The Acadiana Advocate 03-21-2026 by The Advocate

Machining program creates path to jobs

Career Center students find opportunities in manufacturing

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

When Keegan Wilson-Anderson entered his junior year at Lafayette High, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted his career to look like. He had ideas, but nothing concrete. A friend suggested he enroll in the machining and computerintegrated manufacturing program at the W.D. and Mary Baker Smith Career Center

His dad’s a machinist who’s never had an issue getting hired Keegan decided it could be a good “fallback job.”

The machining program is one of about a dozen programs that Lafayette Parish school system students can enroll in Students attend their traditional high school for their core classes and spend half a day at the Career Center to obtain an industry certiﬁcation.

“I fell in love with it very quickly,” Keegan, now a senior, said. “It’s not just what I have learned and pushed myself to do, but from the things that the Career Center (and Principal Boffy) has done to forward this program, it has exponentially grown since I ﬁrst joined.”

Part of that was streamlining the pro-

gram to make it more accessible and less complicated for students wanting to earn a machining credential, Career Center Principal Holly Boffy said. She worked with industry partners and educators to petition the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s Workforce Investment Council last year to allow for a new industry-based certiﬁcate to be recognized.

Boffy, a former member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, said she knew the

La. could extend time for juvenile trials

Some fear kids would languish in jail

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

A bill in the Louisiana Legislature would dramatically increase the time ofﬁcials can keep juveniles in jail before their trials.

The proposed changes would overhaul juvenile court procedures by extending the length of time prosecutors have to try juvenile cases, pausing those timelines when defense attorneys ﬁle pretrial motions and allowing prosecutors to receive extensions after cases pass their adjudication deadlines.

Currently, the Louisiana Children’s Code — a set of rules that governs juvenile court proceedings is designed to move juveniles through the court system much more quickly than adults, who can sit in jail for years before they are convicted.

State Rep. Vincent Cox R-Gretna, ﬁled House Bill 140 at the behest of the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Ofﬁce, and prosecutors across the state have thrown their support behind it. Proponents argue the court system’s current deadlines do not grant enough time to gather evidence, and that youth already have ample opportunities for release at the beginning of their cases.

Supporters also contend the change would beneﬁt public safety and protect against defense attorneys who say they will agree to time extensions but change

ä See TRIALS, page 5A

BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer

Headed down Interstate 55 near Baton Rouge, Edward Bush drove through a swirling cloud of haze last weekend

“It looked like a fog,” Bush said “Like a greenish-yellow dust storm.”

But Bush, a horticulture professor of 39 years with the LSU AgCenter recognized it for what it was: the peak of a heavy pollination season, driven largely by Louisiana’s live oaks.

“It’s just nature doing what it does,” he said. Pollen levels in south Louisiana are climbing into the high range this month, driven largely by tree pollen from oak, cedar and other early bloomers.

Forecasters currently rate tree pollen in New Orleans as very high to extreme, with overall pollen counts trending moderate Trees push pollen levels into high range

Benson, archbishop to meet pope in Rome

After Vatican visit, team representatives head to France

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

On her trip to Europe this weekend, Gayle Benson is making a stop in Rome to visit Pope Leo XIV with two VIPs as her guests: New Orleans Archbishop James F. Checchio and former Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

The trip to the Vatican on Monday kicks off a weeklong international business trip for the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner, who will also head to France to promote the ﬁrst NFL game to be held there.

The appointment with Leo will be the ﬁrst for Benson but not for Checchio, who has deep roots in

Rome, having served as the rector of the Pontiﬁcal North American College there from 2006 to 2016. Leo appointed Checchio as the coadjutor archbishop of New Orleans in September

The contingent will arrive bearing gifts: Checchio is bringing New Orleans recipes to share with the pope, while Benson will bring a customized Pope Leo Saints jersey Any such visit raises questions about whether a papal visit to New Orleans could be in the asking. Such a visit has been a point of speculation among Catholics in New Orleans ever since the pope’s family ties to New Orleans were revealed.

Benson ä See POPE, page 4A

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Pedestrians walk past pollen-producing oak trees in City Park in New Orleans on Thursday.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Manufacturing teacher Philip Ryland, left, works with senior Malaki Mouton to use a computer numerical control milling machine to cut a piece of aluminum in a machining class at W.D. and Mary Baker Smith Career Center on March 13.

ä See MACHINING, page 4A

ä See POLLEN, page 5A

2 killed in U.S. attack on alleged drug boat

WASHINGTON— AU.S.military attack on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Paciﬁc Ocean has left one survivor and two people dead, U.S. officials said Friday,asthe Trump administration pursuesits campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.

U.S. Southern Command said in apost on Xthat it immediately notiﬁed the U.S. Coast Guard to activate asearchfor threepeople who survived the strike.The Coast Guard said in astatement that one of its ships recovered two dead bodies and one survivor,and transferredthem to the Costa Rican Coast Guard.

The latest attack brings the numberofpeople who’ve been killed in boat strikes by theU.S. military to at least 159 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.

As with most of the military’s statements on the more than 40 known strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Commandsaidit targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes Themilitary didnot provide evidence that the vessel wasferrying drugs. It posted avideoon Xthat showed avessel erupting into flames as it cruised through the water Judge sides with Times in Pentagon access suit

WASHINGTON Afederaljudge agreedFriday to block the Trump administration from enforcinga policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Pentagon, agreeing with TheNew York Timesthat key portions of the new rules are unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., sided with the newspaper and ruled that the Pentagonpolicy illegally restricts the press credentials of reporters who walked out of the building rather than agreetothe new rules.

The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December,claiming the credentialing policy violates the journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the policy.Reporters from outlets that refused to consent to the new rules, includingfrom TheAssociated Press, have continued reporting on the military Friedman, who was nominated to thebench by Democratic President Bill Clinton, said the policy “fails to provide fair noticeofwhat routine, lawful journalistic practices will result in the denial, suspension,or revocation” of Pentagon press credentials. He ruled thatitviolatesthe First and Fifth Amendment rights to free speech and due process.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to arequest for commentonthe ruling.

Ex-pro wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr.acquitted

JACKSON, Miss. Aformer professional wrestler accusedof misspending millions of welfare dollars in part of Mississippi’s largestpublic corruption scandal was found not guilty by ajury on Friday

Ted“Teddy” DiBiase Jr.was facing 13 charges related to conspiracy,wire fraud, theft and money laundering. Afederal indictment accuses DiBiase of fraudulently obtainingmillions of federal welfare dollars and using the money for his own personal gain, including thepurchase of avehicle,boat and home down payment.

DiBiase’slawyerswere not immediatelyavailable forcomment when contactedbyThe Associated Press.

DiBiase, aWWE wrestler in the 2000s and 2010s, is the only person charged in the scandalto face trial.

Iran threatensworld tourismsites

U.S. sendsmore Marinesto Middle East

BY JON GAMBRELL, SAM MEDNICK and JULIE WATSON Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Three weeks into an escalating war,the U.S. is sending more warships and Marines to the region even as President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration was considering “winding down” military operationsinthe Middle East. Meanwhile Iran threatened toexpand its retaliatory attacks to includerecreationaland tourist sitesworldwide.

Trump’s comment, which came in anevening post on social mediaafter another climb in oil prices sentthe U.S. stock mar ket sha rply lower , seemed at odds with his administration’smove to send more troopsand warships and request another $200 billionfrom Congress to fund the war

In his post, thepresident also left amuddled picture of whether theU.S. would police thevital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.

Trump hadsaidthis week that theU.S.didn’tneed help,while also complaining that other countries did nothelp.

As Israeliairstrikes landed in Tehran, Iran launched more attacks on Israel and energy sitesinneighboring Gulf Arab states,and the region marked one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar.Iranians were also celebratingthe Persian NewYear, known as Nowruz,a normally festive holiday.

With little information

coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustainedin thepunishing U.S. and Israeli strikes that began Feb. 28 —oreven who was truly in charge of thecountry

But Iran’sattacks arestill choking off oil suppliesand denting the global economy, raising food and fuel prices far beyond theMiddle East

TheU.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales forthe war,from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’sleadership to eliminating itsnuclear and missile programs. There have been no publicsigns of any suchuprising and no end in sight to thewar Khamenei defiant

IranianSupreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei praised Iranians’steadfastness in theface of war in awrittenstatement read on Iranian television to markNowruz. He said the U.S. andIsraeliattacks were basedonanillusion that killing Iran’stop leaders could cause theoverthrowofthe government. Khamenei hasnot been seen in public since he be-

came supreme leader following theassassination of his father,Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Israeli strikes at the start of the war that also reportedlywounded him.

Iran’s top military spokesman,Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, warnedFriday that “parks, recreational areas andtourist destinations” worldwide won’tbesafe for thecountry’senemies. The threat renewed concerns thatIranmay revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as apressure tactic.

U.S. bolstering firepower

The U.S. is deploying three more amphibiousassault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, aU.S. ofﬁcial told The Associated Press. Twoother U.S.officials confirmed that ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed.All threespoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

The news of thedeployment comes just days after theU.S.redirectedanother group of amphibious assaultships carryinganoth-

er 2,500 Marines from the Paciﬁc to theMiddle East. The Marines will join more than 50,000U.S.troopsalready in the region.

President Donald Trump hassaidhehas no plans to send ground forces into Iran butalsohas asserted that he retains all options.

U.S. andIsraelileaders sayweeksofstrikes have decimated Iran’smilitary

In addition to Iran’ssupreme leader,airstrikes have also killedthe head of its Supreme National Security Council and araft of other top-ranking military and political leaders.

Gen.Ali Mohammad Naeini, aspokesman for Iran’sparamilitary Revolutionary Guard, was quoted by astate-run newspaper Fridaysaying Iran continues to manufacture missilesdespiteIsrael’s claim thatithad destroyedIran’s production capabilities. Iranian state television later saidthatNaeini waskilled in an airstrike.

NATO pullsmission

NATO’stop commander, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, conﬁrmed Friday that the alliance has pulled several

hundred personnelout of Iraq and relocatedthem to Europe.Theywerepartof NATO’ssecurity advisory missionestablishedin2018 to advise Iraqi defense and security officials. The move came aftera string of Iranian attacks on othertroopsatBritish, French and Italian bases in the country Iran has stepped up its attacks on energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel bombed Iran’smassive South Pars offshore natural gasfieldearlierinthe week. Twowaves of Iranian drones attacked aKuwaiti oilrefinery early Friday, sparking afire. The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery,which can process some 730,000 barrels of oil per day,isone of the largest in the Middle East.

Bahrain said aﬁre broke out after shrapnel from an intercepted projectile landed on awarehouse, andSaudi Arabia reported shooting down multiple drones targeting its oil-richEastern Province.

Iran’s attacksonenergy infrastructure in theGulf combined with its stranglehold on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, astrategic waterwaythrough which aﬁfth of the world’soil and other critical goodsare transported, have raised concerns of a globalenergy crisis.

Brentcrude oil, the international standard, has soared during the fighting and wasaround $108 perbarrelFriday, up from roughly$70 per barrel before the war began. Another climb in oilprices shook stock markets.

British ministerssaid they have agreed to allow the U.S. military to usethe U.K.’s basesinoperations to prevent Iranfrom attacking more ships in the strait. That cameafter Trump labeledNATOpartnersas “cowards” for not directly joining operations to secure the waterway

DEAnames Colombianpresident ‘prioritytarget’

U.S. prosecutors probetiesto drug traffickers

BY JIM MUSTIAN, JOSHUA GOODMAN and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

NEWYORK— Colombian President Gustavo Petro has beendesignated a “priority target” by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as federal prosecutorsinNew York probe his allegedties to drug trafﬁckers, according to people familiarwith the matter andrecords seen by The Associated Press. DEA recordsshowPetro has surfaced in multiple investigations dating to 2022, many basedoninterviews with confidentialinfor-

mants. The alleged crimes the DEAhas investigated includehis possible dealings with Mexico’sSinaloa cartel and ascheme to leveragehis “total peace” plan to beneﬁt prominent trafﬁckers who contributedto hispresident ial campaign. Therecords also su gg es t theuse of lawenforcementtosmuggle cocaine and fentanyl through Colombian ports.

The“priority target” label is reserved for suspectsDEA deemstohave a“significant impact” on the drug trade.

Petrodenied all ties to drug trafﬁckers and maintained he never accepted

their funds during hiscampaign. Writing on XFriday he arguedthatU.S.legal proceedings wouldultimately dismantle accusations fromthe Colombian far right, agroup he claims is actually the oneinvolved withtrafﬁckers.

Colombia’sEmbassy in Washington downplayed what it called “unveriﬁed” and anonymousreports of preliminarylaw enforcement investigations againstPetro.

“The reported insinuationshave no legal or factual basis,”the embassy said in astatement.

In recent months, prosecutorsinBrooklyn and Manhattan have been questioning drug trafﬁckers about their tiestoPetro and specifically about allegations the Colombian president’srepresenta-

4K told to evacuate

BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press

tivessolicited bribestoblock theirextradition to theUnited States, according to oneofthe people who weren’tauthorized to discuss the ongoing

inquiry and spoke on condition of anonymity.The person said it wasn’tclear whether federal prosecutors have implicated Petro in anycrime.

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HONOLULU Muddy floodwaters from severe rains inundated streets, pushed homes offtheir foundations, swallowed vehicles and prompted evacuation orders for thousands of residents in towns north of HonoluluonFridayas officials warned of the possible failure of a120-yearolddam Emergency sirens blared along Oahu’sNorth Shore, where rising waters damaged homes in acommunity world-renowned for its surfing. Honolulu officials toldresidents at 5:35 a.m.

Friday to leavethe area downstreamofWahiawa dam, saying it was “atrisk of imminent failure.”

There were no immediatereports of deaths or injuries,but firefighters andlifeguards on jet skis were searching floodwaters for people who had been stranded, said Ian Scheuring, aspokesperson for Honolulu. “Wedohave reportsof homes being swept away,” he said. But the agency doesn’tknowhow many The evacuation order asked ﬂeeing residents to carpool because of heavy trafﬁc.

Officials have been watching dam levels since astorm lastweek dumped heavy rain across the state, which led to catastrophic ﬂooding that washed away roads andhomes. After the worst of it,a similarbut weaker storm was forecast to bring morerain through this weekend.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in asocial media post thatthe Hawaii National Guard hasbeen activated to respond to theﬂooding. “The storm of course is very severe right now,particularlyonthe northern part of Oahu,”hesaid, describing chest-high ﬂoodwaters. “It’sgoingtobea very touch-and-go day.” Over

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByVAHID SALEMI

Acleric beats his chest as he mourns FridayinTehran, Iran, during the funeral procession of Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib and, according to Iranian officials, his wifeand daughter

Martial arts master, actor Chuck Norris dies at 86

BY JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press

Chuck Norris, the martial arts grandmaster and action star whose roles in “Walker, Texas Ranger” and other television shows and movies made him an iconic tough guy — sparking internet parodies and adoration from presidents — has died at 86 Norris died Thursday, in what his family described as a “sudden passing.”

