stays are usually brief before being transferred elsewhere
BY MARTHA SANCHEZ staff writer
After Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian was arrested by federal immigration agents last summer outside her longtime New Orleans home, she spent the night in a jail in Hancock County, Mississippi.
The 64-year-old Iranian woman was soon released after public outcry and a nudge from U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican House majority leader from Jefferson She was one of hundreds of newly detained immigrants in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast to pass through the Mississippi Coast facility Hancock County’s partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has quietly transformed the jail near Bay St. Louis into a crucial tool for the federal government as President Donald Trump’s administration deports thousands of immigrants lacking permanent legal status across the country
“It’s a real simple agreement,” Hancock County Sheriff Johnny Alison said. “We have the space.”
ä see DETAINED, page 4A
Pakistan says it
will
host talks between U.S. and Iran
Iran threatens to target U.s. homes
BY MUNIR AHMED, SAMY MAGDY and CARA ANNA Associated Press
ISLAMABAD Pakistan announced Sunday that it will soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.
“Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the U.S. have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks. Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days,” Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said after top diplomats from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi
ä see TALKS, page 4A
HoG DoGs IN ACTION
Dogs Gomer and Tag rush past a hog during the Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials in Winnfield on March 21 Winnfield has produced three governors and the world’s largest hog baying competition. Every March, both legacies fill the town at once.
Hundreds gather in small Louisiana town to watch Catahoulas corral feral hogs
BY AIDAN McCAHILL staff writer
At the edge of a sand arena, two Catahoula leopard dogs hang suspended in midair, legs cartoonishly churning as they’re held by two squatting men. It’s a hot and dusty Saturday afternoon at the Winnfield Fairgrounds in the third week of March. Bees, barefooted children and “hog dog” trainers from as far as France and Australia swarm the surrounding wooden bleachers.
A gate swings open and a feral hog trots out The men let go. The dogs, Goose and Max, hurl themselves with abandon.
For four minutes, the barks don’t stop as the canine duo plant themselves within 2 feet of a beast twice their size attempting to keep it from moving, or at “bay.”
“Talk to me baby, talk to me!” yells their owner, Randy Dorrell, a ritualized chant that seems more for him than his dogs.
Several times, the hog lunges and bites, but like NFL cornerbacks, Goose and Max flip their hips and retreat to avoid the charge, then resume the doubleteam pressure. When the hog attempts to break the bay, the dogs sink their teeth into the tough skin and briefly hold on. If the hog runs free for too long, or the dogs break eye contact, judges watching from above subtract points.
Goose is a seven-time world champion in hog baying and, despite being 9 years old, still has the mix of boldness, athleticism and focus that has kept him at the top of the sport since he was 10 months old.
But it’s day six of Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials, and anything short of a perfect score of 10 in this elite atmosphere — even the smallest moments of weakness — means certain elimination.
Finally the hog strikes Goose in the side and takes him to the ground. For a brief moment, the Catahoula loses eye contact. He’s dinged 0.1 point, and Dorrell, throwing a fistful of sand in frustration, decides to call it off. The old champion was hurt but not injured, Dorrell said after Better
101sT yEAR, No. 273
sTAFF PHoTos By JAVIER GALLEGos
Chelsie Kirby, left, holding Willy and Kynzie Kirby, holding smokey hold onto the metal gates of the pen before releasing their dogs, who are barking at a hog during the Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials in Winnfield on March 21.
Car hits pedestrians in U.K. city, injuring 7
LONDON Police in the city of Derby arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder after a car struck a number of pedestrians in the busy city center, sending seven people to hospitals.
Counterterrorism officers were assisting local police in the investigation, which is common practice for this type of incident, Chief Superintendent Emma Aldred of the Derbyshire Constabulary told a news conference on Sunday
“I would like to clarify that this does not mean the incident is currently being treated as terrorism,” Aldred said. Police are “keeping an open mind” about the motive, she said.
The incident occurred Saturday on Friar Gate, a popular night spot in central Derby, a city of about 275,000 people northeast of Birmingham.
A 36-year-old-Derby man was arrested a short distance away and remains in police custody, Derbyshire Police said.
‘Back to the Future’ actor Tolkan dies at 94
Actor James Tolkan, known for his roles as a cigar-chomping naval commander in “Top Gun” and a gruff high school administrator in “Back to the Future,” has died. He was 94. Tolkan died Thursday in Lake Placid, New York, where he lived, his booking agent said Saturday A brief obituary published on the “Back to the Future” website said Tolkan died “peacefully,” but no cause of death was given.
In “Back to the Future,” Tolkan portrayed the bow tie-wearing vice principal Gerald Strickland, who eyeballed students for trouble in the halls of the fictitious Hill Valley High School in particular Marty McFly, played by Michael J Fox Tolkan also appeared in “Top Gun” as commanding officer Tom “Stinger” Jardian. Near the end of the film, when Jardian asks Tom Cruise’s character, Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, about his choice for future duty, Mitchell replies that he wants to be a Top Gun instructor “God help us,” Tolkan’s character replies, laughing.
Born in Calumet, Michigan, Tolkan graduated from high school in Arizona and served in the Navy during the Korean War. He eventually made his way to New York, where he spent a quarter century acting in theater roles. He was a member of the original ensemble cast of “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Tolkan is survived by his wife of 54 years, Parmelee Welles, who said in a statement that her husband also was an avid art collector and adored animals.
Nestlé says 413,793 KitKat candy bars stolen
GENEVA Swiss food giant Nestlé says about 12 tons, or 413,793 candy bars, of its KitKat chocolate brand were stolen after leaving its production site in Italy last week for Poland.
The company based in Vevey Switzerland, said Friday that “the vehicle and its load are still nowhere to be found.”
The shipment of the crunchy bars, made of waffles covered with chocolate, disappeared last week while en route between production and distribution locations. The chocolate bars were to be distributed throughout Europe
The missing candy bars could enter unofficial sales channels across European markets, the company said, but if this does happen, all products can be traced using the unique batch code assigned to individual bars.
“Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,” KitKat said in a statement.
CORRECTION
A story published in Saturday’s edition of The Advocate about a BREC camera initiative incorrectly stated the amount proposed for an update to a contract with Contingency Consulting LLC. The proposed update is about $204,500. The Advocate regrets the error
Dozens arrested after L.A. rally
Police say protesters at detention center failed to disperse
BY JOHN RABY Associated Press
Authorities in Los Angeles de-
ployed tear gas near a federal detention center and made dozens of arrests following one of thousands of “No Kings” rallies held this weekend across the United States and in Europe to protest President Donald Trump’s actions and the war in Iran
Los Angeles police said Sunday that 74 people were arrested for failing to heed a dispersal order that was given after Saturday’s rally ended One other person was taken into custody on suspicion of possessing a weapon that police described as a dagger
The arrests stood out from what otherwise were mostly peaceful protests.
Organizers said there were more than 3,100 events reg-
istered in all 50 U.S. states.
As hundreds of protesters surrounded a federal complex in downtown Los Angeles, some threw rocks, bottles and broken concrete blocks at officers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement late Saturday night
Two officers who were struck by concrete blocks sustained undetermined injuries and received medical attention, DHS said.
Andre Andrews Jr., a Navy veteran and independent journalist, had walked the entire route of the Los Angeles rally and captured video of the event. He said after authorities gave the dispersal order, they deployed tear-gas canisters when protesters didn’t comply Some protesters wearing shields and gas masks on the other side of a fence at the federal complex picked up the canisters and tossed them back at police. Andrews said some people also smashed concrete barriers into smaller pieces and threw them at authorities.
“Does it make L.A. look bad? No. They’re bad actors causing prob-
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo
as
Police
lems, for sure,” Andrews said. “The peaceful protest was good for the cause. You have the right to do that. But the other people, they were definitely causing problems.”
Airport delays
could persist and ICE may not leave soon
BY JOHN RABY, MATT SEDENSKY and RIO YAMAT Associated Press
Even after President Donald Trump ordered emergency pay for Transportation Security Administration agents to ease long security lines, major U.S. airports on Sunday were still urging travelers to arrive hours early and federal immigration officers brought in to help may not be leaving anytime soon.
Trump’s executive order on Friday instructed the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA officers immediately, though it’s unclear how quickly travelers will see an impact.
Tens of thousands of TSA employees have been working without pay since DHS funding lapsed on Valentine’s Day
The department’s shutdown reached 44 days on Sunday, eclipsing the record 43day shutdown last fall that affected all of the federal government.
Trump deployed Immigration and Cus-
toms Enforcement agents to some airports a week ago to help with security as TSA callouts rose nationwide the same officers who may now remain in place if TSA staffing strains continue.
When will ICE’s deployment end?
Making the rounds on Sunday morning news shows, White House border czar
Tom Homan said it depends on how many TSA employees would be returning to work after they start receiving their pay
“ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA We’ll be there as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and feel like those airports are secure,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Homan said it also depends on how many TSA agents “have actually quit and have no plan on coming back to work.”
Nearly 500 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown started, according to DHS.
When will TSA officers get paid?
Homan, in his CNN interview, said he hopes TSA officers will be paid by Monday or Tuesday
“It’s good news because these TSA officers are struggling,” Homan said.
“They can’t feed their families or pay their rent.”
Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA chapter, said Sunday that he has heard from workers worried they may not receive their full back pay
because TSA management was given very short notice to begin processing
payments He also said TSA agents are concerned they could miss pay for time they were unable to work because they couldn’t afford to report for duty
“It is a disaster in progress,” Jones said.
What’s the current situation?
Some of the busiest airports in the United States continued to ask travelers to arrive hours before their departure time in order to get through security lines.
Baltimore-Washington International Airport, for example said Sunday that checkpoint wait times had improved from Saturday but “remain longer than normal.” The airport continued to recommend passengers show up several hours early, along with airports such as Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans.
“Security wait times are significantly longer than normal and can change quickly,” according to an advisory posted Sunday on the website of LaGuardia Airport.
Maryland Gov Wes Moore said in a post on X Saturday evening that more ICE agents were being deployed to BWI to assist at TSA security checkpoints to “speed up the clearance process for passengers not immigration enforcement.”
How soon will this help with delays?
It’s hard to tell.
Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former TSA officer who runs a travel newsletter called Gate Access, said the staffing crisis won’t improve significantly until officers are confident that they won’t be subjected to more skipped paychecks.
“It has to be an extended pay for them to come back or want to stay there,” he said, estimating longer lines could linger for another week or two.
Jones, the TSA union leader, offered a more optimistic outlook on Sunday, saying he’s hopeful that passengers could see wait times ease closer to typical levels once workers are able to afford basic expenses like gas to get to work.
TSA will also have to decide whether to reopen checkpoints or expedite service lanes they closed or consolidated at airports due to inadequate staffing, which led to passengers standing in screening lines that clogged check-in areas or showing up far too early for their flights.
A handful of airports have experienced daily TSA officer callout rates of 40% or higher Nationwide on Thursday, more than 11.8% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, the most so far, DHS said Friday
Police said those arrested included eight juveniles. Also detained was a woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty, smiling as she chatted with an officer who led her away In Denver the police department said on the social platform X that it declared an unlawful assembly and deployed smoke canisters after a small group of protesters blocked a road and did not leave as asked. At least eight people were arrested, as was a ninth person later who police said was throwing objects. In Minnesota, an event on the Capitol lawn in St. Paul drew Bruce Springsteen as its headliner to celebrate resistance to Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement. Demonstrations also were held in more than a dozen other countries, according to co-executive director Ezra Levin of Indivisible, which spearheaded the events. U.S. organizers estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October Levin estimated at least 8 million participants showed up Saturday
5 defendants each get 5 years in plea deal for fatal party shooting
By The Associated Press
DADEVILLE, Ala Five men involved in a fatal shooting at a sweet 16 party in Alabama were sentenced Friday to five years in prison after taking plea deals that were sharply criticized by some of the victims’ families.
Four people were killed and more than 30 were wounded when gunfire erupted at the 2023 birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama. The violence rocked the small city of 3,200 residents located about 60 miles northeast of Montgomery
Willie Brown, 22; Wilson Hill, 23; Travis McCollough, 19; Tyreese McCollough, 20; and Sherman Peters, 18, pleaded guilty to reckless murder They were sentenced to five years in prison and 15 years on probation. A sixth defendant was given youthful offender status and his court records are not public. Only one defendant, Tyreese McCollough, ad-
dressed the court, saying he was “very sorry” for what happened, according to news outlets. Some family members criticized the plea deal, saying the sentences were not adequate punishment for the gravity of the crime and the young lives that were lost.
Four young people, including two high school seniors, were killed in the shooting that drew national attention: Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18; Shaunkivia Nicole “KeKe” Smith, 17; Marsiah Emmanuel “Siah” Collins, 19; and Corbin Holston, 23. “What justice would look like, it would be at least 30 years,” Amy Jackson, Smith’s cousin, told WSFA. District Attorney Mike Segrest told the court that the plea deals provided the best outcome, WSFA reported. He said the evidence showed that the defendants exchanged gunfire with Holston but they could not determine who shot first.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By DAVID J PHILLIP Travelers wait in long security checkpoint lines Friday at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
arrest a protester dressed
the statue of Liberty in downtown Los Angeles after the ‘No Kings’ rally saturday.
Pope rejectsclaimsthatGod justifies war
BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
ROME Pope Leo XIV said Sunday that God doesn’tlistentothe prayers of thosewho make war or cite God to justify their violence, as he prayed especially for Christians in the Middle East during a Palm Sunday Mass in St.Peter’s Square With the U.S.-Israeliwar on Iran entering its second monthand Russia’songoing campaign in Ukraine, Leo dedicatedhis Palm Sunday homily to hisinsistence that God is the“kingofpeace” whorejects violence.
“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war,whom no one can use to justifywar,” Leosaid. “Hedoesnot listen to the prayers of thosewho wage war,but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, Iwill not listen: your hands are full of blood.’” Leaders on allsides of the Iran war have used religion to justify their actions. U.S. officials,especially Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have invoked their Christian faith to cast the war as aChristian nation trying to vanquish its foes with military might.
Russia’sOrthodox Church, too, hasjustified Russia’sinvasion of Ukraineasa“holy war” against aWestern worlditconsiders has fallen into evil.
Palm Sundaymarks Jesus’ triumphant entranceinto Jerusalem in the time leading up to his crucifixion, which Christians observe on Good Friday,and resurrection on Easter Sunday
In aspecialblessing at the end of Mass,Leo said he was praying especially forChristiansinthe Middle East who are “suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict. In many cases, they cannotlivefully therites of theseholy days.”
Leo said that during Holy Week, Christians cannot forget how many people around the world are suf-
fering as Christ did. “Their trials appeal to the conscience of all. Let us raise ourprayerstothe Prince of Peacesothathemay support people wounded by war and open concrete paths of reconciliation and peace,” Leo said.
Holy Week afterPopeFrancis Formany people at the Vatican, thestart of Holy Week this year brings back memories of thefinal suffering days of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday When Holy Week opened last year,Franciswas still recovering at the Vatican after afive-week hospitalstay for double pneumonia. He haddelegated the liturgical celebrationstoothers, but rallied on Easter Sunday to greet the faithful from the loggia of St. Peter’sSquare. Most poignantly, he thenmadewhatbecame his final popemobile loop around thepiazza. Francis died the following morning after suffering astroke.His nurse, MassimilianoStrappetti, later told Vatican Media that Francis had toldhim:“Thank you for bringing me back to the square” for thefinal salute.
Leo is due to preside over this week’sliturgical appointments andisreturning to tradition with
the Holy Thursdayfoot-washing ceremony that commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. During his 12-year pontificate, Francis famously celebratedthe Holy Thursday ritual by traveling to Rome-area prisons and refugee centers to wash the feet of people mostonsociety’smargins.
Restoringfoot-washingtradition
Leo, history’sfirst U.S.-born pope, is returning the Holy Thursdayfoot-washing tradition to the basilica of St. John Lateran, where popesperformed it fordecades The Vatican hasn’tyet saidwho will participate, though Popes Benedict XVIand John Paul II normally washed the feet of 12 priests. On Friday,Leo is due to preside overthe GoodFridayprocession at Rome’sColosseum commemorating Christ’sPassion and crucifixion. Saturday brings the late night Easter Vigil, during which Leo will baptize new Catholics, followed a few hours later by Easter Sunday whenChristians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus. Leo will celebrate Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’sSquare and then deliver his Easter blessing from the loggia of the basilica.
BY MELANIE LIDMAN and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
TELAVIV,Israel Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders fromenteringthe Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate aprivate Masson the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday for the first time in centuries, setting off awave of criticism from the United States and others. Jerusalem’smajor holy sites, including the church, are closed becauseof the ongoing Iran war,asthe city has come under frequent fire from Iranian missiles.
Early Monday morning, Israel’s police said it had approved a“limitedprayer framework” for the church, in consultation with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
On Sunday,the Patriarchate had calledthe police decision to bar entry “a manifestlyunreasonable and grosslydisproportionate measure.”Itprevented two of the church’stop religious leaders, including the Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, from celebrating Palm Sunday at theplace where Christians believe Jesus was crucified. PalmSunday commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entry intoJerusalem and launches the Holy Week commemorations for Christians which culminates in Easter Israeli police said theyhad notified church authorities on Saturday that no Mass could take place on Palm Sunday because of safety considerations, the lack of access for emergency vehicles in narrowalleysof theOld City andlack of adequate shelter
However,the Latin Patriarchate said the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been hostingMassesthataren’t open to the public since the Iran war began on Feb.28, and it was unclear why Sunday’sMass and access by the two priests was any different.
“It’savery,verysacred day for Christians and in our opinion there was no justification for such adecisionor such an action,” said Farid Jubran, the spokesperson for the Latin Patriarchateof Jerusalem. Jubran said that the church had requested permission from police for a few religiousleaders to enter the church for aprivate celebration on Sunday —not one that was opentothe public. The Patriarchate said that the decision impeded freedom of worship and the status quo in Jerusalem. The traditional Palm Sunday processionnormally sees tens of thousands of Christians from around the world walk from the Mount of Olives down the narrow, hilly streets toward the Old City,waving palm fronds and singing.
The Patriarchate canceled
the traditionalprocessional lastweekbecauseofsafety concerns, and has heldMasses limited to fewer than 50 worshippersincompliance withthe Israelimilitary’s guidelines forcivilians.
