olsen coached the LSU safeties the past two seasons. A report from CBS Sports stated he accepted the NFL job before changing his mind and staying in Baton Rouge. His decision kept the LSU defensive staff intact heading into new head coach Lane Kifﬁn’s ﬁrst season. The Tigers begin spring practice March 24.

Olsen worked with new Commanders defensive coordinator Daronte Jones at LSU in 2021. Jones was the defensive coordinator, and Olsen helped with the linebackers as a defensive analyst under then-linebackers coach Blake Baker, who is now the LSU defensive coordinator

Chio wins her third SEC weekly gym honor of year

Once again, Kailin Chio had no peer in Southeastern Conference gymnastics. The LSU sophomore won her third SEC gymnast of the week award Tuesday after a dazzling showing in her team’s 198.325196.825 win over Auburn on Friday

Chio had her ﬁrst career perfect 10 on ﬂoor and won the all-around with a 39.875, the second-highest all-around score in LSU history and tied for the best in the nation this season with former Olympian Jordan Chiles of UCLA. Chio also won vault and balance beam with scores of 9.975.

The sophomore from Henderson, Nevada, now has 41 career individual titles, including 18 in just six meets this season.

Twins ace Lopez likely to miss entire season

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Minnesota Twins suffered a major setback during their ﬁrst full-squad workout, an elbow injury that likely will sideline ace Pablo López for the entire season.

General manager Jeremy Zoll told reporters at the club’s spring training facility on Tuesday that López has a “signiﬁcant tear” in his right ulnar collateral ligament. He was seeking a second medical opinion but expected to need Tommy John surgery, Zoll said. López ended his bullpen session early on Monday after experiencing soreness in his throwing elbow

López missed about three months last season with a shoulder injury As the Twins were slashing payroll, he was mentioned often as a prime trade candidate.

Padres sign RHP Buehler to minor-league deal

PEORIA, Ariz Walker Buehler has signed with the San Diego Padres after the right-hander spent the first eight seasons of his major league career with their archrivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Buehler was in the Padres’ clubhouse Tuesday morning after agreeing to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp.

“Yeah, it feels a little weird,” Buehler told reporters in Arizona after pulling on a brown and gold uniform. “I imagine ﬁve years ago it would have felt a lot more weird, but this is a crazy game and this is a great opportunity for me.”

Buehler earned two All-Star selections and two World Series rings during his 10 years in the Dodgers organization, serving as a mainstay in their rotation.

Former Denver Nuggets coach Moe dies at 87

Juan Soto. “Just my own views on how I want a locker room to be,” Cohen said. “My view is every year the team’s different and let the team kind of ﬁgure it out in the locker room rather than having a designation. Having a captain in baseball doesn’t happen often. It’s actually unusual.” 40 years and counting

Looming labor situation

Asked about the big-spending Dodgers, Cohen said he had no

The Mets have alternated between making and missing the playoffs during Cohen’s tenure New York made the playoffs in 2022, then missed in 2023 with an underperforming group that led to the unloading of star pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at the trade deadline Disappointment returned last season after the Mets lost in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 NLCS. New York’s most recent World Series title came in 1986. “About not winning? Yeah, I’m annoyed,” Cohen said. “I’m absolutely annoyed. Every year that goes by, I get frustrated I’m really committed to this team. I know how much the fans care. I know we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1986, and that’s just too long.”

“I’m competitive,” Cohen said.

“When you’re actually making a bid and you decide you want that player, you don’t want to lose, like anything else. And then you get over it, and then you move on. It’s sort of like in my business. I have a bad trading day, all right, I move on to the next day, and then the next day’s better.”

More investment

The Mets are set to break ground on a player development complex at their spring training home in Port St Lucie. The 55,000-squarefoot facility will include locker space, a training room, therapy pools and a dining facility.

DENVER Doug Moe, an ABA original who gained fame over a rumpled, irreverent and sometimes R-rated decade as coach of the Denver Nuggets in the 1980s, died Tuesday He was 87.

Moe’s son, David, notiﬁed several of the coach’s friends that his father had died after a long bout with cancer, Ron Zappolo, a longtime Denver TV personality and good friend of Moe’s, told The Associated Press.

The Nuggets, in a social media post, called Moe “a one-of-a-kind leader and person who spearheaded one of the most successful and exciting decades in Nuggets history.” Moe went 628-529 over 15 seasons as a head coach, including stints with the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By RICHARD DREW

Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark answers a question during a news conference in New york on March 11, 2022.

Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ADAM HUNGER

New york Mets owner Steve Cohen waits for the team’s baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 31, 2022, in New york.

Pope John Paul II shuts outVermilion Catholic

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

Vermilion Catholic’sboys soccer team has enjoyed agreat season. Not only did the Eagles win the most games in their program’s history,but they reached the Division IV quarterﬁnals for only the second time.

And while the Eagles aspired to accomplish more, it apparently wasn’tmeant to be as the lost 2-0 to Pope John Paul II on Monday

“I toldthe boys at theend of the game that if you would have told me we would be 17-3-1 at the beginning of season, it would have been hard to believe because we played some good teams,” Eagles coachTroyHebertsaid.“Each and everygametheycameout and they played hard. I’m very proud of them.” Hebert and the Eagles knew they were in for abattle against Pope John Paul, andconsidering no team had scored on theminthe

playoffs, the Eagles couldn’tafford to allowmultiple goals.

After both teams werescoreless in the ﬁrsthalf, theJaguarsgot on the board minutes into the second half on agoal by Michael Stanchec, which was assisted by Landon Bremond, for a1-0 lead.

Laterinthe second half, Stanchec added asecond goal —this time on apenalty kick —toextend the lead to 2-0

“I said this game willprobably be a1-0 game. Whoever scores, onegoal would probablywin the game,” Hebert said. “I think both teams played great defense. We both had agreat gameplan, and we both played great defense. Their shots went in and ours didn’t, and that’sthe luckofthe draw.”

It was no secret what Pope John Paul II’sgame plan was —don’t allow Luke McLaintobeatthem —and theJaguars executed it to perfection by double teaming him.

“Luke got afew breakaways, even thoughhewas double

teamed, but the shots just didn’t fall,” Hebert said. “You have to double team him to beat us. They wanted to makeeverybody else beat them,and we didn’tget everybody else the ball. We had afew shots from other people. But Luke was breaking away from(onedefender) and then theother guy would be there. So, thecoach did a good jobmatchingupagainstus. He had agood game plan.“

As far as what makes theJaguarssotough, Hebertcited their depth.

“They’reamuch bigger school than us, so they have alot more players,” Hebertsaid. “They kept fresh legs in the game wherewe almost hadtokeepour starters in. They are good and they have some really good players.Atthe end, youcan see how ourguys were starting to getworndown. They left it on theﬁeld, and Iam proud of them. Sometimes you win and playbadly and sometimes youplay well and lose. We played well, but we just lost.“

Boys Basketball Acadiana 64, SamHouston 59 Southside 46, Carencro43 Westminster79, Beau Chene72 Westgate 71, North Vermilion 51 Teurlings 64, Northside 54 Northwest 82, Crowley 50 NotreDame 57, Erath33 West St. Mary 47, Catholic-NI 45 Midland 74, Bell City 53 CentralCatholic 52, Jeanerette 42 Teurlings 64, Northside 54 TEURLINGS

Francis 8, Khilen Woods 8, Jayden Jones10, TreylonAngelle 13, Seyshawn Malveaux6,Mario Alexander 6, Tashawn Coleman 2. Totals: 19 (1)6-10. Teurlings 6172219— 64 Northside 13 17 14 9— 54

3-pointers —TEUR:Senegal 1, Price 1, Stout1; NOR: Angelle 1. TotalFouls—TEUR 9, NOR 22. Westgate 71, North Vermilion 51 NORTH VERMILION (51) Jayvin Gage 11, Zarian Gage 5, RJ Conway2,JoseSotomayor12, Mason Dauterive14, Jaxson Frederick 7. Totals: 13 (6) 7-11. WESTGATE (71) BrockMitchell8,Daylon Joseph10, Cayden Lancelin 23, Noah Antoine 8, Shadon Lee11, ZayerStokes 3, Rylon Collins 7, ChanceArchangel 1. Totals: 24 (4)11-17. N. Vermilion 11 14 17 9— 51 Westgate 19 16 21 15 —71

3-pointers—NV: J. Gage 1, Z. Gage 1, Sotomayor1,Dautervine 2, Frederick 1; WEST: Joseph1,Antoine 21, Stokes 1. Total Fouls— NV 16, WEST 18. Tuesday’s games Acadiana at Sam Houston, Westminsterat Beau Chene, Opelousas at Breaux Bridge, Livonia at Cecilia,Comeaux at David Thibodaux, RayneatSt. Thomas More, DelcambreatHouma Christian, Loreauville at Franklin. Wednesday’s

AESsoccerrides ﬂurryofgoals into semis

BY MIKE COPPAGE Contributing writer

Ascension Episcopalsoccer

coaches MunirPocaand Ricardo Calliman have brought the Blue Gators to at least the semifinal round in each of theirthreeyears at the helm. On Monday in Youngsville,the No. 4-seeded Blue Gators scored three goalsinthe ﬁrst 12 minutes of an 8-1 Division IV quarterﬁnal win over No. 12 Lycee Francais de la Nouvelle Orléans, which had ousted No. 5Country Day “Wewere able to get on the

scoreboard early,which was one of the things Imentioned before the match,” Calliman said. “Everythinghappened really fast. Everybody came outthe same way we’ve beenpracticing, super strong with intensity.”