“While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace,” the family said in a statement posted to social media.

Before he would become a star in movies and on TV, Norris was wildly successful in competitive martial arts. He was a six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight Karate champion. He also founded his own Korean-based American hard style of karate, known sometimes as Chun Kuk Do, and the United Fighting Arts Federation, which has awarded more than 3,300 Chuck Norris System black belts worldwide. Black Belt magazine ultimately credited Norris in its hall of fame with holding a 10th degree black belt, the highest possible honor Born Carlos Ray Norris in Ryan, Oklahoma, on March 10, 1940, he grew up poor At age 12, he moved with his family to Torrance, California, and joined the U.S. Air Force after high school

in 1958. It was during a deployment to Korea that he started training in martial arts, including judo and Tang Soo Do.

“I went out for gymnastics and football at North Torrance high,” he told The Associated Press in 1982. “I played some football, but I also spent a lot of time on the bench I was never really athletic until I was in the service in Korea.”

After he was honorably discharged in 1962, he worked as a ﬁle clerk for Northrop Aircraft and applied to be a police ofﬁcer, but was put on a waitlist. Meanwhile, he opened a martial arts studio, which expanded to a chain, with students including such

Harvard University sued by Trump administration

BY MORIAH BALINGIT and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Justice Department filed a new lawsuit Friday against Harvard University saying its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus, creating grounds for the government to freeze existing grants and seek repayment for grants already paid.

The lawsuit, ﬁled in federal court in Massachusetts, is another salvo in a protracted battle between the administration of President Donald Trump and the elite university

“The United States cannot and will not tolerate these failures,” the Justice Department wrote in the lawsuit. It asked the court to compel Harvard to comply with federal civil rights law and to help it “recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution.” The lawsuit also asks a judge to require Harvard to call police to arrest protesters blocking parts of campus and to appoint an independent monitor, approved by the government, to ensure the university complies with court orders.

In a statement, Harvard said it “cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus.”

“Our actions illustrate this,” the university said. “Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies on campus Harvard’s efforts demonstrate the very opposite of deliberate indifference.”

In a pair of lawsuits ﬁled last year by the university, Harvard has said it’s being illegally penalized for refusing to adopt the administration’s views. A federal judge sided with Harvard in September, reversing the funding cuts and calling the antisemitism argument a “smokescreen.”

The government’s new lawsuit comes after negotiations appear to have bogged down in the yearlong battle, which has tested the boundaries of the government’s authority over America’s universities. What began as an investigation into allegations of campus antisemitism escalated into an all-out feud. The Trump administration slashed more than $2.6 billion in Harvard’s research funding, ended federal contracts and attempted to block Harvard from hosting international students.

Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, a major association of colleges and universities, accused the administration of launching a “full scale, multipronged” attack on Harvard. Friday’s lawsuit, he said in an email, is just the latest attempt to pressure Harvard to agree to changes favored by the administration

“When bullies pound on the table and don’t get what they want, they pound again,” Mitchell said.

Anurima Bhargava, former chief of the Educational Opportunities Section at the U.S. Department of Justice and a senior adviser for the group Stand for Campus Freedom, describe the latest lawsuit as a “another unprecedented attack in its relentless war against Harvard.”

“The administration appears to have ﬁled this new lawsuit to make an end run around its loss in the district courts and the pending appeal, and its failed settlement negotiations with Harvard,” she said Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, called the lawsuit “another round of nonsense.”

“The US was number 1 worldwide in science, but Trump’s attacks on science at Harvard and more broadly is handing global leadership to China,” Willett said in an email interview “This will have negative effects on all sectors of American society, including health, agriculture, engineering, and industry.”

stars as Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley, Donny and Marie Osmond, and Steve McQueen, whom he later credited with encouraging him to get into acting.

Norris made his ﬁlm debut as an uncredited bodyguard in the 1968 movie “The Wrecking Crew,” which included a fight with Dean Martin. He had also crossed paths with Bruce Lee in martial arts circles. Their friendship sometimes, as sparring partners — led to an iconic faceoff in the 1972 movie “Return of the Dragon,” in which Lee ﬁghts and kills Norris’ character in Rome’s Colosseum

He went on to act in more than 20 movies, such as

“Missing in Action,” “The Delta Force” and “Sidekicks.”

“I wanted to project a certain image on the screen of a hero. I had seen a lot of antihero movies in which the lead was neither good nor bad. There was no one to root for,” Norris said in 1982.

In 1993, he took on his most famed role, as a crime-ﬁghting lawman in TV’s “Walker, Texas Ranger.” The show ran for nine seasons, and in 2010, then-Gov Rick Perry awarded him the title of honorary Texas Ranger The Texas Senate later named him an honorary Texan.

“It’s not violence for violence’s sake, with no moral structure,” Norris told the

AP in 1996, speaking about the show “You try to portray the proper meaning of what it’s about — ﬁghting injustice with justice, good vs bad. It’s entertaining for the whole family.”

Norris also made a surprise comedic appearance as a decisive judge in the ﬁnal match of the 2004 movie “Dodgeball.” He only on occasion had taken acting roles in recent years, including 2012’s “The Expendables 2” and the 2024 sci-ﬁ action movie “Agent Recon.” He’s due to appear in “Zombie Plane,” an upcoming film starring Vanilla Ice.

It was around the time of “Dodgeball” that his toughman image became the stuff of legend, literally: “Chuck Norris Facts” went viral online with such wildly hyperbolic statements as, “Chuck Norris had a staring contest with the sun and won,” and, “They wanted to put Chuck Norris on Mt. Rushmore, but the granite wasn’t tough enough for his beard.”

Norris ultimately embraced the absurdity of the meme craze, putting together “The Ofﬁcial Chuck Norris Fact Book,” which combined his favorites with supposedly true stories and the codes he aimed to live by He would also write books on martial arts instruction, a memoir, political takes, Civil War-era historical ﬁction and more.

“To some who know little of my martial arts or film careers but perhaps grew up with ‘Walker Texas Ranger,’

it seems that I have become a somewhat mythical superhero icon,” Norris wrote in the forward to the “Fact Book.” “I am flattered and humbled.”

That book raised money for a nonprofit he founded with President George H.W. Bush that promoted martial arts instruction for kids. The intentionally outlandish statements featured in the 2008 Republican presidential primary, when Norris endorsed Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee and shot an ad playing on the “Chuck Norris facts.”

“Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse. He tells America how it’s going to be,” Huckabee said in the campaign ad.

President Donald Trump’s supporters later promoted “Trump Facts” in the same vein, and political pundits tried it as well, describing the commander-in-chief’s decision to seize Venezuela’s sitting president, Nicolás Maduro, as a “Chuck Norris Moment,” and its initial effect on oil prices a “Chuck Norris Premium.” Norris was outspoken about his Christian beliefs and his support for gun rights, and backed political candidates for years he even went sky diving with Bush for the former president’s 80th birthday As for Trump, Norris endorsed him in the 2016 general election and wrote guest columns praising him without explicitly endorsing him in the days before

Bill to fund DHS fails to pass again

BY KEVIN FREKING Associated Press

WASHINGTON A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security failed to advance Friday in the Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some of the country’s biggest airports.

Democrats declined to provide the support needed to move the funding measure toward final passage.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would offer an alternative measure Saturday to fund just the Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous items. That too is likely to fail as lawmakers hold a rare weekend session.

Behind the scenes, work toward resolving the standoff intensified Friday as White House border czar Tom Homan was set to meet for the second consecutive day with a bipartisan group of senators. Democrats are demanding changes to immigration enforcement practices by federal agents following the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he sees “deal space” coming out of the discussions with the White House. But he also questioned whether Democrats were serious about reaching any agreement that would provide more money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement

“This is a pox on everybody’s house,” Thune said.

“You’ve got people standing in lines at the airports. This needs to be fixed. It needs to get resolved and there are good-faith efforts being made finally on all the relevant issues.”

On the Senate ﬂoor, Schumer said he agreed that TSA needs to be reopened as quickly as possible — but not under the terms Republicans are offering, which is to fund the entire Homeland Security department Democrats are looking to fund TSA while continuing negotiations on Immigration and Customs Enforcement

“Tomorrow, America will see the matter crystal clear: which senators want to open up TSA, pay TSA workers, and end the chaos at our airports, and which senators are going to block TSA funding yet again,” Schumer said. The vast majority of employees at TSA are consid-

ered essential and continue to work during the government funding lapse, but they are doing so without pay. Call-out rates have started to increase at some airports, leading to longer screening times for many passengers. Democrats have demanded

an array of policy changes as part of a funding bill that include requiring ICE agents to get a warrant from a judge before forcefully entering homes. They also are looking to require agents to wear identifying information on their uniforms and ban the use of masks. “The American people have had enough of this rogue agency We need to rein it in. And we are negotiating right now over how to do that,” said Sen. Patty Murray, ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JORDAN STRAUSS

Martial arts grandmaster and action star Chuck Norris has died at 86, according to his family

change needed to be accessible to students across the state, regardless of whether they could access a costly CNC mill. It also had to address the gap in the manufacturing industry by helping more students become workforce-ready

“The way to make our community more prosperous is to build a pipeline of machinists who can ﬁll the need for the manufacturing jobs in our community,” Boffy said.

The change was years in the making, she said It included an application with feedback from development and industry leaders across Louisiana who supported the change.

By using the Titans of CNC Academy, students can earn certifications in computer-aided design and computer-aided machining, neither of which requires a CNC mill. With those certiﬁcations, students will have credentials that can help them immediately enter the workforce and will help their school’s state-calculated performance score, since it’s recognized as a basic bundle. It’s also a course that might interest future engineers who can get hands-on experience before going to college, Boffy said.

“Wherever you are in the state,” she said, “if you have a desktop computer and a teacher who’s willing to give you some space to learn, you can achieve these certiﬁcations.” The Lafayette Parish School System and School Board have been focused on growing the Career Center, which has seen an increase in student interest. It currently serves about 500 students and has a waiting list of about 450, reflecting a national trend of more students pursuing career and technical education pathways.

LPSS plans to invest in the Career Center by building a new facility on the campus

of Comeaux High, which will go offline at the end of this school year Board members have argued that the Career Center is a way for the district to compete with charter schools and increase enrollment. Through the Titans Academy, students can also design and machine 10 building blocks that are progressively more complicated and show off their machining skills Keegan, who has a machining internship that he hopes will turn into a permanent job after graduation, said those building blocks act as a physical port-

folio that students can show prospective employers.

“It shows a lot,” he said “There are so many little things that go into making these.”

He knows what an impression that can make. Keegan has shared photos of his work — phone stands, parts for the robotics club’s competition, the Titans building blocks with his dad, who shows his own co-workers. They’re all impressed by what he can accomplish at such a young age, Keegan said.

The Career Center is taking applications for the 20262027 school year through April 1. Students who apply after April 1 will be considered for programs with vacancies.

Contact Ashley White at ashley.white@ theadvocate.com.

“I am certain it will be mentioned,” said Greg Bensel, the Saints’ vice president of communications and government affairs, who will be part of the team’s contingent on the trip.

Leo, who was chosen as pope in May, was born and raised in Chicago. His maternal grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, were from the 7th Ward of New Orleans and were wed at Our Lady of Sacred Heart on Annette Street in 1887.

The last and only papal visit to New Orleans came in 1987, when Pope John Paul II made a three-day stop as part of his U.S. tour

The Vatican has been a frequent destination for Benson a devout Catholic who met her late husband, former Saints owner Tom Benson, at Sunday Mass at St. Louis Cathedral in 2004. She met with Pope Francis at the Vatican during a 10-day trip to Europe in April 2024. She visited Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican during a 2011 trip to Italy and Germany with her late husband.

Benson has helped spearhead efforts to restore St. Louis Cathedral as the primary benefactor of the “Our City, Our Cathedral” campaign, which addresses critical structural decay, interior restoration and long-term maintenance to the iconic French Quarter church.

The Rome stop is the ﬁrst leg of a busy European trip for Benson. From Rome, the Saints contingent, which includes Benson’s brother, Wayne LaJaunie, will travel to France to promote the Saints’ game in Paris in the 2026 season. The details of the game, including the opponent, playing date and kickoff time, are still uncertain, Bensel said.

The game, which is part of the NFL’s International Series, will be the ﬁrst in

France Benson is scheduled to attend a news conference in Paris to promote the game on March 27. Saints quarterback Tyler Shough and right tackle Taliese Fuaga will also attend the event, along with Brett Gosper, the head of NFL Europe and Asia Paciﬁc.

Among the series of business meetings Benson and the Saints contingent have scheduled is a Thursday visit with U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner, who was instrumental in securing the game in Paris.

Shough and Fuaga are scheduled to tour Stade de France, where the Saints game will be played, visit the Paris-Saint Germain soccer club and make a school visit to promote the league’s ﬂag football initiatives. They will also bring Nike products as gifts for the schoolchildren. The Saints secured the marketing rights to France as part of the NFL’s Global Markets Program in 2023. “This is a business trip,” Bensel said. “We are there to promote the Saints game, the Saints brand, our ﬂag football planning and implementation

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Jaydon Augustine, a junior at W.D. and Mary Baker Smith Career Center, measures a piece of aluminum in his machining class on March 13.

Aluminum and 3D printed polymer components are displayed in the machining classroom on March 13.

POLLEN

Continued from page 1A

to high in recent days.

For Bush, that means it’s likely time for a daily dose of Zyrtec over the next three weeks to treat mild allergies. But for some Louisiana residents, it can be much worse, said Dr John Carlson, an allergistimmunologist at Ochsner Health

“Tree pollen is causing full-on misery right now,” Carlson said. Carlson has seen some cases of what’s known as vernal keratoconjunctivitis, a severe allergic condition affecting the eyes, most often during spring.

Symptoms include intense itching, light sensitivity, swelling and thick discharge, and in serious cases, damage to the cornea that can affect vision.

In people with pollen allergies, the reaction is driven by the immune system mistaking the pollen for a harmful invader

“Your immune system believes that all the misery it inﬂicts on you is completely justified, because it thinks that you’re being attacked by parasites,” said Carlson. When there are high levels of pollen in the air, it can also cause irritation for people who aren’t allergic, in the same way that their eyes would be irritated if they were in a dust storm.

“There’s so much pollen in the air that you can have an irritant effect,” Carlson said. “It’s grit. It’s just ﬂoating through the air, landing in the eyes.”

What’s causing the increase?

Right now, live oaks and other trees are releasing pollen as part of their reproductive cycle.

The powdery grains come from

the male structures of the plant and are carried by wind to fertilize the female parts, which will eventually produce acorns.

In a region like south Louisiana that is thick with live oaks and other pollinators, that process can produce massive amounts of airborne pollen all at once.