Pizzaballa instead celebrated Mass in the nearby St.Savior’sMonastery,a soaringmarblechurch which is located next to an underground music school thatthe Israeli military has deemeda safe shelter space LateronSunday, Pizzaballa heldaprayer for peace at theDominus Flevit Shrine on the Mount of Olives,but kept hishomily concentrated on Jesus and didn’tmention the morning’s incident Nationscriticize decision
Theclosure sparked a waveofcriticism that Israeli authoritieshad gone too far in restricting worship, includingfrom Israel’stop ally,the United States.
U.S.Ambassador Mike Huckabee,a devout evangelicalChristian, said that the incident was an unfortunateoverreach.”
He said in astatement that theproposed prayer with Pizzaballa and the others was well below the 50-personlimit for gatherings.“For the Patriarch to be barred from entryto the Church on PalmSunday for aprivateceremony is difficult to understand or justify,” he wrote French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the incident, which he said had added to the“concerningincrease in violationsof the status of theHolySites in Jerusalem.” In apost on X, Macron wrote: “Thefree exercise of worship in Jerusalem must be guaranteed for all religions.
Italian authorities across the political spectrum condemned themove to restrictPizzaballa, anItalian cardinal considered aleadingpapal contender in the 2025 conclave, to access the church
TheItalian government formally protested the incident to Israeli authorities and summoned Israel’sambassador to Rome for clarification Premier GiorgiaMeloni said that the police action
“constitutes an offensenot only against believers but against every community that recognizes religious freedom.”
Meloni’sconservative government tried to keep a balanced positionwith Israel during thewar in Gaza, supportingIsrael’sright to defense but condemning the toll on Palestinians.
Israel workingonaccess
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no “malicious intent” andthat thecardinal was prevented from accessing the church becauseof safety concerns, but that Israel would try to partially open the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the coming days.
In an interview with Italian Catholic broadcaster TG2000, Pizzaballa said there was difference of opinions with Israeliauthorities over accessing the church, but that thedispute remained polite.
“Wewanttouse this situation to try to clarify betterwhat will be done in the coming days, respecting the security of all naturally but alsoinrespect of the rightto prayer,” he said.
The Western Wall, the ho-
liest site where Jews can pray, is also mostlyclosed because of safety issues, but authoritiesare lettingupto 50 people at atime pray in an enclosed area adjacent to the plaza. Smaller churches, syna-
gogues, andmosquesare open in Jerusalem’sOld City if they arelocated within a certain distance of abomb shelter deemed acceptable by Israel’smilitary and, if gatherings are kept under 50 people.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By ALEssANDRATARANTINo Pope Leo XIV caresses achild sunday after presidingoverMass in st. Peter’s squareat the Vatican on the Catholic feast of Palm sunday
Catholic faithfuls attend aPalm sundayMass at the Monastery of saint saviour
Jerusalem’sold Cityonsunday.
BY SAM McNEIL and GIADA ZAMPANO Associated Press
BRUSSELS The European Union is expanding its powers to track, raid and deport migrants to “return hubs” in third countries in Africa and elsewhere, quietly adopting tactics of the Trump administration that have drawn public criticism across the 27-nation bloc.
The EU continues to tighten migration policies after right-wing parties took power in some countries in 2024. European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen, from the center-right European People’s Party coalition, has said that the new measures will prevent a repeat of the 2015 crisis caused by Syria’s civil war, when about 1 million people arrived to seek asylum.
“We have learnt the lessons of the past. And today, we are better equipped,” von der Leyen has said The new policies, known as the Pact on Migration and Asylum, go into effect on June 12.
Far-right parties in Europe have praised the deportation policies of
TALKS
Continued from page 1A
Arabia met in Islamabad Pakistan later said the diplomats had departed for their home countries. The talks were originally scheduled to continue Monday Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not answer questions, and Iran’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment.
Islamabad has emerged as a mediator, having relatively good ties with Washington and Tehran, after what Pakistani officials call weeks of quiet diplomacy.
Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover after some 2,500 U.S. Marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East. He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.
Iran also threatened to attack homes of U.S. and Israeli “commanders and political officials” in the region A spokesperson for the Iranian military’s joint command, Ebrahim Zolfaghari cited the “targeting of residential homes of the Iranian people in various cities” and other “malicious actions,” state media reported.
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The complex is among dozens of local jails around the nation that the Department of Homeland Security is using to hold migrants who are often not charged with crimes.
The number of immigrants at the jail, who are generally held there in the days immediately after their arrests before transferring to longer-term ICE detention facilities, has soared since Trump took office. Federal data shows the facility’s average daily population of ICE detainees nearly tripled last year Local leaders said the partnership brings thousands of dollars a month to Hancock County, where Trump won almost 80% of the votes in the last election. And jail officials said the immigrants in their custody receive the same services as county inmates, but are kept separately from them.
The practice has also raised concerns among some legal groups and immigration rights activists, who argue local jails are not always fit to hold migrants facing civil charges.
The jail has held several Louisiana residents whose arrests by ICE made headlines last year Among them: A Mexican-born woman married to a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Baton Rouge who was briefly held in Hancock County after ICE arrested her last May Some immigration attorneys said this week that clients re-
U.S. President Donald Trump and called for the EU to adopt a similar approach. Human rights groups warn that authorities are already illegally pushing back migrants at EU borders and hollowing out their legal protections
Italy provides a model
The EU already spends millions of dollars to deter migrants before they reach its shores, and has supported tens of thousands of Africans returning home, voluntarily or by force.
What’s envisioned now is an expansion of what Italy has created under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her “tough on migration” stance. It operates two migrant detention centers for rejected asylumseekers in Albania. One currently holds at least 90 migrants, said lawmaker Rachele Scarpa, who said that she found people confused and scared during a recent visit.
In addition, Meloni’s Cabinet has approved an anti-immigration package that would allow the navy to halt vessels in international waters for up to six months if they are deemed
“We don’t know at what moment our homes could be targeted,” said Razzak Saghir al-Mousawi, 71, describing relentless airstrikes as Iranians crossing into Iraq urged the United States to end the war “I am definitely afraid.” Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion of Lebanon, expanding the “existing security strip” in that country’s south while targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. No details were released.
Over 1 million Lebanese have been displaced in the war One of them, Mohammad Doghman, called Israel “an expansionist state.”
Call to end war
The war has threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices Now the Iranianbacked Houthi rebels‘ entry into the war could threaten shipping on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea.
An Associated Press video shot shortly before midnight showed a huge plume of black smoke rising from a large fire in Tehran following strikes in Iran’s capital.
Earlier Sunday night, Israel’s military said that over the past 24 hours its fighter jets had dropped more than 120
cently arrested in New Orleans have been transferred to Hancock County before returning to Louisiana’s ICE facilities.
The jail now holds anywhere from five to 25 ICE detainees per day, compared with its previous tallies of two to five a day before Trump took office, according to estimates by the county’s current and former sheriffs The jail held up to 50 immigrants a day, on average, some months last year, according to the Deportation Data Project, an academic group that publishes government records.
Still, immigrants are in the minority at the complex, which has a capacity of 310 inmates.
Greg Shaw, a county supervisor whose district includes the jail, said he had heard nothing from locals about the agreement since it began. He was also not sure if constituents had heard about it.
Jimmie Ladner, the county administrator, said residents are becoming more conscious of the jail’s federal contract as immigration enforcement increases.
ICE sought help from jail Hancock County signed a contract with ICE and DHS during Trump’s first term in 2020 after federal officials approached local leaders “to see if we could help them out,” said Brandon Zeringue, the jail’s warden. The county has earned more than $230,000 under the agreement since October 2025, according to figures provided by Ladner ICE paid the county $56,000 for detention services last De-
a threat to public order; return intercepted migrants to countries of origin or third countries; and speed up the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes.
An “informal group” of EU nations including Germany Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece are pursuing deportation center agreements, said Bernd Parusel, a researcher at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies. Kenya is one country they are speaking with, said Tineke Strik, a Dutch member of the European Parliament. Whether consciously or not, the plan is similar to Trump’s deals with nations like El Salvador to take in deported migrants, she said.
Some in Europe cheer plan
During the Winter Olympics in Italy, protests erupted over the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to provide security to the U.S. delegation. But others in Europe have praised ICE’s actions and called for setting up deportation-focused
police units. In 2024, Belgium passed a law allowing the EU border service Frontex operations inside the country, stoking fears among activists that Frontex could join in on raids.
But Frontex’s mandate just covers borders, said spokesperson Chris Borowski, and the current role in voluntary or involuntary returns for the service includes “coordinating flights, helping with travel documents and making sure fundamental rights are respected throughout the process.”
The European Commission has declined requests to take a position on U.S. federal immigration policies.
In Britain, which left the EU several years ago, the center-left Labour Party government has made curbing unauthorized immigration a key focus.
In February, the Home Office said that almost 60,000 people had been deported since the government was elected in July 2024.
Pushbacks, raids increase
Under the principle of non-re-
munitions in Tehran, targeting sites used for weapons research, development and production. Around the same time, Iran’s state television said power was back in areas of Tehran that had experienced outages after attacks on electricity facilities.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Iranian attacks against Israel and U.S. military assets and other sites in neighboring Gulf Arab states. The war continues on the digital front as well.
‘Direct dialogue’ Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the meetings in Pakistan are aimed at opening a “direct dialogue” between the U.S and Iran, which have largely
cember, when federal agents launched a high-profile immigration enforcement operation across the New Orleans region.
The contract allows Hancock County officers to bring detainees from nearby ICE field offices to the jail. It does not permit them to arrest migrants or enforce federal law
Zeringue said ICE detainees are held in a separate cell block from other inmates. They are served three meals a day given complete medical screenings and sometimes attend Spanish-speaking religious services at the jail on Sundays.
“We have plenty enough room,” Zeringue said. “We are not overcrowded.”
The federal government’s contracts with local jails are not new But immigration attorneys say ICE now appears to be using the jails more often.
Brandon Riches, an immigration attorney who works in Mississippi and Alabama, said about half his clients who have been detained on the Gulf Coast passed through the jail. Logan Luquette, an immigration attorney based in Mandeville, also said many of his Mississippi clients move through the jail after federal agents arrest them.
Another client arrested this month in New Orleans spent a few days in Hancock County before being taken to a Louisiana ICE facility in Jena, Luquette said.
A DHS spokesperson called the jail “a valued partner for ICE since the Biden administration.”
“DHS has called on states
communicated through mediators. The war began with U.S and Israeli strikes during indirect talks Pakistan said the foreign ministers met Sunday without U.S. or Israeli participation.
Iranian officials have rejected a U.S. 15-point “action list” as a framework for a possible peace deal and publicly dismissed the idea of negotiating under pressure But Iran’s state broadcaster has reported that Tehran drafted its own five-point proposal reportedly calling for a halt to killing Iranian officials, guarantees against future attacks, reparations and Iran’s “exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran has eased some restrictions on commercial ships in the strait, agreeing late Saturday to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged
and local government to help with bed and detention space capacity,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Despite a historic number of injunctions, DHS is working rapidly to remove these aliens from detention centers to their final destination — home.”
Challenges reported Immigration attorneys raised several questions about the jail’s process Riches said he struggles
foulement in EU and international law a person can’t be returned to a country where they would face persecution.
But European immigration enforcement tactics include so-called pushbacks, where people trying to cross into the EU are forced back across a border without access to asylum procedures.
Authorities in Europe carry out an average of 221 pushbacks a day, according to a February report by a group of humanitarian organizations. More than 80,000 pushbacks were recorded in 2025, the report said, mostly in Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and Latvia.
“Men, women and children — including individuals in critical medical condition — are routinely subjected to beatings, attacks by police dogs, forced stripping, forced river crossings and theft of personal belongings,” according to the report. European agents are brutalizing migrants just like in the U.S., said Flor Didden, migration policy expert at the Belgian human rights group 11.11.11. Some, like in Greece, even wear masks.
vessels to pass through. It “sends a clear signal that Iran remains open for business with the world, provided the United States abandons coercion,” said Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Iran.
An adviser to the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash called for any settlement to the war to include “clear guarantees” that Iranian attacks on neighbors will not be repeated. He said Iran’s government has become “the main threat” to Persian Gulf security, and called for compensation for attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Strike threats on universities
Iran warned of escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit several universities, including ones that Israel claimed were used for nuclear research and development. Concerns over Iran’s nuclear program are at the heart of tensions.
The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of U.S. universities in the region “legitimate targets” unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.
“If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment” of Iranian universities by midday Monday the Guard said.
to contact clients during their brief stays in Hancock County and usually waits to consult with them until they are transferred to longerterm ICE detention centers.
Dalaney Mecham, an immigration attorney based in Gulfport, Mississippi, said he has not been able to locate clients while they are in Hancock County because the facility does not appear on an online ICE detainee locator
He questioned whether
U.S. colleges have campuses in Qatar and the UAE, including Georgetown New York and Northwestern universities. The American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University, also in Beirut, moved classes online and called it a precautionary measure. Iran’s Foreign Ministry has said dozens of universities and research centers have been hit, including the Iran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology Both sides in the war have threatened to attack civilian facilities, which critics have warned could be a war crime. Death toll climbs In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed. There were fears of more deaths after Netanyahu, speaking on a visit to northern Israel, announced the expanded invasion. Hezbollah “still has residual capability to fire rockets at us,” he said. Iranian authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. In Iraq, where Iraniansupported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died. In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank.
detainees who are not facing criminal charges should be held in a county jail.
“It just goes to show how we have criminalized many of these people who have not necessarily been accused of any crime,” Mecham said. Zeringue, the jail’s warden, said ICE detainees receive the same services as county inmates.
“We don’t keep them with our guys that are charged with criminal offenses,” he said. “They are safe.”
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, from left, saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-saud, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan walk prior to their meeting to discuss the Middle East war, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on sunday.
Energy deliveredata fraction of thecost, in afraction of thetime.
Stranded whale in Baltic Sea weakens
BY KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press
BERLIN A stranded humpback whale in Germany’s Baltic Sea looks weaker, and experts fear it won’t be able to find its way back to the Atlantic despite several attempts at its rescue
A 500-yard restricted area was enforced around the whale so it could
HOG DOGS
Continued from page 1A
to save his energy for later, when he’ll have a second chance with Blueman, another merle-colored teammate.
Populist roots
Just shy of an hour’s drive north of Alexandria, Winnfield emerges from the Kisatchie National Forest’s piney woods. Out of that tiny timber town where the population has shrunk from 8,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 4,000 today — arose a brash, legendary brand of left-wing populism that dominated Louisiana politics for much of the 20th century Winnfield is home to three Democratic Louisiana governors: brothers Huey and Earl K. Long, and Oscar K. Allen.
And while the Kingfish’s story is better known, his younger brother, “Uncle Earl,” has an almost equally legendary history, from orchestrating his own release from a mental hospital to run for a third term as governor to his affair with Bourbon Street stripper Blaze Starr Cass Moss, a 94-year-old Winnfield native who met Earl Long a few times as a teen during his political heyday, recalled the brothers as “almost city slickers.”
“They were far from farm boys,” he said.
Still, as a man of the people, Earl Long was known to appreciate a hog hunt — the old way, with baying dogs to track and stall, a bulldog to catch, and a knife to finish. Around Winnfield, more than one person described the high-adrenaline relay as “the funnest thing you can do with your pants on.”
In 1995, to mark Uncle Earl’s 100th birthday, the townspeople put on an event for each month of the year.
For March, his old hunting partner Claude L. O’Bryan organized a competition to both honor him and let people see how their dogs stacked up against each other in a controlled environment.
“We all kind of laughed at him,” then-Mayor Deano Thornton said of O’Bryan. “It turned out to be the biggest thing we ever had.”
Now in its 31st year, Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials has grown into one of the largest dog trials in the world “the granddaddy of ‘em all,” as Slick Willy, a longtime competitor whose government name is Wayne Scott, put it. What started as a weekend has expanded to seven days, though with over 600 runs this year Monday and Tuesday still saw dogs baying well after midnight — each perfect score earning another, longer round against a meaner hog.
Jake Locianao, a 42-yearold Beaumont, Texas, resident who has been attending since he was 12 and now runs the show, said during peak years, Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials will bring 10,000 people over the course of the week. This year, he estimates about 4,000 attended.
While the stands never quite filled up Saturday, the surrounding fairgrounds were packed with RVs, food trucks and vendors hawking everything from patriotic hunting gear and dog collars to homeopathic pain-relief treatments. Over it all hung a faint but unignorable smell of hog and dog, mixed with sound of hundreds of yapping Catahoulas, curs, hounds and terriers. Chance Wroten, grilling bacon for a group of eight outside a cluster of tents, said he hog hunts just about every weekend when it’s not turkey or deer season. He drove in from Liberty Mississippi, not to compete,
get some rest and hopefully free itself, officials said Sunday in a news conference in the eastern German coastal town of Wismar, near where the giant cetacean has been stuck.
“He would be able to do so if he regains his strength, and that is why we decided to leave him alone, allowing him to actually set off and then successfully leave this area,” said Till Backhaus, the environ-
ment minister of the state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, where Wismar is located.
“But we also have to assume that he is weakened. And he is also sick,” said Backhaus, adding that the humpback whale may have injuries because it came into contact with a fishing net.
Previous efforts to rescue the 39to 49-foot whale off a sandbank at
“It is very noticeable that the animal is showing significantly less activity,” said Stefanie Groß from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover
“Its respiratory rate has dropped considerably. The animal is not moving.”
Timmendorfer Strand beach and in the Wismar Bay with t he help of an excavator and boats, creating large waves to help it swim free earlier this week, captivated Germans — with media sending news alerts of updates on its progress and streaming live video from the scene. But by now, hopes are dimming that the whale is still strong enough to swim free and find its way back to the Atlantic through German and Danish waters.
but to hang with like-minded people
“We came up here to cook, drink beers, hang out and see our people,” he said. Near the bleachers, Jennifer Loftin, assistant director of the nearby Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame, sells Earl Long memorabilia. She said the tax revenue from the event helps support the town for the rest of the year
“They buy feed here, they buy food here. Even the vendors out here, they all go to our Walmart,” she said.
‘The working canine’
Earlier in the day, about 9 a.m., a group of men in camouflage huddled together while Locianao blared the competitors’ names over a microphone.