District MVP HayesTrotter scored four goalsfor theBlue Gators (12-8-0), including three straight in theﬁrst half thatpushed theleadto5-0.The senior’s ﬁrst goal came on apenalty kick where thegoalkeeper guessed thewrong way.The last goal was aheader off an assist from Cam Foret. “Trotter is always aforce up

top,” Calliman said. “Weknow we can always count on him. We knew who he was, and our jobis to maximizewhat players like him cando.”

JP Rholdonscored two goals, with Lane Girouard andJohn Austin Levineach adding one. Rusty Trotter,who had two assists alongwith Foret, found Rholdonwith acornerkickthat he tapped in just 70 seconds into the match.

“JP is acaptainwho brings that energyevery game,” Calliman said.“That helpsa bunch. Cam Foret, another captain, dictates

UL WOMEN

Continued from page 1C

Southern Miss transfer hopes to stay hot from the ﬁeld against her oldteam after only scoring seven in a76-58 loss to the Eagles earlier this season.

“I think she’staking better shots,” Brodhead said of Manley.“This last game against South Alabama, Ithought she tooksome pretty goodshots, butshe also forced some things. Itry to keep it simple for her.Most of the shots she misses are off thefrontof therim becauseshe’s getting tired.”

13-13

Southern

the tone andpaceofthe game from the middle. Hudson Campbell (assist)isalways amachine, working up and down the ﬁeld.”

ChaseManaﬁ also hadanassist for the Blue Gators, who got stellar play from Andrew McCormick andHayes Beaulieu as well. Goalkeeper IanMcDanielhas made a ﬂawless transition after changing positions.

“We’ve been doing this forthree years,” Calliman said. “Our hope is that every year will be better than the year before. We feel like we’ve accomplished that. The only thing remaining is astate title. That’s

what we’re goingfor.That’sthe missing step.”

The Blue Gators will face athird straight NewOrleansprogram in the semiﬁnalsatNo. 1Isidore Newman (13-3-4), which defeated No. 9Holy Savior Menard on Monday

Hayes Trotter hopes to finish his final high school season with the program’s first statetitle,which will require awin over Newman and awin against either No. 6Pope John Paul II or No. 2Northlake Christian in the finals.

“That’swhatI’vebeen wanting my whole career,” he said.

GOLF

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making twice as much as Kim’searnings in 2012. And thenhewas out of public view for morethana decade. Any time there wasa rumored Kimsighting came memories of his talent andhis aura. He became legend. He had amystique,eventhough Kimwon only three times andnever seriously contended in amajor. He set aMasters record with11 birdiesinone round. Woodswas neverthe same after theﬁrst of fourback surgeries that ledtohis lower back beingfused. He was gone for chunks of time, mostnotably playing only once on the PGA Tour and once on the European tour—a total of threerounds —in2016 and 2017. All thatremained were memories and highlights, plentiful and powerful. And thenWoods brought thatlegend to life when he contended at Carnoustie in 2018, won at EastLake and thencame full circle when he won the 2019 Masters, just twoyearsafter he could barely make it up thestairs to the AugustaNational clubhouse Kim, for allthe years he was gone,isstill only 40. That’snot apeak age even in golf,though Justin Rose (45) has shownitcan be done.Kim hasplenty of years ahead,wherever that takeshim. He unwittingly got help fromLIV,which gave him aspot in the Saudi-funded league in 2024. LIV added an additional spot in its qualifying tournament (Kim finished third). It also changed from 54 holes to 72 holesthis year.If not for thatchange, there would not have been an extra round for that masterful performance from Kim on Sunday in Australia. This was cause for celebration, appreciation and amazement.Bestofall, he

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL guard Mikaylah Manleyiscoming off a23-pointperformance in the Cajuns’ win over South Alabama on Saturday.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP TexasState guardMia Galbraith, left, and UL guard Imani Daniel battle for

MI LA N CO RT IN A

Liu surges into medal range

Americans Glenn, Levito falter during short program

BY DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press

EARNS

AMERICAN FOREHAND

SILVER: The difference between silver and gold in Olympic men’s big air was a matter of who did a trick called a “nose butter” better The fact anyone can do it at all was only one of the amazing things to come out of Tuesday’s unforgettable contest.

Tormod Frostad of Norway edged out Mac Forehand of the United States by 2.25 points in the final. Frostad did so by nailing the nose butter — but with a physics-defying twist of his own — on all three of his jumps of a snowy nail-biter

The 24-year-old Forehand’s reaction after such a narrow loss?

“I’m happy to walk away alive from that event,” he said.“This is a really dangerous sport. I’m just happy to ski away and be OK, and (to do so) with the silver medal is pretty cool as well.”

GERMANY SWEEPS TWO-MAN

BOBSLED: Germany swept the medals in the two-man bobsled race in a show of absolute dominance. It was the second Olympic sweep in bobsled history; the other was by the Germans, also in two-man, four years ago.

Leading the way was Johannes Lochner who got his first gold medal while posting the biggest Olympic two-man winning margin in nearly a half-century.

Americans Frank Del Duca and Josh Williamson were fourth

ITALIAN MEN BACK ON TOP: Italy’s Davide Ghiotto,Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti beat U.S. world record-holders Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran by 41/2 seconds to win the men’s team pursuit gold medal in speedskating Buoyed by raucous cheering from the home crowd, the Italian men finished in 3 minutes, 39.20 seconds to give their country its first Olympic title in this event since the 2006 Turin Games.

NORWAY’S FUNKY PANTS A

‘ONE-TIME’TRIBUTE: Norway’s curlers were back wearing their funky pants on Tuesday.The men’s team donned bold,diamond-printed trousers for its 7-4 loss to Sweden as a tribute to former Norway skip Thomas Ulsrud, who was part of the team that famously wore similarly outlandish attire at previous Winter Games in a break with tradition in a typically staid sport.

Ulsrud died of cancer in 2022.

“We thought one game honoring the old team and wearing the full Norwegian outfit there on the ice would be just amazing,” Norway skip Magnus Ramsfjell said

— The Associated Press

MILAN Alysa Liu is left to carry the hopes of the “Blade Angels” into the women’s free skate at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

The reigning world champion was the only one of America’s vaunted ﬁgure skating trio to put herself in contention for gold after the short program on Tuesday night. Liu landed a triple lutz-triple loop, the hardest combination that any woman attempted, and sat only two points back of leader Ami Nakai and right behind her Japanese teammate Kaori Sakamoto on the leaderboard.

“I am really happy about how I skated,” Liu said, “and my siblings, my best friends and a ton of my family is out there. And I saw them on the warmup. I also saw them during my program, so, I don’t know. It was a really cool moment, because they never come to watch like this. I’m really glad I did super well. I felt super grounded and I connected with my program on another level.”

Nakai rode her opening triple axel to a career-best 78.71 points in her short program while threetime world champion Sakamoto the reigning Winter Games bronze medalist — was right behind with 77.23 as she chases down about the only gold medal she has yet to win Liu was third with 76.59.

For the rest of the American team, things didn’t go nearly as well Tuesday night.

Isabeau Levito was dinged for

under-rotating her triple loop and got leveled down for her step sequence, which is where she tends to pick up points on the competition. It left her in eighth place and a long shot to climb her way onto the podium Thursday night. Amber Glenn, the three-time reigning U.S. champion, was right in the medal mix until her final jump. After landing a huge opening triple axel — Glenn and Nakai were the only ones in the women’s field to attempt the 31/2-revolution jump she kept the momentum going with a triple flip-triple toe loop

But something seemed amiss as Glenn approached a triple loop, and she wound up bailing out of it. The resulting double loop became an invalid element and earned her no points. The lost points on the jump, somewhere in the range of seven or eight, took away any chance of being a medal contender

“I had it,” Glenn told her coach, Damon Allen, as she tried to hold back the tears stepping off the ice.

“It’s not over,” he replied, giving her a hug. Glenn was in 13th place with 67.39 points.

It was not the way Glenn wanted to end a night that began with the euphoria of a message from Madonna. Her song “Like a Prayer” serves as the soundtrack to Glenn’s free skate, and Madonna had seen a clip of the short program and sent a video to Glenn, telling her, “Go get that gold.” Glenn already has one from the team event on the opening weekend of the Winter Games. Liu also has one from that event. Now, it’s up to Liu if the Americans are going to bring home a medal from the individual competition.

‘Spirit of curling’ dampened by cheating controversy Saga highlights issues within a growing sport

BY STEVE DOUGLAS Associated Press

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO Italy First came the expletives. Then the allegations. Then the media glare and hilarious memes. Global interest in curling surged over the past week when a cheating controversy erupted at the Winter Olympics, rocking a staid, 500-year-old sport known for its etiquette, manners and friendliness.