“You have so many trees pollinating at the same time that you get extremely high concentra-

tions,” Bush said. Weather plays a role in how intense the season feels. Windy conditions across the state in recent days have helped carry pollen farther and keep it suspended in the air

Temperature swings from cold to warm, which Louisiana has seen in recent weeks, can also concentrate pollen into shorter, more intense bursts Over time, the increase in

TRIALS

Continued from page 1A

course at the last minute to force case dismissals.

“Requiring a written motion (to release a child) avoids prosecutors being ambushed with unexpected opposition when they are seeking to extend the timeline in a juvenile case,” Executive Director Zach Daniels said in a statement, referring to another provision of the bill. “This does not guarantee a child will remain in custody, or that a prosecutor’s request to continue the hearing will be granted.”

But the bill is facing significant blowback from criminal justice advocates, defense attorneys and some youth detention center ad

Cox, its sponsor, promised to work on amendments to address concerns that children will languish in detention if the bill passes. He hopes that “ultimately we’re going to get their concerns addressed and have a bill that everybody can be for,” he said in an interview

What HB140 does In Louisiana, teens accused of more serious crimes can be charged as adults. In those cases, they are subject to longer detention times.

But when youth are placed in the juvenile system, they are supposed to be convicted or released no more than 60 days after their appearance hearings. Nonviolent crimes have a 30-day deadline. Prosecutors can delay proceedings for just cause, in which case a child could

tions.

That suspension would last until a judge ruled on the motion, at which point the prosecution could delay the trial by another 90 days. They would be entitled to that extension, according to Harrison, who said judges would not have the discretion to set shorter timelines. Juveniles in Louisiana are tried by judges, not juries, and because of the system’s tight timelines, judges often rule on motions the same day of trial.

Under HB140, a suspension would also occur if a juvenile tried to evade the authorities, could not be tried due to insanity or failure to appear in court. For those circumstances, the clock would reset once interruption ended.

Bill sparks debate

“modernize” adjudication timelines.

Douglas Rushton, who heads up the juvenile division for the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office, told legislators that since the timelines were set, technological advancements have given prosecutors much more evidence to review Prosecutors need more time to process materials such as body-worn cameras and DNA results, he said.

Rushton argued that very few juveniles are held pretrial Jefferson Parish has 17 such juveniles in their facility, he said. At the beginning of the judicial process, bond hearings and screenings that determine whether kids should leave custody provide many options for release, he said.

carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may lengthen pollen seasons and result in more pollen produced by individual plants.

Rain can offer temporary relief by washing pollen out of the air, but it’s a short-lived reprieve since it also encourages more plant growth.

What can people do?

For many people, over-the-counter treatments can manage symptoms, Carlson said.

Steroid nasal sprays are effective, but have to be used daily, said Carlson, and take about three days before they work. If you need immediate relief, an antihistamine spray available without a prescription called Azelastine can act quickly

The two types of sprays can be used together he said.

For eye symptoms, over-thecounter drops containing olopatadine can provide relief.

People experiencing severe eye pain, sensitivity to light or vision changes should seek medical care, as there may be damage to the eye that needs stronger treatment.

The current surge is expected to last a few more weeks, with peak oak pollen season in Louisiana typically easing by mid-April. And while it’s irritating, it’s also typical, and it’s what allows plants to grow

“You gotta remember, it’s a good thing, right?” Bush said. “It’s Mother Nature doing its job.”

“Those are the things that keep kids from languishing in detention, not these timelines,” Rushton said.

Detention officials weigh in

In a statement, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Ofﬁce said HB140 is “not intended to increase juvenile detention.”

But detention officials raised concerns that it would.

Though he did not take an ofﬁcial position on the bill, Anthony Celestine, who directs Calcasieu Parish’s juvenile detention center, told legislators it would increase the number of youth held pretrial, and that his facility might not have the capacity to handle them. He also said extended pretrial detention can harm children and hin-

der their chances at rehabilitation.

“We don’t want to get to the point where we’re adultifying the juvenile system,” Celestine said. “The longer a kid is taken out of school and out of the home, it does disrupt their day-to-day operations.”

Joseph Dominick, who heads up the juvenile detention center in the Florida Parishes, said in an interview that most pretrial facilities are not designed to hold kids for long periods of time, and so they do not offer the rehabilitative services that the state or a community could provide.

“Perhaps there can be some happy medium,” Dominick said. “Pushing (adjudication) out 120 days might be a little bit much.”

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

A car is covered with live oak tree pollen in Uptown New Orleans on Thursday.

BY JULIE CARRSMYTH Associated Press

There will be just one Election Day for this fall’smidterm elections —Nov.3.But voters in 14 states whocast their votes by mail have been given agrace period ranging from aday later to several weeks in which their ballots can be received and counted.

Whether that extra time should be allowedisatthe heart of acase that will be argued Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court. If the court strikes down those grace periods, it will leave those states —and their voters— scrambling to adjust with only afew months beforeabsenteeballots are sentout for this fall’smidterm elections. The implications could extend well beyond the 14 states that give agraceperiod for regular ballots, depending on howthe court ultimately rules. Atotal of 29 states allow extra time for at least some mail voters, including those who cast military and overseas ballots,according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Voting Rights Lab. In aﬁling with the court, agroup of state and big-city election ofﬁcials cited “the risks of confusionand disenfranchisement” if mail ballot grace periods were ended suddenly in states where votershavecounted

on them for years. Stuart Holmes, directorof electionsfor theWashington Secretary of State’soffice, said 127,000 ballots were received after Election Day in 2024, so voters shouldexpect about that many ballotstobe rejected if Mississippi loses the case. Washingtonhas the longest grace periodofany state,21daysafter Election Day

If theruling is thataballot is invalid even if it’s postmarked by Election Day,“it might aswellhave never beenreceived,”hesaid.

“There’snoway to resolve that issue,” Holmes said “There’snosecondchance.”

The practice of counting ballots after ElectionDay has been atarget of President Donald Trump since he sought to “STOP THE COUNT” after the2020 election. He and his allies argue it delays results andleads to suspicionsabout thevote tallies. It’spart of Trump’s broaderattack on most mail balloting, which he has said breeds fraud despiteﬁndings to the contrary and yearsof experience in numerous states.

The Republican National Committeeand the Libertarian Party of Mississippi brought thelawsuit against Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, aRepublican, arguing that federal Election Day statutes envi-

SupremeCourt to hear mail ballot graceperiodcase

sion asingle day for casting ballots. Grace periods for receiving mail ballots —also in place in theDistrict of Columbia and three U.S. territories—violate federal law, theyargue

“Election Day is Election Day for areason,” Ohio state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, aRepublican, saidduring debate over herstate’s banonthe practice last year.“Allowing ballotstobedelivereddays after the electiondoes nothing but hurt theintegrityand

credibilityofour elections.”

In briefs supporting Mississippi, voting rightsgroups localelectionofficials and organizationsrepresenting military and overseas votersdefend the right of states to writetheir own voting rules. The Constitution gives statesthe authority to setthe “times, places and manner” of elections

Supporters of ballot grace periods told thecourt that upholding the U.S. 5thCircuit Court of Appeals’ deci-

sion to strike down Mississippi’slaw would threaten to create chaos and confusioninthis year’s midterm elections.

“State legislatures have recognized this issue and set election deadlines that balance the interests of canvassing speed and ballotsecurity depending on the specific needs of each individualstate,” agroup of local election officials and local governments told the court.

The groups said eliminating grace periodscould affect ballotverification activities, provisional ballot processing, and the processing of military and overseas ballots that often happens after Election Day.

All 50 statesrequire ballots to be cast or postmarked on or before Election Day The 14 states withgrace periods for regular ballots acceptand count mailed ballots forperiods ranging from asingle day after the election in Texas to 21 days afterward in Washington state. Mississippi’sdisputed grace period is ﬁve days. ANovember 2025Brookings Institutionstudy found that mailvoting was apractical, secure way to expand voter access, with about four cases of fraud outofevery 10 millionmail ballots. It wasanoption used by about 30% of voters across the U.S. during the 2024 presidential election. With the Mississippi case looming, some states have begun to act on their own. Four states —Ohio, Kansas, North Dakota andUtah —eliminated grace periodslastyear,according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and Voting Rights Lab. Aﬁfth, Minnesota, shortened itsballot deadline from theclose of polls on Election Day to 5p.m.

Zelenskyy: Ukraineaiding5countries againstIranattacks

BY HANNAARHIROVA

while the United States and European countriesare among others who have requested support, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday Ukraine is also looking into whether it can havearole in restoring security in the

Strait of Hormuz amid the Iranwar,hesaid Ukrainehas becomeone of the world’s leading producers of cutting-edge, battletested droneinterceptors that arecheap and effective. They play akey part inits defense against Russia’smore than 4-year-old full-scale invasion.

“Our teams are already workingwithﬁve countries on countering (Iran’s) ‘Shahed’ drones —wehaveprovided expert assessments andare helpingbuild ade-

fense system,” Zelenskyy said on X. Iran is an ally in Russia’s invasion.Tehran signed a broad cooperation pact with Moscow last year Zelenskyy has previously said he hoped to provide expertise to ArabGulf countries targeted by Iranian Shahed drones,versions of which are heavily used by Moscow’sinvading forces, in exchangefor advanced air defense missilesthat Ukraine needs to counter devastating Russian aerial

attacks.Kyiv fears it will get fewer of thesophisticated missiles it needstofend offthe Russian strikesas theIranwar burnsthrough stockpiles Rustem Umerov,the head of Ukraine’sNational Security and Defense Council who leda delegation to theMiddle East and Gulf this week, said that Ukraine has deployed interceptor units there to help protect civilian and critical infrastructure and is workingtoexpandthatprotection. He said on the Telegram

messaging app that Ukrainian military specialists are operating in the UnitedArab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,Kuwait and Jordan. Ukraine is assessing furthersteps forlong-term security cooperation with each of those countries, Umerov said.

Zelenskyy saidinaudio messages sent via WhatsApp in response to journalists’ questions that 228 Ukrainian expertsare currentlydeployed in the region. TheU.S. hasasked for ex-

pert support fortheir military personnel in two areas of the region,Zelenskyy said, adding that Kyiv is also reviewing requests from Europeanpartners whose forces are based in the region. Ukraine proposed to the U.S. about ayear ago adeal that includes interceptor drones, naval drones and long-range drones, Zelenskyy said. The relationship between Washington and Kyiv on drone cooperation hasbeen unclear

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByRICH PEDRONCELLI

Election workers Heidi McGettigan, left, Margaret Wohlford,center,and David Jensen unload abag of ballots broughtinafrom apollingprecinct to theSacramento County Registrar of Voters office in Sacramento, Calif., on June 5, 2018.

Youngsville insurance rates fall

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

Youngsville

tomatically

designated

The

“That proactive work is expected to save about $200,000 annually

citywide for policyholders,” Ritter said in a social media post “This recognition reflects the ongoing work our team is doing to strengthen drainage planning, ﬂood mitigation, and responsible ﬂoodplain management across Youngsville.” The rating considers factors

BY ADAM DAIGLE

business

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Lee Allen Zeno performs with the R&B ensemble during the Medicine Show celebration on Thursday.

PHOTOS By ROBIN MAy

15th Anniversary of the Medicine Show at the Acadiana Center for the Arts on

FuneralsToday

NEWORLEANS

Attorneysfound guilty in staged-crashes trial

Lawyers convictedon eightcharges

BY JOHN SIMERMAN and JAMES FINN Staff writers

Personal injury attorneys

Jason Giles and Vanessa Motta were found guilty Friday on all counts and ordered jailed ahead of sentencing over abrazen fraud scheme involving hundreds of preplanned collisions with 18-wheelers and scores of lawsuits they ﬁled pursuing bogus injury claims.

Giles and Motta were each convicted on eight charges, including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, multiple counts of mail fraud and witness tampering. Each of their law ﬁrms was found guilty as well.

Ajury returned theverdict Friday afternoon in a packed federal courtroom in New Orleans after deliberating for more than ﬁve hours. As Chief U.S. District Judge WendyVitterread the verdict, Motta sobbed silently,then hugged her teenage daughteratthe front of thecourtroom gallery Vitter sparred with defense attorneys forGiles andMotta about whether they should be remanded to jail ahead of sentencing in July

Motta’sattorney,Sean Toomey,argued that she’s amother to two daughters, andthatdefendants are usually released ahead of sentencing in typical fraud cases. Giles’ attorney Lynda VanDavis,saidhe’d complied with conditionsof his bond.

But Vitter found that both presented concernsafter being convicted of witness tampering. Vitter also said Motta previously violated acondition of her release when she contacted apotential witness. The judge also noted that her ﬁancé, Sean Alfortish, awaits trial for killing awitness, slammer Cornelius Garrison III, who had cooperated with the FBI before his executionstyle slaying in 2020 As Vitter left the courtroomfor several minutes to render her decision on detaining the two lawyers, Motta’smother passedout in the front row,dropping to the carpet, as Mottawept nearby Court staff eventually propped her back up. As

INSURANCE

Continued from page1B

such as ﬂoodplain mapping, regulations, debris removal protocols, warning systems and capital spending on drainage projects. Nearby,Lafayette, Carencro and Scott are also participants in the Community Rating System. And other communities have also in-

ARRESTED

Continued from page1B

same school, going back to Jan. 16, 2026.

Sufﬁcient probable cause was then developed to obtain and execute an arrest warrant on Garcia, police say “These acts not only disrupt the school and the hundreds of students, but they also place people at risk; students and staff, the ﬁrst responders and other innocent persons,” stated Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz in anews release In Lafayette Parish, as students returned in August for the 2025-2026 schoolyear,the school system asked families to have conversations with students about what they post online, particularly about making

Attorney Jason Giles leaves theHale Boggs Federal Courthouse on Poydras Street in NewOrleans on Friday

they did, Motta began to gag, leaning over her chair andheavinginto atrash pail for several minutes as awoman heldback herhair

Then Vitter returned and ordered both lawyers to jail pending sentencing datesin July

“Tobeclear,this is anything but atypicalfraud case,” Vitter said.“The jury hasfound awide-ranging conspiracy involving professionals that are supposedtobelooked upto, attorneys,who are part of this conspiracy.”

Motta’ssentencing is scheduled for July 7, and Giles’ is scheduled forJuly 14

Thejury convicted athird defendant,DiaminikeStalbert, on acharge ofmaking false statements to FBI agents, butacquitted heron themainconspiracy count. Stalbert, described asa single mother of six, was accused of ridinginand recruitingfor onebogus crash. Vitter released her pending aJuly 31 sentencing.

Jury agreed on ‘slammers’

Theguilty verdict came after more than two weeks of testimony in acase that hasgripped New Orleans’ legal community.Itwas the ﬁrst case to go to trial from asprawling investigation dubbed “Operation Sideswipe” that hasled to about 50 guiltyverdicts to date.