“Rico and Blue — let’s go boys! I got 20 and 30 on Rico and Blue I need 30. Going once Twice. Sold,” he said.
“Piranha and Hand Grenade.
I got 50, I need 60!”
It’s the start of the Calcutta auction, where both attendees and competitors buy in on dog teams. Categories across the week range from youth, amateur and pro for both single- and double-dog teams. Anyone who picks a team that finishes first, second or third gets a slice of the pot.
Individual teams take home a bigger share if they win, and a good dog can be lucrative. This year’s purse for the pro double-dog team was about $25,000, and over his career Goose has won Dorell more than $700,000.
After the auction, Jay Bergeron, a professional rodeo announcer who goes by Jaybird gets the crowd started with a prayer from the press box.
“Thank you for letting both feet hit the floor this morning,” he said. “I ask that you take care of the working canine that’s drawn us all here to Uncle Earl’s.”
It was Jaybird’s sixth straight day of announcing, and he waxed from reverence to Jesus, the troops and dogs over the loudspeaker
“The working canine,” he
said, musing. “They start to mean more to you than some of y’all’s kids. I know cuz I’ve been around those kids.”
A revolving posse joined him in the booth. There was Locaiano, Dorrell, Winn Parish Sheriff Joshua McCalister and Gregory “Snotty” Graves, also helping run the show Below the press box lay the pig pen, where teenagers rounded up over 70 hogs.
Slick Willy, who lives north of Houston and has competed about 10 times a year since leaving the competitive barbecue circuit in 2005, describes his dog’s training regimen as mostly hands-off.
“You got a little practice pen at your house,” he said. “As the dog gets better, you get a bigger pig, then a bigger pig.”
The only other challenge is finding out if they can perform under the pressure of hundreds of spectators.
“The reality is, man, they’re either gonna do it or not,” said Dorrell, adding that about 90% of what it takes to win boils down to genetics. “We have about 40 to 50 years of breeding specifically for this.”
What folks in the hog dog world actually breed for is a bit of an oxymoron, a mix of “ignorance and concentration,” according to Graves If they’re too smart, they’d never get close to a hog in the first place, he said.
The competitions are popular in Texas and across the South, where feral hogs — an invasive species first brought to America by Spanish explorers — run rampant through agricultural fields. In Louisiana, they cause over $90 million in agricultural damage each year
Due to concerns over animal cruelty, hog baying is illegal in Florida and many Northern states. Even in Louisiana, it’s a legal gray area, though the laws specifically exempt Uncle Earl’s from the vague provisions.
Fans say the sport is no different than any rodeo event, adding that the hogs would otherwise be shot and left
for the buzzards. Instead, those at Uncle Earl’s — mostly trapped on farmland in northern Louisiana — are fed daily and receive vet care. The trade-off is a few minutes of pure terror
While bites and injuries do occur for both animals, containment, rather than violence, is the point. Dogs get dinged for being too aggressive and are disqualified for gnawing on a hog for more than five seconds.
“It’s not an act of just put-
ting the dogs in there and expecting them to get railroaded,” said Brandi Watts, one of the judges. Conversely, “if you damage the hog, you damage your stock,” she added.
Handlers and owners also face risk, routinely climbing up arena walls or hurdling pigs to avoid getting their legs swept out from under them. Before noon, a hog busted through a gate, which swung open and smashed a young handler, Jake Robert-
son, between the eyes He was knocked out cold and rushed to a hospital in an ambulance. Despite a broken nose jaw and a concussion, Robertson somehow returned before the day was over “It takes a lot more than that to throw me back, I reckon,” the 18-year-old from Downsville said. “My face was hurting, but I had a lot of fun.”
‘The hog got up and left’ By the end of the weekend, Goose and Blueman had tied for fourth place in the professional two-dog division — still enough to keep Goose ranked No. 1 in the world. After Sunday Winnfield would again lose half its size. A short drive from the Fairgrounds, Earl Long’s grave sits where his home once stood, marked by a statue of the old governor midwave. There are rumors Starr regularly visited the grave. Debby Carpenter, 79, has watched the statue from her porch across the street for years. She recalls families often laying out on blankets and picnicking there.
“People don’t come out there like they used to,” she said. “I miss seeing the kids running up and down.” At the nearby political museum, you can press a button and still summon Uncle Earl’s voice.
“The Times-Picayune had fell in a ditch,” he says. “Now a fella came along and it had a hog in there. He said you can judge a man by the company he keeps and the hog got up and left.”
Jake Loiacano, right, takes bids from the crowd during an auction at the Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials in Winnfield
A crowd claps as Jake Robertson, third from right, begins to walk to receive medical assistance after being hit by a metal door with the force of a charging hog behind it during the Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials. H
Residents report defects in D.R. Horton homes
Mold, health issues described in lawsuit
BY WILLIE SWETT staff writer
The night Janika Royal first moved into her new home in Lakeshore Villages near Slidell, she was too excited to wait for the furniture to arrive, so she slept on an air mattress on the floor
It was her first home, and as a U.S. Marines veteran, she’d gotten help from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to secure the loan. She moved in on Oct. 31, 2023, with her niece and her two sons.
But as Royal said in state court in Baton Rouge in December and again at a community meeting in Slidell on Tuesday a year after moving in, she saw mold in her coat closet and all over the ceiling of her mechanical closet She said she began suffering migraines, and her children developed allergies and rashes.
“I served my country, I raised my kids, I thought I was doing everything right purchasing my home, and I’m left with just a nightmare,” Royal said Tuesday at
a community meeting at a church in Slidell attended by more than 100 other people.
Royal is among a number of Louisiana homeowners who have filed suit against the nation’s largest homebuilder, D.R. Horton, arguing the company’s homes are not built to withstand Louisiana’s climate. Their attorneys are seeking state court approval to proceed with a class-action lawsuit against the company, said attorney Lance Unglesby.
The company did not respond to an emailed request for comment, and an employee of D.R. Horton said by phone that media inquiries must go through email.
The company has previously defended the quality of its homes and also argued that because of agreements that residents signed when they bought their homes, the disputes should be settled through arbitration, which would follow different procedures than traditional court.
In response to Royal’s lawsuit in state court, D.R. Horton has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to have a federal judge order her to arbitration.
D.R. Horton has homes in devel-
N.O. Jazz Fest foundation parts ways with CEO
Departure a ‘mutual decision,’ nonprofit board leader says
BY KEITH SPERA staff writer
A month before the 2026
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the nonprofit organization that owns it has parted ways with its CEO. Blake-Anthony Johnson was hired as CEO of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation in January 2025 An Atlanta native, he came to New Orleans from Chicago, where he most recently led the Chicago Sinfonietta orchestra.
Johnson’s departure from the Jazz & Heritage Foundation after only 14 months on the job was a “mutual decision as he transitions to other opportunities,” the foundation board’s President Rachel F. Cousin said in a statement.
News that Johnson was out as CEO broke on the eve of a March 24 news conference at the Fair Grounds that marked the monthlong countdown to Jazz Fest’s April 23 opening day Jazz Fest’s schedule cubes were also released that day Johnson’s replacement on an interim basis is Sarita Carriere, the foundation’s chief administrative and financial officer, who has been on staff since 2014 and has a background in accounting. As interim executive director, Carriere spoke on the foundation’s behalf during the March 24 news conference but did not mention Johnson’s departure and declined to comment further after the news conference. Cousin was not available to answer additional questions
“With more than a decade of service to the Foundation, Carriere brings extensive institutional knowledge, steady leadership, and a deep commitment to cultural preservation and education to this leadership role,” Cousin’s statement said. “Sarita, a long-standing and accomplished leader at the Foundation, has the full confidence of the Board and of staff leadership Our work and planning for the 2026 festival and our yearround programs continue uninterrupted.
The change in foundation leadership should not affect the upcoming Jazz Fest, which is booked, managed and produced by Quint Davis’s Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans and AEG Presents, one of the world’s largest producers of live entertainment.
The foundation, governed by a volunteer term-limited board, contracts with Davis and AEG to produce the festival. The foundation uses the millions of dollars in Jazz Fest proceeds to fund an array of cultural and educational programs and activities, including this weekend’s free Congo Square Rhythms Festival in Armstrong Park. The foundation also owns the broadcast license for community radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM.
The foundation’s fulltime staff of approximately 18 employees, which was until recently overseen by Johnson, implements those programs and manages the foundation’s facilities and archives
The foundation enjoyed years of relative stability with Don Marshall as executive director Marshall, a New Orleans native with a long history of local arts management, became the Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s executive director in 2004
Over the next two decades, he navigated the board’s internal politics and served as a bridge between the board and Jazz Fest’s producers He helped guide the foundation and the festival through the upheavals of Hurricane Katrina and the COVID pandemic.
After Marshall left, Johnson was hired in early 2025 with the newly created title of CEO.
The foundation board released a statement this week on Johnson’s behalf.
“It has been a privilege to lead the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation through a period of meaningful transformation,” Johnson said in the statement. “I’m proud of what we have accomplished together over the past two seasons and grateful to the Board, Transition Committee, staff, and community partners whose partnership made this progress possible I appreciate the Board’s support as I transition to my next leadership role and remain confident in the Foundation’s continued success.”
opments across Louisiana from Lake Charles to Slidell. Once completed, Lakeshore Villages, where Royal lives, is expected to have thousands of homes, becoming one of the largest developments in St. Tammany Parish. The company also has homes in the Bonterra and
Tamanend neighborhoods in St. Tammany At the community meeting in Slidell on Tuesday, around a dozen homeowners from Lakeshore Villages complained of mold, ventilation problems and water intrusion, as well as health issues. The meet-
ing was organized by the community groups Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany and Louisiana United International in response to homeowner complaints.
“I pay too much money on my mortgage and my taxes, insurance is too much, to be living in this type of environment,” said Eva Woods, who lives in Lakeshore Villages, in front of a line of other homeowners getting ready to share their concerns.
Lakeshore Villages is outside the city limits of Slidell, so building regulations fall to St. Tammany Parish.
Nic LeBlanc, the parish’s director of permits, said in an interview that every home in Lakeshore Villages must undergo parish inspections and is required to meet building codes, but noted those were minimum requirements.
“Many, many builders do not go for minimum. They go for exceeding the minimum,” he said. He also said that since Jan. 1, all inspections have been required to be conducted by parish employees, as opposed to contractors.
Email Willie Swett at willie. swett@theadvocate.com.
PALM sUNDAy PRoCEssIoN
Campground sold for $2.5 million
once home to Cajun olympix, company plans to reopen
BY BOB WARREN staff writer
A Washington Parish campground that gained a measure of fame for its annual Redneck Cajun Olympix has been sold for $2.5 million to a North Carolina-based investment firm making its first foray into the camping business.
The sale of the Silver Creek Campground in Mount Hermon closed in late February said Zach Soder, whose Soder Capital purchased the site from the Alabama-based JSM Property and Development.
Spencer Mann, president of JSM, had sought to sell the 72-acre campground last year at an auction. But the winning bidder was not able to fulfill the purchase requirements. So Mann said he began reaching out to businesses and con-
tinued marketing the site through Facebook.
That’s where Soder saw it.
“Between Christmas and New Year’s, I saw it on Facebook and we were able to strike a deal over the holidays,” Soder said.
Soder said Silver Creek is the company’s first campground, but if things go as well as he hopes, it won’t be the last He noted that more people are choosing family campgrounds for weekend trips and vacations.
“There’s a trend there,” he said. “This is the first of, hopefully, many campgrounds.”
Soder said his company is typically invested in apartments, but has been looking for other investment avenues.
Silver Creek, which had been open for decades and attracted a loyal following of campers, was known in part for its annual Redneck Cajun Olympixs event, which included events like lawn mower races and a belching contest The campground also hosted biker rallies and holiday-
themed events. The campground off La. 1055 has been closed since last July, when Mann’s company purchased it from Silver Creek Campground SSS LLC. Mann said his company bought the campground with the intent to sell it quickly He would not disclose what he paid for it.
Mann said campgrounds traditionally had been largely run as “mom-andpop” operations. But, he said in an email, “Outdoor hospitality has become a major focus for private equity over the past several years, and there is significant demand for larger parks that can be repositioned and scaled.
Silver Creek has been run as a family operation for years and Soder said it would retain that family feel.
He said they plan to hire a camp manager perhaps a husband-wife team, to be on-site and run things. He also said some seasonal employees will be hired as well. He said the company
hopes to reopen the campground soon, perhaps sometime in April.
Soder said his company will work to improve Silver Creek’s marketing efforts and website. A disc golf course will also be added, he said. He said he recently met with officials in Washington Parish to discuss efforts to boost tourism.
And the Redneck Cajun Olympix? Soder said it’s undecided at this point if they’ll bring those back, but added that he was leaning toward it.
sTAFF PHoTo By JoHN BALLANCE
The Rev. Michael Alello, pastor of St. Aloysius Catholic Church, blesses palms during a Palm Sunday procession into church in Baton Rouge.
WASHINGTON PARISH
sTAFF PHoTo By WILLIE sWETT
Janika Royal stands outside her Lakeshore Villages home, which was built by D.R Horton, near slidell.
Officerfired aftershootingman in crisis
BY DAVE COLLINS Associated Press
HARTFORD,Conn. AWhite Connecticut police officer who fatally shot aBlack man in amental health crisis was fired Friday as public outrage grew over videos showing he began shooting30seconds after arriving at the scene, where other officers had spent several minutesde-escalating the situation.
The officer’sfiring camea day after the Rev.AlSharptonand notedcivilrights lawyer Ben Crump spoke at the funeral of the man who was killed, StevenJones.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said he fired Officer Joseph Magnano because of what he sawon police body camerafootage of the Feb. 27 killing.
The videos, released earlier this month by the state’s inspector general, showed that Jones was on acity street holding alarge knife, but that the first group of police officerswho arrived backpedaled to keeptheir distance from him, spoke to him kindly,and seemed to have gotten him to calm down.
“And then Isaw one officer come in,” Arulampalam said at anews conference. He said that Magnano, a rookie officer still in aprobationary period, “did not work with histeammates,” didn’tde-escalate, “and the end result of that was a tragic incident that took the life of Steven Jones.”
“Officer Magnano came in
sirensblazing. He camein and— from thevideo— appears to have re-escalated thesituationand made it worse.”
The local police union president, James Rutkauski, defended Magnano, saying his actions were justified and in line withdepartment policies.
“Officers will now hesitate in split-secondsituations, notout of fear of the suspect, but out of fear of political second-guessing afterward,” he saidina statement. “Those lostseconds will slow responses and leave families more exposed as criminalssense the weakness.”
Contact information for Magnano could notimmediately be found.
AHartford police spokesman referred questionsto ChiefJames Rovella,who did not immediately return aphone message or email Friday
The state inspector general’soffice is investigating the shooting and will determine whether to file criminalchargesagainst Magnano. Earlierthis month, theoffice released the body camera footagefromthe fourofficerswho responded to thescene.
Jones’sister,Audrey
Jones,had called 911 seeking help for her brother because he was having amental healthcrisis, reporting thathehad aknife and had cut himself.
The body camera footage shows Steven Jones on a citystreet as threeofficers keep tellinghim for several minutes to drop theknife he is holding. The officers also tell himthey’rethere to help.
“Steve, you’re OK. We’re going to makesureyou’re OK,” Officer James Prignano tells him. “Just drop the knife. We’regoing to go talk to somebody, OK?”
Jones can’tbeheard say-
ing anything in the videos.
About 12 minutes after the 911 call, Magnano arrives, draws his pistol and shouts at Jones to drop the knife,telling him,“You’re going to get shot,” the video shows. Awoman is heard screaming, “Don’tshoot him!”
Thevideos show Prignano motioning at Magnano,appearing to tell him to back away. As Jones slowly walks toward Magnano, the officer givesa finalwarningbefore shooting at Jones nine times, about 30 seconds after he got out of his cruiser video shows.
Jones died at ahospital four days later,authorities said.
At Jones’funeral, Sharpton delivered the eulogy Crump, alawyer forJones’ family whohas represented relativesofBlack people killed in high-profile police shootings, said Jones “needed ahelping hand from the Hartford Police Department, but instead he gotnine bulletholes in his body.”
“Thatisashame before God.And the status of your mental health andthe color of your skin should not equal the death sentence,” Crumpsaid.
In astatement, Sharpton on Friday called the firing “a necessary first step,” but said“Jones’ family and the people of Hartford deserve full justice.” He and Crump called forreforms aimed at improving Hartford police’s response to calls involving mental health.
FloridainfluencerClaviculararrestedonsuspicion of battery
BY EMILYST. MARTIN Los Angeles Times (TNs)
Clavicular,the social media influencerleading the “looksmaxxing” movement, is out on bond after being arrested in Florida on suspicion of misdemeanor battery The manosphere internet celebrity,born Braden Eric Peters,was taken into custody Thursday on awarrant issued by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, accordingtoaFortLauderdalePolice Department spokesperson.
Thesheriff’s office asked Fort Lauderdale police for assistance inarresting Peters,20, whothey alleged instigated afight between his girlfriend, VioletLentz, 24, and a19-year-old influencer in February at aKissimmee short-term rental. In the video of the altercation, which was broken into clips andcross-posted acrosssocial mediaplatforms, Peters and thewoman are hanging out when Lentz arrives, upset. The argument escalates into a physical altercation with thewomen pushing,punch-
Haitiantowndescends into fire andbloodshed
BY MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Violence erupted in the centralHaitian town of PetiteRivièredel’Artibonite early Sunday morning as a powerful gang warred with avigilantegroup, regional officials confirmed to The Associated Press.
The rampage from the gang Gran Grif left bloodiedbodiesscatteredacross thestreets of the neighborhood of Jean-Denis, videos show.Gangs set fire to houses and left civilians reeling.