After a wild few days for curling featuring plenty of verbal jousting and a brief rule change, things have calmed down and both players and ofﬁcials appear ready to move on with the medal games approaching.

“It’s the Olympics,” said Canadian curler Ben Hebert, whose team has been a central character in the controversy “It’ll be over in two weeks and everyone will go back to covering curling in four years.”

Yet the headline-grabbing saga has highlighted some issues in a sport eager for exposure — and one slowly becoming more professional — but maybe isn’t ready for all the trappings that come with it

Sweden crying foul over a rule infringement, an illegal doubletouch by Canada’s Marc Kennedy in the act of releasing his stone down the ice, called into question whether the so-called “spirit of curling” had been broken.

Curling, after all, has long been a tight-knit sport where players typically call their own

fouls, shake hands at the end of a match and share a beer or two afterwards.

The Swedish and Canadian players have been longtime rivals, but they’re also frien dly Couldn’t they just have dealt with this behind closed doors without all the bruising?

It seems the top of the sport isn’t quite ready for that.

“Curling needs to professionalize a little bit. We’re trying to find the right balance as a sport.”

CANADA CURLING CEO NOLAN THIESSEN ON WHETHER THE SPORT NEEDS UMPIRES

“That’ s where I think the spirit of curling is in a little bit of trouble,” Kennedy said, “and honestly that’s probably come from the quest for medals. But it’s OK. It’s all about the evolution of the sport. There’s opportunity here as well, right? For the sport to really ﬁgure it out as we all go forward.”

There are no video replays in curling, unlike with sports like soccer cricket and in the NFL, so ofﬁcials aren’t allowed to reumpire decisions like the hog line violation apparently committed by Kennedy when he poked one of the granite stones with his outstretched ﬁnger after releasing it.

In response, curling’s higherups first stationed umpires at the hog line to check for future fouls, but then reverted to the traditional practice of players policing themselves.

“We’re trying to spread the word about our culture, and our

culture is one based on integrity, and honor, and friendship,” World Curling president Beau Welling told The Associated Press in a phone interview “We live by this code — the spirit of curling — where you’re expected to have honorable conduct on ice, but also off ice.

“Obviously this has been tested a little bit this week. But, fundamentally, that’s who we are,” he said. “And I really don’t see that changing.”

Some might see this as sweeping the issue under curling’s rug.

Yet this is the Olympic Games it’s serious business, being played out in front of curling’s biggest audience.

“Curling needs to professionalize a little bit,” Canada Curling CEO Nolan Thiessen told the AP at the Cortina Curling Center. “If we want to be where we want to be as a sport, there’s some steps we have to take, and some give and take probably You know, having ofﬁcials making subjective calls there’s a lot of sports that have that And we probably need to get there as opposed to, ‘I think you did this’ and ‘Well, I don’t think I did.’

“We’re trying,” he added, “to ﬁnd the right balance as a sport.”

And so, the show goes on. The Olympics soon will be without Sweden’s defending champion men’s team, which was ofﬁcially eliminated from semiﬁnal contention on Tuesday after a sixth loss in seven matches in round-robin play

“We maybe should have done something different and could have dealt with it differently,” Sweden skip Niklas Edin said of what he described as a “horrible week.” Plenty of curling traditionalists will no doubt agree with that.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NATACHA PISARENKO

Alysa Liu of the United States competes during the women’s short program on Tuesday in Milan. Liu is in third place heading into the free skate program on Thursday

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FATIMA SHBAIR

Mattia Giovanella, left, of Italy shakes hands with Ben Richardson of the U.S after the men’s curling round robin session on Tuesday in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Cubancriticizes punishmentsfor losing NBAteams

Assoictaed Press

DALLAS Mark Cuban wrote in a pair of lengthy posts on social mediathat the NBA should embrace tanking, and the minority ownerof the Dallas Mavericks criticizedthe leaguefor punishingteams that appear to be losing on purpose to improve their chances of landing ahigh pick in the draft.

Cuban’sposts on XonTuesday came three days after Commissioner Adam Silver saidthe NBA wasconsidering changes to the draft lottery andthe possibility of revoking picks.

Whenannouncing a$500,000 ﬁne last week for Utah after the Jazz sat star players Lauri Markkanen and Jaren JacksonJr. in the fourthquarterofaloss to Orlando, Silver said the league “wouldrespond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games.”

ThesharpestcommentsfromCubanamountedtoa response to Silver’sstrong words.

“The worstthat the NBA dishes outisthat if you don’tlie to your fans about what you are doing, even though it’sobvioustothem,you get fined,” Cuban wrote. “And (they) threaten you with losing picks.” Indianapresident ofbasketball operations Kevin Pritchard whosePacers were ﬁned $100,000 at the same time as the Jazz over roster management decisions, asked his fans in a post if they agreed with Cuban. Most did.

The Pacers reached the NBA Finals last season, losing to Oklahoma City.Their best player,Tyrese Haliburton, tore an Achilles tendonin Game 7, and theexpectation washe wouldmiss the entire 2025-26 season. Indiana lost 12 of its ﬁrst 13 games andhad a13-game losingstreak to drop to 6-31, but has a.500 record sincethen.

TheMavericksare in asimilar situation ayear after trading generational superstar Luka Doncic to the LosAngeles Lakers for apackage centered around oft-injured big man AnthonyDavis, just nine months af-

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strong.”

There’salot to like about the Pistonsgoing into the home stretch. They haven’tbeen prone to any sort of real slide yet; they’re 11-2 after aloss and are one of only three teams (Oklahoma City and San Antonio are the others) yet to have alosing streak of more than two games. They don’t get blown out; they have aleague-low three losses by 10 points or more. They’re aleague-best 17-6 against teams who were at .500 or better Playoff basketball awaits in Detroit, and for the ﬁrst time since 2008 there should be aGame1ofa postseason series at home for the Pistons. Plenty of other teams the Thunder,Boston, New York, San Antonio, Denver,Houston, Cleveland —are probably safe to

LSU BASEBALL

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But sophomore right-hander Casan Evansstruggled against the same lineup the day before, leaving his changeup up in the zone too often. He allowed four earnedruns in 31/3 innings. Fellow sophomore right-handerWilliam Schmidt also hadtrouble locatinghis pitches on Sunday,surrendering ahome run on afastball up andover the plate andwalking three.

There were ﬂashes of strong stuff from Schmidt and Evans.Schmidt struck outnine, and Evansthrew three scoreless innings to start thegame and had seven strikeouts before running into trouble in the fourth.

“Yesterday,they provedthat they could hit it if it was up,” Mooresaid afterhis start Saturday.“Andmy goal as apitcher is always to throw it down.”

Similar to Evans, redshirt junior right-hander Jaden Noot had asolid start against Kent State on Monday before running intotrouble. He allowedathree-run homerinthe third inning that cut LSU’slead to one after two scoreless frames,surrendering ablast that hit the scoreboard in left ﬁeld. Command was an issuefor himaswell, as he walked three batters. LSU shouldn’tpanic about its ro-

Does Giants managerVitello actually want to do hisnew job?

DIETER KURTENBACH

The MercuryNews(TNS)

terDallas reached the NBA Finals. Davis missed more games than he playedfor theMavsbefore getting sent to Washingtoninatradedeadline deal this year.Itwas the final stepinmoving on fromanill-fated trade. The first was the November firing of general manager Nico Harrison,who orchestratedthe Doncic deal.

Dallas converted just a1.8% chance in the lotteryfor therightsto draft former Duke star Cooper Flagg ﬁrst overall this past summer. Flagg is nowthe future of thefranchise, and the Mavs have to decide, presumablysoon,whetherKyrie Irving will play at allthis season. The nine-timeAll-Startore an ACLlast March, and the Mavsentered the All-Starbreakona nine-game losing streak, theirlongest in 28 years.

While Cuban is no longerina decision-making role after selling majority ownership of theMavs, he was ﬁned $600,000 by the league when he wasstill in charge late in the 2022-23 season for admitting Dallas was tanking to try to protect afirstround pick. The Mavs ended up getting center Dereck LivelyII, apromising talentwho has been plagued by injuries.

Cuban

With tanking ahot topic again, Cuban started hispost with “Why the NBA should embrace tanking,” and went on to say fans don’tmind tanking because they want to have hope that theteam can improve “Few can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to,” Cuban wrote. “They can’t rememberthe dunks or shots.What they remember is whotheywere with.Their family, friends, adate. That’swhat makesthe experience special.”

With that in mind, Cuban said, the league shouldfocus more on affordability than the integrity issue that is at the heart of tanking.

callplayoff locksatthis point as well.

The next two months will tell the tale of which teams ﬁndtheir way either into Round 1orwill be tryingtoland the No. 1draft pick instead.

“It’sbeen hard.It’sbeen along journey so far,but just going to work every day,ﬁnding waysto connect with my teammates,connect withthe city thebestIcan, andbring winstothe city,” Cunningham said. “That’swhat thecity respectsand loves is people thatgo out there and compete every day.

There were times they didn’tlike howweplayed. We ﬁgured it out, and now we have something going, something building. Just have to keepgoing now.