Federal prosecutors said Giles andMotta each worked hand-in-hand with “slammers,”who theypaid to ﬁllcarswithpassengers and steer them into tractor-

vested heavily in drainage improvements following the2016 ﬂoods.

Broussard is about 60% ﬁnished with a$25 million drainage plan and is shiftingfocus to neighborhoodlevel projects. The City Council recently approved $325,000for drainagework on East MadisonStreet, which includes several governmentofﬁces. “Most of the drainage projectsonour majorroad-

threats andcyberbullying

Aletter sent tofamilies thatreminded themthat “inappropriate social media posts, threats or disruptive statements” willresultin disciplinary action prompted an online discussion aboutwhen students’posts are monitored by the district. The letter wasmeant to encourage families to have atalk with theirstudents,reminding themtobe mindful ofwhatthey post, not to imply thedistrict polices students’personal accounts, LPSS spokesperson TracyWirtz said previously. “Intoday’s climateour nation as awhole is at risk to terrorist acts, we will remain relentless in our pursuit of those who wish to endanger our public,” stated Guidroz. Anyone with additional information about this crimeisencouragedtocall

Vanessa Motta makes her wayacross PoydrasStreet after leaving theHale Boggs Federal Courthouse in NewOrleans on Friday

trailers on highwaysinNew Orleans. Civil juriesinthose cases tendedtoreturn higher settlements, accordingto testimonyfrom insurance defense lawyers andothers.

Prosecutorspainted a sordid picture of agroup of lawyers —Motta, Giles and other attorneyswho were notchargedand were not called to testify—connivingwithstreet-level “slammers” to create aconstant flowoflucrative injury claims they manufactured themselves.

“Vanessa Motta andJason Gilesabusedtheir positions andviolated their oaths as attorneys,”First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson saidafter the verdict.

The questionofwhether those slammersknowingly staged hundreds of sideswipes and other wrecks in cars full of passengersas they crashedinto tractortrailers on New Orleans roadways was notdisputed by either side during the trial.

Motta andGiles acknowledgedthe scheme, but their attorneys deniedtheyknew it was going on around them. Their attorneys presented no witnesses in defense of Milesand Gilesafter more than 11 days of government testimony

From the witness stand, slammer Damian Labeaud spelled outa scheme working with Giles and otherlawyersatThe King Firm, in which theypaid him$1,000 for each adult passenger in astaged collisionwitha big rig.Labeaudtoldthe jury he delivered hundreds of

bogus an Patrick au at “L thes did Gi Dav Fri feren my Sh of investigation juro de tio sai least wo Tho the “I that immu as found those Dav Simpson men were ne thet pra team.

Ot Keating, lawyer ha and spe of cod an would crashes An Harri invo setup Hollywood and attorn Kenner serv ov Lou as Al allegedly ing Parker tri edly sla son Gar er about he’d fortish, thes for point His step in thef an me

ways have been complete. Now we’re moving directly into some neighborhoods that need drainage updates,”Broussard Mayor RayBourque said. “Some of these areas hadnot had anymaintenance done in decades.

LafayetteConsolidated Government has spent more than $22 millionon drainage projects across Lafayette Parish. While municipalities manage

proj limits is part strateg dinat men LCG of halls 6p

the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁceat337-948-6516. Youmay alsocallCrime Stoppers at 337-948-TIPS, download theP3app on your mobile device or simply dial **TIPSonyour mobile phone to tip. Allcalls are can infor arrest.

LOTTERY

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2026

PICK 3: 7-3-4

PICK 4: 4-3-1-3

PICK 5: 6-5-3-3-5 Unofficial notification, keep your tickets.

Duhon, Hilda St.Alphonsus Catholic Church in Mauriceat1 p.m Lein,Charles FountainMemorialFuneralHome, 1010 PandoraStreetinLafayette,at9 a.m.

Whipple, Madeline Sacred HeartofJesus Church in Broussard at 1p.m

Obituaries

Bennett Jr., Robert Turner 'Bob

Robert Turner (Bob) Bennett, Jr.leftthisearthly realm on February 20, 2026 atthe ageof80. On aFri‐day,hepassedawaysur‐rounded by familyand friends at theVAhospital inNew Orleans. A ﬁnalVet‐eran'sWalkwas held that evening in hishonor.Bob was preceded in deathby his belovedwifeof49 years,AlandaJoy Thomas Bennett who died April24, 2022. He wasalsopreceded indeath by hisfather RobertTurnerBennett and motherMarjorieBlackburn Bennett, also hissister Molly BennettPughpassed awayApril 7, 2022 and brother Joseph (Joey) Allan Bennett passedawayJanu‐ary 11, 1996. Bobissur‐vived by hissisters: Katherine Amanda Bennett Deshotels living in Lafayette (twinsisterof Joey) andAnn Bennett Wallace of Lafayette and her daughter EmilyKather‐ine Wallace. SteveRees is rememberedtoBob as "a special pal."Bob also maintaineda closeand special relationship with the familyofhis late wife Alanda, theThomases. Thisincludedhis motherin-lawKatie Thomas,Bob Thomas(Polly),Robin Squyres (Robin), Ann Rogers (Bob), andBecky Allain (Larry), andhis manyniecesand nephews. Those who knew Bobknew thathehad auniqueper‐sonalityofanunforget‐table sort.His nature is ideally portrayedbyhis other name.Those closest tohim lovingly referred to him as "Blob."Onceina familygathering,he shouted thereare too manyBobshere(referring tothe threeBob brothersin-law),"startcalling me Blob!"So, to ageneration offamily, he became Uncle Blob. He wasthe guythatif a pictureneededa photo bomb, youcould always count on UncleBlobtobe there.Heloved to dance (Cajun-style) andheloved Mardi Gras-andhewas outstanding at both.Many a partyorget-together was takenoverbyhim and Alandadoing alivelytwostep. At MardiGrashewas costumed as aValkyrie

warrior, or something vaguely relatedtothat image.Bob's closerelation toLafayette beganwithhis attendingthe University of SouthwesternLouisiana (nowthe University of Louisiana at Lafayette)and majoringinArchitecture. AtULL, he wasa member ofSigma Nu fraternity.He earnedhis degree in that fieldand beganhis firstjob asanarchitect in Lafayette.Fromthere,he and Alanda movedtoNew Orleans,thenTampa,and finallybacktoNew Or‐leans.Several buildings bearing hisarchitectural designs arestandingin Lafayette today. Bob servedinthe army.During the VietnamWar he was stationed at theTon Son Nhut airbaseinSaigon After histourofduty, he returnedtocivilianlife. His architectural creativity ex‐tendedintothe art field where he wasanaccom‐plished artist.His artwork adornsthe wallsofmany local homes. He hadmany other interestsand made the most of hislife. He was anavidsailorand spent manyhours as adocentat the Lake Pontchartrain Lighthouse. He enjoyedtry‐ing to instill hisloveof being on thewater to those around him. He loved his dog, averylarge Dober‐man Pinscher called Sukey. Bob wouldoften be seen walking Sukeyina nearby park. Some neighborseven knewhim as the"Mayorof the DogPark."Bob fought a noblebattlefor thelast few yearsoflifeina battle thatweare alldestinedto lose. Buthis life will always liveonthrough thememo‐riesoffamilyand friends who were fortunate enoughtoknowBob Ben‐nett. Thefamilywishesto thank theVeteran's Admin‐istration hospital of New Orleans fortheir kind and considerate service. This includesthe doctorsand nursesofthe Urology Dept.,OncologyDept.,Neu‐rologyDept.,Special Ser‐vices Palliative Care,Hick‐ory HouseCommunity Liv‐ing Center,and Azalea Hospice Care.The profes‐sionaland personal care at the VA hospital is greatly appreciated. Family and friends areinvited to a memorialservice to be heldonMarch 28 at 11:00 am, RayneMemorial UnitedMethodist Church 3900 St.Charles Ave.,New Orleans.PastorJay Hogewood will preside overthe service. Acelebra‐tionofBob's life will con‐tinue at theBennett's home, 1004 Second Street New Orleans. In lieu of flowers, thefamilyre‐queststhatdonations in Bob's memory canbe madefor renovationsto the ULLSigma Nu Frater‐nityhouse.Checkscan be madetoETA Nu HouseCor‐poration, 315 Settlers Trace Blvd., Lafayette,LA 70508.

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

TSA concerns grow as airport screeners quit

Eviction notices. Vehicle repossessions. Empty refrigerators and overdrawn bank accounts.

According to union leaders and federal officials, these are among the mounting ﬁnancial strains that Transportation Security Administration ofﬁcers face during a government funding lapse the third in less than six months that has required the people who conduct airport security screenings to work without pay

The public is experiencing the consequences in long wait times at some airports as more TSA ofﬁcers take time off to earn money on the side or cut back on expenses At least 376 have quit their jobs altogether since the latest shutdown began on Valentine’s Day, according to the Department of Homeland Security exacerbating staff turnover at an agency that historically has had some of the U.S. government’s highest attrition and lowest employee morale.

“It’s just exhausting. Every day it just feels like this weight gets heavier and heavier on us,” Cameron Cochems, a local TSA union leader in Boise, Idaho, told The Associated Press.

The ongoing shutdown affects only Homeland Security The House Committee on Homeland Security has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to review the impact so far on the TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S Coast Guard and other agencies within the department.

Children’s liquid pain medication recalled

WASHINGTON Nearly 90,000 bottles of a children’s pain reliever have been recalled due to reports of black specs and other contaminants, according to federal regulators.

The Food and Drug Administration posted an online notice about the recall of Taro Pharmaceuticals’ Children’s Ibuprofen Oral Suspension. The company’s website states that the product comes in a berry-ﬂavored solution and is recommended for children ages 2 to 11.

The FDA notice states that the recall was launched earlier this month after customers reported “a gel-like mass and black particles in the product.” Agency regulators categorized the action as one in which the risk of serious injury or health consequences to consumers is “remote.”

The medication was manufactured in India by Strides Pharma Inc., which produces generic and overthe-counter medicines for ﬁrms in the U.S. and many other countries. Strides initiated the recall, according to the FDA notice.

Neither Strides nor Taro Pharmaceuticals immediately responded to requests for comment Friday morning.

Trump officials announce 10-gigawatt data center

PIKETON,Ohio The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday announced a public-private partnership to develop a major data center with its own power supply on the site of a decommissioned uranium enrichment plant in southern Ohio, as it pushes commercial development of artiﬁcial intelligence technology.

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County now being branded as the “PORTS Technology Campus” — is expected to include a 10-gigawatt data center and up to 10 gigawatts of new power generation, including 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas generation, according to the Department of Energy.

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant was on a list of 16 federal sites released last year as locations where the department could invite technology companies to build data management and storage capacity

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump called tech companies to the White House and asked them to commit to developing their own power generation alongside the electricity-intensive sites. The Ohio project includes both on-site and grid-connected power generation, along with billions of dollars in transmission upgrades, officials said. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited Piketon on Friday for the project announcement, along with officials from SoftBank Group, a Japanese investment management company, and its affiliate SB Energy

BUSINESS

THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business

High oil prices knock down stocks

Hopes erased for a cut to interest rates

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEW YORK Another climb for oil prices shook stock markets on Friday, as hopes collapsed for a possible cut to interest rates this year by the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 fell 1.5% to close its fourth straight losing week, its longest such streak in a year The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 443 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2%.

The market’s losses deepened after oil prices erased an early dip and accelerated in the afternoon.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.3% to settle at $112.19 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude gained 2.3% to $98.32 per barrel.

Stocks also bent under the weight of leaping yields in the bond market. Higher yields make mortgage rates and other borrowing more expensive for U.S. households and companies, slowing the economy, and they grind down on prices for all kinds of investments. Treasury yields have been jumping on worries the war with Iran will cause a long-term spike in oil and natural gas prices that drives up inﬂation.

Worries have gotten so high that traders have canceled nearly all their bets that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates this year according to data from CME Group. Some even think the Fed could raise rates in 2026, a nearly unthinkable scenario before the war began.

“I think it would be market shaking,” Ann Miletti, head of equity investments at Allspring

Global Investments, said about a rate hike But she also said that if oil prices stay high for a long time, they would likely drag so much on the economy that the Fed would not raise rates.

Lower interest rates would give the economy and investment prices a boost, and they’re something President Donald Trump has angrily been calling for Before the war, traders were betting heavily that the Fed would cut rates at least twice this year

But lower rates risk worsening inﬂation. And investors now see little room for central banks worldwide to cut interest rates to help their economies. Besides the Federal Reserve, central banks in Europe, Japan and the United Kingdom also held their interest rates steady this past week.

The price of Brent crude has zigzagged sharply on its way from roughly $70 per barrel before the

war began to as high as $119.50 this week Big swings have struck hour to hour as ﬁnancial markets try to handicap how long the war will last and how much damage it will do to oil and gas production in the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. stock market has a history of bouncing back relatively quickly from past conﬂicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, as long as oil prices don’t stay too high for too long. Oil prices aren’t at a red-ﬂag point yet, Miletti said, but “we’re getting close if the duration is long enough.”

“If three months from now, we’re in a similar situation, not only myself but a lot of other investors will be much more cautious,” she said. While companies can adjust to gradual rises in oil prices, Miletti said they’re less able to quickly change their business models after a sudden spike becomes a new normal.

White House urges Congress to take a light touch on AI regulations

BY SEUNG MIN KIM and MATT O’BRIEN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON The White House said on Friday that Congress should “preempt state AI laws” that it views as too burdensome, laying out a broad framework for how it wants Congress to address concerns about artiﬁcial intelligence without curbing growth or innovation in the sector

The legislative blueprint outlines a halfdozen guiding principles for lawmakers, focusing on protecting children, preventing electricity costs from surging, respecting intellectual property rights, preventing censorship and educating Americans on using the technology House Republican leaders swiftly endorsed the framework and said they’re ready to work “across the aisle” to pass legislation, but doing so would be a heavy lift, requiring agreement with Democrats in the Senate as public divisions over AI run deep.

The announcement comes as state governments have forged ahead on their own regulations for AI while civil liberties and consumer rights groups lobby for more regulations on the powerful technology The industry and the White House have pushed back, arguing that a patchwork of rules would hurt growth. Trump signed an executive order in December to block states from crafting their own regulations

“This was in response to a growing patchwork of 50 different state regulatory regimes that threaten to stiﬂe innovation and jeopardize America’s lead in the AI race,” said White House AI czar David Sacks in a social media post Wednesday

Sacks said the next step is to work with Congress to turn the administration’s principles into federal legislation.

While passing sweeping AI legislation will be difﬁcult, especially in a midterm election year, the framework appeared designed to appeal to some AI-wary Republicans and Democrats with a focus on widespread and bipartisan concerns, such as the harms that AI chatbot companionship can pose to children and the electricity costs of AI infrastructure.