It wasn’timmediately clear how many people were slain by the gang. The massacreisjust the latest bloodshed in anation that has been left reeling by spiraling gang warfare for five years following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Around 2023, vigilante groups began to emerge in the Caribbean nation to strike back against gangs sucking the life from Hai-
ti. Thewave of brutal vigilante justice has madethe conflict in Haiti even more complicated at the same time as international forces have sought to pacify the country Vigilante groupsoften close off neighborhoods, stone and chop off the limbs of suspected gangster,behead them and set them afire, sometimes while they are still alive. Meanwhile, the GranGrif gang hascontinues to sow terror in the Artibonite regionofHaiti,where PetiteRivière de l’Artibonite is located.The GranGrif gang was among anumberof Haitian gangs to be designatedasaforeign terrorist organizationbythe Trump administration last year. According to theU.N., it’s thelargest gang in the region, responsible for 80% of civilian deaths there. It hasmassacredand raped civilians, includinga minor,forced thousands of peopletoflee their homes and dismembered people, theorganization said
ing and pulling hair Peters is seen in the video standing to theside for much of the brawl, but at onepoint, he intervenes andholds the19-year-old’s wrists while separating the women. While the woman’s wrists are being held to her sides, Lentzpunchesher several times, the video shows.
The face of “looksmaxxxing,” asubculture hyperfocusedontaking extreme measures to perfect one’s physical appearance, Peters doesn’t just boast afit lifestyle, he’s admitted in
interviews to using drugs from steroids, peptides and testosterone to methamphetamine and has said he chisels his face by smashing his bones withahammer
The FloridaFishand Wildlife Conservation Commission has also launched a separate investigation into another of Peters’ videos involving an alligator in the Everglades, according to theagency In that video, theinfluencer appearstocomeacross what is seemingly the carcass of an alligator floatinginthe waterand shoots
it repeatedly.Peters has notbeen chargedwith any crime in that incident.
“Florida’swildlife and waterways deserve respect, not content farming,” Lt. Gov.Jay Collins said in a statement on X. Peters was previously arrestedinFebruary at Casa Amigos nightclub in Scottsdale, Arizona, and charged with forgery and possession of prescription-only pills.
Butthe MaricopaCounty Attorney’sOfficedropped the charges on Feb. 11, citing “no reasonablelikelihood of conviction.”
One of several contestants “The Bachelorette” fans won’tbeseeing due to the cancelationofthe dating show’scurrentseason is Brad Ledford,who says he was behind the wheel during acar crashthat left former North Carolina Rep.Madison Cawthorn in awheelchair Ledford, 29, told People thatheand thecontroversial ex-congressman were driving from Florida to North Carolina after spring break in 2014 when their SUV hit aconstruction barrier at around 65 mph.
Cawthorn, who was 18, wassleeping with his legs on thedashboard when the collision occurred.Hewas rendered unconscious. The SUV quickly caught fire,according to Ledford, whose airbag deployed. He recalled rushing to thepassenger side of thevehicle, where abystander helped him removehis badly injured friend from the burn-
Attack killsatleast 14 in centralSudan
BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press
CAIRO— An attack by Sudaneseparamilitaries and their allied rebels in the central regionofKordofan killedatleast 14 people, including five childrenand two women, a medical group said Sunday TheRapidSupport Forces and theirallies in the Sudan People’sLiberationMovement–North launched amajor offensive on Saturday on Dilling, the capital of South Kordofan province. The military,which recently broke the RSF siege on the city,said it fended off the attack. The Sudan Doctors Network, agroup
tracking the war,saidthe RSFand their allies shelled residentialareas in the city amid dire humanitarian conditions.Itsaid thehourslong attack wounded at least 23 others, including seven more children. Dilling experienced faminelike conditions aftermore than two years of siege underthe RSF during which theparamilitaries cut off supplies and frequently bombed thearea. Themilitary broke the siege earlier this year Thedoctors group warned of apossible “catastrophic scenario” developing like the oneinthe Darfurcity of el-Fasher.The RSF invadedthat area in October in an attack thatU.N.-commissioned experts saidbore “hallmarks of genocide.
ing car “I took my shirt off and wrappeditaround his leg and then just kind of stayed with himuntilthe paramedicsgot there,”Ledford told People.
Cawthorn’sdad,who owned the SUV,credited Ledford with saving his son’slife. Cawthorn said in a2017 deposition that he had no recollection of what occurred.
But when he retold that story afew years later in college,Cawthorn threw Ledford under abus. He claimed during achapel
speech thathis “brother” and“best friend” dashed into the woods, abandoning him to “die in afiery tomb.” Ledford refutedthat claim as hurtful and untrue in a2021 Washington Post interview
“The Bachelorette,” for which he and 21 other men were booked to compete for the affection of beleaguered realityTVpersonalityTaylorFrankie Paul, was nixedshortly before the season was slatedto begin on March 22 because of domestic troublesinvolving the star
9595 FloridaBoulevard, at 1p.m
Jackson, Ronnie Vineyard Church on TigerBendRoad at 5p.m
Murray, Herman SealeFuneralHomeinDenham Springs at 2p.m
Robert,Jacques
St.Theresa of Avila Catholic Church in Gonzales at noon.
FrankGoloforoSr.,89, peacefully departed this life on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Gonzales,LA. Frankwas preceded in deathbyhis belovedwife of 62 years, BarbaraMaGill Goloforo andhis youngest son, RussellGoloforo. Frankwas theson of the late Mike Goloforo and Mary Kurtz. He is survived by hisfourchildren: Debo‐rahGoloforoSpurgeon (Charles), FrankGoloforo Jr.(Elizabeth) DavidGolo‐foro,Michael Goloforo (Anna). He is also survived by 15 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildrenand 8 great-great-grandchildren, andsisters CarolWilliams, LindaBocklud,and Marion Guidry.Hewas preceded in deathbyhis stepmother Zina Domino Goloforo;sis‐ter, Jo AnnMelerine-Vick‐nair;and brothers,Steve Salisburyand Larry Kurtz. Relativesand friendsofthe familyare invited to attend thefuneral serviceon Wednesday, April1,2026, at theGardenofMemories FuneralHome, 4900 Airline Dr.inMetairie, LA,at12:00 pm.Visitationwillbegin at 10:00 am.Entombmentwill follow in theGardenof Memories Cemetery LeJeune,Francis Francis LeJeune passed away on Friday,March 27, 2026atLandmark of Plaquemine,atthe ageof 83. He was anative of Eunice andresident of Plaquemine.Francis wasa retiredsalesman from CaneEquipment.Visitation will be at Wilbert Funeral Home in Plaquemine,on Tuesday,March31st, from 10 a.m.until religious service at 11 a.m., conducted by Rev.Keith Horton. Burial will follow in Grace Memorial Park. Francisissurvivedbyhis wife of 54 years, Antonia "Toni"Diamond LeJeune; son,Randall LeJeuneand wife Runa; niece, Susan Truitt andhusband WilsonJr.; numerous other nieces andnephews. Francis was precededindeathbyhis son,Brian MatthewLeJeune; parents, Reme and OzaFruge'LeJeune; siblings, Nelson Marcentel, Willis Marcentel, Wilson Marcentel,Marcella Marcentel and Mrs. Hampton Mouillier. Please share memoriesat www.wilbertservices.com.
HARTFoRD CoURANT PHoTo By AARoN FLAUM
The Rev. Al sharptonwalkswithAudreyJones to payrespects to herbrother stevenJones during his funeral Thursday at First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn. steven Jones wasshot by policewhile in amental health crisis.
Voices of small farmers areoften obscured
Arecent guest column byChad Hanks, aLouisiana sugar cane farmer,bringing attention to the problems of Louisiana farming, while laudable, still overlooks a keyfaultoforganization.
Everyone speaks for theLouisiana farmers, except the Louisiana farmers don’tspeak for themselves.
That was my opinion years ago when Louisiana farmers were in distress, agreat many in bankruptcy.Alaw firm asked me, a turnaround business consultant, to explore solutions. Longstory short, Iorganized the Louisiana Farmers Association for asmall group of Louisiana farmers. They tried; it failed. The big, allied farm businesses won out. The farmers’ association was dissolved in 2023.
Associations are valuable not only because of their inclusivenature, but also for an exclusionary aspect. Louisiana farmers need to pound desks for themselves, notallied groups. They musthave theirown association.
SAM GALLO Baton Rouge
Trumpdoing what must be doneinIran
Regarding the letter byJennifer Ward, Ihaven’tmet asingle Donald Trump supporter who regrets his vote. However,I’ve run into hundredsofDemocrats regretting voting forPresident Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Isuppose she thinks letting Iran continue to have nuclear weapons is fine and dandy. Don’t think just because they are terrorists they won’tuse them against us. It’sagood thingshe is not in charge of anything.They areout to destroythe world and must be stopped. I’m gratefulto have astrong leader whoiskeeping us safe.
DAVID BASSHAM Houma
LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR
AREWELCOME.HEREARE
YOUR VIEWS
Don’tleave outsingers whomade‘Sinners’shine
Ireadwith interest Will Sutton’swellwritten columnonMarch 18 detailing the roleofLouisianans in thefilm “Sinners.”He mentioned theOscar forthe soundtrack won by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson but notthe vocal music or dance or those who created it. This was notSutton’sfault;noonscreen credit was accorded theartistsgreatly responsible for the emotions provoked, especially in thescene of the encounter between the vampiresand thecitizens of Clarksdale
All the vocal music was created and supervisedbyone of the mostwell-known Irish voices in the country,Tony Davoren of Sunset, cultural consultant to the film. His wife anddaughter Sheila and Róisín were among the uncredited dancers.
Iquote fromJoanna Brown’sexcellent article in the newspaper on March 17:
“Göransson needed achoir of local singers whocould perform ‘Rocky Road to Dublin’ and‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ in an authentic Irish voice, and Davoren pulled together a
chorus of musicians from across south Louisiana who nailed theaccent, and the tunes.”
According to Davoren,“Every single person who showed up was from Louisiana,baby. This was Louisiana pride on full display musicians, singers, dancers, artists.”
Here are the names of those notcredited who deserve recognition: Tony Davoren, Richie Stafford, Debbie Cornett, Pete Dawson, Julia Dawson, Frank Bladen, Kevin Muggivan, Ross Muggivan, Jim Hogg, James Linden Hogg, Aaron Svoboda, Shannon Kelly,Jennifer Kelly,Andy Lee, Robert Ryan, Eric M. Martin, Toby Rodriguez, Brittany Piatz, Jacob Landry, Jesse Reaux and Beth Patterson. Music is acornerstone of culture.Ignoring musicians’ artistryisadisservice to all musical traditions.
Thanks to thenewspaper’s journalists who highlighted Louisiana’screative musical artistry MAYWAGGONER professor emerita, UL-Lafayette
Debate exemplifies tribal mentalitythatholdsLa. back
As aLouisiana expat who recently contributedtothe state’strend of “brain drain,” therecentcommentary on thenewspaper’s perceived duty to “cater” toasingle demographicofits customer base effectively exemplifies the cultural issues that drive educated people out of the state. Louisiana culture, perpetuated by LSU, outdated perceptions of masculinity and “KeepingUpwith theJoneses” syndrome, overwhelmingly indoctrinates the population into associating their identities with sports teams. As our older,God-fearing generations appear to care less about the decorum and
criminal actions of our government, their attention undoubtedly narrows in on whatever cultural clickbait topic their leaders put before them.
The news is not an LSUgame. The news is not aSaints game. Youare not wearing a jersey.This is not ateam. This is real life— and the childish attitudes exhibited by the older generations during times of political turbulence makemewonder,“Where are the adults?”
Certainly not in Louisiana.
DCFs needs to be fixed, but focusondeeper problems
Iama licensed clinical social worker.I workedfor theDepartmentof Children andFamily Services forsix years before Ileft in December 2025 after whistleblowing due to policy changesthatI felt were jeopardizing child safety.I am writing to talk aboutSen.Regina Barrow’s proposed bill to abolishDCFS.
Iunderstand that there is (justifiably) alack of confidence in the departmenttodoits job.However, Istronglybelieve that abolishing DCFSwouldonly create further chaos andinstabilityinthe child welfare system and would further jeopardize child safety.I believe reforming the system is amuchbetter solutionthan abolishment
Ibelieve that part of theagency’s dysfunction stemsfrom thegovernor appointing unqualifiedpeople in positionswhere incompetency is dangerous. DCFSleadershipshould be appointed by experienced child welfare professionals, notthe governor Secondly, manyofDCFSissues stem from failure to maintainaqualifiedworkforce. DCFSisnot an agency wherepeoplewant to work longterm.Tofixthis,DCFSshould see an increase in itsbudget to increase worker wages, hiremore workers to lowercaseload numbers andimplement programstosupport employee mental health.This job literally traumatizes people.Anyone who works overtime to protect children should notbelivingpaycheck to paycheck. We allneed to reflect on howLouisianaculture promotes statewide neglect of women andchildren.We are forcing women to givebirth whethertheywant to or not, but when those children have needs, we cutfunding to social services. Children andfamiliesare hurting due to adiseased cultureofmisogyny and hyper-individualismthatisactually hurtful to everyone. This cultural disease needstobehealed if we can ever expect Louisiana children and familiestothrive
MELANIEMANN Hammond
Hegsethfails to demonstrategravitas needed foroffice
PAUL NICK Austin, Texas
OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.o. Box588 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. To sEND Us ALETTER, sCAN HERE
While theproposed Low Carbon Logistics CCS project targetsRagley and Sulphur, this is astatewide issue of environmental justice. As president of Mossville EnvironmentalAction Now (MEAN), Iamsounding an alarm for all of Louisiana. Ourcommunity in Mossville was effectively erased by theencroachment of industry. We have seen firsthand how “public necessity”isused as atool to displace families. Mossville Environmental Action
Now stands in solidarity with our neighbors. We are watching, and we are ready to take action. We cannot allow the state to continue embroidering hazardous CO2infrastructure into residential areas. Our neighborhoods are not industrial sacrifice zones. We demand adenial of these permitstoensure that what happened to Mossville never happens to another Louisiana community DEBRA SULLIVAN RAMIREZ president, Mossville Environmental Action Now LakeCharles
Pete Hegseth’sbellicose behavior and overt excitement is moreappropriate to apubescent teenager winner of avideo gamethan the solemndemeanor appropriate fora secretary of the Department of Defense whounderstands the gravity of war.His referring to the deaths of six American service members by saying, “bad things happen,” and his complaint that the media is focused on this minor episode are deplorable. The thousands of military members whohave given their lives in defense of our nation are American heroes and not dismissible events.
This generous stateisagain giving massive tax breaks to big business, in this case for data centers. The state also has to provide significant newelectric infrastructure and water availability.That’s alot of money upfront and money forever from ouralready-strapped tax base.Inreturn, theclaim is that the state will benefit in the long run from taxes paid by employees andassociated businesses. Data centers employ few people beyond initial construction, so that claim sounds false. Anyway, that’spassing thetax burden onto others. In simple language, thedeal looks like this: “Weare going to makemassive amounts of money,but we won’tpay going-rate taxes on the facility that generates future major profits. In return, thestate of Louisiana has to provide significant electrical power and fresh water infrastructure. Andifitturns out to be abad financial deal forthe state, so what?” Sounds like afootball coach contract to me.
ANDREWGALLIEN Harahan
Hegseth and his bone-spurred boss, whosneered at the bravery of prisoners of warand mocked the valor of fallen soldiers with his baseball-capped salute, fail to comprehend basic military tenets. Military inductees vow to support and defend our Constitution, thus the Department of Defense, not War. Of the thousands of military men and women Ihave met through the years, none aspired to becomekilling machines. They do not desire to rain death and destruction from the sky.Infact, not only is the opposite true, manyofour brave soldiers sufferlifelong anguish over their wartimeexperiences.
SUSAN DUHON
Many
PHoTo By PAUL KIEU
Achoir of singers whoworked on the 2025 film ‘sinners’ performa selection of Irish folk songs featured in the movie during the Celtic BayouFestival in Lafayette on March 14.
Fighting evil is aworthy causewhenitcomes to Iran
“The only thing necessary forthe triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This often-quoted statement was often attributed to Irish philosopher-politician Edmund Burke andis more important today than perhaps at any other time in global history
Arnie Fielkow
Today,the United States and Israel are in amilitary battle against one of the most murderous, repressive and brutal regimes in world history —the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran is directly responsible for the murders of thousands of Americans, tensofthousands of its own citizens and the rape, beheading, burning and kidnapping of over 1,200 innocent Israeli citizenson Oct. 7, 2023.
More than 80 years ago, theworld came together to fight and ultimately defeat the evil of NaziGermany, fascist Italy and imperialistic Japan. World WarIItruly reflectedthe good of the world eliminating an evil unprecedented in the annals of global history. Today,asimilar good-versus-evil battle again exists, and it istime for the American and European publics to understand the horrific consequences if Iran and its proxies were ever able to develop nucleararms. Such bombs would first be directed at Israel (whose destruction the theocratic stateofIran has long sought) and soon thereafter target New York City,Chicago, Los Angeles and every other American community
As alifelong Democrat, Ihave had many disagreements withthe current and past Trump administrations regarding various domestic policies. However,when it comes to the current international situation, Istand wholeheartedly behind our U.S. government. Unlike many in my own party, I do not feel the need to oppose every Trump position. Many of my Democratic Party colleagues are on the wrong side of history.Idonot object to an honest debate regarding constitutionalauthority to declare war,but Iammore concerned with defeating an enemy that is cruel, murderous and seeks to destroy the democratic principles most Americans hold so dear.In feeling so, Iamcontent as aDemocrat —but more importantly as an American —supporting apresident with
whom Ihave many disagreements
Regrettably,both the isolationists on the political right and so-called progressives on the political left are unable to see the dangersIran presents. While the Tucker Carlsons of theworldspew anti-Semitic rhetoric, pro-Hamas protesters on American campuses and streets don’ttruly understand how Iran and its proxies stand fully against therightsthey seek to protect for women, LGBTQ+, immigrants and more. It is frustrating to watch bothoftheseextremes in our political dialogue.
Finally,Ihave spent thepast four years advocatingfor,and supporting, the courageous citizenry of Ukraine in its continuing battle against Russia and its war criminal president, Vladimir Putin
LikeIran, Putin has committed historic atrocities against innocent civilians, including attacksonschools and hospitals, and theunlawful kidnapping of over 20,000 youth. Ihave traveled to Ukraine numerous times since the2022 war began and am continually amazed by thebravery,courage, strength and beautyofthe Ukrainian people.
Iamproud that alarge percentage of Democrats have supported Ukraine
in its current conflict. Iwish our president and more Republicans would do likewise, so ajust and sustainable peace can be found.