Here are somethings to know before the second half kicks off:

Realisticcontenders

The topﬁve teams in theNBA record-wise right now are Detroit,

tation.A few games don’tdeﬁne a season.AnthonyEyanson, foras good as he wasin2025, gave up ﬁve runs toNebraska and four runs in 32/3 innings to Missouri in early outings. But that doesn’t mean LSU coach Jay Johnson should be afraid to makeachange in his rotation.

Sophomore left-hander Cooper Williams gave up onehit in 22/3 innings on Friday,and Johnson has said he’s beenextended to90pitches.Redshirt junior right-hander Gavin Guidryiscoming backfrom aserious injury,but in appearances againstMilwaukeeand Kent State, he didn’tgive up arun andthrew 61 pitches.Senior right-hander Zac Cowan startedfor LSU in the College World Series.

Bullpen depth

While the starters struggled, the majority of thebullpenimpressed as the Tigers set aprogramrecord for strikeouts in aseries with 49 againstMilwaukee Williams andGuidrycombinedto strikeout 10battersonFriday, and Guidry returned to the mound on Mondayand struckout ﬁvemore.

Sophomore right-hander Mavrick Rizy didn’tsurrendera run in 22/3 inningsacross twoappearances.

Redshirt sophomoreright-hander DevenSheerinthrew on back-toback days and dominated Kent Stateand Milwaukee hittersin12/3 innings.

Commentary

We’ve all been stuck at that table. You’re out fora drink, trying to enjoy thenight, but there’sthat oneguy.He’sstaringintothe middledistance, nursingalukewarm beer,and talkingabout the onewho gotaway He talksabout thetiming. He talks about the miscommunications. He talksabout how, if just one thing had gone differently, the universe wouldbeinalignment.Things would be different. Things would be better

Usually,you just nod, wince, andhopehepicks up thetab

But rarely does that guy take on thesamemood andtonewhile wearing aMajor LeagueBaseball uniform, sitting in adugout, while ostensibly being thereto discusshis current jobmanaging theSan Francisco Giants.

On Monday,Giants ﬁrst-year managerTonyVitelloturned a standardspring-training media availability into a“therapy” session. (His word, notmine.)

It wasunprompted, unﬁltered, and, quitefrankly,bizarre.

Vitello kickedthings offwith a question no one actually asked: “When didyou ﬁrst think Iwas takingthis job?”

It’saquestion that implies a level of espionage, not thehiringofabaseball manager in the offseason.But forthe next 20-orso minutes,with somebreaksto discussbullpen arms andJung Hoo Lee, Vitello broke downthe timeline of hishiring as if it were re-creatingaJohn Cusack movie.

And then, right in the middle of this forlorn monologue, he dropped aquote that should have every Giants fandoing some deep questioning of their own.

“At that point, nothing was going to happen. But somebody decided that it was goingtohappen. Then,the whole world started spinning real quick.”

My interpretation: Thisisn’t aguy saying, “It was atough decision to leave Tennessee.”

Oklahoma City,San Antonio, Boston, Denverand New York (the Nuggets and Knicks are tied).

Expect one of those clubs as the champion in June.

Granted, in the early days the league had far fewer teamsthan it does now.But there have been only four instances of the eventualNBA Finals winner not being amongthe league’s top-ﬁve teams record-wise at the All-Star break.

Milwaukeewas seventhatthe break in the COVID-affected 202021 season. Detroit was seventh at thebreak in 2003-04, Houston was ninth at thebreak in 1994-95 and Washington was eighthin1977-78.

Scoringrace

It lookslike atwo-personrace for the scoring title: the Los AngelesLakers’ Luka Doncicand Oklahoma City’sShaiGilgeousAlexander Doncic is averaging 32.8 points; Gilgeous-Alexander —the reign-

AP FILEPHOTO By BENJAMIN FANJOy Tony Vitello speaksasheis introduced as the manager of the SanFranciscoGiants on Oct. 30 in SanFrancisco.

Of course it was. He was agod in Knoxville. He built amonster of aprogram. He was thebest in the game in college baseball.

No,this is aguy effectivelysaying, “I gotgoaded into this job.”

This is aguy implying that if he could ﬁnd the Twittersnitch who broke thenews(which he says he didn’tread), he might still be wearing Volunteer Orange.

“Nothing was going to happen.”

Untilitdid.Because,I guess, the internet said so. And that begs the veryloud, veryuncomfortable question that nobody in the Giants’ front ofﬁce wants to hear right now: Does Tony Vitelloactually want to be here?

Look, nobody can blame Vitello for missing the college game and reportedly talking about it in every media sessionthis spring. That’s his entire frame of reference. Andit’snot like he left that behind to take over aWorld Series contenderinSan Francisco.

But forgive me if Monday’ssermondidn’tcome across like aman ready to tackle theNLWest. It sounded like someone with some significant second thoughts he’s been trying to bury but hadtoget offhis chest. And while Iappreciate Vitello’s forthrightness, when you let it all

ing champion —isaveraging 31.8. Doncicwon the scoring race in 2023-24; Gilgeous-Alexander could become the14th player in NBA history towin the title in consecutiveseasons.

Awardpossibilities

Boston’sJaysonTatum andIndiana’sTyrese Haliburton —AllNBA picks last season —were going to be out of theawards mix this season because of their Achillestendon tearssuffered in last season’splayoffs, so it was clear from theoutset of this season that thegroup of award winners would be different. Turns out, it’sgoing to be very different

Because of the 65-game rule for eligibility formost player awards, theLakers’ LeBron James is going to seehis 21-year streak of making theAll-NBA team end. He’sone of ﬁveAll-NBA picks from last season who are assured of not making

had moreups anddowns, but junior-collegetransfer left-hander

Ethan Plog impressed in hissecond outing on Monday with ascoreless inning, and DivisionIItransfer right-hander DaxDathe got LSU out of ajam in aone-run game on Saturday

Impressive Arrambide

It wentunder the radar,but Arrambide had astrong opening week as the new starting catcher

In three gamesbehind the plate andone as the designated hitter, Arrambide went 7for 17 with ahome run and two doubles. He hit the ball hard andlookedcomfortable defensively

“I think the offensive production is going to speak for itself throughout the year,” Guidry said. “I think he’sa real threat at the plate. He’s going to drive in alot of runs, and he’sgoing to do his job offensively, for sure.”

Freshmen gettinginvolved

out in front of cameras and microphones, you aren’tdoing yourself any favor withthe fanbase thatis, on thewhole, skeptical of theoutsider Youknowthat everyone is going to see this,right? You’re forcing me to writecolumns,wondering if this boldexperiment has failed before the ﬁrst pitch of the Cactus League season is even thrown.

Idon’t knowVitello yet. Ionly know of him. And Iwanted to give him along, long leash because the people Iknowwho do know him swear he’sgreat.This is also, unquestionably abig transition. But after listening to his presser —the wholething, not asingle snippet —afew timesnow,the circumstances of Monday were weird at best and alarming at worst. Vitello is no dummy.Heeventually tried to pivot, claiming, “It’s probably time,aftertoday,todivide the line in the sand …You know you can, you can love [your past] equally to your current place as well.”

So perhaps this was theﬁnal catharsis—alast look back towards the impressive footprints he left behind him.

Butregardless, thedamage is done. He just set himself up by publicly bemoaning “what if?”

How can he, I, or anyone counter thequestionthat is going to inevitably come this spring: If Vitello is downthis bad in thelow-stakes breeziness of acloudy February in Scottsdale, Ariz., what happens when the real pressurecooker of a big-league season heats up?

What happensinJunewhen the Giantsare six games back of the Dodgers and three back of awildcard spot?What happens when the intractable pull toward .500 baseball thathas cursed the Giants grabs hold of the team once again? Will we be back at the table, wondering where it all went so wrong?

Ican appreciate leavingyour heart somewhere special.They play aTony Bennett song about that phenomenon aftereveryGiants home game. And one has to presume Vitello’s heart is still in Knoxville. But his head needs to be withSan Francisco.

theteam this year,joining Tatum, Haliburton,Milwaukee’sGiannis Antetokounmpo and Oklahoma City’sJalen Williams.

On the brink of joining that list: Denver’sNikola Jokic and Golden State’s StephenCurry,who basically can miss onemoregame the rest of theway to preserve their award eligibility Cleveland’sEvan Mobley second-teamAll-NBA last season —has been inactive 13 times this year,sohedoesn’thave alot of missed-time wiggle room down the stretch of the season. The Lakers’ AustinReaves,Washington’s Anthony Davis andMemphis’ Ja Morant are all well past the cutoff foreligibility as well. Others who are close to missingtoo much time for an All-NBA shot: Doncic, San Antonio’sVictor Wembanyama,the Los Angeles Clippers’ KawhiLeonard, Utah’s Lauri Markkanen and Phoenix’s Devin Booker

found ways to carve out roles for themselves through four games. Braun started on opening day and hit ahomerun on Monday.Serna startedbehind the plateonSaturday and was the designated hitter on Sunday. Ruckert was adefensive replacementinclose games on Saturdayand Monday. He also hit adouble on Sunday Expect all three to contend for some playing time moving forward. Arrambide can’tcatch every night, andLSU could useSerna’s power potential.Braun was oneof thebest hitters in thepreseason and is astrong contender to start as aleft-handed hitter against righthandedpitching. Ruckertisexcellent defensively at second base, a position where the Tigers are starting bat-ﬁrst players.