“It covers basically all the key sticking points I think that might stop an AI bill from moving through Congress,” said Neil Chilson, a Republican former chief technologist for the Federal Trade Commission who now leads AI policy at the Abundance Institute. “It reads to me as an attempt to build a larger tent, even if it doesn’t give everybody everything that they want.”

BY DAVID BAUDER AP media writer

NEW YORK — CBS News said Friday it will shut down its storied radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation, ending an era and blaming challenging economic times as the world moves on to digital sources and podcasts. Said longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather: “It’s another piece of America that is gone.” When it went on the air in September 1927, the service was the precursor to the entire network,

But it has already been panned by some Democrats, including U.S. Rep Josh Gottheimer, of New Jersey, who said in a statement it “fails to address key issues, including strong accountability for AI companies, under the guise of protecting children, communities, and creators. Americans need protection — but this means nothing if we allow the AI industry to be the Wild West.”

Whether AI legislation can pass both chambers of Congress could also rely heavily on the support of Republicans like U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, of Tennessee, who has introduced her own AI bill, and last year was instrumental in thwarting Trump’s earlier attempt to deter state governments from regulating AI Blackburn on Friday called Trump’s framework a roadmap and welcomed the administration to the “important discussion” of getting a bill passed.

Several states including California, Colorado, Texas and Utah — have already passed laws that set some rules for AI across the private sector The state-level laws include limiting collection of certain personal information and requiring more transparency from companies.

With bipartisan support in the Texas legislature, a new AI law that took effect this year in the Republican-led state requires government agencies and health care providers to disclose when they are using

giving a youthful William S. Paley a start in the business Famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow’s rooftop reports during the Nazi bombing of London during World War II kept Americans listening anxiously Today, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the country and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service

AI to interact with consumers or answer questions. The law also prohibits the development of AI that encourages a person to commit suicide, harm themselves, harm another person or engage in criminal activity

Colorado’s law, which is aimed at preventing AI from discriminating against people when making consequential decisions about things like hiring and medical care, was passed in 2024 but won’t take effect until later this year

California’s Democratic Gov Gavin Newsom has vetoed some AI bills while signing into law others. His office criticized Trump’s framework Friday

The Trump administration says it doesn’t think Congress should preempt all state regulatory powers over AI, including enforcement of general laws against AI developers, “to protect children, prevent fraud, and protect consumers.” It also says Congress shouldn’t interfere with local authorities in deciding where to place data centers and other AI infrastructure, or how states procure their own AI tools for law enforcement or education.

However, it says states “should not be permitted to regulate AI development,” shouldn’t penalize AI developers for a third party’s unlawful conduct using their product, and “should not unduly burden Americans’ use of AI for activity that would be lawful if performed without AI.”

you to know that we did everything we could, including before I joined the company, to try and ﬁnd a viable solution to sustain the radio operation.” But with the radical changes in the media industry, she said, “we just could not ﬁnd a way to make that possible.” CBS News cut some of its radio programming late last year, including its “Weekend Roundup” and “World News Roundup Late Edition,” in an attempt to keep the service going.

It was unclear how many people will lose their jobs because of the radio shutdown. CBS News was cutting about 6% of its workforce, or more than 60 people, on Friday It’s not the end of turmoil at the network, as parent company Paramount Global is likely to absorb CNN as part of its announced purchase of Warner Bros.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

The construction of the Meta data center site is photographed in Holly Ridge on March 10.

OPINION

ANOTHERVIEW

Here’show Vance andRubio measure up in GOP’sfuture

Critics of Donald Trumpsaw the funnyflap over his gifting black Oxford shoes tosome of hisadministration members —and these men dutifully wearing them, whether they fit or not —asone moreepisode of sickeningsycophancy. But thegesture may have deeper meaning: WhichRepublican will fill his shoes as the party’sleader and presidentialnominee?

The question points to thequietrivalry between Vice President JD Vance, 41, and SecretaryofState Marco Rubio,54. Both are plausible contenders for the 2028 nomination. While Vanceiscurrently the front-runner and may ultimately sewitupwith Trump’sendorsement, Rubio could prove the better bet for the Republican Party. Rubio is asmart, pragmaticconservative not hobbledbyideological rigidity —aformer local ofﬁcial, state legislator,Florida House speaker and U.S. senator.He’sthe nation’shighestranking Hispanic American ofﬁcial, a notable asset for apartythat struggles to broadenits Latino appeal Rubio has broader,deeper experience than Vance andwould better bridge political gaps. He can speak to MAGA voters, traditional Republicans and independents—a balancing act similarto the one Ronald Reagan masteredwith bluecollar conservatives andCountry Club Republicans. Vance is no slouchasacandidate, but his range is narrower; he’smore hemmed in by MAGAand its demands. His personal strengthsare less relevant to the presidencythanRubio’s.

The ﬁrst question that must beasked is:Will Trump have the power to pick the next GOPnominee?

The answer is likely yes. Much depends on events, as is always the case.But it’s unrealistic to expect party leaders and donors todefy thepresident. Aworsening economy and unresolved foreign conﬂicts would surely complicate aTrumpendorsement and make it toxicinthe generalelection. The latest Economist/YouGov poll ﬁnds that55% of all voters have an unfavorable view of thepresident. But if Trump’sbase holdsup— thesame poll shows an overwhelming 89% of Republicansremain in his corner —hecould still sway theparty’spresidential nomination. Despite podcasters and punditssayingMAGARepublicans are split on his handling of thesituationin Iran, this poll shows87% of them supportit.

The next question is whether Trump will publicly pick asuccessor.That seems highly probable. He could back afavoritecandidateorblessa couple of contenders (Vance and Rubio?) while freezingout others. When Trump put Vanceonthe 2024ticket, the young, bearded Ohio senator was seen as heir apparent. Since then, Vance has worked tosolidifythat status, especially among MAGA true believers.

Anew Echelon Insightspoll has Vancerunning far ahead among primary voters with 40% support, compared with 16% for Rubio, 9% forDonaldTrump Jr., 5% for each Ron DeSantis and NikkiHaley anda combined 9% for other candidates, with therestundecided.The Economist/YouGov survey showsVance is more popularamong all Republicans (79% vs.62%) andMAGAsupporters(84% vs. 70%) than is Rubio But Trump’sloyalties runhot andcold,and that’s making Vance sweat. Ask Mike Pence. He wentfromTrump loyalistto traitor in asingle day Could the same thing happentoVance? Of course All it would take is aperceived weakness or the slightestwhiff of disloyalty.

Trump made Vance asenator in 2022 by backing himina difﬁcult primaryﬁght and then,two years later,handed him the vice presidency.Vance owes Trump everything and TrumpowesVance nothing. Trump reportedly has been asking friends whom they’d prefer,VanceorRubio. Thatsuggestsheremains open to either one.

Trump respects Rubio’stalents. Appointing Rubio secretary of state —and thenpiling on threeadditional jobs, as national security adviser, archivistof the United Statesand head of USAID —saysalot. At some point, Trump could decide Rubio is more electable and would be the better president. Could Vance and Rubio enduponthe same ticket? Trump has already ﬂoatedthat solutionand knows Republican donors would loveit. But whether either man would accept the No. 2slot is unknown.

Trump may change his minda hundred timesbetween now and 2028. Events could ultimately decide what he does. But remember: More thananyone else, he will be able to shape those events.

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

YOUR VIEWS

Americaasthe ‘city upon ahill’ is no more

The jury will be in endlessdebate on America’sstanding in theworld as aresult of President Donald Trump’sdecision to declare war on Iran.

Butnot now,and maybe never, will the country be “a city upon a hill,” especially after he started a war without the American people’s approval through their voice in Congress.

When Englishman John Winthrop,adevout Puritan and lay preacher,used the phrase“acity upon ahill,” which has abiblical origin, in 1630 as he led other Puritans fearing persecution in theirhomeland in aﬂeet of ships crossing to the New World, he challenged them to set an example for others to follow by working in harmony and Christian brotherhood for acommon cause in establishing theMassachusetts Bay Colony.“We must consider that we shall be as a city upon ahill,” he said. “The eyes of all people are upon us.”

In the20th century,President John F. Kennedy,aDemocrat, referenced the phrase as he was

preparing in 1960 for agovernment with peopleofintegrity he envisioned in his upcoming administration

He saidhewas guidedbyWinthrop’s outlook andcourage.

Former President Ronald Reagan, aRepublican, lifted the phrase to contemporary lexicon with a warm, feel-good delivery,adding “shining city” to convey America as abeacon of goodthings for the rest of the world to envy and copy

In America 2026, little boasting can be heard about ashining city upon ahill.

Instead, Americans, under Trump, areremindeddaily of a troubled country divided and in turmoil, negative attitudes toward immigrants, inﬂation, racism, antisemitism, aslap against diversity and the dismantling of efforts to preserve the environment for future generations. What would Winthrop and Kennedy,and Reagan, labeled“the great communicator,”say today?

LANNY THOMAS NewOrleans

Paralympicsshouldhavegottencoverage, too

Inoticed in your paper that you had theresults of the Olympics posted. Ialso noticed that you did not have theParalympics results posted. Why is that? Iknow that there are alot of people, myself included, who would have loved it if you had posted the Paralympics as well.

Ibelieve that the Paralympics should get equal representation because even though they do not participateinsome of the same events, they do participate in others

that are not in the Olympics that I believe are more entertaining and should be reported on Pleaseconsider the impact this would have if you showed the Paralympics in the paper.I believe it would get morepeople to pay attention to the Paralympics, and maybe they might just think that they can make it to the Paralympics. So please, for the future, consider covering the Paralympics.

CLAYTON BURKE Madisonville

Opinionpages should catertowiderange of views

Iwould like to dispute thewriter of the letter in the Feb. 26 paper.I do not buy that the majority of the newspaper’sreaders are Republican, but let’ssay that’strue.Asa liberal, Iread the letters written by all people in your paper,and Iread thecolumns written by theliberal and the conservative writers on your commentary page.

Ilike getting the viewsofall people instead of just reading those who agree with me. Idobelieve a paper should havesomething for everyone. Youcan’tjust appeal to themajority party in your area. Thank you for allowing me to state my opinion.

YVONNE HUNTER Abita Springs

Carbon capture opponentsdeserved to be takenseriously

Faimon Roberts’ recent column seemstosay that carbon capture (where literally tons of carbon dioxide would be sequestered beneath Louisiana’slands and waters) is agood thing because, “Many industries coming to Louisiana cite carbon capture as acentral piece of what makes the state attractive,” regardless of landowners’ —and local governments’ —objections. And efforts to block it by giving local governments the power to reject it have little hope of success. In astate that belongs, lock, stock and barrel, to President Donald Trumpand his acolytes, what people want has no bearing on the issue.

RUSS WISE Laplace

TenCommandments posterswithJohnson should raisequestions

Separation of church and state issues aside, adisplay of the Ten Commandments in Louisiana school classrooms is objectionable. On one side of the Commandments is Moses, amajor Biblical ﬁgure, and on the other side, House SpeakerMike Johnson, of Louisiana, which, especially to achild, implies equivalence.

Even Johnson’smost ardent supporters don’tbelieve that, let’s hope. One would think that Johnson, whohas said that anyone whowants to understand him should read the Bible, would reject being depicted as of the samestature as Moses. MARK MARLEY NewOrleans

Section on Norman Franciswas exceptional

Iwould like to thank you for publishing the supplement that wasinthe newspaper on March 1, “Remembering Norman Francis.” What an incredible human being. Reading it makes me wanttobea better man BO BIENVENU Prairieville

Ron Faucheux

TIGERS TAKE

ON SOONERS

LSU-Oklahoma ended after this edition went to press. For complete coverage, visit theadvocate.com

MOVING ON

LSU makes quick work of Jacksonville to advance to second round

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

First, Mikaylah Williams banked in a runner through contact Then she stationed herself beyond the arc on the left wing and waited. She knew a pass was coming her way, and when it arrived, she could step into a 3 Once Williams’ shot dropped through the net, the rout was on. The LSU women’s basketball team didn’t have to sweat its first-round NCAA Tournament matchup against Jacksonville on Friday There were no jitters. No rust leftover from a 13-day layoff Instead, the No 2-seeded Tigers thumped the No. 15-seeded Dolphins, winning 116-58 and shattering their program record for points scored in an NCAA Tournament game in the process. Williams scored 18 points, assisted a career-high 10 shots, grabbed five rebounds and forced three turnovers, while Flau’jae Johnson added 20 points, five rebounds and three steals. By halftime, LSU had a 28-point lead

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

The

LSU gym can be No. 1 with SEC title victory

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

The LSU gymnastics team goes to Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday in pursuit of its third straight title in the Southeastern Conference Championships. If the Tigers perform well enough, they might even secure the No. 1 seed for next month’s

and two other NCAA Tournament program records — one for points scored in a quarter (34) and one for points scored in a half (64). If the Tigers (28-5) hit the century mark one more time, then they’ll break Long Beach State’s 39-year-old NCAA Division I record for 100-point games in a season.

The 49ers wound up reaching the Final Four that year This LSU team can follow suit, especially if it keeps scoring like it did Friday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center

The Tigers shot 60% from the field, drained six of their 21 3-point tries and earned 29 trips to the free-throw line. All but one active contributor saw the floor, and six of them scored in double figures. LSU also turned 15 offensive rebounds into 22 second-chance points – a key reason why the Dolphins (24-9) didn’t even grab their first board until the 3:37 mark of the first quarter By then, though, the Tigers had already put up 27 points.

title and holding the nation’s top National Qualifying Score (NQS) average with a 197.963. But the No. 2-ranked Tigers are right on the Sooners’ heels at 197.917, a

Only QB battle in UL’s spring season is for backup role

clubhouse along with redshirt sophomore Sam Altmann and redshirt freshman Coleman Carter

“Daniel has performed really well throughout times in his career,” Desormeaux said. “He’s been put in some really really tough situations, but he’s a competitive dude. “Sam and Coleman are both talented players, too. They both have the tools. They both do some really good things. We didn’t take

STAFF

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson slices through the defense of Jacksonville guards Bailey Burns, left, and Aniah Smith in the first quarter of their first-round NCAA Tournament game on Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center LSU won 116-58.

HORSE RACING

noon America’s Day at the Races FS1 1 p.m. America’s Day at the Races FS2

1:30 p.m.

noon

1:30

5 p.m. Big Ten: Session 3

Astros’ Sousa to open season on injured list

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Houston Astros left-hander Bennett Sousa will begin the season on the injured list manager Joe Espada said Thursday Sousa, 30, strained his left oblique in a Grapefruit League game last Thursday against the Washington Nationals. Sousa returned to Houston for further testing, but Espada said he would “be down for a while.” “We’re going to not have him throw until that pain goes away,” Espada said.