Butfor those pro-Ukrainian members of mypartywho object toU.S. involvement in Iran, do they not understand that it is the Islamic Republic of Iran providing lethal drones, missiles and other arms to Russia, which are killing theUkrainian people? Adefeated Iran will greatly benefit Ukraine and also lead to aworld which is safer, morepeaceful and offers achance for atruly prosperous and stable Middle East.
No one wants to see war and the ultimate sacrifice of our brave servicemen and servicewomen fighting to preserve democracy and peace. But, as we saw eight decades ago, some thingsare worth fighting for when confronted with true evil.
So, repeat,wemust never allow evil to prevail as good men idly stand by May God protect theforces of good!
Arnie D. Fielkow is aformer president of the New Orleans City Council and former CEO of the Jewish FederationofGreater New Orleans
Cuttingloanlimitsfor some health professionswould be abad move
The U.S. Department of Education recently released aproposed rule change thatwould affectfederal loan limits for graduate students. These changes could harm the country’sworkforce and limit access to advanced education for some individuals. Under the proposal, atwotiered loan system would be created for graduate students. In onetier, made up of 11 designated “professional” degree programs,students would be eligible to borrow up to $50,000 per year,with a$200,000 lifetime cap. These include pharmacy,dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry,osteopathic medicine, podiatry,theology and clinical psychology
La.’s gotthe best coastal sciencebut it is often ignored
Gov. Jeff Landry and his followers in the Legislature always claim they’re on the hunt for government actors whoare wasting our money
Well, they can easily spot the culprits in one of history’slargest wastes of public spending just by looking in amirror
Since 2007, they have approved morethan $21 billion in spending on our Master Plan for aSustainable Coast. Using that funding, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority produced global-leading research and engineering on how to save and rebuild coastlines threatened by industrial destruction and the growing impacts of climate change.
And what have the governor and his allies done with those very expensive facts? They’ve mostly ignored and denied them —and even worked against the solutions uncovered forour coastal salvation.
An example of that waste was recently highlighted in new research that madeshocking headlines around the world: Current sea levels average 8inches to afoot higher worldwide and several feet higher in someareas —than previously thought. That meanssurging sea levels caused by the fossil fuel emissions driving climate change will be drowning many coastal communities much sooner than expected.
The newssent manygovernments rushing to find funding foremergency adaptations.
But Louisiana’scoastal research community was not panicked.
That’sbecause those new sea levels were largely aresult of finding somecoastline elevations had previously been overestimated, especially in poorer countries with less funding for scientific research.
So, the oceans are not higher,the land in some places is lower than thought.
Louisiana wasnot listed among suspect areas because we have the mostaccurate records of coastal elevation of any spot on the planet. For 20 years, the CPRA’s Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) has used almost 400 stations across the coastal zone to constantly take important ecological measurements including elevation and subsidence. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world.
“I have realized foralong time what we have here is completely unparalleled,” said Tulane University professor and researcher Torbjörn Törnqvist. “What we have been able to do in Louisiana, we are not able to do in any other coastal area in the world foratleast the next 10 to 20 years. “My colleagues even in western Europe are always amazed and quite envious of what we have to workwith.”
munities desperately need. Under this proposal, however,their access to federal loan support would be half that of other students. The average graduate studentinthe United States is 33 years old. At 33, many people have mortgages,children, aging parentsorall three. Many are primary breadwinners.
Michelle Collins GUEsT
Other graduate students,including those pursuing degreesinnursing, public health, ministryand counseling, would be limited to $20,500 annually and a$100,000 lifetime cap.That distinction will determine whocan afford to enter entire professions. There is no question that future physicians,dentists and attorneysrequire significant financial support to complete their degrees, but they arenot alone in thatreality Across the country,thousandsof graduate studentsare pursuing degreesinprofessions thatrequire advanced expertiseand that ourcom-
Returning to school at that stage of life often means leaving asteady job with benefits. It is a calculated risk taken in pursuit of acareer that will ultimately contributetosociety and, often, improve their family’s financial stability. Graduate loans make that risk possible.Withoutthem,many simply could notafford to step away from income long enough to complete the required graduateeducation. Capping loans at $20,500 ayear in high-cost programs that demand full-time commitment will limit the number of students able to return to school. The policy will also disproportionately affect first-generation college students and those from lower-income backgrounds whoare far less likely to have family resources to cushion the financial strain of graduateschool. For them, federal loans are foundational. At the same time, thenation is confrontingacute workforce shortages. Can the U.S.afford to graduatefewer mentalhealth professionals, like coun-
selors and social workers, in aclimate already desperately short of mental healthcare providers? Can we afford fewer caregivers like nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and nurse-midwives in the midst of anational nursing shortage that is only worsening? Fewer healthcare providers like occupational, speech and physical therapists? Fewer professors and researchers to educate university studentsacross a multitude of career paths? These are all examples of professions —and yes, they are indeed professions in every way that the 11 on the list are professions —ingreat demand and offering society asignificant return on investment. Are we willing to gamble that these proposed loan caps will not severely hamper qualified individuals from seeking graduate education? Iam neither willing nor supportive of risking all that would be lost should these caps be enacted. Iencourage others to act in support of the future composition of our health care system, our mental health workforce, our educational institutions and thebroader professional class that sustains our communities. Decisions about financing graduate education inevitably shape who is able to answer thecall to serve.
Michelle Collinsisdean of the College of Nursing and HealthatLoyola UniversityNew Orleans
Thanks to CRMS and other master plan research, Louisiana’scoastal zone is arguably the mostunderstood in the world. And when that information is combined with the peerreviewed findings on the dramatic acceleration of sea level rise, our governor and lawmakers are armed with the mostaccurate information of how to extend the lives of communities on our sediment-starved and sinking coastal landscapes —the mostproductive and economically important part of the state.
The conclusions reached with the $21 billion the state has spent include the fact that emissions from the use of fossil fuels are causing the rapid rise of sea level that could drown much of the area below I-10 in the decades ahead.
The obvious and urgent response would be forLouisiana to join other states and nations in working to reduce the production and use of oil, gas and coal.
But Landry,who has called climate change ahoax, has devoted his entire political career in Congress, as our attorney general and now as governor to fighting those reforms because they might hurt oil and gas profits.
And he has killed the river sediment diversions in the master plan that the state-sponsored science has shownare the best waytoensure any long-term sustainability to someparts of our coastal zone. This is agovernor whowas outraged at wasting $100 million on an LSU coaching mistake but seemstobeOKthrowing away the facts found about our coastal survival after spending $21 billion —all because it might hurt the oil business he loves.
BobMarshall canbereached at bmarshallenviro@gmail.com, andfollowedon X, @BMarshallEnviro.
Bob Marshall
AssoCIATED PREss FILE PHoTo smokerises after amissile attack in TelAviv, Israel, on June 13.
The weather todayand for most of the week will be much different from what we’vebeen experiencing for the last fewweeks.Expect some partlytomostlycloudy, warmand humid conditions today. The averagetemperature for this dayis75degrees.This afternoon, temperatures will risetothe lowtomid-80s.Withsoutherly winds at 10 mph, the dewpoints willbehighand so will humidity.Rain chances are at 30%,soexpect somescattered rain today, whichis great news considering our dryconditions.
BY BILL BARROW Associated Press
ABOARD THECRESCENT There’ssomething melodic about watching the sun rise over arural stillness broken only by the rhythms of steel wheels on tracks. Or so we tell ourselves.
In this case, being aboard atrain at all owedmoreto politics than poetry.
Congress and Donald Trump were mired in their latest budget stalemate, one rooted in the Republican president’simmigration crackdown and the tactics of federal forces he has sent to U.S. cities. But this impasse has upended afoundational constant of American life today: easy air travel
In Atlanta, my hometown airport, cheerfully marketed as the world’sbusiest, had descended into organized chaos. Unpaid federal employees called out from work, leaving adiminished security staff to screen travelers frustrated by hourslong waits in line. Iwanted to get to Washington forthe NCAA basketballtournament. So Ieliminated the risk of amissed flight and booked the train overnight and into game day acrossa 650-mile route.
In this fraught moment in U.S. politics, Islowed down and thought about things we take for granted. Who ever ponders the conveniences of that 20th-century innovation, the airplane,that makes 21st-century hustle possible? We book and board. An unconscious, firstworld flex of modernity. It’s even rarer to grapple with the inconvenience. My decision had taken me further back, to the 19th century and another defin-
inginnovation: the long-distance train A141/2-hour weekend train ride is time aplenty to appreciatehow completely politics, economics, social strife and fights overidentity and belonging have always affected theorder of our lives, including how,when and where we move around in these United States.But Amtrak’sCrescent also allowed me to see the expanse of our collective experience. Itraversed the urban, suburban and rural breadth of East Coast America. I learned howother travelers came aboard. And in that,I found theportraitof people, past and present, who refuse to be as paralyzed as some of their elected leaders.
Convenienceonrailways
There is little glamour late nightina crowded Amtrak station. Children are up past bedtime and tended by frazzled parents. Older adults strugglewith luggage and stairs. Airports are not red-carpet affairs either,ofcourse. Butthere is acertain cachet to Delta’sAtlanta-Washing-
Takinga midnight trainfromGeorgia
Itraversed the urban, suburban and ruralbreadth of East Coast America. Ilearned how other travelers came aboard. And in that, Ifound the portrait of people, past and present, who refuse to be as paralyzed as some of their elected leaders.
ton flights. They typically takeabout two hours gate to gate. They often are slotted at amidpoint gate of the concourse nearest the main terminal. That is almost certainly anod to members of Congress who use it —but who have lost some airline perks during this extended partial shutdown. In normal circumstances I can get from my frontporch to Capitol Hill or downtown in as little as 41/2 hours. Securitylines these days could at least double my overall air travel time.
The train is still longer andtimeismoney,weare taught. But certainty has value,too, even if it means at 11:29 p.m. departure. And at theAmtrak station,there werenostandstill lines, no Transportation Security Administration agents, no ICE agents as stand-ins.
Passengers who arrived mereminutes before depar-
ture made it on board and found seats quickly —assigned in boarding order, not predetermined zones that yield jammed aisles. There’s no in-seat service or satellite TV.But even coach seats, the lowest Amtrak tier,are as spacious as airline firstclass —and thereisWi-Fi, so it’snot the19th century or even 20th century after all.
On board, Iheardone crew memberjoke, “I’m no TSA agent.”
Thepathways of history
As aboy in rural Alabama, Icountedtrain cars and wonderedwhere they were headed. I’vesince read diary entries andletters frommy grandmother andher sisters recounting WorldWar II-era weekend trips to Atlanta.
TheSouth’s largest city has ahistorical hook, too. Originally named “Terminus,” Atlanta developed in the antebellum eraasa critical in-
tersection of north-south and east-west rail routes. That is what drew Gen. William Tecumseh Shermanfor one of the Civil War’sseminal campaigns that helped defeat the Confederacy Acentury afterthe Civil War, Deltachose Atlanta for its headquarters rather thanBirmingham, Alabama,which wasthe larger city as of the1960 census
The company’sdecision was tied up in tax breaks forthe airline, named for its crop duster origins in the Mississippi Delta region. According to someinterpretations, Delta’sdecisionwas made easier because of the more overtracism of Alabama’s and Birmingham’sleaders as they defended Jim Crow —a code that, amongother acts, allowed states to segregate thepassenger trains that predated Amtrak.
On this night, Iheard many languages and accents, notable given the role that immigrant labor played in building the U.S. rail system and especially striking now with immigration —legal and illegal —atthe forefront in Washington, my destination. Isaw faces that reflected U.S. pluralism, adifferent mix from what my grandmotherand auntswould have seen alifetime ago.
Thearray of voicescelebrated the freedom and ease of rail travel.Sodid Agatha Grimesand herfriendsafter they boarded in Greensboro, North Carolina, as part of alongweekendtrip to celebrate her 62nd birthday
“I gotstuckinthe Atlanta airport last week,” Grimes said, as hergroup laughed togetherinthe dining car.
“It’sjust nuts.” BerettaNunnally,a selfdescribed “train veteran” who organized their trip, said, “There’snoworry aboutparking. No checking bags. Youcometothe station, youget where you going, and you come home.”
Planes,trains, automobiles
Still, that is not as easy as it once was. Just as politics, economics and subsidies helped grow U.S. railroads, those factors diminished the network as auto manufacturers, oil companies, road builders and, finally,airline manufacturers and airlines commanded favorfrompoliticians and attention from consumers. Ridinghours across rural areas, Inoticed thejunkyards where kudzu and chain-link fencing framed rows of rusted automobiles. I saw the farmland and equipment that helps feed cities and the rest of the nation. I awoke to see the night lights of office towers in Charlotte, North Carolina.I sawvibrant county seats —and Ithought of countless other towns like them that are not thriving as they sit disconnected from passenger rail and farfrom the Eisenhower-era interstate system that we crossed multiple times on our way In each setting, voters —conservatives, liberals, the extremes and betweens —havechosentheir representatives, senators anda president who now set the nation’scourse.
WhenIarrivedinWashington, Ipaused to enjoy Union Station’sgrand hall andits BeauxArts appeal and Ilamented how much splendor has been lost because so many striking U.S. terminals have been razed. I stepped outside and looked up at the Capitol dome. While Ihad slept, the Senate managed abipartisan deal to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security except immigration enforcement. As Icontinued northward, House Republican leaders rejected it.The stalemate continued. Iwas aweary
Bryant makes seamless transition from LSU gymnast to assistant coach
BY SCOTT RABALAIS staff writer
Haleigh Bryant exhibited impeccable timing when she was an All-American gymnast for LSU, leaping and tumbling to titles and perfect 10s.
She didn’t lose that timing late in her career as she shifted from competing to coaching.
“I told Jay (Clark, LSU head coach) my sophomore or junior year that I wanted to coach college gymnastics,” Bryant said.
“He said he would help me find a job. Jay has so many connections and I was open to moving.
“Then all the stars aligned.”
Bryant decided to return in 2025 for a fifth season, which the NCAA allowed because she started her career during the pandemic. At the same time, another former LSU great, Ashleigh Gnat, decided to leave coaching.
“Jay told me that summer (before her fifth season) that
Bugs (Gnat) was looking to move on,” Bryant said “He asked me if I wanted to step into that role. That didn’t feel real.”
It became very real this past July, when Gnat officially stepped down and Clark picked Bryant to fill her role, joining the staff alongside husband and wife assistant coaches Garrett and Courtney McCool Griffeth.
As a first-year coach, Bryant has served as sort of an apprentice to the rest of the staff But she’s been a big asset as a recruiter because, well, she’s Haleigh Bryant. When she walks into a recruit’s living room, they’re excited,” Clark said.
“It’s been as seamless a transition as we could have asked for She just picked it right up.” Bryant and the rest of the LSU coaching staff lead the No. 2-seeded Tigers into NCAA regional action this week at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center
ä see STARS, page 3B
LsU assistant coach Haleigh Bryant celebrates as gymnast Kailin Chio sticks the landing for a perfect 10 on the balance beam during a meet against Alabama on Feb 27 at the PMAC. sTAFF FILE PHoTo
By MICHAEL JoHNsoN
LSU’s bats explode in comeback win over Kentucky
BY KOKI RILEY staff writer
Jay Johnson didn’t panic after Friday’s game.
LSU’s bats had gone quiet again, registering just two runs in eight innings against Kentucky ace Jaxon Jelkin, but his reaction to the performance was not one of despair Combined with the seven runs his team scored the next day Johnson was feeling good about his attack before Sunday’s series finale.
“I’m not surprised we had a good day today,” Johnson said after Saturday’s game, “because I felt like there were some things in the game last night that were OK.” But LSU’s offense was better than just OK at Alex Box Stadium on Sunday The Tigers had 16 hits and came back from a seven-run deficit and a four-run deficit to take down Kentucky 17-10. The victory handed them their first series win in Southeastern Conference play
“(Kentucky) makes it hard, man,” Johnson said. “They’re not coming in here and just going, ‘Hey, it’s LSU, so we’re going to give it to them.’ It’s not how this thing goes.
“And so if you don’t throw punches back,
BY LES EAST
BY MATTHEW PARAS staff writer
Mickey Loomis has shown repeatedly that he loves trading up in the NFL draft. Imagine the New Orleans Saints general manager having even more resources to do so. A proposed rule change from the Cleveland Browns would allow teams to trade up to five years’ worth of draft assets instead of the three years that the league currently allows, with the goal to give teams greater flexibility and create a more active trade landscape. It’s unclear if the Saints support the measure, but we could soon find out when NFL owners discuss the change at next week’s league meetings in Phoenix. For the change to be enacted, at least 24 of 32 teams must vote to approve it. Here’s what else to keep an eye on as it relates to the Saints ahead of the meetings, which run through Sunday and conclude Tuesday Moore updates Saints coach Kellen Moore will be made available to reporters during an NFC
sTAFF PHoTo By MICHAEL JoHNsoN LsU centerfielder Derek Curiel drives the ball for a base hit against Kentucky in the seventh inning on sunday at Alex Box stadium.
Elliott holds on for 1st win of season
BY NATE RYAN Associated Press
MARTINSVILLE, VA. — The strategy calls don’t always work out for Chase Elliott in the Cup Series. So when the plan comes together as it did in a victory Sunday at Martinsville Speedway it’s especially sweet for NASCAR’s eight-time most popular driver and his legions of adoring fans.
“It’s really cool when this stuff works out, and to win these races is so tough,” Elliott said while celebrating on the front stetch to huge cheers after his first win this season and the 22nd of his career “So, just really, really grateful for the opportunity I never take it for granted. Trust me, this is a dream come true for me.”
The 30-year-old from Dawsonville, Georgia, capitalized on a shrewd gamble by crew chief Alan Gustafson to pit the No. 9 Chevrolet earlier than the other contenders. When the caution flew on the 312th lap, Elliott was in second behind Denny Hamlin and pitted with the rest of the lead-lap drivers aside from Ross Chastain, who took the lead by staying on track. Elliott took first from Chastain after a restart and led the final 69 laps to win by 0.565 seconds over Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota.
“It was definitely a team effort,” Elliott said after his second win on the 0.526-mile oval. “That was awesome So proud of Alan and the whole team. They did a great job, and we took a gamble. But just so proud of them. They put up with a lot, and they got to put up with me all the time. So I just appreciate them for sticking with me.”
Joey Logano finished third, followed by Ty Gibbs and William Byron.