Aroarfor Yorke

Perhaps no momentgenerated moreapplause through the first four gamesthanwhenZach Yorke took second base on aballinthe dirt on Monday

Those fourarms andCowan are thebackbone of adeep bullpen. Cowan likely would’ve thrown a scoreless outing on Saturday if junior Jake Brown hadn’tlost aball in the sun. The bullpen outside of that group

Heading into theweekend,there didn’tseem to be muchopportunity for the LSU freshman position playerstosee theﬁeldimmediately. The Tigershaveareturning starter at shortstop, andthe entire outfield came back. They added multiple veterantransfers and have Arrambide, who wasready to take on astarting role. And yet, MasonBraun, Omar Serna and Jack Ruckert have

Once the6-foot-2, 295-pound Grand Canyontransferslid intothe bagsafely, theLSU faithful reacted as if he had clinched aspot in Omaha. It was Yorke’smost memorable play of the night,even though he hit his second homer of the year later in the game.

“I told the players my heart was singing (after that play),” Johnson said.

games None scheduled. Late Monday Old Dominion 83, Louisiana 72 LOUISIANA (9-18) T.Jones 0-1 3-4 3, Finister 5-13 6-9 17, Lavergne 5-13 4-7 16, Mejia0-1 0-0 0, Olvera 10-20 2-2 23, Bilal 3-9 1-1 9, Woodson 0-1 0-0 0, Evans 1-1 2-2 4, Ratliff 0-0 0-00,Collins 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-60 18-25 72. OLD DOMINION(10-18) Swanton-Rodger 7-10 1-3 15, Battle 7-101011 27, Shaw7-14 2-4 16, Thomas 3-75-5 11, Wiggins 4-7 3-3 12, Turner 0-1 0-0 0, Hubbard

0-1 0-0 0, Raymond 1-1 0-0 2, McKenna 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-51 21-26 83. Halftime: Old Dominion 34-33. 3-Point Goals: Louisiana 6-17 (Bilal 2-4, Lavergne 2-4, Olvera1-2, Finister 1-5, Mejia 0-1, Woodson 0-1), Old Dominion 4-11 (Battle 3-6, Wiggins 1-3, Hubbard0-1, Turner 0-1) Rebounds: Louisiana 32 (Lavergne 7), Old Dominion 24 (Shaw, Thomas,Wiggins,Hubbard4). Assists: Louisiana 8(Lavergne 3),Old Dominion 15 (Shaw 5). Total Fouls: Louisiana 20, Old Dominion20. A: 6,058(8,472) Men’s national scores SOUTH Charleston Southern 75, Gardner-Webb 66 Florida State 80, Boston College 72 Women’s state schedule Monday’s game Northwestern State 60, East TexasA&M 51 Tuesday’s games None scheduled. Wednesday’s game Southern Miss at UL, 6p.m

Thursday’s games UNO at Stephen F. Austin, 6p.m. TexasA&M-CorpusChristi at Southeastern, 6p.m.

UTRGVatMcNeese, 6:30 p.m. Nicholls at Lamar, 6:30 p.m.

Louisiana Tech at Jacksonville State, 6:30 p.m UIW at Northwestern, 6:30 p.m. Memphis at Tulane, 6:30 p.m.

LSU at Ole Miss, 8p.m.

Friday’s games None scheduled. Women’s nationalscores SOUTH

East Carolina 74, FloridaAtlantic 61

Southeast MissouriState 62,TennesseeMartin 52

College baseball

Monday’s game LSU 10, Kent State 7

Tuesday’s games

UCLA13, Tulane 5 Southern Miss at Southeastern, n South Alabama at Nicholls, n UL at Rice, n

Wednesday’s games Nicholls at LSU,1p.m. UNO at Southern, 6p.m.

Thursday’s games None scheduled.

Friday’s games LSU vs.Indiana at Jacksonville,Fla 1p.m.

Southern vs.Grambling at Vero Beach, Fla. 2p.m. Alabama A&M at UNO,4p.m.

Tennessee-Martin at Nicholls, 6p.m.

Maryland at UL,6p.m.

Southern Illinois-EdwardsvilleatSoutheastern, 6p.m.

HarvardatTulane, 6:30 p.m.

College softball

Monday’s games None scheduled.

Tuesday’s games Florida State 8, UL 0(5inn.) LSU 10, South Alabama 2(5inn.) Wednesday’s games None scheduled. Thursday’s games None scheduled. Friday’s games Nicholls vs.KennesawState at Troy,Ala., 11 a.m. Southern at Arlington Baptist (DH),

kina, Russia, walkover Jessica Pegula (4), United States,def VarvaraGracheva, Russia, 6-4, 6-0. Belinda Bencic (9), Switzerland, def.Sara Bejlek, Czechia, walkover ClaraTauson (12),Denmark, def. Peyton Stearns, United States, 6-2, 6-4. Magda Linette,Poland, def. Ekaterina Alexandrova(8),Russia,6-2,4-6,6-1 EliseMertens, Belgium, def.Emma Navarro (14),United States, 6-2, 6-2. IvaJovic (16), UnitedStates,def.Diana Shnaider, Russia,6-4,1-6,6-0. Jaqueline Cristian, Romania, def. Ella Seidel, Germany, 6-0, ret. Coco Gauff (3), United States, def.Anna Kalinskaya,Russia,6-4,6-4 AntoniaRuzic, Croatia, def. Anastasia Zakharova, Russia,6-1,6-7 (2), 6-1. Elina Svitolina(7),Ukraine,def.Paula Badosa, Spain, 6-4, ret. Sorana Cirstea, Romania, def. Linda Noskova(10),Czechia,6-1,6-4 Elena Rybakina (1), Kazakhstan, def. Kimberly Birrell, Australia,6-1,6-2 AlexandraEala, Philippines,def.Jasmine Paolini (6), Italy,6-1,7-6 (5). Women’s Doubles Round of 32 Peangtarn Plipuech, Thailand, and Rutuja Bhosale, India,def.Eri Hozumi, Japan, and Fang-Hsien Wu,Taiwan, 7-5, 6-2. Vera Zvonareva, Russia, and LauraSiegemund, Germany, def. Antonia Ruzic and PetraMarcinko, Croatia, 6-3, 6-1. Women’s Doubles Round of 16 Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Luisa Stefani (5), Brazil, def. Marie Bouzkova, Czechia, and Janice Tjen, Indonesia,6-1 3-6, 10-3. Lyudmyla Kichenok,Ukraine,and Desirae Krawczyk, United States,def.Nicole Melichar-Martinez, UnitedStates, and Cristina Bucsa (8), Spain, 6-2, 1-6, 16-14. Storm Hunter, Australia,and Katerina Siniakova(7),Czechia,def.Demi Schuurs,Netherlands, and EllenPerez, Australia, 7-5, 7-5. Jaqueline Cristian and Elena-GabrielaRuse, Romania, def.AlexandraPanova and Diana Shnaider, Russia,6-7 (8), 6-3, 10-7. World Tour RioOpen Tuesday At Jockey Club Brasileiro RiodeJaneiro Purse: $2,469,450 Surface: Redclay Men’s Singles Round of 32 Roman Andres Burruchaga, Argentina, def. CamiloUgo Carabelli (5), Argentina, 6-3, 6-4. Francesco Passaro,Italy, def. Dino Prizmic, Croatia, 6-3, 6-4. Tomas Martin Etcheverry (8), Argentina, def. Francisco Comesana, Argentina, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Matteo Berrettini,Italy, def. MarceloTomas Barrios Vera,Chile, 7-6(1),7-5 Men’s Doubles Round of 16 Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni (2), Argentina, def. Jean-Julien Rojer, Netherlands and Gonzalo Escobar, Ecuador, 6-3, 6-3.

ATPWorld Tour Qatar

ExxonMobilOpenResults

Tuesday At Khalifa International Tennisand Squash Complex Doha, Qatar Purse:$2,833,335 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Men’s Singles Round of 32 Marton Fucsovics, Hungary,def.Hady Habib, Lebanon, 6-3, 6-3. Stefanos Tsitsipas,Greece, def. Moez Echargui, Tunisia,6-4,6-4 QuentinHalys,France, def. PabloCarreno Busta, Spain, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Jiri Lehecka(8),Czechia,def.Jenson Brooksby, United States, 6-3, 6-3. KarenKhachanov(7),Russia,def.Shintaro Mochizuki, Japan, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Zhang Zhizhen, China, def. Roberto Carballes Baena, Spain, 6-4, 6-4. Fabian Marozsan, Hungary,def.Ugo Humbert, France, 6-3, 6-1. Zizou Bergs, Belgium, def. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, France, 6-3, 6-7(5),6-4 Carlos Alcaraz (1), Spain, def. Arthur Rinderknech,France, 6-4, 7-6(5) Andrey Rublev(5),Russia, def. Jesper De Jong, Netherlands, 6-4, 6-3. Men’s Doubles Round of 16 Mate Pavic, Croatia, and Marcelo Arevalo (2), El Salvador, def. PatrikRikl and Petr Nouza, Czechia,7-6 (5), 7-6(6) Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, Italy, def. John-Patrick Smith, Australia, andAdam Pavlasek, Czechia,4-6,6-3,10-4. Stefanos Tsitsipas,Greece, and Alexei Popyrin, Australia,def.VictorVladCornea Romania, and SzymonWalkow, Poland, 6-3, 6-0. Yuki Bhambri,India, and AndreGoransson, Sweden,def.MoezEchargui,Tunisia,and Mubarak Shannan Zayid,Qatar, 6-2, 6-3. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and QuentinHalys France, def. PabloCarrenoBusta, Spain,and Reda Bennani,Morocco,6-2,6-0 LucasMiedler, Austria, andFrancisco Cabral (4),

Fried Fish Friday

Many area Catholic churches offering dinners during Lent

BY LAUREN CHERAMIE

Staff writer

In Louisiana, many churches offer Lent-friendly dinners during the 40-day Lenten period — which begins Feb. 18 on Ash Wednesday and ends April 2 — as the tradition suggests Christians abstain from eating meat on Fridays.