MEN’S COLLEGE LACROSSE

2 p.m. Maryland at Penn St. BTN

3:30 p.m. Army at North Carolina ACCN

WOMEN’S COLLEGE LACROSSE

11 a.m. Boston College at N. Carolina ACCN

MEN’S COLLEGE WRESTLING

10 a.m NCAA: Medal Round ESPNU

5:30 p.m. NCAA: Championship ESPN GOLF

noon PGA: Valspar GOLF

2 p.m. PGA: Cologuard Classic GOLF

2 p.m. PGA: Valspar NBC

5 p.m. LPGA: Fortinet Founders Cup GOLF

Buzzer-beater saves Kentucky

Wildcats go on to beat Santa Clara in OT

BY JEFF LATZKE Associated Press

ST LOUIS Otega Oweh rescued Kentucky with a buzzer-beater from just inside half court to force overtime, then hit the tiebreaking free throws in the extra period as the seventh-seeded Wildcats beat No. 10 seed Santa Clara 89-84 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In an electrifying ﬁnish to regulation that deﬁnes the words “March Madness,” Santa Clara’s Allen Graves drained a 3 from the right wing with 2.4 seconds left to put the Broncos ahead 73-70. Oweh received the inbound pass, pushed the ball up the court and pulled up to the left of the midcourt logo to launch his desperation heave. The ball was midair when the buzzer sounded, and it banked in for the tie.

“As he raised up, he said, ‘That’s a bucket,’ and then threw it off the glass,” second-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope said.

Oweh said he was just trying to get the ball out of his hands in time.

“It’s March,” he said. “I feel like that’s just what happens. You know, it’s crazy.”

“I was just praying for it to go in.

I was about to cry if he missed that shot,” added teammate Mouhamed Dioubate. “I was just hoping the shot went in. I didn’t want the season to end already.”

Oweh scored a career-high 35 points and had eight rebounds and seven assists for the Wildcats (2213), who will face either No. 2 seed Iowa State or 15th-seeded Tennessee State in the second round in the Midwest Region.

Oweh’s two free throws with 1:12 remaining in overtime put Kentucky in the lead to stay in its 63rd NCAA Tournament appearance, the most in the country Brandon Garrison twice blocked 3-point attempts by Sash Gavalyugov in the ﬁnal minute of overtime, following the first with a breakaway, two-handed dunk that stretched Kentucky’s lead to 83-79. His second block led to more free throws for the Wildcats.

Teammates credited the 6-foot-10 Garrison for suggesting in a huddle

that they switch on screens, declaring that he’d be able to handle the matchup with the 6-3 guard Gavalyugov.

“I don’t know where you get this drama, I don’t know where you get this this transformation of emotions to just from despair to thrill to despair to thrill in a matter of four seconds,” Pope said. “But we got that a bunch.”

Christian Hammond led Santa Clara (26-9) with 20 points and Graves scored 17

“It was a really euphoric high, followed by a tough one to swallow,” said Broncos coach Herb Sendek, a 600-game winner making his return to the tournament for the ﬁrst time since 2014 with Arizona State.

Graves put Santa Clara ahead 7068 when he caught Elijah Mahi’s airballed 3-pointer and made the putback with 1:33 to play, just before the shot clock expired After a miss by Oweh, Graves had another point-blank attempt that missed, and Oweh was able to scramble for the ball on the ﬂoor as Kentucky called timeout.

Oweh tied it with a layup with 9.9 seconds left to set up the wild

ﬁnish. Adding to the fast-moving drama, neither team was granted a timeout in the closing seconds.

“I unequivocally called timeout. But they didn’t grant it,” said Sendek, asserting that ofﬁcials should have recognized that a coach might want to set up his defense after Graves’ 3-pointer “I mean, I think the video evidence is clear And anybody is able to pull it up.”

Santa Clara was seeking its ﬁrst tournament win since 1996, when future NBA MVP Steve Nash was a senior

“It hurts how it all ended, but I’m just thankful, man,” Mahi said “God bless, I’m just thankful.”

Dioubate scored 17 points for Kentucky Denzel Aberdeen, a transfer from Florida’s national championship team last season, added 16.

Collin Chandler and Aberdeen connected on back-to-back 3s to begin a 13-4 burst as the Wildcats attempted to build a lead in the second half. Aberdeen’s second 3-pointer in the stretch put Kentucky ahead 51-44 with 12:21 to play, but Gavalyugov immediately responded with a 3 of his own to ig-

nite a response. After a high-arcing 3-pointer from Mahi, Gavalyugov hit a jumper and another 3 to put Santa Clara ahead 59-55 with 7:56 remaining. The long-range shooting was quite the turnaround from the ﬁrst half, when both teams struggled with matching 4 for 15 marks from behind the arc. The Broncos led 3129 after closing the half with a 10-3 stretch that featured seven points from Mahi.

Oweh breaks a Ky. record

Oweh, a transfer from Oklahoma and the younger brother of Washington Commanders edge rusher Odafe Oweh, broke the Kentucky record for points in a player’s ﬁrst two seasons. It had stood since the Wildcats’ 1951 national championship season and was held by AllAmerica center Bill Spivey who would later face point-shaving allegations.

“It’s been life-changing. It’s a testament to the guys that are around me,” said Oweh, who has 1,237 points at Kentucky “That wouldn’t have happened without them.”

Avila is leading Saint Louis in March Madness

BY JOHN WAWROW Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y Robbie Avila is the first to admit he doesn’t look the part of a basketball player, with his thick goggles that seem too small for his head, and the way the 6-foot10, 240-pound Saint Louis center lumbers up and down the court

The 22-year-old from suburban Chicago is self-aware enough to bring attention to his deﬁciencies by coming up with self-deprecating nicknames such as “Cream AbdulJabbar” and “Milk Chamberlain.” Or how about “SLU Alcindor,” which incorporates his school’s initials. Beyond the jokes and looks, Avila can actually play basketball at an elite level and has the resume to prove it.

He’s the Atlantic 10 player of the year, leads the team in scoring and assists, and played a key role in Saint Louis’ 102-77 win over Georgia on Thursday in the ﬁrst round of the NCAA Tournament. The Billikens (29-5), seeded ninth in the Midwest Region, will face top-seeded Michigan (32-3) on Saturday

I’ve never seen a player like him. Never,” Saint Louis guard Dion Brown said.

“He’s 6-10. He thinks like a guard but doesn’t move quite as fast as a guard, but he shoots like a guard

There’s just so many ways he can affect the game,” Brown added of a teammate who ranks third among NCAA centers with 211 career 3-pointers. “He’s someone who can elevate everyone else’s game.”

And then there’s the attention Avila has drawn for an appearance

incongruous with his skills. He brings to mind the bespectacled George Mikan, who also didn’t look the part but nevertheless became one of the NBA’s ﬁrst stars.

“Growing up, I wasn’t the biggest sensation in basketball. And so to get this national attention, I just didn’t let it change me,” Avila said.

“I’m always going to be who I am no matter money, fame or no money, no fame. This is who I am.”

Avila follows Schertz

The next season, Avila followed coach Josh Schertz to Saint Louis where in two years the Billikens have gone a combined 48-20 and are now enjoying their 11th tournament berth. They set the school record for wins by beating Georgia.

“Winning has followed him ev-

erywhere. It’s not a coincidence,” Schertz said.

“There’s no person in the program more responsible for 29 wins and where we are than Robbie,” he added, noting Avila turned down lucrative offers to go elsewhere “I could go on for days about what he’s meant.”

Avila is driven and proud of what the Billikens have achieved.

“I think we’ve been making a statement all year,” he said. His playful personality emerged when asked about his time with Schertz.

“Our four years together has been a lot of fun,” Avila said. “It’s been special not only just him, but this whole entire team. I love these guys. They love me. So we’re going to continue to play for as long as we can.”

Last year was a breakout season for Sousa after sitting out the 2024 season due to injury He appeared in 44 games in 2025, and posted a 2.84 ERA across 50 2/3 innings with 59 strikeouts. But Sousa landed on the injured list on Aug. 20 with left elbow inﬂammation and didn’t return.

Iowa State forward

Jefferson hurts ankle

ST LOUIS All-America forward

Joshua Jefferson had to be helped from the floor after hurting his left ankle early in No. 2 seed Iowa State’s game against No. 15 seed Tennessee State on Friday, leaving his status in question for the rest of the NCAA Tournament. Jefferson was immediately taken up the tunnel and into an X-ray room to have his ankle examined. He emerged about 10 minutes later on crutches, and he was wearing a boot on his left ankle when he came out with the rest of the team after halftime.

The 6-foot-9 Jefferson, who was averaging 16.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists, was a second-team AP All-American this season, missing out on the ﬁrst team by a single point in voting.

Cleveland’s investigation into Clase, Ortiz continues NEW YORK The Cleveland Guardians won’t have to pay indicted pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz while Major League Baseball’s investigation continues into allegations of pitch-rigging for gamblers. Ortiz was placed on paid leave last July 3 and Clase on July 28, and they received their salaries while they didn’t pitch for the remainder of the season. They were indicted on federal charges on Nov 9 and a trial is scheduled for May 4 but could be delayed. Clase and Ortiz are charged by federal prosecutors with accepting several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 by placing more than 100 in-game prop bets.

Hamstring injury keeps Ronaldo out of friendlies

LISBON,Portugal A hamstring injury will keep Cristiano Ronaldo out of Portugal’s friendlies against the United States and Mexico ahead of the World Cup in North America. The 41-year-old Ronaldo hasn’t played since Feb. 28 when he limped off the field while playing for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.

As expected, Portugal coach Roberto Martínez did not include the ﬁve-time Ballon d’Or winner in the squad he announced on Friday Ronaldo hasn’t played in the U.S. since an August 2014 preseason friendly with Real Madrid against Manchester United in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Portugal plays Mexico in Mexico City on March 28 and the U.S. in Atlanta on April 1.

Trump against broadcasting conflicts for Army-Navy game

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday barring College Football Playoff and other postseason games from airing during the annual Army-Navy matchup in December

Trump directed the commerce secretary and the FCC chairman to coordinate with the playoff committee, the NCAA and media rights partners to ensure an exclusive broadcasting window for a storied rivalry played on the second Saturday in December Trump’s order makes reference to potential expansion of the CFP, which likely would lead to an

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALI OVERSTREET

Kentucky’s Otega Oweh heads to the basket as Santa Clara’s Jake Ensminger defends during their first-round NCAA Tournament game on Friday in St. Louis.

LSU was aheavyfavorite to win on Friday.Jacksonville —the second-placeAtlantic Sunteam thatpunchedits ticket to theBig Dance by winning its conference tournament —facedtwo NCAA Tournament teams earlier this season(TexasTechand TCU) and lost both of those games by acombined margin of 76 points On Friday,the Tigers wonby 58, which is tied for their eighthlargest margin of victory this season.

LSU began the beatdown by scoring the game’sﬁrst 14 points, mostly throughits signature transition offense. The Tigers missed only three of their ﬁrst 10shots, and they rebounded each one, turning them into second-chance points.

Jacksonvillecountered by throwing out azone defense late in the ﬁrst quarter,and that look helped it slow the game down

But LSU still found waysto score. Sophomore center Kate Koval convertedlayups and earnedtrips to the free-throw line. Williams, junior guard MiLaysia Fulwiley and freshman guard Bella Hines each drained 3-pointers. Koval finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. Freshman forward ZaKiyah Johnson chipped in 16 points. Sophomore point guard Jada Richard tallied 17 pointson8-of-10shooting,

GYM

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scant 0.046 points back.

If theSoonersdon’t do anything to improve on theiraverage, LSU could tieOU’saverage Saturday withascoreof198.375,whichwould be aseasonhigh forthe Tigers.If LSU goes 198.400 under thosecircumstances, the Tigers would be the No. 1NCAA seed onceagain

All that said, Clark likes his team where it is. LSU is guaranteed to be the No. 1seed in the NCAA regional the school is hosting April 1-4 at the Pete Maravich AssemblyCenter.He enjoys the role of the pursuer rather than the team everyone else is pursuing. Perhaps that’sbecausebeing theoverall No. 1didn’thelpLSU last year.The Tigers made it to theNCAAChampionships but didn’treach the four-team ﬁnal session, which was won by OU.

“I like to be number one at the end,” Clark said. “Until then, I’m OK with chasing something. I like the mindset that can help and keep producing. It’sapsychological thing.”

That said, the meet is hardly just an LSU-OU showdown.

The top four-ranked teams in the nation —Oklahoma, LSU, Florida and Alabama —are all in Session II. The Gators have posted this season’stwo best team scoresintheir past two meets, including a198.575 this past week at Kentucky Oklahoma has been the nation’s most consistent team, notpostingascore lower than 197.425. LSU is the only team in the nation ranked in the top three on all four events: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and ﬂoor “It’sgoing to be fun,” Clark said. “Must-seeTV. The top four teams in the country,itdoesn’t get any better than that.” No one in the regularseason has been better than LSU sophomore Kailin Chio.

The owner of anation’sbest nine perfect 10s this season —including three on vault, beam and

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points to make the Kentucky Derby field. Chip Honcho andGolden Tempo, already with 39 and 35 points, respectively,can probably secure their spot in the Kentucky Derby field with atop-five finish.

Chip Honcho enters the race as the 3-1 favorite and is the most accomplished runner in the ﬁeld. He won the Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds in December and was acrediblesecondinthe Grade II Risen Star Stakes last month behind Paladin, one of thetop contenders for the Kentucky Derby He is trained by Hall of Fame conditioner SteveAsmussen, who has won the Louisiana Derby ﬁve times, including last year with longshot winner Tiztastic. ChipHoncho could have apace advantagewith hispreferred frontrunning style. Thefield is stacked with closers and stalkers, which could leavethe sonofConnect andjockey Luis Saez aloneon the lead during the 13/16-mile trip andmake him tough to overtakein

while Fulwileyscored 13 points and blocked three shots. Senior forward Amiya Joyner was the onlyplayer who did not see the ﬂoor Jacksonvilleshot 29% from theﬁeld and gave away 28 possessions. LSU turned those giveaways into 38 points at theother end

Friday’swin was coach Kim Mulkey’s150th at LSU. She hit that milestonein only 175 games.

Mulkey-coached teams have now won 23 straight ﬁrst-round NCAATournamentmatchups.

LSU’sHall-of-Famecoach has lost only one of those games in herhead coaching career,and it was theone her ﬁrst Baylor team playedin2001.

The Tigers are trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the fourth year in arow.They were bounced out of the secondroundofthe tournament in Mulkey’sfirst season incharge, and since then, they’vewon allseven postseason gamesthey’ve played inside the PMAC. LSU has alsonow hit the 100-point mark ineachofits last three early-round contests.

The Tigers willnext play in the Roundof32onSundayagainst either No. 7seed Texas Tech or No. 10 seed Villanova. Those two teams will meet in the ﬁrst round at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

If LSU wins on Sunday,thenit’ll ﬂy to Sacramento, California, for the regional semiﬁnals. They’re now onlythree wins away from earning their seventh trip to the Final Four.

ﬂoor March 13 against Arkansas —Chioleadsthe NCAA in allaround,vault andbeam scoring.