Elliott, who has been voted NASCAR’s most popular driver annually since 2018, led 84 laps in delivering the first win this year for Hendrick Motorsports. The winningest team in NASCAR history has a record 31 victories at Martinsville.
Gustafson, whose calls are frequently second-guessed by one of NASCAR’s biggest fan bases whenever Elliott struggles, said he got a supportive call Sunday morning from team owner Rick Hendrick.
“He’s like, ‘Everything’s great, love you guys, playing the long game, and this is a marathon, not a sprint,’” Gustafson said in recounting the conversation. “But
nevertheless, when the boss calls you, it gets your attention.”
The decision was virtually a nobrainer for Gustafson after Elliott started 10th and ran mostly outside the top five for the first half of the 400-lap race.
“We were just kind of trapped in like the 10th spot,” Gustafson said. “It’s really hard to pass, and we just need to do something different. I just felt like it was worth a shot. And when we pitted early, I think it just drug a lot of guys down. Obviously, the caution’s great It gave us track position, and the rest is history.”
Hamlin, who has a series-best
six wins at Martinsville, started from the pole position and dominated, leading 292 of the first 317 laps. The Joe Gibbs Racing star got shuffled from the lead during a pit stop sequence under a yellow flag that began on the 312th lap and then lost momentum on the ensuing restart. He also thought a loose wheel caused his handling to fade in the final stage.
“(Elliott) did a good job of controlling the pace there,” Hamlin said. “It just really came from that bad restart I had Just not much really I could have done, and it felt like we gave it our all. We’ll check it out here, but I just
thought the wheel was loose here on that last run. Either way, these are just some of the races that get away from you and your career.”
The win came 11 years to the day of Elliott’s debut in the Cup Series. He finished 38th in the March 29, 2015, race that was won by Hamlin. Elliott said he was reminded of the anniversary at an autograph session Sunday morning. “A couple fans that were here that day came up to me and told me about it,” Elliott said. “So I got to thinking about it. Really cool to kind of see all that come full circle.”
Future deal
Tyler Reddick’s blazing start to the Cup season comes during a contract year for the 23XI Racing driver Though he would be the hottest free agent in NASCAR on the open market, Reddick has said he’s committed to staying at the team he joined three years ago.
After winning the pole position Saturday, Hamlin guaranteed that 23XI would sign Reddick to an extension soon.
“Tyler’s one of those guys that was very important for us to get our hands on him very early,” Hamlin said. “I think he’s lived up
to the expectations for us. We’re seeing it this year He’s putting it all together, and our race cars are really fast, too.”
Hall of Fame nominees
The NASCAR Hall of Fame unveiled a list of 15 candidates for the three-member class of 2027 that will include two from the Modern Era category and one from the Pioneer division. Among the new nominees are 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick, six-time ARCA champion Ray Elder, championship crew chief and engine builder Ernie Elliott, winning car owner Ray Fox and championship crew chief Herb Nab.
Some of the notable holdover nominees are Cup Series winners Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle, who was killed in a plane crash last December
Up next
After an off weekend for Easter the NASCAR Cup Series will continue its short-track swing at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee on Sunday April 12. Kyle Larson has won two of the past three races at the 0.533-mile oval, leading 411 of 500 laps in a victory last April.
Antonelli, 19, claims Japanese GP for 2nd straight win
BY STEPHEN WADE Associated Press
SUZUKA, Japan Italian 19-yearold Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes has won his second consecutive Formula 1 race, taking Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren. Antonelli
finished a comfortable 13.7 seconds ahead of the Australian Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was third with George Russell of Mercedes in fourth. McLaren’s Lando Norris was fifth with sixth for Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari at the Suzuka circuit in central Japan on a clear, sunny spring afternoon
Antonelli won the first F1 race of his career two weeks ago in China, the second-youngest winner in history. The youngest was Max Verstappen in 2016 at 18. Antonelli also won from pole position in China.
Antonelli has 72 points from three races and now becomes the youngest to lead the season drivers’ standings.
“It’s too early to think about the championship, but we’re in a good way,” Antonelli said. “I got a terrible start, I just need to check what happened.
“Definitely, it’s been (the starts) a weak point this year and I need to improve that because you can easily win or lose races with that.” Mercedes continues domination Russell was second in China two weeks ago and won the seasonopening race in Australia which means Mercedes has victories in
the first three races of 2026. In Japan, Antonelli started from pole with Russell alongside him, but neither got a great start with Piastri beating both to the first turn and holding the early lead. But Antonelli and Mercedes again showed that they have mastered the 2026 car configuration, which features a 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical-battery power
The cars are also lighter, narrower and shorter than last season, with many drivers complaining about the new regulations the most radical changes in a decade.
Antonelli’s good fortune
McLaren’s Piastri got a great start. Antonelli didn’t and wound up in sixth after the first lap but clawed his way back. He had the lead on the 22nd lap when Hass driver Oliver Bearman lost control and hit a tire barrier, triggering the safety car Bearman limped out of the car but was reported later to be in good shape by medical officials.
Antonelli said he got a bit “lucky” with the deployment of the safety car “I don’t know what would have happened, what the outcome
Woodland wins first PGA title since brain surgery
HOUSTON Gary Woodland won the Houston Open on Sunday, an emotional moment that seemed so improbable 30 months ago when he had brain surgery, and even two weeks ago when he opened up about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder
Woodland looked better than ever at Memorial Park, taking a one-shot lead into the final round and stretching it to seven shots until coasting home to a trophy that felt as big as his U.S. Open title at Pebble Beach in 2019. He closed with a 3-under 67 to win by five shots over Nicolai Hojgaard. The gallery paused chanting his name so Woodland could roll in a 5-foot par putt. He stretched both arms, exhaled and looked to the blue sky before his tears began pouring.
Three-time Vikings All-Pro DB Browner dies at 65
EAGAN, Minn. — Joey Browner, a three-time All-Pro defensive back who played nine of his 10 NFL seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, has died, the team said. He was 65.
The Vikings announced Browner’s death Sunday and said his family had informed the team. A cause of death was not released.
A native of Warren, Ohio, who played at Southern Cal, Browner was selected by Minnesota with the 19th overall pick in the 1983 NFL draft. It was the first time the Vikings had used a first-round pick on a defensive back.
Browner played for the Vikings from 1983-1991 and finished his career with 37 interceptions, the fifth most in franchise history He also had 18 forced fumbles in 138 games for Minnesota.
CHICAGO Nico Hoerner and the Chicago Cubs finalized their $141 million, six-year contract Sunday that establishes the Gold Glove second baseman as a franchise cornerstone going forward. Hoerner could have become a free agent after this season but instead chose to stay with the club that drafted him. The contract runs from 2027-32 and includes deferred money Hoerner’s long-term deal comes days after All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong agreed to a $115 million, six-year contract. The 28-year-old Hoerner was selected by the Cubs in the first round of the 2018 amateur draft out of Stanford. He is starting his last season under a $35 million, three-year contract that was finalized in March 2023.
UNC suspends arena talks amid coaching search
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina is putting talks about the future home for its men’s basketball program on hold.
would have been without the safely car,” Antonelli said. “But that definitely made life a lot easier.”
McLaren much, much better
Piastri also wondered what might have been, but acknowledged Mercedes probably had too much pace.
“It’s a shame we never got to see what would have happened, but for us at this point to be disappointed about finishing second — is a pretty good place to be.”
Piastri did not even start the season’s first two races. He crashed on a warm-up lap prior to his home race in Australia, and both McLaren cars failed to start in China due to electrical faults.
“I think this weekend we just did a really good job of optimizing what we had,” Piastri said. “We just nailed everything. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough for the win. But at the moment a result like today is as good as a win.”
Hamilton went all last season without a podium driving for Ferrari, but managed third place in China. He was close to another podium in Japan, showing the Ferrari is much more competitive.
“I’ve not lost what I had,” Hamilton said this week in Japan. Long hiatus
Formula 1 now takes a five-week break with races scheduled for April in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia called off because of the war in Iran. The next race is May 3 in Miami.
The school said in a statement Sunday that it is suspending those discussions as officials focus on hiring a new coach after the firing of Hubert Davis. WRAL of Raleigh first reported news of the pause. The school is mulling whether to renovate the Smith Center, the program’s home since January 1986. It also is considering building a new arena, potentially off the main campus. The discussions have led to debates among fans and even members of the program, with retired Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams coming out in support of renovating the center
Olympic champ Semenya disappointed with IOC
CAPE TOWN Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya on Sunday expressed her disappointment with IOC President Kirsty Coventry over the decision to ban transgender women from competing in women’s events at the Olympics. Semenya, who is South African, said she expected more from a female leader and fellow African like Coventry who is from Zimbabwe.
“Personally, for her as a leader, she’s an African, I’m sure she understands how we as Africans, we are coming from, as a global South, you cannot control genetics,” Semenya said.
The International Olympic Committee’s decision also restricts athletes such as Semenya with medical conditions known as differences in sex development, or DSD.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By EUGENE HosHIKo Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli of Italy smiles on the podium after winning the Japanese Formula one Grand Prix on sunday at suzuka in central Japan.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By CHUCK BURToN
Chase Elliott celebrates in victory lane after winning the Cook out 400 on sunday in Martinsville, Va The win comes 11 years to the day of Elliott’s debut in the Cup series.
Theregionalbeginsat2 p.m.
Wednesdaywitha first-round meet between Air Force and Nebraska.The winner advances to Session II of Thursday’ssecond round at 7p.m. to face LSU, No. 15 Clemson and Auburn
The top two teams fromLSU’s side of the bracket advance to face the top two teams from Thursday’s 1p.m. sessionbetween No. 7Stanford,No. 10 Michigan, North Carolinaand Utah State in the regionalfinal. The top two teams from that meet, set for 5p.m. Saturday, move on to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas.
Anative of Cornelius, North Carolina, Bryant committed to LSU as an eighth-grader and wrapped her competitive careerasarguably thegreatest gymnast in LSU history.Atwotime NCAA individual champion andfive-time SEC individual champion, Bryant, 24, has more All-American honors (33) and perfect 10s (18) than anyTiger gymnast.
But would her success as a competitor make her asuccessful coach, especially now that she’scoaching many of her former teammates?
“It’scertainly been different,
but it’snice,” LSU junior Kylie Coensaid.“It was nice to have her as ateammate and being able to confideinher.But it’salso been nice to have her as acoach, because sheknowswhat we’ve gone through.
“If we’rehavingahard time, Ican go to herand lether know what’sbeen going on. At the same time, shecan givemethe coach’s perspective and what they expect out of us.”
What will be expectedofLSU after another stellar regular season is to advance to nationalsfor thefourthstraight year —especiallysince theTigers are competingontheir home floor.But Bryant believes they are ready to handle it.
“Thisteamreally is something special,” shesaid.“It’s so important to have 21 girls who all want thesame goal.For someteams, that’sharder to create. That started back in August.”
Bryanthopes that acareer that startedasan assistant coach at LSUwill lead hertothe opportunity to be ahead coach one day
Does she dream of being LSU’s coach? Bryant doesn’t want to thinkthat far down theroad.
“I’m staying patient and just being in the moment,” Bryant said.
“Learning from Jay andCourtney andGarrett.IfIbecomea head coach at LSU or another school, they’re thebest and Iwantto learn everything Ican.”
LSU
Continued from page1B
and I’m not talking aboutscoring runs, I’m talking about having your manhood challenged and responding, you’re going to lose. And we’ve lost and haven’tresponded that way.Today, you can’task for a better response.”
LSU went 8for 20 with runners in scoring position and 10 for 26 with runners on base. Senior Chris Stanfield went 4for 5witha double. Fifth-year senior Seth Dardar had three hits and drove in four runs. Junior Jake Brownand sophomore Derek Curiel had two hits apiece. Curiel also hit ahome run
“We’ve gone down alot in certain games this year, and we’vekind of laid down, and we kind of didn’t have that fight back,” Curiel said.
“Today,we’re sick and tired of it
We’re not going to do that anymore.”
There were plenty of game-defining hits. Sophomore John Pearson hit athird-inning grand slam that cut LSU’sdeficit from sixto two. Dardar blasted athree-run homer in the sixththatgaveLSU its first lead at 11-10, flipping his bat at least two stories into theair after smashing it 435 feet
“I grew up watching LSUmyentire life, and it means alot to me to be in astadium in front of all those fans,” Dardar said. “So when Iwas rounding third, going home and hearing the crowd cheer for me, it just meant the world to me.”
Histheatrics started ashouting match betweenthe two dugouts. At first, Kentucky coach Nick Mingione was, presumably,upsetwith the bat flip. Then awarning was is-
LSUsoftballdrops series to Oklahoma
BY JIM KLEINPETER
Contributingwriter
Held withoutahome run in the previous twogames, Oklahoma came out swinging against LSU on Sunday at Tiger Park.
While theNo. 20 Tigers fought backgamely,the No. 5Sooners overpowered them withtwo homersinthe firstinningand four overall in an 8-4 victory to takethe series.
LSU(23-12 overall, 4-8 SEC) hit three homers of itsown,including two by Kylee Edwards, but couldn’tovercomethe nation’s leader in home runs, runs scored and batting average.
Oklahoma freshman catcher
Kendall Wells hit her national-best 26th homer over the rightfield fence for a2-0 lead four pitches into the game. One out later,Gabbie Garcia hit asolo shot, her 16th, to help the visitors go up 4-0 before LSU’sfirst at-bat.
Oklahoma (34-2, 8-1) now has 133 dingers in 36 games.
“They’re areally good ball club,” Edwards said. “Weknewthey were going to come out hitting. We had to do the same thing. Ithink we did. It’sthe gameofsoftball; anybody can win on any given day
“Weplayedour butts off. It was a really good series. Our pitchers did fantastic. This is what happens on Sunday.Bothsides hit reallywell We have to come outnextweekend and do thesame thing, and we’ll be fine.
LSU got back-to-back solo homers from Edwards and Char Lorenz in thesecond inning to cut the deficit in half.
LSUstarterCece Cellura,who had shut out theSoonersfor six innings Friday night beforethe Sooners rallied, started and exited thegameafter Garcia’shomer, throwing 11 pitches.
Jayden Heavener, whothrew a two-hit victory Saturday,cooled off the Sooners over the next three
innings but gave up athree-run homer by Isabella Emerling in the fifth
Oklahoma’s Ella Parker hit asolo shot in the sixth and Edwards answered with her second homer and thirdintwo days.
Edwardsisnow tied withTori Edwards forthe team lead with six homers.
LSUcame back with Alix Franklin’srun-scoring single in theseventh andhad the tying run on deck.
But Parker made afine running catch of Kylee Edwards’ sinking linedrive in right field with two runners on to endthe game.
“I’m proud of the fight in our team,” LSU coach Beth Toria said. “Wescratchedback and got within oneswing of it at the end, which I thought was really cool.
sued to LSU by the umpires about Dardar’sflair for the dramatic, and that somehow led to more shouting fromJohnsonthat he directed toward theKentucky dugout.
Senior Zach Yorke was also so upsetwith theWildcats that pitching coachNate Yeskie needed to holdhim back.
“I thought they were going to kick (Dardar) out of the gamebecauseI guesshebat-flippedit. And,
Itoldyou guys yesterday, all this is going to happen every weekend,” Johnson said. “AndsoIjust motioned the dugout and Iwas like, ‘Seth, flip it lower.Flip it lower.’
“That was my instruction at that time,and thenthe (Kentucky) pitchingcoach wants to fight me, whatever.”
It was the boiling point of aseries that was emotionally charged from start to finish. Even on Sat-
urday,Yeskie was shouting at the Kentucky (21-6, 5-4SEC) dugout after junior Jake Brownthrew out arunner at hometoend an inning. “Another weekend in the SEC,” Johnson quipped.
On the mound Sunday,LSU (1910, 4-5) couldn’tstop shooting itself in thefoot formostofthe afternoon. The Tigers’ pitchers walked 10 batters and hit twoothers. They allowed Kentucky to score its first
“It’stough to get an offense like that out multiple times in multiple days. Ithought (Heavener) did a great job. She fought for us the whole weekend.”
LSU had seven hits off starter and winner Milia Gauchino but struck out 11 times, including four by preseason All-America first baseman Tori Edwards.
“It’stough to be her sometimes,”Torina said. “She’scircled on everyscoutingreport. She sees pitches alittle different than everybody elseand gets pitched differently.She’s hadsomereallygood swingsin the last couple of weeks. She’ll bounce back.”
Up next, theTigerswill play athree-game series at Missouri starting at 6p.m. Thursday
three runs on just one hit, and four of the free passestheyissuedresulted in runs. Redshirt juniorright-hander Gavin Guidry started the game for LSU, but only lasted11/3 innings. He walked four batters, hit another and gave up six earned runs, raising his ERA to 6.64 on the season. Sophomore left-hander Santiago Garcia replaced Guidry in the second inning and allowed two inherited runners to score before a third run came across in the third. By the end of the top of the third, LSU trailed 7-0.
“I was like, ‘Man,I guess everybody went to the concert last night and went to bed at 4a.m.and did who knowswhat,”Johnsonsaid. “And didn’tgive arear end about today.’ ” LSU’sstruggles on the bump continued into the fifth, when sophomore right-handerMavrickRizy walked two batters despite recording just oneout.Redshirt sophomore right-hander Deven Sheerin replaced him after the second free pass, but Sheerin allowed atwo-out, two-run double that stretched Kentucky’slead from one to three. He then surrendereda single that gave the Wildcats a10-6 advantage. The Tigers’ pitching staff finally regathered themselvesafter that. Theydidn’tallowarun after the fifth inning, as Sheerin, sophomore left-hander Danny Lachenmayer and fifth-year senior Grant Fontenot tossed ashutoutthe rest of theway LSU faces Southern on Tuesday in thefinal game of itsnine-game home stand. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m., andthe game will be available to stream on SEC Network+. Email Koki Rileyat koki.riley@theadvocate.com.
sTAFF PHoTo By MICHAEL JoHNsoN
after stepping on second to tag Kentucky left
stadium
sTAFF FILE PHoTo By MICHAELJoHNsoN
LsU assistant coach Haleigh Bryant celebrates withgymnast Amari Draytonafterher balance beam routine in ameet againstPenn state on Feb. 6atthe Pete Maravich Assembly Center
sTAFF PHoTo By MICHAEL JoHNsoN
LsU shortstop KyleeEdwards, left,high fivesateammate while celebrating her home runagainst oklahoma in the second inning on sunday at TigerPark.Edwards hit twohomers in the loss.