If you find yourself looking for a meat-free meal or friendly gathering on a Friday, here are some local churches hosting fish fry Fridays. If your church is hosting a fish fry and we have not listed it here, email Lauren Cheramie at lauren. cheramie@theadvocate.com.

St. Aloysius Catholic Church

2025 Stuart Ave., Baton Rouge

St. Aloysius is hosting its annual Lenten ﬁsh fry March 6. Plates are $12 pre-sale or $14 at the door Visitors can choose to dine in the cafeteria from 5:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m. or pick up in the drive-thru 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase at sacccﬁshfry.org/store.

St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church

1150 S. 12th St., Baton Rouge St. Francis Xavier will offer catfish dinners on Fridays through April 3. Call-in orders for pickup and delivery will be taken from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., while in-person dinners will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Delivery is available for orders of 10 or more. Plates are $15 each and include fried catﬁsh, peas, spaghetti, potato salad, bread and dessert. Call 337-256-0368, 225936-5100 or 504-460-7108 to place an order in advance.

St. John the Baptist Church

4826 Main St., Zachary

The Knights of Columbus with St. John the Baptist are hosting a fried catﬁsh plate sale 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20 at Zachary City Hall, 4700 Main St. The plates, $13 each, include fried catﬁsh from Tony’s Seafood, French fries, hushpuppies and dessert. Proceeds will support local community charities and services.

St. Joseph Cathedral

401 Main St., Baton Rouge

The Knights of Columbus of St Joseph Cathedral will sell fried ﬁsh dinners starting 11 a.m. Feb. 20, March 6 and March 20. Email office@cathedralbr.org for more information.

St. Jude the Apostle

9150 Highland Road, Baton Rouge

The men’s club at St. Jude the Apostle is hosting ﬁsh fry Fridays from 5 p.m. until sold out each Friday during Lent at the St. Jude Parish Hall. Patrons can dine in or take a meal to go.

St. Mark Catholic Church

42021 La. 621, Gonzales

St. Mark Catholic Church is offering Lenten meals every Friday until March 27. Dinners are

ä See FISH, page 8C

THE ART OF grazing

Lafayette charcuterie and olive oil shop takes the guesswork out of entertaining

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

Charcuterie is one of those endlessly adaptable party tricks that works for any occasion.

Often, charcuterie boards center crackers and a variety of cheeses and meats like prosciutto and salami. Other elements, such as fruits, nuts and chocolates, play with the richness of the cheeses on the board — usually a mix of more mild, palatable cheeses like cheddar gouda and brie, and more pungent options like goat cheese or camembert. Sounds simple right? Charcuterie brings us back to the days of cheese and cracker snacks; of sneaking a piece of chocolate before dinner Grazing is a fun way to eat if you’re a party guest — but if you’re the host, the prospect of building the perfect charcuterie board can be overwhelming.

Fortunately, Lafayette is home to a charcuterie shop that takes the guesswork out of picking the best cheeses and small bites for your occasion. Graze Acadiana has been in business since 2019, and it’s a onestop-shop for ready-made charcuterie, high-end olive oil, serving platters, and other hosting items to make your evening a little easier and more special like a pre-packaged olive oil and herb mix for dipping warm bites of bread, restaurant style.

“The grazing concept allows for more connection than just sitting there and eat-

ing your food, and then you move on. You can chat and walk around and come back and graze, and just enjoy your time,” said Graze Acadiana co-owner Mandy Osgood, who runs the shop with her mother, Tracy Sullivan.

The store features a warm atmosphere where browsing is as fun as the themed, ready-to-go charcuterie platters available for purchase. A Valentine’s Day platter

featured goat cheese, gouda, an herby Havarti and bites of brie, arranged with roses of prosciutto and salami. Further garnishments included fruits, a sweet jam, edible roses and glittery heart candies sprinkled around the board.

“My mom and I have always loved entertaining,” said Osgood. “Even when I was

Try these burgers, quiche and more

Smashed Spicy Jalapeño Burger n Buns, 7004 Siegen Lane, Baton Rouge Buns on Siegen Lane just opened its doors about a month ago. The burgers here are huge. I always like something with spice, and the jalapeño burger (which came with two smashed beef patties, pepper jack cheese, tomato, lettuce and chipotle mayo) was just that. The combo meal came with a fountain drink, a choice of crinkle cut or wafﬂe fries and fried corn. I also ordered a side of ranch for an extra 90 cents. In total, the meal cost exactly $20. I was craving something hearty, and Buns fulﬁlled my wishes. It’s a tasty burger, and the addition of corn in the combo felt like a fun accoutrement. — Maddie Scott, features reporter

ä See BEST, page 8C

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Graze Acadiana is a one-stop show for charcuterie, high-end olive oil, serving platters, and other hosting items.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Fish plates are served at area churches on Lenten Fridays.

STAFF PHOTO By MADDIE SCOTT

The Smashed Spicy Jalapeño Burger from Buns

GRAZING

Continued from page7C

akid, my mom threw really fun birthdays. We would makethese elaborate spreads,justfor fun.Our whole goal was always to bring joy to people —the artoffood is just joyful to us.”

“I’m so blessed to work with my daughter everyday andshare ideas with her and learn from her.She’smy best friend,” added Tracy Sullivan Beyond charcuterie, Graze Acadiana’solive oilbar is worth avisit, featuring over 60 premium oils andvinegars from Italy and the Mediterranean allthe way to Australia, sourced according to the freshest harvest dates. Said Osgood, “the freshest oils are the ones that have thesuper high antioxidantsand and areanti-inﬂammatory.Alot of the stuff you getatthe grocerystore will be mixed with other oils, and these are pure extravirgin olive oils.”

When it comes to building agreat charcuterie board, sherecommends catering to all with amix of softand hard cheeses, easy bites, anda focus on variety over volume. “Cheese needs afriend,”she said.“Anycheese you’re going to try,especially forthe ﬁrst time, Irecommend pairing with ajam or cracker.”

Graze Acadiana’scharcuterie platterscan be ordered onlineinavariety of themes and sizes, or asmaller selection is available in-store for purchase. Pricesrange from $24 for aplatter thatfeeds 1to 2 people, or $210 for a“CelebrationGraze”thatserves 20 to 25.Graze Acadiana is located at 113 Arnould Blvd., andtheyare open 9:30 a.m. to 5p.m. from Tuesday to Friday, and9:30 a.m. to 3p.m. on Saturdays. They are closedSundays and Mondays.

TODAYIN HISTORY

Meatball Pho

n AvaCafe, 5207 EssenLane,Baton Rouge

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday,Feb.

18, the 49th day of 2026. There are 316 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On Feb. 18, 2001, auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in acrash in the ﬁnal lap of the Daytona 500; he was 49. Also on this date:

In 1885, Mark Twain’s “Adventures of HuckleberryFinn” was published in the U.S. In 1930, the dwarfplanet Pluto was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh.

In 1970, the “Chicago Seven” defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention; ﬁve were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 (those convictions were later reversed).

In 1983, 13 people were shot to death at agambling club in Seattle’sChinatown in what became known as

the WahMee Massacre. (Two men were convicted of thekillingsand were sentenced to life in prison; athird was found guiltyof robbery and assault and served 28 years in prison before beingdeported to Hong Kong in 2014.) In 1994, in theﬁnal race of his Olympic career at the Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway,U.S. speedskater Dan Jansen broke the world record in the 1,000 meters, winning thegold medal.

In 2001, veteran FBI agentRobert Philip Hanssen was arrested, accused of spyingfor Russia. (Hanssen later pleaded guilty to espionageand attempted espionage andwas sentenced to life in prison without thepossibility of parole; he diedinprisonin2023.)

In 2003, an arson attack involving two South Korean subway trains in thecityof Daeguclaimed nearly 200 lives.