“She’strailblazinginfront of our eyes,” LSU freshmanNina Ballou said. “It’shistory in the making, and we’reapart of it.”

Konnor McClain has been abig part of the Tigers’ success this season as well, especially in recent meets.The 2024 SECbeam champion as afreshman, McClain is ranked ﬁfth nationally on bars and has posted 11 straight scores of 9.90-9.975 in LSU’spastfour meets.

“I feel good mentally,” theLSU junior said. “The team hassupported me.It was arough season this year, but the past month has boosted my conﬁdence. The team has my back.”

Coen earnsSEC honor

LSU juniorKylieCoen hasbeen namedtothe 2026 SECGymnastics Community Service Team.

Coenhas givenmorethan40 hoursofcommunity service this yearfor such causes as MLKDay of Service, Girls on the Run, work at alocal food bankand hospital visits. She also serves on theLSU Student-Athlete AdvisoryCommittee (SAAC) andisanAcademic All-American.

LSUin2027Sprouts field

The Tigers will once again be part of the ﬁeld forthe Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad, set for Jan. 9-10, 2027, at Bon Secours WellnessArena in Greenville, South Carolina, ESPN Events announced Friday

There willbetwo four-team sessions: oneonJan. 9onABC, theother on Jan. 10 on ESPN.

Participating teams include LSU, Oklahoma, Florida,Georgia, Clemson, Utah, UCLA and North Carolina. It was not announced which teams would participate in which session.

The SproutsCollegiate Quad haspreviously been held in West Valley City,Utah (2024 and 2026) andOklahoma City (2025). LSU ﬁnishedsecond in 2024 and 2025 and tied for ﬁrst this year with OU.

the often grueling 1,346-foot Fair Groundsstretch If there is apace meltdown, GoldenTempo and Universe ﬁgure to take advantage. GoldenTempo, trained by Cherie Devaux, won the Lecomte Stakes in closing style and ﬁnisheda closing third in the RisenStarafter Chip Honcho and the eventual winner,Paladin, set arelatively soft pace on the lead.

The Cherie DeVaux trainee will add blinkers to trytokeep him closer to thepace.

“He’sgot areally nice turn of foot,” DeVaux told the Fair Groundspublicity team this week.

“But Ireallyjustwanttoget him focused, and acouple of times when he’smade his runs, even when he won, hekindofidled before hekicked clear.Sowe’re just trying to get himtobecloser,and then when he makeshis run, he makesitwithout any hesitation.”

Emerging Marketlooks to be theprimarythreat to the locals.

The son of Candy Ride earned an impressive 97 Beyer Speed Figureinwinning his7-furlong debut at Tampa Bay Downs last month.

That’sthe topﬁgure in the ﬁeld. “I’m not surprisedheran that

Alookatwhere LSU transfersstand as they enterSEC play

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

This summer wasanother busy onefor LSUbaseballinthe transfer portal, as theTigers added 10 players from the transfer portal to round outtheir 2026 roster after losing eight signees to the MLB Draft. Butthe resultsfrom LSU’sportal additions so far have been underwhelming, heading intoits ﬁrst home series in Southeastern Conference play against Oklahoma this weekend. Here’swhat you need to know aboutLSU’s newtransfersasit dives further into its SEC schedule.

COOPER MOORE •RHP

Moore has been LSU’smost consistent performer among its portal additions. The Kansas transfer holds a3.21 ERA in ﬁvestarts and has only walkedseven batters in 28 innings. Hisfastball only sits at around 92-93 mph, but it hasa strong movement proﬁle —moving away to left-handers andinside to righties —and his changeup works as aperfect compliment to thepitch. Commanding the bottomhalf of the zone is crucial to Moore’ssuccess

ETHAN PLOG •LHP

Plog has been LSU’stop lefthanded option out of the bullpen for most of the season. But he’s struggled lately,holding a6.75 ERAand allowing three earned runs on Saturdayagainst Vanderbilt.When he’sathis best, his lower arm slotand themovement he creates with his fastball have been keys to his success

TRENT CARAWAY •3B

Caraway has started nearly every gameatthird base for the Tigers aftertransferringinfrom Oregon State. The California native hada strong ﬁrst week of the season but has slowed down since then,recording just four hits and one extra-base hit since LSU’slast game at theJax College Baseball Classic. On defense, Caraway has only committed one error

SETH DARDAR •INF

UL

Continuedfrom page1C

aquarterback (inoffseason)for a reason. Ilike the room awhole lot Ithink we’ve got really good players in that room.”

None of that meansreturning starter LunchWinfield won’tbe involved in thespring sessions, however

“He’s still taking 90 percentofthe reps with theones,” Desormeaux said. “We’re still having some of those onerepswithsome of those other guys.

“But when we scrimmage, he won’tbelive. The other ones will be. I’ve already seen enough from him to know that he’stough.”

Injury report

When the2025 season ended, UL’s offensive line wasinshambles just decimated withinjuries

So Desormeaux is encouraged that the injury list earlyincamp isn’taslongasheoriginally expected.

“It’s really not that bad,”hesaid. Completely out for thespring are center Cooper Fordham,offensive

fast,” said trainerChad Brown, who won the RisenStar last monthwith Paladin. “He trained brilliantly all last year.Hejust couldn’tmake it to the races with acouple minor issues. Onceagain, leading up to this first race, he trained A-plus.” Emerging Market is one of four horsespeggedat6-1, but he figures to go off at much lower odds at posttime. The others— Blacksmith, Easterly and Pavlovian aretrained by top conditioners Bob Baffert, BradCox andDoug O’Neill. Easterly brokehis maidenby 23/4 lengths in a11/16-mile race at Gulfstream Park last month. His second-place maiden finishwas flattered by thewinner,Class President, whowon theGrade II Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn on March1

Blacksmithrequired fivestarts to break his maiden for Baffert, butthe speedy son of Liam’sMap enters with two of the four fastest BeyerSpeed Figuresinthe field. Pavlovian won the GradeIII Sunland Derby and enters as the most experienced runner and highest earner in thefield with $413,450 in winnings from nine career starts.

Dardarhas hadanup-and-down starttohis ﬁrst season at LSU.The KansasState transfer wasone of LSU’sbest hitters over the first week of theseason, but he’s had trouble squaring up the ball consistentlyeversince. He is hitting .218, with more walks than strikeouts, but alow .436 slugging percentage. In the ﬁeld, Dardar has committed three errors and has played at second and third base.

DANIEL HARDEN •OF Harden earned some playing time toward the end of nonconference play,starting against UL and Sacramento State. The juniorcollege transfer also blasted aninthinning home run against the Hornets as apinch-hitter. He’s only had12at-bats, but Johnson likes theathleticismheprovidestothe lineup as aleft-handed hitter

DAXDATHE •RHP

Dathedidn’tpitch forLSU over the past two weekends after beginning theyear near the topofthe pecking order out of the bullpen. When theAngelo Statetransferhas been at his best, his slider and cutter offer aunique look forhitters to deal with. He currently holds an ERA of nine in seven appearances.

ZACH YORKE •1B Yorke wasexpected to play abig role in LSU’s lineup after transferring in from Grand Canyon. The senior blasted four home runs entering conference play, but he’s alsosecond on the team in strike-

tackle J’Marion Gooch, linebacker Lester Jonesand offensivetackle Xzavier Brown.

“(Senior tackle) George Jackson is limited right now,”Desormeaux added. “He’ll be back after spring break.WithGeorgeand Coop,you kind of feel comfortable with them withwhat they’ve done, but I’m disappointed for Lester,because he really was doing some good things.”

Desormeaux was also disappointedwithredshirt sophomore Na’Tori Brownsuffering astress fracture, “so he’ll be out foracoupleofweeks andthenhe’llbeback He had areally good offseason.”

Transferssofar

It’snosecret thetransfer portal isn’tapleasantsubject for Desormeaux to discuss.

So that makes it even more fulﬁlling for him each time atransfer portaladdition ﬁtsinnicelywith his Cajuns. Through twopractices anyway, Desormeaux has no reason to believe that’ll change this season.

“It’sbeen prettyseamless, man,” Desormeaux said. “I feel like we’ve been so fortunate in the guys we’ve taken and how we’ve just been abletoget the right ﬁt

Fair GroundsOaks

Unsurprisingly,Bella Ballerina is the heavy7-5 favoriteinthe Oaks, the meet’smarquee event for3-year-oldﬁlliesand annually thetop preprace for the Kentucky Oaks. The Godolphin homebred is unbeaten in three lifetimestarts and leads aﬁeld of seven, whowill compete for the 100-50-25-15-10 qualifying points for theKentucky Oaks.

Bella Ballerina showed heart in winning the Grade II Rachel Alexandra lastmonth at Fair Grounds, edging Luv Your Neighbor by ahalflength at the wire after being overtaken by her in the stretch. Bella Ballerina is already firmly in the Kentucky Oaksﬁeldwith60points.

Luv Your Neighbor (7-2) again ﬁgurestobeBella Ballerina’sprimarycompetition, along with Life of Joy (4-1), aBrad Cox trainee who will be riddenbyEclipse Award-winningjockeyFlavian Pratt, andLove and Trust (9-2), an ascending frontrunner from the powerful DeVaux barn. NewOrleans Classic All eyes will be on Louisiana-

outs and has struggled hitting offspeed pitches. At ﬁrst base, he’s committedtwo errors on throws to home plate that cost the Tigers at least tworuns.

DANNY LACHENMAYER •LHP

Lachenmayerhasn’tbeenafforded many opportunities out of the bullpen since transferring in from North Dakota State. In three appearances,the sophomorehas only faced six battersin11/3 innings. His over-the-top delivery is whatmakes him unique from LSU’s other left-handed arms.

BRAYDEN SIMPSON •INF/OF Simpsonhasn’tearneda lotof playing timesince arriving at LSU. He’s only recorded30plate appearances despitehitting 22 homers and posting a1.250 on-base plus slugging percentage last season at High Point. He has swung and missedquite abit despite not being aregularstarter,striking out 13 times while only recording seven hits.

SANTIAGO GARCIA •LHP Garcia wasSteven Milam’s high school teammate at Centennial High in NewMexico and has earned alarger role in the bullpen as the season has gone along. He threw on Sunday against Vanderbilt and tossed 22/3 scoreless innings in relief against Creighton. TheOregontransferalloweda homerun against Vanderbilt, but that wasthe ﬁrst run he’d allowed since his ﬁrst outing of the year

“I’m grateful because you hear aboutthe nightmaresinhow it’s worked out sometimes(at other schools). It’s still early, but it’s worked out so far.

“We’ve been really fortunateto have transfers thathavebeen awesome.”

The biggest success story so far has been 6-foot-3, 247-pound defensive tackle Tito Chikere from East Texas A&M.

“Tito has been unbelievable,” Desormeaux said of Chikere.

“He’sahigh motor effort every day type of guy.”

As aredshirt senior,Chikere brings plenty of maturity and focustothe Cajuns. It’s alittledifferent forTulane redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Jayce Mitchell.

“Jayceisquiet,but he works hard,” Desormeaux said. “He’s in aweird spot. He’s aredshirt sophomore.Wekindoftookhim as an older guy,but he’sstill kind of a younger guy. He’s ﬁt rightinto a room that has good leadership.” Anthony Reagan fromHoward has also madeanearly mark.

“Anthonyiskindofthe same thing —he’sjumped right into the room and went to work,” Desormeaux said.

bredsensation Touchuponastar as he tries to defend his title in the Classic, the 11/8-mile stakes for older horses. Only four horses will contest the speedy 20-time winner after Accelerize scratched to run in the OaklawnHandicap. Touchuponastar,the 6-5 favorite owned by former NFL and UL quarterback Jake Delhomme, will be ridden forthe ﬁrst timeby Marcelino Pedroza Jr.Atthe same time, regular rider TimThornton recovers from an injury suffered in arecent racing incident. The son of Star Guitar has won 20 of 27 career starts, including 17 stakes races and is the third leading money winner in Louisiana-bred history with $1.7million in career earnings.

MervinMuniz Memorial Grade IwinnerProgram Trading (9-5)and Grade IIIFair Grounds StakeswinnerLagynos (2-1)headline afield of seven older turf horses in the Grade III event on the Stall-Wilson turf course. Trainer Mike Stidham also sends outtwo strong contenders in Tom’sMagic (5-1)and Montador(7-2)

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU pitcher Cooper Moore delivers apitchagainst Sacramento State in the fourth inning on March7atAlex Box Stadium. Moore has been LSU’s most consistent performer among itsportal additions.

Piece of the action

BR bakery opening an underground pizza business

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

ﬁve years, Steven Gottfried

landed St. Bruno Bread Co. on the menus and shelves of nearly 50 Louisiana businesses. Now, he’s tackling the art of pizza.

“St. Bruno Pizza Company is a passion project that has been a long time coming,” Gottfried said. The bakery-style pizza business will start as a ghost kitchen pop-up inside St. Bruno Bread Co. at 7445 Town S Ave. in Baton Rouge.

“It’s a bakery-style pizza,” Gottfried said. “A meld between Detroit-style pizza and how we do it at the bakery, because we’ve been making pizzas there for a long time.”

Pre-orders will likely launch March 30 through a link that’ll be announced soon on the St. Bruno Pizza Co. Instagram account, @stbrunopizzaco. Pickup days will be once a week on Thursdays, and the ﬁrst pickup day is April 2.

Steven

lays out slices of pumpernickel rye bread from the St. Bruno Bread Co. at the LRA Greater Baton Rouge Chapter’s 2024 Oktoberfest.

“We’ll utilize our ovens and all of our infrastructure at St Bruno Bread Company to do the underground pizza company,” he said “And then our plan is to pretty quickly get into the frozen pizza game, retailing that around Baton Rouge and then beyond.”

On March 12, the bread company posted a video of Gottfried making the Green and White, a pesto pizza with pepperoni, ﬁnished with ricotta dollops and hot honey drizzle. It’s one of the menu’s four pizzas.

The other pizzas include the Baker’s Choice, with pepperoni and jalapeño, and the Hot Hog, a bacon and sausage pizza that’s ﬁnished with a sweet sriracha sauce drizzle. And last, there’s the JCP, which stands for Just Cheese Please.

ä See PIZZA, page 6C

The newspaper is reintroducing its Cookie Contest at the Baker Fair from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.April 12 at the Main Library, 7711 Goodwood Blvd., in Baton Rouge The first-place winner will receive a $100 gift card; second place, $75 gift card; and third place $50 gift card. The winners and their cookies will be featured in The Advocate’s Living section. For details and to enter the contest, go to ebrpl.co/ advocatecookiecontest.

After 30 years of teaching at Glasglow Middle, this Baton Rouge artist is painting full time now

Davé former Talented Arts Program teacher at Glasgow Middle School, shows two of her smaller works.

canvas

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

It’s Geeta Davé’s turn now After 30 years of guiding middle schoolers through art projects, it’s her turn to make her own — her turn to get lost in the kaleidoscope of color in her studio.