NCAA TOURNAMENT
WOMEN’S ROUNDUP
Lendeborg leads Michigan past Vols into Final Four
By The Associated Press
CHICAGO Yaxel Lendeborg
scored 27 points, Elliot Cadeau had 10 assists and Michigan rolled into the Final Four, overwhelming Tennessee for a 95-62 victory in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday Morez Johnson Jr added 12 points for top-seeded Michigan, which posted its 11th victory this season by at least 30 points. Aday Mara had 11 points and blocked two shots in the Midwest Region final.
Making the most of its size and athleticism on both sides of the court, Michigan (35-3) advanced to its first Final Four since 2018 and ninth overall. Next up is a compelling national semifinal against Arizona on Saturday Under second-year coach Dusty May — who took Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023 the Wolverines became the first school to win at least four games in an NCAA tourney by double digits while scoring at least 90 points in each. Lendeborg, who was named the region’s Most Outstanding Player, was 10 for 19 from the field. He became the first Michigan player to score at least 23 points in three consecutive NCAA Tournament games since Juwan Howard did it in four straight in 1994
EAST REGIONAL
No. 7 UCONN 73, No. 1 DUKE 72: In
Washington, D.C., Braylon Mullins sank a desperation 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to give UConn an astonishing victory over top-seeded Duke, earning the Huskies a spot in the Final Four after they rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit.
The Blue Devils (35-3) led by three before UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left. With Duke playing keep-away to prevent the Huskies from fouling, Cayden Boozer’s pass near midcourt was deflected by Demary,
and after UConn came up with the ball, Mullins swished a 3 from 35 feet away It’s the second straight season to end in a huge collapse for Duke, which was the top overall seed in this year’s tournament
The Blue Devils led by six with 1:14 remaining before falling to Houston in last year’s national semifinals.
UConn (33-5) missed 18 of its first 19 attempts from 3-point range and finished 5 for 23. The fifth will be remembered in Connecticut for generations.
Strong, Quiñonez lead Huskies over Notre Dame
By The Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas All-America forward Sarah Strong scored 21 points, Blanca Quiñonez added 20 and defending national champion UConn beat Notre Dame 70-52 on Sunday in the Fort Worth Regional 1 final, sending coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies to their 25th Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament. The Huskies (38-0), who have won 54 games in a row, clinched the first spot for the Final Four in Phoenix. They will be going for their 13th national championship. Azzi Fudd, UConn’s other firstteam AP All-America pick, added 13 points and four assists.
Hannah Hidalgo had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (25-11), plus three more steals to increase her NCAA single-season record to 202 and single NCAA tourney mark to 29 But she also had five turnovers, the first time in her 10 NCAA tourney games with more turnovers than steals.
The ninth NCAA tourney meeting between the Huskies and the Irish was their first with a spot in the Final Four on the line.
They had both made it that far the first eight times they met in March Madness, the last in 2019 when Notre Dame won a semifinal game over UConn and then lost to Baylor in the title game.
SACRAMENTO 2 REGIONAL
No. 1 UCLA 70, No. 3 DUKE 58: In Sacramento, California, Lauren Betts had 23 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks to help UCLA rally from a rare halftime deficit and beat Duke, advancing to the women’s Final Four for the second straight season. The top-seeded Bruins will play either Texas or Michigan in Phoenix on Friday in the national semifinals. UCLA is two wins away from the program’s first NCAA title.
Third-seeded Duke tested UCLA (35-1) like few teams had done this season The Bruins struggled to get going offensively or contain the Blue Devils (27-9), who reached their second straight Elite Eight on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Ashlon Jackson against LSU in the Sweet 16.
Taina Mair scored 21 points to lead Duke, which also lost in a regional final last year
Texas women draw motivation from former coach Conradt
BY SCHUYLER DIXON
AP sports writer
FORT WORTH, Texas Rori Harmon doesn’t hear many speeches from Jody Conradt, the retired Texas women’s basketball coach who led the Longhorns to their only national championship 40 years ago.
The fifth-year point guard figures there’s not much need for many words.
“I feel that national championship presence,” Harmon said. “It’s that undefeated season presence around us. That’s almost like all you need.” Conradt was around the program long before the latest effort by the Longhorns to add a banner to the one raised for the 34-0 team of 1985-86.
Top-seeded Texas will chase a second consecutive Final Four berth when it faces No 2 seed Michigan in the Fort Worth Regional 3 final Monday
was among the elite — now that it finally appears to be again under Vic Schaefer who was born in Austin and remembers first meeting Conradt in 1990 when he was the first-year coach at Sam Houston State in the prison town of Huntsville, about 150 miles from the UT campus.
“I think they’re aware,” Conradt said. “We just celebrated the 40th year, and the exes all came back and that team was recognized. I know they talked about it as a team, and I think they would like to be the second team to win the national championship.”
Texas’ Final Four berth last year was its first since 2003 The Longhorns lost to South Carolina in the semifinals so they’re still looking for their first trip to the championship game since winning it all.
“We see the banners hanging up in our practice gym every day and not only (chasing) a second championship for the university but also a first one for Coach Schaefer That was a big reason why I came here.” Conradt won her title in the formative years of women’s athletics and is considered one of the pioneers of her sport. Schaefer certainly sees her that way
“I think the longer you’re away from coaching, it becomes less about wins and losses,” said Conradt, whose final season was 200607. “I think the pride I feel now is we had the opportunity to build a foundation for young women having opportunity It sort of set the standard for what was going to happen across the country.”
As the Longhorns chase Conradt’s on-court legacy, they’re equally as aware of what her tenure meant outside the lines.
when she can, sometimes gives players puzzles (Jordan Lee said she and fellow guard Bryanna Preston got a 1,000-piece behemoth recently) and will on occasion offer a few words of encouragement or advice. Her presence is a reminder of the last time the Texas program
The Longhorns have a chance for consecutive top-five finishes in The Associated Press poll for the first time since 2003-04 under Conradt. Texas finished at least that high every year from 198288, including four consecutive No 1 rankings.
“I think one our best reminders is having Coach Conradt at the gym with us,” said Lee, a sophomore.
“She wasn’t just a coach,” senior post Kyla Oldacre said. “She was everywhere. She was a huge advocate for women’s basketball, and that’s what’s so outstanding for us when she talks to us, you do take that personal, in a positive way, of course.”
They’re taking the pursuit of a championship personally, too.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By ToNy GUTIERREZ UConn forward sarah strong goes up for a basket against Notre Dame guard Vanessa de Jesus during the first half in the Elite Eight on sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By LM oTERo
Former Texas women’s basketball coach Jody Conradt, who led the Longhorns to their only championship 40 years ago, watches the end of the game against Kentucky during the sweet 16 on saturday in Fort Worth, Texas.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By ABBIE PARR
UConn guard Braylon Mullins scores the winning basket during the second half against Duke in the Elite Eight on sunday in Washington.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By ALAsTAIRGRANT
partinaworkout session at the
From TipperarytoSEC
Irishrugby player commits to southCarolina
BY KEN MAGUIRE AP sportswriter
LONDON Neff Giwa sometimes asks himself: “Is thisreally happening to me?”
Incredibly,yes.
The 20-year-old Irishman who has never played American football committed on Sunday to play at South Carolina as an offensive lineman.
Giwa, who is also Nigerian, has come along way—from Tipperary —inashort amountoftime
Just afew months after showing an interest in the sport, he was touring U.S. college campuses, meeting coachesand collecting offers.
It’salot to handle, evenfor someone who is 6feet, 71/2 inches tall, weighs 295 pounds and has 37-inch-long arms and great foot speed.
“I knew that there’d be ajourney there, but Icould neverhave anticipated this,” Giwa, in an interview with The Associated Press, said of the whirlwind around his recruitment.
Giwa, whose full first name is Oluwanifemi, selected the Gamecocksover offers from Miami, North Carolina, SMU, Tennessee and Texas.
Giwa had two visits to Columbia and spent “alot of time ”with coach Shane Beamer ‘Freakishnumbers’
Giwa —pronounced witha hard G—heard about Brandon Collier through afriend familiarwiththe American’strackrecordoffinding, training and placing international kidsatU.S. college football programs. Collier,anAmericanwho played defensive line at UMass, runs PPI Recruitsout of Germany.
Collier had Giwa visit him for aworkout and immediatelyenvisioned him protecting quarterbacks
“If you can create atackle in alaboratory,this is what you want himtolook like,” Collier
SAINTS
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Saints’ latest offseasondevelopments, including why New Orleans added another quarterback in Zach Wilson. This has been abusy stretch for Moore, who has traveled the country while hitting the pro day circuit. The second-year coach has been spotted at the University of Miami, Ohio State and Texas Tech. Moore, of course, will be tight-lipped about the team’sdraft plans, but the availability should provide some insight into what the coach has at least observed. It was at this time last year thatMoore confirmed the Saints were doing their homework on quarterbacks, amonth before the Saints drafted Tyler Shough.
Otherrulechanges
Among the other morenotable topics to be discussed by owners at the meetings center around whether teams should be able to declare an onside kick at any time. The league had changed the rule over the past few years, with the most recent change coming last year, when teams were again allowed to declare an onside kick at any time when trailing. The tweaks, how-
told theAP.
It wasn’tjusthis size, though.
Collierclocked Giwa at 4.88 secondsinthe 40-yard dash and measured his broad jumpat9 feet,10 inches —“prettyfreakishnumbers,” Collier noted
“Then he hasthe toughness,” he added. “You can have all these measurements, butifyou’renot toughmentally and physically then youprobablywon’tmake it.”
Collierwas bringing his latest group of recruits on campus tours earlier this month and decided to add Giwa —mostly just to introduce himtothe process.
“I didn’thave expectations,” Giwa told the AP before Sunday’s announcement.“It was just to see what was out there, basically,and what to work towards.”
“Things kind of picked up.”
Here come theoffers
Not long after touching down in the U.S., Collier detoured to Toronto to check out another touted prospect.Giwa joined him.
“I had them do some passsets and some one-on-ones withsome kids,helooked phenomenal,” Collier said of Giwa.
So he instructed Giwa to immediately create an Xaccount so colleges could learn moreabout him Collier then posted acouple of videos “anditwentviral from there.”
“Miami, they messaged me literally 60seconds after Iposted it,” Collier said.“The head coach (Mario Cristobal) wrotemeamessage —‘get himtoMiami.’”
Likeactually oneminute?
“Literally 60 seconds, man,” Collier said.“The power of networkingand social media. People know what Ido.”
Giwa didn’t talk to Belichick
North Carolina would have been an intriguing choice notonly to play for iconic coach Bill Belichick but also becausethe TarHeels play their 2026 opener against TCU at AvivaStadium in Dublin.
“I haven’tspoken to him personally,” Giwa said of Belichick Playing in hiscountry someday would be great: “I was born in Ireland,and Iwas raised in Ireland. It definitely would be cool and abit of an honor to dothat.”
AP PHoTo By ANNIE RICE
saints head coachKellen Moore attends TexasTech’spro dayon ThursdayinLubbock, Texas.
ever,eliminatedthe possibilityof any surprise —which the Saints used famously to their advantage in SuperBowl XLIV when calling “ambush.”
Thelatest proposedchange won’t bring backthe elementof surprise, but it at least gives teams the option to be aggressive.The Saints attempted two onside kicks in 2025, recovering one. The latter recovery led to adramatic finish in aloss to theMiami Dolphins, when New Orleansalmost pulled off the upset.
Paredes’ late 2-RBI double liftsthe Astros past Angels
BY KRISTIERIEKEN AP sportswriter
Lots of internationaltalent
Marvin Nguetsop, aGerman defensive end who is doing ayear of prep school in Connecticut, was considered the toprecruit on Collier’srecent tour.Hegot offers from Ohio State andMichigan.
“All of the kids had offers on the tour, too,” Collier said. “Tennessee offered fiveorsix of thekidson one day.”
Giwa is notthe first of Collier’s recruits to getoffersdespite no football experience. Hero Kanu receivedanofferfrom Penn State without ever playing thesport.The defensive lineman ultimately chose Ohio State.Henow plays at Texas. Giwa is asmall-townkid
Giwa grew up in Cashel, atown in County Tipperarywitha population under 5,000. His mother is anurse and his father is aphysiotherapist. Giwa, whohas threeolder siblings, said they were thefirst Nigerian family to move intotown and that local residents “definitely madeusfeel welcome.”
Whatdoes he tell everyone about college football andthe facilities he’svisited?
“I tell them it’s adifferent world over there,” he said.
Rugby,soccer,hurling and Gaelic football are the local sports.
Giwa likes thatAmerican football allows him to use his size.He sees arugby-to-football template in Jordan Mailata, a6-foot-8 Australian who plays offensive tackle for thePhiladelphia Eagles.
Name, imageand likeness deals allowcollege athletes,eveninternational ones if done correctly,to earn big money
“Itdoes makeyou think about possibilities and choices and how youcan help others. (But) it’smore just making your family proud,” he said.
Giwa credits Collierwithcreating life-changing opportunities. He’snot sure what he’dbedoing otherwise.
“I’djust be aregular guy,” he said withalaugh, “doing what 90% of the world is doing, just trying to make aliving. That’s why I’m so grateful because I’m able to do somethingthat Ireally love now.”
Another hot itemtobemulled
over is whether theleague will be able to centralize aspects of officiating in case theleague has to use replacement officials next season With theNFL andthe referees’ association unable to come together on anew collective bargaining agreement,the league has proposed allowing the league’sofficiating department to “correct clear and obviousmisses madebyonfield officials” —but only in case of awork stoppage.
The league last used replacementofficials in 2012.
Othernuggets
The league meetings also give reporters agreatchancetospeak with other coaches around the league.Thatshould provide furtherinsight intothe Saints’ batch of free agents. Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen,for instance, will be able to speak to whatrunning back Travis Etienne can add, while Buffalo Bills coach Joe Brady can share what he learned when working with guard David Edwards. New York Jetscoach Aaron Glenn is also of interest after the Jets lured away veteran linebacker Demario Davis. Elsewhere, Saintsowner Gayle Bensonisexpected to attend the league meetings after an overseas trip to theVatican and France.
HOUSTON Isaac Paredes hit a tiebreaking two-RBI double with twoouts in the eighth inning to help the Houston Astros to a9-7 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday despite adisappointing major league debut from starter Tatsuya Imai. There were twooutsinthe eighth when theAngels intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez to give Houston runners at first and third. Alvarezstole second before Paredes hit aline drive off Drew Pomeranz (0-1) to put Houston on top 8-6. Jose Altuve followedwith a double to push the lead to 9-6. Imai allowedthreehitsand fourruns with four walks and four strikeouts in 22/3 innings. The Astros are banking on him to have abig year after signing the right-hander to athree-year, $54 million contract following a stellarcareer in Japan where he was athree-timeAll-Star in eight seasons with the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions.
The Angels had two on with one out in theninth when Bryan King
took over for Bryan Abreu. Nolan Schanuel hit an RBI single to cut thelead to two,but King struck out the next twobatters forhis first save.
Jorge Soler drove in three runs and Zach Neto hit atwo-run homer forthe Angels as they split this series 2-2.
The game was tied with one on andone outinthe fourth inning when Netomade it 6-4 with his shot to the seats in leftfield. Christian Walker’s two-RBI double with two outs in the fifth inning tied it 6-6.
Christian Vázquez drove in two runs with asingle in Houston’s four-run secondinning to give the Astros an early lead.
There wasone out in the third when Imaiwalked Netobefore he movedtothird on asingleby Mike Trout. Schanuel walked to load the bases andSoler cleared them withhis double to the cornerinleftfieldtoget theAngels within one.
Jo Adell’stwo-out RBI single tied it at 4-4 and chased Imai. Los Angeles starter Jack Kochanowicz allowed four hits and six runs with five walks in four innings.
PELICANS
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“He’sahandful,” Pelicans interim head coach James Borrego said.“He’s oneofthe best centers outthere.He’sjust aphysical presence.”
Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr.scored 20 points each, former LSU starTari Eason scored 15 andAmenThompsonadded 14 for theRockets.
Houston, which leads the NBA in rebounds per game (48.1), held a59-36 edge on the boards as reserve center Clint Capela matched Sengun’s14inbarely16minutes.
“We’ve got to be better on the board forsure,” Borrego said.
“Itjustcomes down to physicality and overalleffort. It’s oneon-one, two-on-one at times, and you’ve gottofind away to fight and scrap andclaw to getanoffensive rebound, to get adefensive rebound.
“Wejust did not bring it. Some guys did,but not everybody.”
Forward Saddiq Bey,who scored 18 points, led New Orleanswith seven rebounds and the Rockets’ 22-8 advantage in offensive rebounds led to a31-10 edge in second-chance points.
Dejounte Murray,whose availability was in question until shortlybefore tip-offbecause of aleft hand contusion, scored 19 points. Williamson matched Bey’s 18, Derik Queen had 13, Jeremiah Fearsscored 12 and Herb Jones 10 for the Pelicans (25-51), who lost their fifth straight.
New Orleans, whichprevailed 133-128 in its near-record comeback Dec. 18, trailedbyasmany
as 23 points in thefirst halfSunday but chipped away and got as close as 13 points in the third quarter before Houston expanded the lead the rest of the way.
The Pelicans will make aquick road trip to Portland on Thursdayand Sacramento on Friday before returning home next week for their final two home games of the season. Leading scorer Trey Murphy missed his third consecutive gamebecause of asprained right ankle. The Rockets increased their 21-point halftime lead to 24 early in the third quarter,but the Pelicans used a14-3 run to creep within 76-63. Sengun made a3-pointer and Smith added two free throws to push the lead to 18. NewOrleans got as close as 14 on twooccasions, butHouston rebuilt the lead to 101-80 at the end of the third quarter and led by as manyas33inthe fourth. Both teams led by as many as six points in the early going. The Rockets held leads of 12-6 and 14-8before thescore was tied twice. NewOrleanstook itsbiggest lead, 26-20, before thescore was tied twomoretimes, thelast at 29 at theend of thefirst quarter Houstonscored thefirst eight pointsofthe secondquarter.Fears converted a3-point play to stop the run, but Sengun and Smith scored five points each and Eason added a3-pointer during a15-0 run that gave the Rockets a52-32 lead. Karlo Matkovic madeadunk to stop that run, but Houston took itsbiggest lead of thehalf, 64-41, on a3-pointer by Sengun before holding a68-47 halftime lead. The Pelicans missedall nine of their 3-pointersinthe secondquarter while the Rockets made 6of12.
sTAFFPHoTo By ENAN CHEDIAK Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears goes up for alayup against Houston Rockets center Clint Capela, left, and forward Jabari smith during their game sundayatthe smoothieKingCenter
National sports Center on sundayat Crystal Palace in London.