In 2013, some $42 million worth of diamonds and

Childhoodfriendshipmight nottranslate to adulthood

Dear Miss Manners: I’m fortunate to have had adear friend ever since kindergarten. We wereclose all through school, and when Imoved afew hoursaway for college and work, I would see her when Icame into town to visit family We stayed in touch and saw each other at least afew timesa year.Iwas a bridesmaid in her wedding, and we have shared some great times together over 30-plus years. When Imoved back to town, we started to get together more often, and during that time, Ibecame closer with her friend group in the city Miss Manners, these gatherings were tough for me as an introvert. The group got larger and larger, to the point where Ididn’t feel comfortable being involved. My friend wouldbe preoccupied with the oth-

ers, andIdidn’talways feel accepted or welcome. Most of thesefriends have thingsincommon, andtheir incomes are also much higher than mine. Thegroup dinners cost me adecentportion of my monthlybudget,whereas these friends seemtodine out in nice restaurants multiple times aweek (which Iknowabout because of socialmedia).

The last event Iattended was to be part of the “cheer squad” for my friend’sﬁrst marathon, whichwas in acity across the country.The trip was exhausting, expensive and slightly alienating for me

Ijust couldn’t keep up after that.

Ididn’thave theenergy or desire to attendanything, or to reciprocateon invitations. My partner is alsovery introverted and we prefer not to host

It’sbeen almost ayear since I’ve seen my friend. It feels like Ireally dropped theball, butI’m not sure how to rebuild our connection in away that feels

sustainable for me. Ifeel like Iowe her an apology or an explanation, but I’ma bit embarrassed by my taking so long to reach out and makeplans together How can Inavigate this friendship in away that honors our shared history and connection?

other gems were stolen at Brussels’ international airport by eight gunmen who cut through aperimeter fence, drove onto the tarmac and took the gemstones as they were being transferred from an armored car to aplane bound for Switzerland. In 2021, theNASArover Perseverance successfully landed on Mars, where it continues to explore the planet’s surface. Today’sBirthdays: Artistsinger Yoko Onois93. Restaurateur-TV host Prue Leith (TV:“The Great British Baking Show”) is 86. Singer IrmaThomas is 85. Musician Dennis DeYoung is 79. Actor Cybill Shepherd is 76. Actor John Travolta is 72. TV personality Vanna Whiteis69. Actor Matt Dillon is 62. Rapper-music executive Dr.Dre is 61. Actor Molly Ringwald is 58. Actor Ike Barinholtz is 49. Football Hall of Famer Dwight Freeney is 46. Musician Regina Spektor is 46. Actor Kylie Rogers is 22. Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

GentleReader: Wolves and college students socialize in packs, but human adults are allowed to have non-overlapping circles of friends.

Miss Manners suggests that you call her and propose an event that does not involve other people, transcontinental travel, or apologies. If you ﬁnd that you still enjoy one another’s company,you can then worry about the next event

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

n Lucia’sBakehouse,607 KalisteSaloom Road, Suite A, Lafayette Istand firminmyassessment that breakfast is thebest meal of the day.One of my favorite spots to grab amorning bite is Lucia’sBakehouse. Depending on my mood, Ican graba flaky,butterycroissant or adecadent cinnamon roll. Butone of myfavorite bites is the quiche. It’sawonderful savory item that fills me up. The bakehouseusually hastwo flavors of quiche, one without and one with meat This time, Ichose the sundried tomato andpesto quiche slicefor about $7. The bakehousewill warmitupifIeat there, or Ipop it in the microwave if Itake it to go.It’sasatiny filling withaflakypastry crust. The slices are incredibly filling and keep me from gettinghungry until lunch. Savory or sweet,Lucia’sBakehouse always has theperfect treat. Ashley White, education reporter

Soups, broths and warm teas are my go-to when Ihave ahead cold and arunny nose.Ava Cafe haslongbeen on my listtotry,and Idecided to give it ago with afriend to ﬁll my need for aliquid pick-me-up. For an appetizer,wesplit the bao steam buns with grilled pork. This was maybe the highlight of the evening.

The spicy mayo and wasabi cream gave the fluffy taco-like shell agood zing of flavor, backed up by tangy pickledcarrots, cilantro and sweet barbequed pork. For the main, Iordered the Meatball ‘Bo Vien’ Pho with vermicelli noodles and added steamed vegetables. The broth was hearty and flavorful but not too heavyastooverpower the thin, translucent noodles and veggies in the dish. As an accompanying sweet treat, Iordered an iced mango milk tea, afruity end to agood meal.

Margaret DeLaney health section coordinator

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

An oliveoil bar is partofthe offeringsatGrazeAcadiana in Lafayette.

Quiche

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb.19) High energy will lead to satisfaction.Distanceyourselffrom peoplewho waste your time or don't support what's meaningful to you. It's time to focus on theareas of life that matter to you.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March20) Compassion and gratitude will pave the way to victory. Open your heart to the people who matter most to you. Honesty will help resolve issues that keep you awakeat night.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Disciplineand ingenuitycan turn amediocre life into something spectacular. Be present and kind. Don'tlose out on an opportunity duetofear.

tAuRus(April 20-May 20) Look for the good in everything andeveryone. How you make others feel will determine the reaction you get. Concentrate on being and doing your best, andinspire others to do the same.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Your discipline and hard work won't helpifyou surround yourselfwith takers, users and abusers. The backup and support you get will determine the outcome.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Competition will be fierce, and how youpresent yourself will make adifference. Someone you encounter will offer more than you expect.Your charmand intelligence will help seal adeal.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Set high standards and do your best. Theimpressionyou make will setthe stagefor what's to come. Act like apro,and others will

treat you like one. It's whatyou do that counts.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) You'll get a glimpse of what's possible if you are observant and open to suggestions. A networking eventwill provide some interesting options thatyou can tweak to fit your objective. LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Unusual people, professionsand pastimes will attract yourattentionandraiseyourawareness. Once yousee how something begins to unfold, you'll gain insight into how to use whatyou discover to fit your needs.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov.22) Opportunity is within reach;all you must do is use your skills,knowledgeand experience to networkyourway to succeess. Selfand home improvement, alongwith social interaction, will helpstructure what's next.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Be the one to make choices.Refuse to let anyone dictate what's next. Walkawayfrom emotional mind games andpeople who cause you grief. Take the path that is most inviting.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Achange of pace and space willdowonders for your emotional health. Refuse to let anyone limit or discourage you fromstriving forwhat excites you most. Make awish list andpursue your dreams.

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are createdfromquotations by famous people, past and present. Each letterinthe cipherstands foranother.

toDAy's cLuE: uEQuALs W

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLYForth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon dooneSbUrY

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Look beforeyou leap is awell-known adage. Thereisabridgeequivalent, which is highlighted by today’s deal. South is in four spades. West leads off with the top three clubs. Howshould South continue after ruffing the third?

Note North’s raise to two spades. This risked puttinghis side intoa4-3 fit, but to rebid one no-trump with no minor-suit stopper would have been worse. Support with support, especially in themajors. And if South had enough to move higher andonly four spades, he would have rebid something other than four spades (perhaps three no-trump). South’s jump to four spadespromised at leastafivecard suit.

South will failonlyifheloses one trick in eachmajor.The textbookswilltellyou that the percentage play in spades is to cash the ace and king. If declarer does that here, though, he will go down, losing one spade, one heart and two clubs.

Instead,South should takethe whole deal into account and do alittle preparation, so that if he does misguessspades he will still make thecontract regardless of the heart position.

Beforetouching trumps, South should play off histwo diamond winners. Then he should cash his spade king and lead a spade to dummy’s nine.Here thefinesse winsand the contract is home. But note that if Eastcouldwin the seventh trick with the spade queen, he would be endplayed. If he leadsaheart, declarer cannot lose atrickinthat suit.OrifEast returns aminor-suit card,South sluffs aheart fromhis hand andruffs on the board.

Each Wuzzleisaword 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. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAy’sWoRD AutonoMous: oh-TAHN-ih-mus: Having the right or power of self-government Averagemark 24 words

Time limit 35 minutes

Canyou find 31 or more words in AUTONOMOUS?

yEstERDAy’sWoRD —suBVEnED

seen send seven snub subvene

suede used been bend bund bused vend venue endue ensue even need neve nevus nude dense dues dune

today’s thought

“And my eyeshall not spareyou, neither will Ihavepity: but Iwill recompense your waysonyou, andyour abominations shall be in the middle of you: andyou shall know that Iamthe Lord.”Ezekiel 7:4 God must judgeevil. He is holy.— G.E. Dean

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

hidato

mallard fillmore

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Stocks edge higher after several AI swings

NEW YORK — A quiet ﬁnish for the U.S. stock market on Tuesday masked big swings underneath the surface as companies talked about how discouraged their customers are feeling and some tech stocks continued to feel the downside of the artiﬁcial-intelligence boom.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% after ﬂipping earlier between a gain of 0.5% and a loss of nearly 1%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 32 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.1%.

On the losing end of Wall Street was General Mills, which sank 7% after warning that its customers are feeling uneasy The company behind the Cheerios Nature Valley and Pillsbury brands cut its forecast for an underlying measure of profit for 2026, saying declines would likely be sharper than expected

Several surveys have recently shown weak conﬁdence among U.S. households, which are struggling with inﬂation that remains higher than anyone would like, a job market coming off a weak year of growth and worries about tariffs.