Still, this sentiment is bittersweet. Davé retired from her position as Glasgow Middle School’s Talented Art Program teacher in February and she’s enjoyed working with her students. She not only introduced them to artwork in different cultures but also collaborated with other Glasgow teachers to develop coursework coinciding with the art.

Her classes’ work has appeared in public displays at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, Education

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

Davé’s acrylic painting,‘Power of Intuition.’ Davé often incorporates birds into her work.

Center in Livingston; the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans; BREC’s Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center; and the

Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge. Though she’s made time to create her own work along the way, Davé is excited about the prospect of being a full-time artist.

Always an artist

Art has always been a way of life for Davé. Her dad was an art teacher in her hometown of Rajkot, India, and it was from there where, at age 11, she was one of ﬁve children selected from throughout India for the Soviet Land Nehru award to attend the Artek International Children’s Camp in Russia.

“My father was also a book illustrator, and we would all have dinner when he’d come home from work. Then I watched him sit at the table and work like crazy,” Davé

ä See DAVÉ, page 6C

Geeta Davé’s ‘Prakruti: Into the Wild 1’ was featured in the LSU Glassell Gallery’s 2024 summer juried exhibition,‘Wild.’

STAFF PHOTOS By ROBIN MILLER

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Gottfried

Church hosts Women’sDay at LSU

Baton Rouge International Christian Church will host a Women’sDay celebration from 11 a.m. to 1:30p.m. Saturday,March 28, at the LSU Faculty Club, 3863 Highland Road. This faith-filled, open event willfeature ashared meal, testimonies, aperformance and akeynote message designedtoinspireand encourage women in every

RELIGION BRIEFS FROM STAFFREPORTS

season of life. Formore information,visit eventbrite.com

BlackCaucus prayer breakfast

TheLouisianaLegislative

BlackCaucus and the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus Foundation will holdits annual prayerbreakfastfrom 7:30 a.m. to 9a.m.Tuesday, April 14, at theRenaissance Baton Rouge Hotel, 7000 Bluebonnet Blvd.

Themorning will feature Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie and offer atime of prayer,reﬂection and fellowship, bringing together elected officials and communitymembers.

The community is invited to prayfor thecity,its leadersand one another while celebrating faith, unity and ashared commitment to service.

Tickets are$75 per person For moreinformation, visit eventbrite.com.

DAVÉ

Continued from page5C

said. “And ever since Iwas old enough to hold apencil, Iwas drawing beside him.”

Davémoved to Baton Rouge in 1987 with her husband, who workedasBaton Rouge Coca-Cola’sdirector of quality assurance. But Davé faced an obstacle in her own job hunt.

It didn’tmatter that she’d earned her master’sdegree in creative painting and murals from Maharaja Sayajirao University,her English was broken. Alimited vocabulary meant limited job prospects.

“I started taking English classes twiceaweek at the InternationalChurch, where Iwas fortunate to meet Joanne Harvey,” Davé said. “She said, ‘I will come to your home and teach you,’ and in three months, she found ajob for me at the Runnels School.”

Harvey assured Davé that language wouldn’tbeabarrier in the job.

“She said, ‘Language won’t be aproblem, because you are teaching art,’”she said. “And Iwas agood teacher there. That was 45 years ago.”

Astableteachingjob

Teaching came naturallyto Davé. Though she purposely did not pursue adegree in art educationinIndia, she was certified to teach. She also opened the Creative Art Center in Rajkot,where she was also an instructor

Her newly retired dad took over thecenterwhenDavé moved to Baton Rouge, running it alongside her sister until his death at age 94.

The Runnels job presented another obstacle —itwasn’t permanent. So, Davé moved on to the Arts Councilof GreaterBaton Rouge, which sent her to work in several

PIZZA

Continued from page5C

The menu will have one appetizer to start: handcarved country bread with whipped butter. Each pie uses asourdough base. Making it involves adayslong process using slow and low fermentation to make thedough moredigestible andﬂavorful,Gottfried said. He cooks each pizza in ablack, steel pan to

schools’ gifted and talented programs each week

Then came her perfect ﬁt at Glasgow Middle.

“Glasgow added aTalented Arts Program,and they were required to hire aprofessional artist who was involved in the community to teachit, so theycalledthe Arts Council,” Davèsaid.“The Arts Council gave them four names. Iwas the lastone the school interviewed. They hiredme, and Iwas happy,becauseI was looking for something more stable.”

The job remained stable throughthreedecades and hundreds of students,some of whom haveadvancedinto their own professional art careers.

“BrandonLewis was my student, and he’sanartist now,”Davé said.“Brandon Surtain is another.There were so many students who wentthrough the Talented Arts Program.”

Focusing on herwork

Davé’sfinal day at Glasgow was Feb. 28. On March 6, less than twoweeks after the first day of her retirement,she climbed the stairs to her home’s second floor to survey her finished and unfinishedwork.

Inked pieces on large, heavy watercolorpaper awaitcompletioninone bedroom, aonce-ﬁnished wooden cutoutpainting is being revised in another. Birdsare running themes in all of her paintings, many ofwhichfocus on women, their place in the world and their plights.

“I’ve had an unspoken friendship with birds all of my life,” Davé said. “Wehad alwayshad birdsaround in India. We didn’thave aTV or anythinglikethat, so the birds wereour friends.”

Themore Davépaints, the more the birds morph into something deeper.The colors inher work are always bright,depicting the birds as

give it acrunchy crust. After thepizzas cool, he builds the pizzas and flash-bakes them.

“Wewill be limited for the first one or two bakes, so we won’t be able to do like 100 orders,” Gottfried said. “We’llprobablycap it at30 to start,but then as we grow, our capacity willjust increase, increase, increase.”

The bread company has made anamefor itself in thewholesale realm, and St. BrunoPizza Co.isGottfried’sﬁrst venture into a

Journalism goes digital

Dear Heloise: Amid all of this discussion about physical newspapers, to my knowledge, none of your readers has suggested a big downside to printed newspapers: They are dirty.After reading the paper, my hands were always black from theeasily transferrable ink. Ireally enjoy reading your column on my computer —Loix M., via email

exotically cheerful. Their stories change when looking beyond the colors.

“When you start thinking about the birds, they have their hardships, too,” she said. “Think about what they have to go through when the rain comes, and think about their other challenges. That’s the ‘me’ and ‘my body’ Isee in them. They are like the challenges faced by women.”

Some of Davé’spaintings aboutwomen have been exhibitedinBaton Rouge Gallery’s“Surreal Salon,” the summer invitational exhibits at LSU’s Glassell Gallery and group shows in the ArtsCouncil of GreaterBatonRouge’s Shell Gallery.Atthe Baton Rouge Riverfront, her four permanent 10-by-10-foot murals areshowcased,and visitors can also ﬁnd her work at BREC’sBaton Rouge Zoo.

OutsideofLouisiana,her pieces have been includedin shows in ThePainting Center in New York; theTennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia, Alabama; and in her native India.

All of this adds up to just asampling of Davé’sart resume, to which shehopes to add asolo showwithin the next year

Back in herupstairshallway,Davé lined her ﬁnished paintings against awall, stopping only tocontemplatethe unﬁnished pieces in the bedrooms.

“Maybe Iwill have enough for acollection for ashow when Ifinish the others,” she said.

Davé doesn’tquite know where her show would be, so she’ssimply takingitone step at atime. Andthe ﬁrst step is creating more work. But it won’thappen at once. The Davés have two grown children and grandchildren, who theyplan to visit out of town.

That will come later.For now,it’sher turn to paint Andshe will.

direct-to-consumer concept.Hepreviously suppliedpizza dough to the now-closed Var’sPizza on Perkins Road. “Pizza is one of those near anddearthingstome,” he said. “It alwayshas been.It’s the reason Igot into bread in thefirst place.I always wanted to open something like this.”

Is opening abrick-andmortar pizzeriaonthe table for Gottfried? “Maybe oneday,ifthe stars align,”hesaid.

CLOSURE

Continuedfrom page5C

on SiegenLaneinside the former Big Lots. Chen said this newlocation will have a food court serving some of the same dishes as the restaurant —like dim sum and roast duck.

Thesoon-to-openAsian Supermarket spans 27,650 square feet and will carry Filipino, Cambodian,Indonesian and Indianitems. It’sset to open at the end of theyear

the monthly bill forthe paper delivery rose to $40 per month, and Ihaven’t looked back. With atablet, Ican change the size of the type by zooming in or viewing it in text mode(great forseniors), see all pictorials in high-deﬁnition color,goback to one month’sworth of daily issues (and even farther back on my laptop), makeother tweaks, and easily read the paper by holding it in my hand and swiping away!

Beyond these things, I don’thave to worry about collecting and recycling stacks of papers! And I can see the latest breaking newsbygoing to a webpage. This is important since newsfrom apaper edition is already old by the timeit’sdelivered!

Disadvantages? Ican think of none other than

TODAYINHISTORY

people at ademonstration against apartheid laws.

In 1963, the United States closed Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary; over 1,500 inmates had been jailed at the island prison off the coast of San Francisco, California, over its three decades of use.

In 1972, Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment and sent it to the states forratification by March 1979 (later extended to 1982); 35 of the required 38 states met the ratification deadline. With 38 states having since ratified, its status is in legal limbo.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would boycott the Summer Olympic GamesinMoscow because of the Soviet Union’sfailure to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

In 2012, meting out unprecedented punishment forabounty system that targeted key opposing players, the NFLsuspended NewOrleans Saints head coach Sean Payton without pay forthe coming season and indeﬁnitely banned the team’s former defensive coordinator; NFLCommissioner Roger

nostalgia, although Imust say that Idon’tactually miss it all! Crossword puzzles? Iprint out the Sunday one from my laptop! In addition, Ibelieve that most importantly,I am contributing to local journalism through my paid electronic subscription. Thanks for your excellent column!

Jeff St. Clair,inTucson,Arizona Pretty clothsacks

Dear Heloise: In regard to Elaine, whoasked what to do with linens that are packed in pretty cloth sacks, Iuse my fabric sacks to pack underclothes when going on atrip. I makesure to take an empty one as well, and as items becomedirty,I put them in the empty one. Just make sure that all your bags look different or markthem with afabric marker L.J.M., in Cincinnati Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

Goodell ﬁned the Saints $500,000 and took away twodraftpicks.

In 2019, President Donald Trumpabruptly declared that the U.S. would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights —the ﬁrst country to do so —in amajor shiftinAmerican policy

In 2022, aChina Eastern Boeing 737 aircraft with 132 people on board crashed in amountainous area of southern China, setting off aforest ﬁre visible from space in the country’sworst air disaster in decades. (All 123 passengers and nine crew members would later be conﬁrmed dead.)

Today’sbirthdays: Football Hall of Fame coach Tom Flores is 89. Actor Timothy Dalton is 80. Actor Gary Oldman is 68. Actor Matthew Broderick is 64. Comedian-actor Rosie O’Donnell is 64. Former soccer player Ronaldinho is 46. Actor Sonequa Martin-Green is 41. Actor Scott Eastwood is 40. Tennis player Karolína Plíšková is 34. Actor Jasmin Savoy Brownis32. Actor Jace Norman is 26. Actor Forrest Wheeler is 22.

STAFF PHOTO By MADDIE SCOTT

The AsianSeafood House, 11294 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge, closed on March3

STAFF PHOTO By ROBINMILLER

Baton RougeartistGeeta Davé,former Talented Arts Program teacher at Glasgow Middle School, shows acutout wooden painting she is revising. Nowthat she’sa full-timeartist, she hopes to create enough paintings for acollection.

Hints from Heloise

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Settle in, dial up your discipline and refuse to let temptation lead you astray. Rethink your financial and health strategies and adjust your routine to suit your needs.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Get serious about your financial, medical and contractual obligations. Overextending yourself in any aspect of life will lead to trouble with institutions.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Take action, and you'll help make a difference. Equality and balance are necessary, and curbing bad habits and being frugal will put you on a path to freedom.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Acting in haste or letting your ego or desire tempt you to do unwise things will lead to regret. Avoid excessive behavior and making suggestions you cannot fulfill.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Put your differences with others aside and pour your energy into research and making a unique contribution. How you present yourself and your objective will determine what you receive in return.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) You may crave change, but you must first think matters through and consider any consequences. Think about what's in demand and focus on how you can be part of a positive outcome.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Let your imagination run wild, and enjoy the onset of creativity that follows. Pay attention to detail and use your energy and

willpower to broaden your agenda and seize an opportunity.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Explore the possibilities, elaborate on your ideas and put your plans in motion. Thoughts followed by actions will lead to new beginnings and opportunities.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Keep your thoughts to yourself and let your actions lead the way A change of pace, scenery or entertainment will help you revise how you handle or earn your money.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You can wheel and deal, but you must protect yourself from anyone using unscrupulous tactics to tempt you to take on too much. Above all else, maintain balance and equality. Avoid taking a health risk.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Overreacting will not serve you well. Control your emotions, stick to a budget and a plan, and refuse to take financial or physical risks. Choose peace and love over chaos and discord.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Challenge yourself mentally and physically. Competitive situations will encourage you to try harder. Avoid overspending or letting ego interfere with your progress. Make self-improvement your goal. The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By

Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

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

toDAy's cLuE: c EQuALs L

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 gridwith severalgiven numbers Theobjectistoplace the numbers1 to 9inthe empty squares so that each row,each column andeach 3x3 box contains the samenumber onlyonce. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’sPuzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS CurTiS

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER

Ellen Hopkins, anovelist who writes primarily for teens andyoung adults, said, “For short-term relaxation, Itake ahot tub. It’s my best way to unblock writers’ block, too.”

So, if you have adifficult decision to make at the bridge table, takeaquick bath —ifthe other players don’t mind thedelay,ofcourse.Still,oneofHopkins’ wordsisrelevant to this deal

How can the defenders defeat three no-trump after West leadshis fourthhighestspade to dummy’sbareking?

North wasright to respond three notrump. Mentally look on king-singleton as king-doubleton. Even when the opening leaderhas theace, he isn’tgoing to lead it againstano-trump contract

Southstarts with seven top tricks: one spade (given the first trick), three hearts, one diamond andtwo clubs. The extrawinnerscan obviously come from diamonds. And if that finesse is working, declarer will take the first 11 tricks.

Evenifthefinesseloses,Southwillbeall rightifthe opponents cannotcashfour spade tricks.

How can the defenders getthose four spade winners? At trick one, East must drop his queen underdummy’sking.

This serves two purposes: It tells partner about the queen and jack, allowing him to underlead the ace on the next round, and it unblocks the suit. (West knowsthe queencannotbeasingleton, because that would give South six spades.)

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

Previousanswers:

word game

InstRuctIons:

allowed.

toDAy’sWoRD FREIGHtER: FRAY-ter: Aship or airplane used primarily to carrycargo

Average

Can youfind