A new journey
stephen Colbert goes from late night to ‘Lord of the Rings’ with new movie script co-write
LOS ANGELES Stephen Colbert, with the end of his late-night series less than two months away, already has a new gig lined up: co-writing the script for an upcoming “Lord of the Rings” movie.
BY EMILY
Guinness World Record for longest line of cheesesteaks is set at Philadelphia International Airport
BY STEPHANIE FARR
The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNs)
PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia
“steaked” its claim on the sandwich that bears its name by setting the Guinness World Record for longest line of cheesesteaks — 1,291 lined up end to end — at Philadelphia International Airport on March 24, National Cheesesteak Day
“We are the world champions of cheesesteaks, baby!” yelled MarketPlace PHL operating partner Clarence LeJeune as he accepted the award on behalf of the airport.
Wit or witout the title, there’s no question Philly is the cheesesteak capital of the world, but now that we have the receipts, nobody better start any beef.
As a live DJ played bangers like Daft Punk’s “Harder Better Faster, Stronger” and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” in the connector between Terminals B and C, more than 100 airport employees and volunteers stuffed the foot-long Amoro-
Assemblers prepare the cheesesteaks at Philadelphia International Airport to attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the longest line of cheesesteaks.
so’s rolls with 990 pounds of Philly’s Best Steak, then drizzled 225 pounds of Cooper Sharp cheese sauce all over them.
On hand to help set the record were Kosuke and Tomomi Chujo, owners of the Tokyo bar Nihonbashi Philly who have gone viral for the
authentic cheesesteaks they make in Japan and for their love of all things
Philly
“We came just for this event We have to join, otherwise we can’t say we’re a cheesesteak restaurant,” Tomomi Chujo said.
As proud as she was to participate in the world record, Chujo — who wore a green baseball cap that said “BIRDS” and socks that read “PHL Cheesesteak” — was equally proud of experiencing a different Philly rite of passage on this trip.
“I got a PPA ticket! I am so happy!” she said, marking perhaps another record for the first time anyone has ever been happy with the Philadelphia Parking Authority
In the hour or so it took to create the cheesesteaks, a drone continually flew over the assembly line as travelers from the around the world stopped to ask about the commotion and the placards set up that said: “HISTORY IN PROGRESS.”
ä see RECORD, page 2C
We want to be here for this moment so when we visit other cities we can talk trash. ... Well, we got the world record. We have the pictures and evidence. We were here today and Philly made history.”
KALA JoHNsToNE
Mark Ruffalo’s Matt “Matty” Flamhaff, is executive producing the project.
“People We Meet on Vacation” star Emily Bader and Logan Lerman, known for “Oh, Hi!” and “Perks of Being a Wallflower,” will star in the reboot. Brett Haley, who directed Net-
Peter Jackson, the visionary filmmaker who adapted author J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy for the big screen in the early aughts, teased “very special partner” Colbert’s involvement in a video posted to social media Tuesday In the post, Jackson video calls Colbert, who says he’s “pretty happy” about the screenwriting role. Colbert, famously a fan of “The Lord of the Rings,” began his part of the video by expressing his love for Tolkien’s books and Jackson’s films before noting his interest in earlier chapters of “The Fellowship of the Ring.” He said that material could make for “its own story that could fit into the larger story.” The TV personality and screenwriter, 61, said coming up with an idea for a new movie was a family affair that also involved his son, screenwriter Peter McGee. “It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call,” he told Jackson, “but about two years ago, I did. You liked it enough to talk to me about it.”
Colbert said he and Jackson further discussed the project with veteran screenwriter Philippa Boyens and presented it to production company NewLine and its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery Boyens, along with Jackson and screenwriter Fran Walsh, oversaw the “LOTR” and The Hobbit” film trilogies.
“I could not be happier to say that they loved it,” Colbert continued.
Colbert said he was worried he wouldn’t be able to balance both the new “LOTR” film and his series, “but it turns out I’m going to be free starting the summer.”
Why’s that? CBS, the home network of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” announced in 2025 its plans to cancel the latenight talker after more than a decade The show’s final episode is set to air May 21. Since news of his show’s cancellation, Colbert has been a vocal critic of CBS parent company Paramount Global, notably slamming the company’s “big fat bribe” of $16 million in settlement payments to President Donald Trump because of CBS News’ edits to a “60 Minutes” Kamala Harris interview He had also referenced the company’s merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. Ellison is the son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison. Though the upcoming end of “The Late Show” in May seemed to signal a split between its host and Paramount, it seems he’ll be working under the Paramount umbrella once again. In February, Ellison’s Paramount Skydance emerged victorious in a competitive bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, besting Netflix. Deadline reports that the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger will be in full swing before the end of the year Warner Bros. Discovery revealed in May 2024 that it was
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/ TNs PHoTos By ALEJANDRo A. ALVAREZ
Michael Empric, adjudicator with Guinness World Records, inspects the construction of cheesesteaks at Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday.
BY ALEXANDRA DEL ROSARIO Los Angeles Times (TNs)
Keep dancingtopreservememory
Dear Doctors: In regardstothe phenomenon of musicand cognition, multiple studies show folks who dance are less likely to develop dementia. This presumably takes the music component and addsmemory,movement and doing something to abeat. Every timeI see an article on dementia, they neglect to mention dancing Dear reader: We recently discussed arecent study about dementia risk and music. The researchers found alower incidence of dementiaamongpeople who listen to music every day This was compared with those who didn’tlisten to music on a daily basis. The study also found thatthe musicgroup did betteron memory and cognitive teststhan thenon-musicgroup.
Dr.Elizabeth Ko
Dr.Eve Glazier
AsK THE DoCToRs
Thebenefits of music for cognition havebeen making headlines forseveralyears. But we agree with you that the effects of dance on cognition have been mostly absent.Asreaders here areaware, regular physical exercise has aprotective effect on memory.But thediscipline needed to start moving and stay moving often is achallenge.
Dance is both social and fun, so it seemslogical it could help people to get off the couch when the gym might not That brings us to thestudy about dance we think you are referring to. Researchers conducted this study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. The findings were published in 2003 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers analyzed five years of physical and mental healthdata. They gathered data from 469 adults over age 75. They found that many physical activities correlated to improved cognitive healthoutcomes, though dancing was the best of them all. Participantswho danced regularly had a76% lower risk of developing
Miss Mannersinmiddleschool
Dear Miss Manners: Iteach seventh gradeinasuburban school. Ihavenoticed an increasingly unsettling trend as Iwalk around the room to check on students:Nobody says “yes, please” or “no, thankyou” anymore. Ihave tried to remind them in many differentways what the polite response is, but it never really seems to stick. Finally,Idecided to invoke Miss Manners. I told them all aboutyou and how Miss Manners, who is areal person, would like to remind them the proper way to respondtoquestions.
responses. What would you say to 12-year-oldsto impress upon them how important this is?
dementia in the five years of the study compared to thepeople who didn’tdance. The researchers proposed that themultipledisciplines involved in dance activate abroad network of brain regions at once. Dance involves aerobics, coordination, agility and rhythm.It also involves flexibility,balance, memoryand social interaction. In asingle dance, you are constantly learning, adjusting and adapting. In,say,anevening of dancing, you challengeboth brain and body in away that is uniquely complex and rigorous. And over years, thesustained challenges of dancing may have aprotective effect on the brain.
Still, thereare someimportant caveats to keep in mind. The
By The Associated Press
first is that this wasanobservational study.Although it can flag aconnection between abehavior and an outcome, it cannot offer proof.The other factor is time. Dementia often takes manyyears to develop. The 76% lower risk that wascited applies only to the five-year span of the study.A longer follow-up might have had different results. That said, the study clearly showsthe potential benefits of this lively activity.So, may we have the next dance? Sendyour questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla. edu, or write: Ask theDoctors, c/oUCLA HealthSciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd.,Suite1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.
TODAYINHISTORY
Judith Martin MIss MANNERs
Only by takingonthe persona of someone else have Iseen any success in their
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Thesigns seemedtotake on adual meaning given thatitwas thefirstday Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were visibly deployed in theairport at the behest of the Trump administration as TSA wait times skyrocket acrossthe country due to thepartial government shutdown. But the wait times weren’t bad at thePhilly airport Tuesday.Desiree Cruz,33, of Los Angeles, who was flying home from aweddingin Philly,arrived several hours before her flight but only hadtowaitfive minutesto get through her TSA PreCheck screening. She was ecstatic to stumble upon the record-setting event as she killed time in the airport, especially since she hadn’tgrabbeda cheesesteak while she was in town.
“This is extraordinary! This is surreal!”she said. “I was just thinkingabout getting acheesesteak and nowI am about to witnesshistory.” Once the assembly was done, Guinness World Record official adjudicator Michael Empric —who was dressed in avery official Guinness World Record blue blazer and armed with avery official blue Guinness World Record clipboard— walked the line with his tally counter to make sureall the cheesesteaks meatexpectations.
Gentle reader: “Don’t blame me”?
Sorry.The idea of frightening children into basiccourtesy scares Miss Manners. Butsince you say itworks, she willtry to get over that.
Surely seventh graders are capableof understanding that people need to get along with one another,rather than living in aconstant state of alarm, suspecting that others mean us harm. Unfortunately,they have been taught to evaluate online communications with that cynical approach. But inreal life, we have
Every steak wasrequired to be on aroll 30 centimeters long and had to be filled with chopped beef and “somecheese product.” Each cheesesteak also had to touch the next one,end to end, resulting in atotal length of about 1,271 feet. Therecord-setting attempt wasnot without its misteaks. Whenannouncinghis findings,Empricnoted that a few holes in the line were filled with partial pieces of cheesesteaks.While that very Philly workaround did not disqualifythe attempt, those partial steaks were deductedfrom thetotal Philly’scheesesteak line was afirst-time category creator,according to Empric. As such, Guinness World Records set abaseline of 500 cheesesteaks to be considered for therecord, a bar Philly easily beat While othershave claimed to set GuinnessWorld Recordsfor longest lineof cheesesteaks —like the Main StreetGrill in Lewiston, Idaho, whichmade a 722-foot line of cheesesteaks in 2023 —they either didn’t followthrough, didn’tmake the cut, or never submitted their paperwork to officially beconsidered aGuinness World Record holder, Empric said This isn’tthe first time a massive lineofcheesesteaks has been assembled in Philadelphia, either.In2015, Steve’sPrince of Steakscreated a480-foot cheesesteak for the Philadelphia Cheesesteak Festival, and in 2021, morethan adozen Philly restaurateurs andestablishments workedtogether to build a510-foot line of cheesesteaks that ran three blocks through theItalian Market.
REBOOT
Continued from page1C
In case youmissedit(or were living under arock in 2004), our former Los Angeles Times film critic Manohla Dargis wrote of the film:
“Another iterationonthe apparently indestructible body-switching premise, ‘13 Going On 30’ closely adheres to the essential gimmick and learning curve introduced to superior effect in the 1988 hit ‘Big.’ “After adisastrous birthday party and afoolish wish to become ‘30, flirty and
thriving’ (some alliterative propaganda she’sread in a fashion magazine), Jenna wakes one morningtodiscover that she’smetamorphosed into an older,taller, somewhat curvier versionof herself.Now playedbyGarner,the wild-eyed teenager comes face to face with a wish fulfillment of alifethat comes with adesigner Manhattan apartment,anexecutive position at aslick women’s magazine,a hockey-star boyfriend who likes to strip to Vanilla Ice, and rowupon rowofdesignershoes.”
While mum’sthe wordon plot specifics,the scriptfor the reboot is by Hannah
developeda codetoindicatethatweare notbullies making demands, but rather that we harborgoodwill towardothers. “Please” meansthat, although they are asking forsomething, compliancewould be appreciated. “Thank you” expressesthatappreciation And now Miss Manners must express herappreciation to you forinsisting on teachinga skill that will contribute to those children’ssuccess.
Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners. com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail com; or through postal mailtoMiss Manners, Universal Uclick,1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
Given thatTuesday was thefirst official cheesesteak Guinness World Record attemptfor Philly,twin sisters Kala and Maya Johnstone, who are food influencers and the owners of FoodChasers’ Kitchen, came from Glenside to witness it.
“Wewanttobehere for this moment so when we visit other cities we can talk trash, like Baltimore, who is giving us hell talking about they got thebetter cheesesteak,” Kala Johnstone said. “Well, we got theworldrecord. We have thepictures and evidence. We were here today and Philly made history.”
Afinalrequirement to obtain theGuinness World Record,accordingtoEmpric, was thatall of the cheesesteaksmust be donated or consumed on site. In accordance, cheesesteaks were freely givenout to participants, volunteers, and airport workers, while others were hand-delivered to Transportation Security Administration employees, whohavegonewithout a paycheck since the partial shutdown began last month
Peter Ciarrocchi, CEO of Chickie’s&Pete’s, whose four airport restaurants provided the kitchen equipment and prep space for theevent said he loved watching so many people work together to make this record areality
“Breaking the world record is always awesome,”he said. “But oneofmyfavorite things today was feeding the TSA with thecheesesteaks, because this cityisthe City of Brotherly Love and these people are working without pay.Withoutthem, nobody can be in this airport.”
Marks, whopennedand directed “Mark, Mary,&Some Other People,” with revisions by FloraGreeson, who wrote “The High Note.”
Oncenews of the reboot broke online, social media chatter picked up, with fans speculatingwhich eras the film may be setin. If, like theoriginal, the protagonist wakesupasa 30-year-old in today’smodern world, some worry theflick won’tbeas lighthearted as the original. One user on Threads said, “The conceptofa13Going on 30 wherea teenager in 2009 nowwakes up in THIS reality in her 30s feelslike horror not romcom.”
Today is Monday, March 30, the89th day of 2026. There are 276 days left in the year
Todayinhistory: On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded by John Hinckley Jr.outside aWashington, D.C.,hotel. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady,Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and aDistrict of Columbia police officer,Thomas Delahanty. (Hinckley would be found not guilty by reason of insanity and held at a psychiatric hospital until his
COLBERT
Continuedfrom page1C
heading back to theShire with two new films. The first is “The Hunt for Gollum,” starring and directed by “Lord of theRings” alum Andy Serkis.
supervised release in 2016. James Bradydiedin2014 as aresult of his injuries.)
Also on this date: In 1822, Florida becamea United States territory In 1870, the 15th Amendmenttothe U.S. Constitution, which prohibited denying citizens the right to vote and hold office on the basis of race, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. In 1975, as the Vietnam Warneared its end, Communist forces occupied the city of Da Nang. In 2023, aManhattan grand jury voted to indict Donald Trumponcharges involving payments made
According to Deadline,the “LOTR” project involving Colbertistentatively titled “The Lordofthe Rings: Shadow of the Past” and is setmorethana decade after the death of central hobbitFrodo.Fellowhobbits
“Sam, Merry and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure” while a new generation seeks to unearth a“long-buriedsecret.” NewsofColbert’s screenwriting gig spurred arange of reactions on social media among the dedicated “Lord of the Rings” fanbase, with some users excited forthe late-night host and others expressing their disappointment with his involvement.
ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Base your decisions on the time and energy it will take to complete what you set out to do. Be cautious not to take on more than you can handle or projects that are unrealistic.
tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Make the first move; start conversations, address matters that concern you and take care of your backlog of updates, cancellations and deadweight. Choose comfort, peace and love.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Choosebrainover brawn to fight your battles. Knowledge is your path to solidarity and innovative suggestions, and following through with actions will put you in the spotlight.
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Lean in, take the lead, say what's on your mind and live up to your word. The sky is the limit when you focus on what's important to you; rewards will follow.
LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Choose discipline over distraction. Avoid risks that can damage your reputation, position or financial well-being. Adopt a positive attitude and work diligently.
VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) You'll dazzle everyone with your words of wisdom. Focus on the effect you will have on others, and offer positivity and support to all those you encounter.
LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Follow your passion. Use your skills to work on a project that's suited to the changing times.
Review your relationships and stick with the people who have made a positive impact on you.
scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Sort out any differences you have with the people you live with you or nearby. Get ready to make your voice heard. Do your research, volunteer and be part of the solution.
sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Take time to rest, rethink and come up with a plan to bring about positive change. Invest in how you look and feel, and upgrade your skills and qualifications.
cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Check your investments, move money around and consider how to use your skills to excel. Jealousy, ego and competition will stand between you and your dreams.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Consider how you earn and spend your money. Nothing is for free; if you think you're getting something for nothing, ask direct questions and negotiate on your behalf.
PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Be open to eventsthatencouragemovement,socializing and fulfilling your heart's desires. Sitting idle will get you nowhere, but the moment you do something that resonates, magic will happen.
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.
toDAy's cLuE: L EQuALs Q
FAMILY CIrCUS
CeLebrItY CIpher
For better or For WorSe
SALLY Forth
beetLe bAILeY
Mother GooSe And GrIMM
LAGoon
nea CroSSwordS
Sudoku
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Saturday’s PuzzleAnswer
La TimeS CroSSword
THewiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS
CurTiS
By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge
Buddha said, “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way, and not starting.”
When do you touch trumps in abridge deal? The answer might be at the start (sometimes), in themiddle (occasionally), or never (rarely). There arealso twoways to play trumps in abridge deal: two by two while drawing those held by theopponents; and one by one, as in this deal.
Howshould Southplay in seven hearts after West leads the club queen?
North’s four-diamond rebid is asplinter: at least four-card heart support, thevalues for game and asingleton (or void) in diamonds. South uses two doses of Blackwood before bidding seven. (If you use RomanKey Card Blackwood, North would answer five diamonds, zero or three key cards. Then, over five no-trump, which guarantees possession of all four aces andthe king-queen of trumps, North would bid six clubs to show the club king.)