Drops for some Big Tech stocks were the heaviest weights on the market Tuesday, including a 1.2% fall for Alphabet. The moves were tentative, though, and Nvidia swung between being one of the market’s heaviest weights and one of its biggest strengths.

Thomas Pritzker to step down from Hyatt board

Hotel magnate Thomas Pritzker will step down as the executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels after details of his affiliation with Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in documents related to the burgeoning investigation of ties between the notorious sex trafﬁcker and the elite.

Pritzker, in a statement, said he deeply regrets his association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafﬁcking.

“I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner,” Pritzker said.

There are numerous emails between Pritzker and Epstein included in a cache of Epsteinrelated documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice, with several detailing attempts for dinner meet ups and invitations. Interactions between the two continued even after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. He died by suicide in 2019.

Pritzker, 75, who is the cousin of Illinois Gov JB Pritzker, was the executive chairman at Hyatt for more than 20 years. His retirement is effective immediately Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian will succeed Pritzker as chairman.

Shein faces EU probe over illegal products

LONDON European Union regulators are investigating Shein over concerns the online retailer hasn’t done enough to limit the sale of illegal products or protect users from the platform’s allegedly addictive design.

The 27-nation bloc’s executive arm said Tuesday that it opened formal investigation under the bloc’s sweeping rulebook known as the Digital Services Act, which requires the biggest online platforms to take extra steps to protect internet users from dodgy products. Shein may be required to alter its actions, or pay a hefty ﬁne if a so-called noncompliance decision is reached following an indepth investigation.

One area its investigation is focusing on is whether Shein has the proper safeguards in place to limit the sale of products that are illegal in the EU, the commission said, including items that amount to child sexual abuse material such as “child-like sex dolls.”

THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business

Lawsuits

BY DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Agrochemical maker Bayer and attorneys for cancer patients announced a proposed $7.25 billion settlement Tuesday to resolve thousands of U.S. lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause cancer

The proposed settlement comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is pre-

paring to hear arguments in April on Bayer’s assertion that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate claims ﬁled in state courts That case would not be affected by the proposed settlement.

But the settlement would eliminate some of the risk from an eventual Supreme Court ruling. Patients would be assured of receiving settlement money even if the Supreme Court rules in Bayer’s favor And Bayer would be protected from potentially larger costs if the high court rules against it.

Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto

‘The award means we are able to do the work that we know is so urgently needed’

BY GLENN GAMBOA Associated Press

For Mónica Ramírez, being named one of this year’s 10 Elevate Prize winners means so much more than the monetary and structural support that comes with it

It means the work she does with her Fremont, Ohio-based nonproﬁt Justice for Migrant Women, which advocates for the rights and needs of migrant and rural women and other marginalized communities, is still valued despite the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

“As immigrant and migrant community members are being threatened and attacked around our country, it’s really important to have shows of support like the Elevate Prize is providing because we’ve seen a retraction — a big retraction — in support,” said Ramirez, who burst into tears when she learned she had won. “The award means we are able to do the work that we know is so urgently needed.”

Like all Elevate Prize winners announced Tuesday, Justice for Migrant Women will receive $300,000 in unrestricted funding and Ramirez, its founder and president, will receive support and training on organizational growth and increasing the group’s visibility.

Elevate Prize Foundation CEO Carolina Garcia Jayaram told The Associated Press that a group’s public proﬁle has become more important these days. Not only does it help with fundraising and informing the public, but visibility “is also a form of protection,” she said.

“It’s more important than ever to double down on leaders like Monica,” said Jayaram.

To help Elevate Prize winners get more attention for their work, Jayaram said the foundation is launching “Good Is Trending,” an initiative that will include taking over NASDAQ’s Times Square billboards on Tuesday to shine a spotlight on the winners.

That bigger spotlight is something prize winner Mara Fleishman, CEO of Chef Ann Foundation, which brings made-from-scratch meals to schools, hopes will bring her nonproﬁt to the next level.

The Boulder, Colorado-based organization has already attracted support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Waverley Street Foundation for its work, which supports elementary and secondary schools in developing menus that are less dependent on processed foods and utilize more fresh local produce.

“We’ve worked with over 17,000 schools and

BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Associated Press

NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery is briefly reopening takeover talks with Skydance-owned Paramount to hear the company’s “best and final” offer, while the Hollywood giant continues to back the studio and streaming deal it struck with Netflix

In a Tuesday regulatory filing, Warner said it had received a waiver from Netflix to reopen talks with Paramount for the

in 2018, disputes the assertion that Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But the company has warned that mounting legal costs are threatening its ability to continue selling the product in U.S. agricultural markets.

“Litigation uncertainly has plagued the company for years, and this settlement gives the company a road to closure,” Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said Tuesday

The proposed settlement was ﬁled in St. Louis Circuit Court in Missouri, home to Bayer’s North America crop science division and the state where many of the lawsuits have been brought. The settlement still needs the court’s

approval.

More than 125,000 plaintiffs have lodged legal claims over Roundup since 2015, according to the settlement documents. Few have gone to jurors, with 13 verdicts for Bayer and 11 for plaintiffs, including a $2.1 billion award by a Georgia jury last year Others already have been resolved through separate settlements, including two recent ones that would take care of about 77,000 of the claims.

The newly proposed nationwide settlement is designed to address most of the remaining lawsuits, as well as any additional cases brought in the coming years by people who were exposed to Roundup before Tuesday

reached more than 5 million kids,” Fleishman said. “But how do we take the work we’ve done and turn it into something digestible for legislators and advocates to understand what is possible?”

Fleishman said her foundation needs to ﬁnd ways to get the public to become a “force multiplier” for its message and carry it into school board meetings and statehouses around the country

A lot of that work can be done through storytelling, Jayaram said. And the Elevate Prize selection panel took the potential stories the nominees could tell into account when choosing the winners.

“People pay more attention to people than they do to issues,” Jayaram said. “So when you can ground an issue in the story of a person, of a community, of a neighborhood, suddenly the whole world can start to engage and relate to that because it’s not that different from a community and a neighborhood and a family somewhere else.”

The Elevate Prize Foundation has believed in the power of storytelling for years. Last year, it even launched its own production house Elevate Studios to tell the stories of its prize winners more effectively, on platforms ranging from YouTube videos to featurelength documentaries released in theaters. Ramirez says she looks forward to telling the stories of the people she supports through Justice for Migrant Women.

“I really think that the Elevate Prize is going to help us give a microphone to the people that we serve,” she said. “That’s my hope.”

The 2026 class of Elevate Prize winners are: Shabana Basij-Rasikh, president and co-founder of SOLA (School of Leadership, Afghanistan), an Afghan-led organization advocating for social change through girls’ education; Hillary Blout, founder and executive director of For the People, which helps people get released from prison; Manu Chopra, CEO of Karya, which brings AI advancements to low-income communities; Mara Fleishman, CEO of Chef Ann Foundation, which brings made-from-scratch meals to schools; Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, which supports residents living in federally subsidized affordable housing; Tom Osborn, founder and CEO of Shamiri, which brings mental health care to underserved regions, starting with Africa; Ai-jen Poo, executive director of Caring Across Generations, which centers care as a national priority; Mónica Ramírez, founder and president of Justice for Migrant Women, which supports migrant and rural women’s rights; Krutika Ravishankar, co-founder and executive director of Farmers for Forests, which protects and restores forests across India; Utkarsh Saxena, executive director of Adalat AI, which develops AI tools for the court system.

next seven days, or until Monday. Warner said this will allow the companies to discuss unresolved “deficiencies” and “clarify certain terms” of Paramount’s latest bid. But in the meantime, Warner’s board is still recommending shareholders support of its proposed merger with Netflix. A special meeting is now scheduled for March 20 to hold a vote on that deal. In a statement, Netflix said it was confident that its proposed transaction “provides superior value and certainty” — but recognized “the ongoing distraction for WBD stockholders and the broader entertainment industry caused by PSKY’s antics.” The streaming giant noted it had granted Warner a seven-day

waiver to “finally resolve this matter.” Warner’s leadership similarly reiterated its support for the Netflix deal. Paramount called Tuesday’s actions from Warner’s board “unusual” and said the company could have determined whether Paramount’s offer was superior without a timed deadline. Still Paramount said it was “nonetheless prepared to engage in good faith and constructive discussions.” Paramount added that it will continue to advance its tender offer priced at $30 per share, which it maintained was better than Netflix’s proposal, while also pursuing a proxy fight. The battle for Warner Bros. Discovery is complicated because

Netflix and Paramount want different things. In December Netflix agreed to buy Warner’s studio and streaming business for $72 billion, now in an all-cash transaction that would cover its legacy TV and movie production arms, as well as HBO Max. Including debt, the enterprise value of the deal is about $83 billion, or $27.75 per share, and would be finalized after Warner completes a previously announced separation of its cable operations. Unlike Netflix, Paramount wants to acquire Warner’s entire company — including networks like CNN and Discovery — and went straight to shareholders with an all-cash, $77.9 billion hostile offer just days after the Netflix deal was announced.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By REBECCA SLEZAK

CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation, Mara Fleishman, is named a winner of this year’s Elevate Prize. Her company brings made-from-scratch meals to schools.